ã€ŠA Star Reborn: The Queen&#x27;s Returnã€‹


 Chapter 1 - A Diva Reborn

    <h4>Chapter 1: A Diva Reborn</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling opened her eyes, and the face of a stranger entered her vision.

    A girl donning a set of white dancing attire was looking down on her in a half kneeling position. The girl was calling out to her anxiously, but it was only until some timeter that Xia Ling barely managed to make out what she was conveying. ¡°Xingling! Xingling! Are you alright? Are you unwell?¡±

    ...Xingling?

    Who is Xingling?

    An unfamiliar name, an unfamiliar face in front of her, and an unfamiliar voice. Xia Ling was dazed. She was sure that she was not this so-called ¡°Xingling¡±, much less acquainted with this girl in front of her, whose face was painted in worry.

    Her head was spinning.

    She thought she was dead. When the power was suddenly cut off from the stage, someone shoved her. Before she could react, she was falling off the high stage,nding on top of a cold, hard concrete barricade. Her head was punctured by a sharp steel bar upon impact. Blood and brain matter sttered all over the ground.

    But what is this situation in front of her eyes?

    The girl was still shouting out to her, yet Xia Ling was no longer in the mood to listen. She turned her head to examine her surroundings.

    Under the gentle lighting, seven to eight good-looking girls were stretching, gracefully spinning and leaping or practicing dance steps under the instructions of a coach. This was... a dance studio.

    Looking past the dancers, she saw her own reflection in the mirror.

    She was looking at a somewhat feeble girl, about 15 or 16 years of age, curled up at a corner of the room. She had soft and silky long hair, a clean and delicate face, and was wearing the same white dancewear as the others in the room. She was looking at a stranger. Certainly, this was not who she was before ¡ª Xia Ling, the diva of the music industry.

    Xia Ling was in shock.

    She recalled reading a few resurrection themed novels that were trending online. Could it be... that she had resurrected? Reborn into the body of a stranger?! What the...

    As she wasing into terms with this bizarre urrence, the girl that was earlier by her side pulled someone over. She worriedly said, ¡°Coach, quick,e over and look at Xingling. She hasn¡¯t said a word after waking up! Is there something wrong with her?¡±

    ¡°Ha! What could possibly be wrong with her?¡± The man, whom she addressed as ¡°Coach¡±, looked at Xia Ling in disdain. ¡°Ye Xingling, pretending to be dizzy again?! I¡¯m not falling for it. Get up and continue your dance practice. At Skyart Entertainment we have nock of trainees. We are nearing the end-of-month examinations. If you end up in thest ce again, you will definitely be expelled!¡±

    <i>Oh, so Ye Xingling is my name now </i>. Xia Ling thought.

    <i>Wait. That is not the point. The point is... this Ye Xingling, is a trainee of Skyart Entertainment?</i>

    Xia Ling had heard of this reputablepany. It might not be as renowned as Imperial Entertainment ¡ª thepany she worked for in her previous life ¡ª but it was still considered a first-tier establishment in the entertainment industry. Skyart Entertainment, like many otherpanies in the entertainment industry, would invest in grooming trainees, subjecting them to strict training sessions, examinations, and eliminations. Only the lucky ones left would debut as artistes.

    And now, Xia Ling was one of these trainees.

    How long ago... was thest time she was a trainee?

    Xia Ling felt a little bitter. A slight wave of pain surged through her head, which made her memories somewhat fuzzy. She still remembered the bright summer day years ago the transparent full-length windows in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s dance studio, the rays of sunlight mixed in with the scent of flowers, and...

    The man who always smiled warmly and doted on her...

    ¡°Xingling? Xingling?! Are you alright?!¡±

    The worried voice of a girl pulled Xia Ling back to reality. Tilting her head, she saw the face of the same girl who was by her side previously. She was staring at her without blinking, her face fraught with concern and worry.

    Luo Luo.

    Unknowingly, the girl¡¯s name came into Xia Ling¡¯s mind. Soon after, memories shared between ¡°Luo Luo¡± and ¡°Ye Xingling¡± slowly flowed into her mind. However, before she could sort these memories out, Luo Luo said with a crystal clear voice, ¡°Xingling... are you feeling better? Say something! Don¡¯t scare me!¡±

    She rubbed her temple to ease her slight headache, saying, ¡°I¡¯m alright, Luo Luo. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°As long as you are fine.¡± Luo Luo grinned happily. She immediately ran to a water dispenser nearby, filled a paper cup with water, and passed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Come, have some water. Don¡¯t overdo your dance practice next time. I know you were not pretending! You almost shocked me to death when you fainted just now!¡±

    Her unguarded concern was unsettling for Xia Ling.

    In her past life, there was a person who was this innocent and unguarded in front of Xia Ling as well. That person was her younger sister, Xia Yu. Xia Ling had doted on her as if she was a precious treasure. She gave her all her trust and care, but in the end, she waspletely betrayed.

    She did not want to experience such a situation again.

    Thus, she quietly distanced herself from Luo Luo. ¡°I will be fine after some rest. Go practice your dance first.¡±

    Luo Luo, however, stubbornly shook her head, and sternly said, ¡°You have to take care of your body. This is the third time you¡¯ve fainted this month! I know you want to pass the examination but...¡±

    She bit her lips, hesitant to continue.

    Xia Ling smiled. She knew what Luo Luo was getting at. The original owner of this body, Ye Xingling, had been in the bottom in the examinations two months in a row. If Ye Xingling did not improve her ranking this time, she could only pack her bags and leave. That was why Ye Xingling was so desperate, practicing till she fainted time after time, making Luo Luo this worried.

    The owner of this body probably died of exhaustion?

    Xia Lingmented. What would Luo Luo think when she realized that she was not Ye Xingling, the owner of the body?

    Yet, the examinations that Ye Xingling was struggling with was a piece of cake for her. The time from her death to resurrection was akin to a long nap. The soulful dance moves she previously owned was ingrained in her memory. In her past life, she had used them to charm the world. Using them to pass a trainee¡¯s examination in this life would be a breeze.

    Gazing at Luo Luo¡¯s pained expression, she gave a rxed smile. ¡°Luo Luo, don¡¯t worry, I know my limits. I won¡¯t dance till I faint anymore. I think I managed to grasp some of the key techniques. This time, I will show an improvement in the examination.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡±

    Luo Luo¡¯s worried expression lifted, as she beamed and said, ¡°Then you have a good rest. I¡¯ll go practice my dance.¡±

    Xia Ling watched as Luo Luo joined the dance practice with the others, breathing a sigh of relief. Speaking to someone this innocent reminded her of her ¡°good sister¡± Xia Yu. And also, the memories of that man.

    Those memories... were scars forever etched in her heart.

    She shook her head, clearing her mind of those painful memories. Sorting the memories of Ye Xingling in her mind was of utmost importance now. Without further ado, she quietly got up and walked towards the exit.

    No one stopped her from leaving. All the trainees were focused on their own dancing. Once in a while, one or two would notice her. Yet they would either choose to ignore her or nced at her in contempt. A failure fated for elimination, who would want to even spare her the slightest sliver of concern other than innocent Luo Luo?

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t care less about their attitude. The ups and downs she experienced in her previous life had made her ustomed to the harsh realities of human rtionships. This little disdain from the trainees was too insignificant to faze her.

    She searched for a secluded spot where she sat down and started sorting through everything rted to Ye Xingling in her mind.

 Chapter 2 - That Woman Had Offended Her Before

    <h4>Chapter 2: That Woman Had Offended Her Before</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sifting through Ye Xingling¡¯s memories, Xia Ling learned that Ye Xingling was 16-years-old and was born into a normal working family. She had a father, a stepmother and a half-sister, Ye Xingfei.

    A year ago, Ye Xingfei pulled Ye Xingling along to participate in a Skyart Entertainment¡¯s trainee audition. Fortunately, both of them were sessful in their auditions and were selected as trainees. Skyart Entertainment signed them on and nned for the sisters to debut as a duo. However, little did they know that the day they signed the contract, tragedy struck. Ye Xingfei was involved in an ident with a truck that lost control, which left her in a vegetative state.

    Seeing the n to debut the sister duo foiled, Skyart Entertainment wanted to terminate the contract with Ye Xingling.

    After all, in their eyes, Ye Xingling was only of average talent. The one who really had potential was Ye Xingfei, now a patient in a vegetative state. The person responsible for the termination of the negotiations was the general manager of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Trainee Center, Tan Ying. He was considered a big name in the entertainment industry, having previously discovered and groomed several A-list artistes. He was known to have a good eye for talent and was astute in his criticism. If he imed that one had no future, then surely that person would not seed in the industry.

    But Ye Xingling was not willing to terminate her contract then.

    She had a close rtionship with her sister, and she desperately needed cash to pay for her sister¡¯s exorbitant treatment fees. Hence, kneeling and begging in front of Tan Ying, she pleaded thepany for a loan and vowed to work doubly hard to achieve the best results and repay thepany.

    Xia Ling had to admit, Ye Xingling was a person with great determination. She was able to convince Tan Ying, who was known to have a heart of stone in the industry, to give her a chance. Thepany paid her arge sum of money in advance, of which she needed to repay upon debuting along with interest. However, if she were to be eliminated before debuting, she would then have to clear her debt within the year, otherwise...

    Xia Ling narrowed her eyes, feeling sympathy for Ye Xingling.

    In her previous life, she had heard of certain rumors about Skyart Entertainment. It was said that thepany was owned by the Li family ¨C a family associated with the underworld. Other than grooming their artistes, the entertainmentpany also allegedly meddled in some underworld businesses. If one were to offend apany with such a shady background...

    Fine. Perhaps she should not sympathize with Ye Xingling. Ye Xingling was gone for good and would not have to worry about these things anymore. All her problems were now Xia Ling¡¯s.

    If it were up to her, Xia Ling would not have stepped into the entertainment industry again in this life. She had already stood at the pinnacle of fame in her past life, receiving and enjoying the most enthusiastic support from fans, and experienced the most sinister of schemes as well. She could not think of anything that would attract her about the entertainment industry anymore. Moreover, the industry reminded her of everything about ¡°that man¡±...

    Pain churned in her heart, as she tried to suppress her memories of ¡°that man¡±.

    If it were possible, Xia Ling wished that Ye Xingling could be officially eliminated during her trainee stages and live a normal life. However, due to the massive debt that Ye Xingling had racked up, this was but wishful thinking. Xia Ling had no idea how to repay the debt because she knew nothing else except for singing.

    Therefore, not only could she not leave, but she had to stay and debut sessfully.

    Xia Ling sighed deeply and forced a smile.

    The heavens must be ying a joke on her. The sum Ye Xingling owed to thepany, while said to be a massive loan, was in actual fact only a few million dors. In her previous life, anything Xia Ling bought would easily be around this amount. However, this time she was stumped. She had no choice but to continue working and suffer in this bizarre entertainment industry.

    In the persona of a mere subpar trainee on the brink of elimination no less.

    Xia Ling was gradually getting used to her new identity.

    The days spent in Skyart Entertainment were uneventful. Every day was a standard routine ¨C she would wake up at the same time, practice her singing and dancing, and then wash up before heading to bed. Perhaps for some, 12 hours a day of intensive practice was grilling. However, after experiencing all the backstabbing and despair in her past life, a simple life was like heaven to Xia Ling.

    Day after day of practicing and familiarizing with her new body, Xia Ling was delighted to find out that this body was unexpectedly flexible. This was an innate talent, yet the previous owner of the body was unable to use it to its full potential. Otherwise, she would not be inferior to anyone in the industry after debut, let alone seeding during this trainee period.

    Even her vocal abilities were exquisite. Underneath the seemingly normal vocals, she had a hidden uniqueness that was one of a kind.

    Xia Ling was ted with her discoveries. She might have been disappointed by the entertainment industry, but her passion for singing and dancing were ingrained in her bones. She must have been pitied by the Gods to be able to be reborn in such a body.

    As she familiarized herself with her new body, coaches in every department were shocked to find that the hopeless student Ye Xingling had improved tremendously after a week. She was able to perform an entire routine without any error.

    A handful of coaches praised her.

    These praises attracted the jealousy of the trainees in the same ss. In their impression, Ye Xingling was a good-for-nothing trainee, existing to rankst in the examinations and to highlight the talents and elegance of others. Now, it was certainly a disappointment that the good-for-nothing trainee had improved.

    Xia Ling nned the speed of her ¡°improvements¡± with caution. The pace of ¡°improvement¡± was quick, but not excessive. After all, it would definitely be inconceivable that a trainee on the verge of elimination could rise up to be as skillful as a diva.

    Even Luo Luo who was always sticking by her side had not realized any abnormalities.

    Luo Luo ran and hopped towards Xia Ling, grabbing on to her elbow affectionately. She looked up at Xia Ling with an innocent smile and asked, ¡°Xingling... Xingling! Shall we go for a meal together?¡±

    Xia Ling controlled the urge to massage her temples.

    Luo Luo had been pestering her in the past few days. This innocent, energetic girl was sticking to her harder than a chewing gum. No matter how much Xia Ling tried, she could not seem to get rid for her. Well, they were not ¡°best friends¡± for nothing...

    Everything started three months ago.

    Back then, Luo Luo arrived at the training camp after passing her auditions. As she was still unfamiliar with everything, there was one time she went into the wrong ssroom and missed important pointers from the coach. In the training camp everyone was apetitor, thus no one was willing to help Luo Luo other than Ye Xingling. Her results might be terrible, but she still tried her best to transmit all the information she could remember to Luo Luo.

    From then on, Luo Luo saw Ye Xingling as her good friend.

    However, the Xia Ling now did not need any ¡°friends¡±.

    Opening your heart to and growing too close to another person was the dumbest thing to do in this world. Be it kinship, friendship, or... love.

    Handsome yet cold, the god-like memories of ¡°that man¡± emerged yet again. Each scene of them together fleeted across her mind. Suddenly, she felt her heart writhing in pain. ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She muttered under her breath.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Luo Luo nced over to her curiously. ¡°Hurry~ if we get to the canteente, there won¡¯t be anything delicious left for us! Xingling, hurry up~ Today¡¯s menu is your favorite codfish and lettuce!¡± She rushed her with a smile.

    Xia Ling was stunned back to her senses and followed Luo Luo towards the direction of the canteen.

    It was lunchtime. Everyone from thepany was heading in the same direction. Xia Ling and Luo Luo chatted as they walked ¡ª well, it was mainly Luo Luo doing the talking and Xia Ling listening to her in silence.

    ¡°Did you know?¡± Luo Luo walked with a spring in her step, her short hair bouncing along, looking as adorable as a bunny. ¡°This uing end-of-month examination isn¡¯t your usual examination! I heard that Shen Manyao will being to select dancers for her new MV!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Xia Ling responded nonchntly, uninterested in the conversation.

    Luo Luo suddenly pressed. ¡°Xingling! Did you hear me? It¡¯s Shen Manyao! SHEN MANYAO! She¡¯s an actual star, not like us trainees who haven¡¯t debuted! If we can be selected to participate in her MV¡¯s dance troupe it would be such a good opportunity! It¡¯s an actual MV shooting and not just practice!¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    Luo Luo stared at her as if she was staring at a monster. ¡°Xingling, why is your reaction so lukewarm? Aren¡¯t you excited at all?¡±

    What was there to be excited about? It took her some time to even figure out who this ¡°Shen Manyao¡± was. In her previous life, she did not have wide connections. With the big boss of Imperial Entertainment, Pei Ziheng, showering her with adoration, coupled with the protection of the internationally renowned first-rate manager Chu Chen, Xia Ling could be described as arrogant and domineering and paid no one any attention. Back then, she would not even care to spend an ounce of energy to remember a small star of a different ss.

    The only reason she even remembered Shen Manyao at all was because Shen Manyao had once offended her.

 Chapter 3 - Clash at the Recording Studio

    <h4>Chapter 3: sh at the Recording Studio</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Back then, Pei Ziheng doted on her excessively.

    Sometimes, Xia Ling would wilfully lose her temper and argue with him.

    That day, after a heated argument with Pei Ziheng, she threw a tantrum in her makeup room, causing a dy. Resultantly, the recording had already started for some time by the time she strutted into the studio, with several staff members holding up the train of her exquisite, delicate gown, after the makeup artiste managed toplete her job. As she walked in, she saw her seat taken by anotherdy with thick makeup on, chatting happily along with the host and two guests. Her namete was carelessly thrown to one side.

    She immediately felt angry.

    The director fearfullyughed as he apologized. ¡°Miss Xia Ling, I thought you weren¡¯ting for the shooting anymore. It wouldn¡¯t look nice for the best spot to be left empty, so...¡±

    Xia Ling ignored the director, beelined towards thedy in her seat and said, ¡°Get out.¡±

    Thatdy was wearing a sexy red mesh top and remained seated in a seductive manner. She yed with her fingernails and looked up at Xia Ling from the corner of her dramatically painted eyes. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s a famous star, Xia Ling! Tsk tsk, everyone thought you weren¡¯t gonnae today. Let me give you a piece of advice, this isn¡¯t how you y the big shot. Everyone skipped out on their meals only to wait for you. Don¡¯t you have any shame? Luckily I was here to help out, otherwise, the show would be in trouble...¡±

    Shen Manyao openly mocked Xia Ling, giving no regard to the sideways nces and warning signals that the director and hosts were giving her.

    The Xia Ling then was at the pinnacle of her career ¨C when was she disregarded like this before? All she felt was that her lungs were on the verge of explosion. She raised her voice. ¡°Who are you to talk to me like that? Get out of my way!¡±

    Shen Manyao jumped up like a frazzled cat. ¡°You dare scold me?¡± Her blood-red nails almost scratched Xia Ling¡¯s face. ¡°Who are <i>you </i>to scold me? You¡¯re just a toy to warm up Pei Ziheng¡¯s bed! Don¡¯t think you¡¯re someone with him backing your career! You just sang a few lousy songs and...¡±

    She continued her rampage of ridicule, but Xia Ling could not remember the rest of it clearly.

    In any case, those words were not pleasing to the ears.

    That day, it was Xia Ling¡¯s manager, Chu Chen, who sent a bodyguard to half-pull, half-drag Shen Manyao out of the studio. Chu Chen also pulled measures that Xia Ling could not fathom, such that Shen Manyao appeared on Xia Ling¡¯s doorstep a few dayster, pleading for her forgiveness.

    Thinking back, her fame had got into her head back then. She was pampered by Pei Ziheng to the extent that she became overbearing and unreasonable.

    It was onlyter that she had a falling out with Pei Ziheng. As a result, she was cklisted and put under house arrest in that huge bungalow.

    Xia Yu once came for a visit and sneered. ¡°Sis, did you think that you were really something? Did you really think people in the industry respected you? Did you know that they all hated you for a long time, but who would hit the dog of a powerful owner? Without Ziheng you¡¯re nothing. Nothing at all!¡±

    Xia Yu had brought her various recordings of artistes, directors, producers, and reporters who discussed her during several parties that they attended. All of them, including some with whom Xia Ling thought she had a good rtionship with, gloated over her misfortune, saying that Xia Ling finally got her retribution, and it was such a huge relief that she was cklisted¡ªeven better if she had no chance ofing back at all.

    At that moment, she finally realized how much of a failure she was.

    Xia Ling slowly returned to her senses as Luo Luo continued with her enigmatic, incessant chatter. She noticed that the short-haired Luo Luo was unusually excited, and to calm her down, she said, ¡°Ok, Luo Luo, even if Shen Manyao is picking people for her MV, she wouldn¡¯t necessarily pick us. You needn¡¯t be too excited, just act normally and do what you have to do.¡±

    Luo Luo gave a start, shocked that Xia Ling waspletely uninterested. She agitatedly reiterated to Xia Ling, gesturing with her arms. ¡°There are 12 spots up for grabs this time! The number of trainees in this camp is less than 100. The probability of being selected is so high! Aren¡¯t you interested at all, Xingling? I am hyped to death!¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. What was there to be hyped about? She wasn¡¯t even as fazed when receiving global awards in the past.

    Luo Luo started to get a little irritated. ¡°I know, I know, my basic foundation might be a little weak. Even if the coaches say that I have potential, but I¡¯ve only been here for three months; I haven¡¯t even mastered many of the basic skills. There¡¯s no way I canpete with the seniors...¡±

    She paused before continuing, ¡°But Xingling, you¡¯ve been training for more than a year already! Even if before you were... Erm...¡± She scratched her head, thinking of a more tactful way to put it. ¡°... Even if your condition was a little off, but your improvements ofte have been really tremendous, right? Even the coaches praised you for your slick moves!¡±

    Her eyes sparkled as she said, ¡°So if you don¡¯t try how would you know? If you pick a dance style that Shen Manyao likes during the examination, you might get lucky and be chosen!¡±

    Get lucky...

    Xia Ling had to control herself from throwing Luo Luo out of the room. What a joke, since when did she depend on luck to get chosen for a position? Oh right, in her past life she had big boss Pei Ziheng supporting her, but even then she still had to have talent, so that she could be put on a pedestal. She did not want to brag, but when she was at Imperial Entertainment, whether it was diligence, talent, or skills, if she were to im to be second, nobody would dare im the top spot.

    ¡°Luo Luo, don¡¯t ever think about depending solely on luck.¡± She could not help but reply sternly.

    ¡°Why are you being so serious?¡± Luo Luo pouted, feeling a little wronged.

    Xia Ling sighed, looking into Luo Luo¡¯s innocent face, and said in a kinder voice, ¡°Luck can only help you for a little while, it will not help you for life. If you look at the entertainment circle, peoplee and go. Didn¡¯t you realize that all those who remain popr for a long time all have one or two key talents? None of them rely on pure luck. Luo Luo, thepetition in this circle is intense, there are new idols appearing in the scene every day. Older idols lose relevance and look at how many there are that are simply one-time wonders. I don¡¯t want you to be the same.¡±

    Luo Luo was slightly taken aback. She corrected her nonchnt attitude and lowered her head as she pondered.

    Xia Ling nced at her. Yes, she seems teachable.

    Since the reincarnation, Xia Ling did not want to be involved with too many people. However, Luo Luo¡¯s kindness and care in this period gave her the feeling that she was indebted to her. Perhaps if she were to give Luo Luo some pointers, that could be a form of repayment. Of course, this repayment would need Luo Luo to be receptive as well. Xia Ling was not Mother Theresa, she did not have the habit of worrying for others. She would not repeat the same words twice.

    After a while, Luo Luo seemed to have understood. She nodded determinedly, raised her head, and gave Xia Ling a smile that was brighter than before. ¡°Xingling, I understand. Don¡¯t worry, I will make sure to practice hard and not cut corners.¡± As she spoke, Luo Luo ran over and gave Xingling a hug. ¡°You still treat me the best! No one else would bother to say so much to me~¡±

    Xia Ling looked on, confounded.

    As she surveyed the sight of Luo Luo hanging over her body, she reflected.<i>Should I be colder towards Luo Luo?</i>

    Days passed quickly in the usual hustle and bustle. Finally, it was the day of the end-of-month examinations.

 Chapter 4 - The Mysterious Man Wearing A Patek Philippe

    <h4>Chapter 4: The Mysterious Man Wearing A Patek Philippe</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the recent days, Xia Ling had been ¡°improving¡± quietly, and her dancing had improved really fast.

    Luo Luo was no longer worried that she would be in thest ce, and instead was feeling ambitious. She hoped with all her heart that Xia Ling would be chosen.

    However, Xia Ling had no interest at all. She had no good feelings for Shen Manyao. Even if she was arrogant in her past life, how could it justify having a second-rate star like Shen Manyao criticizing her? If word of that were to ever get out, just a spit from each of Xia Ling¡¯s fans would be sufficient to drown Shen Manyao. What was wrong with Shen Manyao to think that criticizing her was a good idea? A bimbo like Shen Manyao, what kind of MV would she be able to produce? No matter how deste Xia Ling was, she would never film a lousy production.

    The trainees in therge hall gathered in small groups, excitedly discussing the selections.

    Xia Ling found a corner where she stood alone, feeling slightly irritated. Suddenly, she heard a jubnt voice calling from a distance anding nearer. ¡°Xingling, Xingling! You¡¯re here, I was looking all over for you~¡±

    A shadow in light pink darted toward her and enveloped her in a hug.

    The familiar fragrance of Calend soap wafted into her nose, and without looking, Xia Ling knew it was Luo Luo. ¡°Luo Luo.¡± She sighed, extracting herself from Luo Luo¡¯s octopus-like grip. ¡°Why are you looking for me?¡±

    Luo Luo waved the sealed paper slip that she was holding. ¡°The coaches were calling out for us to draw lots at the front. I collected it for you already.¡±

    As she spoke, she stuffed a paper slip into Xia Ling¡¯s hands.

    Xia Ling opened the sealed end of the paper slip and saw that there was a single number printed within: 68.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re number 68! What a pity, we¡¯re not in the same group,¡± said Luo Luo with disappointment. Seeing the look of confusion on Xia Ling¡¯s face, Luo Luo exined. ¡°The coaches announced earlier that there will be randomized groupings for this examination. The 72 trainees will draw lots in turn with six forming a group. Number 1-6 will be the first group, 7-12 the second group, and so on and so forth.¡±

    Her face dropped as she continued, ¡°I¡¯m number 57, so I¡¯m definitely not together with you. You¡¯re in thest group. I¡¯m not sure if Shen Manyao will be feeling tired out by then and whether she will be watching your examination properly.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. She would thank the heavens if Shen Manyao did not watch her examination properly. What¡¯s more, she would not have to bear with the noise from this child during the examination. That would be... wonderful.

    She could not help but pity those in the same group as Luo Luo.

    With a smile, Xia Ling patted Luo Luo on the top of her head and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. Break a leg.¡±

    Looking up like a little bunny, Luo Luo nodded resolutely. ¡°I will!¡± She gave two hops on the same spot and added, ¡°Xingling, you do well too! You <i>have </i>to be picked by Shen Manyao!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face darkened.

    After much huballoo, Shen Manyao finally arrived. The examinationmenced.

    One at a time, each team of trainees walked into the examination room nervously,ing out nervously as well and carefully trying to tease out how their fellow trainees did. Every time someone asked them how they did, they would intentionally reply with something along the lines of ¡°I did not do well, I probably will not get chosen...¡±. Yet, the anticipation in their voices was apparent.

    Luo Luo started to get affected by the atmosphere. She was so nervous that her hand holding Xia Ling¡¯s was shaking.

    Even though she had said she had little experience and a weak foundation, as well ascked the courage to dream of being picked by Shen Manyao, which trainee in the training camp did not want to be part of the MV filming this time?

    Oh, except for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling did not want to bother about her initially, but Luo Luo, even while looking like a cute little girl, had quite a strong grip and was gripping Xia Ling till her wrist was hurting. Xia Ling eventually gave in and said, ¡°Rx, let me teach you some breathing techniques.¡±

    Being active in the entertainment industry, you would definitely have instances where your emotions were unstable. In these instances, every artiste would have their own way of alleviating their emotions. In her past life, Xia Ling discovered several effective and efficient ways. The most simple and widely applicable was through breathing techniques.

    Luo Luo learned very quickly. Without Xia Ling having to repeat herself, Luo Luo had already learned the breathing technique.

    After trying for a little while, Luo Luo indeed started to feel less nervous. She raised her head and smiled, saying, ¡°Xingling, you are so great.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know what to say as she extracted her smarting wrist from Luo Luo¡¯s hand.

    Group after group of trainees entered the room, and soon it was Luo Luo¡¯s turn.

    Luo Luo diligently remembered the breathing technique that Xia Ling had just taught her, looking rxed as she stood in line with the rest of her group in front of the examination room. The rest of the trainees were so nervous that they did not know where to put their hands and feet, making Luo Luo lookposed inparison.

    Indeed a child with huge potential.

    Xia Ling watched as she entered the room before resting her head on the corner of the wall and closed her eyes for a little rest. After some time, she felt a weight on her body. An unknown object had pounced on her again. Opening her eyes, she discovered that it was none other than Luo Luo.

    ¡°You¡¯re done with the examination?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Luo Luo was full of gusto. ¡°Xingling, I think I did really well this time. All credit to the breathing technique you taught me~~ I have to tell you, you didn¡¯t see how stiff some of the others were. Theypletely forgot how to dance after seeing Shen Manyao, let alone perform to their usual standards~~ I would have been the same if not for you, Xingling!¡±

    As she spoke, she rubbed the top of her head affectionately against the nape of Xia Ling¡¯s neck.

    Xia Ling felt a headacheing on. This child... was she born in the year of the dog?

    She was saved by the voice of the coach calling out. ¡°Number 67, Zhou Yu; Number 68, Ye Xingling...¡±

    ¡°I should go in now.¡± She hurriedly pulled Luo Luo off herself and then ran toward the examination room as if she were escaping.

    ¡°Xingling, I¡¯ll wait for you~~¡± Luo Luo happily waved to her. ¡°You have to do well~~¡±

    She tried her best to ignore Luo Luo¡¯s voice, standing in line with the other five in her group in front of the examination room. Everyone in this team had great body proportions and were visually appealing, but some were clearly trying to hide their nervousness. Everyone was sizing each other up as if they were trying to evaluate each other¡¯spetitiveness and threat.

    As they saw Xia Linging over, several of them gave looks of disdain. Who did not recognize her? ¡°Ye Xingling¡± had been in the training camp for more than a year and many people had heard of what a failure she was. So what if she had improved? The fact that they thought she was ¡°no match at all¡± was apparent in their eyes.

    If it were Xia Ling in her past life, she would have made them pay for this insult. However, now she neither had interest in being selected for Shen Manyao¡¯s MV nor did she want to kick up a fuss. As such, she did not lose her temper at their underestimation of her, and just treated them as if they were transparent.

    They sized her up for a while, lost interest, and then shifted their gazes elsewhere.

    As the doors of the examination room opened slowly, Xia Ling followed the rest of the group into the room.

    It was a wide and brightly-lit room with a long, thick wooden table at one end.

    Xia Ling recognized Shen Manyao immediately. That woman was in thick makeup as usual, dressed in a red low-cut top with her cleavage in clear sight. Shen Manyao was unabashedly leaning toward the guy sitting to her side, but seemed to be somewhat conscious and did not dare to be too excessive.

    Shen Manyao did not seem to want to spare even a sideward nce to the group of trainees that just entered the room.

    Xia Ling was slightly surprised after noticing that Shen Manyao was not seated at the main seat in the center of the long table. Instead, the main seat was upied by a man that Xia Ling had never seen before. Dressed in a simple white shirt and wearing tinum-rimmed sses, he had not a single extra essory in his entire outfit except for a watch on his wrist ¡ª a rare Patek Philippe collector version.

    It suited him. He had a clean-cut, strong charisma.

    Xia Ling looked him up and down briefly before turning away. Shen Manyao was unabashedly trying to charm him. ¡°Do you have timeter at night to have dinner together? I know a pretty good French restaurant.....¡±

    That man slightly turned his head to look at the man on his other side, ignoring Shen Manyaopletely. Xia Ling recognized the other man ¨C the general manager of the training camp, Tan Ying.

    Who was this big shot that could make Tan Ying y second fiddle?

 Chapter 5 - An Important Person That Cannot Be Read

    <h4>Chapter 5: An Important Person That Cannot Be Read</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Tan Ying, understanding the hidden meaning behind his gaze, said with a tinge of a smile in his voice, ¡°We aremencing the examination now. You six, introduce yourselves first.¡± As he spoke, he gestured to the six of them beneath the stage with the fountain pen in his hand.

    Shen Manyao had no choice but to stop talking.

    Trainee number 67, who was beside Xia Ling, stepped forward. ¡°Good morning examiners, I am number 67, Zhou Yu. I entered Skyart Entertainmentst year. My interests are...¡±

    ¡°Next.¡± Tan Ying interrupted him abruptly.

    Zhou Yu was taken aback, and then hurriedly stepped back. Xia Ling did not have to turn her head to be able to sense his panic. She secretly shook her head. Sometimes, being too keen to impress could have the opposite effect. This was only a small examination, the self-introduction section was just a test of the politeness and elegance of the trainees. Who would be interested to hear a small fry tell his life story?

    She stepped forward as she was thinking, and then introduced herself. ¡°Second year, ss C, Ye Xingling.¡±

    A short and sweet introduction. Easy for Tan Ying, and easy for herself.

    Tan Ying took a second look at Xia Ling before indicating for the next person to continue.

    The next trainee was not as sinct as Xia Ling, but learned from Zhou Yu¡¯s mistake and kept it rtively short. An expression of satisfaction came across Tan Ying¡¯s face, and the next trainees immediately followed suit. As a result, the self-introduction segment waspleted smoothly.

    Next up was a standard dance segment.

    ¡°Standard dance¡± referred to the different foundation dance songs that were used in the training camp on a regr basis. The examiners would randomly pick a song to test the trainee¡¯s foundational abilities. Given that they were picking trainees to appear in Shen Manyao¡¯s MV, Xia Ling thought that the standard dance style would be more toward Shen Manyao¡¯s mboyant style. However, the song that Tan Ying picked was unexpected. It was a slow practice dance song.

    Xia Ling nced at Shen Manyao and saw that she waspletely disinterested, her eyes still glued on the man seated next to her. She had no spare capacity to care about anything else happening in the examination room.

    The man in the main seat ced a hand under his chin, looking on indifferently, allowing Tan Ying to call the shots.

    The music slowly started ying.

    Xia Ling followed everyone as they started to dance, focusing on making sure she would not stand out. This was simr to asking a taekwondo ck belt holder to pretend that he cannot fight, and yet not be too obviously bad, such that nobody would be able to tell. Executing this was terribly awkward.

    Even though it was a little narcissistic to think like that, at this moment, Xia Ling was immensely grateful to Tan Ying for choosing a slow song. If he had chosen a difficult piece in the mboyant style, which was Xia Ling¡¯s forte, pretending to be mediocre would be even more torturous...

    As her mind started to wander, the standard dance segment ended. Xia Ling was satisfied with her performance as she saw several of the trainees give her looks of contempt. Very good, in the next freestyle dance segment she just needed to keep it together and victory would be hers.

    Each trainee was given five minutes for their freestyle dance. There would be no apaniment music, thus the trainee would have the freedom to show whatever they wanted.

    Typically, trainees would use this segment to present the dance they were most confident in, as it was the best time to show the examiners their talent. As expected, an atmosphere of excitement started brewing once Tan Ying announced the start of the freestyle dance segment. The trainees who were feeling unhappy that they did not unt their skills in the standard dance segment immediately took their ces and focused on showing the best of what they had prepared.

    Xia Ling remained unaffected, continuing to mind her own business and dance with her mediocre dance steps. She had choreographed these moves with careful calctions. As long as she made no mistakes, given Skyart Entertainment¡¯s end-of-month examination grading rubric, she would not rank bottom. With regards to Shen Manyao¡¯s MV selection, she would definitely not be selected.

    Passing the examination and failing in the selection for the MV would be the perfect scenario.

    As Xia Lingpleted her dance with satisfaction, she raised her head only to see the man sitting in the main seat looking at her.

    Behind the thin spectacle sses, she could not make out his expression. Very quickly he shifted his gaze, used his finger to push up his sses, and turned to say something to Tan Ying in a low voice.

    Tan Ying nodded, stood up and announced the end of the examination.

    Xia Ling was uncertain, what did that man tell Tan Ying? Did he say something about her, or did he simply ask to announce the end of the examination?

    That cold, distant nce made Xia Ling feel mildly uneasy. On the other hand, maybe it was just a misunderstanding... Xia Ling was of the view that she had danced as mediocre as it could possibly get. If she could be selected just like that, Skyart Entertainment should just close down.

    Or maybe, that man was expressing his disdain of her to Tan Ying.

    As she thought more about it, thistter exnation seemed more likely. She immediately felt relieved.

    As Xia Ling followed thest group of trainees out of the room, she had only taken a few steps before spotting Luo Luo, who had been waiting in therge hall for a long time. Luo Luo jumped up and got ready to pounce on Xia Ling, but Xia Ling was prepared this time. She sidestepped and the small shadow of pink missed its mark.

    ¡°Xingling~¡± Luo Luo blinked her puppy dog eyes at Xia Ling, her voiceced with a slight disappointment.

    Xia Ling was unmoved and simply received the bottle of mineral water that Luo Luo handed over. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the dorms and have a shower before going for food.¡±

    Luo Luo did not raise any objections and walked with a spring in her steps alongside Xia Ling. This kid had boundless energy and could not sit still. ¡°Xingling, Xingling, how did you do? Any chance of being selected? You know everyone has been saying how lucky Shen Manyao is, the MV that she is going to film this time is...¡±

    ¡°Stop¨C¡± Xia Ling felt her head throbbing. She stopped walking and looked at Luo Luo. ¡°I did really badly, there¡¯s no chance that I will be selected.¡±

    Luo Luo immediately stopped talking, disappointment written all over her little face. She scratched her head and attempted to console Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s ok, Xingling, it¡¯s alright even if you don¡¯t get selected. There will be many chances, you don¡¯t have to be too sad...¡±

    Oh my God, Xia Ling was anything but sad.

    Xia Ling looked on at this exasperating kid, wishing that she could wrap Luo Luo up and throw her 108 thousand miles away. Controlling herself, Xia Ling weakly squeezed out. ¡°I have never liked Shen Manyao. I don¡¯t want to film her MV...¡±

    <i>Pfft </i>, a lightugh sounded.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡±

    Xia Ling turned alertly and saw that behind her was a tall nt, about half the height of a normal person, with a thick foliage of leaves. Behind the nt was a quiet rest corner with a man rxing on the wide, real leather sofa. He was wearing a well-fitted white shirt, tinum-rimmed sses, and a Patek Philippe on his left wrist.

    This was the man that was sitting in the main seat in the examination.

    He picked up the coffee cup that was on the ss coffee table and signaled a toast to Xia Ling from afar. Behind his sses, his eyes were clearly filled with amusement.

    Xia Ling and his eyes met for a moment, before she turned away, her face void of expression. She said a single word to Luo Luo. ¡°Go.¡±

    Luo Luo followed behind her in confusion. ¡°Xingling, was he not that...¡±

    ¡°Whoever he is, it has nothing to do with me.¡±

    After dying once, it seems that all her curiosity had died with her. Now, she just wanted to live life uneventfully. Big shots that cannot be read, it would be better to be as far away from them as possible.

 Chapter 6 - Unexpectedly Selected

    <h4>Chapter 6: Unexpectedly Selected</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Unfortunately, things did not progress as Xia Ling hoped. When they released the selection list for the MV filming, her name was top of the list.

    Xia Ling gaped in astonishment together with everybody else in the training camp, with the exception of Luo Luo who was busy being happy for her.

    Some suspected that it was unfair selection through behind-the-scenes means, and kicked up a fuss in Tan Ying¡¯s office. Tan Ying simply threw them a single sentence. ¡°Wei Shaoyin personally picked her. If you want to kick up a fuss, go look for Wei Shaoyin.¡±

    It was only then that Xia Ling found out that the man wearing Patek Philippe that day was Wei Shaoyin¡ªSkyart Entertainment¡¯s chief music producer. In the entertainment industry, he was on par with Feng Kun, her exclusive producer in her past life. Together, they were regarded as the two gems of the industry.

    Apparently, he was in charge of producing Shen Manyao¡¯s new song and MV.

    Xia Ling was baffled. Wei Shaoyin was extremely expensive to hire, many A-listers were unable to hire him to produce their songs. Why was he willing to produce for a second-rate female singer? Not only so, but his musical style was also renowned to be graceful and slow,pletely different from Shen Manyao¡¯s seductive, morous style. How did these two opposite poles get entwined in the same picture?

    Yet, this solved the mystery of Xia Ling being selected. Everyone had chosen to dance morously, why did she choose to dance gracefully? However, she was still confused. Even if she had chosen the right style to dance, her dancing was still mediocre at the very best. It seemed highly unlikely that Wei Shaoyin, who was typically known to be picky and selective, would be impressed.

    No one dared to question Wei Shaoyin. Hence, all the anger in the training camp was redirected at Xia Ling.

    Everyone agreed that there were many others in the camp who were able to dance the graceful steps better than Xia Ling, she was simply lucky this time. Those who failed to be selected called her despicable behind her back. Even those who were chosen would openly dere that they did not care to be in the same team as her as if this would make them appear to have the moral high ground.

    Xia Ling ignored all these rumblings.

    Until a particr incident.

    On that day, Xia Ling went to the cultural ssroom for her lesson as per normal. There, she found that someone had poured an entire bottle of ink on her table. The table, chair, and floor were a mess. Everyone in the ssroom was watching her, waiting to see what she would do.

    She took a took breath and asked, ¡°Who did this? Own up now.¡±

    Everyoneughed.

    Some sneered. ¡°Ye Xingling, aren¡¯t you a prophet? Try guessing who did this since you were so urate in guessing who the examiner would be.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a cold smile, ¡°You were not good enough to be selected so you decided to do something like this in secret.¡± Pausing, she added, ¡°A bunch of good-for-nothings.¡± In her past life, ording to her sister Xia Yu, this arrogant attitude of hers was the most hateful. Indeed, she saw an immediate effect.

    As expected, someone stood up opposite her, saying angrily, ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ¡°Ha, am I wrong?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, stop being so cocky. Lu Tao was also selected this time, and he was third ce in the examination. That¡¯s much better than your 20th ce!¡± Someone shouted out at her.

    Lu Tao, her ssmate, was looking at her cross-armed across the ssroom.

    She looked over at Lu Tao and asked, ¡°You did this?¡±

    Lu Tao had a handsome face, sporting a crew cut. He had on a tight-fitting singlet top with a pair of loose-fitted trousers. Chains adorned his wrists and neck, giving off a clear street, hip-hop vibe. He was leaning nonchntly by the ssroom door, provocatively watching her. ¡°So what if it was my idea?¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± She would make him responsible for his actions, thus sheughed and said, ¡°You think you are great, don¡¯t you? Do you dare have a battle with me?¡±

    ¡°What battle?¡± Lu Tao seemed to not expect Xia Ling to make such a proposition and asked, his interest piqued.

    ¡°Since you think I got chosen for the MV by luck and that my dancing will not hold its own, let¡¯s do a dance battle.¡± Xia Ling calmly replied. With the bullying getting this serious, if she did not do something to show the others, wouldn¡¯t everyone think she was a pushover? Even if she didn¡¯t want to draw attention to herself, she had no choice this time but to retaliate.

    Lu Tao and the trainees standing aroundughed as if they had heard a big joke. ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right? You want to have a dance battle with Brother Lu? Brother Lu will send you crawling with just a few simple moves! Hahahahah...¡±

    As they spoke, everyoneughed out loud.

    Xia Ling was unfazed. Staring straight at Lu Tao, she taunted. ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    Lu Tao smirked as he walked over from beside the door and retorted. ¡°What do I have to be afraid of? You started this, I¡¯ll just y along with you.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s battle it out with the windmill, your best dance move.¡± The windmill was a variation of the Thomas rotation, a dance move that was highly challenging and break dancers would use it as their signature move. She did not have to purposefully find out that this move was Lu Tao¡¯s favorite as he was not shy about bragging about it in ss. It would be difficult for her to not know.

    Lu Tao looked at her in shock, as did the others.

    ¡°Are you kidding me... Ye Xingling, you¡¯re a girl and your main focus is not street dance. Let¡¯s not talk about the windmill, even a normal spin, how many can you do?¡± A ssmate standing beside Lu Tao advised her as if speaking to a moron. ¡°Don¡¯t push it if you haven¡¯t tried. If you break an arm or a leg don¡¯t go crying to the coaches.¡±

    ¡°I take responsibility for my own actions.¡± Xia Ling was still staring at Lu Tao. ¡°Let¡¯s battle it out to see who can do more rounds of the windmill. If you lose, kneel and apologize to me. If I lose, you pick whatever you want to do with me.¡±

    ¡°Kneel and apologize?¡± Lu Tao, who was initially hesitating,ughed in agitation. ¡°Ye Xingling, I was going to advise you to give up since many people get injured doing the windmill. If you are not careful, perhaps you¡¯ll even be paralyzed for life... Well, since you want to court death.¡± Lu Tao pointed straight at her and arrogantly said, ¡°Okay, if I lose, I¡¯ll kneel and apologize to you. If you lose, get out of this training camp!¡±

    Xia Lingughed lightly. ¡°Deal.¡±

    Lu Tao did not think that she would agree to these terms and was visibly startled. If one were to leave Skyart Entertainment¡¯s training camp, there were no second chances. Not only would her entire year of training be wasted, but she also might never be able to return to the entertainment circle. However, what was done was done, all he could do was snigger, turn and walk towards the dance studio.

    Xia Ling retrieved her dancewear and followed.

    There were several trainees practicing in the dance studio, but they readily gave up the room upon hearing that there was going to be a dance battle and joined the crowd that had entered to watch. Xia Ling changed into her dancewear and started warming up across Lu Tao in the middle of the dance floor.

    The crowd of onlookers started getting bigger and Xia Ling could hear them talking to each other¡ª

    ¡°Is that Ye Xingling? The one that got selected for the MV by sheer luck?¡±

    ¡°She wants topete on the windmill with Lu Tao? Is she mad, even if Lu Tao were to give her a handicap of 30 rounds she would still not be able to match up.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, isn¡¯t she courting death? I heard that before Lu Tao was selected to join our training camp he was already the champion of the national breakdancepetition...¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s bet on it...¡±

 Chapter 7 - The Dance Battle

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Dance Battle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What¡¯s there to bet? Ye Xingling is going to lose for sure!¡± Many said.

    In their eyes, Ye Xingling and Lu Tao were in different sses altogether. There was just no way of setting up the betting odds.

    Xia Ling maintained a calm expression, did a few warm-up stretches, and then indicated for the referee to start. The referee, who was chosen by the trainees who were watching on from the sidelines, upon seeing that Xia Ling was ready, verified with Lu Tao that he, too, was ready to start before signaling the start of the battle.

    It was naturally disadvantageous for females to do the windmill dance move, but nobody could take their eyes off Xia Ling as she ced her hands on the ground, stretched herself out, and started to spin. Her long, straight legs gracefully kicked through the air in a perfect arc, cleanly, purposefully, and with a ir that could only be executed due to her confidence. Many people practiced the windmill move, but those who could execute the typically gruff dance move with such ir and elegance were few and far between. No, more urately, no other person could do so.

    The gaze of many onlookersnded on Xia Ling, and they remained staring at her.

    ¡°Oh my God, is this even the windmill...¡± A girl remarked in awe. ¡°She¡¯s so graceful. It doesn¡¯t look like a break dance at all.¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Another boy continued. ¡°It¡¯s both beautiful and cool. Her dance is one of a kind.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s focus at this moment was not on the murmurings of the crowd, but instead on the spinning world in front of her eyes. Colorful and confident. Although her forte was not in break dancing, this did not mean she was not good at it. In her past life, she filmed an MV that required her to do the windmill on set. The director then suggested that she use a stunt double, but Xia Ling had insisted onpleting the move herself. For that MV, she trained hard to learn the move for quite some time, developing an interest in it along the way. Even after filming the MV, she would do the dance the move every now and then for fun, treating it as her daily exercise and training both her coordination and flexibility.

    Pei Ziheng had even said that she was blessed by the Gods. Many had tried to learn the dance move for years but failed. She, on the other hand, learned it while treating it as a game, and easily hit a number of spins that was simply shocking.

    But...

    Xia Ling¡¯s thought drifted further away. Pei Ziheng... did he ever consider how much work she had to put in to be able to build her dance foundation to such a level? To be able to excel in all dance styles and to use them flexibly to fit every song and situation?

    She vaguely heard the people around her counting out loud.

    Those in front were counting for Lu Tao. ¡°32, 33, 34...¡±

    Those at the back were counting for her. ¡°29, 30, 31...¡±

    She had started at the same time as Lu Tao, but her speed of spinning was much slower than Lu Tao¡¯s. That was inevitable since Lu Tao¡¯s specialty was in break dancing, which required the moves to be slick and cool. In her case, when she was filming the MV, the director had requested for a slow take to bring out a mysterious and enchanting atmosphere. Eventer, when she was doing the windmill for fun, she had focused more on an aerobic, flexible style.

    She had never trained for speed.

    Lu Tao spun faster and faster, seemingly never getting tired. ¡°46, 47, 48...¡±

    Xia Ling continued to follow at her own slower pace. ¡°40, 41, 42...¡±

    A look of surprise slowly entered Lu Tao¡¯s eyes, since he had never thought that there would be anyone other than him that could persist for so long. The number of times that he looked toward Xia Ling while switching hands became increasingly frequent.

    Xia Ling had a simple principle in mind. If Lu Tao did not stop, neither would she.

    Finally, Lu Tao ran out of steam. As the crowd chanted ¡°67¡±, he stopped abruptly and stood up. He ignored those who ran up to him with towels and water, keeping his eyes glued on Xia Ling¡¯s moves, his lips pursed in concentration.

    Xia Ling continued to spin at her pace, and the counting around her continued. ¡°59, 60, 61...¡±

    ¡°Gosh, even Lu Tao stopped but she¡¯s still going strong...¡±

    ¡°But she¡¯s stillgging behind Lu Tao in terms of count.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true, but look at how stable Ye Xingling is. She¡¯s going to overtake him...¡±

    ¡°66, 67, 68... Ah, she¡¯s overtaken him! She has really overtaken Lu Tao!!¡±

    The buzz of the crowd became louder, and the chants counting for Xia Ling became louder and more numerous. ¡°69, 70, 71...¡±

    They all seemed to be excited that she had overtaken Lu Tao. After all, it was not every day that something so out of the ordinary happened. Xia Ling listened carefully, and as they shouted out ¡°75¡±, she stopped decisively. She just needed to beat Lu Tao, there was no need to win by toorge a margin.

    Groans of disappointment rang out from all around¡ª

    ¡°Ah what a pity, she stopped...¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s already spun for so long. What¡¯s more, she¡¯s a girl. It¡¯s normal that her body couldn¡¯t take it anymore...¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡±

    Amidst the murmurings, Lu Tao¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°Why did you stop?¡±

    Xia Ling replied simply. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡±

    He red at her as if he was trying to ascertain whether she was lying.

    She simply smiled at him and said, ¡°You lost.¡±

    His face immediately contorted into a frown, as the news had just sunk in. Following which, he came up to Xia Ling with a dark expression and then knelt in front of her.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I apologize.¡± He knelt without hesitation, showing responsibility for his wager.

    Xia Ling had only wanted to see a change in attitude, to let everyone know that she was not easy to deal with so that they would not bother her anymore. Now that Lu Tao had admitted defeat, she had no intention of making life difficult for him. ¡°You can stand up,¡± she said, and then turned to leave.

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± Lu Tao called from behind.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks and then heard him ask. ¡°Where did you learn to windmill?¡±

    She did not reply and simply waved her hand with her back still to him, pushing her way out of the crowd.

    Luo Luo, who had joined the crowd midway through the battle, wrestled Xia Ling as she walked out. ¡°Xingling! How could you make such a dangerous bet with him! What if you had lost? You can¡¯t be so wilful!¡±

    As Luo Luo talked, her eyes started to turn red, and she looked like she was about to cry.

    It would be a lie to say that Xia Ling was not touched by Luo Luo¡¯s action. For someone with no rtionship with her to be willing to show such loyalty and concern towards her... she simply could not handle it. Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to experience the same betrayal and despair in her past life. In this life, she was determined to not have any rtionships with anyone. Rtionships scared her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry for me.¡± She pushed Luo Luo away and turned around. ¡°I can take care of myself, it has nothing to do with you.¡±

    There was silence behind her for a moment, before she felt Luo Luo hug her tighter. ¡°What do you mean it has nothing to do with me? We¡¯re friends!¡±

    ¡°Friend...¡± Xia Ling shut her eyes momentarily and said, ¡°There is no such a word in my dictionary.¡±

    The small frame behind her froze. Xia Ling hesitated for a moment, but still pushed Luo Luo away. In that instant, she felt empty and reluctant to part.

    Even if it was just for an instant.

    Around her were the murmurings of the crowd. Clearly, for the onlookers the huge scene today was absolutely worth their while. First, the massive upset that Xia Ling performed, beating out Lu Tao. Following which, the falling out between Luo Luo and her.

    Many were pointing at Xia Ling as they discussed the happenings enigmatically.

    ¡°I was just feeling such respect for her for having beat Lu Tao. Who would expect that she would treat her friend like that after achieving sess? Did she forget who was by her side when she was almost kicked out of the academy?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, what an ingrate.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Xia Ling walked towards the door in the midst of their criticisms but couldn¡¯t resist looking back. Luo Luo¡¯s small frame was still rooted to the same spot, with the crowd intentionally keeping their distance. She looked lonely and helpless.

    Xia Ling hardened her heart as she turned and walked away.

 Chapter 8 - The Scars On Her Heart

    <h4>Chapter 8: The Scars On Her Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The next day was a rest day, and Luo Luo had initially arranged to go shopping with Xia Ling. However, after their falling outst night, Luo Luo did note looking for Xia Ling. Looking at her schedule, Xia Ling thought that she should go buy some necessities to bring along for the MV outdoor filming the next day, and there was also some daily items to buy; there was no way she would be able to stay in.

    She went looking for Tan Ying, the general manager of the training camp, to take a leave for the day. ording to the camp regtions, trainees had to give prior notice if they wanted to leave the camp.

    Tan Ying looked up at her and gave an insincere smile. ¡°I heard that Luo Luo and you had an argument yesterday?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned slightly before replying. ¡°That is my personal matter.¡±

    Tan Yingughed but shrugged and changed the topic when he saw Xia Ling¡¯s face turn cold. ¡°I also heard that you had a windmill dance battle with Lu Tao and beat him.¡±

    Xia Ling thought to herself. <i>He is indeed well updated.</i>

    She did not respond, quietly waiting for Tan Ying to continue.

    Tan Ying also kept quiet as their eyes locked for a moment. Suddenly, heughed. ¡°Ye Xingling, why have I never realized you were this interesting? If it were anybody else who had beaten someone as good as Lu Tao, they would be bragging to everyone in sight. But you, you look irritated even when somebody asks you about it.¡±

    Xia Ling sought to keep her emotions in check and to look less irritated. After all, this was the general manager of the training camp she was talking to. He had a huge stake in determining if she would be able to sessfully debut in the future.

    ¡°And also a good actress.¡± Tan Ying shook his head and muttered to himself.

    ¡°Mr. Tan, is there anything else? I still need to prepare many things for the outdoor shoot for the next few days. If I don¡¯t get going I might not have enough time,¡± said Xia Ling simply. Since Tan Ying had said that she was acting, she need not hide her feelings.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Yes, there is something I need to ask. Ye Xingling, did you learn to breakdance before joining the training camp?¡±

    Xia Ling finally realized what he was getting at. She thought for a moment and then answered, ¡°I¡¯ve never learned breakdancing officially. More urately, I¡¯ve only learned how to do some spins and the windmill, leaning more towards gymnastics to practice on a regr basis.¡±

    ¡°No wonder your flexibility is so good.¡± Tan Ying gave her a once over, and then thought out loud. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you mention this when you were filling in your skill proficiency when you entered the campst year?

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes in her head. Of course not, she had not reincarnated then.

    Outwardly, she responded by saying, ¡°If I had reported this skill in the beginning I would have been sent to the group practicing street dance. I don¡¯t like the street dance.¡± Xia Ling had never liked the noisy and animated dance genre, it was just not her cup of tea.

    ¡°That is such a pity,¡± said Tan Ying. ¡°Ever since the Hei Yao Shi group disbanded, Skyart Entertainment never had another street dancing group. Lu Tao has great potential, thus I¡¯m looking for a partner that can match him. Unfortunately, that has proved to be really difficult.¡±

    ¡°I have no interest,¡± said Xia Ling.

    Tan Ying frowned. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯ve entered the camp for more than a year now. At the moment, you¡¯re still wavering at the medium and low levels. Your chances of debuting are really small. If you team up with Lu Tao...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to team up with anyone.¡± Xia Ling interrupted Tan Ying. ¡°I¡¯m going to debut on my own merits.¡±

    Tan Ying stared at her for a long while. All of a sudden heughed lightly and said, ¡°Up to you. I look forward to seeing that happen.¡±

    Xia Ling walked out from the training camp, lifted her head and took a few deep breaths of fresh air.

    In the streets, the sun was shining brightly, together with the light, cool breeze of early autumn. She wandered through the shops on the main shopping street, purchasing the items that she would need for an outdoor shoot as she remembered it from her past life. Sunscreen, moisturizer, insect repellent, facial tissue...

    She was not sure if she was missing something.

    In the past, she had an assistant who would do these things for her and make sure she was well taken care of. Now, she was all alone and had to do everything herself, thus she felt lost for a moment. How long had it been since she had felt this way? It was as if everything was back to the beginning in her past life, before her destiny as a diva started. There was a little girl in an orphanage called Xia Ling.

    Yes, in her past life she was an orphan.

    ording to the head of the orphanage, it was a foggy morning that he heard the sound of a baby¡¯s cry outside the door. Following the sound, he found two little children behind a tree of irises ¡ª 3-year-old Xia Ling, holding a stalk of dried flowers, trying her best to appease the baby in her arms. That little baby was her little sister, Xia Yu.

    When the head of the orphanage found them, there were still tears on Xia Yu¡¯s face, but her little mouth was already breaking into a smile. She gurgled happily as she stretched out her hand to snatch at the flowers that Xia Ling had ced in front of her.

    The head of the orphanage said that she was a responsible kid, loving and caring for her sister, independent and strong.

    Xia Yu then had been weak with a serious congenital heart disease. She could not run or jump around. If she were slightly too hot or too cold, it would cause an acute lung infection or even heart failure. To take care of Xia Yu, Xia Ling gave up many chances of being adopted. She had told the head of the orphanage then that she was not going anywhere unless someone was willing to adopt the both of them together.

    Year after year passed. Even if Xia Ling was exceedingly beautiful and presented herself as a good, responsible kid, every couple would shake their heads and give up adopting them upon seeing Xia Yu, who appeared ugly and skinny from her illness.

    That was until they met Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling had thought once that he was her savior.

    He appeared from under the fragrant flowers of the iris tree, the zing summer sun making a golden aura to surround his tall stature. He had smiled and reached out his hand to her, saying, ¡°Xiao Ling,e home with me. I will make you the most famous artiste in the whole wide world and give you anything you can dream of. And your sister, she will receive the best treatment.¡±

    Xiao Ling,e home with me.

    It was this sentence that made her give him all her love and hopes.

    She had followed Pei Ziheng since she was 12. He was her guardian, her father, her brother, her teacher and... her lover. She had thought that he was hers forever, but she had forgotten that she was from a humble background. Pei Ziheng was from a family with generations of wealth, and as he was the rightful heir, his family naturally wanted him to marry someone that could match up to him.

    He did not even discuss it with her before he agreed to the marriage that was arranged by his family.

    Xia Ling only learned about his engagement in the news. That day, she barged into his office to question him, almost hysterical. He only frowned at her and said, ¡°It¡¯s just an arranged marriage between families. I¡¯m not going to abandon you. Xiao Ling, since when did you be so unreasonable?¡±

    Ha, it was her being unreasonable.

    She loved him too much. She could not tolerate anybody else entering the pictureing between them, even if it was just a contractual, distant wife. What¡¯s more, she was jealous that his wife would be able to openly walk alongside him hand-in-hand and receive everyone¡¯s blessings. She, on the other hand, could only hide in the darkness and be his mistress that he could never reveal to anyone.

    She had gotten into heated arguments with him on the matter, testing his limits time and time again. She even went to negotiate with the other woman like a wronged wife. That woman had presented herself with utmost elegance, looking down on her saying, ¡°Xia Ling, who are you? You¡¯re just an actress, a toy. If you are smart, I can still tolerate you after the marriage. However, if you don¡¯t toe the line, don¡¯t forget who is thedy boss of the Imperial Entertainment in the future.¡±

    At that moment, Xia Ling realized how insignificant she was.

    So what if she were a goddess in the music industry? So what if she had countless fans? In front of these wealthy families, she was but an insignificant piece of dust, an ant that could be easily squashed to death.

    She had returned home in despair, the home with Pei Ziheng that she had painstakingly decorated. From each wall in the rooms down to the kitchen utensils, she had poured her heart into every detail. She suddenly realized that other than giving her money and people to help her, Pei Ziheng had not done anything at all. All along, the only person who considered this ce a home was her, Xia Ling. Pei Ziheng simply saw it as a hotel or concubine quarters.

    Fatigue swept over her.

    She was tired, she wanted to give up. If she could not spend her life with Pei Ziheng, just the two of them, she would rather leave for a faraway ce, even if she were to die alone.

    She crouched down on the bed that she shared with him and cried her heart out alone. Thereafter, she wiped her tears, got up, opened the closet and started packing her luggage. Before she left, she remembered that the weather was turning cold. She turned back and dug through the closet until she found the thick, wool jacket that Pei Ziheng loved, and then hung it in the most eye-catching, intricately-carved clothing rack in the living room.

    Only then did she pick up her chunky luggage and unsteadily walked towards the door.

    At this moment, he opened the door and entered.

 Chapter 9 - The Butterfly Cage

    <h4>Chapter 9: The Butterfly Cage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked up at him, her feet rooted to the ground. She squeezed out a smile, hoping that her joyous expression would be thest thing that he remembered of her.

    However, before she could think of how to exin her decision to leave, he walked over and gave her a tight p across the face. ¡°Xia Ling, I didn¡¯t know that you were so cruel! You went so far as to poison someone to death!¡±

    Poison someone to death?

    She could not understand what he was talking about, falling weakly to the floor from the shock of the impact. Her forehead hit against a corner and blood started flowing down her face, blinding her line of sight. She stared up at him in shock, with her ears buzzing and consciousness in a blur.

    He bent over, grabbed her shirt by the cor and bellowed. ¡°You have great guts, daring to kill Wang Jingwan! The Wang family is now chasing us down to ask for an exnation. Do you know how much trouble you have caused?!¡±

    Wang Jingwan, his fiance, was dead?

    The thought shed through her mind for a split second before disappearing. She tried her best to open her eyes to look clearly at the man in front of her, but the gushing blood made it hard for her to see through. Her face was smarting from the pain, likely starting to swell up, which affected her speech. She mumbled unclearly. ¡°I want... to go, let me... go...¡±

    Whether that woman was dead or not, it no longer mattered to her. Her focus was on one thing alone ¡ª Pei Ziheng had actually pped her. This was the first time that he had ever hit her without an ounce of pity or care as if she were his mortal enemy.

    s, their rtionship was so fragile.

    For this random woman... ha, probably notpletely random. For this woman that was supposedly from apatible family, a political marriage, he had thrown away their ten-year rtionship.

    They were really over.

    Xia Ling did not kill his fiance, but he would not believe her.

    Apparently, thest person who saw Wang Jingwan was her. She was found dead on the sofa of the private room in the coffee shop that they had met, shortly after their negotiation. Xia Ling¡¯s fingerprints were found on the toppled ss of drink beside her body.

    Pei Ziheng then kept her under house arrest.

    Everything that happened after that, Xia Ling could only wish to forget forever. It was a torturous year that only served to let Xia Ling learn one thing ¡ª the kind Pei Ziheng that had promised to protect her all the days of her life was dead. Recing him was a savage animal, an abusive monster...

    A cold autumn breeze blew over, causing Xia Ling to shiver.

    She emerged from her stupor of the memories of the past and hugged the paper bag in her hands tightly to her chest. The paper bag contained all the items that she had bought for the outdoor filming, and the weight of the bag gave her the feeling of being alive. The streets were crowded with people, pushing at her from all around, making her steps unsteady. Surprisingly, being a part of this bustle made her feel safe. Just a month ago she could never have imagined being able to escape from Pei Ziheng¡¯s clutches and walking normally along the streets.

    It was already more than a month since she had died and reincarnated.

    She did not intentionally count the days, but ¡ª

    Xia Ling looked up and found herself in the middle of a shopping square. People around her were going about their business, with many young people walking by carrying white daisies in their arms. Some of them were sobbing quietly, others were whispering to the people beside them. She made out some of them saying things like, ¡°Xia Ling...¡± ¡°What a pity...¡±

    A familiar melody was ying in the background. It was a song that she had sung a long time ago. On the screen in the middle of the square, a ck-and-white eye-catching caption was ying repeatedly.

    ¡°The sleeping butterfly ¡ªmemorating 77 days since the passing of Xia Ling¡±

    The credits roll was Imperial Entertainment.

    It was a live broadcast.

    Watching her own deathmemoration live broadcast was a bizarre situation. Xia Ling did not expect that she would coincidentally watch this on a random day that she decided toe shopping. She suddenly felt lost. She wanted to turn and leave, but her feet seemed to have grown roots and she was unable to move. Deep down in her heart, a voice was calling out in anticipation. Would Pei Ziheng show up? After her death, how was he... doing?

    <i>Xia Ling, you¡¯re beyond saving.</i>

    Another voice in her heart was sneering at her. <i>He caused you so much pain, yet you are still pining for him?!</i>

    People around kept bumping into her, and impatient voices became louder, ¡°Hey, are you walking or not? Why are you standing in the middle of the road.¡± ¡°Move over, stop ying dead here.¡±...

    She was shoved right and left until she bumped into a sturdy chest.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you looking where you are walking?!¡± It was Lu Tao, who pulled her to the side of the road. ¡°Go somewhere else to daydream if you want to. Here is full of Xia Ling¡¯s crazy fans. If you stand in the middle of the road and get caught in a stampede, no one would know who to me for your death.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him, her mouth agape.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say anything wrong? Don¡¯t tell me you are also one of Xia Ling¡¯s crazy fans.¡± Lu Tao stuffed his hands into his trousers¡¯rge pockets, looking immensely irritated. As he spoke, he turned to re at several ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s crazy fans¡± who were ring at him as well.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She finally found her voice and asked, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I came out to buy some stuff. If not for the MV filming being tomorrow and today being the only rest day, I would not be caught dead out here in this crowd during Xia Ling¡¯s deathmemoration ceremony.¡± Lu Tao waved to someone behind as he replied. ¡°Over here¡ª!¡±

    Xia Ling turned to see two of Lu Tao¡¯s sidekicks carrying many bags,rge and small, squeezing through the crowd with difficulty. They came up to Xia Ling and Lu Tao, breathing heavily.

    ¡°Oh my freaking God. Brother Lu, you would not believe what these crazy fans are capable of. These people are mad, there are walls and walls of them jamming up this ce. There are so many of them crying... look over there, and over there...¡± The two boys put the stuff that they were carrying down,ining animatedly as they pointed out the fans to Lu Tao.

    It was only a whileter that they saw Xia Ling standing in front of Lu Tao.

    ¡°Eh, isn¡¯t this Ye Xingling?¡± They remarked in shock, staring at her as if she were a ghost. ¡°Brother Lu, why are you with her?¡± It was no wonder that they were so shocked, just yesterday Lu Tao and her were locked in battle. Not only did they have a dance battle, but Lu Tao also had to kneel down to her in front of all those people in the training camp. How was it possible that he was together with her here today, talking to each other so amicably?

    Even Xia Ling thought it weird. Was Lu Tao simply easygoing or very forgiving? If it were anybody else, they would avoid her like the gue after having to kneel down to her yesterday. Who would still be so kind and pull her to safety?

    Lu Tao looked up to the sky and rolled his eyes. ¡°She¡¯s lucky that I happened to bump into her, otherwise, she would have been run over by these people by now.¡± He prodded her, the chains on his wrist clinking together. ¡°Ye Xingling, yesterday I lost the bet and held up my part of the bargain. I just saved your life today, how are you going to repay me?¡±

    ¡°How do you want me to repay you?¡± Xia Ling realized that Lu Tao was like a kid that had not grown up. No wonder he would childishly pour ink all over her table. A mature adult would never do that.

    On hearing her question, Lu Tao¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yesterday when I was watching you do the windmill, you would do something with your ankles as you kicked through the air that was different from what we typically see in the windmill dance moves... I¡¯ve never seen that before. I tried several times this morning and I cannot get the angle right. Where did you learn to do that? Quick, tell me!¡±

 Chapter 10 - The Commemoration Ceremony of a Diva

    <h4>Chapter 10: The Commemoration Ceremony of a Diva</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sheughed. That was all that Lu Tao wanted.

    She nced at Lu Tao¡¯s sparkling eyes and felt her emotions lifting. People in the industry thought that Xia Ling was arrogant and difficult to please. Few understood that she was only picky and arrogant to those that were stupid. To those that truly had a passion for the entertainment business, who were willing to put in the hard work to seed, she showed respect and admiration for them.

    Unfortunately, these types of people were few and far between.

    Luckily, this big boy in front of her could count as one of them.

    ¡°Xia Ling has an MV called ¡®The Deadly Ravine¡¯.¡± She lifted her head slightly to look at him, exposing her pretty jawline and a few strands of her hair flowing in the light autumn breeze. ¡°The director used a slow-motion take in there, the movements are very clear.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you learned it from Xia Ling¡¯s MV.¡± Lu Tao remarked in realization. ¡°No wonder! I never watch her MVs. Her dance is too coquettish, I don¡¯t like it... I didn¡¯t know she knew how to do the windmill as well.¡± Lu Tao scratched his head, turned and ordered the two boys behind him. ¡°Hey, when you go backter, buy me one of Xia Ling¡¯s CDs. I want the one with that song, ¡®The Deadly Ravine¡¯.¡±

    The two boys looked like they were about to cry. ¡°Brother Lu, look at this crowd. How are we going to get out of here?¡±

    Looking around, Lu Tao realized that they had somehow been surrounded. Fans to their left and right were all holding white daisies. Looking up ahead, he was unable to see the end of the crowd. Whether it was moving forward or backward, it was going to be a challenge.

    ¡°Damn it.¡± Lu Tao muttered in irritation.

    Xia Ling gave a bitter smile. Right, she would not have to worry about making a decision to stay or leave the ceremony now. The crowd around her had already made the decision for her.

    The background music faded away and thememoration ceremony began.

    The quality of the Imperial Entertainment events had always been high. It was the same for thismemoration ceremony. The location, setting, music, exnatory remarks, choice of video clips... everything down to the smallest detail was perfect. Even the guests that were invited to attend were specially selected. There were not many of them, but they were all influential people. Other than some big names in the entertainment industry, there were socialites from different businesses and important political figures.

    Xia Ling stood amidst the crowd and felt the irony of the situation. Didn¡¯t Pei Ziheng think that she was lowly and not good enough to marry him? Why did he pick such influential people toe to attend hermemoration after her death?

    She was aware that these people were all here because of Pei Ziheng. They had no ties or rtionship with Xia Ling.

    In her past life, she had been too high profile and nasty, insulting all that she hade into contact with. If not for the fact that Pei Ziheng was so powerful, she guessed there wouldn¡¯t be a soul attending thismemoration. It would be even more surprising if they didn¡¯t p their hands and celebrate.

    ¡°Xia Ling had so many friends.¡± Lu Taomented ironically at this moment, his face full of envy. ¡°See, there are so many influential people. If there was such a party at my death memorial, I would definitely rest in peace.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want that, boss.¡± One of Lu Tao¡¯s sidekicks said with a look of disapproval. ¡°Xia Ling died a terrible death, you don¡¯t want that right? I heard that it was horrible, her blood was all over the floor, her brain matter was oozing out...¡±

    ¡°Bleah, stop cursing me.¡± Lu Tao spluttered out angrily and red at the boy.

    His sidekick smirked and kept quiet.

    ¡°That being said, how exactly did Xia Ling die?¡± Lu Tao lifted his head to look at the live broadcast screen, his hand under his chin, thinking out loud. ¡°Her death was so sudden and mysterious. Even if there was a ckout on stage, logically, with the safety barricade it¡¯s rather unlikely that she would fall over by mistake... Do you guys think she could have been murdered? Someone wanted to kill Xia Ling intentionally?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in agreement.

    Of course, it was murder. That concert was her 10-years debut anniversary concert. When the ckout urred, she was singing thest encore song alone on stage. However, someone else had suddenly appeared on stage in the darkness, stabbing her in the heart from the back and pushing her offstage. She did not even have time to feel the pain before falling to the ground... dead.

    If anyone had looked at her body, they would have discovered the truth.

    Weirdly, she had passed away for more than a month now and many fans were requesting Imperial Entertainment to announce the cause of her death. Yet, Imperial Entertainment had only mentioned that it was death by ident, or possibly suicide.

    They never mentioned the possibility of murder.

    Even the police and media seemed to have lost their voice, ignoring the spections by fans of the possibility of murder.

    16 years.

    From the time she was 12 and was adopted by Pei Ziheng until her death at 28 years of age. A whole 16 years. In these 16 years, she had given him her ungirdled love, trust, and adoration. Yet, at the very end, he still would not seek justice for her.

    Xia Ling felt her heart grow cold from anguish. It was easy to guess who the culprit was ¡ª even though she had offended many people, but the only family that hated her enough to have the motive to kill her, as well as the power to execute it, was obvious. It was the Wang family, the family of Pei Ziheng¡¯s fianc¨¦e.

    But he chose to cover it all up.

    Why? She could not help but think. Was it because of the Wang family¡¯s respectful status? Unlike hers. Despite being the diva of the entertainment industry, earning the adoration of many, in the eyes of these wealthy families, she was but an actress. A cheap life. Dead and nothing more.

    She felt a sharp, unbearable pain in her heart for a split second.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, Ye Xingling?¡± Lu Tao called out to her.

    She raised her head weakly and said, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I should be the one asking you that question.¡± Lu Tao snapped back. ¡°I¡¯ve been calling out to you for a while and you just ignored me. You are looking pretty pale, you wouldn¡¯t have fallen ill, would you?¡± As he spoke, he extended his hand towards her forehead, intending to feel her temperature.

    She turned her head slightly, avoiding his hand. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± He took back his hand but looked at her with suspicion. ¡°Do say if you¡¯re feeling unwell. Even if I have to kill everyone in our way I¡¯ll still make sure to get you out of here. If anything were to happen to you, I wouldn¡¯t want to answer for it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really ok.¡± The sadness in Xia Ling¡¯s dissipated a little with his words. She then asked him again, ¡°What were you calling me for?¡±

    ¡°Ah...¡± said Lu Tao. ¡°I was asking you to look at Chu Chen. Look, he was Xia Ling¡¯s manager when she was alive. I heard he¡¯s the best manager in the entire industry. What do you think? Does he look superpetent? I wonder who he will be in charge of after Xia Ling¡¯s death. Rumors have it that everyone at Imperial Entertainment is fighting to have him to themselves.¡±

    She looked up at the big screen and saw Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen was dressed in apletely ck suit with a white flower brooch on his chest. With a somber expression on his face, he said, ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s death may have been an ident, or may have been suicide. I am very sad and full of self-reproach. Doctors have told me a long time ago that she had severe depression. I did not take care of her well enough. I thought that since she was under medication nothing bad would happen...¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned as she looked up at the person in the screen, and suddenly wanted tough.

    Ha, depression. What a joke.

    They found such a perfect excuse.

    Xia Ling did not believe that Chu Chen was unaware of the real reason for her death. Chu Chen was highly esteemed in Imperial Entertainment. He was Pei Ziheng¡¯s most trusted confidante and had a close rtionship with Xia Ling. He had no reason not to know of the knife wound in her body.

    But he had chosen to remain silent.

    He was a true businessman, ever aware of who the true boss was. Even if he had taken very good care of her before, that was only because she was his real boss¡¯ toy. Only she had naively regarded him as her friend.

    Xia Yu was right. Many of those who treated her well were only doing it because of Pei Ziheng.

    Then, she saw Xia Yu.

 Chapter 11 - The Big Boss of Imperial Entertainment â€” Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 11: The Big Boss of Imperial Entertainment ¡ª Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu walked in from outside the screen, wearing a tailored one-piece ck dress. The simple cut of the dress perfectly shaped her well-proportioned body. Her face was pale, shoulders narrow and skinny, and looked ever so pitiful.

    She walked to Chu Chen¡¯s side and took over the microphone as she continued, ¡°My older sister was a great person. She was a perfectionist and gave herself much pressure to do well.¡± She lifted her eyes, which were blurry with tears and filled with pain. ¡°My sister once said that she loved Imperial Entertainment, and she loved all her fans. She needed to show everyone the best she could achieve. Hence, she worked very hard. Even in this year or so that she was receiving treatment for depression, she would still secretly practice her singing and dancing, and continueposing music...¡±

    The sounds of sobbing rose from all around the square.

    If it were not for the fact that Xia Ling had seen Xia Yu¡¯s real colors, and had been insulted so badly by the most degrading words that came out from her mouth, watching this performance today would make Xia Ling believe that her ¡°good sister¡± loved her deeply.

    She should have known. Xia Yu could match up to any Oscar-winning actress.

    Xia Yu¡¯s heartwrenching performance moved the entire audience. Whether it was on screen or off screen, countless were crying alongside her. Her identity made her performance even morepelling. Some discussed softly in between their crying¡ª

    ¡°She is Xia Ling¡¯s blood-rted sister, whatever she says must be true. It looks like Xia Ling was really depressed and...¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Xia Ling always mentioned Xia Yu in interviews and said that they had a really tight rtionship. Whatever Xia Yu said must be true.¡±

    ¡°It looks like we were all wrong. There was no murder. Xia Ling was simply sick and could not take the pressure, so shemitted suicide.¡±

    Xia Ling listened to the discussions and could only give a bitter smile. Was this called digging her own grave? She used to trust Xia Yu with all her heart and poured out all her love and protection onto her skinny and sickly sister. Whether it was in interviews or during fan meetings, she would always mention her sister, her words reflecting pride and closeness for her sister. All of Xia Ling¡¯s fans knew that Xia Yu was a precious gem in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes.

    As a result, they all thought that Xia Yu felt the same way about her older sister.

    Xia Yu was crying her heart out on screen.

    Some staff came on stage to help here down the stage.

    The video feed switched over to show snippets of Xia Ling¡¯s journey since debuting in chronological order. Many ssic tunes coupled with ssic moments of her time in the limelight were shown. Grand and sophisticated, telling of the glorious time that Xia Ling enjoyed at the top of the industry.

    Xia Ling had never taken a moment to admire all that she had filmed before. In her past life, she was always busy. Busy singing a new song, busy filming a newmercial, busy epting another award, busy attending another party. She also had to take care of Xia Yu and to deal with all the grievances she had with Pei Ziheng.

    Until today, when it all became things of the past, Xia Ling stood in the middle of the crowd, looking up at the diva that she once was. That diva in the screen had an exquisitely beautiful face and beautiful eyes that were full of spirit. Between her brows, there was an air of seduction and arrogance, and her every movement had charm.

    A staff working in the industry had once said in an interview that it was hard to say if editing Xia Ling¡¯s video clips were easy or difficult. The easy part was that any footage was good enough for the final cut, and the difficult part was that there were so many great moments that it was hard to pick and choose.

    Many were jealous of Xia Ling, and many had said hurtful things about her. But nobody denied the fact that she was blessed.

    And that attitude of not caring in the least about anything, like she had never felt or been hurt before.

    She remembered that year when Pei Ziheng brought her home and lifted her face in his hands. He had said, ¡°This perfect face should not have an ounce of worry or darkness.¡±

    Pei Ziheng gave her the best of everything and fulfilled all of her requests. He spent a fortune hiring the best teachers to teach her etiquette, music, performance, and dance. For her, he had sent Xia Yu to the best hospitals in the world for treatment. He had hired a personal assistant and nutritionist to tend to her daily needs... His office was out of bounds to anyone without an appointment, only she could enter as she pleased...

    Everyone had seen how much Pei Ziheng had doted on her.

    Many people started to suck up to Xia Ling and made sure that she got all that she wanted. As she became pickier, her temper and willfulness worsened. Yet, Pei Ziheng still smiled and spoiled her rotten. Eventually, the day after she turned 17, he called for Feng Kun and Chu Chen and said, ¡°You¡¯re the best producer and manager in the industry. I¡¯m handing my baby over to you.¡±

    The next year, when the flowers were in full bloom, Xia Ling made her debut and shot to stardom.

    Critics in the media said that there had never been another who was the perfectbination of seduction and holiness, arrogance and innocence.

    Pei Ziheng had hugged her in his arms while watching the news, bending his head over as he kissed her. He said, ¡°I told you I would make you the most popr artiste in the world.¡±

    Xia Ling then had only gratitude and admiration for him. Now that she thought back, it could have been all a game to him from the very start. He had spent immense amounts of time and money, only to create the Xia Ling what he wanted ¡ª the ideal artiste and the ideal lover.

    As a result, when she tried to escape from his clutches and from the path that he hadid out for her, he had lost itpletely.

    Pei Ziheng...

    Did he ever really love her?

    The melody of the songs whirled past her ears as she could no longer make out which song it was and when she had sung it. She stood in the crowd immersed in memories of the past. Until, all of a sudden, the camera feed switched abruptly on the big screen. She saw the face that she would never forget for the rest of her life.

    Pei Ziheng.

    His high nose and thin lips. His handsome yet charismatic face. His whole package was God-like.

    He was wearing a low-key but formal suit, just like he always did when attending an important event. His metal grey tie was perfectly tied, and the intricate buttons on his shirt and cuffs were perfectly tailored. The expensive, hand-sewn tailored suit made his stature look even taller and perfect. Even through the camera lenses, his presence was immeasurable.

    The atmosphere in the square seemed to havee to a momentary standstill.

    Xia Ling looked up at him stunned. In the next instance, a deep-rooted fear from her bones flooded through her body as she felt her knees buckle slightly. She took a step backward and identally stepped on someone¡¯s foot. That person cursed at her loudly, but she was in no mood to care.

    Lu Tao stretched out his arm to catch hold of her. He asked, ¡°Ye Xingling, are you alright? You...¡±

    Xia Ling shut her eyes quickly, using all of her willpower to not think about that face she was so terrified of. It seemed that even after experiencing death and reincarnation, even in the body of another, the hurt from deep in her soul could not be destroyed or diminished.

    She thought that seeing him again would make her feel pain and sadness. Yet, it made her feel more fearful and terrified.

    Lu Tao¡¯s hands gripped onto Xia Ling¡¯s arm tightly. The warmth and strength passed through his palm helped her slowly calm down. She told herself repeatedly in her head. <i>Xia Ling, you have already been reborn. You are now Ye Xingling, you will not be locked up in a bungalow having to respond to that person¡¯s beck and call anymore. You are now thousands of miles away from him, apletely different person. You are safe, safer than you have ever been before.</i>

    The noise in her surroundings returned to her ears.

    Then, she heard Pei Ziheng¡¯s speech. His voice was lower and more hoarse than usual, his words formal and politically-correct,pletely in a monotone. ¡°What Imperial Entertainment has lost was not just Xia Ling, but aplete generation.¡±

    The cameras all around him shed without stopping. There were people screaming, and others crying out loud in anguish. Some even passed outpletely. Pandemonium broke out momentarily from his one sentence and the camera focus quickly switched out again. Live broadcasts from all over the world shed across the big screen, every scene depicting chaos. That one sentence from Pei Ziheng had made the volcano of emotions everywhere erupt.

    He stood in the middle of the storm, calm and quiet.

 Chapter 12 - Arriving at the Set Location

    <h4>Chapter 12: Arriving at the Set Location</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The lens was split, the camera zoomed in.

    The ray of light perfectly outlined Pei Ziheng¡¯s handsome side profile, capturing his expressionless expression and thin lips pressed into a straight line. Xia Ling knew every detail of his facial features all too well; this was the look he put on every time he tried to conceal his emotions.

    Outside of the shot, thementary wasplimenting Chairman Pei to no end, mentioning how heavy-hearted he must be feeling in that moment. Xia Ling squinted, and at the corner of her eyes, she saw a prompter gesturing aggressively, asking for Pei Ziheng to continue speaking to the media.

    But still, he did not say another word.

    It¡¯s hard to say whether who between she or the director was more disappointed. When the focus of the shot turned away from Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling felt as if all her energy had evaporated, leaving her weak. This short moment helped her understand one thing ¡ª Pei Ziheng came all the way here only as the Boss of Imperial Entertainment to fulfill his duty. It had nothing to do with reminiscence, much less anything to do with Xia Ling.

    He had been a cold and cruel businessman all along, never one who did anything uncalled for.

    In fact, over the decade that Xia Ling had been by his side, she had heard countless rumors and hearsay about the ruthless things he had done. Yet the person he was with her had always been nice, even indulgent, to her, so much so that she naively thought that maybe she was the exception.

    Now, it¡¯s time she snapped out of that dream.

    The mourning wasn¡¯t over yet, but Xia Ling wasn¡¯t interested in the rest of the event. She was just numbly waiting for the show to be truly over and for the crowd to disperse.

    Lu Tao ordered his two underlings to get some discs as he apanied Xia Ling on her stroll along the road. He said, ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t be too sad. The dead cannote back to life. Xia Ling won¡¯t be able to rest in peace if she knew that her fans were this upset by her passing.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling looked at him, confused.

    He knitted his brows. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a fan of Xia Ling?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me, I saw how devastated you looked during the mourning just now. How could you not be her fan?¡± Lu Tao scoffed. ¡°Just admit it. Xia Ling was a Diva, there¡¯s nothing embarrassing about admiring her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not her fan.¡±

    ¡°As if.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Lu Tao couldn¡¯t stop talking throughout the journey. The sky was gradually illuminated by the stars, setting a tone of dazzling tranquility. At that moment, Xia Ling was d that he was by her side as his high-spirited voice chased away her sorrow and dejection.

    Back at the training camp, at the foot of the hotel building, Lu Tao wished her good night.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, there¡¯s a saying that goes ¡®the deceased have to rest in peace while the living ¡ª¡¯ something like that... basically,¡± he said as he scratched his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be too hung up over the deceased. Go to sleep soon, and don¡¯t forget you have an MV to shoot tomorrow morning.¡±

    She was stunned for a moment, before softly mumbling ¡°okay¡±.

    It¡¯s true, the deceased have to rest in peace, and the living will have to move on with their lives.

    That night, there was not a cloud in the clear night sky.

    Following Tan Ying¡¯s lead, the trainees headed for the location set.

    It was a mountainous forest far from the city. The team¡¯s chartered bus circled along the winding mountain road, the paths between the peaks and ridges half concealed and the rivers flowing continuously. Viewing the mountain peak from the mountainside, one could faintly see the picturesque disorder of the cluster of white buildings, the clean and beautiful lines of the architecture dim against the mist, creating a fairytale-like aura.

    Every scene along the way seemed like the result of nature¡¯s work, yet it was all an ingenious creation by no less than an expert.

    Somebody couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Chairman Tan, where¡¯s this ce? The houses in the neighboring mountains seem to be uninhabited, only this mountain we¡¯re on has a huge building. Is it a newly-developed tourist attraction?¡±

    Tan Ying, who was in the front passenger seat, rolled up the newspaper in his hands and patted the head of the student who asked the question. ¡°Have you ever seen a tourist attraction with so few people? Let me tell you, this is Boss¡¯ territory. This mountain,¡± Tan Ying gestured. ¡°and the neighboring mountains ¡ª any area within sight ¡ª is his territory.¡±

    ¡°Wow...¡± A unanimous gasp of envy echoed through the bus.

    Xia Ling looked out the window and saw mountains after mountains, their peaks a dark grey in the distance ¡ª the territory was indeed big. She was not as excited about the fact as everyone else. She had seen simr estates of Pei Ziheng¡¯s before, but they were mostly private mountain vis and gardens. Having experienced them before, it was no novelty to her.

    The others were in high spirits, gathering around Tan Ying and asking, ¡°Are these Boss Li¡¯s property?¡±

    ¡°What rubbish, of course! Which other boss do we have in Skyart Entertainment?¡± Tan Yingughed.

    That was enough to crack everyone else up as well.

    Skyart Entertainment, unlike Imperial Entertainment, which had a long history, was a fairly newpany. Xia Ling remembered the time when it was just established; she was already famous then. It had only been a short six to seven years since. Even so, it was just within the short span of time that it grew from a new, nascent star to arge and establishedpany. Even a giant in the industry like Imperial Entertainment was shaken.

    All of their achievements were said to be Boss Li Lei¡¯s credit.

    Xia Ling had never seen him in person, and everything about him was impressions she formed through hearsay. Apparently, he was the grandson of a family with generations of triad members, and that he founded Skyart Entertainment as an avenue for moneyundering. It was also rumored that he was a cold-hearted, brutal, and unimaginably merciless...

    Oh, no more.

    In herst life, she never cared for gossips, she couldn¡¯t even remember Li Lei¡¯s face at this point. But that wasn¡¯t an issue, the person she was now was no more than a small, average member at the very bottom of the Skyart Entertainment hierarchy, while Li Lei was the boss at the peak. They had nothing to do with each other, thus however brutal or capable he was as a person was none of her business.

    Thinking of all these, she rested her head on the back of her seat and fell asleep in the midst of all the gossip around her.

    Later, it was Lu Tao who shook her awake.

    When she opened her eyes it was already evening, and thendscape was dark and misty. The bus had parked at the guesthouse area on the mountainside, and a single file of people made their way to the guesthouse with their backpacks and belongings with four people assigned to each room. They had just settled down when Lu Tao looked for her to grab dinner, and then gathered everyone ¡ª trainees and crew ¡ª to the conference room for a mass meeting.

    The meeting was hosted by Wei Shaoyin, the director and producer of this MV.

    He arrived a few days earlier than most of the team to survey the location and set and was now efficiently allocating roles and duties. The schedule was tight and the workload was heavy, but everything seemed to be in ce ¡ª organized and smooth-running, just like a well-oiled machine.

    Almost all the crew members were expressionless and with their heads down as they quickly scribbled all the important notes. Only Xia Ling and the other trainees were in shock, ¡°I¡¯ve always heard that Wei Shaoyin was abnormally and disturbingly efficient, but I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be so perverse in his demands. How could anyoneplete the tasks if he¡¯s assigning them this way...¡±

    Lu Tao nudged Xia Ling, ¡°Hey, Ye Xingling, do you think he took the wrong schedule? The way he¡¯s setting deadlines is driving people to death.¡±

    ¡°Did he?¡± Xia Ling thought for a bit. Actually, it didn¡¯t seem too bad. In her previous life, when her producer Feng Kun was recording her music, the schedule was not as tight as this, but there were times they were in a mad rush as well. She had worked with this sort of pace before.

    It didn¡¯t drive anyone to death.

    Lu Tao rolled his eyes, ¡°Well, you haven¡¯t made it big yet, how are you simr to them?¡± He stroked his chin as he watched the crew members at work. ¡°These people, it¡¯s obvious they are used to being tortured; they¡¯re not even protesting.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. Suddenly, nostalgia hit her ¡ª the busyness of the location set, the crew members stern faces, the filmmaking equipment all around... even the air seemed to hint of a lingering presence of inspired artistes.

    At that moment, she finally felt like she was alive again.

 Chapter 13 - The Forest Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 13: The Forest Encounter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Unfortunately, the other trainees evidently did not share her sentiments.

    Over the next few days, the filming did not go as smoothly as nned. Not only was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s schedule tight and demanding, but he was also hypercritical ¡ª nitpicking at every minor detail of their movements and facial expressions ¡ª that a short three-second scene took them various takes toplete.

    By the time they wrapped up each day, everybody was exhausted.

    In the lounge, Lu Taoy on the floor half-dead from exhaustion, but he was still in a good mood to talk to Xia Ling. ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve noticed that in the past few days almost everyone was called out by the unreasonably demanding Wei Shaoyin, but only you haven¡¯t been called out for any NG and retakes. What¡¯s your secret? Quick, share it with me. Otherwise, if this goes on, I will be tormented to death by Unreasonable Wei.¡±

    These few days, every single trainee had witnessed and experienced Wei Shaoyin¡¯s nitpicking, thus Unreasonable Wei had be his second name. Xia Ling looked at all the trainees lying on the ground in all sorts of positions and couldn¡¯t help but let out a little smile.

    However, she really did not have any secret. The choreography for their current project was not all that difficult. To her, it was just the basics that were basically second nature to her. Something that¡¯s almost like an instinct... does it require any secret to achieve it?

    She thought for a bit, and then said, ¡°Practise well and let it be instinct.¡±

    Lu Tao let out a cry and stopped moving altogether.

    Under Wei Shaoyin¡¯s reign, a good part of the month had gone by just like that. They were finally on thestp of the project.

    When he announced that all the trainees could take a few days¡¯ break, everybody went into a state of euphoria. Sadly, having been drained by the intensiveness of the past few weeks, even somebody as fit and energetic as Lu Tao ¡ª a street dancer ¡ª had chosen to spend his first rest day catching up on sleep.

    Having been held captive by Pei Ziheng for more than a year, she had a certain difort with all the bedrooms and spent as little time as she could in them. So, on a day like this where the weather was so warm and cheery, she put on an off-white dress, a thin cardigan, and then went out alone for a leisurely stroll.

    The forest was quiet and tranquil, and the beautiful scenery was an even rarer sight. It¡¯s no wonder Wei Shaoyin picked it for the set.

    However, what took Xia Ling by surprise was that Skyart Entertainment¡¯s big boss, Li Lei, agreed to that request. In her previous life, she had been around Pei Ziheng long enough to know what these big shots were like. A private estate like this with mountain vis and resorts for distinguished guests was already exclusive as it was, but using it as a set for filming and shooting was all the more an almost impossible task.

    And yet, Wei Shaoyin had been given the green light.

    Was this because he was truly capable, or was it because Boss Li was being unconventional?

    Could this be a big reason why Skyart Entertainment could develop and expand so quickly ¡ª because the quality of their productions was of utmost priority?

    She thought about it as she walked, and before she knew it, she had walked pretty deep in the forest.

    The temperature had dropped, and it was getting shadier and cooler. The woods had obscured the sun, and the forest was unusually quiet.

    Xia Ling slowed her steps.

    Surveying her surroundings, she realized she couldn¡¯t see the trail she left nor any person in sight.

    Right then, a weird sticky substancended on her face.

    Xia Ling reached out to touched it ¡ª it was red and had a hint of warmth. It reeked of blood.

    Her heart started pounding uncontrobly. When she looked up, what she saw was a bloody corpse hanging on the branches. It must¡¯ve been gnawed on by a wild animal ¡ª it was missing a leg, its abdomen had been ripped open, and its insides were a gruesome mess, flowing out in bits and pieces, coursing towards its now unrecognizable face.

    One of its eyes was hanging mid-air, the gaping eye socket right in her direction.

    She might have heard herself let out a scream. Everything before her became a blur as something leaped from above and sped past the trees. Before she could react to it, her legs had given way and the world would not stop spinning.

    The burning pain in her back made her realize that she¡¯d been knocked to the ground, and a creature was breathing down on her, blood sttering on her face between every breath it took. Xia Ling opened her eyes and was horrified to see that what was just inches away from her face... was a leopard.

    A leopard with a ferocious re and a body dripping with blood.

    At this point, its strong front legs were pressing down on Xia Ling¡¯s shoulders, its immense weight pinning her to the ground. It arched its back slightly, bent forward, and with its mouth open, headed right for her throat.

    In that split second, Xia Ling was sure that she was doomed. She had only juste back to life, who knew that she would lose it in the jaws of a leopard this soon. How strange it was to die this way. But she was not resigned to it. She had only just regained her freedom, how could she die just like that?

    The next thing she knew, she had only felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder, like she just got wed.

    Paralyzed, Xia Ling could only watch as it opened its bloody mouth, and as it drew closer, she closed her eyes and waited for it to happen.

    In that sh of a moment, a man¡¯s voice could be heard calling out. ¡°Er Mao.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a loud sound, but to Xia Ling, it meant the world as it seemed to echo endlessly. The leopard then suddenly stopped.

    Its shiny white teeth inched away from her throat, but its cold re was fixated on her. The massive weight was still resting on her and, feeling its front ws stabbing into her wound, she let out a small cry.

    The leopard growled and threateningly swung its tail.

    Xia Ling felt her body go stiff, unable to make a sound.

    A distance away, she could hear the man again, his voice a little sluggish. ¡°Sorry, Er Mao isn¡¯t in a good mood today, and you happen to have entered his territory.¡±

    Oh, so this leopard had an owner, and its name is Er Mao?

    It lowered its head and looked intently at her... as if it was food thaty before him. It was so close to Xia Ling¡¯s face she could even see some human remains around its mouth.

    She recalled the corpse hanging on the tree a while ago, feeling her insides churn.

    The man did not sound a bit bothered as he asked, ¡°Who are you? What are you doing here?¡±

    He did not tell Er Mao to get off her, thus it was still weighing down on her. With only her cardigan between Er Mao and her, she could feel hisrge, looming presence and the rise of his chest with every inhtion. The sound it made seemed like a growl of aggression, and also a growl of annoyance. She was sure that if it sensed any disobedience from her at all, all that was waiting for her would be her doom.

    Yet she couldn¡¯t bring herself to speak.

    The trauma had robbed her of her speaking ability. Even with her mouth open, she could not make a sound.

    The man waited for a while before light-heartedly saying, ¡°Er Mao, you¡¯re scaring our guest.¡±

    He ordered it to let go of her, and the creature obeyed. As Xia Ling felt the weight lift off her, she was free again.

    Her body was now covered in human blood, and there were scattered bits of human flesh. The smell of blood and decay gushed towards her as she rolled over and got up. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was the fear or the smell, but she was holding onto a tree and retching.

    She hadn¡¯t eaten anything before going out. The retching was draining her, and all that came out was bile.

    Her gut was churning and in pain, her hand pressing against her stomach as she bent over to catch her breath.

    The man¡¯s voice was heard again. ¡°Er Mao doesn¡¯t usually eat people, you don¡¯t have to be this frightened.¡±

    Usually? Doesn¡¯t eat people?

    Then what was it that she saw?

    Xia Ling tried not to think about the corpse hanging off the tree as she tried to calm herself down. It was then that she was able to look up and turn towards where the sound came from.

 Chapter 14 - Whatever Happened to Cold and Brutal?

    <h4>Chapter 14: Whatever Happened to Cold and Brutal?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He was an incredibly attractive man, probably of mixed race. His looks were a perfect mix of an Asian handsomeness and a Westerners¡¯ deep and pronounced features. His skin was a healthy shade of tan, and his eyes, under the sunlight that seeped through the trees, reflected a deep green hue. His limbs were slender and well-proportioned, and the neckline of his top revealed just the right muscles. He was just sitting under the tree leisurely, yet the air around him felt slightly dangerous as if he would turn aggressive at any time.

    Xia Ling looked at him and then took a calcted step back.

    He smiled, revealing his front teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t bite. In fact, I¡¯m injured.¡±

    He shrugged as he told her.

    That was when she realized that there was a thick bandage around his abdomen, stained dark with blood. As the leopard paced around the man in frustration, he reached out to pet its head, as ifforting it.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± he asked again.

    ¡°... Ye Xingling.¡± She gave the name from her current life.

    ¡°From the MV filming team down the path?¡±

    ¡°Who are you then?¡± She countered.

    He smiled again, his intoxicating deep green eyes shimmering in the light. ¡°Little beauty, I¡¯m the one asking questions, got it?¡±

    The leopard roared at her.

    ... And so, she got it.

    ¡°I¡¯m a trainee at Skyart Entertainment¡¯s training camp.¡± Xia Ling gave in. ¡°We¡¯re here with Tan Ying to film an MV.¡±

    He gave a satisfied look, and then casually ruffled the leopard. ¡°Tan Ying is here too? I¡¯m in luck.¡± He then asked, ¡°Do you have his number? Let me borrow your phone for a bit.¡±

    Xia Ling really did not want to lend it to him, but given the situation, she had no choice but to give it to him.

    He caught it with one hand and then dialed a number. ¡°Hello, is this Tan Ying? It¡¯s not Ye Xingling... It¡¯s your Boss...¡±

    Alright, she finally knew who he was ¡ª Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Li Lei, rumored to be the brutal and violent grandson of the Li triad family. As Xia Ling partially turned to face him, she heard part of what he was saying:

    ¡°I¡¯m injured in the mountains,e quick... What, I have to wait? Your Boss is dying... No, no, don¡¯t bring Wei Shaoyin here, I don¡¯t want to have to experience the toxic words of that man.¡±

    He shifted to a morefortable position as he continued speaking, trying to sound childlike and pitiful.

    At that point, Xia Ling simply couldn¡¯t bear to think ¡ª

    This is the rumored ck triad? What happened to cold and brutal?

    Before Xia Ling was over her shock, Li Lei had hung up and returned the phone to her.

    She subtly stole a nce at the blood spots on his head, unsure whether he got hurt or if they were stains left by the leopard. She resisted the urge to kick it aside, but as she deliberated over it, decided not to.

    Tan Ying arrived very quickly and even brought along a team, with some foreign faces that were not part of the filming team. Xia Ling guessed they were probably the workers who were originally already in the mountains.

    They quietly but swiftlyid the stretcher and ced Li Lei on it, their every move systematic and well-trained.

    In the middle of it all, she could barely hear the urgency in Tan Ying¡¯s voice. ¡°How are you, is it bad?¡±

    ¡°Gunshot wound, but no vitals. Can¡¯t die from it.¡± Li Lei sounding so casual had a certain miraculous effect in reassuring people. ¡°Tan Ying, get some men to inspect the surroundings and check if there are other gunmen. Ignore the corpse on the tree, leave it for Er Mao¡¯s dinner. Also...¡±

    He turned towards Xia Ling. ¡°That little beauty there is also injured, get someone to treat her.¡±

    Tan Ying nodded to his every request, and then took a nce at Xia Ling as well, instructing the men. ¡°Get her a stretcher as well, we¡¯ll go down together.¡±

    Throughout the journey down, nobody said a word to her nor asked for her take on anything ¡ª whether she was in pain or if she was willing to head down with them. In her previous life, Xia Ling would have lost her temper, but times have changed. She no longer had the same blessings as before. There was no halo on her anymore, thus she had to learn to live like an average person.

    Fortunately, she had had her share of tough times and simple contentment, having spent more than 12 years in an orphanage before she met Pei Ziheng. Now she was back to being amon person living amon life, and maybe that¡¯s the kind of person she should¡¯ve been since the beginning.

    The team brought her ¡ª on the stretcher ¡ª to the cluster of buildings at the mountain peak.

    They settled Xia Ling into the guest room and got professional doctors to examine her wounds and treat them as needed.

    ¡°It¡¯s just some superficial wounds, nothing too serious. Rest well for a few days, don¡¯t let theme into contact with water, don¡¯t take spicy food, and you should be alright very soon,¡± the doctor instructed her.

    Xia Ling smiled and nodded, yet the moment the doctor turned his back and left, she walked straight to the bathroom.

    She filled the bathtub halfway and then immersed as much of herself into the water as she could. The warm, clean water surrounded her, and the smell of blood diffused in the air along with the steam. Xia Ling struggled to use her left hand to clean herself, careful not to open the wound on her right shoulder. But still, the smell of blood got stronger and stronger.

    The scene of the leopard pouncing on her kept reying in her head.

    The next moment, it turned into arge, ferocious dog with dark shiny fur, standing at more than half a human being¡¯s height. It had tried to attack her as well, its massive body leaping towards her time and again...

    In Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi that seemed to bepletely cut off from the world, she was in the dark basement trying to avoid that animal at all costs. She hit on the door like a madwoman and shouted for help, but still, she was trapped with no one to offer her a helping hand.

    That was the scariest day of her life.

    Even until now she¡¯d tremble a little thinking about that day.

    Before that day, she was neverpliant to Pei Ziheng. Even when she was ced under house arrest in his vi, she continued to argue with him, defying his every order. He always said, ¡°Ling, one day I¡¯ll run out of patience with you.¡±

    That day finally came. It was her 28th birthday.

    At dawn, he left a bouquet of red roses by her bed and bent over to caress her lips. Xia Ling made her best effort to avoid his lips, but her chin was gripped firmly and her hands were pressed down on the bed. She could only watch as his handsome face inched closer, his wine and lemon-scented lips pressing against hers...

    She then bit him brutally.

    The smell of blood spread from between his lips.

    He released her, with horror in his eyes.

    Sheshed out. ¡°Get off me! You beast!¡±

    He looked at her very seriously, his eyes terrifyingly cold. He swiftly wiped the blood off his lips and said, ¡°Beast? Well then, let me show you what a beast really looks like.¡±

    He dragged her out of the bedroom and left her in a basement.

    The door was then mmed shut and locked from the outside. The basement was almost pitch-ck, and she could only see some vague outlines of what was inside. She heard a mad, raving bark, and then a huge shadow leaped towards her.

 Chapter 15 - Recuperating in the Mountain Villa of the Big Boss

    <h4>Chapter 15: Recuperating in the Mountain Vi of the Big Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling let out a scream and scrambled back into a corner. It was not until the shadow in the dark knocked into something, emitting a loud nking sound, that she realized that there was a metal barricade between the huge shadow and her.

    The huge shadow was a pedigree mastiff.

    She had been afraid of dogs since she was young, let alone arge pedigree mastiff like this one. Pei Ziheng had bred more than ten simr mastiffs that stood guard in the surroundings of the bungalow to prevent her from running away. She never thought that they were able to be used in this way as well.

    She was locked up in the dark room for an entire night with only the mastiff¡¯s howling, constant crashing into the metal barricade, and sounds of its deep growling and attempts at biting at her to keep herpany. She was terrified, cursing at Pei Ziheng with the most vicious of words, and then pleading with him in the most demeaning of manners. Eventually, she felt her voice grow hoarse with shouting andy curled shivering in the wall corner, close to hysteria.

    She did not know when Pei Ziheng finally opened the basement door.

    All she heard was his voice from above, sneering. ¡°Still interested to see what an animal is?¡±

    Her quivering lips could not produce any sound.

    His feet materialized in front of her face, and she heard him say, ¡°Apologies, say that you were wrong and I¡¯ll bring you out of here.¡±

    She could not remember how she admitted her mistake, but she seemed to remember that he had bent over to carry her in his arms and brought her back to the bedroom they were originally in. That bedroom, too, was a prison, with cameras everywhere. There were chains, handcuffs, and security was extremely tight. Yet, the natural sunlight in the room and the softness of the bed gave her a sense of security that she never had before. She copsed on the bed, falling into a deep sleep.

    She developed a high fever thatsted a week and had constant nightmares. In her nightmares, she saw the recurring face of the mastiff snarling at her.

    When she recovered, she simplyy tamely in Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms every night, tolerating his every hug and every advance without resistance. It was as if she was still the Xia Ling that loved him with all her heart, that worshipped him like a God.

    As her memories faded away, the water in the tub slowly filled up.

    The warm water covered Xia Ling¡¯s entire body, wetting the open wound on her right shoulder. Her vision was aplete blur, tears flooding her eyes, the taste of saltiness by her lips. She gripped the bath towel tightly, rubbing it ferociously on her body, trying to wash off the stench of blood and animal on herself. However, even after her skin was red and painful from all the rubbing, the stench remained present.

    Eventually, she threw the towel in the tub, curled up and hugged herself tightly.

    The sound of flowing water circled in her ears, like a gentle, sad song. It seemed to be saying, if only she could go back in time, back to the time when she was 12 when the flowers were in full bloom. Back to the time when she could say no to that man¡¯s outstretched hand so that everything could have ended in that glorious moment...

    If that had been the case... it would be... the best.

    Later, when she regained consciousness, she was on a bed.

    She opened her eyes to an intricately designed ceiling, a beautiful and tasteful chandelier and feeling the soft covers of the bed all around her. She heard someone shouting out at her, and then mustered a lot of strength before she finally could hear what was being said¡ª

    ¡°Ye Xingling, do you have a death wish? How could you have fainted while having a bath? Your wound waspletely submerged in water! If the staff didn¡¯t bring you your meal and discovered you lying there, you would have died from the loss of blood!¡±

    The person shouting at her was Tan Ying, clearly angered.

    Xia Ling took a while to recall how she ended up where she was. She opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by someone by her side. ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯ve lost a lot of blood. I think you should not speak now and just have some rest.¡±

    It was only then that she felt the dizziness and heaviness in her head and her body¡¯s weakness like she did not have an ounce of strength left. She had indeed lost a lot of blood.

    Hence, she obediently shut her mouth.

    Tan Ying watched as someone changed her drip and waited till everyone had left the room before sitting down by her bed. He said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you really have a knack of creating trouble for me. All the other trainees are getting ready to return to the training camp tomorrow. You just had to pick this moment to get injured!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him in silence, not saying a word. Even though her massive blood loss had been from her own doing by fainting in the bath, but the wound had been done by Li Lei¡¯s pet animal... It wasn¡¯t as if she wanted to get injured, shouldn¡¯t Tan Ying be ming Li Lei instead?

    But of course, he wouldn¡¯t take it up with his Boss. Thus, she could only tolerate.

    Tan Ying continued, ¡°Given the severity of your injury, you definitely can¡¯t leave now. I¡¯ve spoken to Boss, and he said you can stay here for the time being to recuperate. When you are better you can find your own way back to the training camp.¡± He paused and added, ¡°Boss will also be spending some time here to recover as well. You would better stay in and not wander around too much. Do not disturb him.¡±

    She understood him perfectly. The first half of what he said was inconsequential, it was thisst line ¡ª for her not to disturb the Big Boss ¡ª that was the main thing he wanted to stress.

    He didn¡¯t have to worry, she was not nning to wander around even without him saying it. The leopard was still out there, it was not like she wanted to risk getting into trouble again.

    Xia Ling nodded obediently. Tan Ying gave a look of approval and continued saying, ¡°Also, regarding what happened today, don¡¯t ask too much about it. When you return to the training camp,ter on, make sure you keep mum about what happened as well. Understood?¡±

    She understood. It was the underworld. They had to have secrets.

    Now that she thought about it, not everyone in the entertainment circle knew about Li Lei¡¯s background. Xia Ling only knew a little about his rtionship with the notorious Li family because she had unintentionally heard Pei Ziheng talk about it. Pei Ziheng had said as well that Skyart Entertainment was really low profile and did not unt who their backers were. If it were not for the fact that he had intentionally dug for information, he would have no way of knowing either.

    Hence, with her current identity as a small, normal trainee, it was expected that she would not know anything as well. It was not surprising that Tan Ying had to remind her to not run her mouth. Any normal person who had seen what she had would definitely think it was abnormal.

    Xia Ling looked over at Tan Ying and spoke with difficulty. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have much curiosity.¡±

    Tan Ying smiled sinisterly. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you have curiosity as well. There is always a way to make sure you can never speak.¡±

    A threat, this was without a doubt a threat.

    Xia Ling frowned, annoyance seeping into her voice. ¡°Mr. Tan, don¡¯t worry, I am not ready to die just yet.¡± She paused before saying, ¡°I¡¯m tired and would like to rest. I think you should leave.¡±

    Tan Ying narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. After a moment, he said, ¡°Ye Xingling, I find myself increasingly unable to read you. Should I say that you are tactless or simply foolhardy? But, this is better than doing something stupid to warrant losing your life.¡± With that, he gave a p and stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll be off, then. If you encounter any problems you can call me. Also, if you need anything while you are here, you can also look for the staff in the premises.¡±

    Xia Ling watched as he left. Before leaving, he considerately closed the door behind him.

    The room quietened down and she dimmed the lights, falling into a deep sleep under the covers.

    Her days of recuperation began. Since they were on a mountain the days were quiet, with an air of peace and rxation that was enchanting. Every morning, Xia Ling would boil a pot of flower tea and sit reading on the balcony of the second-floor guest room. Sometimes, she would simply daydream, allowing her cluttered mind to rx from all the days of worrying.

    Li Lei never appeared. In fact, other than the staff that came by to clean and send her meals, Xia Ling had only seen one other person ¡ª the caretaker of the mountain vi, who had brought her arge bouquet of Hibiscus Mutabilis on Li Lei¡¯s biding. They were a type of flower that could change color depending on the time of the day. In the morning it was an understated but ssy white, turning into a passionate red in the afternoon. Delicate and charming, pleasing to the eye.

    The caretaker had said that this was an apology from Boss because of her injury.

 Chapter 16 - Modifying the Song Score

    <h4>Chapter 16: Modifying the Song Score</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was not impressed. He was only giving her a bouquet of flowers after all she suffered? From a different point of view, however, he had readily footed all of her medical fees and took the initiative to provide her treatment. He also allowed her to stay in this spacious mountain vi¡¯s VIP guest room with full boardpletely free-of-charge. It could be said that he had taken full responsibility for the situation already.

    The current ce that she was staying in was truly a VIP guest room. Unlike the drabby rooms that they were provided for the MV filming, midway up the mountain, the room here exuded ss. The thick, soft carpet that came up to your ankles when you stepped into it; the well-stocked bar counter around the corner; the themed ceiling and wall designs, with interchangeable lighting effects, coupled with the natural fragrance and sound system ¡ª the starry sky at night, the ocean view, the desert...

    It was apparent that the owner of this ce knew what it meant to enjoy life to the fullest.

    Resultantly, she had the privilege of enjoying thefort of all these pleasures in the past few days. Undoubtedly, luxury in moderation really did help to lift her spirits. Yet, it was only a few days before Xia Ling felt bored. She never got used to doing nothing. She felt that she had to be busy while she was still alive.

    Since she had reincarnated, arge portion of her time had been spent in dance practice. Now that she could dancefortably in this body, it was time to make sure that her voice could match up as well. After all, she was still ultimately a singer, even though she had to be involved in many other side activities.

    In this life, her voice waspletely different than the voice she had in her past life. This was a natural gift, not something that could be changed via human means. In her past life, she had a riveting voice with the ability to sing across a vast range. No matter how high or low the song was, she was able to hit the notes effortlessly. Any melody that was of great challenge to other singers would seem easy when sung by her.

    Xia Ling thought sadly that perhaps this was the reason that Pei Ziheng had chosen her from the orphanage. Not only did she have an extraordinarily beautiful face, but she also had a voice that was one of a kind. Perhaps Pei Ziheng had simply wanted the perfect artiste from the very beginning, and she simply checked all the boxes.

    In this life, she was seemingly much more normal. In terms of visuals, she was pretty but not an immediate head turner, and her singing range was much narrower than before. High notes that she used to sing with ease now required more effort and concentration.

    Of course, theck in talent was something that could be supplemented through hard work. All that needed to be done was to put in more energy and perseverance than anybody else. After all, music was the sound of one¡¯s heart, present deep down within everyone¡¯s soul. Like the stones silently sitting on the river bed, they mighte in many different patterns and shapes, but if you put in the effort and patience to polish each one of them, every stone could give off its own unique charm.

    Her job was to find the projection that was mostpatible with the voice she had in this life.

    In the following days, she tried to sing the songs she had sung in her past life. As expected, there were many twists and turns in the melodies that she felt unequipped to sing. She noted each of these parts down and categorized them into those which could be aplished through practice, those which were simply impossible due tock in talent, and also those that were not suitable for the voice she had in this life and had to be reworked...

    She proceeded to deal with each of these categories in turn.

    Her aim was not to create perfect covers of the songs that she was practicing but to familiarize and perfect the voice she had in this life by iterating through practice. As she solved each problem, the melodies of the songs were also modified drastically. Slowly but surely she pieced all the songs together, disying apletely different but equally charming style.

    Familiar but strange, which both surprised and enthralled her.

    On this day, Xia Ling was leaning on the railings of the balcony, singing a song that she loved in her past life ¡ª

    <i>The scent of sandalwood on my red sleeves, a zither in my hands</i>

    <i>ying a song of sophistication for you</i>

    <i>Horses trampling on the peach blossoms on the ground</i>

    <i>Bones warring against the desert sand</i>

    <i>Jianmen passage</i>

    <i>Yongding river</i>

    <i>To whom does this all belong to</i>

    The enchanting old melody, epassing both a sense of sadness and ruthlessness, showcased the exquisiteness of her singing ability. Half of the reason why she loved this song in her past life was because few had the ability to sing this song in its entirety. She would admit that there was a period that she found enjoyment in seeing other artistes seething with jealousy at what she could do.

    They used to say then that she was lucky to have been born with a good voice.

    Now, her good voice was gone. Xia Ling tried many different styles of singing, modifying the tune of the song where required, slowly but surely learning to manage this highly challenging song. Only when she was able to sing the song smoothly from start to finish did she stop, satisfied at her aplishment.

    Suddenly, the sound of apuse rang out.

    Xia Ling was not expecting this, jumping up in shock. The song sheets by her side were identally pushed over the balcony railings and floated down to the trees and grass below.

    She looked down and saw two men standing underneath a peacock flower tree. They were Li Lei and Wei Shaoyin, who stood looking up at her.

    ¡°Hey, beauty.¡± Li Lei waved at her flippantly with one hand, the other hand tucked in his trousers¡¯ pocket.

    He looked ravishing today, with no semnce of someone that was injured. It seemed that he had mostly recovered from the injury. He was wearing an intricately woven silk shirt that was as white as the moonlight, with a light-colored flower pattern that was visible near the cor of the shirt which was kept slightly open, showing his tan skin and well-toned chest beneath. It was a fashion style that was hard to pull off but looked suitable on him even nonchntly worn. In fact, it could be said that he looked heart-racing gorgeous.

    Xia Ling could not help but think that if he had chosen to be an artiste, he could make it big simply by standing there with his good looks.

    While her mind was in a flurry of activity, outwardly she calmly looked at him and said, ¡°My name is Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Ok, Ye Xingling.¡± He corrected himself and continued, ¡°What were you singing just now? It was really good.¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s ¡®The Scent of the Zither¡¯¡±, she said. This was a famous song that had won three prestigious awards the year it was released. It topped the charts for a period of time and was heralded as a ssic ¡ª it was shocking that he did not know it.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know this famous song? How are you the owner of an entertainmentpany?¡± Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice drifted over from the side, a teasing tone apparent in it. He was simrly dressed in a white shirt, but unlike Li Lei, his shirt waspletely white, simple and clean, and was buttoned neatly all the way to the top. Perfectly put together, with no room for criticism.

    Xia Ling was mildly shocked. A staff from Skyart Entertainment could speak to his boss in this manner? When she was at Imperial Entertainment, Pei Ziheng was the unequivocal boss ¡ª if he said one thing, no one dared to say anything else. His force was overbearing, and no staff would dare to use such a tone on him.

    She looked over at Li Lei.

    Li Lei did not seem to have been affected by this little teasing. Smiling good-naturedly, he said, ¡°That¡¯s why I have an elite like yourself managing things, Ah Wei.¡± He cocked his head to one side and thought out loud. ¡°Though now that you mention it, the song is indeed familiar... Wait, the tune that I know of is slightly different from what she sang, no wonder I didn¡¯t recognize it.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin raised his eyebrows slightly and remarked, ¡°At least you picked up on that.¡± He bent over and picked up the song sheets scattered on the ground and ruffled through them quickly. An expression of surprise came over his face, and then he asked, ¡°Ye Xingling, you modified this yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°These are all Xia Ling¡¯s songs. I did not expect you to have researched her so thoroughly,¡± said Wei Shaoyin, a look of contemtion entering his eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m a fan of Xia Ling,¡± said Xia Ling lightly. The identity that Lu Tao imposed on her wasing in useful.

    Wei Shaoyin smiled. ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s songs aren¡¯t suitable for your voice. But after your modification, there is a different feel to them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡± She politely replied.

    Wei Shaoyin was unaffected by theck of enthusiasm in her voice. He waved the song sheets in his hands and asked, ¡°Mind if I take these back with me and have a look?¡±

 Chapter 17 - Having Lunch with a Hunk

    <h4>Chapter 17: Having Lunch with a Hunk</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was not anything important, so Xia Ling indicated that it was fine with a wave of her hand.

    Wei Shaoyin said a quick goodbye to Li Lei, took the song sheets and hurried off. Xia Ling looked on at the sight of him leaving and thought to herself that the rumors in the industry of Wei Shaoyin being a workaholic were indeed urate.

    Li Lei was left standing alone under the luscious leaves of the peacock flower tree. Xia Ling looked down from the railing of the second-floor balcony she was in. He stared into her eyes for a moment, before giving azy smile and asking, ¡°Did you like the Hibiscus Mutabilis that I asked the caretaker to bring over for you?¡±

    She thought of the bouquet sitting in her room and answered, ¡°Yes, they are beautiful, thank you.¡±

    His smile became deeper.

    There was silence for a moment.

    Xia Ling did not want to have anything more to do with him, thus she got up and made to leave. He called out to stop her ¡ª

    ¡°Hold up, Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Can I help you with anything else, Big Boss?¡± She stopped where she was, turned around and asked.

    Under the splendid autumn sun, he leaned against the sprawling peacock flower tree, the golden rays of the sun shining on his face, perfectlyplementing the radiant smile on his face, exuding an elusive attractiveness. He said, ¡°I had a lunch appointment with Ah Wei originally and we happened to pass by here. We heard you singing and stopped for a moment to appreciate your performance. But who knew that he would run off because of you.¡±

    ¡°.....¡± Xia Ling was speechless. How could she be med for that? Wei Shaoyin had unterally decided to go examine the song sheets he had borrowed from her. She was just a lowly trainee in thepany, what power did she have to influence the top producer of thepany?

    Li Lei continued in his own stride. ¡°So, why don¡¯t you join me for lunch?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was a little taken aback at his invitation.

    ¡°Eating alone is boring.¡± As he spoke, heughed and persuaded. ¡°I promise it¡¯s a delicious and hearty meal. I¡¯m not lying to you.¡±

    ¡°Sorry Boss, I haven¡¯t recovered fully from my injury and need to rest. Please forgive me for being unable to apany you for lunch. Do look for someone else.¡± She declined politely. He was the one that felt bored eating alone, not her. In contrast, she actually enjoyed being alone here. She still had many keys to practice, who had the spare time to entertain the Big Boss?

    Surprise shed across Li Lei¡¯s eyes. He had probably not expected that someone would dare decline his invitation.

    Xia Ling thought that it was no surprise given his family background and position as the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment. He was used to having people suck up to him, and would think that everyone would obey him unconditionally. She knew these wealthy people too well, they all had the same problem.

    Yet, it was but a split second before thezy smile returned to Li Lei¡¯s face. ¡°An invitation is nothingpared to a coincidental meeting. As a guest here, are you not going to give me some face as the owner of this vi?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned as she sensed the slight pressure in his words. If she declined this second invitation it would seem impolite. As she was living in his premises she had no choice but to give in. She gave an internal sigh and agreed to his lunch invitation reluctantly. Turning, she was about to head downstairs for lunch. However, she remembered something and returned to the railings, looking down pensively.

    Li Lei sensed her concern immediately and said, ¡°Er Mao isn¡¯t here.¡±

    She breathed a sigh of relief and rxed. Fortunately, that leopard was not around. Otherwise, even if it meant that she had to risk offending the Big Boss, she would definitely not go down for lunch.

    She said, ¡°Please wait a little while for me. I¡¯ll be down after I change.¡±

    The weather in the mountains was a little chilly. Xia Ling picked a light, khaki dress from the cupboard and then pulled on a thin cardigan. She only headed downstairs after ensuring that she looked presentable. When she saw Li Lei, he did not seem impatient at all and instead gave her a once-over, a look of approval entering his deep green eyes. Heplimented. ¡°This long dress suits you well.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Ling replied.

    Looking at Li Lei up close, she realized that he was even more handsome. His long and narrow eyes were slightly lifted at the sides, his thin lips lightly pulled into a half-smile. Around his neck were two army dog tags on a metal chain that had a metallic gleam, though it was unclear what material they were made of. On his lightly tan skin, it made him seem even more manly.

    There was a period the army dog tags were a popr fashion essory. Yet, he was the only one that was sopatible with it on.

    Li Lei stood up and led Xia Ling in the direction of the dining hall. Making conversation, he asked, ¡°Are you very scared of Er Mao?¡±

    Xia Ling remained quiet for a moment.

    Other than fear, she also felt hate for the beast. Ever since she had endured what Pei Ziheng put her through, she would avoid any animal that was simr to the mastiff. What¡¯s more, the leopard had injured her. Yet, she could not tell Li Lei all of this. She simply said, ¡°A mons.... wild animal... will always be a wild animal.¡± She had wanted to say ¡°monster¡± but had changed her word midway to amodate the Big Boss.

    Li Lei brushed off herment, saying, ¡°In many instances, they are more loyal than humans.¡±

    It was clear that that leopard was good to him. Although nobody exined the situation that she saw before, from her observation it appeared that an assassin had tried to attack Li Lei but was killed by the leopard. That leopard had been pacing and restless seeing Li Lei injured, clearly anxious and worried for him. As such, they would definitely not see eye to eye on this topic.

    To change the topic, Xia Ling asked in passing, ¡°What¡¯s for lunch?¡±

    Li Lei gave her a look, smiled and responded, ¡°You¡¯ll see when we get there.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have any major expectations for lunch, but after hearing his reply, she could feel her curiosity rising. She followed him through the winding mountain path for a distance before she saw an exquisite jetty under the shade of the vegetation in front of them.

    On the water by the jetty was a small wooden boat that could only sit two people other than the boat captain manning the oars. Li Lei took a step onto the boat first, before reaching out his hand to her intending to help her onto the boat.

    Xia Ling avoided his hand and said, ¡°I can manage on my own.¡±

    He raised his brows lightly and naturally retracted his hand as if she had never declined his help.

    She could not help but be impressed by his manners. For a Big Boss like him to give such respect to a lowly trainee was indeed umon. As she thought, she nimbly stepped onto the wooden boat, showcasing her perfect bnce by barely rocking the boat at all. She lifted her dress a little as she took her seat. Looking up, she met his gaze as he looked at her, his eyes with a tinge of a smile.

    ¡°Tan Ying indeed has a good eye for people.¡± He remarked.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She was a little stunned with the sudden change of topic.

    Li Lei said, ¡°You¡¯ve practiced dance for a long time, haven¡¯t you? It doesn¡¯t look like you have only been a trainee for one or two years.¡±

    She secretly gave a start. She did not expect him to be so astute. He clearly did not recognize even a song as famous as ¡°The Scent of the Zither¡±, how could he tell from a single look that she had practiced dance for a long time? She picked her words carefully as she replied, ¡°I¡¯ve liked dancing since I was young. My family sent me to a children¡¯s dance training ss, thus I¡¯ve been dancing since I was little.¡±

    He smiled lightly and did not respond.

    She felt a little uneasy, afraid that he had picked up on something. She asked in trepidation, ¡°You seem to be quite the expert in the dance department?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m an expert.¡± He replied nonchntly. ¡°A few days ago when Ah Wei was torturing you kids, I watched you from afar. Your abilities are at apletely different level from the rest of the trainees.¡±

 Chapter 18 - Devoid of a Sense of Security

    <h4>Chapter 18: Devoid of a Sense of Security</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    So it was byparison.

    Xia Ling rxed a little and said, ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡± But wait, what did he mean by ¡°you kids¡±? She looked over at Li Lei. He looked no more than 24 or 25 years old, even younger than she was in her past life.

    Li Lei was unaware of her thoughts as he beckoned to the waiter to serve lunch.

    A row of waiters in matching uniforms came holding simr wooden trays and silently served tes and tes of delicacies. Xia Ling quietly watched them. The spread was indeed extensive, there was a steamed bass, barbequed meat, prawn fried with Longjing tea, corn with pines, etc., all ced in polished, white porcin tes. The food looked sulent and the aroma was intoxicating ¡ª just looking at the food made her hungry.

    He poured her some wine with the impable manners of a gentleman. The rose-colored liquid swirled in the amber cup, the wine¡¯s fragrance lingering in the air. ¡°This is a fruit wine that we produced in this mountain vi.¡± He remarked. ¡°Have a taste, it¡¯s very refreshing.¡±

    She sipped for a taste and it was indeed a good wine. It was slightly warm as it entered her pte, and the initial sweetness left a subtle mellow aftertaste thatsted. In her past life, she had tasted many good wines while with Pei Ziheng. At this moment, she was certain that this wine was not as simple as Li Lei had put it. Even if it were self-produced in this mountain vi, there was definitely an experienced and illustrious wine-maker overseeing the operation.

    Yet he kept mum with no intention to brag.

    Xia Ling could not resist but steal another look at Li Lei, feeling increasingly impressed by him.

    The boat captain skillfully rowed the boat with the bamboo oars in his hands, and the wooden boat traversed the river between the green mountains, following the river¡¯s current.

    Along the way, Li Lei kept up the intermittent conversation and before long, the wooden boat had traveled past many twists and turns along the river stretch. The scenery on the two banks changed and there were no longer signs of houses or people. Li Lei told her that this river¡¯s name was ¡°The River of Longing¡±. It flowed through many of the neighboring peaks with many twists along the way, and they were now no longer in the initial mountain where they started from.

    He peeled an orange and passed a segment to her, saying, ¡°Have an after meal fruit and rest for a little longer. We will be reaching another jetty. From there we can switch to a cable car to return to the mountain vi. You will be able to see the Jade Mirror Lake and wild geese midway up the mountain.¡±

    His words were lined with a tinge ofughter, fulfilling his role as host well.

    Although Xia Ling felt that it was a little waste of time to traverse the entire mountain region just for a simple meal, the year-long prisoner life that she had experienced in her past life, as well as the mundane life of a trainee, was just too boring. Hence, she couldn¡¯t help but feel expectant upon hearing about the wild geese he spoke about.

    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go as nned.

    A sudden downpour sent them scrambling, soaking them from top to bottom. Li Lei used both arms to protect the wound in his abdomen while ordering the boat captain. ¡°Lao Chen, quickly look for a ce nearby to hide from the rain.¡±

    The boat captain responded with a loud voice and then started rowing in earnest. The little wooden boat picked up speed as he guided it steadily through the many turns that he had be ustomed to. They came to a stop in front of a secluded cave.

    Li Lei jumped ashore and stretched out his arm to help Xia Ling out.

    This time, Xia Ling did not decline, mainly because the partially recovered wound on her shoulder was hurting badly having been wet through by the rain. She could barely lift her arm to bnce herself. Li Lei half dragged, half carried her ashore. She looked disheveled and stood unsteadily as he pulled her into his embrace in one swift motion.

    Li Lei¡¯s chest was sturdy like it was made of metal, and her nose hurt from bumping into it with the sudden movement. Xia Ling panicked momentarily and struggled to stand steady. He released his hold on her and looked at her teasingly. ¡°The ground is slippery from the heavy downpour. It¡¯s not the time for you to pretend like you don¡¯t need help.¡±

    She covered her nose in embarrassment, not saying a word.

    She did not know if it was her imagination, but she felt that his words held more meaning than he let on on the surface. Could it be that he was holding a grudge from her initial rejection?

    Yet, it was just a momentter that he turned and walked further into the cave, leaving her behind. His steps were steady, and nobody would be able to tell that he was still recovering from an injury. Xia Ling looked on in shock. His gun wound was definitely more serious than her shoulder injury. Her shoulder was still hurting badly but he waspletely fine already?

    At this moment, the boat captain too came ashore after anchoring the wooden boat. Seeing Xia Ling standing outside the cave, he politely said, ¡°Miss, you should head inside the cave too. The wind at the cave entrance is chilly, thus you¡¯ll easily catch a cold. I¡¯ll be ok here alone standing guard.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and followed in the direction that Li Lei had headed.

    The cave was not considered deep and was formed in a semi-circle shape. As she took a turn to go further into the cave to look for Li Lei, she could no longer see the boat captain at the entrance. Li Lei had already taken off his shirt, revealing his naked upper body, his muscles proportionate and well-toned. She noticed that there was gauze wrapped around his waist and some blood was seeping out. Clearly, his wound was not fully recovered.

    She would not have been able to tell from the way he had acted earlier like there was nothing wrong at all.

    Furthermore, she could see countless old scars crisscrossed on his body, in all shapes and sizes. Many looked scary, with one spanning from his left shoulder to his right waistline, as if someone had tried to cut him in half. She couldn¡¯t help but wonder what did he go through to have scars like these?

    She kept walking forward while she pondered, her footsteps light, not obvious with the howling of the wind and rain. However, as she drew near to Li Lei, he raised his head alertly, the deep green of his eyes overflowing with coldness.

    Xia Ling felt her heart tighten in fear. It was as if an invisible hand held her in a choke the moment heid eyes on her, making her freeze in ce. There was an iciness in the air. Was this... a killer¡¯s instinct?

    In a split second his death re was reced with his usualzy smile. He said, ¡°Oh Ye Xingling, it¡¯s you. Take off your clothes ande sit by the fire. It¡¯s easy to fall ill in this weather.¡±

    She took a deep breath. Who else did he think would appear here?

    As she sought to tame her heart that was thumping wildly, Xia Ling thought to herself that she had but seen Li Lei twice and both times he had given her a massive fright. She felt no security being with him, a vagrant associated with the underworld, thus she would better keep a distance in the future.

    She carefully walked closer and sat down opposite him, as far away as possible.

    He had somehow found some firewood and was starting a fire. The confidence he exuded clearly suggested that he knew what he was doing. As he worked, he said, ¡°The weather in the mountains is hard to predict. Lao Chen and his crew have been here for a long time, thus they know all the ces to hide from the rain. This cave has already been scouted out before. It¡¯s safe, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    She had nothing to worry about. Tan Ying had mentioned that there were no wild beasts in the nearby mountains on the very first day of filming. Furthermore, ever since Li Lei¡¯s injury, she heard from the caretaker that security in the mountains had been heightened. In the route that they took on the wooden boat, there were countless bodyguards around, some visible some not.

    He was the one that was worried. The aggressiveness in his re earlier was too obvious.

    Warmth rose from the flicker of the orange-red me that Li Lei started. She lifted her hands and warmed them by the fire, and then curiously asked, ¡°Where did you find this firewood?¡±

    ¡°We prepare them year-round in these caves, in case anyone needs them urgently while being trapped here alone.¡± Li Lei replied and continued, ¡°When we go backter, Lao Chen will rece the firewood here. Oh, there¡¯s also some dried food...¡± He jerked his chin towards the direction of a stack of dried biscuits in a near corner of the cave.

    As they had just had lunch and were not hungry, neither of them touched the biscuits.

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes and watched her warming her hands by the fire, darkness entering his eyes.

    She noticed the change and lowered her head to look at herself. At this moment, she noticed that her long dress and cardigan, soaked in the rain, were clinging closely to her body, the curves of her body and muscles underneath her skirt shaped clearly by the wet fabric. With a start, she wrapped both arms around her chest reflexively.

 Chapter 19 - Change of Clothes

    <h4>Chapter 19: Change of Clothes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He chuckled.

    She red at him, at the way heughed, as her arms tightened around her chest.

    ¡°You can let your guard down, little beauty.¡± He was sitting casually beside the fire, not quite looking at her, instead concentrated on drying his rain-soaked shirt. It dried quickly, considering that the shirt was real silk. ¡°Take off your wet clothes,¡± He flung the shirt at her. ¡°and put this on instead.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback by his show of kindness.

    ¡°Stop nking out, unless you enjoy standing half exposed in front of me.¡± He remarked. She could not tell if he was joking or not.

    ¡°You¡¯re shameless, your entire family...¡± She snapped. Then her eyes fell on how the firelight illuminated his upper body, and a sudden wave of embarrassment washed over her. She grabbed the shirt and left.

    She could hear his pleasantughter from behind.

    Xia Ling had her back turned against him as she began to change, still suppressing her outrage. She had slipped off her outer jacket quickly. However, her fingertips slowed as they approached her dress and eventually froze, unable to move on.

    ¡°You can take off your dress, you know.¡± He drawled. ¡°I¡¯m taller than you, so the shirt is going to be oversized. If you¡¯re worried about exposing yourself.¡±

    He was right, the shirt hit her about mid-thigh, so identally shing anyone would technically be improbable. But her mind involuntarily flickered back to her year-long imprisonment by Pei Ziheng. In that entire year she had not gotten any legitimate garments to even clothe herself, and now iplete outfits traumatized her to no end.

    Especially in front of men.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, this is alright.¡± She feigned.

    Li Lei gave her a meaningful look. He was the Li family¡¯s grandson and had a silver spoon in his mouth ever since he was born. In his twenty plus years of existence, he had his fair share of women that plotted to crawl into bed with him. Xia Ling, drenched head to toe, literally had the opportunity to seduce him presented to her, and yet here she was, wrapped up like a dumpling as if she was afraid that he would take advantage of her... how interesting.

    His lips curled into an unknowing smile.

    All of a sudden, Xia Ling could only feel her shoulder throb in pain, as the rest of her arm faded into numbness. Nheless, she continued to struggle into his dry shirt, even doing up all the buttons and dragging her soaked dress back to where the fire was.

    The firelight was dancing across his face, illuminating his features.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She said politely.

    He was side-eyeing her, considering something. ¡°Come here,¡± he said, as he motioned for her toe over.

    ¡°Why?¡± She was confused.

    ¡°Come here.¡± He repeated. He said it smilingly, but somehow it still managed to hold some kind of authority, the kind that only the very powerful in society could possess.

    Xia Ling paused, thinking. Not wishing to entertain the thought of direct conflict, she very warily followed his instruction.

    ¡°Sit.¡± Hemanded.

    She sat down, but before she could react, he had pulled her into his chest.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± She was visibly shaken, instinctively pushing him away. He... how dare he be so casual, with one hand on her waist and the other actually undoing the buttons on her shirt?

    ¡°Be good, don¡¯t move,¡± he replied calmly, easily resisting her struggling by flipping her arms to the back. The hand that was previously resting on her waist was now holding her wrists down, and Xia Ling could not, for the life of her, break free from his iron grasp.

    ¡°Li Lei, let go of me.¡± She threatened, raising her head to re at him.

    He lowered his head to look at her. He had that unreadable look in his eyes again, the one where nobody could tell what he was thinking. Xia Ling could only see her own pale, frenzied figure reflected in his pupils, and unknowingly began to settle down.

    He grinned btedly, saying with a gentle tone, ¡°Don¡¯t look so scandalized, I only wanted to help you redo your buttons, they were a little off just now.¡± His gaze was trailing, beginning at her face and slowly making its way down, and she remembered how he paused for a moment at her chest. ¡°I¡¯ll admit, your figure is pretty sweet, and your face is my type...¡±

    Xia Ling stiffened immediately.

    As he senses her difort, he patted her back as if in constion. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯m not interested in doing anything to you. Though I¡¯m a little hurt by how you¡¯re so scared of me.¡±

    He was still redoing her buttons for her as he said this, and she almost shuddered, sensing the warmth emanating from his fingertips. Time seemed to be passing slower than usual, and Xia Ling was praying with all her might for him to finish whatever he was doing, but to no avail, instead feeling his actions slow with every passing moment. Internally, she cursed herself for managing to mess up buttoning a shirt so badly, possibly giving some guy an opportunity to take advantage of her. Which then led her to question why she had taken the shirt from him so readily in the first ce. After all, they weren¡¯t rted. He was just her Boss, and which Boss treated their employees like this?

    After what felt like an eternity, Li Lei finally did up thest button, and she felt his slightly callused thumb and index fingertip on her chin. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± His voice was low, practically ghosting across her cheeks.

    He let go as she escaped his grip.

    She subconsciously mbered away until her personal space was restored, sighing in relief. She felt a droplet of something trickle into her eye, and when she felt her forehead, she realized that she had broken into a cold sweat.

    He was still sitting beside the fire, single hand outstretched towards her. ¡°I said before, you don¡¯t have to be so scared.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that she was overreacting, but nobody would understand her. Nobody would truly know the horrors she experienced in Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi. It was the reason why she was so talented in pushing people away today. She lowered her head in an attempt to conceal her expression from him.

    ¡°Yo, Er Mao.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice had considerably lightened.

    No way, it was here?

    Xia Ling looked over, only to be greeted by the sight of a leopard not too far from herself. It looked formidable, covered in a majestic rose pattern, amber irises silently trained on the both of them. It must havee in because of the storm, for its entire body waspletely drenched, with countless water droplets falling off its slick coat, pooling in the form of little puddles beneath itself.

    Xia Ling could feel each individual hair on her body stand. Being so close to a creature never spelled good news for anybody.

    For some reason, Li Lei seemed unfazed, his expression brightening as he opened his arms. ¡°Er Mao,e here.¡±

    The leopard turned his head and looked at Li Lei, as if inspecting whether its owner had gotten any new injuries, before narrowing its eyes in satisfaction. It took several steps back, gaining momentum before pouncing onto Li Lei.

    ¡°Oof.¡± Li Lei, overpowered by the impact of the creature, was tackled to the floor, but his tone was still smiling. ¡°Er Mao, you¡¯re disgusting. I just dried myself and now I¡¯m wet all over again... hey, don¡¯t dry yourself on me, I said don¡¯t do that...¡± He was basically rolling on the ground with the leopard now, the leopard¡¯s head buried in Li Lei¡¯s chest as he patted its fur, obviously having fun.

    Xia Ling stared on dumbfoundedly. The leopard... was it really a leopard? Why did it seem like one of those big dogs? The only thing it had not done was run towards its owner wagging its tail...

 Chapter 20 - Rich People Really Are Jerks

    <h4>Chapter 20: Rich People Really Are Jerks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She seemed to have understood why the ferocious creature was called Er Mao. When it was unprovoked, it seemed to be apletely different being from the one she faced the other day.

    Finally, as the two of them were done rolling about and leaving mud prints on the ground, they returned to the fire. Xia Ling realized that Li Lei¡¯s wound seemed to have opened up, and the air around was beginning to smell of blood. He undid the bandage around his abdomen and began treating his wound, appearing more skilled than even a medical professional.

    Er Maozily lied beside him, head resting on its front paws and eyes half-closed as if it was already asleep. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t sure if her gut feeling was right, but she felt that his line of sight never left her. Yet it was not the least bit interested in the smell of blood that came from its owner. It seemed like he really could differentiate what he should and shouldn¡¯t eat.

    Li Lei cleaned the dried blood around the wound without even batting an eyelid. Xia Ling felt the pain just by looking at it, yet he acted like it was nothing ¡ª there was not a trace of pain on his face. He even reassured her while cleaning his wound. ¡°There¡¯s a storm now and Er Mao is here because it¡¯s worried about me... You don¡¯t have to be afraid of it. Since you¡¯re wearing my clothes, it won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    However, she wasn¡¯t convinced by his words at all. The way the leopard sized her up didn¡¯t seem very friendly, and she felt that it could pounce on and kill her anytime.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and gathered the courage to voice out. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m going to go take a breather.¡±

    Li Lei looked up at her, and then at Er Mao. He gave up trying to push for a peaceful coexistence between the two of them. ¡°Forget it, go ahead... It really doesn¡¯t bite.¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t swayed as she took her leave.

    Old Chen, who was at the mouth of the cave, wasn¡¯t surprised to see her walk out. He smilingly said, ¡°Miss,e and warm yourself by the fire. I saw Er Mao enter just now and guessed that you¡¯d being out.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± She looked at him, puzzled.

    Old Chen was using dried twigs and branches to nurse the fire. ¡°Young Master¡¯s leopard grew up eating flesh and meat. Though it doesn¡¯t usually attack people, it¡¯s still a wild animal, and most people can¡¯t stand to stay around it.¡± Old Chen was not a part of Skyart Entertainment, he was the Li family¡¯s servant, thus he only knew Li Lei as Young Master and not Boss.

    ¡°Then, are you afraid?¡± Xia Ling casually asked.

    Surprisingly, Old Chen shook his head. ¡°Initially I was scared, but after knowing that Er Mao had saved Young Master¡¯s life several times, I wasn¡¯t so scared anymore. Miss, let me tell you, this leopard has a spiritual nature, and animals like that don¡¯t attack anyhow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± She acknowledged half-heartedly as she looked across the fire at the rainy scene outside the cave.

    She thought to herself. <i>No wonder Li Lei was so happy to see that leopard. His expression was softer than when he faced her. </i>Having been in the entertainment industry for her whole previous life, she was discerning enough to tell that even though Li Lei was polite and nice to her, he did not feel much towards her. When he saw the leopard, however, the tenderness and love he expressed towards it were genuinely sincere.

    Oh well, so in Boss¡¯s eyes, she couldn¡¯t even hold a candle to a leopard.

    The rain pattered down outside the cave, and after sitting by the fire for a long while, she finally felt some warmth. Xia Ling leaned her head against the wall of the cave and dozed off, yet in her subconsciousness, she dreamed of something, thus she could not sleep soundly. The wound in her shoulder was starting to hurt slightly. She tossed and turned in her sleep, the difort getting increasingly distinct, but still, she refused to wake up.

    Some time passed before somebody apparently called out her name. It was a gentle voice, almost seductive.

    She softly mumbled. ¡°Brother Pei...¡± She dreamed of Pei Ziheng¡¯s gentle and handsome face. She was still young when she over-exerted herself during practice and came down with a high fever. The family clinic happened to be closed that day, and at two in the morning, Pei Ziheng had carried her to the hospital. They were the only people in the emergency room in the dead of night, and he had removed his coat to wrap around her. She remembered him foolishly humming a tune as they waited.

    At that time, Xia Ling had criticized his singing and minded that heforted her like a child.

    Twelve-year-old Xia Ling had frowned when she told him to stop singing. She had told him seriously. ¡°Brother Pei, I¡¯ve grown up, don¡¯t treat me like a child anymore.¡± Back then, her sister, Xia Yu, always endearingly called him Brother Ziheng, while she only ever called him Brother Pei. When they became a couple after that, she only addressed him as Ziheng.

    Acting all coquettishly around people was something she never could bring herself to do.

    Hence, from then on, she never heard him sing again.

    But now, she really hoped to go back to the time when she would tug at his sleeve and say, ¡°Sing me another song...¡±

    Semi-conscious, she seemed to hear a sound. It was broken up and disjointed, just like her memory. Yet it was in these notes and melody that she was finally able to be at peace, finally falling into a deep sleep.

    When she woke up, Xia Ling found herself in a car.

    Night had fallen, the shadows from the trees along the sides of the road stretching across the car. It was very quiet in the car, but as the dim street lights peeked inside, it revealed the handsome face of the man holding her.

    It was Li Lei.

    He had her on hisp and his eyes were closed, probably asleep. His head was resting on the seat of the car, his longshes casting a faint shadow beneath his eyes. The image she saw had a little less life than in the daytime, but a lot more gentleness.

    He was truly a very attractive man.

    Xia Ling flinched a little and he sensed it right away. He opened his eyes and took a nce at her, smiling, ¡°Why are you up so fast? How are you feeling, are you in any difort?¡± His deep, dark green eyes were so full of life that they looked like a night sky full of stars.

    Only then did she realize that she felt cold despite being wrapped in a thick nket and having a warm towel on her forehead. She opened her mouth but struggled to speak, her voice so hoarse that she could barely recognize it as her own. ¡°What... happened to me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re running a fever,¡± he replied light-heartedly. ¡°Told you to take your soakingly wet dress off, but you refused to listen. You were so stubborn despite being drenched in the rain... serves you right that this happened.¡± He was being harsh with his words, but meanwhile, his hands never stopped working, helping her up a little and holding a cup of water to her lips. ¡°Drink up.¡±

    She drank a few sips of the water; it was actually warm. She wondered how they could¡¯ve gotten warm water in the car.

    He seemed to have noticed her bewilderment and said, ¡°You were already running a fever this afternoon when we sought shelter from the rain in the cave. Seeing that you were unconscious, I had no choice but to get Old Chen to contact the emergency team on the mountains. Once the rain stopped, they came to get you with all the medical supplies.¡±

    ¡°Thank you...¡± Her throat was strained.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to thank me for, I¡¯m your Boss. I heard from Tan Ying that you¡¯re still somewhat of a newbie. If anything happened to you, where would all the resources that we¡¯ve pumped into you go?¡± He joked.

    She was slightly confused listening to him. So, he was taking such care of her because of that?

    <i>Rich people really are jerks.</i>

 Chapter 21 - Ill Sing Another Song for You

    <h4>Chapter 21: I¡¯ll Sing Another Song for You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling turned over and ignored him, yet he still rambled. ¡°You¡¯re being petty if this makes you angry, little beauty. Have you forgotten that while you slept, you wouldn¡¯t let go of my hand and even demanded that I sing for you?¡±

    Her heart clenched. Perhaps the voice was not a dream.

    She raised her head incredulously. ¡°You... you sang for me?!¡±

    His face broke into an attractive smile. ¡°That¡¯s right, if I wouldn¡¯t sing, you wouldn¡¯t let me go. You wouldn¡¯t sleep well, waking up in a cold sweat. I had no choice, I had to just hold you and sing. I sang so many songs ¡ª I think I sang all the songs I know before you finally went to sleep.¡±

    Li Lei mockingly continued, ¡°You¡¯re so hard to please, little beauty.¡±

    Xia Ling could not understand. In this life, she would consider herself pleasant looking at best, but she was nothingpared to the stunning drop-dead gorgeousness from herst life. Even among all the other celebrities, she was average. How could he call her Little Beauty so easily?

    Of course, at this moment, her main concern was not his peculiar choice of nickname. She had more urgent things to settle as she frenziedly asked, ¡°What did I say when I was sleeping?¡± She could vaguely remember Pei Ziheng somewhere, and she prayed that she had not let slip what she should not have said.

    Li Lei squinted in her direction and broke into a grin. ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. I only understood what you were saying when you were begging me to sing. Anything beyond that escaped me entirely.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± she asked, not quite convinced.

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± Li Lei leaned back into his chair, hand outstretched to pat her head before closing his eyes yet again. ¡°Go to sleep, we still have a long way to go.¡±

    Cocooned in a soft, warm nket, his steady breathing low by her ears, she gently drifted back into a dreamless sleep. When she woke up, it was already the next day¡¯s afternoon, in her luxurious room in the mountains.

    She had been given a prescription and even got a shot, but most importantly, the doctors advised her to rest.

    Her rest days were fundamentally different from before though ¡ª no thanks to Wei Shaoyin.

    From the day he borrowed her song sheets for study, he woulde to her every other day. In the beginning, he would discuss matters regarding the song sheets with her, and gradually, the topic of conversation gradually deepened. It began by analyzing the different transitions and continuations of different musical theories. The discussion was mostly centered around the works of her previous incarnation. There was no other way about it. Xia Ling¡¯s music style was just too ssic.

    Anyway, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s MV was in honor of Xia Ling.

    The song title was lyrical and mncholy, called ¡°I¡¯ll Sing Another Song for You¡±.

    <i>I¡¯ll sing another song for you/thest song/bid farewell to yesterday¡¯s blossoms/yesterday¡¯s legends</i>

    <i>I¡¯ll light you anotherntern/a lotusmp on the other shore/forget the ebb and flow of time/let the smoke and rain bring you home</i>

    The production was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s style, no doubt, but for some reason, it wascking something. This was inevitable, after all, why did he want to work on a song for her? In Xia Ling¡¯sst life, they were never familiar, neither with each other nor her work.

    They were essentially strangers.

    In this life, Xia Ling and Wei Shaoyin met by chance. He was a top producer, she was an unknown trainee. And she sometimes felt like she was not in the position to pry into certain things. However, as their musical discussions deepened, she let the question slip. ¡°Mr. Wei, if I¡¯m not wrong, you and Xia Ling have never been close, why do you want to dedicate a song to her?¡±

    The bitter aroma of his deep roast Mandheling coffee punctuated the air as Wei Shaoyin swirled the porcin cup in his hand. His posture was elegant, and in his voice, she could hear a note of feigned ignorance and helplessness. ¡°I have no choice, Mai Na forced me into it. I don¡¯t think you know her, she¡¯s the most difficult manager in ourpany, and a famous, die-hard Xia Ling fan.¡±

    Mai Na...

    Xia Ling turned the name over in her head for a moment, but to no avail. The truth was, in herst life, she hadn¡¯t kept tabs on her fans, so it was not surprising that not a single fan¡¯s name coulde to mind.

    Thinking back to how they had mourned for her after her death, she could not help but feel that she had let them down.

    Xia Ling took a shallow sip of her tea and softly asked, ¡°Just this reason?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin smiled. ¡°Of course, there¡¯s also the money. Xia Ling¡¯s poprity is no joke, writing her tribute song will be extremely profitable.¡± Even though he was a genius producer, he was still essentially a businessman.

    She nodded inprehension but faltered. ¡°But if thepany releases a tribute song, and then all the otherpanies follow in session, I don¡¯t know if the fans will follow.¡± After all, in herst lifetime, she had ten years in the spotlight, spanning from her debut to her suicide, and all of it was spent in Imperial Entertainment.

    ¡°This is the magical part.¡± Wei Shaoyinughed, reminding her of a sly fox. ¡°I met Feng Kun the other day. He said he wasn¡¯t intending on writing any tribute.¡±

    Feng Kun had been her producer, and all her songs from herst lifetime had been exclusively produced by him. In thepany, if Feng Kun did not take on the responsibility of the tribute song, then nobody else could.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank, probably like how the remaining notes of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s coffee settled deep, bitter and sour. She supposed that Feng Kun had simply abandoned her after her death. Feng Kun, her most treasured and trusted friend on her musical journey, didn¡¯t even want to do her ast favor.

    Wei Shaoyin continued, ¡°Feng Kun says that Imperial Entertainment doesn¡¯t deserve it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She had to take some time to react.

    ¡°He said, ¡®Imperial Entertainment doesn¡¯t deserve to make Xia Ling a tribute song, and doesn¡¯t deserve to make this money¡¯.¡± Wei Shaoyin repeated. ¡°A gold-star producer that has worked for Imperial Entertainment for over a decade said this. It really makes people wonder what rtionship he has with his ownpany... Or perhaps, what rtionship Xia Ling had with thepany.¡±

    She did not hear hisst sentence, only fixated on the fact that Feng Kun had said that Imperial Entertainment was unworthy.

    She shut her eyes, overwhelmed. Feng Kun and Chu Chen were the same. They had both known the truth, except unlike Chu Chen, Feng Kun had not abandoned her. Out of all the people who had been around her, there was only him. Only him.

    In her memory, Feng Kun was like her. They had great pride, and demanded nothing less than perfection in their work, despising anything less than that. He was much more mature though, and like an older brother, he was always keeping her in line. Whenever Xia Ling offended people, he would chide her. ¡°Xiao Ling, be more down to earth, please. After all, being the bigger person is how we can be happier.¡±

    Unfortunately, she never listened.

    Until today, after everyone had left her. He really had her best interests at heart.

    <i>Feng Kun...</i>

    <i>I¡¯m sorry that I put so many years¡¯ worth of your work to waste.</i>

    Since she had a second shot at life, she promised to herself that she would never forget his words, to nevermit the same mistakes again.

 Chapter 22 - Would You Like To Come To My Recording Studio?

    <h4>Chapter 22: Would You Like To Come To My Recording Studio?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Shaoyin fiddled with his cup as usual. ¡°Feng Kun provided his two cents on this song, and the removal of some of Xia Ling¡¯s music segments was also authorized by him. He even rmended that Shen Manyao be the main singer for this song.¡±

    Xia Ling was bewildered. ¡°Shen Manyao? Why would he rmend her?¡±

    ¡°Feng Kun says that a lot of those who praise Xia Ling sky high are actually hypocrites, they can¡¯t wait to do her in. I think he¡¯s right, given Xia Ling¡¯s arrogance and temper, it¡¯s no wonder she¡¯s not well liked,¡± said Wei Shaoyin matter-of-factly, before carrying on. ¡°He said that Xia Ling detested being lied to and betrayed more than anything else. If those hypocritical artistes were to sing for her bereavement, Xia Ling¡¯s spirit wouldn¡¯t be happy about it. In this case we might as well get Shen Manyao to sing it. Her singing might not be exceptional, but at least she was the only one who dared to voice her unhappiness to Xia Ling¡¯s face.¡±

    So that¡¯s why.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t decide if it was funny or sad, but she felt warm inside. Feng Kun had always known her well, and now it seemed like the one who knew her best wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng nor Xia Yu, but him.

    Choosing Shen Manyao based on such a reason seemed odd, but it was exactly what she would¡¯ve wanted. Previously, Xia Ling had no idea that those who ttered and exalted her were so hypocritical. Now that she knew, she indeed would rather pick someone like Shen Manyao than give the rest of them a chance to boost their reputation with this opportunity.

    She nodded. ¡°Feng Kun... that¡¯s great.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t think of how else to say it, no words could express the gratitude she felt.

    Wei Shaoyin did not notice the slight change in Xia Ling¡¯s mood. He simply said, ¡°Yeah, he has always been very nice to Xia Ling. But I¡¯m the one suffering now, having to work with someone like Shen Manyao who can¡¯t even vocalize properly ¡ª half of the time was used just to teach her singing from scratch!¡±

    Xia Ling snorted, but quickly kept her smile when she looked up to see Wei Shaoyin¡¯s deadly re. ¡°Uh huh, at least the melody of the song is catered for the masses, it doesn¡¯t require much of a prerequisite for the singer.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re working under time constraints for the song, and Shen Manyao¡¯s standards are just ¡ª there¡¯s no way we can give her a challenging song,¡± said Wei Shaoyin. ¡°Moreover, this song was written by Xia Ling¡¯s fans, and most of her fans don¡¯t have much singing capabilities. For it to be sung well and be moving, the only way is to have a melody that¡¯s mass-oriented.¡±

    On this note, he seemed to have another thought as he said, ¡°I really wonder what the fans are thinking. Singing any of Xia Ling¡¯s songs make them sound like they¡¯re making a racket, yet they just like her anyway. Like Sister Mai Na, for instance...¡±

    Xia Ling slowly sipped her fruit tea, her head held low. She had noment. It¡¯s true, her songs easily make it to the top hits, but her fans rarely won by singing her songs atpetitions.

    If she could do it all over again, she would be nicer to them ¡ª she would write a few songs that they could sing well and sound good.

    ¡°The good thing is that you¡¯re around,¡± said Wei Shaoyin. ¡°Some of Xia Ling¡¯s original tunes are incorporated in this song. Her songs have always been challenging to perform, thus having them in here is causing some problems with the bridging. I¡¯ve tried working it out with a few songwriters, but it hasn¡¯t been very fruitful. Talking it out with you, on the other hand, has given me some direction.¡±

    Xia Ling looked up and smiled. ¡°Oh well, I¡¯m just d I¡¯m of help.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nodded. ¡°You¡¯re of a very big help here. I¡¯ll make some modifications to the song, thus the final product should be way better than what we have now.¡± As he said this, a new thought seemed to havee to mind. He turned and looked straight at her. ¡°Ye Xingling, I never knew you had a talent in this area. Would you considering to help us out at the recording studio?¡±

    Help Wei Shaoyin out at the recording studio?

    Xia Ling was a little stunned, and then casually asked ¡ª

    ¡°Will I get paid?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was stunned as well now. After pausing a moment, he said somewhat seriously, ¡°This is more than what most people can even dream of, and all you¡¯re thinking of is whether you¡¯ll get paid?¡±

    She believed him. In her previous life she¡¯d seen how people had fought with their lives to get a ce in Feng Kun¡¯s recording studio. People were willing to even pay to that job, not to mention work with no pay. He and Wei Shaoyin were considered to be in the same league, thus it seemed like the situation wouldn¡¯t be much different over here.

    But Xia Ling was different. She didn¡¯t need the experience, wasn¡¯t interested in the credentials, and had no intention to get close to anyone ¡ª Wei Shaoyin¡¯s invitation was of no use to her. She said, ¡°Mr. Wei, thank you for your suggestion. But I already owe thepany a lot of money and my priority now is to clear my debt. Whatever doesn¡¯t help me achieve that is not within my consideration.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was slightly taken aback. ¡°You owe thepany money?¡±

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t about to reply, he didn¡¯t probe further. He simply said, ¡°Trainees who haven¡¯t made it big yet are not paid for these contributions to thepany, and I can¡¯t make it an exception for you. However, if you do make it big, I¡¯ll write your first song. How¡¯s that?¡±

    This time it was Xia Ling who was surprised. Who knew he¡¯d be so magnanimous?

    A newbie¡¯s first song as a celebrity is of great significance. If they could rise to stardom with that song, their road ahead would be a lot easier. And if their first song was a flop, they could forget about breaking out of that vicious cycle of unpoprity andck of opportunity.

    There were way too many newbies out there who resorted to unthinkable means just to secure a good enough first song.

    Yet over here, Wei Shaoyin had so lightly made such a promise to her.

    She couldn¡¯t figure out why he was doing it. ¡°Mr. Wei, I heard you¡¯re very particr about who you pick. I have enough self awareness to know that I¡¯m not fantastic at dancing and my voice is nothing out of the ordinary. You already surprised me when you picked me out to be featured in the MV, why are you still willing to write that song for a nobody like me?¡± She obviously did not really think she was a nobody, but on the surface, she really was just average.

    ¡°You¡¯re very special, Ye Xingling,¡± said Wei Shaoyin. ¡°I¡¯ve found you special the very first time I saw you.¡±

    Now that¡¯s weird. Their first meeting was during the MV selection, where she deliberately appeared as just an average dancer. He managed to get something out of that? Xia Ling shifted a little, now looking all ready to listen on.

    Wei Shaoyin spoke pleasantly. ¡°If we¡¯re talking about your dance moves and posture alone, you were indeed just average. And if that was a solo audition, I definitely would have just overlooked you. But you were lucky.¡± He smiled. ¡°the other candidates who were at the selection that day were confused by you ¡ª they messed up their steps.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± She was beginning to sense that there was a problem.

    As she guessed, Wei Shaoyin went on. ¡°You had an aura that wasn¡¯t dimmed by anybody in your surroundings ¡ª even those who seemed to have beautiful dancing techniques. On the contrary, your seemingly-ordinary moves managed to sway the people around you naturally and subconsciously, even when your ways were wrong.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s why you selected me to be part of the MV?¡±

 Chapter 23 - A Gift Impossible to Reject

    <h4>Chapter 23: A Gift Impossible to Reject</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yes. You never got your dance moves wrong, and you¡¯re able to spur the people around you. That¡¯s what it takes to be a good candidate for a group dance.¡± Wei Shaoyin told her.

    The question was finally answered. Xia Ling now knew why he had specially picked her then. Besides her, all the other trainees have only been dancing for a few shorts years, how could they evene close to her with her 15 years or so of intensive practices in her previous life? Moreover, as a diva, she had encountered all sorts of situations, including tough ones; spurring them on was no big deal to her.

    ¡°During the MV itself, I focused on observing you in particr. Although you weren¡¯t especially spectacr, your improvements were impressive ¡ª you seemed to learn something new to better yourself each day.¡± Wei Shaoyin exined. ¡°The others just regard this filming process as a task, but you¡¯re able to pay attention to the learning points and experience gained. You¡¯re an intelligent and diligent dancer.¡±

    ¡°... Thank you.¡± Xia Ling had no idea how to respond to his praises. She wasn¡¯t even gaining experience, in fact, she was being extremely careful in revealing her actual ability, so as to ¡°improve¡± to her former standard at a believable rate. Otherwise, it would be too much of a torture for her to pretend to not dance well despite being outstanding.

    ¡°But this can¡¯t be all there is to you offering to write my first single for me, right?¡± she asked. The entertainment industry was full of smart, diligent people willing to strive for their dreams. It was not easy for someone to be able to truly shine and thrive in their career.

    ¡°Of course, there¡¯s more.¡± Wei Shaoyinughed easily. ¡°What struck me more than anything was when I heard you singing the other day ¡ª you were standing on the veranda and singing Xia Ling¡¯s song. Your voice obviously wasn¡¯t suited to sing a song with that melody, yet with the modifications you made, you managed to sing it beautifully. The entertainment industry is indeed full of intelligent people, but few are actually wise and creative. You have a very good understanding of yourself, and you¡¯re motivated and capable enough to work on your shorings. If this doesn¡¯t change, you will definitely achieve great things.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± Wei Shaoyin concluded. ¡°being able to write your first single does not dete my reputation in any way. On the contrary, being able to have a hand in grooming a rising star makes me more than happy.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks for your favor and looking out for me. In that case, I will do as you wish and help out at the recording studio.¡± Since all had beenid out, Xia Ling had no good reason to reject him. Truth be told, she was very happy to know that Wei Shaoyin was willing to write her first single for her. At the very least she didn¡¯t have to worry about ending up with a song made by a third-rate producer. After all, nothing annoyed her more than having to work with silly people.

    The thick of autumn was approaching.

    The trees outside were beginning to fall and flutter to the ground, and Xia Ling¡¯s condition was also taking a turn for the better. It¡¯s time she left.

    The butler led her to the back garden to inform Li Lei about her leaving. In that garden, the hibiscuses bloomed splendidly. She was a little surprised to see him trimming arge bush ¡ª his skill was professional, his movement leisurely. She thought to herself: <i>this man really is good at everything.</i>

    The butler smiled at her. ¡°Miss Ye, the hibiscuses that were sent to your roomst time were also personally trimmed by Young Master.¡±

    The house servants were not very friendly towards Xia Ling initially, as in the case of the hibiscuses, nobody told her about this when she received the flowers. But ever since her meal with Li Lei and her being carried home by him, their attitude towards her improved slightly.

    Xia Ling was not bothered by such a change. The world is as such, people are as such, there¡¯s nothing much to it.

    What bothered her was that Li Lei actually trimmed flowers for her personally. Did he have too much time on hand or was there another motive? Not that she was being narcissistic, but it was beyond odd for someone of his status to be this nice to just another dancer like her.

    Li Lei put down the shear in his hand and walked over. His outfit for the day was a grey long-sleeved round cor, loose fitting and casual, bringing about a homely feel. As he moved towards her, the faint outline of his toned muscles beneath the fabric surfaced, diffusing an air of masculinity that was seductive yet threatening.

    He stopped in front of Xia Ling and smiled lightly. ¡°Not going to stay a few more days?¡±

    ¡°My health is restored and the schedule at the training camp is very tight. I have to go back to practice.¡± She exined politely.

    Li Lei paid no attention to it, and instead prompted her to take a seat on a deck chair by the side. ¡°You can always choose not to go.¡±

    Her brow twitched ever so slightly as if it was a premonition.

    Indeed, what came after was his voice of insolence. ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing, you can continue to stay by my side. I will get somebody to handle it over at the training camp. If you wish to continue practicing, you can go for a ss or two when the mood arises, but it¡¯s also alright if you don¡¯t wish to attend at all.¡±

    There are things that need not be said explicitly, but in this case, Xia Ling still did not understand what she was hearing. Oh, how she had lived two lifetimes in vain.

    Li Lei meant to provide for her as his own.

    This was not something new or umon in the entertainment industry, there was nothing to be surprised about. If not for Pei Ziheng¡¯s protection in her previous life, there would have been plenty of people harboring designs on her. In hindsight, wasn¡¯t she his mistress anyway, despite how she naively thought that she and Pei Ziheng were a couple?

    That thought stung a little, and Xia Ling turned away to mask her emotions.

    Li Lei took his sweet time to sip his tea, patiently waiting for her response. He had an elegance in the way he was in control of the suspense ¡ª easy, firm and even charming. She couldn¡¯t help but think. <i>For a man who had wealth, power and status, and not to mention a handsome face, wouldn¡¯t he be able to have any belle and beauty he liked? Why did he only have eyes for somebody just ordinarily pleasant like her?</i>

    She really was puzzled.

    ¡°Why?¡± she asked, with the slip of tongue.

    Li Lei looked at her, his smile dissipating in his deep jade-green eyes. ¡°As I said before, you¡¯re the type I like. And also, you¡¯re very pure, and you know how to behave in delicate situations.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes hardened. Pure ¡ª he was already evaluating her body based on terms associated with mistresses. Maybe he had even hired somebody to do a background check on her love life. She felt insulted.

    She suddenly stood up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you, but I in no way know how to ¡®behave in delicate situations¡¯. Boss, Your Honour, thank you for your hospitality all this time. I¡¯m leaving tomorrow.¡±

    He did not stop her.

    In fact, when she set out the next day, he got the butler to see her out.

    The butler helped Xia Ling load the luggage, and even handed her a beautifully packaged box. ¡°Miss Ye, Young Master said he¡¯d dirtied your mobile phone thest time, so he¡¯s gifting you this new one. Please keep it well.¡±

    Only now did she remember that her phone was covered in bloodst time after she had lent it to him when he was injured. She was already unhappy with it at that time, who knew he had noticed it all along.

    The only issue was since he had ulterior motives with regards to her, his gifts must not be epted.

    Xia Ling gently declined the box. ¡°I appreciate your Young Master¡¯s goodwill, but please keep it.¡±

    The butler seemed to have seen iting as he handed it over once again. ¡°Young Master said if Miss Ye would not ept the gift, then it must mean that he hasn¡¯t been sincere enough. In that case, I would have to bring a group of people along with me to send this gift to the training camp. Miss Ye, please don¡¯t make things difficult for a servant like me.¡±

 Chapter 24 - Obsessively Clean Virgo Boy

    <h4>Chapter 24: Obsessively Clean Virgo Boy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was a very tactful statement, but the threat that was packed into it was no less felt.

    Lead a group of people to the training camp? God, how big a hubaloo that would be. Xia Ling chewed on it ¡ª Li Lei must have known that she wouldn¡¯t want to blow things up, such that he could be so sure of his ways.

    She swallowed her annoyance and received the box. ¡°Extend my thanks to your Young Master.¡±

    The butler remained warm and respectful. ¡°Young Master also said that you can give him a call anytime you feel that you¡¯ve changed your mind. There is a speed dial button on the side of the phone, which would be his number.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I will never use it.¡± Xia Ling resisted the strong urge to hurl the phone to the ground. She finished her sentence with teeth clenched and got into the car.

    When she returned to the training camp, she realized that a lot had changed in the time she wasn¡¯t around.

    For one, Lu Tao had found a street dance buddy, a teenager called Leng Hui. With dark hair, delicate eyes, and an ever expressionless face, he was the cool guy type that swooned all the girls.

    He transferred over from Imperial Entertainment, and at the same time, Luo Luo had chosen to go over to Imperial.

    Xia Ling had her concerns for that adorable girl. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training was the best and also the harshest in the industry ¡ªpetition was extremely intense, the elimination rate was incredibly high, and every year there would be news and rumors that someone hadmitted suicide due to the immense pressure. She wondered if Luo Luo could persevere.

    Tan Ying called Xia Ling into the office and handed something to her. ¡°Luo Luo told me to pass this on to you. She said that it must¡¯ve been because you were in a bad mood from being taken advantage ofst time that you didn¡¯t regard her as a friend. And that she would always see you as a friend and support you no matter where she goes. She hopes that both of you would make it big soon.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at the four-leaf clover pendant that was lying still in her palm, her heart aching a little. Luo Luo was such a pure and simple child, she could still show unbounded life and magnanimity even after such a rejection.

    She said, ¡°Please let Luo Luo know to take good care of herself.¡± However, after a pause, she changed her mind. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    Tan Ying poked fun at her. ¡°How cruel. You very well know that she admires you a lot, how could you bear to treat her like that?¡±

    ¡°What do you expect me to do then? Cry and sob and tell her I¡¯m wrong and let¡¯s reconcile?¡± Xia Ling couldn¡¯t contain her irritability, and her tone was curt. ¡°Chairman Tan, this is my personal matter, thus I won¡¯t bother you with it.¡±

    Who doesn¡¯t want a friend? Who doesn¡¯t want another person to look out for them?

    But she could not ¡ª never.

    From then on, she just wanted to walk her journey alone. With no worries and cares, there would be no betrayal.

    The days went by like water flowing out a stream.

    Xia Ling went about her days in solitude ¡ª in practice, having meals, brushing up for bed. Apart from that, she asionally went to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio to help him out with the misceneous work, organizing the scores and assisting in the recording. She also followed him around sometimes and heard him discuss his ns and proposals with people from all walks of life. They were usually beautiful and elegant works, vastly different from her gorgeous, demonic works.

    After increased exposure with such a style, she had learned a fair bit about this once foreign genre.

    Incorporated into her voice, it slowly evolved to be her very own aria style. In Wei Shaoyin¡¯s words, her voice was sounding cleaner and more distant, like watching a world on a rainy day through crystal clear ss panes; simple yet beautiful.

    ¡°Coupling that with your face, it¡¯s a pretty good match.¡± Wei Shaoyin concluded.

    He handed Xia Ling an invitation card. ¡°Attend it with me when the timees.¡±

    Xia Ling studied the invitation. It looked familiar with its golden rim on a dark red velvet card. It was the annual ceremony hosted by the nation¡¯srgest, most popr music and television station. Every year they would invite the big shots in the industry, including singers, producers, and songwriters. It was a splendid event, a truly honorable get-together.

    She used to be invited every year, but she never once saw Wei Shaoyin there.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be very interested in such events. Why this time then?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Events like this are a hassle.¡± Wei Shaoyin frowned and sipped his coffee, the rich aroma of his quality Mandheling brew dissipating around him. ¡°It¡¯s crowded, noisy, and extremely dirty.¡± He paused for a while and repeated. ¡°Extremely dirty.¡±

    Xia Lingughed a little.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s mild obsession with cleanliness, she only found that out after getting along with him for a while. He disinfected his office every day, brought his own utensils and tumbler around, and never used tissue paper, only his handkerchief that he carried everywhere he went... she heard he was a Virgo.

    He side-eyed her unhappily. ¡°You think I¡¯m in for this? Feng Kun rejected their invitation first, and Chen Yu, Mu Rongshao and a few others are either hospitalized or on their honeymoon. The only person left in the production team is me. The station came personally a few times and even made a call to the boss. They promised a year of golden opportunities next year, thus I have no choice but to make a trip down.¡±

    ¡°Feng Kun rejected it?¡± This was surprising to Xia Ling. He used to attend it every year, what happened this year?

    Wei Shaoyin dully said, ¡°He said he¡¯s been too busy and drained recently, and wants to recuperate overseas for a while to get back in shape. Everyone knows that it¡¯s been an eventful few months ¡ª Xia Ling has left, Xia Yu is releasing her debut ¡ª there¡¯s been too much on his hands.¡±

    Right, Xia Yu¡¯s debut.

    Xia Ling did not just find out about it. In fact, posters and publicity materials were spread soon after she had returned to the training camp. News about Xia Yu was everywhere, she was famous even before she had released her first song.

    Wei Shaoyin rose from the wide leather couch and apanied Xia Ling as they looked out the full-length window.

    Outside, the streets were bustling, and the enormous LED screen featured Xia Yu¡¯s delicate features. In terms of her appearance, she shared some simrities with the previous Xia Ling, but she was nowhere as stunning as her. On the other hand, what she had was a look that moved many, one that had the ability to sway people into adoring her ¡ª

    ¡°It¡¯s very suitable for her current status.¡± Wei Shaoyinmented, after having a taste of his coffee.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was baffled.

    ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s helpless and lonely sister, people feel for her.¡± He sneered discreetly.

    Xia Ling was having mixed feelings. ¡°You don¡¯t seem to like Xia Yu that much.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin did not deny. ¡°Xia Ling might have been hot-tempered, but she never portrayed her weak side. All of her sesses were achieved with her actual strength and substance. Xia Yu is different, she¡¯s simply taking the shortcut with her sister¡¯s reputation.¡±

    Xia Ling stayed silent. Wei Shaoyin had no idea how much thought and effort Xia Yu had put in for this day. She might be riding on her sister¡¯s fame, but this ¡°shortcut¡± was painstakingly built by Xia Yu and it was in no way easy on her, nor did it have any bit of luck at y.

    Now that she thought about it, maybe Xia Yu had started nning from a long time back.

    The year that they were taken in by Pei Ziheng, Xia Yu was only nine and very sickly. She was sent overseas for the best possible treatment, but congenital heart disease was in itself extremely difficult to treatpletely, and it was even more so that she had dyed it for so long.

    In that period of time, Xia Yu went through unthinkable and unbearable pain by all the surgeries and medication she had been put through.

    Pei Ziheng rarely let Xia Ling visit her, as he did not want her to dy her practices nor secretly shed tears in a corner every time she saw her. So he went on her behalf and provided for what she needed, even telling her bedtime stories and gifting her little trinkets once in a while.

    She did not know when it was that Xia Yu fell for him.

 Chapter 25 - Grudges and Complaints

    <h4>Chapter 25: Grudges and Comints</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling only found that Xia Yu increasingly did not wee her visits but instead was exceedingly close to Pei Ziheng, using her nasal, high-pitched voice to plead him to stay longer with her. The funnier thing was that Xia Ling then had just thought Xia Yu was going through an attention-seeking phase and did not take any of it to heart.

    Xia Yu was getting better day by day, the yellowness of her skin fading away and the swelling in her limbs reducing. What remained was a beautiful girl who looked like an exquisite porcin doll made by a master dollmaker. The year Xia Yu turned 15, Xia Ling decided to send her overseas to study.

    She stayed up several nights to pick what she thought was the best school for Xia Yu and brought the application documents before her.

    Xia Yu pushed the documents away, barely ncing down at them. Smiling at her sister, she said, ¡°I¡¯ve already decided to be homeschooled.¡±

    Xia Ling voiced her objection. ¡°Xiao Yu, you should be mingling with children your age. Going to school would be the best way to do that.¡± In all the years that Xia Yu received treatment, she was constantly in the hospital alone, without ymates or friends. The person she spent the most time with was Pei Ziheng, who only flew down once a month to visit her.

    Xia Ling did not want her to be so lonely.

    ¡°You should make more friends, Xiao Yu. Ziheng is busy with matters in thepany, he can¡¯t spend too much time with you.¡± She persuaded gently.

    Xia Yu face swiftly turned pale, a mist of tears entering her eyes. She pleaded. ¡°But sis, I want to help the both of you. I want to enter the best university and learn business management so that when I graduate I can go to Imperial Entertainment and help lift some of the pressure and burden off you and Brother Ziheng. My foundations are weak, and if I go to school as you say, I won¡¯t be able to keep up, and I definitely will not make it to a good university... Sis, let me be homeschooled, please. You and Brother Ziheng will get me the best homeschooling teachers won¡¯t you?¡±

    Xia Ling was unable to decline Xia Yu¡¯s begging. She thought that perhaps this was for the better. Xia Yu had always been weak and susceptible to illnesses. Letting her stay at home would mean that her daily meals and living conditions would be well taken care of.

    Eventually, Xia Yu managed to fulfill her wishes and was sessfully epted into Cambridge University.

    After she had sessfully graduated, she entered Imperial Entertainment in a managerial position.

    Pei Ziheng was a strict superior and expected Imperial Entertainment to function with precision and efficiency. As a result, the work was intense and with long hours, the projects neverending. Xia Yu worked hard and excelled beyond what anyone expected of her. However, her body was weaker than others, after all, and within a few months, she had lost a lot of weight from the pressure.

    Xia Ling persuaded her sister to stop working.

    She had already made it big in the entertainment industry then, amassing a small fortune that was sufficient for Xia Yu tofortably live her entire life without worry. Yet, Xia Yu did not want to stop and continued to press on with difficulty at Imperial Entertainment. She executed Pei Ziheng¡¯s everymand with perfection, running in and out of the Chairman¡¯s office where he sat more often than everybody else.

    Sometimes, Xia Ling would be in the Chairman¡¯s office as well, exchanging loving endearments with Pei Ziheng and being embraced in his arms. They would be admiring thetest new expensive toy that he bought or sharing a pot of exquisite tea. Whenever she saw Xia Yu enter to report neverending pages of numbers and spreadsheets, Xia Ling would feel disinterested, stand up from within Pei Ziheng¡¯s embrace and making to leave.

    Every time this happened, Pei Ziheng would frown slightly.

    Seeing this, terror would enter Xia Yu¡¯s face, and she would softly stutter. ¡°Sis, Brother Ziheng, I¡¯m so sorry, I¡¯m disturbing the both of you... Should I perhapse backter...¡±

    Xia Ling would smile and assure her that everything was fine, shooting a re at Pei Ziheng, wordlessly warning him not make Xia Yu feel bad. As this happened more often, Pei Ziheng became ustomed to it. After all, Xia Yu was highlypetent and the reports that she delivered were on topics at work that he was strongly interested in.

    They would engage in long discussions forgetting about the time.

    Xia Ling would return home first and wait alone on the sofa for Pei Ziheng, many times waking in the middle of the night in the same position.

    This was until she received a call from Pei Ziheng one day, telling her that Xia Yu had fainted during a meeting in the office. She frantically rushed to the hospital, her hands, and feet cold from fright. The doctors informed her that Xia Yu had fainted from fatigue and that her old ailment had rpsed.

    She canceled her attendance at an important awards ceremony scheduled for the next day, staying by Xia Yu¡¯s side in the hospital for three days and three nights.

    Ever since that incident, she refused to allow Xia Yu to continue working at Imperial Entertainment. Pei Ziheng never went against her wishes. Kissing her lightly, he said, ¡°Ok. I can always hire a new manager for the office. As long as my dear Xiao Ling is happy.¡±

    After being removed from her position in Imperial Entertainment, Xia Yu was depressed and unhappy. She would squeeze out a smile whenever Xia Ling asked about it, saying, ¡°Sis, I¡¯m fine. I was too stupid and ipetent. Sorry for having made you worry.¡±

    But, Xia Ling caught her one day, crying in secret behind her back.

    Xia Ling could not bear to see Xia Yu in such condition. She took out her entire savings from under the care of her financial consultant and handed them over to Xia Yu. She said, ¡°Xiao Yu, this is all the money that I have earned these few years. I¡¯m handing it over to you now to manage. You needn¡¯t do too much, nor am I concerned about how much you make or lose. Just do whatever you want with it in your spare time ¡ª the money here is yours as much as it is mine.¡±

    She wanted to give Xia Yu something to do to apply what she had learned, but that was not too taxing on her body. She hoped that this would make Xia Yu happy.

    Xia Yu epted the money, gratitude shining through her eyes. She resolutely said, ¡°Sis, I will not disappoint you.¡±

    Xia Yu chose a highly risky venture to invest in and, within a year, she had lost more than 50 percent of the money that Xia Ling had given to her. Xia Ling hadn¡¯t said a word of reproach before she found a suicide note left by Xia Yu to her. Xia Yu had swallowed sleeping pills in an attempted suicide.

    Xia Ling hugged Xia Yu tightly when they had saved her from death¡¯s door. She consoled her, saying, ¡°Xiao Yu, don¡¯t scare me. Even if you had lost all the money I wouldn¡¯t care, I just want you to be ok...¡±

    Then, Feng Kun had been suspicious, saying to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, your sister has been astute and clever in all the decisions she made while being a manager at Imperial Entertainment. How did she make such a big mistake once she took over your finances?¡±

    Xia Ling had defended Xia Yu, saying, ¡°When Xia Yu was at Imperial Entertainment, whatever she did was still under Pei Ziheng¡¯s supervision even if she was in a managerial position. She simply executed Pei Ziheng¡¯smands. Now that she had to do things by herself and make her own decisions, it¡¯s normal to make some mistakes. She¡¯s still so young, and it¡¯s her first time.¡±

    Thinking back, she had been too naive then.

    Later, when she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng, Xia Yu would visit her every now and then. It was only then that Xia Yu told her all her grievances ¡ª

    ¡°Sis, why do you think I worked so hard? What did you do to deserve everything ¡ª money, fame, status... and Brother Ziheng¡¯s love?!¡±

    ¡°What did you do to deserve his undivided attention? That whatever I do is not enough to get him to take notice of me?!¡±

    ¡°Whatever he did for me, it was all because of you! It is unfair,pletely and utterly unfair!¡±

    Xia Ling stared incredulously at her sister as if she was looking at a stranger. She was shocked to the core of her existence.

    Xia Yu had continued,ing closer to Xia Ling with a chilling smile and sinisterly said, ¡°Sis, didn¡¯t you care for me the most since we were kids? Why don¡¯t you do onest thing for me.... just kill yourself. Don¡¯t you feel disgraced and tortured being kept here against your wishes? Someone as prideful as you would not be able to sit this down right? Just kill yourself and you will be free from this. Then I will be free to take your ce and win the affection of Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Yu had tenderly held Xia Ling¡¯s face in her hands, saying, ¡°So yes, please go and die, my dear sister.¡±

 Chapter 26 - The Musical Extravaganza

    <h4>Chapter 26: The Musical Extravaganza</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was only then that Xia Ling had realized that the sister she had loved with all her heart hated her so much that she wanted her dead.

    Xia Yu had used all the methods she could think of to insult and agitate Xia Ling, hoping all the time that Xia Ling would be pushed over the wall andmit suicide. Xia Ling thought to herself that perhaps if the incident at the concert never happened, maybe she would have been killed at the hands of her very own sister.

    No...

    There was no way to know if the murder at the concert was the doing of her sister or of the Wang family.

    She dared not think too deeply into the matter, willing with all her heart that the culprit was the Wang family.

    The sound of the click of a camera rang out.

    Startled, Xia Ling came back to her senses. Turning, she saw Wei Shaoyin pointing a camera at her, clicking the shutter twice in quick session.

    She raised her eyebrows, looking at him questioningly.

    ¡°You are very calm in front of the camera, not like a trainee at all,¡± said Wei Shaoyin, and thenmandeered, ¡°Turn your body a little more, towards your 9 o¡¯clock direction... Tilt your head to the left a little, 30 degrees... yes, very good.¡±

    He clicked the shutter twice again.

    ¡°I charge expensive fees for my pictures,¡± said Xia Ling said as she obediently struck several poses.

    ¡°I told you trainees must do many things for thepany free-of-charge.¡± Wei Shaoyin responded instantly, his hands not intending to stop.

    ¡°What do you want these photos for?¡± she asked with curiosity.

    ¡°To sell when you get famous.¡± Heughed such that his eyes formed a line. With that, he stopped and kept the camera.

    Xia Ling sat back down on the wide and spacious sofa that was made of genuine leather. She turned to look at him and asked, ¡°Are you so confident that I will be famous?¡±

    ¡°Any trainee that I, Wei Shaoyin, have chosen to nurture have all made it big.¡± He sat down on the other end of the sofa, his long index finger drumming on the ss top of the coffee table. ¡°What were you thinking about just now? Your expression was...¡±

    ¡°Was what?¡±

    He did not reply but threw the camera to her.

    Xia Ling turned it on and scrolled to the image that he had taken. The first was a half body profile shot. She was wearing a loosely-fitted, pale-colored cardigan, with one hand touching the ss window of the full-length window, rays of the setting sun on her face. The expression on her face in the camera was exceedingly gentle but sad, weakness showing from the depths of her eyes as she stood to stare out of the mirror nkly, the evening sun giving her a soft glow.

    Undoubtedly, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s photography skills were ster.

    Xia Ling switched the camera off and returned it to him, not saying a word.

    Wei Shaoyin did not press her with questions, but simply refilled her cup with warm water. The warmth traveled up from the tips of her fingers, making her feel alive. Being alive... was just this simple, to be able to feel a bit of warmth.

    Several dayster, the end-of-year music extravaganza kicked off as scheduled.

    It was a live broadcast. A long security barricade was erected surrounding the square outside the broadcast station under the starry night sky, a bright red carpet stretching from the grand entrance to the carved stone steps.

    Xia Ling attended the ceremony alongside Wei Shaoyin as his assistant.

    He arrived in a Ferrari worth tens of millions, wearing a wine-red silk shirt with a silver grey tuxedo and the same Patek Philippe on his left wrist. The moment he stepped out of the car, there was a sea of screams from fans looking on. His poprity even overshadowed some of the actual artistes.

    He walked confidently on the red carpet, while Xia Ling followed along outside the security barricade.

    She heard someone asking, ¡°Who is that hunk?¡±

    Herpanion replied, ¡°Don¡¯t you know him? Wei Shaoyin from Skyart Entertainment, the one that is considered Feng Kun¡¯s rival.¡±

    A new round of cheers and screaming rang out. Mixed in were sentences like: ¡°Wei Shaoyin, I love you¡±, ¡°Your song ¡®I¡¯ll Sing Another Song for You¡¯ was so touching I cried¡±, ¡°The MV for ¡®Snow in the Barren Land¡¯ was really cool¡±, ¡°Produce a song for my love Ning Chen¡±...

    The shouts came in all ways and types.

    The most out of the worldments was when someone shouted really loudly. ¡°Date Feng Kun! Date Feng Kun!¡±

    She even managed to get responses of approval from many in the crowd.

    Xia Ling wanted to facepalm. These crazy fangirls had amazing imaginations. As the saying goes: ¡°Two kings in the same line of business are enemies, they will not see eye to eye¡±. For the many years that both Feng Kun and Wei Shaoyin were in the industry, the number of times that they bumped into each other was few and far between.

    She turned her head to look at Wei Shaoyin. She thought that since he had been in the limelight for some time, he should be used to this crazy situation and the incredulous rumors of the entertainment circle, but underneath the calm demeanor he disyed on the red carpet, she could see iciness and anger at the depths of his eyes. Clearly, he did not enjoy this red carpet experience and was on the verge of losing his temper.

    She sighed. Being a Virgo, he was a perfectionist and hypochondriac in both the material and mental realm. He could be really picky.

    She picked up the pace to catch up with him and walked towards therge hall in the broadcast station. In therge hall, they were shielded from all the crazy fans. A staff member guided them to the lift lobby to head upstairs, where they were greeted with many waiting rooms and dressing rooms of differing sizes on both sides of the corridor. Wei Shaoyin was a well-known figure and had high status in the industry, hence, the broadcast station had reserved a waiting room further inside to give him more privacy.

    As they were being guided to the waiting room, they passed a makeup room along the way. They could hear a loudmotioning from within and before they could react, arge group of bodyguards had pushed ady out of the room. Thedy was wearing a red evening gown and her long hair was in a mess as she fell to the floor after being shoved out of the room. Her handbag flew out of her hands and her makeup foundation spilt open, staining the foot of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s trousers.

    Wei Shaoyin came to a stop, his face three degrees colder than before.

    Xia Ling recognized thedy as a singer that was popr in the past, whose name was Hua Xue. Although she was past her time, she had no choice but to continue on in the entertainment circle to pay off the debts that her husband had racked up from horse gambling.

    Hua Xue stared up at the group that had pushed her out, her heavy makeup unable topletely mask her aged face. Holding back her tears, she chokingly said, ¡°Xia Yu still has a lot of time before having to go on stage. I am the opening act, you can¡¯t just cut my line. The makeup artist needs to finish my makeup, there isn¡¯t enough time...¡±

    Xia Yu...

    This is her makeup room?

    She is here too?

    Xia Ling lifted her head abruptly but was only able to see a wall of bodyguards in front of the door, all tall and muscr,pletely blocking her view of the inside of the room. She only recognized the man standing in front of all the bodyguards in a sleek suit. A man that she had not seen in a long time ¡ª Chu Chen.

    The man she had once considered as a trustworthy, good friend.

    When she was imprisoned in Pei Ziheng¡¯s bungalow, she had given her all to escape to the door, only to bump into Chu Chen slowly striding in. She had been happy to see him and called out to him for help. However, all he did was to nce down fleetingly at her barely usable clothes and the gold chain on her ankle that she had snapped with difficulty, take off his jacket and drape it across her body. He then reached out and helped her up, his hands only touching the jacket around her, and called out from above her head. ¡°Boss.¡±

    She realized then that something was off and wanted to push him away.

    But his arms were solid as steel, and he held her in a strong grip, such that no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to struggle free.

    He handed her back into Pei Ziheng¡¯s hands.

    That day, she finally believed that sentence that Xia Yu had told her ¡ª Sis, did you really think everyone was so nice to you? Before you hit a pet you need to see who their owner is!

    Her past memories floated up in her mind, and Xia Ling had to reach out for the corridor wall for support. She silently took a few deep breaths.

    She heard Chu Chen¡¯s voice say, ¡°Hua Xue, just give up. Ken approached us himself to offer his makeup services and we¡¯ve already given him the assignment. He doesn¡¯t have the time to do your makeup anymore, go look for another makeup artiste.¡±

    Through the cracks of the human wall erected by the bodyguards, Xia Ling could make out many makeup artists surrounding one person, busily going about their work to make her look stunning.

 Chapter 27 - Xia Yus Debut Song

    <h4>Chapter 27: Xia Yu¡¯s Debut Song</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had attended many music ceremonies before and was well aware of the distribution of the makeup artists. The number of people surrounding Xia Yu was clearly way over the quota for each person. Yet, Xia Yu was not entirely to me for this situation. Every year, many makeup artists would volunteer to assist in the makeup of the top artistes, hoping to leech off their poprity. Even if it was just helping to do something small, they could still say that they had ¡°done the makeup for so and so¡±, easily duping those that did not know how things worked in the industry.

    What was unexpected was that there would be so muchmotion around Xia Yu, who was a new singer in the industry.

    Hua Xue begged. ¡°But Ken was the makeup artist assigned to me. The other makeup artists have their own artistes that they are responsible for. Even if I wanted to find someone else now, I wouldn¡¯t be able to.¡±

    On seeing the entire group still blocking the corridor, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s impatience clearly showed on his face. He told Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, bring her to my makeup artist and get her makeup done.¡±

    During the days leading up to the ceremony, Wei Shaoyin and Xia Ling had been spending a lot of time together. As such, he no longer called her Ye Xingling but instead called her conveniently by her nickname, Xiao Ling. This nickname made her recall the unhappy memories of the past. She had tried raising her objection to the nickname. Luo Luo and everyone else called her Xingling, why did he insist on calling her Xiao Ling?

    Wei Shaoyin had said that for some reason he felt Xiao Ling suited her better than Xingling.

    Xia Ling had been speechless. She thought to herself that this man had the instincts of a wild animal and was a... hmmm, music producer that could touch souls.

    Now, this music producer that could touch souls had just thrown her another problem. On hearing Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice, Chu Chen suddenly turned to look at them, his gaze only stopping to look at Wei Shaoyin for a split second before turning to look at her.

    Xia Ling knew that this was because he had heard the name ¡°Xiao Ling¡±. In her past life, everyone that she was close to would call her the same.

    She sighed in her heart but looked calmly straight at Chu Chen outwardly. Even if her acting was not on the same level as an award-winning top actress, it was still sufficient to deal with this situation. Their gaze met in the air for a moment, and then Chu Chen first frowned before the expression on his face was reced with disgust and disdain.

    She had spent a lot of time with Chu Chen over the years and could now guess what was running through his mind. He probably felt that she was too lowly to share the same name as the former money-spinner of Imperial Entertainment. Xia Ling might have passed away, but her identity and status were still intact. Lowering Xia Ling¡¯s ss would simrly lower the ss of Chu Chen, who was her manager ¡ª <i>Hmph, she had never tried to second guess a person from such a perspective before. After dying once, she was able to read more into things and became more realistic.</i>

    She turned her gaze away from Chu Chen, bent over and stretched her hand to Hua Xue, ¡°Hua Jie, let me help you up. I¡¯ll bring you to get your makeup done.¡±

    Although it was the first time Wei Shaoyin was attending the ceremony, with his reputation as a gold-ss top producer, no broadcast station would dare treat him shabbily. As a result, the makeup artist assigned to him was also considered one of the best in the industry and did not care to suck up to any of the popr artistes. At this moment, he was taking a rest, and after hearing Xia Ling exin Hua Xue¡¯s predicament, he immediately started to do her makeup.

    Hua Xue was extremely grateful to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling felt a sense of pity for Hua Xue. When she had first debuted, Hua Xue had been the most popr singer of that time. Who would think that she would be in today¡¯s predicament?

    However, if it were the Xia Ling of before, she would not have been so empathetic ¡ª her road to stardom then had been too smooth. When she heard of the news of Hua Xue¡¯s husband losing all his money from gambling, she had sneered at Hua Xue in her heart, thinking that she was undiscerning and had willingly married a useless man. She only had herself to me and was not worthy of pity.

    Who would have thought that Xia Ling was even more undiscerning than Hua Xue?

    She draped a tasselled scarf over Hua Xue¡¯s shoulders to cover the bruise that was starting to form from her being pushed out of the makeup room earlier. When Chu Chen was her manager, he had done things in the same ostentatious manner, but she never felt that he was being too cruel or too much. Now, she understood clearly why so many in the industry had hated her then.

    Hua Xue thanked her as she left with her makeupplete.

    Xia Ling and the makeup artist adjourned to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s private makeup room and started to assist him with his makeup.

    Wei Shaoyin had already changed into a ck, snakeskin shirt with unobvious prints, with pants of the same color scheme. He was tall andnky, with well-built proportions, able to pull off any outfit with ease.

    Xia Lingmented. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it just a little bit of skin-colored foundation at the base of your pants? I don¡¯t think it was noticeable even if you had put a magnifying ss to it. Did you really need to go back to the car to get a new change of clothes?¡±

    He would usually bring several sets of clothes with him and change whenever he felt mildly unhappy with one.

    At this moment, he was fighting with the buttons on his cuffs, his face with a cold expression. After buttoning with difficulty, he looked at her and replied seething with hatred. ¡°Imperial Entertainment is full of horrible people.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond.

    Clearly, he med Imperial Entertainment for both the fans chants of ¡°Get together with Feng Kun¡± and themotion outside Xia Yu¡¯s makeup room that caused him to get foundation on his suit.

    Wei Shaoyin got up and headed to the recording studio after his makeup was done.

    Xia Ling remained in the makeup room curled up on the little sofa in the room, bored. She watched the live broadcast cupping a ss of lemon water in her hands.

    The TV screen showed what was happening in the recording studio. Artistes of differing styles would go on stage one after another, using all kinds of techniques and methods, like peacocks with their tail feathers in full disy. She understood their mentality. Those that were still struggling to be known would be giving their all to gain recognition, whereas those who were famous were afraid of being overshadowed by somebody else.

    Thepetition was rife and bustling.

    Wei Shaoyin sat elegantly on the VIP panel with two other big names in the industry, givingments on the performances. He was in a bad mood today and was not saying much, just sitting there with a cold expression that nobody could read. Yet, he was winning fans over. In the small screen at the bottom of the TV screen which showed text messages from the audience outside the studio, his name was being mentioned with increasing frequency.

    She squinted at the message for a moment but soon felt bored.

    Every year the music shows would have the same few segments. Live performances, live interviews, a broad overview of key happenings of the year, some small games... She had been a participant for many years and knew it all. She was impressed with her own patience at being able to still sit and watch the show for so long.

    Getting up, she poured herself another cup of lemon water.

    Suddenly, she heard a familiar tune ring out from the screen.

    Her hand that was reaching for the ss stopped midway. She turned to look at the screen. This was...

    Xia Yu¡¯s debut single and MV. Tonight was the first release.

    The Xia Yu in the screen was exquisite and beautiful, dressed in a gold and silver feather coat, singing an enchanting melody in the flurry of stage lights. Her voice followed the twists and turns of the song, grand andplicated, riveting but highly challenging. It was unclear how much effort Xia Yu had put in to be able to sing this song well.

    Xia Ling frowned, looking to the bottom left corner of the screen.

    Under the eye-catching song title and singer name was the names of the songwriter, lyricist, and producer. As expected, Xia Yu¡¯s debut song was produced by Feng Kun as the rumors outside suggested.

    It was a ssic Feng Kun style. He only sought for extremity, not bothering about how difficult the song would be to sing. There was an air of arrogance andck of care for others.

    In the past, Xia Ling did not find singing Feng Kun¡¯s songs difficult. Now that Xia Yu was singing the songs, she could not help but worry. This child did not have the same foundation that she had from going through countless sses. She was a sudden entrant to the industry and had a weak disposition,cking in both skill and stamina. How would she be able to handle Feng Kun¡¯s songs?

    Sheughed at herself bitterly as she recalled all that happened. Why should she be worried? In her past life, she had taken care of Xia Yu for half her life, only to be repaid with betrayal and conspiracy. Being reborn in the body of another, they were no longer sisters. They were but strangers in this life.

    Gripping tightly to the cup of warm lemon water in her hands, Xia Ling curled herself back into the little sofa.

 Chapter 28 - Picky and Irritating Wei Shaoyin

    <h4>Chapter 28: Picky and Irritating Wei Shaoyin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The MV had stopped showing in the screen.

    In the recording studio, the female host dressed in a formal gown and smiling pretentiously was interviewing Xia Yu, who was standing beside her, microphone in hand. She started with a long string ofpliments to Xia Yu, eloquently peppering Xia Yu with nice words about her and her performance. She then continued to read thements received from the audience outside the studio, which was all from enthusiastic fans promoting Xia Yu¡¯s music. Many were saying that they were camping in front of theirputers throughout the night to be in the queue at thepany¡¯s official website, just to be sure that they will be able to buy a copy of the limited edition album being released the next day.

    Imperial Entertainment was generous with their publicity budget when honing a new star, thus Xia Yu did not need to worry about her poprity.

    Xia Yu smiled daintily under the limelight and expressed her utmost thanks to the audience for their support and how surprised she was at the good response. An image that was reserved and elegant,pletely different from the person that had allowed Chu Chen to berate a veteran singer past her prime.

    In the VIP panel, several panelists gave Xia Yu encouragement and praise as they deemed appropriate. After all, it was not hard to see that Xia Yu was the artiste that Imperial Entertainment was pushing hard into the limelight. None of them were interested in offending Imperial Entertainment, who was such a big yer in the industry.

    Moreover, Xia Yu¡¯s song was indeed stunning.

    Wei Shaoyin was the exception. His lips curled up slightly as he sneered, ¡°The lyrics and music aren¡¯t too bad. The film team also put in great effort for the MV.¡±

    Xia Ling, sitting in the backstage makeup room, heard this and knew in her heart that this was not a good move. She narrowed her eyes and slowly drank a mouthful of lemon water.

    The female host did not catch the undertones of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s statements. She smiled and continued, ¡°Yes, Mr. Wei. This song was produced by Feng Kun, who is regarded in the industry as your equal. It is definitely something.¡± As she spoke, she turned her gaze back to Xia Yu. ¡°Xia Yu also did a great job in her delivery of the song. We received many calls from the audience outside the studio conveying that they were touched by the song. For a new singer, this is an incredible feat.¡±

    A perfect smile spread across Xia Yu¡¯s exquisite face as she humbly epted thepliments in a mellow voice.

    The female host turned back to Wei Shaoyin, asking, ¡°Mr. Wei, would you perhaps like to give a fewments regarding Xia Yu¡¯s singing? I imagine you have a lot to say to this promising neer to the scene.¡±

    In the backstage makeup room, Xia Ling kicked off her shoes and curled both her legs into the sofa to get into a morefortable position. She silently offered her condolences to the female host. The biggest mistake this female host made was that it was her first time hosting across Wei Shaoyin, and did not know that he was a picky and irritating person. In this period that Xia Ling had spent with Wei Shaoyin, she knew that he was an extremely difficult person. Every time he showed that sinister smile on his face somebody would be in deep trouble.

    As expected, the sneer in his voice became more apparent.

    ¡°You really want me toment?¡± He looked towards Xia Yu with a sinister smile on his face.

    Xia Yu was clearly more sensitive than the female host and could detect something was up from Wei Shaoyin¡¯s attitude. A sh of uneasiness crossed her face. However, her pride would not let her back down in the face of a challenge from a top producer.

    She put a radiant smile on her exquisite face, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve heard from long ago that Mr. Wei and Feng Kun are both gold-ss producers in the industry, and have extremely high standards for singers. I was of the impression that you would not easilyment on a singer.¡± These words were an unobviouspliment to Wei Shaoyin, while still pointing out his high standards and strictness, which would allow her not to lose face should anything bad be said of her. She continued, ¡°To receive your advice would be my honor.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin simply shook his fingers and said, ¡°No, you don¡¯t need my advice.¡±

    Shock and confusion were on everyone¡¯s faces.

    He continued, ¡°If there was anything that needed to be said, Feng Kun would probably have already told you. I can only say that you are exceedingly brave for daring to sing this song.¡±

    Xia Yu clearly did not expect him to say this. Her face slightly pale, she asked, ¡°I... I don¡¯t understand what you mean by that Mr. Wei.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin gave a coldugh. ¡°You want me to say it more clearly? Sorry, I don¡¯t give advice to people who are ignorant and court death.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Yu wanted to say something but decided against it as she bit her lips. Tears entered her eyes and threatened to fall.

    Thinking back, Xia Ling had been deceived by this pitiful expression many times. Today, as she watched Xia Yu¡¯s performance, she found that she was able to remain calm. Simply watching as a bystander, not being affected at all.

    Yet, the female host was clearly unable to stay calm. Seeing Xia Yu being bullied until she was close to tears, her expression showed that she felt sorry for Xia Yu. She repeatedly tried to stop Wei Shaoyin by sending him eye signals to say a few good words.

    Wei Shaoyin waspletely unaffected as he lowered his head to drink tea.

    The female host could onlyugh in embarrassment as she tried to save the situation, changing the topic abruptly.

    The new singer debut performance that Imperial Entertainment took many pains to craft had now been hugely discounted with Wei Shaoyin¡¯s damaging statements.

    Xia Ling drummed her fingers lightly on the edge of the ss that she was holding. She wondered if Feng Kun had any regrets? If he had attended the end-of-year music show, the broadcast station would not have tried so hard to invite Wei Shaoyin. And if Wei Shaoyin had not been present, the situation that had yed out would not have happened. The result now was that the new singer that Imperial Entertainment was promoting had been publicly embarrassed on stage.

    Yet...

    Her finger came to an abrupt stop. Feng Kun was careful and meticulous in his work. When she debuted, he was almost constantly at her side, attending every event that she attended. He would exin the concept of each song to the media in detail, afraid that she would be thrown off by any situation.

    Why was it that with Xia Yu he would miss something as important as her debut?

    As she pondered this question, the recording studio had already switched shows.

    Wei Shaoyin returned to the makeup room as if he had taken a huge burden off his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s finally over. What a chore! I definitely will not attend next year.¡± He was a VIP invited for the first half of the show. Now that the first half had ended, he would not be appearing in the second half of the programme.

    Xia Ling reluctantly got up from the small sofa and poured him a ss of iced water. She said, ¡°To others, you are the most difficult thing.¡±

    He turned to her, his face confused.

    She sighed and prompted. ¡°Xia Yu.¡±

    He thought for a moment and suddenly reacted. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re talking about that debut song of hers? She was courting death singing Feng Kun¡¯s song.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to be quite so direct for her debut performance.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± He drank a mouth of the iced water and nced at the base of his trousers. ¡°You can¡¯t me me. Nothing from Imperial Entertainment is good.¡±

    Oh my goodness, he is still bearing a grudge. Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but be sympathetic to Xia Yu. She was simply unlucky to have crossed paths with this petty and vengeful Virgo man.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel sorry for Xia Yu.¡± Wei Shaoyin nced at Xia Ling, his face full of disdain. ¡°It was for her own good that I was harsh to her today. If she is clever she will give up on Feng Kun. If she keeps going down this track, she will find herself in deep trouble one day.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent.

    Wei Shaoyin was right. The song that Xia Yu sang, though grand and could propel her to fame, had a hidden scary problem. If she chose to avoid the problem, it would ruin her singing career eventually.

    What Xia Ling was uneasy about was that for a problem of this proportion, it was unlikely that Feng Kun did not see it. Given his meticulous nature, it was impossible that he did not tell Xia Yu. But Xia Yu still insisted on singing this song. Why was that?

 Chapter 29 - You Guys at Imperial Entertainment are Really Interesting

    <h4>Chapter 29: You Guys at Imperial Entertainment are Really Interesting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    If Xia Ling were still at Imperial Entertainment, she would never have let Xia Yu sing a song like that. Even if Xia Yu had stubbornly refused to listen, Pei Ziheng would be there to help her make it happen...

    Unknowingly, she was thinking about that man again.

    Xia Ling closed her eyes gently as she chased the tall handsome silhouette out of her mind. She told herself, <i>don¡¯t look back, you can never return there again </i>.

    Outside the makeup room, someone knocked on the door.

    Wei Shaoyin responded with some irritation in his voice. ¡°Come in.¡±

    The door opened and two people entered the room. They were Chu Chen and Xia Yu.

    Meeting them for the first time in this life, Xia Ling was shocked at how calm she remained. The Xia Yu in front of her seemed like a stranger. She was dressed in a stage outfit that Xia Ling had never seen before, made of a material that was silver and sparkly, and specially tailored to bring out the best of Xia Yu¡¯s good figure.

    Xia Yu called out with trepidation. ¡°Mr. Wei....¡±

    Wei Shaoyin put down the ss in his hand and replied coldly. ¡°What is it?¡±

    Xia Yu bit back her words and looked at him pitifully.

    Chu Chen took a step forward and looked Wei Shaoyin straight in the eye. He said, ¡°Mr. Wei, don¡¯t you feel that you were a little harsh to have said what you did on the show?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin gave a coldugh and retorted. ¡°I was just speaking the truth. Why? Do I have to seek approval from Imperial Entertainment to express my views?¡±

    Chu Chen tried to remain calm as he replied. ¡°I know that Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment has a formidable background and you guys aren¡¯t afraid to offend Imperial Entertainment. However, it might be prudent for you to remain amicable so that there won¡¯t be trouble if we meet again next time. Mr. Wei, I hope that you can retract your statements on the show. Imperial Entertainment will be appreciative of that and will make sure to repay you in the future.¡±

    Thisst sentence had a slightmanding attitude towards it.

    With a light ¡°tsk¡±, Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Chu Chen, are you kidding me? Nobody said anything about your attitude before when you were managing Xia Ling because of her abilities. But now, you are managing this kind of artiste...¡± He cocked his chin in Xia Yu¡¯s direction. ¡°One that has no idea what kind of music style suits her. How long do you expect her fame tost in the industry?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wei, do be careful of what you insinuate!¡± Chu Chen¡¯s face darkened.

    ¡°I thought I was already being very careful.¡± Wei Shaoyin confidently met Chu Chen¡¯s gaze, continuing, ¡°She¡¯s just a ¡®recording studio singer¡¯. Who does she think she is?¡± This title was a big insult to any singer in the entertainment industry. A ¡®recording studio singer¡¯ referred to a singer that had bad foundations and could only rely on autotune and other recording edits to make their song sound presentable.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face turned pale as she tried to defend herself. ¡°I... I¡¯m not a recording studio singer...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nced at her and said with disdain. ¡°I am very curious what Feng Kun has against you to have written such a song for you. Your voice is nowhere near that of Xia Ling¡¯s and you dare try singing something this challenging? Yes, this debut song was recorded very well, but I bet it waspleted by breaking up into sentences, with you singing one sentence and requiring significant edits as you went along. Whether it waspleted through a lot of background touch-up or that you actually sang it smoothly at one go, you would be the clearest on that... And you dare say you are not a recording studio singer?¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s songs were known to be difficult to sing. With Xia Yu¡¯s foundation and skill, there was no way she could have sung it through smoothly.

    Chu Chen frowned and said, ¡°Mr. Wei, you are being way too harsh. Xia Yu just made her debut and is bound to be less experienced. Some touch-up work in the recording studio is normal. With time, she will get better.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked at him as if looking at an idiot. ¡°Chu Chen, you were Xia Ling¡¯s manager for such a long time, are you pretending to be dumb or really dumb? Whether Xia Yu is able to sing Feng Kun¡¯s song is not a matter of experience, it¡¯s a matter ofck of talent. If she keeps stubbornly going down this track singing songs that she cannot handle, there is only one final result ¡ª

    ¡°One day, she will destroy her voicepletely.¡±

    This was the scariest consequence. A blow that would destroy her career in totality.

    There was silence in the makeup room.

    After a moment, Chu Chen turned to Xia Yu, his face ashen, and asked, ¡°Xiao Yu, didn¡¯t you say that you were fine?¡±

    Xia Ling sighed in her heart. Chu Chen was a shrewd businessman, but he did not have the same instincts when it came to the arts. With his music abilities, he was unable to sense that something was off with Xia Yu¡¯s singing. On the other hand, it only took one song for Wei Shaoyin to point out the key issue.

    Xia Yu¡¯s voice trembled as she said, ¡°I... I thought Feng Kun was just trying to scare me.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked at her with some interest, ¡°Looks like Feng Kun and you indeed have some history. Feng Kun worked with your sister for 10 years and you still don¡¯t trust him.¡±

    Both Xia Yu and Chu Chen¡¯s expression changed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything against Feng Kun. I was simply willful and did not listen to his advice.¡± Xia Yu said with a weak smile.

    ¡°A singer that has just debuted is able to question and go against the views of the top producer,¡± said Wei Shaoyin lightly. ¡°You guys at Imperial Entertainment are indeed interesting.¡±

    Chu Chen¡¯s face darkened further but, remembering the purpose of the visit, he controlled himself from losing his temper.

    ¡°Mr. Wei,¡± He said at a slower pace. ¡°I apologise for my impoliteness earlier.¡±

    He was indeed a good businessman, changing to a softer attitude once he saw that being hard would not work. Xia Ling had never see Chu Chen apologize to someone before, and he was always in a position where others had to plead with him. Since when did he need to beg someone for help?

    Shemented. Since she passed away so many things had changed.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°You¡¯re reputable in the industry for being the best producer around. Why do you need to lower yourself to bear a grudge against a new singer? It would hurt your status if others were to hear about this.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Wei Shaoyin responded, his tone less agitated.

    After all, everyone was part of the same industry and had an image to keep up. It would not be pleasant for the issue to blow out of proportion. Since Chu Chen had offered him an escape route, Wei Shaoyin did not mind taking up the offer.

    Xia Ling continued to sit and watch the scene unfold like she was invisible.

    A polite, formal smile appeared on Chu Chen¡¯s face. He said, ¡°So, let us have a chat. Mr. Wei, if you¡¯re willing to retract your statements, Imperial Entertainment will express our most sincere appreciation for your help.¡±

    Express the most sincere appreciation...

    What did he n on doing to express that? Was this... an under-the-table transaction? Shouldn¡¯t she make herself scarce?

    A series of question marks entered Xia Ling¡¯s mind as she thought about this for a few seconds. Yet, she did not know what to do since her experience as an assistant wascking.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s cold voice rang out, solving her problem. ¡°Sorry, Mr. Chu, I will never retract statements that have already left my mouth.¡±

    A deep frown reced the smile on Chu Chen¡¯s face.

    However, being the gold-ss manager that he was with many years of experience, he continued persistently even in the face of this hard wall. ¡°Mr. Wei is indeed principled as many in the industry have said.¡± He thought for a moment before saying, ¡°I understand your insistence, but I hope you understand Xia Yu¡¯s difficulty as a neer.¡±

    He nced at Xia Yu as he spoke.

    Xia Yu immediately disyed a weak and submissive expression, with the innocence that could rival a deer. She said, ¡°Mr. Wei, please forgive me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t act like I¡¯m bullying you.¡± Wei Shaoyin turned to Chu Chen, mildly irritated. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you were this persistent before. Talk, what exactly do you want from me? Other than retracting what I said.¡±

    Chu Chen lowered his eyes slightly. ¡°I will arrange for a little publicity to cancel out the negative impact from this show. I just ask that Mr. Wei remain silent when that happens. Of course, the publicity will not harm your reputation or you in any way. And like I mentioned, Imperial Entertainment will show you our utmost appreciation and sincerity.¡±

    At the end, he was still offering a bribe.

    After all, Imperial Entertainment had strong financial backing and could bribe each person as required.

    Chu Chen had used the same method to help Xia Ling resolve many problems in the past as well. It was clear that he was still highly adept at using this method.

    Wei Shaoyin gave a lightugh and asked, ¡°What do you think I would need?¡±

    He picked up his ss to drink a mouthful of iced water, the Patek Philippe sparkling on his left wrist.

    He lived a life of luxury, drove expensive cars, wore expensive watches, and bought the most expensive music equipment ¡ª he clearly did notck in riches. Should Chu Chen try to bribe him with money he would be barking up the wrong tree. After all, as rich as Imperial Entertainment was, they could not be spending that much of a fortune to keep Wei Shaoyin quiet.

    It was difficult to convince Wei Shaoyin using power as well ¡ª he was already amongst the top in the entertainment industry. There was no way to give him a promotion or to poach him over ¡ª he was highly regarded at Skyart Entertainment and could call the shots freely, and even Boss Li had to give him due respect. Why would he want to go to Imperial Entertainment and fight with Feng Kun for the top producer position there?

    Xia Ling was getting a headache on Chu Chen¡¯s behalf just thinking about this problem.

    Chu Chen could not give Wei Shaoyin money nor status, what else could he give him?

    ¡°Mr. Wei, I don¡¯t know what you would like exactly,¡± Chu Chen replied calmly. ¡°but I can assure you that I will do all in my power to fulfill any requirement you may have.¡±

    Xia Ling almost felt pity for Chu Chen after hearing his response. She was aware of how boring Wei Shaoyin was. Other than music and cleanliness, he did not have any other interests. And was there anything that he couldn¡¯t achieve in his music career?

    As expected, Wei Shaoyin shook his head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t have anything that I need.¡± He then turned to Xia Ling and asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xia Ling gave a start. Did he just give her his bribe?

    <i>Tsk, that¡¯s really generous of him.</i>

 Chapter 30 - Meeting You in the Middle of a Snowy Night

    <h4>Chapter 30: Meeting You in the Middle of a Snowy Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As everyone looked over at Xia Ling at the same time, Chu Chen gave her a look of surprise ¡ª he clearly did not expect Wei Shaoyin to care for a mere assistant.

    Without so much as a thought, Xia Ling said, ¡°Money.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin disdained. ¡°Have some pride.¡±

    Xia Ling was indignant. Yes, he was filthy rich, but he should still have an understanding of her predicament. She owed thepany arge sum of money and needed to pay it off as quickly as possible. Then she would be able to leave the entertainment industry. Wouldn¡¯t that be great?

    Of course, Wei Shaoyin clearly did not think this way.

    He pointed at Xia Ling as he replied Chu Chen. ¡°Make sure you fulfill her request. Deal with it as you may, other than giving her...¡± He gave a smile, showing two perfect rows of white teeth. ¡°... money.¡±

    ... Oh my goodness, Wei Shaoyin was a terrible person.

    Xia Ling looked away dejectedly. Other than money, she really did not need anything at all.

    Chu Chen nodded in agreement. Bidding goodbye, he left with Xia Yu in tow.

    Wei Shaoyin turned his head to Xia Ling and lectured her. ¡°Money is the most worthless thing in the world, and you only want it?¡±

    Xia Ling felt like ignoring him altogether.

    At the door, Chu Chen stopped midway as he was closing the door. He turned to take one more pensive look at Wei Shaoying and Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was toozy to fathom a guess at what he was thinking about as she sulked, prodding at the lemon slice in her ss.

    Wei Shaoyin lifted his wrist to look at the time. He said, ¡°It¡¯s almost time for the closing of the show, I need to go to the recording studio. Take our stuff and wait for me outside. I¡¯ll drive the car over to fetch you.¡±

    He liked to drive his own car and would not hire a chauffeur.

    Xia Ling could only express her unhappiness in her heart, secretly scolding him for being a hypochondriac and exceedingly petty.

    He was not aware of her grievances and left the room to go about his business, leaving her alone in the empty makeup room. She turned full circle on the same stop before putting on her jacket reluctantly, collecting the scattered things and turning to leave.

    The back door of the broadcast station was very quiet, opening up into arge private open space. There was no need to be worried about harassment from fans. This exit was near to the parking lot and was where most of the artistes would make their way off after recording a show. There was a beautiful, green barricade of nts, making the surroundings both peaceful and tasteful.

    Xia Ling came out early, and there was nobody around. A cold evening wind blew over her, causing her to shiver.

    It started to snow...

    She lifted her head and looked at the falling snowkes against the night sky.

    Under the dreamy, European-style roadmps, the soft and white kes fell and created small pretty halos, looking like angel feathers. She lifted her face and raised her hand to touch the kes with her fingertips, watching as they melted away slowly and formed a small, clear droplet of water.

    In her past life, this was a game that she loved to y. All she needed to do was to lift her finger to see the purity and transparency of this world.

    Pei Ziheng hadughed and said that she was like a kid. He would hug her from behind, afraid that she would catch a cold, and use his warm, dry hands to cover her hands and pull her into his arms. Then, she would find him a bother andin that she did not feel cold, struggling to free herself from his embrace. Sometimes, he would give in to her little tantrum, but there would also be times that he would refuse to let go and say, ¡°Xiao Ling, be good and listen to me.¡±

    Thinking back, perhaps whatever she did or did not do, her every action had never been out of his control.

    Xia Ling retracted her hand as she dwelled in her emotions, her soft eyshes casting a light shadow on her lower eyelid. Her death had given her the freedom that she craved, but that man was no longer behind her. The night wind coupled with the snow blew onto her body, causing her to shiver uncontrobly. She pulled the thin jacket closer to herself.

    As she turned to leave, she suddenly saw a tall shadow at the bottom of the stairs leaning on a ck Rolls-Royce and silently staring up at her.

    At that moment, she stopped breathing momentarily.

    That is...

    Pei Ziheng.

    She could not move and stared back at him. At that moment, it was as if the rest of the world was in ck and white and only his face was in stunning rity. Every line on his face would affect her heart rate and breathing.

    The falling snow fell haphazardly between the two of them.

    He was thinner than before, though this made him look more boyish and charismatic. Between his brows was a deep frown-line that made Xia Ling feelpelled to approach him and rub it smooth. She silently clenched her fist, her fingernails digging into the center of her palm, and the sharp pain helped her to regain some of her senses.

    He was wearing a tailored, ck trench coat, which he paired casually with an ash-grey long scarf. The cigarette between his fingers was almost burned up.

    She remembered that he did not use to smoke.

    She felt tears start to well and a sharp pain in the depths of her heart.

    She had tried to run away from him regardless of the consequence, and had told herself time and again not to think anymore about him. Yet today, as he stood alive and kicking in front of her, she realized in despair that she was still deeply in love with him.

    How scary was that?

    Xia Ling was shocked at herself. She turned to leave, but her feet felt like they had grown roots.

    The chauffeur came out of the car to hold an umbre over Pei Ziheng¡¯s head, but he ignored him and continued staring at her in silence. His eyes were dark, and there was an unreadable expression on his face.

    The chauffeur said a few sentences to him in a low voice.

    He stubbed out the cigarette with one hand and received the items that the chauffeur handed to him.

    A familiar voice rang out from nearby. ¡°Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Without turning her head, Xia Ling knew that it was Xia Yu. She quietly watched as Xia Yu approached and lifted her head to look at Pei Ziheng by the car. Her small face was filled with joy and innocence as she said, ¡°Brother Ziheng, did youe specially to pick me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng finally shifted his gaze away from Xia Ling. Looking down, he slowly wrapped the item in his hand around Xia Yu¡¯s neck. It was only then that Xia Ling realized that the item was an intricately-woven scarf. The style was very familiar, and she remembered that it was from the brand that she had liked to use in the past.

    There were countless times in the past that he had been so gentle to her. Now, Xia Yu was at the receiving end of his gentleness.

    The cold snowkes fell on her face, and she felt a chill enter her body down to her bones. Xia Ling took a step back, deeper into the shadows of the streetmps. She lowered her eyes to the ground and pondered. Perhaps she should wait for Wei Shaoyin in the parking lot.

    However, before she could move, she heard Wei Shaoyin¡¯s clear voiceing from her front. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    Before she had time to react, Pei Ziheng, who was getting into his car, abruptly turned back and stared at her again, his eyes like that of an eagle as he tried to burn a hole through her body with his gaze.

    An almost sexual sense of terror swept over her, and her past memories flooded into her mind. She suddenly recalled what a monster this man was as a chill slowly came over her body and every cell in her body screamed from the pain. How weird, she was clearly in apletely different body, but the terror seemed to be ingrained in her soul. She could remember every excruciating detail with rity.

    Xia Ling could not help but ask herself, <i>Do you really still love that man? Still love that monster </i>...?

    She felt her body rock on the spot and could barely keep steady.

    Wei Shaoyin raised his voice again. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    As she came back to her senses, she saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze be fiercer. She cursed at Wei Shaoyin in her heart for being more trouble than help. She thought seriously for two seconds if she should change her name after going back but woefully thought that Pei Ziheng had already heard her name and it was toote to change it now...

    She turned to look at Wei Shaoyin and saw him sitting in the driver¡¯s seat of the Ferrari. He had lowered the car window and was calling her over impatiently.

    The ostentatiously expensive car was just behind Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce.

 Chapter 31 - Another Present that She Had to Accept

    <h4>Chapter 31: Another Present that She Had to ept</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She took a deep breath to give herself some strength. It was only 10 meters away. <i>Xia Ling, you can do this. Just walk over.</i>

    As she was giving herself a pep talk, Wei Shaoyin was getting increasingly impatient. ¡°Are youing or not? Hurry up, I need to arrange a new song for tomorrow.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was still staring at her, the edge of his trench coat silently fluttering in the wind and snow.

    She saw that he did not make a move and consoled herself that he could not have recognized her in her new face and body. Finally, she steeled her mind and slowly walked towards the car.

    She walked right past him.

    The bitter smell of cigarette smoke lingered on his body, not blown away even in the blustering weather.

    Close enough to touch, he said in a low voice, ¡°You....¡±

    She stumbled a little and started to shake uncontrobly. At this moment, all kinds of thoughts ran through her mind and she barely controlled her tears from falling.

    Yet, all she did was to quicken her steps and walk away, as if she was escaping from him.

    When she got onto Wei Shaoyin¡¯s car, she was still in a state of confusion. Her hands were shaking and it took her a few tries to buckle her seatbelt. She lifted her head and looked up ahead, where she saw Pei Ziheng still standing with one hand on the car door, seemingly unaware of the blistering snow beating down on his body.

    Wei Shaoyin started his car.

    He drove a distance before suddenly asking, ¡°You know Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Xia Ling did not respond.

    The warmth in the car made it seem like spring, and soft music was ying in the background. Her cold and stiff body was regaining its sensations. As she rxed, all she felt was a sense of fatigue.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s clean, white hands holding onto the steering wheel and his gaze still resolutely on the road, he said, ¡°The look that he gave you just now looked like you owe him a few hundred million dors.¡±

    She gave a bitterugh and finally found the strength to retort. ¡°Do you think I can afford to owe him that much?¡±

    Wei Shaoyinughed as well, saying, ¡°That¡¯s true, you are already in the tenterhooks for owing ourpany just a few million dors. If you really owed Pei Ziheng a few hundred million, you should just jump off a building.¡±

    She wished that she simply owed Pei Ziheng several hundred million dors. That would have been easier, and there would be an end to her misery. But what was this situation now? Even death could not banish that man from her world. What did she have to do to forget himpletely?

    Wei Shaoyin lowered the music volume but pressed on astutely. ¡°So, do you or do you not know him?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wei,¡± She closed her eyes and said softly, ¡°Ye Xingling is but a small, insignificant trainee in Skyart Entertainment. How would I know the big boss of Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°I told you to just call me Ah Wei, why won¡¯t you listen?¡± Wei Shaoyinined. Seeing that she did not react, he said, ¡°That was what I thought as well. But that look he gave you... it does not look that simple.¡±

    ¡°Bosses are all crazy.¡± She coldly said. ¡°Who knows what they are thinking?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nced at her, sensitive to the tone of her voice. ¡°Which boss in ourpany offended you?¡±

    She had to admit that his instincts were impably urate.

    She turned to stare out of the car window and unhappily said, ¡°No one.¡±

    She could not possibly tell him that Li Lei wanted to pay for her to sleep with him.

    She felt a slight headacheing on. What was all this rubbish? As she recalled Li Lei telling her that he would wait for her to change her mind, her mood became even worse. In this life, she just wanted some peace and quiet. She wanted nothing to do with and could not afford to take care of these important people.

    In the following days, Xia Ling was in a depressed state.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio was incredibly busy, but Xia Ling¡¯s mind was preupied and she made several mistakes. Wei Shaoyin gave her a piece of his mind and she almost had to pack her bags and return to the training camp.

    On this day, she managed to end work early with great difficulty and was walking back home alone.

    It was a sunny, winter day with few pedestrians. The small shops along the streets were ying the most popr songs of the season.

    As she turned the corner at the end of the street, a grand-looking Audi came to a stop in front of her. Xia Ling raised her head and saw someone wearing a ck, long trench coat step out from the car and remove his sunsses ¡ª Hurhur, a familiar face. It was Chu Chen.

    She stopped and silently looked at him.

    He passed his name card to her and asked, ¡°Miss Ye, do you remember me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know you. Chu Chen from Imperial Entertainment. We met that day at the end-of-year music show.¡± She said lightly and did not ept his name card.

    He did not get angry and naturally retracted his outstretched hand like it was not awkward at all. He looked down at her, and put on the voice he used in business negotiations, ¡°Shall we look for a ce to have a chat? Imperial Entertainment has prepared a little gift for you.¡±

    Oh, so the bribe that Wei Shaoyin had ckmailed them into giving her had arrived.

    She turned and took a quick look around. Pointing at a random cafe along the street, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s just talk there.¡±

    Chu Chen nodded and followed her into the cafe.

    There were very few people in the cafe. Xia Ling picked a seat near the window and sat down. A waiter came up to ask if they needed anything. Chu Chen ordered a Blue Mountain coffee and Xia Ling said, ¡°Warm water, thanks.¡±

    Chu Chen looked at her closely.

    ¡°You are very simr to someone I once knew.¡± He suddenly said.

    Xia Ling gave a start but did not show it outwardly. ¡°Oh?¡± She responded.

    ¡°She had the same air of disregard for others, liked sitting near the window at cafes, and had the habit of drinking warm water.¡± Chu Chen¡¯s voice actually contained a little yearning and sorrow.

    She gave a coldugh, saying, ¡°I believe the powerful Manager Chu did not look for me today to recount old memories?¡±

    He looked like he had been pricked by her acrimonious words, and his face darkened as he looked at her for a few more seconds. Heughed coldly and said, ¡°Look for you to recount old memories? Ye Xingling, you think too highly of yourself. Someone like you cannot even dream of beingpared to a fraction of her.¡±

    It was truly her good manners that prevented her from sshing the ss of water at him.

    In this life, she was much more tolerant. If it was Xia Ling from before, to hear a person that had betrayed her and pushed her into the realms of despair say this, she would definitely make sure that he lost everything ¡ª

    It was he who had betrayed her first. What right did he have to recount old memories? The hypocrite.

    Xia Ling gripped tightly onto the ss in her hands before releasing it again. She controlled her ring temper and said, ¡°Get to the point.¡±

    Chu Chen pushed a paper over to her and said, ¡°You have a sister called Ye Xingfei who has been staying in the hospital for a long time, right? I¡¯ve contacted your parents to transfer her to the best hospital in this state. The special care ward. All expenses will be borne by Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    She was stunned and looked down at the paper.

    That was a notice informing of the transfer of hospitals. Her parents¡¯ signatures were on the paper in ck-and-white.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°No one told me about this.¡±

    Chu Chen crossed his fingers on the table. ¡°I told them to keep it a secret. It was meant to be a surprise for you today.¡± He exined.

    Surprise? Shock was a better word for it.

    She waspletely in the know about Feifei¡¯s condition and doctors had told her that it was possible that she could never wake up again. This meant that she would be staying in the hospital for life in a vegetative state. Feifei was still young, thus there were still several decades for her to live. The hospital expenses were long-term and the cash burn would not stop after a few days... This was a ck hole.

    This was a huge ouy and a problematic one that wouldst for a long time.

    Would Imperial Entertainment be so generous just to keep Wei Shaoyin quiet for their publicity stunt?

    And handle everything first, without her knowledge at all?

    Xia Ling¡¯s first thought was to transfer Feifei back to the original hospital she was at. Even though the conditions were not as good, but she was using the money she had borrowed from Skyart Entertainment to maintain the expenses, giving her a free conscience. However, Feifei and her were step-sisters ¡ª they shared the same father but a different mother. Her stepmom did not like her and only loved her own daughter, Feifei. There was no way her stepmom would agree to transfer Feifei back to the original hospital after this significant upgrade.

    She felt uneasiness creep into her heart. She took a sip of water and slowly asked, ¡°Is this all you wanted to tell me?¡±

    Chu Chenughed. ¡°You are very intelligent.¡±

    As he spoke, he pushed another item across the table. It was a nicely-wrapped, long rectangr box that looked like it costed a fortune.

 Chapter 32 - Another Present that She Had to Accept

    <h4>Chapter 32: The Crystal Rose</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling opened the box. On the luxurious ck silk basey a rose made of Viennese crystal. The beautiful petals spread out inyers, the color exceedingly pretty and the workmanship exquisite. Every cut was perfectly executed. The sunlight shone in from therge ss window, reflecting off this elegantly cut red rose, making the rose look like there was water flowing through it ¡ª exceedingly beautiful and untouchable.

    ¡°This is a personal gift from Chairman Pei,¡± said Chu Chen.

    She knew exactly what giving her a rose meant.

    An emptiness and dread filled her heart. She had just been killed for a few months, her body was still warm, and he was already looking for a new lover to take her ce? Ha, what was her unchanging love for him for over a decade worth to him at all? And all the pain, unwillingness and quarrels when he had announced his engagement to Wang Jingwan, what did that count for?

    Without Wang Jingwan, there would still be a Li Jingwan or Ye Jingwan.

    Pei Ziheng would never have ack of women to choose from as long as he wanted them.

    Only she had naively believed the fairy tale of just the two of them being together for the rest of their lives.

    Time was cruel. The human heart was even crueler.

    The bright red crystal rosey in the ck silk box, its beauty almost blinding. Xia Ling closed the box and pushed it back to Chu Chen, saying, ¡°Mr. Chu, my apologies. I cannot ept this gift.¡±

    Chu Chen was not surprised. ¡°Is it because of Wei Shaoyin? Don¡¯t worry, that can be settled easily.¡± He said.

    She was slightly taken aback and saw the meaningful look in his eyes. She realized that he had misunderstood. This was probably because of how Wei Shaoyin had taken care of her during the end-of-year music show, giving Chu Chen the wrong idea.

    Xia Ling¡¯s tone of voice turned cold as she said, ¡°This has nothing to do with Wei Shaoyin. Not everyone is this dirty.¡±

    ¡°You find this dirty?¡± Chu Chenughed as he continued, ¡°Miss Ye, no, little girl... you arepletely unfathomable. You are but 16 this year, or 17 perhaps? What do you know about the ugliness of the world? Let me tell you, being noticed by Chairman Pei is something that many people can only dream about. It would boost you right to the top, don¡¯t you understand?¡±

    Of course, she understood. She understood more clearly than anyone else.

    She had been a lowly orphan, as insignificant as a speck of dust. How did she be the big star that the whole world worshipped? That little Xia Ling who had to tolerate the looks of disdain from others just to enjoy a sweet. How did she be that person that everyone pandered to?

    Every incident was clearly etched in Xia Ling¡¯s mind.

    However, what she was even more clear about was the price she had to pay for this treatment.

    She looked straight into Chu Chen¡¯s eyes and slowly said, ¡°Mr. Chu, please don¡¯t waste your time. This offer... I will politely reject.¡±

    Coldness entered Chu Chen¡¯s eyes as well as he looked at her for a moment. ¡°Ye Xingling, you might want to reconsider while I am still being friendly.¡± He had many methods to get his way. This was also the reason Pei Ziheng had chosen him to be Xia Ling¡¯s manager. Regardless of the problem she was met with, he would always have a way to resolve it and ensure that things panned out like he would like it to.

    Xia Ling used to be in awe of this ability of his, but now she only felt unsafe.

    She unknowingly clenched her fingers together, her hands holding the ss on the table more tightly. She said, ¡°Chu Chen, what are you trying to do? Don¡¯t forget, Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss is Li Lei. He won¡¯t allow you to have your way.¡± She subconsciously used Li Lei¡¯s title, hoping that this would scare Chu Chen away. However, she didn¡¯t harbor high hopes that this would work. If Chu Chen was so easily scared, how could he possibly have obtained the status he had in the entertainment industry?

    As expected, Chu Chen just smiled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, Ye Xingling.¡± He said. ¡°If you are really Wei Shaoyin¡¯s person, Li Lei would perhaps help you out, giving face to his favorite general. But you said so yourself that you have no rtion with Wei Shaoyin. Then, why would Big Boss Li help you? Even if he has all the money and power in the world, he would not be so free as to care about the personal business of a small trainee, would he?¡±

    She wanted to tell Chu Chen that Li Lei was so free that he wanted to pay for her services. Why wouldn¡¯t he care about this?

    However, she realized in resignation that Chu Chen was right. Why would Big Boss Li help her? She had not agreed to his request, and if she was thick-skinned enough to go beg him for help, would that not be looking for an insult.

    Yet, she could not back down on this issue. ¡°Manager Chu,¡± Xia Ling looked at him and said, ¡°no matter how many times you ask me, my answer is going to be the same. I reject this offer.¡±

    Chu Chen did not try to persuade her anymore.

    He pulled out some money to settle the bill. pping it on the table, he got up and said, ¡°Good luck to you, Ye Xingling.¡±

    Outside therge ss windows, the sun was setting bit by bit. She watched as he walked away and finished her water, which had long turned cold, slowly and quietly. She left without touching the crystal rose that Chu Chen had left behind.

    She returned to the training camp. The next day was a normal day.

    She got up and washed up, changing into a clean set of dancewear. She went for her practice as per normal. In the dance studio, the scene was still the same familiar one ¡ª strict coaches holding sses, trainees perspiring hard and putting in their all... everything was wondrously simple. In that instant, it made her feel like her encounter with Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen was but her hallucination.

    She returned to her dormitory after a day of training.

    As she pushed the door open, she saw that there was something on her bed. It was an exquisite, long rectangr box that was half open, revealing the ck silk base and the blood red, sparkling Viennese crystal rose.

    A chill ran over her body as she looked at it.

    Her roommate, Lan Lan, walked in from behind her, wrapped in a bath towel. As she toweled her dripping hair, she asked, ¡°Xingling, aren¡¯t you going to take a shower?¡± Seeing that she did not move, Lan Lan followed her gaze to the rose. ¡°You¡¯re looking at that? I don¡¯t know which of your admirers sent this. I was in the dormitory the entire day and only left in the afternoon to grab lunch, and this just appeared on your bed.¡± Lan Lan looked at the crystal rose again, her eyes filled with envy and jealousy.

    The other two roommates also crowded over, saying, ¡°Yeah yeah, I even asked the supervisor and people in the neighboring dorms. None of them saw anyonee in. It¡¯s really weird.¡±

    The rose silently emitted a cold, inorganic shimmer.

    Xia Ling¡¯s roommates continued to exim. ¡°Such a beautiful rose. This crystal looks really expensive. I wonder who had so much money to spend to pay through the nose in here... and didn¡¯t even leave a name.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have time to care about them, simply staring at the rose without a word, like she was staring at a scary demon. When she left the cafe yesterday, she had unmistakably abandoned it on the table. How did it appear on her bed today without anyone knowing what had happened?!

    This was Skyart Entertainment. Even though it was just a small training camp, but the security was still very tight.

    Chu Chen, no, she should say Pei Ziheng... if he wanted to do anything here, it was like entering no man¡¯snd.

    At this moment, Xia Ling understood one thing. Pei Ziheng would not easily give up. This beautiful, cold crystal rose was his way of indicating that he would not take no for an answer, and also a silent warning.

 Chapter 33 - The Hypocritical Ye Parents

    <h4>Chapter 33: The Hypocritical Ye Parents</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked paler than usual as she picked up the box of roses.

    To the horror of her roommates, she hurled it to the ground with immense force. A shrill sound echoed across the room as the crystal fragments scattered on the ground.

    ¡°Xingling, you...¡± Lan Lan was too shocked to speak.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered with her. With a nk, look she mechanically got a broom, swept the fragments up and transferred them into a ck trash bag. She then left the room, walked three streets out, and dumped the trash bag into thergest and dirtiest bin she saw.

    The night was dead silent.

    She dragged herself back to the dorm, exhausted, and tucked herself in.

    The nightmares kepting.

    A huge prison cell stood deep in the boundless fog. She did not know when she walked into the cell, all she knew was that every time she desperately looked for an escape route, and no matter which direction she ran in, she would end up in front of a stretch of cold, steel barricades right in the way of the escape... And something would be looming from behind her, masked by the woods...

    She started to have a cold sweat.

    She wrapped her arms around her knees as she sat up on her bed, too afraid to shut her eyes. She held it out the whole night.

    In the morning, Lan Lan looked at her as if she was seeing a ghost. ¡°Xingling, were you out robbing a housest night or did you just fall out of love? Why were you sitting up the whole night instead of sleeping? Also, you don¡¯t look very well today with your dark eye circles.¡±

    Xia Ling acted like she did not hear anything and went ahead to wash up for practice.

    At a dance, she almost twisted an ankle. And while singing, she went off pitch several times.

    She gave Wei Shaoyin a call, informing him that she wouldn¡¯t be going over for a while. Wei Shaoyin mockingly answered, ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d better reflect on yourself. For the previous song you were more a hindrance than a help, you¡¯re thinking of cutting a debut in this state?¡±

    She was in no mood to bicker with him, and instead weakly said, ¡°If that¡¯s all, I¡¯m hanging up.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin paused for a moment. ¡°Xiaoling, is there something on your mind? What problems have you run into?¡±

    She replied, ¡°No.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin continued lecturing her, ¡°It¡¯s best if that¡¯s the case. If there¡¯s anything, just let Tan Ying know. He¡¯s in charge of you trainees anyway, you don¡¯t have to go easy on him.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± She said.

    Her head hurt as she hung up.

    How was she supposed to tell Tan Ying something like that? She couldn¡¯t possibly go: Chairman Tan, Director Pei of Imperial Entertainment wants me to be his woman, please help me get rid of him?

    ... It was not as if Tan Ying could get rid of him.

    One nightmare after another, the boundless fog encapsted her the moment she closed her eyes.

    Over consecutive days without proper rest, she was all haggard and tired out. She had been waiting in trepidation for Pei Ziheng¡¯s and Chu Chen¡¯s next move, but it was as if they had disappeared, making no moves at all.

    Just like that, it went on till the New Year when the training camp called for a two-week break.

    The life of a trainee was a tough one. They hardly got to take breaks throughout the year, and the two-week leave for the New Year was the only chance they had to go home. So the moment the breakmenced, most of them left the camp as soon as they could. Lan Lan and the other two roommates set off for home almost instantly, and the only person left in the empty and lifeless room was Xia Ling.

    Tan Ying asked why she had not left.

    Xia Ling was a little disoriented. In her memories, there was a lot of information regarding her parents, but none of that seemed anything but foreign to her ¡ª be it the term ¡°parents¡± or the two very much alive people involved.

    She did not know how to face them.

    ¡°Father¡± called several times to hurry her.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Go back for a visit, Ye Xingling. You¡¯ve been out here alone for so long, your parents must miss you a lot. Returning for reunions during celebrations and festivals is a child¡¯s duty.¡±

    That¡¯s right... duty.

    She calmly thought about it. Since she had taken over Ye Xingling¡¯s body, she should take over the responsibilities that came with it as well. Very well, visiting Ye Xingling¡¯s family on her behalf shall be her way of thanking her for loaning out that shell of a body.

    The Ye family was in that city. Xia Ling followed the muscle memory that the body possessed, journeyed across half the city, and arrived at a door.

    It was the stepmother who opened the door ¡ª she was cold and curt towards her. Yet, Xia Ling felt relieved by that. After all, she had no idea how to get along with her so-called parents but was more than immune to cold res and enmity.

    Father Ye felt extremely guilty and looked at her apologetically. Even so, all he said was, ¡°Xingling, I know it¡¯s not fair to you, but be a little more tolerant of your Aunt Liu, alright? She hasn¡¯t had it easy all these years.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head indifferently.

    But on the inside, she found it a mockery. If she remembered correctly, this Aunt Liu was actually a mistress who chased her rightful mother out of the house. It¡¯s no wonder there was a resistance to calling her ¡°Mother¡±.

    Whatever love that people talked about wasn¡¯t real. The only reality was the fleeting nature of people.

    She still did not sleep well at night, the same nightmare repeating over and over. The next day when she saw the way Father Ye and Aunt Liu interacted, she was reminded of Pei Ziheng ¡ª the way he eased her into her coat, the way he fed her... all the little things in the past surged back into her head.

    The stepmother was extremely sarcastic to her, ¡°Wow, is a celebrity not used to living in a small,moner¡¯s house like ours or something, she¡¯s been pulling a long face since she came back. If there¡¯s so much unhappiness, just pack up and return to the training camp sooner instead of being a jinx at home!¡±

    On the ount of Father Ye, she pretended not to hear it.

    A few days past before Father Ye approached her. ¡°Xingling, you¡¯ve been back for a while and haven¡¯t seen Feifei yet. Shall we go together as a family to visit her tomorrow?¡±

    Xia Ling had noment.

    She and this sister of hers were basically strangers. In her memories, the original upant of her body seemed to like her little sister Ye Xingfei a lot. Ye Xingfei¡¯s smile was always filled with pure happiness, seemingly able to eradicate all the troubles in the world.

    But that wasn¡¯t how Xia Ling felt.

    All that Xia Ling knew about kinship was in her past life, and it was spent on Xia Yu. In this life, she didn¡¯t need any more attachment, she just needed to treat this so-called sister fairly and nothing more.

    She, Father Ye, and Aunt Liu headed for the hospital in a packed public bus. This family was not all that well-to-do ¡ª they were just middle-ss at best ¡ª and had to meticulously budget even for the smallest of things, so the routes they chose to take were always the cheapest but also the most congested. They spent a good two to three hours on the bus, and after they alighted, Xia Ling had a giddy spell that made even walking feel strangely effortless.

    With every step, she felt like she was walking on the clouds. She followed Father Ye and Aunt Liu into the hospital building and then arrived at the VIP area in the top level.

    Aunt Liu suddenly grabbed Father Ye. ¡°Dear, I¡¯m feeling giddy and nauseous, I think it must¡¯ve been the ride earlier. I feel like I might puke, follow me to the toilet, quick...¡±

    Father Ye frantically assisted her, as he shot Xia Ling a look of helplessness. A secondter he finally said, ¡°Xingling, how about this, could you go into the ward first? It¡¯s not far from here, just walk to the end of the corridor, 2206. It¡¯s easy to spot.¡±

    She replied, ¡°Okay.¡±

    She turned around and went to look for the ward herself.

    It was easy to spot alright. At the end of the corridor was a wood textured door to the ward; it was gorgeous and exuded an air of magnificence, looking way more presentable than the one at home. She looked up to check the ward number again. 2206, this was it.

    She pushed the door open and walked in.

 Chapter 34 - Blank Cheque

    <h4>Chapter 34: nk Cheque</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The ward was very spacious, with intricately patterned parquet flooring, full-length windows and a ceiling with a design that resembled fog.

    On the side of Ye Xingfei¡¯s hospital bed was a set of expensive leather couches, and a man was sitting on it. His fur coat was casually hung over his forearm, while he, dressed in a figure-hugging ck shirt, sat quietly at the window smoking a cigarette.

    Xia Ling came to a sudden stop. In the next few seconds, her mind was a nk.

    He turned his head around and examined her without batting an eyelid ¡ª high and mighty, just like an emperor.

    She took a few steps back, abruptly turned herself around and reached for the door. It was as if the thick, sturdy door had nted roots in the ground, it didn¡¯t budge a bit no matter how hard she pulled. She knocked herself against it a few times, and then Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice came from behind ¡ª

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your efforts. The moment you walked in the door was locked from outside.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around, terrified, as she faced his dark, solemn eyes that looked too deep to decipher even in the light. She involuntarily tried to shrink herself; her back was glued against the smooth wooden door, badly wanting to integrate into it.

    ¡°You¡¯re very afraid of me.¡± He looked at her and very slowly asked, ¡°Why is that?¡±

    She stiffened up, unable to say a word.

    He took his time to quench his cigarette in the ashtray. ¡°Chu Chen is a little rough when he handles things sometimes. If that frightened you, I¡¯m sorry. Right, I haven¡¯t introduced myself, I am...¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± Xia Ling tried to suppress the tremble in her voice. ¡°Get your men to open the door. Let me out.¡±

    ¡°So you know who I am.¡± He smiled gently as he spoke. ¡°Few have dared use that tone with me. I admire your courage.¡±

    In fact, she had no courage at all, her legs were giving way and all she wanted was to run out of the door.

    Hiding her hands behind her back, she discreetly tried to pull the door handle. But no matter how she tried, the door stood strong like a mountain. Xia Ling broke out in cold sweat and was losing control of her senses, at the same time she was worried about how the parents had not arrived yet. How nice it would be if they could arrive now and open the door for her...

    Pei Ziheng seemed to read her mind. ¡°Give it up, there¡¯s no use in pinning hopes on your parents ¡ª I got Chu Chen to contact them, which is why they brought you here today.¡±

    She was shaking, her heart sank.

    So, they were all in cahoots to deceive her, this trip had nothing to do with visiting Feifei.

    In this life, she had been extremely careful, consciously distancing herself from everybody around her. Still, it was impossible to guard against everyone; she got utterly betrayed by the people around her anyway.

    ¡°What... benefits did you offer them?¡± she asked, hurt.

    ¡°Just a little money was enough to get them overwhelmed with gratitude.¡± Pei Ziheng smiled, as usual. ¡°Rather than bother about others, let¡¯s talk about us instead. Come sit over here, I¡¯m not used to looking up when I talk.¡±

    He pointed to the couch opposite him.

    Xia Ling did not move, she only said, ¡°There is nothing to talk about between us.¡±

    He collectedly replied, ¡°There¡¯s a limit to my patience, Ye Xingling. Do you want toe over here on your own, or do you need me to help you with that?¡±

    Xia Ling sensed the danger that lurked in his voice. More than ten years of knowing this man taught her that the softer his voice and the gentler his disposition, the more horrific his ways of handling someone.

    In this instant, the trauma that was buried deep in her soul took over like a curse inside her. She instinctively shuffled her feet, and before she snapped back to herself, she was already standing right before him and heading for the seat he assigned her.

    He grinned in satisfaction. ¡°That¡¯s a good girl.¡±

    She was startled, horrified by what just happened. What was going on? How was it that even after experiencing life and death, she still meekly responded to his everymand?

    She looked at him, flustered. Across the ss coffee table, his features were clearer than they were in the winter night. He was imposingly handsome, practically divine... Just as he always would exist in her memory, as her father, her teacher, her lover.

    She felt a stab in her heart and decided to look away.

    Pei Ziheng was still sizing her up, she knew it even with her head turned away. She could feel his line of sight like it was a scorching ray, peeling her clothes inch by inch, evaluating her body and broiling her soul.

    With him, she never seemed to need even a thread of silk.

    Xia Ling was frowning hard, she scrunched herself up in the couch in unbearable awkwardness and embarrassment.

    Heughed condescendingly. ¡°Up till this moment, you¡¯ve been satisfactory to me.¡± As he spoke, he reached for something in his pocket and tossed it on the table. ¡°Maybe Chu Chen hasn¡¯t made it very clear to you but, if youe with me, you can get so much more than you could even imagine.¡±

    She looked down at the table. It was a nk cheque.

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re agreeable, you can fill the cheque with any amount you like.¡±

    She felt like she was in a trance in a moment of deja vu ¡ª that year, in a bid to pay for her sister¡¯s medical fees, twelve-year-old little Xia Ling followed Pei Ziheng home. And now, this man was offering money once again to tempt her to go with him?

    Too bad, right now she was no longer the little Xia Ling that she was then. She would not make the same mistake.

    Her voice was dry and hoarse. ¡°I don¡¯t need such a thing.¡±

    Pei Ziheng patiently asked her, ¡°What do you need then? Tell me.¡±

    She bit her lip instead, thinking to herself: <i>Pei Ziheng, you can¡¯t give me what I want.</i>

    As such, she chose to remain silent.

    He lit another cigarette. ¡°Seems like Chu Chen wasn¡¯t wrong when he said that you¡¯re an insensible child.¡± He puffed a ball of smoke, his eyes seemingly distant. ¡°But you need to know this. There¡¯s no harm in throwing a tantrum once in a while, but if it gets overboard, there will be punishment...¡±

    His voice deepened as he spoke, he seemed to be speaking to both her and himself.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were experiencing some difort, probably due to the smoke. She shut her eyes a little. The scenes of the past appeared before her eyes, the days of imprisonment, the terrifying memories...

    She couldn¡¯t help but shiver a little, before garnering her guts., ¡°D- Director Pei,¡± She begged softly. ¡°I¡¯m just an insignificant nobody, I don¡¯t deserve this much attention on your part. Let me off, will you? So many others are waiting to be picked by you...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in no position to interfere with who I pick, Ye Xingling.¡± He cut her off, his gaze now clear and alert. ¡°What you need to do is simply to ept this check, or...¡±

    He looked at her coldly. ¡°Or maybe you¡¯d like to watch what happens when your sister is taken off her IV tube.¡±

    Everyone used to speak of how cold and heartless the world was, except her ¡ª she waspletely oblivious to the troubles that existed, because he was so incredibly nice to her, always showing the kind, gentle side of himself. And now, as she stood before him as a nobody and no longer as the Xia Ling who was the apple of everyone¡¯s eye, she truly felt the cold strength of solidarity.

    In his eyes, crushing the Ye sisters to death was akin to crushing an ant.

    But Xia Ling could not waver, the only oue of it was doom. Either Ye Xingfei was doomed or she was ¡ª if her only option was to return to her past life of being treated like a pawn, she¡¯d rather die once more.

 Chapter 35 - Nowhere to Run

    <h4>Chapter 35: Nowhere to Run</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling calmed herself down and tried to sound moreposed. ¡°It¡¯s up to you, Director Pei.¡±

    She dully said, ¡°Actually, if you want to hear from me, it¡¯s just as well that Feifei¡¯s IV is removed. Being a living corpse with no way of thinking for herself and no way of making decisions, it¡¯s no better than beingpletely dead.¡±

    At this point, she paused and thought about herself in her past life.

    Till now, she never regretted that decision.

    When Pei Ziheng¡¯s fianc¨¦ passed on, he initially just kept Xia Ling locked in a secret vi and sent bodyguards to watch her, but that was all. She kicked a fuss about wanting to leave, wanting to break up with him, hysterically screaming and trying to escape time and time again.

    Once, her escapade was almost sessful.

    She had been hiding in a small forest near the vi and got found by the search team he sent. The team had brought along a herd of mastiffs to encircle her and left her glued helpless against a tree, trembling in fear.

    Pei Ziheng then strolled from outside the circle.

    His look was overcast and incredibly intimidating. He grabbed her messy hair and dragged her by it, her knees on the ground.

    ¡°Xia Ling,¡± he said menacingly. ¡°try escaping again and I¡¯ll let you know what it means to have a life more miserable than death itself.¡±

    He dragged her in that manner across the uneven terrain, all the way back to the vi. The fallen twigs and branches had ripped her dress, scraping her fair and tender skin, leaving them bloody and wounded. There was no end to the blood trail she left. By the time she was back in the bedroom, she was panting weakly, and there was no skin on her left unscathed.

    The family doctor took an entire day to remove the sediment bits etched in her back.

    And then took a few more days to cleanse, medicate and dress her wounds.

    Pei Ziheng stood beside her and watched coldly the whole time.

    Her body was hurting, but her heart was hurting even more. It felt like her heart had been crushed into a ball and hurled to the ground, only to be stepped on repeatedly and recklessly. Yet, she was too naive then and underestimated his cruelness. She continued the reckless tantrums, the resistance, smashing and shattering whatever she found in the room, went on a hunger strike, and engaged in self-harm.

    But he was unwavering. He got people to create a full set of chains and locks, chained her arms and legs, and had everything in the room reced with safe, non-harming items.

    She cursed and swore, agitating him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I must¡¯ve been blind to have agreed to be with you. I don¡¯t love you anymore, I never did!¡±

    He flew into a rage, beating her up and leaving her with blood at the corner of her mouth and momentarily impaired senses. When she still did not stop her rant, he tortured her brutally, until both of them werepletely exhausted. She lost consciousness in his arms.

    Day after day passed.

    He was looking increasingly gloomy, while she repetitively imed that she no longer loved him. The more ferocious he got, the more satisfaction she gained, even if it meant more scars andshes on her body.

    Until one day, he stared at her for a long while and caressed her face with a gentleness he had not disyed in a long time as if he was handling a treasure.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said gently. ¡°you still love me. You will always love me.¡± The sun rays entered his eyes and reached into a bottomless abyss, and not a single bit of light was reflected.

    She was scared of the look he had now, a premonition rising in her chest.

    He ripped her clothes off, tied her arms and legs up in ck leather rope, and wrapped her in a windbreaker. Then, he carried her to the car and gave the chauffeur a location she had never heard of.

    It was an isted but luxurious building.

    Shrouded in thick fauna, great precaution was taken with concealing this ce. Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce drove over and the many gates, carved in a beautiful floral pattern, opened slowly to receive him. Behind every gate was an armed guard post.

    Pei Ziheng carried her inside.

    A man who appeared like a doctor came forward and led Pei Ziheng to a pre-allocated room where he put her down.

    ¡°It takes about 20 days,¡± said the man somewhat solemnly. ¡°Mr. Pei, the specialist team will hand you aplete report. You can then take her home.¡±

    ¡°I would like to witness the entire process,¡± said Pei Ziheng.

    The man¡¯s tone was formal and professional. ¡°If you insist, there is a VIP suite in zone B where you can watch a live stream of what is happening. But I have to remind you, the process isn¡¯t very pleasant to watch.¡±

    Xia Ling did not understand the conversation and naturally felt scared.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, what are you doing!¡± She shouted at him furiously. ¡°Let go of me! I want to leave!¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not take another look at her. He turned his back and followed the man out of the room.

    In the following days, she was given a full body check by several women she did not know. They wore white coats, covered their hands in thin rubber gloves and used all sorts of equipment and apparatuses on her while recording a string of measurements.

    Xia Ling felt ashamed and resentful but had no way to escape it with her arms and legs still tied up. They reced the rope Pei Ziheng tied her with metal handcuffs. The inner surface was lined with soft fur so she wouldn¡¯t get hurt in it, and it allowed for more thorough checks. Yet, it also made her more embarrassed.

    She had no idea how she pulled through those few days. After her full body check was a never-ending interrogation. All sorts of ruthless questions wereid out, but she was not in the right state to deal with them and rejected to answer, all the while incoherently cursing at them and Pei Ziheng. The women in the white coats remained expressionless and made recordings while exchanging jargons she could notprehend.

    Finally, Pei Ziheng came for her.

    That day, Xia Ling was chained onto a chair. Covered in a thin white nket, she breathed feebly watching as he came closer. In the same way, as he did when they first arrived, he removed his windbreaker and picked her up in it carefully.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, we¡¯re going home,¡± he gently said, stroking her eyes and the corner of her lips.

    Xia Ling gathered all the strength she had to bite him in the palm.

    The cold-looking man who led them in previously stood silently and watched what happened. He then said, ¡°Mr. Pei, you should trust our expert¡¯s opinion, she¡¯s not suitable for this procedure. It¡¯s too dangerous.¡±

    Pei Ziheng carefully removed his hurt hand from Xia Ling¡¯s clenched teeth and even gently helped her wipe the blood off the corner of her lips. ¡°I just want the procedure n and the tools, please send them over as soon as possible.¡±

    The man kept silent for a while, revealing a trace of sympathy in the way he looked at her.

    ¡°As you wish, Mr. Pei.¡±

    Back at Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi, he locked her in a small enclosed space. Her limbs, neck, and torso were fixated to the ground, with not an inch of room to move. Beneath her was an incredibly soft nket, and her mouth was stuffed with a hollow metal ball so she could not make a sound.

    Absolute silence; boundless darkness.

    Xia Ling panicked as she heard her heartbeat increasingly clearly. Hallucinations were forming in her mind and breathing was gettingborious ¡ª she was practically losing her mind. Just as she was on the verge of breaking down, a ray of light appeared. The door was pushed open, and Pei Ziheng¡¯s imposing figure loomed over her as he walked in with a whip.

 Chapter 36 - Stockholm Syndrome

    <h4>Chapter 36: Stockholm Syndrome</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°everything you get will be bestowed by me, be it pleasure or pain.¡±

    Heshed her with the whip in his hand.

    A shrill sound split the air, the pain sharp and the smell of blood filling the narrow space. Yet she gratefully and greedily embraced it all, as she whimpered and begged for him to give her more. This pain reminded her that she was still truly alive...

    He cast the whip aside, removed the ball in her mouth, and leaned over to kiss her, his forceful grasp almost suffocating her. ¡°Xiao Ling, my beautiful butterfly...¡± He brushed his lips against her quiveringshes, whispering. ¡°You are mine and mine only.¡±

    It was always the case. He would first abandon her in the pitch dark and empty room, where it would be so lonely, so quiet that she could barely feel her existence. Once she was on the verge of insanity, a divine-like figure would appear, whip her brutally, torture her, and then in the gentlest of manner, feed her food and water and wipe the stains off her lips before eventually leaving.

    The narrow space once again regained its state of loneliness and darkness until she reached a breaking point, where Pei Ziheng would re-appear and repeat the process all over.

    Every time Pei Ziheng left, Xia Ling would tell herself she could not go on her cowardly ways, that she would not surrender to it the next time. Yet her body¡¯s reaction was truthful and terrifying ¡ª no matter how resolved she was, she could not escape the fear and insanity in the dark, nor could she break free from the gratitude she had towards him and the violence he inflicted on her.

    Subsequently, when he saw that she was tamed, he let her out.

    Though she dared notsh out at him like before, leaving the dead silence and darkness allowed her to regain consciousness and rity, and she remained hostile to him. When he entered her, she did all she could to resist him.

    He had other moves.

    She did not like the pain, and always struggled in resistance, yet she submitted to him under his firm repression... And then the next time it would be the same, resistance, repression, submission...

    The cycle repeated.

    Xia Yu came to see her.

    She was in a simple-looking ir dress, her hair was a mess, and white gauze held her scrawny body together. But Xia Yu looked at her with a tinge of envy, and questioned coldly, ¡°Sister, why is it that Brother Ziheng cares so much about you, and puts in so much effort for you!¡±

    Xia Ling just looked at her, hostile. ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Sister, let me tell you a story.¡±

    She spoke slowly and tirelessly.

    As such, Xia Ling learned a new term ¡ª Stockholm Syndrome.

    ¡°Sister,¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°here¡¯s Brother Ziheng¡¯s and the doctors¡¯ n. You will suffer from Stockholm Syndrome under their conscious guidance to reach the ideal state. No matter how Brother Ziheng treats you, be it with love or through torture, you will always be loyal to him, and will return to him voluntarily even if he lets you go.¡±

    ¡°You will lose yourself forever.¡±

    ¡°Brother Ziheng doesn¡¯t even love you, what he wants is simply an obedient ything.¡±

    Xia Ling took a long time to digest what Xia Yu had said, not believing that was the truth. But all of Pei Ziheng¡¯s actions recently fit what she said.

    Xia Ling once thought that Pei Ziheng really loved her, just as she loved him with all her heart. Even when she was held captive by him, she continued to believe that he loved her, but maybe a little less, and not as wholeheartedly as she had thought. Yet now, Xia Ling realized that Xia Yu could be right, Pei Ziheng had never loved her from the beginning, all he needed was a ything that he was satisfied with ¡ª whether that was Xia Ling or someone else, he did not care.

    ¡°Sister, consider my words seriously.¡± Xia Yu picked up her exquisite handbag and left gracefully.

    Pei Ziheng went on every day with new ways to torture Xia Ling. He would stop right as she was about to crumble, and hold her in his arms gently, lightly tracing her every wound.

    Xia Ling kept recalling Xia Yu¡¯s words.

    She realized that she indeed was bing reliant on Pei Ziheng. Though she feared and dreaded the atrocities, the overwhelming gratitude and admiration she had for him when he was tender with her was irrational and out of her control.

    She was afraid of the person she became. Looking at the scrawny-looking person in the mirror who had such a cautious, fearful expression, she could not recognize herself.

    Maybe one day Pei Ziheng would seed, and the real Xia Ling would bepletely shattered and gone for good. And in her ce would be a tamed and obedient walking corpse.

    She feared living so pathetically.

    ¡°If living means having no say in my life, having my soul being crushed to nothingness, and being a living, walking corpse, I¡¯d rather die.¡± She muttered.

    As she snapped back to herself, what came into view was the ward, the gloomy skies outside the full-length windows, and an antagonized Pei Ziheng on the couch. Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°I¡¯m not threatened, Director Pei. If Feifei was conscious, she would agree with what I¡¯m doing.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re too unbridled.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low, lined with anger and coercion.

    But Xia Ling was not as afraid anymore. Since she was on that note, she went on. ¡°Forgive me, but I can never belong to anybody. Director Pei, please get your men to open the door, it¡¯s time I took my leave.¡±

    ¡°You think you can leave?¡± He pressed a button.

    The thick and sturdy door opened silently, and two brawny bodyguards walked in.

    Pei Ziheng got up and walked towards the door, casting his words. ¡°Take her along.¡±

    The two bodyguards took themand and lifted her by her sides, following behind him.

    Xia Ling initially thought that it was on a whim that he wanted her, that even if he got rejected by a nobody like her, the worst that could happen was teaching her a lesson before he cast her aside for someone else. She was prepared for his rage and revenge in theing days, but she never expected such obstinacy, nor that he would resort to kidnapping her.

    Inexplicable fear rose inside her as she was reminded of terrors of the past. She never wanted to relive the days where she was treated like dirt. Xia Ling struggled with might, screaming. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Get them to let go of me! What you¡¯re doing is illegal!¡±

    He continued ahead, not in the least bothered.

    Suddenly, he stopped.

    Xia Ling looked up and saw that the spacious corridor before was now packed with a crowd. In the distance, a group of about 10 burly men streamed out of a ward, chatting andughing noisily as they walked towards the elevators, getting in their way.

    Xia Ling recognized the man in front ¡ª

    He was in a casual white outfit, the soft fabric revealing the faint outline of his toned muscles. His tan had a healthy glow and his features were handsome and well-sculpted ¡ª in his eyes she saw a charming expression.

    No matter where he was, he always looked outstanding.

    Xia Ling was brimming with gratitude at this point. In a panic, she shouted. ¡°Li Lei!¡±

 Chapter 37 - There are No Private Matters for Trainees

    <h4>Chapter 37: There are No Private Matters for Trainees</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The eye-catching boy turned around, and hence, the men clustered around him did too.

    Upon seeing Xia Ling being surrounded, Li Lei¡¯s brow furrowed, and he did a hand signal. On thismand, the crowd of tall men stoppedughing and quickly resumed their professionality and got into position. What seemed like a crowd that one could easily breeze through immediately became an iron wall of sorts, and a vague sense of lethality buzzed in the air.

    The hold that the two bodyguards had on Xia Ling tightened.

    The atmosphere turned into silence.

    There was a pause before Li Lei chuckled. ¡°What is Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Mr. Pei doing with my artiste?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked serious. ¡°Li Lei, this is a private matter.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart leaped into her throat, fearing that Pei Ziheng¡¯s rationale would turn Li Lei away immediately. After all, her boss never really mixed his rtions with work, and shortly before she had just rejected bing his lover, so surely she must have dealt a blow to his reputation somehow. If he wanted to be a bystander and watch her get humiliated and bullied, this was the perfect time for him to do it.

    Yet, he just looked curiously at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Skyart Entertainment trainees have no private matters.¡±

    Xia Ling let out a breath she didn¡¯t realize she was holding and immediately felt like her boss was a great person. He was clearly nning on intervening. And he was notpletely wrong, Skyart¡¯s trainees did not have any secrets ¡ª trainees were backup artistes, and in the eyes of an artiste, there was no divide between what was private and what was public.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice rang low, mildly amused, ¡°she¡¯s just a small fry. I can¡¯t believe someone as important as you can recognize a mere trainee.¡±

    Li Lei innocently replied, ¡°I am a boss that cares about my employees.¡±

    He started again. ¡°Mr. Pei, please release Ye Xingling. She is still a kid, so she still makes mistakes. If she offended you in the past, please let me take her to the task. I will be made answerable for her mistakes.¡±

    Pei Ziheng studied him deeply, an unreadable look on his face.

    Li Lei¡¯s demeanor still had not changed. He was rxed, a half-smile was ying on his lips as the tens of men behind him continued to step up their guard. The tension in the air was thick and suffocating.

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng only had two bodyguards, and Xia Ling in tow.

    Finally, Pei Ziheng lightly raised his hand.

    The bodyguards let Xia Ling go.

    The moment of freedom startled her momentarily, in disbelief that it came so simply, that Pei Ziheng had moments of weakness as well. Yet, immediately after, her heart swelled with dismay...

    ¡°Why are you still standing there,e over here.¡± She heard Li Lei say.

    A moment of rity struck her, and she mbered over to his side, staying close behind his figure. His gang of men swarmed around her, and she tried to calm down as cold sweat drenched her back.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes never left her, targeting closely, and it was bing a thorn in her back.

    Li Lei shifted, almost unnoticeably, and his figure eclipsed hers.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Pei Ziheng spoke slowly. ¡°you can defend her now, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can do the same for the rest of her life.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to worry about that now, Director Pei.¡± Li Lei grinned.

    As the words fell, he raised his hand again, and the entire procession headed towards the elevators.

    As she slipped into the elevator, Xia Ling could not help but turn her head, and through the crevices of the crowd, she caught glimpses of Pei Ziheng. He hadn¡¯t moved since then, but his gaze was unprable. His eyes were trained on her like mes, like an abyss she couldn¡¯t crawl out of.

    The fear struck her again, and she scrambled into the elevator.

    As the doors slid shut, the men broke into chatter. ¡°Boss, are you for real? Even something like a trip to the hospital can make you a hero? This little beauty is from Skyart¡¯s training program? I thought you hardly cared about that business?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Boss, introduce us to her.¡±

    ¡°Little beauty, do not be afraid, you have brothers like us here. People won¡¯t even dream of bullying you.¡±

    As they chattered, at that moment the intimidating men that had faced-off with Pei Ziheng were no more, reced with gossipy aunties that wanted thetest scoop. Xia Ling could feel the onset of a headache, and the remaining slivers of trauma and pain from before had been eliminated thanks to the chaos. Whoever said that a group of noisy women were like a flock of ducks clearly hadn¡¯t seen what a group of noisy men could do.

    In the chaos, only Li Lei remained quiet, chuckling at the sight with his arms pressed against the ss wall.

    She was caged beside him at close proximity, and she could even observe his breathing pattern and smell the sunshine and fresh grass on his skin. It was the mostforting feeling in the world.

    It wasn¡¯t long before they reached the basement, the door opening with a ding.

    The crowd spilled out, bidding their farewells to Li Lei before haphazardly making their separate ways.

    Before she knew it, it was just the both of them again.

    Xia Ling raised her head to look at him. In the dim light of the garage, his eyes were dark and deep, and his chiseled features were as handsome as ever. With one hand in his pocket, he looked like a billboard model, stunning beyond words. It was hard to believe that this person had saved her from Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Thank you, Boss,¡± she said sincerely.

    Unsmiling, he replied, ¡°Instead of thanking me, how about you give thanks to your luck. Do you not want to live anymore? Why would you mess with Pei Ziheng?¡±

    She didn¡¯t¡ªcouldn¡¯t reply. How could she say that she hadn¡¯t been actively out there looking for trouble? That Pei Ziheng had tracked her down and hade in for the kill himself? Nobody would believe her. ¡°I was in the wrong,¡± she said, resigned.

    His attractive brows furrowed, considering her for a moment.

    Now she genuinely didn¡¯t know why he was unhappy with her again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it when people brush me off.¡± He said. ¡°And it¡¯s not like you to wreak havoc any other day either. If you are so quick to apologize, I am sure there¡¯s something you aren¡¯t telling me. Tell me the truth, how did you get on Pei Ziheng¡¯s bad side?¡±

    Her heart leaped again, surprised at his acute inference skills. He was right, she had apologized early on in order to let the situation die quicker. And her past with Pei Ziheng had been a rollercoaster of emotions, too intense for her to consider without feeling the same shes of trauma again.

    She only wanted to give the simplest exnation.

    But Li Lei refused to let the matter rest, instead of waiting in silence for her response.

    She tilted her head, not wishing to meet his eyes. ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± Just speaking the name itself expended much of her energy trying to quash down her feelings, ¡°is interested in me. He wants me to be his woman. I don¡¯t know what he sees in me.¡±

    The look in Li Lei¡¯s eyes deepened. There was still something more that she wasn¡¯t revealing, his detective skills nagged, but he decided to let the matter rest upon seeing the clenched fists by her sides...

    He then smiled and thoughtfully changed the topic. ¡°Where are you staying? I¡¯ll send you home.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± She questioned in disbelief, never having expected her own boss to be so nice. ¡°It¡¯s okay, it will be a hassle. I can go back on my own.¡±

    ¡°You want to go on your own?¡± He scoffed. ¡°I don¡¯t mind but, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t make it in time because Pei Ziheng¡¯s minions might be at it again.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze, and a shiver ran down her spine.

    ¡°Then, could you... send me back to training camp.¡± She whispered.

    She definitely could not return to the Ye¡¯s. After all, her so-called ¡°parents¡± had already betrayed her once, and surely had no qualms about betraying her once again. She had not yet grown familiar to other ces, and upon deep thought, the only ce she wasfortable with was the training camp.

    Li Leiughed again. ¡°You really are giving me a run for my money, huh. We are now in South City, but camp is in North City. Having to cut across the city is one thing, but the problem is that the traffic at this timing is terrible. Ye Xingling, you¡¯re kidding me, right?¡±

 Chapter 38 - To Hell With These Rich Peopleâ€™s Rules

    <h4>Chapter 38: To Hell With These Rich People¡¯s Rules</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. Realizing that she was the boss now, she cursed silently, wasn¡¯t he supposed to send her?

    She weakly said, ¡°You tell me what should be done then.¡±

    Li Lei spun the car key around his finger, his eyes gleaming. ¡°Come over to my apartment and we¡¯ll get together for a night. I¡¯ll get someone to take you to the training camp tomorrow morning.¡±

    His apartment?

    She recalled his suggestion about her being his woman and frowned.

    Li Lei seemed to have read her mind. ¡± As I said, I have no interest in coercing anybody. And given your guts, what made you think you could provoke Pei Ziheng?¡± He walked on without a care. ¡°Come with me when you¡¯ve thought it through, otherwise you can go back on your own.¡±

    As Xia Ling gazed at his back view, images of Pei Ziheng¡¯s sinister eyes came to mind. She weighed her options for an instant and decided to catch up with him.

    Li Lei¡¯s private vehicle was an SUV. In her previous life, Xia Ling was also a highly experienced driver, and with one look she could tell that...

    The people in Skyart Entertainment seemed to enjoy driving their own cars. Wei Shaoyin was one; Li Lei was another.

    Xia Ling got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt, as Li Lei then skilfully steered the wheel and merged into the heavy traffic on the freeway. A half hourter, the SUV drove into a rtively serendipitous high-end estate ¡ª withrge green areas of various types of rare vegetation, the ce boasted thick shades of lush with a tranquil absence of people.

    Li Lei parked the car into the garage and then led Xia Ling to a personal elevator which they took to a higher floor.

    As they entered the front door, what came into view was an extremely spacious living area, taking up about half the floor area of the entire level. The ceiling was about five to six meters high, the four walls were reced by full-length ss panes and the natural light was streaming in abundantly, illuminating the ce beautifully.

    Li Lei casually flung his outerwear onto the couch and then said, ¡°Sit.¡±

    That said, he turned his back and walked off.

    Xia Ling looked at the sofa and was just about to sit when she noticed a leopard restingzily on a white carpet near the couch. It had beautiful rose-like spots all over and its legs were stretched out, almostying like a carpet itself.

    She cautiously took a step forward.

    Yet, she couldn¡¯t help but back off a little, letting out a small gasp.

    The leopard, Er Mao, looked up at her with heavy eyelids, and then shut them again and continued resting.

    Xia Ling dared not make another sound. She held her breath and took a few slow, cautious steps back until she bumped into a sturdy physique. She was about to let out a scream when she got wrapped around in someone¡¯s arms and heard Li Lei¡¯s deep, maic voice from behind her, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, it¡¯s me.¡±

    She exhaled in relief and calmed down slightly.

    Recovering from the shock, the first thought that came to mind was: <i>This owner-leopard pair must be my nemesis, giving me one shock after the next.</i>

    Freeing herself from his embrace, Xia Ling turned to look at him, ¡°I¡¯m not sitting on that couch, is there... another room?¡±

    Heughed, his eyes twinkling, ¡°No more dinner for you?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    He turned around. ¡°Come help out in the kitchen.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment but followed him anyway into the well-lit and spacious kitchen. She got another shock ¡ª in the kitchen, Boss Li Lei had a white apron around him as he held a pot in one hand and adle in another, looking skilled.

    ¡°You... you prepare your own meals?¡± She stuttered. This shock was definitely greater than the one she got from almost stepping onto the leopard. Really, a big boss like him with a triad background actually had such a hobby?

    Watching him go about it with ease, it was obviously not his first attempt.

    Li Lei took no care about her shocked expression and tossed her a tomato. ¡°Get the skin peeled.¡±

    Xia Ling instinctively caught it and stared at the fresh red half of the tomato in her hand until he told her to hurry. She snapped back to reality and started on it clumsily. Though she had lived for two lifetimes, she had never cooked, and so only just realized how difficult it was to peel a tomato. After a long struggle and a whole lot of tomato juice on her hands and clothes, her job was still not well done.

    She looked at the bruised tomato that suffered in her hands and thought seriously. <i>Can this even be eaten?</i>

    ¡°Hand it over once you¡¯re done, it¡¯s going into the pot,¡± said Li Lei. When there was no response, he turned around, only to see Xia Ling bent over the counter at a loss as she held a clump of... something red that had lost its shape. Boss had seen much of the world, its novelties, and quirks, but faced with the scene before him, even he was shocked.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you sure you¡¯re a woman?¡±

    ¡°Boss, Your Honour, you can¡¯t me me, it¡¯s my first time.¡± She held the tomato up with a look of innocence.

    Li Lei wanted to sigh in disappointment as he grabbed the red clump of the unidentifiable object and threw it ¡ª with an incredible trajectory ¡ª into the bin. He then took another tomato with a look of resignation and did the work himself, peeling the tomato as he instructed her, ¡°Wash the vegetables in the sink. If you can¡¯t do that either, then go and apany Er Mao in the living room.¡±

    He thought for a bit and felt that he was a little harsh, and so turned his head to sh her a smile.

    Xia Ling was frightened by that smile and went ahead to wash the vegetables, indignantly thinking: <i>Hmph, what¡¯s the big deal about owning a creature, there¡¯s nothing to be so conceited about. I¡¯ve really never seen somebody who unts like this... </i>And then she realized that disaster had struck ¡ª the vegetables had been ravaged into broken pieces.

    ¡°Boss, this...¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you should go apany Er Mao.¡±

    ¡°...¡± She swore never to return to Li Lei¡¯s apartment.

    Having gone through so much for this dinner, she had to admit that Big Boss Li¡¯s culinary skills were indeed good ¡ª his delicacies were almost like that of a chef¡¯s.

    ¡°Boss, you really are good at everything.¡± Sheplimented him from the bottom of her heart.

    Li Lei smiled kindly. ¡°After living out here alone for a while, you tend to learn a bit of everything, including cooking.¡±

    She nodded her head in understanding. The fact that he drove his own SUV showed that he was likely a very independent person who liked to get things done himself. In this case, it wasn¡¯t too surprising that he didn¡¯t hire a domestic helper.

    She was curious. How did he keep his house in this condition?

    Compared to Pei Ziheng... he was theplete opposite.

    She unintentionally thought of that scheming, scary man ¡ª adhering to the rules and etiquette of his aristocratic family, donning luxurious silk dress shirts and fur coats, employing a bunch of helpers, and always looking impably refined. His voice was deep, his tone mild, as he calmly told her, ¡°I need a wife who can match up to my family¡¯s status, a woman worthy of the title of Missus Pei.¡±

    Pain crept in the depths of her heart.

    To hell with these rich people¡¯s rules.

    Xia Ling fiercely scooped up a mouthful of rice and swallowed the tears that were on the verge of falling.

    From an angle that she had not noticed, Li Lei looked at her thoughtfully, his expression unreadable.

 Chapter 39 - We Dont Receive Female Guests Here

    <h4>Chapter 39: We Don¡¯t Receive Female Guests Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After their meal, Xia Ling volunteered to stay behind in the kitchen to help him clean up the mess. She primarily did not want to stay in the living room facing the leopard named Er Mao alone. Li Lei saw through her and said, ¡°Don¡¯t create more trouble here. Go rest in the guest room, it¡¯s the second room on the left.¡±

    She obediently went into the guest room, as if he had just saved her life.

    The guest room was neat and spacious, with a thick and soft carpet spread out over the floor. An oak wine fridge contained a variety of expensive wines.

    Xia Ling pulled open the closet and saw many unwrapped outfits hanging in it. The tailoring was professional and made of specially selected materials, and the tags on the outfits indicated that they were all pieces from internationally renowned luxury brands. None of these could be purchased by a normal person. Scanning quickly across, she found that there were many different sizes and rangedprehensively from pajamas to jackets, clearly with close consideration and preparation for different guests.

    The only unfortunate thing was that they were all male outfits.

    Xia Ling frowned as she found this odd. Boss Li was handsome, rich and a Casanova. His yboy tendencies could be seen in his attempts to flirt with her... How could someone like him not prepare female outfits in the guest room?

    She suspected that she had entered the wrong room and turned back to look for Big Boss Li. She asked, ¡°Boss, do you have a guest room with female outfits?¡±

    Li Lei was in the midst of cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. Under the dim yellow lights, he looked dashing and his tan, strong fingers were glimmering under the lights in ordance with his movements being covered by the white foam bubbles from the dishwashing liquid. On hearing her question, he turned his head to look at her andughed, ¡°Female outfits? Ipletely forgot to prepare that. I usually don¡¯t invite female guests here. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll get someone to send some outfits over.¡±

    She hurriedly said, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I can wear the male outfits as well.¡± She was well aware of her current status ¡ª an insignificant trainee at the bottom of thepany food chain ¡ª and the big boss had already graciously saved her and took her in. She was already enjoying free meals and lodging, she couldn¡¯t possibly ask for more.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°Just wait.¡±

    Amand that was not to be questioned.

    He cleaned his hands on a white piece of cloth, took out his mobile phone and rang a number. ¡°Su Tang, go buy some female outfits and bring them over. Yes, I¡¯m in my ce at Cheng Nan Apartments. It¡¯s for a 17-year-old girl, and she needs bathrobes, pajamas, jackets... everything. Size?¡± He gave Xia Ling a once over and told thedy on the other end of the line a string of numbers. They were an urate estimation of her height, weight, and measurements.

    Xia Ling was speechless. She had underestimated the extent of Big Boss Li¡¯s Casanova tendencies. There was no way he could so urately estimate a girl¡¯s measurements simply by looking unless he had a wealth of experience doing so.

    Not longter, the doorbell rang.

    Without waiting for Li Lei to open the door, the person came in on her own ord. Clearly, she was someone that Li Lei trusted and had the house key.

    Xia Ling looked over and saw a graceful, pretty girl with long hair that reached down to her waist, which looked like smooth seaweed shimmering under the warm light of the crystal chandelier. She was wearing a lc, silk embroidered long dress with a tasseled scarf draped over her shoulders. She had a silver bracelet on her wrist and was carrying many luxurious-looking shopping bags, leaving a trail of fragrance behind her as she walked.

    She stopped in front of Li Lei and greeted him. ¡°Young Master.¡±

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Did you manage to buy everything?¡±

    The girl¡¯s voice was pleasant as she replied, ¡°Yes, I got everything. They¡¯re right here.¡± She handed over all the shopping bags that must have cost quite a lot of money.

    Li Lei took them from her and, in turn, passed them to Xia Ling, ¡°Here, take your clothes.¡±

    The bags were slightly heavy and had the pungency that brand new luxury items tended to have. Xia Ling was familiar with these items in her past life and thus did not feel shockingly pampered at receiving them. She politely said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Li Lei repliedzily, ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. It was my mistake for not being considerate and forgetting to prepare female outfits. If you are stillcking anything do tell me, or just inform Su Tang directly. She will make sure to get it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling indicated that there was nothing that wascking and turned to Su Tang to express her thanks.

    Su Tang was well-mannered and only spoke with reverence to the Young Master that she knew after entering the room. She did not even give a nce to the guest in the house for fear that it might make her feel ufortable. She only lifted her eyes to look at Xia Ling upon hearing her word of thanks, smiling at Xia Ling politely.

    Yet for some reason, Xia Ling felt that her smile was cold and insincere.

    This graceful, elegant girl seemed to dislike her... As Xia Ling started to guess how she had managed to offend her, Li Leimanded. ¡°Alright, Su Tang, you can go back now.¡±

    Su Tang did not leave immediately. She said to Li Lei, ¡°Young Master, you mentioned yesterday that you wanted to eat ox-bone stew braised with tomatoes. I have already prepared the ingredients in the kitchen this morning, shall I prepare dinner for you now?¡± As she spoke, she nced at Xia Ling and said, ¡°I can prepare more for this miss here.¡± Her cooking abilities were outstanding and not inferior to that of her Young Master, most girls were unable to match up.

    Su Tang had already made up her mind to show off her skills.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°Ox-bone stew braised with tomatoes? Are you referring to the tomatoes that were in the fridge? I¡¯ve already used them up.¡±

    He red at Xia Ling as he spoke. Xia Ling rubbed her nose in embarrassment. Alright, she would admit that she had wasted all the tomatoes. But all she did was peel them a little unevenly, he did not need to throw them all in the bin.

    ¡°We¡¯ve just had dinner.¡± Li Lei told Su Tang. ¡°You can go about your other business and needn¡¯t be up here.¡±

    It was Su Tang¡¯s turn to be stunned. Since when did her Young Master cook together with another woman?! Even though her Young Master was skilled in the kitchen, he waszy and had not touched the stove for several years. Dinner would usually be prepared by Su Tang. Why did he make an exception for this stranger?

    What¡¯s more...

    She could not resist giving Xia Ling another once over, her gazending on the shopping bags in her hands. Young Master might be a yboy and had one date after another. However, he had never allowed a female to stay in this apartment. What was his deal today that he was allowing this little girl to stay here?

    As she pondered, the coldness in Su Tang¡¯s re became more apparent.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was still on the wasted tomatoes and did not discover Su Tang¡¯s animosity.

    Even if Su Tang was really unhappy deep down, she could only disy her elegance in front of Li Lei. She looked down as sheposed herself, saying calmly as she gave a small bow to Li Lei, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    She backed out of the apartment as she spoke.

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Su Tang leave. Turning to Xia Ling who was still in a daze, he could not help but say, ¡°That is what I call a woman.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling looked at him, confused.

    Li Lei expressed his unhappiness. ¡°You can¡¯t even cook. What kind of woman are you?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond.

    She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. Xia Ling clenched her teeth together in frustration as she returned to the guest room. She then locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower.

    As warm mist sprinkled out from the showerhead, she felt herself slowly rx. There had been too many things that happened today, especially the shocking encounter with Pei Ziheng, making her feel tired both physically and mentally. After her bath, she picked out a soft bathrobe from the clothes that Su Tang had brought for her. She changed into it and fell into the huge, fluffy down feather duvet. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

    Her conscious became fuzzy and she found herself surrounded by a heavy mist all around, no end in sight.

    She waspletely naked and, somehow, had returned to that giant cage. In the mist, she saw the majestic, white fence around her and she could not pry it open no matter how hard she tried...

    Lowering her head, her ankles were shackled with a pure gold chain...

 Chapter 40 - This Milk is for the Pets

    <h4>Chapter 40: This Milk is for the Pets</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling gave a scream and woke from the nightmare, a cold sweat breaking out over her body.

    She turned on all the lights in the room with shaking hands. Curling her body in the corner of the bed, she hugged herself. She did not dare to close her eyes as Pei Ziheng¡¯s face would emerge every time she did. He appeared suddenly like a God, swishing the whip that he would hit her with, or forcing himself into her against her will. And also that sinister, unreadable look that he had given her earlier at the hospital...

    ¡ª Xiao Ling, my beautiful butterfly. Everything you have is mine.

    ¡ª Li Lei, you might be able to protect her now, but you cannot protect her forever.

    In her trance, that deep, hoarse voice lingered in her ears, like a demon speaking from the depths of a deep valley, not going away.

    She stumbled off the bed, knocking over the ss of water on the side table. She fumbled for the vinyl yer at the corner of the room and randomly put on a song. A slow melody filled the room. She did not want to have time to think and forced herself to sing along with the song, trying her best to focus entirely on the music and lyrics and away from the scene in her nightmare and memories. She tried not to remember and tried not to let her emotions run wild...

    Her consciousness was a blur. The music and the terrifying images crisscrossed in her mind out of control.

    The room door opened.

    It was Li Lei. He had rushed over after hearing her scream and the music from the vinyl yer. He found her curled into a ball in the corner.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, what¡¯s wrong?¡± He bent over and lifted her pale face.

    She mumbled the song¡¯s lyrics sporadically and looked at him with both eyes void of emotion like she was looking nkly into the distance. Her eyes reflected terror and loss, simr to that of a hurt animal.

    Li Lei frowned and felt a dull pain in the depths of his heart as he saw Xia Ling in this weak state.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you really treat me like your ve.¡± He mumbled to himself as he carried her in his arms. She was very light and her body trembled as she curled closer to his chest reactively, trying to get warmth from his body.

    Li Lei carried her to the sofa in the living room, rubbing his hand gently along her spine to calm her down.

    He had just taken a bath and was wearing a silk bathrobe. The warmth of his bare skin came into contact with her cold body like he was trying to transfer all his strength and courage to her. It was a long whileter before Xia Ling felt the terrifying scenes from the nightmare fade away and her consciousness return. She found herself in a suggestive position hugging close to his chest. The steady beat of his heart ringing in her ear had the amazing ability to calm her down, and she felt a peacee over her.

    ¡°Did you have a bad dream?¡± He asked gently.

    She nodded, then shook her head, looking at him guardedly.

    He saw her cautious expression and found it funny. ¡°You had a nightmare and are trying not to feeling ashamed. Really?¡± Seeing that she was still very defensive and her spine had tensed up again, he shook his head and released her.

    Xia Ling watched in confusion as he got up to leave. A short whileter, he came back with a nket and draped it over her body. The soft touch of the nket on her skin wasfortable and the tension in her back started to rx. She let out a long sigh.

    Li Lei left again.

    The light in the kitchen lit up and there was the sound of the opening and closing of the fridge, followed by the stove being turned on.

    He walked back carrying a ss of warm milk. Handing it to her, he said, ¡°Drink this, it will make you feel better.¡±

    She blinked in surprise at his consideration, slightly overwhelmed by his care. Giving away a few luxury items to a girl was easy, but personally warming a ss of milk on the stove was rare for a big boss like him.

    However, she did not like drinking milk. She shook her head and feebly said, ¡°I¡¯m not drinking it.¡±

    He raised his brows and asked, ¡°You don¡¯t want it?¡±

    He had just finished his question when the leopard walked out from the shadow of the corner of the living room. His fur was majestically covered with spots that looked like roses, and his steps werezy but elegant. Strutting like a king who was walking before his people, he came beside the sofa.

    Xia Ling felt fear consume her. The leopard was so close that she felt she could hear his beastly breathing.

    ¡°Er Mao, this is not for you.¡± Li Lei casually rubbed the top of Er Mao¡¯s head.

    The leopard stared at the milk in his hand and gave a soft whine, sounding a little pitiful.

    Li Lei stuffed the ss of milk in Xia Ling¡¯s hands, saying, ¡°Drink this up, I¡¯ll go prepare one for Er Mao. If you don¡¯t drink it...¡± He gave a smile, showing his white teeth. ¡°... then feed it to Er Mao yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the milk in her hands and then over at Er Mao. She weakly said, ¡°I¡¯ll drink it.¡±

    Li Lei smiled in satisfaction. Calling Er Mao over, he left the room.

    The light in the kitchen lit up again. As Xia Ling drank the milk in small sips, she heard Li Lei saying as he fed Er Mao, ¡°There there, Er Mao. You¡¯re already 7 years old but is still whining away. I just stole a little of your milk, that¡¯s all...¡±

    What, stole?

    Xia Ling stared at the milk in her hands in shock.

    After a while, Li Lei came back to her side alone. Seeing that she had finished the milk, he looked happy. As such, he generously consoled her, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. Er Mao won¡¯t stay in the living room after finishing his supper. He has his own room.¡±

    But...

    Xia Ling carefully asked, ¡°This milk. You stole it?¡±

    Li Lei gave a start andughed. ¡°Well, you could say so.¡± He said. ¡°I don¡¯t drink this at all, so all the milk in the house is prepared exclusively for Er Mao.¡±

    Xia Ling was momentarily speechless. This milk had a special taste to it, and if she was not mistaken, it was an expensive imported brand. In her past life, her sister, Xia Yu, had drunk this for a period of time when she was really ill. This milk had to be pre-ordered and had limited stock. Every year people would be fighting to make sure they get within the quota... There were so many that were fighting for this milk that they could not buy, and he was feeding it to his pet?!

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± He asked her.

    ¡°... You¡¯re rich and willful.¡± She said.

    Heughed again, clearly amused, and could not resist teasing her. ¡°If you follow me, you can also be rich and willful.¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes at him, visibly upset, and said, ¡°Nobody can force me to do something that I am unwilling to do.¡±

    ¡°Hey beauty, don¡¯t be so nervous.¡± Li Lei teased again as he continuedughing. ¡°Since when did I say that I was going to force you? Am I such a pervert to you? I will be patient... eventually, you will agree willingly.¡± He had always been a patient hunter, especially in front of a prey that he liked very much, he did not mind ying games with her.

    Xia Ling was suspicious of how much to believe his words. She was not the naive person she was in her past life. She knew that in front of power and status, all promises were useless.

    ¡°However,¡± He waved his finger at her. ¡°I have to warn you. You¡¯ve rejected me once, and I¡¯ve saved your life once. You owe me twice now. I won¡¯t do things a third time. Next time you need help in the face of trouble, I won¡¯t be helping you unconditionally.¡±

    She understood his hidden meaning. If she wanted help next time, she would need to give herself to him in return.

    ¡°There will not be such a day.¡± She responded coldly.

    Heughed out loud. Staring at this weak but proud girl in front of him, he said, ¡°Is that so? Let us wait and see.¡±

 Chapter 41 - Pei Zihengs New Tricks

    <h4>Chapter 41: Pei Ziheng¡¯s New Tricks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The conversation was not going in a direction that Xia Ling enjoyed. She started to get angry and did not want to be in the same room with Li Lei.

    She stiffly wished him a good night and returned to the guest room and got on the bed to continue sleeping. Perhaps because she had a ss of warm milk, she felt lethargy hit her pretty quickly and before she knew it, her vision got blurry and she fell asleep.

    She did not have another nightmare.

    The next day when she opened her eyes, it was already bright outside and sunlight was shining into the room through thece curtain, filling the room with warmth and peacefulness. She had not slept so peacefully in a long time. She got off the bed to wash up, changed into one of the expensive new dresses,bed her messy long hair and walked out of the guest room. There was no one in the other bedroom, though she heard soundsing from the kitchen.

    She walked over to have a look and saw the general manager of the training camp, Tan Ying, d in an apron and busily cooking in front of the stove.

    ¡°Boss had to go out for a sudden business.¡± Tan Ying was not surprised to see her. ¡°He instructed me toe to fetch you and prepare your breakfast.¡± He did not ask why she was in Li Lei¡¯s apartment. It seemed that Li Lei had already exined the situation to him.

    Xia Ling was stunned to see Tan Ying holding a frying pan and frying an egg with ease.

    ¡°Do all of you at Skyart Entertainment... enjoy cooking as a hobby?¡± She asked with a newfound respect for Tan Ying.

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®all of you at Skyart Entertainment¡¯?¡± Tan Ying rolled his eyes at her in irritation. ¡°You are also from Skyart Entertainment.¡± Following that, a bitter look came over his face as he continued, ¡°It¡¯s not that all of us at Skyart Entertainment enjoy cooking as a hobby. It¡¯s just that after spending so much time with a crazy boss, you will be forced to have such a hobby.¡± He threw the fried egg onto a te with agitation.

    Xia Ling looked at the perfectly fried egg with a golden yellow yolk on the clean white porcin te. She recalled the scene of Li Lei forcing her to cook and gave a shudder. She made up her mind to stay as far away from that crazy monster in the future.

    ¡°Have you washed your face and brushed your teeth yet?¡± asked Tan Ying. ¡°Your breakfast is getting cold.¡±

    ¡°Yup, I did.¡± Xia Ling responded and stepped forward to help Tan Ying prepare the fresh fruit juice and put the sushi that Tan Ying had made onto a te. ¡°Mr. Tan, since you don¡¯t like making breakfast, why didn¡¯t we just eat out?¡±

    Hearing this, Tan Ying¡¯s expression became even more bitter. He said, ¡°That crazy boss said that these are fresh ingredients sent over from the mountain vi. We need to finish it as soon as possible so that it won¡¯t go to waste.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Well alright, at least the one being forced to make breakfast was not her. She sat down in a good mood and tucked in.

    After breakfast, Tan Ying cleaned up the kitchen and Xia Ling returned to the guest room to pack her bags. After which, both of them left to return to the training camp.

    There were many new security officers at the training camp.

    Tan Ying looked over at her and said, ¡°Ye Xingling, Boss asked me to tell you that as long as you are in Skyart Entertainment¡¯s territory, nobody will be able to kidnap you by force. However, that is all that he will do.¡±

    She understood what he meant.

    This meant that Li Lei would not interfere in the affairs between Pei Ziheng and her. The heightened security at the training camp was not to help her but was simply him taking responsibility as the boss.

    She nodded and said, ¡°Mr. Tan, I understand.¡±

    Tan Ying nced at her. ¡°I heard about your problem from Boss. I am surprised that Chairman Pei from Imperial Entertainment is interested in you.¡± He did not care that these words might be hurtful and continued in a straightforward manner. ¡°For someone like you, submitting yourself to him might be a good move. Yet you chose to resist even though the one that will lose out is yourself.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to persuade me?¡± She stared back at Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying replied with nonchnce, ¡°I was just giving you a warning. Pei Ziheng isn¡¯t someone that will easily give up.¡±

    He said his piece, left her in front of the entrance of the dorms and left.

    Without Tan Ying having to remind her, Xia Ling waspletely aware of how scary Pei Ziheng could be.

    In the following days, Xia Ling stayed inside the training camp obediently, not taking a step out of the main gate. She simply practiced her singing and dancing alone. asionally, she would speak to Wei Shaoyin over the phone and discuss her recent ideas for her music.

    Her life appeared to be peaceful.

    However, deep down she was constantly nervous, wondering what Pei Ziheng would do next. At night, she would not be able to sleep well, having the same recurring nightmare. The chaotic memories of the past were haunting her, but she could tell no one given the gravity of the secret she harbored... Eventually, she could only keep it to herself and let it torture her. She would wake in fright every night and curl up shivering till the morning.

    The vacation period came to an end and the other trainees came back to the camp one after another. Xia Ling felt safer with more people around.

    However, she was called to Tan Ying¡¯s office not too longter.

    She pushed open his office door only to see a person sitting on the sofa opposite Tan Ying. He was dressed in a deep grey suit with a diagonally striped tie, a crocodile leather briefcase by his side that seemed to emit a chilling feel through its retro-styled grains.

    He was Chu Chen.

    She felt less terrified now that he was in front of her.

    What was toe was finally here.

    Xia Ling looked at Chu Chen, her face void of expression, and said, ¡°What is it? What does your boss want?¡±

    Chu Chen smiled as he looked at her, replying, ¡°Ye Xingling, Imperial Entertainment believes that you have great potential and would like to invite you to join ourpany.¡±

    She felt her heart fall with a thud. She had thought of many possibilities of what Pei Ziheng would do ¡ª threats, mary gifts ¡ª but there were only so many methods and she had been confident that she was not afraid of any of them. She did not expect that they would do something as drastic as poaching her over to Imperial Entertainment to deal slowly with her.

    She looked over at Tan Ying with urgency. ¡°Mr. Tan?¡±

    ¡°Imperial Entertainment has given me a very good offer,¡± said Tan Ying. ¡°I have no reason to reject the offer.¡±

    ¡°But you know exactly why they want me over there!¡± Xia Ling burst out in anger. She pointed at Chu Chen and said, ¡°He isn¡¯t in charge of the training camp at Imperial Entertainment. What right does he have to talk to you about this?!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Chu Chen interrupted her rampage at Tan Ying, still maintaining his smile. ¡°My boss has already given me the liberty to deal with anything with regards to you.¡±

    His fearless look made her lose her cool, the new and old grudges that she had against him came flooding into her mind. She turned to look at him and said in a sarcastic tone, ¡°Chu Chen, it looks like you are doing well after Xia Ling¡¯s death! It was such a waste for you to have been her manager. With your abilities, you should be helping the big boss with all of his dirty jobs!¡±

    Chu Chen¡¯s expression changed to that of anger as he heard her insults. Yet, he still maintained hisposure and did not want to lower his status to engage in a verbal battle with a small fry like her. Chu Chen looked at Tan Ying, his face dark, and said, ¡°Mr. Tan, I think you should control your trainee.¡±

    ¡°She will soon be your trainee.¡± Tan Yingughed and then said to Xia Ling, ¡°Ye Xingling, my only responsibility is to think for Skyart Entertainment. I have no interest in your personal matters ¡ª those are not within my scope of responsibility.¡±

    He used a formal tone as he spoke.

    Xia Ling felt her throat grow tight. She knew he was right, she had behaved out of ce.

    She tried her best to calm down andpose herself. She said, ¡°So, Mr. Tan, has the transfer already been decided?¡±

    ¡°Going by our due process, you have three days to consider the offer,¡± said Tan Ying. ¡°But I have to remind you, regardless of what your views are, the final decision will still be taken by the management of the training camp.¡±

    In other words, it had already been decided. He was not having a discussion with her, he was simply informing her of the decision.

    Xia Ling did not say any more as she turned around and left the office.

 Chapter 42 - I Call the Shots in the Training Camp

    <h4>Chapter 42: I Call the Shots in the Training Camp</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Along the corridor, the wind of early spring sent a chill into her bones.

    The ss had just ended and as Xia Ling walked slowly by herself on the corridor, small cliques of trainees walked by her in happy conversation, looking rxed and happy. No one even spared her a nce.

    She felt helpless.

    She needed someone to help her resolve the imminent danger, but that person could not be Li Lei. She would definitely not use her body in exchange for his help. She stopped in her tracks and leaned against the outside wall of the teaching building. Closing her eyes, she ran through all the people she knew in her mind. Finally, she thought of someone that she could ask for help.

    She dug around in her sling bag and took out her mobile phone. Ringing Wei Shaoyin, she said after he had picked up, ¡°Mr. Wei, do you have some time now? I need... your help.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin agreed to meet her at a cafe near the training camp.

    The music in the cafe was soft and melodious. He wore a white shirt with silver stripes buttoned all the way to the cor, perfectly clean and neat. She sat across him and asked for a ss of warm water, which she held in her hands. She told him about what had happened as she organized the thoughts in her head. She summarised the main points: Imperial Entertainment wanted her to transfer over to them, and Tan Ying had agreed but she did not want to.

    With regard to Pei Ziheng¡¯s interest in her, she did not want to mention it.

    After Wei Shaoyin had heard all that she had to say, he remained silent for a moment before taking out his mobile phone and calling Tan Ying.

    Wei Shaoyin switched on the speakerphone and said, ¡°Are you mad? You want to sell Xiao Ling off?!¡±

    On the opposite end of the line, Tan Ying kept silent for a moment, before saying, ¡°Ah Wei, are you talking about Ye Xingling¡¯s transfer? This littledy is quite the troublemaker. Did she tell you about that?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was getting slightly impatient. ¡°Don¡¯t change the topic, Tan Ying. You asked for my opinion during the end-of-year examinations and I told you then that Xiao Ling was a gem that we needed to train carefully. With time, she¡¯s going to make it big. That was just a while back and now you want to sell her to Imperial Entertainment?!¡±

    ¡°Imperial Entertainment gave me a really good offer.¡± Tan Ying was unfazed. ¡°They are giving us two trainees that they have prepared for debut ¡ª the best trainees Imperial Entertainment had in the recent five years ¡ª in exchange for one Ye Xingling. Other than that, they are also paying us a handsome fee for the transfer, and will give us a slot next year for all the key media channels.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin gave a start. ¡°Such a good offer?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, I will make sure to negotiate for a good offer when I¡¯m selling someone,¡± said Tan Ying.

    Wei Shaoyin regained his senses, and then responded in anger, ¡°Are you an idiot? If they are willing to give us such an offer, doesn¡¯t it speak to Xiao Ling¡¯s immense potential? Even Imperial Entertainment can see that and havee to snatch her away from us. How can you simply let her go?!¡±

    Tan Ying also got upset. ¡°You are the idiot! I¡¯ve been selling people for so many years now, don¡¯t you think I can recognize talent?! You dare question my professional abilities, Wei Shaoyin?!! Do you know why Imperial Entertainment is giving us such a good offer?! Huh?! What rubbish about seeing potential in her! Pei Ziheng just wants her for himself!¡±

    If not for the conversation being over the phone, Xia Ling could almost imagine him spluttering all over Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face.

    Clearly, Wei Shaoyin could sense the extent of his anger as well, and sat back a little with a look of disdain.

    He was silent for a moment before looking up at Xia Ling in surprise.

    After which, he spoke in the phone again. ¡°What did you say? Pei Ziheng is interested in Xiao Ling?!¡±

    ¡°I was also taken by surprise.¡± After his rant, Tan Ying was clearly calmer than before. ¡°Pei Ziheng never used to have such yboy tendencies, but in recent months, I¡¯ve heard that he has been ¡®collecting¡¯ quite a few. Who knows what has gotten into him.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down and her hand gripped the ss a little harder.

    There was a dull ache in her heart. Pei Ziheng... ¡°collected¡± quite a few people?

    She thought that he only wanted Ye Xingling, so even though she was terrified, it was not to the point of feelingpletely heartbroken and in despair. Yet, hearing this information, she felt as if someone had plunged a knife into her heart, suffocating her in pain and blood flowing freely. In her subconscious, a voice was ridiculing her ¡ª

    <i>Who did you think you were? Did you think you were the one and only?</i>

    <i>Give up, you were never the one and only in his eyes. In your past life, there was Wang Jingwan. In this life, there are tons of little unknown characters around him. You fought so hard to run away from his clutches, but to him, you were just one of his many games!</i>

    Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the ss so hard that her hands were shaking uncontrobly, ripples forming on the surface of the water in the ss.

    Wei Shaoyin was still talking to Tan Ying. ¡°Since you know that Pei Ziheng is using this money to buy a lover and not a trainee, how can you make Xiao Ling go against your conscience? Tan Ying, I don¡¯t agree with this!¡±

    Tan Ying coldly answered, ¡°Ah Wei, you call the shots when ites to music. I call the shots when ites to the training camp.¡±

    Without warning, Wei Shaoyin mmed his palm on the table in the cafe as Tan Ying finished his sentence, the sound deafening. Xia Ling gave a jump in shock, the ss in her hands, which she was not holding steadily, fell to the floor and shattered.

    Wei Shaoyin did not react to this and kept staring at his mobile phone on the table.

    On the other end of the line, Tan Ying was quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, Ah Wei.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin pulled his lips tightly together and did not speak, his expression dark.

    Tan Ying sighed and slowly said, ¡°I know Ye Xingling has potential. I was indeed wrong about her in the past, but her performance in the recent half year clearly meets the mark to make a debut. In fact, she¡¯s still improving and bing more outstanding with each examination.¡± He continued, ¡°Ah Wei, I believe you when you say that she will make it big.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin expression lifted a little, but he still remained silent.

    Tan Ying kept talking. ¡°But how popr can she be? With the current situation, she would make it to the A-list at the very best. Do you actually think she can be a diva and a superstar?¡±

    ¡°The stars have to be indeed aligned for one to reach the diva and superstar status.¡± Wei Shaoyin finally said.

    Tan Ying gave augh. ¡°Yup, you are more aware as to how difficult that is. So, if we assume that Ye Xingling bes an A-list singer in the future, and the two that Imperial Entertainment gives us in exchange be A-listers as well, then Skyart Entertainment only stands to gain in this transaction.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice became cold again. ¡°You can¡¯t count it like that...¡±

    Tan Ying interrupted him. ¡°I know what you are going to say. You¡¯re going to say that this is unfair to Ye Xingling. However, since Pei Ziheng has his eyes on her, she doesn¡¯t have much value to Skyart Entertainment anymore.

    ¡°You know that Pei Ziheng is notorious for being domineering. Those who follow his rules survive, those who don¡¯t die. If he can¡¯t get Ye Xingling, he will have all sorts of ways to make sure that Ye Xingling¡¯s life will be miserable. This littledy will have a very tough road ahead of her. There¡¯s no reason for Skyart Entertainment to offend Imperial Entertainment just because of her. And I¡¯m not saying that Skyart Entertainment cannot afford to, but that it¡¯s just not worth it and unnecessary. Do you understand, Ah Wei?

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we give up at this juncture and get two more suitable newbies in exchange. This should be what Skyart Entertainment¡¯s management should be thinking about.

    ¡°Ah Wei, think about it.¡± Tan Ying finished with this sentence and hung up the phone.

 Chapter 43 - With a Friend Like This, What More Do You Need

    <h4>Chapter 43: With a Friend Like This, What More Do You Need</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A long silence.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face remained cold as he slowly sipped the Madheling coffee in his hand. When he had mmed his hand on the table in anger earlier, half the cup of coffee had sttered out onto the te and table, yet he did not realize this even though he would usually obsess over it.

    Xia Ling did not speak as well, her heart sinking slowly.

    Tan Ying¡¯s words, though cruel, were all in the interests of thepany and she had no way of refuting them. Wei Shaoyin was also in the top management of thepany and was a diligent employee. She did not think that their rtionship was close to the point that he would be willing to damage thepany¡¯s interest to help her. What¡¯s more, Tan Ying had said that Wei Shaoyin did not have authority over matters in the training camp.

    As all these thoughts ran through her mind, she heard Wei Shaoyin speak.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He looked at her. ¡°are you unwilling to go to Imperial Entertainment because Pei Ziheng wants you for himself?¡±

    She affirmed dejectedly.

    ¡°How determined are you?¡±

    ¡°Even if I were to die, I will not be his ything.¡± She lowered her eyes, staring into the criss-crossed pattern on the table top.

    Wei Shaoyin fell silent again, drinking his coffee one mouthful after another.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and said, ¡°Mr. Wei, my apologies for putting you in a difficult position. With regards to this situation...¡±

    ¡°How much do you still owe thepany?¡± Wei Shaoyin interrupted.

    She gave a start.

    ¡°Also, take a closer look at your trainee contract and tell me what it would cost you to breach it.¡± Wei Shaoyin set down the cup of coffee as he made the decision. ¡°Give me the total amount. I¡¯ll pay it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him in disbelief. Was Wei Shaoyin offering to help her be free of Skyart Entertainment?

    She felt tears start to well. A breach of contract for a trainee would usuallye with an immense fee. Even if Wei Shaoyin was rich, he was not a big boss like Pei Ziheng or Li Lei. Yet, he was willing to make that expense on her behalf. She was extremely touched.

    ¡°Why would you help me?¡± She asked softly.

    ¡°In this world, there aren¡¯t many that I respect. You happen to be one of them.¡± Wei Shaoyin said. His usual arrogant expression was reced by a slightly apologetic one as he continued, ¡°But Tan Ying is right, I need to consider Skyart Entertainment¡¯s interest. It isn¡¯t worth it to offend Imperial Entertainment over something like this. As such, I can only help you leave Skyart Entertainment in my personal means.¡±

    ¡°But you have to think through this thoroughly, Xiao Ling. Once you go through with this, your path in the entertainment circle will be extremely difficult. You will have breached a contract and be marked by Imperial Entertainment. Nopany will be willing to take you in. It is very likely that you will have to leave the entertainment circle altogether.¡±

    ¡°Ah Wei, I don¡¯t care about that.¡± She looked at him and replied in all seriousness.

    She was finally willing to call him ¡°Ah Wei.¡± In this life, Xia Ling had said that she did not need any friends. However, his help in this time of need made her let down her guard.

    She lifted her head to meet his gaze. ¡°Ah Wei, I don¡¯t care about whether I can stay in the entertainment circle. However, I don¡¯t want to rely on your finances and run away. Even if I were to leave, I will leave in an honorable manner and not like this.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin studied her closely andughed. ¡°This arrogance of yours will kill you one day.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already killed me once.¡± She responded lightly.

    He took it as a joke and started to drum his long, thin fingers on the table top. This was a habit he had when thinking. After a long while, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve thought it through. This really seems like the only way to go. If you want to be rid of Pei Ziheng, this is the only way, and you will risk having to leave the entertainment circle entirely.¡±

    She remained silent.

    Actually, she had thought of another idea, but she did not know if it would be too shocking.

    At this moment, however, she did not have time to think too much into it.

    ¡°Tan Ying decided to send me away mainly because I don¡¯t bring enough value to thepany and am not worth the risk to keep.¡± Xia Ling deliberated out loud and said to Wei Shaoyin, ¡°What if I have greater value than that? Value that exceeds the two trainees from Imperial Entertainmentbined?¡±

    ¡°If that were the case, Skyart Entertainment would choose to keep you.¡± Wei Shaoyin responded without hesitating. However, he frowned at her and continued. ¡°Those two trainees already have the potential to be A-listers. If you want to have greater value than them put together, you have to be...¡±

    ¡°I will prove to thepany that I have the potential to be a diva.¡±

    At some high-ss archery range.

    Li Lei pulled open a stiff, wooden bow, then loaded it and released it, the shot flying straight to the center of the target. Several good-looking men and women cheered around him, saying, ¡°Young Master Li is indeed Young Master Li. It¡¯s amazing how you can always hit the mark.¡±

    Li Lei gave augh and epted the towel that one of thedies passed to him. He heard his phone ring and walked a few steps to pick it up.

    ¡°Hello, Tan Ying?¡± His voice was deep and pleasant. ¡°What? You said that Ye Xingling wants to prove to thepany that she has the potential to be a diva?¡±

    On the other end of the line, Tan Ying was apologizing to Li Lei. ¡°Sorry Boss, I had wanted to push her to the edge so that she would turn to you for help. I didn¡¯t think she would throw a spanner into the mix like that...¡± Since the day that Tan Ying was asked to fetch Ye Xingling from Li Lei¡¯s apartment, Li Lei had told him to report to him every news about her.

    When Chu Chen came with the offer to buy Ye Xingling, Tan Ying had reported it to Li Lei immediately. Li Lei was the one who had asked him to deal with it ording to thepany policies to scare Ye Xingling so that she would reach a point of helplessness and turn to Li Lei for help...

    Yet, Tan Ying did not know that things would not pan out as they had expected.

    ¡°What should I do, Boss?¡± Tan Ying asked nervously. ¡°Should I just say that she¡¯s mediocre and kicking up a fuss out of nothing? It is extremely difficult for her to prove that she has the potential of a diva. If I simply reject her request, she will still have to go to you for help...¡±

    Li Lei gave a lightugh and said, ¡°You¡¯re right, it is extremely difficult for her to prove that she has the potential of a diva.¡± He tilted his head slightly as he continued speaking to the phone. The bright winter afternoon sunlight made his deep-set eyes sparkle even more. He said, ¡°I am very much curious about where she is getting this confidence from, to dare to even suggest that she is going to prove to us that she has such a potential?... Tan Ying, just follow the protocol, don¡¯t rock the boat. I¡¯m really interested to see what she is going to do...¡±

    In the Skyart Entertainment office.

    Tan Ying hung up the phone and thought for a moment. He pressed the inte on his table and said to his secretary, ¡°Prepare the venue and organize an open judgment day.¡±

    The judgment day would be conducted in three days time in the small auditorium at the training camp. Tan Ying dered that if Xia Ling were able to win over the judges with her singing, then she would be allowed to stay at Skyart Entertainment. If she failed, she would have to go to Imperial Entertainment.

    The training camp was bustling with excitement and anticipation as the news spread.

    Wei Shaoyin was very worried and scolded Xia Ling, saying she was mad. How often would a diva be discovered, where did she get her confidence?

    Xia Ling knew that he was worried for her. She simply smiled and told him to watch. For others, this was a difficult task. But for her, it was simple ¡ª she had once reached the diva status and stood at the pinnacle of the entertainment circle, proving that she had what it took and knew what she needed to do to get there. Today, all she needed to do was to walk that same path again.

    Wei Shaoyin still felt it was incredulous.

    ¡°But,¡± he said arrogantly. ¡°you were the one who made this im. If you fail, the embarrassment is yours alone.¡± Yet, even after saying this, he still helped to point out the areas in her voice that she needed to watch out for.

    Xia Ling was very touched. With a friend like this, what more did she need?

 Chapter 44 - The Judgment Day of a Diva

    <h4>Chapter 44: The Judgment Day of a Diva</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    On the judgment day.

    Many trainees were gathered at the auditorium, wanting to catch a glimpse of the action.

    Tan Ying did not stop them, but rather canceled lessons for the morning to amodate the curious trainees. In his words: ¡°Ye Xingling, did you think that being a diva is easy? Hard work is not enough. You need to have talent, musicality, stage presence, the ability to control the crowd, the ability to deliver under pressure, X-factor, charm... you have to have all of these. In live performances, all your weaknesses will be revealed, but of course, so will your strengths. Show me the extent of your potential.¡±

    She did not raise any objections. Before she left her dorms, she looked at herself in the mirror.

    The girl in the mirror was wearing a white dancewear, her long hair flowing down, and her eyes were a light brown color. She was pretty, but in a ce like the training camp where there were many beautiful girls, she did not have anything that would make her stand out. She was already 17, but her bone structure was skinny. In the soft morning sunlight, she was like a quiet white bird.

    She reached out her hand toy a finger on the mirror and the girl in the mirror did the same.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± She said to herself in the mirror. ¡°you¡¯ll have to walk the future path on your own now.¡±

    A cold sensation traveled through her body from the tip of her finger.

    She let her hand drop and turned to head out.

    There were many people in the auditorium when she arrived. Groups were huddled in the corridor and the main hall, waiting for the activities to start. Xia Ling quickly scanned the room as she walked in and realized that about half the trainees were present.

    They were pointing and discussing her all around ¡ª

    ¡°She¡¯s Ye Xingling? The one that refused to go to Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s her deal. I heard that Imperial Entertainment sees a lot of potential in her, but she just doesn¡¯t want to take up their offer.¡±

    ¡°Haha, is it because she knows she doesn¡¯t have what it takes and is afraid of embarrassing herself at Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? She even made the crazy deration here that she has diva potential. Is she mental? Does she think that there are divas just walking down the street? Hahaha...¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Just look at her now. Diva? If she can be a diva, I¡¯ll be a God!¡±

    Following which, all of them doubled over withughter.

    Xia Ling remained calm and poised in the face of the jeers, her thin frame standing elegantly tall. She walked steadily towards the front. The trainees were giving her all sorts of looks and were saying all sorts of things as they stood staring on the two sides of the corridor, but gradually some started to feel her formidable presence ¡ª This girl in the midst of all the chaos and controversy, why did she have the air and arrogance of a diva?

    As she walked by, the jeers became fewer and softer.

    Xia Ling kept walking forward and saw a man in a neatly pressed suit and holding a crocodile-skin bag standing in front facing her. It was Chu Chen.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± Chu Chen spoke first, his tone full of ridicule. ¡°you really think you can be a diva? Dream on! Why are you putting up such a valiant struggle? You can still leave quietly with me. If you were to go on stage, you¡¯ll just lose face. Not only will it not change the oue, but you will also have to suffer the jeers of all those present here. Why bother going through with this?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression became cold as she said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    The people around gasped in shock ¡ª

    Did she know who she was talking to? That was Chu Chen! The renowned top manager from Imperial Entertainment! The legendary diva Xia Ling¡¯s former exclusive manager! The man who was the most trusted and highly regarded aide of Pei Ziheng!

    From what was heard, even Big Boss Pei Ziheng did not speak so harshly to Chu Chen. Only the arrogant and wilful Xia Ling, who had been spoiled rotten by Pei Ziheng would dare speak harshly to Chu Chen when she was unhappy.

    Who did Ye Xingling think she was? Xia Ling? How did she dare speak to Chu Chen in that way!

    Yet, no one could have imagined Ye Xingling that standing before them, looking fine at the very best, would be that extraordinary legendary diva Xia Ling underneath. She had never bothered giving face to Chu Chen before, what more now, having gone through the jarring experiences of the past. She knew Chu Chen¡¯s true colors, and he had offended her deeply in the past.

    Seeing Chu Chen still standing in the same spot, she repeated, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Chu Chen did not expect her to berate him in this way and was visibly stunned, his expression unreadable. However, he soon turned the anger into augh, saying, ¡°Good... very good! You have guts, Ye Xingling. You¡¯re just a small trainee and you dare be this arrogant and ignorant?! When things get tough don¡¯te crying to me for help...¡±

    His voice slowly became increasingly sinister.

    Xia Ling was not interested in listening to his nonsense. Making her way around him, she walked to the judging auditorium.

    In the judging auditorium, it was packed full with people. Seeing Xia Ling enter, everyone¡¯s eyes turned toward her. Xia Ling breathed slowly as she adjusted her steps. This was a habit of hers every time she was about to go on stage in her past life. She would empty her mind with each long, slow breath, not looking, listening or thinking about anything else, removing every distraction, such that her mental state was in the best condition.

    She walked step by step to the front of the stage.

    ¡°Inviting Miss Ye on stage.¡± The sweet voice of the emcee rang out.

    Xia Ling walked confidently upstage using the narrow stage steps.

    The emcee stepped offstage and the lights on the stage went dark.

    Suddenly, spotlights from all directions trained in on her, making it difficult for her to keep her eyes open. This was a familiar feeling that she had not experienced in a long while. The brightness and heat were as if it could wipe out anything in its way. Being in the middle of that spotlight with darkness all around her, for a moment, it felt like she owned the universe.

    Here, she was the universe.

    She heard a voiceing from her right. ¡°Ye Xingling, are you ready?¡±

    She turned her head to look in that direction, a dreamy light following her gaze. It was the judging panel which was made up of five people ¡ª Tan Ying, Wei Shaoyin, and three other top management in Skyart Entertainment and, at the same time, highly regarded music experts in the field.

    The person that had spoken was Tan Ying.

    Xia Ling nodded, picked up the microphone and said, ¡°I can start whenever.¡±

    Tan Ying verified with her again. ¡°Are you still determined to sing acape without any background music?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She said.

    The audience erupted with various reactions. Some were apuding her, others were jeering.

    Everyone was aware that singing acape without background music was way harder than singing with background music, especially for a live show. Even singers that were veterans in the industry would hesitate before doing something that crazy. However, singing acape was the most telling of a singer¡¯s abilities, and this was the exact reason that Xia Ling had chosen to sing acape. It was either she did not sing altogether, or she would make sure everyone would have nothing to say about her singing.

    ¡°Madness.¡± Wei Shaoyin swore softly.

    She gave him a smile. He lifted his ss at her with anxiety, but more so encouragement, written in his eyes.

    ¡°As you wish.¡± Tan Ying¡¯s voice rang out again. ¡°Ye Xingling, you can begin.¡±

    The lights on the judging panel dimmed and she was left alone in the world again.

    This time was different from the trainee examinations, she did not need to hold back and needed to bepletely focused. She remained quiet, imagining herself floating in endless darkness, in a virtual world, in eternal loneliness...

    She released the first line of the song slowly from her mouth. <i>¡°Under the starry sky, on the night ocean.¡±</i>

    There was immediatemotion from the audience, which spread like waves¡ª

    ¡°She¡¯s singing ¡®Sea Demon¡¯!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Xia Ling¡¯s song ¡®Sea Demon¡¯!¡±

 Chapter 45 - Sea Demon

    <h4>Chapter 45: Sea Demon</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Has she lost her mind? She chose an incredibly challenging song, and she wants to do it acape?!¡±

    Exmations were heard all around, all expressing their shock and surprise as if they had seen a ghost. Yet, Xia Ling was calm and collected as she yed with the melody of the song, moving it slowly in crescendo and then letting it dissipate once it hit the climax... She was singing her heart out, with no distractions, no anxieties, creating something that was one of a kind, untouched and perfect.

    The second line followed: <i>¡°A silver-haired sea demon, singing alone.¡±</i>

    There was silence as the audience watched her entranced.

    She spread out her arms and the tips of her toes drew a graceful arc on the ground as she began to dance along to her singing. She kept on singing smoothly, line after line,pletely in control of the ever-changing melody ringing out beautifully in this dark space.

    This was a song with a story.

    On the endless night ocean, a group of pirates met a silver-haired sea demon.

    They were bewitched by its beauty, surrounding it with 13 pirate ships and attempting to capture it. However, it charmed them with its singing, causing them to be lost in a world of hallucinations. They were sitting ducks and, eventually, killed off by the sea demon one by one.

    This was a game of predator and prey.

    The most exciting part was the final battle between the sea demon and the pirate king.

    The chivalrous pirate king fought against the sea demon¡¯s voice with all of his determination. At that moment when he regained his consciousness momentarily, he found a bloodbath all around him. The silver-haired sea demon holding a dagger encrusted with precious stones was plunging it into the neck of another pirate nearby. Under the light of the shining stars, her beauty was astonishing, with a trail of blood by her lips and the bodies of the murdered pirates behind her.

    The pirate king pulled out his long sword and struggled as he attacked the sea demon.

    It was dragging its long, scaly tail on the deck and did not have time to escape. Seeing the pirate king walking closer and closer, its voice became more intense and dreamy, more seductive and charming.

    It was a battle of life and death.

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice became more and more passionate, with softness and temptation mixed in. The range of the melody line was big with waves after waves of emotion as if trying to make the audience¡¯s heart jump out of their chests. She remembered that year that she had sung this song, she had practiced the climax until she became hoarse. Pei Ziheng had asked why she was trying so hard, feeling bad for her. Yet, when he heard her sing the same part in the practice room, he was speechless for a while.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said after a long bout of silence. ¡°in the world of music, you are unrivaled.¡±

    She closed her eyes and ced herself within the waves of emotions. She could even feel the bloodiness of the imagery in her very breath.

    The sword of the pirate king drew nearer and nearer.

    The sea demon had nowhere else to go. If she could not beat her opponent using her voice, what awaited her would be death. It was a battle for her life, a battle for her freedom, and she did not shy away from it. This was a battle that had no turning back...

    <i>¡°Even if her voice grows hoarse and her blood runs dry.¡±</i>

    <i>¡°Even if the sea dries up and the stars grow dim.¡±</i>

    <i>¡°The silver-haired sea demon did not belong to anyone, as she was lost in her delusion and eventually died.¡±</i>

    She opened her eyes as she finished the final note of the song.

    There was silence from the audience for a long time. After a while, someone started pping, and what began as a few sporadic ps became rapturous apuse. The apuse became louder and louder as if it were about to blow through the roof.

    ¡°Great job, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°That was amazing! Indeed the standard of a Diva!¡±

    ¡°How was that possible?! There was actually someone that could sing ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ to such a level other than Xia Ling. Let me go bang my head against a wall!¡±

    The soft lights in the small auditorium came on gradually. She scanned the audience and saw the trainees that had been intending to see her make a joke of herself were nowpletely enthralled, shouting something at her with their hands cupped in front of their mouths like a loudhailer. There were others that were so excited that they tried to run on stage to ask for her autograph but were stopped by the coach in charge of maintaining order in the auditorium.

    Such a bunch of innocent kids.

    They had been in such disdain before, but after seeing the massive gap in standard between themselves and her, their attitudes changed 180 degrees and they became fanatical.

    However, she was used to the most fanatical scenes.

    Xia Ling turned her gaze to the judging panel.

    Wei Shaoyin gave her a thumbs up with a smile.

    The other judges exchanged their views in low voices. Not longter, they nodded to each other and stayed silent.

    Tan Ying held the microphone to give the concluding remarks. ¡°You have a great voice, Ye Xingling.¡±

    This result was within her expectations and she politely gave him a bow to express her thanks, patiently awaiting what he had to say next.

    ¡°Your voice control, dance and stage presence were all great. Every detail can be said to be perfect.¡± Tan Ying gave a smile and asked, ¡°Can you tell me how long have you been practicing this song?¡±

    She calmly replied, ¡°I really like this song. I¡¯ve started practicing since the day I first heard it.¡± She liked every song that she had sung before. She always took her music extremely seriously. Hence, she was able to respond to this question immediately when Tan Ying asked, her conscience clear.

    Tan Ying agreed. ¡°It definitely does not seem to be a day¡¯s work.¡±

    Changing the topic entirely, he asked, ¡°Your performance in the examinations held in the training camp has never been this good. Can you tell me why is that?¡±

    She lowered her eyes as she said, ¡°It¡¯s not like I was pushed to the corner before.¡±

    If not for Tan Ying, ording to Xia Ling¡¯s n she would take approximately another year to gradually, slowly reaching her standard from her previous life. That would have beenpletely understandable. However, he wanted to sell her to Imperial Entertainment now, thus she had no choice but to show them what she could do, running the risk of being regarded as a freak.

    Luckily, she had thought of a reasonable response to this question in the past two days.

    ¡°In the training camp, I was more concerned about my foundational skills, trying to make sure that I got my basics right.¡± She said, ¡°So in every examination, the Ye Xingling that you saw was one with strong foundations and standard dance moves.¡±

    Tan Ying and the other judges nodded, indicating for her to continue.

    ¡°However, this time is different. This judgment day will affect my destiny and I can¡¯t just depend on my foundational abilities to pass the test. I need to let you see the entirety of my talent, my charm and all that I can do... The extent of my potential has been disyed under the pressure of the situation. Luckily, I managed to achieve what I set out to do.¡±

    ¡°In other words, you wouldn¡¯t be able to replicate what you did today under normal circumstances.¡± Tan Ying astutely pointed out.

    Xia Ling thought for a while before giving a measured response, ¡°Although my performance in the training camp cannot bepared to what I did today, the performance today has allowed me to find that optimal point and I will be able to maintain this.¡±

    She thought for a bit and added, ¡°I wee you to give me another test in the future if you do not believe me, Mr. Tan.¡±

    Tan Yingughed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so careful. I believe you. In fact, many artistes will never be able to do what you did today in their lifetime. Although this is the only time I¡¯ve seen you perform to this standard, it is still worth the risk.¡±

    Tan Ying secretly felt a little regretful. She had passed the test with her own abilities and, thus, would not have to go to Li Lei for help. It looked like Big Boss Li would have to think of another n to win over this beautiful but thorny flower. However, he was happier than anything. How often did one manage to find a trainee with Diva potential? He could already foresee Skyart Entertainment¡¯s reputation going up one notch when Ye Xingling made her debut.

    He announced: ¡°Ye Xingling, you can stay at Skyart Entertainment and you don¡¯t have to go to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a long sigh of relief as the heavy burden in her heart lifted.

    Yet, out of nowhere, a sinister voice rang out from somewhere in the audience. ¡°You consider this Diva potential? Mr. Tan, Skyart Entertainment seems to be rather careless with their judgment.¡±

 Chapter 46 - Wei Shaoyins Counterattack

    <h4>Chapter 46: Wei Shaoyin¡¯s Counterattack</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Everyone turned towards the voice.

    In the first row of VIP seats, Chu Chen was sitting with his hands sped. ¡°I admit that Ye Xingling¡¯s version of ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ is good, just about achieving the standard that Xia Ling set in her rendition...¡± He slowly opined. ¡°But, don¡¯t you think she is simply being a copycat? The simrity with Xia Ling¡¯s rendition is just too high. You consider someone like this having diva potential?¡±

    The auditorium was silent after hearing Chu Chen¡¯s views.

    On stage, Xia Ling was furious. She treated Chu Chen well in the past said many good things about him to Pei Ziheng. However, now that she had reincarnated, why was Chu Chen constantly getting in her way, being a pest time and time again?

    She opened her mouth to say something in defense, but Wei Shaoyin had already beat her to it ¡ª

    ¡°Chu Chen, please get Feng Kun toe next time if you don¡¯t know how to appreciate good music.¡± Wei Shaoyin never minced his words and was unusually pointed in the recent few days. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you tell that Ye Xingling¡¯s version today waspletely different from Xia Ling¡¯s version?¡±

    Chu Chen gave a coldugh. ¡°Yes, she could only imitate Xia Ling to arge extent and notpletely ¡ª at many of the high notes she did differ from Xia Ling because she could not reach those notes!¡±

    The audience started to buzz with sounds of discussion. Chu Chen was right, Xia Ling¡¯s vocal range in her previous life was wide and she could easily reach many high notes. Her voice in this life was notparable to that of her previous life in terms of range. There were many parts in the song that she indeed was unable to reach.

    ¡°Hence, Ye Xingling perfectly modified many parts of the song.¡± Wei Shaoyin argued. ¡°Every part that she was unable to hit, she managed to resolve in a manner that was impable, making the song sound as if nothing was changed. She did not affect the quality of the song at all ¡ª can¡¯t you tell that this is a talent that is much more valuable than someone who is able to imitate the originalpletely?¡±

    Many in the audience started to nod at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s statement. ¡°Yes yes, if I didn¡¯t know that the original singer of this song was Xia Ling, I would think that the song was made for Ye Xingling.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin continued, ¡°What¡¯s more, Ye Xingling sang apletely different style from Xia Ling. Xia Ling was ostentatious, like a fireball in the middle of the sea. Demonic and spectacr, full of the danger of temptation.¡±

    ¡°But Ye Xingling did not sing it like that. She was more... cold.¡± He nced over at her at this point and said, ¡°Her voice was like a mist, hiding loneliness and emptiness as someone lost at sea.¡±

    ¡°For a young girl like her to sing with such emotion, I think her potential is unlimited.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin finished his short speech.

    Chu Chen looked at him in silence, his lips pressed together.

    Xia Ling knew that Chu Chen did not have anything to rebut Wei Shaoyin with. With regards to music appreciation, he was miles apart from Wei Shaoyin, and any further discussion would only embarrass him.

    He stood up, saying, ¡°We¡¯ll temporarily leave this trainee at Skyart Entertainment for now.¡±

    As hepleted his sentence, he gave Xia Ling a deep gaze. This time, she was able to read his emotions clearly. There appeared to be a tinge of nostalgia mixed with some disdain, some hatred as well as a hint of a sigh... It was hard to tell if Chu Chen was feeling joy or sorrow as the emotions wereplicated.

    Chu Chen turned around and left without saying anything to her ¡ª those at Imperial Entertainment were people of action, not words.

    His final look left Xia Ling shuddering and unable to breathe as if her heart was being gripped by a pair of freezing hands.

    She stood in her ce until Tan Ying announced the conclusion of the event and Wei Shaoyin walked over to pat her on the shoulder. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She came back to her senses.

    He passed her the items in his hands ¡ª a ss of warm water and a piece of candy to soothe her throat. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself so hard next time.¡± He said, ¡°You need to protect your voice so that it canst a lifetime.¡±

    She gave a start and then smiled at him in gratitude. ¡°Yes, I know.¡±

    He ced his index finger on his lips to indicate that she should stop talking, and then brought her back to the rest area.

    Xia Ling sat down for a while and drank some more water before she started to feel better.

    Only then did Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°It was very difficult to sing thatst segment, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Xia Ling knew that he had noticed. ¡°Sea Demon¡± was a highly challenging song, and even though she was able to modify some parts of it, it was still difficult to sing the song in its entirety. She was having trouble catching her breath at the climax of the song at the end. Although it was an inconspicuous few seconds, Wei Shaoyin was astute enough to catch it.

    She sighed in resignation.

    In her past life, she had a personal nutritionist to care for her body. She ate well and her vocals got the best protection. In this life, her vocals were mediocre and she was unable to give it the same detailed care. How could she possibly match up to the time when she was in her prime?

    That Xia Ling ¡ª the diva of the decade ¡ª would ultimately be a legend that could not be replicated.

    Wei Shaoyin saw her disappointment. ¡°No one in their right minds would try to beat Xia Ling at her vocal range. That would just be courting death. Xiao Ling, you did really well. Your technique is on par with Xia Ling¡¯s and the delivery of your emotions is more meticulous than hers. As long as you stick with what you are good at and persevere, one day you will definitely stand at the very top.¡±

    She understood what he meant. That would be the peak that belonged to Ye Xingling,pletely different from what Xia Ling created.

    She felt expectation rising in her heart despite her unhappiness, and said to herself softly, ¡°Yes... the pinnacle that belongs to Ye Xingling, what would that look like?¡±

    She drank up the water in her ss slowly, and then lifted her head, ¡°Ah Wei, thank you.¡±

    ¡°What are you thanking me for? I¡¯ll be more than thankful if you stop torturing your vocal cords.¡± Seeing that she was fine, Wei Shaoyin returned to his sarcastic self, saying, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you were this dumb to follow that idiotic Xia Yu in pushing yourself to your limits?! Are you trying to trick Tan Ying, how much do you hate him?! Are you trying to make him reject Imperial Entertainment and then cry over a spoiled Ye Xingling?!¡±

    She replied sheepishly in a small voice, ¡°But I modified many parts to suit my vocal range...¡±

    ¡°Even if you did modify the song, you are not in a good enough condition to sing such a challenging song live!¡±

    ¡°But you told Chu Chen just now that I sang it perfectly...¡±

    ¡°I was lying to him! You believed me?! Are you as dumb as he is?!¡±

    She was unable to say anything to his rant and simply kept quiet till he said his piece and turned to leave.

    After Wei Shaoyin had walked away, Xia Ling dejectedly went to have her dinner before going back to the dorms to wash up and sleep, feeling utterly exhausted.

    Wei Shaoyin was right, singing ¡°Sea Demon¡± in her current vocal and body condition was indeed a big burden. She did not feel it when she was on stage, but now that the adrenaline was not pumping, she felt drained of all her energy both mentally and physically.

    She fell into a deep sleep and did not have any nightmares ¡ª a rare urrence.

    After a long while, she was woken up by someone shaking her hard.

    ¡°Xingling, your phone is ringing.¡± It was her roommate, Lan Lan, who handed her a phone that was encased in exquisite crystals. ¡°It¡¯s been ringing for a long time now. We¡¯ve all been woken up by the ringing. Quick, pick it up.¡±

    Xia Ling did not feel like moving in her blurry state. She mumbled, ¡°Just help me to hang up...¡±

    Lan Lan stared at her as if she was looking at a ghost. ¡°Hang up?! That¡¯s a call from the Big Boss. Xingling, since when did you get to know Big Boss Li?!¡±

    Xia Ling gave a start and was instantly awake.

 Chapter 47 - Frost in a Lonely Night

    <h4>Chapter 47: Frost in a Lonely Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling took the phone from Lan Lan and looked at the screen, realizing that it was indeed Li Lei.

    When Li Lei had sent the caretaker of the mountain vi to give her this phone, he had saved his number in it beforehand. Xia Ling tried to delete the number before but it could not be deleted.

    Staring at the neverending sh of the iing call, Xia Ling reluctantly dragged herself out of the warmth of her nkets,bed her hair with her hands, pulled on a random jacket, and went to the balcony to receive the call.

    The night wind was chilly on the balcony.

    The sky was pitch dark and a dim, red star could be seen in the night sky, looking a little forlorn. It was deserted all around and the dormitory building was shrouded in shadows with all the lights off.

    She looked over at the illuminated clock on the opposite dormitory building and saw that it was 1:14 AM in the morning.

    What in the world was up with the Big Boss?

    She stifled a yawn as she picked up the phone and said, ¡°Hello.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice drifted over from the other end of the line. She was unable to make out what he had mumbled.

    Xia Ling thought that it was a problem with the signal. She frowned, shifted her position, and said again, ¡°Hello.¡±

    This time, she managed to make out that Li Lei was calling her name. ¡°Ye Xingling...¡± His voice was low and hoarse, and his pronunciation was off,pletely different from how he was usually. His voice wascking in its usualziness and yfulness, and had a tinge of dejectedness and... weakness.

    She shuddered.

    <i>Was he drunk? </i>This thought shed through her mind.

    On the other end, Big Boss Li was silent for a while before hesitatingly asking, ¡°Ye Xingling, are you... still there?¡±

    She said, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here.¡±

    Li Lei went quiet for a long time, with only his breathing being heard over the line.

    The wind started to pick up in the night, sending a chill through Xia Ling¡¯s body. On the ck, metal railings of the balcony there was ayer of frost, and touching it by ident would send a chill down to her bones. When Xia Ling came out to the balcony, she was only wearing her pajamas and, at this moment, she felt herself shivering from the cold. Yet, in deciding whether to go back to the warmth of her nkets or to continue standing on the balcony like an idiot waiting for Li Lei to say something, she somehow decided on thetter.

    She found a corner that was sheltered from the wind and curled up her body, saying, ¡°Boss, with what do I owe this pleasure?¡±

    He remained quiet, unnaturally quiet.

    It was weird that he was calling her in the middle of the night. If it was not for the fact that he had called out her name, she would suspect that he had called the wrong number.

    She patiently waited for a while, before he finally opened his mouth to talk. ¡°I saw your performance today.¡±

    She was mildly startled. She did not see him in the small auditorium in the day. How did he...

    ¡°Tan Ying sent me a video of it.¡± He said.

    ¡°Tan Ying is such a great worker.¡± Xia Ling seethed as she stifled yet another yawn. She cursed Tan Ying countless times in her mind. It was all his fault for sending that video over to Li Lei. Otherwise, why would Big Boss Li think about her in the middle of the night?!

    ¡°He is indeed a good worker.¡± Li Lei¡¯s attractively hoarse voice rang out again. ¡°Tan Ying said... in the future, I will perhaps have to go against Imperial Entertainment... because of you.¡± His words were still unclear and she had to try hard to be able to hear what he was saying. ¡°This is a big issue. He asked me to assess to see if you... are worth the trouble.¡±

    In the Nan Cheng Apartment, Li Lei¡¯s leaned hisnky and proportionate body into the genuine, leather sofa, his LED TV screen in front of the sofa ying her acape version of ¡°Sea Demon¡± on a loop. He looked at her through the transparent wine ss at his side,pletely drunk, but did not tell her that he was not making an assessment, just simply... thinking of her.

    On the dormitory balcony in the training camp, Xia Ling thought she understood Tan Ying¡¯s hidden intention behind sending the video. She could not help but feel nervous, and cautiously asked, ¡°Then, do you think I am worth it?¡±

    Li Leiughed softly.

    ¡°Boss?¡± Her heart was pounding in trepidation.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± He did not answer her directly, but said, ¡°you really don¡¯t want to be my person? I can give you everything you want. Your route to stardom will be effortless. Diva, superstar? It will be at your fingertips.¡±

    She frowned. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You can name your price.¡±

    ¡°I will not sell myself for any price.¡± She replied coldly.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t name a price, I will go to Imperial Entertainment.¡± He felt around with difficulty along the genuine leather sofa for the wine bottle, and lifted his hand to fill his ss, downing it all at one go. He waspletely drunk and his hands were shaking, such that arge portion of the amber liquid was spilled on himself, flowing down his neck onto his chest. The position on his chest near his heart was wrapped in a thickyer of gauze, blood seeping out from beneath it.

    Nobody can reject the temptation of money. Today, a brother of his that had been through a lot together betrayed him for money.

    A sharp pain shot through that ce near his heart. Li Lei said heavily, ¡°Don¡¯t think I am afraid to do anything to you.¡±

    Xia Ling could not understand what was wrong with Big Boss Li, but it was clear to her that he was not speaking with reason.

    After receiving threats and bribes time and time again, she felt her anger boil over and sheughed coldly. ¡°Li Lei, you think too highly of yourself. You think money and power are everything? Let me tell you, I¡¯m not going to y along with your games. I¡¯m going to tell you now once and for all, I will not give in to you and will not go to Imperial Entertainment! You can go sue me for breach of contract for all I care.¡±

    She was so angry that she scolded several profanities at him before hanging up.

    The night wind started to howl again and the frost started to build on the ck metal railings. She stared at theplicated frost pattern on the railings, feeling bitter. She thought that after so long after she had rejected him so many times, Li Lei had long given up. She never expected that he would still harbor feelings for her and would still try to approach her time and time again.

    She had underestimated his patience.

    Now, he had shown his cards and was using the transfer to Imperial Entertainment to threaten her. But, what difference was it to go to Imperial Entertainment and be harassed by Pei Ziheng, and stay at Skyart Entertainment and be harassed by Li Lei? At both ces, she would be treated as a toy.

    She did not want to be anyone¡¯s toy, even if it meant she had to breach her contract with Skyart Entertainment.

    She did not intend to obey themand to transfer to Imperial Entertainment. Even if she can¡¯t pay the high fees for the breach, she would still rather be jailed and be a prisoner than to sell herself and betray her own body.

    She gave a deep sigh, her white fingers holding onto the ck railings. The coldness slowly seeped through her fingers and extended upwards to her heart.

    She returned to her bed but could not sleep. As she tossed and turned in bed, she started to n her future course of action and how she would protect herself from attacks in the time that she fell out with Skyart Entertainment and was sent to prison.

    In front of people in power, she was so small and insignificant.

    Subconsciously, in the silence of the night, she thought of that man that was like a God to her again ¡ª Pei Ziheng. He had once been so gentle to her as he straightened up her clothes and dried her wet hair. During Valentine¡¯s day, he had pulled her frozen hands to his chest as they watched fireworks together; celebrated and cut birthday cakes together, and he softly wiping away the cream on her nose...

    Her heart felt a dull pain and the emptiness made her feel terrible.

    Xia Ling curled up in her nkets and thought despairingly in that second. Maybe she should just follow Chu Chen back into the arms of that man that she was still pining for. Maybe she should just listen to him obediently for the rest of her life and not have to worry about any of these problems. She could just tell him outright who she was and cry her heart out in the warmth of his embrace.

    Yet, a small voice in her heart kept reminding her. <i>Xiao Ling, do not forget the terrifying things that happened in the past. All the gentleness was a lie. He was inplete control of your entire life, and he could make it heaven or hell for you with just a simple change of heart.</i>

    <i>You can¡¯t even tell right now if he has ever loved you before.</i>

    Xia Ling curled herself into a tighter ball and bit on her finger to suppress her sobs.

 Chapter 48 - You May Cut Your Debut

    <h4>Chapter 48: You May Cut Your Debut</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The next morning, Xia Ling woke up under the weather.

    Her head was heavy and groggy; probably a cold she caught the previous night. She reached for two tablets in the drawer and swallowed them before heading to the dance studio with the rest of the team to start the practice for the day. However, she felt drained and weak after a few rounds and had to sit out in the rest area, quietly hydrating herself as she watched the rest of them practice.

    Some of them came over to strike up a conversation every once in a while.

    What happened the previous day had already spread to the entire training camp, and it was said that the video had been uploaded on the internal forum ¡ª everyone knew how interesting her singing of ¡°Sea Demon¡± was. Several of them crowded around her to make small talk, expressing their goodwill, as if past ostracization of the quiet and low-profile Ye Xingling had never happened.

    Some of them even asked her for singing tips. She patiently answered each and every question posed to her.

    During the afternoon break, Tan Ying called her to the office.

    He frowned the moment he saw her.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± He put his coffee and documents down. ¡°were you out robbing a bankst night? Why do you look so tired? Please don¡¯t tell me that you didn¡¯t catch a wink because you were excitedly celebrating about getting it through the assessmentmittee.¡±

    It would have been fine if he did not say a thing, but he did, thus Xia Ling was now angered.

    ¡°Chairman Tan,¡± she said. ¡°if it wasn¡¯t thanks to you, why would Boss Li Lei call me at one in the morning and cause me to catch a cold and lose my sleep for the rest of the night?¡±

    ¡°What, Boss called you sote at night?¡± Tan Ying was very shocked.

    It just urred to Xia Ling that she was a little impetuous and could have caused him to misunderstand. She hurried to rify. ¡°He sounded drunk when he called me after seeing the video you sent to him.¡±

    ¡°What did he say?¡± Tan Ying sounded very concerned.

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Some drunken gibberish.¡±

    Tan Ying did not probe further and instead went into deep thought.

    After a few moments, he said, ¡°Yesterday, one of Boss¡¯s men who had been under him for many years betrayed him. He was extremely hurt and in a very bad mood. After all these years, this is the first time he¡¯s been so badly betrayed.¡±

    She was shocked. Was this an exnation to her? But she did not think that Li Lei was all that hurt. If he was, how could he have called her in the middle of the night to tease her, and even induce and tempt her to be his woman? In any case, she did not need Tan Ying to exin things on his behalf. She was nobody to him, and could not even be considered his pillow buddy. In fact, she was considerably distant from him and was neither in a position tofort him nor to express any opinion.

    So she said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Tan Ying shook his head. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re really cold.¡±

    She said, ¡°When you people decided to sell me away thest time, you weren¡¯t just cold, but also heartless.¡±

    Tan Ying looked at her deeply and did not say another word.

    Xia Ling was left on her own as she watched him settle his business while drinking coffee. The sunlight was shining abundantly through the window onto his wooden office desk, the documents piled like mountains.

    She finally decided to get it out of her chest. ¡°Chairman Tan, so what exactly did you call me in for?¡±

    He kept her in suspense for another 10 minutes, before slowly saying, ¡°I called you over today to inform you that thepany has already decided to let you cut your debut.¡±

    This news was too sudden, taking Xia Ling by surprise. The words from the previous night were still ringing in her head ¡ª didn¡¯t Li Lei just threaten her, saying that she either went to bed with him or pack up and leave?

    She knitted her brows slightly, asking, ¡°Does Boss know about this?¡±

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Boss sent this memo over via his Personal Assistant this moment, otherwise did you think it¡¯d be passed this quickly?¡±

    Skyart Entertainment¡¯s process to cutting a debut was a stringent one ¡ª they first had to go through several assessments of their style and ability, followed by an investigation of their family background, history of development, and only after clearing those would they be seriously considered for the final decision. If not for the special privilege she got, there was no way one could disy their abilities one day and be granted the debut the next.

    In this case, Xia Ling was even more puzzled. Why did Boss Li change his mind so fast and so kindly give her the go-ahead? Did he get so seriously injured that he had damaged his brain as well?

    She cautiously asked, ¡°Did he have any terms and conditions?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Tan Ying simply slid a document towards her. ¡°Sign it.¡±

    Xia Ling scanned it. It was an official document for a debut, stating the artiste¡¯s rights and responsibilities, and the terms looked fair and reasonable. She had signed something simr in her previous life over at Imperial Entertainment and did not hesitate much to sign her name.

    ¡°From today on, you¡¯re officially Skyart¡¯s artiste.¡± Tan Ying looked at her and added, ¡°It all went so smoothly because of Boss, you ought to thank him.¡± His Boss had never put in so much effort in wooing a girl. In the past it was a simple task, he got anyone he wanted. Yet this time the one he encountered happened to be a rose with thorns, thus Tan Ying decided to lend him a hand.

    Xia Ling frowned again. She finally understood why Tan Ying had exined Li Lei¡¯s drunken stupor, and even said she was cold. As it turned out, he thought that Li Lei and she had an intimate rtionship?

    But, why exactly did Li Lei let her cut her debut so easily?

    She was still trying to figure it out when Tan Ying went on. ¡°As for your manager, thepany has already decided for you, it¡¯ll be Mai Na. She wille overter and both of you can get to know each other.¡±

    Mai Na... this name sounded familiar.

    But she could not recall where she heard it before.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Sister Mai Na is one of the best agents in Skyart Entertainment, she¡¯s just a little domineering. Even Wei Shaoyin doesn¡¯t dare challenge her. I wish you luck.¡± He looked at her with a hint of sympathy.

    Xia Ling finally remembered where she heard Mai Na¡¯s name from. Back in Li Lei¡¯s mountain vi, Wei Shaoyin had painfully mentioned the woman who coerced him into preparing a tribute song to Xia Ling.

    A whileter, the office door opened and a woman strode in.

    She looked elegant yet haughty, with a sort of charisma that made her look like a Queen from another world. She wore a ttering office outfit, a clean-cut maroon bob, white gold earrings, and a light silk scarf. Besides those, she did not have additional essories on. With her stilettos clicking, she walked towards Xia Ling and stopped right before her, looking down at her¡ª

    ¡°So it¡¯s this little girl?¡±

    Her voice was cold and piercing, like an impable ss of ice-cold liquor.

    Xia Ling was unhappy, what did she mean by ¡°little girl¡±? She wanted to tell Sister Mai Na that when she died in her previous life she was already 28, and as of now she should be considered a 29-year-old, way past the age of a ¡°little girl¡±. What a pity that she could only keep those words to herself.

    Tan Ying¡¯s work expression was stered with a smile as he politely stood up. ¡°Sister Mai Na, please take a seat.¡±

    Sister Mai Na did not sit, and in fact, she did not even turn to look at him. She squinted as she scrutinized Xia Ling.

    Many years down the road, Xia Ling and Sister Mai Na spoke of their first meeting. Sister Mai Na had a cup of tea in her hand as she reminisced. ¡°You at that time... you looked so scrawny and sickly. Had I not watched the video before meeting you, I wouldn¡¯t have believed that it was you who sang ¡®Sea Demon.¡¯¡±

    Xia Ling could not read Sister Mai Na¡¯s mind.

    Sister Mai Na sized her up with her exacting standards for a while. ¡°Ye Xingling, is that right, so you think you¡¯re great being able to release a debut? You don¡¯t even cherish yourself at such a young age, just look at your ghostly being, how are you going to make it big?¡±

 Chapter 49 - Dont Model After Xia Ling

    <h4>Chapter 49: Don¡¯t Model After Xia Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was rendered speechless with all the lecturing. Sister Mai Na was right, being an artiste depended on individual strength and ability ¡ª one had to take good care of themselves and avoid falling sick. But this cold was really an ident, if there was anyone who should be med, it would be Boss Li. If he hadn¡¯t called her in the middle of the night, she would not have ended up like this.

    Looking at the situation, Tan Ying stepped forward to intervene, and with much effort, he managed to get Sister Mai Na to take a seat by the side.

    She looked like a Queen even as she sat on the sofa, going on about the things that new artistes had to take note of ¡ª not to entertain the media as they pleased, not to get into rtionships as they wished, to respect thepany¡¯s arrangements for them, to always be mindful of their image, the list goes on. In fact, she did not have to be briefed on all these, Xia Ling knew exactly how to handle them and was all second nature to her.

    What Xia Ling was bothered about were the misceneous things instead.

    ¡°For a new artiste, the instation fee will be arge expenditure.¡± Sister Mai Na told her. ¡°All the clothes that you¡¯ve been wearing have to be reced by new ones. You have to up your ss.¡±

    As she spoke, she nced at Xia Ling¡¯s clothes with a look of despise.

    Xia Ling forced a smile. Her outfit of the day was a season-discounted dress ¡ª with no brand or model ¡ª with an old jacket left behind by the actual Xingling herself. The jacket had been worn and washed for so many years that the color was fading, but she had no choice, her ¡°father¡± in this life was amon man.

    Sister Mai Na mercilessly reproached her, ¡°Did you attend your grooming and branding sses in vain? Your outfit is a no-go from head to toe, get changed out of it immediately!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the money,¡± she answered simply.

    Sister Mai Na was speechless.

    It was not umon to see those who were not well-to-do, but few and far between spoke of it with such conviction. Sister Mai Na gave a wry smile. ¡°I was not expecting a newbie like you to afford any high-end stuff. This makeover fee will be a temporary loan from thepany. When you start undertaking jobs, you can settle the loan slowly... Miss, you got to work a little harder, don¡¯t end up not having enough to repay us.¡±

    ¡°How could that be.¡± Xia Ling frowned a little, smirking discreetly.

    To be fair, she really had not faced such a problem in her previous life. Being with Pei Ziheng already required her to pay attention to her dressing all the time ¡ª she only wore high-end apparel brands or custom-made outfits. Even when she became a celebrity there was no need for additional preparation, she just had to get a few sets of gowns for important asions, and with that, she was already better dressed than most of the other female stars who had put in tons of effort.

    All the costs were born by Pei Ziheng with his personal ount. As long as she liked something, there was no way she would not get it.

    She used to take these things for granted.

    Because he was her father, teacher, and lover... They were so close there was no need to be calctive.

    In hindsight, however, all she felt now was destion.

    Feeling a prick in her heart, Xia Ling forced herself to stop thinking about it.

    By the side, Sister Mai Na said, ¡°You¡¯ve got resolve. In that case, you can now choose two brands to purchase from withpany funds. I have to remind you that even for high-end brands, you have to consider whether it suits you as well. Don¡¯t turn yourself into a country bumpkin.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in understanding.

    Being able to afford it did not mean she was definitely getting the good stuff. For public figures like artistes, every outfit would be scrutinized andmented on by the public. If they messed up their image, even being decked in silver and gold would not save them from the ¡°low-ss¡±bel that others would have branded on them.

    But Sister Mai Na was worrying in vain.

    When it came to dressing, few could match up to Xia Ling¡¯s standards. Back in the days, global fashion leaders often used Xia Ling as their model, her influence went beyond themon public and was effective even for other influencers as well.

    Her taste and eye for fashion was an oue of staying by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side.

    Coming from the Pei aristocracy, Pei Ziheng¡¯s eye for fashion was out of the ordinary. He enjoyed picking out clothes for her, and his choice of design was simple andfortable, yet with an elegant and artistic style to it. He was extremely particr about the texture, and only chose those of superior quality. Xia Ling wore those all the time and not once did she feel that they were inadequate in any way. Until she was reborn as Ye Xingling and began wearing season-discounted goods ¡ª she really wasn¡¯t quite used to this.

    Her thoughts wandered, and Sister Mai Na impatiently pressed her.

    Xia Ling was distracted, thus she blurted out the two brands she used to wear often.

    Sister Mai Na lost it, ¡°Who do you think you are, a diva? Xia Ling? Asking for the highest-end of all luxury goods, clothes that may not even be obtainable even with all the money we have, do you know how much it exceeds the budget? A newbie who hasn¡¯t even done her first publicity shoot actually dares to ask for this. Let me tell you, that¡¯s a no! Choose again.¡±

    Xia Ling went quiet. Was it such a rarity? Why she didn¡¯t think so. In herst life, it was just another piece of clothing, the sort that she could leave at the filming set by ident and not return for it...

    But, seeing Sister Mai Na¡¯s expression, yes, it must be a rarity.

    She thought for a bit and asked Sister Mai Na, ¡°What is the budget?¡± The moment she uttered them, she thought, forget it, the figures would be meaningless to her anyway. Besides the brands she wore in her previous life, there weren¡¯t many others that she knew of. ¡°Sister Mai Na, you can pick out two brands for me instead.¡± She gave up on herself.

    Sister Mai Na red at her. ¡°You¡¯re saving me some trouble here.¡±

    As fierce as she was in response to Xia Ling, Sister Mai Na got up and sized her up in great detail. She had a conclusion. ¡°You are clean-cut and simple, yet you exude an air of coldness and mystery. Lucas¡¯ clothes should suit you pretty well, and it¡¯s within the budget.¡± That said, she reached into her exquisite handbag for a name card, scribbled an address on its back and handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Take this and look for him. Just tell him that I sent you.¡±

    Xia Ling took it and thanked her.

    Sister Mai Na squinted her eyes teasingly as she looked at her. ¡°The two brands that you mentioned earlier... Your taste is not bad for someone your age. But, are you modeling after Xia Ling? You sang her song ¡®Sea Demon¡¯, and is even thinking of wearing the brand she used to.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback, and hurriedly exined. ¡°I¡¯m not modeling after her on purpose, but I¡¯m her fan, so I guess I¡¯m somewhat influenced by my idol.¡± She did not like what she was hearing herself say. What was going on now? Not only had she be a knockoff of herself, but she was also even trying to exin how she wasn¡¯t trying to copy?

    Sister Mai Na sized her up for a bit before smiling. ¡°I¡¯m her fan too.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling was surprised.

    Yet Sister Mai Na did not borate further, instead, she reverted to her strict tone, ¡°Ye Xingling, being influenced by her is one thing, deliberately modeling after her is a different thing. You have to remember that however perfect Xia Ling was, you aren¡¯t her. You need to have your own style.¡±

    Xia Ling paused for a while before saying, ¡°I know.¡±

    Just like Sister Mai Na, she was first a manager, then a fan of Xia Ling. For her, she was first the Ye Xingling of this life... as for the memory of being Xia Ling the diva, it was getting increasingly distant. It was all in the past now.

    After the meeting with Sister Mai Na, she held the address and went straight off to settle the clothes.

 Chapter 50 - Can You Even Afford It?

    <h4>Chapter 50: Can You Even Afford It?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was a boutique with a small storefront. The inside of the store was quiet and minimalistic clothes racks were lined beautifully, made of apparels of original and elegant designs.

    Xia Ling went through the clothes piece by piece, not particrly fancy any of them. Being pampered by Pei Ziheng in her previous life, she only wore fabrics that were woven with 100% natural material, with not a single strand of synthetic fiber. As for this store, the apparels were unique alright, but the texture was still inferior to what she was used to. Fabrics woven with a mix of both natural and synthetic fibers were adequatelyfortable for most people, but for Xia Ling who was so used to better quality goods, she only made do with it.

    But she knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to be fussy. In any case, these apparels were way better than the discounted pieces she was wearing. Looking through each and every piece, a cream-colored knitted blouse caught her eye and she reached for it.

    Who knew that at that very moment, another hand reached out diagonally and quickly snatched the piece.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw an extremely beautifuldy, her makeup meticulously done, even to the tip of her brows. Seeing that Xia Ling was approaching, thedy arrogantly red at her. ¡°What are you staring at? This piece is mine.¡± With that, she tossed the piece to her assistant standing behind her. ¡°Take this to the cashier.¡±

    The assistant nodded subserviently and was about to settle the payment.

    ¡°Hold up.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was cold and piercing.

    ¡°Why, do you have something against it?¡± That girl raised her chin and crossed her arms as she red condescendingly at Xia Ling.

    ¡°I took interest in this piece first.¡± Xia Ling felt that her temper now was already significantly more subdued than in her previous life, but she simply could not take it lying down being taken advantage of this way.

    Thedy was even more haughty now, deliberately sizing her up from head to toe, mocking her shabby-looking discounted outfit, ¡°Who are you, somebody who walked into the wrong shop? Do you know how expensive the clothes here are, can you even afford it? Don¡¯t be an embarrassment here if you¡¯re just a pauper, really. Xiao Li, why did you let this sort of people in?¡±

    She had dragged thest sentence and was addressing the cashier.

    At the counter, a female cashier looked up upon hearing her words. Her eyesnded on Xia Ling immediately, and with one look she could tell that Xia Ling was donning cheap goods. In fact, the grand total of what she had on from head to toe might not evene close to the price of a scarf in the store. Though she did not express it, her disdain towards Xia Ling was growing by the second, what would a pauper like her be doing here? Isn¡¯t it just degrading to the store? She had indeed been too careless and preupied with the ounts that she waspletely unaware such a person had somehow found her way in. She had to chase her out fast.

    With that thought, Xiao Li smilingly walked towards them. ¡°Sister Bei Er, don¡¯t be angry, the fault is on me for not being attentive. I¡¯ll hand you an additional broochter on by way of apology.¡± Thedy who snatched Xia Ling¡¯s clothes was Li Bei Er. She was a small celebrity and an upper-ss member of the store who patronized often and also brought a considerablemission to Xiao Li.

    After appeasing Li Bei Er, she turned towards Xia Ling with her smile still on, but with a hint of reservation and restraint. ¡°Miss, is there anything you¡¯d like to purchase? What is your budget? I can rmend you a few suitable pieces.¡±

    Budget? Xia Ling had no idea about the budget, Sister Mai Na had only instructed her to pick four to five pieces as she wished, and then sign the bill under Skyart Entertainment. Xia Ling had never been sensitive to numbers, and so forgot to ask about the specific amount.

    Hence, she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have a budget, I¡¯m looking to buy four to five pieces for my daily wear.¡±

    ¡°Ha, four to five pieces.¡± Li Bei Erughed aloud as she had just heard the world¡¯s greatest joke. ¡°Do you know how much this knitted sweater costs? Let me tell you, it costs thousands! And how about this jacket you¡¯re wearing right now? 40, 50 dors?

    ¡°Haha.¡± her assistant couldn¡¯t help butugh as well.

    Even Xiao Li¡¯s grin widened, thinking of how ludicrous this shabby girl must be. She nced at Xia Ling with a look of despising and pity. ¡°Miss, the price of a full set here is in the tens of thousands.¡± What her words really meant to say was: get out if you don¡¯t have the money.

    Xia Ling¡¯s brows furrowed, the rage inside her growing like a beast, seeing how stuck-up they were.

    ¡°I want that knitted sweater, I saw it first,¡± she said coldly. ¡°It¡¯s only a few thousand dors.¡± If it wasn¡¯t for her current predicament, she wouldn¡¯t have worn it in herst life even if it meant getting paid for it.

    Xiao Li¡¯s look hardened. ¡°Miss, please don¡¯t be unreasonable.¡±

    Great, so she¡¯s being unreasonable now? Xia Ling was so enraged she smirked at Xiao Li. ¡°The way you manage to distort facts, just like the way that woman snatched what isn¡¯t hers, is utterly shameless. It amazes me how good the both of you are at it.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Xiao Li and Li Bei Er were both red with anger.

    ¡°Chase her out!¡± Li Bei Er stomped her foot. ¡°Or I¡¯m nevering back!¡±

    Xiao Li got a shock. Li Bei Er was an important regr, if she stoppeding, her sales would suffer greatly, and by then her bonus...

    ¡°Miss, please leave,¡± Xiao Li said to Xia Ling.

    ¡°Are you showing your customer the door?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Even if I do intend to buy the clothes here, you¡¯d still order me to leave?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to bite off more than you can chew.¡± Xiao Li gave her all to pacify Li Bei Er, removing her mask of hypocrisy and sneering at Xia Ling without reservation. ¡°How could a country bumpkin like you be fit to purchase our products? I don¡¯t even think you¡¯re here to buy anything, you were nning on stealing, you thief. Hurry and get lost, thieves like you disgust me.¡±

    ¡°Miss Li thinks I¡¯m a thief too?¡± asked Xia Ling coldly.

    ¡°Are you not?¡± Seeing that Xia Ling was being trampled on, Li Bei Er grinned in satisfaction. ¡°If you¡¯re not a thief, what would you be doing here? If you¡¯re not leaving, I¡¯ll get the security officer here. By then you¡¯d be dragged out, tsk, how ugly that would be.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± To everyone¡¯s surprise, Xia Ling smiled and left.

    Xiao Li and Li Bei Er did not expect things to end so simply and were stunned at the moment. Xia Ling ced one hand in her pocket and casually walked towards the door. It had barely been a few steps when someone called out.

    ¡°Miss, please hold on.¡± It was a kind male voice.

    Xia Ling did not want to give a hoot, but this person¡¯s voice was music to her ears, and she stopped unwittingly. She turned around and saw a tall, mixed-race man towering at about 1.9 meters tall. He had a pair of seductive eyes, and when he smiled, a faint dimple showed.

    Xia Ling tilted her head slightly, her expression a virtual question mark.

    The man walked towards her. ¡°My apologies, my employee was insensible. If she offended you in any way, I apologize on her behalf.¡±

    ¡°You are?¡±

    ¡°Lucas.¡±

    So he was Lucas, the person Sister Mai Na told her to approach. Previously, she was just casually browsing in the store, who knew a conflict would happen before she even had the time to look for him. As of now, the main character had finally appeared.

 Chapter 51 - Quelling Anger

    <h4>Chapter 51: Quelling Anger</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not summon Sister Mai Na¡¯s name instantly. Instead, she said, ¡°Do I necessarily have to ept your apology?¡± Her temper had not been good all along, and though it was very much subdued in this life, she could not let it go so easily after being used as a thief.

    Lucas smiled kindly. ¡°Of course, I have to be sincere with my apology. Miss, how about this, all apparels you get today will not be put on the tab. Additionally, I will issue you a membership card which grants you a 20% discount for subsequent purchases.¡±

    The 20% membership discount card was the most esteemed for that brand ¡ª it was the same one Li Bei Er was currently holding.

    Li Bei Er looked outraged upon hearing that. Why was it that she had to purchase so many apparels and go to so much trouble for that membership card, while this country bumpkin could just ask for it! However, she dared not have an outburst in Lucas¡¯ presence. It was said that he had a mysterious background and that it never ended well for anyone who offended him.

    Xia Ling saw Li Bei Er¡¯s distorted expression in the corner of her eye. She smiled, ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll do it that way.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, the viin getting away with it.¡± Li Bei Er did not dare incur the wrath of the store owner, so she directed her anger at Xia Ling.

    ¡°Boss Lucas, the shopping environment in your boutique really isn¡¯t all that good.¡± Xia Ling swept Li Bei Er an usatory nce.

    Lucas smiled at her statement. ¡°Miss Li Bei Er, you know our in-store regtions ¡ª making a racket is strictly not allowed. Since you knowingly vited the rule, I have no choice but to invite you to leave.¡±

    Li Bei Er widened her eyes in disbelief. What, Lucas actually chased a regr customer out because of a shabby country bumpkin? She was not about toply. ¡°How could you! I was not the only one who was creating a scene, this country bumpkin was also...¡±

    ¡°Insulting or degrading other customers will result in the termination of membership,¡± said Lucas calmly.

    One line was all it took to shut Li Bei Er up. She was not going to allow that! She patronized the store often indeed, but she wasn¡¯t all that wealthy ¡ª the 20% discount was a huge enticement for her. Without the discount, there would be so many beautiful pieces she would have to give up on! She did not want that, it stung too much.

    Li Bei Er was fuming as she kept her mouth shut.

    The smile on Lucas¡¯ face did not change. ¡°Still not leaving, do I have to call the security officer?¡±

    Li Bei Er never expected that being the one to threaten Xia Ling with the security officer, she would end up being chased out herself. Infuriated, she turned red and stomped off briskly.

    Xia Ling watched it unfold with no sense of regret whatsoever. Anybody who dared incur her wrath should be prepared to meet with a sorry end. If not for Lucas¡¯ intervention, Xia Ling would not have let her off this easily.

    Lucas turned towards Xia Ling, recovering his friendly tone. ¡°Are you satisfied with how I handled it?¡±

    Xia Ling remained silent and apathetically shot Xiao Li a nce.

    Lucas got the hint, but internally he was shaking his head, wondering where this demandingdy came from. But Xiao Li¡¯s way of differentiating treatment towards customers was a big mistake as well, thus she ought to be taught a lesson.

    Hence, Lucas said, ¡°Xiao Li, apologize to thisdy over here.¡±

    Xiao Li hated Xia Ling to the core now, but as Lucas¡¯ employee, she could not disobey his orders. She muttered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°What did you say? I can¡¯t hear you.¡± Xia Ling mocked.

    ¡°...¡± Xiao Li clenched her teeth, raising her voice this time. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why are you apologizing to me?¡± In Xia Ling¡¯s dictionary, there wasn¡¯t such a thing as ¡°going too far.¡± Moreover, Xiao Li looked unrepentant and indignant, it wasn¡¯t as if Xia Ling could not tell.

    What a bully! Xiao Li was furious as she lifted her head and turned to Lucas, hoping that he could save her from this unreasonable, insatiable woman.

    However, Lucas said, ¡°The rule of thumb for an apology is to ensure that the other party is appeased.¡±

    Xiao Li could barely take this, but she had no choice given the situation. Swallowing all her anger and unhappiness, she spoke as meekly as she could. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have been rude to the customer, much less used her of theft. Please be magnanimous and let me off!¡±

    Well, that was not too bad. Xia Ling finally showed a look of satisfaction.

    Xiao Li had been keeping an eye on her expression, at this moment, she was finally relieved. But what happened next was unexpected. Lucas spoke again. ¡°Since you acknowledge your faults, you have to take responsibility for them. Your bonus for the month will be wiped out.¡±

    What ¡ª

    Xiao Li inhaled sharply upon hearing this. Salespeople like her had a very low base wage and made a living out of the bonuses earned. Now that her bonus for the month was to be taken away, how was she going to pay the debt for her credit card loans? It was only now that Xiao Li truly regretted what she had just done. How did she end up provoking such a devil? Paying with her dignity was a small issuepared to everything that she had to sacrifice...

    Xia Ling had no idea what Xiao Li was thinking, but either way, she wasn¡¯t intending to help her. Lucas was right, one had to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, don¡¯t they? She smiled sweetly at Lucas. ¡°The store owner is fair and just.¡±

    All of the unhappiness had been resolved by Lucas.

    Lucas saw her in a different light now ¡ª despite dressing shabbily, with his discerning eye he knew that she was no simpleton. She had a kind of presence that allowed her to stride like a diva even if the world saw her as nothing more than a pauper. With her confidence, her ability to dazzle in any setting, everybody seemed insignificant to her.

    He took an interest in her. ¡°I¡¯m d I could stand up for you. Could you then, on my ount, let this store off? When you were about to leave just now, you were holding...¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean this.¡± Xia Ling was stunned upon realization. No wonder Lucas did so much to help her, he must have seen her sly move. She took a mobile phone out of her jacket and deleted the audio recording in front of Lucas. All the evidence of Li Bei Er and Xiao Li using her as a thief and chasing her out was gone for good.

    ¡°You really did make a recording.¡± Lucas still had a lingering fear. If Xia Ling had handed this audio file to the media, the store reputation would have been badly tarnished. Not only was the employee rude, but even the regr customer was also of such undesirable and lowly character. The public would wonder: What kind of scum patronized this store? Especially since his main consumers were up-anding celebrities, all the more would they be influenced by public sentiments and steer clear of the brand, resulting in unthinkable losses for him.

    This was also why Lucas had to quell Xia Ling¡¯s anger, no matter how much it took.

 Chapter 52 - Ten Pieces of Beautiful Clothes

    <h4>Chapter 52: Ten Pieces of Beautiful Clothes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was the first time Xia Ling had resorted to this and she was d it worked well for her.

    Her wilfulness and naive character had cost her a lot in herst life, being set up and betrayed by the people around her. This time she decided she would never repeat her mistakes ¡ª she¡¯d be more careful and cautious than before. Hence in her free time, she would recall the tricks and strategies Chu Chen had used back when he was her agent and pick up a thing or two.

    She was intelligent, to begin with, and now that she had Chu Chen as her ¡°star teacher,¡± these small issues were a piece of cake to deal with.

    After settling the recording, she finally got to the point. ¡°Boss Lucas, Sister Mai Na sent me here. I¡¯m a budding singer at Skyart Entertainment who¡¯s about to release my first single. I¡¯ll need a few sets of outfits for my daily wear and she rmended your store.¡±

    So that¡¯s why.

    Lucas said, ¡°We¡¯ve been in coboration with Skyart Entertainment for a long time now ¡ª Skyart artistes just have to sign the tab when making their purchases. In that case, the 20% discount card as well as the free offer for this purchase that I mentioned previously actually can¡¯t apply to you anymore.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled a little, this store owner was really straightforward. Indeed, all her spendings were taken care of by thepany, why did the discounts matter to her? Yet on the ount that he was a nice person, she simply said, ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± In her previous life, even tens of thousands meant nothing to her. Though she wasn¡¯t so well-to-do in this life, she didn¡¯t have to resort to calcting over this little money either.

    Lucas had an even better impression of her now. Thisdy was one who made sure she got back at the people who provoked her, but besides that, she was straightforward and open-minded, just the way he liked it. Hence, he proposed. ¡°Let¡¯s do like this, apart from the budget that Skyart allocated for you, I will give you a few extra pieces at no cost ¡ª however much your bill goes up to, the additional gifts will be of equivalent value.¡±

    Xiao Li was stunned. When did her boss be such a mild-tempered negotiator? Lucas had always been difficult to get along with and many were afraid of him. His move to gift somebody so much ¡ª the way he was doing now ¡ª was unprecedented. Xiao Li deeply regretted what she did. Had she known that her boss would be this nice to thedy, she would never have offended her.

    After Xia Ling kindly epted the offer and thanked Lucas for it, she went ahead to pick her clothes.

    Lucas had intended to apany her as she picked, and introduce every piece¡¯s unique feature and which style suited her, but she declined his offer. She went around the shop on her own and in no time picked 10 items. They were all for the current spring season ¡ª brightly colored dresses, sweaters, blouses and several types of bottoms. She would have more than enough to work with for the next three months.

    Lucas was pleasantly surprised by her picks, who knew that thisdy who dressed in such old-fashioned clothing would fare alright in her taste in fashion. No... it wasn¡¯t just alright, it was even better than his. Her picks were the best in-store, whether it was in terms of design, color or material. What mattered more was that it brought out her charisma impably.

    Lucas gave Xia Ling a look that expressed hispliments and casually picked out five of them and got her to sign it under Skyart¡¯s tab ¡ª the other five pieces would be his gift for her. He got Xiao Li to wrap them up for her and soon the counter was lined with beautiful packages.

    Xia Ling looked at the mountain of packages, now how was she going to lug them back?

    Lucas said, ¡°I¡¯ll have someone deliver it, just leave me an address.¡±

    Relieved, Xia Ling jotted it down ¡ª Skyart Entertainment Training Camp Dormitory.

    Lucas kept the address and handed her the 20% discount membership card as promised. ¡°It probably won¡¯t be of use to you, but you can pass it on to your family and friends.¡±

    She did not have any family member worthy of it, nor did she have many friends. But seeing that Lucas was so forting about it, she epted it anyway, bade her farewell and left.

    She had only just reached the dormitory when the clothes arrived.

    ¡°Wow, so many beautiful clothes!¡± Her roommates, including Lan Lan, had not been approved to cut their debut yet. They were standing around her in envy, gasping in admiration. ¡°It¡¯s so good to be able to release a debut...¡±

    Xia Ling got along well with them and smilingly said, ¡°When you release your first debut, I¡¯ll give you one piece each as a present.¡± Lan Lan and the few of them were stillcking in their singing skills and would not be releasing their debut anytime soon. By the time they did, Xia Ling would have made quite a bit and by then even giving them a few pieces each would not be a problem.

    They were excited to hear that and thanked her in delight before egging her on. ¡°Xiao Ling, hurry and try them on for us. Look at this design and this color, they should suit you well, way better than the cheap goods your stepmother got you.¡±

    Xia Ling could not be bothered to try them on initially, she had worn better stuff than this many times before. But she thought about Sister Mai Na¡¯s warnings and realized she did have to live a little more enthusiastic, and so she tried them on piece by piece.

    ¡°Help me snap a picture,¡± she told her roommates. ¡°I need to show it to my manager.¡±

    Given that this was what every girl enjoyed doing, they earnestly helped her with her change and took photos from every angle to feature every detail. By the time they were done with it, it was midnight.

    Xia Ling was exhausted. She sent the photos to Sister Mai Na and fell right asleep.

    The next morning she woke up to Sister Mai Na¡¯s reply. ¡°10 pieces? I checked the ounts yesterday, you only bought five pieces under Skyart¡¯s name. Where did the other fivee from?¡±

    Xia Ling could not go without exining the whole scenario to her.

    On her end, Sister Mai Na wasughing hard over the text. This budding artiste was really one of a kind, she looked so meek on the outside, how did her hot tempere about? She was really one who would not be taken advantage of. Li Bei Er was no big celebrity, but offending her the moment she took off was quite a big deal.

    Yet, it seemed like she got into Lucas¡¯ good books.

    Having worked with Lucas for many years, Sister Mai Na knew the kind of person he was; all this time nobody had received this many gifts from him at one go. At this thought, Sister Mai Na smiled again ¡ª the person she had offended was irrelevant to her, all that mattered was that this fellow knew how to y her charm to her advantage.

    She studied all of Xia Ling¡¯s photos and outfits in detail and took a look at her own list of contacts. Under ¡°Stylist,¡± she picked out one name among the tens and sent Xia Ling¡¯s photos over.

    In a few days, Sister Mai Na took Xia Ling to the stylist for her makeover.

    It was arge styling center with many fashionably dressed people around, including a few beautiful faces often seen on television. Sister Mai Na led Xia Ling to a studio where a few stylists were busy at work.

    To her surprise, Xia Ling saw Lu Tao.

    Lu Tao and his partner were getting their styling done ¡ª both of them were the hip-hop type ¡ª and he wore his hair short and punky and was in a denim vest with motorcycle gloves on, reeking of exuberance and rebellion.

    That was when she remembered that his band had made a name for themselves earlier than she did.

    Lu Tao saw Xia Ling and his face lit up. ¡°Ye Xingling, fancy seeing you here before I¡¯vee round to congratte you on your debut. You¡¯ve got to do your best from here on, and if you ever need help just look for your Brother Tao!¡±

    She smiled at him.

    Lu Tao¡¯s stylist walked over and nced at Xia Ling. ¡°Thisdy over here has a very clean-cut style. I suppose you¡¯re here for Eric as your stylist. Of all the stylists here, he¡¯s the best yet.¡±

 Chapter 53 - Ah Wei, Youâ€™ve Been Tricked

    <h4>Chapter 53: Ah Wei, You¡¯ve Been Tricked</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, my manager brought me here.¡±

    ¡°Sister Mai Na?¡± Lu Tao¡¯s stylist looked at where Sister Mai Na was talking to Eric. ¡°Very strict manager, but she¡¯s a nice person and she¡¯s groomed many stars under her. Having her as your manager is your good fortune.¡±

    Xia Ling simply smiled.

    He was right, Sister Mai Na might be a little strict and harsh with her words, but she was indeed nice to the people around and responsible for her work, doing a good job in assisting Xia Ling in every aspect. She just hoped that she really was fortunate and could entrust herself to a manager who wasn¡¯t a scumbag like Chu Chen.

    When Sister Mai Na and Eric were done talking, she led him to Xia Ling and introduced him.

    Eric was a tall and clean-cut 30-odd-year-old man in a ck shirt and had on some Chanel cologne. ¡°I¡¯ve looked through your profile,¡± he told Xia Ling. ¡°In the early days your style won¡¯t be set yet, so it¡¯ll be rather variable and versatile. Your disposition is slightly cold with a tinge of mystery, so anything too fancy or mboyant is unsuitable. Also, you have delicate features, and your face shape and body frame are both beautiful, so it¡¯ll be to your advantage to go for a cool, reserved style.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and agreed with his point of view.

    He picked out the textures and color schemes that suited her best and rmended that she dressed ordingly in the future. He went on to apply some nude makeup on her, meticulously highlighting the tip of her brows. Her hair was also done into cleanyers, with strands of purple highlights to bring out her mysterious aura.

    With the full packagepleted, Xia Ling stood up and sized herself up in the mirror.

    She was wearing a white floral dress and an amber ne that beautifullyplemented her eyeshadow. The look was perfect ¡ª there would be no w however the photos were going to be taken.

    She was very satisfied.

    Sister Mai Na was satisfied as well. ¡°I finally see some semnce to a celebrity.¡±

    As they walked out of the center, Sister Mai Naid out some instructions. ¡°You should get ready, over the next few days we will visit a few recordingpanies for you to get acquainted with the people in the industry. Of course, we¡¯ll also be exploring whichpany would be best suited to write your debut song.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered the deal she made with Wei Shaoyin a few months back.

    ¡°Sister Mai Na,¡± she said. ¡°Wei Shaoyin had mentioned that he was willing to write me my debut song.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was stunned. ¡°You got Wei Shaoyin settled? He hasn¡¯t written any songs for new talents in many years ¡ª he¡¯s extremely picky and never had the patience to personally show them the ropes.¡±

    Xia Ling gave Wei Shaoyin a call there and then. ¡°Hello, Ah Wei? You said you were going to write my debut song, is this promise still in effect?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin paused for a moment, seemingly in shock. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re working on your debut already? When did thepany¡¯s selection and evaluation process be so efficient... The promise is still effective, I¡¯m still waiting for you.¡±

    Xia Ling hung up and gave Sister Mai Na a nod.

    ¡°Knowing that you have such a close rtionship with Ah Wei puts me at ease.¡± Sister Mai Na was in thought before she revealed an almost devious smile. ¡°Now that he¡¯s in charge, it¡¯ll be a lot easier for me to make requests.¡±

    Xia Ling did not understand what she meant until they went to see Wei Shaoyin together.

    ¡°Top the charts for New Singles, top the charts for New Artistes ¡ª this is the least I expect.¡± Sister Mai Na sat on the couch in the recording studio, her legs gracefully crossed and a ss of wine in her hand, with her gold-polished nails stealing the focus. ¡°Total sales have to make it into the top three in rank, and the Best New Artiste of the Year must be won.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin listened like a yes-man, aplete change from his usual haughty attitude.

    He seemed to be afraid of Sister Mai Na, though the reason was unclear.

    Even so, upon hearing Sister Mai Na¡¯sst request, he had to say something. ¡°Although it¡¯s a fact that even a pig can make it to the top of Best Singles as long as I¡¯m the one writing the song...¡±

    Xia Ling shot him a death re. <i>Hey, who¡¯s the pig?</i>

    Wei Shaoyin disregarded it and went on. ¡°The first few requests are not a problem, but Best New Artiste of the Year... the nominees this time include Xia Yu of Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Yu.

    Xia Ling was silent for a bit.

    She had avoided thinking about it the whole time until now. But now she had no choice but to face it ¡ª from then on she would have topete with Xia Yu. They were marking their debut at almost the same time and would inadvertently bepared with each other. The entertainment industry was a cruel ce ¡ª survival of the fittest ¡ª and no one was going to give in.

    She felt some tightness in her chest, most of the joy she derived from marking her debut dissipating.

    Wei Shaoyin was carefully exining to Sister Mai Na. ¡°You see, any artiste who marked their debut within thest two years is eligible for this award. Xia Yu¡¯s debut was at the end ofst year, it would be just right for her to enter the nominations this time. Moreover, Imperial Entertainment is giving her a lot of backing and support, they¡¯re definitely eyeing the Best New Artiste award too.¡±

    He said, ¡°But for Xiao Ling, looking at her current progression, her debut will only be officially released in the second half of this year. Compared to Xia Yu she¡¯ll have lost out on more than half a year, it would be too much of a haste to set the goal for her on this year¡¯s award. It¡¯ll be a lot more appropriate to aim for next year¡¯s award instead.¡±

    His words made a lot of sense, even Xia Ling was nodding in agreement.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s nce swept over them, revealing a look of despise, ¡°Is that all you both have got! Ye Xingling, I¡¯m telling you, if you don¡¯t win the Best New Artiste of the Year, watch how I shelve you!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Alright, she dared not express a further opinion. She hung her head low and showed her obedience.

    Sister Mai Na directed her agitation to Wei Shaoyin. ¡°And you, Wei Shaoyin, where¡¯s your dignity as a Gold-ss music producer? It¡¯s been so many years, are you going to watch Feng Kun step all over you! It used to be Xia Ling, fine, let¡¯s take it that you couldn¡¯t beat him then because you didn¡¯t have an equally capable singer. But it¡¯s Xia Yu now, if you still can¡¯t better him, where¡¯s your worth in this industry! You might as well be a vegetable seller instead!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I can¡¯t beat Feng Kun!¡± Wei Shaoyin clenched his teeth.

    Sister Mai Na looked at him in disdain. ¡°In what way are you better than him? It¡¯s been so many years, you know, it¡¯s always been Feng Kun right at the top and you taking second ce. I say you¡¯re afraid of him, or have you suffered too many blows that you¡¯re out of confidence? Now you don¡¯t even have the guts to fight with him over the Best New Artiste Award!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just the Best New Artiste Award, who says I can¡¯t win!¡± Wei Shaoyin was fuming.

    ¡°Well said!¡± Sister Mai Na gave slow apuse and smiled in satisfaction. ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll wait and see just who will win the award this year.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Ah Wei, did you know you¡¯ve been tricked.

 Chapter 54 - Glass Fingertips

    <h4>Chapter 54: ss Fingertips</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Regarding the Best New Artiste Award, Xia Ling was not too persistent about it, and thinking about having topete with Xia Yu made her heart ache.

    She never forgot their childhood years in the orphanage, when Xia Yu would use her little hands ¡ª swollen due to her illnesses ¡ª to tug at her clothes, and how she would ever so softly call her ¡°Sister¡±. Xia Yu was so young then, she would get excited over candy for several days. As she grew up, however, even when Xia Ling piled riches before her, she was able to push her sister into a bottomless abyss without batting an eyelid.

    Xia Ling did not want to see her. It was not because she was giving in, neither was it that she didn¡¯t have what it took topete with her. It was that every time she saw her, she couldn¡¯t help but recall the heart-wrenching past.

    Wei Shaoyin did not have Xia Ling¡¯s problem.

    His problem was regarding Feng Kun.

    Sister Mai Na had used reverse psychology to prod him the other day, but her words held truth ¡ª despite being known as the double legends all these years, Feng Kun was always in a slightly better position overall. When they released their singles at roughly the same time, under normal circumstances, Feng Kun¡¯s sales would better Wei Shaoyin¡¯s. Even when it came to reviews of media representatives, Feng Kun¡¯s were often more favorable.

    That said, many insiders of the industry felt that Wei Shaoyin was not to me. Their music genres werepletely different ¡ª Wei Shaoyin¡¯s was more exquisite while Feng Kun¡¯s was more resplendent and hence naturally more appealing to the masses. Moreover, as Sister Mai Na had mentioned, Feng Kun had Xia Ling the legendary diva, while all Wei Shaoyin had was iparable singers.

    But Wei Shaoyin evidently did not feel that way, he could not see past his loss to Feng Kun.

    He dropped all his work on hand and, with furious earnestness, went to start on the debut song. Whether it was the melody or the lyrics, he wanted to have it all done on his own. He switched off his cell phone, moved away, rejected all socializing activities and worked on it day and night.

    When Xia Ling received the song sheet, she could not believe that the melody was such a peaceful and melodious one.

    The song title was ¡°ss Fingertips.¡±

    It depicted a lonely girl, dressed in a white dress, missing and longing for her lover on a rainy afternoon. She leaned against the full-length ss windows and traced his name over and over on the pane. Stroke by stroke against the ice-cold ss, she wrote out the longing for him that she had kept buried in the depths of her heart.

    The song was notplicated, it was like a quiet poem with light piano apaniment.

    However, Xia Ling knew all too well how difficult this song was. The simpler it was, the purer it was. And when a song was pure, it was easier to sing but significantly harder to master.

    Xia Ling felt as if it was not Feng Kun who offended Wei Shaoyin but her.

    Songs like this became a ssic if sung well, but any minor w in the performance would downy its value. At this point, Xia Ling missed Feng Kun immeasurably ¡ª how she wished that she had gotten a song like ¡°Sea Demon.¡±

    The culprit was grinning with satisfaction. ¡°Xiao Ling, your voice is very unique. The first feeling it evokes is cool and distant, but listen on meticulously and one would sense vivid emotions and detail in your voice. At the same time, there is a clear wholeness to your voice that is hard toe by. Of all the singers I¡¯ve met, you¡¯re the only one who is able to blend these qualities perfectly, and I believe you are able totch this loneliness in eternity. You have immense potential and this song is tailored just for you, I¡¯m sure it will bring you fame.¡±

    Xia Ling feebly said, ¡°Master, do me a favor if you will, this is what you¡¯vee up with after isting yourself for so long? Are you not going to consider writing me a more sensational song? I¡¯ll definitely not embarrass you if you write me a resplendent song, I promise.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin did not waver. ¡°Musices from the soul, only a fool like Feng Kun would resort to various means to obscure the true beauty of a human¡¯s essence. Xiao Ling, let me tell you, with your talent, you will never be able to beat Xia Ling. But don¡¯t you want to be a diva? What I¡¯m giving you now is a path that will lead you to achieve more than Xia Ling did.¡±

    This was no path, it was a deathly tightrope.

    She dreadfully held the song sheet for ¡°ss Fingertips¡± and familiarized it ording to how Wei Shaoyin instructed her. She practiced over the next few days, and the more she practiced, the more shocked she got. This song sounded extraordinarily clean and beautiful, it was tranquil yet distant, a bliss to listen to.

    Wei Shaoyin was right. This song could set time in stone, it could betched in eternity.

    She poured her heart and soul into the song and waspletely wrapped up in it.

    So much so that she only snapped back after her cell phone had rung for the third time.

    She picked up the phone, frustrated, and saw the cute avatar on the screen ¡ª it was Boss Li Lei. Xia Ling let out a groan, what exactly did Boss see in her that he was still not over it?

    ¡°Hello?¡± She wasn¡¯t sounding very nice.

    On the other end of the line, Li Lei¡¯s charming voice was transmitted with a little teasing tone. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, little beauty, why the quick temper?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m practicing my song.¡± her tone had not changed.

    Big Boss Li did not seem the least bothered by her anger, simply saying, ¡°Don¡¯t practice anymore,e out with me for some fun.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Me? Go out with you? For some fun?¡± They didn¡¯t seem to be on that close terms yet.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Li Lei said it like it was a matter of course. ¡°Did you not think about whose effort it was that you got to debut so soon? Even Tan Ying told you to thank me, but you haven¡¯t expressed much gratitude. What¡¯s going out with me for some fun?¡± He sounded wronged as he spoke.

    Xia Ling was confused, she vaguely remembered Tan Ying reminding her to thank Li Lei when she signed the debut contract. She took it as a passing remark, not expecting Big Boss to really keep waiting.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    ¡°Why are you not talking?¡± Big Boss did not let her off.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m having some regrets staying in Skyart.¡±

    Big Boss smiled easily. ¡°Regrets? It¡¯s just right then, time toe out for a walk. The cherry blossoms in the Southern mountains have bloomed, I¡¯ll take you horseriding to see the flowers.¡± The Southern mountains outside the city were a beautifulndscape, especially in spring, where cherry blossoms would extend for miles and miles, etching the image in the hearts and minds of people. There was an equestrian club nearby too, a ce that many wealthy millennials often patronized.

    But Xia Ling did not feel like going. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m not feeling too well, you¡¯d best find someone else.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re unwell, then all the more you shoulde out for some leisure time.¡± Boss continued trying. ¡°I¡¯m already at the training camp, do you want me toe and fetch you? I could get you some medicine and food on the way...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± She cut him off before he couldplete his sentence. ¡°Don¡¯te looking for me! I¡¯ll apany you to the Southern mountains!¡± She was exasperated, there was no way she could let hime over without having him announce it to the world. By then, what would be of her reputation?

    She might as well go ording to his wishes, taking it as... working overtime.

    She gave up and stopped bothering.

    She reluctantly kept her song sheet and changed into afortable, neutral-colored t-shirt and three-quarter leggings. Her change of outfit brought out a liveliness in her that lifted her low spirits.

    For fear of being seen, she met Li Lei at the garage and got into his SUV while no one was around.

    He sat calmly at the driver¡¯s seat. Watching her get into his car as stealthily as a thief, his lips curled up ever so slightly. This girl was indeed special, low-profile and not attempting to take advantage of the situation for self-benefit. She was just the type he liked.

    He was getting even more excited about this trip to the Southern mountains.

 Chapter 55 - Havent Gotten the Girl Yet

    <h4>Chapter 55: Haven¡¯t Gotten the Girl Yet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The peach blossoms were in full bloom on Nan Shan.

    Xia Ling followed Li Lei through the peach blossom forest to an open field just outside a horse riding club. Under a pavilion on the open field, there was around ten youthful men anddies gathered. The men were all in branded clothes and wearing branded watches, all looking like they were from wealthy backgrounds. On the other hand, eachdy was more beautiful than the next, clearly dressed to impress, and each appeared to be paired off with a gentleman.

    Looking at this scene, Xia Ling stopped in her tracks. What did Li Lei treat her as in bringing her here? His escort? What kind of women would choose to apany these gentlemen? They were all likely girls that had given themselves over for money!

    She felt anger rising in her heart.

    Yet, before she lost her cool, the sharp-eyed gentlemen had already noticed them. ¡°Yo, Young Master Li, you¡¯re finally here! Who¡¯s this prettydy that you brought? She doesn¡¯t look familiar, when did you hit it off with her? What happened to Lili?¡±

    ¡°Tsk, this little beauty is in apletely different league from Lili.¡± Li Leiughed as he chided them. Pulling Xia Ling alongside him, he introduced her. ¡°This is Ye Xingling, a singer that Skyart Entertainment recently debuted. Do give her more of your support in the future.¡±

    Hearing his words, everyone¡¯s eyesnded on Xia Ling.

    There was nothing special about the looks the gentlemen gave her. However, the seven or eightdies weren¡¯t as friendly. Their eyes were like X-rays and they looked as if they were trying to give her a full-body scan. ¡°Tsk, what is this...¡± Thedies were thinking to themselves. ¡°This Ye Xingling looks mediocre at best. She isn¡¯t particrly well-endowed, her legs aren¡¯t long enough, her behind isn¡¯t perky enough. She looks as if she¡¯s malnutritioned. Other than having a skinny waist, there is nothing about her than meets the eye. Why would the gold standard bachelor, Young Master Li, be smitten by her?¡±

    Young Master Li was a prominent figure in their circle.

    In terms of family background, he was from the mysterious and dangerous Li family that was associated with the underworld. They would just need to stamp their feet a little and the other big families would be quivering in their boots. In terms of visuals, he was of mixed blood and was handsome beyond words, enough to make any woman scream in wonder. In terms of body proportions, his muscles did not appear to be like the rest of the wealthy gentlemen, who clearly worked out a lot in the gym. It was said that they were developed through him actually having to engage in real hand-to-handbat with his enemies, which only served to increase his attractiveness way above anybody else. In terms of abilities, he had established a huge business single-handedly and was unlike the other wealthy gentlemen that were living off their family¡¯s wealth. In terms of intelligence, wealth, ability to humor ady...

    In every aspect, Li Lei was the clear victor.

    Today, this perfect man had brought along a mediocredy to the party. How would they be able to set this down?

    In what way were they inferior to Xia Ling? Why was Li Lei smitten with Xia Ling?

    All thedies were exceedingly unhappy.

    ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± One of the beautifuldiesughed daintily, leaning on the chest of her wealthy partner. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of her. It¡¯s such a blessing to be with Young Master Li. No matter how normal the person is, he would still be able to make her into a singer.¡± This clearly insinuated that Xia Ling did not be a singer through her own talents, but depended on Li Lei to open the back door for her and make her a singer through his connections.

    ¡°Even without him, I will still sessfully be a singer.¡± Xia Ling responded coldly.

    When she was unhappy, she would be very direct and would not mince her words.

    Everyone gasped in shock. Was she mad? How could she speak like that? Even if she wanted to rebut that beautifuldy, why would she put down Li Lei as well? Didn¡¯t she know who Li Lei was? Did she not know that he was able to squash her with a simple wave of his finger?

    Many of thedies looked on, gloating at what they saw as Xia Ling¡¯s imminent misfortune. Only death would await her for offending Young Master Li. It might appear that Young Master Li was easy going given that he was always smiling. However, in reality, he had the shortest temper in this group of wealthy gentlemen and was one that should not be messed with. Rumors had it that one of his female partners had said something wrong and he had her cut up into pieces and fed to his pet as a snack...

    Thedies waited to see what would happen to Xia Ling. Even the gentlemen were watching on with interest to see how Li Lei would punish her.

    Yet, Li Lei simply rubbed his nose good-naturedly, saying, ¡°Yes yes, without me you will definitely still be a singer.¡±

    The group looked on in shock. This had to be a joke! Young Master Li, the one with a short temper and said to be difficult to please, did not lose his temper? Listening to his tone, it seemed like he was giving in to her and trying to make this girl happy? This was unfathomable!

    They turned to look at Xia Ling, who had a calm expression on her face. ¡°I¡¯m d you are aware of that.¡± Of course, she had diva potential. Whichever entertainmentpany she chose would be honored to have her. Why would she need his help?

    The people watching on were shocked yet again at her frankness. How could she take Li Lei for granted?

    Li Lei appeared unbothered as heughed before changing the topic. He introduced the people standing around to Xia Ling. ¡°Here, this handsome gentleman in front of you is the Chengdong Du family¡¯s heir, Du Yunfeng. This guy on the left here is the real estate Liu family¡¯s third son. And the guy next to him is the second young master of the Zhou family that is running an F&B chain...¡± He went a full round, introducing all the wealthy gentlemen in the group to Xia Ling.

    Initially, the wealthy gentlemen were slightly taken aback. However, they were used to all kinds of situations and, very quickly, Du Yunfeng and the rest said hi to her with a smile, indicating their acquaintance.

    If any of thedies had considered being amicable to Xia Ling, they were now all boiling over with envy and jealousy. What did Xia Ling do to deserve this treatment, for Young Master Li to formally introduce her to all of the gentlemen?! In all honesty, thesedies were simply ythings for these wealthy men. They were of lowly status and their ¡°owners¡± would not introduce them to their friends. All of them were not introduced when they were brought here. They existed as if they were a part of their partners.

    What was up with Young Master Li?

    Thedies could not understand the situation. Yet, Du Yunfeng and the other wealthy gentlemen were more discerning and intelligent. They understood that given Li Lei¡¯s status and character, he would not formally introduce someone that he considered a ything. Since he had formally introduced Xia Ling to them, his feelings for her were not so simple.

    ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡± Du Yunfeng teased.

    Thedies looked on in trepidation. It couldn¡¯t be... was this Xia Ling Young Master Li¡¯s actual girlfriend? No no, she was too mediocre, how could she match up to Young Master Li?!

    ¡°How could that be...¡± Li Leiughed.

    Thedies breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, how could this ugly duckling think of bing a swan?

    But Li Lei¡¯s next sentence made all of their hearts break ¡ª

    ¡°I haven¡¯t managed to get her to say yes yet.¡± He said with a tinge of mournfulness.

    Du Yunfeng looked at him with his mouth agape.

    The third son of the Liu family was speechless.

    The second son of the Zhou family widened his eyes in shock.

    <i>Young Master Li, you have to be joking. Do you know how incredulous and shocking this news sounds? For someone with your skills and abilities in chasing girls, you have no game with this utterly mediocre-looking girl?! Quit joking.</i>

    The group of them secretly thought to themselves.

    Xia Ling frowned and said out loud, ¡°Quit ying around.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her like he had been wronged.

    Xia Ling could not help but scold him silently. <i>Big Boss Li, how old are you this year? Why are you trying to whine like a kid? Who are you trying to show that forlorn face to? Do you think I will fall for it? No way!</i>

    Xia Ling ignored him as she ground her teeth in frustration.

    Li Lei blinked his big round eyes pitifully at her, but seeing that she was adamant to ignore him, he blinked again to change his expression back to normal. He came alongside her and persuaded her. ¡°Go horse riding with me please.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling cooly rejected him.

    ¡°Why?¡± He started to look at her pitifully again.

    ¡°I¡¯m having that time of the month.¡± She replied loudly.

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    As such, all the wealthy gentlemen and their female partners left to go horse riding, leaving Xia Ling by herself rxing on a bamboo chair in the warm sun, drinking tea peacefully.

    This was great, being able to just chill all by herself.

    Yet, she was onlyfortable for a little while before trouble came looking for her.

 Chapter 56 - Looking for Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 56: Looking for Trouble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The warm sunlight was blocked by a shadow.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and was startled to see a familiar face ¡ª Li Beier. The Li Beier in front of her now clearly had put in much effort to make herself presentable ¡ª her long, curly hair wasbed into a charming style and she was wearing a fiery red, body-hugging top and skinny pants matched with a pair of bright-colored riding boots. She looked both cool and sexy. She looked down on Xia Ling and asked, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it got to do with you?¡± Xia Ling responded lightly.

    She was actually rather shocked to see Li Beier. The world was a small ce and it seemed that Li Beier was one of the female partners of Li Lei¡¯s group of friends here today. These rich second-generation heirs enjoyed ying around with small stars. She wondered which of the gentlemen had such bad taste and had chosen this shallow and problematic woman.

    Li Beier was insulted by Xia Ling¡¯s calm demeanor. She snapped at Xia Ling, her chest heaving in anger. ¡°Who are you then? What ce do you have sitting here? Speak! How did you manage to sneak in here?! If you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll call security over right now!¡±

    This scene felt like deja vu.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a smile as she sniggered. ¡°Have you not been through enough difficulties?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Li Beier looked at her, confused.

    ¡°Not long ago, you were chased out of Lucas¡¯ shop, right? How did that feel?¡± Xia Ling swirled the ss in her hands, the rose teaplementing her white fingertips. ¡°Do you want to be chased out again here?¡±

    Li Beier¡¯s face contorted in anger as she was reminded of being chased out of the shop, and she red at Xia Ling with fire seemingly spouting from her eyes. She had never been that disgraced and humiliated in her life! To date, she was too embarrassed to go to Lucas¡¯ shop! As such, she had not had the chance to buy all the new outfits for the spring season and could only wear her old clothes to Nan Shan today! It was all because of this ugly woman in front of her, who had caused her to be publicly humiliated and not be able to buy new clothes, and also caused her to receive countless snidements from the otherdies present today!

    No, she had to get the upper hand here today!

    Li Beier seethed and ground her teeth together, her beautiful face contorting in anger again.

    Yet, learning from her mistake from before, Li Beier was a little cleverer this time. ¡°Who did youe here with today?¡± She asked, afraid that Xia Ling had a strong backer. After all, the only people who could bring female partners into the Nan Shan horse riding club were wealthy second-generation heirs that had formidable backgrounds. Before making trouble, she needed to be sure that she could afford to offend Xia Ling.

    Xia Lingzily responded, ¡°Why do you care who I came here with?¡± She did not have the good habit of replying everything that she was asked, and also did not like to wave Li Lei¡¯s name around like a banner. Even if she could guess the intention behind Li Beier¡¯s question, she did not care to tell her the truth.

    Li Beier took it that Xia Ling was scared, and proudly stood taller, further showing off her full bosom. ¡°I came here today with the second son of the Zhou family.¡±

    In this circle, the second son of the Zhou family was a big name. He would rank just after Li Lei and Du Yunfeng. Li Beier had nothing to be afraid of as long as she did not offend thedies that came with Li Lei and Du Yunfeng.

    Xia Ling looked at Li Beier as if she was a moron. Did she feel proud to have crawled into bed with a second generation heir? What is more, she had seen Second Young Master Zhou earlier hugging two other women in his arms. Should Li Beier not be trying to regain his favor instead of wasting time with her here?

    Seeing that Xia Ling was not saying anything, Li Beier thought that she had guessed it right and that Xia Ling did not have a strong backer. She started to getcent, sneering at Xia Ling. ¡°Get lost while I¡¯m being nice. Or would you like to wait for Second Young Master Zhou toe over, then...¡±

    ¡°Who is that asking my girl to get lost?¡± Out of the blue, azy voice floated over.

    Xia Ling turned her head towards the voice and saw Li Lei slowly walking over from under the shadows of the bamboo forest. He was wearing a white riding outfit from top to bottom, whichplemented his tan skin tone, making him look wildly handsome. Ten or so people followed behind him, and they were the group of wealthy gentlemen with their female partners, returning from their horse riding.

    Li Beier¡¯s expression changed. Who was that speaking just now?

    Oh my God, was she mistaken? It couldn¡¯t be...

    Li Lei had a nonchnt smile on his face as he came closer to Li Beier. He said, ¡°It¡¯s you who is bullying my person?¡±

    ¡°No no no, I... I didn¡¯t!¡± Li Beier stuttered in fear. How was this possible?! It was really Young Master Li! This irritating woman, who looked mediocre and had neither a big chest nor behind, was brought in here by Young Master Li?! ¡°I... I, she... she...¡± Li Beier was close to tears as she stuttered on in panic. ¡°I was just kidding around with her. Yes, we were just joking around!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Li Lei continued smiling, ¡°Then, I¡¯m just joking around with you now. Let me see how you get lost.¡±

    Li Beier was stunned. She did not expect Li Lei to say something like that. What should she do now? Li Lei had a reputation in this circle for being hot-tempered, and she did not dare offend him. She turned her head to look at Xia Ling, only to see Xia Ling focused on swirling the ss teacup in her hands, her expression calm and peaceful as if thismotion had nothing to do with her.

    Li Beier could only look toward Second Young Master Zhou in hopes that he would lend her a helping hand.

    However, Second Young Master Zhou could not care less about her. She was not the most favored girl around him, and even if she was, he would not care to go against Li Lei for a simple ything. Come on, Li Lei had already formally introduced Xia Ling to this group of friends, which was a clear indication that she meant a lot to him. How could Li Beier, his ything, hold a candle to the apple of Li Lei¡¯s eye?

    Second Young Master Zhou shrugged and said, ¡°Second Young Master Li, do what you may. You needn¡¯t give me face.¡±

    Li Lei was also the second son in his family, hence his close friends would address him as such. Hearing this, Li Lei¡¯s smile broadened across his face, revealing his perfectly white teeth, ¡°Then, do get lost.¡±

    His tone was exuberant but made Li Beier quiver in her shoes.

    Li Beier seethed in her heart. Not only had she offended the terrifying Young Master Li, but she had now also lost her backer. She could not do anything but turn around with her hands over her face and started walking out.

    ¡°Come back.¡± She had not gone very far before she heard Li Lei¡¯s voice behind her ring out again.

    ¡°Young... Young Master Li, can I do anything else for you?¡± She asked nervously, almost in tears.

    ¡°I asked you to show me how you roll.¡± [1][a][b][c]

    Roll...?

    Roll!

    Everyone understood what Young Master Li was saying at this moment. So, he wanted her to roll out of this ce! Poor Li Beier, this was terrible for her. Tsk tsk, who asked her to get on the wrong side of Young Master Li? She now had to roll all the way out of this ce...

    Some of thedies could not resist but steal a look at the terrain. Even though it was a grass field, but there were some pebbles and peach blossom twigs scattered around. To roll down from here, not thinking about how dirty or embarrassing it would be, the chance of her face being cut and grazed from all the pebbles and twigs was extremely high, and could even leavesting scars...

    Indeed, there was no good end to anyone that offended Young Master Li.

    Li Beier was terrified. She begged Li Lei pitifully, both her eyes filled with tears. ¡°Young Master Li, I...¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to roll?¡± Li Lei continued smiling at her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to roll. Please, I beg you, don¡¯t make me roll!¡± Li Beier pleaded.

    Li Lei slowly responded, ¡°Begging me is useless...¡± He carelessly nced over at Xia Ling as he spoke.

    Everyone realized at this moment that the person who could decide if Li Beier had to roll was this calmdy sitting by the side, sipping at her tea.

    Notes:

    <sup>1 </sup>.

    [a]when u want to exin a phase u put a number at the end of the paragraph, like this [1], and then put the note at the end of the chapter

    [b]we can¡¯t do that in omega T, I believe we indicate as such for you to do the relevant formatting.

    [c]Oh ok.

 Chapter 57 - Ill Pay On Her Behalf

    <h4>Chapter 57: I¡¯ll Pay On Her Behalf</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Beier felt like she was about to lose her mind. She had to beg this irritating woman?!

    Begging Li Lei was fine, after all, he had his Young Master Li status, and even if it was embarrassing to grovel, she could live with it. However, begging this irritating woman was another story. Who was she? Not long ago she had bumped into her and saw her dressed inst season¡¯s discount clothes! How did she deserve to receive her begging? She could not ept this!

    Li Beier¡¯s face was ashen in her anger, and she red at Xia Ling with much hatred.

    Xia Ling continued sipping at her tea, her white fingers holding on to the ss cup and admiring the rose petals that were dancing within her cup. She did not even spare a nce at Li Beier. The one being humiliated wasn¡¯t her, she could take her time.

    The situation reached a deadlock.

    Second Young Master Zhou stepped forward and said, ¡°Li Beier, apologize to Miss Ye now.¡± He had brought Li Beier here today, if the situation was not handled properly, he was afraid that it would affect his rtionship with Li Lei or even affect his family¡¯s business. Given these considerations, his voice was cold and stern as hemanded Li Beier.

    Li Beier quivered even more in her ce. Li Lei was not to be messed with, but neither was Second Young Master Zhou. She knew him well, and whenever he used this tone of voice, he was really angry and the consequences could be ugly.

    She bit her lips as she struggled and finally spat out at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m sorry. I beg you, show me mercy and forgive me for what I did today.¡±

    Xia Ling slowly sipped her tea again, and then raised her eyes to look at Li Beier. She smiled and asked, ¡°You aren¡¯t happy about this, are you?¡±

    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m happy.¡± Li Beier responded with reluctance, the anger within her piling up high. Why isn¡¯t this irritating woman epting her apology?! What is she dragging out the time for?!

    A look of confusion entered Xia Ling¡¯s eyes as she queried. ¡°Then, why do I think your apology sounds so forced?¡±

    ¡°...Ye Xingling, don¡¯t ask for too much!¡± Li Beier ultimately could not hold in her anger.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re clearly unhappy then.¡± Xia Ling continued in a light tone.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m unhappy!¡± Li Beier was not naturally mild-natured, and she blew up from Xia Ling¡¯s little taunting. ¡°Ye Xingling, if not for Young Master Li backing you, you are nothing at all! Stop acting like you¡¯re all high and mighty, let¡¯s just wait and see how long you can hold onto him!¡± Young Master Li was known to change female partners as quickly as he changed clothes. Given that Xia Ling was still dressed in cheap clothes, Li Beier guessed that she had only recently gotten the attention of Young Master Li. After a few days, when her novelty wore off on Young Master Li and he had thrown her to the side, Xia Ling would be left in the lurch, crying!

    Xia Ling turned her head slightly, the semnce of a smile hanging on the corner of her lips.

    Very good, she was just waiting for this statement. Her n to anger Li Beier was a sess.

    She was not pleased with the fact that Li Lei had thrown the decision-making power on how to deal with Li Beier to her. She knew that Li Lei was trying to help her get back at Li Beier, but didn¡¯t this simply affirm the view that she was his girl and was dependent on him?

    She did not want it to be this way.

    She did not want to owe Li Lei anything. She wanted to deal with it in her own power, in a way that nobody could question.

    ¡°Very good.¡± She slowly put down the ss in her hands. ¡°Li Beier, why don¡¯t you decide what you need me to do for you to feel less wronged?¡± Regardless of what Li Beier suggested, Xia Ling was prepared to ept.

    Li Beier did not expect this turn of events, and while initially stunned, she soon was gloating at her fortune.

    Great, this irritating woman was dumber than she expected. She did not want to rely on Young Master Li and wanted to go head-to-head with her. How naive and stupid! Since this irritating woman wanted to court death, she did not mind showing her who had the upper hand here!

    Li Beier sinisterly narrowed her eyes andughed. ¡°Would you darepete with me in a round of horse riding?¡±

    A horse ridingpetition? Those looking on frowned when they heard this. Thisdy that Young Master Li had brought along did not join them when they went riding earlier. It was either true that she had her period, or she didn¡¯t know how to ride at all. Regardless of which of these reasons were true, there was no way she would be able topete with Li Beier in horse riding. Li Beier clearly had chosen this shrewdly ¡ª she would be able to not only regain her pride but also put Xia Ling down in the process.

    That being said...

    Everyone¡¯s eyes fell on Xia Ling. Thisdy was really dumb to have dug a hole for herself to jump into.

    Second Young Master Zhou gave Li Lei a questioning look. If Li Lei gave the signal, he would prevent thepetition from proceeding. Even if thisdy that Young Master Li brought was dumb and innocent, he still could not let Li Beier bully her anymore. He would not want to have to deal with Young Master Li¡¯s wrath.

    Yet, Li Lei¡¯s smile simply deepened, his eyes forming a line. The look he gave to Xia Ling had an added tinge of interest and curiosity.

    Xia Ling did not back down like how everyone expected her to. Instead, she calmly asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Her confidence made Li Beier waver. This can¡¯t be right, she was about to humiliate her, how could this irritating woman still be so calm? This woman was poor, there was no way she would be able to learn horse riding, which was an expensive and cash-burning exercise. This was the reason Li Beier had dared suggest a horse ridingpetition. She was sure that Xia Ling would lose.

    Yet, she hesitated now.

    One of the otherdies to the side said softly, ¡°A horse ridingpetition isn¡¯t that suitable, right? Miss Ye said earlier that she was unwell. She didn¡¯t join us earlier for the same reason.¡± This was said with the intent of fanning the mes between Li Beier and Xia Ling. She was too unhappy that someone as mediocre as Xia Ling was able to gain the attention of the prime bachelor, Young Master Li. This irritating woman definitely did not know how to ride a horse, she was simply faking it.

    Xia Ling nced over at the otherdy, her expression unreadable.

    Thedy simply felt that Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was like ice, and seemed to be able to see through her in an instant. She felt a sense of terror rise up within her and subconsciously hid further within the group.

    On hearing her words, Li Beier¡¯s shaken confidence was rekindled. Yes, there was no way this woman could ride a horse, she was simply faking it. She would not fall for it, the horse ridingpetition was the way to go! She had to humiliate this irritating woman!

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s have a horse ridingpetition.¡± Li Beier said haughtily. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t chicken out, would you?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling responded with a light smile. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s have a horse ridingpetition.¡±

    Li Beier was stunned as she did not expect Xia Ling to agree so readily. Did she really know how to ride?

    ¡°However,¡± Xia Ling continued. ¡°thepetition will be boring without some incentives. How about we put a wager on it. If you lose, Miss Li, it won¡¯t be so simple as rolling away from here. Other than rolling, you would also have to...¡± She turned her head slightly as she gave Li Beier a once over, and then said with a smile, ¡°This ne that you are wearing looks really pretty.¡±

    A luxurious, colored diamond ne was hanging on Li Beier¡¯s neck, shimmering brightly under the sunlight.

    No wonder!

    Li Beier¡¯s hand automatically went up to feel the ne she was wearing. Hmph, so this was her n. This irritating woman thought she would decline thepetition for fear she would lose this ne? This ne was indeed very expensive, and even she could not afford it. She had borrowed it for today. But so what, she wasn¡¯t afraid ¡ª this irritating woman did not know how to ride, regardless of what the stakes were, she would still win!

    Following her train of thought, the sinister smile on Li Beier¡¯s face grew wider. ¡°Sure, I agree to your wager! But, this ne isn¡¯t cheap, are you able to take out an equivalent wager on your end?¡± She could not resist taunting, seeing that Xia Ling was not wearing anything valuable from top to bottom.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay on her behalf.¡± Li Lei interrupted in his samezy voice.

 Chapter 58 - The Expensive Private Stallion

    <h4>Chapter 58: The Expensive Private Stallion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked over at him and smiled. ¡°Okay, take it as I¡¯m borrowing it from you.¡±

    Li Leimented. This girl was not giving him any face here. Was she so bent on drawing the line? The wealthy gentlemen standing around looked on, confused. It couldn¡¯t be, did they hear it wrong? Did this girl say ¡°borrow¡±? For people of their status and standing, she should be honored that they were willing to foot her wager. For Xia Ling to say that she was just borrowing it was like giving Li Lei a p in the face.

    This girl dared give Young Master Li a p in the face?

    As they gave him questioning looks, Li Lei grumbled softly. ¡°I told you I haven¡¯t managed to win her over yet.¡±

    Du Yunfeng could not resist butugh out loud. ¡°What a rare urrence. Second Young Master Li, there¡¯s actually something that you cannot resolve.¡± He patted his good friend on the shoulder and decided to give him a helping hand. He turned his head and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Littledy, how about I help you up the stakes a little? If you win, I will give you a tea set.¡±

    Giving his good friend¡¯s girlfriend clothing or jewelry was taboo, only a tea set was safe, and he could still get an expensive one.

    Xia Ling was about to decline, but the other wealthy gentlemen started to join in on the fun as well. ¡°Yes, littledy, if you win we¡¯ll each give you a present. I heard you¡¯re a singer, how about I give you a speaker.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a VIP card to the gym club.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a prized collector¡¯s wine.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ll...¡±

    All of them started promising a variety of things simultaneously.

    Xia Ling was stunned, she did not expect things to progress like this. Li Lei kept smiling and said, ¡°Thank you for your generosity, I will not stand on ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Go away, it¡¯s not for you.¡± Everyone jeered at him.

    Li Lei continued to smile gleefully. ¡°Xiao Ling, do well! If you win you have a lot of silvers waiting for you.¡±

    Xia Ling came back to her sense and gave a bitter smile. Even though she wanted to decline them, these wealthy gentlemen were way too passionate. She did not need to offend all of them in declining ¡ª it wasn¡¯t as if it was a matter of principle. Hence, she nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll ept with thanks, then.¡±

    The group of gentlemen gave a cheer, feeling a great sense of satisfaction. See, the littledy had agreed to ept their gifts but did not ept Second Young Master Li¡¯s gift. The rare chance to one-up Second Young Master Li felt... just great.

    Li Lei did not know whether to smile or cry. What kind of friends were these? Yet, he was happy to see that his brothers here were warming up to Xia Ling. He was proud of his taste, just one meeting and Xia Ling was able to charm all these wealthy gentlemen. He was exceedingly proud, proud in all kinds of ways, just too proud.

    The otherdies were very jealous, but no one dared let it show on their faces and evenughed along with the wealthy gentlemen. Some of them were terrible in their acting, and their expressions were contorted to the point it was funny.

    Li Beier¡¯s expression, too, was contorted. Thepetition hadn¡¯t even started and these wealthy gentlemen were already biased beyond measure, allpeting to give Xia Ling a gift, but no one even thought of adding anything for her. What¡¯s more, even Second Young Master Zhou had promised Xia Ling a gift as well, ignoring her. Xia Ling was way ahead of her in terms of initial momentum.

    Li Beier felt bitter in her heart. She swung around abruptly, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go pick our horses!¡±

    She had already made up her mind. Once they began riding, she had to make this irritating woman lose convincingly!

    Theirrge group strode over to the horse riding arena.

    Li Lei suddenly remembered something and, pulling at Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve, he asked softly, ¡°You really know how to ride?¡± Horse riding was a hobby of the rich, and without a personal trainer, lots of money and free time one would be unable to learn it well. He had asked his subordinate to investigate Xia Ling¡¯s background in the past and she did not look like someone that had learned how to ride.

    However, he was unaware that Xia Ling had reincarnated.

    In her past life, Xia Ling was adopted by Pei Ziheng and could be considered to be half an heiress. No... more urately, she was richer than most heiresses. Pei Ziheng had pandered to her every need and spent loads of money sending her for sses. Horse riding, surfing, car racing... she was familiar with all the hobbies that the rich enjoyed. She also had a natural ir for sports and was able to learn all sports with ease.

    ¡°Yup, I can ride.¡± She told Li Lei.

    ¡°But,¡± Li Lei asked. ¡°didn¡¯t you say it was that time of the month?¡±

    Xia Ling gave him a look and then said simply, ¡°I lied.¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. This littledy dared lie to him. He would remember this and im it back from her once she had agreed to be his girlfriend. Hmph...

    Li Beier did not notice their little conversation as she speedily picked her horse ahead of Xia Ling and announced loudly. ¡°I want this one!¡± She picked a tall, muscr horse the color of red dates, which had the blood of an English pedigree. It was a handsome horse, with well-proportioned limbs and explosive strength within its muscles. It was clearly a good horse. In fact, Li Beier and many of the others were aware that this horse, named Blood Rouge, was a famous horse in this Nan Shan riding club and was the best horse that a normal member could pick.

    To be able to impress these wealthy gentlemen, Li Beier had practiced her horse riding diligently. Getting this horse now was like giving her added ammunition.

    Many of the onlookers sighed silently. It looked this littledy that Young Master Li had brought along today was going to lose for sure.

    Yet, Xia Ling was unfazed and confidently walked over to the horses as she tried to make her pick. People who were unable to ride would usually be a little afraid to be amongst all these tall, muscr horses, but Xia Ling was not, looking as if she was strolling in the flower garden behind her house. Even looking at the stallions in the eye did not bring a tinge of fear into her clear eyes.

    It wasn¡¯t long before everyone could tell that this littledy knew her horses.

    But so what? The best horse had already been chosen by Li Beier and the others were no match in terms of speed.

    ¡°Are there any other horses?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    ¡°Yes, there are.¡± The helper from the riding club that was apanying her said. ¡°There are two more Arabian horses, a Trakehner horse, and an English pedigree. These four horses are all pedigrees with formal certification, and only members with the premium ck card can borrow them.¡±

    ¡°I have the premium ck card.¡± Li Lei smiled widely at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling responded, ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡± Actually, what she was truly interested in was not these four horses.

    ¡°Use mine, use mine!¡±

    ¡°We all have the premium ck card!¡± The group of rich gentlemen shouted out.

    Xia Ling ced her forehead in her hands and decided to ignore them.

    She remembered that the Nan Shan riding club did not only have these horses. There were still a few more special, private horses that were left in their care by rich members. She thought about it silently for a moment before asking Li Lei, ¡°What horse did you ride just now?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Li Lei replied, ¡°I was riding my own Hannover.¡± He had left a mixed breed Hannover in the care of the riding club, but the regretful thing was that Hannovers were good in high jumps but did not have the speed of English pedigrees in speed races. Hence, Li Lei did not suggest lending his Hannover to Xia Ling and wanted to use his premium ck card to borrow the pedigrees from the riding club instead.

    Yet, Xia Ling said, ¡°Can you bring me to see it?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei agreed readily. Although he was surprised, he was still happy that she was interested in his horse.

    No one dared raise any objection to Young Master Li bringing them to see his horse. Hence, the group of them followed Li Lei to the special breeding ground where premium ck card members would leave their private horses. This ce was not open to outsiders, thus the expensive horses were allowed to roam freely. asionally, the handsome silhouette of a horse galloping would pass by in front of their eyes.

    Li Lei ced his fingers between his lips and let out a whistle.

    A deep ck stallion appeared in front of everybody¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 59 - Her Valiant Song

    <h4>Chapter 59: Her Valiant Song</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It had a coat that was so ck and smooth that it shined, it¡¯s silky mane swept back in the wind. It looked handsome and elegant. Its gaze was deep and calm, like ake without any ripples, as it trotted over confidently to Li Lei and lowered its head gracefully to its owner.

    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful.¡± Someone eximed softly.

    Even though they had just seen Li Lei ride it earlier, the beauty of this horse was such that you were in awe every time you saw it.

    Li Leiughed as he patted the horse on the head, and then turned to introduce it to Xia Ling. ¡°Its name is Thunder, you can ride it.¡± He had named the horse after himself, showing how much he adored it. Other than Xia Ling, he had not allowed anyone else to ride it before.

    Fleetingly, the rich gentlemen that knew this fact all gave Xia Ling several more looks.

    Xia Ling simply walked around it observing, not indicating outright if she was going to ride it. In actual fact, when no one was looking, she had looked over to the ce that Thunder had walked over from. She had wanted to see another horse, but she wasn¡¯t sure if it was still here. Was it doing well?

    She looked around for a while, and just as she was feeling disappointed, a sh of a fiery red shadow appeared nearby.

    That horse was like the wind and also like a fleeting, red sh of lighting. Before anyone could react, it was galloping straight towards Xia Ling. Its speed was extremely fast as it came up close from the afar in just a matter of seconds. Its grand entrance made even Li Lei¡¯s Thunder back off a little.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Several people shouted out.

    That horse was galloping extremely fast, if one were to be in its path, they would eithernd up dead or paralyzed!

    Li Lei stretched out his hand, intending to pull Xia Ling to safety from this sudden urrence. Yet, her feet seemed to have grown roots and she stood there unwavering on the same spot, watching as the horse galloped towards her.

    Gosh, was she too scared to move?

    Many could not bear to look, thinking that she was about to be trampled upon and be a meat patty.

    Just as that horse was a half step away from Xia Ling, it stopped abruptly as quickly as it had galloped over.

    How lucky...

    Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

    Du Yunfeng was the first to snap back to his senses, and could not resist but chide Xia Ling. ¡°Why did you just stand there dumbly? You didn¡¯t move even when Second Young Master Li was pulling you away. Do you know how dangerous it is?!¡± Li Lei was unable to pull her away earlier and, hence, was unable to run out of the way in time as well. If the horse had crashed into them, whether or not Xia Ling died was secondary. If Li Lei had been harmed or injured, that would be a travesty!

    ¡°Yes, why were you in such a daze for?!¡± The wealthy gentlemen looking on took turns to chide her as they each snapped back to their senses.

    However, at this moment, Xia Ling was not listening to them at all. Her entire focus on was this fiery red and extremely beautiful mare. She slowly reached out her hand to pat the mare¡¯s mane on the top of its neck, as if she was saying hello to a friend she hadn¡¯t seen in a long time.

    The mare tamely leaned its head towards her, allowing her to stroke it tenderly, watching her with eyes as bright as precious stones. The look in its eyes contained loyalty, longing, and unspeakable sadness.

    ¡°Valiant Song.¡± Li Lei recognized the horse and watched on in surprise at its interaction with Xia Ling.

    ¡°It¡¯s Valiant Song.¡± Many others recognized the horse following Li Lei¡¯s statement. Many of these wealthy gentlemen kept horses at Nan Shan, and all those who kept horses here knew Valiant Song. She was too unique ¡ª of all the horses kept here, she was the only mare, but was the queen of all the horses here, going against the belief that stallions were superior in the riding scene.

    She was extremely aggressive and other than her owner, no one was able to get close to her.

    Her owner had already passed away.

    ¡°She was Miss Xia Ling¡¯s favorite horse when she was still alive.¡± The helper that had apanied them said as he came back to his senses.

    No one knew that this girl interacting so closely with Valiant Song was none other than Xia Ling reincarnated. Only Valiant Song had recognized her after pining for her for so long. Just one look and she had known who she was in the midst of the crowd.

    In her eyes, she saw both Xia Ling¡¯s past and present life.

    Xia Lingbed through Valiant Song¡¯s mane as her memories flooded back. She remembered traveling the world and spending two whole years for the cross-breeding, and then fighting through a blizzard to see Valiant Song being born in Ennd and then bringing her home on a chartered ne.

    She had named her ¡°Valiant Song,¡± tamed her and rode her in many ces.

    Later on, Xia Ling became busier and lost interest in horse riding. Xia Ling sent Valiant Song to the Nan Shan riding club for fear that she would be lonely in the huge backyard of Pei Ziheng¡¯s bungalow. Xia Ling had thought that Valiant Song would be happier amongst the pedigree horses in the riding club, roaming freely.

    After that, she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng and never saw Valiant Song again.

    This meeting was already two years since they had been separated.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Valiant Song, foring sote.¡± She buried her face in Valiant Song¡¯s mane and said softly, her voice too soft for anyone else to hear.

    Valiant Song understood her and whinnied softly in response.

    ¡°Unbelievable.¡± The helper looking on mumbled. ¡°Valiant Song approached her so willingly.¡±

    ¡°Can I ride her?¡± Xia Ling raised her head to ask. Her objective ining to this private area was never to see Li Lei¡¯s horse, but to look for Valiant Song. Two years had passed and she could not hold back her longing for her.

    However, the helper fidgeted and sheepishly said, ¡°Miss, this is the horse that Xia Ling ced in our care when she was alive. Now, she is owned by Mr. Pei Ziheng of Imperial Entertainment. Mr. Pei has told us that no one is to touch her.¡±

    So, she was now Pei Ziheng¡¯s horse.

    Xia Ling reluctantly let go of Valiant Song. She should have thought of the fact that after her death, all her possessions were transferred to the care of Pei Ziheng. Valiant Song was no exception.

    She did not want to have anything more to do with Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Forget it then.¡± She held in her sadness and turned around to leave.

    ¡°Are you not picking horses anymore?¡± asked Du Yunfeng. ¡°Second Young Master Li¡¯s Thunder is not bad as well. The other English Pedigree is also avable for you to pick. You...¡±

    ¡°I can pick from the horses avable to the normal club members.¡± Xia Ling replied dejectedly.

    If she was unable to ride Valiant Song, the other horses were all the same, be it a Hannover, an English pedigree, or a lesser known breed.

    She slowly walked away, her back looking lonely and forlorn.

    Valiant Song sensed that she was about to leave and ran up alongside her, whinnying as if she was anxiously asking Xia Ling to stay.

    Xia Ling walked faster and faster, not daring to stop, afraid that if she stopped she would not be able to leave anymore.

    However, Valiant Song persistently followed alongside her, her whinny bing more anxious.

    Finally, she could not take it anymore and stopped. Valiant Song ced her head across Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder, her cheek pressed against Xia Ling¡¯s cheek. Xia Ling closed her eyes as she felt Valiant Song¡¯s coat against her skin, struggling to control her tears from falling.

    ¡°What do we have to do to ride her?¡± All of a sudden, she heard Li Lei ask.

    The helper replied, his voice fraught with difort. ¡°Mr. Pei has set down a firm order. Under no condition can anyone rider her.¡± He felt a sense of regret, a prime horse like Valiant Song would bepletely useless if left unattended for any longer.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng really likes this horse?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice rang out again.

    The helper responded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What if it died?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± The helper looked up in shock.

    ¡°It dying, or it being ridden by someone else. Which of these would have more serious consequences?¡± Li Lei asked casually with a smile as if what he was saying was a typical dinner topic. ¡°If you make Xiao Ling unhappy, I will be unhappy. When I am unhappy, I will do anything I so please.¡±

 Chapter 60 - Iâ€™ll Give You a One-round Head Start

    <h4>Chapter 60: I¡¯ll Give You a One-round Head Start</h4>

    The service staff was stunned. This was a threat through and through.

    ¡°Y-young Master Li, you-you can¡¯t do this.¡± the service staff was already stammering. ¡°This horse, you- it...¡± He was incoherent and flustered. Gosh, he could not afford to offend Mr. Pei, but neither could he offend this big shot before him.

    Li Lei smiled cheekily. ¡°I¡¯ll give you five seconds. Five- four- three- two...¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± He yelled his decision chokingly. ¡°I¡¯ll lend it to you alright!¡± Young Master Li was known to be a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing, smiley and friendly on the outside but brutal on the inside, but why was everybody so afraid of him? Simply because he was capable of anything! The service staff really believed that he would kill Pei Ziheng¡¯s horse, and if the horse died in the Southern Mountains Equestrian Club, Pei Ziheng would definitely not let it go. When the time came, the whole club would be in deep trouble.

    The service staff pulled a long face, thinking what an unlucky day this was for him.

    Li Lei was content and his smile widened, ¡°You sure know the situation well. The next time you need any help, feel free to look for me.¡± He was a cruel person, but he would never force an innocent person to a dead end. It was clear that the service staff had to offend Pei Ziheng because of him, hence the alternative he provided the service staff was a way of constion as well as reward.

    All the employees at such high-end clubs were intelligent people, thus he definitely knew what Li Lei implied.

    At the moment, he realized that it was not an unlucky day at all. In fact, he was too lucky. Working for Young Master Li... Wow, even thinking about it was such a bliss. The service staff grinned from ear to ear and got the paperwork for the horse rental settled in no time.

    Xia Ling did not expect Li Lei to really borrow the horse for her. She was immensely touched.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she leaned against Valiant Song¡¯s beautiful mane and thanked him sweetly.

    Li Lei gazed at her, her slender figure against Valiant Song¡¯s sturdy stature created an unusual harmony. This girl was always careful not to owe him any favor, thus the only way he could make her happy was sessfully borrowing Valiant Song for her.

    As a matter of fact, this was the first time she spoke to him so softly and sweetly.

    Li Lei¡¯s look softened as well, his mood rising as well.

    ¡°Alright, alright. Thepetition can finally begin.¡± Du Yunfeng stepped out. ¡°Lass Ye, Li Bei Er, since you have both got your horses, let¡¯s begin before it turns dark.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t fair!¡± Li Bei Er kicked a fuss. ¡°The horse she got is Valiant Song, the fastest horse in the whole club! My horse can never beat hers!¡±

    Once the words were uttered, everyone turned and looked at Li Bei Er with disdain.

    Valiant Song was a hybrid of a thoroughbred and a Ferghana horse, its speed was indeed incredible and unbeatable. But when Li Bei Er made the first pick and chose the bay horse, thinking that Xia Ling could only get the remaining worse off horses, why had she not thought about it being unfair?

    ¡°Zhou, your judgment of people needs to be improved.¡± a rich man scorned at Li Bei Er and gave Second Young Master Zhou his sincere advice.

    Second Young Master Zhou was embarrassed. ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯ll give her a piece of my mind when we get back.¡±

    The words were merciless to Li Bei Er and she was shocked to hear them. ¡°Se-Second Young Master Zhou... you can¡¯t do this.¡± her voice was strained as if she was about to cry.

    ¡°Embarrass me again and there won¡¯t even be break-uppensation for you.¡± Second Young Master Zhou furrowed his brows in frustration.

    Li Bei Er went silent immediately, forcing back her tears. Seeing that Second Young Master Zhou deserting her was now an inescapable oue, she now kept her eye on the break-uppensation fee ¡ª she was not about to give that up.

    It¡¯s all that woman¡¯s fault!

    She shot Xia Ling a death re.

    Xia Ling spoke slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t mind exchanging horses with you. If you want Valiant Song, please go ahead.¡±

    Li Bei Er¡¯s eyes sparkled. If she rode Valiant Song, she would definitely beat that woman! However, the moment she tried to get close to Valiant Song, the brilliant brown horse had already raised its two front hooves and red at her threateningly.

    How terrifying!

    Frightened, Li Bei Er stopped in her tracks.

    She dared not even get within three feet of Valiant Song! Incorrigible, why didn¡¯t this horse allow her anywhere close! Why did it only ept that woman!

    Li Bei Er was furious, but she knew for a fact she would only embarrass herself further if she pressed on. Hence, she simply scoffed and backed out of Valiant Song¡¯s radius of attack in a pretense of noblepliance. ¡°I don¡¯t care for it. Anyway, there would be no glory if you win riding on Valiant Song!¡± She paved a way out for herself first. Thus if that woman really did win, at least she could save herself some dignity.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling appeared to smile. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a one-round head start, will that be fair then?¡±

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t for the win that she wanted to ride on Valiant Song, it was that she simply missed this horse too much. With her equestrian skills, she would be able to win the race even with any of the horses around.

    Everybody around was in shock ¡ª a one-round head start? Did she get it wrong? The race was only a distance of three rounds, one round would constitute one-third of the race ¡ª that was too huge a head start. ¡°Little girl, you¡¯d better reconsider. Don¡¯t be impulsive, that bay horse is also a good horse, and Li Bei Er¡¯s skills are not too bad. You¡¯re taking too big a risk.¡± Some advised.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Xia Ling was brimming with confidence as she looked Li Bei Er straight in the eye. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a one-round head start. If I lose, I¡¯ll live up to the deal we made. And if you lose, you will act ording to your promise.¡±

    ¡°... Fine!¡± Li Bei Er clenched her teeth, agreeing to the offer as everyone stared down at her in contempt.

    She didn¡¯t have a choice. She remembered the deal: if she lost, she would have to physically roll out of Xia Ling¡¯s sight and also give her a ne ¡ª it was too great a cost. So, embarrassing as it was, why would she say no to such a good offer if the foolishdy had volunteered it?

    The racemenced.

    As the judge dered the start, Li Bei Er rode the bay horse and started out immediately. She rode extremely slowly to make full use of the one-round head start, so as to conserve as much energy as she could for the final burst. The spectators watching the scene lost respect for her once more.

    ¡°Will yourss lose this race?¡± Du Yunfeng nudged Li Lei and asked him softly.

    ¡°Why would she.¡± Li Lei red at him.

    ¡°Even in this situation?¡± Du Yunfeng was curious. ¡°How good are her equestrian skills, at a divine level?¡±

    ¡°How am I to know, I¡¯ve never seen her ride a horse.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen her ride a horse, but you¡¯re so confident of her?¡± Du Yunfeng had no idea what he was listening to anymore.

    ¡°Of course, she¡¯s my woman.¡± Li Lei was smug.

    Du Yunfeng was speechless. He was sure that Li Lei was really in love this time because only those in love could be so silly and irrational.

    What a pity it was that Li Lei could not hear his thoughts, he was fully concentrated on the race track ¡ª

    Xia Ling started off.

 Chapter 61 - Li Bei Erâ€™s Defeat

    <h4>Chapter 61: Li Bei Er¡¯s Defeat</h4>

    She was wearing a white outfit as she gracefully rode on the smooth and beautiful Valiant Song¡¯s red coat, stealing all attention the moment she set out. Her control of the horse was sleek and well-practiced, giving the watchers a certain infectious rhythm to it, while Valiant Song¡¯s gallop was swift and light, her stance resembling a stream of clouds.

    ¡°Based on their posture alone, she¡¯s already beat Li Bei Er hands down.¡± Du Yunfeng kept his eyes on the track.

    ¡°And she¡¯s really fast,¡± another wealthy man added.

    ¡°She¡¯s practically flying,¡± said another.

    They were right, the way Valiant Song moved made it appear like it was flying ¡ª the four hooves barely touched the ground and each stride covered a great distance. Meanwhile, Xia Ling effortlessly controlled the rope. In the spring breeze with andscape full of cherry blossoms, her slender figure and pretty face were as beautiful as a fairy¡¯s.

    In terms of physical appearance, she might not be the best of them all.

    Yet, the radiance she emitted at this very moment made every girl present look on in envy.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li...¡± Du Yunfeng¡¯s eyes were still on the track as he gave Li Lei a pat on the back, ¡°you¡¯ve got a good taste.¡±

    Li Lei smiled and his line of sight followed the figure around the track. With just a short moment¡¯s effort, Xia Ling had already ridden on Valiant Song for a round and a half, almost catching up with Li Bei Er ¡ª which meant that in the time Xia Ling covered one and a half rounds, Li Bei Er had not even managed one round! That was an incredibly big gap!

    Outside the race area, all the spectators were psyched.

    ¡°Fight on! Ye Xingling! Overtake her!¡± A few of them cheered Xia Ling on.

    ¡°Fight on! Fight on!¡± The cheers were building up.

    Xia Ling bent over slightly, gently petting Valiant Song¡¯s beautiful red mane. ¡°Little Song, I¡¯m counting on you.¡±

    Valiant Song shared a telepathic connection with its owner and leaped forward, catching up to within a meter of Li Bei Er.

    Li Bei Er panicked. She never expected Xia Ling to catch up so quickly, incorrigible! She desperately whipped the bay horse and shouted. ¡°Go faster, you beast! Faster! Don¡¯t let that woman overtake us!¡±

    The bay horse responded to theshes and managed to pull off another half a meter from Valiant Song.

    ¡°Catch up with her!¡± The spectators were roaring now.

    Li Bei Er got furious hearing the cheers and whipped the horse again. Yet this time, no matter how sheshed it, the bay horse could not go any faster. It was already giving its all, it simply could not keep up.

    Seeing Xia Ling emerge from the side all ready to overtake her, Li Bei Er clenched her jaw and directed the bay horse to take its ce. ¡°Block them! Don¡¯t let them get past us! If we¡¯re not going fast, they can forget about it too!¡±

    Li Bei Er had decided to block Xia Ling¡¯s path.

    The track was narrow, to begin with, and with Li Bei Er intentionally getting in the way, it was going to be tough for Xia Ling to get past her.

    ¡°Despicable!¡± A manshed out in anger.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± The rest chimed in. Xia Ling¡¯s leading of the horse was a beautiful sight, as their silhouettes merged into a charming figure, gliding rhythmically in the air. As of now, they had slowed down significantly due to Li Bei Er¡¯s move.

    While everybody was unhappy with the situation, Xia Ling was smiling.

    Thinking of blocking her off? Fat hope!

    ¡°Little Song.¡± She lightly raised the hoop around Valiant Song. ¡°Up!¡±

    The majestic red horse let out a neigh, demonstrating its might as if it was weing a Queen. It was the most majestic horse in the Southern Mountains, no horse dared undermine its honor!

    The bay horse ahead was shaken by the neigh and instinctively shifted to make way.

    ¡°Go!¡± The moment Xia Ling pulled the hoop, the horse made a brilliant leap and overtook the bay horse in the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Gosh!¡±

    ¡°That was beautiful!¡±

    ¡°Truly unbelievable!¡±

    The spectators were seething with excitement, that was a truly impressive move ¡ª so swift that many did not even get a chance to really see what had happened. It seemed like Xia Ling and Valiant Song had got into ce in the split second that they lost focus.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a female rider this skilled.¡± Du Yunfeng was still resting on Li Lei¡¯s shoulder; he had forgotten to release him because of the excitement.

    Li Lei maintained his cheerful expression, but deep down he was shocked. This little girl¡¯s equestrian skills were divine, where did she learn that from? It seemed like she had many secrets...

    He squinted his eyes slightly, a thought shing in his mind.

    There was no suspense in the remaining of the race, Xia Ling effortlesslypleted three rounds with a half-round lead ¡ª no, if the head start she gave Li Bei Er was considered, it was a full one and a half round lead! What did that mean? She went at twice the speed of Li Bei Er!

    The crowd roared once again as they made their way to the finish line in a massive group, the way a crowd would embrace the arrival of a hero.

    Xia Ling got off the horse with ease, receiving the mineral water provided by the service staff.

    ¡°Nice work, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei did not withhold hispliments.

    She smiled and petted Valiant Song who was by her side. ¡°It¡¯s Valiant Song¡¯s nice work.¡±

    The poised red horse lowered its head and affectionately snuggled up against its owner. This horse was extremely temperamental and no one was able to get within three feet of it. However, it was extremely loyal and tender to the people it epted.

    Du Yunfeng, Second Young Master Zhou and a few others began to encircle them, showering them with praises.

    A few quick-witted girls realized that the wealthy men and masters around were flocking towards Xia Ling, and hence joined in. Some were praising her sky-high and suggested getting to know her over tea someday, while others were asking her for equestrian guidance.

    Everybody was so absorbed with Xia Ling that they had not even noticed Li Bei Er finishing the race.

    Li Bei Er was grinding her teeth in resentment as she hurled the whip to the ground. Right then she realized that Xia Ling stealing the limelight was not all bad, in fact, it was a good opportunity for her to sneak away without having to pay her debt.

    ¡°Hold it right there.¡± It was a clear, sharp voice.

    It was Xia Ling. While everybody had not taken notice of Li Bei Er, she was watching the whole time. Xia Ling did not have many merits, but one of them was bearing grudges ¡ª anybody who had offended her could forget about getting away with it.

    ¡°Where is Miss Li headed for?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled in ridicule.

    Everybody darted their eyes to Li Bei Er, finally noticing her existence.

    ¡°Li Bei Er, you¡¯ve lost, surely you¡¯re not thinking of escaping?¡± Someone remarked.

    ¡°Why- Why would I!¡± Hatred rose inside Li Bei Er. Since there was no way out, the only thing left was to deny her move.

    ¡°d to know that you¡¯re not.¡± Xia Ling walked out of the crowd and stopped before her, showing Li Bei Er her fair and delicate palm. ¡°Hand it over.¡±

    ¡°Hand what over?¡± Li Bei Er feigned ignorance.

    ¡°The ne.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Trying to go back on your word?¡±

 Chapter 62 - Being Rewarded by a Woman

    <h4>Chapter 62: Being Rewarded by a Woman</h4>

    Li Bei Er was evidently distressed as she held her pendant tightly in her fist in an attempt to protect it. ¡°Don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    The ne cost a bomb, and she had only managed to borrow it from a ¡°godsister¡± in the industry after she pestered her for it. That godsister only had this one valuable essory, thus if Li Bei Er lost it, she would definitely be in hot soup.

    The thought of it brought out Li Bei Er¡¯s tears.

    Xia Ling had kept her smile on. ¡°So you¡¯re saying you don¡¯t intend to walk your talk.¡±

    As she spoke, she subtly shot a nce towards Second Young Master Zhou.

    Second Young Master Zhou was unnerved by her expression ¡ª Li Bei Er was the woman he brought along and she had embarrassed him utterly. The thought of it angered him. ¡°Li Bei Er,¡± His tone ice-cold. ¡°you bet, you pay. Don¡¯t end up leaving yourself with no chance to even pay up for your stakes!¡±

    Li Bei Er felt a chill run down her spine, only now just figuring out what was really going on.

    She would rather offend her Godsister than Second Young Master Zhou ¡ª he had more than a hundred ways to send her to her death.

    Li Bei Er vehemently removed her ne and handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Take it!¡±

    Xia Ling received it. On her fair and slender fingers, the pendant glinted in the sun so splendidly that she could not take her eyes off it. Li Bei Er felt more than a pinch, as she could not bear to watch how Xia Ling acted with it.

    Xia Ling mindlessly toyed with the ne as she instructed Li Bei Er, ¡°You can roll off now.¡±

    What, she still had to roll! Li Bei Er was hoping Xia Ling would¡¯ve forgotten that part of the deal. Unfortunately, it was crystal clear in her memory. Li Bei Er red at Xia Ling. ¡°Don¡¯t push it! Ye Xingling, you¡¯re in the entertainment industry too. If you make things so ugly, it¡¯ll be impossible to be on good terms in the future!¡±

    ¡°Good terms? I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need.¡± Xia Ling did not give much care, she was just a third-tier celebrity, what right had she to put herself in the same league as Xia Ling herself? In her eyes, this Li Bei Er was simply a speck of dust.

    ¡°Do you want to roll on your own or should I get somebody to assist you?¡± She asked in kindness.

    Li Bei Er was alternating between a pale green and a ghastly white.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling evenid out her options for her, counting them off her fingers, ¡°If you roll on your own, you can control the speed and power of the execution and probably protect your face. If someone assists you, there¡¯s no telling how hard they¡¯ll push...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it myself...¡± Li Bei Er finally said.

    In front of everybody who was gloating and enjoying her humiliation, she crouched down and rolled over round after round along the field. She had a hard time rolling, thus in a few moments she was covered in bits of grass from head to toe, her hair waspletely disheveled, and fragments of pebbles and twigs had left scratches on her skin. She was a sorry mess.

    Among the watchers, a few girls were stifling theirughs.

    Li Bei Er¡¯s high and mighty attitude had made her unpopr among many girls, thus making it a pleasure to witness her in such a sorry state now. On the surface, however, they appeared sympathetic as they coquettishlymented. ¡°She¡¯s so pitiful...¡±

    ¡°Yeah, her face has been badly scratched. I wonder if it¡¯ll leave scars...¡±

    ¡°I say, one has to be self-aware. She must¡¯ve been out of her mind to provoke someone like Young Master Li.¡±

    ¡°Who knew she was so silly and miserable...¡±

    The group of girls chattering was exchanging sympatheticments, but even then their excitement could not be masked. Xia Ling was in a good mood as well... for somebody who always made sure to get back at others, being able to take revenge in person was a great feeling.

    ¡°For you.¡± Seeing that Li Bei Er had left her line of sight, she delightedly announced it to Li Lei.

    Li Lei looked at the ne that had appeared in his hand, baffled. ¡°For me?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling made it sound like it was the expected thing to do. ¡°You were the one who suggested the stakes. Now that I¡¯ve won it, of course, it goes to you. Take it as an interest payment.¡± Having said her piece, she turned around and walked off, leaving Li Lei stunned staring at the ne in his hand.

    Du Yunfeng guffawed. ¡°Second Young Master Li, Second Young Master Li... Ha ha ha, it¡¯s always been you rewarding thedies, when did the tables turn? So, how does it feel? Aren¡¯t you going to thank the heavens? Ha ha ha...¡±

    Li Lei looked glum as he kept the ne and strode off.

    Some of them tugged at Du Yunfeng and asked in concern. ¡°Do you think Second Young Master Li is angry?¡±

    ¡°How could he be,¡± Du Yunfeng wasughing while wiping some tears. ¡°Oh god, this is too funny... Ha ha ha... Old Liu, don¡¯t you worry, didn¡¯t you see how shepletely ruled over him, how could he really be angry with her? Maybe he¡¯s angry with himself!¡± Of everyone present, Du Yunfeng was the closest to Li Lei, they were the real deal as buddies. Hence, hearing his words, everybody was much more at ease ¡ª thankfully Li Lei was not angry, otherwise, everybody would have to bear the cost.

    Indeed, Li Lei was angry with himself.

    It was he who brought her to the club and failed to defend her, subjecting her to the provocation of others and having to stand up for her. She even refused to ept the gift, and went one step further to use it as an interest payment to draw a line between the two of them!

    Li Lei felt that in all the years he had humored and coaxed girls, he had never failed this way.

    This was an insult, an utter insult to him.

    No, he had to find a way out of it!

    While Li Lei made a vow with his fist clenched, Xia Ling, on the other hand, was having a jolly time leading Valiant Song along as she strolled by the field. She had walked far out, where the cherry blossoms were lush and blooming abundantly.

    How long had it been since she admired the scenery?

    Xia Ling wondered as she walked.

    It seemed like ever since she found out about Pei Ziheng and Wang Jingwan¡¯s engagement in her previous life, her entire world had crumbled and was nketed inplete darkness. Even in her current life, she had been living in the sadness of the past while having to deal with daily affairs as well as Pei Ziheng¡¯s harassment. If it wasn¡¯t for this trip to the Southern mountains for horse riding and appreciation of cherry blossoms, she had no idea when she would finally be able to smile from the bottom of her heart.

    She reached out and stroked Valiant Song¡¯s gorgeous fur, with Valiant Song snuggling against her affectionately.

    Coming here, as well as reuniting with Valiant Song, it was all thanks to one person.

    Li Lei.

    Maybe, getting along with Li Lei was not as bad as she had thought after all.

    Just as she was that thought, she heard somebody calling out behind her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She turned around. Speaking of the devil, the person who was riding over was none other than Li Lei.

    With one hand holding onto the rope loosely, he rode on the back of a ck Hanoverian, his handsome features embracing the warmth of the sun and the scent of the flowers, a scene too attractive to turn away from. He rode a few steps forward and got off, walking towards Xia Ling, ¡°I looked for you for a long time, why are you strolling here alone?¡±

    ¡°What are you looking for me for?¡± She tilted her head slightly.

    ¡°Stretch your hand out.¡± He smiled.

    ¡°What for?¡± She was confused.

    ¡°Just do it.¡±

    Hence she obeyed and held her hand out.

    In the golden rays of the sun, his warm hand held hers, and then she felt a cold, heavy matter on her wrist.

    She looked down and saw a beautiful bangle.

 Chapter 63 - Peach Blossoms of the Southern Mountains

    <h4>Chapter 63: Peach Blossoms of the Southern Mountains</h4>

    The bangle was fashioned out of tinum, with intricate carvings of four-leaf clovers. Every detail was perfectly, wlessly created, and the design was one that every girl would like ¡ª unique in its magnificence and ssy in its simplicity.

    Xia Ling took a nce at it and looked up. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°It¡¯s for you. You won the race and everyone has something for you, so do I.¡± His tone revealed traces of coquettishness, like a child grabbing for candy.

    Xia Ling did not know if she should beughing, ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡±

    ¡°You have to take it.¡± Big Boss Li was even more childlike now.

    Xia Ling was about to wring the bangle out of her wrist but was stopped by Li Lei. ¡°No removing it, even I have epted the ne from you.¡±

    Xia Ling choked on her words.

    Big Boss Li smiled brightly. ¡°You just made your debut. In the future, there¡¯ll be many instances where you need essories and such. Thepany has a limited budget for you budding talents, you can¡¯t be wearing the same few pieces all the time. Keep this bangle with you, it can go well for many different asions and settings.¡±

    Xia Ling rested her hand, acknowledging that he was right. Besides, their talent and substance wasn¡¯t the next thing those female celebritiespeted over appearances and dressing? Though she was not like other female celebrities who sought after such material possessions, there was no need to be too pretentious and insist on declining it.

    On that thought, she smiled at Li Lei. ¡°Thank you, Boss.¡±

    ¡°¡®Boss¡¯ sounds so distant, can¡¯t you change the way you address me?¡± Big Boss Li was pushing his limits.

    Xia Ling gestured to remove the bangle again.

    ¡°No, no.¡± Big Boss Li gave in. ¡°¡®Boss¡¯ it is. Keep it, please keep it.¡±

    A smile shed across Xia Ling¡¯s mind, feeling the cool metallic essory on her wrist warm up a little.

    In the warm glow of the evening, peach blossoms dotted thendscape of a golden sunset. Xia Ling and Li Lei strolled side by side along flora and fauna with Valiant Song and Thunder following behind. From a distance, the scene looked straight out of a beautiful painting.

    Du Yunfeng stood on the upper deck at the club and looked into binocrs. ¡°Second Young Master Li has really fallen into the pit, when did this beast begin doing things like apanying girls on a walk? ... Look, just look at him! He¡¯s moving towards her, he¡¯s touched her shoulder! Oh, she moved away! ... He¡¯s moving closer again... she moved away...!¡±

    A group of them watched Du Yunfeng in silence.

    They didn¡¯t even need to see it know that Second Young Master Li had fallen into the pit since Li Lei had hurriedly gotten someone to deliver the bangle just a while ago. Though the bangle was just made of tinum, it was carved by a top-notch artisan ¡ª ordinary as it looked, it was, in fact, more valuable than all of their giftsbined.

    Furthermore, Second Young Master Li got it delivered on a helicopter...

    A few of them had thought of taking advantage of the helicopter to deliver their gifts for Xia Ling as well, but besides rejecting their request, Second Young Master Li had threatened them: Whoever dared give Xia Ling their gift before he did would have to bear the consequences!

    Petty, he was truly petty.

    A few of the men had some unspoken criticisms: if this goes on, won¡¯t he be a ve to his wife?

    No, no...

    Everyone came to an epiphany, this girl was merely a small celebrity who had just made her debut, and she did not seem like she came from a wealthy family. How could she be Second Young Master Li¡¯s official wife?

    He was indeed just having some fun.

    In that case, everyone came to an understanding. Maybe Second Young Master Li just wanted to try a different game?

    The group of them were having a whale of a time over afternoon tea.

    In the path of flora and fauna, Xia Ling was tired from the strolling. She reluctantly bade farewell to Valiant Song and returned with Li Lei.

    ¡°I cane with you to see it often if you want,¡± said Li Lei.

    Xia Ling was slightly stunned. While she watched Valiant Song walk off, she quietly said, ¡°Thank you, but it¡¯s alright.¡± The horse was Pei Ziheng¡¯s, and nothing would change that fact however close she was to Valiant Song.

    In thest warm glow, before dark descended, the pain she had buried from her previous life was creeping up inside her again.

    Li Lei had no idea why she was down. Though he was right next to her, at that moment he felt that she was far, far away, too distant for him reach out to her.

    That was an awful feeling.

    The two of them, each with their thoughts, returned to the bustle in the club and had dinner with the rest before heading for bed.

    The following day, Li Lei sent Xia Ling back to Skyart Entertainment Training Camp.

    As usual, he dropped her off at the garage where nobody was around.

    Xia Ling said her goodbyes to Li Lei and returned to her dormitory. She pushed open the door to see a few people standing around in the room ¡ª besides her roommates, the dormitory warden and a foreign, seemingly timid girl was around as well.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re back just in time.¡± The warden told her. ¡°Yi Yi is a new trainee here, the dormitory is full and there are no extra beds, so there¡¯s no choice but to allocate her here for now. Let her bunk in with the rest of you for a few days ¡ª you¡¯ll be moving out soon anyway.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling blinked a couple of times.

    ¡°Trainees who have made their debut have to move out of the dormitory, don¡¯t you know that?¡± asked the warden.

    That was when Xia Ling remembered Tan Ying mentioning something of that sort when she had signed the contract. But she had been busy with the styling and the practicing of songs and hencepletely forgot about it.

    She apologized to the warden and readily weed Yi Yi.

    It was ufortable having to share a bed with another person, but the fault was on her part. In the night, as shey beside Yi Yi and the rhythm of her regr breathing, Xia Ling began to think. Where would be a good ce to move to?

    There was no way she could return to the Ye family ¡ª who knew when the money-faced Ye parents would betray her again.

    Buy an apartment? She must be kidding, the property prices were ridiculously high, where was she to find the money?

    Helpless, she went to Tan Ying¡¯s office the following day.

    ¡°I¡¯ve asked around a few peers,¡± she said, ¡°and heard that trainees like me who cannot find a suitable ce to move to could stay in one owned by thepany.¡±

    ¡°This possibility does exist,¡± said Tan Ying slowly. ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m unable to let you stay in one, it¡¯s just unfortunate that there are no more vacant apartments under Skyart Entertainment¡¯s name now. How about this, you can rent a ce outside and thepany will cover the costs.¡±

    Xia Ling had no other options, it seemed that that was the way to go.

    She got Wei Wei to seek out a ce for her.

    Wei Wei, an assistant thepany had assigned her, was a warm-hearted and cheerful girl with a pair of dimples, making her exceptionally adorable when she smiled. In a couple of days, she had managed to find a fairly good apartment and went on to hand Xia Ling the information.

    After returning from the Southern Mountains, Xia Ling continued working hard on Wei Shaoyin¡¯s ¡°ss Fingertips,¡± practicing all day and all night, with no heart to bother about misceneous things like looking for an apartment. She told Wei Wei to settle it as she deemed fit as long as it was approved by thepany.

    For different sses of celebrities, thepany provided corresponding standards of amodation. Wei Wei was familiar with the guidelines and carefully picked the most suitable apartments to seek Tan Ying¡¯s approval. However...

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling,¡± Wei Wei was the same age as Xia Ling, but had very politely addressed her as ¡°sister.¡±¡±all the apartments I picked have been rejected by Chairman Tan.¡±

    Xia Ling was baffled. ¡°Why?¡±

    Wei Wei was puzzled as well, ¡°Chairman Tan did not mention why. He just requested you to speak with him.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed. She was unsure of what Tan Ying was up to this time as she resignedly made her way to his office.

 Chapter 64 - Meeting Su Tang Again

    <h4>Chapter 64: Meeting Su Tang Again</h4>

    Tan Ying sat behind a wooden office desk, working on his piles of documents.

    Seeing that Xia Ling had entered, he spoke without even raising his head. ¡°All the apartments that you¡¯ve sought out, which one of them has adequate security measures to keep you safe from Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Xia Ling only just understood why he had disapproved of all the previous apartments. So it seemed, the apartments were not the problem, it was the man she got involved with. Over the past few days, she had been trying her best to avoid thinking about him at all as if shrinking into her shell could make her forget that he ever existed. Yet, in fact, it was so difficult to forget him...

    Even while singing ¡°ss Fingertips,¡± all she pictured was him.

    Fingertip stroking the ss panes/ in the cool, misty ¡ª

    Air/ who is singing all alone ¡ª

    The unspeakable/ forbidden pain...

    During the test run, Wei Shaoyin was extremely impressed by her performance, and told her that he never expected her to be able to sing lyrical poetry so sensationally ¡ª the unsettled tossing and turning, the unforgettable memories, were all brought out in the finest of details.

    What he did not know was that she indeed tossed and turned night after night.

    ¡°ss Fingertips¡± had probably reminded her of her troubles, thus she was now often hung up about matters of the heart and virtually trapped in her past, forgetting the actual pressing issue ¡ª Pei Ziheng had attempted to kidnap her.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Ye Xingling, all these apartments don¡¯t make the mark.¡±

    She was troubled now if these apartments did not make the mark, then most of the apartments in the city would not either. What should she do then? Her worries led her to the wildest thoughts, maybe she could live in the training camp for another ten, twenty years until she had spent her youth and her looks had faded. Maybe then, Pei Ziheng would finally let her off.

    These thoughts upset her even more.

    Tan Ying looked at her expression, he figured it was a good time to step in. In no hurry at all, he said, ¡°If you can¡¯t find a way around it, I can give you a suggestion.¡±

    A glimmer of hope shed before her, as she looked at him like he was her savior.

    Tan Ying smiled. ¡°You went to Boss¡¯s apartment thest time, didn¡¯t you. He actually has a vacant apartment that he can rent out to you.¡± Big Boss knew that she was moving out of the dormitory, and had specially requested that she moved into the apartment beside his. Chairman Tan had used deceitful excuses, thus the n was finally taking shape.

    Xia Ling was alerted.

    ¡°Chairman Tan, why?¡± Though her impression of him had improved after their trip to the Southern mountains, that did not imply that she had let all her guard down against him ¡ª Li Lei had not given up on being with her yet.

    ¡°Since thepany has decided to boost your image, there¡¯s no way we will let you be at risk.¡± Tan Ying exined the situation calmly, although it was all just a means of convincing her on Boss¡¯ behalf. ¡°Boss heard that you couldn¡¯t find a ce and knows that Pei Ziheng is a difficult person to deal with, so he offered his ce. Since it¡¯s under Boss¡¯ name, the apartment is definitely safe.¡±

    He paused for a moment before adding, ¡°The ce is vacant anyway.¡±

    But she still felt that Big Boss Li¡¯s goodwill was a little dubious.

    Even so, she had no better option, the only way she could be safe from Pei Ziheng was to be around somebody as wealthy and influential as Li Lei. She considered for a moment and confirmed with Tan Ying once again whether there were additional terms and conditions besides the rental. With Tan Ying¡¯s affirmation, she finally agreed.

    Tan Ying arranged for her to meet Li Lei¡¯s private secretary for the signing of the rental agreement.

    When they met, Xia Ling realized it was someone she had known all along ¡ª Su Tang. Today, Su Tang was in a white dress, her loose locks resting on her shoulders as she exuded a faint fragrance from her perfume. She looked as elegant and gracious as she always had.

    She stopped before Xia Ling, stretched out her hand, and smiled. ¡°We meet again.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her hand lightly.

    The touch was cold, just as the unreadable expression in her eyes.

    She still did not like Xia Ling, though Xia Ling had no idea why. But she was Li Lei¡¯s private secretary, not hers ¡ª her emotions and attitude were irrelevant to Xia Ling.

    Carrying that thought, Xia Ling signed the agreement.

    Su Tang led her to see the apartment.

    As they arrived on Li Lei¡¯s floor in the personal elevator, Su Tang reached for the keys to open the door adjacent to Li Lei¡¯s unit.

    What came into view was arge space with all the partitions having been knocked off, leaving four walls and an empty apartment. Su Tang¡¯s poised and cold voice echoed. ¡°This unit has always been vacant and has never been refurbished. Since you¡¯ll be living here, you can decide on the furnishings and style you want and I¡¯ll get somebody to have it done.¡±

    Xia Ling did a round in the spacious room. ¡°Since there¡¯s no one living here, why are all the walls and partitions knocked down?¡±

    ¡°Out of safety concerns,¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice was still cold and clear. ¡°Young Master¡¯s identity is unusual, and that invites ruthless individuals to attempt to assassinate him. So, his living quarters have to be neat and minimally obstructed.¡± How she wished this girl would be afraid after listening to this and withdraw from the agreement.

    But Xia Ling just got a little shocked and simply nodded her head.

    That¡¯s it... that¡¯s all she did?

    Su Tang was disappointed, did this girl not know what ¡°assassinate¡± meant! Looking at her petite stature, any assassin could kill her by barely lifting a finger! That was not the main point, the point was, all of Young Master¡¯s apartments and offices around the world were handled the same way with all partitions knocked down to create space, but none of them was meant for putting anybody up. How could this seemingly ordinary girl be an unprecedented exception?

    Su Tang felt her chest tighten on that thought.

    Xia Ling waspletely unaware of Su Tang¡¯s emotions. Given that Li Lei had a triad background, Xia Ling found nothing unusual with him having a few enemies who wanted him dead. As for her personal safety? If Big Boss Li dared live there, there was nothing she had to fear.

    She went another round before telling Su Tang. ¡°The bedroom, kitchen, and washroom need not be too big. In this space where it faces the sun...¡± she gestured, ¡°turn it into a dance studio, the bigger the better. And besides, it will be a sound-test studio, one that can amodate much equipment... Yup, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Su Tang jotted down her requests. ¡°No other requests? Say, the color scheme, style or types of furniture.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head.

    Refurbishing was not something new to Xia Ling. When she lived with Pei Ziheng, she spent a whole year designing in excitement, discussing every detail with the interior designer for fear of any w or imperfection.

    As of now, what point was there in having a beautiful house when all her family was gone?

    Su Tang did not probe further. She locked the door behind them and left.

    Now that her amodations were settled, the load was lifted off her shoulders as she directed her undivided attention to the recording of ¡°ss Fingertips.¡± Wei Shaoyin¡¯s standards were terrifyingly high, even she was being nitpicked. During her break, many of the employees praised her, mentioning that few have managed to get the recording done so smoothly and swiftly.

    Xia Ling had no words. This was considered a smooth process? Now she finally knew why Wei Shaoyin never had a fixed partner all these years. Who could take that fussy temper of his?

 Chapter 65 - The Surveillance Camera

    <h4>Chapter 65: The Surveince Camera</h4>

    The recording of the song waspleted and the MV filming had also concluded.

    Xia Ling had managed to finish these two parts with difficulty, and it was now Wei Shaoyin¡¯s turn to do some polishing up from the backend. He kindly gave her a few days off for a break.

    She received a message from Su Tang telling her that the renovation work for her apartment was done and she could now move in.

    As such, she packed her luggage and a few boxes of her stuff to officially move into her new apartment. The girls in the same dorm room as her had offered to help her out, but she was wary of letting them find out that she was staying just next door from Big Boss Li, thus rejected their offer. Thankfully, Li Lei had asked Su Tang to send some movers to pick her up and the move waspleted smoothly.

    Xia Ling pushed open the door of her apartment when she arrived.

    The sight in front of her eyes left her momentarily stunned. The entrance area was lined with white tiles, and a small, man-made waterfall mountain stood at the end of the small walkway spotted with green moss, forming a screen of sorts from the living room. Turning around the corner, the living room was forest-themed, with a soft, beige coloured sofa with several feather-filled cushions flung carelessly on it. On the exquisitely designed coffee table, there was a cdon tea set with a cracked ice pattern.

    The floor was a criss-cross of wood and rock, with a meander of transparent ss. Under the ss was a small, narrow stream with multi-coloured stones and many vibrant, swimming fish. Following this little ss stream would bring her to the balcony. There were many tall nts on the balcony, swaying in the wind and vying for her attention. The sunlight shined in through the cracks in the leaves, making the ce feel great and peaceful.

    Under the shade of the nts, there was a bamboo deck chair. At this moment, someone was lyingzily on the deck chair, with a simrlyzy leopard that was staring at the swimming fish under the ss stream.

    It was Li Lei and Er Mao.

    Xia Ling had always been scared of Er Mao and stopped where she was upon seeing him. She called out to Li Lei, ¡°Boss.¡±

    She did not ask why he had appeared here. He was herndlord and also her Big Boss. Even if he had trespassed on her living quarters, nobody would bother to question if this was appropriate.

    The few workers that had helped her move in had also quietly took their leave.

    Li Lei smiled amicably at her, his deep green eyes forming a line under the sun. His proportionate and muscr body was lying gracefully andfortably on the deck chair, lookingzy and harmless like the big cat that was crouching at his feet. However, she had seen Er Mao kill someone before, thus naturally she also considered his owner to be a dangerous being.

    ¡°The lemon tea is delicious today. Do you want a ss?¡± He asked in a happy tone.

    ¡°No thanks.¡± She remained in the same spot, noticing that Er Mao had lifted his head.

    The moment she met Er Mao¡¯s eyes, Xia Ling felt all the hairs on her body stand, her breathing cease and did not dare to move. Er Mao¡¯s eyes, which looked like precious amber stones, looked her up and down for a while, not shifting away swiftly like they usually would. He looked at her intently, as if he was remembering every detail of her by heart.

    This made her feelpletely terrified.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough Er Mao, let¡¯s not scare our tenant.¡± After a while, Li Lei¡¯s attractive voice floated over, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be nervous. He¡¯s just trying to remember how you look like.¡±

    Remember how she looked like?

    Xia Ling could notprehend this. This was not the first time that Er Mao had seen her, why was he...?

    Li Lei reached out his hand to rub the soft fur on the back of Er Mao¡¯s neck as he continued, ¡°He needs to not only remember your looks and breath, but also your body shape, voice, every action, and even the details of your every expression... In the future you¡¯ll be our neighbour, thus he needs to differentiate you from other unwee guests.¡±

    She remembered what Su Tang had told her regarding assassins and nodded, fullyprehending what he meant.

    Her nervousness dissipated a little with his exnation.

    Li Lei stood up from the deck chair and walked around Er Mao towards her, ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll give you a tour of your new home.¡±

    This was not her home. The ce she called home had ceased to exist the moment Pei Ziheng lifted his hand to hit her and she fell to the floor. This apartment, thoughrge and luxurious, was just a cold house to her.

    However, she could only keep these thoughts deep within her heart.

    She followed behind him out of the living room feeling puzzled. This apartment was newly renovated, and they had already signed the contract. Why did Big Boss Li have to take the trouble to personallye down to show her around the house? However, she found out the reason very soon after ¡ª

    As he brought her around to familiarize herself to the surroundings, he exined the security system in the house. In many inconspicuous ces, there were small but deadly traps. If she was not careful, there was a possibility that she would be killed.

    She walked around in trepidation all the way.

    Why did she feel like this ce was not an apartment, but a huge booby trap?

    In contrast to her cautiousness, Li Lei was obviously used to all theseyers of protection, and strode along confidently as if they were taking an evening stroll. He used his deep, attractive voice to exin, ¡°This security system blueprint was randomly selected from a set of more than ten blueprints and even the designer doesn¡¯t know which one we decided to use in the end. All the traps are installed separately, with several different groups of installers. In other words, other than you and me, there isn¡¯t a third person that knows all of the traps installed here. You need not worry about your safety.¡±

    She nodded, feeling safer. With a security system this watertight, it would not be easy for Pei Ziheng to crack it unless he suddenly set his mind to battle it out with Li Lei, ignoring all reason and cost.

    At least she would be safe here.

    ¡°Thank you, Boss.¡± She said.

    This is the umpteenth time that she had thanked him since they had met. Xia Ling knew that with the meager amount that she was paying him for rent, it was likely that it was not sufficient to cover even half a square foot of this ce. Nevertheless, he had generously agreed for her to stay here. Regardless of his motive, the consideration that he showed her was enough for her to feel a deep sense of gratitude.

    Li Leiughed happily.

    He brought her on a tour of the bedroom, bathroom and work room, and then to see the lounge area and the kitchen.

    ¡°These two rooms are slightly different from the rest.¡± He said, ¡°Other than the small contraptions installed, there are also security cameras installed here. There is 24 hours surveince, which is connected to a private security office with guards. If anything is amiss, there will be a immediate response to deal with it.¡±

    He showed her the cameras that were camouged around the rooms.

    Her expression immediately darkened.

    One step at a time, she walked backwards until she was beside the bedroom, where the cameras were unable to reach. With one hand holding tightly on the doorframe and her voice quivering, she said, ¡°Boss, please... get someone to remove these cameras.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s gaze darkened, and he asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    She avoided giving an answer, but took another step backwards, ¡°Please... remove them, remove them all.¡±

    Li Lei walked towards her slowly, and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, this is a necessary precaution.¡±

    Her voice softly quivered, ¡°I... I don¡¯t need it.¡±

    By now he was right before her, looking down at her and saying, ¡°You have to give me a reason.¡±

    She shook her head, unable to speak.

    Some scars were never to be spoken about, and were a pain that were going to stay with her for life. Regardless on when they were prodded, the hurt was excruciating.

    She closed her eyes as her memories floated back to past again, as if she had returned to Pei Ziheng¡¯s massive bungalow. In the empty bedroom, she was curled up on the ground naked, a gold chain tightly around her ankles. From all sides and all angles she could see the cold camera lenses, reflecting inorganic light rays...

 Chapter 66 - Protect Against Fire, Thieves and Boss

    <h4>Chapter 66: Protect Against Fire, Thieves and Boss</h4>

    Her past memories were chaotic and unbearable, making her knees buckle slightly.

    She held onto the wall for support and took a hurried step backwards.

    However, Li Lei continued to stare at her and close in on her, ¡°Why? What is the reason?¡± Instinctively, he knew this was the key to discovering her secret. In this moment, many things shed through his mind ¡ª her amazing singing talent, the sadness in the depths of her eyes, the unimaginable riding skills she had shown at the Nan Shan horse riding club...

    He wanted to know everything about her.

    But Xia Ling only shook her head and kept backing away in panic.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me?¡± He continued to stare at her deeply, ¡°Your reactions are really strange. For an artiste, even a newbie that had just debuted... you should be used to being in front of cameras. What¡¯s more, Tan Ying and Wei Shaoyin have both told me that you are a natural in front of the camera, better than many veteran artistes.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± He concluded, ¡°you aren¡¯t afraid of cameras, but afraid of surveince cameras.¡±

    She took another two steps back helplessly.

    He did not let her off and kept pressing in on her, ¡°Surveince cameras are everywhere even while we are walking along the streets. No normal person would have such arge reaction in front of surveince cameras. What are you afraid of?¡±

    ¡°Stop asking!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was hoarse as she kept backing away. She could not see where she was going and fell onto the big bed behind her.

    She hurriedly tried to get up but Li Lei had alreadye forward, leaned over and pinned her down with his two hands on either side of her body. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± His breath was beside her ears, and his voice was low and seductive, ¡°you are hiding something. Tell me.¡±

    ¡°No...¡± She weakly mumbled.

    She was trapped by him. It had been a long time since she was this close to a man, such that she was able to smell the dry, lingering smell of cigarette smoke on his body and feel his electric pressure on her. It was unfamiliar and had a inexplicable sense of danger, making her feel terrified.

    She quivered slightly and used both hands to try with all her might to push him away. However, his chest was as sturdy as a rock and he did not move one bit.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± She finally shouted in despair, her voice shaking.

    His deep-set eyes seemed keen to stare into the depths of her eyes as he used a hand to lift her chin up. Stroking her face gently, he continued coaxing, ¡°Xiao Ling, be good, just tell me what is it.¡± He had always been very good with girls and no one could resist his charm. At this moment, he had shredded away all semnce of the harmless camouge he kept on usually, revealing a tinge of danger in his demeanor, and was bent on getting his way at all cost.

    Xia Ling started to understand why everyone was scared of him.

    Her body started to shake more violently. Being this close to a man was an unbearable torture for her. The snippets of the past started to sh through her mind again. She was imprisoned, locked in a cage and tortured mercilessly...

    Cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her breathing became rapid. She started to go into a daze.

    All of a sudden, she felt the heaviness on her lift.

    Li Lei had let go of her.

    She did not want to waste more time thinking and hurriedly stood up from the bed, half crawling, half running back to a corner in the room, and curled up with her back tightly pressed against the cold wall. She looked at him warily, trying to take big breaths of air through her panting.

    Li Lei remained where he was in the same position that he had trapped her under. Lying on his side, his whitemon shirt was messy with the signs of her earlier struggling, and the top button near the cor was open, showing the light brown tan of his skin and the proportionate muscles beneath. He used one hand to prop up his head as he looked at her, his deep green eyes narrowed, exuding an air ofziness as well as danger.

    He did not say anything, and neither did she.

    After what seemed like an eternity, he grabbed a bathrobe that was lying on the bed and carelessly threw it to her, saying, ¡°Put this on, the ground is cold.¡± Although he wanted to find out her secret, seeing that she was close to tears, he felt pity for her and let her go.

    As Xia Ling subconsciously caught the bathrobe, it was only then that she realized that she was sitting on the ground, which was both stiff and cold. She hugged the soft,rge bathrobe to her chest but did not dare to move. She continued to stare at him nervously andpletely alert.

    Li Lei smiled and said gently, ¡°Xiao Ling, the first time we met I gave you a bouquet of flowers.¡±

    She remembered that it was a bouquet of hibiscuses that could change colour.

    She did not understand why he had brought up this random topic.

    Li Lei sat up and she hurriedly curled further away from him.

    He kept smiling, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I didn¡¯t do anything to you, right?¡± As he spoke, he continued the topic about the flowers, ¡°I felt then that those flowers were very suitable for you. Seeing you now, I was right. Do you know what does it mean to receive hibiscuses?¡±

    She did not know, and did not want to know. She just wished that the Big Boss in front of her now that seemed to have lost his mind would return to his usual friendly self. Yet, things did not go as she wished. She heard him say slowly ¡ª

    ¡°They mean beauty, elegance and purity.¡±

    She looked at him confused. She was none of those things.

    He jumped away from the topic of the flowers and moved on to another that was more tricky, ¡°What if I don¡¯t agree to remove all the cameras?¡±

    She felt her heart sink a little.

    The man looking down at her seemed so confident and sure of himself, and also so domineering.

    Xia Ling abruptly recalled what the old head of the orphanage had told her a long, long time ago in the orphanage, ¡°Child, no one in this world will be good to you for no reason. One day when you leave this ce, remember that the goodness that others show to you has a limit. Never, ever go over that limit.¡±

    She was silent for a long while before finally dering, ¡°Boss, I apologize for disturbing you. I will move out immediately.¡± The memory of being imprisoned by Pei Ziheng was a demon from her past. She could not be sure that she could retain her sanity if she were to stay in this room with all the surveince cameras again.

    It was better to leave.

    Even if it was tough, she would still find another ce that she could stay and hide from Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei raised his eyebrows slightly. He did not expect such an answer from Xia Ling. This girl was more sensitive and stubborn than he had imagined. He said in a jovial tone, ¡°I meant if. Why are you so nervous? You have two options ¡ª one, you leave the cameras, or two, you leave a path open for Er Mao so that he cane to patrol as he wishes.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief and said without hesitation, ¡°I¡¯ll leave a path for Er Mao.¡±

    Just like that, the leopard had invaded her daily life. Every day, he would emerge from the hidden pathway ande to patrol her room as if he was its owner. Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, this is a necessary precaution. You stay just next door to me, which means that the danger will not onlye from Pei Ziheng. In actual fact, Pei Ziheng isn¡¯t too much of a problempared to some of my enemies.¡±

    She thought of his identity ¡ª the grandson of the Li family with connections to the underworld.

    She understood that what he said was likely to be the truth. The safety precautions here were targeted for his enemies in the underworld. As for Pei Ziheng, she happened to be protected against him because these precautions were already in ce. After all, even if Pei Ziheng had money and power, he was just a normal businessman. He was no match to the underworld when it came to things like killing, arson and burry.

 Chapter 67 - The Blue Orchids

    <h4>Chapter 67: The Blue Orchids</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Truth to be told, Xia Ling was not entirely happy with Li Lei allowing Er Mao over every day. However, given that this did not solely concerned her safety but also Li Lei¡¯s, she could only keep mum and tolerate. Luckily, Er Mao was a very clever leopard, and seemed to know that she was afraid of him. Hence, every time he came over, he would stand at the entrance for a moment and warn her that he was there with a low growl.

    His growl was gentle and did not have any semnce of a threat,pletely different from the leopard she had first met.

    Afterpleting his patrol, he would crouch on the expensive tree in her lounge area to sleep, the green leaves camouging his spotted fur. There were many times that Xia Ling had not realized he was there until she would walk really close and then jump in shock. Other times, he would lie in the balcony in the sun, watching the fish in the stream with his tail wagging from side to side,zy and rxed.

    Xia Ling could not help but wonder, for whom did Li Lei renovate the house to look like a forest for?

    The good thing was that his range of movement appeared to bergely limited to these two spots.

    Even if he wanted to patrol other areas, he would pick times when Xia Ling was not home to do it. asionally, Xia Ling would find light leopard paw prints in the kitchen and the carpet of the work room. As for the bedroom, he seemed to have passed by the entrance several times but never entered it.

    This made her feel much safer.

    The making of ¡°ss Fingertips¡± progressed very smoothly and, under the careful preparation of Sister Mai Na, the pre-release publicity was released without a hitch.

    The headlines of the entertainment news reported that Wei Shaoyin was producing the debut song for a mysterious new singer. The report mentioned that gold-ss music producer Wei Shaoyin was a perfectionist and picky beyond measure. In the many years that he had been in the industry he had never helped any singer make their debut song, as none of the singers before were able to meet his eye. Now, he had made an exception. Why was this?

    When this new report was released, it caused quite a sensation. Many tried to guess who the lucky new singer was and if she had achieved the crazy standard of perfection that Wei Shaoyin looked for through her singing alone, or was there any hidden stories behind it all?

    Following the initial article, information on the new singer was pried out slowly.

    First, a photo of Xia Ling and Wei Shaoyin filming outside the city was released. Then, she had just finished filming a shot that required her to be in the water, and she wasing out of the pondpletely drenched, her face white and lips turning purple from the cold. Wei Shaoyin was draping a towel that he had received from a staff member on the side over her, his tall stature leaning slightly forward with an expression of concern on his face.

    The camera angle was well-chosen and Xia Ling looked frail but beautiful in the photo, her face looking like exquisite porcin reflecting the sunlight. Water dripping down from the strands of her hair flowed down her neck and into the soaked white blouse, which was now translucent to the point that it was seductive. Thisst sentence was decided by Sister Mai Na, and the picture was also one that she had instructed to be candidly taken while they were filming.

    She said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll bet you this photo will definitely make you popr. Do you believe me?¡±

    Xia Ling said she believed her as every photo taken of her had caused a huge buzz. Sister Mai Na rolled her eyes at her.

    Sister Mai Na continued saying, ¡°Ah Wei, sacrifice yourself and let us use your poprity to create a buzz for a few days.¡± Ah Wei had looked at Xia Ling with hesitance, but finally relented under Sister Mai Na¡¯s pressure tactics.

    Xia Ling was not interested in using Wei Shaoyin to create news, but she left this to her manager to manage. However, she had forgotten one thing, she had forgotten to check how unscrupulous her new manager was. As a result, she waspletely stunned and did not know how to react when she saw the the papers swimming with news saying that Wei Shaoyin and her were a couple.

    Wei Shaoyin had been furious when he called to lecture her, ¡°What idiot of a manager did you pick? Sister Mai Na is the queen of creating tabloids, didn¡¯t you know? Why do you think I didn¡¯t want to give her free rein? Do you know how scary scandals like these are?!¡±

    In the end, it was Xia Ling who had to spend time tofort him over the phone. After she had hung up, she recalled something. That bastard, when Sister Mai Na had suggested to use him to create a buzz he had clearly guessed what she was about to do, but he did not raise any objection... she was the one that had been fooled by him?! She was the victim?! He... he was now ming her?!

    In her anger, Xia Ling had almost returned his call to give him a piece of her mind. However, she held it in when she remembered that her debut song was still in his hands.

    Forget it, she would control herself. Impulse was a demon.

    New reports were released one after the other. Photos of him bringing her to attend the music extravaganza were dug out, and he specially picking her to participate in the group dance for the condolence song the previous year was also released.

    There were all kinds of reactions to the news. Some said that she was using him to gain fame, others said it was true love, and yet others said that she could not match up to Wei Shaoyin... Luckily, Wei Shaoyin had many righteous fans who argued that he was innocent, and that he was simply favouring her for her musical talents.

    Regardless, Xia Ling, now under the name of Ye Xingling, had be a household name yet again.

    Sister Mai Na orchestrated it such that naturally many started to dig into Ye Xingling¡¯s background. Ye Xingling was born into a normal family, had a nasty stepmother and a younger sister in a vegetative state. She was strong and independent, and had been very diligent in the training camp. Imperial Entertainment had once offered a high price to poach her for her talent but Skyart Entertainment had refused to let her go...

    The news was written such that even Xia Ling herself felt rather moved.

    The people anticipating her debut song became more and more. Everyone was keen to find out if she was truly talented or simply managed to gain the favour of Wei Shaoyin for other reasons. Even Imperial Entertainment had wanted her for themselves and had gone to Skyart Entertainment to make an offer?

    This was such big news that even news of Xia Yu releasing her first solo album was pushed aside.

    Regardless of her methods, from the result it was clear that Sister Mai Na was indeed a skilled manager. However, Wei Shaoyin had to tolerate the displeasure of being chased and surrounded by reporters for many days until he almost did not dare to leave the house.

    Finally, ¡°ss Fingertips¡± was released as promised. Within the first week, it topped the new song chart and received great reviews from all around.

    Even the most picky of critics had to admit that the delivery of the song, whether it was the melody or the lyrics, was of an extremely high quality. Voices that said she was using Wei Shaoyin to gain fame started to fade away, and many said that they were almost touched to tears by her voice. Very quickly she gained her first strong following of fans, and under the deft orchestration of Sister Mai Na, her official fan club was established.

    Luo Luo sent her a postcard congratting her on her debut.

    Lu Tao, Lan Lan and some other ssmates from the training camp sought favours from people around her to send her gifts.

    This morning, Xia Ling got up to wash up as per normal, meaning to go to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s studio. All of the sudden she heard the doorbell ring. When she opened the door, she found the head of security of the apartment dressed in a suit. He handed the nicely wrapped gift in his hands over to her, ¡°Miss Ye, someone sent you flowers.¡±

    Xia Ling had only found out after she had moved in that this entire apartment was Li Lei¡¯s. The people living here were all his closest confidantes and subordinates, even the security guards downstairs were extraordinarily skilled and loyal to the Li family rather than to this residential area.

    She thanked the head of the security and received the flowers.

    It was a huge bouquet of beautiful blue orchids, the morning dew settling on the manyyers of petals and the fragrance from the flowers luxuriant. Holding the flowers in her arms, they almost hid her slender framepletely.

    She closed the door and sat back down on the sofa. She searched through the sea of petals and found a small card with difficulty. When she read the note, she flung it away as if she had been struck by lightning, her body curling away, like that big bouquet was the most terrifying poison on the.

    The card read, ¡°Xiao Ling, my butterfly, I¡¯m waiting for you toe back to my side.¡±

 Chapter 68 - She was a Valuable Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 68: She was a Valuable Butterfly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There was no signing on the card.

    But Xia Ling knew who had sent it. There was only one person in the world that would call her like that, ¡°Xia Ling, my butterfly.¡±

    He had once said that she was a butterfly. When they had met, she was just a caterpir and had evolved slowly in his garden. He said that he was a butterfly farmer who had put in his all to rear a valuable Pteris butterfly, willingly doing everything to please it.

    She had once been so grateful to hear these words, but she forgot that there could not only be just one butterfly in his garden.

    Therge bouquet of blue orchids fell and scattered on the sofa and Xia Ling stared at them for a long time. She pondered, almost subconsciously, if Pei Ziheng had found out about her identity? No... that could not be right. Reincarnation was unimaginable, and was not something that someone as conservative as him would think of. What¡¯s more, if he had found out that she was Xia Ling, what awaited her would not simply be a bouquet of blue orchids, but rather a nightmarish wild hunt for her.

    Xia Ling breathed deeply as she concluded that he had just taken her as someone else, a small, insignificant fry, a new butterfly.

    This made her feel extremely heartbroken.

    She struggled to stand up and returned to her bedroom. Throwing herself onto the bed, shey there motionless.

    Time passed slowly and the morning sun slowly turned into sunset. Her mobile rang countless times, but Xia Ling could not hear or see anything. Her consciousness was floating in a faraway ce, blurry and ovee with sadness.

    The doorbell rang loudly and for a long time.

    After a while, it became the sound of someone opening and then closing the door.

    Li Lei crashed into her room and found her lying on the soft,fortable bed. He was rmed at how she looked, the slender, fair girl, silently curled into a little ball, her eyes lifelessly gazing into a faraway, unknown direction. She looked like a fragile porcin doll which could crumble and die with a simple touch.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... ¡± His heart suddenly felt tight in his chest and started to hurt, ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    He walked beside the bed and half knelt beside it, holding her hand. ¡°What in the world is wrong with you?¡± The anxiety in his voice could not be hidden, ¡°Look at me, look at me! Xiao Ling, talk to me?¡±

    However, she simplyy there without moving, and was still staring into the distance with her empty eyes.

    Li Lei¡¯s hand holding hers started to grip harder as he shook her, ¡°Xiao Ling, wake up! Wake up, please!¡±

    As he shook her, the focus in her gaze came back and she saw the face of this handsome and concerned man in front of her with rity. Under the warm light in the bedroom, Li Lei¡¯s eyes were more defined and clear, and the deep green of his eyes were filled withplicated emotions as he stared at her cautiously, as if looking at the most precious treasure on earth.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, what is wrong with you? Stop scaring me.¡± His voice was gentle, making her feel safer.

    Xia Ling looked at him for a long time, until the unhappy memories in her mind dissipated. She opened her mouth and said hoarsely, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Li Lei breathed a sigh of relief.

    Xia Ling removed her hand from his dry, warm hand, and pushed herself up to a sitting position with both hands.

    Li Lei lowered his gaze to his empty palm, and when he had lifted his eyes again, he had donned his usual yful expression. ¡°It¡¯s nice to know that you are fine.¡± He gave azy smile and said, ¡°Little beauty, can you not go into such a trance every few days? You went almost insane with the surveince cameras, what were you triggered by this time?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the insane one.¡± Xia Ling scolded him weakly.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, you can scold me now, looks like you¡¯re recovering well.¡± Li Leiughed and continued, ¡°Let me guess... this time it¡¯s the blue orchids that I found on the lounge sofa?¡± He said this carelessly, but his eyes were trained in on her to see how she would react.

    Xia Ling denied almost immediately, ¡°No.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened.

    Almost instantly, they reverted to his usualzy smile and he said, ¡°If you say so.¡± He was not going to force her to admit to something that she was not willing to, but this did not mean that he was fooled. She did not want to admit? It¡¯s alright, he had many subordinates who could investigate this slowly. Eventually, he would find out everything about her.

    There had never been a person that he had set his eyes on that had manage to escape.

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± He passed something to her, ¡°your mobile. You¡¯ve been lying here on the bed all day, right? Wei Shaoyin¡¯s been looking for you, and he called many times but you did not answer, so he got Sister Mai Na and Tan Ying to help look for you. He only approached me when they were at wits¡¯ end.¡± If Wei Shaoyin had note to him for help, he wouldn¡¯t have found out that she was acting so abnormally today.

    Xia Ling¡¯s brain was still slow from her trance, ¡°What¡¯s he looking for me for?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes sparkled as he answered, ¡°¡®ss Fingertips¡¯ is selling like hotcakes, better than we all expected. Ah Wei wants to film two more promotional videos and was looking for you to get your views on it. However... ¡± He looked over at Xia Ling, ¡°in your current condition, I think you shouldn¡¯t talk to him yet. He¡¯s furious for not being able to find you, and if he sees how out of it you are...¡±

    She understood, Li Lei was afraid that Wei Shaoyin would berate her.

    Yet, her mobile started to ring off the hook just as Li Lei ended his sentence.

    Xia Ling took the mobile out of Li Lei¡¯s hands and saw that it was Wei Shaoyin calling as expected. Even though she was mentally prepared to ept his fires of fury, she still gave a big jump when she heard the furious shouting that began the moment she picked up the call. It was like he was ready to bite her head off and like he had a deep-seated hatred for her. Subconsciously, she threw the phone away from her with her hands shaking.

    Li Lei was amused at this scene and gave a lightugh, crossing his legs to be in a morefortable sitting position, and listened to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s fury together with Xia Ling. On the other end of the line, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s shouting was unceasing, and after a long while, when he had seemingly let everything off his chest, he finally stopped to catch his breath, saying, ¡°Ye Xingling, say something.¡±

    Xia Ling weakly stared at the mobile, not daring to answer.

    Wei Shaoyin was on the brink of losing his temper again, ¡°Why are you not saying anything?! Are you dead?!¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated as she reached out for the phone, retracting her hand mid-way, a conflicted expression on her face.

    Li Lei gave her a look and calmly reached out his thumb and index finger, picking up the phone from the edge of the bed, and said, ¡°Hello, Ah Wei?¡±

    At the other end of the line, Wei Shaoyin was stunned for a moment, before replying, ¡°Boss?¡± He did not ask Li Lei what he was doing at Xia Ling¡¯s. The fact that she was staying at Li Lei¡¯s apartment building was not unknown to the core people like Tan Ying, Sister Mai Na and himself even if it was unknown to everyone else.

    ¡°Mmhmm, it¡¯s me.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice had a tinge ofughter, ¡°Someone is too afraid to pick up the phone after hearing all your scolding. Just tell me and I¡¯ll pass the message.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin asked, his voice still discourteous, ¡°Is Xiao Ling alright?¡±

    Li Lei gave her a look and replied, ¡°She won¡¯t die yet. She seemed to have caught a cold and was sleeping at home the entire day.¡±

    She kept silent. Since when had she caught a cold? This person was simply lying with his eyes wide open. However, it was a pretty good excuse and could perfectly exin her situation today. She could not tell Wei Shaoyin that she had justin at home all day for no good reason, right?

    Luckily, Li Lei had covered for her.

    Wei Shaoyin rxed and said, ¡°As long as she¡¯s fine... ¡± But his tone suddenly became urgent, ¡°No, she¡¯s fine but I¡¯m not fine! How can she skiping to the recording studio over a small cold?! Didn¡¯t we agree that she was going toe over today? I cleared my schedule just to wait here all day! How can she act like a big shot without making it big yet?! Acting like she¡¯s bigger than me, huh?! Huh?! She...¡±

    Li Lei calmly changed his sitting position and put the phone further away.

    After a moment, he brought the phone closer when Wei Shaoyin paused to take a breath and said, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m hanging up now.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Wei Shaoyin sounded like he was going to jump up from where he was, ¡°Get Xiao Ling to take the call! I have a new idea with regards to the promo film!¡±

 Chapter 69 - Filming the Promotional Video

    <h4>Chapter 69: Filming the Promotional Video</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei did not even lift his eyelids as he said, ¡°Ah Wei, she hasn¡¯t eaten anything for the entire day.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was quiet for a moment at the other end of the line, before hesitantly asking, ¡°Boss, is Xiao Ling really alright?¡±

    Li Lei lightly responded, ¡°What could be wrong? She just woke up and is a little weak. I was about to bring her to have some dinner.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin did not sound convinced and asked Li Lei several more times if Xia Ling was fine. He even instructed Big Boss Li to take good care of her. Listening to him from the side, Xia Ling felt a cold sweat break out on his behalf. Ah Wei, Big Boss Li is your boss, man! How can you instruct your boss in such an overbearing way to take care of such a small artiste? It is a miracle that you haven¡¯t been fired in all these years.

    Other than being shocked, Xia Ling also felt extremely touched at his concern.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was normal, answering Wei Shaoyin with the asional ¡°mmhmms¡± and ¡°ahs¡± where appropriate, not at all upset at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s instructions.

    Xia Ling was baffled. Who were these people in Skyart Entertainment... if it were at Imperial Entertainment, anyone who dared speak to Big Boss Pei Ziheng like how Wei Shaoyin did with Li Lei, he or she would immediately be asked to pack his or her bags and go home. She could not resist but to steal another look at the man on the phone under the warm light in the bedroom. There was a sense of peace between his brows and a warmth in his expression.

    She realized in that instant that asionally he felt like someone that was... trustworthy.

    However, she soon shook her head as she sought to discard these thoughts from her head. Had she not been duped enough in her past life? These men with money and power could alter their promises as they wished and had no counterforce to curb their power. All their promises were lies, and they were all not to be messed with. She would no longer believe any of these men in high ces with so much power, they were destined to be on a different path from her.

    Wei Shaoyin finally concluded the call with Li Lei and reluctantly hung up.

    Li Lei hung up as well and returned the phone to Xia Ling.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go have some food.¡± He smiled as he said to her. ¡°You heard it all, Ah Wei asked me to take good care of you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have any appetite, and replied, ¡°I¡¯m not hungry.¡±

    ¡°You still have to eat even if you aren¡¯t hungry.¡± He coaxed her gently. ¡°Otherwise, your body won¡¯t be able to take it.¡± If there were anybody else present, they would be shocked at the gentleness that Li Lei was showing. Second Young Master Li was good with girls undoubtedly, but he would usually simply instruct his subordinates to send gifts, sh his credit cards, fetch them in his sports car, etc. Xia Ling was the only person that Second Young Master Li bothered to coax patiently and sweetly to have a meal.

    Yet, Xia Ling still shook her head.

    No woman had dared reject Second Young Master Li in such a way before. However, Li Lei remained patient andposed. ¡°I made a delicious dish of scallops.¡± His culinary skills were unrivaled, and he decided to try to entice her with the attractiveness of the food.

    Xia Ling was not moved.

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    He tried a second tactic. ¡°I have many guests at dinner and they are all interesting people. They will be thrilled to see you.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s decision still did not change.

    A third tactic was enlisted. ¡°Er Mao will be quietly sleeping in his room, he won¡¯te out to scare you.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s decision still did not change.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Lei gave up. ¡°Have a good rest, then. I¡¯ll go back first.¡±

    He got up and considerately closed the door behind him for her as he left.

    Xia Ling lifted her knees to her chest on the bed, hugging herself. In this time as she sat alone, the big bouquet of blue orchids appeared in the forefront of her mind again. The flower petals scattered around and the color of the petals were blinding and sinister. She imagined that the petals would crazily multiply and invade her lounge, invade every part of her living quarters, drowning her and suffocating her...

    Her heart started to beat very fast again and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

    She could not fight away the terrifying hallucinations and struggled to crawl off the bed, randomly pulling a nket off the bed with her. She came to the lounge and thew the nket over therge bouquet of blue orchids from afar.

    The sinisterly bright flowers were covered, and a few scattered petals peeked out from beneath one corner of the nket.

    Xia Ling turned around and headed back to the bedroom, pulling another nket off the bed to cover the corner where she could still the blue of the flowers. After which, she was still not satisfied. She went back to the bedroom to grab all the soft, feather-filled pillows and threw them over to the pile one by one, until there was a little mountain of bedding on top of the bouquet of blue orchids, trapping it belowpletely.

    The doorbell rang.

    She jumped on the spot and stayed rooted where she was for a few seconds before she went to open the door.

    Outside the door stood Li Lei as well as an unfamiliar blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian man.

    She backed away two steps and stared at them warily.

    ¡°Hi, nice to meet you.¡± The Caucasian man initiated conversation first. He was tall and broad, with rippling muscles, and had a powerful kind of beauty. Yet, his expression was friendly as he continued, ¡°Call me James, I¡¯m Li Lei¡¯s friend. It¡¯s really nice to meet you.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. She was not interested in making new friends. She turned to Li Lei with a questioning look.

    ¡°James is a guest that I invited over for dinner.¡± Li Lei exined with an innocent look on his face. ¡°He heard that you didn¡¯t want to eat and was worried. He insisted oning over to take a look... Oh yes, I forgot to mention he¡¯s a doctor and really dislikes seeing others damage their body.¡±

    Doctor?

    Xia Ling eyed the Caucasian man named James with suspicion. He looked more buff than Li Lei and looked like he would be an extremely dangerous and fearsome fighter. How did he resemble a doctor at all?

    As if reading her thoughts, Jamesughed amicably and said, ¡°I¡¯m a doctor with the Wild Wolf mercenaries. I was on a work call nearby and decided to pop by to visit an old friend.¡± His tone was calm like the warm sun in autumn, which would usually make others let down their guard.

    However, Xia Ling was not a normal person and remained very defensive.

    Her eyes scanned the dinner te that they were holding in their hands. There was amb steak, oysters, scallops, some porridge, vegetables, and a fruit sd. It looked delicious and scrumptious.

    ¡°We are really only here to deliver you some food,¡± said Li Lei lightly.

    Seeing that they were adamant on not leaving, Xia Ling had no choice but to let them in.

    The lounge was in a huge mess. James¡¯ eyes scanned quickly across at the mountain of bedsheets and pillows so quickly that Xia Ling did not notice at all. He exchanged a nce with Li Lei immediately after that.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Seeing that Xia Ling had entered the kitchen, Li Lei slowed down his steps and asked James in a low voice.

    ¡°That is the position where the blue orchids were, right? She has covered them?¡± James lowered his voice as well to ask. The Wild Wolf mercenaries were a renowned international mercenary force ¡ª even if James was just a doctor in the squad, he was still highly professional and could exchange information with anotherpletely unnoticed.

    When Li Lei was younger, he had been part of the Wild Wolf mercenaries for a while. At this moment, he spoke with his old teammate easily. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°She probably has experienced some deep pain in the past.¡± James spoke softly and quickly. ¡°Investigate the flowers or who sent them. Don¡¯t touch her wound, that would likely need a professional to treat.¡±

    Li Lei nodded.

    This was the reason he had called James over ¡ª not to deliver her dinner, but to find out what was wrong with Xia Ling. He knew that something was off the moment he found her lying on the bed the entire day. He was very worried about her.

    The two of them finished their quick conversation and entered the kitchen as if nothing had transpired.

    Xia Ling was in a bad mood and did not realize the slight dy they took ining in after her. At this moment, she had already cleared the table.

    ¡°Thank you for sending food over.¡± She politely thanked them. ¡°Put it on the table, I will eat it.¡±

    This clearly meant that they were not wee to stay.

    The number of rejections Li Lei had gotten from women in his life so far had been fewer than those he received from Xia Ling thus far. However, for some reason, he could not bring himself to get angry at her. And while he felt a sense of regret in his heart, on the surface he still showed a happy smile, ¡°Xia Ling, remember to eat while it¡¯s still hot. We will take our leave.¡±

    James was speechless. Quit acting like its fine, Second Young Master Li.

    After sending them away, Xia Ling stared at the scrumptious meal on the table. She had no appetite but knew she needed to replenish her energy ¡ª being an artiste took a big toll on her physical body. She had always beenmitted to her work, and she needed to eat to have the strength to work.

    She finished the food slowly, mouthful by mouthful, before heading back to bed to sleep.

    In the night, she had a nightmare. In her nightmare, there were the scattered blue orchids, butterflies, handcuffs, cages...

    When she woke up, she felt drained.

    She washed her face and meticulously put on her makeup to cover up her frailness before she headed out to look for Wei Shaoyin to discuss the promotional video. The schedule of the promotional video was decided very quickly, and when the day arrived, Xia Ling followed the team to the filming location outside the city.

    They, unfortunately, realized when they reached there that ¡ª

    Imperial Entertainment had chosen the same ce to film their MV. Chu Chen had brought Xia Yu there to film the MV for her new song.

 Chapter 70 - Crossing Paths with Xia Yu

    <h4>Chapter 70: Crossing Paths with Xia Yu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The venue operator had arranged for the location to be used by Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment at their respective timeslots.

    However, Imperial Entertainment did not typically have a smooth shoot and thus, tended to exceed their allocated time. This affected Skyart Entertainment¡¯s usage of the location, turning both sides unhappy.

    A staff member in the team went to understand from Imperial Entertainment the status of their filming. He had a frown on his face when he returned, and exined that there were too many NG takes. Wei Shaoyin gave a coldugh. ¡°A sub-par singer like Xia Yu, herck of training is shining through. How many NGs has she had already?¡±

    Everyone kept silent.

    Even Xia Ling thought to herself. <i>Ah Wei, don¡¯t snigger about others. You yourself love to call out NGs on others. </i>Sometimes it wasn¡¯t the fault of the artiste entirely, the director and producer of the film were also very important.

    However, the situation at Xia Yu¡¯s did not seem to be as they expected.

    The second time that the staff member went to understand the status, he managed to get more details. ¡°The one causing all the NGs isn¡¯t Xia Yu. It¡¯s a small supporting cast.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s curiosity was piqued, asking who this small artiste was. Yet, the one that was in charge of getting information shook his head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t recognize her, she¡¯s a new face that I¡¯ve never seen before.¡± He thought carefully before adding, ¡°But... her mouth shape is very pretty, and she looks almost the exact replica of Xia Ling.¡±

    This incident became an after dinner topic for many and soon passed over.

    Only Xia Ling felt a sense of uneasiness in her heart, not knowing exactly why. However, it was after all none of her business. As such, she forced herself to stop thinking about it and focused on filming the promotional video well.

    The venue problem could not be resolved and there was some conflict between the two sides.

    The leader from Skyart Entertainment was Wei Shaoyin, and while he had unparalleled power within thepany and was able to make everyone listen to him, his rival this time was Chu Chen from Imperial Entertainment. Although Chu Chen could notpete with Wei Shaoyin in terms of artistic appreciation, he was much more proficient when it came to managing operational issues. He would always squeeze Wei Shaoyin until he was jumping up and down in anger.

    When Ah Wei was unhappy, the entire film team would have to tolerate a higher probability of being scolded.

    Xia Ling was berated by him several times and tried her best not to appear in front of him thereafter unless necessary. This day when she was resting, she spied him ready to blow up at yet another person. Taking this opportunity, she secretly slipped outside to get some air.

    She took a leisurely stroll.

    This was a newly-built film location, and there were not many teams filming at the same time. She did not meet anyone else after walking for a long while but heard people talking when she took a turn to a more dested corner.

    ¡°Sister Xia Yu, I beg you to let me off. I really know my mistake and will not bother Mr. Pei anymore... It¡¯s Mr. Pei who will not let me go... ¡± A girl¡¯s voice rang out, lined with the soft sounds of sobbing.

    This was followed by a familiar cold ¡°Hmph.¡±

    The girl whose voice was lined with sobs spoke again. ¡°Sister Xia Yu, what I¡¯ve said is all true. I beg you, please...¡±

    Xia Ling guessed vaguely what had transpired, and could not help but stop in her tracks.

    As expected, Xia Yu¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°Zhang Suxin, why are you begging me? I brought you into the film team out of goodwill, and allowed you to participate in the MV filming with the intention of giving you a good opportunity to shine in the industry.¡±

    Her tone was soft but seemed to be like a cold, sharp dagger. ¡°There are so many people around Brother Ziheng, how long will youst depending on your beauty? Let¡¯s not talk about the future, just about what is happening now. He has recently taken Liu Qianrong, He Muxue and others under his wing, and that is not even counting the people that he¡¯s constantly thinking about. Even if you are the most favored now, so what? When you be older and lose your good looks, and still do not have the skill to feed yourself, how will you survive then? I¡¯m helping you right now, thinking about all of this on your behalf, and you think I¡¯m out to harm you, begging me to let you go?¡±

    With every line that she spoke, that girl gave a soft sob. Eventually, she was overwhelmed with tears.

    Xia Ling clenched her fist, the sharp tips of her fingernails poking into her palm and the pain slowly spreading. She had heard that after her death Pei Ziheng had been going through female partners like water, and they were all stunning even though they were of all shapes and sizes. She avoided thinking about it, but it always seemed to appear on her radar. What¡¯s more, one had appeared alive and kicking right in front of her eyes, thus she could not pretend that she did not care.

    She did not know why she still could not let go of Pei Ziheng. Anything about him could still easily affect her mood.

    That girl was still crying. ¡°Sister Xia Yu, I... I know you are doing this for my own good.¡± She said through her sobs, ¡°But, I simply can¡¯t film the p scene. Sister Qiu is just too vicious, I... ¡±

    ¡°You should go look for Sister Qiu then, I¡¯m not the one filming across from you.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s voice was gentle but wasced with pity and arrogance.

    Borrowing someone else¡¯s knife to kill someone, this was something that Xia Yu did often. Xia Yu was deft at pretending to be the weak one, acting all innocent, hiding in the background as the secret mastermind. Regardless of how despicable the job was, she somehow was able to keep herself clean. In her past life, Xia Ling had suffered a lot from this skill of hers. Now that she had reincarnated, she did not need to spend energy guessing to know that Sister Qiu had probably received instructions from Xia Yu, and she was out to get at this girl.

    Xia Ling did not want to continue listening and made to leave. However, her phone rang at this moment.

    She jumped, and the two speaking in the corner jumped as well. She heard Xia Yu warily ask, ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡±

    She could not hide, so Xia Ling chose to show herself. It was only now that she was able to see the entire scene clearly. Under the European-styled low wall, there was a long metal bench. Xia Yu was sitting on the bench confidently, wearing an exquisitece skirt. In front of her, a young girl was standing with her head bowed. She was good-looking too, especially her angr lips that made people take a second nce at her.

    She indeed looked a little like Xia Ling in her past life.

    Xia Ling was preupied with looking at this young girl and was only brought back to her senses when Xia Yu spoke again.

    ¡°You are... Ye Xingling?¡± Xia Yu cocked her head slightly, giving her a once-over with a cute and friendly expression. She spoke with a gentle tone again, having already hidden the caution, shock, and fury that had emerged earlier. She looked like a pure angel as the soft light reflected off her face.

    This was the first time that Xia Ling had spoken directly to her in this life.

    Her emotions were surprisingly calm. Xia Ling thought that this was probably because she had given so much to her before, and had experienced so much pain, such that her heart was numbed and utterly disappointed. She had already banished this good little sister from her life, and she had no rein over her emotions at all.

    She thought of Pei Ziheng again. If only she had the same feeling towards him.

    Xia Yu continued to stare at her. ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯m asking you a question.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I apologize for interrupting you guys, I am just passing by. I¡¯m busy right now, so I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Xia Yu did not want to let her go. ¡°I heard that Brother Ziheng sent you a bouquet of blue orchids.¡±

    She did not expect Xia Yu to raise this up and was taken by surprise, forgetting to hide the unusual expression that crossed her face. The young girl by Xia Yu also raised her head to look at Xia Ling, an expression of shock and disbelief on her face.

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s true.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s voice lowered. After a while, she said again, ¡°See, I told you.¡± She turned to the young girl again and smiled. ¡°Brother Ziheng¡¯s garden does not only have you as the solitary rose. He likes all pretty things.¡±

    Every word hitting the nail on the head.

 Chapter 71 - Capturing a Huge Story

    <h4>Chapter 71: Capturing a Huge Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Coldness entered Xia Ling¡¯s eyes. ¡°Xia Yu, I have no interest in your matters, don¡¯t pull me into the mix.¡±

    Xia Yu looked up at her with an innocent expression, the hatred that had shed through her eyes disappearing in an instant. ¡°Ye Xingling, how can you be considered an outsider? Since you¡¯ve epted Brother Ziheng¡¯s flowers, don¡¯t pretend to be all high and mighty here. For an artiste like you with no family or another strong backing, how can you really reject Brother Ziheng?¡±

    It looked like she was well-informed in many aspects. Was it Pei Ziheng who told her, or Chu Chen?

    It was more likely Chu Chen... Xia Ling only needed to think for a few seconds beforeing to this conclusion. Pei Ziheng was unpredictable in his emotions, he hid many of his thoughts and would not share it with anybody else. Chu Chen, on the other hand, was very good at observing the situation, and it was highly likely that he had offered Xia Yu the information to get into her good books.

    This also meant that Xia Yu had higher standing aspared to these women that slept with Pei Ziheng.

    Hence, the shrewd Chu Chen knew that telling Xia Yu these things would not incur the wrath of Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gazended on Xia Yu, before moving swiftly to the girl beside her, Zhang Suxin. From the sound of it, Zhang Suxin was the lover that Pei Ziheng favored the most now. However, there was a light, red swelling on the girl¡¯s face. It seemed that she had been pped many times by thedy she was filming with under Xia Yu¡¯s instructions.

    If Pei Ziheng did not condone her actions, Xia Yu would not be so arrogant.

    Since when did Xia Yu have such a strong standing in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart?

    Xia Ling felt slightly bitter, but she caught herself and thought. <i>Why should I be so bitter? I¡¯ve already died once, what am I trying to hold on to? </i>There was no way that Xia Ling could return to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, and even if his concubines were locked in battle, what was it to her?

    Her phone started to ring again.

    Xia Ling collected her emotions and looked down at the phone screen. It was Wei Shaoyin, and the call that she missed because of Xia Yu was also from him. Xia Ling cursed silently, he was really a horrible teammate to have. Every time she wanted to disappear quietly from the familiar faces from the past, he would also appear at the worst of moments to spoil her ns.

    She pressed the ¡°answer¡± button.

    He started to scold her as she picked up the call. ¡°Where did you disappear to? Imperial Entertainment has vacated the ce for the moment. Come over right now! We are already in position to start filming.¡±

    Of course, the people from Imperial Entertainment were not around, the culprit of all the NGs and the mastermind behind it was right here, and she was busy trying to free herself from them. Xia Ling did not exin all of this to Wei Shaoyin, only saying, ¡°Okay, got it.¡±

    She hung up and said to the two people in front of her coldly. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m busy. I need to leave.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, stop right there.¡± Xia Yu blocked her path persistently.

    Xia Ling started to get annoyed. ¡°Xia Yu, do you think that everyone is like you and would give anything to sleep with Pei Ziheng? Let me break it down for you ¡ª it is Pei Ziheng who is harassing me right now, not the other way around! Instead of spending so much time setting up your grand schemes, why don¡¯t you just admit to yourself that you have failed to make Pei Ziheng loyal to you!¡±

    Xia Yu faced turned white as Xia Ling¡¯s words hit right where it hurt.

    Xia Ling side-stepped to go around Xia Yu but saw her white face appear in front of her yet again.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t be too much.¡± She still looked weak as she shook in anger. ¡°Who is the one who wants to crawl into bed with Brother Ziheng? If you didn¡¯t seduce him, why would he send you flowers? You... how can you be so despicable?! Since you¡¯ve already sold yourself, don¡¯t try to pretend to be clean now! Look at you, you¡¯re poor and ugly, and you don¡¯t even know your ce. What in the world did Brother Ziheng see in you? Could it be that you are so wild, so shameless in bed, that he...¡±

    <i>Pa!</i>

    Xia Ling gave Xia Yu a tight p across her face.

    Xia Yu fell to the floor from the impact, holding her face in her hands and her eyes brimming with tears. ¡°You dare hit me...¡± Her eyes filled with usation and disbelief, looking forlorn and innocent.

    Xia Ling was also shocked. She had pped her out of anger, but given their rtionship as sisters for so many years, she had controlled her strength. She knew that there was no way she could have hit her so hard that she would fall to the ground.

    Before she had understood what had happened, she heard the clicking of the camera shutter from the side.

    Xia Ling turned abruptly and saw that under the shadows of the fake tree behind her, a reporter in full gear had appeared out of nowhere, a camera in hand, and was furiously snapping away at her and Xia Yu on the ground.

    Xia Ling immediately understood ¡ª Xia Yu must have noticed the reporter and, thus, switched from her usual weak, meek self to insult her. From that distance, the reporter could not hear what they were saying but could take clear photos of them. If Xia Ling had been angered enough to hit her, then she would be the one to me for anything that transpired.

    Her body moved faster than her mind, thus Xia Ling started to run in the direction of the reporter.

    The reporter was a veteran tabloid reporter and was highly experienced. The moment Xia Ling turned and saw him, he had already started to run away. The terrain in the film location wasplicated, thus it was hard to track him. Even though Xia Ling¡¯s stamina was good for a girl, she was no match for a man that had been used to years running around in the sun and the rain for news. After a few minutes, she had lost her target.

    Xia Ling stopped running and called Sister Mai Na immediately, summarizing the situation in a few sentences.

    Sister Mai Na was dealing with another matter in another city but understood the gravity of the situation upon receiving the call. She did not have time to chide Xia Ling and only said, ¡°I will call all the big newspapers now to get the situation under control. You be careful over there. Get Ah Wei to send a few trustworthy staff to search down that reporter.¡±

    Xia Ling responded in agreement and hung up.

    She and Sister Mai Na both knew that, in such circumstances, there was but a small possibility of finding the reporter in the film location. Why would he stay here to be caught after capturing such huge news? There was a 99% chance that he had already run back to release the news.

    However, she still gave Wei Shaoyin a call to convey Sister Mai Na¡¯s message.

    Wei Shaoyin was furious and scolded. ¡°Are you an idiot!¡± He sent out some staff to track the reporter down expediently.

    Xia Ling gave a bitterugh, thinking that she was indeed an idiot. She should have thought that Xia Yu was acting out for a reason. Her little sister had amazing acting skills, she should be a star actress instead of keep singing.

    But, even if she was an award-winning actress, this was no reason to let her climb all over her!

    There were serious consequences for making Xia Ling angry.

    She turned around and started walking from where she came from.

    Returning to the same ce, she found Xia Yu still weakly curled up on the floor, like a willow branch quivering in the wind, her face white. There were many Imperial Entertainment staff around her ¡ª the director, production head, cameramen, and Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen saw Xia Ling appear and his expression darkened. ¡°You still dare show your face here?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Xia Ling lifted her head high and said with an arrogant and cold tone.

    The ten or so people in the area were all from Imperial Entertainment, and they all stared at her with animosity in their eyes. Yet, she seemed to not see them at all and had the arrogance of a queen descending on her citizens.

    She walked right in front of Xia Yu and said, ¡°Stand up.¡±

    The two staff next to Xia Yu carefully helped and half-carried her into a standing position.

    <i>Pa!</i>

    Everyone stared in shock. Xia Ling¡¯s movement was so quick and, this time pped Xia Yu with all her might such that Xia Yu went to the ground again!

 Chapter 72 - I Dont Accept False Accusations

    <h4>Chapter 72: I Don¡¯t ept False usations</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Chu Chen was the first toe back to his senses. In anger, he took a big step forward and grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s arm.

    Xia Ling¡¯s wrist was held in his vice-like grip and was extremely painful, but her eyes were cold and trained on Xia Yu. This p made sure that Xia Yu¡¯s face started to swell, blood appearing at the edge of her lips. Sheid on the ground where she fell, looking pitiful and confounded.

    She covered her face with her hands, and the tears in her eyes this time were real. ¡°Ye Yin Lin, why zid zu hit me?¡± Her face was numb from the pain and, as a result, she was unable to pronounce the words properly.

    But Xia Ling understood her clearly.

    ¡°Why did I hit you?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Because I never ept false usations.¡± Since Xia Yu wanted it to seem like she had hit her to the ground, then she would do just that. After all, the pictures had already been taken.

    Xia Yu was speechless.

    Chu Chen looked on, his mouth agape.

    The rest of the people from Imperial Entertainment standing around stared in shock.

    Several were wondering in their hearts, Miss Xia Yu, how did you get this demoness on your back?

    Chu Chen almost crushed the bones in Xia Ling¡¯s hands with his grip. ¡°Ye Xingling, you will pay for what you have done. Assistant Meng!¡± He shouted loudly. ¡°Protect the premises! Get a doctor to check Miss Xia Yu¡¯s injury! And get awyer!¡±

    ¡°Who is going to check the injury and find awyer?¡± Another voice rang out, the iciness in his voice clear. ¡°Chu Chen, what do you think you are doing grabbing onto our Skyart Entertainment artiste?!¡±

    Everyone turned their heads and saw Wei Shaoyin hurriedly walking over with five or six Skyart Entertainment staff in tow. Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression looked colder than a ten thousand year blizzard, and he walked over to grab Xia Ling¡¯s hand out of Chu Chen¡¯s. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you hurt anywhere?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and lifted her shirt sleeve. An ugly greenish-purple bruise was starting to form on her wrist, and juxtaposed against her fair skin, it looked rmingly serious.

    ¡°Get a doctor! And awyer!¡± Wei Shaoyin was furious in that instant. Who was Xia Ling? She was Skyart Entertainment¡¯s future diva! She was the partner that he was afraid would melt in his mouth and the treasure that was protected safely in his hands! He didn¡¯t even dare to scold her usually, ah, wait no, we¡¯ll leave that for now. In any case, Chu Chen dared treat her like that?!

    Both sides started to get more heated and aggressive.

    Seeing that the conflict was getting out of hand, Xia Ling suddenlyughed out loud softly.

    ¡°Okay, okay, Ah Wei,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s enough, we need to go film the promotional video.¡± She was happy that she had managed to give Xia Yu a tight p, and now that she had vented her anger, it was more important to ensure that there was no dy in the filming.

    With that, she turned around first, intending to walk back to the filming location.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Chu Chen thought that she was afraid. ¡°You think you can just swagger in here to hit someone, and then swagger out as you wish? The doctor andwyer will be here any moment now. You are going to have to give us a good exnation for your actions!¡±

    ¡°You can speak to mywyer if there are any problems.¡± Xia Ling could not care to deal with him. She hurried Ah Wei. ¡°Are youing? I want to finish filming faster and return to the city. It¡¯s meaningless wasting time with these morons from Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Hoo zid zu call a moron!¡± Xia Yu¡¯s face was badly swollen and could not speak clearly.

    Xia Ling gave her a sideways nce with a half-smile, not saying anything.

    But the message in her eyes was clear. <i>I¡¯m calling you a moron, what are you going to do about it?</i>

    Xia Yu was furious and wanted to run forward to throttle Xia Ling, but froze in her tracks remembering how powerful Xia Ling was. It was her own fault for always pretending to be a pale, white lotus. Did anyone ever see a lotus run to the frontline to engage in battle? It was just notpatible.

    Hence, Xia Yu could only swallow in her anger together with the blood from the p.

    Seeing Xia Yu¡¯s badly swollen face, Wei Shaoyin started to feel better as well.<i>Good good, Xiao Ling is still the best. She is able to anger her rivals with just a few words. </i>With his change of mood, Wei Shaoyin decided that Xia Ling was right and they should get back to the filming. Hence, he called the rest from Skyart Entertainment to follow him and left together.

    Chu Chen wanted to stop them, but Wei Shaoyin quoted Xia Ling. ¡°Speak to ourwyers if you have any problems.¡±

    Giving Chu Chen the ultimatum.

    Even though there were more than ten of them from Imperial Entertainment, they could only watch on helplessly as the five or six from Skyart Entertainment walked away. This feeling was horrible. Xia Yu ground her teeth.<i>Ye Xingling, you just wait...</i>

    <i>Once this news gets reported, I¡¯ll make sure to torture you till the end!</i>

    Xia Ling did not hear the curses in her heart and followed the rest of the Skyart Entertainment staff back to the film location to continue their filming.

    Perhaps due to having had a big argument with Imperial Entertainment, or perhaps because he felt bad for Xia Ling¡¯s wrist injury, the number of times that Wei Shaoyin scolded them and called for NGs reduced significantly. The filming in the afternoon was extraordinarily smooth.

    Everyone worked together seamlessly to finish the filming now that Mr. Crazy Wei was more rxed.

    They sessfully finished the filming.

    The next day, Xia Ling packed her things and took a ne back to the city.

    However, just as she reached the apartment, her doorbell rang.

    Opening the door, she saw that it was Sister Mai Na.

    Sister Mai Na was in a wine-red pantsuit as she invaded her living quarters hurriedly, handing a stack of newspapers to Xia Ling. She said, ¡°The news from that incident yesterday is out. Take a look for yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling epted the stack of newspapers and saw that the entertainment news section had an eye-grabbing headline ¡ª

    Xia Yu was pped until she had a heart attack at a film location outside the city. The culprit is Ye Xingling?![a][b]

    Several photos apanied the headline, all taken at the film location, depicting her pping Xia Yu. That reporter had good camera skills and chose great storytelling angles. Her straight back as she stood towering over the weak-looking Xia Ling. and the disbelief and hurt in Xia Yu¡¯s eyes clearly showed her as the bully against the frail Xia Yu. Just by looking at the pictures, even Xia Ling herself was almost fooled into believing that she had bullied Xia Yu.

    She read the news report in detail.

    It was indeed depicting the story from the film location yesterday. The report imed that before the filming, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± had already been looking for Xia Yu with regards to the conflict of the film set. Xia Yu had a weak character and could only tolerate her. Yet, nobody could have known that during the lunch break, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± would appear again to taunt Xia Yu and insult her as well as her older sister ¡ª the Diva Xia Ling.

    This time, Xia Yu could not hold it in since she ¡°had a close rtionship with her sister¡± and stood up to defend her sister. Who knew that this would anger ¡°Ye Xingling¡± so much that she pped Xia Yu to the floor and then walked away.

    Xia Yu had a heart attack and was hospitalized that night and needed emergency attention.

    ¡°What a colorful report.¡± Xia Ling slowly folded up the newspaper. No one was more aware of Xia Yu¡¯s condition than Xia Ling, she had been closely involved in all the treatment ns and monitoring of Xia Yu¡¯s condition. She was positive that Xia Yu was ridpletely of her heart problem many years ago.

    She had a heart attack? What a joke.

    Sister Mai Na confirmed this fact. ¡°I¡¯ve got someone to investigate already. She did not have any heart attack. However... ¡± She only had the opportunity to lecture Xia Ling now. ¡°What was up with you yesterday? Why did you go mess with the people from Imperial Entertainment? Did you be dumb from spending too much time with Ah Wei?! Xia Yu¡¯s new album was overshadowed by your debut song and they clearly already see you as an eyesore. They were probably looking for an opportunity to get back at you. Why were you so stupid as to give them an opening!¡±

    Xia Ling kept quiet as she felt that Sister Mai Na was right.

    She was being dumb yesterday and did not see through her good sister¡¯s pretense, thus allowing the reporter to take such pictures. But... she recalled how she felt from the two ps that she gave to Xia Yu, they made her feel much better. Hence, she promised Sister Mai Na sincerely. ¡°If I hit her again, I will make sure to find a time and ce that no one will take pictures of us.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was speechless.

    Was it because this girl has stayed too long beside Li Lei that she had been influenced by his underworld tendencies?

    [a]italic, bold it or leave it as is?

    [b]I¡¯ll bold it. If you change it let me know.

 Chapter 73 - Ye Xingling Get Out of the Entertainment Circle

    <h4>Chapter 73: Ye Xingling Get Out of the Entertainment Circle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°This time I failed to handle it well.¡± Sister Mai Na reflected on herself, something that she did not do often. If she had put in more effort to boot-lick those mediapanies perhaps they would not have written about Xia Ling in such a way.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡±

    Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment were both formidable forces in the entertainment industry. If there was a serious discussion on the topic, most would regard Imperial Entertainment as the bigger yer; they have been the dominant force in the entertainment industry for a long time. If Sister Mai Na knew how to boot-lick these mediapanies, Chu Chen would be aware of how to do that as well. In fact, Chu Chen was likely to be superior to Sister Mai Na when it came to methods of bribery and ckmail. Should both these big gunse to them, the mediapany would simply choose whichever gave them bigger news to report.

    In this case, helping ¡°Ye Xingling¡± to prove her innocence was ame story, whereas ¡°Ye Xingling¡± insulting the Diva Xia Ling and hurting her weak, sickly younger sister, was a big story that was bound to be eye-catching.

    These mediapanies were out to make profits anyway, and the story being reported was inevitable.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s forehead was pulled into a deep frown. ¡°This is a problematic situation.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What should we do?¡±

    Sister Mai Na gave her a nce. ¡°I want to hear your thoughts.¡± In fact, she already had a n in mind, but it was a radical one. If executed well, Xia Ling would seed big time. On the other hand, if the n failed, Xia Ling would be ruined.

    Before revealing her n, Sister Mai Na wanted to be sure how intelligent and gutsy Xia Ling was, and if she was ready to take on this challenge.

    Xia Ling did not know what Sister Mai Na was thinking, and she lowered her head to think for a moment. When she raised her head, there was a chilling smile on her face and iciness in her eyes. ¡°I just gave that bitch a p, right? It isn¡¯t a big deal, I¡¯ll just admit it.¡±

    Sister Mai Na broke into a slow smile. This youngdy¡¯s attitude was just what she was looking for.

    Xia Ling admitted that she hit Xia Yu.

    This admission did not mean she admitted to all the allegations, but ¡ª

    ¡°Yes, I pped her, and so?¡±

    This sentence was published on ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± official Weibo channel that afternoon and immediately incited a ruckus. Everyone was shocked at her honesty and arrogance. How could she be so nonchnt after hitting the younger sister of the Diva Xia Ling? How could she be this evil and this shameless?!

    The forums and online discussions went crazy.

    This Weibo post was reposted tens of thousands of times and was headline news on every big media channel. Even though Xia Yu did not have many fans, but Diva Xia Ling had a whole host of die-hard fans even after her death. These die-hard fans started to express their unhappiness in defense of Diva Xia Ling¡¯s ¡°most precious little sister before her death.¡± They came out in droves, and if each person were to spit on her, it was enough to drown ¡°Ye Xingling.¡±

    Soon, everyone including onlookers who knew nothing at all about the truth or only had a vague idea of the situation started to criticize ¡°Ye Xingling¡± after looking at this Weibo post. They said that she was shameless and that she had poor upbringing. They spoke as if they were standing on a moral high ground, and wrote with eloquence as they criticized everything about her.

    In just several hours, she was notorious in the industry.

    Even her official Weibo channel was full of angry people scolding her. Every update was peppered with the worst insults and profanities.

    At first, Xia Ling¡¯s fans in this life had weakly retorted, but they were soon drowned in the flood of tirades thrown at her and could hardly create a ripple. What¡¯s more, some of the fans felt that she had indeed been too much and became anti-fans, bing part of the many that were cursing her.

    Xia Ling sat in front of theputer, reading these Weibo posts with Sister Mai Na.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°This is just the start. Are you afraid?¡±

    The luminescent light from theputer screen reflected on Xia Ling¡¯s face, making her thick and fine eyshes look like crow¡¯s feathers, creating a light shadow under her eyes. She turned her head slightly, holding a porcin cup with a cracked ice pattern in her slender and fair fingers, and slowly sipped her tea. ¡°What is there to be afraid of?¡± Her voice was low. She had been through greater storms and waves than these before, what was thispared to those?

    Sister Mai Na smiled and tidied the stray strands on her head. ¡°Then, let¡¯s put the next step in the n into motion.¡±

    Xia Ling put down the porcin cup in her hands and gently typed a sentence on the screen. ¡°I pped her because she deserved it. As to why she deserved it, she would know in her heart. She would also know whether or not she actually had a heart attack.¡±

    She pressed ¡°send.¡±

    There was a greatmotion in Weibo again. This time, more started to curse at her.

    ¡°What do you mean by she deserved it? Ye Xingling, exin yourself clearly if you¡¯re truly innocent!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was clearly you who had insulted Xia Ling first. Xia Yu was defending her older sister before she was pped by you!¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you telling us the reason? That¡¯s because you have a guilty conscience, you bitch! You¡¯re scared and looking for an excuse now that so many of us are scolding you, aren¡¯t you?!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! A coward that is trying to push the responsibility to others!¡±

    ¡°Our Xiao Yu had a heart attack all because of you and you are still trying to frame her for faking it! You shameless woman!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re rubbish of a person with poor upbringing!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so cruel! I regret buying yourtest single!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s boycott Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Get out of the entertainment circle, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Get out of the entertainment circle, Ye Xingling!¡±

    All the boos culminated in one chant. ¡°Get out of the entertainment circle, Ye Xingling!¡± This was repeated non-stop in the Weibo thread. Countless reposted this Weibo post together with the chant. The scale of it was massive as if they were not going to stop unless she had been chased out of the entertainment circle.

    Xia Ling quietly closed herputer screen.

    The next day, her official Weibo channel was filled with posts demanding that she apologize, and filled with posts demanding that she leave the entertainment circle. She got tired of reading all these posts. She boiled herself a cup of flower tea, locked herself in the house and practiced her singing.

    Li Lei called her and asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, are you okay?¡± He had flown to Manhattan for a few days to settle some important business. Tan Ying had not dared to disturb him while he was busy, and had only just updated him about her situation now.

    Xia Ling half-leaned on the back of the seat of the swing in front of the ss full-length window, curling up her slender legs, and her fingers trailing the notes on the sheet music in her hands. She said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty good.¡±

    Li Lei was put at ease hearing that her tone of voice was normal, but still asked, ¡°Do you need my help?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a small smile. ¡°Nope, thanks.¡± She realized that she had be more reserved and rxed than before, like the needles on her back that were upright were retracting slowly on hearing his words of concern. While she was able to bear all the hate that was being thrown at her, to say that she did not feel wronged or upset would be impossible.

    You were born to a mother but did not have a mother to teach you...

    A bitch like you should be betrayed by everyone including your own family...

    Every sentence pricked her in the heart.

    Li Lei¡¯s call from overseas was like a warm cup of tea in the zing blizzard, giving her some much-needed constion. She will win this war, and everything that she had to go through today she would im back from Xia Yu in the future!

    The third day, her official Weibo was being repaired by the technical guys in thepany.

    There continued to be droves and droves of posts cursing at her and being reposted. The anger from the public did not cease and was even worse than those from two days prior. They were jeering at her for being a coward and a tortoise in its shell hiding away since she had not said anything in response to them.

    The number of followers on her official page was increasing day by day, and her poprity appeared to have be more than before just by looking at the numbers.

    Some media critics said, ¡°Is Ye Xingling using this to amass more followers? Does she think that you can be famous for picking a fight? Don¡¯t be a fool, doing something like that to gain a notorious name for yourself will only make you a clown!¡±

    All sorts of jeers and insults were thrown at her.

 Chapter 74 - Snubbed Everywhere

    <h4>Chapter 74: Snubbed Everywhere</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She stopped watching the news and focused on her own things.

    That day, Sister Mai Na and her assistant, Wei Wei, apanied her to the television station for the publicity shoot.

    The beer-bellied person-in-charge politely spoke as he rubbed his hands together awkwardly. ¡°My apologies, Sister Mai Na and Miss Ye. The shoot has been canceled, weren¡¯t you two informed by the staff members?¡±

    ¡°Canceled? Why?¡± asked Sister Mai Na as she frowned.

    ¡°Well...¡± The person-in-charge nced at Xia Ling as he feigned helplessness. ¡°The matter involving Miss Ye has blown up. Considering our reputation and viewership, we have decided to find someone else for this, so...¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Xia Ling cut him off coldly.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s Xiao Yu.¡± Covered in a suit and leather shoes, Chu Chen gracefully walked out from the recording studio with confidence. He turned sideways, allowing a girl in a flowered-crochet dress to pass through, acting like a gentleman. Indeed, it was Xia Yu.

    ¡°We meet again, Ye Xingling.¡± Xia Yu was always meek and gentle in front of others, appearing as pure as an angel. However, she could hardly conceal her cockiness and gloating as she let out a slight smirk.

    Xia Ling stepped forward.

    At that moment, Xia Yu turned pale and retreated in fright, tugging at Chu Chen¡¯s sleeve. Almost immediately, Chu Chen, her assistants, and her bodyguard formed a protective shield around Xia Yu, staring at Xia Ling coldly and menacingly, as though she was the enemy.

    ¡°Were you nning on striking her?¡± Chu Chen¡¯s cold voice rang throughout the corridor.

    Oing passersby shot nces at Xia Ling, pointing fingers at her.

    Once again, Xia Ling had underestimated those cunning bitches and was ced in an unfavorable situation. She only wanted to settle things calmly, yet Xia Yu could y the victim in a split second.

    She was about to lose her temper when Sister Mai Na shielded her from the others.

    ¡°Chu Chen, openly snatching our shoot after resorting to underhand means for publicity? I can sue you!¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Chu Chen replied in a civil manner.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Sister Mai Na was almost exploding with anger as she left with Xia Ling and Wei Wei hastily.

    Back to the nanny van.

    ¡°Simmer down, Sister Mai Na, holding in your anger is not good for the body,¡± said Wei Wei cautiously.

    The anger faded from Sister Mai Na¡¯s face and was reced with a cold, frosty look. ¡°I am not as angry as I look, Wei Wei.¡± She sounded calm as she stared deeply into the television station¡¯s direction.

    ¡°What? Then why did you...?¡± she asked, stunned.

    ¡°I behaved that way so that we can appear to be at the end of our rope, then they would let their guard down.¡± Sister Mai Na exined. ¡°Only then our follow-up n can proceed smoothly. But...¡± She paused and turned to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, what kind of foul temper did you just disy? Why are you so easily provoked? What were you nning to do if I didn¡¯t step in just now?¡±

    ¡°p her face,¡± Xia Ling replied honestly.

    Wei Wei was astounded. Why would Sister Xiao Ling dare to do that when she was already the talk of the town in a bad way?

    Troubled, Sister Mai Na rubbed her temples. Gosh, who does this little girl think she is? It is one thing to be able to stand up for herself, but this temper of hers... ¡°You... forget it, let¡¯s go to the next shoot.¡± She stopped herself as she was too tired to go on about it.

    ¡°I reckon the next shoot will be canceled as well,¡± said Xia Ling calmly.

    Since Chu Chen had already snatched one shoot from them, he definitely would not stop there. They were old partners in her previous life and she knew his ways like the back of her palm. He was all in or nothing. With that, she spected that her other shoots were already imed by him. Considering she was in the teeth of public¡¯s criticism, the publicpanies couldn¡¯t wait to terminate their contracts with her.

    ¡°These people are too much! Even if Sister Xiao Ling is not in favor with the public now, which celebrity hasn¡¯t been criticized by the public? They could wait till the matter has blown over, then release the recordings. How could all of them forsake her? What terrible people they are!¡±

    ¡°What you said is true, but this time it¡¯s different. The Diva, Xia Ling, is involved.¡±

    Xia Ling silently nodded in agreement. It was not that she was narcissistic, but ¡°Xia Ling¡± had been crowned as a goddess since her death. With her death, Xia Ling had be a legend and the representative of perfection. If anyone dared to speak ill of her, everyone would be at their heels. Furthermore, apparently this time she had hurt Xia Ling¡¯s ¡°sickly little sister.¡±

    ¡°What should we do then?¡± Wei Wei panicked.

    ¡°We should go to the next venue to take a look,¡± said Xia Ling. She had to personally confirm the situation even with her spections. She had nned to keep those people who had abandoned her in her time of need in mind. These people would not even get the slightest chance to work with her in future when she gained poprity, even if they came to her crying and begging!

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go. I¡¯m really curious to hear what they will say,¡± said Sister Mai Na coldly.

    Upon arrival at the second shooting venue, Sister Mai Na asked Xia Ling to stay in the car. She felt that Xia Ling, being a celebrity, ought to be treated with respect instead of getting snubbed and rejected by others and that it was the manager¡¯s and assistant¡¯s duty to so such depressing things.

    Xia Ling watched silently, filled with gratitude.

    Thirdpany, the fourthpany...

    A total of fourpanies, including two advertising agencies, had canceled ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± shoot. The two even took it a step further by iming that they would go bankrupt as Ye Xingling was a sales flop.

    Sister Mai Na swallowed all the insults and returned to the nanny van as though nothing had happened. Smiling, she told Xia Ling that would be more chances in future. However, being a novice, Wei Wei could not hide her anger. Her expression and slightly red eyes told Xia Ling what happened.

    Conscience-stricken, Xia Ling started to feel a little down. It was one thing to suffer from others¡¯ insults, but to implicate others around her was another matter entirely.

    As they arrived at Xia Ling¡¯s condo, Sister Mai Na remained unaffected by what happened earlier. ¡°I¡¯m giving you a break. Rest well for a few days, things will get busier in future,¡± she said, smiling.

    Xia Ling returned the smile and nodded before bidding goodbye to her and Wei Wei.

    As she reached her condo, she could no longer keep up the facade. She grew weary and wasden with sorrow.

    Just as Xia Ling was about to switch on the lights, a deep and attractive voice gave her a shock. ¡°Hey, Little Beauty, it has only been a few days since Ist saw you. This looks really unlike you.¡±

    ¡°Boss? What are you doing here?¡± she asked as she got a clear view of the man on the sofa.

    His tall and symmetrical body was reclined on the fabric sofa with Er Mao napping beside his feet. With a tilted head and a ss of red wine in hand, he revealed his white and shiny teeth with a huge smile. ¡°I have settled my business in Manhattan, so I¡¯m here to visit you. I brought a bottle of red wine, some fruits and some little stuff for you.¡±

    In actual fact, he had deliberately shortened his trip after receiving Tan Ying¡¯s report. He was worried about her and wanted to be by her side during such a difficult time. However, he did not tell her the truth as it would be an embarrassment to speak the words.

    ¡°Boss, do whatever you want.¡± Li Lei had already treated her house as though it was his and she couldn¡¯t be bothered toin anymore. ¡°I¡¯ll go practice,¡± she said as she walked past him dazedly towards the workroom.

    She could no longer keep up a happy face. All she wanted was to be alone and lick her wounds in private.

    However, he said, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll bring you somewhere.¡±

 Chapter 75 - Perfume Spokesperson

    <h4>Chapter 75: Perfume Spokesperson</h4>

    He took her to the garden of a quiet and serene mansion, located at the outskirts of the town.

    The spring night, the flowers and the trees gently reflected the moon¡¯s silver shimmer as the chirping crickets burst into song. She caught sight of an exquisite sign above the festooned door reading: The Gu Garden. The calligraphy was filled with antiquity and vigor, reflecting the calligrapher¡¯s exceptionalism and superior skills.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± She blinked and asked.

    A figure wearing a ck traditional chinese-style jacket emerged from the gstone pavement in the depths of the Gu Garden holding a simple and unsophisticatedntern before Li Lei could reply. As he walked closer, Xia Ling got a clearer view and realized he was a refined white-haired middle-aged man. He wore a pair of half-frame horn rimmed sses with the other half lined with metallic silver.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Second Young Master Li, what a rare sight.¡± He greeted Li Lei, beaming.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since Ist saw you, Uncle Zhou.¡± Li Lei greeted him in return. ¡°Is Grandfather Gu here? I specially bought some fresh truffles for him from my overseas trip.¡±

    Uncle Zhou was the butler of the Gu Garden and was clear about Old Master Gu¡¯s favoritism for Li Lei. ¡°Yes, he is. You came at the right time. He just had his dinner and is ying chinese chess in the tea house.¡± Old Master Gu was an entric old man. Many big shots have attempted to make appointments to meet him but were rejected, yet he took a strange liking to Li Lei and allowed him to visit whenever he wanted.

    Li Lei entered with Xia Ling.

    In the tea house, there was an old man, aged around seventy, ying chinese chess alone. He was covered in cotton traditional Chinese clothing and had a cup of tea next to him. Li Lei observed him for a while before picking a suitable moment to call out to him. ¡°Grandfather Gu.¡± He called out affectionately.

    A kind and loving face was revealed as Grandfather Gu looked up and saw Li Lei.

    As he caught sight of Xia Ling, he appeared to be rather surprised. ¡°Who is this youngdy...?¡± Li Lei,ing from a well-established family with ¡°old money¡± for many generations, was different from the typical nouveau riche descendants ¡ª he knew how to conduct himself properly. No matter how many girlfriends he had or how crazy the rtionship was, he would never bring random girls to meet his elders. One must have high status to have been brought to meet his elders.

    ¡°My future girlfriend.¡± He grinned.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± Xia Ling was quick to exin.

    Old Master Gu scrutinized the both of them and giggled. ¡°You sneaky youngd, you have not seeded in wooing her, yet you brought her to see me. Spill it, what do you need from me?¡± The reason for this young brat¡¯s visit was now clear as day, it was most likely to ask for a favor. Old Master Gu was the sworn brother of Li Lei¡¯s grandfather and was familiar with Li Lei¡¯s character due to watching him grow up.

    Despite being exposed, he wasn¡¯t embarrassed at all and immediately seized the opportunity to ask for a favor. ¡°Grandfather Gu, you know me best. I brought some truffles for you from my overseas trip, could you do me a favor?¡±

    He was always skilled at acting cute in front of his elders. At that moment, he carefully presented Old Master Gu with a transparent box as though it was a treasure. It contained a small piece of truffle wrapped in tinfoil, still covered in mud.

    The box immediately sparked Old Master¡¯s attention and he took the box, starting to scrutinize it carefully. ¡°It¡¯s the Italy White truffle, to think it can be so well-preserved in this season.¡± The Italy White truffle was rare among truffles and was Old Master Gu¡¯s favorite. It was extremely difficult to get it as it was seasonal. Now that Li Lei hade this far to deliver this precious piece of truffle, how was it possible to contain his joy?

    Shrewd as he was, Old Master Gu asked, ¡°Why did your grandfather say you went to Manhattan instead?¡±

    Li Lei smiled coyly and innocently. ¡°I recalled that White Truffle is your favorite, so after settling my business in Manhattan, I flew to Italy personally as I was afraid to entrust the purchase of this precious thing to others. It was on the way, anyway.¡±

    ¡°On the way?¡± Xia Ling was rendered speechless by the nonsenseing out from his mouth. Manhattan was located in America, and Italy in Europe. ¡°On the way¡± indeed...

    Old Master Gu was at a loss whether to cry orugh. ¡°You... Spill it, what is the favor you came for. Just to rify, I will not agree if the favor is out of line.¡± Old Master Gu attempted to let him take a hint before he could speak. Seeing that he specially flew to Italy for his instrument of bribery despite his busy schedule, Old Master Gu knew that it would not be a small favor.

    Li Lei began to pout, feeling wronged. ¡°Grandfather Gu, I know better than that. It¡¯s really a teeny weeny favor. Don¡¯t you have a perfume named ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯? I found a spokesperson for you.¡±

    ¡°This is a tiny favor?¡± He eximed as he nearly fainted. The Gu Financial Magnate was in the Perfume Industry and they invented a perfume two years ago, named ¡°Meteor Wings¡±. It was perfection. Anyone who had smelled it would know that it was a miraculous invention. Once released into the market, it would be recorded as a transcendental ssic in the History of Perfumes.

    The reason for the dy in its release was theck of a suitable spokesperson.

    Seeing that the Gusbed through countless celebrities in the world, yet had failed to find someone with the qualities to represent the aura of ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± it can be deduced that they had extremely high expectation and that it was an almost impossible mission.

    But now, Li Lei had the cheek to request for this?

    Old Master Gu was amused and slightly displeased. ¡°I knew you had something bad up your sleeve. The Winged Meteor is the treasure of the Gu Family, your Brother Gu Xiao and Sister Gu Yan¡¯s future wealth depends on it. Tell me, who did you approach to be the spokesperson? I will not agree to it if she is unreliable.¡±

    ¡°My future girlfriend, the future Diva of Skyart Entertainment, Xiao Ling. Look, she has status and poprity, she is absolutely suitable to be Meteor Wings¡¯ spokesperson,¡± he said with a smile, fawning over her.

    It then dawned on Xia Ling that he had another motive for bringing her there.

    She was almost moved to tears. He racked his brains in an attempt to help her get the most important shoot when everyone else only wanted to terminate her. She had already guessed which Gu Family they were referring to through their conversation. It was the renowned family who owned the Gu Financial Magnate, the colossal Perfume Empire. The Old Master Gu in front of her was no doubt the founder of thepany, Gu Lingzhi.

    Old Master Gu grew more serious as he sized Xia Ling up.

    ¡°What are this youngdy¡¯s capabilities that could make me put her in charge of such an important endorsement? I¡¯m not interested in any more nonsense, I would like a legitimate reason from you, youngd,¡± said Old Master Gu sternly. He gave Li Lei a chance to win him over, as he was clear that Li Lei was nothing like those good-for-nothing from wealthy families ¡ª Li Lei had strong capabilities as well as foresight and was meant for great things. Things would have been different if it was his twomonce grandchildren rmending that ordinary-looking youngdy for such an important endorsement. He would have red up from the start.

    Instead of answering Old Master Gu immediately, he asked Xia Ling a question, ¡°Are you confident enough to do it, Xiao Ling?¡±

 Chapter 76 - First, Go to the Audition

    <h4>Chapter 76: First, Go to the Audition</h4>

    Xia Ling was slightly taken aback from his unexpected question. ¡°I¡¯ll have to take a look at the perfume and get to know more about its style and the ideology behind it,¡± she replied. This was a habit from her previous life, she would not simply agree to endorsements unless the product truly matched her style.

    She cherished her reputation and wanted to take responsibility for the products.

    Old Master nodded his head silently. This perfume invention was of utmost importance. The Gu Family had invested countless money and manpower to create it, and it could greatly impact the structure of the Perfume market in future. Now, everything had been arranged, except a suitable spokesperson. No matter who got the job, she would shoot to fame. He had seen a huge number of models and celebrities jump at the chance, resorting to all kinds of means for the job, leaving no stones unturned. Surprisingly, the youngdy in front of him remained hesitant even after being rmended for the job.

    Either she was really scheming or really cautious.

    Old Master Gu sized the youngdy up closely, seeing that she had bright eyes and was free of impurities. This was a pure soul. As he stared for a longer time, he felt as though she had a mysterious splendor and a certain kind of attractiveness, making others be intoxicated unknowingly, unable to take their eyes off her. Unlike other artistes who were impulsive and eager for quick sess, she was neither supercilious nor obsequious. She was definitely worthy of Li Lei. Old Master Gu eventually felt that the youngdy might really be suitable for the endorsement of Meteor Wings.

    ¡°First, go to the audition.¡± Old Master Gu decided.

    On the surface, it was an audition, but it was already halfway cut and dried. Many people had begged Old Master Gu for this job, but Xia Ling was the first to make him rmend her for an audition.

    As long as she was not too lousy, who would dare to raise objections against someone who Old Master Gu rmended?

    Then again, how could it be possible that Old Master Gu would rmend someone mediocre? Who would dare to say otherwise? Wouldn¡¯t that be implying that he had bad taste?

    Li Lei understood the hidden meaning immediately. He smiled widely and thanked him profusely.

    ¡°Cunning little fellow, you obviously know that your Uncle Gu is in charge of this, yet you came to me instead of him. Did you think I wouldn¡¯t see through you?¡± Old Master Guined jokingly.

    ¡°Hurhur, I knew I couldn¡¯t hide anything from you, Grandfather Gu. You¡¯re the smartest!¡± He grinned happily.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, get out of here.¡± Old Master Gu was getting on in years and was supposed to be enjoying his time with his family. However, his own children and grandchildren were afraid to even make a sound at the sight of him. Grandfather Gu favored Li Lei for that exact reason, only Li Lei dared to act like a child and joke around with him. ¡°Your Uncle Gu just brought over some Longjing tea leaves, get Uncle Zhou to pack some for you. Try to make do with them.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t need to make do with them, Uncle Gu is a master in tea-tasting, the tea must be high-grade for him to bring it to you,¡± he said cheerily. He did not forget to praise both father and son before epting the tea leaves. He then left contently with Xia Ling.

    When they were no longer near, Uncle Zhou informed Old Master Gu of the trouble Xia Ling was in without missing anything out. ¡°Old master, I have investigated thoroughly. Miss Ye is a new artiste from Skyart Entertainment and is in a difficult situation.¡±

    Old Master Gu slowly ced the Chinese chess piece that he was twisting about on his fingers down on the chess board. ¡°Noted.¡±

    ¡°Old Master? Is it suitable to let Miss Ye endorse Meteor Wings? She is currently the target of public criticism and has already been terminated by manypanies. She¡¯s one step away from losing her footing in the entertainment industry.¡±

    ¡°I absolutely trust the youngd¡¯s taste. He cares so deeply for her, he wouldn¡¯t let her be pulled down by this matter. It is our family that will benefit from this instead,¡± Old Master Gu calmly replied.

    ¡°We will benefit?¡± Uncle Zhou was even more baffled.

    ¡°Allpanies have rejected that youngdy due to the on-going rumors, but only we believed in her and were willing to give her a chance, offering her timely help. What do you think the world will think of us after she regains her reputation?¡±

    Enlightened, he answered, ¡°We will be highly praised, of course. It will be more effective than normal publicity.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei was sure that I would not reject him even if I was clear about what happened recently. It¡¯s a win-win situation. This shows how smart he is,¡± said Old Master Gu, his voice filled with admiration.

    Uncle Zhou nodded in agreement. The reason for Old Master Gu¡¯s favoritism for Second Young Master Li was now clear to him.

    ¡°If my good-for-nothing grandson was half as capable as Li Lei I wouldn¡¯t be so worried. I wonder what¡¯s going to happen to the Gu Family at the hands of the third generation...¡± Old Master Gu suddenly sighed.

    A Chinese chess piece fell slowly to the chess board, unveiling his loneliness.

    Uncle Zhou sighed as well. Each family had its own problems.

    The moon was obscured.

    Xia Ling followed Li Lei out of the Gu Garden and slid into the backseat.

    Surprisingly, Li Lei did not take the wheel and followed her into the backseat.

    ¡°Here, a present for you.¡± He casually held out the tea he had received from Old Master Gu to Xia Ling.

    ¡°It was gifted to you.¡± Xia Ling refused to ept it. She was clear that he begged others to help her and was already feeling guilty. Why would she have the nerve to ept his present?

    ¡°Take it,¡± he said insistently.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell the good from the bad. Why let it go to waste by giving it to me?¡± This was the truth. Even though she learned some high-ss etiquette when she worked with Pei Ziheng, he never did pressure her into learning the things she disliked or was impatient with. As luck would have it, tea-tasting was one of them.

    She attempted to stuff the packet of expensive tea leaves back into hisp. ¡°Take it...¡±

    She suddenly stopped before she could finish.

    The dim moonlight had prated the windshield and fell between Li Lei¡¯s perfect and peaceful brows, giving him a silver glow. He had somehow fallen asleep. His eyes were gently closed and his breathing was slow and steady.

    Xia Ling pulled back her arm as thoughts started to whirl in her head. Did he not take the wheel today due to being heavily exhausted? After much scrutiny, she spotted his slightly visible eye-bags. He appeared to be worn out due to insufficient rest. She was speechless. What had he been doing recently?

    She suddenly realized that they were worlds apart and that she did not understand him very well.

    They arrived at the condominium.

    The chauffeur courteously opened the door for her and proceeded to open the door for Li Lei on the other side. He was slightly stunned when he noticed that he was asleep. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯ll help Young Master up, you can go upstairs first,¡± he said.

    ¡°Has he been sleeping well these days?¡± She questioned her.

    The chauffeur had been Li Lei¡¯s subordinate for years and knew him well. ¡°Previously, there was an emergency in Manhattan, yet he specially cut the trip short to rush to Italy and returned earlier than nned. He has day and night reversed and passed out a few times from jetg. He hasn¡¯t been eating well, not to mention sleeping well.¡±

    Xia Ling could not believe her ears. Did he overexert himself just to rush back and help her? She felt a lump in her throat. She was touched his gesture, but she was rather confused and at a loss.

    The chauffeur had already helped Li Lei up, but as he took a step, Li Lei woke up.

    ¡°Are we home?¡± asked Li Lei blurringly. He had yet to fullye round.

    ¡°We¡¯re downstairs, Young Master,¡± the chauffeur replied.

    Li Lei mumbled an ¡°okay¡± and proceeded to stare at Xia Ling, revealing an innocent and beautiful smile. ¡°We¡¯re home, Xiao Ling,¡± he muttered softly.

    She did not seem to notice how he managed to take a petty advantage of her with his choice of words. All she felt was a pang of guilt. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to have caused you so much trouble. I was too impulsive to have hit Xia Yu this time.¡±

    ¡°She deserved it. This will serve as a warning to others,¡± he said as he continued to smile dazedly.

    It was basic instinct to protect her as she meant the world to him.

 Chapter 77 - Issue A Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 77: Issue A Challenge</h4>

    Xia Ling was about to ask him the reason for treating her so well, but she stopped herself in time when she caught sight of his weary face. Although she could guess the answer, she refused to dwell on it as she was unable to reciprocate his feelings.

    Instead, she would give it her best shot to be a Diva again, one better than her previous life, to earn hispany some glory.

    That was the only way she could repay him.

    The following day, she went for the interview as agreed. She put in more effortpared to the past and gave full y to her skills. She was a stunningly natural as she basked under the spotlight. With every soul-stirring movement, she took everyone¡¯s breath away. Even without the rare rmendation from Old Master Gu, she was definitely worthy of snagging the endorsement.

    Things got busier once again. Not only there was the secret filming of the ¡°Meteor Wings¡± advertisement, but there were also a series of still pictures to be taken at the same time of recording the publicity video and theme song.

    The theme song was ced under Wei Shaoyin¡¯s charge after deciding on its nature. Previously Wei Shaoyin had put in a huge amount of effort to write her debut song, but the good times did notst and it was not long before she lost her poprity due to the negative news. As he witnessed the downfall of ¡°ss Fingertips¡±, he was exploding with anger. He vowed to make the bastards from Imperial Entertainment pay.

    He declined the invites from two other popr big-shots in order to focus on writing a song for her. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, Xiao Ling, I¡¯m here to back you up. Imperial Entertainment is no big deal, I¡¯m going to exterminate them!¡± he said ferociously.

    With that defensive stance, it was as though it was him who was bullied instead of Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was greatly moved.

    However, this feeling was eradicated in a few days¡¯ time.

    Full of fight, Wei Shaoyin aimed for perfectionism. Picky as he was, she was left hanging by a thread after countless fussing from him.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but think that he was grabbing the chance to torture her instead of helping her seek revenge.

    During the music production intervals, she took some time to catch up with the current trends.

    The fans of both Xia Yu and Xia Ling, as well as the onlookers, were still keeping up with the overwhelming insults. The fact that she had not muted the notifications of her official Weibo ount opened the floodgates. It was filled with many different malicious insults and sarcastic remarks, even leading to her family members being verbally attacked. Gradually, some people could no longer take it lying down.

    ¡°Ye Xingling might have been at fault, but these insults are overboard!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, what a poor thing.¡±

    Although these scattered voices were no match for the frenzied insults, a number of souls were clearly impacted.

    Sister Mai Na thought it was the right time, thus she approached the Gu Financial Magnate and obtained the trailer for ¡°Dancing Under The Stars,¡± which was the first segment of ¡°Meteor Wings¡± top-notch publicity video.

    She then released it on Xia Ling¡¯s official Weibo ount.

    The mysterious sea of stars in the publicity video set her off to advantage. She appeared as a wless beauty, pure yet exquisite. Wearing a blue chiffon gxy maxi dress with silver headdress, she glowed in the shadows as she twirled around in her crystal heels, leaving shimmers of light wherever she stepped. Her unique stance and magnificent stature could even make her worse enemy not take his eyes off her.

    In her fair and sparkling palm, there was a mini box.

    No one knew what was inside. Who dared to approach her to endorse their product at such a time?

    There was a huge uproar as the public spected.

    Xia Ling appeared to be rxed and posted: ¡°Truth will speak for itself, and history will judge if one is truly innocent or guilty, thus I absolutely have no need to exin myself. A word of advice for some people: instead of spending your time thinking of ways to falsely use another, spend a little more effort on your work,¡± on her official Weibo ount.

    She was implying that she was dedicated to official work matters while Xia Yu was busy trying to ruin her reputation through underhanded means.

    With the slightestparison, everyone could tell who was the superior one.

    ¡°Not bad, you have a huge presence, this is exactly how a celebrity should behave!¡± Satisfied, Sister Mai Na praised her.

    ¡°It was all thanks to Boss,¡± she replied. If it wasn¡¯t for Li Lei, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to snag an endorsement and wouldn¡¯t have gotten a chance to demonstrate her broad-mindedness and style.

    ¡°Skyart Entertainment is only one of the many businesses managed by Boss. He only got involved in matters around here because he thinks highly of you. He doesn¡¯t usually do so. Press on and be sure to not let him down, Xiao Ling!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s thoughts started to drift as she agreed. She wondered what that ever-bright-smiling man was up to at that particr moment.

    A huge wave of Xia Yu¡¯s fans grew even more cross andshed out like mad dogs by raining down further insults on her official Weibo.

    Simultaneously, having kept mum for a long time, fans of ¡°Ye Xingling¡± eventually began to fight back. They were either struck by their conscience, maxed out their tolerance or had their courage mustered by Xia Ling¡¯s deration.

    ¡°Our Xiao Ling is able to produce such a captivating work, what about Xia Yu? What could there be there to fuel your arrogance?¡±

    ¡°Does Xia Yu know how to do anything besides acting pitiful and maligning others?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, if she is really so capable, issue a challenge! Then we can see for ourselves who is the better one.¡±

    ¡°Issue a challenge!¡±

    ¡°Issue a challenge!¡±

    That publicity trailer was nothing short of perfection. All of Ye Xingling¡¯s fans were confident that Xia Yu was no match for their idol. They were filled with resentment and spared no effort in grasping at the chance to oppress Xia Yu as they continued to call her out.

    How could Xia Yu¡¯s fans ever admit that their idol was inferior? At once they rebuked, saying that Xia Yu was merely conserving her strength and that she would leave Xia Ling in a sorry state once she acted. Burning with righteous ardor, countless fans intensely urged Xia Yu to ept the challenge and teach Ye Xingling a lesson.

    Unable to back out, Xia Yu could only announce that she would do it. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll challenge her.¡±

    She had no idea how Xia Ling managed to snag an advertisement. However, ording to Chu Chen¡¯s investigation, no notable advertising agencies had coborated with Xia Ling recently. With that, she spected that whichever product she had endorsed was definitely not fit to be brought to the table. How could it everpare to the well-known brands she was endorsing for?

    ¡°Some people just enjoy digging their own graves,¡± said Xia Yu softly and smiling meekly. ¡°So what if she filmed a nice video? It¡¯s useless without the boost from well-known brands. When ites to endorsements, all that matters is the overall publicity effect. She¡¯s going to cry at the end. Let¡¯s use the Ideal C Perfume to challenge her, Brother Chu.¡±

    Although the Ideal C Perfume was no match for the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s perfume in terms of cost and poprity, the Gu Financial Magnate had never signed on a newbie to endorse their products, thus it could be said that the Ideal C Perfume¡¯s endorsement was the best one a newbie could ask for. Previously, Sister Mai Na racked her brains to get that endorsement, but due to the pping scandal, it was presented on a silver tter to Chu Chen and Xia Yu.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If we are to challenge her, let¡¯s blow matters up. We have to let her suffer a crushing defeat in front of everyone and deny her of all chances to rise up again!¡±

 Chapter 78 - Thats Our Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 78: That¡¯s Our Enemy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The Imperial Entertainment crafted their battle n carefully. They called for a press conference and news of the uingpetition was all over the papers.

    Xia Yu put up an act and appeared innocent in the news reports. ¡°Even though I have yet to fully recover from a rpse of my heart condition, I will ept this challenge. I will prove to everyone that I am a professional and that I did not malign anybody.¡±

    All her fans were greatly moved. It made their hearts ache to see the sweet girl suffer. Being pped for no reason, she had already suffered a great grievance, yet she had to take up the challenge even though she was not feeling well. Inparison, that bitch ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was really a devious snake. She was so healthypared to the sickly Xiao Yu, how could she take advantage of Xiao Yu¡¯s perilous state?

    Once again, she was at the receiving end of sarcasm and insults.

    As Sister Mai Na scanned through the numerous news articles and countless floating rumors online, she let out a coldugh. ¡°Acting pitiful once again, that¡¯s all she does. Does she think that it will work all the time?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. It did work most of the time. In her previous life, she was duped by her ¡°precious sister¡± for her whole life, falling for the same trick over and over again. Xia Yu had mastered the art of the acting pitiful and could easily win over the crowd through evoking their sympathy. Appearing dainty and delicate, she had the upper hand as the public favored the weak.

    Xia Ling stood on her own and was a little too independent, so much so that she appeared exclusive and cold. This was the opposite of the pure goddess-like image people tended to create for themselves. Lacking cordiality, it was difficult to gain poprity in a short span of time, and one mistake could cost everything. Most entertainmentpanies dared not pool too many resources on this type of artiste as it was considered a high-risk investment with high cost and may take years to see a return.

    There was only one such artiste all these years ¡ª The Diva Xia Ling from Imperial Entertainment.

    She was all high and mighty and was not shy to show her beauty.

    s, with a Diva already emerged, the otherpanies dared not invest in artistes with simr personalities. The reason was obvious, when beingpared to Xia Ling, they could never reach the benchmark she set in the eyes of fans.

    Promoting ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was a risky move for Skyart Entertainment as it was sure to gue them with extreme stress. Sister Mai Na had already mentally prepared herself for a bumpy ride before taking on ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± At the moment, her expression turned cold. ¡°Since Imperial Entertainment has gone this far, let¡¯s y along with them. Xia Yu likes to feign sickness, doesn¡¯t she? We¡¯ll destroy her masquerade in front of everyone.¡±

    She proceeded to carry on with her n.

    Not long after, someone came forth with an article mentioning an exclusive interview with the Diva Xia Ling many years ago. Xia Ling had mentioned gleefully that her younger sister was no longer gued by her congenital heart disease and that she had made a full recovery after her operation.

    There was barely any chance of rpse after being cured of her disease. Was it really just a coincidence that she rpsed immediately after being pped by ¡°Ye Xingling¡±? There were concerns regarding the validity of her statements everywhere, including the Inte, radio, television station and even on the streets. A considerable number of people began to take stock of Ye Xingling¡¯s previous im and believed that Xia Yu was feigning illness.

    Even some Xia Yu¡¯s fans started to have their doubts.

    Xia Yu had no choice but to exin herself, and she did so with tears welled up in her eyes. She imed to have had congenital heart disease from a very young age. Without undergoing treatment and coupled with the bad living conditions, she had struggled to stay alive before she met her lucky-star, Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Although Brother Ziheng arranged for me to get the best possible treatment overseas, my illness was too serious to fully recover from. Even after a few operations, the doctors could only keep my illness in check but could not cure me of it. My sister announced my full recovery only to keep people from worrying for me. Actually, my heart is simr to those who are normal, unless someone agitates me. Normally, I would be extremely cautious as I have a weak body. What I did not expect was to be pped and knocked brutally to the ground. This was the cause of my rpse.¡±

    Her speech was perfectly logical and reasonable, tying up all the loose ends.

    She even hinted that ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was cruel and merciless with the usage of the word ¡°brutally¡±.

    The fans who originally wavered were cleared of doubt after Xia Yu¡¯s speech and were filled with righteous indignation once again as they hardened their stance. However, ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± fans were not convinced so easily and continued to peck at Xia Yu¡¯s hypocrisy. To defend their idol, many rallied together to investigate the truth behind Xia Yu¡¯s rpse.

    ¡°Was any evidence gathered from the investigation?¡± Xia Ling asked Sister Mai Na as she monitored the case¡¯s development.

    Sister Mai Na was filled with confidence. ¡°Why are you even worrying? Boss is going to settle this. He already sent someone to investigate and we will soon get the evidence. Then, we only need to leave a few breadcrumbs for the fans and the truth will be told.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said as her worries dissipated. Unclear how it started, she began to develop a sense of blind faith in Li Lei.

    As Li Lei conducted his investigation in secret, the fans were openly looking into the matter. Xia Yu¡¯s fans rushed to her defense, not willing to appear weak. The ¡°battle¡± grew more intense as both parties refused to back down.

    With that, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± became known to many. However, people continued to shoot her side nces.

    She had gained infamy instead of fame. Compared to her, Xia Yu had really benefited from the situation as she grabbed the chance to seek sympathy from the public. Her songs became increasingly popr and her recent Ideal C Perfumemercial became a smash hit as well.

    Yes, the Ideal C Perfumemercial had made its debut. It was the new product for the season. It was lotus-scented, its elegance reflecting the beginning of summer.

    It appeared exquisite and virtuous despite where it came from.

    It was public opinion that the theme of themercial served as a foil to Xia Yu. The picture wasplete with a light fragrance matching a beauty. To have terminated ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was the right choice after all. How could she have possessed such a pure aura or done justice to the product?

    Ideal C Perfume gained consistent poprity and soon there were posters all over the streets.

    That night, neon lights dazzled in the darkness outside the French casement as Xia Ling stood in Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio. His workce was directly facing the electronic advertising board, which presented Xia Yu¡¯s advertisement ¡ª The in Lotus.

    A white lotus flower floating on clear water began to bloom as Xia Yu knelt beside it, wrapped in white cotton tape, bending to reach out for the flower. Her ssy eyes carried a hint of fragility and a speck of sorrow. She had a pair of pixie wings, appearing pure and beautiful.

    It was a great shot. Although it was a little inferior in terms of qualitypared to Xia Ling¡¯s ¡°Dancing Under The Stars,¡± with the solid backing from Ideal C Perfume, it had greater exposure to the viewers and experienced far more sess than Xia Ling¡¯s unknown publicity video.

    As Xia Ling stood in front of the French casement, she observed her sister silently for a long period of time. She was distant, almost like a stranger. She wondered if her sister had always been that way since they were kids. Had she been concealing her true nature from the beginning? Or maybe, when did she start to change? Now she looked sly and scheming,pletely unrecognizable...

    ¡°What are you staring at?¡± Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice came from behind.

    As he got a clearer view, he grew furious. ¡°Why would you look at that? That¡¯s our enemy!¡±

 Chapter 79 - Fright Night

    <h4>Chapter 79: Fright Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling collected her emotions and told Wei Shaoyin, ¡°Well, we can appreciate our rival¡¯s beautiful shots.¡± Only by adopting advice from people all around could one have a brighter future as a celebrity.

    Wei Shaoyin scoffed. ¡°This is a beautiful shot? If I did the shoot, I could¡¯ve done it many times better. Xiao Ling, just you wait, in a while every advertisement board and billboard in the streets will be featuring you!¡±

    Xia Ling was not in the mood to bicker with him and simply left him with the words, ¡°All the best to you.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin had been irritable recently. He had reached a bottleneck with the theme song to Meteor Wings, the better he wanted it to be, the worse it turned out. His inspiration seemed to have vaporized. Even the few songwriters that he had specially invited only handed in mediocre drafts, and after countless changes they were still not up to par. That made him even more agitated.

    Hearing Xia Ling¡¯s insincere ¡°all the best¡±, Wei Shaoyin reacted like a cat who had its tail stepped on, exploding with fury about herck of fight. Xia Ling acted like a confidante, bearing all hisshing emotions. On the third time, he went about saying ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯d better get more serious. You need to have faith in yourself, you¡¯re able to beat Xia Yu,¡± her cell phone rang.

    Thank goodness, this call was a savior, she could not wait to pick it up.

    The caller was her appointed chauffeur ¡ª after artistes have made their debut, Skyart Entertainment would assign a car and chauffeur to them. Xia Ling¡¯s chauffeur was a little different, hers was specially appointed by Li Lei. The chauffeur had bad news, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Miss Ye, my daughter is running a high fever and is in the hospital now. My wife is on a business trip, so I¡¯ll have to go to the hospital to take care of her. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to fetch you tonight. What do you say, do I get thepany to arrange for another chauffeur?¡±

    Xia Ling was not expecting such a situation, but his daughter was ill and that was understandable.

    She tilted her head slightly and looked towards Wei Shaoyin. ¡°There¡¯s no need to arrange for another chauffeur, I¡¯ll go back on my own.¡± Ah Wei was not in the right state today and she did not want to stay and hear him go on with the nagging and lecturing. If she got thepany to look for a recement, who knew when they could get it done, she simply could wait any longer ¡ª even one more minute of his gibberish might drive her mad.

    The chauffeur was slightly worried. ¡°If you¡¯re returning on your own, safety-wise...¡±

    ¡°Somebody will be with me, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll be fine,¡± she told him. After finding out about Pei Ziheng taking interest in Xia Ling, Li Lei had not only got her to stay in the unit beside his, he had also arranged for bodyguards to shadow her. She had seen the bodyguards before, they were all well-trained men with looks of cold determination. She supposed they must have been through a lot in life, their stance itself said enough about how ready they were for a fight anytime.

    The chauffeur knew she had bodyguards as well and decided not to persuade her any further. He left her a few words of advice and hung up.

    Xia Ling happily told Wei Shaoyin, ¡°Ah Wei, it¡¯s eleven now. Nobody¡¯s fetching me today, so I¡¯ll have to leave earlier. Goodbye.¡±

    With that, she disregarded his look of reluctance and hurried out of the door.

    She took the elevator to the first floor and waited for the two bodyguards to keep up with her before they moved on.

    Li Lei appointed four bodyguards to her. If she was in the recording studio, there would usually be two of them indoors and two outdoors.

    This time, however, she did not see the two bodyguards outside.

    It was close to midnight, and the entrance only essible to staff and members was extremely quiet and the streetmps outside were dim. The two bodyguards reacted swiftly, one of them shielding her in the front while the other protected her from behind as they attempted to make their way back into the building.

    It all happened in a sh.

    The bodyguard before her limply fell to the ground without warning.

    Behind her, she heard a sound, like something was knocked against the door handle. It was not loud, but it was enough for the bodyguard to decisively turn away and pull her along as they threw themselves into the bushes for cover.

    The surrounding was silent again.

    Xia Ling was catching short breaths as her heart pounded rapidly. Who arranged for this ambush? The number of people she had offended in this life could be counted on one hand ¡ª Li Bei¡¯er? Their enmity was not to the point of life and death, and furthermore, she was too minor a celebrity for such arge-scale movement; Second Young Master Zhou? Impossible, he would not want to offend Li Lei. Otherwise, he would not have given in to her so much at the club; Xia Yu? Since they were alreadypeting openly, and Xia Yu currently had the upper-hand, it did not seem like she would act against her this way...

    Only one person would do this.

    Pei Ziheng.

    Only he had such an obsession and sufficient capability to send men after her.

    He wanted to abduct her. In those short moments, Xia Ling had inferred the situation she was in. The thought of that ruthless, cold-blooded man sent a chill down her spine, causing her to tremble in fear.

    She dared not think of her predicament if she were to be abducted by him.

    ¡°Gun silencers in ambush, three or more attackers.¡± The bodyguard beside her whispered hurriedly.

    Xia Ling was extremely flustered with no idea how to act.

    Nearby, a faint sound echoed, as if a branch had fallen after being hit. A few blurred silhouettes appeared in their line of vision and they seemed to be holding guns as they moved closer.

    The bodyguard keptpletely quiet, prudently leading her along as they took different positions for hiding.

    ¡°Stay here and don¡¯t move.¡± During theirst shift, he spoke to her at the lowest possible volume. ¡°I¡¯ll distract them and draw them away. When you hear my gun go off, run immediately, okay?¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and nodded.

    The bodyguard removed his bulletproof vest and ced it over her. ¡°Looking at it, I believe the front and back entrances to the recording studio are guarded, so don¡¯t run towards the building. Instead, run towards the streets where the crowds are and find a way to get people to notice that you¡¯re a celebrity. The greater themotion, the better. I¡¯ve already sent an emergency signal to the headquarters, the backup will be here very soon. Boss has mentioned that there is a GPS device in your cell phone, the backup team will be able to find you easily.¡±

    They were pressed for time, thus his speech was rapid, but his instructions were coherent and clear.

    Xia Ling felt more settled with hisst line and managed to get her voice back. ¡°I got it.¡±

    He nodded his head and hurried away stealthily, still using the bushes as cover.

    She held her breath as she waited, her palms covered in cold sweat.

    Finally, she heard a gunshot.

    Without another thought, she dashed towards a bustlingmercial street in her fastest possible speed. The wind brushed across her face as a few branches scratched her and her clothes. She could not be bothered with that, she just wanted so badly to go a little faster. She had no idea how long she had been running, but the dazzling lights from the streets were getting closer and closer...

    She could already hear the bustle and feel the liveliness in the air.

    Only ten more meters before she was in the crowd and under the neon signs. Yet, right as she was about to reach the entrance to her freedom, a figure suddenly appeared before her. The gun in his hand was pointed directly at her forehead.

    He was Chu Chen.

 Chapter 80 - I Didnâ€™t Know That Made You Unhappy

    <h4>Chapter 80: I Didn¡¯t Know That Made You Unhappy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling came to a sudden halt and her heart seemed to have stopped as well.

    Chu Chen spoke very calmly, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you could run this far, I almost missed you.¡±

    She did not say a word as she backed off step by step.

    She turned around immediately and was prepared to flee when she bumped into the sturdy bodies of two burly men. They gripped her tightly as if they were about to shatter her bones.

    Chu Chen sauntered towards them.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re wasting your efforts.¡± He smiled. ¡°Whatever Boss wants, he will get it by hook or by crook.¡±

    ¡°Chu Chen, you¡¯ll get your retribution.¡± Xia Ling clenched her teeth, knowing that pleading with a cold-hearted, brutal person like him was pointless.

    Heughed again. ¡°Little girl, you actually believe in that? Don¡¯t be naive... Oh, let me give you some advice. Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about yourself instead. Some of the things you¡¯ve been up totely have made Boss very unhappy.¡±

    Before she could respond, he ordered the two men. ¡°Take her to the car.¡±

    Xia Ling struggled with all her might and attempted to shout for help.

    Somebody from behind had covered her mouth with his thick, calloused hand and with a sharp pain that radiated in the back of her neck, she lost consciousness.

    She eventually came around.

    She was in a ssic European style bedroom, the chandeliers were dim and the heavy and sturdy door was shut. She was on an enormous bed that couldfortably fit seven to eight people. Above her, floral curtains and gold-lined tassels hung heavily while their shadows were cast on the mattress. She felt eeriness in the room.

    The surrounding was silent, there was no one besides her.

    Xia Ling sat up on the bed and was shocked to discover that she was in apletely different outfit from before. Her sleeved blouse and light-colored pants were nowhere to be seen, reced by an incredibly thin, almost non-existent silk nightgown. It was an enchanting red with plenty ofce intricacies, and was extremely loose-fitting and low-cut ¡ª she had to hold her hand to her chest to protect her modesty.

    Still, this was not what scared or embarrassed her the most.

    Her greatest fear and embarrassment was that this garment barely covered her upper body. It ended above her mid-thigh and any small movement she made could easily reveal her delicate parts. She felt as if all the blood in her was back-flowing as past memories shed in her mind yet again.

    Fog, vi, imprisonment...

    The memories came at her like a ferocious wave as she hyperventted. She fumbled as she got off the bed and staggered towards the thick sturdy door that would lead her out.

    She reached for the gold knob, but the door did not budge an inch.

    Xia Ling was increasingly frightened. She appeared to have lost her mind as she mmed herself against the door, once, twice, again... She did not know how long it was before the door suddenly opened from the outside, and with her momentum, she fell into the arms of a man.

    Looking up, she saw his face clear as day.

    The incredibly handsome and sinister devil in her memory hade to life.

    Xia Ling stared at him in shock, her mind a nk. The next moment, she felt a pang on her face as her ears buzzed and she fell onto the carpet, knocking down two chairs.

    Her vision was a blur and in that moment, she thought her physical being had shattered.

    Pei Ziheng sauntered ever so slowly and squatted before her.

    She took great pains to view him in focus, and only after seeing his lips part and shut for a few moments did she regain her hearing.

    ¡°This p was for Xia Ling,¡± he said sombrely. ¡°Who are you to dare insult her?¡±

    Xia Ling was confused, when had she insulted herself? Even though she had another life now, she would not have done something so mindless. But she was beginning to understand the situation, it must have been Xia Yu... There had been a lot of news going ontely and Xia Yu had been using her of insulting her ¡°dear sister.¡±

    Her voice trembled. ¡°I did not insult...¡±

    Before she couldplete her sentence, another brutal p hadnded on the same side of her face. She whimpered in pain for an instant before she felt a numbing sting on her cheek and began to taste blood in her nose and mouth. The warm liquid peeked out the corner of her lips, flowing down her beautiful jawline.

    Pei Ziheng reached out and caressed her hurt face.

    His light touched was enough for her to shrink back in pain.

    ¡°You¡¯re still denying it,¡± he softly spoke as he touched the blood from her lips and went on to press his finger against his own mouth.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± he sais as he slowly savored the blood on his finger. ¡°I could¡¯ve given you a life of luxury, but not only did you reject me multiple times, but you¡¯ve also even gone on to insult my woman? Ye Xingling, you will be taught a lesson. I promise.¡±

    He bent over and stared at her with an unfamiliar expression in them.

    When she was his Xia Ling in her previous life, he had never looked at her this way. Even in her final and most horrifying year of life, he had looked at her like a predator guarding his territory, with a burning desire, or even withpelling determination... but he never had this expression, as if he was looking at a lifeless animal.

    Xia Ling felt herself stiffen as she attempted to create distance between them.

    He held her chin. ¡°Trying to escape?¡±

    He violently picked her up and she felt the world spin, with no means at all to struggle. He tossed her onto therge bed in the middle of the room as beaded tassels and satinnded on her.

    He went onto the bed to hold her down, with one hand holding both her hands above her head and the other sweeping away the tassels covering her, revealing her partially-clothed body. The nightgown had slipped off her shoulders, showing much of her fair skin as she trembled under his re.

    She was in hysteria, screaming. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go of me!¡±

    He mocked. ¡°You have to pay the price for insulting my Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°I really did not insult her,¡± Xia Ling was in utter distress as she tried to mask her choking sadness. ¡°What did I insult her with? What exactly did I say!¡±

    His look darkened as he held both hands to her neck. ¡°You have the guts to ask me? Ye Xingling, I¡¯m telling you, you are the cheap, shameless woman who sleeps around with men! You deserve to die!¡±

    Gosh...

    She was stunned, it was such a vile statement.

    At that moment, she could barely feel the pain from his strangling. Only when her vessels were about to burst and her breath was almostpletely cut did she subconsciously struggle. It was only then that he loosened his grip.

    She coughed her lungs out, struggling to catch her breath.

    It took a long while before she calmed down, but she felt pathetic. She finally knew why he had gone mad, but...

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even know that somebody insulting Xia Ling would make you... unhappy.¡±

 Chapter 81 - The Vow Meant Nothing More

    <h4>Chapter 81: The Vow Meant Nothing More</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Hearing her utter the words ¡°Xia Ling,¡± an ounce of pain shed in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. Yet, he recovered his cold demeanor almost immediately. ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯ve said it already, you will pay the price for what you¡¯ve done.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± She looked at him sorrowfully. ¡°if that wasn¡¯t selling herself, what else could that be.¡±

    Uncertainty and curiousness rose inside her, she hoped so badly that he would give her a different reply. In that instance, Xia Ling had decided, if he mentioned ¡°love,¡± she would reveal her identity and return to him at once.

    But he thought she was being sarcastic.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you really are unrepentant.¡± He uttered every word through clenched teeth before cuffing her hands to the bed. ¡°I will make sure you never utter a word of insult about Xia Ling ever again.¡±

    He let go of her and walked towards a cab, where he reached for something.

    She widened her eyes as she saw a ss tube half-filled with a dark green liquid.

    Pei Ziheng held it before her, softly speaking, ¡°After drinking this, you¡¯ll never be able to speak bad of anyone in your life. You¡¯ve offended the wrong person this time. Won¡¯t it be fair for you to be a mute?¡±

    As he caressed her lips with his fingertip, she started to shiver in fear.

    She shrank herself back as much as she could as she tried to get further away from it. In the dim light, the dark colored liquid looked sinister and evil, as if it was specially concocted by a witch in hell as if there was no way of recovery once it was swallowed ¡ª it was not just being unable to speak, the scarier part was being unable to sing ever again. Although she had said that the entertainment industry was not something to die for, singing was a separate matter, it was the only thing she loved. If she lost her voice, what point was there left in living...

    Xia Ling gazed at him, as her eyes fogged up in tears. <i>Pei Ziheng, I¡¯ve already lost you. If I lose my voice, what else have I left?</i>

    Pei Ziheng took his time to remove the lid and a strong medicinal odor gushed out, causing Xia Ling to gag reflexively. She tilted her head backward, her voice shaking. ¡°Pei Ziheng, please don¡¯t do this... I¡¯ve really never insulted Xia Ling, really! Why, why do you believe Xia Yu¡¯s nonsense but not a single word of mine!¡±

    He stopped in thought for a moment before tilting her head forward.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± He squinted at her. ¡°Xia Yu is her biological sister, what are you?¡±

    Every word he uttered felt like a hammer against her heart. This was the second time tonight he had said to her, Ye Xingling, what are you? So, without Xia Ling¡¯s name and skin, she was nothing to him.

    Pei Ziheng, what exactly do you love?

    She recalled a year they went traveling. At the peak of a mountain, he had held her hand as they made a vow to be ¡°of one heart¡± forever more. The lock was sped together and she looked up at him, asking: <i>Ziheng, do you really think that we can be together again in our next life? </i>His voice was absolutely gentle and tender as he told her, <i>Yes, Xiao Ling, we will be together for all of our lives, forever.</i>

    Back then, she had stroked the lock. <i>But, what if you can¡¯t find me?</i>

    He turned her towards him and looked into her eyes. <i>Xiao Ling, in our next life, I will definitely be able to find you. No matter what you may look like or where you may be, I will recognize you at first nce and bring you back.</i>

    In the mist, his eyes were oh so gentle.

    Yet tonight, as she appeared right before him, he had asked time and again: <i>Ye Xingling, what are you?</i>

    She suddenly felt her jaw hurt, jerking her back to reality.

    Pei Ziheng had held her mouth open with one hand as he emptied the contents of the tube into her mouth.

    It was bitter, stinging her insides as it made its way down her throat. Terrified, she struggled deliriously, attempting to free herself from his grip. Yet, his entire body weight was on her, leaving her with no chance of escape. The button on his steel grey vest was pressing against her, with only the thinyer of silk between them. It hurt a lot, but that hurt was nothingpared to having the medicine forced down her throat.

    Despite her efforts, every drop of the liquid ended up in her mouth.

    Pei Ziheng was still holding her jaw open. Only when he was sure that all of it had been swallowedpletely did he release his grip slowly and hurl the bottle to the ground.

    Xia Ling coughed uncontrobly, even her chest had begun to hurt, but not a single drop of that medicine was coughed out. She tried gagging at the edge of the bed, but both of her hands were cuffed to the bed and there was only so much she could bend over. Metal nged against metal as she tugged at it with all her might, her wrist beginning to sting.

    Pei Ziheng watched her struggle in silence. When she was running out of energy, he gently spoke, ¡°Not a bad experience, did you like it?¡± He was smiling again. The dim light cast a looming shadow against the mattress. In the night, it looked like a dying prey struggling against an enormous demon.

    Xia Ling opened her mouth to speak before realizing that it had already taken effect. She could make sounds, but even with all her might not a single word could be uttered. She could not ept it and wrestled once again, coughing, gasping, giving her all until she had nothing left.

    Pei Ziheng looked towards her skin beneath the nightgown, his gaze deepening.

    He raised his arms slowly and began removing his clothes, undoing every button on his vest.

    It hit her as she realized what he was about to do. Panicked, she had turned pale and was curling up, hoping to be as small as possible...

    He casually set his vest on the backrest of a chair and proceeded to remove his shirt ever so slowly. As the first few buttons were undone, his firm muscles began to show.

    All this time, his sight never left her body, his burning desire unmasked.

    She felt ashamed, afraid, and angry all at once. Though she had been touched by him many times before, this time was different. This time, he saw her as a stranger, nothing more than a tool to satisfy his desires.

    She struggled once more, on the verge of losing her mind. She tugged harder and her wrists hurt more as it began to bleed, but the more pain she derived, the harder she went...

    He stopped unbuttoning his shirt and walked towards her.

    ¡°Now you¡¯re scared, eh?¡± Bending over, he spoke tenderly. ¡°If you have the guts to insult someone else, why don¡¯t you have the guts to give it a shot yourself, sleeping with men and being a cheap and shameless woman... You should have tasted it, shouldn¡¯t you?¡±

 Chapter 82 - Escaping the Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 82: Escaping the Nightmare</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was trembling and looking at him fearfully with no way of answering.

    He caressed her bare shoulder and she jolted, instinctively wanting to hide, but his grip was firm as he reached down to grab her waist.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± he said. ¡°just surrender already.¡±

    She was practically on the verge of insanity as she struggled against all odds and kicked him profusely. Unfortunately, her efforts were futile, he had suppressed her with might.

    Just as she was about to lose all hope, a leopard silently appeared in the corner of the room behind Pei Ziheng. It was looking right at her.

    It was... Er Mao!

    For the first time in her life, she genuinely embraced its presence and was overwhelmed.

    The slight change in her expression could not escape Pei Ziheng¡¯s discerning eyes. He seemed to notice something was off and turned around, only to see Er Mao pouncing on him. Pei Ziheng ducked to the side and avoided the attack, but his right arm and shirt had been scratched by Er Mao¡¯s razor-sharp ws, and blood was beginning to trickle down his arm.

    Er Maonded on the ground lightly. Without ncing at Xia Ling, it arched its back slightly and stared at Pei Ziheng.

    It did not let out a roar, as if knowing that the man before him did not warrant one. Pei Ziheng was not making a sound either as he stared back at the leopard and got into a defensive pose, with no attempt to shrink back nor a hint of anxiousness.

    She remembered Pei Ziheng had mentioned in herst life that heirs like him had to undergo harsh training since they were young, and even being outnumbered by a few bodyguards during a fight was manageable for them. But she could not tell whether Er Mao or he was stronger. After all, Er Mao was a carnivorous beast.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a flurry.

    The man and leopard standing on opposing ends took a few steps anticlockwise, with no other significant movement. Suddenly, as Pei Ziheng bumped into the table behind him, Er Mao took the opportunity and leaped towards him, aiming for his neck.

    Pei Ziheng managed to evade it once again, meanwhile reaching for a sword on the wall.

    What appeared to be a wall decoration was, in fact, a sharp, well-polished sword. Even from a few meters away, Xia Ling could clearly sense the threat it posed.

    Er Mao went low with its ears drawn back, and with a powerful swing of its tail, it went for him once more.

    They were shifting positions too quickly for her to keep up. With the mattress and furniture between her and the two of them, she could barely see what was going on. Xia Ling tugged at the handcuffs and, when it still did not budge, she got anxious. She badly wanted to be aware of the situation, but at this point, she had no idea who she was more worried for ¡ª Pei Ziheng or Er Mao.

    Unexpectedly, she heard the leopard¡¯s groan, sounding like a cross between anger and pain.

    Xia Ling got a shock and stretched as far as she could to find out what had happened. Behind the mattress, she saw Er Mao on the ground, its shoulder evidently injured as blood dyed its fur.

    But it did not back off. It continued the battle.

    She understood that it was here to save her and would not surrender for as long as she was not saved. Xia Ling was even more flustered, but all she could do was tug at the cuffs in the hope that it would unbuckle, but all that greeted her was more pain.

    ¡°You¡¯ll never get it opened this way.¡± She heard an indolent voice.

    Xia Ling stopped what she was doing and looked up, seeing a familiar figure.

    ¡°Hi, Xiao Ling.¡± He smiled at her, his voice slow and listless as usual, but it managed to put her at ease.

    Xia Ling gazed at him like he was her life savior, and he sure did not disappoint. With a twist or two, he had managed to undo the cuffs effortlessly.

    Her wrists had finally regained freedom and she fumbled to sit upright. As she adjusted her posture, her nightgown had slipped further off her shoulders and she hurriedly covered her front. There was simply too little fabric and it was too thin ¡ª she dared not move further, and instead chose to curl into a ball.

    Li Lei squinted and tilted his head slightly. ¡°Red... too blood-like, it doesn¡¯t suit you.¡±

    With that, he scanned the surroundings and casually grabbed the beaded tassels, cing them over her. ¡°This is much better.¡±

    He had grabbed just the right amount of fabric ¡ª it covered her nicely, giving her space for movement but not too much excess cloth. With an extrayer over her, she felt more secure and gave him a look of gratitude.

    He asked her, ¡°Can you walk?¡±

    She nodded and got off the bed, standing upright.

    ¡°Come with me, let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    Xia Ling did not follow immediately. She was looking in the corner where the man and beast were wrestling. Furniture had been knocked over and shattered while traces of blood lined the floor, it could be either of theirs.

    She was uptight.

    Li Lei looked toward the scene. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Er Mao can hold him back.¡±

    Pei Ziheng seemed to have sensed movement as he turned his head towards them abruptly in the midst of his scuffle, ring intently at Li Lei. His deadly expression apanied by the blood on his clothes made him appear like a terrifying devil.

    Xia Ling could not help but shrink back behind Li Lei, evading his line of sight.

    Li Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    With his lead, she stumbled out the door, the fabric over her hooking onto something on the way and the beads scattering on the ground. Thest time she caught a nce of the scene, Er Mao had pounced onto Pei Ziheng once again and he had shielded himself with the sword, the battle continued.

    Li Lei led her across a long hallway, took a bend, went one floor down, and sped past the dining and meeting rooms.

    Her mind was filled with images the whole way down ¡ª Pei Ziheng¡¯s bloody upper body and Er Mao¡¯s low, angry growl were shing in her head in alternation. Down the corridor, into the garden, the racket could still be heard ¡ª ravaging of furniture, shattering of ss, and lights that danced and swayed unsteadily...

    She lost her bnce once, almost tripping and falling.

    Throughout the escape, Li Lei had never loosened his firm, assuring grip on her.

    As they were approaching the exit on the first floor, Xia Ling had a dizzy spell and was having trouble focusing. The next moment she had stepped onto something and a sharp pain consumed her foot, she lost her bnce and fell on the ground.

    Li Lei reflexively held her and helped her into a corner, avoiding a stray bullet. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    She instinctively opened her mouth but could not make a sound.

    His expression turned dark. ¡°Your voice?¡±

 Chapter 83 - Red with Anger

    <h4>Chapter 83: Red with Anger</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her face spelled misery as she turned her head to the side, avoiding eye contact.

    A trace of anger could be seen in Li Lei¡¯s eyes as he clenched his fist. In an instant, however, he used the same hand to caress her face gently, cautiously turning her face towards him. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. Open your mouth and let me take a look.¡±

    She gazed at him helplessly. Under the flickering lights, his expression was so tender that it had a calming presence. Slowly, she gave in and opened her mouth.

    He took a careful look at her throat. ¡°Pei Ziheng¡¯s a beast, he fed you medicine?¡±

    She nodded her head, on the verge of tears.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m here.¡± He calmlyforted her and reached for his cell phone to make a call. ¡°Hello, James, go to the clinic at the Third Base immediately. Xia Ling was fed some muting form and needs treatment.¡±

    He hung up and bent down to her. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here now.¡±

    He got up and offered her a hand. Xia Ling gripped his hand firmly and attempted to stand before the pain in her foot struck again and she fell back down. Only after peering down did she realize that she had run out of the bedroom barefooted and had stepped onto a ss shard and the edges had cut into her sole, causing it to bleed.

    Li Lei saw the same sight and bent over, lifting her leg to check on it.

    She reflexively tensed her foot in pain the very moment he touched it, but in his warm, calloused hand, she gradually rxed. ¡°Bear with it and don¡¯t move.¡± He meticulously picked out the ss shard in her foot as blood continually trickled down her sole and onto his hand.

    After he was done removing the shard, he ripped a part of his t-shirt and bandaged her wound with the fabric.

    In the dim glow of dusk, his lips were slightly pursed and his side profiled a handsome, vivid image as he worked on her foot with all his focus, as if she was his most cherished possession. The shattered full-length windows and the swaying chandeliers in the hallway were a separate world, tucked in a corner of the background along with the stairwell. Even the gunshots and themotion from the scuffle were all a part of the distant background.

    It was as if he and she were in a world of their own, just the two of them.

    She looked at him in a daze and realized she was not as fearful and helpless anymore.

    The pain in her foot was ebbing as Li Lei bent over and carried her. ¡°Hold me tight.¡±

    She felt a lightness in her being and instinctively held onto his side. As they moved along, she heard the wind brush against her cheeks, and asionally the less pleasant sounds of shattering ss and exchange of fire...

    She buried her face into his chest. Through his t-shirt, she could smell the faint blend of his sweat and tobo, and feel the firmness of his chest and the regr pump of his heart. Beat after beat, it was steady and unshakeable.

    Xia Ling slowly shut her eyes and went into a deep sleep.

    Dawn approached and the sky was a clear white. Li Lei had carried her out of the danger zone, got into a bulletproof vehicle under the protection of his bodyguards and headed for the nearest stronghold. Third Base was one of his strongholds and, by the time they arrived, several medical professionals were already on standby with James as the head doctor, who walked up to Li Lei the moment he spotted him.

    ¡°What¡¯s her situation now?¡± asked James.

    With Xia Ling still in his arms, Li Lei made his way to the treatment room briskly. ¡°She¡¯s had a scare and is running a slight fever. Pei Ziheng seemed to have forced the muting medicine down her throat, but I¡¯m not sure what form it was. You have to reverse the effects.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± James and Li Lei settled her down in the treatment room and he began running checks on her.

    Twelve hourster, night had fallen once again.

    ¡°It¡¯s a very potent form.¡± Against the shadowlessmp was James¡¯ exhausted look. The whole day of treatment had fatigued him, ¡°I¡¯ve extracted a small sample from her throat to run tests in theb. What I can confirm is that it is different from any of those sold in the market, there are several ingredients that I¡¯m currently unclear about until the test results are out.¡±

    ¡°Can she be cured?¡± asked Li Lei.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± James furrowed his brows. ¡°I¡¯ve operated on her and removed some of the toxins, but it has taken effect too fast, so this operation might not be too helpful in recovering her vocal cords fully. I¡¯m guessing that Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t use any of themon ones in the market and has specifically used this one so that she can never recover. There might be no cure to this.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s face was terribly gloomy.

    James and he had been friends for many years and been through trials and tribtions together. However tough the situation might have been, Li Lei had never lost his cool, calming and indolent presence. He was always confident, never before losing himself as he did now.

    He was concerned. ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    ¡°James, you have to cure her no matter how much it takes. Please.¡± Li Lei looked at James in all seriousness, uttering each and every word clearly. When he first met her, he thought it was merely a fling and his only intention was to keep her as his woman. But the way she rejected him outright and in anger had got him even more attracted to her, and from a point ¡ª he had no idea when ¡ª his feelings for her were no longer as simple, no longer a ¡°fling.¡± When he saw her curled up on Pei Ziheng¡¯s bed, vulnerable, and when she lost her smile and looked at him in destion, he felt an ache in his heart.

    He hated himself for not having protected her well.

    ¡°Send mymand, everyone is to gather at Third Base.¡± Li Lei walked out of the treatment room and instructed coldly.

    In the main hall wheremands were usually handed down, his private assistant Su Tang looked up at him in shock. ¡°Young Master?¡±

    ¡°Did you not hear me!¡± Li Lei growled as he red fiercely at her.

    He had always been friendly to Su Tang and had never been harsh to her. Today, he behaved abnormally and aggressively, venting his steam on her because of a girl in aa. Su Tang felt a stab in her heart and bit her lip as she carried out his instructions.

    ¡°Everyone...¡± She tried to mask her dejection. ¡°including Team Dragon and Team Shadow?¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡±

    Su Tang was astounded. Li Lei had countless underlings within and outside the country that he mobilized for each mission, but Team Dragon and Team Shadow had always been the trump cards thaty low in the country and which he had almost never revealed. In fact, this night was the very first time these top secret teams had been mobilized in the longest time.

    She wanted to offer her two cents and tell him that it was not worth it for a woman. But seeing the anger written all over his face, she decided to swallow her words. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll gather them.¡±

    Third Base, the hall.

    Team Dragon, Team Shadow and the rest of Li Lei¡¯s special forces, bodyguards, elite intelligence officers, and assassins were gathered in the hall at attention, awaiting Li Lei¡¯smand.

    ¡°I, Li Lei,¡± He swept his nce across the neat rows they had formed. ¡°do not usually stir trouble. Since the day I returned and resumed my business, I have kept by the civil rules, leaving the triad life overseas. But because I¡¯ve done that, some people have forgotten what the Li Family have always been in charge of! They¡¯ve forgotten the kind of person Li Lei is!¡±

    His voice was hard and cold, his expression menacing. ¡°Some mindless moron actually dared touch my woman, on my territory! Since they have not abided by the legitimate rules of going about their business and insist on doing it the triad way, I shall let them see what the ck triad really is! Team Dragon, Team Shadow and the rest of you here, before daybreak I want this entire city!¡±

 Chapter 84 - Giving Up His Persistence Because Of Her

    <h4>Chapter 84: Giving Up His Persistence Because Of Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The underworld forces of the city were in a mess.

    Unwee guests from the Li Family paid visits to all the well-known and respected triad bosses of the underworld. Be it gambling den owners, drug dealers, pimps, smugglers, loan sharks or hired guns, none was spared.

    They were dressed in ck and heavily armed, coldly emitting the smell of death. ¡°Second Young Master Li wants to take over this city. You could choose to obey and pledge allegiance to him or put up a stubborn resistance.¡±

    The triad bosses were all surprised.

    A young triad boss called to report the incident to his uncle. ¡°Fourth Uncle, who is Second Young Master Li? I have never heard of him. This is a joke, he wants me to pledge allegiance to him just because he has some weapons and underlings. Didn¡¯t he get a line on what the Fang Family deals with? Who does he think he is to dare to offend us? He must be tired of living...¡±

    ¡°You are the one tired of leaving!¡± His Fourth Uncle was immensely terrified and chided him. ¡°Quickly find out who this Second Young Master Li is. If it¡¯s Li Lei, pledge allegiance right away. He could wipe us out just by moving his fingers!¡±

    The young triad boss grew increasingly ufortable. ¡°My god, the consequences are so dire? Who the hell is this Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°He is the grandson of Li Shanhe,¡± said Fourth Uncle Fang.

    ¡°Who is Li Shanhe?¡± he asked, getting even more confused. His family, the Fang Family, had dominated this city for ages and he clearly had never heard of a big shot named Li Shanhe.

    Even though the Li Family was of Chinese origin, they were foreigners and had chosen to expand their empire overseas for generations, rarely being involved in local business, thus it was not strange for him to not have heard about them. Many medium-scale forces had not heard of Old Master Li due to this. Even so, the name Li Shanhe reverberated like thunder among the big shots who were considered to have a top-notch influence both locally and internationally. They could only look up to him.

    Having stepped into the underworld longer, Fourth Uncle Fang was more knowledgeable than his nephew. As he realized that his nephew was never able to get it straight, he finally cut to the point. ¡°You don¡¯t know Li Shanhe? But you should have heard about the Italian Mafia, right?¡±

    ¡°I have heard of them indeed.¡± That question was almost unnecessary. Which underworld member had not heard of the Mafia?

    ¡°Second Young Master Li is the grandnephew of the Mafia¡¯s godfather.¡±

    The young triad boss could not believe his ears. The grandnephew of the Mafia¡¯s godfather! When did such a big shot arrive in the city?! ¡°He... he wants to set up base camp here in our city?¡± he asked stammeringly.

    ¡°He did so long ago.¡± Fourth Uncle Fang smiled bitterly. He had already greeted the different powerful forces in the city a few years ago, iming that everyone should stay in theirnes as he had no intention to interfere in the underworld¡¯s current power structure as he was there for legal business. He requested everyone to not panic and continue to carry on with their own affairs as per normal.

    Things had remained peaceful for many years.

    Everyone wondered what had happened to Second Young Master Li that could make him want to take over the underworld forces all of a sudden.

    ¡°Pledge allegiance to him. Don¡¯t create trouble for our family.¡± Fourth Uncle Fang reminded his nephew.

    After being stuck in a daze for quite some time over the phone, the young gang leader made up his mind as he hung up. ¡°The Fang Family will pledge their allegiance.¡±

    Almost every reputable underground gang pledged their allegiance, and the few who refused were swallowed whole by Li Lei¡¯s men. In a short span of three hours, there was a significant change in the city¡¯s structure. From that moment on, all underground forces were loyal to Second Young Master Li and whatever he said goes.

    ¡°It is done, Young Master.¡± Su Tang reported softly after she pushed the ward-room open.

    Without switching on the lights in the ward, Li Lei remained by Xia Ling¡¯s bedside and gently held her weak and feeble hand in his under the slightly visible moonlight. Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were shut and she had yet to regain consciousness. Her brows began to press together as she appeared to be stuck in an unpleasant nightmare.

    Li Lei gazed at her gently.

    Su Tang waited by the door for a while before calling out. ¡°Young Master?¡±

    Li Lei waved at her to keep quiet before releasing Xia Ling¡¯s hand and tucking her in. Not a sound could be heard as he stood up to leave, closing the door behind him. ¡°Have all of the underworld forces pledged their allegiance?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Tang looked down at the floor, trying her best to conceal her jealousy. Even if others were not aware, she knew of the Young Master¡¯s exact intentions regarding his return. He had nned to set up shop there to whitewash his Mafia-associated family name and to maintain a proper and legal business without resorting to uwful means. However, all his efforts had gone to waste just because some girl ran into trouble.

    ¡°Let them prove their loyalty then,¡± said Li Lei calmly.

    He did not take control over those forces in the city out of spite or anger. It was to ensure the safety of Xia Ling and to prevent simr urrences. Additionally, he needed some underlings to get things done.

    Su Tang retreated and passed on his orders.

    ¡°What? You want me to cause trouble at the Pei Family¡¯s turfs? They aren¡¯t just any Tom, Dick or Harry! Brother, they might not have many connections with the underworld, but they have thew enforcement on their side! What¡¯s more, they have their own private security detail. The Pei Family has grown their roots in this city for generations, and the entire city would shake even if they just stomped their feet lightly. They are not to be trifled with!¡± the young triad boss eximed as he was about to cry.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The Li Family¡¯s representative asked, smiling gently. ¡°Is there any difference between refusing to prove your loyalty and not pledging your allegiance?¡±

    The young triad boss was ced in a difficult situation as he had just witnessed how they dealt with people who refused to cooperate. The Liu Family from the South side of the city who was engaged in a power struggle with the young gang leader¡¯s family had refused to pledge allegiance and tried to resist with force. s, they were hands-down beaten bloody by the Li Family¡¯s men and ended up with broken limbs. They were even thrown out of the city with a warning that they would be courting their own deaths if they stepped foot in the city.

    As Li Lei had a Mafia background, the young triad boss believed that he was capable of anything.

    After much thought, he realized that the consequences of offending the Li Family would be much more severe.

    With that, he summoned up his courage and went ahead to cause trouble in the Pei Family¡¯s territories.

    Many others had simr feelings to the Fang Family¡¯s young triad boss as they ordered their underlings to destroy the Pei Family¡¯s recording studios, entertainment clubhouses, bars, and office buildings...

    The Pei Family was caught off-guard. Although they rushed to form a resistance group, they were no match for thebined underworld forces of the whole city. In this battle, the Pei Family suffered heavy losses and was in aplete mess by morning.

    <i>I want to take over this city before dawn.</i>

    Li Lei was a man of his word. By the time a mixture of yellow and orange began to brighten up the dark sky, the entire city¡¯s underworld forces were within his grasp. The extreme measures took to exact his revenge on the Pei Family made everyone understand how ruthless and predatory their new underground leader could be. Every man had a weakness, and the girl who was rumored to have kick-started this conflict was no doubt Second Young Master Li¡¯s weakness.

    In the future, no underworld force would ever be dumb enough to be hired by the Pei Family to provoke that girl.

    Back in the ward.

    The unconscious Xia Ling slowly opened her eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei, who was watching over her, called out to her. His tone was gentle and mindful. All traces of the ruthless man from earlier on had evaporated.

 Chapter 85 - Forgetting the Past

    <h4>Chapter 85: Forgetting the Past</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt that she had just woken up from a really long dream. It had battle noises, messy lights, limitless fog, as well as a fearsome devil holding a green medicine bottle in his hand. She desperately ran and ran for an unknown period of time before she tripped and fell down a cliff, descending into an abyss of darkness.

    She woke up in shock all of a sudden.

    What came into view was a handsome man¡¯s face.

    As she stared into his deep and silent eyes filled with concern, rity returned to her mind.

    Where was she? She wanted to speak, but she panicked as she realized that she was still mute.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Xiao Ling, the doctor has already checked out your throat and concluded that there is still a chance of recovery. Trust me, I will definitely make sure that you are cured.¡± He attempted tofort her with his warm voice.

    She stared at him with uncertainty. <i>Is that so?</i>

    ¡°Yup, I swear on it,¡± he said smiling warmly as though he could read her mind.

    Her racing heart then began to slow down.

    ¡°Write down whatever you wish to say,¡± he said as he passed her a writing tablet.

    Xia Ling took the tablet and began to write on it with her beautiful handwriting.<i>Where am I? How long has it been?</i>

    ¡°You remained unconscious for an entire day. You¡¯re on my turf now. You¡¯re very safe.¡± Li Lei roughly informed her of what had happened while she was unconscious. ¡°I sent people to destroy Pei Ziheng¡¯s properties. Today, when the stock market opens to quote the stock prices, the Pei Family¡¯s stock prices will drop drastically. I even prepared much negative news for him. This will teach him a lesson.¡±

    As she heard that man¡¯s name, it was as though a sword had been driven into her heart.

    That night, he had spared zero thought for her as he forced the medicine down her throat cruelly and mercilessly, destroying all hopes and fantasy she ever had for him. She was not sure if Pei Ziheng loved Xia Ling, but she was certain that he had no feelings for ¡°Ye Xingling¡± at all. The life of Diva Xia Ling had ended and was all in the past. At that moment, she was ¡°Ye Xingling¡± and had...

    Nothing to do with him.

    <i>I would like to get a few days¡¯ rest. </i>She informed Li Lei via the tablet.

    She needed time to bury all her memories of that man. From that moment on, as he hit the high road, she would cross the log bridge. The rocky and stormy life, love and death she had experienced had be the past.

    Li Lei brought her back to the condo and she locked herself in to lick her wounds.

    Li Lei was extremely worried and visited her every day to cook her meals, bring her tea and water, as well as water the nts and feed the fishes. He never disturbed her and often found it extremely hard to leave after silently apanying her.

    Finally, the day arrived when she tugged at Li Lei, who was delivering lunch. <i>I would like to go out for a walk, </i>she wrote.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± Li Lei was taken by surprise.

    She beamed at him and began to write: <i>Thank you for showing concern for me during this period of time. I¡¯m totally fine, don¡¯t worry.</i>

    He was dder than her. ¡°It¡¯s great that you are fine. Come, let¡¯s go out for a walk.¡±

    They did not walk too far out and merely circled around themunity garden within the condominium slowly. Sunshine shot through the clear sky and the birds¡¯ chirping from the trees were like music to the ears. Having been cooped up in her house for so many days, this made her feel as though she was reborn. Even after her reincarnation, she was unable to escape her memories of Pei Ziheng. It was only at that very moment when she decided to carve him out of her memories and start afresh.

    It was all because of the warm-hearted man in front of her.

    As they walked in the midst of the greenery and flower fragrance, Li Lei¡¯s shoulders brushed against hers asionally. Finally, she did not dodge.

    They walked to an electronic advertising board.

    Several different kinds of advertisement appeared on the board alternately. One of them was about the Four Seasons Restaurant¡¯s annual event that would be held at the beginning of summer, where one could get to try the head chef¡¯s specially crafted ice-cream.

    She stopped and looked up at the advertisement.

    The illuminating light from the electronic advertisement board was reflected on her face and she recalled that she had a sweet tooth in her previous life, ice-cream being her favorite. She had been dying to try out the head chef¡¯s specially crafted ice-cream from that restaurant, which was said to be extremely good. This particr type of ice cream was only avable once a year at beginning of summer and only the luckiest girl of that night had the opportunity to try it.

    It was said that whichever girl got to taste that ice-cream would live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss with the love of her life.

    Being deeply in love with Pei Ziheng in the past, Xia Ling had attempted to convince him to try it with her. However, he let her down gently, as though she was an ignorant child. ¡°Xiao Ling, didn¡¯t you promise me that you wouldn¡¯t reveal our rtionship?¡± Those who tussled for the ice-cream were mostly couples, and he couldn¡¯t risk being found out by others.

    She felt downhearted, but she did not persist.

    As a result, she had never tasted that particr type of ice-cream even though they were together for over ten years.

    As she continued to stare at the advertisement, lost in thought, a gentle and attractive male voice spoke out unexpectedly. ¡°Do you like ice-cream? I¡¯ll bring you there.¡±

    She turned around and met Li Lei¡¯s sparkling eyes.

    <i>It should be toote already. </i>She wrote that down subconsciously. Having yearned for it in the past, she spared no effort to research on the restaurant. Every year, at the beginning of summer, the dinner seats were always in great demand. All of the seats would be reserved many months before the actual event, thus it would be impossible to get a reservation with just one week in advance.

    ¡°I will handle it,¡± he said with a smile on his face.

    She wasn¡¯t sure how he managed it, but he really brought her to the Four Seasons restaurant that night.

    Four Seasons was a luxurious French restaurant, located in the downtown district of the city, where a family averagely spend up to tens of thousands yuan per meal. Rows of expensive cars could be seen parked inside the car park near the entrance, including Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and so on.

    Li Lei parked his modified Land Rover into a parking lot and walked over to open the door for Xia Ling like a gentleman.

    ¡°After you, mydy.¡± He smiled widely as he stretched out his arm, hinting at Xia Ling to take it. The dress code for the Four Seasons annual event dinner was formal wear, thus he was in a light-colored suit. With his perfectly done tie and glistening cuff-links, he was well-dressed like a gentleman and had a graceful bearing. With his handsome looks, girls nearby who were passing through repeatedly turned to look at him.

    Xia Ling was chipper and took his arm.

    She was as stunning as he was gorgeous, wearing a light aqua blue fishtail dress, with mini diamonds embedded at her dress cor. Her ck shiny hair was shaped into a gorgeous bun, with some baby hairing loose. This was a different kind of charm, which could intoxicate others.

    He led her into the restaurant and they took their ces.

    What surprised her was that he not only managed to get a reservation in such a short time, he actually got them really good seats, which were right beside a huge French window. Looking down from the neenth floor, the many tiny glistening city lights created an extraordinarily beautiful view.

    A waiter brought them the menu and politely asked for their orders after bowing.

    Li Lei hinted the waiter to pass the menu to Xia Ling without taking a look at it. ¡°Order whichever dishes you like.¡±

    The menu fordies was different, it only had the dishes names without the price.

    Xia Ling had been thinking about visiting this restaurant day and night in her previous life, thus she had done research on their menu countless times, even to the point where she could memorize it. Since a long time ago, she had already decided which dishes to order if she could visit the restaurant with Pei Ziheng ¡ª <i>Escargots in red wine is a must, being Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite dish. Lemon vored oysters; he is very picky about lemons, but it¡¯s said that the restaurant¡¯s one is fine. Filet mignon, which is known for its uniqueness, he will definitely like it...</i>

    As she stared at the menu, she got a little lost in thought. At the moment, the things she was thinking of no longer had any use.

    She looked down at the menu, slowly picked out her favorite dishes, and pointed them to the waiter. <i>Cabbage sd with caviar, Buttery mushroom soup, Foie gras fried scallop, Grilledmb chop... </i>Every single dish no longer had anything to do with that man.

    After she finished ordering, she asked Li Lei what else to add to their order with her gaze.

    ¡°Our tastes are really simr. You will definitely like the Pan-fried lobster, and I heard the stewed veal is not bad as well,¡± he said as he smiled at her. He casually added a few more dishes and a bottle of table wine before asking the waiter to send the orders to the kitchen.

    Xia Ling returned the smile. Indeed, all the dishes he ordered were very suited to her tastes.

    Not long after, her face froze.

    She caught sight of¡ª

    Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 86 - The Head Chefâ€™s Specially Crafted Ice-cream

    <h4>Chapter 86: The Head Chef¡¯s Specially Crafted Ice-cream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That man was wearing a dark ck suit and sat down at the table diagonally opposite them. The dim lighting from the chandelier reflected the outline of his god-like, majestic appearance. He had a cold expression and appeared down-cast as he gave his orders to the waiter.

    He brought a female partner, Xia Yu.

    In that short moment, Xia Ling felt as though her heart had been squeezed by something, hurting her. In the previous life, no matter how coquettishly she acted and how many tantrums she threw, he refused to bring her to this restaurant. However, he brought Xia Yu there today.

    However, she quickly suppressed her surging emotions. Since she had already decided to cut ties with her past, she felt that she shouldn¡¯t be nostalgic about it. She turned to Li Lei and fixated her gaze on him. The man before her was the one that had showered her with care in her current lifetime. He took her in, risked his life to save her from danger, would think of ways to make her happy, and would also attempt to pacify her patiently...

    She wasn¡¯t sure what ce she had in Li Lei¡¯s heart, but she could feel his sincerity.

    ¡°Why are you staring at me?¡± He smiled widely as he pushed the first dish to her. ¡°This Cabbage sd with caviar is excellent. This restaurant has a unique way of modting their sauce, making it more tasty and refreshingpared to others. You will definitely like it.¡±

    It was always his specialty when it came to food.

    Xia Ling took a bite, realized it was exactly like he said and beamed at him.

    The soup, main course, hot appetizers, cold appetizers and so on were served, and they were all meticulously cooked and prepared. Li Lei chatted with her while he passed her the salt and other condiments. Her voice had yet to recover, so it was her listening to him speak the whole time. He was good at steering the topic of conversation, choosing the anecdotes that could spark her interest, lightening the mood and creating a friendly atmosphere.

    The gentle lighting set off her fair and exquisite features, making her appear gentle and refined.

    Pei Ziheng and Xia Yu¡¯s dishes arrived as well. As Pei Ziheng picked up his utensils and was about to start eating, he coincidentally caught sight of the couple not far away who was diagonally opposite him. He hand shook slightly and his fork knocked into the edge of the ceramic te, creating a sharp noise.

    For a man like him, who was brought up by a rich and powerful family with a long history, it was considered a gaffe to do that.

    Xia Yu was clearly shocked, but he was not in the least aware.

    His gaze was coldly fixated on Xia Ling, observing her radiant cheeks, fair and delicate neck, and her round and fine shoulders... Her dark ck hair glowed with a beautiful shine under the lighting and every casual movement of hers was captivating, making it extremely difficult for people to stop staring.

    <i>Damn it, isn¡¯t she just a slut, but why whenever she smiled at Lei Li he could feel his blood boil?</i>

    ¡°Brother Ziheng...¡± Xia Yu carefully stole a nce at his expression and was madly filled with jealousy when she saw that he couldn¡¯t remove his gaze from Xia Ling. <i>Why is that slut here too? Who¡¯s that handsome and rich-looking man beside her? How did she snag such a fine man? How is she worthy?!</i>

    On second thought... it may as well be that way.

    Xia Yu¡¯s nails dug into her palm. <i>Then, she wouldn¡¯t try to snatch Brother Ziheng from me.</i>

    Xia Yu barely suppressed her hatred and revealed an innocent and delicate smile on the surface. ¡°Brother Ziheng, isn¡¯t that Ye Xingling over there? Who¡¯s that next to her, her boyfriend?¡±

    Pei Ziheng suddenly turned around and darted a cold re at her.

    Xia Yu was almost frozen with shock from his re and shut up immediately.

    What made her rejoice was that her words seemed to have taken the intended effect. Pei Ziheng retracted his gaze and stared at his own table instead. He started to cut his steak with a cold look but was extremely careful in doing so.

    Xia Yu stared at him with adoration and said, ¡°Brother Ziheng, you cut your steak really fast. I can¡¯t even cut my steak properly as I don¡¯t have enough strength.¡±

    Pei Ziheng finished cutting up the steak into small pieces, meticulously added some sauce and lifted the te up.

    Xia Yu looked at him eagerly.

    The square table was small and she was sitting on Pei Ziheng¡¯s left, which was within arm¡¯s reach.

    However, Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand stretched across from her and ced the te on her other side, which was the opposite of him. At the opposite of him, there were a set of clean utensils neatly arranged, a little less than a half cup of red wine and the mini pieces of steak he had just cut.

    ¡°Your sister was veryzy,¡± he said with his deep and strong voice. Although he was speaking to Xia Yu, his gaze never left the empty seat opposite of him. ¡°When she ate steak, she usually needed me to cut it up for her and she was really picky about the sauce. I should have brought her to this restaurant earlier, most of the dishes here are really suited to her tastes. She would be... very pleased.¡±

    His voice gradually grew deeper.

    Xia Yu hung her head and pretended to mourn, but she concealed her jealousy when she was out of his sight. She had pestered and begged him toe to this restaurant today, using the excuse of ¡°fulfilling her sister¡¯s unrealized wish¡± as a front. If not for this reason, Pei Ziheng would nevere to the restaurant with her.

    When he agreed to bring her there, she thought that they could finally have a date together on their own and was thrilled.

    However, she did not expect that he would disallow her from taking the seat opposite him and order the waiter to set the table with empty utensils. He even ordered Xia Ling¡¯s favorite dishes in memory of her!

    He even took it a step further by cutting small pieces of steak then putting them on the dead woman¡¯s te rather than paying attention to her!

    Xia Yu could not take that lying down! She was indignant!

    What did that dead woman do to deserve such a strong hold over Brother Ziheng¡¯s heart?!

    Xia Yu was so indignant that she gritted her teeth until they almost broke. However, there was nothing she could do, as it would not be possible for her to be sitting next to him and having dinner together if it was not for that dead woman.

    Others envied her for being loved and doted on by Boss Pei.

    She was the only person who knew the truth. She had only gained his favor by relying on another woman.

    To him, she would always be ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s¡± sister.

    Xia Yu bit her lip with extreme force, almost causing it to bleed.

    ¡°Dear esteemed guests, good evening.¡± A gentle female voice could be heard. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to have you here with us, to attend Four Season¡¯s annual celebration for the beginning of summer. Once again, the moment which excites everyone has arrived. Our head chef has meticulously prepared a type of ice-cream, which will be served to a luckydy present here tonight.¡±

    All the diners turned to look at the stage.

    An emcee in formal attire retained her smile and said, ¡°In that case, ording to the old rules, the auction will begin ¡ª the head chef¡¯s specially crafted ice-cream for this year will have a starting price of three thousand yuan, with a one thousand yuan increase per bid. Good luck to all.¡±

    Every year, an auction would be held to decide who would get the ice-cream. Even though the starting price of three thousand yuan was already an insanely exorbitant pricepared to its cost price, it could not deter the numerous rich and powerful men from trying to pick up girls with it. How could a mere three thousand yuan bepared to gaining the favor of their girl?

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay four thousand!¡± Almost immediately, someone had started to bid.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay five thousand!¡±

    ¡°Six thousand!¡±

    ¡°Ten thousand!¡±

 Chapter 87 - The Ice-cream Auction

    <h4>Chapter 87: The Ice-cream Auction</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Initially, the price soared very quickly, from ten thousand to thirty thousand...

    Thereafter, the speed of the price increase slowed down. After all, no one was a fool. Even if one was rich, there had to be a limit. It was not worth it to spend thirty or forty thousand on a mere ice-cream. It was an idiotic move.

    By this time each year, it would already be obvious who the winner was going to be.

    ¡°Fifty thousand.¡± That was thest price quoted. ¡°Mr. Zhang from Table 1 quoted fifty thousand, are there any more takers? Fifty thousand going once, going twice...¡± the host¡¯s sweet voice rang.

    Just when the host was about to announce the winner of this year¡¯s ice-cream auction, an alluring male voice chimed in. ¡°I quote a hundred thousand.¡±

    It was Li Lei. He did not participate in the bidding initially as although there were many bidders, the prices quoted were peanuts to him. It was only until now when the bidding was going to end that he made his move.

    A hundred thousand was the highest record over the past few years.

    ¡°Mr. Li from Table 17, one hundred thousand going once, going twice...¡± The host beamed with delight.

    ¡°One hundred and fifty thousand.¡± A male voice interrupted abruptly.

    The guests all turned to look at table 9, as their gazes fixated on a man in a dark ck suit with a cold look, along with a slender and delicatedy beside him.

    ¡°Who is he?¡± The crowd whispered amongst themselves. ¡°One hundred and fifty thousand just for an ice-cream, who is able to spend this kind of money?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Ziheng.¡± Someone exined. ¡°One hundred and fifty thousand for an ice-cream may sound crazy to us, but it¡¯s no different from five thousand or fifty thousand to him.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s him.¡± The gossipy crowd got excited. ¡°Did you hear what the host said just now? If I¡¯m not wrong, the person who quoted a hundred thousand just now was Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Li Lei. Also, it¡¯s said that Li Lei was the one who caused trouble at Imperial Entertainment a few days ago. This is getting interesting, let¡¯s see what happens next.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± The crowd got excited. ¡°Several of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s properties got wrecked overnight, and even the police merely caught a few vagrants as scapegoats. Given Imperial Entertainment¡¯s influence, how is it possible that they were unable to catch the mastermind? It makes sense if it was Li Lei behind it. Li Lei has just put the underworld forces into order, the police don¡¯t want to have arge scale conflict with them.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, but given Pei Ziheng¡¯s status, how can he stomach this insult? After that incident, the rumors outside are going wild! Imperial Entertainment paying wageste, bribing officials, going bankrupt and so on... The negative impacts of this incident have caused Imperial Entertainment¡¯s stocks to plummet so much that its shares were suspended. How can he take this lying down?¡±

    Thus, the gossipy onlookers waited to see what would happen next.

    Li Lei had discovered long ago that Pei Ziheng was here for dinner too. The patrons tonight all came for the head chef¡¯s specially crafted ice-cream, he was already prepared to bid against Pei Ziheng. ¡°Three hundred thousand,¡± he said with a smile unhurriedly.

    <i>Gasp!</i>

    The crowd gasped in astonishment. He doubled the price immediately without even blinking!

    These two tycoons have indeed fallen out, haven¡¯t they? Mr. Pei, quickly raise the bid! Hurry!

    The restaurant¡¯s atmosphere became more lively as Pei Ziheng did not disappoint the crowd. ¡°Five hundred thousand,¡± he quoted.

    ¡°One million.¡± Li Lei followed up shortly without a single pause.

    What a filthy rich millionaire! Casually spending one million on an ice-cream? Thedies present at the scene were buzzing with excitement. Looking back at their own boyfriends, the difference was just too vast! The lucky girl sitting beside Young Master Li was making them so jealous, who was she?

    ¡°She¡¯s Ye Xingling...¡± Someone recognized her. ¡°The one who hit Xia Ling¡¯s sister previously.¡±

    ¡°No wonder she dared to hit Xia Ling¡¯s sister, she has someone to back her up.¡± Thedies were all green with envy until they discovered an issue ¡ª Ye Xingling was merely a small celebrity. Given her poor family background, she could never be Li Lei¡¯s legitimate girlfriend and marry into his family. Just another gold digger, what¡¯s the big deal!

    However, they were still jealous that she was able to find such a rich guy.

    Thedies were having mixed feelings as their piercing gazes focused on her. If only looks could kill... ¡ª Let go of Young Master Li, let me take your ce instead!

    That was what all thedies present were yearning for.

    Being a Diva in her previous life, Xia Ling was already used to the stares from the public and did not care about them at all. In fact, she was worried about another thing.

    She reached out to pull Li Lei, gently shaking her head.

    She did not want him to continue bidding, one million was already very ridiculous and not worth it at all. Although she did want to eat this specially crafted ice-cream, she did not want him to go to such lengths just for her. After all, she was nobody to him and did not want to be indebted to him.

    A few tables across, Xia Yu saw her action and sneered.

    <i>Slut, what a gold digger! Scared after watching the price spiral upwards? Ha, this is no surprise. All men are prideful, and Li Lei must be in a difficult position now, so this slut needs to give up and save his face in front of everyone. It seems like they are at their wits¡¯ end and cannot raise the price any further.</i>

    At this thought, Xia Yu¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement. ¡°Brother Ziheng, Sis wanted to eat this specially crafted ice-cream really badly when she was alive. Please win it for her!¡± She made use of her sister¡¯s ce in his heart, knowing very well that he could not bear to decline. <i>After he wins the ice-cream auction, it will be hers anyway. Who gives a damn about that sis of hers?</i>

    Xia Yu was engrossed in her wishful thinking and fanned the mes, urging Pei Ziheng on.

    Actually, even without her instigation, Pei Ziheng was determined to get this specially crafted ice-cream.

    He was already feeling very regretful that he did not bring Xiao Ling there when she was alive. Now, even if it was just herst wish, he would go all out to help her fulfill it.

    ¡°Two million.¡± Pei Ziheng stared coldly at Li Lei.

    This caused a huge stir amongst the crowd. Two million! Exactly like what Li Lei did just now, Pei Ziheng also doubled the price instantly! At this snowballing rate, would Li Lei quote four million next?

    Everyone stared expectantly at both men.

    Li Lei patted Xia Ling¡¯s hand that went slightly cold andforted her gently. ¡°I know my limits.¡±

    Thereafter, he turned to look at Pei Ziheng and slowly grinned. ¡°How carefree and leisurely of you, Mr. Pei. I thought I heard that Imperial Entertainment¡¯s stocks were suspended? Is it really fitting for Mr. Pei to fight over an ice-cream with me now instead of helping out there?¡±

    The crowd buzzed loudly. <i>Young Master Li, is it really good for you to rub his nose in it? It had been already spread in the industry that you were behind the suspension of the Pei Family¡¯s stocks, yet now you are still rubbing salt into his wound...</i>

    <i>Young Master Li...</i>

    <i>How arrogant of you!</i>

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face darkened.

 Chapter 88 - Xia Yus Letter of Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 88: Xia Yu¡¯s Letter of Challenge</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He wasn¡¯t one to contend with words, thus he was unable to outspeak the sharp-tongued Li Lei. At that moment, he only spoke with a deep voice, ¡°Cut the crap, it¡¯s your turn to bid.¡±

    Li Lei shrugged and replied nonchntly, ¡°Five million.¡±

    Oh my god, five million! The surrounding diners were stricken dumb with amazement. Previously, they had guessed that it would be four million, but in the end, Young Master Li started off with five million! The fact that Young Master Li spent five million on an ice-cream would definitely spark discussion. People who were clear about his abilities would know that even though he was from a wealthy family, he had fought hard to achieve his status today. Those who weren¡¯t clear would definitely think of him as a prodigal son squandering the family fortune away!

    Xia Ling tugged at him again and shook her head with all her might.

    Li Lei only smiled. ¡°Be good, don¡¯t hinder your man from showing off.¡±

    What did he just say... her man...?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned ck. That guy was taking advantage of her just because she couldn¡¯t rebut him!

    When she was off to another world, Pei Ziheng had already upped his bid. ¡°Ten million.¡±

    There wasplete silence.

    People who were eximing and discussing the situation had all realized that something fishy was going on. Even if they were just trying to vent their spleen, they were clearly going overboard. Ten million was enough to buy a girl a mansion, which girl would choose an insignificant ice-cream over a mansion? To bid for the ice-cream with such a whopping price, the restaurant might not necessarily dare to ept such a huge amount of money!

    Indeed, the Four Season¡¯s Restaurant dared not ept.

    When the prices went too high, even if the bidder had managed to make a hit and vent their spleen, things may be different after they calmed down. They might feel that they were cheated by the restaurant and at that moment, the restaurant would be in deep trouble.

    Thus, with such a high bid, the restaurant¡¯s emcee had no choice but to intervene. ¡°Alright, Mr. Pei is willing to pay ten million. Mr. Li, are you willing to pay ten million as well?¡±

    ¡°Ten million?¡± Li Lei sneered and continued, ¡°I would have no problem with twenty million.¡±

    ¡°Thirty million.¡± Pei Ziheng upped his bid without batting an eyelid.

    ¡°Four...¡±

    Li Lei was about to continue when the emcee shouted hastily. ¡°Stop¡ª!¡±

    If this were to go on, her weak heart would not be able to take it. She was an old-timer auction emcee at Four Seasons Restaurant and was used to seeing money. However, this was the first time she encountered such troublesome money. ¡°Ten million, ten million is the maximum.¡± The emcee forced augh. She didn¡¯t dare to allow those two big shots to continue upping their bid. ¡°Since the two big... two gentlemen are willing to pay ten million, it would not be possible for either of them to win if the auction continues. What do you think about ying a mini-game instead?¡±

    To decide the winner with a mini-game?

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei agreed, nodding his head.

    Both Pei Ziheng and him did notck money, there was indeed no point in continuing with the bidding. It would be better if they were to switch to another method.

    Pei Ziheng frowned secretly. He was here for Xia Ling¡¯sst wishes, and it was imperative for him to get that ice-cream. If it was sold like an auction item, nothing could go wrong if he were to spendrge amounts of money, but who could predict what would happen if they were to y a mini-game?

    He was about to reject the idea when Li Lei stared at him, with his lips curled slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you are afraid, Boss Pei.¡±

    It was imperative for Li Lei to get the ice-cream as well, but he was extremely willing to let Xia Ling get a good look at his numerous talents. It was as though he was a peacock courting a peahen, grasping at all chances to show off. If not, it would be extremely dull to just unt his wealth. Furthermore... he was being sneaky, and a sly thought had already shed through his mind. With such a boring and disinteresting character, how would it be possible for Pei Ziheng to know how to participate in mini-games?

    With that, Li Lei took it a step further to provoke him. ¡°Boss Pei, if you are afraid to lose, you could also admit defeat now.¡±

    ¡°Why would we do that.¡± Surprisingly, it was Xia Yu who spoke first. At that moment, Xia Yu stood up from her seat, as though she was a willow branch trembling in the wind, appearing as a delicate beauty. ¡°However, I would like to challenge Ye Xingling. Ye Xingling, do you dare topete with me in this mini-game?¡±

    She understood that Pei Ziheng was a strict and disciplined man and he would most likely be no match for Li Lei in terms of ying mini-games. She would never stand by doing nothing while Brother Ziheng lost to that adulterous couple. It was her time to shine ¡ª she wasn¡¯t certain if she could win against Li Lei, but she was absolutely sure that she could defeat that bitch Ye Xingling.

    The diners burst into an uproar. Were they seeing things? That weak-looking girl beside Pei Ziheng wanted to challenge the girl next to Li Lei? What was going on?! Were the girls going to tear each other apart in battle?

    That being said...

    ¡°What happened previously between Xia Yu and Ye Xingling gave rise to much discussion, and the intricate case has yet to be settled.¡±

    ¡°Well, this time enemies are crossing each other¡¯s paths. Xia Yu was pped by her, it¡¯s no wonder that she cannot take it lying down and is eager for battle.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, she needs to protect her reputation.¡±

    The crowd burst into discussion and was eager to see what would happen next. A few diners even ordered a few more dishes.

    This time, it was Li Lei¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°Who are you? What makes you think you are qualified to challenge Xiao Ling?¡± Second Young Master Li leaped to her rescue. He wasn¡¯t about to let his girl get challenged by any Tom, Dick or Harry.

    Xia Yu exploded with anger. After such a long time, Li Lei actually didn¡¯t recognize her? She had such a high public exposure and the electronic advertising board opposite the restaurant even had her Ideal C Perfume advertisement! She was such a beauty, so much prettier than that okay-looking bitch next to him, but he actually asked her who she was?!

    ¡°I¡¯m Xia Yu.¡± She was shaking from anger but had to maintain herdy-like posture. ¡°Ye Xingling previously insulted my deceased sister. I have to seek justice for my sister.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s memory was piqued by her words. He recalled that it was the bitch in front of him who caused his Xiao Ling a lot of trouble. Well, he would definitely make her pay, but it would have to wait...

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes at her. ¡°Firstly, Xiao Ling never ever insulted your sister. If you continue to shoot your mouth off, I will sue you for nder. Secondly, we are here for ice-cream today, don¡¯t mention old scores.¡±

    He didn¡¯t want Xiao Ling to get dragged into such unhappy stuff when they were supposedly out for ice-cream.

    Xia Yu was shocked by his strong aura and stepped backward in fear.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll only talk about ice-cream today,¡± said Pei Ziheng with a cold voice. ¡°Ye Xingling, Xia Yu issued you a challenge, do you ept or not?¡± Previously, he had already done a background check on Ye Xingling and knew that she was from an ordinary family with only amonce educational level and outlook. Other than surprising people with her singing recently, she did not have a forte, thus there was no way she could win if she were topete with Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu had been adopted by him since she was nine years old, undergoing a quality education and even graduating from the prestigious Cambridge University. In terms of talent or outlook, she could definitely throw Ye Xingling out to the streets without even lifting a finger. He had no doubts about letting Xia Yu take on Ye Xingling.

    Furthermore, he had a killer-move¡ª

    ¡°I think there is no need to trouble anyone. Since both of you are new artistes, justplete with each other via singing.¡±

    Stumped, Xia Ling stared at him in shock. She could not believe her ears. Compete via singing? It turned out that Pei Ziheng really intended to force her to a dead end. He was clearer than anyone that she had be mute and was unable to make even the slightest sound!

 Chapter 89 - Letâ€™s Play a Game

    <h4>Chapter 89: Let¡¯s y a Game</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    All the love they shared in the previous life had vanished into nothingness. What she saw was how heartless he could be.

    Xia Ling bit her lip, her hands and feet icy cold.

    Pei Ziheng added on to her nervousness. ¡°Why, are you afraid? If you¡¯re going to tell us your throat hasn¡¯t been well these few days and so you can¡¯t sing, then save it, nobody¡¯s going to believe such ame excuse.¡±

    He had left her with no escape, intentionally embarrassing her.

    ¡°How do you know Xiao Ling¡¯s throat isn¡¯t well?¡± Li Lei smiled all of a sudden. ¡°Boss Pei, that¡¯s really too much of a coincidence. A few days ago, Xia Ling had just been framed by some moron, and her vocal cord now is slightly damaged and isn¡¯t in a good enough condition to talk, much less sing. If you want to hear her singing, we¡¯ve got to set another day. Today we shallpete on something else.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Damaged? I say she¡¯s afraid.¡±

    Their sarcastic exchange had excited the surrounding audience. One of thedies told her spouse, ¡°I don¡¯t think Ye Xingling is really afraid, she sings better than Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± her spouse replied. ¡°Xia Yu is very popr now. Maybe everyone thinks that Xia Yu is a better singer, so Ye Xingling dares notpete with her.¡±

    Themotion was getting louder, but Li Lei remainedposed as ever. ¡°Boss Pei won¡¯t stoop so low as to force an unwell girl to sing, right? Even if you win, it would not be a glorious victory. How about this, if you¡¯re really confident of Xia Yu¡¯s ability, we¡¯ll let thempete with their voice another day. Xia Ling¡¯s vocal cord is really unwell today, we have topete on something else.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°One month from now, Xiao Yu will sing the theme song for a brand she endorses, the Ideal C Perfumeunch. I know Miss Ye is endorsing a few small brands as well and ns to sing the theme songs for theirunches. Let¡¯sunch the brands at the same time and have them sing in an arena. If Miss Ye loses, she¡¯ll kneel before Xia Ling¡¯s grave to apologize!¡±

    Though he had agreed to only keep within the boundaries of ice-cream today, there was no way he could keep his cool when it involved Xia Ling.

    Li Lei squinted his eyes in a threatening expression. Pei Ziheng was being overbearing. One month? He was sure Xiao Ling could not recover within a month! But...

    Li Lei¡¯s lips curled into a wry smile. ¡°Fine, one month it is.¡±

    Imperial thought they were sure to win? Not necessarily!

    Xia Ling looked at Li Lei, stunned. Her vocal cord was still damaged, how could he agree to thepetition one month from now? Yet, from an unknown point in time, she had developed a kind of inexplicable trust towards him. If he said one month was fine, he definitely would not let her down.

    With that thought, she was relieved.

    ¡°But,¡± Li Lei spoke slowly, maintaining his smile. ¡°You want Xiao Ling to kneel before Xia Ling¡¯s grave and apologize? But if Xiao Ling wins, Skyart doesn¡¯t have a grave for Xia Yu to kneel before.¡±

    ¡°If Ye Xingling wins,¡± said Xia Yu. ¡°I will kneel before her and apologize on the spot!¡±

    ¡°Wow, Miss Xia is pretty good at this.¡± Li Lei scoffed.

    The deceased is king. If Xiao Ling was to kneel before Xia Ling¡¯s grave, Imperial Entertainment would not be criticized given that Xia Ling was a deceased anyway. But if Xiao Ling won the battle and Xia Yu was the one kneeling, it would be apletely different matter. Xia Yu¡¯s weakposition and her being decked with illnesses were her ¡°selling points¡± for gaining sympathy. If she kneeled before Xiao Ling, it would appear as if Xiao Ling was unreasonable and coercive and hence taint her reputation.

    Li Lei had thought out the details clearly and would not agree to the conditions. ¡°Our Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t have the hobby of forcing others to kneel. If you lose, you¡¯ll personally write a ten-thousand-word reflection and publish it on various print media as an apology to Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Yu agreed.

    <i>What a joke, how could she possibly lose? She heard Chu Chen say clearly, Pei Ziheng has already damaged Ye Xingling¡¯s vocal cords almost irreversibly. There¡¯s no way she would recover in a month. Ye Xingling, we¡¯ll see how you embarrass yourself!</i>

    Li Lei nodded in satisfaction after she had agreed. ¡°Now can we talk about the ice-cream? Really, it takes so much just to eat an ice-cream.¡± He turned towards the emcee and smiled. ¡°Could you think of a game for us? Mr. Pei and Miss Xia decided on thepetition and the singingplement, I can¡¯t have them call all the shots. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to bear with all the tricks they could pull.¡±

    Laughter reverberated in the restaurant but stopped soon with Pei Ziheng¡¯s somber look.

    The emcee thought: <i>He¡¯s right. If I don¡¯t moderate the situation, who knows how far these two are going to go. </i>She hurriedly said, ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll have the restaurant decide on how the game shall go then¡ª¡±

    Some employees brought a box of cards, with each card describing a mini-game suitable for two to four yers.

    The female emcee picked a card randomly and revealed it while announcing. ¡°Now, let¡¯s have the two men hold a kiss with their female partners. The pair who holds the kiss for the longer period of time will win the round!¡±

    She felt relief the moment the instruction was announced, that was simple enough and should not bring about any conflict.

    What she did not notice was Pei Ziheng¡¯s face getting even more somber.

    Although the men naturally had nothing to lose in this case, Pei Ziheng did not readily ept it. If it was any otherdy there would not have been any hesitation, but this girl was Xia Ling¡¯s sister, the sister she loved and cared for above all else. He would not let anyone hurt her.

    She was already gone, but he would respect and abide by all her wishes.

    Xia Yu gazed at Pei Ziheng expectantly.

    She was so grateful for the emcee for having picked such a thrilling game. Sharing a kiss with Brother Ziheng was something she had not done before, would today be the day she fulfilled her wish?

    To her surprise, Pei Ziheng coldly posed a question. ¡°Can we have another game instead?¡±

    Xia Yu was stunned.

    Did Brother Ziheng want to change the game rather than kiss her? Was she so detestable? Tears filled Xia Yu¡¯s eyes as she felt her heart being ripped into a million pieces.

    The emcee was baffled as well. ¡°C-Change the game?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, you really are full of demands.¡± Li Lei was more than happy at this point, one look and he could tell that Pei Ziheng was unwilling to kiss Xia Yu, unlike Li Lei who was more than willing towards Xiao Ling ¡ª Well, whether Xiao Ling was willing or not was a separate matter. In any case, he had a much better chance of winning in this game.

    ¡°Just think about how many demands you¡¯ve made so far, don¡¯t act all wishy-washy like a woman.¡± Li Lei went hard on him. ¡°You think it¡¯s up to you to decide whether to change the game? Then what¡¯s the point ofpeting? You might as well ask for the ice-cream directly instead.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s harsh words got the emcee thinking. <i>That¡¯s right, if the game was to be changed so easily, wouldn¡¯t there be no end to this? No, it cannot be this way. </i>¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Pei, once the game is picked it cannot be changed.¡± She tried her best to avoid looking at Pei Ziheng¡¯s stern expression as she cautiously made her call.

    Li Lei grinned unreservedly, gently holding his girl by his side.

    As Xia Ling was being pulled into his chest in front of everyone else, shock struck her first before her face turned a bright red. She wanted to push him away instinctively, but he gently held her hands.

 Chapter 90 - Bashful Xiao Ling

    <h4>Chapter 90: Bashful Xiao Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± he whispered in her ear. ¡°I will not take advantage of you.¡±

    Four Seasons Restaurant had an elegant ambiance and the tables were widely spaced apart with decorative nts between tables for privacy. In the dim light, the audience could only see Li Lei¡¯s sturdy stature enveloping her petite figure as he went in for a kiss. Meanwhile, the girl looked up at him, slightly flustered and confused. With all the light effects, they made a perfect portrait.

    Go on, kiss her already...

    As they immersed in the beautiful image before them, a few youngdies and gentlemen had held their breaths involuntarily as they grabbed their partners¡¯ hands.

    Li Lei¡¯s lips were looking for Xia Ling¡¯s, slowly but surely.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, don¡¯t be afraid...¡± He reassured her quietly.

    She was confused and unsure whether she should push him away. His warm exhtion brushed against her ears and brows, causing her to flush as her heart rate increased.

    Just as his lips were about to touch hers...

    ¡°I admit defeat.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s cold voice was heard.

    A tinge of regret shed past Li Lei¡¯s eyes as he reluctantly let go of Xia Ling.<i>Really! Why did Pei Ziheng have to admit defeat so easily, I wanted to hold Xiao Ling a little longer...</i>

    Dissatisfied, he red at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Are you sure you want to admit defeat?¡±

    ¡°You won.¡± Pei Ziheng had enunciated every syble clearly. When Li Lei was holding Xia Ling, he felt a strange surge of jealousy gnawing at him, but nobody had noticed how awful he looked then. He took great efforts to resist the urge to pull them apart. No matter what, he would never allow Li Lei to kiss Ye Xingling just like that! He would not allow it!

    Pei Ziheng was not sure what got into him either as he spurted those words the moment he saw Li Lei¡¯s lips getting closer to Xia Ling¡¯s.

    ¡°Alright, alright. The case is closed.¡± The emcee smiled and announced quickly, for fear of either party going back on the result. ¡°I now dere, the specially crafted ice-cream of the year goes to Mr. Li!¡±

    The music came on as a group of waiters emerged with trays. Before the guests who looked on in envy, they politely bent over and ced the ice-cream on Li Lei and Xia Ling¡¯s table.

    Li Lei did not spare Pei Ziheng another look as he took his seat with Xia Ling and enjoyed their well-deserved ice-cream.

    The ice-cream was exquisitely crafted ¡ª vani, matcha, almond, strawberry, chocte... 19 different vors of ice-cream stacked up like a hill and topped with red bean paste and almond kes along with some blueberry jam and mind leaves. It looked like an exciting dish and the colors were enough to lift one¡¯s spirit.

    Xia Ling had loved ice-cream since she was a child and as she dug into the ice-cream now, she savored every lingering vor of rich vani. Even if it did not cost a bomb, this ice-cream definitely was valued at a prime price among its counterparts.

    She smiled in bliss.

    Li Lei sat across her and watched her enjoy her ice-cream, and then turned towards the waiter and whispered something to him.

    A whileter, the waiter served a beverage.

    Li Lei carefully shifted the beverage towards Xia Ling, ¡°Ginger tea, to warm the stomach.¡± Girls are naturally weaker inposition and should take greater care of their health. He was there to look out for her when she missed out on such details.

    Xia Ling looked at the ginger tea before her and was stunned for a moment, but what followed was a pleasant smile.

    Truth was, she had no idea how to face him even now. When she was held by him, they were so close to each other that the thought of it was enough to make her blush once again.

    She dared not look straight into his eyes. Instead, she looked down in embarrassment.

    ¡°You have some ice-cream on your nose, like a little kitten.¡± And yet, he was still teasing her. ¡°How did I not realize all this while that you actually love ice-cream? Next year we shoulde again and y the same game. Even if our opponents don¡¯t admit defeat midway, we¡¯re still sure to win the game.¡±

    She turned red upon hearing that.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Are you shy?¡±

    She looked up and red hard at him, half embarrassed and half angry.

    However, he was not the least bit angry as he continued digging into his ice-cream slowly. ¡°This is really not bad, it¡¯s worth the 10 million dors and the effort I put into my act.¡±

    She bit her lip and considered for a while before writing on the tablet. <i>If Pei Ziheng had not admitted defeat, would you... have gone on?</i>

    He raised a brow and grinned deviously, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Xia Ling blushed again. She kept the tablet and ignored him.

    ¡°There, there.¡± He pacified her. ¡°I¡¯ve already said I won¡¯t force you to do anything you¡¯re unwilling to do. You¡¯re in the entertainment industry, you should know what ying on angles is all about, right?¡±

    Of course, she knew, it meant that two people appeared to be kissing when they, in fact, were not, due to the lights and angle in y. The restaurant had very dim lighting and the seats were a distance away. If he did it well it would be difficult to notice that they were just putting on an act.

    She looked at him, half skeptical. She was having mixed feelings, was it relief or disappointment?

    Here they were joking and teasing about.

    On the other side, Pei Ziheng¡¯s look was awful and the atmosphere was icy cold.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s line of sight never left Xia Ling¡¯s table from the moment the ice-cream was served. As he saw her smiling and blushing, he felt as if his heart had been stabbed as he fumed at the sight. He could not understand his wretched feelings, it must be because this cheap woman was so happy and blissful! His Xiao Ling was lying six feet under the ground while this cheap woman who insulted her could enjoy her ice-cream and seduce other men!

    Ye Xingling...

    He clenched his fist tightly, swearing to teach her a good lesson!

    The next day came.

    Xia Ling had eaten a little too much the previous day and was having some indigestion. She woke up heavy-headed and tossed on the bed, refusing to get up.

    Sister Mai Na looked at her, unsure whether finding herzing in bed was funny or disapproving. ¡°You¡¯ve only moved in a while ago and Boss has already pampered you to this extent? Where¡¯s the Ye Xingling who used to wake up early every morning to practice her singing?¡±

    She wanted to assert that it had nothing to do with Li Lei, but the thought of suffering from indigestion precisely because of having dinner with him made her back down. The ice-cream was simply too good, she wanted to go again next year...

    Just as she was fantasizing about the ice-cream, Sister Mai Na rolled up the newspapers and patted her head with it. ¡°Take it and read the news.¡±

 Chapter 91 - Recovering Her Voice

    <h4>Chapter 91: Recovering Her Voice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Groggily, Xia Ling took the newspapers and sat up slightly.

    The headlines read ¡ª Ye Xingling, do you dare take up the challenge?

    What in the world?

    She was more awake now, skimming through the article quickly. It was Xia Yu¡¯s written challenge, and in it, Xia Yu had listed all sorts of bad deeds on Xia Ling¡¯s part, including insulting the deceased, turning violent and remaining unrepentant...

    The end of the challenge read: You¡¯ve said it yourself that we¡¯llpete publicly, so we¡¯ll do it that way! One month from now, we will both perform the theme songs to the brands¡¯unch at Lin Gang Stadium and have the audience decide on the result! If you win, I will make a public apology to you, but if I win, you¡¯ll have to kneel before my sister¡¯s grave and apologize!

    Xia Yu was seldom this aggressive, and the media seemed to be aware of this point, hencementing ¡°Kinship runs deep, the submissive and often sickly Xia Yu stands up in courage when ites to matters concerning her sister; admirable indeed¡±.

    Xia Ling read the article and scoffed.

    Interesting, the challenge was already agreed on and held the previous day at Four Seasons Restaurant. With the challenge that Xia Yu had issued earlier today, now it appeared as if Imperial was taking the initiative to fight for justice.

    She ruffled through her quilt and pillows for her tablet and wrote on it for Sister Mai Na: <i>If my vocal cord can recover, it won¡¯t be hard for me to teach her a good lesson. But, can it?</i>

    She ended the sentence with an exceptionally huge question mark.

    Beforeing up to look for Xia Ling, Sister Mai Na had already bumped into Li Lei on the way ¡ª thiszy girl sleeping till midday, in that time her Big Boss had already attended several meetings. Almost helpless, she ruffled Xia Ling¡¯s hair. ¡°You... don¡¯t worry, your vocal cords will be fine. Get your stuff packed when you¡¯re upter, Boss has booked a flight in thete afternoon and you¡¯ll look for a specialist overseas. James has already given the specialist a look at your medical record, and they are 90% sure they¡¯ll be able to cure you.¡±

    Really? Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were sparkling.

    This was the best news she had heard in a while. She now understood why Li Lei had readily epted Imperial¡¯s challenge ¡ª he had everything nned.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Sister Mai Na sensed her joy and rubbed her head once again while smiling. ¡°I wonder where you, little girl, got your good fortune from that Boss could be so nice to you.¡±

    She smiled shyly, her face turning red.

    Li Lei had arranged for a private jet in order to avoid having news spread to Pei Ziheng. In the next few weeks, she received treatment and underwent surgeries overseas. With therapy and recuperation, her vocal cords recovered day by day.

    The hospital ward was bright and neat.

    The translucent curtains allowed just the right amount of natural light in, the rays falling on the walls and furniture. By the bedside was a flower vase handcrafted by an artisan, filled with lc iris flowers and bundles of baby¡¯s breath ¡ª the flowers were in full bloom, creating a beautiful sight.

    Meanwhile, Li Lei fed Xia Ling thest bowl of medicine.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± He asked with some apprehension. The main doctor had said that after Xia Ling finished thisst bowl of medicine, they would be able to tell how much her vocal cords had recovered. The vocal cords were a very sensitive part and even slight damage could cause the quality of the voice to change. This was not an evident or significant problem to an average person, but to a singer, it could turn into an Achilles¡¯ heel.

    Li Lei had always appeared confident in front of Xia Ling, reassuring her that she would definitely recover fully. Truth was, he was more nervous than anybody else.

    Xia Ling opened her mouth slightly, attempting to make a sound.

    Xia Ling was actually already able to speak more than a week before, but she felt the strain often and her voice was not consistent, and neither was she able to sing. Thisst bowl of medicine was different from the rest. ording to James, it contained the essence of many rare herbs, and every single drop was as valuable as gold ¡ª no, even more valuable than gold; gold had a price to it, this form was priceless.

    A few minutester, Xia Ling felt the scratchy feeling in her throat dissipate, and in its ce was a cool,fortable sensation. It was as if no damage had been done to it.

    She told Li Lei, ¡°I want to try singing.¡±

    When she spoke, her voice let out a pleasant sound, void of the hoarseness that came with it before it recovered. She sounded just like she did before the injury, but if listened to conscientiously, one could tell a very slight difference. Li Lei could not pinpoint what the difference was, but Xia Ling¡¯s voice was even better than before it was damaged, as if the voice she had now was more aligned with her spirit, like a gift she was born with.

    He smiled and nodded. ¡°Go on ahead, I¡¯ll listen.¡±

    Xia Ling thought for a bit and sang ¡°ss Fingertips,¡± her soothing voice filling the otherwise quiet space. Li Lei was so immersed in her singing that he took a while to snap back to reality after she had stopped singing.

    ¡°It sounds even better than before,¡± hemented. Although he was the boss of Skyart Entertainment, he had not gone deep into learning about voices and songs. A simple word, that it was ¡°better¡±, was enough to express the change in her voice.

    ¡°Better?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°This is a blessing in disguise. If I haven¡¯t got a wrong sense of it, my pitch range seems to have expanded, and my voice is also more refined than before. In the future, I¡¯ll be able to present more and richeryers in a song... No, I should put it this way, many of theyers I¡¯m able to present now can never be achieved by most other singers due to their innate limitations.¡±

    ¡°Even though I don¡¯t quite know what you¡¯re saying, it does sound like you¡¯re really good now.¡± Li Lei smiled innocently.

    Xia Ling¡¯s spirits were lifted tremendously as she exined. ¡°Basically, Ye Xingling¡¯s voice used to be just slightly better than an average person¡¯s ¡ª you can easily find people with such ability in Skyart. As for Ye Xingling now, her voice is iparably good. She is way above the rest.¡±

    ¡°That good?¡± Li Lei was pleasantly surprised.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Xia Ling raised her chin teasingly, pleased that her voice had gotten even better.

    ¡°How is your voice nowpared to the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s?¡± Li Lei asked as someone who did not quite know music. ¡°I heard that Xia Ling was the most talented singer in close to a century.¡±

    In her past life, she was in fact very unique and talented, which was why Pei Ziheng was so attracted to her.

    The person she was now, however, was not very much different from her previous life. ¡°I¡¯m different from the Diva Xia Ling,¡± she exined to Li Lei patiently. ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s vocal range was very wide and she needed no effort to reach the high and low notes. Her voice was clear and bright, extremely suitable for valiant songs. But she had a weakness ¡ª because her voice was so bright, it was difficult for her to express the finer details and emotions in a song.¡±

    She began smiling as she spoke. ¡°But I¡¯m different, although my voice isn¡¯t as loud and bright, it¡¯s a lot finer and moreyered. In this aspect, I¡¯m now unbeatable.¡±

    ¡°Little girl, you¡¯re amazing.¡± He liked it when she was in high spirits, like a contented kitten. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s return soon, thepetition date is approaching and I want to see you defeat your opponent.¡±

 Chapter 92 - Award-winning Manager

    <h4>Chapter 92: Award-winning Manager</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They returned in a private jet as well, without anybody else knowing.

    Everything was kept low-profile ¡ª besides a few key personnel in Skyart Entertainment, nobody knew where she was in this time.

    News about her recovery had been kept secret. In order to keep Imperial Entertainment off-guard, Li Lei had specially arranged for James to go to the apartment every day with his medical apparatus. He would then leave with a worried look on his face as if there was nothing he could do about her vocal cords.

    The day of thepetition had arrived.

    On this night, Lin Gang Stadium was packed with fans of both singers.

    Xia Ling wore a silvery-blue satin gown and arrived in a white Lincoln limousine with Sister Mai Na. On both sides of the car, tons of reporters, fans and many others weed her ¡ª no, ¡°weed¡± was the wrong word to use. Besides the reporters and their camera shes, many were hurling meanments. Such as: ¡°Ye Xingling, you shameless woman, how dare you appear!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, our Xiao Yu will leave you utterly defeated!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, tonight you¡¯ll get out of the entertainment circle!¡±

    ¡°Get out of the entertainment circle, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Get out of the entertainment circle, Ye Xingling!¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans, as well as many fans of the Diva Xia Ling, were chanting these words. Some were more aggressive, hurling water bottles and rotten tomatoes at the limousine before being stopped by the security officers.

    Xia Ling sat in the back of the car, expressionless, as insults were being thrown at her.

    Sister Mai Na was a little concerned for her. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Do I look like somebody who¡¯s beaten so easily?¡± The more she got scolded by the public, the stronger her will to fight!

    Sister Mai Na looked at the way she raised her chin slightly, it was the confidence of a natural leader, somebody who did not give a care about the insignificant noises around her. With that, Sister Mai Na was put at ease. ¡°Not bad at all, how could our Xiao Ling be so easily defeated! The one who should leave the entertainment industry is Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll get out of the industry sooner orter,¡± said Xia Ling calmly.

    Calm as she was, her determination was unmasked. Xia Yu was not suitable for singing, to begin with, her moving and heartwarming voice was the result of recording apparatus and auto-tune, while her poprity was her banking on her sister¡¯s reputation. Xia Ling could not tolerate that somebody who had betrayed her was using her reputation to her own advantage.

    Someday, she would make Xia Yu pay for it!

    And tonight¡¯spetition would be her first lesson to Xia Yu.

    The limousine slowed to a halt.

    Xia Ling and Sister Mai Na walked towards the venue on the red carpet, protected and escorted by a group of bodyguards.

    At the venue, Xia Yu had been waiting for a while.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯ve finally arrived.¡± Under the spotlight, Xia Yu who was dressed in a princess gown. With an innocent expression, she looked like an actual princess. Still, every word from her was potent, ¡°I¡¯m very happy that you¡¯vee, not everybody who has insulted my sister would have the guts to be standing here.¡±

    Xia Ling simply red at her coldly, with no verbal response.

    Sister Mai Na had gone onstage with her, and at this point had taken over the microphone from the emcee. She addressed Xia Yu. ¡°Firstly, Xiao Ling never insulted your sister. Secondly, I advise you to cherish the time while you¡¯re still happy because, after thepetition, you¡¯ll be busy writing your apology letter to Xiao Ling.¡±

    Both parties looked at each other with a threatening, cold expression.

    Offstage, a few of Xia Yu¡¯s fans were already making noise. ¡°Who¡¯s this woman? What right has she to talk to our Xiao Yu like this!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Bitch!¡±

    ¡°Aww, our Xiao Yu is being bullied...¡±

    Amotion erupted among the audience voicing the unjust treatment Xia Yu had been put through. In contrast, fans of ¡°Ye Xingling¡± were less vocal and smaller in strength ¡ª even if they were to give their all in the cheering, their voices would be easily overpowered by Xia Yu¡¯s fans¡¯.

    Xia Yu¡¯s lips curled up ever so slightly.

    <i>Ye Xingling, I¡¯ll see how long more you can keep this pretense up. I¡¯m the one the people love!</i>

    She eyed Xia Ling carefully and asked the key question, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking? Why are you letting your manager speak on your behalf?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression showed a subtle hint of fluster.

    Sister Mai Na answered on her behalf once again, ¡°Xiao Ling hasn¡¯t been feeling very welltely. Her throat needs more rest and the doctor advised her to speak less. She came ill today and needs to conserve her voice forter, so I¡¯ll be doing all the talking before her performance.¡±

    No wonder! This shameless Ye Xingling had not recovered indeed!

    Having her manager answer on her behalf? Excuses! The truth was simply that she was still mute and could not speak, much less sing!

    Xia Yu was delighted but consciously concealed her emotion with a look of grievance. ¡°Ye Xingling, why didn¡¯t you say so earlier that you¡¯re unwell? We could arrange for another day, otherwise what point would there be in my winning today?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The emcee carried it through. ¡°Ye Xingling, if your vocal cords aren¡¯t well yet, why didn¡¯t you tell us earlier instead of only revealing this on stage? This way, if Xia Yu winster, people would talk about how she didn¡¯t win fair and square.¡± The emcee was bribed by Imperial Entertainment and was obviously biased towards Xia Yu.

    With her instigation, there was another uproar among the fans. ¡°Exactly! You¡¯re only feigning illness because you know you can¡¯t beat our Xiao Yu! I see Ye Xingling is afraid and trying to escape with this excuse?¡±

    ¡°Despicable and shameless!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling is trying to gain sympathy votes, damn her! Xiao Yu is the one who¡¯s really ill and has a weakposition!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Exactly!¡±

    Another round of hubaloomenced.

    Sister Mai Na was enraged listening to all the insults from the audience. These brainless people were so sympathetic and caring when Xia Yu was feigning her illness, and now that Xiao Ling had only just recovered from being poisoned, they were all using her!

    Yet, no matter how much the audience was putting them down, she would ensure that Xia Yu had no way of taking advantage of Xiao Ling. Sister Mai Na looked at Xia Yu¡¯s hypocritical expression and scoffed, ¡°Do you know why Xiao Ling had not mentioned earlier that she was not well?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Yu was slightly taken aback by this question.

    ¡°That¡¯s because,¡± Sister Mai Na made sure to enunciate every syble clearly to her face. peting with somebody like you does not require much effort.¡±

    What arrogance!

    The audience was outraged, this woman was basically trampling all over Xia Yu! The reporters were hitting the shutters in excitement. Everybody expected some tension and drama during this match, but nobody expected it to be this sensational before it had even started!

    ¡°Quick! Prepare for a press release! This is breaking news, live!¡± One of the reporters was thrilled as he made a call to his press firm. ¡°Headline? The headline will be ¡®Skyart¡¯s Queen Mai Na steps forward as Award-winning Manager once again in Ye Xingling¡¯s defense¡¯! What? You mean we should be on Xia Yu¡¯s side in this report? To hell with that Xia Yu, Sister Mai Na¡¯s words were too cool! Even I¡¯m beginning to hope to see Ye Xingling turn the tables!¡±

 Chapter 93 - The Night of Glamour

    <h4>Chapter 93: The Night of mour</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was trembling in anger.

    Having been so highly regarded all this while, how could she be so underestimated? How she wished she could rip Sister Mai Na¡¯s mouth apart, but considering her image in her fans¡¯ hearts, she had no better choice than to swallow her indignance. She put a hand to her chest, taking a small step back as if she was hurt and in shock, distress was written all over her pale face.

    ¡°Sister Mai Na,¡± She looked like she was about to cry. ¡°you¡¯re Ye Xingling¡¯s manager and I know you¡¯d side her, but how could you say this of me before I¡¯ve even begun to sing?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The emcee was defending Xia Yu, giving her more backing. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Xiao Yu often practices her singing ale into the night, is her diligence not worthy of respect at all in Sister Mai Na¡¯s and Miss Ye¡¯s eyes?¡±

    The way she addressed ¡°Xiao Yu¡± and ¡°Miss Ye¡± made it clear whose side she was on.

    Xia Yu¡¯s brainless fans started making noise again, jeering at Xia Ling and criticizing her.

    Sister Mai Na revealed a sly smile. ¡°What a coincidence, our Xiao Ling hasn¡¯t been well these days and hasn¡¯t got the chance to practice her singing much.¡± She slowly said, ¡°I¡¯m excited to see, with Xia Yu¡¯s 100% effort against our Xiao Ling¡¯s 50% of hard work, what kind of results would we get?¡±

    This statement was truly well-crafted and devious ¡ª if Xia Yu won, it would be because of her extra effort recently inparison to Xia Ling; but if Xia Yu lost, it would be a joke, how could her 100% effort not match up to someone¡¯s 50%!

    ¡°Well said, Sister Mai Na!¡±

    ¡°Good one!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s fans of this lifetime were getting excited. ¡°Go, Sister Mai Na! Go, Ye Xingling!¡±

    Hearing cheers for her opponent, Xia Yu took great pains to mask her expression. The emcee quickly stepped forward to interrupt the audience. ¡°Alright, alright, it¡¯s time to draw lots and decide whether Xiao Yu or Miss Ye will sing first.¡±

    Bright lights came on andnded on the massive screen in front.

    The way the graphics swirled on the screen made the audience feel like they were about to be sucked in.

    The emcee walked to the side and pressed a control button. The swirls got more intense beforeing together to reveal an arrow, pointed towards the left of the stage.

    It was Xia Ling¡¯s side.

    ¡°The first up on stage is Miss Ye.¡± The emcee smiled. The randomizer was manipted and no matter how she operated it, the first to sing would always be ¡°Ye Xingling¡±. Now that the right person had been chosen, the emcee had aplished her task and was due to collect her handsome reward from Imperial Entertainment when the event was over.

    Xia Yu was delighted too. <i>Bitch, you¡¯re doomed! You¡¯re already mute, I¡¯ll see how you manage it!</i>

    That was the only reason Xia Yu dared to challenge Xia Ling. She knew that there was no way she could beat that bitch in terms of singing or stage presence, but as long as that bitch went first and revealed that her voice waspletely damaged, there¡¯d be no way she could lose even if she was not as good.

    Xia Yu was already sure of her victory, but she managed a hypocritical smile. ¡°All the best, Ye Xingling.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s brainless fans were moved by her again. <i>Aww, look at our Xiao Yu, cheering others on despite having been bullied by her ¡ª she¡¯s simply too kind and innocent, like a little angel.</i>

    ¡°Go, Xiao Yu! Go, Xiao Yu!¡± Somebody led the cheers.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, we¡¯ll always support you!¡± Even more idiocy.

    Lightsticks were swaying and neon boards were up, but every one of them had Xia Yu¡¯s name on it.

    Xia Yu left the center stage and stood in the dark where everybody could not see her. There and then, she gave Xia Ling a devious grin.

    Xia Ling pretended not to see it as she took the microphone, preparing to sing.

    The music came on.

    Offstage, there were still stray voices. ¡°Ye Xingling, get off the stage! We want to see Xiao Yu!¡±

    The neon boards were up and against her like protest signs. The few boards with ¡°Ye Xingling¡± on them were like little boats caught in a raging storm.

    She waved towards the few boats.

    A beautiful voice came from her ¡ª

    <i>Lost/ lost in the starry night</i>

    <i>The unknown girl/ trudged/ trudged for years on end</i>

    <i>Searching/ searching for the meteor wings...</i>

    Her voice was like a gift from nature, beautiful and strong, calming the storms. All the chants of ¡°Ye Xingling, get off the stage¡± were getting softer and softer, as many more were increasingly immersed in her dreamlike voice.

    Xia Ling had always been very confident in her performances ¡ª in her previous life, even the ones who detested and disliked her could not utter a single harsh word when she began singing.

    In this life, her singing skills were even better and she had the ability to capture their heartspletely ¡ª

    <i>Wings of stars/ glory of gods</i>

    <i>They bless/ the eternal rose in my heart</i>

    At some point, the neon boards with Xia Yu¡¯s name had been taken down, while ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± name was dancing around like fireflies ¡ª¡±Keep going¡±, ¡°We¡¯re behind you¡±, ¡°You¡¯re the best¡±... more and more lights were illuminated for her.

    Meanwhile, she continued her breathtaking singing in this sea of lights.

    <i>If you still love me/ you should not forget me</i>

    <i>If you still love me/ you¡¯ll remember the rose in my heart</i>

    <i>Wings of stars/ are the glory of gods/ With the Meteor Wings/ I¡¯ll find that eternal rose...</i>

    ¡°With the Meteor Wings, I¡¯ll find that eternal rose...¡± Offstage, thousands of them had started singing along with her involuntarily, her divine voice having mesmerized them all.

    Xia Ling thought that maybe she should thank Pei Ziheng. If not for the torment and pain he had put her through in her previous life, how could she sing this delicately sad tune so well?

    The Diva Xia Ling was pure and outstanding, but cold as an icy crystal, too perfect for anybody to get close to.

    The person she was today, standing in the beautiful lights and bringing out the finest of emotions to move her listeners, made her a more weing and closer figure.

    This level of achievement was beyond what a ¡°Diva¡± entailed.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I love you!¡± A fan screamed the moment the song ended.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re the best!¡± Another fan added.

    A few more cheers came about, and even the most loyal die-hard fans of Xia Yu had nothing to pick on in Xia Ling¡¯s wless performance.

    50% hard work, 120% magnificence.

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans were beginning to worry about their idol. With such a strong opponent, what was Xiao Yu to do?

    They were increasingly anxious for her, not knowing that Xia Yu in the backstage was not the least bit nervous.

    ¡°You saw it clearly?¡± In the resting room, Xia Yu secretly asked a man in ck. ¡°Skyart chased all other audio mixers out of the mixing room, and only let their staff in?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s definitely what they did,¡± the man in ck said. ¡°I even caught it on tape.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s already mute, if she had just said the truth, everybody would be understanding, don¡¯t you think? But why did she have to lip-synch? Her fans and media representatives will question her work ethics now.¡±

 Chapter 94 - The Lip-synching Incident

    <h4>Chapter 94: The Lip-synching Incident</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The spotlights on the stage lit up brightly.

    The emcee and Xia Yu walked onstage, and from the opposite end, Sister Mai Na also came onstage to stand beside Xia Ling.

    ¡°How¡¯s your voice?¡± Sister Mai Na asked Xia Ling in concern.

    After singing her song, Xia Ling had remained quiet not saying an extra word, simply bowing even in the final concluding segment. At this moment, she gave Sister Mai Na a smile and shook her head indicating that she did not need to worry.

    An expression of relief shed across Sister Mai Na¡¯s face.

    Seeing this exchange between Sister Mai Na and Xia Ling, Xia Yu was doubly sure that Xia Ling had lip-synched. <i>See, this bitch could not even speak, who was she trying to fool?</i>

    ¡°Ye Xingling, your singing isn¡¯t too bad.¡± Xia Yu said gently. ¡°Can you sing that sentence ¡®The wings of the stars is the light of the Gods¡¯ for me again? It was really good.¡±

    Xia Ling gave her a cynical look. Who was she to order her to sing?

    Sister Mai Na responded in an icy voice, ¡°Thank you for appreciating the song. However, we said in the opening that Xiao Ling¡¯s throat isn¡¯t very good today and singing the entire song once is already a big burden for her. She will not be using her vocal cords anymore to avoid excessive burden today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just too bad,¡± said Xia Yu with a tinge of malice. ¡°Ye Xingling, you really kept very quiet today. Other than the song just now we haven¡¯t heard a single sentence from you. It looks like your throat is indeed in a bad condition.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling already sang her song, we should be getting the audience to vote on who they prefer now.¡± Sister Mai Na apparently did not want to spend more time dwelling on the topic of Xia Ling¡¯s voice with Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu inconspicuously nced towards someone offstage.

    From the audience, a loud male voice rang out ¡ª ¡°Ye Xingling cheated! Ye Xingling lip-synched!¡±

    The man who had shouted out was extremely close to the stage. Just as he finished his sentence, the emcee raised the microphone to her mouth and said loudly in shock. ¡°That gentleman over there, what did you say? Ye Xingling lip-synched?¡± Her voice was transmitted through the speakers in the stadium, and the entire stadium started to buzz withmotion.

    ¡°Ye Xingling lip-synched! I have evidence!¡± That man continued shouting.

    ¡°Evidence?¡± The emcee continued to speak into the microphone. ¡°This gentleman, you can¡¯t just run your mouth like that. Pleasee up onstage to show us what evidence you have! We will not let off any singer that lip-synchs, and will not let you use any singer of lip-synching if they haven¡¯t!¡± The emcee seemed like she was trying to y it fair, but in actual fact, she was simply guiding the situation to a point where Ye Xingling¡¯s lip-synching evidence would have to beid bare in front of the entire audience! This would make it such that Ye Xingling would not be able to get out of it at all!

    Xia Yu was very satisfied. This emcee, as well as the man who was acting as the ¡°informer¡± about the lip-synching, had been nted by Imperial Entertainment beforehand. Since that bitch, Ye Xingling, wanted to fake it, then she could not me Imperial Entertainment for making use of it!

    That man came up onstage very quickly.

    Sister Mai Na was furious. ¡°This gentleman over here! Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t know you at all and has not offended you in any way! Why would you use her of lip-synching?!¡±

    ¡°Whether or not I am using her, you at Skyart Entertainment should know best.¡± That man said loudly. ¡°I used to be Ye Xingling¡¯s fan and had snuck backstage just now wanting to wait for Ye Xingling toe offstage to get her signature. Who would have thought that I would see a Skyart Entertainment staff chasing away the audio mixer and other staff? I was curious and went closer to eavesdrop on their conversation ¡ª I heard them say that they were going to y audio that had been pre-recorded! Ye Xingling would only need to lip-synch on stage!¡±

    He looked at Xia Ling with a pained expression on his face. ¡°I¡¯m so disappointed for considering you to be my idol. How could you do such a thing?¡±

    Xia Ling secretly gave 32 Likes in her heart for this man¡¯s performance, he could almost match Xia Yu as the best actor. She felt like she was watching a court jester. She remained quiet.

    Sister Mai Na opened her mouth to speak. ¡°Don¡¯t speak rubbish. What evidence do you have? Take it out for us to see.¡±

    That man took out his handphone and handed it to the emcee. ¡°I was too shocked and could not resist but record a short video. In the music mixing room backstage there is only Skyart Entertainment staff and no other outsiders. This is the evidence. However, I was afraid of being found out by Skyart Entertainment when I was filming this, so I did not dare to get too close. As such, I was unable to record their conversation.¡±

    ¡°A video is already able to say a lot.¡± The emcee responded, clearly hinting that there was a problem. She brought up the video recorded in the phone and projected it on the big screen. As expected, the mixing room was only upied by Skyart Entertainment staff, and the surroundings were heavily guarded by Skyart Entertainment staff as well.

    The entire stadium buzzed withmotion again. It couldn¡¯t be, that voice that they had been so riveted by earlier was lip-synched?!

    ¡°I was just saying that Ye Xingling couldn¡¯t possibly sing so well. No wonder, she lip-synched.¡± Some said.

    ¡°Exactly, what rubbish about her voice being in bad condition. I think she just could not beat Xia Yu with her voice, so she found an excuse to lip-synch.¡±

    ¡°Where is Ye Xingling¡¯s career ethic?!¡±

    Many were criticizing her angrily. She had cheated them of their feelings!

    ¡°Skyart Entertainment staff did indeed use the mixing room.¡± Sister Mai Na¡¯s icy voice rang out clearly. ¡°This is because Xiao Ling¡¯s song is very unique, and she needs to be apanied by the audio mixing master that had worked with her for a long time. This gentleman over here, you im to have overhead staff discussing lip-synching, but I can tell you now that that is impossible. If you insist, point out the few staff that you saw right now!¡±

    ¡°I... ¡± That man did not expect Sister Mai Na to press him like that and did not know what to say. ¡°It was too messy. I didn¡¯t manage to see them clearly.¡±

    Sister Mai Na gave a coldugh. ¡°If you use someone falsely, and cause a negative impact to them, you could be sued.¡±

    ¡°Sister Mai Na, please do not threaten the audience.¡± The emcee stood forward to defend the man speedily.

    Sister Mai Naugh became even colder. ¡°Threaten? Who is being a threat right now?! Someone is ndering Xiao Ling of lip-synching, and I, as her manager, cannot even defend her?¡±

    The emcee was speechless.

    Xiao Yu softly said, ¡°Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t be angry, I¡¯m sure anyone that was in such a situation would be unhappy. However, Ye Xingling has not spoken a single word till now, it is inevitable that there could be a misunderstanding. Perhaps everyone thought that since her throat was in bad condition, she had no choice but to lip-synch today, that¡¯s all.¡±

    She had an innocent smile on her face as she continued, ¡°Sister Mai Na, isn¡¯t it really simple to prove Ye Xingling¡¯s innocence? She just needs to open her mouth and say something now. If she can produce a sound it would prove that she did not need to lip-synch, right?¡±

    <i>Ye Xingling, if you can¡¯t make a sound now, it will just prove that you have indeed lip-synched!</i>

    ¡°Exactly! She just needs to say something, how much burden can that put on her voice?¡± The emcee fanned the mes from the side.

    Sister Mai Na frowned to show her displeasure. ¡°Even if Xiao Ling opened her mouth to speak right now, you would stille up with other reasons to throw shade at her and say that she lip-synched.¡±

    ¡°No, no, we definitely won¡¯t.¡± Xia Yu was in a very good mood. ¡°Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t say anything more, just get Ye Xingling to open her mouth and speak. I will definitely believe that she sang the song live. It¡¯s only suspicious because she hasn¡¯t said anything.¡±

    ¡°Does she really need to speak?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she does!¡±

 Chapter 95 - The Biased Big Boss

    <h4>Chapter 95: The Biased Big Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The gazes of the tens of thousands in the stadium were all trained on Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling remained calm andposed under all their gazes and received the microphone from Sister Mai Na.

    <i>Keep acting, just keep acting. </i>Xia Yu kept thinking maliciously. <i>Ye Xingling, what do you n on doing now? Pretend to identally drop the microphone such that it malfunctions? Don¡¯t worry, I will prepare many spare microphones just for you...</i>

    A small smile crept on the edge of Xia Yu¡¯s lips. She could already imagine the devastating impact this would have on ¡°Ye Xingling.¡±

    However, in the next second her smile froze over.

    Onstage, that fresh-looking girl in the long, silver-blue dress softly said, ¡°Hello.¡±

    Even though it was just one word, but Xia Yu seemed like she had been struck by lightning. How was that possible?! This bitch was actually speaking?! Hadn¡¯t she already been poisoned mute?!

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression was that of shock as she turned pale. ¡°You can speak?!¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be able to speak?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was very soft and sounded a little fatigued and hoarse, but was gentle and pleasant, making others concentrate and listen closely. She gave a slight frown and said into the microphone, ¡°I¡¯ve always been able to speak.¡±

    ¡°Stop lying, you clearly have been... ¡± Xia Yu caught herself mid-sentence. She had almost identally revealed that Ye Xingling had been poisoned mute by Brother Ziheng in her fluster.

    ¡°I clearly have been what?¡± Unfortunately, Xia Ling had caught on and was not going to let her go easily.

    Xia Yu cursed her silently in her heart. This bitch! She was clearly trying to make her admit! ¡°Sister Mai Na had clearly said that your throat needed to be rested and you can¡¯t talk. Why are you so easily speaking now?¡± Xia Yu abruptly corrected her statement.

    Xia Ling did not let her get away with it. ¡°Who said that I definitely needed to speak? If I didn¡¯t speak wouldn¡¯t I have been used of lip-synching by some people with an ulterior motive?¡±

    The audience broke out in a bustle of discussion. Yes, she was right, Xia Yu was the one that insisted on Xia Ling opening her mouth to speak in order to prove her innocence. Now that she had spoken, why was Xia Yu so shocked? Was Xia Yu sure that she was unable to speak before? If so, why was it that Xia Yu was so sure? And why was it that knowing that Xia Ling could not speak, she was so adamant on getting her to open her mouth?

    Tons of questions emerged in the minds of the audience.

    Xia Yu was sensitive to themotion in the audience and knew that things were not looking up for her. She hurriedly said, ¡°Okay, Ye Xingling, since you have proven that you can speak, I will believe that you did not lip-synch.¡± She tried to turn the audiences¡¯ attention away and gave the man that had earlier used Xia Ling, who was now standing by the side, a meaningful look.

    That man understood and spoke up. ¡°Miss Xia Yu is too innocent, thus she believes that you did not lip-synch. Ye Xingling, the audience and I will not be fooled! I heard the staff backstage loud and clear, you lip-synched! Even if you can open your mouth to speak, so what? Your vocal condition is bad, perhaps you were afraid that you would lose and had pre-recorded a song to lip-synch to!¡±

    ¡°Are you done?¡± Xia Ling responded mildly.

    That man was stunned at her calm reaction and subconsciously nodded his head.

    ¡°Then, get lost.¡± Xia Ling continued in the same mild tone.

    What? She told him to get lost?! The man on stage was shocked, and so was the audience watching from below. Ye Xingling, where was your ss and grace? Was it truly the best move to tell a member of the audience to get lost on stage in such a brazen manner?

    The emcee jumped forward to intervene once more. ¡°If you don¡¯t have a guilty conscience, why are you asking this man to get lost now?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her as if she was an idiot.

    Sister Mai Na, who was standing by the side, looked at the emcee like she was an idiot as well. Following which, her gaze looked past the emcee to the back of the stage. There was a host of people walking in from the back of the stage, all dressed in police uniform, their expressions grave.

    ¡°This gentleman over here.¡± They walked in front of the man. ¡°Someone has reported you for preventing public order and also nder. Pleasee back to the police station with us to assist in investigations.¡±

    Everyone was stunned. So Sister Mai Na was not joking when she mentioned suing him earlier, she meant it through and through.

    Sister Mai Na gave a smile. In actual fact, she was a little surprised to see the police appear as well. Usually, security would handle such situations during a concert. The police would not usually get involved unless there was a massive conflict, bloodshed or use of weapons. She only had to think a little bit further to guess who had invited the police here ¡ª other than the biased Big Boss, who else would do such a thing?

    It looked like he was watching the live-stream.

    Offstage, the audience was starting to waver. The police had arrived, so did that mean ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was really falsely used? She really did not lip-synch?

    The man that had ndered Xia Ling was now in a panic, and he looked towards Xia Yu for help. ¡°Miss Xia Yu...¡± This part about being taken away by the police was not written into the script that they had spoken about earlier.

    Xia Yu cursed in her heart. This idiot was being an even bigger idiot than she thought. Didn¡¯t calling her ¡°Miss Xia Yu¡± now reveal that they were in cahoots? She hurriedly took several steps backward and said to the police, ¡°Thank you for helping to maintain public order. I believe Ye Xingling is innocent; there must be some misunderstanding here. Please ask this gentleman carefully why he used her of lip-synching.¡±

    She spoke into the microphone when she said this and everyone in the audience could hear her clearly.

    What a good, kind and innocent girl.

    The crazy fans were touched again.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu!¡± That man was staring at her incredulously as he shouted out. Was he being abandoned? Why were things turning out like that? He was just following orders from Imperial Entertainment. Why did he have to face the police interrogation alone?

    Unfortunately, he did not have a microphone.

    Even if he shouted loudly on the tall stage, there was no way that the audience would be able to hear him.

    Xia Yu turned around and gave the man a warning re from an angle that could not be seen by anyone. She was warning him to take responsibility for this incident. Otherwise, he would have to pay the price!

    The man shuddered at the sinister re she gave him and obediently shut his mouth as the police took him away.

    Xia Ling looked on as if she was watching a show. ¡°Now, who still says that I lip-synched?¡±

    The hatred in Xia Yu¡¯s heart was overflowing, but on the surface, she smiled sweetly. ¡°I believed you from the very start. I knew you wouldn¡¯t lip-synch.¡±

    The emcee wanted to say something more, but she kept quiet after thinking about the police that had juste.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze slowly swept across the faces of the two people in front of her, intentionally and with a tinge of arrogance and scoff.

    ¡°Now we should proceed with the next segment, shouldn¡¯t we?¡± Sister Mai Na¡¯s mood changed for the better, and she said with a bright smile on her face.

    The emcee came back to her senses but was in a daze in the next second. Next segment, what next segment? ording to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s script, the head-to-headpetition between Xia Yu and Ye Xingling was only till this point. Ye Xingling should be revealed to have lip-synched and be booed offstage, and Xia Yu would not have to sing at all, winning by default.

    The emcee did not rehearse for a next segment.

    She stood on stage and looked at Xia Yu, before shifting her gaze to look at Xia Ling, almost in tears.

    ¡°Before we start with the next segment, I would like to interject with a short advertisement.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s low and gentle voice rang out, suitably helping the emcee out of her awkward position. She was not helping the emcee out of goodwill, but rather her career ethic made her save the situation like she was putting out a fire. There was still arge audience looking on, and she indeed had an advertisement to y.

    ¡°What advertisement?¡± The emcee looked at her like she was her savior, and asked with interest.

    Xia Ling gave augh. ¡°Isn¡¯t everyone curious about the brand that I am endorsing? I will reveal it to everyone right now.¡±

 Chapter 96 - The Force of a Goddess

    <h4>Chapter 96: The Force of a Goddess</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes lit up.

    <i>What brand? It must be a small brand. I¡¯ll just let her interject with this little advertisement. This bitch, does she think that singing one song rather well would make the audience ept a small, unknown brand?</i>

    A small brand could not hold a candle to Ideal C Perfume.

    Xia Yu was thinking to herself that this small brand that Xia Ling was endorsing would definitely be overshadowed by Ideal C Perfume. Even if she sang her song slightly worse than ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± with the backing of the Ideal C Perfume brand, she would still beat ¡°Ye Xingling¡± in poprity by a little.

    Hence, she smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a look then. I am very interested to find out.¡±

    The emcee had been bribed by Imperial Entertainment and, on hearing that Xia Yu was agreeable to the interjection, it was a perfect way to save the awkward situation she was in now, thus she immediately acquiesced to Xia Ling¡¯s request to move things along to the next segment.

    The promotional video was prepared beforehand by Gu Financial Magnate, and it slowly appeared on the big screen as the lights diminished in the stadium and a piece of mysterious background music started to y. The Gu Financial Magnate had always sought perfection in anything that they presented to the public, and this time they were coborating with Skyart Entertainment. With both sides cooperating, the promotional video was akin to a Hollywood blockbuster.

    When ¡°Meteor Wings¡± appeared on the screen, everyone stared awestruck at the elegant and ssy perfume on screen. On the light bluish purple frosted ss bottle cap that was as beautiful as the night sky, the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s official logo was engraved together with a small ¡°S.¡±

    Oh my God, how was that possible? ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was the endorsement model for Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s S perfume!

    The wings of stars, the light of Gods...

    It was unbelievable.

    Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s perfumes were split into C, B, A, and S gradings, with S being its most premium brand. Many loyal fans and followers of the Gu branded perfumes tried to recall when was thest time that the Gu family had released a new S graded perfume. Oh yes, it was more than a century ago, when Gu Financial Magnate had just been established. That ¡°Irresistible Charm¡± perfume had boosted them right to the top from a small, unknown little workshop to an international conglomerate that was heralded by many.

    After ¡°Irresistible Charm,¡± Gu Financial Magnate had released many well-reputed and best-selling perfumes, dominating the perfume industry steadily year on year. However, the highest grade they had released was only an A grade. As for the S grade, this ¡°Meteor Wings¡± perfume was but the second of the line.

    A century of silence before the release of the second S grade perfume. How would it rock the world?

    And its endorser was none other than that woman called ¡°Ye Xingling¡±...

    The audiences¡¯ eyes were glued to the promotional video. In the video, Xia Ling was singing and dancing with ease, overflowing with grace and a distinguished air,plementing ¡°Meteor Wings¡± perfectly. It was like she was born to be the endorser for ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± and at the same time, it seemed like ¡°Meteor Wings¡± was made just for her.

    ¡°So beautiful...¡± Someone eximed softly.

    ¡°Nobody is more suited to be the endorser for ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ than her...¡± Anothermented.

    Yes, after looking at Xia Ling¡¯s version they could not think of anyone who could have filmed the promotional video better. How weird, she was not the prettiest in the industry in terms of looks, but in front of the camera, she was more eye-catching than any of the other pretty girls.

    Goddess.

    This word appeared in the minds of many in the audience.

    The promotional video slowly came to an end.

    At this point, Xia Yu¡¯s mood was worse than before, and she almost could not keep the usual innocent and gentle expression on her face.

    How was that possible?! How did this bitch get to endorse such a good brand? Didn¡¯t the Gu Financial Magnate usually not use any newbies in the industry?! What¡¯s more, it was for something as important as the S grade perfume!

    Was the Gu family crazy?!

    Xia Yu stood backstage with her heart turning colder by the second. She knew that in front of the Gu Financial Magnate, Ideal C Perfume was simply no match. No, it wasn¡¯t so simple as not being a match, the disparity was likeparing a Maserati to an unknown small car. There was nothing that could fill the gap.

    And Xia Yu knew, as much as she hated to admit it, that her singing was nowhere able to match ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± either.

    Was she going to lose?

    Her body started to tremble, and in the midst of the thunderous apuse and cheers of the crowd, she felt herself getting dizzy. From nning this event until now, she had always been full of confidence. It was only now that she felt the shadow of failure being this close.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it was a small brand?!¡± She questioned Chu Chen, who was standing beside her, through clenched teeth.

    Chu Chen had apanied Xia Yu to the event this evening and was the mastermind that had put everything in ce. On hearing Xia Yu¡¯s question, he was also very dejected and his face looked like a dark cloud had passed over and was about to start dripping water. ¡°We were fooled by Skyart Entertainment this time. They led us on intentionally, making us think it was a small brand to let down our guard.¡±

    ¡°How did you make such a mistake?!¡± Xia Yu could not resist but criticize.

    Chu Chen was momentarily stunned. He was Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite aide and even Pei Ziheng himself made sure to be polite to Chu Chen. He did not expect Xia Yu to use such a bad attitude when speaking to him. He was upset and frowned slightly.

    Xia Yu was sensitive to his change in emotion and felt even more upset. What did her sister do that made him so willing to ept all her wilfulness before? She had justined to him once and now Chu Chen was giving her a ck face?!

    Every one of them looked down on her!

    Xia Yu was close to tears in her anger, but she still apologized to Chu Chen outwardly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Brother Chu Chen, I was too anxious and my tone was bad. Please do not take it to heart.¡± She did not dare offend Pei Ziheng¡¯s most trusted aide, Chu Chen could say anything to Pei Ziheng to put her in a bad light as he wished.

    Hearing her apology, Chu Chen¡¯s expression became a little better, but he still did not speak to her anymore.

    Seeing him remain silent, the anger in Xia Yu¡¯s heart raged even more, but she could not let it out. She clenched her teeth so hard it felt as if she was going to shatter them all.

    While they were in this cold war backstage, the emcee was keeping a banter with Xia Ling, a fake smile stered on her face. ¡°What a surprise! Who would have guessed that the brand you are endorsing is the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s perfume?! The Gu family is known in the industry for never using newbies, and I believe everyone here is curious to know how you managed tond this deal?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled as well. ¡°It¡¯s very simple. I auditioned.¡±

    She exined at a very high level and did not reveal any details. If she were to tell anyone that Li Lei had brought her to the Gu family, that would definitely be groundbreaking news and she would be tagged with descriptions like ¡°hidden rules¡± and ¡°under-the-table means.¡± Even if she felt that she was innocent, there was no way she would be able to wash clean from all that.

    Xia Ling had been a Diva for many years and was versed at handling these Q&As. She deftly blocked the question with her clever answer.

    ¡°Audition?¡± However, the emcee did not let her go easily. ¡°Did you volunteer for it, or did someone give you a referral? As far as I know, newbies don¡¯t qualify for an audition in front of the Gu Financial Magnate at all!¡±

    This time it was Sister Mai Na, who was still onstage with Xia Ling, that replied. ¡°Gu Financial Magnate has been auditioning countless artistes in the past one to two years. They searched the whole world and could not find a single artiste that they were satisfied with. I guess this was the reason that they decided to use a newbie. What¡¯s more, Xiao Ling¡¯s disposition is unique and veryplementary to ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯.¡±

    She confidently praised the artiste that she was managing and smiled at the emcee. ¡°Do you have any more questions?¡±

    The emcee had initially been keen to dig deeper to find out if there were any secrets, but she did not expect her questions to have been deflected by Xia Ling and Sister Mai Na and was at a loss for words for the moment. She then asked when she found her tongue. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Gu Financial Magnate worried at all in choosing Miss Ye as the endorser? Miss Ye has insulted the former Diva Xia Ling, and has been the center of a lot of controversy in recent weeks.¡±

    She did not believe that she could not find a way to get at ¡°Ye Xingling¡±!

 Chapter 97 - The Temperament of a Diva

    <h4>Chapter 97: The Temperament of a Diva</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s eyes narrowed into a dangerous line. ¡°Miss emcee, do you also think that Xiao Ling has insulted her?¡±

    The emcee nced at her unfriendly expression and felt a chill enter her heart. It was only now that she realized she had said something wrong ¡ª even if there were tons of rumors spreading, but there was no hard evidence to prove anything. As an emcee, even if she wanted to bias the conversation a certain way, she had to be wary of her public image and could not state anything with certainty.

    Otherwise, she would risk ending up like that man who had been taken away by the police.

    Sheughed dryly. ¡°I was just regurgitating the rumors.¡±

    Jeers rang out from the audience. Rumors? And she dared ask the question so indignantly?

    The emcee did not know where to hide in the midst of the rumors as she started to regret receiving the bribe from Imperial Entertainment, putting herself in this embarrassing situation.

    Sister Mai Na smiled and lifted the microphone to her lips. ¡°Not everyone will believe rumors, and before the truthes to light, we should not ssh dirty water on others. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gu Financial Magnate for being able to tell right from wrong, and to not have been misled by the rumors, thus being willing to hand the endorsement deal for ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ to Xiao Ling.¡±

    Her words were befitting of the situation, neither humble nor pushy, and making others think deeper.

    Before the truth hade to light.

    The Gu Financial Magnate was willing to use Ye Xingling.

    The Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s reputation has always been good...

    Stringing all these together, someone in the audience tugged on the arm of the friend she hade with and asked, ¡°Do you think that Ye Xingling was really falsely used? The Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s criteria for choosing endorsers is extremely stringent, and would never choose an artiste with a bad record. Before they chose Ye Xingling they would probably have investigated the truth thoroughly. The investigation must have revealed that she did nothing wrong and, hence, they decided to pick her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible...¡± Her friend was suspicious. ¡°If Ye Xingling is innocent, then is Xia Yu the one lying and falsely using Ye Xingling of insulting Xia Ling? Xia Yu looks so innocent and kind, it can¡¯t be...¡±

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t judge a book by its cover. Who knows if Xia Yu is truly so innocent?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true...¡± Her friend started to waver.

    Those in the audience that had started to waver were numerous. Even though they liked Xia Yu, but arge part of that was because she was the beloved younger sister of the Diva Xia Ling who had passed on, and they were simply redirecting their love for Xia Ling. In actual fact, in terms of temperament, that girl named Ye Xingling was more simr to Diva Xia Ling. That arrogant air that she had when onstage, the courage that she had to face all the harshness of the world with an unchanging expression, that was the continuation of the temperament of a Diva.

    What about Xia Yu? Xia Yu was nothing like her sister in temperament. Many of Xia Ling¡¯s fans had be Xia Yu¡¯s fans only because of their devotion to Xia Ling. How many actually admired Xia Yu from the depths of their hearts?

    ¡°Let¡¯s be more rational.¡± Many were discussing in low voices, ¡°It has been tough for that girl called Ye Xingling as well, being embroiled in something so devastating to her career this early on. Even the Gu family believes that she did not insult Xia Ling, maybe there is some misunderstanding after all?¡±

    It could not be denied that the Gu Financial Magnate was helping her to get a lot of brownie points.

    Xia Ling stood onstage, watching themotion in the audience. In the darkness of the audience stands that was like the night sky, slowly but surely, light boards bearing the words ¡°Ye Xingling¡±, ¡°Cheering for you¡±, ¡°We support you¡± started to appear. They got more numerous, shing and waving about, and soon became a huge bright sea of light boards.

    She smiled. Fans were always so adorable, they would be furious one moment and support you wholeheartedly after learning the truth of the situation in another.

    Her gaze swept past the sea of light boards and, subconsciously, searched for a familiar face ¡ª Li Lei. If it were not for him, she would not be able tond the endorsement deal for ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± and it would not have been so easy for her to regain her reputation.

    It was he who had tied the Gu family name to her battle chariot and used the Gu family¡¯s century-old repute to vouch for her.

    Theughter in the corner of her eyes became more prominent, and even she did not realize how gentle and sweet she looked in this moment.

    The emcee could not hold steady as she watched this scene unfold. At this rate, Xia Yu was going to lose. Imperial Entertainment spent so much money and effort to organize this head-to-head battle and had bribed her handsomely. They clearly did not want to see Xia Yu lose! She stole a nce at Xia Yu¡¯s face and, as she expected, she saw that the attractive smile on Xia Yu¡¯s face was disappearing quickly.

    ¡°Now, let us move into the next segment.¡± The emcee said hurriedly, in hope that it would break the momentum. ¡°Could the audience please cast your vote. Those who support Ye Xingling, please press the button on the remote control that you are holding.¡± In the time that the ¡°Meteor Wings¡± promotional video was ying, she had sorted out what the next segment would be backstage.

    Xia Yu was even more furious. Was this emcee an idiot?! Why was she asking the audience to vote now, just as the momentum was leaning towards Ye Xingling¡¯s favor and the audience was wavering?!

    However, Xia Yu was unable to do anything to stop them from voting.

    On the big screen, the votes being cast were spiraling upwards rapidly ¡ª

    One hundred, two hundred...

    One thousand, two thousand...

    Five thousand, eight thousand...

    The votes rapidly sped past the middle mark of the more than ten thousand strong!

    Finally, the total votes cast stopped at the eleven thousand mark. The good result was something that no one had expected. Other than Xia Yu¡¯s crazily loyal fans, almost everyone else voted for Xia Ling, including some that were originally Xia Yu¡¯s supporters.

    ¡°Eleven thousand votes.¡± The emcee announced, her face turning slightly white. There were fifteen thousand people present here, and even though all fifteen thousand would be able to vote for Xia Yu after she sangter, this vote count was still going to be difficult to beat. She searched her mind before being able to think of what to say. ¡°It¡¯s such a surprise to see Ye Xingling getting such a high vote count. I believe that after we hear Miss Xia Yuter the voting might be even more exciting.¡± Since she had already offended Skyart Entertainment, she gritted her teeth and made up her mind to support Imperial Entertainment until the end.

    Boos rang out from all around the stage. Why was this emcee embarrassing herself like that? She was beingpletely biased.

    However, Xia Ling simply smiled and slowly said, ¡°Xia Yu, I¡¯m waiting to see what you¡¯ve got.¡±

    Full of arrogance and swagger.

    ¡°Nice one, Ye Xingling!¡± Many in the audience started to cheer her on. They were pleasantly surprised in finding someone that resembled Xia Ling so much more than Xia Yu, even though they hade here initially to support the Diva¡¯s younger sister.

    ¡°What am I going to do, I think I¡¯m going to be Xia Yu¡¯s anti-fan.¡± A girl said as she put a hand over her heart.

    ¡°Me too, me too...¡± Many young boys and girls were exchanging whispers, as they waved their light sticks more aggressively.

    In the midst of this atmosphere of an upset in the making, Xia Ling confidently took a graceful bow and made the perfect exit from the stage.

    Onstage, the intro of the Ideal C Perfume¡¯s logo song started to y, and Xia Yu hesitantly began singing in the midst of the chaos.

    She had never liked singing since she was young, and after debuting as a singer, she was simply trying to one-up her elder sister. Since Pei Ziheng liked her elder sister¡¯s voice, she had thought pridefully that as long as she was able to sing sufficiently well, she would be able to capture Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. However, her talent was limited and her singing was mediocre at best. When it was produced in the recording studio, with the help of autotune equipment, it was still eptable, but now that she was singing live, it was clearly a trying task and her standard was very different from the songs produced in the recording studio.

    There wasmotion offstage again. This time, it was all directed at Xia Yu ¡ª

    ¡°It can¡¯t be, Xia Yu¡¯s singing is this bad?¡±

 Chapter 98 - The Perfumed Lilies

    <h4>Chapter 98: The Perfumed Lilies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t that Xia Yu¡¯s voice was unpleasant.

    Her voice was simply not one that stood out particrly, but it wasn¡¯t bad. If she was able to harness it properly, she would still gather quite a following of fans. The bad thing was that her opponent this time was Xia Ling. Getting onstage as the audience was still reveling in Xia Ling¡¯s angel-like voice, theparison was just too stark, oh no, it was courting death...

    Who else would the audience criticize but her?

    ¡°This is horrible. How dare shepete with our Xiao Ling with a voice like that?!¡± One of Ye Xingling¡¯s loyal fans remarked.

    Those that were waving the lightsticks around in the audience started to get fewer and fewer until only a few of Xia Yu¡¯s loyal fans were left diligently waving their lightsticks. Onstage, Xia Yu realized that things were not going well. She had no better n other than to try her best to sing the song well, but she could not regain the favor of the audience.

    Backstage.

    Sister Mai Na poured out a ss of warm water and passed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve won for sure.¡±

    Xia Ling epted the ss as she affirmed her statement with a simple, ¡°Mmhmm.¡± She lowered her head to drink the water, which had a little honey stirred in, making it sweet and refreshing and particrly suitable for her fragile throat that was recovering from her poisoning incident.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Have a rest, we can leave whenever.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Xia Ling raised her head and looked at Sister Mai Na with a confused expression. ¡°After Xia Yu has finished singing, the emcee will announce the final result of thepetition. I still need to be present for that, right?¡±

    Sister Mai Naughed. ¡°There won¡¯t be a final segment.¡±

    Xia Ling was utterly confused. This wasn¡¯t scientific and did not follow the usual rundown for apetition.

    Sister Mai Na did not exin further and just said, ¡°Just follow me. I will bring you to watch a good show.¡±

    Seeing that she was being mysterious, Xia Ling blinked and finished the honey water in her ss with one big gulp. She then got up and left with Sister Mai Na. They navigated the maze-like terrain of the stadium and emerged at the carpark.

    In the quiet carpark, there was a discrete ck Audi.

    Sister Mai Na pulled open the door and told Xia Ling, ¡°Get in.¡±

    There was still a little bit of confusion in Xia Ling¡¯s mind. Why weren¡¯t they taking the Lincoln limousine that they had arrived in? She obediently slid into the back seat of the Audi as she pondered.

    ¡°Hi, Xiao Ling.¡± An attractive voice rang out all of a sudden.

    Xia Ling turned her head and saw that there was another person in the car ¡ª Li Lei. He was nowzily leaning against the back of the seat and looking intently at her with his mesmerizing eyes.

    This situation took her by surprise.

    Although she had suspected that Li Lei was watching the live-stream or hade to watch directly at the stadium when she saw the police appear to take away the man that had framed her, she had thought that he would be in the audience or in an exclusive VIP room. She did not expect that he would appear in person here in a small, discrete car.

    ¡°Are you really happy to see me?¡± He smiled radiantly.

    Xia Ling was speechless. Why was this Big Boss acting all cute as a kid in front of her again? ¡°Why did youe?¡± She asked out loud.

    ¡°You don¡¯t wee me here?¡± His face fell immediately, looking forlorn and disappointed.

    <i>Stop acting, Boss </i>. Xia Ling rolled her eyes in her head, but her lips curled into a smile. ¡°You¡¯re wee, of course. Thanks for being such a big help.¡± He had gotten the Gu Financial Magnate to choose her as their model, and also got the police to appear earlier.

    Li Lei was not satisfied. ¡°You¡¯re just going to thank me for helping you?¡±

    Xia Ling red at him and asked, ¡°What else do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want... ¡± He became happy again and reached behind him to get something. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    Xia Ling stared in surprise at the huge bouquet of flowers that appeared in herp. It was a bouquet of luxuriously perfumed lilies with clear dew drops threatening to fall on each of its pink flower petals. ¡°You... ¡± She was at a loss for words.

    ¡°Do you like them?¡± He smiled at her.

    ¡°Why?¡± Her emotions were in a blur, and she did not know what to do.

    It had been a long time since she had received flowers after singing at an event. Thest time she had sung live was in the open judging at the Skyart Entertainment training camp, when she had given her all to sing ¡°Sea Demon¡± as it determined her fate. Even though she had seeded, there was no glory or flowers that came along with it. Before that, thest time she sang live was in her past life, in the tenth anniversary concert of the Diva Xia Ling. It was in that concert that she had been stabbed through the heart from the back and pushed offstage. And before that...

    How long had it been? Two years? Three years? It was so long ago that it felt like two or three lifetimes ago.

    Her rtionship with Pei Ziheng then had been really good, and she could wilfully whine and throw her temper at him as she wished. He would give her all that she wanted, and after every concert, he would give her a huge bouquet of bright red roses, their love zing like a fire.

    She had thought that he would be hers forever.

    But now, looking at the perfumed lilies in front of her, she understood that the promises that they had made before about their lovesting several lifetimes did not exist anymore. Only the perfumed lilies in her hands were real right now, slightly cold to the touch and exuding an intoxicating fragrance, reminding her what belonged to the ¡°Ye Xingling¡± in this life.

    Yes, she was Ye Xingling now.

    Even if she would asionally think about her heart-wrenching love story of her past life, that was all a thing of the past.

    ¡°Thank you, Boss, they are really pretty.¡± Her bewildered expression disappeared, and her mind became clear again. She lifted her head and gave Li Lei a smile. ¡°I really like them.¡±

    Li Lei was watching her all this while, and the change in her did not escape his eyes. Although he did not know what memories the perfumed lilies had made her think of, he was d that she had finally decided to ept this bouquet of flowers.

    ¡°If you like them I will make sure to give them to you often in the future.¡± He said in a joyful tone. He made up his mind that no matter what Xiao Ling was hiding from him, he would make sure to erase every bit of those memories such that she would only focus on him!

    That day would definitelye.

    The Audi slowly drove out of the carpark.

    Xia Ling curiously asked, ¡°Boss, where are we going?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°To watch a good show.¡±

    Xia Ling could not understand. Sister Mai Na had said the same thing earlier. What exactly was this good show?

    At the venue of the head-to-headpetition.

    Xia Yu put in her all to sing her song but could not hold a candle to the ¡°Meteor Wings¡± that Xia Ling had sung earlier, and the audience was not impressed. Many in the audience started to leave, and others were getting restless.

    An iing message tone rang out from onedy¡¯s phone in the audience and she lowered her head briefly to see what it said. Pulling her boyfriend beside her, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we should stop listening to Xia Yu¡¯s singing.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Her boyfriend asked, confused.

    ¡°At the entrance of the stadium Skyart Entertainment and Gu Financial Magnate are having an event. If they amass ten thousand signatures that say ¡®Ye Xingling, I support you¡¯, they¡¯ll release the evidence to show that Ye Xingling did not insult Diva Xia Ling!¡± The female audience said excitedly.

    ¡°Really?¡± Her boyfriend also got excited. ¡°That¡¯s huge!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, hurry! What if we are toote and miss it?¡±

 Chapter 99 - The Eye Witness Appears

    <h4>Chapter 99: The Eye Witness Appears</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, her boyfriend hesitated. ¡°If we sign this petition, does it mean that we support Ye Xingling and no longer support Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°Argh, don¡¯t care about these minute details!¡± The female audience was sanguine. ¡°Do you want to stay here to listen to Xia Yu¡¯s song, which isn¡¯t good at all, or do you want to follow me to check out this big reveal?¡±

    ¡°Of course I want to follow you to see the big reveal!¡± Her boyfriend was no longer torn.

    Thus, both of them walked out of the stadium together.

    Simrly, many in the audience were attracted by this piece of exciting news and were more interested to go out to see Ye Xingling be rid of her usations than to remain here listening to Xia Yu¡¯s song. Very soon, the stadium was much emptier than before, and the originally packed stadium was visibly emptying out.

    The lightsticks became dimmer and dimmer, and the people fewer and fewer...

    As Xia Yu was singing onstage, her heart and mind were no longer on the song. She did not know what had happened offstage. Why were so many people leaving? There was only less than half of the audience left, and even if all the remaining audience voted for her, she would still be really far off from that bitch Ye Xingling.

    Was her singing that bad? No, that could not be.

    As she lost her focus, she identally sang off tune.

    ¡°She sang off tune, she sang off tune!¡± There were jeers and boos offstage.

    She gave a start and tried to maintain herposure to bring the tune back to the right track. Yet, while she was able to right the tune of her song, after this mistake, more people started to leave.

    Darn it...

    Darn it! Darn it!

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart was full of grievances.

    At this moment, it was much more crowded outside the stadium than inside.

    The ck throngs of people stood looking at a high stage with a huge screen. On the screen, Xia Ling was exceedingly and beautifully singing ¡°Meteor Wings¡± in a blue satin dress. Her fair skin, clean and defined features, and the slightly arrogant and distant expression on her face was as if she had an inborn charm that kept the audiences¡¯ eyes riveted on her.

    A row of letters was on the screen in an eye-catching font: Ye Xingling, I support you!

    There was a rolling bullet screen being shown on the top of the screen, and on it were all kinds of signatures, slogans, and words from the audience.

    Many that were looking up at the screen took out their phones and connected to the software for the bullet screen to leave their signatures as well. Not longter, the number of signatures broke the ten thousand mark.

    ¡°Ten thousand! It reached ten thousand!¡± Someone staring intently at the count on the big screen shouted excitedly.

    ¡°The truth! We want to know the truth!¡± Many in the audience shouted out loudly.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, we support you!¡±

    ¡°The time to prove your innocence is here!¡±

    Countless voices were like waves from the sea, echoing out under the night sky.

    An insignificant Audi was parked along the road not too far away.

    In the car, Xia Ling was watching everything that was happening near the high stage, and there was audio tapping equipment that was broadcasting the sounds in the square clearly in the car. She finally understood what Li Lei meant by watching a good show. He was using this ingenious method to help her prove her innocence. She also understood why they were not sitting in the Lincoln limousine and were not sitting in the upgraded Jaguar that he would usually drive, but had chosen this ck Audi ¡ª they were only able to watch quietly from the side in a discrete car such as this.

    ¡°Guess who we found?¡± Li Lei smiled as he asked.

    Xia Ling cocked her head slightly. ¡°Hmm... an eyewitness?¡±

    She had just finished her sentence when a girl walked out onto the tall stage. The girl was dressed in a goose-yellow long dress, but because she was too far away, Xia Ling was unable to make out who she was and just felt that she looked familiar.

    Li Lei said, ¡°You¡¯re right, an eyewitness.¡± He reached out his slender fingers and pressed a button in the car. The small screen in the car lit up with a high definition image ¡ª the girl appeared and Xia Ling realized that she was Zhang Suxin. She was the only person that had heard their entire conversation that day when Xia Ling pped Xia Yu.

    ¡°What is she doing here?¡± Xia Ling was very shocked.

    ¡°Zhang Suxin had long wanted to stop being Pei Ziheng¡¯s lover, but Pei Ziheng did not want to let her go.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°It was very simple. I sent someone to find her and tell her, if she is willing to step forward and be the eyewitness, I would send her and her family overseas, to a ce where Pei Ziheng cannot reach her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s great to have money and power.¡± Xia Ling remarked.

    Li Lei was very happy. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you like people with money and power? I have that! We can...¡±

    ¡°Dream on.¡±

    And Li Lei was rejected again.

    In the front row, the driver that usually kept silent could barely keep in hisughter. <i>Young Master, it¡¯s so rare that there¡¯s a girl you cannot seed in charming, this is just too interesting. </i>He continued listening to Miss Ye lecturing Young Master as he held in hisughter¡ª

    ¡°There are tons of people around with money and power, is that all you have to impress a girl? How will you find real love like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, you¡¯re right.¡± Li Lei nodded profusely and put on an expression that looked like he was listening to her lecture intently. ¡°Then what do you suggest I do?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Ling stopped herself mid-sentence. Why should she teach him how to chase girls? Why did she feel a little reluctant to teach him how to chase girls?

    Hence, Xia Xiao Ling simply arrogantly turned her head away and said, ¡°Don¡¯t change the topic! We should first see what Zhang Suxin has to say.¡±

    She forced herself to look away from that handsome face but did not know that the person beside her was carefully shifting nearer and nearer to her until they were so close that he could smell the natural sweet fragrance that she emitted. It was only here that he settled satisfied, and apanied her as she watched Zhang Suxin¡¯s witness statement.

    On the tall stage, Zhang Suxin gathered up her courage and said, ¡°I¡¯m the third person in the photo from the news the other day.¡±

    The crowd erupted in chatter.

    Initially, when the news about ¡°Ye Xingling¡± pping Xia Yu emerged, there was indeed a photo that showed three people present. The identity of this third person had also been revealed early on by the prying and curious inte readers ¡ª Zhang Suxin, a small artiste that had recently joined Imperial Entertainment.

    ¡°It¡¯s her, I recognize her face. She¡¯s the real deal.¡± Someone said.

    ¡°Zhang Suxin, what do you have to say?¡± Many curious onlookers shouted out loud.

    Zhang Suxin looked down at the crowd beneath her, took a deep breath, and said, ¡°Ye Xingling did p Xia Yu, but that was out of righteousness to help me, not because she was bullying the weak...¡±

    Xia Ling gave a start upon hearing this statement. ¡°Helping her out?¡± She clearly remembered that she had no intention to help Zhang Suxin at all, she had pped Xia Yu simply because Xia Yu had insulted her.

    Li Leiughedzily. ¡°Since Zhang Suxin is the only eyewitness, then she can say what she likes. Why shouldn¡¯t we get her to make you look even better? What¡¯s more, regardless of the motive, you pped Xia Yu and that act is helping her get back at Xia Yu, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Okay, Xia Ling had nothing to say. Big Boss was just too sly.

    On the tall stage, Zhang Suxin was giving a full ount of her witness statement. Broadly, she said that she had offended Xia Yu and, resultantly, Xia Yu had instructed another actress to p her many times during the filming as revenge. She could not take it anymore and begged Xia Yu to let her go when they were taking a break from filming, but Xia Yu only showered her with snide remarks and insults. Ye Xingling had walked by at this point and stepped forward in her defense.

    However, this only dragged Ye Xingling down with her and she had to hear many hatefulments from Xia Yu as well.

    In addition, Xia Yu had also dered that she was going to make sure that Zhang Suxin was pped until she had scars on her face that would not go away. In a fit of anger, Ye Xingling had pped Xia Yu.

    From the start to the end, Ye Xingling did not insult the former Diva Xia Ling at all.

 Chapter 100 - Award-winning Actors and Actresses

    <h4>Chapter 100: Award-winning Actors and Actresses</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    On the high stage, Zhang Suxin was in tears as she said, ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯m sorry. When the news first came out, I knew you were innocent but I did not dare to step forward in your defense as eyewitness because I¡¯m an Imperial Entertainment artiste and need them to support me...¡±

    ¡°However, the situation got out of hand and I never thought it would be so serious that it almost ruined your career. Hence, I decided to stand here today and help clear your name.¡±

    ¡°You are a good and kind girl who didn¡¯t reveal the truth yourself in consideration of me even though you were being falsely used by everyone. I know you were afraid that I would be embarrassed if you had revealed the truth...¡±

    She spoke through tears.

    Xia Ling was staring with her mouth agape. This... Zhang Suxin¡¯s acting was impable. All of them at Imperial Entertainment were like award-winning actresses. She had not revealed all these details not because she was concerned about Zhang Suxin, but because Sister Mai Na had refused to let her speak!

    At this point, she finally understood the reason why Sister Mai Na had refused to let her say a thing. It was because they had such an borate n in ce!

    ¡°You guys had intended to get Zhang Suxin to step forward as an eyewitness from the very beginning, right... ah!¡± Xia Ling turned her head to ask Li Lei but did not expect his handsome face to be so close. Her nose knocked into his as she turned her head around, making her yelp out in pain.

    ¡°You... why are you sitting so close to me?!¡± She held on to her nose and questioned him with tears in her eyes.

    Li Lei looked at her with a guilty expression, and asked in concern, ¡°Where did you knock your nose onto? Does it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try to see if it hurts?!¡± Xia Ling shouted out in anger, her tears almost flowing out of her eyes. Darn, what was this man¡¯s face made of? Why did it feel like she had knocked into a metal te?! Why was she in so much pain whereas he was perfectly fine?!

    Xia Ling felt wronged.

    Seeing that Xia Ling was still able to throw her temper at him, Li Lei felt relieved. He dug around in the back seatpartment and found a tissue. ¡°It¡¯s my fault, I shouldn¡¯t have knocked into you. Here, let me help you wipe...¡±

    He lifted his hand intending to wipe off her tears, but Xia Ling snatched the tissue out of his hand and wiped it across her face carelessly.

    He saw that the tip of her nose was a little red. Looks like it was a rather hard knock.

    ¡°There, there...¡± He tried to console her in a low voice while stealing nces at her. She looked so cute with her wronged and upset expression that he wanted to embrace her in his arms...

    Xia Ling did not know that his mind was in the gutter, and seeing that he had admitted his mistake so readily, she could not bring herself to continue ring up at him. After all, she had knocked into him herself and it was not entirely his fault.

    She curled her body back nearer to the door to avoid being too close to him such that they would knock into each other again and dryly said, ¡°Forget it, it¡¯s alright.¡±

    Li Lei did note any closer to her, but secretly felt slightly disappointed that the distance between them had grown further again. He said, ¡°It looks like you had quite a hard knock. I¡¯ll give you a tube of moisturizer when we go back.¡±

    Xiao Ling did not like receiving gifts from him and every time he wanted to give her something, he had to think hard toe up with an excuse. He had been meaning to give her a tube of moisturizer after seeing that she was using a cheap brand thest time he had been to her ce. He had felt bad for her ¡ª women tended to care for their face more than their own life, after all. How could his Xiao Ling use something so cheap on her face?

    Xia Ling shook her head wanting to reject him, but seeing that his expression was full of guilt, she could not bring herself to reject him.

    ¡°Okay, then.¡± She softly agreed.

    The driver was watching this scene through the rearview mirror and silently gave the Young Master a big ¡°like¡± for his performance. <i>Young Master, you are the real award-winning actor.</i>

    On the high stage, Zhang Suxin had finished rting the entire incident.

    Offstage, the audience was discussing what she said.

    ¡°Who would have known that Xia Yu was someone like that?! It¡¯s so scary that she would seek revenge and bully other artistes while filming!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, you can¡¯t judge a book by its cover!¡±

    Everyone felt for the girl that was crying onstage.

    Yet, there were some that held a different view. ¡°Even if Xia Yu was wrong, she has a weak disposition. How can Ye Xingling p her till she had a heart attack?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu did not have a heart attack.¡± Zhang Suxin said.

    The crowd reacted in shock. What? The news about Xia Yu having a heart attack was false?!

    ¡°Zhang Suxin, you need to take responsibility for what you say.¡± Some in the audience did not believe her.

    ¡°What I have said is true. The rumors online say that Xia Yu was sent for emergency treatment that night, but in actual fact she was with me that night, watching me get pped by someone else!¡± Zhang Suxin covered her face as tears started to flow again. ¡°So I know without a flicker of doubt that she did not have a heart attack. I also went to find out more about her illness. She had an operation at JY Hospital before, which is the best cardiology hospital in the world. I heard that her operation was a great sess, so how can it be possible that she had a rpse?! If you don¡¯t believe me, you are wee to investigate for yourself!¡±

    Now, everyone believed this girl on stage, who had broken down in tears.

    If it were not for the fact that she had so much pent-up pain and humiliation, how could it be possible for her to be so ovee with emotion?

    Who would have thought that Xia Yu was so evil?!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we should go question Xia Yu!¡± Someone said in the crowd. ¡°She has fooled all of us and brought us on a wild goose chase. We can¡¯t let her go just like that!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The audience agreed unanimously. ¡°To think I was defending her throughout the incident!¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t deserve it!¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t deserve it!¡±

    The crowd flooded back into the stadium. Xia Yu had just finished her song and was thanking the crowd.

    She had initially been worried that there was only a small bunch left in the stadium and that there would be no way for her to beat Ye Xingling. However, to her amazement, the crowd hade back.

    She smiled sweetly, saying, ¡°Please give me your support and cast your precious vote to me.¡±

    ¡°Curse your family!¡± Someone in the audience shouted angrily at her, but hurriedly retracted his statement after realizing that this seemed to be cursing Diva Xia Ling as well. ¡°You don¡¯t deserve to be Xia Ling¡¯s younger sister! You¡¯re an embarrassment to Xia Ling!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°You devious and cunning person!¡±

    ¡°You devious bitch!¡±

    ¡°You bitch!¡±

    The angry voices of the crowd culminated in a high decibel sea of shouts.

    The audience that had remained in the stadium stared in shock. What was going on?

    Xia Yu was also in shock. Why... why were things turning out like that? What happened? Why was everyone so angry at her? She had never faced something like that and was momentarily stunned.

    <i>Pa!</i>

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Yu felt a pain on her left shoulder like it had been hit by something. She lowered her head and saw that it was a mineral water bottle. The cold mineral water was flowing down her shoulder and rapidly drenched through her sheer dress.

    She waspletely disheveled and covered her chest with both hands. However, she did not expect another bottle toe crashing toward her. This time it was a juice bottle, and the red liquid sshed over her head and body. Her hair was in a mess and she became increasingly disheveled as more things started being thrown toward her. As she backed away hurriedly, her high heels stepped on the train of her dress identally and caused her to fall hard.

    ¡°Miss Xia!¡± Staff from Imperial Entertainment rushed onstage and helped her up and offstage hurriedly.

    Behind them, the stage was a mess.

 Chapter 101 - Lets Go to the Amusement Park Together

    <h4>Chapter 101: Let¡¯s Go to the Amusement Park Together</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Inside the Audi.

    Li Lei was extremely close to Xia Ling as he watched the scene of Xia Yu getting caught in a fix from the small screen together with her. He smiled and asked, ¡°Are you satisfied?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s feelings wereplicated. That was the first time she saw her sister getting humiliated and reviled by others in broad daylight. However, she got over it in a sh ¡ª viins whomit all sorts of wicked actions would often get their retribution. She looked up and returned Li Lei¡¯s smile. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Why are you thanking me, you¡¯re treating me like an outsider.¡± Li Lei wasn¡¯t pleased about it and asked, ¡°Can¡¯t you express yourself with some actual deeds?¡±

    Xia Ling was rendered speechless. How was expressing herself with actions any different?

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t sure if she shouldugh or cry. However, she decided to be patient and went along with him. ¡°How do I do that?¡±

    Li Lei tilted his head and thought about it. ¡°Apany me somewhere to have fun!¡±

    Xia Ling really wanted to sigh out loud. If he were to make any other presumptuous demands, she could easily reject him. But to refuse such a small matter like apanying him to have fun, it would make her appear unfriendly. She spected that Li Lei did it intentionally, betting that she would not be able to refuse.

    ¡°Fine then,¡± said Xia Ling. She could not help butin about him in her heart. <i>Big Boss, you are no longer young. Is it really eptable to mimic preschool children and go to the amusement park to y?</i>

    A few dayster, when it was peaceful and sunny, he brought her to the amusement park.

    At that moment, she was already a celebrity with some poprity, thus she disguised herself to prevent others from recognizing her. She wore a baggy and oversized olive-drab sweater with a long and thin scarf around her neck, covering half her face. She even wore a huge pair of shades withrge frames and tied an ordinary ponytail, looking like a cute but old-fashioned nerdy schoolgirl.

    Li Leiughed at her. ¡°You look like a dummy.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°You¡¯re the dummy.¡± Her voice sounded a little muffled,ing from under the manyyers of her scarf. Giving a clear and serious look under her shades, she appeared to look silly but cute.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh, then he stretched out his dry and warm hand to rub her head. ¡°Let¡¯s go have fun, big brother will lead the way.¡±

    <i>Hmph, Brother? </i>Xia Ling was still puffing with anger and began to scold him secretly. <i>I was already 28 years old when I was killed, little brother, how old are you now? You are not even 28 right, why are you acting mature, hmph!</i>

    Despite herins, she obediently went with him.

    The amusement park was extremely crowded, and they were mostly families of three or students. asionally, there were couples as well. Xia Ling was petite and was knocked by the masses till she began to stagger along at the start. However, Li Lei quickly began to shield her. With his height of 1.85 meters and with his evenly toned robust physique, it was a breeze for him to open up a path for her, saving her a lot of effort.

    ¡°Look.¡± A girl tugged at her good friend beside her and said, ¡°That man over there is so hot!¡±

    Her good friend managed to see Li Lei by following where her friend pointed and was also immediately lovestruck. ¡°Oh my, wow... he¡¯s really extremely hot and handsome, he must be mixed-blood right? His eyes, his sharp nose, that sexy lips... Oh no, I¡¯m gonna faint from his hotness.¡±

    The third girlughed and patted her other two friend¡¯s back. ¡°That¡¯s enough, stop fainting, can¡¯t you guys see that he has a girlfriend? Look, that girl he¡¯s trying to shield... Tsk, she looks so old-fashioned, I wonder what that hunk sees in her.¡±

    It was only after the girl mentioned it that they realized the girl who looked like a country bumpkin beside Li Lei. Well, it wasn¡¯t their fault as Xia Ling was too petite, making it extremely difficult to spot her in the huge crowd.

    They were green with envy and shot looks at Xia Ling. After that, they all sighed. ¡°Sigh, it seems like the hog ate the cabbage. I wonder how many good deeds she did in her past few lifetimes to have snagged such a handsome boyfriend who is so protective of her.¡± After observing them, they realized that that hunk was always shielding that old-fashioned girl from the crowd turbulence. The amusement park was packed like sardines, but no one could touch that girl even a tiny bit.

    ¡°He¡¯s really a good man.¡± Girl Amented.

    ¡°That¡¯s true love.¡± Girl Bmented.

    ¡°We don¡¯t stand a chance at all, let¡¯s just wish them happiness.¡± Girl Cmented as well.

    Xia Ling walked beside Li Lei, not realizing that countless girls were secretly shooting nces at them just like the three girls earlier. She was shielded so well by Li Lei that she didn¡¯t feel any pressure from the crowd. As she continued to walk, she regained her curious nature and started to peer around.

    ¡°Look, there¡¯s a merry-go-round there!¡± She called Li Lei excitedly and said, ¡°I want to go, let¡¯s go!¡±

    His eyes glowed with tenderness and replied, ¡°Okay.¡± He seemed to have forgotten who was the one supposed to apany the other to have fun. The whole journey, his kiddo Xiao Ling had wanted to sit the pirate ship, watch the guessing games as well as eat haw candy. Every time she suggested something excitedly, he would ze a trail through the crowd for her.

    He felt that he was the best kind of man that ever existed. He had racked his brains to persuade her to visit the amusement park and had even willingly be her ve ¡ª she was bouncing around empty-handed vivaciously while there were already many different things hanging from his arms. There were colored balloons, cotton candy, mini-windmills, and soap bubbles...

    <i>Kiddo Xiao Ling, did you not visit the amusement park for a few lifetimes?</i>

    Li Lei judged her silently, but his gaze never left that old-fashioned, silly-looking yet cute figure. His eyes revealed a gentle hint of contentment.

    What he did not know was, in actual fact, Xia Ling truly had never really visited an amusement park before.

    In her previous life when she was still in the orphanage, finances were tight and the Head of the orphanage said that only the top ten best performing children could visit the amusement park. At that period of time, Xia Ling gave it her all and showed great initiative. She swept and cleaned the orphanage¡¯s grounds, stayed up all night to revise her homework to get the first ce, enthusiastically participated in artistic performances... She told Xia Yu that she had never visited an amusement park and really yearned to go.

    Sickly Xia Yu was filled with envy and told her sister, ¡°I¡¯m definitely not able to go, you should go in ce of me and help me take a look.¡±

    Xia Ling clutched her sister¡¯s hands and nodded solemnly. ¡°No problem, Xiao Yu. When Ie back, I will tell you about every single thing that is fun there.¡±

    She failed to notice that Xia Yu had looked down, in an attempt to cover her jealousy and hatred.

    Xia Ling worked hard for a long time before she finally got a spot. However, something unexpected happened on the day they were supposed to depart for the amusement park. Xia Yu had identally fallen off the bed in the dormitory and had a heart attack. Her tiny body was curled up into a tiny ball as she was hurting badly. While she was semi-conscious, she was delirious and repeatedly asked for her sister as she continued to frown. Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached for her sister and no matter how much she longed for the trip, she could only fall back from the group that was about to set off. She then kept watching over Xia Yu for an entire day.

    After being adopted by Pei Ziheng, she did suggest visiting the amusement park.

    However, Pei Ziheng said that there were too manymon people and it wasn¡¯t appropriate to mix with them. If she wanted to go, they had to clear out the ce.

    After he made some arrangements, the whole amusement park was cleared out. He brought her to receive VIP treatment, with empty merry-go-rounds, empty Ferris-wheels, dull and deste balloons and coloredmps... After ying those once or twice, she lost all interest in them.

    This time visiting the ce with Li Lei was the first time she truly experienced what an amusement park was like.

    It was the best to be in the midst of the bustling crowd and countless different happy faces.

 Chapter 102 - The Sneaky Big Boss

    <h4>Chapter 102: The Sneaky Big Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was thrilled. He knew that most girls enjoyed visiting the amusement park and that it would definitely not go wrong.

    She bobbed up and down, skipped happily back to him and tugged at his sleeve with her tiny hands. ¡°There¡¯s a haunted house there, let¡¯s go inside.¡±

    He smiled and said, ¡°Sure.¡± He loved looking at her bright sparkly eyes. She directly portrayed her happiness on her face and ran around as though she wasn¡¯t afraid of anything.

    He had seen too many girls who put on a weak and delicate front and stopped at nothing to trick him into epting them. He had also seen no less of those who pretended to be lively, which turned into obtrusiveness as well as mistaking stupidity for innocence.

    She was the only one who was unique.

    At times, she appeared as if she was an exclusive flower, blooming high above the clouds, facing the flurry and chilly weather alone. She did not recount her pain to others, but others would not be able to restrain themselves from trying to protect her. At other times, she looked like a naive little bunny, unable to conceal her emotions, be it anger or joy. Her pure eyes were clear of impurities, causing the hearts of people who looked into them to glow as well.

    In his eyes, she was one of a kind.

    Li Lei grabbed her hand and said, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go inside the haunted house.¡±

    She was too thrilled to notice that her hand was already in his, and instead, she dragged him along as she ran forward excitedly.

    Throughout their journey into the haunted house, she was shocked by the ghosts and monsters from time to time. There were a few times when she backed into his arms after being scared. Li Lei remained calm and collected while he shielded her from them. She had a faintly discernible aroma, and it made the deepest part of his heart thump loudly. She was clueless about what she was doing to him and even failed to notice that she was no longer resisting his hugs. She continued to enjoy herself happily and was soon left breathless, with a thinyer of sweat forming on her skin.

    They exited the haunted house.

    ¡°Take a break,¡± said Li Lei.

    Exhausted from all the ying, she agreed.

    He brought her to a caf¨¦ deep inside the forest zone, where the afternoon sun shone through the French casement, faltering slightly.

    Li Lei ordered a cup of ck tea for her and said, ¡°You just got back your voice, avoid beverages such as coffee which can cause irritation to your throat.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded as an indication that she understood. In fact, she normally rarely drank coffee. She took the tea from him and took a sip with satisfaction. After that, she began to blink wearily and nodded off.

    ¡°You¡¯re tired already? You can take a quick nap here,¡± he said.

    Actually, he had brought bodyguards along in this trip. They went unnoticed by her as they were in in clothes. After that, she curled up on the wooden bench in front of the French casement and closed her eyes. He ordered his bodyguards to bring a cushion and a nket. After which, he proceeded to gently cover her with the nket.

    It didn¡¯t take long before she fell asleep.

    He sat down next to her and removed the cushion under her neck with extreme caution, allowing her to rest on his thighs. He acted so gently and warily, as though he was a thief. She started to stir, yet was not awakened. She flipped to a morefortable position and fell into a deeper sleep.

    Li Lei beamed with satisfaction and looked down, observing her.

    Under the sunlight, her features were alluring, as though they were carved by a famous craftsman. They weren¡¯tplicated, every single detail was on point. If anything were to be added or removed, they would be eclipsed. Her long eyshes were ted with a thinyer of gold and her skin was so soft and tender that fine hairs could be spotted. In her sleep, her lips were slightly curled upward as though she was having a beautiful dream.

    Li Lei bent forward and nted a tender kiss on her lips.

    It was soft and sweet, just like he had imagined.

    His expression grew more tender as he closed his eyes for a catnap, holding her in his arms.

    What he failed to notice was a woman standing among the trees all by herself outside the French casement, silently watching his every move. There was a document in her hand that urgently needed Li Lei¡¯s signature.

    ¡°Assistant Su.¡± Li Lei¡¯s bodyguards appeared next to her. ¡°Young Master Li has ordered that no one is to disturb him.¡±

    Su Tang maintained the same expression. She had always put on an elegant and proud front, thus she was good at concealing her emotions. She retracted her gaze from the hugging pair and then turned to smile at the bodyguards. ¡°I¡¯ll get going then, please give a message for young master. The recent financial report has been delivered, but he has to make a few final decisions.¡±

    One of the bodyguards replied her respectfully. ¡°We will definitely pass on the message.¡±

    Su Tang thanked them and turned to leave.

    Under the sunlight, she walked against the direction of the crowd. Cheering andughing could be heard everywhere and many couples could be seen. She tilted her head upwards and suddenly felt that the sun was so ring that it pierced her eyes. That girl... such an ordinary girl, why was Young Master even interested in her? Why, having followed him around for so many years, he never ever looked at her that way?

    No way!

    She could not take it lying down...

    What was the reason exactly?

    Putting Su Tang¡¯s misery aside, at the other side, Xia Ling had already woken up. With that, she realized that she had been lying on Li Lei¡¯s thigh during her entire nap. Shocked, she lost all signs of weariness and sat up.

    With all that ruckus, Li Lei was awakened as well. He opened his eyes wearily and stared at her.

    ¡°Boss, you-you-you...¡± she was rendered speechless as she pointed at him with trembling fingers.

    ¡°What did I do?¡± Li Lei appeared innocent.

    ¡°You-you-you, I-I-I...¡± She couldn¡¯t speak coherently at first, but then finally asked, ¡°Why was I sleeping on your thigh?¡±

    ¡°You were?¡± Li Lei tilted his head and started to squint in confusion. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve mentioned it, my thigh actually feels rather numb... Xiao Ling, you slept on my thigh just now? Howe I don¡¯t know about it?¡±

    ¡°Why would you not know about it!¡± Xia Ling eximed in an usatory tone.

    ¡°Not long after you fell asleep, Iid back on the chair and dozed off too. Before I closed my eyes you were still lying on the cushion.¡± Li Lei lied through his teeth and scanned the surroundings. ¡°Look, the cushion is on the ground. Could it be you slept until the cushion fell off and after that, you treated my leg as the pillow?¡±

    Xia Ling followed his gaze and saw the cushion. She began to doubt herself and wondered if what he said was true.

    The bodyguards at the side couldn¡¯t bring themselves to look. <i>Young Master, is it really fine to make up such lies?</i>

    Sadly, Kiddo Xiao Ling had no idea what they were thinking and agreed with Li Lei¡¯s spections. Her face turned red like a tomato. It was too embarrassing for her, how could she have sleptying on a man¡¯s thighs?

    ¡°Oops... Sorry.¡± she apologized, her voice as soft as a mosquito.

    Li Lei replied magnanimously. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault anyway, you only napped on me for a while and didn¡¯t do anything else.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned even redder.

    The bodyguards judged him even more badly. <i>Young Master, could you have some integrity? It was you who did things to the girl. You kissed her secretly when she was asleep and now you are acting like you are gracious?</i>

    Their inner sense of justice made them no longer have the heart to continue looking.

    Kiddo Xiao Ling was blushing and didn¡¯t dare to look into his eyes. It was too awkward and too embarrassing. Even if she could withstand the insults from fans all over the world and battle all her enemies and opponents fiercely, when it came to such things, she was still shy.

    Li Lei smiled harmlessly and innocently followed by asking, ¡°If you really feel sorry, you could promise me one thing?¡±

    All the bodyguards not only could not bear to watch, but they also could not bear to listen any longer. Their sneaky Big Boss was trying to trick others once again...

 Chapter 103 - The Truth Coming to Light

    <h4>Chapter 103: The Truth Coming to Light</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Promise you what?¡± asked Xia Ling without her guard up.

    Li Lei¡¯s request was simple enough. ¡°Xiao Ling, too much has happened in these past few weeks. You have been working too hard and your throat has only just recovered; you need to take some time to recuperate. From today onwards, you¡¯ll take a leave of absence and resume duties half a monthter.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Just this?¡±

    ¡°What else did you think I would suggest?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Was he even the Boss, why would anyone advise their employee to take a leave? ¡°But, my song...¡± Ever since her debut, excluding the theme song ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± she had only recorded one song in total. Wei Shaoyin had already gone berserk long ago, with tons of proposals piling up like a mountain. If she were to say to him that she was taking a leave, she could not promise that Ah Wei would not go crazy.

    ¡°Whatever song can be recorded anytime, but you only have one throat,¡± said Li Lei.

    She appeared to be stuck in a dilemma.

    ¡°You also need some time to familiarize with the change in your voice, don¡¯t you?¡± Li Lei added.

    She thought about it and realized that what he said actually made sense. Thus, she hesitated no more and nodded.

    From the next day onwards, she began to live her life like a pig, eating and sleeping repeatedly. Li Lei said to let her familiarize with her voice, but he sneakily locked the door of her workroom, leaving her to idle in her house every day, doing nothing other than sunbathing asionally.

    She was miserable and whiny as at times when she wanted to practice a song secretly, a self-invited guest would appear after a few sentences ¡ª Er Mao. That exquisite leopard still liked to visit and swagger around in her house from time to time. Ever since it saved her from Pei Ziheng, it somehow began to see her as its property, inspecting her house freely as if it was the emperor.

    Xia Ling did not dare to provoke Uncle Er Mao, thus she could only endure its ways without protest.

    Whenever she started to sing, Er Mao would definitely appear beside her, lying t on its stomach on the floor mat with its eyes half closed and guarding her, appearing to be asleep. Initially, Xia Ling thought that it was really taking its afternoon nap, but then, she realized things were as they seemed to be. Every time Uncle Er Mao finished listening to her song, Li Lei woulde back to nag at her about taking care about her body, cherishing her throat and not work so hard...

    She then realized that this furry leopard could tell on her.

    She was displeased, but there was no room for discussion with Li Lei regarding this matter. ¡°James and the other experts have already said, your throat has yet to fully recover. It wasn¡¯t easy to have sung ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ previously, you need to sing in moderation.¡±

    She felt wronged and replied, ¡°But I¡¯m really bored.¡±

    As a result, Li Lei often would go to her house to keep herpany when he had the time. He thought of everything, he cooked for her, chatted with her and even gave her presents.

    It was then her turn to feel embarrassed, as she invariably felt that she owed him big.

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel embarrassed,¡± said Li Lei straightforwardly. ¡°Who asked you to be so thoughtless, always thinking of work, work, and more work. If not for me watching you, who knows if you would be really resting during your leave.¡±

    He was strictly on his guard in terms of defending her from others, including mming the door in that workaholic Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face.

    Wei Shaoyinmented to her on WeChat, saying that his Big Boss was heartless and cold-blooded like an animal, hindering him from visiting his buddy singer. Even across a huge distance and aputer screen, she could feel his misery.

    Xia Ling really felt like crying. She and Ah Wei were in the exact same situation. She typed to him via WeChat, <i>Ah Wei, you should be content with your lot. A few days ago when he discovered we were discussing the new song behind his back, he almost confiscated my phone.</i>

    Ah Wei began to rage. <i>How could he do that? Who exactly am I earning money for?!</i>

    Xia Ling silently typed, <i>Your Boss said that even with just a day of not touching music, you would feel ufortable. Earning money etc, were all excuses.</i>

    Ah Wei choked and replied with a long row of angry emojis after a long while.

    Xia Ling gave a bitter smile and shut down theputer.

    She sat on the sofa with her legs bent. She clearly understood that ever since her work progress had been dyed, Ah Wei had be more anxious than her. He imed that he would help her snag the annual Best New Artist Award in front of Sister Mai Na, and the music industry was simr to that of a battlefield ¡ª not a second could be wasted. He had worked incessantly to be her perfect assistant.

    Ah Wei...

    He appeared harsh and fierce, but in reality, he was the best person one could ask for.

    Her lips were curled up tenderly, sipping her tea while sunbathingzily. The tea was made from Old Master Gu¡¯s Longjing tea leaves, every green leaf was beautiful and exquisite, slowly unfolding within the cup. The delicate fragrance spread across the air under the sunlight continuously, refreshing her mind.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood lightened as the fragrance spread further.

    She grew weary and sleepy, however, the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

    Xia Ling dragged herself up from the sofa unwillingly and opened the door. It was Sister Mai Na. Sister Mai Na still had her ret-red bob hair and was wearing a professional suit of a simr color shade as though she was a hot and zing me. It was unknown where she came from, but she appeared to be in a rash and haste. She charged into the living room directly, sat down in Xia Ling¡¯s seat and downed the half-cup of Longjing tea with one gulp. She then passed the cup over and said, ¡°Add water.¡±

    Xia Ling was cooperative and went to add water for her withoutining. Just as she held up the teapot, she said¡ª

    ¡°Hey hey, that¡¯s too hot, use the water dispenser.¡±

    Xia Ling silently looked at the shriveled tea leaves in the cup, then silently turned towards the water dispenser. As she looked at Sister Mai Na downing the drink in big gulps, Xia Ling mulled it over seriously. Forget it, the tea leaves are for drinking purposes, this shouldn¡¯t be considered wasteful... right? However, it¡¯s still better not to tell Li Lei.

    As Sister Mai Na finished her water and caught her breath, she lied on the sofa in satisfaction.

    Xia Ling sat down next to her extremely carefully and was prepared to receive instructions. Thisdy usually never visited unless she needed something and, once she appeared, something must surely have happened.

    As expected, she immediately said, ¡°This time, Xia Yu is in deep trouble.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her with a confused expression. Previously Xia Yu had just embarrassed herself, that isn¡¯t considered being in deep trouble?

    Sister Mai Na shot her a side nce and asked, ¡°What kind of expression is that? You didn¡¯t watch the news these past few days?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Xia Ling replied honestly.

    Sister Mai Na held her forehead in her hands and said, ¡°Seriously, you win.¡± Then, she suddenly flipped over and sat up straight. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you remember that Boss had sent people to investigate the truth behind Xia Yu¡¯s heart attack previously?¡±

    ¡°I remember.¡± Previously, she had indeed heard Sister Mai Na mentioning that matter.

    ¡°She likes to feign heart attacks, right? Boss had already investigated her and got the records regarding her operation many years ago. He found out that her illness had indeed recovered and that it wasn¡¯t possible for her to have a rpse,¡± said Sister Mai Na as sheughed coldly.

    ¡°This set of records have been brought out by Boss¡¯ men, including theplete medical records, operation report, discharge summary, and also many X-ray radiographs. Our inte trolls released and spread this information. With concrete evidence, chaos erupted over the past few days. People outside are all saying that Xia Yu is a liar, pretending to be fragile in order to gain sympathy and cheat her fans¡¯ feelings.¡±

    ¡°Yesterday, when she came out of the television station after filming a show, her car got smashed by someone.¡±

 Chapter 104 - Silence is a Virtue

    <h4>Chapter 104: Silence is a Virtue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Interesting development, how satisfying!

    Sister Mai Na continued her story while beaming with joy, as Xia Ling sat quietly and listened. ¡°Xia Yu can¡¯t escape this time, with all those medical records, the evidence is irrefutable and she won¡¯t have a chance to defend herself.¡±

    She told Xia Ling that Imperial Entertainment did go forward to dispel the rumors, iming that the medical records were fake and thepany would pursue legal responsibility. However, the rumors were still intensifying and getting out of hand.

    Several media representatives, including TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and magazines, all started to cancel Xia Yu¡¯s shoots and refund her debut album. Even Ideal C Perfume terminated all hermercials. On the online entertainment forum, countless fans criticized and mocked her. Everyone likes to kick a man who is down, especially one who is down on their luck. All the insults she received were malicious and filled with hate, more so than those directed at Ye Xingling previously.

    Several crazy die-hard fans who were indignant traveled a long distance to that hospital overseas for rification. The hospital gave an official statement that they would not reveal anything to protect the privacy of their patients.

    At once, Xia Yu¡¯s fans became bold and asserted that since the hospital did not want to reveal anything, then the rumors circting outside must be fake as they were not certified by the hospital.

    However, it was barely a few days until the foreign media released a piece of news.

    XX hospital stated that it was going to conduct a thorough investigation regarding a recent patient data breach.

    When the locals heard about this piece of news, it caused an uproar. Although the hospital did not state explicitly what data was leaked, this piece of news seemingly made the truth more obvious and was sufficient to let everyone¡¯s thoughts run wild.

    Upon hearing this, Xia Ling¡¯s heart was in her mouth as she asked Sister Mai Na if Boss was behind this.

    Sister Mai Naughed. ¡°The Pei family does have a strong influence in the entertainment industry, however, the Li family is more prominent and recognized in other countries.¡± She paused before adding, ¡°Our Boss may look amiable and nonchnt about everything, but if anyone crosses him, that person is doomed.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a while.

    ¡°A penny for your thoughts?¡± asked Sister Mai Na.

    ¡°Boss is too sly...¡± said Xia Ling.

    ¡°About time you realized.¡± Sister Mai Na rolled her eyes. ¡°So be good and don¡¯t make him angry, okay?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xia Ling nodded her head vigorously. After Xia Yu¡¯s incident, Xia Ling came to the realization that when mind games were involved, she could not hold a candle to him.

    ¡°The best is yet toe.¡± Sister Mai Na patted her head. ¡°After you return from your leave, I will help with your publicity. We wasted so much time on them, it¡¯s time for our payback now.¡±

    A few dayster...

    She brought Xia Ling to Skyart Entertainment¡¯s film studio to put on makeup and have a photo shoot.

    Photographer Ken seemed to know Sister Mai Na well and greeted her while setting up his equipment. ¡°Hey beauty, it¡¯s been so long. This is the little neer that you¡¯ve brought?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Ye Xingling. You can call her Xiao Ling.¡± Sister Mai Na drank beer while leaning against the wall. ¡°Take two sets of still photos, and make it look natural to bring out her elegance. This will be for an exclusive for Star Entertainment Weekly.¡±

    ¡°An exclusive for Star Entertainment Weekly?¡± Kenmented as he adjusted the lighting and equipment. ¡°It¡¯s not easy for a neer to get featured in their exclusive section. Xiao Ling is pretty impressive.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled politely at him.

    Sister Mai Na did not mention anything about an exclusive with Star Entertainment Weekly to her at all, she was dragged here without a clue of what was happening.

    Ken had finished adjusting his equipment and gestured for her to go to her position.

    Xia Ling followed his instructions and stood facing the camera and soft lights. Bright lights shone on her from all directions, making her eyes squint. She got used to it soon, as she rxed her body and adjusted her pose.

    It was quiet in the studio, with Ken giving out orders and the staff moving the equipment asionally. The white linen top she was wearing had a soft texture against her skin and carried a faint detergent smell.

    It was a strange feeling as if she was dreaming, yet it felt familiar too.

    She was dazed as it had been ages since she took still photos. Despite this, her body still reacted to the camera subconsciously. She only came out of her trance when Ken announced that the photo shoot was over.

    ¡°My beautiful sister, it seems like you have found a treasure.¡± Ken left his staff to tidy up the studio as he went to talk to Sister Mai Na. ¡°This youngdy is very sensitive to the camera, more so than any other famous celebrities that I¡¯ve seen, even when she wasn¡¯t focusing... Hey Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll let you go this time, but don¡¯t think that I haven¡¯t noticed.¡± he turned and pointed at Xia Ling. ¡°Although you look attractive with that distant look in your eyes, you have to focus when working, okay?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head sheepishly.

    Sister Mai Na nced at her and patted her head. ¡°Never mind, we want to present a realistic image of you to Star Entertainment Weekly anyway, it¡¯s okay if you look a bit silly.¡±

    It¡¯s okay if you look a bit silly...

    This phrase echoed in Xia Ling¡¯s head as she stared usingly at Sister Mai Na, Kenughing hysterically at the side.

    After a few days, Xia Ling finally knew why Sister Mai Na said that. In the newest edition of Star Entertainment Weekly, there was an exclusive article about her, with the still shots taken previously as the background. In the photo, the dim lighting gave her a ssic look, as she wore a white linen top with aloof eyes.

    The article had a very unique heading: Silence is a Virtue.

    The author was Xu Fosheng, a renowned reporter in the entertainment industry.

    Being trenchant as usual, she wrote about all the incidents that happened to Xia Ling since her debut, from how people suspected an uncanny rtionship between Wei Shaoyin and her, to how ¡°ss Fingertips¡± amazed the world, and then the unhappy incident with Xia Yu...

    Amongst all the incidents, she paid the most attention and detail to thest one.

    Xu Fosheng wrote that the reason why Ye Xingling hit Xia Yu was to defend a small artiste. Xia Yu did not give an exnation for her actions even when she faced criticism and degradation from others, as she knew that another innocent girl would be hurt and shamed in front of the public if she did so.

    Xu Fosheng expressed approval towards her actions, saying that Ye Xingling was very brave to face this situation alone. Her silence had protected another innocent individual, which made it the best virtue.

    From the start to the end, the article merely praised Xia Ling and did notment on others¡¯ actions.

    This was absurd as it was not Xu Fosheng¡¯s style at all. One should know that Xu Fosheng was notorious for speaking her mind and not caring about offending others in the entertainment industry. All articles written by her in Star Entertainment Weekly were deep and insightful, and every article included something sarcastic towards an artiste in the industry. The things she wrote were urate and irrefutable, thus everyone could onlyugh it off despite being humiliated.

    However, she did not make any unpleasant remarks about anyone this time.

    That did not make sense.

 Chapter 105 - Feng Kuns Return

    <h4>Chapter 105: Feng Kun¡¯s Return</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xu Fosheng might only be an entertainment reporter, but she also had her own die-hard fans.

    Those fans loved her merciless and to-the-point style of writing. Seeing this abnormal situation about her praising Ye Xingling and not putting anyone down, they all felt that there must be something else they had missed. How could it be possible that their Master Fo did not insult anyone? There must be something else hidden... There must be!

    Everyone started to gossip around and carefully studied every word and sentence.

    Silence is a virtue, what about not being silent?

    ¡°Obviously that means the person had poor upbringing.¡± Sister Mai Naughed gently and sat gracefully on the sofa in Xia Ling¡¯s house, with her slender legs crossed over each other and Er Mao resting tamely by her legs.

    During that period of time, Sister Mai Na often came to visit Xia Ling and even grew closer and more familiar with Er Mao. Uncle Er Mao was a leopard with a double standard. It often held its head high when it was with Kiddo Xiao Ling, yet it was as tame as a little kitty when it was with Sister Mai Na.

    Kiddo Xiao Ling was really, really sad. Filled with resentment, she shot a nce at Uncle Er Mao which was pretending to be tame.

    Sister Mai Na switched on a light-weightptop and hinted at Xia Ling to go over and take a look. ¡°Look, everyone is discussing online how you used silence to protect the weak, and inparison, Xia Yu wasn¡¯t as calm as you. She not only fanned the mes, she even feigned illness to cheat everyone. She really has poor upbringing.¡±

    Xia Ling used the mouse to scroll down and saw countlessments, which were all criticizing Xia Yu pratingly.

    ¡ª¡ª Both came from an orphanage and were adopted by Boss Pei, howe thete Diva Xia Ling was brought up to be elegant and charismatic yet Xia Yu isn¡¯t? She is worlds apart from her sister.

    ¡ª¡ª That¡¯s right, how can she evenpare to her sister? Seems like some people are born evil.

    ¡ª¡ª Xia Yu has poor character!

    ¡ª¡ª Xia Yu is a slut!

    Every singlement was increasingly insulting.

    Xia Ling read thements at a high speed and suddenly stopped at a post.

    That post showed a short video of Xia Yu, which was secretly taken. She was shielded by a group of staff members as she exited her car when a randomly opened bottle of mineral water flew towards her, sshing water all over her and cutting her a sorry figure.

    Thements were flooded with approvals and sometimes there would be a few die-hard fans trying to protect Xia Yu, their idol. However, they were hopelessly outnumbered and soon were flooded by the huge waves of iingments.

    ¡°Are you pleased?¡± Sister Mai Na asked,ughing.

    Not many people knew that she had been good friends with Xu Fosheng for many years but rarely sought help from her. This time, to help Xia Ling, she specially asked a favor from Xu Fosheng, which was to publish that article. On one hand, it was to boost Xia Ling¡¯s poprity, and on the other, it was to put Xia Yu down.

    Xia Ling was very grateful for Sister Mai Na¡¯s help, but she had mixed feelings. It was as though she put in her all to win a battle, and all that was left was a void and exhaustion. She wasn¡¯t happy or unhappy, she only felt that the affairs of the world were inconstant. Not long ago, the public had believed the groundless usations about her and scolded her intensely without any reservation. Yet at that moment, they again believed the tabloids Sister Mai Na and the others had created and used the same extreme attitude when dealing with Xia Ling.

    Sister Mai Na observed her and slowly said, ¡°Xiao Ling, to be merciful to your enemy is to be cruel to yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned and fell silent for a while before nodding her head.

    Actually, she wasn¡¯t being softhearted, she merely felt that the world was absurd, exaggerating and unrealistic. They could praise someone to the heavens in one moment and smash them to the ground in the next. She only wanted to make music peacefully and live a simple life. But she could not understand why trouble always came knocking at her door.

    Sister Mai Na patted her shoulder lightly and said, ¡°You need only focus on making your music, thepany will help you settle all the other stuff.¡±

    Gratitude filled her heart. Yes, it was all Sister Mai Na and Li Lei¡¯s credit this time.

    If it wasn¡¯t for them, she couldn¡¯t have managed the situation at all.

    Due to Xu Fosheng¡¯s article, Xia Ling¡¯s poprity grew yet another level.

    At the same time, Xia Yu lost all her poprity. Her car was smashed and she was attacked by flying mineral water bottles. But all those weren¡¯t important. The most fatal blow was that manypanies refused to work with her, especially in the advertising aspect, nopany dared to use a celebrity with such a poor image to endorse their products. Even her songs were not fit to be the background music for any show or event.

    The media all predicted that Xia Yu, the new nascent star Imperial Entertainment was backing, would fade out of the industry soon.

    However¡ª

    Who knew she had such a good sister?

    Many dayster.

    The entertainment news was overwhelmed with reports regarding one thing, the chief music producer of Imperial Entertainment, the music producer reserved for the Diva Xia Ling when she was alive, Feng Kun, had returned from his overseas leave of absence.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s mind was in a whirl when she received the news. ¡°Herees Xia Yu¡¯s rescue team.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her in bewilderment.

    Sister Mai Na sighed and said, ¡°Do you know the purpose of his return?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head.

    ¡°Can you take more time to follow the entertainment news?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her, feeling wronged. She wasn¡¯t interested and didn¡¯t have time as well... Ever since her leave ended, Wei Shaoyin had been on her back, rushing her songs day and night. She had already been wishing that there were 48 hours in a day, why would she have the extra time to notice the entertainment news?

    Sister Mai Na understood that she was busy and sighed. ¡°Forget it... Xia Ling debuted for ten years and Feng Kun produced ten years of music for her, not epting any offers made by anyone else. So, you can only imagine the status he has in the hearts of Xia Ling¡¯s fans. Ever since Xia Ling¡¯s death, he produced one debut song for Xia Yu because of Xia Ling. He then went overseas and vanished without a trace.¡±

    ¡°This time he suddenly returned and announced that he would start topose ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯ It¡¯s such major news, who would even bother to continue paying attention to the trivial matters regarding Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°The Caged Butterfly.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression grewplex.

    She remembered this song too well. It was thest encore song she sang on stage before she was murdered in her previous life. That song was not pre-arranged on the list of songs and was not made known to the world beforehand. Even her music producer Feng Kun, manager Chu Chen and also all the staff member, had not known of its existence.

    It was the only song she hadposed during that year when she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng.

    <i>The butterfly who can¡¯t fly/imprisoned within a web/broken wings/thest song</i>

    <i>The butterfly who can¡¯t fly/the ever-spreading web/bloodied wings/wishes into ashes</i>

    Closing her eyes, the broken melody easily started to y inside her head. She had once crawled and groveled at Pei Ziheng¡¯s feet in her sheer clothing which was unable to cover her body fully, used her trembling mouth to kiss his shoes and cried, begging him for a pen and a piece of paper, so that she could write down some things in that endless caged-life filled with hopelessness... Only then, she could slightly feel that she was still alive.

    He finally showed mercy and gave her a quill, as well as a stack of soft white paper.

    He ced them beside the floor mat near to the window, a spot very far from her. She needed to pull the golden chain on her leg taut and stretch her body to its limit before she could reach them. Then, she needed to withstand the pain of her limbs almost tearing apart before she could write down bits and pieces of the song¡¯s melody bit by bit.

 Chapter 106 - Her First Death Anniversary

    <h4>Chapter 106: Her First Death Anniversary</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At night, Pei Ziheng would caress the wounds on her ankle with his slender fingers. ¡°Xiao Ling, why make yourself suffer? If you had listened to me, I wouldn¡¯t have treated you this way,¡± he said with a soft sigh.

    She trembled in his arms, afraid that he would see through the pain that she was hiding, her hatred and disgust for him, and how desperate she was to escape this nightmare.

    If he realized anything, he would torture her agonizingly.

    Therefore, she never dared to write down the lyrics for her song.

    She could only scream the lyrics repeatedly in her head. However, she had troubleposing the melody. Pei Ziheng once consulted professionals to analyze her manuscripts, yet psychologists and scientists had frowned and said that these were not music scores, but just a result of hallucinations driven by long-term captivity.

    Thus, Pei Ziheng was cleared of his doubts.

    She finished ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± bit by bit. It was the only sanctuary for her soul in the dark times she was imprisoned and humiliated. It was only while working on this song that she was able to be herself and express her feelings instead of being his puppet and pretending that she was a willing party despite being tortured from head to toe.

    Xia Ling thought that this song was a major reason why she did not experience the full effects of Stockholm Syndrome under his influence. It represented her soul, which although miserable, was real.

    At thatst concert, she stood on the stage, while hundreds of thousands of fans below were cheering for an encore.

    Impulsively, she chose this song. At that moment, she just wanted to live for herself.

    There was no musical apaniment.

    She sang alone, pleasantly surprising the audience and leaving them amazed.

    However, the irony was that when she was halfway into the song, the stage had a sudden power outage. In the dark, a sharp pain pierced through her back and she was subsequently pushed down from the stage by someone, leading to her death.

    After her death, although her fans were ovee with grief, they were also regretful that she only managed to sing half of ¡°The Caged Butterfly.¡± This half of the song was purely Xia Ling¡¯s voice, not arranged or remixed beforehand.

    Thus, many fans requested Imperial Entertainment to continue producing the song.

    However, Imperial Entertainment did not give an official statement.

    Or to be more precise, it was Feng Kun that chose to remain silent.

    He was Xia Ling¡¯s exclusive producer who she worked with all her life, and it was definitely his duty if ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± needed an arrangement. If he did not take a stand, no producer would have the guts or the ability to do so.

    Xia Ling¡¯s legacy, these few words weighed on everyone¡¯s hearts.

    Now, Feng Kun was back. He organized a press conference, stating¡ª

    ¡°In the past, I did not dare to touch ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ because it was thest song that Xiao Ling sang. It carries too much significance and despair. I had no confidence in making it a good song didn¡¯t want to ruin it, so I went overseas to collect my thoughts. Now that I¡¯m back, finishing this song for Xiao Ling is a responsibility that I cannot escape. I won¡¯t say that I will perfect the song, but I will put myself in her shoes and restore the song to the best of my ability. The song will be arranged ording to her style.¡±

    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be so pretentious. The fact that he came back at this timing makes it obvious that he¡¯s doing this to shift the publics¡¯ attention from Xia Yu.¡± Sister Mai Na snorted as she watched the television with Xia Ling.

    ¡°He isn¡¯t that kind of person,¡± Xia Ling said under her breath.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that as if you know him well.¡± Sister Mai Na sneered.

    Xia Ling could only put up a bitter smile. How could she not though? Being music partners for a decade, the chemistry between them was unimaginable. Feng Kun knew her better, even more so than Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that it was Pei Ziheng who called him back,¡± said Xia Ling sadly. Based on Feng Kun¡¯s personality, since he had dered that Imperial Entertainment was not fit to be his employer, he would not have gone back of his own ord to help those who hurt her. With his status, the only person who could have summoned him back was Pei Ziheng. He must have yed dirty to make Feng Kun sumb to him.

    Sister Mai Na looked at her in surprise. ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t expect you to suddenly turn so smart! How did you guess? Boss has been sending people to keep track of their movements, and it was indeed Pei Ziheng who made Feng Kune back. It was said that Feng Kun was not willing to return, and had already tendered his resignation. I wonder what methods Pei Ziheng used to make hime back obediently.¡±

    Xia Lingughed bitterly. She knew this would happen.

    Pei Ziheng went to such great lengths just for Xia Yu.

    Yet...

    It was none of her business who Pei Ziheng valued now.

    She cared more about her old friend Feng Kun and the making of ¡°The Caged Butterfly.¡±

    Not only her, but countless members of the public also paid close attention to the restoration of the song.

    Feng Kun led a small team to analyze the manuscripts she left behind. Reportedly, the manuscripts were in a mess and fragmented. The details were either conflicting or had logic leaps, increasing the difficulty of recovering the manuscripts.

    Rumor had it that when the legendary Diva Xia Ling wasposing this song, her mental health was in a bad condition.

    It was not long before Feng Kun stopped his team from disclosing their progress to the public and declined all media interviews, focusing on the task on hand. No matter how hard the entertainment reporters tried to dig, they could not obtain any information about the progress of the song. The only legitimate piece of information was identally revealed by one of the team members.

    ¡°It has been taxing on Mr. Feng to produce this song, he would get so emotional that he could not form words during meetings.¡±

    All of Xia Ling¡¯s fans rted to him and left their good wishes on the official website one by one.

    On this sad note, Diva Xia Ling¡¯s first death anniversary was around the corner.

    Lotusnterns, as well as white candles, and small daisies could be seen everywhere.

    The radio station reyed her songs over and over again.

    Even Sister Mai Na personally made seven lotusnterns and dragged Xia Ling along to a suburban riverside. She was a fan, an especially dedicated one at that. When she released the lotusntern into the water, she said her prayers while being on the verge of crying.

    Xia Ling stood under a big willow tree, not knowing how tofort her.

    A blood crescent moon hung in the sky as the dim moonlight cast a shadow over the earth, making it seem hazy and gloomy.

    Sister Mai Na stood at the upper part of the river course and watched quietly as her lotusnterns floated further down the river into the sea of lotusnterns. Thousands of white petals carried candles, as light from the candles lit up the river.

    ¡°I have admired her since her debut,¡± said Sister Mai Na suddenly.

    Xia Ling stiffened, before realizing that she was referring to her past life.

    Sister Mai Na did not wait for her reaction and continued speaking, ¡°At that point in time, I was still a small assistant with an insignificant sry, doing useless and trivial things. There were a few times when I thought I couldn¡¯t carry on anymore until I heard her singing ying from a record yer in the streets.¡±

 Chapter 107 - Who is He More Partial Towards

    <h4>Chapter 107: Who is He More Partial Towards</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I still remember that song, ¡®The Nameless Traveller¡¯ till today ¡ª

    I am a nameless traveler

    Going to that ce where the fires are burning

    Following the stars

    The ice-covered sea cannot stop me

    The mountainous terrains cannot stop me

    The storms and floods cannot stop me

    The end of the world cannot stop me... ¡±

    Sister Mai Na sang in a low voice and thenughed. ¡°It¡¯s such a nice song, probably the nicest song I have heard in my life. Her voice got louder and higher as the song progressed... as if she did not bat an eyelid at any of her problems, and the world was under her feet.¡±

    ¡°I bought Xia Ling¡¯s album and, every time I wanted to give up, I would take it out to listen to this song. It would give me the strength and courage to keep fighting on. Xiao Ling, you have no idea but, her voice was what helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life.¡±

    ¡°In this life, I will be the manager for many but I will only be the fan of one, and that is her.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was quiet for a while before she said, ¡°I did not expect that she would leave the world so soon. She gave me the courage to face the world and the people in it, but the person that couldn¡¯t withstand it all first was... her.¡±

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s sad tone was contagious and Xia Ling also felt her mood bing sad. She did not know that this intelligent and powerful businesswoman in front of her had a weaker side to her, to the point that she seemed so helpless and like a child that had lost her way.

    Xia Ling did not interrupt Sister Mai Na as she understood that at this moment any form of constion was useless.

    Sister Mai Na silently stared into the tens of thousands of lotus lights in the distance, lost in her thoughts and emotions. It waspletely quiet for a while. The summer night¡¯s breeze blew over and it was slightly chilly. They kept standing there for a long time until Sister Mai Na¡¯s phone started to ring.

    Sister Mai Na picked it up. ¡°Hello, Ken... Mmhmm, I¡¯m further upstream about 150 meters from the willow forest... Okay, please hurry.¡±

    When she hung up, her voice returned to its usual clear and curt tone. ¡°Xiao Ling, Ken ising over in a while to take some photos of you and make it seem like it has been taken candidly. Come to light thesest two lotus lights.¡±

    It was only now that Xia Ling noticed that there were two more lotus lights remaining in the little blue basket by the river. Clearly, Sister Mai Na had kept them especially for her.

    In the entertainment circle, most of the ¡°candid¡± shots that were taken had actually been posed for. Xia Ling was not surprised at hearing Sister Mai Na say that Ken was going to make it seem candid, what surprised her was that Sister Mai Na had not brought her out to the temple to pray but instead had nned something else as well.

    Sister Mai Na seemed to see through her and mildly sighed. ¡°While I¡¯m a big fan of the Diva Xia Ling, I¡¯m still Skyart Entertainment¡¯s manager and not a pure fan... Even though what I¡¯m about to do might hurt her, it still has to be done. However...¡± She was quiet for a while before continuing, ¡°Someone like her might actually want this to be out in the open.¡±

    Xia Ling felt more shocked as she heard this. What was she going to do that was going to hurt her, that being Xia Ling in her previous life?

    She found out very soon after.

    The very next day after Ken had helped take her photos, a crazy rumor started spreading online: Xia Yu was not as evil as everyone had thought. That day she had gotten someone to p Zhang Suxin while filming for another reason. It was because the shameless bitch, Zhang Suxin, had schemed to get close to Pei Ziheng and wanted to use him to be famous in the industry!

    After this news came out, the reaction from theizens was overwhelming.

    So it was because Zhang Suxin was too shameless and did not listen to Xia Yu¡¯s numerous words of advice, such that Xia Yu had no choice but to be harsh with her.

    And Ye Xingling had stepped forward in the name of righteousness for Zhang Suxin, but she did not know this backstory. The rumor online imed that after Ye Xingling had interfered, Xia Yu had attempted to exin the situation to Ye Xingling. However, Ye Xingling felt that if she did not do anything after stepping forward it was a loss of face for her, and hence, pped Xia Yu in her fluster.

    She not only pped Xia Yu but also insinuated that it was Xia Ling that was shameless. As a result, the conflict escted out of control.

    Xia Ling was shocked after seeing this piece of news. Was the incident not over yet?

    She asked Sister Mai Na, ¡°How long is this going tost? Is Xia Yu still not repentant from all that she¡¯s done?¡±

    Sister Mai Naughed and said, ¡°Xia Yu is not the only one that is keeping this going.¡±

    Seeing Xia Ling¡¯s look of confusion, Sister Mai Na exined, ¡°It¡¯s true that Xia Yu is trying hard to clear her name, and thus she revealed this information about Zhang Suxin trying to get close to Pei Ziheng with the silent blessing from Pei Ziheng himself. Xia Yu has a strong standing in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart and, sacrificing a ything that had betrayed them to help clear Xia Yu¡¯s name, this is something that Pei Ziheng is able to ept.¡±

    ¡°However, there is something that has crossed the line for Pei Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What?¡±

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Did you notice that in this piece of news, it said that you insinuated that Diva Xia Ling was the one who had used Pei Ziheng and slept with him to gain fame? This information ¡ª what you had insulted Diva Xia Ling with ¡ª was not revealed no matter how hard theizens tried to pry it out thest time when your conflict with Xia Yu was at its peak.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head to think and started to gain more rity. ¡°When the photos were taken that day, there was only three of us present ¡ª me, Xia Yu, and Zhang Suxin. I did not insult anyone so Zhang Suxin and I both did not know what exactly I had ¡®insulted¡¯ Xia Ling about. Only Xia Yu knows as she was the one that created all of this to frame me.¡±

    ¡°Saying that Xia Ling had slept with Pei Ziheng for fame, or anything else, that is all fabricated by Xia Yu.¡±

    As Xia Ling spoke, she thought of that incident where she was kidnapped by Pei Ziheng and he had burst out in fury saying that she was the prostitute sleeping around... She felt a sharp pain in her heart but forced herself to suppress the pain that felt like a knife was cutting through her heart.

    Xia Yu had already told Pei Ziheng what she ¡°insulted¡± Xia Ling with then.

    However, Pei Ziheng was the only one that knew what the ¡°insult¡± was, whereas the media and public were not able to pry it out.

    Xia Ling did not understand. Why did Pei Ziheng not make this information public? Was it to preserve the dignity of Xia Ling who had passed on? Or was it so that Imperial Entertainment would not lose face? Regardless, Pei Ziheng clearly did not want theizens to know about this if he had not disclosed it then.

    However, the rumor now revealed it all.

    This would clearly be stepping on Pei Ziheng¡¯s toes.

    ¡°Xia Yu was too careless this time. Perhaps she was pushed to the corner and was like a dog jumping over a high wall, daring to step on Pei Ziheng¡¯s toes.¡± Xia Lingmented. She then self-reproachingly said, ¡°But who knows, perhaps Pei Ziheng is especially forgiving to her.¡±

    Xia Yu seemed to have gotten away with bullying many of Pei Ziheng¡¯s female bed partners.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s level of tolerance for every person was different.

    Sister Mai Naughed again. ¡°Take a guess. Do you think Pei Ziheng is more partial to Xia Ling or more partial to Xia Yu?

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Xia Ling was confused again. Why was Sister Mai Na asking about this? She did not dare guess what the answer might be.

    ¡°My guess is that he¡¯s more partial to Xia Ling.¡± Sister Mai Na continued in her own stride. ¡°Otherwise, why would Xia Yu¡¯s face turn so white after she found out that the details of what the insult was had gotten out?¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Xia Ling gave a jump. ¡°You mean these details weren¡¯t revealed by Xia Yu?!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu isn¡¯t as stupid as you think.¡± Sister Mai Na looked at her slightly amused. ¡°She is either unable to gauge her ce in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart, or she knows for sure that she can¡¯t match up to her sister. Hence, she did not reveal these details at the start. Since she didn¡¯t reveal it then, there is no reason for her to do it now. Why would she want to anger Pei Ziheng while not gaining anything?¡±

    ¡°The people that revealed the details of the ¡®insult¡¯ were actually us at Skyart Entertainment.¡±

 Chapter 108 - The White Rose for the Death Commemoration

    <h4>Chapter 108: The White Rose for the Death Commemoration</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°This was done by Skyart Entertainment?¡± Xia Ling felt a queasiness build up in her.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Sister Mai Na smiled brightly. ¡°Xia Yu only tried to destroy Zhang Suxin¡¯s reputation to clear her name, singling you out as someone that was helping a shameless woman without getting the story straight first. She would not dare to bring her sister into the picture. It was Boss that asked me to add some vor to the story, and to add the details about Diva Xia Ling being insulted as well.¡±

    ¡°How does Boss know the details of what was said?¡± asked Xia Ling. However, she figured out the answer immediately as the words left her mouth. When she was kidnapped by Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng had told her, and she had, in turn, told Li Lei when she was feeling really down.

    She did not think that Li Lei would remember it and take it to heart.

    ¡°What about you doesn¡¯t Boss take to heart?¡± Sister Mai Na gave Xia Ling a meaningful look. Was this littledy really dumb or just acting dumb? How could she not be able to tell that Boss liked her? It was so obvious to all of them, but she was still dazed and in the dark.

    Xia Ling was trying to organize her thoughts. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that Boss is the one that is disseminating this information... However, Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t know that. Pei Ziheng will think that Skyart Entertainment would not spread such information on our own ord because its damaging to us. Zhang Suxin is on our side now, so it also cannot be her. That leaves Xia Yu...¡±

    She lifted her head and concluded. ¡°Pei Ziheng will suspect that Xia Yu is the one who revealed the details of the ¡®insult.¡¯¡±

    Sister Mai Na snapped her fingers as she smiled. ¡°Bingo. Now, take a guess, do you think Pei Ziheng will let her off this time?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and gave a bitter smile. ¡°This is why you asked me who Pei Ziheng is more partial to, Xia Ling or Xia Yu? Perhaps... they are both not important to him? In his heart...¡± The expression in her eyes darkened. ¡°perhaps there¡¯s only himself.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s only himself, that is even better.¡± Sister Mai Na said happily. ¡°Xia Yu revealed something that he had said was not to be revealed. This is a clear challenge to his authority. Xia Yu is definitely not in a good ce.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it and knew that Sister Mai Na was right. Didn¡¯t that man hate people going against his will the most?

    This was the pet peeve that she had crossed in her previous life that resulted in her dismal predicament...

    Forget it, stop thinking about it. Xia Ling shook her head to clear her mind. ¡°Okay, let them fight it out. How about us? What are we going to do now?¡± After this rumor was released, the momentum had shifted toward Xia Yu again, and many were criticizing ¡°Ye Xingling¡± for interfering without understanding the backstory first.

    Sister Mai Na confidently said, ¡°This is why I brought you to light the lotus lights to pay your respects to Xia Ling.¡±

    As such, that evening, the headline news of the most popr tabloid released the pictures of ¡°Ye Xingling¡± lighting lotusmps inmemoration of thete Diva Xia Ling along a riverbank outside the city. Under the moonlight, her expression was full of sadness and grief.

    Ken¡¯s photography skills were on point, and he was able to capture the exact emotions that were required. This photo looked exactly like it was taken by coincidence,pletely candid, but at the same time the lighting and angles were perfect and anyone looking at the photo would be able to feel the grieving emotions.

    ¡°What is going on? Why is Ye Xingling paying her respects to Xia Ling?¡± Many started to question when they saw this photo online.

    ¡°There¡¯s something that you don¡¯t know,¡± someone replied. ¡°Ye Xingling has been Xia Ling¡¯s fan for a long time. She had liked Xia Ling since she was a trainee and had sung many covers of Xia Ling¡¯s songs before.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about ¡®Sea Demon¡¯?¡± Another person that knew Ye Xingling from before continued, ¡°I heard Ye Xingling¡¯s version of that song and it was so good, almost as good as the original. She was just a newbie, and for her to be able to sing such a challenging song like ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ that well, she had to be a big fan of Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°Where can we find her cover of ¡®Sea Demon¡¯? I want to hear it too.¡±

    It was not long after that the video recording of Xia Ling singing ¡°Sea Demon¡± in the training camp was revealed to theizens. The video was taken by a member of the audience with his or her mobile phone. The framing was not perfect and the camera lens shook from time to time, but it made it seem even more real and like you were there listening to it live. On stage, Xia Ling was dressedpletely in white, singing and dancing in the dark alone. Her song and dance were perfectplements to each other and pulled everyone into the imaginary world that she was singing about, falling deep into her emotions.

    This song had Xia Ling¡¯s vor through and through. They were so uncannily simr.

    Many that watched this video converted to be Ye Xingling¡¯s fans.

    Many moremented that there was no way that Xia Ling¡¯s fan would insult her out of nowhere. Where did this random rumore from? It was tough for Ye Xingling as a new singer to the industry, why were people making it so tough for her?

    Hence, the rumor about ¡°Ye Xingling¡± insulting the Diva Xia Ling that had just started to gain traction was quashed again.

    Netizens did not believe that she had insulted Xia Ling, but at the same time, were highly interested in what was said, that ¡°Xia Ling had slept with someone to gain fame.¡±

    What was Xia Ling¡¯s status? She was the morous Diva of the industry and passed away at the peak of her poprity. She was almost akin to a Goddess.

    Why would someone like her have to sleep with someone for fame? Even if she was willing to, who would deserve her?

    The passion for gossip burned on amongst theizens, and they worked together to piece all the clues together for the full story. With their imagination, it was not long before they found the most likely suspect ¡ª Pei Ziheng, Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss and the Pei family¡¯s seventh generation sessor.

    He was the one that had adopted Xia Ling and had sheltered Xia Ling from the harshness of the entertainment industry since she debuted. Without Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling would not have such a smooth-sailing road to stardom. If Xia Ling were to choose to sleep with anyone, it had to be Pei Ziheng.

    The rumors spread like wildfire. Even the big and small tabloids were fighting to publish this piece of news.

    Sister Mai Na woefully said to Xia Ling, ¡°The news still got so out of hand. When Diva Xia Ling was still alive, this news had never been revealed even though there were rumors in the industry saying that she was Pei Ziheng¡¯s lover. Then, she had covered it up so well that no one was able to validate if the rumors were true. This time, Boss sent someone to specially investigate Pei Ziheng because of you, and found out that many things were indeed true.¡±

    She handed a copy of a newspaper to Xia Ling. There was arge photo under the headlines.

    It was a dark, rainy day and there were several ck, expensive cars parked in front of a cemetery. The most eye-catching car was a limousine Rolls-Royce. The car door was partially open, and Pei Ziheng was stepping out of the car dressed in a suit. A staff member was holding an umbre over him, whereas another was carrying arge bouquet of white roses. There was also another five or six bodyguards taking care of security.

    ¡°He went to see Xia Ling,¡± said Sister Mai Na. ¡°The Pei family graveyard. That is where Xia Ling is buried.¡±

    Xia Ling never found out where she had been buried. Now that she found out all of a sudden, she felt a pain in her heart again.

    ¡°Why is she... buried there?¡± she asked with difficulty.

    Sister Mai Na sighed. ¡°To be buried in the Pei family graveyard is indeed not something that can be easily achieved. We¡¯ve investigated this and found out that since Xia Ling died, Pei Ziheng has been fighting with his family about where she would be buried. He said that Xia Ling is the girl that he had adopted, and there were legal papers on the adoption, so she was part of the Pei family and should rightfully be buried in the family graveyard. However, do you think that these traditional, wealthy families would allow any star to be buried in the family graveyard?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She was well aware of the airs of the Pei family and could imagine the difficulty of the situation.

    But, why did Pei Ziheng have to fight with them over this?

    If he did not treat her well while she was alive, why try so hard for her after she passed on?

 Chapter 109 - Visiting Her Grave

    <h4>Chapter 109: Visiting Her Grave</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°He fought against his entire family alone for half a year and managed to convince them, andst winter, he buried Xia Ling in the Pei family graveyard. While there weren¡¯t many people present for the burial ceremony, the ceremony was still very grand, and he made sure to give her the full works, not saving on any bit of spending or ss. Many important figures in the Pei family also attended the ceremony.¡±

    As she spoke, Sister Mai Na smoothed her finger across the picture on the newspaper. ¡°This was done very secretively and not announced to the public. If I had not sent someone to investigate and take this photo and publish it, the fans would not know until now where Xia Ling was buried.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned and looked at Sister Mai Na with a confused expression on her face. ¡°Why did he keep it a secret?¡±

    Sister Mai Na gave a bitter smile. ¡°The Pei family wants to keep the fact that someone with a different surname was buried in the Pei family graveyard quiet, even if they had agreed to it under Pei Ziheng¡¯s insistence. Also, Pei Ziheng...¡±

    The bitterness in her smile intensified. ¡°You¡¯ve seen how Xia Ling¡¯s fans have amazing imaginations. Once it was mentioned that Xia Ling had slept with someone, Pei Ziheng was immediately brought under the spotlight. However, Pei Ziheng might not be willing toe clean about this rtionship. Otherwise, Xia Ling would not have had to hide it while she was still alive, and he would definitely not have gotten engaged. If people were to find out that he buried Xia Ling in his family graveyard, many spections would arise. For someone like Pei Ziheng who prefers being low-key, he would likely not want to incur these problems.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was quiet for a while, before saying in a low voice, ¡°However, I¡¯ve always felt that Xia Ling wanted their rtionship to be out in the open.¡±

    Xia Ling was also silent. That¡¯s right. She had wanted it to be a public rtionship. Who did not want to be able to date openly?

    Unfortunately, this rtionship was destroyed before it coulde out in the open.

    shing back to several days before ¡ª in the Pei family graveyard.

    A light rain was falling onto the grave tablet of a rtively new-looking grave. The grave tablet was made of high-quality stone, and engraved on it in a formal and impactful font were four words, ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s Resting Ground.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was standing in front of the grave tablet, dressed in a ck suit.

    Apanying him was Chu Chen, who bore a somber expression. He took the big bouquet of white roses from the bodyguard and handed it to Pei Ziheng with reverence.

    Pei Ziheng received the flowers andmanded in a deep voice. ¡°All of you can take your leave.¡±

    Hence, Chu Chen beckoned for all the bodyguards to follow him and they quietly left the premises so that Pei Ziheng could be alone.

    Pei Ziheng bent over and ced the bouquet of white roses before the grave tablet. There were 44 roses in total, which represented an undying love. The petals of the roses swayed under the drizzle, and the raindrops that fell on the petals looked like teardrops that were on the verge of falling.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... ¡± Pei Ziheng smoothed the grave tablet and said in a husky voice, ¡°I havee to see you.¡±

    In the vast graveyard, it was silent, and only the sound of the wind blowing could be heard.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was full of grief as he continued, ¡°It was all my fault, I didn¡¯t protect you well. I regret not giving you your rightful status when you were alive. If I had made our rtionship public, you wouldn¡¯t have poisoned Wang Jingwan and the Wang family would not have taken revenge on you and pushed you offstage...¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I made the Wang family pay for this. The murderer has been caught and punished by thew, and the Wang family business has suffered badly; they are unlikely to be able to revive themselves for at least three generations.¡±

    ¡°But Xiao Ling, all this has no meaning... because you are not here with me. I¡¯m willing to trade the entire Pei family for you toe back to live, for you... to smile and look at me onest time.¡±

    His voice choked up a little and he stopped talking.

    The bone-chilling coldness of the grave tablet traveled up through his hand slowly, extending from his skin down to his bones and then to his heart.

    After a long while, he softly said to the grave tablet, ¡°You must think of me as a joke.¡± He had tried his best to get her back and keep her by his side, only to get this sad oue. He still remembered the shock, anger, pain, and terror in her eyes when he had locked her up.

    He thought that if he had been hard on her, and to tame her like a ¡°pet¡±, or to take it one step further like some of his teachers had advised, to make it such that she developed Stockholm syndrome, then no matter what he did to her, she would willingly stay at his side.

    However, he was wrong, very wrong.

    She had been living in torture for a whole year, before leaving him in such a tragic way.

    ¡°I had thought before that if I couldn¡¯t have you, I would... ¡± His voice became even more hoarse. ¡°... destroy you.¡±

    ¡°Yet,¡± Heughed self-reproachingly. ¡°it was only when you left me that I realized... Xiao Ling, you are part of my life, a big part of my life...¡±

    Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as he lowered his head gently against the grave tablet. ¡°During yourmemoration ceremony, fans from around the world were waiting for me to speak, but I only said one sentence and could not continue... It is not that I did not want to say anything, but instead I was scared that if I had said another word, I would be unable to control myself. I was afraid that I would lose it and break down in front of everyone. I was afraid that I would be overwhelmed with emotions...

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I am not as strong as you might think.¡±

    ¡°I was always so scared... of losing you...¡±

    The rain started to be heavier as it beat upon his body, drenching his intricately-made ck suit.

    Under the little pavilion of the graveyard caretaker, the few bodyguards were watching this scene from afar. ¡°Mr. Chu,¡± One of the bodyguards asked in concern. ¡°is Boss okay? The rain is getting heavier...¡±

    Chu Chen looked over with aplicated expression on his face and said, ¡°Don¡¯t go over. We will wait here.¡± If there was anyone in this world that could affect Pei Ziheng¡¯s emotions, that person would be Xia Ling, even if she was now dead.

    Watching Pei Ziheng in his grief, Chu Chen was more certain than ever of one thing: Xia Ling was Boss¡¯ only weakness and pet peeve.

    ¡°You must be new here.¡± Chu Chen lit a cigarette, ignoring the rain that was blowing in from outside the window, and turned to speak to the bodyguard.

    The bodyguard gave a start before replying. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then, let me give you a tip.¡± Chu Chen said, ¡°Next time if there is anything regarding that person in the grave, do whatever Boss says without question. Listen more, speak less. Or else, you will not have a very long life...¡±

    He took a deep puff after he finished his sentence and turned to look at the scenery outside the window, ignoring the solemn expression of the bodyguard at his side.

    In the rain, Pei Ziheng was still half-kneeling in front of the grave tablet.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I have several things that I want to tell you.¡± His voice was low and hoarse, but he spoke with rity. ¡°Do you remember Valiant Song? The horse that you loved so much a few years back. After you died, I abided by your wishes and left her at the Nan Shan riding club for safekeeping and did not touch her at all. However, that animal allowed someone other than you to ride her.¡±

    ¡°I was furious. How can she betray you? Even if you are no longer here, it is still uneptable.¡±

    ¡°I broke her legs.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I wanted to kill her. An animal that betrayed you does not deserve to live. However, you are no longer here, and she is something that you left behind. Killing her would mean there would be one less thing of yours left behind...¡±

    ¡°So, I allowed her to live. Don¡¯t worry, even though she can¡¯t run anymore, I will make sure to take care of her until she dies of old age.¡±

    ¡°Why are there always idiots that betray you? There is one more...¡±

 Chapter 110 - Luo Luoâ€™s Debut

    <h4>Chapter 110: Luo Luo¡¯s Debut</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand ran lightly over the cold grave tablet as he continued, ¡°It¡¯s Xia Yu. She has recently met with a troubling issue and is anxious to wash clean of the situation. In doing so, she pulled you down with her and told everyone that someone had said you ¡®slept your way to the top¡¯...¡±

    ¡°I was very shocked. She¡¯s the younger sister that you adored and cared so much for, how could she do something like that to you? How can she allow you to be everyone¡¯s dinner topic, and for everyone to judge you? Xiao Ling... perhaps I was wrong about her, and she does not love you the way you love her. What should I do with her? Should I punish her harshly for this? Will you feel heartbroken if I do that?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember that year when Xia Yu lost her temper at you for a small issue, and I told someone to lock her up in istion? You fought so strongly against me that time and swore that if I dared touch your sister again, you would never speak to me again.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t do anything to her this time can youe back.¡±

    ¡°Come back from heaven, back to my side...¡±

    The rain became heavier and heavier, and the man in front of the grave tablet was drenched from head to toe.

    Chu Chen finished smoking his cigarette and looked up to the sky. He took a ck umbre from the hands of one of the bodyguards, opened it, and walked into the rain. He came to the side of the grave tablet and silently stood behind Pei Ziheng, quietly sheltering Pei Ziheng from the rain.

    ¡°Boss, you have to take care of your health. Miss Xia will be sad to see you in this state from up in the heavens,¡± said Chu Chen.

    Pei Ziheng remained half-kneeling in front of the grave tablet, not moving at all. As such, Chu Chen stood silently behind and apanied him.

    ¡°Will she be sad?¡± Pei Ziheng asked softly after a long while. ¡°She just wanted me dead.¡± In thest year when she was being imprisoned, she had cursed him countless times in the height of her despair.

    Chu Chen sincerely said, ¡°Miss Xia was just venting her frustrations like a child. She would say anything when angry. In actual fact, she loved you more than anybody else. If she didn¡¯t care for you, she would not care to throw her temper at you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stood up slowly and said, ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    He stared at the greenish stone grave tablet. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll take my leave now. But I¡¯lle back to see you again. There are many things I need to do... I need to make all the old fogeys in the Pei family that are against me disappear so that there will not be any voices in the family criticizing me for not getting married. Then, I will pick a sessor from the next generation in the Pei family to take over my position as the head of the household.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I regret agreeing to the Wang family engagement so much.¡±

    ¡°For you, I will never marry anyone in this life.¡±

    Pei Ziheng finished saying all these in a low voice, before turning to leave.

    Chu Chen followed closely behind, sheltering him from the rain with the umbre. However, his heart was palpitating with excitement ¡ª oh my God, did he just hear some top secret information? Did he just hear about the shift in power in the Pei family for the next generation?

    Chu Chen looked at the tall silhouette of the man in front of him, feeling utterly honored ¡ª Boss did not hide this top secret information from him; he was indeed a trusted aide. He swore to be doubly loyal and careful in his work in the future to repay the trust that Boss had put in him.

    Everyone else said that Chu Chen was Pei Ziheng¡¯s dog.

    So what if he was a dog? He was the most impressive and useful dog.

    The news about Pei Ziheng going to visit Xia Ling¡¯s grave was like adding a drop of water to a pot full of oil ¡ª it was like pandemonium breaking out.

    Countless people talked about this piece of news, discussing the meaning behind the white roses. Even those that had believed that Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling were innocent started to draw up suspicions about their real rtionship.

    Pei Ziheng did not respond to any of this.

    He maintained his usual low-key manner and declined toment on any of the suspicions and questions from the public.

    Sister Mai Na said to Xia Ling, ¡°Do you think he¡¯s just letting all this go into his right ear and out from the left? Not possible. He would not be the domineering and overbearing Pei Ziheng if he did that.¡±

    As Sister Mai Na deliberated, it was not long before the talk died down and there was no sign of this piece of news on any of the media channels and tforms.

    Sister Mai Na was not surprised at all. She exined as she gulped down, instead of savoring, a cup of tea made from the excellent tea leaves in Xia Ling¡¯s cupboard. ¡°Pei Ziheng is someone that doesn¡¯t like scandals. With such a big piece of news going out, it was to be expected that Imperial Entertainment would kill it. Don¡¯t underestimate their power in the entertainment circle. No media agency would dare to offend them. What¡¯s more, the Pei family would see it as a loss of face too. Even if Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t do anything, the Pei family would intervene.¡±

    The Pei family would lose face...

    Xia Ling was a little taken aback at this statement. Even a bystander like Sister Mai Na thought that it was embarrassing for her to be together with Pei Ziheng?

    Sister Mai Na petted Xia Ling on her head. ¡°Are you dumb? The Pei family is a traditional and conservative wealthy family. How can such a family ept that the head of the family was going to marry an orphan? What¡¯s more, Xia Ling was an actress from a poor background... Oh no, let me say that again... an actress that he had adopted. Wasn¡¯t this akin to incest?¡±

    As Sister Mai Na spoke, shemented out loud. ¡°What kind of messy rtionship is this?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond, feeling sheepish. Sister Mai Na thought about this for a moment before suddenly pping her thigh and pulling out her mobile to make a call. ¡°Hello? Is that Fusheng? I suddenly realized... Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling are like a Lolita story.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. A gossipy female fan was a scary creature.

    Xia Ling continued about her daily work in this queer and awkward atmosphere.

    That day, Sister Mai Na apanied her to the recording studio.

    It was a pleasant and sunny day, and many people were walking by the entrance of the building where the recording studio was located.

    The driver stopped the car to drop them off.

    Xia Ling was wearing a pair of sunsses as she followed Sister Mai Na up the marble steps. She turned to look behind her unintentionally and saw that the huge electronic billboard on the opposite building had changed ¡ª this time, the face that was shown was Luo Luo¡¯s.

    She was slightly stunned and stopped in her tracks.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sister Mai Na also turned back and looked in the same direction that Xia Ling was looking at.

    ¡°The newbie from Imperial Entertainment?¡± Sister Mai Naughed. ¡°Oh let me see... her debut song is being produced by Ling Ling. Not bad... that is the second best producer in Imperial Entertainment behind Feng Kun. Looks like a girl with good potential.¡±

    She did not know that Luo Luo had transferred over to Imperial Entertainment from the Skyart Entertainment training camp. For someone of her level, it was reasonable not to know.

    Xia Ling nodded. Luo Luo had always been a girl with great potential. When they were training together in the past, Luo Luo¡¯s improvement had been extremely fast, and she had a great ability to understand what was being taught. Even if Imperial Entertainment was a harsh ce, it was only a matter of time before Luo Luo debuted. However, it was unexpected that Luo Luo would make her debut at this time... The newbie that Imperial Entertainment was supposed to be pushing this year was Xia Yu, and they would be pushing for Xia Yu to win the Best Neer of the Year award. To debut Luo Luo as another new singer now would mean that they would have to split their attention and give her less support. This would be disadvantageous to Luo Luo.

    Sister Mai Na looked over at Xia Ling¡¯s expression. ¡°Are you worried about her?¡± Sheughed again. ¡°You should be happy. This is Imperial Entertainment¡¯s way of punishing Xia Yu. Otherwise, going by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s usual style, they would not debut another new singer in at least a year after Xia Yu to avoid a sh of resources and unnecessary internalpetition.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still a long way before Xia Yu reaches the one year mark.¡±

    ¡°When Xia Ling had debuted before, the debut of the likes of Liu Jingyun and Hefeng was dyed for a full two years. Hefeng threatened to transfer, but Imperial Entertainment refused to allow him to, and instead paid him handsomely topensate for the dy. It was only after two years when Xia Ling¡¯s unwavering position in the industry had been established did Imperial Entertainment start to debut the other hidden talents in their training camp...¡±

    The Hefeng and Liu Jingyun that she spoke about were A-listers in the industry now. Few would remember what they had to go through in the early stages of their careers.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Imperial Entertainment has always been tolerant. Their objective of debuting a new singer now is not so simple, I think Xia Yu is in for a rough ride.¡±

    The sound of pping rang up from behind.

    Xia Ling turned her head and saw a man dressed in a suit standing under the sun with a crocodile skin work bag in his hands. It was Chu Chen.

 Chapter 111 - Donâ€™t Be So Quick to Decline

    <h4>Chapter 111: Don¡¯t Be So Quick to Decline</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sister Mai Na also saw him, and her facial expression immediately became cold.

    Chu Chen gave a gentle smile as he said, ¡°That was an amazing posttion by the queen manager of Skyart Entertainment. Xia Yu is indeed in for a rough ride. She offended someone she could not afford to offend. There was no way that she woulde out of that unscathed.¡± He stopped momentarily before continuing, ¡°Good afternoon, Mai Na and Ye Xingling. It¡¯s nice to see both of you here.¡±

    Sister Mai Na coldly replied, ¡°To what do we owe the pleasure of Big Manager Chu honoring us with his presence?¡±

    This was Skyart Entertainment¡¯s recording studio, a good distance away from Imperial Entertainment. There was no way that Chu Chen had passed by coincidentally.

    Chu Chen continued smiling, and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me inside to sit down?¡±

    Sister Mai Na retorted. ¡°With what do you qualify toe into Skyart Entertainment for a seat?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here on business. To be more urate, I¡¯m here to look for Ye Xingling.¡± Chu Chen did not lose his temper at Sister Mai Na¡¯s taunting and exined his presence slowly. ¡°If you¡¯re not going to invite me inside, would you like to have the conversation with me here on the steps?¡±

    As he spoke, he looked around.

    There were crowds of people walking along the streets, though it was rtively quiet on the steps leading up the recording studio. The three of them were good-looking people, full of charisma and dressed to the nines. What¡¯s more, Xia Ling had a face that screamed ¡°celebrity¡±, and many passersby were starting to look curiously in their direction.

    Sister Mai Na frowned slightly before turning to walk into the recording studio with a huff.

    Xia Ling quietly followed.

    Chu Chen gave a lightugh and followed slowly behind as well.

    In the meeting room of the recording studio building.

    A soft carpet was spread across the floor of the meeting room, and the heavy, deep-green curtains blocked out any of the outside sounds. A genuine leather sofa set was ced against the wall in the room, and Sister Mai Na walked toward the sofa set and sat down elegantly. She then turned to Chu Chen and curtly said, ¡°Speak. What are you doing here?¡±

    Chu Chen sat down across from Sister Mai Na, ced the crocodile skin business case by his side, and replied, ¡°Mai Na, you¡¯re very clever and very resourceful in getting things done. This time I underestimated you. I admit defeat.¡±

    Sister Mai Na gave a coldugh and said, ¡°Cut the crap.¡±

    Xia Ling also felt that he was speaking rubbish and turned her attention to the room temperature ¡ª as the air conditioning was tuned to too low a temperature, it was rather cold. She stood up from beside Sister Mai Na and pressed the bell to get a staff member to bring a shawl to the room as well as some roselle tea, which was Chu Chen¡¯s most hated kind of tea.

    Only then did she return to her seat.

    Chu Chen was still rambling on. ¡°... Xia Yu has already apologized on all media channels, and Imperial Entertainment is willing to admit defeat and pay the price.¡±

    The staff brought the tea to the room.

    As Chu Chen said a word of thanks to the staff as he received the tea and took a sip, his facial expression became grave... the drink was too sour and did not taste good.

    Xia Ling silentlyughed to herself, reveling in the sess of her n.

    She picked up the teacup in front of her and sipped it slowly. ¡°This tea is pretty good. Do you not like it, Mr. Chu? Shall I get someone to change it to Pu Er or Longjing tea?¡±

    Chu Chen put down the teacup. ¡°I¡¯m not used to drinking this type of tea. Sorry to trouble Miss Ye with the change.¡± The taste of the roselle tea was strong in his mouth, leaving Chu Chen really ufortable. He was keen to drink something else to lighten the awful taste.

    Xia Ling turned her head slightly as sheughed. ¡°Mr. Chu, you¡¯re really interesting. What are you apologizing for? Who said I was going to help you?¡± She had merely asked in passing, and knowing that he really did not like the taste made her really happy.

    Chu Chen was speechless.

    Sister Mai Na did not know whether tough or cry. She gave a warning re in Xia Ling¡¯s direction, telling her not to take it too far.

    Hence, Xia Ling reined herself in and stopped teasing Chu Chen. She immediately felt bored again and swirled the teacup in her hands as she counted the petals in the cup silently.

    Chu Chen righted his expression and said, ¡°The purpose of meing here today is to apologize to Miss Ye on my Boss¡¯ behalf.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a start and stopped counting the petals in her cup, looking up at Chu Chen.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s eyes became sharp as she stared at Chu Chen. ¡°Your Boss? Pei Ziheng?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chu Chen affirmed and stared at Xia Ling closely. ¡°Boss has already done a thorough investigation. Miss Ye did not insult Xia Ling at all, it was a whole misunderstanding.¡±

    ¡°Ha, misunderstanding.¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh. Pei Ziheng had kidnapped her without reason and had tried to poison her mute. If Li Lei had not saved her in time, God knows what crazy things he would have done to her. She had suffered so much and felt so terrified, only to receive an apology and an attribution of the whole situation to a misunderstanding?!

    Chu Chen saw her upset expression and slowly said, ¡°Apologies.¡±

    Sister Mai Na asked, ¡°Then, did your Boss find out who the culprit that maligned Xiao Ling is? Was it Xia Yu?¡±

    Chu Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Boss will punish her.¡±

    ¡°Punish? How is he going to punish her?¡± asked Sister Mai Na, her voice sharper. ¡°Is he going to poison her mute as well?¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°She is no longer part of the Pei family.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Sister Mai Na was taken aback momentarily.

    Xia Ling sat up straight after hearing this. ¡°You¡¯re saying that...¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling and Xia Yu were both orphans that Boss adopted years ago.¡± Chu Chen exined. ¡°There were formal papers drawn up, and they were registered under the Pei family registry. Hence, after Miss Xia Ling passed away, she could be buried in the Pei family graveyard. Now, Xia Yu has been removed from the Pei family registry because of what she has done, and she is no longer considered to have been adopted by Boss.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°What about her inheritance?¡± She remembered that after her death, the fortune that she left behind should be inherited by Pei Ziheng and Xia Yu ording to the next of kin rtionship. That was a huge amount of money, enough to make some of the Pei family members envious. Now that Xia Yu had to leave the Pei family, would Pei Ziheng let her take the fortune she left behind for her?

    She knew that Xia Yu was sick for a long time and did not earn very much over the years. As such, she remembered clearly well that her younger sister did not have any savings.

    Chu Chen misunderstood her, and a look of disdain shed across his eyes. ¡°Boss only removed the guardian rtionship he has with her and will still give her every rightful penny that she deserves. In fact, when Miss Xia Ling passed away more than a year ago, other than some of the items that she used on a daily basis and some fixed assets, Xia Yu inherited the rest of what Miss Xia Ling left behind. She will be leaving the Pei family with this inheritance.¡±

    Xia Ling felt herself rx. With the money of that inheritance, Xia Yu would be able to live afortable life.

    She caught herself midway through her thought. Why did she care about what happened to Xia Yu? They were at such loggerheads right now. If Xia Yu were standing in front of her right now, the thing that she would undoubtedly want to do the most would be to give her two tight ps.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss will not shortchange anyone that is willing to follow him, particrly women. He is very generous when ites to money. Miss Ye, I¡¯m here today for another reason as well. Other than apologizing to you on Boss¡¯ behalf, I have a small gift that Boss has asked me to pass to you as well.¡±

    Seeing his meaningful look and smile, Xia Ling suddenly understood ¡ª

    It looked like Chu Chen thought she was a money-minded woman as she had asked about the inheritance.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°I don¡¯t want any present, no matter what it is. Tell him to take it back.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious to decline,¡± said Chu Chen. ¡°Perhaps you should first have a look before you make your decision.¡± He took out a big envelope from the crocodile skin business case and pushed it across the table.

 Chapter 112 - Ill Give You a Villa as a Gift

    <h4>Chapter 112: I¡¯ll Give You a Vi as a Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That kraft paper envelope was very thick. At first nce, it appeared normal, but Xia Ling knew that the value of the items inside was definitely not low.

    However, she still said, ¡°Take it back.¡±

    Chu Chen did not move. ¡°Open it and see. It won¡¯t take much of your time.¡±

    Xia Ling did not even want to deal with him. However, Sister Mai Na reached out to take the envelope and pulled out a thick file from inside. ¡°Ha. A gift agreement, an affidavit, and a house deed?¡± Sister Mai Na lifted up her head to look at Chu Chen and said, ¡°Imperial Entertainment really does know how to spend money.¡±

    Chu Chen smiled and replied. ¡°The best vi in the suburbs. A vi that resides in a priceless location. Miss Ye, this is something many small celebrities like you spend their whole lives chasing after yet few achieve. I would advise you to ept it.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned and, without looking at the real estate license Sister Mai Na was holding, asked directly, ¡°Green Hill Pavilions?¡±

    ¡°Looks like you know about that ce.¡± Chu Chen smiled profoundly and thought. <i>This little girl appears to be aloof on the surface, but in reality, she is well aware of the wealthy districts. Once I mentioned that the vi was the best one in the suburbs, she immediately guessed that it was Green Hill Pavilions... Green Hill Pavilions is such a hidden and discreet rich area that only the truly affluent would understand its value. Even the new upstarts and nouveau riche would often mistakenly think that the best property location in the city is elsewhere.</i>

    There was only one reason why a small starlet with no status and background would know about a district like Green Hill Pavilions. She must have put in much effort to study the rich and powerful to get close to them. Chu Chen had met many simr girls before.

    Anyone that could be bought over using money was not difficult to deal with.

    Chu Chen smiled even more delightedly and said, ¡°ept it. In the future, you will also be part of theirmunity.¡±

    He really thought that the girl in front of him would be overwhelmed with ttery and moved to tears. Instead, Xia Ling frowned even more and took the thick file from Sister Mai Na¡¯s hands. One look confirmed her thoughts. It was Green Hill Pavilions Number 666.

    Xia Ling knew that ce.

    In her previous life, Pei Ziheng had bought two properties in Green Hill Pavilions. One was Number 666 and the other was Number 1314.

    Number 1314. For eternity.

    That was his birthday gift to her three years ago. It was supposed to be built ording to her preference to feature a pure white fairytale-style castle. Unfortunately, she was obsessed with the dark version of Grimm¡¯s Fairytales at that point in time. After looking at it, she requested for a lot of changes to be made to the castle. Pei Ziheng amodated her and renovated the ce. The renovation went on for a long time such that even after they fell out and she was taken hostage by him, it was notpleted.

    Afterward, what happened to the vi?

    She did not know.

    She also knew a little about the situation of the other property, Number 666, which was currently in Sister Mai Na¡¯s hands. This vi should have been Xia Yu¡¯s. That year when Pei Ziheng gave Xia Ling a vi as a gift, Xia Yu was unhappy and said that she lived too far away from her sister. As such, he bought another vi as a gift for Xia Yu.

    Why was this vi currently being gifted to her by Pei Ziheng?

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was filled with many questions, but due to her identity in her current life, she could not ask them.

    Chu Chen confidently smiled. ¡°You¡¯re intelligent, Miss Ye. I¡¯m sure you will make the right decision. If you follow Mr. Pei, in the future, there will be many more presents like this. As for your boss in Skyart Entertainment... I know that his business is very sessful, but he may not be as generous to you.¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling realized the meaning behind his words. She was furious. What sort of person did he think she was?

    Sister Mai Na was also fuming. ¡°Xiao Ling is not that sort of person. Pei Ziheng should just give up as early as possible!¡±

    Chu Chen slowly put his hand down and slowly said, ¡°Mai Na, Ye Xingling is still a small child. I can excuse her insensible behavior. But how is it that even you don¡¯t understand? In this industry, there are more who sell their bodies than those who don¡¯t. Who is purer than who? Let¡¯s not talk about others. Let¡¯s talk about you. Even the recent stars you have guided such as Liu Yun and Zhou Feifei... Who doesn¡¯t use their body to get ahead?¡±

    Sister Mai Na was livid with rage but did not say anything.

    Xia Ling recalled that those two starlets that were famous for a period of time and realized that it was probably because something ndestine was going on behind the scenes.

    Chu Chen continued, ¡°Ye Xingling is luckier than them. Even without attending numerous social events with sponsors and cycling through them, she has already found a top backer. Mai Na, ask yourself, this industry has so many investors, how many are like my boss that has money and power, is generous, and is willing to help someone out?¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°Little girl, don¡¯t be too stubborn. Being overconfident is no good. Seize the opportunity when you are still young and clean. Otherwise...¡± Heughed and looked at her eyes. ¡°After this beautiful pair of eyes has been tainted, I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be worth much anymore.¡±

    Infuriated, Xia Ling immediately grabbed the gift agreement that was on the table, crushed it and threw it at his face.

    Chu Chen blocked it with his hands. Therge file slid down his high-quality suit andnded on the floor.

    He bent down to pick it up and slowly unfolded the crushed file and ced it on the table once again. ¡°You don¡¯t have to vent your anger on this vi. My boss only wants to express his apology to you. This is unrted to anything else. Just rx and ept it. However, if you ever happen to change your mind and agree to join us, you¡¯re wee to look for me anytime.¡±

    He stood up, slightly bowed to Xia Ling and Sister Mai Na and said, ¡°With that, I will be leaving.¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± Xia Ling was still very angry. She grabbed the file again and hurled it in his direction.

    The door of the guest room closed and the file hit therge wooden door before falling to the floor. Xia Ling red at it and, in the heat of anger, rushed to grab it and tear it apart.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Sister Mai Na hurriedly stopped her.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Xia Ling angrily.

    ¡°The vi was given to you as a gift, just ept it,¡± said Sister Mai Na. ¡°He already said it was just an apology gift and nothing else. Don¡¯t just reject it for the sake of rejecting it!¡± She hurriedly approached Xia Ling and snatched the crumpled file from Xia Ling¡¯s hands. After smoothing it, she ced it back in the brown paper envelope before returning it to Xia Ling. ¡°Keep it properly. Don¡¯t be rash.¡±

    Confused, Xia Ling looked at her. ¡°You want me to keep it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s money! Remember that this is money!¡± Sister Mai Na did not know whether to cry orugh. ¡°If he dares to give it to us, why should we not dare to ept it?¡±

    Xia Ling was still not impressed and gritted her teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    ¡°When did you start being so stubborn?¡± Sister Mai Na chided her. ¡°You are not well off and this is arge sum of money.¡± She looked at Xia Ling¡¯s enraged face and sighed softly. ¡°Xiao Ling, I know you don¡¯t feel at ease epting this, but no matter how despicable Chu Chen was, one thing he said was right. This vi is something many small celebrities like you spend their whole lives chasing after yet few achieve. With it, you will have a safety and will not have to worry about your livelihood. Then, you can truly focus on what you want to do. Understand?¡±

    Xia Ling slowly sighed. Of course, she understood.

    Money was something good. Who would not want it?

    However, she just did not want Pei Ziheng¡¯s money and did not want to have any rtions with that man.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°This thin piece of paper can change your life. Xiao Ling, don¡¯t make an impulsive decision. Calm down and think about it carefully. If you¡¯re still unwilling to ept it after a few days, it¡¯ll still not toote to deal with it.¡±

 Chapter 113 - Heâ€™s no Different from Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 113: He¡¯s no Different from Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was quiet for a long time before eventually nodding.

    It was not because she had been convinced but because she did not want to listen to Sister Mai Na¡¯s persuasion anymore. She knew that Sister Mai Na had good intentions and only gave her such advice because she was really looking out for her. However, she could only appreciate Sister Mai Na¡¯s good intentions, as her experiences with Pei Ziheng were too horrifying andplicated that there was no need for anyone else to know about them. As such, she was unable to tell Sister Mai Na why she insisted on rejecting him.

    After some time, Sister Mai Na would forget about this situation and settling it then would not be toote.

    On the other hand, Sister Mai Na thought that Xia Ling had epted it and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a good girl.¡±

    Xia Ling took the property file home with mixed feelings. Sheid on the sofa and looked at it over and over in a daze. It was definitely Number 666. This vi was supposed to be Xia Yu¡¯s, but today, it was used by Pei Ziheng as a random gift.

    What about Number 1314, then? What will be its fate?

    Pei Ziheng would have probably given it away as well, right?

    She was lost in her thoughts for a while before hearing the doorbell ring.

    Er Mao, who was napping on the carpet, open its eyes and looked at her before looking at the door and lightly wagged its tail.

    Thus, Xia Ling knew who her visitor was. Only when Big Boss Li visited would her pet leopard be willing to react. ¡°Er Mao, open the door,¡± she saidzily.

    This leopard understood humans and was practically trained into a dog by Li Lei. It was proficient at catching frisbees, opening doors, and all sorts of other tricks. The only trait itcked was that it did not know how to bark. After hearing what she said, Uncle Er Mao moved its furry ears, got up gracefully, and walked to the door with solemn steps. It straightened its two hind legs and used its paw to press a switch, causing the door to open silently.

    ¡°Yo, Er Mao.¡± It was, without a doubt, Li Lei. Unsurprisingly, as soon as he saw Er Mao, he smiled and bent down to scratch its chin to affectionately greet it.

    Er Mao used itsrge head to rub its owner¡¯s trouser legs before walking to another side of the carpet to lie down.

    Li Lei walked to the sofa and looked down at Xia Ling, who was sprawled on it, and said, ¡°Stop being sozy... Get up! Come to eat something with me.¡± He thought that he was truly the world¡¯s bestndlord. Not only was lodging included, so was food. As long as both of them were home, he would always drag her out to eat with him.

    Xia Ling did not feel like moving. She slowly turned her body and sat up straight.

    Due to her movements, therge stack of real estate licenses and gift agreements fell and spread out on the ground.

    Li Lei squatted to help her pick up the documents and nced at the contents. He paused before speaking. ¡°Green Hill Pavilions? Pei Ziheng is gifting you one of the vis there?¡±

    Xia Ling took the files from his hands without saying anything.

    She was bing closer to Li Lei, but there were some limits to their closeness. They could eat andugh together, but not discuss deeper topics. The situation with Pei Ziheng was her heart¡¯srgest secret and most painful wound. Just touching on the topic would hurt her tremendously. She would rather this secret be kept in the dark forever than for anyone to dig it up.

    Li Lei lifted his head to look at her and his gaze hardened. ¡°Why is Pei Ziheng giving you something?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± she said as she stuffed the stack of files into therge brown envelope and ced it a distance away from him. ¡°He was trying to apologize for misunderstanding me during the scolding fiasco.¡±

    Her casual attitude caused his face to darken further. ¡°It was only an apology, yet he gave you such an expensive vi as a gift?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Boss, this is my private matter.¡± She did not like the way he was interrogating her like a criminal. At the end of the day, this was not Li Lei¡¯s problem. Why should she exin further to him?

    ¡°Return it,¡± said Li Lei.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°I¡¯ve already said that this is my private matter.¡±

    ¡°I said to return it.¡± His voice toughened.

    On the carpet, Er Mao, who was having a catnap, lightly raised its head and looked at them with some alertness.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. She did not like it when others interfered in her problems. Besides, Li Lei¡¯s interference this time was really crossing the line. She looked at him with some indifference, refusing to give in.

    Li Lei started to be annoyed. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you like the vis in that area? I¡¯ll give you one of them as a gift. Pei Ziheng is not a good person. You can¡¯t ept his things. Return the files to him immediately. Right now!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very well aware that he is not a good person,¡± said Xia Ling. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t want you to give me a vi.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t ept mine but you are willing to ept his?!¡± Li Lei¡¯s facial muscles tensed.

    Xia Ling looked at his expression with a hint of timidity but quickly regained herposure. ¡°These are two different things, Li Lei.¡± She was not too happy and did not call him ¡°Boss¡±. Instead, she directly called his name. ¡°Besides, Li Lei, who am I to you anyway? Saying that you will give me a vi... Do you think this is like giving me a card or a packet of snacks?¡±

    How would she dare to ept such arge amount of property for absolutely no reason?

    Li Lei asked in a low voice, ¡°Who is he to you, then?¡±

    Xia Ling tightened her lips and did not say anything else.

    Who was Pei Ziheng to her? Ha, that was soplicated that it was impossible to exin it clearly in words. Their entanglement was deep andsted two lifetimes. She struggled to escape and lock him up, but that man was everywhere...

    Such that even now, he was being brought up by Li Lei.

    Seeing that she was speechless, Li Lei¡¯s heart slowly sank. He was not an idiot. He had realized since a long time ago that her heart had been taken by someone. He recalled that time when they were evading the rain in the mountains. She had a high fever and kept whispering ¡°Brother Pei¡±...

    The surname ¡°Pei¡± was umon, yet the only ¡°Pei¡± involved in her life was Pei Ziheng.

    As time passed, he realized that everytime he mentioned Pei Ziheng¡¯s name, she would have an unusual look on her face. Although it was covered up very well, he still could see past her fa?ade.

    ¡°Who exactly is Pei Ziheng to you?¡± He wanted to force an answer out of her.

    Xia Ling still reluctantly raised her head. ¡°None of your business.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Li Lei was furious, yet he smiled. He swiftly snatched the vi gift agreement from the table and tore it into shreds. The pieces of paper drifted andnded in between the two.

    ¡°You!¡± Xia Ling was shocked and mad. She did not think that he would do that.

    ¡°I will buy another vi for you as a gift,¡± said Li Lei. ¡°But you can¡¯t ept this one.¡±

    ¡°I refuse to ept your vi even more!¡± Xia Ling was also fuming and smiled coldly. ¡°Li Lei, stop being so self-righteous. Do you think that just because you have your stinking money you can take my personal belongings as your own and do whatever you want?! What makes you think that just because that vi was given by you means I would definitely want it? Let me tell you, even if you give me one hundred or even one thousand vis, they can never rece this one!¡±

    That was right. She did not want the vi that Pei Ziheng gave her, but that did not mean that she could tolerate Li Lei doing things as he pleased.

    No matter how much she did not want the vi, it was already hers now. What gave him the right to ruin it?!

    Since he was like that, how was he any different from Pei Ziheng?

 Chapter 114 - Be My Girlfriend

    <h4>Chapter 114: Be My Girlfriend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A year of imprisonment in the past caused Xia Ling to deeply understand one thing: in the face of power, any semnce of care was fake.

    Those in power could trample on the will of another as they pleased. No matter how convincing the reasons were, they could not change the scary facts. Take Li Lei for example. He could tear the property certificate belonging to her with ease without worrying about incurring any punishment... He controlled her life at will, stipted what she could and could not ept, and still felt that he was her savior.

    Ha, this was soughable.

    Yet, it also sent chills down one¡¯s spine.

    Xia Ling slowly raised her hand and pointed at the door. ¡°Please leave.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re chasing me out?¡± Li Lei raised his eyebrows in a displeased manner.

    ¡°This is my house.¡±

    ¡°That you are renting from me.¡±

    She quietly looked at him for a moment and suddenly smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right. I almost forgot that I¡¯m renting your house. No wonder you keep thinking that you cane here as you please. Don¡¯t want to leave? Fine, I¡¯ll leave.¡±

    She turned her back and walked towards the door.

    Li Lei grabbed her hand and asked, ¡°Where are you going?!¡±

    ¡°Let go,¡± she said. ¡°Where I choose to go is none of your business.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± He burst out into a rage. ¡°Do you not know that it is very dangerous outside? Pei Ziheng has brought misfortune on you so many times yet you still want to go out alone?! Or is living in a small apartment like this now not up to your standards and you are going to stay in that vi he gave you?

    ¡°That¡¯s enough Li Lei!¡± She suddenly spun around and red at him. ¡°Are you a police officer? What sort of position are you in to interrogate me?! Even if I were torn into shreds by others outsides, it would still be unrted to you!¡±

    As she spoke, she vehemently broke free from his grip and continued to walk away.

    Li Lei immediately pulled her into his arms. Before she could react, he looked down and fiercely kissed her.

    ¡°You...!¡± She was taken aback and could only mouth a single word before he sealed her lips with his kiss and she could not utter another sound. She tried to push him away as hard as possible, but he grabbed her wrist effortlessly...

    They kissed for a long time until she felt like suffocating before his lips slowly parted from hers.

    ¡°Be my girlfriend,¡± he said in a husky voice.

    Only now was she thoroughly stunned.

    ¡°You asked me why I should be entitled to care about what you do.¡± He wound his arm tightly around her waist, refusing to let her struggle. ¡°So be my girlfriend and I will give you a vi, many other presents, and also keep you safe.¡±

    The thought of her leaving him scared him out of his wits. When she looked at him coldly just now, he felt as though she was so far away. So far... that if he let go of her slightly, she would leave and nevere back.

    The vi gift sent by Pei Ziheng caused Li Lei to develop an unprecedented sense of awareness of danger.

    His Xiao Ling had been coveted by someone else for a long time. The strong enemy was near and he could not let matters rest unchecked.

    He needed to quickly secure his rtionship with Xiao Ling and dere his ownership of her.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± She thought she heard him wrong.

    ¡°Be my girlfriend.¡± He looked at her seriously.

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not that type of person.¡± As early as the first time they met, he had always tried to buy her with money to ensure that she stayed by his side but she had always rejected him. Now as the same situation unfolded, she still had no interest in him.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I said, girlfriend. Not just any girl with no status, but the one who will be my future wife and the one I want to take the rtionship to the next level.¡±

    Xia Ling felt as though she was dreaming or stimted by something, leaving her bewildered. ¡°Your wife?¡± That was unimaginable to her. ¡°Are you alright? How could I possibly be the daughter-inw of the Li family?¡± In her past life, her marriage to Pei Ziheng made one thing very clear to her. Even if she became an empress or an A-list celebrity, someone like her with no status or background would never be qualified to marry into their prestigious family.

    Although Li Lei usually did not mention his family background, Xia Ling knew that the eminence of the Li family was on par with the Pei family. This was such that even when Pei Ziheng, the head of the Pei family, talked about the Li family, there was some fear in his voice.

    However, Li Lei replied. ¡°Why not? You¡¯re the one I¡¯m set on marrying.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She wanted to say that she was of a lower ss, but thinking about it again, she had not even agreed to be his girlfriend. Why was she thinking about marrying into the Li family? Nothing had ever happened between them yet.

    As such, she changed her tone, ¡°We¡¯re not suitable.¡±

    ¡°Why are we not suitable?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice had a sense of urgency. ¡°Aren¡¯t you very happy being with me? I know all your habits, what you like to eat and what you like to do. I also have the money to take care of you and give you the best of everything... Xiao Ling, just say yes.¡±

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling just shook her head.

    She knew that he was a good man.

    However, she had been hurt too deeply in her past life such that even if she tried her best to distance herself from the pain and not think about it, the dark wound had only barely healed on the surface but was badly mutted underneath.

    She did not believe in love anymore and did not want someone to pledge his eternal love to her. Her romance with Pei Ziheng had exhausted all of her strength and destroyed all of her fantasies and sense of security... Presently, she was exhausted and only wanted to live the rest of her life peacefully and grow old alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said softly.

    The light of hope in Li Lei¡¯s eyes was extinguished.

    ¡°Why?¡± he asked. ¡°Is it because of Pei Ziheng?¡±

    He wished that she would turn back and maybe even give him a hint of uncertainty. However, she did not. There was a somber look on her delicate face. ¡°Stop wasting any more time on me,¡± she said.

    That fearful feeling started to creep in and Li Lei tightened his grip on her hand like he was trying to hold onto his life¡¯s final treasure.

    Xia Ling felt the pain but calmly looked at him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°I will not give up,¡± said Li Lei.

    ¡°I will also not change my mind.¡±

    ¡°The fact that you did not go to Pei Ziheng but remained here with me just proves that I still have a chance, right?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t ask any more questions. Don¡¯t force me to leave.¡± The reason why she remained here was to have an undisturbed ce to start anew. If even this ce was filled with love or resentment, she would have no choice but to look for a new ce to live.

    After she was done speaking, there was nothing good left to say.

    Li Lei slowly let go of her and decided to use that as a strategy to gain more time to n his next move. As long as she remained here, he would still have a chance. With the passing of time, love would blossom, especially since they were in close proximity. One day, he would win her heart.

    He looked at her and smiledzily. ¡°Don¡¯t be so tense Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t have to make a decision now. The proposal to be my girlfriend is valid for life. You can tell me your answer at any time after you have given it some thought.¡±

    Then, he turned around and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go eat something together now. Just treat it as andlord¡¯s invitation to his tenant.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to reject him, but since he had phrased it as such, she really could not think of any reason to refuse his invitation. As such, she sighed and followed him out to his house next door in resignation.

 Chapter 115 - The Seventieth Birthday

    <h4>Chapter 115: The Seventieth Birthday</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The meal felt tasteless to them.

    The atmosphere was rather awkward. After the meal, Xia Ling hastily bade him farewell.

    She only felt at ease after she returned back home. As she looked at the pieces of property certificate scattered all over the floor underneath the sofa, she started to be lost in thought again. What sort of messy life was this? Pei Ziheng was getting close to finding her, and even Li Lei...

    Since when did her life turn into a chaotic mess?

    The phone started to ring.

    Xia Ling reached out to answer it. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Is this Xiao Ling?¡± The voice on the phone sounded like a middle-aged man¡¯s.

    Startled, Xiao Ling took a few seconds to realize who the caller was. It was Father Ye, her father in this lifetime. Although they had not kept in contact for a long time, Xia Ling asked, ¡°Is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    Father Ye sounded a little uneasy. Thest time Xia Ling went home, he and Mrs. Ye tricked her into entering Ye Xingfei¡¯s ward to make her meet Pei Ziheng. After that, they never contacted each other anymore. Truthfully, Father Ye felt guilty and med himself for letting his daughter down, but what else could he have done?

    At that point in time, Pei Ziheng had coerced them into co-operating with him. Father Ye was afraid of Pei Ziheng and also disregarded his wife¡¯s advice: that the huge sum of money Boss Pei was willing to pay was sufficient for the family of three to live worry-free financially for the rest of their lives.

    Yes, a family of three.

    Father Ye, Mrs. Ye, and Ye Xingfei.

    They did not take into ount Ye Xingling¡¯s welfare. To this family, she was like an outsider.

    Father Ye adjusted the tone of his voice in an attempt to sound gentle and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, please don¡¯t resent us for that situation in the past. Dad and your Aunt Liu were experiencing difficulties then...¡±

    Difficulties? Xia Lingughed coldly. It was simply a case of them disregarding all their moral principles at the sight of profits and betraying their daughter.

    However, she could not be bothered to expose him. He was never close to her anyway. It did not matter whether he sold her out or lied to her, because nothing he did could even stir the slight bit of emotion in her. ¡°Dad, get straight to the point. I¡¯m very busy,¡± she said. She did not believe that Father Ye would call her for the sole reason of apologizing. If he really had the heart to apologize, he would not have waited till now.

    Father Ye awkwardlyughed. ¡°Xiao Ling, your grandmother¡¯s 70th birthday is approaching. A few of your aunts, uncles, and cousins are going to the celebration. Our family is going as well. Look, how about you prepare some clothes and go back to the countryside with us a few dayster?¡±

    After hearing him say that, Xia Ling suddenly remembered.

    ording to the memories of the person¡¯s body she was in, Grandma Ye¡¯s 70th birthday was really approaching. This grandma treated Ye Xingling very well. After Ye Xingling¡¯s father married stepmother Aunt Liu when Xingling was a child and started to neglect her, only Grandma Ye showered her with love. Grandma took care of all of Xingling¡¯s needs ranging from winter clothes to avoid the summer heat alone.

    The original owner of this body was very close to Grandma Ye.

    Xia Ling thought, since she was upying someone else¡¯s body, she should also be filial to those who treated her well before. As such she promised him. ¡°I will be there.¡±

    Father Ye was very happy, but his voice faltered after that.

    ¡°What else is there?¡± Xia Ling was starting to get impatient.

    At the other end of the phone, Aunt Liu¡¯s bitterly sarcastic voice could be heard. ¡°Useless thing. All I did was tell you to ask your daughter, but you can¡¯t even seem to do it. Are you mute? Let me tell you, I¡¯m not willing to contribute a single cent towards that old woman¡¯s birthday gift. If you dare, you can join the celebration empty-handed. Otherwise, you can ask for the money from your daughter!¡±

    Xia Ling listened and frowned. What was themotion about?

    Father Ye sighed deeply and was finally determined to ask. ¡°Xiao Ling, you are a famous celebrity now... Well, you see, you know our financial situation is not that great. Do you think you can contribute to your grandmother¡¯s birthday present?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered and realized what Aunt Liu¡¯s intentions were.

    Their greed was truly limitless. They were even calctive when it came to the old rtive¡¯s birthday gift. However, even if they did not ask, Xia Ling would have prepared the money. In her memories, Grandma Ye¡¯s legs were weak and once it was winter, they would ache due to the cold. After pondering, Xia Ling decided to buy a better quality pair of pants for Grandma Ye to keep her warm. When it came to clothes, the market was confounded with them. As such, the materials used to make the clothes were not very reliable. The lucky thing was that in her past life, she had worn a few good clothes. Using her gut feeling, she could deduce with a high sess rate which stores sold quality clothing.

    ¡°I will prepare it,¡± she said icily.

    ¡°What are you nning on buying?¡± Father Ye asked. He had no choice as his wife ordered that not only should Xia Ling prepare the birthday gift, it should also be something expensive and the most presentable so that others would not look down on them!

    Xia Ling pondered for a bit, and then immediately he guessed his intentions and sneered a little. She asked, ¡°What are you nning on letting me buy?¡±

    ¡°Well...¡± Father Ye hesitated a little and said, ¡°Your Fourth Uncle who has a very sessful business said that this time, he will be buying a mahogany bed for your grandmother. Since we have a celebrity like you in our family, our rtives all say that our present should be on par with your Fourth Uncle¡¯s.¡±

    All of the rtives said that?

    It was more likely that her step-mother Aunt Liu said that!

    Xia Ling did not give a direct answer. ¡°I have limits.¡±

    She hung up the phone.

    It was actually deste to think about it as she had only debuted a few months ago. During that period of time when she was being shaded very severely by others, no family member called tofort her. However, now that they needed her money, they did not hesitate to demand an exorbitant amount.

    Famous celebrity?

    Sheughed. Have they ever seen a famous celebrity that was financially constrained like her? It was as if her father forgot that to treat Ye Xingfei¡¯s illness in the beginning, she borrowed a huge sum of money from Skyart Entertainment that amounted to millions and her debt was still not repaid yet.

    Even now, just to save the face of the family in front of their rtives, their first request was ¡°something no less expensive than a mahogany bed¡±?

    ¡°Why did you not snatch it back?¡± Xia Ling whispered under her breath and kicked the pile of paper fragments that were once the deed of a Green Hill Pavilions¡¯ v. Not surprisingly, she thought about how overbearing Li Lei was when he tore it apart. How good it must feel to have money! You could easily tear apart a deed to a vi worth with tens of millions of dors. When would she able to be as rich and willful as him?

    How about you be my girlfriend...

    Li Lei¡¯s handsome face appeared in her mind again. This time he was saying seductive things in a low, maic voice. Xia Ling scratched her hair in some annoyance before she quietly searched for a broom to clear up the paper fragments on the floor.

    The next day, she counted her savings and asked Sister Mai Na and Wei Shaoyin to borrow some money to buy clothes. She made it clear that the money would be used to help Grandma Ye buy a custom-made set of clothes made of pure camel hair.

    She knew a custom-tailor that was quite good, but it would only help members and not entertain other customers.

    In her past life, she had a membership card, but in this life, there was a long way to go before she could obtain one.

    Xia Ling was busy racking her brains, but Sister Mai Na candidly told her. ¡°Look for our Boss, then. He can do anything!¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. She had just rejected his procession of love. Looking for him at this time would just be too awkward. Besides, she also did not wish to overly depend on anyone... Overdependence was truly a terrible habit.

    ¡°I have no other way to help you then.¡± Sister Mai Na showed no concern. ¡°The membership card of the S.S.D. clothing store is famous for being difficult to obtain. How about you consider another store?¡±

 Chapter 116 - Dont Make Me Throw You Out

    <h4>Chapter 116: Don¡¯t Make Me Throw You Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Changing the ce was not easy. In her past life, all the clothes shops she visited were the very best as she had an affiliated membership.

    Thinking about it gave Xia Ling a headache, so she asked for assistant Wei Wei toe over. ¡°I remember that there is a textile bazaar in the south of the city. Can you visit the ce to see if they have any camel hair fabric and buy some for me? If the store refuses to sell it to you, buy at least a small piece.¡± There were many fake products sold in the market that were hard to identify. She had to feel the fabric personally to authenticate it.

    Wei Wei knew that she was a celebrity and it was inconvenient for her to appear in those type of markets, so she readily agreed.

    The next day, she brought a few pieces of fabric. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, there were very few stores selling camel hair fabric. I ran around the market but could only find these few stores. I bought samples from every store I visited. Take a look.¡±

    Xia Ling examined the samples piece by piece. After touching the samples, she felt that something was off from all of them.

    Grandma Ye was very old, and if she wanted to give her a gift, it had to be pure and genuine fabric. Who knew what other fabrics were mixed with the camel hair? Xia Ling frowned and said, ¡°Forget it. Go back to the market, take a look at the pure cashmere fabric for me and bring back some samples.¡±

    Although the warmth of cashmere was less than that of camel hair, it was much easier to look for. Wei Wei returned very quickly with some samples.

    Xia Ling chose one of the pieces and said, ¡°Buy the fabric from this shop.¡±

    ¡°This shop was the most expensive one out of them all,¡± said Wei Wei. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, do you think we will be scammed?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and told her to buy it at once.

    She waited for a day but Wei Wei still had not returned with the fabric. Just as she was about to make a call to hurry her up, an uninvited guest showed up. It was Li Lei.

    Li Lei arrived with arge paper box in his hand. ¡°For you.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    ¡°Your grandma¡¯s birthday is approaching, right? I heard you were looking for camel hair clothes, so I went to SSD to order a custom-made set. Take it, but don¡¯t be too touched.¡± Li Lei grinned.

    Xia Ling was speechless. How did he know that she wanted custom-made clothes from SSD so badly? Besides, what was with him saying ¡°grandma¡±? How could he call her grandmother ¡°grandma¡± so easily?

    ¡°Sister Mai Na also told me,¡± A slip of Li Lei¡¯s tongue revealed the name of the person who leaked the secret. ¡°that you¡¯re trying to book train tickets. Although it¡¯s a first-ss seat, you¡¯re a star after all. It¡¯s not convenient for you to take the train. I¡¯ll arrange for apany car to send you there.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the item in his hands and then looked at him again. ¡°Why are you being so nice to me?¡±

    Li Lei just smiled and replied. ¡°I¡¯m chasing after you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have the energy to advise him to give up his chase, so she directly said, ¡°Thank you for helping me get the clothes. I will return the money back to you.¡±

    Li Lei was upset, but he knew that this was much as she could ept, so he reluctantly replied. ¡°That¡¯s up to you.¡± After thinking about it, he added. ¡°Are you missing anything else? How about I help you set it up?¡±

    Xia Ling politely declined his offer.

    The car Li Lei arranged for her was a white BMW that matched her status but was not too eye-catching. It was very suitable for the asion. Xia Ling instructed the chauffeur to make a detour and stop at an ordinary household to pick up Father Ye and her stepmother Aunt Liu, before heading to her grandmother¡¯s house in the countryside together. After all, she was their daughter and they were a family. No matter what conflicts they had in the past, they had to stay together during an asion like this.

    Aunt Liu¡¯s face was covered in heavy makeup. Once she entered the car, the smell of a low-quality perfume diffused throughout the entire car. She excitedly examined every inch of the car, touching the soft real leather seats and stepping on the dense wool rug. ¡°This car is very expensive, right?¡±

    Xia Ling agreed in a perfunctory tone as she opened a gap in the car window.

    Aunt Liu¡¯s eyes instantly sparkled. ¡°I just knew that you are something now, Xiao Ling. Look, you¡¯re sitting in such an expensive car. You definitely did not waste the hard work your dad and I put in raising you. Xiao Ling, since you have so much money now, you can¡¯t be ungrateful. If there is anything good going on, remember to think more of your dad and me. Especially your younger sister, Feifei. That pitiful girl is still lying on a hospital bed. Her nutrition fees every month amount to so much money. As her sister, you should help out more...¡±

    Xia Ling sat at the front passenger¡¯s seat and listened to Aunt Liu¡¯s long-winded speech. She could not be bothered to respond to such a snobbish and vile person, so she closed her eyes to rest.

    The chauffeur wore white gloves and drove quietly. Those who worked under Li Lei were well-trained. Even if they saw a ridiculous person or heard ridiculous words, they paid no attention to the scenario and focused on doing their own job well. However, even though his facial expression did not show it, in his heart, he felt like vomiting. He did not know that Miss Ye¡¯s family was so despicable. It was so unfair for such a good girl like her to have such awful family members.

    Father Ye felt rather awkward listening to his wife ramble on and quietly tugged at her clothes.

    Aunt Liu was enraged. ¡°Why are you trying to stop me? Did I say something wrong? Now that Xiao Ling is rich, she should help us out more financially!¡± She then turned to face Xia Ling and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think so, Xiao Ling? It¡¯s time that you be filial to your parents!¡±

    Xia Ling could not tolerate it any longer and let out a sneer.

    ¡°Aunt Liu,¡± she said in a clear and chilly tone. ¡°my mother is no longer alive. I¡¯m unable to be filial to her.¡± She was referring to the biological mother of the person she was in. If it were not for Aunt Liu intruding into the family that year, would the body¡¯s original owner be so badly neglected by her family?

    ¡°Hey, you brat! How could you say that?!¡± Aunt Liu immediately exploded into a rage. If she was not sitting in the car right now, she would have rushed up to beat Xia Ling up. ¡°Let me tell you, I am your mother! This olddy put in her blood, sweat, and tears to bring you to where you are. Now that you are making money and bing independent don¡¯t think you can be ungrateful!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Xia Lingughed coldly.

    ¡°Stop... Stop arguing...¡± Father Ye weakly mediated.

    ¡°Don¡¯t intrude!¡± Aunt Liu roared at her husband. ¡°If you weren¡¯t such a good-for-nothing person that couldn¡¯t control her, you would not have raised such a disdainful daughter! Let me tell you, Ye Xingling, you better acknowledge me as your mother. You have no choice but to do it! If you don¡¯t acknowledge me, I will report your unfilial behavior to the news media! I want to see how you can survive as a celebrity in the entertainment industry then. If you do not respect me, it will do you no good! Once your reputation is tarnished, we can all suffer together!¡±

    ¡°Mr. Zhou, stop the car,¡± said Xia Ling lightly.

    After looking at the road conditions, the chauffeur, Mr. Zhou, stopped the car by the roadside.

    ¡°Liu Zhaodi.¡± Xia Ling called out Aunt Liu¡¯s name clearly. ¡°Either you shut up, or you get out of the car.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to chase me out of the car?!¡± Aunt Liu screeched in a shrill voice. ¡°Ye Xingling, what sort of person are you?! I¡¯m your mother! What gives you the right to chase me away?! I refuse to get out. What are you going to do about that?!¡±

    Xia Ling finally turned around to re at the emotional and ostentatious woman and sneered slightly. ¡°I forgot to tell you that Mr. Zhou is a retired specialmander. He¡¯s very skilled and can throw people like you out of the car easily without even lifting his finger.

    ¡°Liu Zhaodi, are you going to get out of the car yourself or do I have to ask Mr. Zhou to throw you out?¡±

 Chapter 117 - Returning to the Village

    <h4>Chapter 117: Returning to the Vige</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Aunt Liu was shocked, ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t you dare!¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Xia Ling was not one with a good temper, to begin with. She had been very tolerant previously, and it was starting to get on her nerve. Now that she was agitated, she instructed Mr. Zhou. ¡°Get her out of the car.¡±

    Mr. Zhou acknowledged the order, got off and opened the car door, telling Aunt Liu. ¡°Please.¡±

    Aunt Liu saw his serious look and only just now understood the severity of the situation. She gripped the car seat tightly. ¡°I¡¯m not getting off!¡± They were on the outskirts with no bus stops nor taxis in sight, if she were to get off here, there was no telling whether she could find her way back.

    Father Ye tried to fix the situation. ¡°Xiao Ling, Aunt Liu said something wrong, don¡¯t take it to heart. Let¡¯s get the master to continue driving, we shouldn¡¯t bete for Grandma¡¯s birthday celebration...¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You don¡¯t want to get off? Then apologize to me.¡±

    ¡°Apologize to you? Why should I!¡± Aunt Liu was getting enraged again.

    Mr. Zhou grabbed her elbow. ¡°Madam, please get off the car immediately. Unless you want me to get physical?¡±

    The situation was no match for Aunt Liu. Angry as she was, she had no choice but to apologize to Xia Ling. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t want to get off?¡± Xia Ling asked coldly.

    ¡°No...¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± said Xia Ling. ¡°Then shut up. If I hear one more word from you, out you go. There¡¯s no room for discussion.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how could you treat...¡± Father Ye wanted to question why she was being rude to Aunt Liu but decided to swallow his words when he saw her cold expression. Was this girl really his daughter? When did she be so strong-headed and terrifying?

    Afraid of being chased out of the car, Aunt Liu meekly assured Xia Ling that she would keep her mouth shut for the rest of the journey.

    Only then was Xia Ling satisfied did she signal to Mr. Zhou to carry on driving.

    After that incident, nobody said a thing in the car. The scenery outside the car was looking increasingly bleak as tall buildings gave way to huts and crops, easing into a vigendscape.

    Their white BMW stopped before a house.

    ¡°Third Uncle! It¡¯s Third Uncle and Third Aunt, and there¡¯s Sister Xiao Ling too!¡± A child excitedly skipped towards them the moment they had opened the car doors.

    ¡°Le Le.¡± Father Ye¡¯s frown was immediately wiped away when he saw this little girl. He pinched her chubby red cheeks and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s your Mom? And where¡¯s Grandma?¡±

    ¡°My mother¡¯s cooking and Grandma is in the room. There are a lot of people inside, Big Uncle, Second Aunt, Fourth Uncle...¡± Le Le was naming them as best as she could while she counted them off her fingers. ¡°Fourth Uncle gave Grandma a huge bed, and everyone¡¯s crowding around to look at it.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look too then,¡± said Father Ye.

    Xia Ling stood alone in the space before the main door as she scanned her surroundings. This was a typical vige-style two-storeyed hut with a watchdog lying on a haystack. By the haystack was an old wooden door with Spring Festival couplets on it, with the red color having faded into pale patches of pink after all the exposure to the weather elements.

    All of these were foreign to her ¡ª she grew up in an orphanage and then got taken in by Pei Ziheng to live in a mansion, and now that she was reborn she had lived in Skyart¡¯s Training Camp and Li Lei¡¯s apartment. This was her first time in the rural areas and being so close to the crops and smoke from the chimneys as well as lively children running about. She was at a loss of what to do.

    Father Ye was already calling her. ¡°Come on in, Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll take you to see Grandma.¡± This coward of a man had gotten very happy the moment he reached his old hometown and hadpletely forgotten about Xia Ling¡¯s cold disposition throughout the car ride.

    Xia Ling was about to enter the house when Mr. Zhou called out to her. ¡°Miss, your item.¡±

    He ced a beautifully packaged box before her.

    Xia Ling recalled this was her gift to Grandma Ye. She thanked Mr. Zhou and asked if he would like to join them for a while. He kindly declined and drove off, saying he would be back to fetch her the following day.

    Xia Ling carried the huge box and followed both Father Ye and Aunt Liu into the house.

    The rooms in the vige house were big and spacious, and one of them was full of people standing around. Xia Ling caught a glimpse of the bed right away ¡ª it was in the center of the room, huge and maroon in color with a quality wood bed frame and good workmanship. That must be Fourth Uncle¡¯s birthday gift to Grandma.

    Sitting on the bed was an olddy with a head of white hair. She had her eyes closed and a kind smile on.

    ¡°Grandma.¡± Xia Ling had greeted her before she was even aware of the situation. She was slightly stunned at her own action ¡ª the way she greeted her was so natural, it was as if she had done it many times before.

    Grandma Ye heard her voice and turned around. ¡°Xiao Ling? Is that Xiao Ling?¡± The old woman was blind and had to reach both her hands out in search for her. ¡°Xiao Ling is here? Come here,e to Grandma...¡±

    Everybody¡¯s head was turned as their eyesnded on Xia Ling, who was standing at the door.

    They saw a pretty girl wearing a short-sleeved blouse. Her skin was fair and delicate and she stood quietly and sweetly by the door. Many of them could not take their eyes off her.

    ¡°It really is Xiao Ling.¡± Second Aunt smiled first and warmly approached her, holding her hand. ¡°Your grandma has been talking about you every day, about how you haven¡¯t been back in years. Hopefully, you haven¡¯t forgotten us, your poor rtives.¡±

    Xia Ling was ufortable as she held her hand and led her to Grandma Ye.

    ¡°Come, good girl, let me take a look at you...¡± Grandma Ye carefully and meticulously stroked her face with her wrinkled hands, from her eyes to her nose and finally her lips. ¡°It¡¯s Xiao Ling, it really is her.¡± Grandma Ye was delighted. ¡°My good girl, how long has it been since youst came back to see Grandma? Grandma misses you so much...¡±

    There were many grandchildren in the Ye family, but they all had parents, and only Ye Xingling had been bullied by her stepmother since she was a child.

    Grandma Ye always had a soft spot for her and took greater care of her. Hence, aspared to the other grandchildren, she missed Ye Xingling the most.

    Many of Ye Xingling¡¯s original memories shed before Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, and she had a strange sense of closeness and bond with Grandma Ye. She did not know if it was because of Ye Xingling¡¯s experiences that influenced her emotions, or that she never had an elder that loved and cared for her this much before.

    She sat on the floor beside Grandma Ye and smiled. ¡°Grandma, I¡¯ve brought you a gift.¡±

    ¡°Gift?¡± It sounded like the voice of a busybody. ¡°Xiao Ling, I heard you¡¯re a big star now, what good stuff did you bring for your grandma? Your Fourth Uncle has already gotten her a bed, yours definitely tops his, right? Hurry and open it for us to see.¡±

    Xia Ling looked up and recognized that it wasing from Fourth Aunt ¡ª Fourth Uncle¡¯s wife, based on the memories.

    With her words, everybody was now curious. ¡°That¡¯s right, what exactly did you get for Grandma?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing very pricey,¡± said Xia Ling.

    A look of victory was sparked off in Fourth Aunt¡¯s eyes, along with some disdain. ¡°How could it be, your Aunt Liu has praised you sky high, saying that you¡¯d definitely give her something better than the bed we¡¯ve given.¡± Fourth Aunt secretlyughed.

 Chapter 118 - More Valuable than You Would Imagine

    <h4>Chapter 118: More Valuable than You Would Imagine</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling furrowed her brows as she detected the sarcasm in her words. She was about to counter that statement but decided against it as she looked up and saw Grandma Ye. It was true that her temper had never been good, but when she was with people she cared about, she was always tolerant.

    She kept her smile on. ¡°Grandma, I got you an outfit.¡±

    She gave the beautifully packaged box to Grandma Ye.

    Grandma Ye received it and touched it all around, smiling even more tenderly, ¡°Good girl, it¡¯s nice enough that you¡¯re back, why did you go to such expense? A little girl like you making a name for yourself out there, it¡¯s hard on you, you should save whatever you earn alright? Don¡¯t spend it unnecessarily.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart. This was the first time since she returned to this home that she heard such sincere words. There was no criticism, no false wishes, and insincere congrattions, only Grandma Ye had seen the hard work and challenges behind her mour.

    This blind olddy saw things more clearly than anyone else.

    Xia Ling gently said, ¡°Grandma, I know my limits.¡±

    Fourth Aunt, who was standing by the side, feigned a cough. ¡°It¡¯s just a paper box, what outfit is that? Open it up and enlighten us.¡±

    SSD¡¯s outfit packaging was beautiful, but they never overdid it, so it simply looked like a nicer-looking paper box, no different from those purchased at typical stores. Fourth Aunt was sure that it was an ordinary outfit from just another store and probably was not even a branded good. She wanted Xia Ling to show it to everyone and embarrass her. Hmph, so what if she was a star? Didn¡¯t she have to bow down to this rich Missus anyway?

    Xia Ling ignored her and held Grandma Ye¡¯s hands. ¡°Grandma, open it this way.¡± She guided Grandma Ye as they unwrapped the big box. She was old and visually impaired, hence her actions were slow as well, but Xia Ling was meticulous and patient, with not a hint of rushing her. She even let Grandma undo the bigger parts herself to give her the joy of unwrapping her own gift.

    Finally, the box was opened, and Grandma Yey her hands on the outfit made of camel fur.

    ¡°It¡¯s so soft.¡± Grandma Ye stroked it before her wrinkled hands came to a stop. ¡°Little girl, you must¡¯ve spent a lot on this.¡± She worked in a ranch when she was younger and had to deal with fur and textures as part of her job. Just by touching this, she knew that it was the best material and must have cost a bomb...

    Instead, Xia Ling replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t spend much.¡± She did not want Grandma to worry for her, and tens of thousands of dors was indeed ¡°not much¡± to her. That was what Li Lei thought as well, only giving her the simplest and most basic designs. If he gave her anything more expensive and exceeded her financial ability, she would return it immediately.

    Grandma Ye expressed her concern again. ¡°You don¡¯t have it easy out there on your own. Next time, don¡¯t spend so much money on Grandma. I¡¯m an olddy, how many more years can I wear these clothes for?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your birthday, Mother, how could you say such things?¡± Fourth Aunt interrupted as she darted some nces towards the outfit. ¡°Xiao Ling has already said she didn¡¯t spend much, so don¡¯t worry too much for her. Right, Xiao Ling? You might as well tell us how much the outfit cost, that¡¯ll put Grandma at ease.¡±

    Xia Ling had not even started speaking when Aunt Liu decided to make a point. ¡°Fourth Aunt, Xiao Ling is young and immature, are you as immature as her? Xiao Ling¡¯s a big star now, how cheap could that outfit be? She¡¯s saying that it doesn¡¯t cost much because she doesn¡¯t want to worry Mom, and you actually believed her words? If Xiao Ling actually tells us the price, it¡¯ll be so expensive our mother wouldn¡¯t feel good, right?¡± Her words came like a machine gun, stopping Fourth Aunt in her tracks. How could she let that family steal their limelight!

    Seeing that somebody was putting his wife down, Fourth Uncle joined the ¡°battle¡±. ¡°Third Sis-inw, you can¡¯t put it this way. It can¡¯t get any more expensive than the bed we gave, right? Xiao Ling is a star, but I doubt she earns much, or that she can afford anything too pricey. Even if it¡¯s cheap, she can reveal the price and let Mom feel better about it.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Aunt Liu was so angry her eyes could burst out of their sockets. <i>It¡¯s all Xia Ling¡¯s fault! I told her to get a more expensive gift, but all she bought was an outfit! How could she be so stingy and brainless, leaving me in no position to look at Fourth Uncle¡¯s family with dignity.</i>

    Xia Ling did not want to join in the fight. She had already handed over the gift, as long as Grandma liked it and felt warm andfortable, nothing else mattered.

    As for all the prestige and fame, she had already achieved the highest possible in her previous life, more than anybody present could reach. Having seen greater things, was there really a need to argue with thesemoners about such small matters?

    Her priority was simply to make Grandma Ye happy.

    Hence, she calmly said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t spend too much on this. In terms of price, it¡¯s way below Fourth Uncle¡¯s bed.¡± The fourth Uncle of the Ye family owned a furniture firm, and the gift he gave his mother was truly top quality goods and worth more than just tens of thousands.

    Hearing what she had just said, Fourth Aunt and Fourth Uncle were content again.

    Fourth Aunt darted a haughty nce towards Aunt Liu. ¡°Did you hear that? Xiao Ling¡¯s smart to get the cheap stuff.¡±

    Aunt Liu was fuming mad but had no reason to counter that statement. All she could do was re at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling pretended not to see it. Instead, she folded the outfit slowly, handed it to Grandma, and advised. ¡°Grandma, keep this well and be careful when you¡¯re washing it. Also take note of how you store it, in case it gets damaged by moths or worms.¡± Initially, she only knew about wearing these outfits and had no knowledge about washing and storing and such. But Li Lei was thoughtful and had written these cautions on a little card to remind her. He said that materials like this which were 100% natural were high in protein, and were more prone to being damaged by bugs, especially in the rural areas.

    Fourth Auntughed. ¡°It¡¯s not like it¡¯s anything valuable, just buy another one if this gets damaged.¡±

    Fourth Aunt¡¯s repeated snide remarks were getting to Xia Ling and she was finally about to lose it. She must have been drunk to have let it slide time and again on Grandma Ye¡¯s ount. Did others really treat her as somebody to be trampled on?

    Just as she was considering whether to give Fourth Aunt a piece of her mind, a man dressed primly interrupted. ¡°Fourth Aunt over here, you can¡¯t be more wrong. This outfit is indeed less pricey than the bed you¡¯ve gifted the olddy, but being able to afford the bed does not mean that you¡¯d be able to purchase that outfit. This outfit is way more valuable than you imagine, it simply can¡¯t be bought with money.¡±

    Hearing these words, the crowd turned towards him.

    The one who spoke was a young man in a white shirt, smiling graciously and politely.

 Chapter 119 - Admirers

    <h4>Chapter 119: Admirers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She had no memory of such a person and had no clue who he was. However, he did not seem like to be part of the Ye family.

    Probably realizing this from her baffled expression, he smiled at her pleasantly. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Nan Sheng, your Fourth Uncle¡¯s friend.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Hello.¡± She was still puzzled though ¡ª her Fourth Uncle was a 40-odd-year-old middle-aged man, but this Nan Sheng person seemed to be in his 20s at best. How did they be friends?

    Fourth Uncle half-jokingly answered her unspoken query, ¡°Master Nan is my good friend in the industry. Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve to be polite.¡± Master Nan¡¯s family ran a textile business, manufacturing many mattresses, pillows, curtains and the like, and their products were highly popr among consumers. His goods wereplementary to Fourth Uncle¡¯s, and hence, they were close business partners.

    But this Master Nan was a third generation heir and was way more well-to-do than Fourth Uncle who had started his business from scratch, which was why Fourth Uncle was always polite and civil around him. He introduced him as a friend, but the truth was Master Nan had the greater say, and he could not afford to offend him.

    This time, Fourth Uncle had unintentionally brought up the birthday celebration and, having never attended a celebration in the vige, Nan Sheng was curious and had decided to join in on the fun. Fourth Uncle did not think that rejecting him was a good idea, and at the same time wanted to take this opportunity to get even closer to him.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered. What Master Nan? She had never heard of him.

    ¡°City S?¡± she asked. City S was the city she lived in.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Master Nan smiled with some reservation. ¡°Nan family of City S.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head politely. She had spent two lifetimes in City S, living there ever since she followed Pei Ziheng out of the orphanage more than a decade back. She had been in touch with the wealthiest and most influential figures in the city but had never heard of any Nan family. It seemed like this Master Nan¡¯s family was just richer than average, but not anywhere in the top-tier. Otherwise, she definitely would have heard of them.

    Seeing that she did not have much reaction, Master Nan was slightly unhappy.<i>She only got famous recently, it isn¡¯t surprising that she hasn¡¯t heard of my family. Moreover, how much exposure do these minor celebrities from humble families even get? </i>He thought. With that, he let it slide.

    ¡°Master Nan, you said that the outfit Xiao Ling got is one that cannot simply be bought with money, what does that mean?¡± Somebody asked out of curiosity.

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t see it wrongly, this outfit is from SSD.¡± Master Nan¡¯s sharp eye had noticed the inconspicuous SSD logo in the corner of the box. He was a little baffled, how could an unexposed minor celebrity like Ye Xingling get an outfit from SSD? Even with this doubt, he went on. ¡°This store sells custom-made outfits, and only for their members. It¡¯s not easy at all to get a membership card. One has to go through their evaluation and be of a certain status, money itself won¡¯t do.¡±

    ¡°Money itself won¡¯t do? How about my Fourth Uncle?¡± Second Uncle¡¯s little daughter asked naively.

    Fourth Uncle looked towards Master Nan, waiting for his answer. <i>What is SSD? I¡¯ve never heard of it.</i>

    Master Nan nced at Fourth Uncle. ¡°Uncle Ye, don¡¯t look at me like that. You won¡¯t be able to get this outfit even with money. For businessmen like you who¡¯ve only just made a name for yourself, it¡¯s not possible to get a membership card in their store.¡±

    Fourth Uncle was surprised, now seeing Xia Ling in a different light. This little girl could actually achieve something he could not? He was a businessman withworks and contacts and was more exposed than many people. He knew that there were many things which could not be bought with money indeed ¡ª it was a matter of status. But when did this little girl be someone of such high status?

    It seemed like a celebrity was still a celebrity alright. Even if she was not as worldly as he was, her status was different.

    Besides Fourth Uncle, many others had changed impressions of Xia Ling as well, viewing her with admiration.

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling is amazing,¡± said Second Uncle¡¯s little daughter. ¡°When I grow up, I want to be a big star too.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and pinched her cheek. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll look out for you then.¡±

    The little girl was delighted to hear that. She climbed on all fours onto the bed and held onto Xia Ling, giving her a kiss on the cheek. ¡°That¡¯s a promise, let¡¯s hook pinkies!¡± She made a pinky promise with Xia Ling and turned around to face Master Nan. ¡°Then, can you get stuff from this store as well, Uncle Nan?¡±

    Nan Sheng was stunned,pletely unprepared for her to ask such a question. An expression of awkwardness appeared on his face.

    SSD¡¯s barrier to entry was too high, even the Nan family was not of high enough status to get the membership card. He knew about this store because he had always wanted to truly integrate into the high society in City S, and hence spent time and effort in researching such details. Moreover, his family was in the textile industry and had some knowledge of this brand and their products. He had applied for membership before but was declined outrightly even when he resorted to bribery.

    ¡°I...¡± He darted a few nces about, not knowing how to answer the little girl¡¯s question.

    Fourth Aunt continued the sentence while berating the little girl. ¡°Ying Ying, how can you talk like that? Don¡¯t you know who Uncle Nan is? If Sister Xiao Ling can get it, how could Uncle Nan not be able to? Right, Master Nan?¡± She smiled at Nan Sheng, trying to curry favor.

    Nan Sheng was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Nodding his head was not a good idea, but neither was shaking his head.

    Heughed awkwardly and switched topics. ¡°Where¡¯s Big Aunt? Why¡¯s she not here yet? It¡¯s about time for dinner.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ll go hurry her, it¡¯s time for dinner...¡± Most of them did not notice what had just happened and went along with it.

    Nan Sheng felt a weight off his shoulders, but his doubt had not faded ¡ª if a third-generation heir like him could not even apply for the membership card, how could this minor celebrity with such a humble background manage it? It seemed like she must have her connections, but what could it be...

    His eyesnded on Xia Ling. Y <i>es, she is a pure and neat-looking girl. Not an extraordinary beauty, but the way she sits quietly exudes a cool and mysterious charisma. Girls like these appeal to men. Moreover, the entertainment circle is a messy ce, where minor celebrities will find themselves rich men for backing. Maybe that¡¯s how she got her SSD membership, or this outfit could well be one that a rich man gave her as a gift...</i>

    Nan Sheng¡¯s spection had an element of truth in it.

    Xia Ling waspletely oblivious to him as she continued her familial conversation with Grandma Ye. ¡°... A man I like? Grandma, I¡¯m still young... Admirer? I do have a few of them... Haha, Grandma, I¡¯m not even thinking about marriage...¡±

    <i>Yes, this must be it, this girl is not so pure.</i>

    Nan Sheng¡¯s imagination was sparked. The Nan family had made a fair bit all these years, but in no way were they on par with the high society ¡ª it was way too difficult to affiliate with them and having money was simply inadequate. He had tried very hard, but still, to no avail. Meanwhile, this Ye Xingling must have connections with some wealthy family, maybe he could use her to upgrade his and his family¡¯s status...

    Looking at the girl who was still talking so wary-free, Nan Sheng¡¯s eyes deepened.

 Chapter 120 - Haystack and Fireworks

    <h4>Chapter 120: Haystack and Fireworks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The birthday feast was prepared promptly, and tens of well-prepared dishes wereid out on the table in no time.

    Xia Ling was Grandma Ye¡¯s favorite and was dragged along to sit beside her. Grandma Ye kept getting her to eat more, while Big Aunt nearby continually scooped food onto her te. Xia Ling was slightly shocked by all the pampering ¡ª though Pei Ziheng used to take care of her, she had never felt such care from elders. The elders in the Pei family were colder and more distant in nature and were not very epting of an orphan like her. Though they did not express their disapproval explicitly on ount of Pei Ziheng, the way they acted around her spoke volumes.

    She used to think that all the disapproval and grievances did not bother her at all, that it was all worth it as long as Pei Ziheng continued to love her. However, now that she was being cared for by two of her elders, she realized that she could not have been more wrong.

    This was what it meant to be a real family. It was apletely new feeling to her.

    There were so many emotions inside her as she ate her meal.

    After the feast, they went out of the house for some fireworks.

    The splendid sparks flew to the sky, illuminating the night as children cheered and adults admired the scene. Xia Ling sat on the haystack with her arms around her knees, quietly looking up at the night sky. She had a quiet but sweet demeanor and a kind of happiness in her serenity, and the way the lights illuminated her fair, delicate face made her even more attractive.

    More attractive than even the fireworks.

    This line appeared in Nan Sheng¡¯s head without him realizing.

    He was almost obsessed with looking at her, and he found this strange. This girl was not some incredible beauty, but her air of mysteriousness was indeed appealing.

    Fourth Uncle caught on his expression quickly.

    ¡°Master Nan?¡± he asked with augh. ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    Nan Sheng turned around. Seeing that it was Fourth Uncle, he made no attempt to hide anything. ¡°Does this girl have a boyfriend?¡±

    He was so direct it threw Fourth Uncle off a little. Realizing what Nan Sheng was implying excited him. Did Master Nan ask this because he was interested in her? This Master Nan was a good catch, if he could bring the two of them together, both families would be even closer than before, and that would greatly benefit his business.

    Fourth Uncle smiled. ¡°Boyfriend? Never heard of it. Master Nan, you¡¯ve been divorced for a good half year already, yes? It¡¯s not easy to raise a son alone, it¡¯s time you found a partner. Our Xiao Ling is good with kids, as you have seen ¡ª Ying Ying and the other kids are rather close to her. And she¡¯s a celebrity, her status and yours are well-suited for each other.¡±

    His words were exactly what Nan Sheng needed to hear.

    Remarry? Yes, he was intending to marry her indeed, and for a good reason. Only by marrying her, or convincing her to enter his family would she help him wholeheartedly. He had always viewed marriage as a means to an end, nothing more than an asset. Despite only being in his twenties, he had had two divorces, and both times he had married only because of the benefits involved. After he had used the other party and gained what he wanted, he kicked them aside with no remorse nor shame.

    Master Nan watched the girl on the haystack as she enjoyed the fireworks, her petite stature making her appear all too lonely. How could she not be? He knew very well that minor celebrities like her were only ythings to the wealthy men in the industry and that they would never be given status or have a chance to enter the wedding hall as awful wife.

    But, which woman wouldn¡¯t want a home?

    For someone like Master Nan to be willing to marry her, it definitely would make her grateful.

    Master Nan smiled in satisfaction, thanked Fourth Uncle, and made his way to the haystack.

    Xia Ling was engrossed in watching the fireworks when somebody appeared beside her, giving her a fright. She widened her eyes at this prim and proper man sitting a little too close to her. Ufortable with theck of personal space, she shifted aside slightly.

    ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s watching the fireworks too?¡± Master Nan struck his most attractive pose as he hit on her.

    Objectively speaking, this Master Nan was pleasant looking and looked rather gentlemanly given the way he dressed and carried himself. He was definitely the type who stood out in the crowd and appealed to most women. But, was Xia Ling just another woman? She was with Pei Ziheng in her previous life, and in this life, she was in contact with Li Lei all the time. Were any of these two men any bit inferior to him? Be it their appearance, capability, family background, or even the way they sweet-talked thedies, in which way was Master Nan evenparable?

    Master Nan trying to present himself as attractive was simply a tragedy.

    Xia Ling found this man a little strange. They barely knew each other and the haystack was so small, why did he think it was a good idea to hit on her this way? And why was he calling her ¡°Xiao Ling¡± like they were close? Where did he think this was, a random social bar in City S?

    She politely answered him. ¡°Yes.¡± And with that, she turned her head back and ignored him.

    Master Nan felt awkward, silently cursing at herck of response, and decided to lean a little closer. ¡°These fireworks were picked out and bought by your Fourth Uncle and me. We got it from the best factory in the vicinity, and the boss gave us a huge discount on my ount. This is definitely a cheap but high quality good.¡± He unted his capability at her.

    Xia Ling simply nodded again, and said, ¡°Thank you for buying the fireworks, Master Nan. It¡¯s gettingte and I¡¯m pretty exhausted, I¡¯ll head to my room first. You may make yourselffortable here.¡± With that, she lightly jumped off the haystack and left.

    What a joke, she just did not want to continue hearing him drone on. And the way he was leaning way too close to her, it took her much effort to not give him a p on the face. He also smelled bad; she wondered what cologne he used. In any case, it was definitely not her standard.

    Xia Ling escaped to her room before sighing in relief.

    She left Master Nan in shock as he sat on the haystack alone.

    What... how could that woman not be the least bit interested at all! Master Nan could not understand what he had done wrong... She had no taste, that must be it! Did she even know what it meant for the Nan family heir to humbly pursue her? It was a chance for her to rise to sess instantly and she actually rejected it, no wonder she remained a minor celebrity after so long. She was really dense.

    Master Nan scolded Xia Ling in his head for a while before getting off the haystack.

    Fourth Uncle came up to him with a smile. ¡°Master Nan, please don¡¯t mind her, Xiao Ling¡¯s temper has always been like this. She¡¯s an ignorant child, and also a little shy, I bet she must think she can¡¯t match up to you and hence doesn¡¯t know how to react.¡± Fourth Uncle saw how the situation unfolded, including how Nan Sheng was ignored and left alone. He was afraid Nan Sheng would give up on being with Xia Ling just like that and had no choice but to provide him some constion.

    In his heart, he was cursing. <i>Ye Xingling, you wretched little one, if not for the benefit you can bring me, I would teach you a lesson for offending my business partner!</i>

 Chapter 121 - Pavilion in the Lake

    <h4>Chapter 121: Pavilion in the Lake</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Master Nan¡¯s expression hardened. All men wanted their dignity, and would not like anybody to see their embarrassing side, especially when girls rejected them. Yet Fourth Uncle was insensitive enough to not only have watched the whole scene but to also mention it in his face. Was this not clearly an attempt to mock him!

    He red at Fourth Uncle in a fit of anger.

    Fourth Uncle got a shock, Master Nan must have gotten angry with him. They had had business dealings for years, and he knew Master Nan¡¯s temperament better than anyone else. He looked chivalrous and prim on the outside but was, in fact, a ruthless scum. It was not good news to be in his bad books.

    Fourth Uncle cursed at Xia Ling in his head once more before an idea came to mind. ¡°Master Nan, I have an idea that¡¯ll help you get hold of her.¡±

    He whispered something into Master Nan¡¯s ear.

    Master Nan¡¯s expression was off initially but began to smile as Fourth Uncle spoke on. ¡°The older, the wiser indeed, Fourth Uncle. If this really is sessful, I¡¯ll rmend a huge client to you.¡±

    Fourth Uncle thanked him profusely.

    ¡°We¡¯re already family, what¡¯s there to thank me for.¡± Master Nan was practically floating with happiness. ¡°If this little girl knows what¡¯s good for her, I¡¯ll treat her well and give her all that she needs, but if she doesn¡¯t... Haha, get ready, we¡¯ll settle this tomorrow.¡±

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling was tucked in bed,pletely unaware of their plot.

    The bedding was freshly cleaned, and no matter how she tried, her clumsiness got her nowhere, she was simply unable toy it properly. Grandma Ye shared a room with her and could hear the movements. ¡°You still haven¡¯tid it out? Let Grandma lend you a hand.¡±

    The olddy found her way there by touch, grabbed a corner of the bedding and the cotton lining, and, with a familiar move, got itid out t and neat.

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Grandma, you¡¯re amazing...¡± She felt guilty ¡ª as an able-bodied youngdy, she was nowhere as good as her blind grandmother. At that moment, she wondered what she had spent all her life learning.

    ¡°You child.¡± Grandma sighed and smiled as she helped her with the bedding. ¡°How will you marry a man in the future? You can¡¯t even arrange the bedding properly. You¡¯d better get a man who loves you enough to do these chores for you.¡±

    Xia Ling felt herself blush. ¡°Grandma...¡±

    Hearing her voice, Grandma Yeughed easily. ¡°Little girl, are you shy now? Come here and tell Grandma about your few admirers. Grandma will help analyze them for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not thinking about marriage though.¡± Xia Ling mumbled.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the way,¡± said Grandma Ye. ¡°Even if you aren¡¯t thinking of marriage yet, you can try dating first, this way you¡¯ll know what kind of men are suitable for you. Little one, Grandma has been through this before, and you need to know one thing. The person you like the most may not be the best person for you. Even if you love each other to death, you may just look back one day and realize you weren¡¯t in the right mind. If you don¡¯t have a few experiences first, you could get cheated by someone someday.¡±

    Xia Ling silently listened. Grandma was very right, wasn¡¯t that precisely what happened with Pei Ziheng?

    She loved him so intimately and passionately, but ended up bruised and scarred, and even lost her life over him. The one we like the most may not be the best person for us, maybe we are just not in the right mind...

    Sheughed to herself.

    ¡°Little one, why won¡¯t you talk about it?¡± Grandma Ye hadid the bedding and wanted her to share a little about herself. ¡°What kind of guys haveid their eyes on our Xiao Ling? They¡¯ve got a good taste.¡±

    Grandma Ye made Xia Ling smile again.

    After some thought, she said, ¡°He... is really nice sometimes, but sometimes he makes me angry. He takes very good care of me, and always protects me when I¡¯m in danger. He keeps finding means and ways to get me gifts, and gets jealous over little things sometimes... So overbearing, I haven¡¯t even agreed to be his girlfriend, what right does he have to be in charge of me?¡±

    Once Xia Ling started rambling to Grandma Ye, she simply could not stop.

    Grandma Ye smiled as she listened, nodding every once in a while. Did this little girl realize that she was in love with this man? This sort of attitude was only disyed by girls who had already fallen in love...

    ¡°This guy sounds good, when are you introducing him to Grandma?¡± asked Grandma Ye.

    Xia Ling was shocked for a bit. ¡°Grandma, what¡¯s this about now? I¡¯ve already said there¡¯s nothing between us.¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright, nothing it is.¡± Grandma Yeughed. ¡°But little one, when you find a boyfriend in the future, use this as a yardstick, okay? He¡¯s the sort of man you can spend your life with.¡±

    Hearing Grandma Ye¡¯s words, Xia Ling thought about Li Lei¡¯s beautiful smile and felt her cheeks turn red.

    That night, they had a long casual talk before dozing off. Xia Ling thought of how nice it was to have a home and how she wanted her very own home as well...

    Xia Ling got out of bed the next day.

    She realized that Grandma was not in the room, and then found out that she had had too much to eat during the feast the previous night and was suffering from some indigestion. Thus, Big Aunt and Second Aunt had apanied her to the hospital earlier in the morning.

    Xia Ling was a little worried and asked Fourth Uncle about Grandma Ye¡¯s condition.

    Fourth Uncle exined that it was not a serious matter. Big Aunt had called from the hospital to say that she just needed some pills to aid her digestion and would be back by noon.

    Xia Ling was finally at ease.

    Since they did not have much to do, Fourth Uncle suggested that everyone took a trip to the fields. He said, ¡°It¡¯s Master Nan¡¯s first trip to the vige as well, we should take him around on a tour. Xiao Ling is also rarely back, we could go together and let her have a feel of how this ce has changed.¡±

    Father Ye and Aunt Liu expressed their interest.

    Seeing that everyone was eager to go, she felt that it would be inappropriate if she opted out alone. Moreover, this was her first time in the vige, and she wanted to see what it was like around here, and hence agreed to join them.

    They walked on the path in a neat file, passing by the fields, some green crops and ake full of lotuses nearby. Second Uncle¡¯s little daughter, Ying Ying, pped her hands in excitement. ¡°Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle, I want to take the boat to get some lotuses!¡± She pointed towards a corner, where a single pink flower rose above the water and stood in contrast to the lush green background.

    Fourth Uncle smiled, found two boats nearby, and ushered everyone onto them.

    Xia Ling got onto one of the boats, and Nan Sheng followed right behind. She frowned but did not say anything about it. Nan Sheng smiled at her in a friendly manner, and then gentlemanly said, ¡°The wind is strong, you can sit behind me, I¡¯ll row the boat.¡±

    Xia Ling was happy to sit a distance away from him.

    The little boat could not take many people, and after Fourth Aunt and Uncle got onto their boat, it was full.

    The rest of them got onto the other boat, and then both boats went further into theke. Everybody was still talking andughing when they first started out, but soon enough, the boats had diverged and lost sight of each other.

    ¡°There¡¯s a pavilion over there by the center of theke, let¡¯s take a break there.¡± Nan Sheng said all of a sudden.

 Chapter 122 - Fright at the Lotus Lake

    <h4>Chapter 122: Fright at the Lotus Lake</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They stopped the boat at the pavilion in the middle of theke and went up to the pavilion.

    Looking around, they could see that the lotus leaves were green. The breeze created ripples on theke and also carried a faint fragrance.

    Xia Ling¡¯s legs felt a little numb after having sat in the boat for a long time. As she walked a few steps into the small pavilion, she increased the distance between Nan Sheng and her at the same time. Today, Nan Sheng seemed very sensible and did not move in her direction. In a leisurely mood, she gazed at the scenery in the distance.

    After a while, she could hear Nan Sheng¡¯s voice from behind her. ¡°Are you thirsty? I have mineral water here.¡±

    She tilted her body sideways and realized that Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt had disappeared for some time. That small boat had also vanished without a trace. In the empty pavilion in the middle of theke, the only people left were Nan Sheng and her. ¡°Where are the others?¡± she asked, slightly rmed.

    ¡°Are you talking about Uncle Ye and Fourth Aunt?¡± Nan Sheng smiled, his lustful eyes lingering on Xia Ling¡¯s body. ¡°They had something to do, so they decided to leave early. I think the scenery here is quite nice. How about I keep youpany here for a while?¡±

    If Xia Ling still could not tell that there was something wrong with the situation by now, she would have wasted her two lives.

    ¡°I¡¯m tired. I want to go back,¡± said Xia Ling calmly.

    ¡°You tired? What should we do then?¡± Nan Sheng pretended to be annoyed. ¡°The small boat has already been rowed away by Fourth Uncle, and we are surrounded by water. We can only wait for him to return. Are you cold? The wind is very strong in the middle of theke. Be careful not to catch a cold. Come here a little closer and I will shield you from the wind.¡± Nan Sheng smiled, leaning forward in an attempt to wrap Xia Ling in his arms.

    Xia Ling skillfully moved aside to escape from him. ¡°Nan Sheng, what are you trying to do now?¡±

    Nan Sheng failed at his attempt to hug her, but he calmly said, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t treat me like an outsider. Female bodies are all fragile. What¡¯s wrong with taking shelter in my arms? Oh yes, has anyone told you before that you¡¯re very pretty?¡±

    Lecher. This shameless lecher did not even bother to hide his intentions.

    Xia Ling felt a sense of disgust. How could someone be so repulsive? ¡°Mr. Nan, please conduct yourself with dignity.¡± Her tone was as cold as the freezing snow. As she spoke, she scanned her surroundings and tried toe up with an escape n.

    However, Nan Sheng was unfazed. This little girl wanted to escape? How could she escape? This pavilion in the middle of theke was specially chosen by Fourth Uncle because it was surrounded by water. Once Xia Ling was trapped in the pavilion, it was impossible for her to escape. After Nan Sheng carried out his small n and had sex with her, what was done could not be undone. Why should he be afraid of her not listening to him then?

    With a smug look on his face, he slowly approached her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you have been in the entertainment industry for so long, I¡¯m sure this is not the first time you are doing this with a man, so what¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? Besides, we¡¯re trapped alone in this pavilion with nothing better to do. How about you try it with me... among the lotus leaves and have some wild fun.¡±

    Xia Ling was so disgusted by him she wanted to vomit. ¡°Trash.¡± There was just no other word to describe him.

    ¡°Trash?¡± Nan Sheng smiled even more gleefully. ¡°Sure. Fiesty girls are hot. I like them. Besides, whether I am really trash at it or not, you have to try it to find out. Xiao Ling, I will give you a good time. Your heart will definitely start to flutter...¡±

    He was very confident in that area and considered himself a talent among men. He had been together with many women, and no woman did not enjoy having sex with him. This was why he could deceive two good wives at such a young age. Even his sister, who was of higher status than him, could not bear to leave after having an on and off rtionship with him.

    After reaching that point, he could order them about to his heart¡¯s content and enve them.

    This was also why Nan Sheng was trying to make a move on Xia Ling. Even if Xia Ling had already found a backer who was richer and more powerful than him, as long as he could control her through sex, the other problems would be easily solved.

    ¡°Once you try it with me, you can never leave me...¡± Nan Sheng smiled slyly and grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s arm.

    Goosebumps started to form all over Xia Ling¡¯s body. Knowing that she could get rid of him, with a very hard kick, poor Mr. Nan fell into the water like a butterfly. Following that there was a loud ssh which caused huge waves to form.

    She fiercely rubbed the part of her arm he had grabbed.

    That person was too despicable and also overestimated himself. How dare he fantasize about her! She bet he would never have thought that Xia Ling knew self-defense. In her past life when she was with Pei Ziheng, she had hired and trained with the best personal trainer for a long time. Even if she could not defeat professional bodyguards, her skills were more than enough to deal with a few sc*ms like Mr. Nan.

    She looked coldly at Nan Sheng, who was thrusting furiously in the water. ¡°You piece of trash. If you do this again, I will make sure I cripple your d*ck.¡±

    Nan Sheng, caught in a difficult situation, was enraged. ¡°You! <i>Cough </i>... Just wait and see you brat! I will show you!¡± Not being a good swimmer, as he spoke, he thrust in the water and violently choked a few times.

    Seeing that he was not going to die, Xia Ling could not be bothered to save him. Instead, she took out her cell phone and called her chauffeur. ¡°Mr. Zhou, I have encountered some problems here. Can I trouble you toe over here to pick me up... I¡¯m in the small pavilion in the middle of the lotuske in the south of the vige. You have to borrow a small boat from the vigers... No, I¡¯m fine, just rather annoyed... Ok, I will wait for you.¡±

    She hung up the phone and looked coldly at Nan Sheng, who was struggling in the water. He gripped the edge of the pavilion¡¯s stone floor and tried to climb up, but she viciously stepped on his fingers.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Nan Sheng miserably screamed as he fell back into the water again.

    ¡°Why did you have to step on me?¡± He was furious. ¡°By not letting me climb up, are you trying to murder me?! I¡¯ll sue you!¡±

    ¡°Want to live?¡± She sneered. The golden glow of the afternoon sun sprinkled on her body. She was supposed to be a beauty that was as delicate as jade, but Nan Sheng did not know why he only felt a chill in the air.

    ¡°Swim to the shore yourself.¡± She lifted her hand and coldly pointed at the shore which was a long distance away. She would never let Nan Sheng climb back up to the pavilion. If she did, who knew whether he would continue to hurt her? If he wanted to me someone, he could only me himself. The evil we bring on ourselves is the hardest to bear.

    Nan Sheng looked over his shoulder to see how far away he was from the shore. ¡°You are crazy! How can I swim there?!¡±

    Xia Ling indifferently replied, ¡°You can¡¯t swim there? Then you can die in the water.¡±

    Nan Sheng was furious. He ignored Xia Ling and tried to hold on to the edge of the pavilion again. Unfortunately, Xia Ling stomped on his fingers again. She stomped on his fingers so hard that a few of Nan Sheng¡¯s fingers started bleeding. The sudden burst of pain caused him to scream like a pig that was about to be butchered.

    ¡°You better think this through carefully,¡± said Xia Ling condescendingly in a cold manner. ¡°If I step on your fingers two more times, they will be crippled. When that happens, you won¡¯t even have the ability to swim to the shore. You should seize the opportunity now when you still have some strength, or you might not even be able to survive.¡±

    Nan Sheng was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, but he had no choice but to face the truth. This woman was giving him such a cold look that even he was unsure if she really dared to kill him... As someone who was affluent and had a prestigious status, dying in ake was really not worth it. <i>Forget it, I will let this irritating woman off for now. Saving myself is more urgent. </i>He thought.

    Nan Sheng was smart. Once he thought it through, he stopped wasting his time speaking with Xia Ling and began swimming to the shore.

    Looking from afar, Xia Ling could see that he had already reached the shore. He copsed like a dead fish on the muddy shore. Not far away, two teenagers that were passing by pointed at him and hesitatingly approached. However, they were frightened by his corpse-like appearance and ran away as quickly as they could.

    The surroundings were finally peaceful and quiet, but Xia Ling was still trapped in the pavilion in the middle of theke. She gazed at the lotus leaves and anxiously waited for her chauffeur toe to her rescue.

    Who would have thought that her Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt woulde to her rescue before him?

 Chapter 123 - Leave the Ransom Money Behind

    <h4>Chapter 123: Leave the Ransom Money Behind</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After they rowed the boat to the pavilion in the middle of theke and only saw Xia Ling there, they were shocked. ¡°Where is Young Master Nan?¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything and only coldlyughed at them.

    The look on her face made Fourth Uncle feel guilty on the inside, but he hid his feelings and asked in a stronger tone, ¡°Where is Young Master Nan?!¡±

    She lightly said, ¡°He was beaten by me until he fell into theke.¡±

    Fourth Uncle was stunned, then shocked and fearful. ¡°What? You beat Young Master Nan until he fell into the water?! Then, where is he now? Has he been rescued? He... does he know how to swim?¡± As he spoke, he strode to the edge of the pavilion and scanned the smooth water surface, trying hard to find a figure that looked like Nan Sheng. After searching for a few rounds futilely, he could not help but holler. ¡°Young Master Nan! Young Master Nan!¡±

    Xia Ling calmly leaned on the wooden pir and said, ¡°So noisy.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Fourth Uncle violently turned his head and red at her with bloodshot eyes. ¡°Where exactly did you leave Young Master Nan?! If he didn¡¯t swim after you pushed him into the water, doesn¡¯t that mean that he is dead?! You brat, do you know how much trouble you have stirred up? Do you know what sort of status Mr. Nan has? You won¡¯t be able to pay us back the money even if you shoot down a hundred people!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him as if he were a clown.

    Fourth Aunt, who was standing beside him, was also worried as she stomped her foot. ¡°Dear, I don¡¯t think we can do this. We better report this to the police. If Young Master Nan were really drowned by this brat, she would be the culprit. This murderer! We should end our kinship with her!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± With his forehead covered in sweat, Fourth Uncle trembled as he fished for his phone. ¡°Call the police. Quickly call the police...¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. What sort of lousy rtives were they? First, they schemed to set her up, and now, without distinguishing the right from the wrong, they were going to turn her in to the police. She lightly sneered. ¡°Sure. I was about to call the police anyway, Old Man Ye. What were your intentions just now when you secretly rowed the small boat away? You intentionally tricked me intoing here and was nning on having Nan Sheng deal with me.¡±

    ¡°What did you call me?!¡± Fourth Uncle was enraged.

    ¡°Old Man Ye.¡± Xia Ling looked at him calmly. ¡°In the past, I called you Fourth Uncle out of respect for my grandma. However, you don¡¯t deserve my respect! What sort of evil person are you that you would coborate with outsiders to plot against your own niece? Call the police? Sure! I want to see how the police will deal with you when I tell them that you tricked me intoing here!¡±

    Fourth Uncle¡¯s heart quivered after hearing her words. She was right. If the police investigated the situation, they would uncover the reason why Xia Ling was tricked intoing here. Even if Xia Ling pushed Nan Sheng into the water, it was really an act of self-defense. Even if Nan Sheng had died, it would only be considered as justifiable self-defense.

    For once, he awkwardly remained silent.

    However, Fourth Aunt started to shriek. ¡°Ye Xingling, I will cut your mouth off! How is this matter rted to us? You willingly came here. We only rowed the boat back to get something and immediately returned. Who knows what sort of unbing things you and Nan Sheng did?! You murdered him, so don¡¯t implicate others!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her coldly. Her stare was intense and sharp as a knife, causing Fourth Aunt to stop talking suddenly.

    Just when Xia Ling was about to say something, suddenly, a small boat stopped at the pavilion. ¡°Miss Ye.¡± Her chauffeur, Mr. Zhou, addressed her respectfully.

    ¡°Just in time.¡± Xia Ling lightly smiled. ¡°Help me tie these two to the pirs.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, what are you trying to do?!¡± Fourth Aunt screamed again. ¡°Oh god, this murderer! She just murdered Nan Sheng. Is she going to murder us as well?¡± The more Fourth Aunt thought about it, the more fearful she became. She backed off to the edge of the pavilion and said to Mr. Zhou, ¡°You... Don¡¯te here!¡±

    Mr. Zhou was once part of the special forces in the military. After lightly using a few of his techniques, he easily subdued Fourth Aunt. Beside her, Fourth Uncle was so terrified that he did not dare to move as he watched his wife being captured. Part of her long sleeve coat was torn down and used as a rope to tie her body tightly to the pir.

    After he was done with Fourth Aunt, Mr. Zhou did the same to Fourth Uncle.

    After that, he respectfully returned to face Xia Ling to await his next assignment.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling...¡± Fourth Uncle¡¯s voice trembled as he thought about how they could be silenced to death and was petrified.

    Xia Ling smiled happily and unhurriedly walked in a circle in front of them. ¡°Let you go? Then I would have suffered this grievance for nothing! You better give me some justification.¡±

    ¡°I understand, I understand!¡± Fourth Uncle thought he understood what she meant. ¡°Xiao Ling, Fourth Uncle will give you ten thousand¡ª No, a hundred thousand dors. Please spare my life. I¡¯m begging you.¡±

    ¡°Old Man Ye, are you saying that your life is only worth a hundred thousand dors?¡± Xia Ling smiled faintly.

    Fourth Uncle felt the pain as he spoke. ¡°One... one million dors?¡±

    Xia Ling just looked at him without speaking.

    ¡°Five million dors!¡± Fourth Uncle gritted his teeth. He could not afford to pay more. Although he owned a famous furniture business, the liquidity of his assets was limited, and five million dors was already the maximum amount he coulde up within a short period. ¡°Xiao Ling, please spare my life. I only have five million dors in cash. Any more and I can only give you a factory in return. Besides, you are a girl and probably have no energy to take care of it, right?¡±

    It was unexpected that Fourth Uncle would offer five million dors for his life. Initially, Xia Ling only wanted to scare them, but little did she know that she could also obtain some money. That was good, she would take the money aspensation for her emotional trauma. She would not reject the money for the sake of rejecting it.

    She pretended to look troubled and frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a little less than what I was expecting, but considering the lowly person you are, your worth is probably lower than that.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯m despicable, I¡¯m despicable.¡± To survive, Fourth Uncle readily agreed. But on the inside, he felt like vomiting blood and was filled with anger and humiliation.

    Xia Ling smiled again. ¡°However, I¡¯m not so sure about the worth of Fourth Aunt¡¯s life? Is she as despicable as you?¡±

    Both Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt were stunned. This b*tch wanted to receive two sums of money?

    The chauffeur, Mr. Zhou, stood beside her in awe. Miss Ye was very good at ckmailing people. It was no wonder that his Young Master liked her so much. The confident manner in which she set her terms was almost identical to the way his Young Master negotiated for military firearms in the past.

    Mr. Zhou appeared to stand sternly, but his thoughts wandered. The wife of the head of the Li Family wanted to find someone who knew how to deal with difficult situations, was brave and was not afraid of anything so she would not end up like Young Master¡¯s birth mother. His birth mother was too kind-hearted, which was why she passed away at a young age, leaving Young Master to grow up alone...

    Xia Ling smiled delightedly. ¡°Old Man Ye¡¯s life is worth five million dors, I wonder how much Fourth Aunt¡¯s life is worth? If the ransom money is too low, I¡¯d rather directly kill you both to settle things.¡± She turned her head and asked Mr. Zhou. ¡°Mr. Zhou, if we sink their bodies in theke, will anyone discover them?¡±

    Mr. Zhou tried his hardest to resistughing as he seriously answered, ¡°We can burn their clothes. If we tierge rocks to their bodies, they will sink to the bottom of theke. After that, their bodies will rot very quickly or will be eaten by the fish and prawns, turning into fertilizer for the lotus flowers and disappear without a trace.¡±

    A cool breeze was felt across theke surface.

    Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt both shivered at the same time.

    ¡°Well, have you decided?¡± Xia Ling slowly paced her steps. ¡°Are you going to buy Fourth Aunt¡¯s life back or not?¡±

 Chapter 124 - The Love Affair

    <h4>Chapter 124: The Love Affair</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Five million dors. I will also pay five million dors,¡± said Fourth Aunt hurriedly.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling yfully looked at her. ¡°I thought I just heard Old Man Ye say that your family¡¯s liquid capital only amounted to five million dors?¡±

    ¡°I have a nest egg!¡± said Fourth Aunt. ¡°Two million dors! Give Fourth Uncle some time to raise three million dors. I¡¯m sure there will be enough after selling some items!¡±

    ¡°What? You actually have a nest egg?!¡± Fourth Uncle red at her viciously.

    Fourth Aunt was in the wrong, but since this was a matter of life or death, she furiously responded, ¡°Hey, why can¡¯t I have a nest egg?! Old Man Ye, ever since I married you, I have not had a good day! You¡¯re always colluding with Nan Sheng to do evil things. Eating, drinking, and gambling. What bad things have you not done? If I did not save some money in my nest egg, what would be of our family if something happened? Old Man Ye, you¡¯re so ungrateful!¡±

    Looking at them argue, Xia Ling felt exuberant. Weren¡¯t they trying to make her life miserable just some time ago? She wanted to see who was the one who would end up more miserable. Thus, she calmly fanned the mes. ¡°You n to sell off items? That¡¯s too troublesome. I don¡¯t have that sort of patience. I will offer you a price. Seven million dors and both of you can be released. However, one person¡¯s hand will have to be sacrificed.¡±

    Both of them were taken aback. Suddenly, Fourth Uncle shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to sacrifice a hand! Xiao Ling, little girl, I thought we had an agreement. Five million dors for my life. That stinking woman has no rtion to me! You can cut off both of her hands!¡±

    ¡°What are you saying, Old Man Ye?!¡± Fourth Aunt¡¯s eyes widened, and she started to scream hysterically. ¡°I must have been blind to marry you, you cruel and unscrupulous thing! Xiao Ling, don¡¯t listen to his thering. Besides two million dors, I will even give you the property deed to our house! Don¡¯t cut off my hand. If you want to cut off someone¡¯s hand, cut off his!¡±

    It is said that a day together as husband and wife means endless devotion to the rest of your life. Sadly, when they encountered a life or death situation, the oue was a repulsive one.

    Looking at them and suddenly feeling delighted, Xia Ling gave Mr. Zhou a few instructions in a low voice.

    Mr. Zhou nodded his head, hopped onto the boat, and rowed away quickly.

    Xia Ling interrupted their argument and asked, ¡°How will I receive the money?¡±

    Both of them were startled. Fourth Uncle was personally afraid that Xia Ling would not let him go, so he said, ¡°My luggage bag contains cash! One million dors, tworge gold bars, and a Rolex watch! You can find it in your grandma¡¯s guest room. Xiao Ling, you can take all of them. I will transfer the remaining amount of money to you once I am safe!¡± The reason why he brought so many items was that he wanted to bribe Nan Sheng. Little did he know that he would be tied up by Xia Ling before he could find a suitable opportunity to offer Nan Sheng the money.

    Xia Ling smiled satisfyingly. ¡°What about you, Fourth Aunt?¡±

    ¡°You can have my gold ring, gold earrings, and gold ne!¡± said Fourth Aunt.

    Xia Ling frowned, not interested in the things Fourth Aunt had as she thought they were dirty. However, it did not matter even if she did not get them because she was very pleased with the items she earned from Fourth Uncle. She had no intention of asking for the remaining amount of money. Once Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt had left the pavilion in the middle of theke and regained their freedom, they would definitely not give her the money. Thus, she was also toozy to put in more effort to obtain it.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Fourth Aunt carefully asked, ¡°Judging from the way you¡¯re speaking, does this mean that you¡¯re not going to cut off my hand anymore?¡±

    ¡°I never had any intentions of cutting off your hand,¡± said Xia Ling.

    ¡°What?¡± Fourth Aunt was shocked.

    ¡°Both of you actually think that I am a murderer?¡± Xia Ling mocked. ¡°How about you grow some brains. If I really killed someone, do you think I would let you off so easily? Five million dors? I would have killed you right here even if you offered me fifty million dors.¡±

    Herst sentence was an understatement, yet it was chilling and frightening.

    Fourth Aunt leaned back and shrank her neck.

    ¡°Well then... where is Nan Sheng?¡± asked Fourth Uncle carefully.

    Just as he had finished speaking, a wave of water was seen near the pavilion. As Mr. Zhou returned in the small boat, he dragged a muddy person onto the pavilion. The person¡¯s eyes were tightly shut, his teeth were clenched, his face was ghastly pale, and he looked disheveled. Basically, he looked as if he was about to die.

    ¡°This is...¡±

    ¡°Young Master Nan!¡±

    Both husband and wife were surprised. ¡°Why is Young Master Nan in this state?! Ye Xingling, what on earth did you do?!¡±

    They were initially afraid of Ye Xingling because they thought she had killed Young Master Nan. However, after Young Master Nan appeared in front of them half-dead, it reassured them that Ye Xingling did not dare to kill anyone. After considering this essential point clearly, they were no longer afraid. Fourth Uncle instantly exploded. ¡°How dare you trick us, you brat! You even tricked me into promising you so many benefits!¡±

    ¡°There were quite a few perks.¡± Xia Ling smiled gleefully. ¡°Thank you for letting me watch your dogfight for free and also earn a few million dors.¡± She intentionally provoked the couple, causing cracks to appear in their rtionship. After this, they probably would not spend time plotting against someone again in the future! It would be a miracle if both of them did not get a divorce when they returned.

    Not feeling too good, she turned towards Mr. Zhou and said, ¡°Take off all of Nan Sheng¡¯s and Old Man Ye¡¯s clothes and throw them into theke.¡±

    Mr. Zhou had no idea what she was trying to do, but he followed her orders.

    Fourth Uncle squealed like a pig that was about to the butchered. ¡°Ye Xingling, let go of me! There will be retribution!¡±

    Xia Ling just ignored him and minded her own business as she walked towards the small boat and sat back-facing them. There was a light breeze on the surface of theke, and the water was calm. After a while, Mr. Zhou reported from behind her. ¡°Miss Ye, I have removed all of their clothes.¡±

    ¡°Even their underwear?¡±

    Mr. Zhou paused before saying, ¡°Yes.¡± Why was Miss Ye being so cruel? There was no doubt that his Young Master¡¯s future wife had to brave and fierce, but was not this too much? Mr. Zhou had mixed feelings about this.

    Xia Ling leaned out and plucked out a long lotus leaf. Without looking back, she handed it to Mr. Zhou. ¡°Take this and use it to scratch Old Man Ye. It will be ideal if you can scratch him till there are wounds. As for Nan Sheng... Wild fun in the lotuske. Two men and one woman. You get it.¡±

    Mr. Zhou took a moment to understand what was going on. That... that was the wild love scenario she wanted him to construct? She wanted to make it seem like a threesome and create scratches using lotus leaves. Young Master, what sort of perverted woman have you fallen for?

    Mr. Zhou felt a sinking feeling in his heart, but Xia Ling continued to urge him. ¡°Be quick! Remember also to scratch them at the right ces to make it look more realistic. I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t need to teach you where to scratch them, right?¡±

    Mr. Zhou was speechless.

    He gritted his teeth andpleted the task Xia Ling assigned him, feeling like a pervert as he scratched Fourth Uncle¡¯s and Nan Sheng¡¯s inner thighs, waists, hips, chests, and other small wounds.

    After that, Xia Ling instructed him to make Fourth Aunt¡¯s long skirt look more tattered and her hair messier to cause people to specte... At least, she still considered that Fourth Aunt was a woman and was not too vicious as to undress her.

    Mr. Zhou finished his duties ording to her instructions and left with her in the small boat.

    ¡°There was a love affair in the pavilion in the middle of theke involving a passionate session among two men and one woman...¡± Xia Ling slightly tilted her head. ¡°Yes, that is how the rumors will spread. Call people over to the scene, the more people, the better.¡± She smiled slyly. Did they not want to frame her? Well then, they are just about to get a taste of their own medicine.

 Chapter 125 - Who Was Taking Advantage of Who

    <h4>Chapter 125: Who Was Taking Advantage of Who</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The countryside people loved to gossip; thus, the news spread very quickly. Many of them discussed the situation excitedly and ambiguously as they crowded around to watch the scene. Soon, the shore was filled with people who were pointing at the three people in the pavilion in the middle of theke.

    ¡°Look at that, isn¡¯t that the Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt of the Ye Family? Why are they tied up? Oh my, I can¡¯t believe it! Fourth Uncle is actually naked! I would never have guessed that this couple enjoyed wild activities like that since they usually appear very normal.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! The Ye Family¡¯s Fourth Uncle and his wife think that they are impressive just because they have earned some money. We¡¯re acquainted because we live here together, but every time they see us, they always speak to us condescendingly. What is the deal with that? Now they are having a wild affair in the middle of theke. They have such corrupt morals.¡±

    ¡°I thought it was said there were three people. Where is the other one?¡±

    ¡°On the floor... look quickly...¡±

    ¡°Oh my, there is really a person on the floor. Why is he not moving? Has he fainted?¡±

    ¡°Haha, I am sure that¡¯s because he did it so intensely that he ran out of energy and fainted. I pity those two that are tied to the pir because they have no way of being released. They really yed too hard. Hahaha...¡±

    The group of countryside peopleughed amusingly.

    The Eldest Aunt and Second Son of the Ye Family had apanied Grandma Ye to the hospital. Thus, right now, only Xia Ling¡¯s father and stepmother Aunt Liu were home. After they found out about the news regarding the affair in the pavilion, they felt as if they had been struck by lightning. How could it be? Everything was normal when they went on theke tour. Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt said they wanted to set that brat Ye Xingling with Nan Sheng and even promised that after that was sessful, the Nan Family would give them arge betrothal gift...

    How could things end up this way in the blink of an eye?

    Aunt Liu guessed that that brat Ye Xingling had something to with it and rushed to verify her conjecture.

    At this point in time, Xia Ling had just returned to the house with her chauffeur Mr. Zhou. Once she entered Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt¡¯s guest room, she found that there really was arge suitcase in it that was filled with cash, gold bars, and a Rolex watch.

    ¡°Move them all to our car,¡± said Xia Ling. Since Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt saw iting, she would dly not hold back and take their assets. She randomly grabbed a wad of cash and handed it to Mr. Zhou. ¡°Take this. It is to repay you for the trouble you went through.¡±

    Mr. Zhou was speechless.

    Miss Ye¡¯s style was really starting to resemble Young Master¡¯s. She even had a charm simr to his when she split the profits. It was no different than the temperament of those in the Li family. Mr. Zhou silently recalled what Young Master had entrusted him with doing before he left. ¡°Miss Ye is your Young Master¡¯s future girlfriend and the future Mistress of the Li Family. You have to protect her well, and there cannot be any mistakes made.¡±

    Alright, since it was from the future Mistress of the Li Family, he respectfully epted the money.

    Then, he single-handedly carried the heavy luggage bag and strode towards the BMW to ce it in the trunk.

    After Xia Ling finished what she set out to do, she stretched her back and opened the door of her room, only to find Aunt Liu and Father Ye waiting inside. ¡°Ye Xingling, look at what you have done!¡± Aunt Liu lifted her bright red nail polished finger and pointed at Xia Ling. ¡°What have you done to Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt?! The Ye Family has been humiliated by you!¡±

    ¡°What have I done to them?¡± Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask them what they wanted to do to me?¡±

    ¡°What possibly could they do to you?!¡± Aunt Liu was enraged. ¡°You should consider yourself lucky that Young Master Nan likes you! He just wanted to find a ce with nice scenery to profess his love to you. When you marry into the Nan family, you will enjoy wealth and luxury, what¡¯s so bad about that? What were you befuddled with that caused things to turn out this way?!¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Ling was toozy to respond.

    <i>She actually thinks I would enjoy wealth and luxury after marrying into the Nan family? </i>Xia Ling didn¡¯t need to use her brain to know that Aunt Liu was just greedy for the betrothal gift...

    ¡°Instead of picking a fight with me, I think you must quickly bring those few good-for-nothings back. The ones embarrassing themselves in the pavilion are them,¡± said she lightly.

    Aunt Liu froze. ¡°I refuse to do such a humiliating thing! You should do it since you were the one that caused this mess!¡± She heard that Fourth Uncle and Young Master Nan were both stripped naked and Fourth Aunt¡¯s clothes were disheveled. The entire vige was talking about their indecency and that they did many perverted things. Thinking about how they were tied up and whipped made Aunt Liu¡¯s face turn red.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m definitely not going,¡± said Xia Ling. ¡°Don¡¯t me me for not warning you, but Nan Sheng has already fainted naked. It is very cold in the pavilion in the middle of theke, and the wind is very strong there. If you¡¯re toote, he may not even survive.¡±

    Father Ye and Aunt Liu started to be anxious. If Nan Sheng died there, the Nan Family would not let them off!

    Afraid and trembling, Father Ye turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°But Xiao Ling, you caused this mess!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him with a cold heart and felt sympathetic for her body¡¯s original owner. What sort of father was he? He did not care even when his daughter was being bullied by others or was in grave danger. However, once the assaulters were met with some troubles, he immediately pushed all the responsibility to her.

    ¡°Am I your biological daughter?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    Father Ye¡¯s face turned red and lowered his head.

    Aunt Liu screamed. ¡°Don¡¯t be insensible, you rebellious girl! If Young Master Nan dies, the Nan Family will only look for you, it will not be rted to us in any way! If anyone should save them, it should be you!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I think you might have forgotten something. I¡¯m a huge star! If such a scandal urs, mypany will naturally protect me. As for you two... your problems will be muchrger. Take a guess, if the Nan Family can¡¯t exert their revenge on me, who will they take it out on?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Aunt Liu was fuming.

    Father Ye lifted his head. ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t be so cruel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m cruel?¡± Xia Lingughed sarcastically. Her heart felt cold. That was her so-called biological father? ¡°Listen carefully, Ye Zhongxiao, either you go to the pavilion in the middle of theke to save them or get the hell out of my room! Whatever you say, you will decide to go or not.¡±

    Father Ye was troubled, but hecked the courage to persuade Xia Ling further. He hesitated for a long time before deciding that he could only go alone to rescue them. Otherwise, once Grandma Ye returned home and learned about this piece of news, she would be furious...

    After being quiet for a while, he left the room.

    Seeing that her husband had left, Aunt Liu snorted and stomped out of Xia Ling¡¯s room.

    That day, Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt, and Young Master Nan did not return. Xia Ling presumed that they thought it was too humiliating and did not remain in the vige any longer. In the evening, Grandma Ye returned with Eldest Aunt, Second Son, and the other rtives. Xia Ling weed her back and sweetly said, ¡°Grandma, are you ok?¡±

    Grandma Ye affectionately rubbed her hair and replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. The doctor prescribed some medicine for me, and I¡¯m feeling better now. Let¡¯s talk about you, little girl, how was your day at home? Did anybody bully you?¡±

    ¡°Why would anyone bully me?¡± Xia Lingughed.

    Aunt Liu, who was standing at the side, could not bear to watch them. <i>Continue faking it, you brat! It would be a miracle if you stopped bullying others. </i>She thought.

 Chapter 126 - Assaulted On The Way Back

    <h4>Chapter 126: Assaulted On The Way Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As Xia Ling held onto Grandma Ye and entered the house, Eldest Aunt announced that dinner was ready and called for everyone to eat.

    At the dining table, Xia Ling only picked the happy things to share with Grandma Ye such as how fresh the air was in the countryside and how the lotus flowers in the lotuske were about to bloom. She did not mention a single word about unhappy things.

    Other rtives, including Eldest Aunt, had heard about what happened in the pavilion in the middle of theke. Just as she entered the kitchen, there were already a few countryside acquaintances trying to find out what had happened through indirect questioning. They asked how Young Master Nan was rted to Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt, whether Fourth Aunt was too slutty, or if the couple was bisexual.

    Eldest Aunt was so mad she wanted to vomit blood. In her heart, she chastised the Fourth family for being a disappointment and the embarrassment of the vige.

    However, she never suspected that Xia Ling had anything to do with it. Since Xia Ling and Mr. Zhou did not talk about it, Father Ye and Aunt Liu also felt that a little girl fooling so many people was too embarrassing, so they were too ashamed to tell others about the truth. Besides, the one being implicated was the Fourth Family; it had little effect on the reputation of their own family. Why should they create more problems for themselves?

    ¡°Where are the Fourth family and their friend?¡± asked Grandma Ye.

    Eldest Aunt quickly exined the situation. ¡°Mother, I¡¯m sure you know that the Fourth family is very busy with their business. After they received a call from a client this afternoon, they hurriedly returned back to the city to settle it.¡±

    Grandma Ye nodded her head. ¡°This Fourth Son only cares about his business but does not know how to take care of himself well. Why did he have to leave in such a hurry? Initially, I wanted to pick some fresh vegetables for him to bring back home.¡± As she spoke, she turned to face Xia Ling and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, wait for me to pick some fresh vegetables for you tomorrow before you return to the city. They are healthier than those you buy in the stores.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and agreed.

    Actually, since she was always around Li Lei, the food she ate was either specially imported or personally sent to her by Li Lei, and it was on par with Grandma Ye¡¯s fresh vegetables. However, she was very touched by Grandma Ye¡¯s good intentions. She loved the feeling of being taken care of by her elders.

    Grandma Ye asked her when she was going to leave.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Probably tomorrow. I have to get some work done quickly in the city as I have yet to finish a few reports.¡±

    Grandma Ye sighed again. Her nieces and nephews were all busy people. Xia Ling felt a little guilty and said, ¡°Grandma, in the future, when I¡¯m free, I wille and visit you.¡±

    Grandma Ye nodded her head and pulled Xia Ling¡¯s hand to make a pinkie promise.

    The next day, Xia Ling brought Grandma Ye¡¯s vegetables, Father Ye, and Aunt Liu and drove back to the city.

    On the way back, the atmosphere was even stranger. Nobody uttered a sound.

    Xia Ling felt drowsy sitting on the passenger¡¯s seat. Suddenly, the car made an emergency brake, and the shock awakened her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± she asked Mr. Zhou. She lifted her eyes to view her surrounding only to witness two carsing out of nowhere to block their path. Behind them, there were three more cars. They were surrounded.

    Was this a robbery? She had an unsettled feeling in her heart.

    A man emerged from one of the cars in front of them and walked towards them.

    Mr. Zhou said, ¡°Miss Ye, remain in the car. No matter what happens out there, do note out.¡±

    Xia Ling agreed. Mr. Zhou locked all of the windows, got off the car, and shut the door. She had no idea what he was discussing with the other man before he triggered the man. After giving the signal, twenty men holding sticks, fruit knives, and choppers emerged from the cars.

    They started fighting. Despite being alone and facing many enemies, Mr. Zhou managed to tackle five or six people. Unfortunately, there were too many people. He slowly started to lose ground, and his shirt began to be stain by red.

    Several men holding choppers walked past Mr. Zhou and approached the BMW.

    Aunt Liu yelped. ¡°Dear, what should we do? They¡¯reing! They¡¯re almost here! I can¡¯t stay any longer. I want to flee! I want to flee!¡±

    ¡°Shut up and sit down.¡± Xia Ling demanded. Although she was very nervous, she still kept her cool. She was well aware that the car Li Lei arranged for her was not an ordinary car. It had an anti-riot structure, bullet-proof ss, and a specially strengthened door. As long as they did not go out inside, they would be safe.

    But Mr. Zhou...

    Xia Ling looked as Mr. Zhou struggled to fight back. Even at this point, he still put in all his effort to stop those people from approaching the BMW. If he were not trying to protect them, he would not have suffered so many injuries.

    Although Xia Ling knew some self-defense, she knew that she could not do much to help the situation. Unexpectedly, she suddenly heard the car door open. It was Aunt Liu!

    The savage thugs barged into the car and dragged Aunt Liu and her husband out. They also tried to drag Xia Ling out.

    Xia Ling had insufficient time to defend herself. She dropped her phone on the floor and was dragged out of the car by them.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± She shouted. Ignoring her, the thugs viciously tied her hands behind her back and restrained her body so she could not move.

    At the other side, Mr. Zhou, who was bleeding profusely, was also subdued.

    ¡°Who are you, people?¡± Xia Ling suppressed the fear in her heart and asked in the coldest tone she could muster.

    One of the thugs started tough. ¡°Stupid b*tch, just me yourself for offending our Young Master Nan and not knowing your ce.¡± After he finished speaking, with a wave of his hand, hemanded. ¡°Take them away! Today we have abducted the new bride for the marriage ceremony and the consummating the marriage. Hahaha...¡±

    The thugs started tough presumptuously.

    Xia Ling finally understood what was going on. It was Nan Sheng seeking his revenge.

    ¡°What you are doing is illegal,¡± she said. ¡°I will never marry Nan Sheng.¡±

    ¡°It is not up to you to decide that.¡± Another thug presumptuously examined her. ¡°Little girl, after consummating your marriage with our Young Master Nan, you will definitely be captivated. After that, you won¡¯t leave even if we chase you away. Hahaha.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Your parents have also agreed to the marriage. What else is stopping you?¡±

    Xia Ling looked over to see Father Ye standing with the group of thugs unscathed. She suddenly realized why Aunt Liu opened the door as quick as lightning. She initially thought Aunt Liu did something stupid because she was scared, but the real reason was that she intentionally wanted Xia Ling to be captured by Nan Sheng!

    No matter how many precautions were taken, a betrayer in the family was difficult to detect.

    Xia Ling was infuriated. She red sternly at them andughed. ¡°Very well. Ye Zhongxiao and Liu Zhaodi, from now onwards, you¡¯re no longer my parents!¡±

    ¡°Brat, it is not up to you to decide whether we are your parents or not.¡± Aunt Liu yed with her hair and arrogantly walked up to Xia Ling. ¡°After a while, you will have finished the ceremony with Young Master Nan and will still have to pay your respects to us, your elders. The next day after you have consummated your marriage with Young Master Nan, you will obediently follow him to the Civil Affairs Bureau to legalize the marriage. After that, you will be Young Master Nan¡¯s woman.¡±

    Young Master Nan gave the Ye Family a betrothal gift of eight hundred thousand dors. How could Aunt Liu not be happy?

    Even Father Ye slowly said, ¡°Xiao Ling, stop trying to revolt. Just ept your fate. What¡¯s so bad about being with Young Master Nan? Women should be contented with the man she has married. Besides, Young Master Nan is so rich that he won¡¯t treat you poorly.¡± Part of him was tempted by the betrothal gift, and the other part of him sincerely believed that Xiao Ling¡¯s marriage to Nan Sheng would be beneficial.

    Xia Ling knew that saying anything to him was useless, so she remained silent.

    She saw that Mr. Zhou had been beaten up so bad he had fainted. Covered in blood, she was unsure if he was going to live.

    Xia Ling raised her head and coldly said, ¡°If you want me to leave with you, I can do that. However, you have to ensure that Mr. Zhou is safe. Otherwise, even if you have me tied up, I will be unwilling and stir up many problems during the wedding ceremony.¡± She could not escape right now, so she decided to ensure that Mr. Zhou was kept alive first.

 Chapter 127 - The Abducted Bride

    <h4>Chapter 127: The Abducted Bride</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few thugsughed, and one of them delightedly patted Xia Ling¡¯s face. ¡°Sensible little girl.¡±

    Xia Ling disgustedly closed her mouth.

    They pushed her and even started to take advantage of her. Xia Ling squinted her eyes. Emphasizing every word, she icily said, ¡°You better conduct yourself well. After tonight, I will be your Young Master Nan¡¯s wife. If he knows that you are treating me this way, I can¡¯t be sure of how he will react.¡± Men were all face-saving. No matter the reason Nan Sheng married her for, he would never tolerate other men touching his wife.

    The color left the faces of a few thugs, and they started to behave properly.

    They escorted her to a resort nearby. Inside the red-bricked small vi, there was a room that was covered in red carpet and the mattress sheets were lined with mandarin ducks. Donned in a groom¡¯s attire, Nan Sheng sat on the bed and awaited her arrival.

    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± He gracefully smiled at her. It was as if the debacle yesterday had never happened.

    With a wave of his hand, the armed thugs left the room.

    ¡°Nan Sheng, I never expected you to be so despicable,¡± said Xia Ling.

    ¡°Despicable?¡± Nan Shengughed. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be so angry. I just love you too much. After we have consummated our marriage, I¡¯m sure you will also fall deeply in love with me. Come...¡±

    As he spoke, he locked her in an embrace.

    Xia Ling¡¯s hands were tied together by the thugs. Even if she wanted to resist him, she was powerless. She tried her best to avoid his fondling and hatefully spat. ¡°Nan Sheng, you beast, I will never forgive you!¡±

    Nan Shengughed. ¡°I said before that I loved feisty women.¡±

    He lifted her face. Before he could kiss her, Xia Ling turned away.

    ¡°Good... Very good...¡± Nan Sheng pulled her face back. A dark, chilling smile crept on his face. ¡°Ye Xingling, tonight I will brutally rape you to death.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he mmed the door.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart palpitated in fear, and she could not calm down.

    What could she do? Was tonight really inescapable? She racked her brains but could not think of a good n. She was so anxious that she was about to cry. After being born again, this was the first time she felt so afraid and helpless. Who... who coulde and save her...

    A handsome face appeared in her mind ¡ª Li Lei. If only Li Lei were here right now things would be much better.

    The door opened once again, and a few women walked in.

    ¡°So you are the new bride?¡± The woman-in-charge nced at her before instructing the others. ¡°Hold her down for me and help her change into the bride¡¯s dress.¡±

    They hurriedly stepped forward, ignored her resistance, stripped off all her clothes, and made her wear a white silk strapless wedding dress with a long trail. The wedding dress was very fitting and outlined the right ces of her body, and her slender legs were hidden behind a translucent part of the dress. Not only men, but even the women who helped her change also could not take their eyes off of her.

    ¡°Oh, such a beauty,¡± said one of the women. ¡°No wonder Young Master Nan is interested in you. I can¡¯t believe that you have such a good figure despite looking so skinny and small!¡±

    Xia Ling tightly sealed her lips, refusing to respond.

    The women surrounded her. They applied make-up to her face and styled her hair. After an hour or so passed, a beautiful bride was created.

    Her hands were still tied together using white rope. The only difference was that they were tied in front of her instead of behind her. She was also given whiteced gloves to wear, and arge bouquet of white lilies and roses were tied to her hands. Without looking closely, one would not realize that her hands were actually restrained.

    ¡°Get a pair of heels for her to wear. Choose the one with the thinnest heels,¡± said the woman-in-charge. ¡°Tell the two bridesmaids to hold on to her firmly to prevent her from escaping. After the ceremony, send her back to Young Master Nan¡¯s room and our task will be done.¡±

    The women nodded in response. One of them looked at Xia Ling and jealously said, ¡°You really don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you, do you? I can¡¯t believe you want to run away after being chosen by Young Master Nan! Do you know that marrying him means you get to enjoy a life of luxury?¡±

    There was still no expression on Xia Ling¡¯s face.

    That woman was not amused and shoved her violently. ¡°Move! Seriously, what¡¯s the big deal about a small star like you. I don¡¯t even know what you did to seduce Young Master Nan, and now you are acting all innocent.¡±

    Xia Ling was tightly held by them as they dragged her out of the room.

    That pair of thin high heels did not fit her, and it hurt immensely whenever she took a step. However, the emotional pain she felt was the greatest, consumed by fear and uncertainty. She did not want to marry a lecher. She did not want that disgusting piece of trash touching her. However, once the wedding ceremony was over, she would be forced to consummate the marriage...

    Xia Ling walked very slowly and struggled on purpose. She refused to cooperate in an attempt to dy what was about to happen.

    Unfortunately, the two bridesmaids were very strong and had a firm grip on her as they dragged her to the wedding hall.

    There were 18 tables in the wedding hall. Fourth Uncle¡¯s family, Father Ye, and Aunt Liu sat at the main guest table. The other tables were upied by neighbors in the vige. There were also people who looked like they were part of a mob. Even the people who had attacked her car were grimly present.

    Nan Sheng, dressed in a groom¡¯s attire, walked towards her enthusiastically.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so beautiful.¡± He examined her body with lecherous eyes. Under the crystal chandelier, her porcin white skin was as beautiful as jade. The dress wrapped her like a glove, and her hands were tightly tied together, but her expression was cold and prideful. She looked like an unattainable frozen rose. ¡°Very soon, you will be mine,¡± he said as he licked his lips.

    Xia Ling only felt disgusted. ¡°Brute. Animal. Trash.¡±

    He only smiled in response. ¡°You can scold me however you like, but you can¡¯t change reality.¡±

    He gave a signal, and the two bridesmaids ushered her up the stage of the wedding hall.

    The host made a long speech full of praise for the couple. Hemented that they were a perfect match and that they wouldst together for hundreds of years. After that, he asked the groom, ¡°Do you take Miss Ye as yourwful wife for richer or poorer and promise never to desert her?¡±

    Nan Sheng looked at her as if he were a snake looking at its prey. ¡°I do.¡±

    The wedding guests erupted in apuse.

    The host then asked again, ¡°Miss Ye, are you willing to be Mr. Nan¡¯s wife?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not willing.¡± She said icily.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you really know how to joke.¡± Nan Sheng was unaffected and turned to face the host. ¡°She¡¯s also willing,¡± he said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not willing!¡± Xia Ling screamed angrily.

    However, the host pretended not to hear her and said, ¡°Since both the groom and the bride are willing, I now announce them husband and wife from this day onwards. Congrattions to both of you! Everyone, please congratte the couple!¡±

    Another round of apuse erupted from the guests. Xia Ling was shaking in anger, but she could not do anything about it.

    Nan Sheng took her from the bridesmaid, put his arm around her waist and gently caressed her through the satin cloth. ¡°Xiao Ling, stop resisting me and just give it up. You will fall in love with me.¡± He lowered his head and tried to kiss her.

    ¡°Let go of her.¡± A voice was heard.

    This voice was not loud, but it foreshadowed danger. It made those who heard it shudder in fear.

    Everyone turned their heads and realized that the door of the wedding hall had been pushed open by someone. A handsome young man walked in step by step with a cold and murderous expression on his face.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± Looking at him, Xia Ling thought she was dreaming. Her voice quivered as she almost cried in joy.

 Chapter 128 - The Big Boss is Here to Steal the Bride

    <h4>Chapter 128: The Big Boss is Here to Steal the Bride</h4>

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Li Lei¡¯s steady steps that seemed to carry irresistible force were so powerful that it caused the entire hall to be silent. Wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt that was as white as moonlight, the faint outline of his muscles underneath the cotton fabric contracted and rxed as he walked like a beautiful and dangerous beast.

    Xia Ling looked at him as he strode past her assants towards her, each of his footsteps going against the light. At this moment, it seemed as if the whole world¡¯s troubles were far away from her, only his face was real and gave her a peace of mind.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She lightly called out to him again.

    Li Lei walked in front of her and pulled her out of Nan Sheng¡¯s arms.

    Her hands were still tied together. As her feet hurt from the thin high heels, she was unable to bnce properly and fell into Li Lei¡¯s arms. He hugged her warmly and lowered his head to look at her hands. ¡°They tied your hands together?¡±

    She nodded her head rather aggrievedly.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression turned even colder, but he did not say anything. He lifted her wrists and looked closely at them before using some strength to pull the rope, causing the initially strong rope to snap in two. He took off the white longced gloves and frowned. ¡°Your hands have turned blue.¡±

    However, she did not care. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    She was d that he came. Compared to being rescued, her minor wounds were insignificant.

    Li Lei lifted his head to look at Nan Sheng. ¡°You will pay the price for your actions.¡±

    Nan Sheng was frightened by his murderous eyes and subconsciously took a step back. Coming back to his senses, he straightened his neck and retorted. ¡°Who are you? How dare you intrude into my territory! Quickly return this brat to me, or I will not let you leave in one piece!¡±

    Nan Sheng felt that although he should not offend the man in front of him, the man was alone and therge hall had 18 tables of guests, which amounted to around 200 people. Arge number of them were strong young men. He should not be afraid of him.

    Li Lei ignored him and whispered to Xia Ling in a low voice. ¡°We¡¯re in the country, so killing people isn¡¯t very convenient. How about I help you get even by first crippling his hands? If you are still not satisfied, I will bring him to the open seas. You decide if he should walk the nk or be eaten by sharks.¡±

    If anyone else said that, Xia Ling would probably think that they were joking, but she knew that Li Lei was serious. He was the shady young master of the Li family and already had blood on his hands. As long as he had the intention of killing someone, that person would definitely die. However, she did not want him to kill anyone. After all, she had lived as a good citizen for two lifetimes. The cruel and dark underground world was too far removed from her. She also did not have the heart to kill someone even if Li Lei was adamant on killing him. She did not want him to carry the burden of taking away someone¡¯s life.

    She shook her head. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    ¡°Well then, I will break both of his hands,¡± said Li Lei in a gentler voice. This was as far as he couldpromise. After Mr. Zhou sent an emergency message alerting him that Xia Ling was in danger, his entire body was struck with fear. He felt as though he had entered a bottomless pit that had no end tormenting him.

    He rushed there as fast as possible and spent the whole time praying that she was fine.

    Presently, she was wearing a very revealing wedding gown, her wrists were filled with injuries, and she was restrained so someone could forcefully kiss her. Li Lei dared not think about what would have happened to her if he waste by even a second...

    Li Lei was at the peak of his rage and could not calm down. After he supported her to the safe zone, he walked towards Nan Sheng.

    ¡°You... What are you doing?! Don¡¯te here!¡± Nan Sheng was terrified by the coldness in his eyes and began shaking. He took a step back, then another... until he could no longer retreat further. Nan Sheng summoned his courage and yelled. ¡°Meng Zi and Da Hu! Why are you so shocked?! Quickly deal with this man! Hurry!¡±

    Only after hearing his scream did Nan Sheng¡¯sckeys reacted and rushed towards the stage one after another.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you daree over.¡± As Li Lei turned around, a gun impressively appeared in his hand.

    ¡°Oh my god...¡± Amotion erupted in the crowd. What exactly was this man¡¯s background for him to carry a gun?! It was known that guns were banned within the country, and general smugglers simply could not obtain that sort of contraband. Furthermore, at first nce, you could tell the gun was not ordinary. Together with a huge body and arge caliber, the ck coating gave people the feeling of indescribable danger.

    ¡°That¡¯s an M500!¡± Some military fans recognized the gun in Li Lei¡¯s hands and retreated a few steps. That was the most lethal pistol in the world. It was even more powerful than the Desert Eagle. An elephant could be killed with one shot. Anyone who had a brain would not be willing to experience its power personally.

    That group of thugs was just a group of delinquents formed by Nan Sheng. They usually bullied innocent citizens, beat people up, or collected debt. They were far from a real underworld gang. Many of them had not even touched a gun before. Thus, when Li Lei pulled out an M500, many people were terrified. Even if they had more people, what was the use? How could a group of people that were holding sticks fight with someone who had a gun?

    Just as they were about to hesitate and retreat, a person suddenly shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid of him! How could it be possible for someone to carry a gun within the country! That gun is definitely fake!¡±

    Bang. A gunshot was heard.

    Panic-stricken, everyone started to flee. A few timid guests had already begun to run helter-skelter. Amidst the chaos, they crashed into the tables and fell down. Women were crying and, the children were screaming. It was pandemonium.

    The man who screamed that the gun was fake was already sitting on the floor, and a stench was detected from a pool of yellow water that had formed beneath him. He was so intimidated that he had wet his pants. There was a bit of smoke a centimeter away from his feet.

    Li Leiughed coldly. ¡°The next time I fire, I will aim for your head.¡±

    That man¡¯s face turned pale and immediately fainted.

    ¡°Run... Run quickly!¡± Someone shouted. All of the thugs that were surrounding Li Lei started to run away like the guests. However, before they could do so, those people that escaped earlier ran back again as if they had met a ghost. Two groups of people were ramming into each other, transforming the scene in aic sight.

    Xia Ling lifted her head only to see that there were about ten gunmen following the guests as they rushed back in. Their faces were cold as they herded the people like sheep, ensuring that no one escaped.

    ¡°Mister... mister, you should spare our lives.¡± A woman cried out. ¡°We don¡¯t know anything. We¡¯re innocent... Please be magnanimous and let us go. I¡¯m begging you...¡±

    Li Lei took a look at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling lightly said, ¡°She was the one who instructed them to tie my hands together.¡± Xia Ling should not be med for her cruelty. It was really that woman who provoked her first. If Li Lei had not arrived in time, at this moment, she would have been forced into the room to consummate the marriage with Nan Sheng by the female assistants.

    As such, Li Lei said, ¡°Everyone, quieten down. I will deal with you after I¡¯m done with Nan Sheng. If anyone dares to make a sound, don¡¯t me me for heartlessly firing.¡± He was not very loud. In fact, his voice was so soft it was utterly unemotional. Nevertheless, everyone instantly became quiet. Except for a few asional sobs, no one dared to make a sound.

    Li Lei turned over to look at Nan Sheng.

    After witnessing what had happened just now, Nan Sheng¡¯s legs were shaking so violently he could not stand straight. Dear God, what sort of person have I offended? Is that person the brat¡¯s wealthy partner? What the hell! Why is he so terrifying and vicious?!He thought.

 Chapter 129 - Blood-stained Wedding Dress

    <h4>Chapter 129: Blood-stained Wedding Dress</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nan Sheng wanted to flee, but his legs were so feeble that he could not move a step.

    He could only bitterly beg. ¡°This gentleman... I know my mistake. I want to apologize to you, so I am begging you, please have mercy on me. I¡¯m Nan Sheng of the South City¡¯s Nan Family. I can give you money, any amount you ask for...¡±

    ¡°South City¡¯s Nan family?¡± Li Lei grinned.

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes.¡± Nan Sheng thought that his life was saved. The other party would definitely care about avoiding conflict with the Nan Family due to their status and let him off easily.

    However, he did not expect that Li Lei would only lightly lift his head and softly reply. ¡°Perished.¡±

    Not far away, a noise was heard from one of the people surrounded by bodyguards who were holding guns.

    P... perished?

    There was a turbulent feeling in Nan Sheng¡¯s heart. What did he mean by ¡°perished¡±? Could it be that he killed his entire family? He was terrified and immediately fell to his knees in front of Li Lei. ¡°Please don¡¯t... please don¡¯t kill my entire family! Please don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯m begging you! I¡¯m begging you!¡±

    Li Lei stared at him icily.

    Xia Ling also felt uneasy. Li Lei did not really kill the entire Nan family, right? It was not worth it to kill people because of that situation. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t kill anyone.¡± She urged him.

    Li Leiforted her. ¡°Who said I killed anyone? Since this bastard¡¯s family is so rich, I only wanted to make them bankrupt to help you vent your anger. Without their money, they will also not be able to cause any more trouble.¡±

    Xia Ling was reassured after hearing that.

    Nan Sheng also let out a sigh of relief. <i>Thank god </i>, He thought. <i>this scary man let my family live </i>. However, he immediately became afraid. He thought about how Li Lei was able tomand armed bodyguards to surround more than 200 people and was not the least bit afraid of causing a scene. What sort of unfathomable background did he have? What sort of punishment would he receive for trying to steal the woman of such a prominent figure?

    Li Lei¡¯s lips curled into a cruel smile. ¡°Tried to mess around with Xiao Ling, huh? You can decide. Either you break five of your fingers yourself, or I will break ten of your fingers for you.¡±

    <i>Gasp!</i>

    Everyone drew in a breath. That man was literally the devil! He even announced his cruel decision in such a casual tone. Fingers were closely linked to the heart. Breaking one finger caused immense pain, and the pain of breaking five or ten fingers was unimaginable.

    Nan Sheng was so petrified that his face turned pale white. ¡°This gent... gentleman... You can¡¯t do this...¡±

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re not willing to break them yourself.¡± As Li Lei spoke, he made a signal, and immediately, tworge bodyguards walked up and tightly restrained Nan Sheng. ¡°I will do it then.¡±

    He walked in front of Nan Sheng and ignored his cries and pleas. He grabbed Nan Sheng¡¯s hand and pressed one of his fingers hard.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Nan Sheng screamed. As his right index finger was broken, he convulsed in pain and wanted to roll on the ground. However, as he was being held tightly, he could only continue to endure the pain kneeling on the floor. Large beads of sweat trickled down his cheeks.

    Li Lei broke his second finger, his third finger and...

    Nan Sheng fainted.

    Li Lei stopped and instructed his bodyguards. ¡°Wake him up using cold water.¡±

    The bodyguards abided by his orders and brought over a pail of water, which they sshed on Nan Sheng¡¯s body. Nan Sheng slowly opened his eyes. Before he could react, a searing pain was felt from his fingers again. The snap of his bones could be heard. He screamed again before fainting.

    Li Lei was unbothered by his reaction and asked someone to wake him again.

    This was repeated for a few times until all ten of Nan Sheng¡¯s fingers were broken.

    Li Lei stood up, his entire body and hands covered in blood, and quietly nced across the entire hall. The two hundred people in the hall were in tears, and there was a stench in the air. Many people were scared out of their wits.

    He frowned and turned over to look at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was a little pale, and her white teeth were spontaneously biting her lip. He did not know what she was thinking about.

    Li Lei took a step forward, wanting to be by her side. However, he considered the fact that he was covered in blood and stopped. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to send you out first.¡± The stench in the air was unbearable, and the surroundings were too bloody. He did not want her to continue tolerating that ufortable scene.

    Xia Ling hesitated for a while before asking him, ¡°How are you going to deal with them?¡± She was referring to the guests.

    Everyone looked at Li Lei anxiously with a begging look in their eyes.

    Li Lei said, ¡°For those who participated in the kidnapping, break five fingers each. For those who assisted in restraining Xiao Ling...¡± His eyes slowly swept across the ugly faces in front of him. There was something detestable about people who looked pitiful; they only begged for his forgiveness now. If only they knew what wasing, they should not have bullied the woman he loved in the first ce! He sneered and made a decision. ¡°For those who assisted in restraining Xiao Ling, you can p one another in the face and pluck a tooth out. After that, you can leave.¡±

    Another round of begging and crying was heard.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Not willing? Then you have to sacrifice two teeth and ten of your fingers. If you¡¯re still unwilling, four teeth and an additional toe.¡±

    Everyone immediately stopped begging. Devil... That young man was one hundred percent a devil! Who exactly was he? How dare he be so arrogant in public?!

    Unfortunately, no one dared to ask this question. Everyone was trying to suppress their sense of existence and was as silent as a winter cicada.

    Li Lei called for people to protect Xia Ling as she left the hall.

    However, Xia Ling was worried that after she had left, Li Lei would be even crueler towards them. Although those people were guilty, she was afraid that things would get out of hand. What if they could not handle the situation then? She lifted her head and said to him, ¡°My feet are injured, and I can¡¯t walk. How about you hold on to me?¡±

    He frowned. He could not care less about the bloodstains on his hands as he bent down and gently lifted the hem of her wedding dress to look at her feet. Under the light of the crystal chandelier, her beautifully shaped feet were as white as jade, trapped in a pair of stilettos. The tight leather straps dug into her feet so much that they caused a few shocking wounds.

    Li Lei clenched his fist in anger before releasing it.

    ¡°Break Nan Sheng¡¯s toes as well.¡± He coldly instructed.

    A few bodyguards responded to the order and dragged Nan Sheng to another corner to deal with him.

    Li Lei¡¯s words made Xia Ling¡¯s skin crawl. She did not think that a casual sentence from her would cause him to inflict more harm. Although she had no sympathy for Nan Sheng, she was afraid that Li Lei would have no self-control and quickly said, ¡°It hurts a lot. Please quickly help me out.¡±

    Li Lei did support her, but he lifted her into his arms and gently said, ¡°Bear with it for a while.¡±

    He carried her and walked towards the exit. The blood on his body stained her pristine white wedding gown, causing it to turn dark red like the blooming of a blood rose. She quietly remained in his embrace. The long trail of the dress glided down the stage steps and caused the champagne tower to copse. The sses smashed onto the ground and stained a portion of the dress that was decorated with glowing crystals.

    As they walked past, the guests quickly made way for them. Their heads were hung low, and they did not dare to look at them.

    Two bodyguards were stationed beside them, and they helped them open therge door of the vi.

    Two helicopters were parked outside.

    Li Lei carried Xia Ling and entered one of them.

    As such, Xia Ling finally understood why he was able to arrive so quickly. He immediately flew over there once he heard the news. After thinking about that, she suddenly remembered one person. ¡°How is Mr. Zhou?¡±

 Chapter 130 - I Will Take You To See The Stars

    <h4>Chapter 130: I Will Take You To See The Stars</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei reassured her that Mr. Zhou was okay. He had already been rescued by someone, and his injuries were not serious. Only after hearing that was Xia Ling finally relieved.

    After she was untied, the severity of the traumatic experience finally hit her. Her body was as cold as ice, and she was slightly shivering. She had been humiliatingly tied up like a desirable good that awaited to be sold at a high price... Not surprisingly, she recalled her experience in her past life when she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng for a long and dark time. She was also trampled on, disgraced, and insulted not too long ago...

    Her slender fingers were clenched into fists and curled up into a ball.

    Li Lei noticed a difference in her behavior, so he took a soft fleece nket and put it over her bare shoulders. He warmly embraced her and gently stroked her thin back.

    For a while, both of them did not speak.

    It was very quiet in the helicopter. Only the roar of the motor could be heard.

    After flying for some time, itnded at a ce. As Li Lei carried her down, she then realized that they were on the mountain where she first met him. He carried her as he walked past the parking apron and therge patch of cotton rose hibiscus flowers. On the way, the butlers and servants they met bowed respectfully and congratted them on a safe return as if they were celebrating the triumphant return of their king and his queen.

    He carried Xia Ling into a bedroom and gently ced her on the bed.

    After that, he instructed someone to get some water for her. He then squatted down and personally helped her treat her wounds.

    Xia Ling felt a little embarrassed and moved back a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll do it myself,¡± she said.

    However, he tenderly held her hand and said, ¡°It is not easy for you to apply the medicated cream yourself. I will help you do it.¡± Despite her rejection, he had already used a wet cloth to remove the dirt near her wrists carefully and applied a cream that reduced swelling.

    Afterward, he did the same to her feet.

    There were many wounds on her feet, all of which were caused by the thin belt of her high heels. The flesh and blood were mixed together; it was a horrifying sight. Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. He had a difficult time resisting the impulse of rushing out immediately and ordering the death of Nan Sheng. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down slightly, wiped away the blood from her feet, and applied the medication.

    Xia Ling sat on the bed and lowered her head to look at him.

    It was strange. Her Big Boss acted very high and mighty, but he was willing to lower his pride for her and do something that only servants would do. Her feet were in his arms, and she could feel that he was being very careful as not to cause her any pain, just like he was safeguarding the most precious gem in the world.

    There was an inexplicable sour feeling that spread in her heart.

    After Li Lei was done treating her wounds, he lifted his head to look at her just as she was gazing at him.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red and she awkwardly turned her head away.

    ¡°Be my girlfriend.¡± She heard Li Lei say suddenly.

    She was taken aback. Not much time had passed since he asked the same question. Why was he bringing up the subject again so quickly? Xia Ling was at a loss for words. She stayed quiet and did not immediately answer him.

    Li Lei propped up his body and sat down next to her bed. He looked at her seriously. ¡°Xiao Ling, be my girlfriend. The next time you have to celebrate a birthday or visit your rtives and friends, I can justifiably apany and protect you.¡±

    She bit her lip slightly. He was right. If he were there, she would feel very safe.

    She did not know when the feeling started, but as long as he appeared, she would not feel afraid of anything that life threw at her.

    But...

    She already did not have the energy to love another person. Love was like a moth fluttering near a light, seeking its own doom. They met each other toote. She was a moth that had turned into ashes by someone else¡¯s me. Now, she was only a hollow and lifeless shell of a person.

    She used all of her energy to shake her head.

    ¡°Why?¡± he anxiously asked. ¡°Am I not good enough?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said lightly and lowered her head, not daring to look at him. ¡°Li Lei, the person I am today will never be able to fall in love with anyone. I don¡¯t have the strength, and also don¡¯t the courage...¡±

    The hopelessness of her words worried him.

    Li Lei could notprehend what sort of tragedy happened to her in the past that caused her to think that way. He had hired investigators to find out more about Xingling¡¯s history but found nothing unusual. He guessed that she must have a deep and important secret which caused her destion that did not match her age nor experience.

    Was it rted to Pei Ziheng?

    Only Pei Ziheng could evade his investigation. Furthermore, he could also falsify her personal details.

    Li Lei¡¯s instincts told him that the story between Pei Ziheng and her was not simple but... so what? Right now, she would rather stay by his side than return to Pei Ziheng, which was very telling. Their old love had faded, or at least there wererge cracks in their rtionship. He needed to grasp the opportunity to make her his woman firmly.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he warmly said. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to love me. At least before you¡¯re prepared to love me, you could treat me as usual. However, give me a chance to love you, alright? I will be by your side to protect you and let everyone know that you are my girlfriend so that other men won¡¯t get any ideas.¡±

    Let everyone know that you are my girlfriend...

    Xia Ling felt her heart hurt a little. In her previous life, she had waited for another man to tell her that for a lifetime, but now she had unexpectedly heard it from Li Lei¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Do you know what the consequences of that are?¡± She fixed her eyes on him. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m an ordinary person. Ie from a humble family and have a humble background. I¡¯m also of a different social ss than you. Don¡¯t you find that very embarrassing?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about?¡± Using pure male instinct, he felt that he had vaguely captured the crux of the problem in her rtionship with Pei Ziheng. Thus, he started to attack his opponent and create an opportunity for himself. ¡°Someone who truly loves you would not be willing to conceal you in the darkness and only be an unpresentable secret lover. Xiao Ling, I will announce to the whole world that you are my girlfriend.¡±

    She looked at him for a very long time. ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°As long as you are willing, I will ask the reporters to announce it to the world.¡±

    It was the miracle that she had wished would happen for a long time. Just as she had lost all hope, looking back, she realized that her wish had already subtly been granted. Xia Ling¡¯s nose was a bit blocked, and she turned her head away to lightly wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, just say yes.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was as gentle as before.

    ¡°I will send you roses, chocte, bring you to amusement parks, and climb up the snowy mountain to count stars with you...¡±

    ¡°I will apany you to any ce you want to go and look at any scenery you want to see.¡±

    ¡°From now onwards, nothing much can harm you. People can only hurt you over my dead body!¡±

    Xia Ling could not stifle a snigger.

    Li Lei became quiet. ¡°Was that really amusing?¡±

    ¡°Your words sound like lines of a movie. Also ¡®over your dead body¡¯? That¡¯s so exaggerated.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but look back. Her eyes were still a little red, but she could not help but smile with sparkling eyes.

    Li Lei felt a little wronged. ¡°See, I can also make youugh.¡±

    He grabbed her hand with enthusiasm. ¡°Be my girlfriend, okay?¡±

    She tilted her head and thought about it. Finally, she lightly nodded.

    Li Lei cheered and gave her a big hug, happy as a small child. She alsoughed, but she had mixed feelings. What sort of ending would befall this unexpected romance?

    She did not know the answer, but she knew that the sunlight she longed for was right before her eyes...

 Chapter 131 - Knock It Off Boss

    <h4>Chapter 131: Knock It Off Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She stayed in the mountains for a few days to recuperate. The scars on her hands and feet slowly vanished, and her emotions also stabilized.

    She found him in arge field of cotton rose hibiscus flowers and asked, ¡°There was a luggage bag in the white BMW that you arranged for Mr. Zhou to pick me up in. Have you seen it?¡±

    Li Lei put down his gardening shears and thought for a moment. ¡°I recall hearing Mr. Zhou say that there was arge luggage bag. He said that it was yours. I have already asked someone to move it to your room. Do you want it now? I¡¯ll get someone to retrieve it.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Xia Ling decisively. ¡°That¡¯s my war trophy.¡±

    ¡°War trophy?¡± asked Li Lei.

    Xia Ling delightedly told him about Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt¡¯s failed n to sabotage her such that they even ended up paying her for their release. Li Lei had already heard the story from Mr. Zhou, but he was equally horrified after hearing it personally from Xia Ling. He wanted to rush out in that instant and kill all of them: Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt, and that damned Nan Sheng.

    However, Xia Lingughed like a triumphant general. After the servants brought the luggage bag over, she opened it for Li Lei to see. ¡°Look! One million dors, no less! There are also gold bars and a Rolex watch!¡±

    She was very proud of her achievement and boasted it to him.

    Looking at her in her pile of wealth, Li Lei did not know whether tough or cry. A mere million dors was nothing in his eyes. As long as she wanted it, he could give her more than that. However, until now, she still refused to ept such gifts and would rather work herself to death to earn that small amount of money. Furthermore, she was so delighted after obtaining it.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t I impressive?¡± She proudly raised her chin and asked.

    Li Lei hesitated to agree with her although he felt the exact opposite.

    As such, Xia Ling was even more delighted and took the Rolex Watch. ¡°Take it. I want you to have this.¡±

    ¡°A gift for me?¡± Li Lei was stunned.

    ¡°Yes!¡± She said matter-of-factly. ¡°Everyone who helped me has a share. I also gave Mr. Zhou a handful of money.¡±

    Li Lei instantly turned from being touched to jealous. What was it with her? He initially thought that that silly little girl had opened up and knew how to give her boyfriend a gift, but it turned out that... even though he was officially her boyfriend, he was being treated the same as a chauffeur!

    Li Lei was entirely saddened by that fact.

    Xia Ling grabbed his hand and started to help him put on the brand new silver-white Rolex. Suddenly, after she was halfway done, she stopped and removed the watch. ¡°On second thought, I don¡¯t think I should give this to you,¡± she said.

    ¡°Why?!¡± He was worried and quickly stopped her from removing the watch. Even though he was given the same treatment as a chauffeur, it was a little better than being treated less important than a chauffeur!

    Xia Ling was a bit sullen. ¡°Even Ah Wei is wearing a Patek Philippe watch. You can¡¯t wear just a Rolex.¡± Patek Philippe was undisputedly the most revered watch brand among the brands of luxury goods. She had even custom-made one for Pei Ziheng before. Compared to Patek Philippe, a Rolex watch was just toomon and could be easily seen on the wrist of any nouveau riche on the street.

    Li Lei was a Big Boss. How could he wear a watch that was of less value than his staff member?

    Li Leiughed after he realized what the reason was. He happily said, ¡°That¡¯s alright. I like Rolex watches. I like anything that you give me.¡± He took off the waterproof military watch on his wrist and reced it with the Rolex at lightning speed.

    Xia Ling looked at the watch he reced. It was neither a Patek Philippe nor a Vacheron Constantin and had no brand prestige. The watch was thick, concise, boorish, and ck-coated. It was unremarkable, but it had subtle strength and power. Its strap was metallic, and there was a little wear and tear in parts that were not obvious. Her intuition told her that it was a watch that had been with him for a long time, and perhaps, it was much better than the Rolex...

    She gave Li Lei a somewhat perplexed look. A watch signified a man¡¯s status. He did not have to sacrifice so much for her.

    Li Lei justughed and gave her a toothy smile. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so considerate. Look at my old watch, the straps are worn out. I have wanted to change it for a long time. You gave me a recement just in time. A Rolex is not bad. I like its design.¡±

    Half doubtful, Xia Ling asked, ¡°Really?¡±

    Li Lei readily nodded his head.

    Actually, she did not know that the waterproof military watch that he wore had many functions. Whether he was in the jungle, desert or tundra environment, the watch had many uses and could save his life during crucial moments. In actuality, it had saved his life a few times in the past. Just because of what she said, he reced his important and useful watch with an ordinary Rolex.

    However, he did not mind taking the risk.

    Seeing that he really enjoyed wearing and looking at the Rolex, Xia Ling just went with it.

    She half-knelt on the floor and counted the money in the luggage bag. Then, she took a breath and pushed all the money and the two gold bars in front of Li Lei.

    ¡°You¡¯re giving me these too?¡± Li Lei was shocked again. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so nice to me.¡±

    ¡°In your dreams.¡± Xia Ling threw him a quick nce. ¡°I¡¯m returning you back the money I owe you. I still owe thepany more money.¡± After she said that, she sighed disappointedly. Then, Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt had promised her ten million dors. Unfortunately, the luggage bag only had a million dors in cash. If she had tried to ckmail them a bit more, perhaps she could have paid back the debt she owed thepany in full.

    Li Lei slightly tilted his head. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling supported her chin using her hands. ¡°Honestly, you can earn more money from robbing someone than being in the entertainment industry. Just a couple of million more and I will be rich.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei sternly nodded his head. ¡°After you have married into the Li Family, there will be chances for you to rob others. I¡¯ll bring you and a bunch of men with guns and ammunition to the Caribbean, South Africa, and...¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    How could she forget that he was part of the underworld?

    ¡°Forget it, I don¡¯t want to be wanted by the Interpol.¡± She replied unenthusiastically.

    Li Lei blinked and said, ¡°I just finished a job. We won¡¯t be wanted.¡±

    She became worried. ¡°What?¡± They were within the boundaries of their country and not in a foreign country like the Caribbean or South Africa. Could it be that he killed someone ormitted arson and robbery here? She remembered that he usually abided by thew.

    Li Leiughed and imitated the delighted state she was in. ¡°The Fourth Ye Family couple still owe you nine million dors, right? I have already gotten the money from them for you.¡± Mr. Zhou had mentioned this to Li Lei, and since Li Lei did not like being taken advantaged of, he unsurprisingly helped his woman get back her money.

    Xia Ling was shocked. He had to be kidding! Thinking about it again, Li Lei was rich and powerful. If he wanted to bully Old Man Ye who was of low status, he could do it as easy as turning his own hand.

    She quietly pitied Fourth Uncle in her head but excitedly eximed. ¡°Nine million dors? That¡¯s awesome! That means I have repaid my entire debt to Skyart Entertainment! I can even give you the remaining money as interest!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still a lot left after deducting the interest.¡± Li Lei looked at her slyly. ¡°There¡¯s still around two million dors remaining. Take the money and spend it.¡±

    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re so impressive!¡± Xia Ling was thrilled and gave him a big hug. ¡°I want to go shopping, eat, drink, and have fun!¡± It was too good to be true. She finally had some money. In her previous life, she could be considered a billionaire¡¯s wife. Ever since she was reborn, she had been extremely poor. She could not even buy a single thing she liked. Atst, she could now indulge a little.

    ¡°What did you call me?¡± On the other hand, Li Lei was not pleased. They were already boyfriend and girlfriend, but she still did not change the way she addressed him. Sometimes, she called him ¡°Li Lei¡± and other times she called him ¡°Boss.¡± He had objected to it many times to no avail.

    ¡°Knock it off, Boss.¡± She stood up and smiled as she stroked his hair like she was stroking a puppy and jumped out in glee. ¡°I¡¯m going to buy everything on my list and see how I can spend this sum of money!¡±

 Chapter 132 - Ah Wei the Fire-breathing Dragon

    <h4>Chapter 132: Ah Wei the Fire-breathing Dragon</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was a star now, and it was not all that appropriate for her to be shopping openly in the local stores. Hence, she chose to get what she needed in Paris instead.

    As her official boyfriend, Li Lei was more than willing to go along with her, and everything ¡ª arranging a private jet, nning the shopping routes, and even carrying the shopping bags ¡ª was settled by Li Lei.

    Xia Ling purchased a lot of outfits, scarves, and essories. It was early spring when she first made her debut, and as they moved into the thick of summer, many of her previous outfits were no longer suitable. It was time to get new ones. She got many gifts as well, one for each friend ¡ª a pair of beautiful pearl earrings for Sister Mai Na, athletic earphones for Ah Wei, and also individual gifts for those who had recently made their debut, including Lu Tao and Luo Luo.

    She even got the mighty Er Mao a Cartier cor pendant.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t there one for me?¡± Boss coquettishly grumbled as he watched her count her gifts against her checklist.

    Xia Ling just realized that she had forgotten about him and was feeling a little guilty. ¡°Well, I got you a Rolex already.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same, you even gave Mr. Zhou some money!¡± Big Boss did not let her off so easily.

    Xia Ling sighed. Why did she not realize he was this difficult to handle before? He was acting more like a son than a boyfriend...

    She thought about it for a while before resigning herself to it. ¡°Shoot, what do you want?¡±

    Li Lei smiled and took her to a jewelry shop the next day. He pointed at a pair of titanium rings and said, ¡°I want this.¡± It was a simple design, the smaller ring for the female sitting quietly beside the male¡¯s, sparkling in the ss cab under the white light.

    Xia Ling looked at it, stunned.

    ¡°You see, you¡¯ll give me one, and I¡¯ll give you the other. Fair and square,¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling responded in shock, ¡°We¡¯re not married yet, we aren¡¯t even engaged.¡±

    ¡°Why does that matter?¡± A cheeky expressiony in his eyes. ¡°You can just take it as a ne pendant. When we get engaged, I can get you something else then.¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    She was about to say something when the sales staff approached them. ¡°This is our newest design. It seems simple, but it symbolizes eternal love, and as long as a couple puts them on, the Heavens will bless their love.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her, eyes widened with delight.

    Blessings...

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling nodded her head. There were too many painful experiences in her previous life, and she hoped that this could bring her somefort and hope for a simpler and more smooth-sailing experience this time.

    The sales staff was overjoyed to have closed a deal and enthusiastically asked if they would like any carvings on the rings.

    Li Lei decided to have L and Y, both their surname initials, to be carved.

    ¡°Hold on...¡± Xia Ling hesitated.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Li Lei asked her.

    Xia Ling was silent for a while... Should she carve Y? Y was the initial for Ye in Ye Xingling. This surname was too distant for her, it was nothing more than a fictitiousbel for the person she was in this lifetime. Her real name was still Xia Ling.

    Should she carve X? But she had no reasonable exnation for that.

    How about the L in Ling? That sounded way too intimate.

    She had indeed epted him as her boyfriend, but she still was not ready to hand her entire self to him, be it her soul or her body. She had too many secrets, too many experiences too close to her heart, and there was too much buried deep in her heart that he still had not essed...

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± He called her softly. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling snapped out of her thoughts. ¡°I- I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s go with Y.¡±

    Li Lei did not overthink about it and confirmed the carvings to be ¡°LY.¡± The sales staff got them done in no time and got them a corresponding titanium ne chains. Li Lei personally put the ne and pendant on for her.

    The wless ring against her fair, delicate skin ¡ª it looked perfect.

    ¡°They really should get you to endorse their products.¡± Li Lei smiled.

    Xia Ling fiddled with the ring she now wore as a ne and felt the little Y engraved in the ring. She smiled distractedly. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t really enjoy being an endorser.¡± She was a singer purely because she enjoyed singing, all the other tasks that came with it were just taken on as part of her work ethics and publicity.

    Li Lei nodded and consciously took note: he would get Sister Mai Na to take on fewer endorsement tasks for her.

    They filled the private jet with all the gifts they had gotten in Paris and flew back to distribute them.

    When they got to Wei Shaoyin, they were greeted with reprimands. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re finally back! Do you know how long you¡¯ve dyed the recording for?! Shopping! If we can¡¯t get the next song released, I¡¯ll see what you can shop with!¡±

    Xia Ling kept quiet.

    Wei Shaoyin bombarded her with song sheets and other documents. ¡°Take them! These are all umted. I want you to finish going through them in three days!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± She was buried in the pile of papers and mild as amb.

    The producer was king, and this Virgo producer happened to be a fire-breathing dragon when he acted up.

    In the next few days, she spent the bulk of her time in the recording studio, working from dawn till dusk. ording to Wei Shaoyin, this new song was critical as it was thest song that could be released before the Best New Artiste Award ceremony. This was the final chance to amass some poprity and could make or break the artiste¡¯s sess in receiving the award. Hence, they had to make sure this was a job well done.

    They did the audio-testing and editing for days on end, ingesting so much caffeine that even walking gave them a light, floaty sensation. When it finally came to an end, Xia Ling let out a long moan and rested her head on the desk, unwilling to get up.

    Wei Shaoyin was still in glowing spirits, tying up the final loose ends while talking to her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re going to be staying here for a while, I still have quite a bit to discuss with you... There¡¯s a bed in a section of my office, we¡¯ll continue after you¡¯re up from your nap.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded weakly, her head groggy. She bumped into the door frame twice on her way out, and finally stumbled into the bed in the office. She closed her eyes and entered dreand almost immediately.

    She woke up in the back of a car. It was quiet in the car, and the seat under her was a soft genuine leather texture, while a thick nket covered her; put together, it felt warm and cozy. She was dazed for a few moments before she propped herself up and saw the person in the driver¡¯s seat... just the back view of him.

    It looked so familiar.

    ¡°You¡¯re up?¡± It was Li Lei¡¯s voice. He looked up and nced at her in the rearview mirror. ¡°Sleep in for a bit, we¡¯ll be home soon... Oh right, you¡¯d better not go to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s so often in future; that workaholic has practically lost all his humanity. If he doesn¡¯t let you go, just give me a call and I¡¯ll rescue you.¡±

    Xia Ling was still hung up about that song. ¡°Ah Wei said he still had quite a bit to discuss...¡±

    Li Lei turned around to look at her, his expression unreadable.

    Xia Ling felt somehow a little guilty and her voice trailed off.

    ¡°Having one workaholic in Skyart is enough.¡± Li Lei turned back around and continued driving, his tone gentle but with a trace of inexplicable threat. ¡°I don¡¯t want there to be a second one. Xiao Ling, if you sleep in his office again, I¡¯ll immediately send him to South Africa and make him work with aboriginal music instead!¡±

    ... Well, why was it that he would take it out on Ah Wei if she made him unhappy?

 Chapter 133 - Imperial Entertainmentâ€™s Cocktail Reception

    <h4>Chapter 133: Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Cocktail Reception</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Ah Wei¡¯s misfortune was not just about Boss taking it out on him.

    Just as he finished working tirelessly on her new song ¡°Eyes Beneath the Mask,¡± some sad news came along ¡ª the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s tribute song ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± was about to beunched.

    Why was this considered sad news?

    Any new release that shed with theunch of ¡°Caged Butterfly¡± was definitely at a losing end. The press and media would be focussing on news coverage of this tribute song that the public had been longing to hear about, and as for the other new songs? Nobody would be interested in them.

    Ah Wei was grumpy. There was only this period left for the release and publicity before the Best New Artiste award reveal. He cursed and swore at Feng Kun in the recording studio. ¡°This workaholic bastard! Are you pitting yourself against me on purpose! You could be enjoying your holidays abroad, but you choose toe back at such an untimely period, what for! Does Imperial owe you your wages!¡±

    Xia Ling could not listen to it any longer. <i>Hey, Ah Wei, you actually think of the ¡°workaholic¡± word as a negative too?</i>

    She took a look at the ck card with rose-gold embossment. ¡°Three days from now at Imperial Entertainment Building. Ah Wei, if you¡¯re not going, I¡¯ll just throw this away.¡± In her previous life, she held a cocktail reception every time she released a new song and invited some socialites as well as the big shots in the industry. She always made it an event unique to her to distinguish herself from the rest of the celebrities.

    It sure was unique, with so many distinguished guests getting together every once in a while. If not for Pei Ziheng¡¯s status, there was no way a celebrity in the entertainment industry could manage to invite them.

    Hence, her status in the entertainment circle was impossible to be challenged, no one else but she had such an honor.

    But, she remembered Ah Wei never attended the receptions.

    Just as she took an aim and was about to throw it in the bin, Ah Wei snatched it over.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t! Who says I¡¯m not going?¡± Ah Wei was flustered.

    ¡°Huh? You want to go?¡±

    ¡°Imperial Entertainment¡¯s reception, hmph, pretentious and snobbish.¡±

    <i>That¡¯s right </i>. Xia Ling agreed with him silently. <i>That¡¯s precisely why Ah Wei doesn¡¯t like Imperial, then why is he attending this time?</i>

    Ah Wei clenched his teeth. ¡°I want to know what Feng Kun¡¯s ¡°Caged Butterfly¡± is all about. If it¡¯s a lousy work, I¡¯ll shove ¡°Eyes Beneath the Mask¡± in his face!¡±

    Xia Ling was silent. So he was there to spy on his rival.

    Feng Kun always had very high standards and took great care of even the smallest of details. In a song as important as ¡°The Caged Butterfly,¡± there was no way he would make a mistake. Xia Ling wanted to advise Ah Wei not to waste his time but decided to forget about it considering how stubborn Ah Wei was.

    Shezily said, ¡°You have fun there, I¡¯ll be at home sleeping.¡± He had been working her out for the past many days, and even though Li Lei was there to rescue her asionally, to stop her from overworking, she was still exhausted from all the work. She had nned to catch up on her beauty sleep over the next few days, do some yoga, and get some massages...

    Her daydream had onlysted a mere few seconds when she heard Ah Wei¡ª

    ¡°You¡¯reing with me.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling looked up in shock.

    ¡°You¡¯re a singer, can¡¯t you be a little more diligent? You¡¯ll go and learn more about your rival song, no skiving.¡± Ah Wei flipped to the back of the invitation in slight frustration. ¡°Those at Imperial Entertainment are very contentious... remember to wear a formal gown on that day.¡±

    Xia Ling walked out of the recording studio in disappointment.

    She had no interest in going for the event at all. In fact, she wanted to stay away from anything that had to do with Pei Ziheng. What reason should she give Ah Wei to escape attending the reception? Flu, fever, stomachache?

    Before she decided, Li Lei had appeared again.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± During dinner, Li Lei held her intimately. ¡°can you take me along to the cocktail reception for theunch of ¡®Caged Butterfly¡¯?¡±

    More coquettishness.

    Xia Ling could not bear with it and released herself from his grasp. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°This reception is exceptionallyrge-scale, and Pei Ziheng invited every big shot possible. I want to see how close he is to each of them.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in understanding. He had the same motive as Ah Wei ¡ª checking out on hispetitor. But that meant she had to make some sacrifices. She had no intention of going, to begin with, but both Ah Wei and Li Lei insist on going... One of them got provoked the moment he saw Feng Kun, while the other had attacked Pei Ziheng before. She was afraid that something might happen if nobody was there to watch them.

    She hesitated for a bit before finally saying, ¡°We¡¯ll go together.¡±

    Li Lei cheered and edged towards her again. ¡°I knew it, my Xiao Ling is the best.¡± The truth was, he was not going there to analyze hispetitor whatsoever, he only wanted to go because he heard that she was going, and he was worried about her sharing the same space with Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s rtionship with her was a mystery, the less she talked about it, the more Li Lei worried. He felt as if she could be taken away by somebody else anytime.

    Li Lei was not going to let his woman meet somebody that could well be his love rival.

    As such, two people who had no intention of attending the ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡±unch reception initially ended up showing up together.

    Oh right, and Ah Wei as well.

    When they got off the ck Lincoln limousine and walked along the red carpet, all the guests were silent for a moment ¡ª it was no secret that both Li Lei and Wei Shaoyin were outstanding men. One was a wonderful bnce of beautiful looks and brawns, just like a handsome beast, while the other was cold and elegant like the peak of an iceberg. The two striking figures appearing side by side took everyone¡¯s breath away.

    Between the two of them was a petite girl.

    She wore a rose-colored mermaid-bottom maxi dress, had beautiful fair skin, and clear eyes that reflected a hint of arrogance. The way she walked on the red carpet appeared as if two knights were escorting a princess.

    ¡°It¡¯s Ye Xingling.¡± Most people around recognized this celebrity.

    ¡°Skyart¡¯s Big Boss and their chief music producer apanied her?¡± People were whispering and discussing. ¡°She¡¯s a minor celebrity who just made her debut, how did she have such an honor? What¡¯s her background?¡±

    ¡°Not much of a background, she came from a humble home.¡±

    Everybody was confused and specting now.

    In the corner of the reception ballroom, Feng Kun was discussing with an official in hushed voices. Noticing a change in the atmosphere, he looked up and saw her instantly ¡ª the girl standing before the grand entrance, escorted by two extremely gorgeous men, her eyes scanning the surroundings like a goddess who just arrived. She resembled somebody so much...

    He instinctively took a step forward and bumped into a waiter, spilling some champagne onto his own custom-made ck suit. The waiter profusely apologized in all sincerity.

    Feng Kun simply waved him away.

    As he snapped out of his daze, Feng Kun smiled sadly. <i>How could that be Xiao Ling? I must be missing her too much to mistake another girl for her.</i>

 Chapter 134 - The Cocktail Reception Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 134: The Cocktail Reception Encounter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling walked into the reception ballroom and scanned her surroundings.

    The spacious room was brightly lit, and a violin ensemble had a live performance on the ck marble stage. The melodious tunes danced around in the room as waiters formally dressed in white shirts and bowties served wine to thedies and gentlemen around. The male guests were in their tuxedos while the female guests arrived in their gorgeous gowns, all exuding a faint fragrance from their perfume.

    They spoke gently and civilly, portraying a ssic scene of the high society.

    Xia Ling had no idea why she used to like such a pretentious event and even hosted it year after year. She recalled the time when Pei Ziheng had kept her imprisoned, and when Xia Yu secretly filmed the predicament she was in. It was these people here who had attended her reception parties who gloated over it. ¡°Such a pampered woman, she should¡¯ve been kept out long ago. I told you, Director Pei would get sick and tired of ying with her one day, but you didn¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°Who didn¡¯t believe you? Boss Liu and I had a bet about how long it¡¯d take for Director Pei to kick that woman aside, haha. It¡¯s been less than two years, I win.¡±

    All these bits and pieces ate at her slowly.

    The only constion was that Pei Ziheng was not around, there was no sight of him in the entire ballroom.

    ¡°This is so boring.¡± That was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice, he had been ufortable since he stepped into the ce. ¡°I don¡¯t like crowded ces.¡±

    Li Lei shrugged. ¡°You can go wherever you like.¡± He did not like having Wei Shaoyin around, ying gooseberry on a perfect couple¡¯s date.

    Ah Wei was delighted to hear that and decisively broke away from his Boss, looking for a corner to rx in.

    Xia Ling was not all that excited about the event either; seeing so many familiar faces disgusted her.

    Li Lei read her expression. ¡°Are you bored?¡±

    She nodded.

    Li Lei was happy to know that she was not enjoying herself at Pei Ziheng¡¯s cocktail reception. He thoughtfully asked, ¡°I¡¯ll get you something to eat, what would you like?¡±

    ¡°Hazelnut cake.¡±

    Hazelnut cake was her favorite. Li Lei ate with her very frequently in the recent weeks and had figured out her likes and dislikes. He told her to stay where she was until he got back and went on his own to the food table to get her cake.

    Xia Ling waited by the side, when suddenly, she felt a pain in her shoulder ¡ª someone had knocked into her pretty hard. She subconsciously reached out for the windowsill beside her to avoid falling t to the ground.

    ¡°Why are you in the way, are you blind!¡± The other party started berating her before she even had the time to look up. It was a youngdy¡¯s voice. ¡°Who¡¯s this over here.¡±

    Her condescending tone got Xia Ling fuming.

    Xia Ling looked up to see a fancifully dresseddy in a ssy custom-made gown. She had an intricately designed chest brooch in the shape of a peacock studded with precious stones.

    ¡°What¡¯re you staring at? You have something against me?¡± Thatdy disliked the way Xia Ling looked at her with her clear eyes and piercing re. There was no trace of fear or inferiority in those eyes, and with a ¡°Hmph,¡± thatdy turned and walked away from Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling wanted to act up, but took a deep breath and suppressed her anger. This was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s event in Pei Ziheng¡¯s territory. She did not want to draw any unnecessary attention to her or to create amotion.

    She furrowed her brows and tried standing upright, holding onto the windowsill for support.

    Her ankle gave way, and she almost fell again.

    A steady hand appeared before her ¡ª the nails were cleanly cut, the rest of the arm was covered in a white sleeve under a ck suit, and the titanium cuff glimmered in under the light from the chandelier.

    She looked up and saw the person¡¯s face clearly ¡ª Feng Kun.

    It had been too long.

    He was just as she remembered him to be, not incredibly handsome, but polite, pleasant and quiet. He looked at her with gentle eyes and asked, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    That was when she realized she had been staring at him for too long. She snapped out of it and nodded her head.

    He still had his hand outstretched before her.

    She felt better and reached out to hold onto him.

    Feng Kun exerted some force to help her steady herself.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. She had thought about the possibility of bumping into him at this reception even before she came. This old friend of hers was one she missed truly, and now that they met once again, there was so much she wanted to say to him, but none of which she had the chance to.

    Feng Kun looked down at her. ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    The words were polite but estranged, nothing more than the usual formal exchange between acquaintances. Yet he did not leave after the short exchange. He could not pinpoint why, but he felt that the girl standing before him gave him a very familiar feeling, she really seemed like Xiao Ling... It was too strange, they did not resemble each other at all.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡± asked Xia Ling. She felt conflicted, on the one hand, she really did not wish to have anything to do with Feng Kun and wanted him to distance himself as soon as possible, but on the other hand, she could not bear to watch him go so quickly. <i>Old friend, it has really been long.</i>

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard you sing ¡®Sea Demon,¡¯¡± Feng Kun said.

    His voice was gentle as the waves, calming her fluster that arose from her excessive focus on not revealing her identity. ¡°It wasn¡¯t well sung,¡± she said.

    ¡°No, it was great.¡± Feng Kun smiled. ¡°You¡¯re the first person I know who can sing Xiao Ling¡¯s song well and suitably.¡±

    That was too good apliment, and she expressed how ttered she felt. ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡±

    ¡°If she were still here, she¡¯d definitely like you.¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s voice sounded a little strained now, making Xia Ling ache a little inside. Before she realized, she asked, ¡°How... have you been abroad?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Feng Kun was stunned.

    Xia Ling realized she had said something wrong. Given that it was their first interaction, how could she have asked something so personal? She tried to salvage her mistake. ¡°No-nothing much. I just felt that after Xia Ling passed on, you¡¯d be very sad.¡±

    Was he sad?

    Of course.

    Feng Kun looked up, gazing at the screen where Xia Ling¡¯s videos were ying as he smiled sadly. ¡°She was my best friend,¡± he said, gently and painfully.

    Her heart ached even more. Afraid that he would sense her change in emotions, she turned away.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said. ¡°someone¡¯s waiting for me over there. I should get going.¡±

    She fled from him. She could face all her enemies from her previous life and the hatred and insults that came with it. Yet she did not have the strength to face Feng Kun and his longing.

    She was afraid she would lose control.

    She walked towards the food table quickly. Why was Li Lei not back yet from getting her the cake? She looked past rows and rows of delicacies before finally spotting him.

    In front of him stood a girl who had her hands on his elbow, as if they were very close. She had beautifully styled hair and was in a beautiful gown, and on her front was a shimmering peacock brooch.

    It was the girl who bumped into her and hurled rude words at her previously.

 Chapter 135 - Impulsiveness is the Devil

    <h4>Chapter 135: Impulsiveness is the Devil</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    So that girl knew Li Lei? She did not know how they were rted, but they seemed close.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze fell to her hand that was grabbing onto Li Lei¡¯s forearm. She squinted her eyes slightly. Very well, now that she was present as his official girlfriend, what was she going to do?

    She casually took a ss of wine from a passing waiter and strode towards them elegantly.

    ¡°... Brother Lei, when will youe over to my house? The lcs you gave me have bloomed, and I got somebody to get a pavilion done up in my garden. When youe over, we can have tea together there.¡± That girl looked up towards Li Lei in sheer admiration and was leaning so close to him that even her bosom was pressing against him.

    Even a fool could tell that she was interested in Li Lei, and yet Li Lei made no move to distance himself.

    Xia Ling¡¯s rage rose inside her, and she almost sshed the wine in her face, but the little bit of rationality she had stopped her from doing so. This was Pei Ziheng¡¯s territory, and she did not want more enemies or trouble than she had... She chanted in her head ¡°impulsiveness is the devil¡± and calmed herself down.

    She went to stand beside Li Lei as if nothing was happening.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Li Lei turned to look at her and smiled. ¡°you came just in time. Let me introduce her to you, this is Gu Lin, the eldest daughter of the Gu Financial Magnate. She¡¯s the granddaughter of the Grandfather Gu that you met before.¡±

    So she was the eldest daughter of the Gu Financial Magnate, what a pity... Xia Ling thought Old Mr. Gu was an intelligent and wise man, how did he end up raising such a shameless and rude granddaughter?

    Li Lei then introduced her to Gu Lin. ¡°This is Ye Xingling.¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s expression changed after hearing the introduction. In a situation like this, the default rule was to introduce the party of lower status to the party of higher status first. The less important figure was introduced before the more important figure; such a concept was definitely not new to Li Lei. But he chose to introduce her to Ye Xingling first...

    She, Gu Lin, was obviously of higher status!

    Did it mean, then, that in Brother Lei¡¯s heart, that ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was a more important figure?

    Gu Lin¡¯s intuition made her tense up. She sized Xia Ling up and realized that it was the person she had knocked into earlier, and that made her even more annoyed with Xia Ling. ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± She used an arrogant and fussy tone. ¡°I think I might¡¯ve heard of you, you¡¯re a minor celebrity in Brother Lei¡¯spany?¡±

    She intentionally emphasized the word ¡°minor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of you, though,¡± Xia Ling replied calmly and even more arrogantly than she did.

    She could not ssh red wine in her face, but that did not mean she could not find another way to put her down. She had no intention of swallowing her anger if she could find a way around it in a contained manner. Regarding putting someone down sarcastically, could anyone beat her? She was one who had used her words to fight her way up ever since she was in the orphanage, and after she entered the Pei family, she continued at it with those high and mighty figures. It was even more frequently employed in the entertainment circle where fights and bickerings were almost staples. She did not have many talents, but this was one that she was too good at for anyone to deny.

    Sure enough, Gu Lin was enraged, ¡°You... you!¡± She stomped her foot and shook Li Lei¡¯s elbow, ¡°Brother Lei, she¡¯s bullying me!¡± She and Li Lei could be considered childhood friends, and she had been his secret admirer since they were children. She knew he liked innocent girls and hence had perfected her acting in front of him.

    The Li family and the Gu family were old family friends.

    On ount of Old Mr. Gu, Li Lei could not do much about Gu Lin.

    He acted as a big brother giving in to his little sister. ¡°You¡¯re not young anymore, what¡¯s with all the bullying stuff? You and Xiao Ling aren¡¯t in the same industry, it¡¯s no surprise she doesn¡¯t know you.¡±

    Not in the same industry?

    Gu Lin side-eyed her, satisfied. ¡°Oh, right. A minor celebrity like you has it tough at it is, besides your main job, you have to curry favor with all the people around you and attend all sorts of receptions to widen your connections. How could you know a big missy like me? Haha, I won¡¯t stoop to your level.¡±

    Oh, for goodness sake, Li Lei did not mean it that way.

    But, his words were indeed misleading.

    As they spoke, Gu Lin had rested her hand on his elbow. He thought of moving his arm away when he saw Xia Ling walk towards him in the corner of his eye. Under the chandelier, Xia Ling walked elegantly with a ss of wine in her hand, her demeanor calm. She must have seen her holding onto him but pretended not to.

    Was she not bothered by it at all?

    Li Lei was heavy-hearted, and at that moment decided to sound her out.

    He deliberately let Gu Lin have her way, and left her hand on her arm. He even allowed her to be condescending to Xia Ling.

    As for Xia Ling, her only problem was concerning Gu Lin insulting her. She had no response nor reaction to the way Gu Lin had her hand on him or how she acted intimate with him.

    <i>Xiao Ling, do I not matter to you?</i>

    He asked in his heart. In order to get his answer, he looked at her without any change in expression.

    Xia Ling clenched her fingers, she was so close to sshing that red wine ¡ª not at Gu Lin alone this time, but at her and Li Lei both. This adulterous pair acted like she did not exist? No... She could not care less about Gu Lin who did not know about her rtionship with Li Lei. She had no reason to fight with her love rival, but what about Li Lei?

    He was the one who initiated the rtionship, why was he getting so close to someone else now?

    As she looked at them, her reluctance to create a scene and her arrogance led her to maintain her calm expression. Even so, her heart was aching with the surge of past memories ¡ª at that time, it was also because Pei Ziheng had another woman that she kicked a huge fuss and eventually became a patheticughing stock. Now she understood this ¡ª once a man had a change of heart, there was no point even if she got rid of her love rival.

    She did not want to fight such a meaningless battle anymore.

    Gu Lin was still provoking her. ¡°What, have you gone mute? You¡¯ve got no words? Is there anything else? Otherwise, stay away from us. Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m talking to Brother Lei here?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s clear eyes were still undisturbed. She shot a nonchnt nce at Li Lei and walked away.

    In the crowd, her posture was gracious and elegant and her back straight as she walked off without care or longing... At that moment, Li Lei was extremely fearful, as if he would never be able to get to her again once she integrated into the crowd.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He called out to her, removed his arm from Gu Lin¡¯s resting hand, and chased behind her.

    Xia Ling heard his call but did not stop, she carried on straight ahead. All of a sudden, she felt a warm, coarse hand grab her elbow. She turned around and red at him. ¡°Let go!¡±

 Chapter 136 - The Return of a Diva

    <h4>Chapter 136: The Return of a Diva</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I won¡¯t let go.¡± Li Lei held her hand even more tightly.

    Xia Ling was furious and struggled hard to escape his grip but to no avail. Just as she was about to continue fighting, the crystal chandelier in the hall suddenly went out. Her movements came to a halt and she lifted her head. In front of her, a beam of light slowly appeared in the darkness and shined on the stage where the emcee was standing. The emcee¡¯s low-pitched voice rang through the hall. ¡°Good eveningdies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending Diva Xia Ling¡¯s final tribute: The Caged Butterfly Conference.¡±

    The hall immediately became silent.

    Everyone held their breath and anticipated what was about to happen.

    Xia Ling realized that it was not the right decision to continue struggling to escape Li Lei¡¯s grip as she might cause an even greatermotion.

    She was held in ce by Li Lei and could not move, so she listened to the emcee as he tirelessly continued his speech. He recollected her previous life and introduced the song¡¯s main theme. Finally, he said, ¡°Everyone must be very curious. The Diva Xia Ling has already passed away, and her voice was considered the peak of poetic perfection. How did her previous producer, Mr. Feng Kun, restore the song? This will soon be disclosed to everyone.¡±

    This was definitely something everyone was curious about. Her voice was very unique and had a wide vocal range. She could easily master many difficult notes thatymen could not possibly imitate.

    Who else could possibly sing her important final song after her death?

    Xia Ling was also very curious herself, such that she forgot that she was still angry with Li Lei. She quieted down and fixated her eyes on the screen. She trusted Feng Kun¡¯s eye for talent, he must have chosen the most suitable singer to perform the song. Who could it be?

    The lights on the stage started to change.

    Then, cheers came from all directions.

    Looking at the many dots of light slowly appearing in the hall, she felt a faint sense of familiarity. Gold, silver, and purple... It was like fireflies dancing. Gradually, all the dots of light gathered together to form an immensely beautiful girl. The virtual figure of the girl silently stood on the stage. She was wearing a gorgeous dress, a pink diamond bracelet, and was gently holding a microphone. Her head was slightly raised, revealing a distinctly beautiful face. Her sharp eyes were overflowing with confidence like a queen who ruled the world. One look from her was enough to enchant all living creatures.

    That is...

    ¡°Xia Ling... That is the Diva Xia Ling!¡±

    There was a suddenmotion in the crowd.

    Who would have thought that they would see the return of the Diva here? This conference used 3D holographic projection technology to re-create herst concert perfectly! Within the sounding from the surrounding stereo speakers, the cheers grew louder, and numerous people shouted in unison. ¡°Encore! Encore! Encore!¡±

    That was the real audio recording from that day.

    The reality of that concert happened again.

    Xia Ling felt a little dizzy. She did not expect it to be like this. For a moment, it was as if she had returned to that high and huge stage and was looking at more than a hundred thousand crazy fans below the stage. She said¡ª

    ¡°Ok then, I will sing an encore.¡±

    The voice seemed very realistic. It did note from her memories but from the illusory projection on stage. The sound of the music rang in all directions. The prelude was psychedelic and low-pitched like the intricate falling of flowers that was sometimes violent and sad, and sometimes mildly passionate. However, it waspletely different from what happened that day. That day, she sang acape, and there was no prelude.

    Xia Ling stood in the crowd and, just like the other guests, was shocked by the sudden prelude.

    It was like a squally shower, with the sonority and resplendence of Feng Kun¡¯s arrangement. It also reinforced her arrogance as a Queen who had held a position that was unattainable for many for more than ten years. It was tragic like the fragmentation of a peony.

    Everyone was captivated. On the stage, the illusory projection that resembled her naturally started singing...

    If she had not met someone that year, would the ending be different?

    Just like a butterfly lost in time, she was unclear if the warmth she felt from him was real or just a dream...

    Every sound she heard was knocking on her heart.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale and found it difficult to breathe. Before the song started, she had thought of the many possibilities and even joked about suspecting that Feng Kun had randomly looked for an unpopr singer to perform the song. However, she never would have guessed that the song would be created by mixing in her original singing voice.

    The recording from a concert was far inferior to that of a studio recording. The sound was very unclear, and there were many cracks and distortions in parts of the recording.

    However, that gave ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± an added effect of deste sadness. It was as if arge invisible hand was holding her heart and squeezing it. The dark memories of her past life flooded her mind. Not able to contain her emotions, she managed to push away Li Lei¡¯s hand with an inexplicable burst of energy and ran out of the conference hall.

    On the way, she ran into many people, but she did not notice them. She only stopped and became a little clear-headed when she was under a huge flower tree.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you ok?¡± It was Li Lei who chased after her.

    She supported herself by holding onto the old and mottled tree trunk and slowly squatted down. The pieces of her past kept shing back at her: the howling dog, the demon-like man with the blood-stained whip...

    Under the pale moonlight, her face was so pale it was frightening.

    Seeing that she had huddled into a ball, he leaned down and gently hugged her in his arms. He did not know what had happened, but he was able to feel her pain and fear, so he used the only way he could think of to give her a sense of security andfort. It was absurd! It was evident that she did not care about him. She had no reaction when she saw him with another woman, why could he not give up on her? Once he found out that she was hurt, why did his heart ached as well?

    As he held the petite and soft body in his arms, Li Lei thought that this was probably premeditated in this lifetime.

    His warmth and serene embrace slowly calmed Xia Ling down. However, once she clearly saw who the person hugging her was, she reached out and tried to push him away.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei was a little worried and hurt.

    Xia Ling gave him a perplexed look. There was still a trace of Gu Lin¡¯s perfume on his body. She did not understand why she felt so reassured in such a man¡¯s arms when it was obvious that he could not give her the loyalty she wanted.

    ¡°Since you already have Gu Lin, why did you still look for me?¡± Her voice was slightly hoarse.

    Li Lei was stunned. Suddenly, joy erupted from the bottom of his heart. ¡°Are... you jealous?¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet for a moment before replying, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m jealous. However, I won¡¯t persuade you to stay. Li Lei, I don¡¯t want to y a game of jealousy with you in our rtionship. If you have an unclear rtionship with another woman, no matter how much I like you, I will still give up on you.¡±

    ¡°You said, you like me?¡± Li Lei was so happy that his voice slightly trembled.

    Xia Ling was speechless. ¡°Did you even listen to my main point?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m so happy that you like me.¡± Li Lei tightly hugged her just like how he always wanted to. ¡°This is the first time you said you like me... I swear I will never do anything to make you upset again. I will definitely keep a distance from other women and only allow you to be near me.¡±

    <i>That¡¯s good. Looks like he still heard my main point. </i>She thought.

    Xia Ling nodded her head and stood up. ¡°Remember what you said, Li Lei.¡±

    The moonlight shined past the flower trees and sprinkled on her face. It was obscure and beautiful, like a dream.

    ¡°I will never betray you,¡± Li Lei said and lifted his head to look at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened to you just now? You just suddenly ran out of the hall. Is there something wrong?¡±

 Chapter 137 - Can I Invite You To Dance With Me

    <h4>Chapter 137: Can I Invite You To Dance With Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Faced with Li Lei¡¯s question, Xia Ling was unable to answer him.

    The private and festering wounds were too deep and too severe. Even if he was her boyfriend, she could not reveal them to him. Xia Ying turned her head to avoid his probing eyes and whispered. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not feeling too well.¡±

    He knew instantly that she was lying.

    However, he did not dare to expose her. When she met Gu Lin just now, the way she resolutely turned away from him still lingered in his heart. He was afraid that if he pressured her to tell him the truth, their fragile rtionship would fall apart. How much exactly did Xiao Ling like him? He did not know. He only knew that she seemed to have many secrets in her heart, and they were probably rted to Pei Ziheng. Every time she met that man, including now that they were in his territory, she always looked rather strange.

    His love rival was near, and he did not dare to provoke her at all as he did not want to risk the chance of losing her.

    As such, he forced a smile, pretending that nothing happened, and said, ¡°Not feeling well? Then we should go back.¡±

    Leave the conference. They should leave this dangerous conference that caused him to be on guard the entire time.

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    Both of them were in the back garden. When they traced back their footsteps and returned to the reception hall, the release of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± had already ended. The smartly dressed violin quartet once again yed a melodious tune.

    The men and women in the hall paired up, and many people were dancing on the packed dance floor.

    Xia Ling followed Li Lei and walked through the crowd. Suddenly, a girl walked up to them. She had long curly hair, was wearing a gorgeous dress, and had a peacock brooch on her chest. It was Gu Lin. She looked at Xia Ling unkindly before turning to give Li Lei a sweet smile. ¡°Brother Lei, where did you go just now? I was looking everywhere for you.¡±

    When ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± was being released, Li Lei had brushed Gu Lin off to chase after Xia Ling. This caused Gu Lin to feel resentful and also strengthened her belief that that irritating woman¡¯s rtionship with Brother Lei was unusual. That woman was probably just his mistress, how dare shepete with an aristocrat like her? Gu Lin¡¯s fighting spirit was heightened, and she vowed to chase Xia Ling away from Li Lei.

    She pulled Li Lei¡¯s arm towards her again. ¡°Brother Lei, can you dance with me?¡±

    This time around, Li Lei was more obedient and absolutely did not want to make the same mistake. He removed her hand from his arm and said, ¡°Lin Lin, I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t dance with you. Xiao Ling is not feeling well, so I have to send her home.¡±

    What? Li Lei was a big boss, yet he had to send that irritating woman of no status or background home?!

    Gu Lin was bing upset. ¡°Brother Lei, you can just call for any random driver to send her home. Why do you have to take on the trouble? I don¡¯t care! You have to dance with me!¡± As she spoke, she tried to grab on to Li Lei again, but Li Lei quietly avoided her.

    Gu Lin was even more upset. ¡°Brother Lei, why are you ignoring me?!¡±

    Xia Ling simply could not watch the scene any longer. That Gu Lin was considered a socialite. Did she not find the way she shamelessly flirted with Li Lei embarrassing? If it was the Pei Family instead... In her past life, she had seen Pei Ziheng deal with a shameless female family member that flirted excessively during social events. That was really an extreme measure in their family rules. It was so strict that for a long period of time, the entire family kept silent like cicadas in cold weather, and that female family member no longer dared tomit the same mistake.

    Both families were of high social ss, how could their family values differ so greatly?

    Xia Ling was lost in her thoughts, but after she came back to reality, she felt that something was not right. Gu Lin¡¯s poor upbringing did not mean that Pei Ziheng¡¯s family upbringing was much better. Otherwise, how could that raise such a pervert like Pei Ziheng?

    She felt a little pain in her heart and forced herself to stop thinking about it.

    ¡°Are we leaving or not?¡± she asked Li Lei with some impatience.

    ¡°We¡¯re leaving,¡± Li Lei immediately replied. He was now as obedient as arge pet dog. He amodated whatever her request was as he was afraid he would provoke her again and cause her to be unhappy.

    He carefully held out his hand, signaling Xia Ling to hold it.

    Xia Ling had never held his hand and never thought that he would do that, so she was somewhat taken aback. He looked at her deeply with eyes as green as a forest, hoping that he had gained her favor. It was as if he was saying, ¡°Look at how obedient I am! How about you give me a little reward?¡±

    Gu Lin also did not think that her Brother Lei would actually hold his hand out to another woman. Her eyes were almost about to spit fire.

    In the corner of her eye, Xia Ling saw the way Gu Lin was gritting her teeth. She initially was hesitant about keeping Li Lei by her side, but suddenly, she became determined. She reached her hand out with a smile and gently held Li Lei¡¯s hand.

    She also gave Gu Lin a provocative look.

    Li Lei had a full view of what she was doing, but instead of being angry, he was jumping in joy in his heart. His Xiao Ling was finally not indifferent towards him. When a love rival showed up, she would also try to counter her.

    Li Lei was feeling extremely great as he held Xia Ling¡¯s hand and walked in the direction of the main entrance.

    ¡°Slow down!¡± Gu Lin¡¯s voice was filled with fury as she blocked them. ¡°Brother Lei, you can¡¯t treat me like this!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said that Xiao Ling is not feeling well.¡± Li Lei took into ount the rtions of their two families and maintained the gentleness in his voice while being very firm. ¡°Lin Lin, can I trouble you to make way for us.¡±

    ¡°I want to dance with you!¡± Gu Lin was still unwilling topromise. As she was very emotional, she increased the volume of her voice.

    That attracted the stares of a few nearby guests.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± A man¡¯s voice was heard.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and saw a middle-aged man dressed in a ck suit. His face had a few simrities to Gu Lin¡¯s.

    ¡°Uncle Gu.¡± Li Lei had already called out.

    Uncle Gu? Xia Ling guessed in her heart that he was probably Gu Lin¡¯s father.

    She guessed correctly. Gu Lin turned around to look at the middle-aged man and suddenly became relieved. She resentfully red at Xia Ling, indignantly pointed at Li Lei, and said, ¡°Dad, Brother Lei refuses to dance with me!¡±

    After clearly hearing what she said, more of the surrounding guests started staring at them.

    Not only did she capture the attention of the group of high society people, the ordinary people who loved gossip were also intrigued. Many people started to walk towards themotion, trying to be near to find out what had happened.

    There was a ghastly expression on Father Gu¡¯s face.

    ording to the rules of social etiquette, if a girl invited a man to dance with her, that man could not reject her. Otherwise, it would be akin to giving her a tight p and announcing to everyone that he thought poorly of her.

    How could Father Gu witness his daughter endure that sort of humiliation and do nothing?

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± he angrily asked. ¡°our families are considered friends. Can you exin clearly to me what this is all about? Otherwise, don¡¯t me me for not considering out rtions!¡±

    Li Lei also realized that the situation had be a little troublesome, but he remained fearless. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I have offended you, Uncle Gu. However, Xiao Ling is not feeling well, and I have to send her home quickly, so I really do not have time to ept Lin Lin¡¯s invitation. I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    So what if he had offended the father and daughter of the Gu Family?

    It was better than offending Xiao Ling.

    After Father Gu heard what Li Lei said, he finally realized that he was holding a girl¡¯s hand. That girl¡¯s face was full of mockery and indifference. She was also standing elegantly and straight, and did not look like she was not feeling well at all! Excuses, they were all excuses.

    Father Gu became even more infuriated and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Who are you?¡±

 Chapter 138 - Endorsement? No More!

    <h4>Chapter 138: Endorsement? No More!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling really did not like speaking to such an impolite person. If it were up to her, she would not even look at him. However, since Li Lei called him ¡°Uncle Gu,¡± she still replied. ¡°I¡¯m Ye Xingling.¡±

    She said it very matter-of-factly; like the entire world knew who she was.

    In reality, she had already been noticed because she was escorted into the hall by two handsome and dazzling men. In the conference, there were also many people who knew who she was. The way she reported her name was mostly nonsense. Father Gu was furious. He actually wanted to ask her what her rtionship with Li Lei was why and why was Li Lei protecting her so much such that he hurt his precious daughter for her!

    She was only an unworthy small star!

    Father Gu coldly said, ¡°I know who you are. You¡¯re endorsed by the Gu Family¡¯s Meteor Wingspany.¡±

    Xia Ling did not respond further and quietly waited for what was about to happen.

    A few guests that were surrounding them secretly thought to themselves. ¡°Does she not know the status of the Gu Financial Magnate? She should be grateful that they are willing to use a small star like her as their spokesperson. How could she stand in front of an important regr like him and remain so proud and indifferent? How can she be so ignorant? Even if she has a good backing in Li Lei and is Li Lei¡¯s woman, she should not insist on being pampered like that and let her wealthy partner help her deal with the people she offends.¡±

    They secretly shook their heads and felt that she was too pampered and ignorant and would eventually be abandoned by her wealthy partner.

    Father Gu indifferently said, ¡°You have two choices now. Either you apologize to Lin Lin, or you give up the ability to be endorsed by Meteor Wings.¡±

    There was an uproar among the surrounding guests. For Meteor Wings, that was the most significant endorsement the Gu Family made in recent years! Could it be canceled by just a single sentence? It was said that Ye Xingling was a rather effective spokesperson, and the poprity of her and the perfume was rising. That...

    ¡°That¡¯s like killing one thousand enemies but harming eight hundred of your own men!¡± An old man that was holding a red wine ss shook his head. ¡°That girl is not sensible, but Mr. Gu is not being wise as well!¡±

    The surrounding people were also unhappy about his decision.

    However, Father Gu did not care. He was right that the Meteor Wings endorsement was important, but how could it be more important than his precious daughter? It was even less important now that she was suffering in front of Li Lei. He knew that his precious daughter had been infatuated with Li Lei since a young age and had always wanted to marry into the Li Family. If she were humiliated so badly in front of Li Lei, she would definitely not be able to handle it. Besides, he was also eager for them to get married. Although the Gu Family was big, it was far iparable to the formidable giant that the Li Family was. If his daughter were able to marry into the Li Family, the entire Gu Family would be able to gain in leverage and status. Then, Meteor Wings would no longer matter to him. The endorsement would no longer matter to him. Both would no longer be important.

    Sacrificing Meteor Wings¡¯ endorsement to get his daughter back in the ying field, in Father Gu¡¯s eyes, was very worth it.

    Li Lei could not guess what Father Gu was thinking and frowned.

    Actually, even if he was not talking about the entire Li Family, the small Skyart Entertainmentpany that he owned in this country did notck money. Even the money that he had exposed was just the tip of the iceberg. Thepany could do just as well without the endorsement from Meteor Wings. However, this endorsement was important to Xia Ling as it could help her advance in her career and pave the way for her to achieve fame.

    He did not wish for her career to be ruined because of an insignificant matter.

    ¡°Uncle Gu, I will apologize on behalf of Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei said very politely. ¡°I also want to apologize to Lin Lin. Lin Lin, I¡¯m the one who rejected you, so naturally, I should be held responsible. I will visit you and make amends on another day. I¡¯m really sorry.¡±

    He bowed his head towards Gu Lin and Father Gu.

    Gu Lin was enraged. What was that all about? She wanted that irritating woman to apologize, but instead, Brother Lei lowered his voice and apologized on her behalf?! She had always remembered Brother Lei as a very prideful person; he had his pride engraved in his bones. No matter how gentle or indolent he looked, the pride in bones did not give way easily, and she had never seen Brother Lei bow to anyone before!

    Gu Lin was resentful and in an awkward position. She hated Xia Ling even more now. Lifting her finger and pointing at Xia Ling, she said, ¡°Brother Lei, your apology is useless! <i>She </i>must apologize to me. If it weren¡¯t for her, you wouldn¡¯t have rejected my invitation to dance. Her health is none of your business! What gives her the right to insist that you take her home? Does she not have feet? Can¡¯t she go home by herself?!¡±

    She fired her questions like cannonballs in a very sharp voice.

    At this point in time, she had gained the attention of all the guests in the hall.

    Li Lei opened his mouth to speak. ¡°She is my...¡±

    ¡°Employee.¡± Xia Ling finished his sentence. There was no doubt that she was Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend and that Li Lei was willing to disclose their rtionship to the public. However, she did not want their rtionship to be so high-key. She wanted to be a more dazzling queen than her past life and reach the top. The path to fame was very steep. She did not wish to causeplications at such an early stage and let others suspect that she became famous due to some disgraceful means.

    ¡°You¡¯re nothing without Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s vicious statement in her past life haunted her and became one of her inner demons. In this life, she wanted everyone to see her ability and not her love affairs or the people backing her.

    As for Li Lei, as long as he had the heart to ensure that she was not wronged, she was content.

    The timing was not right yet. Once she had gained some stability in her career, she would announce their rtionship to the whole world.

    Li Lei swallowed the other half of his sentence, feeling his chest be a little stifled. However, if hiding the rtionship was her wish, he would satisfy her. He smiled and naturally continued, ¡°She¡¯s a very important employee. Even if I¡¯m wronged, I cannot let her be wronged.¡±

    If she was an A-list celebrity, it was self-exnatory for an entertainmentpany to amodate her. However, Xia Ling was not. At best, she had the potential to excel as a star. Was it worth it for the Big Boss of the prominent Skyart Entertainment to be so caring towards her?

    At once, everyone was speechless.

    There were many young girls present who were green with envy. Even if they were celebrities or capable women, who did not wish for someone handsome and influential to protect them? Li Lei¡¯s status was also very extraordinary. Although there were so many distinguished guests, they were afraid that only the boss of the organizer, Pei Ziheng, was on par with him.

    All kinds of stares were fixated on Xia Ling.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, if you have any guts, don¡¯t hide behind Brother Lei! Apologize to me! Otherwise, you can forget about my family¡¯s endorsement!¡± Gu Lin furiously eximed.

    Xia Ling felt that if she refused to say something, she would bebeled as a coward.

    ¡°Lin Lin...¡± Li Lei began to say.

    Xia Ling held on to Li Lei and coldly said to Gu Lin, ¡°It is such a pity that the excellent Meteor Wings¡¯ reputation will be destroyed by the hands of a missy like you who don¡¯t know any better. You don¡¯t want me to endorse your product? Fine! I hope you remember what you have said and do note begging me toe back in the future.¡±

    After saying that, she turned to Li Lei and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Li Lei actually wanted to try to salvage the endorsement, but since he saw Xia Ling acting so confidently, he gave up on the idea. <i>Forget it, Xiao Ling¡¯s happiness is the most important. Besides, she said before that she did not like endorsements. In the future, I will give her better opportunities to make up for it. </i>Li Lei thought.

    With this in mind, he nodded his head to Uncle Gu and, with an attitude that was neither humble nor disrespectful, said, ¡°I apologize again, Uncle Gu. We will be leaving first.¡±

    He held Xia Ling¡¯s hand and walked towards therge door.

    The guests immediately made way for the young man and woman who had garnered a lot of attention. Many people secretly admired them in their hearts. It was evident that the status of the Li Family was different. When Meteor Wings¡¯ terms changed due to some external factor and the Second Young Master Li did not agree with them, they just gave up the endorsement easily...

    However, before the two people could leave, they were stopped by someone.

    ¡°Stop there.¡±

    It was a familiar, mellow voice that caused Xia Ling¡¯s heart to jump abruptly.

 Chapter 139 - Dance Together

    <h4>Chapter 139: Dance Together</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She knew who that person was without looking back. His voice often appeared in her nightmares, and she could not get over him.

    Li Lei turned around and realized who the person was. ¡°Mr. Pei, what would you like to add?¡±

    Xia Ling had no choice but to turn around. This was the first time she was looking at Pei Ziheng from such a close distance ever since that time she was kidnapped and drugged by him. Under the radiance of the crystal chandelier, his jaw was as sharp as a knife. Handsome and full of dignity, he only took a few steps and looked at her silently, but she felt immense pressure and...

    Fear.

    She had a near-instinctive, deep fear of him. Her body was slightly tense and her arrogance and indifference while dealing with the father and daughter of the Gu Family immediately disappeared. Right now, her body was rigid due to the pressure she felt.

    Li Lei felt that something was wrong with her, so he took a step forward to shield her.

    As Pei Ziheng¡¯s line of vision was cut off, he became disgruntled. However, he did not otherwise react.

    ¡°Both of you are just going to leave like that?¡± He murmured.

    ¡°I said before that Xiao Ling is not feeling well.¡± Li Lei frowned.

    ¡°You¡¯re also called ¡®Xiao Ling¡¯?¡± Pei Ziheng stepped forward and moved closer to Xia Ling, giving her a perplexed look. ¡°What a coincidence. The Diva who passed away was also called ¡®Xiao Ling.¡¯¡±

    The luxurious ss door of the hall was open, and the cool breeze of the summer was felt. However, it had a rather ghostly sensation.

    At this moment, although she knew it was impossible, Xia Ling had a bad feeling. It was as if Pei Ziheng had already seen through her past and present life, and was there to demand that she returned the ¡°Xiao Ling¡± that belonged to him.

    ¡°Your Xiao Ling is already dead.¡± She tightly grabbed Li Lei¡¯s hand and slightly quivered.

    The surrounding guests gasped in astonishment. Was that girl crazy? How could she speak that way to Pei Ziheng? She should be well aware that Pei Ziheng was unlike the father and daughter of the Gu Family. He was the head of the most powerful family in the city and even the country! There was not even the need to mention that he was known for his cruel and cold nature. There was no good oue for anyone who offended him.

    Many people were already mourning for Xia Ling in their hearts.

    Xia Ling also knew that she was being impulsive after saying those words. She saw a moment of haze in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes which foreshadowed his real rage. Xia Ling was very scared and could not help but step back from Li Lei. If it were not for Li Lei holding her, she would have probably been so frightened that she would not be able to stand straight. The one-year imprisonment in the past severely haunted her. Although she did notpletely develop Stockholm Syndrome as he had hoped for, she had developed a strange mental distortion.

    This caused her to feel like a shocked rabbit seeing a tiger whenever she faced Pei Ziheng.

    Looking at her faintly pale face, the haze in his eyes slowly faded away. ¡°Besides her, you¡¯re the first person who has dared to speak to me like that.¡± Pei Ziheng paused. ¡°No... You definitely cannot bepared to her. Even if she caused trouble, she was always unafraid.¡± His look changed and became both empty and sad as if he was caught up in a distant memory.

    Xia Ling was silent.

    In her past life, before she was imprisoned by him, she was daring and arrogant. Even if she said something wrong in front of everyone, she could not care less and remained confident. She was nothing like she was right now, at a loss for words after making a small mistake.

    However, she breathed a sigh of relief. He could despise her or say that she was not like Xia Ling...

    She was thankful as long as no one found out about who she really was.

    With this reasoning, Xia Ling regained some of herposure after a huge fright.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We will take our leave now.¡± She said and wanted to pull Li Lei away with her immediately.

    However, Pei Ziheng responded. ¡°The cocktail party is only halfway done. Don¡¯t you think it is rather rude if you leave now?¡±

    ¡°I said before...¡± Li Lei tried to exin.

    ¡°I know that Miss Ye is not feeling well.¡± Pei Ziheng interrupted him. ¡°There is a lounge upstairs and three private doctors on standby. Miss Ye, you can take a break there for a while ande downter to dance.¡±

    ording to the normal procedures of simr cocktail parties, it was considered very rude if the guests left early without dancing. The request made by Pei Ziheng was not very demanding. However, Li Lei did not want to spend another second longer in that awful ce. It was better when Pei Ziheng did not appear. Once he appeared, he would only want to take Xiao Ling with him and run away quickly.

    Pei Ziheng looked as if he saw through Li Lei, made a hand signal, and therge ss door was closed.

    Li Lei was enraged. ¡°What are you trying to do, Mr. Pei?¡±

    ¡°I hope you can respect thest cocktail party dedicated to her.¡± Pei Ziheng solemnly said.

    The person Pei Ziheng was referring to was obvious. Many guests nodded their head in agreement. It was thest new song announcement party dedicated to the Diva Xia Ling. Since it was her conference, it was understandable that Pei Ziheng wanted it to be wless. This was the minimum respect that he could give to the Diva Xia Ling.

    Since Xia Ling was already Xia Ling, she never noticed this. Furthermore, Li Lei gave her his fullest attention, so theypletely ignored how special the asion was. As the importance of the asion was brought up by Pei Ziheng, it was not wise to insist on leaving. He looked at Xia Ling inquiringly, wanting to see what she thought about it.

    If she wanted to stay, he would stay with her.

    If she wanted to leave, even it meant offending everyone, he would still leave with her.

    Naturally, Xia Ling wanted to leave, but at that moment, a man wearing a dark ck suit emerged from the crowd. It was Feng Kun. ¡°Mr. Li and Miss Ye,¡± he said. ¡°please be understanding. I hope that both of you can be considerate towards our emperor¡¯s feelings.¡±

    There were unspeakable grief and sorrow in Feng Kun¡¯s expression.

    It pained Xia Ling to see her old friend like that. The pain she felt was not for herself, but for the person in front of her who still remembered her long after her death. She hesitated for a moment, but as she could not bear to hurt Feng Kun, she nodded and said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Feng Kun looked at her and sincerely said.

    However, Li Lei was not very pleased. ¡°As long as we dance, it will not be considered leaving early, right?¡± Not dancing before leaving was very impolite. However, as long as they danced, they would have shown sufficient respect for the asion. Furthermore, Xiao Ling was feeling unwell, and if they left, no one could gossip about her.

    Feng Kun looked at them somewhat apologetically. ¡°Yes, please dance for a song. I know that Miss Ye is not feeling well, but I would have to trouble you to do so.¡± He had always been thoughtful, and his tone was very lukewarm so no one could find an excuse to get angry.

    Xia Ling also had no intention of going against his wishes. She only nodded and said, ¡°Then we will dance for a song.¡±

    She only wanted to leave that ce as soon as possible, so she pulled Li Lei¡¯s hand and entered the dancefloor.

    The music that was stopped due to the squabble started again. Li Lei used one hand to support Xia Ling¡¯s waist and asked in a low voice, ¡°Do you know how to dance? Don¡¯t panic, just follow my lead.¡±

    Everyone was watching them. Hypothetically speaking, it was impossible for a celebrity like her not to know how to dance, but he had never seen her doing this sort of social dance before and did not know how skilled she was at it or if she would make mistakes in full public view.

    He deliberately wanted to take care of her, so he slowed down the rhythm.

    Xia Ling did not speak. She just followed his body movements and danced gently and slowly. Her graceful and adept posture indicated that she was not a beginner. Her long dress spun around as the song yed. Very soon, everyone could not take their eyes away from them.

 Chapter 140 - An Invitation to an Audition

    <h4>Chapter 140: An Invitation to an Audition</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was like the moonlight brushed across their faces. It was like the first bloom of flowers.

    Li Lei was impatient when it came to socializing and usually did not attend such social gatherings, and it was even rarer to see him engaged in a social dance. Under the backdrop of a free-flowing dance, his well-proportioned and sturdy limbs looked sexy and mesmerizing. Many female celebrities turned slightly red, but they could not help but stare at him and imagine being the ones dancing in his arms.

    Xia Ling followed his footsteps obediently.

    In actuality, in her past life, she was a master of social dancing and had even danced with Pei Ziheng during a few social events. Her dancing was mboyant, iparably magnificent, and it always mesmerized the crowd. However, as Pei Ziheng and her old friend Feng Kun were near, she did not dare to show a simr dance style as that of her past life as they understood her too well. Fortunately, Li Lei really knew how to take care of her, so she followed his lead, slowed down when he did and danced with apletely different style.

    They cooperated very well while dancing, just like they had been together for thousands of years.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became very solemn. It was strange. The dance style of that girl waspletely different from Xia Ling¡¯s, so why did she keep giving him that sense of familiarity? Even an asional, inadvertent turn of her waist had Xiao Ling¡¯s charm.

    Feng Kun¡¯s expression was even duller than Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    He pushed through the crowd, subconsciously walked to the ce the nearest to the dance floor, and fixated his eyes on Xia Ling. He was a music producer so, in certain areas, he was more sensitive than his boss. The girl before his eyes was brought there by Li Lei and followed Li Lei¡¯s movements, but she danced so perfectly. A raise of her hand was like seeing heaven.

    She was definitely not someone who did not know how to dance and needed an expert to guide her like how she appeared to be on the surface.

    Her dancing skills were probably no less than Li Lei¡¯s.

    They could even be higher than his.

    Why did she want to hide? Feng Kun only felt that his throat was dry. The figure of the girl in front of his eyes ovepped with his memory of the Diva who was fascinating even when she was just breathing. He imagined if Xia Ling was still alive, if Xia Ling slowed down when she was dancing, if she was more rxed and careless while dancing...

    Simr.

    She was too simr.

    He could not contain the conclusion that he came to in his mind. It shocked him. They were literally... the same person.

    The music gradually faded, and the song ended.

    As the two people on the dance floor stopped spinning around, the surrounding guests erupted in apuse. At that sort of social event, such apuse was rare and was the highest form of appreciation given to dancers.

    However, Li Lei turned a blind eye to the apuse, held Xia Ling¡¯s hand and asked Pei Ziheng, ¡°Can we go now?¡±

    The two men¡¯s eyes met in the midair. It was like there was a bright and piercingly cold stare that was as sharp as a sword which appeared in a deep and dark abyss. Li Leiughed. ¡°Mr. Pei, I will deal with any other tricks that you have up your sleeve. Is it that fun to keep bullying a girl?¡±

    He was referring to how Pei Ziheng poisoned Xia Ling a few months ago.

    Pei Ziheng kept trying to make things difficult for her and Li Lei could no longer tolerate it.

    Pei Ziheng looked at them deeply. He was unpredictable, and no one knew what he was thinking about. After quite some time, he lightly raised his hand, and the ss door of the banquet hall reopened.

    Pei Ziheng did not utter a sound. He just turned around and left.

    Li Lei brought Xia Ling out of the hall. As they walked out, he worriedly advised her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I think that pervert Pei Ziheng has not given up yet. He was probably focusing on Diva Xia Ling today and prioritized the dead, so he easily let you off. In the future, you have to remember to stay away from him, understand? This sort of person is too dangerous and unscrupulous.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling was not in a very good mood, so she casually replied to him.

    Li Lei wanted to say something else, but suddenly, he could hear that a person had caught up to them.

    ¡°Mr. Li! Miss Ye! Please slow down! Wait!¡±

    Both of them turned around to see a man dressed in a suit and with a square handkerchief in his chest pocket running towards them. Once he had gotten close, he panted before saying, ¡°Mr. Li and Miss Ye, I¡¯m sorry for bothering you. I¡¯m Lin Yuanyi, the assistant director of Jinpeng Media. We recently began shooting a movie and there is a role avable that requires dancing, but we have not found a suitable actor for it yet. Just now, Miss Ye¡¯s dancing deeply captivated me. If it is possible, I hope that Miss Ye cane to our office for an audition.¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect that. Just now, she just followed Li Lei¡¯s lead when they danced. She did not think that someone would actually appreciate something like that.

    She asked about her inner doubts.

    Lin Yuanyi smiled a little embarrassedly. ¡°Miss Ye, you are too modest. Although you are a novice to the social dance, judging from your lower-body movements when you turn, it is obvious that you have very solid basic dancing skills. We need someone to perform a ssical dance in our movie. From your movements, I can see a very unique disposition.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She really wanted to ask him if he was able to see any other disposition of her doing other dances such as Latin dance, hip-hop or ballet. In her past life, she had been involved in every kind of dance. She could not help but think that if he needed any other kind of dance to be performed, he would actually see different types of temperament from her.

    On the other hand, Li Lei was pleased and smiled. ¡°Lin Yuanyi? You have a great eye. You can send over the script and we will take a look.¡± If the role was suitable, it was a good idea to let Xiao Ling take on the role. Besides, she had just forfeited the endorsement from Meteor Wings and freed many of her days.

    Lin Yuanyi said, ¡°It¡¯s ¡®War and Death.¡¯¡±

    ¡°War and Death¡± was written by a famous screenwriter and received much attention in the industry ever since its release. The producers invested a lot of money into making the movie. They hired the best chief director, the best costume designers, and the best special effects team. Moreover, they had an A-list cast of celebrity actors. It was a great honor for a small star like Ye Xingling who had just debuted to participate in an audition. He was surprised that she still wanted to read the script before deciding.

    Lin Yuanqi smiled a little stiffly.

    However, Li Lei thought about it before saying, ¡°¡®War and Death¡¯? The title sounds rather familiar. I think I might have heard someone mention it before... No matter what, you still have to send the script over for us to take a look. Mypany¡¯s Xiao Ling will not take on a job when she has no idea what the job¡¯s scope is.¡±

    If she were able to secure the role, it would be the first movie she would be acting in. Li Lei had to ensure that he took care of it well.

    Lin Yuanyi could notugh any longer. That did not seem right... As the big boss of an entertainmentpany, Li Lei did not even know about such a famous project like ¡°War and Death.¡± How had Skyart Entertainment not shut down yet...

    However, those were just his personalints. He was aware of Li Lei¡¯s status and did not dare offend him.

    Lin Yuanyi said, ¡°Alright, I will send the script over in a few days.¡± <i>Forget it, </i>He thought. <i>if Big Boss Li wants to evaluate the script, I should just let him do so. Besides, this is such a good opportunity. After they have read the script, he will definitely agree and let Miss Ye audition.</i>

    Ye Xingling¡¯s temperament was extremely suited for the role. He hoped that she could seed in the audition for the role that numerous people had tried out for. If even she could not pass the audition, Lin Yuanyi would really start to cry... He really could not find a better actress...

    The next day, he sent the script to Skyart Entertainment.

 Chapter 141 - The Dancing Role

    <h4>Chapter 141: The Dancing Role</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had seen the script and found it alright.

    The role she was to audition for was a dancer who would perform a beautiful dance at a pce event before killing the emperor. The role required the performer to be extremely skilled in dance, and the character of the role was not easy to grasp and present as well. If done properly, it would be a highly interesting and fantastic act. However, the level of difficulty was extremely high, and anyck of cautiousness could ruin the portrayal of the role.

    Li Lei asked her how the script was.

    She said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to discuss it with Sister Mai Na.¡±

    Li Lei looked hurt. ¡°Why not with me?¡±

    Xia Ling simply said, ¡°Can you tell the difference between folk dance and ssical dance? Or the difference between ¡®War and Death¡¯ and ¡®The Gambler¡¯?¡± This Big Boss was good at everything, but he was indeedcking in professionalism. The first time they met, he had not even heard of the best-selling song from her previous life that brought to fame. The previous night, when Lin Yuanyi mentioned ¡°War and Death,¡± his look of confusion revealed hisplete ignorance of it. Xia Ling sometimes shared Lin Yuanyi¡¯s sentiments ¡ªnding in the hands of somebody so unreliable, how had Skyart Entertainment not shut down yet?

    Li Lei was even more hurt now, but Xia Ling was speaking the truth, and he had no way to refute it.

    Sister Mai Na arrived quickly. She was a top-tier manager indeed ¨C after having an understanding about ¡°War and Death¡± and the role, she paused for a mere moment before saying, ¡°Take it up.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Are you not afraid that I wouldn¡¯t do a good job?¡± She was nowhere as confident about her acting as she was about her singing. In her previous life, she had only acted in a grand total of one film, and that role was one that Imperial had specially tailored for her.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°This is a rare opportunity. Although this role is not easy to act out, it suits you quite well, and there isn¡¯t that much screen time, so if you put in more effort for it there shouldn¡¯t be a big issue. There are so many big shots in this show, and it is a blockbuster. You have a four and a half minutes solo dance scene... it¡¯s definitely worth fighting for.¡±

    The entertainment circle was not a ce where umting experience meant the most, so it would be foolish not to take a shortcut.

    Nobody would give up the chance to rise to fame.

    Hence, Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    She gave Wei Shaoyin a call to let him know that she would not be able to go to the recording studio for a while and that her priority would be to secure the role in ¡°War and Death¡± first. Not only did Wei Shaoyin not make things difficult for her, he simply restlessly replied, ¡°Alright, go ahead.¡±

    His response got Xia Ling worried instead. ¡°Ah Wei, what¡¯s the matter, are you unwell?¡±

    On the other end of the line, Wei Shaoyin was in the recording studio, wearing his crisp and clean white shirt with a memorial album between his slender fingers. The album had a ck kraft cover with a gold butterfly on it, and besides the butterfly were two words in a beautiful handwritten font ¡ª Her Masterpieces.

    It was the Diva Xia Ling¡¯sst album.

    The album included the newly released ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± and some of her other songs.

    Wei Shaoyin stroked the butterfly gently. ¡°Xia Ling¡¯sst album, have you listened to it? I suggest you listen to it. Feng Kun¡¯s a jerk, he¡¯s using past records to boost their image... But, Xiao Ling, we have to postpone our original schedule for the song release, because this album that the jerk has put together has awed everyone again!¡±

    It was rare to hear Wei Shaoyin praise Feng Kun, even though it was with the word ¡°jerk.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a while before the second thought shed past her ¡ª a new album from her previous life? What in the world?

    She was very sure that there was the only song she had not released, which was ¡°Caged Butterfly,¡± unless Feng Kun actually produced a version with no background music, several versions of mixed audio, and several versions of apaniment... and shamelessly made up an album with those?

    Forget it, that was not the main point. The main point was: ¡°How long would the postponement be?¡±

    ¡°We definitely have to wait until the hype about this new album is subdued.¡± Wei Shaoyin was dested. ¡°In any case, it¡¯s impossible for us to get it out in time for this year¡¯s Best New Artiste Award. Whether it¡¯s yours or not depends on your luck.¡±

    ¡°My luck...¡± Was not all that good.

    Xia Ling wanted to mock herself, but considering Wei Shaoyin¡¯s fragile current state, she swallowed the urge. She smiled. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s alright. We¡¯re just one song down anyway, I, Big Sister, will still fight my way through.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re barely of age.¡± Wei Shaoyin scoffed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be 19 next year.¡± Xia Ling countered. The days passed quickly indeed. It had been long since she revived. She joked with Wei Shaoyin for a bit and waited until he felt better before she hung up.

    In the following days, she spent all her time practicing her dance in preparation for the audition.

    The audition criteria for ¡°War and Death¡± was high ¡ª not only did candidates have to choreograph their own dance item, they were even required to include several Grade S dance moves. Time was tight, and Xia Ling tried a few different choreographies before deciding on one.

    As the day arrived, Li Lei knocked on her door and said he would send her to the audition.

    ¡°You¡¯reing with me?¡± Xia Ling furrowed her brows.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°A boyfriend sending his girlfriend there, that¡¯s a given.¡± He often fetched her when she worked overtime in the recording studio as well, but that was different ¡ª there were no outsiders in the recording studio, but now they were going out, in public.

    Xia Ling was worried that their rtionship would be exposed.

    Li Lei casually said, ¡°I¡¯ll be good. I won¡¯t bring you any trouble nor expose our rtionship.¡±

    Looking at how he appeared so expectant, Xia Ling¡¯s heart softened. ¡°Alright.¡±

    Li Lei was extremely d that his innocent act worked. ¡°Oh, also, tell your assistant she need note along.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sending you there, why do I need to send someone else?¡± His expression changed quickly and was now looking hurt again. ¡°You¡¯re really treating me like a chauffeur.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be the only one at the audition, and all the other artistes will have their assistant with them. If mine doesn¡¯te along, I¡¯llck prestige.¡±

    ¡°Prestige?¡± Li Lei grinned widely. ¡°Am I not enough to give you prestige?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Oh, Boss, if the assistant came along, it would be obvious to everyone who the assistant was. But with him, how were they going to exin their rtionship? If she dared reveal his identity, gossip would be all over the tabloids the next day, along with spections of a minor celebrity seducing a rich man...

    Xia Ling was vexed.

    Li Lei could see her frustration and offered. ¡°How about I let you have Su Tang for a while?¡±

    The image of that beautifuldy with eyes as cold as jade came to mind, and she had an internal battle with herself before deciding she could not afford to have her. Moreover, it did not help with the exnation, why would a Big Boss¡¯s special assistant decide to be at her beck and call?

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Xia Ling surrendered. ¡°Just the two of us then ¡ª but don¡¯t tell anyone that you¡¯re my boyfriend, and don¡¯t mention that you¡¯re my boss either.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei grinned in satisfaction. ¡°I don¡¯t mind revealing my identity.¡±

    ¡°I do!¡±

 Chapter 142 - Splashed with Coffee

    <h4>Chapter 142: Sshed with Coffee</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was slightly upset. His Xiao Ling was good in all aspects, but she was simply too serious when it came to this.

    But as her good boyfriend, he adhered to her request and kept it as low-profile as possible. He even deliberately chose the most ordinary car he had ¡ª the Land Rover ¡ª to drive her in.

    Only when they reached the venue did she notice how many branded cars there were; the number of BMW¡¯s and Cadic¡¯s that lined the entrance was enough to host an expo. Li Lei drove along those cars for a round before finding a spot, and when he finally got his car parked, his phone rang.

    He peered at the number on his cell phone and told Xia Ling, ¡°You go on in first, I¡¯lle once I¡¯m done with this call.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head and got off.

    The audition studio was not very far in, and two security officers stood at the entrance talking.

    She was about to enter when a group of people made their way out. The first one among them was a girl in a pompous outfit with a cup of coffee in her hand. She was talking to the people around her while exiting the studio.

    Xia Ling could not move in time and got bumped into by her.

    With a ¡°whoosh,¡± the whole cup of hot coffee hadnded on Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling took a few steps back from the impact and felt the sting from the hot coffee. She looked down at herself, only to see her light-colored outfit ruined, and a big blotch of coffee stains on her top. The coffee was still dripping from her outfit, making her look pathetic.

    ¡°Have you got no eyes!¡± The girl in front of her lost her temper first.

    Xia Ling looked up and realized it was a familiar face ¡ª Li Beier. What ill luck, they had turned enemies at the Southern Mountains Equestrian Club, and today they met again.

    Realizing who it was, Li Beier was first shocked before she sneered. ¡°Ye Xingling? Who do you think you are, don¡¯t block the way. Move!¡± Thest time she had embarrassed herself in front of such a big crowd at the club was all because of this woman. On that day, she had been dumped by Second Young Master Zhou the moment she got back, losing a financial backer. It took her much effort before she managed to find herself another one, but even so, the hatred had not faded.

    Xia Ling¡¯s chest area was still stinging; she was afraid she might have been scalded. Coupled with Li Beier¡¯s false usations, she lost her temper. ¡°Thest time when you lost in the race, did your brain suffer a kick from the horse as well? Are you blind?¡±

    Among the people around Li Beier, one man spoke up. ¡°Who do you think you are, being rude after you¡¯ve knocked into Miss Li? If Miss Li got hurt, would you be able to pay for it? Scram!¡± He turned towards Li Beier and kindly asked, ¡°Miss Li, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?¡±

    A few other people streaming out had begun to crowd around to enjoy the show.

    Li Beier looked at Xia Ling, pleased that she had so many people with her while Xia Ling was alone. She became more condescending than angry. ¡°You¡¯re here for the audition? Did everyone in Skyart die or what, not a single person¡¯s here with you. Or have you... lost your backing?¡±

    Herst three words were vile.

    She had seen Xia Ling and Li Lei together when they were at the Southern Mountains Equestrian Club and thought that Xia Ling was the sort of selling her body. Given that Second Young Master Li was well-known to change his female partners every so often, and that it had been long since theyst met, it was no surprise that Xia Ling was no longer his woman.

    She scrutinized Xia Ling from head to toe. ¡°Huh, cheap goods. You actually dare to wear them out?¡±

    To be fair, Xia Ling¡¯s outfit was notcking in any way. In fact, it was a limited edition brand item that she got in Paris. But the brand was not too popr, and many of the locals in their country had never seen that brand.

    Li Beier was now of a different status, she was no longer thedy who vied with others for an outfit in Lucas¡¯ store. Now, she was decked in Chanel from head to toe and prouder than before.

    Li Beier was even surer now that Xia Ling had lost her backer. ted, she said, ¡°Look at how drenched you are, haha. Ye Xingling... did you not see this daying for you back when we were at the club? Let me tell you, you can forget about the audition today and just go home. How do you expect topete with me in your pathetic state?¡±

    ¡°Compete? You¡¯re not fit,¡± Xia Ling calmly said. Though she was stained in coffee, her cool demeanor made her seem like a queen in her grand robe, and everyone around began shrinking back.

    Li Beier was about to explode with anger, and a spark of hatred shed past her eyes. She held her head up high and looked even more arrogant than before. ¡°I see you¡¯re here for the audition. Haha, what a pity, I should let you know that this role has been internally decided, and the chosen one is none other than me. The whole audition is just a formality. Oh well, I¡¯m sorry you made a wasted trip.¡±

    With that, she observed Xia Ling¡¯s face carefully, hoping to see a look of disappointment, defeat or indignance. And yet, the one who was disappointed was herself. Xia Ling¡¯s expression remained calm as usual, as she looked toward Li Beier like she was a fool.

    Internally decided? She did not know if Li Beier was speaking the truth, and even if she was, the production team actually dared make her, Xia Ling, somebody else¡¯s stepping stone and even a spare candidate... Ha, she would make them regret it.

    Li Beier was extremely disturbed by her sarcastic look and shot her a cold look before simply leaving. <i>Forget it. Anyway, she is already soaked in coffee, there is no need to argue with her further. Hmph, Director Jin¡¯s criteria are so stringent, there is no way this bitch will make it through anyway.</i>

    A whole line of haughty people strode past Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling remembered her audition time slot and lost the heart to continue bickering with her. She would remember this and take her revenge another day.

    Peace was restored at the entrance of the audition studio. As Xia Ling took her first step towards the studio, the security officer at the entrance stopped her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss.¡± It was a young security officer. ¡°Those who are in inappropriate clothing are not allowed to enter.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. She looked down at her stained clothes and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t arrive in inappropriate clothing intentionally, this happened because I knocked into someone, as you would have seen. Please let me enter, I¡¯m here for the audition.¡± She did not prepare an extra set of clothes when she left in the morning, and the ce she was at was not near any clothing store. The only way was to get into the audition studio and get to a washroom before her audition; it was the only chance for her to salvage her outfit.¡±

    ¡°You want to audition in this outfit?¡± The young security officer could not recognize her limited edition apparel from Paris as well. The design and cut of the outfit were very low key, and while it was presentable, it was nowhere near that fanciful or eye-catching. The young security officer appeared to be slighting her. ¡°Miss, just look at the line of cars parked at the entrance, do you know who the other audition candidates are? As for the car you arrived in...¡±

    He looked towards the direction she came from and saw Li Lei in a casual sleeved t-shirt, walking from his parked car.

 Chapter 143 - The Innocently Attacked Director Jin

    <h4>Chapter 143: The Innocently Attacked Director Jin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You¡¯ve got the guts to bring a chauffeur along in such a lousy car. And why¡¯s your chauffeur dressed so casually, I supposed he isn¡¯t professional? Miss, let me advise you, do not get someone to boost your image at thest minute. Just look at how shabbily your chauffeur is dressed, doesn¡¯t it further bring your image down?¡±

    Xia Ling was tongue-tied as she looked at the security officer. She then turned towards Li Lei.

    ¡°He... isn¡¯t too... professional.¡± She had no other way of putting it.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that right?¡± The young security officer was staring closer at Li Lei. ¡°You came here sad and all alone, without even an assistant to say the least, what point was there in making up the fact that you have a chauffeur? Look at Miss Li, she has two to three assistants, her manager, a makeup artist[a], and even a bag carrier... That¡¯s what privilege is called, get it in your head.¡±

    <i>True enough. </i>Xia Ling thought. <i>Boss, I just knew that you wouldn¡¯t boost my image as well as an assistant would.</i>

    ¡°Ahem.¡± The other security officer coughed. He was a lot older than the younger officer, and probably in his forties.

    He nudged the younger security officer and then smiled apologetically to Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Miss. Xiao Zhang is new here and often says the wrong things. If he¡¯s offended you in any way, please be magnanimous. However, based on our regtions, those inappropriately dressed are not allowed to enter. We will have to trouble you toe back again after you¡¯ve had a change of clothes.¡±

    The young security officer was unhappy. ¡°When have I said the wrong things? What did I say wrong? It¡¯s a fact that she¡¯s shabby, what use is there trying to boost her image...¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s shabby?¡± An attractive male voice interrupted.

    She turned around and saw Li Lei standing beside her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, why haven¡¯t you gone in?¡± He frowned. ¡°And what happened to your clothes?¡±

    Xia Ling briefly told him what had just happened.

    Li Lei looked a little somber. ¡°Which Li Beier?¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet for a while. Alright then, it seemed like girls who walked alongside wealthy men were simply insignificant to people like Li Lei. But, it¡¯s only been a while, and he actually forgot all the drama that had taken ce at the Southern Mountains Equestrian Club.

    She was about to say something when the young security officer sneered. ¡°You people don¡¯t even know who Li Beier is? I guess you don¡¯t watch movies. She¡¯s a star that Director Jin has groomed and brought to fame personally; her potential is boundless.¡±

    Director Jin was the chief director of ¡°War and Death.¡± He was extremely well-known and way higher in status than the Lin Yuanyi who approached her to try out for the audition the other day. Li Lei did not watch movies often indeed, but that did not stop him from smiling grimly. ¡°Jin Yifei is tired of living.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked, what was this Big Boss thinking of doing to Director Jin?

    She tugged at his sleeve, whispering. ¡°Don¡¯t bring up fighting and such stuff all the time.¡±

    What an innocent victim.

    The young security officer overheard what she said and mocked them even louder than before. ¡°Fight? So you¡¯re a gangster, I¡¯ve seen too many little gangsters like you. Miss, let me advise you, don¡¯t get a gangster to act as your chauffeur, don¡¯t you know it¡¯s very embarrassing...¡±

    Li Lei red at that security officer fiercely.

    It did not matter that he was beingughed at, but no one was allowed tough at his Xiao Ling!

    The old security officer got a shock when he saw Li Lei¡¯s expression. He was way more experienced than the young officer and was a lot sharper in judging people. This man before him might be in a casual t-shirt and not unting in any way, but in his eyes was a subtle but threatening look of power, one that was more intimidating than even the rich and powerful. He appeared like one who could get others to bow down to him even without any show of extravagance.

    This could only be achieved by those who had lived a life of luxury and authority since they were young.

    The old security officer guessed that Li Lei was someone of a certain status, and frantically got the young security officer to stand behind him to stop him from talking further.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Xiao Zhang is new here and doesn¡¯t know any better. Please do not put yourself at his level... Oh, right. Mister, may I know how I should address you?¡± The old security officer smiled apologetically and looked only toward Li Lei.

    Xia Ling was amazed. Experience came with age indeed, with just a little interaction he knew exactly who had the upper hand.

    Li Lei did not even bother to entertain him as he whipped his cell phone out. ¡°Hey, Yunfeng, I¡¯m at the audition venue for ¡°War and Death,¡± get your highest level personnel to the phone. Yes? What am I here for? I sent my Xiao Ling here for the audition... Yes, she¡¯s my precious, and I finally got her to agree to be with me. Why? Do you have an objection?... Haha, alright, I¡¯ll treat you to a drink sometime.¡±

    He went on teasing for a while before hanging up.

    The old security officer was stunned and then turned awful. ¡°You... called Director Du?¡±

    Xia Ling recalled that the biggest investor of ¡°War and Death¡± was not Jin Peng Media, the party that invited her to the audition, but the renowned Fan Hua Entertainment. And the executive director of Fan Hua Entertainment happened to be the Du Yunfeng she met at the equestrian club, who was also Li Lei¡¯s brother-in-arms.

    Li Lei did not even nce at the security officers and simply told Xia Ling, ¡°When you go inter, I¡¯ll get someone to find you a change of clothes. Next time, remember to put a set of spare change in my car, okay?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded obediently.

    A whileter, a man walked out of the audition studio hurriedly. In his 40s, he was dressed in high-grade formal wear, even the buttons on his shirt were gold-ted. The moment he saw Xia Ling, he began sizing her up discreetly and then turned towards Li Lei, to whom he presented a pleasant smile. ¡°This must be Mr. Li? Hello, I¡¯m the producer of ¡°War and Death,¡± Zheng Desong. I did not know you¡¯d be here today, please pardon me for myck in hosting and weing you.¡±

    Xia Ling was awed. Li Lei was dressed so casually and simply, how did they so urately judge that he was of a higher status than her? <i>Comparison is really the devil </i>. She thought as she red at Li Lei, and then smiled in her heart ¡ª having a boyfriend who was so suave and powerful, she was... a little proud of it.

    After his introduction, Zheng Desong respectfully bent over slightly and offered both his hands in a handshake, to which Li Lei had only offered one. After that, he straightened up and extended his right hand to Xia Ling. ¡°I looked through today¡¯s audition list, this must be Miss Ye? My pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not reach her hand out and merely apologized. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my hands are dirty.¡±

    Li Beier¡¯s spilled coffee had caused her to be a mess.

    Zheng Desong suddenly looked shocked, as if he had just noticed how miserable she looked. ¡°This is...?¡±

    ¡°Met a mad dog,¡± said Li Lei. ¡°What¡¯s she called? Li... what?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Li Beier.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Li Beier.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was cold now. ¡°She spilled coffee all over Xiao Ling, and not only did these two security officers not stop her, they even stopped Xiao Ling from entering. Is Jin Yifei so extraordinary now? He thinks he can bully my people with hisckeys?¡±

    [a]artiste?

 Chapter 144 - The Accidental Gossip

    <h4>Chapter 144: The idental Gossip</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Zheng Desong turned towards the security officers and gave them a dressing down. ¡°How do you both even handle anything! Hurry and apologize to Mr. Li and Miss Ye!¡±

    The old security officer looked awful. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry, it is our fault for not being discerning. We¡¯ve realized our mistake, and hope that you¡¯d be magnanimous and forgive the average people like us...¡±

    He said all the right things and looked at them pitifully.

    It was not easy for them to make a living. Thus, Xia Ling was about to tell Li Lei to let it go when the young security officer raised his voice. ¡°Why should I apologize?! The inappropriately dressed are not allowed to enter in the first ce. I was just enforcing the rules!¡±

    Zheng Desong looked at him expressionlessly. ¡°Did the rules also say that when you see our guests encountering difficulty, you should simply watch as a bystander and mock them about it?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± The young security officer choked on his words.

    ¡°Go to the finance department to settle your wages, you don¡¯t have toe tomorrow,¡± Zheng Desong told him coldly.

    The young security officer was in shock and only just realized the severity of the situation. He looked as if he wanted to plead for a second chance but, unwilling to put himself down, he stood rooted to the ground, conflicted and awkward, and appeared like aughing stock.

    Zheng Desong did not give him a second look. He turned towards Li Lei and Xia Ling with an apologetic smile and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had to see our embarrassing security officers. Let me apologize on their behalf, I¡¯m really very sorry for the mistake. I will punish them as necessary and ensure that you¡¯re given a satisfactory ount.¡±

    Xia Ling looked towards the old security officer and felt awful about it. He never offended her in any way, and even when he stopped her from entering, he was polite and kind about it. She pointed at the old security officer and told Li Lei, ¡°He...¡±

    Li Lei understood her immediately and said, ¡°Manager Zheng, you can let the older one off.¡±

    Zheng Desong was surprised, and then nodded smilingly. ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯re too kind-hearted.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless, this was being kind-hearted? It seemed like taking Li Lei along with her had an additional function ¡ª to be awarded praises.

    The old security officer thanked them profusely. This time, the young security officer hade to a decision and awkwardly apologized. ¡°I... I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s my fault. Manager Zheng, Mister, and Miss, please don¡¯t fire me!¡±

    Xia Ling did not have a good feeling towards this young security officer. Zheng Desong was right, enforcing the rules? Then what about the fact that somebody had spilled coffee on her and ridiculed her? Why was he standing there and enjoying the show?

    She pursed her lips tightly, not saying a word. Li Lei¡¯s expression was also as cold as ice.

    Zheng Desong read their expressions and said, ¡°Please do not plead on his behalf, it¡¯ll make things difficult for me. This security officer does not have the proper skills and quality, even if he did not offend Miss Ye today, he would have offended other guests in the future. Wouldn¡¯t this be causing us more problems? I have to set the rules straight this time.¡±

    Li Lei was satisfied and proceeded to walk Xia Ling into the studio.

    Zheng Desong led the way and took them to his office. He then offered them seats, served Li Lei tea, and appointed somebody to get Xia Ling a change of clothes. Just before they left, Xia Ling suddenly recalled something and turned towards Li Lei. ¡°You said...¡±

    Li Lei sighed and told Zheng Desong, ¡°Manager Zheng, regarding my appearance here today, please keep it a secret.¡±

    Zheng Desong appeared surprised, but quickly put on an understanding smile. ¡°But of course, I¡¯ll instruct the security officers right away.¡±

    She was relieved. Although Li Lei was the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment, he waszy and hardly had a hand in many of their public appearances, and in fact, he almost never showed himself. Xia Ling guessed that few people knew him, and as long as they did not publicize this matter, it should pass quietly ¡ª that was also why she was willing to let hime along.

    Otherwise, if word got around, who was to say what the story would be distorted into.

    An employee led Xia Ling to a small makeup studio and found her a dance outfit. It was pale green in color and flowy in its cut, almost like a whiff of smoke that could escape between her fingers.

    The employee was slightly apologetic. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Ye, we don¡¯t have brand new outfits here. This one was borrowed from the props team. However, don¡¯t worry, although it¡¯s just a prop, it was cleaned and sterilized very thoroughly. I hope you won¡¯t mind.¡±

    She nodded her head as a show of eptance. If not for Li Lei, they might not even have agreed to lend her a dance outfit. This was an oue she was more than thankful for.

    The employee left the room and shut the door for her.

    Xia Ling changed into the outfit and looked at herself on the full-length mirror, realizing that the outfit was surprisingly fitting. She tried a few dance moves and realized that it felt very light and that the outfit did not restrict her movements in any way.

    Yup, very satisfied.

    She turned around and prepared to leave the room.

    But just as she ced her hand on the doorknob, she heard voices from the corridor outside ¡ª

    ¡°The one who just auditioned is not bad, the expression in her eyes were strong enough, and her thighs are round and tough. I like her.¡± It was a light-hearted voice.

    ¡°Director Jin, have your preferences changed recently? How could that girl match up to your Li Beier in any way? Her face, her body, wow, even the thought of it is thrilling.¡± The other voice was even more yful.

    Xia Ling was stunned. Director Jin, Jin Yifei?

    Before she could think further, the first voice was heard again, along with augh. ¡°You like her? I can let you y with her for a few days.¡±

    ¡°How could Iy a finger on your woman...¡± The second voice sounded tempted.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with that? I¡¯m pretty sick of her anyway. That girl is getting greedy. If I don¡¯t teach her a lesson, she will probably forget how much she¡¯s really worth.¡±

    ¡°In that case, it¡¯d be bad for me to reject you. Thanks in advance, Director Jin...¡±

    The both of them startedughing, and their voices soon faded into the distance.

    Xia Ling rested her hand on the doorknob for a moment, the coolness of the stainless steel sending a chill down her spine, alerting her. Was Director Jin picking a character for his show, or was he picking a mistress? She suppressed her unhappiness and thought for a while. Instead of heading to the audition studio, she detoured to the office first.

    Li Lei was surprised to see her. ¡°Xiao Ling, why are you back?¡± He then tilted his head slightly and looked at the outfit she was in. His eyes were gleaming with admiration. ¡°You look really good in this outfit.¡±

    Xia Ling ignored his second line and said, ¡°I just recalled something. When I bumped into Li Beier at the entrance, she said that the role had been internally decided and that she would be the one to take it. If that¡¯s the case, there¡¯s no need for me to audition.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s pleasant expression faded as he shed Zheng Desong a questioning look.

    Zheng Desong immediately replied, ¡°Li Beier really doesn¡¯t know how to handle things, Miss Ye, please don¡¯t hold it against her. To be honest with you, she was indeed the internally decided choice ¡ª she¡¯s been rather close to Jin Yifei recently, and her dancing is pretty good. But after that, our assistant director rmended Miss Ye and Jin Yifei was very interested. He called off the deal he had with Li Beier and said that the role would be based on merit and would go to whoever deserved it more based on the audition.¡±

    <i>I see </i>, Xia Ling thought, <i>no wonder Li Beier red at me with such hatred.</i>

    But, did Jin Yifei purely admire her for her dance, or...

 Chapter 145 - The Magnificent Peony

    <h4>Chapter 145: The Magnificent Peony</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Thinking back about the conversation she overheard previously, Xia Ling felt ufortable ¡ª what about the artiste Jin Yifei was sizing up during the audition?

    Seeing her expression, Li Lei asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, is there any other problem?¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated before shaking her head. Having known Li Lei for this long, she had realized how Li Lei was like as a person; he was nice usually, but when he lost his temper, it was hard for anyone to deal with him. Just earlier that day he had caused a security officer to be fired because of a small issue. If he did anything to Jin Yifei just because of her insecurities or doubts, it would be disastrous.

    Zheng Desong said, ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t you worry, with our members involved in this audition, we will definitely give a fair oue. Moreover,¡± He looked at her meaningfully. ¡°Jin Yifei may appear teasing and unrestrained sometimes, but he is surely a serious man at work given that he¡¯s doing so well in the industry now.¡±

    His words put Xia Ling at ease.

    But Li Lei drowned at the words ¡°teasing and unrestrained¡± and would not let it go. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He stood from the sturdy couch. ¡°I¡¯ll go over with you.¡±

    Xia Ling was about to agree when his cell phone rang.

    He looked at it and furrowed his brows.

    She was not sure what important call it was, but she did not want to interfere. ¡°You should just get to it. I¡¯ll go over on my own, it¡¯s alright.¡±

    Reading the situation, Zheng Desong stood up as well. ¡°I¡¯ll walk Miss Ye over.¡±

    With Zheng Desong¡¯s apaniment, Li Lei was more relieved and decided not to insist. ¡°Xiao Ling, be careful.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and followed Zheng Desong to the audition set.

    The set was not big. In the center was a temporary wooden stage, and under the spotlights and cameras, a girl in a red dress danced onstage, her movement enchanting and elegant, just like dancing mes.

    Xia Ling determined at first nce that this girl¡¯s dance techniques were far fromparable to hers.

    Zheng Desong led her past many employees and filming apparatus before finally arriving at the side of the stage.

    She saw a deckchair there, and lying on it with one leg propped up casually was a man in a floral shirt, and a Vacheron Constantin watch was on his left wrist. He did not notice them entering and was excitedly talking to the man on the stool beside him. ¡°The one in red was not too bad, but her foundation isn¡¯t strong enough. Her toes were not pointed properly, she needed a great effort to do a bridge, and when she did that spinning movement, even I felt bad for her bones... With someone like that, even ying with her in bed won¡¯t be thrilling.¡±

    He did not lower his volume ¡ª maybe it was inaudible from the stage, but for Xia Ling, she heard it clear as day.

    Zheng Desong appeared ufortable and gave a loud cough.

    The man on the deckchair turned around and seemed shocked to see them. ¡°Brother Zheng, why are you here? Are you looking for me?¡± He spoke while rising from his seat with a smile. ¡°This is...?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± replied Xia Ling.

    Up close, the man was rather good-looking with his big bright eyes. At that moment, he was using those very eyes to size her up, and the way he looked at her was practically... peeling her clothes offyer byyer.

    Xia Ling felt disgusted and took two steps back.

    Zheng Desong could sense her uneasiness and went forward to shield her slightly. ¡°Yifei,¡± he said. ¡°This is Miss Ye Xingling here for the audition. She¡¯s an honored guest, please be a good host to her, alright?¡±

    He ced emphasis on the words ¡°honored guest.¡±

    The man got a mild shock before smiling. ¡°Alright, alright... Miss Ye, you¡¯re really somebody, even Brother Zheng who doesn¡¯t involve himself in the choosing of the cast thinks so highly of you.¡± He appeared more serious now and offered his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Jin Yifei, Director of ¡®War and Death.¡¯ I heard the assistant director Lin Yuanyi mention you before. Wee to the audition.¡±

    Lin Yuanyi had been busy recently, and while he had mentioned to Jin Yifei how good Xia Ling was in her dancing, hepletely forgot to mention her rtionship with Li Lei ¡ª everybody had seen the way Li Lei shielded Xia Ling at the cocktail reception. If Jin Yifei had known about it, he would not have dared size Xia Ling up before.

    Xia Ling shook his hand lightly.

    At this point, thedy in red had already finished her piece and had left the stage. The employees cleared the stage and signaled to Jin Yifei, asking if they could move on to the next audition.

    Jin Yifei looked toward Xia Ling smilingly. ¡°Miss Ye, are you ready? The set is all ready for you.¡±

    She nodded her head and walked up.

    It could not be helped that her hearing was impable. She could clearly hear the soft whispers between Jin Yifei and Zheng Desong ¡ª

    ¡°Hey, Brother Zheng, what¡¯s this Ye Xingling¡¯s background? Isn¡¯t she just a new artiste from Skyart? Why did you have toe all the way down with her?¡±

    ¡°She has her backing, you¡¯d better be careful. Put your flirty ways aside and don¡¯t make any trouble.¡±

    ¡°Backing!¡± Jin Yifei sounded shocked. ¡°Is she somebody¡¯s mistress? That¡¯s not right... her looks are merely average, what good financial backing could she have that¡¯s better than me? Brother Zheng, who exactly is he?¡±

    ¡°Not so loud!¡± Zheng Desong was getting annoyed. ¡°Stop creating trouble. In any case, it¡¯s somebody you can¡¯t afford to provoke.¡±

    As they spoke, Xia Ling made her way to the center of the stage. More and more lights began to gather on her, and the intensity of the rays cleared all the distractions in her ears and mind. She could no longer hear what they were saying as she stood steadily in the center, and nothing was left in sight nor in her heart except the dance.

    The instrumental began a beautiful ssical Chinese melody.

    She was familiar with this melody. Before the audition, the production team had sent them this piece. All the artistes who auditioned for the role had to choreograph their dance ording to this music, which would be the dance that the character would perform during the celebratory pce feast.

    She had practiced diligently.

    As she started moving, her body stretched out, and a small sword appeared in her hand. She was now an enchanting figure.

    The dance she had choreographed was highly difficult, with challenging movements following one after the other; a jump-split followed by quick spins right after thending, a mirage of moves put together seamlessly... it was not her choice to show off all her steps, but was it not the production team who requested all these challenging moves? To make these moves even more elegant and smooth-flowing in a piece, and to better appeal to the audience, she decided to add more challenging steps than required. She remembered the first time she practiced the whole piece and how her body was in knots after just one round of rehearsal.

    But the effects were stunning.

    Her swift actions with the sword, along with the peony in her mouth ¡ª still fresh and fragrant with drops of dew ¡ª had brought her back to thousands of years ago at the very scene of the pce feast. She imagined herself performing before the empress, emperor, and his concubines, and in a split second, did an arched back and began doing spin after spin... turning herself into a splendid and magnificent peony.

 Chapter 146 - Director Jin, You Have Watched Too Many Korean Dramas

    <h4>Chapter 146: Director Jin, You Have Watched Too Many Korean Dramas</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Vague noises wereing from the surroundings, and there seemed to be some sort ofmotion. However, Xia Ling had no time to pay attention to it.

    She was already deeply immersed in her role. In this beautiful dance, she was the best dancer and also the best assassin. She was in this unsuspecting town for one reason ¡ª an assassination.

    The more she twirled around, the more urgent she grew, and the desire in her heart became more and more eager. She looked at the emperor on the dragon throne. His eyes were intoxicated and his throat was fragile... She could almost imagine the beautiful scene of the edge of her sword plundering his throat.

    The taste of victory...

    Her heart was jumping, and her short sword was buzzing. As she continued dancing, her eagerness burned.

    She felt the peony in her mouth be destroyed. The petals scattered everywhere and brushed across her face and the tip of her sword.

    As whirling in the dance increased, her body¡¯s center of gravity became lower, and she became closer to the earth... Themotion in her surroundings started again, with rising exmations. They sounded like they came from somewhere far away as if they came from another world.

    After some time, the speed of the dance instinctively slowed down. However, the dancers were still spinning around in circles. They danced emotionally and ceaselessly like flowers blooming throughout the darkest areas, slowly turning into phantoms and ghosts. They were like inconspicuous ripples in the dark... All the colors converged, and it was as if life was also exhausted.

    Speeding up the spinning dance was hard, but slowing it down was even more difficult.

    However, she instinctively knew from the depths of her soul. Knowing how to perform the dance in the best way seemed inherent in her. She was a natural dancer. Perhaps, this was God¡¯s blessing...

    The music sped up and slowed down ording to her dancing.

    After thepletion of herst spin, Xia Ling leisurely pressed her body to the lowest position of the dance, folded her legs, and supported her forehead on the ground.

    In the illusion of light and shadow, she seemed to see the emperor smiling at her, getting up and holding out his hand.

    She also smiled. Her body was like a folded flower which was in its most gloomy yet most beautiful state. It was the moment she had been anticipating ¡ª attack!

    <i>Dong! </i>A sound was heard.

    Therge drums suddenly sounded.

    At that moment, she turned her body and leaped, twisting her waist and spinning her short sword. With a determination to kill, she pierced the air!

    A sudden stop.

    An exmation, followed by shing sounds as equipment copsed.

    After that, the air was still.

    The dance had ended.

    Xia Ling panted as she tried to maintain thest stance of the assassination dance. She was surprised to find out that the short sword she was holding was currently pointing at a person in front of her ¡ª Jin Yifei. At this point, he had fallen to the ground with a confounded look. His body was buried in arge pile of photographic equipment which had copsed as he gaped and looked at her in shock. He looked like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

    Could it be that a prop scared him to this extent?

    On second thought, pointing something at someone was rather impolite.

    Xia Ling kept the sword and apologized to Jin Yifei. ¡°Director Jin, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose.¡±

    He seemed as if he did not hear her and continued to look at her in shock.

    Xia Ling raised her hand to wipe away the sweat on her forehead. Although she had only danced for a few minutes, the physical exertion was immense. She was very thirsty, so she turned to look for some water to drink. However, she found out that the small temporary stage was filled with people. All of the staff members in the room were standing at the side and looking at her enthusiastically.

    ¡°You danced really well!¡± Someone took the lead and shouted from the audience.

    Cheers and apuse followed suit.

    Xia Ling was startled. That was only her first audition, and she did not expect such a huge reaction. Feeling happy, she waved at them, and the feeling she had at this moment was akin to that in her past life when she had thousands of fans chasing after her. She smiled as she gave the crowd a light and elegant curtsy to acknowledge them.

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± Someone shouted her name from behind her.

    She turned around to find that Jin Yifei had already stood up from the equipment pile. He supported his tripod with one hand and pointed his other trembling hand at her. ¡°You, it has to be you! The genius dancer, the perfect assassin! This role was made for you!¡±

    He was so emotional that he looked like he was going to faint.

    He stumbled as he ran towards her and shook her hand furiously. ¡°Ye Xingling, you must ept this role! As an award-winning director, I guarantee that if you act in this role, you will definitely be famous! Definitely famous! Oh my god... I¡¯m too lucky this time! Thank heavens I didn¡¯t directly ept Li Beier. Thank heavens the position is open for a change of actress! This is wonderful!¡±

    Xia Ling fell silent. This time, did she rob Li Beier of her role and indirectly exacted her revenge on that woman?

    Jin Yifei held her hand tightly and refused to let go.

    Suddenly, a hand emerged, pulled Jin Yifei by the cor, and dragged him away.

    ¡°Congrattions Miss Ye.¡± It was Zheng Desong, handing her a cup of tea. ¡°We would like to warmly wee you as a member of our cast. A whileter, we will assign a few staff members to finalize the contract with your manager. We look forward to working with you.¡±

    Xia Ling took the cup of tea, slightly sipped it, and tilted her head to look at the still overly emotional director beside Zheng Desong.

    The role was not the problem. The problem was whether Jin Yifei was reliable.

    Zheng Desong followed her gaze and also looked at Jin Yifei. He smiled. ¡°Yifei is usually quite vocal, but once he starts filming, he does not speak much. He has amazing intuition and control. Humbly speaking, whatever he shoots bes famous, and whatever he promotes gains attention. Yifei¡¯s professionalism far exceeds other directors¡¯.¡±

    Alright. Since even Sister Mai Na said that it was a good opportunity. Sister Mai Na would never lie to her.

    Xia Ling nodded and said, ¡°I have no problem with that. If there is nothing else, I will be leaving first.¡± The audition had ended, and the only thing left was her manager¡¯s finalization which did not concern her much. In her heart, she kept thinking about going to find Li Lei, but she did not know if he had finished his call.

    Zheng Desong stopped her. ¡°Miss Ye, please wait for a while. I have already asked some staff members to buy a new set of shirt and pants for you. If you don¡¯t mind, you can go to the dressing room and change out of the dancing costume you are wearing now.¡±

    As the highest ranking person in charge, it was no surprise that he was so attentive.

    Xia Ling thanked him and went to the small changing room to get changed. The fabric of the clothes the staff had bought for her had a good texture, and the clothes werefortable to wear. The size was a little too big for her; however, she felt that it was fine as they looked like they fit her quite well on the outside.

    She looked at herself in the mirror and decided to pack up properly before leaving. Just then, she heard a knocking sound on the door.

    Once she opened the door, she saw Jin Yifei¡¯s slender body leaning against the door and smiling at her. He was still wearing the well-made flower shirt. The first two buttons were unbuttoned and revealed the gold and emerald pendant he was wearing. Paired with the shiny branded watch on his wrist, they enhanced his beauty. He was the perfect example of a rich second-generation heir.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me to sit down, Xiao Ling?¡± He smiled and said. The tone he used was as if they had known each other for ten thousand years.

    Xia Ling did not move. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± Half an hour ago, he was still calling her ¡°Miss Ye.¡±

    He smiled rather shamelessly. ¡°I heard that the employees in Skyart Entertainment call you that. You see, Xiao Ling, we¡¯re about to be co-workers. Calling you by your surname sounds too strange, don¡¯t you agree? Oh yes, you can just call me Yifei oppa.¡±

    Yifei... oppa?!

    Director Jin, have you watched too many Korean dramas?

 Chapter 147 - Someone who Dared to Flirt with Me

    <h4>Chapter 147: Someone who Dared to Flirt with Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at him emotionlessly. ¡°Director Jin, is there something important?¡±

    He exaggeratedly ced his hand on his heart. ¡°Xiao Ling, how could you be so cold to me?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m leaving now. We can chat another day.¡±

    He quickly blocked the doorway. ¡°Don¡¯t! Why can¡¯t I look for you if there is nothing important? How about you give me some face and eat dinner with me tonight? I know a very good Thai restaurant...¡±

    She vaguely recalled that half an hour ago, Zheng Desong already told him not to provoke her.

    ¡°Director Jin, someone is waiting for me.¡± Xia Ling ced emphasis on thest part of her sentence.

    Jin Yifei looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. ¡°You aren¡¯t even dating anyone. No matter who is waiting for you, he or she is in no position to stop me from inviting you to dinner.¡± Thinking about it, he added, ¡°Rest assured, Xiao Ling. Even if your family has wealth and power, my family¡¯s status is not bad and is definitelypatible with yours. If you¡¯re with me, I¡¯m sure there will be no loss to you.¡±

    He actually thought that her backing was a family member and not a lover? No wonder he dared to have ideas.

    Xia Ling looked at him in shock. ¡°How do you know that I am not dating anyone?¡± Even Zheng Desong guessed that she was protected by Li Lei and deliberately warned Jin Yifei that she had a backing. From eavesdropping on their conversation before her audition, she saw that Jin Yifei agreed with his conjecture. Why did he suddenly change his mind after a short while?

    ¡°Oh...¡± His gaze fell on her body. ¡°I¡¯m good at observing people. Just now when you were dancing, I observed very closely and noticed that although your body is very flexible, you obviously have not...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s intuition told her that what he was about to say was nothing good. Her face had just darkened before someone spoke for her.

    ¡°Flirting with my staff. Are you tired of living?¡± A cold and murderous voice thundered.

    Jin Yifei immediately stopped talking.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and saw Li Lei standing close by and looking very upset.

    ¡°Big... Big boss Li!¡± Jin Yifei was traumatized looking at Li Lei. ¡°Why... why are you here?!¡±

    This was quite unexpected to Xia Ling. Did he know Li Lei?

    Turning his head, he could see that Li Lei¡¯s face was as dark as an overcast sky. ¡°Manage yourself and your women. If I find out that you¡¯re harassing Xiao Ling again...¡±

    Jin Yifei finally realized that something was wrong. Could it be that the delicate girl in front of him was actually Li Lei¡¯s woman?! At this moment, he wanted to give himself a p on the face. He should have listened to Zheng Desong¡¯s warning. Why did he have to chase after women for no good reason? Now, he was in an even more difficult situation.

    Indeed, he and Li Lei were old acquaintances. The Jin Family was involved in a business that involved trade with foreign countries. They frequently offended many people, and their cargo ships were often targeted by enemies, so they needed the protection of the Li Family. After a few business transactions, the two families became familiar with each other. Jin Yifei was the family¡¯s youngest son and was spoiled from an early age and became a hedonistic, good-for-nothing. When he was ten years old, he disobeyed his family¡¯s orders and refused to help out in the family business. He then made a living wandering from ce to ce alone and encountered some trouble in the past, and it was thanks to Li Lei that he was where he was today.

    As such, he was not afraid of anything and anyone except Li Lei.

    If he had known earlier that she was Li Lei¡¯s woman, he would not have dared to make a move on her no matter how brave he was!

    In his heart, Jin Yifei had already burst into tears. He nodded like a chicken and said, ¡°Yes... I assure you that my group of women and I will never disturb Xiao Ling again. Wait, that¡¯s not right. My group of women and I? Big Boss Li, which of them has provoked Xiao Ling? I will give her a piece of my mind!¡±

    Li Lei smiled and said, ¡°Li Beier.¡±

    This time, he remembered that damned woman¡¯s name.

    ¡°So it is her!¡± Jin Yifei flew into a rage. ¡°I was just talking about how this little girl is overstepping her boundaries more and more these days. She thinks that just because I treat her well, she can do as she pleases, and now she has caused problems for me! Big Boss Li and Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry. I will get rid of her this instant! I won¡¯t even give her apensation fee for breaking up! No, I won¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°I thought you said before that you were going to give her to someone else?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    Jin Yifei was terrified.

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°I heard it when I was in the corridor outside the dressing room.¡±

    Jin Yifei cried. ¡°You have heard it already... Well, I admit that I had ns to get rid of her. Transferring this sort of woman to someone else when one doesn¡¯t want her anymore is also verymon...¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s face darkened and gave Jin Yifei a warning look.

    Jin Yifei immediately stopped talking. Being the alert person he was, he naturally saw that Big Boss Li did not want him to say those offensive things in front of Xiao Ling. It was strange. These small stars frequently slept with men, how precious could they be? Why could he not bring up those offensive things around her like he was around a famous celebrity? Wait... Something was wrong!

    Jin Yifei suddenly had an epiphany. He observed people very well. Just now, he already wanted to say that that girl¡¯s posture and the way she danced showed that she had not been touched by any man before. She was a clean and pure youngdy! Unless it was Big Boss Li who was unable to have sex with her; otherwise, this was rather odd!

    This girl was not an ordinary small star that people yed with!

    Since luck brings wisdom, Jin Yifei blurted out. ¡°Sister-inw.¡±

    ¡°What did you call me?¡± Xia Ling stared at him dumbfoundedly.

    ¡°Sister-inw!¡± Jin Yifei was gleeful and said, ¡°Sister-inw, don¡¯t be surprised. I will definitely take care of Li Beier did and will not introduce her to anyone else. I will get rid of her, hide her, destroy her reputation, and terminate her path to riches. It is her fault for offending my sister-inw.¡±

    ¡°Who is your sister-inw?!¡± Xia Ling nearly copsed.

    ¡°Big Boss Li is like my big brother, so you are my sister-inw,¡± said Jin Yifei.

    As long as one is willing to lower his pride, one will be invincible. Jin Yifei¡¯s strategy of being shameless was perfect. He was above twenty-five years old but still called an eighteen-year-old youngdy ¡°sister-inw¡± without any stress. He also gave Li Lei a smile of ttery.

    This strategy was very useful. Li Lei¡¯s initial face of dissatisfaction immediately changed from dark to bright. Yes, this Jin Family member, you have a good eye.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red. She had never been called ¡°sister-inw¡± in both of her lives. She had always been ustomed to hiding her love in a dark corner that never received any light or blessings. However, today, she had gained recognition.

    Her heart full of emotions, she lifted her head to look at Li Lei and saw him looking at her with a smile.

    Her face turned even redder, and she quickly shouted at Jin Yifei. ¡°Shut up.¡±

    Her voice was very soft.

    Sister-inw was embarrassed, so Jin Yifei smiled and stopped talking. However, in his heart, he was thinking of numerous gossip factors. <i>Oh my god,</i>He thought. <i>I actually guessed it correctly. This girl and Big Boss Li are seriously a couple! Those unclear unspoken rules and the transactional rtionship were actually used to hide a clear and pure romance!</i>

    This was Big Boss Li¡¯s first love! Big gossip!

    Jin Yifei wanted to howl in excitement and share this important news with everyone he knew.

 Chapter 148 - Being Bigheaded

    <h4>Chapter 148: Being Bigheaded</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, he could not.

    As Xia Ling had fiercely threatened Li Lei not to expose their rtionship, Li Lei could only fiercely threaten Jin Yifei to keep their rtionship a secret. Jin Yifei agreed readily, but in reality, he had manyplex emotions and endured many difficulties. What had he just seen? This seemingly delicate girl threatening Big Boss Li? And Big Boss Li had not resisted?

    Why did he not realize before that Big Boss Li was also a henpecked husband?

    Oh god.

    This world was too crazy.

    Jin Yifei¡¯s tears were about to fall.

    Xia Ling did not care that much. Once he promised to keep the secret, she was no longer worried. After some time, she arrived at the studio in a very low-key car as per normal to participate in the live shooting of ¡°War and Death.¡±

    She was going to film a part that required much singing and dancing: an assassination during a pce feast.

    All the main characters in the movie gathered together, including the top-tier celebrities. These top-tier celebrities had very tight schedules, were bad-tempered, and were used to people waiting on them. They would not even acknowledge small stars like Xia Ling who had just recently debuted if they saw one.

    Xia Ling did not like hypocritical social gatherings, so she was very bored.

    However, Jin Yifei was nervous. Before starting, he pulled her away for a few steps before saying, ¡°Sister-inw...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me sister-inw!¡± Snapped Xia Ling.

    Jin Yifeiughed. ¡°I know. I know that I can¡¯t disclose your rtionship with Big Boss Li, okay? Don¡¯t worry. When there are people, I will call you ¡®Xiao Ling,¡¯ but if there is no one, I will call you ¡®sister-inw¡¯ in private. Anyway, don¡¯t worry.¡± He had spent many years fooling around with women and had seen all types of females. The director understood women¡¯s psyche and realized very quickly that Xia Ling was only putting up a bold front. She said that she did not like being called ¡°sister-inw,¡± but the way her body reacted... In her heart, she liked Big Boss Li.

    Jin Yifei said, ¡°Sister-inw, you have to be more careful. These big celebrities are all considered lords of the industry, you can¡¯t risk offending them.¡±

    Xia Ling had no more energy to correct the way he addressed her, but she was puzzled. ¡°Even <i>you </i>can¡¯t afford to offend them?¡± Although she saw the shadows of two movie kings of the luxurious line-up and a few new stars that were currently famous, no matter what, Jin Yifei was a big director who had won many awards internationally. His renowned name was far above that of the movie kings and queens.

    Sure enough, Jin Yifei stomped his foot. ¡°Who said that! The actors have no choice but to listen to me obediently!¡±

    Xia Ling was still doubtful. ¡°Then...¡±

    Jin Yifei did not stomp his foot again, but looked at Xia Ling and said disheartened, ¡°Forget it, just take it as if I never said anything. Even I cannot afford to offend you, sister-inw. You are the true lord, alright?¡± He then tried to probe her for more gossip. ¡°Sister-inw, when are you and Big Boss Li going to get married? When that dayes, I will bring a few brothers to support you.¡±

    Getting married?

    Nothing tangible was even in sight yet.

    Xia Ling felt an inexplicable emptiness in her chest. She only promised to be with Li Lei because of an ident, or maybe it was because she had been struggling so long in the dark that she impatiently wanted to hold on to the only ray of sunlight in her life. Li Lei was that ray of sunlight which was warm, bright, and could dispel her boundless coldness and fear. But... marriage?

    Was she even worthy of a marriage ceremony?

    ¡°Director Jin, you can start shooting!¡± A studio assistant ran over and shouted.

    Jin Yifei acknowledged him and turned back to look at Xia Ling. ¡°Sister-inw, we have to go. Just rx during the shoot and don¡¯t be nervous.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was troubled, so she did not even realize that she had followed him until he handed her the short sword that she used as a prop. Only then did she try to stabilize her emotions.

    The music started.

    Lights shed, and the camera lens followed them.

    She instinctively performed the resplendent sword dance. Jin Yifei stood behind the cameraman, and his expression slowly became stern.

    ¡°Cut!¡± He yelled.

    Xia Ling stopped moving and turned around to look at him inquiringly.

    ¡°Sis... Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°Your expression is incorrect. You need to be more charming, more frightening, and more seductive. Look less sorrowful and look colder... The expression you had during your audition was very good, like a blood-stained thorny rose.¡±

    Xia Ling understood that she was distracted and apologized.

    They started to shoot again.

    It was still not right.

    Xia Ling knew it was difficult for her to concentrate now, so she told Jin Yifei, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, director. How about you shoot the other scenes first. I think I need some space first to reconnect with that feeling.¡±

    After she said that, the entire studio fell silent.

    The set-up for this scene took the entire afternoon. If they were to shoot other scenes first, they would have to take down the entire set-up. Furthermore, many A-list celebrities were in the same scene as her. The actors acting as the emperor, princesses, and royal consorts were all seated in the hall and their time was precious. Every minute and second to them was a lot of money. As a small star, what right did she have to dy the shoot?

    ¡°If you really can¡¯t do it, then get a recement.¡± A famous actress reprimanded. ¡°If you act like this, we really can¡¯t amodate you. Director, either you rece her, or you rece us!¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned and realized her mind had wandered too far off this time...

    It was not about whether she danced well, but the sentence she blurted out when she walked away. She forgot that this was not Skyart Entertainment, that this was not the location of a music video shoot, and this was most definitely not Pei Ziheng¡¯s Imperial Entertainment¡¯s shooting studio. She was not in any of those ces that treated her like a princess. Here, she was a small star. How could she be so bigheaded that she wanted the A-list celebrities to wait for her?

    In this situation, even she felt a little embarrassed for herself.

    This also gave Jin Yifei a headache. However, as he respected Big Boss Li, he made the decision to help Xia Ling. ¡°Alright everyone, let¡¯s take a short break and shoot this scer.¡±

    That actress who was currently famous was not happy. ¡°On what basis? Who is she anyway?¡±

    Before Jin Yifei could respond, Xia Ling was already furious. She coldly remarked. ¡°You want to shoot now? Fine, let¡¯s have more outtakes and see how long you canst!¡± It was autumn, and their scene was being shot in a scenic spot in the mountains. As the film took ce in midsummer, the actresses were all dressed in thin clothing. Xia Ling was fine because she was moving around constantly as a dancer, but it was difficult for the actors who were sitting as they were cold and shivering.

    ¡°You!¡± That famous actress gritted her teeth.

    Xia Ling looked at her provocatively.

    It was true that Xia Ling said something she should not have said, but that did not mean that she could endure someone¡¯s condemnation. Was she not just a famous actress? Why did she have to show an air of superiority? In the past, when she was in high demand to star in a big budget production, that so-called famous actress was still begging some agency to give her a role.

    The atmosphere was bing stifling.

    Jin Yifei started to be worried for the famous actress. When it came to fighting prowess, she was definitely not Xia Ling¡¯s match. Not only was Xia Ling¡¯s fighting power off the charts, but she also had her Big Boss backing her up. How could that actresspete with her?

    As such, Director Jin tried to mediate the conflict again. ¡°Everyone disperse for now. Go somewhere warm since it is so cold today, I don¡¯t want to keep reshooting.¡± His great reasoning had cated everyone. Except for the famous actress who took a beating from Xia Ling, the other A-list celebrities were dissatisfied but were not willing to endure the cold wind. God knows how many outtakes that small star Ye Xingling needed. It was better to disperse for now. When she had regained herposure, shooting again was not toote.

    The actors and crew members dispersed and started to shoot another scene.

    That famous actress took the big shawl from her assistant, walked past Xia Ling, and said in a high-pitched voice, ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡±

 Chapter 149 - These Shots Have Been Deleted

    <h4>Chapter 149: These Shots Have Been Deleted</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling also shot her a look of disdain.

    That actress froze. ¡°Ye Xingling, what are you implying with that look?¡±

    ¡°Sun Jing, you actually think you are that great?¡± Xia Ling sarcastically replied without looking back to acknowledge her. Out of respect for director Jin Yifei who called her ¡°sister-inw¡±... Wait, no! Out of respect for director Jin Yifei who called Li Lei ¡°Big Boss Li,¡± she did not want to cause such arge scene on the film set. Unexpected meetings may ur in the future since they were in the same industry, so there would eventually be a chance in the future to deal with her.

    Unfortunately, Sun Jing was unwilling to relent and blocked her path. ¡°Wow, small fry, are you trying to be unreasonable? Do you think you¡¯re all that impressive afternding a small role such that you don¡¯t even have to respect your seniors? Let me tell you, not only am I a more prominent actress than you, but I¡¯m also one of the spokespeople for the movie. What about you? Besides getting outtakes and living from paycheck to paycheck, what good are you?¡±

    Sun Jing was very beautiful and had sharp, seductive eyes. She was the long-time spokesperson of a rtively well-known gold jewelry brand: Dynasty Jewelry. Indeed, it was thanks to her that this movie obtained sponsorship from Dynasty Jewelry.

    There were few sponsors for historical films, and the sponsorship she secured for the film was very important.

    However, Sun Jing was a little bit of a show-off. She had a superiorityplex and bragged about herself to everyone she met. As such, she could not handle being mocked by Xia Ling. She really wanted to use her endorsement as a bargaining chip to end Xia Ling and make Xia Ling aware of the insurmountable gap between the big stars and the small stars.

    The big uproar she caused attracted the stares of the surrounding staff members and big celebrities who were resting.

    Some of them mourned for Xia Ling in their hearts. Xia Ling was a small star who had just debuted, she had never seen Sun Jing¡¯s ability to one-up herpetitors. Did she really think that Xia Ling was merely provoking her? Then she would have made a grievous mistake...

    One male star used his elbow to nudge the emperor beside him. ¡°Hey, Brother Rong, look. The camera there is still on.¡±

    The person who acted as the emperor of the film was called Rong Ping. He took a brief nce at the camera that was silently filming, picked up his cup to drink some water, and said, ¡°Let the little girl endure some hardship. She is too stubborn. If she doesn¡¯t suffer now, in the future, she will suffer even more.¡±

    That male starughed and shook his head. ¡°Brother Rong, you really don¡¯t have anypassion for women.¡±

    On the other side of the movie set, no one knew what the two of them had argued about. Xia Ling¡¯s expression was indifferent, while Sun Jing¡¯s expression changed from anger and arrogance to indignance, biting her lower lip as if she were about to cry. She was a natural beauty, so when she cried, people could not help but feel sympathy for her. In contrast, Xia Ling¡¯s cold look seemed very arrogant.

    Jin Yifei felt as if he was going crazy. He had just been pulled aside by the stage manager to discuss a matter, but immediately after, he found out that there was conflict again. He quickly shouted at the cameraman. ¡°Turn the cameras off, do you not want to live? I don¡¯t care how many benefits Sun Jing gave you, God forbid should anything bad happen to Ye Xingling, I will cut off your heads!¡±

    The two cameramen rarely saw Director Jin so enraged, so they quickly turned off the cameras.

    They really did receive a few benefits from Sun Jing¡¯s agent and were prepared to take some shots of Sun Jing, edit the footage, and use it as entertainment news. The general topic of it would be about how a small star was bigheaded and the famous actress Sun Jing was wronged for the sake of the bigger picture.

    That was how Sun Jing one-upped herpetitors and gained the status she had today.

    Xia Ling knew nothing about the tricks Sun Jing had up her sleeve. Regardless of whether she was in Imperial Entertainment or in Skyart Entertainment, she was always protected seamlessly. How could she have known about these dirty tricks? In the past, nobody even dared to offend her. Even during the conflict she had with Xia Yu, she knew that she had to look out for the paparazzi, but she did not think that even the cameramen in the film she was in were also acting as paparazzi.

    ¡°Delete them all, delete them all!¡± repeated Jin Yifei.

    Those two cameramen did not dare to slow down. Under the supervision of Jin Yifei, they quickly deleted all the shots they took.

    The male star who was sitting beside Rong Ping took notice of this. ¡°Oh my, looks like this little girl is quite lucky. Director Jin actually protected her. Looks like she won¡¯t be implicated this time.¡±

    Rong Ping seemed to have no expression, but inside, he was quite shocked. Jin Yifei was too nice to that little girl. However, looking at the interaction between both of them, they do not seem like they are dating... Then, who is this Ye Xingling? What sort of backing did she have such that Director Jin easily amodated her?

    ¡°Don¡¯t offend that girl.¡± Rong Ping patted the shoulder of the male star who was next to him.

    ¡°What?¡± That male star was astonished but smiled immediately. ¡°Brother Rong, I think you¡¯re right. Good men do not fight with women. Besides, that little girl is quite good. I saw her dance in the audition, and it was really breathtaking. The only reason why she had so many outtakes just now was probably because she really was not in a good mental state. Besides, the aura when she spoke... If I didn¡¯t know better, I would have thought she was a queen. Brother Rong, I foresee that sooner orter, there will be a day when she will join you in collecting an Oscar like the movie kings and queens.¡±

    That was a very high evaluation of her, but surprisingly, Rong Ping nodded in agreement.

    After that, they started to mourn for Sun Jing. Poor Sun Jing was still dreaming of pitting against her without knowing that she was someone that she could not defeat.

    ¡°How could you go so far as to say my endorsement is rubbish!¡± Sun Jing did not know that the camera had been turned off and was still skillfully acting. ¡°How could you say that when you don¡¯t even have a single sponsorship endorsement!¡±

    Xia Ling did not say that Dynasty Jewelry was rubbish. She only said that she was a rubbish spokesperson.

    However, Sun Jing purposefully exaggerated the topic and turned it into Xia Ling undermining the film sponsor instead of a personal grievance she had. Even if Xia Ling was slow, she heard what was wrongfully said, frowned, and wanted to speak before a voice interrupted her.

    ¡°It is so lively in here.¡±

    She turned her head and saw an old man with a head full of white hair. He was wearing a navy blue exquisite Chinese tunic suit, traditional white cloth shoes, and holding a cane in one hand. With the help of a young girl, he slowly walked over.

    ¡°Old Master Gu...¡± Xia Ling was very shocked. Was that the Gu family member whom she saw when she was in the Gu Garden and was a man of his word? What sort of wind had blown this respectful figure here?

    ¡°Little girl, are you being bullied again?¡± Old Master Gu looked at her kindly.

    She had a very good attitude towards this elder whom Li Lei also respected. She put away all of her cynicism and arrogance, smiled and said, ¡°Old Master Gu, do you think I look like someone who is easily bullied?¡±

    After hearing what she said, Old Master Gu smiled, shook his head, and looked at her warmly. ¡°When you call me ¡®Old Master Gu,¡¯ it sounds like we are not close. You can just call me ¡®Grandfather Gu¡¯ like Xiao Lei.¡± Li Lei really liked this little girl, and Grandfather Gu liked her too, so he treated her more kindly when he spoke to herpared to others.

    The surrounding people were all confused. Where did this Old Mastere from?

    He was well-dressed, and his gracious manner indicated that he was not an ordinary person, but no one knew who this big shot was. Sun Jing, however, refused to concede. She was unafraid as she had some backing too. As such, she asked Old Master Gu determinedly, ¡°Excuse me, but who are you?¡±

 Chapter 150 - Old Master Guâ€™s Visit

    <strong>Chapter 150 Old Master Gu¡¯s Visit</strong>

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Considering Old Master Gu¡¯s status, he would never acknowledge an actress.

    He only spoke to Xia Ling. ¡°Little girl, Grandfather Gu is here today because I brought my good-for-nothing granddaughter to apologize to you.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked. Good-for-nothing granddaughter? She finally realized that the person supporting Old Master Gu at the side was actually Gu Lin who had a conflict with her during the Imperial Entertainment reception party some time ago.¡±

    In the past, the little girl Gu Lin was swollen with arrogance, but today, as she was standing beside Old Master Gu, she was as meek as a sheep.

    Xia Lingughed lightly and said, ¡°This matter is in the past. I have not taken this matter to heart.¡±

    ¡°Well, you did not take it to heart but...¡± Old Master Gu was angry, yet heughed. ¡°Little girl, you have such a big temperament. Are you really going to forfeit the Meteor Wings endorsement just because of what she said? Gu Lin was in the wrong that day during the reception party. However, she and her father have no right to change something that I decided on. I made the final decision for you to have the endorsement with Meteor Wings. Nothing they say counts.¡±

    The surrounding people gasped in astonishment. They finally understood the background of the old man who was dressed in the Chinese tunic suit. It was actually a family member of the reputable Gu Financial Magnate who had retired for many years! The news of the termination of the endorsement between Meteor Wings and Ye Xingling was known by some people in the inner circle. Everyone thought that Ye Xingling had suffered a huge loss as no good coulde from offending the Gu Family, but they did not expect that the Old Master of the family would personally appear to apologize to her.

    Sun Jing¡¯s expression changed slightly. Her endorsement with Dynasty Jewelry was not bad, but it did not reach the scale of Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s endorsement. Furthermore, her backing was far inferiorpared to the Gu Family¡¯s Old Master.

    For a moment, her posture and expression became more respectful.

    However, Xia Ling did not care. ¡°It really doesn¡¯t count? Uncle Gu already sent a letter through hiswyer regarding the termination of the endorsement.¡±

    ¡°I have already settled that problem,¡± said Old Master Gu cheerfully. ¡°Little girl, don¡¯t be as insensible as your Uncle Gu. He only has one precious daughter, and he usually spoils her, so he was irrational. I have already disciplined him.¡± After knowing that Father Gu terminated the endorsement with Xia Ling, Old Master Gu was infuriated. That night, he abided by the family rules and deprived Father Gu of some of his inheritance rights. His son was good at everything except disciplining his grandchildren. He loved them too much, such that they developed an exaggerated opinion of their abilities. In the end, he even wasted the Gu Family¡¯s wealth and had to rely on their reputation to clean up the mess he created.

    Father Gu could destroy the entire Meteor Wings just for his daughter.

    It was not certain as to whether he would destroy the entire Gu Family one day.

    This was why Old Master Gu was boiling with rage. The reputation of their family which was built on for more than a hundred years was not made for him to squander like that.

    Old Master Gu also fiercely reprimanded Gu Lin and warned her that no matter what her tomfoolery was, she must never do anything to harm the interests of the Gu Family. Otherwise, the next time she made such a mistake, he would remove her name from the genealogy!

    He was always a man of his word.

    As such, Gu Lin became afraid. If her status as the daughter of the Gu Family were revoked, she would amount to nothing. She had no choice. Even though she still harbored hatred in her heart and felt unwilling and wronged, she still had to follow what Old Master Gu told her to do and apologize to Xia Ling.

    ¡°I... am sorry.¡± She lowered her head and tightly clenched her fist. ¡°Ye Xingling, it was my fault. Please don¡¯t be insensible like me. Come back to Meteor Wings and continue the endorsement,¡± she said in a soft voice. In her heart, she was about to explode. To her, it was obviously the fault of the executives who spoke gibberish in front of her grandfather about how after Meteor Wings lost the endorsement with Ye Xingling, its reputation and sales were on a decline. Otherwise, how could her grandfather bear to let the eldest daughter of the Gu Family apologize to a small star?

    This small star had also seduced Brother Lei!

    Gu Lin was filled with resentment.

    Actually, Old Master Gu knew about what Gu Lin was thinking about. The reason why Father Gu dared to risk Meteor Wings to save his daughter¡¯s face in front of Li Lei was obviously that of the idyllic dream of her marrying into the Li Family.

    However, Old Master Gu, who had endured many years of hardship, deeply understood that Gu Lin was never destined to marry Li Lei.

    Not only did Li Lei treat Gu Lin as his younger sister, even if he did want to marry her, but Old Master Gu also would definitely not agree to their marriage. The Li Family was part of a criminal syndicate. Even though their domestic business looked peaceful and calm, their overseas dealings were very messy. Arms dealers, smugglers, privates, and mercenaries were all inextricably linked to his family. Marrying into this sort of family was too dangerous. Even Li Lei¡¯s birth mother, the niece of the Italian Mafia¡¯s godfather, died in a fire because her personality was too delicate. Considering that, there was no need to even think about Gu Lin as she did not have any background in a criminal syndicate and was also an extremely simple girl.

    Indeed, in Old Master Gu¡¯s eyes, Gu Lin was too simple-minded and sometimes, rather foolish.

    Gu Lin looked smart, but in reality, she had no awareness of the time and location she was in and frequently blindly caused mischief without considering the consequences of her actions. Furthermore, Li Lei¡¯s personally chosen girlfriend, the girl who looked cold in front of her, was the pr opposite of Gu Lin. She seemed quiet, but in reality, she was full of ideas. When it was time to be arrogant and strong, she was very arrogant and strong. When it was time to be low-key, she would remain out of the limelight.

    Only someone like that was worthy of marrying into the Li Family into the future.

    What Old Master Gu wanted to do was to prevent his family¡¯s ignorant son and granddaughter from offending the future Mistress of the Li Family. No, it was possible that they may even have offended Li Lei as well...

    After the Old Master reached a hundred years old, how can the friendship between the two families continue?

    They must never be enemies.

    Old Master Gu cared so much for the next generation of the Gu Family that it broke his heart. That was why he put aside his age and status and personally brought Gu Lin to the film set in the mountains to apologize to Xia Ling, hoping that Xia Ling would forget their previous conflict and continue being the spokesperson for Meteor Wings.

    The Meteor Wings endorsement was insignificantpared to the repairing of rtions between the two families.

    Xia Ling did not know that Old Master Gu had so much in mind. However, since Old Master Gu had already personally brought Gu Lin there to apologize, she had to give him some face. As such, she smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s not bring up that matter and leave it in the past. I will adjust my schedule with my manager and free up some time for the Meteor Wings¡¯ endorsement.¡±

    She had epted the Gu Family¡¯s apology.

    Only then did Old Master Gu sigh in relief. He was not mistaken. The girl in front in him was not someone who enjoyed stirring up trouble. In contrast, she knew about the general situation and cared about the overall oue. Although she had a proud and hot-tempered personality, when she saw Gu Lin lowering her head to apologize, she did not take the chance to re up and criticize Gu Lin. She was really showing respect to the Gu Family.

    Old Master Gu¡¯s expression became kinder. ¡°Little girl, the Gu Financial Magnate will not treat you poorly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they will treat me well.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Grandfather Gu, you have traveled very far toe here. How about you take a break? There are five-star hotels that the crew booked nearby. I will ask Director Jin to allocate two rooms for you.¡±

    Before Old Master Gu could react, the surrounding people were in shock. How could she ask Director Jin to do something like that? Director Jin was a prominent director who had won numerous international awards! As a small star, how could she use that sort of flippant tone to ask him to do something as if he were her younger brother?!

    On the contrary, ¡°younger brother¡± Jin was delighted to be called. ¡°Yes, yes, I will arrange it now.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyeballs were about to fall out from staring at his reaction.

 Chapter 151 - Private Meeting for the Filming Team

    <h4>Chapter 151: Private Meeting for the Filming Team</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother yourself,¡± said Old Master Gu. ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡±

    He was there to apologize to Xia Ling. Even though he was in the wrong, it was still embarrassing to have to apologize in front of so many people. As such, he did not want to stay any longer and was intending to leave with Gu Lin.

    Before leaving, he remembered something and turned around. ¡°The movie is ¡®War and Death,¡¯ right? Have you received sponsorship from a perfumepany yet?¡±

    Generally, films would be happy to ept sponsorship and do product cement in the film. Such advertising was a huge revenue stream for film producers. However, historical film pieces tended to receive much fewer of such sponsorships than modern day films. Hearing Old Master Gu¡¯s question, Jin Yifei hurriedly answered, ¡°No.¡±

    Old Master Gu nodded. ¡°Why not let the Gu family sponsor you. We have a lot of perfumes that were inspired by historical traditions and cultures and have perfume recipes from way back. There are manyplementary elements between our perfume and this film. Director Jin, please help pass on the message to your producers, we can discuss on a sponsorship package that is suitable.¡±

    Even a blind person could see that Old Master Gu was doing this to show Xia Ling face.

    Jin Yifei was delighted and replied, ¡°Of course, of course, I will.¡±

    Thest remnants of unhappiness that Xia Ling had against the Gu Financial Magnate disappeared on seeing how Old Master Gu was dealing with the matter. She really had no reason to stay angry. Thus, she graciously thanked Old Master Gu and watched as he left with his granddaughter.

    She turned around and saw Sun Jing staring at her with aplicated expression on her face.

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°What are you looking at? Are there flowers on my face?¡±

    Sun Jing was upset, but could not throw her temper at Xia Ling. Those that were able to seed in the entertainment circle were not dumb. She might have bullied Ye Xingling at first, thinking that she was an easy target, but today she realized that Ye Xingling had a backer that was much stronger than her own. Hence, she could not walk over Ye Xingling like before.

    What¡¯s more, to get the Gu family sponsorship...

    They had the reputation in the entertainment circle for being exceedingly generous, and they would definitely be forking out more than her backer, Dynasty Jewelry.

    She red at Xia Ling with jealousy and the unwillingness to be outdone written in her eyes before walking away with a huff.

    The staff and other actors that were standing around also looked at Xia Ling with renewed interest, the disdain and neglect they showed initially now long gone. What reced it was enthusiasm and boot-licking, as they all wanted to get to know her more. Two veteran female artistes called her over to have an amiable chat, and it was not long before Rong Ping and the other male artistes joined in the mix, turning the atmosphere in the filming location more rxed.

    Jin Yifeipleted filming another scene and returned to direct the remainder of the day¡¯s filming.

    This time, Xia Ling¡¯s dance was on point and her dance poses were perfect. However, Sun Jing clearly was still reeling from the shock and was constantly in a daze, resulting in many NG takes.

    Jin Yifei sighed and called it a day since he felt that there was no way they were going to be able toplete the filming that day.

    Xia Ling was perspiring slightly from having danced for a long time in the day and only started feeling cold now that they were released. Her assistant, Wei Wei, came over to help her to the makeup room to get changed, but Xia Ling refused her help, saying, ¡°You can go back to rest first. I¡¯ll stay on for a while more to practice the takes for tomorrow.¡±

    Other than the film that Imperial Entertainment had tailored just for her in her past life, this was Xia Ling¡¯s first time filming a movie. She was worried about the assassination scene immediately after the dance scene, which she felt had somethingcking, hence wanted to take this chance to practice more.

    She had always been diligent when it came to her work.

    Wei Wei was a young and innocent girl and was happy to abide by Xia Ling¡¯s wishes. She poured Xia Ling a ss of hot water, before following therge group that was heading back to the hotel together. This left Xia Ling alone in therge filming location to practice the assassination scene.

    When the dancer attacked the emperor, chaos would break out. The emperor would run away disheveled, and the dancer would chase him down, piercing through the emperor¡¯s heart from the back with a sword. Xia Ling had died in the same way in her past life, and hence did not particrly enjoy this scene. She needed to practice a few more times to ensure that she made no mistakes in the actual filming.

    She forced herself not to think about what she saw just before her death in her past life, and practiced the motions again and again for a long time.

    Suddenly, an aged voice rang out in the empty venue. ¡°You¡¯re killing someone? That¡¯s not the way to do it. You should be piercing through from under the third rib from behind, and then turning the sword a little... only that will kill him in one shot.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a start and turned to see where the sound came from.

    In the filming location, under the huge shadow of the historical film set from the setting sun was an old, rickety man standing under a dragon painting with a broom in hand, watching her.

    She did not know when the old man had appeared like a phantom.

    She took a step back and asked cautiously, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me who I am?¡± The old man smiled, his voice croaky and unpleasant. ¡°People call me Old Man Bao. I¡¯m the props director in this film team, caring for all the props. Miss Ye, I need to collect back that short sword in your hands.¡±

    Why did this film team hire this eerie props director?

    Xia Ling was distracted as what Old Man Bao said rang in her ears ¡ª pierce through from under the third rib from the back, before turning the sword... Oh my God, wasn¡¯t that the exact way that she had been killed in her past life, with this exact handling of the sword?!

    The coldness and pain that she felt in her past life just before she died came back to her, leaving Xia Ling dizzy. Her hands and feet turned cold, and she could hardly hold herself steady.

    She nced quickly at the props director in the shadows, threw the short sword in her hand down, and ran off like she was escaping from a monster.

    When she was back at the hotel, most of the film team had finished their dinner and returned to their rooms to rest.

    Xia Ling ordered a lunch box and brought it back to her room. She ate a few random mouthfuls, took a shower, andy down on her bed to sleep. Wearing coral cashmere pajamas and lying down in the soft,fortable bed, she closed her eyes and soon drifted off into dreand. Suddenly, that croaky voice drifted over from afar... the third rib... pierce through the back... kill in one shot...

    She screamed and woke up, a cold sweat breaking out over her body.

    The memories shed past in her mind in a mess, like a huge demonic web that was trying to entrap her, making her feel terrified and ufortable. Subconsciously, she grabbed at the pendant hanging on her neck. This was a small tinum ring that had two letters engraved in the inner surface: L and Y, her and Li Lei¡¯s surname initials.

    She breathed a few deep breaths before her heartbeat started to slow down and return to normal.

    All of a sudden, she heard a sound outside her window.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡± She jumped and asked out loud, her voice trembling.

    The window creaked for a moment, and the curtain was pulled back as a person jumped into the room. It was a handsome man with long, slender limbs, agile and muscr, his tan, brown skin was attractive under the off-white t-shirt he was wearing. On his neck was a pendant of the same tinum ring that she had.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± Xia Ling felt herself rx. ¡°You scared me... what are you doing here?¡± They were in a mountainous region in the outskirts of S City, very far away from the apartment they were living in.

    ¡°Is it a nice surprise to see me?¡± Li Lei smiled as he walked over. ¡°I avoided all the tabloid reporters, fans, and security to get here... Xiao Ling, it was really difficult to get past all of them just to see you.¡±

    So he had snuck his way in?

    Xia Ling did not know what to say.

    Li Lei walked over and stood in front of her. He examined her and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Why do you look so pale?¡±

 Chapter 152 - The Wrong Sleeping Position

    <h4>Chapter 152: The Wrong Sleeping Position</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I... ¡± She leaned on the bedhead and curled her legs to her as she hugged onto them.

    Li Lei sat down on the edge of the bed and gently asked, ¡°Did you have a nightmare?¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated before nodding her head.

    ¡°What did you dream of?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling did not answer but hugged tighter onto herself.

    Uneasiness crept into Li Lei¡¯s mind. This was like the many random moments that he felt that Xia Ling was far away, so far away that it was like she would disappear like a bubble in the next second.

    He did not like this feeling.

    However, he understood that there were some things you could not force. If she was not willing to say it, there was no way that he could pry it out of her.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened slightly, but not enough that she would notice. He reached out his arms and cautiously embraced her. Xia Ling¡¯s body was small in his arms, like a bony and slender bird, and she struggled uneasily for a moment before bing still in his arms. He patted her slowly and gently on her slender back andbed her long and slightly messy hair with his warm fingers.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said as he kissed her gently on the top of her head. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was pressed on his chest, and she could hear his steady and powerful heartbeats through the thin, cotton t-shirt he was wearing. She could feel his gentle breath on the top of her head, and his embrace was like a safe and dependable mountain.

    The messy and terrifying snippets of her memory disappeared unknowingly.

    She raised her head slightly and asked him, ¡°Are you going to stay here?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Of course. Xiao Ling, go to sleep, I¡¯ll apany you here.¡± He shifted slightly to the side, still hugging her, and leaned his wide back against the bedhead. He pulled up the soft, feather duvet to cover Xia Ling, whose body felt slightly cold.

    The warmth andfort of his embrace made Xia Ling slowly close her eyes. Leaning into Li Lei¡¯s arms, she fell asleep in no time.

    This time, she was not disturbed by her nightmares.

    Li Lei hugged her with one hand and used the other to send a text message. ¡°Investigate what happened in the afternoon at the filming location for ¡®War and Death.¡¯ In particr, I want to know what Miss Ye did, and who Miss Ye saw during the day.¡±

    There were bodyguards following her in secret, and it was not long before Li Lei received a reply.

    Li Lei¡¯s lips tightened into a thin line as he read the information that was sent over, and he fell into deep thought.

    The next day, Xia Ling woke up and found herself still lying in Li Lei¡¯s embrace. He was hugging on to her peacefully while sleeping with his head against the bedhead. The sun was shining in through the flowery curtain and onto his handsome features, making him look like a mythical God. There was light between his brows, shining like kes of gold, making you unknowingly drawn to him.

    Xia Ling thought to herself that he was really handsome, more handsome than anyone she had ever seen before...

    No.

    Another handsome silhouette entered her mind at that moment. Silently but forcefully, like a demon walking out from the depths. She gave a shiver to shake herself out of her reverie.

    She sat up from Li Lei¡¯s embrace, feeling slightly guilty. He had slept in this ufortable, half-sitting position the entire night, while shefortably slept in his embrace. She pulled up the duvet that was still warm from her body temperature and gently pulled it over him. She also thought of trying to help him lie t, but he did not budge when she tried to pull him down to a lying down position.

    This man was not fat at all, why was he so heavy?

    Xia Ling felt slightly dejected, and while she was looking around thinking to get a few more pillows to prop him up in a morefortable position, Li Lei slowly opened his eyes.

    He said in a slightly dazed voice, ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him for half a second and asked, ¡°Are you awake?¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re awake, then you can lie t by yourself. Your sleeping position is wrong, go back to sleep.¡±

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I slept wellst night.¡± He could see the concern and guilt that was masked in her statement and gave a heartyugh. ¡°How about you? Are you feeling better? Filming a movie is a physically tiring proposition.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Thank you... forst night.¡± If he had not hugged her to sleep, there was no way she would be able to fall asleep the entire night, and it would dy the filming today. His appearancest night was indeed timely. However...

    ¡°What did youe here for?¡± She forgot to askst night.

    ¡°To see you.¡± Li Lei responded matter-of-factly. ¡°I missed you.¡± Actually, Li Lei had received news from the bodyguards that Old Master Gu and Gu Lin hade to the filming location. He was worried and, thus, rushed over at first instance. Unexpectedly, Old Master Gu did not make her life difficult at all, but Xia Ling was still in a mentally unstable state when he found her.

    What was her trauma that caused her to react this way?

    Li Lei thought of the diagnosis that Dr. James had given about her. ¡°She has experienced some trauma that was highly destructive. For instance, death threats, imprisonment, rape...¡±

    As such, she would be triggered whenever she was met with a simr situation.

    Li Lei did not dare think too deeply about what Xia Ling had possibly met with as it was too terrifying. He only had to imagine her in pain to feel unbearable pain in his heart. However, he was sure of one thing. Her life and resum¨¦ had been fabricated, ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± life was too smooth, there was not an inkling of a traumatic incident.

    He was full of anxiety, but on the surface, he continued to joke around with Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling did not suspect anything and had breakfast with Li Lei, told him not to run off anywhere but to stay in the room, and followed the big group back to the filming location. Perhaps due to having a good night¡¯s rest, everyone was in good spirits, and the filming went along smoothly with much fewer NGs. Thest scene waspleted around three or four in the afternoon.

    Xia Ling¡¯s part was done, so she went to look for Jin Yifei to bid him goodbye.

    Jin Yifei asked, ¡°You¡¯re going back to the city now? The rest will be done in a few days, don¡¯t you want to stay for the celebratory dinner at the end of all the filming?¡±

    Xia Ling was tempted to stay, but she thought of the Big Boss that she was hiding in her room. This ce was not like the audition room, it was filled with top actors and actresses with their managers, and there was also all the staff in the film set. If any of them recognized Li Lei and ratted to the reporters, there would be no way she would be able to exin herself.

    She had to leave now.

    Seeing that her decision to leave was made, Jin Yifei did not hold her back any longer. He bade her farewell and told her to take care of herself.

    Xia Ling took a ride with Li Lei back to their S City apartment.

    In the following days, she was extremely busy with the renewed endorsement deal from Gu Financial Magnate for Meteor Wings. Her entire schedule was flipped upside down, and Sister Mai Na had to sit down with her to reorder her entire schedule again. It was packed from morning till night, seemingly trying to squeeze 48 hours of work into her 24-hour day.

    Li Lei quietly went to meet someone.

    On thest day of filming ¡°War and Death,¡± at the filming location.

    Everyone had left to go to the celebratory dinner, and the grand pce set for the filming had been torn down. There was the long empty corridor, the big hall, and the dragon throne, which made the ce look exceedingly deserted under the evening sky.

    Old Man Bao was standing in the same shadow of the film set.

    Li Lei was standing opposite him. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Just an old man managing the props.¡± Old Man Bao¡¯s voice was as croaky as ever.

    ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Li Lei gave a lightugh and took two steps forward. ¡°As far as I understand, you have another name ¡ª Wang Jingzhou, the former heir to the Wang family corporation, and also Pei Ziheng¡¯s then father-inw to be.¡±

 Chapter 153 - The Wang Family Was Framed

    <h4>Chapter 153: The Wang Family Was Framed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A shocked expression came over Old Man Bao¡¯s face, but he very quickly regained hisposure. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you are talking about.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t understand?¡± Li Leiughed lightly. ¡°Bao Renjiu... that¡¯s the name you go by now? If you put the characters together, it reads ¡®revenge.¡¯ What deep grudge are you holding onto? Don¡¯t be too keen to deny it, I¡¯ve checked up on you, and while it was clean at first, I found out about your rtionship with the Wang family when I dug a little deeper. What a pity for the once head of the family to be relegated to such a lowly position.¡±

    Old Man Bao stared at him with animosity. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Li Lei was right. He used to be the illustrious chairman of the Wang family corporation, Wang Jingzhou. His daughter, Wang Jingwan, who had passed away tragically, was Pei Ziheng¡¯s unwed fiancee. It was this wedding that had brought destructive misfortune upon the Wang family.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I want to know what you said to Ye Xingling the other day.¡±

    Old Man Bao gave a start. He did not expect this man in front of him to go to such great extents to expose his identity only to ask him this question. He narrowed his eyes as he examined Li Lei. ¡°I have seen you before... Second Young Master Li. There was a year we both were on a luxurious yacht near the Canary Inds, and we have even fought... together. Second Young Master Li, you want to ask me a question, but do tell me, why do I have to answer you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m right.¡± Li Lei said as he looked Old Man Bao up and down closely. The unkempt white-haired old man in front of him, skinny and filthy, was miles apart from the portly gentleman he had met on the yacht three years ago. He looked like he had aged 20 years. Perhaps he had even had stic surgery done. If Li Lei had not investigated his identity, there was no way he would have recognized Wang Jingzhou in his current state.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± he asked Old Man Bao.

    ¡°Very simple.¡± Old Man Bao¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I will tell you what I told Ye Xingling, and you will help me keep my identity a secret.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡± Li Lei agreed readily.

    As such, Old Man Bao told Li Lei what he had told Xia Ling. After hearing what Old Man Bao had to say, Li Lei¡¯s heart sank. If Xia Ling reacted so strongly to Old Man Bao¡¯s reference to killing someone, did it mean James had been right, and she had indeed met with a death threat before?

    ¡°Why did you tell her this?¡± He stared at Old Man Bao with a grave expression.

    Old Man Bao said, ¡°That day, everyone had left, and I was the only one who stayed behind to organize the props. I saw her practicing the assassination scene in the big hall alone. From the back, she really resembled someone. It¡¯s someone that you probably have heard of ¡ª Xia Ling. Xia Ling was murdered by a stab in the back on stage. Watching Ye Xingling practice made me think of the memories of the past, and I simply spoke subconsciously.¡±

    ¡°What? Xia Ling was stabbed to death?¡±

    Old Man Bao sniggered. ¡°Didn¡¯t you know? The news spouted nonsense, saying that she lost her footing on stage. Xia Ling was murdered ¡ª she was stabbed through the heart from the back and pushed offstage. Puhha...¡± Heughed canonically. ¡°... her head was split open, and brain matter was all over the floor. There was no worse way to die.¡±

    ¡°Why do you know this so well?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I know this well?¡± Old Man Bao¡¯s voice became agitated. ¡°I know it so well because the person that took the fall for the murder was my son! I don¡¯t know which animal killed Xia Ling and framed my son! My poor son Wang Yu... before they shot him dead on the death row he was still shouting about how he had been wrongly used, but no one would believe him! No one would believe him...¡±

    Old Man Bao lowered his fraught with agony voice.

    Li Lei did not know that Xia Ling¡¯s death had such a backstory. He simply felt that Old Man Bao¡¯s words were not pleasing to the ears. What did he mean by Xiao Ling looking like Xia Ling from the back? How could his Xiao Ling look anything like thatdy that had died so young?

    Did Pei Ziheng also think that Xiao Ling resembled Xia Ling, and as a result had been bothering her so much?

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Tell me more about Xia Ling.¡±

    Old Man Bao slowly began his story.

    At first, when Wang Jingwan wanted to marry Pei Ziheng, Old Man Bao was against it. The Wang family Corporation was big and rich enough, and while it was definitely a good thing to be connected to the Pei family through marriage, there was no real need for them to. Rather than marrying up for the sake of business rtions, Old Man Bao had wanted his daughter to be happy. However, if Wang Jingwan were to marry into the Pei family, she was destined to be unhappy.

    Why?

    That was because the first condition that Pei Ziheng had set down when he was negotiating the prenuptial with the Wang family was that they were not to touch Xia Ling under any circumstances.

    It was clear as day that Pei Ziheng was protecting Xia Ling, and whenever he mentioned Xia Ling, there was a gentleness in his eyes that was enough to make anyone jealous. Everyone could tell what kind of rtionship Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling had.

    He had even left all of his assets to Xia Ling before his marriage.

    Old Man Bao had advised his daughter to give up on Pei Ziheng, but she loved Pei Ziheng and was bent on marrying into the Pei Family, vowing topete with Xia Ling for the top spot in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. The young Wang Jingwan had naively and arrogantly thought that there was no way that she, the princess of the Wang family, would lose to a lowly, powerless orphan girl. She thought that once she was married to Pei Ziheng, she would be able to use her status as his wife to remove Xia Ling from the picture and be victorious.

    She did not expect Xia Ling to argue with her.

    And she did not expect that she would die at Xia Ling¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Xia Ling killed my daughter,¡± said Old Man Bao through clenched teeth, his voice breaking a little. ¡°She also indirectly killed my son...¡± His son Wang Yu was extremely close to his elder sister Wang Jingwan. After hearing about Wang Jingwan¡¯s death, he had been furious and went around announcing that he was going to make Xia Ling pay with her life.

    Pei Ziheng had isted Xia Ling on an ind with heavy security to protect her.

    Everyone had thought that he had given her the cold shoulder and was preventing her from continuing on in the entertainment business. Only the Wang family knew that he just did not want to give them a chance to take revenge on her. The negotiations between Pei Ziheng and the Wang family went on and on ¡ª he offered themnd inpensation, ignoring the pressures that he received from within and outside thepany. For Xia Ling, the man that was known to be so overbearing was willing to put aside his pride and apologize to the Wang family, until the Wang family had promised not to do anything to Xia Ling.

    It was only then that he had let Xia Ling out from the isted ind.

    He had organized a grand ceremony to celebrate the tenth anniversary of her debut.

    However, it was at that concert that trouble struck. The sudden ckout, and the unknown murderer that took Xia Ling¡¯s life. After the incident, the police investigated the matter, and the biggest suspect turned out to be Wang Yu. All of the evidence pointed to him as if it had all been put nicely in ce. There was no way that Wang Yu could wash it all clean, and he was ultimately sentenced to death by shooting.

    Old Man Bao had delivered Wang Yu¡¯sst meal.

    Wang Yu had knelt before his father in tears, saying, ¡°I really didn¡¯t kill anyone! I¡¯m innocent! Dad, help me get revenge on whoever did this to me!¡±

    Old Man Bao was furious and devastated at the same time, and he vowed to take revenge for Wang Yu. However, before he could take any action, the storm of Pei Ziheng¡¯s fury struck first.

    Anyone that hurt Xia Ling needed to pay the price ¡ª

    Pei Ziheng turned turtle on his humble attitude in his anger and used all the power he had with the Pei family name to get at the Wang family. It was not long before the Wang family was dered bankrupt, and many in the family either lost their minds ormitted suicide. The remaining survivors tried looking for jobs to feed themselves, but even that was taken away from them by Pei Ziheng.

    All the living souls from the Wang Family had to be made into beggars.

    Pei Ziheng dered that as long as the Pei family was still around, the Wang family would never ever have the chance to make aeback!

 Chapter 154 - Stealing a Half Day of Freedom

    <h4>Chapter 154: Stealing a Half Day of Freedom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You have no idea what kind of life the survivors of the Wang family have been living.¡± Old Man Baoughed bitterly. ¡°Even the beggar¡¯s gang would not let us join them. Everyone in the Wang family has had to sleep in the streets, under the overhead bridges, feed off leftover scraps and rotten food from the dumps, and be chased away by everyone like we are wild dogs. Second Young Master Li, you ask if I want revenge? I want to find out the truth about what happened to Xia Ling, and then personally drive the real murderer out into the open! And I want Pei Ziheng... ¡± He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

    ¡°You want Pei Ziheng to do what?¡± asked Li Lei lightly. ¡°To get on his knees and admit his mistake to you? To pay with his life?¡± Li Leiughed. ¡°You know that¡¯s impossible, Old Man Bao. When you were the high and mighty Wang Jingzhou, you couldn¡¯t even touch Pei Ziheng. What makes you think you can do better in your current state?¡±

    Old Man Bao¡¯s gaze darkened. ¡°I have a way to make him wish he were dead.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Tell me about it.¡±

    ¡°Why should I tell you?¡± Old Man Bao looked at Li Lei suspiciously.

    Li Lei answered, ¡°Well, perhaps we can form an alliance. I don¡¯t care if Pei Ziheng wishes he were dead, but I do want to know what happened between him and Xia Ling and to find out more about the women around him... I want to know every detail, big and small, about all of his rtionships. Wang Jingzhou, I need you to help me to do the investigation, and aspensation, I can help you achieve whatever you set out to do.¡±

    This offer was very tempting, and Old Man Bao could not help but be attracted by it.

    He was currently in hiding, without money or power. The resources that he was able to harness were meager, which was making it extremely difficult for him to dig deeper into the matters of the past. If he were to cooperate with Li Lei and tap on the resources that the underground king of S City was able to make avable to him, his investigations would be a lot smoother.

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Even though Old Man Bao was very tempted by Li Lei¡¯s offer, his years of experience told him that there had to be a catch. He cautiously asked, ¡°Why are you so interested in Pei Ziheng¡¯s matters?¡±

    ¡°I have someone that I want to protect,¡± replied Li Lei. ¡°She is Ye Xingling. You think she resembles Xia Ling? I guess Pei Ziheng thinks so as well. I need to ensure that she doesn¡¯t get harassed by Pei Ziheng. Oh right, and... I don¡¯t want you to go near Xiao Ling ever again, or else... ¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice became sinister. ¡°... any promise or alliance that we make will be rubbish to me. I will make you, and the rest of the Wang family, disappear from the face of this Earth.¡±

    A chill entered Old Man Bao¡¯s heart. He did not doubt that Li Lei had the power and the guts to follow through with his threat.

    Old Man Bao was deep in thought for a moment, before he said, ¡°Okay, Ye Xingling was never my target. I will provide you with all the information that I uncover from my investigations. However, Second Young Master Li, I hope that you will help me take care of the rest of the Wang family as well. They¡¯re being bullied and trampled on by everyone at the moment. As the underground king of S City, one simple word from you will make their lives a whole lot easier.¡±

    ¡°I will give them the necessary help within reason,¡± Li Lei agreed. ¡°but I will not give them too much help. We need to make sure that Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t smell anything fishy. If I¡¯m not wrong, he has probably sent people to spy on all the remaining survivors of the Wang family. Given his vengeful nature, there is no way he would let them rx and be out of his sight.¡±

    Old Man Bao nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, I would be very grateful if you just extend your assistance where necessary.¡± He had feigned death to be rid of the eyes that Pei Ziheng had ced on him, but the rest of the family was still under Pei Ziheng¡¯s scrutiny. Pei Ziheng had always been a man of his words, and since he had vowed to make their lives difficult, he was going to follow through until the end.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If I give you my promise, the lives of your family members will not be in danger. When our coboration is over, I can send all of you overseas to a ce where Pei Ziheng is unable to reach for you to start anew.¡±

    Old Man Bao looked at Li Lei seriously. ¡°Second Young Master Li, it is said that you¡¯re a man of your word. I, Wang Jingzhou, will believe you this once. Happy partnership.¡±

    ¡°Happy partnership.¡± Li Lei held out his hand and gave Old Man Bao a light high five.

    His instincts told him that he was extremely close to learning the truth about what was bothering Xiao Ling all this while. Was it really rted to Xia Ling¡¯s death? Whatever it was, he would give his all to protect her so that she would not be hurt again.

    Li Leiposed himself and returned to S City. In front of Xia Ling, he would only show his happy side, as if all these anxieties and worries did not exist.

    Xia Ling was very busy, running all over for her schedules and recording new songs.

    Yet, Li Lei was determined that she should work hard and y hard as well. Regardless of how busy she was, there were breaks scheduled into her daily routine that was non-negotiable. He would not let her go to her next schedule if she did not get enough rest.

    Xia Ling worked till midnight for a full week, and in the weekend, Li Lei dragged her out to rx.

    He drove her to the seaside.

    They watched the sunrise in each other¡¯s arms and took a stroll along the beach before returning home. ¡°Home¡± was an exquisite, white beach bungalow. Many properties along the coast were owned by Li Lei. Xia Ling examined the beach bungalow with curiosity ¡ª it had a Mediterranean-style architecture with huge, full-length windows. Pushing open the side door from the bedroom led out into a white-striped balcony, and there was the smell of the sea in the air.

    She finally had some peace and quiet and was able to rx. For most of the day, Xia Ling would be sleeping orzing around, as if she was repaying all the sleep debt from her rigorous schedule and nightmares that kept her awake. She hugged onto the nkets, and Li Lei would embrace her from behind, ignoring her half-asleep protests. He would sneak a kiss from time to time and hum a random tune as he rocked her to sleep.

    They did not talk about Pei Ziheng.

    As if all the danger and pain did not exist.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I really want to hide you away and live like this forever.¡±

    In her half-asleep reverie, she mumbled something in protest.

    He gave a lightugh and pinched her nose slightly. ¡°Sleep. It would be best if you turn into a pig from all the sleep, then Ah Wei and the rest won¡¯t recognize you. Only I will recognize you.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a ¡°hmph¡± in protest again as her brain processed what Li Lei was saying in slow motion. Pig... Ah Wei... Wait, Ah Wei?! She opened her eyes with a start and stared at Li Lei. ¡°Did Ah Wei look for me these few days?¡±

    Li Lei continued to pinch her nose lightly. ¡°No.¡± And with another pinch, he said, ¡°Who cares about him anyway?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him, her eyes full of suspicion.

    That couldn¡¯t be right... She remembered that a few days ago, Ah Wei had called her while she was in her apartment to go to the recording studio as he had something to tell her. Why was it that now that she had been pulled out here by Li Lei, that call seemed to have never happened? This was not scientific of Ah Wei, who was a workaholic, obsessive, petty, and a stickler about punctuality all rolled into one.

    Li Lei blinked at her innocently.

    Her nose felt itchy from his pinches, and she sneezed while sitting up. ¡°Let me go give Ah Wei a call.¡±

    He pushed her back into bed. ¡°If there were anything urgent, he would call you himself.¡±

    ¡°No, I need to ask him what he needed to tell me before I can rx.¡± She pulled Li Lei¡¯s hand away from her shoulder and put on a random pair of slippers before heading out to the living room to look for her mobile.

    Li Lei reluctantly followed behind her.

    Her mobile was switched off, and she stared at it mildly confused. ¡°I never switch off my phone. Is the battery dead?¡±

    She pressed the power button and the screen lit up. Her battery was full.

    Li Lei coughed sheepishly and turned away.

    From the other end of the line, Ah Wei¡¯s shouting could be heard. ¡°Ye Xingling, why are you only switching on your phone now?! Do you know how many days I have been looking for you?! What kind of artiste are you? Do you even care about your work?! Why do you keeping with problems every two or three days and mess up my schedule? Do you think you are some big shot?! So what if you have some talent, who says you can develop all these bad habits?! Huh?! You had better...¡±

    Ah Wei continued on his rampage, and Xia Ling could only listen as he lectured her, nodding her head at his words and reflecting on her actions.

 Chapter 155 - You Dare Fire Me

    <h4>Chapter 155: You Dare Fire Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Ah Wei was right, she was too free andzy, which was not the attitude an artiste should have. How could she forget about their appointment and disappear for so many days? No, no, she had to change. When she went back, she would change this lousy phone that had switched off on its own ord.

    As her mind drifted off, Xia Ling suddenly felt her hand go light and realized that Li Lei had grabbed the phone out of her hand.

    ¡°Hello.¡± He said.

    The shouting from the other end of the line stopped momentarily.

    ¡°Hello hello.¡± Li Lei said again.

    All of a sudden, the rampage started again. ¡°Li Lei! Don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t do anything to you just because you¡¯re my Boss! I knew it was you who hid Xiao Ling! It had to be you! What are you thinking? Do you want the entertainmentpany to close shop?! What kind of Boss are you, sabotaging your own staff like this?! If you¡¯re so free, go spend some time reviewing some of your properties and entertainment cities! Go y somewhere else, stop hanging around Skyart Entertainment! Stop being a bad influence on my artiste!¡±

    Ah Wei¡¯s volume was just too loud, Xia Ling could hear him loud and clear from the side. She gave Li Lei a look of pity, while also breathing a sigh of relief as Ah Wei¡¯s target for his frustrations was no longer her. <i>However, Ah Wei, is it okay for you to be shouting at your Boss?</i>

    Li Lei looked a little sheepish, and he rubbed his nose while listening to Ah Wei lecture him for a long while. Finally, he gave a loud cough and, as sternly as he could manage, he said, ¡°Wei Shaoyin, if I ever hear you scold Xiao Ling again, I¡¯m going to...¡±

    ¡°Going to what?! Fire me?!¡± Wei Shaoyin shouted back arrogantly. ¡°If you dare fire me, I¡¯ll just go over to Imperial Entertainment and bring Xiao Ling with me!¡±

    <i>Hey hey, Ah Wei, Pei Ziheng is not going to let you shout at him like that at Imperial Entertainment.</i>

    Xia Ling thought to herself as she heard Li Lei retort almost immediately ¡ª

    ¡°What do you mean, ¡®fire you¡¯?¡± He paused before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll hang up on you.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Ah Wei was at a loss for words.

    Li Lei calmly added, ¡°I¡¯m a man of my word.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei, you rubbish of a Boss! You inhuman person! Stop abusing your power! Get Xiao Ling on the phone right now!¡± Ah Wei shouted in exasperation.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to scold Xiao Ling anymore, right?¡±

    ¡°What is it to you whether I want to scold her or not?! Shouldn¡¯t I lecture an artiste when she made a mistake? How would she learn otherwise?! How can you not know that as the Boss, huh?! Do you know the importance of punctuality?! Do you?!¡±

    ¡°You have three seconds to reply to my question, or I¡¯m hanging up on you.¡±

    ¡°I said to stop abusing your power! You¡¯re going to spoil her rotten!¡±

    ¡°Three...¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re letting her do anything she wishes in Skyart Entertainment, she¡¯s just going to get in trouble at her schedules in no time!¡±

    ¡°Two...¡±

    ¡°... Okay, okay, I¡¯m not going to scold her. Give her the phone.¡±

    ¡°See how easy that was?¡± Li Lei proudly gave Xia Ling a triumphant look and handed her the phone.

    Xia Ling received the phone from Li Lei and said a careful ¡°Hello.¡±

    Ah Wei did as promised and did not lecture her anymore. He just angrily said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you bettere back here immediately! The invitation for this year¡¯s Neb Music Festival has arrived, and we need to go over the game n. We need to push your poprity up to its peak to vie for the Best Neer Award.¡±

    Neb Music Festival ¡ª no wonder Ah Wei was so agitated.

    That was the biggest, most popr, and most prestigious music festival in the country. In actual fact, it was merely an annual musicpetition. Every autumn, they would open up for the public to nominate and vote for ten or so new and veteran singers... She could not remember the exact number. In any case, these singers would receive an invitation from the organizers to participate in thepetition.

    If she were able to win the award, it would be a very good de to her name. In her past life, she had received the Best Female Singer Award several times. Singers like Ke Yunpei, Chen Jingqiu, and Wu Tong... the best A-list singers in the industry had all received this award before as well.

    She told Ah Wei, ¡°I¡¯ll be back tomorrow.¡±

    After hanging up, she turned and saw Li Lei staring at her with a pitiful expression. ¡°Xiao Ling, you didn¡¯t even discuss with me...¡± He came over and hugged her while whining.

    She tiptoed and patted him on the head. ¡°Be good and don¡¯t distract me from my work.¡± His hair was short and fluffy as usual.

    Li Lei lowered his head more so that she could continue to pat him andined. ¡°I can afford to take care of you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to live off you.¡± As she spoke, Xia Ling quietly estimated their height difference and realized that he was almost a head taller than her. This realization made her slightly upset. She was eighteen now, which meant... she had stopped growing already? She didn¡¯t need to be too tall, she just wanted to be tall enough that she did not need to tilt her head up to look at him...

    As she was thinking about this trivial matter, she heard him say, ¡°We¡¯re family. Why do we have to draw the lines so clearly? It¡¯s a given that I should provide for you...¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t I provide for you?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± He looked up at her in shock.

    ¡°I said I¡¯ll provide for you.¡± Xia Ling raised her hand to pinch his face yfully. ¡°You just need to wait for me, the Diva, to work hard for a few more years. Once I be a Diva, I¡¯ll earn big bucks and will be able to bring you out and around for parties and to eat sumptuous meals...¡± She started tough as she spoke.

    Li Leiughed as well, his eyes sparkling. ¡°Mmhmm sounds good! I¡¯ll wait!¡±

    He drove her back to the city.

    There were seven people from Skyart Entertainment invited to the Neb Music Festival this time ¡ª Wei Shaoyin, Xia Ling, Lu Tao and his partner Leng Hui, as well as three other popr singers: Bai Murong, the dream boy of countless fangirls; Xie Ling, the rising songstress; and Shu Wanyi, the elegant goddess.

    At this moment, the seven of them were gathered in a meeting room listening to Sister Mai Na¡¯smands.

    ¡°I¡¯m in charge of the backstage operations for this music festival,¡± said Sister Mai Na. She was dressed in a sleek, business suit, her hair a vibrant wine-red, and she was elegantly leaning against the back of the sofa. Her gaze ran across each of their faces. ¡°Murong, Ling, and Wanyi, I won¡¯t say too much more to you guys. You three have participated in the music festival before and should not have any problems. I¡¯ll ce greater emphasis on you four, Ah Wei, Xingling, Lu Tao, and Leng Hui. You four are participating for the first time. Listen closely as I exin the rules and things to watch out for for thepetition.¡±

    Ah Wei was participating for the first time? Xia Ling was shocked at hearing this and turned to look at him.

    He noticed her shocked gaze and disgruntledly said, ¡°What are you looking at? If not for you, I wouldn¡¯t attend this time as well.¡±

    Because of her? Xia Ling was even more confused.

    Hearing his words, Sister Mai Na nodded and exined. ¡°Xiao Ling, Ah Wei is indeed attending for your sake. Every year he receives the invitation, but every year he declines. On this year, he decided to attend to give you support. The quality of the neers this year are great. Xia Yu, Luo Luo, and a few others are all strong contenders. Thepetition is tough. With Ah Wei present to take care of you, things will go much smoother.¡±

    Xia Ling felt slightly touched but also slightly awkward as Lu Tao and Leng Hui were still in the room. After all, they were a new group this year as well, and if Sister Mai Na and Ah Wei were backing her, then...

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you should do well!¡± She hadn¡¯t finished her thought before feeling Lu Tao p his hand on her shoulder, almost smacking her face down to the floor. He had a bright smile on his handsome face. ¡°If not for the fact that our poprity is lower than yours, I wouldn¡¯t give up the award for you.¡±

    His partner, Leng Hui, nodded in agreement from his side.

 Chapter 156 - Battle Conference

    <h4>Chapter 156: Battle Conference</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Xia Ling rubbed her aching shoulders. After thinking carefully, she realized that she did not pay much attention to her poprity recently.

    However, she remembered that people were very interested in the duo consisting of Lu Tao and Leng Hui. Thest time she met them by coincidence near the street dance center, stupid Lu Tao had not disguised himself well and was spotted by the sharp eyes of his fans, causing great chaos and confusion. If Leng Hui had not pulled him and fled the scene quickly, the aftermath would be inconceivably dreadful.

    Sister Mai Na smiled. ¡°Have you realized that your poprity has increased? Your two singles sold very well, and out of all the neers in thepany, you earned the most money from the jobs you epted, have thergest following on your official fan support club, are the most searched celebrity on the inte, and are the most talked about celebrity... Who else should I praise besides you?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled silly.

    Sister Mai Na exined the rules of the Neb Music Festival to everyone. ¡°As in previous years, allpetitors will be divided into six groups that are led by six different music producers. At every stage that requires teams to be formed, Ah Wei, you must pay attention to...¡± Sister Mai Na looked sternly at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°You¡¯re Skyart Entertainment¡¯s producer. ording to the rules of thepetition, you can only choose at most one singer from Skyart Entertainment. You¡¯re to choose seven other singers from other entertainmentpanies. I hope you can utilize this ce well.¡±

    To avoid cheating and thepetition from being too boring, thepetition rules were set as such: A producer could at most choose one singer from his or her ownpany. Any more and his team¡¯s score would be nullified.

    Who should he choose?

    Wei Shaoyin scanned the singers present. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling casually said, ¡°I can do it.¡± She did not care about which team she joined. As long as she could show off her talent, it did not make much of a difference.

    However, Sister Mai Na frowned. ¡°Ah Wei, don¡¯t forget. Neb Music Festival not only awards the top three contestants, but there is also the ¡®Entertainmentpany thatughs from the start to the finish award.¡¯ This award is given based on the total points of all the artistes in thepany. Xiao Ling¡¯s skills are very reliable, she doesn¡¯t need much help. This ce is best reserved for those who are still unstable or are veterans like Murong. If he¡¯s in your first team, Murong can help you deal with many things since he has participated in thepetition several times.¡±

    ¡°But Xiao Ling...¡± Wei Shaoyin was still worried about her.

    ¡°You are really biased.¡± Sister Mai Na smiled and shook her head. ¡°There is a reason why I did not let Xiao Ling join your team. If Xiao Ling was led by you and you win, people will say that it is expected, and even dubious. If you lose, you will receive even more disdain and ridicule. Ah Wei, we should let Xiao Ling win spectacrly and leave everyone speechless.¡±

    As such, Xiao Ling should not join herpany¡¯s team to avoid gossip.

    After hearing what Sister Mai Na said, Wei Shaoyin immediately understood and did not insist anymore. With a little regret, he chose the group consisting of Leng Hui and Lu Tao. ¡°Although there are two of you, a group only takes up one ce, so you can join my team at the same time. Your live performances have always been unstable, so it is better if I take care of you.¡±

    Lu Tao heavily nodded. ¡°Thank you, Brother Wei.¡±

    There was a hint of gratitude in her cold gaze.

    They all knew that it was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s first time participating in the Neb Music Festival. The fact that he chose two neers instead of Bai Murong, a veteran of king status, showed that he was taking some risk, and it may even affect his reputation. However, the reason he was willing to take the risk was that he wanted to escort them. He was truly the mostpassionate producer in the industry. No one couldpare to him.

    Lu Tao and Leng Hui tightly clenched their fists in the dark. They had to do their best to repay the love that Wei Shaoyin was showing them.

    Bai Murongughed and touched his nose. ¡°Looks like I have been abandoned.¡±

    ¡°You can act that way.¡± Sister Mai Naughed too. ¡°I want to give you an assignment.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Protect Xiao Ling,¡± said Sister Mai Na. ¡°No matter which team Xiao Ling ends up in, join that team too. Besides, you are of king status, I¡¯m sure you can do well in any team. I¡¯m hoping that you can help me create a queen.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± replied Bai Murong in a rxed manner. ¡°The order of team selection is based on a lottery. If Xiao Ling gets to choose before me, I will join the team she chooses. If I get to choose first, I will choose a team suitable for Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Ling.

    ¡°It is my pleasure to serve beautiful women.¡± In a half-joking manner, Bai Murong elegantly bowed his body slightly in a ssical and gentlemanly Baroque style.

    ¡°Ling and Wanyi,¡± said Sister Mai Na and looked at the two female singers. ¡°One has a lively style while the other has a gentle style. Both of your styles do not sh with Xiao Ling¡¯s style. There are many opponents this year, so you have to take care of yourselves. If you have the energy to spare, try to help Xiao Ling out to help Skyart Entertainment achieve the highest points and achieve the ¡®Entertainmentpany thatughs from the start to the finish award.¡¯¡±

    Xie Ling and Shu Wanyi agreed.

    Finally, Sister Mai Na looked at Wei Shaoyin and said, ¡°Ah Wei, you have to remember that the leading producer can gain important points, and these points will be counted in thepany¡¯s total score. You also have to do your best.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Ah Wei was filled with confidence. ¡°I will definitely earn the highest points out of the producers.¡±

    Sister Mai Na quietly looked at him.

    Xia Ling also quietly looked at him.

    Bai Murong, Xie Ling, Lu Tao, and few others quietly looked at him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ah Wei was confused. ¡°Am I wrong for saying that?¡±

    Sister Mai Na replied, ¡°This year, Feng Kun is one of the producers participating... Ah Wei, it is fine as long as you put in the effort. No one will me you if you are unable to achieve the highest points.¡±

    Everyone looked at Ah Wei with sympathy.

    Ah Wei was speechless for a while, but suddenly became emotional. ¡°Why can¡¯t I get the highest points, just because he is there? Do you think I am scared of him?!¡±

    Hey, Ah Wei, no one said that you are afraid of him, did you just expose something...

    Sister Mai Na wagged her finger. ¡°This year, Feng Kunposed ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯ What do you have topete against him?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Ah Wei choked.

    ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± caused Feng Kun¡¯s poprity to explode. Just the voting by the audience members was enough to hinder other producers from winning sufficiently. Not to mention, he had much more experience participating inpetitions and had sophisticated skills. Compared to him, Ah Wei would suffer a crushing defeat in all areas.

    Even Xia Ling did not have the heart to continueparing them.

    Feng Kun put in his blood, sweat, and tears to cut out the audio track from thest concert of her previous life, mixed her original singing voice before she was murdered to create an arrangement, and produced a unique song that only belonged to Diva Xia Ling. His creation was wless and caused the numerous fans to be so touched in that moment when they heard the song that they cried. To them, it was as if the Diva had not left them, it was as if she was still alive in this world and had just released a single... It was so realistic that it was heartbreaking.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ is unique and only exists for one person, so it is not easily tarnished.¡±

    That sentence turned him into a god in the hearts of the fans.

    But Ah Wei...

    Alright, Ah Wei was also a god, but his godly status was not as high as Feng Kun¡¯s.

    Wei Shaoyin gritted his teeth and said, ¡°The Caged Butterfly.¡±

    Everyone continued to look at him with sympathy.

    ¡°Ah Wei, it¡¯s not your fault.¡± Xie Ling smiled andforted him. ¡°You might be able toe up with an arrangement like that.¡± After looking at Ah Wei¡¯s expression, she changed her phrasing. ¡°Alright, if you spend some time, I¡¯m sure you cane up with that sort of arrangement... However, who would be able to give the song its special meaning? No matter how good your arrangement is, it cannotpare to the grief Feng Kun had for the dead.¡±

    ¡°Well...¡± Ah Wei was a little ttered by her and feltforted.

    Sister Mai Na felt that Ah Wei was incorrigible. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ah Wei. Anyway, all of the producers this year will not waste effortpeting with Feng Kun. You should also save the effort and not only focus onpeting with him. Instead, you should focus on taking good care of your team, alright?¡±

    ¡°Then I will make my team defeat his team and make him bow down in front of me!¡± said Ah Wei resentfully.

    Sister Mai Na could not be bothered to respond to him. ¡°End of discussion,¡± she said.

 Chapter 157 - Red Carpet During The Opening Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 157: Red Carpet During The Opening Ceremony</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Very soon, the day of the start of the Neb Music Festival arrived.

    First, there was the opening ceremony and audition. Before entering the studio, all the singers and producers had to walk on the red carpet.

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Xiao Ling, walk with me.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in agreement, knowing that he had the intention of promoting her. Thepetition was of a veryrge scale and had an extraordinary influence. Every year, many dazzling celebrities walked on the red carpet, and everyone tried their utmost to gain as much attention as possible. There were so many peoplepeting for attention that if an up-anding rookie like she did not have sufficient backing as a secret weapon, she would go unnoticed in the crowd of celebrities.

    And just in time, Wei Shaoyin could be her secret weapon.

    He was one of the industry¡¯s top producers and was famous for being difficult to coborate with. After many years of sincere invitations from the organizers, he was finally willing to put his honor aside and ept their invitation. His participation was long-awaited by the public. With him leading off the teams, it was no surprise that the news made the headlines and became a hot topic.

    Sister Mai Namended his action. ¡°That¡¯s true love.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin shuddered. ¡°Stop teasing me Sister Mai Na, Xiao Ling is already taken. The one who likes her is very selfish and cannot tolerate a small provocation. If he bes jealous and changes Xiao Ling¡¯s producer, where else can I find such a good singer to work with?¡± A few core personnel of Skyart Entertainment already knew about Xia Ling and Li Lei¡¯s rtionship. After all, they frequently saw one another, and both of them did not deliberately avoid them, so it was an easy guess.

    For that reason, Sister Mai Na also advised Xia Ling to focus on her career and not start a love affair with her boss.

    Xia Ling understood the stakes involved and promised Sister Mai Na that she would keep their rtionship a secret. She also truly did a good job of maintaining the secret, making Sister Mai Na very pleased. However, was the big boss pleased? Was... that important?

    The boss of Skyart Entertainment never had any rights. Since Wei Shaoyin carefully mentioned that matter, Sister Mai Naughed. ¡°Have you finally remembered who the boss is?¡± She shook her head and sent them to the limousine. ¡°Ah Wei, take good care of Xiao Ling.¡±

    The spacious interior was a white and extended version of a Lincoln car.

    Wei Shaoyin advised Xia Ling with concern. ¡°Xiao Ling, walk with meter. Don¡¯t be nervous, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling yawned a little. ¡°You said that a hundred times.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was unhappy. ¡°Can¡¯t you put in a little more effort? You¡¯re a neer, and this is the first time you¡¯re walking the red carpet. Please be more serious!¡±

    Seeing that he was about to fly off the handle, Xia Ling quickly sat properly and became more well-behaved. However, in her heart, she could not feel nervous at all, let alone be excited. Was it not it just a red carpet? What was the fuss about? What was the difference between that and walking out of her own home? In her past life, she had probably walked on more red carpets than the number of bridges Ah Wei had crossed...

    Her thoughts had drifted, and unknowingly, she had blocked out the ceaseless chatter.

    The limousine slowly approached the red carpet and stopped.

    Thedy who was in charge of greeting the guests opened the car door.

    Xia Ling followed Ah Wei as he walked out. Instantly, there was an illumination of lights, and the screams of fans could be heard.

    ¡°Wei Shaoyin! That¡¯s Wei Shaoyin!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Wei! Look here! Look here!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Wei! Young Master Wei!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! My beloved Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡±

    The waves of cheers became louder and louder. Wei Shaoyin was wearing a custom-made suit that was ck with silver silk paired with an exquisite French shirt. He swayed his chin slightly and maintained an arrogant and supercilious attitude as he walked ahead. His aura and posture were as if he was the ruler of the world. Xia Ling walked beside him and wore a long gown that was made of white silk and satin and had a winding skirt. She looked elegant and noble.

    ording to the stylist, it matched pretty well with Wei Shaoyin¡¯s outfit.

    ¡°Wei Shaoyin, I¡¯m your fangirl!¡± A high decibel female voice was heard.

    ¡°Young Master Wei couldn¡¯t be more handsome!¡± Screamed more fans.

    ¡°Xia Ling is the most beautiful!¡± In this lifetime, many fans of Xia Ling¡¯s fan support group came.

    ¡°Oh my god! Young Master Wei wants to be with Xiao Ling!¡± This...

    Xia Ling looked up quietly and nced at Wei Shaoyin. He expression seemed normal, but there was a storm brewing in the depths of his eyes. She could not help but think. <i>Ah Wei, do you dislike me that much? Are you that unhappy after the fans said that little sentence?</i> With a heart that was a little hurt, she recalled the grand ceremony at the end of the year which happened a year ago. This event was less exaggerated than that event. This time, he paired with her as he walked the red carpet. For that event, she wondered what rumors were spread...

    Sure enough, there were shouts from people who were not afraid of death. ¡°Young Master Wei is no match for the great Feng Kun!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Wei, don¡¯t abandon the old for the new!¡±

    ¡°Wishing you great happiness with Feng Kun!¡±

    As the anger in Wei Shaoyin¡¯s eyes was about to explode, his expression became colder and he quickened his steps. Xia Ling also hastened her pace, but since she did not have legs as long as his, it was more difficult for her. She could not help but say in a low voice, ¡°Ah Wei, slow down.¡± The other celebrities walking the red carpet were trying to stay as long as possible. Why was he acting like he was enemies with the red carpet by showing a cold face and increasing his pace?!

    ¡°An early death means an early reincarnation.¡± He looked forward steadily, lowered his voice and hissed.

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep up.¡± Xia Ling appeared to be walking elegantly, but the way she said that indicated that it was a strenuous task.

    Due to what she said, the distance between them was reduced. They looked very intimate, and this caused another burst of excited screaming. Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face ckened, but he still slowed down a little. ¡°Why can¡¯t you grow taller? Your legs are so short that you can¡¯t walk faster. Does Li Lei frequently not give you anything to eat?¡±

    She ignored hisints. ¡°Slow down more!¡±

    ¡°Dream on,¡± he replied.

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°Have you forgot the watches on our hands?!¡±

    After knowing that he was going to participate in the music festival, a famous jeweler offered him a sponsorship deal. Since Xia Ling and he were walking together on the red carpet, Xia Ling also benefitted and was sponsored as well. Wei Shaoyin wore aplete set of tinum-encrusted watch and cufflinks on his wrists while Xia Ling, as a rookie, only wore a gold-ted mother-of-pearl female watch on her wrist.

    However, it seemed now that she was more devoted to her job than Wei Shaoyin. She deeply remembered the agreement with their sponsor. They had to stay on the red carpet for a full five minutes, which was the longest time the organizer allowed the guests to stay on the red carpet.

    Wei Shaoyin stiffened and slowed down his footsteps as expected.

    Xia Ling instinctively knew that he forgot about it. He was very professional when it came to music-making, but was terrible at handling other jobs.

    ¡°How many minutes have passed?¡± He asked uncertainly.

    ¡°One and a half minutes,¡± said Xia Ling definitively. As someone who had walked on so many red carpets that it was uncountable in her past life, once she stepped on the red carpet again, she suddenly had a strong sense of familiarity. Even if she closed her eyes, she could urately estimate the time, angle, different locations to pause, and the best poses for photos... Those were instinctive to her.

    On the other hand, Wei Shaoyin did not believe her. ¡°How could it be that only one and a half minutes have passed? I feel that at least three minutes have passed.¡±

    ¡°One and a half minutes is one and a half minutes. Come, follow me. Walk four steps and stop for a while. Ok, turn your body 30 degrees and wave. Make sure that you position your cufflinks and watch in front of the camera... That¡¯s right. Now, put your hand down, switch sides, and do it again...¡± Xia Ling instructed Wei Shaoyin.

    Wei Shaoyin obediently followed her instructions for a while before suddenly reacting. ¡°Why are you telling me what to do? It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t know!¡±

 Chapter 158 - Who Exactly Is She

    <h4>Chapter 158: Who Exactly Is She</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    ¡°I was afraid you couldn¡¯tst the five minutes,¡± said Xia Ling. ¡°We have to be particr about where we stop.¡± Different parts of the red carpet had different light sources, backgrounds, and media personnel. Looking at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s behavior just now, it was obvious that he never noticed these details.

    Wei Shaoyin started to be impatient. ¡°You¡¯re walking too slowly and will exceed the time allowed.¡± The consequences of exceeding the time allowed on the red carpet were very severe, and there would be special security guards who would escort those who exceeded the time off the red carpet. To be asked to leave the red carpet in front of so many media personnel and fans was extremely embarrassing.

    ¡°We won¡¯t exceed the time allowed. Trust me.¡± Xia Ling guessed that his perception of time was all messed up. This was unusual for a nitpicking Virgo like Ah Wei. When he was making music, he could tell the speed to the nearest second with high uracy. Why did he be like that after being provoked a little by the fans?

    ¡°Together with the great Feng Kun!¡± Beyond the security line, there were still many voices shouting.

    Wei Shaoyin was frustrated. He lifted his wrist unnoticeably and nced at the tinum-studded watch.

    ¡°Just now it was one and a half minutes. Now it is about two minutes and fifteen seconds.¡± Xia Ling smiled.

    Wei Shaoyin snorted. ¡°There is no second hand.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± At this moment, Xia Ling reallyughed. Many luxury brand watches did not have a second hand. It is said that the rich do not need to tell the time so urately to the second. However, due to his job requirements, he was used to wearing a Patek Philippe watch that had a second hand. Thus, he could not adapt to the new watch quickly.

    ¡°Be more serious!¡± Wei Shaoyin was bing anxious.

    Xia Ling tried her best to conceal herughter. ¡°Ok, ok... Haha. It¡¯s fine, Ah Wei, just follow me. You always say that my camera sense and my awareness of my surroundings are good. Today, I will show you the style of the future queen.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin stopped talking and followed her instructions.

    The second half of the red carpet walk went very smoothly. Under the guidance of Xia Ling, they perfectlypleted the red carpet walk. When they reached the end, exactly five minutes were over.

    Wei Shaoyin was relieved. ¡°I will never ept a sponsorship ever again.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°In the future, I won¡¯t let you be involved again.¡± In recent years, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s poprity had been higher than a few top celebrities. However, unless it was professional music equipment, he always refused to ept sponsorships. Furthermore, he sponsored cufflinks and a watch this time. Personally, he used a Patek Philippe watch and really had no need to change his watch.

    Xia Ling knew that he epted the sponsorship for her sake. The watches they sponsored were from a big luxury brand that was very picky. Without Wei Shaoyin¡¯s help, they would never sponsor a new singer who just debuted. With this sponsorship and the Meteor Wings endorsement, in the future, her status would increase, and it would be easier for her to gain other sponsorships and endorsements.

    She really received help from a lot of people at the start of her path to fame.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curved into a soft smile. Perhaps being reborn into Skyart Entertainment was god¡¯s biggest favor to her.

    There was a wall filled with signatures at the end of the red carpet. Every guest who had finished walking the red carpet had to sign on it and let the media representatives take photos of them for onest time.

    Wei Shaoyin took the lead by taking the pen and quickly scribbling his signature. Then, he looked at her to urge her to hurry up.

    Xia Ling knew that he was impatient, so she amodated him by naturally taking the pen and using her fair-skinned hand to sign her name on the wall smoothly. She had done this movement numerous times, and it was almost instinctive to her. She was used to having many fans and media representatives surround her, having bright lights shing at her, and hearing screams from all directions...

    She was slightly distracted. Suddenly, she broke out in a cold sweat.

    On the signature wall, she was already halfway done with writing the Chinese character ¡°Xia.¡± If she had finished writing it, the consequences would be unthinkable. Xia Ling¡¯s hand started shaking and soon became drenched in cold sweat. How could she make such a mistake?!

    Luckily, the characters used in her current name were very simr to her previous name, and her mistake was not easily recognizable. In a hurry, she quickly changed the half-written ¡°Xia¡± to ¡°Ye.¡± It was a bit forced, but it was an eptable cover-up.

    As such, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± appeared on the star-studded signature board.

    Xia Ling maintained her smile as if nothing had happened and remained at the signature board for the media representatives to take photos. After that, she nodded to give her regards and left.

    Behind her, at the end of the red carpet, there was a man immactely dressed in a suit walking at a steady pace. He had a solemn expression and emanated warmth and magnanimity. There were loud screams as he walked past the crowd.

    After he had finished walking the red carpet, he arrived in front of the signature board.

    He took the pen and was about to sign his name when suddenly, he had a shock and stopped moving. Beside his hand was the half written ¡°Xia¡± Chinese character that Xia Ling had written. Although there were traces of a cover-up, he was not mistaken...

    Feng Kun had partnered with Xia Ling for many years, and he was all too familiar with her signature.

    The half-written ¡°Xia¡± was as if Xia Ling was revived!

    Feng Kun controlled the surge of emotions in his heart. Looking at the signature, he realized that it had been forcibly altered to form the name ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Ye Xingling... From the first time he saw her, he already felt that she resembled Xia Ling. What exactly was the connection between the two of them?

    There was a turbulent storm forming in Feng Kun¡¯s heart. Suddenly, an idea shed through his mind...

    Could it be that Xia Ling reincarnated as Ye Xingling? Obviously, he knew that the idea was ridiculous, but he was too shocked. Besides this reason, what else could exin this amazing simrity?

    Feng Kun was full of thoughts. On the surface, he appearedposed as usual as he let the media representatives take photos of him and walked away from the signature board.

    The interior of the TV station was like abyrinth as it had a ring-like shape. Wei Shaoyin had bad direction sense and circled the ce many times with Xia Ling. As expected, someone walked up to them. It was surprisingly Feng Kun.

    To be exact, it was Feng Kun who saw them there and deliberately blocked their path.

    He looked at Xia Ling deeply, pretended nothing happened, and said, ¡°Hi, you two. I haven¡¯t seen you in a long time.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head and saw Feng Kun wearing a ck suit with a tight seam. In his left chest pocket, there was a dark gold silk handkerchief that was folded in the style of the nobles in ancient times. His looks were not particrly outstanding, but he had a quiet and calm disposition. His footsteps were leisurely like a natural gentleman. They attracted people unknowingly, and once they looked at him, they could not avert their gaze.

    About a year ago, they were still good friends who told each other everything.

    ¡°Feng Kun,¡± said Ah Wei as he gritted his teeth. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®you haven¡¯t seen us in a long time¡¯? We just metst year when you were recording a song in memory of Xia Ling.¡± In reality, thest time they met was not when Feng Kun was recording a song in memory of Xia Ling but the recent ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± release reception party. Unfortunately, as Wei Shaoyin wanted to find a quiet spot, he specifically avoided people and did not speak face-to-face with Feng Kun.

    The way he interrupted him caused Xia Ling¡¯s feelings for her old friend to fade and directly started toin to Wei Shaoyin. What did he mean he just met himst year?! It was early autumn when he recorded the memorial song. Now, it is the middle of winter. A full year and a half had passed, but he thought it was not long enough. Why exactly was he so unfond of Feng Kun?

    Ah Wei, could you restrain yourself a little?

    Feng Kun did not take offense. He smiled and turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯re Ye Xingling, right?¡±

    She was afraid that he could see the ws in her fa?ade and nodded as calmly as possible.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°I heard the version of ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ that you sang. You sang your whistle notes astonishingly beautifully.¡±

 Chapter 159 - Probing

    <h4>Chapter 159: Probing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was startled. She did not expect that he would bring that up.

    About half a year ago, when she was still a trainee, she once did a cover of ¡°Sea Demon.¡± At that time, she was urgently pressed by Imperial Entertainment to do so. To prove her capability, she spared no effort in singing and did not think that the video would be circted so widely. Many of the vocal techniques she used in the song were exactly the same as those she used in her previous life. As such, she was worried that Feng Kun might have realized something.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°I personally made that song. I know how difficult it is to sing it. In fact, besides Xia Ling and you, no one else could sing it. There were too many whistle notes, and only very few people could sing them.¡±

    Whistle notes were also known as dolphin sounds.

    It was true that in the whole world, only a few singers could control the whistle range well.

    Xia Ling maintained herposure and said, ¡°That was why I made a few changes.¡± The talent she had in this world was not as good as her previous life¡¯s. She could not sing the high dolphin whistle notes, so she changed them all into a suitable melody that Ye Xingling¡¯s voice could handle. As such, she presented a different sort of beauty to the song. In her previous life, the song was like icy mes. In this life, the song was like forlorn fog.

    However, Feng Kun smiled and said, ¡°How coincidental.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly had an ominous premonition. It was as if there was something... not quite right?

    Wei Shaoyin, who was standing beside her, asked, ¡°What¡¯s the coincidence?¡±

    Feng Kun replied, ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m very curious about something. Where did you get the inspiration for the changes in the whistle part of ¡®Sea Demon¡¯?¡±

    Before Xia Ling could answer, Wei Shaoyin had already displeasedly interrupted him. ¡°Hey, Feng Kun, don¡¯t try to strike up a conversation with my singer.¡±

    That posture resembled a cat being protective of its meal.

    Feng Kunughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, Ah Wei. We¡¯re just having a casual conversation.¡±

    ¡°Casual conversation?¡± Wei Shaoyin narrowed his eyes and coldly snorted. ¡°I think you¡¯re just jealous that Xiao Ling sings better than Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°Uh...¡± Mumbled Xia Ling as she became quiet.

    Although she felt very happy that he talked about her in that way, in this lifetime, she did not necessarily sing better than in her past life. In the past, her singing was more exquisite, but now, her singing was more arrogant. Both singing methods seemed to have their own merits whenpared.

    Furthermore, Xia Ling was also a huge star.

    Feng Kun and Xia Ling were already long considered a legendary duo. Why would he be jealous of a small star like ¡°Ye Xingling¡±?

    Ah Wei, please wake up.

    Although Ah Wei made many controversial ims about him, Feng Kun just smiled. ¡°I¡¯m actually a little jealous.¡±

    What?!

    ¡°The song remains the same, but the person singing it is no longer there.¡± His voice was low and a little sorrowful, but he quickly suppressed his emotions. ¡°Miss Ye, your musicality is very simr to hers.¡±

    She was simr to her past life in what way?

    To maintain her fa?ade, she purposefully frowned. ¡°Mr. Feng, are you trying to praise me? I¡¯m very sorry, but I don¡¯t feel honored. Perhaps, being the second Xia Ling is the dream of many. However, it is not mine. After my modifications, ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ became very different from the original.¡±

    Feng Kun looked at her inquiringly. ¡°The difference is not as big as you say it is. In reality, your singing style is very simr to one that she abandoned in the past. Until now, a recording of that old style is still locked in a drawer in my office.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s palms started to turn cold. She finally realized what was wrong.

    She almost forgot that ¡°Sea Demon¡± originally had two versions. That year when Imperial Entertainment was creating the song, the sunlight in the recording studio was just right. Cascading radiant summer flowersnded outside the window and butterflies fluttered around.

    She was wearing a gorgeous dress and had a ss of fruit juice in her hand. Sheid on the sofa, looked at the pile of manuscript papers, slightly tilted her head, and asked the man next to her, ¡°Ah Kun, which of these two versions do you think is better?¡±

    Feng Kun looked at her kindly like he was looking at his younger sister. ¡°Both are very good, Xiao Ling. One of them shows off more skills while the other one needs to be polished with more delicate emotions.¡±

    ¡°Argh, that sounds rather troublesome. Let¡¯s choose the first one then.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t be impulsive when making music.¡±

    ¡°Impulsive? I was always more suited for this type of pompous singing style. Besides, you can me that hateful music critic who said I only sing with my raw talent without refined training. Hmph, I will sing with my raw talent on purpose to infuriate him!¡±

    ¡°You...¡±

    In the spacious recording studio in midsummer, a man named Feng Kun smiled and shook his head.

    Memories of the past emerged in Xia Ling¡¯s mind. She suddenly remembered that the version that required more delicate emotions was really simr to the version that she sang at Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Trainee Center.

    Wei Shaoyin blew up in anger. ¡°What do you mean by that, Feng Kun? Are you using Xiao Ling of giarism by iming that she copied a version of the song that yourpany never released publicly before?! You¡¯re trying to frame her! We reserve the right to sue you.¡±

    ¡°¡®Never released publicly before¡¯? That¡¯s right.¡± Feng Kun looked at Xia Ling deeply.

    Xia Ling had a guilty conscience and evaded his gaze. She pretended to turn angry from embarrassment and added on to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s usation. ¡°Mr. Feng Kun, I respect you as a senior in the industry, but I hope you can be mindful of your words and not nder others as you please!¡± Turning her body, she walked around Feng Kun and said, ¡°Ah Wei, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin fiercely red at Feng Kun before catching up to her.

    Feng Kun stood in the same ce and watched them leave. He was even more lost in his thoughts.

    Xia Ling¡¯s emotions were in a mess, and she did not know why she walked into the dressing room. Opening the door, she was hit by a wave of noises and blinding lights. Sister Mai Na, Bai Murong, and Xie Ling were all there. There were also a few makeup artists and assistants waiting upon the artistes. Seeing that she and Wei Shaoyin had entered, they smiled and greeted them. ¡°Quickly freshen up to appear onstage in your best stateter.¡±

    As such, Xia Ling sat in front of the mirror and let the makeup artists do their job.

    There was another group of people in the same dressing room as them. They were artistes from Galloping Horse Entertainment. After taking a phone call, their team leader said a few words before loudly calling out. ¡°Those from Galloping Horse Entertainment, our dressing room has been changed. Follow me please.¡±

    The group of people made a racket as they exited the dressing room.

    In the beginning, Xia Ling did not mind it.

    However, soon, another group of people that were dressed magnificently flooded the room. One of the girls who was wearing a cute princess dress bounced towards Xia Ling and threw herself on Xia Ling like an octopus. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡± the girl eagerly said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it is really you. I missed you to death!¡±

    Xia Ling was caught off guard and lost her bnce. She even fell to the ground with the chair and the girl. She was very dizzy and could not breathe as she was held down with the weight of Mt. Tai.

    The girl joyfully moved her face closer to Xia Ling¡¯s.

    ¡°It¡¯s me, Luo Luo! Xiao Ling, did you miss me?¡±

    It was Luo Luo from Imperial Entertainment.

    That being said, the group of people that left were actually reced with people from Imperial Entertainment?

    Xia Ling felt extremely unwell. She used the hand that was not crushed to push Luo Luo away. Looking out from a crack in the crowd, sure enough, she saw Feng Kun immactely dressed in a suit standing at the doorway. At this moment, his calm and deep gaze fell on her.

 Chapter 160 - Intoxicated Heart

    <h4>Chapter 160: Intoxicated Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Did he see through her?

    Xia Ling knew it was impossible, but she was still afraid of being found out. After she had pulled Luo Luo away from her, she covered her face.

    Luo Luo was still lying on her body and cheerfully eximing. ¡°Xiao Ling, you have slimmed down! Has life been very tiring recently?¡±

    ¡°Luo Luo... please get up...¡± Xia Ling gasped for air. ¡°You¡¯re too heavy.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry!¡± Only then did Luo Luo hurriedly got up.

    Xia Ling also used a chair to support herself as she stood up. While adjusting her standing position, she cleverly turned her body at the back of the crowd to evade Feng Kun¡¯s line of sight and carefully observed the situation over there by hiding in the crowd.

    She heard Wei Shaoyin¡¯s cold and arrogant voice. ¡°Feng Kun? Why are you sharing the dressing room with us?¡±

    There were a limited number ofrge dressing rooms in the TV station. This time, two or three entertainmentpanies had to share a room. Originally, Skyart Entertainment was paired with Galloping Horse Entertainment, but Galloping Horse Entertainment suddenly left without reason and was reced with Imperial Entertainment.

    Feng Kun looked as if he had already gotten used to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s arrogance as he smiled and said, ¡°We have many people and items. Our original dressing room was too small, so we switched with Galloping Horse Entertainment after a discussion.¡±

    He switched changing rooms on purpose!

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank. What did he mean they had too many people and items? It was just an excuse!

    On the other side, Wei Shaoyin was also fuming. ¡°Rubbish! How many more people than Galloping Horse Entertainment can you have? How is it possible that the room is too small? In thispetition, thergest number of participantse from Skyart Entertainment and yourpany. Why must you squeeze with us when there are otherpanies you can share a room with?!¡± Perhaps they were natural enemies. No matter what the situation was, Feng Kun was always an eyesore to Wei Shaoyin. After hearing that he had to share a dressing room with Feng Kun, he went berserk.

    Feng Kun ndly replied, ¡°I asked two otherpanies, but they were unwilling to move. It is all thanks to Mr. Liu, the head of Galloping Horse Entertainment, who cared enough to switch with us.¡± What he said seemed to make sense. This impromptu desire to change dressing rooms required two willing parties to happen. If one party was adamant about not changing rooms, there was nothing he could do.

    However, in reality, that was absurd.

    Only smallpanies would be refused if they wanted to change dressing rooms.

    If Imperial Entertainment proposed to change dressing rooms, whichpany would not agree to it? Furthermore, Feng Kun¡¯s poprity was very well known in the inner circle. Besides Wei Shaoyin, who was difficult to deal with, he was beloved by everyone else. Even if one rejected ten Wei Shaoyins, they might not necessarily reject a request by Feng Kun.

    Although Wei Shaoyin was bad-tempered, he had a clear train of thought and did not fall for Feng Kun¡¯s theory.

    Feng Kun smiled and interrupted him. ¡°Well, Ah Wei, we¡¯re already here. How can you chase us away? Make do with this for a while. After a few rounds of selections and the formation of teams, we won¡¯t be using the same room anymore.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin became quiet. What he said made a lot of sense, and he had nothing to say to him.

    Arguing further would only waste time. Wei Shaoyin lifted his chin, snorted, and walked away with elegant indifference.

    In the dressing room, the people from Imperial Entertainment were in a hurry, but the people in Skyart Entertainment had settled down.

    Luo Luo carefully pulled on Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Xiao Ling, is that the legendary Wei Shaoyin? He seems to dislike Producer Feng.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± replied Xia Ling without changing her expression. How could Wei Shaoyin dislike Feng Kun? It was more of a deep-seated hatred.

    Luo Luo let out a small sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s a relief. Produce Feng is such a good person, how could anyone dislike him? Oh yes, Xiao Ling.¡± She looked at Xia Ling with herrge, bright eyes. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in a long time. How are you? Don¡¯t you know how worried I was about that situation between you and Xia Yu in the past? I wanted to call you, but I was afraid that...¡±

    She looked as if she suddenly thought of something, smiled awkwardly, and did not continue speaking.

    Xia Ling expressed her understanding. ¡°You¡¯re part of Imperial Entertainment. It¡¯s really not convenient for you to express your concern about me regarding that matter.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it! Xiao Ling!¡± Luo Luo was anxious. ¡°Being part of Imperial Entertainment is obviously not the reason why I did not call you! Work and friendship are separate matters! I was scared that you would not consider me your friend!¡±

    She said that sentence very loudly and quickly. Many eyes turned to look at them in session.

    Xia Ling immediately pulled her to the side to evade the attention and said, ¡°I have always considered you a friend.¡±

    After Xia Ling spoke, she was slightly startled. She recalled that during the first time they met in the dance studio of Skyart Entertainment, she let go of her hand and said she had no friends in front of everyone present. However, such exclusion and barrier did not exist today. When did she start to slowly ept others? It seemed that after being together with Li Lei, many things had changed.

    Luo Luo¡¯s face lit up with happiness. ¡°I knew that Xiao Ling is the best! We have to be friends for a lifetime!¡± She moved closer and hugged Xia Ling so affectionately one would think she was about to kiss her.

    She hugged Xia Ling so tightly that Xia Ling became out of breath. She identally lifted her head and saw someone staring at her with cold and sinister eyes. The owner of that stare had a carefully sculpted face like her past life did and looked very pitiful as she had a very fragile body frame.

    It was Xia Yu.

    She was here as well.

    Xia Ling stared back coldly as a silent promation. ¡°What other tricks do you have up your sleeve? I will deal with all of them.¡±

    Under the pressure of her imposing manner, Xia Yu retreated and turned around as if nothing had happened.

    The staff of the TV station entered the room to invite Wei Shaoyin and Feng Kun to appear on the stage for Neb Music Festival¡¯s opening ceremony¡¯s first event: Flipping the Cards.

    What was ¡°Flipping the Cards¡±?

    During ¡°Flipping the Cards,¡± six producers would appear on stage. Before the first round of selection, each producer would have to first choose one singer of his choice to be in his team. The lucky chosen singer would have immunity during the mass selection and could be an official member of the producer¡¯s team without participating in the mass selection. The producers would also not have topete with one another during the mass selection to obtain their first chosen team member.

    Choosing the right person during ¡°Flipping the Cards¡± was very important.

    Every year, all the producers would be very prudent.

    Generally speaking, this spot would be reserved for the key yers of their ownpanies so that they could advance smoothly under the protection of their own producer. This spot could also be reserved for strong yers so that the team could gain an advantage regarding singing quality.

    Wei Shaoyin had already discussed with the people in Skyart Entertainment, so he immediately flipped his card to reveal that he would be choosing the Lu Tao and Leng Hui duo. This caused everyone¡¯s jaws to drop.

    The emcee smiled and asked, ¡°Ah Wei, you flipped the card for Lu Tao and Leng Hui. I think everyone is very shocked. Actually, everyone thought that you would flip the card for a strong king-level singer like Bai Murong or Ye Xingling. I heard that Ye Xingling is the key person to be protected?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin calmly and coldly asked, ¡°Are you telling me that Lu Tao and Leng Hui aren¡¯t our key singers to be protected?¡±

    In private, he was a little arrogant, a little hot-tempered, and was easily provoked. However, when he actually went on stage, he still had a strong aura. This was probably why he had so many obsessive fans as a producer ¡ª they did not know his real character.

    Fans frequently unhesitantly associated elegance and nonchnce as part of his personality, so all the insiders who had worked with him before felt intoxicated...

    However, he maintained a good public image so they could not do anything about it.

    Below the stage, there was an immediate eruption of screams. ¡°Ah Wei, we support you!¡±

 Chapter 161 - Flipping the Card

    <h4>Chapter 161: Flipping the Card</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Lu Tao, Lu Tao is the best!¡±

    ¡°Fight on, Leng Hui!¡±

    The emcee had nothing more to say since Wei Shaoyin¡¯s answer was just too good. There was no way she could say that Lu Tao and Leng Hui were not the main focus without disappointing the fans, right?

    A show should be entertaining and sensational indeed, but it was taboo for the emcee to ssify participants and artistes ording to their poprity. Hence, even if everybody knew that Ye Xingling was more important than Lu Tao¡¯s duo, it was not in the emcee¡¯s ce to be explicit about it.

    She smiled professionally and added some fillers before getting the other music producers to flip their cards. A few of them had gotten the people they had in mind, and thest to flip his card was Feng Kun.

    He walked to the center of the stage and stood by the wooden tray, scanning the few singers¡¯ names on it.

    Whose should he flip?

    In fact, the oue of this round was pre-determined every year ¡ª the producer and the singer would have liaised beforehand. This time Imperial Entertainment had decided to work with the major celebrity singer, Zheng Chenhao, who was as popr and renowned as Bai Murong. With him on Feng Kun¡¯s team, half the battle would have been won.

    But now Feng Kun was hesitant.

    His eyesy on a small card with the name ¡°Ye Xingling¡± on it.

    Should he pick her?

    On the screen behind him, tens of name cards were projected, and a close-up of Feng Kun¡¯s expression was screened as well, his thoughtful look stirring many emotions and expectations among the audience.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see, who would Feng Kun pick?¡± The emcee assumed that Feng Kun was simply feigning hesitation to create some hype in the audience when the decision was already made earlier. She smiled. ¡°Feng Kun seems to be hesitating. Is he in a dilemma because all of these singers are just way too good?¡±

    Back in the makeup room.

    Xia Ling and many other singers were watching the live stream.

    The way Feng Kun knitted his brows made her unsettled. Surely he would not pick her? Ye Xingling¡¯s status and his were worlds apart, they were practically strangers through and through... If he did pick her, it could only mean that he was beginning to get suspicious about her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s wrapped her slender fingers around the titanium ring pendant worn around her neck as if the little ¡°LY¡± carving could give her immense strength.

    ¡°Who exactly will Feng Kun pick?¡± The emcee was still building the atmosphere.

    Meanwhile, Feng Kun had snapped to his senses after deep consideration. He looked up towards the camera and easily picked up the card with the name ¡°Zheng Chenhao.¡±¡±Of course it¡¯s the heavenly king of Imperial Entertainment.¡± He raised the card as he addressed the crowd.

    He had thought through a lot while making that decision.

    In any sense, it would not have been appropriate for him to pick Ye Xingling. They were too different in terms of reputation and status, age and music genre, were not from the samepany, and did not have much interaction usually ¡ª there was no reason he could offer for anyone to believe that his choosing her was not out of personal bias. His personal bias, however, was merely to find out how Ye Xingling and Xia Ling were rted.

    If he chose Ye Xingling and it turned out that she waspletely unrted to Xia Ling, it would be alright. But if she were indeed rted to Xia Ling in any way, she would definitely guard herself against him from then on.

    Furthermore, Chu Chen would also get suspicious and alert Pei Ziheng about it, and once it got to Pei Ziheng, even Feng Kun would not be able to help her. If this caused Xiao Ling harm, or anyone rted to her... the oue would be disastrous.

    Hence, after going through all these considerations, he still chose the predetermined singer.

    As for Ye Xingling¡¯s identity? He would investigate it without alerting anyone.

    Seeing his choice, Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief. Good thing he had not recognized her. A momentter she shook her head and smiled to herself. How would Feng Kun manage to think about something as incredible and strange as reviving into another person¡¯s body?

    Her mood improved once she stopped worrying, and she joyfully watched the rest of the show. The six singers had been chosen, and the rest of them would be picked by random using an online generator to decide the sequence of the performances.

    The results were out very quickly as the tens of names were projected on the screen in number order.

    Xia Ling was ced 43rd, somewhere in the front of the second half. It was considered the best position ¡ª the producers would have had a rough idea of the overall standards by then and would have picked a few but also left vacancies for uing singers. With neither the fluster in the beginning nor the bore in the end, she was ced exactly when the producers were the calmest and clear-headed.

    Sister Mai Na, Bai Murong, and Xie Ling went forward to take a look.

    ¡°Not bad at all, Xiao Ling. You¡¯re lucky,¡± said Xie Ling with some envy before revealing a smile and taking a shot of Xia Ling. She was genuinely happy for Xia Ling. In Skyart Entertainment, the rtionship between artistes was good, probably because their Boss Li Lei gave them a lot of freedom in the workce, and every artiste was able to find their ce in thepany and help one another with it. Hence, there was close to no rivalry among them.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Yup, my luck¡¯s not too bad. How are yours?¡±

    Everybody shared their positions.

    Xie Ling and Bai Murong were closer to the front, followed by Shu Wanyi who was in the middle, and Xia Ling who was performingst.

    ¡°Anyone wants to exchange their position?¡± asked Shu Wanyi.

    To make things all the more interesting, singers were allowed to exchange their positions with one another after the generated ones were screened. Each singer was entitled to only one exchange.

    At this point, the emcee had also announced this rule.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m fine with anything.¡± Though she was considered a newbie, she had the talent and potential of a Diva and was confident that she would get her desired oue regardless of when her performance was.

    Xie Ling and Shu Wanyi added, ¡°We¡¯re fine with anything too.¡±

    Bai Murong looked toward Xia Ling. ¡°We¡¯ll be in the same team. If my turn is before yours, then you¡¯ll have to choose the team that I¡¯m already in, which might be difficult. How about this, let¡¯s switch it around. You¡¯ll go first and I¡¯ll join the team that you¡¯ve picked.¡± He was a heavenly king in this industry, and though he had not been explicit, what he meant to say was simply this: the teams that epted him might not ept a newbie like Xia Ling, but the teams that epted Xia Ling would more than likely want him on the team as well.

 Chapter 162 - A Gift to His Girlfriend

    <h4>Chapter 162: A Gift to His Girlfriend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling read between the lines, and her temper rose slightly. ¡°No need, I can manage it.¡±

    Bai Murong side-eyed her doubtfully.

    Xia Ling red back at him. ¡°What are you staring at, I...¡± She was about to mention the time she was still a Diva, how Bai Murong would have had to bow down to her ¡ª that was no exaggeration, in those days, if Bai Murong and Zheng Chenhao were considered heavenly kings, she was a Super Diva that surpassed them easily.

    They met at an event once, and Bai Murong had literally stopped in his tracks to give way to her.

    But there was no way she could bring this up now, there was no way she could unt the talent she had before. All she did was continue to re at him seriously. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on me, I¡¯m a woman who wants to be a Diva someday!¡±

    ¡°Ha ha.¡± The few artistes from Skyart, including Bai Murong and Xie Ling,ughed aloud, thinking of how innocent and adorable this newbie was. Xie Ling could not help but pet her on the head. ¡°Be good, don¡¯t kick a fuss. Alright, alright, you¡¯re a woman who wants to be a Diva... pfft.¡±

    Xia Ling was practically in tears. How could nobody believe her?

    Bai Murong could not help but smile. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll go first. You do your best to get into the same team as me.¡± He would try to pick a team suitable for her, and this way was better as well ¡ª if she joined his team, it would be with her ability, and word about him favoring her would not spread.

    Sister Mai Na was right. Since they intended to groom her, they should do it graciously and wlessly with no room for gossip.

    The selection had started onstage.

    There were five rounds of selection, each round featuring between 10 and 20 candidates. Tonight, only Xie Ling was featured among the Skyart artistes. Her stage presence was extremely likable and was chosen by a pretty good team.

    After the show, they smiled and bade their farewell.

    Back at the apartment, the doorbell rang.

    Xia Ling opened the door and realized that it was Su Tang at the door. Big Beauty Su Tang was carrying many bags and had a cold smile on. She politely said, ¡°Miss Ye, Young Master got me to bring these to you.¡±

    Xia Ling stood aside to let her in.

    She had been so busy recently that before Su Tang appeared, she almost forgot how little time she had spent with Li Lei. Thest time she contacted him, he was on a business trip, and she did not even know how he was after that.

    Su Tang left the paper bags in her apartment.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What are these?¡±

    Su Tang elegantly but coldly replied, ¡°You can see for yourself. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± Concerning Xia Ling bing Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend, he had kept Su Tang in the loop. Su Tang had lost sleep over this and was a lot more tired and haggard than before, relying on makeup to cover up her fatigue.

    She looked at Xia Ling. This petite girl standing before her, who was in a pair of casual room slippers with her hair done up loosely, and who only looked pleasant at best, had already be a thorn in her heart. There was no way she could remove this thorn nor stop her heart from bleeding.

    With all her might, she suppressed her desire to shoot her a look of hatred.

    Xia Ling tilted her head. ¡°That¡¯s all then, thank you.¡± It was probably a woman¡¯s intuition, but she had always felt that Su Tang did not particrly like her, though she had no idea why. Xia Ling could not be bothered to specte anyway. If there was no chemistry between people, then there was no point forcing them to get close.

    She politely walked Su Tang out and then returned to open up the paper bags.

    Li Lei had given lots of clothes, beautiful and elegant colors, simple and fitting designs, and their texture was simply too good. She took a look at the tag and saw that they were pullovers made with top quality mulberry silk and Scottish cashmere, dresses and blouses made with Egyptian cotton, as well as Scabal cardigans...

    She was very used to wearing such quality goods and knew exactly how rare they were.

    She gave Li Lei a call. ¡°You don¡¯t have to give me so many expensive gifts.¡± Although he was her boyfriend and was very rich indeed, she always hoped to be independent so they could be on equal standing. She did not want a rtionship where she was always dependent on him.

    Li Lei sounded joyful over the phone. ¡°That¡¯s nothing much, Xiao Ling. You¡¯re my girlfriend, as long as you like something, I¡¯ll definitely find a way to let you have it.¡±

    ¡°I like it?¡± When did she say she liked it? Though, of course, she did like them very much.

    ¡°Have you forgotten?¡± He still sounded happy about himself. ¡°When you first debuted, Sister Mai Na had asked what brands you liked and you named these two. Back then, Tan Ying was present as well and told me about it. So, I took note.¡±

    She recalled that incident.

    ¡°How did youe to know about these two brands?¡± Li Lei was curious. ¡°It¡¯s a European handmade brand and their products are all made with top quality goods; even I have never heard of it. I had to get Su Tang to find out about it for me.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Sister Mai Na know about them? When I mentioned it, she knew what they were right away and even told me I could forget about wearing them because they were too expensive.¡± She tried evading the question. ¡°It¡¯s not that rare, you¡¯re just uninformed.¡±

    On the other end, Li Lei stood by the full-length ss window in a presidential suite of a hotel, admiring the night scene. Xiao Ling did not mention how she knew about these brands, and he had conducted some checks to find out that Xia Ling loved donning these brands when she was alive. Was this a coincidence?

    His brows were furrowed, but he managed to regain hisposure. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you mocking me for being outdated?¡± Grievances again.

    Xia Ling sighed.

    Only after getting along with him frequently did she realize how coquettish he was as a man. There was no way he could get off it unless she talked him out of it each day. She wondered thoughtfully, how and why did she find him fierce and threatening when she first met him? She must have been sick then.

    He hung up in satisfaction when she gave him the response he wanted.

    Xia Ling tossed and turned in bed, recalling many memories regarding the two brands. She hardly got any sleep that night.

    The following day, Sister Mai Na saw the clothes she was wearing. ¡°Psst, Xiao Ling, aren¡¯t these the brands you mentioned previously? Xia Ling likes these two brands too. Not only do you sing like her, but even your fashion tastes are also simr.¡±

    ¡°Boss gave it to me, so I¡¯m just wearing it around,¡± said Xia Ling a little unconvincingly. She could not let them think about how simr she was to herself in the previous life, it was too dangerous a line to thread.

    Sister Mai Na shook her head and smiled. ¡°Only Boss would happily get them all for you, cherish them.¡± She went on to say. ¡°Actually, it looks really good on you, you should dress like this more often. But you must keep your rtionship with Boss a secret. Otherwise, it¡¯ll ruin your career as an artiste.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent for a while before replying, ¡°Yup, I¡¯ll take note of it.¡±

    In her memory was such an incident ¡ª

    ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t kiss me like that in front of others, you need to be mindful of your public image.¡±

    That was Pei Ziheng¡¯s low and attractive voice.

 Chapter 163 - Traversing Miles to See You

    Chapter 163 Traversing Miles to See You

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Back then, Xia Ling had smiled and said, ¡°What¡¯s there to be afraid of, I love you, and that¡¯s all that matters to me.¡±

    That man had stroked her cheeks gently. ¡°You promised me that you¡¯d be a world-renowned Diva; if we get too intimate in public, imagine the gossip that would get around... Xiao Ling, I¡¯m your partner, your boss, and also the person who adopted you, the reporters can write all the awful things about it and it¡¯ll break our deal.¡±

    Little Xia Ling was not too happy. She furrowed her beautiful brows but said, ¡°Alright then, low-profile it is, but you can¡¯t have a change of heart!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Pinky promise?¡±

    ¡°Pinky promise.¡±

    These images from the past still remained clear ¡ª a beautiful thirteen-year-old girl in her white-as-new princess gown, barefoot and leaning on a man. That man was lying sideways on a ck leather couch, some of his shirt buttons undone. One of his hands was resting on her waist, while the other gave her the pinky promise she asked him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± His face was glowing from the sunset, his deep and rich voice saying, ¡°my most beautiful butterfly.¡±

    She was immersed in that memory for a long while. She had liked him since she was very young and had learned to hide their rtionship. Yet, hard as she tried, she still lost him eventually and ended up with nothing but betrayal and pain. She ached in the depths of her heart, and with a ¡°nk,¡± the ss she was holding slipped out of her hand and shattered on the ground.

    Sister Mai Na got a fright. ¡°Xiao Ling? Are you alright? Goodness, you¡¯re an adult, how could you be so clumsy?¡± She pulled Xiao Ling back a few steps away from the ss shards.

    Xia Ling was shaken and snapped back to reality, trembling.

    ¡°Why have you turned so pale?¡± asked Sister Mai Na concernedly.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Seeing Sister Mai Na¡¯s worried look, she tried to regain herposure. ¡°I¡¯ve probably been too worn out these few days because of the preparation for the Neb Music Festival. I should be fine after some rest.¡±

    Sister Mai Na saw her back to the apartment, helped her into her bedroom, and got her some warm water before leaving.

    Xia Ling held her nket and daydreamed for a long time. If... If this time, her rtionship with Li Lei was revealed, would he bepletely alright with it like he had promised initially? Did he really not mind at all that she was just amoner from a humble home, with no power nor authority? And...

    She had so much in the past that she dared not face.

    Could someone like her match up to him? Would he... despise her one day?

    The thought of it was enough to wrench her heart.

    As the sky was turning dark, a call from Li Lei came. ¡°Xiao Ling, what are you doing now? Have you been well today?¡±

    Xia Ling kept silent for a while before softly asking, ¡°Li Lei, will theree a day when you no longer like me?¡±

    He was evidently stunned on the other end of the line before he spoke with all gentleness. ¡°What are you thinking, silly child. How could I not like you? We¡¯ve made a pact to be together for the rest of our lives.¡±

    ¡°These are all lies.¡± She thought about the time the man and the little girltched their pinkies in a promise against the sunset. As her head began to throb, she curled up on the bed and bit her lip.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei sounded worried now. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you feeling unwell?¡±

    Xia Ling could not say a thing until the pain had subsided. ¡°No.¡±

    He asked, ¡°What happened today?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± She did not want to borate any further.

    Li Lei kept quiet for a moment before he spoke, ¡°Xiao Ling, no matter what happens, I¡¯ll be with you. You¡¯re my lover, my lifelongpanion. We¡¯re a team, alright?¡±

    She did not reply to that, but in her mind, the image of the couple in the sunset had faded in the distance, until she could no longer make out the both of them.

    She smiled a little. ¡°Li Lei, it¡¯s so nice having you around.¡±

    After speaking for a bit more, she fell sound asleep.

    In her sleep, she vaguely felt a weight on one side of the bed and a warm embrace around her. She adjusted herself a little and found afortable position before falling into a deep sleep.

    Morning came.

    Xia Ling opened her eyes groggily and found something a little amiss. She looked down and actually saw an arm around her waist, lightly tanned and well-toned, like one from an Ancient Greek statue. On the back of her neck was a familiar and rhythmic breathing.

    She blinked her eyes in disbelief. Turning around, she saw that it was indeed Li Lei by her side.

    Li Lei seemed to have been awoken by her movement. He opened his eyes and blinked several times before focusing his vision on her. Breaking into a wide grin, he greeted her. ¡°Good morning, darling.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you overseas?¡± She could not understand what was happening and had to pinch him to ensure it was not just a dream.

    He called out. ¡°It hurts.¡± And went on to grab her and pull her close. ¡°I missed you, so I came back.¡± He had sensed something off about her emotions the day before and got worried, hence taking the midnight flight back to see her. Only when he saw her fast asleep on her bed was he finally relieved. Then he joined her on the bed and held her carefully as she slept.

    But, he would never reveal his worries to her.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°But Su Tang said you¡¯re very busy these days.¡± Xia Ling had asked Su Tang about how he was doing overseas, and she had said that Li Lei was incredibly busy, so much so that he had not had proper sleep nor meals in a while, and she advised Xia Ling not to bother him.

    She looked at him in the eyes. It had been close to a month since shest saw him, and he appeared slimmer than before and had some dark eye circles on his eyes. She wondered how many days of broken sleep it took to cause them.

    ¡°What got you so worried you ended up in this state?¡± She stroked his face gently. She had known him as someone who was always calm andposed; sometimes evenzy. It sometimes seemed like all he ever did was eat, sleep andze about, so Xia Ling never realized that he also had his fair share of busy days and haggard looks. It pained her to see him look this way.

    Li Lei smiled, his eyes gentle as he gazed at her. ¡°Does your heart ache for me?¡±

    ¡°... You wish.¡± She took her hand back and wanted to turn away.

    He held her tight and kissed her. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much, just some misceneous business.¡± It regarded triad matters, killing and the like. His Xiao Ling was pure and innocent; it was better if she was kept out of the loop.

    He tried to get it over with simple, but the bags beneath his eyes told Xia Ling things were far from simple. He was not one who got flustered easily. Even if he had an important business matter at hand, his calm and cool self never wavered one bit. The fact that he was so busy with handling these matters personally just said how important and urgent they were.

    ¡°Come on, Xiao Ling, give me a smile. You won¡¯t look good with a frown,¡± he told her.

    She was not relieved yet, however, and had doubts about his words. He had already kissed her on the face in an attempt to reassure her and calm her down.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± his voice was now low and hoarse. His lips were searching as he tossed around in bed, over and over.

 Chapter 164 - Pleasure and Pain

    Chapter 164 Pleasure and Pain

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Her breath was getting shorter and more hurried as she ced both hands on his shoulders, which were tough as a rock.

    He felt encouraged andnded on top of her. As he began undoing her buttons with one hand, his warm and coarse palm reached into her pajamas, exploring. It seemed his passion was ignited.

    She shuddered as her mind became a blur. She was epting, weing him, but out of the blue, an image shed past her, an image that seemed too simr to the scene before her, one that disturbed her continually. The memory was summoned once again ¡ª the huge vi, the handcuffed wrists, the devilish man...

    She was semi-conscious now and tried, albeit weakly, to struggle and wrench herself free. Yet, the more she wanted to escape his increasingly unrestrained movement, the more forcefully he restrained her.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Her voice shook. ¡°don¡¯t, don¡¯t do this...¡±

    Li Lei could not hear anything more at this point. As his passion surged, all he wanted was to have her to himselfpletely. Panic rose inside her, and the image in her memory got clearer and clearer ¡ª that man had pinned her down the same way, unrelenting towards her struggles as he brought her more pain.

    ¡°No!¡± She was pale as a sheet as she pushed Li Lei away, screaming.

    By the time she realized what she had done, she was already free from him. Still flustered, she backed off and held onto the sheets.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯te close!¡± She looked at him, so utterly horrified that even her voice was different.

    Li Lei was evidently hurt, but he did not try to get any closer. His clothes were crumpled, revealing his beautifully toned body, and the look of confusion in his eyes had not left. Yet he managed to restrain himself, to not do anything that could potentially hurt her. ¡°Why?¡± he asked, his voice low and hoarse.

    They were alright just moments ago, why did she push him away with such fear all of a sudden?

    Xia Ling did not know how to answer that as she held her head low, unwilling to meet his gaze. She knew he meant no harm and that he simply loved her too much. They were already a couple, and things were bound to happen, but... what went wrong? The problem was definitely on her part, not his. She could not control herself and her body, nor could she ovee that panic and rejection. All of what she felt now was a result of what that devilish man did. He turned extreme pleasure into extreme pain, branded that trauma in her mind, leaving it etched in her heart.

    She could not get rid of that fear.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei was worried about her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just let me be on my own for a while,¡± she said softly as she held herself.

    ¡°If you¡¯re unwilling, I will not force you,¡± his voice was slow as he spoke slowly. ¡°We will be spending our lives together. I will wait until the day you¡¯re ready.¡±

    With that, he stood up and left the bedroom.

    The room was now quiet, and as a dark cloud eclipsed the sun, the room had fallen into darkness. Xia Ling stayedpletely still as her body cooled down. She remembered Pei Ziheng¡¯s words ¡ª

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you trying to escape? You¡¯ll never seed, your body belongs to me, forever.¡±

    Was this what Stockholm Syndrome was like? After repeated whipping and torture, istion and love, was she really Pei Ziheng¡¯s and no one else¡¯s? Would she reject all other men who touched her?

    She had begun a new life, her outer shellpletely changed, but was her soul any different from the one that had been branded on?

    She dared not think further.

    She was curled up in the bedroom the whole day. When dusk arrived and the dark scared her, she finally got up and stumbled on her numb legs to turn on the lights. That was when she realized that Li Lei had left.

    In the living room, the windows were half open, allowing the breeze to enter.

    Yet it was not enough to dissipate the smell of smoke.

    She had never seen him smoke before, but today, the crystal ashtray was full of cigarette butts.

    Beneath the ashtray was a note.

    ¡ª I have left and probably will not return in a while. Take care of yourself, and call me when you miss me.

    On the note was an even thicker smell of smoke than in the air, and the note itself seemed to speak of hurt.

    It was a huge blow to Xia Ling, and it showed on her face in the next few rounds of selection. Sister Mai Na could not take it any longer and went to speak with her. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened with you recently? You¡¯re not in good shape. It isn¡¯t your turn yet, so you should be due to sing in the next round. If you¡¯re still in this condition, how are you going topete with the other singers?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll adjust myself,¡± said Xia Ling wearily.

    Sister Mai Na frowned. ¡°What is it, exactly? You¡¯ve been going well recently. Was it an argument with Boss?¡±

    There was no way she could speak about something so private and personal, so Xia Ling simply shook her head and said, ¡°He¡¯s alright.¡± She avoided Sister Mai Na and forced herself to focus on her work.

    Seeing that she was trying her best, Sister Mai Na did not see a need to give her a lecture.

    Xia Ling had nightmares for the next few nights. The moment she closed her eyes, memories of that pitch dark room and the sense of helplessness and panic came rushing back. She could barely manage a good sleep at night and often stayed awake for the most part of it.

    It did not take long before she looked haggard.

    ¡°What happened to your skin, it¡¯s so dry I can barely get your makeup on properly.¡± Thest round of selection for the Neb Music Festival had finally arrived, and the makeup artist was busy helping her out in the studio and lecturing her as he applied her makeup. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you the past few times that you have to take note of your sleep and drink more water to stay hydrated. Look at you now, I can¡¯t give you anything more than a light and nude makeup. Otherwise, it¡¯ll look too cakey on camera.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have the energy to argue with him. Moreover, he was only speaking facts, so she let him go on.

    Sister Mai Na, Bai Murong, and the rest were sighing by the side. They had nned to create the best conditions and opportunities for her in every aspect, but they missed out the one important thing ¡ª Xia Ling¡¯s condition. There was no way they could have expected her to be so out of her norm.

    ¡°Her period?¡± Bai Murong tugged at Sister Mai Na and whispered. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit too long for that?¡±

    Sister Mai Na red at him. ¡°More like you¡¯re on your period!¡±

    Bai Murong kept quiet after that. At this point, the only thing left to do was for Xia Ling to perform better.

    But, this was just the selection round, and she had such a good position, surely she would not have an issue...

    Xia Ling did not know about their worries. After her makeup was done, she went to the washroom.

    The corridor was long and maze-like. As she walked on, she heard a man¡¯s voiceing from a corner. ¡°Come on, Little Beauty Luo Luo. Don¡¯t be shy, let me touch you...¡±

 Chapter 165 - The Big Fight To Save Luo Luo

    Chapter 165 The Big Fight To Save Luo Luo

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Luo Luo?

    This name caused Xia Ling to slow down her footsteps before she increased her speed and ran towards the corner.

    In that secluded corner, a man grabbing onto Luo Luo, and his hand was touching her body in an unruly fashion. Luo Luo, red-eyed, was desperately struggling. ¡°Let go of me! Boss Zhao, I¡¯m not that sort of person!¡± She wept.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t?¡± Boss Zhao smirked. ¡°Stop acting. I don¡¯t like people who y to hard get. Let¡¯s just be a bit straightforward... Slut, didn¡¯t you ask Xia Yu to help you find a backing? Xia Yu already told me that. Don¡¯t worry. As long as you serve me well, I assure you that your poprity will explode after the Neb Music Festival...¡±

    How was this rted to Xia Yu?

    Initially, Xia Ling was shocked, but after thinking about it for a while, she finally understood what was going on. Luo Luo must have offended Xia Yu somehow. Considering Xia Yu¡¯s dark personality, it was a big possibility that she found a quick way to get her revenge on Luo Luo. After Xia Ling figured that out, she was immediately enraged. It was outrageous that they dared to bully her friend like that!

    ¡°Let her go!¡± Xia Ling loudly hollered and took a sudden big stride, grabbing Boss Zhao¡¯s hand and pushing him aside.

    Boss Zhao was taken aback by her sudden scream and could not respond in time, so she actually managed to push him away. He stumbled a few steps back and nearly almost fell t on his face. It took a long time before he stabilized himself. After seeing that the person who pushed him away was a slim and delicate girl, he lost all his pride. He could not help but be embarrassed and angry. ¡°Who do you think you are, busybody!¡±

    ¡°Scram. Otherwise, I will call for help.¡± Xia Ling used one hand to protect Luo Luo and another hand to retrieve her phone.

    Her icy, piercing re made Boss Zhao quickly realize what was going on. It was so strange. She was only a young girl, so why did she exude such a bitterly cold aura? She was so cold it was like everyone ought to be beneath her and she could do anything she set her mind on!

    Boss Zhao was afraid that she would really call for help and fiercely red at him. ¡°You two b*tches better watch out. It¡¯s best if you never end up being under my control.¡±

    Xia Ling only sighed in relief after looking at him leave.

    Luo Luo hugged her and cried loudly. ¡°Xiao Ling... I... I¡¯m scared...¡± As she cried, she told Xia Ling about her misfortune. She was walking along the corridor when suddenly someone dragged her to a corner. Boss Zhao told her a lot of obscene things and then molested her.

    ¡°Thank god you came...¡± Luo Luo cried so hard she was out of breath. ¡°Otherwise, I don¡¯t know what would have happened to me.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Just now, that person mentioned Xia Yu. Have you offended Xia Yu recently?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Luo Luo was shocked. After trying to recall something for a long time, she suddenly gave Xia Ling aplicated look. ¡°I think... it was that time when we switched dressing rooms, and I was very happy to see you and talk to you. I identally realized that Sister Xia Yu was looking at me, and her expression... I don¡¯t even know how to describe it. It was very scary.¡±

    That was it.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. It looks like she had implicated Luo Luo. Xia Yu was too resentful towards Xia Ling and vented her bitterness on innocent Luo Luo.

    ¡°Who is this Boss Zhao then?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Boss Zhao?¡± Luo Luo let out a disgusted look. ¡°He is part of the TV station crew and is in charge of the revival contest after the selection round. After the previous few rounds, there are about ten people who entered the revival contest. Including the final round tonight, there will be about twenty people entering the revival contest. Boss Zhao is responsible for all of them as he arranges their order of appearance and genre of songs they will sing.¡±

    Boss Zhao¡¯s authority was not small. No wonder he thought that Luo Luo was looking for some backing.

    Xia Ling had been constantly immersed in her own feelings these few days and did not notice the current process of the selection. She remembered something suddenly and asked Luo Luo, ¡°Have you passed the selection round?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Talking about this subject made Luo Luo want to cry again. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xia Yu is really too much. She switched the good queue number I had and passed the selection round yesterday. I have her awful queue number of 54 and will be performing only during thest round. Not only that, she still looked for Boss Zhao to harm me.¡±

    What, Luo Luo is going to perform during thest round?

    Xia Ling felt that the situation was far from good. Since it was thest round, who knew whether the producers already had full teams. In the unluckiest situation, all of their teams were already full, and thest singer would not even have to chance topete and enter the revival contest directly.

    Furthermore, during the revival contest, there would be about twentypetitors, and only one would survive.

    The elimination rate was astonishingly high.

    Xia Ling looked at the girl who was hugging her and painfully crying. How much injustice did she usually suffer in Imperial Entertainment? Both of them just debuted, but Xia Yu could switch her queue number as she pleased, and besides crying, Luo Luo could not do anything about it.

    No, she was definitely not going to let Luo Luo enter the revival contest.

    Luo Luo was too innocent and kind, and the revival contest was usually very dangerous. There was also Boss Zhao looking at her like a tiger eyeing its prey.

    This was something she caused. If Luo Luo were not close to her, Xia Yu would not even remember Luo Luo. Xia Ling thought for some time before saying, ¡°Alright, don¡¯t cry. Do you know who is the secondst performer, the one that goes on stage right before you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Wang Jun. Why do you ask?¡± Luo Luo was still holding back her tears and gave her a confused look.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just randomly asking.¡± Xia Ling patted her head. ¡°I think you should go back quickly. Look, your makeup is ruined because of your crying. You need a good touch-up to seed in the selection round. I will go to the bathroom, and then it will be about time for me to appear on stage.¡±

    ¡°Oh, ok.¡± Unlike, Xia Ling, Luo Luo had already noticed her queue number very long ago and knew that she was number 47, so it was no doubt that she was going on stage very soon. She did not want to hold up Xia Ling and quickly bid her farewell.

    However, Xia Ling did not go to the bathroom. After she ensured that Luo Luo had left, she changed directions and went to look for Wang Jun.

    After hearing her intention, Wang Jun was very surprised. ¡°Usually, it is always those with bad queue numbers that want to switch with those who got good queue numbers. Your queue number is so good, and it is about time for you to appear on stage. Why would you want to switch your queue number for mine which is the secondst number?¡± There was a difference between the secondst and thest queue number. Both had the possibility of being the unlucky number of entering the revival round directly.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Are you going to switch with me?¡±

    Time was tight. There was no way she could help Luo Luo if she missed this chance. One would be an idiot if they did not take advantage of others when given a chance. Thus, Wang Jun resolutely switched queue numbers with her.

    Xia Ling only sighed in relief after personally watching him walk on stage with her queue number. It was great. Since she had the secondst ce, if the six producers did not have full teams and thest two queue numbers did not have to enter the revival contest directly, she would have a chance to protect Luo Luo.

    Originally, she thought of directly switching her queue number with Luo Luo as it was a safer option, but Luo Luo had already switched queue numbers with Xia Yu and lost the ability to switch her queue number again. As such, she could only try her second best n.

    ¡°Hopefully, everything will turn out well.¡± She prayed silently in her heart.

    She took the queue number she had switched with Wang Jun and walked back to the dressing room. After she opened the door, everyone from Skyart Entertainment stared at her with a strange look.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you crazy!¡± Sister Mai Na was the first to rush up to her and angrily pointed at the man who was singing on the broadcast screen. ¡°What have you done? Why did you give your queue number to Wang Jun?!¡±

 Chapter 166 - She is my Good Friend

    Chapter 166 She is my Good Friend

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    Earlier, Xia Ling only cared about helping Luo Luo and forgot that there was arge number of people pinning their hopes on her. However, it was toote for them to say anything as Wang Jun was already on stage.

    Furthermore, even if she were given another chance to choose again and were met with the rage of the people in Skyart Entertainment, she would still choose to help Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo was her friend. She could not watch her friend fall into the clutches of that pervert, let her innocence and future be destroyed, and do nothing about it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sister Mai Na and everyone else.¡± She lowered her head sincerely apologized to everyone. ¡°I was the one who made the decision and took the liberty to switch my queue number with Wang Jun. I had no choice but to do this.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean you had no choice?¡± Sister Mai Na was so enraged that sheughed. After working as partners for so long, this was the first time Sister Mai Na was so angry. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you actually want to join the revival contest.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Sister Mai Na gradually changed her expression. ¡°You actually want to enter the revival contest? Oh god, you¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry everyone,¡± repeated Xia Ling. She could not tell them the reason; otherwise, they would start to criticize and attack Luo Luo. Luo Luo just debuted and could not bear the me and pressure from so many agents of big celebrities.

    However, she did not think that she would see Luo Luo walking over and squeeze her small frame through the crowd. She looked at Xia Ling unbelieving with tears in her eyes. ¡°Xiao Ling, you did it for me right? That¡¯s why you went to look for Wang Jun to switch queue numbers. You wanted to protect me who is thest to go on stage!¡± She was innocent, but she was not stupid. After seeing Wang Jun appear on stage and thinking about it, she immediately understood what was going on.

    Additionally, she was in Imperial Entertainment which shared a dressing room with Skyart Entertainment. Seeing themotion in the part of the room belonging to Skyart Entertainment, she was very sure of what had happened.

    Then, Luo Luo felt extremely guilty. She med herself for causing Xiao Ling to make such a poor decision.

    Sister Mai Na frowned and asked Luo Luo what was going on.

    Before Xia Ling could stop her, Luo Luo had already told her the entire story from the start to end without holding back.

    After listening to her, everyone was quiet. Even Sister Mai Na¡¯s rage was reduced by a little. They were all people who valued friendship. If they examined their own conscience and asked themselves, they would probably make the same decision as Xia Ling if their friend was met with such a difficult situation. As for their own reputation andpany expectations? They were not as important or urgent.

    ¡°So this is the reason why.¡± Shu Wanyi was the first to speak and acted as the peacemaker. ¡°Since the situation is already like this, anything we say is useless. Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t be mad anymore. Everyone, let¡¯s think about what we should do next.¡±

    However, Sister Mai Na stared at Luo Luo. ¡°I have watched the entire process of the selection round. I remember that you switched your queue number with Xia Yu before and caused her to get a good queue number while she should originally best. When that happened, there was even a media report documenting that you two are as close as sisters... Ha, how close you two must be as sisters. After you sacrificed for Xia Yu, now you n on going harming Xiao Ling?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that!¡± Luo Luo was so anxious that she was about to cry. ¡°Xia Yu and I were never close friends, to begin with!¡±

    This child... Once she got emotional, she would start speaking loudly and not be able to control her volume. Everyone in therge dressing room heard what she said, and everyone from Imperial Entertainment turned to stare in her direction.

    Luo Luo still did not have a clue about what she did and continued, ¡°It was Boss Chu who asked me to switch with Xia Yu! It was arranged by thepany! It is Xiao Ling who is my good friend. Why would I switch my queue number with an outsider and then do something to harm Xiao Ling?!¡±

    ¡°Who did you say was an outsider?¡± An ominous voice interrupted the conversation.

    Everyone turned around to look. It was Chu Chen.

    He red at Luo Luo with a hostile look and said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget your status! As an artiste from Imperial Entertainment, you actually said that your senior from Imperial Entertainment is an outsider while an artiste from anotherpetingpany is your good friend?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Luo Luo choked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t teach someone a lesson in front of me.¡± Xia Ling used her body to shield Luo Luo and lifted her head to look at Chu Chen. ¡°Chu Chen, what good are you? In this industry, you¡¯re considered a gold-tier manager, but you unscrupulously set your own newbie back and forced her to switch her good queue number for another of your artistes. Do you have any shame?¡±

    ¡°Shame?¡± Chu Chen looked at Xia Ling and smiled deeply. ¡°Miss Ye, you have always been prideful, which is why you were stupid enough to ignore the hard work of so many people in Skyart Entertainment and voluntarily gave your good queue number to someone else. Imperial Entertainment is not the same. All our artistes are very obedient and follow thepany¡¯s arrangements. Have you heard of Tian Ji¡¯s racing horses? What¡¯s wrong with giving the best horse thergest advantage?¡±

    ¡°As such, you would just sacrifice Luo Luo?¡± Xia Ling replied coldly.

    ¡°Sacrifice?¡± Chu Chen smiled and shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re just giving a neer a chance to experience the contest. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Experience my foot!¡± Sister Mai Na could not help but burst into a rage. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    Chu Chen did not waste any more time with them as he calmly smiled and left with those who seeded.

    At Imperial Entertainment¡¯s side, in front of a long row of dressing room mirrors, a girl wearing a long pale pink gauze dress was quietly looking at the dispute at the Skyart Entertainment side through the reflection on the mirror. A delicate smile appeared on her sculptured face. Ye Xingling, oh Ye Xingling, I never thought you would have a day like this! With the secondst queue number, just wait to enter the revival contest!

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart was filled with vicious pleasure. She never thought that forcing Luo Luo to switch queue numbers with her and constructing that scene with Boss Zhao would bring such unexpected benefits.

    Hahaha, Ye Xingling, just kill yourself!

    She elegantly reached her hand out to apply ayer of powder on her face.

    Although Chu Chen was chased away, the pressure was still very low in Skyart Entertainment. The queue number matter was like arge rock that pressed heavily on the hearts of the Skyart Entertainment people. They silently prayed that the six producers did not have full teams in advance and there would be a ce for Xia Ling and Luo Luo.

    Perhaps their prayers were effective because, in the end, there were exactly two ces.

    Feng Kun¡¯s team and Zhang Yaran¡¯s team both had a spot left.

    Everyone sighed in relief. As long as Xia Ling was chosen by Feng Kun and Luo Luo was chosen by Zhang Yaran, everything would be fine.

    However, they were quickly conflicted again. Feng Kun had high standards for the singers he chose. Was Xiao Lingpetent enough? If she did not get chosen by Feng Kun, she actually could try for Zhang Yaran¡¯s team. But once she joined Zhang Yaran¡¯s team, Luo Luo had no way of joining Feng Kun¡¯s team because she was from Imperial Entertainment and could only enter the revival contest.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you must do your best. If only Zhang Yaran chooses you, just join his team and don¡¯t think of me!¡± Luo Luo held Xia Ling¡¯s hand and said seriously. Securing a spot in the limited team ces was very precious as it meant that the singers could continue to advance further in thepetition and stand a chance to win. On the other hand, if one failed to be selected during the selection round and did not pass the revival round, one¡¯s music festival progress would end there. To a new singer, that was a grievous loss.

    Luo Luo was very grateful for Xia Ling and would remember their friendship forever in her heart. However, she did not wish for Xia Ling to sacrifice so much for her.

    Xia Ling smiled lightly and went on stage.

 Chapter 167 - A Song That Was Unexpectedly Bad

    Chapter 167 A Song That Was Unexpectedly Bad

    Trantor: AsStudios | Editor: AsStudios /As Studios

    This time, when she went on the stage, she was very different from usual. In the past, she used her most dazzling attitude to sing songs that people fell in love with. But this time...

    The apanying music was heard.

    Under the many illuminating lights and under the observation of the many audience members and media representatives, she raised her microphone and sang. ¡°Llla, the love that I want is like a small duck, quack quack quack quack...¡±

    Backstage in the dressing room, everyone was horrified.

    What... what was she doing?!

    Sister Mai Na gritted her teeth and asked, ¡°When did she change the song?!¡±

    ¡°I... I never noticed.¡± Xie Ling did not dare to make eye contact with her. ¡°Looks like she is doing it on purpose since she chose such a poorly written andposed song that does not fit her style at all!¡±

    Luo Luo was filled with guilt.

    On stage, Xia Ling was singing and dancing. ¡°You call me ¡®dear,¡¯ quack quack quack quack. Let¡¯s watch the moon together,ll...¡± This was a lively yet average song and did not require any special skills to sing. It was not even very nice to listen to and could not reflect any uniqueness that the singer had to offer.

    Furthermore, during this entire period, Xia Ling had been rather forlorn, and her entire state of mind did not match the song. She sang the song directly with a sort of absent-minded and deadpan style without any special improvisation. Her make up was also very light and shed tremendously with the exaggerated style of the song, causing her to look more boring as a singer.

    Sister Mai Na was fuming mad and clenched and unclenched her fists. This little girl really made a poor decision. There were two spots left in two teams. Why did she not put in her hundred percent into her singing and grab a spot in Feng Kun¡¯s team?

    Since she could be recognized by Wei Shaoyin, it was not possible that Feng Kun would think poorly of her!

    ¡°She¡¯s deliberately losing,¡± said Xie Ling as she covered her eyes.

    Bai Murong was also unhappy. ¡°It¡¯s best if she gives us a reasonable exnation after she finishes. Otherwise, I suggest that thepany changes the person to be supported.¡± It was understandable that Xia Ling wanted to help Luo Luo for the previous situation, but this time, when she could get a spot in Feng Kun¡¯s team, why did she not even try to achieve that? The way she switched her queue number without consulting the others already disappointed everyone, but she was still going to let them down again?

    Sister Mai Na deeply sighed a few times. She gritted her teeth and said, ¡°I understand. If Xiao Ling can¡¯t give us a reasonable exnation this time, I will rmend thepany to redistribute the resources to support other people who can perform better.¡± So what if Xia Ling was Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend? In Skyart Entertainment, the golden rule was that employees must not be swayed by personal considerations; even Li Lei always followed this rule.

    Besides, he could take care of her financially.

    Sister Mai Na felt that she was being toopassionate. Things were in a mess, but she still cared about Xiao Ling enough to think about whether her boyfriend could support her financially. She deeply sighed again and powerlessly leaned against the back of the chair.

    At the other side of the dressing room, Xia Yu was pointing at the screen andughing hysterically. ¡°Ye Xingling, what are you doing? Why would you choose this song? This standard...¡± She sighed faintly. ¡°What a pity. It turns out that she is so unsuited to perform on stage.¡±

    Chu Chen looked at the broadcast screen and frowned. Something was not right. There were two ces left, so why did she not want to fight for a ce in Feng Kun¡¯s team? Unless Ye Xingling really did not want to have any rtions with people from Imperial Entertainment. Otherwise, why would she be afraid even if the person was Feng Kun who was renowned in the industry?

    He thought deeply about it.

    On stage, Xia Ling was very pleased with her performance. In front of her were six producers. Every producer¡¯s high chair was back facing her, and if she sang well, a producer would turn around to show that he approved of her and wanted to choose her.

    However, until now, out of the six producers, only Wei Shaoyin, who had no choice, turned his chair around. The other five chairs did not move. Even Ah Wei was ring at her with menacing eyes. Xia Ling suspected that if thepetition rules did not state that one could not run up and hit someone or fly into a rage, Ah Wei might have exploded long ago.

    Unfortunately, Ah Wei did not have an empty ce to choose her.

    The more upset he got, the happier she was as it was an indicator of how ¡°sessful¡± her singing was.

    ¡°Small duck, quack quack quack. Small duck,...¡±

    She smiled happily at Ah Wei.

    Ding! The second chair turned around.

    Xia Ling was so scared stunned and almost forgot her lyrics. She turned around, only to see that it was Feng Kun.

    All audience members, media representatives below the stage, and everyone in the dressing rooms was astounded.

    ¡°Brother Feng pressed the wrong button, right?¡± Xia Yu was perplexed. ¡°How could he turn around for such a lousy performance?¡± If one must know, Feng Kun did not even turn around when Xia Yu was performing on stage. For this reason, she felt awkward for a very long time.

    An unwritten rule of Neb Music Festival stated that when the producer was met with an artiste from hispany, regardless of whether he had a spot in his team, he had to turn around to show that he thought highly of hispany¡¯s artistes and supported them.

    However, during this year¡¯s Neb Music Festival, Feng Kun broke that rule.

    When Xia Yu was singing, Feng Kun did not turn around from start to finish, and this caused the media representatives and anti-fans to mock her for a long time. Although he exined that he was trying to sharpen a neer and not let Xia Yu be more arrogant as she went down the path of stardom, his statement was too politically correct, and Xia Yu knew very well that Feng Kun did not like her.

    Why?

    That year, he treated her sister so well. But now, he treated her so badly!

    Xia Yu was resentful. At this time, seeing that he actually turned around for Ye Xingling¡¯s poorly performed song, she was burning with jealousy in her heart. Could it be that in Feng Kun¡¯s eyes, she was not even better than that rubbish woman and that rubbish song?!

    ¡°Brother Chu...¡± Xia Yu lifted her head and looked at Chu Chen pitifully, her eyes brimming with tears.

    However, Chu Chen was frowning and consumed in his thoughts. He was pondering over the reason why Feng Kun turned around and also why the girl called Ye Xingling was not happy at all after seeing him turn around.

    ¡°Small duck, small duck, small duck...¡±

    It was difficult, but Xia Ling finished singing the song. She rejoiced as she breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, except for the two gods Wei Shaoyin and Feng Kun, none of the remaining four music producers turned around.

    After the song finished, the organizer manipted the controls backstage and the four organizers turned around to face her.

    She was even more reassured after seeing the faint disdain on their faces.

    The emcee walked on stage and spoke to the seven music producers. ¡°The song Ye Xingling sang was really ¡®special.¡¯ However, what I am more curious about is: Ah Wei and Ye Xingling are from the samepany, so turning around to support her is very normal. But what about Feng Kun? Why did you decide to turn around after hearing half of the song? Did you think that Ye Xingling sang this song very well?¡±

    Everyone was looking forward to Feng Kun¡¯s answer.

    After all, the song ¡°Small Duck¡± that Ye Xingling sang was really too... Well, shocking.

 Chapter 168 - An Imperative

    <h4>Chapter 168: An Imperative</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun said in a calm and leisurely manner, ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m very disappointed by her choice of song.¡±

    Everyone was speechless. Brother Feng, if she was so disappointing, why did you still choose her? All of us are also very disappointed!

    Wei Shaoyin exploded with fury. ¡°It is not your right to assess how disappointing mypany¡¯s Xiao Ling is.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled and looked at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°This is where the problem lies. Ye Xingling¡¯s voice is actually not bad. I don¡¯t know if you have realized, but she can sing many intricatelyplex parts of songs that other singers cannot.¡±

    What did he mean by ¡°I don¡¯t know if you have realized¡±?!

    Wei Shaoyin did not only explode with fury, but he also went berserk. What did Feng Kun mean by that? Was he trying to question his ability as a music producer?! How could he not know how outstanding Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Xiao Ling¡¯s voice was?!

    He icily replied, ¡°Of course, Xiao Ling¡¯s voice is good.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, so why did your Skyart Entertainment choose such a song for her?¡± Feng Kun¡¯s tone was warm and sincere but cunning. ¡°Such a naturally talented singer is wasted by singing this song. If the song was changed, I believe that Ye Xingling could perform something different that is more elegant and graceful. As such, Ye Xingling.¡± He looked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°I hope you can join my team. I will create a song that suits you the best.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin did not rebuke this time and continued to re fiercely at Xia Ling. He distinctly remembered that she was not supposed to appear in this order, and she was also not supposed to sing this song. What exactly happened backstage just now, and how did it be like this?

    However, he could only silently tolerate the disaster of ¡°Small Duck.¡±

    He obviously could not tell everyone that the original n was not like that.

    Wei Shaoyin was very hot-tempered and disgruntled and kept shooting daggers at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling maintained a perfect smile and pretended not to see his gaze and focused on dealing with Feng Kun. She raised her microphone to show that a new singer was paying respects to an award-winning producer. ¡°Thank you, Brother Feng. Honestly, I don¡¯t think singing this song was a waste. This song is pretty cute. Although it doesn¡¯t require much skill, isn¡¯t singing from one¡¯s heart more important than having skills?¡±

    She lied through her teeth about skills and singing from her heart, which was what Wei Shaoyin onceined about. The main reason why he said that was because the songs that Feng Kun wrote for Xia Ling were too mboyant and did not focus on conveyingplex emotions. Xia Ling had listened to hisints too many times and knew the phrase like the back of her hand, so she used the statement very smoothly.

    After seeing that she was using what he said in the past, the ominous look on Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face reduced a little.

    Thinking about it, it was still not right. This was not the time to talk about what was right or wrong. The more urgent matter was to let her join Feng Kun¡¯s team! Feng Kun was the only music producer who wanted her, so she could only join his team. Was it really okay to say this sort of thing that could offend her future leader?

    Wei Shaoyin was starting to go berserk again.

    However, Feng Kun remained calm. ¡°Join my team and I will respect your heart.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Unexpectedly, Xia Ling rejected him. ¡°Thank you for choosing me, Brother Feng, but I cannot join your team. You¡¯re not my choice.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s gone mad!¡± In the dressing room, Xia Yu was jealous, resentful, and angry. ¡°Rejecting Feng Kun... Is she an idiot?!¡± What gave Ye Xingling the right to do that when she had worked so hard but still was unable to gain any recognition? How could that irritating woman reject him without a care in the world?!

    The audience and media representatives who were watching the live broadcast were also going crazy. ¡°Is this a gimmick by the organizer?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! How could anyone reject Feng Kun?¡±

    However, Xia Ling was still serious about rejecting him. She looked at Feng Kun with a firm gaze.

    Feng Kun asked, ¡°Can I ask why you are rejecting me?¡± He asked what thousands of people were asking in their hearts.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Brother Feng, I remember you saying before that I sang like thete Diva Xia Ling.¡±

    Feng Kun nodded. Not long ago, when he was talking to her about ¡°Sea Demon,¡± he did say something simr.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°However, I don¡¯t think I resemble her. Brother Feng, I told you that day that perhaps, many people dream of being the second Xia Ling, but that is not my dream. This is my reason for rejecting you.¡± What she meant was that she was worried that Feng Kun, who was once thete Xia Ling¡¯s producer, would transform her into the second Xia Ling.

    Everyone was boiling with anger. How could a new small singer dare to say something like that?!

    Publicly provoking the Diva Xia Ling! She should be honored that Feng Kun said that she resembled Xia Ling! How could she be this dissatisfied? Did she think she was an important person?!

    Booing sounds were heard from the crowd.

    In the dressing room backstage, Sister Mai Na was so enraged that she almost smashed her ss. ¡°What sort of bad temper is this? Even if she wants to speak the truth, she has to be aware of the appropriate time and ce! What benefits can there be from rejecting Feng Kun and offending Xia Ling¡¯s fans?!¡±

    A few other singers, including Xie Ling, quickly consoled Sister Mai Na.

    On stage, Feng Kun was slightly taken aback. She actually had a reason like that? Was that... the real reason or just an excuse because she did not want to join his team? He was deep in contemtion.

    The emcee said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you have to think carefully. Besides Wei Shaoyin, only Feng Kun turned around for you. If you refuse to join his team, you will be eliminated and enter the revival contest.¡±

    ¡°I choose to enter the revival contest,¡± she said firmly.

    The sound of the click of a camera rang out.

    Numerous shes of light illuminated the stage, photographing her standing on stage proudly lifting her head high. Her silver-white satin dress was fluttering due to the wind on stage, making her look like a defiant princess.

    What arrogance!

    She rejected Feng Kun, the best producer in the industry! Furthermore, she was only a neer!

    ¡°What do you think of her response, Brother Feng?¡± asked the emcee who desired to make the scene more dramatic.

    ¡°Honestly speaking, I feel like I received a small blow.¡± Feng Kun smiled bitterly. However, what he said next was unexpected. ¡°However, I can understand it. Any artiste who truly has pride and ambition would not want someone to say that he or she is the second of someone more famous. Ye Xingling, I think I should apologize for what I said earlier.¡±

    There was an uproar in the crowd. What? How could Feng Kun apologize to this newly-debuted singer considering his status?

    Xia Yu gritted her teeth. How did it turn out this way? How was that irritating woman deserving of an apology from a prominent figure like Feng Kun?! However, she smiled faintly again. ¡°Is Ye Xingling really worthy of the apology? I¡¯m sure Brother Feng is trying to harm her. Won¡¯t his apology make Ye Xingling appear more arrogant and self-absorbed? Brother Feng must be trying to seek revenge on her!¡±

    However, she did not expect that Feng Kun would continue with another question. ¡°Well then, can you consider joining my team again?¡± That was the real reason why he apologized. To him, it was imperative to stop all of Xia Ling¡¯s excuses!

 Chapter 169 - A Horrible Teammates Godly Assistance

    <h4>Chapter 169: A Horrible Teammate¡¯s Godly Assistance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt thoroughly unwell.

    She thought of a reason to reject him but not how to deal with the current situation. It was beyond her expectations that Feng Kun would invite her to join his team again after apologizing! In the industry, Feng Kun was well known for doing his job impably. In the past, she respected him for that, but now when he used that trick on her, she felt like crying.

    She blinked her eyes, showing a bit of innocence and confusion.

    As she was racking her brains for a reason to reject him, Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Since Feng Kun is so sincere, just agree to join his team then, Xiao Ling.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling really cried. <i>Oh, Brother Ah Wei! When I first met you, I said that you were a horrible teammate. Why is it that you¡¯re so good at being a terrible teammate every time? This is literally a horrible teammates¡¯ godly assistance! </i>She thought. Initially, she had hopes of rejecting him, but due to what Ah Wei said...

    If she insisted on rejecting him again, she would be going against the intentions of two of the best producers. She would appear too ignorant.

    It would also be too forced, too deliberate, and too unusual.

    She was afraid that Feng Kun would see that something was not right and that Chu Chen would suspect something. As such, she had no choice but to ept his invitation.

    Feng Kun finally breathed a sigh of relief inside. Atst, he finally managed to get her to join his team. In the future, there would be many chances for him to investigate and see if that girl¡¯s simrities with Xia Ling were a coincidence or if they were rted in any way.

    Xia Ling walked backstage despondently. Despite her calctions, she was still not able to evade Feng Kun.

    However, the people in Skyart Entertainment were very happy and felt that Ah Wei did excellently.

    ¡°Thank god for Ah Wei,¡± said Sister Mai Na. ¡°Otherwise, I don¡¯t know how badly that brat would have screwed up.¡± Seeing that Xia Ling was walking in, she frustratedly pinched her cheeks. ¡°Are you crazy? Do you dislike Feng Kun that much?¡±

    Bai Murong, Xie Ling, Shu Wanyi, and others from Skyart Entertainment were looking at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was feeling dejected. She was silent for a while before saying, ¡°I¡¯m sorry everyone, but I¡¯m afraid that you really have to change the key singer to support. After joining Feng Kun¡¯s team, I¡¯m unsure if there will be good chances for me to utilize my singing talent well.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xie Ling did not understand. ¡°Do you really have a feud with Feng Kun?¡±

    ¡°My conflict with Xia Yu in the past was very serious. Don¡¯t you think as Sister Xia Yu¡¯s official partner who has even written songs for her, he won¡¯t bear any hatred towards me?¡± Xia Ling racked her brains for the most reasonable exnation. ¡°Everyone at Imperial Entertainment is unfriendly towards me. Sister Ling, Sister Wanyi, and Brother Bai, I can only protect myself this year.¡±

    Sister Mai Na finally understood her reasons. So it was because Xiao Ling was afraid that Feng Kun wanted her in his team to seek revenge? Which was why she was trying her best to avoid him? Perhaps there might even be a deeper reason that cannot be said... Sister Mai Na thought of how Imperial Entertainment harrassed Xiao Ling and how Pei Ziheng had dirty thoughts about her. Suddenly, she also felt that letting her join Feng Kun¡¯s team was not necessarily a good idea.

    However, it had already happened.

    Sister Mai Na nodded her head and said, ¡°Forget it. Just protect yourself well during this year¡¯s Neb Music Festival. We will recalibrate the strategic n. This year, we will support Lu Tao and Leng Hui as the important neers.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, everyone.¡± Xia Ling apologized softly.

    Xie Ling loudly sighed. ¡°Seriously, Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve got to hand it to you. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re wasting such a good opportunity. However, I do recall your bad conflict with Xia Yu, and it is reasonable for you to be afraid of Imperial Entertainment seeking revenge on you. Forget it, if we¡¯re going to change the person to support then so be it. Please be careful on your own.¡±

    Skyart Entertainment was apany with a good atmosphere. After being dejected for a while, everyone recovered and started to re-strategize, recing Ye Xingling with the Lu Tao and Leng Hui duo as key singers for this year. Sister Mai Na specially called Li Lei to exin the changes in their n.

    Li Lei then called Xia Ling. ¡°Do you mind this? I can order them to continue supporting you.¡±

    Xia Ling impulsively asked, ¡°I thought that Skyart Entertainment was transparent, fair, and not shady? Big Boss, do you think that it is good to make such a direct order?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°That depends on who I¡¯m making the order for.¡±

    Instantly, the shock in Xia Ling¡¯s heart turned into gratefulness. However, she replied, ¡°It¡¯s ok. I don¡¯t want to receive special treatment. It is not easy for Sister Mai Na, Lu Tao, and Leng Hui.¡± In her past life, she had received too many privileges and was hated by so many people that they did not hesitate to harm her at her worst. After knowing that she had been murdered by Pei Ziheng, many artistes rejoicing at the tragedy and she finally realized that she was so disliked by others. Now that she was in Skyart Entertainment and treated Sister Mai Na and the others as her friends, she hoped that something like that would not happen again.

    Li Lei was a little disappointed. ¡°You really don¡¯t need my help?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your help.¡±

    ¡°Alright then.¡± He sighed and epted that he could not do much to change the situation. ¡°You must take care of yourself well. I¡¯m almost done with the situation over here, and once it is finished, I will be back. Good luck with thepetition. As long as you perform, I will always watch you live.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked him and gave him some encouragement as well. After that day when she rejected his romantic advances in the bedroom, it was a little awkward to talk to him, and she did not know what to say.

    Both of them became quiet. Li Lei said goodnight to her and hang up.

    Xia Ling became more and more uncertain about the future of their rtionship. Perhaps one day, their rtionship maye to an end because of her unspeakable secrets. She was still unable to ept another personpletely and may never be able to do so. This realization made her feel very sad. She did not dare to imagine what would happen to her if she lost Li Lei.

    She tossed and turned around the whole night. The next day, she went to look for Feng Kun.

    Now, the groups for the Neb Music Festival were fixed, and every team needed to have a pre-battle discussion and form a n with their producer. Even if Xia Ling was extremely unwilling, she had no choice but to show up.

    The windows were clear in the conference room as Feng Kun sat on the main seat and smiled at everyone. ¡°For the next few days, everyone has to work together. I hope that we can work together to win the Neb Music Festival.¡±

    ¡°We definitely will.¡± A singer said.

    Besides Feng Kun leading the team, the team also had Zheng Chenhao who was the king of Imperial Entertainment to rely on. Winning thepetition was an easy job. The only variable was probably the lucky and identally chosen singer Ye Xingling who sang ¡°Small Duck.¡±

    ¡°You better perform well, understand?¡± Zheng Chenhao yed his role as the big brother of the team and said to her. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t impede us, with me, our team will be able to achieve victory.¡±

    Xia Ling could not be bothered to respond and did not even nce at him.

    In her past life when she was still the Diva of Imperial Entertainment, Zheng Chenhao was very obedient when he saw her. He would serve her tea, offer his seat to her, and be her yes-man. She even thought that Zheng Chenhao was sincerely friendly towards her before, but after she was imprisoned, Xia Yu yed a recording for her. In the recording, Zheng Chenhao said, ¡°Xia Ling? Always taking advantage of the fact that she¡¯s favored by the boss. She is really too arrogant. Do you know how many job opportunities she stole from me? It¡¯s better if she¡¯s gone!¡±

    She finally knew what he really thought about her.

    At this point in time, she felt that she was already restraining herself well. She only ignored him and did not rebuke. He actually thought that the team could achieve victory based solely on his efforts? Please! This was a teampetition. How could he do it when even Xia Ling could not? He was really too na?ve.

    Seeing her like that, Zheng Chenhao frowned unpleasantly.

 Chapter 170 - The Cunning Mr. Feng Kun

    <h4>Chapter 170: The Cunning Mr. Feng Kun</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A female singer listening from the side said, ¡°How can you speak to Big Brother Zheng like that? He¡¯s a heavenly king.¡±

    ¡°So what if he¡¯s a heavenly king?¡± Xia Ling could not resist but retort. ¡°If you¡¯re afraid that I will be a burden on the team, then don¡¯t pick me to join.¡± She had an idea and intentionally red at Feng Kun. ¡°Why don¡¯t you kick me off the team now? I¡¯ll join the revival round.¡±

    Feng Kun rubbed his temples, feeling a headacheing on.

    This little girl had a big temper, she could not take even the slightest criticism from others. He wondered how she was able to work with Wei Shaoyin at Skyart Entertainment, who was known to have a sharp tongue. However, he missed this a little... Imperial Entertainment was a hierarchical ce, and ever since Xia Ling died, no one had dared challenge the authorities the way she did.

    With this thought, Feng Kun looked at Ye Xingling with a gentler gaze. ¡°Breathe, cool down, Chenhao had no malicious intentions. Since everyone is in the same team, we have to cooperate well.¡± He then turned to the female singer and said, ¡°We¡¯re in the same team, take it back a notch.¡± With that, he gave Zheng Chenhao a warning re.

    Feng Kun¡¯s bias was clear as day.

    Even the popr Zheng Chenhao did not dare offend the top producer in the industry. Everyone was aware that Feng Kun used to be Xia Ling¡¯s exclusive producer, and one word from Feng Kun would weigh more than ten sentences from him. If he offended Feng Kun unintentionally, it could be the end of him, and he would not even know how it happened.

    Zheng Chenhao seethed inside but gave a lightugh out loud. ¡°I was only giving you a kind reminder, I didn¡¯t mean to be mean.¡±

    The female singer that was watching on astutely shut up as well after seeing Zheng Chenhao¡¯s change in attitude.

    Xia Ling was disappointed. She had almost sessfully incited an argument, but Feng Kun saved the situation. Bastard, why was Feng Kun¡¯s temper still as gentle and amiable as before? This spoiled her n of being kicked to the revival round.

    Xia Ling unhappily picked up the teadle and prodded angrily at the tea leaves.

    Feng Kun narrowed his eyes as he watched her prodding at the tea leaves... this little action was so simr to that girl in his memories.

    He lowered his gaze to hide the surprise in his eyes and passed papers and pens around to the team. ¡°Everyone, listen up. You¡¯re all aware of the rules of the Neb Music Festival, which is: you can¡¯t sing your own song. You have to sing someone else¡¯s song, and you¡¯re restricted to the list that the organizers have picked. There are more than three hundred songs on the list to pick from. Now, I want you to write down the ten songs that you¡¯re most confident to sing from the list, as well as the ten songs that you¡¯re the least confident about. I will then discuss with everyone on the best line-up for thepetition.¡±

    There were no objections from the team as they received the papers and pens and started writing as instructed.

    Xia Ling was still dwelling in her unhappiness, but she took a paper and subconsciously wrote ¡°That Summer When the Flowers Were in Full Bloom.¡± Wait a minute, wasn¡¯t this her favorite song in her past life? Her pen stopped momentarily.

    However, it was toote for her to change it.

    She decided to stop writing altogether and scrutinized the list, taking her time to choose nine songs that she could sing well in this life but were songs that she did not like in her past life. She then carefully chose ten songs that she was not confident about, that were counter to her preferences in her past life.

    Feng Kun looked impassive but was, in fact, observing Xia Ling closely the whole time. He saw that she wrote down the first song and then suddenly stopped, only continuing to write after taking time to scrutinize the list. After everyone had finished writing on the papers and he had collected them back, he took a quick look at the first song that Xia Ling had written down, ¡°That Summer When the Flowers Were in Full Bloom,¡± and gave a start.

    The next 19 songs had no rtion to Xia Ling.

    Was this just a coincidence?

    Feng Kun quietly kept that paper and continued with the discussion on the game n with the team.

    After the meeting had ended.

    Feng Kun brought the stack of papers back home and extracted Xia Ling¡¯s piece.

    The resemnce was uncanny... her handwriting looked so simr...

    Feng Kun started to rummage through one of the cupboards in his house, where he found one of Xia Ling¡¯s old manuscripts before she passed away, and started to match the Chinese characters word for word: That, Summer, Flowers, Full, Bloom...

    Every word was almost identical!

    His hands started to tremble slightly as he opened a little box on his table. In the little box was a picture that he had taken of a signature on the signature wall at the Neb Music Festival red carpet. The signature ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was cut into three strips of paper, and three other papers had the words ¡°Ye,¡± ¡°Xing,¡± and ¡°Ling¡± extracted from Xia Ling¡¯s manuscripts before she passed away.

    A while back, he had sent these three words, both the signature and the extractions from the manuscripts, to three different handwriting identification specialists to analyze.

    The results from the three specialists were that they were the handwriting of the same person.

    Feng Kun¡¯s hand started to tremble even more, and he took a copy of the 20 songs that were written on the paper, looked for the corresponding words in Xia Ling¡¯s old manuscript, separated it into several different batches, and then sent it off to the different specialists to analyze.

    The papers were mailed out.

    It took Feng Kun a long time to regain hisposure. If the specialists came back saying that the handwriting was from the same person again, what would that mean?

    Was it possible for there to be two persons in this world that were so simr, regardless of speech, action, and handwriting? Or... were they the same person? Was it... reincarnation?

    However, Xia Ling had passed away just slightly over a year ago, and Ye Xingling was already eighteen or neen this year.

    Feng Kun sat in front of his work desk staring at the papers with the handwriting, trying to piece it all together. Suddenly, he stood up and dialed a number, ¡°Is that Old Chen? I have something that I need you to do. Help me investigate a singer named Ye Xingling. I need a manuscript of her handwriting from a year ago... no, no, two years ago... just whatever you can find, her school homework, song lyrics, signatures, whatever. Send them all to me! The more, the better!¡±

    Old Chen was a friend of his that ran a private investigation outfit. He would be more suitable to look into this matter.

    Feng Kun¡¯s felt expectation rising within him, while also feeling some trepidation. What should he do if it really was Xia Ling? And if it wasn¡¯t Xia Ling, what would he do then?

    Xia Ling was blissfully unaware of all this. While she was writing the song titles, her focus had been entirely on the songs, trying to make sure that Feng Kun would not be able to find any simrities with Xia Ling in her past life. However, she had neglected to think about her handwriting.

    In her past life, she had been pampered by Pei Ziheng and never had toe up with any scheme. Now, she was being spoiled by Li Lei and seemed to be turning out like what Li Lei had teased her to be at the amusement park ¡ª a little dumb.

    How would she be able to see past the ploy that Feng Kun had so carefullyid out?

    The dumb little Xia Ling went about the team meetings, as usual, setting down the team strategy. She did not know that Mr. Feng Kun was giving her increasingly queer looks throughout this time.

    This day, the Neb Music Festival teams were discussing the ¡°You Choose, I Sing¡± segment of thepetition.

    As the name suggested, the song choice for the segment would be chosen by theirpetitors.

    It was Xia Ling¡¯s turn to sing.

    ¡°It¡¯s Ye Xingling¡¯s turn.¡± Her opposing team discussed in low voices. ¡°What song should we pick for her to sing?¡±

    ¡°We should pick that song, of course!¡± Someone said in a hushed tone. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that I overhead Feng Kun on the phone saying that Ye Xingling has been practicing all the songs on the song list? She is pretty confident with most of them, but there is just that one song that she can¡¯t sing well!¡±

    ¡°What song is that?¡±

    ¡°Idiot, it¡¯s ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯!¡±

 Chapter 171 - Ye Xinglings Version of The Caged Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 171: Ye Xingling¡¯s Version of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡±</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Oh, oh, oh, right!¡±

    Everyone nodded in agreement. Yes, that song ¡°The Caged Butterfly,¡± how could anyone other than thete Diva Xia Ling sing that well? It was a highly challenging song technically, and the emotions that were required in the song were intense. Merely the fact that it was the momento song for thete Diva would be a huge burden and pressure for anypetitor.

    ¡°Let¡¯s pick that!¡± Someone said.

    ¡°However,¡± Someone else raised an objection. ¡°if we choose this song, wouldn¡¯t it be obvious that we¡¯re trying to make things difficult?¡± Everyone was aware that this song was a difficult choice, and even though it was apetition, being too obvious about making things difficult forpetitors coulde across as being too petty. Hence, no one had picked ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± yet even though the ¡°You Choose, I Sing¡± segment had been going on for several rounds already.

    ¡°If it were for someone else, we would be intentionally making life difficult. But we¡¯re talking about Ye Xingling here.¡± The person that had suggested the song piped up. ¡°Ye Xingling was able to sing Xia Ling¡¯s ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ well. Who knows, she might kill at ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ too, since she¡¯s supposedly Xia Ling¡¯s fan. I¡¯m sure many are interested to hear her sing this song, we¡¯re simply picking it to please the crowd.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The team settled on their n and selected a representative to go on stage.

    That representative was a rtively new singer who had recently debuted, called Mu Xiaoxi. At this moment, she stood tall in front of Xia Ling and raised the microphone to her lips with a smile. ¡°Hello, Ye Xingling. The song that we have chosen for you to sing is ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯¡±

    Xia Ling almost felt herself go dizzy. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯... we hope that you can sing that song.¡± Mu Xiaoxi continued, ¡°I heard you¡¯re Xia Ling¡¯s fan, and coincidentally, so am I. I¡¯ve heard your version of ¡®Sea Demon,¡¯ and it was awesome. Hence, I believe that your version of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ would be great too. Please, the stage is yours.¡±

    There was greatmotion offstage.

    The audience started to discuss this excitedly. ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ was a really challenging song, and it was a song that encapsted the best of techniques and emotions that the Diva Xia Ling had mastered. Ever since its release, many professional and amateur singers had tried to sing covers, but none had been able to do it well. In fact, most that had tried to cover ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ had simply been the center of ridicule and bashing fromizens.

    Now, Mu Xiaoxi asked for her opponent to sing this song? Wasn¡¯t that just mean?

    However, the audience was indeed curious if Ye Xingling, the one who had sung ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ with such finesse, would be able to pull off ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ and bring to the audience a miracle?

    The female emcee¡¯s eyes lit up, and she gave an expression that was bent on spicing up the atmosphere even more. ¡°Mu Xiaoxi, are you sure?¡±

    Mu Xiaoxi quietly nodded her head.

    Xia Ling frowned slightly. ¡°This song... I would not want to do injustice to it. Can you pick another song?¡± This was not the real reason for Xia Ling¡¯s question. The real reason was that she did not ever want to sing that song again. That song was a culmination of all the pain in her past life. It was too bloody, too dark, and was born in the midst of her worst nightmare. She did not know if she would be able to keep her emotions in check if she were to sing it again.

    Mu Xiaoxi replied sincerely, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be an injustice, it¡¯ll be just a different way of giving a tribute to Xia Ling. Aren¡¯t you also her fan, Ye Xingling? Isn¡¯t it great to be able to do something nice for your idol? The song is on the song list, after all.¡±

    It was true, the song was on the song list.

    Neb Music Festival¡¯s song list was created with reference to the participating singers and producers every year. All the songs that were sung by singers and producers participating in the musical festival would be on the list. It was the first time that Xia Ling agreed wholeheartedly to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s view ¡ª Feng Kun was the bane of her existence. If it weren¡¯t for him, ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ would not appear in the song list this year.

    The female emceeughed conspiratorily. ¡°Mu Xiaoxi is right, there would be no injustice done at all. Songs are made for people to sing after all, don¡¯t you agree, Ye Xingling? However, if you think that you won¡¯t be able to outdo thete Diva Xia Ling, and have no confidence in singing the song well, you¡¯re free to forfeit and admit defeat.¡±

    Her words were like needles hidden in a pile of cotton, and they made Xia Ling see a fire.

    ¡°I have never believed myself to be inferior to anyone, even if it is thete Diva.¡± Xia Ling responded coldly.

    The audience waspletely silent upon hearing her statement before rapturous apuse and jeers broke out simultaneously ¡ª

    ¡°Great job, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Tsk, don¡¯t bite off more than you can chew!¡±

    Shouts from both sides continued to ring out for a while.

    The female emcee¡¯s smile broadened across her face as she reveled in the situation. As an emcee, her concern was always that there would not be a punchline, and she embraced conflict and controversy instead of shying away from them. At this moment, the audiences¡¯ reaction was just what she liked to see, and she became even more excited. ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± she said immediately when the crowd quietened down a little. ¡°it looks like everyone has high hopes for your performance. Why don¡¯t you grace us with your rendition of the song? Look behind, your score isn¡¯t particrly high right now.¡± The emcee turned around to nce at the big screen behind her. ¡°Your umted score now is 3658 points, and while you¡¯re in top ce for all the neers this year, Xia Yu is close behind you. If you forfeit this round, you won¡¯t be able to umte any points, and will even be losing 500 points. You will then fall behind Xia Yu. How would you feel if that happens? What do all of you think, audience? Should she let that happen?!¡±

    The female emcee turned to the audience and asked emphatically, extending her microphone to the audience to capture their response.

    The audience passionately shouted back. ¡°No, she shouldn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, The Caged Butterfly!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, The Caged Butterfly!¡±

    ***

    The anticipation in the hall was at its peak.

    Xia Ling felt dizzy seeing this unfold as if a huge tidal wave had enveloped her, and she was at a loss of where she was. Was it anemia, or did she not get enough restst night? Her knees buckled slightly, and she had topose and steady herself through taking several deep breaths. Feeling faint, she did not know how much longer she would be able to hold herself together on stage. She needed to get this over and done with.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll sing ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯ Let¡¯s begin.¡± She hurriedly said.

    The female emcee smiled in satisfaction and said a string of encouragement andpliments to Xia Ling. Seeing that her mission was sessful, Mu Xiaoxi also said a word of encouragement. Xia Ling thanked them politely, holding in her increasing difort, and watched as they left the stage.

    She was left alone on the vast stage.

    The spotlight dimmed, and a bluish purple mist rose from all around her, making it seem like she was part of a dream.

    She heard the introduction melody of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± start ying in the background, like flowing water, full of mncholy and sadness. The melody linesyered upon each other,plementing each other... just the introduction was sufficient to knock at the depths of the listener¡¯s hearts.

    As expected of the top producer, Feng Kun.

    Xia Ling listened and immersed herself in the melody, before lifting the microphone to her lips with her eyes closed. Even though she had heard the arrangement for ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± by Feng Kun before today, it felt entirely different having to sing to it in this performance.

    It was so familiar...

    The song was like an old friend that she had not met in a while, gently waving at her and calling to her.

    It had nostalgia, sadness... it seemed to understand her, to emphatize with her, and to feel her pain... and it seemed to know her tempo and match her voice. Although Xia Ling was singing this live for the first time, she moved alongside it impably as if she had rehearsed it thousands of times before.

    Long time no see, old friend.

    With her head still spinning and feeling as if she were in the midst of a dream, Xia Ling opened her mouth and sang softly, ¡°If only we had never met that year...¡±

    The feeling of anguish and sharp pain extended through her body with the first line of lyrics.

    ¡°Perhaps the ending would have been different...¡±

    As the second line of the lyrics left her lips, the pain in her heart intensified, and Xia Ling felt like she could hardly breathe.

 Chapter 172 - The Butterfly That Cannot Fly

    <h4>Chapter 172: The Butterfly That Cannot Fly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Masking her difort, Xia Ling continued with the third line. ¡°Like the irises by the road, lost in time. Unable to differentiate if the gentle you is reality or a dream...¡±

    Her tears fell without warning. Snippets of her memories shed across her mind. A random summer, there were huge bushes of irises by the roadside, blooming splendidly in the summer breeze. A young, tall man was standing against the light, smiling at the little girl in front of him with his hand outstretched ¡ª Xiao Ling,e home with me.

    Xiao Ling,e home with me.

    That voice was low and mesmerizing, like a curse, making her voice choked up.

    More images flowed into her mind ¡ª the luxurious bungalows in the mountains, that man holding the girl¡¯s hand and announcing to his family. ¡°This is Xia Ling, the girl I adopted. I hope you wee her into the family and treat her well.¡±

    In the quiet study room, that man had the girl in hisp as he held her hand and taught her to write.

    In the rose garden, with the roses in full bloom, that man was half-kneeling as he helped the girl remove the thorns from the soles of her feet. His eyes were lowered in concentration, looking gentle and focused...

    Tears blurred her vision as Xia Ling recalled all these memories of the past, and her voice changed. ¡°... You gave me the crystal clear sky, that perfect dream...¡±

    She seemed to have gone back to the past in the song, turning back time to be that little girl once again. She was slight but elegant, and pretty beyond measure. She pranced with agility in the dance practice room, perfectly spinning and singing with the glorious voice that she was born with, year after year.

    Pei Ziheng came to visit her when the first snow started to fall outside the full-length windows. He took a soft, woolen jacket from one of his bodyguards and draped it across her slender shoulders, saying, ¡°It¡¯s getting cold, remember to keep warm especially after breaking a sweat from all the practicing.¡±

    She wrapped her hands around his neck and raised her head to kiss him tenderly.

    He brought with him a fragrance that was a mixture of tea leaves and the sandalwood, paper, and ink from his study room. He would wrap his hands around her waist and pull her closer, as he took over the lead from her, and they would kiss until she was breathless.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He would murmur in his hoarse voice. ¡°... My butterfly... ¡±

    That was the voice that was carved into her mind.

    Xia Ling felt her heart clench in pain, and the world was spinning around her as she stood in the shroud of mist onstage. The hand that she was holding the microphone was shaking uncontrobly, and her voice trembled as well. ¡°... Bing a butterfly, a butterfly that belongs to you...¡±

    In her reverie, the stage became another one that was in the middle of an open-air stadium, in front of a ten thousand strong crowd. She was dressed in a white silk dress, with golden wings on her back, her chin held high, arrogantly singing her song.

    Cheers were sounding out all around her ¡ª Xia Ling! Xia Ling! Xia Ling!

    Deep within her, she felt her heart breaking as she stared emptily up into the sky. Where... was this? Who was she? Is this her past or current life? Her tears kept falling with no sign of stopping, and Xia Ling no longer had any strength in her legs to carry herself. She stumbled to the edge of the stage and held onto the mic stand that was secured to the floor.

    ¡°Shining brightly... for you... for you... ¡± She sang through her tears, her voice breaking up, and the poignant lyrics seemed like they were etched into the depths of her soul. ¡°Only for you... Just for you...¡±

    ¡°... Until that moment, when everything changed. When you broke my beautiful hallucination and pushed me into the cruelest valley of pain...¡±

    The image of the headlines of a newspaper shed into her mind ¡ª The Head of the Pei Family, Pei Ziheng, announces his engagement to the daughter of the Wang Family, Wang Jingwan. Xia Ling had stared in disbelief at the newspaper, before looking for him in hysterics at the Imperial Entertainment headquarters. He was holding a very important board meeting with all the directors of Imperial Entertainment then, and the atmosphere was very serious.

    She had mmed the newspaper in front of him.

    ¡°What an embarrassment!¡± One of the old directors had said in a low voice.

    Xia Ling acted like she did not hear him, as she angrily demanded an exnation from Pei Ziheng. He had been quiet, and the frown between his brows was like a knife to her heart. ¡°Xiao Ling, this has nothing to do with you.¡±

    She was shaking in anger, and would not let it go, shouting all sorts of things at him. The board meeting had been canceled due to the scene she made, and Pei Ziheng had dragged her home, threw her into the bedroom, and forced himself onto her, but did not mention a single word about the engagement.

    No matter how hard she tried to interrogate him on it, he would just respond with ¡°it¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    She had sought the opinion of many, but none were willing to be roped into her spat with Pei Ziheng, all unwilling tomit any view on the matter. Only Feng Kun and Chu Chen had advised her. ¡°Xiao Ling, what Boss means is that regardless of whether he is engaged, it is only a political wedding and does not affect your rtionship at all.¡±

    Does not affect their rtionship? What a joke!

    She had given them both a piece of her mind, and her arguments with Pei Ziheng became more severe. She had even gone to negotiate with Wang Jingwan... until Wang Jingwan was poisoned, and Pei Ziheng imprisoned her in his anger.

    ¡°You lifted your fingers slightly, and without my knowledge, you broke my wings...¡±

    Inside the cold bungalow, he had trapped her under him on the bed, ignoring her terror and struggles, iming her time and time again against her will...

    ¡°The crystal sky, my broken dreams...¡±

    He had locked her in the dark and narrow istion room, without a tinge of light or sound. She wanted to scream but could not open her mouth; she wanted to struggle but could not move her fingers even an inch... The long and dead silence made the time in the room feel like ten and hundred thousands of years. She could hardly tell if she were dead or alive but could hear her weak heartbeat and the blood coursing in her veins. She saw the huge monster and spider¡¯s web, the sickle of the grim reaper, and countless other hallucinations...

    And then the door was opened, and that man walked in with the light like a God descending.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He swished the whip and she woke from the pain and intensity of being struck. He bent over to touch her face, his tone cold but gentle. ¡°... all your joy and paines from me. Everything you have is mine.¡±

    Xia Ling was crying her heart out, as she struggled to sing the next line of the song. ¡°The caged butterfly...¡±

    ¡°The butterfly that cannot fly...¡± Her body slipped lower and lower until she was kneeling on the stage. She felt a burning pain near her ankles, where she had an injury ¡ª Pei Ziheng had personally shackled her with golden chains. It was an injury that was an umtion of all the pain and suffering in that period.

    ¡°The butterfly that cannot fly...¡± She tried all she could topose herself, to keep herself from breaking down altogether. ¡°... The spreading spider¡¯s web...¡±

    ¡°The bloodied wings, the killing of hopes...¡±

    ¡°The butterfly that cannot fly, trapped in the spider¡¯s web...¡±

    ¡°Unable to escape from its cage...¡±

    ¡°Waiting...¡±

    ¡°Dying...¡±

    With that, she finished thest line of the lyrics.

    Xia Ling continued kneeling on the stage, her body feeling numb, and the sound of her tears could still be heard. Momentarily, her mind went nk, like the wind from that day when she had fallen was blowing non-stop. No... her mind wasn¡¯t nk, but instead, there were too many memories shing through, churning through her mind, screaming at her. Overwhelmingly...

    All of the gentleness and the pain.

    When they first met, it was a bright summer¡¯s day with the irises in full bloom at the orphanage. He had brought her back home, holding onto her hand tightly. When she was thirteen, they became a couple, and he said that he would care for her all the days of his life. At the international music awards ceremony, he was seated in the VIP seats, listening intently to the song that he had written for her to sing, ¡°Perfect Dream.¡±

    And that day when their destiny changed forever ¡ª in the doorway of their home, he had pped her to the ground and furiously asked why she had murdered Wang Jingwan. Imprisonment... Despair... Almost going insane... Complete breakdown...

    That nightmarish final year was something that Xia Ling did not dare think too much about. She only remembered herself falling offstage, and then, being reborn.

    She bid goodbye to the life of Xia Ling and became Ye Xingling.

 Chapter 173 - Deep Sorrow

    <h4>Chapter 173: Deep Sorrow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling rubbed the back of her hand vaguely across her eyes to wipe away the tears and remembered that she was still onstage.

    She thought that she probably looked disheveled and ugly since there was not a single p from the audience. She sniffled and struggled to stand up, mocking at herself in her mind. <i>Xia Ling, look at you. How did you make yourself end up in this state without Pei Ziheng holding you dearly in his hands?</i>

    She stood up with difficulty and then heard the sounds of some people crying.

    That¡¯s weird, didn¡¯t she already stop crying? Subconsciously, she raised her hand to touch her face. It was a little swollen and slightly smarting from all the tears, but she had indeed stopped crying... She lifted her head and saw many in the audience crying. They were crying hard and uncontrobly, like how she was crying just a while ago.

    Xia Ling felt slightly dazed and at a loss.

    The female emcee walked forward, her eyes red and swollen like she had been crying as well. ¡°Xiao Ling, you really... ¡± She paused as her voice broke a little. ¡°... You sang really well. So many of us were touched to tears. Even I could not control my tears. This is the most touching performance I have ever heard live since I started as an emcee. Can you tell us how you managed to emote this song so well?¡±

    Xia Ling was still in a daze, but her many years of experience allowed her to respond subconsciously. ¡°Singinges from the heart.¡±

    The female emcee was clearly happy with this answer, as she unloaded a torrent ofpliments. She asked many other questions like: when had she started liking Xia Ling? What influence Xia Ling had on her music style? What ns did she have for the future? And so on.

    Xia Ling answered these half-heartedly, distracted by the churning memories still in her mind. She could not remember what the female emcee had asked after getting through all the questions. After a long while, the female emcee let her off, and she walked offstage with rapturous apuse from the audience behind her.

    Xia Ling walked unsteadily backstage, and almost fell when she was walking down the stairs. Someone caught her before she fell.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, be careful.¡± It was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice, though it sounded rather far away. ¡°Why are you still crying?¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to say that she was not crying anymore, and the tears had already stopped, but she felt something being stuffed into her hands. She lowered her head and saw that it was the silk handkerchief from Wei Shaoyin¡¯s shirt pocket that he usually wore as a decorative item.

    ¡°Wipe your tears. You look horrible. The people from Imperial Entertainment are going to see you as aughingstock,¡± he said.

    She mechanically wiped her eyes with the handkerchief, and it was only then that she realized her tears had started falling again. Her hand began to shake uncontrobly again, and she stopped for a moment, before covering her facepletely with the handkerchief and allowing her tears to flow freely.

    ¡°There, there.¡± Wei Shaoyin did not know what to do. ¡°Why are you crying like a baby? How old are you already?¡±

    She leaned into Wei Shaoyin and started to cry out loud.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you... ¡± He started to get nervous and was at a loss for words. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. People are going to think I bullied you or something... No, no, wait... this is so gross. I like being clean... let go of me!¡±

    She ignored hisints and cried even harder. Ah Wei did not know what she had been through and did not know the days of imprisonment that she lived through with Pei Ziheng. Those were days when she dared not even cry freely, such that she had forgotten what it felt like to cry.

    Ah Wei would never know how deep her sorrow and pain was.

    Wei Shaoyin kept quiet, and stiffly wrapped his hands around her shoulder, patting her lightly on the back like he was trying to coax a kid to stop crying. After a long while, Xia Ling felt exhausted from all the crying, and her cries died down to sniffles and random sobs.

    ¡°Miss, are you done crying?¡± Wei Shaoyin heaved a sigh of relief and did not even bother asking why she was crying so hard. ¡°Can you still walk?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    He said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go, follow me back to the makeup room. How could you not be embarrassed crying like that on the corridor?¡±

    It was only then that she realized that the people walking by were looking at her with queer expressions as if they were dying to see some juicy gossip. She wiped her face with the silk handkerchief still in her hands and followed Wei Shaoyin in the direction of the makeup rooms. ¡°Oh right, why did youe to look for me?¡± Her voice was hoarse, and it hurt for her to talk. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in the makeup room resting?¡±

    ¡°You were almost in hysterics singing ¡®The Caged Butterfly,¡¯ and I was a little worried for you, so I came over to have a look at how you were doing.¡± Wei Shaoyin shrugged off his jacket with an expression of disdain as he walked ahead. ¡°You just destroyed my jacket. It¡¯s the newest of this season¡¯s collection too.¡±

    She remembered his hypochondriac tendencies, and seeing the patches of tears and snot that she had left down the front from her crying, she could onlyugh.

    Wei Shaoyin red at her angrily, but the anxiety in his eyes became gentler.

    They returned to the makeup room.

    When they pushed open the door, everyone turned to look at Xia Ling with all sorts of expressions. Some were shocked, some were stunned, some were envious, some were curious, some were disdainful... only Luo Luo innocently pounced onto her, eximing, ¡°Xiao Ling, that was so awesome! You were Xia Ling reincarnated!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t spout nonsense!¡± She chided Luo Luo in a low voice, her tone unpleasant. The truth that Luo Luo had unwittingly said made her jittery, and she could not help but look around warily. No one seemed to have noticed a thing, and everyone¡¯s expression remained as they were ¡ª those that were envious were still envious, and those that were jealous were still jealous. It was only then that she rxed a little.

    However...

    She nced around and caught sight of someone, which made her feel nervous again.

    Feng Kun...

    He was leaning on the edge of the makeup counter, quietly sipping from a ss of water. His gaze was on her, and he had a pensive look on his face. He was still steady and quiet as he usually was, dressed in a ck suit like a low-key wealthy gentleman. Only she knew how astute he was, and knew how scary his instincts were.

    Xia Ling was unsure if Feng Kun had realized anything, but if Feng Kun were to call her ¡°Xia Ling¡± right now, she would not have been too surprised. He was too familiar with her and was even more familiar than Pei Ziheng about her singing style and every detail or turn in her voice. They had worked together for ten years and were a legendary partnership. He would be able to tell which song was sung by her with his eyes closed.

    Xia Ling did not know how much she had revealed of herself in her rendition of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± earlier. There was a screen in the makeup room showing the live broadcast, and seeing the look Feng Kun was giving her, he had likely watched the entire performance. She could not help but feel uneasy and tried to think back on it. It should have been vastly dissimr to the rendition she had sung when she had supposedly killed herself ¡ª after all, her experiences and mindset had changed a lot since then. This time the emotions were probably not as raw asst time?

    Xia Ling thought to herself but felt increasingly unconfident.

    But, reincarnation was too out of the world.

    Her looks and voice had changedpletely. She hoped that he did not think of this crazy possibility and that he did not recognize her.

    Even though she was dying to walk up to him and tell him that she was doing well.

    Xia Ling looked at Feng Kun longingly for a moment but caught herself, knowing that she should not be revealing her emotions, and sheepishly looked away. Luo Luo was still chattering beside her ear like a chirpy little bird. She lowered her head to look at this child. ¡°Luo Luo, I¡¯m tired.¡±

    Luo Luo gave a start, before saying, ¡°Ah, right, you were so into your performance just now. You should rest, I shouldn¡¯t be disturbing you anymore. I¡¯lle to look for you again after you¡¯ve had a good rest.¡± With that, she bounced off back to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s resting area.

    Wei Shaoyin also bade her goodbye and hurriedly went off to change out of the clothes that she had cried all over.

    Xia Ling walked over to an empty seat and sat down, dazed. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, seeing that her makeup was a mess and she looked ugly, nowhereparable to her looks in her past life. However, why was Pei Ziheng still harassing her? Why was he so bent on collecting so many substitutes for Xia Ling? Did Pei Ziheng know... that she would be heartbroken to see him like that?

 Chapter 174 - Who Are You

    <h4>Chapter 174: Who Are You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her tears had dried up, and there wasn¡¯t any more to shed.

    The past memories disappeared like smoke.

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling,¡± Her assistant Wei Wei carefully piped up. ¡°do you want me to get some water for you to wash your face?¡±

    With that interrupting her thoughts, Xia Ling recalled that her face was in a mess and it was rather unbing of an artiste. She was about to nod her head in agreement when she heard a huge ¡°bang,¡± and the door of the makeup room was swung wide open.

    Everyone turned to look towards the door.

    At that moment, Xia Ling felt her throat go dry, and she was unable to make a sound.

    If there were anyone in this life that she never wanted to see again, it would be him. Yet, if there were anyone that could make her lose sleep at night, and to love and hate with all her heart, it would also be him. Only him... Pei Ziheng.

    Her God, her Satan, her everything.

    Looking at the tall shadow in the doorway, Xia Ling felt her body stiffen, and she could not breathe.

    He was wearing an old, light gray round-necked woolen sweater that was very familiar. She subconsciously lowered her gaze to the bottom corner of the sweater, and as expected, she saw an insignificant stain. That was a stain that she had caused by spilling a drink on the sweater in the past.

    She felt her heart clench, and there was a sharp pain in her chest.

    Why was he still wearing that sweater? She knew how picky he was in the sixteen years that they had been together. He would usually throw anything that was slightly damaged away, and only this sweater had survived all those years ago. Then, Xia Ling had insisted that he keep that sweater because she liked its soft texture, and would snuggle in his embrace whenever he was wearing it, refusing to leave. Now that the Xia Ling that would snuggle up to him was gone, why was he still wearing that sweater?

    What¡¯s more, to somewhere like this?!

    Pei Ziheng did not allow himself to dress so casually in public areas. Whenever he left the house, he would be in a formal suit, emitting a cold, tough charisma. However, at this moment, he looked disheveled. Could it be...

    Pei Ziheng, how hurriedly did you leave the house? For... whom?

    She stared at him nkly and heard Xia Yu¡¯s surprised voice ringing out from the side. ¡°Brother Ziheng, why are you here? Did youe to pick me? That¡¯s great, once the show is over, I¡¯ll follow you...¡±

    As she spoke, she walked up towards him.

    Surprisingly, Pei Ziheng looked past her, and his intense gaze swept across the room to finally settle on Xia Ling. Her heart lurched, and Xia Ling instinctively wanted to run away, but she seemed to be frozen to the spot and could not move.

    She watched as he strode across the room with long steps until he was right in front of her.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± His tone was sinister, and there was danger in his eyes.

    Xia Ling was in shock. Her throat was dry and her mindpletely white.

    ¡°Speak! Say it! Who are you?!¡± Pei Ziheng grabbed her wrists tightly, almost crushing her bones.

    The intense pain brought Xia Ling back to her senses, and she struggled to extract her wrists from his grip. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go of me!¡±

    He ignored her cries, and his grip became even tighter. His eyes were bloodshot like that of a savage animal, and he seemed ready to tear her apart. ¡°Who are you? Who are you?! How is it that your version of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ is so much like hers?! How do you know the second half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯?! How in the world would you know how to sing that?!¡±

    The pain was making Xia Ling break out in cold sweat, and his words struck her like lightning.

    The second half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯!

    How could she have forgotten? In the final concert in her past life, she had only sung half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ before she was murdered! The second half of the song had always been a mystery. However, when she was singing the song in the Neb Music Festival today, she had been lost in her emotions and memories of the past, and she had unknowingly sung the unreleased second half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯!

    Oh my God...

    She felt her body go cold, the blood seeming to have frozen in her veins.

    Pei Ziheng cornered her to the makeup counter and pressed on with his interrogation. ¡°Tell me right now! Who the hell are you?!¡±

    Being this close to him made the memories of the paste back to the forefront of Xia Ling¡¯s mind, and she struggled in panic. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go of me! Let me go! I¡¯m not anyone! Not anyone at all! Let go of me, quick! It hurts!¡±

    Feng Kun rushed forward to pull Pei Ziheng back. ¡°Boss! Calm down! She¡¯s Ye Xingling from Skyart Entertainment, not the person you¡¯re looking for!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was not convinced and looked like he was ready to eat her alive. ¡°How could you know the second half of the song?!¡±

    ¡°It was me! I gave her the music and lyrics!¡± Feng Kun used all his might to pull Pei Ziheng back. In actual fact, Feng Kun was also feeling shocked. He did not give her the lyrics, and no one other than Pei Ziheng and him knew the second half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ since it was top secret. However, this girl that was uncannily simr to Xia Ling was able to sing the second half of the song. What did this mean?!

    The answer was evident to him. However, Feng Kun was more interested in making sure that, this time, he protected her, rather than to dwell too much in the truth.

    ¡°She just sang ording to the music and lyrics I gave her. It¡¯s perfectly understandable that she knows the second half of the song!¡± Feng Kun shouted at Pei Ziheng.

    Yet, Pei Ziheng refused to hear any of it and continued to press on, almost hysterical. ¡°Who the hell are you?!¡±

    Xia Ling felt like her wrists were being crushed, and the pain was close to intolerable. She shrieked in despair. ¡°Why do you care who I am?! Pei Ziheng, who are you to me?! Everyone knows how to sing ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯ I simply sang ording to the music and lyrics that were given to me!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Pei Ziheng was furious and suddenly used his other hand to grab the bottom of her face, forcing her to look up at him. ¡°You¡¯re lying! It¡¯s not possible! It¡¯s not possible that Feng Kun would give you the music and lyrics. How do you know the unreleased second half of ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯?! How is it possible that you can sing it in its entirety?! Who in the world are you?!¡± Perhaps it was hope or anguish from missing her for so long, Pei Ziheng refused to believe that the music and lyrics were given to her by Feng Kun. He knew it was preposterous, but he was waiting for a different answer.

    His tirades came in waves at Xia Ling, and she thought she heard his voice trembling ever so slightly.

    She shut her eyes, willing herself not to reveal a single ounce of emotion.

    There was a rare tinge of anxiety in Feng Kun¡¯s tone as he said, ¡°Boss, please let her go first. Calm down...¡±

    He sounded so helpless.

    Pei Ziheng still refused to let go.

    A chill ran up Xia Ling¡¯s spine.

    She could not let him discover her real identity. She definitely could not. Pei Ziheng¡¯s monopolist tendencies were too strong, and she did not dare imagine what consequences she would face if he took her back.

    Xia Ling forced herself to calm down...

    She mustered up courage with difficulty and said, ¡°You...¡± Her chin was still in his vice-like grip, and it was challenging to speak. ¡°You... let... me go.... go first... I.. I will... tell... you... tell you how... I know.... the... song.¡±

    She felt his grip loosen as she spoke.

    She did not have time to think. Using all the strength she had, Xia Ling pushed Pei Ziheng aside and half-rolled, half-crawled, as she sprinted out of the room.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± He shouted out in anger.

    How would she dare to stop? She crashed through the tables and chairs in her way as she ran off, sprinting down the hallway without thinking. She could hear him chasing her from behind, his steps heavy and thunderous, getting louder and louder... closer and closer... Xia Ling ran with all her might and saw the elevator in front of her. If she could just ride the elevator down to the first floor before he caught up with her... The bodyguards that Li Lei had sent to protect her were on the first floor. She would be safe there.

    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go as nned.

    Just as she entered the elevator and pressed on the ¡°close¡± button, a tall shadow squeezed into the crack of the closing elevator door.

    The elevator door closed with a loud ¡°ding.¡±

    Xia Ling felt the blood drain from her face as she looked at the man in front of her. She kept backing away until her back was t against the cold, metal walls of the elevator.

 Chapter 175 - A Lovers Tears

    <h4>Chapter 175: A Lover¡¯s Tears</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the elevator.

    Pei Ziheng pressed Xia Ling to the back of the elevator and grabbed onto her shirt cor. ¡°You want to escape? How can you possibly escape from me?! How did you dare sing that song?! Who are you? Who the hell are you?!¡±

    ¡°Let me go!¡± His breath was blowing on her face, and it made her terrified and hysterical. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let me go! I¡¯m Ye Xingling from Skyart Entertainment. I¡¯m Skyart Entertainment¡¯s artiste! Let me go right now!¡±

    She struggled to get away from him and reached forward trying to open the elevator door, but he pushed against her even more emphatically.

    All of a sudden, the lights went out and the elevator plunged into darkness.

    The elevator started to shake, and suddenly, it was free-falling downwards.

    The sudden loss of bnce made Xia Ling scream out loud, but immediately she felt herself being pulled into an embrace, and he was using his body and arms to protect her. The elevator continued to fall extremely quickly, free-falling like it was going to crash to the bottom at any moment.

    Was she going to die here?

    It was barely two years since her reincarnation, and she was about to die here with him? There was a sense of despair and absurdity, emptiness and sadness. She closed her eyes and awaited her death. This time, there was no sounds of wind blowing, just the sound of his heartbeat, quick and clear.

    <i>Boom!</i>

    She felt a big impact as they crashed to the floor.

    The darkness remained.

    At that moment, she felt that she was already dead. However, she was able to feel pain coursing through her body, like all the bones in her body were about to shatter, and every vein in her body was about to burst.

    Yet, she was... still alive.

    After what seemed like an eternity, Xia Ling woke up from the shock of the impact. She tried to move her body but realized that she was being embraced tightly by someone ¡ª Pei Ziheng, he did not let go of her.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± In the pitch darkness, she asked anxiously. At this moment, she realized that she still cared deeply for him, and a terrifying thought entered her mind. What if he was injured...

    No, he needed to be alright! He was always so strong and domineering! How could anything happen to him?!

    ¡°Are you alright?! Say something!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice got increasingly anxious, and she struggled to get out of his embrace, but to no avail. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Are you injured?! Talk to me!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± His low and hoarse voice sounded different from his usual self.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was trembling.

    He did not reply, but she felt a drop of liquid falling on the back of her hand.

    Her heart dropped along with the drops of liquid.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng! You¡¯re bleeding! Where are you hurt?! You... ¡±

    The light flickered and then lit up.

    She anxiously turned her head to look at the back of her hand. And then, she was quiet.

    That was not blood.

    That was a teardrop.

    Since the time she had followed him when she was twelve until the year she turned twenty-eight, fell out with him and died, even up until the many times he had chased after her since she had reincarnated. In so many years, she thought she had seen many sides of him ¡ª gentle, domineering, nice, evil, happy, angry, confident, monstrous...

    Yet, there was a side she had never seen before.

    She had never seen him cry. Not even once.

    That teardrop felt like cement pumped into her heart, burning in her chest such that she could hardly breathe.

    <i>Pei Ziheng, why are you crying? Do you only ever cry to yourself in darkness, where nobody can see? </i>Xia Ling¡¯s heart was throbbing with pain. If that tear had not fallen onto the back of her hand, she would never have known that he was a person with emotions. He wasn¡¯t God or Satan, he was a human that would feel sad too?

    Pei Ziheng, why are you in so much pain? For... whom?

    She did not move as she remained in his embrace, shocked and confused.

    In so many years, she had never seen him in anguish and did not know that when he was sad, she would feel so sad as well. Subconsciously, Xia Ling stretched out her hands and wanted to embrace him to console him, but when her fingertips touched the corner of his shirt, she stopped herself abruptly.

    She did not dare.

    She did not dare embrace him as she did in the past, baring all her emotions.

    There was the huge gap between them, filled with the love and hate, life and death from the past.

    Her fingertips grazed the surface of his shirt as she carefully tried to extract as much gentleness and warmth from him. She did not dare move forward another inch, afraid that he would realize, and afraid that she would lose control and reveal too much of her emotions.

    After God knows how long.

    The elevator door opened with a ¡°whoosh¡± without warning.

    There wasmotion outside the door. ¡°Be careful, be careful! The elevator malfunction hasn¡¯t been fixedpletely. Be careful in front of the door, don¡¯t be careless!¡±

    ¡°Is everyone inside okay?¡±

    ¡°Luckily the safety mechanism caught the elevator on the first floor. If the elevator had fallen all the way to the ground at the basement carpark, they would definitely have died.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t spout nonsense... Mr. Pei from Imperial Entertainment is in there...¡±

    Xia Ling raised her head subconsciously, looking up to the source of themotion. She saw that the elevatornding was filled with people from Skyart Entertainment and Imperial Entertainment, and there was also staff from the broadcast station and other unfamiliar faces.

    They were deep in discussion and trying to have a look inside the elevator shaft.

    Then, the voices died down and shock registered on everyone¡¯s faces.

    ¡°Oh my God... ¡± said someone in a low voice. ¡°Am I mistaken? Isn¡¯t that Ye Xingling from Skyart Entertainment? Why is she and Mr. Pei from Imperial Entertainment... why... why are they hugging each other?!¡±

    It was only then that Xia Ling realized that she was still in Pei Ziheng¡¯s embrace, and was momentarily stunned.

    She was an artiste, and Pei Ziheng was an untouchable figure in the industry. This image of them hugging was going to be groundbreaking news. She could already hear reporters snapping away with their cameras, with the clicking of the shutters and the shes.

    ¡°Stop taking photos!¡± Skyart Entertainment¡¯s staff blocked the reporter¡¯s cameras.

    ¡°This gentleman over here. Put down your camera.¡± Feng Kun¡¯s voice rang out as well, his face grave.

    That reporter was undeterred. ¡°I have the official pass from the broadcast station. No one can prevent me from taking photos!¡± As he spoke, he rushed forward with his camera, trying to break past the barricade that Feng Kun and the staff had created.

    There was momentary chaos.

    At this moment, Xia Ling saw a familiar figure appear, raise his hand and grab the reporter¡¯s camera out of his hand. Ignoring his cries of objection, he retrieved the memory card from the camera in two or three smooth motions before throwing the camera towards the wall. He then picked it up again and threw it to the ground with all his might. <i>Pang! </i>The camera shattered, and pieces of it flew in all directions.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Boss Li from Skyart Entertainment!¡±

 Chapter 176 - The Argument

    <h4>Chapter 176: The Argument</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There were many exmations from the crowd of onlookers.

    This sudden development stunned Xia Ling. What was Li Lei doing here? Wasn¡¯t he overseas? When did hee back?

    Before she could finish her thought, Li Lei had already pushed past the crowd and walked to the side of the elevator shaft. He reached out his arm and pulled her out of Pei Ziheng¡¯s embrace and into his own. He used a lot of strength, and Xia Ling felt herself lurch forward, feeling as if her arms had been pulled out of their sockets. Her nose smashed into his chest, and she gave a muffled yelp of pain.

    Li Lei coldly looked at Pei Ziheng and said, ¡°Don¡¯t touch my girl.¡±

    His voice was sinister, giving the onlookers the chills. There was silence all around momentarily.

    In the elevator, Pei Ziheng was still motionless in a half-kneeling position, maintaining the posture he had with Xia Ling tightly in his embrace. Upon hearing Li Lei, he turned his head, but his gaze fell onto Xia Ling, who was in Li Lei¡¯s arms. There was deep pain in his bloodshot eyes, a pain that was so deep it couldn¡¯t be dispersed.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart clenched tighter in her chest, and she stared back at him like she was bewitched.

    Li Lei¡¯s gripped tighter onto her and pulled her away without warning, taking big strides towards the exit. She held onto his hand and stumbled alongside him, walking across the long corridor to the underground carpark. He threw her into the passenger seat of his modified SUV and closed the car door.

    Thereafter, he got into the driver¡¯s seat from the other side of the car and wordlessly started the engine before driving away.

    The night sky shed past from outside the car window, looking spectacr and unreal.

    Xia Ling was still in a daze, with memories of her past still swimming in her mind. Pei Ziheng¡¯s name was like a curse that kept ringing in her ears. He was a conundrum to her ¡ª gentle but vicious, her happiness and her greatest demon. Without warning, tears started to fall again.

    Li Lei saw her crying through the rearview mirror.

    Her tears fell silently, drop after drop, and he felt as if hot cement was dripping onto and burning his heart.

    What was her rtionship with Pei Ziheng? Why did Pei Ziheng hug her so intimately? And why was she crying so weakly right now? Li Lei could not make out the reason behind all this, and his lips were drawn into a thin line with frustration. He drove faster and beat several red lights along the way, causing many drivers on the road to swerve and brake suddenly because of him, sounding their horns and shouting profanities at him for driving so recklessly. However, Xia Ling waspletely unaware, still preupied with that tear from Pei Ziheng on the back of her hand. Was he really sad because of her death?

    That was enough for her.

    She cried and cried, but a distorted smile formed on her face. Thereafter, she covered her face and cried even more uncontrobly.

    Li Lei drove the car back to their apartment building. The head of security stepped forward to open the car door for him, but Li Lei did not unlock them.

    Xia Ling kept crying. When she finally stopped, she lifted her head with her eyes still blurry with tears. It was only then that she realized they had already reached the apartment building. She stretched out her hand to open the car door but realized it was locked. She turned to look at Li Lei with a confused expression.

    Li Lei said, ¡°You owe me an exnation.¡± He had been working day and night to be able toe back to her. Yet, when he returned from overseas, he was met with the scene of the love of his life in the arms of another man. Her hands were grasping onto the edge of that man¡¯s shirt, and her cautious expression was as if she was afraid to break the most precious treasure.

    At that moment, a shadow descended upon Li Lei. Seeing her like that, he knew that Pei Ziheng¡¯s interest in Xia Ling was not unrequited.

    He turned his head to look at Xia Ling. ¡°What do you like about him? Do you like how cruel and brazen he is or his yboy tendencies?!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s body started to tremble slightly as she bit her lips and did not respond. What did she like about him? There were too many things... She liked his outstretched hands to her the first time they met; she liked the first glimpse of him that she got every morning she woke up; she liked it when he grabbed her hand and taught her to write; she liked that he would tolerate her wilfulness, regardless of what she did... Many times in the middle of the night, these beautiful memories and terrifying nightmares would intertwine, bing a scar in her heart that she could not remove.

    She thought she had let go of the past, that she no longer had any longing for Pei Ziheng. However, her resolve had all crumbled away with that single teardrop.

    She could not stop her heart from hurting.

    Li Lei raised her chin and kissed her without warning.

    She was shocked, and subconsciously started to struggle, but he had immobilized her hands and legs. His kiss became more intense as he ignored her struggles and muffled cries of objection as if he was bent on branding himself on her. After a long while, he let go of her reluctantly when they were both out of breath.

    Xia Ling red at him angrily.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was hoarse. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t forget who you belong to now. While I may have a good temper, it has its limits.¡± He could tolerate when she spoke back at him, or when she threw her temper and ignored his authority. What he could not tolerate, however, was her thinking about another man while she was by his side. A long time ago, he had suspected that there was someone else hidden in the depths of her heart. Yet, when he saw her expression when she was wrapped in Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms with his own eyes, he realized what it felt to be overwhelmed with jealousy.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I forbid you to see him ever again.¡±

    He lifted his hand intending to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes but was pushed away by her.

    ¡°Are you trying to limit my freedom?¡± she asked coldly. This evening had been too chaotic, and there were too many things on her mind. She had no excess energy to cate Li Lei. However, he kept pushing her to the corner and was now trying to add a new shackle on her heavily burdened body. Forbid? Did he think she wanted to see Pei Ziheng? What if Pei Ziheng was bent on looking for her, how was she going to hide from him? Did he think of that? When she was in the makeup room, and Pei Ziheng was forcing her to the corner and chasing her down, where was Li Lei?

    Now that things had turned out like that, he was ming her?

    She red at him even more angrily as these thoughts ran through her mind.

    Li Lei was furious. ¡°Do you like him that much? Are you dumb? He¡¯s been going through so many women, and all of them have just been substitutes for the dead Diva Xia Ling! Are you proud of resembling Xia Ling? Ye Xingling, Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t love you, he loves that dead person!¡± Old Man Bao had been reporting back to him about his investigations for some time now, and Li Lei had found out quite a bit about the story between Pei Ziheng and thete Diva Xia Ling.

    He had been so bent to help his girl be rid of that monster that he never expected that she would be bewitched by him, even when the one he truly loved was not her!

    ¡°Wake up, Ye Xingling!¡±

    His words were like needles piercing through her heart.

    There were tears at the corner of her eyes again as she said, ¡°Open the door. Let me down.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Let me out of the car!¡± She screamed at Li Lei and started banging on the windows, not wanting to be in the car for another second. Who did Pei Ziheng truly love? He was devoted to her in her past life and had no interest whatsoever in who she was in this life, prepared to hurt her at his whim. She was just a substitute for herself in her past life. Even if she were still alive, that love had already been pronounced dead and was long gone. Pei Ziheng did not love Ye Xingling ¡ª this was the cold, hard truth, and Li Lei hadid it out bare in the open.

    She was in too much pain and was much too tired. She just wanted to shut herself out from all of this.

    Li Lei looked at her with sadness in his eyes. She banged on the windows with all her strength, causing the fair skin of her palm to start to bruise over. He quietly unlocked the doors, his face grim and his lips tightened into a thin line. Xia Ling got out of the car immediately seeing that she had regained freedom and ran into the apartment building without turning back.

    Leaving Li Lei alone in the darkness of the night.

 Chapter 177 - Pei Zihengs Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 177: Pei Ziheng¡¯s Invitation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei suddenly did not know what exactly he came back for.

    He lit a cigarette, and the rising smoke covered his handsome face. He sat in the car for a long time before making a phone call. ¡°Hello Su Tang, are you asleep? I want to talk to you about something.¡± The scene in the elevator gave him an unprecedented feeling of crisis. He was no longer confident of his skill in pacifying women. How could he win over the heart of a girl like Xiao Ling? Perhaps asking Su Tang who had a simr personality would lead him to the answer.

    He loved Xiao Ling and wanted to have everything: her body and her soul.

    Xia Ling went back to the apartment but did not sleep well the entire night. The next day, her head still hurt. She walked into the bathroom, looked at the mirror on the floor, and realized that she was weary, her face was pale, and her coat was very creased. Only then did she remember that she did not even take off her clothes before falling asleepst night. She started to take off her clothes one by one. When she took off her shirt, she realized that she was missing something on her wrist.

    What she was missing was the expensive gold female watch with mother-of-pearl which was sponsored by a luxury brand.

    After the music festival ended, she had to return the watch to the sponsor. If she lost it, she would have to pay the selling price of the watch aspensation. Xia Ling could not help but rub her forehead as she rummaged through the pile of clothes to look for it for a while, but failed to find it there. She then went back to the bedroom to search the bed, the carpet, the cupboard, and all the ces she could think of. However, she still could not find it.

    That was troublesome.

    She could not afford that watch. Even though the money she earned as a small star who just debuted was not bad, she had to spend the money she earned on a lot of areas. Every month¡¯s sry was used up by her, and there was no excess at all. What should she do? Borrow from Li Lei? Even though they had just argued, Xia Ling knew that he would give her a huge amount of money without hesitation or questions, and she would not even need to return him the money. However, if she did that... how was it any different from being in a transactional rtionship?

    Not too long ago, she was unscrupulously squandering Pei Ziheng¡¯s wealth.

    In her past life, although Xia Ling¡¯s worth was hundreds of millions of dors, she never used her money even for a minute. All of her expenses were covered by Pei Ziheng¡¯s personal ount. He gave her a ck gold credit card that she would use even to buy him gifts. At that time, she did not feel that there was anything wrong with what she was doing. She thought that it was ok that they shared everything.

    It was onlyter that she realized how wrong she was.

    In his eyes, she was forever his subordinate.

    Now that she was alive again, Xia Ling did not want to lead a life like that ever again. She was independent and did not need to rely on anybody. Thus, no matter what happened, she would never ask Li Lei for money. How was she going to solve the problem in front of her then? Her phone rang just as she was consumed in her thoughts. It was an unknown number.

    Xia Ling pressed the answer button.

    A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone, low and maic. ¡°Is this Ye Xingling?¡±

    That was...

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice.

    Her heartbeat elerated, and Xia Ling felt that her hand holding the phone was slightly trembling. How did Pei Ziheng know her phone number, and why was he calling at this timing?

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± he repeated slowly.

    She took a deep breath. ¡°Why... are you calling?¡±

    ¡°Are you not going to ask who I am?¡± He asked at an appropriate speed which waspletely different from the violent and fierce way he spokest night. ¡°Looks like you have recognized who I am. Should I say that you are sensitive to sounds or... that we are fated?¡±

    Thest part of his sentence made her almost want to smash her phone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense!¡± Her voice was unsteady. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t have the energy to talk to you. If there¡¯s nothing important, I will hang up now!¡±

    He smiled slowly. There was a bit of bitterness, helplessness, and a tinge of nostalgia in hisughter. ¡°How long has it been... No one dares to speak to me in this tone. Ye Xingling, you are the second one.¡±

    Xia Ling became quiet.

    They both knew who the first one was.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± he said again. ¡°You dropped a female watch here. It is with me now.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly realized how she lost the watch. It was probablyst night when she was with him in the lift and identally dropped it. Coincidentally or not, he picked it up. She sighed in relief. It was great that she knew where the watch was. After she took the watch back, she would no longer have to worry about the highpensation fee anymore.

    However, thinking about it again, she realized another problem: The item was in Pei Ziheng¡¯s hands. How was she going to get it back?

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± she hesitated before speaking. ¡°Can I trouble you to return it to me?¡±

    Her heart was palpitating, and she was afraid that he would reject her.

    His voice was as low and deep as usual as he replied, ¡°Sure.¡± He paused slightly before adding, ¡°Let¡¯s arrange a time, Ye Xingling. I hope I can return it to you in person.

    She finally realized his intention.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to see her. The watch was just his bait.

    Xia Ling tried her best to reject him. ¡°No, I...¡±

    He interrupted her. ¡°If you don¡¯te and get it yourself, then forget it.¡±

    She knew that he was always a man of his word. Since he had said that, there was no other way out. However, how could she dare to see him? Since the start of her second life, he had tried several times to capture her. After suffering so much, how could she let herself get into that sort of danger again?

    However, that watch...

    She did not know what the best option was.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice rang again. ¡°I only want to talk to you. There are no evil intentions. You can decide on the time.¡±

    ¡°No evil intentions?¡± Past events shed through her mind and Xia Ling frowned. She started to be furious. ¡°After the cruel things you did to me in the past, you are telling me you have no evil intentions?!¡± Whether in her past life or present life, he always had profoundly harmed her.

    ¡°I said I don¡¯t, so I don¡¯t. I have never gone back on my promises.¡±

    ¡°Never gone back on your promises? You...¡± She wanted to sneer loudly. She remembered how he swore his love for her and promised to treat her well for their lifetime. In the end, all he did was use cruel methods to torture her until her life was not worth living...

    However, thinking about her status now, she swallowed the questions that she was about to blurt out.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know where we should meet, then let¡¯s meet at the Hengyun Business Center. There is a pretty good coffee shop on the third floor with arge open lobby, and there are always many people walking past it. You don¡¯t have to be afraid of me then. 2 pm at Hengyun Business Center. I will wait for you.¡± His voice was as low and gentle as it was in the past. Whenever she could not make a decision, he would always make a considerate decision for her.

    Xia Ling did not say anything and quietly hung up the phone.

    She spent the whole afternoon thinking about whether she should go. Seeing that the time of the meet-up was approaching, she finally told herself that she should go. Since she could not afford that watch, she could only go to take it back. She was going to take back what was hers, and not because she wanted to see him. It was just this one time and never again.

    She stood up to look for suitable clothes to wear and walked out of her apartment.

 Chapter 178 - Have You Liked Anyone Before?

    <h4>Chapter 178: Have You Liked Anyone Before?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That coffee shop was located near the city center. When Xia Ling got there, she realized that Pei Ziheng had already arrived.

    One look was enough for her to recognize him. In the dim light, he was sitting quietly beside a scenery window with a pot of untouched red tea near his hand. He slightly tilted his face towards the window and looked like he was deep in thought. Outside the window, there were lush broad-leaved trees and decorative waterfalls which caused him to seem warmer than usual. However, she knew that it was just the illusion of a resting tiger.

    Xia Ling secretly took a deep breath and walked over.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± He looked at her and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile that waspletely different from the mad expression he hadst night. ¡°I¡¯m d you came.¡±

    However, Xia Ling was not very happy. As she sat down on the seat opposite him, he fixated his gaze on her, making her feel pins and needles down back. Despite being nervous, she made up her mind and wanted to settle the situation quickly. Once she took the watch back, she would leave immediately.

    He called for the waiter and asked her, ¡°Do you want to drink anything?¡±

    Not in a good mood, she nced at the menu the waiter handed her absent-mindedly. As such, she casually said, ¡°Lem...¡± After saying half of the word, she suddenly realized that in her past life, she used to love to drink lemonade. She was afraid of him noticing something, and in a panic, hurriedly changed her order. ¡°One cup of Mandailing coffee, thank you.¡±

    The waiter acknowledged her order and soon brought the coffee over.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her and said, ¡°You¡¯re a singer. You have to take care of your voice. It is better if you drink less coffee on a daily basis.¡± His spoke calmly like he was having a casual conversation with a normal friend.

    Usually, Xia Ling did not drink coffee because of this very reason. She also did not drink much of any other stimting drinks. This was a habit that she developed by being around him for a long time in the past. In the blink of an eye, that long time had passed, and now she was no longer the same. She got out of her trance, lowered her head, and took a sip of the coffee. A bitter taste filled her mouth instantly, and she lowered her cup in reflexive response. She took a breath and her entire face frowned.

    ¡°Are you not used to the taste?¡± He inquired her.

    How could Xia Ling dare to tell him that she usually did not drink Mandailing coffee? The only reason why she ordered that type of coffee was because it came to her mind that Wei Shaoyin loved it. After working with Wei Shaoyin for so long, whenever coffee was mentioned, she would think about Mandailing coffee first. Usually, when Wei Shaoyin drank it, his expression did not change. How would she know that it would be that bitter?!

    She quickly dealt with Pei Ziheng¡¯s question. ¡°I¡¯m used to the taste. I just forgot to add sugar.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled.

    Xia Ling did not dare to make eye contact with him and lowered her head as she tried to look for the sugar packet. However, just as she was about to take the sugar packet, Pei Ziheng snatched it away before she could.

    She lifted her head and looked at him weirdly.

    He lowered his eyes to concentrate on tearing open the sugar packet and helped her pour the sugar into the coffee. One packet was not enough, so he opened another packet. He did not stop until he opened about eight packets. ¡°Try it,¡± he said. ¡°Do you like the taste now?¡±

    Xia Ling picked up the card and carefully took a sip. There was a very strong sweet taste, just the way she liked.

    He nced at her slightly and chuckled. ¡°The coffee is so sweet, I really don¡¯t know how you two can drink it.¡±

    You two? Xia Ling was startled for a while. Suddenly, she realized who he was talking about. He was referring to her in this life and her in her past life. In her past life, she was afraid of bitter things and liked drinking sweet things. During the few times when she drank coffee, she would relentlessly add sugar into her coffee. She recalled that when she saw himst night, the drink stain on the sweater he was wearing was caused by him snatching away her sugar packet and knocking over a cup because he did not allow her to eat or drink anything as she pleased.

    Now, they were sitting together like strangers. He also did not control her actions anymore and even personally opened the sugar packets one after another to satisfy her sweet tooth.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was very sorrowful and upset.

    He asked the waiter for another ss of Mandailing coffee, added about eight packets of sugar to it like he did for her, and drank it mouthful by mouthful. The hot air rose, and his eyes were hidden in the mist. There was deep silence, and she could not clearly see him.

    She remembered that he was very picky and really did not like sweet food. Furthermore, the coffee in her cup was not even of a normal sweetness level. Measured ording to the standards of a typical person, it was sickeningly sweet. What was wrong with him today?

    She could not help but ask him. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    He looked at the drink in the ss for a long time before replying in a low voice, ¡°It is very bitter.¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything. It was as if his expression was hiding indescribable grief, which caused her heart to feel sad as well. She silently lowered her head and refused to feel the sorrow. To divert his attention, she drank her coffee. It was supposed to have a sweet taste, but suddenly, it felt really bitter.

    Just like the bitter past.

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± He called. ¡°How about you join Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    She was jerked back to reality. He was still the Boss of Imperial Entertainment who had his head high up in the air and had many intentions, while she was just a small artiste who was trivial and had no backing.

    Xia Ling became more alert. ¡°I¡¯m part of Skyart Entertainment Mr. Pei. I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    ¡°I like it more when you called me ¡®Pei Ziheng.¡¯¡± He looked at her and softened his gaze.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that we are that close.¡± Xia Ling gently pushed the coffee ss away and leaned back.

    ¡°Do you know how many people desire the privilege to call me by my name?¡± He was neither resentful nor angry.

    ¡°Well, that does not include me.¡± Her tone became colder. He was right. Many outsiders only dared to call him ¡°Mr. Pei¡± or ¡°Director Pei.¡± Even those in the Pei family respectfully called him ¡°Elder Pei,¡± ¡°Uncle,¡± or ¡°Senior Pei.¡± There were very few people who dared to call him by his actual name. Besides his rival, only she called him by his name.

    However, the person she was today really wanted to keep the furthest distance she could away from him.

    Didn¡¯t he also not call her ¡°Xiao Ling¡± anymore?

    Ye Xingling was such an unfamiliar and polite way to address her. Suddenly, she felt that whether it was him or Feng Kun, Chu Chen or any other old acquaintances, they would never call her ¡°Xiao Ling¡± like Li Lei or Ah Wei. Perhaps, in their hearts, she would never be able to match up to Xia Ling.

    However, she and Xia Ling were literally the same person.

    Were Pei Ziheng and Imperial Entertainment reluctant to give up because of her or an insubstantial illusion?

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± He addressed her with the same distant tone. ¡°as long as you¡¯re willing to join Imperial Entertainment, Skyart Entertainment is not a problem. I will handle all the penalties regarding the breach of your contract. All you need to do is agree.¡±

    She looked at him and asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    He replied, ¡°I really admire you.¡±

    Xia Ling softly sneered. Liar. If Pei Ziheng really admired her, why would he hire people to kidnap her and heartlessly damage her vocal cords? ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± She started to get angry again. ¡°you do not admire me. The only thing you admire is the illusion in your heart.¡±

    After she said that, she really wished that he would refute her argument.

    However, he did not.

    He sat on a dark green leather sofa and looked at her quietly with a thoughtful expression.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart started to sink.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± she said. ¡°the person you like...¡± Was not her. However, she could not bear to say thosest three words. She felt very ufortable and almost wanted to cry. What was this supposed to mean? Was she jealous of herself? No, that was not right... Did Pei Ziheng possibly even treat Xia Ling as an illusion? Otherwise, why was he not able to recognize her once she changed her appearance?

    ¡°The person you like...¡± It was difficult for Xia Ling the words. ¡°Pei Ziheng, have you ever liked... anyone before?¡±

 Chapter 179 - The Taste of Her Past Life

    <h4>Chapter 179: The Taste of Her Past Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He was quiet for a long time.

    Just as Xia Ling thought he was not going to answer the question, he softly said, ¡°I have not liked anyone before.¡±

    She felt a surge of pain in her heart, and there were indescribable emptiness and disappointment inside her. However, he continued, ¡°However, there is a person who was a part of my life, and you¡¯re very much like her.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart missed a beat. She knew who she was talking about but interjected. ¡°No, she is not. You also don¡¯t know that...¡± <i>Pei Ziheng, you don¡¯t even know that she is right beside you, but you¡¯re treating her cruelly and rudely as a substitute.</i>

    Xia Ling did not continue her previous sentence. She stood up and said, ¡°Thank you for returning my item to me, Mr. Pei. I will be leaving now.¡±

    He called from behind her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Her footsteps slightly stopped and she almost could not help but turn around. This was the first time since she was reborn that he addressed her that way. His voice was hoarse and painful, and it was as if he were suffering great agony. However, she could not look back, and she did not dare to return to his side anymore. Their love was already dead.

    She returned to the apartment.

    And the days passed as usual.

    Ever since that day, her rtionship with Li Lei became rather delicate. Every day, they would eat together, drink tea together, and sunbathe together as usual, but he did not hug her anymore and did not bring up that sensitive topic; like he never saw what happened in the lift and they never had the fight in the car.

    He was covering up his feelings very well.

    Only when Xia Ling inadvertently looked up, she would asionally find his eyes following her with an unfathomable expression.

    Xia Ling did not know what he was thinking. Did he really not care? Or was it the quiet before the storm? She always thought that Li Lei was a clear ray of sunlight, clean and warm. However, today, she felt that he was the sea. He appeared calm on the surface but was hiding something that could be warmth or a monstrous wave that would shred you into pieces.

    However, in the end, she was in the wrong. When he was not there, she hugged another man behind his back. After calming down and thinking about it, considering Li Lei¡¯s background and means, he was already being sufficiently polite by not tearing her into pieces. Moreover, he was exponentially good to her.

    He was so good to her that Xia Ling felt guilty. Consciously or unconsciously, she started to avoid him.

    It was a long time before another day of the music festival arrived. She was thrilled that she did not need to stay in the apartment and face him. She packed her items very early in the morning and was prepared to set off. After she walked to the elevator, she realized that the apartment door was half open. Li Lei was drinking tea in the living room, and Er Mao was lyingzily beside his feet.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He called her. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Music festival,¡± she softly replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s still early. How about I send you there after we have eaten?¡±

    Xia Ling was unwilling to let him send her there and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I have an appointment with my stylist, and it will take a long time.¡±

    ¡°Stylist?¡± He looked at her closely. ¡°You¡¯re not going to wear the clothes I purchased for you?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She was wearing ordinary clothes on that day and was not willing to wear the high-end ready-to-wear clothes that Li Lei purchased a full cupboard of for her a while back. It was not because it was Li Lei who purchased the clothes, but the fact that the clothes he purchased were of the same brand that she used to wear in her past life.

    That was Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite brand.

    That year when she followed him home from the orphanage, Xia Ling wore the best clothes she had which were brightly colored. She stood in the elegant hall of the Pei family like a small beggar who had mistakenly entered a pce. Even today, she still remembered the expression of his younger sister Pei Jingyu when she looked at her. She could see the shock and disdain concealed in her eyes. It was like a sharp thorn that deeply crippled her younger self¡¯s self-esteem. Later, Pei Ziheng personally chose clothes for her and used soft white and grey powder to dress her up as his family liked. Xia Ling could no longer find a trace of man-made fiber on her body. Even the luxurious colors and styles were uniquely created, making her look like a youngdy from a rich and powerful family.

    Pei Ziheng was very pleased.

    Then, she was only a child and was not used to act low-key and introverted, but because he liked it, she learned to adapt and appreciate it. As time passed, she finally grew to love them, and besides the necessary performances, she would not wear extravagant clothing on a daily basis. People said that the way she dressed was very tasteful, but they did not know that it was molded by Pei Ziheng.

    He domesticated her and stamped a brand on her body.

    Until now, Xia Ling had to put in a lot of effort into resisting his influence to get rid of his shadow.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°You said before that you really liked these clothes. Why aren¡¯t you wearing them then?¡±

    She did not know how to answer him.

    Li Lei stood up and walked in her direction. ¡°You will look perfect wearing them. I like the way you look in them. Xiao Ling, if you can wear these clothes and participate in tonight¡¯s Music Festival, I will be really happy.¡± He rarely requested her to do anything. For this reason, this request seemed very unexpected.

    Li Lei was not Pei Ziheng and would not prepare every single thing for her. Usually, he would not even ask her about her clothes or hairstyle and dress her in the way he liked. Li Lei rarely interfered in her life, and today was the first time. Perhaps... Xia Ling looked at him and quietly thought about it. Perhaps, they did not interact for a long enough time, and he was finally showing his true colors today.

    That way of thinking made her shiver out of irrational fear.

    Seeing that he was getting closer and closer, Xia Ling retreated two steps. Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened, and he stopped for a moment before continuing to walk towards her until she was at the edge of the stairs at the safe passage. She was unaware of it, so she kicked a step and almost fell down.

    Li Lei quickly caught her and brought her into his arms.

    ¡°Let go,¡± said Xia Ling as a conditioned reflex.

    He did not let go of her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He lowered his head to look at her with dull gray-green eyes. ¡°Why are you avoiding me? Why won¡¯t you wear the clothes I purchased for you? Is this request so difficult for you?¡±

    Xia Ling reacted by turning her head and avoiding eye contact with him as she did not want to discuss the issue. How should she even exin it? Should she tell him that the clothes he purchased were of the same taste as her past lover? No, not lover. Things have progressed to a state in which she did not even know what her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was. It was too ambiguous, and they were not even qualified to be called ¡°lovers.¡± Her heart was sorrowful and bitter, but Li Lei pulled her face closer and asked, ¡°What are you thinking? You have been rather strange recently. Xiao Ling, I told you before that I can help you with anything. Please don¡¯t bear the burden in your heart by yourself.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± said Xia Ling weakly and used her energy to push him away.

    Li Lei¡¯s arms were as hard as rocks and did not move. ¡°Then tell me why you won¡¯t wear the clothes I purchased for you. Ever since I came back, I haven¡¯t seen you wear them once.¡±

    The way he asked her that made her feel worried. ¡°Li Lei, please let go of me first...¡±

    ¡°Answer me first.¡± His gray-green eyes were gazing at her.

    ¡°I just suddenly stopped liking that style.¡± Xia Ling spoke with hesitation.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not...¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are.¡± He said firmly.

 Chapter 180 - Splurging in the Shopping Mall

    <h4>Chapter 180: Splurging in the Shopping Mall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m lying.¡± Xia Ling was suddenly irritated. ¡°It¡¯s only a few sets of clothes. Why do you have to investigate this so thoroughly? Li Lei, I will wear whatever I like. Give me some personal space.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her sorrowfully. ¡°You are not even willing to tell me the truth now?¡± He painstakingly bought her a gift and drove her around as much as she needed. Even Su Tang said that he had done enough. He really could not think of anything else that a girl could want from her boyfriend. However, he was still insecure and felt that Xiao Ling was very distant from him. She never asked him for anything, never requested for gifts from her boyfriend like other girls, never asked him to stay by her side or anything else. It was as if no matter what he did or did not do, she did not care at all.

    Su Tang said that a woman only acted so coldly when she did not love a man.

    This sentence terrified Li Lei.

    He tightly grabbed Xia Ling. ¡°You sound so self-confident even when you¡¯re lying to me. Do you really consider me your boyfriend? Is it because of Pei...¡±

    ¡°No!¡± She hurriedly interrupted him and pushed him away hard.

    Li Lei looked at her. His thin lips were closed tightly, not making a sound.

    Xia Ling was furious and sneered. ¡°Stop using him everytime something happens! Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t you want to give me a gift? Don¡¯t you want to see me wearing the clothes you bought? Let¡¯s go to the mall now and buy ten sets of clothes!¡±

    He silently looked at her for a long time before bringing her downstairs.

    They went to the shopping mall. It was in the best part of the city, but there were few customers, and it was very peaceful and quiet. The first shops they saw when they entered were of a prominent brand, a variety of concept stores and gship stores. The retail assistant was elegant, and her face was polite with a weing smile.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Choose anything you like.¡±

    Xia Ling scanned the shops and knew that the things they were selling were expensive, so she did not want to use too much of his money. He was her boyfriend, but she did not want to owe him anything. Moreover, as Xia Ling slowly regained her senses, she felt that this argument was ridiculous and meaningless. She genuinely wanted to reconcile with him, so she said, ¡°You can choose for me. I¡¯m fine with anything.¡±

    However after Li Lei heard that, it was proof to him that she did not care at all.

    Did she really value the gifts that he gave her? Was she not picky because they did not matter to her?

    Li Lei¡¯s voice wasced with anger. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you liked the style of the items I sent you? If I choose again, you may say you don¡¯t like them and use this as an excuse not to wear what I give you!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Xia Ling never thought that he would say something like that, and it hurt her a little.

    He narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

    ¡°Alright, alright.¡± Xia Ling was starting to be angry again andpletely abandoned the thought of reconciling with him. ¡°You want me to choose, Li Lei? Don¡¯t regret it!¡± Before he could reply, she rushed into the nearest women¡¯s clothing store without looking at the brand and pulled out three or four pieces of clothing. ¡°This one, this one, and this one... Except these three, help me pack the rest up!¡±

    ¡°Miss,¡± The retail assistant was shocked. ¡°the clothes we sell here are all...¡±

    ¡°What? Do you think I can¡¯t pay for them?!¡± Xia Ling was burning with rage and wanted to argue with her. ¡°Can you use your eyes better? Do you not see that there is a wealthy person behind me? Ask him for the money!¡±

    The retail assistant looked at her and Li Lei and finally fixated her eyes on Li Lei, looking for some confirmation.

    ¡°Pack them all.¡± Li Lei lightly said.

    The retail assistant suspiciously asked him to foot the bill. In a short while, she brought over the credit card machine and the receipt. ¡°This gentleman, the total is $760,800.¡±

    Li Lei directly gave her his card.

    The retail assistant finally let out a smile. She quickly swiped the card and asked Li Lei to sign the bill. Suddenly, she became very weing. ¡°Both of you, please wait for a while. I will wrap the clothes up now.¡±

    Xia Ling was left alone with Li Lei.

    ¡°Continue.¡± He said with a sting in his tone. ¡°You don¡¯t need to save my money. You already said that I was a wealthy person.¡±

    Xia Ling was triggered by what he said and became even angrier. Alright, since he wanted to spend money so much, she would fulfill his request. Besides, it was not her card she was using. He did not even feel bad about spending the money, so why was she feeling guilty?! Xia Ling turned her head and went straight into the second store. This time, she did not pick anything. She directly told the retail assistants to pack everything for her. Li Lei, who was following behind her, only swiped his card and paid the bill. He just looked at her nkly as she wasted his money.

    The third store, the fourth one...

    Xia Ling ran from one store to another store. As long as she saw that the store was selling women¡¯s clothing, she would enter it and buy everything without choosing anything. This mall was filled with famous luxury brands. After she had swept two floors, the manager heard the news, quickly located them, and eagerly attended to them personally. In the presence of a group of smiling faces, Xia Ling¡¯s anger gradually faded. Furthermore, no matter how much money she squandered, Li Lei was always willingly paying the bill without any excitement, looking like he did not care at all.

    It was as if it did not hurt him at all.

    After they had swept a few more stores, Xia Ling lost her enthusiasm and stopped.

    Li Lei coldly asked, ¡°Are you done causing trouble?¡±

    That tone almostpelled Xia Ling to continue splurging again on impulse.

    ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t you look at me with that expression!¡± She turned her head around and yelled at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you only have your pathetic money? What¡¯s so impressive about that? How much can clothes from a few stores set you back? In the past, I...¡± She shut her mouth. In the past, she was a billionaire, but now, she could not even afford a piece of clothing here.

    In a rage, she turned her body and walked away. However, he grabbed her before she could move.

    ¡°Let go!¡± she screamed.

    ¡°Both of you.¡± The store manager carefully interrupted. ¡°How should we take care of these clothes? There are too many clothes to carry back home. Should I arrange for a car to deliver them to you?¡±

    Li Lei did not look at him and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you have to wear one of them tonight? How about you choose something first and bring it to the styling room.¡±

    Not bothering to look, she randomly took out a wrapped box from a bag and said, ¡°I choose this. Li Lei, let go of me!¡±

    He let go of her and looked at the item in her hand. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    She lowered her head and looked through the transparent packaging. One look and it seemed that something was not right. She opened it and saw that there was a soft fleece bathrobe with a small rabbit pattern inside. Xia Ling threw back the box in the pile and rummaged through the pile of clothes, trying to randomly find a suitable piece of clothing to wear.

    Li Lei looked at her and slowly said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you weren¡¯t even focusing when you were choosing these clothes. However, you¡¯d rather wear them to the music festival than the ones at home that I chose for you. Why?¡±

    Xia Ling stopped rummaging through the clothes. ¡°Li Lei, are you done? Can you just drop this insignificant topic?!¡±

    ¡°Insignificant? If it was really insignificant, why aren¡¯t you willing to answer me?¡±

    ¡°How do you want me to answer you? By painfully crying and admitting my mistake? Or do you hope to find proof that I have someone else in my heart so you can...¡±

    ¡°I never said you had someone else in your heart. Do you personally think that way?¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly stopped talking.

    Li Lei quietly looked at her with a painful and sorrowful expression on his face.

 Chapter 181 - Scandal

    <h4>Chapter 181: Scandal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not dare to make eye contact with him. She turned around and quickly walked towards the exit to escape. On impulse, she rushed out of the shopping mall and stood in the streets which was crowded and filled with passers-by. Suddenly, she was hit with a huge wave of loneliness. There was some pain which she could never exin to anyone and could only silently suffer alone.

    Xia Ling leaned her body against the wall in the corner and thought of the recentlyplicated things that had happened to her. She was physically and emotionally tired.

    Some time had passed before someone knocked into her. ¡°Oh no. I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t looking when I was turning and didn¡¯t see you..¡± The person apologized profusely. Suddenly, he stopped talking and stared at her for a few seconds. ¡°Ye... Ye Xingling?!¡±

    Presently, her name was quite well-known.

    She finally remembered that she was exposing herself on the streets and did not have a disguise on at all. She had been so angry that she was driven into confusion by Li Lei. Reaching out her hand, she quickly flipped over the coat hood and wrapped her long scarf around her neck a few times to cover her face. She wanted to leave immediately, but a few people were surrounding her.

    ¡°It really is Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! I¡¯m your fan, can you sign something for me!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, can I shake your hand?¡±

    ¡°Wow, it is her in person! I¡¯m so happy! Take a group photo with us, please...¡±

    There were numerous sounds, and people were pushing to get to the front. As many people took out their phones and took photos of her non-stop, more and more people gathered in the crowd, and amotion started. She only wanted to leave as fast as possible, but she had no way of squeezing through the crowd.

    ¡°I have something urgent to do. Can I trouble everyone to make way for me?¡± Xia Ling said as she tried her best to push through the crowd.

    ¡°Her voice sounds very good in person.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling! Show more of your face! Look this way!¡±

    She was trapped in a sea of people and could not squeeze out. She started to be really anxious. Just now, she had bought clothes with Li Lei, and it took up much of her time. If she did not go for styling now, she would not be able to make it in time for tonight¡¯s music festival. ¡°Make way. Make way please...¡± she said impatiently.

    The crowd refused to give way. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t randomly touch me...¡± Before she could finish her sentence, she lifted her head and realized that it was actually Li Lei.

    There was no expression on his face, and his grip was very strong as he used his other hand to push through the crowd. ¡°Move. Everyone move. Tonight, Ye Xingling has a music festival live-stream. If you surround her here, there will be no show for you to watch tonight.¡±

    Some people move aside. However, even more people continued to surround them.

    Some people did not think the world was chaotic enough and asked, ¡°How are you rted to Ye Xingling?¡±

    ¡°Who are you? What right do you have to push us... Ow, it hurts!¡± Li Lei pushed a man so hard that he retreated a few steps.

    Li Lei was not kind towards these people and used his tall and muscr body as an advantage to easily break the crowd apart and pull her out of it.

    They got on his SUV.

    The atmosphere was a little awkward. In the shopping mall, she provoked him and yelled at him, but he still broke into the crowd to save her.

    Xia Ling stammered. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Am I only worth a simple ¡®thank you¡¯ from you?¡± Li Lei was very irritated. Ever since he pulled her out of Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms and talked to Su Tang, he was unsure about Xiao Ling¡¯s feelings for him. Su Tang said that only when a woman wanted to draw the line with a man would she not care about his gifts or not give him a gift. She would not care about whether he was by her side and would even vaguely say thank you. No matter what happened, she would not ask for his help because she never included him in her life from the start.

    Only those who were ready to leave at any time were not willing to fall too deep.

    There was some anger in Li Lei¡¯s heart which he did not know who it was directed at. To vent it, he stepped on the elerator, and the car took off at lightning speed. Xia Ling was caught off guard, and her body mmed into the back of the chair. Thus, she became angry again and shut her mouth.

    Soon, they reached the ce for styling.

    Xia Ling ignored him and got out of the car herself, walking towards the building. After she took a few steps, she realized that he had caught up with her and stopped walking. She turned around and snapped at him. ¡°I¡¯m already here. Why are you still following me?¡±

    There was no expression on his face. ¡°Are you so scared that people will find out about our rtionship?¡±

    This person was simply unreasonable today. Xia Ling endured it, which was why she did not quarrel with him in the aisle. She quickly walked to the styling room and opened the door. A piano piece was ying in the room, and there was a faint fragrance. When they heard the sound, everyone turned to look at them: Bai Murong, Sister Mai Na, and the stylists. Everyone was there.

    She clearly saw a glimmer of light in Bai Murong¡¯s eyes, but he quickly covered it up.

    Great, Li Lei had achieved his goal. Now everyone knew about her rtionship with him. He was the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment and the type that rarely cared about thepany. Now that he was there with her, she could not me the thoughts that other people would have in their hearts.

    Xia Ling was feeling horrible, so she randomly sat down on an empty spot.

    ¡°Xia Ling.¡± Sister Mai Na called her. ¡°Come with me.¡± She then turned to look at Li Lei who was behind her and politely said, ¡°Boss, can I take up a few minutes of your time? I have something to report.¡± After saying that, she walked into a small room. Xia Ling and Li Lei did not know what was going on, so they followed her.

    The small room was very quiet, and there were only the three of them there.

    Sister Mai Na closed the door. Her face became solemn as she retrieved her phone from her bag and threw it in front of them. ¡°Look at it yourselves.¡±

    There was an ominous feeling in her heart. Xia Ling took the phone and saw that it had photos of her and Li Lei splurging in the shopping mall. The camera angle was perfect, and her facial features were clearly recognizable. There were photos of him buying clothes with her, swiping his card, and even of the smiling manager beside their pile of wrapped clothes talking to them... Furthermore, there were photos of her being surrounded by the crowd and Li Lei taking her hand and rushing out of it.

    ¡°Who took these photos?¡± asked Li Lei.

    The high quality of the photos indicated that they were taken by professional cameras.

    ¡°The paparazzi caught up to you.¡± Sister Mai Na nced at them coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to pay more attention when you are on a date? Ye Xingling, was your anti-stalking training done in vain? Furthermore, Li Lei, you know that your girlfriend is an artiste. Don¡¯t you know how to protect her?!¡± Without outsiders, she was no longer polite to Li Lei. It was actually not a report, but a lecturing.

    Xia Ling frowned as she read the news report. The general gist of it was guessing what her rtionship with Li Lei was and whether there was anything shady that Skyart Entertainment did not disclose when they were promoting her. Furthermore, the story about her hugging Pei Ziheng in the lift awhile back was leaked. Although there was no picture, the linkage of both stories was enough to cause a great uproar.

    Not long ago during the music festival, she had some unclear interaction with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei. That day, Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment was also there, and it was reported that there was a conflict between the two big bosses, and the heroine of the conflict was Ye Xingling. What exactly was her rtionship with the two big bosses? The photos today seemed to have revealed something to the public.

    The report was extremely well written and had all sorts of malicious spections.

    Sister Mai Na was very irritable. ¡°What should we do now? All the public rtions ns have to be redone! If we don¡¯t respond in time, Ye Xingling, you will gain a reputation of seducing two big bosses!¡±

 Chapter 182 - Su Tangs Photograph

    <h4>Chapter 182: Su Tang¡¯s Photograph</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei kept quiet for a moment and then looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Then let¡¯s reveal our rtionship. Be my official girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling declined without so much as a thought.

    ¡°Why?¡± Li Lei¡¯s tone became cold. ¡°Who are you afraid will find out?¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect him to react in such a way and was momentarily stunned. She spoke through trembling lips, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°What do you think I mean? Ye Xingling, I can tolerate anything that you do, but this does not mean I tolerate you cheating on me!¡±

    ¡°I... ¡± She wanted to deny it but swallowed her words as they were about to leave her lips. If he did not have the most basic level of trust in her, what good would it do to exin? In her past life, she had tried to exin herself to Pei Ziheng, vehemently denying having killed anyone, only to receive Pei Ziheng¡¯s cruel torture. Cheating on him? This was a huge usation. If Li Lei doubted her character like Pei Ziheng, what else was there to say? Xia Ling stood up, feeling utterly disappointed, and pushed open the door intending to leave.

    Sister Mai Na stared with her mouth agape at their argument. She had initially thought that today would just be a simple meeting, but it turned out not to be so. What was going on? She could not understand but reactively pulled Xia Ling back. ¡°Xiao Ling, calm down. Boss did not mean it that way... ¡±

    Xia Ling shook herself free from Sister Mai Na¡¯s grip and left.

    Sister Mai Na was at a loss and turned to look at Li Lei. ¡°Boss, aren¡¯t you going to go after her?¡±

    Li Lei sat in the dimly-lit room and did not speak.

    Sister Mai Na anxiously said, ¡°How could you say that to Xiao Ling?! Don¡¯t you know her temper?! Did you catch her red-handed or something? Who else could she be with other than you?!¡±

    ¡°A few days ago, Su Tang gave me a photograph.¡± Li Lei responded in a low voice. ¡°Xiao Ling went to meet Pei Ziheng behind my back.¡± There were too many things urring at the same time, and he could not believe that they were all simple coincidences. She never cared about the gifts that he gave her, was never willing to use any of his money, and did not care if he was by her side or not. In bed, she would not sumb to his advances. In the elevator, she was carefully hugging onto Pei Ziheng. In the photograph that Su Tang had sent to him, she was sitting with Pei Ziheng in a romantic and quiet cafe, and Pei Ziheng was gently pouring a sugar packet into her cup.

    There was no way he could turn a blind eye to all of this.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s heart dropped a little. ¡°Su Tang sent you a photograph?¡±

    ¡°There are bodyguards following Xiao Ling all the time. The bodyguards took a photo in secret and sent it to Su Tang.¡± Li Lei said. Su Tang was his personal assistant, and typically any information from the bodyguards would go through her first. Su Tang would filter out the most important bits before sending it to Li Lei.

    ¡°Do you know Su Tang likes you? Everyone can see that!¡± said Sister Mai Na discourteously. ¡°Do you know how scary a girl¡¯s jealousy can be?¡±

    Li Lei knew that Su Tang had liked him secretly since a long time ago. However, he had never given her any chances all these years, and she had never let her emotions get in the way of her work before. Otherwise, he would not have allowed her to be by his side for so long. ¡°Su Tang has followed me for more than ten years, she will not mix her personal feelings into her work.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°And the photo has not been tampered with.¡±

    ¡°You trust Su Tang more than you trust Xiao Ling?!¡± Sister Mai Na eximed in exasperation.

    Li Lei was quiet. Su Tang was a subordinate that had helped him through a lot for more than ten years. She was very loyal and was willing to die for him. On the contrary, Xiao Ling... Xiao Ling¡¯s thoughts were a mystery, and he could never read her. She was like fireworks in the night sky, far away and unreachable, and you would never know when she would disappear.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t trust her then just break up with her already!¡± Sister Mai Na scolded him like she was scolding a child. ¡°Just break up and marry Su Tang instead!¡±

    ¡°I do want to marry someone I trust.¡± Li Lei gave a bitter smile. But whose fault was it that he was so hung up over Xia Ling?

    ¡°If you can¡¯t bear to let go, then get your ass out of that chair and chase her back right now!¡± Sister Mai Na could not help but swear. ¡°Stop moping around like a woman. What rubbish about cheating on you! Even if she hadn¡¯t cheated on you, now that you kept harping on it, she might just make that a reality!¡±

    Li Lei got up immediately as Sister Mai Na finished her sentence and ran out of the room to chase after Xia Ling.

    Sister Mai Na looked at the door, which was banged open by Li Lei on his way out. What Skyart Entertainment? It should just be renamed Skyart Kindergarten. All these kids were such a handful!

    On the other end, Xia Ling left the hairdressing studio and did not turn back.

    Li Lei¡¯s usation was still ringing in her ears. Cheating on him?! Tears formed in her eyes as her current frustrations intertwined with those of the past. Was she just not worthy of being trusted? Was that why Li Lei kept pressing her about her rtionship with Pei Ziheng, forcing her to dress in clothes that he had bought, and pinned such an usation on her? All she wanted was a ce that she could be free, a ce where she could hide that secret in the depths of her heart, and a ce where she was able to grab on to a bit of sunlight.

    She had thought that Li Lei was that bit of sunlight for her.

    But he had tried time and again to control her, and kept prying at that secret in her heart, tearing at her rotting wound. This made her terrified and uneasy.

    She walked down the steps outside the main entrance one step at a time.

    The cold wind of the deep winter was blowing.

    Suddenly, a group of people appeared out of nowhere, ¡°Quick, quick,e quickly! Ye Xingling is here! Ye Xingling has appeared!¡± A group of reporters with cameras of all shapes and sizes in their hands surrounded her, and they were jostling to push microphones in front of her. ¡°Ye Xingling, we heard that you¡¯re together with Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment. Is this true?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, please exin what¡¯s going on in the photograph that was released today!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling...¡±

    She was stunned by this sudden entourage. All the reporters were like hyenas waiting to pounce as they bombarded her with questions.

    She was alone in the crowd and tried to block the reporters¡¯ cameras. ¡°Let me out! Just let me out of here!¡±

    Why would the reporters let her go?

    ¡°Ye Xingling, why are you crying? Is it because you¡¯re ashamed of having slept with Boss Li for fame?¡±

    ¡°Please tell us your thoughts on Li Lei and Pei Ziheng. Who do you belong to? Or are you two-timing?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling...¡±

    She bit her lips and did not speak, and the reporters shoved each other about as they tried to question her.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Suddenly, they heard a furious shout.

    She fell into a familiar and sturdy embrace. ¡°Ye Xingling is my woman. However, it is not what you think. She is my girlfriend, the kind that I will bring home to introduce to my family and to marry!¡±

    It was Li Lei.

    His body was like a sturdy mountain, sheltering her from the crowd of reporters in front of her.

    The reporters got even more hyped up at hearing Li Lei¡¯s words. When they saw the photograph earlier, they had simply run over here to see what they could get. Regardless of what Ye Xingling say or not, they would still construe it in a way to make the news more vorful. They did not expect for Li Lei, the other protagonist, to appear, and to reveal such groundbreaking information!

    ¡°Is that true?!¡± The reporters asked enigmatically. ¡°Boss Li, please tell us, why are you considering to marry someone like Ye Xingling, who has no status or background? Did Ye Xingling do anything to gain your attention? Ye Xingling, are you dating him for money? Are you trying to marry into a rich family?!¡± They did not care whether their words were hurtful or unpleasant to the ears. All of what the reporters were interested in was to get a good piece of headline news.

 Chapter 183 - You are a Good Person

    <h4>Chapter 183: You are a Good Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei¡¯s cold and hard gaze swept across the reporters, training in on the one that had asked the final question.

    That reporter immediately shut up, feeling a chill run down his spine from his death re.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already given you your big story.¡± Li Lei said as he shielded Xia Ling from the reporters. ¡°If anyone dares to construe the story in any way as to make the news juicier... just go find out what happens to someone that offends Li Lei.¡± He did not speak loudly but seeded in silencing all the reporters. After all, these reporters worked day and night, in all weather conditions, bent on prying out the biggest news, simply as a means of living. If they had really offended Li Lei, the well-known underground king, they might even have to worry about having a shelter over their heads.

    The group of reporters remained idling about close by, but no one dared open their mouths to speak. It was weirdly quiet.

    There were still tears in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, and she softly said, ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    Li Lei unhappily lowered his head to look at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m not his girlfriend.¡± Xia Ling struggled to free herself from his embrace, but Li Lei simply hugged her tighter. She did not have any more strength to struggle but repeated. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    The reporters were stunned. What was this situation? This was so different from how they had imagined it. The typical story would be ¡°Big Boss saves the damsel in distress who is touched to tears ¡ª the modern day Cindere story¡±... or ¡°Scheming bitch sessfullys golden bachelor and smiles triumphantly.¡± Why was this girl denying their rtionship when the powerful, rich, and handsome Li Lei had already admitted to it?

    What was the backstory?

    One reporter¡¯s curiosity was piqued enough that he could not help but ask, running the risk of being killed by Li Lei. ¡°Are you or are you not attached?¡±

    ¡°If I say we are, we are!¡± Li Lei bristled impatiently, ring at the reporter. ¡°Move aside!¡±

    That reporter took a step backward subconsciously.

    Li Lei continued to shield Xia Ling as they walked out of the barricade of reporters. As they passed, the reporters backed away slowly, afraid of his formidable presence, leaving them a clear path.

    Li Lei smoothly brought Xia Ling to his car.

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Xia Ling was still repeating.

    ¡°How long are you going to be like that?!¡± Li Lei burst out. ¡°I¡¯ve admitted our rtionship and havemitted to take you as my bride in front of all those people. Is that not enough? Ye Xingling, what do you want me to do? Dig out my heart and serve it to you on a silver tter?!¡±

    Xia Ling did not retort, which was unusual.

    Her silence made him feel uneasy,

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice became gentle. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my attitude was bad. I...¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s break up,¡± said Xia Ling.

    Li Lei was stunned. Break up? He never thought she would react that way. What did he do wrong?

    ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re a great guy, I¡¯m the one who is in the wrong. Let¡¯s break up.¡± She said in a tired, low voice. She had been arguing with him for many days now, and she was angry because she cared. That was also why she was so bothered with him trying to control her so much. However, even after all the arguments, he still continued to push her limits, asking her questions she did not want to answer. What¡¯s more, he had revealed their rtionship to the reporters despite her vehemently being against the idea. She did not know what her views were in his eyes.

    Loving her using only the way he understood... he was just being another Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°You¡¯re great. Really.¡± She repeated softly. ¡°Any other girl would be happy to be with you. But not me, Li Lei. I¡¯m a coward and weak... Do you remember? When you admitted your feelings for me and asked me to be your girlfriend, I told you that I would never love another person again in this life. I don¡¯t have the strength nor the courage. But you told me then, that it was alright, that I just needed to continue to be myself... So, I agreed. However, Li Lei... you went back on your word. You¡¯re asking so much from me right now, and I¡¯m not ready. No... this isn¡¯t your fault. As a man, it¡¯s normal for you to ask so much from your girlfriend. You ask for no secrets, only for loyalty... but I... I can¡¯t give that to you. Li Lei, maybe we were simply not suited from the start.¡± She had too many secrets and scars that she did not want to be touched.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart dropped lower and lower as he heard her speak, his hands and feet turning cold.

    He was wrong, utterly wrong. When she was arguing with him, he felt that she was being unreasonable, but did not realize that was her way of giving him a chance. Now, she did not even want to argue, summing all the arguments into one phrase ¡ª ¡°You¡¯re great.¡± This was her giving up.

    You¡¯re a great person, but we are just not suited for each other.

    This sentence that seemingly was like a line from an eight o¡¯clock soap opera kept appearing in his mind. He never thought that he would be at the receiving end of this statement from the girl he loved.

    He stretched out his hand to grab onto hers. ¡°Xiao Ling, I was wrong. Give me another chance...¡± Sister Mai Na¡¯s chiding came back to haunt him. She might not have cheated on you, but so what if she did? If she really did cheat on you, would you do anything to her? Li Lei realized despairingly, that no, he wouldn¡¯t do anything at all. The worst conclusion was not that she had someone else in her heart, but that she had chosen to leave him.

    He leaned forward to hug her, his voice hoarse. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t leave me.¡±

    The tears that were swimming in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes fell, and she choked. ¡°Li Lei, you deserve better. I can¡¯t do for you what a normal girlfriend should do. You¡¯ve already tolerated me for so long. Go find someone else that can make you happy.¡± She only deserved to be hiding in a dark corner, licking her rotting wounds for the rest of her life.

    He was that sunlight that she craved, but she had forgotten that the sun that was warm to others would burn her.

    ¡°I only want you.¡± Li Lei hugged her tighter.

    ¡°It¡¯s no use, Li Lei, no use... ¡± She cried out loud. It seemed that the number of times he had made her cry in this short time was more than that of Pei Ziheng in all the time they had been together. ¡°There are things that I will never tell you. If you want for us to remain together, there will always be that pain that I¡¯m withholding something from you. We will continue to argue, to second-guess each other. You will not trust me. What¡¯s the meaning of all this then?¡±

    ¡°Having you by my side... that¡¯s the greatest meaning of all.¡± He said slowly, emphasizing each word.

    She cried even harder and shook her head.

    Li Lei lifted his warm and dry palm to pat her gently. Rubbing it along her spine, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry... I was too anxious. When I saw you with Pei Ziheng in the elevator that day, do you know how jealous I was? Xiao Ling, you have never looked at me with that expression in your eyes... not even once. I was... so afraid... ¡± He paused before continuing. ¡°... I was afraid that you would leave me, that you would leave with him. That¡¯s why I have been so uptight recently, and have been trying to press you for an exnation.¡±

    ¡°If I wanted to go to him I would have left a long time ago.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I¡¯ve chosen to stay by your side. Do you still not understand me?¡±

    On hearing this, Li Lei felt a sense of euphoria. ¡°Then do you like me... even just a little bit... Xiao Ling?¡±

 Chapter 184 - Making Their Relationship Public

    <h4>Chapter 184: Making Their Rtionship Public</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Did she like him?

    Xia Ling was unsure, but as she leaned her face on his chest and snuggled closer to him, her tears and snot wet his shirt.

    He did not mind at all, and instead was wondering what this little action meant. What did Xiao Ling mean by this? Was she silently admitting that she liked him? But, why wasn¡¯t she saying anything? Was she just being shy or was he reading her wrong? Li Lei did not dare to ask, afraid that her answer might shatter the beautiful dream in his mind. Nevermind, at least she did not say that she hated him. He would take it slow, and use all the time in his life to make her fall for him. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He gently and carefully said. ¡°... when this music festival is over, will youe home with me to meet my grandfather?¡±

    Meet his grandfather?

    Xia Ling was mildly stunned, and nervously asked, ¡°Will your family... ept me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to break up with me anymore?¡± Li Lei could not resist but give augh. ¡°Grandfather will definitely ept you. I guarantee that he will like you very much.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m not ready yet. I¡¯m not even sure I¡¯m ready to make our rtionship public. If we don¡¯t break up, then... things are going to get messy on the news. That¡¯s going to be a big headache, and I don¡¯t want to have to deal with something else at the same time.¡±

    Li Lei was terrified that she would leave him and was happy to let her have her way. ¡°Okay, then. You don¡¯t have to meet my grandfather. The news? Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll handle it.¡±

    She gave a soft ¡°mmhmm¡± in response, but still felt uneasy. In these two lives, she had been through a lot, but this was the first time she was making her rtionship public. Her other half was herpany¡¯s Big Boss, which left a lot of room for imaginations to run wild.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.¡± He gently consoled her.

    She felt herself rx a little. It felt great having someone to face all these controversies together with her.

    Li Lei apanied her back to the Neb Music Festival¡¯s filming location.

    At the entrance, there was a crowd of reporters and fans that had amassed after hearing the news about their rtionship. The staff and security officers had erected a long security line to keep them away.

    Li Lei stepped out of the SUV first, his handsome appearance and charisma drawing screams from the crowd, and cameras were shing non-stop, capturing him from every angle possible. He walked around the car to the other side and opened the door for Xia Ling like a gentleman, holding her hand as she stepped out of the car.

    She was dressed in a full-length dress that reached to the ground. Another round of screams rang out as she stepped out of the car ¡ª

    ¡°Ye Xingling, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you really dating Boss Li?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you have to be happy!¡±

    ¡°Shameless! Scheming bitch!¡±

    There were all sorts of words being hurled.

    Xia Ling felt a little afraid, and she was feeling more nervous than the first time she had debuted ten years ago. However, Li Lei was giving her strength through his steady, strong grip that was holding onto her hand, and his calm and encouraging gaze was like he was trying to tell her that no matter what happened, he would always be by her side. Xia Ling held her head up high and turned to face the fans and cameras.

    Li Lei¡¯s hand curled lightly around her waist. He gave a lowugh and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. You¡¯re beautiful.¡±

    She could not resist butugh as well. ¡°Liar.¡± How could she be beautiful? Her makeup was smudged from all the crying in the car earlier, and she did not have her makeup kit with her to fix it. She was well aware that her eyeliner had smudged off, and her dark green hair was a little messy. Even the white,ce dress she was wearing was creased from him hugging her so tightly just now.

    ¡°I look terrible.¡± Sheined in a low voice.

    ¡°If I say you¡¯re beautiful, you¡¯re beautiful.¡± His chiseled lips curled into a smile. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go.¡±

    This was the first time they were walking the red carpet together as a couple. Li Lei stood up tall as he proudly and carefully held her hand like he was holding onto his beloved bride at his wedding. He was tall and handsome, taller than her by about half a head, and they were a gorgeous pair standing next to each other. It wasn¡¯t long before everyone in the crowd was looking at them, even those that had no interest in their scandal.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Who¡¯s that man beside Ye Xingling?¡± Some in the audience that had not heard the news asked with curiosity.

    Even though Li Lei was Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss, he was extremely low-key and did not interfere with the daily operations. There weren¡¯t many in the industry that recognized him. Immediately, other better-informed audience members exined. ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard? That¡¯s Big Boss Li from Skyart Entertainment. The big news that was released today is that he and Ye Xingling are an item!¡±

    ¡°Wa... What?!¡± Many eximed in surprise. ¡°Does that mean Ye Xingling got lucky?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah... ¡± Onlookers stared with envy and jealousy at the attractive couple strutting down the red carpet. ¡°Other female artistes that try to a big fish always end up being thrown aside. The luckier ones might marry some rich old man, and they would be content with that. But her? Did you hear what Boss Li said today? He said that he would bring her back to see his family and that he wants to marry her. How lucky for her to have such a good rtionship!¡±

    ¡°Wow... that¡¯s so nice... ¡± Some looked on enviously.

    ¡°Tsk, who knows if they willst!¡± Others said sourly.

    The informant shrugged and said, ¡°Normal couples might break up too, let alone them. I think Ye Xingling needs to be careful ¡ª someone like Boss Li who has money, power, and looks will have tons of women waiting to pounce on him. Who knows if Ye Xingling will be the one to walk down the aisle with him? That¡¯s still a long way to go.¡±

    ¡°Yeah... that¡¯s right.¡±

    The groupmented.

    Li Lei held Xia Ling¡¯s hand the whole way as they walked across the red carpet, through the main entrance walkway into the broadcast station, and all the way until she reached her makeup room.

    Many people were loitering outside her makeup room, pretending to have just walked by. Inside the makeup room, everyone from Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment turned to look at them as they entered.

    Li Lei brought her all the way to her seat, before lowering his head and kissing her on the forehead. ¡°Be good and perform well. I¡¯lle to pick you when you¡¯re der.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± She responded with a light smile, feeling happy all of a sudden that their rtionship was out in the open.

    This was the first time that someone had held her hand to cross the road... okay, no, cross the red carpet... like a boy in love. This was the first time that someone had kissed her so openly, in front of everyone, and had paraded her at an event, even promising to pick herter...

    She had always been envious of such couples when she watched television dramas in the past. They were normal and heartwarming.

    She recalled an MV that she had filmed in her past life. She had started crying when they had filmed a simr scene, giving all the staff members a fright.

    No one knew how much she longed to do something like that.

    At this moment, she realized that her career and being low-key wasn¡¯t all that important after all.

    Now, the whole world was aware that he was hers, and she was his.

    She watched as Li Lei left, her slender fingers wrapping around the pendant hanging on her neck, and her lips curled into a sweet smile. Wei Wei came over with some water for her to remove her makeup, and found a makeup artist to help her redo her makeup. The makeup artist said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I saw the news this afternoon. Good for you, how could you hide something so important from me for so long? Remember to invite me when Boss Li and you get married!¡± Married? That was still a faraway possibility. But she was happy that she could openly ept the well-wishes from others.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood was exuberant, but suddenly heard a voice from the side ¡ª

    ¡°How shameless... seducing one person after another...¡±

 Chapter 185 - Challenge Accepted

    <h4>Chapter 185: Challenge epted</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling turned and saw Xia Yu walk by with a disdainful expression.

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± She coldly called out.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it, though?¡± Xia Yu turned to look at her with an innocent expression, a tinge of bitterness in her smile. ¡°Ye Xingling, you have been dating Li Lei for a long time, haven¡¯t you? Then, why did you seduce Brother Ziheng? I beg you... let him go. I don¡¯t want to see Brother Ziheng feeling sad for you.¡±

    She did not lower her voice as she did with her first insult. Thus, many people around overheard her and turned to look at them.

    ¡°Who would have thought that Ye Xingling was a person like that?¡± Some discussed in low voices. ¡°Does she seduce every rich man that crosses her path just to see who she can get?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s highly possible.¡± Someone else said. ¡°Do you remember that day in the elevator? She was hugging Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei. If she wasn¡¯t an easy woman how would she dare do something like that?!¡± The entertainment circle was a messy ce, and female artistes tended to scheme against each other. Even if they appeared to be amicable on the surface, they would easily talk behind another person¡¯s back in the next moment. Many were envious and jealous seeing Xia Ling in a happy rtionship, some even bordering on hate.

    Female artistes were belittling her. ¡°I wonder what she did to gain Li Lei¡¯s attention... she¡¯s not even that pretty.¡±

    ¡°Ha, what else could it be? If you¡¯re shameless, anything goes.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s listening ability had always been good, and she heard these discussions loud and clear. She swept her gaze across the room coldly and realized that many of those discussing behind her back were in Xia Yu¡¯s team for the music festival. ¡°Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team, right?¡± Xia Ling coldly said. ¡°You guys probably can¡¯t sing very well seeing that nothing goodes out of your mouth.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± That group of artistes angrily eximed. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you think your singing is that great? You¡¯re just relying on Li Lei¡¯s support from behind! It¡¯s all under-the-table!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s umted points had been good in the Neb Music Festival since the start. Many had said that she was lucky to have been ced in Feng Kun¡¯s team, but now they attributed it to her being the partner of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss. Who knew what under table transaction urred in the background? All of Xia Ling¡¯s hard work had been disregarded given her special status now.

    Xia Ling fumed on the inside, but showed no emotion on her face, ¡°Then, let¡¯s battle it out on stage.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, who¡¯s afraid of you?! Bring it on!¡± One of the female artistes said.

    Xia Yu pretended to y the peacemaker. ¡°Are you sure, Sister Qiu? You know Ye Xingling¡¯s status now...¡±

    They became even more agitated on hearing this. ¡°There¡¯s still justice in this world! I don¡¯t believe that so many of us can¡¯t take her down!¡±

    Xia Yu had achieved her objective. <i>Great, now so many of these dumb women are going to help me take down Ye Xingling. </i><i>This time, Ye Xingling is going to be humiliated.</i>

    ¡°Tonight is the head-to-head battle segment.¡± Xia Yu exined to Xia Ling in a gentle voice. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you dare go head-to-head with us?¡± This segment was very interesting ¡ª both the defender and the challenger would have to sing each other¡¯s songs. With so many of them against her, they had many songs between them. On the other hand, Ye Xingling only had two songs released since her debut ¡ª ¡°ss Fingertips¡± and ¡°Meteor Wings.¡±

    It would be extremely easy for them all to learn her two songs, but she would have to learn all of their songs.

    With there being so little time, it would be easy for them to pick lesser known songs that she did not know, and she would make a fool of herself on stage.

    Xia Yu¡¯s smile became brighter as she thought to herself.

    Xia Ling simply responded, ¡°Sure.¡±

    They did not say anything more, and Xia Yu left with the group of female artistes in tow.

    Xia Ling went to look for Feng Kun. ¡°I want to be the first contender for tonight¡¯s head-to-head battles.¡± Initially, she was ted to be the sixth contender since the first few rounds were being helmed by the likes of A-listers like Zheng Chenhao. Those in the first few rounds were talented singers, and it was still a question if she was qualified to be pitted against them. However, she had made up her mind to teach Xia Yu andpany a lesson. She needed to be the first contender ¡ª she would battle till the end and beat them all by herself! Xia Ling had always been like that. She would not typically react to anything, but if she were to retaliate, she would make sure to stamp down hard!

    Feng Kun raised his eyes to look at her and gave a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you toe to look for me.¡±

    Ever since she had sung ¡°The Caged Butterfly,¡± they had not had the chance to speak alone. Everyone thought that he had given her the lyrics to the second half of ¡°The Caged Butterfly,¡± but they both knew that it was not the case. ¡°I helped you cover for something really important thest time.¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°And today, you¡¯re asking me for yet another favor? Then, Xiao Ling, can you do something for me in return?¡± He called her by her nickname in her past life, his tone gentle and full of nostalgia. ¡°When the music festival is over, can I invite you for a ss of wine and a chat?¡±

    There were many things that he wanted to verify with her.

    Xia Ling was stunned. So many things had happened recently. That day, after she had finished singing, Pei Ziheng had chased her into the elevator. Then, she was dragged away by Li Lei and had many fights with him, then made up and announced their rtionship to the public... She had forgotten that her being able to sing the second half of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± had been a huge giveaway, and she had forgotten toe up with a good exnation for Feng Kun.

    Her dazed expression also looked simr to that of the past, causing Feng Kun¡¯s expression to be filled with longing.

    After a long while, Xia Ling snapped back to her senses and responded, ¡°I... I don¡¯t drink.¡±

    She was already so sheepish, she wasn¡¯t going to deal with him over drinks!

    ¡°Then, we can drink juice instead. You¡¯re not going to turn me down, are you?¡± Feng Kun lowered his voice and said. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you sure you aren¡¯t going to talk to me? Pei Ziheng is still harping on your rendition of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡±... did you think it was over after Li Lei saved you the other day? If Pei Ziheng were to find out that I did not give you the lyrics to the second half of the song...¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered at the thought.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°We have to get at least our stories straight.¡±

    She stared at Feng Kun, trying to guess how much he knew. Was it a coincidence, or was he trying to test her... or did he know her true identity?

    She could not decide.

    ¡°You should know that I will never hurt you.¡± Feng Kun said sincerely.

    Right... how could he hurt her? In her past life, when the whole world had turned against her, he was the only one that was still on her side... the only one that was truly heartbroken at her death. She finally nodded and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s speak after the music festival.¡± He might not have discovered her identity. Perhaps, he simply thought that she resembled histe friend and, hence, wanted to help her?

    Feng Kun gave a satisfied smile. ¡°Okay, then do well in the head-to-head battles.¡±

    The head-to-head battle.

    She was ced as the first contender as she had requested, and her opponent was music producer Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team.

    The female emcee said, ¡°Let¡¯s see... Feng Kun¡¯s first contender is Ye Xingling, and the first contender from Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team is Zhao Wanyang. Who of these two female singers will be the winner of this first round? Let us watch and see!¡±

    Zhao Wanyang looked over at Xia Ling, who was dressed in a long dress, her expression full of arrogance. She knew how to sing both of Ye Xingling¡¯s songs, and she, Zhao Wanyang, had debuted for more than ten years already. She debuted around the same time as thete Diva Xia Ling, and she was sure that many of her earlier songs would be unknown to this young seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl!

    Ye Xingling wanted to win? Dream on!

 Chapter 186 - Queue Up to Get Beaten

    186 Queue Up to Get Beaten "Who''s singing first?" Zhao Wanyang looked over arrogantly. Since Ye Xingling was bound to lose, she was happy to be the gracious senior and allow Ye Xingling to pick the order. Then she would have nothing to say after she lost.

    Xia Lingughed lightly and replied, "Up to you."

    What? Up to me?! Zhao Wanyang was momentarily stunned, then became furious. This newbie¡­ what was with her careless attitude? Did she even regard her as a senior in the industry? Zhao Wanyang''s tone became even colder. "Then, I''ll go first, in case anyoneins that I''m bullying a newly debuted singer."

    "It''s too early to say who''s the bully." Xia Ling responded coolly.

    The audience offstage were getting excited. The sparks were firing so early on for this head-to-head. They had high expectations for this battle, especially for Ye Xingling''s performance given that her scandal with Li Lei was just published in the afternoon. Everyone was curious what abilities this girl had to make a big shot like Li Lei make such a heartfelt deration.

    The audience was anxious to hear Xia Ling sing, but Zhao Wanyang said she was going to go first, so they had to be patient and listen to her performance first.

    Xia Ling picked "Meteor Wings" for Zhao Wanyang to sing. While this song seemed mboyant, it was in fact much easier to sing than "ss Fingertips." "ss Fingertips" was a song that would allow the audience to easily differentiate a good singer from a mediocre one, whereas "Meteor Wings" was easy enough that any mediocre singer could manage it well enough.

    However, Zhao Wanyang did not appreciate her choice. "''Meteor Wings''? Ye Xingling, you picked the harder song of the two for me, didn''t you? Nevermind, I can handle it!"

    Seeing her arrogant expression, Xia Ling almost sighed out loud. Even if she were dumb, she didn''t need to disy her ignorance so openly¡­ As expected, one of the producers had an expression of disdain on his face.

    The emcee was sharp and saw this change in expression. She hurriedly passed a microphone to that producer and asked, "Brother Li, you look like you have something to say. Care to share it with us?"

    The director of the show signaled for a cameraman to give Brother Li a close-up shot.

    That producer named Brother Li did not shy away, and gave a wryugh, saying, "Zhao Wanyang thinks that Ye Xingling is trying to make life difficult for her? In my opinion, Ye Xingling is letting her off easy by picking ''Meteor Wings'' ¡ª it has a tune that is easy to pick up. ''ss Fingertips'' might sound easy, but in fact, requires one to convey the emotions of the song well. It would be easy to mess up ''ss Fingertips'' without a strong singing foundation."

    So that''s why.

    The audience listened with interest. Many started to look down on Zhao Wanyang even before she had started singing.

    "Is that Zhao Wanyang a singer? How could she not know that?" For an outsider of the industry to not be able to tell if a song was easy or difficult to sing would be normal, but how could a professional singer make such a low-level mistake?

    On stage, Zhao Wanyang''s face turned red as she knew she had made a fool of herself. To save face, she argued back. "I don''t think Brother Li is right. I think ''Meteor Wings'' is still the harder song to sing¡­"

    The emcee interrupted her and turned to Xia Ling, asking emphatically, "Ye Xingling, you are in the best ce to be the judge of that. Which do you think is the harder song to sing?"

    Xia Ling had chosen the easier song to sing for Zhao Wanyang and did not intend to make her look bad in this segment. However, she did not expect Zhao Wanyang to be so ignorant.

    "I think¡­ there is someone else here that is more suited to be the judge of that." Xia Ling tiptoed around the question and looked over at Wei Shaoyin.

    The emcee understood what she was getting at and turned to Wei Shaoyin immediately. "Ah Wei, you''re the producer for both ''ss Fingertips'' and ''Meteor Wings.'' What do you say? Which of the two is the harder song to sing?"

    "Of course ''Meteor Wings'' is the easier one." Wei Shaoyin replied coldly. "I didn''t know some singers had degraded to such levels that they are unable to discern the difficulty of songs."

    This apparent insult made some in the audience to burst out inughter. Even some of the producers could be seen trying to hold theirughter in.

    Zhao Wanyang felt even more embarrassed, her face turning a bright crimson. She wished she could dig a hole to hide in.

    Xia Ling smiled nonchntly. "Miss Zhao, do you have anything else you want to say? Perhaps we can look for another opinion on the matter."

    Another opinion? With Wei Shaoyin already voicing his opinion, who would say otherwise? He was known to be extremely strict and righteous. He would not say anything counter to his real opinion just to side with someone.

    Zhao Wanyang red at Xia Ling angrily, her face still red, and did not say anything.

    Xia Ling was unaffected. She was not going to lose anything from an extra re. What''s more, the audience was watching Zhao Wanyang, and her ring was just going to make her seem even pettier. As expected, the chatter in the audience became more numerous, all saying things along the lines of "So much for Zhao Wanyang being a veteran in the industry, how could she not match up to a newbie singer," or "Ye Xingling is just so much better inparison"¡­

    Zhao Wanyang had already lost half the battle before the head-to-head had even begun.

    Xia Ling confidently said, "Then, Miss Zhao, would you like to start now?" She stood in the middle of the stage with a wry smile on her face, her expression taunting, apletely different picture from her red-faced opponent. It seemed that she was born to shine, and everyone''s eyes turned towards her even though she was dressed simply in her white dress.

    The broadcast director instructed the cameramen to give her a few more solo takes.

    And Zhao Wanyang? She began her song reluctantly. Distracted by the earlier insults from the two producers, her rendition of "Meteor Wings" was shoddy, making several mistakes. The broadcast director and cameramen were disinterested in her altogether, choosing instead to film Xia Ling, and then Wei Shaoyin and Feng Kun. The cameras even panned the audience several times,pletely neglecting Zhao Wanyang. There was no one else to me since her singing was so bad and could not draw the attention of others.

    Boos rang out from the audience offstage.

    The song finally ended.

    Zhao Wanyang''s expression was even more upset. "Ye Xingling, if not for me having the flu and being in bad condition, I would definitely have sung that more perfectly."

    "Ha, perfect?" Xia Ling almostughed out loud. "I don''t know what Miss Zhao''s definition of perfect is, but in my opinion, you made tons of errors in the song earlier. If you were recording that with Ah Wei in the studio, he would definitely have stopped you and made you do it over. Let''s put it this way¡­ that wasn''t even close to the standard required to release a song."

    This was a huge insult. Yet, Xia Ling was used to picking fights and had her guns ready to open fire. She did not care about Zhao Wanyang''s feelings.

    The atmosphere in the room became more heated. Ye Xingling had vocalized everyone''s thoughts, and some producers even starting pping in agreement.

    Zhao Wanyang was close to tears on hearing the insult. "How could you say something like that?"

    "You''re not Xia Yu¡­ don''t try to act all innocent and weak to get others to pity you. It doesn''t work, and you don''t look the part." Xia Ling sniggered. "Stop wasting time and pick a song for me. There are many others in your team behind you¡­ preparing to get beaten by me."

    Her arrogance was off the charts.

    Neb Music Festival encouraged singers to taunt each other on camera, but it was still rare to see someone be like Xia Ling and brush everyone off.

 Chapter 187 - A Veiled Abuse

    <h4>Chapter 187: A Veiled Abuse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What did she mean by ¡°there are many in your team behind you that are preparing to be beaten by her¡±? She was simply insulting the entire team, not even bothering to leave herself an escape route.

    There was a mix of cheers and jeers from the crowd, which were so loud that it seemed like they were going to blow through the roof.

    The emcee and broadcast director were delighted. This Ye Xingling, was she an angel for drawing in the viewers? She had sessfully and skillfully heated up the atmosphere in the ce. With her around, it would be difficult for their show to tank when it was released.

    In that instance, they felt even more impressed with Ye Xingling.

    ¡°Give her a few more solo takes.¡± The broadcast director said. ¡°Many her look pretty... the audience loves her.¡±

    He was being biased,pletely ignoring the fact that there was another person called Zhao Wanyang still on stage.

    Zhao Wanyang was struggling to keep in her anger and made up her mind to make life difficult for Xia Ling. Since she had already butchered ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± then she needed to make sure that Xia Ling sang even worse than her to be able to save some face. With that thought, she put on an amicable expression and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll pick an easy song for Miss Ye. My song titled ¡®Flower that Isn¡¯t a Flower.¡¯ It¡¯s an easy one to sing.¡±

    Offstage, the veteran heavenly king, Bai Murong, grumbled. ¡°Isn¡¯t she just being shameless?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she is.¡± His teammate piped up. ¡°A song from more than ten years ago. I think Ye Xingling was still in primary school when this song was released. It wasn¡¯t even a popr song. She¡¯s probably never heard of it before, and now she has to sing it?¡±

    He lifted his head towards the stage to see how Ye Xingling would react.

    This newbie had surprised him time and again. Perhaps this time she would surprise him another time.

    Bai Murong himself did not realize that he had developed more expectations and confidence in this girl.

    Xia Ling cocked her head slightly and replied, ¡°Okay.¡± While this song was not mainstream, unfortunately for Zhao Wanyang, Xia Ling had heard it before. Too bad for Zhao Wanyang... her debut period was too close to Xia Ling in her past life. Xia Ling was vaguely familiar with most of Zhao Wanyang¡¯s songs.

    Xia Ling¡¯s memory was excellent when it came to music, and could easily remember a song even if she had only heard it once. What¡¯s more, this song wasn¡¯t a difficult one at all.

    Zhao Wanyang thought that Xia Ling was bluffing and silentlyughed. <i>Ye Xingling, let¡¯s see how long you can keep up the pretense!</i>

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s performance left her in shock. When the background music started ying, Xia Ling smoothly sang along to the apaniment. Her rendition was skillful and dynamic, better than the original version!

    The audience listened transfixed.

    Xia Ling looked resplendent onstage in her white dress as if she were a goddess from within a dream. Her performance of ¡°Flower that Isn¡¯t a Flower¡± was almost to perfection.

    At the end of the song, the apuse sustained for a long time.

    Xia Ling took a bow and turned to look straight at Zhao Wanyang. ¡°You¡¯ve lost.¡± Behind her, the huge screen was tabting the final scores, and her vote count was several times that of Zhao Wanyang. It was a resounding victory for Xia Ling.

    Zhao Wanyang¡¯s face turned white. <i>That¡¯s impossible... how does she know how to sing this song? </i>However, the reality was right there in her face. Xia Ling knew the song, and she had done a brilliant job of it.

    Zhao Wanyang stumbled offstage as the emcee announced Ye Xingling from Feng Kun¡¯s team to be the winner for this first head-to-head battle between Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team and Feng Kun¡¯s team. There was thunderous apuse from the crowd.

    Xia Ling smilingly stood tall in the center of the stage. ¡°Next.¡± She never did things half-heartedly, and could not help but add. ¡°Please send someone stronger upstage this round.¡±

    The brazen challenge made Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team jump with anger.

    ¡°Zhao Wanyang, what happened to you? How could you lose to a newbie?¡± Someoneined. ¡°See how arrogant she is right now?¡±

    Having just been publicly embarrassed, Zhao Wanyang was still boiling with anger and snapped. ¡°If you¡¯re so great, why don¡¯t you try?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go then!¡± That person was called Luo Ye, who was also a fairly well-known female singer. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I can¡¯t take her down!¡± She confidently walked onto the stage.

    Now, Xia Ling was the defender. ording to the rules of thepetition, the defender would always pick the song for her opponent to sing first, before it was then her turn to sing. Xia Ling did not even give it so much as a thought as she said, ¡°Let¡¯s do ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ again... I¡¯ll not raise the difficulty for you guys.¡± Reading between the lines, she seemed to be saying, ¡°If you guys can¡¯t get ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ right, why even bother trying ¡®ss Fingertips¡¯?¡±

    A double-whammy of an insult.

    The audience could not help but think... were all these singers in Chen Xiaomin¡¯s team just serving themselves up on a silver tter to be ridiculed by Ye Xingling?

    Luo Ye got a taste of what Zhao Wanyang had experienced on stage, feeling like she was about to burst with anger but not being able to show it entirely. ¡°Okay, fine, I¡¯ll sing ¡®Meteor Wings.¡¯ I¡¯m going to sing it so well that you won¡¯t be able to say anything.¡±

    The melody of the introduction rang out.

    Luo Ye did not disappoint as a current A-lister, her rendition was of much better quality than Zhao Wanyang¡¯s. Her version of ¡°Meteor Wings¡± was pleasant to the ears, and could be said to be very refined.

    The audience apuded her generously when the song was over.

    Seeing the good reaction from the crowd, Luo Ye became full of herself. ¡°Ye Xingling, what do you have to say?¡±

    Xia Ling slowly lifted the microphone to her lips, which was curled into a tinge of a smile. ¡°It¡¯s a little better than that of Zhao Wanyang¡¯s.¡±

    Just a little better? This sentence made Luo Ye see red. ¡°Aren¡¯t you generous with yourpliments now? Are you, as the original singer, feeling uneasy because I did too well?¡±

    Since everyone in the music festival was being direct with theirments, the audience would think that the insults hurled were merely to bring out the battle atmosphere. Only the singers themselves were truly aware of whether their statements were said in a joking fashion or as an insult.

    Xia Ling lightly said, ¡°There were at least three ces where you made mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Luo Ye was stunned.

    ¡°One, you were off-key when you started ¡ª it was t by a half-key. Even though you brought it back quickly after, but the transition was awkward. Two, the falsetto was too strained ¡ª it was weak and screeching. Three, the ¡®Wings¡¯ of the line ¡®Wings of stars¡¯ was too rushed ¡ª your breath was too short and couldn¡¯t hit the note. There¡¯s a lot of room for improvement.¡± She astutely pointed out all the mistakes, not leaving any room for rebuttal.

    The audience was also stunned at hearing her criticisms. Was it that bad? It seemed fine to them.

    The screen behind them started to rey bits of Luo Ye¡¯s singing in rtion to Xia Ling¡¯s criticisms. There was indeed minor issues with the three parts that Xia Ling had pointed out.

    The audience was impressed. ¡°Wow, Ye Xingling is amazing. She was able to spot all those issues even though they were so minor.¡±

    ¡°Yeah... so professional. She¡¯s definitely got the skills.¡±

    Luo Ye¡¯s expression became grave. After all, she wasn¡¯t singing her own song, and it was natural to have some areas that were not perfect. She had already tried her best to cover up these imperfections, but her rival had seen right through them.

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m not the original singer and did not practice the song as long as you have.¡± Luo Ye said, half meaning it as an insult, and half as a defense for herself. She was insinuating that Ye Xingling was acting like a know-it-all being the original singer and was picking on her.

    Xia Ling did not react much to this statement, but Wei Shaoyin was furious.

    Wei Shaoyin was known to be biased to people he liked. How could he tolerate someone insulting his favorite singer? His cold voice rang out. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you an idiot? Did you only see three issues? She came in too quickly at the fourth line; her lyrics were wrong in the fifth; she was off tune again in the sixth... Did you miss all these problems?! And...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin continued eloquently, lecturing Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was used to his style and calmly listened to him. Luo Ye, on the other hand, could hardly stand still. He was clearly making an act of lecturing Xia Ling to insult her singing!

 Chapter 188 - Tag-team Fighting

    <h4>Chapter 188: Tag-team Fighting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, she did not dare to talk back to Wei Shaoyin.

    Wei Shaoyin was famous in the industry for being very crude and direct when speaking without batting an eysh. Agreeing with his opinions was fine, but once someone showed a little dissatisfaction, he would reprimand the person until he or she regretted existing in this world.

    ¡°Fireproof and theftproof Wei Shaoyin¡± was the catchphrase circted by many singers.

    Luo Ye could only swallow her words and listen to him relentlessly list out more than twenty big and small mistakes she made. She was in a mess after being thoroughly criticized. Thankfully, she was able to tolerate it and did not cry. It was utterly depressing. She clearly performed the song very well. Why was she beingmbasted by Mr. Crazy Wei?

    At this point in time, she realized that her opponent who was the quiet and dainty girl wearing a white dress was trained by Wei Shaoyin. If she had realized this earlier, she would have known that Wei Shaoyin was being biased and siding with her opponent. She would not have dared to provoke him then!

    Who would willingly be humiliated by Unreasonable Wei in the public eye?

    Even the emcee could not bear to look at them. ¡°Ah Wei...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin had started to talk about the time when she just debuted. ¡°You didn¡¯t sing well that year you debuted, and even after so many years, you did not practice enough. Now, it seems that you have returned your skills to your teacher...¡±

    ¡°Ah Wei...¡± The emcee was a little anxious. Although she liked listening to Wei Shaoyin lecture others as it was satisfying to listen to, there was an appropriate time and ce for it. They were still recording the show, and if he continued his lecturing, there would be insufficient time for the advertisement section, and the sponsors would kill the show organizers.

    Wei Shaoyin acted as if he did not hear her. ¡°You have to be self-aware if you don¡¯t have that level of skill. Do you know where you arecking inparison to Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Ah Wei!¡± The emcee was about to cry.

    ¡°Ah Wei, shut up.¡± Suddenly, a cold voice interrupted him.

    Wei Shaoyin, who initially ignored the emcee, heard these words and turned his head around. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He recognized that it was the voice of Xiao Ling from hispany.

    ¡°You shut up and let me do it.¡± Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Are you the onepeting against her? Don¡¯t steal my limelight! Hmph!¡±

    The emcee on stage, Luo Ye, and all the producers stared at her with their mouths agape. The audience members below the stage were also stunned... Ye... Ye Xingling, Sister Ye, Aunt Ye... She actually dared to criticize an unreasonable Virgo like Wei Shaoyin? And still used him of stealing your limelight?! Oh my god, do they interact like this in the recording studio? It was literally beyond anyone¡¯s expectations!

    Had the person who could make Wei Shaoyin surrender finally appeared in this world?

    ¡°No... How could my Wei Wei listen to what another girl said?¡± In the audience, a girl called Qiqi rubbed her eyes and whined. ¡°Wei Wei is mine!¡±

    Her friend who was beside her patted her shoulders. ¡°Be more optimistic. Perhaps Ah Wei is just showing some respect to Big Boss Li.¡±

    Now, everyone knew that Ye Xingling was Li Lei¡¯s woman. As such, all employees of Skyart Entertainment, including unreasonable Wei Shaoyin, were expected to treat her with more respect. Thinking about that fact, the hearts of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s fans became calm again.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± The girl called Qiqi waved her fist in the air. ¡°Ah Wei is mine. Good luck, Ah Wei!¡±

    However, Wei Shaoyin did not receive any good luck.

    After being med by Xia Ling, he suddenly remembered whose home turn it was. Even if he were to steal someone¡¯s limelight, he should not be stealing hispany¡¯s Xiao Ling¡¯s limelight! Thus, Wei Shaoyin decisively and magnanimously let go of Luo Ye. ¡°I have just listed your shorings, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Due to the limited time today, I won¡¯t go on further. I will continue my criticism in the future when there is an opportunity.¡±

    Luo Ye wanted to faint. <i>Just the tip of the iceberg? Wei Shaoyin, what sort of feud and resentment do you have with me?!</i>

    However, dealing with the situation was more crucial than dealing with him. She did not dare to say another word to Wei Shaoyin for fear that he might change his mind and continue to point out more of her embarrassing mistakes. Luo Ye tightly bit her lip and quietly went down the stage.

    Once she got down from the stage, Zhao Wanyang who had lost in thest round greeted her in high spirits. ¡°How is it? You said that you would win just now, I guess that was just useless talk, right? Ha ha ha.¡±

    Luo Ye was burning with rage from his ridicule, but she could not find the words to refute what he said.

    The other surrounding teammates were gloating over her misfortune.

    Agitated, she resentfully said, ¡°What are you looking at! Wait until you go up on stage and be abused like me!¡±

    ¡°Sister Luo Ye, it isn¡¯t good to say something like that.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s thin voice was heard from the dimly lit corner. ¡°Are you cursing all of us to lose? Sister Luo Ye, don¡¯t you want us to win?¡± Seeing that irritating woman Ye Xingling win two rounds consecutively made Xia Yu very ufortable. She did not think that Luo Ye would be this insensible and say things to vent her anger. How could Xia Yu not be angry?

    This usation was toorge, and it scared Luo Ye so much that she shivered. ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean it that way.¡± She said in a low voice. She did not know why, but every time she saw Xia Yu, she felt a little scared; she could never guess what her seemingly weak teammate was thinking.

    Instinctively, she did not dare to offend Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu nodded. She replied casually with an implied order. ¡°Don¡¯t vent your frustrations like that in the future.¡±

    Luo Ye buried her hatred and agreed.

    Only then did Xia Yu continue to say, ¡°Well then, good luck to those who are going on stage next. It will be too embarrassing if you continue to let Ye Xingling stand on the ring.¡± She was thest to appear on stage, and there were many singers before her. It was best if they could defeat the annoying woman because she did not want to see her ever again...

    Although she was unwilling, Xia Yu could not help but admit that the irritating woman sang more skillfully than her.

    Even if she waspeting against her, she had no confidence in winning.

    The best way was to use tag-team fighting was by letting those in front of her tire that irritating woman out so that she would eventually be defeated. Even if she could not be defeated, she could be exhausted by the otherpetitors so that Xia Yu would have the confidence of winning.

    She smiled sweetly. ¡°Everyone, do not hesitate to choose difficult songs for her to sing. It is apetition, so a high difficulty will make it more interesting.¡± After she said that, everyone realized that if she continuously sang difficult songs, her voice would be tired quickly, and the chances of her losing would greatly increase. Yes, they should use tag-team fighting as a strategy to win!

    The thirdpetitor confidently went on stage.

    He assigned Xia Ling to sing his most difficult song, but Xia Ling still performed perfectly and he lost.

    The fourth one, the fifth one...

    It was a tag-team fighting tactic which was supposed to benefit them, but it was not effective when used on Xia Ling. Everyone tried their best but was left dejected. Only she was standing in the ring on stage in a rxed manner with a white skirt that was like a blooming flower.

    ¡°Well then, we have reached thestpetitor. If thispetitor loses as well, Chen Xiaomin¡¯s group will bepletely annihted.¡± The host was very excited. Since the start of the Neb Music Festival, there had never been a situation like that. ¡°If Chen Xiaomin¡¯s group is eliminated, then Ye Xingling will be the first person in history to defeat herpetitors from start to finish. She will create a miracle! Can our Xiao Ling create a miracle like that? Let¡¯s wee herstpetitor on stage ¡ª Xia Yu!¡±

 Chapter 189 - I Will Teach You How To Sing

    <h4>Chapter 189: I Will Teach You How To Sing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was feeling extremely unwell.

    She did not think that seven of her useless teammates were not able to defeat Xia Ling. That irritating woman was still holding her head high on the stage to the extent that she was calm andposed. There was not even a drop of sweat on her shiny and smooth skin. How was that possible?! Singing was supposed to be a veryborious task. How could she do it with such skill and ease?!

    She must be pretending!

    Xia Yu reassured herself, clenched her fists, and put on her most wless smile as she went on stage.

    It was the second time that Xia Ling saw her after she was reborn. Facing her wicked sister again, she wondered what tricks she had up her sleeve.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, how about you choose the song.¡± Xia Yu said delicately. Her expression gave many people a favorable impression of her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you better not bully Xiao Yu!¡± The emcee said half-jokingly. ¡°You two had a match before during the release of Ideal C Perfume and Meteor Wings Perfume. Xiao Ling won spectacrly then. Will Xiao Ling have such a perfect win again?¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s face became pale. That emcee really knew how to rub someone¡¯s nose in it!

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°That depends on whether Xia Yu will pretend to be sick again.¡±

    Last time, the news that Xia Yu was faking heart disease was blown out of proportion, and her reputation had been stained. If Feng Kun had not returned to the country to shift the public¡¯s attention to ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± and the relentless public rtions activities done by Chu Chen, causing most of her fans not to desert her because she was Xia Ling¡¯s beloved younger sister, her career would have been over.

    Now, Xia Yu defended herself. ¡°At that time, my heart was really ufortable. The doctor said that I received too much stimtion which caused symptoms that were simr to heart disease.¡± This was also the statement released by her public rtions team. It was not easy, but they found out that when people are not feeling emotionally well, some will develop symptoms that are simr to heart disease such as cardiac neurosis or hysteria stress-rted disorders neurosis. These symptoms really made one feel pain, but there would be no results if one went to the clinic for a check-up. As such, the public rtions team sighed in relief and listed these vague symptoms as a result of a mental illness that Xia Yu had.

    It was really a mild mental illness which was a manifestation of psychological vulnerability.

    No matter how reluctant Xia Yu was, she could only admit it. Being known for fragile emotions that could not tolerate stimtions was better than having a reputation of being wicked and putting the me on others. The former could at least help her continue ying the weak card whenever she felt like it.

    Xia Ling also knew that she did not really have those diseases, so she said, ¡°You had too much stimtion? I¡¯m really sorry. I don¡¯t know if it will count as too much stimtion if I win again this time?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± A few audience members below the stage startedughing. ¡°This Xia Yu really has no shame. Does she think she is invincible because she is mentally vulnerable? She hasn¡¯t even sung yet and is already ying her trump card thinking that Ye Xingling would not dare to win?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Beside her was a Ye Xingling fan. She used her hands as a loudspeaker and screamed: ¡°Go for it, Xiao Ling! Destroy her! Create a miracle and break the record!¡±

    ¡°Destroy her! Create a miracle! Break the record!¡± Many audience members started joining in the cheers.

    ¡°How can you be like this!¡± Some of Xia Yu¡¯s fans angrily rebuked. ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s body was always quite weak, but you are still provoking her!¡±

    ¡°If she is weak then she should not have joined thepetition. Mental illness is mental illness. She should go home and recuperate instead!¡± Immediately, someone responded.

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans were so enraged they almost wanted to cry.

    Xia Yu also suddenly had tears in her eyes and looked as if she had been greatly wronged.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even had a spectacr win, but she is already like that.¡± Xia Ling lightly smiled and replied the emcee. ¡°Now I¡¯m a bit hesitant. Should I just admit my loss directly? If I win, what should I do if her heart disease acts up again?¡±

    Xia Yu was furious by the way she ridiculed her, but she could not act on her anger. She only said, ¡°Ye Xingling, please give it your best shot. This is the minimum respect you can give to yourpetitor!¡±

    ¡°My best shot? I¡¯m afraid you can¡¯t handle it.¡± Xia Ling replied with a thin smile.

    Xia Yu was about to explode in anger. ¡°I will be able to handle it.¡±

    ¡°Alright then! ¡®ss Fingertips¡¯ and ¡®Meteor Wings.¡¯ You can pick a song that you have the most confidence in and don¡¯t hold back.¡± She intentionally wanted to see Xia Yu make a fool of herself and did not specify a song as she did for her other opponents. If that happened, how would Xia Yu have the nerve to pick ¡°Meteor Wings¡±? Now, everyone knew that it was easier to sing ¡°Meteor Wings¡± than ¡°ss Fingertips.¡± If Xia Yu dared to choose ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± it would prove that she was not confident andcked the capability!

    Xia Ling did much foreshadowing for Meteor Wings during the opening ceremony, and it finally became of use.

    Xia Yu almost had an internal injury. ¡°I think you should choose instead.¡±

    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t dare to bully you.¡± Xia Lingughed. ¡°If you can¡¯t decide in a short while, I can sing first. Besides, I will be teaching you how to sing.¡±

    W... what? Teach Xia Yu how to sing?!

    Thepetition had not even started, but she already said such arrogant words. How strong her confidence was!

    ¡°Great job, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, destroy Xia Yu!¡±

    Below the stage, many fans were shouting excitedly.

    Xia Yu almost wanted to cry. Why were they like that? She only lost once to that irritating woman. Why was everyone starting to go against her? ¡°I will sing ¡®ss Fingertips.¡¯¡± She refused to admit defeat and said stubbornly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t regret it.¡± Xia Ling maintained a rxed smile.

    She knew that Xia Yu was unable to sing both of these songs well. Xia Yu was innately weak andcked in breath support. She was unable to sing songs that required superb strength and stamina.

    Sure enough, the way Xia Yu sang ¡°ss Fingertips¡± was barely eptable.

    Her performance fell t andcked that special something.

    ¡°The way she sang is so average.¡± An audience member below the stage said disappointedly. ¡°Is that really the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s younger sister? She doesn¡¯t even have half of her sister¡¯s singing talent.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Another audience member agreed. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling is still the better singer. Furthermore, have you all realized that she also has more of the Diva¡¯s charm?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Many people nodded their heads in agreement.

    On stage, Xia Yu was so upset she wanted to die, but she still continued smiling. ¡°Ye Xingling, it is time for you to sing.¡± After every one of herpetitors finished their songs, this irritating woman would throw a sharp criticism and cause them to feel embarrassed and speechless. Now she decided to shut her mouth and let the annoying woman sing directly withoutmenting.

    Xia Yu did not want to embarrass herself.

    Xia Ling saw through her attempt, but she never intended to give her any criticism. Xia Ling did provide some criticism to her previouspetitors, but although there was some mockery in her tone and she went straight to the point, if they were willing to listen, they would benefit greatly from it. However, as for Xia Yu? She had already been a good person in her previous life and had no intention of continuing to help her in her present life.

    Yet...

    ¡°I will still teach you how to sing.¡± She smiled at Xia Yu, elegantly swayed her skirt, and picked up the microphone.

    The apanying music which sounded like flowing water started.

 Chapter 190 - How Do I Say This

    <h4>Chapter 190: How Do I Say This</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The melody was magnificent and charming.

    Psychodelic, erratic, long and short and extravagant romance.

    Xia Ling sang the song ¡°Dazzling Fireworks¡± that Xia Yu chose for her. This song was produced by Feng Kun, and it was the only song made for someone other than Xia Ling for more than a decade. Xia Yu thought that no one would be able to sing such a difficult song well, but she did not know that her opponent was her own sister who had perfectly co-operated with Feng Kun for more than ten years. If it were said that only one person in the world could sing Feng Kun¡¯s song well, that person would be none other than Xia Ling.

    Although it was her first time singing that song.

    However, Xia Ling was familiar with Feng Kun¡¯s style and understood his thought process throughout the entire song. ¡°Picturesque fireworks dissipating as time passes by... Fireworks that shine in the vast sky...¡± Every word of her singing tugged at the audience¡¯s heartstrings.

    The audience members below the stage were silent as they werepletely immersed in the song.

    The song stopped, but the singer¡¯s voice remained vividly in their minds.

    Xia Ling gracefully lifted her white skirt and bowed to thank the audience.

    Only then did everyone started to apud ceaselessly.

    ¡°It¡¯s even better than the original. I can¡¯t believe it...¡± Someone in the audience muttered.

    ¡°What do you mean it is better than the original? It is obviously worlds apart from the original!¡± Another audience member challenged.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s too beautiful. A singer like Ye Xingling is wasted by partnering with Wei Shaoyin. She¡¯s naturally more suited to be with Feng Kun. It is as if Feng Kun¡¯s songs are tailor-made for her!¡± A third audience member spoke.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, be with Feng Kun!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, be with Feng Kun!¡± A scatter of screams slowly became a wave of cheers.

    Xia Ling was speechless. She now understood Ah Wei¡¯s feelings when he was walking on the red carpet. The waves of screams really gave a person... a lot of stress.

    ¡°I... I am already together with Li Lei!¡± She lifted her microphone and said weakly.

    The screams and whistles at the scene merged together as a single sound. This was her first time directly admitting her rtionship with Li Lei! Wasn¡¯t there gossip this afternoon about her denying it? The situation in front of them... was very obvious!

    ¡°Wow, Xiao Ling is awesome!¡±

    ¡°You have to be happy with your Boss!¡±

    ¡°Ditch your boss and join Imperial Entertainment!¡±

    ¡°Feng Kun is the one most suited for you!¡±

    ¡°Our Feng Kun is better than Ah Wei!¡±

    The whole scene became chaotic, and it became a fight between the fans of Skyart Entertainment against the fans of Imperial Entertainment against the fans of various artistes. Everyone was excitedly ridiculing one another by waving their hands and loudly shouting out the names of the people they supported.

    Although Xia Ling had many experiences on stage, shecked experience dealing with gossip and was a little taken aback by the uproar caused by the audience. As she held the microphone, she did not know what to do, so she looked at Feng Kun guilty.

    The emcee jumped in at the right time and passed the microphone to Feng Kun. ¡°Brother Feng, what do you think?¡±

    Feng Kun smiled and looked at Xia Ling. With a low maic voice that sounded like the gentle flow of water, he said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re wee to join Imperial Entertainment.¡± When they interacted in private, he called her by her past life nickname ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± but now that they were in a formal setting, he called her ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Was that an ident? Or was he aware of something and was trying to protect her? Unfortunately, she did not notice anything.

    However, Feng Kun¡¯s suggestion horrified everyone.

    Below the stage, another screaming frenzy started again.

    A Wei Shaoyin fan named Qiqi screamed. ¡°What is my Wei Wei going to do?¡± The decibel of the girl¡¯s voice was too high that it traveled past a group of noisy background noise into Feng Kun¡¯s ears.

    Feng Kun was still smiling. He looked at the audience and then looked at Wei Shaoyin whose face was as ck as a crow. Finally, he looked at Xia Ling. ¡°We wee Ah Wei as well.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± The screams were about to overturn the roof.

    Xia Ling was speechless. <i>Feng Kun, I have not seen you for a short time, and now you have learned to cater to the bromance desires of the audience? How do you think Ah Wei will respond? Look, Ah Wei is already exploding in anger! Exploding in anger...</i>

    Sure enough, Wei Shaoyin gritted his teeth and loudly spat out three words. ¡°I won¡¯t go!¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s face showed an appropriate amount of disappointment like a warm and calm big brother from a neighboring family.

    Xia Ling wanted to sigh. <i>Ah Wei </i>, she thought. <i>look at his temperament and then look at your own... Sigh, no wonder there was always arge group of women pairing you two up as a couple. You¡¯re always acting proud and arrogant...</i>

    Xia Ling could not bear to look at them directly.

    Feng Kun changed the subject. ¡°Ye Xingling, that was an outstanding interpretation of the song. If there is a chance, I hope I can make a song for you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s smile was like a mask. In front of Feng Kun, she tried her best to hide.

    However, the emcee became emotional. ¡°Brother Feng, you hope to make a song for Ye Xingling? As far as I know, you said that there would be no more music from you after Xia Ling¡¯s death. What is the reason for your approval of Ye Xingling?¡±

    No more music from him after Xia Ling¡¯s death.

    That was the highest form ofmendation from him.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes started to be slightly warm. She was afraid of revealing anything, so she tilted her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably fate.¡± Feng Kun said vaguely. He was always an intelligent person and knew what should and should not be said. He did not mention that she resembled Xia Ling because he was afraid that Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen would see what he said as a clue. He would also never mention that she would achieve greater sess than Xia Ling because he was afraid that she would kill him. ¡°Fate¡± summed up a thousand words.

    ¡°What do you think Li Lei will think of what you said, Brother Feng?¡± The emcee joked.

    Screams were heard again.

    The emcee held up his microphone to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling blinked and lightly said, ¡°Maybe we can discuss Xia Yu¡¯s problem first.¡±

    Everyone only realized then that Xia Yu was still on stage. She was standing lonely and helplessly, and the smile on her face could almost no longer be maintained. She pitifully said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you sang pretty well.¡±

    She wanted to muddle through by glossing over it. Xia Ling sang even better than her who was the original singer.

    However, Xia Ling did not let her go that easily and smiled happily. ¡°Well, I did say I was going to teach you how to sing.¡± This understatement subtly implied that Xia Yu could not sing and that she was showing her how it was done.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bully others too much.¡± Xia Yu suddenly burst into tears.

    ¡°How can you say that?¡± Wei Shaoyin was unhappy again. ¡°Xia Yu, your musicality was never good, to begin with, but you don¡¯t let others point that out to you? What¡¯s the use of crying? Your ability to sing is not even based on your ability to cry. You should go back and listen to your live singing today. How much courage did it take for you to stand on this stage and sing with that sort of standard? No wonder Feng Kun wrote a lifetime of songs for your sister and was only willing to write one for you. If it were me, I wouldn¡¯t even write one song for you.¡±

    There was an uproar.

    What he said was clearly using Feng Kun of looking down on Xia Yu and insinuating that there was some internal disharmony in Imperial Entertainment.

    The organizer excitedly said to the cameramen, ¡°Quickly! Cut to Feng Kun!¡±

    The camera lens immediately faced Feng Kun, and on the live-stream screens on both sides of the stage, his solemn face was erged until each subtle change was clearly visible.

    Unexpectedly, Feng Kun smiled.

    ¡°Ah Wei,¡± he said calmly. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you thought of Xia Ling so highly.¡±

 Chapter 191 - Public Ridicule

    <h4>Chapter 191: Public Ridicule</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling finally remembered that in her past life, she had been condemned by Ah Wei before. When the media representatives interviewed him and asked him what he thought of the famous singers and mentioned her, he said that she sang simply and crudely without using her brain. However, she was in the people¡¯s favor and did not realize that. Hepletely did not understand why she was famous for so long. That report was extremely sensational at that time, and it angered Xia Ling to death. She only got over it after working hard behind-the-scenes for half a year and using her new song to defeat the song he wrote for another singer brutally.

    If Feng Kun had not mentioned it today, Xia Ling would have almost forgotten about it.

    She pondered about how Ah Wei would seek revenge on him after the show was over. After arguing with herself, she knew that he was right. She did not really use her brain when she sang in the past and only used her natural ability. Actually, after all these years, although Ah Wei was harsh with his criticism, he had never once made anything up. The thing that angered people the most was his crude honesty during his criticism which was irrefutable by others.

    Furthermore, even if she was living her second life now, she still had to bear his scolding. And he had already reduced his usual amount of criticism when she was in the recording studio. How could she dare to rebuke? Those trivial matters that happened in the past... Honestly, his criticism was very light then.

    Thinking about it made her feel bitter.

    Xia Ling honestly gave up her thoughts of getting revenge against him. She quietly stood in the same ce and secretly cheered for Feng Kun. <i>Quick, Ah Kun! Defeat that evildoer. You¡¯re my only hope...</i>

    On second thought, something was wrong. She was currently an employee of Skyart Entertainment. Even if she were in Feng Kun¡¯s team, how could she support herpetitor?

    She was in a dilemma and felt immense pain.

    Feng Kun continued to smile at Ah Wei. ¡°Actually, I have always been very curious. Is there a more outstanding singer than Xia Ling in your eyes?¡±

    Ah Wei choked.

    Xia Ling almost wanted to cheer for Feng Kun. He was definitely experienced since he turned the tables with just two simple sentences and forced Ah Wei into a corner. Ah Wei not only had a clean body, but he also had a clean mind; he would never go against his conscience by saying that a random singer was better than Xia Ling. A picky person like him did not even acknowledge her in her past life. How could he acknowledge anyone else?

    However, the emcee did not think that the situation was chaotic enough and hid a dagger in her smile like Feng Kun. ¡°So Ah Wei, do you mean that in your eyes, Xia Ling from Imperial Entertainment is already the best singer?¡±

    She emphasized the three words ¡°from Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    The live screen switched to Wei Shaoyin, erging his face. His expression was icy.

    ¡°There¡¯s no one now, but that doesn¡¯t mean that there won¡¯t be one in the future.¡± After a long time, Ah Wei spat those words out.

    ¡°Really?¡± The emcee¡¯s eyes sparkled, and she wanted to interrogate him further. ¡°Ah Wei, who do you think has the highest chance of surpassing Xia Ling? Do you already have a suitable candidate in mind? Unless...¡± She pretended to look at the crowd unintentionally. ¡°Over the years, the only neer you have been concentrating on training is Ye Xingling. Is this because you think Ye Xingling will surpass Xia Ling in the future?¡±

    Almost in an instant, all the cameras were pointed at Xia Ling.

    Now, she intensely experienced what was meant by being attacked despite doing nothing wrong.

    Was she not talking about the Diva Xia Ling at the very start? Even if she had to switch topics, she did not have to talk about her life now. She was only a small neer and could not bear such a savageparison. How would someone even answer that sort of question?!

    Xia Ling was quiet in thought. <i>Ah Wei, you better not blurt nonsense and say that I will exceed Xia Ling, that wille across as arrogant and disdainful. As a neer, it would definitely kill my career. You should also not say that I cannot surpass her, that will cause an even more significant problem. It will literally... cause me to be aughing stock.</i>

    The more she thought about it, the more it drove Xia Ling crazy. Although her expression was calm, her heart was extremely uneasy.

    Feng Kun naturally looked at her. Without waiting for Ah Wei to answer the emcee, he interrupted the questioning. ¡°Ye Xingling, I still stand by what I said. I wee you to join Imperial Entertainment.¡± He smiled and said with an extremely warm tone.

    After being interrupted by him, the emcee lost her train of thought and changed the subject. ¡°Wow, Brother Feng, this is the second time tonight you have invited Ye Xingling. Are you openly trying to recruit Ye Xingling? Looks like our Ye Xingling is not only highly regarded by her fans but also by the producers. Well then, Xiao Ling, would you like to say something since you are wanted by both gold-star producers, Wei Shaoyin and Feng Kun? What are you feeling now? Do you feel touched? Will you join Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    The emcee fired questions at her like cannonballs.

    Xia Ling secretly thanked Feng Kun for helping her out of a difficult situation. Then, she looked at Ah Wei...

    Forget it, she did not want to look at him because it would only anger her to death.

    She took the microphone from the emcee and smiled appropriately. Looking a little ttered, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that Mr. Feng would think so highly of me. You¡¯re a producer whom I really respect, and I really like many songs you produced such as ¡°Sea Demon,¡± ¡°The Last Dawn,¡± and ¡°Withered Flower.¡± As such, I¡¯m very happy to receive your invitation.¡±

    As she spoke, she nced briefly at Wei Shaoyin and realized that he was almost about to go berserk, so she quickly stopped her speech and changed the topic. ¡°However, unfortunately, I¡¯m already part of Skyart Entertainment, and everyone treats me well. Ah Wei is also an excellent producer, and we have been working very well together. I think, in the short term... No, for a long time, I don¡¯t think I will be joining anotherpany. I really appreciate your kindness. Thank you.¡±

    This was obviously an expected answer by Feng Kun. He wanted to rescue her and had no real intentions of recruiting her back to hispany. Following her reply, he gracefully nodded to express his understanding and continued to smile. ¡°That¡¯s really such a shame. However, Ye Xingling.¡± He looked at Wei Shaoyin and then turned his head to look at her. ¡°My door is always open for you.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin could not tolerate it any longer. ¡°Feng Kun! Stop giving Xiao Ling ideas!¡±

    ¡°I also said that you can join Imperial Entertainment. The second invitation also extends to you. I¡¯m very sincere.¡± Feng Kun smiled particrly gently.

    Ah Wei choked again, and the crowd went into a frenzy.

    Xia Ling could not help but rub her forehead. <i>Ah Wei, </i>she thought. <i>I finally understand why you¡¯re unwilling to attend such activities. When you have to interact with someone like Feng Kun, you... are really... harassed publicly.</i>

    After a long time, Wei Shaoyin forced out a reply. ¡°As long as Xia Yu is there, I will not join you.¡±

    The audience was stunned. The way Ah Wei looked down on someone was way too obvious! Had Xia Yu provoked him? The only person she provoked was hispany¡¯s Xiao Ling. Did he really have to go to this extent to seek revenge for the smallest grievance?

    Xia Yu¡¯s delicate face was pale white, and tears were brimming in her eyes.

    Xia Ling could not bear to look at her. Was she still acting? She impatiently lifted her microphone and said, ¡°That¡¯s enough Xia Yu. It¡¯s time for you to go. I have already taught you how to sing, so why are you still standing on stage? Are you waiting to receive any benefits?¡±

 Chapter 192 - Moonlight Bar

    <h4>Chapter 192: Moonlight Bar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Waiting to receive any benefits?

    Everyone was about to faint. Xiao Ling, you have really done it this time trying to provoke Xia Yu like that!

    Xia Yu stubbornly raised her head. ¡°I refuse to admit defeat.¡±

    ¡°You refuse to admit defeat?¡± Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Twice. Xia Yu, including this round, you have lost to me on stage twice. You refuse to admit defeat? Sure. You can use your voice to defeat me. I¡¯m just afraid that you don¡¯t have that sort of ability.¡±

    Since everyone already knew that she had fallen out with Xia Yu, she did not hesitate to be impolite.

    Xia Yu did not lose her confidence. ¡°There will be a day like that.¡± Since she could not win anyway, she decided to say something inspirational to let everyone know that she would continue to persevere and cause Ye Xingling to seem haughty and overbearing at the same time.

    However, Xia Ling did not care. She had always been arrogant. After hearing what Xia Yu said, she smiled and replied, ¡°I will wait for it.¡±

    Xia Yu turned around and left the stage.

    The emcee¡¯s excited and emotional voice rang on the stage. ¡°The first person! The first person in the history of the Neb Music Festival! Ye Xingling has done it. She has defended her team from the start to the end sessfully to be the fully deserving Arena Queen!¡±

    ¡°Arena Queen!¡±

    ¡°Arena Queen Ye Xingling!¡± Waves of cheers erupted.

    She smiled at the cheering audience and elegantly bowed many times. The glory of victory always belongs to the strongestpetitor, and she was the most deserving and powerful goddess!

    Even the producers on the stage were pping for her.

    ¡°Thank you, everyone.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I will continue to work hard.¡±

    Colorful confetti and soap bubbles cascaded down and covered her body.

    She turned around and left the stage amidst this scene of victory and magnificence.

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, there are flowers for you.¡±

    Her assistant Wei Wei, who had stayed in the dressing room, greeted her and handed her a bouquet of blood red roses. The roses blossomed very well ¡ª there was dew on theyered petals, and the fragrance was intoxicating. Looking at them, Xia Ling suddenly had a premonition in her heart. There was once a man who asked someone to send her a bouquet of red roses after every concert she performed. That person was...

    As she pulled out a ck card from the bouquet, she saw a dark-colored embossed on it. Sure enough, there was a familiar sketch of a golden butterfly with its wings spread. Her hand lightly trembled and the card fell to the ground.

    Pei Ziheng.

    This butterfly was their secret symbol. In the past, he said that his signature would be exposed easily, so he thought of this secret symbol to let her know what items were given by him. However... he said that the butterfly symbol only belonged to two of them. So, why did Pei Ziheng present the symbol to Ye Xingling, a third person, now?

    She stared nkly at the card on the floor and felt so ufortable that she could not breathe.

    Beside her, Wei Wei¡¯s voice seemed toe from a very distant ce. ¡°One, two, three, four... eight roses. Oh, what do eight red roses symbolize? Let me check... Hmm, an apology andpensation?¡±

    Wei Wei doubtfully shut her mouth.

    She continued to look at that small card until a hand picked it up.

    It was Feng Kun¡¯s hand.

    He lowered his head to look at the card. She was confident that he recognized what it was, but his expression was normal. He only passed the card to her and said, ¡°For you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not take it.

    He ced the card on the table.

    ¡°Feng Kun, what are you doing?!¡± Ah Wei¡¯s voice could be heard.

    Hordes of people were streaming in, which indicated that everyone must have left the studio. Among them, Ah Wei was the first to insert himself between her and Feng Kun and protected her by standing in front of her. After that, he furiously red at him. ¡°Let me warn you. Don¡¯t get any ideas with Xiao Ling. No matter how well she sings, she is an artiste of Skyart Entertainment and the person I will produce for. She will never join Imperial Entertainment!¡±

    Feng Kun could not help butugh and ignored Wei Shaoyin. He spoke to Xia Ling. ¡°We agreed that after the filming ended, we would go for a drink.¡±

    Only then did she remember their agreement.

    After some thought, she came to the conclusion that some things had to be exined eventually. The more she tried to hide, the more suspicious others would get. Xia Ling called Li Lei and told him he did not have to pick her up. Afterward, she said goodbye to Wei Shaoyin who was going crazy and entered Feng Kun¡¯s car.

    ¡°Moonlight¡± bar.

    This was Feng Kun¡¯s business. Xia Ling remembered that she cut the ribbon during the bar¡¯s opening ceremony. It had a rotating hall which overlooked the city. In the past, when she was in a bad mood, she liked to go to the bar and order a cocktail. She would sit in front of the ss wall and experience the bar¡¯s intoxicating atmosphere of soft music and quietness. Unknowingly, her feelings were slowly lifted.

    How many years had been since she hadst gone there...?

    Ever since she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng, it was almost three years.

    As Xia Ling was lost in a trance, Feng Kun had already opened the door for her. ¡°Come in. I have booked the entire ce tonight.¡±

    There was no one in the bar. The soft music was flowing, and the bartender wiped a ss leisurely. Xia Ling looked around. Everything seemed familiar ¡ª the long frosted ss table, the floor to ceiling window, and the city¡¯s shining lights.

    Memories shed before her eyes.

    A familiar and low-pitched male voice interrupted her thoughts. ¡°The view here is very nice. Someone once said that looking at it is like basking in a sea of stars. I think you will definitely like it too. Oh yes, recently, there is a new type of raspberry fruit wine. It is very delicious.¡±

    Basking in a sea of stars...

    That was what she said that year. She really missed that feeling and could not experience it anywhere else. There was also raspberry fruit wine, her favorite vor. She asked for a ss of raspberry fruit wine and walked to the seat she was familiar with.

    Ice Throne.

    It was the most uniquely designed object there and was located at the outer edge of the rotating bar in a semi-enclosed space which was connected to the main area of the bar through a narrow pathway. The most unique thing about it was that its walls and floors were made of transparent tempered ss. Stepping on it was like stepping into a void, away from the city and into a vast starry sky...

    A thrilling sort of beauty.

    Xia Ling always liked that area as no other ce would allow her to immerse herself in the starry sky. It was also quiet and very few people dared to cross the gradually transparent high altitude pathway to disturb her.

    She walked to a familiar seat and sat down.

    She slowly took a sip of wine from the goblet and rxed her mind and body. Her thoughts started to float. She thought about many events of the past. Whether happy or unhappy, pieces of her memories surrounded her like rotating stars.

    Feng Kun also took a ss of wine and sat opposite her. ¡°We are on the 80th story. The fact that you walked past the transparent ss floor and dared to sit here means you must be very courageous.¡±

    She looked down and nced at the city with lights beneath her feet. It was very far away from her like another vast and mysterious world. As the bar slowly rotated, she felt as if she was slowly flying. She gently shook the wine ss in her hand and said, ¡°It¡¯s clean here.¡± When she faced Feng Kun, she unknowingly became calm and let her guard down. This was because she already knew that he was the only person in her past life who was truly her friend and never harmed her before. Instead, he was always doing his best to protect her.

    Unfortunately, she realized this toote.

    Feng Kun smiled and pushed the ss of wine beside him to Xia Ling. ¡°Try this.¡±

    That was a ss of a brightly colored cocktail. The deep red liquid had specks of blue in it; red like fire and blue like ice. She took a sip. It had the sweetness of raspberries and an unknown psychedelic taste.

    She experiencedfortable dizziness. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± she asked.

 Chapter 193 - Her Real Name

    <h4>Chapter 193: Her Real Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun admired Xia Ling as she smiled, saying, ¡°This is a new fruit wine. The taste is exquisite, I think you will like it.¡±

    Xia Ling closed her eyes as she sipped the wine. The stars in the night sky became more magical and mysterious like the entire world was shrouded in ayer of resplendent color. Soft music was ying in the background, and she recognized these as familiar tunes from her past life.

    ¡°Do you remember these songs?¡± Feng Kun asked gently. ¡°We made these together.¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± She mumbled. The alcohol content in the wine was a little high, and she felt her mind reacting a little slower.

    Feng Kun¡¯s eyelid started to twitch. That soft ¡°mmhmm¡± was like thunder in his ears. He subconsciously clenched his fist together as it started to tremble in his nervousness. He forced himself to stay calm and continued to use a gentle voice as he called out. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She did not reply as the familiar tunes surrounded her, seemingly bringing her back to the times in the past. She felt at ease.

    Feng Kun refilled her wine. ¡°Have some more. This was made to match your taste. Do you still remember the year we went to Bordeaux in France? You picked a really sweet grape and wanted to use that to make your own wine, but instead almost destroyed an entire vineyard.¡±

    Recalling that incident, Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up at the corners. ¡°I remember. That time you pulled me away secretly.¡±

    rms bells rang out in Feng Kun¡¯s ears again.

    Even though Feng Kun had enormous self-control, his voice could not help but start to shake. ¡°Xiao Ling... Xiao Ling... ¡±

    ¡°Ah Kun.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a blur as she gave a silly smile under the influence of the alcohol.

    The familiar nickname made Feng Kun tear up a little. Was this person in front of him really her? Even though it was preposterous and defied all logic, she was really back! Feng Kun continued to probe to verify his suspicions, reeling in his excitement. ¡°I¡¯ve really missed you these few years.¡±

    ¡°Only you... missed me.¡± Xia Ling continued to smile with her head spinning. She swirled the liquid in her ss. ¡°They are all... liars.¡±

    ¡°Who are they?¡± Feng Kun breathed deeply as he asked.

    ¡°Xia Yu, Chu Chen, and... and... ¡± Xia Ling could not bring herself to continue.

    Feng Kun refilled her wine again and watched as she drank it up, his voice bing even gentler. ¡°And who else?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± She looked up to the starry sky and murmured in her giddy reverie. ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± The tall and handsome image appeared in her mind again... his sharp nose and thin lips, and the re that he would give when staring at someone. Her eyes started to brim with tears, and her nose crinkled. ¡°Pei Ziheng, that bastard... liar... that big liar...¡±

    ¡°What did he lie to you about?¡± Feng Kun asked.

    ¡°He said he would be nice to me forever. But he wanted to marry Wang Jingwan. He said that butterfly... that butterfly was our secret promise, but he gave it away to someone else! Liar... Liar!¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly became agitated and threw the wine ss at the ss wall.

    There was the sharp sound of ss shattering, and shards flew in all directions.

    Feng Kun grabbed her hand and tried to pull her away from the shards of ss, asking, ¡°What butterfly?¡±

    ¡°The butterfly on the card.¡± She struggled free from him and drank another ss of wine.

    ¡°Who did he give the butterfly to?¡±

    ¡°Me.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say he gave it to someone else?¡±

    ¡°He did give it to someone else! He gave it to Ye Xingling!¡± She said in a flustered manner. Her mind turned slowly as she added, ¡°He didn¡¯t give it to me!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you Ye Xingling?¡± Feng Kun held his breath, sensing that he was about to hear the truth.

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡±

    ¡°Then who are you?¡± Feng Kun¡¯s attractive voice was just by Xia Ling¡¯s ears, seducing her to speak the truth.

    ¡°I... I... ¡± She sensed that something was amiss, and shook her head several times trying to regain rity. She looked up at him and gave another silly smile. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you.¡±

    She reached out for the wine but was stopped by Feng Kun. ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t drink anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not drunk.¡± She tried to push him away, trying to grab at the wine that was just a short distance away from her.

    He sighed. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have let you drink so much.¡±

    ¡°I want to drink!¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then... ¡± She looked at him and smiled. ¡°Shall I tell you who I am?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to let me in on the big secret just for a ss of wine?¡± Feng Kun did not know whether tough or cry. ¡°Xiao Ling, you really can¡¯t drink anymore.¡±

    ¡°No... I want to drink.¡± Xia Ling ignored his advice and continued to struggle free from him. ¡°Feng Kun, let me go... let me go... give me wine. If you give me the wine, I¡¯ll tell you who I am...¡±

    ¡°I already know who you are.¡± His voice was gentle as he grabbed her, preventing her from reaching the wine.

    She forgot to struggle momentarily and eyed him suspiciously. ¡°Then, why not you tell me... who am I?¡±

    He did not reply immediately. After a while, he reached out his hand to caress her face. ¡°Xiao Ling ah... Xiao Ling... I¡¯ve known you for more than ten years. I still can¡¯t believe that you died so easily.¡±

    ¡°Easily?¡± Sheughed out loud. ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy... wasn¡¯t easy at all. Ah Kun, do you know how much I wanted to stay alive? But they wanted me dead... wanted me dead...¡±

    Feng Kun hugged her tightly in his arms.

    ¡°Yet, so what if I didn¡¯t die? I would still be in his cage... still be his underground lover, his puppet all my life! Ah Kun, do you know how terrified I was? I was afraid that one day when I woke up, I would really just be a puppet...¡± She choked up and started to cry.

    Feng Kun hugged her as she cried. A long whileter, he hoarsely asked, ¡°Were you scared when you fell off the tall stage?¡±

    ¡°I was scared...¡± She replied as she started to drift off into dreand in the warmth of his embrace. ¡°I was terrified... but... jumping down was an escape as well. I would be free of Ziheng... when I could still remember a little of how he was good to me... that little that was not driven out of me in that year of torture...¡±

    Her voice became softer and softer before she was silent and fell asleep.

    She dreamed a long dream ¡ª it started with her in the orphanage with the irises in full bloom, before moving on to the huge concert with the ten thousand strong audience. Then, there was the barking from the monstrous mastiff... the man with the whip in the darkness... all the hugs... the love... the goodbye...

    She woke up the next day with a splitting headache.

    Xia Ling rubbed at her temples as she sat up. She got off the bed and pushed open the door, taking in her surroundings. She realized that this was not the bar or the apartment where she lived with Li Lei. However, the decorations and settings were extremely familiar. She made a round around the living room and looked into the kitchen before moving on to tour the second level. It finally hit her ¡ª

    This was Feng Kun¡¯s house.

    Why was she here? And, where was Feng Kun?

    Xia Ling looked around the ce and found the door of Feng Kun¡¯s work studio slightly ajar. She pushed it open and found him inside. In the morning sun, Feng Kun was dressed in a light-colored casual attire, sitting in the soft sofa seat, staring at the instruments and music equipment in front of him deep in thought.

    Hearing the sound of her entering the room, he turned and saw her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± He said gently. ¡°Come in. Since when have you be so polite.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Mr. Feng, we...¡± She wanted to say that they were not that close but saw the smile forming at the edge of his lips and the glint in his eyes. She knew that something was wrong and swallowed the second half of her sentence back into her mouth.

    ¡°Stop pretending.¡± He smiled at her. ¡°I know you are... Xia Ling.¡±

    He said her name word by word, intentionally pronouncing it clearly.

 Chapter 194 - The Sisterly Bond in the Orphanage

    <h4>Chapter 194: The Sisterly Bond in the Orphanage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°How did you find... No, how can I be Xia Ling?!¡±

    Feng Kun continued smiling and reached for a recording pen on the table. He pressed down the y button, and the background music of the Moonlight Bar rang out, together with the rustling of the surrounding sounds and the sound of shattering ss. A gentle male voice asked ¡ª

    ¡°Were you scared when you fell off the tall stage?¡±

    ¡°I was scared... terrified... but... I would be free of Ziheng...¡±

    Feng Kun switched off the recording pen and asked, ¡°Do you want to hear more?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him like she was looking at a ghost. ¡°What did I tell you... yesterday? And, why do you have a recording?¡± Oh my God, she didn¡¯t remember having the habit of spouting the truth when she got drunk. Why did she get so drunkst night?

    Had Feng Kun... found out the truth?

    She stared at his face, trying to find the answer from there.

    Feng Kun sighed. ¡°You drank some wine yesterday and told me everything.¡± He threw her the recording pen. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can listen to this. After you listen to it, remember to delete the recording. You have to make sure that nobody else finds out about this big secret. Oh right... and don¡¯t just drink any wine that people give you. How could you not know this bit ofmon sense for someone as old as you are already?¡±

    Xia Ling reactively caught the recording pen. She processed what Feng Kun had said, and came to a sudden realization. ¡°Don¡¯t drink any wine... did you spike my drink to make me talk?!¡±

    He gave her a look and admitted. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve long had my suspicions about you. When we first met, you were just too simr to Xia Ling... from your mannerisms to your singing, and also your handwriting. It was like you were from the exact same mold. However, the truth was simply too shocking and unbelievable... I needed to hear you say it yourself. So I could only look for a chance to invite you for a drink, and to find out the truth from you.¡±

    She felt herself be a little dizzy. ¡°Wait, wait... you mean to say that you nned for all this to happen when you brought me to the car yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So, the wine... ¡±

    ¡°I got the bartender to increase the alcohol content, and spiked it with something.¡± He said calmly.

    Xia Ling stared at him incredulously. The fact that he had nned all this made her shudder. ¡°Feng Kun, you... you...¡± She repeated ¡°you¡± several more times as her mind was in a jumble.

    He got up and poured her a cup of tea. ¡°This will help with your hangover.¡±

    She took it from him and drank a considerable mouthful in frustration. It made her feel much better.

    He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m not going to tell anyone about this, including Pei Ziheng. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    She nodded as she felt herself calm down. She suddenly thought of something and became nervous again. ¡°Pei... He... Can he tell?¡±

    Feng Kun assured her that Pei Ziheng had not recognized her.

    His words made her breathe a sigh of relief, and then feel at a loss.

    She remembered that year in front of the gue, under the drizzle, Pei Ziheng had hugged her from behind and whispered that promise to be with her for three lifetimes. He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, in your next life, no matter where you are and who you be... I will find you amidst the crowd and bring you back to my side.¡±

    However, he had gone back on his promise.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and sipped the water in her teacup, letting the steam from the cup cover her eyes.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you still love him? Even after he forced you to such drastic measures?¡±

    Xia Ling curled her legs up under herself on the sofa opposite Feng Kun. ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± She said. ¡°... Ah Kun, I really don¡¯t know... You don¡¯t know what happened in that year, so perhaps I will never be able to know if I still love him... or...¡± She had just developed Stockholm Syndrome.

    Perhaps Pei Ziheng had seeded in making her continue to think of him despite all the pain and torture.

    However, he also failed. She was never going to go back. She did not want to be gued by that mental illness for the rest of her life and was not willing to be his ve.

    Was it her undying love? Or was it Stockholm Syndrome?

    She did not want to find out. She would just leave the past in the past and not turn back.

    ¡°I¡¯m with Li Lei now. It¡¯s great.¡± She replied.

    Feng Kun was silent for a while before saying, ¡°It¡¯s unbelievable that you would fall for someone else. Then, you and Pei Ziheng were so close... you were an inseparable pair.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a little bitter. They were very close, weren¡¯t they? Nobody would understand what Pei Ziheng was to her. He was not just a lover, he was a God-like existence in her life, and she gave him utmost reverence.

    It was him who saved her from the depths of despair.

    The earliest of her memories in her past life was at the orphanage.

    Then, Xia Ling was very young and was running in a long corridor. It was deep into the night, and her surroundings were dark and quiet. The shadows of the trees were like monsters in the night waving their ws at her, giving her hideous smiles as they prepared to eat her alive. She was crying and falling over things, trying to look for an adult to tell them that her sister, Xia Yu, was turning green. However, she did not meet a single person even after running for a long, long time. She was lost in that long corridor and could not get out...

    She still remembered that terror and helplessness that she felt deep in her bones, which was what made up the bulk of her memories before she turned twelve.

    Xia Ling was constantly worried about Xia Yu¡¯s illness then. The doctors said that Xia Yu had severe congenital heart disease, and if she did not receive systematic surgery for it, she would not live long. However, the surgical costs were extremely high, and there was no way the sisters could afford it.

    Xia Ling begged the orphanage for help, but the orphanage too was tight on finances. There was no way they could fork up the big sum for the surgery.

    The head of the orphanage told her in a firm but kind tone, ¡°Xiao Ling... I understand how you feel, but your sister¡¯s illness is hard to treat, and the amount of money that needs to be spent is beyond your imagination. What¡¯s more, there is no guarantee that she will be well even after we spend that money. Xiao Ling, it¡¯s already difficult for us to care for you both as it is, and there are many other kids other than the both of you. You need to think of the other kids as well... If we use all the money to treat your sister, then what would happen to the other kids?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the other kids. I want to make Xia Yu well!¡± Xia Ling had thrown her temper at the head of the orphanage.

    He said that she was being unreasonable, and locked her in istion for three whole days so that she could not see Xia Yu.

    When she was released, she ran to Xia Yu without washing up or changing her clothes. She pushed open the door and found four or five kids surrounding Xia Yu,ughing and prancing about, singing a song that they had created. ¡°Ugly creep, short-lived monster, ugly creep, short-lived monster...¡±

    Xia Yu, her weak little sister, was trying to curl herself into a small ball in the corner, closing her eyes and covering her ears, her body trembling and her shoulders shaking as she cried to herself.

    Xia Ling felt a chord break in her head as she rushed forward to fight off that group of kids.

    The fight was an intense one. Teachers came running over to pull them apart when they heard of themotion, and all them were covered with blood. She struggled angrily in the arms of one of the teachers, shouting and screaming at the other kids, and trying to kick andsh out at the big kid closest to her. That big kid was stunned seeing her close to hysterics and sat down on the floor with terror in his eyes.

    They needed several adults to calm Xia Ling down.

    Xia Yu had walked over unsteadily in her weak body, holding a dirty handkerchief that someone had trampled upon while still crying. She carefully helped Xia Ling to wipe off the blood and tears on her face.

    They had hugged each other and cried in each others¡¯ arms.

 Chapter 195 - Like a God

    <h4>Chapter 195: Like a God</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The head of the orphanage and the teachers were wiping tears away from their eyes as well. That time, they did not punish Xia Ling.

    The orphanage set aside some money for Xia Yu¡¯s treatment, dying her illness from deteriorating further, but not being able to treat itpletely. Doctors said that it was a miracle that Xia Yu was still alive, dering that she would not live past ten years of age.

    Xia Ling could only look on helplessly as Xia Yu became weaker and weaker.

    There were many nights that she would wake with a start from a nightmare, afraid that Xia Yu would suddenly disappear from her side. Xia Ling would get off the bed and run out barefoot into the deserted corridors, through the terrifying and eerie sky well, to the nurse station for sick kids on the other end of the orphanage. She woulde to Xia Yu¡¯s bedside and watch Xia Yu as she slept under the dim moonlight that shone through the small window. She would only rx when she saw Xia Yu¡¯s face, deep in sleep, and listened to her breathing.

    Xia Ling would stay by Xia Yu¡¯s side, night after night, and run back to her room through the morning dew or cold winter mornings.

    In those years, Xia Ling would always think ¡ª if there was a God in the world, why was it that he could not hear her cries? Why didn¡¯t hee to save Xia Yu and her? She did not wish for much, only that Xia Yu would be healthy and grow up safely and peacefully like the rest of the kids. For this wish, she was willing to give up everything she had.

    Her heart, her body, her life... her soul.

    All the other kids wouldugh at Xia Ling, saying that there was no God in this world and that it was just a lie that fairytales had made up. The kids in the orphanage matured at a young age and none would believe these stories. They always said that the only way that their wishes woulde true would be to be adopted by someone. Good adoptive parents were more important to them than anything else.

    Don¡¯t think that the orphanage was an innocent ce. The kids would scheme against each other for this end.

    Even Xia Ling knew that adoptive parents were more realistic support than Gods. If any family were willing to adopt Xia Yu and her and treat Xia Yu, they would be the unequivocal God to her.

    To be adopted by a good family, Xia Ling did all she could to make herself the best she could be. She practiced her singing many times till she grew hoarse; she practiced dancing many times till she pulled her ligaments; she practiced poems, foreignnguages, manners... Every time people were visiting to adopt kids, she would put in double the effort to dress up and be in her best condition.

    Xia Ling knew that she was pretty and had many talents. Every time she appeared, she would be the center of attention of all the adults, outshining all the other kids. She also knew that because of this, many of the other kids were jealous of her and had banded together to ostracize her and make life difficult for her. They would hide her shoes, snatch away her candies, tear her new clothing... Yet, Xia Ling did not care. As long as she could be picked, adopted, and Xia Yu¡¯s illness could be treated, she was happy to suffer through the bullying.

    However, no one was willing to adopt them.

    All the adoptive parents would be extremely interested in her but would shake their heads when they saw Xia Yu. Xia Ling would console the despondent Xia Yu, and tell her not to give up. However, many times, even Xia Ling herself was close to despair.

    She would always think that she was a useless elder sister. If Xia Yu died...

    No, Xia Yu was not going to die. She curbed this thought that spread through her mind like a weed and knelt for a long time in the darkness, praying earnestly to the God in her heart time and time again, like she had seen adults do in TV serials.

    Later, Pei Ziheng appeared.

    The day he came was not a typical adoption day, and there were none of the usual arrangements.

    She had walked by and heard two female teachers discussing in hushed voices that the head of Imperial Entertainment was there to donate a huge sum of money to the orphanage. They were eximing about how handsome and young he was, and drooling over his wealth and charisma. They were guessing in envy which lucky girl would have the fortune of marrying a bachelor like him.

    Xia Ling did not care about all this.

    She had seen many rich men in those few years, who would give tons and tons of money to the orphanage in the name of charity. However, there were many areas that the orphanage could use the money for. Putting it into Xia Yu¡¯s treatment fund would be just a bottomless pit.

    She had quietly walked across the corridor into the garden where the sunlight was blinding.

    Staring at the kids freely running and ying in the garden, she had thought to herself ¡ª why was her sister the one that was sick?

    A ball struck her on her forehead.

    A big, strong kid ran over and shoved her away. ¡°Stay away, you troublemaker!¡±

    Xia Ling had angrily thrown the ball at him.

    Immediately after, three or four other kids rushed forward, and they got into another fight. That year, she was already twelve and was no longer the Xia Ling who would randomly il and kick about. The many years of fighting experience saw her quickly gain the upper hand and fend off the attacks from the other kids.

    The teachers came over shortly after, and the kids ran off in all directions.

    Xia Ling had also wanted to run away, but sensing something within her like destiny, she lifted her head and saw someone. A young, handsome man, dressed in a grey suit, standing by the full-length windows on the second-floor office of the head of the orphanage, silently watching her.

    It was the end of spring going into summer and the sunlight shone onto his face, making him seem God-like.

    Looking up at his handsome face, Xia Ling lost her focus and identally stepped onto something. There was a sharp pain in the sole of her foot.

    ¡°Xia Ling! Did you get into a fight again!¡± An exasperated voice rang out. She turned her head and saw the discipline master running over to her, his face ashen. ¡°Stop right there! Don¡¯t even think about running away this time!¡±

    Xia Ling had lifted the edge of her dress and ran off as fast as she could.

    She ran past the long corridor and shade from the flowers for a long time, shrugging the discipline master off her tail with difficulty and breathed heavily as she sat down. The sole of her foot was getting more painful by the second. She took off her shoes and socks only to find that she had stepped on a nail. The wound was deep and long, and blood was flowing out quickly.

    She sucked her breath in and clenched her teeth through the pain, stopping the blood from flowing with difficulty. She sat there on the low staircase panting and only felt her strength returning to her after a long time. She put on her shoes and stood up unsteadily.

    ¡°Xia Ling!¡± That familiar, exasperated voice appeared again.

    Her head dropped and turned. As expected, she saw the discipline master running over.

    ¡°Xia Ling, stop right there!¡±

    She reactively wanted to run off again.

    He shouted urgently. ¡°Stop! I won¡¯t punish you!¡±

    She stayed where she was staring at him with suspicion. The truth was, her injury made it such that she could barely run at all.

    He ran to her side and said through pants, ¡°Hurry and go back... to prepare... Imperial Entertainment... Mr. Pei... Pei wants to see... see you dance... dance.¡±

    Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Mr. Pei wanted to see her dance?

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Isn¡¯t he that guy that came to donate money today? How does he know me? And how does he know I can dance?¡±

    The discipline master managed to steady his breath and said, ¡°You... You¡¯re really such a troublemaker. Mr. Pei saw you fighting from upstairs just now. He asked about you, and the head of the orphanage was afraid that he would feel that all the kids in the orphanage were wild like you. So the head of the orphanage praised you for your singing and dancing. Who would have thought that Mr. Pei would ask to see you? So, the head of the orphanage sent me to look for you.¡±

    The image of him standing by the full-length windows, his expression unreadable and looking God-like, appeared in Xia Ling¡¯s mind.

 Chapter 196 - Her Adoptive Parent

    <h4>Chapter 196: Her Adoptive Parent</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was in a daze.

    She heard the discipline master hurrying her. ¡°What are you still doing over there? Hurry and go! Xia Ling, you¡¯ve gotten lucky today. Mr. Pei is so wealthy... If you make him happy, maybe there will be hope for your sister¡¯s treatment expenses!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heartbeat started to quicken. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°When have I lied to you?¡± The discipline master red at her. ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard of the Pei family that owns Imperial Entertainment? They are constantly on the news and are the wealthiest of the wealthy families. The Mr. Pei who is here today is the new head of the family. The representatives from all the small corporations that came to donate money to us can¡¯t hold a candle to him. Xia Yu¡¯s treatment expenses might be an exorbitant sum to others, but to Mr. Pei, he can take it out with just a word.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart started to beat even quicker as she clenched her fist, allowing her fingernails to bite into the center of her palm. For Xia Yu, she was willing to do anything, what was a little dance? She was about to run off in the direction of the ssroom where the dancewear was stored that instant but felt the piercing pain from the sole of her foot with her first step. She lost her footing and almost fell onto the ground.

    ¡°Aye!¡± The discipline master caught hold of her. ¡°Be careful! How will you dance if you get injured from the fall?¡±

    She regained her bnce with difficulty, the pain in her foot intensifying, making her break out in cold sweat. Seeing her pale face, the discipline master said, ¡°Are you alright? If you¡¯re unwell, do speak up. Your health is important too, you don¡¯t have to dance if you can¡¯t take it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She squeezed out a smile. ¡°I was too excited hearing the news and just slipped up.¡±

    The discipline master rxed and nodded his head, watching as she left.

    Xia Ling clenched her teeth together as she tolerated the sharp pain, walking quickly and steadily to the dance studio. Upon reaching the dance studio, she avoided the teachers and changed into her dancewear and dance shoes, hiding her bloodied shoes inside the cupboard. The teachers helped her put on some makeup and reminded her what to look out for, like presenting herself to be obedient, not to make Mr. Pei unhappy, and so on. She responded as she would usually, such that nobody realized she was seriously injured.

    She was bent on performing this dance.

    The discipline master said that Mr. Pei was rich, and even if there was only a glimmer of hope, she had to give her all for a chance to get Mr. Pei to save Xia Yu. She would not only dance, but she would also dance better than she ever did before.

    The dance was scheduled for the afternoon luncheon.

    The teachers kept reminding her. ¡°Xia Ling, this luncheon was organized just for you. Mr. Pei had not originally wanted to stay for lunch, but agreed on ount of seeing you dance. You had better do well, don¡¯t make the orphanage lose face.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed in a deep breath and went onstage.

    Dancing was her forte. She stretched out her body and performed difficult moves one after another, flowing smoothly like water. Initially, she could feel the sharp pain in her foot everytime she moved, but was soon numb to the pain, lost in her world of dance. She gave her all and presented all that she had learned up till then perfectly. When she finished her dance, she looked up and saw that young man slowly raise his hands and give two light ps.

    Was he satisfied? Or was he just being polite?

    Xia Ling was extremely nervous. Instinctively, she knew that he was that Mr. Pei and could not help but sneak a few more nces at him. However, she could not read how he felt off his impassive expression.

    The announcer hurried her offstage in a low voice.

    Xia Ling was preupied and wondering how he felt, walking back to her seat in the dressing room like she was sleepwalking. She did not leave the room.

    After God knows how long.

    The door of the dressing room was opened. It was the discipline master again. ¡°Xia Ling, why are you still here? You didn¡¯t even change? Quick, there¡¯s no time, Mr. Pei wants to see you.¡±

    Mr. Pei wants to see her? She looked at the discipline master in shock, and her heart started to beat faster. ¡°What is it?¡±

    The discipline master could not hide the smile that had spread across his face. ¡°He said he wants to adopt you.¡±

    ¡°Adopt me? Then, what about Xiao Yu?!¡± She asked anxiously. Many people had wanted to adopt her but had given up after hearing that they had to take in Xia Yu as well.

    The smile on the discipline master¡¯s face became even wider. ¡°The head of the orphanage exined to Mr. Pei about you and your sister. Mr. Pei is willing to adopt both of you together and has promised to give Xia Yu the best treatment.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice started to tremble. ¡°Really?!¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± He smiled and nudged Xia Ling. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that you¡¯ve gotten lucky this time? You sisters are finally seeing the light of day after all that you¡¯ve been through. The Pei family is extremely wealthy and will not mistreat you. Don¡¯t forget the orphanage when you¡¯re living the high life! Come back to visit us often!¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head with gusto. All of this felt unreal and like a dream to her.

    The discipline master rushed her off to change her clothes again. However, before she could change, he received a call and said after hanging up, ¡°Forget it! There¡¯s no time to change. The head of the orphanage is asking us to go over quickly so that Mr. Pei doesn¡¯t have to wait any longer. Come with me.¡±

    He turned around and headed out of the dressing room. Xia Ling followed him closely but suddenly felt the intense pain from the sole of her foot. She recalled then that she was injured. She was fine while she was dancing on stage, but now that she had rxed, the pain was killing her.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Seeing that Xia Ling was not keeping up with him, the discipline master stopped and asked.

    She clenched her teeth together and said she was fine again. She could feel that the sole of her foot was sticky ¡ª the wound had probably started to bleed again. She looked down at her feet and saw that the bleeding did not show on the outside. Hence, she used all her determination to follow behind the discipline master. She was this close to being adopted, there was no way she was going to pass up on this chance.

    She reached the VIP room with difficulty.

    The head of the orphanage was chatting with the young man. Seeing her, he pulled her over enthusiastically and introduced. ¡°Mr. Pei, this is Xia Ling. She¡¯s had a tough life but is an extremely obedient girl. She won¡¯t create any trouble for you at all.¡± He then lowered his head and chided her. ¡°Xiao Ling, be a good girl and listen to Mr. Pei in the future! Do whatever he tells you to. Do you understand?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head emphatically and looked up at the young man nervously. She was afraid that he was going to change his mind.

    That young man said to the head of the orphanage, ¡°I want to speak to this child alone.¡±

    The head of the orphanage left with the discipline master in tow, leaving the room to the two of them.

    Xia Ling carefully looked the young man up and down. Her adoptive parent was sitting in a deep-colored armchair against the window, his hands casually in hisp, looking rxed. Random rays of sunlight were shining on his face and body, crisscrossed with shadows of the blinds, making him look mysterious and attractive. She had to admit that he was the best-looking person she had ever seen in the twelve years of her life thus far.

    ¡°You¡¯re Xiao Ling, right?¡± He opened his mouth to speak, his voice gentle.

    Xia Ling nodded, too nervous to speak.

    He smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, Xiao Ling. I said I was going to adopt you. I won¡¯t go back on my word.¡±

    ¡°What about Xia Yu?¡± The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

    ¡°The same goes for Xia Yu.¡± The young man said. ¡°I¡¯ve already asked my men to get the adoption procedures in order.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to help Xia Yu get treatment, right?¡± She asked anxiously.

    ¡°Of course.¡± He gently looked at her. ¡°In the future, I will make sure that all your wishes be a reality.¡±

    Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief, feeling as if a huge boulder had been lifted off her shoulders. Her nose crinkled and she felt her eyes smart with tears as she repeatedly said, ¡°Thank you... Thank you... Thank you...¡±

    Heughed, and his eyes became gentler. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me. You¡¯re very special and deserve all of this.¡±

    Deserve all of this? She stared at him nkly.

    He did not exin any more and only said, ¡°Xiao Ling,e over here. Let me take a closer look at you.¡±

 Chapter 197 - Butterfly, Butterfly, Take Flight

    <h4>Chapter 197: Butterfly, Butterfly, Take Flight</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling obediently walked over to him.

    He suddenly frowned. ¡°What happened to your leg?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± She gave a start and remembered the injury on the sole of her foot. Had he noticed it? She subconsciously took a step back and said, ¡°It... It¡¯s alright... Mr. Pei, my leg is fine. Really.¡± She was afraid he would discover that deep and long wound. What if he despised her for it?

    His voice deepened as hemanded. ¡°Come here.¡±

    She stood rooted to the spot.

    He stood up and walked toward her. Xia Ling realized that he was tall and well-built, such that she had to tilt her head up to see his face. He was like a king ruling over his kingdom, and there were charisma and presence in his steps. She wanted to back away but seemed to have been shackled to the ground unable to take another step.

    He walked closer to her and squatted down, looking her in the eyes.

    ¡°Your leg is injured.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling was unable to speak like something was stuck in her throat.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want me to know?¡± His voice was gentle.

    ¡°My child should not be so timid.¡± He stretched out his hand and caressed her face. His dry fingers were warm. ¡°From now on, I¡¯m going to take good care of you. Come, Xiao Ling, let me look at your foot.¡±

    As he spoke, he carried her in his arms and put her down in the armchair where he was seated.

    After which, this tall, well-built self squatted down again and reached forward to remove the dance shoe from her left foot without a moment¡¯s hesitation. He knew that she was injured down to exactly which foot... This was the first time that someone had been so attentive towards her.

    Before he could remove the shoe, Xia Ling gave a muffled whine. He immediately stopped what he was doing.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡±

    She nodded.

    He raised his attractive eyebrows at her again, took out his mobile, and gave some instructions to the person on the other end of the line. Not longter, another young man walked into the room carrying a first-aid kit. She heard Pei Ziheng call him ¡°Chu Chen.¡±

    ¡°Boss, let me.¡± Chu Chen said, ncing at Xia Ling¡¯s foot.

    ¡°Scissors.¡± Pei Ziheng responded without lifting his head.

    Chu Chen did not say another word and simply passed a pair of scissors to Pei Ziheng. Pei Ziheng then carefully lifted up Xia Ling¡¯s foot and ced it gently on hisp and cut open the dance shoe with the scissors. The interior of the shoe was a bloody mess.

    ¡°You¡¯ve lost a lot of blood, and the foot is very swollen.¡± He said gravely. ¡°You must have been injured before you went onstage. Why did you still dance?¡±

    ¡°I... ¡± Xia Ling said in a low voice. ¡°I was afraid you¡¯d be unhappy...¡±

    He had specifically asked to see her dance. If she had made him unhappy, what would happen to her sister Xia Yu?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s hands stopped, and he lifted his head to look at Xia Ling, the expression in his eyes unreadable. After a while, he said, ¡°Xia Ling, remember this. From now on, you belong to me, Pei Ziheng. You don¡¯t have to force yourself to do anything, and you don¡¯t have to care if anyone is happy or unhappy. You¡¯re under my care and above everyone else. You can do anything you want. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one thing that will make me unhappy.¡± He continued slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t like it when you¡¯re treading so carefully, trying to please others.¡±

    ¡°... Yes, Mr. Pei.¡±

    ¡°Call me Pei Ziheng. ording to thew, I¡¯m your legal guardian. Or you can call me Brother Pei.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother Pei.¡±

    He smiled. It was a beautiful and gentle smile.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t know how pretty you are...¡± He said. ¡°One day, I will make you evolve into a beautiful butterfly.¡±

    That was the first time they had met eighteen years ago.

    Xia Ling remembered every detail of that meeting clearly even now, a lifetimeter.

    Like Pei Ziheng had said, she slowly but surely came out of her cocoon and evolved into a beautiful butterfly in his hands. She became the arrogant Xia Ling, the shining Xia Ling whose beauty the whole world reveled at.

    He gave her a new life.

    Xia Ling had thought that she would be forever by his side. Yet, due to the circumstances, all the love and adoration became a pain. He had personally created her but had also been the one to destroy her.

    Now, she was utterly disappointed and just wanted to be far away from all of this and live a new life.

    ¡°I will always be grateful that Pei Ziheng brought me out of the orphanage. He was a parent to me, and I will be ever grateful for the care that he gave me.¡± Xia Ling gave a sad smile. ¡°Even though he imprisoned and tortured me... which child will speak badly of her parent? However, that¡¯s where it will stop. Ah Kun, this is where it will stop... ¡± She closed her eyes and said, ¡°Please don¡¯t tell him who I am. Just let all that be forgotten with time.¡±

    She already had Li Lei in this life, the bright sunlight that belonged to her now.

    Feng Kun was quiet for a long time before he sighed. ¡°As long as you are happy. I... respect your decision.¡±

    Was she happy?

    She did not know.

    If there were really a memory wipe elixir that would make her forget everything in her past life, perhaps she and Li Lei would be an extremely happy couple. However, the Grandma Meng of theherworld seemed to have forgotten to give her the elixir before she had crossed the Bridge of Begones. In this life, the effort that she was putting in to prevent herself from going back to that man was sapping her of all her energy, and she did not know if she would be able to grow old happily with someone else.

    She did not know how long more she would be able to hold on to that ray of sunlight.

    Would there be a day that Li Lei grew tired of her and leave her?

    She was lost in her thoughts when someone knocked on the door.

    Feng Kun stood up to open the door. Outside stood a tall, familiar silhouette ¡ª Li Lei.

    Today, he was unusually dressed up. He was not in his usual casual outfit but donned a light khaki woolen long coat with an exquisitely woven round-necked sweater and shirt inside. These colors were hard to pull off when matched together, but on his frame, the attire seemed to have been designed just for him. It made him look charming and gentlemanly and extremely handsome.

    His chiseled features and sharp eyes had a tinge of sharpness as he smilingly said to Feng Kun, ¡°I¡¯m here to pick up Xiao Ling.¡±

    Feng Kun looked him over with interest. His impression of Li Lei was of someone that tended to be more casual and did not take such pains to dress himself up. What did he mean by this? Was he trying to stake his im? It looked like he was really serious about Xiao Ling.

    Feng Kun stood aside and allowed Li Lei to enter.

    Actually, both of them had a short exchangest night.

    Feng Kun had brought Xia Ling home from the bar. Before long, Li Lei arrived with several bodyguards wanting to bring Xiao Ling home. Li Lei had also questioned him for a long time about his rtionship with Xiao Ling. Then, Feng Kun said, ¡°I¡¯m a big fan of Xiao Ling¡¯s singing and invited her for a drink. We chatted for a long time, and she drank too much. I didn¡¯t know where she¡¯s staying, and I couldn¡¯t just leave a girl to sleep at the bar. So I brought her home so that she could sleep for the night. I was going to bring her home in the morning when she woke up.¡±

    Li Lei did not trust people from Imperial Entertainment and had wanted to take Xia Ling away there and then.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°The night wind is cold, and she¡¯s not feeling well since she has drunk so much. If you carry her out now, there¡¯s a high chance she¡¯ll catch a cold.¡± He had promised and sworn that he would not touch Xiao Ling at all. He was not like Chu Chen, Pei Ziheng¡¯s loyal dog, and was known in the industry to be a man of principle and good repute. Li Lei had agreed reluctantly on ount of this and left.

    However, when he was leavingst night, his parting gaze made a chill run down Feng Kun¡¯s spine.

    Feng Kun let this peacock into the work studio where Xia Ling was holding a cup of tea in a daze. As she turned her head and saw Li Lei, she gave a start before asking, ¡°Boss? What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Call me Li Lei.¡± Big Boss Li was upset. How could she speak to him so formally in front of someone else, like they were not close at all?

    Feng Kun smiled in amusement and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the door waiting to watch the scene in front of him pan out.

 Chapter 198 - This is the Lady Boss

    <h4>Chapter 198: This is the Lady Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Perhaps Xia Ling was still fighting off her hangover and dully said, ¡°Okay, Boss.¡±

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    Feng Kun turned his face away to hide the smile that had spread across it.

    Big Boss Li was even more unhappy. He bent over to remove the teacup from her hands, grabbed onto her slender, fair hands, looked into her eyes, and said very slowly, ¡°Call.. me... Li... Lei...¡±

    Xia Ling stared at the handsome face in front of her for a moment, before sighing and obliging. ¡°Li Lei.¡± It was just a name, did he need to be so sticky about this? She reached out to touch the dark circles under his eyes and asked, ¡°Are you alright? Did you not sleep wellst night?¡±

    Li Lei felt some warmth enter his heart. She noticed this minute difference about him, and it made him very happy. The unhappiness that he felt over her namecalling dissipated and his expression changed to one of a radiant smile. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m alright. I slept very wellst night.¡±

    Feng Kun could not bear to look at them. What a liar! Yeah right, Li Lei, keep it up! Who was it that barged into his private property with bodyguards in tow in the middle of the night to interrogate him? Feng Kun lifted his hand to touch the dark circles beneath his own eyes. Why didn¡¯t Xiao Ling notice that?

    Li Lei was still smiling at Xia Ling while Feng Kun was watching on. Li Lei asked, ¡°Have you had breakfast? Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m here to bring you out for breakfast.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and obediently stood up beside him. She bade Feng Kun goodbye. ¡°Ah...¡± She caught herself as she was about to call Feng Kun by her usual term of endearment, but grew conscious of Li Lei. ¡°Ah Kun¡± made them seem too chummy, so she changed it and said, ¡°Brother Feng, thank you for letting me stay overst night. I¡¯ll take my leave with Li Lei now. See you again next time.¡±

    Feng Kun nodded and courteously sent them off.

    They got onto the car.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Where are you bringing me for breakfast?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to the restaurant that I opened.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°You¡¯ve opened a restaurant too?¡±

    Li Lei became a little proud of himself and bragged. ¡°Your man here owns manypanies... there are restaurants, gyms, entertainment cities, real estate... Let me bring you to broaden your horizons today and for everyone to recognize the Lady Boss.¡±

    Xia Ling had heard rumors from a long time ago that Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss Li had many businesses under his name. There were some in the open and some that were unknown, so no one knew for sure exactly how many businesses he owned. But she was not interested in them at all. What was it to her that he had so many businesses? She was more interested in him as a person rather than his businesses. In her past life, she was worth several hundred million but look at her miserable ending.

    Li Lei looked at her expression and was mildly disappointed. ¡°Do you not like it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling said casually. ¡°I¡¯m good going anywhere as long as it¡¯s with you.¡±

    Hearing this, the smitten peacock was extremely satisfied. He had never been so smitten with someone before and was keen to show her all of his best possessions. He had also never been so eager to stake his im on someone and to tell the world that she was his and his alone. He did not want her to be contaminated by anyone.

    Since their rtionship was made public yesterday afternoon, all the headlines of entertainment and business news had been about them. He suddenly felt that having an asional argument with Xia Ling was not such a bad idea if it gave him such a windfall. The argument had allowed him to publicly dere her status, allowing him to hold her hand out in the open in front of everyone, acknowledging that they were a couple.

    They drove to the fanciest and most developed part of the city before stopping.

    Xia Ling got off the car and lifted her head. They had arrived at ¡°Gastronomy in the Clouds.¡±

    Gastronomy in the Clouds was an extremely high-ss restaurant that had a membership system where only members were allowed in. It was located in the highest building in the most expensive part of the city and upied an entire floor. Every day, the restaurant would only ept one seating of customers. It was highly expensive and extravagant.

    The restaurant was known to have delicious food, amazing ambiance, and impable service levels.

    Xia Ling had been here several times in her past life and never would have thought that it was one of Li Lei¡¯s businesses.

    Li Lei held her hand as they walked in. The servers were lined up neatly in two lines by the door and dressed in clean and formal uniforms as they bowed to them with bright smiles on their faces. The manager came forward to wee them. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s a pleasure for you to grace us today with your presence.¡±

    The manager felt extremely honored that the Big Boss hade down personally for a meal today.

    ¡°This is your Lady Boss.¡± Li Lei nced over to Xia Ling as he announced. ¡°When you see her next time give her the same treatment as you did for me today.¡±

    There was a resounding ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± from the staff.

    It was the first time that Xia Ling was met with such an entourage. She looked on at a loss as her face turned red, and she gave Li Lei a re before smiling. She was not bothered by the treatment she was receiving, she was more bothered by how Li Lei was treating her. He was fulfilling his promise to her, showing her off to everyone and letting her be by his side out in the open.

    ¡°The Lady Boss is so beautiful.¡± A young female pastry chefmented.

    Perhaps having to do with the Boss¡¯ personality, Li Lei¡¯s businesses did not have a hierarchical structure, and the staff was rxed in their interactions; hence, they did not hide their feelings away. Hearing the words of praise from the female pastry chef, Li Lei was even happier than hearing praise for himself. He smiled and said, ¡°You have good taste, as expected of someone working at Gastronomy in the Clouds! Your bonus is doubled for the month ¡ª I mean everyone in Gastronomy in the Clouds, your bonus is doubled for the month! To celebrate you guys having a Lady Boss now!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Cheers rang out from the staff. ¡°Thank you, Boss! Thank you, Lady Boss!¡±

    Even though it was a high-ssed restaurant and they were courteous and elegant when serving customers, the staff was much more rxed and informal when speaking to their own Boss. In particr, the younger servers were excited and were one step short of rushing over to give Li Lei and Xia Ling a hug.

    There were smiles on everyone¡¯s faces as they returned to their respective positions to prepare meals, y the background music, etc., until everything was back in order.

    Li Lei had already given instruction for them to prepare the best dishes in the restaurant for them. While it was only breakfast, all sorts of exquisite pastries and small bites peppered the table, and Xia Ling was mildly overwhelmed.

    ¡°Can we finish all of this?¡± She weakly asked Li Lei.

    Could anyone me her for feeling shocked since they had served up all the breakfast dishes in the restaurant? Having been here before, she knew that several pastries were of limited supply, and you had to depend on sheer luck to determine if you were able to eat them. However, all the dishes were now piled up on her table. Was this the power of doubling everyone¡¯s bonuses?

    ¡°Such a perk being with a wealthy man!¡± Shemented. Xia Ling was starting to feel the upsides of Li Lei owning so many businesses.

    Li Lei smiled until his eyes formed a line, and kept putting food in her te. ¡°Taste them all! It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at the small mountain forming on her te and suspiciously asked, ¡°Are you really the Boss of Gastronomy in the Clouds?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± Li Lei looked at her, his expression confused.

    ¡°You...¡± <i>Someone like you who would just throw everything you think is good together tastefully or distastefully... how could you open a restaurant like Gastronomy in the Clouds with such ss?!</i>

    Li Lei was not bothered by her silent jab. He was just happy to be able to unt his wealth and continued to pile food onto her te. Xia Ling thought to herself that this was probably the most extravagant meal that even the servers had seen someone order at Gastronomy in the Clouds before. Yet, since Li Lei was the Boss and could throw out perks like doubling their bonuses, all the servers looked on like this was perfectly normal, smiling sincerely at them, and busied themselves making themfortable for the entire duration of breakfast.

    Xia Ling ate till she felt she was about to burst, and sat on the chair unable to move.

    Li Lei put his chin in his hand as he looked over at her. ¡°Are you tired? Take a rest and digest your breakfast. I¡¯ll bring you to see my gym in a while.¡±

 Chapter 199 - V Line Abs

    <h4>Chapter 199: V Line Abs</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sheid on the soft sofa seat for a long while before she felt better. The amount she ate felt like it could cover lunch and dinner as well. Her voice fraught with caution, she asked, ¡°Are there any other restaurants that you own?¡±

    Li Lei gave augh. ¡°Sure! But we won¡¯t be able to visit all of them today. I¡¯ll take you to them another day.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief.

    She slowly got up and dragged her feet as she followed Li Lei to the gym. She was really just too full. His gym was as high-ssed as Gastronomy in the Clouds and had a simr membership system. Everyone that was walking in and out of the gym looked like they were people with wealth and status, and knew how to enjoy life. Many smiled and greeted Li Lei as they walked by. ¡°Oh! Hi, Second Young Master Li, you¡¯re looking good! Finally found your perfect other half and leaving all the flowers behind, yeah? Washing your hands of your yboy days?¡±

    Before he met Xia Ling, Li Lei was known to be a Casanova. There were always women around him.

    Xia Ling was not unfamiliar with his past tendencies, but she still shot Li Lei a look on hearing the yful banter. Li Lei hurriedly said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m fully devoted to you now!¡± He turned and red at the other man, and said half-jokingly, ¡°Fourth Young Master Kang, don¡¯t you want your premium membership card anymore? What are you saying!¡±

    Everyone listening onughed at his statement.

    ¡°It¡¯s Xiao Ling, right? I¡¯ve heard you sing. That song ¡®Little Duck¡¯ is really cute!¡±

    ¡°¡®ss Fingertips¡¯ is the true stunner. It¡¯s stylish and full of emotions.¡±

    They all started to throwpliments at Xia Ling and engaged her in conversation. Used to handling such small talk situations, she beamed, showing the shallow dimples on both sides of her face, looking pretty andfortable in her element.

    Many of those present were wealthy gentlemen who were initially impassive to the news about Li Lei dating a small celebrity, thinking that the difference in their status was just too wide. However, having had a chat with Xia Ling face-to-face, they changed their view about her ¡ª this girl looked weak and small but had a natural glow to her. She did not shy away from them and seemed to fit into their wealthy circle naturally. For the wealthy, ss and manner was of utmost importance.

    After chatting for a while, Li Lei took her around the gym¡¯s interior and pointed out all the newest equipment to her, as well as showed her the revenue numbers and charts for the season.

    She could not understand theplex numbers he was showing her and simply followed him as he dragged her around by hand in a daze...

    Ooh, the people at the gym were all in pretty good shape and had handsome faces. With just their physique, many of them would do well in the entertainment circle...

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened when he saw her line of vision fall on a muscr man in a tight-fitting singlet.

    Xia Ling innocently said, ¡°I¡¯m looking at all the handsome men... See his V line abs? He probably had to train really hard and long to get those...¡±

    ¡°I have them too!¡± The little child Li snapped back.

    Xia Ling was quiet for a moment, before scanning Li Lei up and down with suspicion.

    Little child Li felt his pride hurt seeing her suspicion. ¡°Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t believe me? I¡¯ll show them to you now!¡± He raised his hands, prepared to take his shirt off. Earlier he had already removed his long khaki jacket due to the warmth of the indoor heating. Now, he only had on the ash-grey round-necked sweater and the handwoven shirt. It would be easy to take these off in one swift motion.

    Xia Ling felt her face burn up and looked away.

    Weird, she did not feel embarrassed looking at the abs of the other handsome men in the room. Why was her heart beating so fast from Li Lei¡¯s simple act of taking his shirt off?

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to look?¡± Seeing that she turned her head away, Li Lei felt even more hurt.

    ¡°I... ¡± Xia Ling took a deep breath, and then another, trying to make the blush on her face disappear. ¡°Just put on your shirt, I know you have... a good body.¡± Thest three words were said so quietly it was like a mosquito buzzing.

    Even though she had not scrutinized his body closely, he had hugged her close when they were in bed that day, and she had somewhat felt his physique through his clothes...

    As she thought back on this, little child Xia felt her face turn red again. His muscles were well-proportioned and toned like an elegant and powerful beast, and his level of perfection was probably equal, if not better, than that man with the V line abs earlier.

    Stop, she had to stop thinking about it.

    Red-faced Xia Ling forced herself to cut her line of thought and quietly sneaked away.

    She ran off to the balcony that was not too far off and felt herself calm down with the fresh air blowing on her. Under the balcony was a swimming pool with many young men and women swimming. Many had good physiques as well, but Xia Ling could not find one that could hold a candle to Li Lei. Why did she feel that Li Lei¡¯s body was so perfect? She had not even taken a close look at him yet.

    Li Lei followed her out into the balcony and caught her in a daze again.

    ¡°You¡¯re looking at other men behind my back again?!¡± He unhappily reached forward to turn her around to face him, so that she could not look in the direction of the swimming pool. He was regretting bringing her to the gym. This ce was just too dangerous, brimming with testosterone. He was never going to bring her to somewhere like that for a date ever again.

    Xia Ling was forced to look at him.

    At this moment, Li Lei had already removed the round-necked sweater and only had on the white shirt. This simple white shirt looked nice on him, and the top two buttons were unbuttoned, revealing his toned chest beneath it.

    Xia Ling forced herself to move her line of vision upwards to his face.

    ¡°I... I... It¡¯s just a look!¡± She said. Seeing Li Lei¡¯s expression darken again, she hurriedly added before he started to threaten to take his shirt off again. ¡°Then... Then let¡¯s go! There¡¯s nothing... nothing much to see anyway!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Li Lei stared at her full of suspicion.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You said there was nothing much to see of that man¡¯s body earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red again as she silently thought to herself. <i>He¡¯s nowhere close to you.</i>

    Li Lei nodded his head, satisfied. He did not want to stay any longer as well. What if Xiao Ling fell for another man? He would be left in the lurch to cry by himself. He pulled her out of the gym and headed towards the next ce of his many businesses.

    Li Lei brought her around to see all of his main businesses that day.

    All the staff and regr customers knew that she was his girlfriend and the Lady Boss of all his businesses. Her status was immovable. They gave her all kinds of looks ¡ª some envious, some jealous ¡ª but no one questioned the status that Li Lei had dered: that they belonged to each other. They were one body, and nobody could separate them.

    When they had finished the tour of his businesses, Xia Ling thought of something. ¡°Oh, by the way...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling said softly and hesitantly. ¡°I have a bungalow under my name that I want to get rid of.¡± That was the gift that Pei Ziheng had given to her a few months back as a form of apology for poisoning her mute. She had forgotten all about it until the tour of Li Lei¡¯s real estatepanies triggered her memory.

 Chapter 200 - The Mysterious Buyer

    <h4>Chapter 200: The Mysterious Buyer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was aware of the bungalow that Pei Ziheng had given to her. Both of them had even argued about it before.

    Later, Xiao Ling grew sensitive every time he broached the issue, so he was careful not to bring it up. Now, Li Lei was happy to hear her say that she wanted to get rid of the bungalow. ¡°Okay, I can help you get rid of it as soon as possible.¡±

    He owned a real estatepany, it would be easy for him to get someone to deal with all the processes.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to handle it myself.¡± She did not want to rely on him for everything. She felt that the consequence of overreliance on someone was too terrifying ¡ª her experience in her past life was a perfect example. In this life, even if she fell for someone, she needed to maintain her independence.

    Li Lei was not too happy to hear her say that but did not insist on it. He knew that even if he had a ce in Xiao Ling¡¯s heart, it was still not to the extent where she would hand her life over to him. He needed to be careful of her feelings and was afraid that he would lose her if he made a small mistake. Their big fight previously had made it clear to him that she would leave at first instance if he made her unhappy.

    This was scarier than anything else to Li Lei.

    Hence, he said, ¡°Okay then, you can handle it yourself. If you meet with any problems juste look for me, I can give you the help you need anytime.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and felt relieved.

    She wanted to settle this by herself, but she was not used to handling these administrative matters. She had always only cared about singing and performing; thus, she did not really know where to begin when it came to matters like this. As such, Li Lei¡¯s words of encouragement and assurance gave thefort that he would have her back.

    She started to manage the sale of the bungalow, intending for the proceeds of the sale to be donated to charity.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s money was like poison to her, and she felt it would burn in her hand. Donating it would be the only way she felt they could draw a clean line.

    She asked her assistant Wei Wei to check on the market price of the bungalow and contacted various auction houses to deal with the sale.

    Wei Wei was a diligent, intelligent, and hardworking girl. Even though it was the first time she was handling the sale of a bungalow and was far from perfect in managing the process, she was still able to inform Xia Ling that the bungalow had been sold after some time.

    The buyer was said to be a businessman of Chinese origins, who returned back to China for a holiday. He had heard that the proceeds from the sale would be donated to charity and, hence, felt respect for Xia Ling. He had requested through the auction house to meet her face-to-face because he too was interested in charitable endeavors and wanted to meet her to discuss them.

    Although Xia Ling wanted to donate the proceeds of the bungalow, she was not familiar with charitable organizations and the phnthropic field. She was afraid that the money would be used for the wrong reasons and did not have experience in putting in the proper monitoring for the use of the money. She felt that it would be a good idea to hear the views of a more experienced person. Thus, she agreed to meet the buyer.

    The chauffeur Old Chen drove her to the appointment venue with her assistant Wei Wei and four bodyguards.

    When they got there, they found themselves in an elegant and exquisite wooden building. There was a big pond with a rock formation that created a windbreaker, and inside the pond was a meter-long golden carp. The server came forward and offered to bring Xia Ling to the private room that was booked, but indicated that Wei Wei and the bodyguards would have to stay outside. ¡°Sorry, Miss Ye, the gentleman inside invited you toe in alone.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly taken aback. She did not expect the buyer to make such a request.

    However, she thought it was understandable as well since he could afford to buy the bungalow she had put up for sale. Someone so wealthy would likely be a big shot, right?

    Yet, there were things that she could not agree to as well.

    ¡°I can¡¯t go in alone,¡± she said. ¡°Please help me to tell the gentleman inside that I need to bring my assistant and two bodyguards with me. If he thinks that that is inconvenient, we can reschedule this meeting.¡±

    Ever since she was kidnapped by Pei Ziheng, the bodyguards had been put in ce to follow her, and there were always people around her even if it was not obvious. This was something that Li Lei had insisted on, and while she felt that he was being paranoid, she would keep her promise to him on the matter.

    The server¡¯s expression became nervous. ¡°Miss Ye, the gentleman inside is our tinum member. This same request applies to everyone that he has met here.¡±

    Xia Ling turned and made to leave.

    She heard a polite voice ring out from behind her. ¡°Please stay and hear me out.¡±

    She stopped in her tracks and turned around. She saw a middle-aged man walk out of the private room, his hairbed neatly back, dressed in a slick suit. His voice was stable and calm. ¡°Miss Ye, the young master invites you toe in.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Including my bodyguards?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    She gave the server a look. Didn¡¯t he say it was an unbreakable rule?

    ¡°There are always exceptions to the rule.¡± The middle-aged man gave her a polite smile, seemingly answering the question in her mind.

    Xia Ling brought Wei Wei and two bodyguards with her as she followed the middle-aged man into the private room.

    When she entered, she regretted leaving two of the bodyguards behind. The door to the private room looked small and exquisite, but the space behind it was vast and, moreover, ten or so people were standing in all corners of the room. Scanning the room, she saw that many of these men were of the physique where it seemed they were used to being in physical fights.

    Her first reaction was to back out of the room, but the door behind her had already been shut.

    The two bodyguards immediately became alert to the situation, and Wei Wei inched closer to Xia Ling, feeling afraid.

    ¡°Miss, please rx.¡± An attractive voice said.

    Xia Ling followed the sound and saw that there was a tform in the middle of the room with a tiger-skin nket draped over it. A man waszing on the tiger-skin nket, and while he was not exceedingly handsome, his eyes were seductive, and he was smiling at them at this moment.

    Xia Ling felt that he looked familiar, but could not remember where she had met him before.

    There was a beautiful girl like a Persian cat sitting by his feet giving him a leg massage. He was running his hands absentmindedly through the girl¡¯s auburn, wavy, long hair, while turning to Xia Ling and saying, ¡°Do have a seat.¡±

    Xia Ling did not sit down.

    This scenario was too different from what she had expected. She thought that they would just be having a casual chat, but it seemed that the buyer was intending to make her feel ufortable with this entourage. She was afraid that he had some other motive.

    ¡°How would you like me to address you, Mister?¡± Xia Ling asked cautiously.

    ¡°You can call me Young Master Feng.¡± His voice was low and gentle.

    Young Master.

    Clearly, he did not regard her as an equal. To Xia Ling, this was a casual meeting, whereas to him, he had called for her. Xia Ling was regrettinging over. Before she came, she had only heard that he was a businessman with Chinese origins who was back for a holiday. She should have asked for more details to understand what kind of person he was.

    ¡°Sit.¡± The man repeated.

    Seeing that she still did not move, he gave a smile and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to give me some face?¡±

    As he spoke, two men in ck suits stepped forward and came toward Xia Ling. They were tall and well-built and looked menacing. The two bodyguards that Xia Ling had brought with her also took a step forward, shielding her behind them. In a split second, there were loud ¡°swooshes¡± from all around, and Young Master Feng¡¯s men had all pulled out their pistols. There were more than ten guns trained on them.

    Xia Ling¡¯s bodyguards reacted quickly and drew their weapons as well. However, they did not point their guns at the men around, but rather at their boss, Young Master Feng.

    All of this happened in a matter of seconds.

    Wei Wei was stunned for two seconds before letting out a scream and pulling onto Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve in panic.

 Chapter 201 - A Mindful Lunch

    <h4>Chapter 201: A Mindful Lunch</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling could feel Wei Wei trembling. After all, she was only a young girl, how could she not feel afraid in the face of such a scene? Even Xia Ling herself was afraid ¡ª the people pointing the guns at them looked cold and callous, their hands were steady and aiming straight at their vitals.

    Li Lei used to tell Xia Ling about the difference between show-off gunmen and actual killers. Thus, she knew without a doubt that those standing before her were real and experienced killers.

    Xia Ling took deep breaths and told herself to stay cool.

    Young Master Feng leaned on the chaise lounge as if nothing was happening. He gave no care about the two guns that were pointed at him and spoke incredibly calmly, ¡°Very professional bodyguards I see. The way they dealt with the situation so efficiently and precisely is truly admirable.¡±

    He raised the porcin wine cup. ¡°Here¡¯s a toast to the both of you.¡±

    The bodyguards standing before Xia Ling did not say a word nor moved an inch. They kept their guns in ce throughout.

    Young Master Feng smiled to himself and downed the contents of the cup in one go. He then ced it down, and a beautifuldy in a thin gown went forward to refill his drink. ¡°Youngdy,¡± he looked at Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯ve said it before, you don¡¯t have to be this nervous. I just want to treat you to a meal. I mean no harm.¡±

    Mean no harm? Then why did you bring so many people?

    Xia Ling clearly did not believe him.

    As hezily got up from the chaise lounge, anotherdy put a brocade shawl on him.

    He said, ¡°My presence has always been like that, it¡¯s not just when ites to you.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Your presence includes people pointing guns at guests?¡±

    He was surprised for a while beforeughing aloud. ¡°Very curt of you... But I¡¯m sorry for my rudeness.¡±

    Saying that he waved his hand and all of the gunmen ¡ª more than 10 of them ¡ª kept their guns swiftly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s two bodyguards kept their guns as well but did not let their guard down.

    Wei Wei was leaning against her, though she was more at ease now than when she was trembling uncontrobly. Even so, this girl was trying her best to stand steadily on her own two feet, and Xia Ling could sense her determination.

    Xia Ling looked up at Young Master Feng. ¡°My assistant is a little unwell and needs to leave first.¡± She knew there was no way they would let her off so easily, and neither did she have the habit of fleeing. But Wei Wei was different, she was just a helpless little assistant, and Young Master Feng was not targeting her. Xia Ling did not want an innocent young girl to be trapped in fear with her.

    Before Young Master Feng had even spoken, Wei Wei hurriedly said, ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, I¡¯m alright!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her in astonishment.

    Wei Wei was slightly pale, but the look of determination was clear on her face. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, I want to be here with you.¡±

    Xia Ling was touched, she was indeed a nice girl. It urred to her now why Sister Mai Na had picked Wei Wei to be her assistant. With a gentler voice, she told Wei Wei, ¡°Be good, get going first. I didn¡¯t bring many people along today, they can¡¯t take care of us both.¡±

    She hesitated.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Let Old Chen send you back first.¡±

    Wei Wei seemed to have thought of something and nodded her head decisively. ¡°I¡¯ll be off then. Sister Xiao Ling, you... be careful.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just sharing a meal with this mister, it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Besides Pei Ziheng, she had not offended any other big shots. Maybe he was indeed speaking the truth, that he had nothing against her, and that this group he brought along were his usual retinue? ... Even so, she felt a little uneasy.

    Young Master Feng watched them talk as he drank his alcohol like it was water.

    Xia Ling maintained herposure. ¡°Young Master Feng, I¡¯m sorry, my assistant will not be able to apany us here.¡±

    He smiled and waved his hand to excuse her.

    Xia Ling quietly heaved a sigh of relief and watched Wei Wei walk past the group of men in ck.

    ¡°Alright, I suppose you can sit now? Ye Xingling.¡± He called her name slowly.

    Xia Ling did not think it was a surprise that he knew her name. Before she hade into this private room, his subordinate had correctly addressed her surname. She had quietlymented at herself for not being smart enough. They had checked on her before the meeting, but as for her...

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± the two big men in front of her spoke. ¡°please follow us to your seat.¡±

    At this point, Xia Ling followed the two men to a vintage table not too far from Young Master Feng. One of the men pulled the chair out for her while the other respectfully received her gloves.

    Her two bodyguards stood closely behind her.

    Young Master Feng gave his subordinate a meaningful look and he lightly pped his hands to signal to the waiters that the dinner had begun. Dishes and drinks were served in beautiful porcin ware and tasted as exquisite as they looked.

    Xia Ling made some small talk before beginning to eat her meal. All she wanted was to finish it quickly and leave, who cared whether he was a Young Master or somebody in charge of a charity? All she was bothered about was the sense of danger she could not ovee and her little life.

    ¡°Having a meal with a beauty is an indulgence.¡± Young Master Feng did not eat much, he paid more attention to looking at her.

    She was getting goosebumps from all his staring. <i>How am I a beauty at allpared to him? </i>But no, Young Master Feng¡¯s facial features were not exceptionally good-looking either, there was no way he couldpare to the true handsomeds like Wei Shaoyin and Li Lei. Yet, his phoenix eyes were such an outstanding feature, they seemed to be full of life.

    Xia Ling looked down slightly and said, ¡°Mr. Feng is too kind with his words.¡±

    She was not going to call him Young Master and degrade herself to a ve¡¯s status.

    Young Master Fengughed. ¡°You¡¯re a pretty interesting youngdy, no wonder Li Lei has his eye on you.¡±

    Li Lei!

    Xia Ling was vignt now. ¡°You know Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°I know him quite well.¡± He smiled.

    Yet there was no kindness in his smile at all. She finally understood the sense of danger she felt the moment she set foot in this ce. Could this Young Master Feng be Li Lei¡¯s enemy? Who turned to her in ce of Li Lei? If that was the case, she was such an innocent victim...

    She quietly cursed at Li Lei in her heart before cautiously asking, ¡°As friends?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t consider us that.¡±

    He was most likely an enemy then. She continued cursing at Li Lei while trying to think of an escape n.

    Young Master Feng downed a cup of liquor and smiled wryly. ¡°Want to change your owner and stay by my side instead?¡±

    Rage filled her heart. What did he mean by ¡°change your owner¡±! She hardened her look and pushed the cutlery away from her. ¡°I¡¯m Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend. Mr. Feng, you¡¯ve had too much to drink. You should get some rest, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    She stood up and was ready to leave.

    His subordinates stopped her immediately, and she began hearing gunshots, though she had no idea who started it. By the time she knew what was happening, her two bodyguards were being held by the rest of the men, and she was forced against the wall.

 Chapter 202 - Little Emperor

    <h4>Chapter 202: Little Emperor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°It actually took me five men to stop the two of you.¡± Young Master Feng¡¯s expression turned dark in an instant as he looked at the men lying on the ground ¡ª his subordinates as well as Xia Ling¡¯s bodyguards ¡ª who were since unarmed and possibly injured, were among them.

    Blood was sttered all over the ground.

    Xia Ling tried her best not to waver or tremble.

    Young Master Feng rose from the chaise lounge, walked toward her, and held her chin up. She wanted to struggle, but he was exerting too much strength and it hurt her too much.

    ¡°Li Lei is really nice to you, youngdy.¡± His smile was cold, almost evil, and reminded her of a venomous rattlesnake. ¡°These two bodyguards are of the highest level, the sort that he¡¯d assign for his own protection. The fact that he assigned them to you, I suppose he¡¯s offended many people in the past two years...¡±

    He was mumbling now as if speaking to himself rather than to her. Suddenly, he tightened the grip on her chin.

    The pain was unbearable, and Xia Ling began iling her arms and kicking him. He snapped out of his thoughts andughed coldly before pressing his entire body weight against hers.

    Xia Ling was frightened. With only twoyers of fabric between them, she could feel his warmth. As they were getting way too close, it made her feel insulted and... fearful. She trembled uncontrobly.

    He smiled ¡ª this man seemed to like smiling a lot, although the smiles were always dark and ominous. He bent down and whispered in her ear. ¡°Please me the way you pleased and seduced Li Lei. Once I¡¯m satisfied with your service, I¡¯ll consider letting you go. How about that?¡± His words were soft and gentle, but there was no hiding his threat.

    Xia Ling could not say a word, she was about to lose her mind.

    Heughed again and went ahead to lick her ear lobe with his cool and moist tongue. Xia Ling felt as if a snake had slithered on her, leaving a sticky, slimy substance, making her feel extremely disgusted.

    cking out intermittently, she began struggling hysterically, but to no avail.

    <i>Bang.</i>

    Young Master Feng stopped what he was doing.

    She heard a familiar voice shouting ¡°Brother!¡± But it was with hostility and tension.

    Feeling a weight off her body, Young Master Feng had already let go of her.

    ¡°Oh, Xiao Lei,¡± He smiled casually. ¡°it¡¯s been long.¡±

    Xia Ling was practically falling to the ground as she used all her might to keep herself upright. About half a dozen people had entered the room suddenly, the leader being Li Lei, who now looked awful as he red at Young Master Feng with his fists clenched.

    The men around Young Master Feng bowed courteously. ¡°Young Master Lei.¡±

    Xia Ling took the opportunity to wipe her ear, and despite having rubbed it until it was red and sore, the disgusting and sticky texture seemed to have never left. She looked toward the two men standing against each other ¡ª the outgoing and positive Li Lei and the perverted Li Feng. Who would guess they were brothers?

    No wonder she found Li Feng familiar. Although he had a full-bred oriental look while Li Lei was of mixed-blood, they did have some semnce of each other if their skin tone and eye features were not considered.

    Of course, Li Lei was much more attractive.

    But now, even that handsome face looked awful. ¡°Brother, why didn¡¯t you inform me you had arrived in the city? I could¡¯ve gotten someone to pick you up and throw you a proper wee feast.¡±

    Li Feng returned to his chaise lounge and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just here to have a look and find out just which beauty here has managed to tie you to this city, so much so that you¡¯ve forgotten to go home. Xiao Lei, there are tons of things for you to handle back at the headquarters.¡±

    The phoenix-eyed man spoke naturally as if Li Lei had behaved like a spoiled and insensible child.

    Li Lei bent down slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve made you worry.¡± He nced at Xia Ling. ¡°But Brother, you¡¯ve got it wrong. I¡¯m not staying here because of anyone. It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve had a lot to handle at Skyart this year; you know this too. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t leave anytime soon.¡±

    Li Feng looked at him andughed. ¡°Skyart has been getting more and more sessful these few years. Guess I was right to say that Grandpa favored you.¡±

    Li Lei was respectful and cautious with his words. ¡°That¡¯s not true. Grandpa treats all of his grandchildren equally well.¡±

    Suddenly, Li Feng burst intoughter.

    Xia Ling got a shock. Thatughter sounded vile and distorted, one that seemed to entail hatred. As it reverberated in the otherwise silent room, it sent a chill down their spines.

    With a slight tremble of the hand, the porcin cup slipped through the grasp of thedy serving him andnded on the ground.

    ¡°Get out!¡± He kicked her in the chest.

    Thedy whimpered as she turned pale. Sweat began dripping down her face, but she dared not resist. She painfully attempted to stand as she held onto her chest tightly.

    Everyone around Li Feng hung their heads low, unwilling to see nor speak about it.

    Li Lei did not look pleasant either.

    ¡°Equally treated, you say.¡± Li Feng was almost in tears fromughing. ¡°Do you remember when you were five? No, you probably don¡¯t, I just identally pushed you into the river, and Grandpa beat me until I couldn¡¯t walk for months... The following year, you set fire to Big Uncle¡¯s antique store, but Grandpa barely gave you a few words of lecture, and evenpensated Big Uncle on your behalf.¡±

    He looked at Li Lei coldly now. ¡°Equally treated? What a joke!¡±

    Li Lei pursed his lips tightly, unwilling to say more.

    Xia Ling guessed that Li Lei knew there was nothing he said could salvage the situation. Li Feng was practically a temperamental lunatic.

    Li Feng continued drinking as anotherdy refilled his cup every so often. The more he drank, the wider his eyes became as he went on scrutinizing both Li Lei and Xia Ling back and forth. Heughed again. ¡°My good little brother.¡± He was gentle again now. ¡°You rushed here so quickly. Is it for my sake, or... this little beauty over there?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s for you, Brother.¡± Li Lei replied quickly.

    Li Lei squinted his eyes. ¡°Honest?¡±

    ¡°Honest.¡±

    ¡°Ha ha ha...¡± Li Fengughed aloud.

    Xia Ling was getting the goosebumps from hisughter. She leaned against the wall, wishing that she could disappear that instant.

    When he was finally doneughing, he asked Li Lei, ¡°You said you wanted to throw a feast to wee me?¡±

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing, I¡¯ll get it done.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a good brother indeed.¡± Li Feng looked toward him, half smiling. ¡°You remember what I like?

    Li Lei was still cautious. ¡°I do. Brother loves hard liquor and beautifuldies. Since you¡¯re here, I¡¯ll give you as much as you want.¡±

    ¡°As much as I want.¡± Li Feng stood from the chaise lounge, pointed his finger at Xia Ling, and smiled deviously. ¡°Don¡¯t trouble yourself, I¡¯ll take her.¡±

 Chapter 203 - Hard Liquor and Beautiful Ladies

    <h4>Chapter 203: Hard Liquor and Beautiful Ladies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked up, horrified.

    Li Feng slowly and seductively licked his lips, and the expression in his eyes was akin to that of a poisonous snake as if he was peeling heryers off one by one. She was extremely ufortable with the way he looked at her and wanted to flee, but her feet were rooted to the ground, and her arms felt weak. She could not move.

    A silhouette stood in Li Feng¡¯s line of sight.

    It was Li Lei.

    Xia Ling was grateful for his move. He stood before her, still and firm.

    ¡°Xiao Ling is my girlfriend, please show her some respect.¡± Li Lei sounded cold. ¡°Also, she¡¯s one of the main artistes that Skyart is grooming. If Skyart were to produce a Diva in the next five years, it would be none other than her. Brother, Xiao Ling can take the Li family¡¯s entertainment business to greater heights. She¡¯s a very important figure.¡±

    ¡°Girlfriend?¡± Li Feng sounded teasing now. ¡°I¡¯ve read the news reports, do you think our family will allow you to marry such a wanton woman with a messy background?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling is not a wanton woman.¡± Li Lei was very stern. ¡°She is worthy of me, as well as the Li family.¡±

    ¡°Worthy? With what? The false title of being a future Diva?¡± Li Feng smiled indolently. ¡°Xiao Lei, don¡¯t thumb me down in the name of the family¡¯s entertainment business. Don¡¯t get too arrogant just because you¡¯re managing one aspect of the business. Skyart is nothing; I could turn it into ashes with the snap of a finger.¡±

    Li Lei was almost biting his lip as he stood even closer to Xia Ling.

    Li Feng¡¯s voice went low. ¡°What if... I only want her?¡±

    ¡°Nobody can touch Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei looked up, enunciating every word clearly. ¡°Not even you, Brother.¡±

    ¡°Ha ha ha.¡± Li Fengughed as he threw the cup on the floor. ¡°When was thest time you acted so wilful and stubborn in front of me? Let me think...? 10 years back? Or was it 15 years?¡±

    He stood and walked elegantly towards Li Lei. With his head tilted, he whispered, ¡°Xiao Lei, you have a weakness now.¡±

    He said that very softly.

    Xia Ling realized that, at that moment, Li Lei had tensed up.

    Li Feng did not seem to notice. His smile was still on as he patted Li Lei on the shoulder and darted an unnerving look at Xia Ling.

    Li Lei took two steps back, blocking Xia Ling from his sight once again.

    ¡°Brother, you¡¯re drunk.¡± His words sounded forced.

    ¡°Am I...¡± Li Feng was grinning widely. ¡°Xiao Lei, don¡¯t be afraid, I was just joking. I wouldn¡¯t do anything to your precious...¡± He walked past Li Lei towards the door. After barely taking a few steps, when he turned around again, he looked suggestively at Xiao Ling and licked his finger at her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He dragged the words. ¡°is such a nice name.¡±

    He took his men along and left the private room, closing the door behind them.

    Only then did Li Lei turn to face her. Before Xia Ling knew it, she was in his arms.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, let me hold you for a while,¡± he told her.

    The vulnerability in his voice and the slight tremble of his body had Xia Ling shocked. She dared not move an inch as she stood there, allowing him just to hold her.

    He held her for a long while.

    Xia Ling sounded him out. ¡°Li Lei?¡±

    He did not respond.

    She carefully asked, ¡°Are you... alright?¡±

    Only then did he let go of her slowly. He looked at her with his beautiful eyes and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine, let¡¯s get out of here first.¡±

    Xia Ling was led by the hand, and on her way out, she suddenly turned around. ¡°Those two bodyguards...¡± She stopped mid-sentence and realized that all the injured bodyguards and Li Feng¡¯s men were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°They will be taken care of.¡± Li Lei knew what she was worried about.

    ¡°Will they...¡±

    ¡°Brother did not kill them on the spot, that means they¡¯ll be safe,¡± he told her.

    Xia Ling was more at ease now. They left the restaurant and headed to his SUV.

    She was about to sit in the front passenger¡¯s seat when he stopped her. ¡°You¡¯ll sit at the back, Xiao Ling.¡± He turned around and told a bodyguard, ¡°Ah Nuo, you¡¯ll drive.¡±

    The bodyguard nodded and headed for the driver¡¯s seat.

    Li Lei sat with her in the back.

    The car started quickly and was in the city traffic in no time.

    Li Lei did not look fine, and this was the first time Xia Ling saw him look this disturbed. She was uneasy. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. This is my fault, I shouldn¡¯t havee out to meet a stranger and brought you so much trouble.¡±

    He seemed shocked to hear that and turned to face her.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He was gentle with his words. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Brother was targeting me. Even if you hadn¡¯t agreed to meet him today, he would¡¯ve found another way.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated for a bit before asking, ¡°Your rtionship with him doesn¡¯t seem... too good?¡±

    ¡°Brother hates me.¡± He put it so simply that it scared Xia Ling.

    ¡°We are brothers with different mothers.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°His biological mother was our father¡¯s first wife, but she passed away while shielding our father from a bullet. A yearter, my mother married into the family and gave birth to me not too long after. From then on, Brother hated my mother and me, and tried to kill me when we were still children.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was getting deeper.

    It must have been a very unhappy past. Xia Ling kept quiet, unsure of how to console him.

    Li Lei went on. ¡°When I was five, my mother became ill and passed away too. Brother tried to harm me even more, and almost seeded in getting rid of me several times... Grandpa eventually would not take it and scolded him harshly. He was also worried that being too young, I was unable to protect myself well and hence took me along to live with him. Among the many grandchildren in the Li family, I was the only one who was raised by Grandpa, which is why all of them say that Grandpa is biased towards me.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression softened as he continued, ¡°Grandpa did favor me. He taught me everything personally, from writing words to life skills, from the family structure to the outside world... During the years when he was still fit enough to be in charge of matters, he took me everywhere he went. Often, they¡¯d be negotiating a deal or even fighting while I did my assignments at the back and listened to them.

    ¡°They said that Grandpa groomed me to be his sessor, and called me ¡®Little Emperor¡¯ behind my back.¡±

    Li Lei smiled sadly. ¡°Hence, Brother hated me even more, and we practically became enemies.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Will you be the sessor?¡±

    ¡°In the Li family, the ce of the sessor doesn¡¯t depend on one¡¯s age or position in the family, but whoever is the most capable.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet if I¡¯ll be the sessor. Grandpa has mentioned before that it will be a fairpetition, and he¡¯s taught me what he could, but how much I¡¯ve learned and how much I will be capable of depends on my hard work. He will not favor anyone in this selection.

    ¡°Moreover, he has let go of his hold on many things in the past few years and handed the power and authority to my father. The next head of the household will likely be my father, though he hasn¡¯t been officially named yet. As for us, his grandchildren, it¡¯ll be many years down the road before the sessor has to be named. Who is to say what could change by then?

    ¡°But Brother doesn¡¯t think that way. He¡¯s using ruthless means to get rid of me, and his favorite way is to hurt the people around me.

    Li Lei kept quiet for a while before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, let me tell you a story.¡±

 Chapter 204 - The Early Death of Xue

    <h4>Chapter 204: The Early Death of Xue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Su Tang has a younger sister named Su Xue.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice echoed in the silence of the car. ¡°The year Su Xue turned sixteen, she dropped by the headquarters to look for her sister. Incidentally, she bumped into my older brother, Li Feng. You¡¯ve met my brother before, you know how charismatic his eyes are. As long as he tries, he can make any young girl fall in love with him. Unfortunately, Su Xue was one of them.

    ¡°That naive little girl fell in love with my brother, just like that.

    ¡°She happy delivered the news to her sister, but instead of being happy, Su Tang was terrified ¡ª back then, she had been working for me for about a decade, and she understood how my rtions worked and knew that I never had a good rtionship with my brother. If my brother is ever interested in anyone around me, it usually doesn¡¯t end well.

    ¡°Su Tang warned her sister, that the entire thing was merely a ploy, but the young girl was already far too in love to listen. So, she made her mind and left home, and headed straight into Li Feng¡¯s arms.

    ¡°In the beginning, things were still good. My brother was nice to her, catered to her every need, spoiled her like nobody¡¯s business, and she especially loved to show that side of their rtionship off to Su Tang. Su Xue would mock her sister for having no discerning eye whatsoever. In Su Xue¡¯s words, Su Tang had worked for me for years and still was a mere underling. Herself, on the other hand, had been with my brother for a couple of months, and he had utterly swept her off her feet.

    ¡°I never mistreated Su Tang in her time as my assistant. I know that she was a capable worker and definitely indispensable in my life, but Su Xue¡¯s words must have been hurtful because they had a big argument that day.

    ¡°Su Xue went back to Li Feng and never came back.

    ¡°From then on, Su Tang frequently cried in secret. I talked to her about it, and she said she was in a constant state of worry because of her sister ¡ª her sister was naive, and had no idea whatsoever about what kind of person Li Feng was. Her happiness seemed toe too easy to be true, and s, it was indeed momentary. The fairy tale left just as quickly as it came...

    ¡°Su Tang was right, their rtionship deteriorated as time went on. Verbal and physical abuse became their norm, and his infidelity grew increasingly rampant. He had practically no regard for her anymore. Of course, she couldn¡¯t take it. She grew gaunt and even fell ill for some time. And still, she wouldn¡¯t leave him. Through the abuse, the humiliation, and the pain, she stayed. She stayed because she was wholly consumed by her love for him, and there was nothing left of her former self.

    ¡°Su Tang begged me to save her younger sister, and I tried. I tried to find a window of opportunity to bring her back.

    ¡°However, she was none the wiser. She wanted to go back. Su Xue cursed at her sister, that she was going to get retribution for ruining her marriage, made a fuss all the time, refused to eat, and even tried tomit suicide...

    ¡°Su Tang¡¯s heart softened. She gave her a chance, and of course, Su Xue returned to him.

    ¡°But Li Feng hadn¡¯t changed. Since young, he had a violent streak, and wouldn¡¯t blink twice about the notion of killing. He liked it. He told Su Xue: ¡®as long as you help me take a hundred human lives, I promise you that I¡¯ll leave the rest of the world away, treat you better, marry you, and start a family. I¡¯ll be nice to only you. I¡¯ll love only you.¡¯

    ¡°She believed it. Or rather, it was the only remaining thing that she could hold onto in her loveless world. She used to be such a gentle and kind girl, she got so emotional looking at an injured little rabbit... but the next two years changed her. She helped my brother and yed a part in the torment and the killing. Word on the street was that Li Feng had a female devil. Anyone who fell into her hands would be infinitely lucky to be able tomit suicide instead.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice grew hoarser. Talking about it was difficult.

    Xia Ling was thoroughly terrified by how the story was going. She had unconsciously gripped onto him, her grip growing tighter and tighter. He gripped back, in reassurance, before she finally returned to her senses.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he spoke. ¡°don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.¡±

    Xia Ling felt the warmth emanating from the palm of his hand, and it had a calming aura. Her clenched heart stopped racing for a moment. ¡°Please stop talking... I don¡¯t want to listen anymore.¡± She weakly requested a few minutester.

    Li Lei tightened his grip on her hand. ¡°I know this is terrifying, but I want you to listen to the entire story.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± She felt like she was going to pass out any moment now.

    ¡°You must understand the kind of person my brother is. I don¡¯t want to leave a single detail to your imagination.¡± Li Lei stated.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to understand! What does he have to do with me anyway?¡±

    Li Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°He¡¯s got his eyes on you, Xiao Ling. He¡¯s going to find the next opportunity to get closer to you, like what happened today, or maybe even worse. This time, I made a mistake, I didn¡¯t realize that he was even in this city, and gave him the opportunity to strike. It¡¯s toote now. As long as you piqued his interest, sooner orter, it will happen...¡±

    ¡°What will happen?¡±

    There was no reply.

    A pause. ¡°Xiao Ling, listen to the story, alright?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I¡¯m a little carsick.¡±

    Li Lei asked for the car to be stopped and got her some fruit tea. As she drank the fruit tea, Li Feng slipped into her mind, those terrifying images shing before her eyes.

    Li Feng was enchanting and terrifying at the same time. Like a poisonous snake.

    Xia Ling mustered up her courage. ¡°And then what happened?¡±

    ¡°And then...¡± He spoke very slowly. ¡°He broke his promise.¡±

    ¡°Broke his promise?¡±

    ¡°Yes. After killing a hundred people, she happily went to him, asking for him to fulfill his side of the deal. All this time, she had wholeheartedly believed that he would acquiesce, and she could proudly be part of the Li family... but who would¡¯ve known? He merelyughed and said, ¡®Who, me? Why don¡¯t I remember this?¡¯

    ¡°It was a bolt from the blue, and her world imploded. She was furious, but my brother called her delusional for ever believing that a nobody like her could ever marry someone like him. It¡¯s almost as if he summoned all the venom in the world and spat on her, mocking her in front of the entire world. And then...

    ¡°She lost it.

    ¡°She was a delicate one, but she put everything on the line for that one promise. He was her religion, and it almost justified everything she had done for him. And yet, he turned his back on her just like that, and her world fell apart.

    ¡°She became a real lunatic, crying, making a fuss, and wanted nothing more but to leave.

    ¡°Every time she tried to leave, he would capture her...¡±

    The silence deepened.

    Xia Ling did not dare to press further. The story was horrifying, and oh, how badly did she hope that it was nothing more than a story.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice grew even more pained. ¡°I couldn¡¯t save her. Initially, I believed that she was just she was just being ridiculously dramatic, and since she was so childish, a little suffering would do her good. When she became sober, she coulde home again...

    ¡°I¡¯d never expected that that would ever happen.

    ¡°When Su Xue lost it, I was in the midst of mying of age, following mercenaries around, so for two entire years, I hadn¡¯t the slightest contact with my family. When I returned home, they told me that Su Xue already...¡±

 Chapter 205 - Red Rose

    <h4>Chapter 205: Red Rose</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Having said that, Li Lei paused for a long time.

    There was an inexpressible fear rising from Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    Li Lei took a deep breath before he finally continued speaking. ¡°They told me that after he caught Su Xue, he announced that he wanted to punish her for running away and betraying him. He gathered a lot of men and said that he would have a feast in the most luxurious ballroom. However, when those people arrived at the location, there was nothing but drinks and empty tes.

    ¡°After that, Su Xue was shoved into the ballroom by his men.

    ¡°Her hands were tied behind her back, and she was shackled in the middle of the ballroom. He then ordered his subordinates to strip her clothes off and left her naked in front of everyone present.

    ¡°At that point, Su Xue was already mentally unsound. She only looked at him andughed innocently. She said, ¡®Brother Feng, you are here to marry me, right? I¡¯m very happy that you asked so many people to witness our marriage...¡¯

    ¡°The entire room fell silent. A few groups of brawny men brought over barbecue grills, iron pots, and full sets of kitchen utensils.

    ¡°With his order, two executioners took red hot iron brushes and scraped her body for meat. Su Xue was frightened and could not stop screaming, struggling and crying for Brother Feng to save her.

    ¡°However, he only looked at the scene in enjoyment. As he drank wine, he instructed the executioner and chef to handle the meat. The flesh on her arm was to be diced, the flesh on her thighs was to be sliced into thin pieces... A few chefs could not help but vomit, and those who were not courageous weakly cried for him to let them off. However, he tied the disobedient chefs to the pir, used their bodies for meat, and called for new chefs to assist him.

    ¡°The new chefs also copsed after crying and urinating in their pants as he cooked the human flesh. Besides Su Xue¡¯s miserable cries and the group of chefs who betrayed him, there were also vomiting noises from the guests who could not bear to watch the scene.

    ¡°My brother... No, that demon. He keptughing and giving instructions on how the executioners should slice the meat and how the chefs should fry, boil, and roast the meat. About ten beautiful women trembled as they served the cooked meat to the guests. Some of them even fainted and were also tied to the pir, their bodies used as food...

    ¡°That night was hell on earth. Su Xue was thest to die. She was covered in blood, and her bones were exposed. You could even clearly see her beating heart and lungs. That demon personally cut open her skull, dug out her brain, and ate it raw.

    ¡°At that time, Su Xue was still conscious. Her eyes could still move slightly. He bit off a bit of her brains, kissed her, and fed it to her. He even warmly told her, ¡®Su Xue, my little girl. Do you like it?¡¯

    ¡°When daylight came, the entire ballroom was in a huge mess.

    ¡°He used his fingers to dig out her heart and ate it raw.

    ¡°Afterwards, he stood up and gave her a wicked smile. ¡®Goodbye, my little girl.¡¯ He said as he used a white silk cloth to wipe his hands and walked out.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how she managed to listen to the entire story. It was too gory, and her face turned white. She shrank in Li Lei¡¯s arms for a long time before she quietly asked, ¡°Is this... real?¡± His story sounded like a scene from a movie, and she could hardly imagine that there were such cruel beasts in real life.

    She once called Pei Ziheng a beast, but inparison to Li Feng, Pei Ziheng was literally a saint.

    Li Lei hugged her and wrapped his arms around her body tightly. ¡°I will not let him hurt you. However, Xiao Ling, you must be careful. Li Feng is capable of anything. No matter what he says or does, you must never believe him.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head firmly.

    Li Lei brought her back to the apartment and helped her close the bedroom door.

    In the bedroom, Xia Ling tossed and turned on her bed. She had many nightmares that night. She dreamed about being imprisoned in the past, and dreamed that she was tied to a pir in a banquet hall and meat was being scraped off her body.

    When she awoke, her face was stained with tears.

    During the next round of the Neb Music Festival, she was very distracted and made many mistakes. As such, her points were almost tied with Xia Yu¡¯s.

    When it ended, she went backstage, and Wei Wei carried arge bouquet of red roses over to her. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, your flowers.¡±

    Xia Ling took the flowers. The bouquet was very elegant and had a total of eight red roses. The delicate petals were stained with crystal-like dew, and the cascading petals were grand and fragrant. There was a strange feeling in her heart as she pulled out the small card hidden in the flower stalks. Sure enough, it was as dark as the night sky. On it was a golden outline of a butterfly with its wings spread and familiar handwriting.

    ¡°What a special card.¡± Wei Wei saw the card from the corner of her eye and said enviously. ¡°I wonder which crazy fan sent it to you. He must have put in a lot of thought into it.¡± During the music festival, only singers that were more popr received flowers from their fans. Xia Ling also received many flowers in session, so Wei Wei did not take it to heart or think too much about the bouquet.

    However, Xia Ling shuddered. She was afraid that people would notice that something was wrong, so she quickly hid the card.

    ¡°What card?¡± Xie Ling walked towards her and asked curiously. ¡°Not bad, Xiao Ling! You received such beautiful flowers. I¡¯m sure the card is equally beautiful. Let me admire the card too!¡±

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much. The air here is rather stale. I think I will leave first to get some fresh air.¡± After she finished speaking and before Xie Ling could react, she quickly fled the scene.

    Vaguely, she could hear a disappointed voice behind her. ¡°Hmph, stingy...¡±

    The corridor was silent, and there was no one around.

    As Xia Ling stood alone in front of the ss window, she lowered her head and looked at the card in the dim light. Her fingertips unconsciously traced the outline of the butterfly¡¯s antenna, wings, and abdomen... She recalled that a long time ago, a man taught her how to draw this butterfly step-by-step. That time, Pei Ziheng had said: ¡®Xiao Ling, this butterfly is you, because it is so beautiful and intoxicating.¡¯¡±

    That time, what did she reply to him?

    She asked him, ¡°What about you, Ziheng? What are you?¡±

    With his body close to hers and his lips beside her ear, he said in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯m your world.¡±

    Ha, world.

    She was really stupid at that time. She did not realize that being with him was like being in a cage.

    The corners of her eyes were a little moist, and Xia Ling lifted her fingers to wipe them away quickly. Inadvertently, she looked at the window. Under the dimly lit European style street lights and snowkes, she could see that there was a ck Rolls Royce parked on the side of the road which was near the corridor she stood in. She could easily identify from her memory that the familiar car was Pei Ziheng¡¯s car.

    Did hee tonight?

    What did hee for?

    Before she had time to think, she saw a thin figure walking along the gravel path wrapped in a long soft pink coat and had soft and messy hair. A small and delicate face could be seen underneath her scarf. It was Xia Yu.

    As Xia Yu stood in front of the car, a chauffeur came out to open the backseat door, and she quickly entered the car.

    It turns out that Pei Ziheng hade to fetch Xia Yu.

    Xia Ling¡¯s feelings wereplicated. In the past, he had often took this car to pick her up. During the rainy and snowy nights and under the dimly lit street lights, how many times had he helped her open the backseat door and gently took her into his arms? ¡°Xiao Ling, are you tired? Rest on my shoulders for a while. We will be home very soon.¡± He would tell her.

    Now, the person in his arms was somebody else.

    Lowering her head, she gazed at the small card in the palm of her hand. Sheughed at herself before throwing it into the rubbish bin.

 Chapter 206 - Red Spot Between The Eyebrows

    <h4>Chapter 206: Red Spot Between The Eyebrows</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The Rolls Royce sped along the road in the snowy night.

    Xia Yu sat on thefortable backseat beside Pei Ziheng, overwhelmed by his unexpected favor. ¡°Brother Ziheng, thank you foring to pick me.¡±

    Ever since she had quarreled with ¡°Ye Xingling¡± and her n to frame Ye Xingling for insulting her sister was exposed, Pei Ziheng had given her the cold shoulder and had not bothered to pick her from the music festival. However, she did not know why there was a car waiting for her today.

    Xia Yu thought that he was not angry with her anymore. Besides, she was Xia Ling¡¯s only younger sister, and with this trump card, no matter what outrageous trouble she caused, he would never denounce her strongly. She silently cursed how Pei Ziheng put her sister on a pedestal, but also used her position in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart to be closer to him. ¡°Today is really cold, Brother Ziheng. How about we go to ¡®Winter Story¡¯ for supper? My sister used to love the desserts there...¡±

    Pei Ziheng turned around and shot her a look.

    It was an ordinary look, but it seemed to contain endless overbearance, causing Xia Yu¡¯s heart to shudder and shut up.

    Pei Ziheng turned around and continued to look out from the car window. Outside, there was an unlimited number of drifting snowkes, and the street lights were emitting faint streams of light in the darkness. He thought about this timest year which was also a snowy night. He saw that girl under a streetmp at another TV station...

    Ye Xingling.

    At that time, she was wearing a very cheap coat as she raised her hand to catch the snowkes in midair, her appearance so mesmerizing and beautiful like the Xiao Ling in his memory. Later, the way she scolded him when he kidnapped her and the way she stood on stage singing ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± with tears in her eyes...

    If his Xiao Ling had died and reincarnated, he was afraid that she would be exactly like her.

    She was too simr.

    He thought about how he could not help but specially hire a chauffeur to visit her during this very snowy night and use picking up Xia Yu as an excuse to wait for her. Pei Ziheng did not know what he should do if she came out. Perhaps, he only wanted to look at the girl who resembled Xiao Ling from a distance. Catching a glimpse of her was the only way he could slightly reduce the raging and tormenting longing he had for her.

    However, he waited for a very long time, but she did note out.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s initial unfathomable expression became darker.

    Xia Yu looked at him and subconsciously bit her lip. Using her reasoning and cleverness, she easily guessed that Brother Ziheng¡¯s main intention was not to pick her up but use her as an excuse to see someone else!

    Who did he want to see...?

    As he looked at the small road outside the window, he had the same gentle and sad look as when he was looking at her sister¡¯s photo.

    Ye Xingling. It could only be Ye Xingling. Those three words were like maggots biting Xia Yu, making her feel very ufortable. No, she was unwilling. She had a hard time ensuring that her sister and Wang Jingwan died. She was not willing to have a third rival.

    She would not let that happen. She must think of a way to eliminate her.

    Xia Yu became deep in thought.

    ***

    Xia Ling did not leave by the front door.

    Due to the ck Rolls Royce that had stopped in front of the door, she deliberately changed her route and avoided Pei Ziheng from the side door.

    Today, Li Lei hade to pick her, and he had also noticed the Rolls Royce at the front door. However, he did not dare to do anything about it as he was afraid he would trigger something Xiao Ling was sensitive about and cause her to suggest that they break up again.

    Li Lei parked his SUV far away, his inner conundrum no less than Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    After receiving a message from her to pick her up, Li Lei could not be more delighted. <i>Haha, Pei Ziheng </i>. He thought. <i>You can wait in front of the main door like an idiot. My Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t care about you. Xiao Ling belongs to me!</i>

    Li Lei hummed a tune as he picked her up.

    Both of them ate supper and returned to the apartment together.

    The security officer of the apartment carried an object covered in satin over. ¡°Young Master and Miss Ye, this is a gift for Miss Ye. There is no signature.¡±

    ¡°The fans are really adept at getting information... they even know where I stay now. Move it to my apartment and I will take a look.¡± After being apanied by Li Lei for supper, she was very rxed. Thinking about how the media representatives had been exposing their rtionship these past few days, her lips curled into a smile. It actually felt good to date someone openly.

    Li Lei entered her house as well and said, ¡°I want to see it too.¡±

    The security officer moved the object into the apartment and left.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling removed the ribbon together, and soon, the object was revealed.

    It was actually an oil painting.

    The strokes were robust, and it was very colorful.

    The painting was of a silent snowy night. The ghostly Rolls Royce was parked under the dim light, and not far from the car, in front of the second-floor ss window, a pale girl was quietly looking at the car and holding a butterfly card in her hand with a sorrowful expression.

    Around the painting, there were broken red roses scattered around.

    Xia Ling screamed. Her hand loosened, causing the painting to fall to the ground and the wooden frame to split open.

    Tonight... It was the scene from tonight!

    When she was looking at the Rolls Royce, someone was looking at her!

    Xia Ling was drenched in cold sweat, and a sense of terror filled her heart.

    Li Lei was visibly upset as he knelt down to observe the oil painting more closely. As his fingers grazed the wooden picture frame, the broken corner exposed the mezzanine. He violently tore it and retrieved an inconspicuous piece of paper from the inside.

    <i>How rude, you tore this so easily, Xiao Lei.</i>

    <i>I can help you deal with an unfaithful woman.</i>

    Those two short sentences made Li Lei¡¯s heart develop a stronger sense of fear than Xia Ling. He shuddered as he turned the broken oil painting back to the front and carefully looked at the girl in the painting wearing a performance dress and a shawl. Her face greatly resembled Xiao Ling, and in between her eyebrows, there was a faint reddish spot.

    Li Lei¡¯s gaze tightened as he followed the red spot and realized that in the opposite building, an inconspicuous window was half open. He immediately took out his mobile phone and dialed a number.

    The phone rang for a while before someone answered the call. Li Feng¡¯s bewitching andzy voice could be heard from the other end. ¡°Hey Xiao Lei, have you found out the truth so quickly? Your reaction time is not bad!¡±

    ¡°What exactly are you trying to do?!¡± Li Lei¡¯s heart sank. It was Li Feng who had been observing Xiao Ling. The faint red spot on the girl¡¯s forehead in the painting was the mark of a sniper¡¯s aim! And that sniper position... a bodyguard was originally supposed to be positioned there. He had just dialed the phone of the bodyguard, but the person who answered it was Li Feng.

    At the other end, Li Feng wasughing. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, my good brother. Your little girlfriend is so lovely and charming, I only wanted to find a better position to draw a portrait of her. Oh, by the way, I also wanted to practice my aim. The person who aimed at her was me. What do you think? My skills have not regressed, right? 875m. If I fired, bang¡ª¡±

    Li Lei was visibly upset as he hung up the phone.

 Chapter 207 - A Beautiful Show of Love

    <h4>Chapter 207: A Beautiful Show of Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was pale as she looked at the broken oil painting on the floor.

    She did not hear the voice from the other end of the phone, so she softly asked, ¡°Who did it?¡±

    Li Lei was quiet for a while before saying, ¡°It was my brother. Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling. I will increase security protection to ensure your safety. I will also be there personally to drive you around. My brother probably does not have any intention of harming you. He probably just wants to scare you.¡±

    A scare? It was truly very frightening.

    Li Feng¡¯s soft and bewitching expression appeared in Xia Ling¡¯s mind like a colorful snake.

    Li Lei tried tofort her with words, but he was worried inside. His demon-like brother acted very irrationally, and who knew what his next step was. It was possible that he was only trying to scare her, but it was also possible that... He did not just kill one or two people. Killing Xiao Ling was not a significant addition to his list.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened.

    Xia Ling was a little relieved after beingforted by him. She knew that Li Feng was a dangerous person, but she did not understand why she blindly trusted Li Lei. Li Lei said that she would be fine so she would be fine. In the days toe, she continued to perform as usual and rushed to the site of the Neb Music Festival. Li Lei turned down most of the social activities he had to attend and apanied her to ensure that she was properly protected.

    Thest night of the Neb Music Festival.

    Xia Ling ended up in fourth ce and had the highest score out of all of the neers.

    Backstage.

    ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling!¡± Luo Luo skipped towards her and gave her a big hug.

    A few other people including Lu Tao, Leng Hui, Bai Murong, and Feng Kun surrounded her and congratted her. Li Lei sent her a bouquet of lilies, hugged her, and kissed her. ¡°You¡¯re the best.¡±

    ¡°Another public disy of affection!¡± The crowd could not bear to see it.

    During this period, this couple had a lot of public disys of affection and caused all those who were single, unhappy, and in secret rtionships to feel jealous... Everyone was envious of their rtionship.

    However, Li Lei was delighted and shed a toothy smile. ¡°I like spoiling Xiao Ling. So what about it?¡±

    His face did not have a single shred of guilt, and people could not bear to look at them directly.

    At the start, the media representatives had varying public opinions of their rtionship. Some criticized Ye Xingling for being arrogant when she debuted, but this rhetoric was quickly suppressed by Li Lei. Furthermore, both of them were very much in love... As such, all of the entertainment sites started to report on how much they loved each other, where they ate together, where they went together, and how Big Boss Li opened the car door for his beloved little girlfriend...

    Xia Ling smiled happily in Li Lei¡¯s arms, holding therge bouquet of lilies in front of her face.

    The reporters who obtained visiting licenses crazily took photos of them. This couple of a handsome man and a beautifuldy was too eye-catching. From face-value to their status, there was enough material for the media to write articles until the end of the year.

    With his hand around Xia Ling¡¯s soft and slender waist, Li Lei and Xia Ling walked out of the TV station.

    As they walked on the short stretch of snow, he used hisrge coat to protect her.

    Not far away in a high-rise building, Li Feng put down his sniper rifle and drank red wine in big gulps. Beside him, several beautiful women were trembling in fear as they served him. ¡°You¡¯re really getting better at protecting her.¡± A treacherous smile appeared on his mouth as he spoke to himself. ¡°Using your own body as a shield to block the best sniping position... Xiao Lei, is this little girl that important to you? Is she even more important than your own life?¡±

    He gracefully adjusted his sniper¡¯s aim and looked closely at the couple through his aiming device. From this angle, Li Lei thoroughly protected Xia Ling using his body, and he could not find any trace of a gap between them for him to shoot.

    ¡°I still think you¡¯re gambling with me...¡± Li Feng smiled more delightedly. ¡°You think I can¡¯t bear to kill you?¡±

    Li Lei sent Xia Ling back to the apartment, bid her farewell, and entered his own apartment next door.

    Su Tang knocked on the door before entering. ¡°Young Master, today the bodyguards dismantled another three toy bombs along the way which were all ced by Young Master Feng. The signal of the fifthmunication group was also disrupted. When you were guarding Miss Ye out from the TV station, they could not connect to the channel.¡± That meant that if Li Feng wanted to do something, no one could report it to Li Lei.

    These were Li Feng¡¯s means. He did not want to kill Xia Ling and did not even want to hurt her.

    However, he wanted to warn Li Lei at every moment that he could do so. In front of him, Li Lei, as his younger brother, was always weaker. Li Lei and his girlfriend were caught in his web. The only reason why he was not doing anything, for the time being, was because he was in a good mood... and nothing more.

    Li Lei lit a cigarette. The extinguished fire and smoke reflected his dignified face.

    ¡°The new year is approaching.¡± He said.

    Su Tang was startled and did not know why he suddenly mentioned that. However, she still respectfully replied. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s still half a month before the Spring Festival.¡±

    ¡°Make some preparations. This year, I will bring Xiao Ling back home.¡±

    ¡°Young Master?¡± Despite Su Tang¡¯s indifference and calmness, at this moment, she could not help but widen her eyes in shock. ¡°You want to bring Miss Ye back to the Li Headquarters?¡± She asked incredulously.

    After Li Lei made this decision, he strangely became more rxed and smiled. ¡°Yes, I will bring her back home. She will marry me sooner orter. It¡¯s not a bad thing for her to familiarize herself with my family earlier.¡± With Li Feng casting covetous eyes on his prey, Xiao Ling, and considering the perverted nature of his older brother¡¯s thought process, who knew what he was capable of doing. Li Lei could not take Xiao Ling¡¯s safety lightly.

    He could only bring her back to his family¡¯s headquarters to pay respects to his grandfather and gain his acknowledgment.

    After that, anyone who dared toy a hand on her would have to think twice.

    ¡°But...¡± Su Tang did not know what to say. How could Young Master bring a girl he had known for only a year back to his family headquarters? He should know that the Li Family was involved in the triad. The family headquarters was far from typical and was located in the most guarded location. As long as the person trying to enter their home was not someone whom they trusted with their lives, they would not be able to enter their home!

    Over the years, there had been many romances between the children of the Li Family and outsiders, but not more than three were truly able to enter the family headquarters!

    ¡°Young Master, isn¡¯t this too risky?¡± Su Tang rushed to offer some wisdom and quietly warned him. ¡°You told me to investigate Miss Ye¡¯s background before, and you know that her background is too clean andpletely inconsistent from what she is hiding from you. Until now, we still do not know what her rtionship with Pei Ziheng is, and we¡¯re confused about the diagnosis that Dr. James gave her that time, so we don¡¯t know much about what sort of serious provocation she had experienced. There are too many doubts surrounding her. Is it suitable for a person like her with such a dubious background to enter the headquarters?¡±

    ¡°I say she is suitable, so she is suitable.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was light, but it was filled with unstoppable power and influence.

 Chapter 208 - A Strategic Stronghold

    <h4>Chapter 208: A Strategic Stronghold</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang did not reply to him. After following Young Master for so many years, she was well aware of his temperament. Once he made a decision, it was difficult to change his mind.

    However, she was not content. How could he easily let the small star called Ye Xingling enter his family¡¯s headquarters? There was no doubt that the Li family was arge n, but Old Master Li did not really care much about status when it came to marriage. He also doted on Li Lei, and as long as Li Lei genuinely wanted to be together with Ye Xingling, Old Master Li would most likely not oppose their rtionship.

    Su Tang frowned. <i>No way, </i>she thought. <i>After waiting on the Young Master for so long, how could I let another get ahead of me?</i>

    She was filled with thoughts as she bid farewell to Li Lei.

    Recently, Xia Ling ended her activities in the Neb Music Festival and was almost finished with all her other jobs. With Li Feng monitoring her every move, she decided to live in the seclusion of her own home and spent every day practicing her singing, basking in the sun, and entertaining Er Mao.

    On this day, she was drinking tea in the living room, and Er Mao was lying at her feetzily.

    Li Lei walked in and looked at Xia Ling who was wearing a home-knit sweater with an elegant demeanor. He smiled and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you want toe home with me during the New Year to visit my grandfather?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked and tilted her head. ¡°Visit your grandfather?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Since we have already made our rtionship public, how about we visit my family¡¯s headquarters to see my grandfather and let him see how wonderful my girlfriend is?¡±

    ¡°But...¡± She remembered that he had suggested visiting his elders in the past, but she had rejected him then. This request was being made very soon after her rejection, and she was not mentally prepared. ¡°Aren¡¯t we progressing too quickly?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± He smiled gleefully. ¡°Just think of it as an ordinary visit. You see, it is almost the Spring Festival, which is very important to the elders. I have not visited my family for a year. If I don¡¯t go back this Spring Festival, it will be very disrespectful. Among all of his grandsons, my grandfather dotes on me the most. After knowing that I have a girlfriend, he was delighted and kept asking me to bring you to visit him.¡± He evaded the crucial point and did not mention the detail regarding the threat of Li Feng and the difficulty of entering his family¡¯s headquarters. He only hoped for Xiao Ling to agree to it happily.

    Xia Ling was still a little nervous.

    She remembered that many years ago when Pei Ziheng first brought her to meet his family, his conceited family members gave her condescending, shocked, and disgusted looks... Until now, she could not forget them. She did not like those so-called influential ns and did not want to experience that sort of humiliation again.

    Li Lei continued to persuade her. ¡°Are you worried about your parents? We can stay a few days at my grandfather¡¯s house and visit your parents on the third day. What do you think?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. Her parents? Ever since she was reborn, she only saw them a total of two times, and they plotted against her twice. If she could, she really hoped never to see them again.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I will be with you wherever you choose to spend the Spring Festival.¡± Li Feng had his eye on her, and Li Lei was worried about letting her leave his sight. However, he continued, ¡°I really miss my grandfather and really want to see him...¡±

    Xia Ling felt sorry seeing that he was in a difficult situation.

    ¡°Let me think about it,¡± she said.

    How far would you go for someone you love? Xia Ling held her teacup as she debated for two days. Li Lei¡¯s radiant and enchanting smile never once left her mind. In her frustration, she realized the guilt she felt for not wanting to face an influential n. He had done so many things for her, but it seemed that she never really did anything for him.

    <i>Forget it, I will go </i>, she thought.

    Besides, the looks from an influential and wealthy family could not kill her.

    With a feeling of self-execution, she agreed to Li Lei¡¯s invitation.

    ¡°I...¡± She self-consciously said to Li Lei. ¡°What should I prepare? I mean things rted to new year gifts for grandfather and your other family members...¡± The way she said ¡°grandfather¡± by ident made Li Lei burst with joy.

    Li Lei replied, ¡°I will prepare them. You don¡¯t have to worry about anything.¡±

    However, Xia Ling could not help but worry. She was a visitor and no matter what, she had to show her sincerity. After asking Li Lei what his grandfather and his family members liked, Li Lei told her that his grandfather was usually overseas but really liked items of traditional Chinese culture such as antiques and toys. Xia Ling almost wanted to cry. Antiques? She did not know if she had enough money to afford them.

    She counted her pathetic savings and frowned.

    Li Lei reassured her. ¡°I already said that I will prepare the gifts. Just give it to grandfather in your name. It¡¯s the same.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°Do you think he is stupid? Do you think they won¡¯t be able to tell who bought the gifts when they are obviously beyond my budget?¡± In this life, she was quite miserable. No matter what she bought, she was burdened with debt. Sometimes, she even missed the times in her past life when she was able to swipe her credit card freely without looking at the price tag.

    Li Lei fell silent. It was frustrating that his girlfriend refused to spend his money so much.

    He questioned the heavens silently and stared nkly at his ck gold card before sighing. ¡°What¡¯s your budget?¡±

    Xia Ling reported a number with tears in her eyes.

    Li Lei could not bear to look at her directly and started to consider raising the wages of the Skyart Entertainment¡¯s employees next year...

    He sighed and gave her advice. ¡°I know a store that specializes in China¡¯s four treasures. They are all authentic. You can buy a high-quality ink b made in Duanxi. He will like it.¡± Although the ink b was expensive, its price was not as absurd as the other antiques.

    Xia Ling was back on track full of life again and went straight to the store.

    Li Lei shamelessly apanied her by expressing his concern in nice-sounding phrases.

    The store was decorated elegantly, and the carved wooden screen had a sort of olden alluring charm. There were not many guests, and there was a hint of sandalwood in the air. Xia Ling exined the purpose of her visit and the clerk brought over a few ink bs for her to see.

    ¡°This is one of our high-quality goods. The color is very sharp, and the carving is very well done.¡±

    ¡°This one is green and made of bamboo. It is most suitable for schrs.¡±

    ¡°This one has a carving on the top. You see this pit, it makes this knocking sound...¡±

    The clerk took a long time to introduce her to the different types of ink bs courteously.

    Xia Ling was in a daze from looking at all the different ink bs. She did not understand anything about them, and could not differentiate between the good and poor quality ones. She also did not know what Old Master Li liked and only looked at Li Lei for help. Li Lei was particrly impressed with the effectiveness of her innocent look. <i>Haha, Xiao Ling, </i>he thought. <i>Even if you don¡¯t need my money, you still need to rely on your man to buy something.</i>

    Li Lei was in an upbeat mood as he taught her confidently. ¡°This old ink b with the dragon carving is not bad. The grayish-purple with blue hues, strong color tones, and carving pattern is very beautiful. The sound it makes is also heavy, so it is sure to be a top grade product. Grandfather will definitely like it.¡±

    The clerk looked at Li Lei with amazement. ¡°This gentleman is really informed.¡±

    Of course, he was informed. When he was a child, he was very good at wasting things. Old Master Li¡¯s collection of antiques were frequently wasted by him. A Qing Dynasty kiln which was made of blue and white porcin was used by him to drink water, and a colorful Tang Dynasty vase was used as a vase. Old Master Li¡¯s pain was one-sided as Second Young Master Li continued his frivolous use of his antiques. Old Master Li did not allow anyone to touch his valuable items, but Li Lei could get away with using them as he wanted.

    He was a second young master who was truly brought up with wealth.

    However, due to that, Li Lei knew what his grandfather had,cked, and liked better than anyone else.

 Chapter 209 - Broken Ink Slab

    <h4>Chapter 209: Broken Ink b</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Since he said that it was good, Xia Ling decided to buy that ink b.

    After the clerk packed the item for them, and when they were ready to leave, they suddenly heard a huge uproar. A woman¡¯s shrill and rapid voice was heard. ¡°The old dragon ink b that I saw was still here when I came yesterday. How is it possible that it was sold today? You¡¯re lying!¡±

    Another store employee patiently exined the situation to her. ¡°Miss Gu, I¡¯m not lying. Someone bought it five minutes ago.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it!¡± That woman pushed the employee aside and dashed into the store. She was startled after seeing Xia Ling and Li Lei.

    Xia Ling was also a little startled. It was such a coincidence that Gu Lin was there as well.

    Shocked, Gu Lin red fiercely at Xia Ling before sweetly addressing Li Lei. ¡°Brother Lei~~, why are you here? Were you the one that bought the ink b?¡± After saying that, she squeezed in between Xia Ling and Li Lei and started to grab Li Lei¡¯s arm.

    Li Lei, who had a girlfriend, instinctively avoided her and quietly held on to Xia Ling again.

    ¡°It was Xiao Ling who bought it.¡± Considering their business rtions, he smiled amiably at Gu Lin. ¡°It is almost the Spring Festival. I¡¯m going to bring Xiao Ling home to visit my grandfather, so we are here to buy a present.¡±

    So that was the reason!

    Gu Lin was not able to win Li Lei¡¯s heart and was very frustrated about it. After hearing what he said, she was shocked. They had only announced their rtionship not long ago, but it had progressed so quickly that he was bringing her to visit his elders?! Hate, indignance, pain, and anger... Gu Lin experienced a rush of emotions as she sourly replied, ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. I remember that Grandfather Gu always liked girls from respectable families. How would he react to a girl like...¡±

    Seeing that Li Lei¡¯s face was darkening, she quickly put on a smile. ¡°Brother Lei~~, it¡¯s too shabby to buy a single ink b. How about you ask Ye Xingling to sell the ink b to me, and I will give Grandfather Li a better new year gift in exchange. I¡¯m nning to give Grandfather Li an entire set of China¡¯s four treasures and a box made of rosewood. I assure you that it will be of sufficient value.¡±

    She was very proud of being a daughter of an eminent family. She had money unlike the poor small star Ye Xingling who probably had a difficult time saving before being able to raise that amount of money.

    Li Lei frowned. This little girl Gu Lin was spoiled by the Gu Family and dared to speak carelessly.

    In the past when he was single, it was amusing when she bullied other people, but now that she was bullying his girlfriend, he could not tolerate it. ¡°It is not about the number or the mary value. As long as she is sincere, my grandfather would definitely like the ink b that Xiao Ling gives him. Lin Lin, thank you for thinking of my grandfather even during the new year. Unfortunately, I¡¯m unable to make ns with you. Goodbye.¡±

    Looking at Gu Lin¡¯s wronged and upset expression, Xia Ling almost wanted tough.

    <i>Wow, does she think I¡¯m a soft persimmon that¡¯s easy to bully? </i>Without Li Lei covering for her, using Xia Ling¡¯s personal ability, she would only make Gu Lin more embarrassed. She was a little regretful that her insulting prowess could not be used. She proudly raised her chin and held on to Li Lei tightly. ¡°I¡¯m hungry. Let¡¯s eat.¡± She walked out without turning back.

    Gu Lin was going crazy looking at the exiting couple.

    What right did she have to do this?!

    Brother Lei said that he could not make ns with her this year, but she knew that he never had any intention to spend time with her at all! In the past, the Li family was rarely open to outsiders. Although the Li and Gu families were business partners, the only person who had been to the family headquarters was Old Master Gu. Even now, Gu Lin was never allowed to enter the family headquarters.

    Every year, she always spent a lot of effort to prepare a new year gift for Old Master Li, but her gifts were only given to him by Li Lei. However, Li Lei had just said that he was going to bring the small star Ye Xingling back to his family headquarters?!

    Gu Lin exploded in anger and on impulse, she flung her hand at them. ¡°No way! Brother Lei~~, you can¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling gasped in shock. She did not hold the ink b in her hand tightly enough and it fell to the ground.

    ¡°My ink b!¡± She immediately knelt down and picked up the ink b. After opening the packaging, she realized that the grayish purple and blue dragon was broken into two pieces.

    Xia Ling felt like crying but had no tears.

    This ink b cost arge portion of her savings and was broken before it was even used. Where else could she go to find a present for Old Master Li? She lifted her head and red at Gu Lin. ¡°Compensate me!¡±

    Gu Lin realized that she was in trouble. She was shocked at first but suddenly became happy. That ink b was meant as a gift for Old Master Li by that stupid woman. Haha! She should just prevent her from giving him a gift at all! As such, Gu Lin arrogantly said, ¡°It¡¯s obvious that you did not hold it tightly enough, but you still me others for your mistake. Compensate you? What a joke!¡±

    Miss Gu was actually willing to use her money to smack Xia Ling¡¯s face, but she was afraid that she would use the money to buy another gift for Old Master Li, so she refrained from doing so. Looking at how anxious Xia Ling was, her mood improved.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going topensate me?¡± Xia Ling was extremely furious. She could not believe that Gu Lin thought she was easy to bully. Besides shamelessly trying to flirt with her boyfriend, she also arrogantly damaged her things without the willingness topensate her!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that the daughter of the Gu family was so shameless.¡± She sneered as she quickly thought of a way to deal with Gu Lin. ¡°Shop assistant.¡± She yelled.

    The shop assistant was standing near them and watching as they quarreled, so he quickly went over. ¡°Miss Ye, what can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°You have surveince cameras in your store, right?¡± asked Xia Ling. She was particrly sensitive towards surveince cameras and realized that there were a few when she walked into the store.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Sure enough, the shop assistant replied. A store like that which sold valuables could not do without surveince. Otherwise, many situations could ur like the one just now when something broke and the person who was responsible for it was unclear. In fact, their surveince cameras were set up mainly to prevent such a situation. Once the shop assistant heard Xia Ling¡¯s question, she immediately understood what she meant. ¡°The surveince cameras would have recorded the entire scene. Do you need me to get the recording for you?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling looked at Gu Lin and smiled. ¡°Give me a copy of it.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to do?!¡± Gu Lin started to be nervous. She was the daughter of an eminent family and was spoiled since a young age, but she did not even think of the surveince cameras being a problem. If they checked the surveince cameras, there would be no doubt that she was the culprit.

    ¡°What am I trying to do?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I want you to pay me, apologize, andpensate for my mental trauma. Otherwise, who do you think is a suitable person to send this recording to?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too greedy!¡± Gu Lin stomped her foot in irritation. How could Brother Lei fall in love with a woman with such insatiable greed? She initially thought that she would only want her to pay back the money at most, but did not think that... she would have to apologize andpensate for her mental trauma!

    A faint smile appeared on Li Lei¡¯s lips, and he looked endearingly at the girlfriend beside him who was seriously bargaining with someone. His Xiao Ling was obviously not greedy for money since she did not even want the money that he offered her. However, the way she bargained really made others boil with anger. She was more deceitful than selling broken porcin in the ck market. Compensation for her mental trauma?! Only she could think of a reason like that.

    ¡°How much are you asking for?¡± He could not help but ask Xia Ling in a warm voice.

 Chapter 210 - The Four Treasures of the Study

    <h4>Chapter 210: The Four Treasures of the Study</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Brother Lei!¡± Gu Lin was on the verge of tears, how could he stand that darned woman?!

    Xia Ling smilingly said, ¡°Not much, we just want a triple of the end price. I believe Miss Gu will be able to afford such a small sum. Oh right, I need this money urgently, so we need this settled by today. Otherwise, I guess I¡¯ll have no choice but pass this on to... your father, Old Master Gu. I think he¡¯ll settle this promptly.¡±

    ¡°But what if Grandfather Gu doesn¡¯t want to pay?¡± Li Lei was stifling hisughter now.

    ¡°Well...¡± Xia Ling tilted her head cutely. ¡°Send it to the press, or the court, or maybe just Mr. Li? There¡¯s bound to be a tform for justice to be served.¡±

    With every location, Gu Lin¡¯s heart leaped through her mouth.

    Sending it to Old Master Gu? Old Master Gu had just warned her against messing with Xia Ling. If he discovered that she was up to something again, he would literally skin her alive. The media? The courts? Goodness, the Gu¡¯s family reputation would go to shreds, and Mr. Gu would definitely skin her alive. That can¡¯t happen... Especially when her greatest wish was to marry into the Li¡¯s. Giving her father-inw a bad first impression would be even worse than being skinned alive!

    Gu Lin gave Xia Ling the evil eye, feeling as if a fire was spouting out of her gaze.

    Xia Ling remained indifferent. ¡°Miss Gu, you should make your decision quickly. I don¡¯t have a lot of time.¡±

    In all her years alive, Gu Lin had always been doted on, and there was no way that she could win her battle with Xia Ling. She was angry and anxious, but still, she couldn¡¯te out with any alternative ideas. Was she really going to give this damned woman her money?

    Gu Lin bit her lip as she directed her gaze towards Li Lei, before bursting into tears. ¡°Brother Lei, she¡¯s bullying me!¡±

    She had forgotten that the Li Lei that stood in front of her was, in fact, not her Brother Lei, but rather, Xia Ling¡¯s boyfriend, who would definitely jump to defend the woman that he actually loved. Li Lei looked at her with pity. ¡°Lin Lin, you did break the thing. It is not wrong for Xiao Ling to ask you to pay. How about you apologize to her, pay her the money, and then we can peacefully move on from here.¡±

    Of all the people that Gu Lin could¡¯ve been at loggerheads with, she just had to choose Xiao Ling. Besides, Gu Lin was at fault.

    Gu Lin had never anticipated this. She just stood there, biting her lip and just contemting as tears fell down her face. ¡°Brother Lei, you have changed...¡±

    Changed? Internally, Xia Lingughed bitterly. <i>Gu Lin, you think you can win others¡¯ sympathy by merely crying? </i>She had seen so much of this in her previous life, but now, Xia Ling¡¯s heart had been cast to stone, and she watched on as Gu Lin continued her act.

    Li Lei¡¯s brow twitched. She was like a sister to him, after all; making her cry wasn¡¯t particrly ideal.

    He eyed Xia Ling, and his gaze met hers. She was unsmiling as if saying, ¡°What, does your heart hurt?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart leaped momentarily, feeling that as long as he showed any sign of weakness, the distance between him and Xia Ling that he had worked so hard to bridge before woulde to naught all over again.

    Instead, he held onto Xia Ling¡¯s hands and turned to Gu Lin. ¡°No matter what Xiao Ling wants to do, I will support her, because she is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. As for you... Lin Lin, it¡¯s time for you to change that temper of yours. Otherwise, one day it wille back to bite you.¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s sobs grew louder and then she ran away.

    Xia Ling watched her figure leave wordlessly. Did she leave just like that? Gu Lin¡¯s resolve was practically nothingpared to Xia Yu back then. However, since she had left so abruptly, what was she going to do about the payment? Xia Ling was in a dilemma. Of course, she couldn¡¯t go around showing the surveince videos to people, because even if she didn¡¯t mind shing with other people, she still had to show some consideration to Li Lei and maintain whatever peace they had left.

    Li Lei sighed looking in the direction Gu Lin had left. That girl had been spoiled to death, it was just lucky that she had crossed paths Xiao Ling¡¯s sharp tongue but soft heart. What if one day she offended someone far worse...

    He began to worry.

    ¡°Miss Ye, Mr. Li.¡± The waiter was still waiting in the corner. ¡°Would you still be needing the surveince tapes? And the shattered fragments on the floor, do you need us to clean it up for you?¡±

    Xia Ling calmed herself down. ¡°We don¡¯t need the surveince tapes for now. As for the fragments...¡± Looking at the purple grey smithereens, Xia Ling was on the verge of tears. There was no way she could put all these pieces back together with glue and hand it over to Old Master Gu, right?

    Li Lei broke her train of thought. ¡°Choose something else first. I¡¯ll foot the bill.¡±

    ¡°And why do you think you should be doing that?¡± Xia Ling huffed.

    Li Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Lin Lin is practically my sister, just let me do my part as her brother.¡± In front of Gu Lin, he defended his girlfriend and gave barely a second look at other girls. But in private, he continued to harp on his rtionship with Gu Lin, trying to neutralize the tension between the girls.

    Who knew that this would take a turn for the worse.

    Xia Ling¡¯s frustration grew further. ¡°You¡¯re my boyfriend! Your money is my money! Does it make sense that you have to pay for yourself?¡± As the words slipped from her mouth, she btedly realized how possessive she sounded. What did she mean by ¡°your money is my money¡±? Had she... had she subconsciously considered Li Lei her family now...

    Li Lei first reacted in bewilderment, then his face broke into a wide smile.

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, my money is your money.¡± He wanted to pull her in and spin her around. He didn¡¯t fear that she was after his money, and now she wasfortable. ¡°My money is now under your care, you call the shots. It¡¯s all yours.¡±

    The employee was holding in hisughter.

    Xia Ling grew more distressed. ¡°I, I¡¯m...¡± It slowly morphed into fury. ¡°We were talking about Gu Lin! The bottom line is, I¡¯m not letting you be her scapegoat!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, if you say so.¡± What had been a respected, capable Boss was now reced with an incredibly whipped boyfriend.

    Xia Ling was satisfied, but it hailed a new problem. How was she going toe up with the money?

    ¡°It¡¯s simple.¡± The Boss was back in high spirits, and his brain was in overdrive now. He asked the employee to get the surveince footage and told Xia Ling, ¡°Now we can¡¯t send this to Mr. Gu, but remember the guy you met at the cocktail reception for The Caged Butterfly? He¡¯s Gu Lin¡¯s biological father. He dotes on her excessively, I¡¯m sure he will try to keep this quiet and pay you.¡±

    ¡°Good idea. I like it.¡± Xia Ling grinned as she shot the Boss apliment. The middle-aged man she met that day seemed like a pretty decent guy, other than the fact that he spoiled his daughter silly. To get things under control, he would probably give in.

    Xia Ling gleefully sent the recordings over, and unsurprisingly, a significant sum was sent into her bank ount shortly after. The money had tripled, and so did her ecstasy. Yes, her n to get Mr. Li a present became more concrete.

    This time around, she was with Li Lei again and bought the entire set. Thinking about what Gu Lin had intended previously, she also decided to pair it up with a beautiful wooden box.

    Women are petty, and she was no exception. After making her purchase, she took a selfie of herself with Li Lei and posted it on Weibo.

    ¡ª It¡¯s New Years¡¯. Apanying my boyfriend home to give my elders a present.

    It had been a short caption, but it turned popr in a matter of minutes.

    Xia Ling knew that Gu Lin would definitelye across it, and the thought of getting on Gu Lin¡¯s nerves again was fun.

 Chapter 211 - Visiting Old Master Li

    <h4>Chapter 211: Visiting Old Master Li</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin was mad. At home, she broke things and would not stop crying.

    Her father couldn¡¯t bring himself to continue seeing his daughter like that and confronted his own father about it in desperation. ¡°Dad, can¡¯t you see? Lin Lin really likes Li Lei; she¡¯s liked him since they were kids. How about you give her a hand? Don¡¯t you drop by the Li¡¯s often? How about you bring her along the next time you visit?¡±

    Old Master Gu mmed the lid on the teapot and red pratingly at his son. ¡°Gu Jiacheng, don¡¯t you dare be distracted by others¡¯ wealth! Lin Lin is confused, must you? What ce is the Li¡¯s? How can they ept someone like Lin Lin? What do you take them for? You think I can just randomly bring people as I like?¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Mr. Gu¡¯s voice dropped to a whisper. ¡°How is Lin Lin worse than Ye Xingling? Even Ye Xingling can make it to the Li¡¯s, why can¡¯t my daughter?¡± There came his source of motivation behind asking Old Master Gu for a favor. All these years, he had feared to go against the word of his own father, but that was before he found out that even small celebrities were going around the Li¡¯s.

    ¡°You think Ye Xingling is that simple?¡± Old Master Gu was just about to die from sheer anger. ¡°My dearest son, what must I say for you to understand? The girl managed to get Lin Lin down so easily. Whatever she can aplish, doesn¡¯t mean Lin Lin can do it as well! Furthermore, Li¡¯s son simply adores her, can¡¯t you see? I advise you to leave them alone, don¡¯t get one of those funny ideas! Let¡¯s exist in peace.¡±

    Mr. Gu huffed but had nothing to say in response. He did fail, after all, so he had to retreat for the time being.

    In secret, he had already sent his payment over to the wretched girl.

    Xia Ling rounded up all the presents she had gotten for Li Lei.

    Li Lei rarely spoke about his father, and whenever Xia Ling asked, he would only say, ¡°He¡¯s a capable person, responsible enough to take on the burden of raising a family, had two wives die and never took on a third.¡±

    She had pressed for more, but Li Lei refused to divulge further.

    Xia Ling had felt that Li Lei¡¯s rtionship with his father was a little shallow, even bordering on fake. Sheughed at him. ¡°You don¡¯t know how lucky you are, you¡¯re not like me...¡± She never knew what her biological parents looked like, but she stopped herself from carrying on.

    Li Lei merely smiled and said, ¡°Maybe yours are better.¡±

    He was referring to the calcting Ye¡¯s. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t going to correct him.

    She prepared her important gifts, and then prepared several small presents and candies for the other rtives and the children, working on it for half a day and only stopping when she was satisfied.

    Li Lei bought her an outfit for Chinese New Year ¡ª a red woolen coat with a beige sweater. She looked festive without losing her womanliness. Li Lei himself made sure toplete the couple look with his beige woolen coat and red sweater, and when they held hands, they looked quite the picture.

    They hopped onto a ne to an ind near the South Pacific, where the Li headquarters were.

    Vast expanses of trees and grass greeted them as they touched down in their private airport. The neatly trimmed trees lined the roads, dotted with flowers and stretched on endlessly, and on both sides, tens of uniformed servants bowed towards them. ¡°Wee home, Second Master.¡±

    Li Lei brought Xia Ling in.

    The head butler was already expecting Second Master¡¯s return home and promptly went out to greet him. ¡°Your Thunderous Yard has been tidied up. Also, not too long ago, Old Master acquired some new shrubbery and got some people to move it in, saying that you would certainly love it when youe back.¡±

    Li Lei grinned. ¡°Grandpa gets me. Right, where is he?¡±

    ¡°Old Master is awaiting your arrival.¡± The butler was also smiling. ¡°He¡¯s been waiting for you in the Calming Heart Garden for a while. You can go there first to settle down, and thenter bring Miss Ye along to see him.¡± After all, he was bringing an outsider home. Li Lei and his grandfather had spoken beforehand, no wonder many people knew there was going to be another girling home.

    Xia Ling just stood beside Li Lei, maintaining her smiling demeanor. She didn¡¯t speak, just listened.

    She was not acting out, even though the ce was practically a castle from her dreams. Even when sheid eyes on the sentry and the patrol squad, not even a flicker of surprise crossed her face.

    The rumors said she was just a small celebrity, after all.

    But her performance was intriguing to the butler.

    Second Master did choose her; even if she were average, there must be something about her.

    The butler weed both of them into the Thunderous Yard before leaving.

    Then, the door closed.

    A growl rumbled, then Er Mao¡¯s tail cameshing out, and suddenly he pounced on Li Lei in affection.

    ¡°Yo, you came back earlier than we did.¡± Li Lei beamed, caressing Er Mao¡¯s sides. Er Mao was sent home with a helicopter specially made for beasts, and when he was sent home, he had been on high alert, circling the Calming Heart Garden for many times before being absolutely sure that it was safe territory, and then waited patiently for Li Lei to arrive.

    Li Lei yed with him for a while, then turned his head to face Xia Ling. ¡°This ce is mine, only Er Mao and I live here. Now there¡¯s you, so that makes the three of us. You don¡¯t have to feel constricted here.¡±

    Xia Ling visibly rxed, finally putting down the facade she had put on the entire day.

    She curiously scanned the yard, aplete change from her disinterested attitude beforehand. Everything was interesting now. His yard was the same as other people¡¯s, clean and bright, minimalistic, yet so incredibly rxing.

    She immediately decided that she was going to love this ce.

    She went in to take a momentary rest, then showered and put on a change of clothes. She put on some light makeup, brought her presents, and anxiously went to meet Old Master.

    Her hands were in Li Lei¡¯s when they came into Old Master¡¯s Calming Heart Garden.

    He was calmly drinking tea.

    ¡°Grandpa,¡± Li Lei called, smiling.

    The old man slowly turned his head. He had a head of silver hair, his eyes bright but unreadable. Looking at Li Lei brought out some affection. ¡°Xiao Lei is back.¡± Li Lei grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s hand and looked at her.

    Xia Ling was so nervous she felt her body stiffen.

    Li Lei gripped her hand even tighter as if to give her strength.

    Even beforeing home, Li Lei had told him about Xia Ling. Back then, Old Master had been entirely respectful towards his decision, saying that status wasn¡¯t an issue as long as he had decided that she was the right person. It was then that Li Lei knew that he was going to love Xia Ling unconditionally.

    Ever since he was a kid, Grandpa had loved whatever he did anyway.

    Old Master Li considered Xia Ling for a while. ¡°So you¡¯re Xiao Lei¡¯s girlfriend? Come a little closer, let me take a closer look.¡±

 Chapter 212 - Her Weak Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 212: Her Weak Destiny</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling took a few steps forward and took the opportunity to scrutinize Old Master Li as he looked at her.

    This old man¡¯s eyes were simr to Li Lei¡¯s, but with more understanding of the world and calmness in his knowledge. His eyes were kind and serene, but deep beyond her understanding. Xia Ling did not know what to think about it, but she wondered: <i>When Li Lei grows old, would this be how he¡¯ll look like?</i>

    Old Master Li sized her up for a rather long time before saying simply, ¡°Since you¡¯re here, you should stay with Xiao Lei for a few days. There are many restricted zones on this ind, be careful not to trespass them. Xiao Lei, be a good host to our guest.¡± He then went on to drink his tea.

    Li Lei felt his heart sink, ¡°guest¡± was such a distant term.

    In the Zen garden, the bamboo leaves rustled in the breeze. Li Lei felt uneasy but forced a smile. ¡°Grandpa, Xiao Ling specially brought you a gift. Xiao Ling, let Grandpa take a look at it.¡±

    Xia Ling held the gift before Old Master Li¡¯s face, she respectfully greeted him. ¡°Grandpa...¡±

    Old Master Li raised his hand to stop her. ¡°Don¡¯t, Miss Ye, I don¡¯t deserve you calling me Grandpa. Leave the gift on the table.¡± He gestured to the table by his side. ¡°Have a happy new year here in the Li family, don¡¯t make this a wasted trip.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    Beforeing over to visit the Old Mister of the Li family, she had thought of countless possibilities, including one that he would not like her. But, she never expected it to be such a direct and explicit rejection. She stood still, not knowing how to react.

    ¡°Grandpa!¡± Li Lei was stunned as well. Wasn¡¯t Grandpa very particr about the background of his granddaughter-inw? Why did he not consider her? He tried once again. ¡°Won¡¯t you open the gift and take a look at it? Xiao Ling took a lot of effort to pick it...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡± Old Master Li interrupted him. ¡°Xiao Lei, take Miss Ye back to rest. Come to my study room tonight.¡±

    Seeing Grandpa¡¯s attitude, Li Lei knew there was no room for negotiation at this point, much as he wanted to fight for Xia Ling. He held Xia Ling¡¯s hand to give her some strength and excused themselves before returning to Thunderous Yard.

    Xia Ling was dejected. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t your grandfather like me?¡±

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s some misunderstanding somewhere.¡± Li Lei consoled her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll have a good talk with him tonight.¡± It took a lot for both of them to finally get together, he could not bear to think about having to leave her because of his family¡¯s disapproval.

    That night, he went to Old Master Li¡¯s study room.

    In the room were rows of sturdy bookshelves lined with valuable sequels. Old Master Li was sitting alone by the teapot, steeping his tea while waiting for him.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be with this girl.¡± He said the moment Li Lei opened the door.

    ¡°Why!¡± Li Lei was flustered. ¡°I love her!¡±

    ¡°Love?¡± Old Master Li did not seem to think much about what Li Lei had just said. ¡°Xiao Lei, love does not assure your safety, neither does it help you gain power and authority. Love is just a bncing tool in your life, treat it no more than as a dispensable embellishment. If she was an ordinary girl, it¡¯s alright even if she has a humble background; we have enough to support her anyway. But, this girl...¡±

    ¡°What about Xiao Ling?¡± Li Lei was anxious.

    Old Master Li carefully removed the foam from the tea he had steeped, his brows furrowed seriously under the dim lights. ¡°This girl doesn¡¯t have a good fortune. Her destiny is weak, and she has the life of a widow. Xiao Lei, you need to remember that people like us depend on blessings from the Heavens to stay safe ¡ª those who are lucky can survive unarmed even in a gunfire exchange, while those who have a weak destiny could be killed even by a stray bullet. You must not marry ady with such a destiny, she will bring you ill luck.¡±

    So that was his reason.

    Old Master Li was advanced in age and particr about such beliefs.

    Still, Li Lei was not taking it. ¡°Grandpa, those are groundless talk, how is Xiao Ling¡¯s life bad? Look at her, she¡¯s making it big in the entertainment circle at such a young age, how could someone with a bad life achieve this?¡±

    Old Master Li shook his head slowly. ¡°In any case, I do not approve of things between you and her. Xiao Lei, listen to me, there must be members in her family who faced disease or early death in thest three generations. You need to believe me.¡±

    Li Lei felt his heart sink a little.

    Old Master Li was actually right. Didn¡¯t her sister, Ye Xingfei, be a vegetable after a car ident?

    He wavered a little. Did Xiao Ling really have the life of a widow? But, even so, he was not going to give her up. ¡°Grandpa, haven¡¯t you always said that I have a good life? I¡¯m blessed, I won¡¯t be affected by that ¡®weak destiny.¡¯ Moreover, with me around, Xiao Ling will definitelye to no harm. Also, who¡¯s to say that what happened in her family wasn¡¯t just a coincidence?¡±

    They had different sentiments, but none was able to convince the other.

    Xia Ling was full of uncertainty as she waited for Li Lei in Thunderous Yard. If Old Master Li did not ept her, what was she to do? Smile and let it go? No... she could not do it, she had had enough of not being epted by her lover¡¯s family.

    She had to work for it, for Old Master Li to ept her.

    While thinking about it, she fell asleep on the couch.

    She woke up on the bed the next day, in a wooden hut filled with faint flower scents. Li Lei was lying by her side in his pajamas, holding onto her like an octopus. As she fidgeted in bed, he woke up and greeted her with a warm smile. ¡°Hi, Xiao Ling.¡±

    She felt a lot better seeing the smile on his face. ¡°Good morning.¡± Then, she asked, ¡°What did you and Old Master Li talk about in the study room yesterday?¡± She was upset that Old Master Li did not ept her, but did not want to stoop so low as to address him as ¡®Grandpa¡¯ anymore. She civilly spoke of him as ¡®Old Master Li¡¯ instead.

    Li Lei felt an ache in his heart but pretended not being bothered about it. ¡°Nothing much, just some family matters.¡±

    ¡°You talked bad about me, didn¡¯t you?¡± Xia Ling was simple and straightforward, but she sure was not silly.

    ¡°No such thing,¡± Li Lei reassured her. ¡°It¡¯s his first time meeting you, but it¡¯ll be fine once he warms up to you with time.¡± He then hurried her to get changed. ¡°There¡¯ll be a lot of peopleing over today to meet you, all my aunts and uncles and the like.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s attention was sessfully diverted. ¡°They¡¯reing to see me? Shouldn¡¯t I be the one paying the elders a visit?¡±

    ¡°No need for that.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Your man over here is higher in status than them.¡± He was the Little Emperor, Old Master Li¡¯s favorite grandchild, how could anybody ask him to visit them?

    Xia Ling¡¯s status was quickly inted as well, and became the center of attention in the house...

 Chapter 213 - The Crying Girl

    <h4>Chapter 213: The Crying Girl</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After Xia Ling got out of bed and washed up, she changed into a jade green knitted top, pulled her hair into a loose bun, and fastened it with an exquisite camellia hair stick. She applied some light make-up to conceal the effects of herck of sleep and made herself presentable in every aspect.

    Li Lei looked at her and said, ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. As his girlfriend, she did not want to embarrass him. Moreover, having been in the entertainment circle for a while, every practiced movement had be second nature. She could not allow anybody in the public to spot any ws.

    Many guests streamed in to visit.

    Before the guests entered, Li Lei would introduce to her their background and personality, and whether they were friends or foe. The familywork was beyondplicated ¡ª she tried to register each and every one of them initially, but it overwhelmed her over time. The rtionships he depicted sounded something like ¡°My third aunt is my sixth sister-inw¡¯s enemy, but my sixth sister-inw¡¯s distant nephew is good friends with my third aunt and uncle¡±... Xia Ling counted it a blessing that she did not faint on the spot.

    ¡°Just how many people are there in your family?¡± She had smiled and entertained the guests for the whole morning, but there were still many more on the visitation list that had not arrived.

    Li Lei felt a little bad. ¡°Grandpa likes crowds and bustle, so everybody tries their best toe home for the new year.¡± He tried to offer some words. ¡°But, many of them are caught up with their work elsewhere and won¡¯t being. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry!

    How could she not, there was so much to deal with.

    Li Lei began rubbing her neck and shoulders. ¡°Are you tired? We can skip the afternoon meetings then, you¡¯ll get to see them some other time anyway. Let¡¯s go to the nearby beach for a walk, it¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to put herself through all that torment anymore. Hence, she agreed to his suggestion.

    They held hands on their way to the beach. In the afternoon light, the blue sea was dotted with glitter from the sun rays, and the warmth that coupled it made the beach a paradise. Her spirits ¡ª which were low since the previous day ¡ª were finally lifted as she strolled around with Li Lei. Momentster, when she was at ease, the need to sleep arose.

    Li Lei led her to an area on the shore and helped her onto a hammock.

    ¡°Catch some sleep, I¡¯ll go get you a nket.¡± With that, he kissed her and left.

    Xia Lingy on the hammock as her dress fluttered lightly in the sea breeze. Her eyes were half closed as she thoroughly savored this moment of rxation, and just as she was about to drift to dreand, she seemed to hear somebody crying.

    The sobbing noises were intermittent.

    Xia Ling was awoken by the sound and sat herself up. She turned around and saw a girl sitting just close by, crying very hard.

    Xia Ling got off the hammock and squatted beside her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, little girl?¡±

    She looked about seven or eight, and her eyes were sore and puffy as she looked up at Xia Ling, sniffling. ¡°I- I... All of them do not like me and won¡¯t y with me... We were ying Hide-and-Seek, and they got me to close my eyes and count. When I was done counting to 100, they had all left... I searched for them for a long time, but could not find a single person...¡± She sobbed as she spoke.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached for her. ¡°They don¡¯t like you?¡±

    The little girl nodded. ¡°My cousins say I¡¯m a kid without a mother. They bully me and won¡¯t y with me, but I really want to have fun with them...¡±

    She wiped her tears off with her sleeve.

    Xia Ling remembered how she used to be ostracized as well when she was in the orphanage. She was beautiful, smart, and adored by the adults, making her the target of jealousy and envy among the other children. They broke her hair essories, threw her shoes into the dirty drain, and either left her out of games or bullied her when she was in it.

    Little Xia Ling then was helpless, and nobody around could do anything for her.

    Seeing this little girl before her today, Xia Ling could not help but have a soft spot for her. She wanted so badly to do something for this her. ¡°What¡¯s your name? Shall we y together? I¡¯ll get someone to bring some yummy snacks for you.¡±

    The little girl blinked at her for a while before bursting into tears. ¡°You¡¯re so nice...¡±

    Xia Ling ruffled her hair reassuringly. ¡°Come along, follow me.¡±

    The little girl choked between tears. ¡°I can¡¯t walk, I have a cramp in my leg. Sister, can you carry me home? I¡¯m Li Xiaoxing, my dad is Li Qingshu. I want to go home...¡±

    Li Qingshu?

    Earlier that day, Li Lei had introduced many of his rtives to Xia Ling, and she now remembered that Li Qingshu was on good terms with him. Since this was his daughter, she had to help her, at least on Li Lei¡¯s ount. She tried to carry that girl and realized that she was light ¡ª despite her petite stature, Xia Ling had undergone years of dance training and conditioning after all.

    ¡°Do you know the way home?¡± Xia Ling asked kindly.

    ¡°I do.¡± Li Xiaoxing directed the way.

    Soon, they arrived at a beautifully furnished bungalow.

    ¡°This is my house,¡± Li Xiaoxing told her. ¡°Sister, can you put me down first and ring the doorbell for me? Somebody wille out to carry me in.¡±

    The little girl was light, but Xia Ling had walked a distance carrying her and was fatigued by then. She ced the little girl on thewn and walked up to the doorbell.

    The doorbell rang.

    The door did not open.

    Just as Xia Ling was about to turn around to inform Li Xiaoxing that nobody was home, she fell through where she was standing.

    Shended with a thud and felt a warm liquiding down her face, its nauseating smell filling the air. She was afraid, but there was no way to check if it was blood in that pitch darkness.

    What was happening?

    She merely rang a doorbell, how did she end up falling?

    Where was this? And was Li Xiaoxing alright?

    She looked up and realized that the top of the pit had beenpletely sealed and not a ray of light could stream in. She then heard Li Xiaoxing¡¯s high-pitched voice. ¡°Li Xiaolong, Li Cann,e out! I¡¯ve caught her, haha!¡±

 Chapter 214 - Cries of the Cuckoo

    <h4>Chapter 214: Cries of the Cuckoo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The little girl sounded triumphant, a stark contrast from her weeping a while ago.

    Above her, she heard a boy¡¯s voice. ¡°Big Sister Xiaoxing is the best, she could even capture Uncle Lei¡¯s girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, Uncle Lei¡¯s girlfriend?¡± Li Xiaoxing was cold and arrogant. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why Uncle Lei would get together with such a girl. He¡¯s so smart, but his girlfriend is someone who¡¯d fall into a kid¡¯s trap.¡±

    The two boys chimed in. ¡°Exactly. Sister Su Tang is way better than this silly woman.¡±

    They went on talking, but Xia Ling could no longer hear them.

    In the pitch darkness, her heart began beating rapidly, and the pit now felt like a boundless void. She widened her eyes as much as she could, but still, there was no beam of light. Past memories of being locked in the dark basement by Pei Ziheng came gushing back ¡ª the humidity, the darkness, the horror, and the ferocious barks...

    ¡°Ah¡ª¡± she could not help but scream in fear.

    The smell of blood was getting more intense, choking her. She reached out, only to realize that the pit was a narrow one. The walls were wet soil, with bugs living in them.

    ¡°Let me out!¡± Her voice was trembling, and the image in her head was getting clearer, threatening to take over all her thoughts. ¡°Is anyone there? Let me out!¡±

    Even so, the children above could not hear her. They were busy discussing. ¡°What do we do now? Get an adult here? She¡¯s Uncle Lei¡¯s girlfriend after all, and it¡¯s so embarrassing that she has fallen into our trap and got dog¡¯s blood poured all over her. Uncle Lei will be angry, right?¡±

    ¡°Angry?¡± Li Xiaoxing smiled without care. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you think about that when you plotted against her? It¡¯s toote now. This is the reality, every adult we know does their sums before they do anything. All smart ones know how to avoid a trap, only an idiot like her would fall for such a trap. She¡¯s an embarrassment to Uncle Lei.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Li Xiaolong said. ¡°What sort of girlfriend would fall for this? She can forget about entering our family.¡±

    Li Lancang hesitated for a while before nodding along.

    Children of the Li family were different from most others. They went through special sses since they were young, and real-life application sses were among them. During such sses, they would be brought to an ind to plot something against a few targeted adults. But the adults came from such backgrounds as well and hardly fell for their tricks, making it difficult for the children to score well for the ss. Yet, with Xia Ling easily falling for the trap, they would be graded with an A- at least. How could they not celebrate?

    ¡°This woman is too foolish.¡± Li Xiaoxing was not satisfied. ¡°If it was a smarter one, we could¡¯ve gotten an A+.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too greedy.¡± Li Xiaolong took it positively. ¡°If you could capture Uncle Lei, you could get an SSS+, but could you? Er Mao has an S grade too, but I was almost eaten by him thest time. In any case, we¡¯ve got good enough grades for this semester. I¡¯m fine with an A-.¡±

    Li Xiaoxing thought about it and shrugged.

    ¡°So...¡± Li Lancang asked apprehensively. ¡°I¡¯ll get the teacher here?¡± The teacher had to be around to assess the situation for every adult caught.

    Li Xiaoxing agreed to it, but then thought it through and changed her decision. ¡°Wait... Get a few more people here. This woman is so silly, she has no right to be with Uncle Lei. Let everyone else see her for who she is and realize that she¡¯s not worthy to be in this family. Hmph.¡±

    Li Lei was the idol of many children on the ind, not to mention the dream partner of many girls. The majority of them had entertained the thought of marrying their Uncle Lei many times before, and now that he had brought such a weak girlfriend home, the girls were more than unhappy.

    Li Lancang and Li Xiaolong agreed with this idea. ¡°He should get someone of Sister Su Tang¡¯s standard at least.¡± They did not think it was an issue to get Uncle Li Lei and Sister Su Tang to witness the scene. The children on the ind liked Su Tang and had always thought of she and Li Lei as a match made in heaven.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get going.¡± With that, Li Lancang rushed off to get the adults.

    Xia Ling could vaguely hear their conversation, but she was too flustered to make out any of it. The fear and trauma had taken over her, and everything else she heard was simply white noise.

    ¡°Help me... help me...¡± She was wing hysterically at the walls, trying her best to find her way out, causing her slender and delicate fingers to be badly bruised and scratched.

    The thick, nauseating smell of dog¡¯s blood took her back to Pei Ziheng¡¯s istion room.

    ¡°Ziheng... let me out...¡± She sobbed. ¡°It¡¯s my fault...¡± The vulnerable Xia Ling was back, spouting the words of plea that the devilish man had conditioned her to. ¡°Let me out... I beg of you, let me out...¡±

    Tears were flowing uncontrobly, and she was pale with fright.

    Shepletely broke down a whileter, forgetting who she was. She could not feel the wounds on her hands as she continually, repeatedly wed at the sides of the pit, weeping. ¡°I¡¯m sorry... let me off... please...¡±

    Amotion came from above her. It sounded like a group of people had gathered.

    After that, the wooden lid was slowly pushed away and a light shed in.

    She instinctively looked up, only to see a man jump into the pit and hug her instantly. ¡°Xiao Ling? Xiao Ling, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?¡±

    She continued sobbing and mumbling to herself. ¡°Ziheng... Ziheng, it¡¯s all my fault, let me out. Please just get me out of here.¡±

    Li Lei stiffened. Ziheng? What was she talking about? Pei Ziheng? He held her face urgently. ¡°Xiao Ling, wake up. It¡¯s me, Li Lei!¡± The panic and distraught written all over her face was a heartwrenching sight for Li Lei.

    Her eyes were distant, and she did not seem to realize he was there. ¡°It¡¯s my fault... Please don¡¯t punish me... Get me out of here, Ziheng, I beg of you...¡± Her pleas sounded like the cries of a cuckoo.

    The petite figure in his arms shivered with fear. With the blood all over her, she looked almost like an injured bird.

    Li Lei could not be bothered to think about what her murmurs and pleas meant. All he cared about was to warm her ice-cold body with his embrace. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll get you out.¡±

 Chapter 215 - Heartbroken

    <h4>Chapter 215: Heartbroken</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He tried ways to soothe, her but they were futile. She was trapped in an old nightmare and could not see a trace of light.

    Li Lei became anxious and held her even tighter, ignoring the stench of blood that stained his body. He only kept repeating, ¡°It¡¯s okay Xiao Ling. I¡¯m here.¡±

    Outside the trap, someone dropped adder down.

    The people above the trap did not know the situation inside it. The teacher of the few kids, Li Shiyuan, thought that Xia Ling was only frightened and did not take it to heart as he shouted at the hole. ¡°Young Master Lei, bring the person up.¡±

    Li Lei lifted his head and looked at thedder. ¡°Drop a hanging basket down instead.¡±

    Considering Xiao Ling¡¯s condition, how could she climb out? In the dim light, the girl in his arms was covered in blood and tears. She looked like a monster who had crawled out of hell. He had never seen Xiao Ling like that, and his heart hurt so much it was difficult for him to breathe. He tried to use his sleeve to wipe off the stains but could not remove any of them.

    Li Shiyuan frowned. Was the girl in the trap so weak that she could not even climb up thedder?

    A few adults and children from the Li family who heard the news were surrounding the trap. At that time, they had disdainful expressions. They did not know if the girl really had no fighting power or was pretending to be weak in front of Li Lei. Even a random group of ordinary passers-by on the street would not be able to think of any reason for her to not be able to climb up thedder.

    What was the point of her acting weak?

    The Li family was involved in the triad and was arge, violent n. They looked down on delicate girls who could be easily blown away by a gust of wind.

    A few family members started whispering to one another. ¡°She¡¯s not suited to be Brother Lei¡¯s girlfriend.¡±

    Many people nodded their heads in agreement.

    Li Lei was the younger grandson. In the future, he was likely to inherit the family business, and his girlfriend would possibly be the next mistress of the Li family. How could he choose a person that required a basket to get out of the trap?

    Above the trap, the people werecent, and there was no hanging basket to be seen. Li Lei was very anxious. ¡°Hurry up! If you don¡¯t send the basket down now, you will get it from meter!¡±

    True rage could be sensed from his voice, and it scared the people above the pit. Why? What was the rush even if it was for such a weakdy? They had not seen Li Lei in true anger for many years.

    However, seeing that he was exceptionally furious, the people above the pit did not dare to ck off anymore.

    They were very clear of how scary Li Lei was. Even though he seemed to have a good temperament usually, his cruelty and mercilessness that year was enough to make anyone¡¯s feet tremble. They would rather provoke Li Feng.

    The hanging basket was quickly released.

    Li Lei carefully carried Xia Ling and entered the hanging basket. Then, he called for the people above the trap to pull them out.

    As soon as he stepped on the surface, everyone was shocked. That girl was crying brutally in Li Lei¡¯s arms. The nails on all of her ten fingers were ripped apart, and the blood and flesh were too ghastly to look at.

    She was not pretending to be weak. She was terrified... which was why she broke her own fingers?

    A few children looked at one another strangely.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Li Xiaolong pulled on Li Xiaoxing¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Do you think she is afraid of the dark?¡±

    Li Xiaoxing was also a bit frightened. She broke ten of her own fingers, so it must be very painful. There was some uneasiness in her heart, but thinking about it again, she became more disdainful. ¡°Scared of the dark? Even a three-year-old child from our Li family is not afraid of the dark! I don¡¯t care if she is acting or if she is really scared. The fact remains that she is too useless and is not qualified at all to be with Uncle Lei!¡±

    Li Lei did not hear the conversation between the two children.

    Now, he was focusing entirely on Xia Ling. Under the bright sunshine, he could see her appearance more clearly. Her hands were hurt very badly, and he did not dare to imagine what sort of trauma she had experienced in the past.

    ¡°Call a doctor!¡± He carried her as he strode towards his yard.

    The doctor arrived quickly and conducted a preliminary examination on her. Besides her fingers, she was not hurt elsewhere. However, Xia Ling continued to tremble and cry in his arms. Her eyes were misty, and her mouth was mumbling something. Her tears uncontrobly fell down like she was being trapped by a horrible demon.

    ¡°I think Miss Ye¡¯s is mentally unstable. How about I give her a sedative shot?¡± The doctor suggested.

    After hearing the doctor¡¯s words, he looked at the softly whimpering girl in his arms and shook his head. The sedative shot had side effects. He would rather spend more timeforting her and making her feel truly safe than harming her body on impulse.

    He hugged her and let the doctor treat and bandage her fingers. After that, he instructed him to leave.

    There were only two of them left in the Thunderous Yard.

    As Er Mao came over, his amber eyes looked at her with some concern.

    Li Lei could clearly understand what she was mumbling about. ¡°Stop... Let me go... Blood... So much blood...¡±

    She had been soaked in blood, and her originally blue knit sweater had be dark red. Li Lei frowned, carried her to the bathroom, and put her in the bath.

    His bath was asrge as half a room, and the water was from the hot spring nearby. Once a person entered it, they immediately feltfortable and rxed. As the gentle water brushed against their bodies and clothes, soon, the initially clear water turned blood red. After some time, the red color faded and the original clear color was restored.

    Xia Ling was not trembling as much anymore, and her had tears dried up, but she was still muttering. ¡°Blood, blood...¡±

    Li Lei frowned and helped her wash her face and her hands. Looking at her blood-stained clothes, Li Lei realized that the situation was rather difficult. In the bath, their bodies were very close, and he could clearly feel the delicate lines of her body like a beautiful and soft flower; it lightly tugged at his heartstrings.

    He took a deep breath and suppressed the heat in his body as he carried her to the shallow water.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no more blood. You¡¯ll be fine after a shower. Just be good and sit here. I will find someone to give you a bath, alright?¡± He really could not bring himself to take off her clothes because he was scared that he would not be able to control himself and do something impulsive.

    In the warm pool of water, her body was just next to him, and he felt that he could not tolerate it any longer. Staying there for another second would drive him crazy.

    However, Xia Ling grabbed his hand tightly. ¡°Don¡¯t go, I¡¯m scared...¡± She was confused and did not recognize who the man in front of her was. She only felt that there was a faint light in the boundless blood and darkness she was in. That man was so warm and bright, and she could not help but rely on him. ¡°Don¡¯t go...¡± She cried again.

    Li Lei took a few more deep breaths and used all of his willpower to tell himself to remain calm and in control. Otherwise, he would have pushed her into the water and taken advantage of her. He wanted to push her away, but she kept begging him with tears in her eyes such that his determination amounted to nothing. He could not hold back any longer.

    What should he do?

    Li Lei was heartbroken. He had never encountered such a dilemma since he was a child. If Xiao Ling were still conscious, she would definitely not have agreed to give her body to him in such a scenario. Anyway, no matter what, their first time had to be on a romantic night in a well-decorated room and in a big soft bed...

    Wait, stop. Why was he lost in his imagination?!

 Chapter 216 - Actually Speechless

    <h4>Chapter 216: Actually Speechless</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He almost could not control the restlessness of his body, so he turned away to avoid looking at her.

    She started to feel uneasy again. ¡°Blood, blood...¡± she said as she removed the blood-stained clothes from her body. Her initially bandaged fingers came into contact with the water, and the gauze started to detach, and as her injured fingertips touched her body, she yelped in pain.

    Li Lei could not help but turn over and saw that one of her hands was soaking in the hot spring water and blood was flowing out from her fingers, staining the water red again. Li Lei was taken aback and grabbed her hand immediately. ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    She looked at him and cried again. ¡°So much blood... It hurts...¡±

    He cursed before he violently turned her body around to backface him and quickly took off the blood-stained clothes off her body and threw them far away.

    With her beautiful back exposed, her thin shoulder des that were like butterfly¡¯s wings were tightly tied by a thin coat belt, and her clothes were covered with blood stains.

    Blood rushed to Li Lei¡¯s brain and eradicated all of his senses. He did not know how he was able to untie that thin belt. The thin coat drifted further and further away in the water. He tightly hugged her and pressed his chest against her back.

    She was still crying and making small weeping noises.

    Li Lei wanted to chop off his own hands. His hands seemed to have a will of their own and moved along her waistline and almost touched a restricted area of her body. <i>No, no way </i>... There was a weak voice shouting in his heart. <i>Stop, let her go. You can¡¯t do this to Xiao Ling </i>...

    However, he was unable to control himself.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He said in a low and hoarse voice. His dry lips were on the back of her neck. ¡°Leave me, quickly leave.¡±

    She acted as if she did not hear him and sank deeper into his arms. ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡± Tears fell into the hot water and circled the bath. She turned around to face him and put her hands around his neck. ¡°Don¡¯t chase me away.¡±

    He was the only spark of light in her darkness.

    He was caught off guard and looked at therge piece of jade-colored skin below her vicle. Having lost all of his senses, at once, Li Lei tightly hugged her and roughly kissed her lips unlike the warm entanglement of lovers. In fact, it was more like a beast devouring his prey.

    She remained soft in his arms and was supported by his arm strength. She did not resist him and let him do whatever he wanted.

    Until he separated her legs and forced himself on her.

    The sudden pain made her scream. She looked at the vacant space with empty eyes, and tiny fragments appeared in her vision. Those memories were so cruel that she could not help but start to struggle. ¡°Let go of me! Let go... let go...¡±

    However, he did not let go. He had already crossed the line. How could he let go now?!

    ¡°Xiao Ling, tolerate it for a while.¡± He said as he increased his strength.

    There was a trace of blood in the warm pool water which quickly disappeared.

    Xia Ling cried out. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, it hurts...¡±

    Li Lei turned a deaf ear to her pleas.

    However, her next words were like ice from the abyss and extinguished all his desire and enthusiasm.

    She said, ¡°Ziheng, it hurts...¡±

    He slowly let go of her.

    Her body fell backward, and she leaned weakly against the rocky wall in the shallow water. She used the low wall to stabilize herself as her fragile body shivered with fear.

    Li Lei looked at her, and there was an inexplicable feeling in his heart. Anger? Sorrow? Defeat? It seemed to be none of them.

    However, there was much heartbreak. She did not know if it was for himself or for... her.

    He could not believe that she said something like that when he was having sex with her.

    Li Lei did not know how many men could tolerate something like that. Besides, he felt that he had already turned into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Seeing that her body was slowly sinking below the water level, he violently picked her up and threw her on the soft bed in the bedroom.

    He threw a pile of down jackets on her, making sure that she was buried like a dumpling and only her small face could be seen. Then, he turned around and decided to leave.

    However, he heard her weakly cry out. ¡°Don¡¯t go... Ziheng. Don¡¯t go...¡±

    ¡°Go look for your Pei Ziheng!¡± Li Lei was boiling in anger. This time, he kicked the door open. The elegant wooden door made a loud noise after he kicked it.

    He furiously stormed out and broke a few objects in the living room out of rage. Unfortunately, he still could not calm down and started punching the wall.

    His knuckles started bleeding.

    However, he acted as if he could not feel any pain. His expression darkened. After some time, he strode into his study room and made a phone call. ¡°Hey, Bao Renjiu,¡± he said. ¡°How¡¯s your investigation of Pei Ziheng going? Besides Xia Ling, is there any other woman who was deeply entangled with him?¡±

    At the other end of the phone, Old Man Bao sneered. ¡°Pei Ziheng? That bastard is very loyal. If he readily engaged in affairs, he would not have hurt my daughter. He was blindly in love with Xia Ling. He did not even love my daughter, Jingwan, how could he fall in love with somebody else?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Li Lei exploded in rage. ¡°Investigate again!¡±

    ¡°Who else do you want me to investigate?¡± Old Man Bao was a veteran in his field and was very smart. ¡°I saw thetest news that you are together with the small star called Ye Xingling? I remember her, and I heard that she was disturbed by Pei Ziheng. I¡¯m sure you want me to investigate her rtionship with Pei Ziheng, but let me tell you that it is impossible that anything happened between them. She is only 18 years old and very young. Ten years ago, Pei Ziheng was already together with Xia Ling. At that time, Ye Xingling was still in kindergarten!¡±

    ¡°Well, you still have to investigate it!¡± Li Lei was in a very bad mood.

    Old Man Baoughed coldly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Had a fight with that small star? Why are you yelling at me for? You care so much about her rtionship with Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t believe that you haven¡¯t sent anyone to investigate that yet. Since even the professionals on your end can¡¯t find out anything, what makes you think that an old man like me would be of use to you? Let me tell you, Li Lei, we have a co-operative rtionship. I¡¯m not your subordinate and definitely not your punching bag!¡±

    He made a lot of sense, and Li Lei could not reply to him.

    Both of them fell silent for some time.

    Old Man Bao said, ¡°I can give you some information regarding Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± asked Li Lei.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng is a beast, pervert, and bastard,¡± said Old Man Bao. ¡°Thankfully, Jingwan did not marry him. Perhaps Jingwan was lucky to die before marrying him...¡±

    He slowly told Li Lei what happened when Xia Ling was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng for a year.

    ¡°I just found out how Pei Ziheng tortured her. His methods were really horrifying, and any man with a little humanity could not do it...¡±

    Li Lei listened quietly.

    After a long time, he hung up the phone.

    He pondered for a while before turning on hisputer and typed the words ¡°Stockholm Syndrome¡± in the search engine.

 Chapter 217 - People Can Be Domesticated

    <h4>Chapter 217: People Can Be Domesticated</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    People can be domesticated.

    Stockholm Syndrome was the best example.

    When a girl was kidnapped and imprisoned, she was constantly in danger of being attacked and recklessly abused in a foreign environment... When all of the trauma exceeds the limit she could handle, then her human survival instincts would make her gradually give up fighting and resisting. Instead, she would submit to her kidnapper in exchange for maximum security.

    She would acknowledge, be unable to leave, and worship her kidnapper.

    No matter how vicious or violent he was.

    Her entire life was beyond her control. Every drop of water she drank, every mouthful of food she ate, every piece of clothing she wore, and even the light she saw every day when she opened her eyes and every breath she took... were gifts bestowed by her kidnapper.

    Her fear would turn into gratefulness, and she would subconsciously fall in love with him no matter what he did to her.

    The most horrifying thing about this mental illness was that even after she was rescued and escaped his frightening imprisonment, she would still remember her kidnapper and even return to his side like a moth flying towards the fire.

    Li Lei looked at the exnation on theputer screen and recalled what had happened in these two days. Xiao Ling was usually fine, but this time when she fell into the pit, she had an emotional breakdown because the trap was like a prisoner¡¯s basement. Furthermore, her tearful pleas during her emotional breakdown were ¡°Ziheng, don¡¯t punish me. Ziheng, don¡¯t go...¡±

    That meant she was greatly harmed by Pei Ziheng but still could not forget him.

    Could this be Stockholm Syndrome?

    Li Lei made a call to James.

    At the other end of the phone, James was half-awake. After listening to Li Lei¡¯s question, he immediately became energized. ¡°I just felt that there was something wrong with your Xiao Ling. Her symptoms do resemble Stockholm syndrome a little. However, this sort of syndrome is usually caused by prolonged imprisonment that¡¯s life-threatening or involved some sort of sexual assault. Xiao Ling¡¯s background is too clean, and she was not involved in any of theseplication situations.¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Could it be linked to thest time Pei Ziheng held her hostage and poisoned her?¡±

    James replied, ¡°Stockholm Syndrome caused by that short of imprisonment is theoretically impossible. Thinking about it, even if her illness were caused by that short period, it would definitely notst that long. If Xiao Ling really has Stockholm Syndrome, she must definitely have longer and more serious imprisonment and form of torture.¡±

    ¡°How long must her imprisonment be for it to be this serious?¡± Li Lei asked softly.

    James sighed and said, ¡°This depends on the individual, so there is no specific time.¡±

    ¡°Is a year sufficient?¡±

    ¡°For a weak girl like that, a year is sufficient.¡±

    After talking for a while, Li Lei hung up the phone.

    If the Diva Xia Ling experienced the symptoms that Xiao Ling had, it would not be surprising. However, the Diva Xia Ling was already dead. Why did Xiao Ling that sung like her have the same symptoms as her?

    It can¡¯t be that she was possessed by Xia Ling¡¯s soul.

    Li Lei shook his head and got rid of the absurd idea in his head.

    Thest sentence that James said before he hung up echoed in his ear. ¡°If your Xiao Ling really has Stockholm Syndrome, you should rejoice that she is still with you. You must not let her ever go back to Pei Ziheng. Once she leaves, there is arge possibility that she won¡¯te back.¡±

    <i>Damn it.</i>

    He punched the table again, and blood oozed out of his already hurt knuckles.

    When Xia Ling woke up, it was the morning of the next day.

    She got up from the soft duvet and only felt that her entire body was sore and parts of her body felt like they had been torn apart. Every slight movement she made was so painful she could hardly breathe. As if she was lucky to have escaped death, she realized what had happened. She stumbled out of bed and walked in front of the mirror.

    The girl in the mirror was pale, had a few red marks on her neck, and was in a mess.

    There was a buzzing sound in her mind. What happened? Who had vited her body?!

    She relentlessly tried to recall what happened, but her mind was nk. She only remembered that she was tricked by Li Xiaoxing and fell into a pit. After that, she had no recollection of anything else... This was Li Lei¡¯s room. How did she arrive here? What about Li Lei? Where was he?

    The door of the bedroom made a sound.

    She turned around and saw that Li Lei was standing by the doorway and looking at her with his dark eyes.

    She was not wearing anything and could not hide from his gaze. Embarrassed, she covered herself with the bath towel on the floor that was next to the mirror and scolded. ¡°Get out!¡±

    However, Li Lei did not move.

    ¡°Don¡¯t stand there barefoot. The floor is cold.¡±

    His calm tone made her even angrier. She red at him and was so furious her voice quivered. ¡°Li Lei! What did you do to me yesterday?!¡±

    With the white bath towel covering her chest, the red marks on her corbone were clearly visible.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, and he lowered his voice. ¡°I will be responsible for you.¡±

    So it was him!

    ¡°Responsible?¡± Xia Ling was both hurt and angry. In fact, she was so enraged that she started tough. ¡°What right do you have to be responsible for me?! You... you took advantage of me when I was in a difficult state! What different are you from a savage beast?!¡± She initially thought that he was different and would at least respect her, carefully wait for her and not let her suffer any harm.

    That was also the reason why she was willing to be with him. He made her feel safe.

    However, right now, that sense of security was broken.

    In reality, he was the same as Pei Ziheng. For his own desires, he could vite her in an unscrupulous way.

    Li Lei did not think that she would say something like that. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He walked a few steps forward. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what happened yesterday? Yesterday, you voluntarily hugged me and told me not to go.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you daree here!¡± She vigntly stepped back. The searing pain inside her body was taking its toll on her, and she had to hold on to the floor mirror to barely stand firm. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t lie to me. How could I have taken the initiative to hug you?¡± Even when she was not fully awake, she also did not believe that she would do something like that. No one knew how much she feared physical intimacy between men and women more than her. After being mercilessly tortured by Pei Ziheng during thatst year of her past life, that sort of thing... could never give her any more joy.

    It only gave her fear and made her feel like escaping.

    ¡°I will definitely never ept you,¡± Xia Ling shook her head and looked at him with a hurt expression. ¡°Li Lei, stop lying to me. Even if I forgot what happened yesterday, it doesn¡¯t mean that I don¡¯t know what sort of person I am!¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression became more unsightly than hers.

    She was right. The person whom she epted was definitely not him.

    From the start until the end, she kept calling out Pei Ziheng¡¯s name.

    How could any man tolerate it?! If he told his experience to others, he was afraid that they would apud him if he had killed her right there! Li Lei¡¯s anger was boiling in his chest. Since a young age, he had always been privileged and had never suffered such wrongful treatment and humiliation!

 Chapter 218 - Childish Talk

    <h4>Chapter 218: Childish Talk</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    His expression became somber, and his anger was umting.

    He clenched both of his fists and tried his best to restrain himself from getting angry at her. However, she still could tell that a storm wasing from his expression and sneered. ¡°You¡¯re the one who wanted me. Why are you acting like you were wronged? You look even more wronged than me! What sort of person do you think I am Li Lei, such that you can treat me however you like? It¡¯s not as easy as you think!¡±

    She held the bath towel covering her body, grabbed her clothes near the bed, and rushed out of the bedroom.

    Li Lei grabbed hold of her. ¡°Where are you going?!¡±

    ¡°None of your business!¡± She screeched as she kicked him away. ¡°Let go of me! Do you know how disgusting you are?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m disgusting?¡± Li Lei could no longer control his anger. He pushed her on the bed, and the white bath towel dropped to the floor like a petal, exposing her jade-like skin.

    Xia Ling had a haphazard fall and felt that the bones in her body were about to break. She hurriedly tried to climb back up, but his body was already holding her down. ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± His hands were liked strong iron pincers that lifted her chin, and his voice became colder. ¡°Look at who I am! Do you give the cold shoulder to all people who treat you well?! Alright then, you like it when people use force, right? We can try this again!¡±

    He removed his clothes with one hand and ignored her crazy struggling as he viciously forced himself on her.

    The pain fromst night had not disappeared, and she was implicated with new searing pain. Xia Ling did not know how she overcame the pain. In a state of mental confusion, she vaguely heard his voice. ¡°At least, your body will remember: I¡¯m Li Lei!¡±

    Darkness.

    Endless darkness.

    Afterward, drops of blood trickled out.

    A dog-like howl. The man with the long whip. In the shattered light, she could see Li Lei¡¯s beautiful and cold face...

    Xia Ling screamed and woke up.

    Li Lei was no longer in the room. Her body was aching, and there was a pile of destroyed towels and clothes on the floor that reminded her that everything that happened was not a dream. She was once again forcefully possessed by him after she had fiercely resisted him.

    As she curled up her legs and hugged her scarred body, she closed her eyes and prevented her tears from flowing out.

    She was wrong. It turns out that he was not her sunlight, but just another beast. Before she entered the Li Family, although she was nervous, she hoped to gain his family¡¯s recognition and spend a happy Spring Festival under his warm protection. However, what was the reality? His entire family looked down on her, and even he thought of her as a tool.

    In a daze, she did not know why she even wanted to go to that ind.

    Was she voluntarily letting others insult her?

    Even when she was with Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng would never bully her for no reason and would definitely not let the Pei n brazenly look down on her when she was there, dig a trap for her to jump in, and pour dog¡¯s blood on her for her to be ridiculed!

    She was tired and wanted to leave.

    She got up, tolerated the pain, and found a good set of clothes from her luggage. She took her passport and bank card and walked out of the Thunderous Yard.

    The sunshine outside Thunderous Yard was radiant.

    Far away, a few children were ying on the beach. The person who plotted against her and caused her to be in a difficult situation yesterday, Li Xiaoxing, was one of them. She was wearing a beautiful red wool skirt and in high spirits. Herughter was like the ringing of a silver bell.

    Those who had harmed her could y without a care in the world.

    But her...

    The scars on her ten fingertips were still there, and there was a faint pain in her heart. Hidden parts of her body felt like they had been trampled by a thousand soldiers and were disastrously broken. Perhaps she should thank Li Xiaoxing because she let her see Li Lei¡¯s true colors as he left her when she was having a rough time...

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± Someone whispered to her from beside a coconut tree in Thunderous Yard.

    Xia Ling turned around to see Su Tang.

    Today, Su Tang was wearing a thin shirt and long skirt with a soft andrge lc coat. She looked refined, elegant, and beautiful as she looked at Xia Ling with a polite smile on her lips. ¡°Are you intending to leave? The Old Master told me to send you off.¡±

    ¡°Send me off?¡± Xia Ling was startled but immediately understood. Sure enough, Old Master Li disliked her very much since she had only stayed at Thunderous Yard for about two days, and he could not wait to chase her away!

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary. I know how to walk out myself.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s tone was icy. She had her pride. Since the entire Li family looked down on her and rejected her, she would also not shamelessly stay in their home. She had lived for two lifetimes and did not have the habit of tolerating the scorn of others!

    She closed her lips tightly, straightened her back, and walked forward step by step.

    Su Tang did not hesitate to keep up with her. ¡°I still think that I should send you off. There are many restricted areas on this ind, and outsiders would be directly killed if they entered them. Furthermore, you¡¯re not part of the Li family and cannot walk around as you please. The hangar and harbor will not open for you.¡± The meaning between her words was that Xia Ling was treated as a distant outsider.

    They were like sharp knives that plunged into Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    After staying on the huge ind with a dream-like fortress, suddenly, she had an unreal feeling. The world was so big, where was her ce?

    ¡°Sister Su Tang! Sister Su Tang!¡± Li Xiaoxing, Li Xiaolong, and a few other children ran over as if they did not see the weak Xia Ling standing beside her. They surrounded Su Tang gleefully. ¡°Look! This is the starfish that we found. Isn¡¯t it pretty?¡±

    ¡°Sister Su Tang, do you want a ne made of seashells? Look, I just made one, and it looks very nice.¡±

    The children chirped as they tried to curry favor with Su Tang. They werepletely different from the way they bullied Xia Ling yesterday.

    Xia Ling was already not in a good mood, and her body was weak. After a child knocked into her, she staggered and almost fell to the floor. She held on to a tree to support herself and was barely able to maintain her bnce.

    The child who knocked into her shot her a look of contempt. ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going. Did you not see that we¡¯re talking to Sister Su Tang? How dare you block our way. You¡¯re so weak, how can you be Uncle Lei¡¯s girlfriend? Hmph.¡±

    ¡°Ah Lian, don¡¯t talk rubbish!¡± Su Tang elegantly chastised him. ¡°How did Uncle Lei find a girlfriend like her? Old Master has not even acknowledged Miss Ye, don¡¯t make an uproar and destroy Miss Ye¡¯s reputation.¡± From her words, it seemed as if she was afraid of destroying her reputation, but even the children were aware that it was indicating that Old Master Li looked down on her and was unwilling to acknowledge her!

    ¡°I¡¯m relieved then.¡± Li Xiaoxing exaggeratedly patted her chest. ¡°As I was saying, how could Uncle Lei have such a weak girlfriend like her? Our grandfather is still the wisest. No acknowledgment means no acknowledgment. We will find a better girlfriend for Uncle Lei next time!¡±

    ¡°Do we still need to look for one? I think Sister Su Tang is not bad.¡± The childrenughed.

    Su Tang looked at Xia Ling apologetically. ¡°Miss Ye, the children are immature. Please don¡¯t take their words to heart.¡±

 Chapter 219 - Everything Xiao Lei Owns Is Mine

    <h4>Chapter 219: Everything Xiao Lei Owns Is Mine</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not know why she was sad.

    She told herself, it was not worth reacting to what a group of children and Su Tang said for a man like Li Lei. She sealed her lips as she walked towards the hangar step by step and turned a deaf ear to what was happening beside her.

    The childrenughed as they surrounded her. ¡°Quickly get lost! You¡¯re not worthy of Uncle Lei.¡±

    Hearing what the children said, a faint smile appeared on Su Tang¡¯s lips as she walked beside Xia Ling. Indeed, how was the girl in front of her worthy of Li Lei? It was the right thing for her to get lost quickly.

    However, soon, her smile froze.

    The slight breeze blew Xia Ling¡¯s long hair and revealed the red marks at the back of her neck, indicating that something had happened recently. Su Tang was struck by lightning. It turns out that they... had already slept together?!

    Endless hatred and jealousy started to overflow Su Tang¡¯s heart.

    She recalled Old Master Li¡¯s instructions to her. ¡°That girl called Ye Xingling cannot be together with Xiao Lei. Su Tang, I¡¯m relying on you to settle this. You must separate them. It doesn¡¯t matter what method you use.¡±

    It doesn¡¯t matter method what method she used...

    Looking at the small red mark behind Xia Ling¡¯s neck, she toyed with an idea in her mind. Suddenly, she made up her mind. Su Tang quietly trailed a few steps behind and lifted themunicator on her wrist. ¡°Is this the hangar? Activate n Two.¡±

    She turned off hermunicator as if nothing happened and caught up to her.

    As Xia Ling arrived at the hangar, a military helicopter was already waiting for her.

    ¡°Well then, goodbye Miss Ye.¡± Su Tang elegantly and coldly said.

    Xia Ling looked over her shoulder but did not notice the figure of a handsome man. Sheughed at herself. What could she expect now? She turned around and was about to enter the helicopter.

    What she and everyone else did not notice was that nearby in the forest, there was a leopard with gorgeous rose markings hiding. The leopard had followed them silently, and as Xia Ling was about to enter the helicopter, it suddenly turned around and rushed to the center of the ind at a rapid speed.

    Just as Xia Ling was about to enter the helicopter.

    At the horizon, another helicopter flew past and slowlynded on the tarmac. Once the door opened, a man with a pair of enchanting eyes walked out. He scanned the surrounding people andughed. ¡°What amotion!¡±

    All the staff around the tarmac had slight fearful expressions on their faces.

    Everyone bowed to him. ¡°Greetings to Young Master Feng.¡±

    Even the group of children from the Li family stopped their cheeky smiles and retreated a few steps to maintain a safe distance from Li Feng. Everyone on the ind was afraid of Li Feng. He was temperamental and had many ways of killing people.

    Li Feng looked as if he was used to their reactions and strolledzily in front of Xia Ling. He gave Xia Ling a suspicious smile. ¡°We meet again, prettydy.¡±

    At that moment, Xia Ling felt that she was being stared at by a poisonous snake.

    She took a step back and looked at Li Feng vigntly.

    ¡°Still thatck of response.¡± Li Feng stuck out his red tongue and licked his lips. He obviously was up to no good. ¡°Are you being chased out by the Old Man? Oh, how pitiful. Why didn¡¯t my idiotic younger brothere to your rescue?¡±

    He was the only one in the entire Li family who dared to call Old Master Li ¡°Old Man.¡± Li Feng was also the only one who was able to use an exceedingly contemptuous tone to call Li Lei an idiot. Although he had just returned to the ind today, he had many connections, and everything that had happened on the ind was already reported back to him. He knew that Li Lei had brought Xia Ling back home and also knew that she was treated coldly.

    However, something that surprised him was Su Tang.

    Li Feng lifted his long and narrow phoenix eyes and nced at Su Tang. He smiled even more profoundly.

    Su Tang¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Had he seen through her n?

    Xia Ling did not want to be involved with the Li family anymore. Ignoring Li Feng, she turned around and lifted her skirt to enter the helicopter.

    ¡°Stop there.¡± Li Fengzily and coldly said.

    Xia Ling turned her head to face him. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    ¡°I advise you not to get on that helicopter.¡± Li Feng squinted his eyes as he smiled.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    The man with the narrow phoenix eyes did not answer her. He sauntered around the helicopter, bent over, and removed something from the bottom of the vehicle. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± He walked in front of Xia Ling and opened his palm.

    In his palm was a ck ball that had an indicator with shing red light.

    Xia Ling gave him a confused look.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression slightly changed.

    ¡°A woman¡¯s jealousy is truly frightening.¡± Li Feng looked at Su Tang and smiled, then turned his head to look at Xia Ling again. ¡°However, something they said is correct. Little beauty, the Li family is not suitable for you. If you blindly follow my idiot brother, soon orter, one day... you will die.¡±

    Thest few words lingered in her mind.

    He threw the ball in his hands into the blue ocean water. A loud bang was heard, and a jet of water that was covered in mes shot from the ocean into the sky. As the water sshed on the tarmac, sparks were seen. The children started to scream and run amok.

    Xia Ling was horrified. That... was a bomb?!

    She did not dare to imagine what would have happened if she had got on the helicopter. Would she have been blown into pieces with the helicopter halfway through her flight and disappear forever above the uninhabited blue sea?

    ¡°Well, are you scared now?¡± Li Feng approached her like a rattlesnake, and his cold and slender fingers touched her cheek. ¡°Little beauty, don¡¯t be afraid. If you want to go...¡±

    He leaned down, and his wet lips whispered into her ear. ¡°Take my helicopter. I will protect you.¡±

    He was too close forfort.

    Xia Ling lifted her hand to push him away to no avail. His body was covered with a mixture of an unknown perfume and a rosemary scent which had a powerful fragrance. He smelled like a strange man, dangerous and dizzying.

    ¡°Let go of me. I won¡¯t take your helicopter.¡± She still remembered the story that Li Lei told her about how Li Lei scraped the flesh off Su Xue, ate the brains of a living girl, and did not stop until she was a pile of white bones.

    Li Fengughed lowly and used his slippery and greasy tongue to lick her earlobe. ¡°Don¡¯t trust me?¡± He exhaled deeply. ¡°Little beauty, Xiao Ling... You would rather trust the people who nted a bomb in your helicopter than be willing to let me protect you? I¡¯m sad...¡±

    Xia Ling was flustered by his breath and had an inexplicable fear in her heart.

    She did not understand why Li Feng was kindly helping her. Didn¡¯t he hate her and Li Lei? When he was in the country, he tortured her and made her feel fearful and uneasy. Why was he suddenly different and why did he want to save her life?

    ¡°Why?¡± She held back her fear and asked.

    ¡°Because...¡± Li Fengughed lowly again and lightly licked her. ¡°Everything Xiao Lei owns is mine. Even if it has to be destroyed, I will be the one destroying it.¡± He did not permit others to meddle with Xiao Lei¡¯s things, and beside him, no one else had the right to harm Xiao Lei!

 Chapter 220 - Falling Into The Snake Temple

    <h4>Chapter 220: Falling Into The Snake Temple</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He really was a lunatic!

    Xia Ling was disgusted by the way he was licking her ear and turned her head away.

    Soon, she heard a voice not far away. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    She lifted her head and saw that Li Lei was hurriedly running towards her. Beside him, there was a beautiful leopard with a rose-spotted pattern. As he rushed near her and cried out. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you ok?¡± He then looked at Li Feng, and his expression darkened. ¡°Brother.¡±

    ¡°Have you just noticed your brother?¡± Li Fengughed lightly and turned Xia Ling to face him.

    ¡°Brother, let go of Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei tried to make his voice sound as calm and gentle as possible. In reality, seeing that Xiao Ling was in his temperamental brother¡¯s hands was driving him crazy.

    Just now, he was summoned by Old Master Li to have tea with him. In the bamboo garden of Calming Heart Garden, the Old Master said a lot to him. He advised him to give up on Xia Ling and find a better woman to spend his life with. Old Master Li started talking about the history of the Li family, his status to the future of the Li family, the dangers of the family business, and the importance of luck. His speech was emotional, and the main reason for it was to let Li Lei understand that he should give up on Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was definitely not allowed to marry into the Li Family because she was a woman who brought bad luck and would bring misfortune to the family.

    In the beginning, Li Lei was still patiently listening and tried to be understanding to his grandfather¡¯s emotional speech. He told him that he should not judge Xiao Ling by her appearance and what a good girl she was... He was worried about Xiao Ling. He had just treated her violently and left her to talk to his grandfather when she was still asleep.

    If Xiao Ling woke up and could not find him, would she be angrier?

    He had to persuade his grandfather and return to her side quickly.

    However, the Old Master was very stubborn and could not be persuaded. He also took his time to engage in small talk with Li Lei.

    Li Lei slowly became anxious and uneasy. At this time, he saw a rose-patterned leopard emerging quietly from the bamboo garden. His ws were gently digging the ground, and his tail was swishing about as he looked at him fretfully.

    Something terrible must have happened to Xiao Ling!

    Er Mao was raised by Li Lei since a young age. The pet and master had formed a tacit understanding of each other, and with a signal, Li Lei immediately understood the message he was trying to convey.

    ¡°Grandfather, I¡¯m sorry, but I have something urgent to attend to. I will drink with you another day.¡± After he said that, Li Lei left in a hurry.

    Old Master Li did not stop him.

    In fact, he deliberately called for Li Lei to drink tea with him and said a lot of useless things to prevent him from returning to Thunderous Yard. He also sent Su Tang to expel the small star called Ye Xingling. Looking at the time, the small star should have left the ind already. Considering Su Tang¡¯s personality, she would have eradicated the small star and caused her to vanish above the ocean.

    <i>Xiao Lei will be upset for a while.</i>

    <i>After that, he will meet a new lover and marry a more suitable woman.</i>

    Old Master Li leisurely opened the lid of the blue and white porcin teapot and continued his tea-tasting.

    However, he was wrong.

    If Li Feng did not appear, Xia Ling would have definitely been blown to death at that very moment as nned. However, Li Feng arrived back home at the same time. He saved Xia Ling and used her as a bargaining chip to provoke Li Lei.

    ¡°Xiao Lei,¡± Li Feng¡¯s menacing phoenix eyes were fixed on Li Lei. ¡°I saved your little girlfriend¡¯s life. Aren¡¯t you going to thank me for that? As your brother, do you know how sad I feel?¡±

    Saved Xiao Ling¡¯s life?

    Looking at Li Lei¡¯s confused expression, Li Fengughed and told him what had happened when he justnded.

    Li Lei¡¯s back was drenched in cold sweat. He never expected that Su Tang would dare to murder Xiao Ling! If Xiao Ling had really entered the helicopter and the helicopter really exploded... the consequences would be devastating.

    He abruptly turned his head to look at Su Tang.

    Su Tang¡¯s face turned white after looking at Li Lei¡¯s expression. She stood still and did not dare to move. This was the first time the young master was so cold and ferocious towards her. It was as if an enemy was staring at her. After being red at for some time, Su Tang already felt that she was as good as dead.

    However, Li Lei only red at her for a short while.

    He turned his head back as he had more important things to settle. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m very grateful that you saved Xiao Ling, and I will express my thanks another day. Xiao Ling is not feeling well and just had a scare. I will not trouble you anymore and bring her back to the Thunderous Yard to rest.¡±

    After that, he walked a few steps forward and was about to take Xia Ling from Li Feng¡¯s arms.

    However, Li Feng held on to Xia Ling more tightly and wrapped his hand around her neck. His sharp nails were close to her throat and could prate through her blood vessels at any time.

    Li Lei knew how frightening Li Feng was when he was killing people.

    ¡°Brother!¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t belong to you anymore, Xiao Lei.¡± Li Leiughed evilly as he observed Li Lei trying to suppress his anger and anxiety. He daringly licked Xia Ling¡¯s earlobe and said, ¡°Your Xiao Ling has already been killed by someone... She was killed by the explosion of a bomb above the ocean. This person was saved by me so of course, her life belongs to me.¡±

    He brushed his slender fingers along Xia Ling¡¯s neck. ¡°Little beauty, your life... is mine now.¡±

    He dragged her back and under the protection of a group of subordinates, left the tarmac, and went back to his den.

    Li Lei continued to chase them, but he was afraid that they would harm Xia Ling. His men also gathered in session, including Li Xiaoxing¡¯s father and Li Xiaolong¡¯s uncle... However, they did not bother to work hard and just stared as Xia Ling was dragged away.

    That girl was too weak.

    She was not worthy of being Young Master Lei¡¯s girlfriend.

    As subordinates, they did not wish for Young Master Lei to be with such a woman. If that weak woman became the headmistress of the household, then not only would Young Master Lei not receive any help from her, he would also possibly be dragged down by her!

    Perhaps being tortured to death by Young Master Feng was the best ending for that woman.

    Li Feng dragged Xia Ling away and disappeared in front of everyone. Deep in the forest of the ind, therge gate that guarded the ¡°Snake Temple¡± was slowly closed.

    Looking at the closing door, Li Lei did not waste any time as he ran straight to Calming Heart Garden.

    He did not have the time to me his subordinates nor the time to feel frustration and sorrow. Xiao Ling¡¯s life was in Li Feng¡¯s hands and was in immediate danger. He really could not bear to imagine what he would do if another Su Xue incident happened.

    In Calming Heart Garden, Old Master Li was drinking tea as usual.

    Li Lei barged in and knelt in front of the Old Master. ¡°Grandfather, I have never begged you for anything before in my life. Just this once, I beg you to save Xiao Ling. I beg you to acknowledge her status!¡± The rule of ¡°no killing family members¡± would apply only when Old Master Li acknowledged the status of Xia Ling. Li Feng would then be forced by the family rules to hand her over.

    Old Master Li had already heard the news and knew what happened at the hangar.

    He lifted his eyelids slightly. ¡°Xiao Lei, I advise you to give up on her. From what I see, the worst ending is not her death, but her being together with you.¡±

 Chapter 221 - Li Fengs Collection Room

    <h4>Chapter 221: Li Feng¡¯s Collection Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stumbled as she was dragged into Li Feng¡¯s Snake Temple.

    In the dim light of the Snake Temple, the te walls emitted a moist and rotten stench. There were many torches, twisted sculptures, and colorful oil paintings of different sizes. Their sleek and beautiful style was the same as the one she received after she left the Neb Music Festival.

    ¡°These sculptures, as well as these paintings, were all done by me.¡± Li Feng pointed at them with his slender white finger. ¡°Do you like them?¡±

    He was like a happy child grabbing her wrist and showing her his paintings. ¡°Look, this painting is of a casino in a slum after I pulled the doorman¡¯s intestines out... This painting was done after I received horrible service from the staff. In anger, I sent for someone to get me a bucket of sulfuric acid and watched as she took a bath in it...¡±

    He exined his pictures one by one.

    It turns out that they were all based on true events.

    Xia Ling listened with disgust. The twisted sculptures and oil paintings were scenes of people in purgatory. She only felt that her breathing became more rushed. Unable to control her breathing anymore, she supported herself using the ck and sticky walls to vomit.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Feeling unwell?¡± Li Fengughed warmly. ¡°I¡¯m not treating my guest well. Servant!¡±

    He screamed loudly.

    Very soon, two beautiful women wearing translucent and revealing clothes appeared in front of them trembling in fear as they bowed their heads. ¡°Young... Young Master Feng, please tell us your orders.¡± Their teeth quivered as they spoke.

    There were not many maids who could survive in the Snake Temple. Usually, they would have to be reced every ten days or half a month.

    Every day in the Snake Temple, they were treading on thin ice as they were afraid that Young Master Feng would skin them alive if his mood became bad.

    ¡°Bring Miss Ye down and clean her up.¡± Li Feng said in a tongue-in-cheek manner. ¡°Oh yes. Change into some beautiful clothes and bring her to the Collection Room.¡±

    The two maids trembled and docilely acknowledged his orders. Then, they reached out to support Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling shook them off and lifted her head to look at Li Feng. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°What colors do you like?¡± Li Feng asked cheerfully. ¡°How about a red tube dress? Your waist is very thin, so you will look like a bunch of roses. Or how about a whitece dress? You will look like a big white lily.¡± Walking up to her and lifting her pale face for a closer look, he instructed the maids. ¡°Change her into the red dress, the most expensive one from the new autumn and winter collection that I just bought.¡±

    ¡°Today is your big day.¡± Li Feng was still smirking. ¡°Of course, you have to look your best.¡±

    With a wave of his hand, the two maids ignored her struggles and dragged her out.

    In the spacious hall, they helped her bathe, change her clothes, and applied makeup on her. Their movements were skilled and meticulous. Very soon, she was dressed in a gorgeous and enchanting gown. Xia Ling was shocked and angry. ¡°What exactly are you trying to do?!¡±

    The two maids bowed their heads and did not have the heart to look at her.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath. ¡°Tell me.¡±

    They only focused on their work:bing her hair, tying her hair with a delicate and expensive hair band, putting a crystal ne on her and did not speak.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank. She remembered that Su Xue was dressed to the nines before she died. She softened her voice and softly asked, ¡°Am I going to die? Li Feng didn¡¯t have any good intentions when he rescued me. He just wanted to kill me himself.¡±

    The maids were silent as they adjusted her skirt.

    Xia Ling looked out of the window. During the deep winter, the window was covered in frost. Even the flowers of the plum blossoms were tightly closed, and the branches were twisted. She softly whispered. ¡°If I¡¯m dead... Can you tell Li Lei...¡±

    She paused for a long time.

    Plum blossoms drifted down in front of her eyes.

    ¡°Forget it.¡±

    What else was left to say? Their rtionship was tooplicated, and even in herst moment in life, there was nothing good to say to him.

    A maid helped her to stand up. After she heard what she said, her initially firm hand shook slightly. She lifted her head to look at Xia Ling and could not help but whisper with a mournful look in her eyes. ¡°Miss Ye, since the young master instructed us to take you to the collection room, he must n on making you a collectible. You...¡±

    The maid originally wanted to tell her that she should quickly say herst words. However, so what if she told her anything? She could not help her pass on her message to anyone. Otherwise, the next person Li Feng killed would be her.

    The secret in the Snake Pit would never be leaked.

    Xia Ling was quiet. Her heart strangely longed for Li Lei¡¯s handsome face. It was bizarre. After he had violently vited her and disrespected her, why could she not forget him?

    He said, <i>Xiao Ling, be my girlfriend.</i>

    He said, <i>Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.</i>

    He said, <i>Xiao Ling, I will be responsible for you...</i>

    However, no one could save her now. When she was in danger, he was not there. She could only save herself, ditch the unrealistic in her heart, and think about how she could escape from the Snake Temple.

    The two maids held her up and guided her out. In the dim light of the silent Snake Temple, even the torches did not make a sound. They walked past the long, damp, and narrow bluestone pavement and down the stone steps to a space filled with all kinds of items.

    Li Feng was gorgeously dressed in a dazzling brocade robe and was standing in the middle of the room looking at her with open arms. ¡°Beautifuldy, wee to the Snake Temple¡¯s Collection Room. You¡¯re the first visitor toe here alive. No, not a visitor... Very soon, you will be one of these precious collectibles. Now, let¡¯s admire your neighbors, ok?¡±

    Thest drop of hope was sapped from Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    Her survival instincts made her brain think faster. Even if the possibility of surviving was very slim, she had to try something at least! Thus, she decided to stall for some time by talking to Li Feng. ¡°I¡¯m a living person, not a collectible.¡±

    ¡°A living person? Hahahaha!¡± Li Feng reacted as if he heard the funniest joke on earth and burst outughing. ¡°Who says that living people can¡¯t be collectibles? Little girl, you¡¯re too na?ve! Let me tell you, as long as it is something that Xiao Lei likes, it doesn¡¯t matter if it is a person or not... In the end, it will be a collectible of mine!¡±

    Hisst sentence made Xia Ling¡¯s heart skip a beat. She felt that she had underestimated how much of a psychopath he was. ¡°What did you say?¡± She tried to suppress the trembling in her voice and incredulously asked, ¡°You mean that this collection room is filled entirely with things that Li Lei likes?!¡± In her field of view, she could see children¡¯s slingshots, firearms, broken maps, books, and antique pieces. She also saw the bodies of rabbits soaked in Formalin, birds, and corpses of many animals that still retained the horror in their eyes in thest moment before their deaths. Their terrifying expressions really made people shudder!

    ¡°Yes, these are all things that Xiao Lei likes.¡± Li Lei smiled, walked up to her and lifted her chin. ¡°Including you, my little beauty.¡± He lowered his head and sniffed her body. ¡°They sprayed perfume on you? It¡¯s also the rose scent that I like... Little beauty, you¡¯re mine. Come with me and let¡¯s admire the collection for a while. Tell me, how would you like to die and also how you would like your dead body to be stored...¡±

 Chapter 222 - Futile Escape

    <h4>Chapter 222: Futile Escape</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What sort of way to die and what my dead body should be stored in?

    Xia Ling did not even want to think about her answer. She only wanted to continue living. She continued to stall for time and slowly walked forward as he introduced his collectibles to her. She pointed to a slingshot and asked, ¡°Li Lei liked to y with that when he was a child?¡±

    ¡°He never told you that before?¡± Li Feng let out a gorgeous smile. ¡°Since he never told you, why should I tell you? What he likes has nothing to do with you. Some things were never meant for you to know.¡±

    Xia Ling was toozy to argue with Li Feng and only realized that it was not a good topic to dy time. Thus, she asked another question. ¡°How did that rabbit over there die?¡±

    This time, Li Feng started talking and exined what had happened without hesitation.

    ¡°When Xiao Lei was five, he found an injured rabbit in the mountains. I asked him to give it to me, but he refused. He brought it back home and tried to heal its broken bones. Every time I saw that the damned rabbit was about to recover fully, I would secretly break its bones again. Ha, after breaking its bones for about four times, Xiao Lei cried and came to me desperately...¡±

    Li Feng was immersed in his memories and did not notice that Xia Ling had secretly stepped back to hide a broken dagger in her hands.

    Li Feng touched the ss partition and pretended to stroke the rabbit soaked in Formalin. ¡°Look at its front paws, they¡¯re broken now... Well, do you think its other ws are broken too? Of course. Iter stole the rabbit, dug its eyes out, cut off its ears and broke every bone underneath it... You didn¡¯t see how Xiao Lei reacted then. He cried intensively and begged me not to be so cruel. Haha, am I really that cruel?¡±

    His voice was very soft as he turned his head to look at Xia Ling. ¡°What do you think? Am I cruel?¡±

    <i>Not only are you cruel, but you are also literally a psychopath!</i>

    Xia Ling condemned him in her heart. She looked at the empty eyelids of the rabbit after its eyeballs were dug out and its broken mouth. It looked as if it was silently screaming. Trying not to provoke him, she asked, ¡°Do you enjoy bullying Li Lei since a young age? He is your biological brother. Why do you treat him like that?¡±

    ¡°Biological brother?¡± Li Fengughed again, and his expression suddenly became ferocious. ¡°He is a bastard! An extra! He should never have been born in this world!¡± He pushed the rabbit specimen on impulse and the ss broke, causing the formalin to flow out and stain the floor. The stench of the formalin started to fill the air.

    Xia Ling was scared and retreated backward.

    Li Feng growled and screamed. ¡°He deserves to die! If his slut of a mother wasn¡¯t pregnant, how do you think she would be able to marry into the Li family?! My dad belongs to my mom and my mom only! What gives him the right to marry that bitch and have a bastard son after she died?! That damned bitch!¡±

    Every time he cursed, he would shove the items in the collection room away, and soon, they were scattered all over the ce.

    Xia Ling was frightened and scared. The two maids who had helped her in were already kneeling down and shivering. They did not even dare to breathe loudly.

    From Li Feng¡¯s crazy monologue, Xia Ling learned that the reason why he became crazy was due to ack of love in his childhood days.

    She did not want to stay a second longer with that psychopath. Seizing the opportunity when he turned away to break something, she made a mad dash towards the door! Her sense of direction had always been good, and the first thing she did when she entered the Snake Temple was to memorize the way out secretly. She ran the route drafted in her memory and whizzing past the twisted sculptures and oil paintings in the narrow passage. Soon, she saw a light.

    ¡°Trying to escape?!¡± Li Feng quickly caught up.

    The two screaming maids also caught up.

    Xia Ling panted and felt the blood rushing through her veins. Her palpitating heart felt like it was going to burst. Her fitness level as a woman was not bad, but since Li Feng was arge and strong young man, he caught up just as she was about to push the door of the Snake Temple open.

    As he grabbed her long fluttering skirt, there was a tearing sound, and the entire skirt was torn in half.

    Xia Ling screamed and instinctively protected her body with the broken piece of cloth. He had already torn her dress and pulled her into his arms.

    ¡°You can never escape,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling was still holding the broken dagger which she stole from the collection room in her hands and did not think much as she shed it at Li Feng. The sharp section of the de sliced Li Feng¡¯s cheeks and left a long bloody mark.

    Li Feng lifted his hand to wipe the blood off.

    ¡°You¡¯re the first woman to make me bleed.¡± He said softly before snatching the dagger away and giving her a tight p.

    Xia Ling was hit so badly that her head nted to the other side with half of her face burning in pain. Her face was swollen numb, and her lips were bloody.

    He looked at the trace of blood on her lips, stuck out his tongue, and licked it. ¡°We¡¯re even now,¡± he said with a smile.

    ¡°You surprise me, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Feng gently caressed her injured cheek, causing her to grimace in pain. ¡°You look so weak, yet you are so stubborn. I changed my mind. It¡¯s boring just to make you a specimen. How about we test your limits? I will torture you until you beg for mercy on your knees and cry heartbrokenly... Then, I will film it all to make a video for Xiao Lei. It will definitely be fun.¡±

    He felt that his idea was wonderful and started tough.

    Xia Ling was using one hand to hold the broken pieces of the long skirt in ce, and her other hand was being held by him. As such, she did not dare to move. Her escape n had failed. Was she really going to die there? Regardless of how hopeless her situation was, she continued to rack her brains to think of another way out...

    Li Feng squeezed her neck and dragged her back into the depths of the Snake Temple. ¡°Well, let¡¯s try it out now.¡±

    Xia Ling was almost suffocated by his grip and had no energy even to struggle.

    Just when she felt like she was about to die, she suddenly heard the voice of a maid. ¡°Young... Young Master Feng, your phone...¡±

    Li Feng stopped.

    The maid delivered a phone on a delicate tray.

    After looking at the number, he impatiently epted the call. ¡°Hello, old man, what is it?!¡± He had always been disrespectful towards Old Master Li and had a bad temper. Everyone wondered why a man of his word like Old Master Li was able to tolerate his behavior for so many years.

    Old Master Li said, ¡°Ah Feng, let Ye Xingling go.¡±

    ¡°Let her go?¡± Li Feng was stunned. He looked sullenly at the woman who was coughing desperately as he held her neck. ¡°Old man, are you crazy? Don¡¯t tell me you have acknowledged her as Xiao Lei¡¯s girlfriend.¡±

    Old Master Li said something on the phone.

    Li Feng¡¯s initially savage expression slowly calmed down. He hung up the phone andughed at Xia Ling.

    ¡°How interesting.¡± He threw Xia Ling to the floor like a rag doll. ¡°Xiao Lei doesn¡¯t want you anymore. He has already broken up with you and doesn¡¯t consider you his girlfriend anymore. Xiao Ling... you are so pitiful.¡±

 Chapter 223 - Settling The Debt

    <h4>Chapter 223: Settling The Debt</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Calming Heart Garden.

    The bamboo leaves were rustling in the wind.

    Old Master Li hung up the phone and looked at his grandson who was kneeling on the floor. ¡°Get up, Xiao Lei. Ah Feng has agreed to let that girl go. Don¡¯t forget to make a media statement announcing that you have broken up with her.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s back was perfectly straight as he knelt on the ground.

    No matter how much he begged, his grandfather was unwilling to acknowledge Xiao Ling¡¯s status. He was forced to take thest resort and use a break up with Xiao Ling to persuade his grandfather to keep Xiao Ling safe from Li Feng.

    He was wrong. Bringing Xiao Ling back to the Li family was the most stupid decision he had made. He wanted to give her a warm family and let her experience a happy family reunion during the Spring Festival. He did not think that the refusal of his grandfather to acknowledge her would cause his ns to amount to nothing. Perhaps, he was not qualified enough to be with her. He could not even protect his woman. How was he qualified to be a man?

    Li Lei took a deep breath and looked at Old Master Li. ¡°I will make the announcement and tell everyone that we have broken up. However, grandfather, I have to ensure that Xiao Ling has safely left before I do so. If anything bad happens to her...¡± He was quiet for a while before he finally said, ¡°I will terminate my rtions with the Li family.¡±

    Old Master Li¡¯s pupils started to dte vigorously.

    He did not think that his grandson would be so obsessed with that woman such that he would fall out with the family for her pathetic life! He was really not mistaken. That small star called Ye Xingling was a curse and had hoodwinked his most beloved grandson!

    ¡°She will be fine,¡± Old Master Li coldly said. ¡°Although Ah Feng causes a lot of mischiefs, he has never really disobeyed my orders. On the contrary, Xiao Lei, you have be high and mighty over the years.¡±

    Li Lei understood what Old Master Li was implying, but he tightly shut his lips and did not answer him.

    So what if he had be high and mighty?

    That was his woman, and she deserved all of his love and care!

    Li Lei stood up, walked through the rustling bamboo garden, and exited the Calming Heart Garden. As he walked towards the hangar, Er Mao was waiting for him outside Calming Heart Garden. Once he saw himing out, he immediately followed him while swishing its tail.

    Both of them walked to the hangar to witness a thinly dressed girl enter a helicopter.

    One side of her face was swollen, and a handprint was clearly seen on it. Did Li Feng hit her?

    Li Lei¡¯s heart was throbbing in pain. He wanted to rush over, hug her, and take care of her wounds, but he could not. As long as he continued to be with her, Old Master Li would not let her off easily. The Old Master was very old and very stubborn after he made a decision. Li Lei believed that he was capable of anything.

    His eyes followed the helicopter as it took off and slowly disappeared into the vast sky.

    ¡°Young Master Lei, the wind here is strong. Let¡¯s go back.¡± A middle-aged man who looked like a butler walked to his side. He was called Uncle Liu and served Old Master Li. The Old Master was worried about his favorite grandson and sent Uncle Liu to observe him.

    ¡°Where is Su Tang?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was cold.

    Uncle Liu did not expect that he would ask that question. He was taken aback for a while before answering. ¡°Miss Su is in her own room. She has been feeling unwell these few days and has a fever now after catching a cold from staying too long at the hangar. The servants are looking for a doctor for her.¡± After that, he tested the waters with another question. ¡°Do you want to visit Miss Su? I heard that she has a rather dangerous fever.¡±

    ¡°Dangerous?¡± Li Lei sneered. No matter how dangerous it was, Xiao Ling was in more danger than her.

    Su Tang was aware that he loved Xiao Ling but still dared to take the liberty to drive Xiao Ling away and nt a bomb under Xiao Ling¡¯s helicopter. What sort of useless subordinate was she!

    ¡°If she burns to death, then bury her outside. If she is still alive, she doesn¡¯t have to appear in front of me anymore. I have no use for someone like her who makes her own decisions. Since it was grandfather who sent her to me at the start, it is time for her to be sent back to him.¡±

    Uncle Liu felt unwell. Su Tang was sent to Li Lei on Old Master Li¡¯s orders. Although she had waited on Li Lei for many years, everyone knew that she was someone Old Master Li trusted and relied heavily upon. Now that Li Lei wanted to send her back, it seemed that he was angry with Su Tang, but in reality, it was like a p on Old Master Li¡¯s face!

    This grandfather and grandson were of extraordinary status, and when they had a conflict, it was awkward for him to be the middle-man.

    ¡°Young Master Lei, this...¡± He chose his words carefully and thought of how to ease Li Lei¡¯s anger.

    But Li Lei had already turned around and left.

    ¡°Young Master Lei, where are you going?!¡± Uncle Liu was frightened and worried that something bad would happen. He had not seen Young Master Lei angry for many years. His stance today indicated that he was going to get even with those who upset him!

    The new year was approaching. He should not cause unrest in the family now!

    Uncle Liu felt that something terrible was about to happen and rushed to Calming Heart Garden to report what had happened to Old Master Li.

    Old Master Li was seldom not drinking tea. He was holding a brush and staring nkly at a piece of drawing paper. On the paper, there was a beautiful drawing of Xia Ling. <i>This girl...</i>

    Old Master Li¡¯s brush stopped below her eyes. It was strange...

    What exactly did he calcte wrong? From what he saw, it was not possible to live beyond 60 years old.

    ¡°Old Master, Old master! I have bad news!¡± Uncle Liu breathlessly ran towards him. ¡°Young Master Lei... I¡¯m afraid Young Master Lei is about to get rid of his unloyal staff. Just now, he said that he was going to return Su Tang to you and now he is furiously marching towards Thunderous Yard! He summoned all his men to the chamber of Thunderous Yard!¡±

    Old Master Li slowly put down the brush in his hand.

    The news that Uncle Liu reported was not surprising to him.

    ¡°He isn¡¯t Xiao Lei if he did not decide to get rid of his unloyal staff.¡± Old Master Li ndly said. ¡°Let him do what he wants.¡±

    ¡°What? Let him do what he wants?¡± Uncle Liu was shocked.

    ¡°When the king is angry, the kingdom will bleed. Regardless of whether the girl called Ye Xingling is qualified to be with Xiao Lei, his subordinates should not question his decision, and they definitely should not betray him and harm the girl.¡± Old Master Li said. ¡°Otherwise, what is the authority of a king for? If Xiao Lei wants to get rid of his unloyal staff, let him do it. It is not easy to vite his dignity.¡±

    What Old Master Li did not say was¡ª

    The dignity of the future head of the Li Family was not easily vited.

    ¡°What about Su Tang?¡± Uncle Liu could not help but ask. Su Tang adored Young Master Li, and everyone knew it. Since she listened to Old Master Li¡¯s orders to get rid of Xia Ling, she would have to bear Li Lei¡¯s rage.

    Old Master Li said, ¡°Let her return to my side. After she has recovered, slowly reintroduce her back to Xiao Lei.¡± Old Master Li really liked Su Tang and felt that she was a reliable and loyal girl. The most crucial thing was that he was fully aware of her background and that she wasmitted to Li Lei.

    If Li Lei could not find a suitable wife in the future, Su Tang would be a good candidate.

    Thunderous Yard.

    Li Lei gazed at all of the people in the yard. ¡°You have been with me for a long time and know my temper. You¡¯re all aware of what happened during these two days. A few of you have deliberately made life difficult for Xiao Ling. Li Qingshu, Li Fanhao, Li Zhen...¡±

    He listed their names one by one. The parents of several children including Li Xiaoxing and the people on the tarmac who watched Li Feng drag Xia Ling away but did nothing were also included.

 Chapter 224 - Lonely New Years Eve

    <h4>Chapter 224: Lonely New Year¡¯s Eve</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Those few people lifted their heads to look at Li Lei.

    So far, although they had some guilt in their hearts and felt that they should not have done those things to an innocent girl, they thought they were doing it for the sake of Young Master Lei¡¯s future and safety.

    They had already prepared for Young Master Lei¡¯s punishment and were willing to be punished.

    Li Lei saw through their thoughts and lightly sneered. ¡°Very good. None of you are scared, right? Not bad. Some of you are older than me and more senior than me, so you think of my ruthless eviction as me doing you wrong. Li Qingshu, you¡¯re my cousin. Li Fanhao, you¡¯re my third uncle. Also, Li Zhen, Li Wei... From today onwards, you¡¯re no longer my subordinates. You can seek refuge wherever you want!¡±

    ¡°Young Master!¡±

    ¡°Uncle Lei!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lei!¡±

    The crowd was shocked, and everyone was calling out to him. They were all prepared to be punished by Li Lei, but they never expected the punishment to be so serious such that they were being chased out of their home!

    ¡°Xiao Lei!¡± Li Fanhao said. ¡°We¡¯re doing this for your own good. That girl is too weak and unsuitable for you! Even if our methods were extreme, we¡¯re all loyal to you. You can punish us however you like, but please don¡¯t chase us away!¡±

    ¡°Exactly Young Master Lei! Please forgive us this once!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to beg for mercy.¡± Li Lei eyes scanned his subordinates. Many had watched him grow up from a child to an adult and had braved many storms with him. Being able to enter Thunderous Yard meant that they entrusted their lives to him. How could he bear to see them go?

    However, for Xiao Lei, there were some things he must do.

    ¡°Xiao Ling is my woman,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Regardless of whether grandfather acknowledges her, whether you acknowledge her, or even if I make a statement announcing that I have broken up with her, she will always be the woman who is more important to me than my life. I will never let anyone have the slightest chance of hurting her. Li Qingshu, Li Fanhao, Li Zhen... This time, Xiao Ling almost died, so I will expel you from the yard. If this happens again, I will make all of you... including your families pay with your lives!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair!¡± The shrill voice of a small girl rang out. ¡°Uncle Lei, this is not fair!¡± It was Li Xiaoxing. A few other children and she were standing in the chamber and noticed the uproar that was caused by them.

    Li Lei looked at her faintly but his expression was murderous, and the small girl found it hard to breathe.

    Li Xiaoxing picked up her courage and said, ¡°Uncle Lei, this situation was caused by me. On that day, several of us children were having abat ss on the ind and randomly chose a good target. You know that any adult on the ind is a potential target. No one has ever sought revenge because he or she was targeted duringbat ss!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, Uncle Lei!¡± Seeing that his parents were about to be evicted, Li Xiaolong became anxious. ¡°It was only a simple trap, and it was not even dangerous. If it were any other adult on this ind, even if he fell into the trap, he would justugh it off. Who knew that Miss Ye¡¯s reaction would be that big, and she would be so weak! My dad also thinks that any child on the ind is braver than her. We were just scared that you would marry a useless woman, so we opposed your rtionship!¡±

    The children¡¯s crisp voice echoed in the chamber, and no one scolded them. Their words were exactly what the Li family adults wanted to tell Li Lei. A woman who was weaker than the average person was not qualified to be with him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling is not as weak as you think she is.¡± Li Lei said. She was provoked by something in the trap which caused her to have a mental breakdown. ¡°Xiao Ling is afraid of the dark and she...¡± He shook his head and did not continue.

    He recalled a recent scene in his mind. Not long after the Neb Music Festival ended, he had rushed back from abroad to see her. It was about three or four in the morning. She was sleeping, but her bedroom light was still on.

    He thought that she forgot to turn the light off.

    Later, there was another time he entered her bedroom after she was asleep and found that the light was still on.

    He initially did not care that much, but after the trap incident, he felt that something was unusual. Was she unable to stay in a dark environment for a long time? Was she... once imprisoned in the dark?

    Li Lei did not dare to think about it further. He looked at the children and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. There is a rule like that regardingbat ss. However, now there is a rule that takes precedence over all the other rules: No one is allowed to harm Xiao Ling! Otherwise, I don¡¯t care if it isbat ss or which subordinate or family member he is, I will not be nice to him!¡±

    Everyone fell silent.

    The rules were stated only for those who were willing to abide by them or those who were forced to obey them. In the presence of a strong person like Li Lei, their excuses were all bullsh*t.

    ¡°Uncle Lei, please don¡¯t chase us away...¡± Li Xiaoxing cried.

    ¡°Leave.¡± Li Lei refused to relent. The incident involved Xiao Ling, and he had no choice but to deal with it in the strictest way possible to let everyone know that he had his limits and they should be wary of them. Only then would Xiao Ling¡¯s safety be guaranteed.

    He turned around and left, leaving behind a crowd of dejected family members.

    ¡°Evicted all of them?¡± In Calming Heart Garden, Old Master Li was drinking tea.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Uncle Liu reported everything that happened in Thunderous Yard thoroughly to Old Master Li.

    ¡°His name does not mean ¡®thunder¡¯ for no reason. His rage is really thunder-like.¡± Old Master Li lightly said. ¡°It¡¯s just that he¡¯s going to this extent for that cursed girl...¡± He shook his head and sighed deeply. ¡°Hire two men to watch them in China. Don¡¯t let them rekindle their romance.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Uncle Liu responded but sighed in his heart. They were truly star-crossed lovers. What caused that small girl called Ye Xingling to be a taboo... It did not matter how she was born or whether she was weak or strong, the only problem was that she was born unlucky and cursed to be lonely. How could she enter the Li family?

    Old Master was very old and superstitious. There was no way to convince him otherwise.

    It was difficult for Young Master Lei to find the person he loved but...

    New Year¡¯s Eve.

    There was snow on the apron of S City.

    Xia Ling got off the ne wrapped in her thin clothes. The cold wind was blowing as she stood alone in the open wind and snow.

    Well, it was the day of the family reunion. Who would be alone like her?

    Her body was exhausted. The searing pain from her body and the wounds inflicted on her by Li Feng were weighing down on her and caused her to crumble slowly, and she looked like she could fall down at any time. She tried her best to support herself into the lounge at the edge of the tarmac and fumbled as she poured herself a cup of hot water.

    Her hands were frozen and numb, and she dropped the cup and spilled the warm water on her.

    Looking at the mess on the floor of the quiet lounge, she slowly knelt down, and her tears started flowing.

    Li Lei did not want her anymore.

    Pei Ziheng also did not recognize her anymore.

    The world was vast, but no one loved or cared about her.

    Perhaps she should not have lived another life and should have diedpletely during the staged murder. In that case, she would always be the bright and dazzling Diva Xia Ling. Even if she had descended into darkness, she would never be abandoned or forgotten.

    Break up.

    Even in the worst moments of her past life, she had never heard those two words.

    As her world started to fall apart, suddenly, she kind of understood what Pei Ziheng felt when she left him then.

 Chapter 225 - News of the Breakup

    <h4>Chapter 225: News of the Breakup</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The click-ck sound of heels was heard in the empty space.

    A woman dressed in a burgundy wool coat squatted down in front of Xia Ling.

    ¡°Wipe those tears away. You look horrible. Isn¡¯t it just a breakup?¡± Sister Mai Na quickly took out a white tissue from her bag and handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Can you keep your cool? It¡¯s not the end of the world.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her tear-stained face and saw an arrogant and gorgeous woman. She was so stunned she did not react for a while. ¡°Why are you here?¡± she asked in the middle of sobbing.

    ¡°If I didn¡¯te, were you going to cry to death in the airport on the New Year¡¯s day?¡± Sister Mai Na snorted and roughly used a tissue to wipe Xia Ling¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re such a beautiful girl. Is it worth it to cry like that for a man? If Boss doesn¡¯t want you, it is his loss. If he wants to break up with you, then just break up with him! Let¡¯s find you a better boyfriend to get back at him!¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again.

    Sister Mai Na sighed. She ignored the freezing brick floor, squatted down, and held the slim and delicate girl in her arms. After she received a call from Li Lei, she went to the airport immediately. It was New Year¡¯s Eve, and she was supposed to be ying mahjong with her mother and a group of rtives at home. However, Li Lei urgently called for her to pick Xiao Ling up at the airport because he said they had broken up, and he was afraid that Xiao Ling would not be able to handle it.

    Sister Mai Na asked Li Lei for the reason they broke up, but he only gave her a vague answer.

    She was so angry that she almostmbasted Big Boss Li over the phone. On the night of New Year¡¯s Eve, it was snowing heavily. She revealed her winning row of mahjong tiles, took her bag, and left her house to look for Xia Ling.

    Luckily, Xia Ling was only squatting and crying at the airport. Nothing bad had happened to her.

    She lightly patted the girl¡¯s disheveled hair and softened her tone. ¡°Silly child, you¡¯re still young. Who hasn¡¯t experienced a few breakups before? Be good ande home with me. I will boil some ginger soup for you to warm yourself in the cold. After a good night¡¯s rest, you will be fine.¡±

    Not only was Sister Mai Na Xia Ling¡¯s manager, in many ways, she was also like her sister and took care of her in every possible way. Xia Ling gradually stopped crying in Sister Mai Na¡¯s arms. As her body became warmer, Xia Ling suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask. ¡°How do you know that I have broken up with Li Lei?¡±

    Sister Mai Na did not want to tell her that it was Li Lei who called her and told her the news because she was afraid that it would provoke Xia Ling, so she only said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Juste to my house and rest well. Look at you, wearing so little clothes! Don¡¯t catch a cold in this weather. It¡¯s almost New Year¡¯s day, and the clinics will be closed.¡±

    Xia Ling was exhausted, and her mind was processing information slowly. She did not think much after hearing that Sister Mai Na had refused to answer her question.

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t need to follow you home.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going then?¡± Sister Mai Na frowned. She was really worried about leaving this girl alone outside.

    Xia Ling was also at a loss for words. Where could she go? Her parents¡¯ home? Her parents only cared about getting her money. Return to her apartment? There were too many memories of her and Li Lei in the apartment...

    Suddenly, she felt that there was nowhere for her to go.

    Seeing that she was hesitating, Sister Mai Na persuaded her again. ¡°Come to my house. There are many adults and children there, so it will be very lively. I have been a manager for celebrities for many years, so my rtives have seen many celebrities before. Even if youe to my house, they won¡¯t make a fuss. You can rest assured, they won¡¯t disturb you.¡±

    For three consecutive days, Xia Ling did not have a good rest. Li Lei had forced himself on her twice, and she had a horrific, life-threatening experience in Li Feng¡¯s Snake Temple. At this point, Xia Ling was brain dead. She did not want to think anymore and also did not want to spend any effort rejecting Sister Mai Na, so she meekly nodded her head.

    Half of the burden was lifted off her chest. Thus, Sister Mai Na supported her to the car.

    Sure enough, the Mai household was very lively. Their home was filled with adults and children, and everyone had jubnt looks on their faces. When they saw Xia Ling entering the house, they surrounded her and showered her with concern. Although some were a little curious about the star, the family¡¯s reaction towards her was much less intense than ordinary people. Many family members offered her melon seeds and sweets to eat.

    Sister Mai Na smiled and said, ¡°Ok, everyone, please don¡¯t disturb Xiao Ling. She just got off a ne and is rather tired. Let her have a good rest.¡±

    Only then did the Mai family disperse and carried on ying mahjong or preparing for the New Year¡¯s Eve family dinner.

    Sister Mai Na tidied up a guest room and let Xia Ling sleep on the bed. ¡°I¡¯m just outside. If you need anything, call me.¡± She said.

    As Xia Ling quietly nodded in her soft bed, Sister Mai Na was finally relieved.

    Wanting to help Xia Ling vent her frustrations, Sister Mai Na took a breath and found a secluded corner to call Li Lei. ¡°Are you there? I have helped her settle down in my home, so you don¡¯t have to worry. However, Li Lei, you are really despicable! Chasing someone out of your house on New Year¡¯s Eve... Even the worst type of man would not do something like that. Thankfully, Xiao Ling is fine. What should I do if something happened to her?! I can¡¯t believe I used to think you truly loved Xiao Ling. If you¡¯re so irresponsible, you shouldn¡¯t have publicly announced your love to the media in the first ce!¡±

    At the other end of the line, Li Lei was silent.

    Sister Mai Na nced at the television in the living room. Currently, it was showing thetest entertainment news.

    ¡°This afternoon, Li Lei, the chairman of Skyart Entertainment, issued a public statement to the media announcing his official breakup with Skyart Entertainment artiste Ye Xingling... It was reported that before that, Li Lei took Ye Xingling back to the Li family to meet his elders. What exactly led to Ye Xingling being chased out of the Li household in the middle of the night?¡±

    The news broadcast was very emotional. The initially lively family in the living room suddenly became quiet. They looked at the television and then looked in the direction of the closed guest room door. Did Mai Na bring back Miss Ye because of her breakup?

    They were full of sympathy.

    The news broadcast continued with a segment of the column reporter randomly interviewing a few passers-by.

    A passer-by said, ¡°I already knew from the start that they would notst long. This is reality and not a fairytale, how can there be a Cindere-like love story?¡±

    Another passer-by said, ¡°A small star wanting to enter a rich and powerful family. Her n was exposed once he brought her home.¡±

    Yet another passer-by said, ¡°Ye Xingling must have definitely done something wrong. Otherwise, a rich and powerful family like the Li family that values etiquette and rules would not have kicked her out for no reason on New Year¡¯s Eve.¡±

    More passers-by were interviewed...

    Almost all of the remarks were one-sided and adding insult to injury for the sake of creating more drama.

    Sister Mai Na rushed into the living room and shouted. ¡°Change the channel! Quickly!¡± She wanted to prevent Xiao Ling from hearing the news because she would probably be more upset.

    Her rtives took their time to change the channel.

    Sister Mai Na red up at Li Lei. ¡°Look at what you have done! It is fine that you have broken up with her, but did you have to release a media statement on New Year¡¯s Eve?! Li Lei, can¡¯t you develop a conscience and not break off the rtionship so harshly? How will Xiao Ling continue to thrive in the industry after what you have done? You¡¯re a man and her Boss, so you will be fine after dumping her. However, have you thought about her? In the future, she will be mocked wherever she goes!¡±

    Li Lei remained quiet and hung up the phone without saying a word.

    He truly did not know what to reply. He had also faintly heard the news that was being yed at the other end of the line. At that moment, he really wished he could break the mouths of those people...

    However, what was the use?

    At the end of the day, he was the one who hurt Xiao Ling.

 Chapter 226 - An Unexpected Meeting Below The Stage

    <h4>Chapter 226: An Unexpected Meeting Below The Stage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sister Mai Na looked at the phone exasperatedly. ¡°F*ck you, Li Lei!¡±

    In her anger, she almost threw her phone on the floor.

    What she did not know was that behind the guest room door, Xia Ling had been secretly listening to everything. Sister Mai Na¡¯s anger and helplessness, the concerned chatter of her family in the living room, theughter...

    Suddenly, she had a tight feeling in her chest. Everything was far from bearable.

    Xia Ling found a few sets of clothes from the closet, changed into them, and left a note for Sister Mai Na telling her not to worry. Taking the chance when everyone was upied, she secretly left the Mai household.

    The streets were cold and bare. However, a slight aroma of food filled the air, and firecrackers could be heard.

    The residential area was lit up isted inds above the calm night ocean.

    Xia Ling wrapped her coat around her and wandered the streets. The world was big, but she did not know where her ce was. All the happiness in the world belonged to other people, and she could only feel eternal loneliness and pain silently in her heart.

    As she walked, she arrived at a building.

    She looked up at the tall open stage and halted her footsteps. To think she was actually here... at the ce where she was murdered during her 10th-anniversary concert.

    The stage remained the same, but the lively scene that year was no longer present. The small snowkes buried the area, forming a gloomy white pile. The stage steps and barriers were frozen, and the lights were dim. Xia Ling stared at the stage for a very long time, and she could almost hear the sea of fans cheering for her, and most importantly, the heart-wrenching farewell song.

    ¡°The butterfly in the cage with wings that can¡¯t fly...¡± She mumbled and softly sang the lyrics. She lifted her hand towards the tall stage as if she was trying to grab a broken illusion.

    <i>p </i>.

    Someone was actually apuding, and the apuse echoed in the open snowy area.

    Xia Ling was frightened. As she looked back, she saw a man sitting on the second floor of the stands. He was tall, was wearing a ck coat, and had a long scarf wrapped around his neck. In the dim light, she could not see his facial features clearly but could make out a handsome outline which was beautiful like a god.

    Xia Ling stopped breathing for a moment.

    She knew who that man was. Even if she were turned into dust in her next life, she would never forget him ¡ª Pei Ziheng.

    Wasn¡¯t tonight New Year¡¯s Eve? Why was he here? Xia Ling remembered the Pei family rules. His old money family was the same as the Li family in the way they both required all family members to be present during the reunion dinner. As the head of the family, Pei Ziheng always turned up punctually, and even in her past life, Xia Ling had no choice but to follow him back to visit the Pei family every year.

    However, this year, he had actually vited the family rules to visit this ce.

    The ce where she died.

    Pei Ziheng stood up, and his tall body blocked the dim lights. He walked towards her step by step. ¡°Ye Xingling, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She retreated two steps as she did not know how to answer him. No matter the reason, it was not appropriate for her to appear here at this time. How could she exin her reason to him without making him suspicious? Xia Ling only felt that too many things had happened in the past two days. She was too tired and could no longer think of a perfect excuse. She simply gave up and said, ¡°I broke up with Li Lei.¡±

    Everyone in the world knew about her break up and how she was abandoned by Li Lei. She was theughing stock of the media and the public.

    Pei Ziheng had obviously heard of the news and was not surprised. ¡°What? How pitiful.¡±

    Step by step, he walked up to her and looked down to see her pale and haggard face. ¡°Every time I see you, you always look ferocious. What made you fall into this state?¡± His voice was low and deep like he was stating an ordinary fact.

    Hearing that strangely made her want to cry.

    In the past, she became arrogant and headstrong under his protection. She could even whine in front of him for half a day about having her finger pricked by a thorn of a rose. However, although that she had been greatly wronged, she had to pretend that nothing had happened. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business,¡± she coldly said.

    Pei Ziheng fell silent.

    It was the evening of New Year¡¯s Eve. He did not know why he did not want to go back to that family of pretentious old snakes that refused to die. He remembered that every new year, Xiao Ling would try her best to prevent him from going home. She would throw a tantrum or act angry, but just for the authority and responsibility, he would drag her back to the Pei family every year.

    He clearly knew that she disliked it.

    He obviously knew that she was inconveniencing herself.

    Pei Ziheng regretted it very much. If only he had amodated her wishes just once. He would have climbed up the snow-capped mountains with her to watch the fireworks... They would wake up in a romantic travel destination and he would whisper ¡°Happy New Year¡± in her ear.

    Now, he was alone in this ce looking at the stage she fell from with devastation.

    Xia Ling turned her face away and refused to look at him. She was afraid that if she looked at him, she would not be able to prevent her weakness from showing.

    She slowly stepped back and was about to turn around to leave.

    ¡°It was here.¡± Under the empty stage and broken snowkes, she heard Pei Ziheng¡¯s lonely voice. ¡°I was watching her as she sang on stage. She was so beautiful and so dazzling... Suddenly, the ce turned pitch ck, and she left me.¡±

    His voice was hoarse.

    Xia Ling was deeply shocked and stopped in her tracks. This was the first time she heard him talk about that disaster, and the first time she heard him speak in such a sad and deste tone.

    Pei Ziheng did not look at her and continued staring at the stage. ¡°I have punished the mastermind, but so what if the murderers pay with their lives and their entire families are eliminated... She will nevere back again.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± She turned around and asked. ¡°Who is the mastermind?¡±

    She never knew who killed her. In the darkness, someone lodged a knife behind her back and stabbed her heart so deeply. Was it the Wang family as she had guessed? Not long after her death, the Wang family dered bankruptcy and disappeared.

    Sure enough, Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°Wang Jingzhou.¡± That was Wang Jingwan¡¯s brother. ¡°He hired assassins and pulled the electric switch in the power room. In the darkness, the assassins he hired rushed on stage and killed Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Pei Ziheng sneered slightly. ¡°I can¡¯t believe my Xiao Ling was killed by such an awful means.¡±

    After hearing what he had said, Xia Ling¡¯s heart heaved a sigh of relief. That was great... It was the Wang Family and not Xia Yu. Even if she were enemies with her sister, she really did not wish for her murderer to be her younger sister whom she used to care deeply for.

    However, she was already dead. Why was Pei Ziheng dwelling on his memories of her?

    When she was alive, he treated her so cruel but acted as he cared for her after her death?!

    She coldly taunted him. ¡°If you treated her better and did not provoke the Wang family by getting engaged with Wang Jingwan, the Wang family would not have sought revenge for Wang Jingwan by killing Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°How did you know?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze was suddenly piercing, and he stared at her intensely. ¡°How did you know the Wang family sought revenge for Wang Jingwan¡¯s death by killing Xiao Ling?!¡± His rtionship with Xia Ling was a secret. When he imprisoned Xia Ling, the public only thought that Xia Ling was sick and was receiving treatment. In the eyes of the public, Wang Jingwan¡¯s death was thoroughly done and not rted to Xia Ling at all. Why did the girl in front of him know that that the Wang family took out their anger on Xia Ling after finding out about Wang Jingwan¡¯s death?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and she realized that she had run her mouth.

 Chapter 227 - Like an Old Friend

    <h4>Chapter 227: Like an Old Friend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng took a few steps forward, and Xia Ling vigntly retreated.

    His voice was low. ¡°Tell me. How do you know?¡±

    Her mind nk, she anxiously blurted out. ¡°Li Lei said it.¡± Besides, Big Boss Li was currently overseas on an ind celebrating the Spring Festival. She did not believe that Pei Ziheng would really verify it with him.

    ¡°Li Lei?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°He did a check on me?¡±

    Xia Ling remembered that Li Lei had previously vaguely mentioned that he was investigating Pei Ziheng. He also warned her that Pei Ziheng was too dangerous and told her to keep a distance from him. Xia Ling did not know how much Li Lei had found out from the investigation, but no matter what, getting past her difficulty was the more important thing.

    ¡°You¡¯re hispetitor and enemy in the industry. It is very normal for him to conduct an investigation on you.¡± She tried her best to keep her cool.

    ¡°Really?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very faint. After a short while, he suddenly asked, ¡°He didn¡¯t do it for you?¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled and turned her head to the side. ¡°We have broken up.¡± Under the dim street lights and fine snow, her expression was pale and downcast. Her thin woolen coat was flowing with the wind, and snow was umting around her neck.

    Pei Ziheng realized something was wrong and frowned.

    ¡°Why are you wearing so little clothing?¡± He took off his long scarf, reached out, and wrapped it around her neck. Only when he was closer did he realize that there were purple bruises on her neck and a few hickeys which were a dreadful sight on her white skin. ¡°Who did those?¡± His voice was suddenly heavy. He did not know why, but after looking at those scars, his heart started to ache and anger was boiled within him. He could not help but want to rip that person who hurt her into pieces.

    Xia Ling tried to block the ugly scars with her hand.

    As he grabbed her wrist despite her resistance and pulled her arm down, those horrible scars were once again exposed to him. His eyes were cold. ¡°Li Lei?¡± Did Li Lei forcefully kiss her, quarrel with her, torture her, and then kick her out of his family¡¯s house?

    As he visualized the scene in his mind, his anger started to intensify.

    Xia Ling bit her lip, refusing to speak. Was it that important to find out who did it? Besides, she already did not have any connections with the Li family.

    As he held her wrist, she felt a familiar touch and warmth. She wanted to shake him off but did not know why she did not have the strength to do so. She watched as Pei Ziheng used his other hand to slowly wrap the long scarf around her neck to cover the scars.

    ¡°Come to my ce, I will take care of you.¡± His voice was very gentle.

    She shook her head as she did not want to be too involved with him.

    He tightened his grip around her wrist.

    Pei Ziheng ignored her resistance and pulled her on stage. A ck Rolls-Royce which was covered in snowkes silently stopped in the cold and empty street.

    He pulled Xia Ling into the car and instructed the chauffeur to drive.

    Uneasiness and fear started to ovee Xia Ling. ¡°What are you trying to do?!¡±

    He nced at her.

    Xia Ling instinctively tried to open the car door. ¡°Let me go!¡± The memories of her imprisonment came back, causing her to be terrified. She was already reborn as a different person and knew that he could not recognize her, but she still could not help but be afraid.

    The way she panicked pained his heart.

    He remembered that before Xiao Ling¡¯s death, she was imprisoned for a year and had shown the same expression countless times. It was a look of fear and helplessness after suffering too much harm and torture but not knowing how to escape it. If there was a way to go back in time, he would not treat her like that. In thest year of her life, he would at least make her happy and not always cry secretly behind his back.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s thoughts drifted. At that time, Xiao Ling did not dare to cry in front of him.

    People with Stockholm Syndrome were only grateful to their torturers and would not be afraid or cry. Every time she showed a bit of pain, he would think that his discipline was not strict enough and would intensify his torture. Over time, she even lost her right to cry. On the bed, she did not dare to scream due to pain, and when she was in his range of sight, she did not dare to cry.

    There were many surveince cameras in the vi that he imprisoned her in. 360 degrees without blind spots. 24 hours a day.

    In the past, he was very curious about why Xiao Ling took such a long time to shower every time. Only until after she fell from the stage and died did he realize from the surveince cameras¡¯ footage that every time she took a bath, she would submerge her face in the water for a very long time, and her thin shoulders would twitch slightly.

    Every time she left the bathroom, she would carefully conceal the red marks around her eyes.

    Pei Ziheng hated himself. How far did he push her such that she was even afraid to express her sorrow?

    If he had another chance and she could be resurrected...

    His Xiao Ling was only worthy of the most gentle care and protection.

    He looked at the girl who resembled Xia Ling and softened his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I won¡¯t hurt you, I promise. I only want to take care of you.¡±

    After Xia Ling heard that sentence, her panic-stricken movements slowly came to a halt. She turned her head to face the man in front of her. He said... he only wanted to take care of her? She remembered that during their first encounter many years ago in her past life, she looked up self-consciously and asked the tall man beside her, ¡°Brother Pei, why do you want to adopt me?¡±

    How did he reply then?

    It was the same as today, with a low and gentle voice. ¡°I only want to take care of you.¡±

    Tears started to flow out from her eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± She tried to prevent herself from bursting into tears.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you.¡± He warmly said. ¡°You¡¯re wearing so little clothing, and your neck is injured. If you continue to stand there in the snow, you will definitely fall sick. Follow me home. I will let my family doctor treat your wounds and then ask my housekeeper to cook something for you to eat. Since it is almost the new year, how about you ept my favor?¡±

    She had not heard him speak so softly in a long time.

    It was just like many years ago. Whenever she was throwing a tantrum, he would patiently try to appease her.

    Perhaps she was too tired today or really yearned for the past as she was in a vulnerable situation. Unexpectedly, she nodded her head.

    Pei Ziheng smiled warmly.

    Xia Ling stopped making a scene about wanting to get down from the car. In the blink of an eye, the interior of the car became silent.

    Although both of them were not considered close, at least ¡°Ye Xingling¡± in this lifetime was more distant from Pei Ziheng. After calming down, she did not know what else to say to him. The heater in the Rolls-Royce was warm like spring. Thefortable, soft and authentic leather seats caused Xia Ling to feel more rxed. Without realizing, she closed her eyes and slept.

    She had her first good dream in days.

    She dreamed of the orphanage from many years ago. The bright afternoon sun was high in the sky, and surrounding the orphanage were irises that had bloomed. Having just won a few children in a fight, she turned around to look at the stairs and realized that there was a handsome and majestic man standing behind the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor reaching his hand out to her. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°Come home with me...¡±

    In her dream, she had lightly tilted her head.

    Her small face was resting on the shoulders of the man beside her. Unconsciously, she rubbed her head against the veryfortable and soft woolen coat, adjusted her position, and fell into a deeper sleep.

 Chapter 228 - New Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 228: New Beginning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Although her head was a negligible weight, his shoulders felt heavy, causing Pei Ziheng¡¯s entire body to stiffen.

    This girl... was too simr to Xiao Ling. When Xiao Ling was tired, she always liked to lean on his shoulders, close her eyes, and assume a defenseless position. The weight on his shoulders which was as light as a feather felt like it weighed a ton. Pei Ziheng did not dare to move because he was afraid that he would wake her up. With her body nted, that girl was sleeping soundly. Her originally knitted brows were slowly rxing, and she seemed to be in a dream.

    The snowkes were flying around, and the city skyline was blurred as the car sped on the road.

    ¡°Boss, we have arrived.¡± It was the chauffeur¡¯s voice. The car had stopped outside a vi.

    This vi was one of Pei Ziheng¡¯s investments. nted with cedar and ivy, the garden was lush and green even in the winter. The butler and servants had already lined up in front of the door, ready to wee the owner of the house back.

    However, Pei Ziheng lifted a finger to his lips and asked them to keep quiet.

    The girl with a beautiful face was still in a deep sleep on his shoulders. Perhaps it was the warmth andfort of the car or she had a good dream, but her initially pale face gradually developed a pale red blush. The scarf was still wrapped around her neck, and it partially buried her face. Her thin breathing sounded like a hibernating bear cub¡¯s.

    He could not help but smile and rearranged the scarf for her.

    ¡°Bring a nket here.¡± He instructed the chauffeur in a low voice.

    The chauffeur quickly brought a nket over.

    Pei Ziheng covered Xia Ling with the nket, skillfully tucking in the corners to prevent the cold air from reaching her body.

    He then signaled for the chauffeur to close the car door.

    He did not dare to get down from the car because he was afraid that if he moved ever slightly, she would wake up. If she woke up, she would definitely not be willing to continue resting on his shoulders. His small desire of pretending that Xiao Ling was still alive would be destroyed, and he would not be able to use the scene to cherish the memories of him and Xiao Ling.

    Regardless of how sore his shoulders were, he would rather remain in that position and let her rest on them forever.

    Seeing that he was not leaving the car, the chauffeur respectfully and carefully closed the car door. After that, he whispered a few words to the butler. The formally dressed butler looked in the direction of the car then gave a signal for the servants to return to the vi.

    Covered in snowkes, the Rolls-Royce was left alone in the quiet New Year¡¯s Eve.

    Xia Ling was in a deep slumber. When she woke up, light gray sunlight was emerging from the horizon.

    In a daze, she rubbed her eyes and realized that she was in a familiar car. The interior of this Rolls Royce was custom-made by her in the past. Its leather seats had butterfly and rabbit prints, and it was probably the only one of its kind in the world.

    She was partly awake and in a trance-like state, feeling as if she had returned to the past. ¡°Good morning, Zi...¡± She mumbled.

    Suddenly, she came to a halt.

    The tall man in her memory was looking at her quietly. It was the familiar look he gave when he was spoiling her but... a look of sadness and reminiscence mixed with otherplicated emotions. Xia Ling suddenly became rmed and swallowed what she was about to say, finally remembering what her reality was now and her current identity. It was a close call. She had almost put herself in danger.

    Xia Ling let out a stiff smile. ¡°Good morning, Mr. Pei.¡±

    She quickly pulled her body away from Pei Ziheng and retreated to lean against the other car door.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her guarded behavior with aplicated expression and rubbed his shoulders. She had used his shoulders as a pillow for an entire night, causing blood flow to be disrupted on his arm which was now numb. However, just after he ced his hand on his shoulder, he paused and lifted it. There was a long trail of... saliva.

    She even had the same drooling problem when she slept like his Xiao Ling.

    Xia Ling looked at that trail of saliva and was embarrassed. ¡°I... I didn¡¯t do it on purpose. I swear...¡±

    She was afraid that Pei Ziheng would seek revenge on her. This man was extremely particr about his clothes. In the past, he did not like it when she drooled on him. Every time she did that, he would take out a tissue to wipe off her drool in a disgruntled manner, breaking her heart.

    However, this time, Pei Ziheng was not unhappy.

    He pretended that nothing happened and asked, ¡°Did you sleep wellst night?¡±

    What? Now that he mentioned it, Xia Ling realized that she had surprisingly slept on his shoulders for the entire night. She chastised herself inside for not taking precautions. How could she casually sleep on Pei Ziheng¡¯s shoulders? She apologized using her most sincere look. ¡°Please excuse my behavior. I was exhausted after these two days. I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    The way she politely apologized made him frown again.

    Seeing that he was unhappy, Xia Ling became even more worried. ¡°Well, how about I make a move first? It is already morning.¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned. ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to go.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Pei Ziheng lifted his hand and wiped off the drool on his scarf. He really could not bear to look at the way she was acting. ¡°I already said I was going to treat your injuries, and you haven¡¯t eaten anything all night.¡±

    Only then did she remember what she did yesterday.

    She lightly touched the wound on her neck and realized that it was still slightly swollen. Li Feng hit her really hard, so she also felt that her throat was a little ufortable. She wondered if he had hurt her trachea as there was a burning pain whenever she took a breath.

    In that instant, the unhappy memories of being on the Li family ind flooded back to her.

    She became downcast.

    ¡°It¡¯s a new year,¡± said Pei Ziheng suddenly.

    Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him.

    ¡°So it¡¯s time for a new beginning.¡± He looked at the swollen wound on her neck, and his expression was slightly pained. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you want to join Imperial Entertainment? No matter how bad Imperial Entertainment is, at least we won¡¯t take advantage of our singers like that.¡±

    Won¡¯t take advantage of our singers like that?

    Xia Ling was startled, and suddenly, she felt that she was being ridiculed. Was she not taken advantage of in every way possible in her past life? Her predicament then was countless times scarier and more devastating than what she had experienced in the Li family. It was truly a living hell for her such that even though she was in a different life now, it was still a permanent scar on her heart.

    ¡°Thank you for your kindness, Boss Pei,¡± Xia Ling politely and formally said. ¡°But I¡¯m sorry, I have to reject your offer.¡± She would never return to Imperial Entertainment. Even if she were homeless in this world, she would never return to that awful nightmare.

    He expected her to reject him.

    However, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was still dark. How many times had she rejected him? He did not even know how many times she had rejected his offer. Pei Ziheng was very annoyed. For a brief second, the idea of kidnapping her appealed to him, just like the way he poisoned her that time. He wanted to force her to remain by his side through unscrupulous means and make her his woman.

    Just like how he had done to Xia Ling whom she resembled.

    They may not be willing to sleep with him.

    However, as long as he wanted them, he would use all methods possible to make them submit.

    However, looking at that girl¡¯s careful and alert behavior, he could not bring himself to hurt her. Ever since she sang ¡°The Caged Butterfly,¡± he felt as if something was different. She was too simr to Xiao Ling... and more simr to her than every person he had met before. She resembled Xiao Ling so much that he could not bear to torture and ruin her. He only wanted topensate Xiao Ling by doing everything he could not do for her because it was toote.

    He suppressed the annoyance in his heart.

    ¡°At least, leave Skyart Entertainment.¡± He looked at her warmly and patiently said. ¡°A new year means a new beginning.¡±

 Chapter 229 - Wisteria Grand Hotel

    <h4>Chapter 229: Wisteria Grand Hotel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling originally did not n on leaving Skyart Entertainment, but after hearing what he said, she started to think about it.

    He was right. There was pretty much no value in staying in Skyart Entertainment anymore. In the future, she would have to meet Li Lei regrly, and it would definitely be awkward. However, on the surface, she only lightly said, ¡°That¡¯s my business. Mr. Pei, you don¡¯t have to be too concerned about it.¡±

    Not only did she want to cut ties with Li Lei, but she also did not wish to provoke Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened.

    He controlled his emotions and invited her to step out of the car for the wounds on her neck to be treated by his family doctor.

    Xia Ling recognized this vi. It was not her and Pei Ziheng¡¯s house, but only a vacation vi. The decoration inside did not change much. In the living room, there were several small porcin cat carvings ced in a corner.

    Xia Ling did not bother to analyze the familiar objects. As she sat down on the sofa, the family doctor quickly arrived. Doctor Ouyang was an old acquaintance as they frequently consulted with him when they were sick in the past. After Doctor Ouyang checked Xia Ling carefully, he put down his equipment and said, ¡°Her throat is a little swollen. There is internal bleeding, but it is not harmful to ordinary people. However, Miss Ye is a singer, so she has to take care of herself for a while. I will give you some medicine. Take it on time and remember not to eat any spicy food that can irritate your throat.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Yesterday, she was in snowy weather. Did she catch a cold?¡±

    Doctor Ouyang smiled and said, ¡°Mr. Pei, don¡¯t worry. Miss Ye¡¯s body is in good condition, and everything is normal.¡±

    After hearing his words, Pei Ziheng was finally relieved and dismissed Doctor Ouyang.

    He made Xia Ling stay for breakfast and instructed the servants to prepare a nutritious vegetable porridge which was easy to digest. He helped her cut some bread into small pieces and spread butter on them. As Xia Ling watched him meticulously slice the bread pieces, she recalled that many years ago, he was equally considerate. He always did everything wlessly and took care of her very well.

    She then thought about Li Lei again.

    Li Lei was different from Pei Ziheng. He hired very few servants and did most things himself. Always careless in the kitchen, when Li Lei cooked he would always ask for her help. He would alsough at her for cutting the tomatoes into uneven slices and not washing the vegetables well enough...

    Many of their memories were engaged in joyful banter in the kitchen. In the future, that would most likely not happen again.

    There was a sour feeling in her mouth, and the soft and delicious vegetable porridge in front of her felt difficult to swallow.

    She hastily finished her breakfast and bid Pei Ziheng farewell.

    Pei Ziheng could not find another reason to make her stay, so he assigned a car to send her off. ¡°Where are you going?¡± he asked.

    Xia Ling thought about it for a while. Since she was determined to leave Skyart Entertainment, she should not return to Li Lei¡¯s apartment. ¡°First, I will look for a hotel. Wisteria Grand Hotel is not bad, so I think I will stay there for a few days,¡± she replied.

    Hearing her say that she was not going to return to the apartment, he felt better and asked the chauffeur to send her to Wisteria Grand Hotel.

    Xia Ling thanked him, rejected his offer to pay for the hotel, and booked a room herself.

    Wisteria Grand Hotel was a five-star hotel, so its security was strong and allowed its guests to maintain their privacy. As such, many people in the entertainment industry liked staying there. Since it was the Spring Festival, a few guests were staying at the hotel.

    As Xia Ling settled for the best possible room avable, her phone suddenly ringed crazily.

    Pressing the answer button, Xia Ling found that it was Sister Mai Na. ¡°Xiao Ling, where did you run off to? You will be the death of me!¡± She thought Xia Ling was asleep, so she continued to y mahjong for the entire night with her rtives. She was on a winning streak, but in the morning, she was aghast once she opened the guest room door. Xia Ling had escaped some time in the middle of the night, and there was only a note left behind.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m fine Sister Mai Na. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    How could Sister Mai Na not worry? She demanded Xia Ling to report where she was at.

    Xia Ling said the hotel¡¯s address.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Sister Mai Na hung up the phone and hurriedly drove to the hotel. Who was she kidding? A girl who had just broken up was easily susceptible to negative thoughts. How could she leave Xiao Ling alone? Her life as a manager was not easy. Even though it was the new year, she had to worry about her artiste like a nanny taking care of children in a kindergarten.

    Xia Ling felt a little guilty that she let Sister Mai Na rush over to see her on New Year¡¯s day.

    However, she could not stop Sister Mai Na.

    Sister Mai Na was burning with impatience when she arrived at the hotel. Once she saw that Xia Ling was fine, she was immediately relieved. ¡°What were you doingst night secretly escaping my house?! Is my house notfortable enough that you would rather stay in a hotel room?¡± She said emotionally.

    Xia Ling did not want to create new problems for herself, so she did not tell her that she was with Pei Zihengst night. As such, Sister Mai Na naturally thought that after Xia Ling left her housest night, she directly went to the hotel to book a room.

    Xia Ling tried to exin tactfully. ¡°The guest room was quite noisy. I wanted some peace and quiet.¡±

    However, Sister Mai Na was overthinking. She was quiet for some time before asking, ¡°Have... you heard it all?¡± Last night, the volume of the television was quite loud when the news was ying. Could it be that Xiao Ling heard the sensational news?

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°Sister Mai Na, I¡¯m not as weak as you think I am. Even if the entire world¡¯s news channels report about this, so what? This sort of gossip news is inevitable. Every celebrity has experienced being taunted by the media. Besides, I may be even more famous because of this report.¡± She said that not only tofort Sister Mai Na but also reflecting on the situation logically. In her past life, she had been a megastar and the world¡¯s beloved Diva. What difficult phases had she not experienced? That sort of news was a trivial matter.

    Sister Mai Na did not fully believe her. ¡°Are you really okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. I just wanted to be away from the noise because my head hurt.¡± Xia Ling did not tell her that she intended to leave Skyart Entertainment. How could she increase the burdens of her manager on New Year¡¯s day? It would not be toote to tell her after the new year celebration was over when she returned to work.

    Sister Mai Na apanied and chatted with her for the whole day to ensure that she was emotionally stable. There were many calls from her family pestering her to return home to y mahjong with them. The rtives that lost to Sister Mai Na yesterday wanted to win back their losses, and without her, they could not do so.

    As such, Xia Ling said, ¡°You should go home then.¡±

    Only then did Sister Mai Na reluctantly leave.

    As the world became quiet, Xia Ling took out her phone. There were no notifications.

    Feeling as if something was missing, she smiled bitterly. Why was she still expecting something? Two days had passed, and even Sister Mai Na had incessantly expressed her concern for her. However, what about that man? Li Lei...

    After he had violently forced himself on her, he broke up with her without saying a word.

    He could not even make a call to console her.

    Her sunlight had vanquished.

    Xia Ling typed a message. She hesitated for a long time above Li Lei¡¯s name before pressing the delete button.

    In her hotel room, she slept until it was night again. After that, she answered a few calls. Her parents had called to ask for money, Grandma Ye had called to ask if she was okay, Luo Luo called to sympathize with her break up, and Lu Tao and Bai Murong called to wish her a happy new year.

    Xia Ling responded to all of them, but her heart was empty from the start to the end.

    The Spring Festival ended in a sh. Soon, the next event the world focused on was¡ª

    Valentine¡¯s day.

    Or to Xia Ling, Single¡¯s day.

    With an elegant and artistic environment, the Wisteria Grand Hotel became more lively. Many couples liked staying there for a romantic night including a few old acquaintances of Xia Ling...

 Chapter 230 - The Photograph Under the Morning Sun

    <h4>Chapter 230: The Photograph Under the Morning Sun</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had maintained a good habit throughout these years.

    That was, to wake up early every morning to practice her dancing and singing. She did notpromise on ensuring that her foundations were solid, be it rain or shine. As such, for all the time in these two lifetimes that she had been active in the entertainment scene, there had been talk about her temper, her status, and her health, but nobody said anything about her singing and dancing abilities. Her professionalism was enough to shut the critics up, whether they were a rival in her career or her love life.

    Very few had her diligence and determination.

    Even if she was staying in a hotel and there was no space for her toplete her usual routine, she still found the gym in the hotel and continued with her routine.

    She had been going to the gym for several days diligently and practiced her dance in the empty yoga room for a while. After finishing her practice, she walked to the bistro on the way back to her room to have breakfast.

    Since it was Valentine¡¯s Day, the waiter gave every customer a small gift box of choctes and wished everyone a ¡°Happy Valentine¡¯s Day¡± with a smile. When it was her turn, the waiter was stunned for a moment before putting the box of choctes in her hands and saying, ¡°Miss Ye, Happy Valentine¡¯s Day! We have to discard the old for a new beginning, don¡¯t be too sad!¡±

    On a day like this, the only people that were more susceptible to being hurt than singles were those that had just fallen out of love.

    Xia Ling looked down at the box of choctes in her hands and gave a bitter smile. This was the disadvantage of being an artiste ¡ª the whole world was aware that she had just broken up. She had not even experienced one Valentine¡¯s Day with Li Lei as they were not an item this timest year. And now, they had already broken up rather dramatically.

    Her thoughts drifted off before she suddenly heard a voice. ¡°Ye Xingling... Miss Ye?¡±

    She turned her head and saw ady dressed in a sleek shirt and casual pants standing in front of her. With her short bob, she had a handsome beauty about her.

    The handsome beauty saw the confusion in her eyes and smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t recognize me? Right, right... we¡¯ve never met before. Let me introduce myself... I¡¯m Reporter Xu Fosheng from Star Entertainment Weekly and Sister Mai Na¡¯s good friend.¡± She said as she stretched her hand toward Xia Ling for a handshake.

    Xia Ling reached out and grasped her hand. She recalled Sister Mai Na mentioning this reporter friend that she had. During her public spat with Xia Yu, she had even written a report indicating her support for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling smiled amicably and said, ¡°Miss Xu, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Mai Na¡¯s precious gem, feel free to call me Fosheng.¡± Xu Fosheng returned a bright smile before continuing. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to meet you here. I¡¯m recording a Valentine¡¯s Day special program that requires us to do a real-time search. Would you be willing to let me take two photos of you?¡±

    Xia Ling asked her what the program was about.

    Xu Fosheng exined that they had selected venues that artistes enjoyed going to and were waiting to see whom they would run into to ask what they were doing for Valentine¡¯s Day.

    ¡°It¡¯s a real-time column that we are updating. The photos will immediately be posted online, and the traffic is very high.¡± Xu Fosheng said. ¡°How about a few photos? It would be great in boosting your poprity!¡±

    Why would she bother about boosting her poprity in her current out of love state? On such a day where there were pink bubbles of love everywhere, was she expecting her to be a representative for all the singletons out there? Xia Lingughed self-deprecatingly and was about to decline Xu Fosheng¡¯s suggestion when she heard her say ¡ª

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too quick to decline, Xiao Ling. You have to know that there are many reporters out there staking out for the same reasons I am. Not everyone will be as nice as I am to let you pose for pictures. Many are going to snap random shots of you from behind the door or from the corner of a restaurant. You might end up with many ugly photos and outrageous headlines... it would be toote then to be crying over spilled milk... ¡± Xu Fosheng blinked winningly at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, we are all good friends of Sister Mai Na. I¡¯m saying this sincerely for your good!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s difficult being a reporter these days, isn¡¯t it? You even have to learn to be so eloquent.¡± Xia Lingmented.

    Xu Fosheng smiled. ¡°You¡¯re exactly right! Seeing that you have the strength to joke around you¡¯ve probably recovered from your break up. Let me take a few photos of you looking radiant to tell everyone how well you are, and to show those that are waiting tough at you that you will not be all despondent and miserable from the breakup. That will show them all! What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Do they think I look miserable?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Xu Fosheng replied. ¡°A small artiste being chased out of the house on New Year¡¯s Eve, her dreams of marrying to the rich Big Boss crushed. Doesn¡¯t that sound miserable to you? Xiao Ling, have you not been looking at the news? The rumors about you are horrendous, and if you don¡¯t show yourself now to crush those rumors, tomorrow they might say that you aremitting suicide from the heartbreak!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Okay then, Xu Fosheng hit her right where it hurt. She, Xia Ling, hated to see those that were jealous of her feeling like they were right. What¡¯s more, they were all waiting on the bylines to make a joke of her. She was someone who preferred to lick her wounds quietly by herself in the middle of the night. What about all those bystanders? Ha, she would definitely show them that she was not what they thought!

    Did they all think that she was despondent?

    Then, let them see how well she was doing and how radiant she looked!

    Xia Ling agreed to Xu Fosheng¡¯s suggestion and allowed her to take several photos.

    Xu Fosheng¡¯s photograph skills were ster, choosing all the right angles and lightings to make her look great. Under the morning sun with the full-length windows as the background, she was quietly sitting in the bistro having coffee. The tablecloth before her was a pristine white, and there was a calm expression on her face. Her eyshes were dark and smooth like crow¡¯s feathers, and they cast a faint shadow beneath her eyes, giving her an added aura of elegance and mystery.

    Xu Foshengpleted her work with satisfaction and sent the photos back to ¡°Star Entertainment Weekly¡¯s¡± official Weibo channel with the headline: ¡°The romance is not lost when you¡¯re alone on Valentine¡¯s Day. For some women, they are the best scenery wherever they choose to be.¡±

    Not longter, manyizensmented on the photos.

    The fans that were reeling from all the news of the breakup appeared in full force. They expressed happiness to see their idol doing so well after the breakup incident, sharing this Weibo post again and again. Xia Ling¡¯s peaceful photo was the perfect way to shut the critics up.

    Look at our Xiao Ling... what is it to break up with just another man? Xiao Ling is looking great and ispletely rxed having breakfast by herself! Looking at how well she¡¯s doing, who¡¯s to say that she wasn¡¯t the one to dump Boss Li?! Hmph!

    There were countless blessings. Xiao Ling, you look great! Congrats to Xiao Ling for returning to singlehood! Xiao Ling, I support you!

    The fans were all excited at seeing news of how she was doing.

    On the other hand, some others were unhappy.

    Gu Lin, who had been hiding at home reading entertainment news for several days, was feeling d at seeing all the news pitying and criticizing Ye Xingling. However, what was happening today? On a day as important as Valentine¡¯s Day when it was perfect timing to give Ye Xingling an additional whammy for the breakup, how was it that Ye Xingling was gaining so much positive attention?!

    Looking at the photograph...

    She looked resplendent!

    Gu Lin did not know that it was all a misunderstanding and cover-up. Xia Ling had been looking frail and miserable these few days, but she tended to look better in the morning. What¡¯s more, as she had just finished her morning exercise, the flush in her cheeks were perfectly normal. Moreover, being an artiste for two lifetimes, Xia Ling was keenly aware of how to best present herself in photos, not forgetting to mention the experience and skill of Xu Fosheng as the photographer...

    In synthesis, regardless of how despondent Xia Ling was, she was going to look perfect in the photograph.

    Gu Lin could not take it any longer.

 Chapter 231 - Pampering Herself

    <h4>Chapter 231: Pampering Herself</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin was from a wealthy family and had been spoiled rotten her entire life. Even if she was upset, she could note up with any good ideas to counter the situation. The only thing she could do was to smash things at home in anger. She threw many expensive and exquisite disy items ¡ª Dior perfume and Chanel foundation cushions ¡ª all over the floor.

    When her brother, Gu Yao, walked into her room, he was met with a big mess.

    Gu Yao was a yboy and regrly got himself into trouble in his gallivanting. However, as much as he had no desire to advance in life, he was highly protective and loving of his little sister, and they had a very good rtionship. At this moment, he looked on confused and asked, ¡°Sis, what¡¯s wrong? Who made you angry?¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s expression was distorted from anger. ¡°Ye Xingling, that bitch!¡±

    Gu Yao understood immediately.

    He had heard his sisterin about Ye Xingling before. She had said that that woman had no status and no looks, but was fighting with her over Li Lei, and had somehow won! This made Gu Lin see red and want to curse her with a voodoo doll. A few days ago, there was a statement from Li Lei saying that he had broken up with Ye Xingling, and it made Gu Lin really happy. She had even opened a good bottle of champagne to celebrate.

    Why was she angry again so soon?

    ¡°What happened now?¡± Gu Yao asked. Gu Yao was of the view that fights of women were all of the same strands ¡ª either she had stolen her boyfriend or slept with her husband ¡ª there was nothing original about it all. Gu Yao had seen much of this in his friends¡¯ lives and did not think it was too much of an issue.

    ¡°Just swallow your heart. Men are all the same... even if they are a Casanova right now, they will still have to find a wife that has a simr family background.¡± Gu Yao advised his sister off-handedly. ¡°Even I understand this logic, so no doubt Li Lei does as well. See that little b*tch artiste that he hooked up with... hasn¡¯t he already chased her out? I think Li Lei did it on purpose to let all those small stars out there know not to mess with him. Sis, why make these small fries out to be a rival to you?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, who says I see her as a rival?¡± Hearing her brother¡¯s words, Gu Lin also felt that she was demeaning herself and snapped at her brother irritably before smashing yet another item on the floor. ¡°Brother Lei already dumped her! She is nothing in my eyes! However, how can she look like its nothing at all when she¡¯s been dumped by Brother Lei? Look at her... look at her here! Does she even look like she¡¯s fallen out of love? She looks so good! I don¡¯t care! I¡¯m not happy about this!¡±

    Gu Yao finally understood what his sister was upset about. Looks like she did not want to see Ye Xingling doing well.

    The jealousy of a little girl... haha.

    He let out augh as he thought to himself that his little sister was adorable. He then casually said, ¡°Isn¡¯t she just a small star? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s easy to make her life miserable. Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll help you take revenge.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± A glint came into Gu Lin¡¯s eyes. ¡°Brother, can you really help me? Quick, help me to torture her! Torture her real bad so that I will feel better!¡±

    Seeing the look of reverence his little sister was giving him, Gu Yao patted his chest and said with confidence, ¡°Just leave it to me!¡± Who was he? He was the notorious Young Master Gu of S City. When it came to practical jokes and making someone¡¯s life difficult, nobody would im to be more versed at it than him. To ridicule a small star? There were just too many ways to do that. Gu Yao toyed with several ns in his mind and decided on what to do.

    He was going to make sure that Ye Xingling made a fool of herself!

    ¡°Change into something nice.¡± Gu Yao smiled and said to his sister. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Wisteria Grand Hotel.¡±

    Wisteria Grand Hotel.

    Xia Ling did not know that she was currently being marked. The reactions were highly positive with the real-time news that Xu Fosheng released about her. As she received numerous blessings on her official homepage and was browsing them after breakfast, she started to feel her mood turning better.

    So what if she just experienced a breakup? Life would still go on.

    She was despondent for a few days, but it was time to pull herself together. She could not let herself be aughingstock for others!

    With this mindset, she got up with a renewed spirit and returned to the room to take a rxing, warm shower. After which, she treated herself to a deep-cleansing mask and a full-body spa session. When she looked in the mirror again at the end of everything, she saw that the dark eye circles had dissipated and her fair skin was glowing. The marks that Li Lei had left on her body had disappeared as well.

    She tried to smile radiantly at the reflection in the mirror.

    Then, she switched on herputer and reserved a set of new clothes at Lucas¡¯ shop.

    Lucas was a nice person and, knowing that she had just been through a breakup, he gave her a big discount and threw in a few small essories as freebies. He then dispatched his fastest delivery man to deliver her purchases.

    Xia Ling changed into her newly-bought attire ¡ª a soft dress that reached past her thighs ¡ª and matched it with a light, off-white woolen coat, stilettos, and a leather clutch lined with pearls. The outfit made her look elegant and luxurious, further adding to her radiance. Satisfied at how she looked, Xia Ling carefully did her makeup looking at the mirror. Not longter, a beautiful and stunning artiste appeared, and if she were to wear this to a red carpet event, she would definitely be the talk of the town.

    Ady¡¯s mood seemed to be positively corrted to her looks. Xia Ling felt her energy return to her and had renewed confidence to face the world.

    Everyone was waiting to see her be theughingstock of the town? Very good, she was going to make sure they were all unable tough at all! Even if she were alone, she was going to have the best Valentine¡¯s Day ever!

    Turning on her mobile, she took a selfie and posted it online with the caption: ¡°I finally don¡¯t have to scrimp and save to buy a gift for my boyfriend¡¯s family anymore. Even though my allowance isn¡¯t great, I can still pamper myself with new clothes!¡±

    There were many excited reactions fromizens upon seeing her post.

    ¡°What?! Xiao Ling, you... you... you said that the New Year¡¯s gift you bought for Big Boss Li¡¯s family was from your savings?!¡± Fans were shocked at the news.

    ¡°Boss is too much! Did he not subsidize you for it?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! What use is a rich boyfriend then?¡±

    ¡°Boss is too much! Xiao Ling can¡¯t be earning much since she has just debuted. All those gifts that we saw... the reputed four treasures were all there, and they can¡¯t be cheap. What a scrooge! Such a vampire!¡±

    ¡°No wonder Xiao Ling wanted to break up! It was a good decision!¡±

    The discussion went on heatedly, and the center of discussion was no longer ¡°Xiao Ling is looking good today,¡± but rather questioning the actions of a certain Boss. Many that were criticizing her before started to reflect on their words. So this girl did not spend her boyfriend¡¯s money and waspletely independent?

    Many expressed their respect for her and apologized for their earlier criticisms.

    Sister Mai Na saw the news on the official Weibo page and felt pride for Xia Ling, while at the same time feeling a little sorry for her. She was proud that Xia Ling was able to weather all the storms that came her way and to stand tall and strong amidst it all. However, she felt sorry that this poor young girl of only eighteen had to go through so much, shouldering a burden that was so much more than any regr eighteen-year-old or any regr newly debuted star would have to shoulder.

    She gave Xia Ling a call and asked if she was really fine.

    Xia Ling smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m all right. Also, you were right! So what if I lost a boyfriend, the sky isn¡¯t going to copse on me. I¡¯ve collected my emotions and am nning to go out and have some fun today.¡±

    Sister Mai Na warned her to be careful before hanging up.

    Then, Xia Ling picked up her clutch and walked out of her room.

 Chapter 232 - The Set Up

    <h4>Chapter 232: The Set Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As she walked under the crystal chandeliers, her high-heels clicking on the marble floor, she suddenly thought of a problem.

    Where was she going to go? What would be something fun to do? She had walked out enthusiastically but without a proper n. Seeing the people around her in the lobby walking by in pairs, she felt at a loss. It was rare for her to go out on her own. In her past life, she would drag Pei Ziheng around with her to look for the newest eats or ces; In this life, it had been very busy and chaotic until now, and she did not have a chance to enjoy herself. She thought for a while and decided to do something that she had always wanted to do but never got the chance to, like...

    Before she could think of something, she heard another voice ¡ª

    ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Ye Xingling?¡±

    She turned her head and saw a man and woman walking over together. The woman was wearing a shiny silver dress with a wine-red, mink coat draped over her shoulders, looking luxurious and extravagant. It was Gu Lin.

    Xia Ling did not recognize the man by her side.

    You would always meet enemies when you least wanted to... what was Gu Lin doing here? Xia Ling did not want to speak to her and frowned as she made to leave.

    The man by Gu Lin¡¯s side came forward and blocked her way. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why are you so bent on running away after seeing my sister?¡±

    His sister?

    Xia Ling realized that this man was Gu Lin¡¯s brother; she had heard Li Lei speak of him before. She recalled that his name was Gu Yao. Was this really Gu Yao then? The man looked cleanly-cut and was rtively good-looking, but there was an unhealthy color about him, likely due to his overindulgence in wine and lust. He was of simr age to Li Lei, but his build was a far cry from Li Lei¡¯s.

    Xia Ling regarded him with disdain in her mind and quashed the irritation within her with difficulty. She asked, ¡°How can I help the both of you?¡±

    Gu Yao looked on at her cold demeanor and felt a stir in his heart. He had always heard his sisterin about what a bitch Ye Xingling was, but seeing Ye Xingling in person, she was more attractive than his own sister, at least from a man¡¯s point of view. She was slight but cold and chic; she was slender but seemed to have built a wall around herself, which made men even more keen to tame her.

    No wonder Li Lei was smitten with her.

    Gu Yao felt lustful desires rise within him as he licked his lips and lowered his voice seductively. ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°How much for what?¡± Xia Ling asked confused.

    Gu Yao gave augh and replied. ¡°I¡¯m asking how much is it to buy you for a night? Since your deal with Brother Lei is over, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you to sleep with someone else. Whatever Brother Lei can give you, I can too...¡±

    ¡°Pa!¡±

    Xia Ling realized that she seemed to like pping people in this life since there were so many people that she had pped already. She shook out her smarting hand from pping Gu Yao with too much strength and turned to leave.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Gu Lin screamed.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Gu Yao had not expected Xia Ling to be so fierce as to give him a p when he insulted her. He covered his face with one hand and pulled her back with the other hand. ¡°Ye Xingling! Don¡¯t think you can leave just like that!¡±

    Xia Ling felt her arm being pulled back and could not shake herself free. She was grossed out from his hand on her arm ¡ª she did not want to be touched by this piece of rubbish. She forcefully shook her arm again but was unable to shake him free. She then turned and stared at him angrily. ¡°Gu Yao! Get your hand off me! Or I¡¯m going to shout for someone toe over!¡±

    ¡°Go on and shout, you bitch... shout!¡± Seeing that she was unable to rid herself of him, Gu Yao felt his confidence rising again. He gave her a sinister smile and said, ¡°You dare p me... Let¡¯s see just how much you¡¯ve got to give...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s soft skin made him hot with lust.

    ¡°Hey, bitch... I¡¯ll give you a chance to beg for forgiveness right now. Otherwise... ¡± He threatened her meaningfully. ¡°I won¡¯t be the only one who wants to have a taste of you...¡±

    Xia Ling was unable to break free of his grip and was afraid that he would do something to her. She screamed loudly. ¡°Security! Security!¡±

    The security in the lobby heard themotioning from this side and hurried over. Her shouting also drew the attention of the other guests walking by, and they all turned to look over. Seeing that one of the protagonists in themotion was the singer Ye Xingling, they started toe over.

    Gu Yao had not expected her to really shout for help.

    Typically, wouldn¡¯t artistes try to hide something so shameful from others?

    He silently cursed at his miscalction. He had wanted to ridicule Xia Ling in front of his sister and drag her off to his territory, and then gang rape her with a few of his best buddies. Yet, it looked like this n would have to be shelved.

    As the crowd of onlookers started to grow, Xia Ling spat out angrily. ¡°Are you still not going to let go of me?!¡±

    Before Gu Yao could say a word, Gu Lin started to scream. ¡°Ye Xingling, you shameless bitch with horrible upbringing! How dare you p my brother? Did you think you could just walk off after hitting someone?¡±

    To y the me game... that was something the spoiled and wilful wealthy girl, Gu Lin, was very familiar with.

    Xia Ling was momentarily stunned, almostughing out loud in anger. Why? Why did she have to tolerate the insults and not be allowed to hit Gu Yao?! She was not someone to be trifled with and immediately retorted. ¡°Horrible upbringing? Ha, I¡¯m the one that should be asking what¡¯s up with the Gu family¡¯s upbringing? How could they let two crazy dogs out in the open to randomly bite others?!¡±

    ¡°What crazy dogs?¡± Gu Lin was taken aback.

    <i>Pfft. </i>Many of the onlookersughed.

    Was Gu Lin an idiot? How could she not tell that Xia Ling was calling her a crazy dog?

    Gu Lin realized what was going on in the midst of the jeers, and her face turned red. ¡°You... Ye Xingling... You! Why did you insult us?!¡±

    ¡°So what if I insulted you?¡± Xia Ling coldly said and turned back to re at Gu Yao. ¡°Get your hand off me!¡±

    ¡°Let you go?¡± Seeing that they were now in a disadvantageous position, the cogs in Gu Yao¡¯s brain were spinning quickly to find a way out. After all, he was ustomed to getting into ks with all of his other wealthy friends and was a little smarter than his sister. Quickly, he came up with an alternative n. He feigned anger as he stared down Xia Ling. ¡°You were going to p my sister earlier, and I luckily blocked you first. How can I let go in case you try to p my sister again?¡±

    ¡°Brother, what are you saying? I didn¡¯t... ¡± Gu Lin started saying, confused but saw the signals that her brother was sending her through his eyes. He was desperately winking at her before she finally understood what he was trying to do and shut up before she spoiled his n.

    Xia Ling gave a coldugh at their performance.

    ¡°I did not p your sister.¡± She said. ¡°I pped you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to find an excuse for yourself.¡± Gu Yao continued on in his set up. ¡°My sister and Li Lei grew up together, and everyone knows that they are made for each other. You came into the picture and tried to break them apart a while back. Ye Xingling, aren¡¯t you a naive one? What makes you think that you can marry a rich man when you are just a third partying from a lowly background? Luckily, Li Lei saw through your ploy and came to his senses, dumping you aside. Hmph, you couldn¡¯t keep Li Lei and want to take it out on my sister now by pping her?¡±

    <h4>Comments (4)</h4>

    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 233: Oh, So She Was the Third Wheel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin finally realized what Gu Yao was trying to do. That¡¯s right, she grew up with Brother Lei, and they were made for each other. That bitch was just jealous! Gu Lin felt that her brother was making very much sense and almost fooled herself into believing that Xia Ling indeed had wanted to p her earlier. Hence, she covered her face and pretended to cry. ¡°Ye Xingling, I didn¡¯t even me you foring between me and Brother Lei... and you wanted to p me when we bumped into each other today?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at theirbined act incredulously. What rubbish was this?

    The onlookers started to whisper to each other. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s the whole story... I¡¯ve long heard that the Gu and Li families are really close. It is extremely likely that Gu Lin and Big Boss Li did grow up together... so Ye Xingling was the third wheel that came between them.¡±

    ¡°Yeah... and I was feeling such pity for her. So, she¡¯s just the third wheel.¡±

    The onlookers started to give Xia Ling looks of disdain.

    ¡°Miss Gu, where are you getting your confidence from?¡± Xia Ling cold voice rang out. ¡°Your families are close, yes, that I admit. But that doesn¡¯t mean that Li Lei likes you. If he did like you, why would he choose to announce that someone like me, with no background and no status, was his girlfriend, and never referred to you as his girlfriend before?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you are unscrupulous!¡± Gu Lin pointed angrily at her. ¡°You are the one that seduced Brother Lei and came between us!¡± Before Xia Ling had appeared, Gu Lin thought her rtionship with Li Lei was great and would always give little gifts to Li Lei and beg for him to take her out to y. Li Lei would usually not decline her pleas.

    However, when Xia Ling appeared, everything changed.

    Her Brother Lei refused to y with her anymore, saying that he wanted to avoid misunderstandings and would not ept her small gifts anymore, making her feel sad. Now, she was going to make Xia Ling pay for all of this, sure that Xia Ling was the root of all her problems!

    Xia Ling looked at Gu Lin like she was a joke. ¡°You really like Li Lei?¡±

    Gu Lin was slightly taken aback but responded in a loud voice. ¡°Of course!¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Are you sure you even like him? Do you understand him? In your eyes, is he someone whose views can be affected by just any woman? You say that I seduced him... what makes you think I can even do that? Hur Hur, do you just think too highly of me... or think too lowly of you Brother Lei?¡±

    Her sentence was poignant and pointed but left no room for rebuttal.

    Gu Lin was at a loss for words on hearing this, and her eyes reddened. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re being too much!¡±

    Seeing that his sister was again at the losing end, Gu Yao backed her up. ¡°Ye Xingling, why do you deserve to like Li Lei then? For someone as aggressive as you, if you hadn¡¯t used any schemes, why would Brother Lei fall for you? Everyone here, you can be the judge...¡± He pointed at Xia Ling and looked around at the crowd, saying loudly, ¡°This woman has just been dumped by Li Lei and then is here trying to seduce me. Her advances were thwarted by my sister, and in her anger, she wanted to p my sister, taking out both her grievances about her past rtionships and her current embarrassment! This bitch over here.... does she even deserve to be living on this earth?!¡±

    The discussions broke out all around again.

    Oh my God, this was a huge piece of news. Was there really such a backstory? Ye Xingling had found a new target immediately after being dumped by Li Lei, and could hardly wait to throw herself at Gu Yao seeing that he was loaded as well?

    Unfortunately, he did not want her and was upset that she bullied his sister. This Ye Xingling must have hit a wall and was feeling embarrassed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the entertainment circle these days? What kind of bad environment is there?¡± A wealthydy, who was holding onto the arm of her husband, shook her head as she sighed, a look of disdain across her face.

    Some of the men that were looking on were checking Xia Ling out silently. Tsk tsk, so this little star was ¡°that kind¡± of person... look at her body... and her face... they weren¡¯t particrly pretty, but there was something attractive about them. And she used to be Big Boss Li¡¯s girl, something was appealing about that as well...

    Many of the men were making ns to have a good ¡°chat¡± with her when the opportunity arose.

    Xia Ling felt ufortable under the myriad of nces that came her way, and the fire within her burned even more. ¡°Gu Yao, stop pinning things on me that I have never done!¡± She was still in Gu Yao¡¯s death grip and used all her might to shake free of him, but failed. She turned to look at the security guards and said, ¡°Please get him to let go of me!¡±

    The security guards hade over to make peace, but hearing Gu Yao¡¯s words, they too thought that Xia Ling was just a shameless woman. Perhaps she had indeed failed in her advances and got into a conflict with Gu Yao, and that¡¯s why she was now being held hostage for it? This kind of woman needed to be taught a lesson.

    As such, the security guards mumbled something in agreement but did not make a move.

    Having to suffer such insults in front of the crowd made Xia Ling so angry that she was close to tears. She took a deep breath and told herself to keep calm. She needed to think of a way to end this joke. Yet, her trembling body gave away how upset she was inside.

    No girl would be able to keep calm in the face of such insulting usations!

    Seeing that Xia Ling was shaking with anger, Gu Lin was no longer angry and started to smile happily. ¡°My brother is right! You were the one that wanted to seduce him, and everyone here can be witness to that. I¡¯m going to tell Brother Lei what happened today, to let him know what a shameless woman you are! Someone that¡¯s willing to bend over backward for money... Brother Lei will hate you even more after hearing this!¡±

    Gu Lin thought to herself that this idea was perfect, and felt her mood lifting even more.

    Xia Ling was tempted to rip the smile off her face but knew that it was more important at this point to get herself free from Gu Yao¡¯s hands. Given that she could not break free using her own strength, she did not think too much before lifting her leg and aimed a kick at Gu Yao¡¯s crotch!

    Gu Yao gave a yelp in pain, and let go of her hand as he fell to the floor.

    Everyone that was looking on eximed in shock, and several security guards rushed forward to help him up. ¡°Master Gu! Master Gu, are you alright?!¡± Gu Yao¡¯s status was known to everyone, and watching him being kicked right in the crotch... the security guards did not dare think about the consequences if anything were to be wrong with Gu Yao.

    The remaining security guards surrounded Xia Ling.

    Gu Yao rolled on the floor, howling out in pain.

    Gu Lin looked on helpless and shock. What should she do? She had never experienced something like this before.

    The onlookers became more excited at seeing this scene pan out. Seeing Gu Yao¡¯s predicament, some of the men that were having lustful thoughts about Xia Ling felt a little tinge of pain at the same spot that Gu Yao was kicked at. This bitch was so vicious... looks like if they wanted to get their way with her, they would need to be careful of her kick...

    Xia Ling was unaware that these men were letting their minds wander in their lustful desires.

    Feeling her wrist free from the death grip, she did not want to remain here any longer. She turned and made to walk away.

    However, the security guards blocked her way. ¡°Miss Ye, please stay here. You can¡¯t just leave like that after kicking someone. Please cooperate as we check on Master Gu¡¯s injury.¡± If there was anything wrong with Gu Yao, they could not bear the responsibility for Xia Ling if they let her go.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was cold. ¡°What now? When I was being bullied you guys just looked on. Now that I had to defend myself, you want to keep me here?¡±

 Chapter 233 - Oh, So She Was the Third Wheel

    <h4>Chapter 233: Oh, So She Was the Third Wheel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin finally realized what Gu Yao was trying to do. That¡¯s right, she grew up with Brother Lei, and they were made for each other. That bitch was just jealous! Gu Lin felt that her brother was making very much sense and almost fooled herself into believing that Xia Ling indeed had wanted to p her earlier. Hence, she covered her face and pretended to cry. ¡°Ye Xingling, I didn¡¯t even me you foring between me and Brother Lei... and you wanted to p me when we bumped into each other today?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at theirbined act incredulously. What rubbish was this?

    The onlookers started to whisper to each other. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s the whole story... I¡¯ve long heard that the Gu and Li families are really close. It is extremely likely that Gu Lin and Big Boss Li did grow up together... so Ye Xingling was the third wheel that came between them.¡±

    ¡°Yeah... and I was feeling such pity for her. So, she¡¯s just the third wheel.¡±

    The onlookers started to give Xia Ling looks of disdain.

    ¡°Miss Gu, where are you getting your confidence from?¡± Xia Ling cold voice rang out. ¡°Your families are close, yes, that I admit. But that doesn¡¯t mean that Li Lei likes you. If he did like you, why would he choose to announce that someone like me, with no background and no status, was his girlfriend, and never referred to you as his girlfriend before?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you are unscrupulous!¡± Gu Lin pointed angrily at her. ¡°You are the one that seduced Brother Lei and came between us!¡± Before Xia Ling had appeared, Gu Lin thought her rtionship with Li Lei was great and would always give little gifts to Li Lei and beg for him to take her out to y. Li Lei would usually not decline her pleas.

    However, when Xia Ling appeared, everything changed.

    Her Brother Lei refused to y with her anymore, saying that he wanted to avoid misunderstandings and would not ept her small gifts anymore, making her feel sad. Now, she was going to make Xia Ling pay for all of this, sure that Xia Ling was the root of all her problems!

    Xia Ling looked at Gu Lin like she was a joke. ¡°You really like Li Lei?¡±

    Gu Lin was slightly taken aback but responded in a loud voice. ¡°Of course!¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Are you sure you even like him? Do you understand him? In your eyes, is he someone whose views can be affected by just any woman? You say that I seduced him... what makes you think I can even do that? Hur Hur, do you just think too highly of me... or think too lowly of you Brother Lei?¡±

    Her sentence was poignant and pointed but left no room for rebuttal.

    Gu Lin was at a loss for words on hearing this, and her eyes reddened. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re being too much!¡±

    Seeing that his sister was again at the losing end, Gu Yao backed her up. ¡°Ye Xingling, why do you deserve to like Li Lei then? For someone as aggressive as you, if you hadn¡¯t used any schemes, why would Brother Lei fall for you? Everyone here, you can be the judge...¡± He pointed at Xia Ling and looked around at the crowd, saying loudly, ¡°This woman has just been dumped by Li Lei and then is here trying to seduce me. Her advances were thwarted by my sister, and in her anger, she wanted to p my sister, taking out both her grievances about her past rtionships and her current embarrassment! This bitch over here.... does she even deserve to be living on this earth?!¡±

    The discussions broke out all around again.

    Oh my God, this was a huge piece of news. Was there really such a backstory? Ye Xingling had found a new target immediately after being dumped by Li Lei, and could hardly wait to throw herself at Gu Yao seeing that he was loaded as well?

    Unfortunately, he did not want her and was upset that she bullied his sister. This Ye Xingling must have hit a wall and was feeling embarrassed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the entertainment circle these days? What kind of bad environment is there?¡± A wealthydy, who was holding onto the arm of her husband, shook her head as she sighed, a look of disdain across her face.

    Some of the men that were looking on were checking Xia Ling out silently. Tsk tsk, so this little star was ¡°that kind¡± of person... look at her body... and her face... they weren¡¯t particrly pretty, but there was something attractive about them. And she used to be Big Boss Li¡¯s girl, something was appealing about that as well...

    Many of the men were making ns to have a good ¡°chat¡± with her when the opportunity arose.

    Xia Ling felt ufortable under the myriad of nces that came her way, and the fire within her burned even more. ¡°Gu Yao, stop pinning things on me that I have never done!¡± She was still in Gu Yao¡¯s death grip and used all her might to shake free of him, but failed. She turned to look at the security guards and said, ¡°Please get him to let go of me!¡±

    The security guards hade over to make peace, but hearing Gu Yao¡¯s words, they too thought that Xia Ling was just a shameless woman. Perhaps she had indeed failed in her advances and got into a conflict with Gu Yao, and that¡¯s why she was now being held hostage for it? This kind of woman needed to be taught a lesson.

    As such, the security guards mumbled something in agreement but did not make a move.

    Having to suffer such insults in front of the crowd made Xia Ling so angry that she was close to tears. She took a deep breath and told herself to keep calm. She needed to think of a way to end this joke. Yet, her trembling body gave away how upset she was inside.

    No girl would be able to keep calm in the face of such insulting usations!

    Seeing that Xia Ling was shaking with anger, Gu Lin was no longer angry and started to smile happily. ¡°My brother is right! You were the one that wanted to seduce him, and everyone here can be witness to that. I¡¯m going to tell Brother Lei what happened today, to let him know what a shameless woman you are! Someone that¡¯s willing to bend over backward for money... Brother Lei will hate you even more after hearing this!¡±

    Gu Lin thought to herself that this idea was perfect, and felt her mood lifting even more.

    Xia Ling was tempted to rip the smile off her face but knew that it was more important at this point to get herself free from Gu Yao¡¯s hands. Given that she could not break free using her own strength, she did not think too much before lifting her leg and aimed a kick at Gu Yao¡¯s crotch!

    Gu Yao gave a yelp in pain, and let go of her hand as he fell to the floor.

    Everyone that was looking on eximed in shock, and several security guards rushed forward to help him up. ¡°Master Gu! Master Gu, are you alright?!¡± Gu Yao¡¯s status was known to everyone, and watching him being kicked right in the crotch... the security guards did not dare think about the consequences if anything were to be wrong with Gu Yao.

    The remaining security guards surrounded Xia Ling.

    Gu Yao rolled on the floor, howling out in pain.

    Gu Lin looked on helpless and shock. What should she do? She had never experienced something like this before.

    The onlookers became more excited at seeing this scene pan out. Seeing Gu Yao¡¯s predicament, some of the men that were having lustful thoughts about Xia Ling felt a little tinge of pain at the same spot that Gu Yao was kicked at. This bitch was so vicious... looks like if they wanted to get their way with her, they would need to be careful of her kick...

    Xia Ling was unaware that these men were letting their minds wander in their lustful desires.

    Feeling her wrist free from the death grip, she did not want to remain here any longer. She turned and made to walk away.

    However, the security guards blocked her way. ¡°Miss Ye, please stay here. You can¡¯t just leave like that after kicking someone. Please cooperate as we check on Master Gu¡¯s injury.¡± If there was anything wrong with Gu Yao, they could not bear the responsibility for Xia Ling if they let her go.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was cold. ¡°What now? When I was being bullied you guys just looked on. Now that I had to defend myself, you want to keep me here?¡±

 Chapter 234 - Offering a Hand of Protection

    <h4>Chapter 234: Offering a Hand of Protection</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The security guards thought to themselves. ¡°Of course, you¡¯re just a small star... How can youpare yourself to Master Gu?¡±

    But outwardly, they courteously said, ¡°Miss Ye, we seek your kind understanding. We¡¯re just going by the book here.¡±

    Yeah right, going by the book!

    Xia Ling was so angry she almostughed out loud. So, all of them were looking down on her?! As her temper took over, she pushed through with all her might and ran out of the crowd, not giving the slightest notice to the guards.

    Someone shouted out. ¡°Catch her! Don¡¯t let her get away!¡±

    Immediately, several security guards chased her, and then three or four pairs of hands pinned her down. Amidst the pushing and shoving, her carefully done-up hair came undone, and her top button on her blouse was ripped off. It fell on the marble floor and rolled to the side.

    Disheveled and upset, Xia Ling shouted out in a frantic tone. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    However, no one cared to listen to her cries.

    Gu Yao had stopped covering his crotch area and howling out in pain by now. He stood up with the help of two security guards and walked shakily before Xia Ling. Without a word, he kicked her in retaliation.

    ¡°B*tch!¡± He shouted. ¡°You dare kick me?! I¡¯ll make you pay, I¡¯ll make you pay!¡±

    Xia Ling fell to the ground with a groan from his kick, holding on to her abdomen and writhing from the pain. He had not controlled his strength when delivering the kick, and she suspected that her intestines might have been punctured from the force of it.

    Gu Yao did not stop there. Being kicked in the crotch by a woman in front of such a crowd was embarrassing and shocking, and he was almost delirious with anger. One kick was not enough for him to vent his anger, and he made to follow with a second kick.

    Some of the security guards moved to hold him back a little but did not put their all into it. How would they dare to be in the way of the angry Master Gu? They would be in danger of losing their jobs if Master Gu did not vent all his anger on this small star.

    Xia Lingy on the floor breathing with difficulty.

    Gu Yao¡¯s second kick was aimed at her chest, right where her heart was!

    Several of the weak-hearted onlookers turned away, not bearing to look.

    At this moment, there was a furious yell from the side. ¡°Stop right there!¡± Before anyone could react, they saw Gu Yao fly backward, smashing into two flower vases in his way and falling to the ground near a pir close by.

    The crowd eximed out in shock and looked around to see what had happened.

    They realized that there was another tall and well-built man in the big hall who was wearing a well-tailored ck suit. His expression was cold as a knife, and his charisma and authority rivaled that of a God. That man was...

    ¡°Boss Pei... Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei...¡± Someone in the crowd recognized him and spoke out in a low voice.

    The crowd reacted even more strongly to this. What was Boss Pei doing here? Why was he getting involved in this little spat?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was so cold it seemed to have frozen over. He parted the crowd and walked with long strides to Xia Ling. The slender and petite girl on the floor was shaking at the shoulders from the pain, her face ghostly pale, and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead.

    Pei Ziheng felt his heart tighten at the sight. He squatted down and helped her up, asking, ¡°Are you alright? Are you hurt?¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head and saw that it was Pei Ziheng, not knowing when he hade over and why he had appeared here. The pain in her abdomen was torturing her, and speaking was difficult for her. However, she did not want to appear weak in front of everyone and said, ¡°I... won¡¯t die.¡±

    It was apparent from her tone that she was in great pain, and Pei Ziheng¡¯s face darkened even more at this.

    ¡°Hang in there.¡± He said before sweeping her up in his arms and heading out of the hall.

    As he walked by Gu Yao, he gave him a cold re, seeming like he was looking at a dead man.

    Everyone watching on was stunned at Pei Ziheng¡¯s presence and looked on in silence. As they opened up a path for him, none of the security guards dared make another move. Why would they? That was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei, and his status was higher than Master Gu¡¯s by several tens of thousands of times over! None of them would dare offend Boss Pei for the sake of Master Gu.

    Xia Ling¡¯s slender and fair hand held on tightly to Pei Ziheng¡¯s shirt sleeve, and she buried her face in his arms, not allowing anyone to see her painful, distorted expression. She was an artiste, maintaining her image in front of a crowd was almost second nature to her. Even though she was being carried in the arms of a man and her hair was a mess, she made sure that her back and shoulders were in a ttering position.

    Like a princess in the arms of an emperor.

    Everyone watched on as they left.

    A wealthy woman in the crowd, who was holding onto the arm of her husband, came to her senses after a while. ¡°Oh my, am I mistaken? Pei Ziheng is carrying thatdy? Isn¡¯t he known to not even get close to women?¡± Pei Ziheng had developed a reputation in the business world for being celibate. Ever since he had taken over the family business, he had kept his private life spotless and had very few scandals. Even his engagement with Wang Jingwan seemed to be a formality, and they had never been intimate in a public setting.

    Ever since Xia Ling died, there had been rumors of him having several lovers by his side, but no one had been able to verify these rumors.

    This was the first time that anyone had seen Pei Ziheng protect a woman, and that small artiste was one that had just been dumped, the protagonist of much controversy in the entertainment circle right now.

    Seeing Xia Ling being carried off, Gu Lin¡¯s expression was filled with anger. How did that b*tch get so lucky? Wasn¡¯t she just dumped by Brother Lei, how did she manage to nab Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei already? Imperial Entertainment matched the Li family in terms of wealth and power, and was not to be trifled with by the Gu family. Gu Lin thought with trepidation and worry... would he take revenge on them for how Xia Ling was treated?

    ¡°I need to tell Brother Lei about this!¡± Gu Lin was full of anxiety and was keen to look for someone to help back them. She immediately took out her mobile and dialed a number. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m looking for Brother Lei...¡± She exined to Li Lei about what had transpired at Wisteria Grand Hotel, exaggerating the facts and peppering up the story as soon as he picked up the phone.

    At the Li family headquarters.

    During this period, Li Lei¡¯s mobile was being tapped. The Old Master was concerned that he would rekindle his feelings for Ye Xingling and had banned him from contacting her altogether. As such, Li Lei did not dare contact her.

    However, he was constantly watching out for news about her.

    When he received Gu Lin¡¯s call, he listened patiently to her entire story, trying to discern from himself the truth within. His Xiao Ling... she was humiliated and kicked in public.

    Li Lei clenched his fist and felt upset at his helplessness and inability to protect her.

    The part of the story that was like a needle to his heart was the fact that another man had stepped forward to help her in her time of need. And that man was none other than Pei Ziheng, the man that she had always been pining over!

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened over.

    ¡°Gu Lin, if I ever find out that you made trouble for Xiao Ling again, don¡¯t me me for ignoring all our family ties!¡± Li Lei coldly and sharply said. ¡°Even if I have broken up with her, it doesn¡¯t mean I will let anyone bully her! If you wanted toin to me about her, you¡¯ve found the wrong person.¡±

    Comin?

    He was a step away from ripping Gu Yao apart after hearing Gu Lin¡¯s story.

    Ignoring Gu Lin¡¯s shock and pleas, Li Lei hung up. He rang somebody else up and gave the person on the other end of the line a few instructions.

 Chapter 235 - Valentineâ€™s Day Night

    <h4>Chapter 235: Valentine¡¯s Day Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling into his Rolls Royce.

    ¡°To the hospital.¡± He instructed the driver in a deep voice.

    Xia Ling was still writhing in pain in his arms. Her left hand was holding her abdomen, and an expression of pain was stered on her face.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at her before hurrying the driver. ¡°Hurry up.¡± He lowered his head to Xia Ling again and covered the cold, slender hand on her abdomen with his warm, broad palm. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    His voice seemed to have the miraculous power of constion.

    Xia Ling softly responded with an ¡°mmhmm¡± and became quiet.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°So silly.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She was confused.

    ¡°Why did you anger him if you knew you couldn¡¯t beat him?¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°You aren¡¯t who you were before. Li Lei isn¡¯t protecting and looking out for you. Stay away from those rich bastards, do you understand?¡±

    Hearing his words, Xia Ling too felt that she had acted stupidly.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think too much into it.¡± She glumly said. ¡°I won¡¯t do it again.¡±

    Perhaps she had been too sheltered before and did not know the consequences of a woman offending these wealthy gentlemen. They were unlike Pei Ziheng and Li Lei, who had true power within their households and would not disgrace themselves. Pei Ziheng and Li Lei would weigh out the consequences before causing such a childishmotion in public.

    However, the likes of Gu Yao were different.

    They were loaded and willful. Regardless of the gravity of the mess they made, someone in their household would clean up after them.

    Thus, they did not care about the consequences.

    She was just like that in her past life and would act out as she wished, knowing that Pei Ziheng would back her regardless of what she did. Habits were hard to change, and she had merely acted as she would have in her past life when Gu Yao instigated her earlier, without caring too much about what would happen. In fact, that kick on the crotch that she gave Gu Yao was considered a light onepared to what she would have dealt out in her past life. Yet, she had forgotten that given her backing in her past life, there was no way she would have gotten into such a spat with Gu Yao in the first ce.

    They only chose to bully her because she had no backing at the moment.

    ¡°In this world, is it tough to depend on just me?¡± She asked softly.

    Pei Ziheng tightened his hold on her. ¡°Only men should depend on themselves. Women are meant to find a good man to lean on.¡± His voice was gentle as he patted her softly on the top of her head. He suggested once again. ¡°Come to Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    Xia Ling could not help butugh. ¡°How many times have you asked? Boss Pei, are you not sick of hearing me reject you?¡±

    Hearing herugh, Pei Ziheng¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°One day you will agree.¡± He remembered the first few times he had met her, she had been defensive, afraid and her gaze full of animosity. The worst was when she had kicked and cursed at him. Now, she was obediently lying in his arms, allowing him to put his hand over hers on her abdomen and willingly joking with him.

    There woulde the day when he would get what he wanted.

    He adjusted himself into a morefortable position and held onto her more steadily.

    Xia Ling thought of something and asked, ¡°Why did you appear at Wisteria Grand Hotel?¡±

    Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°To find you.¡±

    ¡°Find me?¡± Xia Ling looked up at him, stunned.

    Under the dim light in the car, his brows looked as handsome as always, but there was a mysterious glint in his eyes as he did not reply to her question. Today was Valentine¡¯s Day, and since Xia Ling had passed away more than a year ago, he was troubled as to what he would do on this day. When he closed his eyes, her image would appear in his mind, wilfully asking him for a present... or holding his hand as they walked in a sea of roses...

    The pain of these memories was with him with every breath he took.

    He could not bear the loneliness that he felt, and guilt ate at his heart like a poisonous worm. On this torturous day, he had suddenly thought of this girl in front of him right now. Her every look and smile were so simr to that person in his memories...

    Like her voice and her face were still present...

    His gaze looked past Xia Ling and into the distance. In a husky and low voice, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve prepared something for you. A French candlelight dinner and a string quartet... a house full of roses and a sea of chocte... I believe you will enjoy all of that.¡±

    His words gave her a shock.

    When he had appeared at that time of danger in the Wisteria Grand Hotel and saved her, Xia Ling was extremely grateful and felt that security from years ago return. When he was around, it seemed like he would shelter her from the storms of the world.

    But, what was this with the roses and choctes?

    She had only passed away such a short while ago, and Pei Ziheng was already inviting another woman to spend Valentine¡¯s Day with him?

    Even if this ¡°other woman¡± was her reincarnated self, she was still someone else in the eyes of others.

    She could somewhat understand. He was only in his thirties and had power and youthfulness. He was in the prime of his life. Asking him to be celibate for the rest of his life after her death was impossible. However, understanding and being upset were two things altogether... She merely wished that he loved her and her only.

    But Pei Ziheng clearly did not.

    Their fate had run its course.

    Suddenly realizing that being carried by him was inappropriate and suggestive, she struggled to free herself from Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms. However, this movement pulled at her injured abdomen, and she sucked in a breath from the pain.

    Pei Ziheng frowned and wanted to pull her back into his arms, but was met with resistance.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Pei.¡± rity returned to her gaze. ¡°I can sit quite well by myself.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened seeing that her prickly defense was back. However, he did not say anything given that he too had ulterior motives, and quietly kept a safe distance from her.

    He was exceedingly patient.

    When they reached the hospital, the driver hurried to deal with the relevant administrative procedures, and Pei Ziheng apanied Xia Ling as she underwent X-ray and checks.

    The assessment indicated that there were no major issues, but there was a massive bruise on her abdomen from the kick which would likely take quite a while to dissipate. Pei Ziheng asked someone to help with the admission procedures. ¡°Stay here in the hospital for a few days and leave when you¡¯repletely recuperated.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. It was just a small injury, was admission even necessary?

    But when she saw the determination in Big Boss Pei¡¯s eyes, she decided that it was pointless to fight with him over this. Anyway, she wasn¡¯t keen on going back to the Wisteria Grand Hotel and feeling like a monkey on disy in the zoo after the bigmotion earlier.

    Xia Ling settled into the VIP suite ward.

    The ward was a private room with high-quality parquet flooring and afortable bed, quite like the room she had at the hotel. As shey down on the bed, Pei Ziheng sat by the bed peeling an apple for her. His fingers were long, and he seemed skillful with the knife as the apple peel fell over between his fingers without breaking.

    Watching him peel the apple was like watching an artistic disy.

    Xia Ling was mildly distracted and thought of the time when she was first adopted by him.

    Then, he was spoiled and clumsy around the house. He could hardly tuck her into bed, let alone peel an apple. How did he be so good at it? Perhaps it was because he had chosen to do everything himself when taking care of her... If she removed that unfortunate love story and her ingrate of a sister, he was her only family in this entire world.

    Xia Ling¡¯s chest tightened as these thoughts ran through her mind.

    Pei Ziheng was halfway through peeling the apple when his phone suddenly rang.

    He looked down at the phone screen and saw the name disyed ¡ª Xia Yu.

 Chapter 236 - Happy Breakup

    <h4>Chapter 236: Happy Breakup</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Brother Ziheng...¡± Xia Yu¡¯s whiny voice rang out. ¡°Where are you? Can you bring me to my sister¡¯s grave today?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Pei Ziheng asked in a low voice. Ever since Xia Yu insulted Xia Ling, he had been cold to her and was reluctant to give her ess to anything rted to Xia Ling. He would not even allow her to visit Xia Ling¡¯s grave as she wished.

    On the other end of the line, Xia Yu bit her lip. ¡°I folded a thousand cranes for my sister to give her my blessings. I¡¯ve only justpleted that and was thinking that she would be lonely today since it is Valentine¡¯s Day... Brother Ziheng, the caretaker of the graveyard wouldn¡¯t let me in... Can youe with me? I want to give my sister the cranes. I... I miss her...¡±

    Her voice sounded like she was close to tears.

    A tinge of gentleness entered into Pei Ziheng¡¯s cold gaze. Xia Yu was Xiao Ling¡¯s sister, after all, joined by blood, and only she would pine after Xia Ling other than him.

    ¡°I¡¯lle to fetch you in about half an hour.¡± Pei Ziheng said before hanging up.

    ¡°Are you leaving?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Pei Ziheng picked up the half-peeled apple and continued to turn it in his hands against the knife skillfully. The thin apple peel continued toe off smoothly. ¡°There¡¯s something I need to tend to.¡± He said to Xia Ling gently. ¡°Eat this apple and rest early. If you have any issues, just give me a call.¡±

    Xia Ling had heard the voice in the phone vaguely. ¡°Was that Xia Yu?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked up at Xia Ling, and there was sharpness in his eyes as if she was prying on a secret she was not supposed to. Xia Ling grimlyughed to herself inside. She was still an outsider to him in this life, even if they were friendly on the surface, there was no way they would be as intimate as before.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean anything else.¡± She said lightly. ¡°I was just surprised that you would spend Valentine¡¯s Day with her.¡± Did this mean that her good sister had seeded? Had she managed to remove all those in her way one by one in her quest to get close to Pei Ziheng and finally was able to summon him to spend a romantic evening with her? All those years of scheming seemed to have paid off then...

    There was a hint of disdain in her lips.

    Pei Ziheng felt upset seeing the disdain in her words and smile.

    Unknowingly, he started to exin himself. ¡°Xia Yu wanted to go see her sister at the graveyard. I¡¯m just going to send her there.¡±

    Oh, so Xia Yu had used Xia Ling to get him to spend time with her. The disdain in Xia Ling¡¯s expression intensified, and she looked up at him with a queer expression. ¡°Didn¡¯t Xia Yu just insult Xia Ling recently? Why would she want to go see her sister?¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned. ¡°It¡¯s natural for sisters to have small spats, but there wouldn¡¯t be any true hard feelings.¡± This was the reason that he was willing to forgive Xia Yu. After that incident, Xia Yu had apologized to him in tears, saying that she had somehow been momentarily ovee with anger, and was angry with her sister for hurting herself so much just for love and for finally taking her own life, leaving her all alone in this world.

    Pei Ziheng had believed her.

    After all, Xia Yu had been ying the role of Xia Ling¡¯s good sister for more than a decade.

    Xia Ling did not care to engage Pei Ziheng in more discussion. If he chose to believe Xia Yu, so be it. She was not interested in getting mixed in the matters pertaining to her past. Shezilyy against the bedhead and watched as he peeled the apple, her expression rxed.

    Seeing her indifference, Pei Ziheng somehow felt irritated and lost his concentration, breaking the otherwise perfect apple peel. Xia Ling gave a <i>pfft </i>as sheughed out loud, seeing this rare scene of him messing up.

    Pei Ziheng lifted his eyes to look at her.

    Xia Ling hurriedly stoppedughing. ¡°You¡¯ve done really well already. Hmm,pared to Li Lei...¡± She wanted to say that he had done a lot better than Li Lei but caught herself just before the words left her mouth. Li Lei¡¯s handsome and smiling face appeared in her mind. He did not bother to peel the apple like Pei Ziheng patiently, but would simply cut it into huge pieces, skin and all, and throw them to her like feeding a dog.

    Ha, being willing to cut the apple for her was a bonus. Most times he would simply make her cut the apple herself.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind drifted off, and her pensive expression fell into Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯ve already broken up... what¡¯re you still pining about?¡± Pei Ziheng lowered his gaze and finished peeling the apple in his hands. He cut the apple up into neat slices and put them on a te. ¡°Being chased out on New Year¡¯s Eve... let me guess... the Li family was not willing to ept you as Li Lei¡¯s partner? The Old Master in the Li family is known to be stubborn... Li Lei... hmph... useless fellow...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened.

    Pei Ziheng pushed the te of apple slices to her. ¡°Eat up.¡±

    She looked down at the evenly cut apple slices. Every slice had a seed in the middle forming a five-pointed star. His way of cutting the apple was very different from normal people... he liked to cut it horizontally...

    She remembered that one year she had joked that she wanted a star from the sky. It was the thick of summer then, and there was a mild aroma blowing over from the rose garden. He retrieved a dew-covered apple from the cooler near the long bamboo table, cut it horizontally, and passed it to her.

    He was not a romantic, and hence, his disparate attempts at being romantic were even more memorable.

    He had told her, ¡°Xiao Ling, every apple contains a star from me to you.¡±

    This habit appeared to be sustained until now.

    She reached out and picked up an apple slice, lightly bit into it, and allowed the mild sourness to permeate her taste buds.

    Pei Ziheng watched as she ate, a gentleness entering his eyes again. ¡°Is it good?¡±

    She shook her head.

    Pei Ziheng raised an eyebrow at her.

    ¡°You should go.¡± She felt tears start to spring into her eyes and did not dare lift her head to look at him. ¡°Xia Yu is waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°Is it really not good?¡± He refused to leave and doggedly asked her again. He bent over to take the apple slice from her hand and bit into it where she had bit the apple before. It was a little sour.

    ¡°Hurry up and go, you¡¯re going to bete.¡± She hurried him.

    Pei Ziheng lifted his wrist to look at the time before standing up. ¡°Next time I¡¯ll peel a sweet apple for you.¡± He retrieved his coat from the coat hanger, pushed open the ward door, and left.

    Amidst the silent ward, Xia Ling stared at the te of apple slices for a long time, until they turned brown from oxidation. The tears in her eyes blurred away, and her expression became colder and colder. Missing out on someone was forever... whether it was Pei Ziheng... or Li Lei...

    So be it.

    She rested in the ward for several days before the bruise on her abdomen dissipated slowly but surely.

    During this time, Pei Ziheng came to see her twice. Both times he was in a rush and did not sit for more than ten minutes. Shey on the bed flipping through the newspapers from the entertainment pages to the finance pages feeling bored. She found that Pei Ziheng was several times busier than when she was by his side as Xia Ling.

    She also saw a piece of news about Li Lei.

    The newspapers reported that he was about to return to the country.

    Seeing this brought a sharp pain to her heart. Since when did she need to find out about him through the newspaper?

    The earpiece on the bedhead was ying the song ¡°Happy Breakup,¡± but she was far from happy. But what was done was done, what somebody doesn¡¯t know/see can¡¯t hurt them. She had to move out quickly so she wouldn¡¯t bump into him at the apartment.

    But, where would she go?

 Chapter 237 - Li Lei Returns

    <h4>Chapter 237: Li Lei Returns</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling bit her lower lip as she thought about this problem. She was really clueless about renting a new ce.

    She could not seek help from Sister Mai Na or Wei Wei either since they were from Skyart Entertainment. She had already decided to leave Skyart Entertainment, there was no reason for her to trouble them. If she could not go to them, the only other person that could help her was Feng Kun...

    But Feng Kun had too much say in Imperial Entertainment, and she was afraid that her moving would be brought to Pei Ziheng¡¯s attention. If Pei Ziheng found out that she sought help from Feng Kun, he would be suspicious about how they became so close.

    That would be too hard to exin.

    Xia Ling thought for a long time before thinking of someone that could help her ¡ª Luo Luo.

    She was not from Skyart Entertainment and had no connection to her past life.

    Sitting on the ward bed, she hugged the pillow and rang Luo Luo. ¡°Hello, Luo Luo. It¡¯s me, Xiao Ling. Do you know of any houses that are suitable for renting? Yes, I want to move.¡±

    Being a helpful girl, Luo Luo was delighted to hear Xia Ling seeking help from her about moving. ¡°Houses for rent are hard to find right now. Xiao Ling, don¡¯t go through the hassle, juste stay with me. We can share the rent and take care of each other.¡± Luo Luo¡¯s rented apartment wasrge, there would be no issues amodating one more person. She happily added, ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so good at singing! You¡¯ll be able to teach me if we stay together!¡±

    So that was what she was after.

    Xia Lingughed out loud. It was nice to know that someone appreciated help from her. She thought for a while before agreeing to Luo Luo¡¯s suggestion.

    Shepleted the hospital¡¯s discharge procedures and returned to the apartment she rented from Li Lei to pack her things. While the contents of her luggage were simple ¡ª just clothes, essories, and cosmetics ¡ª they were numerous and many. She clumsily threw them into bags and boxes, bustling about busily, such that she did not realize that someone had quietly opened her apartment door and entered.

    Li Lei appeared at the doorway and saw that the house was a mess.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± He asked in a voice that was void of emotion.

    Xia Ling gave a start and turned around, only to see a man dressed in a simple white shirtzily leaning against the door. The top two tinum buttons on the shirt were unbuttoned, revealing his muscr and tan chest beneath.

    In this half a month that they had not seen each other, it seemed that Li Lei was looking good and more handsome than ever.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was a mess of emotions. She recalled how she had spent the recent weeks and could not help but feel wronged.

    ¡°Boss, thank you for your care over the past months.¡± She kept her emotions in check and said to Li Lei in a calm voice. ¡°You¡¯vee back at an opportune moment. I¡¯m just packing to move out. Why don¡¯t you calcte how much rent I owe you and I can pay you right now.¡±

    Li Lei felt anger rise up in his chest. He had exhausted all that he could to get past the surveince that his grandfather had put on him to return to the country and had not even returned home to grab a sip of water, but hade here immediately to find her. Yet, what was he met with? He was met with the scene of her packing and rushing to move out!

    She was even speaking to him so formally!

    ¡°Leave?¡± Li Lei¡¯s deep voice was lined with anger. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t you owe me an exnation?¡± On the way back to the apartment, he had received intel from his subordinates about what she did when he was away. She was seen together with Pei Ziheng again? Was she so bent on leaving him and going into Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms?!

    He frowned and walked towards her slowly. ¡°Your answer had better be eptable.¡±

    She subconsciously backed away from him, before catching herself and standing up tall. Exin? Who was the one that needed to exin themselves? ¡°Li Lei.¡± She gave a coldugh, forgetting all the formalities that she had initially begun with. ¡°You were the one who wanted us to get together... You were the one who announced our rtionship to the public against my wishes... and you were the one that chased me out of your house... Li Lei, who am I to you? Am I just someone that wille and go as you please?! I¡¯ve had enough! I¡¯ll just leave!¡±

    ¡°I did not make youe and go as I please.¡± He said.

    ¡°Then, just let me go.¡± She red at him.

    ¡°No.¡± Where would be safer than his apartment? Even if they broke up, there was no guarantee that his grandfather would not send someone to harm her. His grandfather was a vicious person and would do anything he pleased. And Li Feng... he was another ticking timebomb.

    What¡¯s more, there was also Pei Ziheng...

    As he thought of Pei Ziheng, Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened. ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by what a person shows you on the surface. There¡¯s an ulterior motive for him to treat you so well.¡± He was merely looking for someone to take the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s ce.

    Xia Ling did not register who he was talking about and insisted. ¡°I want to leave.¡±

    She dragged the luggage at her feet towards the door, but Li Lei caught her by the wrist. ¡°I said that you are not allowed to leave!¡±

    His anger was getting the better of him. He had gone through a lot to rush back here and was not prepared to just let her go into the arms of another man! He used one hand to grab the luggage out of Xia Ling¡¯s hands and kicked it to a corner. With the other hand, he pushed her to the wall next to the living room door. ¡°Ye Xingling, stay right here. I forbid you to go find that wild man!¡±

    What wild man?

    She was stunned and suddenly realized who he was talking about. ¡°You got someone to follow me?!¡±

    Otherwise, how would he have found out about her and Pei Ziheng?!

    Li Lei took her exmation as admission and grabbed her chin, lifting her face up to look at him. Disregarding her struggles, he said, ¡°What exactly do you see in him? He poisoned you mute not too long ago, and you forgot all about that just because he gave you some help? Ye Xingling, are you daft?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the daft one!¡± Her chest heaved with anger. How could he speak to her like that? When she was at her most lonely and most helpless, he was not around. Pei Ziheng was the one that helped her. It¡¯s fine that he did not feel any gratefulness to Pei Ziheng, but how can he insult her like that?! ¡°Pei Ziheng is tons better than you.¡± She said without so much as a thought. ¡°We¡¯re already broken up. I have the freedom to choose who I want to be with! It¡¯s none of your business!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none of my business?!¡± Li Lei recalled the time half a month ago when this girl in front of him was naked in his arms in the spa, her slender body pressing onto his while calling out Pei Ziheng¡¯s name.

    Then, they had not broken up yet!

    But she was really smitten with another man!

    His grip on her chin tightened such that she yelped out in pain. He lowered his head and pressed his lips onto hers, his teeth roughly forcing its way through hers, as he bit and ravished without a care as if he was dering his ownership and punishing her.

    Xia Ling could hardly breathe and wanted to back away. However, her back was pressed t against the wall behind her, and there was no ce for her to escape. She struggled and tried to shout out to him to get lost, but all that came out of her mouth were muffled noises. His bite would get harder with each of her struggles, and she could taste blood in her mouth, the raw liquid trickling by the sides of her lips.

    After a long time, he released her lips but grabbed onto the back of her waist, pulling their bodies closer together.

    ¡°Li Lei, you bastard!¡± There were tears in her eyes, and her voice broke as she cried out. She struggled and tried to push him away, but his chest was immovable like a bronze statue.

    ¡°Bastard?¡± His warm breath blew onto her face, his voice hoarse. ¡°Don¡¯t you like bastards? You care so much for Pei Ziheng even though he¡¯s such a bastard. Was I so nice to you that you want to leave?¡±

    His thumb swept lightly across her lips that were still bloody and red.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... you can¡¯t leave.¡±

 Chapter 238 - The Best Newcomer Award

    <h4>Chapter 238: The Best Neer Award</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt afraid.

    She had never seen Li Lei like this before. Fierce and vicious, like he was prepared to tear her into pieces.

    Their bodies were very close together, so close that she could feel the rise and fall of his chest under his shirt with every breath. Another part of his body was hard against her like he was prepared to conquer herpletely at any time.

    She started to tremble as she recalled the rumors about him that she had heard before she met him. Many had said that he was cold-blooded and vicious, his cruelty on par with Pei Ziheng¡¯s. However, after she got to know him, she had only seen the warm and friendly side of him. As such, she had forgotten that a beast would always be a beast, and could hurt her in a flicker of an eye.

    He was the underworld, and the blood on his hands and lives under his feet would likely be more than under Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    Someone like him could not be so kindhearted. Even Pei Ziheng had done so much to torture her, so what made her believe that Li Lei would not? Just because they had a short six-month rtionship? From the pathetic words of love he had peppered on her?

    All the darkness was back and swallowing her like a tidal wave.

    She looked at Li Lei and opened her mouth several times before she mustered the courage to say. ¡°Don¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t what?¡± Li Lei asked hoarsely, his rough fingers tracing her beautiful lips, his breathing slow and heavy. ¡°You¡¯re my woman. In this life, you can only be my woman.¡±

    His feather-light touch on her lips tugged at her heart, and she felt herself crumbling in his arms. It took her great concentration to stand tall again. The tears in her eyes had not dissipated as she begged. ¡°Let me go... I beg of you.¡±

    She was always proud and arrogant. She had never pleaded with anyone before.

    However, there was one thing that she could not stand. Making love against her will was the worst kind of torture to her.

    She was afraid of what he would do.

    Li Lei understood what she was saying, and his hoarse voice was lined with anger again. ¡°Is it such torture for you to be with me? Ye Xingling, why are you pretending to be so innocent? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s your first time.¡±

    Hisst sentence sent a shock through her body, leaving her utterly insulted. Her tears started to fall without warning.

    The warm tears fell on the back of Li Lei¡¯s hand and gave him a fright. Xiao Ling... he was so angry to the point of hatred and had said that to insult her. But why was his heart hurting from seeing her cry?

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry!¡± He said in a loud voice, his confusion appearing as anger.

    Her tears fell even quicker as the images from her past and that devil of a man appeared again. He was saying in a gentle andmanding voice, ¡°Xiao Ling, are you crying again? Don¡¯t you like me? Don¡¯t worry, we have lots and lots of time...¡± The whipping, the blood, the pain of her body beingshed...

    She tried to control her tears but could not stop them from falling. The more she tried to control, the louder her crying became. ¡°Let me go...¡± She said through her tears and pushed at his chest with one hand weakly, hoping to put a little bit of distance between them somehow. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you... I¡¯ll listen to you... don¡¯t...¡±

    <i>Don¡¯t punish me...</i>

    She begged that devil in the snippets of her memories.

    Li Lei felt himself giving in. ¡°You¡¯ll do anything I say?¡±

    She nodded through her tears.

    Li Lei lifted her face and stared into the depths of her eyes. ¡°Xiao Ling, stay, don¡¯t leave me.¡±

    ¡°I... I can¡¯t leave you.¡± Her vision was blurry from the tears as she said disjointedly.

    He hugged her tightly as if she was the most precious thing in the whole world. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t make you cry ever again.¡±

    Xia Ling trembled in his arms and cried for a long time, then slowly fell asleep when she got exhausted from the crying.

    Li Lei carried her to the bed and covered her with the nket. He unpacked her luggage, taking out the items one by one and returning them back to where they had been. He could not let her leave. They had broken up, and under the watchful eyes of his grandfather¡¯s men, he would struggle to find an excuse to get close to or see her again.

    He would definitely find a way to persuade his grandfather to ept her.

    After that day, there was a ridge between Xia Ling and Li Lei. She carefully kept her distance from him, afraid that he would hurt her. She was also withdrawn and would not say anything to him, different from her cheerful and chatty self from before.

    Sometimes, Li Lei would try to hug her.

    Xia Ling would subconsciously avoid him but would quietly sit in his embrace if she could not avoid him, her body stiffening in her nervousness but unable to muster the courage to resist. It was as if every minute with him was torture.

    Li Lei wanted for them to reconcile but could find no way to. Her heart¡¯s door was shut tight, and he could find no way to open it again.

    Both of them lived like thatboriously. It was March, the season that the peach blossoms bloomed, and the broadcast station announced the winners for several prestigious awards for the music industry.

    Xia Ling was awarded the Best Neer Award.

    She went up on stage to receive the award alone, dressed in a skin-colored, haute couture, long dress, the swishing of the dress somehow making her seem all the more lonely. Many people were discussing in low voices. ¡°Is that Ye Xingling? I heard her personal life is a mess, and that she¡¯s involved with many men. Do you know that¡¯s why the Li family chased her out on New Year¡¯s Eve?¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡±

    The crowd gossiped about her from all around, and the gazes that they gave her were full of curiosity.

    ¡°See her dress... isn¡¯t it N.W¡¯s Summer Haute Couture Series? I wonder which rich man gave her that... There¡¯s no way she would be able to afford it with her background.¡±

    ¡°Exactly... and I didn¡¯t hear anything about N.W lending it to her.¡±

    Xia Ling showed no emotion and pretended not to hear any of their murmurings. The dress that she was wearing was indeed not bought by her. Li Lei had given it to her when they were still together, and it was tailor-made in Paris. It had just beenpleted a short while back, and Li Lei said that it was a pity to let it go to waste, so he asked her to wear it to the awards ceremony.

    It seemed like in his eyes, they were still together, and it was normal that she should wear a dress that he gave her.

    Xia Ling was unable and unwilling to fight with him over the matter. Since she was unable to leave his clutches, why create trouble over something so small? She had quietly prepared a small ounts book to record all the presents that he gave to her. One day, when she regained her freedom, she would return them all to him.

    The darkness of her past life taught her something ¡ª Never sh head-on with the one in power.

    She stood on the tall stage as she received her award from a veteran in the industry.

    The emcee smiled and asked the veteran, ¡°Do you have anything to say to this rising star?¡±

    Coincidentally, the one giving her the award was Zheng Chenhao, a veteran heavenly king from Imperial Entertainment. In thest Neb Music Festival, they were on the same team. Zheng Chenhao did not particrly like this girl and felt that she was reckless and arrogant. The bias that Feng Kun had shown her during the Neb Music Festival was something that he was still holding a grudge on.

    He was a pitiful one in the industry. He had been a heavenly king in Imperial Entertainment for a long time now but suffered under the overbearing Diva Xia Ling in the earlier years. It was only until Xia Ling passed on that he had been able to catch a breath. Which heavenly king in the industry had to hold in so many grievances?

    Zheng Chenhao med this all on the opinion that female artistes were naturally advantagedpared to male artistes, given that they were able to find rich backers. Take the Diva Xia Ling for instance. If she didn¡¯t have Pei Ziheng to spoil her, how would she be able to take away so many resources from him?

    He hated any woman that depended on rich backers, and Ye Xingling was just another one of them.

 Chapter 239 - No Way Out

    <h4>Chapter 239: No Way Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He received the microphone from the emcee and looked toward Xia Ling. ¡°Sing well, live well.¡±

    The underlying meaning was deep.

    Spections and discussions began on the floor. Everybody understood the part about singing well, but what was it about living well? Was Ye Xingling involved in something shameful, something so major that a superstar had to mention it?

    Xia Ling read between the lines, and rage rose inside her.

    It was deliberate! His intention was for them to misunderstand her, he wanted her reputation to be further tainted.

    Xia Ling was never one to appear weak in front of the public. She smiled and tilted her head as if she never picked up the deeper meaning in Zheng Chenhao¡¯s words. She simply replied, ¡°Thank you. You too, live well.¡±

    Zheng Chenhao was fuming. How dare this little celebrity to lecture him like this! She was still a nobody when he made his name! Zheng Chenhao was way angrier than he appeared to be but decided that saying any more would do him no good. Instead, he shot her a re when no one was looking.

    Xia Ling kept her smile on, unwavering.

    The awards ceremony was a warzone of implicit sarcasm that celebrities had to keep their guards on over.

    When she got off the stage, her assistant Wei Wei came up to her. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, you must be tired. Here, have some water. Those people were too much, don¡¯t bother about them. You¡¯re way better than they make you out to be!¡± Ever since Xia Ling had let Wei Wei leave first during the encounter with Li Feng, this assistant had be a die-hard fan of Xia Ling, defending her in every way possible.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    She was upset about it, but what good did it do to share this negativity with the team? Moreover, there was nothing much that an assistant could do in such a scenario. Sheforted Wei Wei and walked towards the car.

    Only when she entered the car did she realize that there was someone else inside ¡ª Li Lei, Big Boss Li.

    She was surprised. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Ever since their breakup, Li Lei was rarely seen with her. He usually assigned tasks to the bodyguards instead. But, why was he here today?

    Li Lei was sitting in the back of the car, where the light that shone through the tint of the window ttered his side profile. His eyes were quiet that day. ¡°I¡¯m taking you to the temple. Remove your makeup.¡±

    She did not resist anything he said now. She felt like she was living in a big cage, where there were certain areas in which she could throw her tantrums the way she did with Li Lei in the past. However, that was only because it did not cross the line, so he took it lightly.

    However, once it crossed the boundary in the cage, like the day she moved out, she would be subjected to repression.

    The same way it was with Pei Ziheng.

    Since it was futile, why attempt to resist?

    She was used to getting along with an authoritarian from her experience with Pei Ziheng in herst life. Hence, all she did was ask, ¡°Why the sudden thought of going to the temple?¡± She then got a few of the appointed people to prepare the necessary items for removing her makeup.

    Seeing that she was obedient and cooperative, Li Lei felt a strange sense of frustration. She was acting like a young beast who kept her ws because she was no longer interested in something that once appealed to her. Was she so nonchnt about it because she no longer had any attachment?

    He suppressed his unhappiness. ¡°Our operations haven¡¯t been running very smoothly recently. I¡¯m going there to pray for the ill luck to cease.¡±

    She gave a disinterested nod and carefully wiped her face with the lotion as if that simple movement was more important than his words.

    Li Lei was even more annoyed now, but his rage was not acting up. He then thought about the day he forced a kiss on her and scared her, and how her attitude toward him had changed only after that day.

    He was too anxious that day, not knowing what he had to do to keep her.

    After that, he told himself never to scare her a second time.

    But by the look of things, those words to himself were not so useful after all.

    After removing her makeup, Xia Ling rinsed her face with some water and saw a pile of clothes nearby. It was a brand new sweater, a beautiful feminine cut in her favorite pastel shade. She then looked down at the outfit she was in ¡ª a ssy gown ¡ª and realized it was not the most appropriate dressing for a temple visit.

    ¡°It¡¯s for you.¡± Li Lei signaled for her to remove the tag on the sweater.

    ¡°I¡¯m changing here?¡± She did not move.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already slept together, why does it matter?¡± Li Lei understood what she was trying to say and got even angrier. He simply sat there and looked at her. In the dim light, the gown hugged her figure beautifully, revealing her fair shoulders and the butterfly-like structure of her back. Watching her was enough to arouse him.

    Xia Ling bit her lip.

    It was quiet in the car, the chauffeur and others were not around. The doors were locked, and they were the only people in the car.

    But that did not mean that she could change clothes in front of him. So what if they had slept together? It was by no means her choice! She barely had any memory of what happened, except for the pain in her body that came after.

    There were things that she could give in to him.

    But there were some things that she would not tolerate.

    ¡°Can you go out?¡± She tried to use her best tone to negotiate.

    Li Lei did not say a word. He just looked at her, suppressing her silently. If Pei Ziheng was the one sitting in the car instead, would she have said the same? The thought emerged like a poisonous snake, and she could not take her mind off it. ¡°I¡¯m right here.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to say anymore. She knew that when it came to big figures like him, her willpower was the most crucial.

    But she was genuinely afraid; changing in front of a man was a shameful thing for her. Meanwhile, he just sat there in his prim and proper shirt, watching her silently.

    Xia Ling recalled the year she was imprisoned, there were too many insulting moments.

    She slowly grabbed the sweater and put her head through it, using it to cover her shoulders and some of the gown, but she did not proceed beyond that. The sweater was short and stopped only at her waist. For the bottom half, he prepared fitting pants for her, but it was unable to fit inside the mermaid-cut gown.

    If she wanted to put on the pants, she had first to remove the gown. She held the pants in her hands and looked at him with a trace of a plea, hoping that he would give in and get off the car.

    But he sat there, not budging an inch. Eventually, he got impatient. ¡°Hurry up, we don¡¯t have the time.¡±

    ¡°You get out.¡± She finally repeated herself.

    Her unwillingness to give in was written all over her face. There was no way out, this was her final struggle.

 Chapter 240 - The Xia Family

    <h4>Chapter 240: The Xia Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei looked at her with no intention to move.

    Xia Ling mustered her courage and exchanged res with him. Their line of sight was the source of tension in the atmosphere. They were negotiating.

    She was defeated eventually and choked on her words. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t be such a bully!¡± All her grievances rose inside her, sincerely regretting getting involved with such a person.

    That choke was a stab to his heart.

    What was wrong with him? How could he force his beloved to a dead end like that? He wanted so much to protect her, to give her the best, but how did they end up in such a state?

    Li Lei clenched his fist out of her sight. A whileter, he released it and got off.

    Xia Ling could not believe he let it go like that, but could not think further as she took the opportunity to change. He waited until she was done changing before getting into the car. He darted a nce at her and called the chauffeur back.

    As the car traveled on the expressway, none of them spoke a word.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was beating rapidly, afraid of provoking him again.

    Li Lei sat by the window in the back, like he did before, and looked at her side profile. With the makeup off, there was no way she could hide the haggardness on her face; it must have had been hard on her recently.

    How he wished he could just reach out to her and embrace her in his arms.

    But looking at her fearful expression, he resisted the urge.

    Xia Ling looked out the window.

    She thought that he was just taking her to a nearby temple. But after they arrived at the airport, they got on a flight and then proceeded on another car ride before finally reaching the depths of a mountain where a small, quiet temple stood.

    ¡°It¡¯s more effective here.¡± He exined briefly when he saw the skepticism on her face.

    Xia Ling did not ask anything and quietly followed him into the temple, knelt down, and said her silent prayers. What should she pray for? She hoped that the deities would bless her with a life of freedom, away from the authoritarians who forced things upon her...

    She did not know whether it woulde true, but there was nothing more she wanted besides this.

    After cing her joss sticks, Li Lei took her to look for the curator.

    The curator was an old man in a loose-fitting robe. His palms were together as they spoke, and he instructed a little novice monk to lead Xia Ling into a female-only room to rest.

    He stayed with Li Lei and went to a private room to talk.

    ¡°So she¡¯s the one?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The worry in Li Lei¡¯s eyes had reced the nonchnce he disyed throughout the journey. ¡°Abbot, what do you think about Xiao Ling? Does she really have the life of a widow like my grandfather said?¡±

    That was the main reason he took Xia Ling there. He refused to believe his grandfather¡¯s words about Xia Ling, and would not give up until he came to consult a higher monk. This abbot had had close rtions with the Li family and often provided them with insights about fengshui. Moreover, Old Master Li had picked up his many skills from this abbot.

    The abbot was in deep thought for a while before speaking, ¡°From her look, she really does appear to have the life of a widow. I¡¯ve told you that when you sent me a photo of her previously.¡± But Li Lei did not want to ept it, he thought that her look in the photo might be misleading, and insisted on taking her there in person. Why were the heavens ying such a trick on this ill-fated couple?

    The abbot looked at Li Lei with sympathy.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart sank when he saw that expression, ¡°Are there no other possibilities?¡±

    ¡°There are some areas, but they are hard to exin,¡± the abbot spoke slowly. That was also why he did not object to Li Lei bringing her in person ¡ª just like Old Master Li, just by examining her looks, there was no way this girl could make it to adulthood. But ording to Li Lei, she was already 18.

    ¡°Did you bring along her birth date and her Eight Characters?¡± the abbot asked.

    ¡°I did.¡± Li Lei frantically handed over a slip of paper.

    The abbot did a few calctions ording to what was written on the paper. As he progressed, he looked increasingly somber.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Li Lei asked apprehensively.

    The abbot looked up. ¡°My skills are limited, it seems like we need to consult a higher priest regarding her case.¡± Even with her Eight Characters taken into consideration, he had concluded that she still had the life of a widow. What exactly was wrong? Fortunately, he had specially invited a higher priest along to analyze the case with him when he found something amiss andplex beyond his understanding the very first time he saw her photo.

    ¡°Who¡¯s this person?¡± Li Lei asked. As far as he knew, this abbot was already an expert in this field, who could be even better than him?

    The abbot simply smiled but did not provide an answer.

    He got Li Lei to sit in a room and wait while he took the slip of paper along with him.

    Li Lei suggested. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± He was interested and dedicated in everything that concerned Xiao Ling.

    The abbot stopped him. ¡°He isn¡¯t somebody to be trifled with. Even if your grandfather was the one asking, he might not agree to meet him. Young Master Lei, listen to me, please wait in the room. If he¡¯s willing to meet you, he will, but if he isn¡¯t... it¡¯d be better not to offend him.¡±

    There was bound to be some mystery and taboo in such fields.

    Li Lei did not want to create trouble nor provoke the higher priest in question. Growing up with Old Master Li, he had heard countless stories of strange and seemingly supernatural tales, and definitely had some belief in their forces.

    He forced himself to sit quietly and wait.

    The abbot took the slip of paper containing her Eight Characters and followed a narrow path to the backyard, opening the door to a room.

    It was not a big room, but was kept neat and tidy, and had nothing but a desk. By the table stood a man in a white shirt, clean-cut and looking younger than he was. He exuded an aura that made others respect him.

    Even the abbot had to stop by the door and politely greet him. ¡°Preceptor Xia.¡±

    He addressed this man as ¡°Preceptor.¡±

    If there was any mysterious family in existence, the Xia family was definitely one of them, since eons ago. Nobody knew where they came from nor the strength of their influence. It was said that the Xia family understood the universe and all of nature and existence fully. Dynasties and generations of people had known them as Masters whom they could only respect but not offend. Only those who held the utmost power and authority, or were the very few forerunners of this field, had the privilege of meeting them in person.

    This abbot was one of them.

    As he now stood before the youngest and current Master of the Xia family, the abbot was subordinate to him in all manners.

 Chapter 241 - The Amulet

    <h4>Chapter 241: The Amulet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Preceptor Xia¡¯s voice was light as a breeze. ¡°Hand the Eight Characters over.¡±

    The abbot quickly handed the slip of paper over. He had wanted to ask Preceptor Xia if he needed to take a look at her photo, but decided it was excessive ¡ª Preceptor Xia had already discreetly caught a glimpse of her in person, why would he need her photo now?

    He watched Preceptor Xia unfold the slip of paper with a movement he admired.

    Preceptor Xia made his calctions and deductions with his fingers before calmly saying, ¡°You may leave.¡±

    The abbot dared not question his words as he politely took his leave.

    He carefully closed the door from the outside.

    Preceptor Xia left the slip of paper by the side, got a paper and pen, and wrote another set of Eight Characters. Taking her looks into consideration, he plotted a method of calction.

    Many moments passed.

    He stopped writing suddenly, and on his face was happiness coupled with some grief. Quietly, he mumbled to himself. ¡°Little Sister... do you know why our father has given you a ¡®Ling¡¯ in your name? You¡¯ve finally returned.¡±

    ¡°Ling¡± referred to a type of silk, one that symbolized life after death and longing.

    The people of the Xia family had very special destinies, and there was a price to pay for all their understanding of the universe and its existence. Every few hundred years, there would be a ¡°Phoenix¡± in the family, one with the life of a widow, a miserable destiny that only ¡°nirvana¡± could possibly break.

    However, ¡°nirvana¡± had only existed in the sayings.

    Nobody in the history of this family¡¯s existence had sessfully attained nirvana, they usually died a tragic death, and all news about them ceased to exist.

    Back then, his younger sister had been found to be a ¡°Phoenix,¡± and their father had abandoned her after much turmoil to avoid having her curse the family. Since then, they had never heard about her, but their father said that she would return someday to reunite with them if they were fated. Despite his words, their father never believed in that little glimmer of hope.

    Today, she had finally returned.

    If this was her second life, did that mean that she had attained nirvana?

    Preceptor Xia revealed aforting smile as he closed his eyes. When he re-opened them, the smile had vanished, and it was worry that took over his expression. He lit a candle and ced the slip of paper containing Xia Ling¡¯s Eight Characters, as well as the other slip of calctions, on the me, allowing it to devour them whole.

    He opened the door and asked for the abbot to enter, giving him a few instructions.

    Li Lei waited for a long while in the room before the abbot returned and told him the higher priest wanted to meet him.

    Li Lei had expected to see an old man with a head of white hair and was surprised to see that the person standing before him was a young man with a clean look. That man¡¯s eyes were expressionless.

    He looked toward Li Lei. ¡°What¡¯s your rtionship with this girl?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°She¡¯s my woman.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to save her?¡±

    Li Lei looked up, slightly confused. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Preceptor Xia said, ¡°She indeed has the life of a widow. Not only will she bring you bad luck, but she will also be a curse to herself as well. Hence, her life is full of uncertainty, and nobody knows how long she can live. Tomorrow could be herst day... Don¡¯t look at me so angrily, I¡¯m not cursing her. I just need to ask you, if it takes a lot of sacrifice from you to guarantee her safety, would you be willing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing.¡± Li Lei did not hesitate for a moment.

    ¡°Young Master Lei!¡± The abbot could not bear it. He had been on close terms with Old Master Li for years and could not bear to see Li Lei make such a huge sacrifice. He knew very well what sort of sacrifice Preceptor Xia was referring to.

    Preceptor Xia ignored the abbot and asked Li Lei, ¡°I¡¯ll use your life to safeguard her safety. You may die, are you still willing?¡± The misfortune that befalls these ¡°Phoenixes¡± did not necessarily cease once they attained nirvana. Xia Ling appeared to be one who would encounter countless trials and tribtions, and being her brother, he could not help but worry about her survival. It was best if somebody was willing to sacrifice for her.

    ¡°I¡¯m willing.¡± Li Lei looked Preceptor Xia straight in the eye. ¡°Tell me what I have to do.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, you¡¯ll kowtow as you make your way up from the foot of the mountain.¡± Preceptor Xia instructed. ¡°When you reach here, I¡¯ll have to extract your blood, and your loss of blood could cost you your life. If you¡¯re lucky enough to survive it, then you¡¯ll bring home the amulet that I¡¯ll make with your blood. You¡¯ll hand it to her, and that amulet will protect her.¡±

    Li Lei agreed immediately and then looked at Preceptor Xia once again. ¡°If I die, please make the amulet anyway and hand it to her.¡±

    ¡°If you die, the amulet will be rendered useless.¡± Preceptor Xia smiled coldly.

    ¡°Why?¡± Li Lei brows were knitted.

    ¡°If you die...¡± Preceptor Xia sized him up. ¡°It¡¯ll mean that you¡¯re not worthy enough to stay by her and protect her, that you¡¯re simply not the chosen one to be in her life. This girl¡¯s destiny is too unique, not everybody has the what it takes to get involved in it.¡±

    The Phoenix would only perch on a Chinese parasol tree.

    She would rather die than rest on any other species.

    Preceptor Xia did not know if this man would be her Chinese parasol tree. Precisely because Xia Ling was his biological sister, one that was so close to him, was so difficult for him to make an urate deduction of the situation.

    Li Lei was silent and took a while before steadying his voice. ¡°I will survive.¡±

    The night hade and gone.

    Xia Ling woke up in the morning and changed up, but Li Lei was nowhere to be seen. She asked the chauffeur who drove them to the temple, ¡°Where¡¯s Boss?¡±

    The chauffeur told her, ¡°Boss has something to settle. Please wait a moment, we¡¯ll return to the city when he¡¯s done.¡±

    Xia Ling did not probe further, she simply did not want to get involved in Li Lei¡¯s affairs. All that mattered to her was when she could return to the city and get on with her work.

    She waited from dawn until dusk in the guest room and was getting impatient.

    Guessing that they were not leaving that night, she went back to sleep and did nothing for the next three days.

    On the fourth day, Li Lei appeared.

    It was still a handsome face and charismatic look that would attract any girl. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the city.¡± He seemed to be in a good mood as he smiled at her. ¡°Right, I got you an amulet. This is for you.¡±

    On his palm was a little wooden amulet, maroon in color and nothing too special or fancy. It lookedmon, almost like a generic souvenir anybody else could get.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered to reject it and casually took it and ced it in her pocket.

    The chauffeur could not bear to see the way she acted. Miss Ye did not know how much went behind the making of this amulet, but he was clear of it. Young Master Lei had kowtowed from the foot of the mountain all the way up, until his forehead bled and his hands were abraised, just for this one amulet. He did not want her to worry and decided to recuperate until the wound was less conspicuous beforeing back for her.

    As for her?

    She actually had no regard for this amulet that cost him so much pain and effort?

    ¡°Miss Ye, I think you¡¯d better wear it around your neck.¡± The chauffeur could not keep it in. ¡°This amulet is Young Master¡¯s...¡±

 Chapter 242 - Concert Mishap

    <h4>Chapter 242: Concert Mishap</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei red at him ferociously, and the chauffeur shut up.

    Li Lei warmly said to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, wear it. It will ensure your safety.¡±

    The talisman was to be worn using a red string. It was made of paulownia wood which was soaked in blood, causing the red color to be more intense. Although the carving on it was simple, Xia Ling did not like it. After hearing what Li Lei said, she unwillingly wore it. It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble. After a few days, he would slowly forget about it, and removing it then would not be toote.

    Li Lei helped her wear the talisman and heaved a sigh of relief.

    He remembered that when he was getting the talisman, the tall man in a white shirt said, ¡°Her body is tainted with your blood, and your body has tainted her luck. If you don¡¯t do anything, she will be doomed. If you share her burden, she might not die. However, that is if things continue to stay optimistic. I will not rule out the possibility of a tragic ending. You may die while she lives or vice versa.

    ¡°The worst ending is both of you dying together.¡±

    Thinking about it, Li Lei felt that since he was her man, he should naturally shoulder her burden.

    He guided her to the car, got on a ne, and returned to the city.

    A few dayster, he received a phone call from Jin Yifei inviting Xia Ling to attend the premiere of the film ¡°War and Death¡± that she acted inst year.

    Xia Ling was a little surprised. She was only a small star who had recently debuted. There were many high profile celebrities in the film, and her role was not very important. Why was she being invited to the premiere?

    Jin Yifei smiled as he exined. ¡°The pce feast is a significant scene. Your dance is too amazing. Xiao Ling, do you know that after the trailer was released, your dancing was very well received? If you appear during the premiere, I¡¯m sure you will increase the poprity of the film.¡± What he did not say was that recently she had broken up with Li Lei, and that caused an uproar. Furthermore, she had just won the best neer award in an award show and was a hot topic right now.

    Some time ago when Xia Ling wanted to leave Skyart Entertainment, manypanies dropped her using the excuse that they were not doing well. Although she had not left, she was not very busy and wanted Sister Mai Na to arrange more activities for her. Thus, she epted his invitation.

    In the backstage dressing room on the day of the premiere.

    The stylist took care of her long hair and sprayed some hair spray. Then, he stood behind her to look at her reflection in the mirror. In the mirror, she looked elegant and indifferent but not overly borate. Her eyebrows gave her overall look an aura of confidence. However, he felt that there was something not right...

    The stylist looked down and noticed the blood-red amulet on her beautiful neck. ¡°Miss Ye, do you want to wear a more suitable ne? Today, your dress is very elegant, so that amulet is too rough for your look. I rmend that you wear a crystal pendant instead. There is a spare in the dressing room which will go very well with your dress.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it, took off the talisman, and put on the ne that her stylist brought over. Sure enough, the girl in the mirror became more beautiful. Her dress and make up was wless. The way theyplemented each other really enhanced her look.

    She lifted her dress and stood up. Together with a group of actors, directors, and other creative staff, she walked up the premiere stage.

    This film had an all-star cast, but she was only a neer and could not match up to movie kings and queens featured in the movie. They were of special status and were not willing to stand beside her. Thus, she was pushed to the back of the group. Beside her was a handsome and tall male star that was blocking her and stealing her limelight.

    Xia Ling was unhappy. It was clear that he was taking advantage of her.

    Although this sort of asion was said to be like a battlefield and she did not expect the male star to make way for her, the person beside her was really shameless. Was he trying to get his five minutes of fame, get to the next level in his career, or pushing her on purpose?

    Being nimble, Xia Ling elegantly and naturally overtook him.

    Who did he think she was?! In her past life, she spent her entire life in the spotlight. Did he think she was unsure of how to walk and stand on stage? Xia Ling was still polite and showed some respect to the movie kings and queens. Otherwise, with her walking abilities, she could unsuspectingly move to the middle of the group without appearing forceful.

    The male star who was blocked by her was fuming mad. He tried to squeeze in but failed to move in front of her. He could only grit his teeth and reluctantly stand behind her in the background.

    The corner of Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a sly little fox¡¯s smug smile.

    Jin Yifei, who was on the stage, looked at her with amusement. She was so powerful as she secured her position in the group. No wonder she was Big Boss Li¡¯s woman. He did not ask Big Boss Li why he broke up with her but felt genuinely sorry for her because she did not find a suitable life partner.

    The premiere was carried out in an orderly manner. In the end, everyone turned around and prepared to leave.

    It was the most rxing part of the premiere, and the security guards and celebrities on stage were not as stressed as before.

    Unexpectedly, an unforeseen situation happened. A fanatic female fan screamed. ¡°Brother Qijiu, I love you!¡± She moved her body, agilely crossing the safety barrier, and rushed onto the stage. Coincidentally, the Brother Qijiu whom she was screaming about was the male star who was standing beside Xia Ling and was blocking Xia Ling at the start. At that time, the female fan thought that she was in the way and pushed her aside to hug her idol.

    Xia Ling was wearing stiletto heels and was unprepared. Thus, she lost her bnce after being pushed and fell off the edge of the stage.

    Her long dress swept past the champagne tower, causing the many sses to topple and smash into pieces on the ground. In a mess after the fall, Xia Ling could only feel a sharp pain and did not know how many ss fragments were plunged into her body.

    Amotion started on the stage. Brother Qijiu was pushing the crazy female fan away, the other movie stars were fleeing the scene, and the security officers present were rushing on stage to subdue the fan... In the chaos, someone pushed the props shelf on the stage, and that heavy steel shelf copsed, causing everyone present to scream.

    ¡°Miss Ye, danger!¡± A security officer was sharp and realized that the props shelf was about the copse on where Xia Ling had fallen! At that moment, a few security officers wanted to rush forward to save her, but they were too slowpared to the speed of the falling shelf!

    Xia Ling heard the screams of the crowd and lifted her head as the electric lights flickered and saw the props shelf which was about to copse on her.

    In a shock, she did not think much. Using her survival instincts, she rolled over the ss shards formed from the champagne tower and lodged more pieces of ss into her bare shoulders, arms, and chest. However, she could not care much.

    After she has rolled over, she felt that the prop shelf was heavily pressing on her back. Then, she cked out.

    It was like she entered a deep dream.

    But she could not remember the scene of the dream. She could almost hear the screams, cries, and shouts of countless people.

    The siren of the ambnce, the voice of the doctors and nurses, and a familiar voice that was screaming something in her hear. The voice was like a beam of sunlight in the dark.

    She was floating in a void and could not find an exit.

    Until light seeped through her void from a distance. She could not help but move closer to that warm feeling.

 Chapter 243 - Three for Ten Dollars

    <h4>Chapter 243: Three for Ten Dors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When Xia Ling woke up, she felt that her entire body was in pain. Only when she lightly moved did she realize that her whole body was covered with gauze. The unique disinfectant smell of the hospital filled her nose. Beside the bed, there was a bottle hanging from the high metal stand. Liquid glucose was flowing into her body drop by drop via the transparent tube.

    She had a hard time turning her head.

    She saw that a man was lying beside the bed. His handsome eyes were quietly closed, his nose was straight, and his attractive lips were softly curved. It was Li Lei. He looked very gentle like he had been waiting for her for thousands of years.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart started to beat faster, and she remembered that the light and warmth that felt close to her in her dream was like him.

    How long had he been waiting for her?

    After asking herself that question, she saw him move and open his eyes.

    She finally saw his face clearly. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was unshaven. She had never seen him this haggard before.

    Seeing that she had woken up, there was an immediate sh of joy in Li Lei¡¯s eyes. He immediately pressed the button to call for a doctor. They were in the VVIP room of the intensive care unit, and soon, a specialist doctor arrived to give her a check to ensure that her vital signs were stable. After prescribing new medicine for her, he left.

    She tossed and turned after she woke up. Feeling groggy and tired, she hoarsely asked Li Lei, ¡°What happened?¡± As soon as she spoke, there was a strange sweet taste in her throat as blood rushed up.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression wasplicated. ¡°You fractured your right shoulder and a bone in your rib cage. One of your lungs was punctured as well, so you must stay in bed to rest. You must be careful. If you develop emphysema or have water in your lungs, it may be fatal.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have much energy, so she closed her eyes in a daze.

    In her dreams, she only felt that her hand was being held by a dry and warm hand that never let go.

    She slept and woke up in intervals for half a month before she became more alert and could adjust the hospital bed to sit upright and use her healed hand to eat something. In contrast, Li Lei had lost weight at a speed visible to the naked eye. His originally morous and impable face was reced with bleakness.

    He did not return home in the night and slept in Xia Ling¡¯s ward to keep herpany.

    A small bed was added next to the main bed. Although the staff tried their best to make it asfortable as possible, it was too different from his bed at home. Furthermore, whenever she coughed, he would wake up to check on her, the amount of liquid in the bottle, measure her body temperature, and adjust the appropriate temperature of water for her to drink.

    Tan Ying could not bear to see him like that. Ever since Su Tang was dismissed, Tan Ying became his special assistant. In the past, Tan Ying went through thick and thin with Li Lei. However, due to his serious injuries and family issues, he retired from his job as a trainer and second Boss of Skyart Entertainment. Now that he had returned to his side, he was just back in his former role.

    He was familiar with Li Lei¡¯s taste. Every day, he would ask the nanny to make a nutritious meal and delivered it to Li Lei. Early spring was a little cold. Sometimes, the food he delivered had already turned cold. Regardless of whether they made do with it or re-heated it, the original taste could not be restored.

    Although Li Lei was usually particr about it, he was also a mercenary and could make do with what he was given. Every day, he made do with the cold food and ate it all. He remained by Xia Ling¡¯s side and refused to move an inch.

    Tan Ying could not help but advise him. ¡°Boss, you should go out to eat something warm when Miss Ye is sleeping. Your body can¡¯t tolerate this forever.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°I know my limits.¡±

    Tan Ying was worried. ¡°You already lost a lot of blood making that amulet for Miss Ye. Your blood type is also very special. There isn¡¯t a suitable blood type in the blood bank, so you can only slowly recover. However, you haven¡¯t even recovered, yet you are spending the entire day in her ward. This is really harmful to your body. You should at least eat warm food for your three meals every day.¡±

    Li Lei frowned. He looked at Xia Ling who was in a deep sleep. Thankfully, she did not wake up.

    ¡°In the future, you are not allowed to mention the amulet in front of her.¡± He sacrificed himself not because he wanted her to be grateful, he did not want her to give her any stress.

    Tan Ying reluctantly gave up. In the end, he stopped talking after seeing his stern expression.

    However, Tan Ying felt indignant. Boss Li Lei¡¯s blood type, MNSSU, was very rare and could not ept blood transfusions from conventional blood types. Every drop of his blood was very precious. This was the reason why Old Master Li allowed him to return to China to develop the triad business. Otherwise, he might injure himself during their gang shootouts, leading to his death.

    He risked his life to donate his precious blood and crawled back from the dead to give her the amulet.

    However, she was not wearing the amulet when she was in trouble.

    A few days ago, Li Lei instructed Tan Ying to search for the amulet at the location of the premiere and found that it had been randomly cast aside in the corner of the dressing room with a pile of cheap rhinestones, used paper towels, and styling gel.

    At that time, Tan Ying was almost exploding with anger and wanted to tear that woman apart.

    However, after Li Lei took back the amulet, he only carefully put it around Xiao Ling¡¯s neck and tied a dead knot.

    There were so many women in the world, why could he not choose another woman to love?

    Tan Ying did not understand what Li Lei was thinking. Li Lei continued to care deeply for the woman he loved, while as a subordinate, he could only do his best to serve him by delivering food, ordering flowers, contacting experts for consultations... He was so busy, he felt that his legs were about to break.

    Xia Ling¡¯s bones slowly recovered.

    Li Lei finally suppressed his anger and asked her, ¡°Why did you not wear the amulet I gave you?¡±

    Her body was weak for these few days, so he tried to be as gentle as possible when speaking to her. Xia Ling was startled as she did not think that he would suddenly ask about it. ¡°It did not match with my outfit.¡± She replied.

    ¡°If you wore it then, you wouldn¡¯t be hurt now.¡±

    ¡°You believe that?¡± Xia Ling looked at him and felt that it was rather amusing. ¡°Boss, you can buy an amulet like that from any random tourist attraction for five dors. If you buy three, you can even get them at a discounted price of ten dors. If it was really efficacious, why are there still so many disasters in this world?¡±

    ¡°It is not the same.¡± Li Lei stubbornly said.

    ¡°In what way is it different?¡± Xia Ling was not very interested andzily asked him. She nced at his haggard disposition. ¡°Thank you for taking care of me during this period of time, Boss. You have to take care of yourself as well. I think you should just go home and rest. You don¡¯t have to be 24 hours a day with me.¡±

    She was upset because she had burdened him with her injuries. During this period of time, he had really helped her a lot.

    She had been dizzy for the past few days and did not have the energy to advise him, but now that she had regained some of her strength, the first thing she wanted to do was to ensure that he went back home for a good rest instead of taking care of her. However, they had already broken up, so her inner pride made her say things that were quite crude.

    A polite way of thanking him was the best way she could word her thoughts.

    Her indifferent tone was like a needle that pricked his heart.

    Li Lei felt that he was the wronged one. He had sincerely cared for her, but she did not appreciate it at all. He never told her that Old Master Li said she was destined to be cursed as he did not want to scare her.

    More importantly, he could not tell her how he obtained that amulet.

    He could understand why she thought it was just a cheap souvenir and did not take it seriously.

    However, he knew that if he told her the truth, she would not care about it at all and discard the amulet. Li Lei was afraid that he would not be able to handle the heartbreak and disappointment that followed.

    He also did not dare to try it out.

    <h4></h4>

 Chapter 244 - Stubborn

    <h4>Chapter 244: Stubborn</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling urged him to leave again.

    Seeing that her body was no longer in grave danger and she only needed to stay in the hospital to rehabilitate, he did not insist on staying beside her. ¡°If you promise not to take off that amulet anymore, I will leave.¡±

    How long had it been? Why did he still care about that amulet?

    Xia Ling wanted to send him away quickly, so she insincerely replied, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her seriously. ¡°You can¡¯t take it off even when you¡¯re performing.¡±

    After hearing that, Xia Ling refused to promise him anymore. ¡°I can¡¯t always wear it. I have to ensure that my essories match my outfit.¡± This was a matter of principle. Being an artiste was like her second life, and she did not allow herself to have a slight w on stage, let alone wear mismatched essories.

    Li Lei furrowed his brows and lost his patience. ¡°I will inform Sister Mai Na to choose your jobs more carefully. As long as they require you to take off the amulet, she will reject them all.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him coldly. What was he trying to do? Threaten her?!

    ¡°Li Lei, do you think you can act high and mighty just because you are the boss?¡± She sneered. ¡°You¡¯re interfering too much!¡±

    ¡°Then obediently wear it.¡±

    ¡°I refuse!¡±

    Li Lei looked at her unusually red face which was due to her emotional state. ¡°Just think about it again.¡± After saying that, he stood up and walked out of the ward. He did not want to continue arguing with her and hoped that she would make the correct decision after calming down.

    Just as he reached the doorway, he heard Xia Ling¡¯s voice. ¡°Do you think that all the other entertainmentpanies in the world are dead and Skyart Entertainment is the onlypany left?¡±

    He spun around. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Xia Ling was infuriated. Since she had mentioned it, she was not going to take it lying down. ¡°Exactly what I just said. Li Lei, do you think that just because I have signed with Skyart Entertainment, I have to stay at Skyart Entertainment forever?! If you don¡¯t give me jobs, I can leave thepany and look for a new one!¡±

    ¡°You can try your luck.¡± Li Lei did not think that she would say something like that. He was so angered that he started tough. ¡°I would like to see whichpany would dare to hire you.¡±

    He mmed the door as he stormed out.

    Xia Ling was so mad that she mmed her recovered fist violently onto a pillow.

    He was right. She could not leave. She had just paid off her debt to Skyart Entertainment and depleted her savings to buy New Year¡¯s gifts for Old Master Li and others. How would she get the money to buy out her contract? Furthermore, even if she left Skyart Entertainment, besides a giantpetitor like Imperial Entertainment, no other entertainmentpany would dare to hire her.

    However, she also could not go to Imperial Entertainment.

    Thinking about it caused Xia Ling to be disheartened.

    For the next weekdays, she had a cold war with Li Lei. No matter what he said, she would ignore him. Li Lei also did not have much to say to appease her. He would leave after observing her eat and her physical examination.

    She recovered more day by day. Under the treatment of the best specialist he had spared no efforts to hire, her body regained its original beauty, and it was as if she had not been injured at all. The only w was the long scar that was created after the operation. It was wrapped in gauze and had not fully healed.

    The ¡°War and Death¡± team sent a few staff members to visit her and apologize to her.

    She was in a bad mood, so she was impatient while socializing with them. Thus, they sat down only for a little while before leaving.

    After about a month, she was finally discharged.

    When she was discharged, she did not wait for Li Lei to send someone over and also did not go home. She immediately made her way to the recording studio to look for Ah Wei. As she had spent about a hundred days recovering from her injuries, she had halted the new song making progress for too long, so she needed to make up for it.

    Besides, she also did not want to return to the apartment that was under Li Lei¡¯s name.

    Seeing that her wounds had healed, Ah Wei was very happy. After they had finished working, he took her to the small bar downstairs to celebrate her recovery with a bottle of champagne. The atmosphere of the bar was good, and many people in the entertainment industry frequented it. It wasfortable, intimate, and had a wide range of tasteful wines. Once they entered, they saw many people who often appeared on television. They greeted people whom they were acquainted with and things became more lively.

    Xia Ling joked with them. Feeling that the champagne was insufficient, she opened another bottle of spirits and became drunk after a short time. Ah Wei was also half-drunk, but his eyes were very bright. If one did not engage in conversation with him, one would think he looked no different from when he was awake.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He said as he drank. ¡°Who do you think is more impressive, Feng Kun or me?¡±

    Dizzy, she replied without thinking. ¡°Feng Kun.¡±

    He was angry. ¡°Nonsense!¡±

    Slurring, her voice faltered as she spoke. ¡°Ah Kun¡¯s musicality may not be as good as yours, but as a businessman... he¡¯s much better.¡±

    He was still angry. ¡°That¡¯s rubbish!¡±

    They bickered back and forth until the assistant Wei Wei interrupted them. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, it is quitete. Should we head back home?¡±

    She stood up unsteadily and bid Ah Wei farewell. Wei Wei wanted to support her, but she pushed him away.

    As she staggered outside, the cold wind blew on her face and slightly awoke her.

    The chauffeur and bodyguard opened the car door for her. Suddenly, she remembered something and turned to give some instructions to Wei Wei. ¡°Li Lei is an asshole. Help... Help me look for a new home. I want... to move out...¡±

    After drinking, she spoke the truth and said a desire that she had buried in her heart for a long time.

    When she returned to the apartment, Li Lei frowned when he saw her in a drunken state, but still reached out to help her.

    She vaguely heard him asking Wei Wei a few questions and suddenly increased the strength of his grip around her hand.

    ¡°It hurts.¡± Xia Ling yelled incoherently. After a futile struggle, she increased her volume and screamed louder. ¡°It hurts!¡±

    He finally reduced his strength.

    Xia Ling pushed him away in anger and stumbled up the stairs, almost falling down a few times along the way, and fumbled for some time before entering the toilet in her bedroom. She wanted to turn on the shower, but could not twist the knobs correctly after a few tries.

    Even the shower was bullying her.

    She continued to twist the knobs violently to no avail and started to pound them with her fists until the bathroom door opened. A person walked in and grabbed her hands.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± It was Li Lei¡¯s familiar voice. He had wrapped her into his arms.

    ¡°I can¡¯t turn it on.¡± She felt a little wronged and continued to hit the knobs.

    ¡°You want to shower?¡± He restrained her hands. ¡°Don¡¯t move. Your hands are all red. Also, that¡¯s a clothes hanger and not the way to turn on the shower. Xiao Ling, the shower knob is here.¡± He turned her body around to face another direction.

    Without thinking, she reached out to twist the shower knob. Warm water instantly poured out and drenched both of them.

    ¡°You, leave. I want to shower...¡± She bbered and pushed him away before trying to feel for the soap.

    He did not leave. ¡°You¡¯re going to shower like that?¡±

    She ignored him and started to cover her body with soap.

    He snatched the soap away and turned off the shower. ¡°I will help you take off your clothes.¡±

    ¡°Get out.¡± She stubbornly pushed him.

 Chapter 245 - Not Knowing How to Make A Concession

    <h4>Chapter 245: Not Knowing How to Make A Concession</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He increased the sternness in his voice. ¡°You can¡¯t shower like this. You will catch a cold. Let me help you. After you shower, quickly go to bed and sleep.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want your help!¡± Xia Ling was impatient and pushed him out. ¡°Get out!¡±

    He grabbed hold of her wrist. ¡°Ye Xingling!¡±

    She red at him. ¡°Get out!¡±

    ¡°Why won¡¯t you let me help you shower?¡± He said while pushing her against the wall, his eyes filled with fury. ¡°You¡¯re mine. Why can¡¯t I touch you?! Ye Xingling, have I not treated you well enough? Why must you treat me like this? You keep pushing me away, and Wei Wei even told me just now that you n on moving out?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business!¡± The alcohol gave Xia Ling a throbbing headache. She did not understand a single word he said but only felt that he looked like he was about to eat her up, so she could not help but be scared. ¡°Li Lei, let go of me. Get out! Get out!¡±

    His expression became colder. Without saying anything, he grabbed her wrists with one hand and started to unbutton her coat. Xia Ling screamed and struggled. After he undid two buttons, he decided to rip the coat off her. There was a tearing sound, and the finely crafted clothes on her body turned into rags that were quickly thrown on the ground.

    The sheer unexpectedness of her body being exposed in front of him drove Xia Ling crazy. She frantically used her hands to cover herself, and even her voice became a screech. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    He paused for a moment. In a sh, he suddenly grabbed her with more strength and almost broke her wrist. With his other hand, he felt around for the thin belt around her waist, untied it, and watched it fall off her skirt.

    ¡°Li Lei, you pervert!¡± Xia Ling was desperately trying to escape his grip. Since she could not use her hands, she kicked and bit him. Taking advantage of a moment when he was unprepared, she shoved him and made a mad dash out of the room.

    However, he soon dragged her back and took off her undergarments. Even thest piece of clothing covering her vanished.

    Xia Ling only felt a buzzing sound in her head. Blood rushed up to her head, and her mind was burning while her hands and feet were cold. Her body shivered violently as the world spun around her, and she did not know where she was. A few illusions that she had never seen before appeared, and everything before her eyes was fragmented. In her mind, there was a room filled with countless cameras, a tall and cold man, torn clothes and a bloody whip...

    She opened her mouth and let out a hysterical scream.

    Li Lei ignored it, dragged her into the bathtub, twisted the shower knob, and water rushed onto her body. She continued to scream. In her mind, the man¡¯s cold eyes coincided with Li Lei¡¯s. They were difficult to ovee andcked emotion like a demon from hell. She wanted to escape and tried to crawl out of the bathtub again and again, but every time she tried, she was pushed back into the bathtub by Li Lei.

    ¡°Let me go, let me go!¡± She cried and struggled violently.

    He was unmoved. Grabbing a bottle of shower gel, he poured it all over her body. ¡°You better behave yourself. After the bath, I will let you sleep. Stop kicking and biting me. If you continue to move, I will tie you up.¡±

    His palm fell on her shoulders and spread the shower gel on her body in circles. He moved his hand down her body but stopped for a moment near her stomach.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me there... Don¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling could not see him. She only saw the white room in therge vi, and something was restraining her body. A pair of hands that were moving down her body only had evil intentions.

    Xia Ling desperately tried to retract her body. ¡°Don¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was very distant. ¡°It¡¯s only a bath.¡±

    Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t!

    Xia Ling felt those warm hands wander further. The blood in her body almost flowed the opposite direction. The more she wanted to struggle, the more she could not move. It seemed she was trapped by a nightmare. She could not even make a single sound... Pain and disappointment. She tried hard to break away. Suddenly, there was a sweet sensation in her throat. Coughing, something slightly warm flowed out.

    The pair of hands that were wandering on her body stopped moving.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?!¡±

    Who was calling her? It was an anxious and concerned voice.

    A trembling yet cautious finger was on her lips.

    She wanted to avoid the finger, but she could no longer move. She only felt that her surroundings were bing darker, her body was bing lighter, someone was holding her, and there was a very distant voice. ¡°Doctor! Quickly call for a doctor!¡±

    As the darkness grewrger and the world became more distant, she did not know when, but suddenly, there was a deathly stillness.

    The doctor came over to check on Xia Ling.

    ¡°Previously, her rib punctured her lung and she had surgery. She has only rested for a while, the injury is not fully recovered.¡± The doctor checked Xia Ling and said to Li Lei, ¡°Miss Ye used her vocal chord a lot today. Did she sing? This puts arge burden on her heart and lungs. Furthermore, she is also drunk and struggled intensely after being provoked... It is not surprising that the wound on her lungs tore again.¡±

    Li Lei was anxiety-ridden. ¡°Is it serious?¡±

    ¡°The blood she coughed out was very little. It is only a small tear, so it is not something very serious.¡± The doctor said. ¡°However, you must be careful. Don¡¯t provoke Miss Ye. Otherwise, her small injury may be a major one. It¡¯ll be very troublesome then.¡±

    After he sent the doctor out, Li Lei sat beside Xia Ling¡¯s bed.

    Still tightly frowning in her dreams, her expression was a little pale. It pained him to see her like that.

    He reached out his fingers to lightly trace her lips. They were really beautiful lips, why did they always have to spit out words that made his heart ache? Wei Wei told him that Xiao Ling wanted to move...

    This was not the first time she had mentioned that she wanted to move. Did she really want to leave him so badly?

    He was furious and went hard on her against night. It seemed that in front of her, he became angry more easily and could not control his temper while Xiao Ling never once gave in to him.

    She was too stubborn. If she left him, how could she continue to live after offending people in the future?

    Li Lei was so worried that his brows were knitted. He touched her face and whispered. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t go.¡±

    On the bed, the girl¡¯s eyshes quivered and she woke up.

    As her vision slowly became clear, the scene in the bathroom appeared before her eyes. If it wasn¡¯t because of how real her fear felt, she wouldn¡¯t have suspected that it was not just a nightmare.

    Xia Ling moved to the other side of the bed to distance herself from Li Lei.

    Although Li Lei appeared warm, he was not someone to provoke lightly. Once triggered, he would selfishly and ferociously hurt her. Perhaps one day, without knowing what she said or did wrong, she would end up in a state simr to her previous life.

    As Xia Ling looked at the man in front of her, her heart shuddered. In the past, how na?ve was she to think that she could spend her entire life with him? When he was happy, he would take care of her seamlessly and amodate her. However, when he was unhappy, no matter what he did would cause her immense pain and fear that she could not counter.

    Li Lei stood up, poured a ss of water, and handed it to her. ¡°You fainted and slept for a day. Drink some water.¡±

    His hand was so close to her. She pursed her lips and did not take the ss from him.

    He moved forward and tried to hand the ss to her.

    ¡°Take it away.¡± She lightly demanded.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Take it away!¡±

    ¡°What exactly do you want me to do?¡± Li Lei was rather irascible. ¡°As long as it¡¯s something I can do, I will do it for you!¡±

 Chapter 246 - Do You Know What Her Dream Is

    <h4>Chapter 246: Do You Know What Her Dream Is</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not make a sound.

    He was right. He could do many things for her such as rent his house to her, give her high-end dresses, and save her when she was being held hostage. However, there were even more things that he could not do. He did not allow her to move out, did not allow her to wear other types of pendants, and even forced her to have sex with him against her will.

    How was he qualified to say ¡°As long as it¡¯s something I can do, I will do it for you¡±?

    Thinking about it, Xia Ling realized that it made no sense to continue arguing with him.

    Xia Ling rolled to her side on the bed with her back facing Li Lei. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression became slightly tense. He looked at her thin back for a long time, then turned around and left the room.

    A woman¡¯s thoughts were very hard to decipher. Li Lei used to be a master at gaining the favor of women, but he suffered repeated defeats when dealing with Xia Ling. Ever since he had fired Su Tang, he had no other female counterpart that he shared a deep friendship with. However, he had some problems that he could discuss with outsiders. After thinking for a while, he decided to look for Tan Ying and ask him how he chased after his wife in the past.

    Tan Ying had been married for about seven years and had been living happily with his family.

    On this day, he had just sent his wife and child for tuition sses. Once he reached home, he saw Big Boss Li pacing outside his door and became rather shocked. ¡°What brings you here? Pleasee in and take a seat.¡±

    Li Lei quietly entered his house. Tan Ying¡¯s house was filled with the vandalism of his children, wooden blocks, and remote-controlled trains. The clothes retrieved from the clothes rack had not been folded and were stacked on the sofa. There was a half-sewn pillowcase belonging to his wife. She had also just bought shampoo that the family used and received supermarket discount flyers which were piling up in the house.

    ¡°The house is messy, so you must be amused.¡± Tan Ying was a little embarrassed.

    He and his wife were ordinary citizens and relied on their hard work to achieve their status in society today. However, they were not used to a luxurious lifestyle and maintained their traditional, ordinary life.

    Li Lei nced at the messy house which was full of life and felt envious.

    The husband and wife were living in the same room and had a healthy and active child. No wonder Tan Ying had to withdraw from the triad organization and resolutely return to China to join a legitimate business. It turns out that once he had a family to protect, everything was different.

    He was even more envious that the woman he loved was willing to rely on him and be protected by him.

    Unconsciously, Li Lei started to think of Xiao Ling. He imagined her sitting in front of a sofa in a house full of homeliness carefully sewing a pillowcase... Suddenly, he felt that it was ridiculous and unrealistic. His Xiao Ling would probably spend her life doing moreplicated things.

    However, he could not help but imagine. If Xiao Ling had a child with him, how would he or she look like?

    If it were a boy, it would definitely be more mischievous than Tan Ying¡¯s son, and he would probably have to prepare arge yroom for him.

    What if it were a girl? She would definitely resemble her. His daughter would definitely be delicate and pretty without being overly mboyant. However, she would have a lingering charm. The longer someone stared at her, the more they could not look away...

    ¡°Boss, boss?¡±

    Li Lei was so engrossed in his thoughts that Tan Ying had to call him a few times before he heard him.

    He returned to reality and secretlyughed at his own ignorance. Looking at the situation now, Xiao Ling would probably never agree to have a child with him. He would thank the heavens if she could even remain safely by his side.

    Tan Ying led him to his study room and handed him a cup of tea. ¡°Hongshan recently learned how to make plum tea. Try it. My rtives said it tastes good.¡± Hongshan was his wife¡¯s name.

    Li Lei took the cup and tasted it. It was sour and sweet.

    He did not really like the mix of vors, but he remembered that Xiao Ling especially liked to try out new snacks, cakes, and drinks. Thus, he asked Tan Ying for some of the tea to bring back home for Xia Ling.

    She was in a bad mood these few days. Perhaps drinking some plum tea would cheer her up.

    The fact that Tan Ying could rise to this position meant that he was good at reading people. After hearing what Li Lei said, he immediately knew his purpose for taking the plum tea home. He did not directly expose him, but quietly got up and gave him half of the plum tea that he had at home. ¡°This tea detoxifies, clears the lungs, and reduces internal heat. If you like it, I can ask Hongshan for the recipe so you can make it yourself.¡±

    That was also Li Lei¡¯s intention. If Xiao Ling became used to his tea-making skills, would she remain by his side?

    He looked at the light green tea and remembered the reason why he came today. ¡°Time really flies... I still remember when you and Hongshan met for the first time. It was in a restaurant in Chinatown in the USA, right? At that time, she was studying and working part-time as a waiter in the restaurant. You were drunk and vomited on her...¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you still remember such an embarrassing thing.¡± Tan Yingughed shyly, but there was pure joy in his eyes. ¡°Thankfully I was drunk and vomited on her that day. Otherwise, I would have missed out on such a good wife.¡±

    ¡°So, how did you chase her that year?¡± Big Boss Li finally asked his main question.

    That year, after Tan Ying vomited on her, Hongshan was as furious as a fire-breathing dragon. Coupled with a few twists and turns, Hongshan¡¯s impression of Tan Ying became worse, and they became something akin to sworn enemies. Sometimes, people wondered if she wanted to kill Tan Ying with a knife.

    Thinking about the past, Tan Ying also sighed.

    ¡°Hongshan... has a sharp tongue but is a softie inside.¡± After saying that, he suddenly paused. Did Boss suddenly visit him just to ask about that? ¡°You came all this way to ask me about this?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Big Boss Li was expressionless.

    ¡°Did you quarrel with Ye Xingling again?¡± Tan Ying guessed.

    Li Lei was quiet. The plum tea in his hands had cooled down. As he held the cup, his expression darkened.

    Tan Ying could not bear to see him like that. ¡°There are thousands of good girls in the world. Why do you have to be adamant about being with Ye Xingling? I have already said that she is not suitable for you. Her background is very suspicious, her life and emotions are very chaotic, she is hostile to you, thoughtless...¡± Seeing that Big Boss Li was offended, he quickly stopped talking about her. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t say anything more... However, Boss, if it weren¡¯t for you always protecting her, who knows how early she would have died in the past! This sort of woman is troublesome. Why do you want her?!¡±

    ¡°At the start, what did other people say about Hongshan?¡± Big Boss Li asked.

    His special assistant, Tan Ying, choked.

    In the past, Hongshan was also headstrong. She was physically weak but did not concede to triad organizations. Many people advised Tan Ying to give up, saying that that sort of girl was a burden. However, he insisted on marrying her and ended up extremely happy.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is different...¡± Tan Ying thought for a moment before giving him an exnation. ¡°From a young age, Hongshan¡¯s dream was to marry someone, have children, and be a housewife. Hongshan was forced to be headstrong in the past due to her life circumstances, not due to her natural personality. As such, she was able to settle down with me. But, what about Ye Xingling? Boss, do you know what her dream is?¡±

    This question really caused Li Lei to be at a loss for words.

 Chapter 247 - Dont Lay A Hand On Ye Xingling

    <h4>Chapter 247: Don¡¯t Lay A Hand On Ye Xingling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He recalled that Xiao Ling and he never had a real conversation about it before.

    She never really talked about her life, past, present, her family or social rtionships... Everything he knew about Xiao Ling was mostly learned from his investigation rather than a conversation with her.

    It turns out that, from the start, their rtionship was so distant.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°When Ye Xingling debuted from the Trainee Center, I reviewed her personally. During an interview, an interviewer asked her about her private life. He asked the usual questions, you know, like when the artiste would date, what the artiste felt about marriage, and how the artiste¡¯s rtionship would affect his or her career progression. At that time, Ye Xingling¡¯s answer was very unique...¡±

    ¡°What did she say?¡± Li Lei probed.

    Tan Ying was quiet for a moment before continuing. ¡°She said that it was not possible for her to fall in love in her lifetime and that it was even more impossible for her to get married. She even added that she hoped thepany would not give her any roles that involved kissing or being close to men. She seemed to averse to men.

    ¡°The only reason why I remember it so deeply,¡± Tan Ying said. ¡°Is because she was really young. Logically speaking, she should have been at the age when people look forward to love the most. How could she dismiss it so easily? Boss, that¡¯s why I asked if you knew what her dream was. During the review, I asked Ye Xingling this question, and she said that her dream was to earn enough money and grow old alone.¡±

    Grow old alone.

    Li Lei trusted Tan Ying, and that was really something Xiao Ling would say. Even from the start when she agreed to be his girlfriend, she was reluctant, uninterested, and could easily leave when difficulties arose.

    All this time, he was the only one trying to make her stay.

    Tan Ying lightly tilted his body to look at Li Lei. ¡°Boss, give it up.¡±

    ¡°Give up?¡± Surprisingly, Li Leiughed and looked at Tan Ying deeply. ¡°She said that she would not date but agreed to be my girlfriend. She also said that she would not get physically close to any man but did not resist me when I hugged her...¡± At least, she did not resist in the past.

    Li Lei continued, ¡°Tan Ying, the things you said today only made me more determined. I have already changed her so much. What reason do I have to doubt that she will not marry me?¡±

    Tan Ying was speechless.

    ¡°Tell me, how do I win her heart?¡± Li Lei asked. ¡°Right now, she intends to move out.¡±

    ¡°The methods I used to win Hongshan¡¯s heart are not applicable to her.¡± Tan Ying gave Big Boss Li a helpless expression. ¡°At that time, when Hongshan was sick, I prepared porridge for her every day. When she could not pay her rent and was chased out, I took her in. Every Valentine¡¯s Day, I would give her small gifts like roses and so on... Boss, if I remembered correctly, you have tried all of these ways, right?¡±

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    Not only did he use those methods, but he also did them better than Tan Ying. He did not just prepare porridge for Xiao Ling, he literally spent 24 hours a day beside her bed. He only charged her a small symbolic rental fee when he rented out his apartment to her. When it came to gifts like flowers, he even sent her high-end designer gowns. In fact, he even wanted to give her a vi as a gift in the past. Unfortunately, she did not want it... These methods could not move her at all!

    Sometimes, he really wished that she was a materialistic woman.

    Li Lei was extremely irritated.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Women always say they do not want something, but in reality, they want it...¡±

    Big Boss Li shot him a murderous re.

    Tan Ying quietly changed the topic. ¡°In their hearts, they actually really care about it. Have you shown great concern for her 24 hours a day and apanied her wherever she went? Women always notice every small action and think about it the whole day. If it doesn¡¯t work, just continue to pester her. Besides, there is no better way.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure pestering her would work?¡± Big Boss Li was very suspicious.

    Tan Ying irresponsibly said, ¡°Well, that was how I won Hongshan¡¯s heart. For your case... it depends on your luck.¡±

    After their conversation ended, Li Lei became even more depressed. It seemed that chasing Xiao Ling was really a herculean task. She was a unique girl, and the conventional way was not effective. Perhaps, he could only continue to pester her?

    Li Lei left Tan Ying¡¯s house and entered his car.

    After some thought, he dialed a secret number.

    At the other end of the line, Old Master Li¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Xiao Lei, what made you think of calling your grandpa today?¡± Old Master Li was very happy. Ever since Li Lei knelt in front of him in Calming Heart Garden to save Xia Ling, the two of them had drifted apart and lost their closeness.

    Now that Li Lei was willing to take the initiative to call him, Old Master Li¡¯s eyes were sparkling with joy.

    However, Li Lei¡¯s next sentence made Old Master Li¡¯s expression darken again. ¡°Grandpa, I have decided to chase Xiao Ling again. We will give you gifts when we visit you during the holidays. Please don¡¯t make things difficult for her.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± Old Master Li held the chawan in his hands more tightly. It was rare for him to call Li Lei by his full name. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what you promised me! If you don¡¯t keep your promise, don¡¯t me me for being harsh on that little girl!¡±

    ¡°I was afraid that you would be harsh on her, that¡¯s why I made this call.¡± Li Lei sounded very calm. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that Xiao Ling was cursed with misfortune? I brought her to an abbot, and he introduced us to an expert... who says that even you would not dare to offend. That expert cast a spell, and from now on, her adversity will be shared with me.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Old Master Li thought that he had heard him wrong.

    Li Lei patiently repeated what he said and added, ¡°As such, don¡¯t hurt Xiao Ling, because I will be affected as well.¡±

    Old Master Li became pale as he hung up and immediately looked for the abbot that Li Lei consulted.

    Over the phone, the abbot confirmed that Li Lei was telling the truth. ¡°Young Master Li really did bring Miss Ye over to see the Preceptor... Yes, the one from the Xia Family who is said to be omniscient. The Preceptor did say that he was able to divert the curse of adversity to someone else.¡±

    Old Master Li¡¯s heart sank. ¡°Where is the Preceptor now? I really need to see him and ask him to break up this unrightful couple.¡±

    ¡°The Preceptor¡¯s whereabouts are secret, even I do not know where he is now.¡±

    The call ended.

    Old Master Li was so enraged that he developed a headache. ¡°Devil¡¯s spawn! They¡¯re all devil¡¯s spawns!¡± How could the grandson he loved so dearly foolishly sacrifice himself for an undeserving little girl? Old Master Li hurled the porcin cup in his hands and smashed it into pieces.

    Caretaker Uncle Liu walked in and was shocked by the broken pieces on the ground. ¡°Old Master, who made you this angry?¡±

    Old Master demanded furiously. ¡°Quickly pick up Li Feng¡¯s call! Tell him that he is not toy a finger on Ye Xingling at all costs. If he slightly hurts her, Li Lei will be affected too! It is considered harming his family member and is against the rules!¡± In the Li Family, that was the most severe crime.

    Since Ye Xingling¡¯s and Li Lei¡¯s lives are now linked, no matter how angry Old Master Li was, he could only ept the fact.

    No matter what, he had to ensure that his precious grandson waspletely safe.

    ¡°Also, send more people to protect Ye Xingling!¡± Old Master Li yelled as he smashed things around him.

    Just as Uncle Liu was about to leave, Old Master called for him again.

    ¡°There¡¯s more! Send someone to look for Preceptor Xia, the one whom the abbot doesn¡¯t dare to mess with. Once you find him, report back to me as fast as you can!¡±

    He wanted to undo the binding curse for Xiao Lei.

    This Preceptor Xia? He could do no good by interfering in other people¡¯s affairs!

 Chapter 248 - Stray Cat

    <h4>Chapter 248: Stray Cat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not know what other tricks Li Lei had up his sleeve.

    They had just broken up but he started sending her around, giving her flowers, taking her out for meals and doing other things that only couples did. She could not reject him, so she just went with his ns.

    However, she was in a bad mood. No matter what he did, she looked bored and uninterested.

    One day, Li Lei sent her to the recording studio.

    Once they reached the ground floor, he opened the car door and was about to apany her into the studio.

    Xia Ling stopped him. ¡°Do you really want to been seen by the public that badly?¡±

    Li Lei rebuked. ¡°So what if they see us?¡±

    Xia Ling answered, ¡°Are you nning to dump me again after people start spreading the news that we have rekindled our rtionship? Do you think it is amusing?¡±

    Li Lei stubbornly replied, ¡°I will treat you well.¡±

    Xia Ling lips curved into a sneer and looked at him without saying a word. Her expression showed that she obviously did not believe him.

    Li Lei originally wanted to give her a sincere promise but was reminded of what Sister Mai Na said before. He was a man, so nothing would happen to him. However, she was a woman. After he dumped her and chased her out of his house, how would the public think of her?

    Suddenly, his heart ached.

    ¡°Be careful on your way there.¡± He said in a soft voice. ¡°After your work is over, I will pick you up.¡±

    Xia Ling nced at him, gracefully hopped off the car, and walked towards the main door of the recording studio alone.

    The top floor was Wei Shaoyin¡¯s exclusive workspace. The spacious area was filled with all kinds of top quality music equipment. Green nts covered the floor-to-ceiling windows, causing his workce to feel quiet and invigorated. Wearing a tight white shirt and gold-rimmed sses, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s elegant and scathing expression as he sat in front of his workbench scared numerous singers.

    These days, Xia Ling was not that afraid of him. After she randomly ced her handbag somewhere, she looked for her score and slowly read it.

    After Wei Shaoyin edited a piece of music, he looked up and saw her. Unknowingly, he rubbed his forehead. He really missed the first time he worked with Xiao Ling. At that time, she had a careful and hardworking attitude which was what an artiste should have. No matter what he said, she would agree with him and bore the hardship withoutints. However, what about now?

    He was displeased seeing the girl in front of himzily leaning on the sofa with her eyes looking at the score but her mind wandering elsewhere. She seemed to be in a trance.

    He knocked the table using a limited edition fountain pen.

    Xia Ling did note back to reality.

    Wei Shaoyin knocked the table again.

    The girl on the sofa maintained her lifeless expression. Slowly, she kept the score. Without even pretending to be interested, she rested her hand on her chin and stared nkly at him.

    Wei Shaoyin was about to go crazy.

    Look at her! That was the attitude of a singer who had just debuted one year ago towards a senior producer! Who had he offended that he brought back such a huge problem!

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He could not help but exim as he walked in front of her. ¡°What are you staring at? Time and tide wait for no man! How is your preparation for your new song? Have you gotten the feel of it? We¡¯re going to start recording soon.¡±

    ¡°What? Ok.¡± Xia Ling simply said.

    Wei Shaoyin had tolerated her behavior for a long time and did not scold her only because things had been hard for her recently. ¡°What do you mean by that?! You have almost debuted for two years but only have recorded three songs. Isn¡¯t that embarrassing?! Since you were sick for so long and things were dyed, we should speed up to make up for it. Sister Mai Na also instructed that your goal this year is to win the ¡®Best Single Released By A Singer¡¯ award. Looking at you now, I think I should thank god that you are not choking!¡±

    What happened to not scolding anyone?

    He could not hold back as he expected better from her.

    Xia Lingzily took the score and said, ¡°I¡¯m ready. We can start recording anytime.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin half-doubtingly let her into the booth. In the end, after many recordings, she still could not meet his expectations.

    ¡°Are you a pig?!¡± He exploded. ¡°Do you know how bad your attitude is?! I can¡¯t believe you wanted to record with this level of singing! What sort of animosity do you have with Li Lei? Are you nning to make Skyart Entertainment bankrupt? Again!¡±

    After he mentioned that man¡¯s name, Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened.

    She did her best to buck up. After a certain number of recordings, she still could not find the right attitude. In reality, with her singing skills, any other prominent entertainmentpany would ept her recording. However, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s standards were high and still felt that there was insufficient emotion. She also knew that something was missing when she was singing.

    She sang with a perfect technique, but it was emotionless.

    She was unable to add emotion and sang too mechanically.

    All her emotions were exhausted in that short-lived rtionship. Now, she wanted to vomit when someone mentioned feelings. Her heart was numb and uninspired.

    They recorded a few more times.

    Wei Shaoyin gave up. ¡°Forget it. Just go back home and rest. Come back when you have gotten back the right attitude. If this continues, Skyart Entertainment¡¯s reputation will be tarnished by you.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Xia Ling was rather guilty but did not have a better n. Music was different from a typical job. When she had no feelings, there were no feelings. No matter how long she was given, she just could not feel anything.

    Just as she took a few steps, Wei Shaoyin stopped her again. ¡°Or, you can try writing a few songs you want to sing. Considering your recent attitude, singing happy, love songs is beyond you.¡±

    He only suggested that because Xia Ling¡¯sposing skills were not bad.

    She nodded her head in acknowledgment and dejectedly walked out.

    Once she reached the ground floor, she realized that it was already dark. It was also pouring and rather cold.

    After her assistant Wei Wei saw her, she hurriedly gave Tan Ying a call.

    This was what Tan Ying previously told her to do. He was not Li Lei¡¯s special assistant and wanted her to inform him after Xia Ling ended work so he could tell Li Lei to drive over.

    Although Wei Wei was Xia Ling¡¯s assistant, she could not defy her Big Boss¡¯ orders, so she obediently called him.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered. She had no free will now. Li Lei could do whatever he wanted. Even if she resisted, it would be futile, and her struggles would be treated as a joke.

    She stood under the porch at the entrance of the recording studio building alone and quietly looked at the rain in the night sky.

    Not far away, a stray cat ran over. It was drenched and shook the water off itself, causing the water to ssh on her leg.

    She looked down at saw that a kitten was lightly shivering. As it was drenched, its fur was soaked by the rain. All skin and bones, it looked pitiful.

    Seeing that she was looking over, it retreated two steps and meowed with some apprehension.

    Suddenly, she felt that this stray cat kind of resembled her. Both of them were homeless and had no sense of security depending on others. She knelt down, looked at it quietly, and smiled at it kindly.

    The cat seemed to feel that she was its friend and was not afraid anymore. Testing the waters, it came forward. Seeing that she did not do anything rming, it was relieved. It made a turn under the porch, spotted a floormp that radiated warm yellow light, and curled its small body on it.

    Xia Ling had taken care of cats before.

    She knew it was naturally able to find warm ces to stay warm.

    Under the porch, only this floormp was shining and was at the edge of the sheltered area, so raindrops were blown in andnded on the cat.

    The kitten was very ufortable and was still shivering after a long time.

 Chapter 249 - Cat with Puffed Up Fur

    <h4>Chapter 249: Cat with Puffed Up Fur</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt that it looked pitiful, so she moved it outside the porch and used her body to shield it from the rain.

    The icy cold raindrops fell on her hair and back, and even her face turned a little white because of the cold. However, she saw that the kitten had finally stopped shivering. It stuck out its small pink tongue, licked its own fur, and quietly looked at her.

    She also looked at it quietly. It was so skinny, did it usually not have enough to eat?

    The kitten meowed at her again.

    Xia Ling searched her handbag for a long time but could not find anything for the cat to eat. Instead, her Chanel powder and eyebrow pencil were soaked by the rain. She pulled the zipper of her handbag and was about to get up to go to the building to find something for the cat to eat when suddenly, she felt that it stopped raining above her head. The light dimmed, and there was a shadow covering the street¡¯s neon lights.

    She lifted her head. It was Li Lei.

    The man¡¯s tall and straight figure was standing steadily in the rainy night, and in his hand was a ck umbre that shielded her from the rain. However, half of his body was exposed to the heavy rain, causing the endless rain to drench his designer shirt quickly.

    ¡°Why are you kneeling here?¡± The man¡¯s soothing voice rang out.

    Xia Ling tilted her head to look at the kitten.

    As such, Li Lei followed her line of sight. He was mad and amused at the same time. ¡°Are you trying to shield it from the rain? You¡¯re so stupid, why don¡¯t you just carry it into the building?¡±

    As he spoke, he knelt down like her and looked at the kitten.

    His shoulders touched hers, giving her shoulders that were initially exposed in the cold rain some warmth. She could not help but nce at him. Biting her lip, she moved her body slightly to the side.

    Li Lei did not notice her petty actions. He was wholeheartedly focusing on the kitten. ¡°It¡¯s so skinny. Does it not know how to find its own food? What should we do if it starves to death? Did the staff of Skyart Entertainment not treat you well and not feed you frequently?¡±

    Xia Ling speechlessly looked at Big Boss Li talking to the kitten. The small cat tilted its shaggy head to look at him. After a while, it puffed up its fur and carefully stepped back.

    Xia Ling scoffed softly.

    Big Boss Li turned to look at her and she quickly hid her smile, trying not to make eye contact with him.

    In the past few days, she did not respond to him much. Even now, she did not want to show a shred of weakness in front of him.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, but he was assuaged by the fact that he was able to make herugh. He looked at the cat, then looked back at Xia Ling and warmly said, ¡°If you like it, you can take it back home and keep it as a pet.¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything. She looked at the kitten with a tempting expression but did not want to agree to Big Boss Li¡¯s suggestion.

    Li Lei continued to persuade her. ¡°Look at how pitiful it is. It is only a few months old, and the traffic is so heavy here. What if it gets hit by a car one day and dies...¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you say something nice?¡± Xia Ling could not help but interrupt him.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Bring it back. It¡¯s just another pet cat.¡±

    The kitten lightly wagged its tail and meowed at her.

    As such, Xia Ling could not help but carry the kitten and get on the car.

    On the way home, the kitten obediently sat in her arms. As its warm fur brushed against her chest, she could feel its small body breathing in intervals. It seemed to be a little afraid of Li Lei. After the car stopped at the apartment and Li Lei helped Xia Ling open the car door, it shrank into Xia Ling¡¯s arms.

    Xia Ling carried it back to the apartment.

    Once it entered the apartment, it suddenly let out a high pitched meow, sharpened its ws, and jumped out of Xia Ling¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Ow!¡± Xia Ling was caught off guard and was scratched by its sharp ws. Scratch marks appeared on her arms and she grimaced in pain.

    ¡°Let me see!¡± Li Lei grabbed her arm. After seeing the scratch marks, he was visibly upset and turned to look for the kitten that caused the trouble.

    The kitten jumped around the apartment. How was it a match for Li Lei who was part of the triad and was once a mercenary? Soon, Big Boss Li caught it. He carried it around his shoulder, ignoring its struggles, and brought it back to her.

    ¡°Apologize to Xiao Ling!¡± Big Boss Li was furious.

    The kitten meowed profusely.

    Big Boss Li was speechless.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Both of them stared at the cat. Xia Ling covered the scratches on her arm. She did not understand why the kitten was fine on the way back but went crazy once it entered the apartment.

    The kitten was still struggling, and its meows became more shrill.

    Suddenly, there was a majestic growl from a beast.

    It was effective as the shaggy cat stopped meowing.

    In the corner of the room, there was a leopard with gorgeous rose spots, amber eyes, and strong and well-proportioned limbs. It was a dangerous beauty.

    Xia Ling finally realized why the cat was so frightened. It turned out that it was afraid of the leopard. It probably retreated when it saw Li Lei at the recording studio building because there was Er Mao¡¯s sent on him.

    Er Mao quietly looked at the kitten.

    The kitten was petrified.

    Li Lei nced at the kitten in his arms and threw it at Er Mao.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t!¡± Xia Ling tried to stop him, but the cat was already in midair. Big Boss Li had thrown it into the corner. Under Er Ma¡¯s majestic gaze, its limbs were soft and could not even stand straight.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you bullying it?!¡± Xia Ling was unhappy and was about to rush forward to save the kitten.

    However, Li Lei grabbed hold of her. ¡°If it wants to stay in our house, it has to follow our rules.¡± He looked down at the scratches on her arm. ¡°Come, I will apply medication and treat your wounds.¡±

    ¡°But, what about it...¡±

    ¡°Er Mao won¡¯t eat it.¡± Li Lei said rather scornfully. Usually, Er Mao ate imported beef and other raw meats. It was very picky and would not be interested in a small cat that was all skin and bones.

    However, the cat dared to hurt his woman...

    If Xiao Ling did not like the cat, he would really instruct Er Mao to eat it.

    Xia Ling was worried as she looked at the feeble cat in the corner and refused to move an inch. Li Lei said, ¡°After we have taken care of your wounds, I will ask Er Mao to let it go.¡± What he meant was, if she did not agree for her wounds to be treated, the kitten would not be saved.

    Xia Ling bit her lip and followed him into the room.

    Li Lei took out disinfectant, medicine, and gauze from the family medicine cab and skillfully treated her wounds. He was from the triad, so even if he seemed to be doing legitimate business, his family had many enemies, and some of them would attack him. He was already used to preparing full sets of professional medicine cabs and even prepared one in her house.

    He was very quick. Soon, her wounds were bandaged.

 Chapter 250 - Go Take a Shower

    <h4>Chapter 250: Go Take a Shower</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling wanted to leave.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Change into a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers.¡± She was scratched very badly because she was wearing a sleeveless dress. No matter what, it was safer for her to change before saving the kitten.

    Xia Ling was extremely worried about the kitten. Since Li Lei was stubborn, she could only change her clothes in the bedroom.

    After returning to the living room, she ignored the way Er Mao was fiercely staring at the kitten, squatted in front of the kitten to block it from Er Mao¡¯s sight and lifted her hands.

    The frightened kitten meowed and sped into her arms at lightning speed.

    Xia Ling felt its small ws tightly holding on to her sleeves. Its sharp ws pierced through the cotton fabric and pricked her skin. It was painful, but she did not dare to exim because she was afraid that Li Lei would be unhappy again and punish it.

    She protected it and carefully moved it away from Er Mao. As she walked past the beautiful monster, the kitten shivered in fear. It was obvious that it was seized with terror.

    She hurriedly carried it into the bedroom and closed the door.

    Her bedroom was a ce which Er Mao never set foot in. His scent was very faint there, and the air smelled like fragrant jasmine and the perfume she was wearing. The kitten shivered for a while before it slowly calmed down, but was not willing to leave her arms. Instead, it wed her more strongly.

    Xia Ling slightly understood the cat¡¯s feelings. It had just entered a foreign environment and was immediately bullied, of course, it did not feel safe. She used her fingers to rub its fur slowly and warmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. It¡¯s ok.¡±

    However, in her heart, she sort of regretted bringing it back home.

    How could she forget that there was a huge and frightening beast like Er Mao at home?

    Li Lei was also vicious.

    Suddenly, she realized that if she could not even protect herself, how was she qualified to take care of a pet? If she brought it back, both of them would be bullied by Li Lei. She had a troubled expression as she heard the bedroom door open. She turned around only to see Li Lei.

    After looking at the person and cat on the bed, he said, ¡°I have already called for a vet toe to give it a checkup and deworm it. Don¡¯t keep holding it. You brought it home from the streets so it is filthy.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°It is scared.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Well, you still have to leave it outside the bedroom. I have already brought Er Mao over to my ce. He won¡¯t being back today.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°The entire house is filled with Er Mao¡¯s scent.¡± Only her bedroom was a little better.

    Li Lei was upset. ¡°Anyway, you can¡¯t hold it.¡± Seeing that she was displeased, he thought about it and added, ¡°Or you can leave it in the bedroom and sleep in the guest room instead.¡±

    Xia Ling had owned a cat before. She unknowingly petted the cat and said, ¡°It will have to stay with me tonight. Besides, it just moved into a new ce and received a fright. It will better if it has something familiar near it.¡±

    Li Lei looked at the mud stains on her clothes caused by the kitty. Why did he cause trouble for himself by suggesting that she bring the cat home? ¡°I don¡¯t think it is that fragile.¡± Weren¡¯t cats supposed to be very independent? In the past, when Er Mao was not even a month old, he already dared to provoke a cobra single-handedly and was not afraid of anything. ¡°Leave it alone for a night and it will conquer all its fears.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and refused to relent.

    Li Lei walked in front of her intending to snatch the cat. It was a filthy creature. What if it was filled with germs and caused her to be sick? However, Xia Ling dodged and avoided him.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She red at him indignantly. ¡°Is bullying me not enough? Why do you have to bully my cat as well?!¡±

    ¡°I...¡± How have I bullied you? Li Lei was annoyed. Sure enough, women and pets were the most unreasonable things in the world. What made him make such a stupid decision to have them both?

    Xia Ling and the cat looked nervously at him.

    After thinking about it, Li Lei felt that he had just restored a bit of his rapport with Xiao Ling and did not want to destroy their rtionship again because of an insignificant matter. Looking at her usatory expression, he was really worried that he would hurt her sensitive emotions on impulse.

    He sighed and patiently offered advice. ¡°At least give it a bath. It is too dirty.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling still shook her head. This was the cat¡¯s first day in a new home, so it should not be given a bath. Logically speaking, it would be afraid when it was in an unfamiliar environment and it disliked baths. In conclusion, the best way was to maintain its original state and wait for the cat to adapt to its surroundings.

    Li Lei was about to go crazy. She rejected all of his suggestions. Did he really have to let that filthy cat spread its germs to his woman for one night?

    ¡°I¡¯m worried that it will hurt you.¡± Li Lei gritted his teeth as he looked at her stubbornly refusing to give him the cat. ¡°It is possible for you to keep the cat. However, I will also sleep with you tonight. Otherwise, if it scratches you and your wounds be infected, there will be no one to help you in the middle of the night.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head.

    Sleep with him? Although they had slept together in the past, it was different now that they had already broken up. What would it mean if they slept together again? However, now that she was living under his roof, how could she reject him?

    ¡°I promise I won¡¯t touch you.¡± Li Lei looked at her expression and knew that she was unhappy. He could only suppress his anger and make that promise. He was afraid that he would scare her again. Since Tan Ying said that he had to pester her continuously for 24 hours, he could only continue in this direction.

    ¡°Can I reject you?¡± Xia Lingughed sarcastically and looked at him. ¡°You have Er Mao¡¯s scent on you. Go take a shower.¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. The cat which was licking her face was now protected by her like a baby, but as the rightful owner of the house, he had to shower to amodate it?

    Big Boss Li tolerated it.

    In the bathroom, he seriously cleaned himself and asked for someone to send over deodorant, which he sprayed all over himself. Only then did push the door and re-entered Xia Ling¡¯s bedroom.

    Xia Ling was already asleep on the bed. She was hugging the cat and had her back facing him, leaving him some space on the bed.

    Li Lei got on the bed and pulled up the nket. After hesitating for a while, he reached out and hugged her from behind.

    She struggled for a bit before letting him hug her. Her thin back was pressed against his chest like the wings of a bird. Satisfied, Li lei fell into a deep sleep after a short time.

    However, she could not fall asleep. The warmth of the body behind her felt like it was burning her. Keeping a cat was her own decision, but he had to meddle in her affairs and still wanted to sleep with her...

    When did doing something she wanted became so difficult?

    She lowered her head and looked at the hairy cat in her arms.

    Also awake, the kitten it stuck out its small wet tongue and licked her.

    <i>I shouldn¡¯t have brought you back. Now, you have to suffer the same fear as me. After I have found a new owner for you, I will let you go. </i>She thought silently inside.

    Behind her, Li Lei, who was in a deep sleep, hugged her even tighter.

    The moonlight shined brightly in the quiet night.

 Chapter 251 - Jealous

    <h4>Chapter 251: Jealous</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling only fell asleep in the middle of the night.

    When she woke up the next day, she found herself curled up in Li Lei¡¯s arms and her nose pressed against Li Lei¡¯s chest. His body warmth and heartbeat were so close to her that she felt somewhat ufortable. She looked up and realized that Li Lei was looking at her with his beautiful and quiet eyes. She did not know how long he had been watching her.

    Seeing that she was looking over, he smiled and greeted her. ¡°Good morning, Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling struggled out of his arms rather uncertain. Didn¡¯t she sleep back-facing him? She uneasily scanned her surroundings and asked, ¡°Where is the cat?¡±

    She heard a faint meow in answer. The cat had curled into a small ball of fur at the foot of the bed and was still covered in dirt. It looked at her with its damp eyes.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart almost melted. She lifted her arms and warmly said, ¡°Come here.¡±

    The kitten looked at her and then it looked at Li Lei. It hesitated, not daring to move.

    Xia Ling looked at Li Lei with some uncertainty. Why was the kitten still afraid of him? Wasn¡¯t the scent of Er Mao on him gone?

    Li Lei had an innocence look on his face, but inside, he remembered how he treated the catst night. <i>Hey, didn¡¯t I threw you out from Xiao Ling¡¯s embrace yesterday? Why are you bearing a grudge? If Xiao Ling realizes the truth, I will skin you alive. </i>He thought.

    He secretly shot a vicious look at the small cat.

    The kitten felt more wronged, lightly wagged its tail andid on the bed looking down.

    Xia Ling turned over and hugged it. ¡°Are you hungry? Is that why you don¡¯t have any energy to move?¡± She lifted its skinny and bony body for a closer look. She remembered that after she brought it back yesterday, she forgot to feed it amidst the chaos and could not help but chastise herself. ¡°I will find something for you to eat.¡±

    ¡°I asked someone to order cat food and cat litter.¡± Li Lei lifted his wrist to look at the time. He was still wearing the Rolex that Xia Ling gave him a few months ago. ¡°They should arrive soon.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Then we should give it something else to eat first. It is too small, so it will easily go hungry.¡±

    Big Boss Li was unhappy and jealously red at the small cat. Xiao Ling had never treated him that well.

    The kitten shrank into Xia Ling¡¯s arms after Li Lei red at it.

    Xia Ling did not suspect anything. She sat up from the bed in her long coral fleece pajamas and slid her feet into a pair of soft rabbit slippers. She carried the small cat and opened the bedroom door, wanting to go to the kitchen to look for food.

    She was still groggy and forgot that Er Mao¡¯s scent was outside the bedroom. The kitten was scared to death andpletely remembered what had happenedst time. Just as her hand touched the bedroom door¡¯s handle, the cat let out a shrilly meow and struggled to escape her grip.

    She could not react in time and had already opened the door.

    Only then did she remember. ¡°Oh no, Er Mao.¡± She hurriedly retreated as she was afraid that the cat would be frightened.

    Unexpectedly, after the door opened, the small cat calmed down. It was still a little nervous and wed her tightly, but it did not have such an intense reaction.

    Xia Ling looked at it to ensure that it was still emotionally stable. Then, she looked out of the bedroom and realized that the strong and majestic animal which had beautiful fur was no longer there.

    Had it returned to Li Lei¡¯s house?

    Li Lei propped himself up on the bed. Sensing that she was not convinced, hezily said, ¡°Last night, I let Er Mao return back to my house. Without my orders, it would nevere here again. I also hired people to eliminate his scent in the house and even sprayed catnip that cats like.¡± He had never taken care of cats. Last night, he called Tan Ying and gave him a special order to figure out how to let the filthy cat settle down in the house and stop it from being afraid.

    Special assistant Tan Ying had never owned a cat before and was greatly troubled by this task. He took a long time before finding out what cats liked and snuck into the house like a thief in the middle of the night to eliminate Er Mao¡¯s scent and spray catnip in the house.

    He had even brought over some catnip.

    As Li Lei had just gotten up from the bed, his voice was very seductive, and his white pajamas lined his delicate and strong body, revealing his attractive chest.

    Big Boss Li put on the pose he thought was his most seductive and waited for Xia Ling to turn around to thank him.

    However, Xia Ling did not even look back. She carried the small cat and tested the waters as she walked out of the bedroom. At the start, the small cat was very nervous and looked at its surroundings cautiously while puffing up its fur, but soon, it calmed down after smelling the catnip in the air. The tip of its tail curved downwards and it loosened its grip on Xia Ling.

    Seeing that it was not afraid anymore, Xia Ling finally sighed in relief.

    In the bedroom, Big Boss Li was very sad. After posing for a while on the bed, he epted that Xia Ling had no intention of turning back and got up from the bed quietly to change his clothes.

    When he walked into the kitchen, he saw a petite and thin girl preparing breakfast for the cat. She poured water into a small bowl and the cat went over to drink it. After that, she rummaged through the refrigerator but could only find fresh fruits, carrots, and kale which were used for sds. There was no canned food or ham.

    This was not Xia Ling¡¯s fault but Li Lei¡¯s.

    Li Lei did not like it when she ate leftovers, so she was never allowed to leave any in the refrigerator.

    However, he could not possibly let the small cat eat the carrots. Seeing that Xia Ling was worried, Li Lei quietly left, and soon, he came back from next door with arge bag of food. ¡°For you.¡±

    Xia Ling took it and realized that there were a lot of frozen fishes and some meats.

    ¡°These are all treats prepared for Er Mao and can be used for now.¡± As Li Lei exined, he defrosted the fish in a hurry and prepared a fresh meal for the cat. He also prepared it on a small te for her.

    Xia Ling took it and softly said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Why are you acting so distant?¡± He warmly asked.

    However, she had already turned around and knelt down to feed the cat.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart was faintly disappointed, but he quickly adjusted his mentality. He took a small carton of milk from the side and handed it to her. ¡°This is also what Er Mao usually likes to drink. Should I pour some for the cat?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at the milk. It was the same limited edition brand of milk that he let her drink when she first went to his house.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that.¡± She rejected him. The kitten¡¯s stomach was weak and easily had diarrhea. If it lost too much water, its life would be at risk. After that, she ignored Li Lei and focused her attention on the cat which was eating. The small fish pieces had a few bones, and it was a little difficult to eat.

    As such, Xia Ling carefully helped it to remove the bones.

    Big Boss Li became even more upset. She treated the dirty cat better than she treated him! He furiously red at the cat.

    However, the cat which was engrossed in eating did not notice him and ignored Big Boss Li.

    Xia Ling¡¯s phone range.

    Getting up and answering it, Xia Ling found out that it was Wei Shaoyin persuading her to go to the recording studio. ¡°Your progress is so slow, but you are still thiszy! Ye Xingling, you better get here as soon as possible, or I will kill your entire family!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She hung up and looked at the cat with a troubled expression. If she left, who would take care of it?

    As if he saw her worry, Li Lei smiled harmlessly and pleasantly. ¡°Go to the recording studio. I will take care of the cat. You¡¯ve seen that I¡¯ve gotten rid of Er Mao¡¯s scent, sprayed the catnip, and even cooked fish for it. I will treat it well. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

 Chapter 252 - A Voice Like This

    <h4>Chapter 252: A Voice Like This</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at the kitten worriedly and then looked toward Boss.

    ¡°You can take care of pets?¡± She asked doubtfully.

    Boss simply smiled and nodded. ¡°I raised Er Mao.¡± He said, before adding, ¡°The vet will be here soon, he¡¯ll let me know if there¡¯s anything to take note of.¡±

    Seeing that the kitten had been well-fed and was resting on its tummy, Xia Ling figured that nothing could go wrong and hence agreed with Big Boss Li¡¯s decision. She then changed clothes and left the house, heading straight for Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio.

    In the apartment, Li Lei held the kitten up once he saw that she had left. Regardless of the kitten¡¯s struggling, Li Lei ced it in the bathtub. ¡°What a naughty one you are,¡± said Big Boss Li. ¡°How dare you sleep with my woman when you¡¯re so dirty? I¡¯m going to teach you a lesson!¡±

    He turned on the tap to give the kitten a bath.

    The kitten meowed and made a run, fleeing the bathroom.

    Li Lei watched it escape and counted the seconds silently, and true enough, in five seconds, the kitten had returned frantically followed by a majestic leopard behind it.

    Li Lei ced the horrified little one back into the bathtub.

    The leopard took its sweet time to stride into the bathroom before lying on its stomach. Eyes squinted, it watched the kitten in the tub.

    The little one looked even more fearful now, almost as if it was about to cry. But Li Lei did not feel the least bit sorry as he gave it a bath roughly and then toweled it dry, leaving a tub of dirty water.

    The kitten wanted to resist but dared not struggle under Er Mao¡¯s watch.

    Li Lei got it cleaned pretty fast and took it to the living room. The clean little one curled up in the corner silently, trying to downy its presence now that Xia Ling was no longer here to help it.

    Er Mao paid no attention to this tiny creature as ityzily on the balcony.

    The vet arrived and conducted a few tests on the kitten before smiling to Li Lei. ¡°Young Master, this little one isn¡¯t ill. It¡¯s just been subjected to ack of nutrition for a while and hence appears weak and scrawny.¡±

    Li Lei smiled sinisterly. ¡°It can apany Er Mao for its daily exercise.¡±

    The vet looked towards the kitten in the corner sympathetically, dumbfounded by how a cute little creature would find its way to Big Boss Li. He then shook his head and left.

    Big Boss Li turned toward Er Mao and instructed. ¡°Watch it for me.¡±

    Er Mao looked up at its owner nonchntly but stayed lying on the ground.

    Li Lei knew that it had heard his instruction and did not further borate. He then left the apartment and got busy with his matters.

    The day passed quickly, and the setting sun now shone through the ss windows, reflecting a beautiful gold tint. Er Mao had slept in the balcony the entire day and was feeling cold now.

    It heard a sudden bang.

    Er Mao widened its eyes and made a swift turn in the direction of the sound and walked towards it. What it saw was the kitten, which had been in the house for less than a day, being caught under arge ss bowl. The bowl had fallen to the ground and shattered, withrge shards of itnding on the kitten, injuring one of its hind legs. The little kitten was being weighed onto the ground, meowing in pain as it remained unable to move.

    Seeing Er Mao approaching, it dared not even make a sound. It looked at the big creature in horror and began to tremble.

    Er Mao looked it in the eye for several seconds.

    It suddenly walked up and opened its mouth, seemingly to bite the kitten.

    The kitten let out a whimper, but the pain it foresaw did note. It looked up, confused, and saw the big creature carefully removing the shards of ss on itself with its jaw.

    Er Mao¡¯s tongue and the corner of its mouth had been slit and cut by the sharp pieces and were beginning to bleed. It looked toward the kitten, still paralyzed and looking back at it almost tearfully.

    Er Mao began picking out the next shard, and the next...

    It was very cautious, fearing that the sharp pieces would hurt the kitten even a little bit. Yet, it suffered the consequences as the number of cut wounds by its mouth increased and eventually dyed its beautiful white fur a crimson red.

    After removing the shards, it rubbed its nose against the little kitten affectionately.

    The weight had been lifted off the kitten, but it still could not stand on its own feet. Its hind leg was in pain, and it continued whimpering. Er Mao looked at it with some despise and picked it up.

    Back in the recording studio.

    Xia Ling recorded the song from the previous day multiple times but simply could not get the right feeling out of it. She did not look at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s ferocious re as she followed his order and attempted topose a piece on her own.

    But, what should shepose?

    Xia Ling was caught in a fix. Creating music was like getting pregnant ¡ª there must be some fate. Otherwise, nothing woulde out of it.

    Wei Shaoyin saw her struggling and offered her some warm water. ¡°Rx, you can do it.¡±

    Xia Ling held the cup in her hands andy on the couch, daydreaming as she faced the city through the windows. It was raining again, and she wondered how the kitten she picked up the previous night was doing. Did Li Lei keep his promise and take good care of it? She felt sad just thinking about how scrawny and dirty it was; living could actually be such torture.

    A sad tune rose inside her.

    As she looked at the rain pouring on the city, her emotions built...

    In the evening, as Wei Shaoyin finished his work and came over to take a look, he saw that she was still lying motionlessly on the couch, taking an extended break, and got angry. ¡°Ye Xingling, what are you doing! You¡¯ve been taking way too long for this, an entire day! Are you treating me like I don¡¯t exist!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was still distant. She put her finger to her lips, signaling for him to keep quiet.

    Wei Shaoyin was shocked. He was about to say something when he heard her utter ¡ª

    ¡°Sunny days belong to others, while rainy days are my own...

    ¡°Liveliness belongs to others, while loneliness is my own.

    ¡°A stray cat licks its wound by the street, as peoplee and go...¡±

    The melody was graceful yet deste, and it hit people right in the heart. Wei Shaoyin was practically holding his breath as he listened, his expression changed. Suddenly, he grabbed her and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, is this what you¡¯veposed on your own? It¡¯s good... It¡¯s so good! This is the feeling I¡¯m trying to achieve!¡±

    Xia Ling was feeling the soreness from how hard he had grabbed her and snapped back from her singing daze. She looked at his agitated expression and gave an awkward smile. So this was the feeling he wanted? A voice like this was simply a product of all her pain and scars put together for others¡¯ enjoyment and appreciation.

 Chapter 253 - Crime Scene

    <h4>Chapter 253: Crime Scene</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Shaoyin was still agitated.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll send you the full lyrics sheet in a few days.¡±

    He nodded his head meekly. Just a while ago, he acted like he was lecturing a grandchild, and now, he yed the other role of paying respects to his ancestors. He dutifully walked her out of the recording studio and to Lei¡¯s car.

    Li Lei drove her home.

    She entered the apartment first and was greeted with Er Mao holding the kitten in its mouth, its mouth and chest filled with blood.

    ¡°Er Mao, what are you doing!¡± Xia Ling got a fright and rushed toward them even before removing her shoes. She wanted to grab the kitten away from Er Mao¡¯s mouth.

    With the kitten still in its mouth, Er Mao turned away and avoided her.

    Xia Ling feared for it with all her heart as she kept her eyes locked on the little one. It appeared limp and restless, and she was not sure whether it was dead or alive. ¡°Er Mao, you can¡¯t eat it!¡± She called out and rushed forward once again.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei grabbed hold of her.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± Xia Ling shouted in anger.

    Li Lei turned her around such that he was facing her, and spoke to her seriously, ¡°You tried to take something away from a beast¡¯s mouth, are you insane!¡± Even though Er Mao was his leopard, and that he could trust it with his life, Xiao Ling was a different matter altogether. He could not let her take any risk.

    Before he knew it, Xia Ling had given him a hard p on the face.

    Li Lei¡¯s head swung sideward.

    ¡°Look at this leopard you¡¯ve raised!¡± She was fuming as blood rushed to her head. ¡°Like owner, like pet! You promised me you¡¯d take good care of it, but what happened! I bet you¡¯re happy since both of you enjoy bullying the weak! You beasts!¡±

    Li Lei listened to her rant in silence.

    Every word was a stab to his heart.

    ¡°So, this is what you think of me.¡± He murmured.

    ¡°What did you think!¡± Her eyes were red from anger. She turned to look for Er Mao and the kitten, wondering if those few moments were all it took for the kitten to be devoured by Er Mao. No... The kitten was already bitten to death even before that, that exined all the blood on Er Mao...

    Xia Ling was about to cry.

    But then, her eyesnded on the corner of the living room.

    Er Mao in its beautiful coat of white fur had carefully and gently ced the kitten on the carpet before licking the blood stains off the kitten. The little one flinched a little and let out a meow.

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    What happened next surprised her further ¡ª the kitten had turned toward the big creature and apprehensively took a small step forward. It then licked Er Mao¡¯s paw.

    Wh-What was going on here!

    Er Mao turned around and looked at Xia Ling, and then at Li Lei, before striding off slowly.

    Xia Ling dashed forward to check on the kitten and found that its fur was clean and it was generally unscathed, except for a little issue with its hind leg. It dragged its hind leg along as it moved, and she saw that there was a deep wound in it.

    Her first thought was that Er Mao had bitten it there.

    But the cut was too neat, almost like it was cut open with a fruit knife and not torn apart with jaws. And there was not much bleeding from there, there was no way it could dye Er Mao¡¯s mouth and chest such a horrifying red.

    How did the blood on Er Maoe about?

    Xia Ling followed the blood trail on the floor and arrived at the crime scene ¡ª a pile of shattered ss was on the floor, and not too far away from it was another pile of smaller shards and fragments, most of which were stained with quite a bit of blood on the edges.

    She guessed what had happened but found it hard to believe. She went on to look for Er Mao.

    Er Mao was quietly lying on the balcony, licking the blood stains on itself. Cats just had to keep themselves clean; despite its injury, it tried its best to uphold its dignified image.

    Xia Ling squatted before it.

    ¡°Er Mao, let me take a look at your mouth,¡± she spoke gently.

    Er Mao did not seem interested in entertaining her. It bared its teeth and let out a low growl. Injured beasts did not like others toe close to them when they were injured. Although this person was its owner¡¯s woman, and that it restrained itself from attacking her, it did not hide its frustration. This woman and the kitten put together were not enough for his meal anyway.

    Er Mao decided not to stoop to her level.

    But Xia Ling was sharp and had seen the wounds when it bared its teeth. Its injuries were way more serious than the kitten¡¯s, which was why it bled so much! She had another scenario formted ¡ª could it be that the kitten had been pinned down by the pile of ss fragments and Er Mao hade forward to remove the fragments with its mouth in order to rescue the kitten?

    If that was the case...

    Gosh, wasn¡¯t she using Li Lei wrongfully when she pped him?

    She intuitively went to look for Li Lei, but it seemed that he had left.

    Xia Ling felt uneasy. Although he appeared to be smiling indolently all the time and did not seem to give a care about anything, he was definitely one of the proudest people she knew. His pride was an inherent trait, so much so that he could not even be bothered to disy it. Now that he had been pped by her for no good reason, how would he feel?

    She felt guilty and did not know what to do.

    Er Mao was still licking its wound on the balcony.

    The kitten was also licking its hind leg once in a while.

    How about Li Lei? Was he also healing his wounds all alone?

    For some reason, her heart ached at the thought of it. She knew better than anybody what it felt like to be used. In herst life, she was misunderstood to be a murderer by her most beloved and was on the brink of breaking down. Now, how could she use someone else so easily?

    Xia Ling clenched her fist. She had to apologize to Li Lei.

    She opened the contacts list on her phone and wanted to give Li Lei a call, but could not find his number anywhere. That was when she realized that she had deleted it when they broke up.

    She stood rooted for a few moments before mustering her courage to go to the adjacent apartment and knock on his door.

    She knocked for a while, but there was no response.

    <i>Could he be out? </i>Xia Ling wondered. She slowly put her hand down and turned away.

    She took a few steps.

    The door opened behind her.

    ¡°Hey,¡± It was a male¡¯s voice, ¡°You¡¯re giving up after only a few knocks? Is that all the patience you have?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little shocked. She turned around and saw Li Lei standing by the door, his features wless under the corridor lights. The onlycking aspect was the red mark she left on his cheek.

 Chapter 254 - Teahouse Talk

    <h4>Chapter 254: Teahouse Talk</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was there to apologize, but now she simply could not utter anything.

    Li Lei waited for a while. Seeing that she was not saying anything, he asked, ¡°Is anything the matter?¡± He felt like he held himself cheap. He was the one that was hit but ended up being the one to initiate conversation. All his life, was there even anyone who did not treat him like a gem? It was truly strange, no matter how this woman made things difficult for him, he simply could not bear to see her leave.

    Li Lei looked awful and angry at himself.

    Xia Ling was a little frightened by his expression and paused for a while before saying, ¡°Well... I apologize. I shouldn¡¯t have hit you.¡± Her voice was soft, not daring to even look up at him.

    Li Lei did not respond for a long while.

    She looked up, slightly apprehensively, and saw that he was looking at her with an expression she could notprehend.

    She thought he had not heard her the first time and tried again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± He spoke calmly.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too insincere.¡± He said curtly before closing the door.

    Outside his door, Xia Ling was stunned at what just happened. What was with Big Boss? She had apologized, and he was still unhappy? She never saw him as a petty person, but now she wondered... But this time it was indeed her fault, offering a simple apology for hitting someone on the face was a slipshod move.

    Xia Ling went back to her apartment and tossed on her bed the whole night, wondering what she could do to appease him.

    What she did not know was that Li Lei¡¯s expression changed the moment he shut his door. On his face was a look of bliss, sadness, and some grievances... too many different emotions altogether. There was so much going on that he could not hold his cold expression before her for another second.

    He had done so much for her.

    And she knew nothing about them.

    He had shouldered all of the pain, anxiety, and obstacles on his own, but she did not understand them. To him, being a man meant not having to share these problems with a woman, but her misunderstanding of him got increasingly serious, and today she had pped him. He felt that he was willing to bear it, that he could understand her panic and ept it the same way somebody would find a rose pretty even after being pricked by it.

    He knew that she could hurt him the very moment he fell for her.

    But today, she finally understood his pain and uttered the words ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    At that moment, his mask had fallen, and he could no longer keep up his image. He turned away simply because he was afraid she would see his vulnerability.

    He was truly happy.

    Xia Ling tossed and turned, unable toe up with a good way to apologize to him. Besides saying she was sorry, what else could she do? He was better than her at treating wounds, at preparing meals, at saying sweet nothings. He also had more money to get little gifts and items she could not afford... Surely she could not sing to him?

    Xia Ling was caught in a fix.

    In the morning, she washed up as usual, but Li Lei did note over to pick her. Xia Ling waited for a bit since she was not in a position to hurry him. With that, her n to ease the situation on the way to the office had failed.

    She got into the car alone and had the chauffeur take her to the recording studio.

    What good idea could she get out of the recording studio? There was only Ah Wei around, and he was the type to scold others without ever apologizing to them... If she told him ¡°Ah Wei, I scolded somebody wrongly and want to apologize¡± he wouldugh at her and then criticize her for even having that thought.

    Xia Ling had no other ideas. Sister Mai Na was out with another celebrity, and Wei Wei was too young for this, she had no one to turn to for ideas. She sat in the back of the car and thought for a while as the car drove by a huge advertisement banner.

    It was... Imperial Entertainment¡¯s huge logo.

    Xia Ling had an idea and asked for the chauffeur to make a turn. ¡°Old Chen, hold on... turn around!¡±

    While giving directions, she made a call to Feng Kun and asked to meet him at the city center.

    It was a quiet tatami room at a teahouse.

    Xia Ling sat with her legs crossed as she sat opposite Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun filled a cup of tea for her and spoke gently, ¡°So, you stood Ah Wei up at work and came to look for me?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Ah Wei will kill you.¡± Feng Kun smiled.

    ¡°If I don¡¯t apologize properly, Li Lei will be killing me instead.¡± Xia Ling was troubled. ¡°Ah Kun, only you can save me now. You¡¯re nice and smart, can you think of a way to appease Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very concerned about him?¡± Feng Kun asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± She denied at once. ¡°But I was the one at fault, so I should be apologizing.¡±

    This little girl was never good at concealing her emotions. Feng Kun looked at her and simply did not believe that she was not the least bit moved by Li Lei. Otherwise, given her character, she would not even admit her mistakes, much less apologize for them.

    He probed. ¡°So you detest him? Otherwise, why else would you call him and his pet beasts?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling was at a loss for words. ¡°Alright, I do detest him a little. No, I¡¯m... afraid. Ah Kun, I want to move away from him, but he wouldn¡¯t let me. Don¡¯t you think he¡¯s very simr to Pei Ziheng in this aspect? How could I be with someone like this? They¡¯re all beasts.¡±

    ¡°Well, tell me then, in what other ways are they simr?¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at her cup of tea. ¡°They¡¯re good to me, they apany and send me from ce to ce, they get me gifts on special asions, they¡¯re thoughtful and protect me in front of others, but I have to act ording to their wishes. The moment I mention moving away... escaping from his control, he would lose it.¡± She remembered the day Li Lei cornered her and bit her, he was acting like a beast.

    How much hurt had been inflicted in the name of love?

    Xia Ling looked back up. ¡°Ah Kun, there¡¯s no use in him treating me well. Everything that Li Lei has done for me had already been done by another man in my previous life. Back then, I loved Pei Ziheng so much and thought he meant everything to me, but what happened? Whenever I look at Li Lei now, I can imagine how it¡¯d be like to live with him in future ¡ª our happy days will be short-lived and reced by arguments and eventually a tragic end... Ah Kun, I don¡¯t want it to be that way anymore.¡±

    Feng Kun swirled the tea in his cup. ¡°Is there not a bit of difference at all? Li Lei and Pei Ziheng are two different people after all. Is there anything that Pei Ziheng had never done for you, but Li Lei has?¡±

 Chapter 255 - Just How Should I Apologize

    <h4>Chapter 255: Just How Should I Apologize</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Was there?

    After thinking for a while, Xia Ling found that there was one thing, in fact. He told everyone that they were together and took her home to meet his grandfather ¡ª that was something Pei Ziheng had never done in their ten years together.

    But what happened in the end?

    It was still a breakup.

    She mocked herself. ¡°Maybe I just don¡¯t have the life of marrying into a wealthy family, so why bother trying? Li Lei tried to put me in the spotlight with him so we could work together, and I¡¯m grateful for that, but that¡¯s as far as he went. Whatever Pei Ziheng did not do, neither did he. Sure, he did put in the effort for me, but just because he did, and just because he ims to like me doesn¡¯t give him the right to hurt me, right? He...¡±

    Xia Ling stopped there.

    On the ind with the Li family, she had been pinned under him and vited, causing her intense pain...

    Did liking her give him the right to have his way with her?

    ¡°This is not the kind of love I want.¡± She mumbled.

    ¡°Then tell him what you want.¡± Feng Kun said.

    ¡°Why should I be the one to tell him?¡± She was being petty now.

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t like him?¡±

    Xia Ling sipped her tea in order to conceal her expression. She was at a loss now and could not bring herself to deny that statement.

    Feng Kun had the answer. ¡°Remember the Jade Buddha Temple on the outskirts of the city? I heard it gives urate readings. If you don¡¯t like him, then follow me to the templeter. You can ask the deities to tell you about your fate with him, then you¡¯ll know the answer.¡±

    Xia Ling kept silent.

    Feng Kun kept silent with her while offering her a hand for support. ¡°Xiao Ling, if you can¡¯t bear to part with him, then you should go back and have a good talk with him. He¡¯s a young master of a wealthy family, the fact that he could do this much for you says a lot. If this wasn¡¯t your second life, and if you didn¡¯t have memories of your past, would you dare say you wouldn¡¯t be moved?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She bit her lip. ¡°But I do remember my past. Li Lei and Pei Ziheng are very simr, they like to control me ording to their wishes. I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯ll be another Pei Ziheng someday.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know your past.¡± Li Lei spoke warmly. ¡°Neither does he know your difficulties. He¡¯s simply treating you like he would a typical girl. If he knew what you¡¯d been through, he might treat you differently.¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet for a while.

    ¡°He¡¯s different from Pei Ziheng.¡± Feng Kun went on. ¡°Even if you don¡¯t believe in my judgment, you can see for yourself... Imperial and Skyart arepletely different in style ¡ª Li Lei isn¡¯t a dictator like Pei Ziheng. Go for it, maybe this time your love will blossom. Xiao Ling, how would you know if you haven¡¯t tried? Don¡¯t let Pei Ziheng ruin you for two lifetimes.¡±

    Don¡¯t let Pei Ziheng ruin you for two lifetimes...

    Xia Ling wanted to block this out. No, she would not let that devil of a man have such an impact on her. She would try her best to shake those fears off and pursue her happiness. With the cup in hand, she told herself she would look for Li Lei once again for a good talk.

    Time always flew when she spoke with Feng Kun. He was like a caring big brother, patiently giving her advice every step of the way.

    Xia Ling felt more assured now and thanked Feng Kun foring out to meet her before realizing they had not got to the main point. Shepletely forgot about asking him for an apology idea!

    On the ride back, Xia Ling was almost desperate from herck of ideas.

    Back in the apartment.

    Li Lei was conflicted as well. Why was Xia Ling not back yet after a whole day? Had he been too fierce to her the previous day when he said she was insincere with her apology, which eventually drove her away! If he knew this would be the oue, he would have epted her apology and reconciled immediately.

    Li Lei was full of regret now.

    As Li Lei paced about in his room anxiously, Er Mao found him a bother and decided to abandon him for the kitten.

    Although the damsel-in-distress incident had urred just the previous day and the kitten hade to realize that Er Mao was merely a gentle giant, it could not help but stiffen in fear whenever Er Mao came close to it.

    Er Mao found it fun to see the kitten¡¯s reaction.

    Xia Ling opened the door and saw that Er Mao was bullying the kitten again. The kitten ran towards her while meowing, crying for help.

    Xia Ling sighed. She had enough on her te now and decided to take the kitten to her bedroom. Once the kitten was settled, she started thinking once again about how she should give Li Lei a sincere apology. Right then, the doorbell rang.

    She opened the door.

    Standing by the door was Big Boss Li in a t-shirt and long pants, seeming not very pleased to see her.

    She had a fright, not ready to face him just yet. Stammering, Xia Ling asked, ¡°W-What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°What, so I can¡¯t be here?¡± He shot her a question but changed his tone when he saw her flustered expression. ¡°I¡¯m waiting for an apology!¡±

    He raised his chin slightly as if he was entitled to that apology.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    How nice of him to appear right at her door before she had even thought of a good way to salvage the situation. She dared not tell him that she had nothing prepared for a sincere apology and decided to force a smile and invite him in first.

    Li Lei looked at her expectantly.

    Xia Ling felt even more guilty and went straight for the kitchen. ¡°Take a seat first, I¡¯ll show you my sincerity!¡± She had no better idea now; all she remembered was that hungry people were angry people and that her main goal was to make him less angry. Only then could she prevent their rtionship from deteriorating, so they could have a chance to have a proper chat like Feng Kun advised.

    She opened the refrigerator.

    At that moment, she could almost feel a tear rolling down her cheek.

    The refrigerator was practically empty other than a few pathetic servings of vegetables and corn. How could she forget that the kitchen was never her best friend?

    After searching through the cabs and drawers, she finally found a bottle of olive oil and two eggs.

    What dish could she prepare?

    To be entirely honest, her culinary skills were sub-par. She used not to be able to cook at all, and only learned a little from Li Lei in the past year.

    She could envision her death already, just by looking at the ingredients. But she went on and filled a pot with water, and then added in the vegetables and corn.

    After some effort, the food had finallye to a boil.

    Xia Ling opened the lid and realized that the vegetable leaves had turned soggy, and the egg yolks and whites had hardened into lumps. Upon tasting them, she found out that she had also added too much salt, and the corn was barely cooked...

    Xia Ling was on the verge of giving up. If she served this, would Li Lei kill her? What now!

    She was still trying to figure something out when Li Lei called out. ¡°What¡¯s up? You¡¯re taking a long time.¡±

    ¡°Almost done! I...¡± She responded frantically. While she was still busy looking at the inharmonious pot of ¡°soup,¡± Li Lei had already walked into the kitchen.

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯te in!¡± She hurriedly shielded the pot.

    But Li Lei had already seen it. ¡°Is that...¡±

 Chapter 256 - Only You Would Torture Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 256: Only You Would Torture Yourself</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing!¡± Xia Ling kept the pot even closer.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Li Lei did not believe her and took a few steps forward. ¡°It smells like soup, did you cook that for me?¡± He was not letting her off. ¡°Vegetables... and egg?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only so much left in this house.¡± Xia Ling surrendered and moved aside.

    Big Boss Li hence got to see the horrendous pile of... food. Assuming it was food, that was, since the soup hardly looked like what it should be.

    Xia Ling looked at him in anticipation.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Big Boss sighed.

    ¡°Uh-huh?¡±

    ¡°You should thank the heavens for Skyart¡¯s salvation.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°This culinary skill of yours,¡± Big Boss tried to force a smile. ¡°would leave you homeless if you attempted to be a chef.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond. She did not feel like apologizing to him anymore, given how mean he was being. It was the first time she tried so hard to prepare a meal for somebody, but all she got in return was sarcasm! Even Pei Ziheng never had the honor of such treatment!

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want it, I¡¯m pouring it away.¡± She angrily said.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t!¡± Big Boss Li stopped her frantically. ¡°Who says I¡¯m not eating it!¡± He held the pot tightly in his hands, appearing genuinely terrified that she might throw it all away.

    Xia Ling felt a little better.

    But she felt it still wasn¡¯t right. She had tasted the soup, and it was simply too salty. Cooking something this embarrassing was no better than having it thrown away, why did he not want to?

    Xia Ling looked awful again.

    ¡°Did you specially cook this for me?¡± Li Lei asked for verification.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling nodded resignedly.

    ¡°I knew my Xiao Ling is the best!¡± Li Lei was as excited as a child. He moved the soup to the table and prepared two bowls and two spoons before filling the bowls with soup. ¡°Let¡¯s drink it together.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to have another go at her horrible cooking and rejected instantly. ¡°No, thanks.¡±

    Li Lei did not mind it and went on to take a sip of it. His face stiffened.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened. Could he get food poisoning from this? She cautiously said, ¡°You know, you don¡¯t have to drink it if you don¡¯t like... it.¡±

    Before she could even finish herst word, Li Lei had already taken the next mouthful, and the next, and had finished the entire pot in no time.

    ... Is it really safe for consumption?

    Xia Ling was no longer worried about whether the soup tasted good, she was more concerned about Li Lei¡¯s life.

    ¡°You cooked it for me, of course, I¡¯ll finish it.¡± Li Lei put the bowl down and smiled at her. ¡°It¡¯s fine that you¡¯re not too good at cooking, I can teach you the ropes slowly next time. I like tomato and oxtail soup, pork ribs soup, yam soup...¡± He listed them one by one.

    What, was he giving her orders now?

    ¡°Stop!¡± She looked at him unhappily. ¡°Just this once! Don¡¯t make me enter the kitchen again!¡± The kitchen was like her nemesis; every time she helped Li Lei prepare a meal, it turned out awful.

    She looked toward Li Lei now with concern. ¡°Do you need me to get the doctor?¡±

    Li Lei was stunned before smiling. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get food poisoning from this. Back when I was fighting in the war in South Africa, I had to eat live bugs...¡± Afraid that she would wince at it, he stopped right there. ¡°In any case, it¡¯s fine.¡±

    She could finally heave a sigh of relief.

    ¡°So, are you satisfied with this apology?¡± Xia Ling asked cautiously.

    Li Lei was deep in thought. What exactly should he say? It was rare for Xiao Ling to be so subservient to him and to go to so much trouble to prepare him a meal, it was simply too heartwarming. But if he said he was satisfied now, would she go back to her original self? And if he said this was not enough, would she leave?

    Li Lei had already been anxious the entire day when he realized Xia Ling had not returned.

    If he still insisted he was not satisfied, would he have to suffer the same anxiety tomorrow?

    Boss was caught in a fix.

    Xia Ling as well. Just what else did Li Lei want? Wasn¡¯t he a Leo? Why did he appear even more nitpicky and petty than the Virgo Ah Wei? If she knew there were these many side effects to the p she gave him, she would have pped herself instead, just like she wanted to do now!

    Xia Ling lectured herself silently and got Boss a cup of water. ¡°I¡¯ve realized my mistake, won¡¯t you forgive me?¡± She looked toward him with puppy eyes.

    Her acting cute got to him, and he was no longer as calm as before.

    ¡°Ahem.¡± He feigned a cough to signal his authority.

    Xia Ling did not know what to expect from him. ¡°Let me off, please?¡±

    ¡°Well, fine then.¡± Boss tilted his chin up with pride.

    ¡°I knew Boss was the most magnanimous!¡± Xia Ling bootlicked him.

    ¡°But, I have a condition.¡± Boss seemed to be saying something else.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°W-What condition?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not to cook soup for anyone else.¡± Although Xiao Ling¡¯s soup was barely edible, it was unique nheless, and he wanted to keep it an experience only for himself!

    ¡°So this is the condition.¡± Xia Ling was relieved. ¡°No problem!¡± She would not cook soup in her right mind, why torture herself further?

    Seeing that she agreed so quickly, Big Boss Li was skeptical. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°So...¡± said Li Lei, trying to sound nonchnt. ¡°No other man has tasted your soup? Not a single one?¡± He was wondering about Pei Ziheng specifically but did not want to name him lest she got angry.

    ¡°Only you would...¡± She was about to say ¡°torture yourself,¡± but decided against it and rephrased her words. ¡°Only you have such a unique taste, and can swallow something so awful.¡± Once she uttered those words, she felt a little warm inside.

    Feng Kun was probably right, she should cherish Li Lei and not let her past get in the way of a happy rtionship. He treated her well, and even though he sometimes hurt her, it was only because he did not know the pain she had been through. If she were an ordinary girl with an ordinary past, a lot of things that he did were actually nothing out of the norm.

    Xia Ling thought for a while and then blurted out before she realized it. ¡°I know you¡¯re good to me, but sometimes you¡¯re too fierce, and I get... scared.¡±

    Li Lei was quiet for a while. He did not expect for her to speak so seriously of a sudden.

    But that was a good thing, at least it showed that she was willing tomunicate with him, right?

 Chapter 257 - Life or Death

    <h4>Chapter 257: Life or Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The warm lighting glowed at the dining table as Er Mao strode elegantly and found afortable spot to lie on and rx.

    The scars near its mouth from rescuing the kitten were still evident.

    Li Lei looked at it and told Xia Ling, ¡°Er Mao is very fierce too, but it never hurts anyone, it only ever saves people.¡±

    Xia Ling looked toward Er Mao, this big creature really looked harmless when it was at ease and unprovoked. But...¡±The other day when I wanted to rescue the kitten from Er Mao¡¯s mouth, you grabbed me. You couldn¡¯t be sure that it wouldn¡¯t hurt me, right?¡±

    ¡°I was just taking precautions,¡± said Li Lei.

    Er Mao had never hurt anyone around him, not his rtives, peers, co-workers, or himself. There was no need for him to worry, but because it concerned Xiao Ling, he did not want to take even the slightest risk.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°So, you get scared too, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Li Lei was silent. Yes, despite knowing that there was practically no way Er Mao would hurt her, he could not help but worry for her safety. It was irrational, and there was no way he could control it.

    She looked at him with a soft expression. ¡°It¡¯s the same for me. Li Lei, you¡¯ve been living with Er Mao for so many years, and there are still times where you can¡¯t fully trust it, so how am I supposed to trust you? You don¡¯t know my past...¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s look tensed up but forced himself to rx. Was she about to tell him about her past? Her past that he still could not understand despite countless investigations?

    But Xia Ling simply brushed off the topic. ¡°I¡¯m afraid of being hurt, especially when ites to love. I¡¯d rather spend my life alone than get into a destructive and hurtful rtionship. Li Lei, remember the kind of treatment I got from your family when we went there during New Year¡¯s? I know it¡¯s not your fault, but... I¡¯m scared.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t ever happen again.¡± Li Lei assured her.

    Xia Ling gave another smile. ¡°It¡¯s easy to make a promise, you know? But you can still go back on it and go rough on me anytime since I have no means of defending myself. We didn¡¯t start out on equal footing, and even now, I can¡¯t even move away from this apartment because you won¡¯t allow it. Under these circumstances, how can I like you?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Li Lei wanted to say something in defense.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re not letting me go because you love me.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were wide and clear. ¡°This may be your way of loving someone, but this is not the love that I want. If that¡¯s all there is between us, then all I can say is that we¡¯re not fated to be together, not now, not in the future.¡±

    The dining hall was quiet.

    Er Mao¡¯s tail fidgeted as it looked up at the pair by the dining table.

    A short whileter, Li Lei quietly said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xiao Ling, I never knew that¡¯s how you thought. I¡¯m afraid too, you know? I¡¯ve never been this afraid all my life, but now I¡¯m afraid of losing you, of someone else hurting you, of you choosing to leave... I¡¯m not willing to let you go, simply because I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t evere back.¡±

    If she really left this ce, would she return?

    She did not have an answer either.

    ¡°But if you keep me here, you¡¯ll never get my love.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s words hung in the air. ¡°I will never love someone out of coercion or captivity. Li Lei, if that¡¯s the kind of woman you¡¯re looking for, you¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡±

    Li Lei recalled the call he made with Old Man Bao back on the ind.

    Old Man Bao brought up the Diva Xia Ling from Imperial Entertainment and her tragic story of being held captive and tortured by Pei Ziheng before she passed on. Did Xia Ling fall in love with Pei Ziheng eventually? Regardless of the answer, her tragic encounter...

    It was not something he would want Xiao Ling to go through.

    ¡°Tell me then, what kind of love do you want?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling had an answer ready. ¡°Let me go, give me my freedom. Only when I¡¯m no longer manipted can I decide for myself whether I want to be with you. What I really want is a rtionship where we are both on equal footing.¡±

    After saying her piece, she turned towards Li Lei apprehensively, afraid that he would go into a fury and hurt her again as he did previously.

    If that were to happen again, then there was nothing left to say about their future.

    This was herst shot.

    Fortunately, Li Lei simply kept quiet. ¡°Give me some time to think.¡±

    Xia Ling saw him out of the apartment. Li Lei got upzily and looked toward the bedroom, as if to check on the kitten, before following its owner out.

    He did not take long to think. At breakfast the next day, he went to look for her. ¡°When do you intend to move out?¡±

    Xia Ling silently celebrated. Feng Kun was right, after all, Li Lei was different from Pei Ziheng, he was not a dictator who shut everybody else¡¯s words out. But after that short moment of joy, she looked at him cautiously. ¡°There¡¯s another thing...¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling hesitated for a while, but said it anyway, ¡°I n to leave Skyart.¡± She had to cut all ties and make sure she had nothing to do with him. Only when she did not depend on him for anything ¡ª life or death ¡ª could she see herself as his equal.

    Li Lei knitted his brows.

    To him, agreeing on her moving out was his limit. Just for this alone, he had sent people to do multiple rounds of checks to ensure that Pei Ziheng would not ambush nor hurt her before he could let her leave his side.

    But, leaving Skyart?!

    ¡°No,¡± he said instinctively.

    She was not all that surprised by his rejection, but given her temper, she almost red up. She remembered what Feng Kun said the other day and suppressed her anger. ¡°Why?¡±

    Because he wanted to keep a lookout for her, and also because of Pei Ziheng.

    He could not be sure that she wouldn¡¯t turn her back against Skyart and sign a contract with Imperial instead.

    But, how was he going to say this to her? Pei Ziheng was the most sensitive topic between them and would likely lead to a conflict. It took them so long to get back on good terms again, he did not want to argue with her.

    Seeing that he did not respond, Xia Ling asked again.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to find big corporations like Skyart, and among all others in the entertainment industry, Skyart¡¯s atmosphere is the best.¡± Li Lei decided that giving a reason from the work perspective was a better way to convince her. ¡°Everyone is generally nice to one another, and Sister Mai Na and Ah Wei are taking good care of you. You¡¯re a simple girl, what¡¯d happen if you step on someone¡¯s toes in anotherpany?¡±

    ¡°This problem?¡± Xia Ling did not expect him to be worried about this and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s not a big deal, don¡¯t you think that my singing is good enough to put me above the rest? They can do what they want to me, but my poprity won¡¯t change, and poprity itself is money! And money gives me status!¡± This was something Chu Chen always said in the past, which exined why nobody could offend her despite how arrogant she used to be, besides the fact that she was with Pei Ziheng.

    Big Boss Li had no words left. It hit him now, just how did Xiao Ling sing so well?

    Her singing was way too good.

 Chapter 258 - Boss Pei

    <h4>Chapter 258: Boss Pei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling took a lot of effort to try and convince Li Lei.

    Li Lei saw that she was determined in her stand and brought up two conditions. ¡°I can let you leave, but on two terms. Firstly, you cannot turn to Imperial Entertainment. Secondly, you have to keep your amulet on at all times, don¡¯t ever take it off.¡±

    Xia Ling thought through the two conditions. Firstly, she had never even considered joining Imperial Entertainment. Secondly, given that she could not take the amulet off at all, she had already prepared a small pouch for it for times in which the amulet pendant did not fit her dressing style. Both conditions were not anything too imposing or intrusive, so she agreed.

    Li Lei could finally relieve some of his tension.

    Xia Ling called Luo Luo to ask if the offer for sharing a rented apartment was still up.

    Luo Luo was living alone in a rented apartment in a high-endmunity and had to fork out arge sum each month. However, in order to maintain her image as a public figure, she could not opt for a more affordable alternative. Knowing that Xia Ling wasing to join her was good news. ¡°Xiao Ling, this is great! Of course, I wee you! Thest time when you told me you wereing but withdrew eventually, I was so upset! It¡¯s best if you coulde live with me, else I¡¯d be so poor I¡¯ll survive on instant noodles every day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m poor too, we can have instant noodles together.¡± Xia Ling smiled unknowingly.

    She did not have much money with her, and even sharing an apartment would be a strain on her budget. Only after finding out how much it cost to rent a unit like Luo Luo¡¯s did she realize how nice Li Lei had been to her ¡ª he had practically allowed her to live off him in his apartment.

    Moved by that thought, she did not reject Li Lei¡¯s offer to help her with her moving.

    Big Boss was evidently more skilled in packing a suitcase than she. He even got the chauffeur to help out, and together, they sent Xia Ling to her new ce. Xia Ling was about to decline that offer, but Li Lei reasoned. ¡°You¡¯re an artiste, it isn¡¯t the best idea to get an external movingpany. You can use my men instead. Even if we¡¯re just friends, I should be offering you such help.¡±

    Xia Ling thought that he had a point. Moreover, she had no idea how to pick a movingpany. Hence, she quietly agreed to Li Lei¡¯s n.

    The new ce was in the central district of themunity and was surrounded by beautiful greenery. Following Luo Luo¡¯s address, she and Li Lei went up the elevator with a few bodyguards and the chauffeur following behind with her suitcases.

    She rang the doorbell.

    Luo Luo opened the door, and her eyes glittered upon seeing Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here! I¡¯m not dreaming, am I? You meant it when you said you wereing to share an apartment with me!¡± After saying that, she gave Xia Ling a big hug.

    The scent from her body lotion lifted Xia Ling¡¯s spirits.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be room-mates in future, please look out for me.¡± She told Luo Luo, half-kidding.

    Luo Luo hugged her even tighter, like an octopus unwilling to release its prey. It seemed like this was a unique way for girls to express their friendship and affection for each other.

    But the rest of them standing around could not watch on.

    Luo Luo felt like a whole gang of people had set their death res set on her. A chill ran down her spine before she realized that a man hade along with Xia Ling ¡ª one with a good posture, a nice physique, and handsome facial features. He was a wless hunk through and through.

    Having been in the entertainment circle for a while, Luo Luo had seen many handsome men, but ones as outstanding as him were few and far between. With eyes lit up, she tugged at Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Xiao Ling, who¡¯s this hunk over here, care to introduce him to me?¡±

    Xia Ling quietly nced at Li Lei.

    Hunk? Very well, getting someone with Boss¡¯s looks and physique to be a worker for a movingpany was a little mean. To make it up to him, Xia Ling introduced him to Luo Luo as such. ¡°He¡¯s the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment, Li Lei.¡±

    Although Li Lei was rather well-known in the business world, he did not fancy socializing orworking. He rarely showed himself, be it in interviews or on the news. Hence, most people knew him only by name, but not by face.

    When Xia Ling made the introduction, Luo Luo appeared to have an epiphany.

    ¡°Whoa, so handsome!¡± She made no attempt to suppress her excitement. ¡°So you¡¯re Boss Li, no wonder you managed to chase Xiao Ling. The both of you together look like a match made in heaven!¡± Only after she uttered those words did she find something wrong. ¡°Wait, Boss Li, why are you apanying Xiao Ling here today? Didn¡¯t the rumors going around saying that you¡¯ve broken up?¡±

    Li Lei quietly looked at her.

    Luo Luo felt a strange oppressing force in his gaze and hurriedly covered her mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, I don¡¯t know anything!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled a little.

    She ignored the two of them and went to her room to unpack her suitcases. Li Lei entered a few momentster and helped her to sweep the floor,y the bedsheets, and to arrange her decorative trinkets.

    Everything was finally in order.

    ¡°Thank you for your help,¡± said Xia Ling.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the civility.¡± Li Lei smiled kindly. ¡°If there¡¯s anything you need in future, feel free to look for me anytime.¡± Seeing that there was a stray bit of paper on her hair, he reached out and removed it for her.

    She looked down, a little abashed. It seemed like every time she stood close to him, she could feel her heart beat a little faster.

    Li Lei took his leave.

    Xia Ling had not snapped back to reality as she sat in the corner of her new room.

    ¡°Wow, Xiao Ling!¡± Luo Luo dashed in and happily skipped to her. ¡°Boss Li spoke to me! A big shot like him who only appears in the news reports actually spoke to me! Ah, I¡¯m so happy, he¡¯s the first Big Boss I know, and he¡¯s so nice and friendly! I¡¯m so happy!¡±

    Xia Ling found her reaction amusing. ¡°First Big Boss you know? How about Pei Ziheng from your Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Boss Pei?¡± Luo Luo¡¯s excitement died down. ¡°That man is nowhere as friendly as Big Boss Li.¡± As she spoke, she seemed to have thought of something and told Xiao Ling a joke the trainees had about Boss Pei.

    Luo Luoughed at her own joke.

    Xia Lingughed along. These kids nowadays were so different from back in her time ¡ª back then, who dared to joke about Pei Ziheng behind his back? ¡°The seniors of your training camp wouldn¡¯t dare to say this about him,¡± she told Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo shrugged. ¡°Who says so? Back when Zheng Chenhao and the rest of the seniors made their debut, this joke was already around. It¡¯s been passed down the generations, hmph.¡±

    Really, how could she not know about it?

    Zheng Chenhao had only debuted two years ahead of her.

    As if reading her mind, Luo Luo went on, ¡°It¡¯s said that Xia Ling had genuinely exalted Boss Pei and would not speak of a single bad thing about him, while everybody else criticized him behind his back. But nobody would let Xia Ling hear about this because she was Boss Pei¡¯s woman. Xiao Ling, if you were in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp now, I¡¯d probably see you as the Xia Ling herself. How could you not have heard of such a well-known joke?¡±

    Was she not Xia Ling herself?

    Xia Ling smiled to conceal her emotions. ¡°Xia Ling and Zheng Chenhao are quite a lot older than you, roughly 10 years? How did you get to hear about it?¡±

 Chapter 259 - Spirit in a Dream

    <h4>Chapter 259: Spirit in a Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Who am I?¡± Luo Luo straightened her chest with some arrogance. ¡°I¡¯m the jack of all trades that everyone knows.¡±

    ¡°Sure, you¡¯re the jack of all trades.¡± Xia Ling smiled as she rubbed her forehead. ¡°What do you want to eat for dinner? I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°Boss Li brought over a lunch box.¡± As she spoke, Luo Luo hopped off the bed and went to the kitchen to look for the lunch box that Li Lei left behind. ¡°Before he left, he especially instructed me to ensure that you ate well. He even left his phone number, saying that if anything bad happens, I could call him for help.¡±

    Xia Ling followed Luo Luo into the kitchen.

    When she opened the lunch box, she realized that there was high-quality glutinous rice in it. The sparkling white rice exuded a fragrant smell. There were Longjing shrimps, steamed fish, spinach and mushroom soup, all of which were freshly made; just looking at it made one hungry.

    Xia Ling recognized Li Lei¡¯s cooking immediately. She did not expect that he would still remember what she loved to eat after she moved and would even bring a lunch box over. For a moment, she felt a warm feeling inside.

    ¡°Boss treats you so well.¡± Luo Luo looked at the superb collection of side dishes and said. ¡°He said he made it himself and even asked me what I liked to eat so that he would cook that for me in the future... Hmm, I think he was just trying to bribe me so I would treat you a little better.¡± Before her debut, she used to live in the training dormitory with the other trainees whom she got along with. She was very experienced and easily saw through the small tricks of men who were chasing women and wanting to save the day.

    She turned to Xia Ling and asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, have you two really broken up?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling nodded her head and carried the food to the table like a professional. After that, she signaled for Luo Luo to eat with her.

    Luo Luo took a pair of chopsticks and sat down. ¡°That¡¯s not right. ording to the news, he dumped you because he looked down on you, chased you out of the house, and caused you to be in a difficult position... Xiao Ling, I don¡¯t mean anything else, but I just think if the reports are right, why would Boss show so much concern now? Are there any hidden facts I don¡¯t know about?¡±

    ¡°What hidden facts can there be? I was chased out.¡± Xia Ling used her chopsticks to get a piece of steamed fish. ¡°Shut up and eat.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?! Xiao Ling, you are so pretty, your personality is good, and your singing is exceptional. Who would dare to chase you out?! Wow, this steamed fish is delicious! His cooking is great! This is the first time I¡¯ve eaten such delicious steamed fish!¡± Luo Luo¡¯s eyes sparkled, and she ate all of the steamed fish on her te. ¡°I want more!¡±

    Xia Ling took more steamed fish for her.

    The little girl was easily distracted. Once she saw the delicious food, shepletely forgot all the questions she was going to ask Xia Ling. As she ate, she eximed incoherently. ¡°Xiao Ling, you better not fall out with your Boss! His cooking is too delicious! Let him send over a lunch box every day! What do you think?!¡±

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. Her new roommate was too easily won over.

    Yet...

    Probably only someone like Luo Luo would say that her personality was good. Even Xia Ling knew herself that her personality was definitely the opposite of ¡°good.¡± She had offended numerous people, and many people in the entertainment industry would love to see her fail. Only someone as innocent as Luo Luo would be willing to be her friend without bearing any grudges. Besides Sister Mai Na and Wei Wei who treated her well because of their own interests, Luo Luo was her first female friend in both of her lifetimes.

    Xia Ling smiled slightly. She was determined to treat Luo Luo even better in the future.

    What she meant by treating someone well was that she would think of that person in every situation. In her past life, she escaped the orphanage with Xia Yu and found someone with sufficient money to treat her sickness. When it came to Pei Ziheng, she was worried about him even when they were just shopping. They already had piles of clothes at home, but every time there was a snowstorm and she was buying clothes for herself, she could not help but buy a few sets for him as well. However, when it came to Luo Luo, things were a little difficult...

    Because Luo Luo was a singer.

    Xia Ling thought that the best way to help a singer was naturally to teach her how to sing and help her advance in her career. She created a strict training schedule for Luo Luo whichsted from morning till dusk. She required Luo Luo to follow the schedule without cutting corners. Luo Luo had to practice singing, her posture, and even her signature.

    Luo Luo almost wanted to cry.

    At the start, she was willing to ept Xiao Ling¡¯s offer when Xia Ling suggested that she would teach her how to sing and dance, but she did not think that Xiao Ling would be so demanding!

    It was even worse than the hellish training in the training camp.

    Every day, Luo Luo held back her tears and practiced until she was half dead. Sure enough, her improvement was shocking. Under Xia Ling¡¯s guidance, she improved very fast, and soon, she became a better celebrity. No matter where she went, she was more dazzling, had a better celebrity aura, and developed a natural radiance.

    She even stole Xia Yu¡¯s limelight a few times.

    Xia Yu was very jealous of her and secretly tried to make life difficult for Luo Luo. Luo Luo suffered but was unable to speak about it. She thought about telling her difficulties to Xia Ling but just could not open her mouth when the time came. She could only me herself from having bad luck and quietly dealt with it on her own.

    Xia Ling saw that something was wrong with her but thought that she was tired because of the special training and did not take it to heart.

    Luo Luo asked her, ¡°Xiao Ling, what do you n to do in the future?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xia Ling thought about it. ¡°I have just suggested ending my contract with Skyart Entertainment, and there are still a few jobs left for me to do. I will make a decision after I finish my jobs.¡± Yesterday, she went to the Skyart Entertainment headquarters and had a long talk with Sister Mai Na. Sister Mai Na also knew that the tumultuous rtionship she had with Li Lei was not only due to work issues and could not think of a way to make her stay. As such, she respected her decision.

    After she finished herst few jobs at Skyart Entertainment, she would bepletely free.

    However, regarding Ah Wei...

    Xia Ling had mixed feelings. Yesterday night, she wrote a long letter to Ah Wei about the changes in her work life. However, since Ah Wei had the temper of a dragon, she did not dare to face him in person and did not know what sort of reaction he would have after reading the letter.

    Until now, he still had not contacted her, so it seemed like the calm before the storm.

    Xia Ling was seriously considering whether she should hide at Feng Kun¡¯s ce for a few days, but she felt that if she really did that, Ah Wei would definitely boil with anger and might even destroy Feng Kun¡¯s house...

    She made the decision to face the music. <i>Besides, </i>she thought. <i>In the worst case scenario, Ah Wei will just give me a scolding.</i>

    This way of thinking made her feel at ease. The next day, she went for a job at an advertisementpany.

    They were filming an advertisement for Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s Meteor Wings. She was acting as a spirit in a dream, and the scene was a sloping pool. She was wearing a tulle dress and danced in the depths of the pool. As she danced toward the shore, she slowly lifted her arms and revealed her face, shoulders, body, and legs...

    It was challenging as itbined water ballet and other various dances.

    The more difficult part was the fact that the pool was sloping and slippery. One would easily fall down if he were not careful enough.

 Chapter 260 - Dont Be So Shameless

    <h4>Chapter 260: Don¡¯t Be So Shameless</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There was a rehearsal in the morning. As the filming location was a special terrain in the pool, Xia Ling especially practiced a few more times to adapt to it.

    She was careful not to slip and followed the flow of the water. She was exceptionally alert and showed off all of her capabilities. To those watching her at the side, she looked light and elegant and made difficult moves seem easy.

    The camera crew gathered near the pool.

    The assistant director pulled the person in charge of the props and whispered. ¡°I can¡¯t believe her manager, Sister Mai Na, said that this sort of dancing in the pool was difficult, insisted on more money and even limited the shooting time... I think it looks very simple.¡±

    The person in charge of props nodded his head in agreement.

    As Xia Ling adapted well to the pool, the filming started earlier as everyone wanted to film her earlier and end work earlier.

    The crew was in ce, the music and lights were ready, and she was like a fairy in the water, slowly dancing and swimming. Her posture was soft and beautiful with a slightly mysterious charm. Tiny crystal drops of water fell on her eyebrows as she stretched out her delicate fingers. Every move she made was a full part of an inexplicable rhythm, and people could not take their eyes off her.

    For a while, everyone was in a trance and breathless.

    The dance ended.

    Xia Ling¡¯s slender ankles stepped on the shore, and the silver bells around her ankles jingled.

    Wei Wei brought over arge towel and covered the wet parts of her body with it. It was mid-summer, and it was air-conditioned indoors. As she had stayed in the pool for a long time, her body started to feel a hint of coolness.

    Xia Ling used a hand to tighten the towel and gave the head director an enquiring look.

    The head director nodded at her. ¡°Ok, that was a good shot. You¡¯ve had a long day.¡± He gave her a thumbs up.

    Xia Ling smiled. After diligently practicing for so many years, she was not hiding her dancing skills anymore and could reap the rewards of her hard work. There were very few people in the world who could match up to her dancing. Thus, finishing the shoot in one take was not unexpected to her. Wei Wei and Sister Mai Na supported her as she made her way to the changing room. When she was dancing in the water, she did not feel the cold, but once she arrived on the shore, she felt colder.

    ¡°Slow down.¡± At this moment, a girl suddenly stopped her.

    Xia Ling turned around, only to see Gu Lin. Why was she there?

    Miss Gu was wearing a gorgeous red leather skirt that exposed her thighs, making her look so sexy that people could not look away from her. Many men in the studio were already looking at her.

    Gu Lin was very delighted and arrogantly looked at Xia Ling. ¡°I haven¡¯t allowed you to go yet. Why are you leaving?¡±

    Xia Ling did not respond.

    Sister Mai Na already started speaking. ¡°Excuse me, but who are you?¡± She said as she slightly frowned, her tone as cold as ice.

    When she was dealing with someone who was trying so hard to look attractive, Sister Mai Na¡¯s tone was scathing and truly had the aura of a proud queen. In contrast, Gu Lin looked as ridiculous as a kindergartener putting up a false show of strength.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know who I am?¡± Gu Linughed coldly. ¡°You must be Ye Xingling¡¯s manager. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still in this industry with your poor judgment. No wonder you can only be in charge of someone like Ye Xingling with such a small role. In the future, I will mention you to Brother Lei and ask him to fire you as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will humiliate Skyart Entertainment.¡±

    She spoke as if she were very close to Li Lei.

    The head director frowned. This missy showed up out of nowhere and was so insensible, and she even dared to provoke Sister Mai Na. Sister Mai Na was a well-known manager in the industry, and her ability to argue with others was frightening. Seeing that his filming work was sessfullypleted, he did not want new problems to crop up unexpectedly.

    Who was this moron?

    Sister Mai Na also sneered and looked at the gorgeous girl in front of her. ¡°Should I know you? I¡¯m sorry, but do you have more fans than the number of fingers you have on one hand? Do you know how to sing or act?¡± With her ability to read people, she already saw that Gu Lin was not an artiste. She knew many artistes, and although she was pretty, her posture... Haha, she was a bit of a hunchback. Any random small star who had received training would not stand in such an ugly manner.

    Gu Lin was enraged. This manager was so detestable and dared to have her nose in the air! When she returned home, she definitely must make Brother Lei fire her!

    ¡°I don¡¯t have many fans.¡± Gu Lin raised her head and boasted arrogantly. ¡°Why would anyone with a status like mine show in public like a small star. They have to rush to finish their jobs and suffer hardship, I¡¯m sure life is not easy for them.¡± She nced at Xia Ling scornfully. ¡°Do your job well and don¡¯tze around idly.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ze around idly¡¯?¡± Xia Ling was furious, her tone cold. ¡°Gu Lin, you better listen clearly.¡±

    Only then did the surrounding people realize that the gorgeous girl wearing the red leather skirt was called Gu Lin. This surname was very familiar...

    ¡°Miss Gu! Please don¡¯t get mad.¡± A middle-aged man that was drenched in sweat ran into the studio. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you wereing, so I did note in time to wee you. I¡¯m very sorry about that. Miss Gu, are you hot? Come and drink some iced chrysanthemum tea, it will cool you down.¡± As he spoke, he diligently called for someone to send the tea over and personally brought it over to Gu Lin.

    This middle-aged man was one of the chief inspectors of the Gu Financial Magnate and was also the one in charge of the shooting of this advertisement. He was called Qian Yong. He had met Gu Lin a few times before in the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s office. After he received the news that Gu Lin was here for ¡°inspection,¡± he was determined to make a good impression so that he would be able to get a promotion and a higher sry.

    Qian Yong had a very high position in the advertisement scene. Seeing that he was acting so servile, those who did not know Gu Lin were shocked as it seemed that she was of very high status. For some time, everyone looked at her with different expressions filled with curiosity, envy, and respect.

    Gu Lin was very used to this type of scene. She looked at Xia Ling who was quietly standing with arge towel wrapped around her wet body. She elegantly took the cup of chrysanthemum tea from Qian Yong¡¯s hands and slowly took a sip. ¡°Those who work for the Gu Financial Magnate are the more sensible, unlike some people who think they are impressive because they became the spokesperson of ourpany. Ha, what a joke.¡±

    Gu Financial Magnate?

    After associating her surname with thepany, everyone realized that she was the eldest daughter of the Gu Family. No wonder she was so arrogant. As for that artiste called Ye Xingling? She seemed to not be on good terms with Miss Gu. That was a pity for her. As an artiste, offending the advertiser who was paying her would lead to a terrible oue.

    Sure enough, Gu Lin said, ¡°Ye Xingling, haven¡¯t you been dumped by Brother Lei? What right do you have to continue being the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s spokesperson? In the past, you could rely on Brother Lei to protect you, but what about now? Don¡¯t try to cling onto Brother Lei shamelessly.¡±

 Chapter 261 - We Are Not Reshooting

    <h4>Chapter 261: We Are Not Reshooting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was well informed. After hearing that Xia Ling had moved out of Li Lei¡¯s apartment a few days ago, she was initially very happy, but then she heard that Li Lei frequently visited her and even personally cooked and sent the food over to her... Incorrigible, that was Brother Lei¡¯s personally cooked food! Since when did her Brother Lei cook for any woman?! What right did that irritating woman have to deserve that sort of treatment? She was too shameless!

    As such, she looked for Xia Ling today.

    On the one hand, she wanted to mock her for her break up with Li Lei. On the other hand, she wanted to warn her to stay away from Li Lei!

    Xia Ling also understood that she was just jealous. Laughing sarcastically, she said, ¡°I would like to know who Miss Gu is to Li Lei. What right do you have to say these things to me? Regardless of whether we have broken up, this is something between us and not something for you to blindly partake in. It won¡¯t be good if people mistakenly believe that Li Lei likes you!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin was so angry that her eyes turned red.

    So what if Brother Lei did not like her? If Brother Lei liked her, why was she still not part of the Li family after sparing no effort in getting him to like her? However, she would never give up. She stubbornly believed that the vixen in front of her had seduced him, and once she chased her away, Brother Lei would definitely fall in love with her!

    The more Gu Lin hated her, the more she wanted to cause trouble for Xia Ling.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m qualified to speak to you! I¡¯m the eldest daughter of the Gu family!¡± Gu Lin looked at her disdainfully with her head high up in the air like a proud peacock. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t forget who you are shooting themercial for. As long as I say that you¡¯re no good, don¡¯t even think about finishing this job!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her ndly. ¡°So?¡±

    Gu Lin was startled. What did she mean by that? Was that irritating woman not afraid at all? How could she be this calm! Miss Gu was upset again and became even more enraged. ¡°So, I want you to reshoot thismercial!¡±

    There was a buzzing sound as the crowd started to discuss the situation.

    Before Xia Ling could say anything, the head director became visibly upset. ¡°Miss Gu, Miss Ye danced for themercial perfectly, we don¡¯t need to reshoot. In fact, we can start editing the footage immediately.¡± He had a family, and his wife and children were waiting for him to return home for dinner after work. Those in charge of lighting and props may not be willing to co-operate as well. Who wouldn¡¯t want to get off work early?

    However, Gu Lin red at him. ¡°If I say it¡¯s no good, it¡¯s no good!¡±

    ¡°What part of it is no good?¡± Xia Ling faked a smile and asked.

    Gu Lin was startled again. What sort of question was that? Did that irritating woman not see that she was finding fault with her?! Why was she still asking her which part was no good?! How would she know which part was not good!

    Just now, when Xia Ling was being filmed in the water, Gu Lin was observing from afar and could not help but admit that Xia Ling danced beautifully. Her elegant and ethereal dance tugged at everyone¡¯s heartstrings, and people could not take their eyes off of her.

    However, this made Gu Lin angrier. What right did that irritating woman have to be so elegant?!

    ¡°What part of it is no good?¡± Gu Lin gritted her teeth. ¡°Everything is bad! Ye Xingling, do you not have any self-awareness? I can¡¯t believe you still dared to show up for the advertisement shoot when your dancing is so unsightly! If thismercial is released, the Gu family will be humiliated because of you! Re-shoot!¡±

    Xia Lingughed slightly. ¡°My dancing is unsightly? May I ask Miss Gu if it is because my posture during my backbend as I wasing out of the water was missing something?¡±

    What backbend was she even talking about?

    Gu Lin¡¯s face stiffened.

    Xia Ling smiled again. ¡°Or is there a problem with my battement when I was twisting my body?¡±

    What the hell was that? Gu Lin¡¯s face became stiffer.

    ¡°Both of them are not the reasons? Which part does Miss Gu think was poorly done then? My frappe? My footwork? My position? You have to give me an exnation. Saying that my dancing is not good is too vague, I¡¯m at a loss as to what to do... Miss Gu, I hope that this is not because you don¡¯t know anything about dancing.¡±

    ¡°Who... who said I don¡¯t know anything about dancing!¡± Gu Lin retorted, but her heart was pounding like a drum. Shepletely did not understand all of the dancing terms that the irritating woman just said!

    Sister Mai Na rudelyughed and almost pped for Xia Ling. That was exactly how she should deal with vicious people like Gu Lin! ¡°Haha, so uncultured. It¡¯s really appalling.¡± She ruthlessly mocked Gu Lin. ¡°Youe from a rich family, why didn¡¯t you put your family¡¯s money to good use by learning something? Do you know about water ballet or folk dance? If you don¡¯t know anything, don¡¯t add trouble and embarrass the Gu family!¡±

    She said thest sentence because of what Gu Lin mocked Xia Ling for doing, Sister Mai Na was trying to return the favor.

    As such, Xia Ling alsoughed. Having a manager who knew how to put others down was veryforting.

    Gu Lin was so angry her face became as white as a sheet. Even many staff members at the scene could not help butugh. It was obvious that these staff members were supporting Xia Ling because everyone wanted to end work and go home earlier. No one wanted to remain there to do a reshoot.

    Sensing that the crowd was ridiculing her, she also felt embarrassed and stomped her feet. ¡°I don¡¯t care! No matter what, you must reshoot! Otherwise, don¡¯t even think about getting paid for this advertisement!¡± As she spoke, she red angrily at the director from the Gu Financial Magnate. ¡°Hey, you! Say something! If you don¡¯t ask them to reshoot, I will ask my father to fire you when we get back!¡±

    ¡°Of course, Miss Gu! If you say we should reshoot, we will reshoot.¡± Director Qian Yong¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat. He said to the head director who was in charge of the advertisement, ¡°Xiao Li, quickly reshoot. I think there is really somethingcking in the previous shoot, and reshooting will be even better to refine the previous shoot.¡± He originally wanted to curry favor with Gu Lin anyway. Everyone in the Gu Financial Magnate knew that the CEO loved his precious daughter the most. As long as Gu Lin was happy, promotion and raise were possible, but if he offended Gu Lin, he did not have to think about remaining in thepany.

    The head director was unhappy. ¡°Director Qian, this...¡±

    Qian Yong desperately tried to signal to him.

    The head director hesitated before managing to say, ¡°Alright, we will reshoot.¡± The Gu Financial Magnate was their top-rated client and would pay them a lot of money every year for advertisements, so it was not wise for him to offend Miss Gu. Besides, Director Qian was very considerate. Seeing his expression just now, he would definitelypensate him with many benefits.

    Trying to get everyone¡¯s attention, the head director pped his hands. ¡°Come, everyone, let¡¯s bear it for a while and reshoot. Prepare the lights and cameras.¡± He then turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, I have to trouble you as well.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him coldly. She did not move or make a sound.

    Sister Mai Na frowned. ¡°Who do you think ourpany¡¯s Xiao Ling is that she would agree to a reshoot just because you want one?¡±

    ¡°There is a condition in the contract that states that the shoot must meet the requirements of the producers.¡± The head director thickened his skin and spoke to Sister Mai Na. ¡°Now, the producer is not satisfied with the shoot, so we have to reshoot until she is satisfied. I hope you understand.¡± He knew that Sister Mai Na was not as moronic as Miss Gu, it was not good to provoke her.

    Sure enough, Sister Mai Na was furious. ¡°We¡¯re not reshooting.¡±

 Chapter 262 - Not Making The Slightest Concession

    <h4>Chapter 262: Not Making The Slightest Concession</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Not reshooting?¡± Gu Lin held her head high. ¡°That means that you are viting the contract!¡±

    ¡°So this is how the Gu Financial Magnate treats its partners?¡± Sister Mai Na turned around to look at the head director and Qian Yong. ¡°We will ept a reasonable reshoot. However, given the circumstances now, it is obvious that the eldest daughter of the Gu Financial Magnate is secretly in love with the Boss of Skyart Entertainment but has failed to gain his favor and is venting her anger on the woman whom our boss likes. Haha, Miss Gu, did youe here to cause trouble just because you are unlucky in love? I¡¯m very sorry, but we will not amodate such a childish and ridiculous act.¡±

    She could see through Gu Lin¡¯s intentions with one look.

    Gu Lin¡¯s face burned red. She did not think that Sister Mai Na would be so direct and call her out for her failed secret crush with Li Lei! As a female, there was nothing more embarrassing than being rejected by the man she was chasing after!

    ¡°I do not!¡± She screamed. ¡°I don¡¯t have a secret crush on Brother Lei!¡±

    ¡°Oh, right. You have an open crush.¡± Xia Ling added on for her.

    Gu Lin wished she could rip Xia Ling¡¯s mouth apart. She fiercely attacked her. ¡°What about you? Ye Xingling, you¡¯re the one who was ditched by Brother Lei! Everyone in the world knows that you¡¯re a woman that no one wants!¡±

    What she said was truly awful, but Xia Ling did not get angry at all because that was not the truth!

    It caused her no pain.

    She smiled at Gu Lin. ¡°What? No matter how unwanted I am, I wouldn¡¯te here to cause a scene and act like a monkey in front of everyone.¡± She nced at the head director, Qian Yong, the film crew, and lighting crew. ¡°You people can¡¯t even take the high moral ground after being lightly threatened by this monkey? Do you really like to be yed by this monkey that much?¡±

    Everyone fell silent.

    They were all ordinary people who relied on their own hard work to support their families. No one dared to be stubborn. Even if Miss Gu asked for something unreasonable, they could only tolerate it. Otherwise, they would not be able to feed their families. That was more important than taking the moral high ground!

    Many people red at Xia Ling and hated her for mocking them like that.

    However, they also secretly admired her. The girl in front of them was obviously just dumped by someone and was the subject of much gossip. Soon, she would also be leaving herpany. How was she able to be so defiant and insist on not reshooting?

    Was this girl really so overconfident?

    ¡°Miss Ye, just tolerate it for a while.¡± The head director could not help but advise. ¡°Even if it is...¡±

    ¡°For money?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I haven¡¯t stooped to the level in which I have to entertain a prancing monkey for a small amount of money.¡± What she said offended everyone at the scene, but nobody could refute her.

    Sister Mai Na was a little troubled. This child was really too insensible...

    Her manager should be the one saying these offensive things. As a celebrity, she should be image-conscious and not pick a fight with others as she wished. What good can there be from offending the film crew?

    Sister Mai Na was rather worried. Soon, Xiao Ling would be leaving Skyart Entertainment. With a personality like that, how was she going to survive in the industry in the future? However, it seemed that she could only conceal her worries inside. On the surface, she was still determined to support Xia Ling till the end. ¡°No matter what, we¡¯re not reshooting.¡±

    Gu Lin felt that she was being too kind to them. How dare they say that she was a monkey?! Well then, she should let these ignorant women see what a rich monkey was!

    She walked in front of the camera and deleted the entire footage of the shoot that was filmed just now.

    ¡°Well, all of the footage has been deleted by me.¡± She looked at the two of them delightfully. ¡°You refuse to reshoot? Themercial will be a failure then!¡±

    Was Gu Lin an idiot?

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°How is it my problem if yourmercial fails?¡±

    ¡°I... you!¡± Gu Lin was startled. ¡°Didn¡¯t you ept this advertisement job? You¡¯re responsible for itspletion!¡±

    ¡°You can ask whoever you like to shoot the advertisement for you.¡± For this advertisement, Xia Ling painstakingly choreographed a dance, analyzed the special terrain in the pool, and rehearsed many times despite the pool¡¯s freezing cold water... However, the result of her hard work was deleted easily by Gu Lin¡¯s decision. How could she not be angry?

    She still wanted her to reshoot? In her dreams!

    She turned around. ¡°Sister Mai Na and Wei Wei, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Sister Mai Na also felt that Gu Lin did things very foolishly. Seeing that Xia Ling was walking away, she immediately caught up with her. After being a manager for so many years, she deeply understood when it was time to make concessions, and it was in this sort of scenario that she should never make a concession. This was because if she did, everyone in the industry would think that Sister Mai Na and her artistes were easy to bully, and then other sorts of troublesome situations would follow. As such, it was necessary not to make a concession!

    Seeing their resolute behavior, Gu Lin started to be uncertain. ¡°Hey, wait! Are you really not going to shoot anymore?! You¡¯re viting the contract! You will have topensate us!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Sister Mai Na stopped in her tracks as she could no longer tolerate it and sneered. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re qualified to receivepensation? Alright, send us awyer¡¯s letter. If you have a problem, we can discuss it through ourwyers. Also...¡± She copied Xia Ling and nced at the film crew before continuing. ¡°The Gu Financial Magnate is a bigpany and is yourrge client, but don¡¯t you forget that Xiao Ling works for apany called Skyart Entertainment.¡±

    Xiao Ling had not left yet, and these people were willing to offend Skyart Entertainment because they did not want to provoke the Gu Financial Magnate?

    All the staff members were shocked. It was true that they could not afford to offend the Gu Financial Magnate but... they could not afford to offend Skyart Entertainment even more... However, there were some rumors in the industry that the small star called Ye Xingling would be leaving Skyart Entertainment soon. Considering this, thepany would surely not protect her too much, right?

    As if she saw through what they were thinking, Sister Mai Naughed coldly. ¡°I haven¡¯t retired yet.¡±

    Even if Xia Ling left, Sister Mai Na would still be there.

    She had an important role in Skyart Entertainment. Who would dare to disrespect her?

    Everyone¡¯s expressions slightly changed.

    The head director respectfully said, ¡°Sister Mai Na, we also have our difficulties...¡±

    Sister Mai Na nced coldly at him before leaving with Xia Ling.

    Behind them, Gu Lin was still arrogantly screaming at them. ¡°You don¡¯t want to shoot? Fine, then don¡¯t! Bigger artistes are waiting to be chosen by the Gu family. This just a mere advertisement! I will get someone to rece you!¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Ling finally could not help butugh. She did not bother to look back.

    In the changing room.

    Sister Mai Na and Wei Wei helped Xia Ling to change out of her soaking dance clothes and change into a clean and dry set of clothes.

    As Wei Wei helped her blow dry her hair, she felt a little worried. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling... Do you think Miss Gu will really look for someone to rece you in this advertisement?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if she does.¡± Xia Ling was a little tired and closed her eyes to rest.

    Wei Wei was still very concerned. ¡°What right does she has? Our hard work and effort would be wasted then.¡±

    ¡°Silly girl.¡± Sister Mai Na could not help butugh. ¡°How many artistes do you think are as elegant as Xiao Ling? Do you think that the dance in the pool was an easy shoot? If Gu Lin can find someone better than Xiao Ling... No, if she can find someone who is about eighty percent as sessful as Xiao Ling for this shoot, I will write my name backward!¡±

    Gu Lin really tried to look for someone else.

 Chapter 263 - Rehire Ye Xingling

    <h4>Chapter 263: Rehire Ye Xingling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was said that many stars werepeting in shooting the advertisement for Meteor Wings.

    At the start, the searching process was very smooth. Many stars were willing to be hired at a lower rate. Shooting for such a luxurious and stylish perfume would increase one¡¯s poprity and status. Who would not covet the opportunity?

    Unfortunately, it was just like the time when Meteor Wings was looking for a spokesperson. There were many applicants, but there was no one who could pass the selection round.

    Dancing in the pool was very difficult. Even if a famous female celebrity tried it, she could not even finish the entire routine. The celebrities either looked awful during the shooting or could not even stand up steadily. There were even celebrities who fell into the water when they were dancing, and manypanies were asking the Gu Family forpensation.

    Gu Lin had a terrible headache.

    ¡°Useless! All of you are useless!¡± She threw a tantrum in the film studio.

    The head director also had a headache. Things went smoothly when they used Ye Xingling in the shoot, but new problems kept cropping up unexpectedly. ¡°How about we rehire Ye Xingling?¡± He carefully suggested to Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin red at him ferociously. ¡°Do you not want to be the head director anymore?!¡±

    The head director shut up. He could not risk provoking the moronic Miss Gu.

    Director Qian Yong and the assistant director were also entangled in the situation. At the start, when they saw how gracefully Ye Xingling danced in the pool, they thought that the dance was very easy, and any amateur dancer would be able to rece her. However, unexpectedly, none of the female stars who participated in the audition could do it, and even told them, ¡°The dance is not difficult? This is probably one of the most difficult types of dance.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, what should we do now?¡± Qian Yong anxiously tried to get Gu Lin¡¯s opinion. Now that the situation had turned out this way, he was also worried. The release date was approaching quickly, and the other newmercials by the Gu Financial Magnate were already released, causing the public to anticipate the final advertisement in the series. If they messed up, it would definitely cause an uproar.

    ¡°What else can we do?!¡± Miss Gu stomped her feet. ¡°Have I hired you for nothing? Quickly help me think of something!¡±

    A group of people was cursing Gu Lin in their hearts. Themercial shooting was so unsessful because she had a quarrel with Ye Xingling, but when it turned out that she made the wrong decision, she depended on her innocent subordinates to help her clean up her mess.

    However, there was no better solution.

    ¡°How about we change the scene or the choreography?¡± The assistant director suggested.

    ¡°How can we change it?¡± Miss Gu¡¯s eyes lit up as if she found a straw to clutch at.

    The assistant director finally felt that he had a use and was pleased with himself. ¡°It¡¯s simple. We can change the pool to the ground and simplify the dance so any female celebrity can easily perform it.¡±

    Before Gu Lin could say anything, Qian Yong could not help but interrupt. ¡°Miss Gu, we can¡¯t do this. If we do this, what is the difference between the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯smercials and the shoddymercials of the otherpanies? This will lower the reputation of Meteor Wings and is worse than not having an advertisement!¡± Now that things had turned out that way, he could not help but speak. He gave in to Gu Lin because he wanted to be rich, but he was not so stupid that he didn¡¯t know that if they lowered the quality of themercial, it would not matter how much he tried to curry favor with Gu Lin, CEO Gu and Old Master Gu would directly fire him!

    Gu Lin ignored him. ¡°We will follow his suggestion!¡±

    The head director was also unhappy. As a director, he had to protect his reputation in the industry. When he was filming Ye Xingling¡¯smercial, it was beautiful and of exceptional quality. If it were aired, he would be praised for being very professional. However, what would happen if a shoddymercial was aired? His reputation would be tarnished!

    Why did he not pray for blessings at the temple before shooting themercial? If he had done so, he probably would not have encountered such an idiotic person like Miss Gu.

    Although he did not dare to oppose Gu Lin in person, it did not mean that he could not do something else. After the discussion ended, the assistant director helped Gu Lin change the scene, simplified the dance, and looked for recements while the head director and Director Qian Yong met in private to discuss countermeasures.

    ¡°We can¡¯t let Miss Gu screw this up any further.¡± The head director passed a cigarette to Qian Yong. ¡°How about you report this to CEO Gu? We know how important Meteor Wings is. There must not be any idents; otherwise, my reputation will be damaged, and you will probably lose your position.¡±

    Qian Yongpletely agreed. ¡°However, CEO Gu spoils Miss Gu too much. Anyone who reports about this will be doomed.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t report this and something happens, we will be the scapegoats, and it will be difficult to escape the situation.¡±

    ¡°That...¡± Qian Yong fiercely smoked his cigarette and thought about it. ¡°I will send an anonymous letter to thepany¡¯s internal forum then. With the pressure of public opinion, CEO Gu will definitely not ignore it.¡± He was afraid that since CEO Gu spoiled his daughter so much, he might hear about his daughter¡¯s moronic idea for a very important project like Meteor Wings and not do anything about it. If CEO Gu had the highest authority in the Gu Family, it did not matter, but the problem was... The person who had the highest authority was the Old Master. The Old Master was well-known for being strict when doing business. If something happened to Meteor Wings, he would definitely be infuriated and deal with it seriously even though his family members were involved.

    Qian Yong also did not want to be responsible for the mess.

    The two people went to an inte cafe and sent an anonymous letter using a proxy IP on the same day.

    On the internal forum of the Gu Financial Magnate, there was a great uproar. It turned out that the moronic eldest daughter of the Gu Family had caused trouble, and this time she had a conflict with Ye Xingling from Skyart Entertainment? Even so, she should not have randomly changed the artiste due to personal grievances. The most important thing was that she was unable to rece her with a suitable artiste.

    The Gu Financial Magnate had spared no efforts in the Meteor Wings¡¯ projects. At this time, they were very concerned about the progress of the project. The phrase ¡°You can¡¯tpromise the shooting style¡± was bing the topment.

    Naturally, CEO Gu saw the anonymous letter and called his daughter over to ask about the situation.

    ¡°They¡¯re all bullying me!¡± Gu Lin cried so hard in front of her father that her makeup was in a mess. ¡°I can¡¯t believe they said that I was a moron! Dad, you have to punish them and fire all of those people who scolded me on the forum!¡±

    ¡°It is not convenient for me to do that.¡± CEO Gu smiled bitterly. He did not know who were the anonymous people attacking her, and even if he knew, what could he do? He was afraid that they were essential staff. If he expelled so many essential staff at once, the Gu Financial Magnate would probably copse.

    ¡°Linlin, listen to your father. Ask that small star called Ye Xingling toe back. It seems that she is the only one suitable to film the advertisement. Otherwise, your grandfather will be angry.¡± Father Gu felt sorry for her as he patted his daughter¡¯s head.

    Gu Lin¡¯s eyes were brimming with tears. ¡°No way! Why should I ask her toe back? Based on what? Dad, I¡¯m sure grandfather won¡¯t continue to protect her this time. In the past, he did that because he was being respectful towards Brother Lei, but now that she was dumped by Brother Lei, grandfather won¡¯t care about her!¡±

    How were things so simple?

    Although CEO Gu had no limits when spoiling his daughter, other people did have their limits with her. ¡°Your grandfather really values Meteor Wings. He protected that small star not only because of Li Lei. That small star is truly capable and is able to give outstanding performance when others can¡¯t. Meteor Wings can¡¯t afford to lose her.¡±

    ¡°Even my dad is supporting an outsider!¡± Gu Lin wanted to cry again.

    Seeing that his precious daughter was throwing a tantrum, CEO Gu quickly said, ¡°Ok, I won¡¯t support outsiders.¡±

    ¡°Then, how do you think we should solve this problem?!¡± Gu Lin stomped her foot.

 Chapter 264 - No Sincerity

    <h4>Chapter 264: No Sincerity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    How should they solve the problem? CEO Gu wanted a solution.

    When it came to thismercial, Ye Xingling was irreceable. No matter what, they had to rehire her. The problem was how to cate his daughter after rehiring Ye Xingling.

    CEO Gu frowned and thought for a long time before finally thinking of an idea.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling had heard about how the Gu Financial Magnate was desperately trying to find someone to shoot the advertisement andughed at the news. She was busying herself with other jobs. Soon, she would finish all her jobs under Skyart Entertainment. To leave a good impression, she was very meticulous when shooting, and the quality of her shoots was better than ever. As such, she won the praise of those who hired her.

    ¡°Thank you, Miss Ye.¡± After shooting amercial on this day, a staff member of the TV station sent her out. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why the Gu Financial Mangate wants to find a new recement to shoot for Meteor Wings. How can there be a better female star than you?¡±

    Xia Ling said a few modest words and felt that the Gu family was unlucky for having a daughter like Gu Lin. Regarding the conflict, the insiders all said that Gu Lin was unreasonable and was jealous of an insignificant love rival that she actually lowered herself and made things difficult for her secret crush¡¯s ex-girlfriend, destroying her own family business¡¯ n. Now, Gu Lin was thought of as an ignorant rich second-generation heir.

    Xia Ling gained some sympathy from the public. After being dumped by her boyfriend, she was being bitten by a woman who was acting like a mad dog. The staff member at the TV stationforted her. ¡°Miss Ye, with your abilities, fame will eventuallye to you. Don¡¯t take these few mishaps to heart.¡±

    ¡°I never took them to heart.¡± Xia Ling smiled and said goodbye to the staff member.

    She returned home.

    Luo Luo had just rushed out for a job, so there was only her in therge apartment.

    Soon, the doorbell rang.

    She thought Luo Luo hade back, so she randomly put on pajamas to open the door. Unexpectedly, it was Li Lei who entered the apartment.

    ¡°Hi, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei smiled and greeted her as he shook the lunchbox he was holding. ¡°Today, I made the scallops that you love. Let¡¯s eat together?¡± He visited Xia Ling almost every day and pestered her relentlessly, causing Xia Ling not to know whether to cry orugh. Sometimes, she felt it was no different from staying at his apartment.

    However, it was just a thought.

    If he were unwilling to let her move out, their rtionship would not be so peaceful.

    Xia Ling let him in and went to the kitchen to pour a ss of water while he concentrated on opening the lunchbox. Sure enough, there were the scallops that she loved to eat, and they were cooked specially in the way that she liked them, with the garlic and fermented soya beans minced into small pieces.

    Taking the credit for his work, Li Lei asked, ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°Everything you cook is nice.¡± She spoke very honestly. If this man were not her Boss, he was definitely able to be a chef.

    He smiled delightedly, and his heart was satisfied like a harmlessrge cat.

    There was a meowing sound heard, and a small figure walked over from the living room.

    ¡°Hi, Hairball.¡± Xia Ling turned around to see an obedient kitten beside her legs. It was the kitten that she had brought home from the recording studio. When she moved out of Li Lei¡¯s apartment, it followed her, and she gave it the name ¡°Hairball¡± because its shaggy fur was particrly cute.

    ¡°Did you bring anything for Hairball to eat?¡± Xia Ling asked. Hairball really liked to eat the fishes that Li Lei cooked, so she was more straightforward when asking him about it.

    ¡°I brought it.¡± As Li Lei spoke, he skillfully prepared the meal for the cat ¡ª cat food mixed with fresh fish. It was especially delicious. ¡°This is Er Mao¡¯s leftovers which are specially kept for Hairball.¡± Seeing that the kitten was eating its meal heartily, he asked, ¡°Even Er Mao can¡¯t bear to eat it and always leaves a portion for Hairball. When are you going to bring Hairball to visit Er Mao?¡±

    ¡°When I have the time. Recently, I have been recording a song with Ah Wei.¡± She had jointly written a song called ¡°Stray Cat¡± with him, and she had to finish it before leaving Skyart Entertainment for good.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Speaking of jobs, Uncle Gu visited me today.¡±

    ¡°Which Uncle Gu?¡±

    ¡°Gu Lin¡¯s father.¡± Li Lei was done feeding the cat and walked over to eat with Xia Ling. ¡°He wants to rehire you to shoot for Meteor Wings and asked me to persuade you.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken by surprise. He wanted Li Lei to persuade her? ¡°Why didn¡¯t he ask me himself?¡±

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t set his pride aside.¡± Li Lei calmly said. ¡°He is old and values his status too much. Do you think he would be willing to lower himself in front of ady like you?¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Ling bit the scallop fiercely. ¡°Why didn¡¯t he value his status when his daughter was bullying me?¡±

    This silly girl was really calctive.

    Li Lei shook his head and smiled. ¡°Linlin was pampered since a young age, that¡¯s why she is so spoiled and does not think before acting. Do you want to have the same IQ as her?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I want to have the same IQ as her! What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Xia Ling was also very stubborn and angrily stared at Li Lei. ¡°Are you siding with her?! Also, don¡¯t call her Linlin!¡±

    ¡°Are you jealous?¡± Li Lei was bursting with joy.

    ¡°Your entire family is jealous!¡± Xia Ling was full, so she put down her chopsticks, turned around, and ignored him.

    Being cheeky, Li Lei grabbed ahold of her.

    His Xiao Ling was really jealous! Under the warm light, he looked at the vague blush on her cheeks and smiled. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t be mad. I won¡¯t call her Linlin anymore. So what if my entire family is jealous?¡± His eyes were beaming with joy.

    There was a time when he was uneasy about letting her leave because he was afraid that she would be further away from him and they would be more distant. However, it seemed now that the result was not bad.

    Seeing that he was admitting his mistake, she softened a little. ¡°Well then, what did you tell Uncle Gu?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t he ask you to persuade me? What did you tell him?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°I told him not to interfere. This mess was created by Gu Lin, so if she really wants to rehire you, he should ask Gu Lin to beg you directly.¡± Perhaps he had usually treated the Gu Family¡¯s father and daughter too politely as Father Gu thought that it was right for him to order Xia Ling to return and even told him that he should punish Xia Ling to stop her disrespectful behavior.

    After hearing that, Li Lei was very upset. How could he help him persuade Xia Ling? Until now, the Gu Family did not have a clear understanding of the situation but wanted to order Xiao Ling around. Thinking about that, Li Lei added, ¡°If Uncle Gu looks for you, don¡¯t be easily persuaded by him. Now, the Gu Family is more anxious than you. No matter what they do, they should at least be more sincere. Don¡¯t give in so easily to them!¡±

    Xia Ling naturally understood. ¡°What¡¯s the use of asking an elder to persuade me? Gu Lin should be the one looking for me! If she doesn¡¯t apologize to me, I won¡¯t help them reshoot the advertisement.¡±

    Afterposing half of ¡°Stray Cat¡± with Wei Shaoyin, with two lifetimes of music experience, Xia Ling was very clear that that song would create amazing and seismic effects. When that happened, her worth and status would bepletely different from now. Could the Gu Family still squeeze her then? Not a chance.

 Chapter 265 - Have A Sincere Attitude When Asking For Help

    <h4>Chapter 265: Have A Sincere Attitude When Asking For Help</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Father Gu was very unhappy that Li Lei refused to help him.

    Father Gu called him a few times to persuade him using his status as an elder to get Ye Xingling back as soon as possible. In Father Gu¡¯s eyes, so what if Li Lei was the younger grandson of the Li family which was a triad? No matter what, he was part of the younger generation and soon orter would marry his daughter. His Linlin was so outstanding, how could she not marry the man she loved?

    That also meant that sooner orter, Li Lei would have to call him ¡°father-inw.¡±

    Father Gu was displeased. This was Li Lei¡¯s attitude towards his future father-inw?

    Over the phone, his voice became stricter. ¡°Xiao Lei, why are you trying to shirk responsibility? Even if Ye Xingling is about to leave Skyart, she still has a contract with us! As her Boss, isn¡¯t the right thing to ask her to apologize to Linlin and reshoot the advertisement? Why do you have to make the situation more difficult?!¡±

    He was worried. This had to be settled as soon as possible. Otherwise, once Old Master found out about it, Gu Lin would be punished.

    Li Lei smiled warmly and respectfully. ¡°Uncle Gu, Xiao Ling is more stubborn than your daughter. Do you think she will be willing to apologize to her? Besides, the one at fault is not her. How about I liaise with her manager and we discuss the matter. You can also send someone here to discuss the terms with Xiao Ling¡¯s manager.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lei, are you really not going to give us any face?¡± Father Gu was enraged.

    ¡°We can¡¯t always be giving you face.¡± Li Lei¡¯s tone was slightly cold. ¡°Uncle Gu, do you still remember what happened during the reception party at Imperial Entertainment? You and Gu Lin made Xiao Ling¡¯s life difficult in front of so many prominent guests. At that time, I already said that I would not be giving you face anymore.¡±

    Father Gu choked and vaguely remembered that he said something like that.

    How incorrigible. Wasn¡¯t she just a small star? ¡°You have already broken up with her, why are you still protecting her?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Uncle Gu, if there¡¯s nothing else, I will hang up first.¡± He hung up the phone and sent someone to instruct Sister Mai Na not to be polite if anyone from the Gu Financial Magnate tried to look for Xiao Ling.

    They would have to pay the price for messing with the one he loved.

    Old family friends were not spared.

    Father Gu was so enraged that he smashed his phone.

    Gu Lin looked at him with a worried expression. ¡°How was it, dad? Did Brother Lei not agree to it?¡±

    ¡°Your Brother Lei is really blinded by that vixen!¡± Father Gu said scornfully. He turned around and saw that Gu Lin¡¯s face had slightly turned white, and tears were brimming in her eyes. His heart ached again. ¡°Silly girl, don¡¯t be afraid. I will think of another way out for you.¡±

    ¡°What other way can there be?!¡± Gu Lin threw a tantrum. ¡°Dad, why can¡¯t you even settle such a small thing?! Quickly ask that irritating Ye Xingling toe back for a reshoot. Otherwise, I will be sent to Green Ind Girls¡¯ Boarding School by Old Master Gu! I refuse to go there!¡± She had caused a lot of trouble once and was sent to Green Ind Girls¡¯ Boarding School by Old Master Gu who told her to respect the rules. That school was in a very isted area with stringent rules. The girls all wore long dark skirts and had very short hair. They were as ugly as nuns, had to have a mass every meal and be vegetarians! She was not crazy enough to want to be sent back there.

    Father Gu also could not bear for his daughter to be sent back there.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent someone to liaise with Ye Xingling¡¯s manager.¡± Since the situation was like that, he could only listen to Li Lei and look for Sister Mai Na. No matter how unwilling Father Gu was, he was forced to lower himself by the circumstances.

    He thought that he had already lowered himself enough.

    Unexpectedly, Sister Mai Na required him to lower himself even more. ¡°Gu Financial Magnate? Recently, you have caused a lot of trouble for us.¡± Sister Mai Na smiled smugly like a queen at the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s representative. ¡°You want to beg Xiao Ling to go back? Alright then, please be more sincere.¡±

    The representative from Gu Financial Magnate understood that if he did not give any incentives, he would not be able to persuade Ye Xingling. Gritting his teeth, he asked, ¡°What sort of incentives are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Ten times the appearance fee.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± This manager was trying tomit daylight robbery! The Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s representative was about to go crazy. Ye Xingling was originally appointed by Old Master Gu on behalf of Li Lei. They had a high-level rtionship, and her appearance fee was one of the highest. If the basic fee was increased by ten times... Wouldn¡¯t the Gu Financial Magnate be overpaying her?!

    ¡°Not willing? Then forget it.¡± Sister Mai Na did not wish to speak with him further.

    She had received Li Lei¡¯s instructions and was determined to make life difficult for the Gu Financial Magnate. With Big Boss Li¡¯s instructions, she acted very haughtily. Since Xiao Ling had been so wronged, Sister Mai Na had to vent her frustrations for her.

    ¡°Is it possible for it to be cheaper?¡± The representative gave a pained look and enquired. ¡°Two times?¡±

    Sister Mai Na emotionlessly stared at him.

    ¡°Three times?¡±

    Sister Mai Na turned around to leave.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t! Please stop!¡± The representative quickly tried to stop her. ¡°Sister Mai Na, we¡¯re not that stingy. It is just that ten times the original fee is a little absurd. Even hiring a famous celebrity is not that expensive. Can you make an exception this time?¡±

    ¡°Are you done talking?¡± Sister Mai Na lifted her wrist to check the time. ¡°We¡¯re very busy.¡±

    She was prepared to leave again.

    The representative was in despair and did not dare to argue further with her. He quickly replied, ¡°Ok. If you want ten times the fee, then we will pay you ten times the fee!¡± The CEO had given him a death order to rehire Ye Xingling no matter the cost. If he could not aplish this task, the CEO would definitely skin him alive.

    Sister Mai Na stopped but still looked at him icily.

    ¡°Ten times, ten times!¡± The representative carefully smiled. ¡°It¡¯s settled then. How about we rearrange a time for the shoot?¡±

    ¡°Who said I agreed?¡± Sister Mai Na sneered.

    ¡°What? I thought you wanted ten times the fee...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but it is only one of the conditions.¡± Sister Mai Na continued to smile coldly.

    ¡°My dear sister, please don¡¯t go too far...¡± Before the representative could finish speaking, Sister Mai Na had already turned around, so he immediately changed his tone. ¡°What other conditions do you have? Please tell me!¡±

    ¡°We want Gu Lin to apologize to Xiao Ling.¡± Sister Mai Na went straight to the point.

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± The representative was in agony. ¡°Our Miss Gu is very hot-tempered. The fact that she agreed to let Miss Ye return is already making a concession, how can she lower herself more in front of Miss Ye?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean she agreed to let Miss Ye return?¡± Sister Mai Na raised an eyebrow. ¡°Watch your words!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± The representative wiped his sweat. ¡°Miss Gu wants to rehire Miss Ye.¡±

    ¡°Rehire?¡± Sister Mai Na continued to challenge him.

    ¡°Yes, rehire. Is there something wrong?¡± The representative gave her a confused look.

    ¡°Think again.¡±

    ¡°Sister Mai Na, please don¡¯t make things more difficult for me.¡± The representative was about to go crazy. ¡°Since it is not a rehiring, then tell me what it is. It will be whatever you say it is!¡±

    ¡°Well then, listen clearly.¡± Sister Mai Na spoke unkindly and looked at him coldly. ¡°Xiao Ling has rejected to shoot with you. The Gu Financial Magnate had no other way to salvage the situation, so now, the Gu Financial Magnate is begging us toe back. You¡¯re begging us, understand? Gu Lin is begging Xiao Ling to go back!¡±

    Beg?

    Absolutely. How were they not begging them? However, was it ok for Sister Mai Na to say that so bluntly?

    The representative that was also the head of a department actually felt very humiliated. He med the brain-dead Miss Gu. Otherwise, he would not have to tolerate Sister Mai Na¡¯s anger for no reason!

    However, to mediate the situation, he still replied, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re begging you.¡±

    The earlier he settled this situation, the earlier he would be freed from it. He would just go with whatever Sister Mai Na said.

    ¡°Very good. Even you have admitted that yourpany is begging us.¡± Sister Mai Na nodded her head in satisfaction. ¡°Since Gu Lin wants to beg for someone¡¯s help, she should have a more sincere attitude.¡±

 Chapter 266 - Naturally Noble

    <h4>Chapter 266: Naturally Noble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling received a call from Sister Mai Na saying that the situation with Meteor Wings had been settled and she had to go back for a reshoot soon.

    Ever since they started working together, she always trusted Sister Mai Na. Since Sister Mai Na said that the issue was settled, she must have fiercely dealt with the Gu Financial Magnate. Xia Ling could not help but be curious. ¡°What have you done to them?¡±

    Sister Mai Na smiled. ¡°A revenge that required them to pay you ten times more.¡±

    She was really very vicious.

    Xia Xiao Ling was delighted to be able to receive more money and praised Sister Mai Na for her viciousness over the phone.

    Sister Mai Na continued tough. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re so happy over such a minor thing! Let me tell you, there are evenrger things to be happy about. Just wait for Gu Lin to serve you tea!¡±

    Gu Lin was going to serve her tea?

    Xia Ling was unconvinced but finally understood after arriving at the shooting scene. Sister Mai Na was really more vicious than everyone thought she was. No one knew what method she used, but she actually made Gu Lin serve Xia Ling tea. In front of everyone, Gu Lin carried a cup of tea and walked in front of her. ¡°Ye Xingling, drink the tea.¡± She said stiffly.

    Everyone fell over in surprise.

    What was wrong with this moronic Miss Gu that she was actually willing to condescend to simple men.

    Gu Lin felt very uneasy after being stared at by everyone and fiercely darkened her tone. ¡°Quickly take the cup and drink the tea!¡± Did they think she wanted to serve tea to that irritating woman? Of course not!

    After the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s Representative returned with this request after the negotiation, Gu Lin exploded in anger and insisted that Father Gu fire that betrayer of a negotiator. However, Father Gu said, ¡°Linlin, those on Ye Xingling¡¯s side aren¡¯t willing to make a concession. How about you tolerate this for a while? Otherwise, if your grandfather learns about this matter, he will really send you back to Green Ind Girls¡¯ Boarding School.¡±

    Father Gu could not bear to let Gu Lin go back there because she was his only precious daughter.

    Gu Lin rebuked. ¡°I would rather go to Green Ind Girls¡¯ Boarding School!¡±

    ¡°Linlin.¡± Father Gu desperately tried to advise her. ¡°Originally, it would be ok if you went to the girls¡¯ boarding school and suffered a bit for a year. However, it is not ideal for you to do that. Once you leave, won¡¯t Li Lei be even more enchanted by that vixen? A year is enough for too many things to happen. You better think about it carefully.¡±

    His words truly rmed Gu Lin.

    He was right. Why did she not think of that before? If she let her grandfather send her to Green Ind Girls¡¯ Boarding School now, it would be granting Ye Xingling¡¯s wish! In fact, maybe that vixen had been nning for that to happen from the start! That was why she requested for her to serve tea! <i>Hmph... Does she think I am going to be defeated by such a small matter? Definitely not!</i>

    If she had to serve tea, then she would serve tea. No matter what, she would continue to live in this city and be close to Brother Lei every day!

    After making up her mind, she was even more motivated by her loss. Brother Lei would definitely be very touched after seeing that she had sacrificed so much for him. As such, she would have to serve that vixen tea well so that she could show what a horrible bully she was. Between the two of them, Brother Lei should know who is good and who is bad!

    Gu Lin indulged in her idle thoughts. Seeing that Xia Ling did not ept the cup of tea, she urged her again. ¡°Quickly!¡±

    Xia Ling feigned a smile. ¡°Is this your attitude when you are apologizing and serving someone tea?¡± Xia Ling was dressed in a white dress with long feathers and silver essories in her hair like that day. As she had not entered the water to start shooting and was still waiting, her thin shoulders were covered with a soft red wool nket which made her look elegant and gorgeous. Herposure caused her to seem noble and mysterious.

    In contrast, Gu Lin was not bad looking, but her appearance was ruined by her disgruntled expression. In front of Xia Ling, she looked like a crude servant girl.

    As the eldest daughter of the Gu family, she was really embarrassed.

    Director Qian Yong of the Gu Financial Magnate shook his head and could not bear to continue watching as he felt that he was beingpletely humiliated by hispany¡¯s Gu Lin.

    However, Gu Lin still did not have a clue. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t get too ahead of yourself. I¡¯m already personally serving you tea, how dare you not ept it?!¡±

    ¡°Why should I ept it?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s lips curved into a smug smile. She lightly tilted her head and shot Wei Wei a look.

    Seeing what she meant, Wei Wei walked up and said warmly to Gu Lin. ¡°Miss Gu, give me the tea instead.¡±

    Gu Lin felt better dealing with thisdy than Xia Ling. Without thinking too much, she directly gave the tea to Wei Wei. After that, she rxed her hands and looked at Xia Ling arrogantly. ¡°Besides, I have already served you tea. I don¡¯t care whether you drink it or not. Anyway, your little assistant is smarter than you.¡±

    Xia Ling shot her a mocking look. Did she not realize that she had just greatly embarrassed herself?

    At the side, Qian Yong could not look at her directly.

    Even the head director could not help but mutter to the cameraman beside him. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that the eldest daughter of the Gu family is really dumb?¡±

    The cameraman shook his head and said, ¡°The wealth of a family cannotst longer than three generations.¡± The third generation was really made of good-for-nothings.

    ¡°I need three more generations before I can be part of the aristocracy.¡± The head director disagreed, looked at Gu Lin, and sneered softly. ¡°However, I don¡¯t think the Gu family can raise any more aristocrats. This unruly daughter¡¯s etiquette sses have probably been wasted. She¡¯s worse than amoner like the small star Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Looks like the training in Skyart Entertainment is better than the one in the Gu Family.¡±

    At once, a few people sighed.

    Seeing that everyone was whispering to one another and looking at her with disdain, Gu Lin finally realized that something was wrong and loudly questioned a staff member next to her. ¡°What are you whispering to one another?!¡±

    The staff member was afraid that Miss Gu was finding fault with him and did not want to stir trouble for himself. He lowered his head and said, ¡°Nothing much. Lighting engineer¡ª¡± An idea urred to him at this crucial moment as he gazed into the distance. ¡°Wait, I have something to report to you!¡± After saying that, he immediately ran away.

    Gu Lin had a stronger feeling that something was wrong.

    She could not help but direct her anger back at Xia Ling. ¡°Hey, I said that your little assistant is better than you. You¡¯re really too pretentious. Since you rejected my tea, doesn¡¯t that mean you never wanted it from the start?¡±

    At that time, Wei Wei had already passed the cup of tea to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling used her fair-skinned hand to take the tea and drank it slowly and gracefully. Although she only had one assistant, her indifference and leisurely stance was like a noble princess who had many servants waiting on her.

    Some people who were rightful of high status could cause themselves to look like nouveau riches.

    Some people who were of no status were naturally noble.

    After Xia Ling lightly drank the tea, she passed the cup back to Wei Wei. Wei Wei carefully took it and returned it back to Gu Lin.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t even qualified enough to personally deliver tea to me.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was always very nice to listen to, and since she had the upper hand now, she was feeling great, so she spoke a littlezily to Gu Lin. ¡°Li Lei said that you attended a girls¡¯ school for nobles. Did your teacher not teach you during etiquette ss that when you¡¯re unable to pass something personally to someone of higher status, you have to pass the item to them via their subordinates?¡±

    Gu Lin finally realized what was wrong...

    She had never paid attention during etiquette ss and had already returned all her knowledge to her teacher!

 Chapter 267 - One Hundred Dollars

    <h4>Chapter 267: One Hundred Dors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin¡¯s face was flushed, and she wished she could dig a hole to hide in.

    Everyone looked at her in amusement as she became a joke.

    Honestly speaking, if Miss Gu lost to someone who was of the same status as her, it would not have been that embarrassing, but the thing was, she lost to a small star. Ye Xingling was really amoner, and regardless of her family background and upbringing, how could shepare to Gu Lin? However, Xia Ling was smarter and had a better temperament than her, and it made her angry that she was beingpared to her.

    Xia Ling held on to Wei Wei as she stood up and walked past Gu Lin, leaving a trace of a delicate fragrance.

    ¡°If everyone is ready, we can start shooting.¡± She said to the head director. ¡°The earlier we shoot, the earlier we can leave.¡±

    The head director nodded and instructed the staff to get into position to start the filming.

    The filming was very sessful. Xia Ling was so talented in dancing that she was able to perform a dance no matter how difficult it was. The pool that caused many famous female celebrities to struggle was rxing to her like the backyard in her own home. She danced and swam with ease looking like a fairy in someone¡¯s dream. Everyone was so engrossed in her dancing and attracted by her gracefulness that they could not look away.

    Looking at Xia Ling dance was a form of enjoyment. It was wless, and even the slightest interruption was sphemous.

    She went up the shore in an experienced and attractive manner with sparkling beads of water dripping from her hair.

    Somebody started pping.

    ¡°Miss Ye¡¯s dancing is still the best.¡± A neer who did not know about Xia Ling and Gu Lin¡¯s feud said. He smiled as he praised her. ¡°We used so many female celebrities before you, but they were all unable to finish this dance. One Miss Ye came, we were able to finish this job smoothly.¡± He was happy because he could finish his job and receive his sry early. He could even visit the market to buy a fruit pancake for his children before returning home.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I also ran into trouble two times.¡±

    Seeing that such a beautiful female celebrity was speaking to him, he was overwhelmed with ttery. ¡°You danced so well. How is it possible that you ran into trouble twice? You really didn¡¯t deserve it... No, I¡¯m not saying that you didn¡¯t dance well. I mean, who would have such a bad eye for talent that he or she would make you reshoot such a perfect dance?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s gazes were redirected at Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin only felt extremely humiliated and screamed. ¡°Qian Yong! How could you let any random persone in here?! Are those handymen qualified to be here? Are you not clear of the situation?!¡±

    Clear of the situation? Qian Yong wanted to vomit. Did Miss Gu even know what she was talking about? If they were clear about the situation, all those who were irrelevant and disrupting the filming were to be chased out. That worker was responsible for moving the props and was not disturbing the filming. Instead, Miss Gu would be the first one to be expelled from the scene.

    On the surface, he still pretended tough along with her. ¡°Yes, Miss Gu. I will chase him out now.¡± Turning around, he kept a straight face as he scolded the worker. ¡°Can you quickly take your money and get lost? You¡¯re so dirty. Don¡¯t stand here and remain an eyesore!¡±

    After hearing the director¡¯s reprimand, he was confused as to what was wrong. Things were fine just a moment ago. Why did Director Qian suddenly look at him with angry eyes? Seeing that he was lost, his colleague beside him could not help but quickly pull his sleeve. ¡°Quickly leave. Don¡¯t remain here and make people unhappy.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± That worker stammered. ¡°Xiao Zhao still owes me fifty dors. I have to wait for him toe back. A few dayster, he will be joining another film crew, and I don¡¯t know when I will be seeing him again.¡±

    ¡°Come on! You still care about that fifty dors? Can¡¯t you just leave? Be careful. Otherwise, you won¡¯t even be able to get paid for your hard work today!¡± That colleague was usually friendly with him, so he lowered his voice to warn him. ¡°Do you know that you have offended someone?¡±

    Only then did this worker realize what he did. He was frightened and quickly walked out.

    ¡°Slow down.¡± Gu Lin stopped him.

    That worker stopped and rubbed his hands with some fear. ¡°Miss, is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    Gu Lin had just been publicly shamed by Xia Ling and was boiling with anger. Furthermore, this worker still dared to praise Xia Ling ande into conflict with her recklessly. Miss Gu needed somewhere to vent her anger. Turning around, she arrogantly asked someone beside her. ¡°How much did he earn today?¡±

    ¡°Two hundred dors.¡± Someone reported very quickly.

    Two hundred dors? Gu Lin looked at the worker with contempt. He was about thirty or forty years old and looked poor. He actually worked for a whole day for two hundred dors? How useless was he?

    ¡°What¡¯s the use of that small amount of money? You can¡¯t even buy a ss of wine.¡± Miss Gu started to get on her high horse. ¡°I thought you were receiving much more money than that. Look at how shameless you¡¯re by trying to suck up to a female celebrity. You said something that you shouldn¡¯t have, so I will deduct your pay. I think you should be given at most a hundred dors.¡±

    As she said, she nced at Qian Yong.

    ¡°Yes, a hundred dors.¡± Qian Yong quickly acknowledged her and shot a look at the ountant.

    That worker had tolerated enough. ¡°It was agreed that I would be paid two hundred dors. Miss, you¡¯re dressed in such beautiful clothes. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re rich. Please try to understand those who are working to make ends meet. I need the money to pay for my child¡¯s school fees...¡±

    Gu Lin was delighted. She loved the feeling of torturing other people. It was his fault for stupidly praising Xia Ling!

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Qian Yong kept a straight face as he chided the worker. ¡°Miss Gu is alreadypassionate enough to give you a hundred dors. If you continue to be insensible, you won¡¯t even get that much!¡±

    The worker was frightened and shut his mouth with a gloomy face.

    ¡°Get going!¡± The worker¡¯s colleague pushed him towards the exit. ¡°Don¡¯t cause trouble.¡± Although he acted this way, he was actually enraged by Gu Lin¡¯s actions inside, but he did not dare to speak up because he was trying to protect himself. How could she disrespect someone like that?! How was she worthy of her status when she was worse than a sow!

    The other workers also felt sorrowful but did not dare to say anything.

    The entire ce fell silent.

    With the nket that Wei Wei brought over around her, Xia Ling quietly observed the scene unfold. She was different from Gu Lin. When she was younger, she lived in an orphanage and endured poverty. Although she was of higher status now and received many jobs, in the past, she did not even dare to order extra ingredients with her rice. Seeing that the worker was being bullied like that, she was enraged.

    Besides, the situation started because of her.

    If that worker did not praise her for her dancing, why would Gu Lin take revenge on him?

    She had no other merits besides covering her own faults.

    ¡°Wait!¡± She called after that worker.

    The worker turned around reluctantly. What would the pretty female star instruct him to do? The faster he left, the better it was for him. He should seize the chance since it was not toote and quickly leave before he could not find any more jobs to earn money from.

    Xia Ling turned around and spoke to Wei Wei. ¡°Give him five hundred dors.¡± As a celebrity, she did not need to buy things herself and entrusted Wei Wei with her wallet.

    Wei Wei acknowledged her clearly and gave the worker the money.

    At first, the worker was shocked. Then, he was overwhelmed by her gesture. ¡°Miss Ye, how can I ept your money?¡±

    ¡°A hundred dors are to make up for your loss, and the other four hundred dors are a special payment from me. You did your job very well today and caused the filming to be very smooth. I should thank you.¡±

    Before the worker could decline, Wei Wei had already stuffed the money into his hands.

 Chapter 268 - Idiotic Miss Gu

    <h4>Chapter 268: Idiotic Miss Gu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The worker thanked her profusely before he left.

    Gu Lin red at Xia Ling. ¡°Are you deliberately trying to go against me?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not as senseless as you.¡± Xia Ling replied. ¡°Is cutting the pay of someone who needs to feed his family amusing?¡±

    What she said was what the workers at the scene were thinking. Even the camera crew and directors could not help but praise her in their hearts. Everyone was working to support themselves. It was difficult as they were not as fortunate as Miss Gu. Thus, they understood what it felt like to only earn a little amount of money after a hard day¡¯s work.

    Who could tolerate being taken advantaged of for no reason?

    Luckily, although Miss Gu was an idiot, the female celebrity called Ye Xingling was reasonable. She was a young girl and was rising in the industry. The fact that she could understand and sympathize with others was not easy.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is not bad.¡± A cameraman nudged the lighting engineer next to him. ¡°She¡¯s quite kind.¡±

    However, the lighting engineer said, ¡°Is she just putting up a show to win us over as a celebrity?¡±

    The cameraman shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sure that this is not a show. If Miss Gu weren¡¯t present, I would believe you, but Miss Gu is here! If Ye Xingling were really pretending, she would not have offended someone from a rich and powerful family.¡±

    The lighting engineer still did not believe him entirely.

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± He continued. After thinking about it, he added. ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter if she is acting. The fact that she is able to think about us subordinates is not easy. After a year of hard work, who will remember us?¡±

    Xia Ling had really gained the favor of those at the scene.

    On the other hand, Gu Lin was so furious she almost stomped her foot. She definitely was ipatible with that vixen, as every time she saw her, things would not be in her favor! Gu Lin raised her head and red at Xia Ling ferociously. ¡°Are you done filming? If you¡¯re done, then get lost! Don¡¯t be an eyesore on our Gu family¡¯s territory!¡±

    Originally, Xia Ling wanted to leave, but after being scolded by her, she did not want to leave immediately. She draped the soft andrge nket over her shoulders and sat on a chair beside the pool, pretending that Gu Lin was the air. ¡°It¡¯s quite cold,¡± she said to Wei Wei. ¡°Help me pour a ss of hot tea.¡±

    There was hot tea prepared for the shooting scene, so Wei Wei came back very quickly and handed the ss to Xia Ling with both hands.

    Xia Ling lifted a hand, took the ss, and casually praised Wei Wei. ¡°When you¡¯re serving tea, you should act like you are serving tea. It¡¯s good that you know you have to serve it with two hands while lowering your head. After I leave Skyart, I will ask Sister Mai Na to introduce you to a famous celebrity for you to wait on. You¡¯re smart and sensible, so I can¡¯t let you lose your job as an assistant.¡±

    Just now when there was a conflict, Gu Lin¡¯s voice was very loud and attracted the attention of many people.

    After seeing Ye Xingling sit down beside the pool, their eyes sparkled because they knew there was going to be more drama.

    Everyone was focused on what was happening there. After hearing what she said to her assistant, they almost could not hold in theirughter. Wasn¡¯t she abusing a person by ostensibly pointing to someone else? Wei Wei was a sensible, smart, and capable assistant, but what about Gu Lin? Was she stupid, insensible, and not even capable of being an assistant?

    Gu Lin understood what she implied and was furious. ¡°Ye Xingling, what do you mean?!¡±

    ¡°Exactly what I said.¡± When it came to arguments, Xia Ling was not afraid of anyone.

    At the side, Sister Mai Na rubbed her forehead, feeling a slight headacheing. Xiao Ling really had a temper. Once she got angry, she would never make a concession. Luckily, she was naturally able to fight with others and would not be at a loss easily, so she did not need any help when it came to bullying others... Otherwise, Sister Mai Na would really be annoyed arguing with people all day.

    She wholeheartedly felt that she argued with others for her job, but Xiao Ling...

    Xiao Ling seemed to enjoy getting involved in fights naturally!

    She guessed correctly. Xia Ling was the type who became more invigorated with every fight. Now, she was brimming with energy as she looked at the Gu family¡¯s idiotic eldest daughter. ¡°If you are unhappy, then bite me!¡±

    As the cameras were closed, she exposed her naturally argumentative personality.

    Blood rushed up to her small face, and the way she nted her head with her sparkling eyes caused others not to be able to look away. Saying such shameless words, she actually seemed cute.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you bitch!¡± Gu Lin screeched.

    No, this is not being bitchy¡ª

    At the side, a group of onlooking men was silently cheering inside. At first nce, the girl called Ye Xingling was nothing surprising, and she was just nice to look at after a long time but... Once she revealed that sparkling expression and showed her natural personality, she was really... breathtaking!

    Unfortunately, Big Boss Pei Ziheng was not there, and they did not know her status.

    Otherwise, Big Boss Pei would definitely say, ¡°Do you know why I still have no regrets spoiling Xiao Ling for her whole life although she was so arrogant and stubborn...¡±

    Some girls were that cute even when they were being unreasonable.

    Unfortunately, Gu Lin did not think that Xia Ling was cute at all.

    ¡°Bite me! Bite me! Bite me!¡± Xia Ling provoked endlessly.

    ¡°Do you think I wouldn¡¯t dare?!¡± Gu Lin was boiling with anger and could not help but rebuke her. Of course, she did not really bite her, but Miss Gu was nning to kick her into the water to vent her anger!

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you¡ª Ah!¡±

    A loud ¡°ssh¡± was heard. Miss Gu had fallen into the pool.

    ¡°Help! Help!¡± She screamed as she flopped about in the water.

    Xia Ling slowly tilted her body back and continued to drink tea. ¡°If you¡¯re so unstable, don¡¯t try to sabotage others.¡± She said as she criticized Gu Lin. ¡°Your aim isn¡¯t even good, Miss Gu. Please don¡¯t tell me that you have never attended any self-defense sses.¡±

    Many wealthy people would have learned some self-defense under their personal trainers to cope with idents such as kidnapping. In the past, when Xia Ling was adopted by Pei Ziheng, she also learned a few techniques. She easily saw that Miss Gu did not have any self-defense skills at all. The Gu family was quite prominent, so how could that be?

    However, she did not know that Gu Lin was someone who hated work and liked indulging infort. She was toozy to learn about etiquette, so of course, she did not bother to learn self-defense skills.

    Gu Lin struggled in the water and screamed for help.

    Many people could not bear to look at her. Could Miss Gu be any more embarrassing? At the ce where she was standing, the pool of water only reached her waist. Director Qian Yong could not look directly at her. She was really brain-dead.

    Although he did not want to, he still had to care about this brain-deaddy.

    If CEO Gu learned that his precious daughter received such a scare in public and embarrassed herself, they would definitely not me Gu Lin but the other people who were present at the scene. Qian Yong regretted his decision. Why did he want to curry favor with Miss Gu? This idiotic woman was a hot potato. Once he got involved with her, he could not get rid of her.

    He sighed as he took off his overcoat and tightly supported Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin only felt that someone was tightly grabbing hold of her. She was so scared that she did not see who the person was and immediately hugged him. ¡°Save me. Quickly save me!¡±

 Chapter 269 - The Battle Between Two Ladies

    <h4>Chapter 269: The Battle Between Two Ladies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Looking at the girl in his arms, holding tightly onto him like an octopus onto its prey, Qian Yong was in an awkward position.

    She was drenched from head to toe, and her soaked dress emphasized her figure. Her full and busty fronts were pressing against him, but she barely felt a thing.

    Qian Yong felt like he was burning on the inside and frantically pushed her away, but Gu Lin was too afraid and refused to let go. ¡°Big Miss, please don¡¯t be like this.¡± Qian Yong realized how inappropriate their positions were, especially in broad daylight. If this got to Chairman Gu, he was definitely going to be skinned alive!

    The people around were pointing and whispering.

    Xia Ling watched on as she sipped her tea.

    Only after a while did Qian Yong manage to get her off. Gu Lin finally realized that the water was only waist-deep and that she looked utterly embarrassing in front of everyone.

    ¡°Get out of here! All of you!¡± Red in the face, she covered her front with both arms and screamed.

    The men slowly made their way out.

    Gu Lin stood alone in the pool and was about to make her way out when she slipped and fell, causing many of them to turn their heads and try to conceal their gloating.

    To be fair, Miss Gu had a good figure. It was only natural for men to steal a few more nces at her.

    Moreover, the situation was vastly different from when Xia Ling danced in the pool. Xia Ling¡¯s costume was specially designed with the circumstances in consideration, ensuring that not too much was revealed when she rose above the water. There was a beautiful, mysterious air around Xia Ling, nothing like Gu Lin¡¯s embarrassing scene. All everyone had for Xia Ling when she emerged was admiration and envy.

    But Gu Lin had on an ordinary dress, the sort that stuck to her skin when it got drenched. There was nothing beautiful about it. The drenched dress highlighted her curves, but only Qian Yong saw it. Together with all that she had done before, most of them barely had any respect for her. They would not dare offend her in any way, but feasting their eyes on her was not a bad idea.

    When in her life had Gu Lin ever suffered such humiliation? She was close to tears.

    ¡°All of you, out of here!¡± She regained her footing with much effort and shouted out.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± A low andzy voice was heard.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sir, we¡¯re about to clean up this ce. Could you...¡± Qian Yong hurriedly said as he bumped into a handsome, well-built man entering as he was on his way out.

    Even if he did not like Gu Lin, he had a duty to protect the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s image. A Big Miss showing herself this way was not for any man to see.

    Who knew, he had yet to finish his sentence when Gu Lin called out. ¡°Brother Lei!¡± She then struggled and crawled out of the pool and ran toward the man who just came in.

    At this point, she could not care less about what she was revealing as she threw herself at him. ¡°Brother Lei! They¡¯re bullying me!¡±

    The man who arrived was none other than Li Lei.

    When Xia Ling was shooting for Meteor Wings the previous time, Li Lei was not around when something happened at the scene. This time, Li Lei had heard that Gu Lin would be around too and made sure toe, just in case she caused Xia Ling any trouble. He was dyed by other matters and arrivedte, but it seemed like they were done with their shooting already.

    He looked away from Gu Lin and saw that Xiao Ling was sitting a short distance away from the pool with a red-knitted nket draped around her. The soft textile against her fair skin made her look incredibly beautiful. She held a cup of tea in her hands and looked amused as she watched Gu Lin in his arms.

    Li Lei instinctively pushed Gu Lin aside. No way was he going to offend Xiao Ling like this.

    It took so much effort for them to be on good terms again.

    Gu Lin red at Li Lei in disbelief. ¡°Brother Lei, you pushed me?!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡± I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m here for someone.¡± He walked towards Xia Ling and spoke gently, ¡°Xiao Ling, are you done with the shooting?¡±

    Gu Lin was fuming. How could this be? Hadn¡¯t Brother Lei already broken up with this woman? Why was he here to look for her? No, she was not about to let them continue talking to each other.

    Gu Lin stomped toward them and raised her voice. ¡°Brother Lei! She bullied me! She kicked me into the pool! Look at how drenched I am now!¡± She went to stand beside Li Lei as she said this.

    Li Lei evaded her swiftly.

    At the set, the men who were watching a good show on their way out had stopped in their tracks. Listening to Gu Lin spin falsities about Xia Ling pissed them off ¡ª it was Gu Lin who wanted to push Xia Ling into the pool, but had fallen in on her own when Xia Ling evaded her. How could she be so mean as to use someone else?

    But...

    ¡°Who¡¯s that man over there?¡± The lighting crew member tugged at the person beside him. ¡°Big Miss Gu seems to like him a lot?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear her call him Brother Lei? He must be Li Lei, the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment, the one on the rumors involving Ye Xingling. I heard Gu Lin and he were close childhood friends, which is why Gu Lin detests Ye Xingling so much.¡±

    ¡°Wow, what a gossip-worthy male lead.¡±

    It was getting increasingly thrilling to watch this drama.

    Qian Yong tried to get the rest of them to leave the scene, but everyone was reluctant. This was the advertising agency¡¯s set location, and they were merely coborating with Qian Yong. It would not be nice of him to get too aggressive, and hence he decided to stay with them instead.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with Li Lei¡¯s performance.

    She was ady, after all, and who he chose to stand by in the presence of a love rival said a lot. Although she had not agreed to get back together with him, and Gu Lin not exactly being her love rival, seeing how he thumbed her down on her behalf made Xia Ling feel a little warm inside.

    Xia Ling was in better spirits now and greeted Li Lei with a cheery smile. ¡°Come and have some tea.¡±

    She handed him the cup of tea that she had sipped from.

    Li Lei did not mind it ¡ª no, he was thrilled that she would do that, and intentionally drank from her cup. Xiao Ling was willing to let him drink from her cup, did that mean that she no longer saw him as an outsider?

    Gu Lin was shocked. She remembered that Brother Lei had been very fussy since he was young. Unless he was forced to survive under harsh conditions, he would not settle for anything but the best... Drinking somebody¡¯s half-drunk cup? How could it be?! How could this wretched Ye Xingling treat Brother Lei this way?!

 Chapter 270 - Gossip-worthy Male Lead

    <h4>Chapter 270: Gossip-worthy Male Lead</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin was unhappy. ¡°I have the best Longjing tea leaves at home, Brother Lei. If you want some, I can get Father to give it to you. It¡¯s way better than drinking some random tea from random people outside!¡±

    Gu Lin said as she gave Xia Ling the evil eye.

    Xia Ling smiled and gestured towards the tea in Li Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Is this good?¡±

    It was the tea that Xia Ling handed him, how could he say no? He nodded his head like an obedient cat.

    Gu Lin could not take it. ¡°Brother Lei!¡±

    ¡°Longjing tea?¡± Li Lei turned to look at her only now. ¡°Grandpa Gu gave me quite a bit thest time I went to visit. That should be some of the best tea leaves in recent years.¡± Li Lei was very particr when it came to food and beverages, and the tea leaves from the Gu family were indeed good stuff.

    Gu Lin¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right? My dad was there personally to watch them pick their leaves; he has the money and the judgment. Haha... Unlike some others who drink the tea provided at a location set! Brother Lei, if you like the tea from my family,e home with me and I¡¯ll get you some more.¡±

    She was acting coquettish again.

    Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for so much trouble, ordinary tea is pretty good.¡± She was never taught about the fine details of tea appreciation and was not afraid to say it. ¡°I can¡¯t taste the difference.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you can¡¯t.¡± Big Miss Gu finally found something that she could thumb Xia Ling down on and felt superior. ¡°How could someone of your low status afford to drink good tea? Meanwhile, my family, and also Brother Lei, of course, have been drinking the best teas since we were young. You can drink your tea all by yourself!¡±

    In fact, Gu Lin herself could not taste the subtle differences too, but she would not admit to it in front of others.

    ¡°So, there¡¯s no need to waste it.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°I¡¯m giving Brother Lei the tea leaves, who says you¡¯ll get to drink it?¡± Gu Lin side-eyed her.

    ¡°Actually,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°The tea leaves that Grandpa Gu gave me the previous time, I gave them all to Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Did I hear right?¡±

    All themotion was not from Big Miss Gu alone, it included the exmations from the surrounding people as well. What was going on, Big Miss Gu had spent so much effort rmending those tea leaves, and he actually gave them all to a girl to make her happy?

    Tsk, that was too much.

    But it was done right!

    The cameramen, directors, and the other people present wished they had popcorn on hand to enhance this dramatic experience. Qian Yong was barely holding it together. <i>Big Miss, can you get even more embarrassing than this?</i>

    ¡°Which is why I¡¯m saying there¡¯s no need to waste it.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was clear as usual. ¡°Before I even finished the tea leaves Li Lei gave me the first time, he handed me more other varieties. It¡¯s just tea, after all, how much different can it get?¡± In her previous life, Pei Ziheng had loved Pi Lo Chun green tea, and hence, Xia Ling drank that exclusively. But Xia Ling herself had a sweet tooth and was not a fan of tea, so she did not have particr preferences and just epted whatever she was given.

    Gu Lin felt the fury rise inside her. <i>This wretched woman! How dare she drink the Gu family¡¯s tea! </i>Those were Longjing tea leaves that her father had personally brought back from Jiangnan! Despite the way Gu Lin bragged about having an excess of such leaves at home, they were, in fact, precious even to the Gu family. If not for socializing and entertaining honored guests, her father would not even bear to drink them!

    What a wretched woman!

    Gu Lin red up at Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯re not fit!¡± She then turned to face Li Lei. ¡°Brother Lei, I will not allow you to give our tea leaves to an outsider!¡±

    Li Lei frowned, feeling that this little girl was getting more insensible. But he did not want to stoop to her level, and instead, he spoke to Xia Ling gently. ¡°Are you tired? Go get changed, I¡¯ll take you to have a good dinner.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling smiled and ced her hand on his outstretched palm as he supported her up.

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin was bitter with jealousy. ¡°You can¡¯t do this! That is too intimate for a man and ady!¡±

    Nobody could ept her statement. What sort of reason was that? This was the modern times, Ye Xingling had only ced her hand in his, that was nothingpared to how Gu Lin herself had leaned against Boss!

    The onlookers side-eyed her with despise.

    Xia Ling smiled at her. ¡°Miss Gu, please excuse us. You¡¯re in the way.¡± She always had a way of getting back at people without embarrassing herself. This time, she was showing off to Gu Lin how intimate they were as she inched closer to Li Lei.

    This ¡°male prop¡± was incredibly cooperative as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

    A beauty and a hunk together made a splendid pair, as witnessed by everybody at the set.

    Gu Lin was desperate for his attention. ¡°I... I was in the water too! I want to get changed as well! No, don¡¯t leave, Brother Lei... I¡¯m so cold!¡±

    Gu Lin was getting incoherent as she saw that they were about to leave hand-in-hand.

    Cold? Li Lei looked at the thermostat and realized that the temperature was indeed rather low. Moreover, Gu Lin had juste out of the water, there was no doubt about her feeling cold. Considering that she was like a ¡°sister¡± to him, he did not want to take things too far.

    He stopped in his tracks.

    Seeing that she had a chance now, she hurriedly put on her most pitiful face and wrapped her arms around herself. ¡°I¡¯m so cold... Brother Lei, can you get Ye Xingling to hand me her nket? She¡¯s had it for a while and should be warm enough by now. You can¡¯t expect me to continue shivering here, right?¡±

    The nket draped on Xia Ling was something she bought with Li Lei in Paris. Li Lei had picked the color for her as it suited her skin tone. At this point, Li Lei looked at Gu Lin, and then at Xia Ling and her nket.

    Gu Lin was right, Xia Ling had had it on for a long while and was dry by then. Blood had returned to her cheeks, and she looked well andfortable.

    Meanwhile, Gu Lin was still dripping with water, her lips were almost purple, and her teeth were chattering.

    What would Li Lei do?

    Everybody widened their eyes, ready to see how this Big Boss would react. Would he side with the annoying woman or the passive and adorable celebrity?

    ¡°This is a tough one...¡± A crew member cracked open a melon seed as he said.

    The rest of the crew members began chewing on the snack as well. ¡°If I were to choose, I¡¯d definitely choose the rich one; it¡¯ll help me with my career. I¡¯ll win at life!¡±

    ¡°Pfft.¡± The director came over and joined them. ¡°Can you evenpare yourself to Boss Li? He has won at life long ago! Ye Xingling is definitely the better choice. Marrying somebody like that Miss Gu... she would wreak havoc in the family.¡±

    ¡°They should be of equal social status though.¡± Qian Yong rebuked at the side. ¡°And Boss Li definitely has no interest in Ye Xingling. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have broken up.¡±

    They thought about it for a while and found it hard to counter that point.

    All that was left to do was for everyone to watch on. Just how would Big Boss react to this situation?

 Chapter 271 - The Red Blanket

    <h4>Chapter 271: The Red nket</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was waiting as well.

    Li Lei shifted slightly and gently removed the nket from her before draping it over Gu Lin¡¯s shivering body.

    ¡°He actually chose Gu Lin.¡± There was some exmation among the onlookers, a mix of indignance and disappointment.

    Gu Lin held onto the nket tightly as her spirits were lifted instantly. She was no longer shivering. ¡°Brother Lei, I knew you were the best.¡± She then turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°As for some people, they really shouldn¡¯t try to act like a phoenix if they¡¯re just a little sparrow.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is it?¡± Xia Ling calmly said as she turned to look at Li Lei.

    She wanted to know what this man was plotting. Given her understanding of him, there was more to it than just what he had done. Indeed, Li Lei¡¯s next move was to remove his own coat and ce it over Xia Ling¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Wah...¡± everybody was awed.

    ¡°What a turn of events. No wonder Boss Li was willing to hand the nket to Big Miss Gu. He couldn¡¯t bear to let her touch his clothes.¡± The crew membersmented while chewing melon seeds.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The director continued. ¡°He sure made it clear.¡±

    Handing Gu Lin the nket was out of civility.

    But putting his coat on Xia Ling was out of genuine care and concern.

    It was clear how much each of them mattered to him.

    Xia Ling could still feel the warmth emanating from Li Lei¡¯s coat as he draped it on her. She looked toward him and smiled. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good at this, huh?¡±

    Li Lei exined to her. ¡°Grandpa Gu is very nice to us, I have to do it on his ount.¡± He made it clear to Xia Ling that what he had done for Gu Lin had nothing to do with his feelings for her, and was only for Old Master Gu¡¯s sake.

    Xia Ling was happy to hear that.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Can Gu Lin have the nket for now? She¡¯ll return it to you in a few days once it¡¯s cleaned.¡±

    It was Xia Ling¡¯s property, after all. He had to seek her consent.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Someone else has used it, it¡¯s too dirty.¡±

    What?! She despised Gu Lin and called her dirty? The onlookers were thrilled by what they heard. Where did this minor celebrity get her guts from? Did she not know that this Big Miss Gu was petty and spiteful?!

    And so it happened, Gu Lin raised her voice. ¡°Ye Xingling! Don¡¯t go overboard!¡± She grabbed the nket on her and hurled it to the ground. ¡°Who cares for your nket!¡± She then stomped on the nket, leaving her footprints all over it.

    Xia Ling was fuming. This was the nket she had especially brought back from Paris and was full of her memories with Li Lei, and now it was stepped all over by someone? She looked at Gu Lin coldly. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were cold?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not cold anymore!¡± Gu Lin knew what she was getting at and disregarded the cold as she went on berating. ¡°What¡¯s so good about you?! You gave me this filthy nket so you could get Brother Lei¡¯s coat! You scheming vixen!¡±

    How was Xia Ling scheming? Everybody had seen with their own two eyes that Big Boss Li had offered it to her.

    ¡°So you¡¯re not actually cold, you¡¯re just trying to pick on me.¡± Xia Ling maintained herposure.

    ¡°So what if I am! Come at me if you¡¯re not happy! Well,e at me!¡± Gu Lin was provoking Xia Ling now.

    <i>Ssh </i>.

    Xia Ling had kicked her into the water.

    ¡°The nket.¡± Xia Ling looked at it, a little hurt. ¡°What a waste.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want it anymore?¡± Li Leipletely ignored Gu Lin who was still hurling mean remarks from the pool as he gently spoke to Xia Ling. When Gu Lin was stomping all over the nket earlier, he was angered as well ¡ª he remembered shopping in Paris with Xia Ling and how radiant she looked in the little store when she tried it on.

    They were so loving then.

    There was no obstacle from his family, nor any disturbance from Pei Ziheng.

    It was the clearest, most beautiful memory of their love life.

    And now, it waspletely degraded by Gu Lin.

    There was some longing in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, but a momentter, she decided. ¡°I don¡¯t want it anymore.¡± No way was she going to keep something that that wretched woman had touched. She saw that Li Lei looked a little disheartened and added, ¡°I¡¯ll get another one in Paris.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Li Lei¡¯s mood improved instantly.

    ¡°Sure.¡± She smiled like the sun was shining on her.

    As the two of them showed their affection for each other, Gu Lin and the rest of the onlookers were almost blinded by it. Gu Lin was making her way out of the pool when she saw Li Lei stroke Xia Ling¡¯s hair. At that moment, she felt like she had lost all will to climb out as she fell back in.

    Li Lei never nced at her a second time.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Ling said to him. ¡°After I get changed we can go for a meal.¡±

    Li Lei nodded and held Xia Ling as they walked off together. He stopped after taking a few steps and turned around. ¡°That nket,¡± He scanned the crowd and spotted Sister Mai Na. ¡°Help me get rid of it.¡± Even if it was something they no longer wanted, he would not allow it to be degraded and insulted by just anybody.

    Sister Mai Na nodded and immediately went to get it.

    Only then did Li Lei take Xia Ling away.

    Gu Lin clenched her fists as she witnessed the scene. She wished she could bore a hole in Xia Ling¡¯s back just by staring at her. <i>Wretched woman... I¡¯ll get back at you one day!</i>

    She punched the surface of the water, sending a ripple around her.

    Seeing that Xia Ling and Li Lei had left, the crowd turned towards Gu Lin. Some of the men were starting to eye her front... not bad at all, she got the real thing.

    Gu Lin hurriedly shielded her front with both arms. ¡°What¡¯s there to look at!¡± She roared at Qian Yong. ¡°Help me up, quick!¡±

    A group of men looked toward him with sympathy and envy as he helped Big Miss Gu out of the pool.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m cold! Get me something to wrap myself in!¡± Big Miss Gu was in a horrible mood.

    What was there to wrap her in? Wasn¡¯t the nket taken away by Sister Mai Na as well? Qian Yong looked at Sister Mai Na with pleading eyes, as if asking, Can I borrow it?

    Sister Mai Na gave a cold smile and rejected him gloatingly.

    Qian Yong was desperate for a solution and had no other option but to do what Big Boss Li had done ¡ª remove his own jacket.

    ¡°Who cares for your damned jacket! It¡¯s not even fit for me to dry my feet on!¡± Gu Lin continued growling at him. What was Qian Yong thinking, how could hepare himself to her Brother Lei? He clearly did not know his ce!

    Big Miss Gu could not care less anymore. She covered her front and dashed through the crowd.

 Chapter 272 - The Exorbitant Endorsement Fee

    <h4>Chapter 272: The Exorbitant Endorsement Fee</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the changing room.

    Xia Ling changed out of the wet dancewear into some clean clothes.

    Li Lei entered the room holding a hairdryer to help her blow-dry her hair. Her long wet hair slowly became dry under his careful touch, and there was a sweet fragrance being emitted from her light strands.

    Both of them reveled in this rare moment of peace, enjoying each other¡¯spany in silence.

    When her hair was almostpletely dry, Li Lei put the hairdryer down, picked up theb, andbed it through her hair. Then, he said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go now.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Have you helped others blow andb their hair before?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, yup, I have.¡± Li Lei said offhandedly.

    ¡°Ah, no wonder... I was thinking that you were quite skillful at it.¡± Xia Ling said in passing as she stood up and walked out of the room.

    Mr. Li Lei stared after her mildly stunned, before realizing his mistake. ¡°Hey, Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be jealous! You need to hear me out first! I helped my grandmother blow and dry her hair! It was my grandmother...¡±

    His voice traversed down the long corridor.

    Xia Ling was feeling lighthearted, and a smile came upon her face as she slowed her steps.

    Li Lei chased up to her and walked alongside her.

    Seeing his nervous expression, Xia Ling thought to herself that them starting over was not a bad idea.

    The Meteor Wings advertisement titled ¡°Genie in your dreams¡± hadpleted filming, but this did not mean that the advertisement gig was over. Initially, the contract she signed with the Gu family was an exclusive one, which meant that Xia Ling would not be able to endorse any other perfume brand for a period of three years. In the same vein, the Gu family could only recognize Xia Ling as their endorsement model for the same time period.

    Only one year had passed since the deal was struck.

    If Xia Ling continued to stay on at Skyart Entertainment, holding up her end of the contract was not going to be a problem. However, the problem was that Xia Ling was intending to leave Skyart Entertainment.

    The endorsement contract was signed between the Gu family and Skyart Entertainment, which was acting on her behalf. If Xia Ling left Skyart, they would have no choice but to breach the contract and pay the Gu family the relevantpensation for the premature termination of the contract.

    Skyart Entertainment could easily afford this breach of contract penalty.

    What they could not afford to pay was the damage it would bring to the mutual rtionship between thepanies.

    This endorsement opportunity was given to Xia Ling by the Old Master of the Gu family in the midst of her warring with Imperial Entertainment, being ndered and her reputation down in the dumps. He had chosen then to let her endorse the most important product in their collection to give her a leg up in her career.

    She had performed her duties as Meteor Wings¡¯ endorsement model wlessly, and sales for Meteor Wings was at its best.

    If she chose to leave now, there would not be another female artiste that could take her ce. Meteor Wings¡¯ image and sales would take a big hit, and all the marketing ns would have to be reworked. There would be a big headache for the Gu family, not to mention the likely financial losses.

    Li Lei knew all of these.

    His family was close to the Gu family for several generations, and his Xiao Ling had received favor from Old Master Gu. Even though Gu Lin was a pain in the neck, and Uncle Gu was biased towards her, he still could not let Xiao Ling leave her endorsement position at this time on ount of the business ramifications.

    He opened the discussion with Xia Ling on this topic. ¡°When you leave Skyart, can you sign another endorsement contract with the Gu family?¡±

    Xia Ling understood what he was getting at. ¡°I have no problems with that, as long as your dear childhood sweetheart doesn¡¯t give me any problems. I don¡¯t have the habit of working for someone if they look down on me.¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Gu Lin is a kid and doesn¡¯t know the importance of Meteor Wings to her family and her future. Luckily, Grandfather Gu sees reason and will not let her mess things up.¡±

    ¡°I fear that Gu Lin will think I¡¯m clinging onto the Gu family desperately.¡± Xia Ling said with a huff, unconvinced.

    Li Leiughed again as he consoled Xia Ling, seeing her acting like an agitated kitty. ¡°Who is the one clinging onto the other? Everyone in the business can see that clearly. What¡¯s more, you should raise your endorsement fee. Take it as you¡¯re asking them forpensation for the mental strain it will put on you.¡± He took her small, slender and fair hand in his and wrote a figure in her palm.

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me to raise my fee that much?¡± Xia Ling remarked in shock.

    Li Lei shrugged. ¡°Believe me. The Gu family can afford this, and it¡¯s just at the brink of being exorbitantly expensive, but still not enough that they would let you go.¡± Given his knowledge of the Gu family business and his experience as the Big Boss of apany, he knew without a doubt that he was right. He had not put down this figure thest time only on ount that the Old Master Gu was helping Xia Ling. However, since Gu Lin was so bent on making trouble for Xia Ling time and again, Big Boss Li was not to be trifled with and felt that this was fair.

    Moreover, his Xiao Ling was just about to leave Skyart Entertainment to embark on a solo career, he needed to make sure that she would have sufficient resources to live on. Women needed money to protect themselves and to have enough backing, such that they would not need to bend over backward to please anybody. With this money, she would have the freedom to be selective about what programs and endorsements she would want to ept or reject.

    He wanted her to befortable.

    With his help in pulling the right strings, the Gu family entered into negotiations with Xia Ling to sign another exclusive endorsement contract.

    On hearing the endorsement fee she was asking, Father Gu was rmed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just rob a bank?!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled lightly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t originally going to ask for this much. However, you saw how it was in ourst filming. What¡¯s to say that Miss Gu will note to disturb us again in the future, raising the difficulty of me being able to perform my work and affecting my emotions. Only thispensation would be just enough to allow me to be willing to put up with that.¡±

    What?! This exorbitant figure was only ¡°just enough¡± for her?!

    Father Gu was furious and wanted to m his fist on the table. He was not of the view that his daughter had been out of line. On the contrary, he felt this little artiste in front of him was being preposterous and asking for too much. ¡°The Gu family doesn¡¯t need you as an endorsement model! I¡¯m going to get you reced!¡±

    ¡°Sure, rece me then.¡± If it were not for Li Lei¡¯s advice, Xia Ling would likely have acquiesced seeing Father Gu¡¯s reaction. However, Xia Ling now knew that she could push him for more. ¡°If CEO Gu is confident of finding a recement for me, I will be happy to step aside. Do you think I¡¯m hard-pressed for this endorsement deal? Let¡¯s be honest, I¡¯m only here on ount of Grandfather Gu. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t take on the job even if you groveled at my feet.¡±

    This girl! How could she be so arrogant?!

    Father Gu felt himself get redder in the face from anger but pulled himself back from firing Xia Ling there and then with what remained of his rationality.

    Old Master Gu¡¯s priority at the moment was Meteor Wings and had told him at length not to offend this endorsement model. If the Old Master found out that he had fired her, he was worried about keeping his position as CEO.

    As such, Father Gu could only control his temper and agree to Xia Ling¡¯s exorbitant endorsement fee.

    Xia Ling was overjoyed, and the way she looked at Li Lei after the meeting was much friendlier than before. Big Boss Li was really her fortune master. He had just given her a random figure, and she only needed to go into the meeting room, demand for that fee, and swagger out as they had no choice but to ept.

    She would not need to worry about buying anything ¡ª her branded bags, cosmetics, clothing purchases...

    Hahaha.... just thinking about all that was making her really happy.

    Xiao Ling was in an excellent mood. As they passed by a retail outlet, she walked in to buy Big Boss Li a tie as a thank you gift.

    Big Boss Li was pleasantly surprised at this and epted the gift with a radiant smile on his face.

    He called Sister Mai Na. ¡°Arrange for the PR team to issue a press release saying that Xiao Ling is about to leave Skyart Entertainment. She hasnded her first endorsement deal after going solo, and that is to continue being the endorsement model for Meteor Wings. Her endorsement fee has broken the national record.¡±

    There were some rumors recently that said Xiao Ling was being chased out of Skyart Entertainment after their breakup.

    He could not let Xiao Ling be regarded as so despondent. Even if she were to leave Skyart Entertainment, she was going to leave with style. Only then would she be protected from the bullying of those in the industry that had their eyes at the top of their heads.

 Chapter 273 - Pei Zihengs Visit

    <h4>Chapter 273: Pei Ziheng¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When this news was released,izens discussed it heatedly.

    Everyone had guessed that Big Boss Li had thrown Ye Xingling aside and instructed thepany to discontinue her contract after their breakup. However, Skyart Entertainment¡¯s release insinuated that they were the driving force behind her being able to hold on to the Meteor Wings endorsement deal and was clearly showing full support for her going solo.

    How did this look like she had been thrown aside?

    There was a greater likelihood that their breakup was amicable and peaceful.

    Negative rumors about Ye Xingling died down.

    Many artiste management agencies started thinking of poaching her. Someone like Ye Xingling, who had strong singing and dancing foundations at the young age of eighteen, was rare in the free market and clearly had great potential. There was no saying how far she would be able to rise up. If they could get her to join their agency, it would be a big win.

    Many started to look for ways to contact her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s social circle had always been small, and only a few closest to her had her mobile number. During this period, Sister Mai Na and Wei Shaoyin¡¯s mobiles were ringing non-stop with people asking for her contact number or asking to be introduced.

    Wei Shaoyin was jumping in anger, and Sister Mai Na was also rather upset.

    They both did not want Xia Ling to leave Skyart Entertainment. How many agencies out there could match up to Skyart Entertainment? However, they still meticulously filtered through the managers that were looking for her and introduced the dependable ones to Xia Ling. This was a small gesture on their part as her friends.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been in this line of work for years now, and there aren¡¯t any agencies out there that I¡¯m not familiar with.¡± Sister Mai Na told Xia Ling. ¡°Before you sign with anotherpany,e to ask me about them first. I¡¯ll be your gatekeeper.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked her and said, ¡°I¡¯m not in a hurry. Perhaps I¡¯ll look into it afterpleting the recording for ¡°Stray Cat¡± with Ah Wei.¡± This was herst project at Skyart Entertainment, and as Wei Shaoyin aptly put, it was going to be her best piece since her debut.

    It was already almost two years since her debut.

    In this time, she had only recorded four songs in total ¡ª ¡°ss Fingertips,¡± ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± ¡°Eyes Beneath The Mask,¡± and ¡°Stray Cat.¡± This was an unbelievably low churn-out rate for a new singer.

    ¡°ss Fingertips¡± was her debut song, and she was not familiar with Wei Shaoyin then, and vice versa. Even though they worked hard on that song, there were still signs of teething and getting to know each other.

    ¡°Meteor Wings¡± was made for the Gu family perfume endorsement deal and bore the same name as the perfume she endorsed. Since it was meant toplement the perfume theme, it limited her artistic freedom in the delivery.

    ¡°Eyes Beneath The Mask¡± was a very good song, but was released at the same time that Feng Kun had announced the revival of ¡°The Caged Butterfly.¡± This discounted the sess of ¡°Eyes Beneath The Mask¡± greatly.

    Only the current song they were making ¡ª ¡°Stray Cat¡± ¡ª was being made after Wei Shaoyin and her had truly understood each other¡¯s styles. The song and lyrics were full of their talents and inspiration, and the song was being made to perfection. The timing of its release was also going to coincide with her leaving Skyart Entertainment. Netizens were waiting to hear this st song,¡± and it was a great marketing gimmick that they had capitalized upon.

    In Wei Shaoyin¡¯s words: ¡°There is no way that this song is not going to be a big hit!¡±

    Xia Ling agreed with him. This song was made in the depths of her despair, and the tune and lyrics tugged at the heartstrings of listeners. Even though her rtionship with Li Lei had be better, the pain and suffering were apparent in the music. It was music from the soul.

    ¡°Stray Cat¡± was going to be a big hit.

    It was birthed from the hearts of all those that participated in its making.

    Perhaps because they had created such a wonderful song together, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s attitude towards Xia Ling had also be better. Initially, he had been appalled and furious at the news of her leaving Skyart Entertainment. Now, he would just give her a slightly darkened expression.

    ¡°Next time, tell your manager to speak to me.¡± He coldly said after theypleted the recording.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Xia Ling was trying to disentangle herself from the headphones that had caught onto her hair. Hearing Wei Shaoyin¡¯s words, she looked up in confusion.

    Wei Shaoyin pridefully turned his face away and refused to borate further.

    Xia Ling quietly disgested his statement.

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me to continue coborating with you to produce music?¡± His words finally sank in, and a broad smile spread across her face. How could she forget? Even though she was no longer going to be under Skyart Entertainment, Ah Wei¡¯s recording studio was notpletely exclusive to them. He still recorded many songs with artistes under other agencies.

    ¡°I will definitelye back.¡± Xia Ling smiled and promised. She liked Ah Wei very much. His music style was clean-cut andpatible with the voice she had in this life. What¡¯s more, Ah Wei might be picky in his work, but his professionalism was unparalleled in the industry. Xia Ling was worried that she would not be able to get ustomed to working with other producers after leaving Skyart Entertainment.

    Hearing her reply, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression lifted a little. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what you just said.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and reasserted her agreement, then left the recording studio in a wondrous mood.

    As she got back home, the doorbell rang.

    Didn¡¯t Luo Luo bring her key with her? Li Lei was out of town today on business, and he had called to tell her he would not be apanying her for dinner.

    Who could be at the door then?

    Xia Ling opened the door and stood stunned with her mouth agape.

    In front of her was a tall, well-built man wearing a ck checkered shirt. His chiseled and cold features made him seem ethereal, and his deep-set eyes were staring directly at her.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    On the corridor, the dim, natural lighting entuated his perfect profile, as if he were part of a dream before the break of dawn ¡ª mysterious, dark, dangerous, and unreal.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His deep and attractive voice rang out, slowly enunciating her name. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me into the house?¡±

    She realized then that they had been standing at the doorway for quite a while.

    ¡°You... why are you here?¡± She struggled to find her voice. For some reason, she was so nervous that her hands and feet were stiff. On Valentine¡¯s Day, she was in the warmth of his arms when he had sent her to the hospital. The scenes in the quiet night in the ward, with the dim, warm lighting, him peeling her an apple and them having a simple conversation, was still clear in her mind.

    Pei Ziheng gently said, ¡°I heard you¡¯re leaving Skyart Entertainment and wanted toe to see you. Are you really not going to invite me in to sit down? I¡¯ve brought you a gift.¡±

    She stepped aside to let him in, moving as if she were dream walking, before closing the door behind them.

    Pei Ziheng sat down on the sofa in the living room and looked around the small house, his forehead scrunching up into a frown. ¡°You¡¯re living in this shabby ce?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡± Xia Ling breathed deeply and regained her calmness. ¡°I¡¯m renting this with a friend, and the rent isn¡¯t too expensive. We can also take care of each other. Oh right, how did you find out that I¡¯m staying here?¡±

    ¡°Luo Luo.¡± Pei Ziheng did not hide his source from her. ¡°You¡¯re sharing the t with her, right? That girl can¡¯t keep a secret and mentioned you were staying together when she was chatting with someone in the recording studio. Chu Chen overheard their conversation.¡±

    So that¡¯s why.

    Xia Ling resisted the urge to rub her temples. That innocent white rabbit Luo Luo... did she know that she attracted a big grey wolf to the house?

 Chapter 274 - The Blue Diamond Necklace

    <h4>Chapter 274: The Blue Diamond Ne</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng pushed an exquisite gift box in front of her. ¡°This is a gift for you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not move from where she was. ¡°It looks expensive. I can¡¯t ept that.¡± The box was small and square, the blue velvet exterior elegant and attractive like the night sky. It was apparent that it was a jewelry box, and knowing Pei Ziheng, it definitely would not be a cheap item.

    She could ept gifts from anyone but him. epting a gift from him felt like... felt like it meant something else...

    She did not dare have any deeper involvement with him.

    Pei Ziheng opened the box and, as Xia Ling expected, a blue diamond ne was lying quietly in the box. The tinum, triple-woven thin chainplemented the exquisitely-cut, beautiful blue diamond. The rity was high, and every face of the diamond sparkled under the lights. There was a small guarantee card sitting inside the box with a logo on it.

    Xia Ling immediately recognized the logo to be a high-end diamond brand. In her past life, she loved essories from this brand. However, in this life, she would bankrupt herself if she tried to buy that small blue diamond ne Pei Ziheng was holding in his hands.

    She stopped looking at the ne and raised her head to look straight into his eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen your performances several times.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s deep voice rang out again. There was an authority in his voice, not only because of the deepness of it but also through the many years of being in a position of power. ¡°You have very few essories to go with the gowns that you have donned. When I walked by this store the other day, I thought this ne suited you and decided to buy it for you.¡±

    In actual fact, he had not merely passed by the store.

    He had specially gone down to look for a suitable ne for her. He watched every event that she attended, and when he saw her at the ¡°War and Death¡± premiere event, he saw that the ne she wore was amonly found crystal ne and clearly sub-par. Then, he had felt a tinge of anger at Li Lei. Was this how he treated her usually? How could he let her look so shabby in theserge events where many artistes were gathered together? That man did not deserve to be with her.

    Pei Ziheng had especially found time one day to go to the store.

    That was his Xiao Ling¡¯s favorite store when she was still alive.

    He bought the newest model of the season ¡ª the most expensive blue diamond ne. He knew that Xiao Ling would love it if she were still alive to receive it.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, put it on.¡± Pei Ziheng said in his deep baritone.

    That warm and familiar voice made Xia Ling feel like she had gone back in time.

    As if in a trance she reached out and received the ne from him.

    Opening the tinum sp, she was about to put the ne on. Suddenly, her fingers touched something as they moved to her neck ¡ª she was wearing a thin red string around her neck, and at the end of the string was a simple amulet. Li Lei had given her this amulet and had told her never to take it off.

    She retracted her hand from her neck.

    ¡°Sorry, I already have a ne.¡± She put the blue diamond ne back into the box.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze fell onto the string around her neck. The red string made her skin look all the more fair and sulent, and he felt his breathing quicken. Pei Ziheng discretely calmed himself and said, ¡°A red string? It¡¯s an amulet, right?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She could not fathom why she did not dare tell him that it was a gift from Li Lei.

    She said sheepishly. ¡°It¡¯s for protection.¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not insist on her putting on the ne. However, he picked up the sparkling blue diamond ne and put it in the palm of her hand. ¡°Keep it. Wear it with your dresses next time.¡±

    Xia Ling could hardly resist, and even though she had warned herself thousands of times over to be careful of Pei Ziheng, she almost put the ne on hearing his voice that seemed to have magical powers on her. Now, it would be contrite to give the excuse that the gift was too expensive and she could not ept it.

    She had no choice but to agree.

    She consoled herself silently. In her past life, she earned loads of money for him, and after her death, all of that went to him and Xia Yu. Now, she had merely received a ne from him. It was not too expensive...

    She repeated that phrase as if trying to hypnotize herself.

    Pei Ziheng watched her and asked, ¡°What are your ns after leaving Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled, before she replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. I¡¯ll just take things as they go along. Many management agencies are getting in touch with me, but I haven¡¯t decided where I want to go yet.¡±

    ¡°Do you want...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to Imperial Entertainment.¡± Xia Lingughed and interrupted him. ¡°Boss Pei, thank you for your kind intentions.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Pei Ziheng frowned slightly. Before, it seemed like she could not bear to leave Skyart Entertainment. Yet now, Skyart Entertainment was not a barrier at all. ¡°You have to know that no otherpany in the industry can match up to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Xia Ling nodded and carefully considered her response. ¡°I¡¯ve been too used to beingzy, and the intense regimental style that Imperial Entertainment has isn¡¯t suited for me. I¡¯m hoping to find apany that isn¡¯t quite so serious.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that I¡¯m serious?¡±

    ¡°No, no...¡± Xia Ling was close to tears. How would she dare say anything bad about Big Boss Pei? And in front of him, no less? She wasn¡¯t prepared to die again.

    ¡°Then, what is it?¡± Pei Ziheng continued pressing her.

    When Luo Luo returned she was going to skin her alive! How had she so easily revealed her living situation, especially during this time when she was switching management agencies?! She preferred to be hunted down by hundreds of tabloid reporters than to face Pei Ziheng¡¯s interrogation!

    Xia Ling could not think of any other excuses. She shut her eyes and blurted out. ¡°I just don¡¯t like working with people I know! Especially those that haveplicated rtionships with me! I left Skyart Entertainment because I felt that it was awkward working under Li Lei! Imperial Entertainment is the same! There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going there when you¡¯re there. I¡¯m going to find a simple, innocentpany that isn¡¯t soplicated!¡±

    No, wait up...

    She seemed to have said too much...

    Whatplicated rtionships?!

    Xia Ling opened her eyes that were fraught with anxiety and looked at Boss Pei. He... he... did he derive anything from what she had just said?

    Pei Ziheng sped his hands together in front of him, and his deep-set, mysterious eyes were contemting her, his face cold and void of emotion. After a while, there was a tinge of a smile in the depths of his eyes. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying... you have personal feelings for me?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling almost jumped up in fright. ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand me!¡±

    ¡°Then, what is it?¡±

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words.

    At this moment, she wished someone woulde to save her. Li Lei... where was Li Lei? Why was it that he was busy today? Xia Ling took a deep breath, and another before she thought of ame excuse. ¡°I don¡¯t have any feelings for you... but you have feelings for me... Anyway, I¡¯m not going to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    His eyes darkened slightly.

    Xia Ling nervously watched him and saw the darkening in his eyes, but this put her more at ease.

    ¡°I hope to ensure that my personal life and my work are keptpletely separate.¡± She regained herposure and continued. ¡°Regardless of whatever personal rtionships, if the other person is in the samepany, I¡¯m going to pass thepany up.¡± She hinted that if he insisted on her joining Imperial Entertainment, there would not be any chance between them at all.

    Then, did that mean... if they were not in the samepany, he would have a chance?

 Chapter 275 - The Despot

    <h4>Chapter 275: The Despot</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng silently contemted her again.

    Xia Ling started to feel sheepish under his watchful eyes. She did not want to give him any hope, but given the current situation, this was merely a stop-gap measure. If she did not make Pei Ziheng give up hope of inviting her to Imperial Entertainment, then even if she rejected him, he would find all ways and means to block her from entering otherpanies and force her to go to Imperial Entertainment.

    Giving him a ray of hope was better than going back to Imperial Entertainment to be his puppet.

    Moreover...

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression softened. She found that she was not as afraid and resistant to him as before, after the few incidents over New Year¡¯s and Valentine¡¯s Day. Even if they did not reconcile, it would still be nice to consider him a friend, or even family.

    ¡°Boss Pei, thank you for your kind offer.¡± She reiterated. ¡°Perhaps we can be friends in the future, but that has to be built without any conflict of interest business-wise. I hope you understand.¡±

    ¡°Just friends?¡±

    She lowered her head slightly and did not answer.

    There was a sound at the door, and the door swung open.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling!¡± Luo Luo¡¯s voice rang out from behind the partition near the doorway. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯mteing back! Are you hungry? Shall we go out for dinner? Do you know how crazy Pei Ziheng is? I heard that his meeting with senior management today was almost six hours long, and he gave them all quite an earful. As a result, morale is very low in the office right now... Boss Chu from the managers¡¯ department lectured all the managers in the office, and the managers, in turn, lectured all of us! We finished sote because they were scolding us all for so long... I¡¯m telling you that Pei Ziheng is a despot! A crazy despot! Animal! Monster!¡±

    It seemed that all the anger that Luo Luo had kept within her throughout the day was being released as she rattled all of these out at breakneck speed while changing to her house slippers.

    Xia Ling quietly looked up at Pei Ziheng, who was sitting opposite her.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face showed no emotion.

    Luo Luo finished changing her shoes and turned in from behind the partition, still keeping up with herints. ¡°What do you think? Why does Imperial Entertainment have such a crazy and monstrous Boss managing us all? I¡¯m telling you... go anywhere but Imperial Entertainment! Pei Ziheng is just a... Pei... Boss Pei?!¡± Luo Luo lifted her head, saw the additional person sitting in the living room, and gave a yelp of surprise, the bag in her hand falling to the floor in her shock.

    Pei Ziheng continued to stare at her with his face void of emotion.

    Xia Ling could not bear to see what would happen and gave Luo Luo a sympathetic nce.

    Luo Luo was speechless from fright. Oh... Oh my God! Her heart felt like it was going to give way from shock. How terrifying is it to see Big Boss Pei, this ten thousand year ice mountain, sitting in your own living room after pushing the door open?! Definitely as terrifying as discovering an alien in your house!

    What¡¯s more, she was just ranting about Boss Pei and saying so many terrible things about him... Did he hear everything?

    Luo Luo blinked her eyes nkly and was close to tears.

    ¡°See... didn¡¯t I say Imperial Entertainment is too serious?¡± Xia Ling said in a lighthearted tone and tried to save the situation with a nonchnt smile. ¡°Luo Luo is a diligent artiste, but asionally she¡¯ll have some grievances. Don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me so formally.¡±

    Xia Ling was momentarily stunned before smiling. ¡°Okay. It¡¯s gettingte now, and you seemed really busy today. Why don¡¯t you head home to have a rest and we can continue our conversation another day.¡±

    Pei Ziheng took a look at the time and saw that it was indeed gettingte. He had to catch a red-eye flight to Los Angeles for a conference. As such, he stood up and walked towards the door. As he passed Luo Luo, he nced at her like a giant king dragon looking down at a trembling little white rabbit. The little white rabbit looked like she was about to scream and flee in terror.

    Did he have such a dark sense of humor? Was seeing someone so terrified amusing to him?

    Xia Ling was speechless and stood in his way, blocking Luo Luo from him as she walked him to the door.

    Pei Ziheng caught this small movement, and his gaze became gentler. Very few were not afraid of him. His Xiao Ling was one such person, and clearly, this girl in front of him was the second. He wished that she woulde to his side.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be really tough for a girl to be in the entertainment industry all alone.¡± He turned to speak to Xia Ling after walking to the door. ¡°If you have any problems feel free to contact me. You have my number.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    Pei Ziheng had many numbers, and the number that he gave her was one that few people were aware of. It was reserved for some rtives, his gym instructor, and other people that had a close rtionship with him.

    In fact, in her past life, the number that she used was another, more exclusive one. It was a number that was exclusively set up for her and only her, and only the two of them were aware of it. Now, he did not give her that number, and Xia Ling did not know whether to be relieved or sad. Perhaps that number was no longer in use? This thought shed across her mind before she dismissed it quickly.

    She watched Pei Ziheng as he walked further and further away.

    Xia Ling closed the door and returned to the living room.

    The little white rabbit, Luo Luo, who turned into a fossil for quite a while in the living room seemed toe back to life. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! Was I mistaken?! Was that man Pei Ziheng? Oh my God... it¡¯s Big Boss Pei Ziheng from Imperial Entertainment, right?! Quick... quick, pinch me! I need to check if I¡¯m having a nightmare!¡±

    Xia Ling gave her a good, hard pinch. ¡°Can¡¯t you be a little more tight-lipped? Why did you tell everyone that I¡¯m staying here?¡±

    ¡°Ouch!¡± Luo Luo yelped out with pain, her eyes tearing up. She realized that she had made Xia Ling upset and apologized, feeling contrite. ¡°I¡¯ve only said it once in the recording studio at Imperial Entertainment... There were only artistes present and no reporters or fans, so I thought it would be fine...¡±

    ¡°There you go!¡± Xia Ling red at her angrily. ¡°If you didn¡¯t let that slip, why would that Big Bosse here?!¡±

    ¡°Oh my God, it was really Pei Ziheng? I wasn¡¯t dreaming?!¡± Luo Luo fell onto the sofa dramatically, grabbing onto her heart. ¡°I can¡¯t take it... I need to get some help! Oh God... that was just too terrifying! Do you know that this was my first time seeing him up close? Xiao Ling, why is there such a terrifying person on this earth? Just a nce from him will make a person freeze into a popsicle! And I said so many bad things about him earlier! Will he fire me... oh noooo...¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t. Rx.¡± Xia Ling said weakly. She also felt like she needed help and sat down beside Luo Luo, who was sprawled on the sofa, and picked up her cup for a drink of water.

    ¡°He really won¡¯t?¡± Luo Luo was not convinced and rolled about on the sofa in despair. ¡°I said that Pei Ziheng was a despot and a monster and that anyone that offended him would note to a good end. How could he possibly let me off?¡±

    ¡°Someone of your level is of no concern to him.¡± Xia Ling calmly leveled Luo Luo a light punch with her statement. In her past life, Xia Ling had stayed with Pei Ziheng all her life and knew him really well. His despot tendencies and monstrous attitude, coldness, cruelty, and vengefulness would only be targeted at someone like Li Lei, or Chu Chen, Mai Na, Feng Kun, Ah Wei... people of that level. For small fries like Luo Luo, who was just a new singer, that was being disrespectful in her statements? If Pei Ziheng were to take it to heart, he would be wasting all the time in his life to get back at them.

    Luo Luo¡¯s ss heart seemed to have shattered again with Xia Ling¡¯s statement. ¡°Okay... I¡¯m just a small fry... I¡¯m utterly transparent...¡±

    But after a while, Luo Luo came close to Xia Ling again, asking, ¡°Ultimately... if he doesn¡¯t take revenge on me it¡¯s a good thing.¡± Miss optimistic and energetic came back in an instant. She seemed to have suddenly thought of something and struggled to sit up to look at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling, was Boss Pei here specially to look for you? What was he talking to you about? Wow, you guys know each other?!¡±

    Her questions came out one after another, making Xia Ling feel like a headache wasing.

 Chapter 276 - The Lingering Music

    <h4>Chapter 276: The Lingering Music</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She replied Luo Luo umittedly. ¡°We don¡¯t know each other well. He just found out that I¡¯m switching management agencies and came to ask me to join Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Wow, Boss Pei came down himself to invite you? And you say that you guys aren¡¯t close? Xiao Ling, do you know that you¡¯re definitely the first person that Boss Pei has invited to join thepany himself?! In the past, even if he were particrly impressed by an artiste, he would merely pass on his views to the manager¡¯s department to settle. Since when would he deal with it himself?¡± Luo Luo kept on harping on the matter. Suddenly, her gaze fell on the coffee table.

    The blue resplendent diamond ne with the thin tinum chain was lying quietly on the coffee table in front of the sofa, so luxurious and elegant that it was hard for someone to tear their eyes away from it. It looked really expensive.

    ¡°Is this a gift from Boss Pei?¡± Luo Luo¡¯s voice suddenly dropped.

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± Xia Ling responded nonchntly.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Luo Luo lifted her head to look at her like she had something to say. After a while, she finally mustered up the courage and asked, ¡°His visit wasn¡¯t just about inviting you to Imperial Entertainment, was it?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Xia Ling frowned.

    Luo Luo pointed at the blue diamond ne on the coffee table.

    This? It did not look like the typical gift that management agencies gave to artistes they invited to join their agency. It was too expensive and too much.

    ¡°He... likes you, right?¡± Luo Luo might be innocent, but having been exposed to the entertainment circle for so long, she was familiar with how things worked in the industry. For a female star, it was prettymon to see a random rich man shower them with expensive gifts. The pretty female star would simply return him with the gift of her body... and they would both be getting what they wanted.

    Except... Luo Luo did not believe that something like this would happen to Xiao Ling. Xiao Ling was a perfect existence in Luo Luo¡¯s mind, and she stared at her in disbelief. ¡°Did you agree?¡±

    ¡°I rejected him.¡±

    ¡°If you rejected him, why did you ept this blue diamond ne?!¡± Luo Luo questioned her. ¡°Which man doesn¡¯t expect something in return after gifting such an expensive item?¡±

    ¡°I said that I¡¯ve rejected him!¡± Xia Ling was mildly exasperated. She did not like to be questioned, particrly about matters pertaining to Pei Ziheng. In an annoyed tone, she said, ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t ept this ne, he would still leave it on the table and not take it back with him. He¡¯s just someone like that! This ispletely separate from whether I have any under-the-table transactions with him!¡±

    Luo Luo was quiet for a moment.

    ¡°Do you know him well?¡± She asked Xia Ling. Sometimes, a woman¡¯s intuition was very astute, and even an innocent and simple girl like Luo Luo knew that it was weird for Xia Ling to say ¡°He¡¯s just someone like that.¡± If it wasn¡¯t someone that she knew well, how could she say something like that?

    Xia Ling was taken aback and kept quiet.

    She was afraid that her reincarnation would be revealed.

    Yet, Luo Luo¡¯s mind seemed to have gone in a different direction. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you like him?¡±

    Like Pei Ziheng? If she were to say that she didn¡¯t have a single bit of longing for him deep down in her heart would be a lie, but she herself was unclear whether it was the remnants of their happiest times in her past life, or merely the aftereffects of Stockholm¡¯s Syndrome.

    In other words, she was unable to differentiate if she still had feelings for him, or if it was all a figment of her hallucinations.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible between us.¡± She mumbled in response to Luo Luo as if she were answering herself.

    Luo Luo asked again, ¡°Then... what about Li Lei? Do you like Li Lei?¡± Big Boss Li came by every day, and Luo Luo was getting to know him better. She had a good impression of Li Lei.

    Li Lei? Xia Ling thought of him, and the look in her eyes became gentler.

    She probably did like him, right? That¡¯s why she was so affected by their breakup and was so affected when he was too close to other girls. Every time he was good to her, she would feel like the whole world was shiny and bright...

    Luo Luo watched her change in expression and said, ¡°Oh no, oh no, you¡¯ve clearly fallen for him.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so sure that I¡¯ve fallen for him?¡± In all honesty, Xia Ling herself was unsure.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you realized that whenever we talk about Li Lei, the look in your eyes... tsk tsk...¡± Luo Luo shook her head in mock terror. ¡°Haha... admit it, Xiao Ling, Li Lei is your true love. And Pei Ziheng? When I asked you about him earlier, over here...¡±

    Luo Luo reached out and smoothened Xia Ling¡¯s furrowed brows. ¡°Over here was all scrunched up.¡±

    Was it that obvious? Xia Ling subconsciously reached her hand to her face and rubbed the area between her brows as well.

    ¡°So, that¡¯s why I was worried about you epting a gift from Pei Ziheng.¡± Luo Luo continued. ¡°Xiao Ling, I think you won¡¯t be happy with Pei Ziheng. He¡¯s not that person that can bring you happiness. Li Lei is different. He takes care of you really well, and you clearly have him in your heart.¡±

    Xia Ling could not think of anything to refute her.

    ¡°Look clearly at your own heart, Xiao Ling.¡± Luo Luo said. ¡°Get back together with Boss Li. That¡¯s the only way you will be able to reject gifts from other men outrightly. Boss Li would be so upset to see this ne.¡±

    Li Lei would be upset? Xia Ling had not even thought of this problem.

    She looked down at the blue diamond ne on the coffee table, and the image of Li Lei¡¯s hurt expression appeared in her mind. Suddenly, she felt like her heart was being pricked by needles, and there was a sharp pain in her chest.

    In the middle of the night.

    Xia Ling thought back on what Luo Luo had said as she turned and tossed in bed. The moonlight shone through the gauze curtains and onto the resplendent blue diamond ne in her hands. Even though the diamond was magnificent, it was still cold and heavy in her hands. In contrast, the amulet from Li Lei around her neck was made of wood and warm against her skin. It was not as splendid to the eye but was also not so cold that it felt out of reach. This amulet gave her a sense of security.

    After looking at these two items for a long time, she finally sat up in bed and returned the blue diamond ne to its velvet box. After which, she pushed it deep down into the depths of her cupboard and hid it there.

    She then felt for the amulet on her chest, took out her mobile, and sent Li Lei a message: ¡°Take care of yourself out there and have an early rest tonight.¡±

    Luo Luo¡¯s words today made her realize that she did not show enough concern for him. Since she pined for the time that they had been together, then she had to work harder to make sure that he was safely back in her arms.

    Li Lei replied very quickly. She tapped on the message to open it and saw that he had replied with emoticons of a big hug and a smiley face. He also said that he would listen to her and head off to bed now. He was going to return to the city tomorrow and would bring her some snacks as presents.

    Her lips turned up at the corners and she hugged the mobile to her as she fell asleep. She had peaceful sleep throughout the night.

    A few dayster...

    ¡°Stray Cat¡± was finallypleted and officially released to the public.

    Skyart Entertainment organized a massive news conference for her, inviting many reporters, fan representatives, and managers from other entertainment agencies. They came to listen to her sing the song that was destined to be a big hit.

    ¡°A stray cat licks its wound by the street, as peoplee and go...¡±

    The song finally ended and lingered in the air.

    The fans cheered loudly, and the reporters frantically clicked on their camera shutters, the camera lights shing away. All the managers present rang their respective agencies saying the same thing: ¡°They simply had to make sure that they poached her over.¡±

 Chapter 277 - Get Married, Have Kids, and Retire from Show Business

    <h4>Chapter 277: Get Married, Have Kids, and Retire from Show Business</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    This song was going to be the best song of the year, and it would difficult for anyone to surpass it.

    Ever since the death of the Diva Xia Ling, the music industry had beencking a female artiste that could rise up above the rest. No female singer dared to say that they were the undisputed No. 1. Ye Xingling might not have reached that level just yet, but this song ¡°Stray Cat¡± was a hit that was a level above all songs in its genre.

    For someone to be able to sing like that, that person would have unlimited potential.

    The news conference concluded.

    Xia Ling received many messages in her email, and her mobile and private Weibo message inboxes were filled to the limits as well. She looked at all the invites she was getting from the managers in the industry and felt deeply troubled. Where was she going to go?

    Li Lei brought her out for dinner.

    In the quiet ambiance of the high-ssed French restaurant, with soft music ying in the background, the pristine white tes and silver cutlery shone under the chandelier lights. Li Lei ordered her favorite filet mignon, vegetable sd, and cream mushroom soup, paired with red wine.

    She was considered to be one of the lucky few in the entertainment industry in that she would not gain weight easily. She had a sweet tooth and would consumerge amounts of sugar and salt in a day, but was still able to maintain her perfect figure, drawing jealousy from many of her peers that had to diet hard to maintain their figure. However, Li Lei was concerned for her. While it was true that she did not gain weight easily, the downside of such a body disposition was that her digestive system was terrible; it was difficult for her body to absorb nutrients. He was worried that her nutrition level would not be enough.

    He could not resist chiding her. ¡°Don¡¯t y with your mobile while you¡¯re eating. It¡¯s bad for your body.¡±

    Xia Ling gave an obedient ¡°Oh¡± and put her phone aside, but her expression was still distracted.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at him and thought to herself that it would be weird to speak to her soon-to-be ex-boss about her next agency. Yet, she knew that he was not sitting opposite her as her Boss right now, and thus confided in him. ¡°I don¡¯t know which agency I should go to.¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°I thought you were never going to discuss this with me.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled as well before saying, ¡°I had indeed not wanted to discuss this with you because I wanted to maintain my independence when it came to my work. However, Luo Luo and Sister Mai Na gave me so much advice as friends, and you...¡±

    ¡°What about me?¡± Li Lei asked in a low voice, as he subconsciously sat straighter.

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Ling gave a coy smile, and a glint came into her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ll no longer be my Boss in the future. Wouldn¡¯t you say that our personal rtionship is closer than that of friends?¡± This was the first time after their breakup that she had hinted about their rtionship in a positive way. Ever since receiving the blue diamond ne from Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling had had the opportunity to think through these things more clearly, and she decided to be more forward with Li Lei. It was not fair to him to be the only one that was trying to make the rtionship work, she needed to do her part as well if they wanted to be together for a long time.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes shone when he heard her words, and his voice unknowingly became tighter and higher. ¡°Not really.¡± Before, he had been concerned if letting her leave the apartment and leave Skyart Entertainment was the right decision, but now he was thankful that he had decided to allow her to do all that. His Xiao Ling was like a bird that needed to be free to fly in the blue sky, and she would only take their rtionship seriously when she was rxed that way.

    Momentarily letting go was for the benefit of reconciliation for the long term.

    This was an excellent bargain.

    Big Boss Li gave himself 32 thumbs up in his mind as he reached over to refill her wine ss. ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you tell me your ideas in more detail and I can give you some advice?¡±

    Xia Ling thought for a moment.

    She had so many thoughts that she did not know where to begin.

    She was actuallypletely unfamiliar with the agencies and managers in the entertainment industry.

    In her past life, she was adopted directly by Pei Ziheng, and when she debuted, Chu Chen had managed all her activities. She had not switched agencies for more than ten years. In this life, she was in the Skyart Entertainment training camp the moment she opened her eyes, and Tan Ying had put her under Sister Mai Na¡¯s charge since her debut until now. She had never selected an entertainment agency or manager for herself before. Thus, she had no idea where to start.

    ¡°What kind ofpany is a goodpany? And what kind of manager is a good manager?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°That would depend on yourself.¡± Being the owner of an entertainment agency, Li Lei had been in the industry for many years. While he did not seem to care much about the daily activities, he was still someone that had a good macro view of the industry. ¡°It would depend on your goal in the industry and what kind of vantage point you would want to hit in the future? What area would you like to branch into? Do you purely want to be a singer, or do you want to branch into acting and variety shows as well? Do you want to be in the industry for life, or do you want to retire and raise a family after five or ten years? These would affect your decision in choosing the right agency and manager.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I haven¡¯t given it that much thought...¡± Xia Ling said.

    Initially, she had no choice but to debut to repay her debts owed to Skyart Entertainment when she was just a trainee in the training camp. Now, after she had repaid all her debts, there was no real motivation for her to remain in the industry. If she was being honest, she was already an artiste and felt that it was impossible for her to be anywhere else.

    Open a small shop? She did not have the talent for that. She had tried to open many shops in the past ¡ª jewelry shops, flower shops, etc. ¡ª and they had all been big flops.

    Be a frence author or artist? She did not know how.

    Be a financier and dabble in the stock markets? One, she did not have that kind of money, and two, she did not have the aptitude for that.

    After thinking long and hard, there was only the option for her to stay in the entertainment industry for her livelihood. With her current singing prowess, it would be easy for her to get jobs in the industry. The difficulty was...

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei asked. ¡°When you just debuted, you said that you wanted to be a Diva. Was that what you really wanted or just because of the situation you were in?¡±

    She had disyed her Diva potential, which made Skyart Entertainment take her under their wing and go head-to-head with Imperial Entertainment.

    Thinking back to that incident, Xia Ling felt a little sheepish. It seemed that she had not fulfilled her end of the promise yet and was in a rush to leave Skyart Entertainment. In that case, she could choose now whether she wanted to be diligent or to ck off. ¡°I will be a Diva.¡± She met the gaze of the man sitting opposite her at the table. ¡°Be a Diva and coborate with Skyart Entertainment, bringing Skyart Entertainment many financial rewards... to fulfill my initial promise.¡±

    A warmth entered Li Lei¡¯s heart at her statement, but he looked at her and exined. ¡°Xiao Ling, that¡¯s not what I meant. I hope for you to be happy and do what you enjoy. If you¡¯re sessful, great, but even if you¡¯re mediocre, as long as you¡¯re happy, all is good.¡± He paused before adding. ¡°It would be best if you continue for a few years and then get married, have kids, and leave the show business.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. So that was why he did not want her to be a Diva?

    ¡°I will be a diva.¡± She smiled, and a determined expression came upon her face. ¡°Get married, have kids, and leave the show business? In this life, I have no intention of bing a housewife and depend on a man to live.¡±

 Chapter 278 - Live In The Moment

    <h4>Chapter 278: Live In The Moment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei¡¯s expression showed disappointment.

    Xia Ling smiled and lifted her ss. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t dwell in the details. There¡¯s still a long way to go, let¡¯s just get drunk today.¡±

    Li Lei reverted to his usualzy self as he watched her. ¡°Today? Xiao Ling, you aren¡¯t someone to get drunk.¡± He lifted the ss in his hands and clinked it gently against hers. He said suspiciously, ¡°If you really get drunk, why don¡¯t you just live in the moment and agree to be my girlfriend again?¡±

    Perhaps because she had a little to drink, Xia Ling¡¯s face was slightly flushed. She cheekily said, ¡°No, no... it¡¯s not that easy to be my boyfriend.¡± She stared at him and maintained her smile. ¡°Let¡¯s talk after you have dealt with your family.¡±

    She did not want to have to break up all of a sudden again if they rekindled their rtionship.

    ¡°I will.¡± Li Lei promised with a serious expression.

    After that incident, the fact that she had not declined his pursuit of her was already something that he was very grateful for. Even if she had not raised this issue, he was already thinking of how to deal with his family. It was not merely ensuring that his grandfather would not harm her, but also ensuring that his entire family would willingly ept her and that she could properly be the Li family missus.

    To this end, he needed to fight it out with his crazy brother.

    Li Lei¡¯s gaze turned colder as he thought about this. The reason he had left China before was to avoid getting into a fight with his brother and eded the role of the family heir to him. In fact, he felt that Li Feng was more suitable to manage the Li family businesses since they mostly involved the underworld. Li Feng was more vicious than he was, and enjoyed the dog-eat-dog nature of the underworld, whereas Li Lei did not.

    He never had strong intentions to battle it out with Li Feng.

    However, things were different now. Now, there was Xiao Ling in the picture.

    He needed to ensure that he acquired enough power to guarantee Xiao Ling¡¯s position and safety in his family. The best way to achieve that was to be the head of the family like his grandfather, such that nobody could question anything he said and dare harm the girl he loved.

    It was also good for Xiao Ling to leave Skyart Entertainment at this time.

    Skyart Entertainment would be embroiled in this power struggle and be a piece in his mastern for the war with Li Feng. There would be danger and storms brewing, and he did not want his girl to be implicated in all of it.

    Li Lei looked at Xia Ling with a gentle smile on his face. ¡°Wait for me to give you a safe home.¡±

    They had a pleasant and happy meal, and after this bit of flirting, Li Lei gave her some useful advice regarding choosing the right agency. ¡°If you want to be a Diva, you need to pick a big agency with enough experience and ability, with the right systems in ce, and it would be best that they are focused on being a management agency with few other side businesses. Those kinds ofpanies are different from conglomerates like Skyart Entertainment or Imperial Entertainment as they only focus on the management of their artistes. They don¡¯t dabble in the making of movies or music production, and all their energy will be focused on marketing and packaging their artistes, or picking the best activities and shows for them to go on. They tend to be highly experienced and have good ties with all the productionpanies in the industry, and they also provide a lot of breadth in terms of endorsement deals.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that they wouldn¡¯t be like Skyart Entertainment and not ept deals from Imperial Entertainment because they have a bad rtionship?¡± Xia Lingmented as she digested what the Big Boss was saying.

    Big Boss was unhappy with her statement. ¡°Are you so bent on working with Imperial Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Actually, Pei Ziheng has approached me and invited me to join Imperial Entertainment. I¡¯ve rejected him.¡± Feeling rxed under the influence of alcohol, Xia Lingzily revealed her earlier conversation with Pei Ziheng to Li Lei.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes narrowed into a line as he contemted her. Suddenly, heughed and said, ¡°I¡¯m d.¡± He then lightly clinked her ss again and continued. ¡°I won¡¯t see Gu Lin, and you should not see Pei Ziheng as well.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t see him.¡± She paused before shaking her head. ¡°But, he... he is an important person to me... should I forgive him? I... I might forgive him soon.¡±

    Her mumbling made Li Lei¡¯s expression darken, and he instinctively felt that she was going to reveal an important answer to him. Almost holding in his breath, Li Lei softly asked her, ¡°So, who is he to you?¡±

    Xia Ling did not hold her alcohol well and easily became drunk after a few sips of red wine. Yet, even though her head was spinning from the alcohol, the truth of her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was too important and caught herself before she revealed the secret with what remained of her rationality. She looked at Li Lei, a sad smile on her face, and said, ¡°Very important... Do you know he¡¯s more important to me than Gu Lin is to you? Many, many, many times more important...¡±

    She refused to say anything more.

    ¡°Why is he so important?¡± Li Lei tried to pry more information from her and asked in a seductive voice.

    ¡°My head is spinning.¡± She mumbled and put her head in her hands. She lightly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

    Li Lei watched her calm sleeping expression for a moment. There was something that he could not bring himself to ask. Is he more important than me?

    He wanted to know the answer to that question but was afraid of what he might hear.

    When Xia Ling woke up the next morning, she was in her rental apartment and sleeping in her own bed. Someone had helped her change into her pajamas and covered her with the nket.

    As she got up to brush her teeth, Luo Luo spied her andmented, ¡°Boss Li sent you back yesterday and told me to prepare something light for your breakfast because you drank too much.¡±

    She nodded and sent Li Lei a message thanking him for his concern.

    She could not remember what she had told him yesterday. It looked like she should stay away from alcohol as much as possible in the future.

    She went to thepany andpleted the necessary administrative procedures to release herself from Skyart Entertainment as Sister Mai Na and the others looked on, their unhappiness with her leaving apparent on their faces. She was also sad to leave them and promised that there would be opportunities for them to work together in the future and that she would stay in touch ande back to visit everyone.

    She walked out of Skyart Entertainment.

    At this moment, her body felt light, but she felt slightly at a loss at what the future held for her.

    She had still not chosen a management agency, although Li Lei and Sister Mai Na had given her some direction for her consideration. She was still very much on her own in making the decision. She was undecided between severalpanies and managers, and she suddenly thought of a person that could give her more advice. That person was more professional than Li Lei and Wei Shaoyin...

    Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun was a well-reputed veteran in the industry, and everyone considered him to be steady, diplomatic, and meticulous. He had lots of friends and understood the people in the industry a lot more than someone like Li Lei, who was a Big Boss that left the day-to-day matters to his subordinates. Compared to Wei Shaoyin, who was arrogant and anal, Feng Kun was more objective and calm in his assessments. If she were able to get advice from him, she could supplement what she knew from Li Lei and the rest to make a more informed decision.

    Xia Ling took out her mobile and called Feng Kun without further ado.

    Feng Kun invited her to meet him in the private room of a cafe.

    ¡°I was waiting for you to look for me.¡± He gently smiled as he looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling felt a little apologetic. ¡°I really need your help to assess whichpany and manager I should join.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be sad if you didn¡¯t approach me.¡± Feng Kun jokingly said and continued, ¡°You should have received quite a lot of offers, right? Show me the list.¡±

    Xia Ling was prepared and took it out.

    Feng Kun scanned the list before saying, ¡°There are several goodpanies on the list, and the managers listed are good as well. Unfortunately...¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately what?¡±

    ¡°The person that I was thinking of rmending is not on the list.¡±

    ¡°Who is that?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued.

 Chapter 279 - The Identical Outfit Saga

    <h4>Chapter 279: The Identical Outfit Saga</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Do you remember Li Er?¡± Feng Kun did not respond to her question but instead started another topic.

    ¡°Li Er?¡± Xia Ling frowned and thought for a while, before looking at him with a confused expression.

    Feng Kun shook his head and sighed. Laughing, he said, ¡°You... you were always lost in your own world and rarely remembered the names of the people around you. Let me give you a hint... Eight years ago at the Neb Music Festival¡¯s annual celebratory dinner.¡±

    Xia Ling seemed to recall something after hearing this.

    ¡°Oh, her!¡± An outstandingly pretty face entered her mind. Even though there were beauties galore in the entertainment circle, her angelic face was something that left asting impression. That year, critics said that Li Er was the only person that could rival Xia Ling in terms of looks.

    And there were those that said even more.

    They said that Li Er was picking on her and was bent on following her to every event that she went to, wearing all the clothes she did and doing everything she did!

    Remembering these details made Xia Ling unhappy. ¡°She was such a copycat?! Imitating me everywhere she went! She deserved it when I sshed red wine on her that night!¡± She was referring to the incident at the Neb Music Festival dinner. All the most prominent artistes were gathered at the annual dinner, and Xia Ling was mingling in the crowd, dressed in a tailor-made European haute couture gown, her hair all done up, and the expensive jewelry was sparkling on her. Many looked over at her with envy in their eyes. She was the undisputed queen wherever she went.

    Until Li Er appeared and destroyed her shiny dream.

    Li Er was younger than her by two years and had the sweetest smile. Even though Li Er did not have the arrogance and air of a queen like Xia Ling, nor did she have the aggressive and ostentatious mboyance in her beauty, she was more gentle and sweet, and there was a small dimple in her cheek when she smiled. It was the first time that she was attending the ceremony, and she immediately attracted many eyeballs.

    Yet, Li Er¡¯s beauty was only a small reason why everyone was looking at her.

    The bigger reason was that this newbie singer was wearing an haute couture gown that was identical to Xia Ling¡¯s at that morous event of the year! The silvery white dress had a train that had tints of icy blue, and the diamond studs in the dress shimmered under the lights. She looked like a mermaid that had just emerged from the depths of the ocean. Even her essories were identical to Xia Ling¡¯s!

    Being dressed identically was highly embarrassing for any female star.

    Particrly to Xia Ling then, who had just be a Diva, that was full of arrogance and had her head in the air. How could she be wearing the exact same outfit as a new singer that just debuted, who was not all that popr? It was an insult, a huge insult!

    Xia Ling saw red at that moment, and her first reaction was: how dare she?!

    Before then, Li Er had challenged her several times, imitating her photo poses, going to the same restaurants she did... Many fans wereparing the two of them, and what made Xia Ling most upset was that some said that Li Er was younger and more popr than she was!

    All that pent up anger hit its peak at the dinner ceremony, at that moment when she saw Li Er dressed in an identical outfit!

    Xia Ling grabbed a ss of red wine from a waiter walking by, walked up to Li Er as elegantly as she could, and sshed the entire ss of red wine onto Li Er¡¯s face without hesitation. As she saw a shocked expressione across Li Er¡¯s face and how disheveled she looked with the red wine sshed and her makeup in a mess, Xia Ling felt thrilled.

    ¡°Such an arrogant bully.¡± Someone said in a low voice.

    ¡°Li Er is such a poor thing.¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling is getting more and more arrogant, and from bad to worse.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it all because she has Boss Pei backing her?¡±

    The murmurings became louder, but Xia Ling could not care less and stared Li Er down as she was still reeling from shock. ¡°If there is a next time, I will make sure you are forced to leave the entertainment circle.¡±

    She was like a sword that was fresh out of its hilt then ¡ª cold, vicious, invincible.

    All her arrogance stemmed from Pei Ziheng spoiling her. Regardless of what she wanted to do, even bullying a new star without thinking about the consequences at such a big event like the Neb Music Festival Annual Dinner, no one dared to get involved. They would simply gossip about it from the side and feel sorry for Li Er. That was harmless, wasn¡¯t it?

    While she had vented her anger then, now that she recalled the incident, Xia Ling was still seething with anger. ¡°Was the team at Imperial Entertainment pigs?! I was right to fire them all from the fashion consultant to the execution manager! How could an haute couture gown sh with someone else? Did they not bring their brains out that night?!¡±

    She said this statement as if she was always acting smartly then.

    Feng Kun shook his head and smiled.

    ¡°In so many years that you were a Diva, Li Er was the only person that threatened your position.¡± Feng Kun said.

    ¡°Threatened? Hmph, she?¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh. She admitted that she was really upset with Li Er, and sshing red wine on her then seemed to demean her position since Li Er and she was not on the same level at all. She was a Diva, a queen, an A-lister, whereas she was just a small, newly-debuted star. She had just made a name for herself and was not even familiar with the Neb Music Festival yet!

    Feng Kun shook his head. ¡°That was because she died too early. Xiao Ling, believe me, if Li Er was still alive, all she needed was three years... no.. two years, and she would really rattle your position.¡±

    ¡°With what?¡± Xia Ling was unconvinced. ¡°Was she as talented as I was in singing? Was she as pretty as I was? Other than entering the industry two yearster than me, and daring to challenge me so openly such that everyone felt that it was a novelty, what did she have that left an impression?¡±

    ¡°Do you know why she dared to challenge you?¡± Feng Kun asked.

    ¡°She was dumb and ignorant.¡± Xia Ling huffed. With her status in the industry then, no one dared go against her, especially female stars, no matter how experienced they were in the industry.

    Feng Kun smiled gently at her. ¡°You couldn¡¯t tell? That was what was different about herpared to all the others... she dared to offend you. No one else dared. Did you think you were the only person with a backer? You had Pei Ziheng, and you think she didn¡¯t have anyone backing her?¡±

    Xia Ling had never thought of this question properly before.

    She had merely thought that Li Er was a crazy young artiste that was trying something extraordinary.

    Feng Kun dissected the situation to her. ¡°This circle is a dynamic one, and artistes tend to have few short, best years, especially for female stars. Whether or not one can hold on to the opportunities in those years would typically determine their sess. That person backing Li Er directed her on a short-cut. What else would be more effective in gaining attention than to challenge you openly?¡±

    ¡°That day when you sshed her with red wine... it was actually a huge sess for her.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling did not agree with his assessment.

    Feng Kun wagged his finger at her and continued, ¡°I remember that you read the report about the incident the next day. Even though Imperial Entertainment had Chu Chen doing a lot of PR for you, and the negative impact on you was brought to the minimum, the sh in your outfits and your action of sshing red wine on her still was reported. After that night, her online search poprity surged several times over, gaining her a lot of eyeballs.¡±

    ¡°All this was because she had an outstanding manager behind her.¡±

 Chapter 280 - Are You Telling Me Hes A Good Person

    <h4>Chapter 280: Are You Telling Me He¡¯s A Good Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun finally got to the main point.

    While Xia Ling still felt she was wronged, she had to admit that that wretched manager did his job well. He used her formidable Diva reputation to help a newbie gain poprity. It was only because she, Xia Ling, was popr beyond belief that she was able to withstand the pressure and challenge that this newbie posed. If it were any other star, they would perhaps have already been pulled off the pedestal.

    She was unhappy and red at Feng Kun. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that the manager you are rmending is him!¡±

    Feng Kun looked at her angry expression and was tickled. ¡°Yes, exactly! I¡¯m rmending him! His name is Lin Yunan, and he used to be Dongyue Culture and Entertainment¡¯s head manager. His paternal grandfather filmed a documentary for the president before, his father is the Southeast Asia CEO of a huge multinationalpany, his mother is the daughter from a wealthy business family... and his maternal grandfather and uncles are all well-known people in the business circle.¡±

    ¡°And so he was able to challenge Pei Ziheng then?¡± Xia Ling deduced from what Feng Kun was saying.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng isn¡¯t so easy to go against...¡± Feng Kun gently said. ¡°If Pei Ziheng were that easy to go against, at the rate you were offending people and with how arrogant you were, you would have died several times over by now.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t that arrogant!¡± Xia Ling argued back in a small voice.

    Feng Kun quietly gave her a look.

    Xia Ling looked down feeling guilty and picked up a small fork to eat a nut.

    ¡°It was all thanks to your mboyant and arrogant personality that motivated Li Er to challenge you.¡± Feng Kun watched as she chewed on the nut, her cheeks blowing up as if she was pouting, thinking that she looked adorable. His gaze became gentler. Some girls were just blessed in a way that no matter what craziness they met out, you would still not bear to scold them.

    Feng Kun continued speaking. ¡°You had a fiery temper, and just a little agitation would cause you to respond to their challenge. Do you remember? At that time, the veteran Diva Tang Xin hadn¡¯t retired yet, and there was also the new sweetie pie, Su Jinhao, but Lin Yunan chose you. Do you know why? Because the other two were experienced and knew not to react to a small newbie. They knew that any reaction was being a great help to the newbie. Only you, Xiao Ling... you didn¡¯t understand how things worked in the industry. And even if you did understand, you wouldn¡¯t care less about it!¡±

    This was what Pei Ziheng liked the most about her.

    And was what her rivals would attack.

    ¡°In other words...¡± Feng Kun concluded. ¡°Choosing you might have looked like the most dangerous move, but in actual fact, it was the shortest way to sess. What¡¯s more, even though Lin Yunan didn¡¯t have the resources to match up against Pei Ziheng, he was still from a wealthy family, and it would difficult for Pei Ziheng to crush himpletely. As long as he didn¡¯t do anything extreme like kidnapping you which exceeded Pei Ziheng¡¯s bottom line, Pei Ziheng would simply close an eye to him using your reputation as a stepping stone for his artiste.

    ¡°Lin Yunan has vision, guts, and is meticulous beyond measure.¡±

    Xia Ling had to admit that Feng Kun made a lot of sense, but she was still unhappy. ¡°I don¡¯t care... I just don¡¯t want him as my manager.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Feng Kun coaxed her patiently like dealing with a child.

    ¡°I dislike him.¡± Xia Ling responded childishly.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll ept that you dislike him.¡± Feng Kunughed. ¡°Then, Xiao Ling, tell me... which of these managers do you not dislike?¡±

    Hearing Feng Kun¡¯s question, Xia Ling looked down at the list and thought about it carefully.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize any of them.¡± She pushed the list away unhappily after a while.

    ¡°Then tell me, what kind of manager do you want? A soft-tempered one? A professional one? How about gender? Or looks?¡± Feng Kun continued to coax her to reveal more.

    ¡°Gender and looks aren¡¯t important at all... but handsome guys and beautiful women are still easier to the eye.¡± Xia Ling said as she counted the characteristics off. ¡°Temper? I do want someone that has a good temper so that he won¡¯t re up at me... And of course, I want someone that is really professional and first-rate.¡±

    ¡°The person you are describing...¡± Feng Kun said slowly. ¡°... is Chu Chen.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback.

    She thought about it carefully again and realized that Feng Kun was right.

    Good looking... Chu Chen met that condition.

    First-rate professionalism... Chu Chen again matched that.

    Good tempered... While Chu Chen had a bad temper, he kept his temperpletely in check when he was dealing with her in her past life, and would even run around the entire city in the pouring rain in the middle of the night to just get her a specially-brewed coffee without an extra word said.

    She could not think of any characteristic that she had listed that Chu Chen did not meet.

    But... ¡°Chu Chen is out of the question!¡± Xia Ling said vehemently. ¡°He¡¯s an ass!¡±

    ¡°So... you can¡¯t judge a book by its cover.¡± Feng Kun looked at her seriously and gave advice. ¡°Xiao Ling, other than the professionalism,work, and vision that Lin Yunan has, there¡¯s another crucial reason that I¡¯m rmending him to you ¡ª Lin Yunan isn¡¯t a hypocrite like Chu Chen.¡±

    ¡°There are many people out there that aren¡¯t hypocrites!¡± Xia Ling still stubbornly stood her ground. ¡°Sister Mai Na is really sincere!¡± Even though Sister Mai Na was not like Chu Chen who would put up with her and give her everything she wanted, Sister Mai Na would helm the frontline at important moments. She was true to her and would put her interests first, seeking no personal agenda.

    ¡°That¡¯s because she works at Skyart Entertainment, and Skyart¡¯s Big Boss so happens to like you.¡± Feng Kun said lightly. ¡°And it so happens that she hadn¡¯t met with a difficult problem as Chu Chen had. Chu Chen had to pick between you and Pei Ziheng in your conflict, and he chose Pei Ziheng. How do you know that when you fight with Li Lei, Sister Mai Na will not pick Li Lei over you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like you speaking ill of Sister Mai Na, Ah Kun.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened, and she straightened up tall in her seat. ¡°She¡¯s my friend.¡± However, for some reason, there was trepidation in her heart. Would Sister Mai Na really turn out like Chu Chen?

    ¡°Xiao Ling... you¡¯re too trusting of people.¡± Feng Kun sighed before changing his line of argument. ¡°Okay, let us think about this from another angle. Sister Mai Na is your friend so she will do everything in your interests, right?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    ¡°But, can you guarantee that your new manager can be your friend? You¡¯re looking for a manager that can help in your work and not make new friends.¡± Feng Kun said.

    Xia Ling was mildly dazed.

    Feng Kun was right. She left Skyart Entertainment because she felt that there were too many personal rtionships there. In the new agency, she wanted to keep her work and personal life separate, and her work woulde first. She did not want toplicate things.

    She hoped that her new manager would be someone that would take care of her work.

    ¡°If...¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°If there was someone like Chu Chen, who would humbly and passionately stand before you, tending to your every need, are you able to discern if he is someone that would be like Chu Chen and abandon you at the most crucial moment?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling did not know what to say. One of her weaknesses was definitely reading people.

    ¡°Then, how would I be able to tell if Lin Yunan is actually a good person?¡± She weakly rebutted.

 Chapter 281 - The Big Fire

    <h4>Chapter 281: The Big Fire</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Lin Yunan is not a good person.¡± Feng Kun said.

    Xia Ling did not expect him to badmouth him. She was stunned for a moment before asking, ¡°Then why are you rmending him to me?¡±

    ¡°Do you think that there are truly good people in this industry?¡± Feng Kun¡¯s voice was still gentle as he spoke. ¡°Everyone is merely doing what will benefit themselves the most. How are you able to tell if someone is genuinely being nice to you because they like you for who you are and not because they know that you will be a money-spinner for them? Or if they are eyeing your backer?

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you are a rarity in this circle. You have been well-protected, and your road to the top was way too smooth. You never experienced the dark side of the industry. Hence, when people are nice to you, you always treat them like friends. For instance, Chu Chen. One day, when things get tough, the one that suffers is only going to be you.¡±

    ¡°There are too many in the industry like Chu Chen, especially when they encounter someone like you that is of value to them. You¡¯re able to bring them huge mary returns, and naturally, they will all fawn over you and will even be willing to be more considerate than Chu Chen ever was. If you believe them easily, they can easily be a menace to you in the future.¡±

    ¡°I know... you¡¯re not someone that can read people well, and I do not wish for you to be as cynical and cunning as all of them... That is something that you can only learn through pain and suffering. I only hope for you to be well.¡±

    ¡°Lin Yunan is not a good person, and I can tell you without a doubt that once you lose your value, he will be the first to abandon you. However, the difference between him and those hypocrites is that he doesn¡¯t bother hiding the fact that he is money-minded. You will be able to tell outright what kind of person he is from the get-go, you will not be duped or misled along the way.¡±

    Xia Ling did not speak for a long while. It was only when the waiter served the ice cream dessert that she said, ¡°Your reasoning is... really unique.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°Although he isn¡¯t a good guy, he¡¯s someone that has his boundaries. In this industry, boundaries are more important than kindness. Boundaries are something that only truly capable people are able to keep.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Ling always felt dumb when speaking to Feng Kun, in this life as well as her past life.

    Feng Kun exined. ¡°Lin Yunan will abandon someone of no value to him, but that¡¯s purely because of material value. He will stop working with you and stop supporting you, and the worst case scenario is that he will use you to help another newbie make it big in the industry. However, he isn¡¯t a horrible person and will not do anything to harm you. For instance, he will not spread rumors about you... he will not dupe you into sleeping with someone... Don¡¯t look at me like that, Xiao Ling, these are things that happen all too often in this industry.¡± Feng Kun paused before continuing. ¡°He will not be like Chu Chen and help Pei Ziheng even though you were imprisoned.¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s final reason rendered Xia Ling speechless again.

    She suddenly understood where Feng Kun wasing from. Perhaps she did not need a manager that was a ¡°good person,¡± she needed a safe manager. And safe would be someone like Lin Yunan, who would not betray her at the most critical moments.

    For him to abandon her when she lost her value?

    The entertainment circle was like a battlefield, and it was survival of the fittest. If there came the day when she was unable to beat out thepetition with her singing, she would gracefully take her leave from the stage and admit defeat. She merely hoped that it was truly because she was unable to match up to thepetition in terms of talent and not because she was forced to leave for any other dark reason.

    ¡°Lin Yunan is an open book.¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°He is just materialistic, but he isn¡¯t sly and devious. Xiao Ling, you understand the difference, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    However, she was still rather unhappy. In the many years of her career, she was used to people like Chu Chen and Sister Mai Na who were friendly to her, even if it were on the surface. All of a sudden, Feng Kun was rmending someone that was clearly not going to be as friendly. She was afraid that she would not be able to get used to his style.

    ¡°Is there no one else better than him?¡± Xia Ling made ast-ditch attempt at getting out of the situation.

    Feng Kun¡¯s gaze had a tinge of a smile. ¡°With consideration of your innocent nature... there really isn¡¯t anyone else.¡± Xiao Ling was gullible and did not see the scheming that went beneath the surface. She would easily get fooled by the friendliness that others showed on the surface. Rather than her being fooled, it was better to be working with a brash person like Lin Yunan, who might not be the easiest kind of person to work with, but he was responsible and would not harm her.

    Xia Ling pulled a face at Feng Kun before picking up the small dessert spoon and starting to eat the ice cream listlessly.

    She trusted Feng Kun¡¯s judgment and knew from all that Feng Kun revealed that Lin Yunan was from a professional management agency, and hispany was of the size that Li Lei had suggested would be perfect for her.

    She also trusted Li Lei¡¯s judgment.

    But...

    Feng Kun could tell that she was struggling toe to terms with things and decided to help her along. ¡°Even though it¡¯s just going to be a rtionship built on business, Lin Yunan is someone that will fight for the rights of his artistes, much more than some of the friendlier managers.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s gaze lit up a little.

    Seeing that she was interested in what he had to say, Feng Kun continued. ¡°Do you remember that Li Er was once caught in a big fire?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I think I do?¡± Xia Ling was not someone that was too concerned about gossip, but she vaguely remembered something along those lines in the depths of her memories.

    ¡°Yes, it was seven years ago.¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°She was filming in a tourist location when the makeshift film set somehow caught fire. She was stuck inside, and the fire was burning so strongly that even the security guards did not dare run into the set to help her. It was Lin Yunan who paid no heed to the advice from the people around and rushed into the fire to save her. He used his body to protect her head and face, but he himself was burned badly. Li Er came out rtively unscathed, though she did lose consciousness from breathing in too much smoke.

    ¡°ording to the people that were at the scene, if Lin Yunan did not protect Li Er with his body the way he did, Li Er would definitely have been burned. I¡¯m telling you... if an artiste sustained burn injuries of that extent, it would be hard to recoverpletely. Lin Yunan risked his life to save Li Er and put himself in huge danger to protect Li Er¡¯s face.

    ¡°He¡¯s a responsible manager. He might be money-minded and intelligent, but as long as you are under his charge, he will do all he can to take care of and protect you.¡±

    Xia Ling was moved after hearing this. For a manager to risk his own life to protect an artiste under his charge, what was being a little more money-minded? What more would you want from a manager?

    ¡°How should I find him?¡± She asked.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°He¡¯s still a manager at Dongyue Culture and Entertainment and isn¡¯t taking care of any artiste at the moment. He¡¯s on a no-pay leave at the moment.¡± Perhaps this was the reason that Lin Yunan did not issue her an invitation toe under his charge.

    ¡°No-pay leave?¡±

    ¡°Seven years ago, Lin Yunan might have saved Li Er from the big fire, but he sustained burns in many areas of his body. He was in the ICU for more than two months.

    ¡°After experiencing that big fire and witnessing Li Yunan¡¯s critical condition, Li Er came down with PTSD...¡± Feng Kun nced over at Xia Ling and knew that she was not familiar with the acronyms. ¡°In simpler terms, she was traumatized after the incident and was unable to walk out from her depression. Her depression was so severe that Li Er took her own life not too long after.

    ¡°When Lin Yunan was released from the ICU, he was met with the news of her suicide.

    ¡°This was a blow that was much worse to him than the physical burns that he sustained throughout his body... Ever since then, he has not managed any other artiste and wanted to leave Dongyue Culture and Entertainment.

    ¡°It was Dongyue Culture and Entertainment that did not want to let him, their head manager, to leave just like that. They put him on a no-pay leave until now, hoping that he would return to the entertainment circle one day.¡±

 Chapter 282 - Invading the Bar at Night

    <h4>Chapter 282: Invading the Bar at Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At night.

    Xia Ling stood in front of the entrance to a bar.

    She was wearing a low-key ck, one-piece dress with a jacket of the same color draped across her shoulders. Her makeup was thick and smoky-eyed, and her hair was set at an angle that made it seem like it was falling naturally, but specifically hid half of her small face behind it. Standing there in the midst of the people walking by the bar entrance, under the dim lights of the corridor, Xia Ling appeared to be a normal teenage girl that hade to let her hair down and did not attract any special attention.

    She lifted her head and squinted at the logo of the bar under the dim lights to make sure that she was at the right ce before quickly heading inside.

    The bar was not a high-ssed one, and the narrow, deep corridor near the entrance led straight into the dance floor. The smell of low-quality perfume mixed with the pungency of cheap cigarettes wafted from all around the dance floor. Men and women were dancing crazily left and right, shaking their hips and grinding into each other, depicting a scene of lust and depravation. Xia Ling pushed through the crowd and felt tears spring into her smarting eyes from the polluted air in the ce, and her throat felt ufortable. She swore that this was the worst ce she had ever been into in her two lives so far, other than the bungalow she was imprisoned in by Pei Ziheng.

    She psyched herself to bear with the deafening music and weird smells as she scanned the ce looking for someone.

    She was here to find someone, and that person was Lin Yunan. Feng Kun told her that since Li Ermitted suicide seven years ago, Lin Yunan had been in a state of despair and became a security officer in this little bar. In fact, security officer was a nice way of putting it. More literally, he was a bouncer and a hitman all-in-one for the bar.

    Xia Ling did not understand how someone like Lin Yunan, who had been so highly regarded and sessful in the entertainment circle, would forsake his high sry and position to put himself in this ce of destion. She remembered Feng Kun mentioning that Lin Yunan was from a wealthy background. How did his family allow him to wallow in such a ce?

    She lost focus as she got lost in her thoughts.

    Suddenly, she felt a hard knock at her shoulders.

    She lost bnce and took many steps backward before managing to catch and steady herself. She lifted her head and struggled to identify the person that had knocked into her amidst the dim and constantly changing colored lighting. It was a tall man with a dragon and tiger tattoo on his left arm, who was embracing a voluptuous woman dressed in a skimpy outfit, and dancing really close to her.

    Xia Ling was not dressed to impress and was small and petite. Given that she was afraid of being noticed, she was walking with her head to the ground.

    This knock caused her to lift her head, and that man caught sight of her face.

    Even though she was in heavy, smoky-eyed makeup, it did not hide her clear gaze that was like a calm pond, which was special in the midst of the craziness in the bar. Her unique elegance was highly attractive to that man, and he felt like a kitten had gone around his body. He itched to get closer to her.

    ¡°Hey, you, little beauty.¡± The man released the dance partner he was hugging and walked before Xia Ling. ¡°Are you just going to leave like that after knocking into me?¡±

    Warning signals shed in Xia Ling¡¯s mind, and she backed into the shadows to her side. With her thick makeup, the dim lightings and, since she was not so well-known that everyone knew about her, the man did not recognize her as an artiste and was merely interested in hitting on her.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± She hurriedly apologized, not wanting for the matter to be blown up, and turned to leave.

    However, the man grabbed her before she could leave. ¡°Little beauty, dance with me before you go.¡± He moved closer to Xia Ling such that his body was pressing onto her and reached out his hand to caress her face.

    Xia Ling turned her head to avoid his touch instinctively.

    ¡°Don¡¯t y games while I¡¯m being nice!¡± That man started to be agitated and raised his voice.

    ¡°Master Biao, ignore this little bitch that doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s good for her. Come here, dance with me instead.¡± His voluptuous dance partner came over and gave Xia Ling a death re, before trying to seduce him away from her. ¡°Don¡¯t be so fickle... Don¡¯t forget what you said earlier... Tonight we¡¯re going to go for three hundred rounds of pure pleasure...¡±

    Her tant offer made Xia Ling¡¯s expression darken.

    Before she came, Feng Kun had warned her that this was not a pleasant ce. However, Lin Yunan was friendly with the hooligans in this ce and was always in this bar ¡ª for his meals, sleep, and entertainment. Coming here was the only way she could find him.

    Feng Kun was from Imperial Entertainment, and it was not appropriate for him to be seen bringing her here.

    If Feng Kun were too close to her, Pei Ziheng and Li Lei would both be suspicious of their rtionship.

    There was no other way but for her toe alone. Originally, she wanted to give the bouncers at the door a tip to get them to invite Lin Yunan out to meet her. However, nobody had heard of the name Lin Yunan, and they informed her that the security officers here rarely used their real names.

    As such, she had no choice but toe into the bar herself to look for him.

    Fortunately, she was well-prepared under Feng Kun¡¯s advice. There was a pepper spray in her jacket pocket, and she had also learned many defense techniques from Pei Ziheng in her past. While these techniques were futile against professional bodyguards, they were more than sufficient for the hooligans in this bar. Xia Ling narrowed her eyes and watched the man that dared hit on her coldly.

    She did not want to make amotion for fear that it would blow her cover and make it difficult for her to find Lin Yunan. As such, she could not decide whether she should use the pepper spray or simply punch him to free herself.

    Just as she was trying toe to a decision, the man lifted his filthy hand to touch her face again.

    She immediately struggled out of his grasp, backed away from him, and felt her back against the bar counter on the end of the dance floor.

    ¡°F**k!¡± The man cursed, annoyed and embarrassed at the fact that this petite girl would not sumb to him after several tries.

    Several onlookers started toe over, attracted by themotion.

    ¡°Yo, Master Biao, who¡¯s this little beauty? You have people that you can¡¯t handle as well?¡± One of the onlookers spoke up, fanning the mes.

    ¡°Haha, Master Biao, are you unable to get it up? Why else would this little beauty refuse to follow you?¡± It was unfortunate that the people crowding over were those that were in an opposing faction from Master Biao, and they were out to see him make a joke of himself. ¡°You can¡¯t handle a little girl? Are you a man at all?¡±

    Seeing this scene y out, Xia Ling knew that she was in a sticky situation. She turned up the cor on her jacket to cover her face even more and contemted her next move. She had to keep things quiet... if she were to be recognized here that would truly be a big problem. It looked like her quest to look for Lin Yunan would have to be put on hold today as her first priority would be to find a way to escape from this mess.

    With her decision made, she quietly reached into her jacket pocket.

    Master Biao was getting more agitated by the second as he was goaded on by the crowd and made to lunge toward Xia Ling. ¡°You dare to hide from me!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand grasped the pepper spray bottle and was just about to whip it out.

    However, Master Biao¡¯s filthy hand did not reach her. There were shouts and yelps before Master Biao somehow ended on the floor and was unable to get up.

 Chapter 283 - Her Next Manager

    <h4>Chapter 283: Her Next Manager</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Get lost.¡± An authoritative and menacing voice rang out.

    The onlookers watching themotion were silenced and looked like they saw a ghost. Very quickly the crowd dispersed. Even Master Biao half-crawled, half-rolled away in panic after stealing a nce at who had knocked him to the ground.

    It was only then that Xia Ling noticed a really skinny man standing before her. He was even skinnier than she was and was wearing a dirty and crumpled jacket, which was emitting a sour odor. Yet, he had a threatening presence despite his small frame, perhaps a result of the dark eye circles and yellowish pallor from being in the bar day and night. Warning bells rang out again in Xia Ling¡¯s head.

    She was confident to escape from the lumbering man earlier.

    However, this skinny man was ring at her like he was looking at his prey, and she was not confident that she could free herself.

    The skinny man gave her a look and spat out. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    This was said with the same tone that he had when he shouted ¡°Get lost¡± earlier. However, the menace and aggression were taken down a notch, though his irritation was still apparent.

    Xia Ling did not move as she felt he was dangerous.

    The music on the dance floor was deafening, but the man¡¯s voice rang clearly in her ears. ¡°Do you want everyone toe here to watch you, Ye Xingling?¡±

    Thest three words were said roughly and like an insult.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression changed. He had recognized her! She bit her lip and had no choice but to follow him. The skinny man walked quickly, or rather, it was not that he walked exceptionally fast, but everyone that saw him would open up a path in front of him, their expressions full of respect and fear.

    She followed closely behind and was able to leave the bar easily.

    In the alley behind the bar.

    The noisy music was muffled from the distance, and the floor in the alley was covered with water from the sewers. There were several homosexual or heterosexual couples engaging in activities that were distasteful, alongside some stray cats scavenging for food in the dumpster.

    The skinny man led her to a deste corner.

    Xia Ling¡¯s difort was getting stronger by the minute as she pondered if he was going to rob, rape, or kill her? Would she be able to free herself from the situation if she used the pepper spray on him now and used all the defense techniques that she knew?

    Perhaps noticing her difort, there was some contempt in the man¡¯s gaze as he turned to her. ¡°You daree here despite being so cowardly? When you left Skyart Entertainment, did you leave your brain behind as well?¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± She asked while trying to maintain her dignity and not show that she was afraid.

    ¡°You came looking for me despite not knowing who I am?¡± The man gave a cold smile, his gaze like sharp daggers as if he were going to pierce several holes into her body.

    ¡°You are... Lin Yunan?!¡± Xia Ling yelped in surprise as it dawned on her. This man before her waspletely different from the man she had seen in pictures on the web. In the pictures on the web, he was a handsome guy, who had an air of coldness and intelligence. Now... ¡°Are you really Lin Yunan?¡± She asked suspiciously. ¡°He¡¯s only thirty-something this year... why do you look like you¡¯re approaching fifty?!¡±

    The man gave a coldugh but did not reply to her question.

    ¡°Follow this alley and get your behind far away from here.¡± He pointed towards the alley exit. ¡°This isn¡¯t a ce that you should be at.¡±

    With that, he turned around to head back into the bar.

    ¡°Hey, wait up!¡± Xia Ling took two steps forward towards him. ¡°Are you really Lin Yunan? How do you know I¡¯m here to find you? Don¡¯t go, if you¡¯re not Lin Yunan, I¡¯ll go in to look for him again!¡±

    Thisst sentence seeded in stopping the man in his tracks.

    He did not know why he would stop for this girl that was courting death and to reach out a helping hand when he saw her in trouble in the bar. He was no longer in the entertainment circle and should not be bothered about the matters of a small female star. However, his gaze had been riveted on her the moment she set foot into the bar.

    In so many years, she was the first artiste toe to such a ce to look for him.

    ¡°I¡¯m Lin Yunan.¡± He looked at Xia Ling coldly. ¡°You appeared in this ce and clearly was at a loss and did not fit in. What else would you be doing other than looking for someone?¡± Having worked in the bar for so many years as a hitman ¡ª or to put it nicely, a security officer ¡ª he had seen his fill of people that came looking for someone. There were those that were looking to catch their husbands red-handed in an affair, there were mothers who came to bring their sons home, and there were those that came seeking for breakuppensation...

    There were all kinds of people, and he had trained himself to discern the different kinds of people that came through the doors.

    For an artiste like Xia Ling, why else would she appear other than to look for him, the legendary manager that had retired from the entertainment scene? He could not think of any other reason that could make here to a ce like this ¡ª it couldn¡¯t be to look for a cheating boyfriend, right?

    If he had remembered correctly, her boyfriend... oh no, ex-boyfriend, was the king of the underworld in this city. He was the legend that the bosses of this bar and all the hooligans might not have even heard of before.

    ¡°How do you know I am Ye Xingling?¡± Xia Ling contemted Lin Yunan closely and finally found a shadow of resemnce to the pictures she found online in his features, before believing his words. ¡°Lin Yunan, are you my fan? Not many would be able to recognize me the way I¡¯ve made myself up today.¡± She was confident about her makeup skills given that she had to lose herself from tabloid reporters all her life in the decade she was a Diva. What¡¯s more, it was dark in the bar, and being able to recognize her was really quite amazing.

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    ¡°Are you really my fan?¡±

    Lin Yunan became agitated again. ¡°With your intellect... and your rashness... do you even deserve to be someone that I would be a fan for?¡± He was able to recognize her at first nce because he had been taking note of the happenings in the entertainment circle all these years. Her every move and her character reminded him so much of the Diva Xia Ling from so many years ago. That was the golden era that belonged to Xia Ling... and belonged to him and Li Er...

    As such, he had paid more attention to her.

    Xia Ling did not know all of these and was unhappy at his insult. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with my intellect? I¡¯m sorry, I think I fed my intellect to the dogs bying here to look for you! I heard you are an amazing manager, and my friend really sang your praises! However, my friend was clearly blind!¡±

    As expected, she was here to look for him.

    Lin Yunan looked at her for a long time before shaking his head. ¡°Leave.¡± This was a dangerous ce, she should not have risked her safety toe here.

    With that, he turned around and continued to walk toward the bar¡¯s back door.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you hear me out?¡± Xia Ling was even more furious. However, her remaining rationality forced her to stay put. ¡°Lin Yunan, are you really going to waste your life away in this rubbish bar?¡±

    Lin Yunan stopped in his tracks again.

    Xia Ling was not used to begging people, so she said directly. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you recognized me, but since you bothered to save me from the ruckus earlier, it clearly shows that you are not indifferent to me. I¡¯m looking for a new manager, and I hope that that person is you.¡±

    Lin Yunan¡¯s skinny frame was motionless.

    Yet, Xia Ling failed to notice that his hands were clenched into a fist.

    ¡°Me?¡± He gave a coldugh. ¡°Go on, tell me. Why do you want me?¡±

 Chapter 284 - Travel-worn and Weary

    <h4>Chapter 284: Travel-worn and Weary</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling summarized all the reasons that Feng Kun had told her when he was convincing her about him.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°So you want to work with me because I¡¯m openly money-minded and not a hypocrite?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    ¡°Considering that your previous manager was Sister Mai Na, your request is really shocking.¡± Lin Yunan astutely pointed out. ¡°Are you saying that she¡¯s not as sincere to you as she appears to be?¡± Even though Lin Yunan had already left the entertainment circle, his passion for the industry made him take notice of the entertainment news. He was especially interested in Ye Xingling given that she resembled Diva Xia Ling so much. Hence, he was aware of many details of her career thus far.

    Xia Ling felt that she had said too much and was caught so off-guard by his question that she did not know how to respond.

    She was quiet for a moment before responding. ¡°No, Sister Mai Na is a wonderful manager. However, not all managers in the industry are like her. Rather than risk working with someone that I¡¯m unable to read, it would be much safer to work with someone like you who¡¯s all business. It just makes things easier.¡±

    ¡°If I wasn¡¯t aware of your road to stardom, I would think that you¡¯ve been betrayed by some manager before.¡± Lin Yunan gave a cynical smile. ¡°Okay, now I know why you¡¯ve picked me. Then, why should I choose to help you? I¡¯ve already been working in this bar for seven years. What makes you think I would return to the entertainment circle for you?¡±

    ¡°Someone said that you want to create a Diva with your own hands. I believe that you will not find another person in this generation that has that kind of potential.¡±

    ¡°What an arrogant response.¡± The cynicism in Lin Yunan¡¯s tone was even more apparent.

    Xia Ling did not care. ¡°Then, when are you returning to Dongyue Culture and Entertainment? When are you going to sign a contract with me?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t agreed yet, miss.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to waste.¡± Xia Ling did not know any negotiation tactics and liked to be exceedingly blunt and direct. What¡¯s more, she used to be a top star and Diva, so naturally, there was a tinge of oppression in her voice. ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, I¡¯ll immediately pick someone else that is more interested. In other words, it¡¯s not like you¡¯re my only option.¡± Feng Kun did rmend Lin Yunan to her, but she was still spoiled for choices. It was not the end of the world for her if he did not agree to her request.

    Lin Yunan narrowed his eyes at her statement, but the cynicism in his expression did not fade away. ¡°Do you know what a Diva is? It isn¡¯t just a game for little kids and isn¡¯t something that you can just get to be if you want to. What have you done in this debut year? Four songs? At the rate you are going, you won¡¯t have enough songs for a concert even after three years! You want to be a Diva? What a joke!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I said I don¡¯t have time to waste.¡± Xia Ling admitted that he was right. However, her current situation was not without reason. She had gotten injured when she followed Li Lei back to the Li family headquarters, and it took her close to half a year to recuperate. Many of her ns had to be dyed as a result. ¡°I¡¯m going to be much busier in the days toe. Do you or do you not want to be my manager?¡±

    Lin Yunan looked at her closely.

    He did want to create a Diva himself, and that was why he had put in so much effort to sell Li Er. Yet, Li Er was weak and did not have the mental tenacity required of a Diva. The big fire was thatst straw that unwound her, and shepletely lost it before taking her own life. How about this Ye Xingling in front of him right now? She looked as young as Li Er when she started out, and her singing abilities were astounding ¡ª no, her talent was way better than Li Er¡¯s. Ye Xingling had much better techniques and control over her emotions, almost able to rival that of the Diva Xia Ling... no, she might even have surpassed Xia Ling.

    This was also another reason that he had taken notice of her.

    A new singer with better talent than Xia Ling... her future in the industry was bright.

    If there was going to be a Diva in this generation, then she was the only one that would make the cut.

    The reason he had been dwelling in the doldrums of the bar was not that he was disinterested in being a manager altogether. He had just never found another person like Li Er that was worth his time. Yet, even Li Er could not hold a candle to Ye Xingling.

    He said, ¡°Okay,e look for me at Dongyue Culture and Entertainment tomorrow.¡±

    He agreed.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a small smile of victory, while also feeling a tinge of relief. In all honesty, even though she would be able to find someone else if Lin Yunan had rejected her, this was not something that she was good at or looking forward to. It was not like she could keep going to Feng Kun for help. Thus, she was happy to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± Xia Ling said.

    She returned to her apartment in a good mood and called Feng Kun to inform him that she had seeded in getting Lin Yunan to return to the entertainment scene. Feng Kun congratted her and reminded her to look for him in the future if she needed any help making decisions.

    Feng Kun was worried about Xia Ling as she was so heavily protected by Imperial Entertainment in her past life, and was simrly very protected by Skyart Entertainment in this life. Now, she could only rely on herself, and it was difficult to say how her future would pan out.

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of myself.¡± She reassured Feng Kun before hanging up.

    Luo Luo was busy with work these few days and was currently filming in the city outskirts. She was not likely to return tonight. Xia Ling turned and tossed in bed unable to sleep. While she had settled the matter of finding a manager, she suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart and at a loss.

    Perhaps, people were always more used to ces that they had been at for a long time.

    Now that she had left Skyart, there were many things that she had to get used to... and many things that she was sad to have left behind.

    Li Lei¡¯s handsome face appeared in her mind, with his signaturezy smile and warm gaze. She wondered what he was doing at that moment? Xia Ling turned and reached to the shelf at her bedhead to retrieve her mobile and rang Li Lei¡¯s number.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± At the other end of the line, the surrounding was extremely noisy with the rough voices of men shouting out in a foreignnguage.

    Xia Ling recalled that he had been very busy for a while, and was clearly overseas for whatever reason right now. Thest time they had video-called, he had looked travel-worn and weary. She did not know if it was a good time to have a casual conversation with him. ¡°Are you busy? I don¡¯t have anything important to tell you and just called you randomly. If you¡¯re busy, we can speak another time.¡±

    ¡°Nope, I¡¯m not busy.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was cheerful as he nced over at the group of mercenaries that were discussing the battle n animatedly just a short distance away. He walked towards a quieter corner of the room. ¡°How are you? I¡¯ming back to the country in a few days. Do you want any gifts? I¡¯ll bring some back for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be happy to see you back.¡± Hearing hiszy voice, Xia Ling felt more peaceful and rolled around in bed until she settled into a morefortable position. ¡°Right, I wanted to tell you that I¡¯ve found a new manager already...¡±

    She told Li Lei all about Lin Yunan.

    On the other end of the line, Li Lei did not express any objection to this and praised Xia Ling for being sopetent. He added that he would treat her to a big meal when he got back to celebrate her sess. They spoke a little while longer before reluctantly ending the call.

    Li Lei looked at the phone with zed eyes as he fell into deep thought.

 Chapter 285 - Showering Her With Attention

    <h4>Chapter 285: Showering Her With Attention</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Actually, a few hours ago, he guessed that Xia Ling would look for Lin Yunan.

    Usually, she had bodyguards following her. They felt that something was unusual after seeing her enter the chaotic and dangerous bar, so they immediately reported it to Li Lei. Li Lei had the right to know what was going on about Xia Ling, and they made reports to him whenever necessary.

    Under the bodyguards¡¯ secret protection, Li Lei was not worried about her safety.

    Although the bar was filled with a mixture of bad and good people, they were all low-level gangsters who had never received any professional training in the triad before and had never been tested in the raging mes of war. In contrast, the bodyguards he hired for her were all elites, and any one of them could easily take down a group of the gangsters. As long as they did not encounter people like Pei Ziheng or Li Feng who were extremely dangerous, they were more than enough to protect her.

    The only thing that Li Lei cared about was Lin Yunan.

    Who was the one who told her that name?

    Even Li Lei had never heard that name before, he only knew about him after the bodyguards did an investigation to verify his identity.

    Seven years ago, Lin Yunan was really well known in the entertainment industry, but at that time, Xiao Ling was probably only about eleven years old. She couldn¡¯t even join Skyart Entertainment as a trainee at that age, how was it possible that she knew about this manager?

    Now, who was the one who told Xiao Ling about this person who had retired a long time ago?

    Sister Mai Na? Impossible. Sister Mai Na was a woman who was a gentle and reliable manager. If she were to rmend someone, she would definitely choose someone who had a good personality and reputation.

    Wei Shaoyin? Impossible as well. He dedicated himself to his music and was impatient when it came to these irrelevant things. Unless Xiao Ling was desperate and really could not find anyone else for help; otherwise, he would definitely spend much effort helping her pick a manager.

    Someone who could choose such a manager for Xiao Ling had to be extremely experienced in the industry and was well aware of the situation in the entertainment industry, variouspanies, and key personnel. Secondly, he must really understand Xiao Ling and know who was suitable for her given her simple personality. In addition, he also needed to have an eye for talent and guts to rmend him to Xiao Ling.

    Lastly and most importantly, he needed to have a deep enough rtionship with Xiao Ling.

    They had to be so close that Xiao Ling would ept his opinion and choose a manager that she did not really like.

    On the surface, Lin Yunan did not seem like the type of manager that Xiao Ling would like.

    Who in the world could fulfill all the criteria at the same time?

    Bai Murong? Xie Ling? Shu Wanyi? Or even... Luo Luo?

    They were all impossible. Either they had insufficient qualifications,cked an eye for talent, or just were not close enough to Xiao Ling.

    Could it be Pei Ziheng? In Xiao Ling¡¯s social circle, besides Li Lei, there was only Pei Ziheng who was equally experienced, had an eye for talent, and could gain her trust.

    Li Lei¡¯s face slightly darkened.

    ¡°Help me investigate.¡± He called for his newly appointed special assistant Tan Ying and said, ¡°Find out who Xiao Ling has been speaking to recently and whose rmendation did she listen to such that she went to look for Lin Yunan.¡±

    Tan Ying acted ording to his orders.

    Li Lei felt an inexplicable annoyance inside. He hoped that the person was not Pei Ziheng. Any other person was much better than Pei Ziheng.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling¡¯s life was very peaceful.

    On the morning of the next day, she wore a white silk shirt with ck trousers. She easily brushed her hair, put on elegant makeup, and was ready to leave for Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. As she was about to leave, she suddenly thought of a problem.

    When she was in Skyart, there was always apany car and chauffeur to drive her around.

    After she left Skyart, she borrowed Luo Luo¡¯s car for a few days. Luo Luo usually left the house at the same time as her, and her type of car did not match Xia Ling¡¯s status. Furthermore, Luo Luo was also busy with a shoot these days, and no one was using her car.

    However, yesterday, someone had knocked into the car, causing the rearview mirror to have some problems and having to be repaired.

    She was caught in a car-less predicament.

    No matter what, she could not take public transport. Considering her status now, even taking a taxi was unimaginable.

    She silently chided herself. Why did she not think of this problem when she called the repairpany? After looking at her contacts in her phone, besides Feng Kun who she could not tantly contact frequently, there were contacts from Skyart Entertainment like Sister Mai Na, Wei Wei, and Li Lei. Unfortunately, there were no other contacts that she could use...

    She could not help but reflect on how pathetic her connections were.

    She could not reflect for a long time because she was reminded that her priority was to borrow a car. Where could she get a car that would let her arrive at Dongyue Culture and Entertainment smoothly while maintaining her status? Xia Ling was entangled in the situation and paced about in her house.

    The doorbell rang.

    After she opened the door, the person who was standing outside was Jin. Jin was the head security officer of Li Lei¡¯s apartment. When she was living there, she had spoken to him a few times and had a good impression of him. ¡°Is there something I can help you with, Jin?¡± She asked.

    Jin handed a bouquet to her and said, ¡°Young Master said that you have chosen your new manager and sent me to give you some flowers to congratte you.¡±

    The bouquet was made of beautiful lilies, just like the ones he sent her a few months ago. The flowers were fully bloomed with crystal dew on them, which calmed down her anxious feelings a little.

    She thanked Jin and took the flowers.

    ¡°Miss Ye, are you nning to go out?¡± Jin asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xia Ling replied. After replying, she remembered that she did not have a car and slightly frowned.

    ¡°How about I drive you there?¡± Jin spontaneously said. ¡°You have to wear high heels with this outfit, and it is not safe to drive in high heels. Boss will kill me if he finds out that I let you drive in this state.¡±

    No wonder he was the supervisor of the security officers. No one should undermine his position as he was responsible for Li Lei¡¯s safety and was a trusted subordinate. Someone like that was really outstanding.

    Xia Ling was ted and immediately agreed.

    Jin also smiled and patiently waited for her to wear her high heels, choose a handbag, and walk downstairs with him.

    He thought of what Li Lei instructed him to dost night. ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s car is being repaired, right? She will definitely find it impolite to ask me for help. If you see that there¡¯s no car parked downstairs tomorrow morning when you deliver the flowers to her, offer to drive her to her destination. Remember, don¡¯t let her find out that you came on purpose to help her.¡± His Young Master spent so much effort on this girl such that he was so careful when showering her with attention.

    Seeing her posture, he could tell that the girl in front of him was unquestionably his Young Master¡¯s future wife.

    After thinking about that, Jin became more attentive. He opened the car door for her and respectfully invited her to sit in the car.

    The Mercedes-Benz he was driving was quite normal and not too eye-catching, but would maintain her status. After the car stopped at the Dongyue Culture and Entertainment¡¯s underground parking, Xia Ling walked towards the employee-only elevator while Jin waited for her outside.

 Chapter 286 - The Best Manager

    <h4>Chapter 286: The Best Manager</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Dongyue Culture and Entertainment was the industry¡¯srgest managementpany and had a skyscraper in the most bustling part of the city.

    Many famous artistes and even the top megastars were managed by them. Not only did they manage singers, but they were also responsible for helping many film stars, TV stars, models, and other types of celebrities.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s office was on the 34th floor.

    Xia Ling took the elevator. As she looked out of the ss elevator, she could see that as the floor number increased, the number of people on each floor decreased. Furthermore, people seemed to dress better as the floor number increased. The people on the higher floors were more famous, and soon, she saw familiar faces.

    It seemed that the hierarchy system here was the same as in Imperial Entertainment. The higher the floor, the higher the status of the people there.

    Xia Ling recalled the unwritten rules of Imperial Entertainment and soon was clear of the workce culture of Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. Lin Yunan¡¯s office was very close to the top floor. This was literally a small miracle for someone who was able to retain his job but not his sry.

    No wonder Feng Kun strongly rmended him.

    As Xia Ling thought about it, the elevator stopped on the 34th floor. She stepped out of the elevator and found herself on a long and quiet marble corridor. As she walked along the corridor, there were office rooms with numbers on their doors. She remembered that Lin Yunan¡¯s office number was 3408 and continued ahead to look for it.

    As she walked, she passed by two groups of people and faintly heard the conversation of a popr female movie star and her manager. They were discussing the conflict in roles, and her manager was asking her to consider something else. There was also the publicity team of an artiste she did not know that was arguing about the problems that were faced during the media conference as they walked.

    No one looked at her as she walked.

    She rarely felt this neglected feeling. In Skyart, she was used to everyone¡¯s smiles. For a moment, she felt as if she returned back to the time of her rebirth when she was unknown, and nobody cared about her.

    In fact,pared to the big shots on this floor, she was truly less known. Even if ¡°Stray Cat¡± was currently an amazing and popr song, she was stillcking in qualifications. She had few songs, and no one could predict whether her fame wouldst. In this industry, not only were the people utilitarian, even the fans grew tired of the old and loved the new. Many singers became famous because of one or two songs but then disappeared after that. As she had not secured her position yet, it was normal to receive this sort of treatment.

    She continued walking calmly.

    ¡°Hi, Ye Xingling.¡± Suddenly, she heard someone greet her and was taken aback. She turned around and saw a tall man wearing Armani gently smiling.

    Xia Ling took a few seconds to recognize him. ¡°Brother Rong?¡± Her eyes slightly widened. ¡°It really is you. I didn¡¯t think that I would meet you here.¡±

    The man in front of her was Rong Ping, and she met him while working with him on the film ¡°War and Death.¡± Although Rong Ping was the main character while Xia Ling only had a small role and only had very few chances to speak to him, Rong Ping remembered that the award-winning head director Jin Yifei was very friendly towards her, and Old Master Gu even personally brought his granddaughter to apologize to her.

    This girl was not simple.

    Rong Ping had a strong inkling that even though she broke up with Big Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment and was rumored to have left Skyart because she was abandoned, things were not as they appeared to be.

    At the very least, the fact that she was unbelievably able to renew her endorsement advertisement with the Gu Financial Magnate was very telling.

    To survive in this industry,working was very important, and sometimes, connections were very powerful. Rong Ping did not mind establishing friendly connections with Ye Xingling before she became famous. If she became famous one day, he would be considered an acquaintance, and their friendship would not be normal anymore. Perhaps she would be useful in the future.

    As such, Rong Ping smiled at her. ¡°I think I should be the one not expecting to meet you here. Looking at you, you must have chosen Dongyue.¡±

    Recently, reports were spreading about managerspeting to work with her. Seeing that she came alone to this building, he guessed that she had made her decision.

    ¡°So you are also an artiste managed by Dongyue?¡± Xia Ling did not really know much about thesepanies and the celebrities they worked with. After she said that, she realized that what she asked might have been a little risky. Rong Ping was a king-status movie actor, and she seemed to have undermined him.

    Rong Ping¡¯s expression did not change, but the entourage beside him let out slightly disdainful looks. They did not think that she was looking down on him but felt that she was too ignorant such that she did not even know whichpany managed such a famous actor like Rong Ping. How did she survive in the entertainment industry?

    His entourage felt as if they were of the same status as the actor they were following.

    Rong Ping warmly replied, ¡°Four years ago, I changed my managementpany to Dongyue. My manager is Jimmy. Who is your manager?¡±

    He was really curious. It was not easy to get to this floor of Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. Everyone on this floor was famous, and as the managers on this floor were also extremely arrogant and resplendent, many artistes dreamed of working with them.

    Before Xia Ling could respond, a door nearby was suddenly pushed open.

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± An impatient¡¯s man voice said. ¡°You¡¯rete.¡±

    ¡°3... 3408!¡± A member of Rong Ping¡¯s entourage suddenly eximed with a frightened expression.

    Even king Rong Ping could not conceal his astonishment and shock.

    Since when was room number 3408 in use again?! Wasn¡¯t that room reserved for a legendary manager? Many years ago, that manager was responsible for countless movie stars, famous singers, and celebrities until thest Diva he managed, Li Er, was met with an ident during the Entertainment World N Summit Grand m.

    From then onwards, he left Dongyue Culture and Entertainment and was never seen again.

    However, thepany always kept the office vacant for him.

    All the managers in Dongyue Culture and Entertainment, including Rong Ping¡¯s Jimmy, could not match up to his achievements.

    Enshrined as the best manager in Dongyue Culture and Entertainment, Lin Yunan.

    ¡°Are you Lin Yunan?¡± Rong Ping could not believe it and kept shifting nces between him and Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯re back?! Because of... Ye Xingling?!¡±

    Lin Yunan coldly nced at Rong Ping and impatiently rushed Xia Ling. ¡°Come in.¡± In front of outsiders, he resisted the urge to tell him to get lost.

    Xia Ling smiled apologetically at Rong Ping. ¡°He has a rather bad temper. Brother Rong, please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡± After that, she rushed into Lin Yunan¡¯s office.

    After Xia Ling rushed inside, Lin Yunan then mmed the door shut.

 Chapter 287 - This is a Display of Splendour

    <h4>Chapter 287: This is a Disy of Splendour</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You¡¯rete for a full five minutes.¡± Lin Yunan scolded. ¡°Do you not have any sense of time?!¡±

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words and wanted to ask: Mister, are you Wei Shaoyin¡¯s long lost brother? He wanted to discipline others once he opened his mouth and had an explosive temper. They were really too simr!

    Unfortunately, Lin Yunan could not hear her thoughts. He proceeded to point to a seat. ¡°Sit.¡±

    Sit?!

    The subject was changed too quickly, and Xia Ling could barely keep up with his thoughts.

    Seeing that she was still standing absentmindedly, Lin Yunan was annoyed. ¡°Sit! Haven¡¯t you heard me?! You¡¯re from Skyart Entertainment and do manualbor, so you need every possible opportunity to rest! Why are you still standing stupidly, did Skyart not teach you this?!¡±

    Skyart Entertainment... really did not teach her that.

    Even Imperial Entertainment never taught her that before!

    Xia Ling was filled with tears as she silently questioned the heavens. <i>Feng Kun, oh Brother Feng! What sort of person have you found for me?!</i>

    In fact, what she did not know was that seizing all opportunities to rest was the secret of many young people who had made a name for themselves at a young age. In the past, when she was in Imperial Entertainment, she did not know that because Pei Ziheng favored her, and part of her Diva status was due to thepany sparing no efforts in using its resources to promote her. Other Divas had to ept many jobs in a year and endure hardships to get to that position. The process wasplicated, and they were usually exhausted. Every day, even sleeping time was a luxury, and they made use of every opportunity to rest. When they could lie down, they would not sit. When they could sit, they would not stand.

    However, she was different. She could rest well at home and even went on holiday when she felt like it as long as she spent the rest of her time on her music. She could release as little or as many songs as she liked and did not even need to ept endorsements. No matter what, Imperial Entertainment would ensure that her position did not change.

    When she joined Skyart Entertainment, although Wei Shaoyin was a workaholic, too many things had happened that year. Coupled with her burnout, progress was not satisfactory but was still eptable to her.

    As for Luo Luo? Herpany had never taught her the idea of ¡°seizing all opportunities to rest.¡± Luo Luo was a neer. She was rather talented and sang well, but she was far from the top and was not the desperate type, so she never thought of that step.

    As such, Xia Ling gave Lin Yunan a strange look.

    Lin Yunan raised his eyebrow. ¡°What, have an opinion? Soon, your schedule will be very packed, so you better quickly get used to the fast-paced life. The best years for a female star are very short. My n is to make you a Diva in the singing world in three years. At that time, you will only be 21 years old; there will a lot of time for you to pave your own future. You can decide to continue singing or enter the movie industry at the peak of your career.¡±

    This was the reason why he was so decisive when epting her.

    She was talented and young. His n for her to reach the top would be implemented at an age younger than Li Er so that she would have a better chance of seeding than her.

    Xia Ling nodded in acknowledgment.

    Although this new manager¡¯s attitude was not very friendly, he was very professional and had sufficient ambition. In her past life, Xia Ling debuted at age 17 and only achieved stardom when she was about 22 years old under theplete support of Imperial Entertainment. As such, Lin Yunan¡¯s timetable was probably the physical limit of a person.

    ¡°Then, what should I do?¡± She asked.

    She was at a loss regarding the next step. Her past life experience in Imperial Entertainment was not much of a help because having Pei Ziheng as her backing was not any different from cheating. She did not believe that Dongyue Culture and Entertainment would be able to give her any privileges.

    Lin Yunan brewed her a cup of tea. Although he looked strict, he knew how to take care of his artistes well. This caused Xia Ling to have a better impression of him.

    She took the cup of tea. As she drank the tea, she analyzed his office.

    It was decorated very simple with a spacious desk, a whole wall of cabs that stored various kinds of information, and the sofa that she was sitting on which was beside the cab. Besides these items, there was nothing else.

    His office was well-organized, but it was not very personal and was very different from the feeling that he gave her.

    Xia Ling could not help but look at him a few times. Today, he was unlike the sloppy person she met at the bar. Instead, he wore a Givenchy shirt with matching cufflinks. Although he did not wear it properly as he rolled up one sleeve to his elbow and had even buttoned one of his buttons wrongly, there was an unconventional beauty about it.

    Alright, he still could not be considered Wei Shaoyin¡¯s long lost brother.

    Given Ah Wei¡¯s personality, he would not wear his shirt like that unless he received a death threat.

    Xia Ling was quietlyparing both of them when she heard Lin Yunan say, ¡°Where is your assistant?¡±

    ¡°Assistant?¡± She was startled for a while before replying, ¡°Wei Wei was assigned to me by Skyart. After leaving Skyart, I no longer have an assistant.¡±

    Lin Yunan frowned. ¡°Attendant? Makeup artist? Stylist? Publicity team?¡±

    ¡°All of them are Skyart¡¯s...¡± Xia Ling did not know why, but she felt rather diffident.

    Lin Yunan looked her up and down and said, ¡°So, you didn¡¯t bring anything and came to Dongyue alone?¡±

    ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±

    Lin Yunan sneered. ¡°Can you use your brain and think about what the problem is? Ok, let¡¯s talk about your assistant first. You didn¡¯t bring anyone when you went out today? No artiste leaves without their assistant. This is called a disy of splendor! Don¡¯t use leaving Skyart temporarily as an excuse! You¡¯re the one who wants to be a Diva, so you have to be stricter than anyone else with yourself. Even if it¡¯s for a few days, you can¡¯t have no assistant!¡±

    Xia Ling was rendered speechless after being reprimanded. She was negligent in this area.

    Lin Yunan continued, ¡°Stylist? Makeup artist? Your original team was not bad, you can continue to use them. Are they part of Skyart Entertainment or an externalpany?¡±

    ¡°Externalpany.¡± Xia Ling reported the name of thepany.

    Lin Yunan recorded it down. ¡°Ok. I will contact them. Furthermore, I will find a makeup artist who will follow you around for jobs every day. If you know of anyone suitable, you can rmend the person to me.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. When she was in Imperial Entertainment, she also had a makeup artist who would follow her around because it was convenient to touch up her makeup whenever she needed it. When she joined Skyart Entertainment, due to Sister Mai Na¡¯s limitations, she was not able to find her a makeup artist, but she did not mind it.

    Although she was in Dongyue, was her status worthy of it?

    She asked him about her inner doubts.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be a Diva.¡± Lin Yunan seemed very irritable but tried to be understanding, although her clueless expression caused him to think that she was mentally retarded. ¡°Let¡¯s address the disy of splendor again. Today, you met Rong Ping. Did you notice how many people he had beside him? Although he was going to a managementpany, he had at least three people apanying him! When you appear for events, there should be more people apanying you! Otherwise, using your meeting with him as an example, you would lose out on momentum because you did not bring anyone with you.¡±

 Chapter 288 - These are all Equipment

    <h4>Chapter 288: These are all Equipment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Only then did Xia Ling understand the reason why he wanted her to have a makeup artist following her.

    Lin Yunan randomly ced his hand on his office table and lifted three fingers. ¡°You need at least three people following you: A makeup artist, an assistant, and an image consultant.¡± An image consultant was different from a makeup artist. Not only would he be responsible for her outer appearance, but he would also be responsible for judging whether her behavior in public was appropriate, give suggestions when necessary, and provide help.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°I will also frequently take the time to apany you. Also, once you be more famous, you will need at least two bodyguards, more assistants, and even a consultant team to match your status.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head vigorously.

    She was rather familiar with this sort of entourage arrangement because she had a simr one in Imperial Entertainment in her past life.

    ¡°However,¡± Lin Yunan suddenly changed the topic. ¡°You¡¯re right. Your status isn¡¯t high enough. Thus, thepany will only bear the sry of one of your assistants. You have to pay the sry of your makeup artist and image consultant yourself.¡±

    ¡°How much money will I need?¡± Xia Ling had no knowledge of this sort of situation.

    Lin Yunan reported a number to her.

    ¡°So expensive!¡± Xia Ling widened her eyes and felt thoroughly unwell.

    ¡°The most expensive thing in this world isbor. Don¡¯t you know that?¡± Lin Yunan lightly snorted. ¡°Why have a makeup artist and image consultant if they are unskilled and useless like cabbage without nutrients? Yes, there are many makeup artists in the market that are much cheaper, but you get what you pay for. Only by meeting the new standard that I set for you will you be able to barely meet your status, grade, and position requirements.¡±

    Xia Ling painfully counted her money and almost felt like crying.

    Lin Yunan quickly proceeded to the next step. ¡°How much money do you have now?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Do you have enough to pay for the sry of a makeup artist and image consultant?¡± He had adapted somewhat to her slow responses and asked another question. ¡°Who was the one who rmended you to me?¡± This girl looked like she was hot-tempered and arrogant, but she was actually clueless and stupid. No wonder she looked for Lin Yunan as her manager. The person who rmended him to her was probably afraid that she would be easily taken advantage of.

    Xia Ling only answered his first question. ¡°Once I receive the earnings from ¡®Stray Cat,¡¯ I should have enough.¡±

    ¡°How many copies did ¡®Stray Cat¡¯ sell?¡± Lin Yunan spoke continuously and did not give her a breather.

    Xia Ling frowned and thought about it carefully. ¡°230,000 single sales.¡± For a new song that had been listed for only a month, this was a pretty good result. If the momentum maintained, it could even reach the first ce in the annual singles sales list.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s irritable expression was finally slightly satisfied. He asked, ¡°What is the proportion of the sales you are getting?¡±

    He had jumped from topic to topic so quickly that Xia Ling took a moment to realize that he was asking how much she would be getting from the 230,000 single sales. She reported a percentage to Lin Yunan.

    Lin Yunan was holding a pen in his hand and was prepared to calcte her ie on paper. After hearing that frighteningly high percentage, his hand slightly stopped and looked at her. ¡°When did you sign it?¡±

    ¡°The profit agreement?¡± Xia Ling tried her best to follow his train of thought. ¡°When I first started, it was already like that.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei has liked you for a long time.¡± Lin Yunan lightly scoffed as he buried his head in his papers and did some calctions.

    Although Xia Ling was trying her best to keep up, she was still a bit lost. After nking out for a while, she finally asked, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The fact that he awarded you such a high percentage of the sales. Either he is an idiot, or he really likes you.¡± Lin Yunan did not bother to lift his head. ¡°It is obvious that the Big Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment can¡¯t be an idiot, so there is only one answer.¡±

    What he said caused Xia Ling to drift into her thoughts.

    Xia Ling knew that Li Lei was interested in her from the first time they met. However, at that time, he was just ying around, so she did not take it to heart and did not realize how well he was treating her... ¡°Is this dividend ratio really that high?¡± She asked Lin Yunan, unconvinced. She did not really know much about money and the industry standards. In her past life, in Imperial Entertainment, she did not even know how many millions of dors she had. As such, when she signed the contract with Skyart Entertainment, she did not really look at the terms and assumed that all artistes had simr terms.

    Lin Yunan almost sympathized with Li Lei. After working with her for such a long time and trying his best to give this girl favorable benefits, she was still ignorant and did not know anything.

    ¡°Not only is it very high, but it is also literally absurd.¡± He sneered. ¡°You better mentally prepare yourself. The next few jobs you ept in the future won¡¯t give you such absurdly high profits.¡±

    Xia Ling did not care about the conditions in the future. She only just discovered that Li Lei favored her more than what she thought he did. Did that mean that there were other things that she did not even know about? Thinking of the man¡¯s cheerful and bright smile, there was a warm and sour feeling in Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    Lin Yunan calcted her total ie. ¡°More than one million dors. Including the dividends that you will be getting, paying for the makeup artist and image consultant is not a problem. You can also buy a few good clothes. However, spend the money wisely. There are still other ways you can use your money. What sort of house are you currently living in? What car are you driving?¡±

    Xia Ling told him that she was sharing an apartment with Luo Luo and that she was borrowing her car.

    ¡°A high-end apartment in the Green Dream City area is not bad. However, a loft is barely able to match your status.¡± Lin Yunan acknowledged her choice. ¡°But, borrow a car? Don¡¯t joke. What sort of celebrity is as shabby as you? What happened to your car in the past? Was it provided by Skyart?¡± He quickly guessed the truth.

    Xia Ling quietly nodded.

    ¡°Buy a car,¡± said Lin Yunan in a dictatorial manner. ¡°It will be around three million, but you also need a chauffeur. I don¡¯t rmend that you use thepany¡¯s chauffeurs because you won¡¯t be able to get a chauffeur when thepany is busy, so it is best if you can hire your own. Of course, if you do so, you also have to pay the chauffeur¡¯s sry yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling only realized now how well Li Lei treated her and how much money she saved in Skyart.

    A three million dor car? ¡°Even if I used all of my earnings from ¡°Stray Cat¡± I still won¡¯t be able to afford it.¡± Shemented.

    ¡°Get a loan.¡± Lin Yunan was unmoved. ¡°If you want to be a Diva, you must look like one. You give people an impression that you are noble and deserve the best of everything through bits and pieces of your daily life.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was bleeding.

    Lin Yunan started to calcte again. ¡°Don¡¯t start to cry. Besides ¡®Stray Cat,¡¯ I remember that you renewed the Gu¡¯s endorsement at a price? When are they going to pay you? When that moneyes, immediately use it to buy a few sets of essories for daily usage, attending banquets, nes, bracelets, and earrings... Don¡¯t save. These are all equipment.¡±

 Chapter 289 - A Talk with Li Lei

    <h4>Chapter 289: A Talk with Li Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Alright, they¡¯re all equipment.¡± Xia Ling epted her fate. This was the difference between a female star and a male star. A male star could wear anything on the streets, and the public would still ept him, but what about a female star? She would be scrutinized for their beauty and fashion. If there were the slightest mismatch, she would be mocked for a very long time, and it would affect her public image.

    ¡°First, buy a few basic pieces.¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°As for the others, wait until after you have asked your stylist and image consultant before you buy them. If there are no other questions, I will help you hire these few people. Also, regarding your assistant, how about you hire Wei Wei?¡±

    ¡°Continue to use Wei Wei?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Why, are you not satisfied with her?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling hesitated. ¡°I just left Skyart Entertainment, to poach an employee is...¡±

    Lin Yunanughed, but it still sounded like a sneer. ¡°You¡¯re only poaching a small assistant, not Mai Na or Wei Shaoyin. Li Lei won¡¯t be that petty, right? I advise you, do not randomly change your assistant. It¡¯s better to use someone who you are familiar with and knows you thoroughly. Furthermore... what if you rece Wei Wei and she starts spreading gossip about you?¡±

    Xia Ling realized she had neglected hisst sentence.

    However, it was true that Wei Wei was a good assistant. She was smart, loyal, and agreeable.

    ¡°No opinion? I will negotiate with Skyart then.¡± As Lin Yunan spoke, he wrote the task down in his work nner and asked Xia Ling about the arrangements regarding her endorsement with Gu Financial Magnate before letting her go.

    Xia Ling left the office and looked at the time. Only an hour had passed.

    However, she felt that she had been talking with this very intense manager for the entire afternoon, and until now, she was still very tense. She rubbed her slightly aching temple and did not know whether it was a mistake to have looked for such a Spartan manager. She lightly shook her head and walked out of the Dongyue Culture and Entertainment building.

    A few dayster, there was good news from Lin Yunan. Wei Wei had already moved to Dongyue and would remain her assistant.

    Seeing Wei Wei was like seeing Xia Ling¡¯s own rtive. Wei Wei was also thrilled to continue assisting Sister Xiao Ling whom she respected and was ted when she was offered the job again.

    She started to help Xia Ling buy a car.

    This girl waspetent and created a list of cars on the market that cost around three million dors which were suitable for young girls in a few days. The details were sorted into folders and printed out for Xia Ling to read.

    Xia Ling chose a silver Porsche. It was luxurious and fashionable but not too shy.

    Wei Wei did all the formalities for her and obtained the car in a few days.

    Lin Yunan had also finished assembling a stylish and public rtions team.

    Xia Lingmented at the state of her wallet. Her career in Dongyue had officially begun.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s first step was to increase the number of songs she released. She could only release her own album and organize a concert when she had enough songs. When the sales of the album started dropping, a concert was especially able to help her earn more money and had a greater impact on her poprity. At the same time, it also showed her status as a singer.

    To ensure the n was sessful, she relentlessly recorded songs.

    From then on, she usually copsed on her bed when she returned home because she was extremely worn out.

    She even forgot which day Li Lei wasing back. When he appeared in front of her house with arge bouquet of flowers, she almost thought that he was an illusion.

    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± In a sh, she eximed in surprise. She found herself thinking a lot about him these few days.

    Li Lei joyfully passed her the flowers and hugged her. ¡°You¡¯ve lost weight.¡± Hemented.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who lost weight.¡± She lightly wrapped her arms around his waist and was a little upset. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to eat your meals properly when you are overseas?¡±

    Due to her small actions, his lips curved into a smile and the heavy feeling that he had when he knocked on her door almost disappeared. ¡°I¡¯ve brought some delicious nuts back and a gift to celebrate your progress in your career ¡ª a set of beautiful shawls and scarves which will be enough for you to wear during this fall and winter.¡±

    He took notice when Gu Lin spoiled her red wool nket some time ago. Since it was going to be autumn soon, he bought the beautiful andfortable items that he saw when he was abroad.

    She opened his gift and took out the red wool shawl that resembled the nket that she had in the past. It was very pretty, and the charming colors matched her skin tone. ¡°Thank you.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so polite.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± She deepened her smile but hesitated for a while. ¡°Aren¡¯t you being very kind to me? Li Lei, I¡¯ve heard it all from Lin Yunan. The percentage of sales of my singles that you gave me was incredibly high. It turns out that you have been taking care of me for a long time.¡± After learning about this, she always wanted to thank him in person, and now she had the chance.

    He was shocked. He didn¡¯t think that someone would see through his quiet n of treating her well.

    ¡°Are you happy working with Lin Yunan?¡± He acted as if it did not bother him.

    ¡°Him?¡± As Xia Ling brewed tea for Li Lei, she thought about it. ¡°He¡¯s not bad and quite serious. He takes care of every aspect very well for me. Sure enough, looking for him to be my manager was the right thing to do.¡±

    Sure enough?

    Li Lei sharply noticed this keyword. So, there was someone who rmended Lin Yunan to her?

    It seemed that the investigation report that Tan Ying gave him was right...

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was dark as he looked at her back view, but he sounded totally unconcerned. ¡°I¡¯m very curious about why you thought of looking for Lin Yunan. Did someone rmend him to you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling said reflexively. Her hand slightly stopped as she back faced Li Lei while pouring the tea. She lowered her head and recited the lie that she had conjured with Lin Yunan. ¡°He was the one who took the initiative to find me. After managing many kings and queens of the movie industry and a king status singer, he only needed to manage a Diva before his profile wouldplete. He thought that I was a person in this era with the most potential so...¡±

    Xia Ling carried the tea over and smiled at Li Lei. ¡°He hopes that I can be a Diva. You know this is my main career goal.¡±

    Initially, the purpose of this lie was not to deal with Li Lei.

    Rather, the recent news about Lin Yunan¡¯seback because of her was surging, and the public was specting about what her charm was and if she had the ability to help this top manager make aeback in the entertainment scene.

    Lin Yunan felt that no one should know that she was the one who approached him because it would affect her reputation.

    It was necessary to maintain the story that it was him who approached her first.

    That way, it would increase her status.

    Xia Ling suddenly had a good idea and felt that she could use the same rhetoric to deal with the doubts of Li Lei and other people.

    Li Lei smiled, took the tea from her, and did not continue probing her. When the tea touched his lips, its slightly hot temperature made his heart palpitate. She was the one who looked for Lin Yunan first but lied to him. Tan Ying¡¯s investigation showed that she had met with Feng Kun privately before looking for Lin Yunan. It was very likely that the person who rmended him to her was Feng Kun.

    She really trusted Feng Kun.

    Why?

 Chapter 290 - Big Boss Makes A Visit

    <h4>Chapter 290: Big Boss Makes A Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei did not expose her lie as he did not wish for cracks to develop in their rtionship after they had just patched it back a little.

    However, he still had questions buried in his heart. That night when he returned to his apartment, he took out a few pieces of paper and sorted out all the doubts he had since he met her.

    She had an extreme likeness to thete Diva Xia Ling.

    Pei Ziheng was very interested in her. This made sense because he had collected many femalepanions that were simr to Xia Ling. However, she seemed to have deep feelings for Pei Ziheng, and sometimes, when she was in a dreamlike state, she would whisper ¡°Ziheng.¡± This did not make sense. ording to her personal background, she did not have any deep connections with Pei Ziheng and usually avoided him.

    Moving on to Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun was willing to rmend Lin Yunan to her probably because he cherished people who resembled Xia Ling. However, the fact that she trusted Feng Kun so much did not make sense. They only met a few times, and as far as he was concerned, they never had any deep rtionship. In fact, she should be more inclined to the people that Wei Shaoyin and Sister Mai Na rmended.

    She deliberately concealed some information like her meeting with Feng Kun.

    If it weren¡¯t important, why did she hide it? There must be some information that is so crucial that she was unwilling to let him know about even considering their rtionship now.

    When she was provoked, she would have a trauma-like stress response. ording to her past, things were smooth, and it was impossible for her to encounter any life threating or violent situations.

    He was heavily suspicious.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, and the pen tip moved back and forth between several keywords.

    Gradually, he thought of some clues.

    Pei Ziheng and Feng Kun had a good impression of her because she was like Xia Ling.

    However, her rtionship with Chu Chen was bad. Li Lei quickly scribbled a few words down in his journal and nned to let someone investigate. How was the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s rtionship with Chu Chen in the past?

    In the meantime, he thought of another question. How was the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s rtionship with Pei Ziheng and Feng Kun?

    Did she treat them the same way the Diva Xia Ling treated them? Furthermore, the way she was triggered by certain situations such as the dark and tight spaces, was it the same as the Diva Xia Ling?

    Vaguely, Li Lei seemed to have understood something. However, it was still very unclear and uncertain, so he did not know how to put the clues together.

    ¡°Investigate.¡± He called for Tan Ying and gave him the journal that contained the few important questions he had gathered. ¡°It¡¯s strictly confidential.¡±

    Tan Ying followed his orders, but Li Lei started to feel more uneasy.

    Recently, Xia Ling had been very busy because she was rushing to finish recording songs.

    Lin Yunan wanted her to have sufficient songs for an album as soon as possible and needed at least 10 songs. Thus, he also spared no efforts and had a long meeting with Wei Shaoyin to draw up the timeline and production ns at once.

    Wei Shaoyin was very satisfied. As a workaholic, he was pleased to finally see a manager who was able to urge Xiao Ling¡¯s progress sternly. Last year, Xiao Ling really rxed too much. This was the sort of work ethic she should have.

    Under the two¡¯s strict supervision, what else could Xia Ling say?

    Including the publicity activities that Lin Yunan arranged such as fan meets, her schedule was very packed every day. Sure enough, she was now living the painful life of needing to seize every opportunity to rest.

    Li Lei sympathized with her and frequently visited and picked her up from the various jobs.

    On this day, the event location of the publicity activity was outdoors.

    Lin Yunan stopped him outside. ¡°Why are you here again?¡± Since he was not Skyart¡¯s underling, he was impolite when talking to Big Boss Li. ¡°How many times have I told you, stop disturbing Xiao Ling at work! You have already broken up with her, so don¡¯t create anymore love affairs with her! If you really care about her, then stop creating trouble.¡±

    Li Lei was already fed up with him.

    ¡°Move aside.¡± He saidzily, but there was some overbearance in his voice. In reality, if Lin Yunan were not Xiao Ling¡¯s manager and were not doing such a good job, he would have treated him with hostility.

    Lin Yunan refused to move. ¡°Looks like we should have a good talk.¡±

    Initially, dating was taboo for a young girl who was at the start of her career, especially when her boyfriend was such a prominent figure like Big Boss Li as it would easily be gossip. However, Li Lei was still unaware that the drama due to their breakup was still affecting her. Did he know how badly the breakup affected Xiao Ling¡¯s reputation?

    ¡°If you dare to destroy her image again, I will kill you.¡± Lin Yunan ferociously warned.

    He had spent thest few years in a bar as a thug and lifted his fist contemptuously with a malicious-looking expression. Any threatening look was sufficient to make people afraid.

    However, the person he was facing was Li Lei.

    He was the head of the triad in the city and could destroy the small bar with a single word.

    What¡¯s more...

    ¡°Do you still want to fight?¡± Li Lei also smiled, showing his gleaming teeth.

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    He remembered a painful memory from a few days ago when Li Lei visited. After Li Lei was stopped at the door, he got into a fight with tworge men. It turned out that the self-proimed skilled fighter Lin Yunan was no match for the two men and was beaten up. Although he had practiced many fighting techniques and was in the bar scene for so many years, he could notpare to people from Li Lei¡¯s triad who fought in life-threatening situations.

    Lin Yunan fell silent. He hated people like Li Lei the most. He could not win him in a fight, through influence, or even through reason. The more he tried chasing him away, the more he refused to leave. Li Lei wanted to visit her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

    He watched as Li Lei entered the enclosed area and even gave a tip to the security officer at the entrance.

    The security officer respectfully smiled and let the Boss in. Then, he looked at Lin Yunan with a sympathetic look.

    Lin Yunan was about to explode.

    After Xia Ling was done filming the scene, the director shouted for a break. As Xia Ling took the bottle of mineral water from her assistant and turned around, she saw Li Lei standing amidst the crowd.

    The corner of her lips curled into a smile and she walked over to him.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°To deliver you food.¡± Li Lei swayed the lunchbox in his hands.

    During the outdoor shoots, conditions were usually harsh. It was already fortunate for someone to have lunch, but nutrition and freshness are not expected. Before he could get her heart, he had to win over her stomach first. Li Lei had first-ss cooking skills and was willing to cook for her every day if it could win her heart.

    With Big Boss Li¡¯s foresight, Xia Ling became used to his cooking. When she saw the lunchbox, her eyes lit up. ¡°What delicious food did you bring today?¡±

    The two of themughed and joked as they walked to the trailer used by the artistes for resting.

    Along the way, many people constantly watched them.

    Li Lei was too handsome. Even though he was standing among many other handsome men in the entertainment industry, he still stood out like a crane among chickens. Furthermore, he naturally shined in a crowd as one of the most prominent people there as he had many underlings. As such, he naturally emitted an unordinary aura of power and influence.

    Although he did not appear too much in the entertainment industry in the past, he visited her every day, so even the workers found out who he was.

    ¡°Boss Li seems to treat Ye Xingling very well. I thought they broke up?¡± Some people gossiped.

    <h4>Comments (2)</h4>

    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 291: Clearance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Someone else said, ¡°Can¡¯t they reconcile after a breakup? I think Boss Li is chasing her, and it¡¯s not like the spreading news which ims that she was ditched because her n to marry rich was exposed is true.¡±

    This industry was always a mix of truth and falsehoods, and the reliability of gossip news was questionable.

    Now, after personally seeing how eagerly attentive Li Lei was, many people felt that Big Boss Li was definitely chasing after Ye Xingling.

    ¡°Such a lucky girl.¡± Many people who were at the scene had been part of the entertainment industry for many years and all knew that with Li Lei¡¯s status today, it was easy for him to send her flowers, vis, and rings, but for him to appear personally and deliver a lunchbox that he prepared for her was truly difficult.

    ¡°I think it will be interesting once Ye Xingling marries into a rich family.¡± A staff membermented as he ate.

    ¡°The chicken leg can¡¯t stop your mouth.¡± Another staff member smiled. ¡°I think it will be interesting too. She is such a good girl, if she doesn¡¯t obtain perfect love, it will be a pity.¡±

    These staff members were different from the ordinary public. They interacted with different types of celebrities every day, and the celebrities did not really cover up their temperaments. Some celebrities smiled very sweetly when they saw their fans, but oppressed the staff behind their backs. Other celebrities had their reputations ruined by the media representatives but were low-key and polite in person.

    In their eyes, Xia Ling was thetter type.

    She was very professional when shooting, and almost all scenes werepleted in one shot. She also never threw a tantrum for no reason. Although she would not deliberately smile at the staff members to greet them or say that everyone worked hard, she simplified matters during filming by doing her own part well and allowed everyone to end work easily.

    The staff members liked this sort of celebrity.

    ¡°I just met a reporter outside.¡± A staff member said as he ate. ¡°He asked me why Boss Li was there since he had a clean break with Ye Xingling. I said that Boss Li treated Ye Xingling very well.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Everyone nodded in response. ¡°Why are the reporters always trying to damage Ye Xingling¡¯s reputation? It is time that someone stood up for her. If any more reporters ask about this, we should say that they¡¯re getting along well. Ye Xingling is a good person, not like those unscrupulous people who were ditched because they wanted to marry into a rich family.¡±

    Everyone agreed.

    This was necessary after developing a good opinion of her. Due to Xia Ling¡¯s high professionalism and ability toplete her shoots in one shot while not causing trouble for others, she had won the hearts of the staff members there. As such, they were willing to protect her from the reporters.

    A person¡¯s heart was made of muscles, and respect was mutual.

    Inside the trailer.

    Xia Ling happily ate with Li Lei. Today, he brought over delicious beef brisket and stir-fried vegetables. They were cooked using an appropriate me and ingredients, so the taste was no less than a top chef¡¯s cooking.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Li Lei realized that she fell into a trance after taking a bite.

    ¡°If you decide you don¡¯t want to be in charge of yourpany anymore, how about you be my personal chef?¡± Xiao Ling frequently lost her intelligence when she indulged in food. She would say whatever was on her mind.

    ¡°I can move into your house now and cook for you for a lifetime.¡± Li Lei smiled and hoped that she would quickly agree to it while she was in a confused state of mind.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling came back to reality.

    ¡°Dream on!¡± She ate the beef brisket in small bites. ¡°Your sry is too expensive. I can¡¯t afford to hire you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need a sry.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    ¡°To be able to eat and stay with you for free.¡± Li Lei eyes twinkled. ¡°And also to sleep with you.¡± Hisst few words were almost a whisper.

    This took Xia Ling by surprise, causing her to bite on her chopstick by ident and almost cry in pain. She choked for a bit before taking a breath to rpose herself. ¡°Can you be any more shameless? You can sleep in Hairball¡¯s bed!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± He continued to smile and replied in a gentle voice.

    Xia Ling was speechless again. No wonder it was said that shameless people were ever-victorious.

    Big Boss Li continued speaking. ¡°I heard Luo Luo say that Hairball would climb on your bed forfort when it is cold. Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t favor one more than the other.¡±

    Climb on my bed forfort?

    Not only did Hairball climb on her bed, but its favorite thing was also to sleep in her arms. Xia Ling could not help but imagine how Big Boss Li¡¯s satisfied face would look like if he slept in her arms...

    Wait, stop.

    Her face could not help but turn red.

    There was a slight ambiguity in the air. Li Lei mischievously smiled as he used his hand to remove a tiny rice grain near the corner of her lips and put it in his mouth.

    Xia Ling stared at him, and her face turned red like a cooked prawn.

    Someone opened the door of the trailer.

    Looking at the scene inside, Lin Yunan snorted. ¡°Well, it seems that I did note at the right time.¡±

    Li Lei turned around to look at the killjoy and silently wished he could either boil or braise him in soy sauce.

    Lin Yunan sauntered in and sat in front of them. ¡°I have serious business to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°What... what is it?¡± Although nothing was going on between her and Li Lei, Xia Ling still felt awkward that someone identally saw what they were doing. She desperately tried to calm herself down and asked him.

    Lin Yunan looked at Li Lei. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to leave?

    ¡°The one who should leave is you!¡± Li Lei gritted his teeth. This Lin Yunan really thought highly of himself! How dare he interrupt his meal with Xiao Ling! Now he was even trying to chase him out! Li Lei thought that it was time to contact the family headquarters to ask if there were anyck of human organs recently...

    Lin Yunan was unbothered by his anger.

    ¡°He is part of Skyart Entertainment, doesn¡¯t he need to leave?¡± He said directly to Xia Ling. Now, Xia Ling was an artiste under Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. Logically speaking, herpany waspeting with Skyart Entertainment, and Big Boss Li should have known better and left.

    How could there be people like him who had no self-awareness in this world?

    Lin Yunan did not know anyone who sold human organs, but he had the same n for Li Lei.

    Both men were staring sternly at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling felt extremely ufortable and lost the charming feeling she felt just now. She put down her half-eaten lunch and sighed. ¡°As long as it does not involve something top secret that would cause Dongyue to copse, just tell me directly. Otherwise, he will always be able to find out about it.¡± She said to Lin Yunan.

    She did not wish to be probed by Li Lei after their conversation because it was bothersome to repeat it to him.

    It would be better if they listened to what Lin Yunan had to say together.

    After she finished speaking, in Xia Ling¡¯s blind spot, Li Lei smiled victoriously at Lin Yunan.

    Lin Yunan had a difficult time restraining himself from impulsively punching him.

 Chapter 291 - Clearance

    <h4>Chapter 291: Clearance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Someone else said, ¡°Can¡¯t they reconcile after a breakup? I think Boss Li is chasing her, and it¡¯s not like the spreading news which ims that she was ditched because her n to marry rich was exposed is true.¡±

    This industry was always a mix of truth and falsehoods, and the reliability of gossip news was questionable.

    Now, after personally seeing how eagerly attentive Li Lei was, many people felt that Big Boss Li was definitely chasing after Ye Xingling.

    ¡°Such a lucky girl.¡± Many people who were at the scene had been part of the entertainment industry for many years and all knew that with Li Lei¡¯s status today, it was easy for him to send her flowers, vis, and rings, but for him to appear personally and deliver a lunchbox that he prepared for her was truly difficult.

    ¡°I think it will be interesting once Ye Xingling marries into a rich family.¡± A staff membermented as he ate.

    ¡°The chicken leg can¡¯t stop your mouth.¡± Another staff member smiled. ¡°I think it will be interesting too. She is such a good girl, if she doesn¡¯t obtain perfect love, it will be a pity.¡±

    These staff members were different from the ordinary public. They interacted with different types of celebrities every day, and the celebrities did not really cover up their temperaments. Some celebrities smiled very sweetly when they saw their fans, but oppressed the staff behind their backs. Other celebrities had their reputations ruined by the media representatives but were low-key and polite in person.

    In their eyes, Xia Ling was thetter type.

    She was very professional when shooting, and almost all scenes werepleted in one shot. She also never threw a tantrum for no reason. Although she would not deliberately smile at the staff members to greet them or say that everyone worked hard, she simplified matters during filming by doing her own part well and allowed everyone to end work easily.

    The staff members liked this sort of celebrity.

    ¡°I just met a reporter outside.¡± A staff member said as he ate. ¡°He asked me why Boss Li was there since he had a clean break with Ye Xingling. I said that Boss Li treated Ye Xingling very well.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Everyone nodded in response. ¡°Why are the reporters always trying to damage Ye Xingling¡¯s reputation? It is time that someone stood up for her. If any more reporters ask about this, we should say that they¡¯re getting along well. Ye Xingling is a good person, not like those unscrupulous people who were ditched because they wanted to marry into a rich family.¡±

    Everyone agreed.

    This was necessary after developing a good opinion of her. Due to Xia Ling¡¯s high professionalism and ability toplete her shoots in one shot while not causing trouble for others, she had won the hearts of the staff members there. As such, they were willing to protect her from the reporters.

    A person¡¯s heart was made of muscles, and respect was mutual.

    Inside the trailer.

    Xia Ling happily ate with Li Lei. Today, he brought over delicious beef brisket and stir-fried vegetables. They were cooked using an appropriate me and ingredients, so the taste was no less than a top chef¡¯s cooking.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Li Lei realized that she fell into a trance after taking a bite.

    ¡°If you decide you don¡¯t want to be in charge of yourpany anymore, how about you be my personal chef?¡± Xiao Ling frequently lost her intelligence when she indulged in food. She would say whatever was on her mind.

    ¡°I can move into your house now and cook for you for a lifetime.¡± Li Lei smiled and hoped that she would quickly agree to it while she was in a confused state of mind.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling came back to reality.

    ¡°Dream on!¡± She ate the beef brisket in small bites. ¡°Your sry is too expensive. I can¡¯t afford to hire you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need a sry.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    ¡°To be able to eat and stay with you for free.¡± Li Lei eyes twinkled. ¡°And also to sleep with you.¡± Hisst few words were almost a whisper.

    This took Xia Ling by surprise, causing her to bite on her chopstick by ident and almost cry in pain. She choked for a bit before taking a breath to rpose herself. ¡°Can you be any more shameless? You can sleep in Hairball¡¯s bed!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± He continued to smile and replied in a gentle voice.

    Xia Ling was speechless again. No wonder it was said that shameless people were ever-victorious.

    Big Boss Li continued speaking. ¡°I heard Luo Luo say that Hairball would climb on your bed forfort when it is cold. Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t favor one more than the other.¡±

    Climb on my bed forfort?

    Not only did Hairball climb on her bed, but its favorite thing was also to sleep in her arms. Xia Ling could not help but imagine how Big Boss Li¡¯s satisfied face would look like if he slept in her arms...

    Wait, stop.

    Her face could not help but turn red.

    There was a slight ambiguity in the air. Li Lei mischievously smiled as he used his hand to remove a tiny rice grain near the corner of her lips and put it in his mouth.

    Xia Ling stared at him, and her face turned red like a cooked prawn.

    Someone opened the door of the trailer.

    Looking at the scene inside, Lin Yunan snorted. ¡°Well, it seems that I did note at the right time.¡±

    Li Lei turned around to look at the killjoy and silently wished he could either boil or braise him in soy sauce.

    Lin Yunan sauntered in and sat in front of them. ¡°I have serious business to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°What... what is it?¡± Although nothing was going on between her and Li Lei, Xia Ling still felt awkward that someone identally saw what they were doing. She desperately tried to calm herself down and asked him.

    Lin Yunan looked at Li Lei. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to leave?

    ¡°The one who should leave is you!¡± Li Lei gritted his teeth. This Lin Yunan really thought highly of himself! How dare he interrupt his meal with Xiao Ling! Now he was even trying to chase him out! Li Lei thought that it was time to contact the family headquarters to ask if there were anyck of human organs recently...

    Lin Yunan was unbothered by his anger.

    ¡°He is part of Skyart Entertainment, doesn¡¯t he need to leave?¡± He said directly to Xia Ling. Now, Xia Ling was an artiste under Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. Logically speaking, herpany waspeting with Skyart Entertainment, and Big Boss Li should have known better and left.

    How could there be people like him who had no self-awareness in this world?

    Lin Yunan did not know anyone who sold human organs, but he had the same n for Li Lei.

    Both men were staring sternly at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling felt extremely ufortable and lost the charming feeling she felt just now. She put down her half-eaten lunch and sighed. ¡°As long as it does not involve something top secret that would cause Dongyue to copse, just tell me directly. Otherwise, he will always be able to find out about it.¡± She said to Lin Yunan.

    She did not wish to be probed by Li Lei after their conversation because it was bothersome to repeat it to him.

    It would be better if they listened to what Lin Yunan had to say together.

    After she finished speaking, in Xia Ling¡¯s blind spot, Li Lei smiled victoriously at Lin Yunan.

    Lin Yunan had a difficult time restraining himself from impulsively punching him.

 Chapter 292 - Extraordinary Risks

    <h4>Chapter 292: Extraordinary Risks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After taking a sip of cold water, Lin Yunan calmed down. ¡°I n to let you take part in a variety show.¡±

    ¡°Variety show?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°What type of variety show?¡± Besides interviews, the only variety show she had participated in her two lifetimes was the Neb Music Festival. She was able to shine in PK-type shows, but what about the others? In her past life, Pei Ziheng said they were too lowly to be considered.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Extraordinary Risks.¡±

    Both Xia Ling and Li Lei gave him confused looks.

    Lin Yunan wanted to flip a table again. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯ve never heard of the famous ¡®Extraordinary Risks¡¯ before!¡± Lin Yunan was about to go crazy. Was he the one who left the entertainment industry for a full seven years or the two people in front of him? What sort of people does Skyart have... He decided that if he had the chance to manage another artiste in the future, he would definitely not manage someone from Skyart Entertainment! Their Boss and artistes were all clueless! Too ignorant!

    Xia Ling very innocently softly and said, ¡°I have never watched a variety show before.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you usually do?!¡± Lin Yunan raged.

    ¡°Sing and listen to songs.¡± Xia Ling counted using her fingers. ¡°Recently, I¡¯m practicing mixing my voice, and as you know, this takes up most of my time...¡± After practicing this for some time, she would be able to reach higher notes with a stronger voice. In her past life, Xia Ling was naturally endowed with singing skills and could easily sing whistle notes. Sometime back when she wasposing ¡°Stray Cat,¡± she realized that whatever she wrote was not smooth. The only reason was that she had many notes in that range and could not sing them now.

    Whistle notes were a rare gift, and she was very fortunate in her past life to be born with it.

    However, she was not as lucky in this lifetime as shecked the natural gift and needed to make up for it. Since she could not sing the whistle notes, she could only work hard to master her mixed voice.

    Thinking about it, she realized that when she practiced in the morning, she was stillcking in resonance. Would it be better if she changed methods...

    Lin Yunan called her a few times.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking to you now! Are you listening?¡± He yelled at Xia Ling.

    Li Lei pushed him aside with a wave of his hand and warned him. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to shout at Xiao Ling.¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    His era was over. If it were seven years ago, who would dare to disrespect a top agent like him?! The pursuer of the artiste? Offending him would mean the artiste would be suppressed, killed, or even repeatedly attempt suicide!

    Thismotion caused Xia Ling toe back to reality.

    Xia Ling widened her eyes. ¡°What were we talking about again?¡± She looked at Lin Yunan strangely. ¡°Why are you sitting on the floor?¡±

    Lin Yunan coldly stood up from the ground. ¡°Do you still want me to introduce you to Extraordinary Risks?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Replied Xia Ling decisively. ¡°I need to know more about the show before I decide whether to sign up for it.¡±

    ¡°If you lose your focus again,¡± said Lin Yunan expressionlessly. ¡°I will cancel your appearance in the variety show.¡± Besides, if she had no interest in it, she would not look good in the filming, and it would negatively affect her reputation. Besides, it was also time to set a few ground rules. Her Big Boss pursuer and she were too arrogant and thought of themselves too highly!

    Only then did Xia Ling fix her attitude.

    After working with him, she really trusted Lin Yunan¡¯s professionalism which was on par with Chu Chen and Sister Mai Na. Since he proposed the idea to her, it must be of value.

    Lin Yunan was satisfied after seeing her serious expression.

    Ignoring the interfering Big Boss, he said, ¡°This is the trump card variety show that just airedst year on Pearl Television. As the name implies, Extraordinary Risks involves participants going to extraordinary locations to take some risk or do some intriguing things. An episode airs once every week, so 12 weeks or 3 months would mean a season. Every season, they will invite very high-profile celebrities to participate in the show. For example, in the summer, rock and roll megastar Zhou Xiaolong, the actress Louis Chen who was just nominated during the Cannes Film Festival, and countless other popr stars were invited.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    She understood why Lin Yunan wanted her to take part in this variety show.

    In her past life, Pei Ziheng prevented her from participating in any variety show because he was afraid it would lower her status, and participants in variety shows were usually not high profile stars. If Xia Ling appeared in an awards ceremony which involved the gathering of celebrities, it would benefit her, but if she appeared in a group of celebrities that were of lower tiers, it would be lowering herself.

    This time, the participants of ¡°Extraordinary Risks¡± were qualified stars as they were stars she would have interacted with in awards ceremonies or celebrity gatherings in her past life, at least based on the names Lin Yunan reported.

    With her status in this lifetime, appearing on the same show as them would mean she would be making friends with people of higher social standings.

    Li Lei was also interested and asked, ¡°Who will be appearing this season?¡±

    Lin Yunan red coldly at him. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt. This is Dongyue¡¯s matter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my girlfriend¡¯s business.¡±

    ¡°Who is your girlfriend?!¡± This time, even Xia Ling was ring at him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei started to feel wronged and acted like a spoiled child.

    ¡°If you interrupt again, I will throw you out!¡± Xia Ling looked at him menacingly like a ferocious dog.

    As such, Big Boss Li aggrievedly shut up.

    Beside them, Lin Yunan was staring at their interaction coldly and asked, ¡°When are you going to reconcile?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    This time, both of them were stunned.

    ¡°The stupid way you are acting really resembles a couple.¡± Lin Yunanmented expressionlessly.

    As such, Li Lei beamed,pletely ignoring the word ¡°stupid¡± and decided that he would not kill him for his organs anymore.

    However, Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Who said that?! I¡¯m not reconciling with him! I have never even thought about that before!¡±

    ¡°When women say they don¡¯t want something, they usually want it.¡± Lin Yunan took out his journal and started to record something down. ¡°Li Lei, it is better if you answer this question. Do you have a short-term n to get back together? Or will it be a public rtionship again?¡±

    Li Lei regained some of hisposure. ¡°I will marry Xiao Ling for sure. Before that, I will respect Xiao Ling¡¯s opinion. If she wants our rtionship to go public, then it will. Otherwise, we will keep it private.¡±

    After they broke up, Li Lei did some soul searching.

    He was really too rash and not thought about her feelings before publicly announcing their rtionship. This was what caused the negative gossip surrounding her and made her feel disrespected.

    Perhaps, this was the reason why Xiao Ling felt unsafe and wanted to leave him to feel independent again.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. This time, he would protect and love her more carefully.

    After hearing what he said, Xia Ling looked at him again.

    After ncing at her expression, Lin Yunan smiled and scoffed. ¡°Admit it, you have feelings for him. I¡¯m not part of the paparazzi and have no interest in your love affair. The only thing I care about is how your rtionship will affect your future. By the way, I have to mention that there will be male and female speed dating in Extraordinary Risks.¡±

 Chapter 293 - God Season

    <h4>Chapter 293: God Season</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Speed dating?!¡± Li Lei and Xia Ling eximed at the same time.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s voice was filled with pure shock while Li Lei¡¯s voice was quite rmed.

    ¡°You can¡¯t let Xiao Ling participate in this sort of event.¡± He quickly rebuked. Who was he kidding? How could he let his precious Xiao Ling have love affairs with other guys?

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Which is why Xiao Ling left Skyart Entertainment?¡± He could not help but say that. This top manager was a keen observer and went straight to the point once he opened his mouth. It hurt others, but if he weren¡¯t so dictatorial, would Xiao Ling have left?

    Li Lei felt that he was really ipatible with Lin Yunan.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling was impatiently hearing their argument. She spoke, ¡°Why do you want me to join a show with speed dating?¡±

    Lin Yunan ignored the Big Boss that was filled with grievances and began to exin his reasons. ¡°You¡¯ve been praised by the public for more than a year since your debut, and your reputation is very good; even the most professional music critics can¡¯t find fault with you. However, if you want to be a Diva, it¡¯s not enough to just be proficient at singing. Your overall image has to be perfect.¡±

    He paused and gave the Big Boss a disdainful look. ¡°Recently, your breakup with Li Lei has hurt your image very badly. Although you left Skyart Entertainment, which did a lot of public rtions to salvage the situation and the trend of public opinion is gradually favoring you again, love affairs have to be solved with love. No matter how many times you are praised as dedicated and well mannered in public rtions, they will never be as persuasive as a love affair...¡±

    ¡°Which is why you want me to take part in speed dating?¡± Xia Ling was able to keep up with his thoughts this time.

    ¡°Yes,¡± replied Lin Yunan. ¡°Before that, I have to ensure that you have no ns of getting back together with Li Lei. Well, at least not any ns for the next 8 months.¡±

    ¡°Such a long time?!¡± Li Lei was about to go crazy. ¡°No, I mean, Xiao Ling would never participate in speed dating! If you want to create a perfect romance, it¡¯s really easy! You can announce right now that we are back together!¡±

    Lin Yunan looked at him as if asking how he became a Boss if he were this childish.

    Although Xia Ling did not have any ns to get back together in the short run, she was curious about Lin Yunan¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Exactly why can¡¯t we just directly say we are back together again? Why do I have to reject what is near at hand and seek what is far away by engaging in speed dating?¡± Even if ordinary people did not know, those who dabbled in the entertainment industry for a long time knew that 90% of what happened in these speed dating shows were fake. Those on-screen couples were usually manufactured by the producing and managerialpanies to create hot topics.

    How could itpare to the real thing that she and Li Lei had?

    Lin Yunan looked condescendingly at them and tolerated his emotions as he exined to her. ¡°As an ordinary celebrity, you getting together with a rich Big Boss will cause the public to think of many nasty things instinctively. However, if a good public rtions team can handle it well, you can turn it into a Cindere fairytale.

    ¡°However, you have already lost control of your romance.

    ¡°After announcing that you were together, Ye Xingling was driven out of your house in the middle of the night, and there was a high-profile breakup. Do you think that after such a series of chaotic events, the public would think highly of your romance if you reconciled after a short few months? Trust me, they won¡¯t think that your romance is difficult. Rather, they will think of what Ye Xingling did to seduce the Boss again.

    ¡°Or Li Lei might have had a secret transaction with her to lure her back into his arms. After all, the fact that your family refused to acknowledged her has left a deep impression on the public, and everyone thinks that you two are impossible as lovers. Even if you get together again, you will eventually fall apart.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m serious about Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei lifted his head and said with a deep voice.

    Lin Yunan snorted. ¡°Saying that to me is useless. The important thing is that the public doesn¡¯t believe you, ok? Li Lei, the things you did in the past have severely hurt Xiao Ling¡¯s public image, especially her female charm. Someone who only had a short-lived love that ended in mes and had no other love affair is an unattractive female celebrity.¡±

    ¡°So what if you sing well? Xiao Ling, no one will be attracted to you. Thus, you can¡¯t be a legend or a Diva.¡±

    That was the cold-blooded truth of the entertainment industry.

    Xia Ling was speechless for a long time. After that, she lightly drew a breath. ¡°As such, having a rumored romance is necessary?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Lin Yunan snapped. ¡°Nothing is more suitable than ¡®Extraordinary Risks.¡¯ This time, their main theme is matchmaking between males and females. To be exact, it is the ¡®God Season.¡¯ They invited three very popr male stars. More importantly, they have interacted with you before.¡±

    After he said that, Xia Ling suddenly became interested. ¡°Who will be participating?¡±

    ¡°Zheng Chenhao, Rong Ping, and Bai Murong.¡±

    Sure enough, they were all old acquaintances.

    ¡°What a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± Lin Yunan slightly licked his lips. Only now did a truly euphoric smile appear on his lips. ¡°Two singing kings and a king-status actor. No matter who you are paired with, your charm will increase exponentially.¡±

    ¡°Are they all confirmed?¡±

    ¡°Zheng Chenhao and Rong Ping have already agreed. Bai Murong said that he would decide after seeing which female celebrities were going to participate.¡±

    ¡°Bai Murong will agree.¡± Li Lei interrupted.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yunan nced at him. The person in front of him was Bai Murong¡¯s Big Boss, and he could determine Bai Murong¡¯s actions.

    Without exining much, Li Lei directly made Bai Murong¡¯s manager a call and told him to clear his schedule for this event. Well, Li Lei was selfish. If participating in this show meant that males were paired with females, he hoped that his own artiste would be there to monitor the scene to prevent his Xiao Ling from being stolen.

    After he ended the call, Lin Yunan¡¯s expression softened and did not stare at Big Boss Li as coldly anymore. It seemed that Big Boss Li¡¯s visits were quite useful. He would treat him as an unqualified worker in the future...

    Lin Yunan thought silently after using Big Boss Li effectively.

    ¡°Well then, the three male stars have been decided.¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°As their statuses are too high, their payments are naturally high as well. The budget left for the female celebrities is not much. As such, they can¡¯t hire any top stars, and as they want to show the theme of a God bringing someone to take a risk, the producers intend to invite three female neers who have debuted within thest three years.¡±

    The pairing of a young female celebrity and a king status male celebrity was very refreshing to the public.

    ¡°However, why would any of these three male stars agree to do that?¡± Xia Ling asked about her inner doubts. The benefits of this variety show to the small female stars were very obvious. If they can pair up with the godly male stars and create a love affair, it would really boost their status.

    However, what about those three kings of the singing and movie world? Wouldn¡¯t they be lowering their status by pairing up with female neers?

 Chapter 294 - Movie King Rongs Difficulties

    <h4>Chapter 294: Movie King Rong¡¯s Difficulties</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan felt that her concern was very reasonable.

    ¡°They all have their own reasons,¡± he said. ¡°Firstly, the remuneration they get for being in the show is not low. Actually, Extraordinary Risks is quite well-known among the top tier celebrities. Now, let¡¯s talk about the individuals. Zheng Chenhao is a veteran king with a hardcore style. The female fans who like him are all in their 30s. If he doesn¡¯t get new fans, he will soon be obsolete.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    This was one of the difficulties the kings and queens faced. After reaching the summit, they had to maintain their position well. Otherwise, their careers would go downhill if they did not pay enough attention.

    Being forgotten after achieving sess was worse than never gaining fame.

    At the start when she was in Imperial Entertainment, she remembered that Chu Chen said that older people appreciated Zheng Chenhao¡¯s style more. However, Chu Chen also joked that Xia Ling could attract all types of people and could be a ssic act in her era in the years toe. As for Zheng Chenhao, if he did not change his style, he would be outdated.

    ¡°This is really a problem.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Lin Yunan smiled. ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t rmend that you pair up with him. Among the three male stars, he is not considered the most outstanding one. Compared to Bai Murong, the enchanting king, and Rong Ping, the gentleman, hecks inpetitiveness. Furthermore, you are rising in fame now. No one knows whether his change in style will be sessful, so even if he pairs up with you, what will happen in a few years? People will recall this past event and feel that you did not make the best choice because you liked such an outdated man.¡±

    Xia Ling could not help but doubt his overconfidence.

    ¡°Every celebrity will be outdated one day,¡± she said. ¡°For example, Leslie Cheung. Although he has passed away for a long time, he is still a ssic today. Hey, the Diva Xia Ling is also a ssic.¡± She did not forget to praise her past life a little.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Trust me, Zheng Chenhao doesn¡¯t have those two¡¯s potentials.¡±

    ¡°What potential?¡± Xia Ling was curious.

    ¡°Dying young.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    On the other hand, Li Lei¡¯s poor mood was gone as heughed.

    Xia Ling red at him, and Li Lei quickly covered up his smile. ¡°This is truly an ability... Hahaha.¡±

    Although heughed, he understood Lin Yunan¡¯s thoughts and exined to Xia Ling. ¡°Do you know what the most fascinating yet heartbreaking thing in the world is? When famous people never grow old. Yes, it is dying young. Leslie Cheung and Xia Ling died during their most splendid years, and the fans will always have their best image in their hearts. They¡¯re very lucky because the fans have not gotten bored of them yet. Due to this, they are still sentimentally attached to the stars so they will live forever in the people¡¯s hearts and be an eternal ssic.¡±

    Xia Ling did not really agree with what he said.

    Did he mean that she became a ssic of her era because she died early?

    ¡°There are also a few megastars who lived to old age.¡± She rebuked indignantly.

    ¡°That¡¯s even rarer than a phoenix.¡± This time, it was Lin Yunan who replied. ¡°Xiao Ling, I hope that you will live a long life and be famous for a lifetime. When you are around seventy years old, I still hope that you can help me earn a lot of profits...¡±

    Li Lei looked at him viciously. ¡°No matter what, you will die first!¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    Xia Ling sighed. Were these two done fighting?

    Lin Yunan quietly changed the topic. ¡°In short, I hope that you can be famous for a lifetime and be a ssic of your era. After your death, my son¡¯s grandson can continue to reap profits using your name¡ª Why are you ring at me?¡± Hisst few words were directed at Li Lei. ¡°So even if the Li family goes bankrupt, you and your children can still live on her wealth. Double insurance. Do you understand?¡±

    Only then was Li Lei finally speechless. His feelings were veryplicated. On one hand, he was pleased that Lin Yunan acknowledged that he and Xiao Ling would grow old together and have children. On another hand, his type of acknowledgment was way too special.

    He almost did not know what sort of facial expression he should put on.

    Lin Yunan buried his head in his journal and calcted. ¡°Xiao Ling, you were born to be a star. As long as you are careful and work hard, with a little luck, even if you don¡¯t die young, you can surely be a ssic of your era when you are old. However, Zheng Chenhao? He is not worthy of you. Now, he is on a downward spiral and soon will be quickly forgotten and abandoned after being famous for a while.¡±

    ¡°Then who do you think I should choose?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°Bai Murong? Rong Ping?¡±

    ¡°Choose Bai Murong.¡± Li Lei said.

    At the same time, Lin Yunan insisted. ¡°My rmendation is Rong Ping.¡±

    Li Lei looked at Lin Yunan unkindly. Why was this manager always at odds with him?!

    Lin Yunan ignored him and carried on with his analysis. ¡°Bai Murong? He¡¯s too much of a yer. In a year, he had too many love affairs with female celebrities, there are at least four or five of them. He changes his girlfriend as quickly as he changes clothes. Although his female fans are epting of this and feel that this is symbolic of male charm, this would be hurtful for a female star. If you¡¯re a woman who can only stay with Bai Murong for three months, they will mock you as his ex-girlfriend.¡±

    This was truly not a good reputation. Even Li Lei started to frown slightly.

    Lin Yunan jokingly looked at him. ¡°Now, do you still want him to pair with Xiao Ling, Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    <i>I absolutely don¡¯t want to, ok?! </i>Li Lei¡¯s heart was aching. The thing he wanted to do the most now was to deduct Bai Murong¡¯s sry! If Bai Murong weren¡¯t such a yer, this season¡¯s Extraordinary Risks would be so safe and perfect! Unfortunately, now, he could only tantly watch Xiao Ling choose an unfamiliar man who was called, what was it, Rong Ping?

    ¡°You better have a good reason why she should choose Rong Ping.¡± Li Lei gritted his teeth.

    ¡°Rong Ping¡¯s motive for joining this show is the same as ours.¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°Rong Ping has been a movie king for around ten years and has a clean te as he was never involved in any love affairs with female celebrities. Now, there is news circting that he is gay. This gossip tends to be vicious, and he is unhappy about it, so he wants to do something to prove his sexual preference.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with being gay.¡± Xia Ling reasoned. ¡°The industry is so open now, there surely are girls who like gay male idols.¡±

    ¡°Those who can tolerate this sort of pressure are part of the minority.¡± Lin Yunan sympathized with Rong Ping on this aspect. ¡°Maybe he is receiving an increasing number of love letters from male fans and can¡¯t bear it any longer.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Ling never thought of that and startedughing. ¡°Alright then. So we are choosing this person who desperately needs to prove that he is heterosexual?¡±

    Lin Yunan replied, ¡°That¡¯s right. Of course, this is only our initial n, we don¡¯t know if it will work. I need to discuss this with Rong Ping¡¯s producer, Jimmy. In reality, many female stars are interested in this show, and there arge group of people for the producers to pick from. If you can get Rong Ping¡¯s acknowledgment, it will be easier for you to be selected.¡±

    What that meant was, even if she wanted to join this show, the producers might not want her.

    Xia Ling was very mncholic. What did that mean? In this life, she was very miserable.

    <h4>Comments (2)</h4>

    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 295: Which Female Celebrities</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Who are our currentpetitors?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Two female celebrities have been confirmed. They¡¯re Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Luo Luo and Pegasus Media¡¯s Zhou Yanxue.¡±

    Luo Luo? Xia Ling was rather surprised. ¡°Luo Luo? Do you mean the one who lives with me?¡± These few days, Luo Luo was very busy and was always outside, so they did not have the time to talk recently, and Xia Ling did not even know that she was going to be on this variety show.

    ¡°Yes, she is the Luo Luo who lives with you.¡± Lin Yunan said. Before he proposed this project to Xia Ling, he did his homework. ¡°Luo Luo is lively and cute. She is also humble and not easily affected by others. She is able to tolerate any strange acts. You know, those that many women refuse to shoot in order to maintain their image.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling agreed. Luo Luo had no problems in that area. She was very personable like a girl-next-door who was seen frequently on the streets. She was fine with doing weird things and did notin when she was met with female celebrities that were hard to please.

    Choosing Luo Luo was very suitable.

    ¡°What about Zhou Yanxue?¡± She asked.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Zhou Yanxue is a new famous TV actress that just recently received the Best Neer Actress Award. Her style is a bit like yours ¡ª a cold temperament and independent personality. Although she is cold and charming while you are cold and arrogant, the overall difference is not very big. The difficult thing is that since the show has already chosen her, the producers may not be willing to choose you as it is not good for two female celebrities with the same personality to be on the show.¡±

    Well, the coincidence rate was too high.

    If she were part of the producers, she would also not make this choice.

    ¡°Do you need me to solve this problem?¡± Li Lei suggested. In this industry, behind-the-scenes selections were not only based on ability but also depended on connections.

    Lin Yunan looked at him. ¡°Zhou Yanxue has weak backing. If you do something, it is easy to seed. However, that would be wasting your talent on a petty job. Also, walls have years. If something like this frequently happens, Xiao Ling¡¯s reputation would be negatively affected.¡± Li Lei should use this weapon at the crucial point during an unexpected situation. It is not worth it to use his trump card for these small matters.

    ¡°So, you decided to settle this yourself?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°I will settle it with Xiao Ling.¡± Lin Yunan corrected him and looked at Xia Ling. ¡°After you are done filming, attend a dinner party with me. I will introduce the producers of Extraordinary Risks to you.¡±

    ¡°Is this counted as an audition?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Lin Yunan smiled. ¡°Yes. There is no real audition for this show. After the producers have seen you and feel that you are suitable, everything should be ok. Now, what you have to do is to make sure they feel that you are worthy and make you the third participant. Otherwise, in the worst case, let Li Lei squeeze out Zhou Yanxue for you so you can rece Zhou Yanxue.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t they serve the same purpose?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Wrong.¡± Unexpectedly, Lin Yunan scoffed again, and his sense of superiority was showing. ¡°These two cases arepletely different. If you get the third spot, it will be because you relied on your own strength, but if you squeeze out Zhou Yanxue, it may not be good for your reputation in the future as it will lead to hate and enmity, understand?¡±

    Many artistes who had relentlessly worked hard already treated her differently because of her love affair with Li Lei. What right did she have to advance in career so easily while the others had to work themselves to death?

    Actually, Xia Ling did not think that her life was easy, but the other artistes definitely did not think this way.

    This was why people hated her in her past life. The other artistes were just not on par with her. Her backing made them disillusioned and caused them to channel all their dissatisfaction and resentment towards her.

    Lin Yunan was thinking about her future reputation.

    This seemed useless, but it may decide her fate sometime in the future.

    Xia Ling was very grateful and felt fortunate that she found such a reliable manager. She trusted Feng Kun¡¯s eye for talent even more.

    ¡°That¡¯s decided then.¡± Lin Yunan said, ¡°After you finish work tonight, you wille with me to meet the producer. Li Lei, you have to go home alone. And just to let you know, you can¡¯t visit in the future, and you can¡¯t frequently meet Xiao Ling anymore. Before the filming of Extraordinary Risks, Xiao Ling needs to have a clean te for a period of time without any love affairs. Understand?¡±

    Li Lei understood. Only after a clean break was the news of a new romance more natural.

    Otherwise, if a reporter took a picture of her with a man today and there was another man beside her the next day, what would it mean?

    However, Big Boss Li was very unwilling. He was her true boyfriend, no true pursuer. How could he lose to a fake scandal partner? ¡°I will be careful.¡± He tried to bargain with Lin Yunan. ¡°I won¡¯t visit, but I will still pick up Xiao Ling and go on dates with her. If even these are forbidden, then don¡¯t think of creating a fake scandal with Rong Ping.¡±

    This was his limit.

    Lin Yunan frowned and looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling also felt that Li Lei was being a little dictatorial and could not help but say, ¡°This is not something you can decide for yourself.¡± This was essential her business, and she couldpletely decide for herself.

    Li Lei became a little dejected.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart softened and thought about it. ¡°Alright, you can pick me and eat with me. However, you can¡¯t do it as frequently, and you have to be careful not to be photographed by the media representatives, ok?¡± She did not want to lose him and was trying to find ways to sustain their rtionship which required both of them to work together.

    After hearing what she said, he was no longer downcast.

    ¡°Ok.¡± He smiled and agreed.

    After this situation was sessfully settled, that night, Lin Yunan brought Xia Ling to have a meal with the producer of Extraordinary Risks.

    The producer was a very professional middle-aged man who was very satisfied with all aspects of Xia Ling. He heard that this girl was very co-operative and the staff who had worked with her all praised her, so there would never be conflict. This was very important for a show that was working with top tier celebrities as it would reduce a sixth of the trouble during filming.

    What was even better was that she was acquainted with all three of the male stars who were participating in the show. She was in the same team as Zheng Chenhao in the Neb Music Festival, she was in the same movie as Rong Ping, and she had trained at Skyart Entertainment which Bai Murong was from... There were many topics to link them together.

    However, there was really a problem with Zhou Yanxue as both of them had cold personalities, and it would be too boring if both of them appeared in the same show.

    ¡°Let me think about it again,¡± the producer said.

 Chapter 295 - Which Female Celebrities

    <h4>Chapter 295: Which Female Celebrities</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Who are our currentpetitors?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Two female celebrities have been confirmed. They¡¯re Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Luo Luo and Pegasus Media¡¯s Zhou Yanxue.¡±

    Luo Luo? Xia Ling was rather surprised. ¡°Luo Luo? Do you mean the one who lives with me?¡± These few days, Luo Luo was very busy and was always outside, so they did not have the time to talk recently, and Xia Ling did not even know that she was going to be on this variety show.

    ¡°Yes, she is the Luo Luo who lives with you.¡± Lin Yunan said. Before he proposed this project to Xia Ling, he did his homework. ¡°Luo Luo is lively and cute. She is also humble and not easily affected by others. She is able to tolerate any strange acts. You know, those that many women refuse to shoot in order to maintain their image.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling agreed. Luo Luo had no problems in that area. She was very personable like a girl-next-door who was seen frequently on the streets. She was fine with doing weird things and did notin when she was met with female celebrities that were hard to please.

    Choosing Luo Luo was very suitable.

    ¡°What about Zhou Yanxue?¡± She asked.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Zhou Yanxue is a new famous TV actress that just recently received the Best Neer Actress Award. Her style is a bit like yours ¡ª a cold temperament and independent personality. Although she is cold and charming while you are cold and arrogant, the overall difference is not very big. The difficult thing is that since the show has already chosen her, the producers may not be willing to choose you as it is not good for two female celebrities with the same personality to be on the show.¡±

    Well, the coincidence rate was too high.

    If she were part of the producers, she would also not make this choice.

    ¡°Do you need me to solve this problem?¡± Li Lei suggested. In this industry, behind-the-scenes selections were not only based on ability but also depended on connections.

    Lin Yunan looked at him. ¡°Zhou Yanxue has weak backing. If you do something, it is easy to seed. However, that would be wasting your talent on a petty job. Also, walls have years. If something like this frequently happens, Xiao Ling¡¯s reputation would be negatively affected.¡± Li Lei should use this weapon at the crucial point during an unexpected situation. It is not worth it to use his trump card for these small matters.

    ¡°So, you decided to settle this yourself?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°I will settle it with Xiao Ling.¡± Lin Yunan corrected him and looked at Xia Ling. ¡°After you are done filming, attend a dinner party with me. I will introduce the producers of Extraordinary Risks to you.¡±

    ¡°Is this counted as an audition?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Lin Yunan smiled. ¡°Yes. There is no real audition for this show. After the producers have seen you and feel that you are suitable, everything should be ok. Now, what you have to do is to make sure they feel that you are worthy and make you the third participant. Otherwise, in the worst case, let Li Lei squeeze out Zhou Yanxue for you so you can rece Zhou Yanxue.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t they serve the same purpose?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Wrong.¡± Unexpectedly, Lin Yunan scoffed again, and his sense of superiority was showing. ¡°These two cases arepletely different. If you get the third spot, it will be because you relied on your own strength, but if you squeeze out Zhou Yanxue, it may not be good for your reputation in the future as it will lead to hate and enmity, understand?¡±

    Many artistes who had relentlessly worked hard already treated her differently because of her love affair with Li Lei. What right did she have to advance in career so easily while the others had to work themselves to death?

    Actually, Xia Ling did not think that her life was easy, but the other artistes definitely did not think this way.

    This was why people hated her in her past life. The other artistes were just not on par with her. Her backing made them disillusioned and caused them to channel all their dissatisfaction and resentment towards her.

    Lin Yunan was thinking about her future reputation.

    This seemed useless, but it may decide her fate sometime in the future.

    Xia Ling was very grateful and felt fortunate that she found such a reliable manager. She trusted Feng Kun¡¯s eye for talent even more.

    ¡°That¡¯s decided then.¡± Lin Yunan said, ¡°After you finish work tonight, you wille with me to meet the producer. Li Lei, you have to go home alone. And just to let you know, you can¡¯t visit in the future, and you can¡¯t frequently meet Xiao Ling anymore. Before the filming of Extraordinary Risks, Xiao Ling needs to have a clean te for a period of time without any love affairs. Understand?¡±

    Li Lei understood. Only after a clean break was the news of a new romance more natural.

    Otherwise, if a reporter took a picture of her with a man today and there was another man beside her the next day, what would it mean?

    However, Big Boss Li was very unwilling. He was her true boyfriend, no true pursuer. How could he lose to a fake scandal partner? ¡°I will be careful.¡± He tried to bargain with Lin Yunan. ¡°I won¡¯t visit, but I will still pick up Xiao Ling and go on dates with her. If even these are forbidden, then don¡¯t think of creating a fake scandal with Rong Ping.¡±

    This was his limit.

    Lin Yunan frowned and looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling also felt that Li Lei was being a little dictatorial and could not help but say, ¡°This is not something you can decide for yourself.¡± This was essential her business, and she couldpletely decide for herself.

    Li Lei became a little dejected.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart softened and thought about it. ¡°Alright, you can pick me and eat with me. However, you can¡¯t do it as frequently, and you have to be careful not to be photographed by the media representatives, ok?¡± She did not want to lose him and was trying to find ways to sustain their rtionship which required both of them to work together.

    After hearing what she said, he was no longer downcast.

    ¡°Ok.¡± He smiled and agreed.

    After this situation was sessfully settled, that night, Lin Yunan brought Xia Ling to have a meal with the producer of Extraordinary Risks.

    The producer was a very professional middle-aged man who was very satisfied with all aspects of Xia Ling. He heard that this girl was very co-operative and the staff who had worked with her all praised her, so there would never be conflict. This was very important for a show that was working with top tier celebrities as it would reduce a sixth of the trouble during filming.

    What was even better was that she was acquainted with all three of the male stars who were participating in the show. She was in the same team as Zheng Chenhao in the Neb Music Festival, she was in the same movie as Rong Ping, and she had trained at Skyart Entertainment which Bai Murong was from... There were many topics to link them together.

    However, there was really a problem with Zhou Yanxue as both of them had cold personalities, and it would be too boring if both of them appeared in the same show.

    ¡°Let me think about it again,¡± the producer said.

 Chapter 296 - Treat Him Better

    <h4>Chapter 296: Treat Him Better</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They finished dinner.

    Xia Ling did the appropriate things at her own pace and was not mentally disturbed by the result at all.

    Her positive state of mind made Lin Yunan very satisfied. ¡°I thought you would be worried about the result.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve already done all that I can. Whatever happens next is beyond my control. If I¡¯m meant to get the position, I will, and if I am not... I can only say that it doesn¡¯t really affect me.¡±

    Lin Yunan stared at her for some time. He could not help but admit that she was right. She had already met the producer and demonstrated her ability. Whatever was toe would be discussed behind-the-scenes, which she was not skilled at handling, so it was entirely his responsibility. Whether she would be able to be on the show was now Lin Yunan¡¯s responsibility. Thus, Xia Ling was unburdened.

    However, Lin Yunan could not stand the fact that she could even use her connections with Li Lei to get the part.

    Even Extraordinary Risks¡¯ team would respect Li Lei.

    However, from her expression, it was obvious that she did not intend to use that connection. Another way of putting it would be that she was not desperate enough to use that connection to secure a ce in Extraordinary Risks.

    Only then would she use her trump card.

    Lin Yunan shook his head and did not know what this girl was thinking. However, in his heart, he admired her calmness and vision. Her goal was to be a Diva. Besides singing, many other factors would determine her sess. Luckily, her talents seemed to be of superior quality.

    Xia Ling was unaware of Lin Yunan¡¯s evaluation of her.

    She was troubled about Li Lei.

    These few days, due to her ¡°clean te,¡± Li Lei started to avoid arousing suspicious and stopped sending her to ces frequently.

    Sometimes, after getting on the car after a long day of filming, she would feel very empty. The lunch boxes at the filming location were not good, and she started to miss his cooking.

    Getting ustomed to something was very scary.

    Even Luo Luo wailed aftering back home. ¡°It can¡¯t be. It was really hard for me to rush back home after filming outdoors for Boss Li¡¯s cooking. Now you are telling me that he won¡¯t being anymore?!¡± Luo Luo was about to go crazy. ¡°His cooking is my only motivation to get through those awful lunch boxes at work!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly andforted her. ¡°Tolerate it. Sooner orter, we will be used to our own food again.¡±

    However, Luo Luo looked at her strangely.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about you.¡± Luo Luo shook her head. ¡°Do you even care about Boss Li? He treats you so well obviously because he wants to spend his life with you even if his family is against it. Even I can see that he is definitely not ying around.¡± If he weren¡¯t serious, sending someone to deliver flowers, clothes, jewelry, and property deeds were enough. Thoughtlessly spending money on her was enough. He did not have to put in so much effort into sending her three meals a day.

    Luo Luo looked at Xia Ling seriously. ¡°A good man like him is hard toe by, you have to grab hold of him quickly! Otherwise, if you aren¡¯t careful, someone will steal him away! What do you mean by getting used to our own food? You better get used to eating with him for a lifetime!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Alright, she had never thought about this question before.

    Eating with him for a lifetime? That was a really long time... It was so long that...

    She had no confidence.

    ¡°We¡¯re two people from different worlds.¡± Her tone was rather low. She was too insignificant. So insignificant that it was insufficient to have an equal love with a powerful person. Thus, she left Skyart and strived to be independent. But in reality? She had no confidence. She did not even have the confidence to maintain their rtionship.

    Perhaps, one day, with a word from the Li family headquarters, their rtionship would meet its dismal end.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that he should be marrying someone of a family with the same social status as him such as...¡± Her chest was heavy. ¡°Gu Lin?¡±

    ¡°Which Gu Lin?¡± Luo Luo questioned. ¡°Oh, are you talking about the eldest daughter of the Gu family? Are you sure she is that close with Big Boss Li? I don¡¯t see it.¡± Luo Luo was really a good sweet-talker and naturally was able to share the burdens her friends faced in love affairs. In the past, whether it was during Skyart Entertainment training or Imperial Entertainment training, she helped those in her dorm a lot. Now that she had met Xia Ling, she was literally an expert. ¡°It is said that they were childhood friends. If anything were to happen between them, it should have happened long ago. Big Boss Li doesn¡¯t like her. It is that simple!¡±

    Luo Luo looked at Xia Ling and spoke with more conviction. ¡°Trust me, Boss Li likes you, and you like him too.¡±

    <i>Do I like him?</i>

    <i>Which is why I want to be with him forever and hold his warm hand without ever letting go?</i>

    However, forever was so distant that she could not see the end.

    Suddenly, she was reminded of an old song and wished that they could age within a night and never separate.

    She felt that the song conveyed her true feelings.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you have to work harder.¡± Luo Luo frowned as she finished her simple dinner and felt that she should help Boss Li a little so that she could eat his delicious cooking again. ¡°All along, I can only see Boss Li chasing after you and taking care of you. Do you know that it¡¯s very hard on him? You should also give him some response, especially now...¡±

    She paused. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to take part in Extraordinary Risks risks with me? This sort of pairing activity can easily lead to scandals which will cause misunderstandings. Before it starts, you must give Big Boss Li some confidence.¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling asked. ¡°How did you know that I wanted to participate in this variety show?¡±

    ¡°The name list has been finalized.¡± Luo Luo exined. ¡°What? You didn¡¯t know? The females stars are me, you, and Zhou Yanxue. Oh yes, I haven¡¯t congratted you yet.¡± After that, she gave Xia Ling a big smile.

    Usually, the casting stage was very confidential before it was finalized.

    Even Lin Yunan only knew that the confirmed participants were Luo Luo and Zhou Yanxue, but he was not really sure who Xia Ling waspeting with for the third spot. The team would usually not leak this news to prevent any changes and to protect the potential candidates. Otherwise, those who were rejected would feel embarrassed when meeting one another in the future.

    Of course, if Lin Yunan wanted to find out and get more information, it was notpletely impossible.

    This would be like spying, and the difficulty was a bit higher.

    Xia Ling also did not know if Lin Yunan had found out about it. Anyway, he did not mention anything to her. Thus, she did not even know that she was selected until Luo Luo told her in person.

    ¡°Are you sure there¡¯s no mistake?¡± She was suspicious.

    Luo Luo replied, ¡°How can it be? Before I went home, my manager just got ahold of the confirmed name list and told me. Didn¡¯t your manager tell you anything? How about you give him a call to confirm the news?¡±

    After thinking about it, Xia Ling called Lin Yunan.

 Chapter 297 - Undercurrent

    <h4>Chapter 297: Undercurrent</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Over the phone, Lin Yunan frankly confirmed this news to her.

    He also said, ¡°I have already organized a public rtions team which will release the news that the female stars chosen are you, Luo Luo, and Zhou Yanxue as soon as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling did not hear anything wrong and hung up the phone.

    What she did not know was that there was a secret coboration.

    Lin Yunan had looked for Li Lei behind her back to give Bai Murong an order. He wanted Bai Murong to rmend Xia Ling. Thus, Bai Murong told the producers that he would only join the show if Xia Ling joined as well.

    Initially, the producers wanted to rece Zhou Yanxue with Xia Ling.

    However, this was not the result that Lin Yunan wanted. Even if Zhou Yanxue were reced, Xia Ling would be notoriously known as the one who reced her. He looked for Rong Ping¡¯s manager Jimmy and asked him to tell the show¡¯s team that Rong Ping preferred to pair with Zhou Yanxue. In other words, this meant that Movie King Rong would likely pair with Zhou Yanxue.

    Initially, Jimmy was unwilling.

    However, Lin Yunan said, ¡°Trust me. Zhou Yanxue will be reced. Compared to Bai Murong, Xiao Ling is more suited to pair with Rong Ping. However, in the process of recing Zhou Yanxue, we need to ensure that Xiao Ling has a clean te.¡±

    Jimmy was experienced and quickly understood what he was implying. He smiled deeply. ¡°No wonder you are the top manager of Dongyue. Discreet and scheming.¡±

    Lin Yunan also smiled. ¡°Deal?¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    Compared to Zhou Yanxue, Jimmy hoped that Rong Ping would pair up with Xia Ling. Firstly, Zhou Yanxue looked too rich and gaudy and shed with Rong Ping¡¯s style, so they would look awkward standing together. Secondly, Zhou Yanxue had dated B or C list male celebrities before who were of lower status than the only person Xia Ling dated. Although Xia Ling was driven out of the Li family, Skyart Entertainment had spared no effort in clearing up this matter, and news in the industry spread fast, so many people knew that Li Lei was still pursuing Xia Ling.

    In the future, if Li Lei and Xia Ling got together, there would be benefits for Rong Ping if he had a scandal with Xia Ling. At least, being the rumored ex-boyfriend of a rich man¡¯s wife was better than being the rumored boyfriend of someone who dated low-status stars.

    As such, Jimmy and Rong Ping were very willing to help Xia Ling.

    They told the show¡¯s team that Rong Ping preferred to pair with Zhou Yanxue.

    This way, the show¡¯s team would not immediately remove Zhou Yanxue. After the three female celebrities were announced, no matter what the changes were, no one would think that Xia Ling squeezed out anyone.

    Although Zhou Yanxue was silently being reced, it was better than being in a difficult position after her elimination was announced publicly. However, this industry was cruel. Victors would never consider the feelings of theirpetitors.

    Lin Yunan was emotionally unaffected as he carried out his n and did not tell Xia Ling.

    It was not because he felt that she was too innocent that he wanted to protect her, but... Lin Yunan felt that with Xia Ling¡¯s IQ, exining everything would be too troublesome, so he wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling, who he thought had low IQ, continued to be busy and productive.

    In her spare time, she would always think about what Luo Luo said about letting Li Lei have confidence in her. But, after much thinking, she still did not know how to make Big Boss Li confident and could not help but ask Luo Luo for advice.

    Recently, Luo Luo was on good terms with Li Lei. She asked Big Boss Li for the recipes of her favorite dishes and was experimenting in the kitchen.

    Xia Ling looked at the busy little figure in the kitchen and felt rather amused. ¡°You¡¯re really one of a kind. What kind of celebrity cooks for themselves like you?¡± Most celebrities were very busy and never had the time to cook for themselves personally. Usually, they would hire an assistant or housekeeper to prepare meals for them.

    Originally, Luo Luo had a housekeeper, but after Big Boss Li¡¯s frequent visits and the fact that both she and Xia Ling did note home to eat usually as they were both busy, she was dismissed. asionally when necessary, their assistants would prepare food for them.

    However, Luo Luo did not even used her assistant now and learned a bad habit from Li Lei ¡ª cooking herself.

    As Luo Luo was busy washing and chopping the vegetables, her response was very crisp. ¡°I n to spend a few years in the entertainment industry and then retire in the countryside. I also want to marry a god and cook for him.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Lingughed. It was really a distant dream.

    ¡°Marry a god?¡± She could not help but joke with Luo Luo. ¡°Do you have anyone in mind? There¡¯s a good chance during Extraordinary Risks.¡±

    ¡°Well, the show is very fake.¡± Luo Luo was very perceptive. ¡°Your Big Boss Li is the true God. Xiao Ling, you must grab hold of him and never let go, ok?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°How am I supposed to make him more confident?¡±

    Luo Luo put down the spat and looked back with a pleasantly surprised expression. ¡°You¡¯ve finally epted that you should grab hold of your male god? Come, let me teach you.¡± She stopped frying her vegetables, wiped her hands on her apron, and looked at Xia Ling with a pair of sparkling eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s see. What does your male god Li usually like?¡±

    ¡°He likes...¡± Xia Ling pondered. ¡°Pets, food, and fitness.¡± Naturally, she thought about the Nanshan trip when they just met. The two of them rode on horses, admired the blooming of the peach blossoms, and enjoyed the breeze.

    When could she ride on a horse with him again?

    ¡°In the short-term, any fitness equipment probably won¡¯t be good due to the clean break.¡± Xia Ling said somewhat disappointedly.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Luo Luo was also troubled. This was the drawback of being a celebrity. If they were not careful and were caught by the paparazzi, especially now since Xiao Ling was rising in fame, the paparazzi would increase in size and monitor them more closely.

    ¡°Pets? How about you give him a cat?¡± Luo Luo looked at Hairball which was snoring beside Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°He already has arge pet...¡± Give him Hairball to apany Er Mao? That would be animal abuse.

    Luo Luo frowned. ¡°Food isn¡¯t possible as he cooks better than you, so I don¡¯t rmend that you upset his stomach.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly and thought of the only time she cooked for Li Lei. That time, she was lucky he did not suffer from food poisoning. She would never try it again.

    ¡°What should you do then?¡± Luo Luo was conflicted. ¡°How about...¡±

    She looked Xia Ling up and down. Xia Ling was wearing a flowing red silk and satin gown. It was a very enchanting color when matched with her white skin and delicate face, giving her a very pure and charming look. Her ck hair was hanging loosely and fell to her shoulders. As she was at home with only Luo Luo, she dressed rather casually in her nightgown. As the garments moved slightly, they revealed her delicate corbone.

    The more Luo Luo looked at her, the more she felt that Xia Ling was attractive and could not help but whistle.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Ling instinctively covered her chest.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re really pretty.¡± Luo Luo sped her hands together as if she were dreaming. ¡°If I were a man, I would also fall in love with you. How about you give yourself to Big Boss Li? Things will get heated when both of you are alone. Wow...¡±

 Chapter 298 - Truth Mixed with Falsehood

    <h4>Chapter 298: Truth Mixed with Falsehood</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry and knocked her head. ¡°After such a long time, you only came up with this rotten idea?¡±

    ¡°What rotten idea?¡± Luo Luo was upset. ¡°I¡¯m seriously and sincerely giving you ideas.¡±

    ¡°Please go somewhere else to have fun.¡± Xia Ling dismissed her like she was talking to her pet. However, what Luo Luo said lingered in her heart. Give herself to him? Naturally, she thought about how violent he was in the Li family headquarters. It was not pleasant at all. In fact, it was painful and scary...

    She did not know why she still continued to be with Li Lei.

    He was not perfect. When he was angry, he never saw her as a person. Although that was umon, his actions left a deep impression in her heart.

    She felt that she had gone crazy because she could not bear to leave him and even wanted to reconcile with him.

    She tossed and turned the entire night as she was filled with conflicted feelings.

    The next day when she went to record with Wei Shaoyin, she felt weary and was scolded after recording less than two songs. Ah Wei looked like a fire breathing dragon as he red at her.

    ¡°Go to the lounge and freshen up!¡± Ah Wei finally could not tolerate it anymore. ¡°Sleep for a while and look for me after you have woken up!¡±

    Xia Ling did not dare to rebuke and obediently went to the lounge.

    Once she entered, she realized that someone else was also there.

    In the cozy white room, there was a plush carpet and a sofa set. There was a faint woody scent in the air. Li Lei was sleeping in this quietness. His beautiful eyes were tightly shut, and his slender legs were hanging from the sofa. He was casually dressed as hey on the sofa in a very rxed position.

    Ah Wei did not tell her that he was here.

    These days, it was difficult for them to meet. The recording studio was a ce they could meet justifiably. Thus, Li Lei liked waiting for her here. Every time he came, he would count the seconds until she was done recording so he could have tea with her or eat some of the small snacks that he had personally prepared for her and have a conversation.

    Xia Ling looked at his sleeping position.

    She realized that during this period of time, he had always amodated her.

    What about his own business? He should be busier than her, and his work was more important than hers, but in front of her, he never mentioned anything about it.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze fell on the journal andptop near his hand. It was a very light and portable model, and the screen was slightly lit. Without looking at it, she closed theptop for him. She turned around, pulled a nket from the locker, and gently covered him with it.

    He moved a little and then woke up.

    As he just woke up, his eyes were sharp. After realizing who the person in front of him was, he rxedzily. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± There was a charming smile on his face as he called her with a maic voice.

    Xia Ling was a little annoyed because she disrupted his rest.

    ¡°Continue to sleep,¡± she said. ¡°Ignore me.¡±

    ¡°You ended really early today,¡± he said. In the past when she was recording with Wei Shaoyin, she would end reallyte. After checking the time, Li Lei realized that today¡¯s situation was different.

    ¡°My state of mind is not good today.¡± Xia Ling did not hide this fact. ¡°Ah Wei let me rest for a while before continuing.¡±

    ¡°Do you need a nap?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Come here.¡± His voice was more maic and charming.

    Xia Ling was not sure why she walked to him. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. Caught off guard, she yelped but felt that she was in a warm and strong embrace. His nose lingered above her hair, and when he breathed, she could feel his chest against her back.

    Her body was tense for a moment, and the things that troubled herst night surfaced in her mind again...

    Those horrible memories at the Li family headquarters.

    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep together.¡± He did not notice her strange behavior and continued to speak in azy voice.

    The sofa was very wide. He leaned sideways and pulled her in. After that, he took the nket and covered her petite body with it.

    She did not move.

    On the one hand, his arms were like strong iron bars, and she could not escape them. On the other hand, there was an internal struggle in her heart.

    Xia Ling liked him and wanted to be with him.

    However, she was afraid of his ruthless, tyrannical behavior.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Very quickly, Li Lei realized that her body was stiff.

    Xia Ling bit her lip and did not say a thing.

    Li Lei turned her over and looked at her deeply and quietly. ¡°Xiao Ling, there¡¯s something on your mind.¡±

    She avoided his gaze. What should she say? She could not possibly tell him about her concerns and worries. She did not even know how to start talking about those topics. Besides that one time, he was too good for her. However, that one incident was like a sharp thorn that she initially thought would not hurt, but now, even if she identally touched it, it was as painful as heartbreak.

    ¡°What exactly is wrong?¡± Looking at her expression, Li Lei sounded more concerned. ¡°Xiao Ling, what is on your mind?¡±

    As she really could not avoid it any longer, she randomly said something. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just... you know, soon, I will be filming for Extraordinary Risks. I have never shot something like that before and am a little nervous.¡±

    ¡°Just this?¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just acting. Don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± She carefully looked at him. ¡°You don¡¯t mind?¡±

    ¡°Why would I mind?¡±

    ¡°A few days ago, Luo Luo suggested that I give you some more confidence. She said that filming this sort of show can easily lead to misunderstandings.¡± Xia Ling lightly shut her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°You don¡¯t mind that I have scandals with other people? Some time ago, Pei...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to Pei Ziheng?¡±

    She realized that she had said too much and stopped talking.

    Yes, it was rted to Pei Ziheng. Although he had just gotten wind of some information, he was so jealous that he vited her. Until now, it was still a ring issue to him, and he was afraid that he would blow up in anger.

    ¡°That¡¯s different.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was slightly deeper. He initially thought that she would never bring up that person¡¯s name ever again. ¡°The way you treat Pei Ziheng is different from the other three male stars.¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Do you dare to say that there is nothing between you and Pei Ziheng and it¡¯s just my mindless spection?¡± Li Lei stared at her.

    Xia Ling could not say it.

    He was right. It was different. Since it was rted to Pei Ziheng, it was a scar that would forever be on her heart. She took notice of that man, and everyone knew about that. Thus, Li Lei cared about what she took notice of.

    ¡°I¡¯m not that senseless to be jealous of Rong Ping.¡± Li Lei said slowly. ¡°However, Xiao Ling, I can¡¯t say the same for Pei Ziheng.¡±

    She lightly tilted her head and stopped talking.

    His attitude made her heart sink. ¡°You¡¯re hiding something from me.¡± He remembered that some time ago, she lied about how she managed to hire Lin Yunan. ¡°Xiao Ling, why won¡¯t you tell me the truth? You can trust me. No matter what happens, I will always stand by your side. You and Pei Ziheng... What exactly is going on?¡±

 Chapter 299 - Sudden Substitution

    <h4>Chapter 299: Sudden Substitution</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling tilted her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to lie to you.¡±

    They wereying on the sofa. Although the sofa wasrge, it was crowded when two people were squeezing on it. Xia Ling and Li Lei were very close. They were so close that they could hear each other¡¯s breathing as he held her hand tightly and did not speak.

    She did not want to lie to him?

    Li Lei was very clear that recently, she told him a big lie about how she found Lin Yunan. He really wanted to pull her face over and question her. In that split second, he wanted to ferociously destroy her cover-up and see the truth beneath her mask.

    Just as he was getting restless, she continued with a low voice. ¡°You treat me so well, and I really want to spend my life with you, but you have your problems, and I have mine... Li Lei, it¡¯s just when you had to face your family alone. That¡¯s your battlefield, I can¡¯t help you with that. In my battlefield, you can¡¯t help me too. Even if I say it, it will only make you more worried.¡±

    After hearing her soft and powerless voice, his heart softened.

    ¡°I can help you.¡± He warmly but stubbornly insisted.

    She shook her head in his arms like an exhausted nestling.

    He was worried and hurt. ¡°If you don¡¯t say it, how do you know that I can¡¯t help you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t force me to tell you a lie.¡±

    The man behind her fell silent for some time. However, he only held her more tightly. ¡°Go to sleep.¡± He said.

    She could not sleep in his arms. Originally, she was prepared to rise up to the challenge, but who would have thought that he would easily give up without a fight. She did not know if that was good or not. Initially, she brought up this topic in hopes of giving him more confidence before Extraordinary Risks started, but unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

    She felt that she was really stupid.

    As she did not rest well, she was still not in the right state to record songs.

    Wei Shaoyin scolded her, her newly appointed manager and the disturbing Boss in the lounge. However, he could not think of a better idea and decided to give her a break.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need toe tomorrow. Come back when you are in a better mental state.¡±

    ¡°No, I still have toe over to record songs tomorrow...¡± Until now, she and Li Lei could only meet safely without arousing attention in this recording studio.

    Wei Shaoyin saw through her true intentions and sneered. ¡°You want toe tomorrow? Sure! If you can¡¯t record well tomorrow, you don¡¯t need toe back forever!¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to cry.

    Li Lei also wanted to cry. He finally understood what she meant by him not being able to help. Although recording songs and Pei Ziheng were two different issues, that feeling of only being able to stand and watch powerlessly was the same.

    He did not dare to disturb her anymore and buried his misgivings even deeper in his heart. On the surface, he acted like nothing was wrong.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give yourself too much pressure.¡± He warmly smiled andforted her. ¡°Just focus on your job. I will understand. After this is over...¡± His voice became even more gentle. ¡°Xiao Ling, will you be my girlfriend again?¡±

    ¡°Your family...¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you realized that grandpa hasn¡¯t bothered youtely? I¡¯m chasing after you now. Do you think he really doesn¡¯t know? However, he chose to turn a blind eye to it because he has tacitly approved of your existence.¡± He finally gave her some good news which reassured her a lot. Actually, what she did not know was that it was because of that amulet which tied their fates together. Old Master Li could not bear to kill his grandson.

    However, pursuing her was one thing. Being together with her was another.

    She could not marry into the Li family, and Li Lei was very clear of that.

    However, he did not intend to bother her further. ¡°We will get married, have children, and grow old together.¡± This was his promise of evesting love. Just like that, he made this promise that afternoon as the golden sun hung in the clear sky and rays of sunlight shone through the windows.

    His seemingly sanguine mood affected her, and she smiled as well.

    ¡°After this period of time ends? I will consider it.¡± Luo Luo said that she had to give him confidence. It turned out that when Xia Ling could not think of a better n no matter how hard she racked her brains, this promise was able to satisfy him.

    The happiness he wanted was too simple. It was so simple that she felt guilty and grieved.

    She went home with simr feelings.

    Luo Luo and Hairball surrounded her, and she could not attend to them at once.

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Meow, meow, meow!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush up!¡± Xia Ling was in a mess. She first caught Hairball. As Li Lei did note these few days, she could only wait until she went back to the studio asionally to bring back some delicious fish slices for Hairball. The kitten identified the smell on her body and knew that she brought back the food that it was thinking about today, which was why it was this enthusiastic.

    However, what about Luo Luo?

    Xia Ling pushed Luo Luo and Hairball which were clinging on to her like octopuses aside. She opened the box of fish slices, and as she prepared cat food for Hairball, she asked Luo Luo. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°There is huge news!¡± Luo Luo was very emotional. ¡°Do you know that there are changes regarding the female stars in Extraordinary Risks?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s expression became serious. She turned around and looked at Luo Luo inquiringly. It couldn¡¯t be that either she or Luo Luo were reced, right?

    ¡°It¡¯s not us, don¡¯t worry.¡± Luo Luo had a lingering fear but was rejoicing. ¡°It¡¯s Zhou Yanxue. Someone reced Zhou Yanxue. She¡¯s so miserable, you know. For Extraordinary Risks, she had a few news conferences, and the news was spreading that there might be sparks between her and the three male gods. It was very humiliating that she was kicked out of the show.¡±

    That couldn¡¯t possibly be! This was more hurtful towards the female star than the male stars. Furthermore, Zhou Yanxue was so high-profile about it.

    ¡°What exactly is going on?¡± Since it was a show that she was also participating in, Xia Ling cared about it. ¡°Who kicked Zhou Yanxue out? Who was she reced with?¡±

    ¡°She is...¡± Luo Luo¡¯s small face fell.

    There was an ominous premonition in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°She is... Xia Yu.¡± Luo Luo¡¯s voice was low, and she became resentful and emotional again. ¡°She only wanted in because of the high ratings of this program! She insisted on joining the show! It is said that she waspeting with you for the third spot, but you defeated her. She wasn¡¯t willing to be defeated and was determined to get a ce, so she pushed Zhou Yanxue out!¡±

    Luo Luo was part of Imperial Entertainment and was very aware of the news regarding Imperial Entertainment. She knew that Xia Yu intended to join the show from the start. However, Xia Ling was announced as the third participant, so she forgot to mention this to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression became ratherplicated. It turns out that she had stepped on Xia Yu unintentionally again!

 Chapter 300 - Movie King Rong Ping

    <h4>Chapter 300: Movie King Rong Ping</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was worried again now. Performing with Xia Yu?

    If it were apetition like the Neb Music Festival, she would have no qualms about meeting Xia Yu. But this was different, she was supposed to perform alongside Xia Yu. It was a kind of performance she had never done before. Adding the fact that her little sister was a scheming one, she had no idea what to expect on that day.

    Even somebody as innocent as Luo Luo knew what she was like.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Xiao Ling?¡± Luo Luo asked when she saw her reaction.

    Xia Ling shook her head and smiled. ¡°Nothing much, I¡¯m just tired after a day of filming.¡± She did not want to worry Luo Luo with such this issue. In any case, the decision was finalized.

    She distractedly ate her meal.

    The television in the living room was turned on the next morning.

    As Luo Luo did not have to meet any deadlines, she could get a good rest and leisurely ate toast while watching some entertainment news. The news was featuring the results of the guest celebrity for the current season¡¯s Extraordinary Risks. ¡°The crew has called for a change of guest celebrities and has shocked everyone with their decision. But we believe that Xia Yu has her capabilities and will beat Zhou Yanxue to take the ce...¡±

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks and stood beside the couch to watch the news with Luo Luo.

    In the frame was Xia Yu¡¯s usual gentle demeanor and pale look. She was smiling at the camera when a reporter asked her about the show. ¡°I was very surprised too. I had nned to go to France next month to shoot my uing MV, but the production crew for Wonderful Adventure came to look for me and spoke to my manager about it very eagerly. Hence, I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll try my best to take some time to go for the show instead.¡±

    She made it sound as if the production crew had begged for her to join them.

    The reporter very directly asked, ¡°Some people have said that you had Zhou Yanxue leave to ensure you could make the quota.¡±

    A tinge of innocence was written on Xia Yu¡¯s pale face. ¡°Why would I?¡± She sounded hurt. ¡°Nobody had even told me about Sister Zhou the whole time. I think she must have had her own reasons for withdrawing, but I¡¯m thankful for her for giving me this spot.¡±

    What a beautiful little flower she was.

    Xia Lingughed coldly on hearing Xia Yu¡¯s words.

    Luo Luo turned to look at her. ¡°You think Xia Yu is lying too?¡±

    ¡°Whether she knew what had happened or not,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°She¡¯s simply downying things after she¡¯s gotten the benefits. Luo Luo, you¡¯d better be careful when you film with her.¡±

    Luo Luo nodded vehemently. She stopped eating her toast and looked at Xia Ling very seriously. ¡°Xiao Ling, that¡¯s what I want to tell you too. Remember the Neb Music Festival thest time? It was because of Xia Yu that I ended up performingst, even though I had gotten a very good position. You¡¯ve to be cautious of her too. Xia Yu...¡±

    Luo Luo tilted her head but could not put it into words. ¡°In any case, she¡¯s not as fragile and innocent as she seems.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Xia Ling ruffled her hair. She should feel lucky that the one Xia Yu disced was Zhou Yanxue and not Luo Luo.

    Zhou Yanxue had gotten quite a bit of attention after the news spread. She was young after all and had vented some of her anger about the injustice on Weibo. However, her posts andments were seen as her personally targeting Xia Yu, which riled up many of Xia Yu¡¯s brainless fans and led them to retaliate. It did not take long for her Weibo to be filled with sarcasm and criticisms from many among the public.

    There was injustice indeed ¡ª it was Xia Yu who had forcefully taken her ce, and yet the one who was being attacked was Zhou Yanxue.

    Xia Ling did not spend too much time thinking about it as she was busy enough as it was. In order to churn out her solo album by the end of the year, she had spent most of her time in Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio. Meteor Wings was also releasing new promotional videos every season, and also more interviews, features...

    She felt that it was a miracle that she had not been overworked to death yet.

    That day, Lin Yunan took her to a styling studio. The New World was Rong Ping¡¯s second home.

    With regards to the filming, she and Rong Ping had to coordinate their style to appearpatible, yet it could not be so alike that it appeared unnatural.

    Rong Ping was even busier than her but had taken the time to try on the outfits. ¡°I¡¯ll wear this shirt with the newest winter outerwear from Versace.¡± He pointed to a few luxurious outfits and took his pick quickly. Matching an old piece with a new one would be more discreet about appearing like a nouveau riche but was not at the expense of trendiness.

    The stylist had worked with Rong Ping for a long time now and nodded in agreement. ¡°It suits your image.¡± He then turned to Xia Ling. ¡°How about Miss Ye? Do you have a preferred outfit?¡±

    When she first debuted, she only wore cheaper and less famous brands. Only when she built her name, and when Li Lei offered his generosity, did she get to wear a few better pieces. But generally, her outfits were nothing as luxurious as Rong Ping¡¯s.

    She smiled at the stylist. ¡°I¡¯ll match an old piece with a new one too, there¡¯s no need to prepare anything extra to cater to Brother Rong. Otherwise, it¡¯ll look too forced.¡± She got Wei Wei to open her photo gallery and show them some of her outfits from previous shoots. ¡°It¡¯ll be the usual day-to-day style, with minor changes to the details ¡ª like adding some essories or changing the colors of the shoces such that itplements Brother Rong¡¯s.¡±

    Her usual style was actually not that different from Rong Ping¡¯s ¡ª they kept their appearances simple but not simplistic.

    The stylist who came along with her had a discussion with Rong Ping¡¯s stylist, and they came to a conclusion in no time after making just minor adjustments.

    ¡°The both of you do seem like a couple actually.¡± One of the stylistsughed. ¡°It¡¯s not difficult to put you together.¡±

    Rong Ping looked toward Xia Ling and smiled courteously.

    Xia Ling smiled as well and thought that maybe the filming would not be as intimidating as she thought it out to be at first. At least her ¡°boyfriend¡± Rong Ping seemed like a nice person to get along with.

    Since the outfits had been settled, Rong Ping¡¯s manager, Jimmy, suggested. ¡°Shall we grab a meal together?¡± Since the two of them were supposed to be rumored couples in the next few months, there was a need for them to build some chemistry, even if they were not actually together. It would be too easy to see through their act if sparks did not fly.

    Xia Ling did not enjoy such socializing and was about to reject when Lin Yunan agreed on her behalf.

    She had no choice but to swallow her words.

    Meanwhile, Rong Ping discreetly nced at her.

    The four of them got into Rong Ping¡¯s silver Cadic, one that had an air of prestige.

 Chapter 301 - Holding a Conversation

    <h4>Chapter 301: Holding a Conversation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had been on numerous luxurious cars. In herst life, she was even a member of the city¡¯s Super Speed Club.

    Just by scanning the inside of the car from the back seat, she could roughly make up the car owner¡¯s character. It was probably someone well-organized and particr about details, but also somebody who made things seem a little dull at times.

    Generally speaking, he was somewhat like Pei Ziheng.

    However,pared to this car, Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls Royce looked even more lifeless and boring. Eventually, she could not take it anymore and covered the built-in leather seats with rabbit prints. Since then, every time he sat in the car in his suit and tie, there was an inexplicable sense of joy.

    Xia Ling smiled slightly as past memories shed through her mind.

    Rong Ping caught a glimpse of her smile. ¡°You seem to be in a pretty good mood.¡±

    Xia Ling turned towards him, and the look in her eyes changed. ¡°Why? Should I be in a bad mood instead?¡± The two of them were not considered close at all, but in this rather dimly-lit space, her beauty stunned him. He had seen plenty of pretty female celebrities, but never someone like her. Someone whose eyes looked so innocent and pure, almost as if they could speak. Someone whose inadvertent nce could make his heart skip a beat. All of a sudden, he somewhat understood now, the reason why Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss would chase her.

    ¡°I thought...¡± Rong Ping paused to think about his phrasing carefully, and continued with a gentle and casual tone, ¡°Participating in this kind of show would make you feel stressed.¡±

    ¡°Stressed?¡±

    ¡°You are someone with pursuers, you know that...¡± It wasmon to hear about young female artistes breaking up with their boyfriends just so that they could start scandals with some top-tier male celebrities for fame. But it was different for her. Even if she left Rong Ping for Li Lei, everyone would not be surprised.

    ¡°Oh, Li Lei wasn¡¯t unhappy.¡± Xia Ling understood the meaning behind his words and replied casually. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry either.¡± Just as what Boss Li had said the other day, Rong Ping was not of a standard that would make him feel threatened. If there was anyone, he would probably be more worried if it was Pei Ziheng. Was this why he would rather let her be involved in a scandal with Rong Ping, but never with Zheng Chenhao from Imperial Entertainment?

    Xia Ling became a little distracted as she thought to herself.

    Rong Ping stopped talking as well. It felt a little odd for him to beforted and reassured by a girl instead. As a man, especially someone that was sessful in his career, Rong Ping had a very strong sense of pride, despite his modest and humble disposition. He believed that he was at least on par with everyone else. However, it was obvious from her tone that she did not put him on the same level as Li Lei.

    Granted, Li Lei was a Big Boss, while he was just an actor.

    Yet, this only exined that Li Lei was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, it did not mean that he was any more capable. Rong Ping had received the Academy Best Actor Award twice consecutively and was currently working hard to get it for the third time in a row. His next goal would be to fight for the Academy Honorary Award. If he managed to attain all of these achievements, he would be considered an unsurpassable actor in his country for this era. He was already at the peak of his career. But what about Li Lei? Skyart Entertainment was no doubt an outstandingpany. But, was Li Lei¡¯spany above the rest? Definitely not.

    The only thing that could be said was that Li Lei and Pei Ziheng were equallypetent.

    Rong Ping felt slightly offended.

    Xia Ling did not notice his discontentment. She liked things to be bright and lively, so the grey interior inevitably made her feel bored. She couldn¡¯t possibly cover everything with rabbit prints again, like what she did with Pei Ziheng¡¯s car in herst life. So she turned to look outside the window, at the city¡¯s scenery, and let her mind wander.

    Jimmy noticed the silence and tried to start another casual conversation. ¡°Miss Ye, you have a Porsche as well, right? What a coincidence, it¡¯s also silver in color, isn¡¯t it? What a match with Brother Rong¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling collected back her thoughts and smiled. ¡°I actually wanted to get a red one, but felt that it might be too striking.¡± She was already being followed by many paparazzi and did not want to be the center of attention anymore with an eye-catching car. That said, driving a Porsche in itself was not the way to go in trying to be low profile, picking silver was just a way for her to feel better about it.

    The two of them continued the topic of cars.

    Lin Yunan and Rong Ping eventually joined in as well.

    To everyone¡¯s surprise, Xia Ling knew a lot about cars. From engine power to fuel consumption, to speed performance... Her expertise in the field was even better than all three of thembined.

    ¡°What a surprise.¡± Jimmy admitted his defeat. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it, Miss Ye, you are actually an expert.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling notice she had said too much, which did not seem to correspond to her background of an ordinary family. She pondered for a second and responded carelessly. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t know much at first too. But Li Lei likes cars, so I learned a lot when I chatted with him.¡±

    Boss Li remodeled his own SUV. He was, undeniably, a professional with cars.

    Jimmy smiled after hearing that. <i>As expected, this girl¡¯s rtionship with Boss Li was not that straightforward. No doubt, it was unlike what the rumors had described, that Li Lei had dumped her. There was definitely a probability that she could get married to him </i>, he thought. Once her scandal with Rong Ping was over, it would be easy to stir up some rumors about her romantic rtionship with Li Lei. This would also be beneficial to Rong Ping and would bring up his status.

    Jimmy felt a sense of assurance. He was right, Xia Ling was definitely the right choice amongst the three female celebrities.

    Rong Ping furrowed his brows inadvertently as he felt even more annoyed. No one would be willing to hear their ¡°girlfriends¡±¡ª even if they were just a temporary scandal couple ¡ª praising another man, not in front of them or anyone else. It would be worse if the other man had a higher social status.

    At this moment, even the slightest feeling that Rong Ping had for Xia Ling was reced by a sense of annoyance.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling was oblivious to the situation and went on to tell them more. ¡°Sometimes, Li Lei does not even seem like someone from a wealthy family. He likes to be his own driver, likes to cook for himself, there are even times that he will clean the house on his own... I seriously don¡¯t understand, what¡¯s the point of him earning so much money then? As someone had said before... I¡¯ve spent so many years climbing to the top, only to have a taste of the grasses? That person was definitely referring to people like him.¡±

    Jimmyughed for the asion. Even Lin Yunan had a polite smile on his face.

    Only Rong Ping was not in the mood to smile.

    Xia Ling had always been thinking about Li Lei. For Jimmy, on the one hand, it was to maintain good terms with Xia Ling. On the other hand, it was to have a better understanding of Li Lei. He was the Boss of an entertainmentpany, it would definitely be beneficial to know more about him, just in case he needed his help in the future.

    Rong Ping became more and more agitated, but he concealed his emotions quickly and joined in theughter. After all, a Movie King like him could act even when there were no cameras around.

 Chapter 302 - Encountering Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 302: Encountering Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Rong Ping picked the restaurant, which was a private venue that required a membership card upon entry.

    The guests who dined there enjoyed superb service. Frosted ss was used as part of the decor along with flowers and wood structures, and each detail was beautifully designed. Guests having their meals at adjacent tables would not be able to see one another, which made it an ideal location for business associates and celebrities to enjoy their meals at.

    It was probably a new store since Xia Ling had never been there before.

    They took their seats.

    The waiter came over with the menu and asked what they would like.

    Rong Ping was the host and ordered many nutritious and low-calorie dishes. He then politely smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Are these dishes alright? They¡¯re not too strong in vor, but they¡¯re unique.¡± It was important for celebrities like them to maintain their figure in order to look good on screen and hence had to follow a strict diet and avoid high-calorie food. Male artistes typically had it better but were not spared from it either.

    He did not know that Xia Ling preferred food that was stronger and richer in vor.

    But she was not too particr about it, especially since it was a socializing event with rather unfamiliar people. ¡°These would be fine,¡± she said, taking into ount Rong Ping¡¯s status, and ordered just one serving of dessert.

    Rong Ping stole a few more nces at Xia Ling.

    ¡°Many female celebrities don¡¯t even have mains for their meals.¡± Rong Ping kept his tone elegant. ¡°Miss Ye is very special.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s meaningless to be famous if that means you can¡¯t even eat what you like,¡± Xia Ling said with a smile.

    Rong Ping courteously nodded even though he did not agree with her statement. When was food a priority for a celebrity? There was too much to do after being famous. Wasn¡¯t standing in the spotlight and receiving cheers from the audience way more appealing than just satisfying one¡¯s stomach? He appeared courteous but had a sense of superiority.

    The dishes were served not too long after.

    Xia Ling and Rong Ping were not close to each other, and neither were Lin Yunan and Jimmy. The four of them chosemon topics to discuss in order to sustain a conversation, but nobody was trulyfortable in that setting.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s acute observation led him to a realization ¡ª Xia Ling had no interest in Rong Ping.

    She was different from Rong Ping in that her emotions were written on her face. Even when she tried to conceal them, the difference between her current expression and her joy when she spoke about Li Lei or when she sang a beautiful song was too noticeable.

    When the dessert arrived, Xia Ling excused herself to the washroom and took some time off for herself.

    It was a pretty good venue with tranquil surroundings and unique decor. Xia Ling felt like she was admiring the scenery and works of art while on her way to the washroom. After she had used the washroom, she took some more time to walk around and appreciate the ce, and before she knew it, she had lost her way.

    There were barely any waiters standing around because of how private the ce was supposed to be.

    Xia Ling took a few steps forward and realized that it was not where she came from ¡ª the designs on the frosted ss and the nts used as decoration were different from the ones at her table.

    As she decided to turn around.

    That was when she heard a voice a short distance away. ¡°This dish is high in calories, I can¡¯t have it. Director Pei, would you have it on my behalf?¡± The young girl¡¯s voice was sweet and coquettish.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    Director Pei?

    She looked through the gap between the frosted ss pane and the nts, in the direction of the voice, and saw two people at a table. The girl who had just spoken had her back facing Xia Ling, and all she could see was her neatly styled hair and petite stature. Her back view was familiar.

    Sitting opposite the girl was Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng wore a grey cardigan today, revealing some of the white shirt¡¯s cor with gold lining on the inside. He was 30-odd years old but still carried himself well, with an elegant charisma and an air of authority. This man made many girls blush just by sitting opposite them, even if in silence.

    Even Xia Ling was holding her breath just looking at him.

    The girl before her was evidently attracted to him as she pleaded. ¡°Help me eat it, please?¡±

    Xia Ling looked away and was about to leave.

    ¡°Miss, may I help you?¡± A waiter asked her politely. He was about to serve dishes at Pei Ziheng¡¯s table and recognized that she was a guest from the other table. He figured that she had lost her way.

    Pei Ziheng was alerted by the sound.

    He looked up and saw her through the bamboo decor.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said her name slowly as if he had encountered a long-lost lover.

    The girl opposite him turned around.

    At that point, Xia Ling had no idea what to do and how to react.

    Should she leave immediately or go in and greet him? She really wanted just to walk away, but her feet seemed to have been rooted to the ground.

    That moment of dilemma gave Pei Ziheng enough time to get up and walk to her. ¡°Come and sit here,¡± he said to Xia Ling, before instructing the waiter. ¡°Keep the dishes and bring a new set of cutlery here.¡±

    The waiters there were well trained and had witnessed many scenarios. He spected that they must have known each other, and hence did not say much as he took the order.

    Xia Ling looked up at him. ¡°I¡¯ve already eaten.¡±

    ¡°Have a little more.¡± His eyes were gentle, but his tone was authoritative, as usual.

    Xia Ling had not made a move as she looked at the girl. It was obvious that he was on a date with the girl before she had interrupted, and her heart stung a little on that thought. But she was in a much better ce than before ¡ª

    She remembered how her whole world crumbled when she first found out that he had another woman.

    Today, she was actually able to stand before him in the face of this.

    She took in a breath and immediately put on a mask. ¡°I shall not bother you both, my host is waiting.¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned slightly and followed her line of vision to the girl. ¡°Go back.¡± He ordered her in a tone that was much colder and firmer than the one he used with Xia Ling.

    The girl seemed to know his temperament well and dared not resist. But she did shoot Xia Ling an unfriendly, jealous re before taking her leave.

 Chapter 303 - Having A Meal Together

    <h4>Chapter 303: Having A Meal Together</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The girl brushed past her.

    Xia Ling finally understood why she looked so familiar ¡ª her hairstyle, facial shape, and clothing style were all too simr to herself in her past life! It was almost like looking at herself.

    Her eyes never left the girl even after she left, and she could not conceal her shock.

    ¡°Is she very pretty?¡± Pei Ziheng said in a low voice.

    Xia Ling snapped back to reality and shook her head. That girl was good-looking indeed, but she was nowhere near Xia Ling in her previous life. There were simrities between them, but something about the imitation was off and unnatural.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes had a tinge of regret as he looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Indeed, she isn¡¯t.¡± She could notpare to the girl standing before him right now. Although she did not look simr to his Xiao Ling, her every action and mannerism made him feel like Xiao Ling hade back to life.

    If she were not 18 this year, and Xiao Ling 16 when she passed on, Pei Ziheng would really suspect that she was Xiao Ling incarnate.

    It was hard to exin.

    But his longing for her had driven him insane.

    ¡°Come over and sit.¡± He invited her once again. ¡°Since you¡¯re already here, why not show me some face and have a meal with me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already...¡± She did not want to see him for any longer than she needed to and tried to give him the same reason she did previously.

    ¡°Had your meal?¡± Pei Ziheng finished her sentence, his voice still gentle. ¡°Have dessert with me then, or I can get the waiter to serve it to your table.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. He was definitely being deliberate!

    She was not going to allow him to do it. Jimmy and Rong Ping were outsiders to her. In fact, even Lin Yunan was not someone she was all thatfortable with. It was great between Li Lei and her now, so she would not risk making the headlines with Pei Ziheng again...

    She could not bear to imagine the repercussions.

    In order to maintain peace, she decided just to ept his offer.

    What was the big deal about having a meal with him, she would leave immediately after.

    Xia Ling took her seat opposite him.

    Pei Ziheng asked for the menu again and handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°What would you like?¡±

    Xia Ling asked the waiter even before looking at the menu. ¡°What are your most expensive dishes here? Serve them all!¡± She was not in a good mood and had decided to take her revenge this way, to spend all his money.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her indulgently while concealing his hurt.

    Even when she was angry, she acted in the exact same way as the girl who had passed away.

    Xia Ling saw the look in his eyes and realized how childish she was acting. How could she possibly spend all his money, given his wealth? She took the menu back and browsed through it properly. ¡°Grilled scallops, medium-well steak, marinated prawns, pumpkin porridge...¡±

    She named all the dishes she wanted.

    The waiter politely asked, ¡°May I know if you would still like the dishes you ordered earlier? All those dishes would not fit into this table.¡±

    Xia Ling paused for a moment, barely realizing how much she had ordered. The table was already wide and supposedly fit four peoplefortably, was she... wasting too much food?

    ¡°Yes,¡± Pei Ziheng replied. ¡°Serve them dish by dish, we¡¯re not in a hurry.¡±

    Was he actually nning on making her sit there for the whole night?

    ¡°You won¡¯t let me off if I¡¯m not done eating?¡± She asked meekly, losing all her previous energy.

    Pei Ziheng acknowledged her statement distractedly.

    Xia Ling was confused.

    ¡°Can I just return the dishes if I can¡¯t finish them?¡± She tried negotiating with him when she realized her mistake.

    ¡°Serve the ones that she orderedst.¡± Pei Ziheng seemed to be in a good mood, given the way he spoke. ¡°Pack the rest into takeaway boxes and send them to this address.¡± He wrote an address on the piece of paper ¡ª it was exactly where she and Luo Luo were living at.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I wanted to pack the food.¡± She tried resisting softly.

    ¡°Take it for supper,¡± he said gently.

    There was no harm having all that food. It seemed like it was more than she could eat for supper, and she could probably even have them the next day. Rashness really was the devil, she was never doing this again.

    The marinated prawns and steak were served first.

    Xia Ling ate heartily. These dishes were way better than the nd food that Rong Ping had ordered. These delicacies were her reward for a night of socializing ¡ª food was definitely her one true healing.

    Pei Ziheng barely touched his chopsticks as he watched her gently.

    She looked like Xiao Ling even when she ate. Xiao Ling had a good bodyposition as well and did not put on weight however much she ate. She did not have the troubles of other female artistes and could enjoy eating as much meat as she wanted at every meal. Now, in the dim light, the girl before him seemed to be ovepping with the image he had of his perfect girl...

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He blurted out.

    She did not hear him as she was too engrossed in eating.

    Meanwhile, the others were conversing at the other table.

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t Miss Ye been gone for a long time?¡± Jimmy nced at his watch. ¡°Could something have happened to her?¡±

    Lin Yunan was puzzled as well. She should not be taking that long on a trip to the washroom. He gave Xia Ling a call only to realize that she had left her cellphone and bag at her seat.

    ¡°This girl is really careless.¡± Lin Yunan looked apologetically at Rong Ping and Jimmy. Then, he signaled for the waiter toe over and asked if he had seen thedy.

    ¡°Miss Ye?¡± The waiter was observant. ¡°I just saw her. Someone from the other table got her to stay and have a meal with him.¡±

    They were all surprised.

    ¡°Who¡¯s it?¡± Rong Ping asked first.

    The waiter smiled politely but did not reply. Keeping the other guests¡¯ information confidential was necessary for a high-end restaurant like theirs. If it did not concern her safety, he would not even have revealed where she was. That was the most he could tell them, and it was up to themselves to find out.

    Moreover...

    Compared to these people, Mr. Pei at the other table was a regr.

    Mr. Pei was a nice guest, one who was of high status, generous with his tips, and also not a difficult person to serve. Except that... he did not like to be disturbed, and every single waiter in the restaurant had been told that right from the start.

 Chapter 304 - Distorting the Story

    <h4>Chapter 304: Distorting the Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jimmy would not give up and held up a tip for the waiter. ¡°Tell us a little.¡±

    The waiter did not make a move to ept it, but rather, kept his courteous smile on. ¡°Our Emerald Vegetables are especially fresh today. They were delivered by air just this morning and are not on the menu yet. I¡¯ll get the kitchen to prepare a serving each for you.¡±

    In this way, he did not embarrass the guest before him norpromise the other guest¡¯s privacy.

    Jimmy simplyughed it off. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that your Ye Xingling was so mysterious,¡± he said half-jokingly to Lin Yunan.

    Lin Yunan drank his alcohol unreservedly. ¡°All female celebrities should maintain some mysteriousness for themselves.¡± He was curious about who Xia Ling had gone to meet as well, but had to defend her in front of others.

    Rong Ping could not ept theck of attention that he was getting. This girl was only an up-anding star, how dare she take off for another table in the middle of a meal with the Movie King? ¡°I have something onter today,¡± Rong Ping said. ¡°Mr. Lin, I¡¯m afraid I have to take my leave first. Please excuse me.¡± He was free for the rest of the day and had nned to go for a round of drinks with them after the meal, but she was being too rude for him to consider staying.

    Although they had already nned to start stirring up some gossips about their rtionship, whoever steered the rtionship was of importance to Rong Ping. He was the male, and also the one of higher status. There was no reason to tolerate a little female celebrity¡¯sck of respect towards him.

    Lin Yunan read between the lines but did not feel the least bit apologetic. ¡°You¡¯re busy? Please take your leave as you wish, I¡¯ll just stay to wait for Xiao Ling.¡± Lin Yunan was of considerable status himself and did not see a need to bow down to Rong Ping, even if Xia Ling was at fault.

    The dinner, which had started off well and peaceful, hade to an end all of a sudden and was now full of tension.

    Rong Ping, with a somber expression, was walked out by the waiter with Jimmy.

    Jimmy had worked with him for years and knew right away that this King was angry. ¡°She¡¯s young and insensible, just teach her a lesson during your filming together, there¡¯s no need to get angry over it. Brother Rong, it¡¯s still early now, let¡¯s go get some drinks.¡±

    ¡°What drinks.¡± Rong Ping snapped. ¡°We¡¯ve barely gone over the script for the uing show, we don¡¯t have time for drinks.¡± He was a busy man who worked diligently to excel in the entertainment industry and had rescheduled a few of the items on his list in order to find time to have this meal with her.

    Jimmy just smiled. He did not want to provoke him further.

    It was only when they got to the car in the basement carpark did Rong Ping realize that she had ridden in his car to get to the restaurant, so how was she going to find her way back? But the thought did notst longer than a sh. Why did he have to bother about a girl like that?

    Meanwhile, Jimmy gloated. ¡°Lin Yunan had some drinks and can¡¯t drive, looks like Ye Xingling is going to have to find a car and a driver to get her home. If her attitude persists, she can forget about having us drive her around in the future, hah!¡±

    Rong Ping did not respond to him as he simply got out of the car frustrated.

    The car let out a soft beep as it unlocked.

    ¡°Ah.¡± At the same time, someone let out a gasp from inside the garage.

    Rong Ping looked towards the source of the sound and saw a ck Rolls Royce parked a short distance away from his car. The car did not look new but was kept in excellent condition. Before the Rolls Royce stood a girl in a long sleeveless dress shivering a little in the autumn breeze.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡± Jimmy was alert and instinctively took a step before Rong Ping to protect him.

    It was not rare for mega-stars like this Movie King to have fans stalk and ambush them, especially die-hard female fans who often appeared around them unexpectedly. Hence, Jimmy had been conditioned to protect Rong Ping and was always ready to keep the girls away if they threw themselves at him.

    However, no one would have expected the girl to stay where she was and make no attempt to get close to Rong Ping. A few secondster, she finally made out who she was facing. ¡°You are... Rong Ping? The Movie King ¡ª Rong Ping?¡± She asked a little apprehensively.

    Was this a new strategy of fans? Did they change their aggressive ways of pouncing onto their idols, and instead went for the confused look?

    ¡°No autographs, no pictures!¡± Jimmy was vignt against her.

    Surprisingly, the girl seemed to rx after hearing that and then startedughing aloud. ¡°So it¡¯s you indeed, Elder Rong.¡± She changed her way of addressing him and walked a few steps forward. Keeping her eyes on Jimmy¡¯s expression, she stopped at what was considered a safe distance from them. ¡°I¡¯m Li Binghu, a final year student from City S Film Academy. Elder Rong, I¡¯ve watched many of your films and admire your fine acting. You¡¯re my idol.¡±

    Rong Ping had had his fair share of bumping into people like that as well. They were not true fans but attempted to sound like they knew him well.

    He gave her a formal but gentle smile. ¡°It¡¯s not safe for a girl to be out here in a basement car park sote in the night. You should go home.¡± His public image was always one of a warm and caring big brother. Even when he was annoyed, he still had to maintain and uphold that image.

    He was all ready to step back into his car after saying that.

    ¡°I heard the both of you mention... Ye Xingling?¡± Li Bingyu daringly asked.

    Rong Ping¡¯s hand froze on the door handle and turned around.

    Jimmy tensed up a little. Had she heard what they said? ¡°How much did you hear?¡± His tone was almost aggressive now since one of the roles of being a manager was to be the bad guy on behalf of the artiste. Jimmy decided that if Li Bingyu had something she was not supposed to, he would give her enough incentives to keep quiet about it.

    ¡°Not much,¡± Li Bingyu said casually. ¡°Just thest sentence. But I¡¯m surprised, Elder Rong. Is Ye Xingling your girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Rong Ping¡¯s voice was still gentle and quiet.

    ¡°Actually,¡± Li Bingyu looked at him straight in the eye. ¡°I just saw Ye Xingling in the restaurant. She was with another man, and they seemed pretty intimate.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rong Ping¡¯s expression did not change a bit, but he was slightly angered on the inside.

    Jimmy asked on his behalf, ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡±

    ¡°He...¡± Li Bingyu rubbed her elbow in the cold and showed a pitiful expression. ¡°is Director Pei from Imperial Entertainment. We were on a date, then all of a sudden Ye Xingling appeared. I don¡¯t know if she had lost her way or if it was deliberate, but she looked so jealous. And then Director Pei chased me out...¡±

    She was distorting the whole story.

 Chapter 305 - You Are Unusual

    <h4>Chapter 305: You Are Unusual</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Rong Ping¡¯s expression was still very gentle, but inside, he was shocked.

    Ye Xingling and Pei Ziheng?! This news was insane like an exploding bomb in his formerly somber mind. A few moments ago, he still thought that she did not know how to appreciate favors by ditching him, a movie king, to join someone else¡¯s dinner party. However, he realized that the one who did not know how to appreciate favors was him. Look at the people in her social circle! Li Lei, Old Master Gu, and Pei Ziheng?

    Anyone of them was a big household name.

    Li Bingyu was still trying hard to smear Xia Ling¡¯s name. ¡°She was joking around with Chairman Pei, and they looked very close.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for telling me.¡± Rong Ping respectfully nodded at her and entered his car. The fact that he was able to be a movie king meant that he was rather tactful, and he was afraid that he could only partially believe her. Xia Ling meeting Pei Ziheng should be real. Since both of them knew each other for a long time, it was possible that they were quite familiar with each other. However, what sort of ambiguous rtionship did they have? He would believe her more if Li Lei weren¡¯t her prospective boyfriend. However, if she already had a prospective boyfriend that was as influential as Boss Li, why would she mess with Pei Ziheng for no reason? Did she want to die quicker?

    Rong Ping did not believe that Li Lei would tolerate being a cuckold.

    Thus, he was reassured about Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng¡¯s rtionship.

    Yet...

    ¡°It is also normal if the girl called Li Bingyu misunderstood something.¡± Jimmy rationalized. ¡°Pei Ziheng chased Ye Xingling just to invite her for a meal. Anyone would misunderstand them. Extraordinary Risks is about to air very soon. No matter who she has a love affair with, she should maintain a distance from him and not cause a scene during this period of time.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± After Xia Ling left tonight, Rong Ping did not have much to say.

    Jimmy understood what he meant. ¡°Should I remind them?¡±

    ¡°Be mindful of your tone. If she really is very close to Pei Ziheng...¡± Rong Ping wanted to say something, but after thinking about the authority of the men she knew, he became more irritable. ¡°Forget it, just see how it goes first.¡±

    Movie King Rong was somewhat abnormal today.

    After pondering about what he was trying to imply for a long time, he finally called Lin Yunan and reminded him to pay attention to the game rules with a rather stern tone.

    Lin Yunan acknowledged him without a care in the world. His unwavering principle was never to let others undermine him. No one was able to tell him or his artiste what to do. After ending the call, his expression darkened a little, and he leaned back against the sofa. He spun his lighter and lit a cigarette.

    He did not know that Xia Ling knew Pei Ziheng.

    She had never mentioned their rtionship before.

    Why?

    As the white smoke slowly rose, Lin Yunan blew another smoke circle. Suddenly, he was not sure what sort of artiste he was managing.

    At Pei Ziheng¡¯s cassette deck.

    Xia Ling was very aggressive when she was ordering. As she had already eaten before she came, she was already full before the dishes were served. ¡°I¡¯m full.¡± She looked at the table which was filled with delicacies and debated for a while before deciding that she really should not abuse her stomach again. Although the food was delicious, she could not bear to...

    Pei Ziheng looked rather amused at her worried expression.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask the kitchen to cook another portion for you to bring back.¡±

    ¡°No, no need.¡± Oh god, the food she had just packed was already too much for her and Luo Luo to finish, and she did not want any more food. ¡°That¡¯s enough. If there¡¯s another chance in the future, we can eat it again.¡±

    ¡°Another chance in the future?¡± Pei Ziheng looked warmly at her. ¡°I will invite you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling rejected him.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her inquiringly.

    ¡°I should go.¡± She stood up. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality.¡±

    She really left immediately after eating like what she said just now. Pei Ziheng really wanted her to stay a little longer and asked in the same warm voice, ¡°When can I invite you again?¡±

    ¡°Not for now.¡± Xia Ling was quick-witted and suddenly thought of an excuse. ¡°I¡¯m going to film Extraordinary Risks soon, which is a speed dating type of game. I have to be careful for the next few months and can¡¯t really go out with people of the opposite sex.¡±

    Pei Ziheng knew about that show. He always kept a close watch on her schedule.

    ¡°It¡¯s Rong Ping, right?¡± He said.

    ¡°Hm?¡± She looked at him silly.

    ¡°A few participating celebrities¡¯ recent public rtions announcements revealed that you and Rong Ping have already reached an agreement. There are also spections that it is part of a n.¡± Pei Ziheng was in charge of one of the top entertainmentpanies in China for many years so he could dig out the truth just by getting a few small clues.

    Xia Ling knew she could not hide anything from him, so she nodded.

    ¡°Li Lei is also willing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not my boyfriend anyway.¡± She whispered. It cannot be denied that Big Boss Li¡¯s strategic way of chasing after her was quite effective. The consequence of him endlessly dering sovereignty meant that although she had not agreed yet, even his love rivals had confirmed his status.

    Pei Ziheng let out his first smile for today.

    ¡°He¡¯s not? This means that I still have a chance.¡±

    Xia Ling was scared to death as she did not think that he would be so direct. ¡°No, no. He is! I mean...¡± She rambled incoherently.

    Thus, his smile vanished.

    ¡°Do you hate me that much?¡±

    She reflexively shook her head and slightly turned her head. In the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a hairpin on the table which was left behind by his female partner. ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± She called his name. ¡°What am I in your eyes? Am I the same as the girls around you?¡± Did he want to have her as a collectible just because she resembled her past life?

    She was dismayed.

    He was silent for a while before replying. ¡°No, both of you aren¡¯t the same.¡±

    She lifted her head to look at him. Her heart was rapidly thumping as she anticipated what he was going to say.

    ¡°You¡¯re special.¡± He looked at her warmly and deeply. No one resembled Xiao Ling more than her. He had collected many bad imitations of people who had facial features that resembled her but were only 10% simr to Xiao Ling. The difference was like heaven and earth.

    However, Ye Xingling was different.

    If it weren¡¯t for the difference in appearance, she was almost 100% simr to Xiao Ling.

    She was special. So special... that when she was close to him, he would have the illusion that Xiao Ling had returned.

    ¡°More special than you think you are.¡± He cooed.

    However, she misunderstood Pei Ziheng, and a spark of hope was lit in her heart. It turned out that in his eyes, she was not a pure imitation. She was different from those imitations.

    The gloom that had umted in her heart for a long time mostly dissipated because of what he said.

    This time, she smiled genuinely and sweetly. ¡°Thank you very much. I had a great time eating this meal.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stood up and sent her off.

    After walking a few steps, she looked back and realized that he was still standing there. In the dim light, he was quietly observing her as she left. His eyes were hiding many deep emotions, and his solitary figure seemed quite lonely.

 Chapter 306 - I Hope You Are Happy

    <h4>Chapter 306: I Hope You Are Happy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not know why her heart ached.

    Her initial slight happiness and joy were lost and reced with heartbreak. Suddenly, she realized that he was actually very lonely. Even if there were countless of beautiful women and subordinates around him, was in charge of many industries and had the power to kill others, he could not even find one person to eat a meal with.

    The woman that he had chased away just now?

    Forget it, they all knew that she was only after his money.

    Xia Ling felt very upset. Who would be there for him when he was sad? In the past when she was still that dazzling Diva, she could hug him, give him extra clothes to wear when it was close, and make some personal jokes. However, what about now? He was close at hand physically, but emotionally, he was far away. She could not even hug him.

    ¡°You...¡± She hesitated as she spoke.

    He looked at her warmly.

    ¡°Take good care of yourself.¡± Her voice was very soft, and she paused for a long time before speaking. ¡°Don¡¯t keep spending money on those women and find a wife to settle down with.¡±

    After she said that, she felt slight feelings of loss, sadness, and relief.

    Fate was truly wonderful. In her past life, she felt like it was the end of the world because he was about to get married to someone else. At that time, she really could not believe that she would take the initiative to persuade him to find another woman to settle down.

    If Wang Jingwan were still alive, she would actually be verypatible with him.

    It would have been a marriage between families of equal social rank. She also heard that she could knit a good sweater and was very adept at doing housework.

    In her past life, Xia Ling was jealous of her.

    However, now, she only felt regret. Why did the people that cared for him die one after another?

    Pei Ziheng did not expect for her to say that, and his expression deepened. Settle down? There was only one woman whom he could settle down with, but she had already left him forever two years ago.

    They were separated by life and death.

    It was as if she had taken part of his life.

    Sometimes, Pei Ziheng would feel that he was only an empty shell now, a living corpse. He did not know what good his arrogance, power, and influence were for. Was it his responsibility as the head of the family? Was it for his ambition and pride? No, these could no longer make him feel any zeal. The girl whom he was trying to protect was no longer there.

    He could only faintly find a shadow of the past from Ye Xingling that was in front of him.

    ¡°Perhaps I will settle down.¡± He looked at her with a deep expression and said in a deep voice. ¡°If the person is you.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Besides a stinging pain, there was a little sourness in her heart. However, very quickly, she lightly smiled and shook her head. ¡°You deserve someone better, believe me. Even if that person is spiritual...¡± This was the first time she mentioned her past life in front of him. ¡°She would also wish you happiness.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s pupils slightly closed.

    Xia Ling turned around and left.

    Yes. She hoped that he would be happy. There was still a ce for him in her heart. She was still concerned about him, but she no longer recklessly loved him. To her, he was too far away, but she hoped that someone would be able to care for him and be by his side in her ce.

    They were no longer lovers.

    However, he was still her benefactor, adopter, mentor... and savior.

    He would never be forgotten in her heart.

    Withplicated and delicate feelings, she went back to where she came from as if she were sleepwalking.

    The lonely sofa was surrounded by mottled bamboo, and the leftovers had already been discarded. Rong Ping and Jimmy were no longer there. Only Lin Yunan was there. His shirt cor was half undone, and he was smoking in the dim light.

    ¡°At least you know how toe back, huh?¡± He flicked the ash away with his fingers and looked at her.

    Xia Ling covered her mouth and nose. ¡°I don¡¯t like second-hand smoke.¡± She was a singer and had to protect her voice.

    Lin Yunan inaudibly scoffed in disdain, but he put out the smoke by using the crystal ashtray on the table. ¡°You¡¯re back? Was the food at Pei Ziheng¡¯s house delicious?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him in amazement. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Not only do I know, Rong Ping knows as well.¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°Way to go, standing the movie king up on your first meal. Do you actually want this partnership to work?¡±

    ¡°It was an ident.¡± Xia Ling said concisely and felt rather apologetic towards Rong Ping. ¡°I will find an opportunity to exin to him.¡±

    ¡°Forget it. No matter how you exin it, you will hurt the movie king¡¯s pride.¡± Lin Yunan was good at reading people and knew what sort of character Rong Ping had. ¡°It¡¯s better not to mention it, in case you hurt him again.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Xia Ling obediently replied.

    ¡°Have you forgotten to tell me something?¡± Lin Yunan squinted his eyes.

    ¡°Tell you what?¡± Xia Ling was confused.

    ¡°About you and Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Xia Ling finally realized what he was talking about. ¡°Before that, don¡¯t tell Li Lei what happened today.¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless. He was a manager, not her confidant who would care about her rtionship problems. He only wanted to know what her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was and how it would affect her career!

    Lin Yunan was about to go crazy.

    Speaking of the devil, Xia Ling¡¯s phone rang. Li Lei had called.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, where are you?¡± Li Lei asked. ¡°Has Ah Wei told you that your recording time at the studio is now in the afternoon? What do you want to have for afternoon tea? I have some new matcha powder here that is quite nice. How about I bake a matcha cake for you tomorrow?¡± No matter the time and ce, his voice always seemed to bezily cheerful and could improve anyone¡¯s mood instantly.

    ¡°Sure.¡± She smiled and answered warmly.

    ¡°Li Lei?¡± Lin Yunan¡¯s eyes were sharp and could see the dream-like smile on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t hang up the phone. Tell him to drive over to pick us up. I drank some wine and can¡¯t drive.¡± He took advantage of Li Lei¡¯s freebor as it was a bit of a hassle to call for a driver at night. ¡°However, don¡¯t ask him to drive that mboyant everyday vehicle. A Mercedes-Benz or an Audi will do. If he can¡¯t get one, then he doesn¡¯t have toe.¡±

    Today, this manager¡¯s authority was more significant than the boss¡¯.

    However, Xia Ling did not mind and told Li Lei about Lin Yunan¡¯s request.

    Li Lei did not expect that there would be an unexpected surprise when he called at this time. He quickly agreed and said that he would drive the ck Audi that the security supervisor had driven to pick her up before and asked them to wait in the restaurant.

    Xia Ling also urged him to wear a disguise to avoid being recognized.

    After some time, the car arrived, and she got in the car with Lin Yunan.

    ¡°Send Xiao Ling home first.¡± Lin Yunan instructed arrogantly. ¡°After that, send me home.¡±

    ¡°On what basis?¡± Big Boss Li was unhappy. He always seemed to be at odds with Lin Yunan. ¡°Xiao Ling is my woman, so of course, I should send her home. But why should I send you home?!¡± He drove there because he wanted to spend time with Xiao Ling alone, so why was that third party wanted him to send him home? No way.

    Lin Yunan smiled with intent. ¡°Celebritiese to this ce so frequently. Do you think there will be no paparazzi outside following us?¡±

 Chapter 307 - Reward

    <h4>Chapter 307: Reward</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The internal privacy of such clubhouses was very good, but because many celebrities visited the ce, paparazzi often gathered outside. More often than not, they were trying their luck rather than following a person.

    Li Lei knew that Lin Yunan made sense. In reality, to deal with this situation, he alerted the Audi¡¯s license te number so no one would find out that the car belonged to him. ¡°It¡¯s easy to get rid of the paparazzi.¡± Li Lei saw a suspicious lens in the rearview mirror. He lightly sniggered and decided to show Lin Yunan his skills. He was an anti-tracking expert who had been on the battlefield with gangsters before. Compared with those international spies and killers, what was a few paparazzi? They were too easy for him.

    After he reminded Xia Ling to fasten her seat belt, he turned the steering wheel, and the ck Audi car sped away without warning.

    At the start, a few paparazzi followed it. There were very few worthwhile bigshots that night. A few of them followed Movie King Rong Ping awhile back and left, and the remaining paparazzi waited for a long time before Ye Xingling left.

    What about the other people in the clubhouse?

    In the shadow of the garage, the newly arrived paparazzi A asked paparazzi B, ¡°Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Ziheng is stilling eating inside side. Just now, a girl was walking around in front of his car for a long time. Why should we follow Ye Xingling? News about Boss Pei should be more valuable.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so stupid.¡± The old paparazzi raged. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see Boss Pei¡¯s car? It¡¯s the Rolls Royce which he has used for about 10,000 years that everyone knows about. What news can there be? However, Ye Xingling...¡± The old paparazzi said profoundly. ¡°ording to reports, she arrived at the clubhouse in Rong Ping¡¯s car, but when she left, she sat in front while Rong Ping sat at the back. Haha, there is definitely a story.¡±

    The junior paparazzi was suddenly enlightened.

    ¡°Quickly, quickly! Her car is moving.¡± The old paparazzi gave the junior paparazzi an encouraging pat. ¡°Let¡¯s quickly follow them. If we monitor them closely enough, we might get some big news.¡±

    However, the result was destined to disappoint them.

    Li Lei was highly skilled at driving and made about eight turns as he led the paparazzi around a few blocks untilpletely losing them.

    ¡°You can get lost now.¡± He stopped the car by the road and spoke to Lin Yunan.

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    ¡°What? Are you waiting for supper?¡± Li Lei did not hold back with his taunts.

    Lin Yunan swore that he would never call Li Lei to be their driver again. Was there such a disrespectful driver as him? Any part-time worker was better than him! He grudgingly got out of the car. Lin Yunan decided that he should criticize him more when Xia Ling was around. As for Xia Ling¡¯s private meeting with Pei Ziheng? Hmph, he would never know!

    That was why offending the manager of someone he loved was very scary.

    Unfortunately, Big Boss Li was unaware. After he lost the paparazzi, he continued driving happily.

    Xia Ling felt that it was amusing. ¡°What¡¯s your beef with him?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Big Boss Li was very stubborn and behaved like a spoiled child. ¡°I missed you.¡±

    ¡°We will meet tomorrow.¡± She could not help but pat his head. Although the clean period was tough, it was not that scary because he could see her every few days.

    However, Big Boss Li was obviously unsatisfied. ¡°Tomorrow is tomorrow. Today is today. Before I forget, did you eat with Rong Ping today? Did you get along well with him?¡± He carelessly asked and pricked up his ears for her answer.

    With her hand under her cheek, Xia Ling thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She stated. Actually, she knew very well in her heart that she had angered Rong Ping, but she could not tell him that she met Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Movie King Rong is very skilled at acting. He appears very polite, but heaven knows what he is thinking in his heart.¡± Xia Ling irresponsibly criticized Rong Ping. ¡°Since it is only a work rtionship, I¡¯m fine as long as we are neutral.¡±

    Li Lei rxed. It looked like Xia Ling and Rong Ping did not get along. That was great news.

    ¡°It is better for girls to be with someone who knows them through and through. Having a rumored love affair with an actor like him is enough. He¡¯s too unreliable to entrust your life to.¡± Without him knowing, poor Movie King Rong was smeared by Big Boss Li with ulterior motives.

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± Xia Ling vigorously nodded her head.

    She rubbed Li Lei¡¯s head again and enjoyed ying with his fluffy hair. ¡°It¡¯s a little wet. Did you just shower?¡± Restlessly, she continued to touch his cheeks and chin. ¡°Have you also just shaved? Did you take a bath already? It¡¯s not the time for sleep yet, why did you shower before going out...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t move around.¡± Li Lei was driving, and the way she was touching him was very distracting. His breath was unstable and almost had to swerve the car to the side. ¡°Sit tight. After the car stops, I¡¯ll let you touch me as much as you want.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red. She quietly sat down and stopped moving.

    It was quiet for a while, and she felt bored. Suddenly, she felt a little curious. ¡°Why did you shower at this time?¡±

    <i>Obviously for you </i>. Big Boss Li said silently in his heart.

    Today was Xia Ling and Rong Ping¡¯s first meal, and Big Boss Li had a strong sense of jealousy and danger. Once he received her call, he quickly took a bath to ensure he was in his cleanest and most handsome state when she saw him.

    However, he obviously would not tell her about his intentions.

    Big Boss Li changed the topic. ¡°When do you start filming for Extraordinary Risks?¡±

    ¡°Very soon. Probably next week.¡± Xia Ling was still a little bored. ¡°Why does it have to be Rong Ping? He is a block of wood. It would be so much better if I paired with Bai Murong. At least we would have some topics to talk about.¡±

    ¡°You like Bai Murong?¡± Big Boss Li was rmed again.

    ¡°Him?¡± Xia Ling scoffed and pretended to vomit. ¡°He¡¯s such a yer. Any girl who falls for him is unlucky. However, he is not as bad as a friend. He can tell jokes and make funny faces.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°So you don¡¯t like Rong Ping because he can¡¯t make funny faces?¡± He almost pitied Movie King Rong.

    ¡°Anyway, being with him is quite boring.¡± Xia Lingmented wearily.

    Big Boss Li waspletely relieved. He was determined to give Rong Ping the Best Person Award if he had the chance this year.

    In high spirits, Big Boss Li sent Xia Ling to her house, and Xia Ling waved goodbye to him.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to thank me?¡± Big Boss teased with a twinkle in his eye.

    ¡°Thank you for what?¡±

    ¡°Thank me for sending you home!¡± Big Boss Li winked.

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. <i>How old are you, Big Boss? </i>After sighing, sheforted him like a child. ¡°Tell me how you would like me to thank you.¡±

    Big Boss did not say a word. He lifted his finger, pointed at his lips, and looked at Xia Ling with anticipation.

    He was really dreaming. Xia Ling felt annoyed and amused at the same time as she leaned over.

    Big Boss Li was euphoric as he waited anxiously for her lips to meet his.

 Chapter 308 - Chrysanthemum Tea

    <h4>Chapter 308: Chrysanthemum Tea</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, the soft touch he envisioned did not fall on his lips.

    In contrast, his cheek felt slightly cool as if a dragonfly flew past him.

    ¡°Thank you for sending me home.¡± Beside his ear, Xia Ling giggled. ¡°This is your small fee.¡± After saying that, she got up. There was a faint scent of her fragrance in the air. ¡°Call me.¡±

    Looking at her little fox-like smile, Big Boss Li¡¯s heart tingled because he hated and loved it at the same time. Suddenly, he grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s...¡± He turned over and pressed her down. ¡°Try again.¡±

    Xia Ling only felt that she was suddenly turned around. Before she could react, she had already fallen into his arms. She instinctively struggled a bit, but her hands and feet were immediately suppressed by him. With precision, his lips pressed on hers for a long and deep kiss.

    ¡°You!¡± After some difficulty, she was released and widened her eyes to re at him. How could this person be so outrageous!

    This time, he was the one smiling delightedly. ¡°This is the small fee.¡±

    Her fingers pressed on her lips. Xia Ling had not kissed Li Lei like that for a long time, and the numb feeling made her heart race and her face to blush. As Xia Ling¡¯s ears turned red, she turned her head away to ignore him. ¡°Let me get up!¡± She said fiercely.

    Big Boss Li did not argue with the shy small fox and let her go satisfied.

    The small fox dashed away.

    There was a smug smile on Big Boss Li¡¯s face as he gazed at her back view. ¡°I¡¯ll call you.¡± He said softly.

    In a few days, the shooting of Extraordinary Risks started.

    Apanied by her manager, Lin Yunan, Xia Ling brought her assistant, Wei Wei, chauffeur, makeup artist, image consultant, and arrived at the scene in style. She had a formidable air and finally looked like a famous female celebrity.

    However, Lin Yunan was still dissatisfied. ¡°Can you be more famous quickly so you can hire two bodyguards and two more assistants. Otherwise, with your current identity, this assemble is already the limit. Any more followers and people will say you don¡¯t know your status.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to say that it did not really matter to her. In her past life, countless people waited on her and were friendly to her when she was present. Behind her back, they would criticize her, mock her, curse her, and some even wanted to kill her.

    She was dejected after experiencing those things. Thus, now, she did not feel that an ostentatious disy was necessary. However, Lin Yunan did not think that way. In order to avoid being reprimanded by him, she kept her thoughts to herself.

    Actually, what they did not know was that there was a bodyguard secretly following her. That was arranged by Li Li Lei. The bodyguard was an elite who had been through a life or death situation with him and was much better than those so-called professional bodyguards around the other stars. Big Boss Li did many things for her, but she only knew a few of them.

    As she spoke to Lin Yunan, she entered the show¡¯s dressing room that she was assigned to.

    It was a dressing room that she shared with two other celebrities who would be participating in the show. When she entered the room, she realized that they were already there. Xia Yu and her staff had upied more than half of the dressing room. Luo Luo was squeezed into a corner with a few helpers and looked particrly pitiful.

    After seeing this scene, Xia Ling was boiling with rage.

    Xia Yu was really bing more daring. She actually dared to bully her friend?!

    She looked at Lin Yunan.

    Although Lin Yunan ordered her as he pleased in private, he would protect her reputation in public. With one look, he understood her and casually walked over with a few people. ¡°Make some space, everyone.¡± He had been a fighter in a bar and pushed the other people aside easily without the slightest effort. The room started to be chaotic and messy.

    Lin Yunan forced out a path and secured a very good position next to Xia Yu¡¯s makeup mirror.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,e here.¡± He gestured to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was very pleased. It was during these times when she felt that choosing Lin Yunan as her manager was the right decision. She walked over with Wei Wei and the others. Lin Yunan pulled out the chair for her, and she sat down leisurely.

    From the dressing room mirror, Xia Yu¡¯s resentful expression could be seen.

    Xia Ling smiled slightly with some arrogance and defiance.

    However, Xia Yu pretended that nothing happened. It was not the right time to show her anger. She had to uphold her image of being sick and weak. How could she obviously show that she wanted to pick a fight with Xia Ling? After Xia Ling looked at her like that, she was so angry that it hurt her internally.

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡± Luo Luo also saw her and ran over to greet her. Today, Luo Luo¡¯s hair was styled cleanly and refreshingly. It was tied with arge bow ribbon, making her look very cute.

    After seeing her big smile, her initial annoyance suddenly vanished. She patted her head softly as she did not want to ruin her hair. ¡°Are you done with your makeup?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°Can you bring some water over for me?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Luo Luo said cheerfully and went to pour water for her.

    ¡°Let me do it.¡± Luo Luo¡¯s assistant was a man, and he sympathized with Luo Luo. Everyone there was a celebrity participating in the same show, but Luo Luo had just been pushed into a corner by Xia Yu and now had to pour water for Ye Xingling. She was too pitiful.

    Luo Luo did not mind. She signaled for her assistant toplete the task. ¡°Chrysanthemum tea with half a small pack of sugar. Xiao Ling likes it this way.¡±

    The assistant was full of tears. Miss Luo Luo, are you her maid? Why do you remember the way she likes her tea so clearly? I heard that you are living with her now... How do you usually live your life?!

    The assistant was very sad, but he could only leave silently.

    Chrysanthemum tea with half a small pack of sugar... In his heart, he recited Xia Ling¡¯s savory and delicate preference. Soon, he made her a good cup of tea. When he returned, he was stopped when he tried to walk past Xia Yu¡¯s seat.

    ¡°Old Mai, you can¡¯t walk here.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s assistant said. ¡°There are a lot of things piled up here. If the water identally spills on them, they will be dirty.¡± A group of people were surrounding Xia Yu and caused the originally wide walkway to be congested.

    Luo Luo looked at the floor and did not want to get into a conflict with Xia Yu¡¯s people. He lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll be more careful. The water won¡¯t spill. Please make some way, or else I can¡¯t walk past you.¡± They were all staff members of Imperial Entertainment, but their positions were vastly different. As Xia Yu was favored, she was a newly rising actress. But Luo Luo? Although her performance was not bad, in Imperial Entertainment, no one dared to get into a conflict with the powerful Chu Chen and Xia Ling¡¯s biological sister.

    Xia Yu¡¯s assistant only looked at him without moving, obviously indicating that he would not make way.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t my water here yet?¡± The air in the room was rather dry, and Xia Ling was a little impatient while waiting for her chrysanthemum tea. ¡°Take a look.¡± She told Wei Wei.

    Only then did Wei Wei nce in that direction and realized the problem. ¡°Old Mai is being blocked and can¡¯te over.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Initially, Luo Luo was chatting with Xia Ling. After hearing her assistant¡¯s name, she also turned over to look at him.

    In an instant, many people¡¯s line of sight was redirected to him.

 Chapter 309 - Saving The Princess

    <h4>Chapter 309: Saving The Princess</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan took the lead by walking over. He swiftly pushed Xia Yu¡¯s assistant aside and took the tea.

    ¡°Imperial Entertainment sure has many rules.¡± He handed the tea to Xia Ling and urged Old Mai. ¡°Come here. This isn¡¯t even an exclusive dressing room. What¡¯s with the shelf in the middle of the walkway?¡±

    Everyone could tell that he was scolding Xia Yu by ostensibly pointing to someone else.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Yu did not use enough force and he was already fuming from being pushed away just now. At this time, she was coldly ring at Lin Yunan and felt like killing him.

    ¡°Forget it, Ah Wei.¡± It was Xia Yu¡¯s soft and weak voice. ¡°Have you forgotten the deal with Brother Chu before you left?¡± The Brother Chu she was talking about was Chu Chen. Today, he was not here because he was busy.

    Ah Wei bowed his head and replied, ¡°Yes. Boss Gu said that I was not to respond to these vermin.¡± He also knew how to make oblique usations.

    After he said that, Lin Yunan¡¯s face darkened. If he were in the bar, he would have broken a wine bottle and smashed it on him. He pointed his finger at Ah Wei. ¡°You better be careful.¡±

    Ah Wei¡¯s sullen face did not respond as he was trying to adhere to the rule of not speaking to vermin.

    Xia Yu let out a graceful and approving smile.

    Xia Ling looked at the scene coldly and felt that the tea had be distasteful. She slowly put down her cup. ¡°Stay away from them.¡± She said to Lin Yunan. ¡°You haven¡¯t been managing artistes for a long time, so you don¡¯t know how crazy the entertainment industry is now. Last time, I defeated her and was framed for a long time. Be careful, or else you won¡¯t know what you might be used of.¡±

    She dug out Xia Yu¡¯s dark past.

    Xia Yu¡¯s originally pleasant look turned dark. In the past, she was defeatedpletely in a battle with Xia Ling. Thus, until now, people still looked down on her, and she was still in a disadvantaged position.

    ¡°Miss Ye¡¯s tongue is really sharp and can¡¯t let others off.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s assistant remarked.

    ¡°Firstly, I¡¯m reasonable.¡± Xia Ling lightly smiled. ¡°Secondly, whether I let someone off is something else altogether. Furthermore, some things can¡¯t even be considered people.¡± When she argued with someone, she never held back and would be as vindictive as possible without caring about being courteous. However, due to her crudeness, someone as fragile as Xia Yu could never fight back.

    Xia Yu was so angry that her face turned white. However, she knew that continuing to argue with Ye Xingling would not benefit her. Instead, it would just put her in a difficult situation.

    Thus, she gave a look at Ah Wei, signaling him to stop. She treated Xia Ling, Luo Luo, and the others like air and continued applying her makeup.

    Xia Ling also turned around to focus on her makeup. They were shooting outdoors today, and she chose slightly bright makeup and clothing. She wore a tight-fitting vest and hot pants andyered her outfit with a loose outer coat which reached her mid-thigh. She loosely tied her long hair and wore a pair of white sneakers, causing her to look sporty and refreshing.

    It was a surprisingly harmoniousbination with Luo Luo¡¯s sweet and cute bows.

    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s take a photo.¡± Luo Luo was an energetic girl. She hopped to Xia Ling¡¯s side and took a selfie with a peace sign.

    ¡°So tacky.¡± Xia Ling joked. It wasme for a celebrity to pretend to use the peace sign.

    However, Luo Luo was very happy and stuck out her tongue. ¡°I¡¯m happy.¡± She hopped away and showed the photo to her friends.

    On the other hand, Xia Yu¡¯s side was very quiet. She had finished her makeup and was waiting for the staff to ask them out for the shoot. She looked like she was drinking tea in a leisurely and quiet manner, but she was actually observing Luo Luo and Xia Ling. <i>Disgusting! How can those two get along so well? Does that mean that I will have to fight alone during the show?</i>

    <i>No way, I have to think of a n.</i>

    Xia Yu slightly narrowed her eyes, went deep in thought for a moment, and grabbed her phone to send a text message.

    The venue was set up.

    Staff members invited them out for the shoot.

    In the picturesque maple woods, they saw the three male stars who partnered with them ¡ª Rong Ping, Zheng Chenhao, and Bai Murong. They were also wearing suitable outdoor clothing which was carefully picked. All of them looked handsome and pleasing to the eye.

    ¡°Murong! Murong!¡± Luo Luo waved and greeted Bai Murong. Xia Ling was not the only one who had chosen her partner in advance. Luo Luo had also contacted Bai Murong¡¯s team before the shooting started.

    Bai Murong really liked this bubbly and cute girl. There was a cheerful smile on his face. ¡°Good morning, Luo Luo.¡± He also greeted Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, long time no see.¡±

    Xia Ling exchanged a few words with him. ¡°Take care of Luo Luo,¡± she said. ¡°She always gets into trouble.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve really never seen anyone who has gotten into more trouble than you, Xiao Ling.¡± Bai Murong smiled very slyly. ¡°Right, Luo Luo?¡±

    Luo Luo blinked and started to think about whether she should be the peacemaker.

    ¡°Xiao Luo Luo, I just like how silly you look.¡± Bai Murong teased her.

    Xia Ling guarded Luo Luo and jokingly warned Bai Murong. ¡°She is my sister. If you try to seduce her like how you seduce your other girlfriends and desert herter, I will chase you to the end of the world.¡±

    ¡°I got it.¡± Bai Murong was used to ying games with females. Although Luo Luo was attractive, he knew that he could not mess with her. In fact, he cared more about the show and his friendship with Xia Ling. ¡°You can rest assured. I wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to your sister. Even if you don¡¯t hunt me down, the Boss will also help you hunt me down... Hahaha.¡±

    Xia Ling pretended to hit him, and he pretended to avoid her.

    On this side, there was muchughter.

    At the other side, Rong Ping¡¯s expression darkened as he looked at them quietly. Since the Ye Xingling appeared until now, she had not focused her attention on him once. Was her partner Bai Murong?

    Under the zing sunlight, she seemed to be wearing a beautiful halo. She was that dazzling, but it was even more unbearable to those who were neglected.

    Rong Ping dug into his pocket and took out his phone.

    He was secretly sending Xia Yu a text message.

    Since Ye Xingling was heartless, she should not me him for being unjust.

    ¡°Ok, everyone, gather here.¡± The director pped and signaled for the six artistes toe together. ¡°We¡¯re going to start filming Extraordinary Risks soon. As it is a reality show, in order to maintain its authenticity and freshness, I haven¡¯t disclosed any of the adventures to you yet. Now, we will start the first adventure of the day ¡ª Saving the princess. Let me exin what ¡®Saving the princess¡¯ is about...¡±

    He exined the rules.

    ¡°Do you all understand?¡± Soon, he finished his exnation and asked the six artistes.

    ¡°We all understand.¡± Luo Luo replied first, and the others acknowledged him through their expressions.

    The director was pleased. ¡°Well, then, every team get ready. Start shooting!¡±

 Chapter 310 - Who Is Dominant

    <h4>Chapter 310: Who Is Dominant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Luo Luo, Xia Ling, and Xia Yu were tied to three maple trees byce ribbons.

    Not far from the maple trees, there was a ¡°crocodile pool¡± made of special effects which was actually arge pit. There were three narrow swinging wooden bridges above the pit. Below the bridges, there were more than a dozen staff members wearing cartoon crocodile suits ¡°swimming around.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Why did this show have such bad taste? The host was prancing around in a clown costume as he spoke to the camera. ¡°A very long time ago, there was a demon king who lived in the maple forest. He trapped a beautiful princess in the maple forest. To avoid people¡¯s attention, he also turned two squirrels into princesses. This means that only one out of the three girls tied to the trees is a real princess. Who is it?¡±

    Starting from Xia Ling, the camera slowly swept past the three of them.

    The clown let out a big smile and continued. ¡°Next, let¡¯s wee our three knights!¡±

    Rong Ping, Bai Murong, and Zheng Chenhao stood opposite the three girls at the other side of the crocodile pool. With a confident smile on his lips, Bai Murong wore an exaggerated and gorgeous shirt and looked very noble. Meanwhile, Zheng Chenhao looked very tough and had a firm gaze. Andstly, Rong Ping looked gentle and refined. No one could see through his emotions.

    ¡°Now, I will announce the first phase of the mission. Three knights, each of you has only one chance to choose the real princess in your mind. After that, you will cross the crocodile pool and save your princess by bringing her to the other side of the pool. Remember, each of you only has one chance to choose. Whether the girl you choose is the real princess or a squirrel is up to your discretion and luck. Good luck!¡±

    The clown emcee said with much emotion.

    Sunlight streamed into the forest. Xia Ling¡¯s hands and feet were tied with ribbons, leaving her quite ufortable. Absent-mindedly, unpleasant memories of her imprisonment in her previous life started to sh in her mind. She had to put in a lot of effort to control herself from reopening those wounds and forcefully distracted herself.

    Knight?

    She looked at the three men across the crocodile pool in a trance-like state. How... could anyone of them be her knight? None of them could save her from the shadow of her past. The reason why she could stand here today, participate in this show, and not madly scream after being tied to the tree... was because she probably she had met the true knight in her life.

    Li Lei was her power and sunlight.

    As soon she thought about his smiling face, all of the darkness in the world did not feel so scary.

    She breathed deeply and looked more focused as she faced the camera.

    ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s acting is so realistic.¡± The director told the cameraman. ¡°Shoot her a few more times.¡± There was suppressed fear and grief on her face, but she still looked like she was trying to maintain the pride of a princess. Her acting was so life-like that people could not help but be immersed in the show.

    After looking at Luo Luo and Xia Yu, the audience could clearly see that they were watching a variety show.

    However, looking at Xia Ling was different. With her expression now, anyone would think that she was the real princess. They were captivated by her action.

    ¡°Who is the real princess?¡± The director asked the assistant.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The assistant immediately replied. ¡°Isn¡¯t it like what you said? The reality show has to be realistic. The real princess is randomly chosen. It depends on which of the three actresses has the ability to win the game.¡±

    The director looked closely at Xia Ling again.

    ¡°Give her a little more appropriate screentime but don¡¯t make it too obvious.¡± He hoped that Xia Ling would win the title of the true princess because she had the most princess-like temperament out of the female stars. Luo Luo looked too much like a girl-next-door. And Xia Yu? Although she seemed weak and pitiful, shecked the proud and rebellious nature of a captured princess.

    However, they could only give her a little more help. It would be up to Xia Ling to seize the opportunity. If she could not grasp it, then the title of the real princess would still be won by one of the other girls.

    The assistant softly acknowledged him and discreetly instructed the other staff members.

    At the other side, the one to make the first move was Bai Murong.

    Before the show started, he had already formed an alliance with Luo Luo and naturally found it his obligation to rescue Luo Luo. He agilely walked on the wooden bridge to get across the crocodile pool to untie princess Luo Luo. He carried her romantically, and under the focus of countless cameras, he crossed the swaying wooden bridge and returned back to the other side.

    ¡°Wow! Wow! Wow!¡± The clown apuded. Dwarfs surrounded both of them and started to throw flowers and cheer.

    Although she had debuted for more than a year, it was the first time Luo Luo was so close physically to a man. Unknowingly, her face turned rather red, and her heart raced. Luckily, the redness was covered by her thick makeup and no one could see it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do an interview. Knight Bai Murong, why did you choose Luo Luo? Do you think Luo Luo is the real princess?¡± The clown expectedly handed the microphone to Bai Murong.

    Bai Murong still had a confident smile on his face, and he answered the question very aptly. ¡°She is very beautiful. I was fascinated the first time I saw her, so my heart told me, ¡®Go, Bai Murong, she is the real princess.¡¯¡±

    The clown and the dwarves erupted inughter. Even Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao started tough as well.

    Xia Ling also smiled. Suddenly, she felt that both of them were quite a good match.

    One wooden bridge was taken away from the crocodile pool.

    The initial ¡°crocodiles¡± who had gathered under Luo Luo¡¯s bridge started to crowd around Xia Ling¡¯s and Xia Yu¡¯s bridges. In an instant, the number of ¡°crocodiles¡± below their bridges increased by a lot. They moved slowly and knocked the shaking wooden bridges, making the bridges more difficult to cross.

    ¡°Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao. Have you two knights made a decision? Which princess are you going to save?¡± The clown tried to make the show more dramatic. ¡°It seems that the difficulty gets harder theter you start. The bridges are now more challenging to cross. Can you bring the princess back safely?¡±

    Zheng Chenhao looked pretty dignified. He had no confidence in his own skills. Even if he could cross the wooden bridge himself, it would be impossible for him to carry a princess back like Bai Murong.

    As he took half a step in Xia Yu¡¯s direction, he then stopped in his tracks and thought hard.

    Rong Ping noticed his hesitation.

    ¡°What a coincidence.¡± He told Zheng Chenhao. ¡°I also think that Xia Yu is the real princess. How about we cooperate and save the real princess?¡± The show¡¯s team only specified that each knight could only choose one princess, but did not say that they could not choose the same princess. Rong Ping did not n on choosing Xia Ling because that girl did not care much about him. Before they started working together, he wanted her to experience some hardship so she would know who was the dominant one.

 Chapter 311 - Im Not A Squirrel

    <h4>Chapter 311: I¡¯m Not A Squirrel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Zheng Chenhao¡¯s eyes sparkled, and he immediately agreed. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s work together.¡±

    As such, both of them crossed the wooden bridge and untied Xia Yu. Zheng Chenhao copied Bai Murong and carried Xia Yu bridal-style while Rong Ping stood in front to chase away the crocodiles and ensure the stability of the wooden bridge.

    The three of them returned to the other side of the pool safely.

    At the opposite side of the pool, there were three maple trees and the lonely Xia Ling, who was still tied to one of them.

    At that time, after feeling shocked, Xia Ling was boiling with anger. What was Rong Ping doing?! If he did not want to cooperate, he could just be direct. Did he think it was amusing to be so scheming?!

    However, when she faced the camera lens, she had to control her emotions, so she showed only an expression which was a little hurt, disappointed, surprised, and lonely. Although she was not a master of acting, she learned how to control her facial expressions and knew what sort of expression gained the most sympathy when embarrassed.

    Sure enough, even the cameraman pitied her and specially filmed her at a good angle.

    The clown stepped on the stilts and bounced across the wooden bridge. He handed the microphone to Xia Ling. ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, no knight chose you. What are you feeling now?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling was a little hurt as she tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯m really not a squirrel.¡±

    The clown was startled at first but then startedughing. Many other staff members were also amused. This girl had a really good stage presence. She was even able to shine in such a difficult situation. Her initial princess temperament seamlessly transformed into a naturally cute persona. Her ability to switch emotions so easily was something that many young actresses could not learn.

    ¡°Ah... let me guess.¡± The clown was affected by her cuteness. ¡°If you aren¡¯t a squirrel then you must be... the real princess?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Xia Ling vigorously nodded. ¡°They¡¯re all as blind as bats!¡± After saying so many things, only herst sentence was what she truly wanted to say. Rong Ping, you blind teammate!

    Rong Ping¡¯s expression slightly stiffened, but he hid it in a blink of an eye, and no one was aware of it.

    The clown did not think that it was chaotic enough and asked the two other men. ¡°Knight Rong Ping and knight Zheng Chenhao, why do you think that Xia Yu is the real princess and ignored the cute Ye Xingling?¡±

    Both men did not have Bai Murong¡¯s elegant style, and they also could not shamelessly say that they fell in love at first sight like Bai Murong... Zheng Chenhao responded first. ¡°The princess in my heart is someone who is delicate like Xia Yu.¡± In reality, the reason that he said that in front of the camera was nonsense. He was never fond of Xia Yu. It was her fault for being Diva Xia Ling¡¯s younger sister, and he always hated Xia Ling. However, he also did not like Ye Xingling.

    As Luo Luo was already saved, he had no choice but to choose between those two annoying women.

    He only chose Xia Yu out of respect for Chu Chen.

    They were all from Imperial Entertainment, and there was no wrong in getting more support from the powerful Chu Chen.

    Rong Ping also replied concisely. ¡°I think that Xia Yu needs more people to protect her.¡± After he finished speaking, he looked up at Xia Ling in hopes of seeing her indignance and jealousy. However, he was destined to be disappointed.

    Xia Ling still looked wronged and cute. The director was already thinking about what cute font he could use to disy the words ¡°I¡¯m really not a squirrel...¡± during the editing process.

    The clown still not give up and asked Xia Yu. ¡°Princess Xia Yu, among the three girls, you are the most popr princess who was able to get the most knights to save you. Is there anything you want to say to these two knights and princess Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Yu could not help but smile. ¡°I¡¯m really grateful to Big Brother Rong and Big Brother Zheng for choosing me. I won¡¯t let you down.¡± She understood Zheng Chenhao and knew that he was very utilitarian, so he would definitely choose the only artiste that was under Chu Chen, her. Furthermore, she also texted Rong Ping to express her admiration of him and desire to cooperate with him, so she was not surprised that Move King Rong helped her.

    Now, she was delighted to see Xia Ling being abandoned.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± she said as she looked at Xia Ling who was tied to the maple tree. She adjusted her skirt and smiled perfectly. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that two knights would choose me. I¡¯m really sorry that you can¡¯t be rescued because of me. If it¡¯s possible, I really wish I could save you myself. It hurts me seeing you like that.¡±

    Maniptive b*tch. She was a maniptive b*tch from the start to the end.

    Xia Ling cursed her in her heart. On the surface, she only cutely smiled and reassured her. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Besides, they will all regret it because I am the real princess.¡± God knows who the real princess was. The show team had not given any further hints until now, but no matter what, it was always right to pretend.

    Xia Yu was stunned and forced a smile. ¡°No, I am.¡±

    Luo Luo also ran over to join in on the fun. ¡°It¡¯s me! The real princess is me! Xiao Ling is my squirrel! Murong, can you save my squirrel?¡± She blinked and tugged on Bai Murong¡¯s sleeve. It was too pitiful to see Xiao Ling being tied there alone, so she was trying to find a way to save her.

    ¡°Of course, my princess.¡± Bai Murong was a natural flirt, and it was appropriate for him to act as her escort. The cameramen took a few more close-ups of the twos¡¯ subtle connection.

    This pair was connecting very quickly, and the director was very satisfied.

    However¡ª

    ¡°Slow down.¡± The clown stopped Bai Murong as he was walking towards the wooden bridge. ¡°Knight, your chance has been used up. Even if princess Luo Luo instructed you, you can¡¯t save princess Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Luo Luo was upset. ¡°How is Xiao Ling going to be saved then?¡±

    ¡°Unless...¡± The clown dragged his words. ¡°Princess Xiao Ling specifies someone herself.¡± He continued toplicate matters and handed the microphone to Xia Ling. ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, now you can choose one out of the three knights to save you.¡±

    Choose one of the knights?

    Xia Ling sneered in her heart. She did not have the habit of using someone else¡¯s things.

    Rong Ping gave her a gentle look and lightly stepped forward as he anticipated her to choose him to save her. This way he could re-establish a good cooperative rtionship with her. Furthermore, it was her who lowered herself to him, she would not dare to look down on him in the future.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Can I not choose any of them?¡±

    There was an uproar.

    This girl said that she would not choose any of them?! Not being chosen by anyone was embarrassing enough. Now that she had the chance of being saved, she was still rejecting it? How prideful must she be?

    ¡°She really has a strong temperament.¡± The director smiled as he shook his head and whispered.

    The faint glow and arrogance in her eyes were back, and she looked like a genuinely honorable princess. No matter how embarrassed she was, she would not bow down in defeat.

 Chapter 312 - Is a Male Pursuing a Female or a Female Pursuing a Male

    <h4>Chapter 312: Is a Male Pursuing a Female or a Female Pursuing a Male</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her arrogance was making things difficult for the clown.

    Recalling the game rules, the clown told her, ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, there is no option of not choosing anyone to save you.¡± To get the female star out of the situation, the show team had a backup n which was to let the star choose a knight to save her. However, they did not think that the remaining female star would be so arrogant and choosy even though she was abandoned.

    The clown bitterly thought about how he should persuade her.

    ¡°Cut.¡± Not far away, the director¡¯s voice was heard.

    All of the cameramen stopped filming, and the artistes also rxed. The director walked towards Xia Ling and asked her, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to choose any of them?¡±

    ¡°They all didn¡¯t choose me, so why should I choose them?¡± Xia Ling gave an honest answer.

    ¡°Now is not the time to throw a tantrum, Ye Xingling.¡± Xia Yu pretended to persuade her, but she had an air of superiority in her heart as Ye Xingling was a joke now after she was saved by two knights. ¡°Although no one chose you, you can choose them. It¡¯s just a match between man and woman. No one said that it had to be a male chasing a female. Sometimes, it is interesting if a female chased after a male. Shooting time is very limited, so you have to care about the overall situation.¡±

    Many people agreed with what she said.

    Rong Ping especially thought that Xia Yu was more aware of the big picture than Ye Xingling. Why did he not realize that Ye Xingling was that insensible from the start?! Time was money. Move King Rong¡¯s schedule every day was packed, and after seeing this mess, he finally decided to condescend to her. ¡°Choose me. I will rescue you.¡±

    He felt that he was already being very kind to her since he volunteered to save her before she begged him to.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling onlyughed lightly. ¡°No.¡±

    No?!

    Everyone at the scene was about to go crazy. A newly rising small star was rejecting Movie King Rong?! Did she have any respect for her seniors at all?! At the side, Xia Yu was ted. She hoped that the rtionship between those two became even worse. It would be best if Ye Xingling could not get a match from the beginning to the end and be neglected.

    The clown emcee had a headache and tried to mediate the situation. ¡°Xiao Ling, how about you listen to Brother Rong?¡±

    Xia Ling was annoyed. At the end of the day, she was treated like that because she was not famous enough and could be trampled on by any random animal. Yes, she ssified Movie King Rong as a random animal. If she were still the Diva in her past life, not only could she get away with something insignificant like not choosing a person, she could even make the team reshoot the scene with just a word.

    The more annoyed she was, the more stubborn she became. ¡°I won¡¯t choose.¡±

    At the side, the surrounding actors and assistant director were frowning. This girl was so stubborn. Who was the one who said she was very agreeable when filming? Rumors. They were just rumors. If they knew that she was so troublesome, they would have chosen Zhou Yanxue from the start as she would listen to them... The assistant director silently cklisted Xia Ling.

    Lin Yunan nced at his expression.

    ¡°Let me tell you.¡± He eximed and quickly attracted everyone¡¯s attraction. ¡°What are you trying to achieve by making things difficult for a girl?¡± As he spoke, hezily stretched his arm out, brushing against Rong Ping¡¯s manager, Jimmy¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Just now, when I asked for the script, who was the one that said that the reality show had to be realistic so there was no script? Why is it possible to follow the script now?¡± He heavily patted Jimmy¡¯s shoulders, causing Jimmy to grimace in pain. Lin Yunan shot Rong Ping a suggestive look. ¡°But this girl is required to follow the script?¡±

    He had been involved with the bar for a long time, and his body was naturally intimidating and looked rather fierce. At once, everyone stopped talking.

    He pushed Jimmy away like a rag doll, walked in front of Xia Ling, and cut thece ribbons around her in a jiffy. ¡°Our Xia Ling,¡± he said as he turned and looked at everyone. ¡°Said she is not going to choose, so she is not going to choose. Please adjust the rules of your game. If you really want to argue about it, this situation arose because you did not consider the possibilities enough.¡±

    The director sighed and smiled bitterly.

    He had been in the business for many years. When he just joined, he had worked with top manager Lin Yunan before. At that time, his work style was already very unique, and after a few years, he seemed to have be more difficult than ever.

    However, his painstaking efforts to protect his artistes had never changed...

    There was a bit of nostalgia in the director¡¯s heart. Furthermore, he really appreciated the faint arrogance that Xia Ling had, and even he felt that it was too much to force her to be utterly shameless after being neglected by all of the men. Thus, he decided. ¡°Let¡¯s take a break first. Namei, contact the nners and see how we can adjust the rules of the game.¡±

    Only then did Lin Yunan sigh in relief. On the surface, he casually told Xia Ling to rest.

    Under the shade.

    The wind in the early autumn was blowing, and it was quite cold.

    There was the scent of fresh maple leaves in the air.

    Xia Ling moved her hands and feet to unclog her cirction channels after being tied up for so long and nced at Lin Yunan¡¯s gloomy face. ¡°Am I overdoing it?¡± She asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Unexpectedly, Lin Yunan who always criticized her low IQforted her. ¡°You did the right thing by not choosing any of them. If you had chosen any of them, I would have been disappointed.¡± She was a woman who aimed to be a Diva, she should not allow herself to be messed with. If none of the men wanted her, it was their problem, not hers. However, if she lowered her position and lost her status, she could never get it back.

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t appear on this show, you must never lower yourself.¡± Lin Yunan said resolutely.

    Xia Ling nodded. It felt good to have someone fighting the battle with her.

    As both of them talked, Jimmy brought Rong Ping over.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you choose me?¡± Rong Ping struck first and slightly frowned at her with a face of disapproval.

    Xia Ling did not even bother to sneer at him and regarded him like air. Lin Yunan spoke out for her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you also not choose our Xiao Ling, Movie King?¡±

    ¡°That was to make the plot more exciting.¡± Rong Ping tantly lied and repeated a phrase he had prepared. ¡°If I choose you from the start, there will be nothing interesting left to watch. I was trying to add twists and turns to the start with the selling point of a woman chasing a man to attract the attention of the audience.¡±

    To hell with your woman chasing a man idea.

    Xia Ling was about to explode.

    ¡°We only care about men chasing women.¡± Lin Yunan rebuked upromisingly. ¡°Rong Ping, don¡¯t forget the reason why you joined Extraordinary Risks. Do you actually think that Xiao Ling chasing a man would get rid of the suspicion that you are a homosexual?¡±

 Chapter 313 - Murdering Him

    <h4>Chapter 313: Murdering Him</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan defeated Movie King Rong with a single sentence.

    Rong Ping was ambitious. He wanted to be the national movie king and not just a small idol in the industry. To maintain his image as the national movie king, he could not have an unconventional sexual orientation. Otherwise, in this society, the majority of traditional people would not ept him.

    Originally, Rong Ping¡¯s motive for joining this show was very clear ¡ª he had to clear himself of the allegations.

    However, he did not know how he got involved with Xia Ling, and his thoughts were led astray.

    Now, Lin Yunan¡¯s words shook him awake from his dream. Suddenly, Movie King Rong realized that his unpleasantness with Xia Ling was a minor issue. If he could not even clean up his reputation through this show, there would be greater troubles toe.

    The move king was able to withstand being wronged and undermined. ¡°For the next part of the show, I will cooperate.¡± His voice was rather deep. ¡°You should not create any more unexpected scenes.¡±

    Lin Yunan smirked as he sent them out.

    After warning Xia Ling not to run off by herself, he personally went to negotiate the changes with the show team and the staff members.

    Xia Ling sat down against the maple tree and felt that her partnership with Rong Ping was falling apart. Why was she so unlucky? In her past life, she had countless enemies. In this life, no matter where she went, things did not go smoothly. Did she have no fate with people? The moreplicated things got, the more despondent she felt.

    Her message ringtone rang.

    She grabbed her phone and realized that it was sent by Li Lei.[What are you doing? Is your filming going smoothly?]

    [It¡¯s not smooth at all!]Xia Ling fiercely typed and finally expressed the anger she felt all afternoon. [I almost quarreled with someone!]

    [With who?]Li Lei very quickly texted back. [Do you want me to murder him?]

    Xia Ling choked. Big Boss Li was seriously too aggressive and violent. Why would she want to kill Movie King Rong over this small matter? Besides... [You probably can¡¯t murder Dongyue¡¯s Rong Ping.]

    [Who said that!]Big Boss Li replied immediately. [I will murder him immediately to prove you wrong.]

    [Don¡¯t!]Xia Ling was really a little afraid. Although she was not sure of how powerful Li Lei was, based on her past life experience with Pei Ziheng, it seemed that the result would be unknown if these bigshots were determined to kill theirpetitor¡¯s movie king.

    If Movie King Rong was really killed because of this small matter, didn¡¯t that mean she could no longer remain in the entertainment industry?

    She was different from her stupid and arrogant past life self now. She did not want to ruin her reputation so badly as she did in the past and experience being kicked again when she was down.

    [Don¡¯t ever do that!]She replied Li Lei at light speed. [If you touch a single hair on his head, I will kill myself in front of you!]If news spread that Rong Ping was murdered because of him, she would be dead for sure.

    Unfortunately, Big Boss Li actually misunderstood what she meant. [Please don¡¯t tell me you have fallen for him.]

    Xia Ling fell silent. Big Boss Li, could you please use your brain? Fallen for Rong Ping? How could it be? No matter how much she lowered herself, she would never fall for such a boorish man!

    She felt that even replying to him was an insult to herself.

    Xia Ling quietly threw her phone aside and stared at the changing clouds in the sky to ignore the Boss.

    It was quiet for a while.

    Her message ringtone rang again.[Why aren¡¯t you replying? Have you really fallen for him?]

    Big Boss, could you be any more childish?

    Xia Ling silently vomited inside. After being questioned by him, she decided that she would not reply to him.

    [Fine, I won¡¯t kill him.]Soon, Big Bosspromised.

    Xia Ling let out a satisfied smile. <i>Good boy, </i>she thought. She grabbed the phone with her slender fingers and typed lightly on the touch screen. Just as she was about tomend him, she saw his next message¡ª

    [I will kill him.]

    Xia Ling was about to go crazy.

    On the other hand, Lin Yunan had finished negotiating with the show team.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, it¡¯s time to start work.¡± He walked over and called Xia Ling. ¡°Shoot well.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling kept her phone and smiled as she stood up. After chatting with Li Lei for a while, she felt that her spirits were lifted, she was full of energy, and she was ready to face the exhausting challenge of filming again.

    They started from when she was tied to the tree.

    This time, the clown emcee gave them another choice. ¡°If you don¡¯t choose any of the knights, you will be captured by the demon king.¡± Thus, the demon king appeared, lifted Xia Ling by her shoulders, and brought her back to its cave.

    It was a cave created by cheap special effects.

    Xia Ling faced the demon king who had cheap special effect makeup on.

    ¡°Why is it you?!¡± She was shocked to see Lin Yunan wrapped in a ck leather suit acting as the demon king.

    ¡°It¡¯s ast-minute decision.¡± Lin Yunan replied. It was ast-minute act that required an extra. The show team wanted a cool andrge demon king who could lift her with one hand but still look rxed and handsome. There were not many people they could choose from at the scene. Furthermore, Lin Yunan did not like people touching his precious artiste, so he would rather act the role himself.

    ¡°How much money did they give you?¡± Xia Ling was extremely curious again. ¡°A box of rice?¡±

    Lin Yunan red at her. ¡°Don¡¯t talk rubbish! Can you just look afraid and act like a princess?!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± The directorughed as he recorded their scene. It was supposed to be humorous and sensational. With their dialogue, it became even more amusing. The director felt that if Lin Yunan quit as a manager, he could always find a new career in the show.

    The clown realized they were amused and told someone to tell the ¡°princess,¡± ¡°Be serious.¡± He cleared his throat and announced. ¡°Now, princess Xiao Ling, you are officially captured by the demon king. Thus, he will be furious about you running away and wants to punish you. You have to y with him every night¡ª¡±

    Lin Yunan yed along andughed nastily.

    Xia Ling also yed along and gave him a defiant expression while acting scared.

    Lin Yunan and Xia Ling were having a lot of fun, but the observing Rong Ping started to feel ufortable. Seeing that the demon king and she had more chemistry than him and her without any practice, he felt annoyed. This woman was really short-sighted! Did she know who was the one who was able to elevate her status and poprity?!

    He was determined to make her hopelessly in love with him.

    No, this was not because he was jealous and not because he was fond of her. Rather, it was because Movie King Rong was too prideful and could not tolerate anyone stepping on his charm.

    At least, this was what Movie King Rong thought.

 Chapter 314 - Balance Beam

    <h4>Chapter 314: Bnce Beam</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the cave, with the prompt of the clown, Xia Ling yed three games with the demon king.

    They were all small games like rock-paper-scissors and guessing riddles and were not designed to be particrly interesting or difficult. She won three rounds in a row. Her stage presence was too good, it was like she had a natural spotlight. Regardless of whether she wasughing, frowning, or participating in any activity, everyone¡¯s eyes would unconsciously follow her. The demon king was severely defeated. ¡°Escaping the cave¡± became her own personal segment.

    Lin Yunan was pleased. As her manager, he was perfectly willing to let her steal his spotlight.

    The director was also very satisfied, and the segment was filmed from a few different positions in order to have more angles to choose from during editing.

    After Xia Ling passed the cave challenge with the demon king, she looked at the forest which was full of obstacles.

    Sandpits, barbed wire, and piles of wood...

    The clown pranced around as he introduced her to her next challenge. ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, even though you have escaped the cave of the demon king, you are still trapped in the forest. Next, you have to rely on yourself to escape the forest. In front of you, princess Xiao Yu and princess Luo Luo have already escaped far away under their knights¡¯ protection.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head and gazed into the distance. A few meters away, Bai Murong was helping Luo Luo over some barbed wires, beaming from ear to ear. He held out his arms and encouraged her to jump.

    Further away, Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao were with Xia Yu. The three of them got along. The two knights took turns to clear the roadblocks, and the other person carefully supported the weak princess like he was protecting a treasure.

    Only Xia Ling was alone.

    ¡°Princess Xiao Ling is very pitiful.¡± The clown bounced behind her and spoke to the camera. ¡°How can she escape the challenging forest without a single knight by her side? Let¡¯s wait and see.¡±

    Pitiful?

    Xia Ling wanted to sneer or smile bitterly.

    She ran into difficulty in the first stage ¡ª a very thin bnce beam. The clown told her that the two princesses easily walked across the bnce beam with the support of the knights. However, she was alone... so she needed to use her own ability to get across the bnce beam.

    There was a pond below the bnce beam. If she fell into the water, she would immediately fail.

    When the prop team prepared this bnce beam, they specially chose the thinnest and most difficult one. They never nned for someone to cross it alone as it was a pairing game, and there was a necessity for a male to pair with a female.

    Xia Ling adjusted her breath and walked on it.

    The beam was made of cork wood. Stepping on it was like stepping on a cloud, and it felt like it could crumble at any moment. It was more difficult to bnce on it than on hardwood. After a few steps, she fell down into the pool disastrously, causing a huge ssh of water.

    Xia Yu turned around just in time and saw her fall. ¡°Xiao Ling is so pitiful.¡± There was a look of sympathy and worry on her face like a pure andpassionate princess.

    Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao also turned around to look at her.

    In the pool, the girl was drenched and her hair was hanging down from her face. Under the bright autumn sun, the water droplets glistened, and it was as if she was enveloped in a golden dream. When she came out of the water, she stretched out her hand and casually parted her hair. There was not the slightest look of defeat on her face. In contrast, her wandering eyes were so moving that she looked like a mermaid that washed up ashore.

    Rong Ping¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    He had seen many female celebrities and acted with many of them in his life. Among them, many were more beautiful and famous than Xia Ling. However, this girl in front of him was different. Her every move was so vividly refreshing and was a natural piece of art. The water was her eyes, and her eyebrows were the mountains. Suddenly, poem verses appeared in Rong Ping¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Brother Rong.¡± Xia Yu called for him.

    Only then did Rong Pinge back to reality and realize that he had been staring at that direction for a long time.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He calmly asked Xia Yu.

    ¡°My foot hurts. Can you hold me?¡± Xia Yu was slightly nervous and whispered a request. In reality, she secretly hated how long Rong Ping had been staring at that irritating woman Ye Xingling. What did he mean by that? Did he remember whose knight he was?! No way, she must not let that b*tch seduce him!

    She looked naturally sickly and learned how to use that to her own advantage from a young age. When she showed a pitiful expression, very few people could avoid feeling bad for her.

    She tilted her face on purpose and adjusted herself so that she faced Rong Ping and the camera with her most beautiful angle.

    From the start of the show, Rong Ping felt that Xia Yu was not bad.

    She was the younger sister of the Diva Xia Ling and had some of Xia Ling¡¯s exquisite beauty. Although she was not as breathtaking as Xia Ling in person, she was already one of the most attractive females in the entertainment industry which was full of attractive people. In terms of appearance, she was far above the cute Luo Luo and Ye Xingling who could only be considered pretty delicate.

    However, at this moment.

    The way Xia Yu acted weak on purpose made Movie King Rong feel a little annoyed.

    Others could not tell that she was acting, but how could he not be able to tell as a movie king? Yes, her acting was very good. In fact, it was probably as good as the actress who acted with him and received the Best Actress Award. However, even if it was god-level acting, when it waspared to that girl in the pond... it was so carefully crafted that it was boring.

    In the pond, the girl called Ye Xingling...

    Was filled with vitality in the sun.

    Although shecked Luo Luo¡¯s enthusiasm and Xia Yu¡¯s weakness, now Rong Ping had the feeling that the girl was like the sun itself. She was not disruptive and did not need arge entourage or any extra embellishments. Her beauty was natural, and her existence was like the most beautiful song of life.

    She was the true princess.

    Rong Ping supported Xia Yu with one hand, but his mind was upied by Xia Ling.

    In the rear pool.

    Xia Ling was like a mermaid as she swam ashore energetically and elegantly.

    ¡°Can you do it?¡± The clown asked her with some concern. ¡°If you can¡¯t cross it, you can ask for extra help. As long as your friends are willing to cheer for you, the show will add another bnce beam. If you step on two bnce beams, you will definitely be able to cross the pool steadily.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡± Xia Ling did not smile until now. The confidence of a Diva from her bones returned. Wasn¡¯t it just a bnce beam? She only got on it just now to try it out and never intended to get across on her first try. Now that she had gotten the feel of it, she would not fail again.

 Chapter 315 - Luo Luo Catches Up

    <h4>Chapter 315: Luo Luo Catches Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The clown emcee, director, and cameramen watched as she stepped foot on it again.

    This time, she was more careful, and her movements were more delicate and nimble like a butterfly that quietly fluttered over soft flower stems. The butterfly would gently extend its legs, p its wings, and sweep past them.

    ¡°Oh my god, how did she cross it...¡± Her dance-like movements were too beautiful, and many people werepletely absorbed. They felt like time passed by in a sh, and it was as if they could not see anything clearly because the butterfly-like illusion disappeared. ¡°Remember to give this scene a close-up! You must give it a close-up!¡± The cameraman was very emotional.

    The director was also very emotional as he instructed his assistant. ¡°Ask the cameraman using camera one to focus on Ye Xingling and only shoot her.¡± Camera one was the best camera used in the filming of the show, and the best cameraman was in charge of it. The camera was initially shooting Xia Yu because she progressed the furthest in the show, but after hearing the director¡¯s orders, he quickly turned the camera around.

    The assistant director was rather worried. ¡°Is this ok?¡± The speed-dating show was using its best camera to film a single girl.

    The director replied, ¡°What¡¯s there to worry about? This Ye Xingling can bring surprises to our show.¡± Although the reality show did not require acting, the audience would prefer seeing a lovable and beautiful young girl than an old man.

    Against Xia Ling¡¯s backdrop, the other two groups were simply as boring as old men.

    Xia Ling did not know that she had stolen Xia Yu¡¯s spotlight. She was concentrating on the second obstacle and was throwing a golden tennis ball at the tree branches when she firmly knocked on arge flower basket that was tied to the tree branch. The basket was overturned, and the colorful petals scattered out and covered her entire body.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Taken aback but pleasantly surprised, she twirled as the flower petals descended. Her long hair was flying in the wind, and the warm autumn sun shrouded her entire body. She was indescribably beautiful.

    At this time, a show nner was discussing the next sceneyout with the props team.

    Suddenly, someone interrupted him. ¡°Look over there.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± The show nner was a little annoyed and turned around. Not far away, under the old maple tree, there was a girl dancing as flower petals descended on her. He was still in wonder. ¡°How beautiful.¡±

    They did not know when it started.

    Almost all of the staff members stopped what they were doing and could not help but look at her direction and watch the lone girl. They had organized many shows, but this was the first time they saw someone who was so beautifully captivating without careful nning. Her beauty was so natural it was as if the girl was always like that in her daily life. Any random movement or expression was able to steal people¡¯s hearts.

    ¡°The third stage.... fourth stage... She¡¯s fast.¡± They helped her count the stages she passed.

    Everything she did was perfect: blowing balloons, squeezing through a small wooden house, and even climbing over the wire fences. 360 degrees without dead ends. She was pleasing to the eye at every angle.

    ¡°Did she really just debut recently?¡± Someone gushed. ¡°It¡¯s as if she has been a star her whole life.¡± Many new artistes who had recently debuted only practiced a fewmon angles that would appear attractive on screen, but other than that, they would look terrible at other angles. However, Xia Ling was different. She was more experienced than the more experienced, and they suspected that even at her most embarrassing moment, the paparazzi would not even be able to capture any ws.

    ¡°It¡¯s too scary.¡± A few staff members shook their heads. ¡°With this level of expertise, she will definitely be famous.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s already famous. Do you know how many copies of ¡®Stray Cat¡¯ were sold?¡±

    ¡°She will be more famous in the future.¡± A few staff members joked. Suddenly, they became excited. ¡°Look! She caught up with Luo Luo¡¯s team.¡±

    The group of people saw her catching up with Luo Luo as she approached a swing. Luo Luo was standing on the swing and ring at Bai Murong with some me. ¡°Push me a bit higher again so that I can take that acorn.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled and replied, ¡°Yes. Get it and don¡¯t drop it.¡± It seemed like he did not take her words to heart.

    ¡°Are you listening?!¡± Luo Luo was annoyed. ¡°Oh no. Look... Xiao Ling has caught up!¡±

    They had been stuck at that level for too long. For this level, the princess had to stand on the swing while the knight pushed her so that she could reach for the acorns that were high up. However, Luo Luo was too short, and Bai Murong was afraid that she would fall down, so he did not dare to push her too hard. Thus, this resulted in a stalemate.

    At this point, Xia Ling finished listening to the clown¡¯s exnation.

    ¡°Miss Short.¡± Xia Ling teased and tugged on Luo Luo¡¯s cute hair bows. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m going ahead of you.¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± Luo Luo was verypetitive. ¡°Murong, can you quickly push me?!¡±

    Bai Murong shrugged helplessly and pushed her with a little more strength. As expected, she was not able to get the acorn.

    Luo Luo felt wronged.

    Xia Ling felt that it was amusing. ¡°Let me try.¡±

    Luo Luo let her have the swing. Seeing that she was alone, Luo Luo advised her with concern. ¡°Be careful. This swing is a little slippery. Don¡¯t fall down. If you can¡¯t get it, then try a few more times...¡±

    Her advice fell on deaf ears. Xia Ling had already swiftly gotten on the swing and obtained an acorn without much effort.

    Luo Luo was dumbfounded.

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Bai Murong burst intoughter. ¡°I already said that you are too short.¡±

    Only then did Luo Luoe back to reality. She was so angry that she harshly stepped on his foot. ¡°Hmph, how dare youugh at me! Whose knight are you? Tell me! Are you a spy sent to me by Xiao Ling?!¡±

    ¡°Ouch! Don¡¯t step on me! My new shoes...¡± Bai Murong quickly evaded her andughed as he pleaded. ¡°Luo Luo. Princess Luo Luo. Goddess Luo. Grandaunt Luo... I know of my mistake. Don¡¯t step on me, ok? Hahaha... Ok, ok, I won¡¯tugh. Don¡¯t hit me! Don¡¯t hit my face!¡±

    Xia Ling yed with the acorn and walked to the next stage easily and cheerfully.

    Behind her, Bai Murong¡¯s faint pleas could be heard. It looked like his rtionship with Luo Luo was pretty good...

    Both of them were her friends, and she was very happy that they got along so well.

    Finally, she was no longerst. She kept moving forward without stopping as her goal was to catch up to Xia Yu¡¯s team and win first ce. However, it was quite idealistic. In reality, it was difficult... Even though she used all of her strength, Xia Yu had three people in her team, and two of them were strong men. With their help, her speed was astonishingly fast, and she was far from catching up since she was alone.

    ¡°Such a pity...¡± Even the surrounding staff members sighed. ¡°If either Rong Ping or Zheng Chenhao were in Ye Xingling¡¯s team, she would definitely win first ce.¡±

    Everyone felt sorrowful for her.

    However, something more tragic was about to happen.

    ¡°Look, Luo Luo and Bai Murong have caught up! It¡¯s thest stage! They caught up! Will they finish the game before Ye Xingling?!¡± The atmosphere at the scene became tenser. Everyone was excited as they anticipated the oue.

 Chapter 316 - Departing for the Castle

    <h4>Chapter 316: Departing for the Castle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Thest stage was a 100m running track.

    At the start of the track, Xia Ling¡¯s and Luo Luo¡¯s teams stared at each other.

    Xia Ling felt thoroughly unwell. ¡°I thought you two could not pick an acorn. How did you catch up so quickly? Also, Murong, why is there a bow on your head?¡±

    The big and lovely pink bow on Luo Luo¡¯s head was somehow on Bai Murong¡¯s head now.

    Bai Murong, who was wearing a girly bow on his head, looked agonized. ¡°Luo Luo is too short, she just couldn¡¯t get the acorn. There was no other choice. I had to help her get it.¡± The show¡¯s rules stated that only the princess could get on the swing, so desperate king Bai Murong sadly took the bow from Luo Luo¡¯s head and pretended that he was the princess.

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Xia Lingughed out loud without any empathy.

    She felt that sparks really flew between the couple standing in front of her, and it was as if the sky was filled with dreamy soap bubbles. No wonder the fans said that Bai Murong was a male god and there were ear-piercing screams in every one of his concerts. He was very romantic with any random girl he interacted with.

    In contrast, Xia Ling felt tortured after seeing them in the show because she was alone.

    Xia Ling stifled a smile and warmed up her body. ¡°Let me warn you. You aren¡¯t allowed to steal my second ce. I run really fast, I will definitely reach the finish line before you.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± Bai Murong smirked and tormented her. ¡°It¡¯s two against one. Two!¡±

    Xia Ling almost wanted to cry.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is aware of the rules of thest stage?¡± The clown emcee jumped out and said. ¡°Both princesses, please take out your acorns, throw them upwards, and then catch them.¡± The clown demonstrated and continued. ¡°You will have to throw and catch your acorn as you run towards the finish line. The group that reaches the finish line first will clinch the second ce. Oh yes, the knight can help the princess out.¡±

    Just now, Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao carried Xia Yu as they ran towards the finish line. Xia Yu only had to concentrate on throwing the acorn. Obviously, Bai Murong also had the same n in mind. He easily carried Luo Luo and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He ran forward a little and Luo Luo threw the acorn. At the start, their coordination was quite off, and the acorn kept falling to the ground. However, the more they practiced, the more they got the hang of it and smoothly reached the finish line.

    Xia Ling was very mncholic.

    Only she had to throw the acorn, catch it, and run to the finish line without any help. Even if her hand-eye coordination was superb, she could not catch up to Bai Murong and Luo Luo¡¯s speed and watched them as they rushed past her to the finish line.

    ¡°You two better watch out!¡± She was panting with rage as she reached the finish line.

    Luo Luo knew that she did not mean it andughed as she made a funny face. Xia Ling was even more dejected.

    The director yelled. ¡°Cut!¡±

    This time, it was a change of scene. Xia Yu¡¯s group, which was in first ce, was being filmed. As Luo Luo¡¯s group and Xia Ling were catching their breath, the staff members gave them water, touched up their make up, and helped them in an orderly manner.

    Assistant Wei Wei took out arge shawl from the bag and helped Xia Ling wear it.

    She had just fallen into the water and was wet for so many stages in the game. It would be troublesome if she fell sick.

    Xia Ling thanked her and casually wore it around her shoulders. The soft and thin cashmere was very silky. It had a perfect red color and enhanced the whiteness of her skin.

    ¡°Wear this when you are filmingter.¡± The show¡¯s stylist looked at her and said. ¡°It looks quite good. We will be shooting for a long timeter, and you won¡¯t feel too cold.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head.

    The shawl that was wrapped around her body was warm andfortable. This was the shawl that Li Lei brought back from abroad for her after Gu Lin ruined her nket. He bought a dozen shawls of different colors, but she still liked the red one the most. With something he bought by her side, she felt that he was by her side as well. No matter how badly she was neglected by the male stars in this show, in reality, she knew that there was a man who was gentle, considerate, and would always love her.

    Her expression became very calm.

    Rong Ping walked over from a distance.

    After Xia Yu¡¯s group took the lead, he started paying attention to the progress of the other groups. To be more precise, he was paying attention to Xia Ling. He saw her climb over the barbed wire, stand on the swing, and run alone... but she was so beautiful. Even her calm expression now was like a tranquil autumn painting.

    ¡°Your shawl is not bad.¡± He told Xia Ling and tried to break the deadlock between them.

    Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him and smiled politely. ¡°Thank you.¡± Lin Yunan had already sneered at him and won back the rights that Xia Ling deserved. Thus, Xia Ling did not want to continue making a fuss as they were still supposed to cooperate.

    It was just that there was nothing for them to talk about.

    Rong Ping was also quiet for a while. It was a little awkward, but he was unwilling to leave her side. He did not know why, but after seeing her performance in the games, he just wanted to be close to her, and working together with her would be very interesting.

    He must end the three-person group with Xia Yu as soon as possible and get back on track with the speed-dating arrangement.

    Not far away, Xia Yu quietly observed them being together. Under the afternoon autumn sun, the tall man and the quiet beauty looked like a moving picture, but it was also like a sharp thorn that was lodged into Xia Yu¡¯s heart. This Ye Xingling was definitely not worthy of being favored by the Movie King. Xia Yu was filled with scorn and disdain. What did she have to do to make Xia Ling look bad?

    The show team finished setting up the next scene, and the crew and personnel were all in ce.

    The shooting was about to start again. This time, the three princesses and three knights gathered around a small table.

    ¡°Congrattions to everyone who fled the demon king¡¯s maple forest. However, things are still difficult...¡± The clown bounced around. ¡°From the start, the show stated that there can only be one true princess among the three girls. Who exactly is it? Legend has it that the real princess has a beautiful crystal crown. Whoever can wear the crystal crown is the real princess!¡±

    ¡°Where is the crystal crown?¡± Luo Luo widened her eyes and asked curiously.

    ¡°Good question, princess Luo Luo! Actually, even I don¡¯t know.¡± The clown smiled happily. ¡°The clues about the whereabouts of the crystal crown are hidden in an old castle. Next, you will depart for the old castle and find clues inside of it. If everyone is clear about this, I will allocate the transportation device based on your rankings just now.¡±

    What? There were transportation devices?

    How far was this so-called castle?

    Xia Ling was a little distressed as she adjusted the nket around her body. After getting drenched, she felt extremely ufortable and really wanted to take a shower.

 Chapter 317 - Knight Rebellion Time

    <h4>Chapter 317: Knight Rebellion Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After the transportation devices were distributed, she felt even moreden with grief.

    Xia Yu¡¯s team was first, so her mode of transportation was a motorcycle that three people could ride on. Zheng Chenhao drove the vehicle while Rong Ping sat in the back seat. The spacious andfortable seat beside him was reserved for Xia Yu. As Xia Yu sat on it feebly, she gave Xia Ling and Luo Luo a soft, apologetic smile. ¡°I¡¯ll make a move first.¡±

    ¡°We will catch up to you!¡± Luo Luo was unwilling to ept defeat.

    Xia Yu obviously did not believe her and even looked a little condescending as she replied, ¡°I really look forward to it.¡±

    Zheng Chenhao drove the motorcycle away.

    Luo Luo¡¯s team which was in second ce received a bicycle as their vehicle. After Bai Murong rode it handsomely and gestured for Luo Luo to sit at the back seat, Luo Luo grabbed his waist tightly for support. This couple had a sweet and refreshing style like high school lovers. The show team had already predicted that this pair would definitely cause a craze among young people.

    Xia Ling wasst.

    She received... a piece of paper.

    Yes, there was no mistake. It was only a piece of paper.

    ¡°Princess Xiao Ling is in thest ce.¡± The clown bounced around as he spoke. ¡°The one in thest ce has no vehicle. The only mode of transport you have is this map and your legs.¡± After that, he smiled widely.

    Xia Ling was about to cry. They wanted her to walk to the castle? After opening the map, she realized that the designated location was not very far away but also not very near. Three kilometers! She had to walk three kilometers!

    The clown also handed her arge backpack. ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, take this. You and the other two groups will have to stay in the castle. This backpack has a few necessities that you need to take with you.¡±

    Alright, this was not just a long trek. It was a long, burdensome trek...

    At this moment, Xia Ling was speechless.

    Actually, the two groups in front also received backpacks. Every person had a backpack, so it was fair. However, Xia Yu and Luo Luo both had transportation and could easily transport the backpack unlike her, who had to carry the backpack and walk by herself.

    She did not know what the show team had put inside the backpack as it was rather heavy.

    Xia Ling trudged ahead. Her physical strength was not bad for a girl, and this small matter could not bring her down, but she had just cleared the previous stages by herself. Thus, she had used up a lot of her energy and did not have time to replenish it.

    She did not make it far before her speed started to decrease and felt that her legs were getting heavier.

    Not far away, Luo Luo, who was sitting behind Bai Murong on the bicycle, looked back with some concern. ¡°Murong, cycle slower. Xiao Ling looks very tired. Is there any way we can help her?¡±

    Bai Murong stopped the bicycle by effortlessly cing his slender legs on the ground and looked back.

    He saw that Xia Ling was alone at the furthest end of the road. She was walking with difficulty as she stumbled over her footsteps. Li Lei had instructed Bai Murong to take more care of Xia Ling during the show. Now that the girl that his Big Boss loved so much was so tired, how could he be a bystander?

    ¡°Director! Emcee!¡± Bai Murong took out the walkie-talkie that the show provided and eximed. ¡°Can we put Xiao Ling¡¯s backpack on our bicycle? We can¡¯t torture princess Luo Luo¡¯s squirrel like that.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± A few staff membersughed. After interacting with Luo Luo for some time, even Bai Murong became cute.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do that.¡± From the other end, the clown¡¯s cheery voice was heard. ¡°This is against the rules. A knight can only help his own princess, and a princess can¡¯t help herpetitors.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s group which was ahead also heard their conversation.

    Although they were riding on a motorcycle, their speed was not very fast, so the show could get good shots of them. It was moving at a speed faster than a turtle which only exceeded the bicycle. After hearing the news, Xia Yu turned back to look at Xia Ling¡¯s weary figure.

    ¡°How pitiful!¡± A pretentious and sympathetic look appeared on her face. ¡°Are we really not allowed to help her? I also really want to help her.¡± Besides, the clown already said that no one could help her. Xia Yu was only trying to show howpassionate she was through her words.

    What she said disgusted Rong Ping.

    The Movie King was skilled at acting. Did Xia Yu think that her little trick would escape his eyes? If she really wanted to help, she would have voluntarily asked the emcee like Luo Luo¡¯s group. Why did she have to make sarcasticments after it was clear that help was not allowed?

    He also turned around to look at Xia Ling.

    It was a clear day. The autumn sun shined on the girl¡¯s thin figure. She was carrying a very big camping backpack which was as heavy as a rock, and she was shrouded by the shadow of the mountain.

    Rong Ping felt inexplicably distressed, and his expression darkened a little.

    The director switched the camera position to film his group just in time. ¡°Oh my, there is drama.¡± Speed-dating shows were meant to have some suspense which included breakups, reconciliation, and more breakups. It would be boring if the couples stayed together from the start to the end. Now that the game had progressed to this stage, it was time for some change. He gestured to the clown.

    The clown raised his microphone. ¡°However, there is a way to save princess Xiao Ling!¡± He dragged his words, slightly paused, and was satisfied after realizing that everyone was listening to him carefully. ¡°It is knight rebellion time! What exactly is knight rebellion time? Well, everyone knows that only one princess out of the three is real. The knights maintain their right to be suspicious. Once they feel that their princess is fake and another princess is real, they can then rebel!¡±

    ¡°Does this mean that the knight can choose another princess to protect?¡± Luo Luo was the first to respond.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, our smart princess Luo Luo!¡± The clown praised her.

    ¡°Murong, Murong.¡± Luo Luo tugged on Bai Murong¡¯s sleeve. ¡°How about you go to Xiao Ling¡¯s side? I can ride the bicycle myself. It is really too difficult for Xiao Ling to carry the backpack herself.¡±

    ¡°My princess, are you chasing me away?¡± Bai Murong eximed exaggeratedly, ced his hand on his chest, and gave her a hurt and elegant look as if he were in a stage y. As he dyed time to judge the situation, he felt that it was best if a knight rebelled from Xia Yu¡¯s team as he got along perfectly with Luo Luo. However, if Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao were adamant about following Xia Yu, he had no choice but to help Xiao Ling as he could not defy his Big Boss¡¯ orders since this girl was probably the future wife of the Boss of Skyart Entertainment.

    Big Boss¡¯ future wife... will you be offended?

    ¡°I really can¡¯t bear for you to go.¡± Luo Luo lowered her head and said with reluctance. ¡°However... I also can¡¯t bear for Xiao Ling to suffer...¡± Love or friendship? This was really a difficult decision.

    Luckily, they were not conflicted for a long time before they saw a man getting out of the motorcycle in front of them and walking in Xiao Ling¡¯s direction.

 Chapter 318 - Breakfast with Love

    <h4>Chapter 318: Breakfast with Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Rong Ping! It¡¯s Rong Ping!¡± Luo Luo¡¯s eyes were sharp and recognized the man immediately. ¡°This is great. Xiao Ling will be saved! Big Brother Rong is really a good person.¡±

    How is he a good person? Bai Murong sneered in his heart. If Rong Ping were really a good person, why didn¡¯t he choose Xiao Ling from the start? He was the one who invited Zheng Chenhao to save Xia Yu together. At that time, he didn¡¯t even care about Xiao Ling. He was probably only going back to Xiao Ling now after seeing that her performance was so good that the director even allocated the best camera to shoot her.

    Only a silly and innocent girl like Luo Luo would believe that he was a good person.

    Bai Murong touched Luo Luo¡¯s head with some affection and said, ¡°Sit tight.¡± He started to ride the bicycle again.

    At the very end of the group.

    Xia Ling bowed her head as she carried the bag and walked forward.

    She heard everything from the walkie-talkie and knew very well that Rong Ping would definitely take this opportunity to return to her side. Otherwise, what was the significance of this alliance?

    Thus, she was not very surprised when the weight was lifted off her shoulders.

    She lifted her head and beamed at him. ¡°You came.¡± She spoke as if she predicted the future.

    Rong Ping was very tall and easily carried the backpack in his hands. ¡°Why does your royal highness not seem surprised at all?¡± As he spoke, both of them walked together side by side.

    ¡°Why should I be surprised?¡± Xia Ling blinked. ¡°I¡¯m the true princess.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I have the best taste.¡± Rong Ping also smiled for the asion.

    Although both of them were not as refreshing and lively as Bai Murong and Luo Luo, a subtle sincerity was established through this dull and short conversation which had hidden meanings. This pair waspletely different from Luo Luo¡¯s group. If Luo Luo¡¯s group was lively and refreshing, Rong Ping and Xia Ling would be calmer.

    In reality, Xia Ling could not be lively even if she wanted to because she was with someone like Rong Ping. He was... a piece of wood. Xia Ling felt very bored as she evaluated him.

    However, walking with him was better than walking alone as Rong Ping was doing theborious work.

    She tried to start a conversation with him. ¡°Will Xia Yu be upset because you came to help me?¡± She knew her sister very well. Even though she appeared kind and weak, she was very calctive inside. Otherwise, she would not have hated her sister so much in her past life. Now, although it was just a small show, was losing a knight enough to make her crazily jealous?

    Rong Ping responded, ¡°She has Zheng Chenhao to apany her, so she¡¯ll be fine.¡± After seeing Xia Ling¡¯s performance, hepared it to Xia Yu¡¯s inferior acting. In reality, Xia Yu¡¯s acting was not bad, but Movie King Rong felt that it was full of ws.

    Rong Ping was alreadypletely attracted to Xia Ling. Xia Yu was like a floating cloud to him.

    Both of them chatted as they walked, and the cameraman followed behind them. One was a Movie King and the other was a Diva in her past life. Both of them knew which were their best angles in front of the camera. Not only was their front-view wless, but even their back-view was also fully coordinated. The cameraman did not have to put in much effort to shoot many beautiful scenes.

    They were thest group to reach the castle.

    After they reached the castle, the cameraman turned off the camera.

    Rong Ping turned around and said, ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±

    The cameraman politely replied, ¡°It¡¯s my job.¡± He happily bid them farewell and went into the castle to set up a new camera position.

    This ce was said to be a castle, but it was actually just a luxury vi with arge swimming pool, garden,wn for barbecue, and other amenities. When Xia Ling and Rong Ping entered the vi, the other two groups were already there. The cameraman took a few shots of the rooms that the groups were assigned to and left.

    Only then did the celebrities who worked hard for a day rx.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, where is your room?¡± Luo Luo asked.

    Xia Ling was exhausted. Today was the most taxing for her as she cleared the stages alone and even walked for such a long distance. She had also fallen into the water and her body was very sticky. Thus, she bluntly told Luo Luo, ¡°The thirdst room on the second floor. Don¡¯t disturb me. Go y by yourself. I¡¯m exhausted. I¡¯m going to bed after a shower.¡± After saying that, she walked to her room in a trance-like state.

    The thirdst room wasn¡¯t a good room. It faced the north, and it was a little wet and cold in the early autumn night.

    However, at that point, Xia Ling could not be bothered anymore. She hurriedly took a shower, changed into her pajamas, and fell asleep on the bed.

    Sometimeter, she awoke to the cell phone ringing.

    She grabbed it in a daze. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Are you sleeping?¡± It was Li Lei at the other end, speaking in a gentle and pleasant tone. ¡°Are you that tired?¡± He was aware of her daily routine. It was only eight in the evening, and it was a long time before it was time for her to sleep. Filming the variety show was probably very difficult today.

    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t disturb me...¡± She heard him and mumbled. ¡°I¡¯m hanging up because I¡¯m exhausted.¡±

    After that, she hung up the phone and fell into a deep sleep.

    In the morning, she heard a knocking sound.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± She asked after being awoken by it.

    ¡°Room service.¡± It was clearly Lin Yunan¡¯s voice.

    Xia Ling did not know what kind of tricks were up his sleeve and asked him to wait at the door. She quickly put on a jacket and a pair of slippers before opening the door. Sure enough, Lin Yunan was at the doorway, and he was holding a white tray in his hands.

    ¡°When did you start working as a part-time waiter?¡± Xia Ling let him in.

    ¡°Do you think I want to be one?¡± Lin Yunan was annoyed as he put the tray on the table. ¡°Someone is afraid that you¡¯re working too hard and eating poorly, so they specially made breakfast and sent it to you.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Xia Ling did not think that Lin Yunan would be so nice.

    Lin Yunan gave her a contemptuous look. ¡°Look at it yourself.¡±

    She opened the tray lid and immediately understood. Inside it was a bowl of fragrant millet porridge, a few tes of side dishes, and a small card with arge heart drawn on it.

    ¡°Li Lei came?¡± She recognized his craftsmanship and handwriting.

    ¡°He stopped his car nearby but did note in because he was scared of being recognized.¡± Lin Yunan did not hide anything from her. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to ensure that you eat well and show my discontentment towards your shoot yesterday.¡±

    ¡°What is he dissatisfied about?¡± Xia Ling entered the bathroom and brushed her teeth as she asked incoherently.

    ¡°The program group is not caring much about you, and I haven¡¯t been able to defend your rights properly.¡± Lin Yunan stole a piece of her pickled cucumber with soy sauce. ¡°It¡¯s pretty good. Can you ask him to cook more next time?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that he will poison you?¡± Xia Ling smiled. Big Boss already disliked his management, but he still felt at ease and justified.

    ¡°Say that again after I¡¯ve been poisoned.¡± Lin Yunan did not care at all. ¡°However, what he said makes sense. Yesterday, we were too careless. Can you guess what Jimmy told me? It was Xia Yu who messaged Rong Ping and asked him to cooperate with her.¡±

    Xia Yu?

    Xia Ling was shocked and stopped washing her face for a moment.

 Chapter 319 - The Secret Surrounding The Crystal

    <h4>Chapter 319: The Secret Surrounding The Crystal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Why was Xia Yu haunting her for two lifetimes?

    Xia Ling was very depressed. Logically speaking, she did not even owe her much in her past life. What was with this back and forth sabotaging with no end? She scratched her head irritably and viciously said, ¡°Is there any way to solve this problem once and for all so that she won¡¯t cause me trouble anymore?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu?¡± Lin Yunanughed. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Just ask Li Lei to kill her, chop her up, and separate her body parts. If you don¡¯t like Rong Ping, you can do the same to him.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Why did she feel that her manager could help Li Lei in the triad if he stopped his career in the entertainment industry? An image of him wearing sunsses and holding an AK47 appeared in her mind. The look actually suited him.

    She came out of the bathroom and bitterlypeted with Lin Yunan for breakfast.

    Lin Yunan had almost finished the entire te of pickled cucumbers, but he did not touch the remaining few side dishes and millet porridge. ¡°That guy really worries about you. Did he cook porridge for you because he found out that you didn¡¯t eatst night? Judging by the warmth of this porridge, he probably cooked it and drove here from the city in a few hours... Oh, it¡¯s true love.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the time. It was only seven in the morning.

    This meant that Li Lei got up very early in the morning so that he could quickly bring her the porridge.

    There was a sudden sour feeling in her heart. Even if he sent her porridge, he could not even see her. He could only pass it to her manager and ask about her. After that, he had to return to the city alone.

    The delicious dishes suddenly became difficult to swallow.

    ¡°What now? Is your heart aching?¡± Lin Yunan observed her expression change. ¡°Instead of being touched, how about you use this time to eat more while the food is hot? Don¡¯t waste his effort. This porridge is good for the stomach and is much better than the bread slices provided by the show team.¡±

    Conditions when filming outdoors were usually difficult. At the cafeteria downstairs, many artistes and staff members were eating bread pieces with jam and vegetables. The food was cold and ufortable for the stomach.

    After hearing what he said, Xia Ling carefully finished all the porridge and side dishes.

    Only then did Lin Yunan get down to business. ¡°However, you¡¯re right. Xia Yu really went too far this time. We can¡¯t let her off so easily. How about we coborate with Luo Luo¡¯s group? Let¡¯s give Xia Yu a taste of her own medicine during the next event when you look for clues for the crown.¡±

    Xia Ling agreed wholeheartedly and quickly nodded.

    Lin Yunan happily liaised with a few other people and those involved, including Luo Luo, naturally had no objection.

    Everyone gathered downstairs in the living room at eight.

    Dressed as a clown, the emcee bounced out again and announced the rules to the six artistes. ¡°There are a total of ten clues for... clues that will help you find the crystal crown, and they are scattered in the castle.¡±

    What? Clues for clues that will help them find the crystal crown?

    Everyone was about to go crazy. The show team was really too cruel.

    Luo Luo wailed and covered her face with her hands. ¡°This is bad. I have a premonition that this will be a very long task.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled and rubbed her shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m here.¡±

    These two people behaved lovingly like no one was there. On the other hand, the emcee continued, ¡°These ten clues are written on ten separate cards. As long as you find the cards and follow the instructions written on them, you would definitely be able to find the true clues for the crystal crown! Good luck!¡±

    The clown danced with joy to give them some encouragement.

    Xia Ling was a little dizzy from the confusion. ¡°Does that mean that through these ten cards, we will be able to finally get the true clues regarding the crystal crown?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Ten more points for princess Xiao Ling!¡± The clown mischievously winked at her.

    ¡°So what if I get ten more points?¡± Since when did this show go by a point system?

    ¡°You can get more chicken wings for your lunch.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    The duos dispersed to look for the cards.

    In the corner of her eye, Xia Ling saw that Xia Yu and Zheng Chenhao were walking to the second floor, and she could not help but think that there was a better chance of looking for clues on the second floor than the first floor. While she was preupied with her thoughts, Rong Ping had already asked her, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°That was someone who graduated from Cambridge.¡± Xia Ling pointed to the location that Xia Yu was walking towards.

    Rong Ping smiled. ¡°Do you know where I graduated from?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Stanford. Ph.D.¡± Rong Ping¡¯s voice was faint.

    Xia Ling was stunned. It was a famous school, and also the most prestigious school in the world. He also had a Ph.D. from that school?! This made her feel inferior as she did not even go to university. ¡°You¡¯re someone who could rely on your IQ and make a living.¡± She paused for a long time before continuing, ¡°Why join the entertainment industry and rely on your face?¡±

    After being praised by her, Rong Ping felt satisfied and pleased. ¡°Who said I rely on my looks to make a living? Let¡¯s go. I will take you to find the clues, and I guarantee that we will be faster than them.¡± He felt that the girl in front of him was quite cute. After he revealed his academic qualifications, she finally looked up to him a bit. That was the right thing to do. Any girl who was with him should worship him.

    However, Rong Ping did not know that it was a misunderstanding. An enormous misunderstanding.

    Xia Ling was really just randomly stating her thoughts. Worship? In her past life, Pei Ziheng had a pile of shiny degrees and titles attached to his name, and she was already numb to this sort of thing. She also met Li Lei in this lifetime, and although she did not know his qualifications, from their usual conversations, that man was insanely profound.

    Since she was surrounded by these elite people, Rong Ping was not anyone special.

    The only thing she did not understand was why they chose to join the entertainment industry after achieving such high academic qualifications.

    If she were still the Diva in her past life, she would definitely not allow her sister Xia Yu to be a singer. Why didn¡¯t Rong Ping¡¯s family care more about him? That was the main reason why Xia Ling was shocked.

    Unfortunately, Movie King Rong was unable to hear her inner thoughts.

    He said, ¡°That top Cambridge graduate may not necessarily be able to find the right direction. Come with me and let this doctoral student take you to the location of the card.¡± He meant what he said. Both of them walked into a room. After searching for a while, they found a card in a notebook beside the bed.

    ¡°It¡¯s an easy job.¡± Rong Ping was elegant, but there was somecency in his voice.

    Xia Ling took the card and read it. ¡°Roses surround the secret of the crystal.¡±

    ¡°Roses?¡± Rong Ping pondered. ¡°There is a rose garden in the backyard.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for?¡± She kept the card and walked towards the rose garden. ¡°Let¡¯s quickly go there.¡±

    However, after taking a look at the rose garden, they realized that... because it was autumn, there were no roses in the rose garden, and after searching it, they found nothing.

    It seemed that a doctorate student was not any better.

    Xia Ling felt like vomiting but realized that she also could not figure out the direction, so she resisted it resentfully.

 Chapter 320 - Musical Box

    <h4>Chapter 320: Musical Box</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Rong Ping thought for a while before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the castle and look for it, we might¡¯ve missed out some ces.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    In the way back, they bumped into Luo Luo and her team.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how¡¯s it going on your side?¡± Luo Luo asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ve only got this.¡± Since they were already allies, Xia Ling decided to just show Luo Luo the card.

    ¡°The secret of the rose around the crystal... what does that mean?¡± Luo Luo looked confused and turned towards Bai Murong. ¡°Murong, do you have any idea?¡±

    ¡°We can try looking in the rose garden,¡± Bai Murong told her.

    ¡°We just came from there, there¡¯s nothing,¡± Rong Ping added.

    Luo Luo had no clue what to do.

    ¡°Have you found anything?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°We found a card too, under a sculpture in the art room.¡± Luo Luo put the card down and read. ¡°The bird glides in the wind, singing an ancient song.¡±

    It seemed like every card here was beautifully and poetically written, each with its own symbolism.

    Xia Ling looked at both cards. ¡°We can try to look for things rted to roses and birds. It may not be an actual rose or an actual bird, it could just be...¡± Her eyesnded on a painting in the living room. ¡°A work of art? A cage? Or maybe dried blooms? Something along those lines.¡±

    ¡°Dried blooms...?¡± Luo Luo seemed to know something. ¡°Oh, right! We saw a flower-arrangement room on the second floor! There may be roses inside!¡±

    Everybody¡¯s eyes lit up at this possibility as they dashed to the second floor. True enough, they managed to find a crate of red roses in the room. Next to the crate was another card that read: It looks like a princess¡¯ favorite snack.

    The style of words had changed. They were no longer poetic like the rest, which puzzled them even more.

    ¡°A princess¡¯ favorite snack? What could it be?¡± Luo Luo was bewildered.

    This time, Rong Ping had something to offer. ¡°By ¡®princess,¡¯ they must be referring to the three of you. Has the production crew ever asked you for your favorite snack?¡±

    ¡°They did, actually,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I told them mine was hazelnut cake.¡±

    ¡°How about Luo Luo?¡± Rong Ping asked.

    ¡°Lollipops.¡±

    ¡°Good, now we already have two of the answers,¡± Rong Ping said. ¡°Although we don¡¯t have Xia Yu¡¯s answer, we¡¯ve narrowed down the options significantly. The production crew wouldn¡¯t reveal who the real princess is, and they can¡¯t possibly only feature one of the three foods. So, it¡¯ll most likely be abination of all three of yours. As long as we find the thing that ismon between hazelnut cake, lollipops, and thest item, we¡¯d get it right.¡±

    The other three of them nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Time to get to work,¡± Bai Murong said. ¡°We¡¯ll work together and show them the strength in numbers. I suggest that we all split up to look for the next clue, how¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Xia Ling responded first. ¡°We¡¯ll look for the new card based on the clues at hand, and gather in the pantry by the stairs every 15 minutes to discuss our findings.¡±

    They split up and set off.

    The cameraman had to find a suitable angle in order to capture their movements.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Rong Ping called out to Xia Ling in front of the camera.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Xia Ling turned around. Even on a corridor and showing just her side profile made her look like a beauty out of a painting.

    She looked like a beautiful pce maid walking out of the castle.

    Meanwhile, Rong Ping showed his Prince Charming smile. ¡°Be careful on your own.¡±

    ¡°Yup, you too.¡± Xia Ling smiled back at him.

    The atmosphere was wonderful, and the cameraman could not help but film them from a few different angles. Rong Ping was happy with his choice. There was no point in just being good-looking, what mattered more was how beautifully the cameraman could portray them on screen and how the editors would further improve their image.

    That was why they said that the filming and production crew were not to be trifled with.

    At least, the cameraman for this shoot did seem professional and efficient in his job.

    Rong Ping¡¯s mood was lifted now, after what had just happened.

    Xia Ling went up to the third floor and searched each room for any clues rted to birds or snacks. The first few rooms had no signs of these symbolic items, but she managed to find a card that said: The grandfather clock chimes at midnight as Cindere quietly opens the door.

    Her intuition told her that it was an important card and that she had to safeguard it.

    She found a veranda a whileter,id with brick wood. Next to the nts was a set of table and chairs made of metal. A musical box was ced on the table, and in it was a rotating bird singing a song. Xia Ling immediately recalled Luo Luo¡¯s card about the singing bird.

    ¡°Clue!¡± She called out excitedly and reached for the musical box.

    Who would have guessed that another hand suddenly emerged and grabbed the musical box?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xiao Ling.¡± It was Xia Yu¡¯s voice. ¡°I got it first.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and saw that Xia Yu had brought a cameraman along. Zheng Chenhao was not with her, they must have split up as well.

    Xia Yu was dressed in a white dress with a dainty gold belt around her waist.

    The cameraman obviously found her attractive, given the way he featured her in so many angles.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath, there was a cameraman following her as well, and there was no way she could re up now, however much she wanted to. ¡°Coincidence? I think not.¡± She gave a cold smile and was about to leave.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Yu called out. ¡°How many cards have you got?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me first, how many cards have you and Zheng Chenhao got?¡± Xia Ling did not want to be on the losing end.

    Xia Yu took a white card from inside the musical box. ¡°Including this, I have three.¡± She acted gentle and kind as she asked Xia Ling sincerely. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m already being so honest with you, why don¡¯t you tell me how many you¡¯ve got?¡±

    Was she acting all princess-like in front of the camera?

    Xia Ling yed along with her in annoyance, but ¡ª three cards? There were only 10 cards in total, and Luo Luo¡¯s team and hers only had four in total, how could Xia Yu alone find three?

 Chapter 321 - Thatâ€™s Not a Pass

    <h4>Chapter 321: That¡¯s Not a Pass</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You¡¯re good.¡± Xia Ling was being civil.

    ¡°I graduated from Cambridge.¡± Xia Yu smiled sweetly as she showed off.

    Xia Ling was unhappy now. Look at how good this Cambridge graduate was, what about Rong Ping who got a Ph.D. from Stanford? How many did he find?

    She silently cursed at Rong Ping without losing her smile. ¡°How did you know there¡¯d be a card here?¡± If she guessed right, this card should be the continuation to Luo Luo¡¯s ¡°singing bird¡± clue. Xia Yu had no previous clue to this musical box, so how did she find her way here?

    Xia Yu simply smiled and evaded the question. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you want to exchange tips with me?¡±

    ¡°Exchange tips?¡±

    Xia Ling understood how she got to the musical box. She must have met Luo Luo along the way and exchanged tips with her.

    But, just how much did she know?

    Xia Ling was alert now. If Luo Luo had told Xia Yu about everything they got, then Xia Yu could possibly have information on all 10 cards.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to.¡± She rejected Xia Yu directly.

    Xia Yu showed a shocked expression. ¡°Why not? Ye Xingling, this is apetition, but we have to work together. There¡¯s no good in being so petty.¡± She made it sound as if Xia Ling was being insensible and unreasonable.

    Xia Ling could not keep up with Xia Yu¡¯s way of sarcasm while feigning innocence, acting like the kind and weak one was never her forte.

    Hence, she decided to y along in her own way. She smiled wilfully. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m petty, and I don¡¯t want to exchange tips. How¡¯s that?¡±

    The cameramen snapped tons of shots around the two of them. Everybody knew about the fight between these two female celebrities the year before, and how it came to a close when Xia Yu made a public apology. Now that they were against each other once again, could it lead to another brawl? It would be great if they could capture something sensational.

    Xia Yu slowly spoke, ¡°Then how do you intend toplete the mission? You won¡¯t be able to get the clues you need if you don¡¯t know enough information from all the cards.¡± The sun rays fell on her face with a beautiful glow. With the tone she used, it was almost as if she were genuinely concerned about Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling smiled easily. ¡°I¡¯ve Rong Ping.¡± She tilted her head a little and added, ¡°Why do I need to worry so much? Why don¡¯t you just get Zheng Chenhao to worry about these instead? It¡¯s too tiring to take it all on yourself.¡±

    Xia Yu was fuming on the inside. What did Ye Xingling mean, was she mocking her helper for being useless?!

    It was precisely what Xia Yu was unhappy about. Zheng Chenhao was physically attractive, but he was not the least bit intelligent. Xia Yu had to depend on herself to figure everything out while he followed along.

    How nice it would be if Rong Ping were still around.

    Xia Yu thought about the round the day before and detested Xia Ling even more for getting such a useful assistant.

    ¡°Chenhao?¡± She had to keep her smile on no matter how much she disliked him. ¡°Brother Chenhao listens to me and takes good care of me. I wouldn¡¯t bother him with something as trivial as exchanging tips with others.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling smiled too. ¡°I¡¯m more than willing to bother Rong Ping with such trivial matters.¡±

    Xia Yu might have been curt with her words, but between the two of them, it was obvious who was better at this sarcastic exchange. Xia Yu could not conceal her emotion very much and revealed some of her unhappiness, while Xia Ling happily bade her farewell and left.

    Xia Ling went to look for Rong Ping.

    She found him in a quiet reading room and told him about her encounter with Xia Yu. ¡°We need to find out what¡¯s on the card in the musical box. But I think the rest of the information is with Luo Luo now since they have exchanged tips. We should meet Luo Luo¡¯s team and decide how we should proceed from here.¡±

    Rong Ping nodded and looked for Xia Yu. Both of them were smart and good at acting, and it did not take much effort for Rong Ping to get Xia Yu¡¯s musical box card by giving her an unimportant card in exchange.

    Xia Yu thought that she had the upper hand, and faced the camera as she said, ¡°Brother Rong was more than willing to give me what Ye Xingling was unwilling to. I¡¯m very touched by Brother Rong¡¯s kindness.¡±

    Rong Ping smiled gracefully.

    He brought the information that he just got and met Xia Ling, Luo Luo, and Bai Murong at their designated spot.

    True enough, Bai Murong said that he had managed to trick his way into getting two cards¡¯ clues from Zheng Chenhao ¡ª¡±trick¡± was the right word indeed because Zheng Chenhao was foolish enough to give Bai Murong two cards¡¯ worth of clues when Bai Murong had only given him one in exchange. Hence, adding Bai Murong¡¯s one card of clues, along with three cards that Xia Yu had initially, they easily figured out that Xia Yu¡¯s team only had five cards worth of clues.

    How about Luo Luo and Xia Ling¡¯s alliance?

    Xia Ling had the rose card and the Cindere card, while Rong Ping found two cards on his own and got ahold of Xia Yu¡¯s musical box card. Luo Luo had the bird card and the snack card that she found with Xia Ling¡¯s team, while Bai Murong found one card and received two from Xia Yu¡¯s team. Adding them all up, they had 10 in total.

    ¡°Yay!¡± Luo Luo was exhrated. ¡°Let¡¯s start looking for that final clue!¡±

    Through their brainstorm, and especially with Rong Ping¡¯s intellect and Bai Murong¡¯s analysis, they found a direction to the final clue. Luo Luo who was in charge of livening things up, as well as Xia Ling who was there to cheer the two men on as they dashed to the roof of the castle under the two men¡¯s instructions. In a pile of fake flowers, sculptures, and misceneous items, they found... a key.

    It was a key alright.

    ¡°At midnight, Cindere quietly opens the door ¡ª it¡¯s definitely a key.¡± Rong Ping and Bai Murong took the 10 cards out. ¡°Xiao Ling, only this clue hasn¡¯t been used yet, it must be the main lead to be used now. This will be the key to open Cindere¡¯s door, and also the key for her to transform into a princess.¡±

    ¡°So, the clue about the crystal is regarding this key as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Bai Murong smiled and raised the key. ¡°Emcee! Director! We¡¯re done with our mission! Princess Luo Luo and Princess Xiao Ling have worked together to achieve the final task!¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, you solved it. Congrattions!¡± The clown suddenly appeared once again and apuded their victory, while also mumbling. ¡°How did the production crew allow an alliance to be formed? Look what happened now, the gap is simply too big ¡ª Luo Luo¡¯s and Xia Ling¡¯s teams score 100 points! Xia Yu¡¯s team, 50 points! That¡¯s not a pass!¡±

 Chapter 322 - Act Your Part Well

    <h4>Chapter 322: Act Your Part Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The clown¡¯s voice was amplified through the speakers and could be heard from anywhere in the castle.

    Not¡ª not a pass?!

    Xia Yu was still looking for the other cards when she heard it, and could not believe her ears. She had taken so much effort, how could she end up in thest ce, and not even pass the mission? No, she was not going to ept this result!

    She and Zheng Chenhao hurried to the meeting point.

    On the way there, she did not hide her unhappiness towards Zheng Chenhao and provoked him with criticisms. Zheng Chenhao, frustrated by what she had said, called out. ¡°Emcee! I don¡¯t agree with the results! We¡¯re supposed to depend on our abilities to look for the cards andplete the tasks. Those two groups ganged up against us, it¡¯s not fair!¡±

    ¡°You came to exchange tips with us, and we found others to exchange tips with as well.¡± Bai Murong gave a gloating smile. ¡°Well, we just got a little luckier than you and managed to get all the information we needed. Emcee, I don¡¯t think is against the rules, right?¡± Indeed, there were no rules for this program that said alliances and exchange of tips were not allowed, which was why Bai Murong was more than confident when he asked.

    The clown emcee giggled. ¡°Nope, everybody¡¯s exchanges are valid. And it seems like Princess Luo Luo and Princess Xiao Ling, as well as their knights, are very close.¡±

    Wait, was he implying that Xia Yu could not get along with the other two girls?

    Xia Yu was the sensitive sort and got angry at thatment.

    ¡°Poor thing, you didn¡¯t pass.¡± Luo Luo showed a sympathetic look and asked the emcee, ¡°Does the one who finished in thest ce have any punishments?¡± In her defense, Luo Luo was only casually asking.

    The emcee snapped his fingers on hearing that.

    ¡°Oh, right! Punishment! I almost forgot.¡± He pointed at Xia Yu and Zheng Chenhao cheekily said, ¡°Come over here, the two of you.¡±

    Come over here? They knew it was nothing good, but could not do otherwise since they had to y ording to the game rules.

    ¡°3, 2, 1!¡± The clown did a countdown and all of a sudden, a huge bucket of water was poured from above, drenching them both.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Yu screamed and held onto Zheng Chenhao. She had always been pampered since she was young ¡ª in the orphanage, it was Xia Ling who took care of her, and after Pei Ziheng took her in, she became the princess in the eyes of the public. Everybody treated her so carefully as if she was a china doll that could shatter under any impact, when was she ever put through something this frightening and humiliating? It was no surprise that she got a shock.

    When she recovered from her shock, she realized that she was holding onto Zheng Chenhao tightly with her body was against his. Through the drenched fabric, they could feel each other¡¯s warmth.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± She pushed Zheng Chenhao away instinctively. She looked disgusted at that moment as if what she had touched was garbage.

    But Zheng Chenhao was not garbage, he was a heavenly king.

    Even an ordinary man would not tolerate such an attitude from a girl in front of the public, much less the honored heavenly king Zheng Chenhao. He looked at her coldly and said, ¡°Xia Yu, you¡¯re the one who held onto me. I don¡¯t even want to touch you.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression turned awful. How could she have hugged a man so readily, and then got despised by him for it, all in front of the camera?!

    ¡°You! I...¡± She was angry as much as she was ashamed of what had happened, even her teeth were chattering.

    ¡°Cut!¡± The director shouted.

    ¡°Are the both of you alright?¡± The director frowned as he walked over thinking that they might start arguing. He disapproved of Xia Yu¡¯s behavior. It was just a television program, was there a need to act like this? If she really disliked Zheng Chenhao so much, she should not have participated in this program in the first ce, especially since she had taken Zhou Yanxue¡¯s rightful ce.

    Did Xia Yu not have any work ethics at all?

    Only when Xia Yu saw the director¡¯s expression did she realize that she had made everybody around unhappy. Now she had to swallow all her grievances, however awful she felt. She bit her lip and whispered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I overreacted... I... I¡¯ve never been this close to a man before.¡±

    She made a teary face as she said, ¡°Director, can you delete that segment?¡± She could not imagine how Brother Ziheng and the public would react if they aired that part.

    Taking part in a program with another man was an entirely different matter from being caught holding onto another man intimately. She knew that Brother Ziheng would never allow his woman to get close with another man, considering how Brother Ziheng would not even allow her sister to hold another male celebrity¡¯s hand when she was still alive...

    She was going to rece her sister and be with Brother Ziheng for the rest of her life, how could she not take note of this taboo?

    ¡°Please, you have to delete that segment.¡± She was about to cry.

    The director responded rather coldly. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± What mattered most to the production crew were the effects that they could get from airing the scenes. Up to that point of the filming, Luo Luo and Bai Murong¡¯s team had shown some teenage-like romance, while Xia Ling and Rong Ping also had some chemistry. Only Xia Yu and Zheng Chenhao did not appear like a couple at all, which bummed the cameramen a little ¡ª what if they could not capture any sensational scene for the two of them? It took so much for them to finally get sshed with a bucket of water and for Xia Yu to disy some sense of affection towards Zheng Chenhao.

    The best part of this couple in the whole show thus far was Xia Yu hugging him in a moment of panic. And now she wanted it to be deleted? She could dream on.

    ¡°Director...¡± Knowing that the director was not nning on agreeing, Xia Yu decided to continue pleading.

    ¡°Don¡¯t dy the filming.¡± The director was set on his decision. Xia Yu had quite a big name, but he would not let her call the shots on such an important program like Extraordinary Risks. In fact, he was more sympathetic towards Zheng Chenhao. ¡°Brother Chenhao, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, we can continue filming.¡± Zheng Chenhao was proud at times, but he was very professional in his work. Also, he was not a fool who took things lying down. ¡°Xia Yu, act your part well. Don¡¯t be too nervous, you can¡¯t even fulfill the criteria for being my girlfriend, and I have no interest in you at all. But since we¡¯re in this program, we have to make it realistic, understand?¡±

    He told Xia Yu off mercilessly.

    Since Xia Yu had no qualms about embarrassing him, why did he have to consider so much for her?

 Chapter 323 - Ill Throw Scissors

    <h4>Chapter 323: I¡¯ll Throw Scissors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Bai Murongughed out loud, not giving her any face.

    He had long despised Xia Yu as he witnessed this weak and harmless-looking girl bullying Xiao Ling and trampling on Luo Luo in secret. All these shaped his view of her as a devious person.

    Hearing hisughter, Xia Yu¡¯s expression became angrier, and her face turned into different shades of red.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, let¡¯s continue with the filming. Everybody in your positions!¡± The director pped his hands together to get everyone¡¯s attention andmandeered the filming to resume.

    In the next segment, they were going to pick the winner. Xia Ling¡¯s team and Luo Luo¡¯s team found the key at the same time. However, there was only one key. Who should be given the responsibility of holding it?

    ¡°Such a difficult decision...¡± the clown contemted.

    ¡°Give it to me, give it to me!¡± Luo Luo jumped twice on the same spot in her excitement and batted her lids at the clown. ¡°The key should be held by the real princess! You cannot give it to the little squirrel in my house.¡± She had a close rtionship with Xiao Ling, but that did not mean that they would give in to each other in apetitive game.

    Xia Lingughed lightly. ¡°The little squirrel is faking it well.¡±

    Luo Luo opened her eyes wide at Xiao Ling in mock surprise. ¡°You¡¯re the little squirrel!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s allow everyone here to be the judge. Which of us seems more like the little squirrel?¡± Xia Ling was not falling for her charms, as she said with an elegant smile. She was a Diva in her past life, embraced by dozens, and poise and elegance was second nature to her. Even if she might sometimes be vibrant and adorable off-camera, when the time came to disy her elegance, nobody would be able to show it better than her. Instantly, Luo Luo was overshadowed, given her image as a girl-next-door.

    The cameramen smiled, amused at this development, and gave Xia Ling a few more direct shots.

    ¡°Murong, are you really not going to consider switching sides?¡± Rong Ping spoke up in support of Xia Ling as he joked with Bai Murong. ¡°You still have time to switch over to the side of the Real princess!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to swindle me into betraying Princess Luo Luo.¡± Bai Murong was adamant of his stance, and he reached over to pat Luo Luo on the top of her head with a big smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m going to protect you!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± Luo Luo nodded her head and looked up at him with reverence in her eyes.

    The lovebirds stared into each other¡¯s eyes, alone in their world...

    Xia Ling could not bear to look at them and cleared her throat loudly before speaking to the clown. ¡°So who are you going to pass the key to for safekeeping?¡±

    ¡°Princess Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve prepared the fairest and most logical game to ensure that the key is passed to the more suitable person.¡± The clown replied.

    Everyone looked at him in anticipation.

    ¡°That is... a game of rock, paper, scissors!¡±

    Everyone was speechless for a moment. Rock, paper, scissors?! Was this the fairest and most logical game to determine the owner of the key?

    ¡°I¡¯m terrible at rock, paper, scissors...¡± Luo Luoined.

    Bai Murong stepped forward and said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡± He looked at Xia Ling and Rong Ping with a taunting expression. ¡°Which of you is going topete with me?¡±

    ¡°Confident, aren¡¯t you?¡± Xia Lingughed as she shook out her wrist. ¡°Let me.¡± She felt that she was better at these little games than Rong Ping. Rong Ping was a boring one that rarely yed such games with others. How could he be a match to the game master, Bai Murong?

    As for Xia Ling herself, she was yful like Bai Murong in her past life and was very good at games.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got! Don¡¯t cry when you lose!¡± Bai Murong taunted.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see who¡¯s the one that¡¯s about to cry. Don¡¯t go crying for your mama.¡± Xia Ling retorted, not one to be intimidated.

    ¡°We determine the winner in just one round! We determine the winner in just one round!¡± The clown chanted, interrupting their taunts.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± Bai Murong looked over at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling tilted her head to the side and disyed an enchanting smile as she said, ¡°I¡¯m going to throw scissors.¡±

    Everyone stared at her incredulously. What? Why was she telling him her move beforehand?! However, everyone apuded her for this clever move soon after. While she seemed to be dering her move brazenly, Bai Murong would now be met with the dilemma of deciding if he should trust her. If he believed her, what if Xia Ling did not throw scissors? And if he chose to disregard her statement, what if she was telling the truth? Bai Murong had much to contemte...

    This was a clever move to confound her rival before the game.

    Everyone was apuding Xia Ling silently.

    Bai Murong¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°Oh, the confidence!¡±

    ¡°The confidence of a Real princess!¡± Xia Lingughed.

    Real princess? The real princess would not lie to others, Bai Murong thought to himself. He had interacted with Xia Ling at the Neb Music Festival before and knew that she had an innocent personality. Although she was mischievous, she tended to be careless and overlook the details. Like this time, he was eighty percent sure that she was going to throw scissors for real...

    Yet...

    Bai Murong¡¯s smile became wider. Maybe he should let her win this once? When he was preparing to participate in this program, Big Boss Li Lei reminded him time and again to take care of this her. She had already had a hard time in this program thus far, and seeing that this week was the final segment, it would do her good to disy a strongeback and be crowned the winner. To be down in the dumps at the start, and to soar in the sky at the end. This would do wonders for her poprity, and the program would attract many eyeballs, wouldn¡¯t it?

    <i>Big Boss, Big Boss, for the love of your life, I¡¯m going to have to betray Princess Luo Luo this once!</i>

    Bai Murong thought to himself before saying to Xia Ling, ¡°Cut the rubbish! Let¡¯s y!¡±

    As expected, Xia Ling threw scissors.

    And Bai Murong threw paper.

    ¡°Scissors and paper... Princess Xiao Ling is the winner!¡± The clown bounced animatedly on the spot and announced. Congrattory music rang out and the lights lit up, as a burst of confetti rained down on Xia Ling. ¡°The key belongs to Princess Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Oh, Murong, you¡¯re such an idiot!¡± Luo Luoined childishly. ¡°Xiao Ling said that she was going to throw scissors... why did you stupidly throw paper?¡±

    ¡°How would I know she was telling the truth?¡± Bai Murong pretended to be forlorn. He felt slightly apologetic to Luo Luo. However, she had been the perfect partner to him in this program, and even if she did not win, her screentime and surge in poprity was a sure thing. Hence, Bai Murong knew that he would be able to make it up to Luo Luo by being nicer to her in the future.

    There was never a perfect scenario after all.

    Bai Murong congratted himself for dealing with this difficult situation well, seeing himself as an honorable martyr.

    Xia Ling smiled happily at them. ¡°I told you I was going to throw scissors! The real princess wouldn¡¯t lie.¡±

    Clearly, she could not tell that he had let her win and was going to rub it in. Bai Murong felt wronged by Xiao Ling¡¯s taunting, but he still smiled and said, ¡°Yes, yes, you¡¯re right, whatever you say.¡±

    He could only pat himself on the back for his glorious sacrifice.

 Chapter 324 - The Man in the Porsche

    <h4>Chapter 324: The Man in the Porsche</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The program ended in the midst of the celebrations.

    Xia Ling obtained the key and was crowned the winner of the week, with Luo Luo¡¯s team in second, and Xia Yu¡¯s team in thest ce.

    After ending work, Xia Ling turned and found Xia Yu and Zheng Chenhao looking upset. She could not tell if it was because of losing the game or from their conflict earlier.

    She was not going to get involved in their unhappiness.

    Xia Ling pushed them out of her mind and went off to look for Luo Luo. ¡°Shall we go home together?¡± They were still living together and hade to participate in the same program. Yesterday, Luo Luo took a ride in Xia Ling¡¯s Porsche to the film location.

    Unexpectedly, Luo Luo shook her head at Xia Ling¡¯s invitation. ¡°Murong said he¡¯s going to bring me to an aquarium, and then head back to the city for dinner and to see the night view. Xiao Ling, do you want toe along?¡±

    Xia Ling was momentarily stunned. Did they really hit it off? Were they going to bring their on-screen romance off-screen as well? ¡°You guys...¡± Xia Ling could not think of anything suitable to say.

    Bai Murong walked over. ¡°Luo Luo, let¡¯s go.¡± He nced over at Xia Ling and assured her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to eat Luo Luo up. After visiting the aquarium, I¡¯ll send her safely home, ok?¡±

    What ok?

    Xia Ling felt protective of Luo Luo and was about to say something. However, she thought about it and realized she was in no ce to prevent Luo Luo from going on a date. Yet, what if the innocent Luo Luo got bullied by the yboy Bai Murong?

    Pulling Luo Luo aside, Xia Ling warned her. ¡°Bai Murong is a yboy and changes girlfriends faster than he changes clothes. Did you bring your pepper spray? I have some in the car, let me give you a bottle.¡±

    Bai Murong overheard her. ¡°Hey... don¡¯t speak badly of me behind my back.¡±

    Luo Luo burst intoughter. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling... Murong is like a big brother to me! I don¡¯t care how many girlfriends he has!¡±

    Xia Ling was reassured after hearing that.

    Bai Murong alsoughed, as he took Luo Luo with him and bade Xia Ling goodbye.

    Xia Ling watched as they left, before realizing that Rong Ping had walked over.

    ¡°Do you want me to send you back to the city?¡± Rong Ping was dressed in a in-colored jacket, looking well-preened and gentlemanly off-camera, as a friendly senior in the industry. ¡°Your ce is on the way to mine.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. Why was Rong Ping offering to send her back?

    In actual fact, Rong Ping felt that she was the right choice after seeing her performance in the program. Theirpatibility would not lower his status, but instead would likely make them the most well-liked pair in the program, though they had strongpetition from Bai Murong and Luo Luo. Bai Murong and Luo Luo¡¯s chemistry was great, and he hoped to improve his chemistry with Xia Ling through spending more time with her. This would be beneficial to them for next week¡¯s filming.

    Xia Ling hesitated, trying to decide if she should ept his invitation.

    Lin Yunan walked over and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, why are you still here? Collect your things! We need to get back to the city for a meeting tonight.¡±

    With that, Xia Ling¡¯s decision was made for her.

    ¡°Sorry, Brother Rong.¡± She said. ¡°Thank you for the kind offer, but I have something to attend to.¡±

    Rong Ping heard Lin Yunan¡¯s words and secretly cursed him for spoiling the moment. Yet, he had no choice but to bid Xia Ling goodbye.

    Xia Ling turned to look at Lin Yunan. ¡°What meeting?¡± She did not recall hearing about a meeting. That couldn¡¯t be right... it was going to be prettyte by the time they got back to the city. Was Lin Yunan not going to let her rest?

    Lin Yunan replied, ¡°There isn¡¯t any meeting.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling was confused. Why did he lie to Rong Ping then?

    ¡°Hurry up, stop wasting time. Get into your car! My job is done once you¡¯re in the car. Really... why do I have to double as a nanny? I¡¯m just a manager!¡± Lin Yunan grumbled as he pushed her into the Porsche and mmed the door shut.

    ¡°Hey...¡± Xia Ling hadn¡¯t had time to react and could only call out to him from inside the car.

    Lin Yunan was already a distance away.

    ¡°What was that? Such a psycho...¡± Xia Ling sighed and mumbled. She turned around and almost jumped out of her skin. ¡°Oh my... Li Lei, are you out to scare me to death! Why are you sitting there so quietly without making a sound at all?! I almost had a heart attack!¡±

    Li Lei was sittingzily on the clean and soft, cream-colored backseat of the car with a big, warm smile on his face.

    ¡°Are you that easily frightened?¡± Li Lei leaned closer to her. ¡°Okay, okay, I should have gotten Lin Yunan to tell you beforehand.¡±

    Tell her what beforehand? That he was in the car? So Lin Yunan knew that he was waiting for her here, and hence prevented her from leaving with Rong Ping?

    Xia Ling mumbled. ¡°Since when did you have such a good rtionship with Lin Yunan?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s simple.¡± Li Lei understood what she was thinking immediately, having interacted with her so often. ¡°I just said that if he didn¡¯t help me, I was going toe to find you myself. He was so afraid that that would happen and was close to killing me. Hahaha...¡±

    ¡°You dareugh.¡± Xia Ling was speechless. Why did he have such a convoluted sense of humor?

    She sat backfortably by Li Lei¡¯s side and instructed the driver to go back to the city. The driver was newly-hired, though he was rmended to her by Sister Mai Na and was used to chauffeuring artistes around. He was well aware of what he should or should not say, and though he was shocked to see Li Lei and Xia Ling together, his expression did not reveal this. He was trustworthy.

    Li Lei reached over to pull Xia Ling into his embrace.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Xia Ling red at him as she struggled to get away.

    ¡°I missed you.¡± He snuggled against her like a huge pet, refusing to let go.

    Xia Ling was initially rather upset, but hearing him say that he missed her made her heart melt a little. This morning, he had driven over to the film location to bring her lunch, though he did not even get a glimpse of her. For a Big Boss like him to have to make sure to hide for her was really quite pitiful. ¡°You didn¡¯t wait for me since the morning, did you?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t really wait.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was muffled against her neck as he buried himself in her, taking in her wondrous smell. ¡°I needed to settle some business and was conducting several teleconferences in the car.¡±

    What... so he hadn¡¯t even left the car?

    He was having meetings in this small, enclosed space?

    Xia Ling felt her heart clench as she allowed herself to be hugged by him, not struggling anymore.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that next time...¡± She said gently. ¡°... Aren¡¯t you a silly one?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m silly.¡± He admitted readily, with a tinge ofughter in his voice. ¡°Silly enough to run over here to watch you... afraid that you wouldn¡¯t have anything nice to eat... afraid that you would get bullied... afraid you...¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Afraid you would run off with someone else...¡± Thest words were said in almost a whisper, and they dissipated slowly in the quiet of the car.

    Xia Ling felt her heart flutter.

    Was he always this insecure? Was this why he would always insist on following her everywhere she went, without a care about his own inconveniences?

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to run off with anyone else...¡± She assured him as she patted him lightly on the arm as if she were consoling a child.

 Chapter 325 - The Troublesome Imp

    <h4>Chapter 325: The Troublesome Imp</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Both of them grew quiet, and it was silent in the car.

    Li Lei tightened his embrace around her, though he was careful not to hurt her. She leaned into himfortably.

    Xia Ling¡¯s head was on his chest, and she could hear his strong and steady heartbeat. This made her feel peaceful, allowing her to forget all the fatigue she felt from the day¡¯s work. The tiredness she felt from having to act adorable the entire day for the program, or from her conflict with Xia Yu, fell away. At this moment, they were all unimportant, the important thing was him and being in his embrace.

    He had set her free to do whatever she wanted, go wherever she wanted, and fly as high as she wanted, though he was always there caring for her from a distance. He would not take credit for anything, but simply give her the warmest protection.

    This was the kind of love she wanted.

    With these thoughts, she held on tighter to the corners of his shirt. Before long, she felt her consciousness grow blurry as she fell asleep in thefort of his embrace.

    Li Lei lowered his head to watch his girl sleep in his arms.

    She was quiet in her deep sleep, her bright and clear eyes shut lightly, and her long eyshes cast a dim shadow underneath her eyes. She had dark eye circles, probably from theck of rest from these few days of filming. He removed his jacket and draped it over her, before instructing the driver to turn the AC up a little. He then recollected her into his embrace and shut his eyes as well to get some rest.

    She was not the only one that was busy during this time.

    He had never told her that he had had sleepless nights for a while.

    The car drove until it arrived below Xia Ling¡¯s apartment.

    The driver woke Li Lei first. Li Lei opened his eyes and put his finger to his lips, signaling to the driver to keep quiet. He looked down and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Xia Ling had not stirred from within his embrace. He looked out at the dark surroundings, thinking if he should carry her upstairs, but realizing that there was a problem. This troublesome little imp had been so stubborn that she refused to give him the door key to her ce. How was he going to get her upstairs?

    While he could easily break open the door or call in the experts he knew to open the lock, he knew that Xiao Ling would be furious at him for doing that. Did she not leave for the very reason of theck of privacy and insecurity? No, no, no, he could not let her feel like everything she did was within his control.

    Big Boss Li was at a loss.

    ¡°Or we could go to your ce?¡± The driver suggested in a low voice.

    This driver was actually Li Lei¡¯s aide, and Li Lei had ced him by Xiao Ling¡¯s side under the ruse of Sister Mai Na¡¯s rmendation. This silly girl had thought he was an outsider with no rtion to all of them... how adorable of her.

    Big Boss Li was most satisfied with Xia Ling¡¯s intellect... or the adorableck thereof.

    His lips curled into a smile as he thought about this to himself.

    He rejected the driver¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Ah Wei¡¯s recording studio.¡± Xiao Ling was having a quiet period right now, preparing for her new album. He was unsure if tabloid reporters were hiding out nearby, and for safety, it would be prudent not to be too showy. If the reporters captured pictures of her going to his apartment, the news the next day would be explosive. On the other hand, taking a photo of them going to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio would be different, it could be regarded as them having to burn the midnight oil for the recording.

    The driver headed towards the recording studio.

    When they reached there, Li Lei carried Xia Ling out of the car and into the resting room. Given that the workaholic Wei Shaoyin loved to work overtime, there was a sleeping area in the recording studio, and Xia Ling had slept there a few times. Li Lei could not tolerate his girl having to share a bed with Mr. Crazy Wei and hence had created another resting room just for Xia Ling.

    He put her down gently on the bed and covered her with the nket.

    He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her for a while, before switching the lights off and lying down on the bed as well. Hugging her to himself, he fell asleep.

    As such, when Xia Ling woke up, she found herself entangled in Big Boss¡¯ octopus-like embrace.

    Xia Ling was speechless as she reached out to pinch his cheek. ¡°Hey, wake up! Why are you sleeping with me on my bed?!¡± Even though they had slept together before, they were a broken up couple now. How could a single man and woman sleep on the same bed?!

    She pinched Big Boss Li¡¯s cheek a little harder with these thoughts in mind.

    Big Boss woke with a start. ¡°Who pinched me?¡±

    Xia Ling red at him angrily.

    ¡°Morning, Xiao Ling.¡± Heughed.

    ¡°What morning?!¡± Xia Ling spat out. ¡± Speak! Why am I sleeping here? Did you take advantage of me yesterday?!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do very much...¡±

    Xia Ling continued ring at him.

    Big Boss hurried to exin himself, lying through his teeth. ¡°Really! You were the one that was hugging on to me, not letting me go!¡±

    Was that right? Xia Ling looked at him suspiciously.

    Big Boss nodded emphatically. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you! That was exactly what happened! Yesterday, you wouldn¡¯t wake up no matter how much I tried to wake you. I couldn¡¯t open your apartment door and had no choice but to bring you over to the recording studio and let you sleep on this bed. When I was covering you with the nket, you pulled me onto yourself, treating me like your nket!¡±

    Was she that... desperate?

    Xia Ling flushed crimson.

    ¡°Perhaps you were feeling cold?¡± Big Boss helped to dissipate the embarrassment.

    <i>Yes, that had to be it. </i>Xia Ling consoled herself.

    Big Boss was congratting himself quietly for having bluffed his way through. He bustled to help her get up and look for a clean set of clothing to change into ¡ª she had many clothes in the resting room in case she had to stay over. She changed her clothes and opened the schedule that Wei Wei had sent to her mobile.

    ¡°I have some work at B city in the afternoon and have to leave now.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to eat breakfast?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get my assistant to buy something to eat on the way.¡±

    Li Lei did not push any further. He lowered his head to give her a kiss on the forehead and prepared to send her to the car.

    Xia Ling stopped him just outside the resting room. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t follow me anymore. There are many people outside. I¡¯ll leave now, take care of yourself.¡± She walked down the long corridor, looking elegant and slender like a beautiful flower.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei called out to her.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She turned around to look at him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get back together after Extraordinary Risks ends.¡±

    She did not expect him to suddenly talk about their rtionship and was stunned. Reconcile? It was sudden, but also seemed right. She recalled being in his armsst night and pinching him in the cheeks this morning. She knew that she was not adverse to getting back together with him.

    A woman¡¯s bodynguage was usually honest. If they liked the person, any form of intimacy would be fine. But if they disliked the person, just a touch would be disgusting to them. At least, her body was not adverse to him.

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s settled then.¡± Li Lei interrupted before she could say anything. He could not tolerate another day of hiding, not having the liberty to merely walk her to the car. He wished for the day that he could walk beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

    Xia Ling hesitated. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it againter.¡± She did not give him a direct answer, but she was leaning towards epting in her heart. Since moving out, she realized that she had gotten used to having him by her side. Without him around, she would sometimes subconsciously start to think about him.

    Habits were really difficult to change.

 Chapter 326 - Reviews on the Program

    <h4>Chapter 326: Reviews on the Program</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Extraordinary Risks¡± was released after a short period of editing.

    After its release, there was an enthusiastic response fromizens. Many praised Xia Ling for her grit in the face of the trying situations, and her grace and elegance disyed at all times. Many said that she was just like a real princess, her eyes clear and bright, and her back straight and tall, even in the most difficult of times.

    ¡°Regardless of who is the real princess, Ye Xingling is the one I regard as the real princess in my heart.¡± Many of suchments could be seen on the official page of the program or on online forums.

    ¡°Bai Murong and Luo Luo¡¯s pairing is so cute! Wow, they are just adorable!¡± Comments along these lines were the second most popr. The pink and fresh girly image of Luo Luo¡¯s team was highly popr, andizens swooned over the sweetness and friendly image that she and Bai Murong portrayed. Many started to discuss how long they would remain together, and the amazing thing was that fans who were used to news of Bai Murong¡¯s many rtionship encounters were now saying: ¡°Luo Luo is so cute and innocent. She¡¯s a perfect match for Murong. Murong should settle down this time and stop changing girlfriends.¡±

    Rong Ping and Xia Ling¡¯s team also received many words of affirmation, with many praising them for being a good-looking couple.

    As for Xia Yu and Zheng Chenhao?

    ¡°This pair doesn¡¯t seem to have much chemistry...¡±

    ¡°What kind of person does Xia Yu like? Just look at her, she refuses even to touch Zheng Chenhao!¡±

    ¡°Who says so? Didn¡¯t she scream and hug onto Zheng Chenhao tightly when water was being poured onto them?¡±

    ¡°So what if she hugged him? That¡¯s just her natural reaction to being scared. She would hug onto a wooden block if it were by her side. And didn¡¯t you realize that when the water stopped, Xia Yu was intentionally keeping her distance from Zheng Chenhao?¡±

    ¡°Who does she think she is? How can she dislike our Brother Chenhao?!¡±

    ¡°Does she think she¡¯s all high and mighty? Her sister Xia Ling is on the same level as our Brother Chenhao. Does she think she is as well?! She thinks too highly of herself!¡± Zheng Chenhao¡¯s crazy fans were furious, and the protective fiery words over their idol were directed at Xia Yu.

    Xia Ling was swiping through these reviews in her free time while filming in B city, which put her in a good mood. She reflected on whether she was being bad-spirited to react this way, gloating over the misfortune of others. However, she soon pushed the thought away. In her past life, she had invested so much in Xia Yu, and it was time that she collected back some interest.

    However, it wasn¡¯t long before she felt unhappy at some of what she was reading.

    Somehow, there were badments directed at her.

    Initially, Xia Yu¡¯s fans were countering Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans. ¡°What¡¯s so great about Zheng Chenhao? Rong Ping was the first person that decided to choose Xiao Yu! Zheng Chenhao was just a copycat! Why should Xiao Yu like someone like him, who is so indecisive?!¡±

    From thisment, things rippled out quickly.

    Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans were agitated by thisment and retorted vehemently. ¡°Ha, Rong Ping?! Why didn¡¯t we see Mr. Best Actor Rong protect Xia Yu until the end then? Clearly, Mr. Best Actor Rong realized that Xia Yu¡¯s a b*tch under her innocent image, and jumped ship to Ye Xingling¡¯s side! Only our Hao Hao was innocent enough to be taken in by the devious Xia Yu!¡±

    Actually, none of them had any evidence to suggest that Xia Yu was a b*tch. However, ever since she had a big row with Ye Xingling and had to apologize after being proven to be in the wrong publicly, ¡°b*tch¡± was a tag that followed Xia Yu, started by Ye Xingling¡¯s fans.

    Now, Xia Yu had offended Zheng Chenhao, and Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans were teaming up with Ye Xingling¡¯s fans to talk badly about her.

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans pulled Rong Ping down as well in their anger. ¡°Rong Ping was blind to throw Xiao Yu to the side and to pick that b*tch Ye Xingling! That woman was chased out of the Li family! She¡¯s just like rotten shoes that nobody wants!¡±

    Hence, artistes could not afford to have any ck marks on their record. The fans would remember them for life.

    Xia Ling was close to tears as she scrolled through thements. Who in the world did she offend now? She didn¡¯t do anything at all.

    In the backstage makeup room at B city.

    Lin Yunan nced at her from the corner of his eyes while chewing on gum. ¡°What¡¯s up? You look unhappy. You¡¯re about to go onstage to sing ¡°Stray Cat,¡± you can¡¯t be in such bad condition.¡± Since Xia Ling had said that she refused to breathe in second-hand smoke, Lin Yunan had been forced to chew gum instead of smoking cigarettes. He would usually be rather unfriendly when the addiction hit him.

    Xia Ling weakly replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t show it when I go onstage.¡± In her past life, she had gone onstage to perform countless times and knew how to collect her emotions appropriately. The most severe was the day she had heard of Pei Ziheng¡¯s engagement to Wang Jingwan, and she needed to sing in her solo concert in the afternoon. Even though she was shattered on the inside, there was not an inkling of her unhappiness in the three-hour long concert. Inparison, her unhappiness was now a piece of cake to conceal.

    Lin Yunan nced at her again, before saying through clenched teeth. ¡°It better be fine... Otherwise...¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, you¡¯ll pick some lousy programs for me? You¡¯ll terminate the contract with me? Whatever...¡± Xia Ling did not take Lin Yunan¡¯s threat to heart.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Lin Yunan started to be curious and leaned over to look at Xia Ling¡¯s phone.

    Thement in his line of sight read: ¡°Who does Ye Xingling think she is? She¡¯s disgusting and fake! I wonder what seduction techniques she used on Rong Ping that he¡¯s so smitten with her, willing to throw aside the beautiful princess Xiao Yu and pander to her wishes! Ye Xingling doesn¡¯t deserve it! Bleagh! The b*tch!¡±

    Following that was a whole row of puking emoticons.

    Lin Yunan was quiet for a while, before bursting intoughter.

    ¡°I just knew that you would get anti-fans faster than a rocket can fly... hahaha...¡± He held on to his stomach as heughed uncontrobly. ¡°It¡¯s just the first episode of the program, and you¡¯ve already attracted so much firepower against you. Aren¡¯t you a powerful one, Xiao Ling? Xia Yu¡¯s fans must hate your guts!¡±

    ¡°Why are youughing?!¡± Xia Ling red at him unhappily. ¡°I hate them too! I feel like ripping out their inte cables! What should I do? I can¡¯t go seduce Zheng Chenhao ¡ª No, entice Zheng Chenhao to join my team as well!¡± Xia Ling almost fell into the trap of responding to these crazy fans.

    ¡°What are you so antsy about? You don¡¯t have to care about these things at all.¡± Lin Yunan shrugged, not caring the least about thements. ¡°This is the beauty of being in an alliance... Someone will be antsier than you about all this.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about... Rong Ping?¡± Hearing him talk about an alliance, Xia Ling immediately drew the connection.

    ¡°Bingo.¡± Lin Yunan snapped his fingers, before throwing another piece of gum into his mouth. ¡°Just wait patiently. If Rong Ping doesn¡¯t step in to be the hero to save the damsel in distress, what right does he have to be called a male God? It¡¯s perfect timing for him to disy his charm!¡±

    As predicted, Mr. Best Actor Rong released a statement on Weibo that night. The gist of it was him praising Xia Ling and indicating that it was his first time having such a good impression of a girl and that he realized many good points about her through their interactions. He requested for his fans to be more magnanimous, and not be taken in by the false words that people were saying about her.

 Chapter 327 - The Silver Needle

    <h4>Chapter 327: The Silver Needle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Rong Ping¡¯s fan base wasrge, and they came forth in support of their idol, speaking up in Xia Ling¡¯s favor.

    It was the first time that their Acting King had shown any interest in a female artiste, and they could not let the rtionship die out just because of theizens¡¯ untrue words.

    They were dying to see Mr. Best Actor Rong get married and settle down!

    After all, Rong Ping was in his thirties already.

    The counterattack from Rong Ping¡¯s fans soon drowned out Xia Yu¡¯s fans.

    ¡°Big Brother Rong thinks that Ye Xingling is better! What are you going to do about it?¡±

    ¡°Our Rong Ping has the freedom to like anyone! Who are you to say anything about it? Who is Xia Yu? Don¡¯t think too highly of yourself!¡±

    ¡°Big Brother Rong has the best taste, and I¡¯m sure the girl of his choice is the best too! Ye Xingling, we support you! Hang in there! Don¡¯t be defeated by the fans of some devious woman!¡±

    Thesements came in swiftly and soon dominated the entire official page.

    The fans were indeed powerful, and one spit from each of them would drown Xia Yu.

    Xia Ling scanned thement pages a few times between her filming. She thought about it for a while before sending Rong Ping a message. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    After a short while, Rong Ping replied to her. ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    The tide of thements was in their favor, and Rong Ping had received severalments that were useful to his image as well. Some said that he was a God, that he was dependable and able to protect his girl. With Xia Ling¡¯s gratitude as well, it was all worth it.

    Xia Ling¡¯s emotions also became calmer with Rong Ping stepping forward to mitigate the situation. Xia Yu¡¯s fans had been sessfully drowned out, and she considered Xia Yu¡¯s mood at this point in time, before feeling her mood lift knowing that Xia Yu could not be happy.

    In the midst of the high viewership and all the talk, ¡°Extraordinary Risks¡± started the second week of filming.

    This week, the group of them had to fight for the ¡°real princess.¡± After a series of small games, Xia Ling¡¯s talent in ying games and Rong Ping¡¯s intellect helped them to win.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a rest.¡± The director was satisfied with the filming progress and called for his staff to change the film set. ¡°Xiao Ling, you and Rong Ping should go get changed. We will be filming the close up of the real princess in a bit.¡± This referred to the scene where they would announce her as the real princess, and she would appear in a grand princess outfit, holding on to the arm of the gant knight under the romantic shower of perfume, wearing a resplendent tiara.

    She walked over the to simple makeshift makeup room, where several makeup artists crowded over to help her get ready.

    Lin Yunan walked in and told her, ¡°Gu Lin is here.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s peaceful mood immediately turned bad. ¡°What is she doing here?¡± Why was it that the people that she disliked tended toe at her all at the same time? Xia Yu being at the film location was already annoying enough, and now Gu Lin was here as well. How was she going to remain happy?

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°The Gu family is the sponsor of this episode, and the perfume rain is created using Meteor Wings. Miss Gu said that she wanted toe to take a look. Who would dare to deny her that right?¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything in front of the makeup artists and outsiders. Even though she disliked Gu Lin, there was no need to wilfully show her displeasure in front of all these people, and for them to be invested in how things would progress.

    Lin Yunan recognized her inner turmoil and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know that you¡¯re really busy today. I¡¯ve asked Wei Wei to keep watch outside so that no one cane in here.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a little better hearing his words since she really did not want to meet Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin indeed did not appear in front of her.

    Backstage.

    Gu Lin said to the production staff following her around, ¡°Go do what you have to do. I¡¯ll just rest here by myself and take a look around. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get lost.¡±

    The production staff were extremely busy and did not want to have to follow her around. Hearing her words, they happily went about toplete their other work.

    Gu Lin walked to the coat room and found all the props and outfits that were to be used in the filming. The princess dress that Xia Ling was going to wearter was also in the room. The long dress was made of seven or eightyers of chiffon, withce and pearls lining the edges. It took up a lot of space in the room.

    Gu Linughed as she looked at this long dress.

    She did note just to take a look at the film set. She was here to look for this long dress actually. Ever since her conflict with Xia Ling during the Meteor Wings advertisement filming, she was unhappy that Xia Ling had managed to one-up her again. In her anger, she had demanded that the Gu family¡¯s Head of Marketing, Qian Yong, was to inform her immediately of any movement of Meteor Wings or Xia Ling in the future.

    As such, Gu Lin was informed once the Meteor Wings sponsorship was confirmed for this program.

    The Head of Marketing informed Gu Lin of the detailed film schedule and told her that Xia Ling was the hot favorite to win the crown of the real princess.

    Gu Lin was not happy hearing this. How did that woman deserve to be called a real princess? She was just amoner, a Cindere that knew nothing at all. She did not deserve it! She thought of an idea that she considered being foolproof.

    She looked around, and seeing that there was nobody in the coat room, she picked up the long princess dress and retrieved several long sewing needles from her purse, pushing them into the bodice of the dress.

    <i>Hehe, you b*tch, I¡¯m going to poke you to death!</i>

    Gu Lin could already imagine the sight of Xia Ling putting on the dress and starting to bleed from being pricked by the needles. With her injury, the filming would definitely be imperfect, and the director would want to change the princess candidate. Even if the director did not want to change the princess candidate, Gu Lin could use her status as the sponsor to pressurize him into changing the princess candidate. She would just need to say that Xia Ling¡¯s condition was not eptable for the Meteor Wings sponsorship, and then he would be forced to change the candidate.

    Even though Xia Ling was the Meteor Wings¡¯ endorsement model, there was no conflict when it came to variety shows like these. Any female artiste could walk under the perfume shower.

    Gu Lin left the coat room delighted at her n.

    Someone walked towards her as she was leaving.

    A tinge of nervousness shed through Gu Lin¡¯s eyes, but she quickly lowered her head to hide it and walked away quickly.

    The person that was walking towards her was Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu recognized Gu Lin since she had met her at a dinner party hosted by Imperial Entertainment, and Xia Yu¡¯s memory had always been good. What was Miss Gu doing here? Xia Yu did not believe that she was so bored and free that she would want to spend a day at the film site, especially since there was no one that Gu Lin was particrly close to in the set. What was more, Gu Lin looked so nervous when she was walking away. There was definitely something fishy going on.

    Xia Yu had always been meticulous, and she traced the path that Gu Lin hade from, arriving at the coat room.

    She saw the princess dress piled in the corner of the room.

    She bent over and looked closely at the dress, before reaching over and picking it up gently with her slender fingers. She saw the thin silver needles hidden amidst the ruffles of the dress. They were poked into the dress roughly and could be easily seen. It was highly likely that before Xia Ling put on the dress, someone would spot them and give the dress a thorough once over. All the needles would be discovered and removed.

    Xia Yu pulled out the needles from the dress andughed to herself. Was Gu Lin a moron? This was no way to set anyone up. It would not seed since it was done so unprofessionally, and would even trigger a thorough investigation on the matter.

    Well, since they had the same enemy, perhaps she could give Gu Lin a helping hand.

    Xia Yu smiled and stood up.

 Chapter 328 - The Pearl Accessory

    <h4>Chapter 328: The Pearl essory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Back in the makeup studio.

    Xia Ling put on the chiffonyered princess dress with the help of the staff. She had a petite frame, and her bone structure was as slender as that of an elegant bird. She looked beautiful in the long dress, and her every movement was captivating.

    Rong Ping also changed into the knight suit and came out of the changing room.

    Even though the program team had scrimped on some of the set and effects, they made sure to spend on the outfits for the real princess and knight. The exquisite knight suit was donned with shiny badges and was well-tailored, making Rong Ping look all the more handsome and gant. He bowed gentlemanly before Xia Ling, and offered his hand to her, the perfect embodiment of his role. All the staff members were again captivated at the sight of him with Xia Ling at his side.

    The white steps were covered with flower petals.

    Before going down the steps, Xia Ling lifted her head to look at Rong Ping. Her beauty was refined, and her features did not stand out as Xia Yu¡¯s did. Yet, the grace and elegance that she disyed were enchanting, and there was a glint in her eyes as if she was a real princess looking at her knight in shining armor. They were not the best-looking couple, but they were definitely the best at ying their roles, and the most film-worthy of the couples. The director was very satisfied with the real princess selection.

    Piano music that sounded like flowing water started to y in the background.

    On Rong Ping¡¯s arm, she walked with him under the perfume rain and stood in front of the treasure chest.

    Rong Ping opened the treasure chest with a white-gloved hand and took out the exquisite crystal tiara from within the box, carefully cing it on top of Xia Ling¡¯s head. Her deep green long hair shone under the sun, as she donned the perfect smile on her fair-skinned face. She was elegant and beautiful.

    Everyone held their breath and anticipated their next move.

    Xia Yu was watching them closely. She had done some handiwork on the dress and now was the moment that she would know if her work was a sess...

    Under the cameras.

    Rong Ping was a veteran actor with many des to his name. He had studied the script briefly and been through the rehearsals earlier, and thus was familiar with what he had to do. He lowered his head and gazed lovingly at the girl in front of him, who was almost a head shorter than him. One hand encircled her waist naturally, as he pulled her towards him, preparing to nt a kiss on her forehead.

    It was at this moment that something happened.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling gave a scream, and her body fell forward.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Rong Ping was taken by surprise and subconsciously wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, allowing her to fall into his chest. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?! Are you alright?!¡±

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡±

    The people around started to call out to her in shock.

    Xia Ling weakly leaned into Rong Ping¡¯s chest, her face ghastly pale. She felt a sharp pain in her waist, and it was difficult for her even to make a move.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?!¡± Rong Ping was still asking as he tightened his hold around her waist again.

    Xia Ling felt the sharp pain in her side intensify, and she yelped out in pain again, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. Her lips quivered, and she spoke with difficulty, ¡°Waist... let go...¡±

    Waist?

    Rong Ping was taken aback before understanding struck him. He released his hold around her waist and looked down at her.

    The princess dress shaped her narrow waist, andyers of chiffon billowed out with round and white pearls embroidered on. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

    ¡°It hurts...¡± Xia Ling said with difficulty.

    Rong Ping was at a loss. ¡°Why are you hurting?¡± He rarely interacted with women outside of filming and had few rtionships in the past. Hence, he was at a loss at how to take care of a girl and did not know what to do when one was hurt.

    The artistes and staff started to surround them.

    Xia Yu also came forward, pretending to be deeply concerned. However, a devious smile yed at the corner of her lips when she was in a corner where no one could see her. Her n was a sess. That Ye Xingling b*tch was injured, and her waist would need to be tended to. It would be hard for her to continue with the filming. They would have to change the real princess...

    ¡°Get out the way! Move!¡± An angry man¡¯s voice rang out.

    Before anyone had time to react, the man had already pushed through the crowd, throwing aside the staff that was in his way.

    It was Lin Yunan.

    He looked at Xia Ling, who was still in Rong Ping¡¯s arms, and his gaze fell onto her narrow waist. He contemted it for a while before his eyes suddenly darkened. He reached out and pulled at one of the white pearls on the dress. Xia Ling yelped out in pain as he pulled off one of the pearls, sucking in a quick breath of cold air.

    Everyone watching gasped in astonishment...

    The pearl in Lin Yunan¡¯s hand was not a normal pearl essory. It was a big pin with a pearl at one end! That pin was very long, and the needle had traces of rust and blood. Clearly, this needle had been stuck into Xia Ling¡¯s body and was the cause of her pain.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s expression darkened by the minute, and he told Xia Ling, ¡°Bear with the pain.¡± After which, he quickly removed all the ¡°pearl essories¡± on her long dress. There were eleven of them in total, and every one of them hid a long pin.

    ¡°Who did this?!¡± Luo Luo was the first to regain her senses as she shook with anger. ¡°Who is the one that did this to Xiao Ling?!¡±

    All the staff members stared nkly at each other in silence.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Now isn¡¯t the time to pin the me on anyone. Rong Ping, carry Xiao Ling to the car. We need to send her to the nearest hospital.¡± After the eleven pins were removed, they realized that Xia Ling was badly injured, and blood could be seen seeping out from the waist area of the white dress. What was more, all the pins were rusty. Havinge in direct contact with her bloodstream, there was a chance that she could contract tetanus. They had to hurry to the hospital for her to get the tetanus injection as a precaution.

    Lin Yunan¡¯s gaze turned cold. Regardless of who was responsible, he was going to make them pay for harming the artiste under his charge!

    Hearing Lin Yunan¡¯s words, the lost Rong Ping came back to his senses and carried Xia Ling to his car without another word. Lin Yunan followed him into the car, as well as Rong Ping¡¯s manager, Jimmy, who was afraid that something would go wrong.

    They left behind the entire group of staff and artistes, who did not know how to react.

    Darn it¡ª

    Xia Yu was unhappy as she watched Mr. Best Actor Rong¡¯s hurriedly leaving car and bit her lip in frustration. Why did so many people jump to action for that b*tch?! What did that blind Rong Ping see in her?!

    Yet, even if she were frustrated, there was nothing that she could do. She could only pray that the needles that had been stuck into Xia Ling¡¯s body would hurt her to the extent that she could not film the program anymore. It would be even better if she contracted tetanus.

    In the car.

    Xia Ling was still experiencing sharp pain in her waist even though the pins had been removed, and she sucked in short breaths of air every time they hurt.

    Rong Ping tried to console her. ¡°We¡¯ll get to the hospital soon.¡± He was a little out of it given that her fragrance was right below his nose.

    Xia Ling was ufortable in his embrace as she did not like to be so close to a man that she did not even consider a friend. There were no cameras around them, so she weakly said, ¡°Let go of me... I can sit by myself.¡±

    Rong Ping frowned but did not release her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Lin Yunan spoke up. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, don¡¯t do anything that will speed up your blood cirction. We don¡¯t know if you contracted tetanus.¡±

    Xia Ling was frightened by his statement and obediently stopped moving around.

 Chapter 329 - The Role-switch Saga

    <h4>Chapter 329: The Role-switch Saga</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan shifted his gaze from Xia Ling to the pins in his hand.

    The pearl on the head of the pin was beautiful, and theyplemented the princess dress perfectly. If not for him pulling them out of the dress, nobody would have realized what was hidden beneath the surface.

    Was this a coincidence? Or was this intentional?

    Lin Yunan was aware that these pins could be found all around the props room and the makeup rooms, mainly because most of the clothes were borrowed and would usually not fit the artistes exactly. These pins were used as markings for the purpose of doing alterations on the clothes. The pins would rust over time, but for all eleven pins to be rusty was too coincidental to be true.

    It seemed like his words from a few days ago hade true... this girl had developed enemies faster than a rocket could fly.

    Who did she offend this time?

    Lin Yunan took out his mobile and called someone. ¡°Wei Wei, go to the clothes room where the princess dress was ced and take a photo of it for me. Also, collect all the pins you can find on set and bring them to me.¡±

    When he hung up, Rong Ping looked over at him.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Lin Yunan snapped at him. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have been gentler when you held her waist? See how deep these pins were plunged into her body!¡±

    Before Rong Ping could defend himself, Jimmy had already opened his mouth to retort. ¡°Brother Rong did not mean to hurt her. What¡¯s more, he didn¡¯t really hold her that tightly...¡± Rong Ping had an image of being a gentleman and could not be too rough when acting opposite female artistes. Jimmy was observing his every action on set and knew that Rong Ping did everything ording to the script.

    Xia Ling was just too unfortunate... Who could have known that there were hidden pins in the dress?

    In fact, this was part of the genius of Xia Yu¡¯s n. Gu Lin¡¯s attempt was too amateurish, the needles she ced were in too obvious positions and might not even have harmed Xia Ling. However, Xia Yu switched the needles out to pins with pearls as heads. These were easy to overlook given that they looked like essories on the gown. She had also cleverly ced them at the waist area, being careful to make sure that there were severalyers of chiffon. Xia Ling would not have felt the pins when walking around, but once someone reached over to grab her by the waist, the pins would prate her body.

    Xia Yu had seen the script and knew that the knight would hold on to the princess¡¯ waist after putting the crystal tiara on her head.

    She had nned each step carefully.

    Lin Yunan lifted his head to re at Jimmy. ¡°He didn¡¯t use much strength? The first time he held her, Xiao Ling had already yelped out in pain, but he still held on tighter to her! What do you say about that?!¡±

    Rong Ping held in his anger while saying in a hoarse voice, ¡°I¡¯ll pay for her medical expenses.¡±

    Lin Yunan wanted to continue on his rampage. Did he think that Xiao Lingcked the money to pay for medical expenses? However, since he was just a manager, and Rong Ping, the big actor, had already apologized, it would not benefit Xiao Ling¡¯s career for him to keep picking on Rong Ping. Lin Yunan threw a nce at Rong Ping before saying, ¡°Just be careful next time.¡±

    Rong Ping ignored him and looked down at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling had a headache from their quarrel and was leaning weakly on Rong Ping¡¯s chest with frowning face.

    Even though Rong Ping had the image of a gentleman, he had almost no experience dealing with girls. He thought to himself that it would do Xia Ling good for him to distract her from the pain. As such, he searched for a topic. ¡°I wonder how the gown had so many pins in it.¡±

    Xia Ling mumbled something intelligible in response.

    She thought to herself that the most likely suspect was Gu Lin. Last week, there were no incidents during their filming. Yet, this week Gu Lin appeared and then this happened. They were at loggerheads, it would be no surprise to her if Gu Lin wanted to do her in.

    Lin Yunan received the photos that Wei Wei took of the film set. In the photos, he could see that there were many pins all around the clothes room, but most of them looked new and clean. There were some that were rusty but were not as rusty as those he found in Xiao Ling¡¯s dress. It seemed that the rustiest pins had been coted to be stuck into Xiao Ling¡¯s gown.

    Lin Yunan was sure that someone had been out to hurt Xiao Ling.

    But who was it? Gu Lin?

    He sent a message to Wei Wei asking her to take note of Gu Lin¡¯s movements.

    Xia Lingpleted the necessary checks at the hospital and was given a tetanus injection. The doctor suggested that she remain in the hospital for observation.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to return to the film set. We haven¡¯t finished filming the scene of putting the tiara on the real princess.¡±

    Lin Yunan shook his mobile at her. ¡°I¡¯ve just received news that Xia Yu has taken your ce for that.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°Were they worried that I wouldn¡¯t be able to continue filming because of my injury? Tell them I¡¯m fine, and that I¡¯ming back now.¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu was moring for the real princess position. Did you think she would let this chance to take your ce slip since you¡¯re now injured?¡± There was a look of disdain on Lin Yunan¡¯s face, though Xia Ling was uncertain who he was directing his disdain at. ¡°Additionally, there¡¯s Gu Lin ¡ª the sponsor ¡ª there to add oil to the fire, saying that you¡¯re injured and your performance will be less than perfect. She said that it would affect the Gu family reputation in thatizens might say that they were torturing the artistes. With Gu Lin insisting that they change the real princess candidate, there is really nothing the program team can do about it.¡±

    If Xia Ling were reced, Rong Ping would definitely have to be reced too.

    Jimmy asked, not willing to let it go. ¡°Is there nothing that we can do at all? It¡¯s a small injury, not serious at all.¡± Since Xia Ling was not under his charge, Jimmy now felt that she was a burden and had caused Rong Ping to lose his position as well.

    Lin Yunan gave a coldugh. ¡°The severity of the injury and Xiao Ling¡¯s willingness to film while being injured are two different things altogether. Jimmy, you might be thick-skinned and tough such that any injury is small to you but... My Xiao Ling is different ¡ª she¡¯s a dancer, and any injury to her waist is a serious one. If she doesn¡¯t take care of it, there could be long-term problems in the future!¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. Her willingness to go back to the film site was a significant risk on her part. Clearly, Jimmy had not appreciated that.

    Rong Ping, on the other hand, was a lot more understanding. Yet, he was caught between caring for Xia Ling¡¯s injury and his own career. He decided that his career was more important and spoke up. ¡°Xiao Ling, why don¡¯t you rest well today and we will think of a way to speak to the program team? We can resume filming tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow? That will be way toote...¡± Lin Yunan gave a cold smile and looked at Rong Ping and Jimmy. ¡°Today, now, immediately. We have to go back to the film site and finish filming thatst scene.¡± He was a practical man, and working with Xia Ling had been driven by the mary benefits that it would bring. He was not interested in being her friend but had been enticed by her Diva potential and marketable value.

    He was worried about Xia Ling¡¯s injury.

    However, his concern was only limited to whether the injury would leave any long-term issues that would affect her work in the future. ¡°Take care of your waist. Come over here, I¡¯ll support you... take it slow.¡± He held onto Xia Ling and helped her into the car.

    Did he care if she was tired? Or in pain? Sorry, that was not part of his consideration.

    Xia Ling rested for the period that it took them to return to the film site, and in that same time, both Jimmy and Lin Yunan were constantly calling the program team. They were stalling for time, negotiating, and giving their all to reinstate Xia Ling and Rong Ping¡¯s positions.

    However, the result was not what they wanted.

    Jimmy hung up and sighed, his face dark. ¡°I think it¡¯s a lost cause even if we go back now.¡±

 Chapter 330 - Changing the Real Princess Again

    <h4>Chapter 330: Changing the Real Princess Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him.

    ¡°They¡¯ve already started filming.¡±

    ¡°Driver, go faster!¡± Lin Yunan said.

    ¡°Not going to give up until thest moment?¡± Jimmy gave a bitter smile and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use. What can we say to the program team to change their mind? Going back is just a loss of face for us.¡±

    Lin Yunan ignored him and said to Xia Ling and Rong Ping. ¡°Later, Jimmy and I will get off first. Both of you stay in the car until we¡¯vepleted our negotiations. I¡¯ll ask Wei Wei toe to get you guys.¡± He did not lift his head, but immediately called Wei Wei on his mobile.

    Jimmy looked a little sheepish and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your grand n?¡±

    Lin Yunan gave him an angry re as he spoke into the phone, warning him to keep quiet.

    Jimmy remained quiet for the rest of the way.

    Xia Lingmented as she watched both of them. She was starting to understand why Feng Kun had rmended Lin Yunan to be her manager. When things were going smoothly, his prowess was not obvious. However, when emergency matters arose, a good manager would not give up on getting the best for their artistes. Jimmy? Jimmy was not a bad manager ¡ª the manager for the Best Actor was no pushover ¡ª but he was inept in front of Lin Yunan.

    Rong Ping¡¯s expression was dark as hepared his manager with Xia Ling¡¯s. Jimmy seemed too useless.

    The car returned to the film site.

    Lin Yunan brought Jimmy in tow as he ran back to the film site and stopped the filming, his gaze full of menace.

    Everyone turned to look at him.

    Xia Yu was just waiting for the crystal tiara to be ced on her head, her expression that of pure bliss when she suddenly heard the loud ¡°Cut!¡± She turned around at the sound, confusion stered on her face. There was nothing wrong with Zheng Chenhao and her acting, why did someone call a cut? When she saw that the person who had called the cut was Lin Yunan, she knew that there was going to be trouble.

    ¡°Lin Yunan, please don¡¯t interrupt our filming.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s assistant stepped forward. Xia Yu¡¯s manager, Chu Chen, was head of the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s manager¡¯s department and the vice president of thepany. Given his busy schedule, he did not always follow Xia Yu to her filming. As such, even though most of the artistes were with their managers, Xia Yu only had her assistant following her.

    Lin Yunan ignored her assistantpletely and spoke directly to the director. ¡°The pins that hurt Xiao Ling are in my hand now. Together with the other evidence on set, the most likely situation is that someone had hurt Xiao Ling on purpose, and the goal was to get the position of the real princess. In this regard, I withhold the right to log a police report and speak to the media.¡±

    A threat... this was a clear threat.

    There was greatmotion at his words. Everyone had witnessed how Xia Ling had been injured earlier, and those rusty pearl pins were indeed fishy. There was a good likelihood that she had indeed been set up. This was something that wasmon in the entertainment circle, as artistes would scheme to get good roles and parts. Even though everyone pitied Xia Ling, they merely brushed it aside andmented that she had been unlucky.

    Many were not happy at Lin Yunan¡¯s words. The director stood up and addressed him. ¡°Mr. Lin, what are you trying to do? Do you know the repercussions of your actions for the show?¡± Call in the police? Speak to the media? Wasn¡¯t this telling the public that there were underhanded happenings on their program? ¡°Extraordinary Risks¡± had been going on for several seasons, and their reputation was very positive. The broadcast station was preparing to nominate their program for many awards. He could not allow any problems to arise at this point!

    Lin Yunan gave a coldugh. ¡°If the program team isn¡¯t going to give Xiao Ling face, why should I give you any?¡± He was different from other managers, and he deigned to negotiate pleasantly with these civilized folks. He was a hooligan, blunt and brazen. Many did not dare to go against him.

    Seeing that they reached a deadlock, the producer stepped forward to mediate. ¡°Let¡¯s not be too agitated, Mr. Lin. We are also thinking about Xiao Ling, it will be too tough for her to film with her injury...¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling is willing to, so what¡¯s your problem?!¡± Lin Yunan nced around at everyone. ¡°Unless there¡¯s really something else going on... and Xiao Ling has gotten into the way of someone, so she¡¯s been targeted?!¡±

    ¡°Mr. Lin, please watch what you say!¡± Xia Yu spoke up, feeling that she should not continue to pretend to be invisible. Lin Yunan insinuated in his every sentence that the person masterminding the entire incident was her, Xia Yu, who had taken over the real princess position! ¡°Are you insinuating that I harmed Xiao Ling?! This is a false usation! You better show some concrete evidence!¡±

    There were tears in her eyes as she perfectly yed the role of the wronged.

    ¡°Hurhur, it¡¯s not important who I think is responsible... it¡¯s more important who the police thinks is responsible.¡± Lin Yunan retorted. ¡°Why don¡¯t we call in the cops so that they can start investigating?¡± He was unsure who had set Xiao Ling up, and the most likely suspect at this point was Gu Lin. However, Xia Yu and Xiao Ling did not get along, and Xia Yu was the main beneficiary from the matter. Lin Yunan would not be surprised if it turned out that Xia Yu had been responsible for the set-up.

    Regardless, the program team was not going to allow him to bring in the cops.

    Once word got out that such an incident had happened on their set, regardless of the results of the investigation, there would still be negative repercussions for the program team. If a set-up were found, they would be in deep trouble. And if nothing were found, they would still have to answer to the team overlooking the dress and causing harm to a female artiste. Fans would take it out on the program team, and the rivals for ¡°Extraordinary Risks¡± would rub their hands in glee and add to the fire.

    The head of the broadcast station would skin them alive if they allowed anything untoward to happen to the program, given that it was on track to winning many awards.

    The producer decisively said, ¡°It¡¯s such a small matter, let¡¯s not bother the police with it. It¡¯s all a big misunderstanding. Yes, a misunderstanding. If Xiao Ling is up for it, she cane back to film. She¡¯s still the real princess.¡±

    ¡°Producer Gong!¡± This time, Zheng Chenhao¡¯s team piped up in unhappiness. ¡°How can you change the candidates at your whim?! Are you ying with us?!¡± They were paired with Xia Yu, and if Xia Yu were swapped out, it was inevitable that Zheng Chenhao would have to be swapped out too.

    ¡°Ah, ah...¡± Before the producer had time to respond, Lin Yunan was already jeering. ¡°So sorry to Heavenly King Zheng... Director, emcee, is there a segment for the knight¡¯s treason?¡±

    ***

    Xia Ling and Rong Ping, who were waiting in the car all this time, were finally called over.

    As soon as she stepped out of the car, Xia Ling felt a weird atmosphere in the film set. Everyone was looking at her, especially Xia Yu, who waspletely pale and her expression seemed like she had been wronged and bullied.

    Xia Ling held her head high and maintained her most elegant poise, walking with Rong Ping to Lin Yunan and Jimmy¡¯s side.

    ¡°Both of you, go rehearse the scene together with Zheng Chenhao.¡± Lin Yunan instructed. ¡°The small games earlier need to be filmed again. Zheng Chenhao will find a good timing to betray Xia Yu ande over to your team. Rong Ping, you will be escorting Xiao Ling and putting the tiara on the real princess together with Zheng Chenhao.¡±

 Chapter 331 - Ouch, It Hurts

    <h4>Chapter 331: Ouch, It Hurts</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What?¡± Rong Ping did not expect the result would be like that and tightly knitted his brows.

    ¡°Him and me? Why do you have to add people?¡± The female celebrity would definitely increase in poprity if two men escorted her, but it was theplete opposite for the male celebrities. Rong Ping was originally in the spotlight, so why should he share it with Zheng Chenhao?

    Jimmy said, ¡°Brother Rong, this is the best ending. Brother Lin had a difficult time fighting for it.¡± Although he also disapproved of it, he still tried tofort Rong Ping. He had no choice under those circumstances. Lin Yunan and Zheng Chenhao both hoped for a scenario with two men and one woman. To increase the show¡¯s topics of discussion, the show team also hoped for a scenario with two men and one woman. How could Jimmy win a losing battle?

    However, he still could not tell Rong Ping that he could not handle the situation. Otherwise, Rong Ping would think he was useless.

    He could only exin to Movie King Rong. ¡°Zheng Chenhao is a singer while you are an actor, so your acting skills are tremendously better than his. It is very easy to steal his limelight. You can only show your talent if there is apetition. The fans will like you even more then.¡±

    Although Rong Ping was unhappy, things were already finalized, so he could only reluctantly ept this reason. <i>Want topete using acting skills? Hmph, Zheng Chenhao, you better await your defeat. Trying to steal my spotlight? I will definitely teach you a lesson!</i>

    Although Rong Ping¡¯s emotions were in a mess, Xia Ling was ted.

    She remembered that at the start of the show, none of the knights chose her ¡ª Rong Ping and Zheng Chenhao scrambled to choose Xia Yu. As the show progressed, her performance became more eye-catching, causing the knights to leave Xia Yu one by one and choose her... Now, as she wore the crystal crown, there were two knights to escort her. On the other hand, Xia Yu, who was the most morous at the start, became the most lonely and pitiful at the end. The gap between the winner and the loser was like the length of a rolling cloud.

    Was there any other situation that could make her happier?

    As for this sister, although Xia Ling did not want to nitpick, she would also never give in whenpeting with her in this lifetime.

    The next shoot went very smoothly. The top male celebrities, Zheng Chenhao and Rong Ping, secretlypeted with each other to act as perfect knights, capturing the hearts of young girls as they apanied Xia Ling. She re-entered the jade altar which was covered in petals and walked through the romantic perfume rain to wear the crystal crown.

    After seeing this scene, Gu Lin was as furious as Xia Yu.

    Miss Gu clenched her fists tightly. She had a hard time framing Ye Xingling because she did not want this hateful woman to be the true princess, so why was it still her in the end?! Gu Lin rushed to look for the show team to protest. ¡°No way! I won¡¯t acknowledge her! Her injury will ruin the Gu family¡¯s reputation! I request for a substitution!¡±

    The producer had a terrible headache. Why was Miss Gu still protesting?

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± He patiently reasoned with her. ¡°If we rece Ye Xingling, the show will incur a huge loss. If you insist on not using her, then we can only reject the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s sponsorship.¡±

    How... how could this be?! Gu Lin was stunned. The show team would rather have the irritating Ye Xingling than the Gu Financial Magnate¡¯s sponsorship?! ¡°If you don¡¯t want the sponsorship then you won¡¯t have it!¡± Gu Lin was enraged and stomped her foot. ¡°You really insist on using her? Sure! The Gu Financial Magnate will cancel the sponsorship! You better get rid of all these perfumes!¡±

    Miss Gu was boiling with anger and tried to speak arrogantly, but sure enough, everyone ignored her.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you moving? Are you all deaf? I said to get rid of them!¡±

    The producer really sympathized with Gu Lin¡¯s IQ. ¡°Miss Gu, our program group has signed an agreement with the sponsor. We can get rid of the perfume. However, please send yourpany¡¯s representative to talk with us to cancel the agreement. As long as the contract is not officially canceled, even you can¡¯t ask us to get rid of the perfume.¡±

    Gu Lin was dumbfounded again. Why was it so troublesome?!

    She viciously red at the producer and ran out to call her father.

    Xia Ling had finished filming the scene with the two male celebrities and walked over.

    The producer smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m afraid we have lost a sponsor because of you.¡± Seeing that she was confused, he briefly exined the conflict with Gu Lin.

    Xia Ling lightly smiled. ¡°It¡¯s their loss.¡± She was already numb to Gu Lin¡¯s usual shenanigans, and she also did not approve of what the producer said. What did he mean by saying that they lost a sponsor because of her? Please, it was the show¡¯s own negligence that allowed messy people to visit the set and caused her to be injured because they did not take care of the props well. Why were they trying to evade responsibility and me her now? Sorry, but she was not willing to bear any responsibility.

    ¡°Talking about it, the doctor told me to get some rest. I had toe to work hurting after being injured during an ident. To recover, I will need at least half a month, and I don¡¯t know how many jobs I will lose.¡± As she spoke, she smiled at the producer and calmly left.

    Did they think she had no loss? They were lucky that she did not demand anypensation!

    The producer became absent-minded after looking at her smile and only came back to reality after she had walked very far away. She was only a newly rising female celebrity, why did she have such arge presence? Unconsciously, she took control of the situation. It was almost as if... she were a noble and arrogant Diva such that even a strand of her hair was worth more than the riches they could earn after working tirelessly. What was with this feeling?

    A girl like that...

    Miss Gu did not get along with her, but it was probably more of the Gu Family¡¯s loss.

    This time, Xia Ling did not sit in Rong Ping¡¯s car. She returned to her Porsche which was parked in the garage so tired that she was almost paralyzed. After rxing, she felt the wound at her waist hurting again. It was a burning pain and felt as if more than a dozen needles were stuck in her skin. She frowned as she groaned andy on the back seat. Bending her legs ufortably, she ttened her body to minimize the burden on her waist.

    ¡°Despicable jerk. If I find out who you are, I will kill you!¡± She cursed as she buried her head in a pillow and held her waist.

    In front of her, the chauffeur replied in a low voice, ¡°Who do you think it is?¡±

    She was frightened and looked up for a long while. ¡°Li... Li Lei?!¡± This guy was probably addicted to being a driver. Why was he discreetly lurking in her car when she told him he did not need toe?

    ¡°Is your injury better?¡± He asked and turned around to face her, his face full of concern. Last week, he sessfully passed off as a chauffeur to see her a few more times. This week, he ignored her objection and dressed up as a chauffeur again but did not expect to hear that she was injured.

    He could not get out of the car, so he gazed at the night sky until she finally ended her filming and entered the car.

    With the Porsche¡¯s doors and windows tightly shut, it was quiet as the two faced each other.

 Chapter 332 - A Revenge Ten Times Worse

    <h4>Chapter 332: A Revenge Ten Times Worse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling mumbled again. ¡°The pain is killing me. Why would I know who did it? I¡¯m so cute and fierce that too many people want to hurt me. I think it is most likely Gu Lin? Or Xia Yu? I¡¯m not too sure.¡±

    Li Lei threw a nket over her body, nicely covering her injured waist. ¡°What did the doctor say?¡± Although he did not continue asking who sabotaged her, it did not mean that he had let it go. No matter who the saboteur was, he would definitely find out and get revenge ten times worse! However, she did not need to know about these bloody issues.

    ¡°Doctor?¡± Xia Ling tilted her head and thought about it. ¡°The doctor said that it¡¯s not a big problem and that there¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡± In reality, the doctor said that she needed to rest and monitor her injury closely. Although she had a tetanus shot, she was still at risk of getting an infection, so she had to be extremely careful during this period. However, she did not intend to voice out her troubles because she did not want him to worry.

    Li Lei was slightly relieved and reprimanded her. ¡°You¡¯re so stupid! Why didn¡¯t you check your clothes before wearing them?¡±

    ¡°How would I know there would be needles...¡± Xia Ling felt a little wronged and whined. ¡°Ouch, it hurts...¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t die from the pain!¡± Big Boss started the car and drove as he chastised her. ¡°Who was the one demanding independence? Who was the one who said she needed space and was fine by herself? Is that you mean by being fine? If you can¡¯t take care of yourself,e back to Skyart Entertainment and I will deal with those who disrespect you.¡±

    Xia Ling protested. ¡°I¡¯m fine! This time was an ident! An ident!¡±

    Big Boss looked at her scornfully from the rearview mirror.

    Xia Ling was triggered. ¡°Li Lei, what are you implying with that expression? What? You don¡¯t trust me? Let me tell you! I... Ouch, it hurts...¡± She was too emotional, so she unknowingly climbed up and almost twisted her waist.

    Big Boss slowed the car and drove steadier. After seeing her cute and aggrieved appearance through the rearview mirror, he became calmer after initially feeling irritable. Unknowingly, he curved his lips into a smile.

    After a few days, Li Lei found out that it was Gu Lin who set her up.

    ¡°What should we do, Boss?¡± Li Lei¡¯s current special assistant, Tan Ying, put the results of the investigation in front of him and waited for further instructions.

    ¡°Old rules. We¡¯ll pay her back ten times as hard.¡± Li Lei did not even move a muscle. His viciousness in the underground world was notorious for a reason. He would always pay back those who went against him ten times as hard. This was already the minimum standard.

    ¡°However, this is the eldest daughter of the Gu family.¡± Tan Ying was somewhat hesitant. Wouldn¡¯t his Boss offend his business partner¡¯s family if he sought revenge on her? If the Gu familyined about him in front of Old Master Gu, things might get troublesome. He should know that the heir of the Li family was not determined yet. Li Feng and Li Lei were still fiercepetitors, and perhaps a minor thing could determine victory and defeat.

    ¡°The eldest daughter of the Gu family?¡± Li Lei¡¯s gentleugh was like a spring breeze, but it was full of murderous intent. ¡°What is she whenpared to the future daughter-inw of the Li family?¡± He had tolerated Gu Lin countless times because of his family¡¯s business rtionship with her family, but he did not think that she would be so unscrupulous as to hurt Xiao Ling physically.

    If he did not seek revenge now, what position would Xiao Ling be in?

    No matter how deep their business rtionship was, there was always a limit.

    Tan Ying knew that his young master was very agitated, so he followed his orders.

    Since Xia Ling¡¯s injury was caused by ten rusty beaded pins, Gu Lin would be hurt by one hundred and ten pins. In the secret cell, when Tan Ying ordered the executioners to plunge the hundred and ten pins into Gu Lin¡¯s body as she squealed like a pig. ¡°No! Stop! Ah! It¡¯s not me! It¡¯s really not me!¡±

    She burst into tears and weakly begged on the ground. ¡°Let me go. I beg you, let me go... I have never used this kind of bead pin. I only secretly stuck a few sewing needles on Ye Xingling¡¯s skirt. These bead pins were not attached by me... I also don¡¯t know why things turned out like that... Let me go, I¡¯m begging you. It really hurts...¡±

    It wasn¡¯t her? Tan Ying slightly squinted. With Miss Gu¡¯s stupidity, she would probably not lie in these circumstances. It looked like more investigation was required regarding this matter. However, even if the beaded pins were not ced there by her, she attached the sewing needles. If Li Lei heard about this, he was afraid that he would punish her ten times worse.

    Tan Ying waszy and did not want to punish her again, so he decided that he might as well finish this punishment at once. He acted as if he did not care about Gu Lin¡¯s pleas and lodged a total of one hundred and ten beaded pins into her body. The way he inserted the nails was not random like the way Gu Lin ced the sewing needles and different from Xia Yu who inserted the beaded pins into her waist due to limitations. The people he had on his side were trained and specialized in torture. They knew where they should insert the needles to cause the most pain such that the person felt that it was the end of his life but also escaping detection.

    Gu Lin was tortured by them until she fainted.

    Before she fainted, herst thought was of being afraid. What could Brother Lei not do for that woman? As she was wallowing in pain, she was regretful...

    On the other hand, Li Lei received Tan Ying¡¯s report.

    ¡°After Miss Gu shouted for injustice, I sent someone to investigate carefully again. It was Xia Yu who reced the sewing needles with beaded pins and inserted them in a more concealed position, which caused the sess rate to be even higher,¡± Tan Ying said.

    ¡°Then let Xia Yu have a taste of her medicine too,¡± Li Lei said.

    Tan Ying acted ording to his orders.

    As these things were taking ce secretly, they werepleted in the span of a few days. Xia Ling, who was kept in the dark, went to work as usual. However, she was a little hot-tempered because progress was slower due to her injuries.

    Li Lei frequently dressed up as a chauffeur to pick her and fed her many of his homemade snacks.

    One day, as Xia Ling was eating a snack andining about how she wasgging behind, she received a call from Lin Yunan telling her that the shooting for next week¡¯s Extraordinary Risks was temporarily called off.

    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Xia Ling replied. ¡°There are currently two jobs that I haven¡¯t been able toplete on time, I can use the extra time to finish them.¡± After she urged Lin Yunan to reschedule her jobs and hung up the phone, she became a little curious.

    She asked Li Lei, ¡°I heard that Xia Yu is sick and can¡¯t participate in the show, so the shooting date was changed. However, what sickness has she caught?¡±

    Li Lei gave her a toothy smile. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t have a headache from time to time? She only took a week¡¯s leave, so it can¡¯t be anything serious.¡± He obviously knew what was going on. It would be surprising for her to have enough energy to film after Tan Ying and his team plunged over a hundred needles into her body.

    Xia Ling was only a little curious and forgot about it after a while.

    She was not clear about who sabotaged her and was even more unaware that Li Lei had sought revenge for her.

    Her schedule was full, and she was busy from dawn to daybreak. Unknowingly, two weeks passed and it was time to film Extraordinary Risks. The filming location was still outdoors.

 Chapter 333 - Greeting Chairman Pei

    <h4>Chapter 333: Greeting Chairman Pei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As she ran into trouble thest time, Li Lei was worried and personally drove her to the filming location in the morning.

    ¡°Call me if anything happens.¡± He was still nagging when they reached the filming location.

    ¡°Sure, I will.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°You also don¡¯t have to keep sitting in the car. There are many resort hotels nearby. Just find one to rest in and I will alert you when I¡¯m finished with my job.¡±

    Li Lei smiled and nodded.

    The filming at this outdoor location took a very long time as the show had to catch up with the loss of progressst week and quickly film this week¡¯s original n. Thus, the show team made arrangements for four days and three nights, and there would be a few changes of locations during the filming. Li Lei asked for the general route she would be taking during the shoot and delightedly decided to book a holiday resort near her shooting locations.

    Xia Ling followed the team as they shot the scenes.

    This time, the show team was rather solemn. After the incident with the beaded pins, everyone was cautious as they were afraid of being sabotaged or being framed of being the assant, and were more careful especially when interacting with Xia Ling. A few people beat around the bush and asked, ¡°Has the one responsible for inserting the pins been caught?¡±

    However, Xia Ling was clueless. ¡°No, I¡¯m busy. I don¡¯t have anyone investigating for me.¡± She believed in seeking revenge, but looking for clues was not her forte. Furthermore, her schedule was packed with jobs and she was still recovering, so she put this matter aside for the time being. Speaking of it, she was still regretful that she had no time to deal with it. ¡°I don¡¯t know which bastard did it. Such a lowly person probably won¡¯t be able to marry in the future.¡± She suspected it was Gu Lin who did it, which was why she cursed the person not to be able to marry.

    At the side, Xia Yu, who was drinking mineral water, felt thoroughly unwell.

    More than one hundred beads pins were inserted into her body. She was in so much pain that she hovered between life and death. It took a difficult half a month to recuperate, and she was still not fully recovered yet. In the end, the chief culprit that caused it waspletely unaware of what happened! After thinking about it a little, she reasoned that Li Lei was definitely unwilling to let his beloved woman know about these dirty issues, so he kept it a secret from her and would not even tell her what he did. Xia Yu looked at Xia Ling jealously. Why was this woman so lucky?!

    Xia Ling was unaware of her gaze and continued to chat with the others. This drove Xia Yu so mad that she gritted her teeth.

    The first day peacefully went by like this.

    On the afternoon of the second day, a few cameramen were eating lunch after filming as a worker looked for Xia Ling and said, ¡°Miss Ye, Director Zhao is looking for you. He is on the second floor of the Jingshui mountain vi.¡±

    Director Zhao?

    Xia Ling looked uncertainly at Lin Yunan who was beside her.

    Lin Yunan exined, ¡°He is the manager of the TV station that airs Extraordinary Risks.¡± However, he felt that it was strange and turned around to speak to the worker. ¡°Why is Director Zhao looking for her?¡± He could not be med for being alert, female celebrities were a little more troublesome in the entertainment industry than male celebrities. There were many unspoken rules. Director Zhao was aplete stranger to Xia Ling but was invited to meet him like that ¡ª it could not be anything good.

    The worker replied, ¡°I¡¯m also not sure. The manager did not say anything.¡±

    Should she go? Xia Ling looked at Lin Yunan inquiringly. Now, she really trusted in her manager¡¯s abilities.

    Lin Yunan muttered to himself for a few seconds and responded, ¡°I will apany you.¡± They were supposed to meet in the afternoon, not at night, so things were probably not as he thought. At least, this time, Director Zhao would probably not do anything to her. It would be better if she epted his invitation and gave him face, as he probably would be talking about relevant issues.

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Please wait for a while. I have to respond to a message.¡± She grabbed her mobile phone and sent Li Lei a message. The gist of it was that she could not sneak out to apany him for lunch today because she had to meet the TV station¡¯s Director Zhao.

    After sending the text, she said to Lin Yunan and the worker, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The worker walked in front to lead them to the location. As the manager did not specify that she had to go alone and celebrities usually had people following them, he did not mind that Lin Yunan came with her.

    Soon, they reached the Jingshui mountain vi.

    The Jingshui mountain vi was the near the most exclusive resort in the vicinity. Li Lei was stillining yesterday that even if it weren¡¯t for her shooting location, he would still want to visit Jingshui mountain vi. Xia Ling also mocked him for his arrogance and extravagance but did not expect that she would be invited over by someone today. She walked along the quiet corridor, past a screen of swimming koi fishes, and reached an ample open space.

    Beautiful wooden floors, exquisite tea set, and flowing water.

    Director Zhao was drinking tea with another man. To be more precise, he was apanying another man. The smile on his face showed that he was being hospitable and modest.

    The man beside him was wearing an exquisite sweater. He took off his coat and casually ced it next to him.

    He was drinking tea very calmly, and even his posture when drinking the tea was impable. He did not need a beautiful woman as a partner to be full of style. Only someone from a distinguished and noble family that had generations of refined education was able to cultivate such behavior.

    From Xia Ling¡¯s point of view, she could only see half of the man¡¯s face.

    However, half of the man¡¯s face was enough for her to recognize him. It was Pei Ziheng.

    At once, she stopped in her tracks. Did Director Zhao ask her to go over because of Pei Ziheng?!

    ¡°Director, Miss Ye is here.¡± The worker broke the silence and reported.

    Director Zhao, who was initially attentive to Pei Ziheng, turned around to look at Xia Ling. His ttering expression was reced with an arrogant one that resembled a manager¡¯s. ¡°Are you Miss Ye?¡± He examined Xia Ling discreetly. It was strange. Although her looks were delicate, she was not very outstanding among the beautiful women in the entertainment industry. Why did Chairman Pei praise her? No, that was not right... It was because the girl in front of him resembled thete Diva Xia Ling. He heard that Chairman Pei had been looking for someone who resembled Diva Xia Ling. It turned out that the rumor was true.

    As the leader of a popr TV station, what kind of superstar had Director Zhao not seen? He did not take notice of newly emerging female stars like Ye Xingling. The main reason why he called her over was because of Chairman Pei.

    He heard that Chairman Pei was recently interested in variety shows.

    He heard that Chairman Pei was recently on vacation.

    He heard that the ce he was having a vacation at was near Extraordinary Risks¡¯ filming location.

    Thus, Director Zhao ran to the location and scheduled a meeting with Chairman Pei to drink tea and chat, briefly introduced Extraordinary Risks to him, and sought for cooperation opportunities. Director Zhao felt that he made a painstaking effort, but just as his mouth was about to get dry from talking, Chairman Pei showed a little interest and suggested to meet a female star who was recently filming for Extraordinary Risks ¡ª Ye Xingling.

    Of course, Director Zhao immediately sent someone to invite her over.

    Although Ye Xingling was not his own artiste, as long as she was able to handle Chairman Pei, he did not mind her sleeping with Chairman Pei. Besides, in his mind, Ye Xingling should be very happy and extremely grateful to him. Wasn¡¯t getting involved with someone like Chairman Pei the dream of many young stars?

    As such, he gestured condescendingly to her. ¡°Come over and greet Chairman Pei.¡±

 Chapter 334 - Who Hurt Who

    <h4>Chapter 334: Who Hurt Who</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was unhappy and did not move.

    If she knew that Pei Ziheng was there, she would not even havee.

    ¡°Why are you still standing there?¡± Director Zhao frowned, afraid that she would unknowingly offend his important guest. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you. Don¡¯t be so afraid. Chairman Pei is the chairman of Imperial Entertainment. He won¡¯t eat you up.¡± He thought that the female star in front of him was ignorant and had never heard of Chairman Pei before, so he introduced him to her.

    At this time, Pei Ziheng also looked at her, put down the teacup, and turned around.

    When their eyes met, he saw the unhappiness in her eyes. The guarded and alert girl was really simr to the girl in his heart. He called her softly. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was low and mellow. To someone else, it sounded gentle and refreshing like a greeting from an old friend whom he had not seen in a long time.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say you were here?¡± She was still unhappy and asked in a questioning tone.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°If you knew beforehand, would you stille?¡±

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words.

    ¡°Come here and sit down.¡± Pei Ziheng pulled the chair out beside him and asked, ¡°Are you working hardtely? You¡¯ve lost weight.¡±

    Director Zhao was stunned after he found out that the two of them knew each other and might even have aplicated rtionship. He initially thought that Ye Xingling was ignorant, but it turned out that he was the ignorant one. How rarely did Chairman Pei treat someone this well? He personally pulled out a chair for a small female star! Did the sun rise from the west today?!

    At once, Director Zhao was a little embarrassed.

    However, he was a director for a reason. He quickly rposed himself and called for an attendant courteously, ¡°Attendant, please bring over another pot of tea.¡±

    However, Xia Ling still did not move. She looked at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t I invite you to drink tea with me without a reason?¡± Pei Ziheng looked at her with a trace of desteness on his beautiful and god-like face. ¡°When we met at the clubhouse, I thought you were very concerned about me.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Director Zhao and Lin Yunan who were beside them were very uneasy.

    Director Zhao was thinking: <i>Clubhouse?! Those two have progressed so quickly?!</i>He had to remember to remind the show team not to offend Chairman Pei¡¯s lover.

    Lin Yunan was thinking: <i>Horrible bastard, can you be any more ambiguous? Is it so amusing to damage Xiao Ling¡¯s reputation?!</i>

    ¡°Yes, after that meal at the clubhouse, I thought that Chairman Pei would change the way he appeared in front of Xiao Ling and stop scaring our Xiao Ling all the time.¡± Lin Yunan smiled stiffly. ¡°There were too many people present on that day, and I sent Xiao Ling home in a hurry, so I didn¡¯t have time to greet Chairman Pei properly. Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Xiao Ling¡¯s manager, Lin Yunan.¡± He cleverly exined that the supposed clubhouse was only a venue for a meal and there were many people present. Furthermore, Xiao Ling was sent home by her manager, and nothing unspeakable had happened there.

    Director Zhao immediately understood what Lin Yunan was implying, and his thoughts changed again. It seemed that Ye Xingling was still not Chairman Pei¡¯s lover. However, was she ying hard to get? Did that mean that Chairman Pei liked this type of girl? The director quietly made a mental note in his heart as knowing what his big partner liked was very important.

    Lin Yunan? Pei Ziheng slightly blinked. Many years ago, he heard of Lin Yunan. At that time, Lin Yunan was managing Li Er and was always provoking Xiao Ling. Xiao Ling frequentlyined about how overbearing and awful he was and how she wanted Pei Ziheng to throw him into the sea as food for the sharks...

    Although Pei Ziheng did not rip Lin Yunan into pieces, he had a terrible impression of him.

    However, since Xiao Ling had passed away, ripping him into pieces was an unfulfilled wish, and he would fulfill all of her wishes. Unknowingly, his expression became chilling. Even Lin Yunan who was courageous was taken aback and instinctively stepped back.

    He raised his head, controlled the fear in his heart, and looked at Pei Ziheng without making a concession.

    Although Pei Ziheng had the intention to kill him, he knew that considering his status, it was not the appropriate location to settle things. He was talking to the TV station director now and could not be bothered to start a dispute with a small manager. He directly treated Lin Yunan as air and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Can we talk alone?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling did not want to be alone with him, but thinking about Lin Yunan¡¯s expression just now, she felt that he was being targeted because he was apanying her. She knew how scary Pei Ziheng was and did not wish for him to project his anger onto people near her, so she replied, ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± Lin Yunan was worried.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± She smiled at Lin Yunan. ¡°It will be the same as thest time we ate together at the clubhouse. I¡¯ll just speak to Chairman Pei for awhile and will be back very soon. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Lin Yunan felt that it would be the case. He looked at them deeply and left with Director Zhao.

    Pei Ziheng calmly brewed tea for her.

    She epted the cup of tea and took a sip.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her quietly. The girl in front of him was slimmer than thest time he saw her, but her skin was still so white. She looked like a hypnotizing beauty. It was great to sit there peacefully with her, but why did she have to...

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Ling was the first to break the silence.

    ¡°To look for you.¡± Pei Ziheng replied. She was very busy during this period of time, so she was usually not at home. Going to the ce she rented was impractical, so he had no choice but to find a way to look for her near the shooting location of Extraordinary Risks. Director Zhao thought that he had managed to talk to Pei Ziheng after countless strategies, but unexpectedly, Pei Ziheng was using him to see Xia Ling.

    However, Xia Ling was startled. He was looking for her? ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    He looked at her. The silent tension made her nervous. The restless feeling she experienced when she was first imprisoned came back. Every time he looked at her like that, she did not know whether a gentle caress or a violent injury wasing in the next second.

    Her body stiffened, and she subconsciously gripped the armrest of the chair tightly.

    ¡°Are you that scared?¡± He smiled very lightly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you feel scared when you hurt Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°Hurt Xia Yu?¡± This time, Xia Ling was really stunned. ¡°I... I didn¡¯t. What exactly is going on?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei hired people to plunge over a hundred beaded pins into Xia Yu¡¯s body because of you. You don¡¯t know about this?¡±

    Why would she know?! Oh god, when did Li Lei do something like that? However, Li Lei must have had his reasons for hiring people to plunge pins into Xia Yu. ¡°Does that mean that the person who ced the beaded pins on my princess dress was Xia Yu?!¡±

    ¡°It was her.¡± After seeing her surprised expression, he believed that she did not know about it and reduced his overbearance.

    ¡°Why would Xia Yu do something like that?!¡± Xia Ling was infuriated. ¡°Have I offended or provoked her? She is always trying to hurt me!¡±

    ¡°She isn¡¯t happy that I treat you well, so it¡¯s excusable if she did something a little out of character.¡± Pei Ziheng slowly said. ¡°She has always been weak from a young age. This time, after being hurt by so many pins, I believe that you were the one who went overboard.¡±

    What?

    Xia Ling was startled again, but after a while, she was so mad that her entire body shook as she rebuked him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, are you saying that it is excusable if she hurts me, but if I hurt her it is a heinous crime?!¡±

 Chapter 335 - Princess Temperament

    <h4>Chapter 335: Princess Temperament</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The gentle way Pei Ziheng looked at her was like he was looking at an insensible girl. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything after you pped her or scolded her. However, this time, she hurt you with eleven beaded pins but you hurt her with one hundred and eleven pins. That¡¯s going too far. The person sitting in front of me is you, Xiao Ling. Do you know...¡± Pei Ziheng slightly paused, and his voice became even softer. ¡°If it were someone else, he would probably have died a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was special. There was no doubt that she resembled Xia Ling the most.

    However, Xia Yu was also special. She was the only person rted to Xia Ling biologically left in this world ¡ª Xia Ling¡¯s most beloved younger sister.

    He did not know who he should side. Usually, if there were a small conflict, he would turn a blind eye. However, this time, after Xia Yu cried and looked for him covered in cuts, he could not be a bystander any longer. If he could not even protect Xia Ling¡¯s only sister, how was he qualified to face her after death?

    He made a special trip to warn ¡°Ye Xingling¡± and also to assert his dominance.

    Xia Ling was so angry that she snickered. ¡°Sure, Pei Ziheng. Xia Yu is precious to you, right? That¡¯s not a problem. I can treat Xia Yu well. I can apologize to her, and I can even carry her shoes as long as you never look for me again! Do you know why she hates me? Isn¡¯t it because of you?! You¡¯re very smart, so I¡¯m sure you know that Xia Yu likes you! Why did youe to provoke me? Why do you have to involve me in your trivial matters?! Now, Li Lei is helping me seek revenge. What if he didn¡¯t? Do I have to be bullied until death by Xia Yu while you not care at all?!¡±

    The more she spoke, the more indignant and hurt she felt. Countless memories of events that happened in the past flooded her mind. She thought about how when she was imprisoned in her past life, Xia Yu said her sister did not want to eat so Xia Ling did not have anything for dinner. Xia Yu said her sister went against the rules and went to the garden where she fell sick when caught in the rain. After that, she was chained to the bed as a severe punishment. Xia Yu said her sister wanted to escape... She did not even want to remember more of her hell-like past.

    Her face was pale, and her eyes were red. She was desperately fighting back the tears. Pushing the teapot away, she stood up and staggered backward. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t ever look for me again! Don¡¯t... ever...¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Seeing her tears, his heart ached, and he instinctively called her name.

    However, she did not stop. She was like a butterfly that was caught in the wind. In a sh, she disappeared into the long and dark corridor. Pei Ziheng looked at the direction she left for a long time.

    ¡°Boss.¡± Suddenly, someone called his name carefully and respectfully.

    Pei Ziheng turned around and saw that Chu Chen was standing beside him dressed in a suit and holding two files.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Feeling a little tired, he rubbed his temples.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°This is the overall cooperation agreement between Neb Music Channel and Purple Wind Bell Group. As long as you sign it, they will immediately take down all the recent jobs done by Miss Ye.¡± They were thergest music distributionpanies. If she were boycotted for a period of time, there would be devastating losses.

    ¡°Destroy these two agreements.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Chu Chen was startled. They weren¡¯t needed anymore? Pei Ziheng was furious after seeing that Xia Yu was hurt, and he was the one who ordered Chu Chen to get revenge on Ye Xingling. Chu Chen created a n to sabotage her after he was authorized by him. He had a hard time finalizing the contract, and it only needed Pei Ziheng¡¯s signature. Why did he change his mind after a few days?

    This was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s style.

    Chu Chen was sharp and realized that Ye Xingling had just run out crying when he came over.

    What happened before he arrived?

    As he spected in his heart, he respectfully responded with a ¡°Yes.¡± He then paused for a while before asking, ¡°What about the suppression n against Skyart Entertainment?¡± Xia Yu¡¯s revenge n was divided into two parts. One part was meant to hurt Ye Xingling, and the other part was to hurt Li Lei¡¯s Skyart Entertainment.

    ¡°Proceed as usual.¡± Pei Ziheng said without hesitation.

    Chu Chen slightly bowed and prepared to leave. Suddenly, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Redirect all the manpower and other resources used to hurt Ye Xingling to suppress Skyart Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Seeing that his Big Boss was in a bad mood, he trod carefully and did not even dare to breathe heavily as he left.

    In the quiet tea room, Pei Ziheng shut his eyes.

    In front of him, Ye Xingling¡¯s shocked, angry, and hurt expression refused to vanish from his head. She was almost in tears as she said, ¡°If Li Lei didn¡¯t help me seek revenge...¡± Li Lei? This name was like a thorn that was deeply lodged into Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart.

    In front of the Jingshui mountain vi¡¯s door.

    As Lin Yunan was waiting outside, he was shocked when he saw Xia Ling running out in tears. ¡°What happened?¡±

    She sniffed and shook her head. ¡°I was bitten by a dog.¡±

    ¡°What exactly happened?¡± Seeing that she was still in the mood to scold others, he was a little relieved. However, since Chairman Pei was not an ordinary person, he had to be concerned about her as her manager. ¡°What exactly happened thest time you ate with him at the clubhouse?¡±

    She shook her head and lifted her sleeve to wipe her tears away.

    After seeing that she looked like a cat after wiping her face, he grabbed her arm and pulled out a pair of sunsses from his pocket. ¡°Have you just debuted? It¡¯s almost two years, can you grow a little? How can you meet people with your makeup in this state? What if you are photographed? What happens if they ask you why you are in this state?¡±

    Xia Ling obediently let him put the sunsses on her face. She blew her nose and managed to regain herposure.

    ¡°If Pei Ziheng wants to be harsh, you can¡¯t escape.¡± Lin Yunan already started to make wild guesses without her saying anything. ¡°No matter what, he can¡¯t scold you until you cry. You aren¡¯t even part of hispany, so what right does he have? Besides, if he is able to scold you till you cry¡ª¡± Lin Yunan shook his head and felt that this was really inconceivable. ¡°Unreasonable Wei and I were not even able to scold you until you cry. What sort of scolding ability does he have? I couldn¡¯t tell he was talented in this area.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so noisy.¡± Xia Ling quietlyined. To prevent him from continuing to guess what happened, she simply told him, ¡°He framed me for hurting Xia Yu, and I felt wronged.¡± This was only a small part of the truth, but she was unable to share more of what happened with outsiders.

    Lin Yunan was shocked. ¡°You cried over this small matter?¡±

    ¡°What right did he have to use me?¡± Xia Ling was still mad and lowered her voice. ¡°I hate it the most when people treat me unjustly.¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless again. Whose fault was it for having a princess temperament? Sure enough, women¡¯s thoughts wereplicated. He could not even take her small wrongful treatment seriously and only said, ¡°Well, do you know how Xia Yu was hurt and who hurt her?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him rmingly and did not respond.

 Chapter 336 - Visiting Her At Work

    <h4>Chapter 336: Visiting Her At Work</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was Li Lei who hurt Xia Yu.

    Whatever the reason was, it was a fact that he had hurt somebody, and that could get him into trouble if he were found out.

    Xia Ling supported Li Lei till the end, and would not reveal anything even to her manager.

    But was Lin Yunan inexperienced in this field? He could read her mind just by looking at her expression. He chuckled. ¡°Why do you have your guard up against me like I¡¯m a thief? Don¡¯t worry, he has already told me about it himself and even cautioned me that Xia Yu could get back at you anytime. He wants me to look out for you.¡±

    Li Lei always thought of the big picture when he made his decisions. He not telling Xia Ling was in a bid to keep her safe and out of trouble, while informing Lin Yunan was to alert him of possible retaliation. But Xia Ling did not think he made a good choice. ¡°Why does he always tell outsiders about such things? Does he not know that this could get him in trouble?¡±

    ¡°Am I an outsider?¡± Lin Yunan was offended.

    ¡°Are you not?¡± Xia Ling responded. He chose to be her manager because of the money, they could not even be considered friends.

    Lin Yunan was further agitated. ¡°We¡¯re on the same side! Is it not because of you that I have to bother about this?! I couldn¡¯t care less about it, but I could lose my job because of these misceneous trivial matters of your personal life!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. This Uncle Lin was absurdly agitated, could he be in his mid-life crisis?

    It was a pity Lin Yunan could not hear her thoughts as he continued venting his anger for a while more. Xia Ling tolerated his rants the whole way.

    Back at the filming set.

    She got ready for an afternoon of filming despite her worries.

    The afternoon filming was set at a naturalke formation beneath a waterfall, roughly two meters deep. Theke was surrounded by decorative pebbles and stones, raising the scene¡¯s aesthetic beauty. At times, the water from theke would flow outwards, forming a downward stream. Thiske had also been taken for an outdoor swimming pool set in nature.

    Xia Ling¡¯s low spirits were finally lifted by the breathtaking scene before her.

    Xia Ling walked out in the swimsuit that the costume team had prepared for her, and at that moment, many could not take their eyes off her. She was wearing a light blue colored one-piece suit which was neither too conservative nor too exposing. The design was simple but elegant and highlighted the butterfly wing-like structure on her back. As she took a dip in the water, she looked almost like a gorgeous goddess who had descended to the mortal world.

    ¡°Xiao Ling is beautiful...¡± Luo Luo tugged at Bai Murong by her side.

    Bai Murong looked at this innocent girl quietly. He was her ¡°knight,¡± how was he supposed to respond to that? Would she get jealous if hemented the same? Bai Murong could not figure out a good response.

    Luo Luo waspletely awed. ¡°Xiao Ling is really beautiful... Murong, look, the way she moves in the water... She¡¯s like a mermaid. I¡¯m so envious...¡±

    ¡°Envious of what?¡± Bai Murong turned to look at Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo was still facing Xia Ling¡¯s direction. ¡°I wish I could look this elegant someday, and look like a mermaid as well.¡±

    Bai Murong told her, ¡°You already look like one now.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± Luo Luo looked up at him.

    Bai Murong could not help but pinch her cheeks, which still had some baby fat on them. ¡°I said, you¡¯re like a mermaid princess too, just a chubby one.¡± She was in a pink two-piece suit, and the pleats on her skirt made her appear a little fleshier than usual.

    Bai Murong liked it, and went on to say, ¡°Little Chubby Fish.¡±

    Luo Luo was stunned for a moment but made a pose to hit him when she registered what he had said. ¡°Bai Murong, you¡¯re so mean! How could you mock me like this! You¡¯re the worst!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Bai Murongughed as he evaded her fists.

    As the two of them continued teasing each other, Xia Ling had already tried out a few different filming angles to get the best lighting. If not for the time constraints, the director would have wanted to take more shots of her.

    Meanwhile, Xia Yu had also just got changed into her swimsuit. It could be because of the scarring from the needles that Xia Yu chose to wear a very conservative outfit. It was in white in color and covered her front fully.

    ¡°Female stars who go for the innocent image are simply different.¡± One of the cameramen shook his head at the side. ¡°She won¡¯t loosen up even a little bit.¡± He shot her from a few different angles and eventually gave up. ¡°This swimsuit doesn¡¯t bring out her figure at all ¡ª no chest, no curves, nothing! This is even worse than shooting Luo Luo, the Little Chubby Fish.¡± He could hear the teasing andughing going on between Luo Luo and Bai Murong. ¡°And she doesn¡¯t even have her knight here as well.¡±

    The director beside him spoke up. ¡°Isn¡¯t it simple? Just get a few more shots of Ye Xingling and Luo Luo then. Ye Xingling really is photogenic, no matter what outfit she¡¯s in. Oh right, try to ce more focus on Zheng Chenhao, we¡¯re depending on his muscles for the viewership.¡± Zheng Chenhao had a wonderful, well-trained physique that would make many girls blush. He wore boxer-length swimming trunks and left his upper body bare as he went to stand beside Xia Ling. This was easy, all they needed was for these two to sacrifice a little of their modesty in order to make the whole half-hour show worth watching.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯ll be easy if we focus on them.¡± The cameraman had no objections and went to adjust the filming equipment.

    On their side, the air that Zheng Chenhao exuded made Xia Ling ufortable ¡ª not in the way that she would blush, she was just not used to being this close to a man she wasn¡¯t close to. And his figure could not bepared to Li Lei¡¯s anyway. Although Li Lei¡¯s muscles were not as obvious and as defined, they were toned over time through experiences with the triads and actually looked threatening. As for Zheng Chenhao, his muscles did look good on camera, but they were not useful at all...

    Xia Ling kept her criticisms of Heavenly King Zheng to herself and quietly swam to the shore.

    Heavenly King Zheng did not notice her leaving and continued showing his muscles off in front of the camera.

    Realizing that the cameras were pointing towards Zheng Chenhao, Xia Ling, Luo Luo, the others, and Xia Yu got bored. If it wasn¡¯t for all the scars the needles left on her, wouldn¡¯t she be wearing pretty swimsuits as well? <i>Wretched Ye Xingling, watch how I get back at you!</i>

    She swam in the water casually, as if she were just getting familiar with the ce.

    When she reached the edge of the pool, she traced downwards and looked for the mechanism beneath the water, very well...

    She smiled in satisfaction and swam back up.

    Right as she reached the shore, someone called out to her. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, Miss Xia Yu is here!¡± One of the crew members looked at her, almost with a congrattory expression. ¡°Director Pei is here to watch you at work. I¡¯ll take you to him...¡±

    Director Pei? Brother Ziheng was here?

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes sparkled with joy. Back when her sister was still alive, Brother Ziheng often went to watch her at work, and she always wished he would do the same for her. Today, he finally came.

    She gave her sweetest smile and walked up to him.

 Chapter 337 - Accident

    <h4>Chapter 337: ident</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng was surrounded and admired by everyone around and was apanied by Director Zhao himself.

    It was an impromptu decision toe to the filming set. The scene he saw in the afternoon ¡ª the girl running out of the mountains with red, puffy eyes ¡ª was etched in his mind. He felt a strange sense of worry and could not fully be at ease until he saw for himself that she was safe and well.

    He heard the greetings of the people around him distractedly as his eyes searched for the girl.

    She was nowhere.

    She was still here a while ago, in her pale blue swimsuit, her hair up, and swimming like a mermaid. But now, just a momentter, she was gone, as if she were deliberately hiding from him.

    Meanwhile, it was Xia Yu who smilingly walked towards him.

    She was in an off-white one-piece swimsuit and had a big towel wrapped around her the moment she got out of the water. As she approached him, the crowd made way for her.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng,¡± she said sweetly. ¡°Thank you foring to see me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was not there for her but made no attempt to call her out for it. He simply gestured to Director Zhao and the others around him. ¡°Get on with your work, there¡¯s no need to apany me.¡±

    Director Zhao and the rest thought that he wanted some alone time with Xia Yu. Thus, they shot each other nces and naturally took their leave.

    From where Pei Ziheng had taken a seat at, the location was very scenic, and the waters were so clear he could see right to the bottom of.

    Xia Yu followed him and sat right beside him, trying to find something to talk about. ¡°It¡¯s so chilly today that I caught a cold this morning. But for the sake of the filming, I¡¯ve been holding it out as much as I can. Brother Ziheng, when we wrap up for the dayter, shall we go grab something to eat together? I¡¯m falling ill, and I don¡¯t think I should be eating the packed food from the production crew...¡±

    ¡°In future, don¡¯t find trouble with Ye Xingling.¡± Pei Ziheng cut her off mid-sentence.

    What? Xia Yu was stunned. Did Brother Ziheng rush over to the set just to tell her that? No... Xia Yu suddenly came to her senses, Brother Ziheng was not there for her in the first ce! His eyes were still looking into the distance, searching for something.

    ... It was Ye Xingling, it was that wretched woman!

    Brother Ziheng was here to see her!

    That realization was a stab to Xia Yu¡¯s heart.

    No matter how much grudges she held inside her, she dared not act up in front of Pei Ziheng. She simply gave a pitiful look. ¡°Brother Ziheng, I wasn¡¯t finding trouble with her, it¡¯s she who keeps finding fault with me...¡± She wanted to go on but shut her mouth the moment Pei Ziheng turned to look at her. He did not look fierce or angry, but the coldness in his expression made her feel as if he saw right through her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to fool me.¡± Pei Ziheng spoke calmly. ¡°Xiao Yu, I know exactly who is provoking who. This time, I was on your side when I went against Li Lei. But if you bother Ye Xingling again... you¡¯ll bear responsibility on your own.¡±

    Thest few words were softer than usual.

    But Xia Yu was clear that it was when his words were soft that his heart had hardened. And, did he say he went against Li Lei? Which meant that he did not target Ye Xingling directly? Xia Yu clenched her jaw hard, why was Brother Ziheng so defensive of this wretched woman? So much so that even her status as ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s sister¡± could be disregarded?!

    Was Brother Ziheng... in love with her?

    Xia Yu was shocked by her own thought and denied it immediately. No, Brother Ziheng was loyal and devoted to her sister, how could he fall for another woman? Even if he had a change of heart, he should only fall for Xia Yu. Why was Ye Xingling in the picture?!

    At this point, Pei Ziheng¡¯s vision focused, as if mocking her.

    Xia Yu followed his line of sight and saw that itnded on Ye Xingling. She was still in her pale blue swimsuit and apanied by her assistant and manager as she went through the script with a few male actors. Her smile, along with the light that fell on her beautiful features, made her incredibly attractive.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Pei Ziheng mumbled.

    Xia Yu heard what he said and clenched her fists hard in hatred. She was now d that she had tampered with the sluice underwater. After today... this wretched Ye Xingling will cease to exist in this world.

    Otherwise, if she continued to be around them... there was no telling whether Pei Ziheng would end up with that wretched woman one day.

    Xia Yu kept her eyes on the set.

    Xia Ling had seen them too. Seeing Xia Yu sitting right beside Pei Ziheng gave her a sense of defeat; all her words and advice were nothing against Xia Yu¡¯s lies. It seemed that she was of no importance at all in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. It did not matter anymore anyway, they were no more than strangers now, and she couldn¡¯t care less about his choice.

    Xia Ling turned away from them as she resigned herself to it.

    She gathered her focus and went into the water.

    ording to the schedule of work distributed by the production department, the first scene would feature her standing alone in the water as she yed games with others on shore. She would spend about 10 minutes in the water, which was rather cold during autumn. Xia Ling had to make a conscious effort not to shiver or tremble in the scene.

    It was a perfect take.

    The game went well, and most of the production crew managed to rx after this good take.

    Having spent a while in the cold water, Xia Ling could feel her body turn a little numb. Just as she made to go to shore for a break and to prevent her muscles from cramping, she suddenly heard a loud sound. She had not even processed what was going on when a wave engulfed her and took her along in its path as it proceeded downstream.

    Choking on the water and not even able to scream in distress, before she knew it, her vision blurred and she reached downstream.

    What was going on?

    As she struggled and iled her arms in the rushing waters, she vaguely heard people shouting. ¡°The sluice is open!¡±¡±Be careful!¡± And that was thest she heard from anyone.

    She knocked hard against a boulder in the river and felt a sharp pain. Then, she lost control of her arm.

    Was that a fracture? She panicked. If it was, there was no way she could swim her way out of this. Was this thest day of her life?!

    She tried to take a few strokes to keep herself afloat but was running out of energy. She felt herself sink, little by little.

    In the confusion, she could see the light shining through the water¡¯s surface. It looked as if somebody was swimming towards her, and only when he got closer did she catch a glimpse of his face ¡ª it was Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 338 - The Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 338: The Rescue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Was that a hallucination? Was she only seeing him because she was dying?

    But the physical touch felt all too real. He supported her with his arm and guided her as they swam towards the shore.

    So he was there to save her. At that moment, Xia Ling¡¯s tears welled up in her eyes, and all of her grievances were released through them. Only now, when she faced a situation of life and death, did she realize that he was willing to give up his life for her.

    He was her guardian, he always had been.

    She struggled to keep her head up and continue swimming with her one good arm in order not to be a dead weight on him. As she swam, she identally knocked against his wrist.

    A metallic object on his wrist utched and came off.

    Pei Ziheng turned his head around and his expression changed.

    Realizing that Pei Ziheng had stopped swimming forward, Xia Ling attempted to tug at him, signaling at him to hurry up. Against nature¡¯s forces, they were all too small and helpless, and another second spent in the water was one too many.

    But Pei Ziheng did not move.

    He looked towards the direction in which that object fell off and then turned towards her.

    Xia Ling had a bad premonition, and fear was beginning to wrap around her. All of the panic and darkness... she could not put it into words. But she was lost and helpless, and could only look at him pleadingly as she hoped for him to take her and escape that ce.

    But he took her hand off him.

    It was a forceful and decisive move. Her hand fell away from his arm the same way that the object did.

    Xia Ling did not see thating. She finally knew where the fear wasing from. In the ice-cold water where their lives were in danger, he could forsake and abandon her for an item unknown to her.

    Now that she had lost her support, her one good arm was unable to keep her in control of her swimming and ended up being dragged along by the waters. Her eyes were widened as she tried to look at him, to ask him why he did this, but that was when she realized he had already turned away to search for his lost item.

    Her heart turned cold, spreading from inside out.

    Xia Ling felt like she was sinking deeper by the second and that her muscles were going numb. It was almost as if she were losing her sense of existence. Before she knew it, she had sunk into a quiet, lonely darkness.

    It seemed like a prolonged nightmare.

    In the nightmare, there was arge cage, monsters, and a boundless void.

    She tried to escape in fear as she felt someone chasing after her. She ran until she saw the light before her ¡ª it was faint but warm and hopeful. As she ran towards it, she heard someone calling her name. ¡°Ling... Xiao Ling, Ye Xingling...¡±

    Who was she?

    Was she not Xia Ling? Why would she be Ye Xingling?

    As she stopped running towards the light, the voice became clearer. ¡°Xiao Ling... Ye Xingling... Wake up! Promise me you¡¯ll be fine...¡±

    Whose voice was that? It was familiar.

    Ye Xingling...?

    Right, she was Ye Xingling, who was Xia Ling?

    No... she was no longer Xia Ling.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,e back. Ye Xingling!¡± The voice sounded desperate and urgent.

    She dragged her feet towards the light with all her might. Finally, her eyelids quivered, and she was greeted by Li Lei¡¯s anxious expression.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve finallye to!¡± He was drenched from head to toe, and there was still some mud on his face. He looked dirty and downtrodden, but the smile he had just shed at her was the most beautiful and sincere one she had seen. He smiled foolishly. ¡°I will save you! Believe me, I¡¯ll save you! Xiao Ling, talk to me. Please stay awake, don¡¯t go back to sleep.¡±

    She found it difficult to breathe as her lungs hurt, but she listened to him and opened her mouth.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± He could not hear her clearly.

    ¡°So... so ugly...¡± She said weakly.

    He was stunned for a while before he smiled again and began wiping the mud off her face.

    ¡°You¡¯re not ugly.¡± He said. ¡°You¡¯ll always be the most beautiful.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying... you¡¯re ugly.¡± She coughed in an attempt to smile.

    He was stunned once again, but said, ¡°Alright then, I¡¯m ugly. But you must not despise me, you¡¯ve seen all of me, I want to hold you responsible.¡± With that, he removed his soaked top and revealed his nicely toned muscles as he held her in his arms, then wrapped his top around both of them.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She had no way of resisting him. ¡°You¡¯ll... catch a cold.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fit and strong, it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°You¡¯ll be warmer this way. Xiao Ling, hold it out for a while more. Help ising, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    She was ice-cold, and her pulse was extremely weak. Li Lei had never been this afraid in his life before he saw that she had almost left him and this world for good.

    He was cold too. When he went to save her, he realized that she had been caught underwater by some seaweed and was already in an unconscious state. It took him a lot of effort to rescue her onto the shore, and he was weak now as well. Still, all he was concerned about now was to keep her safe, as she was in her most vulnerable state. She could die from hypothermia, and he could not let that happen.

    After holding her for a while, she regained some breath. ¡°I¡¯m alright, you... don¡¯t have to do this anymore.¡± She could see that he was cold too ¡ª his lips were already purple and quivering in the wind. Still, he kept her ice-cold hand on his chest and held it down when she tried to remove it.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± He was trembling with cold, but he kept his voice steady. ¡°We¡¯ll both survive this. I want to protect you for the rest of your life, I won¡¯t die here in front of you.¡±

    ¡°Hey...¡± She was a little unhappy, why was he talking about death now?

    He smiled and bent over to kiss her forehead. ¡°I¡¯m here, don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Tracing the outline of her face with his eyes, he spotted the amulet around her neck ¡ª the one that he poured his blood and sincere prayers into. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± Li Lei said again. ¡°You¡¯re wearing the amulet I gave you.¡±

    She agreed with him softly.

    She remembered how she had mocked the amulet for being another generic pendant worth less than a dor, and refused to put it on. Only after going through so much did she realize that even if it was just another generic pendant, and even if he had picked it up on the streets, the thought and love that went into it were invaluable.

    In fact, he was the one she could depend on to protect her for the rest of her life.

 Chapter 339 - An Understated Apology

    <h4>Chapter 339: An Understated Apology</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After a long time, someone finally came to rescue them.

    When the show team saw Li Lei, they were shocked. However, it was not the time to be curious. Arge group of people got them into a car and sent them to a hospital for treatment.

    Xia Ling¡¯s condition was more serious ¡ª Hypoxia and pulmonary influx that led to a series of otherplications. As such, she needed to be hospitalized.

    Li Lei apanied her as she did aplete check-up and only went to do his own after she had settled into her ward. The check-up results showed that there was no big problem. After he took a shower and changed into clean and warm clothes, he was alive and energetic again.

    Xia Ling was put on a drip; she was very weak. She looked at how energetic he was and became jealous. ¡°We climbed out of theke together, so why are you unhurt?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m awesome.¡± Li Leiughed shamelessly.

    Xia Ling was quiet for a while before saying, ¡°It was very dangerous, right?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Although the pool was not big, the power of the waves is not a joke when the machine is turned on. Why did you jump in to save me in such rapid waters? What if something bad happened?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think too much.¡± Li Lei said. After seeing her guilty expression, he added, ¡°I have even swum in the ocean in a storm before. These small rapids were nothingpared to that.¡± He smiled. ¡°Look, aren¡¯t both of us fine? Cheer up. Don¡¯t look so distressed.¡±

    She forced a smile.

    Li Lei thought that she was tired and let her rest.

    Before he left, he sort of remembered something, so he turned around and said, ¡°Oh yes, there was someone who was drowning too, and he is resting in the bed next to you.¡± This hospital was small, and the individual intensive care units were very close to one another.

    Xia Ling heard what he said and raised her head. ¡°Who?¡± Once she said that she realized that besides Pei Ziheng, who else could it be? She remembered that in the cold and rushing rapids, he forcefully let go of her hand and left her behind to die without looking back...

    She had told herself thousands of times before that she could not love him.

    She had done everything possible to escape being his hunting target.

    She even urged him to get married and only treated him as a friend who was a little special.

    However... now, it looked like they could not even be friends. Even a stranger would not be so cruel. In Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes, her life was as insignificant as an inanimate object.

    She lightly closed her eyelids and suppressed her emotions.

    Sure enough, Li Lei replied, ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡±

    He stared at her nervously. The show team said that when the ident urred, Pei Ziheng was the first one who jumped down the waterfall to save her. Did she know about that?

    ¡°Why is he hospitalized?¡± She muttered. When she was in the water, his swimming ability was strong, and he seemed to be able to move easily in the water. Unless...

    Xia Ling remembered that something fell off his wrist. Did he risk his life for that thing?

    However, Li Lei thought that she did not know that Pei Ziheng jumped into the water. He hesitated for some time before saying, ¡°He also went to rescue you. However, it seemed that my luck was better because I found you first.¡± Their hospital wards were too close, and sooner orter, she would meet Pei Ziheng. It was better if he told her now than letting her hear something from that man¡¯s mouth.

    At least he would not exaggerate the story.

    Li Lei was very nervous about her response, but unexpectedly, Xia Ling only faintly sighed.

    ¡°You look like... you are not surprised at all.¡± Li Lei was somewhat unconvinced.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be surprised about.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s expression was very dull. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that he would jump into the water for me. Perhaps it was because he dropped something into the water. Before the ident happened, I think I heard that he was looking for something.¡± There were some lies mixed with truth in her words, but it kept Li Lei guessing. Maybe Pei Ziheng really did not jump down to save her?

    With that thought in mind, he was relieved.

    ¡°It is possible that he was looking for something,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°When the rescue team found him, he was unconscious on the river bank clutching a watch and refusing to let go. I heard that the dial was broken. I don¡¯t know why it is so precious to him.¡±

    ¡°Watch?¡± Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat.

    She knew how many watches Pei Ziheng had, and among them were many world-famous products. However, with that man¡¯s character, even it was a valuable object, he would not treasure it that much. Unless...

    She remembered that many years ago, she had a watch custom-made for him.

    It was a Patek Philippe set for two with the names of a man and a woman engraved on them. Unfortunately, the customization duration was too long, and it took three years to order and obtain the watches. She did not even have the chance to see them personally before she was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually murdered. Was it possible that that was the watch he was wearing now?

    With her understanding of Pei Ziheng, this was probably the only item with a sentimental value that was worthy of him keeping.

    Yet....

    Sheughed at herself. Did she really understand him? If she really understood him, why did so many tragic events in the past happen? In reality, he was an enigma, and to her, he was forever a mystery.

    She turned her head and looked out of the window.

    Li Lei instructed her to rest and left.

    Xia Ling was recuperating in the hospital and lived in deep seclusion. Sometimes, she would take a walk outside and meet Pei Ziheng in the small garden.

    He sat alone on a bench under the maple tree and was looking down at something in his hands. The coat around his shoulders was trailing on the ground and stained with dirt, but he waspletely unaware.

    Xia Ling did not want to meet him and decided to take a detour, but just at this time, he lifted his head.

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± His voice was very t, and he was no longer as calm as usual. Even his appearance looked terrible. He did not shave his beard cleanly, his grey cheeks were sullen, he was very thin, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked extremely haggard and in a worse condition than the girl who fell into the water first.

    Xia Ling was sad, but she did not know if she was feeling sad for herself or for him.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her deeply with aplicated expression. It was as if he were trying to see through her heart.

    Xia Ling felt uneasy after he looked at her like that. When she spoke, she was a little sarcastic. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Go look for your watch! Thanks to you, I almost died in the river.¡±

    He slowly said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Sorry?¡± Xia Lingughed in anger. ¡°You almost killed me. Sorry is truly an understatement. Pei Ziheng, Big Boss Pei, Chairman Pei! If you don¡¯t want to help me, don¡¯t give me hope from the start. Don¡¯t throw me into hell after making me think that I could be rescued! Don¡¯t you think that you are too cruel?¡±

    In her past life, she also thought of him as her savior, but in the end, she always put him on a pedestal and was greatly disappointed.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, do I owe you anything?¡± She demanded. ¡°Even if I do, how much do I owe you? 5 billion? 10 billion? Just tell me a number and I will return it to you. Why do you always have to haunt me like a ghost? Why do you always have to disturb my calm emotions?!¡±

    The man in front of her did not respond and tightly held the item in his hands.

 Chapter 340 - Happy Birthday, I Love You

    <h4>Chapter 340: Happy Birthday, I Love You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling saw it clearly this time.

    There was a metallic reflection that shined between his fingers. It had a broken dial and a motionless needle but still had a low-key luxurious extravagance. That was... a Patek Philippe.

    She recognized the watch by its unique custom-made design. Sure enough, it was the one she gave him.

    She did not feel that it was absurd. He could not protect the person but still wanted to protect her relics? In any case, since he loved ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s¡± relic, she should let him remember her for a lifetime. In this lifetime, she should mind her own business. She did not want to care about him anymore and did not hope to be friendly with him. She wanted to treat him like... they never met each other before.

    She turned around and walked away.

    ¡°I can¡¯t bring myself to betray her.¡± His voice came from behind her. It was very low and seemed to contain endless pain.

    Xia Ling stopped in her footsteps for a moment and walked forward silently.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head for a long time.

    The autumn maple leaves fell on his shoulders.

    In the palm of his hand, the broken Patek Philippe was very cold. He brushed his fingertips against the back of the dial a little. There was a small line of words engraved there ¡ª Ling loves Heng.

    It was simple, but it was her final confession to him.

    At that time, she fell from the stage, suffered a concussion, and died on the spot. For a long time after her death, he was weary and depressed. As the days passed, he did not even have the heart to manage Imperial Entertainment. Sometimes, he felt that he had died with her and was a living corpse surviving in this world.

    Chu Chen tried to persuade him to get a hold of himself.

    Xia Yu also persuaded him. Many senior executives and confidants were all anxious and looked forward to himing back to life.

    However, he knew that they were all just afraid that everything would fall apart if he copsed and that thepany would be overtaken by someone else. No eggs could remain unbroken when the nest was upset. No one truly cared about him. The only woman who would be excessively worried over him falling a little sick and hug him after he came back in the middle of the night was never going toe back...

    As he paralyzed himself with alcohol, the enemies in his family attacked.

    The position of the head of the family was almost about to be changed.

    However, on his thirty-fourth birthday, he received a present. It was packaged in a dark purple velvet box which was decorated with stars and was as gorgeous as the vast night sky. He opened it to take a look and saw that it was a pair of custom-made couples¡¯ watches. The man¡¯s watch was low-key and luxurious, while the woman¡¯s was delicate and elegant. Both watches had names engraved on the back.

    On the back of the man¡¯s watch, ¡°Ling loves Heng¡± was engraved.

    On the back of the woman¡¯s watch, ¡°Heng loves Ling¡± was engraved.

    There was also a card that she wrote personally.

    [Even if our love can never be exposed, as long as we wear these watches, your skin will touch your watch and my skin will touch my watch, so we will always be able to feel each other¡¯s love.

    Ziheng, happy birthday. I love you.]

    At that moment, he burst into tears.

    He held the pair of watches and sat in his study for the whole night.

    The next day, when he came out, he had already regained his callous decision-making of the past and ordered his employees to reorganize his entire corporation. In a few days, the situation was back under his control.

    That¡¯s right. He could not copse.

    He needed to hold the Pei family and Imperial Entertainment firmly in his hand.

    Only then would he be able to sessfully bury her in the graveyard of his ancestors and let her enjoy the same glory as she did in her life during her death. As long as he was alive, they would not dare to move her bones. On the day that he had sessfully gained the authority and was about to die, he would also be able to choose a suitable heir to take care of her grave.

    He already understood that the Pei family would be the same without him, but she would never be able to leave him.

    He wore this man¡¯s watch on his wrist for two years. Every time he was tired or annoyed, or missed her or was in pain... he only needed to touch it and remember the words engraved underneath the watch to gain the motivation to live on. Her love would always be there.

    However, now, it was broken.

    His fingers ran across the broken dial, leaving a trail of blood. The redness was a horrifying sight.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He mumbled in a low voice but did not know who he was calling. ¡°What should I do...?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was very afraid, and his heart was rattled like never before. In the rapids, he hesitated when choosing between the watch and Ye Xingling, but if he gave up the watch to save Ye Xingling... would that mean he had betrayed his dead lover? He told himself that he could only really love Xia Ling and no one else.

    As if to strengthen his beliefs, he abandoned Ye Xingling and pursued the Patek Philippe.

    However, he had had the same dream every night. In his dream, he always saw Ye Xingling¡¯s unbelievably hopeless eyes. Those eyes were full of emotion. In his dreams, they actually coincided with Xia Ling¡¯s eyes...

    When he woke up suddenly at midnight, he could not tell clearly who was who. It was like...

    It was like the person he abandoned at that time was not Ye Xingling but the deceased Xia Ling herself.

    It was a really strange feeling.

    But it weighed him down.

    Pei Ziheng questioned himself if he had really fallen for Ye Xingling.

    When he woke up from hisa after he was rescued, he grabbed the medical staff, and the first question he asked for was: ¡°How is Ye Xingling?¡± He only rxed after hearing that she was safe.

    However, how could he face Xia Ling after death?

    The leaves of the maple tree fell and covered his body. Unaware, he continued to sit alone in silence and destion.

    Xia Ling returned to the ward, looked for Lin Yunan, and asked when she could leave the hospital.

    ¡°What¡¯s the rush?¡± Lin Yunan asked. ¡°Drowning is very serious, and there can be manyplications. If your brain is deprived of oxygen, you will even be stupid. Although you are not very smart, to begin with, no matter what, it is still better to stay in the hospital for the doctors to monitor your health for some time. The show team has already changed the game n, and there are only very easy activities in the uing filming session.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to transfer to another hospital then.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of the transfer?¡± Lin Yunan eximed. He saw the neighboring ward from the corner of his eye and suddenly understood. ¡°Because of him? Hey, you really are emotionless. Pei Ziheng is actually very pitiful. There were so many people, but the second the ident happened, he selflessly jumped into the water to save you... Although he was unlucky and was unable to save you, why do you need to hide from him?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so noisy.¡± Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Help me transfer to another hospital. Otherwise, I will ask someone else to help me.¡±

    ¡°Sure, you don¡¯t need to say anything more.¡± Lin Yunan swayed as he walked out. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a transfer for you, ok? Where should I transfer you to? How about the hospital near Skyart Entertainment? It will be more convenient for that person to see you.¡± He intuitively felt that there was something wrong with her and Pei Ziheng, but since she did not want to talk about it, he was toozy to ask questions as long as it did not impact her job. As for whether it would affect her job? Probably not... right?

 Chapter 341 - How Is It The Same

    <h4>Chapter 341: How Is It The Same</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan guessed that there was not much actual interaction between her and Pei Ziheng.

    Otherwise, Li Lei would blow up first before it could even affect her work. With Li Lei the great god monitoring her, Lin Yunan was less worried andzy to ask about her mysterious private life. Hence, he directly transferred her to another hospital.

    She was still assigned to a top tier intensive care unit.

    It was on a very quiet level. Besides her, there was only a female entrepreneur who was suffering from a disease that she did not know, and she looked troubled every day. This neighbor was not interested in celebrities and did not even recognize Xia Ling when she met her. Thus, Xia Ling enjoyed the rare chance of being undisturbed and lived quietly with the asional visit from a friend.

    Luo Luo sent her arge bunch of pink lilies, and Bai Murong sent her a game console.

    Sister Mai Na and Wei Shaoyin were afraid that she would be bored in the hospital and sent a dozen fashion magazines over.

    Even Rong Ping visited her once and brought a fruit basket, roses, and carnations.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to send so much.¡± With half of her body leaning against the bed, she smiled politely at Rong Ping.

    Rong Ping gently said, ¡°After working with you for so long, I should visit you. Oh yes, there are many reporters downstairs. If you have friends visiting you, you should tell them to be careful.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled deeply. Sure enough, he sent flowers over just for show. However, this was also good for their poprity, especially during the period when she could not appear in public as she could still remain a relevant topic.

    He sat and chatted with her for a while and had no intention of leaving.

    Xia Ling started to be slightly annoyed and was thinking about how she could ask him to leave. In a roundabout way, she hinted that she felt tired.

    Rong Ping understood what she meant but said, ¡°I still can¡¯t leave yet. I have to stay for at least three hours so that the tabloid reporters have something to write about. If you are tired, you can rest. I will sit at the side and read a magazine.¡± After saying that, Movie King Rong really sat down on the sofa beside her.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly, apologized for not being hospitable enough, and took an afternoon nap.

    However, she could not fall asleep. She tossed and turned but felt uneasy because there was another person in the room. She gave up and sat up on the bed, looked for the game console that Bai Murong gave her, and started ying it.

    Rong Ping looked up from the magazine he was reading with aplicated expression.

    This girl would rather y a game than chat with him. She should know that as the Movie King, he was the dream man in the eyes of many young girls and was rarely treated this coldly. He was a little ufortable but quickly suppressed it. After the pool incident, he realized that his position in her heart was not worth mentioning. The two bosses, Pei Ziheng and Li Lei, rushed into the water to save her, so how he couldpare himself with them?

    After thinking that, Rong Ping was rather disappointed.

    He did not know what happened to him. It seemed he felt different from their initial cooperative rtionship. Her every move and smile would unconsciously affect his heart. However, he knew from the very start that it was impossible between them.

    Movie King Rong skimmed through the magazine but did not even remember what he read.

    Xia Ling was very happy ying the game and forgot who was in the room. She asked, ¡°Is there water? Help me get a ss of water.¡±

    Rong Ping was speechless. The girl in front of him was surely the first person who dared to treat him like a maid. He also did not know what was wrong with him because he actually got up to get her a ss of water.

    He even carefully poured sufficient amounts of hot and cold water to get the water to the correct temperature before handing it to her.

    Xia Ling took it without even looking at him. After taking a sip, she asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you put lemon?¡± She returned the cup to him. ¡°Remember to add half a slice of lemon and reduce the temperature slightly to get a better taste.¡±

    Rong Ping was speechless again. Why was this girl so squeamish?!

    He took the cup of water quietly and was conflicted about whether to get lemons or to pour the ss of water on the girl who was focused on ying games... Suddenly, he felt that the cup was taken away.

    He turned around and saw Li Lei.

    Today, Big Boss Li wore a white coat, a medical mask, and a hat. He looked very serious and obviously evaded the paparazzi group that was guarding the door downstairs. He stood in front of Rong Ping, smiled, and took off his mask. ¡°Let me do it. This child is tricky and difficult to serve. She wouldin when it is a little too cold, or hot, or sour, or sweet. Unfamiliar people can¡¯t take care of her.¡±

    What did he mean by ¡°unfamiliar people¡±?!

    Movie King Rong was about to blow up. Even if he were her true boyfriend, he did not have to bully him so much. Wait, no, what true boyfriend? After chasing Ye Xingling for so long, Li Lei was not even able to get that title. How was he qualified to talk bad about others?! So what if he were unfamiliar with Ye Xingling, was he even that close to her?!

    On the other hand, after hearing his voice, Xia Ling lifted her head to look at Li Lei.

    ¡°Li Lei?¡± Xia Ling threw the game console aside and opened up her arms in a gesture for him to hug her. ¡°Why are you here so early today? Did you say something bad about me again? How am I difficult to take care of?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re the easiest to take care of.¡± Li Lei smiled indulgently and leaned over to give her a hug.

    Ever since the ident at the pool, he became insecure and only felt at ease whenever he touched her body from time to time. At the start, he took the initiative to hug her every day when he came to the hospital, but soon, Xia Ling probably liked it very much because she would consciously signal him to hug her whenever he came to visit.

    Movie King Rong could not bear to watch them any longer.

    <i>What is this disy of inseparable love? Li Lei, I thought I heard that you two had not reconciled?!</i>

    Unfortunately, the two love birds beside him could not hear him vomiting in his heart. Xia Ling looked at Li Lei and smiled silly. ¡°Help me make some lemon water. And remember to choose a good lemon.¡±

    Instantly, Li Lei went to prepare it for her.

    After Xia Ling sent Li Lei away, she finally had the time to deal with Rong Ping. ¡°Sorry about that. I was too engrossed in my game just now and didn¡¯t notice that I asked you to help me get water... I shouldn¡¯t be asking you so many requests.¡±

    Why? Because he was an outsider?

    Rong Ping was very ufortable, but on the surface, he looked calm and elegant. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s about time anyway. I should leave. If I get the chance, I will visit you again.¡± He looked at her and smiled like a gentleman. ¡°Take care of yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling really wanted to chase him away and smiled sweetly as she waved at him until he vanished.

    Li Lei brought the lemon water over.

    Crescent-shaped lemon slices were floating in the ss, and the proportion and temperature of the water were to her liking. The ss of water was truly impable. Xia Ling sighed again and thought that if Li Lei were not a boss, he could seriously be a chef. She took the ss and sipped. ¡°It¡¯s great to have you here.¡±

    ¡°You mean having a housekeeper is great.¡± Li Lei smiled and exposed her true intentions without mercy.

    Xia Ling was somewhat guilty and said, ¡°You¡¯re not the same as a housekeeper.¡±

    ¡°Really? What¡¯s the difference?¡± Big Boss Li proudly asked.

 Chapter 342 - Housekeeper and Bodyguard

    <h4>Chapter 342: Housekeeper and Bodyguard</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling thought for a long time because... there was almost no difference... except that he would jump into the water to save her. ¡°Housekeeper and... bodyguard?¡±

    Big Boss rewarded her by flicking her forehead.

    Xia Ling felt a little wronged. ¡°You asked.¡±

    ¡°So can¡¯t you use your brain before answering?!¡± Big Boss Li was fuming. ¡°Isn¡¯t ¡®housekeeper and boyfriend¡¯ a better answer?¡±

    ¡°Ok...¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®ok¡¯?!¡±

    ¡°Housekeeper... and boyfriend.¡± She looked at him meekly. ¡°Are you confessing to me?¡±

    ¡°I have just used my life to confess to you!¡± Big Boss Li red at her. ¡°And what¡¯s the result? You¡¯re hanging out with a dubious man behind my back!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling felt wronged and said softly. ¡°I have already transferred to another hospital.¡±

    Big Boss Li replied, ¡°I was referring to Rong Ping.¡± Why did she always have to think about Pei Ziheng? Did she have such a deep impression of Pei Ziheng in her heart? Li Lei could tell that she was always hiding from that man, but even so, she would still be thinking about him.

    At once, Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened.

    Xia Ling also realized that she said something wrong and tried to salvage the situation. ¡°I know that you treat me well.¡±

    ¡°Only treated you well?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She knew that he loved her, but how could she repay this love?

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Xia Ling lifted her head and looked at him seriously. ¡°Why do you like me? I can¡¯t give you anything.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to give me anything.¡± He said faintly. ¡°I¡¯m not treating you well because I want you to repay me.¡±

    ¡°So? Many women like you. Why is it me?¡± Xia Ling really did not understand. When it came to family background, she could notpare to Gu Lin. When it came to intelligence and ability, she could notpare to Su Tang. When it came to beauty,pared to the attractive people in the entertainment industry, she could not be considered very pretty. Why exactly did he like her?

    ¡°That¡¯s because you are you.¡± Li Lei exined. ¡°This ce.¡± He pointed at his chest. ¡°Always beats faster when I see you and suffocates when you are in trouble. Ye Xingling, I will be yours in this lifetime. It doesn¡¯t matter whether you are smart enough or honest enough. I will still like you with my entire heart. That¡¯s why.¡±

    He lifted her face and looked at her seriously. ¡°Promise me that you¡¯ll do it well.¡±

    She did not think that he would answer her like that. She slightly opened her mouth and was unable to say anything. The times that they spent together shed in front of her eyes. When she had a fever, he hugged her. When she had no ce to live, he took her in. When she rushed to finished her jobs from dawn till dusk, he drove her around. When she was hungry, he always cooked delicious food and sent it to her. Not to mention, he embraced all her mannerisms and ws. He always risked his life to save her during the few times when she was kidnapped or met with an ident.

    If true love existed in this world, it would definitely be this.

    ¡°Don¡¯t treat me too well...¡± She mumbled. ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡±

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± He asked gently.

    ¡°I¡¯m scared that this happiness is just an illusion and there will be nothing after I wake up from this dream.¡± That was precisely what happened in her past life. She thought she found someone who could shelter her from the wind, but they turned against each other without warning.

    Li Lei came close and wrapped her in his arms.

    ¡°Silly girl,¡± he said softly. ¡°The one who is scared is me. I feel that I¡¯m too lucky that God sent me to you, but I¡¯m also scared... scared that suddenly, there will be a day when you will leave me for someone else.¡±

    ¡°That will never happen.¡± She leaned into his warm embrace and closed her eyes slightly. The scene that happened in the water appeared in her mind again. She looked at Pei Ziheng desperately and disappointedly as he let go of her hand and swam away...

    ¡°I will never leave you for someone else.¡± Xia Ling listened to his elerating heartbeat and gently ced her hand on his chest. ¡°Li Lei, besides here, where else can I go? In my life, there¡¯s only you...¡± Thest sentence was as light as a sigh.

    Li Lei lifted her chin, lowered his head, and kissed her.

    Unlike any previous kiss, this time, he was earnest and gentle. This kiss was ceremonial to dere his possession of her. Unknowingly, she started to respond to him and both of their lips and tongues entangled in a warm and intimate kiss.

    They would never desert each other and would be each other¡¯s only one.

    A few people were rejoicing while others were upset.

    On the one hand, Xia Ling and Li Lei were tender and affectionate. On the other hand, Xia Yu was in a deste position.

    She was the one who caused Xia Ling to be in a dangerous situation. She waited the entire day for her chance when people were not paying attention to modify the timing of the watergate. Originally, it should not have opened at that moment for the water to carry Xia Ling into the rapids below the waterfall.

    She wanted Xia Ling to die.

    One would easily be hurt after falling down a 20-meter high waterfall. Together with the momentum of the rushing water from the rapids, reef, deep water, and rocky river bottom, this would be sufficiently dangerous. It was not the same as the usual swimming pool. And even if one could swim well in a swimming pool, in the face of such stormy waves, it would only lead to one¡¯s death.

    If that sl*t were dead, her Brother Ziheng would not look for anyone else.

    Wasn¡¯t she only killing one person? It was not much of a difficult task. Xia Yu set up the trap easily and skillfully. Per her expectations, the sluice suddenly opened during Xia Ling¡¯s shoot, and in a sh, the people in the water were swept away.

    However, just as a smile was about to emerge on Xia Yu¡¯s face, Pei Ziheng had already jumped into the water.

    Xia Yu was stunned, jealous, resentful, and furious... Countless emotions flooded her, and she almost could not maintain her hypocritical expression. She silently prayed that Brother Ziheng would not save that sl*t, and perhaps the heavens heard her wishes because sure enough, Brother Ziheng washed up ashore alone.

    The regretful thing was that sl*t Ye Xingling was actually saved by another man.

    From that day on, Brother Ziheng was more reserved than usual. He spent a long time staring at that broken Patek Philippe. Xia Yu recognized that watch. It was the one that her sister custom-made for him before her death. In the past two years, Brother Ziheng loved it more than his own life. Now that he broke the watch because of saving Ye Xingling, he must feel very regretful, right?

    In the chairman¡¯s office.

    Xia Yu carried a cup of tea and walked close to Pei Ziheng, ncing at the broken watch in his hand without him noticing. ¡°It¡¯s all Ye Xingling¡¯s fault,¡± she said in a soft-spoken voice. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for her, my sister¡¯s relic wouldn¡¯t be damaged.¡±

    She was confident that she would be able to reconcile with Pei Ziheng. No matter how little, she wanted to make him dislike Ye Xingling. Unexpectedly, the man who was sitting behind his spacious desk nced at her silently with a warning and intimidating look.

    Xia Yu did not dare to say anything else. With her most obedient posture, she ced the Biluochun tea which he loved the most on the table.

    When she turned around to leave, she intentionally walked slowly and hoped that he would ask her to stay or say something.

    However, he remained as silent as an abyss.

 Chapter 343 - Movie King Rongâ€™s Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 343: Movie King Rong¡¯s Invitation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling recuperated in the hospital for some time. As her body gradually recovered, she resumed shooting.

    The subsequent shoot was very smooth, and she did not encounter any danger. She guessed that after the sluice incident, Li Lei was still tirelessly investigating the truth. If it was truly an ident, it was fine, but if it was not, she was aware that the perpetrator probably would not do anything in the short term to avoid suspicion.

    Xia Ling actually suspected Xia Yu, but unfortunately, she had no evidence.

    When they were filming, Xia Yu would make small talk with her when she saw her and had a soft smile on her face when she concernedly asked about her health. Those who did not know would think that they shared a deep friendship.

    Xia Ling only wanted to focus onpleting this show and get rid of Xia Yu¡¯s disgusting, hypocritical face.

    She raised her spirits and acted perfectly in front of the camera, and her excellent shots caused many to marvel.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is really good.¡± During the noon break, Jimmy handed Rong Ping a lunchbox and looked at the girl who wasughing with Luo Luo. ¡°Brother Rong, would you like to invite her to make a cameo in the next show?¡± Extraordinary Risks was about toe to an end, and the buzz about the speed dating show was about to die down soon. If there were an announcement at this point that Ye Xingling was going to participate in a drama with Rong Ping, from the filming of the show till the airing of it, they would continue to be a hot topic for a year.

    During this period, Rong Ping and Ye Xingling¡¯s pairing generated a lot of interest, and it was a good chance to promote them.

    Jimmy really wished that this sort of hype would continue.

    Rong Ping opened the lunchbox elegantly and also looked at the girl nearby whom Jimmy was staring at. In reality, her acting skills were not too good. The only reason why she was so dazzling in front of the camera was that she was good at showcasing herself. In other words, although she was outstanding, the roles she could y were too limited, and she had a long way to go in the acting world.

    However, he still nodded.

    He was about to star in a summer blockbuster movie. As he was ying a starring role in the box office, it was easy for him to add an unimportant small roll in the movie. Rong Ping thought about it carefully and realized that there was actually a role suitable for her. ¡°How about we let her have the role of the demon princess.¡±

    Jimmy was also aware of this role. It was a small role and did not require much acting prowess as it was a typical ¡°flower vase¡± role. The so-called ¡°flower vase¡± roles were used tobel female characters who looked attractive but did not require acting skills.

    He was somewhat troubled. ¡°Many people arepeting for this role, including Ning Er from Superstar Entertainment, Zhou Ziwen from Pegasus Media, Li Beier, and Shui Yunrou. Ye Xingling¡¯s appearance does not outshine them.¡± To get a ¡°flower vase¡± role, one had to be beautiful. Regardless of whether one had the skill, as long as one was able to get a top tier ¡°flower vase¡± role, on the face value, the female star would receive everyone¡¯s recognition. Furthermore, Rong Ping was going to appear in the movie and had box office protection, so this was a good opportunity to increase her status and poprity.

    Rong Ping also knew that Ye Xingling was only considered a mediocre beauty.

    He said, ¡°Let her participate in the audition. I¡¯m sure she won¡¯t disappoint the crew.¡± That girl was naturally radiant and appeared lively in front of the camera. Even if her face were not beautiful enough, as long as she stood there, everyone¡¯s eyes would unknowingly be drawn to her. In other words, she had an innate ability to hold the attention of the audience.

    Her charm far exceeded the other actresses¡¯.

    Jimmy had always been following the show team. At this moment, he also mostly understood why Rong Ping was so confident. He thought about it and felt that it was only a small role. With Ye Xingling¡¯s current position today, she had already reached the standard. Although her looks were slightly inferior, her charm in front of the camera was unmatched by many actresses.

    She also had Movie King Rong¡¯s rmendation.

    He nodded, ¡°Ok, I will look for Ye Xingling now.¡±

    ¡°Also,¡± Rong Ping stopped him. ¡°Tell her that I will teach her how to act.¡± This was a more tempting suggestion than getting a big role. Acting was the way actors earned money, and they would usually conceal their acting skills. Why would he easily share the knowledge that he had umted over the years? A private acting lesson with Rong Ping...

    Many people dreamed of this impossible dream.

    ¡°Brother Rong?¡± Even Jimmy was shocked.

    Rong Ping smiled. ¡°It won¡¯t hurt. She¡¯s a female celebrity.¡± Although there waspetition between male and female stars, it was far from thepetition between stars of the same gender. Transferring his skills to her would be quite safe. Furthermore, considering Ye Xingling¡¯s current condition... it seemed that she could only sing and perform and had about zero mastery of real acting. This would be like a doctoral tutor giving advice to a primary school student. Why would he be afraid of being surpassed by a primary school student?

    After hearing what he said, Jimmy was relieved and went to look for her.

    After hearing about it, Xia Ling had no opinion. However, she said, ¡°I can¡¯t make the decision.¡± She smiled. ¡°You should ask Lin Yunan about it. He will decide whether I take the job.¡± She knew about her strengths and weaknesses. Although she was very talented at singing, it did not mean that she had the same talent in other areas. At least, she knew that her acting skills were subpar.

    Even if she epted a movie role, endorsement, or a variety show role, they were all necessary to pave her way to be the next Diva. Lin Yunan was the expert when it came to paving the right way for her.

    Jimmy also looked at her strangely. Other female celebrities would hurriedly grab this good opportunity, but she stuck to her own heart and principles without being sidetracked by these offers. ¡°Alright,¡± Jimmy smiled politely and said. ¡°I will discuss this with Lin Yunan. Miss Ye, I look forward to working together with you again.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and nodded.

    As predicted, Lin Yunan looked for her at night.

    At that time, she was drinking tea in the apartment. To avoid the paparazzi, she had fully enclosed the spacious terrace. If they looked out of the three-sided walls and one-way ss, they couldfortably look at the vast night sky on a bench, but the cameras could not take pictures of them.

    Thus, it was very safe, and Li Lei was also there.

    Today, he was wearing light-colored sportswear which faintly outlined his excellent body and taut muscles, and there was an army dog tag around his neck. His handsome features shined under the stars.

    He was really an eye-catching man.

    As Xia Ling admired him, another man poured tea for her. She felt that she had be more arrogant and extravagant recently. Ever since Li Lei hid from the paparazzi, he really wanted to stay with her every day, serve her tea, and ensure that she was livingfortably so that the first person she would think of was him even if she were just slicing oranges.

    Things would not be good if they went on like this...

 Chapter 344 - Trojan Horse

    <h4>Chapter 344: Trojan Horse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling warned herself in her heart not to be corrupted by a trojan horse.

    However, that trojan horse did not notice anything. After he brewed the tea, he leaned over, held her in his arms, and carefully fed her the tea. ¡°How¡¯s the taste?¡± His voice was very gentle. ¡°I added some mint, chamomile, and honey. You hurt your lungs in the past few days, so you need more moisture.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s entire body was soft...

    Forget it, so what if he were a trojan horse? She should enjoy it while itsted.<i>Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying. </i>In her heart, she recited the verses of a poem. Two hands that were stained with syrup touched Big Boss.

    He did not mind her at all and even fed her a little homemade mint chamomile tea. After that, he slowly used a wet cloth to clean her dirty hands. ¡°I told you not to open the honey jar,¡± he said as he wiped her hands. ¡°It¡¯s so slimy and ufortable.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± Xia Ling turned around in his arms and lifted another hand to touch him. The water temperature was very suitable, and Big Boss¡¯s movements were very gentle. She was like a cat being stroked. She half closed her eyes and enjoyed the service from her ¡°servant.¡±

    When Lin Yunan walked in, he saw this exact scene.

    The kitten named Xia Ling was in such a rxed position. Her face waszy and proud as she instructed the Big Boss. ¡°Go to the other side a bit more... A little more... Yes, it¡¯s a little sticky here. Scratch me a bit behind the ears. My hands are wet. Yes... use more strength...¡±

    Lin Yunan was in a mess.

    He had already seen the image of the 24-year-old Big Boss Li being a submissive male in front of Xia Ling, but the scene in front of him lowered his impression of him. <i>Li Lei, aren¡¯t you supposed to be the emperor of the night in the city? Isn¡¯t it rumored that you are cold, cruel, and violent? Why do you look like a ve now?! Can¡¯t you show some backbone and give yourself some respect as a man? Can you not tter your wife... no, girlfriend... no, titleless prospective girlfriend so much?!</i>

    It was as if 10,000 horses ran across Lin Yunan¡¯s heart.

    However, Luo Luo who brought him in did not find it strange. ¡°Brother Lin, do you want me to brew some tea for you? Xiao Ling likes sweet things, so many are not used to drinking her tea.¡±

    Lin Yunan quietly looked at the table next to the recliner. Water from the basin was sprinkled everywhere. What she drank was half honey and half tea.

    It was too horrible to look at.

    ¡°Give me a ss of in water.¡± He had reached the end of his patience.

    The hospitable Luo Luo acknowledged him and went to get him a ss.

    Only then did the pair on the terrace discover his existence. Li Lei was displeased. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°All of you are here, so why can¡¯t I be here?¡± Lin Yunan said in annoyance. He was Xiao Ling¡¯s manager and at least had a title, unlike her tactless boyfriend. He casually sat down in front of them on a cane chair and interrupted them. ¡°I have something to discuss with Xiao Ling.¡±

    Big Boss fed Xia Ling dinner, supper, fruits, and tea. She felt a little drowsy now, but could not help but sit up and stretch her body. In a daze, she asked, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s regarding something that Jimmy asked you in the morning.¡± Lin Yunan was single and did not like to see their show of love, so he wished to settle this as fast as possible. ¡°They invited you to participate in that movie. I have learned that those involved, including the scriptwriter and production staff, are all bigshots and famous in the industry. Although your role doesn¡¯t require much acting skill, you have to look beautiful. Aren¡¯t there inte trolls criticizing that you are not beautiful enough...¡±

    ¡°Who said that Xiao Lingi is not beautiful enough?!¡± Big Boss interrupted, clearly upset.

    ¡°Be honest, do you think she is prettier than Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°She is more attractive than Xia Yu!¡±

    Lin Yunan was silent. There was no way to argue with him. Love was blind, and beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

    However, Xia Ling was very happy and looked at the Big Boss with sparkling eyes. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Definitely, I swear on my conscience.¡± Big Boss Li swore.

    Lin Yunan could not bear to look at them and loudly coughed to stop them from digressing. ¡°Not everyone has such... special taste as you, Li Lei. Anyway, to make the inte trolls and haters shut up, you have to prove that you can make a living through your appearance by acting in this meaningful role.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling nodded.

    Extraordinary Risks was very sessful, and she was the most dazzling out of the three celebrities. She was full of charm and had endless stage presence throughout the show, so her poprity increased. However, there were also some critics who argued that her facial features were not as outstanding as Xia Yu¡¯s and her appearancecked value.

    Of course, many of the haters were Xia Yu¡¯s fans.

    However, Lin Yunan wanted to suppress these trolls.

    ¡°Have you epted Jimmy¡¯s offer?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°It¡¯s only a ¡®flower vase¡¯ role, and you don¡¯t even need to have a formal audition. I will take you to have tea with the assistant director responsible for the selection and that¡¯s about it. The real challenge of this role is behind-the-scenes. Many female celebrities are eyeing it, so it really depends on who has the best backing and the most authority.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She did not mind epting this job as a small role since it would not take up much of her time and would not affect her putting most of her effort into making music. She could also increase her poprity, so why not?

    However, Li Lei questioned. ¡°Why did Jimmy invite Xiao Ling for this?¡±

    Lin Yunan smiled a little crudely. ¡°Rong Ping.¡±

    Li Lei immediately understood his intentions. This was to continue the topic of Xiao Ling and Rong Ping. ¡°No way, you can¡¯t ept this.¡± Li Lei was unhappy and looked at Xiao Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, what role do you need to y? I¡¯ll invest in you and tailor a movie to suit you. What¡¯s thatpared to a small supporting role in Rong Ping¡¯s movie?¡±

    Lin Yunan¡¯s heartbeat started to elerate. How vulgar was this person who only knew how to use money?

    The unbearably vulgar Big Boss looked at Xia Ling with anticipation and hoped that she would say ¡°no.¡±

    Xia Ling was originally not very intelligent, and after a meal, she did not bother to think andpletely forgot about the circting news about her and Rong Ping. Considering the time, if she epted this role, the buzz about her and Rong Ping could be sustained for a year more. That meant that she and Li Lei...

    She nced at Li Lei.

    Big Boss looked extremely wronged. ¡°I don¡¯t want to keep spending my days in hiding.¡±

    After some thought, she realized that it was really hard on him during this period of time. He always amodated her timeline and braved a lot of hardship. Usually, he would be only seeing her in the car as he impersonated a driver or in the hospital when he impersonated a doctor. Every time he visited the apartment, he would always pretend to check the water meter or acted like he was delivering food to the neighbors upstairs...

 Chapter 345 - Should She Reject It

    <h4>Chapter 345: Should She Reject It</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Even so, Li Lei always said that impersonating others was very fun.

    However, she knew that he said that because he did not want her to feel guilty or worried.

    After thinking about it, Xia Ling lifted her head and said to Lin Yunan, ¡°Thank them for their good intentions but reject them.¡±

    Lin Yunan wanted to rush up and kill the adulterous couple. Was she only listening to her lover now? Did the opposite sex have any humanity? After getting a boyfriend, had she forgotten about the important things... In short, Lin Yunan was furious and hot-tempered. ¡°Do you know that this is a very good opportunity? Movie King Rong and you can maintain being a hot topic for a year. In this year, you can also promote your album and organize concerts and invite Rong Ping as a guest... After more a year, when you announce that you¡¯ve broken up with Rong Ping, your status would have already been increased four or five times! If you are lucky, this means a big sum of money! This would take you levels beyond Xia Yu and Luo Luo!¡±

    ¡°Brother Lin, your tea.¡± Luo Luo quietly appeared from behind him.

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    Hey, Lin Yunan, was it really good to insult someone in their presence?

    Lin Yunan was truly a thug. His expression did not even change as he took the cup from her calmly. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said to Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo looked at him seriously and said, ¡°I¡¯m not going tog behind Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you have to put in the effort to try to catch up to Xiao Ling.¡± Lin Yunan said seriously.

    ¡°Yes! I will do my best!¡± Luo Luo raised her fist. ¡°Xiao Ling, I won¡¯t lose to you!¡± After saying that, she picked the empty cups on the table and left.

    ¡°This is also Luo Luo...¡± Xia Ling sighed. ¡°If it were someone else, she would probably poison you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject!¡± Lin Yunan cleared his throat and continued. ¡°No matter what, this opportunity is excellent. Li Lei, if you really love Xiao Ling, you won¡¯t hinder her from doing her job.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I won¡¯t shoot.¡± Xia Ling did not like it when others spoke to Li Lei like that. Although Li Lei looked like he had a good temper, he did not like to be lectured by others. He had already done a lot for her, and now, she was only making a small sacrifice for him.

    ¡°Lin Yunan,¡± she said. ¡°We have already sustained the gossip with Rong Ping for very long. I don¡¯t feel anything towards him, and I can¡¯t even be ordinary friends with him. I¡¯m sure you know that. I don¡¯t want this dull rtionship to continue any longer. Besides,¡± She looked at Li Lei and smiled. ¡°I have decided to reconcile with Li Lei.¡±

    Reconcile?

    Li Lei did not think that she would say something like that and brightened his eyes.

    Lin Yunan frowned more deeply. ¡°You¡¯re going to reconcile at this time? That¡¯s not a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Who cares about the time when you like someone.¡± Xia Ling grabbed Li Lei¡¯s hand.

    Seeing her determined expression, Lin Yunan knew that she had made up her mind. He was about to explode. If he knew that this was about to happen, he would have talked to Xiao Ling about it when Li Lei was not there and settle the situation by making her meet the film crew before letting him know. However, he was toote to change anything now. Standing up, he said, ¡°Only this one time. Ye Xingling, the next time you reject a job because of your rtionship, I will fire you!¡±

    After saying that, he left without looking back.

    Looking at his back view disappear, Li Lei softly whispered. ¡°What¡¯s with his outburst? Many people want to be our Xiao Ling¡¯s manager. Xiao Ling, if he dares to fire you,e back with me to Skyart Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. <i>Big Boss, I can¡¯t believe you dare to engage in such wishful thinking.</i>

    The next few days were calm.

    Extraordinary Risks was sessful, and thest episode generated record-breaking ratings.

    In the officiallyunched speed-dating group voting, Rong Ping and Xia Ling were always voted as the most popr duo. In second ce was Xia Ling and Zheng Chenhao, and in third ce was Luo Luo and Bai Murong. As for Xia Yu? She was far behind.

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans were upset andined that the show was rigged.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s performance was really eye-catching. Those people in the top three positions were also very outstanding. As for Xia Yu¡¯s performance? Compared to the other two female stars, she had the least connection with the other three male stars, and it was only natural that she ended up at the bottom. Thus, most of the audience did not believe that the show was rigged but sympathized with innocent Xia Ling who was sabotaged. Many people stood up and defended her online to debunk that narrative.

    Xia Yu was very resentful and cursed Xia Ling ceaselessly in her heart, but she could not do anything about it.

    On the other hand, although the show had ended, Xia Ling was still a hot topic. She also met with Rong Ping every other day to get photographed and was waiting for the right time to let the topic slowly fade away.

    Today, Rong Ping invited her to a cafe.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t congratted you yet.¡± He said. ¡°After receiving the role of the demon princess in the movie I¡¯m acting in, I really look forward to our cooperation in the future.¡±

    However, Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Demon princess? Haven¡¯t I rejected it?¡± After she said that, she realized that she acted rather rude. ¡°I didn¡¯t it mean it like that...¡±

    Rong Ping only smiled and stopped her from exining further. ¡°It looks like you still don¡¯t know. Li Lei looked for me and discussed it with me. After a few days, I will tell the media that we are only friends. You will only be invited as a friend participating in the movie.¡±

    How could Rong Ping be so agreeable?

    Xia Ling confusedly looked at him. ¡°What sort of benefits are you gaining from this?¡±

    ¡°Just think of it as me doing a good deed.¡± Rong Ping smiled and lifted his cup of coffee, the smoky mist masking his distressed expression. In reality, he did not understand why he was so nice to the girl in front of him. Being her friend... was also good. It would prevent him from falling deeper and deeper until he could not extricate himself.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°If you want to thank someone, thank Li Lei.¡± Rong Ping was smart and knew that since he could not get the girl, he should do her a favor and give her a good impression of him. ¡°Li Lei couldn¡¯t bear for you to give up on this role and used a very good job to bribe me. He wanted me to rmend you to the crew as a friend.¡± In reality, this role was up for public selection. Even if Li Lei bypassed Rong Ping and went to ask the crew direction, there was nothing wrong with it.

    However, Li Lei looked for Rong Ping.

    Because this role was first introduced to her by Rong Ping.

    Li Lei did that to avoid offending him.

    Rong Pingmented how thoughtful Big Boss Li was and took another sip of coffee. ¡°So, don¡¯t feel guilty. I won¡¯t be disadvantaged by this exchange.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling rx.

    However, she felt that she owed Li Lei something. She left Skyart Entertainment for her own independence, but now she had to rely on his help behind-the-scenes. Rong Ping was a veteran in the industry, and after interacting with her for so long, he more or less knew her character and could tell what she was thinking about. ¡°Speaking of it, if it weren¡¯t him, our love affair n wouldn¡¯t have ended so quickly. I will still rmend you for this role, so don¡¯t think too much as this doesn¡¯t really count as relying on him to advance in your career.¡±

 Chapter 346 - The Man in White

    <h4>Chapter 346: The Man in White</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°However...¡± Xia Ling was still unconvinced.

    ¡°If you and he have feelings for each other, why do you have to be so calctive about that?¡± Rong Ping smiled. ¡°I¡¯m older than you by a few years, and since you call me your brother, I will just say a few words. Xiao Ling, you are too ambitious, and you want to settle everything by yourself. However, when both of you are together, both of your fates are linked as one.¡± He made a gesture of closing his hands together. ¡°You have to get used to him affecting your life until you arepletely rxed about it. If you are too calctive about it, it will be impossible for you to stay together with him forever.¡±

    What he said made Xia Ling speechless for a long time.

    In the past, she had never thought of this question and only hoped to reach the top of the entertainment industry with her own strength.

    In her past life, she ended up being greatly hurt because she was too dependent on men, but in this life... was she overdoing it? She recalled how hurt Li Lei was when she said she wanted to move out and leave Skyart.

    Perhaps she should leave more room for him in her life?

    She looked down at the coffee cup in her hand. The silky liquid gently rippled in the white porcin cup just like her messy emotions. ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡± She confessed. ¡°I¡¯m scared that if I get too used to him being there, if we break up one day, everything will fall apart.¡±

    Rong Ping smiled again. ¡°This is because, maybe, your love for him has not yet reached the point of no regret even if disaster strikes. Xiao Ling, you are still very young, you can afford to be hurt. I¡¯m sure you canpletely devote yourself to love.¡±

    Young? Can afford to be hurt?

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. If Rong Ping knew that she was reincarnated and that he had fewer years of life experience than her, what would he think? However, what he said made sense. So what if disaster struck? For her, Li Lei could even forsake his life and jump into the rapids to save her. Wasn¡¯t a man like that deserving of hermitment and love?

    ¡°Brother Rong, thank you.¡± She lifted her head and said earnestly.

    This conversation greatly changed her opinion of Rong Ping. Initially, she thought he was only a selfish and calctive man and did not expect him to have such wisdom.

    Rong Ping said, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± After that, they said goodbye in a friendly way.

    Xia Ling had already been used to the life of a celebrity for a long time. Wrapping a long scarf around her neck and put on a hood and sunsses, she only walked out of the cafe after her disguise wasplete.

    She pushed the door open and realized that it was snowing outside.

    The first snow of the year came so early that people were caught off guard and unprepared for it. She stood on the wooden floor of the porch, supported herself using the handrail, and lifted her head up to look at the crystal clear snow gently descending, wetting her cheeks and hair ends. She looked at the white elves with some desire and asked, ¡°What is Li Lei doing now?¡± Later, she would call him to tell him that it was snowing and it was very beautiful...

    She was immersed in her thoughts and did not focus so she bumped into a man.

    Xia Ling hurt the tip of her nose. When she looked up, she realized that the man was very tall and thin. He was wearing a white trench coat, white scarf, white gloves, and even the handle of his umbre was white. He almost looked like he blended in with the snow.

    Xia Ling was shocked by his sudden appearance.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She apologized for the collision.

    Her voice was crisp and sweet. It sounded like a sigh in the still snow, making hearts sway.

    The man in front of her opened his mouth. ¡°Young phoenix¡¯s first cry.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling looked at him in confusion. Only then did she see the man¡¯s facial features clearly. He had a thin nose and very delicate eyebrows. It was as if a master craftsman poured his heart and soul into constructing his face. He looked vaguely familiar...

    At this time, she could not remember where she had seen him.

    ¡°Hello, my name is Xia Moyan.¡± The man introduced himself.

    ¡°Xia Moyan?¡± She desperately searched for his name in her memory but could not remember how she met this person. She could not help but feel uncertain. ¡°Who are you? I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve met before?¡± After being a celebrity for so long, many people pretended to have encountered her before. They woulde in rows or cars, so someone rushing up to her and introducing himself was not new.

    However, perhaps because of his calm temperament or something else, Xia Ling felt like that she naturally had a sort of warm feeling towards him. No matter what, she did not feel that he was like a fan or part of the paparazzi.

    The man lightly arched his lips to form a weak smile.

    ¡°I initially wanted to go to your home, but I will be leaving the city in a while so I could onlye here to stop you.¡± He said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk as we walk?¡± Like Rong Ping, he had a gentle and elegant temperament, but he was even gentler like the snowkes flowing down the corridor. He looked warm, but there was also a chilly feeling which hinted her not to underestimate him.

    Xia Ling was even more uncertain. ¡°Have you recognized the wrong person? Do you know who I am?¡± She did not take off the sunsses on her face; thus, most people should not be able to recognize her.

    That man¡¯s voice was light and elegant. ¡°I know who you are, Ye Xingling. Or, should I call you by another name. Xia Ling.¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling truly andpletely frightened.

    ¡°You... you.. you...¡± She stumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t talk rubbish! How could I be Xia Ling? That Xia Ling is already dead! Please make way, I¡¯m in a rush and will be leaving first.¡±

    After saying that, she walked around the man and rushed forward.

    No matter who he was, someone who could see through her secret with one look was too scary. She only wanted to bury her past life¡¯s unfortunate history in her heart and never mention it again.

    Born in two worlds.

    How did this man in front of her know about this astonishing secret?!

    Xia Ling was so scared that her face turned pale and she stumbled as she ran forward.

    That man grabbed hold of her and continued to speak in that light and elegant voice. ¡°It¡¯s slippery during a snow day. Don¡¯t run recklessly like that across the road.¡±

    ¡°None of your business!¡± She fiercely red at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m your brother.¡± He stated.

    Ah... What? Xia Ling was startled again and only felt as if she were hit by lightning. What did this man say?! He... He was her brother?! He looked very young and was probably about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. Xia Ling really wanted to ask him whether he was her brother in this life or her past life. In this life, she had no brother in the Ye Family, and in her past life... if she weren¡¯t dead, her brother would be thirty, so this alleged brother was not old enough?!

    However...

    Her thoughts changed as she looked at his delicate and elegant face. Suddenly, she realized why he looked so familiar. His appearance kind of resembled the way she looked like in her past life!

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a mess.

    Xia Moyan guided her towards the corridor to avoid the hordes of people from knocking her on the street. ¡°Are you sure you want to continue standing and talking to me here, Xia Ling?¡± Hisst two words sounded very familiar, and it was like he knew her for thousands of years.

    Xia Ling felt faint and did not how she arrived at the tea room with Xia Moyan. They sat in a box which was the most insted from sound.

 Chapter 347 - Brother and Sister Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 347: Brother and Sister Meeting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The box was very quiet as the man took off his white scarf, white gloves, and white coat.

    Xia Ling realized that he looked very pale like the snow outside the window. There was no trace of blood such that... he did not look like a living person. Surprisingly, this thought did not scare her. Instead, she looked at him more curiously. ¡°Are you really my brother?¡± she asked.

    Xia Moyan elegantly brewed the tea and pushed one of the cdon teapots toward Xia Ling. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, I can have a DNA test with Xia Yu. If she¡¯s happy to meet her brother, of course.¡±

    Xia Yu remembered that when she was taken in by an orphanage with Xia Yu, the orphanage did a DNA test before to prove that they were biological siblings. If he were really Xia Yu¡¯s brother, then he was definitely her brother.

    However, Xia Ling was even more curious. ¡°What¡¯s your identity?¡± Xia Yu would never recognize her own rtives and would even manipte and sabotage her close sister who went through the vicissitudes of life with her. Considering how Xia Yu only catered to the rich, if her distant brother showed up with low status and was only an ordinary person or even part of the ordinary middle ss, she would probably refuse to meet him. Unless this elegant and pale man in front of her was of some importance.

    Xia Moyan lightly arched his lips again to form his second faint smile since their meeting.

    If someone recognized him here, they would definitely be scared. He was usually famous for his expressionless face, and almost everyone had forgotten that he could also smile.

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling did not know that and felt that it was very reasonable, so she asked him again.

    ¡°They all call me The Preceptor.¡± Xia Moyan said lightly at an appropriate speed.

    ¡°What is ¡®The Preceptor¡¯? Are you very powerful?¡± Xia Ling asked innocently. She initially thought that her brother would be some Big Boss or be part of the triad like Li Lei or even... However, this identity exceeded her imagination. In her mind, images of fortune-telling heavenly figures appeared. To be fair, she only had a shallow understanding of those with religious connections and psychic abilities...

    ¡°Powerful?¡± Xia Moyan paused and thought about it. ¡°Everyone respects me and begs me. Does that count as very powerful?¡±

    Not only was he very powerful, but he was also literally invincible! Xia Ling felt that she had just met an awesome rtive and her eyes shined. ¡°Are you more powerful than Li Lei?¡±

    Xia Moyan smiled again and did not know whether to indulge or pity his long lost sister. ¡°Li Lei? He doesn¡¯t bother me at all. The entire Li family has to bow to me... and our Xia Family. Even his Old Master also has to bow in front of you, respect you, and not dare enrage you.¡±

    <i>Is he lying?</i>

    Thest time she went to the Li family, she waspletely neglected. Not only did the Old Master not bow to her, but she was also lucky that he did not kill her. In the end, she was dejectedly expelled from the family.

    Xia Moyan looked at her expression and understood what she was thinking about. His heart ached a little.

    As she was a phoenix and abandoned at birth, she had to suffer a lot of hardship. If she grew up with her parents and siblings in the Xia Family, which powerful family would not rush to get her to marry into their family?

    He looked at her slightly weary expression. ¡°You¡¯ve suffered a lot in these few tears.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly became quiet.

    Actually, from a long time ago in her past life, she already started thinking about what her family looked like. Why did they abandon her? Was it because they didn¡¯t like her or because they had no other choice? During the time in the orphanage, every time Xia Yu was sick, she would hate the family that she never met. It was fine that they abandoned Xia Ling, but why did they have to abandon such a sickly girl like Xia Yu as well? Did they know that Xiao Yu¡¯s life would be very difficult after she left her parents?!

    This resentment was gradually released from her heart only after Pei Ziheng adopted them many years ago.

    Now, she did not really think much about it.

    After she became famous, many impoverished families and people who wanted to be famous tried to confess that she was part of their family, and this made her extremely annoyed. Pei Ziheng also suggested to help her find her family, but she rejected him immediately.

    What was the point of finding family members who deserted her?

    Thus, this situation ended like that.

    After her rebirth, her heart had already calmed down and she stopped resenting them or thinking of them as her enemies. However, she also did not have the same excitement when seeing her rtives. She only very calmly looked at Xia Moyan and asked with curiosity, ¡°Well, if you are my brother, can you tell me why my family abandoned me?¡±

    Xia Moyan told her about having the phoenix destiny.

    ¡°Are you saying that people with the phoenix destiny are destined to be alone?¡± Xia Ling shook her head and refused to believe that this was real.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°This is the phoenix destiny without a doubt. Think about how you reincarnated. This is all real. If you can¡¯t ept it, the truth still remains. You were destined to be lonely.¡±

    Xia Ling tightened her grip around her cup and refused to ept the truth. ¡°I¡¯m living well. How is it possible...¡± Suddenly, she thought of something and asked Xia Moyan, ¡°In my past life, did Xia Yu get heart disease because of me?¡±

    ¡°Well, no.¡± Xia Moyan exined. ¡°She was naturally sickly, so that¡¯s not rted to you.¡±

    In reality, although Xia Yu¡¯s sickness had nothing to do with Xia Ling, the reason why she was abandoned was linked to her. That time, after their parents calcted that Xia Ling had a phoenix destiny, the first thing they did was to order someone to abandon her. However, there was someone who did not know the truth on the sidelines. He did not know about the small infant girl¡¯s background, but seeing that she was beautiful and cute, he felt that she could be his son¡¯s child bride and took her back home.

    ¡°You are a phoenix and have to be matched with someone who is a paulownia wood-type person. How can ordinary chickens and stray dogs be worthy of you?¡± Xia Moyan recalled an incident that happened in the past and said, ¡°You were adopted by that family, and soon, something happened to their son. He fell down a mountain, broke both of his legs when he collided with rocks and became paralyzed from the waist down... What¡¯s with that look? Don¡¯t feel bad. They were never good to you in the first ce. They fed you the most diluted porridge, dressed you in the dirtiest clothes, and caused a normal girl to look so frail.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know that she suffered so much in her childhood.

    No wonder her first full body check-up by the family doctor after she was adopted by Pei Ziheng showed that her body condition was not good because she did not receive enough nutrients from a young age. Even if she started to get more nutrients now, it could no longer make up for theck of nutrients in the past. She initially thought that the family doctor was referring to the food in the orphanage, but it turned out that she was being starved from an earlier age.

    Xia Moyan continued, ¡°The wife of the family disliked you. She would hit and scold you until your body was covered in bruises. She would also scold you for being a curse to the family. There were many times when I could not stand it and wanted to bring you back, but father said that although it is tough for you to live outside, at least you had a chance to live. If you remained by your family, the whole family would perish.¡±

 Chapter 348 - Bloodline

    <h4>Chapter 348: Bloodline</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was actually this scary.

    Xia Ling unconsciously bit her lip and quietly listened to him.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°When you were three years old, the wife of the family became pregnant again. Unexpectedly, she gave birth to a baby girl with severe congenital heart disease. Thus, your fates were sealed. You and that sick baby girl, Xia Yu, were abandoned at the entrance of the orphanage.¡±

    After that, he slowly took a sip of his tea and peacefully looked at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you have always treated Xia Yu as your biological sister, but actually, she¡¯s not your blood-rted sister. You are part of the Xia Family¡¯s most esteemed bloodline and are my biological sister, but she is only from an ordinary family.¡±

    ¡°Does Xia Yu know about this?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°The person I¡¯m looking for is you, not her.¡±

    ¡°Why are you looking for me?¡± Xia Ling did not understand. ¡°Brother... I should call you ¡®brother,¡¯ right? Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯m destined to be alone and can¡¯t be with my family? Why did youe to meet with me?¡±

    Xia Moyan replied, ¡°That¡¯s because you have reached nirvana after you died. In your next life, the punishment was reduced, so although you have encountered many disasters in this life, it is better than your death sentence from your past life. It¡¯s fine that I¡¯m visiting you and drinking tea with you.¡±

    So that¡¯s why.

    She was silent again and tried her best to digest what he said. This sudden meeting with her long lost sibling solved all the mysteries of her past. Her life was too bizarre and inconceivable such that she felt that she was in a dream.

    She looked at the man in front of her. His face was pale yet elegant and was slightly simr to her past life. He had a calm temperament which made people believe whatever he said unknowingly. Whether she was destined to be a phoenix or alone, she could not help but ept the truth... Besides, she had already experienced being reincarnated, and if Xia Moyan did not appear, how could she exin the strange situation that happened to her?

    Xia Moyan did not disturb her. He calmly drank his tea as he waited for her to ept the truth.

    After a long time, Xia Ling lifted her head.

    ¡°So what if I know about all of this?¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past and will only create more trouble for me.¡± She already made up her mind not to pursue the truth about her past a long time ago and only wanted to live her life peacefully. Now that she had Li Lei and was near the sunlight that belonged her, happiness was almost in her hands.

    As long as she looked towards the future, there would be hope.

    But...

    Suddenly, she remembered something and became anxious. ¡°You said that I was destined to be alone. Will it affect Li Lei?¡±

    Opposite the table, the pale man slowly opened his mouth. ¡°You did not affect him, or more specifically, your fates are already tied together.¡± He pointed at her neck.

    Xia Ling questioningly lowered her head and touched her neck. She was wearing an amulet. It was dark red and made of paulownia wood. It had an old and simple design like a cheap tourist souvenir. She took it down and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the problem with this?¡±

    ¡°I suppose Li Lei hasn¡¯t told you.¡± Looking at her expression, Xia Moyan knew that she was clueless. ¡°I helped him make this amulet. It contains half of the blood in his body, and after my blessing, he will now share the burden of your disasters. Half of the disasters that were bestowed upon you by the heavens will be transferred to him.¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling fully shocked.

    What did he say? It turned out that this amulet was not some cheap souvenir but was created using half of Li Lei¡¯s blood?! It was even sharing her burden with him?! ¡°How... could he be so reckless?!¡± At once, Xia Ling heart was a wreck of emotions including heartbreak and anger. ¡°Is this something to joke about? He doesn¡¯t want his life anymore!¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he is your paulownia wood.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°Nine days after the phoenix rises, it has no choice but to rest. Only if she meets the destined person will she able to get through tough times and live to old age. ¡°If he is the right person, you will have no danger in this life, but if he is the wrong person,¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was as light as smoke. ¡°Both of you will die.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Xia Ling red at him. ¡°I don¡¯t want Li Lei to die. Since you made this amulet, I¡¯m sure you can undo the blessing too. Please quickly undo it! I don¡¯t want Li Lei to share my burden!¡±

    As she said, she stuffed the amulet into his hands.

    As her slender fingers touched his hand, she felt that they were cold and lifeless.

    Xia Moyan looked at her deeply. ¡°You really want to undo it?¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Xia Ling did not want Li Lei to make such a big sacrifice for her. He was a privileged person, so how could she let him be dragged down by her fate? She could bear all of the disasters alone.

    The man in white lowered his eyes and looked at the dark red amulet in the palm of his hand.

    ¡°I beg you. You must undo the blessing.¡± She pleaded.

    Xia Moyan looked up. ¡°I need to do something secret. Xia Ling, please leave for a while. Later, I will call you in again.¡±

    Xia Ling quickly nodded and left.

    Outside, her emotions were in a mess. Her phone rang. Li Lei had messaged her. [Xiao Ling, it¡¯s snowing. Look.]

    Attached was a photo of him smiling with Er Mao. There was boundless snow in the background.

    There was a lump in Xia Ling¡¯s throat. This man always alerted her about good things and never his troubles. He always showed her the bright side of things but bore all of the pain himself.

    When she thought of that, she recalled that she dismissed the amulet as ugly and sarcastically mocked that it was a cheap souvenir. However, although he tightened his brows, he did not say anything. Since he met Xia Moyan and asked for this amulet, he must know that she was fated to be alone but did not tell her because he did not want to scare her.

    Even if she was disgusted and insulted him.

    He tolerated everything and took care of her warmly as usual.

    Xia Ling did not dare to imagine how she would be enraged and get into an argument with the person who wasted something that she kowtowed as she made her way up from the foot of the mountain and used half of the blood in her body to make. But Li Lei? How much did he bear without her knowing?

    She blew her nose and viciously replied:[Li Lei, you¡¯re a big jerk!]

    In a sh, he immediately messaged back.[What happened? Throwing such a tantrum... Has anyone bullied you? I¡¯ll help you vent your anger.]

    [You bullied me!]She was about to cry.

    [How have I bullied you?]He was confused.[How about I bring some snacks back for you? Did I take the photo well? Where are you? I¡¯lle over so you can bully me back and vent your anger on me, ok?]

    Her tears fell out and she turned off her phone.

 Chapter 349 - Eternal Love

    <h4>Chapter 349: Eternal Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It seemed that ever since she met him, she became more vulnerable. In her past life, after being imprisoned for a year, she learned how to tolerate pain and how not to let her tears fall. However, now, all of that effort seemed to be in vain. With Li Lei by her side, she became a girl who cried easily over the smallest matter.

    <i>Li Lei, you¡¯re a big jerk! Big jerk! Big jerk!</i>

    As she cried, she fiercely cursed.

    After some time, the door of the tea room opened.

    Xia Moyan, dressed in white, appeared in front of her. He noticed her red eyes but was not surprised. He only said quietly, ¡°You cane in now.¡±

    She dejectedly walked in.

    Xia Moyan returned the amulet to her.

    Xia Ling looked at the amulet with a puzzled expression and felt that it was no different from before. The dark red paulownia wood was still unadorned and did not look eye-catching at all. <i>Wait... Something¡¯s not right. </i>Her fingers felt as if they touched something. As she turned the amulet over and realized that there were two rows of symbols, she did not know whether it was a bone inscription or some sort of specialnguage. The writing style was like a flowing stream, and there was a strange and mysterious beauty about it.

    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.

    ¡°You and Li Lei¡¯s birth charts.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°At the temple, the amulet I gave him was not the full version as I did not engrave the birth charts. As your birth chart is too special and is not Ye Xingling¡¯s exact birth chart, I was worried that Li Lei would be suspicious after checking it.¡±

    ¡°Since you wrote... drew it like that, I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t notice.¡± Xia Ling tried her best to read the strange drawing to no avail.

    ¡°It¡¯s just one type of ancient Chinese writing.¡± Xia Moyan smiled for the third time. ¡°He really cares about you, so he would definitely not let you wear something he doesn¡¯t understand. Even if he can¡¯t recognize these words, he will be able to find out if he does a search. When that timees, your reincarnation secret may be exposed.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know that I was reincarnated? You only told him that I was destined to be alone?¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded.

    Xia Ling flipped the amulet around a few more times. ¡°With the inclusion of birth charts, he won¡¯t share my burden of disasters anymore?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°With the birth charts, your fates will be tied together even tighter. Originally, this amulet could only be used three times before the effect wears off, but now it can be used forever.¡± He remembered that after taking this amulet, she had already run into disasters twice. With the distant trip to a snowy mountain approaching, he had to quicklyplete the amulet before her third ident.

    Xia Ling widened her eyes. ¡°You lied to me?¡±

    ¡°When did I lie to you?¡±

    ¡°You said that you would help me get rid of the connection between my fate and Li Lei¡¯s so that he would no longer have to share my burden! Xia Moyan, now you are telling me that our fates are even more closely linked and the original three times have be unlimited. What do you mean?!¡±

    Seeing her infuriated expression, Xia Moyan remained calm. ¡°I never promised you anything. I only told you to leave the tea room for a while.¡±

    Xia Ling was startled. After thinking about it closely, she realized that he was right.

    She begged him to undo the binding of their fates and he asked her to wait outside... That was why she mistakenly thought that he had agreed to do so.

    ¡°You deliberately misled me!¡±

    ¡°My schedule is very tight.¡± Xia Moyan put on his white gloves again and took his white coat from the clothes rack. ¡°If I didn¡¯t do that, I would probably have to spend a lot more time persuading you to give me the amulet. Xiao Ling, I won¡¯t hurt you. Actually, the binding of fates is irreversible. As long as he contributed a drop of his blood, even if the amulet loses its efficacy, it will only be unable to help you get over the disaster. If you encounter an ident and die, he won¡¯t be able to survive as well.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s hands froze.

    Xia Moyan opened the door and walked out. Before he turned around to leave, he said, ¡°Oh yes, I haven¡¯t congratted you yet. Perhaps you found your paulownia wood. I wish you two eternal love.¡±

    The door was closed.

    As she sank into the tatami cushion in the tea room, she held the blood-stained amulet in her hands and slightly shivered.

    Her cell phone rang non-stop.

    However, she was not in the mood to check it.

    The door was pushed open again. A man who was panting in the snow appeared in front of her. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened to you? Why did you hide here alone without a word? Do you know how many times I¡¯ve called you?¡± It was Li Lei. After seeing that she was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief, but then his sight fell on the amulet in her hands.

    ¡°What happened to the amulet?¡± His voice suddenly became tense, and he knelt by her side.

    On the wood of the amulet, there seemed to be additional markings and symbols like a curse, making him very worried. Xia Ling was startled and wanted to draw her hand back, but it was toote.

    Li Lei grabbed her hand and looked at the amulet. ¡°What¡¯s written here?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei, how dare you ask!¡± She suddenly yelled as tears uncontrobly flowed down her face. ¡°I saw Xia Moyan! He told me everything! He said that you kowtowed as you made your way up from the foot of the mountain and used half of the blood in your body to make the amulet! Li Lei, are you stupid? I should be bearing my own disastrous fate! Why did you intrude?!¡±

    Her entire body was shaking, her chest was heaving, and she had a look of sadness and anger on her face.

    Startled, Li Lei asked, ¡°Xia Moyan? Who¡¯s Xia Moyan?¡± He had never heard of this name before. Suddenly, after looking at the amulet in her hands, he realized who she was referring to. ¡°Are you talking about Preceptor Xia? Have you seen Preceptor Xia?¡± If it were really that powerful man who was like a floating cloud... Why did he tell Xiao Ling his full name? The Li family and even the high ranking abbot only knew that his surname was Xia. No one knew what his real name was. Why did he specifically tell Xiao Ling?

    Xia Ling was still screaming at him. ¡°If Preceptor Xia didn¡¯t tell me the truth, were you nning on hiding this fact from me forever?!¡±

    After knowing that it was The Preceptor, Li Lei¡¯s initial suspicions were reduced by half. Heforted her gently. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s not that much of a big deal. Just take it as a normal amulet and wear it. Who knows if the disaster thing is real anyway.¡±

    ¡°If it isn¡¯t real, then why did you contribute your blood!¡± Xia Ling cried again as she knew that he had no doubt about the truth but still wanted tofort her with his words. She hit Li Lei¡¯s chest with her fist. ¡°You jerk!¡±

    ¡°Ok, ok. I¡¯m a jerk.¡± Li Lei hated it when girls cried, especially his beloved girl who was weeping sorrowfully. He hugged her and softly coaxed her for a long time. He swore that he would never do something like that again, and it took a while before she finally stopped crying and leaned into his arms.

    ¡°Let me see that amulet.¡± Li Lei gently kissed her forehead. ¡°What changes did Preceptor Xia make?¡±

 Chapter 350 - Birth chart

    <h4>Chapter 350: Birth chart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling initially did not want to show it to him because she was afraid that he would find out some clues from the birth chart.

    However, after experiencing so many life or death experiences with him and knowing about the severity of the amulet, suddenly, she felt that she did not have to hide so many things so securely from him.

    She let go and allowed him to take the amulet.

    He lowered his head to read the new markings.

    ¡°Our birth charts are carved on it.¡± Xia Ling was afraid that he would really put in the effort to investigate like what Xia Moyan said, so she would rather tell him the truth directly. ¡°My birth chart... is not the same as the one stated on official documents.¡±

    Li Lei slightly raised his eyebrows. He was already suspicious about her background for a long time but never had the chance to prove his suspicions right. Now, after hearing her mention this situation herself, he could not help but carefully ask, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and looked at their entangled fingers.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± His instincts told him that the truth was just in front of him, and his voice became gentler. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. No matter what happens, I will always stand by your side.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t know... how twisted and bizarre the truth is.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was also very low as she ced her other hand on his hand. ¡°Li Lei, I don¡¯t know how to tell you this thing regarding my life. There are some secrets that are not as ordinary as Ye Xingling.¡±

    She paused for very long before continuing, ¡°However, trust me. I have no evil intentions towards you. I only... don¡¯t know how to express myself. Li Lei, I¡¯m not trying to create a random lie to deceive you. Perhaps, after I have gained more courage, I will tell you about my past slowly, but today, I can only say that the birth chart carved on the amulet is not the same as the one on Ye Xingling¡¯s official documents.¡±

    Li Lei touched her hair and was deep in thought.

    She anxiously looked up.

    He looked into her eyes for a long time before smiling. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡±

    Sure enough, her background had issues. He was very curious about the person who was able to hide those facts from him and the method he used. He thought about that untraceable preceptor... Since The Preceptor told Xiao Ling his real name, was it relevant to her identity? If metaphysics were involved, it was exinable. The Preceptor certainly had the ability to avoid his investigation easily.

    Li Lei sighed deeply in his heart, but on the surface, he acted as if nothing bothered him. He lowered his head and kissed her hairline.

    His kiss calmed down her initial turbulent emotions, and she used her hand to lightly tug on his clothes and adjusted her body in his arms to a morefortable position.

    ¡°Are you tired?¡± He warmly asked and hugged her even tighter.

    She mumbled in agreement. Many things had happened today. Firstly, she had a conversation with Rong Ping. After that, she met her biological brother and learned about the secrets of her life. Finally, she even found out Li Lei¡¯s sacrifice for her. She was very emotional and needed some time to rx her tired self.

    ¡°Look at you, you cried till you look like a cat.¡± Li Lei joked lightly as he used his fingers to wipe off the tear marks on her face. ¡°What would you like for dinner?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating.¡± She turned her face away to ignore him. When he brought up the fact that she cried, she was furious. Did he know that he had sacrificed half of the blood in his body to share her burden? How could she not cry?! He still dared tough at her!

    Li Lei lifted his hand to pinch her face. ¡°Are you really not eating?¡±

    ¡°Hateful.¡± She said incoherently as her face was being pinched.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing hateful to eat.¡± Her white face was quite nice to touch. Li Lei became addicted to pinching her and pinched her nose. ¡°Hey, cheer up. Smile for me.¡±

    Like a provoked cat, she opened her mouth to bite his finger. Soon, his finger was entirely in her mouth, and she even chewed on it.

    ¡°Are you a cat?¡± Li Lei used his other hand to pinch her face. ¡°Good girl, open up.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh!¡± No way!

    ¡°If you don¡¯t open your mouth, then don¡¯t me me for being unkind.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± You are wee to show me how unkind you will be.

    ¡°I really won¡¯t be nice.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling could not even be bothered to respond. She bit his finger harder.

    ¡°Hey, it hurts.¡± Big Boss Li grimaced in pain and decided to teach this girl who was biting his finger a lesson. He took a deep breath and started to tickle Xia Ling with his other hand.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling was caught off guard and hurriedly released his finger andughed as she curled her body into a ball to avoid her Big Boss¡¯ tickles. ¡°Li... Li Lei! Stop it! Hahaha...¡± She was out of breath.

    Big boss was not going to let her off so easily. ¡°I told you to let go!¡± After his other hand was freed, he gained more mobility, so he used both hands to attack her tickles. His movements were fast and vicious, and sheughed till she was out of breath. As her body rolled on the tatami, her hair became a mess.

    ¡°Li Lei, stop! Hahahaha... It¡¯s so ticklish!¡± She did not even know that her body in this life was so afraid of being tickled. She was tickled by Big Boss Li until she had no strength to fight back andughed till she cried. ¡°I... I know that I¡¯m in the wrong. Move aside! Quickly... Hahaha...¡± In the chaos, she used her hands and feet to kick him in the waist. ¡°If you continue to tickle me... I will fight back!¡±

    Big Boss Li ignored her. ¡°Fight back? With your small kick?¡± He smiled and pinned her to the ground with his body and continued to tickle her. ¡°Tell me! Are you still going to fight back?!¡±

    ¡°Soon... Soon, I will! So ticklish... Hahaha.¡±

    Big Boss continued to tickle her.

    ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re a bastard and a jerk! Hahaha... It¡¯s so ticklish... Jerk... Hahaha...¡±

    Big Boss Li continued to tickle her mercilessly.

    ¡°Li Lei, you better stop! Stop tickling me... Hahaha... I won¡¯t fight back anymore! I will listen to you!¡± Xia Ling eximed betweenughs. At this time, she did not care about her pride anymore as long as Big Boss Li would let her off. Where there was life, there was hope.

    ¡°Are you really not going to fight back?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Do you know where you went wrong?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Haha... Hahaha...¡± Xia Ling rambled on.

    Only then did Big Boss show mercy and leaned over to look at her.

    Right now, they were in an ambiguous position. She was lying on the tatami mat and her clothes were in a mess, revealing part of her white shoulder. Her palm-size face was blushing due toughing, and there were tears in her eyes, causing her to look radiant and enchanting. Her small hand was still pulling on his cor. It was in the middle between a rejection and an invitation, and the tip of their noses were almost touching. He was half kneeling, and one of his long legs was straddling her waist, holding her under his body.

 Chapter 351 - Who Exactly Is She

    <h4>Chapter 351: Who Exactly Is She</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Their breathing started to sync.

    When Xia Ling realized that their positions were not quite right, it was toote. She did not dare to move an inch. She batted her long eyshes like the pping wings of a butterfly and looked at Big Boss Li with bright eyes. His prating gaze, sharp nose, beautifully shaped thin lips, Adam¡¯s apple, corbone, and chest...

    Her face flushed, her body temperature increased, and her heartbeat quickened.

    Li Lei lowered his head and lightly kissed her before deepening the kiss.

    Her breathing gradually increased. Seeing that he was sneaking his hand into her clothes, she lightly pushed him. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t...¡±

    He was spellbound but controlled himself after her rejection. This was the tatami mat in the tea room, and he could not want her in such a cheap location. He let go of her and leaned his forehead against hers. ¡°Let¡¯s continue at home, alright?¡± He mumbled incoherently.

    ¡°Who wants to continue with you?!¡± Her face turned red.

    Li Lei smiled lowly and kissed her again before getting up.

    She also quickly sat up and adjusted her messy clothes with her back facing him. With her heart racing so quick, she even buttoned a few buttons wrongly.

    Looking at her messy movements, Li Lei smirked behind her.

    Even the tips of her ears were turning red.

    It was really strange. She did this act between man and woman many times in the past. However, even in the past when she was with Pei Ziheng, she never felt embarrassed. This was not even the first time she would be doing it with Li Lei. At the Li family headquarters, he forced himself on her twice. At that time, she only felt confusion and pain unlike now. Without even looking at his body, just imagining it made her feel uncontrobly embarrassed.

    ¡°Let me help you.¡± Li Lei said in a low and maic voice.

    Her body stiffened. Flustered, she did not know if she should reject him or not. Li Lei walked behind her while she was in a daze and put his arms around her body to help her with her buttons one by one. His chest rested on her back, and he breathed deeply beside her ear. The heat as his fingers brushed against her clothes could almost scorch her. Xia Ling wanted him to move aside a little but did not dare to make a sound as she was afraid that her voice would be soft and weak and he wouldugh at her again.

    She was suffering in his presence.

    Xia Ling never felt that time passed so slowly before. Feeling that a short few minutes felt like a century, she was extremely thankful when he was finished with her buttons. When he let go of her, she drew a long breath and thanked the heavens that it was finally over. However, she also felt secretly disappointed and empty as if she missed his teasing and embrace.

    <i>Xia Ling, you are really helpless.</i>

    She chastised herself fiercely in her heart.

    However, Big Boss Li still teased her, ¡°Nervous? There¡¯s nothing to be scared about. In the future, I can help you put on your clothes every day.¡± What he implied using his husky voice was too obvious. The blood rushed up to her cheeks again.

    ¡°Who wants you to help them wear their clothes every day!¡± She retorted.

    ¡°Then I will help you take off your clothes every day.¡± Big Bossughed with bad intentions.

    Xia Ling felt thoroughly unwell...

    Xia Ling put on her coat, scarf, and sunsses and left the tea room first. Li Lei was afraid that there would be paparazzi outside, so he stayed for an hour more before leaving through the backdoor.

    When she reached home at the night, Xia Ling tossed and turned on the bed but was unable to fall asleep. In her mind, all she could think about was Big Boss Li¡¯s handsome face, and his warm kiss and fingers...

    She felt that she had gone crazy. How could someone who lived for two lives act like a young teenage girl? She rolled on the duvet for a long time before crawling up from the bed and walking to the room next door to disturb Luo Luo.

    ¡°What do you think is the problem if I keep thinking about someone and can¡¯t sleep?¡±

    Luo Luo was in a trance-like state after being jolted awake by her and wanted to throw her roommate out. She closed her eyes and covered herself with her pillow. ¡°It¡¯s because of a man, right? You¡¯re just feeling lonely. Just look for someone to sleep with and you¡¯ll be fine...¡±

    Xia Ling was baffled and could not believe that Luo Luo would say something like that. ¡°You, you, you... Are you really Luo Luo?¡±

    ¡°Oh my god, don¡¯t be noisy...¡± Luo Luo was having a good dream, so she shut her eyes as if she were ignoring a housefly. ¡°My dream man... wait for me...¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She quietly observed as a trail of saliva formed at the corner of her mouth. This girl was no longer the innocent and cute girl from her training days. She had grown up and was having dreams about love.

    Defeated, Xia Ling left Luo Luo who was sleeping like a dead pig and returned to her room to stare into space.

    On the other hand, Li Lei was in the study room of his apartment.

    The mailbox on hisputer was shining. Clicking on it, he saw that it was the old Chinese character analysis on Xia Ling¡¯s amulet. Sure enough, one of them was his birth chart, but the other made his heart skip a beat.

    The age was not right.

    His Xiao Ling was only eighteen years old.

    ording to her innocent and straightforward personality, she was really like a young girl who had not experienced much and had not been polluted by the evil of the adult world. She was still at the edge of innocence and was not mature yet.

    However, the age of her birth chart was twice her age.

    This was really unimaginable to him.

    Even if she had stic surgery or injected herself with drugs to look young, it was impossible to fake her young personality. How could someone who had lived for so long maintain such a childish personality?

    Wait... There was a woman.

    ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was very simr to her, and her age was the same as hers.

    The deceased Diva, Xia Ling.

    Did that mean that Ye Xingling was Xia Ling?!

    Li Lei was scared by his own thought and immediately went to search for Xia Ling¡¯s birth details. After an investigation, the result made him breathe a sigh of relief. It was great, their birth charts did not match at all.

    Thinking about it, it made sense. The Diva Xia Ling was already dead. How could she be reborn?

    Even Preceptor Xia was unable to control life and death.

    Li Lei poured himself a ss of wine to calm down. He guessed that perhaps Xiao Ling had stic surgery in the past to look like Ye Xingling, or maybe she naturally looked young. Was she that old? No, it did not matter. It would just be a May-December romance. He would only love her forever.

    Li Lei¡¯s surging heart forgot one thing¡ª

    Ye Xingling¡¯s birthday could be faked, so couldn¡¯t Xia Ling¡¯s birthday be faked too?

    Xia Ling was originally an orphan and never knew her real birthday. The birthday she announced to the public was actually the day that Pei Ziheng adopted her. She called that day the ¡°day of redemption.¡± Her love with Pei Ziheng was too secretive, and as for the secret regarding her birthday, perhaps only a few close family members in the Pei family knew about it. As for the rest of the world? They all thought that the information published on official documents was real.

    ¡°As long as you aren¡¯t Xia Ling, it doesn¡¯t matter who you are...¡± Li Lei muttered.

    Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng had an explosive love affair. If she were really Xia Ling, perhaps he was already out before this battle of love even started.

    He would surely not ept this ending.

 Chapter 352 - Close Your Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 352: Close Your Eyes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The next day when Xia Ling woke up, she had two dark-eyed circles and her voice was hoarse.

    She swayed as she walked into Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio to record a song and was immediately scolded by him. ¡°With a voice like that, you should quit early and set up a store! Do you know how to sing?! Do you know that you have to take care of your body?! No matter how good your talent is, it will be wasted by you! What did you dost night? Why didn¡¯t you rest well when you knew that you would be recording today?!¡±

    Xia Ling felt wronged. She actually went to bed very early yesterday and should not be med for being unable to fall asleep.

    In fact, he should be ming Li Lei. If her heart wasn¡¯t missing him so badly, she probably would have slept easily and wouldn¡¯t have frozen to death and caught a cold after looking for Luo Luo.

    However, Wei Shaoyin felt even more wronged. ¡°Which singer is like you andcks perseverance and continuity so much! Why am I so unlucky to have met you? The album will be released in the spring next year. If you can¡¯t finish recording, you can jump off the top of this building yourself!¡±

    Xia Ling promised that she wouldplete this task.

    She had been preparing for her new album for a long time. In the process, due to several reasons and changes, the album which should have beenpletedst month was still far from finished, and it looked like it would be dragged to next year. Thousands of fans were still waiting for it insistently as they wished to support Xiao Ling all the way.

    Many media representatives praised her for doing her hunger marketing very well.

    Who knew that it was just purely because she could notplete it on time.

    She entered the studio and recorded again. This time, she chose a song with a lower range which suited her voice which was in a bad state today. The recording was not bad, and her slightly hoarse voice gave the song an amorous feeling.

    Wei Shaoyin was only scolding her. After she was done recording, he even gave her a ss of warm honey water and said, ¡°Your health is linked to your voice. You have to maintain it well to do work well.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Was she just a tool in his eyes?

    Just like that, she was busy from morning till night for a long while.

    On this night after she finished recording, Li Lei drove over to pick her up.

    She jumped into the back seat of the Porsche and closed the door. ¡°Go to the ¡®Star Entertainment Weekly¡¯ magazine headquarters. I have to do an interview tonight.¡±

    Li Lei started the car and smiled. ¡°I have already rescheduled it. I will bring you to a good ce.¡±

    ¡°What? Reschedule?¡± Xia Ling was shocked and tilted her head to look at him. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember that today is your birthday?¡± Li Lei smiled.

    Birth... Birthday?! Xia Ling reacted as if she were struck by lightning. Recently, she was so busy that she forgot about it. However, which one of her birthdays was it? She thought that it was her birthday in her past life when she was adopted by Pei Ziheng for years, and the memory of it was especially deep. However, something was not right. That was duringte spring or early summer.

    Ye Xingling¡¯s birthday? That was not right as well. Her birthday in this life was not today.

    That meant that...

    ¡°The birthday on the amulet?¡± She asked cautiously.

    Big Boss Li nodded and looked at her strangely. ¡°Of course, we have to celebrate your real birthday. There¡¯s no meaning in celebrating your fake birthday. You probably won¡¯t remember which day it is, right?¡±

    Why would she not remember it? She literally did not ask Xia Moyan and waspletely unaware of which date he engraved on the amulet. If this was the case, it meant that Li Lei really went to research on the words engraved on the amulet secretly. Sure enough, her brother was right. With how much Li Lei cared about her, he would never let her wear something he did not understand.

    She suddenly felt warmth in her heart but said, ¡°Of course, I remember. I only forgot about today because I was too busy. Is that why you want to celebrate my birthday now?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Big Boss Li said, maneuvering the steering wheel.

    ¡°After rescheduling Star Entertainment Weekly¡¯s interview, will they be unhappy? Lin Yunan will also be unhappy, right?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°I already changed the date.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°So what if Lin Yunan is unhappy? You are a female celebrity, understand? You can be a little arrogant sometimes and give people a little trouble. What¡¯s the big deal?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a very big deal.¡± Xia Ling said. In her past life, she used her privileges to make things difficult for people. In the end, she was hated by everyone in the industry and everyone kicked her when she was down.

    However, Li Lei was a little curious and turned around to look at her. ¡°Since when did you be so obedient?¡±

    ¡°I have always been this obedient!¡± Xia Ling red at him.

    Boss Li let out a ¡°just be happy that I¡¯m not going to argue with you¡± expression. He turned the steering wheel and said, ¡°So, should we go to the magazine headquarters now and have fun after your interview?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Xia Ling was very upset. ¡°If you arrange a time with someone and cancel it, they probably already arranged for other activities. If you want to reschedule on the same time again, the other party will kill me.¡±

    ¡°Who taught you these?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem like those people who care about social etiquette.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei, what do you mean?!¡± Xia Ling red at him again. ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m stupid?!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that.¡±

    ¡°You meant exactly that!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You did! How dare you deny it!¡±

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You did!¡±

    ¡°Alright, I did...¡± Big Boss Lipromised.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling was even more upset. ¡°So you really meant it!¡± She sobbed. ¡°Li Lei, you said I¡¯m stupid! I¡¯m not going to y with you anymore. Hmph!¡± She turned her body away, with her back facing him.

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    Why was this child bing harder to take care of?

    ¡°Don¡¯t be angry.¡± He patiently consoled her. ¡°Lin Yunan already negotiated with the magazine headquarters. After cating the magazine stuff, they even happily sent him out. Nothing bad will happen, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Fine, since Lin Yunan was the industry¡¯s top manager, it seemed as if something like that really happened.

    ¡°It¡¯s still trouble that you caused!¡± Xia Ling still red at him. ¡°Lin Yunan had to deal with all the problems you caused.¡±

    ¡°If youe back to Skyart, I will deal with all your problems.¡± Big Boss Li smiled.

    What sort of person was this? Xia Ling nced at him, turned up the music in the car, and ignored him.

    Li Lei quietly drove for some time.

    ¡°Where exactly are we going?¡± Finally, Xia Ling could not contain her curiosity and asked.

    ¡°Guess.¡± Big Boss Li was beaming.

    ¡°Are you going to sell me?¡± Xia Ling could not be med for having this remark as Big Boss Li¡¯s expression was too vicious.

    Li Lei was unhappy. ¡°How am I that evil?¡±

    Xia Ling rebuked. ¡°You¡¯re the worst!¡±

    This conversation could not be sustained any longer. Big Boss Li directly said, ¡°We¡¯re almost there. Close your eyes and don¡¯t take a peek. Once we reach the ce, I will tell you to open your eyes.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling looked at her surroundings. There was endless darkness outside the car window, and the street lights were dim. Ever since being imprisoned in her past life in a very dark underground room and enduring vicious torture, she became so afraid of the dark that she needed to sleep with at least one light on in her bedroom every night. Now she had to close her eyes? In a foreign ce?

    She could vaguely feel that fear and uneasiness wereing back again.

 Chapter 353 - Giving you a Night of Fireworks

    <h4>Chapter 353: Giving you a Night of Fireworks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Looking at her expression, Li Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle as he said, ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    With two words, she strangely regained her peace of mind. Suddenly, Xia Ling was not so afraid anymore. He had done so many things for her and was even willing to give up his life for her. What else could he not do? As for the shadows of her past, it was time for her to slowly ovee them. Slowly, she carefully closed her eyes.

    She entered a world of darkness. The world outside the car window was also dark. This sort of awareness made her feel anxious.

    At this moment, Li Lei¡¯s voice rang just in time. ¡°Let me sing a song for you. What song would you like to hear?¡±

    His familiar voice slowly calmed her down. Although she was still nervous, the darkness was not that unbearable anymore. ¡°You also know how to sing?¡± She questioned and diverted her attention to him. ¡°What can you sing?¡± She remembered during the first time she met him when she had a fever in the mountains, she vaguely recalled that he had an awful child-like singing voice which was just too... horrible.

    She wondered if he had improved.

    Li Lei cheerfully said, ¡°There aren¡¯t many songs that I can sing. However, I have heard all of your songs. Rainy Day? Eyes Beneath The Mask? Stray Cat?¡± He randomly chose one and started to sing, but he immediately went out of tune and was extremely off-pitch.

    Xia Ling wanted to go on her knees.

    This...

    Was what he was singing and what she sang was the same song?

    ¡°Spare me, please.¡± She said desperately. ¡°How bad can your singing get?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very serious!¡± Li Lei was hurt.

    ¡°I¡¯m also very serious!¡± Xia Ling covered her ears. ¡°I¡¯m not listening! I¡¯m not listening! I¡¯m not listening! Being Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss is the wisest decision you made in this lifetime. If you had chosen to be a singer, Skyart Entertainment would have shut down!¡±

    ¡°Come back and save Skyart Entertainment then.¡± Li Lei said softly.

    Xia Ling shivered in the cold.

    The two people talked, and soon, the journey was finished and they had reached their destination. Li Lei parked the Porsche and instructed her not to open her eyes. He then helped her out of the car and held her hand.

    His dry and warm hand firmly held hers and allowed her to calm down again from being anxious in a foreign environment. The world in front of her was pitch ck, but with him by her side, it seemed that there was nothing to be afraid of.

    They held hands as he guided her ahead.

    She felt the night breeze brush against her ear and heard the waves of the water nearby.

    She could not help but ask, ¡°Where exactly is this ce?¡±

    He smiled. ¡°A... very beautiful ce.¡± After walking for some time, he said, ¡°We¡¯re here. Open your eyes.¡±

    Xia Ling opened her eyes and blinked for a bit to get used to the light. After that, she was shocked by the sight in front of her. She was standing in front of a long and deep underwater tunnel. Ahead of her, there were deep sea fish swimming everywhere. There were no lights, but the jellyfish and unknown small fish were glowing and emitting weak but beautiful light, illuminating the darkness.

    ¡°It¡¯s so pretty...¡± She eximed. She leaned towards the ss to look at the fish.

    Girls naturally liked shiny things. The water tunnel was like an entire universe, and the jellyfish and fishes were like the stars in the depths of the universe. ¡°Wow...¡± Her eyes were shining, and the smile on her face was as innocent as a fascinated child¡¯s. She pressed her hands against the ss and slowly walked into the tunnel. Suddenly, she turned around and asked, ¡°Is this where you wanted to bring me? Is this an aquarium? It¡¯s too beautiful. I¡¯ve never been here before.¡±

    Li Lei also smiled. ¡°It¡¯s an aquarium.¡± He remembered that one time when she stared at the glowing fish in the fish tank when they were at a restaurant. He made a mental note and specially booked the ce on her birthday.

    ¡°Happy birthday,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling smiled. The fish overhead her swam past her, and the small glowing ripples they made lit up the side of her face. ¡°This is my first real birthday. Thank you. I¡¯m really happy.¡±

    First?

    Li Lei smiled widely. This meant that no other man including Pei Ziheng apanied her on this day before. He stepped forward and held her hand again. ¡°Come, I will look at the fish with you.¡±

    They walked through the 100-meter underwater tunnel and saw penguins, crocodiles, and dolphins. Xia Ling marveled at everywhere they went, and herughter echoed in the empty aquarium like silver bells.

    In reality, although she had never been to the aquarium in her life, she had been to the tropical waters before. The colorful coral reefs and fish there were not any inferior to the fish in the aquarium and maybe were even more special. Unfortunately, at that time, Pei Ziheng did not like to go into the water and would only sit on the beach chair to wait for her. Even Xia Yu was not feeling well, so when she was in the water, she would apany Pei Ziheng and joke with him.

    Although it was interesting to see the coral reefs alone in the water, Xia Ling could not help but feel lonely.

    How could itpare to being with her lover now?

    ¡°Look at that dolphin, it is doing a somersault in the water! It¡¯s so cute!¡± She grabbed Li Lei¡¯s hand and almost entered the water, so Li Lei had to restrain her.

    ¡°It¡¯s not as cute as you.¡± Li Leiplimented her. ¡°If you like it, I can take you diving in the future.¡±

    Her eyes were shining. ¡°Really? Will you go into the water with me?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Li Lei proudly boasted. ¡°I¡¯m actually a diving master, and I¡¯ve even fought a shark in the ocean before.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± She looked at him suspiciously. ¡°The sharks didn¡¯t tear you into pieces?¡±

    ¡°Do you want the sharks to tear me into pieces that badly?¡± He pinched her cheeks. ¡°If I get torn into pieces, who will you marry?¡±

    ¡°I... You!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s face was red again and took a long time before she could respond. ¡°Stinking gangster!¡± She said before she ran off. Behind her, she could hear Li Lei¡¯s vibrantughter.

    They explored the ce until they were tired and sat at a dessert shop to rest.

    As Li Lei booked the entire ce tonight, even the service crew were reced with his people. They followed his instructions and served delicious hazelnut cake and lemonade with honey that suited Xia Ling¡¯s tastebuds.

    Xia Ling sat on the swing and swayed her legs.

    Tonight, Tan Ying was also there as a special coordinator. ¡°Young Master, the fireworks are ready.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to see the fireworks?¡± Li Lei asked as he lifted his hand to wipe off the cream on her nose.

    ¡°There¡¯s fireworks?¡± Her eyes lit up again. ¡°That¡¯s great!¡±

    Tan Ying instructed someone to light up the fireworks but could not help but shake his head in his heart. Not long ago, his young master asked him how to pursue the girl in front of him with a distressed face, but now, it seemed that his progress was good. Getting engaged or married was in the future. However, old master... Thinking about that, Tan Ying¡¯s face darkened. Old Master was very stubborn, and he was afraid that he would be a difficult obstacle to ovee!

 Chapter 354 - The Servants of Cloud Paradise

    <h4>Chapter 354: The Servants of Cloud Paradise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The fireworks soared to the sky.

    Their vibrant colors and patterns filled the dark canvas.

    Xia Ling was busy eating her hazelnut cake at first, but seeing the fireworks through the window, she hopped off the swing, grabbed Li Lei¡¯s hand, and dashed out. ¡°Look at that!¡± She hopped excitedly as her dainty finger pointed towards the sky. ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful! They look amazing...¡± Thest three words ended in a sigh of admiration.

    The burst of colors could be seen reflected off her pretty face.

    She looked up at the fireworks as Li Lei looked down at her.

    This silly little girl, didn¡¯t she know that she looked way more beautiful than the fireworks? Her smile was attractive, her eyes clear and bright, and her eyshes ever so soft...

    Her fingers were locked in his.

    Li Lei could not remember where he had read it, but if a couple held hands and interlocked it that way, they would stay together forever. He did not want to be apart from her, he wanted to spend his whole life, and the next, and the following... He wanted to spend all the time he had with her. To hell with Pei Ziheng and whatever identity crisis and mysteries there were, he did not give a care about her past. All he cared about was her smile.

    <i>Xiao Ling, did you know that every time you smile, you light up the entire world?</i>

    He leaned towards her and put his arm around her petite frame. He felt like he owned the world.

    The fireworks came to an end.

    Xia Ling did not have enough of it. ¡°It was beautiful. Can wee again next year?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei ced her hands into his coat pocket to warm them up. ¡°We cane here every year, as long as you like it.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± She nodded her head in excitement. By now, she had taken hispany for granted, as if he would be with her forever.

    They walked back into the aquarium.

    Xia Ling asked him, ¡°Are we heading home?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s getting dark, and we¡¯re in the city¡¯s outskirts. It¡¯ll take a while to get out of here. I have a vi nearby, shall we stay there for the night?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling had no objection. Ever since she found out that he had made such a huge sacrifice for her, she had her utmost trust in him. Not to mention a night in a vi, even if he took her to a faraway ce, she would willingly agree to it, for she knew that he would not hurt her.

    They reached the vi in no time.

    Its name was Cloud Paradise.

    Xia Ling recognized this ce. It was the most luxurious region in the city, and many wealthy families owned a unit here as a testament to their status. It was indeed a wonderful, even scenic, living environment. As the car drove into a narrower driveway, a row of people dressed in ck uniforms greeted them.

    Xia Ling remembered having a vi here in herst life, but she never got to live in it before Pei Ziheng fell out with her. Now, in this life, Pei Ziheng gave another vi unit to Xia Yu, which was in turn sold to Li Feng. After all that had happened, she never expected that she would have a chance to stay in one. It was not going to be Diva Xia Ling¡¯s nor Xia Yu¡¯s, it was going to be one that Li Lei owned.

    She felt slightly overwhelmed by it but calmed down as she looked into the distant scenery.

    It was spacious between each housing unit, making it ambiance private and personal. Li Lei finally got to his own vi unit, where two rows of servants were lined up to wee him. When they saw both of them arrive, they bowed in sync and greeted. ¡°Young Master, Miss Ye, wee home.¡±

    Xia Ling did not see iting and was a little shocked by their greeting. As far as she knew, Li Lei was not one who was particr about such formality. Be it in his mountain vi where they first met or in the private apartment he lived in, he was pragmatic and only had the few helpers that he really needed. But over here... Xia Ling scanned the ce and realized that there were quite a number of people moving about in the house like it was an imperial pce.

    It didn¡¯t seem like Li Lei¡¯s style at all.

    Seeing through what she was thinking, Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯d moved over from New York to start a business from scratch in China. This vi was given to me by my Granduncle, saying it was not meant for me but for my future wife. He also said that girls are different from guys like me and should be taken care of like a princess, which is why he arranged for so many servants.¡±

    Xia Ling felt that this granduncle was very kind indeed.

    ¡°What if your wife doesn¡¯t like it?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± Li Lei quickly said. ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll dismiss them tomorrow, how about that? Just tell me what you¡¯d like, I¡¯ll let my Granduncle know.¡±

    ¡°What kind of Grandnephew are you... Wait, no, who¡¯s your wife?!¡± Xia Ling was blushing as she red at him.

    All the servants casually looked away and pretended not to see it.

    The butler, on the other hand, startedughing. ¡°Young Master, Young Missus, don¡¯t keep standing at the door, it¡¯s cold over there.¡± It only took that short exchange between them for him to address her Young Missus now.

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°I¡¯m not!¡±

    ¡°She is.¡± Li Lei cheekily smiled and kissed her on the forehead. ¡°Oh right, this is Uncle John who followed my mum into this family when she married in, who watched me grow up since I was a child. He¡¯s practically my biological uncle.¡±

    It was only then that Xia Ling realized that this Uncle John was a Caucasian with neatly styled blond hair and in a smart butler uniform. He looked somewhere between 50 and 60 years old, and despite his kind smile, she could tell that he was a shrewd man.

    ¡°Hello, Uncle John.¡± Xia Ling greeted him politely.

    Uncle John smiled as he nodded his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be so civil, Young Missus. Let me know if there¡¯s anything you need.¡±

    ¡°I really am not.¡± Xia Ling blushed again.

    Li Lei held her hand and led her past the two rows of servants. They headed into the house for a seat before he told Butler John, ¡°Uncle John, Xiao Ling is more simple and innocent by nature, like my mum. Please look out for her.¡±

    Butler John sized Xia Ling up, this time with a more serious expression. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Young Master. I¡¯ll definitely take good care of her and make sure she doesn¡¯t get hurt in any way.¡± He never made promises that he wasn¡¯t serious about. Once he said those words, he would stand by them with his life. It had been many years since Miss Jennifer passed away. Now that Young Master had finally grown up, wasn¡¯t his next task to take good care of Young Missus and to safeguard Young Master¡¯s happiness?

    Moreover, Young Master said this girl was just like Miss Jennifer...

    It was precisely because Miss Jennifer was so innocent that she left the world so young.

 Chapter 355 - Old Stories of the Li Family

    <h4>Chapter 355: Old Stories of the Li Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Uncle John was a little concerned about whether this Young Missus before him could live in a family like the Li¡¯s who were so involved in triad activities. Yet he wasforted by the fact that Young Master had picked a wife so simr to his mother.

    The servant served some tea.

    Li Lei received it first before handing it over to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling took a sip, but her focus was not on the tea. Instead, she was curious. ¡°What was your mum like?¡± She hardly heard him mention his mother, the only time he did was back at the headquarters when he briefly talked about how his mother had passed on early and his dad had remarried.

    She had heard that his mother came from a mafia family, but was it true?

    Li Lei waved the rest away until only he and Xia Ling were left. ¡°She was a beautiful woman. Her grandpa was a former mafia leader before he passed on, and now the title is held by her uncle, which is my Granduncle. She was a girl and did not have to take over the family business involving all the killing, so she had been protected from it since she was young, and was always kind and innocent. She met my father at the Aegean Sea when she was 18, and it was love at first sight.¡±

    Thest part of his story was all too generic ¡ª the Missy of a mafia family falling in love with the heir of the powerful Li family, and after being together for a while, finding out that the other party was married and with a child. Regardless of the man¡¯s plea for her to stay, and his promises to leave his wife, she decided to walk away.

    ¡°My mum was a rich missy, after all.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°She could not stand being the unwee mistress. She told dad that all the promises he had made were nothing more than words ¡ª he could either live on with his wife and forget her, or look for her only after he had settled the divorce. No matter how my dad begged, she would not waver.¡±

    Father Li had gone to tell Old Master Li that he wanted to divorce his current wife and to marry the Missy of a mafia family. He had thought that Old Master Li would agree to it right away since his wife was a prostitute, and he had only married her because she was pregnant with his child. Old Master had made him marry her because he was unwilling to let his oldest grandchild live on the streets after he was born.

    How about Jennifer? She was a well-brought-updy from a family of equivalent status to the Li¡¯s. If the Li family were linked by marriage to a mafia family, both parties could benefit immensely from it.

    But Old Master Li rejected it outright.

    ¡°No way are you kicking her out!¡± He lectured Father Li harshly. ¡°You are not to despise Ah Xiang for her family background! She bore us a grandson, that is her status in this family! That is her background now! Li Zheng, I will never allow you to divorce and remarry someone else, and don¡¯t you dare mention it again! Instead of having such ideas, why don¡¯t you spend that time on the business, or on raising your child well!¡±

    ¡°What is Ah Xiang worth!¡± Father Li was angered. ¡°I was young and foolish at that time and slept with a prostitute, but it meant nothing! Dad, it¡¯s Jennifer and me who are truly in love!¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡± As Old Master Li did not ede to his request, he walked away.

    He opened the door, and the both of them were immediately stunned ¡ª greeting them on the other side of the door was five-year-old Li Feng, who looked hurt and yet with a burning hatred for his father.

    Hence, Ah Xiang quickly got news of what had happened.

    Back in the days, she had been abducted by a syndicate and sent abroad to be a prostitute in a brothel. She was uneducated and had no idea how to deal with the situation, except to cry and kick a fuss to vent her frustrations and grievances. Father Li did not know how to appease her, and despite swearing that he had already broken up with Jennifer, she was still insecure about it and would not stop bothering him.

    Eventually, Father Li had reached the boundary of his tolerance and forcefully pushed Ah Xiang during one of their exchanges.

    Seeing his mother hurt, little Li Feng charged at his father and began attacking him in ways he knew, including biting into Father Li¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Beast! You¡¯re not my son!¡± Father Li, who was finally pulled away by a few men, pointed towards Li Feng and screamed. ¡°Your mother is a prostitute! You are the bastard child of a prostitute! What right do you have to be my son? You¡¯re worse off than a dog!¡± Hurtful words that he had kept in his heart for years were blurted out after Li Feng had sunk his teeth into his flesh. He had med himself for years over that moment of folly. If only this were not his son, then he would not have to marry a prostitute and be mocked by so many people.

    Li Feng was the oldest son of the first wife, he was the one to be admired and respected by everyone ¡ª until he married a prostitute who bore him a son. He became aughingstock.

    Old Master Li had got his DNA tested very early on and verified that Li Feng was indeed Father Li¡¯s biological son. But many others did not know that fact, and rumors often spread during social events. ¡°Look, that¡¯s Li Zheng. I heard that he married a prostitute and now has a son. Apparently, his wife made him a cuckold, and they don¡¯t know who the father is.¡±

    He overheard it once and went straight for his biological son, kicking him violently. ¡°Bastard child! Why don¡¯t you go kill yourself with your mother?!¡±

    Li Feng was just five andnded on the floor in a whimper. He had broken two bones in his ribs.

    Some time passed.

    Father Li was about to go to the Golden Triangle to make a transaction.

    Ah Xiang thought that he wanted to meet his secret lover and kicked a fuss, insisting on going along.

    It was a pity that they left together, but did not make it back together.

    Nobody knew what exactly happened at the Golden Triangle, but Father Li hade back well and fine, along with the body of Ah Xiang.

    Li Feng cried his heart out and wanted to fight it out with his father.

    Old Master Li called Father Li to the study room, and they stayed inside through the night. Nobody knew what was discussed between the father and son, but when they emerged, Old Master Li had announced that it all happened because Ah Xiang had taken a bullet for Father Li. He also said that they would have a grand funeral in her honor.

    Li Feng, who was still a young boy then, kept his head low and did not say a word. Nobody knew what he was thinking.

    From that day on. Li Feng¡¯s character changed drastically.

    ***

    This story of their past was dark and chilling, and Xia Ling had grabbed on to Li Lei¡¯s hand unknowingly as she listened. ¡°Then...¡± Her voice was unsteady. ¡°Did Ah Xiang really took a bullet for your dad?¡±

    Li Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not too sure about that. It¡¯s said that Ah Xiang really did love my dad, so that might have been what happened. Of course, it could also be that my dad had killed Ah Xiang, and Grandpa had toe up with such a lie so as to protect Li Feng as well as the status of the family.¡±

    He gave a cold smile.

    It was the first time Xia Ling had seen such a smile; it looked so cold and sly, almost like a lone wolf¡¯s. She was hurt seeing him like this, and leaned closer towards him, giving him a hug. ¡°You don¡¯t like your dad?¡± She asked softly. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you still have me.¡±

    Li Lei was surprised by what she said, but looked down at this gentle girl and held her tight.

    The two of them stayed like that for a while before Xia Ling tugged at him. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me about your mother.¡±

 Chapter 356 - Silly Child

    <h4>Chapter 356: Silly Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Hence, Li Lei went on, ¡°Not too long after Ah Xiang¡¯s passing, my dad went back to the Aegean Sea to look for my mum and proposed to her. She had left my dad by then but still loved him deeply. When she found out that he was single then, she naively agreed to it right away and went to announce this joyous asion to Granduncle and the rest.

    ¡°My Granduncle conducted an investigation on my dad and did not find anything amiss regarding the death of his wife, and hence agreed to the marriage. The two families held a grand wedding that rocked the world that year.¡±

    Not too long after she married in, Jennifer got pregnant with Li Lei.

    Li Lei was a healthy and adorable baby that everybody liked. He was a young boy, and his mother was a woman of status; hence, everybody showered him with tender and loving care. On the contrary, Li Feng, who had lost his mum, did not appear so likable anymore. Some people even spoke about him behind his back. ¡°He¡¯s a prostitute¡¯s son indeed, he doesn¡¯t even smile or greet when he sees his uncles. Uncultured! How could hepare to the son of the Missy from a mafia family?¡±

    ¡°Shush, don¡¯t say such stuff. Ah Xiang died to save Li Zheng, after all.¡±

    ¡°You believe such a lie?¡± The other person snorted. ¡°I say, Li Zheng murdered Ah Xiang so he could marry Jennifer. The story we heard was simply made up by Old Master!¡±

    Many spections were going around.

    Many of them were speaking in hushed voices but pointing around as they gossiped.

    Li Feng hid outside the nursery room as he watched Jennifer carry the infant in her arms. Her gentleness and love for the child emanated all around her, and her sweet demeanor attracted nces. Meanwhile, Li Feng¡¯s biological father was right beside her, with a look so gentle he had never seen before.

    Li Feng clenched his small fists.

    He did not know why he made it a point to hide outside the nursery room each day to watch the hustle and bustle over the baby. On one day, he noticed that the door and windows of the nursery room were left open, probably because the nanny had forgotten to shut it.

    Without much thought, he walked in.

    That was his very first time going so close to the baby.

    The little infant was sleeping in the crib, his hands and feet so tiny, and he was drooling a little.

    Li Feng thought: <i>What an ugly and detestabled this is </i>. <i>If only he were dead, if only he did not exist, everybody would pay more attention to me. This way, that adulterous pair would surely be upset?</i>

    Li Feng smiled slyly as he reached his hand out and grabbed Li Lei¡¯s neck.

    The infant felt some difort and starting fidgeting before slowly opening his eyes. He was still drooling, but when he saw the foreign and fierce little boy standing right over him, he gave him a wide smile.

    Li Feng was stunned for a moment and was frustrated by that smile. ¡°I¡¯ll strangle you to death! I¡¯ll see if you¡¯ll still smile!¡±

    He grabbed the infant¡¯s neck with more force and Li Lei pouted as if he were about to cry.

    Li Feng looked at those watery eyes and involuntarily loosened his grip.

    Li Lei thought that this boy was ying around with him and looked at him with curiosity in his eyes. He iled his arms yfully and started making cheeky noises. Li Feng bared his teeth and gave him the fiercest look he could to scare him.

    But Li Lei still smiled at him, and he started drooling again.

    ¡°Silly child!¡± Li Feng felt that the baby before him was foolish beyond measure. Who cared if he was the flesh and blood of a Missy from a mafia family if he was just an idiot? He finally felt a sense of superiority as a Young Master and condescendingly bared his teeth at the silly baby once again before leaving.

    The baby in the crib started crying all of a sudden.

    Li Feng turned back to check on him.

    It could be the connection between brothers at y, but Li Lei started smiling again ¡ª with tears still on his cheeks ¡ª the moment he saw his brother¡¯s face.

    Li Feng frowned a little and walked off again.

    Right as he did, the baby began crying behind him.

    He stopped in his tracks for a while but proceeded to leave the room and shut the door, just so that nobody would hear the baby cry.

    That night, Li Lei ran a high fever and was having muscle spasms. The entire Li family was worried sick about him and gathered just outside the nursery room in the middle of the night. Jennifer was weeping uncontrobly as Li Zheng gently rubbed her shoulders and whispered words offort, all the while trying to mask his own anxiousness. Even the Old Master was out of his room and asking what was happening.

    The family doctor said, ¡°It looks like he was exposed to the wind and caught a cold.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t the doors and windows shut properly?!¡± Old Master Li was fuming. ¡°Get the nanny out here! Ask her what she was doing!¡± Coming face to face with the Old Master¡¯s rage, the nanny continually sobbed and refused to admit her mistake. At this point, a child in the crowd stood out and said¡ª

    ¡°This afternoon, I saw Cousin Feng walking out of the nursery room.¡±

    Li Feng did not know about Li Lei¡¯s fever.

    He was sleeping soundly in his room and was even dreaming about the babyughing and smiling at him. The baby reached his chubby arm out, wanting to hold onto Li Feng and not let him leave.

    ¡°Brother wille and see you another time...¡± In his dream, he was speaking to the baby gently, with no hint of hatred. Ever since his mother passed away years back, Li Lei was the first person to smile at him. His smile was like the radiant glow of the sun, its warmth melting the wall of ice around his heart.

    But the beautiful dream was cut short.

    Somebody forcefully tugged at him and dragged him out of bed. ¡°Beast! You actually tried to harm your biological brother! I¡¯ll beat you to death!¡±

    Before he even had the time to process what was going on, somebody was already throwing punches and kicks at him. Meanwhile, hypocritical words were in the background, going ¡°Xiao Feng is still a child,¡±¡±Xiao Feng did that in a moment of folly, forgive him¡± and the like.

    Li Feng curled up on the cold hard ground and covered his head instinctively. He did not know where exactly he got hurt, but he was bleeding, and the blood blurred his vision. He tried to see who it was that hit him over and over again and realized that it was Li Zheng, his so-called biological father.

    ¡°Shoot! Why did you harm Xiao Lei?!¡± Li Zheng held him by the cor and interrogated him harshly.

    He did not say a word.

    The punchesnded on him again.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Old Master shouted.

    Everybody went silent, and even Li Zheng had stopped hitting Li Feng, who was now injured.

    ¡°There arews in the court and rules at home. If Xiao Feng did do wrong, then we should punish him appropriately! How could you beat him up so badly?!¡± Old Master Li told Li Zheng off before turning around to face Li Feng. ¡°Did you or did you not go to Xiao Lei¡¯s nursery room this afternoon?¡±

    Li Feng remained quiet.

    ¡°He did!¡± It was the same child who mentioned Li Feng previously. At only about four years old, this child was a daringd. ¡°I saw him walk out of the nursery room!¡±

 Chapter 357 - The Dowry

    <h4>Chapter 357: The Dowry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Feng red at that child deviously.

    Old Master Li frowned upon seeing that, when did this boy be this fierce? ¡°Why did you enter the nursery room while no one was inside?¡± Old Master Li sounded even harsher now, like he was interrogating a suspect. ¡°Did you leave the door and windows open deliberately so that Xiao Lei would catch a cold?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Feng, just admit it.¡± One of the elders advised hypocritically. ¡°We all know that you¡¯re jealous of Xiao Lei, isn¡¯t it just because we give him more gifts? He¡¯s so much younger than you, and your biological brother at that, you should be nicer to him, why are you so calcting? Come on, don¡¯t make Grandpa any angrier. Just admit your mistake and promise never to make it again.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Many of them chimed in. ¡°How could you be so scheming at such a young age, even plotting to hurt Xiao Lei?¡± One of them turned towards Li Lei¡¯s biological mother. ¡°Jennifer, you really have to discipline this child well. His mother was not as civilized and well-brought-up as you were. His mother... sigh...¡±

    They wanted to continue with their hurtful words.

    Li Feng had already lifted his head and looked at them, with a hurt that had now turned into hatred. He cut that person off mid-sentence and raised his voice. ¡°Harm him? I wanted to kill him! Isn¡¯t he just the bastard child of an adulterous pair? What right has he to be my brother!¡±

    ¡°Sinner!¡± Old Master Li was hitting the roof. ¡°Bring the rod here!¡±

    That day, Li Feng suffered three merciless strokes of the rod. He was in great pain but refused to let out even a whimper.

    He was then made to kneel before the altar.

    Jennifer secretly brought along some food and ointment to see him. She did not know how to face this child who seemed to be prejudiced against her. She carefully ced the food by his side and spoke to him gently. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt Xiao Lei in the future. You don¡¯t have to envy him, I¡¯m your mother too.¡±

    Li Feng spat on her face andughed hysterically at how confused and hurt she looked. ¡°Mother... Mother?! Bitch, my mother is dead, all because of you! Hahaha...¡±

    If she really was his mother, why didn¡¯t she intervene for him?

    Why did she not ask him whether he really was the one who left the door and windows open?

    No one... not a single person had asked him!

    Nobody in the Li family cared about him! In that case, he had no reason to care for any of them!

    Didn¡¯t all of them say that he wanted to harm Li Lei? Well, he was not one to be used that way. In that case, he would show them what he was capable of!

    Since then, he had plotted against Li Lei countless times.

    Initially, Li Zheng and Old Master Li would hit him and make him kneel before the altar. Subsequently, even they gave up on punishing him.

    Li Lei grew up by the day, and soon was actively running and jumping around. But this child remained innocent and seemed to have his guard down towards anyone ¡ª only he would smile at Li Feng cheekily the same way he did when he was almost strangled to death as an infant. Only he would call ¡°Big Brother¡± repeatedly, and even share his toys with Li Feng.

    ***

    With Xia Ling still in his arms, Li Lei quietly and slowly said, ¡°My mother told me that Brother had such a bad temper only because he lost his mother at a young age. She said that he was a good brother, and wanted me to be nice to him.¡±

    Xia Ling reached her arms out and wrapped them around his neck. ¡°Uh-huh.¡± She could not imagine such a terrible childhood. Although she was poor and had her own set of problems as a child, she was not in constant danger like he was.

    Realizing that he was a little down, she did not fidget around him, but rather, held him quietly. She wanted to offer him some sce and strength.

    Li Lei kept silent for a while before going on. ¡°Mother was very good to me, but Brother didn¡¯t like her.¡±

    Every time Jennifer yed with little Li Lei and shared each other¡¯s joy andughter, Li Feng¡¯s eyes would narrow on them. Even Li Feng himself could not exin what he felt ¡ª was he jealous that Li Lei had taken away the motherly love he had rightfully deserved? Or was it that Jennifer also got the same kind of radiant smile that Li Lei always gave him?

    All he knew was that he wanted to tear them apart.

    Then, Jennifer became pregnant again.

    Her symptoms were bad, and she was vomiting a lot, sleeping a lot, and losing weight drastically...

    She no longer had the energy to look after Li Lei, and the three-year-old got lonely. Even when Li Feng wanted to y a prank on him, he did not react with the same alertness or interest as before.

    Li Feng was unhappy.

    A whileter, on a summer evening, the nine-months-pregnant Jennifer fell into the pool in the backyard. When she was brought to shore, her face had already lost its color, and she was bleeding through her legs, suggesting a premature birthing along. Despite the doctor¡¯s efforts, both mother and child could not be saved.

    ***

    ¡°Just before she passed on, she kept looking at me, her lips trembling like she had something to say to me.¡± Li Lei was speaking very quietly. ¡°But she did not say a word at all, and instead, wanted everyone out, except Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°What did she say to Old Master?¡± Xia Ling asked gently.

    ¡°Grandpa said that Mother had left a sum of money for my dowry, but I was too young, and she was afraid Father might remarry, so she handed the dowry to Grandpa for safekeeping. She wanted Grandpa to hand it to me when I¡¯m of age.¡±

    ¡°Your mother was really good to you.¡± Xia Ling wondered how her mother was like, did she care for her as much as Li Lei¡¯s mother did him?

    However, Li Lei shook his head.

    He had always suspected that his mother must have told Grandpa something else instead.

    He suddenly asked Xia Ling, ¡°If you, I¡¯m just saying if... you were about to leave this world someday, would you specially instruct an elder to safeguard the dowry you left for your son?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xia Ling was stunned for a while. ¡°I guess not. I¡¯d be so busy crying, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d consider all theseplexities, which is why I say that motherly love must be noble.¡± She paused for a moment as if something just hit her, and added, ¡°But who knows? I don¡¯t have a child yet, maybe I¡¯ll think differently when I be a mother. After all, many women only be selfless after having a child.¡±

    Li Lei smiled and stroked her hair.

    Xiao Ling and his mother were simr, they were both rather simple people. If Xiao Ling would not think of something, it was likely that his mother wouldn¡¯t have either. Maybe his mother was really telling Grandpa something else, probably that her falling into the pool was more than just an ident? Was there some secret behind it?

    It had bugged him all these years, but there was no way he could trace it back, considering how many years had passed.

    Maybe he would just have to wait for Grandpa to reveal the mystery one day. Or maybe, there was no mystery, to begin with, and that his mother¡¯sst words were indeed about the dowry. After all, all he had were spections, and they could be wrong.

 Chapter 358 - The Belle of Italy

    <h4>Chapter 358: The Belle of Italy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nted a kiss at the corner of his mouth. ¡°I think she must¡¯ve been very pretty, that¡¯s why you¡¯re so good looking yourself.¡±

    Li Lei lowered his head to kiss her. ¡°Yes, the prettiestdy in Italy back then.¡±

    She suddenly felt self-conscious. ¡°I¡¯m not that pretty.¡±

    He tapped her nose lightly. ¡°My little monster, only I want to marry you, so you have to follow me and be good, alright?¡± He didn¡¯t want Xiao Ling to get any prettier; her admirers now were vicious, if she got any prettier, what would transpire next?

    ¡°You implied that I was ugly!¡± Xia Ling remarked, upset, and raised an arm to push him down.

    ¡°I never said it was a bad thing.¡± Li Lei chuckled, letting the force of her arm push him down since it didn¡¯t hurt anyway.

    Xia Ling pushed several times. He was proportionately lean, but his muscles were hard like steel. Ironically, the person who got tired was herself. ¡°I dislike you!¡± She was grabbing onto his arm now, wondering if she should bite, when suddenly he got up and brought something to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s a present,¡± he said warmly.

    In front of her was a t box, not too big, wrapped with a ribbon and adorned with roses and dried flowers. Xia Ling curiously opened the box and was hit by a wave of paralysis ¡ªying inside the box was the title deed to the estate, and on it was her name.

    ¡°You...¡± She was practically reeling from shock. Half-awake, she wondered. ¡°This house?¡±

    Li Lei was smiling as he nodded. ¡°This house was prepared for my future wife.¡±

    She studied the title deed in her hands, and all she could think about was the sheer magnitude of the gift. She had expected that Li Lei would get her something like a ne or a bracelet. Never had it crossed her mind that it would be something as significant as his deceased mother¡¯s intentions. She scanned the title deed, and then the vi around her, ¡°This... is far too extravagant. I can¡¯t ept this.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to marry me?¡± She could hear his voice drop.

    ¡°No...¡± She hurriedly answered. Then it felt a little strange. ¡°You¡¯re taking advantage of me!¡±

    ¡°Then, will you allow me to take advantage of you?¡± He pulled her into his arms and pressed a light kiss onto her. ¡°If you have the confidence to spend the rest of your life with me, then ept it.¡± His eyes were deep as the sea, and his voice was maic as if you could fall straight into it and nevere up again.

    The rest of her life with this man?

    Xia Ling gazed at him in a stupor, feeling her body rxing, yet a rejection would not slip out of her mouth. Words from before filled her mind, echoing: when a couple loves each other, two fates intertwine to be one, there¡¯s no need for you to draw the line, you have to get used to him being in your life.

    ¡°Take it, Xiao Ling.¡± He whispered lowly in her ear as if casting a spell. ¡°Spend the rest of your life with me.¡±

    ¡°... Alright.¡± The answer rushed out from her lips unknowingly.

    He smiled, satisfied, and lowered his head to pull her into a deep kiss.

    She felt her synapses firing as her breathing quickened, feeling his body slowly respond. ¡°Li- Li Lei.¡± Her voice shook, both hands on his chest, unsure if she wanted to pull him in or push him away. Thest time they were together in the tea room, the tension between them had been so thick, it actually messed her up for a while, and today yet again?

    She trembled slightly in his embrace, her eyes watering.

    His fingertips were warm as he undid the top two buttons on her blouse, paused for a moment, and asked, ¡°Bedroom?¡±

    Her face glowed beet red instantly.

    Li Lei barely hesitated, carrying her up into the room with urgency, and ced her onto the luxurious expanse of the bed. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± There was a hoarseness in his voice this time as he undid her buttons. His fingers seemed to work like magic, and her breathing quickened yet again, her body practically melting.

    ¡°You, you can¡¯t...¡± She was tripping over her words now, trying to send him a re, but it was no use.

    Li Lei chuckled lowly. ¡°I can¡¯t do what?¡±

    A charming night indeed.

    Xia Ling awoke the second day aching all over, feeling as if someone had rearranged all the bones in her body. She groaned in pain, lettingst night¡¯s events slowly flood her mind... Li Lei, this was all Li Lei¡¯s fault! What kind of birthday celebration was this? It felt more like an opportunity for him to take advantage of her thoroughly!

    Ah... it really hurt...

    Moving was arduous, and she internally cursed herself for falling straight into his trap. Right, where was the culprit? She rolled over in bed and saw the man grinning right beside her. The pale golden sunlight shone on his unclothed upper half, illuminating his well-toned shoulders and chest. If she looked closely, she could make out faint scratches from fingernails, and those were probably her fault.

    Her blush rose again at the thought.

    ¡°Like what you see?¡± He was smug, even pulling down the sheets to expose his waist.

    ¡°You... you shameless man!¡± Xia Ling covered her eyes.

    He chuckled, first stretching his limbs lightly towards her, and then taking her hand to ce it on his body. ¡°You let me be shameless.¡± He flirted back almostzily.

    Xia Ling really wanted to move her hand away, but, but... the way his skin felt was just amazing, the way his muscles were lean but not pronounced, like a leopard ready to pounce, elegant and powerful. She couldn¡¯t help but let her hand linger, before adding the other hand too.

    Li Lei hadn¡¯t minded initially, but the more she went on, the more he began to grow impatient. ¡°Are you testing me?¡± He suddenly grabbed her hands and flipped her over. ¡°You¡¯re ying with fire.¡±

    Xia Ling gasped. She was at a loss as to how to respond.

    Devoured yet again.

    Once wasn¡¯t enough, it went on and on and on.

    When they finally calmed down, Xia Lingcked the energy even to lift a finger. Teary-eyed, she used Li Lei. ¡°Jerk! Shameless! I hate you!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, I¡¯m a shameless jerk. Hate me,¡± Li Lei replied indifferently. After all, the deed had already been done. He felt like he owned a little kitten now, and the kitten¡¯s rage didn¡¯t bother him in the slightest, even pressing a small kiss on its forehead as constion. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to shower now?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling was upset. What kind of person was this? After a night and half a day, how many times was this guy going to go? Everywhere was aching... Why wasn¡¯t he? Why did he have so much energy? What a loathsome man.

    She was trying to suppress her tears.

    ¡°I¡¯ll sleep with you for a moment?¡± A satisfied Li Lei was good at talking, but he momentarily lost his focus as he trailed on. ¡°Then at night again?¡±

    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Xia Ling refuted with the little energy she could muster. If she could, she would have suffocated him with a pillow.

 Chapter 359 - The Mystery of Ye Xingling

    <h4>Chapter 359: The Mystery of Ye Xingling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Big Boss did not bother to dispute with her. He admired her beauty and then hugged her with satisfaction.

    What they did was consensual. After throwing a tantrum for a while, she felt tired and slept in his arms. This time, Li Lei did not disturb her. He lightly carried her to the shower and ordered someone to change the mattress bedding before cing her back on the bed and covered her with a nket.

    As he left the bedroom, butler John said, ¡°Young Master, Tan Ying is here.¡±

    Tan Ying was a sensible person. If he did not have something extremely urgent to report, he would not disturb Li Lei in his private mansion during his personal time. After hearing that he was there, Li Lei said, ¡°Invite him to the study.¡±

    As he rushed towards his study, he buttoned his shirt.

    The sunlight in the study room was radiant, and it was filled with the scent of agarwood bookshelves mixed with the rich smell of a winter afternoon. The air was still, and the tea was fragrant. Tan Ying sat on a single-seater sofa in the corner and was deep in thought. There was a slight severity in his eyes that Li Lei did not even notice when he walked in front of him.

    Li Lei sat down opposite him.

    ¡°Boss.¡± He was taken back when he saw Li Lei.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Remember that time when you told me to investigate Miss Ye¡¯s history again? I have findings.¡± Tan Ying said. They had investigated Ye Xingling¡¯s background a long time ago, and then, the conclusion was that her background was clean. Although there were unsolvable doubts surrounding her, on the surface, everything seemed normal.

    ¡°What are they?¡± Li Lei asked with a deep voice. Recently, after he learned about Xiao Ling¡¯s real birth chart, he deeply suspected that the ¡°Ye Xingling¡± that was alive today was not the true Ye Xingling. Who was she then? He instructed Tan Ying to investigate again to find out the differences in character and lifestyles between the old Ye Xingling and the new Ye Xingling. Were they very distinct? Was there a period of time when she had a sudden drastic change in personality?

    Tan Ying said, ¡°When she was younger, Ye Xingling was weak, shy, and introverted. She was very tolerant of being scolded and was someone who went unnoticed like a shadow. During the year when she entered the training camp, she was bullied by the teachers and students. They were all ruthless when bullying her physically and emotionally. Her singing and dancing were all very ordinary. Even her stage presence was bad, and she did not shine like how she does now.¡±

    Li Lei nodded. Xiao Ling now did not look weak at all. Bullied by others? It was not bad if she did not bully others. If anyone dared to bully her, she would definitely get revenge and remain proud.

    Tan Ying continued, ¡°She slowly changed about two years ago. In that period of time, she was under a lot of pressure as she rankedst in all the various tests. If she continued like this, she would be kicked out soon. She practiced all day and night and even fainted a few times because of overwork. After that, suddenly, there was a day when things suddenly improved for her. Her singing and dancing skills vastly improved, and soon, she was chosen to be part of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s group dance shoot and went to your vi where she met you.¡±

    Tan Ying paused and frowned. ¡°Perhaps this is not a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°You suspect that Xiao Ling was not the real Ye Xingling anymore then, and she deliberately wanted to get close to me?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Tan Ying sighed. ¡°There¡¯s a huge possibility. She may be a spy sent by other forces to remain close by your side.¡±

    Li Lei slightly frowned. ¡°Tan Ying, we have talked about this problem before. Xiao Ling can¡¯t be a spy. How can a spy be as stupid and innocent as her and remain by my side for two years without stealing from me?¡±

    Tan Ying disagreed. ¡°However, judging from the situation now, you¡¯ve already decided to marry her. Once she lowers your guard, enters the Li family, and has ess to the core secrets, it would not be toote to hurt the Li family...¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Assuming that there really is a force behind her, and that force really wants to get a woman to marry me, why didn¡¯t they look for someone more beautiful or someone who is from an equally prominent family? Two years ago, who could predict so urately that I would fall in love with Xiao Ling now?¡±

    Wait, a prediction...

    Unexpectedly, Li Lei thought of a person. The Preceptor, Xia Moyan.

    The Preceptor could do things that ordinary people could not do with ease. However, if The Preceptor were at odds with any powerful person, he would have a very secretive and unpredictable n and would not have to go through that trouble. There was something strange about this entire situation. Why did The Preceptor look for Xiao Ling alone? Why did he also tell Xiao Ling his real name?

    Li Lei seemed to have vaguely realized something, but it was still not concrete.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Fine, even if you are right, you have to take precautions. Before we clearly understand Miss Ye¡¯s background, I don¡¯t rmend that you marry her.¡±

    Li Lei smiled bitterly. He could not marry her now even if he wanted to as the time was not right. He had notpletely dealt with the Li family yet and could not let Xiao Ling marry into such a dangerous ce. In time, he would give her a safe and happy home.

    He avoided this topic and asked Tan Ying, ¡°What else have you found out?¡±

    Tan Ying¡¯s expression was uneasy. ¡°Her handwriting.¡±

    ¡°Handwriting?¡± Li Lei felt an ominous premonition.

    ¡°It also changed two years ago when her temperament and abilities started to change. Her handwriting becamepletely different from when she was younger. I have taken her handwriting to handwriting experts for analysis, and all the experts felt that it could not be the same person¡¯s handwriting.¡± Tan Ying lifted his head to look at Li Lei. ¡°Boss, I really hope that she¡¯s just a spy.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say this?¡± Li Lei¡¯s premonition became even worse.

    ¡°After knowing that Miss Ye¡¯s handwriting changed, I did another careful investigation regarding her past, and many people started saying that she was like the spirit of the deceased Diva Xia Ling after she sang ¡®Sea Demon¡¯ two years ago. Not only that, I obtained a copy of Xia Ling¡¯s handwriting, and after aparison analysis by the handwriting experts, they confirmed that it was done by the same person.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± This time, even Li Lei who tried to see the bigger picture waspletely baffled. ¡°Can you say that again? That¡¯s impossible! Xia Ling is already dead! Furthermore, their birthdays do not match!¡± How could his Xiao Ling be Xia Ling? This was the most disastrous oue that he did not want to think about. Tan Ying was right. He really wished that Xiao Ling was just a spy. No matter whose spy she was, or even assassin, it was better than being Xia Ling!

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Li Lei forced himself to calm down. ¡°You must have made a mistake somewhere.¡±

    ¡°The time when Ye Xingling¡¯s personality suddenly changed corresponded with the time Xia Ling died. This means that after Xia Ling died, Ye Xingling started to change.¡± As if he wanted to eliminate all of Li Lei¡¯s hopes, Tan Ying said, ¡°I also didn¡¯t want to believe this inconceivable news at first. Could it be that Xia Ling isn¡¯t dead? Could it be that she had stic surgery and secretly changed her name to ¡®Ye Xingling¡¯?¡±

 Chapter 360 - Just Not The Same

    <h4>Chapter 360: Just Not The Same</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei still could not believe it. ¡°She can¡¯t be Xia Ling. After Xia Ling died, everyone witnessed how heartbroken Pei Ziheng was. He even almost fell out with his family to bury Xia Ling in his ancestral grave. Furthermore, he visited her grave every year and searched for people who resembled her. If Xia Ling were still alive and were acting as Ye Xingling, Pei Ziheng would havee for her a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, even Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t know the truth?¡± Tan Ying spected.

    ¡°Why?¡± Just as Li Lei asked this question, he suddenly thought about the information that Old Man Bao told him. About two or three years ago, Xia Ling was imprisoned and tortured by Pei Ziheng. Maybe that was why she escaped as she could no longer tolerate it. If that was the case...

    How much hardship exactly did his Xiao Ling endure?

    His heart hurt immensely, and he wished he could hold her in his arms tofort her immediately.

    Unfortunately, Tan Ying did not know about the hardships that Xia Ling suffered and asked in confusion, ¡°Her rtionship with Pei Ziheng is so good that she doesn¡¯t need to hide from him... Well, there is another possibility. She might have dual personalities or suffers from hysteria. The possibility is very low, but...¡±

    Li Lei eyes lit up like he found a straw to clutch at. ¡°Dual personalities or hysteria?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tan Ying said. ¡°I consulted with some experts, and there are indeed such cases. Some people with lower mental strength would develop a second personality when they are in severe duress which is very different from the original personality. The Miss Ye you love may be the second personality of Ye Xingling. However, there is something unexinable about this. The main and secondary personality will usually alternate, and it is impossible for the main personality to not appear at all during the past two years.¡±

    ¡°What about hysteria then?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Hysteria may be caused by serious provocation. The patient hallucinates and thinks of herself as another person. Thus, her speech, actions, and even handwriting can even resemble another person¡¯s. However, this has the same problem as the dual personalities theory. Hysteria onlysts for a short time and urs intermittently. It is impossible that itsted for two years.¡±

    ¡°Besides these two, are there any other exnations?¡± Li Lei was uneasy.

    Tan Ying shook his head. ¡°No. If we remove the doubt that she¡¯s a spy, Miss Ye¡¯s situation can be exined by one of these three causes. Number One, she has a dissociative personality disorder. Number Two, she has hysteria. Or number three, she is originally Xia Ling.¡±

    Li Lei rubbed his forehead and was deep in thought for a long time.

    Judging from Xiao Ling¡¯s birth chart, she was thirty years old now. Or at least, she thought she was thirty.

    Wait... Was the birth chart engraved on the amulet what she told Preceptor Xia? If she had a dual personality disorder and gave herself a birthday, did that mean that the amulet would lose its efficacy?!

    Li Lei¡¯s heart skipped a beat. In a sh, he recalled that when he gave Xiao Ling¡¯s birth chart to Preceptor Xia, the birth chart he stated was Ye Xingling¡¯s birth chart. However, Preceptor Xia did not remove that birth chart from the amulet. He only looked for Xiao Ling personally and added a new birth chart.

    Why?

    Did Preceptor Xia know from the start that there was something wrong with the birth chart?

    Why did Preceptor Xia not say anything? Why did he look for Xiao Ling alone? Was there something that he could not tell him?

    Suddenly, Li Lei realized that Preceptor Xia definitely knew something and there was a secret between him and Xiao Ling! Li Lei lifted his head and said to Tan Ying, ¡°Help me look for a person, the unpredictable Preceptor Xia.¡±

    The Preceptor? Tan Ying was loyal to the Li family, and as Old Master Li believed in the metaphysical, many of the subordinates in his family heard about him before. Tan Ying heard about that man a long time ago and knew that he was very powerful spiritually. ¡°Many powers in the world want to look for The Preceptor. Some people looked for him for decades without seeding. I can only say that I will try. However, Boss, Miss Ye¡¯s situation surely can¡¯t be rted to him.¡±

    Li Lei also understood.

    Suddenly, he felt that this situation was even more bizarre. Why would a person that was able to change the luck of powerful people appear two times in a month because of Xiao Ling when the world could not find him after years of searching?

    It was bing more and more confusing.

    ¡°Rare cases of illnesses can¡¯t be verified,¡± Li Lei said slowly and made a decision. ¡°We have to use the elimination method and investigate the most feasible possibility by checking if Xiao Ling is really Xia Ling.¡±

    Tan Ying had no objections and rationalized. ¡°The first thing we must verify is whether Xia Ling is truly dead. That year, the news that she fell to her death from the stage was very sensational. I will investigate that incident again.¡±

    Li Lei gave him a contact number. ¡°Old Man Bao has been investigating this incident. You can contact him.¡±

    Tan Ying took the contact, got up, and bid Li Lei farewell.

    Li Lei sat in the study for a long time.

    When Xia Ling awoke, she was in a dream-like state and realized that Li Lei was not in the bedroom.

    She looked down and realized that he had helped her shower. She had the scent of shower gel on her, and she was wearing soft fleece pajamas. Even the bedding was reced. Feeling that her body was still sore, she rolled around on the bed and called out a few times as she felt hungry. She had not eaten for 24 hours sincest night, and after being tormented so many times on the bed by Li Lei, she felt like dying.

    ¡°Jerk. Big jerk... Ignoring me after he ate...¡± She muttered. Aching, she got down from the spacious bed and swayed as she walked out of the bedroom barefooted.

    The entire vi was covered in thick carpets, and the central air conditioner was at a suitable andfortable temperature.

    Initially, Xia Ling wanted to go downstairs to look for food. However, when she walked past the study room, she saw that the door was half ajar, and she could see that Li Lei was sitting inside. For a moment, she forgot that she was hungry and pushed the door open to look for him. ¡°Hey, what are you thinking about?¡±

    Seeing that he looked troubled, it caused Xia Ling to be upset as well.

    She knelt by his side and looked up. ¡°Is something bothering you?¡±

    When Li Lei realized that she was there, all of his gloominess disappeared. He smiled as he pinched her face. ¡°Are you awake?¡± Seeing her bare feet, hemented. ¡°You didn¡¯t wear slippers.¡± Was she really Xia Ling? Did she ever act like a spoiled child so shamelessly in front of Pei Ziheng before? She was so innocent and cute. How was Pei Ziheng able to humiliate her like that? Once he thought about that, his heart was set on fire, and it burned with agony.

    Xia Ling was unaware of his troubles and only said, ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to eat?¡± He smiled gently and helped her up from the carpet. ¡°I¡¯ll ask the servant to cook something for you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re using the servant to send me away!¡± Xia Ling cried, unhappy. There was truly a difference before and after she slept with him. ¡°In the past, you would always cook for me. What about now? Stinking gangster!¡±

 Chapter 361 - New Job

    <h4>Chapter 361: New Job</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei did not know whether to cry orugh. He only consoled her. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll cook for you.¡±

    Holding her hand, he was about to guide her out, but Xia Ling pulled him back. ¡°Forget it, let the servant do it.¡± She could tell that he was troubled and did not want him to overwork himself. ¡°I want to eat chicken porridge, cold mixed jellyfish sd, and steamed dumplings.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Ok.¡± He found a servant and gave him the instructions.

    As such, she was happy and eagerly went to the dining area to wait for her meal.

    This time, Li Lei stopped her. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to eat with me?¡±

    Xia Ling tilted her head and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I disturb you just now? Just continue to think about your business and ignore me.¡± Just now when she asked if he were troubled, he changed the subject. Xia Ling guessed that it was probablypany issues or something regarding the triad that she would not understand. The only thing she could do was not bother him.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°You didn¡¯t disturb me. Come over and let me hug you.¡± He took her into his arms, sat beside the small sofa near the window, and kissed her long hair. Her skin was smooth, her eyes were bright, and there was even a faint fragrance on her body that lingered after her bath. She obediently curled up in his arms like a quiet cat.

    No matter who she was.

    Right now, it was fine as long as she was here.

    After what happened in the vi, both of them became more intimate.

    During spring of the following year, Xia Ling¡¯s solo album ¡°Before Dawn¡± went on sale and made it to the top of the most prominent music chart after a week of sales. Lin Yunan, Wei Shaoyin, and others were pleased and especially held a celebratory party for her. They even organized a lot of media news conference and fan meets. The overwhelming response far exceeded their expectations. Ye Xingling became fully deserving of the title ¡°Queen of Pop.¡±

    Taking advantage of the hype, countless advertisers looked for her.

    Lin Yunan was very busy every day helping her choose the appropriate advertisements and endorsements. After a few days, he showed her a phone advertisement. ¡°I don¡¯t rmend that you ept too manymercials. In the next year, this one is sufficient. This brand is blue blood in the phone world. It is not familiar to the public but is very well-known among a specific group of people. Thismercial will only be yed in ces where famous people frequent. Of course, it will also be visible on your website, and it is enough for fans to talk about how noble you are.¡±

    She wanted to be a Diva, so she epted advertisements and endorsements not for money but as a way to elevate her status. Lin Yunan rejected all of the other advertisements, and it seemed that in the short-term, they lost many money-making opportunities. However, in the long run, her name would only be associated with luxury goods. With the halo effect, her status would far exceed any other female celebrity.

    Xia Ling also understood his purpose and nodded.

    The shooting location was on a mountain with a beautiful paragliding base.

    The crew was expected to stay there for two days to take shots of her high-altitude paragliding. Initially, Xia Ling did not know how to paraglide. However, the team hired a professional coach to teach her paragliding for this shoot, and she trained hard for a month. Now, she was not very outstanding at paragliding, but she was able to do a few simple movements which were more than enough toplete themercial.

    The staff was very busy as they measured the wind speed and adjusted the equipment.

    Xia Ling found a secluded shaded ce in the trees to do warm-up exercises in preparation for paragliding.

    Lin Yunan walked over and handed her a ss of water. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you ok?¡± He had suggested that she use a substitute in the past, but she refused, so he was a little worried as paragliding was a type of extreme sport which could not guarantee herplete safety. In the event of an ident, his future ns would be ruined.

    Xia Ling took the ss and gave him a reassuring smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The trial run she did went well, and the wind direction today was not bad, so it was a good day for paragliding. Although she was a beginner, she had experienced many extreme sports in her past life and knew that these sports were virtually the same. They looked dangerous, but after mastering the techniques, they were actually quite easy.

    However, this was the first time Lin Yunan took an artiste to film extreme sports. Thus, he was very nervous.

    Before he could say anything else, the paragliding coach walked over. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, Mr. Lin. Xiao Ling¡¯s sense of bnce is great. Her sensitivity and stability are also excellent. I think she is very talented, and in time, she can even be a master at paragliding. Xiao Ling, if you ever stop being an artiste, would you go paragliding with me?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Xia Ling agreed half-jokingly.

    The coach smiled widely and patted her shoulders before saying to Lin Yunan, ¡°Look, Mr. Lin. This girl doesn¡¯t even know what it¡¯s like to be afraid! Don¡¯t underestimate her because she¡¯s skinny and small. Her guts are not small at all!¡±

    Lin Yunan was helpless. As they had already agreed to the shoot, there was nothing he could do about it. Since he was the manager of someone who wanted to rise to the top, he needed to ept her strange insistence on things. For example, some people liked to have lollipops in their pockets when they went out, and some people would only sit on red chairs. There were also some people like Xiao Ling who would rather die than use a substitute. Forget it, they were already here, so he should just let her do it.

    He gave Xia Ling a few words of advice before leaving to settle other things.

    The coach smiled as he looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Oh yes, are you Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling did not expect that he would suddenly ask that question. She gave him a vague answer and then said, ¡°I¡¯m going to go over to see if the equipment is ready yet.¡± After that, she escaped.

    She was unable to answer this question even though she and Li Lei¡¯s rtionship deepened after that charming night at the vi and they had gotten back together. Not only that, they frequently slept together...

    However, she was unable to tell that to an outsider.

    She was an artiste. When and how her rtionship status should be announced were determined by her manager.

    ¡°Don¡¯t pretend.¡± The fitness coach smiled breezily. ¡°Do you know that Li Lei just arrived? Once he got off the helicopter, he immediately went to check your paragliding equipment from the rope to the parachute. In total, he checked it three times. I have never even seen him care so much about his equipment before.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei is here?¡± Xia Ling was rather shocked. A month ago, Li Lei went overseas again to settle some business and only returnedst night. When he came back, he hugged her for a while before he fell asleep. Today when she left, he was still asleep. Now that she knew he was here, her eyes were full of joy.

    She turned around and sure enough, a familiar figure was nearby squatting and busying himself near her paragliding equipment. He readjusted the rope and tested the strength of every buckle.

    The soft sunlight enveloped his body.

    As if noticing her gaze, Li Lei turned around and looked at her. He waved and let out a big smile.

    Xia Ling also smiled as she waved back.

    ¡°How is he not your boyfriend?¡± The fitness coach teased her. ¡°Anyone who is not blind can see it. If I knew that your rtionship was so good, I would not have coached you. You could just directly look for him.¡±

 Chapter 362 - Storm

    <h4>Chapter 362: Storm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling was really lost this time.

    ¡°What? He never mentioned this to you before?¡± The fitness coach said. ¡°He is very well-known in this field as the record holder of the Southeast Asian Paragliding Competition. That year, hepeted against a paraglider from Singapore and instantly became a legend. I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t ask your impressive boyfriend and looked for a coach instead!¡±

    Xia Ling was a little shocked after hearing what he said. She really did not know that the man who usually smiled sozily was so impressive. He was literally capable of doing anything: cooking, managing a business, fighting, and now he was also a paragliding master? No wonder he told her many paragliding tips during that call when he learned that she was learning how to paraglide. She initially thought that he researched on paragliding, but to her surprise, he was actually a respectable god of paragliding!

    ¡°He lied to me!¡± Xia Ling felt wronged. ¡°He never told me before!¡±

    ¡°He probably wanted to give you a shock today. He used the people who admired him topliment him instead of telling you himself. That effect is even better than self-praise. Haha, how scheming.¡± The coach shook his head. ¡°Trust me, he¡¯s really good.¡±

    ¡°Old Zhao, are you talking bad about me behind my back again?¡± A familiarugh was heard nearby.

    Xia Ling turned around to see that Li Lei that had finished checking on her equipment and was walking towards them. Today, he was wearing white, leisure sportswear. The soft and stic cotton fabric outlined his muscr body, and his handsome face had azy smile as usual. His short hair was a little messy due to the wind, and the way he stood under the sun made him look like the world¡¯s top male model.

    ¡°Oh no, I wouldn¡¯t dare. I only said the truth.¡± The coach, Old Zhao, was quite familiar with him. They lightly punched each other. ¡°It¡¯s rare that you came. After the shooting is over, would you like to paraglide?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t bring any equipment.¡±

    Old Zhao also knew that after reaching a certain level as a paraglider, one would be used to professional equipment. Ordinary equipment would only be suitable for beginners and insufficient for professionals. He understood that Li Lei was not used to it and did not force him. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°What a waste. Ok, I won¡¯t disturb you both. Have a nice chat. I will go over there to see how the preparation is going.¡±

    Li Lei smiled and lightly punched him again. ¡°Quickly leave.¡±

    Old Zhaoughed as he walked away.

    Thewn became quiet. Xia Ling looked at Li Lei. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I missed you.¡± Li Lei said. Last night he came back toote and was very fatigued. She also needed to leave early for her shoot and could not stay for long. He really missed her. ¡°Are you unhappy after seeing me?¡± Li Lei leaned over and gave her a hug, but quickly separated from her. Although this ce was isted, it was still an outdoor shooting location, and it would not be good if people saw them together.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m happy.¡± This was not a lie. Absence made the heart grow fonder. They had not seen each other for more than a month. Last night, he was not honest and did something he loved to do... Cough, cough... As such, they did not have a good conversation. She still missed him, and that short hug was not enough. ¡°Did you manage to finish your business?¡± She swept the leaves off his cor and asked.

    ¡°With me there, everything is a piece of cake.¡± He said to her easily.

    This time, he went overseas to settle some family business in Eastern Europe. In this year, he had continuously taken a lot of power from Li Feng. Although the process was difficult and dangerous, the result was not bad. In his family, his authority increased, and more people were starting to side with him.

    As long as he continued to work hard, soon, the day woulde when he would be able to let Xiao Ling rightfully marry into the Li family.

    The girl in front of him was clueless about everything he did. She only said, ¡°Sure, as long as you¡¯re back.¡± She smiled. ¡°Soon, I will paraglide for you to see. Let me tell you, I¡¯m very good at it.¡±

    How was she good? Li Lei saw the video of her training, and she was only at the beginner level. She could only safely take off andnd. She could not even do any tricks, how weak!

    However, he still looked at her lovingly. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re the best. Paraglide wellter and I will cook foie gras with caviar for you tonight.¡±

    ¡°Ok, sure!¡± Once she heard that there was something delicious to eat, her eyes lit up.

    ¡°Paraglide well!¡± He adjusted the amulet around her neck.

    A staff member ran over to report that all the preparations werepleted and invited her to start paragliding.

    Xia Ling left Li Lei. She wore her equipment properly and, under the observation of the staff and the cameraman, she skillfully ran to take off. She paraglided off the cliff and flew towards the sky.

    The weather was good, and her feelings were as bright and clear as the sky.

    She paraglided smoothly for a while and reached the middle of the mountain which was half of the entire journey. Suddenly, there was an anxious voice from the inte. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! Turn back! Turn back! Quickly! Quickly!¡±

    She recognized the voice of her paragliding coach and could not help but feel startled. She surveyed her surroundings. It was still a bright and clear day, and she was not far from the nned route. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why do I have to turn back?¡±

    ¡°The wind ising! There is arge cumulonimbus cloud approaching from the northeast! You must hurry! Don¡¯t try to catch up with the rain clouds! If you do, your life will be in danger!¡± The paragliding coach was very anxious.

    Xia Ling was stunned and looked carefully at the northeast direction. Only then did she realize that the sky a distance away was bing darker, and the ominous clouds were approaching her. She knew what that meant. During the training, the coach constantly warned her that cumulonimbus clouds were killers. In this sort of cloud condition, even helicopters did not dare to take off, let alone a small paraglider. He was not being an rmist. Rather, what he said was already less severe than the actual situation. How was it just an understatement of her life being in danger?

    With the violent storm that the cumulonimbus clouds brought, anyone who was implicated would die!

    ¡°Who said that the weather was good today?!¡± She scolded as she hurriedly started to turn around.

    ¡°The weather forecast said that there would only be rain at midnight! Lies!¡± The coach cursed, but he also remembered to instruct her. ¡°Pull the left brake! Rx your right hand! Xiao Ling, turn slowly! Turn slowly! You must not mess this up! Keep steady!¡±

    She tried her best to follow his instructions, but the wind ahead was getting stronger, and no matter how hard she tried to brake, the bumps became more intense. She could not help but panic and cried into the inte, ¡°I can¡¯t! There¡¯s a wind current in front! I can¡¯t turn back!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± This time, it was Li Lei¡¯s voice. He spoke quickly but calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here. Listen to me. You have to go around the wind current and turn back from the left. You must turn back from the open and tnd on the left and avoid the mountainous region on the right. The wind current near the mountain isplicated, and it is more difficult than the tnd.¡±

    After hearing his voice, Xia Ling¡¯s anxiety miraculously vanished, and she started to calm down. However, she had no time to respond and was only trying her best to control the paraglider and move in the direction he directed her.

    However, the wind became stronger, and she could not make a turn no matter how hard she tried.

    In fact, she was getting closer to the mountainous region on the right.

    Finally, a wind currentpletely pushed her towards the mountainous region.

 Chapter 363 - Li Lei to the Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 363: Li Lei to the Rescue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    Many people screamed from the inte.

    ¡°Move away from the mountain! Move away from the mountain!¡± The coach and Li Lei anxiously yelled together.

    She quickly grabbed the rope to change direction, but the wind suddenly became stronger. Only then did she realize how frightening the mountainous region was. The paraglider could not be controlled under the disturbance of the turbulent flow. In the blink of an eye, it lost its bnce, and she only felt that she was spinning. The front half of the paraglider overturned, and the entire paraglider felt like a spinning top as it started to tumble downwards.

    ¡°Stabilize! Stabilize! Use full stall to regain bnce!¡± The coach shouted.

    Full stall? When she was receiving training, she heard her coach mention this skill before. As it was achieved by free falling to regain stability, it was very useful but also very dangerous. It was an advanced stunt and not part of the regr training regime. Xia Ling only heard about the theory and steps before but had never actually done it.

    However, she had no better idea in front of her. Seeing that she was losing even more control and was nearing the ground, she would be crushed if she did not try a full stall. It was better if she gave it a try.

    She took a deep breath and pushed both brakes to the limit at the same time.

    At that moment, she heard Li Lei cursing in rage¡ª

    ¡°That¡¯s crap! Open the parachute! Just open the parachute! This rookie can¡¯t do a full stall at this height! Xiao Ling, open the parachute!¡±

    However, it was already toote. The powerful force during the full stall caused the parachute to buckle forward, causing the ropes to entangle. Not only was she unable to regain control, but the situation also became more chaotic. Her falling speed elerated, and she felt a strong sense of weightlessness. The wind swiftly swept past Xia Ling¡¯s face, and there were sharp mourning sounds.

    In the inte, Li Lei tensely screamed. ¡°Open the parachute! Open the parachute! The button is just in front of your chest!¡±

    Xia Ling had a difficult time lifting her hand. She wanted to press that button, but with the huge centrifugal force, she could not do so. The shadow of death was so close to her that she experienced the same familiar feeling from when she fell down from the stage.

    Could it be that this was how she was going to die?

    No, she was unwilling to ept this!

    She hurriedly tried hard to control the rope, and she did not know how she did it, but she felt that the momentum of the crash suddenly stopped and the folded part of the paraglider was partially restored.

    Only then was Xia Ling relieved. She felt a gust of wind blowing, and suddenly, the entire paraglider was out of control again. It was spiraling at an rming speed, and the vast mountainous area in front of her was getting closer and closer...

    Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain. She heard the sound of broken bones.

    For a moment, Xia Ling felt as if her soul had left her body, and her mind was blurry. Even the world felt far away from her. She did not know how much time passed. It felt as long as a century, but it may have been a few short seconds. She gradually heard the noise from the outside world. Li Lei was anxiously calling her and screaming. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling, are you ok? Xiao Ling, say something! Don¡¯t scare me! Xiao Ling!¡±

    She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but she only started coughing. Her chest cavity was shaking, and her internal organs were severely hurt. She only felt a sweet liquiding out from her throat, and the back of her hand was covered in blood.

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was quivering, and he changed his tone.

    ¡°I... Cough, cough, cough...¡± She coughed a few more times before she managed to say, ¡°I¡¯m... fine...¡±

    ¡°Are you hurt? Why are you coughing so badly?!¡± After hearing her voice and finding out that she was still alive, Li Lei¡¯s voice was not so shaky anymore, but it was still concerned and pressing.

    Xia Ling gasped. ¡°I don¡¯t know... I think it¡¯s an internal injury from the blow. However... it¡¯s not serious...¡± As long as she did not die after hitting the cliff at such a high altitude due to the wind, it was not considered serious.

    As she answered Li Lei, she looked up to observe her environment.

    Luckily, she realized that she was hanging from a peach tree that was growing on the side of the cliff. No wonder she was not dead. However, the paraglider¡¯s parachute rope was entangled in the branches, and she was swaying unstably on the tree and could not see the ground when she looked down. She did not know how long she couldst.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, hang in there. Don¡¯t move!¡± Li Lei shouted through the inte. ¡°Rx yourself and maintain your bnce. The rescue helicopter will arrive soon!¡±

    She softly acknowledged him. She nced down and did not even know how far she was from the ground. She only felt the peach blossom petals gently brush against her body as they drifted down the cliff, twirling in the sky and quickly disappearing.

    She moved her arms to hold on to the rope tighter.

    A searing pain was felt as she moved.

    She drew a cold breath and realized that her left hand was hanging weakly and blood was dripping from her sleeves.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?!¡± Li Lei heard her grimace in pain and was worried.

    ¡°My left arm... I think it¡¯s broken.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Tolerate it! You¡¯ll be fine! The helicopter is almost there! Hold on!¡± Li Lei¡¯s heart was pounding. He knew how bad her injury was but tried to cover up his fear and anxiety to encourage her.

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth and watched as the grey clouds umted in the sky. The sky darkened and the wind became stronger.

    The helicopter was approaching her.

    ¡°No way!¡± From the inte, an unknown male voice was heard. ¡°The cliff is too steep. The helicopter can¡¯tnd!¡±

    Xia Ling was disheartened. Did that mean that nobody coulde to her rescue?

    ¡°Is there any other way?!¡± Li Lei loudly asked through the inte.

    ¡°We can only throw a rope down to let the injured person climb up.¡±

    ¡°Her arm is broken!¡± Li Lei was enraged. ¡°You have to go down to help her!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re helpless!¡± It was still that unknown man¡¯s voice. ¡°Even if her arm isn¡¯t broken, we don¡¯t know if the rope will be thrown at the right ce and how much weight the tree can withstand. The wind is also strong. I¡¯m afraid that if the helicopter goes too near, the tree branch will break!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that there¡¯s no other way!¡± This time, it was her coach¡¯s voice. ¡°Save her!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way out! The rain clouds areing, and the helicopter can¡¯t stay in the air for too long. We need to turn back immediately!¡± That unknown man¡¯s voice became very cold.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be like that!¡± The coach scolded. Even Lin Yunan¡¯s voice could be heard as he pleaded the helicopter not to give up. However, the rescue helicopter was indifferent. It circled the area two times, turned around, and flew away with arge roar of its engine.

    Xia Ling watched the helicopter leave as the wind raged around her. The paraglider was swaying unstably like a small boat in the storm, and the branch looked like it could break at any time and fall into the abyss. Was she really going to die here?

    There was dead silence on the other end of the inte.

    Suddenly, Li Lei spoke clearly and calmly. ¡°Give me a set of paragliding equipment.¡±

 Chapter 364 - Braving the Peach Blossoms for you

    <h4>Chapter 364: Braving the Peach Blossoms for you</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± The coach was the first to snap back to his senses. ¡°What are you thinking of doing? To go up there to save her? It¡¯s a thunderstorm out there, even the helicopters aren¡¯t flying!¡±

    ¡°Cut the crap! Give me the paraglide!¡± Li Lei shouted angrily. ¡°If anything untoward happens to Xiao Ling, all of you are going to pay!¡±

    This was Xia Ling¡¯s first time hearing Li Lei speak in such an angry tone. It was as if he were about to kill someone, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

    Yet, the coach was unaffected. ¡°Who are you trying to scare?! I¡¯m not afraid of you! Let me tell you, Li Lei... going up there in this weather is courting death! I¡¯m in charge of this mountain region, and if I say no, no one will dare give you a paraglide! Li Lei! Where are you going?! Li Lei! Stop him! Someone stop him now!¡±

    There was the sound of pandemoniuming out from the walkie-talkie.

    Xia Ling could vaguely make out what was happening, and her heart beat nervously as she shouted with all her might into the walkie-talkie. ¡°Li Lei! I don¡¯t want you toe to save me! Don¡¯te up here! Don¡¯t fly into the sky! Did you hear me?! Li Lei!¡±

    There was no sound of response on the channel.

    The wind blew onto her face such that it hurt, and raindrops the size of beans fell from the sky.

    At the base camp, a paraglide rose up in the direction against the wind, the pilot clearly skilled beyond measure. It was extremely difficult to control the direction of the paragliding in this dreadful weather, but it came toward Xia Ling, albeit shakily. The bright red of the paraglide juxtaposed against the dark, menacing sky.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± Xia Ling felt her eyes fill up.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, hang in there!¡± Li Lei was much calmer in the sky. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you safely back to the ground. Don¡¯t be afraid!¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She knew that saying anything now was useless. Thus, she pressed down the fragility in her voice, speaking as calmly as she could. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid. You... you be careful.¡±

    Heughed. ¡°I¡¯m a pro at this! Everything will be fine.¡±

    The red paraglide inched closer and closer, unsteady in the midst of the howling wind, looking dangerously like it was going to fall at any moment. Xia Ling could hardly bear to watch, but her eyes seemed to have been bewitched, and she could not tear her eyes away from the approaching paraglide. She prayed incessantly in her heart to every God or devil that she could think of, that they would watch over Li Lei and make sure that he was safe...

    ¡°You lunatic...¡± The coach¡¯s despondent voice transmitted through the walkie-talkie. ¡°Alright, the targetnding point is the top of the cliff. It¡¯s very steep and dangerous there, Li Lei. Listen to mymand, I will guide you there.¡±

    Li Lei replied confidently. ¡°Okay!¡±

    After which, the coach rattled off a series of technical terms that Xia Ling could not understand.

    As she hung in mid-air, she realized how basic her paragliding abilities were.

    Li Lei piloted the paraglide closer and closer to her, making a detour such that he was diagonally behind her. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said. ¡°Sit tight and grab on tight to the rope. I willnd on the cliff above you, and it will cause some trembling. You have to... be careful.¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± She responded softly, realizing that his voice was shaking. She tried to ay his fear byughing it off like he always did. ¡°I¡¯m not going to die so easily... neither of us is. You are going tond safely, and you are going to bring me back to the base camp safely.¡±

    He was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Of course.¡± Calmness came back to his voice. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m going to countdown 3, 2, and 1, before I begin the emergencynding.¡±

    He counted down 3 to 1.

    The paraglidended on the top of the cliff and Xia Ling clung on tightly to the rope with her still functional hand. She felt a strong wind all around her, and bits of gravel and sand rolled down from above her head, some striking her on the body so hard that she yelped out in pain.

    The peach blossom trees rustled wildly in the wind, and some of the thinner branches snapped from the torrent of gravel and sand, falling together with them to the bottom of the cliff.

    She closed her eyes, not daring to look. After a long while, she heard Li Lei¡¯s voice. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    This time, it was not from the walkie-talkie but his real voice right above her head.

    She lifted her head and saw the top half of his body peeking out from the top of the cliff. His shirt was torn, likely from the roughnding, and it was grubby with mud and sand. His short hair was blown into a messy crop on top of his head, and his deep-set eyes looked at her brimming with concern.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s nose crinkled, and the heat of her tears came rushing forward, almost spilling over.

    ¡°Hang in there! I¡¯m going to think of a n to save you immediately!¡± His voice was steady andforting.

    Xia Ling nodded. However, the situation was not good. From where Li Lei was at the top of the cliff, there was a two-meter drop to the peach blossom tree where Xia Ling was trapped. The cliff face was so smooth that there was no foothold for him to climb down. Even if there was, it would still be impossible for him to haul her up to the top all by himself, especially since she had one broken arm.

    ¡°Li Lei, what is the situation now?¡± The coach¡¯s and Lin Yunan¡¯s voices could be heard from the walkie-talkie.

    ¡°Prepare the emergency team! You guys are going to have toe into the mountains.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°There¡¯s no way to pull her up safely. I¡¯m going to have to fly the smaller parachute down.¡±

    ¡°Are you mad?! You¡¯re going to fly some more in this weather?!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t just sit here and wait to die...¡± The storm wasing in fast, and if Xiao Ling were to remain on the peach blossom tree, the wind and rain would be sure to blow her down the ravine. Li Lei switched off the walkie-talkie and looked down at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you know how to open the emergency parachute?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Xia Ling tried her best to remain calm. ¡°The catch to open it is in front of my chest.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t open it yet.¡± He said. ¡°If you open it now it will get tangled in the peach blossom tree. Let mee down to cut the rope from the paraglide... you will experience free fall from there. In mid-fall, count to 3 before you open the parachute. Do you understand?¡±

    She knew that she was in a difficult position, and his idea was indeed her only way out. Except...

    ¡°Li Lei, after you help free me from here and I parachute down, what happens to you?¡± Xia Ling asked. There was no way that he would be able to scale the two meters back to the top once he came down to her.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to fly down on a parachute as well.¡± He gave a nonchntugh. ¡°Don¡¯t forget. I¡¯m a pro.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± She knew that he was making it sound a lot easier than it was. The distance from the top of the cliff to the bottom would be nothing in good weather, but on a stormy day like this, the wind and rain could easily blow one off course.

    She wanted to stop him, but he had alreadymenced his descent. The safety rope he was climbing down swayed in the wind, and her heart was almost in her throat as she watched him. She clenched her mouth shut and did not dare make a sound, fearing that it would distract him.

    It took him more than ten minutes to climb down the mere two meters, and he was drenched in sweat when he set foot on the peach blossom tree and turned to look at Xia Ling.

    The peach blossom tree had grown horizontally out of the cliff wall. Thus, Li Lei lowered himself onto his chest and inched toward Xia Ling with his chest pressed to the bark. Xia Ling¡¯s paraglide was tangled in many of the tree branches, and she was perched extremely precariously, so he spent a long time before he got close enough to her, at the very edge of the tree, swaying in the wind.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him, not daring to move. Only a few peach blossoms were between them, but she felt like they were ravines apart.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± He gently said to her. ¡°Xiao Ling, the small parachute is nothing like the paraglide. Do you know all the key pointers of flying it?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± She recited them hurriedly, fearing that he did not believe her. In fact, she had practiced flying the emergency parachute during her training sessions and was familiar with how to operate it. The only thing she was not confident about was flying it in this stormy weather.

 Chapter 365 - The Chances are Low

    <h4>Chapter 365: The Chances are Low</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Fear gripped at Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    She saw Li Lei point toward the amulet that hung around her neck. ¡°Do you remember this amulet? With it protecting you, you have nothing to fear.¡± His voice was very gentle. ¡°Xiao Ling, you willnd safely.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m with you every step of the way.¡±

    The sky was getting darker by the minute, and the wind howled with a vengeance as the bean-sized raindrops pattered down more heavily. In front of her, Xia Ling could see peach blossoms being blown apart to their petals, and more twigs from the trees snapped from the branches and fell downward.

    Li Lei looked up at the sky before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, get ready. I¡¯m going to cut the rope.¡±

    He took out a knife from his side pouch and ced the sharp edge on the rope linking her to the paraglide.

    She started to get nervous. ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. You are going to be just fine.¡± He gently looked into her eyes with his deep-set ones, his right hand holding on tightly to the knife, and said in a steady voice, ¡°I love you.¡±

    The rope cut with a ¡°swish¡± after she heard his deep voice.

    Xia Ling felt her body fall downwards suddenly. She ced her finger on the emergency parachute activation button and followed hismand to count to 3, before pressing down hard on the button. The emergency parachute opened up immediately. The white parachute blew open and stopped her freefall, gliding slowly downwards.

    The wind blew her parachute in all directions, and the big raindrops beat down on the top of the parachute, in danger of folding the wings over several times.

    It was the first time that she felt the terrifying force of nature, and realized how tiny a human life could be. She was like a little boat in the midst of a thunderstorm out at sea,pletely vulnerable to the waves and to being submerged. Xia Ling clung on tightly to the parachute with her right hand, the knuckles of her hand turning white, and she continued to pray: don¡¯t let anything happen... don¡¯t let anything happen...

    In the midst of her terror and confusion, she somehow made it to the ground.

    The moment she hit the ground, she felt immense pain in her legs. However, she did not have time to think about it, as she looked toward the sky, to the point on the cliff where she had hung.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    She saw that he was no longer on the peach blossom tree, and there was another white parachute in the sky.

    That parachute was being bludgeoned by the torrential rain, being blown out of control by the howling wind. The lighting that followed the crackling thunder seemed to sh right next to him.

    Xia Ling¡¯s felt her heart in her mouth again, as she shouted out. ¡°Li Lei!¡±

    He was just a mere few seconds behind her... How did the weather be so bad so fast?!

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± The panicked shouts of the coach and others transmitted through the walkie-talkie.

    The wind and rain became heavier, and the thunder and lighting became louder and brighter.

    Everyone knew that it was extremely difficult to control the parachute in such weather. They all looked up at the white parachute flying in mid-air, seeing it fight against the wind, flying up and down. Every time it seemed that Li Lei was going to steady the parachute, the wind woulde along and blow him off course again.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and shivered as she watched him being blown all the way to the next mountain, flying further and further away from her.

    Suddenly, there was a huge sh of lighting right beside Li Lei, and they could see the white parachute folding over. She watched as he was hurled together with the white parachute downwards into the mountains.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She screamed in terror.

    The voices of the coach and other onlookersing from the walkie-talkie were stricken. ¡°Li Lei! Where¡¯s Li Lei?! Why did he disappear after that mountain peak?!¡± After a few seconds, he shouted out to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling?! Say something! Did you see Li Lei?! How are you?! Are you okay?! Reply if you hear me! Reply to me now!¡±

    Xia Ling reached out to pick up the walkie-talkie, but could not reach it no matter how hard she tried. When shended, it fell a distance away from her. Now, there was intense pain in her legs, and she could not muster any strength in them. It seemed that they were broken as well.

    She wanted to tell the coach that Li Lei was blown over to the other mountain and had alreadynded. He was probably blocked from their view by the mountain, but she was able to see his flight path clearly. She wanted to tell them to hurry and go save Li Lei. A fear that she never had before gripped her tightly as she feared for his safety. This was a fear that was much more terrifying than her own death.

    She needed to get to the walkie-talkie.

    Xia Ling clenched her teeth andy on her front on the ground, struggling to crawl to the walkie-talkie through the mud.

    Under the torrential rain, there were puddles all around, and the mud and grime sttered onto her face and lips. She could taste the bitterness and fishiness of the ground. She squirmed as best she could, iling with her uninjured arm toward the walkie-talkie, the gravel and twigs on the ground creating cuts all over her body.

    Yet, she could not care less about them.

    But so what if she were trying all she could? One arm¡¯s strength could not support her entire body. After a long time of struggling, Xia Ling was still too far away from the walkie-talkie. She turned back to look and realized she had barely moved at all.

    Despair gripped at her heart, and she felt the strength in her arm fall away. Her body slipped down and slid further away from the walkie-talkie.

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling, say something!¡±

    ¡°Li Lei! Li Lei, answer if you hear me!¡±

    The coach and Lin Yunan¡¯s voices chanted incessantly through the walkie-talkie.

    Xia Ling shouted out at the walkie-talkie. ¡°Li Lei is behind that mountain towards the south!¡±

    Yet, she only heard the people in the walkie-talkie discussing. ¡°What do we do? We can¡¯t contact either of them.¡±

    Xia Ling shouted out again with all her might. However, the howling wind and rain drowned out her voice, and she was unable to project loud enough for the walkie-talkie to pick up. She stared at the walkie-talkie in a daze, her heart turning cold by the second.

    Someone said, ¡°We need to find them regardless of whether they are dead or alive! Xiao Ling fell downwards from that peach blossom tree, and we all saw where she went toward. Zone G13. Zhang Ming, Li Bingfeng, take a search team with you to the base of the cliff to find her. As for Li Lei...¡±

    There was a momentary silence on the radio channel.

    Someone piped up. ¡°We have no idea where hended. This mountain area is sorge, and the rain is torrential. We might not be able to find him even after 10 days or half a month!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say something so pessimistic! Li Lei¡¯s skillful! He won¡¯t die so easily!¡±

    ¡°Pfft! Touch wood! You are the one that shouldn¡¯t be spouting nonsense!¡±

    The channel was quiet again.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart beat faster at what they said, before turning cold in an instant. She saw Li Lei fall down from that height. There was no way to know if he were dead or alive, and even if he were alive, if the emergency team did not get to him in time, the chances of him surviving that fall...

    ¡°Li Lei! Li Lei, say something! F*ck you, don¡¯t scare me! Say something!¡± The coach shouted until he was almost hoarse. ¡°Say something! Say something! Say something!¡±

    His voice broke and trembled.

    ¡°Old Zhao!¡±

    ¡°Old Zhao, don¡¯t get too agitated!¡±

    Many people tried to calm him down, and the voices in the walkie-talkie became more distant before bing silent.

    At the base of the cliff, the cold rain beat down on Xia Ling. She wanted to shout and scream like Old Zhao did if it meant that Li Lei would respond. However, she knew that it was useless. She needed to think of a useful idea to save him.

    She needed to tell them where he hadnded.

 Chapter 366 - The Only Telephone Number

    <h4>Chapter 366: The Only Telephone Number</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand subconsciously reached for the amulet around her neck and gripped it tightly. She silently said to him, ¡°Li Lei, you need to make it out alive... You¡¯ve just confessed your love for me, you can¡¯t just die like that!¡±

    Her mind spun frantically as she searched for an idea. Oh yes... the mobile phone!

    Even though the walkie-talkie was a distance away from her, she still had the mobile prop for the advertisement on her!! Xia Ling hurriedly rummaged around for the mobile. Thankfully, the screen was still lit up and did not get smashed from the hardnding!

    However, she was stunned when she flipped open the phone contacts.

    Since she was filming a mobile phone advertisement, she had left her own mobile phone on the set when she got onto the paraglide and switched it for this new phone. It waspletely new, and there was not a single number in the entire contact list.

    She got another brainwave and dialed 120.

    The line was busy.

    The coach¡¯s voice transmitted through the walkie-talkie again. ¡°Damn it! There¡¯s an avnche in the Zheng family vige! It has blocked the entire mountain path!¡±

    ¡°Be happy that it didn¡¯t fall on top of you! Look over there... the ambnces are unable to get through!¡±

    ¡°So many ambnces... 120 must be ringing non-stop... ¡±

    Hearing their conversation, Xia Ling¡¯s hand shook as she dialed 110 instead. Again, the busy tone rang out.

    No, she could not give up just like that. There had to be a way! She had to find a number to contact! She thought long and hard to see if she could recall any telephone number at all. However, she could only remember Li Lei¡¯s number, and his phone was on him right now, which meant that it would be a useless call. As for other people...

    At this moment, she hated herself for not being more conscientious in remembering phone numbers. The office number, Lin Yunan, Sister Mai Na, Ah Wei, or even Feng Kun... any number would do...

    Yet, she could not remember a single one of them.

    ... Wait...

    There was a number that was etched onto her heart.

    Even though she had reincarnated into the body of another, she still remembered it.

    There was no time for her to think too much about it as Xia Ling¡¯s fingers typed out the string of numbers almost subconsciously.

    She shut her eyes allowing darkness to envelop her. The wind and the rain seemed to have disappeared, and only her heartbeat and breathing remained in the world around her.

    Pei Ziheng...

    Did he still keep this mobile number?

    He had said before that this was the number exclusively kept for her. Only the two of them would know this number.

    He also said that regardless of where and when, if she rang this number, she would always be able to reach him.

    It had been two years since her suicide. Was Pei Ziheng still waiting on the other end of the line after these two long years? Was he waiting for the familiar ringtone to ring out... and waiting for his butterfly to... return?

    Xia Ling had never been this nervous, and every second that passed was like a whole year.

    She did not know if she hoped that he would pick up, or that she was afraid that he would pick up.

    On the other end of the line, the ringback tone rang loud and clear.

    It was the song ¡°Perfect Dream,¡± the song that Xia Ling had written for Pei Ziheng on his thirtieth birthday and hadter gone on to win international awards. She had been so innocent then, using the word ¡°perfect¡± to describe everything he gave her. It depicted how happy she was then, knowing that with whatever problems she encountered, she only needed to call out ¡°Ziheng¡± and all of the problems would be solved instantly.

    The times of happiness and love came back to her even in the midst of the thunderstorm she was in right now.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart became increasingly restless as she listened to the melody of the ringback tone. They were now almostplete strangers... would he still solve all her problems as he did before?

    Finally, the line connected.

    ¡°Hello.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s deep voice was slightly hoarse and quivering. ¡°Who... are you?¡±

    Nobody knew this number other than Xia Ling. Xia Ling was unable to exin who she was, or how she came to know this number. However, she could not care less at this point in time. She hurriedly said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, help!¡±

    There was silence at the other end of the line.

    She became anxious and pressed him. ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling... No, Ye Xingling?¡± When he spoke up again, his voice was cold. ¡°How do you know this number?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to reply him, and she could only beg. ¡°Pei Ziheng, save Li Lei! I beg of you!¡±

    Yet, he ignored her pleaspletely and asked coldly again. ¡°Speak, how do you know this number?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart turned cold as well. She knew that this man could be extremely cruel if he set his mind to it. She knew what his silence meant at this point ¡ª if you don¡¯t reply to my question, don¡¯t even think of asking for my help to save someone. In her worried frenzy, she blurted out: ¡°I just saw it somewhere! I don¡¯t remember where!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t remember? Then, keep thinking till you do.¡± His voice was even more sinister and cold at the other end of the line.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± She cried out in despair.

    Pei Ziheng was standing in his luxurious office at the top of the skyscraper in the city. In front of him was a hardwood desk, and a cup of teay upturned on it, its contents spilled onto his expensive suit and the important documents on the desk. It was a mess. He was holding the phone to his ear with one hand, and with the other, he was grabbing on tightly to the genuine leather chair as he shook. His expression was not as calm as he seemed over the phone. His face was white, and he was listening to Xia Lingpletely transfixed as if something was about to tear apart the veil that he wore every day.

    Xia Ling was again the one to break the silence.

    Her voice shook as she said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you... It was Chu Chen... Chu Chen gave me this number!¡±

    ¡°Chu Chen doesn¡¯t know this number.¡± His voice remained cold.

    ¡°He found out about it somehow!¡± Xia Ling said anxiously.

    Pei Ziheng simply spat out two words. ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true! Pei Ziheng, you have to believe me! Do you think Chu Chen is a good person?!¡± She did not hide her hate for Chu Chen from him.

    ¡°Chu Chen is definitely not a good person.¡± Pei Ziheng replied. ¡°But... he is not prepared to die just yet...¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Tell me the truth. You have onest chance.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± She was close to tears, but she bit her lip and refrained from saying anything else stupid. She could not think of anything to say that would convince him. She was afraid that if she said something wrong, he would hang up. Then, what would happen to Li Lei?

    While she was pondering her next words, Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°You... are Xiao Ling. Xiao Ling, it¡¯s you... right?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback, and her body froze instinctively. She knew that the Xiao Ling he was referring to right now was not Ye Xingling... but Xia Ling.

    Had he recognized her?!

    ¡°Xia Ling... why did I never think that you were Ye Xingling?¡± He said. His voice sounded like he was bothughing and crying at the same time, with a pain that was almost concealed.

    ¡°No! I am not!¡± She instinctively denied. The consequences of him recognizing her were too frightening.

    ¡°You¡¯re not?¡± He paused beforeughing lightly, his tone reverting back to its original coldness. ¡°Then, so be it. I have no interest in the pleas of anyone other than Xia Ling.¡± If Ye Xingling were the one in trouble, he would go save her without any question. But, she seemedpletely fine at the moment. Save Li Lei? Whatever for?

    Pei Ziheng was prepared to wait for her to fall to his bait patiently.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng! I beg you to save Li Lei! That¡¯s a human life!¡± She begged him with all that was within her.

    ¡°Then, let him go and die.¡±

 Chapter 367 - The Intersection of Past and Present

    <h4>Chapter 367: The Intersection of Past and Present</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Pei Ziheng! I beg you, please, please, please!¡±

    ¡°Are you still not going to tell the truth? I¡¯m going to hang up on 1. 3... 2...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hang up! I¡¯ll say it! I¡¯m Xia Ling, alright! I¡¯m Xia Ling!¡± Her voice shouted out before her brain could process what she was saying. She then said in a low voice. ¡°Pei Ziheng, please save him... I beg you to please save him...¡±

    It was quiet on the other end of the line, but she could hear his heavy and steady breathing clearly.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She pressed him.

    ¡°Just saying you¡¯re her is not enough.¡± Pei Ziheng said very slowly like he was trying to control his emotions. ¡°How are you going to prove you¡¯re Xia Ling? Xiao Ling, tell me something that was private between the two of us before. Tell me some things that no one else knows. Then I¡¯ll believe that you¡¯re really back.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng! How do you have the mood to hear about our past given the urgency of the situation?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go save Li Lei once you¡¯ve replied me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll say it...¡± Xia Ling knew that resisting him was useless. She remembered the ringback tone earlier, so the first thing she recounted was about it. ¡°That song ¡®Perfect Dream¡¯ was a birthday song that I wrote for you because you gave me the most perfect dream. That night when the recording of the song waspleted, you came to the recording studio to fetch me home. You told me then that I was your perfect dream.¡±

    This was something that only the two of them knew about. Pei Ziheng was always careful when he was speaking sweet nothings to her, afraid that someone else would hear him.

    ¡°I asked you why that was and you just smiled and kissed my eyes.¡± Xia Ling did not understand then why Pei Ziheng had said that she was his perfect dream. It was only now that she was another person, in another lifetime, that she understood a little of what he had said. Perhaps to him, ¡°Xia Ling¡± was a dream that he had created ¡ª beautiful, weak, fragile ¡ª and she was the epitome of his most perfect dream. This waspletely separate from her human form, her as a living person with blood and flesh.

    ¡°Keep going.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s deep voice insisted.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind drifted further out and was bing increasingly cluttered with past memories. ¡°There was one year when I was filming an MV that I picked up an abandoned kitten. It loved to crawl into the nkets with us and sleep in between the two of us. You didn¡¯t like it and insisted that I give it away to someone else. I refused and argued with you over it. You then got Chu Chen to secretly give it away to a fan. I didn¡¯t speak to you for a month because of that incident.

    ¡°When you took me away from the orphanage, the irises were in full bloom. You picked a bunch from one of the bushes and handed it to me. Later, I told you repeatedly that that was the first time someone had given me flowers...¡±

    ¡°I revered you like you were God. You held my hand and taught me to write... You chose my clothes for me... Whenever I took a nap in your study room, you would cover me with a nket...¡±

    She described each incident and each event so clearly that it seemed that they had just urred yesterday.

    Pei Ziheng waspletely silent on the other end of the line like she was speaking to the air.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She knew that he was still listening, and she begged him again. ¡°Pei Ziheng, save Li Lei... Only you can save him now!¡±

    ¡°Li Lei is that important to you?¡± His voice was hoarse.

    She wanted to reply ¡°Yes,¡± but was afraid that it would anger him. She thought of saying ¡°No,¡± but was again afraid that he would not care about Li Lei at all. She was in a conundrum and did not know how to answer him. Her palms were sweating as she fretted about the situation.

    Thankfully, he did not seem to want to hear her answer. He continued, ¡°Tell me what happened.¡±

    She hurriedly told him everything that had transpired.

    There was slight anger in his voice as he said, ¡°You¡¯re injured?! Why didn¡¯t you tell me so earlier?!¡±

    She was stunned for a moment, before softly replying, ¡°I forgot.¡± What were her injuries inparison to Li Lei¡¯s life? She was already numb to the pain in her body, like her body was not hers. Under the cold torrential rain, blood was flowing from her injured limbs.

    Yet, she was not concerned for herself, and said again, ¡°Save Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°Tell me your detailed location.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was calm and steady as a mountain amidst the howling wind.

    ¡°I¡¯m at the Paragliding Club up north from the city, at the bottom of the cliff mid-way up the mountain. That cliff has a cherry blossom tree growing out of it. Li Lei is located at the third mountain to the East from the cherry blossom tree.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that man¡¯s name again.¡± Pei Ziheng said, and his voice was so cold that it seemed he was speaking from the depths of hell. ¡°I¡¯ll save him... But Xiao Ling, I want you to break all ties with him ande home with me.¡±

    The wind howled loudly in the background, and the rain kept pouring down.

    A sh of purple lighting crackled through the dark sky.

    Xia Ling felt her body be colder by the second, and her heart was even colder. She said through chattering teeth, ¡°I... I don¡¯t want to go back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not having a negotiation with you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t...¡± Her tears flowed freely from her eyes, as she knew that there was no going against him. It was always this way. Once he had made his decision, her views were unimportant.

    She had paid a huge price to be able to leave from the prison he created.

    And now, how could she go back there?

    ¡°You have all the time to think about it...¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was impassive. ¡°I¡¯m not in any hurry.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart clenched tight. Yes, he was not anxious at all. It was Li Lei that was in a precarious situation. With a loud rumble of thunder, she saw another sh of light strike the peach blossom tree on the top of the cliff. The tree was engulfed in mes in an instant before the fire was expediently put out by the pouring rain. The branches and trunk crumbled and fell down the ravine.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    Her hand gripped tighter onto the phone, before she finally said in a quiet voice, ¡°I¡¯ll go back.¡±

    She heard him give a satisfied grunt on the other end of the line.

    She did not have to wait long before he arrived to pick her up. In the thunderstorm, two helicopters came near, one headed in the direction where Li Lei fell, and the other flew towards her, circling the skies above her for a while to search for anding area.

    The door of the helicopter opened, and Pei Ziheng was the first person out of the door.

    Xia Ling rarely saw him in a disheveled state. He was not wearing or holding anything to shelter himself from the rain, jumping straight off the ne into the mud. The rain soon drenched his shirtpletely. He strode quickly over to her side, and the first thing he did was to bend over to shelter her from the rain.

    ¡°Quick!¡± He shouted over his shoulder.

    An emergency first-aid team followed behind him, running over through the mud carrying a stretcher.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how are you feeling?!¡±

    ¡°How is Li Lei?!¡±

    They said at the same time.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze turned cold, and he did not reply to her question. He reached out his hand to check her injuries.

    Xia Ling became anxious, and she grabbed onto his wrist. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Tell me, please! How is Li Lei?!¡± Perhaps she used too much strength in this action, pulling on the injury near her chest. She felt a pain shoot through her heart and started coughing uncontrobly, hot and bloody liquid spouting out from her mouth. She choked and coughed harder, almost curling into a ball.

    ¡°Hurry... hurry up and tell me...¡± She said through her coughs, gripping tighter onto Pei Ziheng¡¯s wrist.

 Chapter 368 - The Vow in the Storm

    <h4>Chapter 368: The Vow in the Storm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    His gaze looked like he was about to swallow her alive. His lips narrowed into a thin line as he watched her coughing without a word.

    The more anxious Xia Ling became as she questioned him, the worse his expression became. When the emergency team reached them, carrying the empty stretcher, he coldly shifted to the side to make space for them.

    Xia Ling grabbed onto the emergency personnel closest to her, like she was drowning, and asked again, ¡°Do you know how Li Lei is? Tell me... please tell me!¡±

    ¡°Are you referring to the person that the other helicopter went to save? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll ask through the inteter...¡±

    ¡°Let me see who dares to tell her a single thing about him!¡± Pei Ziheng burst out in anger.

    Everyone was silent.

    The person Xia Ling was talking to gave her an apologetic look and did not dare say another word.

    Xia Ling was carried onto the helicopter in a state of confusion, her body held down by the makeshift splint that was created, unable to move or turn her head, and could only stare up at the empty ceiling. She continued to cry out: ¡°Pei Ziheng, where are you? Tell me... tell me about Li Lei...¡±

    She kept repeating until her voice was hoarse.

    The helicopter took to the air with a loud rumbling of the engines.

    She heard snippets from someone reporting to Pei Ziheng from the side. ¡°Unconscious...¡±, ¡°Li Lei...¡±.

    Random words floated to her ears.

    Xia Ling struggled to hear what they were saying, but the rumbling of the helicopter engine was too loud, and she could not make out the words clearly. Pei Ziheng seemed to have given some instructions to the emergency personnel who responded, ¡°Yes.¡± Then, there was silence.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She coughed and mumbled. ¡°Tell me...¡±

    He finally walked over and bent over to speak to her. ¡°Li Lei is alive.¡±

    She was overjoyed and looked at him intently.

    There was no expression on Pei Ziheng¡¯s face. ¡°However, the situation isn¡¯t good. He¡¯s unconscious... his vital signs are weak. The emergency team suspects that there is significant internal bleeding, and he needs emergency treatment.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s became anxious again. ¡°Save him!¡±

    ¡°I can do that... However, Xia Ling...¡± Pei Ziheng stared at her and said slowly one word at a time. ¡°How can you guarantee that once I save him, you¡¯re not going to go back to his side?¡±

    She opened her eyes wide in shock and shuddered as she thought about how cruel Pei Ziheng could be.

    ¡°You...¡± She shut her eyes, before saying bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m already here in your hands. How could I possibly escape?¡± The cold and massive bungalow appeared in her head, the one that was full of surveince cameras, and the gold shackles...

    Her greatest nightmare.

    Unexpectedly, he said, ¡°I can promise not to lock you up.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned again. What was he ying at?

    ¡°You can continue singing and doing what you like. Just like before, before that incident transpired...¡± His voice became gentle. ¡°Xiao Ling, stop being so stubborn... We can live a good life together.¡±

    Being stubborn?

    So, in his eyes, all that happened because she was being stubborn?!

    She felt pain in her chest, as the memories of the past shed through her mind, making her breathless.

    Seeing that she was not saying anything, Pei Ziheng continued, ¡°Make a death vow now, swearing that you will not leave me.¡±

    ¡°If I refuse?¡±

    ¡°That bungalow has been empty for two years... Everything in it is still the same. It will not be any trouble at all to let you live there again.¡±

    This threat was simple but effective.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll make the vow...¡± She said in a weak voice. ¡°I... Xia Ling... Ye Xingling in this life... vow that I will not leave Pei Ziheng, or else I will be struck down by lightning... mmm...¡±

    Pei Ziheng covered her mouth with his hand.

    Xia Ling looked up at him confused. His expression was so dark it was terrifying.

    ¡°Xia Ling...¡± He said coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t even think of using death to escape again. I will not give you a second chance at that. No one will be able to kill you. This vow doesn¡¯t count.¡±

    When she was uttering the vow, she did not think too much about it. Now that he mentioned it, being struck by lightning was indeed a way out of this mess. Death was such a high price to pay. If she weren¡¯t pushed to the corner, why would she even attempt that? However... she looked at the furious man in front of her now, and terror entered her heart. She could not fathom what living hell awaited her this time. Perhaps... suicide wasn¡¯t such a bad idea...

    ¡°Xia Ling.¡± He seemed to read her mind and reached out to grip her chin, lifting it towards him. ¡°You have to make two vows. Firstly, you will notmit suicide. Secondly, you will not leave. Swearing on your own life will not cut it... I want you to swear on Li Lei¡¯s life. If you break your vow, I will make sure that he dies a terrible death!¡±

    This lunatic...

    How could she swear on Li Lei¡¯s life?!

    Xia Ling shook her head with vehemence and struggled to free herself from his grip. No, she was not going to make this vow!

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to make the vow?¡± He sighed and released his grip on her slowly. ¡°Li Lei is still on the other helicopter right now. What do you think will happen if the emergency treatment fails?¡±

    ¡°You monster!¡± She understood the veiled threat in his words and shouted out in despair. ¡°The Li family is the underworld! If anything were to happen to Li Lei, they are not going to let you go!¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled at her as if she were an ignorant kid. ¡°I know the Li family is the underworld. I also know that Li Lei is the grandnephew of the mafia godfather. But, I also know...¡± He paused. ¡°There is another family that the underworld is unable to touch in this country. A family that can do absolutely anything they want. That family¡¯s name is Pei.¡±

    He coaxed her patiently, like how he did when he was teaching her to read and write. ¡°Of course, if I were to kill Li Lei out in the open, there would definitely be trouble. However, given his current state... if he died while we were administering emergency aid... with what reason will they be able to find fault with me?¡±

    ¡°Why would they need a reason to make you pay?!¡± Xia Ling was swayed by his words, but she still argued back.

    Pei Ziheng smiled again, this time even wider than before. ¡°Xiao Ling, singing still suits you. As for these mind games...¡± He looked down at her, his eyes overflowing with a doting expression. ¡°Shall we make a bet on this? If Li Lei were to die over here, which force out there will be able to touch me? Do you think it will his good brother Li Feng... or that mafia gang?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Xia Ling was jumping with anger inside, and her chest heaved. ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you think making me vow on his life will do anything at all?! I don¡¯t believe this! Don¡¯t believe it at all!¡±

    ¡°Your reincarnation...¡± He stared down at her as if he were looking right into her soul. ¡°God and spirits... How could you not believe it?¡±

    He struck her right where it hurt. Yes, how could she possibly not believe it?

    What happened to her was out of this world. Reincarnation, Nirvana, being a jinx, having a preceptor brother. It was as if there were a higher being controlling all of this. Even if the whole world could not care less about this spiritual huballoo, she was one that could not ignore it.

    She remembered something she had said jokingly many, many years ago. ¡°Ziheng, if one day you don¡¯t love me anymore, I¡¯ll jump down from up here and make you regret for the rest of your life.¡±

    Then, she had pointed to the tall stage, while shing him a big smile.

    Making her wordse true. Once was more than enough.

 Chapter 369 - Returning

    <h4>Chapter 369: Returning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I¡¯m not swearing on his life.¡± Xia Ling weakly said.

    Pei Ziheng signaled for someone to pass him the inte to the other helicopter. ¡°How is Li Lei¡¯s condition?¡±

    ¡°Chairman, Mr. Li is in critical condition. He has had two strokes already as we speak. The emergency team is giving him an intracardiac injection. He is extremely strong though... if it were anyone else, they would be dead by now.¡±

    Pei Ziheng switched off the inte, looking down at Xia Ling with an impassive expression. ¡°It looks like even if I don¡¯t do anything, he might not survive this.¡±

    ¡°Save him!¡± Her tears flowed down her face, as she pleaded with him, her heart consumed by anxiety.

    ¡°The only person that can save him now is you.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze became gentler. ¡°Xiao Ling, I just need you to make a simple vow. Once you do that I¡¯ll contact the best specialists out there to give him emergency treatment in the hospital when hends. Be good and make the vow. If you don¡¯t attempt to escape from my side, this vow will nevere true. Li Lei¡¯s life is in your hands.¡±

    His voice was like a chanting curse over the sound of the rumbling helicopter engine.

    Xia Ling felt like all her strength was sapped from her, and she could no longer resist.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to say it sentence by sentence. You just have to repeat after me.¡± He stroked her face gently with his hand. ¡°I, Xia Ling, Ye Xingling in this life, swear on Li Lei¡¯s life...¡±

    ¡°I, Xia Ling, Ye Xingling in this life, swear on Li Lei¡¯s life...¡±

    ¡°To never leave Pei Ziheng¡¯s side...¡±

    ¡°To never leave Pei Ziheng¡¯s side...¡±

    She followed after him, saying each sentence of the vow like a robot as if all the vivaciousness within her was leaving her with each sentence as well.

    Outside the helicopter, the thunderstorm was stilling down hard, with thunder rumbling and lightning shing.

    Xia Ling felt like she was going to be swallowed whole by the dark sky. She was sinking, sinking all the way down the deepest of pits, unable to be saved.

    When she uttered thest sentence of the vow, Pei Ziheng lowered his head and kissed her gently on the lips.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, my butterfly.¡± He cooed. ¡°I am not going to let you leave ever again.¡±

    They flew in the thunderstorm for a long time before the helicopternded on top of a hospital. The specialist team was on standby, and the moment the helicopternded, they hustled Xia Ling to numerous checks and tests, finally wheeling her into the surgical theatre.

    Xia Ling felt herself losing consciousness under the general anesthesia and fell into a long dream.

    In the dream, there were the vibrant irises, and the tall, handsome man smiling down at her. In a split second, her surroundings changed to the cold, terrifying prison bungalow... She then dreamed of Li Lei in that thunderstorm. On the cliff, amidst the peach blossom petals, he pulled out the knife to cut the rope, his deep eyes looking intently at her, uttering the words ¡°I love you¡± as if it was going to be thest time he ever saw her.

    I love you...

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    She woke up shouting his name.

    When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a quiet ward. Arge bouquet of red rosebuds that were about to bloom sat on the table. On the sofa by the window sat a man in a suit, his head lowered in concentration as he perused the work documents in his hands. It was Chu Chen.

    Seeing that she had regained consciousness, Chu Chen put down the documents and walked to her bedside. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Ling opened her mouth to speak, and her voice came out hoarse.

    He pressed on the call button by her bed, before pouring a cup of warm water and handing it to her. ¡°Drink some water now that you¡¯ve woken up. How do you feel? You¡¯ve been unconscious for half a month. Is there anywhere that¡¯s still bothering you?¡±

    Unconscious for half a month?

    Oh my... then...

    ¡°Chu Chen, how is Li Lei?! Hurry and tell me!¡± She recalled all that happened before she fell into unconsciousness. Her heart beat with trepidation as she gued Chu Chen with her questions, her voice quivering as she spoke.

    Chu Chen gave her a look. ¡°Ye Xingling, you no longer belong to Li Lei. His well-being should not be of any concern to you. I think you shoulde to this realization as soon as possible. It would not be pleasant if you lose Li Lei and also offend Boss.¡±

    Boss?

    She was taken aback for a while, before realizing that he was referring to Pei Ziheng.

    However, she could not care less and continued asking. ¡°Hurry and tell me how Li Lei is!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t be stupid.¡±

    ¡°Chu Chen, what are you?!¡± Seeing that he refused to answer her, Xia Ling¡¯s shouted out in anger. ¡°You¡¯re just Pei Ziheng¡¯s dog! What right do you have to lecture to me?! You¡¯re not going to tell me about Li Lei? Go call your owner over! I¡¯ll ask him myself! I don¡¯t have time to waste speaking to you!¡±

    He did not expect her to unload the torrent of insults on him, and anger shed through his eyes. Yet, he simply coldly said, ¡°I¡¯m a dog, and then what are you? Ye Xingling, don¡¯t think you are so significant.¡±

    She was speechless in her anger.

    Dread entered her heart. He was right. Yes, he was a dog, but what was she? From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of the bouquet of red roses on the table. She could vaguely see a card peeking out from within the petals with a lifelike gold-lined ck butterfly on it like it was about to take flight.

    She shifted her gaze away, unwilling to take another look at it.

    Yet, Chu Chen brought the roses right in front of her. ¡°Do you see this? You and I have the same owner now. Don¡¯t think of anyone else. Otherwise, Boss might lose his patience with you. His patience has its limits.¡±

    ¡°Lose his patience at me?¡± She looked at Chu Chen and jeered, almostughing out loud.

    However, Chu Chen said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯ve been calling out Li Lei¡¯s name in your dreams in the half month you were unconscious. Which man will be able to tolerate that? Only Boss. He instructed me to inform you about Li Lei¡¯s condition when you woke up.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have time to digest what he had just said, but she caught thest thing he said. She hurriedly pressed. ¡°Then hurry and tell me! How is Li Lei?! Chu Chen, tell me now!¡±

    ¡°He injured his spine when he fell and has many internal injuries. Boss hired the best specialists to tend to him, and he had several emergency surgeries. His condition is no longer critical.¡± Chu Chen said. ¡°Later, the Old Master from the Li family came over from overseas to bring him back to the Li family headquarters to nurse his injuries. ording to the specialist team, he will be able to recover fully as long as he has enough time to rest and recuperate.¡±

    Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief. However, she knew that a spinal injury could not be that simple. She asked with concern again. ¡°Can he really recoverpletely and return to normal?¡±

    Chu Chen gave her a look. ¡°That isn¡¯t something that you should be concerned about.¡±

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Chu Chen said lightly. ¡°Ye Xingling, you chose Boss. Then, lead a good life with him. Don¡¯t be fickle and pine for another man in your heart. You¡¯ll just be creating more trouble for yourself.¡±

    She remained silent.

    Li Lei¡¯s promation of love on the peach blossom tree in the midst of the thunderstorm was still ringing in her ears. She had not had time to react to it, and now she would never have the chance to do so...

    In this life, that cursed vow meant that they were an impossibility.

    ¡°Have a good rest.¡± Chu Chen¡¯s voice rang out again. ¡°Remember who you belong to.¡±

    In fact, that was not something that she needed to make an effort to do. There would be many people and events to remind her who she belonged to.

    She stayed in the hospital for a period of time. Every day, Xia Ling would receive impable treatment from the doctors and the head nurse. Her meals were taken care of by exclusive nutritionists that would cater to her tastes. The entire floor that she was staying on was cleared for her exclusive use. Other than the healthcare professionals tending to her, the only other people were the expressionless bodyguards by her door.

    She needed to get severalyers of approval just to take a walk.

 Chapter 370 - How Can You Repay Me

    <h4>Chapter 370: How Can You Repay Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She felt like she was being imprisoned all over again.

    Xia Ling would frequently have the same nightmare. In the nightmare, she would be in that dark, terrifying ce she was in in the final period of her past life. She would be shackled to the cold, silk bed with the gold shackles. The bedroom she was in then was as quiet and empty as the ward she was in now. As such, whenever she woke from the nightmare screaming, she would take a while to realize where she was.

    Today, she was again awoken from the nightmare in cold sweat.

    By her bedside, that tall, handsome, God-like man was bending over to look at her more closely.

    ¡°Don¡¯t...¡± She instinctively withdrew, mumbling as she did so.

    Pei Ziheng was stunned, and the hand that was reaching towards her stopped in mid-air.

    She stared at the wet cloth in his hand, that was still steaming visibly, and then saw a basin not too far away with the ward number printed on the side. She suddenly realized where she was.

    But the words she mumbled were already out of her mouth and could not be taken back.

    The expression in Pei Ziheng¡¯s face was unreadable. ¡°You¡¯re awake? You¡¯ve a mild fever, and you¡¯re covered in sweat. Let me help you wipe it off.¡± As he spoke, he bent over again and wiped the cloth gently over her forehead.

    Xia Ling instinctively turned her head away, as if an electric shock had struck her.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand stopped moving again, and he slowly pulled his hand back, throwing the cloth aside. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be afraid of me.¡± He said in a low voice. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you likest time anymore.¡±

    So he knew that he was hurting her?

    Xia Ling was incredulous. ¡°What hurt? Do you mean imprisoning me? Do you mean whipping me? Or do you mean letting the dogs loose to chase me? Or, I don¡¯t know... are you referring to poisoning me mute? Or abandoning me when I fell into the water?¡± She recounted every incident that came to mind, speaking too fast to keep count.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He was not someone that was verse with words. He knew that his atrocious actions had hurt her deeply, and there was no way he would be able to refute that. He was only d that regardless of all that she went through, she was still alive in front of him. Otherwise, he would live the rest of his life in pain and regret.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear you apologize.¡± Her voice was soft.

    ¡°How should Ipensate you?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Ha,pensate?¡± She gave a coldugh. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what do you think you can do to repay me?! You almost destroyed me in my past life, and in this life, you were happy to watch me die! Like for instance, when I fell into the water... if it weren¡¯t for Li Lei who risked his life to save me, I would be preparing to reincarnate for my third life!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was you...¡± He half knelt by her bed, reaching out his hand to cover her cold ones. ¡°Xiao Ling, forgive me. I didn¡¯t know. If I knew, even if it meant that I would lose my life, I would still go in there and save you.¡±

    ¡°So, what is it exactly that you love?¡± Xia Ling sneered. ¡°If I remove theyer that shouts that I¡¯m ¡®Xia Ling,¡¯ I¡¯m just an inconspicuous ant to you, aren¡¯t I? Someone that you can poison mute as you wish... someone that you can abandon?! Pei Ziheng, I was blind in my past life to ever fall for you!¡±

    His hand shook as he gripped her hand tighter in his.

    Her every word was like a sharp knife cutting into his heart. He hated himself for not recognizing her earlier. Ye Xingling was so simr to how she was in her past life, they had the same smile, talked in the same way, had the same way of expressing their anger...

    If he could, he would turn back time, to the day that she had fallen into the water. If he had chosen her over that damned watch on that day, would everything be different now?

    ¡°That was the watch that you gave me...¡± He tried to exin himself, his voice hoarse.

    Xia Ling was taken aback. She suddenly realized that he was referring to the item that he had gone to find when he abandoned her in the water. She could not help but shake her head. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you don¡¯t love me. Or rather, you don¡¯t love me in the body of ¡®Ye Xingling.¡¯ What you love are memories. Let me go, please? I... no longer love you anymore.¡±

    She mustered up courage and uttered that final sentence.

    She was ready for him to lose his temper, and her back tensed as she braced herself for his fury. However, this was something she had to say. She wanted to leave and return to Li Lei¡¯s side.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s grip became even tighter, and she felt like he was going to crush her hand. Her face turned white with the pain, and she groaned audibly before he realized what he was doing and released her hand.

    ¡°You love me.¡± He lifted his head and dered.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s toote, Pei Ziheng. Our love... has gone with all the pain.¡±

    ¡°You love me!¡± He raised his voice and moved closer to her. He supported his body with a hand by her side, and with the other, he gripped onto her chin. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re just bewitched by him for a moment. You will recall who you truly love after a while.¡± He lowered his head and kissed her forcefully.

    She struggled under him, but her limbs were covered with casts, and she could hardly move.

    She bit him and red at him angrily. However, Pei Ziheng could not care less. He pressed onto her ferociously, his tongue invading her mouth and ravishing at her for a long time, almost suffocating her.

    Finally, he released her, but his eyes continued to stare at her as if he was an animal staring at his prey.

    Xia Ling instinctively raised her remaining good hand to wipe at her lips. The moment he kissed her, she verified beyond a doubt ¡ª she no longer loved him. A woman¡¯s body was the most honest. She no longer liked his kisses, and every cell within her was crying out in disgust.

    Her expression was sad but resolute as she wiped her mouth.

    A storm brewed within Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes, and his ravenous kisses fell on her once again. This time, he was even more vicious, as he bit at her lips and tongue, such that tears sprang into her eyes from the pain.

    When they finally drew apart, she was panting for air, feeling humiliated and furious, such that her body was shaking with anger. She raised her hand again to wipe her lips, but Pei Ziheng grabbed her hand forcefully. This time, he did not release her even after she yelped out in pain. ¡°Don¡¯t force me to im you entirely right now.¡± His voice was hoarse, but the threat was real.

    Xia Ling realized what he was saying and trembled with anger. ¡°You... monster!¡±

    ¡°You can call me a monster, or an animal...¡± His voice was sinister. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, just try me.¡±

    She did not dare move anymore.

    She knew beyond a doubt that he was a devil and capable of anything. She closed her eyes, refusing to look at him anymore. Tears flowed down the sides of her face.

    Pei Ziheng wrung the cloth thrown by the side again and dabbed at her tears gently.

    Silence fell upon the room again.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her white face, her tightly shut eyes, and her shaking body. A sharp, fleeting pain shot through his heart. He did not want to hurt her, but he could not understand why he would always make her sad and frightened.

    He reached out his hand and stroked her face lightly.

    Her body tensed up, and she bit her lip tightly.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to tell her not to be afraid. He wanted to tell her that they could start over. However, his lips were like lead, and he could not bring himself to open them to utter these words. That was because he knew that she would definitely reject him.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    Pei Ziheng retracted the hand that was stroking her face, hiding the sadness in his expression, reverting to his usual poker face. ¡°Come in.¡±

    The door opened and Chu Chen entered holding a document in his hands.

 Chapter 371 - The Butterfly and the Flower

    <h4>Chapter 371: The Butterfly and the Flower</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He respectfully handed the document over to Pei Ziheng and said, ¡°Boss, I¡¯vepleted your request.¡±

    Pei Ziheng took the document from him and scanned it quickly, before passing it to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, sign this.¡±

    Xia Ling opened her eyes and looked down at the document ced in her hands. It was an artiste management contract with Imperial Entertainment. Her eyes widened in shock, and she lifted her head to look at him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯ve signed a contract with Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. How can I sign another contract with Imperial Entertainment?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re no longer an artiste under them.¡± Pei Ziheng replied.

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    ¡°Very simple.¡± Pei Ziheng said in a calm manner. ¡°I¡¯ve paid them three times the amount that they would ask for a breach of contract. They were extremely efficient in processing the cancetion of your contract. You are now a free agent.¡±

    Ha, a free agent? The irony was not lost on her.

    Xia Lingughed in exasperation. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re despicable!¡±

    ¡°Call me despicable if you want.¡± Pei Ziheng remained cool, as he patiently looked at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, only Imperial Entertainment is your home. It¡¯s the only ce that you can go to. Don¡¯t you want to be a Diva? Don¡¯t you want to have fans throughout the world? Only I can fulfill your dream and make you a singer that is even better than... Xia Ling.¡±

    As Chu Chen was still in the room, Pei Ziheng did not reveal her real identity.

    However, a suspicious glint entered Chu Chen¡¯s eyes as he nced over at them. How astonishing... <i>Boss holds ¡°Ye Xingling¡± in such high regard? Boss never wanted anyone to surpass Xia Ling. Now, he was promising Ye Xingling that she would be more sessful than Xia Ling? Oh my... has Boss really fallen for Ye Xingling?</i>

    How was that possible?!

    This was mindblowing.

    Xia Ling was ring angrily at Pei Ziheng. ¡°A Diva created by you? That¡¯s not something that I would deign to be! Pei Ziheng, let me tell you... I¡¯ll never join Imperial Entertainment. I¡¯m not signing this contract! Just give up already!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to sign it?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened momentarily before he reverted to his gentle demeanor. ¡°It¡¯s okay for you not to sign this. I¡¯m not bothered if you sing or not, as long as you stay by my side.¡± Supporting her was nothing to him given that he was the ruler over his business empires, and had immense status and position. She could spend all she wanted and he would still be able to afford it.

    Xia Ling was also aware of this.

    ¡°I want to return to Dongyue.¡± She said.

    ¡°You think Dongyue will dare take you back?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± She red at him again, her chest starting to hurt with her anger. In the entire entertainment circle, the onlypany that could go head-to-head against Imperial Entertainment was Skyart Entertainment. All the otherpanies were oppressed by Imperial Entertainment. If Imperial Entertainment were to tell them to do something, they would not dare to defy them. Pei Ziheng was correct in saying that Dongyue would not take her back.

    And there was no way that she could go to Skyart Entertainment.

    She had made the death vow never to leave Pei Ziheng. Since she was cursed to belong to Pei Ziheng in this life, why would she go back to Skyart Entertainment to torture herself even more? That was something that would do no good to her, or to Li Lei.

    She clenched her fist in anguish.

    Pei Ziheng reached out to caress her face again.

    She turned her face away in disgust.

    His hand moved away from her face, and she heard him say, ¡°Have a good rest. I wille tomorrow to see you again.¡±

    She stayed in the ward to recuperate and became better day by day. Eventually, all the casts were removed, and she was able to hold on to the wall to walk around slowly. A top-ss medical team was in charge of her physiotherapy, and one of the female doctors smiled as she remarked. ¡°Mr. Pei is so concerned about you. He will personally ask after your progress in physiotherapy every day. He even instructed us to ensure that your joint movement and muscr function returns back to normal as you are an artiste, and to ensure that your entire physical being is as perfect as before.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a coldugh. Artiste? Was he still wishfully hoping that she would sign the contract with Imperial Entertainment? Fat hope.

    She studiouslypleted her physiotherapy every day, but it was not to be able to return to the stage. Even though she longed to perform again, she would rather not perform ever again if the only way were through joining Imperial Entertainment.

    She diligently did her physiotherapy for Li Lei.

    If she were to be frail from neglecting physiotherapy, she knew that he would definitely be upset.

    She wondered how he was doing...

    She was isted from the world as Pei Ziheng had confiscated her mobile and prevented her from receiving any news about the world. The only source of news she received was from the newspapers that were brought to the ward each day, and the television in her room.

    She would peruse the papers and watch everything that could update her about entertainment and finance news, and would even read the global sections, hoping that she would glean snippets that could tell her just a little about how Li Lei was doing. However, she had no luck whatsoever. Nothing caught her eye, and while she would asionally see reports on Skyart Entertainment, they would usually be about Bai Murong¡¯s concert tour or Wei Shaoyin¡¯s new masterpiece.

    Li Lei seemed to have vanished into thin air.

    She was aware that he liked to maintain a low profile, and while she adored this characteristic of him in the past, it was proving to be a torture to her now. She did not know where else she would be able to get information about him other than the news.

    Was he really brought back to the Li family headquarters by the Old Master? Or did Chu Chen lie to her?

    She would be ovee with worry whenever these questions crossed her mind.

    The world outside moved ahead as per normal. Her world, on the other hand, was shattered.

    This day, Pei Ziheng pushed her out on the wheelchair for a walk. While her body was getting better, and she could walk slowly by herself, she was after all still recovering from many severe injuries and could not exert herself too much.

    He pushed her wheelchair to the sky garden on the rooftop.

    This was an exclusive zone for the VIP patients and was not open to the public. The garden was quiet, and the colorful pebble path gave it a beautiful vibrancy. Slivers of sunlight shone through the leaves of the luscious nts that sheltered the ce, creating little golden spots on the ground that looked like kes of genuine gold.

    It was a warm spring afternoon, and butterflies were flitting around.

    She lifted her face to look at the butterflies, but the expression on her face was depressed.

    ¡°Are you unhappy?¡± He asked her in a low voice.

    ¡°Let me go.¡±

    This was the norm in recent days. Their conversation would die down after a few sentences. Pei Ziheng continued walking forward as he pushed her along, and his warm and deep voice rang out again. ¡°See how beautiful these butterflies are. There¡¯s a saying that says each butterfly is the soul of a flower that wilted. They fly back to the flowers to find their past life.¡±

    ¡°Where did you hear that from? What rubbish.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in a fairytale I believe. Do you remember when you were young you used to love listening to fairytales? You would always bug me to tell you fairytales. I didn¡¯t know any, so I bought many books and read them to you night after night.¡± Pei Ziheng recounted slowly. Ever since her death, he had masochistically bought more fairytale books and read them in the many nights that hey awake in the bed to the lonely emptiness in the room. He would read them one after another until he grew hoarse.

    ¡°I¡¯ve long stopped reading fairytales.¡± She responded in an aloof tone. ¡°Butterflies are evolved from caterpirs. No matter how beautiful their wings are, their body is just that of an ugly worm. Someone was probably fascinated by their beauty and created that story. Finding their past life? What is there in the past life to pine for?¡±

    Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks.

    He stopped abruptly, and Xia Ling had to hold on to the handles of the wheelchair to steady herself.

 Chapter 372 - Making an Appointment to Meet Sister Mai Na

    <h4>Chapter 372: Making an Appointment to Meet Sister Mai Na</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What exactly do you want me to do?¡± He asked in an emotionless tone.

    ¡°You know what I want.¡± What did she want? She just wanted to leave and return to Li Lei¡¯s side. Yet, this simple wish was an impossibility.

    ¡°No way.¡± His reply was within her expectations. ¡°Xia Ling, just give up.¡±

    ¡°How can someone like you speak of fairytales?!¡± She sneered in disgust. ¡°Pei Ziheng, hear me loud and clear. I don¡¯t love you anymore. I don¡¯t love you anymore!¡±

    There was silence behind her.

    Xia Ling listened to the silence for a long time before realizing that something was off. She turned her head to look behind her and realized that there was no one there. That cold, handsome, cruel man had left without her knowing.

    She suddenly felt that perhaps she had been too much. After all, he had saved her life, as well as Li Lei¡¯s life. However, the pain of being separated from the man she loved forever made her angry and frustrated beyond measure. She could not control her temper when facing him and just wanted to scream at him all the time. Her mental state was Pei Ziheng¡¯s fault, wasn¡¯t it?

    Her heart was full of sorrow.

    She had wanted to remain amicable with him in this life, but why were they in such a mess right now?

    She held onto the wheelchair and stood up. She retraced the way through the garden on the pebble path.

    After walking a distance, she saw Pei Ziheng standing at the end of the corridor. He was looking out of the window, and his back exuded loneliness. How weird... she was the one that was being tortured, wasn¡¯t she? Why was it that whenever she saw him look so forlorn, she could not help feeling guilty?

    She hardened her heart and walked past him towards the ward.

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you go.¡± His low voice rang out from behind her. ¡°Do you have any other wishes that I can fulfill?¡±

    Other wishes? What other wishes could she have? Her entirely heart and mind were pining for Li Lei. If she were unable to go back to his side, then at least...

    She turned around and looked Pei Ziheng in the eye. ¡°I want to see Sister Mai Na.¡±

    Pei Ziheng lifted his head, and his gaze was unreadable.

    ¡°You can¡¯t fulfill this wish as well?¡± She mused. ¡°Sister Mai Na is my friend, Pei Ziheng. Are you going to curate the friends that I make as well?¡±

    Pei Ziheng could tell that she wanted to see Sister Mai Na to get news about Li Lei, or to get Sister Mai Na to pass a message to him. ¡°I can let you see her.¡± He said. ¡°You should settle your affairs anyway. Tell Mai Na, you will remain by my side forever.¡±

    He saw through her heart¡¯s desire, and she understood his intentions as well.

    Telling Sister Mai Na was just a means to the end of informing Li Lei. Pei Ziheng wanted her to cut herself clean of her longing for him. Xia Ling was quiet for a long time before saying in a soft voice. ¡°Okay.¡±

    She longed to receive news about Li Lei but was aware that the likelihood of her ever going back to him was minute.

    She needed to give him an exnation.

    The appointment with Sister Mai Na was set for lunch the next day.

    Sunlight shone through the windows into the ward this peaceful morning as the water nt by the window stretched its leaves gracefully towards it. Donned in the loose-fitting hospital garments, Xia Ling sat on the small sofa by the window and watched as the feistydy pushed open the door to enter the room. It had been a long time since she had seen Sister Mai Na, and she was still dressed in her usual sleek pantsuit, wine-red highlights streaking through her short fashionable bob, exuding the aura of a queen.

    She bent over to give Xia Ling a hug as soon as she saw her.

    Xia Ling leaned her head on Sister Mai Na¡¯s shoulder, feelingforted at her support. She felt like Sister Mai Na was family, and her tears could not help but fill up.

    ¡°Good girl.¡± Sister Mai Na patted her gently on the head and smoothened the stray strands on her head. ¡°You¡¯ve been through a lot.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and released Sister Mai Na. ¡°How is... he?¡±

    Even though she did not say his name, Sister Mai Na knew who she was referring to. ¡°Boss is fine.¡± Sister Mai Na said. ¡°He¡¯s out of critical condition and was brought back to the headquarters by the Old Master to recuperate. The doctors gave him a thorough check-up and said that he would not have anysting ailments. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Sister Mai Na¡¯s story corroborated with what Chu Chen had told her. She lifted her head and asked, ¡°You¡¯re not lying to me, right? If he¡¯s really fine, why isn¡¯t heing to look for me?¡±

    Sister Mai Na held onto her hand and sat down on the small sofa as well. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. You know that the Old Master was against you being together from the beginning. Boss was locked up the moment he was brought back, and his every action is being monitored. He had to be extremely careful just trying to find out more about you, let alonee to find you.¡±

    Sister Mai Na did not know why the Old Master was against them being together, but she consoled Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry too much. Boss¡¯ feelings for you are real, and we are all witnesses to that. As soon as he regains his freedom, he will fly right back here to look for you. The Old Master can¡¯t keep him under lock-and-key forever.¡±

    Sister Mai Na failed to mention that while the Old Master did not intend to lock Li Lei up forever, he was already looking for a suitable wife for Li Lei. The Old Master liked Su Tang and had been creating opportunities for Li Lei and Su Tang to spend time together alone. Every time Li Lei was allowed to speak to people from Skyart Entertainment, Su Tang would always be present.

    Yet, Sister Mai Na knew that it would not be helpful for Xiao Ling to be bogged down by these additional worries.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was still dull, and she turned her head away from Sister Mai Na to look out of the window.

    This was the 16th floor, and she could see the aerial view of a nearby city. It was a glorious day outside, and she stared at the beautiful blue sky for a long time. Finally, she turned back to Sister Mai Na and slowly said, ¡°Sister Mai Na, do me a favor. Help me to pass a message to Li Lei...¡±

    What should she tell him?

    She thought of his smiling face and the wonderful days that they spent together. She could not bring herself to end their rtionship. Yet, what else could she do? She swore on his life that she would remain with Pei Ziheng. In this life, there was no way that she could break that vow, or she could not imagine what would befall Li Lei.

    She was silent.

    Sister Mai Na was silent for a while before softly asking, ¡°Xiao Ling, are you in trouble?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her eyes to the ground.

    Sister Mai Na continued, ¡°You don¡¯t have to hide it from me. I can fathom a pretty good guess. You were saved by Pei Ziheng¡¯s helicopter that day, and Pei Ziheng saved Boss as well. He struck a deal with you, didn¡¯t he? For example, he asked you to give him yourself in exchange for Boss¡¯ safety?¡±

    Sister Mai Na watched Xia Ling closely and knew from her expression that she was right.

    ¡°Why were you so silly?!¡± While she was furious, her heart went out to Xia Ling as well. ¡°How could you agree to such an outrageous request from Pei Ziheng?!¡±

    ¡°There was nothing else I could do...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was extremely soft.

    Sister Mai Na knew that she was probably caught in a terrible position then, and that had been the only path that she could see. Otherwise, Li Lei could very likely have died in that thunderstorm. Her heart ached for Xiao Ling. She was such a young girl, and she had to carry such a massive burden. ¡°Leave him.¡± Sister Mai Na said vehemently. ¡°Leave Pei Ziheng! He forced you to agree to terribly unfair terms when you were in no condition to make good decisions. You don¡¯t have to abide by your word!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Xia Ling replied.

    Sister Mai Na was not aware of the death vow, and even if she did, she might not think too much about it. Xia Ling did not exin further and only said, ¡°Tell him to take care of his injuries and get well. And tell him that I¡¯m doing well.¡±

    Everything else could wait till Li Lei was better.

    He was still injured, and if he knew that they could never ever be together again, it would break his heart.

 Chapter 373 - Discharged

    <h4>Chapter 373: Discharged</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There was nothing else that Sister Mai Na could do to persuade Xia Ling to walk away.

    Sister Mai Na guessed that she was withholding more information from her, and bristled in agitation. ¡°Just tell me what you are hiding! I can help you to think of a way out! We can call in the cops, or go to the media... or wait for Boss to return and rely on the Li family backing to get you out of this. We can find a solution to this problem! Don¡¯t keep things to yourself! Unless... you really want to remain by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side forever?!¡±

    She did not. But, so what?

    ¡°Thank you foring to see me.¡± Xia Ling gave Sister Mai Na a forced smile. ¡°He did not force me. I was willing to do this. If Li Lei returns, tell him not toe to look for me.¡±

    ¡°How can he possibly not try to find you?¡±

    ¡°Tell him... I fell for somebody else.¡± Xia Ling pulled the amulet around her neck off and handed it to Sister Mai Na. ¡°This was a gift from him. Please help me to return it to him. If he doesn¡¯t want it, ask him to give it back to the master that he got it from.¡± Her cold fingertips brushed Sister Mai Na¡¯s hand as she pressed the amulet into it.

    Sister Mai Na was shocked internally, but she merely closed her hand around the amulet with a grave expression.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re really cruel.¡± Sister Mai Na said. ¡°I will return this to Boss for you.¡±

    With that, she stood up and left the ward.

    Xia Ling watched her as she left, before taking a deep breath.

    She had been thinking all these days about how to break that death vow. The only person that she thought could perhaps help her was her preceptor brother, Xia Moyan. She would not give up until she had found Xia Moyan.

    She asked Sister Mai Na to pass Li Lei the amulet in hopes that he would understand her message of asking him to look for Xia Moyan. The ward was bugged, and every word uttered between Sister Mai Na could be heard by Pei Ziheng. She could only send a hidden signal to Li Lei this way.

    She hoped that he would understand and everything would go as nned.

    Pei Ziheng came to visit her in the evening.

    He brought her a gift ¡ª a pale purple pearl ne in an exquisite box. Eachrge, round, natural pearl shone under the room lights, and she could tell that it was an expensive piece.

    ¡°Try it on. Do you like it?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Why are you giving me this so suddenly?¡± Xia Ling did not reach out to ept it.

    Pei Ziheng took out the pearl ne from the box himself. Utching the catch, he helped to put it around her fair neck. ¡°It¡¯s much prettier than that amulet.¡± He remarked after admiring it for a while.

    Xia Ling understood that the entire conversation with Sister Mai Na in the afternoon had indeed been recorded. She returned the amulet to Li Lei, so he decided to give her a ne in recement. What was this? A reward?

    Xia Ling felt ufortable and reached out to remove the ne.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± He stopped her from removing it.

    She felt insults ready to burst out of her mouth.

    Yet, she controlled herself after she saw the deep frown on his forward. It was better not to agitate him right now. It wasn¡¯t without difficulty that she finally managed to contact Sister Mai Na to send the message to Li Lei. Perhaps Li Lei would find some way to locate her brother. And maybe her brother would know a way to break that death vow? What she needed to do now was to wait patiently and not create any further drama.

    Hence, she lightly said, ¡°I¡¯m just not used to wearing such expensive jewelry.¡±

    The frown on his forehead smoothened out. ¡°You¡¯ve been through hard times in these two years. When you¡¯re discharged, I¡¯ll buy you anything you like. Many of the jewelry that you liked in the past are still in the house ¡ª bangles and earrings and everything else.¡±

    She had piles of jewelry in her past life, almost enough to open a museum. They were also all luxurious and expensive, every piece almost priceless. In this life, she lost all interest in these material toys. Hearing Pei Ziheng expound on his riches only elicited a soft ¡°mmhmm¡± from her.

    Pei Ziheng reacted as if he finally found something that could make her happy. ¡°Your clothes, shoes, and hats are all intact as well. Those haute couture gowns, casual dresses, heels, sunsses, purses... Specialists are caring for them in every season, and they are in the same condition as before. However, you¡¯re skinnier than you were before, and shorter as well. The sizes likely will not fit you anymore. We can get a tailor to take them in. Or if you want new ones we can go buy new ones.¡±

    Xia Ling quietly listened to him speak. She wanted to tell him that he did not need to buy or alter anything. She was just a puppet in his hands right now, what use was it to dress up so beautifully every day?

    He spoke at length for a while, but seeing that she was not so enthusiastic, he stopped talking.

    She was much harder to please in this life. In the past, everything he did would be met with her reverence and adoration. And now? He could pile gold and silver right in front of her, and she wouldn¡¯t even give him a smile. Pei Ziheng knew that he deserved all of this, and was prepared to use all his life topensate for the pain he caused her.

    Luckily, he had all the time in the world.

    He apanied her for dinner and helped her to peel fruits, watching over her until she was sleeping soundly.

    He switched off the main lights in the ward, leaving a dim night light on in the corner, before covering her with the soft nket and bending over to kiss her on the lips. This had been his routine every night. There were many things that he could tolerate, but this did not include her rejection of his kiss. This ritual he did every night was akin to a deration that she was his.

    And every night, Xia Ling would be terrified, and her body would tremble in fear.

    She could see the mes of desire in his eyes as if it was ready to burn everything down. She was aware beyond a doubt that Pei Ziheng still wanted her entirely as he did in her past life. He wanted her heart, her body... She guessed that if it were not for her injuries, perhaps Pei Ziheng would not have let her be for so long.

    This made her extremely paranoid.

    Her heart was now Li Lei¡¯s, and she could not ept another man iming her for himself. Pei Ziheng was no exception. However, she did not know how long she would be able to remain untarnished in front of Pei Ziheng¡¯s firm resolve.

    If he wanted her, there was no way that she would be able to protect herself.

    No way at all.

    She did not sleep well, night after night.

    Her injuries were recovering slowly, but Xia Ling was relieved that this was the case. Pei Ziheng would not try anything on her when she was still unwell. She wished that she could stay in the hospital ward forever.

    Yet, as her body got better, the day that she was to be discharged arrived.

    Pei Ziheng came personally to fetch her from the hospital. He stretched out his hand to her in front of all the doctors and nurses and said as he did many years ago in front of the orphanage, ¡°Xiao Ling,e, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    They got onto his Rolls-Royce and went back to the house they stayed in before.

    It was not the ce that he imprisoned her in her past life. It was the house that they shared when they were deeply in love. Every nt, furniture, and disy piece had been chosen by Xia Ling painstakingly. She had spent countless hours decorating this house. However, as she stood in it now, she felt nothing.

    It felt like that was just a dream from a long time ago.

 Chapter 374 - The Place That Was Once Her Home

    <h4>Chapter 374: The ce That Was Once Her Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stood at the doorway in trepidation.

    When was thest time she had stood here? It was the year that she found out about Pei Ziheng¡¯s engagement to Wang Jingwan. She had packed her bags dejectedly when her arguments with Pei Ziheng seemed futile. Yet, he caught her just as she was about to leave the house, and pped her to the ground.

    That happened right in the ce that she was standing now.

    Xia Ling looked down at the exquisite parquet flooring that she had chosen. While it was intricate and elegant, it was also extremely hard. That fall from the p was painful, but what hurt more was the devastation that she felt from the burning p on her face.

    That same devastation gued her as she returned to this ce.

    In fact, the dread she felt was even more acute now as she had gone through life and death literally to find her happiness. She had barely spent a few blissful days with Li Lei before that terrible thunderstorm robbed her of everything. It seemed that she was really a jinx to anybody that she was with, and was destined to be alone.

    She recalled her brother¡¯s prophecy and felt a sharp pain in her chest.

    Pei Ziheng led her into the house and removed her jacket, handing it casually to the maid standing by the side. That maid was elderly, and her hair waspletely grey. However, there was peace and harmony in her expression, and she was not jittery like everyone else when they were around Pei Ziheng. She took the jacket from Pei Ziheng and easily said, ¡°Mister, wee home. I¡¯ve prepared some tea, shall I bring it over?¡±

    Pei Ziheng nodded and said, ¡°Give Xiao Ling a cup of honey lemon.¡±

    He remembered what she liked from her past life.

    That elderly maid turned to look at her hearing his words, her gaze full of surprise.

    Xia Ling smiled and said, ¡°My name is Ye Xingling.¡± She recognized the maid, Nanny Zhou, who was said to be Pei Ziheng¡¯s nanny since he was a child. She had cared for him all his life and was meticulous and conscientious. When Xia Ling was staying here before, she loved Nanny Zhou, who was like a loving mother to her.

    Hearing this, Nanny Zhou collected herself and smiled as well. ¡°Miss Ye, do give me a moment, I¡¯ll go prepare your drink at once.¡± She had made two cups of tea, both Biluochun green tea that Pei Ziheng favored. She had not expected Pei Ziheng to get her to change one to honey lemon. She remembered that many years ago when Miss Xia Ling was still alive, she loved to drink this same drink. Later, after Miss Xia Ling passed away, Mister was extremely sad. He had instructed her to ensure that there was always honey lemon in the house, but never once asked for a cup to be made.

    Today, Mister brought another girl home. She had the same ¡°Ling¡± in her name and liked to drink the same drink as Miss Xia Ling. What was going on?

    Nanny Zhou could not make head or tail of it, but she carefully made the honey lemon and brought it to the table together with Pei Ziheng¡¯s tea.

    Pei Ziheng passed the honey lemon tea over to Xia Ling, saying, ¡°Try it. How is it?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head to drink a sip of the honey lemon tea. It was the same taste that she had been used to in her past life, but today there was a bitterness in it. It was the same honey lemon tea, but it waspletely different drinking a ss made by Nanny Zhou and one made by Li Lei. She always felt that Li Lei¡¯s concoction was sweeter, and the lemons would always be sliced into tiny semicircles. She always felt happy when receiving a ss of honey lemon tea from him.

    Her faraway look made Pei Ziheng think that she was recalling memories from her past life.

    He asked Nanny Zhou to leave the room, before he gently said to Xia Ling, ¡°Everything in this house ¡ª the setting, furniture, lights, disy pieces ¡ª I¡¯ve not touched a single thing. They are all what you used to like. If you want to add or change anything, go ahead and do as you please.¡±

    She shook her head. She had no mood to do any of that.

    Pei Ziheng led her to the bedroom on the second floor and pushed the door open. In front of her were a fur carpet and arge, soft bed. His cufflinks and tie-clips were ced on the short bedside table on one side.

    Clearly, he slept here regrly.

    ¡°Go ahead and rest first.¡± He said to Xia Ling. ¡°I have a teleconference with the New York side at night. The bathrobe and bathing essentials are in the same ce. If you want to have supper, just inform Nanny Zhou.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll sleep in the guest room.¡± Xia Ling hurriedly said.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened.

    Xia Ling heart clenched in fear, as she continued, ¡°I¡¯m used to sleeping alone now.¡±

    She didn¡¯t sleep with Li Lei? His expression brightened a little hearing her words. Yet, he said without any room for negotiation, ¡°You should get used to sleeping with me as soon as possible then.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s head jerked up to look at him.

    What did he mean by that? Was he going to show the animal that he was on her very first day back? Even though she knew that there was no hiding from him forever, she did not expect danger to approach so quickly. ¡°I¡¯m notpletely recovered yet.¡± She said as calmly as she could. ¡°I¡¯m easily awoken. Pei Ziheng, let me sleep in the guest room. I need quiet rest.¡±

    He lowered his head to look at her, his gaze unreadable.

    After a while, he said, ¡°Xia Ling, you shall sleep here. If you¡¯re good today, I¡¯ll be sure to remain in the study. If you persist on trying to defy me, I will not hesitate to im you tonight.¡±

    A cold shiver ran down her spine, and she kept quiet.

    He stared into her eyes deeply, before turning and striding out of the bedroom.

    She remained rooted to the same spot, only regaining her senses after he had disappeared from her view. Her heart was beating haphazardly, and she rushed over to close the bedroom door, locking it from inside. She breathed out a long breath.

    Yet, she did not dare fall asleep andy awake until morning.

    There was the sound of knocking on the bedroom door at around seven or eight in the morning. ¡°Miss Ye?¡±

    Xia Ling recognized it to be Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice.

    She opened the door and saw Nanny Zhou standing outside as expected. Nanny Zhou smiled kindly and said, ¡°Good morning, Miss Ye. Breakfast is ready. Feel free to wash up ande down for breakfast.¡±

    ¡°And Pei Ziheng?¡± She asked. Her voice was hoarse from theck of sleep.

    ¡°Mister left the house before it was bright. The office is really busy recently. He usually goes out really early and returnste.¡± Nanny Zhou said. ¡°Before he left, he instructed me not to disturb you and to allow you to sleep a little longer.¡± As Nanny Zhou spoke, she gave Xia Ling a once over. This girl did not look like she had a good night¡¯s rest at all.

    She worriedly asked, ¡°Were you unable to sleepst night? If there¡¯s anything that you are not used to, just tell me. If Misteres back and sees you like this, he¡¯ll be so upset.¡±

    Why would he be upset?

    Xia Ling thought to herself. He did so many cruel and horrible things to her, and she never once saw that he was upset about it. It was just one night of insomnia, and even if he found out, he would just be angered that she had defied his orders rather than worry about her health.

    Seeing her expression, Nanny Zhou guessed that she did not agree with her statement. She hurriedly said, ¡°Mister doesn¡¯t usually bring people home. The fact that you can stay here shows that you are really important to him. Miss Ye, don¡¯t doubt it. Mister really cares about you. Really.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned, before asking, ¡°Didn¡¯t he... didn¡¯t he bring many people home before?¡±

    In these two years, she knew that he had ¡°collected¡± many women. Just those that she had met or heard about was more than the fingers on one hand.

 Chapter 375 - Those Women

    <h4>Chapter 375: Those Women</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nanny Zhou was startled, but she reacted quickly and smiled. ¡°Are you talking about those women? Why would Mister bring messy people back home? Don¡¯t worry. Besides Miss Xia Ling, you are the only other guest.¡±

    This was also why Nanny Zhou cared so much about her. Last night, Mister specifically said to treat Miss Ye like how she treated Miss Xia Ling in the past and take her as the mistress of the house.

    This simple instruction made the old maid so relieved that she almost shed tears. Since the death of Miss Xia Ling, Mister had been very depressed and was like a walking corpse every day as he had been living in endless regret and thinking about Xia Ling. Nanny Zhou was always worried that if this continued, in the long run, something bad might happen to him. Now that he had brought another girl back home and even let her rece Miss Xia Ling¡¯s position, Nanny Zhou felt that a huge boulder had been lifted off her shoulders. She was determined to facilitate their rtionship as much as she could.

    Xia Ling nodded. It seemed that there was no need to change the furniture in the house. Otherwise, she would go crazy thinking about how many women slept in this room and used the things here.

    She did not care so much about cleanliness, but this was one of her concerns.

    Nanny Zhou urged her. ¡°Miss Ye, quickly go downstairs to eat. Mister specially instructed that I make millet porridge and fine kelp for you. It won¡¯t taste good if it turns cold.¡±

    Xia Ling also felt somewhat hungry, so she took a simple shower, changed her clothes, and followed Nanny Zhou downstairs to eat.

    In the dining room, the sunlight was scattered on the dining table which was covered by a white tablecloth. Hot millet porridge was ced in a fine porcin bowl. There were also fine kelp, chopped nuts, and a vegetable sd which were all things she liked in her past life. Even the position and cement of the items were exactly the same as before.

    She sat down and was suddenly brought back to the past.

    Nanny Zhou waited beside her as she ate and rambled ceaselessly about how good Pei Ziheng was and how caring and patient he was when he was with her. The way she praised him was as if he were unparalleled in the world.

    Xia Ling rubbed her forehead and felt some regret.

    She recalled that when she was just adopted by Pei Ziheng, there was a house rule that banned talking during meal time. It was a big rule, and everyone always ate silently. A pin could be heard if it fell on the floor. However, Xia Ling was always very lively and energetic and grew up in the noisy orphanage, so how could she resist the temptation to talk? She was always very chatty during meals, and soon, this rule was discarded. Even Nanny Zhou started to joke with them frequently.

    However, now, it was the first time Xia Ling felt that no talking during meals was a very good rule. Really.

    Nanny Zhou continued rambling, ¡°Mister is such a good person. He¡¯s patient and caring. Which girl wouldn¡¯t be happy with him? Sadly, Miss Xia Ling fell sick at a young age. Mister bought an ind and sent her there for a year¡¯s worth of treatment. It was difficult, but she recovered. Unfortunately, she had an ident soon after and passed away. Luckily, he brought you back home today. He is such a dedicated person and always wants to spend his life with whoever he brings back. You really have to cherish him. These past two years were difficult for him...¡±

    Where they any more difficult than her past two years?

    Xia Ling only felt indignance in her heart.

    It was Pei Ziheng who let her down in the past and went in between her and Li Lei in this life. Why did he be the one who was let down and was deserving of sympathy?

    Forget it, servants did not know the truth. On the day she fell out with Pei Ziheng, Nanny Zhou was not there and did not know how she was imprisoned, tortured, and insulted on that isted private ind. Xia Ling decided not to argue with Nanny Zhou. She buried her resentment, finished her meal with the fastest speed, and said to Nanny Zhou, ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep wellst night. I will go back to the room to sleep for a while, so I won¡¯t be eating lunch. If there¡¯s nothing important, don¡¯t bother me.¡±

    Seeing that it was almost nine, Nanny Zhou felt that it was reasonable that she would miss lunch if she went to sleep now. Thus, she replied, ¡°Sure, Miss Ye. Once you wake up in the afternoon, call me and I will prepare afternoon tea and snacks for you.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked her and escaped upstairs.

    When she returned to the bedroom, she did not feel like sleeping on the big bed, so she fell into a deep sleep on the carpet next to the window. Li Lei was present in all of her dreams. His vibrant smile, the way he hugged her when she was acting like a spoiled child, the way he teased her which she loved and hated at the same time... How good it would be if she could turn back time.

    When she woke up, the sun was setting.

    Looking at the setting sun slowly disappear outside the window, Xia Ling really missed him very much.

    After Pei Ziheng came back and had dinner with her, he spent the entire night in his study again.

    Xia Ling felt a little more at ease. From the third night onwards, although she still locked the door, she stopped sitting until it was daybreak. Instead, she curled up on the carpet and hugged herself to sleep.

    She could not let herself sleep on that bed. That luxurious and soft bed reminded her too much of the happiness, joy, and intimate moments with Pei Ziheng in her past life. Emotional, she closed her eyes as she could not help but think about the past. However, now, her heart and body belonged to Li Lei. She did not want to think about the past anymore.

    Although the carpet was soft, it was not asfortable as the bed, but she was willing to make the sacrifice.

    Every day when she woke up, she would make the bed messy to construct a fake scene for others to believe that she slept on the bed the night before. When Nanny Zhou went to clean up the room, she never noticed that anything was off.

    A few days passed by like that.

    The more intensely she missed Li Lei, the more painful it was between breaths.

    How was he doing now? Subconsciously, she lifted her hand to touch the amulet around her neck but realized that nothing was there. Only then did she remember that she had returned the amulet to him. Now, she only had avender pearl ne around her neck given by Pei Ziheng. Pei Ziheng liked seeing her wear it, so she wore it every day.

    She could not even find a keepsake to remember him by.

    Keepsake...?

    Wait, there was still something.

    Xia Ling paced back and forth in her room a few times before gaining the courage to knock on the study door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± It was Pei Ziheng¡¯s calm voice. Under the soft light in the study, he was well-dressed as he sat on the high-back chair. The desk was covered in piles of official documents, and there was a slight fatigued look on his face. When he saw Xia Ling, his voice was mellow. ¡°Why are you acting so distant? You used toe in directly and never knock on the door.¡±

    In her past life, she was arrogant and stubborn. Not only would she not knock on the door, but she would also hug him directly or sit on hisp once she entered. However, now, they were more distant.

    Xia Ling gently bit her lip to avoid that topic. She only said, ¡°I want to talk to you regarding something.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± From the time she entered, he had already put down the official document in his hand and paused the video conference he was in. He closed hisptop and listened to her patiently and tenderly.

 Chapter 376 - A Keepsake of Li Lei

    <h4>Chapter 376: A Keepsake of Li Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling could not help but think of Li Lei.

    Li Lei and Pei Ziheng were twopletely different people. Li Lei was an ultimate hedonist. When he did not need to deal with work, he would be insistent on not doing any work and could even be idle for a whole year. However, once there was work, even Xia Ling would not be able to disrupt him. Once, Li Lei was having a video conference and Xia Ling tried to ask him to cut a lemon. He only touched her head and said, ¡°Be good and don¡¯t interrupt me.¡± After that, he continued to discuss matters with Wei Shaoyin.

    Xia Ling was reluctant to leave, so she went to pull, pinch, and hit him.

    Even Wei Shaoyin who was in the video conference yelled at her. ¡°Go y somewhere else. Can¡¯t you see that we¡¯re discussing your new song?!¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to cry. She had to cut the lemon herself and identally hurt herself.

    When the conference was over, Li Lei was heartbroken and swore that he would scold Wei Shaoyin for her. He rushed into the study in a fury and turned the screen on. Before he could start scolding him, he heard Wei Shaoyin say, ¡°Regarding the new song, I have a few publicity ns that need some improvement...¡±

    After that, the two of them started discussing again.

    Big Boss Li treated Xia Ling, who was waiting for him to help her vent her anger, like air. Upset, Xia Ling pretended that the remaining lemons were Big Boss Li and stabbed them for a very long time.

    Thinking about it now, even those gloomy days in the past were filled with sweetness.

    There was a sour feeling in her heart, but she forced herself to conceal those emotions. She said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°I have some personal belongings in the apartment I rented with Luo Luo. I want to take them back.¡±

    Pei Ziheng warmly replied, ¡°Those things aren¡¯t any good. I¡¯ll buy new items if you need them.¡±

    He roughly knew her living standards in this life and was aware that she never really used any of Li Lei¡¯s money. She bought most of the things she had herself. He had also been to the apartment, and the things inside were considered not bad to ordinary people, but to someone like him from an eminent family, they were unimpressive.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart hurt for her. She was such a spoiled girl in the past. How could she use such inferior things?

    Xia Ling was quiet before saying, ¡°I bought all of them using my own money, so I can¡¯t bear to leave them. There¡¯s also... the blue diamond ne you gave me.¡± Thest time he visited their apartment, he gave her a ne as a gift.

    Pei Ziheng also remembered that ne. Seeing that she had not forgotten about it, he was a little stunned.

    However, he sort of thought of something. ¡°Only my gift?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was very low. ¡°There¡¯s no need to keep the rest.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her for a long time as he wanted to decipher the truth from the lies. She had been with Li Lei for a long time and would definitely have many things that were given to her by that man. Was she really able to give all of them up?

    ¡°I¡¯ve even returned the amulet. Why should I keep the rest?¡± She said, resisting the bitterness in her heart.

    Pei Ziheng finally believed her.

    ¡°Let Chu Chen apany you.¡± He made his decision.

    Pei Ziheng was usually busy. The time he spent with Xia Ling at home was set aside by him with some difficulty, and he had no spare time to apany her to the apartment to collect her things. Chu Chen was his loyal subordinate, and he deeply trusted him to protect and monitor Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling knew that she could not resist and had no other opinion.

    On the way to the apartment, she did not treat Chu Chen kindly.

    Chu Chen also knew that she did not like him, so he did not provoke her. He only quietly followed her and remembered all the things she decided to take with her to report back to Pei Zihengter.

    When she entered the bedroom, she finally could not tolerate it anymore. She said coldly, ¡°Can you step back a little? I need to take some very personal items. It¡¯s not convenient if you follow me.¡± Men and women had their differences, and Pei Ziheng forgot to consider this when he instructed someone to follow her. If she had some undergarments, it would be awkward if Chu Chen saw them.

    Chu Chen stood outside and hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°Do you think Pei Ziheng will forgive you if you followed me in?¡± Xia Ling sneered.

    She understood Pei Ziheng too well. He was overly possessive to an extreme extent. Since he regarded her as his own exclusive woman, he would never allow other men to get involved with her, even if it were just seeing a few private items from afar.

    Chu Chen also understood Pei Ziheng the same way.

    More importantly, he picked her up from Pei Ziheng¡¯s house.

    Pei Ziheng had many houses. However, there was only one ce that he truly considered his home. It was the ce the deceased Diva Xia Ling personally designed and the ce he lived with her for more than ten years. After Xia Ling¡¯s death, Pei Ziheng searched for many women who were simr to her and bought them jewelry and luxury houses, but never once brought any of them back to this house. This home was like a sacred ce and was not easily sphemed.

    However, now, Ye Xingling lived inside.

    Chu Chen did not know what sort of charm this woman had such that she was able to make him so obsessed and in love with her. However, he deeply understood one thing ¡ª a woman that had the same position as the Diva Xia Ling in his Boss¡¯ heart was not someone he could afford to provoke.

    He suppressed his annoyance and took a few steps back to give her space.

    Xia Ling mmed the door shut.

    She rummaged through the jewelry box near her bed and soon found a ne. To be precise, it was a thin chain with a tinum ring. It had an exquisite design, gorgeous structure, and was lustrous. On the inner side of the ring, there were two letters engraved: LY.

    That was the abbreviation of her and Li Lei¡¯s surname.

    She held the little tinum ring pendant in her hand and ced it near her chest. The recurring anxiety, fear, and helplessness she felt inside suddenly disappeared.

    With it, it was as if that man were still by her side giving her support and strength.

    She carefully hid the tinum ring near her body and simply packed up a few pieces of clothing. She then rummaged through the closet to dig out the blue diamond ne from Pei Ziheng before finally opening the bedroom door.

    Chu Chen was waiting outside. Seeing that she was out, he sized her up. He was slightly relieved as he did not find anything out of the ordinary.

    ¡°Meow...¡± Suddenly, there was the sound of a cat. Both of them looked down to see a small cat walking out from a corner. It tilted its tail and licked Xia Ling¡¯s ankles.

    ¡°Hairball.¡± Xia Ling knelt down and patted the kitten¡¯s fluffy head lovingly.

    ¡°Is that your cat?¡± Chu Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling looked at the kitten and remembered that rainy night when Li Lei smiled and said, ¡°If you like it, then take it home.¡±

    However, now, the kitten was there, but the person was missing.

    Her eyes were a little misty, and she took a deep breath.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss doesn¡¯t really like pets.¡± Seeing that his boss favored her, he gave her a head¡¯s up. In the past, even when the Diva Xia Ling tried to have a pet cat and repeatedly threw a tantrum in front of his Boss, she was not allowed to keep any cats, and her cat was given to someone else by his Boss.

    Not to mention her.

 Chapter 377 - Platinum Ring Pendant

    <h4>Chapter 377: tinum Ring Pendant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I know.¡± She also remembered what happened in the past. She picked up a small cat from the studio which liked to crawl on the bed in the middle of the night to sleep. Pei Ziheng condemned it as he felt that it was annoying and dirty. A few dayster, he sent it away.

    She did not want Hairball to share the same fate as it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave Luo Luo to take care of it,¡± she said lightly. ¡°Besides, Luo Luo also likes pets.¡± If she left it here, she probably would still be able to look at it from time to time. If she brought it back and Pei Ziheng sent it away, she would never see it again.

    She got up, found pen and paper, and left a note for Luo Luo.

    The general message was that she had left and had taken her items. Hairball would be left behind, and she hoped that she would take good care of it. If she did not want to take care of it, she could give it to Skyart Entertainment staff members and ask them to give it to Li Lei.

    After she finished writing the letter, she looked at the apartment wistfully.

    There were too many wonderful memories of this ce. When she was filming Extraordinary Risks, Li Lei dressed up as different types of people to avoid the paparazzi. Sometimes he pretended to repair the water pipes or deliver takeaway... The most excessive thing he did was to climb over the wall. A smile escaped her lips as she recalled his stupid appearance on her terrace after he climbed into a window. He was holding fruit snacks in his hand and said to frightened Xia Ling, ¡°Take it, it¡¯s takeaway.¡±

    However, this situation would never happen again.

    She closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she had regained her calmness.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± she said coldly to Chu Chen. She carried tworge cardboard boxes and left the apartment.

    Chu Chen sent her home. He watched as Nanny Zhou weed her back and took the boxes from her hands. After ensuring that everything was settled, he left.

    He called Pei Ziheng.

    He gave a detailed report about what happened and told him everything that she brought back from the apartment. In the end, he added, ¡°When Miss Ye was packing in her room, she did not let me go in.¡±

    ¡°Got it. You don¡¯t have to care about this. Just check on the origins of the items that you saw.¡± After that, Pei Ziheng hung up the phone. His slender fingers sped the table, and he was deep in thought.

    It was right for Xiao Ling not to allow Chu Chen to enter her bedroom. However, was she simply packing up or doing something else? Even if he investigated, Chu Chen would probably not be able to find anything suspicious from the things she let him see. The main issue was the items that she did not let Chu Chen see...

    When the meeting ended, he went home.

    It was already 12 am. The living room lights were still on and Nanny Zhou was waiting for him.

    ¡°How is Miss Ye?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    ¡°Miss Ye is quite tired after moving her things here.¡± Nanny Zhou said.

    ¡°Where are the things she moved here?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°They¡¯re all in the bedroom. Miss Ye did not let me help her unpack.¡±

    Pei Ziheng walked to her bedroom. When he reached the door, he realized that it was locked. However, he was not surprised. These few days, she always locked the door before she went to sleep because she was scared that he woulde in. Unfortunately, she did not know that in order to prevent any idents from urring to her, he had already made changes to the door handle. He twisted it a few times and the door opened.

    He walked in and realized that the luxurious big bed was empty.

    He could not help but frown. Where was she? He scanned the bedroom. Soon, he found her petite figure curled up on the carpet by the window. Her body was covered in a few old clothes, and she was not sleeping very well.

    Why was she sleeping there?

    Pei Ziheng frowned even harder. He walked towards her and bent over as he wanted to carry her to the bed. Unexpectedly, he saw that her hand was ced on her chest and she seemed to be holding something. In the faint night light, the silver-white item shimmered.

    He pulled her hand open and stretched out her fingers which were tightly clutching the item. In the palm of her hand, there was a small tinum ring pendant which was polished very well. It looked well maintained, and he guessed that she usually took great care of it.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened, and he took the ring from her hand.

    He held the ring against the faint night light and looked carefully at the inner section of the ring. Sure enough, in the usual lettering position, two letters were engraved in an elegant cursive font. There was the first letter of her surname and Li Lei¡¯s.

    He clenched his fist and lowered his head to look at her.

    Xia Ling, who was fast asleep, only felt a little cold and moved ufortably.

    Still cold.

    She subconsciously tightened her fingers and brought them closer to her chest. However, she felt that something was missing in the palm of her hand. Thus, she woke up. In a daze, she opened her eyes and saw...

    Pei Ziheng.

    At that moment, he was watching her quietly. There was something in his hand, and in the dim light, she could see that it was a glistening silver-white object. Sure enough, it was the familiar ring pendant.

    In an instant, Xia Ling felt that her breathing stopped.

    The tall man said nothing, but his dark gaze indicated that danger was ahead. Behind him, the faint glow of the night light erged his originally powerful body, and his huge shadow was cast on the textured and woven carpet, shrouding Xia Ling¡¯s entire body.

    Xia Ling¡¯s throat was dry. Her limbs were numb, and she could not move.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand clenched into a fist and slowly squeezed the tinum ring pendant in his hand. He used a lot of force, and it was as if he wanted to crush it into dust. Xia Ling¡¯s heart became more tense with his movements. It was as if she were being kneaded by him. Fresh blood was dripping, and it was reduced to fragments.

    ¡°Give it back.¡± She resisted her fear and said in a shaky voice.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her ominously. ¡°This isn¡¯t something you should keep.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s mine.¡± Her voice was still shivering like small prey facing a vicious tiger. Her entire body was consumed with endless fear and pressure. However, she held her head high and was unwilling to back down.

    Pei Ziheng suddenly raised his hand and threw the shiny ring pendant.

    Xia Ling only felt her mind turn nk. It was as if a string had broken in her heart. Before she had time to think, she had already instinctively rushed over in an attempt to get the ring pendant back.

    However, Pei Ziheng grabbed hold of her in his arms.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± She shrieked, desperately kicking him and yelling her guts out.

    He pressed her down on the carpet using his powerful body. ¡°Xia Ling, tell me the truth.¡± He was furious and would call her full name when he was angry. His expression was hiding a storm which was about to happen.

    ¡°Let go!¡± She continued to scream. Her eyes were looking at the direction in which the ring fell. The beautiful silver ring was glistening in the dim light and was waiting for her to pick it up. She did not know how she found the strength, but she pushed Pei Ziheng desperately and relentlessly. ¡°That¡¯s mine! Mine!¡±

    Pei Ziheng easily grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled it securely above her head. He leaned over, and his nose almost touched hers. His tone was gloomy. ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t force me.¡±

 Chapter 378 - Disappear Without A Trace

    <h4>Chapter 378: Disappear Without A Trace</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Those words were like a curse that caused her to be paralyzed with terror.

    Above her body, the man¡¯s breathing was heavy as he looked down at her like a tiger capturing its prey. The night light was still dim, and he was too close to her, so close that she could feel his chest moving. She could also feel his breath on her face. With the warmth of her clothes, she felt like he could shred her into pieces any time soon.

    Rip her apart and eat her.

    She knew that he always wanted her.

    Not in the ordinary literal sense but... to sleep with her.

    At this moment, his eyes were suppressing a brewing storm. She was all too familiar with his desire and addiction to abuse.

    Xia Ling did not dare to provoke him in this state as she was afraid that he would do something to her. In her past life, too many painful experiences had given her enough lessons. Today, she did not dare to show a trace of rebelliousness.

    Seeing that she was more obedient, the violent expression in his eyes faded. He touched her face with his hand and rubbed it for a long time. After that, he carried her and put her on the luxurious bed.

    She shook her body a little in resistance as she did not want to sleep with him.

    Pei Ziheng only nced at her and warned her to quieten down with his expression.

    They lied down together on the bed. Pei Ziheng pulled therge duvet to cover their bodies. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He ced his hand around her waist, keeping her close to his chest. ¡°You only belong to me.¡±

    His voice was indisputable.

    Xia Ling bit her lip strongly, and her body stiffened.

    In her past life when she was imprisoned, he also hugged her to sleep like that. Usually, in the night, morning, or any time when he was in the mood, he would rape her. She remembered many times when she was awakened from her sleep and instinctively called in pain to refuse him, but all he showed was an unrelenting expression.

    At that time, she was terrified to fall asleep as she never knew when and what she had to tolerate when she opened her eyes.

    Now, the fear was back again.

    Xia Ling was afraid that once she closed her eyes, Pei Ziheng would pulverize her and tear her into pieces.

    Amidst the chaos and helplessness, she saw the faint glow on the carpet in front of the bed. It was the ring that Li Lei gave her which had a cold tinum texture. Unsurprisingly, she remembered that Li Lei also hugged her to sleep before. His heartbeat was as strong and powerful as Pei Ziheng¡¯s, but his embrace was very warm and calming.

    For two lives, the only thing she wished for was a peace of mind.

    The heavens were very cruel as they made her lose what she had twice.

    This period of time was very difficult for her, but it also passed by very slowly. If it weren¡¯t for the ring next to the window, Xia Ling would have questioned whether Li Lei¡¯s existence was a dream or an illusion created by her because she was desperate after being imprisoned by Pei Ziheng for such a long time. However, the radiance of the ring told her that it was not a dream. There was really a person in this world who was sincere and willing to give up his life to protect her.

    [Xiao Ling, I love you.]

    The sound of Li Lei¡¯s voice echoed around the peach tree in the storm.

    Unfortunately, she was unable to answer anymore.

    Now, she was being hugged by a demon-like man, and she could only secretly nce at the ring pendant on the carpet in the dim night light like she was looking at a distant piece of driftwood of life.

    It was the only source of warmth in the dark night.

    With it, she knew that she was living in reality. It was already her second life, and she was not to be confused with her past life. In fact, she should not fall into the downward spiral of frightening hallucinations and nightmares of the past.

    Li Lei, Li Lei...

    Her eyes looked at the ring pendant without hesitation, and she recited the name of the person she loved in her heart. The two simple words seemed like a spell that dispelled the fear and uneasiness in her heart.

    After a long night, she finally fell asleep.

    When she woke up the next day, Pei Ziheng was no longer there. The other side of the bed was empty, causing her to wonder if the frightening event that happenedst night was only her delusion. However, the physical touch was so real. In reality, she slept on the luxurious bed and not the corner of the carpet like she used to. The palm of her hand was empty. Now, the tinum ring pendant that she ced in her empty hand was lost without a trace.

    Ring...

    Where was the ring?

    She turned her head to look at the spot on the carpet where shest saw the ring. However, the spot was empty, and the ring was not there.

    Xia Ling panicked. She jumped out of bed and rushed forward. She knelt on the carpet and searched the area for a long time. Nothing... There was nothing! The ring had disappeared without a trace!

    She was unwilling to give up and started doing a crazy search. She searched every nook and cranny of the bedroom, pulled out all of her clothes, and emptied the expensive jewelry and ornament box near the bed. She even searched the windows and below the bed. However, she still could not find it.

    That tinum ring seemed as if it only existed in her dreams and disappeared without a trace after she woke up.

    If it weren¡¯t in the few cardboard boxes that she brought back from the apartment yesterday, she really wondered if she even brought back the ring in the first ce.

    However, at this time, she would rather not bring the ring back.

    In that case, at least she knew it was safely in the original apartment unlike now as she did not know where Pei Ziheng ced it, and it was gone without a trace. She was scared that Pei Ziheng threw the ring away, and she would lose the testimony of her love with Li Lei.

    She opened the bedroom door and stumbled out. As she was in a wreck of emotions, she tripped over her clothes and violently fell to the floor. There was a throbbing pain from her injury, and she felt that her bones were about to break again. However, she did not care much. She immediately climbed up and rushed downstairs.

    Living room, dining room, kitchen...

    Nowhere, it was nowhere to be found!

    Her face was pale as she ran to the second floor to search for it room by room. She tried the study room, guest room, and tea room... With her shivering hands, she broke a vase by ident, overturned the wine rack, and even tore the famous painting on the wall.

    Nanny Zhou was very shocked. ¡°Miss Ye, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Nanny Zhou!¡± She looked as if she found a straw to clutch at. ¡°Have you seen a tinum ring pendant? It¡¯s about this big.¡± She used her hand to estimate the size. ¡°I brought it back yesterday, and it was still in the bedroomst night.¡±

    Nanny Zhou shook her head. ¡°Fromst night until now, I did not enter your bedroom. Only Mister entered it. How about you ask him? I think he probably took it.¡±

    Xia Ling heart sank. This was probably the worst possible oue. In a sh, she felt as if all the energy in her body had been sapped, and she slowly sat on the sofa in the living room.

    ¡°How about you give Mister a call?¡± Nanny Zhou looked at her with concern. ¡°If Mister really kept it, you can feel relieved.¡±

    Feel relieved? She was in distress because he kept it!

    However, now that the situation was like this, she could only call Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 379 - Beautiful Doll

    <h4>Chapter 379: Beautiful Doll</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    To control her social circle, Pei Ziheng did not give her a mobile phone, so she had to use thendline phone at home. She rushed back to the bedroom and dialed Pei Ziheng¡¯s number. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Where did you hide my ring pendant?!¡±

    At the other end of the phone, Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was ominous. ¡°I¡¯ve said before, that¡¯s not something you should have. I¡¯ve already handed it to Chu Chen and told him to melt it. I dare you to bring something back home that you shouldn¡¯t again. Xia Ling, know your ce.¡±

    She could not be bothered to hear his nonsense and immediately hung up the phone. She hurriedly searched in the address book for Chu Chen¡¯s number and called him. ¡°Chu Chen! Did Pei Ziheng pass you a tinum ring pendant?!¡±

    Chu Chen¡¯s voice was very respectful. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Give it back to me!¡±

    ¡°The Boss told me to melt it.¡± Unfortunately, although his tone was respectful, his voice did not waver. ¡°I¡¯m settling this now. If you want to see it personally turn into liquid, you can turn on the video chat.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t melt it!¡± Xia Ling was panic-stricken. She turned the video chat on. Sure enough, Chu Chen was standing in front of a machine and watching the operator throw the tinum ring into it to melt it into a pool of liquid.

    Her heart sank.

    Chu Chen gave her a friendly smile. ¡°Miss Ye, if you don¡¯t get rid of your old things, new things won¡¯te. Isn¡¯t it just a few grams of tinum? If you are by the Boss¡¯ side, you can have anything you want. Why bother?¡±

    She was hurt and furious. As she breathed heavily, she thought about how much she wanted to tear the fake smile off Chu Chen¡¯s face.

    However, she knew she could not do so. She could only turn the video chat off and m the phone on the floor to vent her anger.

    It was gone... the ring was gone.

    She slumped her body against the wall, sat on the floor, and buried her head in her knees.

    She remained like that for a long time without moving.

    ¡°Miss Ye, why are you sitting here? The floor is cold. This...¡± Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice was full of concern as she urged her. ¡°Quickly get up. What do you want to eat for lunch? I¡¯ll make it for you. If Mister sees you like that, he will be heartbroken.¡±

    Nanny Zhou persuaded her for a long time, but Xia Ling refused to budge.

    Helpless, Nanny Zhou sighed and walked away.

    After a long time, footsteps were heard again. Someone blocked the light in front of her, trapping her body in arge shadow. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± It was Pei Ziheng. His voice was low and warm, just like the past after they had an argument over the phone. ¡°Don¡¯t throw a tantrum. Come and eat with me. You¡¯ve lost weight recently.¡±

    She did not utter a sound and refused to look at him.

    Pei Ziheng bent down and wrapped her in his arms.

    As if she were jolted by an electric shock, she looked up and muttered without struggling. ¡°Let me go.¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not let go. He looked at her face and frowned. At least he knew why Nanny Zhou worriedly ask him toe back to check on her quickly. Just a few short hours after he left in the morning, she already looked so weary. He could not pinpoint what exactly what was wrong, but she looked like a withered rose that had lost all of its vitality. It was as if she would turn into ash if he touched her lightly.

    His heart ached, and he hugged her even more carefully.

    ¡°Eat something.¡± He said gently. ¡°I have two jewelersing over tomorrow. They will bring the new jade agate, the gem of the season and your favorite. Just buy anything you want.¡±

    Seeing that she still did not speak, Pei Ziheng simply carried her and ced her on the bed.

    The bed had already been cleaned by Nanny Zhou, and she had already reced the soft duvet, so the bed was clean andfortable. Pei Ziheng went to get a hot towel to wipe her face and ced a in pure silk satin dress in front of her. ¡°I just bought this new dress. I remember that you liked this type of material and color. I only don¡¯t know if it fits you, try it on. Once you¡¯ve changed,e downstairs. I will wait to eat with you.¡±

    He paused after seeing that she was not responsive. ¡°Do you want me to help you change?¡±

    Her body trembled. Only then did she looked up at him. ¡°I¡¯ll change myself.¡± She said with a faint voice.

    Pei Ziheng was pleased and went downstairs to wait for her.

    Xia Ling waited for him to go out. The first thing she did was to get off the bed and lock the door. Actually, ever since he barged inst night, she knew that the door lock was useless, but she still had to lock the door to feel more at ease.

    She unfolded the pain silk satin dress. It was very beautiful and was indeed her favorite style.

    After being with him for more than a decade, Pei Ziheng knew what she wanted and would always handle everything properly before she even spoke. She guessed that he did not just buy one dress of this style. When she was searching for the tinum ring in the morning, she barged into a walk-in closet. At that time, she was in a rush, but now, after thinking about it, it was filled with a mountain pile of thetest clothing, shoes, and hats. He probably prepared all of them for her.

    In her past life, she was very grateful for his thoughtfulness.

    However, now, she only felt that it was scary.

    This was like a cage, and she was the marite in the cage which was beautifully dressed. But it was useless no matter how expensive looking it was because she could not resist the will of the master. She could only like what he liked and appreciate what he appreciated. If he did not allow her to keep something, then she had no choice but to give it up.

    She put on that dress.

    In the mirror, she felt like a beautiful doll.

    Now, she could only be a doll.

    She went downstairs to the dining area and realized that it was filled with a wide array of dishes which she loved. Pei Ziheng was already seated on the opposite side of her, currently on the phone with someone and talking about business. When he saw here in, he said a few sentences before ending the call.

    Xia Ling guessed that he probably rushed back home especially for her.

    Pei Ziheng was a very organized person. Although he was usually busy, everything was usual in order, and he would never handle official duties when dining. This was not in line with his upbringing.

    Well then, there was only one exnation. She had interrupted his schedule for the day.

    However, so what?

    Xia Ling was utterly indifferent. He was the one who disrupted her entire life.

    A table of delicious food was hard to eat when it was given to the wrong people. Xia Ling ate a few mouthfuls before she could no longer continue and put down the bowl with ack of interest.

    Pei Ziheng warmly asked, ¡°Are you full?¡±

    She did not respond.

    ¡°How can you eat so little?¡± He signaled Nanny Zhou to pass her a bowl of soup. ¡°Drink some soup.¡±

    She had no strength to argue with him and obediently picked up the spoon to drink the soup. Nanny Zhou¡¯s old hen stewed cordyceps soup had always been delicious, but she felt ufortable after taking just a sip. Her mouth felt bitter, and she had a hard time swallowing it and could not bring herself to drink the second spoonful of soup.

    Pei Ziheng had been watching her. ¡°Is it bad?¡±

    She shook her head. Her stomach was upset, so she pushed the tableware aside.

    Seeing that she was really ufortable, Pei Ziheng did not force her to continue eating.

 Chapter 380 - Sudden News

    <h4>Chapter 380: Sudden News</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He wiped his mouth gracefully with a napkin, pushed his cutlery away, got up, and took up her back upstairs. ¡°You aren¡¯t feeling well.¡± He said to Xia Ling. ¡°Go to sleep and take a rest. You¡¯ll be better at night. You can¡¯t eat so little at night because your body won¡¯t be able to stand it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to sleep.¡± She said. She did not want to get on that bed because that bed always made her feel that Pei Ziheng was in control. Once she thought that the spot beside her on the bed was upied by him, she would feel immense fear.

    Pei Ziheng gazed at her weak stature which looked like a gust a wind could knock her down. ¡°I¡¯ll get a doctor to check on you.¡±

    She continued to shake her head.

    ¡°If this continues, you have to take a nutrition shot.¡± He said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like injections.¡±

    ¡°Then take a good rest.¡± Pei Ziheng was also unwilling to let her have the injection because nothing couldpare to actually eating a meal. ¡°Just sleep for a while on the bed. Tell me, what do you want to eat tonight? I¡¯ll ask Nanny Zhou to prepare it for you.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling obediently get on the bed.

    She tossed and turned for a long time before she fell asleep. When she closed her eyes, Li Lei¡¯s smiling face filled her dreams. Suddenly, she felt that sleeping was not a bad idea. At least in her dreams, she was able to meet the person she loved.

    When dinner time arrived, she felt much better.

    However, she still had no appetite. Although the table was filled with the dishes she loved, she only ate a few mouthfuls before putting down her utensils. She felt that she had been too ustomed to Li Lei¡¯s cooking and was dissatisfied with the dishes cooked in other people¡¯s homes. Even though she liked Nanny Zhou¡¯s cooking very much in the past, it was hard to swallow now.

    If Li Lei were here, how great would that be?

    She was depressed and went back to the bedroom early as she wanted to sleep. However, Pei Ziheng followed her in and took off his tie directly on the bed.

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked.

    Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°If I¡¯m not here, are you going to sleep on the carpet again? Xiao Ling, I won¡¯t allow this. I will sleep with you to ensure that you will sleep on the bed every night from now on.¡±

    In reality, he just did not want to sleep in the study room. Now, he was just using this as an excuse to sleep in the bedroom again.

    He knew that she was scared, so he would not touch her for now. However, that did not mean that he would not touch her forever. First, he would sleep on the same bed with her. It was a step-by-step process. After sleeping together for a long time, one day, she would ept his kisses, love, and touch like in the past.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t want that.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I could also want you directly.¡±

    She surrendered.

    On the bed, she was too consumed by fear to fall asleep. She always slept back-facing him, but he was hugging her too tightly, reminding her clearly at every moment that she was unable to escape.

    Her mood and appetite worsened.

    On this day, Pei Ziheng went to work very early and left her alone to eat breakfast.

    Nanny Zhou made sour radishes.

    At the start, Mr. Pei kept instructing her to cook dishes that Miss Xia Ling liked to eat, but Miss Ye seemed to eat them with difficulty. Thus, Mr. Pei was no longer insistent on that. He only told her to cook anything as long as Miss Ye would eat more.

    Nanny Zhou asked her what she liked to eat, but she would only shake her head and say ¡°anything¡± with a bored look. She had no choice but to guess. Today¡¯s breakfast was a new dish that had never been on the table, and she did not know if she would like it.

    Xia Ling tasted the sour radish and unexpectedly felt that it was delicious. She also tried some porridge. This was the first time in days that her appetite was good. Nanny Zhou was bursting with joy and quickly added more sour radishes and porridge to her bowl.

    ¡°It turns out that you like to eat this.¡± Nanny Zhou smiled. ¡°I will cook this for you every day.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to tell her not to trouble herself, but she did not know why she swallowed her words back.

    She lifted her head and smiled lightly. ¡°Ok, thank you, Nanny Zhou.¡± In reality, she usually did not like to eat sour food, but today she was drawn to it. After smelling the sour radishes, she felt as if her suppressed appetite was back again, probably topensate for theck of food in the earlier days. She ate a lot of it.

    Nanny Zhou watched as she ate until she was shocked by the amount she ate and was afraid that she would overeat. She kept her utensils. ¡°You ate very little these few days. Although it¡¯s still porridge, don¡¯t eat so much in a hurry. Take care of your stomach. If you are hungry again, I will make an early lunch for you. We will also try new dishes.¡± Nanny Zhou giggled.

    Xia Ling also felt that it would be problematic if she ate at this speed. Although she was still a little hungry, she put down her chopsticks.

    It was a long wait until lunch arrived.

    Initially, Xia Ling still looked forward to lunch. However, when Nanny Zhou brought over fragrant braised pork ribs, she did not know why she felt uneasy. She forced herself to take a bite, but her stomach ached. She could not tolerate it anymore and ran to the toilet to vomit.

    Nanny Zhou worriedly walked over and lightly patted her back. ¡°Miss Ye, are you ok?¡±

    She vomited for a long time. She had already digested the porridge she ate in the morning and did not eat much in the afternoon, so she only vomited out acidic water. It took a long time before the headache and the nauseating feeling went away. She breathed heavily and took the ss of water from Nanny Zhou to rinse her mouth. After she wiped her mouth, she weakly shook her head.

    Nanny Zhou supported her back to the dining area. After she smelled the fragrant braised pork ribs, she ran back to the kitchen to vomit again. This time, Nanny Zhou quickly cleared all the dishes on the table and opened the windows for venttion. After that, she supported her across the dining room and let her sit on the sofa in the living room.

    ¡°Should I call for a doctor?¡± Nanny Zhou asked with concern.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale. She hesitated before saying, ¡°No, thank you... It¡¯s probably because I ate too much for breakfast and my stomach is unwell.¡± She should be better after taking a rest.

    Nanny Zhou sized her up and felt that something was unusual. After thinking, she said, ¡°Could it be that you... have it?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Ling was startled and looked at her.

    ¡°Are you pregnant?¡± As Nanny Zhou spoke, she started to make more and more sense. ¡°That year when I was pregnant with Ah Wei¡¯s child, I went through the same thing. I couldn¡¯t eat anything, and after smelling certain things, I vomited. Strangely, I liked eating sour things. Miss Ye, you have to take it seriously. Perhaps you are really pregnant?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. Oh god, was she really pregnant?

    She had no experience in this area. In her past life, she had always been very careful when she was with Pei Ziheng and did the necessary precautions. In this life, she was not that careful, especially during that night before the paragliding ident. He had just rushed back from abroad and climbed into her bed in the middle of the night. She was in a daze and had a passionate night with him. Now that she thought about it, it also seemed that she could really be pregnant.

    Nanny Zhouughed. ¡°Quickly get a doctor to do a check. If Mister finds out about it, he will definitely be thrilled.¡±

    What she said immediately caused Xia Ling to snap back to reality.

    It was fine if she were not pregnant. However, if she were really pregnant with Li Lei¡¯s child and living in Pei Ziheng¡¯s house, she was unsure what Pei Ziheng would do to her child. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. Her face turned pale.

    Nanny Zhou was deeply concerned. ¡°Should I contact the family doctor?¡±

 Chapter 381 - Visiting Moonlight Rotating Bar Again

    <h4>Chapter 381: Visiting Moonlight Rotating Bar Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling quickly said such that even her tone changed, causing Nanny Zhou to be confused. She forced a smile and racked her brains to think of an exnation. ¡°I may not be pregnant. Nanny Zhou, help me buy a pregnancy test kit. Don¡¯t tell the doctor or Pei Ziheng. I want to take the test first because I don¡¯t want to give anyone an empty surprise.¡±

    Nanny Zhou also understood her and also thought that she was afraid of embarrassing herself. Hence, she smiled and agreed.

    As this was a significant affair rted to Mister, Nanny Zhou was fast. She did not even wash the dishes before she rushed out to buy a pregnancy test stick. After a check, Xia Ling realized that she was really pregnant.

    She took the pregnancy test kit and sat in the bathroom with cold hands and feet.

    It should be the day before the paragliding incident, and she did not even know whether it was a male or female baby. It was really untimely that something like that happened.

    Should she get an abortion?

    She could not bear to do it since this was her and Li Lei¡¯s child. It was such a beautiful life. She could imagine how happy Li Lei would be when he found out about it. If the baby were a boy, he would probably resemble him, have a radiant pair of eyes and be extremely handsome. When he grew up, he would apany his father hiking, fishing, hunting, and could even learn how to manage his industries and be well versed in both literature and military affairs.

    If it were a girl, it would be best if she also resembled Li Lei. A girl who loved to smile would be very well-liked. Pursuers would definitely line up in front of their house. She did not have to be very virtuous or learn how to cook because, with her father there, both mother and daughter would be well taken care of...

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand touched her lower abdomen. It was still very t, and she could not feel any difference. However, she knew that the child was lying quietly there, and it was a rare treasure belonging to her and Li Lei.

    There was a slight smile on her lips.

    However, soon, the smile vanished. This child came at an untimely hour. What should she do?

    She wanted to give birth to the child, but if Pei Ziheng found out about it, he would definitely tie her up and send her to the hospital immediately for an abortion. She swore an oath to remain by Pei Ziheng side and did not know if she could break it soon. If she could not, she would have to remain by his side forever, and this child would be herst memory of Li Lei and the only proof of their love.

    Xia Ling had never been so conflicted in both of her lifetimesbined. She covered her mouth with her hands as she whispered. ¡°There must be a way, there must be a way...¡±

    Outside the bathroom, Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice was heard. ¡°Miss Ye? Are you ok?¡±

    She was suddenly shocked and realized that she had been in the bathroom for very long. She quickly answered that she was fine and flushed down the pregnancy stick. She washed her face in front of the sink, forced herself to calm down, and said to the mirror, ¡°Xia Ling, you can do this. There will be a way.¡± Taking a deep breath, she finally walked out.

    Nanny Zhou asked with concern, ¡°What¡¯s the result?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and acted disappointed. ¡°I¡¯m not pregnant.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s a pity.¡± Nanny Zhou was more disappointed than her. Mister was already more than thirty years old and still had no children, so it really made people anxious. Nanny Zhou resisted the disappointment in her heart and smiled as sheforted Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Your rtionship with Mister is so strong, I¡¯m sure you will have a child.¡±

    Strong rtionship?

    Xia Ling retorted in her heart. It would be like seeing a ghost if their rtionship improved. However, at that moment, perhaps because of her mother¡¯s instinct to protect her child, she thought of something. ¡°Yes, I really hope we can have a child soon.¡± She smiled at Nanny Zhou and advised. ¡°You really must not tell Pei Ziheng about what happened today. Just take it as if nothing happened and don¡¯t ruin his mood. If his mood is good, his body will be good, and if his body is good, we can quickly...¡±

    She deliberately blushed and stopped in the middle of her sentence.

    Nanny Zhou understood what she meant and smiled. ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t worry. I understand. You should just live peacefully with Mister and have a child soon.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked Nanny Zhou and sent her away.

    The room was bare except for Xia Ling. Only then did her smile disappear to reveal a deep sadness. There was only one way to keep this child. This was to let Pei Ziheng think that the child was his. However, that also meant that...

    She had to at least spend the night with him.

    She was unwilling.

    Although they slept together many times in her past life, it was different now. She was already Li Lei¡¯s woman, and she was unwilling to tolerate anyone touching her except Li Lei. However, this was an urgent matter, and she had to make a decision soon.

    Dinner time came. Pei Ziheng returned home and ate with her.

    She did not have any appetite as usual. As she was afraid that he would suspect that she was pregnant, she specially instructed Nanny Zhou to cook fresh vegetables, in white porridge, and forced herself to eat a little.

    Pei Ziheng was very concerned about her. ¡°I still think we should get a doctor to check on you.¡±

    How could she be checked by a doctor now? Xia Ling said, ¡°I hate doctors, injections, and eating medicine.¡±

    ¡°But your appetite is bad.¡± He knitted his brows.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I¡¯m not in a good mood. It¡¯s too boring at home.¡± A bad mood which caused a bad appetite. This exnation was reasonable, and no one could spot any ws in it. Besides, she did have a reason to be upset.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression rxed a little. He knew from a long time ago that she was in a bad mood. Since the first day she came home, she had been thinking of Li Lei endlessly. Some time ago, everything she said was provocative, and there was unsuppressed fury in her eyes. These few days, she was not feeling well physically, but she quietened down a lot.

    Perhaps taking her ring pendant made herpletely ept the truth and give up on Li Lei.

    Mncholic feelings were all temporary. With him by her side, she was bound to adjust in time. In fact, she was even voluntarily telling him the reason why she could not eat much and felt that it was too boring at home.

    This was a good sign. She was really moving on from her dejection.

    Thus, Pei Ziheng warmly said, ¡°How about I take a walk with you outside?¡±

    ¡°I want to drink,¡± she said.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t really drink alcohol in the past.¡±

    ¡°I just want to drink,¡± she said. In her past life, as she had to sing, she had to protect her voice, and there were very limited drinks that she could consume. She only lightly tasted wine before in the past. Due to a simr reason in this life, she rarely drank as well. However, it was different now. ¡°I don¡¯t have to record songs daily anymore, so I want to experience being drunk.¡±

    If she were drunk, would she able to forget that person?

    Pei Ziheng looked at her deeply. Finally, he said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Feng Kun¡¯s bar?¡± She tested his limits.

    ¡°You want to see Feng Kun?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened a little.

    ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± She forced herself to suppress the erratic emotions in her heart and acted as if nothing was wrong. ¡°His ¡®Moonlight¡¯ environment is really good. I can see the scenery of the city from the rotating ss. I also haven¡¯t seen him in a long time.¡±

 Chapter 382 - Getting Drunk

    <h4>Chapter 382: Getting Drunk</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It seemed that she really missed him.

    ¡°Does Feng Kun know about your identity?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    In reality, Feng Kun was the first person who knew that she was Xia Ling. However, in front of Pei Ziheng, she shook her head. ¡°How could he know? Do you think I can say this sort of thing? Pei Ziheng, I only told you. Even Li...¡± She stopped herself before she said the name of the man whom she was yearning for. ¡°He doesn¡¯t know.¡±

    Only then was Pei Ziheng satisfied.

    ¡°In the future, you can¡¯t tell him.¡± He warned her. ¡°You¡¯re Ye Xingling now. This situation is too inconceivable, and not everyone can ept it. Even if he can ept it, he may get ideas. I¡¯m not willing to see you fall into the hands of some secret experimentalb.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I understand.¡± She said.

    ¡°Even Xia Yu doesn¡¯t know?¡±

    She shook her head.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to ask her something for a long time. ¡°About you and Xia Yu... This time when you debuted, you had countless arguments with her, and you seem to hate her. Why? Xiao Ling, this isn¡¯t like you. You always doted on her.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked and never expected him to suddenly ask her that question. Did he actually know that Xia Yu liked him? She would curse her sister to die and insult her using the most vicious words in the world because of him. However, this conflict over a man between sisters was already in the past. Xia Ling did not love Pei Ziheng anymore now. Those days when she was jealous and went crazy over him felt ridiculous and amusing when she thought about them now.

    She did not want him to see how much of a joke they were.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± she said ndly. ¡°I just suddenly think that this child needs some discipline.¡±

    Before Pei Ziheng could ask his next question, Xia Ling had already said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to Feng Kun¡¯s ¡®Moonlight,¡¯ ok? He has good appetizer wine there. Perhaps I can eat better after drinking it.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became gentler. How could she say that Xia Yu was a child when she was the child. In order to drink some wine, she could even use the excuse of ¡°eating better.¡±

    Whatever, he should just follow her this once.

    Although he did not oppose Feng Kun that much, he was still from Imperial Entertainment. He had a good character and genuinely cared for Xiao Ling. Pei Ziheng knew that they met before in this life and even worked together for a short while during the Neb Music Festival. They seemed to get along together, so Xiao Ling did not forget to choose his bar when she wanted to drink.

    The next night, they drove there.

    Feng Kun had already received a heads up from Pei Ziheng and cleared everyone from the bar. Today, the bar was closed and would only serve both of them. He had not seen Xia Ling in a long time and heard that she was brought home by Pei Ziheng after an ident during her job. Was she living well? Feng Kun was worried about her and personally greeted them at the bar.

    ¡°Chairman, Miss Ye.¡± He was different from Chu Chen and was not close enough to Pei Ziheng to call him ¡°Boss.¡± The courteous and unfamiliar way he addressed Pei Ziheng reflected his attitude towards him. He was not fawning or ttering him.

    Pei Ziheng brought Xia Ling inside.

    Xia Ling turned around and shot Feng Kun an expression that indicated that she needed help from an angle that Pei Ziheng could not see. In a sh, she quickly turned around as if nothing happened and followed Pei Ziheng to the seat next to the window.

    Feng Kun quietly gave them a drink list.

    ¡°What do you want to drink?¡± Pei Ziheng gestured for Xia Ling to take a look.

    Xia Ling chose a strong cocktail. ¡°I want this.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°It¡¯s too strong and not suitable for you.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°If you have an opinion, you shouldn¡¯t have let me choose in the first ce.¡± She pushed the wine list aside and sulked as she leaned on the sofa.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice turned soft. ¡°She¡¯ll have that then.¡±

    Her expression improved.

    Feng Kun asked, ¡°Chairman, what do you want to drink?¡±

    Usually, Pei Ziheng did not really drink and randomly chose a drink. In the dim candlelight, Xia Ling nced at the name of the alcohol and asked Feng Kun, ¡°Is this strong?¡±

    Feng Kun replied, ¡°The drink chairman chose is mild and has a low alcohol content.¡± In front of Pei Ziheng, he did not want to show how familiar he was with Xia Ling and only treated her as a typical female celebrity whom he had worked with before.

    Xia Ling looked at Pei Ziheng unhappily. ¡°Are you here to drink alcohol or water?¡±

    The small tantrum she threw really resembled her past self, and it softened Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart in an instant. He could never resist her when she was like that. Thus, he said to Feng Kun, ¡°I¡¯ll have the same drink as Xiao Ling.¡±

    Feng Kun nced at Xia Ling and left when he saw her satisfactory look.

    Soon, two colorful cocktails were served. The gorgeous colors were like an interweaving of ice and fire. The elegant ss was decorated with ice cubes and lemons and looked radiant in the light. Feng Kun personally handed one of the sses to Xia Ling and another to Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling took the ss and lightly shook it. A clear and melodious sound was heard when the ice cubes knocked against the ss. She looked at Pei Ziheng and curved her lips into an angle that was in between a smile and a sneer. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that we would be sitting here and drinking together today.¡±

    ¡°The world is unpredictable,¡± Pei Ziheng said and clinked his ss with hers.

    She lifted her thin wrist and touched him gently before pouring the drink directly into her mouth. Unexpectedly, the burning feeling in her memory did not ur, reced by a particrly soft taste. She was shocked and surprised. The drink she ordered was clearly the most potent ¡°Deep Sea Scarlet me.¡± Why was the taste so light?

    She lifted her head and heard Pei Ziheng say, ¡°Don¡¯t drink such a strong drink so quickly.¡±

    She suppressed the shock in her heart and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already drunk it all. What about you?¡±

    She inverted the empty ss and ced it on the table.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her arrogant movements and smiled indulgently. He also drank the alcohol in one shot like her and ced the inverted ss on the table. However, his eyebrows furrowed a little.

    ¡°Is it very strong?¡± she asked.

    Pei Ziheng received the most stringent and elite education, self-discipline, and etiquette training. Besides, before Xia Ling passed away, he usually did not drink and had a low alcohol tolerance. At this point, after hearing Xia Ling¡¯s question, he did not hide this fact. ¡°You know that I usually don¡¯t drink these. You should also drink less because it can hurt your body easily.¡±

    The drink seemed to be very strong.

    Xia Ling did not understand why the drinks looked the same, but her drink tasted as sweet as syrup while Pei Ziheng¡¯s drink was burning. The ss in his hand was probably the true ¡°Deep Sea Scarlet me,¡± and hers was probably without alcohol. Xia Ling guessed it was Feng Kun who did this, but she did not know why he did that. However, it suited her n.

    She cracked a smile and asked the waiter to refill their sses. ¡°We¡¯ll have two more sses of the same drink.¡±

    He brought over another two sses.

    The ss he gave Xia Ling was still sweet like syrup with a slight alcohol taste, but it was not strong. However, the drink that was given to Pei Ziheng was the real spirit. After the second drink, his face turned a little red.

 Chapter 383 - A Secret Conversation With Feng Kun

    <h4>Chapter 383: A Secret Conversation With Feng Kun</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling became excited, pped her hands, and said to the waiter, ¡°Give us another two sses.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stopped her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Sheughed. ¡°Why, can¡¯t bear to drink with me? If you are impatient, you can go home first and I can drink by myself.¡± She gazed at the night sky outside and looked a little lonely. ¡°In the past, Li... He would drink with me.¡± Her voice gradually trailed away as if she were a little drunk. ¡°Now, I can¡¯t even find someone to drink with me.¡± She mumbled.

    Pei Ziheng was not easily provoked, but seeing that the girl he loved so much was currentlyparing him with his love rival, any man would feel the blood flowing to his head. Besides, they had already drunk two sses of strong alcohol. He asked the waiter toe over to ask for a third drink so that he could drink with her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s alcohol tolerance was not very good, so luckily, everything she drank was mostly syrup, so she did not feel tipsy. However, to fool Pei Ziheng, she acted like she was weak with alcohol. She said that she could hold her alcohol and ordered her fourth ss, fifth ss... Although she never had acting lessons, she was very good at calling for more drinks. In betweenughs, she smiled at Pei Ziheng lovingly. Before the wine made her drunk, she was already drunk.

    At the start, Pei Ziheng still wanted to stay a little sober.

    Unconsciously, he drank more with her. Her dream-like voice rang near his ear. ¡°If I¡¯m drunk, can I forget my troubles and go back to the past with you..¡±

    Go back to the past, before all the damage was done...

    The effect of the Deep Sea Scarlet mes was showing, and the drunk Pei Ziheng copsed on the small ss table.

    Only then did Xia Ling slowly put down her ss.

    The drunkenness in her eyes faded, and she regained herposure. Her eyes were as bright as a star, and she clearly saw a few men beside the table discussing something.

    Feng Kun finally walked over. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head to look at her old friend before rxing a little. ¡°Ah Kun, long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Long time no see.¡± Feng Kun looked deeply at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you ok? I heard that you were involved in an ident some time ago. I was really worried. I also heard that you were saved by Pei Ziheng? Have you gone back to his side?¡±

    Thest time the two of them met, Xia Ling had just left Skyart Entertainment. Now, there was a sudden change in the situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Xia Ling exined what happened to Feng Kun, and he sighed. Although the world changed and things were impermanent, at the end of the day, she was still chained beside Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Thank you. Luckily you helped me make him drunk.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who is smart.¡± Feng Kun smiled. ¡°Tricking Pei Ziheng is not easy.¡±

    After hearing him say that, Xia Ling also smiled. ¡°How did you know that you had to serve me syrup and serve him strong alcohol?¡±

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Although I¡¯m a worker at Imperial Entertainment, I don¡¯t discuss any private affairs with Pei Ziheng. He neveres to my bar to drink, so he must¡¯vee tonight because you requested him to bring you here. You never liked to drink, but you specially brought him here and even gave me a pleading look when you entered the bar. Xiao Ling, I guessed that you were in trouble.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    Feng Kun continued, ¡°You insisted that he drink strong drinks with you and probably wanted him to get drunk. If that was really the case, you probably had some ns and would not want to get drunk. Thus, I reced the spirit with a soft drink that contained low traces of alcohol and added an anti-alcoholic drug.¡±

    Anti-alcoholic drug?

    Before Xia Ling thought of something to say, suddenly, she felt that her lower abdomen was a little ufortable. She instinctively rubbed it using her hand, but her expression became tense. ¡°Ah Kun, will the anti-alcoholic drug affect my fetus?¡±

    ¡°You mean, your fetus?¡± Feng Kun was intrigued. ¡°Are you pregnant?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why I came to look for you today. I¡¯m pregnant with Li Lei¡¯s child. However, I have to remain by Pei Ziheng. I¡¯m sure you know Pei Ziheng would never allow me to keep this child.¡± She lifted her head to look at him. ¡°The anti-alcoholic drug won¡¯t affect my child, right? I... I don¡¯t know anything.¡±

    Her helpless yet worried expression made Feng Kun heartbroken.

    Some time ago, he wanted to visit her in the hospital but was stopped by Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen. He guessed that the situation was dire, but he did not expect it to be more serious than he thought. ¡°I only put a small amount of the anti-alcoholic drug inside, so I don¡¯t think there will be a problem.¡± He brieflyforted her before asking, ¡°Does Pei Ziheng know that you¡¯re pregnant?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know.¡± Xia Ling said and bit her lip. ¡°I... I have to get him drunk and let him think that I spent the night with him. This way, he will think that the child is his.¡± She felt that she was very despicable because it was actually Li Lei¡¯s child, but she had to find a way to get Pei Ziheng to acknowledge it. However, she had no better way out. It did not matter if she were despicable or shameless, as a mother, she had to turn her weakness into a strength. No matter what, her child¡¯s life was her priority.

    Feng Kun drew a breath. ¡°If Pei Ziheng finds out about the truth, he will kill you.¡± This idea was too brazen. If it seeded, nothing would happen, but once it failed, no man could endure this sort of humiliation.

    ¡°Even if I die, I have to protect this child.¡± Xia Ling said firmly.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just run away directly? Return to Li Lei¡¯s side.¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°I can help you.¡±

    ¡°No one can help me.¡± Xia Ling was very sad. ¡°Ah Kun, I can only stay by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side. As for the reason, you don¡¯t have to ask. If you want to help me, just help me bribe a hospital. I need a fake medical record.¡±

    ¡°Fake medical record?¡±

    ¡°The date of pregnancy is not right.¡± This concerned Li Lei¡¯s child. Thus, she pondered the situation very carefully. ¡°The child is already about a month old. Even if I ¡®sleep¡¯ with Pei Ziheng today, it will take a month before I can tell him that I¡¯m pregnant. When thates, the child will be about two months old. If we go to the hospital for a check, he will be able to calcte the dates and my lie will be exposed. I need a fake medical record so that it matches with the day I ¡®slept¡¯ with him.¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°You do know that Pei Ziheng frequents a certain hospital, and he is very familiar with the head of Compassionate Peace Hospital.¡± Compassionate Peace Hospital was thergest enterprising hospital in the S city. Its medical facilities were very advanced, and many of them were donated by generations of the Pei family. Thus, the hospital did its best for Pei Ziheng. This time, when Xia Ling was met with an ident, she also had surgery and recuperated in Compassionate Peace Hospital.

    Xia Ling knew about this more clearly than Feng Kun. Not only did the Pei family frequent this hospital, but even family doctors were also very problematic. However, no matter how tricky the problem was, she had no choice but to solve it to ensure her child¡¯s safety. Some things had to be done. ¡°Ah Kun, quickly help me check who is the best gynecologist in this city. It can¡¯t be so coincidental that he or she is from Compassionate Peace Hospital, right? Is there any other hospital that has a gynecologist that is better than Compassionate Peace Hospital¡¯s? Even one that is on par with Compassionate Peace Hospital¡¯s is fine. I will strongly request for Pei Ziheng to change the hospital. If the hospital is good, he may amodate me.¡±

 Chapter 384 - A Hasty Night

    <h4>Chapter 384: A Hasty Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After living with Pei Ziheng for more than ten years, she was very clear that if she specially insisted on something, as long as she did not exceed his bottom line, she would most likely seed. Would choosing the hospital to give birth to his child exceed his bottom line? Xia Ling did not know, but she had to try anyway.

    Feng Kun told Xia Ling to wait as he made a phone call to a friend on the spot. His friend¡¯s wife gave birth to a childst year, and he told him about a few obstetrics and gynecology departments in the city. The best one was from Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital.

    ¡°I will help you contact the specialists at Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital and bribe the best doctors there. After this is settled, I will think of a way to tell you the name of the doctor.¡± Feng Kun said to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was grateful. ¡°Thankfully, I still have you. Otherwise, I really wouldn¡¯t know what to do.¡± After finding out that she was pregnant, she had been in a state of anxiety. If the child were killed before it was born, the feeling would be too painful. Now, after hearing Feng Kun¡¯s words, she felt reassured.

    Feng Kun alsoforted her a little.

    Once the n was settled, both of them discussed how to move Pei Ziheng home.

    ¡°Are you nning to just throw him on the bed and tell him that you had a trystst night with him when he woke up the next day?¡± Feng Kun suddenly asked her after looking at drunk Pei Ziheng.

    Startled, Xia Ling questioned. ¡°Yes. What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Feng Kun shook his head and smiled bitterly. ¡°Oh, you. Wait for me.¡±

    After that, he left hurriedly.

    Not long after, he brought back a person wearing a security officer¡¯s uniform. The person was silent and covered himself with a hat. At the start, Xia Ling thought that the person was an ordinary security officer, but when the person reached out to support Pei Ziheng, he revealed a small and abnormally white wrist. Only then did Xia Ling re-evaluate her thoughts and realized that it was a woman. She had smoky makeup, and although she was dressed in a serious manner, she smelled like a prostitute.

    ¡°Time is limited, so I could only find someone like that.¡± Feng Kun exined to her. ¡°Rao Rao works in the opposite nightclub and is very open and willing to spend the night with him. Don¡¯t worry. Rao Rao knows the rules well and will just do the job after she has been paid. After that, she will never speak about it again.¡±

    Job?

    Xia Ling finally understood that it was to make it more convincing that Pei Ziheng slept with her by getting Rao Rao to actually sleep with him. She could not help but feel a little awkward. Feng Kun shook his head and smiled bitterly. They were all adults and knew the difference between actually sleeping and having sex. If they really did it, there would be a few marks left on the bed; a simple sleeping together could not fool anyone.

    Especially since they had to fool the shrewd Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling was negligent, or to put it another way, she was deliberately reluctant to think about these details.

    She groaned and thanked Feng Kun.

    Rao Rao grinned. ¡°Miss, you can rest assured. I will ensure that the job is done well, leave the city tomorrow, and never appear again.¡± Money talks. To help Xia Ling, Feng Kun used arge amount of money to get Rao Rao¡¯s help which was far higher than the usual reward level of a nightclub girl. That was because he had an additional request. Once this situation was over, she had to leave the city forever.

    Only then would Xiao Ling¡¯s secret be safe.

    Xia Ling looked at Feng Kun with gratitude.

    Feng Kun asked Rao Rao to carry the drunken Pei Ziheng out of the bar and walked to Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce with Xia Ling. The chauffeur helped them open the door and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, what happened to Mister?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s drunk. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°Feng Kun and the security officer will help us.¡±

    The chauffeur was an old man who had followed Pei Ziheng for many years, so he recognized Feng Kun. Rao Rao deliberately avoided the driver¡¯s sight, so she also looked like an unsuspecting security officer. Thus, after hearing what Xia Ling said, the chauffeur had no doubts. He let them enter the car and drove all of them back to the mansion.

    When they arrived at the mansion, they used the same method to trick Nanny Zhou to enter the bedroom.

    They worked together to ce Pei Ziheng on the bed.

    After that, Xia Ling left Rao Rao in the bedroom and went to the terrace with Feng Kun.

    The spacious terrace was quiet, and the night sky was clear like water. As they were afraid of being found out, they did not turn the lights on and whispered as they stood in the shadows of the moonlight.

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed.¡± Feng Kun said.

    ¡°In what way?¡± Xia Ling was concerned about the things that were happening in the bedroom and was somewhat absent-minded.

    Feng Kun nced at her. ¡°You¡¯ve be stronger than before. Now, you can bear hardship and make decisions.¡± In the past, she would throw a tantrum when she was faced with difficulties and relied on others to solve her problems for her. However, now, she learned to think for herself and used her own ideas to solve her own problems. Once she made a decision, she acted quickly and did not beat about the bush.

    Feng Kun did not know whether this change was good or bad.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°In the past, I had someone to rely on. Now, I realized that I can only depend on myself in certain situations.¡± Her hand unconsciously touched her lower abdomen. It was still t, but she knew that a precious little life was being nurtured. ¡°For it, I have to be stronger. It can only rely on me.¡±

    Its father was at the other end of the world and did not even know about its existence.

    Now, she can only protect it well. She grew up in a sh because she was pregnant.

    Feng Kun sighed. Initially, she also behaved like a child and did not understand theplex rules of the adult world, recognize the hardships in the world, or think hard to outsmart someone. However, for the sake of her child, she had to deal with the world¡¯s coldest and smartest man. A wrong move would cause her to be doomed beyond redemption.

    Feng Kun thought about her entire n again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t take action for now and wait for my signal.¡± He said. ¡°You have to wait until I settle the situation with the hospital before you tell him that you¡¯re pregnant. I will think of a way for you to contact Li Lei so that he can rescue you as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t contact him.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Feng Kun did not understand.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told Sister Mai Na to contact him,¡± she said. ¡°If Li Lei can find a way, he wille to rescue me. If there¡¯s no way out... then you don¡¯t have to tell him that I¡¯m pregnant.¡±

    ¡°If he can¡¯t save you, are you nning to remain by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side forever?¡±

    ¡°What else can I do?¡± Xia Ling lifted her head to look at the misty moonlight, her tone as hazy as the moonlight. ¡°If I can¡¯t go back, I would ratherpletely eliminate my thoughts about him, so you don¡¯t even need to tell him about the child. This way, he can live safely for the rest of his life, marry someone... and forget about me.¡±

    She could not continue speaking and lowered her head.

    Feng Kun¡¯s heart faintly ached, but he understood that it was the best decision considering her situation now. If she really could not go back, she did not have to face any other unexpected setbacks. Otherwise, the identity of the child raised under Pei Ziheng¡¯s name would be exposed. Furthermore, when faced with Pei Ziheng, she and the child could not protect themselves.

 Chapter 385 - The Late Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 385: The Late Proposal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun gave her a friendly hug. ¡°Come and look for me whenever you need, I¡¯ll always be on your side.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± She nodded her head and felt tearsing. If not for Feng Kun, she would not have any idea how she could face the challenges ahead.

    The bedroom door opened and Rao Rao walked out onto the balcony. ¡°It¡¯s been settled.¡± There was a littleziness in her voice, but she was already neatly and properly dressed. She looked the same as before ¡ª in a dark-colored security officer outfit and a cap that covered part of her face.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be off then. Take care.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and walked them to the front door downstairs.

    When she returned to the bedroom, she saw that Pei Ziheng was on the bed. The incredibly charismatic man was still sound asleep on the messy bed, and there was a faint scent of rain and alcohol in the air.

    Xia Ling found the smell rather revolting and had to hold her nose as she dashed to the washroom. She took some time to catch her breath as she squatted by the toilet weakly. She had heard that some expectant mothers had no difficulties, but this child of hers seemed to be rather yful. It had only been slightly over a month and she was already having problems eating and sleeping, and the nausea was frequent. ¡°Baby,¡± she stroked her stomach and whispered. ¡°You have to be good, we can¡¯t let anyone find out. Daddy¡¯s not with us, so we have to protect ourselves. You must be as smart as Daddy and survive even in the toughest of situations, okay?¡±

    Almost as if the baby had heard her, she was slowly relieved of the difort.

    Xia Ling rested for a while before mustering the courage to return to the bedroom.

    The air of obscenity was still lingering in the room, and Xia Ling refused to open the windows for venttion for fear that their deeds of the previous night would be found out. She could not bring herself to lie on the bed either, just knowing that another woman hadin there with this man made her ufortable.

    She changed into a nightgown and sat by the window through the night.

    The first light of the dawn crept in.

    Pei Ziheng woke from his sleep and felt a throbbing headache. His memory of the previous night was a blur ¡ª yes, he had gone to get some drinks with Xiao Ling, and they had gotten drunk, but what happened after that?

    He rolled over and realized that he waspletely bare, and on the bed sheet was remnants that evidenced the passionate fun he hadst time. Shocked, he scanned the room and spotted Xia Ling¡¯s silhouette by the window in no time. She was in a clean, white nightgown, long hair over her shoulders, while the dusty light of dawn revealed the hurt that had found its ce even on her side profile. She looked almost like a goddess, so fragile and ephemeral as if she would vanish upon touch.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He called out to her hoarsely.

    It was not clear whether she heard it or not, but she kept her gaze out the window, silent and unmoving.

    Pei Ziheng got up and dressed in the only set of pajamas within reach. The ck satinplemented his toned physique well, and he looked no less attractive. He walked towards her and turned her head to face him, only to be shocked by what he saw ¡ª the pain written all over her face, that hurt expression... it wrenched his heart.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me what¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Ling demonstrated all her acting skills and looked into his eyes with usation. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I didn¡¯t know you were such a horrible beast when you¡¯re drunk!¡± She looked genuinely mad ¡ª she was shaking in anger, there were signs her lips of having been bitten, and there were some red marks on her neck. There was evidence of infidelity.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her, recalled the traces he saw when he just woke up and understood everything. After he had gotten drunk, he actually... forced himself on her?

    He was a little frustrated at himself, this was not going ording to n. He had nned to get closer to her slowly until she was used to his presence andpany, and then to make her his woman without hurting her. And yet, everything was ruined after his drunken stupor. But it was alright, he could always bring the n forward.

    He looked at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for you.¡±

    ¡°Responsible? How?¡± She smiled coldly to appear ashamed of herself. ¡°Pei Ziheng, after all that happened and the damage done, you¡¯re telling me about being responsible. Don¡¯t you find it funny?¡±

    ¡°Marry me.¡± He said abruptly.

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Wh-What?¡±

    ¡°Marry me.¡± This time, he looked at her with a calm, steady determination. ¡°Xiao Ling, I will give you a grand wedding and invite everybody to witness it. We can have that chocte cake tower on the beach that you like, leave a trail of roses for miles, and even have 999 pairs of flower boys and girls.¡±

    This was the dream wedding she had always talked about in herst life. Pei Ziheng oftenughed at her idea for being too extravagant, and she would say, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m extravagant and superficial like this, but so what? I want all the other girls to be envious of me. I want to let the whole world know how much you love me.¡± She had nned for this wedding and bugged him about these details for a long while, yet it never urred to her once that holding a wedding for her was never in his n.

    Only now did it hit her.

    She had fallen hard, but finally, she had awakened from that dream.

    And now, when she finally saw things more clearly than ever, he was telling her about a wedding?!

    Xia Ling felt pathetic and threw all that acting and pretense out the window. ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you remember what you told me in the past? You said that the Pei family would never ept my status, you told me to give up, to ept that I¡¯ll be nothing more than your secret lover my whole life! Pei Ziheng, do you know how hurt I was when you stepped all over my love for you?! Now, after so long, I¡¯ve finally given up on you. And you decide to tell me that you want to marry me and hold the wedding of my dreams?!¡±

    She was shivering now, and tears welled up in her eyes.

    What a joke. Back then, wasn¡¯t it all for the status and title? If he had been willing to marry her, they would have led such a happy life, and all the chaos that followed would never have happened.

    If only they had married...

    By now, their child would be running about and ying.

    Tears rolled down her face continually.

    Pei Ziheng was hurt to see her like this and wanted to hold her close, but all she did was push him away.

    ¡°Toote, Pei Ziheng, it¡¯s all toote.¡± She shook her head and backed off. ¡°I don¡¯t love you anymore, I¡¯m already in love with someone else. This wedding came toote, you know? I¡¯ve spent my whole life waiting for you to propose to me, but that was all in the past life. In this life, I expect nothing more from you, so why, why do you have to tell me something like this now?¡±

 Chapter 386 - Trace of Red

    <h4>Chapter 386: Trace of Red</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling wiped her tears off messily. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯d rather you not have told me! I¡¯d rather not know that the dead end you made me face in my past life was not a dead end at all! You could have married me! It means that... I could have had my dream wedding after all... then why did I suffer for nothing?¡±

    As she spoke, the tears came gushing.

    She covered her face with her hands, unwilling to let him see the mess she now was.

    Pei Ziheng held her tight. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry.¡± He did not know what else to say besides apologizing. The Pei family was a renowned and wealthy household, with rules that had been passed down for generations. The rules specified that any man in the family had to marry a woman of equal standing, and if they did not abide by it, their position in the family would be threatened.

    The internal politics of the Pei magnate were far tooplicated.

    Back in that year, his father had passed on unexpectedly, and 16-year-old Pei Ziheng had to take over the baton and run Imperial Entertainment. Too many eyes were on him, many of which waiting for him to fumble and fail. His years of managing thepany were not as smooth-sailing as many outsiders had thought. In fact, they were gued with obstacles that took him effort and experience to ovee.

    Any carelessness could cost him his ce amongst those hungry sharks.

    He could not let them seed. There were way too many subordinates and staff members who depended on him for their livelihood and even survival. For their sake, as well as for his own honor and responsibility, he was not about to back off so easily.

    And because of Xiao Ling, it was all the more important that he stood his ground.

    It was only possible for her to enjoy all the luxuries of life ¡ª the wealth, glory, and pampering ¡ª if he could keep his ce of authority secure. He liked the way she smiled, so carefree and innocent as if she lived in a fantasy, and he would do all it took to protect it.

    For her sake, and all the people under him, he needed to calcte his every move.

    Also, he needed allies. His home base had left him to his devices, and his only option left was to marry a wife from a powerful family so she could aid him in his career.

    After screening his ¡°candidates,¡± he narrowed it down to the Wang family.

    Wang Jingwan was a sensible girl and understood that this arrangement was nothing more than a transaction. Even when he stated his condition ¡ª that she was ¡°not allowed to bother Xia Ling¡±¡ª she agreed graciously.

    The arrangement went well.

    Or at least, he thought that it would go well.

    He expected his precious Xiao Ling to understand. After all, all his efforts were with her in mind. They were truly in love with each other, so was there really a need for all that superficiality? Did it really matter that Wang Jingwan held the title of his legal wife? His love belonged to her only, and he had even drawn up a will to leave all of his assets ¡ª except for those that had to be allotted to the Pei magnate mandatorily ¡ª to Xia Ling alone, even before he got married.

    But he thought wrong.

    She did not want his assets, all she wanted was the title ¡°Mrs. Pei.¡±

    She had sobbed day and night, just hoping that their love could be made public, that they could have the blessings of everyone else. She wanted to be his legal wife, whether or not she would receive a single cent of his assets.

    She had argued with him, found trouble with Wang Jingwan, and attempted to leave after she had killed Wang Jingwan... His tolerance was challenged time and again until he could not take it anymore. Pei Ziheng was eventually enraged and decided to lock her in on the grounds of punishing her as well as for her safety. He hit her and disciplined her privately.

    He wanted her to be obsessed with him and respect him all over again.

    But the days of her captivity were spent in utter misery before she finally passed away tragically.

    Pei Ziheng had regretted his actions. If he had known that this would be the oue, he would¡¯ve satisfied her wants ¡ª was it not just a title anyway? Would any of these tragedies have taken ce, had he given her the name?

    After Xiao Ling left, he fulfilled all the wishes she had while she was alive.

    He took rollercoasters with a crowd, he went to watch movies in cinemas the way a couple would, he ate by the stalls in the night market and even went dancing in the vast fields in South Africa...

    And yet, he could not fulfill her biggest wish.

    Marriage.

    Despite knowing that he was not going to be able to fulfill that wish, he worked hard toward that goal. He put all his time and effort into his work, so as to prove his capability to the Pei magnate and to gain their respect. He took over the family business when he was 16, and now, 20 yearster, he finally secured his ce and established his authority. Even without a marriage to provide support for his career, he could achieve so much.

    And now, he could finally marry her.

    He had found it a pity initially, that he had achieved all that he needed to, but lost his bride.

    But today, he was thankful. He could not be happier about his choice to work his heart out in the two years after he had lost her; maybe that was why God was willing to reward him and to bring her back to him today. ¡°Marry me.¡± He stroked her long hair and repeated once more. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ll be the mistress of the Pei magnate, and nobody will dare say a word against it.¡±

    She shook her head and forced her way out of his embrace.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote, Pei Ziheng.¡± She sounded resigned, and the sadness in her eyes appeared all too conspicuous to him. ¡°What¡¯s lost is lost.¡± If she had not met Li Lei in this lifetime, all of these could be possible. But things were different now, she had found a light that belonged to her alone, and there was no way she would waver on it.

    She turned around and left.

    Pei Ziheng watched her back view and felt his heart sink.

    He never knew that Xiao Ling could be this heartless. He missed the days that she begged for him to return to her no matter how much pain she had to bear. Now, she was not even willing to give it a shot at salvaging their rtionship.

    At that moment, Pei Ziheng felt an inexplicable sense of exhaustion, as if he had aged 10 years in a split second.

    He distractedly removed his pajamas and tossed them onto the bed, all ready to get dressed and leave for thepany. But as his nce swept past the now messy bed, he paused.

    On the bed sheet was a small patch of red.

    Little spots of a virgin¡¯s blood.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart went wild instantly. He realized that Xiao Ling was leading a whole new life and was merely 18 in this lifetime. She was still a clean, pure girl... so pure that even Li Lei had never touched her?

 Chapter 387 - Returning to Imperial Entertainment

    <h4>Chapter 387: Returning to Imperial Entertainment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That realization reignited Pei Ziheng¡¯s hopes.

    Until today, her body remained his alone. He had heard that a woman was always loyal and devoted to her first love, maybe someday, she would love him again as she did before.

    The corners of his lips tipped upwards slightly. This was good news for him.

    What he did not know was that it was no virgin¡¯s blood, it was no more than Feng Kun¡¯s scheme.

    [If you¡¯re going to act, you have to do it well. Let Rao Rao cut her finger to give Pei Ziheng the impression that he has taken your ¡°first time.¡±] Feng Kun had told Xia Ling calmly. [He¡¯ll think that he¡¯s the only man who¡¯s everid a finger on you, and your baby will be safer this way.]

    Hence, Xia Ling took his suggestion.

    As much as she did not want to lie to Pei Ziheng, the baby¡¯s life was her utmost priority.

    From that day on, their rtionship underwent some changes.

    Pei Ziheng treated her like a princess, as usual, but there was something more. He often looked at her with a gentleness that men showed only toward their wives. ¡°The entire Pei family is waiting for me to bring a wife home.¡± He would sit by her and pare fruits for her patiently whenever he had time. ¡°After you passed on, I¡¯d told them that I would remain a bachelor my whole life. If I change my mind now and decide to start a family, they¡¯d be more than happy, even if my other half was amoner.¡±

    There were so many underlying interests involved among them, yet he never once mentioned to her the pressures he had had to face.

    It would be alright if she knew that the Pei family truly weed her, but what if this was all just an illusion that he had crafted for her?

    Xia Ling knew what he was getting at.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine being alone.¡± She said as she tried to mask her exhaustion. ¡°Marriage brings nothing but trouble.¡± She nced at the fruit in his hand and intentionally digressed. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like having peaches today.¡±

    He put the pared peach down and held an apple up instead. ¡°How about this?¡±

    ¡°Oranges.¡± She picked an orange from the fruit basket and got a knife for herself. The elders had always said that women expecting boys craved sour foods, while those expecting girls craved spicy foods. Realizing that she had been craving sour stuff and that she was likely pregnant with a boy, her expression softened, and some color returned to her cheeks.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her, practically spellbound.

    She did not look as stunning as in her previous life, but this time, she had an air of mystery, an aura that drew people¡¯s eyes to her. She was almost like a piece of precious jade that had gone through eons of formation to be the beauty it was today ¡ª not breathtaking, but exuding asting elegance.

    He took the orange and knife from her hands. ¡°Be careful not to hurt your hand.¡± And he went on to pare it for her.

    Xia Ling did not resist it, she merely sat there in a daze as he got to it.

    ¡°You never liked doing things on your own.¡± Pei Ziheng was concentrating on his paring his orange perfectly. ¡°Why are you peeling an orange on your own now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s boring.¡± She said.

    ¡°You find it boring at home?¡± He handed the orange to her. ¡°I¡¯ll go out with you.¡±

    Xia Ling thought for a while. ¡°You¡¯re busy with work,¡± she said. ¡°and there¡¯s not much around here that¡¯s fun. I¡¯ve had enough rest, I want to sing.¡±

    He was stunned for a while before he smiled. ¡°Return to Imperial?¡±

    She nodded lightly. She had to return to Imperial Entertainment, whether she liked it or not. She had to find a way to interact with the outside world and to contact Feng Kun, just so that she could get help if she needed to. For her child¡¯s sake, she had to do this.

    Seeing that she was serious about returning to Imperial Entertainment, Pei Ziheng was pleasantly surprised. He thought thatst night could¡¯ve been their turning point ¡ª now that her body was his, her heart would slowly return to him as well. ¡°I¡¯ll have Chu Chen bring the contract here.¡± He got up and gave Chu Chen a call.

    A whileter, Chu Chen arrived in the living room with the contract.

    It was a few good pages of ink on paper.

    Xia Ling did not bother reading the contents since it was in Pei Ziheng¡¯s control anyway. She took the pen and signed her name on the bottom of the paper.

    The moment she wrote the name ¡°Ye Xingling¡± on the paper, she felt something inside her crumble. The way it hurt so much on the inside, it was as if her heart had fallen into pieces. She recalled the day she signed that name on Skyart Entertainment¡¯s contract two years ago. Back then, she was so full of hope for the future and had sworn that she would never return to Imperial Entertainment. And now? After going a full circle, she still ended up back in the cage.

    She closed the contract file and handed it back to Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her gently. ¡°We¡¯ll pop a champagne tonight to celebrate this.¡±

    There was nothing worth celebrating. She said, ¡°I just want to have something to do to relieve my boredom, I don¡¯t wish to be a Diva anymore, so don¡¯t pack my schedule.¡± She paused for a while before adding, ¡°I don¡¯t think I can earn anything much for you and thepany.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother about that.¡± Pei Ziheng was still gentle with his tone. ¡°Chu Chen will be your manager. He¡¯ll make the arrangements ording to your wishes.¡±

    Chu Chen listened by the side and acknowledged his instructions. He was not surprised by the arrangement since Pei Ziheng usually had him manage the artistes that he admired and valued the most. Xia Ling was one of them, followed by Xia Yu, and now, Ye Xingling.

    She was unhappy with it. ¡°I don¡¯t like Chu Chen.¡± She did not bother to sugarcoat her words in his presence.

    Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen were not rmed by it. Back when she was still a trainee at Skyart Training Camp, she already had several conflicts with Chu Chen.

    ¡°He¡¯s the best manager we have.¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°Be good.¡±

    Although he was trying to appease her, it was obvious that he was not about to let his decision be challenged.

    Xia Ling sighed. It seemed like there was no running away from this manager whom she could not see eye to eye with. Oh, how she missed Sister Mai Na now, and even Lin Yunan, they were both so much better than Chu Chen. But she had no choice, Chu Chen was Pei Ziheng¡¯s right-hand man, and Pei Ziheng would make sure he kept a close eye on her.

    Knowing that there was no use resisting, Xia Ling simply epted the arrangement quietly and went back upstairs.

    Chu Chen and Pei Ziheng remained downstairs.

    ¡°She¡¯s a little willful, it¡¯ll be hard on you.¡± Pei Ziheng told Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen responded courteously, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re too civil. Taking good care of Miss Ye is my responsibility.¡± He did not know that Ye Xingling was Xia Ling herself, but all he needed to know was that Boss loved this woman. So what if it was going to be hard on him? He had had his fair share of easy time rising to the position he was in today.

    Pei Ziheng patted him on his shoulder.

    Chu Chen was an ambitious man who yearned for both power and money, and Pei Ziheng could satisfy his wants. Pei Ziheng could give him a high-paying position and sufficientlyrge power and authority, on just one condition ¡ª that he took good care of Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman. Chu Chen was smart enough to realize that and had always done his duty well.

    Pei Ziheng could not be more at ease having Xiao Ling under his care.

 Chapter 388 - The Black and White Photo

    <h4>Chapter 388: The ck and White Photo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The sky began to clear up after several days.

    Xia Ling was counting the days, wondering whether Feng Kun was done with his leg work. At the rate things were going, it would only get harder from here on; it was getting increasingly difficult for her to conceal the truth on her end. She called Chu Chen to send her to Imperial.

    At the door was Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce.

    Pei Ziheng was a pretty inflexible guy. He was particr about his cars. Hence, he owned three identical models, just so that it would be convenient for him if he had to send any one of them for service, or in the off chance that it was involved in an ident.

    Right now, one of the three identical cars was waiting for her at the door.

    Chu Chen invited her to get on.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t move from the door. ¡°We are going to Imperial, on this?¡± It was ridiculous. Everyone in Imperial knew that the car belonged to their Boss.

    ¡°This is what Boss intends.¡± Chu Chen merely responded.

    ¡°I want to switch cars.¡± She insisted.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid this is out of my control. Boss is in an important meeting today, so it wouldn¡¯t be convenient for me to convey your message. Alternatively, you could wait for him to get back and tell him personally.¡± He suggested.

    Xia Ling fell silent. The baby she was carrying was slowly growing, day by day, and she had to make sure that the baby would be safe no matter what, and time was slowly running out. Not wanting to wait any further, she made the hard decision of getting on the car.

    The car slowly made its way into headquarters, and the staff members began to bow in respect.

    They meandered down this dark path for a while before finally pulling to a halt in front of a building. Xia Ling recognized this building, it was familiar because it was where the recording studios were located. Inside contained a variety of recording locations, each fitted with top ss equipment for use by Imperial¡¯s producers and artistes.

    When she alighted, everyone was staring at her.

    Fortunately, she had anticipated this oue, so she was prepared. She had donned sunsses, which blocked off a good top half of her face, but still, inside she was annoyed. Pei Ziheng¡¯s instructions were meant to be a power move, to show off his authority over her in front of everyone. It would only be a matter of time before the entirepany would be abuzz with new rumors of them both.

    This was not important anymore.

    She tailed behind Chu Chen and got on the elevator toward the 16th floor, where Feng Kun worked exclusively.

    The door was tightly shut.

    ¡°We are so sorry about this,¡± the receptionist, a pretty, well-mannered youngdy apologized. ¡°Mr. Feng is currently busy at the moment. However, he said to alert him immediately if Miss Ye were to drop by. So, if you would give me a moment, I¡¯ll go inform him immediately.¡±

    Before she arrived, she had told Chu Chen to make an appointment beforehand. Now, she was already five minuteste. Seeing how he was still busy, Xia Ling reckoned that a serious bout of inspiration must have hit him. Xia Ling understood Feng Kun. While he wasn¡¯t as intense as Wei Shaoyin, music was still an important part of his life.

    ¡°Never mind, then.¡± She told the receptionist. ¡°I don¡¯t want to disturb him. When he¡¯s avable, tell him that I arrived.¡±

    The receptionist nodded in acknowledgment.

    Chu Chen helped her to get the elevator, and the doors opened.

    He let her enter first before he went in himself.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± his fingers were hovering over the control panel, and he was speaking in that consulting tone again. ¡°Where do you want to go now? If you¡¯re waiting for someone, there¡¯s a small coffee ce on the second floor. It shouldn¡¯t be crowded at this hour, and the sofas are prettyfortable.¡±

    Xia Ling knew the ce he was referring to. It was situated in a pretty ce, the floor to ceiling windows overlooked the garden, sunny and pleasant; it was one of her favorite ces in the past. Furthermore, there really wasn¡¯t any other ce for her to go either ¡ª Imperial Entertainment upied arge amount of space, but it was a working environment after all. There weren¡¯t many other ces she could go to rx.

    She nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go there, then.¡±

    Chu Chen pressed the button for the second floor, and they reached shortly after. He was a gentlemanly man, letting her out before him. It was remarkable, really, how when he was polite and refined, it barely seemed like he was a servant.

    Xia Ling walked in front, finding the cafe easily working off her memories. It was just like she remembered, the gravel tiled floor, the vintage bar table, and chairs, even the bitterness that lingered in the air from the ground beans. The sunlight fell through the window slopes, and a beautiful calico cat basked in it.

    ¡°Long time no see, Mr. Chu.¡± The barista grinned. In Imperial, if Pei Ziheng was the emperor, then Chu Chen was his indispensable right-hand man. You just couldn¡¯t afford to cross him, ever.

    ¡°What do you want to drink today?¡± The barista prompted.

    Chu Chen turned to Xia Ling. ¡°What do you want to drink? I heard that you don¡¯t really like coffee, so how does lemon water sound? The lemon water here is made with special lemon vorings, so it has a pretty unique vor that you can¡¯t find elsewhere on the market.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly upset by this.

    He was right, she really didn¡¯t like coffee, and much-preferred lemon water instead. But she didn¡¯t like how he ¡ª he, of all people ¡ª knew her so thoroughly. It felt terrible.

    She plucked off her sunsses and coldly threw him a re. ¡°Whatever I want to drink is not your concern, Chu Chen. Since when was it your business for you to care?¡± She turned to the barista. ¡°I want a Mandheling iced coffee, less milk, more sugar.¡±

    The barista looked surprised. Presumably, nobody had spoken to Chu Chen like that before.

    ¡°Miss Ye...¡± He looked distressed and turned to face Chu Chen. ¡°Mr. Chu...¡±

    Given how he knew her surname, he must have known who she was. But even so, he still considered Chu Chen to be in charge. Who was the superstar and who was the manager here then?

    Her mood took a turn for the worse. ¡°I¡¯m not having anything then.¡±

    She turned and left.

    Behind her, she could hear Chu Chen berating the barista. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you hear? Mandheling coffee, less milk with more sugar. Remember that!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m on it.¡± The barista was visibly shaken by the encounter.

    Chu Chen caught up with her several stepster. ¡°Miss Ye, please do not be enraged. The barista didn¡¯t know better...¡±

    Xia Ling swiveled her head to face him, and he fell silent once again, not wanting to disrupt her peace.

    Power was a great thing, and people with power were undefeatable, no? One year ago, this man had acted all high and mighty in front of her, giving ultimatums that drove her to nothing. And by some twist of fate, now that their statuses had reversed, he was at her beck and call.

    All of this for Pei Ziheng.

    Because he had fallen in love with the illusion of a butterfly.

    Xia Ling mindlessly wandered along the coffee bar, and her feet took her to a photo wall. She remembered this wall, it was for Imperial¡¯s artistes. The walls were emzoned with their popr stars, and she identified herself from her past life ¡ª the Diva Xia Ling.

    Out of all the color photos, only hers was in ck and white.

 Chapter 389 - Sheâ€™s Very Beautiful

    <h4>Chapter 389: She¡¯s Very Beautiful</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The ck and white photo was incredibly eye-catching.

    On a wall where every photo was brilliant and morous, it was still the first one to be spotted. In the photo was the Diva Xia Ling with her clear and soulful eyes that made her a splendid beauty. Even as she looked at her past self today, she could barely believe that one¡¯s eyes could ever have such a deep and moving expression.

    ¡°She¡¯s very beautiful.¡± Chu Chen stood before the wall right beside her and looked at the same photo.

    It was an out-of-body experience to look at her past self this way. Xia Ling had no words.

    There was some longing in Chu Chen¡¯s voice. ¡°You know, she was practically God¡¯s favorite. Not only was she an amazing singer, but she was also beautiful as well. And look at those eyes... You really have to see it to believe it, to realize that somebody really could have eyes that were so clear and bright. She lived a wonderful life, almost as if it were a fantasy, where she never knew of hurt or pain.¡±

    ¡°No, she was not God¡¯s favorite.¡± Xia Ling quietly said.

    Those eyes were too clear, how could they be natural? She had lived for more than 20 years, how could it be that she never knew hurt? It was only in Pei Ziheng¡¯s pristine crystal cage could a canary ¡ª no, a puppet, or rather, a butterfly ¡ª be protected from all of man¡¯s pain.

    But the crystal cage had shattered.

    The butterfly wanted freedom.

    She stroked the ck and white photo gently as she let herself be moved by the brightness of those eyes. What a pity it was that all of it remained only in the past. ¡°In future, there will never be such eyes anymore.¡±

    Bit by bit, she covered the photopletely.

    ¡°In this world, there will never be another Diva Xia Ling.¡±

    Chu Chen did not speak. This ¡°Ye Xingling¡± standing before him had some semnce of Xia Ling, but in some aspects, not quite ¡ª she was not carefree like the Diva Xia Ling. On the contrary, she always looked alert and guarded. She seemed almost like a hurt animal, small in size and defenseless against assaults, yet refusing to give in.

    Comparing the two of them, the Diva Xia Ling led a better and happier life.

    They stood before the photo wall for a while, immersed in their thoughts.

    Out of nowhere, she heard an excited voice. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling!¡± Turning to the source of the sound, she saw a short-haired figure throwing herself at her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, is it really you?¡± Luo Luo¡¯s face was full of delight. ¡°What are you doing here? What exactly happened to you? I heard that you faced some sort of trouble. I was so worried! Are you alright?¡±

    Her questions came like bullets from a machine gun.

    Only now did Xia Ling realize that she had not met Luo Luo since the paragliding incident. Hence, she exined. ¡°I was injured while filming, and Pei Ziheng rescued me. Since then, I¡¯ve been recuperating over at his ce. But I¡¯m fine now.¡±

    ¡°Recuperating at Boss Pei¡¯s ce?¡± Luo Luo widened her eyes. ¡°Oh my, so the rumors were true... Some people were saying that they saw a mysterious girl getting off Boss¡¯ Rolls-Royce with Mr. Chu today, are you saying you¡¯re that mysterious girl?! Oh my, oh my, you¡¯ve been living at his ce the whole time?¡±

    Her widened eyes darted between Xia Ling and Chu Chen.

    She was too loud, and a few other customers in the cafeteria were turning their heads. Xia Ling hurriedly put a hand to her mouth and pulled her to a corner. ¡°Not so loud!¡± Xia Ling was anxious now. ¡°Don¡¯t go around telling people that I got off that car!¡± She knew that Pei Ziheng had some agenda for making her ride in that car, and true enough, the rumors had begun to spread.

    ¡°Oh my, so that mysterious girl really is¡ª¡± Luo Luo looked around and lowered her voice instantly. ¡°Xiao Ling, what exactly is going on? I¡¯m so lost! You¡¯ve been unreachable this whole time, and when I went to look for you at Lin Yunan¡¯s, he told me that you¡¯ve already terminated your contract with Dong Yue. If it weren¡¯t for the news reporting your hospitalization and the few notes you left me when you moved away, I¡¯d really have thought that you vanished!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve signed a contract with Imperial Entertainment.¡± Xia Ling said sinctly.

    Luo Luo was shocked again. ¡°Wh-What?! You actually signed a contract here with us? When was that?¡±

    ¡°Just a few days back.¡± Xia Ling sighed, knowing that she had to satisfy her curiosity before she probed further. ¡°I was saved by Pei Ziheng during the paragliding incident, and he had been very nice and caring towards me while I was recuperating. Eventually, I got moved by his actions and epted his invitation to join Imperial.¡±

    There was no loophole in this reason.

    And hence, Luo Luopletely believed it and nodded her head. ¡°Oh right, he used toe all the way up to our unit to invite you.¡± She broke into a wide grin. ¡°That¡¯s good, Xiao Ling, now we¡¯re both part of Imperial Entertainment. We can be together!¡±

    Wait a minute, what was it about being together?

    Xia Ling was confused, this child simply had no reservations when she spoke. Even so, Xia Ling¡¯s spirits were lifted as she looked at Luo Luo¡¯s joyful demeanor.

    ¡°Oh right, this really is such a coincidence, I didn¡¯t expect you¡¯de here.¡± Since Xia Ling was not in a rush to leave, she decided to stay and have a conversation with Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo skipped on the spot for a bit. With her hair bouncing, she looked just like an active child. ¡°I¡¯m waiting for my turn to enter the recording studio. I¡¯d made a reservation to record a new song, but Sister Yingchen said she needed to record one urgently, so she took some of my time. They were supposed to be done by 10, but maybe there were some hups since they¡¯re not out yet.¡±

    Sister Yingchen? Li Yingchen?

    Xia Ling knew her ¡ª the No.1 female singer of Imperial Entertainment. She had the potential to be a Diva, and her poprity did not pale much inparison to hers back in the days. If she needed to use the studio, Luo Luo had no choice but to give in.

    Xia Ling looked at the clock on the wall ¡ª it was already 11.

    She thought of getting Chu Chen to hurry them a little but decided against it. Instead, she asked, ¡°Luo Luo, are you hungry? I¡¯ll take you to lunch and then get a recording studio for you in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I actually am a little hungry.¡± Luo Luo tilted her head. ¡°But it¡¯s alright. Xiao Ling, thank you for your kind offer, but I guess I¡¯ll stay here and wait. Sister Yingchen could be done anytime now. Xiao Ling, you may not know this since you¡¯ve just joined Imperial, but the recording studios here are of really high demand. It¡¯s practically impossible to get one at thest minute.¡±

    Was it really? She was slightly surprised and turned to look at Chu Chen.

    ¡°It¡¯s true, it¡¯s not easy to get a slot.¡± Chu Chen said slowly but then added, ¡°But, it depends on who it is for. If you wish to use one, I can just make arrangements for you.¡±

 Chapter 390 - Recording Studio Number Seven

    <h4>Chapter 390: Recording Studio Number Seven</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In other words, the problems others faced were just a piece of cake to him.

    Chu Chen was probably too eager to please her, or he was just very thoughtful and proper towards all his bosses. Xia Ling remembered that in her past life, she often had impromptu sessions to record songs and would use whichever studio was avable. In the past, she never paid attention to these details, but thinking about it now, she was probably too privileged then.

    No wonder people hated her in the past. It wasughable that she was so ignorant.

    Right now, she could not let Luo Luo offend someone. She thought about it before saying to her, ¡°How about you eat with me first? In the afternoon, you can use my studio to record your songs.¡±

    The person she was meeting today was Feng Kun, and he would definitely have a ce for her, so there was no problem giving it to Luo Luo.

    ¡°But in that case, what about you, Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± In this life, Xia Ling once wanted to reach the peak of the music industry, but that was to prove to herself that she could make it without relying on Pei Ziheng. However, now, she could not escape his support, so the peak was meaningless to her.

    She came to look for Feng Kun regarding the baby and to kill time.

    Luo Luo was touched but still rejected her. ¡°No way, Xiao Ling. I can¡¯t drag you down...¡±

    She looked at Xia Ling with a pair of shining eyes as if she wanted to say something. Suddenly, a man¡¯s voice interrupted her. ¡°Luo Luo! What are you still doing here? Quick! Li Yingchen is done with the studio. Quicklye here and finish recording earlier. In the afternoon, Xia Yu will be using it.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and saw a familiar figure. It was Zhou Bin, Imperial Entertainment¡¯s veteran manager.

    Zhou Bin ignored her and looked at Chu Chen who was beside her.

    ¡°Boss Chu, nice to meet you here.¡± His face lit up.

    Presently, Chu Chen was in charge of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s management department and was quite powerful.

    Chu Chen slightly frowned. ¡°Miss Ye wants to eat with Luo Luo. We can discuss matters after that.¡±

    Thus, although Zhou Bin previously ignored Xia Ling, he suddenly ced importance on Chu Chen¡¯s words and turned to look at Xia Ling. He quickly squeezed out a warm smile. ¡°So it turns out that you are Miss Ye. I¡¯ve long awaited to meet you. I¡¯ve heard your songs before. You¡¯re really amazing. No wonder you¡¯re so popr. Haha.¡±

    These people were all skilled at sailing with the wind. Xia Ling was impatient and said to Luo Luo, ¡°Let¡¯s go and have a meal.¡±

    Zhou Bin continued to smile stiffly.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I really don¡¯t need to trouble you.¡± Luo Luo held her hand and said sincerely. ¡°I have to seize this opportunity to catch up on work and record my songs. You just joined Imperial Entertainment, it¡¯s not easy for you as well. You don¡¯t have to give up your studio in the afternoon for me. I can¡¯t impede your schedule.¡± This child was really determined and acted like Xia Ling was making a huge sacrifice.

    Xia Ling wanted to sigh. God knew she only wanted to say hello to Feng Kun and not work.

    However, seeing that Luo Luo was so insistent, she could onlypromise with her. ¡°Well then, you can record first.¡±

    ¡°I knew that Xiao Ling is the best!¡± The girl in front of her cheerfully smiled and waved. ¡°I¡¯ll get going first then.¡±

    After seeing her bounce away, Xia Ling said to Chu Chen, ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±

    Chu Chen had no objection and apanied her to the restaurant.

    The recording studio building was like abyrinth. The restaurant was at the deepest part and another end of the building. She and Chu Chen took the elevator to the fourth floor and walked all the way past the winding corridor.

    On the way, they passed by recording studio number seven and heard a quarrel.

    ¡°It¡¯s only 11:30, why can¡¯t I use it?!¡± It was Luo Luo, who was sounding angry and anxious. ¡°Xia Yu booked it for 1 pm, that¡¯s an hour and a half away. I will record my songs very quickly and will definitely be able to finish before my time is up!¡±

    ¡°Why should I believe you just because you said you can finish recording in time? What happens if there¡¯s a dy? Can you be responsible for it?¡± The other party refused to give in.

    ¡°I can definitely finish in time.¡± Luo Luo was anxious. ¡°I only need some time during the early afternoon. This time was originally an empty recording slot anyway. I only need half an hour and at most one hour to finish recording!¡±

    The other party sneered. ¡°Luo Luo, this is not about whether you can finish recording. Miss Xia Yu wants us to clear the area before she starts recording, and we have to make preparations. Irrelevant people aren¡¯t authorized in here. Do you know what that means?¡±

    ¡°You... you are just trying to take advantage of me!¡±

    Xia Ling listened to their squabble and frowned. What was going on? She turned around to see Luo Luo¡¯s small figure squeeze into the crowd so anxious that she wanted to cry. She looked really helpless. In front of her, there were a group of people who attended to Xia Yu. They looked indifferent and arrogant, clearly not taking her seriously.

    Enemies were indeed bound to meet on a narrow road.

    Xia Ling was busy during this period of time. She was thinking about Li Lei and worrying about her child such that she almost forgot that besides Luo Luo, Imperial Entertainment also had her ¡°good sister¡± Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu, who was in front of her, was wearing an elegant hand-embroidered dress, delicate flower jewelry, and had light-colored makeup which intensified her beauty. She looked like a weak princess with a circle of admirers around her and gently furrowed her eyebrows as if she saw something lowly and filthy that did not match her identity.

    Xia Ling could not help but walk over. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    The man who was quarreling with Luo Luo turned over and saw an unfamiliar female celebrity. Thus, he dismissed and treated her like air. However, Xia Yu¡¯s originally calm expression slightly changed. She looked at Xia Ling with some disgust before looking away.

    Chu Chen¡¯s voice could be heard from behind her. ¡°Miss Ye just asked you a question. Zhao Jun, are you mute?¡±

    Only then did those people saw him. That person who just quarreled with Luo Luo and ignored Xia Ling immediately changed his attitude. ¡°Boss Chu, it turns out to be you. Why did such a trivial matter bother you?¡±

    After that, he finally turned around and looked at Xia Ling with a more friendly attitude and answered her question. ¡°It seems that you are Miss Ye. I apologize for not recognizing you.¡± In actuality, he recognized Ye Xingling a long time ago. However, it was strange. Why did a female singer who had just left Dongyue run to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s recording studio? Could it be that she joined Imperial Entertainment? Looking at Chu Chen¡¯s attitude, it was indeed possible that she had joined Imperial Entertainment.

    However, so what if she joined Imperial Entertainment?

    Without Chu Chen¡¯s support, she was just an ordinary female celebrity and was not special among the superstars of Imperial Entertainment. Thus, Zhao Jun ignored her from the start.

    However, it was different now that Chu Chen was obviously backing her up.

    Zhao Jun smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s a misunderstanding, really. You see, this is Miss Xia Yu¡¯s timeslot for recording. However, Luo Luo insisted on interrupting her. This child is really too ignorant. We will deal with her immediately.¡±

 Chapter 391 - Clearing the Area

    <h4>Chapter 391: Clearing the Area</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Luo Luo¡¯s manager continued, ¡°I apologize. I¡¯m really sorry for adding trouble.¡± He looked at Xia Ling, then at Xia Yu¡¯s group. It was obvious that he did not want to offend both sides.

    This made Xia Ling very ufortable. It was fine if it were someone else, but as a manager, how could he not take care of his artiste and side with others instead?

    However, it was really strange...

    She took a few steps back and whispered to Chu Chen. ¡°I thought Xia Yu lost authority.¡± From a long time ago, after Xia Yu was exposed for insulting her sister, Pei Ziheng¡¯s attitude towards her was not as good as in the past. The most obvious part was that her manager, Chu Chen, would not apany her anymore and even passed on his daily work to his subordinates.

    Xia Ling always thought that Xia Yu was now an artiste with only a little more privilege than others, but she did not think that there would be so many people fawning on her.

    Chu Chen smiled. ¡°Boss has always treated her well.¡± If someone else besides Xia Yu caused so much trouble, he would have already been dead, but Pei Ziheng only reduced a few of her privileges. Everyone could see that in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart, Xia Yu was still special.

    Chu Chen continued, ¡°Recently, Boss has been more kind to her.¡±

    ¡°Recently?¡±

    ¡°Ever since you came to Boss¡¯ side.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled and suddenly realized something. Pei Ziheng already knew that she was Xia Ling, but he was unsure about her conflict with Xia Yu. He only thought that she still doted on her sister, so he treated Xia Yu more kindly. However, Xia Yu loved to take advantage of times like this to throw her weight around. No wonder many people started to cater to her since she was truly not ordinary.

    Unfortunately, she was hindered by Xia Ling.

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± She walked up and squinted her eyes slightly. ¡°Is it fun to bully others?¡±

    Xia Yu looked at her and then looked at Chu Chen who was following behind her. There was an ominous premonition rising in her heart. ¡°Ye Xingling, why are you here?¡± She asked quietly. ¡°Didn¡¯t you have a falling out with Dongyue?¡±

    ¡°Which is why I¡¯m an artiste of Imperial Entertainment now.¡± Xia Ling really did not want to join Imperial Entertainment, but now, her status was useful to help her stand up for Luo Luo. There was a cold smile on her face. ¡°What a coincidence that my manager is also Chu Chen.¡±

    Everyone drew a cold breath and looked at the highly regarded manager behind her.

    People who were assigned to the powerful Chu Chen were usually favored and protected by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss, Pei Ziheng. To be exact, only the sisters, deceased Diva Xia Ling and Xia Yu.

    Now, this female celebrity called Ye Xingling was also receiving this honor?

    They started to look at her with a new perspective.

    Suddenly, someone said, ¡°In the early afternoon, it is said that Boss Chu apanied a mysterious girl as she got out from Director Pei¡¯s Rolls Royce. Could it be Ye Xingling?¡±

    Amotion started in the crowd. Oh god, was this girl in front of them really Pei Ziheng¡¯s new favorite?

    All kinds of gazes started to fall on her and Xia Yu. No wonder she dared to provoke Xia Yu. It turned out that she really had some authority. Unknowingly, the crowd automatically retreated a few steps to give both of them some space. They were all working for thepany and needed their jobs to survive. The conflict between the Boss¡¯ imperial harem was not theirs to interfere with. In this sort of situation, it was not ideal for ordinary workers like them to get involved. Instead, they had to observe the situation first.

    Everyone immediately became spectators.

    Xia Yu was boiling with anger. These snobs! Just now, all of them were rushing andpeting to pledge their loyalty to her, but it turned out that they only dared to do so when faced with a soft persimmon like Luo Luo! When it came to a hard nut like Ye Xingling, all of them ran away like scared rabbits! Furthermore... Ye Xingling came here by Brother Ziheng¡¯s Rolls Royce?!

    In a sh, jealousy and danger were injected into Xia Yu¡¯s heart like venom from a poisonous snake.

    This sl*t was also worthy of that?!

    However, despite the grievances in her heart, she appeared pitiful on the surface.

    She ignored the unsightly Ye Xingling, turned around, and meekly said to Chu Chen, ¡°Brother Chu, we are all your artistes. Are you going to just watch her go against me?¡±

    She was performing her trick well and directly made Chu Chen settle Ye Xingling.

    Xia Yu believed that Chu Chen would definitely settle this matter. It had been more than two years, and there were countless women that Pei Ziheng took care of. It was also not like there were no other women who got on that Rolls Royce. Every time she had conflicts with those women, Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen would always stand on her side. It was just too bad for them that she was Xia Ling¡¯s sister. Xia Yu confidently let out a victorious smile and waited for Chu Chen to teach her a lesson to let her understand her status.

    Unexpectedly, this time, Chu Chen said, ¡°This is something between you two. It would be better if you solved it yourselves.¡±

    He was too clever to interfere. There were a few women who were able to sit in the Rolls Royce, but besides the deceased Diva Xia Ling, only Ye Xingling was able to live in Pei Ziheng¡¯s house. Even Xia Yu did not have that privilege.

    Chu Chen understood clearly that he could not treat Ye Xingling the way he treated those women in the past.

    Xia Yu did not expect that he would respond like that and was stunned for a moment. However, as she was skilled at acting, she suddenly put on a wronged smile that was perfect for the situation. ¡°Well then, Ye Xingling, since bullying others is not fun, why do you keep bullying me?¡±

    People who offended others were usually the first toin.

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°How have I bullied you?¡±

    ¡°I was discussing a problem regarding the use of the recording studio with Luo Luo. It¡¯s nothing rted to you.¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°Why are you being biased towards Luo Luo?¡± She looked at Xia Ling with innocent eyes as if she were wronged, easily gaining the sympathy of others.

    Xia Ling continued to sneer. ¡°Luo Luo is my friend. There¡¯s nothing wrong with standing up for my friend. Xia Yu, if you have friends, you can also tell them toe over. Call all of them over. I will wait here for you.¡± She was always unafraid of everything and became excited whenever she encountered a fight. No quarrel was too big for her.

    At the side, Chu Chen wanted to rub his forehead. Why did his Boss like quarrelsome women?

    Xia Yu bit her lip. Friends? Of course, she had no friends. Those so-called ¡°sisters,¡± ¡°good friends,¡± or ¡°partners¡± were the result of either her fawning on others or others fawning on her. They all were together for their own agendas. Who could she call at this time? Her face slightly turned pale. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t bully others to the extreme!¡±

    Was this bullying to the extreme? She was really trying to intimidate her by pinning more and morebels on her.

    Xia Ling took things easy and looked at her calmly. ¡°I can¡¯t afford to ept such an usation. Xia Yu, I hope that you will be the one not bullying others to the extreme. Luo Luo already said that she only needed some time to finish recording her songs and won¡¯t dy you. Are you sure that you want to clear the area and chase her away like that?¡±

 Chapter 392 - A Fight Between Sisters

    <h4>Chapter 392: A Fight Between Sisters</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I booked a slot at 1 pm. However, staff members have to leave earlier.¡± Xia Yu looked extremely frail and even weaker when she spoke. ¡°These rules are always in ce whenever I record songs. Everyone knows that.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Who set these rules?¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s face became pale and looked at her with a little injustice as if Xia Ling were swollen with arrogance and was pushing her into a corner. The assistants beside her were also not very happy. They wanted to react, but after looking at Chu Chen, they forced themselves to keep quiet.

    Luo Luo lightly tugged on Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Xiao Ling, forget it...¡±

    ¡°Forget it?¡± She turned around to look at Luo Luo. ¡°Are you just going to let her bully you like that?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Luo Luo looked wronged as she spoke softly. ¡°Don¡¯t offend her. You can¡¯t afford to that.¡±

    It turned out that Luo Luo was worried about her.

    Xia Ling was touched and was even more unwilling to let Luo Luo get bullied. After some thought, she softened her tone. ¡°Insisting on recording at this time is really inappropriate.¡±

    ¡°It was not appropriate, to begin with,¡± Xia Yu said in a soft-spoken voice. ¡°Ye Xingling, even Luo Luo said to forget it. You should give it up then.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned.

    ¡°Forget it, Xiao Ling. I know your intentions. However, don¡¯t offend someone because of me. I won¡¯t feel at ease.¡± Luo Luo said.

    Thus, Xia Ling sighed. ¡°Alright, since it¡¯s already time for lunch, it won¡¯t be good for your body if you starve yourself. Luo Luo, you can have lunch first.¡±

    Luo Luo bit her lip. She only lightly nodded without making a sound.

    Xia Ling could see that she was indignant, but she did not insist on fighting back because she did not want to cause more trouble.

    Zhou Bin, Luo Luo¡¯s manager, was a little disappointed, but he was also quite relieved that the matter was finally settled.

    Those people who voluntarily turned into spectators came to life again with disdainful looks on their faces. Pfft, what was that? They thought that Boss Pei¡¯s new darling could threaten the status of Miss Xia Yu. Who knew that she was the same as those other women and had to lower her head in front of Miss Xia Yu.

    A smug smile shes across Xia Yu¡¯s face. ¡°Since you are all so understanding, what happened just now should not have happened. You can go. I won¡¯t make things difficult for you.¡± She whispered softly.

    At this point, who was she acting generously for?

    Xia Ling squinted her eyes and looked at her coldly. ¡°However, I also have my own rules.¡±

    Xia Yu was aghast.

    ¡°It¡¯s not convenient to record at noon. You can let Luo Luo have the recording studio in thete afternoon.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Yu and her group were in disbelief as they red at Xia Ling.

    ¡°Ha, how demanding.¡± Some people spat disdainfully.

    Xia Yu was startled at first, but suddenly, her face flushed because she probably was never challenged by someone like that before. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t bully others to the extreme. The recording studio in the afternoon is mine, and I have to record a very urgent song. How can I let her have the studio?¡±

    ¡°A very urgent song?¡± Xia Lingughed. ¡°Xia Yu, don¡¯t you feel ashamed for upying the studio for an entire afternoon just for one song? In the past, Wei Shaoyin said that you¡¯re only a singer in the recording studio. I think he¡¯s right. Luo Luo only needs half an hour to record a song, but you need an entire afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, that¡¯s enough!¡± No matter how good Xia Yu was at acting fragile and capturing the sympathy of the people around her, she could not help but lose herposure. ¡°Who are you to talk to me like that? What gives you the right to ask me to let her have the recording studio!¡±

    Her shrill voice cut through the air, ear-piercing and unpleasant.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m a nobody.¡± Xia Ling sneered and ignored as Luo Luo anxiously pulled her sleeve. ¡°I just don¡¯t like seeing certain people acting weak and even bullying my friend. Chu Chen,¡± She turned around to call her silent manager. ¡°I¡¯m sure you understand what you should do.¡±

    It sounded as if she were ordering a dog.

    There were subtle changes in the expressions of the people around them. Not only did they never seen anyone talk to Xia Yu like that, they never heard anyone speak to Chu Chen like that. Even Pei Ziheng was always gracious when talking to Chu Chen as he wanted to give him respect.

    Despite being shocked, a delighted look appeared on Xia Yu¡¯s face. She probably felt that since Xia Ling did not know when to stop, she had made a wrong move and offended Chu Chen, so death was awaiting her.

    However, Xia Ling did not care at all. Pei Ziheng could either change her manager or let her trample on Chu Chen¡¯s pridepletely. Was his difficulty nowparable to one-tenth of her past life?

    Sure enough, Chu Chen was tolerant and calm after the backing of the people in front of him. He only advised. ¡°Miss Ye, you don¡¯t have to be angry. Since Xia Yu urgently needs the studio and can¡¯t afford to wait, I will help you find another recording studio for Luo Luo in the afternoon. The result will be the same.¡±

    He was in a good position as he would not offend both sides.

    Xia Ling coldly sized him up. She almost forgot that at the end of the day, he was Pei Ziheng¡¯s dog and not hers. He still did not know that she was actually the Diva Xia Ling and only thought of her as Pei Ziheng¡¯s new favorite. On a normal day, if she wanted to bully others, he would just let her, but Xia Yu was the sister of Pei Ziheng¡¯s former love. Chu Chen was very clear about their significance in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart and would never be impetuous.

    Xia Ling snorted. ¡°I only want this studio. Chu Chen, if you think that I can¡¯t make you do this you can consult your Boss. Just don¡¯t make me wait too long. I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    After hearing what she said, Chu Chen bowed apologetically and walked a few steps away to make a call.

    Everyone fell silent and anticipated the result of his call. Unexpectedly, a small conflict in the recording studio could be so problematic that even Pei Ziheng was involved.

    In the afternoon, the news that a mysterious girl got off Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls Royce spread and everyone was guessing what the girl¡¯s status was and how far she had progressed with Pei Ziheng. Now, the rumored girl was in front of them, wearing an expensive light-colored elegant dress. Even if she were a popr actress, she might also not be able to afford it, so it was probably given to her. She even had the confidence to quarrel with Xia Yu.

    Everyone gazed at her with unpredictable expressions.

    Xia Ling knew that her words and actions just now would cause people to specte. However, how could she care about that now? She was already pregnant and had to help her child find a father who could ensure its safety. If everything were sessful, soon, she would be someone who was ¡°pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child.¡± She was using this conflict to signify her importance and hint that her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was strong to let others be mentally prepared.

    Soon, Chu Chen returned.

    ¡°Old Yang,¡± he instructed the person in charge of the recording studio. ¡°Let Luo Luo have this studio in the afternoon.¡±

    Everyone was stunned and looked at Xia Ling with bizarre expressions. Some were horrified, some were inquiring, and some were deep in thought. These staff members in the entertainment industry were all veterans. Now that things had progressed to this point, everyone knew that it was not just a simple argument about the recording studio. It was a question of whether Ye Xingling or Xia Yu was more significant in the eyes of Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 393 - Divaâ€™s Lounge

    <h4>Chapter 393: Diva¡¯s Lounge</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ording to logic, it should be Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu was a child whom Pei Ziheng adopted for almost twenty years. Even if she lost favor recently, didn¡¯t it look like she was still being doted on at the moment? Xia Yu had bullied many people, and even people who closely worked with Pei Ziheng suffered her wrath for the past two years. However, they had never seen Pei Ziheng talking sternly to her. Instead, he had always given in to her.

    Regardless of what Ye Xingling¡¯s rtionship with Pei Ziheng was, even if she were a new love and a constant friend, she did not have to put Xia Yu down. However, unexpectedly, the order Chu Chen received was biased towards Ye Xingling without trying to make apromise at all.

    ¡°That¡¯s... impossible!¡± Xia Yu face was white and her lips were shaking. ¡°Brother Ziheng wouldn¡¯t treat me like that! He wouldn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Yu, Boss also told me to pass you a message.¡± Chu Chen said.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Yu looked at him nkly.

    ¡°Boss said that he doesn¡¯t want to see you giving Miss Ye trouble ever again.¡± Chu Chen said emotionlessly.

    If that order to give up the recording studio did not reveal anything, this sentence confirmed who was more significant to Pei Ziheng.

    Just now, those who had offended Ye Xingling with their expressions became quiet. Many of them could not help but change their expressions, and even showed looks of apology and ttery. Seriously, her backing was the most powerful person in thepany. There were many days ahead for them. Who was willing to be enemies with her over such a small matter?

    Xia Yu turned paler. She looked at Chu Chen and then looked resentfully at Xia Ling. Finally, she tightly bit her lip and left with her entourage.

    The remaining people gathered around. They were all recording studio staff who were just there to see themotion. They started telling Xia Ling that they were helpless just now with caution as they wanted to curry favor with her.

    Xia Ling was impatient, and Chu Chen could tell as well, so he quickly dispersed the crowd.

    Soon, only him, her, Luo Luo, and Luo Luo¡¯s manager were left.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s eat.¡± Xia Ling smiled and said to Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo was a very innocent girl, but she was not stupid. After witnessing what had happened, she pulled her with some concern. ¡°Xiao Ling, you and Pei Ziheng...¡±

    Her hesitation when speaking caused Xia Ling¡¯s emotions to be in a mess.

    She did not care about what outsiders thought about her, but it was awkward and embarrassing for a friend to specte about her rtionship with Pei Ziheng. She slightly lowered her head and whispered. ¡°I¡¯m living in Pei Ziheng¡¯s house now.¡±

    Luo Luo was shocked. ¡°You... why are you... what about Li Lei? What about Boss Li?¡± She bbered incoherently because she did not know what to say. How could Xiao Ling be this sort of person? How could she abandon Boss Li who was so good to her and run into the arms of Pei Ziheng? Was there any misunderstanding?

    She stared at Xia Ling with a face filled with worries and misgivings.

    Before Xia Ling could say anything, Chu Chen already opened his mouth. ¡°The restaurant is not far in front. Miss Ye, this is probably the first time you¡¯re here, right? The special dishes here are honey sauce oysters. Making food with the sauce is veryborious, so there are only three limited portions every day. If we are quick, we may be able to get one.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around to look at him.

    Chu Chen¡¯s smile was gentle and decent, and he acted as if everything was peaceful.

    An irritable feeling crept up in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. Did he change the subject like that because he did not want others to know about her rtionship with Pei Ziheng? What had his master instructed him to do in advance?

    Her blood boiled and she said to Luo Luo, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s how you think it is. Pei Ziheng and I are in a romantic rtionship. I¡¯m his woman now.¡±

    Luo Luo was so anxious that she wanted to cry. How could this be?

    Although Boss Pei was rich, powerful, and handsome, he looked very fierce. He was certainly not someone who could give Xiao Ling happiness. Even when Xiao Ling was talking about him, her eyebrows would furrow. However, Boss Li was different. Every time Xiao Ling mentioned him, her expression was endlessly tender and sweet. She looked so happy as if pink bubbles were in the air. The person whom Xiao Ling really loved was obviously Boss Li.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how about you think about it again?¡± Luo Luo begged. ¡°Don¡¯t be with Pei Ziheng and return to Boss Li¡¯s arms. He¡¯s the one who deserves you to be with forever!¡±

    Xia Ling slowly shook her head, smiled bitterly, and said, ¡°How can I go back? Luo Luo, it¡¯s not that I like Pei Ziheng. It¡¯s because he is coercing me to be with him and refuses to let me go. He is rich and powerful, so how can I say no? If there¡¯s a day when he doesn¡¯t want me anymore, I¡¯ll leave immediately and never look back.¡±

    The surroundings were silent.

    Chu Chen, Luo Luo, and Luo Luo¡¯s manager Zhou Bin were all looking at her with incredulous expressions.

    ¡°Miss Ye...¡± Chu Chen¡¯s throat was dry.

    Xia Ling nced at him mockingly. Why didn¡¯t he stop her from saying those unspeakable things? Now he would have difficulty exining it to his master. Well, after covering up for Pei Ziheng during her past life and persuading her to be his lifetime underground lover, the ending was rather unpleasant. What else could he expect from him in this life?

    She was no longer the innocent girl in her past life and would never believe those outright lies any more. Now, she did not mind exposing this distorted rtionship. The only thing she cared about was Pei Ziheng.

    She was originally forced to do so anyway.

    If it spread, it would be his trouble, not hers.

    She looked at Chu Chen and smiled smugly. Would he get exasperated like his master? Thinking about it again, there was a sour feeling in her heart. All the enjoyment vanished, and in an instant, she felt dispirited.

    She could not bring herself to eat. Xia Ling turned around, left them behind, and walked towards the other corridor.

    Behind her, footsteps were heard. Chu Chen was catching up.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± He called.

    Xia Ling ignored him and quickly walked forward.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± he called and reminded her in a low voice. ¡°Please speak and act cautiously in the future.¡±

    Speak and act cautiously?

    Sheughed coldly. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    He knitted his brows. ¡°No matter how much Boss dotes on you, he won¡¯t tolerate what you did in public...¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± She furiously yelled.

    He did not say anything but looked down and followed her step by step. He looked like a loyal old housekeeper who was tolerating an insensibledy who was throwing a tantrum.

    There were many people in the corridor, and many artistes and workers witnessed this scene. They all could not help but look at them twice.

    Xia Ling was even more infuriated and simply sauntered forward. She walked instinctively without noticing her direction. When she came to her senses, she saw a familiar crystal ss sliding door. It had a very beautiful cracked ice pattern, and in the gaps, there were faint gold and silver embellishments. Under the corridor lights, it glistened with utmost beauty. Every single detail could be seen clearly.

    In her past life, it belonged to her ¡ª Diva Xia Ling¡¯s special lounge.

    Unconsciously, she pressed the button beside the door.

 Chapter 394 - A Room Kept For Her

    <h4>Chapter 394: A Room Kept For Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was a fingerprint lock. It felt clean and cool.

    A red light shed and a sweet warning tone sounded: [Sorry, your fingerprint is rejected.]

    Startled, Xia Ling tried again. [Sorry, your fingerprint is rejected.]

    Only then did she remember that she was not that person anymore. In the past, Imperial Entertainment was her home, but now, it was only a gorgeous cage. No matter how big or extravagant it was, it was still cold.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± Chu Chen broke her train of thought. ¡°You don¡¯t have permission to enter this lounge. There are other lounges downstairs. If you are tired, I will take you there to sit down.¡±

    ¡°Who is using this lounge now?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Nobody.¡± Chu Chen briefly replied, obviously indicating that he did not want her to ask further questions. ¡°Pleasee this way. I will take you downstairs.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at that crystal sliding door again onest time before turned around to leave.

    ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Ye Xingling?¡± A familiar sweet female voice was heard.

    Xia Ling turned around to see Xia Yu. She was still wearing an embroidered shirt with delicate feathers. Paired with her exquisite skin, she looked mesmerizing. Why was she here? Xia Ling doubtfully scanned her surroundings. Only then did she realize that the door of room 1803 beside her was open. Xia Yu¡¯s stylist and assistant were carrying boxes of items out from the room.

    ¡°Is the lounge next door yours?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    If she remembered correctly, this floor had the lounges of top singers, and there were only three of them. Only Imperial Entertainment¡¯s most recognized singers were able to have lounges here. Many popr bigshots would kill to have a lounge here. However, Xia Yu, a recording artiste who relied on editing to cover up her vocal effects, actually upied three rooms?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yu lifted her chin slightly and looked at her with some ridicule. ¡°You don¡¯t belong on this floor. How about you quickly leave?¡±

    Xia Ling knitted her brows slightly and asked Chu Chen, ¡°Who uses the other room?¡± Did Imperial Entertainment change its rules? Was this floor was no longer reflective of status or meaningful enough anymore?

    However, hearing Xia Yu¡¯s tone, it did not seem like it.

    Chu Chen nced at her. ¡°It belongs to Li Yingchen.¡±

    Oh, it¡¯s her, another Diva singer whom Imperial Entertainment was always willing to cater to. It seemed that the 18th floor was really symbolic. However, Xia Yu¡¯s ce here was probably not obtained by her own ability.

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± Xia Ling finally could not help but advise her. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t take things that don¡¯t belong to you. Some people can put you on a pedestal and can also let you take the fall. When thates, it will be toote for you to know the pain.¡±

    That was a lesson from her failure and words from her heart.

    She did not know why she told Xia Yu that as she had decided long ago not to care about her sister. However, no one understood Pei Ziheng more than her. His love was a mirage. There was a fragile line between Heaven and Hell. She had already paid the price and did not want Xia Yu to share the same fate as her.

    However, Xia Yu misunderstood her and thought it was an insult. ¡°Ye Xingling, are you jealous? No wonder you¡¯re mad. There are only three rooms in this lounge area, and they belong to people whom Brother Ziheng cares the most about. I¡¯m sorry, but you don¡¯t have a spot here.¡±

    Xia Ling turned cold. She regretted telling Xia Yu that.

    As she did not want to have a meaningless quarrel with her, she lightly frowned. ¡°Make way.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to the lounge downstairs?¡± Xia Yu tilted her body to let her pass. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do this earlier? You should also see who room 1801 belongs to. Do you dare disregard it?¡±

    Didn¡¯t Chu Chen say that nobody was using room 1801?

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks, turned around, and asked Xia Yu, ¡°Whose room is that?¡±

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s my sister¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling?¡±

    ¡°Who else can it be?¡± Xia Yu looked over. ¡°Ye Xingling, so what if Brother Ziheng likes you? You will never be able to rece my sister in Brother Ziheng¡¯s heart. My sister is irreceable. Even if she is dead, this room will always be hers. As for you, a living person, you can only go downstairs, a ce of lower status.¡±

    Perhaps there were few people present, or she was trying to ¡°defend¡± her sister. Xia Yu did not restrain herself as usual or put on a weak fa?ade. Instead, she appeared rather aggressive.

    However, she was still aware of her limits.

    Since her rebirth, Xia Ling always thought about who Pei Ziheng truly loved. Was it only the bright and beautiful Xia Ling, the dream-like butterfly he raised? Or the person she truly was? If not, how could he vite her so terribly without knowing who she was and be so cold? He only started to spoil her more after knowing that she was actually Xia Ling.

    He left a lot of things for Xia Ling: the original untouched house, the photo wall, and the lounge in front of her.

    However, what has he done for Ye Xingling?

    Xia Yu looked at her quietly, twitching her lips to form a faint smile.

    That smug smile stung Xia Ling. She was already so miserable and did not want to see anyone step on her pride. ¡°Remuneration doesn¡¯te overnight¡± and ¡°revenge has to be direct¡± were always Xia Ling¡¯s life principles.

    She turned to look at Chu Chen. ¡°I want this lounge.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye?¡± Chu Chen slightly raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°I said that I want room 1801.¡± She emphasized her words impatiently.

    ¡°The Boss instructed long ago that no one is allowed to touch Xia Ling¡¯s things.¡± Chu Chen said. ¡°This room is kept in honor and memory of the deceased. Even Xia Yu is not allowed to enter it. Miss Ye, please don¡¯t make things difficult for me.¡±

    Chu Chen patiently tried to talk her out of it and did not budge from his position.

    Xia Yu smiled deeply. ¡°Ye Xingling, know your ce. This concerns my sister. Do you think Chu Chen has the authority to make a decision? I think you should just go downstairs as soon as possible. Otherwise, you might be a joke or even offend Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. This was nothingpared to the rage she felt towards Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Call Pei Ziheng and tell him that I want this room.¡± She said to Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen frowned. ¡°Miss Ye, please forgive me, but I can¡¯t do that. You just joined Imperial Entertainment and don¡¯t know how important Xia Ling is. Her room is really off-limits. I don¡¯t even think that you should try to take it.¡±

    Xia Yuughed softly as she watched the scene unfold.

    Xia Ling was more irritated than before and stubbornly reached out her hand. ¡°Give me your phone.¡± Even though she was signed to Imperial Entertainment, Pei Ziheng still did not intend to equip her with a phone. Now, she had to borrow Chu Chen¡¯s. Since he did not dare to ask Pei Ziheng, she would ask him herself.

    Chu Chen did not move.

    ¡°Give it to me!¡± Xia Ling demanded. ¡°Chu Chen, do you think that I won¡¯t be able to find a phone? Since when do I have to get your permission to call Pei Ziheng?! You better watch out as you might anger your master because of this!¡±

 Chapter 395 - Her Wilfulness

    <h4>Chapter 395: Her Wilfulness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chu Chen lowered his eyebrows and refused to move.

    Xia Yu smiled, and her voice returned to its usual softness. ¡°If he didn¡¯t stop you and let you recklessly steal my sister¡¯s lounge, he would really have enraged Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Ling red at them and breathed heavily but did not say a word.

    ¡°Ok, very good...¡± For a long time, she gritted her teeth and turned around to walk downstairs. She did not believe that she would not be able to find a phone!

    After a few steps, she knocked into a person. He had a warm chest and was wearing a ck silk-cotton shirt. The tip of her nose was throbbing after she bumped into him. A pair of warm and dry hands stabilized her. Above her, she could hear a low male voice. ¡°What happened? Who bullied you?¡±

    Xia Ling covered the tip of her nose as she looked up to see a familiar face. She almost wanted to cry.

    ¡°Ah Kun...¡± She blew her nose grievously. ¡°Lend me your phone.¡±

    Feng Kun did not question her and gave her his phone directly. The silver-gray metal was still warm in her hands, and it was a little heavy.

    ¡°Feng Kun!¡± Chu Chen was upset. ¡°How could you lend her your phone! Do you know what she wants to use the phone for?!¡±

    Feng Kun nced at him emotionlessly. ¡°Let Xiao Ling do what she wants.¡±

    Chu Chen was stunned by what he said, but he knew that he could not stop Xia Ling. He looked at her unkindly as he watched her make the phone call.

    Feng Kun¡¯s mobile phone¡¯s screen was veryrge. As Xia Ling used her fingertips to dial the familiar number, silver-white characters popped out. Tilting his body, Chu Chen¡¯s surprised exmation was heard. ¡°This is...¡±

    She looked at him and remembered that this was a number especially given to the deceased Diva Xia Ling for her own personal use. In her past life, Chu Chen followed her for a long time and had seen it numerous times.

    She lowered her head and concentrated on dialing the number. Soon, someone answered the call.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was heard. ¡°Hello, Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± When he really picked up her call, she actually felt a little guilty. What if he rejected her request?

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low and mellow. He sounded pretty happy that she called him, and his voice was cheerful. ¡°What happened? Why did you suddenly call me?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± She hesitated a little before saying, ¡°I want 1801.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± He did not understand her but quickly added, ¡°Sure. You can have anything you want. Ask Chu Chen to settle it for you.¡±

    Did he know what exactly he had agreed to do? Xia Ling simply stated: ¡°I want Xia Ling¡¯s original lounge that is above Feng Kun¡¯s recording studio. I also want you to remove all of the photos of Xia Ling, the tables and chairs used by Xia Ling, Xia Ling¡¯s favorite flowers, Xia Ling¡¯s designated wall, and carpet color... I want everything reced.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s with you?¡± Pei Ziheng did not immediately answer her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like them! Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t like them!¡± Things were fine before she made this call. Once she called him, she realized that the entire Imperial Entertainment office building was full of traces of her previous life. Then, she was really a picky person. Even if a single wire were out of ce, she would make others redo the entire decoration.

    Imperial Entertainment belonged to Pei Ziheng, but the interior and exterior were made suited to her past life¡¯s style.

    Every single step and view pierced her heart.

    Now, she was already Ye Xingling and did not need to keep all these things to remind everyone how deeply Pei Ziheng loved a deceased woman. Soon, she would have a baby, and if he were destined to grow up in Imperial Entertainment, it would be best if everyone knew from the start that she was Ye Xingling and would domineer over Xia Ling. Her baby would only be safe if her position were secured.

    ¡°You really liked those in the past.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like them now. Not at all. I don¡¯t want to look at a dead person¡¯s monuments the entire day. Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling is already dead! She¡¯s dead!¡± She gradually became emotional. Why was he only focusing on the past?!

    Chu Chen, Xia Yu, Xia Yu¡¯s manager and assistants heard what she said over the phone, and their expressions were rather unsightly. She was probably the only person who was able to call Xia Ling ¡°a dead person¡± in front of Pei Ziheng.

    At the other end, that man became silent.

    Xia Ling tightly clutched the phone and breathed heavily.

    Finally, he spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t like the way you talk about yourself.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t let me live like a dead person.¡± She calmed down a little.

    ¡°Oh Xiao Ling, my Xiao Ling...¡± He muttered her name like an inaudible sigh. ¡°Only you dare to be so wilful in front of me. Forget it, I¡¯ll grant your wish. You can get rid of all of your past things as you please.¡±

    He agreed.

    Xia Ling sighed in relief but did not feel very happy. She felt like she had just won a battle. Although she was victorious, she was exhausted. She hung up the phone and said to Chu Chen, ¡°Open this room and renovate it. After that, give it to the best male singer in Imperial Entertainment.¡± She did not want this room anymore. In her past life, her power and status were worthy of it, but now, she was not even close to how famous she was in the past. upying this ce would just cause others to speak ill of her.

    Before Chu Chen could say anything, Xia Yu could not even stand straight anymore. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t try to bluff us! How could Brother Ziheng agree to let you touch this room?! That¡¯s my sister¡¯s room!¡±

    Her tone changed. Even her expression was distorted as this was beyond her calctions.

    Xia Ling was also startled by the resentment in her eyes. This time, it was actually genuine and not fake.

    Did her acting improve or was her eyesight getting worse? No matter what, Xia Ling did not believe that she had any good intentions. The words that she uttered about wanting Xia Ling to die rang in her ears. She still hurt immensely when she thought about them now.

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± Xia Ling looked at her and said, ¡°How can a person like you care about your sister? Don¡¯t try to gain sympathy while using her as your excuse. Let me tell you, it doesn¡¯t fool me.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Xia Yu red at her. Her delicate little face became more distorted as a poisonous expression appeared on it. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you think that taking a room will make you qualified to be on par with my sister? Let me remind you, you will never beparable to her. You¡¯re not worthy!¡±

    ¡°It is not you who gets to decide whether I¡¯m worthy.¡± If it weren¡¯t for the events in her past life that formed a deep impression of her, Xia Ling would still be fooled by Xia Yu¡¯s performance and think that she had wronged the perfect sister.

    Xia Yu did not say anything else. She red at her onest time before walking away.

    As she left so quickly, Xia Ling felt more relieved. Although she had decided a long time ago to treat her as a stranger, she spent twenty years of her life as her sister, so even though the ending was tragic, she could not face her previous sister without a trace of emotion.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Feng Kun looked at her worriedly.

 Chapter 396 - Old Expert

    <h4>Chapter 396: Old Expert</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling shook her head to indicate that she was fine. After that, he looked at Chu Chen and understood that this was not a ce where they could talk freely.

    Feng Kun invited her to his office and made Chu Chen stand outside.

    When the door closed, the quiet sound-absorbing wall and the thick, soft carpet transported her into another world. Feng Kun invited Xia Ling to take a seat and brewed Biluochun tea for her. The aroma of the tea made her rx slowly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was making music in the afternoon and forgot the time such that you ran into trouble.¡± He said.

    She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. By the way, why were you at the 18th floor?¡±

    ¡°After I finished making music, I didn¡¯t see you and heard someone say that you went to the 18th floor, so I went up to take a look.¡± Feng Kun exined.

    ¡°You¡¯re very well-informed.¡±

    Feng Kun nced at her. ¡°I had no choice. Yourmotion was so big that it would be difficult for me not to know about it. There were very few people who dare to quarrel with Xia Yu, and you are the only one who dares to disrespect Chu Chen.¡±

    Xia Ling felt annoyed after hearing those two names and leaned her arms against the sofa lifelessly.

    Feng Kun asked, ¡°I thought that you always doted on your sister. Why did you suddenly quarrel with her? I wanted to ask you this a long time ago. It seemed that ever since your rebirth, you aren¡¯t too fond of her anymore. Also, why didn¡¯t you tell her who you are?¡±

    In her past life, Xia Yu only revealed her true, vicious nature after Xia Ling was imprisoned. No one knew about this so, in Feng Kun¡¯s eyes, they were still a pair of amicable sisters.

    Xia Ling did not want him to tell him about the bitter truth, so she turned her head and said, ¡°I¡¯m already in a different life, so I don¡¯t think we can be considered sisters anymore.¡±

    Perhaps she sounded too vexed or Feng Kun suspected something. He stopped asking further questions but said, ¡°This is also good. There¡¯s less risk if fewer people know about it. Xiao Ling, I still think that you should be careful around your sister.¡±

    In her past life, he had advised Xia Ling with the same words. Unfortunately, at that time, she did not take him seriously.

    Thinking about the past, Xia Ling¡¯s smile vanished. ¡°In the past, you said that her mind wasplicated. Why didn¡¯t I believe you then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you doted on her.¡± Feng Kun said faintly. ¡°When you dote on someone, you will always feel that everything is good.¡±

    Dote...

    Xia Ling silently recited this word in her heart, and the pain spread. ¡°Why did I dote on her until she ended up like this?¡± She treated Xia Yu so well and would give her the moon and the stars in a heartbeat, so why did Xia Yu hate her so much?

    For a moment, she was a little deep in thought. When she came back to reality, she realized that Feng Kun was looking at her.

    She concealed her emotions and said, ¡°I¡¯m not the only reason why Xia Yu is so mboyant now. It¡¯s also Pei Ziheng¡¯s fault. Perhaps one day, the higher she climbs, the more severe she will fall.¡±

    ¡°Have you realized that,¡± Feng Kun tapped his clean fingers on the table. ¡°Xia Yu really resembles you now?¡±

    ¡°Resembles me?¡±

    ¡°I mean, you from the past.¡± Feng Kun thought about it and corrected himself. ¡°In the past, she was not like that. She was incredibly pitiful and looked weak and fragile. However, now, she¡¯s different. She¡¯s more arrogant and proud now, and acts as you did in the past.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. Perhaps it was because Xia Yu finally revealed her true colors after her death. Or maybe Xia Yu was like that because she felt she could gain more of Pei Ziheng¡¯s love this way. Pei Ziheng liked beautiful and self-willed females. As for whether the person was Xia Ling... Even Xia Ling did not know if that were an important factor.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°No matter how much she resembles me, she hates me.¡±

    Feng Kun raised his eyebrows in surprise. ¡°I told you to be careful of her, but I think you¡¯re too careful. Why did you quarrel with her until you hate each other now?¡±

    She bit her lip and did not answer him.

    ¡°No matter what, she¡¯s your sister.¡± Feng Kun said. ¡°There¡¯s this saying that when you miss a person, you will be more like her. Xiao Ling, although your sister¡¯s mind isplicated, it doesn¡¯t mean that you don¡¯t mean anything to her.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Xia Ling rebuked without thinking. It was absurd to think that Xia Yu really had her in her heart. Who was the one who cruelly humiliated her, provoked her, and told her to die?

    ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t go from one extreme to another extreme.¡± Feng Kun continued to advise her.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t say any more, Ah Kun. What happened with Xia Yu is in the past. It¡¯s better to be strangers in this life.¡±

    As such, he stopped talking about her and changed the subject.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost done arranging a doctor to do your pregnancy test for you. This matter is very important and must be settled very carefully.¡± Feng Kun said. Pei Ziheng had a noble status and was not someone anyone wanted to offend. Furthermore, someone who was the chief doctor would probably be very aplished in society and was not stupid, so he would not take this sort of risk for money.

    At the start, Feng Kun¡¯s progress was not very smooth.

    However, after a secret investigation, he visited an old expert from Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital. That old expert was very insistent about adhering to the traditional principles of the older generation which included honesty, integrity, medical ethics, and professional skills. More importantly, he was not afraid of power, hatred, and enmity at all.

    He told the old expert about Xia Ling and Li Lei¡¯s love story.

    In the story, he described Pei Ziheng as an abusive demon and told the old expert that if Pei Ziheng found out that the child was Li Lei¡¯s, Xia Ling would definitely be forced to abort the child.

    The old expert was so furious that he mmed his fist on the table. Life was a very sacred thing. Abortion by young people was something that was iprehensible to him. Moreover, the poor girl in the story was still forced to undergo an abortion. After confirming that the story was authentic, which were mainly through Feng Kun¡¯s earnest attitude as he was very eloquent, looking at the romantic photo of Li Lei and Xia Ling, the old expert could not help but believe it because it involved famous people who were even mentioned in news reports before. As such, the old expert decided to help the poor girl cover up the truth about her pregnancy month.

    He asked Feng Kun to visit him a few dayster and wait for him to arrange everything in the hospital to ensure that there were no ws.

    An old expert like him had a high status in the hospital, and it was much more convenient for someone like him to help her instead of a junior doctor. Feng Kun was extremely grateful to him and promised to visit him three dayster to confirm the arrangement.

    ¡°You can now start to show some symptoms of morning sickness,¡± Feng Kun said to Xia Ling. ¡°After Pei Ziheng finds out that you¡¯re pregnant and wants to bring you for a check-up, make him choose Huaxin Hospital¡¯s Senior Zhang Guoping. Do whatever it takes for him to make that decision. You can throw a tantrum, act like a spoiled child, or even beg. Be sure to make him bring you there.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded with a solemn expression. ¡°I understand.¡± This was a major event that affected the life of her child, and she could not allow any ws in her n. Even if her life were on the line, she would not consult other doctors.

    Feng Kun said with concern, ¡°You have suffered.¡±

    He took out a few books for her. ¡°These are some precautions you have to take note of during pregnancy for novice pregnant women. I guess that it¡¯s not convenient for you to learn about this at home, so I bought a few books which will be ced in the studio.¡±

 Chapter 397 - Did You Call The Police

    <h4>Chapter 397: Did You Call The Police</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling took the books and felt extremely grateful. ¡°Thank god for you, Ah Kun. You are really thoughtful.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled and turned up the volume. The melodious and soothing music flowed out of the speakers like water. It wasn¡¯t a pop song but a ssical violin and piano piece that was very suitable for prenatal education. His voice was very gentle. ¡°You should rest well here. You don¡¯t have to record songs as we aren¡¯t rushing for time. The more important thing is to focus on taking care of your baby.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled thankfully and leaned her body on the sofa as she flipped through the books.

    The more she read them, the more nervous she became. ¡°Oh no, the book said that I can¡¯t use any medicine when I¡¯m pregnant, but I was severely injured some time ago and don¡¯t know how much medicine I used. Will it affect the baby?¡±

    Her face was pale as she looked at Feng Kun worriedly.

    Feng Kun was currently single and originally had no experience in this area. Luckily, a few days ago, in order to help her raise her baby, he did some research and learned a lot of relevant information. ¡°I asked the old expert, and he said it doesn¡¯t matter much if you took medication during the first two weeks of pregnancy. If you took medication after the first two weeks, it depends on what sort of medicine.¡±

    ¡°The child was probably created during the night before the ident.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Most of the medicine I used was concentrated within the first two weeks. Does that mean that the impact won¡¯t be big?¡±

    After receiving Feng Kun¡¯s confident expression, she was slightly relieved. However, she soon became nervous again. ¡°However, during the third and fourth week, I was still hospitalized and was usually put on a drip, among others... Is that bad?¡±

    ¡°I will help you find out what sort of medicine you used at that time.¡± Feng Kun assured her. ¡°After that, I will ask the doctor if it will affect your child. Once I get the news, I will inform you immediately, ok?¡±

    There was no better way. Xia Ling held back the anxiety in her heart and thanked him.

    She slowly touched her lower abdomen and spoke to herself. ¡°Baby, you will be fine. Your father is so powerful and healthy, I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll be very strong and unaffected by the medicine.¡±

    ¡°It will definitely be a strong baby.¡± Feng Kun held her hand to give her strength.

    They rested in the office for an afternoon until Chu Chen knocked on the door to remind her that it was time to go home.

    He said that Pei Ziheng was waiting at home to have dinner with her.

    Xia Ling did not want to return to that oppressive cage but had no choice but to follow Chu Chen. Although Pei Ziheng was tolerant of her wilfulness, it did not include disobeying his wishes. The consequences of resisting were too serious, and even she did not want to test his limits.

    Sure enough, when she reached home, there was red wine and a candlelight dinner prepared. A well-dressed Pei Ziheng was waiting for her.

    With soft music ying, he sat on a sofa chair with soft cushions and cut the steak skillfully for her. ¡°How was your day? Did you fight with Xia Yu?¡± He said in a low and hoarse voice.

    Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him.

    He was always well informed, and it was most likely Chu Chen who reported to him about what happened today. Xia Ling was not really surprised about that. What made her surprised was that he said ¡°Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°You used to call her Xiao Yu.¡± Xia Ling said.

    This time, he looked at her with an unfathomable expression that made her heart skip a beat.

    He slowly cut the steak and handed it to her. ¡°Try it, it¡¯s your favorite medium-well fillet.¡± After that, he addressed her statement. ¡°In the past, I never cared about your rtionship with your sister because you doted on her, and she seemed to treat you well. However, now I suspect that the truth is not like that, right?¡±

    Hisst word was slightly nasal, and it sounded low and dangerous.

    Xia Ling bit her lip. Did he have any clue that he was the reason why Xia Yu and she did not get along? Xia Yu secretly loved him, which was why she resented her. During thest year of her past life, she was humiliated and in a difficult position after Xia Yu viciously scorned and insulted her. However, it was in the past, and she did not want to be so calctive, because doing so would mean she had to rip open the wound that she had spent a long time recovering from.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t believe that I didn¡¯t kill Wang Jingwan, and she didn¡¯t as well.¡± Xia Ling said faintly. ¡°Thus, I hate her.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze turned cold. The topic about him and his former fiancee was taboo. ¡°It¡¯s alreadye to this. Why are you still lying? All of the evidence points to you. You even admitted it before.¡±

    Yes, she had personally admitted it in front of him that she had killed Wang Jingwan.

    However, that was just her acting recklessly when she was emotional. [So what if I killed her?!] She was furious as she retorted. [Call the police! Send me back to the public safety department! Kill me to get revenge for your fiancee!]

    In exchange, she received a tight p.

    Although she was in another life, she could still feel the dull pain. The wounds in her memory that were difficult to heal were ripped apart once again.

    She shook her head as she did not want to say anything else. In the past, she wished for him to see the truth because she still loved him then and cared about him. However, now? Who he thought was the murderer was no longer important.

    She already did not care about what he thought of her.

    Xia Ling lifted her ss of red wine and lowered her head. Just before she took a sip of red wine, she suddenly thought about what she read in Feng Kun¡¯s book ¡ª It¡¯s best not to drink alcohol during your pregnancy.

    She put down the ss and asked Nanny Zhou to hand her a ss of warm water.

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng also did not continue with this topic as he lowered his head to cut the steak. His method of cutting the steak was very sophisticated, calm, and elegant. On his silver te, his favorite medium rare Sirloin steak which still had traces of blood was dismembered by him quietly into pieces.

    As Xia Ling gazed at his movements, suddenly, she felt a little giddy.

    Recently, her reaction to meat became more serious, and it was almost impossible to conceal. She ufortably held the table with her hand. Unexpectedly, she knocked over a tall goblet and the red wine in the cup spilled out with a ¡°ping¡± sound.

    Xia Ling looked helplessly at the red stain on the snow-white table.

    Pei Ziheng got up, walked towards her, and moved her away from the mess. ¡°Be careful, your clothes are dirty now.¡± His breath lingered beside her ear and made her shudder.

    ¡°Why are you so careless?¡± He said, ¡°So clumsy.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a little faint, and her body was soft in his arms. ¡°I don¡¯t know why I feel so ufortable looking at the blood... I¡¯m a little dizzy.¡± She weakly said.

    ¡°Even blood from steak can make you dizzy.¡± Pei Zihengughed before smiling. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I see how vulnerable you were in the past?¡± He lightly kissed her long hair and hugged her.

    Shocked, Xia Ling wanted to push him away.

    However, his arms were like iron bars that restrained her. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    Xia Ling did not dare to move. During this time, she discovered a terrifying fact, which was that her resistance made him more aroused and excited. On several asions, he almost lost his ability to think logically and raped her. Xia Ling did not want to take this risk, especially now that she was pregnant. She did not want this baby which was hard toe by encounter any ident.

    Thus, she only remained stiff in his arms and let him carry her to the bedroom.

 Chapter 398 - Hidden

    <h4>Chapter 398: Hidden</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was so nervous that even after put her down gently on the bedroom bed, she still did not dare to move.

    As he leaned over, his fingers swam over Xia Ling¡¯s coat and fell on the buttons near her chest. The cotton shirt was thin that she shrank a little when she felt the heat of his fingertips on her chest.

    As such, he paused and withdrew his hand.

    ¡°Take off your clothes,¡± he said. ¡°I will get you a clean set of clothes.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at her shirt. There was only a small red wine stain at an inconspicuous ce. If one did not look carefully, he would not be able to see it. However, the Pei family rules were strict, and he was always particr about not letting her wear stained clothes during meals.

    However, Xia Ling was reluctant to change in front of him. Who knows what might happen? After seeing that he was walking towards the walk-in closet to find clothes for her, she quickly got off the bed and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to take a shower.¡±

    She escaped into the bathroom.

    The bathroom was renovated many years ago ording to her preferences, and it was behind the bed. At that time, they were very close, and even the partitions were all made of transparent ss with lovely, vague patterns. Xia Ling knew what the effect was when she looked at it from the outside. In her past life, she did that many times when she used toze in bed and enjoy the scene of water rushing down Pei Ziheng¡¯s body. In the mist, he was very arousing to her.

    However, now she hated how she loved to y those tricks as she ended up getting caught in her own trap.

    She locked the bathroom door, set the lights to the dimmest, and even pulled out all the curtains. However, she still did not dare to use the shower. Fumbling about, she filled the bathtub with water and poured in an entire bottle of bubble bath and sprinkled an entire packet of rose petals on the bath till the water surface could no longer be seen. After that, she quickly took off her clothes and immersed herself in it.

    Recently, she put in a lot of effort to shower like that to prevent him from getting any ideas.

    Every time when she covered herself securely, Pei Ziheng did not look very pleased. However, she did not know why he never stopped her and never really vited her. Xia Ling found it weird. When did he be so tolerant? She was already a chunk of meat in his cage or a fish on his cutting board. No matter how much he tortured her, she could not escape his grasp.

    In contrast, his gentleness and patience made her very uneasy.

    However, she did not dare to ask him. She would try to keep this up as long as possible. As long as she maintained the status quo, she and her baby would be safe. Who would think that there are too many good days?

    Pregnant women should not bathe for too long, so Xia Ling finished her shower as quickly as possible and took a set of pajamas from the small closet in the bathroom. This set of pajamas were from a famous European brand. Last month when the catalog was sent, she did not hesitate to choose the most conservative one.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was dark, but he still ordered the one she chose.

    It was two-piece cotton pajama set with a long-sleeved top and pants. She buttoned all the way to her neck.

    As Xia Ling walked out of the bathroom, the temperature difference made her slightly shiver. Then, she saw Pei Ziheng sitting by the bed, holding an unlit cigarette and carrying the clothes he brought for her. It was arge casual blouse embroidered with beautiful and intricate dark flowers; it used to be the style that she liked the most.

    ¡°Are you done showering?¡± His voice was low.

    Xia Ling nodded and stood by the bathroom door. The smell of smoke made her ufortable, and she did not move.

    ¡°Come here.¡± He said.

    ¡°After you put out that cigarette.¡± She said.

    His brows were slightly arched, but he still put out the cigarette as she requested and opened the window for venttion. ¡°You don¡¯t n to sing anymore, so why do you care about the smell of smoke so much?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the smell.¡± She answered. She was pregnant, and even though she could not reveal that now, she still had to create the healthiest environment possible for it.

    Pei Ziheng did not press her further. He helped her settle down and used arge white towel to dry her wet hair.

    A familiar technique and strength were used.

    That year, when their rtionship was still strong, he really liked to do things like that for her and treated her like a beautiful and delicate doll. The difference was that she was very happy then and epted all his care without worry. Sometimes she would even throw a little tantrum,ining that he was using too much or too little strength somewhere...

    In fact, no one knew better than Xia Ling about howfortable his technique was, but she liked the feeling of being pampered by him, just like how he forgave all of her wilfulness and unreasonableness.

    However, now, everything had changed.

    She was worried about the small life in her belly. The steak dinner tonight was not very appetizing, and she wondered if her baby felt hungry. There was also the issue of using medicine during pregnancy. She could not rest assured until the day Feng Kun gave her a reply...

    Just as she was absorbed in her thoughts, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You didn¡¯t eat enough for dinner right? What do you want to eat for supper? I¡¯ll get Nanny Zhou to prepare it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling came back to her senses. ¡°Something light like porridge and pickled vegetables.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was still gently helping her dry her hair. ¡°So in? It won¡¯t be nutritious enough.¡±

    Thinking about it, Xia Ling felt that he was right. She had already eaten very lightly recently to avoid morning sickness. Now, she had already sessfully convinced Pei Ziheng that they slept together, so it was fine that she showed symptoms of being pregnant now. The more important thing was that her baby had been wronged for too long, and it needed its nutrition.

    ¡°Ask her to make some soup then,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Crucian carp soup? I haven¡¯t had that in a long time.¡±

    ¡°You never liked to eat it in the past,¡± Pei Ziheng said but did not object to it. ¡°There¡¯s no squid in the house. I¡¯ll get someone to send it over from the old house, so you should eat something else in the meantime.¡± Only Xia Ling and he lived in this vi, and their usual meals consisted of things that they loved to eat, which did not include crucian carp soup as they did not even eat it once in a year. The old house was very different as many people from the Pei n lived there and had different exquisite tastes. Thus, there was a wider array of ingredients in therge kitchen there.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°If it¡¯s too troublesome, then forget it. How about pork ribs soup?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get Nanny Zhou to boil the ribs first. When the crucian carp arrives, she will make crucian carp soup. You can eat a little of both.¡± Pei Ziheng was always very patient with her. It was rare that she wanted to eat something, so of course, he had to try his best to fulfill her wishes.

    Xia Ling did not say anything and let him arrange it.

    In the night, the pork ribs soup was served first. She felt ufortable after drinking two mouthfuls and stopped after that. Soon, the crucian carp soup was served, but she could not tolerate the smell of it. For the baby¡¯s health, she forced herself to eat a few mouthfuls but could not help but put down her chopsticks.

    Pei Ziheng was worried and suggested to invite a doctor over again.

    Xia Ling tried to negotiate with him. ¡°How about a few dayster? Maybe I just started working and am not used to it. I¡¯m also quite tired, which may be why my appetite is so bad.¡± Seeing Pei Ziheng¡¯s disapproval, she said, ¡°I really don¡¯t like injections and taking medicine. I promise to rest well during these few days. If things really don¡¯t improve, you can call a doctor then.¡±

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t better after a few days, then I will have no choice but to call the doctor.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Xia Ling nodded and somehow got past this round.

 Chapter 399 - Why Is It Him

    <h4>Chapter 399: Why Is It Him</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The next day, Xia Ling went to the Imperial Entertainment office building as usual and saw Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun told her that he had already settled everything with the old doctor. Next Wednesday, he would be the only one present in the specialist clinic, so if she picked that time to visit, he would definitely be the one treating her.

    Xia Ling felt as if a huge boulder had been lifted off her shoulders.

    However, not long after, she was worried again. ¡°What about the medication that I used...?¡±

    Feng Kun frowned this time. ¡°Xiao Ling, this is also something I have to tell you. You have to think carefully about whether you want to keep this child. I¡¯ve checked the medication list in the hospital you stayed at and realized that you used antibiotics. Although the ones you used were not the most harmful to pregnant women, there is a chance that they may hurt your fetus.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned ashen.

    This was the result that she was the most worried about and did not think that it would be the reality. This child was hard toe by, and to protect its life, she had already put in a lot of effort. Now, she was being told that perhaps it could have defects?

    She started to regret not listening to Lin Yunan¡¯s advice at the start. Why didn¡¯t she use a substitute? If the paragliding ident did not happen, she would be happy and safe with Li Lei, and they would look forward to the smooth birth of their baby together. However, that ident changed everything.

    She was separated from her beloved, and even their unborn baby was in danger.

    She was increasingly convinced that Xia Moyan was right. It seemed that she really was destined to have a life of a widow, which was why even her unborn baby was affected. She felt that she was the world¡¯s worst mother. Other mothers were able to take care of and protect their children, but she caused it pain from the start.

    She looked mournful as she gently stroked her lower abdomen with her slender fingers.

    Feng Kun was distressed after looking at her appearance, but he could not do anything about it. He only whispered. ¡°You should think carefully; this child may have defects. However, it can also be very healthy if it¡¯s lucky.¡± Should she abort the child or give birth to it? This was a very serious decision, and no one could help her make it. Only she could think carefully and decide. However, it was cruel for a girl who was already suffering immensely to make such a serious decision.

    Xia Ling did not speak. She sat on the soft sofa and kept stroking her lower abdomen. She remained in that position for the entire day. She was helpless and hesitant. How could she bear to abort her child? However, if she did not abort it and it had defects, what should she do? If the child was ridden with illness once it was born, how could she bring it into this world to suffer? Just for her own desires?

    There was a burning fire in her heart which scorched her.

    She was in a trance and did not know how she returned home. She ate dinner as usual and did not even hear what Pei Ziheng said clearly. Like a sleepwalker, she went to shower andid on the bed to sleep.

    Pei Ziheng undid his tie and walked to the bed beside her and then touched her forehead. ¡°Are you sick?¡±

    She ufortably turned around to back-face him.

    Pei Ziheng gently said, ¡°I¡¯ll call the family doctor over.¡± Her recent physical condition was not quite right, and he felt that he could not let this drag on any longer. He needed the doctor to check what exactly was wrong with her.

    Xia Ling heard what he said and became a little more awake.

    She turned her body around, sat up and said to him, ¡°Pei Ziheng. Don¡¯t call a doctor.¡±

    ¡°No matter how much you don¡¯t like injections and medicine, you shouldn¡¯t take your health as a joke.¡± Pei Ziheng frowned. ¡°You promised me that you would rest well, but it seems that you¡¯ve be more lifeless.¡±

    She half-closed her eyes. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I hate you.¡±

    Her voice was very soft.

    If it weren¡¯t for him, she would be lying in Li Lei¡¯s arms discussing the baby. Regardless of whether they were going to keep the child, there were people facing this difficult decision with her. As long as the child¡¯s father was beside her, even if the world fell apart, she would still feel safe. However, now, she had no one to lean on and could only huddle in this lonely and dangerous cage while asking herself over and over again on what she should do.

    Pei Ziheng got up to take his phone near the bed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you hate me.¡± He said, ¡°I only want you to be healthy.¡±

    Suddenly, she got up from the bed and dragged him back, refusing to let him make the call. ¡°I hate you, I hate you!¡± The umted resentment in thest few days was suddenly released all at once. ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you think you are invincible? Do you think you are very impressive and can dominate everything?! What gives you the right to force me to stay by your side? What gives you the right to make me do things I don¡¯t want to do?! Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re a beast! Let me go! Let me go!¡±

    She bawled hysterically.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression suddenly darkened and his facial muscles tightened, but he did not say anything.

    She screamed at him with tears streaming down her face and punched him continuously. He was unprepared for her sudden outburst. It turned out that the peace over these few days was just a superficial act.

    He lifted his hand and squeezed her chin tightly, forcing her to look at him. ¡°Xia Ling, what gives me the right? I have the right because I saved your life, and that means your life belongs to me!¡±

    She shook her head. Her pale face was covered in tears. She sobbed as she hit him until she lost all her strength and finally copsed in his arms.

    Pei Ziheng slowly closed his eyes.

    After a long time, he gentlyid her t on the soft andfortable bed and covered her with the quilt.

    After that, he got up and went to the study.

    There was a box of cigarettes in the study. He opened them and lit a cigarette. Soon, he lit them all one by one. Smoking was a bad habit he picked up only after her death. That period of time was too painful. If he did not find something to numb himself, he would not be able to get past it. Then, she returned, and he thought that he would be able to quit.

    However, he smoked even more ferociously.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He bent down and buried his face in his hands. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair.¡± He loved her for 18 years. A total of 18 years in two lifetimes. What about the other man? Only two years.

    How could she viciously turn her back on him and find a new lover?

    The ash between his fingers fell to the ground. A dim red spark glimmered in the distance. In the silent room, no one answered him.

    The next day, Xia Ling woke up and realized that the space beside her was empty, neat, and cold. It seemed that no one slept therest night. She was a little worried and did not know what the result would be after treating Pei Ziheng like thatst night.

    Uneasy, she washed her face, changed her clothes, and nned to go out.

    Nanny Zhou stopped her. ¡°Miss Ye, Mister told me to call the family doctor after you wake up to give you a full body check.¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡±

    ¡°However, I have to be ountable to Mister.¡± Nanny Zhou was in a difficult position. ¡°Furthermore, you really do need to see a doctor.¡±

 Chapter 400 - Reuniting with Li Lei

    <h4>Chapter 400: Reuniting with Li Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Where is Pei Ziheng?¡± She asked.

    Nanny Zhou cautiously asked, ¡°Mister was in the study the whole night and left early in the morning. When I went into the study to do the cleaning, it smelled like smoke. Miss Ye, did you guys have a fight?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°We didn¡¯t. Don¡¯t worry, Nanny Zhou.¡± She continued. ¡°I want to go out today. I have some inspiration to write a song. Inspiration is usually fleeting, so don¡¯t stop me, Nanny Zhou.¡±

    ¡°But Mister...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go to the office to look for him and exin to him personally.¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression was full of hesitation. Mister was bound to lose his temper if he knew that Miss Ye was not going to listen to him. However, Miss Ye was stubborn as well ¡ª she refused vehemently to see a doctor, and there was no way anyone could persuade her otherwise. Nanny Zhou was caught in the middle. She was just a mere servant and could not juggle both their worries. As she was still pondering on what to do, Xia Ling had already pushed open the door and left the house.

    There was no car parked in the little garden in front of the door, which was unusual.

    Xia Ling went in search of the driver. However, the driver said, ¡°Mister told me that I don¡¯t have to drive you anywhere today.¡±

    It looked like Pei Ziheng was adamant that she stay home to wait for the doctor. Her expression darkened, and she coldly said to the driver, ¡°Send me to the office. I will exin to him personally once I see him. If you don¡¯t send me there, I¡¯m going to walk out to the streets and g a cab.¡± Her Porsche was still parked by Luo Luo¡¯s apartment, and she never found the time to drive it over.

    The driver reluctantly agreed to send her to the office since it was not a forbidden area set down by Pei Ziheng, and he could not run the risk of her going to g a cab.

    The drive to Imperial Entertainment was smooth.

    Xia Ling got off the car and did not go straight to the main building to look for Pei Ziheng. She instead headed straight to Feng Kun¡¯s office.

    Feng Kun was waiting in the office for her, and his room was decorated in a way that emitted warmth andfort. There were many aqua-culture nts and soft music ying in the background. He had even prepared a pot of calming tea for her. ¡°Why did youe here sote today?¡± Feng Kun passed her the tea. ¡°Is there anything troubling you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about it.¡± Xia Ling sighed. ¡°I barely made it out of the house today.¡± She quickly exined to Feng Kun about Pei Ziheng insisting that she see a doctor. She then worriedly said, ¡°It¡¯s only Wednesday the day after tomorrow. We would still have to wait for two days before going to the hospital. If he tries to force me to see a doctor again today, what am I to do?¡±

    Feng Kun frowned at theplexity of the problem.

    He thought about it before saying, ¡°Sleep in the recording studio today. I¡¯ll apany you, and we will tell everyone else that you had to workte.¡± Artistes would usually have irregr schedules. She was the exception that was able to wake up and go to sleep at regr timings.

    It would not be weird for her to asionally have to ¡°workte.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. When I left the house today, I told Nanny Zhou that I had inspiration and needed to go write a song. It¡¯s perfect to ride on this ¡®overflowing inspiration¡¯ to work through the night.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled as well.

    The two of them were long-time partners in work and were extremelypatible. They looked every bit the part of making music, such that the people that Pei Ziheng sent to make sure it was so could not see anything amiss.

    His Xiao Ling was disobedient in every way but was extremelymitted when it came to music. If anyone were to disturb her while she was hard at work, she would get furious.

    In her past life, while she was still a Diva, there was a time that Pei Ziheng interrupted her when she was recording a song. She was so angry that she ignored him for a full week. Last night, they had just had a big fight, and Pei Ziheng did not want to step on her pet peeve at this point in time to exacerbate the unhappiness.

    Hence, Pei Ziheng went home alone.

    He thought to himself that seeing the doctor could wait for tomorrow.

    Seeing that he had left, Xia Ling and Feng Kun breathed a sigh of relief and stopped pretending to discuss the song.

    Feng Kun started to pack up the song manuscripts and said to Xia Ling, ¡°You might have to make do with sleeping on the couch today. I¡¯ll get someone to bring up a nket. I¡¯ll be in the recording studio next door. Call out if you need me.¡±

    It was gettingte, and Xia Ling was feeling very sleepy. Hearing Feng Kun¡¯s words, she obedientlyy down on the couch to sleep. Feng Kun was not a workaholic like Wei Shaoyin and did not put a proper bed in the office. The nket was also only purchased after hearing news of Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy. It was definitely not the mostfortable sleeping arrangements.

    However, at this stage, she could not afford to be picky.

    She wrapped herself up in the nket and drifted off to sleep.

    She dreamed of herself carrying a beautiful little boy and a handsome man like the sun was looking at her warmly from a distance. They appeared to be separated by ss, and he was distant and blurry, seemingly unreal.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± She reached out to him in her dream. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you...¡±

    That ss shattered at her touch, turning into shimmering sunlight. That handsome man ran towards her and reached out to hold her hand. The warmth from the tips of his fingers felt so real that it made her long for him even more.

    She gripped his hand a little tighter. This was the first time that she dreamed of him since the ident. She wished that she did not need to wake up from this dream...

    Li Lei half-knelt and pressed his cheek to her palm, gently and quietly.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... my Xiao Ling.¡± He murmured.

    Even though it was just a dream, she wanted to get more of him. Following her instincts, Xia Ling leaned closer and closer to him. She felt herself being enveloped in a warm embrace. Li Lei¡¯s gentle and caring voice rang out beside her ears. ¡°Why are you so restless in your sleep? You¡¯re going to roll off the sofa.¡±

    She murmured something unintelligible in response. She was in a dream... so what if she rolled off the sofa?

    ¡°Don¡¯t leave...¡± She pressed deeper into his embrace. This dream was so real, and she could not bear to release him.

    ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t.¡± He said softly, before kissing the top of her head. ¡°Xiao Ling, sleep for a while longer. I¡¯ll be here with you.¡±

    She slept soundly in his embrace, her breathing returning to normal, and the room was silent again.

    She suddenly snapped awake as if realizing something and opened her eyes. Li Lei... he was right here by her side! He was holding her in his arms on the couch.

    Xia Ling did not know how to react. She blinked her eyes in a daze, looking at the handsome man that was right in front of her. She hesitated, before reaching out to touch his face. The familiar lines on his face, his sharp nose, his nicely-shaped lips, and that deep-set eyes that were like the morning forest.

    It was him... it was really him.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± Xia Ling called out, her voice brimming with amazement. ¡°Am I dreaming?¡±

    The man in front of her shed a bright smile as he stared into her eyes without blinking. ¡°It¡¯s not a dream, Xiao Ling. I came to find you.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose crinkled, and she could barely hold back the tears. He was here... he was finally here. He did not leave her in the darkness to face her worries and terrors alone.

 Chapter 401 - The Scars

    <h4>Chapter 401: The Scars</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She hugged onto him tightly, fearing that he would disappear if she let go.

    Li Lei patted her gently on the back and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling. I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t I? You¡¯ve suffered in this period that I was gone.¡±

    The tears that she had managed to hold back started to fall uncontrobly.

    He lovingly caressed her face. ¡°Crying like a little kitten.¡±

    Her tears fell even quicker, and she choked through her tears. ¡°You finally came to find me! Do you know how much I¡¯ve missed you?! I was so afraid, so worried...¡± She was worried about his injury, fearing that he was not doing as well as Chu Chen and Sister Mai Na had made it out to be. She could not sleep well if she did not see how he was doing for herself.

    Li Lei wiped the tears from her eyes and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for making you worry.¡± He did not look well and was skinnier than before. He also looked tired with red eyes and his lips slightly purple, as if he were still recovering from a big illness. Yet, he stillforted Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling also observed that he was looking rather frail. She recalled that Chu Chen had said that he was seriously injured, and his spine had been damaged. It was miraculous that he had not be crippled from the fall. She hurriedly looked him up and down, asking with concern, ¡°How are your injuries? Are you recovering well? Is there still pain anywhere?¡±

    As she spoke, she sat up on the sofa, wanting to check his injuries.

    Li Lei raised his hand to block her. ¡°I¡¯m alright. The injuries are all recovered already.¡± He smiled and said, ¡°I can run and jump. How about you? Are you okay?¡±

    Was she okay? She thought of the child she was carrying and did not know where to start.

    However, before she checked on his injuries, she had no mood to exin her side of the story to him. She avoided his question and reached out again to him. ¡°Let me see.¡± If she did not check for herself if he were recovering well, how could she set her heart at peace?

    Li Lei smiled before shifting from his position on his side to lie on his back. He urately caught her hand that was about to unbutton his shirt. ¡°I told you I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t take advantage of me.¡±

    ¡°No, I want to see.¡± She insisted. She was more suspicious that he was lying about his condition since he refused to let her see for herself.

    ¡°I¡¯m really fine.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him angrily. Since when did this person be so petty, refusing even to let her have a nce? Why was he acting all shy? It was not like she had not seen his body before.

    ¡°Li Lei, are you going to let me see or not?¡±

    ¡°I know my body is good, and I like your enthusiasm.¡± He crossed his arms behind his head to form a makeshift pillow. He smiled innocently and said, ¡°But you have to rein it in a little. Xiao Ling, we¡¯re in Feng Kun¡¯s office. Control yourself, what if someone sees us?¡±

    While she was angry, she could not help but turn red at his suggestive joke.

    She sheepishly looked towards the door. Thankfully, the door was closed.

    ¡°Oh yes.¡± She recalled and asked. ¡°How did you get in here?¡± This was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s office, and security was tight. From the garden out front to the office building, he had to go through rounds and rounds of security and identification checks. How was it possible that he was able to appear so quietly in front of her?

    ¡°Feng Kun.¡± Hezily replied.

    She understood. Even though Feng Kun was working for Imperial Entertainment, he was on her side and had no reason to stop Li Lei from seeing her. However, she knew that he had probably set down quite a lot of conditions to create this opportunity for them.

    She was touched. This was a risky move for Feng Kun that could offend Pei Ziheng.

    She was indebted to him.

    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Xia Ling was pulled back from her drifting thoughts. Seeing that he still refused to remove his shirt, she bristled at him. ¡°Go, get off the couch! Don¡¯t squeeze here with me with your jacket on. It¡¯s filthy! Go wash up.¡±

    There was sand on his clothes, which made her wonder what he had been through to get to her.

    Li Lei lowered his head to look down at his clothes. It could not be helped. Old Master Li was afraid that he woulde to look for Xia Ling and had ced many bodyguards around him to monitor his actions. With difficulty, he had snuck out by jumping out the window and climbing over a fence. It would be a miracle to do all that and still remain clean.

    He felt wronged since his beloved Xia Ling was keeping him at arm¡¯s length. ¡°I¡¯m not dirty.¡±

    She kicked him gently away.

    He felt more upset. ¡°How am I to find a ce to wash up in this office?¡±

    She kicked him gently again and pointed in the direction of the washrooms with her foot.

    Seeing that she was adamant on him washing up, Li Lei grudgingly got up and went to the washroom. He turned on the tap and started to clean himself.

    Xia Ling timed herself after he had left the room.

    She got up at the opportune moment and walked to the washrooms. She did not believe that Li Lei waspletely fine. If he were, why wouldn¡¯t he let her see his injuries? She needed to verify for herself.

    The office was quiet in the night, and the corridor was empty.

    She held her breath as she walked stealthily to the men¡¯s washroom, pushing open the door carefully. It was locked from the inside. Xia Ling was more certain that something was amiss. She ran over to the recording studio next door where Feng Kun was sleeping and woke him up. She asked, ¡°Do you know how to open the men¡¯s washroom door?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Feng Kun looked at her confused.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to exin.¡± She said. ¡°Quick, tell me how to open it. I need to go in right now.¡±

    Seeing how anxious she was, Feng Kun did not ask anymore but rang the security officer on duty, asking him to release the lock on the men¡¯s washroom on this floor. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s facilities were high-ssed, and the electronic lock was installed in case of emergencies so that it could be opened through the security system if required.

    The instant the lock was opened, Xia Ling rushed to the men¡¯s washroom.

    She pushed open the door and entered. She saw a man¡¯s half-naked upper body under the washroom lights, lean and well-built.

    Li Lei¡¯s reaction was quick. He had turned the moment he heard her enter, and his back was turned to her. However, Xia Ling still saw the big scar that ran across his back ¡ª it was a deep and long scar that weaved across his back from his waist to his shoulder like it was cutting his body in half. There was another deep surgical incision scar located near the scar on his back. It was terrifying, and Xia Ling could not bear imagine the struggle he had gone through to survive.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you...¡±

    Li Lei wanted to say something, but she had already run over and embraced him from behind. Her tears were falling uncontrobly from a mix of emotions ¡ª guilt, pain, sadness.

    He stood there stiffly letting her hug him in front of the mirror, before turning around and pulling her into his arms. ¡°Silly Xiao Ling, I¡¯m really fine. Why are you crying so hard?¡±

    More tears fell as Xia Ling buried her head in his chest and did not look up.

 Chapter 402 - Leave with me

    <h4>Chapter 402: Leave with me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Leiforted her gently. ¡°Xiao Ling, be a good girl, don¡¯t cry... don¡¯t cry... I don¡¯t know what to do when you cry...¡±

    ¡°Stop talking!¡± Xia Ling lifted her head, her eyes still brimming with tears. ¡°Li Lei, did you have a death wish?! How could you fly up to the cliff in that thunderstorm to save me?! Do you know how dangerous that was?! I told you not toe! Why didn¡¯t you listen?! Why?!¡± She recalled the happenings from that day, and her body started to tremble. She shouted out furiously. ¡°Li Lei, you lunatic! You¡¯re crazy, do you know that?! I don¡¯t want you to be some righteous hero! I would rather die than to see you... to see you...¡±

    Her voice caught and could not continue.

    If anything untoward had happened to him, what was she to do?

    Li Lei hugged her tightly. ¡°I¡¯m not a righteous hero... I went up there only because the damsel in distress was you. You have to be fine, Xiao Ling. If anything were to happen to you, what would I do?¡± His voice was trembling like her body was. ¡°So, let¡¯s stop talking about dying. I can¡¯t bear to lose you.¡±

    Xia Ling cried in his chest until she grew fatigued. All her pent up longing and fear seemed to have exploded, and she could not stop crying.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, it¡¯s alright... I¡¯m alright... I¡¯m back, let me take you away.¡±

    His words were caring, but it was like a basin of icy water was poured over her. Xia Ling recalled the death vow that Pei Ziheng had forced her to swear to and backed away from Li Lei slowly.

    He looked at her confused. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him nervously. ¡°Did you get the amulet that I asked Sister Mai Na to pass to you?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± Li Lei took out the wooden amulet from his pocket, which looked mysterious under the dim washroom lights. ¡°Were you asking me to bring it to The Preceptor? I found him, and he said that he knows what you want, but he can¡¯t help you.¡±

    She wanted her brother to break the death curse for her, and he could not do it?

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned white and she stumbled backward.

    ¡°Xia Ling, what did you ask from Preceptor Xia?¡± Li Lei asked.

    She opened her mouth, but no words came out to exin everything that ran through her mind. She could not bear to continue looking into Li Lei¡¯s hopeful eyes and turned to run out of the washroom.

    Li Lei chased her down and grabbed her wrist.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s going on?¡± He asked. ¡°Did you ask him to save you from this ce? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here now,e with me. I¡¯ll take you away.¡± When he was recuperating, he had heard about her predicament. Like Sister Mai Na, he guessed that she had stayed by Pei Ziheng to save him.

    Li Lei felt for her and was angry at himself. How could he let his beloved girl suffer for him?

    His injuries were terrible, and the doctors had saved him from the jaws of hell. It took him forever to recuperate from his injuries. If not for the fact that he had a healthy and robust disposition to start with, he would still be lying in the ward right now. He had cooperated with the treatment enthusiastically, hoping that he would recover expediently. The moment he had be better, he had used his businesses as an excuse to insist oning back.

    Old Master Li could not argue with him and could only let hime back.

    He had sent many to watch over Li Lei, but Li Lei still managed to find a loophole and sneak out to look for Xia Ling.

    He looked into Xia Ling¡¯s eyes and gently said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. When we get to my territory, he won¡¯t be able to touch you.¡± He thought that it was Pei Ziheng¡¯s surveince that prevented her from escaping.

    However, Xia Ling shook her head with her expression distraught.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice became uncertain as he could not fathom what she was thinking.

    ¡°I can¡¯t leave.¡± Xia Ling struggled to control her emotions. ¡°Li Lei, thank you foring to see me. It¡¯s almost morning, and you should hurry and leave. Don¡¯t get found out by Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?!¡± Li Lei asked anxiously. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you leaving with me? What problem have you met with? Tell me! I¡¯ll help you find a solution!¡±

    Xia Ling closed her eyes.

    ¡°There¡¯s no problem.¡± She said. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯ve chosen to stay by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side.¡± She did not know how to face him. She only knew that if even her Preceptor brother could not break that curse, then she definitely could not go. She could not leave any chance for that death vow toe true. She hardened her heart and pulled herself free from his grip.

    Li Lei caught her hand again. This time, he held her forcefully such that it hurt.

    ¡°Let go!¡± She said.

    He pulled onto her and hugged her tightly to his chest.

    ¡°Leave with me! I¡¯ll take you home!¡± He said with even greater resolve than before. He half pulled, half carried her towards the elevators. Xia Ling¡¯s strength was no match for his, and before long she was right in front of the elevators.

    ¡°Li Lei, let me go!¡± She shouted and struggled in his arms. ¡°I won¡¯t leave, I won¡¯t leave!¡±

    He continued to pull her into the elevator.

    ¡°I already belong to Pei Ziheng!¡± She shouted out in despair.

    At that moment, the whole world turned silent.

    Li Lei¡¯s body stiffened. ¡°What did... what did you say?¡±

    She pushed him away as he stood stunned, and stood with her back to the wall. She did not know what to say to him. However, there was nothing that she could do to take back what she said, and letting him misunderstand might be for the better. He would stop missing her, and they would have nothing to do with each other anymore... forever.

    She felt heartbroken and could barely breathe.

    Her face was white, and she did not dare lift her head to look at him. Her gaze stayed riveted on his bare chest. His tan skin was smooth, but there were tons of scars all over his body. Some were deep, and others were not; Some were old and others newer. He was like a warrior that had gone through a hundred wars.

    Did he feel pain when he was injured?

    Her tears started to fall again.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, he forced himself on you, didn¡¯t he? If not, why would you sleep with him?¡± Li Lei understood her statement ¡°I already belong to Pei Ziheng¡± as she thought he would. However, he stubbornly said, ¡°It¡¯s alright! I won¡¯t give up on you for something like this. Leave with me, we can be together again.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. She did not say anything for fear that she would agree to go with him.

    Her heart felt like it was in pieces, and she was extremely upset. Li Lei... he was such a good person. He could tolerate the fact that Pei Ziheng had imed her for himself. If only their problems were as simple as that. However, they were in a predicament that was so much more serious.

    ¡°Leave with me!¡± He raised his voice, suddenly getting anxious.

    She jumped in shock, and her body shook as she looked up at him. Li Lei realized that he had acted out, and said in a gentler voice, ¡°Sorry, Xiao Ling, I did not mean to scare you...¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t leave.¡± She said in a hoarse voice.

    ¡°Why?¡± He started to get agitated again, but seeing her white and broken expression, he controlled his temper. ¡°Xiao Ling, you love me! Not him! You were so concerned about my injuries earlier! Why do you want to stay by his side all of a sudden? I don¡¯t care if you have slept with him! You slept with me too! We¡¯ve slept together so many times! You should stay by my side!¡±

    He gripped her shoulder and forced her to look at him.

    However, Xia Ling only responded with, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    That word was like a lonely, chiming bell in the middle of the cold night.

 Chapter 403 - The Greatest Distance

    <h4>Chapter 403: The Greatest Distance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    With shivering hands, Li Lei pulled her into an embrace.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice trailed as he pleaded with her. ¡°Will you leave with me? I beg of you, I can¡¯t live without you...¡± His voice was so hoarse, he barely sounded like himself anymore.

    Tears welled up in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, and the tears that she had held in just now came gushing out. However, she restrained herself and shook her head. ¡°Li Lei, I can¡¯t leave. I can¡¯t...¡± What if the curse came true because she left? She had lived for two lifetimes and believed in the superstitions and powers of the heavens more than anyone else. So, how could she possibly put her lover¡¯s life at such risk? She would very much rather see him live a peaceful life, even if it meant keeping a distance from him.

    ¡°I know that you left with him in order to save me. But I¡¯m fine now. I¡¯m standing before you well and alive, why won¡¯t youe with me?!¡± Li Lei had both hands on her shoulders and was in utter desperation. ¡°Imperial can afford to pay for the termination fees of the contract, but I can afford it too. Xiao Ling,e back to me, please.¡±

    This was the very first time Xia Ling had heard him speak in such a tone; it ripped her heart into pieces. She never knew that she could hurt this much when she saw him in pain.

    But, how could she ede to his request?

    ¡°Li Lei, this isn¡¯t about money.¡± Xia Ling hardened her heart and decided to make him give up all hope of her return. She spoke slowly, ¡°I... I¡¯m willing to be with Pei Ziheng. There was no coercion involved, we... couldn¡¯t resist ourselves, that¡¯s how we ended up in bed together.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± He growled like an injured beast.

    Suppressing the pain in her heart, Xia Ling mustered the courage to look him in the eye. ¡°Li Lei, it¡¯s true.¡±

    Each word was uttered so slowly, she could feel the pain creeping up at her with every breath. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve always liked him. I¡¯ve been liking him even before I fell for you. But I didn¡¯t want to be his mistress, I wanted a rtionship where we stood on equal grounds, which was why I avoided him and went with you instead. You... were always his substitute.¡±

    These words hid more truth than it revealed.

    She could not tell him that her love for Pei Ziheng had faded over the years, and the only feeling she had left for him was fear. She was afraid of Pei Ziheng, afraid that she would end up in his luxurious but tormenting cage.

    It was a fact that she wanted a pure and equal rtionship, but the person who had given it to her was the man standing before her, not the other man. With Li Lei, she was carefree and at ease, like soaking in a bathtub under the warm glow of the sun. She had fallen in love with him and was all ready to spend the rest of her life with this man. It was a pity that it all ended way too soon...

    She had not had the chance to tell him that she loved him.

    ¡°Substitute...?¡± Li Leo¡¯s hands had fallen off her shoulders. He took a few steps back and was caught in utter disbelief. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve always seen me this way?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She clenched her jaw and forced the word out. ¡°The days of loneliness were too hard to bear, that was why I couldn¡¯t help but lean into your every embrace. But the other day when we were at the cliff, it hit me ¡ª if I died, I would never have the chance to be with Ziheng again. Hence, I told myself that if I survived, I would return to his side.¡±

    She deliberately said the name ¡°Ziheng¡± with affection.

    In her past life, she had spoken his name too many times in affection and admiration. This time, it was all too easy for her to do it again.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was even more awful than before.

    Xia Ling felt as if her heart had gone numb from breaking too many times. The only way she could cope was to think of herself as an empty shell, an actress who was doing nothing more than reading her lines. ¡°So, I¡¯ve been with Ziheng since that incident. As for saving you, it was simply out of convenience. Li Lei, I hope you get this clear ¡ª I¡¯m not getting together with him just to save you, don¡¯t put yourself too high up on a pedestal.¡±

    She said it all in one breath, afraid that she would not be able to go on if she took a pause.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it, I don¡¯t believe it!¡± He red at her with bloodshot eyes. ¡°You¡¯re just lying to me, aren¡¯t you? How could you possibly fall for a monster like him? Do you know how much of a womanizer he is and how much he disrespects love? Ye Xingling, you¡¯re out of your mind! He doesn¡¯t even treat his woman as human beings! Are you saying you¡¯re willing to be his ything, ready to be tossed aside once he¡¯s sick of you?! I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯ve investigated him. He...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Xia Ling cut him off agitatedly. His words were harsh enough to hurt her. ¡°Li Lei, you know what?! I don¡¯t need you to tell me what sort of person Ziheng is! You don¡¯t understand! That¡¯s between him and me! I¡¯m more than happy to be with him! I don¡¯t need your opinion!¡±

    Her screams were partly feigned, but an outlet for the immense pain she was in as well. The rtionship she had with Pei Ziheng was like an infected wound that could never heal ¡ª it hurt unbearably even with the slightest of touch.

    Li Lei smiled out of anger. ¡°Ye Xingling, I love you so much. I even put my life on the line to save you. And now you¡¯re telling me that you want to be with that man?! Ye Xingling, you¡¯re heartless!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for you to care!¡± She did not want theirst moments together to be spent like this, hurling hurtful words at each other. But Li Lei¡¯sments were like a knife to her heart, and she couldn¡¯t help but retaliate. ¡°Li Lei, no matter how bad Pei Ziheng is, he¡¯s a million times better than you! I like him as it is! No, I love him. You hear that? I love him!¡±

    Li Lei was being tormented as well. ¡°Ye Xingling, I never knew you were into BDSM. If this is your style, I can satisfy you as well!¡± A storm was raging inside him, and the words that escaped him were increasingly vile.

    She looked away for a split second and forced herself to look up at him again. ¡°I don¡¯t need your concern! No matter how much he¡¯s torturing and humiliating me, I¡¯m more than willing to take it! Li Lei, please save yourself some dignity and stop bothering me!¡±

    With that, she turned around and dashed out of the corridor.

    She ran down flights of stairs like she was running for her life, and the echo of her footsteps reverberated behind her so loudly that they seemed to be mocking her selfishness and cowardice.

    When she finally dashed out of the building, she was greeted by the faint glow of dawn.

    In her field of vision, the two security officers on duty were chatting merrily, while a middle-aged man was handing a piping hot bun to his wife, who was busy sweeping the pavement. Meanwhile, Xia Ling stood there all alone. Regardless of the pain she had gone through, this world was oblivious to it, remaining as joyful as ever.

    Drained of all her energy, she staggered along.

    She did not know how many steps she had taken ¡ª probably just two to three, and possibly a dozen ¡ª before she saw a car parked on the other side of the street. It was a luxurious ck car, none other than Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce.

    Xia Ling halted in her tracks and did not approach it. She stood and watched.

    Pei Ziheng had several of these cars, and he would get the chauffeur to drive her around sometimes. If the car were here so early in the morning, did it mean that Pei Ziheng wanted her home early after she pulled an all-nighter recording her song?

 Chapter 404 - While You Still Have Your Arms To Offer Embrace

    <h4>Chapter 404: While You Still Have Your Arms To Offer Embrace</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had no idea how long the car had been parked there for, but in the morning glow, it looked almost like it was covered in a beautiful rose-gold coating.

    She dared not approach it. It took her immense courage to return to that vi each time.

    She subconsciously reached for the area under her corbone and realized something was missing ¡ª the amulet Li Lei had given her was no longer on her, and their token of love, the titanium ring pendant, was gone as well.

    She felt like a part of her heart went missing.

    Xia Ling took a few steps back, into the shade offered by arge tree. As if every ounce of courage had dissipated, she leaned against the trunk, lowered herself into a squat and curled herself up. Everything was only just beginning to sink in; the harsh words she had said to him, the breakup, the cutting of ties... even thest token of love that bound them together was gone for good ¡ª he had vanished from her life.

    Li Lei. Li Lei.

    The two words rang in her head repeatedly. Strange, she had already made things clear, but why was it still so hard to ept this change? At this point, she heard a faint and unfamiliar songing from a nearby office ¡ª

    [Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while the sun is up and the breeze is cool...]

    She remembered their first few encounters and how Li Lei always called her ¡°Little Beauty¡± smilingly. He had said he wanted to make her his mistress, had given her flowers, and even took good care of her when she was ill in the mountains...

    [Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while he still lives in your memories, and while time still permits...]

    When they returned to the city thereafter, he had called her in the middle of the night, lent his apartment to her, and even given her some of Er Mao¡¯s milk...

    [Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while the road ahead still has much to hold, and you¡¯ve got words of love and yearning so bold...]

    When Pei Ziheng abducted her and made her a mute, it was he who saved her. When she was facing trouble in the hometown vige, he was her hero once again. He hugged her in her red wedding gown and confessed with all sincerity... When they argued and tensions rose, he was always the one who apologized first in a quiet voice so they could reconcile. Whenever he had grievances, he would say, <i>Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t care about me...</i>

    She was hurting too much.

    This song drifting in the early breeze was bringing back too many memories.

    [Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while you still have your arms to offer an embrace, while you still have your chance to catch a breath...

    Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, forget the distance, and count your blessings...

    Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while you¡¯re still alive, while you¡¯re still alive...]

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand trembled as she reached for the amulet, only to realize it was still not there.

    She would never be able to find another man like him in this lifetime. Nobody else would hold her tight and soothe her when she screamed in fear, nobody else would bicker with her over the trivial things, nobody else would smile at her sozily, as if nothing in this world could trouble him.

    Nobody else... Nobody else...

    Nobody else... Nobody else...

    There were no more tears left to cry as the song reverberated in the air ever so softly: [Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, go wild onest time for the sake of yourself, onest time...]

    But she could not look for him.

    The vow was made, and the only way to go was forward. The cold, majestic Rolls-Royce was her new home instead, regardless of all the bad memories it held.

    The summer breeze swept against her, and she felt an odd and ufortable coldness.

    She wrapped her arms against her knees and buried her head in them. She did not know how much time had passed before a hand appeared before her.

    ¡°Here.¡± It was a familiar voice.

    Xia Ling thought it was a delusion, but when she looked up, it was really him standing before her, looking more haggard than ever. On his palm was the wooden amulet.

    Xia Ling looked at him, stunned. All theughter and voices of faded into the background and everything felt like a dream.

    ¡°Here.¡± He said once again, and when she did not respond, he bent over and ced it by her feet.

    ¡°I know very well whether you¡¯re living happily or not.¡± His voice was still hoarse. ¡°So, you don¡¯t have to lie to me. Xiao Ling, wait for me, I will take you away with me someday.¡±

    Saying that he turned around and left.

    Xia Ling had her eyes on him as she bade him farewell in her heart. She was still hearing disjointed segments of the song ¡ª

    Look for the person you¡¯ve been longing for, while you still love him, while he still loves you...

    If I miss you too,

    I¡¯ll walk a thousand miles, scale the mountain ranges, and cross all rivers in between,

    So I could embrace you.

    ...

    Li Lei¡¯s back view finally vanished into the distance.

    Xia Ling was still curled up under the tree. As the streets got busier, the office workers who passed by shot her curious nces.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± It was the chauffeur.

    He bent over and knelt before her. ¡°Mr. Pei has been waiting long, please follow me to the car.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a chill down her spine but did not move.

    The chauffeur repeated once more in his usual gentle tone. ¡°Please follow me to the car.¡±

    She still did not move.

    ¡°You know Mister¡¯s temperament,¡± said the chauffeur. ¡°Miss Ye, please don¡¯t make things difficult for me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng had many loyal servants and men under him. She looked up at the chauffeur and found him a silly man. What good was there to stay with that master? ¡°Look for another master while you still can. Don¡¯t end up like me, it¡¯s all toote now.¡±

    The chauffeur was stunned for a moment and dared not carry on the topic with her. He simply urged her once again. ¡°Miss Ye, it¡¯s time to get in the car.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a smirk, mocking herself. Before she left, she picked the amulet up and held it tightly in her hand. As she followed the chauffeur to the car, she saw that the shade it was parked under seemed to have coalesced with the car itself, giving off an ominous, threatening impression of a predator awaiting its prey.

    The chauffeur opened the back door and politely helped her in.

    In the back seat was someone else ¡ª the handsome man dressed in a shirt vest was leaning on the back seat with his eyes closed. In the morning light that shone on his side profile, his features were even more defined and so sharp that he looked cold and ruthless.

    At that point, Xia Ling held her breath and felt every ounce of blood in her stiffen. It took her all her willpower to stop herself from making an escape.

    Pei Ziheng opened his eyes slowly and looked at her. That was a different expression in his eyes ¡ª they looked as if they could look past her skin and inside her. She remembered that the car had been parked here a long time, from when she dashed out of the building and Li Lei came after her...

    Gosh, how much did Pei Ziheng see?

 Chapter 405 - The Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 405: The Revtion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked out the car window ¡ª the path she hade from had disappeared into the jungle, and she could no longer tell which tree it was that she had crouched under. She counted her blessings, thinking that Pei Ziheng could not have seen her clearly. On second thought, she realized that he had always been one who managed to maintain his usual demeanor, even if he had everything figured out.

    She looked at him with some apprehension.

    Pei Ziheng reached out and caressed her face. He stroked her eyelids, her nose, her lips, all the way down the back of her neck and then pulled her towards him.

    Xia Ling dared not move.

    He was so close that she could feel his breathing.

    She felt a coldness on her lips and realized that he had pressed his lips onto hers.

    Xia Ling got a shock and instinctively began struggling. He exerted more force and pinned her to the seat while keeping his lips on hers so she would not make a sound.

    She was worried and afraid now. Pei Ziheng rarely forced a kiss on her in this life, but now, he was pushing her to a hold a kiss with him despite her resistance. It reminded her of the days in captivity about three years back, and all of that oppression and aggression that came with it...

    When Xia Ling tried evading him, he would bite her mercilessly, as ferocious as an alpha wolf. He forced her jaw open, almost as if he wanted to eat her from the inside out, and let the smell of blood fill the air between them. Frightened and in pain, Xia Ling would try to pull away once more and throw punches and kicks at him, but he would grab her wrists and dictate her movements.

    ¡°Xia Ling,¡± his lips now parted from hers slightly, his breath quivering. ¡°You are mine.¡±

    The muffled words were domineering.

    He was acting different today and seemed like he had gone back to the cold, ruthless self who held her captive. Xia Ling was utterly controlled by him and had no power to defy his wishes. She now leaned on the back seat of the car as he pinned her down with his weight.

    Helpless, she tried to escape his clutches.

    He held her down with one hand, while the other found its way around her clothes and tugged at it, causing the buttons to fall out and the fabric to rip apart. Her fair skin was revealed right before him, tempting as ever.

    The air-conditioning of the car was on full st, causing her to shiver in the cold.

    ¡°No...¡± Her voice was shaking. There was no way she could move under his weight, and panic rose inside her. Ever since she returned to him, she had made conscious efforts not to think about when or where he would possibly take advantage of her. But now, it felt like there was no running away.

    It was right here, right now.

    He had no intention of letting her go.

    Xia Ling looked at him pleadingly as her tears came out. She now knew that he had definitely seen Li Lei talking to her. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be reacting this way.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault...¡± She cried, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this...¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face still looked thunderous. He was not appeased.

    Xia Ling could not get any more embarrassed. They were in the back of his Rolls-Royce, and the chauffeur was right in front; he could see everything if he just lifted his head slightly.

    She suspected that the chauffeur already knew what was going on.

    She remembered the year she was held captive. He would take her out sometimes to ces that were safe and private enough. Once, she had angered him while they were out, and he had forced himself on her as punishment in this very car.

    Back then, the chauffeur was not the only one in the car, Chu Chen was in the front passenger seat as well. Although there was a sound-proof ss divider between the front and back seats, she dared not resist or make a sound. All she did was to stuff her fist in her mouth so she would not scream in fear or anger. She passed out for a while after that, and when she woke up, her arms had been tied together, and there were blood stains on the seat.

    History was repeating itself.

    Pei Ziheng forced her into a corner and turned her around as he began ripping away at any fabric left on her.

    She felt the blood rushing to her head, and shame and fear struck her... there were so many emotions at once that she felt like she was about to implode. She reached for the door handle.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± Pei Ziheng pulled her back. The car was speeding on a freeway, was she courting death?!

    Xia Ling covered her bare body with her arms as she tried to evade his touch. She had not given up on opening the car door.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed both her hands. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what you promised me! No running away, no killing yourself! Are you going back on your words?!¡±

    She was still for a second before her will to reach for the door faded.

    Pei Ziheng tied her hands together with the clothes he had taken off her, and then held her chin up, forcing her to look straight into his eyes. ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯re getting brave now, seeing someone you shouldn¡¯t be seeing in my territory, huh? Have I been too nice to you, that you¡¯ve forgotten whose woman you are!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me.¡± She curled up and whispered.

    Pei Zihengughed out of anger. ¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible?¡± He had given her too many chances, taking care of her and abiding by her wishes with patience and tolerance, waiting for the day she would willingly hand herself to him. But what did he get? Her meeting another man in private!

    He would not take this lying down.

    Since she created this scene, he would jolly well y along!

    The car drove into their vi and came to a stop.

    Pei Ziheng roughly picked her up and carried her into the room, then tossed her onto the luxurious bed.

    Xia Ling wriggled on the bed with her hands still tied up, but he held her still immediately and opened her legs. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re mad!¡± She sounded like the mad one, her voice was so shrill she was barely audible.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her coldly. His strong build was like a still mountain, weighing down on her so sure. ¡°Rx.¡±

    With no power to defend herself against his strength, and seeing that he was advancing towards her, she screamed in utter fear. ¡°I¡¯m pregnant!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± He stopped whatever he was doing and looked at her in disbelief. ¡°What... did you say?¡±

    Seeing that he was stunned, she pushed him away and backed off to the corner of the bed. ¡°I¡¯m pregnant.¡± She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. ¡°It was that night, it¡¯s your child.¡±

    That said, she looked up at him anxiously.

 Chapter 406 - The Best Hospital

    <h4>Chapter 406: The Best Hospital</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face stiffened as he processed her words. ¡°Really?¡±

    She did not know what to expect of his reaction and simply nodded lightly. Her sess depended on this opportunity ¡ª as long as he acknowledged the child as his, there would be a chance of its survival. She went on, ¡°I haven¡¯t been feeling very well recently, and even dreamed of the Buddha of Fertility at night. I guessed I must be pregnant since the night we did it... was not a safe period for me.¡±

    She spoke very quietly but managed to get his expression to soften. He moved towards her and held her in his arms like she was his most valued treasure. This time, he held her for a long time, silently and without a hint of violence or vition. Xia Ling felt uncertain about the situation and called out, ¡°Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Only then did he make a sound. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to the hospital for a checkup.¡± If she really were expecting, this would be his first child, a child that he had been longing for too long ¡ª years back, he had already made ns for Wang Jingwan to have his first child, the oldest grandchild of the Pei family, before having a second child with Xiao Ling. Xiao Ling¡¯s child would be brought up under Wang Jingwan¡¯s name so that it could enjoy the luxuries of a Pei offspring as well.

    Now, there was no need for such a n. Xiao Ling¡¯s child could be his oldest offspring.

    It all seemed so blissful suddenly that Pei Ziheng¡¯s tone became incredibly cautious and gentle. ¡°Did I hurt you just now? How are you feeling? Do you feel any difort? You should¡¯ve told me earlier that you¡¯re pregnant, I could provide you with the best.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip. ¡°It¡¯s only been over a month, I¡¯m not too sure.¡±

    Pei Ziheng, on the other hand, was sure. ¡°You must be pregnant.¡± That would exin her poor appetite, mood swings, and all her unusual behavior. Now that he found an exnation to all of it, his anger hadpletely dissipated, reced by inexplicable joy. He got some clothes and put them on for Xia Ling. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Compassionate Peace Hospital.¡±

    The time hade.

    Xia Ling was alerted by those words but managed to pull a willful expression. ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Pei Ziheng was confused.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to Compassionate Peace Hospital.¡± She said. ¡°I detest that ce. I¡¯ve only just gotten out from there, and you¡¯re taking me back. Every time I think of that ce, I recall... that incident. Falling from the cliff was terrifying.¡±

    She tilted her head downwards to hide her incongruent expression.

    Pei Ziheng thought about it. Besides recalling the fall from the cliff, would she be reminded about her parting with that man? It suddenly hit him, and he figured out why she was unwilling to let him know she was expecting his child ¡ª having feelings for another person and yet having his child must be a torment for her.

    He looked a little more somber now but stopped insisting. ¡°We¡¯ll go to another hospital then.¡±

    Since she was unwilling to reignite her past emotions and to think about her parting with Li Lei, why would he want to push her to it?

    Xia Ling sighed in relief.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pick the hospital.¡± She said.

    Pei Ziheng was still gentle with his words. ¡°How do you know which hospital is good? Leave such trivial things to the rest of us, all you need to do is rest and take good care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± She said a little coquettishly. That was how she used to do it in her past life when she wanted to y the childlike card; she knew that Pei Ziheng could never say no to that. ¡°I¡¯ll pick the hospital on my own. This is my baby.¡±

    Having heard that expectant mothers usually had unstable moods, Pei Ziheng decided not to go against her. If she could find a good hospital, he would follow her wishes, and if she could not, he would surely find a way to get her to one.

    Hence, he eded to her request.

    ¡°But,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll let the family doctor take a look first to confirm it.¡± Pei Ziheng maintained a calm front even though he was bursting with joy inside. There was so much to look forward to, how could he possibly wait for her to take her sweet time to a hospital?

    ¡°But you just said I must be pregnant!¡± She feigned anger in order to change his mind. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go through so many tests and checkups. Even if the family doctor has confirmed it, wouldn¡¯t I still have to go to the hospital for another round of tests? What if the baby is hurt in the process of all these? Pei Ziheng, what sort of father are you?!¡±

    She had rehearsed this line in her head countless times and was all prepared for such a situation. For the sake of keeping her child¡¯s identity a secret, she had to tread the lines carefully.

    The moment Pei Ziheng heard ¡°father,¡± all his rationality was reced by bliss. Xiao Ling was right, what if running too many tests hurt the baby? This was their first baby together, and if it were a son, he would be the oldest grandchild of the Pei family, the heir to take over the business. He had to be kept safe and well.

    ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t call the family doctor.¡± He abided by her wishes.

    Xia Ling felt a weight off her shoulders.

    Everything was going as nned so far, and she could only hope for things to stay this way.

    She had Pei Ziheng prepare a set of radiation-proof garments for expectant mothers before she started using theputer. Xia Ling looked up the Inte for renowned hospitals in the city as if she were struggling to make the best decision. Meanwhile, Pei Ziheng sat beside her and peered at the screen as he peeled oranges for her. Both of them were unusually quiet and peaceful, the same way they were as a loving couple many years back.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her wless side profile and thought that it really was amazing to have a child.

    Xia Ling took a long time topare the different hospitals before finally settling on the one that Feng Kun had arranged for her to visit ¡ª Huaxin Women and Children¡¯s Hospital. ¡°This one.¡± She told Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng took a nce at the hospital¡¯s name and said, ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll go tomorrow morning.¡± Given that this concerned his flesh and blood, how could he possibly let her make any reckless decisions? In fact, long before she had picked her choice, he had gotten somebody to check out the hospitals around, and the rmendation he had gotten was this very hospital ¡ª Huaxin Women and Children¡¯s Hospital. He heard that this was the best gynecology and pediatric hospital, and hence did not reject it.

    If she had picked another hospital, he would still have made her go to Huaxin for her test.

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Alright.¡± She heaved a sigh of relief inside. She had managed to buy time, such that it was already dark and the hospital was closed by then. Even if Pei Ziheng were impatient, he had no choice but to wait till the next day, which was a Wednesday ¡ª the day she and Senior Zhang had agreed on previously.

    Feeling that things were running well, she couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    Pei Ziheng was mesmerized by her smile; she was really so beautiful. She was not stunning and breathtaking on the outside, but the radiance that she exuded from inside out, the glow from her pregnancy, it was oddly calming.

    He would take good care of her and their child.

    They went to the hospital on Wednesday, and as she had expected, the only specialist around was Senior Zhang. Senior Zhang took a look at her registration card, saw her name, and immediately knew that she was the one Feng Kun had mentioned. He kept his expression unmoved and proceeded to give her a thorough checkup.

 Chapter 407 - Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 407: Proposal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Before doing an examination, Senior Zhang requested for Pei Ziheng to leave.

    Pei Ziheng was not very willing, but under the doctor¡¯s insistence, he still left.

    Senior Zhang closed the door of the treatment room and finally told Xia Ling, ¡°Actually, you have been pregnant for 10 weeks. The child looks normal. However, I heard that you used some medication during the first few weeks of your pregnancy which may cause adverse effects to the fetus. Thus, you have to be more careful than other pregnant women.¡±

    Initially, after hearing that the examination showed that her child was normal, she was relieved. However, after hearing the next part, she became nervous. ¡°Doctor, it can¡¯t be, right? Will my child have any problems in the future?¡±

    Senior Zhang shook his head. ¡°It is still uncertain now. We have to wait a few more weeks for the fetus to grow more. You cane over for a deformity inspection then. However, even if the results show that there are no problems, you can¡¯t let your guard down. With the current medical level, it¡¯s not possible for all defects to be identified during pregnancy.¡±

    Xia Ling was flustered and anxious. ¡°The baby must not have any issues...¡±

    Seeing her pained expression, Senior Zhang sighed. ¡°Considering your condition, many doctors will advise you to go for an abortion.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head and looked at him pleadingly. ¡°I want to keep it.¡±

    Senior Zhang was slightly moved. He could tell that she really loved her child, which was why she was trying her best to keep it despite her difficult and dangerous situation. ¡°Life is intriguing.¡± Senior Zhang lowered his head as he prescribed supplements for her. ¡°We have to respect thews of nature. Although I won¡¯t rmend for you to go for an abortion, if there are signs of natural abortion, I won¡¯t suggest that you keep the baby.¡±

    A natural abortion meant the survival of the fittest.

    Whether it was Darwin¡¯s theory of evolution or God¡¯s choice, it would filter out all the unhealthy lives. If an ordinary woman had a natural miscarriage and insisted on keeping her child, her child may just be slightly weaker than average, but if this girl had a natural miscarriage and insisted on keeping her child, her child might have a huge defect.

    Senior Zhang gave the supplements to Xia Ling and said, ¡°Whether you can keep your child depends on God¡¯s will.¡±

    Xia Ling was distressed. Ever since learning of her pregnancy, she had been living in constant anxiety and never even experienced the joy of being a new mother for a day. Her hands unconsciously covered her lower abdomen and went deep in thought. <i>Baby, you must be safe.</i>

    After the inspection waspleted, Xia Ling went home with Pei Ziheng.

    What Pei Ziheng heard from Senior Zhang was apletely different version. He told her that she was pregnant for 5 weeks and everything was normal. Pei Ziheng was extremely happy. He had never experienced such pure joy in his thirty years of his life. This heartfelt joy filled his entire heart, and he only had her and her baby in his eyes. His family of three was aplete world for him.

    ¡°I have to thank god for sending you back to me.¡± Pei Ziheng hugged her and whispered.

    Xia Ling leaned on his shoulder. She understood his joy, but her heart was burdened with pain and hardship. The arrival of this child was destined to cause war. She was like a female warrior who was forced to face the subsequent dangers alone with her life on the line. She did not know when daybreak and victory woulde.

    She really thought it was retribution. Was it because she led her life too smoothly after being adopted by Pei Ziheng in her past life? Therefore, her next life was full of twists and turns without blessings and only disasters?

    She hurriedly stopped her mindless thinking.

    The child was innocent. It was not a disaster but a rare treasure that God gave to her.

    No matter how difficult it got, she would ensure its safety and keep it healthy at all costs.

    Pei Ziheng slowly let her go, gazed into her eyes, and warmly said, ¡°Xiao Ling, marry me. Be my rightful wife and let our child be the eldest son of the Pei family.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that it is a son?¡± She softly refuted, suppressing the uneasiness in her heart and the faint feeling she had. ¡°I don¡¯t want it to be the eldest son of the family.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Pei Ziheng gently asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t it good to be the eldest son? He can take over the family business.¡± The Pei family¡¯s business wasrge, and they had many rules. Only the most respectable blood-rted family member could inherit the family business. This person was his rightful wife¡¯s firstborn son. For this honor, many womenpeted and many eminent families tried to sell their daughters or granddaughters to him, but she said she did not want it?

    Xia Ling was afraid of this.

    She knew very clearly that the father of her baby was Li Lei. It was fine if she had a daughter, but if she had a son, how could she let her son fight for the Pei family¡¯s business?

    This was shameless theft.

    She only wanted to give birth to a child under Pei Ziheng¡¯s name because she desperately wanted to save her baby¡¯s life. She had no choice but to make this decision. However, she was not nning on conspiring against him.

    She said, ¡°Being the eldest son is too tortuous. I don¡¯t want him to inherit any family business. I only want him to be safe, healthy, and happy for his entire life.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°He will definitely be safe and healthy.¡± However, he would also inherit the family business. Since he did not know the gender of the child, he did not intend to quarrel with her over this problem. He only said, ¡°Marry me.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head.

    She was unwilling to marry him. However, if she did not marry him, her baby would be an illegitimate child. Once she thought about thebel that her child would bear for its entire life, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. However, marrying Pei Ziheng? How could she marry him when she was currently deeply concerned about another man...

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I will give you a dream-like wedding.¡± Beaches, chocte towers, and roses... She would marry him like a princess in a fairytale castle and be as happy as a princess under his care for the rest of her life.

    Wedding...

    Xia Ling thought of something and looked up. ¡°Pei Ziheng, give me some time. I... I¡¯m still not ready yet. Furthermore, I¡¯m just adjusting to my pregnancy recently. How about we wait until the child is born? Let¡¯s talk about marriage after the child is born, ok?¡± This was not a n to trick him into dying the marriage. She was honestly distraught now and really had not thought about it carefully.

    Since she was supposed to remain by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side for a lifetime, should she help her child get a title?

    Even if she were separated from him after marriage, her child would still not be illegitimate.

    However, Li Lei...

    As soon as she thought of him, her heart felt like it was burned by fire. How could she force a smile and marry someone else when she was actually bitterly missing him? She could only dy the situation and wait until the child was born before making ns.

    Pei Ziheng knew that she was feeling unwell and was very affected due to the pregnancy.

    Looking at her weary expression, he was heartbroken. After some thought, he said, ¡°nning a wedding is really tough. You¡¯re pregnant now and shouldn¡¯t tire yourself. How about we register our marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau first and have our wedding after the child is born?¡±

 Chapter 408 - Wedding Day

    <h4>Chapter 408: Wedding Day</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She did not want to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau and tried toe up with an excuse again. ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to think about?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s tone was heavy. ¡°Xiao Ling, we¡¯re only going to the Civil Affairs Bureau, that can¡¯t tire you out much. Are you unwilling? Before the child is born, we must obtain the marriage certificate. I won¡¯t allow him to be a child born out of wedlock. Not even for a day.¡±

    Xiao Ling did not know how vicious thepetition was in the Pei family.

    In the future, when he was old, if he did not settle the problem of inheritors well, there would be a new round of power struggle which might subvert the structure of his family. If her child were a boy, he would be the first heir to the family. There could not be any blemishes in this child¡¯s identity, and he could not give others any chances to attack him. He must not have the title of ¡°illegitimate child¡± for even half a day.

    Moreover, he also wanted to marry her as soon as possible.

    He had many dreams during that long night. The way she looked despondently at Li Lei yesterday morning at thepany headquarters below the tree was so vivid in his mind. Her heartbroken expression rmed Pei Ziheng.

    It was already the early summer during June. Fragrant flowers and singing birds were seen outside the window.

    Xia Ling knew that she was unable to dissuade him. She gazed out of the window and was silent for a long time. ¡°Let¡¯s set the date on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.¡± She softly said. ¡°Any date is fine as long as it is before the birth of the child. That day is an auspicious day.¡± She remembered that this year¡¯s seventh day of the seventh lunar month was at the end of August, and it was still three months away. Since she could not reject him, she could at least choose a date that was further away. Perhaps, when that time came, she would resign herself to her fate and give up on Li Lei.

    Pei Ziheng did not know that she was being calctive and just thought that she had epted him.

    He was ecstatic, but on the surface, he only showed a gentle smiled as he hugged her tightly. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll set the date as you¡¯ve decided. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a good day. In the sky, we will be love birds flying together. On earth, we will be twin branches on a tree.¡±

    Love birds?

    She smiled bitterly. The one who she was supposed to fly with like love birds was at the other end of the world.

    After that day, Pei Ziheng treated her even better than before. He hired a special pregnancy consultant, dietitian, and two more nannies. Xia Ling had a headache after being monitored by so many people, so she threw a tantrum, causing Pei Ziheng to buy another house near their vi for those misceneous staff to live in.

    Only their chauffeur and Nanny Zhou lived in their house as per usual.

    After finding out about her pregnancy, Nanny Zhou was delighted. ¡°Miss Ye, your body is more precious than before, so you have to be more careful when you go out. You have to get your nutrients. Please tell me what dishes you would like to eat so I can cook them for you.¡± She passed on an endless amount of pregnancy knowledge to Xia Ling.

    Pregnancy was a female issue. No matter how much Pei Ziheng wanted to interfere, at the end of the day, he could not help much. Luckily, they had Nanny Zhou¡¯s help, and she even told Xia Ling the proper sleeping position for pregnant women. Xia Ling listened carefully and felt that the popr phrase ¡°old is gold¡± was right. With Nanny Zhou there, she had peace of mind.

    Nanny Zhou encouraged her to walk around frequent and advised her to work in moderation.

    Xia Ling felt that her job was quite rxing now. In fact, it was too rxing. Every day, she would eat small snacks, rest, and bask in the sun in Feng Kun¡¯s office. Sometimes, she would sing a few lines of songs to prepare her for future song recordings.

    She did not know how she suddenly obtained such a leisure lifestyle. Since the incident when Feng Kun let Li Lei into the office to meet with her, Pei Ziheng deducted a full year of his sry and used his deducted money to create special amenities for her. Now, she had specially bottled spring water, soft cushions, and various light fruit snacks every day.

    It was probably because she treated Feng Kun as a friend. Otherwise, Pei Ziheng would have directly fired this producer who was secretly helping others while working in hispany and ruin his reputation.

    Feng Kun was already well-aware of the consequences.

    However, he still did not regret letting Li Lei in. At least, she got back her amulet. That small paulownia wood amulet was most likely given to her by Li Lei. Every day, she would treat it like a treasure in fear of letting Pei Ziheng see it. She did not dare to wear it around her neck, so she put it in her handbag. Every time she came into the office, she would take it out and stare at it for a long time.

    If they could not be together, a keepsake would also be good.

    At least, the child would have something that belonged to its father near it.

    Feng Kun felt sorry for her and her child. The Pei family had a spartan-like upbringing, and they were merciless and cold. This was why vicious and violent people like Pei Ziheng came from that family. If Xiao Ling gave birth to a boy and was also taught in that manner, it would be too frightening.

    However, he could not tell Xia Ling anything.

    At this point in time, saying anything was unhelpful. He could only make her heart more open, take care of her well, and hope that she and her baby would be safe. ¡°If only the baby were a girl.¡± Feng Kun chatted with her. ¡°She would be beautiful.¡±

    Thezy afternoon sun shined on Xia Ling¡¯s body.

    She was currently ying with the small paulownia wood amulet. After hearing what he said, she lightly acknowledged him. ¡°It would be good if the baby were a girl.¡± She stroked her lower abdomen with her white fingers and smiled. ¡°Girls resemble their mothers.¡±

    There was a slight bitter feeling in Feng Kun¡¯s heart.

    This innocent girl grew up in an instant after she became pregnant. She did not care about being beautiful anymore. Instead, she only worried about what would happen if her child resembled her father.

    ¡°Everyone says that boys resemble their mothers more.¡± He smiled warmly andforted her.

    Xia Ling felt his goodwill, smiled again, and gently ced the amulet on her stomach. She said to herself, ¡°Baby, dad is also here. You have to be safe.¡±

    Feng Kun turned away to prevent her from seeing the grief in his eyes.

    In the evening, Pei Ziheng took her home as usual. Now, the entire Imperial Entertainment was used to him apanying her in the long corridor. The unsmiling boss had a gentle look as he carefully guarded the petite girl in his arms as if he were protecting a rare treasure.

    ¡°Are we going to have a Lady Boss?¡±

    On this day, front desk receptionist A sneaked looks at them as she asked front desk receptionist B.

    The front desk receptionists looked as the pair slowly walked while holding hands. ¡°Wow, have you realized that our Big Boss really matches well with Ye Xingling? It¡¯s a perfect match between a man and a woman!¡±

    ¡°What perfect match between a man and a woman?¡± It was almost time to leave work, and the receptionists were not very busy. Front desk receptionist C also joined the conversation. ¡°Let me see... are you talking about Boss and Ye Xingling? What, how can that be a perfect match? It¡¯s just a typical rich man dating a pretty woman! Our Boss Pei has everything: money, looks, status... He¡¯s perfect in every way! What¡¯s Ye Xinglingpared to him? She¡¯s just amoner who became Cindere. Luckily, she became a celebrity; otherwise, how else could she rise up and marry rich? Wake up. Remember what happened to Sister Ju and Liu Mengmeng a few years ago?¡±

    She was talking about a famous female celebrity who was of ordinary status like Ye Xingling. She had no power or status. In the end, she fell in love with a rich family¡¯s son and was abandoned.

 Chapter 409 - Anniversary

    <h4>Chapter 409: Anniversary</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Front desk receptionist B nodded and agreed. ¡°Such a pity.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to pity?¡± Front desk receptionist C said. ¡°Ye Xingling was never worthy of our male god Pei.¡± Although Pei Ziheng was a serious and prominent person and was also known for his iron fist when settling business, these ordinary female receptionists had never experienced his cruel and ruthless side. Thus, they were attracted to his power and status and regarded him as one of the three male boss gods in the world.

    ¡°I wonder which girl is blessed in the future to marry such a rich, handsome, and considerate husband.¡± Front desk receptionist A sighed.

    ¡°In any case, it won¡¯t be Ye Xingling.¡± Front desk receptionist C said. ¡°If he were to marry, he would be marrying someone famous or of equally prominent status. This is called marriage between families of equal social rank. Please, who does she think she is?¡±

    They were a little loud, causing Xia Ling to overhear them by ident as she had excellent hearing. She slightly stopped in her footsteps. Inexplicable anger brewed in her heart. She did not even want to remain by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side. Instead, he was the one who refused to let her go. Why should she be the one being degraded and subjected to insults?

    She was originally not someone who had a good temper, but ever since she got pregnant, she was even more capricious and wanted to express her rage towards the front desk girls. However, she suppressed her anger.

    The doctor said that she had to maintain a good mood...

    She breathed deeply a few times to restrain herself.

    Pei Ziheng, who was beside her, also paused. First, he looked at her. Then, he looked at the front desk. His icy expression scared the front desk girls until they shut up like they were caught doing something wrong. They flinched and looked at them at a loss for words.

    After seeing that they were all silent, Pei Ziheng finally continued to walk forward with Xia Ling.

    ¡°Do they usually talk about you like that?¡± Pei Ziheng was still unhappy after entering the car.

    Xia Ling stated. ¡°They don¡¯t dare to say anything to my face. As for what they say behind my back, I can¡¯t do anything about that.¡± She already knew that they insulted her behind her back, but she could not please all of them. Besides, she did not focus on them at this time and was concentrating on taking care of her baby.

    Pei Ziheng also did not say anything more.

    Recently, Xia Ling tired easily. Although the Rolls Royce was driven very smoothly, after sitting for a long time, she still felt sleepy. Unconsciously, she closed her eyes. In a daze, she felt some warmth around her body as there was a small wool nket covering her. Someone wrapped her in his arms, and there seemed to be somethingfortable behind her head.

    ¡°Go to sleep.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was heard above her head. ¡°I¡¯ll wake you when we¡¯re back home.¡±

    When they reached home, he did not wake her up. He only directly carried her into the bedroom as she was in a deep sleep and ced her on thefortable and luxurious bed. Once her body touched the down feather bedding, she woke up. ( Boxno vel. co m )

    ¡°Pei Ziheng?¡± She mumbled.

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± He sat beside her on the bed. ¡°Did I wake you up?¡±

    She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Pregnant women were troublesome people. She was hungry but had no signs of being hungry. Fortunately, it was almost time for dinner. The domestic servants had already prepared the dishes.

    Pei Ziheng pressed a button and instructed Nanny Zhou to send dinner to the room.

    It was a very sumptuous dinner. As a small table was ced on her bedside, there were fresh fruit juice, foie gras, caviar, scallops, and abalone on the table.

    With his help, Xia Ling sat up on the bed.

    Her luck today was not bad, she did not feel any nausea or morning sickness. She took her utensils and started eating. However, Pei Ziheng did not eat. He only patiently helped her cut the soft foie gras and vegetables before adding them on her te.

    She ate until she was full and felt sleepy again.

    Pei Ziheng gently asked her, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you still remember what the asion is today?¡±

    She was confused. What was the asion? She replied honestly, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    His expression darkened. ¡°Today is your birthday. It¡¯s also the 18th anniversary of the day we met.¡± In the past, she used to wait impatiently for this day and spend the day with him to celebrate it, but now, when the day arrived, shepletely forgot about it?

    Xia Ling finally remembered. ¡°The third of June?¡±

    He nodded.

    She had forgotten it. Since her rebirth, she still remembered this datest year and spent it alone in pain. This year, she was in a difficult position, and her life was in a mess. She was in no mood to recall this event.

    She thought about what happened 18 years ago.

    Pei Ziheng brought her home from the orphanage. The next year, she persuaded him to celebrate that day and decided that it should be her birthday. The sun was so radiant, and the flowers were so fragrant then. She linked arms with him in a field of fully bloomed irises and promised that they would celebrate this day together from this year onwards.

    He kissed her forehead gently and said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    Later, he really did as they had agreed. Every year, he would set up a small banquet, prepare a gift, and took time off to apany her on her birthday and anniversary date. No wonder dinner tonight was so sumptuous. The carefully prepared dishes were served in the most exquisite tableware. Although they were ced on a small bedside table, they still had a ceremonious undertone.

    However, things were different now, and Xia Ling was no longer jubnt like in the past.

    Seeing that she was not very excited, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you probably did not remember it because it was too simple.¡± He med her forgetfulness on his ownck of preparation. In reality, both of them knew that this was not the reason. Once a woman changes her mind, she would be crueler than a man. Birthdays and anniversaries? They were long forgotten.

    Seeing his sorrowful face, she felt upset too.

    It was really strange. It was him who forced her to stay by his side, and she was the one suffering, but why did she feel guilty when she saw Pei Ziheng feeling sad? She remembered that during the day of the paragliding ident, he sent a helicopter to rescue her and pushed her around every day when she was hospitalized. When he heard that she was pregnant, he took care of her even more...

    Suddenly, she felt that she owed him a lot.

    ¡°My birthday isn¡¯t today.¡± Unexpectedly, she told him. ¡°I¡¯ve already found my long-lost family member. My biological brother told me that I was born during a winter month.¡±

    Winter month? Biological brother?

    Pei Ziheng was quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°Is he really your biological brother? What sort of person is he? Does he have proof? Xiao Ling, you shouldn¡¯t easily trust outsiders. There are many scammers.¡±

    ¡°I know that he is my biological brother.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°He is a master of metaphysics. Once he saw me, he called me by the name of my past life and recognized me. He said that for some unfortunate reasons, my family had to leave me behind and also told me when my real birthday is.¡±

    ¡°Who is he?¡± Pei Ziheng was still skeptical. Master of metaphysics? He had once wondered about the family that abandoned Xiao Ling but could not believe that the truth was so unscientific. He had to investigate that person.

 Chapter 410 - Diamon Bracelet

    <h4>Chapter 410: Diamon Bracelet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°He is called Xia Moyan.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Some people call him The Preceptor. His whereabouts are unpredictable, so I don¡¯t know how to contact him.¡±

    The Preceptor?

    Pei Ziheng rarely dabbled in metaphysics in his daily life. If it weren¡¯t rted to Xiao Ling¡¯s rebirth, he would not have believed it. However, now, he really thought carefully about the meaning behind those. Someone who dared call themselves that was probably a reverent or a simple swindler. He might be a prominent figure with superhuman abilities.

    Since that person could tell that Xiao Ling was actually Xia Ling with one look, he was probably not a simple swindler.

    Could it be a prominent figure who was omniscient?

    Pei Ziheng sighed and asked, ¡°Do you want to see him?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling replied. ¡°I only saw my brother once, and I don¡¯t know where he is now. I actually really miss him.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°I will help you look for him.¡± He did not know that all of the eminent families in the world were tirelessly looking for him. He was only worried about how a stranger could suddenly be Xiao Ling¡¯s brother. What was the purpose of the other party approaching Xiao Ling? He had to figure it out.

    However, Xia Ling did not realize his other intentions. She was pleased after hearing that he was willing to help her.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She said. Although Li Lei told her that her brother was unable to undo the curse, if they met, perhaps he could help here up with ideas on how to face her current difficult circumstances.

    ¡°We¡¯re about to get married. You don¡¯t have to thank me so formally.¡± Pei Ziheng said gently.

    Xia Ling squinted slightly. She could not repay his kindness towards her with a simple ¡°thank you.¡± Instead, she was unable to repay him at all. Marriage? She was not willing.

    The people around them left. When they returned, they handed her something.

    ¡°This is a gift.¡± He said.

    Gift? She looked up in confusion. ¡°What gift?¡±

    ¡°To celebrate 18 years of knowing each other.¡± He looked at her warmly. He was truly blessed to be able to celebrate their 18th anniversary together. Initially, he was lost ever since the 16th year they met.

    She also recalled the 16th year.

    It was thest year of her past life.

    That year, she used all means to prevent him from being with Wang Jingwan. In desperation, she packed her bags and wanted to leave but was intercepted at the porch by him. He hit her, looked condescendingly at her and said, ¡°Xia Ling, I have a gift for you. Originally, I intended to wait until the day of our 16th anniversary, but it seems that you can¡¯t wait any longer.¡±

    He dragged her to an ind.

    The ind was notpleted yet. It was surrounded by the sea with a fairnd-like forest, a swanke, a half-finished small red hat wooden house, and a snow white apple tree... In the center, there was a luxurious vi that appeared like a miracle. It was made of white marble and was huge and sturdy like a castle in a fairy tale.

    ¡°This is Fairy Tale ind,¡± he said. ¡°Haven¡¯t you always been fond of fairy tales? Enjoy it well.¡±

    He imprisoned her on the ind. The castle was surrounded by the thorny forest in the sleeping beauty story, and groups of mastiffs patrolled the area like wolves. The scarecrow¡¯s cross was moved to the garden. As long as she was a little disobedient, she would be tied to the cross and punished with a long whip.

    She shook in fear.

    A very long time ago, she used to joke that she wanted a fairytale-like ind for all her dreams toe true. Unexpectedly, he really gave her an ind, but it was like an acrid poison that changed all of her beautiful dreams into a hideous nightmare. In the cage, she tried all possible ways but could not escape.

    As she recalled the past, she said lightly, ¡°I don¡¯t like gifts.¡±

    Beside the bed, Pei Ziheng looked at her gently. ¡°You will definitely like this. Open it and take a look.¡±

    A delicate dark blue velvet box was handed to her. It was about the size of her fist, and it had a mysterious warm glow under the dim light of the bedroom.

    She hesitated for a moment before opening it.

    What she saw was a dazzling tinum bracelet iid with diamonds.

    She was slightly startled by it. The 17 blue diamonds were carved to look like lilies, and they twinkled as they surrounded arge purple diamond. That purple diamond was about five carats in size. It was magnificent and beautiful, and the color was radiant. In the world of diamonds, it was undoubtedly a rare treasure.

    The brilliance of the diamonds was reflected on her in and clear cheeks. It was blinding.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    Xia Ling did not know what to say. 17 identical blue diamonds were very rare. And the purple diamond was the rarest in the world. He really put in a lot of thought into obtaining this set of diamonds.

    He took the bracelet out of the velvet box and carefully put it on her wrist.

    After looking at it for a moment, he smiled. ¡°It really suits you.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and watched the sleek color shimmer on her wrist. She did not even know which craftsman made it because every single detail was perfect. It was a perfect masterpiece.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± He asked again.

    She thought about it and nodded. In reality, she did not have much to say about how much she liked it. After experiencing so many things in life, she was no longer the little girl who felt happy after receiving expensive gifts. She was just fortunate that he gave her a diamond bracelet instead of that ind ¡ª Fairy Tale Ind, her eternal nightmare.

    Pei Ziheng gently looked at her and admired the treasure with her. ¡°18 diamonds tomemorate the 18th anniversary of the day we met. I thank god for sending you back to me.¡±

    However, she did not thank god because, to her, god was extremely cruel.

    Unexpectedly, another male figure appeared in her heard. Li Lei, what was he doing now? Was he missing her as much as she missed him? No... It was probably better not to think about him. Since they were already destined to be apart, it was better to burn all bridges to prevent the sadness from increasing.

    Her expression darkened.

    Outside the bedroom, someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Nanny Zhou entered the room and lowered her gaze. ¡°Mister and Miss Ye, Miss Xia Yu is here.¡±

    Xia Yu? Why did shee at this time? Xia Ling nced at the time and realized that it was already 8 pm. The stars and the moon outside were already present, and the crickets could be heard.

    Pei Ziheng asked directly. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s was still lowered. ¡°Miss Xia Yu said that today is...¡± Suddenly, she looked as if she were in a difficult situation and nced at Xia Ling who was sittingzily on the bed.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Just say it directly.¡± Pei Ziheng ordered. He understood Nanny Zhou¡¯s misgivings. Talking about his ex-girlfriend¡¯s sister in front of his currently pregnant girlfriend was not ideal. However, Nanny Zhou did not know that Xiao Ling was actually Xia Ling; it did not matter if she heard anything.

    After receiving the order, Nanny Zhou looked carefully at Xia Ling again before saying, ¡°Miss Xia Yu said that today is her deceased sister¡¯s birthday and also the 18th anniversary of you meeting the sisters. She wishes to spend some time with you.¡±

 Chapter 411 - Xia Yuâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 411: Xia Yu¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At the start, Xia Ling and Xia Yu were orphans.

    After being adopted by Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling said that she wanted to set the day of their adoption as her birthday, and Xia Yu followed suit. Thus, the birthdays of the two sisters were set on this day. For many years in the past, the three of them used tomemorate this day together. Sometimes, Pei Ziheng would be impatient and tried to persuade Xia Ling to spend time with him the day before their birthdays without Xia Yu. Either that or he would spend the afternoon with both of them and spend more time with Xia Ling exclusively at night.

    That was until Xia Ling passed away.

    On this dayst year, Xia Yu was drunk as he knocked on his door. She cried in his arms and said that she missed her sister. That night, she wore her sister¡¯s favorite dress and her sister¡¯s favorite jewelry, looking like a weeping beauty. In a trance, it was as if Xiao Ling were alive again.

    He drank with her. After smelling a familiar perfume fragrance on her body, he almost recognized the wrong person and could not hold back.

    He still had regrets from that night. If something happened, how could he face Xiao Ling? Xia Yu was different from other women as she was Xiao Ling¡¯s beloved sister. He could never touch her.

    Now, after hearing that Xia Yu was here again, he frowned slightly.

    ¡°Go apany her.¡± Xia Ling sounded a little tired. ¡°I want to sleep.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to tell her who you are, right?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°It has been two lifetimes. There¡¯s no point in telling her.¡±

    Pei Ziheng felt the same way. It would be better if fewer people knew about Xiao Ling¡¯s rebirth. Even if she were a close rtive, it was not necessary to tell her. Besides, they had so many arguments in this life, and many unpleasant things had happened. Who knew what would happen if she found about her true identity? He decided to just let Xiao Yu remain in the dark about her sister.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Sleep first. I will be back soon.¡±

    However, Xia Ling felt hungry again. ¡°I want to eat supper.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to eat?¡± He asked warmly.

    ¡°Boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili.¡± She said. Since her pregnancy, she found food that she did not frequently eat surprisingly delicious.

    Pei Ziheng nodded and instructed Nanny Zhou to prepare it.

    Nanny Zhou heard their conversation at the side and praised Miss Ye in her heart for being understanding and did not make things difficult for Mister because of a situation that involved Miss Xia Ling and Miss Xia Yu. Her impression of Miss Ye increased further. Furthermore, she was already delighted to take care of a pregnant woman, so she smiled in acknowledgment and went to the kitchen to busy herself.

    Pei Ziheng helped her put on a jacket and kissed her forehead before he left.

    In the living room, sure enough, Xia Yu was waiting for him.

    Tonight, she had put on bright makeup like her sister used to. There was a form of exquisiteness in her charm that tugged on one¡¯s heartstrings. The dress she wore used to be her sister¡¯s favorite. It was an elegant hand-embroidered silk and satin dress matched with diamond earrings and a ne. Even the perfume she used was the same brand that her sister used to wear.

    Last year, when she was dressed up like this, Pei Ziheng did not feel anything. However, now he felt a little ufortable. His Xiao Ling was irreceable. How could she bepared to an inferior imitation?

    ¡°Brother Ziheng.¡± She looked at him and smiled sweetly.

    ¡°Why are you dressed like this?¡± He asked her in a low voice.

    Startled, Xia Yu suddenly felt wronged. Last year when she wore the same outfit, he did not say anything. Why was he different this year? Could it be that his thoughts were only focused on that b*tch Ye Xingling now and had forgotten all their mutual affection in the past?

    She wept until her eyes were red. ¡°My sister is not here anymore, and I wanted to spend our birthday with you, so...¡± She lowered her head and revealed her small, delicate neck. ¡°I dressed like my sister, so it¡¯s like my sister is still with us. Brother Ziheng, if you are unwilling, I will change.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡± Pei Ziheng said. She did not know that the sister whom she missed was just in the bedroom upstairs, tired because of her pregnancy and toozy to meet Xia Yu. Since she was so sincere towards her sister, he let her be so that she would not waste time changing clothes.

    Now, Pei Ziheng just wanted to apany her to quickly finish thememoration of the anniversary so he could return upstairs to see Xiao Ling.

    Xia Yu smiled through her tears. ¡°I know that Brother Ziheng dotes on me the most.¡± She took out arge box which contained a birthday cake. ¡°I made this myself. Brother Ziheng, do you want to try it?¡±

    Pei Ziheng amodated her and brought the cake into the dining area.

    Once she entered the dining area, Xia Yu sensed that something was wrong. Didn¡¯t Brother Ziheng live alone? Why were there two sets of chopsticks on the table? The other chair even had a soft cushion that was pink with bunny ear prints. One look and she knew it was a woman¡¯s item.

    No, that was not something that belonged to her sister.

    Xia Yu was as familiar with this vi as her own home and knew about her sister¡¯s old belongings. However, this bunny ear prints cushion was definitely new, and the small floral porcin cup next to it was also very suspicious.

    Another woman was living in Brother Ziheng¡¯s house?!

    Xia Yu screamed in her heart and was extremely rmed.

    In the past two years, many women, including herself, wanted to stay in this vi but were all heartlessly rejected by Brother Ziheng. In fact, if a woman insensibly brought up this vi, she would be neglected by Brother Ziheng without exception. Well then, who was the girl who was able to break past Brother Ziheng¡¯s bottom line and win this honor?

    Xia Yu was extremely resentful and secretly gritted her teeth while smiling even more sweetly as she cut the cake with Pei Ziheng. Red strawberries were ced on the snowy white cream cake, and the strong aroma of honey filled the air. Xia Yu put a slice of the cake on a delicate floral porcin te, added mint leaves for decoration, and handed it to Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng, are these tes new? They¡¯re really pretty.¡± She pretended to ask casually.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he simply answered. He recalled how Xiao Ling insisted on recing all of the household utensils in the house with those that had a pink and fresh style, saying that she liked it. He knew that she wanted to have a daughter and thought that looking at those things that little girls like would be able to fulfill her wish. It was really innocent and cute.

    Thinking about that, he let out a soft smile.

    Xia Yu was utterly convinced that someone else was staying here, and it was probably Ye Xingling. Only that unscrupulous woman would dare to make such a request and even dare to get rid of her sister¡¯s things!

    Enraged, her grip around the porcin te tightened.

    Footsteps were heard on the stairs.

    Xia Yu looked up and saw a beautiful girl wearing a nightgown. She was rubbing her eyes as shezily appeared at the top of the stairs. When she saw Xia Yu, that girl did not seem surprised at all. She only nced at her casually before focusing on walking down the stairs.

    It was really Ye Xingling.

    Pei Ziheng also heard the sound behind him, so he turned back and saw her.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± He put the te down and quickly walked to the stairs to hold her. ¡°Why are you wearing this? What happens if you fall?¡±

 Chapter 412 - On Purpose

    <h4>Chapter 412: On Purpose</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The nightgown was rather long, but it already had the most conservative style out of all of her gowns. Now that Xia Ling was pregnant, she could not wear ordinary pajamas to sleep as she was afraid she would strangle her baby. Thus, she had no choice but to wear this sort of nightgown.

    ¡°I¡¯m toozy to change.¡± She said. Although he was holding on to her, she was still looking carefully at the steps and whispered. ¡°Why is it so difficult to walk down this staircase?¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not know whether tough or cry. She wasining about how hard it was to walk down the stairs, but she was the one who renovated the house in the past. Who was the one who prevented him from giving suggestions? He really wanted to remind her of those past events, but after taking into ount that Xia Yu was still there, he did not mention it.

    However, Xia Yu was shocked. Oh god, did she see wrongly? Was Brother Ziheng personally holding a woman¡¯s hand and carefully guiding her down the stairs? Her sister did not even receive this treatment in the past!

    As Xia Yu stared at them in bewilderment, there was a sour and bitter feeling in her heart. She did not even notice that she had overturned the strawberry cake slice in her hand.

    After some time, Pei Ziheng finally supported Xia Ling down the stairs slowly.

    Xia Ling looked up and saw that Xia Yu was staring at her with a pair of delicate yet resentful eyes. She said, ¡°This staircase was designed and built by my sister. What right do you have to say that it is not good?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Yu.¡± Pei Ziheng frowned.

    Xia Ling looked at the sister in front of her and slowly forced a smile. ¡°I said that the stairs are not very convenient. Why do you care? I¡¯m living here now, Miss Xia Yu, not you.¡± She swore on her conscience that she did not deliberately provoke Xia Yu. Instead, Xia Yu was the one who voluntarily looked for trouble, so she did not have the patience to tolerate her.

    ¡°You... What right do you have to live in my sister¡¯s room?!¡± Xia Yu was so angry that she quivered when she spoke and then turned to look at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Brother Ziheng, how could you let another woman tarnish my sister¡¯s things like that?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling is the same as your sister.¡±

    This sentence stunned Xia Yu. What sort of potion did this woman feed Brother Ziheng such that he considered her of equal importance as her sister? She was not worthy!

    After seeing Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand around Xia Ling¡¯s waist, Xia Yu had an unprecedented feeling of crisis. In the past, even if Brother Ziheng had many women outside, he would never bring any of them home. Those women were just substitutes for her sister, and they were only used as a distraction from his loneliness. However, this substitute in front of her was not the same. There was a huge possibility that she would rece her sister and be the mistress of the house!

    ¡°Brother Ziheng, do you not want my sister anymore?¡± Xia Yu burst into tears.

    Xia Ling looked at her tearful act and silently awarded her the best actress award in her heart. She yawned, feeling bored, and said, ¡°You two can talk.¡± She gently let go of Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand and was about to walk forward.

    Pei Ziheng pulled her back. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to the kitchen to see Nanny Zhou.¡± Xia Ling was somewhat unhappy. ¡°The boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili is not ready yet. I¡¯m starving.¡± She was experiencing heartburn from hunger, which wasmon when pregnant women got hungry. That was why she could not sit straight after instructing Nanny Zhou to prepare the fish and could not help but go downstairs to take a look. ( Boxno vel. co m )

    The kitchen was not far away from the dining hall. Nanny Zhou heard themotion and had already walked out. ¡°Miss Ye, the boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili requires some effort to make. I¡¯m sorry, but you have to wait some more. How about I prepare something else for you in the meantime?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was about to make Xia Ling sit down at the dining table. ¡°What a coincidence. Xiao Yu brought over a cake. You can eat some first.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling looked at the sweet-smelling cake on the table and was about to reject him.

    Before she could say anything, Xia Yu was already eximing in indignation. ¡°Why are you offering her the cake that I made? Brother Ziheng, this cake was made in memory of my sister tomemorate the 18th anniversary of the day we met!¡± As she spoke, she red at Xia Ling in protest.

    Xia Ling really wanted to tell her that she was actually her sister, but she could not bring herself to do it. She hated it when people threw a tantrum in front of her. Ambitiously, she stretched out her hand to take a piece of cake.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to eat it!¡± Xia Yu cried.

    Xia Ling looked at the small piece of cake in her hands. She could not help but admit that Xia Yu¡¯s skills were not bad. The snow-white cream was smooth and attractive, and the strawberries and mint leaves were a beautifulbination as they gave off a fresh aroma. She was starving, with every cell in her body moring for something to eat. She did not think too much as she took a bite of that piece of cake. Suddenly, in a sh, she groaned as she spat it out.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Pei Ziheng quickly handed her a cup of water.

    ¡°You!¡± This time, Xia Yu really cried. How could that b*tch ruin her cake like that?! Did she know how much effort she put into making this cake? She started her research a few months ago and even hired a famous western-style pastry chef to teach her. She personally beat the eggs and dough and experimented many times such that the skin of her hands became rough before she could make such a sweet and delicious cake.

    Today, she got up especially early in the morning and spent an entire day to make the cake. She even carefully dressed before she came looking for Pei Ziheng to give him a surprise and have a special night with him. Unfortunately, her ns were all ruined by that b*tch! ¡°You¡¯re too much!¡± Tears flowed down. She looked pitiful and beautiful when she cried. ¡°Ye Xingling, you can just tell me directly if you look down on what I¡¯ve made. Why did you have to spit it out after taking a bite? I¡¯ve never seen anyone as insulting as you!¡±

    Xia Ling was not in the mood tofort her.

    Her stomach was overwhelmingly ufortable and felt like vomiting. However, she could not vomit because if she kept vomiting, her baby would not get enough nutrients. She spent a lot of effort to resist the ufortable feeling as she rested her head on the table and breathed deeply.

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng nced at Xia Yu and said, ¡°Don¡¯t yell at Xiao Ling.¡±

    He knew that she was vomiting because she was pregnant, and he was extremely worried, but Xia Yu was being very noisy at the side. Suddenly, Pei Ziheng felt that Xiao Ling¡¯s sister thought too highly of herself.

    Xia Yu also felt that something was wrong and hurriedly shut up. Brother Ziheng was a very domineering and a man of his word. Once he made a decision, even an emperor could not change his mind. Now that he was biased towards that b*tch, even if she continued to protest, he would just dislike her more.

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart was broken as she bowed her head. She did not want to look at the way he was showing concern for Xia Ling and cried in silence.

    Pei Ziheng took care of Xia Ling for some time. After seeing that she was fine, he finally remembered that there was another girl present. Looking at the sad look on the face of someone who resembled Xiao Ling slightly in the past, he could not help but reassure her. ¡°Xiao Ling did not spit out your cake on purpose. Recently, she¡¯s not feeling well because she¡¯s preg¡ª¡±

    ¡°I spat it out on purpose.¡± Suddenly, Xia Ling interrupted him.

    Pei Ziheng was a little shocked and turned around to look at her. When did Xiao Ling be so aggressive?

 Chapter 413 - Exposing Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 413: Exposing Secrets</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her eyes were bright and clear like the stars in the night sky. Just like that, she looked at Xia Yu and curved her lips into a slight smile. ¡°Xia Yu, don¡¯t you think that what you made tastes awful? There¡¯s too much cream, too little sugar, and even the proportion of water is not right. Did you buy random strawberries and mint leaves without thought? The taste is as light as an expired and discounted cake. Xia Yu, with your skills, I can¡¯t believe that you actually dare to let someone eat your cake.¡±

    She could not be med for being picky as she was used to eating Li Lei¡¯s personally baked cakes and naturally felt that the standard of other chefs wascking. Moreover, she deliberately interrupted Pei Ziheng because she did not want Xia Yu to know that she was pregnant.

    It was difficult for her to have a baby. Right now, the baby¡¯s condition was not stable yet. Why should she let someone who was ipatible with her know about this and cause unexpected troubles? Xia Ling pushed the te aside and looked at Pei Ziheng. ¡°I¡¯ve only caught a minor cold. Why do you have to exin this to someone making a fuss?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was shrewd and understood that she was unwilling to tell others about her pregnancy. Thus, he amodated her and changed the subject. ¡°It tastes bad? Tomorrow, I will look for someone else to make a better cake for you.¡±

    His voice was low, and he looked gently at her like a good husband who loved his wife.

    The brightly lit dining room was quiet for a while. Xia Yu looked at the pair of lovers and shook her head incredulously as she retreated. ¡°Brother Ziheng... You don¡¯t love my sister anymore...¡± ( Boxno vel. co m )

    Her tears uncontrobly fell.

    Xia Ling looked at her excellent acting and had mixed feelings. She kept reminding herself that Xia Yu treated her poorly at the start. Those vicious insults and humiliation were all done by her as she smiled happily and lied to her face. <i>Xiao Ling, you must not be soft-hearted.</i>

    However, she said, ¡°Xia Yu, why trouble yourself? Perhaps your sister herself doesn¡¯t even care if Pei Ziheng loves her anymore. Why do you have to worry so much about this for her? Forget her and live well.¡±

    Xia Yu thought it was a provocation.

    Shaking her head, she stepped back and cried as she covered her face and bolted out of the house.

    The dining hall was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Pei Ziheng reached out and lightly lifted Xia Ling¡¯s chin. She could not hear any emotion in his voice. ¡°You don¡¯t care if I love you anymore, huh?¡±

    However, she only looked at him tiredly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m already physically by your side. You get to determine if I live or die in this lifetime. What else do you want from me?¡± She lightly pushed his hand away. ¡°You have to learn to be content and not force us into a corner.¡±

    She got up and left, leaving behind a chilly figure.

    The aroma of boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili could be smelled, and the sweetness of the cake on the table could be detected from the kitchen, filling the quiet house. However, her heart was not here. The house felt cold to her.

    When Xia Ling had tea with Feng Kun, she talked about Xia Yu.

    ¡°It¡¯s really strange. She was obviously a high-caliber student who graduated from Cambridge and is talented at business management. Why did she make the stupid choice of bing a singer? Why is she sacrificing so much for a man?¡± Shezily knelt at the mini bar near the window to bask in the sun. After some time, she turned around to suntan her back. ¡°No matter how much she¡¯s obsessed with Pei Ziheng, it is time to give up after being unsessful for so many years.¡±

    As Feng Kun prepared a special fruit juice, he said, ¡°I initially thought you did not know that Xia Yu liked Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know in the past.¡± Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°However, I know now. I really want to advise Pei Ziheng to ept her and grant her wish of being his wife so I can be released...¡±

    She was silent.

    Feng Kun was also silent and handed the special fruit juice to her.

    Xia Ling drank it in small sips.

    On her wrist, the diamond bracelet that Pei Ziheng gave herst night sparkled.

    She nced at it casually and took it off. After that, she took a small paulownia wood amulet out of her bag and tied the long red string around her wrist. The bright sunshine lined her white and somewhat translucent skin,plementing the enchanting red amulet.

    She was deep in thought as she looked at its every detail.

    How nice it would be if Li Lei were here. He would definitely make the most delicious cake for her. With his unique skills, she would definitely not have such a serious reaction to it. Their small baby would be healthy, and she would not have to live in fear every day. Li Lei...

    She really missed him.

    When Xia Yu passed by the bar, she saw that exact scene. That irritating woman Ye Xingling was gazing lovingly at her wrist, and there was a small amulet wrapped in silk around her wrist. Her expression was very gentle and filled with deep sorrow as if she were looking at her long-lost lover.

    Instinctively as a woman, Xia Yu immediately felt that something was wrong.

    Last night when she was at Brother Ziheng¡¯s house, she paid special attention to the interaction between this irritating woman and Brother Ziheng. Ye Xingling did not have this expression when she was looking at him.

    Could it be that there was someone else in Ye Xingling¡¯s heart?

    Xia Yu was shocked by her own thoughts. Unsurprisingly, she thought about the love affair between Ye Xingling and the Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss, Li Lei. Could it be that those two did not have a clean break?

    As if she made a new discovery, Xia Yu was ecstatic. She looked at the bar counter and smiled sinisterly. <i>Hmph, b*tch, so what if you are temporarily favored? I will pretend that I was feeding cake to a dogst night. Very soon, I will expose you for being a wh*re. When that timees, let¡¯s see if Brother Ziheng still wants you!</i>

    She wanted to quickly chase Ye Xingling away so that she could be Brother Ziheng¡¯s only woman!

    She walked past the bar like a willow branch trembling in the wind and headed towards the chairman¡¯s office in the headquarters building.

    Pei Ziheng was currently reading reports inside. When he saw her, he asked, ¡°Is there something I can help you with?¡±

    ¡°Brother Ziheng.¡± Xia Yu bit her lip and lowered her head. ¡°I... I came to apologize for what I did yesterday. I was wrong yesterday and did not know that Ye Xingling was feeling unwell. Furthermore, I was anxious to protect my sister. If not, I would not have yelled at her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Pei Ziheng gently said. ¡°I¡¯m very happy that you care so much about your sister.¡±

    It turned out that there was a ce for her sister in his heart. Xia Yu¡¯s anxious feelings were at ease again. As long as Brother Ziheng loved her sister, her position as her sister would be secure, and she could continue to use simr reasons to approach him and think of ways to make him fall in love with her.

    Xia Yu meekly said, ¡°I just miss my sister so much... Just now at the recording studio when I passed by the small bar, I saw Ye Xingling. And I guess she also really loves you Brother Ziheng, which is why she looked so nostalgically at the gift you gave her. It was her expression that touched me and made me feel that I should not be that selfish. That¡¯s why I came to apologize.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression also softened. ¡°She really likes that diamond bracelet?¡±

    ¡°What diamond bracelet?¡± Xia Yu widened her eyes and appeared shocked.

 Chapter 414 - Too Conspicuous

    <h4>Chapter 414: Too Conspicuous</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng was also slightly horrified and looked at her probingly. ¡°What is the keepsake you are talking about?¡±

    ¡°An amulet.¡± Xia Yu said lightly. ¡°It has a red silk thread. Ye Xingling put it around her wrist and looked very lovingly at it. Red thread... Hasn¡¯t that always been a keepsake between lovers? That¡¯s why I thought Brother Ziheng gave it to her.¡± She seemed to hesitate. ¡°Brother Ziheng, I didn¡¯t see any diamond bracelet. Perhaps... I was too far away and saw wrongly?¡±

    It was absurd for her to mistake a diamond bracelet for an amulet wrapped in red thread.

    Pei Ziheng was silent for a moment before waving his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m still busy,¡± he said. ¡°I ept your apology. Please leave first.¡±

    Xia Yu knew that her n was sessful, so she smiled silently and left.

    At night, Pei Ziheng went home as usual. When he ate with Xia Ling, he saw that her wrist was bare.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the bracelet?¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling looked at her wrist. ¡°It¡¯s too conspicuous, so I kept it.¡± In reality, she had forgotten to put the bracelet back on after wearing the amulet around her wrist. However, it was not wrong to say that it was too conspicuous. When she was handing some items to a staff member this morning, his mouth was agape as he stared at her wrist.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen youin that diamonds were too conspicuous in your past life.¡± Pei Ziheng said gently.

    Xia Ling looked at him and thought: <i>How is that the same? </i>In her past life, she was arrogant and domineering. She did not even understand the concept of being ¡°too conspicuous¡± especially since she had Pei Ziheng¡¯s backing. However, what about this life? She only wanted to remain low-key and safely deliver and raise her child.

    After being separated from Li Lei, her entire life was in ruins and darkness ever since.

    Her only ray of light was her baby, and she was only living the rest of her life for it. As for herself? Why make others jealous of her again?

    She bowed her head to drink her soup without making a sound.

    Pei Ziheng made a decision. ¡°Tomorrow, I will ask someone to send over a few product catalogs. You can take a look and choose those items you like.¡± Low-key and beautiful jewelry existed in the world, and he could only patiently try to please her.

    However, some things could not be kept.

    After dinner, Xia Ling slept on the bed as usual.

    Pei Ziheng was busy in the study room for a long time before he pushed open the door of the bedroom, undressed, and back-hugged her. Xia Ling slept very lightly tonight. Once he hugged her, she immediately woke up. However, she did not move as she felt his long breaths against her skin.

    She did not know when she started to feel a little anxious.

    Moonlight flowed into the room like water through the gauze curtains.

    She felt more and more awake. Soon, she could not go back to sleep. Thus, she carefully got up from Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms. Without waking him, she nimbly got down from the bed and went out of the bedroom barefooted.

    Perhaps it was easier to miss a person in the middle of a quiet night. Her entire mind was filled with Li Lei¡¯s handsome smile. Unconsciously, she walked to a small work area that belonged to her. There was a small and exquisite handbag there that she usually carried it with her.

    She opened the handbag and habitually touched the amulet.

    Unexpectedly, she only felt an empty surface.

    Where was the amulet?!

    She was so frightened that she broke out in cold sweat. She tried to touch it again, but there was still nothing. She could not help but throw out all of the items in her bag. However, she could only find Pei Ziheng¡¯s gorgeous icy diamond bracelet. The amulet that Li Lei sacrificed half of the blood in his body to obtain had vanished without a trace.

    She was anxious and searched the entire room to no avail.

    She only felt her mind turn nk and turn panic-stricken by her unprecedented anxiety. She rushed downstairs and out of the hall to search the garage.

    In the garage, there were three Rolls Royce parked side by side.

    Xia Ling looked for the car that she rode on today. As she did not have the key, she could only look into the car desperately through the windows. The rm was deafening, but she could not care less. Soon, the security officer and chauffeur rushed over. After seeing that it was her, they asked, ¡°Miss Ye, what are you doing here sote?¡±

    She nced at the chauffeur. ¡°Open the door for me to take a look. I left something in the backseat.¡±

    As instructed, the chauffeur opened the door. Xia Ling carefully searched the seats but did not find the amulet. Hesitating for a moment, she then turned around and asked the chauffeur, ¡°Did I leave anything behind in the back seat just now? For example, an amulet. It is made of paulownia wood and has a red thread. It¡¯s about this big.¡± As she spoke, she used her hands to estimate its size.

    The chauffeur replied, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen it.¡± Seeing how worried she was, he added, ¡°There are a few nkets and pillows in the car that have to be washed daily. Do you think your item may be mixed with them? How about you go to theundry room to take a look? Nanny Zhou most likely took those nkets there.¡±

    Before he could finish, Xia Ling had already sprinted to theundry room.

    Theundry room was in a corner of the garden, far away from the garage. She ran across almost the entire house before she finally arrived there.

    She silently prayed in her heart, hoping that the amulet was still there. Recently, due to her pregnancy, she felt very lethargic. In the evening, she always felt muddle-headed and did not remember if she had pulled the zipper of her bag properly. However, she hoped that it really dropped in the car and was mixed with the nket so she could still find it.

    Thankfully, there were not many clothing items in theundry room. There were only a few of her dresses, one of Pei Ziheng¡¯s suits, and the nkets and pillows that were taken from the Rolls Royce today. Xia Ling anxiously searched the pile of items. However, she was disappointed; the amulet was nowhere to be found. That small paulownia wood amulet vanished into thin air without a trace.

    She was crestfallen, and her entire body was numb. She refused to believe that the amulet was not there and searched the pile of items carefully again to no avail. After some hesitation, she shivered as she turned on all of the lights in theundry room and searched every nook and cranny for the amulet, thinking that it might have dropped on the floor. Li Lei had already disappeared from her life. That amulet was her only way to remember him and seek refuge in...

    Washing machine, dryer, wooden basin, water pipes...

    She searched all of them one by one. As she used too much force too eagerly, she broke her nail and injured her finger. However, she did not have time to care. She only had one goal in her mind: to find the amulet and not to give up until it was found!

    She spent a long time searching in theundry room and created such a mess that it was like a typhoon had urred. As she stood in the middle of the chaos, her feelings were more dreary than the scene in front of her. <i>Amulet, where exactly are you?</i>

    The corners of her eye suddenly spotted a dark red color.

    Pleasantly surprised, Xia Ling turned around but did not see anything. However, she refused to give up and refused to believe that the small speck of red she saw was just an illusion. Hurriedly, she searched in that direction again. The dirty drain of theundry room was there. There was pitch ck darkness when she looked through the rusted iron cover, and she could not see a thing.

 Chapter 415 - Take Care of Your Grandson

    <h4>Chapter 415: Take Care of Your Grandson</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She could not care less that her nightgown was new. Kneeling down, she stretched her hand out to feel for the amulet.

    After a few attempts, she still could not feel anything. She refused to believe this. Just now, she obviously saw something red. It was definitely not an illusion. Definitely not! She bent down and stuck her hand deeper into the drain in an even greater effort to find the amulet. The icy cold sewage water stained her nightgown and covered her hands and feet. She was extremely ufortable, but she gritted her teeth and pressed on.

    One more time. Just one more time and she would definitely...

    However, she still could not find the amulet.

    Behind her, a low male voice bellowed. ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    Shocked, she turned around to see a tall man standing in the shadow of moonlight. He was wearing ck satin pajamas, and it looked like he was blending in with the darkness. The man¡¯s expression was dark and uncertain as he stared at Xia Ling quietly with unpredictable emotions.

    It was Pei Ziheng. When did he wake up?

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart palpitated in fear. There was a sense of panic and dread in her heart like she was being caught for doing something wrong. However, in a sh, she suddenly reacted. Pei Ziheng, it was Pei Ziheng! He was probably the one who hid the paulownia wood amulet. It must be him!

    ¡°Where did you put my item?¡± She quested.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression did not change. ¡°What item?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t act stupid!¡± She flew into a rage. ¡°Give me back my amulet!¡± She looked at him with her small face. Her eyes were bright and sparkled with a little starlight, looking beautiful yet fragile.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart ached slightly. He wanted to wrap this petite and disturbed girl into his arms and pamper her but held back. His woman could be willful, but being overly willful was not good and should be disciplined. ¡°You should also not act stupid.¡± His voice was very low. ¡°I¡¯ve already said that there are some things that you shouldn¡¯t keep.¡±

    Xia Ling drew a breath, and her face turned a little pale.

    She recalled the fate of the tinum ring pendant that had been engraved with the initials of her and Li Lei¡¯s surname. Her voice trembled as she asked, ¡°You... You didn¡¯t destroy the amulet, right?¡± Oh god, that paulownia wood amulet was only obtained after Li Lei sacrificed half of the blood in his body, and it was more precious than the tinum ring. She could not imagine the consequences if it were really destroyed.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very soft. ¡°I will keep it for you.¡± It is said that destroying something like an amulet is inauspicious for the owner. If it weren¡¯t for this reason, he would have burned that inconspicuous wooden sign a long time ago. ¡°However, don¡¯t think of seeing it again in this life. Xia Ling, you should just behave yourself and raise my child.¡±

    Luckily, it was not destroyed.

    Xia Ling sighed in relief and did not bother to hear his following statements. She only said, ¡°Give it back to me!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Go back to the room and sleep now.¡±

    ¡°Give it back!¡±

    His expression was as cold as a knife as he slightly frowned. Without warning, he picked her up and strode towards the bedroom. Xia Ling was caught off guard and started to scream and hit him with her hands and feet. However, it was useless as that tall man had hardened his heart and wanted her to follow his will. He walked past the garden and the quiet corridor to return to the bedroom.

    He put her on the bed again.

    ¡°Sleep.¡± He coldly spat.

    Xia Ling still wanted to rebel.

    He said, ¡°Do you believe that I will destroy that piece of wood?¡±

    At once, she quietened down. It was always like this. This man in front of her would always use forceful matters to suppress her. He was overbearing, arrogant, and unreasonable. If she did not submit to him, he would destroy her.

    Looking at him, Xia Ling felt the injustice which had umted for two lifetimes. Her eyes slowly turned red.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart ached as he looked at the way she cried. However, once he thought about how she was crying because of another man, his expression became colder. ¡°You better sleep. I don¡¯t want to see you running away again. Otherwise, I will lock the door.¡±

    She became afraid and did not make a sound.

    In her past life, he had also locked her up and used very cruel means to humiliate her such that until now, being imprisoned was a nightmare that she was most unwilling to face.

    She curled up and forced herself to close her eyes.

    Pei Ziheng sat on the bed and watched her for a while before he finally got up, left the room, and entered the study room. He was actually awoken by an emergency call. After realizing that she was not there when he woke up, he did not settle his issues immediately. Instead, he went to search for her in therge vi.

    He was worried that she might be in trouble.

    This worry took precedence over his work.

    The stars and moon were glowing dimly in the sky.

    He walked into the study and started a video call.

    At the other end of the video, it was a bright afternoon in New York, USA. The Imperial Entertainment staff members were anxiously working. ¡°Chairman, from the time you received our call till now, our share price has dropped by 4%.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Who did this?¡±

    ¡°Someone from the Li family.¡± At the other end of the video, the staff members were very efficient and had already discovered who was deliberately decreasing the stock price of Imperial Entertainment. ¡°It is said that it was an order by Second Young Master Li.¡±

    Second Young Master Li, Li Lei.

    Pei Ziheng had always been shrewd and immediately understood what was going on. That man could not directly take Xiao Ling away, so he was trying to get revenge through this method.

    He said, ¡°Help me make a call to Li Lei.¡±

    The call was quickly answered.

    ¡°What exactly are you trying to do?¡± Pei Ziheng asked coldly.

    At the other end of the phone, Li Lei nced at the screen which showed that Imperial Entertainment¡¯s stock was dramatically dropping. He replied emotionlessly, ¡°I want Xiao Ling. Release her.¡±

    ¡°Dream on.¡±

    Since he answered like that, there was no point in continuing the conversation. Pei Ziheng hung up the phone. The horrifying fight between the Li family and the Pei family in the U.S. stock market continued. A few orders were given up, but brutal and efficient orders did not work much in this scenario. The Li family was naturally strong in the overseas market, and Li Lei was obviously prepared to mobilize sufficient funds and had enough manpower to attack Pei Ziheng by surprise and force him to retreat in defeat.

    ¡°Chairman, we can¡¯t continue like this!¡± The executives in charge of the U.S. stocks were sweating in anxiety.

    Pei Ziheng looked at his watch, and his voice was as calm as a mountain. ¡°Hold on for another half an hour.¡±

    He made another call and after a few transfers, he managed to contact Calming Heart Garden in the Li family headquarters. ¡°Li Shanhe.¡± He was not polite at all to the old master of the Li family, his tone icy. ¡°If you are old and can¡¯t control your grandson anymore, I can help you discipline him.¡± After that, he hung up the phone.

    After being rudely awakened from his sleep, Old Master Li was stunned for a moment before realizing what had happened. He said to a subordinate who was waiting upon him, ¡°Go! Help me find out what that young brat Li Lei has done now!¡±

    The chairman of Imperial Entertainment had called from China, and Old Master instinctively knew that Li Lei had caused some problems. As for Li Feng? Although Li Feng liked to kill and torture people, why would he provoke a giant figure in themercial business and leave the person alive to call him?

 Chapter 416 - New and Old Lovers

    <h4>Chapter 416: New and Old Lovers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    His subordinate quickly did an investigation and told Old Master Li about what happened in the U.S. stock market.

    Old Master flew into a rage. ¡°This boy is really rebellious! I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s fighting with the chairman of Imperial Entertainment for a good-for-nothing girl! All of you have also granted his wish! No one even told me that he was going to mess with the funds in the U.S. stock market!¡±

    All his subordinates were scolded till they bowed their heads in remorse and did not dare to speak.

    However, they were criticizing him in their hearts. <i>Old Master, who doesn¡¯t know that Young Master Li is your precious grandson? So what if he mobilized a small part of the funds in the U.S. stock market? Even if he mobilized the funds in Southeast Asia and South Africa and all the money went down the drain, you wouldn¡¯t even speak harshly to him!</i>

    In fact, he may even me those who reported the matter to him as interfering too much.

    ( Boxno vel. co m ) His subordinates were close to tears. Why was the Old Master like this today?

    However, no matter what triggered Old Master, since he was angry, they had the responsibility to ease his rage. Immediately, everyone expressed that they felt that Young Master Li was going too far or that Young Master Li was being very insensible by wasting the money in the family.

    Very quickly, the money that belonged to the Li family headquarters withdrew from the war in the U.S. stock market.

    China, Skyart Entertainment Building, office.

    ¡°Boss.¡± Tan Ying walked over to Li Lei¡¯s side. ¡°Old Master¡¯s reaction is fast; they have already frozen your authority to mobilize funds from the headquarters.¡±

    Li Lei slightly raised his eyebrow. ¡°Someone reported it to him?¡± He knew of his grandfather¡¯s work patterns. At this time, he should be asleep. Who was so daring to wake him from this sleep?

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± Tan Ying reported.

    Li Lei sneered. ¡°He truly does know how to take drastic measures to deal with a situation.¡± Skyart Entertainment had only been established a few years ago and other industries established by Li Lei were still young, so he had insufficient funds to fight with Imperial Entertainment in the U.S. stock market. However, the funds from the entire Li family were different. That huge cash flow was enough to make any bigshot tremble with fear.

    Tan Ying also felt that it was a pity. ¡°If we had two more hours, we would have inflicted heavy losses on Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Forget it, we have already gained quite a bit.¡± Li Lei stood up. Although he was using the money from the headquarters, he was obviously helping his family earn money, yet his grandfather wanted to stop it. The only reason was probably that his grandfather knew that he was doing it because of Xiao Ling. It looked like his grandfather was still very prejudiced against her...

    Within his family, he had to deal with the Old Master. Outside, he had a strong opponent like Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. How exactly was he going to get Xiao Ling to return to his side?

    ¡°Tomorrow, apany me to visit Imperial Entertainment.¡± He instructed Tan Ying.

    The next day came.

    Xia Ling did not sleep very soundly in the night. In her dreams, she found herself searching for the amulet. She left no stone unturned and searched for many years. After experiencing countless failures, she still did not have a clue about its whereabouts. When she woke up, the sadness and worry she felt were still intense. It caused her to feel uneasy, and she could not calm down.

    She draped a jacket around her and asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where is Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Mister spend the entire night in the study and did not sleep. It appears that an emergency happened in thepany. In the morning, he rushed to his office without eating.¡±

    Xia Ling faintly acknowledged her. She did not care about what happened to Imperial Entertainment. Besides, with Pei Ziheng¡¯s measures, there was nothing he could not solve. Her only concern was when she would be able to see him again. She did not care if she had to pester him the entire day, she wanted to get that amulet back.

    She ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast and went to Imperial Entertainment.

    Xia Ling still got down from the ck Rolls Royce and entered therge office building under many eyes. Now, she was already used to people in thepany staring at her. In fact, she also knew that people were betting on when she would be ditched by Pei Ziheng in secret.

    She did not care at all.

    Manager Chu Chen walked with her to the recording studio.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to go to the chairman¡¯s office.¡±

    Startled, Chu Chen replied, ¡°The chairman is in a meeting now. How about I help you make an appointment with him?¡±

    Appointment? Since when did she need to make an appointment when she wanted to see Pei Ziheng? Xia Ling did not understand Chu Chen. She ignored him and continued walking forward, almost knocking into a person when she turned a corner.

    Subconsciously, she covered her lower abdomen. Luckily, she did not hit anyone. The baby was safe. She only received a fright and wondered if it would affect the baby negatively. With this in mind, her mood worsened. When she looked up at the person, her mood became even worse. It was Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu was also taken aback by her sudden appearance and held her arm as she yelped. ¡°Ouch, it hurts! Ye Xingling, watch where you¡¯re going! Didn¡¯t you see that there¡¯s someone here?¡± She said with an usatory tone as if she had suffered a huge grievance.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood was ruined. Coldly, she rebuked. ¡°Stop acting.¡± It was obvious that they did not knock into each other.

    ¡°How dare you say I¡¯m acting!¡± Xia Yu felt so wronged that she almost cried. Her volume was also very loud, and people nearby could all hear her. ¡°Ye Xingling, consider yourself lucky that I did not seek revenge after you knocked into me. I can¡¯t believe you said I am acting!¡±

    A few curious eyes were already looking over.

    Look, the chairman¡¯s old lover¡¯s sister and his new lover are having an argument. This kind of drama is more entertaining than any conflict in the entertainment industry. These gossip lovers were all hoping for something like that to happen during their workday. Everyone¡¯s eyes were sparkling as they pretended to overhear the argument by ident.

    Xia Ling was irritated and snorted. She was only concerned about looking for Pei Ziheng to find the amulet and did not intend to waste time having a conflict with Xia Yu. Thus, she walked around her.

    Although Xia Yu looked frail and pitiful, she actually had some strength. She gripped Xia Ling¡¯s wrist and said, ¡°Ye Xingling, apologize!¡±

    Xia Ling was suddenly pulled back by her and was furious. As she was afraid of hurting the baby, she did not forcefully push her away. She only used her other hand to protect her lower abdomen. ¡°Let go!¡±

    ¡°Apologize!¡± Xia Yu demanded.

    Xia Yu was enraged. If she weren¡¯t pregnant, she would have fought about 300 times with Xia Yu already. Now, she did not dare to overstep her boundaries. However, even if she did not want to stir trouble, she was not one to take this lying down. She did not even knock into anyone, why did she have to apologize?

    She looked at Xia Yu coldly without saying anything.

    Both of them refused to budge.

    The surrounding crowd was unhappy. Why didn¡¯t these two girls start fighting? They should be insulting each other and making their conflict more exciting! What was with this stalemate? They could not make out their emotions at all. This... was too unfair!

    The crowd wailed in disappointment in their hearts.

    The two girls still refused to budge. However, it was as if manager Chu heard their silentins. He walked up and lightly ced his hand on Xia Yu¡¯s hand. ¡°Xia Yu, let go of Miss Ye.¡±

 Chapter 417 - Especially Miss Ye

    <h4>Chapter 417: Especially Miss Ye</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Brother Chu...¡± Xia Yu felt confusion brewing in her mind seeing Chu Chen defending Xia Ling.

    Chu Chen firmly stood his ground, wordlessly wrapping his hand around Xia Ling¡¯s wrist and pulling her to her feet. Simultaneously, he ced himself in front of her as an act of defense. ¡°You need to speak to Miss Ye nicely,¡± he remarked.

    When Ye Xingling first came to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, Chu Chen¡¯s loyalties were divided. Now, she was pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child. If Chu Chen still could not decide whose side he was on, his position at Imperial would be at stake. Pei Ziheng did give the order before for him to treat Ye Xingling nicely, after all.

    It was a pity that Xia Yu didn¡¯t know that she was pregnant.

    ¡°You¡¯re choosing an outsider over me?¡± There was a sh of hurt in Xia Yu¡¯s outburst. ¡°Brother Chu, back when my sister was alive, you treated me so well, but now that my sister is gone, you¡¯re teaming up with other people to bully me?¡± She wasn¡¯t dumb. She knew that Chu Chen was controlled by Pei Ziheng. But she wasn¡¯t brave enough to pick a fight with the man himself, so she had to settle for Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen¡¯s brows furrowed. Xia Yu sure had guts to criticize him in public.

    Miffed, he coldly spoke to her cowering assistant, ¡°Are you Miss Xia Yu¡¯s assistant? Later, please look for Liu Shinan from management. Tell her to choose several weeks for an offsite shoot and send Miss Xia Yu over.¡± He couldn¡¯t afford to anger her, so he decided to send her away for a while instead.

    After all, who asked her to mess with the Boss¡¯ woman?

    The most important thing in his life now, of all things, was the child that Xia Ling was carrying. If anything were to happen to the child, the first person held ountable would be him. Chu Chen did his calctions clearly, anyway. He could afford to offend Xia Yu in exchange for getting into his Boss¡¯ and Boss¡¯ future wife¡¯s good books. A worthwhile bargain. Even if the Boss¡¯ future wife didn¡¯t seem to particrly like him much at the present moment.

    But he could work on it. Seemed easy enough to him.

    ¡°Brother Chu?!¡± Xia Yu raised her head and looked at him in shock. Previously, she had felt that Chu Chen was always siding with Xia Ling, but this was really the most biased he had ever acted.

    Sending her away for this wretched woman?

    No, she wasn¡¯t having it.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to tell Brother Ziheng!¡± She whined, the sound of her stiletto clicking on the floor as she set it down childishly. ¡°I¡¯ve been feeling under the weathertely, and you still want to send me away? Brother Ziheng will definitely voice his disapproval about this!¡± She disappeared into the direction of the director¡¯s office.

    Xia Ling sighed, speechless, and followed behind her slowly.

    Pregnancy had taken a toll on her, inhibiting her motions like never before. It had merely been two months, and her bump was barely visible, but as the days passed, she felt the weight pull her body down, and her steps dragged more and more. She walked slowly down the luxurious corridor, feeling like an old empress.

    A crowd formed, watching them walk in the same direction. It was conflicting for them. On the one hand, they wanted to follow up on the story, but at the same time, it was the Director¡¯s office, of all ces. They were afraid. Never mind, anyway, watching the previous drama was well enough already. Manager Chu¡¯s loyalties were just as the rumors said, on Ye Xingling¡¯s side. Clearly, Ye Xingling was more important in the Director¡¯s mind by a long shot. Now they knew about the drama between these two women.

    The people in Imperial were a different kind. Even though their Boss was unreadable, they knew that to survive, they simply had to be on the same side as Chu Chen. Chu Chen was somewhat of a legend in the industry, having survived in thepany for so many years, and not even once had he yed his cards wrong. He was never wrong.

    Satisfied, the crowd dispersed.

    Xia Yu still did not know that she was truly done for this time. Not only did she fail to sabotage Ye Xingling, but she had also lost the concern that those people had previously paid her. From now on, if they were to sh again, nobody would side with her anymore, dropping her immediately in favor of Xia Ling.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling hardly cared at all.

    She deliberated her way to the office, meeting Xia Yu who had made the first move.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Yu asked harshly. ¡°Are you here toin to Brother Ziheng? I¡¯d advise you to give up. Brother Ziheng is busy, he doesn¡¯t have time to deal with you.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Did she seem like an immature person? One that tattled on other people all day long?

    Thankfully, she kept her mouth shut. Otherwise, she would really be trashy, as the people would say.

    Xia Ling ignored her, making her way around her instead. But she was stopped by two bodyguards. ¡°Sorry, Miss Ye, the director is in the middle of an important meeting with clients and specifically instructed that nobody was to disturb him.¡±

    ¡°Told you he had no time for you.¡± Xia Yu taunted.

    Xia Ling was dumbfounded. Was she not stuck outside as well? What was there to be proud of? Whileughing at others, she indirectly referred to herself as aughing stock as well. What a kid...

    Xia Ling sighed. Was she always that dumb? Just like Feng Kun had remarked, she was bing just like her in herst life.

    She shook her head. ¡°I want to go in.¡±

    The bodyguards remained polite but firm in denying her ess.

    Chu Chen tried to help her. ¡°The director said before that Miss Ye is an exceptional case. That she could look for him at any time.¡±

    Xia Yu felt a pang of jealousy listening to this. Why did that woman have rights that she didn¡¯t? This felt exactly like what happened when her sister was alive. No matter what Brother Ziheng was up to, he would always make time for her.

    She always thought that once her sister was dead, nobody else would get an opportunity like this again.

    But why was this opportunity squandered away?

    It felt like a fire was burning somewhere in her heart. She felt terrible.

    The bodyguards didn¡¯t acquiesce. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Chu. The director said that nobody could go in. Especially Miss Ye.¡± Xia Yu¡¯s heart leaped in relief.

    Especially Miss Ye?

    Xia Ling was curious now. What kind of people was he meeting that he had to hide from her? Sticking her head in to take a look, she saw that down the long corridor, in front of the office, stood another four bodyguards. Two were Pei Ziheng¡¯s men; she saw them often around him. The other two were...

    ¡°Ah Nuo!¡± She eximed.

    At the end of the corridor, one bodyguard turned to look at her before making his way over.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± He greeted. ¡°long time no see.¡±

    It really was him, Li Lei¡¯s bodyguard! At once, Xia Ling¡¯s heart sped up. Voice shaking, she enquired, ¡°He¡¯s... inside?¡±

 Chapter 418 - It Isnâ€™t For You To Call

    <h4>Chapter 418: It Isn¡¯t For You To Call</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Ah Nuo understood who she was referring to and nodded slightly. ¡°Young Master came to look for Chairman Pei.¡±

    She was about to barge in instinctively.

    On the corridor, Imperial Entertainment¡¯s two bodyguards held her back. ¡°Miss Ye, you can¡¯t go in.¡±

    She now knew why Pei Ziheng would not let her enter. He did not want her to see Li Lei! Since the day they parted, she had been missing Li Lei so much and hoping that she would get to see him again.

    Even if it were just one look at him.

    Ah Nuo asked, ¡°Miss Ye, you want to go in?¡±

    ¡°Of...¡± she was about to say ¡°of course,¡± but the words were stuck in her throat. What was she going in for? To meet Li Lei? So what if she got to meet him, they could not be together anyway. Seeing him would just sadden her further.

    She stood at the side of a corridor and took a small step back.

    Seeing Xia Ling¡¯s hesitance and deliberation, Xia Yu was sure that Ye Xingling was in love with someone else, and that person was in Pei Ziheng¡¯s office! It was such a perfect opportunity for her to expose this wretched woman! She needed to let Brother Ziheng see this woman for who she really was!

    Having calcted her moves, Xia Yu grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s arm and dashed into the office while shouting: ¡°How could you push me and not apologize? Let¡¯s get Brother Ziheng to say who¡¯s right!¡±

    Xia Ling waspletely unguarded when Xia Yu took her arm and ended up stumbling her way into the office. The two bodyguards were about to step up, but Ah Nuo easily stopped them from interfering. Ah Nuo was a militarybatant who had been through countless fights and had an air of ruthlessness that Pei Ziheng¡¯s bodyguards could not match up to. The bodyguards could not stop them and simply watched them barge into the office instead.

    In the office were two men.

    One of them was in a ck tailored suit with a tie on, sitting behind a long sturdy desk with a somber look ¡ª Pei Ziheng. The other man was in an expensive but casual tight-fit that emphasized his physique. His sharp eyes were on the man opposite him, looking almost like a predator.

    They must have been arguing about something for the air to be so tense in the office.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng!¡± Xia Yu used a coquettish tone to voice her grievances.

    On hearing that sound, they stopped talking instantly and turned around.

    Xia Ling was rooted to the ground and remained standing by the door. She looked at the man opposite Pei Ziheng and forgot even to breathe. Li Lei... it was so difficult to get to see him again. Had he not been resting well? He had lost weight and looked more haggard than before. There wasn¡¯t thezy calmness in him anymore, he was now uptight and ferocious.

    He was like a big cat, only baring its teeth when the battle with other animals called for it.

    Her heart ached for him.

    She looked at him for a long while and could barely hear what Xia Yu was saying. Pei Ziheng walked up to her, blocking her line of vision. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    She snapped back to reality and looked at Pei Ziheng with a hurt expression.

    Li Lei had risen from his seat as well and approached them. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling isn¡¯t a name for you to call.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s words were cold and curt as he put his arm around Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling stiffened and wanted so much to wrench his arm off, but resisted the thought. Since she could no longer be with Li Lei, she should not be giving him any glimmer of hope. She might as well have him believe that she was happy with Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Is there anything?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low but affectionate.

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°Yup, I just wanted to ask if you want to have lunch together.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s fists clenched tightly in his pockets.

    Ah Nuo¡¯s look turned awful. ¡°Miss Ye, you...¡±

    Xia Yu watched the show unfold and observed each of their expressions. She had known Brother Ziheng long enough to notice that he was unhappy at the moment despite his gentle tone and embrace. It was all just for show. <i>Hmph... watch out, wretched woman, you¡¯ll die a terrible death now that you¡¯ve angered him.</i>

    Pei Ziheng nced at Li Lei. ¡°You can see for yourself that we have a very close rtionship and that she¡¯s more than willing to stay by my side. Are you still thinking of pitting yourself against Imperial with all of your assets?¡± That was what they were talking about before Xia Ling and the rest barged in.

    Although the capital in the U.S. stocks was frozen, Li Lei did not intend to let the Pei family off. He was here to offer an ultimatum: Pei Ziheng was to let Xiao Ling go. Otherwise, Li Lei would fight Imperial till the end.

    With these two giants fighting it out, it was enough to turn themercial world upside down.

    Neither Li Lei nor Pei Ziheng was the sort to let people off easy, and she hade between them at an untimely moment. Li Lei looked at her, but she looked away to avoid his gaze. His heart ached to see her this way. ¡°You don¡¯t have to lie to me, this is not how you look when you¡¯re happy. Xiao Ling, wait for me to save you.¡±

    She turned pale, and it took all her efforts to shake her head.

    She wanted to tell him she was happy, but simply could not find the will to speak the words.

    Pei Ziheng squeezed her hand so hard she had to bite her lip so as not to make a sound and led her out of the room.

    A burning gaze followed behind her.

    In another lounge, Pei Ziheng sat Xia Ling down on a couch and draped his expensive tailored suit over her. ¡°Don¡¯t be up and about unnecessarily. You¡¯re pregnant now, watch your status.¡± Thest few words sounded like a warning.

    Xia Ling knew that the way she looked at Li Lei had angered him, but she did not have the energy to reason things out with him. She only asked, ¡°Imperial and Skyart are pitting against each other now?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her. ¡°This is not for you to care.¡±

    She did not know how powerful these two men were, but she knew better than anyone else that Pei Ziheng was ruthless in his ways, and Li Lei was not one to admit defeat. Xia Ling did not want them to end up in coteral damage over her. After a moment of consideration, she said, ¡°Let me persuade Li Lei.¡±

    ¡°You want to meet him?¡± Pei Ziheng gave her a threatening re.

    Her heart stopped for a moment, and she could neither nod nor shake her head.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯d better be good and stay put. If I find that you¡¯re up and about again, I will make sure you¡¯re grounded.¡± Her acting was terrible; even a fool could tell that she was concerned for Li Lei. How could he possibly let them meet each other? Pei Ziheng was thinking of how to lecture Chu Chenter on; he couldn¡¯t even do his job of watching one person!

    Xia Ling was quiet for a while before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t want the both of you to fight.¡±

    Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°I¡¯m not the one aggravating him, it¡¯s he who is causing me trouble. Don¡¯t you worry, Imperial will not fold. The both of you can give up.¡±

 Chapter 419 - So Ridiculous Itâ€™s Funny

    <h4>Chapter 419: So Ridiculous It¡¯s Funny</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Imperial Entertainment would not be destroyed, but if Li Lei were to choose to go head-on with them, nobody was going to have a good time.

    Skyart Entertainment had already started to go against Imperial Entertainment. While there was no real impact at this point, if the two tigers of the industry were to wage war, there would be coteral damage all around. Pei Ziheng was prepared to suffer losses amounting to thirty years of hard work, and even then he would not let Xia Ling go. Xiao Ling was his, to begin with. What did Li Lei do to deserve her love instead of him?!

    Seeing her worried expression, he said in a gentle voice, ¡°Just rx and take care of yourself and the baby. I¡¯ll give you anything you want.¡±

    What else would she want? She pitifully said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, I want that amulet. Are you going to give it to me or not?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became dark in an instant. So at the crux of it, she was still pining for Li Lei! The thought of digging out her heart there and then to see what color it was shed through his mind. Why? He was so good to her, but she was still unsatisfied, constantly thinking about Li Lei, Li Lei, Li Lei!

    ¡°Amulet?¡± He gave a sinisterugh before calling Chu Chen, asking for him to bring over a small box. He opened it to reveal the wooden amuletying quietly in the box.

    Xia Ling reached out to take it.

    Pei Ziheng blocked her hand and picked up the amulet before she did. ¡°You want this? Let me tell you now... You are never going to get it.¡± ( B oxnovel.c om )

    He walked over to the window, raised his arm, and threw it out.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale. She rushed to the window and looked out, but all she saw was the forest of trees. There was no way to tell where the amulet hadnded. She turned to head downstairs immediately, not even stopping to say a word to Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng caught her before she could go anywhere. ¡°Stay here quietly!¡±

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± She was furious and struggled to push him away. Yet, Pei Ziheng¡¯s body was immovable like a sturdy mountain. Xia Ling raised her head to look at him. ¡°Let me go to find the amulet!¡±

    He pressed his lips together and refused to let her go.

    Xia Ling continued to push and hit him, her emotions getting more flustered by the minute. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Yelping out in shock, she held her abdomen and doubled over in pain.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was filled with anxiety as he helped her to the small sofa by the side to sit down. He half-knelt and asked, ¡°What happened? Are you feeling difort anywhere?¡±

    Beads of cold sweat broke out on her forehead from the pain, and it took a while for the pain to subside.

    The child... was the child okay? She worried about the child, while simultaneously worrying about the amulet that was thrown out of the window. Her voice trembled as she said through gritted teeth, ¡°I want the amulet.¡±

    ¡°In this condition, you¡¯re still pining for that broken piece of wood?!¡± Pei Ziheng said angrily. ¡°Come, I¡¯m bringing you to see the doctor!¡± He bent over and carried her from the sofa and headed down the stairs.

    Xia Ling feebly struggled in his arms again. ¡°Amulet...¡±

    Her sickly pallor stopped Pei Ziheng from saying anything harsh to her. Regardless, he was going to make sure that nothing untoward came to the child she was carrying. He frowned and said as patiently as he could manage, ¡°You ignored Li Lei today, so you clearly understand that it¡¯s better to have a clean break earlier rather thanter. Since you¡¯ve already decided to break it off with him, why are you still holding on to his old gift?¡±

    This was she, the woman he loved deeply.

    If it were any other woman who was by his side while thinking about another man, he would make her pay in the cruelest of ways. Yet, he could not bear to hit or scold Xia Ling. His hands were bound with her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand held onto her abdomen protectively. She still wanted to find the amulet as a keepsake for herself, and to pass on to her child in the future. By now, Pei Ziheng had carried her to the first floor, causing many passersby to look on with shock, interest, jealousy, envy, and other expressions written on their faces. Pei Ziheng ignored them all and walked straight towards his Rolls-Royce, driving away from the forest.

    Sweat broke out on her forehead as her abdomen started to hurt again in her anxiety.

    ¡°Give me the amulet...¡± She muttered with difficulty. ¡°This amulet is from my brother... it¡¯s for protection... Ah, it hurts... ¡±

    Her slender, fair fingers gripped tightly onto his expensive shirt as she writhed in pain.

    Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks. ¡°Your brother?¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm...¡± It was getting harder and harder for her to speak. ¡°Li... prayed for it. But it was made by my brother and is said to ensure my safety and health. My brother is a preceptor... the amulet is very effective...¡± She had to take a deep breath after every few words, only managing to finish her sentence after much difficulty.

    Pei Ziheng did not believe these kinds of things originally. What preceptor? What effective?

    He had always thought that they were ploys by the frauds in the market.

    However, he had investigated the preceptor, Xia Moyan, for Xiao Ling awhile back. Even though he did not find him, but the hearsay suggested that many wealthy families were wary of offending him. Whenever anything untoward happened to them, they would try all ways and means to find him to help them interpret and mitigate the situation.

    It was better to be safe than sorry.

    He lowered his head to look at the woman lying in his arms. He saw that she was in such pain that beads of sweat kept forming on her forehead. He worried that she would keep thinking about the amulet, and in turn harm her and the child¡¯s health. He was also afraid that the amulet was indeed effective...

    After a moment, he said, ¡°I will get someone to find it. Rx now and don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital, don¡¯t harm the child. When I¡¯ve found the amulet, I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    Xia Ling rxed a little after hearing his words and felt the pain in her abdomen subside.

    Pei Ziheng brought her to Huaxin Specialist Hospital and looked for Senior Zhang. Senior Zhang gave her a thorough check-up before saying, ¡°There¡¯s nothing serious. There was just some instability brought about by her bing too agitated. Just make sure to stay calm as much as possible.¡± After which, Senior Zhang gave her a few prescriptions to help with rxation.

    It was only now that Pei Ziheng breathed a sigh of relief. He apanied Xia Ling back home and watched as she took the medication.

    With time to catch her breath, Xia Ling remembered about the amulet. ¡°Have you found it yet?¡±

    Pei Ziheng barely held in his anger on hearing her question. He breathed in a deep breath, conscious that he had to be sure not to agitate Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s found.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to see it, so he took it out for her to see.

    ¡°Can I... can you return it to me?¡± She looked up at him and asked cautiously. ¡°Otherwise, it will be hard for me to remain calm.¡±

    She seemed to be testing his limits since she was carrying his child. Pei Ziheng felt as if his principles were increasingly disappearing in front of her. He was quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°Okay.¡±

    He handed the amulet to her.

    Her expression was as if she had just received the most precious gift as she carefully hung the amulet around her neck.

    Seeing the peace and joy on her face from getting the amulet, Pei Ziheng felt sour and bitter. In this life, he had always been the dominant one and never felt like a loser. However, at this moment, he was unsure. In Xiao Ling¡¯s heart, he was clearly no match for that other man.

    He clenched his fists behind his back.

    She was his woman and was carrying his child. Yet, she relied on Li Lei¡¯s amulet for protection and to keep herself calm. The situation was so ridiculous to him that it was almost funny.

 Chapter 420 - Who Is The Crazy Dog

    <h4>Chapter 420: Who Is The Crazy Dog</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After getting the amulet back, Xia Ling felt much calmer and at ease.

    She was afraid of agitating Pei Ziheng and did not dare to hang it around her neck all the time, but she still kept it in her handbag that she carried around at all times. She would take it out from time to time and sit alone recalling her memories with Li Lei and the short time of bliss they experienced together. These memories gave her the courage to continue on the long road in front of her that seemed to bring nothing but loneliness.

    Pei Ziheng was very busy and would leave the house early and returnte at night. He would usually return when she had already fallen asleep and leave before she woke up. asionally, she would see him in the office, always looking to be in a rush.

    She should be happy with this situation.

    Not seeing each other all the time meant less time for any hurt to be dealt out.

    However, she knew what he was busy with. The war between Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment was highly publicized, and bothpanies were fighting against each other in every way possible. Neither side was willing to back down, and their war was affecting the entire industry. The stock market was highly vtile, and everyone embroiled in the midst of the war felt like they were riding a roller-coaster.

    She was concerned, fearing that Li Lei would lose to Pei Ziheng and lose everything he had built up.

    She was also worried for Pei Ziheng. If Imperial Entertainment really were beaten down, what was he going to do? She chided herself immediately after the thought. Pei Ziheng was so domineering, how could he be beaten? And even if he were, wouldn¡¯t that be just what she wanted so that she could return to Li Lei¡¯s side with the child?

    She did not understand the ways of business, and could only glean snippets of what was happening from the news. This made her very jittery.

    Perhaps due to all her worrying, her pregnancy was not a smooth one.

    This day, after Senior Zhang hadpleted his regr check-up on her, he said, ¡°You need to rx and maintain a good mood. Otherwise, it might harm both you and the child.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head. Rationally, she knew that there was nothing she could do about the war of the businesses, and there was no point in her worrying. Ensuring the child was healthy was more important, and she could not take Senior Zhang¡¯s advice lightly.

    She forced herself to shift her attention to something else.

    In these two lives, the only thing that she would lose herself in was singing.

    Hence, she frequented the recording studio and asked to be scheduled for simple events and recordings to keep herself busy while ensuring that there was not too much strain on her body. Chu Chen contacted all the departments in Imperial Entertainment and did all he could to give her the best resources and schedule her for the best shows. Coupled with the fan base she had already built up, her poprity continued to soar.

    Chu Chen apanied her to the broadcasting station for an interview.

    When they entered the broadcasting station, she realized that many people looking were at her with weird expressions. They seemed gleeful and had something to say but kept it to themselves.

    Xia Ling felt ufortable and asked Chu Chen, ¡°Why is everyone looking at me like that?¡±

    Chu Chen replied confidently and respectfully, ¡°Perhaps everyone just finds it intriguing to see you here given that you rarelye out these days.¡±

    She epted his answer but felt that something wascking about it. There was a saying that one would be dumb for three years after getting pregnant, and Xia Ling felt like she had be dumber since the start of her pregnancy. It wasn¡¯t long before she forgot about this issue.

    They entered the filming studio.

    Chu Chen verified with the emcee with a serious expression on his face. ¡°There have been no changes to the interview question list, right? You understand what questions to ask and not to ask, right?¡±

    The famous emcee gave Xia Ling a look before replying, ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not the paparazzi, and my program doesn¡¯t care about gossips. Big Manager Chu, don¡¯t worry. I have my work ethics.¡±

    Something seemed off to Xia Ling, and she turned to look at Chu Chen again with a suspicious expression.

    Chu Chen continued to smile confidently and said to her, ¡°I¡¯m just doing the usual verifications.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it and recalled that Chu Chen used to do the same in her past life. He would ensure that everything was in order and be extremely picky towards the filming staff. The entertainment circle was such that you had much more control if you were popr. Many artistes were happy to answer everything and anything when they were rtively unknown but would m up after they had gotten famous, bing much more selective about the questions they would take.

    Chu Chen would always help her to pick and choose as appropriate.

    However, his seriousness today was unusual.

    Xia Ling shook her head and brushed her concerns off as her pregnancy hormones worked up again. She turned her attention to the emcee as they began the interview.

    The interview recording went about smoothly and waspleted in under an hour. Chu Chen breathed a sigh of relief and hustled Xia Ling out of the recording studio with her assistant, make-up artist, and bodyguards in tow.

    The moment they walked out of the broadcasting station, they were surrounded by a group of reporters with all types of cameras.

    ¡°Miss Ye, what views do you have about the war between Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Do you know if Li Lei and Pei Ziheng started this war because of you?¡±

    ¡°We heard that Li Lei said that he would not stop until one of them is dead. Is this true?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, I heard that you have aplicated rtionship with Boss Li. You became famous by sleeping with him, and then went to Boss Pei when he offered you a higher price. Is this true?¡±

    All kinds of questions were shot at Xia Ling from all directions.

    Xia Ling was in a daze for a few seconds beforeing back to her senses. So this was why Chu Chen was so tense in the recording studio earlier. He had probably heard of all these rumors being passed around.

    The questions were fired at her one after another.

    Thankfully, she was used to all kinds of situations being an artiste in her two lives. She kept her mouth shut and did not say a word as she was sheltered through the crowd and onto the waiting car by the bodyguards.

    In the car, her assistant let out a long sigh. ¡°Thank God this isn¡¯t the Rolls-Royce.¡±

    Typically, Xia Ling would sit in Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce when going in and out of Imperial Entertainment. However, she would usually take the huge van when going on schedules given that many people in her team would follow.

    Chu Chen red at the assistant.

    Xia Ling found her train of thought and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why is there such amotion outside? Why are there so many rumors being passed around?¡± She was aware of the war between Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment and knew that she was the reason it started. However, who was the one who leaked this out to the press?

    Chu Chen¡¯s eyes narrowed as he said, ¡°Li Lei suddenly pounced on us, and he¡¯s biting onto Imperial Entertainment like a crazy dog and not letting go. Theizens are definitely going to guess what brought it on; thus, there are all sorts of rumors out there. The public likes to read these tabloids and gossips, and your three-way romance with the two big bosses is probably the favorite kind.¡±

    Xia Ling ignored the second half of his sentence.

    She saw red the moment he said ¡°crazy dog.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a crazy dog?!¡± She snapped in a cold voice.

    Chu Chen¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°Whoever wants to destroy Imperial Entertainment is a crazy dog.¡± He was from Imperial Entertainment and had ced all his bets on Pei Ziheng. As such, he definitely was not happy with Li Lei for throwing in so much instability to the mix.

    Xia Ling¡¯s chest heaved with anger as she continued coldly, ¡°Chu Chen, how dare you call anyone else a dog? You¡¯re the only one that should be called a dog! Pei Ziheng¡¯sckey! Don¡¯t you feel so undervalued being my manager? Since you¡¯re always talking back to me, why don¡¯t you go back and grovel at Pei Ziheng¡¯s feet? You should just go be Pei Ziheng¡¯s secretary, you dog!¡±

 Chapter 421 - Donâ€™t Make Trouble for Boss

    <h4>Chapter 421: Don¡¯t Make Trouble for Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chu Chen merely allowed her to rant at him and did not say anything else. His expression remained calm, and the words seemed to roll off him.

    This only made Xia Ling angrier.

    The interior of the car was silent as the assistant and make-up artist sat quietly, afraid to make a sound.

    Xia Ling red at Chu Chen and said through gritted teeth, ¡°Good... very good. Where is Pei Ziheng now?¡± She suddenly felt like looking for him, to ask him directly why there were so many messy rumors being passed around. Was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s PR team cking off? Sleeping with someone? Those people had no right to judge her rtionship with Li Lei.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss is having an important meeting in the office and will be backte.¡±

    Xia Ling instructed the driver. ¡°Go to the office.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Miss Ye, I advise you not to interrupt his meeting right now.¡±

    Xia Ling retorted furiously. ¡°Do I need your permission to see him?!¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± Chu Chen said calmly but firmly. ¡°Every meeting these days concerns Imperial Entertainment¡¯s life and death. Miss Ye, if you have a bit of conscience, please understand the difficulty that you have put Boss in. Don¡¯t go make more trouble for him right now.¡± ( B oxnovel.c om )

    ¡°Conscience?¡± Sheughed out loud at his ludicrous statement. ¡°Who is the one without the conscience?!¡± Who was the one that broke her and Li Lei up!

    Chu Chen lowered his eyes and did not respond.

    ¡°Go to the office!¡± Xia Ling shouted at the driver.

    The driver nced at Chu Chen through the rear-view mirror ufortably. ¡°Boss Chu...¡±

    ¡°Send Miss Ye home.¡± Chu Chen said.

    The driver had received instructions from Pei Ziheng to follow Boss Chu¡¯s instructions in the event that they diverged with that of Miss Ye¡¯s. Hearing Boss Chu¡¯smand, the driver turned his steering wheel and headed towards the bungalow.

    Xia Ling almost jumped out of her seat in anger. ¡°Chu Chen, you¡¯re being too much! Are you afraid that your master will be distracted by me and cause Imperial Entertainment to fall? Are you afraid that you will be a lost dog without him?!¡±

    Chu Chen remained silent, looking down at the floor without saying a word like he was an old monk in meditation.

    The interior of the car fell into silence once again. The assistant and make-up artist fidgeted ufortably at the awkward atmosphere in the car, and then both found an excuse to get off one after another.

    Only Chu Chen and Xia Ling were left in the huge van with the driver.

    The driver was also loyal to Pei Ziheng, and as such, Chu Chen spoke without reservation. ¡°Miss Ye, do you know how difficult it has been for Boss these few years?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback before retorting coldly, ¡°And do you think he¡¯s the only one that had it tough?¡±

    ( B oxnovel.c om ) ¡°There are many things that Boss will keep to himself and would never let me tell you.¡± He ignored her insulting tone and continued speaking. ¡°He¡¯s always like that. Not wanting the one he loves to worry.¡±

    The one he loves...

    Her heart clenched and somewhere deep within her heart started to hurt.

    A split secondter she jeered. ¡°Love? He¡¯s just infatuated with an illusion.¡± Until now, she could not understand what it was exactly that Pei Ziheng loved. Perhaps it was the amazing Xia Ling in her past life, and hence, he had hardened his heart to torture her in this life, only changing his attitude when he realized that she was Xia Ling reincarnated.

    Chu Chen gave her a look. ¡°You¡¯re extremely simr to Xia Ling.¡± He spoke to her in an informal tone, unlike his usual formal one. ¡°You¡¯re both exceedingly childish and unreasonable.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned before answering back. ¡°You¡¯re the childish one... your whole family is childish and unreasonable!¡± She angrily said. ¡°How dare you scold me like that... aren¡¯t you afraid that I will tell on you to your master?!¡±

    He replied lightly. ¡°What else do you know other than telling on people?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless as she suddenly realized that he was right. She did not know anything else and was at a loss if problems became any bigger. She suddenly felt useless. She had no power to change anything even if bad things continued to happen. Her expression darkened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give Boss any more trouble.¡± Chu Chen said.

    Xia Ling was silent.

    In the car, Chu Chen¡¯s expression was cold and hateful as he sat in the dim shadow of the night in his dark grey suit. He responsibly sent her to the doorstep of the bungalow before taking his leave.

    Xia Ling could not sleep that night.

    At around 1 am, Pei Ziheng dragged his tired body back to the house.

    Xia Ling sat on the living room¡¯s sofa and watched him, realizing that he seemed more tired than usual. Besides the frown between his eyes, he also had dark eye circles. She suddenly felt upset, and the pain in the depths of her heart spread. However, she did not forget the cruel and hateful things that he did to her, so she pushed the upset feelings back down.

    Pei Ziheng saw her sitting in the living room and was surprised. ¡°Xiao Ling, why aren¡¯t you asleep yet?¡±

    He thought of the time in their past life when they were still deeply in love. She would always sit on the sofa waiting for him to return in the middle of the night. However, in this life, she did not have such a habit, and he would not be so naive as to think that she had a sudden change of heart.

    Xia Ling did not say anything.

    Pei Ziheng asked in a gentle voice, ¡°Are you hungry? Why didn¡¯t you ask Nanny Zhou to make you supper?¡±

    She quietly watched as he instructed Nanny Zhou to prepare supper. In actual fact, supper was already prepared in the kitchen. Given that he had been so busy recently, Nanny Zhou thoughtfully double-boiled nutritious soup for him every night. The soups were all made to Pei Ziheng¡¯s tastes. Since Xia Ling tended to sleep early, Nanny Zhou did not prepare her share.

    She heard him tell Nanny Zhou. ¡°Make a bowl of sliced chicken noodles for Xiao Ling. Make sure the chicken is sliced thinly, and put more sliced green onions in.¡± He remembered everything that she liked to eat, down to the most minute of details.

    It wasn¡¯t longter that Nanny Zhou brought the noodles to her.

    Xia Ling did not feel like eating, but Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Eat some with me.¡±

    Seeing his fatigued pallor, she could not bring herself to reject him and followed him to the dining table. Nanny Zhou¡¯s cooking was good, and they quietly enjoyed the supper that she prepared. Xia Ling was full after a while, but she saw Pei Ziheng reach out and refill his bowl.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you eat dinner?¡± She could not resist asking.

    ¡°I ate something light with the directors in the middle of the meeting.¡± He added as an afterthought. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not particrly hungry. It¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t had sliced chicken noodles and sea cucumber soup in a while. It tastes good.¡±

    Was he trying to exin himself?

    Unknowingly, Chu Chen¡¯s words jumped into her mind: Boss is always like that. He never wants the one he loves to worry.

    She was conflicted in her heart.

    She lifted her head to look at him. ¡°I don¡¯t deserve this.¡±

    ¡°What don¡¯t you deserve?¡± He perfectly understood that she was talking about the war with Skyart Entertainment, but he merely skirted over the subject. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about business matters. I will ensure that you and the baby will have a peaceful environment.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± She hesitated before continuing. ¡°Can you stop fighting with Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    He nced at her. ¡°Can¡¯t you see who¡¯s the one picking the fight?¡± The situation now was akin to two skilled martial arts fighters in an intense duel locked in closebat. It was a situation where whoever stepped back first would die.

    He said, ¡°Do you feel that Imperial Entertainment will continue to operate if I give up now?¡±

    She did not know how to respond to his question. Wasn¡¯t he unbeatable? Wasn¡¯t Imperial Entertainment unshakable?

    Pei Ziheng gave a gentleugh. ¡°I¡¯m d you have so much confidence in me.¡± However, his expression did not look happy at all. Instead, there was a deep sorrow in his eyes.

 Chapter 422 - Running into Wei Shaoyin

    <h4>Chapter 422: Running into Wei Shaoyin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her heart clenched again seeing his sorrowful expression.

    ¡°What if I tell you that I¡¯m losing this war?¡± He asked softly.

    Xia Ling gave a start, and knocked over the ss cup on the table, spilling half its contents. ¡°You... will lose?¡±

    His eyes narrowed and contemted her for a moment. ¡°No.¡±

    Unknowingly, she heaved a sigh of relief. Of course, Pei Ziheng was unbeatable, how could he lose? However, she became nervous. ¡°Then... he?¡± She did not dare to say Li Lei¡¯s name out loud in front of Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed even further, and he was like a tiger whose mood was unpredictable as he sinisterly contemted his prey. She shrank back into her chair under his gaze as goosebumps formed on her skin.

    Yet, he did not do anything else as he got up and walked towards the bedroom.

    Xia Ling felt uneasy. She did not know what would happen to Li Lei, and her fingers subconsciously wrung the edges of her shirt. After a long while, she heard a low voice ring out. ¡°I will not kill him... if that is what you want.¡±

    She lifted her head and realized that Pei Ziheng had returned and was watching her from beside the stairs.

    The lights were dim, and his tall stature was half-hidden in the shadows. He looked a little out of the world and blurry. Xia Ling was uncertain if he really could beat Li Lei or not.

    In the following days, he was even busier than before.

    There were many days that they did not see each other at all. asionally, Xia Ling would suddenly jerk awake in the middle of the night and find him sitting by the bedhead, watching her with a gentle expression on his face, his fingers tenderly touching her face or smoothing her hair, like she was his greatest treasure.

    Xia Ling was worried about him but was at conflict with herself. If Pei Ziheng were good, then Li Lei wouldn¡¯t be. She did not want anything bad to happen to Li Lei either.

    She missed Li Lei.

    Now, she was by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side and could see how his busy schedule ate at him.

    However, there was no one by Li Lei¡¯s side. He was in this war alone and must be feeling very lonely.

    She wanted to hear about the situation in Skyart Entertainment, but she was constantly under Chu Chen¡¯s watchful eye and had no chance to speak to anyone there. He would apany her even when she went to see Feng Kun. Xia Ling spent a lot of time scouring the entertainment and finance news, trying to glean even a small bit of news about the situation in Skyart. Yet, there were many technical terms that she was unfamiliar with. As such, she bought a dictionary to check up on them.

    She realized that their war was very intense, and it had already spread to many of their other businesses. The real estate businesses, financial investments, manufacturing industries, etc. They were embroiled in an unending war in every facet that they could.

    Chu Chen was right. This was a war that meant life and death for both sides.

    Some financial analysts said that Li Lei had lost it and that Skyart Entertainment¡¯s years of foundation had no bite against Imperial Entertainment¡¯s hundreds of years of experience. Yet, other experts remarked that even though Imperial Entertainment had deep roots, their internal power struggle wasplicated, and Pei Ziheng had to bnce these internal forces as well. In contrast, Li Lei had built Skyart Entertainment himself, and there was an overarchingpany culture that held up thepany, and he also had support from the Li family from abroad. There was no way to tell how the war would pan out.

    No one knew who would win.

    At the end of every article, they would discuss the genesis of the war in the first ce. Someone had done their public rtions well, and the reports now said that the war between Skyart Entertainment and Imperial Entertainment was inevitable. Xia Ling switchingpanies was just the trigger. The public rtions was done well, and the negative impact on Xia Ling was brought to a minimum. Even though there were still many specting on the rtionships involved, they were not as ugly as the rumors she heard before.

    Because of these, she continued to be the most searched topic in the entertainment circle, and schedule requests multiplied exponentially. Chu Chen was kept extremely busy tending to her schedule, as well as helping Pei Ziheng with business matters. He was very responsible and made sure to give her his utmost attention, saying that this was a good time for her to be pushed into the position of unwavering stardom.

    Xia Ling did not want to gain fame from the difficulty that Pei Ziheng and Li Lei were facing. What was more, she had to think of the child she was carrying.

    However, Chu Chen said that the timing was right, and she had to ride the waves of her luck in the circle.

    She followed the schedule that he arranged for her to the T. Unexpectedly, she bumped into Wei Shaoyin.

    She had not seen Ah Wei in what felt like a lifetime. She saw him arguing with a representative from the broadcast station, or rather, he was the one that was shouting, and the representative was merely giving him an uneasy smile and listening reverently.

    She walked closer and could hear what he was saying loud and clear.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what program you have after this. In ten minutes, I want you to empty out the studio. It¡¯s your lousy director that made a mess of the show. If we don¡¯t film it again, you can be sure that you will never see me again!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice was clear and domineering, speaking with no room for negotiation. Xia Ling was aware that he was producing a music critic program recently, and the audience loved how sharp and harsh he was. The show was breaking records in terms of viewership, and he was now someone that the broadcast station could not afford to offend.

    The representative wiped the sweat that was forming on his forehead. Lifting his head, he saw Xia Ling standing behind Wei Shaoyin.

    ¡°Miss Ye!¡± He shouted out as if seeing a lifesaver. ¡°Can you please help me persuade Mr. Wei here? He wants to use your recording studio at thest minute.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback, and Wei Shaoyin turned to look at her, the shock on his face equalling hers.

    There were a few seconds of silence before she opened her mouth. ¡°Which recording studio do you want?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin turned to the representative and said coldly, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that the person recording next is Ye Xingling?¡±

    The representative looked wronged and said, ¡°I hadn¡¯t finished my sentence. You interrupted me when I said Imperial Entertainment...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin kept quiet.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Chu Chen looked on with crossed arms and asked Wei Shaoyin, ¡°Do you still want to use it?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nced coldly at Chu Chen before barking out at the representative. ¡°Tomorrow at this time. And I want a change of director. We¡¯re filming it again.¡±

    The representative heaved a sigh of relief and thanked him profusely for his understanding.

    Chu Chen gave a knowing smile. Xia Ling felt ufortable seeing his expression, and turned away, lifting her head to speak to Wei Shaoyin. ¡°If you need it urgently, I can let you have the studio.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Don¡¯t you know, Li Lei said that Skyart Entertainment is not going to fight for any schedules that involve you.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered the intense war between the twopanies. From Wei Shaoyin¡¯s words, she understood that fighting over schedules was amon urrence. However, her impression of the war stopped at the news in the papers and the frown that Pei Ziheng had on his face all the time. Otherwise, it did not seem to have an impact on her life at all.

    However, it appeared that not only Imperial Entertainment was protecting her, but Li Lei was also giving in to her in all ways possible as well.

    Sadness entered her heart, and she lowered her head.

    Wei Shaoyin walked up to her and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I want to speak to you privately.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have time to reply before Chu Chen came between them. ¡°Miss Ye is very busy. I¡¯m sorry, she has no time to chat with you.¡±

    Chu Chen had many roles, and one of them was to follow and watch Xia Ling at all times. Xia Ling was furious and red at him, almost breaking out in curses. However, Chu Chen was unfazed as he refused to let Wei Shaoyin and her speak privately.

 Chapter 423 - The Chase

    <h4>Chapter 423: The Chase</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Shaoyin grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s wrist and walked quickly towards the door in an irate manner.

    With his long legs and wide strides, she had to jog to keep up with him and could not resist butin. ¡°Go slower! I don¡¯t feel well!¡± She was now carrying a child and could not engage in intense activity.

    Wei Shaoyin was taken aback and slowed down, but chided her. ¡°What a wimp! You deserve being monitored so closely.¡±

    Xia Ling was panting as she tried to catch her breath, one hand protectively covering her abdomen, and did not reply to him. Behind her, she could hear steps catching up to them. It was likely to be Chu Chen chasing after them.

    Ah Wei gripped her wrist again and hurried her. ¡°Quick, my car is just at the door.¡±

    Xia Ling was dragged along and almost tripped over the steps outside the main door. Thankfully, Wei Shaoyin¡¯s quick reflexes saw him steady her in time, though they ended up in a suggestive position with him pressing her onto the wall.

    Xia Ling pushed him with her cement dust covered hand and said angrily through gritted teeth, ¡°You¡¯re really heavy!¡±

    His pristine white shirt was immediately stained with her fingerprints, making him bristle. ¡°My shirt!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t let go of me, I¡¯ll kick you into the bushes to make it worse!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re grabbing onto my elbow! How am I going to let go of you?!¡±

    They argued as they struggled to stand up straight, and in their disheveled position, they suddenly heard the sound of a shutter clicking, followed by a gleeful shout. ¡°Ye Xingling! Wei Shaoyin!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s reaction was quick and immediately swiveled to cover Xia Ling¡¯s face. Xia Ling was first grateful before turning angry. ¡°Are you an idiot?! That guy called out my name! What good is it blocking my face now?! Covering me like that makes our rtionship seem even more suggestive!¡±

    His expression darkened, but before he could retort, he was pushed away from her by a powerful force. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to leave already?!¡±

    It was Chu Chen in a furious tone.

    Xia Ling turned and realized that he had chased them down, and not too far behind him were several excited reporters in full gear.

    Wei Shaoyin was shocked by the entourage and hurriedly assisted Chu Chen to carry Xia Ling to the Ferrari by the door.

    ¡°Hurry!¡±

    Chu Chen decisively shut the door.

    Wei Shaoyin started the car in one swift motion, and they shot out of the driveway like an arrow.

    Xia Ling was about to heave a sigh of relief, but Chu Chen turned to Wei Shaoyin andmanded. ¡°Go faster! The paparazzi are following close on our tail!¡±

    Xia Ling turned her head to look behind, realizing that there was indeed a car following close behind them. It looked like a modified Ford, and it was driving at breakneck speed, gaining on them quickly. She could not resist but jeer at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°What use is this Ferarri? Can¡¯t it go faster than a mere Ford?!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin huffed in frustration, before stepping on the elerator.

    Xia Ling was taken by surprise at the sudden gain in speed, as her face hit the seat in front of her. ¡°Slow down! I told you I don¡¯t feel well! Did you learn driving from your primary schoolnguage teacher?!¡± She scolded.

    Wei Shaoyin clenched his teeth and said with a cold expression, ¡°Ye Xingling, shut up, or I¡¯ll throw you out of the car.¡±

    She immediately shut her mouth.

    He increased his speed until the legal limit of the road they were on, but the person behind the wheel in the Ford clearly had better driving skills and was chasing them down fast. It was hard to create a wider distance between them, let alone shake them off.

    ¡°Go up the expressway! Up the expressway!¡± She could not resist but anxiously shout.

    Wei Shaoyin grumbled. ¡°So noisy!¡±

    Xia Ling ignored him and continued, ¡°Go up the expressway and drive towards the outskirts of the city. Make full use of your Ferrari¡¯s functionalities! This is a sports car! A sports car!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin furiously shouted back. ¡°I know that you idiot!¡± Yet, he turned his steering wheel obediently in the direction of the expressway.

    As the Ford behind followed them up the expressway, Wei Shaoyin pressed his gas to the limit, increasing the speed of the Ferrari. However, it was no use. The driver of the Ford was too good, and there was no way to shake them off.

    ¡°For a Ford to chase down a Ferrari, the driver is indeed formidable.¡± Chu Chen remarked impassively.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face was almost ck, and he turned the steering wheel sharply again. Chu Chen was thrown to the side, nearly crashing onto Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s reactively avoided him, but lifted her head and shouted at Ah Wei. ¡°You really have the skills of a primary school student!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was furious. ¡°If you¡¯re so good, you can take over!¡±

    Xia Ling shouted back. ¡°If I could, I would! If I were behind that wheel, we would have lost the paparazzi by now!¡±

    ¡°Then show me what you¡¯ve got!¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll drive!¡± She pushed Chu Chen away with one hand and crawled to the front seat. She said to Wei Shaoyin, ¡°Let me drive!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nced at her in shock, clearly not expecting such a reaction. ¡°Don¡¯t joke around. You only learned how to drive after leaving Skyart, right? Driving on the expressway is not child¡¯s y.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s joking around with you?! Just because you can¡¯t drive doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t.¡± In her past life, she was the tinum VIP member of the sports car club. She used to own a fiery red Ferrari like this one, and she gave it the name ¡°Wings of Fire.¡± Everyone said that she looked like she was flying when she was behind the wheel, and many people had issued her challenges after hearing about her speed. There was one time when someone issued a challenge for them to race near the cliffs, and while she had won, Pei Ziheng was furious with her. He rarely lost his temper with her, but that time he instructed his staff to destroy her ¡°Wings of Fire¡± and forbade her from touching a sports car ever again.

    Since then, she had not raced in a sports car again.

    However, perhaps being spurred on by the paparazzi behind, or merely unable to take Wei Shaoyin¡¯s lousy driving, she repeatedly said to Wei Shaoyin, ¡°I¡¯ll take over.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked at her suspiciously. ¡°Can you really drive?¡±

    Xia Ling assured him several times over and rattled off Ferrari specifications and driving techniques to him. Wei Shaoyin was finally convinced and yielded the driver¡¯s seat to her.

    The moment she ced her hands on the steering wheel, nostalgia swept over Xia Ling.

    She remembered the times when she would wilfully race in her Ferrari, never really scared of Pei Ziheng¡¯s wrath. Then, he doted on her horribly, and even if she had gotten into the worst of troubles, he would never really hurt her.

    However, everything was different now.

    She was now more willing to be killed in a car crash than to be tortured so cruelly by him.

    The steering wheel was in her hands, and her palm felt warm with adrenaline.

    Wei Shaoyin was shouting something in her ear, and the Ford behind closed in on them.

    Xia Ling turned the steering wheel, making the Ferrari changenes instantly, squeezing between tworge lorries. However, a small car materialized in front of them, having been blocked from their view by the lorries earlier. Wei Shaoyin shouted out in shock, and Xia Ling gave a jump, swerving the Ferrari away and narrowly missing the small car at thest minute. However, the Ferrari headed straight for the barricade in the middle of the expressway.

    This time, both Wei Shaoyin and Chu Chen shouted out. Xia Ling¡¯s hands tightened on the steering wheel as she steeled her line of vision in front of her, turning the steering wheel yet again. They swerved past the barricade, missing it by mere centimeters, before continuing down the expressway.

    Cold sweat broke out over her body.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s shouted at her. ¡°Are you crazy?!¡±

    Xia Ling did not speak. There was a split second that she had wanted to just crash into the barricade and end it all ¡ª all the grudges, the promises, everything. However, Wei Shaoyin and Chu Chen were in the car with her, and their shouts had snapped her back into her senses. What was more, there was the child she was carrying ¡ª Li Lei and her child.

 Chapter 424 - More Fearful the Closer You Are

    <h4>Chapter 424: More Fearful the Closer You Are</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling clenched her teeth and continued driving forward.

    Wei Shaoyin was still furiously shouting at her. ¡°This car is worth at least ten million dors! Can you afford to pay for damages if you get into an ident?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a car... our Boss can afford it.¡± Chu Chen retorted but snapped at Xia Ling as well. ¡°But Ye Xingling, don¡¯t kill me with you even if you have a death wish.¡±

    She gave him a cold nce through the rear-view mirror.

    Wei Shaoyin hated to see anyone bullying his friend and instantly rechannelled his fury at Chu Chen. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be in the car, then get out! I can let you off right now!¡±

    Chu Chen kept quiet as he looked out of the window at the blur of passing trees and buildings.

    Hence, Wei Shaoyin turned his attention back at Xia Ling. ¡°Do you have a death wish?! Who¡¯s the one that said my skills were taught by a primary schoolnguage teacher! Yours must have been taught by the kindergarten auntie!¡±

    Xia Ling changed the topic of conversation. ¡°What¡¯s happened to the Ford behind us?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin turned around and looked at the road for a while. ¡°It¡¯s still there, but we¡¯re further away from them now.¡±

    ¡°How many crazies are there willing to squeeze past them lorries so dangerously?!¡± Chu Chen sneered.

    Xia Ling did not say anything but executed a perfect drift at the next turn of the expressway. Chu Chen was thrown from one end of the back seat to the other, and his face turned white. He wanted to say something nasty, but she had already changed gears and was picking up speed. He had just leaned forward in the back seat only to be thrown backward again.

    ¡°Slow down, slow down, slow down!¡± Before Chu Chen had time to say anything, Wei Shaoyin was already rambling on. ¡°You¡¯re past the speed limit, I tell you! Past the speed limit!¡±

    Xia Ling nced down at the speedometer. She was only going at 150 km/h. What was Wei Shaoyin so nervous about? ¡°Did you buy this sports car just to admire it?¡± She sniggered at him, feeling that his Ferrari was going to waste.

    ¡°The speed limit of the expressway is 120! 120, I tell you! Ahhh... go slower! Slower!¡± Wei Shaoyin shrieked.

    She turned the steering wheel and shot down the side road. She was familiar with this city and knew that there was a deserted race track in the outskirts of the city; she used toe here often to race with the other members of the club in the past.

    ¡°Slower, slow, slow! 180, are you crazy?! 200?! 220?! 240??!¡±

    Then, his voice became smaller and smaller. Xia Ling was unsure if he were shocked into silence, or had merely given up on shouting at her. With the peace and quiet, Xia Ling drove without distraction. She was just over 200 km/h ¡ª the speed she wasfortable with ¡ª and was driving steadily. If not for the fact that she was afraid that Wei Shaoyin would really lose his mind, she wanted to test the limits of this Ferrari. It was such a waste for such an excellent car to be under his care.

    She quickly lost the Ford.

    In her past life, she was the unbeatable legend of the Race Club. She could easily lose a much better car, let alone the Ford which was many levels below a Ferrari.

    She stopped the Ferrari by the roadside in the outskirts as the evening sun was starting to set, coloring the sky red.

    Chu Chen pulled open the car door and stumbled to the ditch to throw up. Wei Shaoyin was fine, although his face was white like paper. He merely sat trembling in the car, trying to calm down.

    ¡°You¡¯re nuts, you¡¯re nuts, you¡¯re nuts...¡± He repeated as he pointed at her weakly.

    Xia Ling nced over at him before locking the Ferrari¡¯s doors and closing the windows.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Wei Shaoyin was taken aback.

    Xia Ling ced her elbows on the steering wheel and rubbed her temples. The sound of Chu Chen anxiously hitting the windows could be heard from outside.

    Wei Shaoyin asked, ¡°Are you wary of him?¡± He then continued gleefully, ¡°Leave him here. We can drive back to the city now.¡±

    She shook her head.

    Wei Shaoyin became angry. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what¡¯s good for you?! He¡¯s clearly been ced by your side by Pei Ziheng to monitor your every action. Just looking at his face makes me feel sick. The earlier you get rid of him, the earlier you can be free.¡±

    ¡°How do I get rid of him?¡± She gave a bitter smile and replied weakly. ¡°Kill him? Burn him? Abandon his body in the outskirts of the city? If I died, everything would still run as per normal. If Chu Chen were to die, Pei...¡± She stopped herself mid-sentence. She did not know the business well, but she knew that Chu Chen was an important person in Imperial Entertainment. There was word saying that if Chu Chen had the family name Pei, he would undoubtedly be the next in line to head the family after Pei Ziheng.

    Inparison, what was she?

    A puppet, a substitute, a pretty doll.

    ¡°You feel like you¡¯re making trouble for Pei Ziheng?¡± Wei Shaoyin asked more calmly. ¡°That was something that I was waiting to ask you about. Xiao Ling, what¡¯s up with you and Pei Ziheng? I thought you were forced to go to Imperial Entertainment against your will. But why didn¡¯t you leave with Li Lei when he went to find you?¡±

    There were too manyplications, and Xia Ling did not know where to start. She merely kept quiet.

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°I feel upset for Li Lei.¡±

    Xia Ling felt tears spring into her eyes, and she breathed in a deep breath.

    Wei Shaoyin observed her expression and asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, who exactly do you like?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei and I cannot be together.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Wei Shaoyin angrily asked. ¡°What did Pei Ziheng do to make you like that? Why can¡¯t you and Li Lei be together?! What problem have you met with? Tell us, we can help you find a solution. It¡¯s better than you acting all weird right now. Ye Xingling, have you seen how you look recently? You¡¯ve lost weight, your pallor is terrible. Have you seen yourself in the mirror?! When you were with Li Lei, you never looked so terrible!¡±

    He red at her after his rant.

    She turned her head away and said in a low voice, ¡°It¡¯s impossible.¡± She was upset, and her voice was hoarse.

    As such, Wei Shaoyin just kept quiet.

    After a while, he said, ¡°For you, Li Lei has bet his entire family fortune on this war.¡±

    ¡°Ah Wei, tell him to stop. Even if he wins, even if Pei Ziheng is bankrupted, I can¡¯t go back.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin gave a coldugh and bitterly replied, ¡°And what makes you think he will listen?¡±

    Yes, she knew Li Lei well. While he looked like someone easy to influence, in actual fact, he was the most stubborn sort. Once he had made a decision, no one would be able to change his mind. Yet, she persisted. ¡°The Pei family has hundreds of years of foundation. He can¡¯t win.¡±

    ¡°Why? Because Pei Ziheng has never lost before?¡±

    She lifted her head to look at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°You think Li Lei can win?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s all in.¡± Wei Shaoyin said. ¡°What¡¯s more, Li Lei has never lost before as well.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know what to do.

    Wei Shaoyin opened his mouth. ¡°Perhaps, you can persuade him yourself.¡±

    He handed her his mobile.

    Xia Ling took the mobile from him and hesitated. She grew more fearful the closer she got to him.

    Seeing her hesitation, Wei Shaoyin grabbed the mobile from her and dialed Li Lei¡¯s number. The ringback tone rang out, and not long after, the line connected.

    ¡°Hello, Ah Wei?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice rang out on the other end of the line.

    Xia Ling listened to his voice in a daze, not daring to open her mouth, fearing that her voice would break this peace.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking?¡± Li Lei paused before his tone changed to one that was unusually stern. ¡°If you don¡¯t have anything to say, I¡¯m hanging up now. Don¡¯t forget the meeting in the officeter at night. There are many obstacles in the market right now, and I need to hear your opinion.¡±

    He rarely used such a tone when speaking. She could tell that, just like Pei Ziheng, he was not having a good time.

    The pain in her heart started to spread. She finally could not hold it in any longer and blurted out. ¡°Stop fighting with Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Li Lei was quiet for a moment before asking, ¡°Xiao... Ling?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡± Xia Ling responded in a soft voice, not knowing what else to say.

    Wei Shaoyin quietly got off the car and closed the door behind him.

 Chapter 425 - The Fan Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 425: The Fan Meeting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The silence in from the other end was deafening.

    After a long time, Li Lei said, ¡°You¡¯re with Ah Wei right now? Are you alright?¡±

    She responded in affirmation before repeating, ¡°Stop fighting with Imperial Entertainment.¡± She did not dare ask how he was doing or show any sliver of concern, for fear of giving him any hope. She had to make him give up on her.

    If they could not be together, it was better for her to shorten the pain.

    His voice was gentle like a well-woven web, making you fall deeply into it. ¡°I¡¯m not fighting with him for nothing. I need to destroy Imperial Entertainment once and for all so that you cane back to my side. I need to make it such that Imperial Entertainment can never make aeback.¡±

    ¡°I told you. I¡¯m willing to stay here.¡±

    ¡°Liar.¡±

    Xia Ling shut her eyes and hardened her heart. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t paint your own picture of happiness. You¡¯re the one imagining all my unhappiness over here. Here with Ziheng... I¡¯m very good. If you really like me, then don¡¯t make me worry for him every day. Do you know? He now goes out very early and returns veryte at night. My heart hurts for him...¡±

    ( .c om ) Actually, her heart was hurting for him, the man on the other end of the line.

    However, she could not reveal that to him ever in this lifetime.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Li Lei stubbornly insisted. ¡°Xiao Ling, our rtionship was so good. You wouldn¡¯t just fall for another man like that, would you? Tell me the truth, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll believe any word you say right now. You owe me an exnation.¡±

    Xia Ling tried to persuade him. However, he refused to hear anything she said.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, open the car door.¡± He said suddenly.

    Xia Ling was stunned and reactively lifted her head to look out of the car.

    The huge setting of the evening sun created a golden backdrop on the horizon, and a man was standing against the light in front of the car, a mobile in his hand. He had lost weight and was more disheveled than before, his khaki-grey shirt billowing in the wind, looking lonely by himself.

    Her heart clenched and started to throb with pain.

    Her hand instinctively went to her abdomen. <i>Child, that¡¯s your father...</i>

    ¡°Open the door.¡± He spoke into the phone and steeled his gaze on the windscreen. Wei Shaoyin, that pretentious Virgo, had covered the entire windscreen with a dark protective screen. You could not see anything from outside the vehicle.

    However, Xia Ling could see Li Lei extremely clearly from within.

    He had probably identified her location via the mobile¡¯s GPS tracker and had rushed over at first instance, just to catch a glimpse of her. Xia Ling greedily took in his appearance, not blinking for fear of losing even a second. Yet, she had no courage to open the door, fearing that she would lose control once she did. She was afraid that she could not harden her heart to say all the hurtful things to his face.

    ¡°Just give up.¡± She said after struggling for a while. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t be so stubborn. Give up on me and let yourself be free.¡± She raised her hand and started the car, kicking the car into reverse.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He stood in front of the car, blocking her way. ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡±

    She gritted her teeth and hardened her heart, stepping down onto the elerator to pick up the pace and driving off.

    Behind her, she heard Wei Shaoyin¡¯s irritated shout. ¡°Aye! That¡¯s my car!¡±

    Very soon, all that was left was the dust behind her.

    Driving the Ferrari back to Pei Ziheng¡¯s bungalow, she instructed the doorman after getting off: ¡°Return this car to Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Wei Shaoyin.¡±

    She then entered the house.

    Pei Ziheng was not around as usual. These days, he came back veryte at night.

    Xia Ling dragged her exhausted body into the shower to wash up. She then got into bed and fell asleep.

    ( .c om ) When she woke the next day, Pei Ziheng was sitting by the bedside. His head was lowered, contemting her. The morning sun shone on one side of his face, and his expression was unreadable. He asked, ¡°Why did you go look for Li Lei?¡±

    Xia Ling sat up in bed but turned her head away from him.

    He reached out and forcefully turned her body to face him, saying through gritted teeth, ¡°I¡¯m asking you a question.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you fight each other.¡± Xia Ling replied. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m tired.¡±

    ¡°So you went to beg him?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s grip became tighter, and her shoulder hurt under his hand. ¡°Xia Ling, you do not interfere with anything in business. What do you know?! I¡¯ve told you before, I¡¯ll win against him. Why don¡¯t you just obediently stay in the house? What am I now? I have to depend on you to beg Li Lei to let me off?! What a joke!¡±

    Xia Ling was aware that he hated it when she interfered with his business. However, she still felt upset when hearing him call her out on it.

    ¡°I¡¯m a person, not your wooden puppet. I don¡¯t need to report everything that I do to you.¡± She responded.

    Pei Ziheng coldly said, ¡°My patience has its limits. Don¡¯t let me find out that you¡¯ve done something like that again.¡±

    She was frightened by the coldness of his tone and shuddered as she remembered the jarring memories of the past. Feeling her fear, he immediately released his grip on her shoulders.

    ¡°Rest and take care of the child.¡± He said in a gentler tone. ¡°Let¡¯s just live peacefully as a happy family... the three of us.¡±

    She wanted to live a peaceful life as well, to create a conducive environment for her child. Since she could not do anything to avert the warring between Pei Ziheng and Li Lei, she decided to function as if she were blissfully unaware. In the days toe, she quietly went about her song recording and schedules.

    Her album sales in the past were decent, and the fans were requesting for her to have a solo concert.

    However, her pregnancy meant that she did not have the physical capacity to be able to withstand a full concert. As such, she decided to have a smaller-scale fan meeting as apromise.

    The fan meeting was set up with a dream-like theme, with bright lights and dry ice filling the ce. She sat on a custom-made swing and sang ¡°Missing You for a Long Time¡± with background music ying softly behind. Many fans were moved to tears in the sorrowful atmosphere.

    The fan meeting atmosphere was great.

    In the interactive segment that followed, everyone was cooperative and asked her questions surrounding her interests, daily activities, and other non-menacing questions. Until one fan stepped forward and asked...

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± She asked with an expression full of curiosity. ¡°Can you tell us more about your love life? ording to some internal sources in Imperial Entertainment, it¡¯s said that you are always seen with Pei Ziheng. Is that true?¡±

    She was quiet for a while, before answering with a polite smile on her face. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Her child was going to be born in seven months, keeping her rtionship with Pei Ziheng quiet was no longer feasible. She needed to let everyone know that they were a ¡°loving and consenting¡± couple, rather than suddenly break the news of her pregnancy. That would only bring about more chaos and spection.

    The crowd bustled upon hearing her answer.

    ¡°Oh my God, the rumors are true...¡± Someonemented, her face turning red in excitement. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that Xiao Ling was pretty, elegant, and well-poised. Her singing is fantastic as well. She would definitely get together with an amazing man!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly...¡± Many agreed with her. ¡°Xiao Ling is just sopatible with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss.¡±

    ¡°We want to see a couple photo!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, why don¡¯t you take a few photos for us to see!¡±

    The crowd shouted out from all directions. Those at the event were her die-hard fans and did not react to her rtionship with Pei Ziheng negativity and false spection, but instead were prepared to give her their genuine blessings.

    Xia Ling looked at them and maintained her elegant smile, but she did not feel happy at all at this moment.

 Chapter 426 - Announcing Her Pregnancy

    <h4>Chapter 426: Announcing Her Pregnancy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her gaze swept past them and to thest row in the room, before stopping abruptly.

    Her heart skipped a beat and tightened, as her fists subconsciously clenched together as well. At the back of the room, in a ce near the wall and under the shadows stood a man. He was wearing a nondescript outfit and was wearing shades, silently looking at the stage in her direction. His stature was too familiar; one that she thought of day and night. Even though he was standing so far away, and his face was half-covered by the big sunsses, she still recognized him at first nce.

    Li Lei.

    This name brought a burning pain to her heart as it spun in her mind.

    The chatter around her faded into the background, and she could no longer hear the blessings and questions from her fans. She merely looked at him for a long time, stunned.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?¡± The emcee called out to her. Seeing that she wasn¡¯t responding, the emcee walked up to her and blocked her line of sight. ¡°You haven¡¯t answered the questions from the fans.¡±

    She snapped back to her senses and looked at the emcee with a lost expression.

    The emcee was experienced and knew from her expression that she had zoned out for a moment. As such, she smiled and repeated the question from the fan naturally. ¡°Xiao Ling, what stage has your rtionship with Boss Pei progressed to? Have you held hands? Kissed? Or... hmm?¡±

    The emcee shed her a suggestive smile and blinked winningly at her. The audienceughed loudly at her question.

    ¡°This question...¡± Xia Ling forced herself not to look at Li Lei. However, she could feel his gaze piercing through her from the corner. In front of him, she could not bring herself to repeat her well-rehearsed answer.

    Suddenly, another fan shouted out. ¡°Xiao Ling, I still think you should be with Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss Li! He¡¯s started this war with Pei Ziheng over you! It¡¯s so touching! Why don¡¯t you consider him?!¡±

    There were different camps amongst her fans, and this was clearly someone in the ¡°Li-Ling¡± camp.

    Xia Ling was taken aback. She thought to herself: <i>Yes, Li Lei and Pei Ziheng are still warring. If I don¡¯t make Li Lei give up, what if he really fights to the death with Pei Ziheng? I don¡¯t want to see both of them harm each other.</i>

    She straightened out her thoughts, turned toward the corner that Li Lei stood, and mustered up her courage. ¡°I know that Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss Li is great, and I¡¯m ever grateful to him for giving me such wonderful memories when we were together. However, we¡¯ve long broken up, and that rtionship is in the past. I wish him all the best in finding his own happiness, nothing more.¡±

    Some people booed in the audience.

    ¡°Is there really no way of going back to him?¡± Some of the die-hard ¡°Li-Ling¡± fans asked.

    Xia Ling shook her head.

    The man in the shadow merely stood there without moving.

    Xia Ling did not know what he was thinking and whether he had heard what she said. She hesitated before continuing, ¡°I¡¯m very happy with Ziheng right now. He treats me very well. I...¡±

    She slowly swept her gaze over the audience and away from Li Lei¡¯s direction.

    ¡°I¡¯m pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°WHAT?!¡±

    Pandemonium broke out after herst sentence.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, is this true? Don¡¯t scare me!¡±

    ¡°Oh my God, oh my God... this is too shocking! You guys have progressed so far?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, do you have marriage ns with Boss Pei? How far along are you in your pregnancy? Are you having a boy or a girl? Oh my... your child will definitely be so cute! I¡¯m so excited!¡±

    She did not dare to look in Li Lei¡¯s direction, but simply donned a smile and epted everyone¡¯s blessings. Amidst the cheers andughter in the room, somehow she felt lost and lonely.

    She did not know how she managed to get through the rest of the fan meeting, as it passed by in a blur. She had no recollection whatsoever of the questions that were asked or how she answered them. When the event ended, she was shepherded offstage by her staff members. Just as she was leaving the stage, she plucked up the courage to look in Li Lei¡¯s direction again and realized that he had left without her knowing.

    Perhaps, this was for the better.

    The bitterness in her heart spread, and she shut her eyes, forcing her tears back.

    The news of her pregnancy spread like wildfire, and in a mere 10 minutes, thousands were discussing this news on the inte. Chu Chen¡¯s phone rang non-stop with every big mediapany requesting for an interview.

    Chu Chen rejected all the interview requests.

    He frowned as he regarded Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, how can you announce your pregnancy without discussing it with Boss? You¡¯re too rash. It hasn¡¯t been three months yet, and ording to custom, you shouldn¡¯t be announcing it at such a wide scale just yet.¡± There was an old wives¡¯ tale that said that one should not announce a pregnancy within three months or something untoward would happen to the child. While there was no scientific backing of this, it was better to be safe than sorry. What if something untoward really did happen to the child? This was the only child that Boss had in thirty years; the importance of the child was immeasurable.

    Xia Ling did not have any energy to argue with him. Her entire mind and heart were on Li Lei¡¯s presence and what he had heard at the fan meeting. He was wearing arge pair of sunsses, and his face was half-covered. She did not know if his pallor was better now, or if he looked frailer than before. She could not even say a word of greeting to him right now. Was he sad on hearing about her pregnancy? She wanted to tell Li Lei that the child she was carrying was his, but she could not.

    Her mood was at rock bottom.

    When they reached the bungalow, Pei Ziheng was already at home waiting for her.

    He was back unusually early today, but his expression was dark. The moment she entered the house, he asked in an upset voice, ¡°Why did you reveal your pregnancy all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m exhausted.¡± She said wearily, trying to walk around him to the bedroom.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was mildly sinister. ¡°Don¡¯t say a word about the child to outsiders without my permission in the future.¡± Was she even aware of what this child meant to him? All his cousins were eyeing his position, wishing that he did not have a child so that they would have to pick a sessor from amongst them who held the family name.

    Now that they knew that she was pregnant, many of them would be scheming to hurt the child.

    He was not ready for them just yet.

    His threatening tone made Xia Ling see red as she stopped in her tracks. She turned and said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, this is my child. I will tell whoever I please. I do not need your permission.¡±

    ¡°This is also my child.¡±

    She gave a coldugh and wanted to say that the child was not his. However, she caught herself before the words left her mouth. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were going to marry me? Since we¡¯re going to be married soon, why can¡¯t I tell everyone about the child I¡¯m expecting? I want to let everyone know that I¡¯m carrying your child. Why? Is that something that would make you unhappy?¡±

    Let everyone know...

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze hardened as he understood her intention. She wanted to let Li Lei know. His voice was more sinister as he said, ¡°I told you that you have no right to interfere in business matters.¡± He knew that she was trying to make Li Lei give up and step away from the war. However, Pei Ziheng did not deign to allow a woman to help him to protect his business.

 Chapter 427 - Running Away from Home

    <h4>Chapter 427: Running Away from Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Do you know what I hate most about you?¡± Xia Ling red at him, overwhelmed with anger. ¡°I hate your presumptuous face and the fact that you want to control everything about me! What I eat, what I wear! Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m a human being, not your puppet! I¡¯m not someone that you canmand to do whatever you want!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re on my territory and within my protection. You have to listen to what I say.¡± He responded./

    ¡°Stop dreaming! You think I want to be on your territory?!¡± Xia Ling got even angrier and turned to walk toward the living room door. ¡°The world is sorge... I¡¯m not limited to staying in this Pei family house!¡±

    The huge van that sent her home was still parked at the door.

    Xia Ling got onto the van and bristled at the driver. ¡°Drive!¡±

    The driver did not know what had happened and meekly asked, ¡°Miss Ye, where do you want to go?¡±

    ¡°Anywhere!¡± She said. ¡°Just drive!¡±

    In the living room.

    Chu Chen witnessed the entire fight panning out since he had followed Xia Ling back to the house. He asked Pei Ziheng worriedly, ¡°Boss, shall I go and bring Miss Ye home?¡± ( .c om )

    Pei Ziheng shook his head as he watched the huge van leave the premises through the open door.

    How could Chu Chen bring her back? There was no other way than to use force, and that would only make Xiao Ling angrier. She did not have a scheming personality, and would not contemte tooplicated matters, but had a fiery temper. Rather than drag her back here to listen to an exnation that she would not listen to, it was better to let her go and cool down.

    Her pregnancy meant that she could not be agitated too much.

    ¡°Get some people to follow her and protect her.¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°If there are any issues, report to me immediately.¡±

    Chu Chen nodded before asking, ¡°Do you want me to find some people to speak to her?¡±

    Find who? Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened. In this life, everyone that she was close to did not like him, and everyone that he trusted did not gain her trust. Between them, they had nomon friends. Pei Ziheng realized now that connections between them were pathetic, to say the least.

    ¡°Ask Feng Kun to talk to her.¡± He said after contemting for a while.

    Even though Feng Kun was not his closest confidante, but Pei Ziheng trusted his character. He would take care of Xiao Ling. Pei Ziheng pressed down his unhappiness towards Feng Kun andmanded Chu Chen to do as he said.

    Chu Chen made a call before informing Pei Ziheng. ¡°Feng Kun is aware of the situation. He¡¯s assured that he will take good care of Miss Ye.¡±

    Pei Ziheng felt a little more at ease.

    Chu Chen continued, ¡°I¡¯ve also received news that Li Lei has pulled back on every line of attack. He¡¯s now focused on rebuilding the damages. It looks like he¡¯s intending to call a truce.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze hardened again. He knew that this was Xiao Ling¡¯s doing ¡ª her pregnancy made Li Lei lose hope and back down.

    This did not make Pei Ziheng happy at all.

    Instead, he was frustrated. He felt as if his ability could not match that of a woman, and a problem that he had wrestled with for such a long time was resolved so easily by a mere woman. Yet, he almost felt a rush of tion. So what if Xiao Ling loved Li Lei? She was pregnant with his child, and they were a destined couple. The child was a dead knot that would bind them together.

    ¡°Let¡¯s pull back as well.¡± Pei Ziheng instructed Chu Chen.

    Regardless, he had won.

    Xia Ling sat in the back seat of the huge van feeling horrible. The driver drove several rounds around the neighborhood before cautiously asking, ¡°Miss Ye, where exactly are we going?¡±

    Xia Ling could not think of anywhere to go as well. As she lifted her head and saw the logo of a hotel ahead, she pointed at it and said, ¡°Just go there.¡±

    ¡°Yanyun Hotel?¡± The driver nced over at the logo. They were still close to Pei Ziheng¡¯s bungalow, and this was a rich neighborhood; hence, the hotel was a high-ssed one. Yanyun Hotel was one of the best five-starred hotels in the city. The driver obediently drove her to the hotel.

    ¡°Miss Ye, do you want to stay the night?¡± He asked considerately. ¡°Shall I help you with the check-in procedures?¡± ( .c om )

    ¡°Okay.¡± She wanted to find a ce with some peace and quiet, away from Pei Ziheng. If she continued to be on his territory and be suffocated under his protection and control, she would lose her mind.

    The driverpleted the check-in procedures efficiently.

    She put on her sunsses, turned her shirt cor up, and lowered her head as she walked quickly to the room.

    The room was the luxurious presidential suite, which had huge full-length windows on the 19th floor. From the room, she had a great night view of the neighboring city. Settling into the room, she thanked the driver and closed the room door before letting out a long sigh.

    The stress she felt these days had put her in a horrendous mood. Now that she had rxed, she felt her abdomen start to hurt again.

    She was afraid for the child and hurriedlyy down on the bed, falling asleep after a while. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ring. She opened her eyes and asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Feng Kun.¡± A warm, gentle voice rang out from behind the door.

    Feng Kun? Why was he here? Xia Ling was surprised, but she got up and opened the door to let him in.

    Feng Kun was carrying many bags. There was a nutritious congee, as well as a special pillow for pregnant women and some daily necessities. ¡°Bee in your bo again?¡± He asked gently like an elder brother. ¡°Running away from home at your age? You¡¯re almost going to be a mum.¡± He had been dealing with somepany matters, but had dropped everything and rushed over after receiving Chu Chen¡¯s call.

    Xia Ling started to get angry again, being reminded of what had transpired by Feng Kun¡¯s questions. ¡°There¡¯s nowhere that I call home.¡±

    Feng Kun shook his head with a smile and opened the lunchbox that he had brought along. ¡°I was concerned that the food in the hotel would not be to your preferences, so I brought you some congee from a ce near the office.¡± In her past life, she had loved the food from this restaurant.

    Xia Ling looked at the well-boiled glutinous rice porridge in the container, and the fragrance of the food made her forget her anger. She sat down and started to eat, the warmth of the food spreading through her belly to her limbs, helping her to rx.

    Feng Kun spoke again. ¡°Just stay the night and then go back home. Nanny Zhou has two sons and has taken care of many grandchildren. She has good experience dealing with pregnant women like you. You have to think for the child.¡± He did not talk about Pei Ziheng, fearing that it would cause Xia Ling¡¯s rebellious nature to work against him.

    Xia Ling quietly listened to him, before saying a reluctant ¡°Okay.¡±

    Feng Kun heaved a sigh of relief. He apanied her for a while before wishing her a good night¡¯s rest and assuring her that he woulde to pick her up in the morning. It was only then that he took his leave.

    He went down the elevator and out of the main lobby before he realized that someone was following him.

    It was Xia Yu.

    This afternoon, Xia Yu had appeared at his recording studio to record a song. All of a sudden, there was chaos in thepany, and everyone was discussing Ye Xingling carrying Pei Ziheng¡¯s child.

    What?

    Ye Xingling was carrying Pei Ziheng¡¯s child?!

    This news was like lightning had struck her, and Xia Yu took very long to recover her senses. That¡¯s why... that¡¯s why Ye Xingling was able to stay in Brother Ziheng¡¯s house! That¡¯s why Brother Ziheng was being so protective of Ye Xingling that night that she went to look for him to celebrate her birthday! All this was because of that spawn in her belly!

 Chapter 428 - Surrounded

    <h4>Chapter 428: Surrounded</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was jealous and bitter about it.

    After the wave of anger had subsided came a wave of panic ¡ª what was she to do now? Now that Ye Xingling had found a way to seduce Brother Ziheng, and even get pregnant with his child, will he marry her?

    No, she could not let such a thing happen!

    She had seen too many of these stories, an ordinary Cindere using such means to marry into a wealthy family. Even Xia Yu herself had plotted such a scheme.

    But she had not managed to execute it.

    How could she watch Ye Xingling seed in this?

    Xia Yu decided, this child had to be gone!

    As she was pacing about the corridor plotting against Xia Ling, she saw Feng Kun walk out of an esctor while on the phone with somebody sounding a little helpless. ¡°Yes, I understand. Xiao Ling¡¯s temperament isn¡¯t all that good, so don¡¯t agitate her any further. I¡¯ll try to appease her. Anyway, it¡¯s just leaving home, not too big of a deal.¡±

    What? Ye Xingling left home?

    Xia Yu felt a spark in her train of thought; even the Heavens were helping her ¡ª if Ye Xingling were with Pei Ziheng all the time, she would not have the opportunity to act on her n. But since she had decided to take it upon herself and leave the house, Xia Yu had more than enough to work with.

    She quietly tailed Feng Kun and arrived at Yanyun Hotel.

    Taking a mental note of Xia Ling¡¯s room number, she then took a tour of the hotel. That was when she noticed a few familiar-looking men hanging around the area; they appeared to be well-trained and ready forbat anytime. Xia Yu thought harder and realized that these must be the bodyguards Pei Ziheng had sent.

    She knew that it was too risky to act now.

    It would be too easy for the bodyguards to spot her. Moreover, there were too many surveince cameras nted in every nook and cranny of the ce ¡ª every small act could be captured clearly.

    It didn¡¯t take her long to give up on executing her n personally.

    When she saw that Feng Kun had bid Xia Ling goodbye, Xia Yu decided it was time she left too.

    She gave herself a makeover, entered an Inte cafe, and used a proxy IP address to post the following online: Ye Xingling is pregnant but was seen entering a hotel room with another man. Is the child she¡¯s expecting really Pei Ziheng¡¯s?

    In a mere few minutes, there were countless views andments.

    To be fair, although Xia Yu was just baselessly ndering her, she had managed to arrive at the truth in some sense.

    The public liked entertainment and gossip, to begin with, and this was the second piece of sensational news about the pregnant Ye Xingling that day. Gosh, this female celebrity with a humble background not only managed to get herself pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child, but she was also even daring enough to get a room with another man while expecting?

    She couldn¡¯t be this nonchnt about it, unless... the child she was expecting really wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng¡¯s?

    The public was going nuts about this.

    Many journalists found their way to Yanyun Hotel right away, all hoping to verify the online rumors personally.

    It did not take long for the entrance of Yanyun Hotel to be crowded with people.

    Xia Ling was easily fatigued these days and had fallen asleep on the bed after sending Feng Kun off.

    The telephone by the bedside rang suddenly.

    She was reluctant to reach for it, but the ringing was unrelenting. After tossing and turning for a while, she finally went to pick it up. ¡°Hello?¡±

    On the other end was Chu Chen, sounding a little anxious. ¡°Miss Ye, are you at Yanyun Hotel right now? Did Feng Kun visit you at your room earlier?¡±

    Xia Ling took a while to react and recall that it had happened before she went to sleep. ¡°Yes. Why?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Chu Chen sighed. ¡°The paparazzi probably got a few shots of Feng Kun leaving your room. It¡¯s all over the inte now, and people are crowding right outside your room. They¡¯re saying that you got a room with a man. Please don¡¯te out of your room or let anyone in, got it?¡±

    She was being surrounded? Xia Ling was fully awake now and got off the bed immediately. She cautiously peeped through the curtains and saw the incredible crowd that had formed outside the building. Besides the reporters with all their filming equipment, many fans were there as well.

    She was getting a headache now. How did this happen?

    In fact, she took note to be extra careful when checking into the room yesterday, and Feng Kun was an expert in avoiding being stalked, so what could have gone wrong? She was still trying to figure out when Chu Chen continued, ¡°Fortunately nobody posted any photos yet, and it¡¯s just a text post made online. Don¡¯t worry, as long as we find a way to get you out of the hotel, we¡¯ll just deny any usations thate after that.¡±

    ¡°But I didn¡¯t get a room with anyone, so why can¡¯t I just leave openly?¡± Xia Ling asked naively.

    Chu Chen almost hurler the receiver. It used to be Xia Ling, and now there was Ye Xingling, why did they all not use their brains? He swallowed his anger and said, ¡°Logically speaking, Boss and you should be on very intimate terms at this point, so why would you suddenly check into a hotel room? The public is specting that something has gone wrong in your rtionship, or as they¡¯re guessing online, that there is a third party. Miss Ye, regardless of whether you were seen with a man, there will be too much for people to specte and spread about you if you¡¯re caught leaving the hotel.¡±

    ¡°... Oh.¡± Xia Ling just realized what he meant. ¡°So what should I do now?¡± She could not be bothered to think about how to deal with it. Anyway, Pei Ziheng and Chu Chen were more concerned about this and woulde up with better ideas than her.

    ¡°You¡¯ll wait in the hotel for now. Someone will go and get you.¡±

    Xia Ling said she understood and hung up, before going to sit on the couch and wait for instructions. She was counting her blessings that she had picked Yanyun Hotel ¡ª the hotel¡¯s security here was tight, and the service staff was well-trained. No matter how chaotic the situation was outside, nobody managed to find their way to her door.

    But that gave her another worry. If the security were so tight, how was the person who was supposed to get her going to enter?

    About a half hourter, someone knocked on her door ¡ª three long pauses and two short ones, it sounded like a code. Xia Ling guessed it must be the person who was there for her and went to open the door, only to see two cleaning attendants with a cleaning cart. They quietly slipped into her room.

    The door closed behind them.

    She looked at the tall attendant. He looked like he was in his fifties, and had very tanned skin. His face and arms were heavily wrinkled, and yet he seemed to have a well-toned physique, and also a strangely calm look in his eyes.

    It was a stranger, but somehow, she felt a sense of familiarity.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± It was Li Lei¡¯s voice.

    Xia Ling could not hide her surprise. How... how did he get in here? She had been thinking and longing for him in the past many days, and now that they finally got to see each other again, it felt like she was reborn.

 Chapter 429 - The Best Makeup Artist

    <h4>Chapter 429: The Best Makeup Artist</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Tears welled up in her eyes, ready to roll down her cheeks.

    Li Lei took a few steps forward and held her in his arms for a long while.

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you.¡± He said.

    Only then did she snap back to reality and push him away gently. ¡°I... I¡¯m already Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman.¡±

    His expression darkened a little, but he managed to force a smile. ¡°So what? When you were in trouble, he was nowhere near as quick as me in saving you.¡± He turned one round on the spot. ¡°Xiao Ling, my disguise is great, isn¡¯t it? We¡¯re here to get you out.¡±

    He appeared alright when he said that, as if all the conflicts that had taken ce recently never happened. He did not even ask her why she chose to check into a hotel all of a sudden, and neither did he ask about how the child came about.

    His mannerism and attitude towards her allowed her to feel at ease around him.

    Li Lei exined the n to her: she was to disguise as a cleaning attendant as well and escape among them. Xia Ling was stunned for a while. Having been in the entertainment industry for so many years, she had applied all sorts of makeup for on-screen effects, but using it for practical purposes was a first.

    Seeing that she had not moved, Li Lei hurried her for a bit and turned to the other person. ¡°Ji Yun, we¡¯re depending on you.¡±

    So, the other person who came along was Ji Yun.

    Xia Ling knew who he was ¡ª the best makeup artist in Skyart. He had received countless awards, and it was said that his schedule had been arranged a whole year in advance due to popr demand. He was in a cleaning attendant outfit as well, and as he reached for the cleaning cart they wheeled in, she realized it was the makeup material they needed ¡ª wigs, hair gel, brushes, palettes... it filled the better half of the room.

    She courteously greeted him. ¡°Hello, Brother Yun.¡±

    She had always respected those who were truly talented.

    Ji Yun was so busy meddling with all the makeup that he barely looked up. ¡°Wash your arms, legs, and face and then sit in front of that mirror. You have a small body frame, so it isn¡¯t difficult to give you the guise of an old woman. But to act like an old woman convincingly is another matter altogether; you have to make sure that your mannerism, tone, and behavior is appropriate. If you¡¯ve never acted the role of an old woman before, you¡¯d better try it out now. We¡¯ll be in trouble if you give yourself awayter on.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked by his string of words. It took her a while to process it before she responded. ¡°Alright.¡±

    Meanwhile, Li Lei was offering words offort. ¡°Rx, Xiao Ling. We¡¯ll leave here together, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Ji Yun looked at him for a while but did not add on. He simply focused on doing her makeover.

    The person in the mirror looked more and more foreign to her. By the time the makeup waspleted, she looked just like an actual old person. Xia Ling was surprised by Ji Yun¡¯s skills; there was no way anyone would suspect this was her.

    Li Lei sized her up and smiled. ¡°You look good even when you¡¯re old.¡±

    Ji Yun packed the materials back into the cart while saying, ¡°To ensure that even the sharpest reporters won¡¯t recognize her, I made some special changes to her facial features. This isn¡¯t how she¡¯ll look like when she¡¯s old.¡±

    Li Lei rubbed his nose awkwardly.

    Xia Lingughed. It had been a while since she could feel so at ease. <i>Li Lei probably doesn¡¯t have it easy as a Boss. Just how many of his colleagues and subordinates have actually put him down this way? </i>She thought as she paused for a while and had another thought. <i>But, is anyone taking him seriously? Or does he feel lonely?</i>

    Li Lei did not know what was going through her mind. Just seeing her smile was a gift to him. ¡°Are you ready? We¡¯ll leave now. And don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ll be with you the whole time.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and took a deep breath.

    Xia Ling had avoided cameras and reporters far too many times over the years, but this was the first time she ever walked out so openly in a guise. She was a little jittery at first, but seeing how calm andposed Li Lei was in his cleaning attendant uniform, she eased into it as well.

    Ji Yun remained in the room while Xia Ling and Li Lei walked out pushing the cart.

    When they walked out of the back door, they realized just how many people there were outside ¡ª reporters, fans, all the people who were interested in sensational news and gossips. Everyone was interested to know whether she had really cheated on Pei Ziheng with another man.

    Li Lei¡¯s look darkened.

    Xia Ling felt uneasy and was about to say something when he said, ¡°Heads down.¡±

    Xia Ling obeyed his instructions and lowered her head as they pushed the cleaning cart around the crowd and found their way out. It was way easier than she had expected.

    As he led her along the alleyways, they arrived at a parked van five minutester. The chauffeur who alighted from it was Old Mister Chen from Skyart, someone she was very familiar with. He and Li Lei loaded the cleaning cart into the van before getting on.

    The car doors were shut.

    Only now did Li Lei managed to take a good look at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve lost weight.¡±

    So had he.

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose scrunched up a little as she heard his words of concern, but she forced herself to turn away. ¡°Thank you foring to save me,¡± she said. ¡°But Pei Ziheng has also arranged for someone toe for me.¡±

    ¡°I want to see you, even if it¡¯s just for a short while.¡± Li Lei said quietly.

    Of course, he knew that Pei Ziheng had made arrangements as well. In fact, he even knew that Pei Ziheng¡¯s n was practically the same as theirs ¡ª to disguise her and then take her out of the building. Both parties had bumped into each other on the narrow corridors of the hotel, and Li Lei¡¯s men had knocked Pei Ziheng¡¯s men out, entering Xia Ling¡¯s room first.

    But she did not need to know about these.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Li Lei, you know it¡¯s impossible between us.¡±

    ¡°Why, because of the child?¡± This was a dreadful topic to discuss. ¡°You want to have this child? Even if you might not love him?¡±

    She lowered her head. ¡°I want to have this child.¡± <i>Not for Pei Ziheng, but simply because... that¡¯s our child, Li Lei.</i>

    She rested her hand on her stomach naturally, and a wave of tenderness washed over her.

    As the streetlights fell on the side of her face, revealing her easy and peaceful demeanor, Li Lei realized that talking about the child actually made her happy. She might not love Pei Ziheng, but she truly loved the child she was expecting.

    ¡°Is he more important than me?¡± Li Lei asked sadly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the same,¡± Xia Ling said quietly. ¡°Without me, your life can still go on as per normal, Li Lei. But if I leave the child, he will...¡± She could not go on.

    Li Lei felt his heart shatter.

    ¡°Moreover,¡± Xia Ling braced herself to say this. ¡°I like Pei Ziheng more than you think.¡±

    He felt as if his whole world had crumbled before him.

    ¡°Come back to me, Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was hoarse as he heard himself begging her. ¡°I can take care of you, ensure you have the baby safely. You don¡¯t love Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t lie to me. You don¡¯t love him at all...¡±

 Chapter 430 - As Long As Youâ€™re Happy

    <h4>Chapter 430: As Long As You¡¯re Happy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not know that Li Lei would go to this extent.

    He did not even know that he was the biological father of her child but was still willing to let her return to his side with someone else¡¯s child. The way he made a concession for her was a disy of deep love.

    There was no one else on this world who was able to give her this sort of love.

    However, she could not turn back.

    Looking outside the window, she resisted her sorrow. ¡°My child needs its biological father. I won¡¯t leave Pei Ziheng.¡±

    Li Lei had a pleading look in his eyes as he looked at her with sadness and despair.

    She turned her head away, refusing to look at him.

    For a long time.

    Suddenly, she heard him ask softly, ¡°Will you be happy?¡±

    ¡°The baby, Ziheng and... I will be happy as a family of three.¡± She used all of her might to force out this hideous lie.

    Li Lei did not persuade her further. He only said lowly, ¡°I¡¯ll send you back home.¡± He was unwilling to let go but had no other choice because he did not dare to force her or argue with her. Since she was pregnant now, no matter who the father was, getting into conflicts would only harm her body.

    He did not want to see her hurt.

    He instructed the chauffeur to drive to Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi.

    It resided in a high-end residential area with tranquil and beautiful scenery. The street lights on the avenue softly glowed in the middle of the night, and the dreamy lights spread into the distance. Li Lei told the chauffeur to stop the car and asked, ¡°Walk with me for a while?¡±

    The car was driven too quickly. He could not bear to let thisst part of the journey end in a sh.

    She was also reluctant, so she quietly got out of the car.

    Slightly lowering her head, she strolled along the side of the street. Li Lei followed by her side, their shoulders brushing and so close that they could feel each other¡¯s breath. Both of them walked very slowly withfortable silence. This short distance was a luxury to them, and they had to cherish every moment.

    To test the waters, Li Lei reached out and held her hand.

    Her body was slightly stiff. Suddenly, she lost all of her strength and could not resist him.

    She felt Li Lei¡¯s grip getting tighter. Their fingers interlocked as if they would never let go. It was said that couples that interlocked their fingers wouldst forever, but it was a lie... All just a lie.

    At the end of the street, a vi surrounded by countless roses and ivy appeared. The second-floor study room window was still quietly lit. Xia Ling stopped in her footsteps.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± She had a hard time saying the words.

    ¡°It was really fast.¡± He was despondent and hoped that it was a never-ending road, but they reached the end so quickly.

    She turned around and looked at him. ¡°Li Lei, in the future... you have to live well.¡± Her voice was quivering.

    In the end, he still could not hold back and hugged her.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. Just let me hug you for a while.¡± His voice was hoarse as he carefully hugged her and closed his eyes. His beloved woman was about to leave forever. He was going to lose her...

    Theirst hug was like thesting impression of midsummer.

    However, Xia Ling lightly pushed him away in the end.

    ¡°Forget me.¡± She hardened her heart as she said that, turned around and left.

    She did not dare to turn back or look at the person behind her. With a pale expression, she stumbled back into the house and went upstairs.

    He felt her lingering warmth between his fingers. However, he had lost her forever.

    Xia Ling ran to the window, lied down on the ss of the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked downstairs. That man whom she always thought about was still there. He was also looking up at the vi. The lonely figure looked heartbreaking in the midsummer night wind.

    She did not blink.

    However, suddenly she heard someone calling her. ¡°Xia Ling, you actually still came back.¡±

    In a fright, she spun around to see a man standing beside the bedroom door. His tall figure was as lonely as the one downstairs.

    There was a faint smell of smoke on his body.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She leaned back against the window and wished she could retreat behind the curtains as if she were in an awkward position after being caught in the act of adultery.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her, and his gaze fell on her body and hands. Suddenly, he said, ¡°Xia Ling, do you think I don¡¯t ever feel sad?¡± After finding out that she was surrounded by people at Yanyun Hotel, he immediately sent people to save her while waiting at home. However, in the end, it was not his subordinates who saved her and sent her back home, but another man who held her hand and tenderly walked past the long street with her.

    There was also the hug in front of the door.

    He saw it clearly from the window in the study room.

    It turned out that no matter how much he tried to salvage it, his position in her heart could neverpare to another man¡¯s.

    He suddenly felt very tired. Turning around, he walked away.

    Xia Ling stood at her original position in shock. His voice echoed in her ear limitlessly. ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t ever feel sad?¡±

    That¡¯s true...

    She almost forgot.

    No, actually, she had never thought that such an overbearing and cold man like him could ever be sad. In her heart, Pei Ziheng was invincible like an all-powerful demon that caused people in front of him to shiver in fear. However, this invincible man was sad today.

    Pei Ziheng had never shown his vulnerable side in front of her; thus, she almost forgot that he was still a human being. Xia Ling dropped to her knees. What had she done? She hurt Li Lei and now even Pei Ziheng...

    Did Pei Ziheng deserve it?

    She did not know. She only knew that she was also very sad.

    She knelt there for a long time until daylight came and Nanny Zhou walked in.

    ¡°Oh my god, Miss Ye...¡± She eximed incredulously as she helped Xia Ling up from the ground. ¡°Why are you kneeling here? Are you ok? You look so unwell. Come, I will help you lie down on the bed for a while. Should I call for a doctor?¡± She blurted out a lot of words, but Xia Ling was not listening.

    Nanny Zhou helped her on the luxurious bed, poured some hot water, and covered her with a nket.

    She was worried and kept asking Xia Ling if she should call for a doctor. Xia Ling weakly shook her head and covered herself with the nket. As shey in bed, she stared at the ceiling in a daze and recalled all the events that led to today starting from the day she met Pei Ziheng. Xia Ling thought of the happy and tragic past events. It was as if unconsciously, step by step, she arrived at such a terrible state. Including Li Lei, no one out of the three of them was happy.

    Pei Ziheng once said, ¡°Xiao Ling, seeing you happy is my greatest happiness.¡±

    However, how could she be happy?

    Just like that, she aimlessly wasted a day.

    The next evening, Nanny Zhou looked for her. ¡°Miss Ye, Mr. Chu Chen called and said that there¡¯s something urgent.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not answering it.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Chu Chen said that the matter is really very urgent.¡± Nanny Zhou was in a difficult position. ¡°He said that he could not contact Mr. Pei the entire day...¡±

    He could not contact Mr. Pei the entire day?

    No, that was impossible. Pei Ziheng¡¯s lust for power was extreme, and he cared for his business more than anything else. Xia Ling even remembered that there was a year when he had Pneumonia. He had a fever that made him dizzy but still insisted on having a conference call. How could Chu Chen lose contact with a man like that?

 Chapter 431 - Secret Door

    <h4>Chapter 431: Secret Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling became worried and anxiously walked out. ¡°Give me the phone.¡±

    Over the phone, she heard Chu Chen¡¯s voice. ¡°Miss Ye, do you know where the Boss is now? I have something important that requires his attention, but I can¡¯t contact him at all. I have already checked the office and other possible ces but can¡¯t find him. I also asked many people, but they all do not know where he went.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. Actually, she also did not know where he was. Ever since he turned around and left the bedroomst night, she had not seen him. Worried that something might have happened to him, Xia Ling said to Chu Chen, ¡°Don¡¯t hang up.¡±

    She hurriedly ran to another phone and called Pei Ziheng¡¯s phone. They had an exclusive number, and he said before that it would always be avable for her.

    ( ) A ringtone rang. It was ¡°Perfect Dream,¡± a song Xia Ling wrote for him in the past.

    However, no one picked up the phone even though it rang for a long time. Xia Ling became frantic. This sort of scenario had never happened before. Although she hated him, they had known each other for more than ten years, and when something happened, she could not help but worry about him. What exactly happened to Pei Ziheng? Was he really in trouble?

    She quickly called for Nanny Zhou and asked her whether she knew where Pei Ziheng went.

    However, even Nanny Zhou did not know. She said that she searched the entire house but could not find him.

    At once, Xia Ling was lost her mind. She rushed to the phone and eximed to Chu Chen, ¡°I can¡¯t find him!¡±

    ¡°Calm down.¡± In contrast, Chu Chen was calm. ¡°Can you think of any ce he might be?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± Xia Ling was confused and flustered. She hurriedly thought about the ces he frequently liked to go. ¡°There¡¯s Bamboo Vi in the suburbs, Funing Clubhouse in the north of the city, Moonlight Beach, Hongde Club, and Number 1 Dojo...¡± She reported a few ces in session.

    However, unexpectedly, Chu Chen said that he had already searched those ces and even a few other ces that she did not know about, but he could not find Pei Ziheng.

    He disappeared into thin air.

    Xia Ling was apprehensive as she asked Chu Chen in confusion, ¡°What should we do?¡±

    ¡°Boss¡¯ phone should have GPS location tracking, but I don¡¯t have permission to ess it. Furthermore, I can¡¯t do anything without Boss¡¯ permission. Are you able to ess his GPS location tracking?¡±

    ¡°How can I trace his location? I don¡¯t even have a phone! He also never told me the password!¡± She was extremely anxious. ¡°How about we call the police? I¡¯m sure that the police will be able to find him!¡±

    ¡°Definitely not.¡± Chu Chen stopped her. ¡°This situation will definitely blow up. This will cause shock waves in the entire entertainment industry¡ª no, entiremercial world.¡±

    ¡°So what? I only want him to be safe!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, Imperial Entertainment is Boss¡¯ lifeline! He spent so many years to obtain control over it, and many people in the Pei family are ring covetously at his power! We cannot let a small mishap be an opportunity for them to exploit. Miss Ye, the most important thing now is to quickly look for Boss!¡±

    Xia Ling stopped insisting on calling the police. Chu Chen was right. Imperial Entertainment was Pei Ziheng¡¯s lifeline, and he put his blood, sweat, and tears into thispany. She was afraid that he might choose Imperial Entertainment over her without hesitation. How could she reveal that Pei Ziheng was missing to the police and add trouble for him during this sort of situation?

    ( ) ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t call the police for now.¡± She said. ¡°Let¡¯s quickly think of another way.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s no other way, we can only use his GPS location.¡± Chu Chen said. ¡°If we still can¡¯t contact him after a day, I will ask someone to hack the password.¡±

    Xia Ling was enraged. ¡°Why do we have to wait for a day?¡±

    Chu Chen smiled bitterly. ¡°You know that I don¡¯t have the authority. If there isn¡¯t a huge emergency, and I take the liberty to hack his password... Miss Ye, Boss will be furious.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. You do it now!¡± Xia Ling yelled at him. ¡°I¡¯ll take the me! Quickly do it!¡±

    He hesitated for a moment. ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid that I can¡¯t handle it?¡± She reasoned logically and quickly said, ¡°Look at how well he treats me, it¡¯s no less than the way he treated thete Xia Ling. Is that shocking? I even know what happened between him and Xia Ling, and I know you know it too. Do you think if Xia Ling requested for you to hack the password today, Pei Ziheng would me you?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Chu Chen said.

    She sighed and hung up the phone. She slumped to the floor against the wall and weakly sat up. <i>Pei Ziheng, where are you? Why won¡¯t you answer your phone?</i>

    Her heart was beating anxiously as she asked Nanny Zhou to bring over a phone. She kept calling that exclusive number, and it continued to ring without anyone answering the call. She kept redialling ceaselessly...

    An entire night passed until daybreak arrived.

    Chu Chen finally called back. ¡°Miss Ye, we hacked the password. The GPS shows that Boss¡¯ phone is in the house.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. I¡¯m in the house now, and I called him the entire night but did not hear a phone ring.¡± She was up the entire night, and her voice was slightly hoarse.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°There¡¯s no mistake about the location. Can I trouble you to search for him again?¡±

    She staggered as she got up. With unstable footsteps, she searched every room again. Sadly, she still could not find him.

    <i>Pei Ziheng, where exactly are you?</i>

    Chu Chen¡¯s voice was heard from the phone again. ¡°Have you checked every room? Think about it again. Are there any ces that you left out?¡±

    How could she have left out any ces?! This was a house that she designed herself, how... Wait, she recalled that when she went to the study room, a bookcase was not like the way she ced it at the start.

    She hung up the phone without exining to Chu Chen and immediately dashed to the study room.

    Sure enough, in the study room, the position of the bookcase was not right. It was cumbersomely ced behind a high back chair. Xia Ling pushed hard, but the bookcase was heavy and did not move. Her eyes scanned the vicinity, and suddenly, she saw a small raised decorative sculpture. Instinctively, she touched the sculpture.

    The bookcase slowly moved away to reveal a secret door.

    She did not understand why Pei Ziheng added a secret door here. The security measures were perfect in his study room, and all the secret documents about Imperial Entertainment could never be stolen. Did he have no faith in her design? Was there something more important that had to be protected?

    Curiously, she pushed the secret door open.

    Behind the secret door was a deep, dark, narrow, and spiral staircase. The air was dry and clean, with a hint of withered petals. There were rows of lights on both sides of the walls. The lights were quiet, soft and warm yellow, reminiscent of an old world that was lost and only existed in memories.

    Xia Ling supported herself using the wall and ced one hand on her lower abdomen as she carefully walked down. She did not know what would happen at the end and only hoped that no matter what it was, Pei Ziheng was waiting for her there. In the past, she hoped to escape his side, but after he disappeared, it turned out that she was this worried about him.

    Finally, she reached the end.

 Chapter 432 - Butterfly Ashes

    <h4>Chapter 432: Butterfly Ashes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The small door, when pushed open, revealed a clean and bright room.

    It probably had no windows because it was built in the basement. However, everything was well organized with many sandalwood cabs against the walls and a clear ss sliding door.

    Xia Ling nced around and quietly walked towards one of the cabs. Looking through the ss, she saw neatly arranged rows of CDs that were all about her past life. In herst lifetime, she followed him from the age of 12 until she died at the age of 28. In the middle, all of her songs and albums, including works when she was a trainee, unreleased pieces and different versions were all present.

    There were also various video interviews, advertisements, award ceremonies, and so on.

    Xia Ling lifted her hand and took out a CD. Unexpectedly, a small piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and saw a familiar handwriting on it¡ª

    [Xiao Ling, that day was the second time you won the Best Female Singer Award. You had to take a very long car ride and were unhappy. In the morning, you pestered me to send you there. I had an important meeting and could not leave. Thus, I had tofort you for a long time before you reluctantly left. When you received the award, you still had a cold look on your face.

    The news said that you were arrogant, but only I knew that you wanted me to apany you.

    If the heavens gave me another chance, I would definitely put everything down to be with you.]

    It was two years before she fell from the stage and died.

    Xia Ling did not think that she would actually see this here now. Her white hands shook, and she almost could not hold the note stably. She hastily put it down and went to look at the other CDs.

    There was a small note on every CD.

    [You were sick but insisted on shooting the MV. I disagreed and had a big fight with you. As we argued, you suddenly became more spirited. You drank the bitter Chinese medicine in one mouthful and angrily stormed out. Nanny Zhou was worried that I was angry but did not know that I liked looking at the way you red at me.

    Your eyes were so bright, just like when you sang under the sun for this MV.

    Xiao Ling, you bloom in my life. You¡¯re my sunshine.]

    ...

    [When you were building a snowman, you were suddenly inspired and sang a short improvisation of a song. It was very nice, and you said you wanted topose aplete song, butter, you seemed to have forgotten about it as you never mentioned it again. Fortunately, I recorded it. I like every song you sing. Your songs are like a godsend from heaven.]

    There were many more.

    Xia Ling shook more violently as she rummaged through the cab. Besides CDs, there were also newspapers and magazines that had published articles about her, gifts she gave him, and many other old things...

    She found a Christmas hat¡ª

    [Xiao Ling, you¡¯re 13 years old now, and you cheerfully went to the studio to y. When you arrived at the set at Imperial Entertainment, it was almost Christmas time, so every actor was wearing a Christmas hat. You managed to get a small supporting role and acted as a princess who only had one line.

    When the filming was done, there was a discussion, and your uncle Zitai told me: ¡°How is she a princess? She is literally a Diva. If I knew in advance that this small Diva wanted to give you the hat, I would have immediately sent a dozen to your house...¡±

    But I really like this hat because it¡¯s the first gift you gave me.]

    ...

    There was also a photograph that was slightly yellow with age.

    [When I was taking an afternoon nap, you secretly drew a mustache on my face. Later, when I was having a meeting in the afternoon, all the executives looked at me with strange expressions like they were resistingughing. I only found out about it when my secretary informed me.

    When I returned to the office, you, the troublemaker, was still sleeping soundly on the sofa. After looking at you for a while, I also drew a beard on your face. You were as cute as a kitten.

    I could not help but take a photo as a keepsake. Even now, you don¡¯t know about it.]

    On this photo, there were mottled imprints that looked like dried tear marks.

    Xia Ling also wanted to cry. Opening thest cab, she foundrge and small boxes filled with things that she had never seen.

    In one box, there was a withered rose.

    [Xiao Ling, you have already passed away for one month and three days.

    I feel that you¡¯re still by my side. When I passed by the flower shop today, I turned around and asked you what flowers you wanted. The chauffeur was scared to death. Only then did I realize that you had already left me and are in a ce where I can¡¯t go.

    My butterfly has flown away forever.]

    ...

    Inside another box, there was a real estate license.

    [After one year and three months after your death, the renovation of the Jinghu vi ispleted.

    In the past, you always said that I was boring and there was nothing new even when I gave you gifts. Perhaps, in your eyes, I¡¯m a boring person. But you know what? I will give you the most security in the material aspect.

    Xiao Ling, you¡¯re my priceless treasure. With me, you will never need to worry about trivial matters in your life. You can just live freely in your own dreams.

    Xiao Ling, the vi is finally decorated. I really wish you would happily ept this gift as you did in the past and thenugh at me for being boring.]

    ...

    After reading the records written with a fountain pen, she could no longer hold anything anymore. <i>Crash </i>. The box fell to the floor.

    The sound echoed in the basement, gradually weakened and disappeared.

    When she was once again surrounded in silence, she heard an extremely soft sound of music that seemed toe from a music box. It was the piano version of the ¡°Perfect Dream¡± which sheposed many years ago.

    She followed the music and found another hidden door that was half-hidden in an inconspicuous corner.

    She pushed it open and walked in.

    Inside, she saw Pei Ziheng sitting on a sofa chair. In front of him, there was a small altar. On the base of an unknown ck material, there were many lines of mantra drawn using cinnabar. Numerous red lines were scattered all over like stars to form aplex pattern. In the middle of the red lines, there were a few old items including a pendant she used to wear frequently, a very delicate bundle of hair, and a music box.

    The music wasing from the music box.

    She recognized that music box. When she won the international award with ¡°Perfect Dream,¡± thepany released thememorative music box. In the center, there was a dancing figurine that resembled Xia Ling with an amorous feeling on her face. This music box sold crazily, and even Pei Ziheng kept one to ce on his study desk.

    No wonder she always felt that something was missing when she walked into his study room in the past. It turned out that he had moved it down here.

    Xia Ling looked at the red lines on the altar with mixed feelings. What kind of altar was this? Did he do something rted to metaphysics like Li Lei because he was too worried about her?

    Pei Ziheng looked up from the sofa chair with a haggard expression.

    He did not expect that Xia Ling would appear here and looked at her in surprise.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze also fell on his body. It was great that he was fine. She sighed in relief but also burst in anger. ¡°Pei Ziheng, why didn¡¯t you pick up my call?!¡±

 Chapter 433 - Cruise Party

    <h4>Chapter 433: Cruise Party</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng was startled. Could it be that she was concerned about him?

    On second thought, he felt that he was overthinking. With Xiao Ling¡¯s temper, she was probably spoiled, and the reason for her unhappiness was purely because she was not appeased in time. He shifted his gaze from her to the crisscrossed red line on the altar. After her death, with a doubtful mentality, he hired someone to construct this altar to direct her spirit here, hoping that she woulde back to him this way.

    When he missed her, Pei Ziheng woulde to sit here. He had countless thoughts about how he would dly endure her tantrums as long as she came back.

    However, when she really looked at him, he only felt destion.

    ¡°Say something!¡± Xia Ling was furious. ¡°Do you know how long I have been searching for you?!¡±

    ¡°Do you still care about me?¡± There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, and also hopefulness that was hard to detect.

    However, Xia Ling was not aware of that hopefulness. She was only provoked and hurt by the distrust in his voice. Boiling with rage and feeling indignant, she said, ¡°Good... Very good. Pei Ziheng, I shouldn¡¯t have looked for you at all. You deserve to rot here all by yourself!¡±

    As she spoke, she turned around to leave.

    Pei Ziheng caught up and immediately took her into his arms. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± Xia Ling was furious.

    However, Pei Ziheng refused to let go. On the battlefield of love, it was always the one who loved the most deeply who admitted defeat first. ¡°I was wrong. Don¡¯t go.¡±

    The hoarseness in his voice softened her heart.

    Looking around, she realized that the room was filled with news clippings, CDs, and old things that were all relevant to her. How much time and effort did this man spend in order to gather them one by one?

    Xia Ling wanted to tell herself not to be deceived by the false feelings of the beast behind her. However, she could not bear to push him away and abandon him. She could not act cold in front of him when he was so vulnerable. He was such a proud person. What sort of desperate situation forced him to admit his mistake?

    A sour feeling crept in her heart for him and for herself.

    He hugged her even tighter as if he wanted to push her into his chest. Xia Ling felt a little pain and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Let go of me, I won¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡±

    She was angry but wanted tough. ¡°Why would I lie to you? Pei Ziheng, where can I go? You¡¯ve already imprisoned me in this cage. I¡¯m entirely yours now. What are you still worried about?¡±

    Her voice gradually became sorrowful.

    She had already ended things with Li Lei. In the future, she could only spend her remaining years in Pei Ziheng¡¯s cage.

    Pei Ziheng turned her over to face him. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be involved with anyone else. Let¡¯s live together happily.¡±

    ¡°Who else can I get involved with?¡± She said softly, trying hard not to remember that night and Li Lei¡¯s lonely figure under the street lights. ¡°I will remain securely by your side and raise the child.¡±

    This was her first promise to him.

    Pei Ziheng was ted and hugged her tightly again.

    Perhaps this entire room of keepsakes and his soft attitude moved Xia Ling¡¯s heart. After that day, she was no longer scornful towards Pei Ziheng. However, she still hated him in her heart. When she saw his face, she was reminded of a vicious man who ruined her rtionship with her beloved man and separated their family of three.

    She did not wish to see him and frequently made excuses, saying that she was busy and had to stay overtime at the recording studio.

    Pei Ziheng would bring food when he went to visit her, sitting behind a huge soundproof ss wall and quietly staring as she sang. She would pretend not to see him and continue singing. She would also deliberately keep re-recording to drag the time. However, he would still patiently wait for her. On several asions, he leaned his head on the sofa and unconsciously fell asleep.

    Although she was angry at him, she was still worried that he would be cold and could not help but get out to cover him with a coat.

    She secretly criticized herself. <i>Xia Ling, you¡¯re hopeless. You should just let him freeze to death so you can go back to Li Lei without hesitation. </i>However, as she scolded herself, she still took care of him.

    Pei Ziheng was a light sleeper. He would frequently be woken up by her movements and smile gently.

    Xia Ling was afraid that he was not sleeping well and was also worried about her child. Soon, she stopped recording in the studio till sote at night.

    The child was about three months old, and her belly was still not very obvious. In fact, it was still quite t, and it was not obvious that she was pregnant even when she wore tight-fitting clothes. She was rather worried. Was her child too skinny and weak? However, Pei Ziheng said that she was only two months pregnant andforted her by reasoning that it was normal for her pregnancy not to look obvious after two months.

    She smiled bitterly, afraid that he would realize that her child was older. So she did not dare to take pregnancy tests frequently. She kept all her worries to herself. Although Nanny Zhouforted her and said that it varied from person to person, such that some women only hadrger stomachs after four or five months, Xia Ling was still worried.

    Pei Ziheng was afraid that she would get prenatal depression and took some time off to take her out to have fun. He picked various tourist attractions and activities that she liked in her past life. He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you have to distract yourself more.¡± Xia Ling was also worried that her emotions would negatively affect her child, so she amodated Pei Ziheng and went out.

    On that day, they went to a cruise party.

    The party¡¯s standards were very high, and those invited were all famous celebrities and big bosses from all walks of life.

    Even in a group of bigshots, Pei Ziheng still stood out and was the center of attention. He was dressed in a stylish suit and apanied Xia Ling to the cafeteria to eat a few snacks. Soon, he was surrounded by people who wanted to make small talk with him. Xia Ling was impatient when entertaining others and withdrew from the crowd unobtrusively to go to the deck outside to get some fresh air.

    The stars in the night sky shined, and she felt the intoxicating sea breeze.

    On the deck, pairs of men and women wereughing. As they were dressed morously, she did not know if their rtionships were genuine or fake.

    As Xia Ling stood in an inconspicuous corner, she suddenly heard someone call her. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling!¡±

    Strange, why would anyone recognize her here? She turned around and surprisingly saw Jin Yifei dressed in a gaudy silk shirt holding a sparkling cocktail in his hand. He was standing behind her with a smile.

    He seemed very happy to see Xia Ling and leaned side by side with her on the handrail. ¡°I never expected to see you here. Who are you with?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± There was nothing to hide. With her status as amon female star, she could never participate in this sort of party. She took one look at the invitation letter sent to Pei Ziheng and realized that the invitees had a family fortune of at least one billion US dors. She knew very well that she did not have that much money and could only join the scene as an apanying guest.

    After hearing what she said, he was somewhat surprised. ¡°Wow, Pei Ziheng rarely brings people with him.¡± He smiled. ¡°However, it¡¯s not really a surprise. You¡¯re pregnant with his baby now, so your identity is naturally different. Who else can he bring along besides you?¡±

    Xia Ling only smiled politely.

 Chapter 434 - Something Priceless Money Canâ€™t Buy

    <h4>Chapter 434: Something Priceless Money Can¡¯t Buy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She knew that Pei Ziheng really did not like bringing people to social gatherings.

    In the past two years, he had many femalepanions, but none of them could ever apany him to big asions. With his status, he actually needed someone to apany him for many activities. In her past life, she was only his underground lover and could never see the light. She rarely apanied him, but she was also jealous and refused to let him bring others. Thus, he became known as the business tycoon and head of Imperial Entertainment who brought his secretary to events the most.

    His secretary was a lesbian, so Xia Ling was very relieved.

    Soon, Xia Ling watched video interviews and fashion magazine interviews with Wang Jingwan who walked about her prospective fianc¨¦. Wang Jingwan smiled as she said, ¡°I¡¯ve liked him for a long time. At the very start, I only saw him a few times on several asions. People change their female partners like changing clothes, but he had a lot of self-control; it made me feel at ease.¡±

    At that time, Xia Ling felt like she had dug her own grave.

    She felt a little dejected thinking about the past.

    Jin Yifei observed her expression and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Feeling unhappy?¡± He teased her. ¡°How can you not be satisfied after Pei Ziheng brought you in? Xiao Ling, you should be d. Do you know how most female celebrities get in here?¡±

    He lowered his chin and pointed at somewhere nearby.

    She followed his gaze. Under the stars, on the deck next to the dazzling champagne tower, a fat man had his hand around a woman with a graceful figure and was freely touching her.

    That woman looked somewhat familiar. It was...

    ¡°The lead actress of ¡®The Thirteenth Letter.¡¯¡± Jin Yifei said. ¡°Her acting is good, but unfortunately, she did not have a strong background and could not be famous. She could only spend a lot of money finding a middleman toe here to find a backing and try her luck.¡±

    Xia Ling looked away and said lightly, ¡°That¡¯s a path that she chose for herself.¡± In this aspect, she was not very sympathetic. Everyone had to pay the price for their own desires, just like what she did to keep her baby. She had no choice but to marry Pei Ziheng. From many angles, it was about the same as selling her body.

    However, Jin Yifei said, ¡°Do you think she wants to be like this? Her acting is so good, but five to six years after her debut, she¡¯s still unknown. Do you know what remaining in this industry as an unknown newbie entails?¡±

    Before she could respond, he had already continued on. ¡°This is still not the most frightening part. The scariest thing is that you¡¯re pretty but not famous andck a good background. You can only have the fate of never-ending harassment. Xiao Ling, do you think that she has not persevered? That year when she just debuted, she was as clean and wilful as you.¡±

    Jin Yifei looked at her and smiled. ¡°At that time, I wanted to date her, but she sternly refused me. Of course, due to that, she did not get a role in my film. Oh yes, that film was called ¡®ss de.¡¯ It was one that had amazing box office sales and won many awards.¡±

    Xia Ling nced at him. ¡°How can you say that with no shame? It seems that you¡¯re also one of the perpetrators.¡±

    Jin Yifei snorted. ¡°A perpetrator? Hahaha, life is short, and it¡¯s reasonable to have temporary happiness. Xiao Ling, oh Xiao Ling. Who do you think I am? A savior who can save the entertainment industry by myself? You see, even if she did not follow me at the start, she¡¯s following someone else now.¡±

    Xia Ling knew since a long time ago that this industry had a dark side to it, but she had not experienced it herself. She also had not seen ¡°The Thirteenth Letter,¡± but as she had worked with Jin Yifei before, she understood his eye for talent and standard. If he said that the female actress¡¯ acting was not bad, she was definitely outstanding.

    ¡°Even if she wasn¡¯t willing to give in to you, why can¡¯t you at least give her a chance? I thought you would consider the actor¡¯s abilities when selecting roles.¡±

    Jin Yifei smiled again. ¡°Of course, I considered their abilities. If not, how could I film such reputable movies with outstanding box office sales? However, Xiao Ling, you should know.¡± He turned around. ¡°Many people work hard in this world. There are also people who work hard and are willing to abide by the unspoken rules. Why should I not use them and use her?¡±

    ¡°But you used me then...¡±

    ¡°At that time, it was an emergency. We really could not find anyone else.¡± He carelessly waved his hand and said, ¡°Besides, I can¡¯t afford to offend Big Boss Li. Look, you also have a backing. If it weren¡¯t for Big Boss Li, even though I let you have the role, I would definitely have made your life difficult. Understand?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little stunned after listening to him. It turned out that the perspective of an insider was thisplicated.

    Not far away, that female celebrity was still flirting with the fat man. She looked very focused as she fed the man wine until he was intoxicated and drunk like a girl who was hopelessly in love.

    Jin Yifei casually praised her acting skills and evenmented. ¡°She¡¯s really putting in a lot of effort. This performance, oh, is like a movie queen¡¯s. If she had given in to me, do you think she would have ended up like this, having to serve an old man?¡±

    Looking at the pair, Xia Ling only felt a little stuffy. She turned her head and called for a waiter holding a tray to ask for a cocktail. Jin Yifei was very enthusiastic. ¡°I also want one!¡± He lifted his hand and was about to take a ss.

    Xia Ling slightly bent her body, moved her hand that was holding the ss, and avoided him a little.

    Suddenly, he noticed her wrist. ¡°Hey?¡± Before she could react, he had already taken the cocktail ss in her hand and returned it to the waiter. ¡°Your bracelet...¡±

    Xia Ling looked down and saw the bracelet around her wrist. It was the one that Pei Ziheng gave her a few days ago ¡ª Eighteen brilliant and colorful diamonds that were iid into gorgeous irises. She did not want to wear it as it was too shy, but Pei Ziheng insisted on it. He said that if someone ignorant provoked her, he would remember his ce after looking at her bracelet.

    Xia Ling said that there would not be any ignorant people because everyone knew that she was pregnant with his child.

    However, Pei Ziheng insisted. He was not confident that the big bosses of themercial world would recognize a small female star. If they did not realize that she was his woman, they would be trouble. However, he waspletely confident that no matter how ignorant they were, they would not mistake an expensive and rare diamond bracelet.

    They would then know that she was very distinguished and favored.

    Xia Ling was unsure about the value of this bracelet, but it was very remarkable at first nce. Sure enough, Jin Yifei¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°Such an exquisite purple diamond of more than five carats, and with a set of blue diamonds with this design and cut... Xiao Ling, your bracelet is probably worth more than two hundred million dors.¡±

    Her heart instantly skipped a beat. She knew it was expensive, but she did not think it was that expensive. She lifted her wrist to take a closer look at the bracelet. Doubtfully, she asked Jin Yifei, ¡°Are you joking?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, do you not trust my opinion?¡± Jin Yifei looked at her disdainfully. ¡°Do you how much such arge and pure purple-red diamond is worth in the world? Well, I also don¡¯t know. Something like this is so priceless that there is no guarantee that you can get one even if you have the money.¡±

 Chapter 435 - You Donâ€™t Understand

    <h4>Chapter 435: You Don¡¯t Understand</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jin Yifei grabbed her wrist and took another long look before reluctantly letting her go. Curious, he asked, ¡°Pei Ziheng gave it to you?¡±

    Xia Ling carefully covered the bracelet with the fringed hem of her silk shawl and did not answer.

    Jin Yifei shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just asking, stingy. I¡¯m sure he gave it to you. Others can¡¯t afford it. Besides, you¡¯re with him now, and you won¡¯t wear anything that someone else gave you. He¡¯s really generous. You two haven¡¯t even gotten married yet, but he¡¯s already willing to spend so much money on you.¡±

    The way Xia Ling suddenly publicly announced her pregnancy enraged Pei Ziheng. However, this did not prevent him from mitigating the situation. Imperial Entertainment held arge-scale media representatives, announced that they would get a marriage certificate on the seventh day of the seventh month and that they would have a wedding after she had recovered after childbirth.

    He had acknowledged her status of future Mrs. Pei.

    Although many people in the Pei family objected to it, they did not dare to say anything carelessly in fear of Pei Ziheng. Thus, the news of her wedding spread like wildfire.

    However, Xia Ling was unhappy and did not respond. She only lowered her head and continued drinking her alcohol.

    Jin Yifei also kept quiet for a while.

    However, after a moment, he could not control himself and asked, ¡°Well, what about Big Boss Li? Were you ditched after your break up?¡±

    Xia Ling still continued to ignore him and took another ss of alcohol from a waiter. The colorful cocktail dazzled like stars and was as aesthetically pleasing as dream-like bubbles. As she drank it, a burning sensation spread from her stomach all the way to her limbs. It felt spicy and bitter.

    Jin Yifei snatched the ss from her hand. ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t drink anymore! You¡¯re pregnant.¡±

    A little tipsy, she looked at him sweetly. ¡°Since when did you know how to take care of people. Why, do you have a pregnant woman at home?¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Jin Yifei quickly stamped his foot. ¡°I¡¯m not even married yet. Don¡¯t destroy my reputation!¡± With that, he worriedly scanned his surroundings, afraid that some beautiful girl had overhead their conversation.

    Xia Ling snickered, and her mood improved. ¡°Do you think you still have a good reputation after flirting with so many beautiful girls, golden director?¡±

    ¡°You... you... How could you say that?¡± Jin Yifei angrily red at her in shock. He could not tolerate it anymore and smiled. ¡°Ok, ok. However, no matter how uncouth I am, I have never dared to make a girl pregnant before... No, I¡¯m not talking about you and Pei Ziheng. In fact, with this in mind, I kind of admire Pei Ziheng. He could rule out all of his difficulties thate with his identity to marry you. That¡¯s true love!¡±

    When the topic was changed back, she declined toment again and smiled bitterly.

    Jin Yifei noticed her expression. ¡°Are you unhappy?¡±

    She lifted her hand, wanting to drink her cocktail, but she realized that the ss was already no longer in her hands. ¡°Waiter...¡± She called for a waiter.

    Jin Yifei quickly took away the empty ss in her hands, handed it back to the waiter and said, ¡°Give us a cup of warm water.¡±

    The waiter went away to get warm water for them as instructed.

    Jin Yifei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t drink anymore. Do you want your baby to be a little alcoholic in the future?¡±

    She was humored, so she stopped mentioning about drinking.

    When the warm water was served, Jin Yifei passed it to her. ¡°Sober up.¡± He also added, ¡°How could Pei Ziheng let you roam around on your own? What happens if you run into trouble? In my opinion, if you were pregnant with Big Boss Li¡¯s child instead, he would definitely take care of you well and would never allow you to catch a cold here.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned slightly pale. Jin Yifei¡¯s thoughtless words stabbed at her heart.

    She missed Li Lei so much. Sadly, she could never go back.

    Jin Yifei looked at her. ¡°It can¡¯t be that you... still have Big Boss Li in your heart, right?¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± She said reluctantly.

    Jin Yifei sighed in disappointment. He said in a low voice, ¡°Big Boss Li treated you so well. Originally, I thought that you two would create a miracle and break thews of the entertainment industry andst forever.¡±

    Last forever? What a distant phrase.

    ¡°Jin Yifei, you¡¯re too naive.¡± She whispered.

    Jin Yifei looked at her deeply. ¡°Naive? It sounds like you don¡¯t believe in happily ever afters. Why are you with Pei Ziheng now then? You¡¯re about to get married. Don¡¯t you want to grow old with him?¡±

    Xia Ling did not answer. She turned away and looked at the calm sea surface in the middle of the quiet night. The light breeze gently brushed against her long hair, and specks of starlight were reflected on the sea surface, creating a picturesque view.

    Jin Yifei was a little distracted. After many years of debauchery, he had seen countless beautiful women. Many of them were much more beautiful than the girl in front of him, but at this moment, he felt that all of the other girls were not as mesmerizing as her. That inexplicably fresh feeling made her very... special. This was something she had in her bones. Her elegance, gentleness, and even her sadness were so beautiful.

    ¡°You¡¯re obviously a blessed person.¡± Jin Yifei shook is head. As he was a master of women, he understood that finding a beautiful girl was easy, but finding a girl who really shined from the inside out was almost impossible. A girl like this had to experience many ups and downs but was still able to hold the purest beauty in her heart. Any pretense was removed after years of braving storms and looked exactly like she did when they first met.

    Only a girl like this was truly blessed.

    As for those who were morous, exquisite, or attractive in their own way... So what if their beauty was able to overthrow cities and ruin states? There were so many beautiful girls with unfortunate lives that sacrificed themselves in their youth in order to gain fame and fortune. In the end, they looked bitter, disorderly, and fatigued before reaching the age of thirty.

    Jin Yifei looked at Xia Ling and sighed. ¡°The person who is able to marry you is also blessed.¡±

    Xia Ling slightly shook her head.

    Blessed? Among her, Li Lei and Pei Ziheng, who was truly blessed?

    Jin Yifei waspletely unaware of her thoughts and only said, ¡°You see, your future is so bright. You¡¯re also cherished and loved by the two most powerful men¡ªPei Ziheng and Big Boss Li. Furthermore, you¡¯re almost about to marry into an eminent family and be a rich wife. Do you know how many girls dream of this? Why are you still not satisfied? Why can¡¯t you be a little happier and live well?¡±

    He truly did not understand her. After making a long speech, his mouth was somewhat dry.

    Why?

    Xia Ling also did not know. After drinking two cocktails, she felt slightly tipsy. Feeling the sea breeze, she thought hard about it again. Finally, she spat out three words. ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand?¡± Jin Yifei was about to jump up in annoyance. ¡°You¡¯re the one who doesn¡¯t understand! Youngdy, what do you know? The most important thing about life is being happy. Hmph!¡± Recently, he had watched too many tv dramas. ¡°The most important thing in life is to enjoy the pleasures of life while you can. Why do you have to make yourself so miserable? Come, I will take you to see the world.¡±

 Chapter 436 - Seeing the World

    <h4>Chapter 436: Seeing the World</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Seeing the world?

    Xia Ling looked at him suspiciously. ¡°What world?¡±

    Snickering, Jin Yifei restlessly grabbed her hand. ¡°You¡¯ll know once we¡¯re there.¡±

    Xia Ling shook his hand off. ¡°Tell me first.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll talk. I¡¯ll talk, ok.¡± Jin Yifei raised his hands to surrender. Immediately after, he grinned and mysteriously moved closer to her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m sure you haven¡¯t been to the casino here before. Pei Ziheng would definitely not allow you to go to that sort of ce. Come, follow me. It¡¯s fun. I guarantee it¡¯ll be exciting.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t gamble.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Who said you¡¯re gambling?¡± Jin Yifei persuaded. ¡°I¡¯m just letting you take a look. Your Brother Jin is going all out. If I win, you¡¯ll get a share, but if I lose, it¡¯s all on me. It¡¯s just for fun. How about it, I¡¯m a loyal friend, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not in need of money.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Jin Yifei red at her. ¡°You can win or lose a few million in a night!¡±

    She raised the diamond bracelet on her wrist which was said to be worth 200 million and swayed it in front of him.

    Its dazzling glow almost blinded Jin Yifei.

    Jin Yifei scratched his head in frustration. ¡°Fine, you¡¯re a rich madam, ok? However...¡± He changed the subject and continued to urge her, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel bored? Just now, when I passed by the banquet hall, I saw Pei Ziheng talking to several big bosses; I don¡¯t think that he will be able to leave for a while. Instead of catching a cold on the deck, Xiao Ling, you might as well join me for some fun.¡±

    ¡°I want some peace and quiet.¡± She smiled, tilted her head and said. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me why.¡± In front of Li Lei¡¯s old acquaintance, her anxious feeling vanished a little, and she felt very rxed.

    ¡°Who cares about that!¡± Jin Yifei was about to cry. He stamped his foot, paced back and forth, and bitterly tried to persuade her again. ¡°Miss Ye, Madam Ye, Grandma Ye... I¡¯m begging you. Apany me for some fun for a while. Just a while, ok? Besides, you see¡ª¡± He pointed his finger at a distance not far away. ¡°That side, that side, and that side. Look, there¡¯s no one alone here. As long as you¡¯re alone, it won¡¯t be long before someone tries to pick you up. Won¡¯t that irritate you?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the direction his finger was pointing and, sure enough, people were grouped in pairs or groups. asionally, there were single people, but someone quickly came forward to talk to them. There was really no one truly alone.

    After some thought, she felt that Jin Yifei made some sense. Before he spoke to her, she also had to dismiss a few attempts of people trying to talk to her. Instead of staying here and rejecting them, it was better to follow him to have some fun. Besides, she had really never been to a casino before. Opening her eyes to the world would be good.

    Thus, she nodded.

    Jin Yifei cheered and pulled her along as he walked forward.

    When he pushed open the casino door, Xia Ling realized that the interior was very different from her imagination.

    Her impression of casinos was that they were like the ones in Las Vegas, Macau, or in movies which were filled with people seated at many different stations. She thought there would be noisy gamblers drinking until their eyes turned red and frequently swear in annoyance.

    However, this was not the case. Perhaps the environment was quite good because the guests on the ship were very honorable. The lights were dim, the music was soft, and the carpet wasfortable enough that she wanted to sink herself in it.

    There were seats scattered everywhere, and their sizes varied, but they were all equallyfortable and luxurious.

    There were many people gathered in groups, with most of them being young, pampered sons of rich families. They wore designer clothing and watches and had beautiful femalepanions in their arms. As they yed cards casually, they chatted.

    When they saw Jin Yifeie in, many of them greeted him. ¡°Hey, Second Old Man Jin, have you not lost enough just now? Have you abandoned Yanyan and reced her with a small beauty because you wanted to change your luck?¡±

    Jin Yifei led Xia Ling across a few seats and smiled as he rebuked. ¡°Come,e. My luck is excellent, ok? I was just giving in to you just now. This time, I will definitely defeat you all!¡±

    As he spoke, he squeezed into a group and found a seat for Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, just sit by my side and give me luck. If I win, you will have many benefits!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Did he aggressively urge her toe here just so he could change his luck?

    Just as the voices fell, someone whistled at her. ¡°Who is this beauty? Second Old Man Jin, introduce her to us. Your charm has recently increased. You just went out for a while after ditching Yanyan, and now you¡¯ve brought a new one back?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. Who did these people think she was?

    Before she could retaliate, Jin Yifei had already responded, ¡°Don¡¯t make random jokes, Mr. Liu. This is my friend, Ye Xingling. She came with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei.¡± After saying that, he pulled Xia Ling under the light. ¡°Xiao Ling, move in a little more. Don¡¯t squeeze.¡±

    Only then did they finally see her face clearly.

    During this period of time, she always had the spotlight on her. The news about her being pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child and her marriage with Pei Ziheng spread like crazy, and almost everyone knew that they could not touch her. After Jin Yifei said that, the rich young men suddenly wiped their lecherous expressions off their faces and looked normal again.

    They were all elites born in eminent families. They were naturally shrewd and understood that they could not afford to offend the big boss of Imperial Entertainment over a woman.

    Mr. Liu, the one who whistled at Xia Ling just now, raised his eyebrows and smiled very naturally. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Yifei rarely brings his friends here, and I was just saying hello in advance. I was a little offensive just now. I hope you don¡¯t take it to heart, Miss Ye.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and epted his apology.

    Jin Yifei smiled to mediate the dispute. ¡°Alright, Old Liu, don¡¯t look so serious. Xiao Ling isn¡¯t that small-minded.¡± He then pointed to them and introduced them one by one. ¡°This is Liu Heng of Tongda Electrical Appliances; this is the third young master of the Heshi Group; this is Feiying from Majestic Real Estate...¡±

    They were all from famous families.

    After cordially greeting one another for some time, the group finally starting ying cards. Suddenly, they heard an oblique sneer.

    Everyone turned around to see a man in a dark blue satin shirt sitting opposite them in the dim light. He had a cocktail in his hand and was swirling the ss as he looked at Xia Ling unscrupulously.

    His eyes were sharp like a wolf in the dark night, ready to tear her into pieces.

    Xia Ling was very ufortable after being stared at by him. But she was also puzzled. Who was this person and why did he feel familiar?

    Jin Yifei tightly frowned but seemed not willing to get into a conflict with that man. He only moved his body discreetly to block Xia Ling from his gaze.

    As the man¡¯s line of sight was cut off, the tension-filled atmosphere suddenly disappeared.

    Jin Yifei breathed a sigh of relief and was about to continue the card game, but the man sneered again.

 Chapter 437 - Bargaining Chip

    <h4>Chapter 437: Bargaining Chip</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    This time, Liu Heng, who was sitting beside Xia Ling, could not stand it any longer. ¡°Du Yunfeng, what do you mean by this?¡±

    It turned out that he was Du Yunfeng. Xia Ling recalled seeing him at the Nanshan Horse Racing Club a long time ago. At that time, she had just met Li Lei for a few days, and Li Lei took her there for horseback riding. She saw many of his friends there as well, and Du Yunfeng was one of them.

    Later, Li Lei sent her to participate in the audition for ¡°War and Death¡± and was stopped by the security officer at the door. He made a phone call to the director of the producers, Du Yunfeng.

    Thinking about the past caused slight pain in her heart.

    There was no one beside Du Yunfeng. He pushed the cocktail ss away and walked up to her. cing both hands on the table, he leaned over to look at her. ¡°You¡¯re Ye Xingling, right? What right do you have to sit here? Aren¡¯t you just a prostitute?¡±

    There was a sudden uproar.

    Xia Ling did not expect for him to say that and was startled. She took a few seconds before angrily reacting. ¡°Du Yunfeng, we¡¯re not close! You should be more cultured and not run your mouth in front of people you are not familiar with!¡±

    ¡°Unfamiliar?¡± Du Yunfeng smiled even more coldly. ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯re not very familiar with each other, but you¡¯re very close to my brother. I¡¯m sure you know his name, he¡¯s called Li Lei.¡±

    After unexpectedly hearing his name, there was a stabbing pain in her heart.

    However, on the surface, she pretended to be calm. She only icily red at him. She knew that this person was not going to be friendly. Looking at his stance, he probably came because of Li Lei. It turned out they were such close friends. When one of them fell out of love, the other stood up for him.

    However, Li Lei rarely mentioned him to her and never took her to specially meet him before.

    At once, Xia Ling became even sadder. Li Lei... She did not have enough time to understand him more and be more involved in his life. Just like that, she missed her chance forever.

    The man in front of her reeked of alcohol as he stared at her with bloodshot eyes. ¡°Ye Xingling, my brother was blind to fall in love with you! Do you know what he lost for you? After the ident at the cliff, he had around seven to eight surgeries before his life was saved. The doctor instructed him to stay in bed for half a year, but he immediately ran back to look for you once he could get off the bed because he was worried about you and did not want you to worry about him. Before he left to see you he even had a painkiller shot, but how did you treat him?! How can you be this inhumane?!

    ¡°My brother has lived a happy life until now, and he has never been rejected. Who are you to treat him like this! Do you know that because of you, he spent so much effort and money to fight with Pei Ziheng? Some time ago, his wounds were infected, and he was sent to the hospital again for an emergency rescue. I bet you didn¡¯t know that. I bet you also didn¡¯t know that Old Master Li punished him by making him kneel at the ancestral hall. Old Master Li loves him so much and never spoke harshly to him before. However, this time, he was boiling with rage! He wanted him to kneel at the ancestral hall! He told him to get up only after admitting his mistake!

    ¡°However, he¡¯s really stupid. He refused to admit his mistake after kneeling for a day. In the end, he even fainted! Ye Xingling, ask yourself, how are you any good for him?! How are you worthy of the way he treats you?!

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re a b*tch! A prostitute!¡±

    He vented his anger in a long rant and everyone, including Xia Ling, was stunned after hearing what he said.

    She never thought that such things would happen. Did Li Lei really take a painkiller shot before rushing into Imperial Entertainment to see her? When his wounds inmedter, Old Master still forced him to kneel? Even though he knelt at the ancestor altar, he still refused to give up on her? Everything seemed to crush her heart.

    It hurt her so much that she could not breathe.

    She did not think things would end up like this. She thought that he had already done enough for her, but he actually did more than what she was aware of. Even so, whenever they had a rare chance to meet, he never mentioned a word to her.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re simply not worthy of him!¡± Du Yunfeng¡¯s finger almost jabbed her nose.

    ¡°Yunfeng, you¡¯re drunk.¡± Someone pulled him away and urged. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll take you elsewhere to rest.¡±

    ¡°You should also let go! I¡¯m very much awake!¡± Du Yunfeng pushed that person aside and red at Xia Ling more fiercely than before. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re just a prostitute who is not worthy of love! Since you just follow the person who has more money, I¡¯m sure you like money, right? Well then.¡± He pushed arge stack of chips in front of her. ¡°Is this enough to buy you for a night?!¡±

    ¡°Yunfeng, you¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye is Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye is pregnant with Chairman Pei¡¯s child. What happens if she is hurt? Yunfeng, calm down! Don¡¯t act on impulse!¡±

    Everyone started to advise him against it. They were terrified of his actions. Pei Ziheng was notorious for being tyrannical and unruly. If he found out that his woman and child were involved in this, he could seek revenge on their entire families!

    ¡°Go, quickly look for Pei Ziheng!¡± Someone secretly made eye contact with hispanion. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, quickly go!¡±

    Someone beside him rushed out.

    In the center of the storm, Xia Ling sat quietly. As she looked at the big stack of chips on the table, their cold, crystal texture sparkled under the light. In a trance, she seemed to be distracted. The surrounding people could not restrain Du Yunfeng and gradually calmed down. All sorts of expressions moved back and forth between her and him in the dead silence.

    Xia Ling had never been so humiliated in public before in both her past and present lives. However, she did not feel angry. Du Yunfeng was right. She was not worthy of Li Lei and deserved to be degraded in person.

    How could her current humiliation evenpare to a fraction of his pain when he gave his all to save her?

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡± Du Yunfeng red at her and sneered. ¡°Is it too little? Will it be enough if I add these?¡± He noisily pushed over another pile of chips, allrge denominations. If his chips were converted into RMB, they could fill an entire house.

    Xia Ling started to feel envious of him. No, she was jealous of him. She was jealous that he could stand here and arrogantly stand up for Li Lei while she would never have a chance to do anything for him.

    Her heart was in pain, but she appeared unmoved outwardly.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re really greedy.¡± Du Yunfeng sneered and kept pushing piles of chips over. ¡°Is this enough? Still not enough? You¡¯re just a sl*t. How valuable do you think you are? No matter what, I will have you today!¡±

    The chips in front of her piled up to form a small mountain.

    Du Yunfeng swept all of the chips on the table in front of her. Some of them even felt to the floor and disappeared without a trace because of his violence. Despite enduring this outrageous humiliation and everyone¡¯s weird stares, she was still unbothered and thought calmly about what Jin Yifei said just now. This was a casino, and every night, a person would have a few million in wins and losses. She did not even know the worth of all the chips that were being swept in front of her.

 Chapter 438 - Anger Directed at the Winner

    <h4>Chapter 438: Anger Directed at the Winner</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She did not know why she was actually anticipating something.

    She anticipated if he would be re up after she still refused to leave with him after he had pushed all of the casino¡¯s chips in front of her. Would he directly take out a gun and kill her?

    She had sworn never tomit suicide, but if he killed her, it did not concern her anymore.

    In a sh, she thought about her baby. Unfortunately, she could not die yet. She habitually ced her hand on her lower abdomen and protected her child with a gentle posture.

    Du Yunfeng was still hollering about something, but Xia Ling stopped paying attention a while ago. She quietly looked at the increasing pile of chips in front of her. The entire casino was rmed, and everyone came to watch. Some people even started to persuade him against it, but due to his status, they did not dare to pull him away.

    Until suddenly, a fist heavily punched him in the face.

    The crowd was taken aback and dispersed.

    The man who suddenly barged in did not speak. He attacked Du Yunfeng with continual punches and mmed him to the ground. However, the man did not stop there. Like a ferocious lion, he continued to attack him until he was half dead. As for Du Yunfeng, he immediately reacted and started fighting with the other man.

    ¡°Chairman Du! Chairman Pei! Stop fighting!¡± The casino manager anxiously urged them.

    Xia Ling finally clearly saw who the man was. It turned out it was Pei Ziheng.

    When did hee? She remembered that he forbade himself to step foot into a casino.

    Xia Ling stood up and looked at Pei Ziheng. His appearance made her feel like he was a stranger. He was like a deranged, angry lion who only wanted to tear his enemy into pieces as he continued to punch Du Yunfeng¡¯s face and body. His blows were strong, and there was a dull sound with every punch.

    She even heard the sound of bones breaking.

    Only then did she realize that he was really being lenient when he imprisoned and tortured her that year.

    The casino manager was about to go crazy. He called two security officers to pull Pei Ziheng away, but he had trained with the best personal trainers since a young age, and his fighting skills were top-notch. Raging, he was able to break away from the people trying to stop him.

    ¡°Stop fighting. If you continue fighting, someone might die!¡± The manager worriedly yelled.

    The people in the surrounding crowd gradually changed their expressions. Some hesitated although they initially wanted to stop the fight. In the end, they shrank back at the sight of the crazily violent Pei Ziheng.

    Jin Yifei quickly grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s wrist. ¡°Xiao Ling, quickly advise him to stop. If this continues, someone will die!¡±

    Xia Ling stumbled in front and said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, stop fighting.¡±

    However, Pei Ziheng seemed to ignore her and continued to beat Du Yunfeng to death. Du Yunfeng¡¯s body was already curled up like a dried sea shrimp. He protected his head with his arms, trying to minimize the damage, but even Xia Ling could tell that he could not hold on for much longer.

    The Du family¡¯s bodyguards arrived and rushed up to help him. At the start, they tried to pull Pei Ziheng away in futility. In the shoving, a bodyguard punched him very hard.

    Pei Ziheng snorted, but he disregarded it and continued to punch Du Yunfeng¡¯s body relentlessly.

    The bodyguard panicked. As he could not pull him away, he could only try his best to attack him. However, Pei Ziheng was on a rampage and only cared about beating Du Yunfeng to death. After a few rounds, Pei Ziheng was also wounded.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale. If this continued, the consequences would be unspeakable.

    After seeing the opponent¡¯s bodyguards hitting Pei Ziheng, without thinking much, she immediately rushed over and tried to stop the fight. In her past life when she was in the orphanage, she was a skilled fighter. A small girl like her could fight with a group ofrge boys without a problem. Furthermore, sheter learned some self-defense techniques from Pei Ziheng.

    She thought that stopping the fight would not be difficult.

    However, at that moment, she forgot that she was now Ye Xingling and was pregnant. Her movements were cumbersome, and her moves and speed were not up to par. Not only did she fail to pull the few men who were fighting apart, someone heavily punched her shoulders. She gasped and was covered in cold sweat.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Pei Ziheng realized that something was not right. He let go of Du Yunfeng and immediately protected her in his arms.

    After that, with murderous intent, he started to lunge at the bodyguard who identally hit her.

    ¡°Stop fighting!¡± Xia Ling resisted the pain and held him tightly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, stop acting crazy!¡±

    He did not speak as he still wanted to attack that bodyguard. However, in that instant, the surrounding people and bodyguards started to quickly protect Du Yunfeng and separated him from the other end of the casino.

    Xia Ling held on to Pei Ziheng. Her shoulder was aching as she groaned in pain. ¡°Take me to heal my injury... I think that my bones are broken.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked coldly at Du Yunfeng onest time before carrying her and striding out of the casino.

    He carried her back to their room and ced her on the deep blue silk satin bed. Then, he took off her shirt to reveal her injured shoulder. There was arge purple scar on her shoulders, darkening her pale skin. It was such a dreadful sight that even Xia Ling was shocked.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened as he lightly and carefully touched her wound.

    As she grimaced in pain, he immediately removed his hand.

    ¡°Does it hurt?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and looked at him in fear.

    He gently said, ¡°Tolerate it for a while. Let me see if you¡¯ve hurt your bones.¡± After that, he reached out even more carefully than before to check her injury.

    Xia Ling did not dare to move or breathe as he carefully examined her body.

    She was half undressed. The smooth skin that had not been exposed in front of him for a long time was unobstructed, and she could feel his breath brush against her face. His slightly rough fingers moved back and forth on her skin, giving her a sense of madness. Not only was there a sharp pain when he touched her wound, but it also reminded her of her tumultuous past, as if she could never escape and was plunged into a world of darkness and fear.

    It was like a century passed.

    He finally straightened his body. ¡°Fortunately, you didn¡¯t hurt your bones. However, to ensure that nothing is wrong, I will take you for an X-ray when we go home.¡±

    Xia Ling was relieved and nodded.

    He looked at her face. ¡°Does it hurt a lot?¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling frantically shook her head. It was not pain. She just did not know how to deal with his touch. Even though she knew that he was just checking the wound and not hurting her, she had already developed a deep and intrinsic fear of him.

    He said, ¡°Don¡¯t rush up in the future. What if you injure yourself?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Ok.¡± However, she understood that if it happened again, she would probably rush up as she did before. It was really depressing to think about it. No matter how much she feared him, once she saw him in danger, she could not be a bystander. Was this a sign of Stockholm Syndrome from the past? She did not know.

    Pei Ziheng turned around and left. He made a room call and soon, he brought over a bottle of medication. ¡°I¡¯ll apply the medication for you.¡±

 Chapter 439 - Regret

    <h4>Chapter 439: Regret</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He ced a little bit of the ointment on Xia Ling¡¯s wound.

    The ointment was cold, so it eased the burning pain of her wound. Under the dim crystal light, she looked at his face quietly. There was a bruise on his lips and a few bloodstains that dried up. He looked different from his usual calm and gentle image. Instead, he came off as violent and fierce.

    This was the first time Xia Ling saw him lose control of himself. Even when they quarreled or when he was arrogantly punishing her, he always maintained control, unlike the way he disregarded everything then. He was like a young boy who had started to be interested in love and got into a fight because of his first girlfriend.

    Unconsciously, she went into a trance.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Pei Ziheng asked as he applied the ointment on her.

    Xia Ling avoided his gaze. ¡°Nothing.¡±

    He did not probe further as he helped her lie down and covered her with a nket. ¡°Sleep early.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°Are your wounds... serious?¡±

    Startled, his expression became gentler. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much, just a scratch.¡±

    ¡°Then you need the ointment too.¡± She was hurt badly after being punched once. Since he was punched so many times, his injuries were definitely more serious than hers.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Ok.¡± After that, he walked to the small table beside the bed where he ced the ointment. First, he treated the wounds on his lips and cheeks. Then, he turned around and took off his suit and shirt, revealing his lean and attractive muscles.

    Xia Ling turned around to avoid looking at him.

    She was familiar with every inch of his skin, just like how she was familiar with herself. Every inch of joy and pain was still that memorable to her. Even though a long time had passed, she could not bepletely indifferent, so she could only avoid them.

    However, on that side of the bed was a floor-to-ceiling ss window which showed the reflection of him wrapping his injuries with gauze.

    Xia Ling wanted to close her eyes, but she continued to stare at the blurry figure in the ss window subconsciously. She could not look away.

    He skillfully applied medication to his chest, waist, and lower abdomen. He was injured in more ces than she thought. The more she looked at him, the sadder she felt. He took a long time to finish treating his wounds on the front of his body. She then saw him lift his hands like he was trying to reach behind his back but was unable to feel for the wound. Thus, he put down the medicine bottle and picked up his clothes to put back on.

    Finally, Xia Ling could not tolerate it any longer. She turned over and sat up on the bed. ¡± Wait, you still haven¡¯t applied the ointment somewhere...¡±

    He probably did not expect her to turn around, so his hands that were holding his clothes stopped in midair.

    However, at that moment, Xia Ling choked in horror. Her gaze was locked on a spot on his left arm. ¡°This is...¡±

    He covered it with his clothes. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Xia Ling climbed out of bed to pull his hand away to remove the clothes. On his arm, there was a cluster of many wounds which looked like de wounds. The cuts were sharp and neat. Old and new cuts were stacked on top of each other.

    ¡°What... is this?¡±

    He pulled his arm out of grasp, put on his clothes, and did not respond.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± Xia Ling looked at him angrily, but her voice was slightly shaking. ¡°Tell me how you got these scars!¡± She clearly remembered that until thest night before her death, he always held her to sleep and did not have such scars on his arm. Then, did they appear after that?

    After that, what exactly happened?!

    ¡°Why do you have scars like that on your arm?!¡± She tried her best to conceal the quiver in her voice.

    After returning to his side after her rebirth, she did not look at him closely, so she only realized now that he actually had such terrible scars on his body. This scared her more than infinite punches and kicks because, instinctively, she knew what they were.

    She still remembered that during her year of imprisonment, she tried tomit suicide before when she could not tolerate it any longer. She cut her wrist with a sharp piece of broken porcin. The effect was roughly like that... No, they were not as neat or cruel as that...

    There was a type of calm madness on his arm.

    Pei Ziheng still did not answer and only turned around. ¡°It¡¯ste. Go to sleep.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at his back. ¡°Pei Ziheng, are you keeping something from me? I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s about Wang Jingwan, your fight with Skyart Entertainment, or the wounds on your arm... Pei Ziheng, what exactly do you take me for?¡±

    His body slightly stiffened.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Did you only take care of me to relieve your boredom? You never cared about what I thought about in my heart and only decided everything on your own. Do you know that I will also be shocked and scared?!¡±

    ¡°I did not take care of you to relieve my boredom.¡± He said in a low voice without looking back.

    ¡°Then why did you do it?!¡± She yelled. ¡°Tell me!¡±

    He was silent for a long time. Just as she was gradually losing hope and thought that he would not answer, he finally spoke. ¡°Xiao Ling, ever since the day I brought you home, I made the decision to never let you experience any hardship. The world outside is tooplicated, and I can¡¯t tell you many things. However, that¡¯s not because I don¡¯t care about you. It¡¯s because... I care too much about you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect that he would say something like that and was caught off guard.

    That¡¯s true. For these years, he truly did take care of her well. If she had not disobeyed him, she guessed that she would be carefree and happy forever under his care.

    However, was this love? No, at least it was not the love she wanted.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, if you care about me, then tell me the truth.¡± Xia Ling looked at his back and said in a hoarse voice. ¡°Tell me how you got the scars on your arm. What happened?¡±

    He lifted his scarred arm slightly and looked down.

    Xia Ling urged. ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡±

    ¡°At that time, you fell from the stage.¡± He spoke very slowly as if he were restraining his emotions. ¡°After that, I kept dreaming of you. Sometimes, I thought of you too much and would cut myself using a knife. After seeing the blood flow out, I would think about how much pain you felt when you fell down...¡±

    His voice shook slightly as if he were crying. Without warning, he controlled his feelings.

    Xia Ling did not probe further. Her heart felt as if it were kneaded into a ball, and she felt immeasurable pain. It was so strange. In her past life, he made her so miserable. She should feel happy and relieved, but she felt more sorrowful.

    The atmosphere in the room was so suffocating that Xia Ling turned around, pushed the door open, and walked out.

    It was alreadyte at night. On the deck, the stars twinkled in the ck velvet night sky. The salty taste of the sea could be detected from the wind. Xia Ling hugged her knees and sat on the edge of the deck. The waves sounded like they were drowning someone.

    He regretted it.

    After she paid the price with her life, he finally regretted it. Thus, after getting her back, he treated her with more care and caution.

    However, this price was so terrifying.

    Xia Ling thought about her happy past which vanished with the sudden marriage more than three years ago. When she first learned that Wang Jingwan was going to marry him, she was so shocked, angry, and scared that she thought her entire world was falling apart...

 Chapter 440 - Photographed by the Paparazzi

    <h4>Chapter 440: Photographed by the Paparazzi</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was not taking into ount the hellish days that she was imprisoned. Then, she had created a ruckus, but all her grousings and unreasonable requests were to hide her pain from him.

    Now, he understood.

    Her tears silently fell onto the deck.

    He gently draped a jacket over her body. The soft, wool fabric had his familiar smell on it. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s gentle and husky voice rang out from behind. ¡°It¡¯s cold outside. Come back with me. Let¡¯s... have a good life together.¡±

    He had said this same phrase countless times since she hade back with him.

    Xia Ling had not believed that they could lead a good life together. However, looking at the man that had gone through so much for her, she thought despondently that perhaps this was her destiny. After all the detours, she was back by his side. While she hated him for his cruelty, she could not help but feel for his pain as well.

    Since she could not escape, maybe she should try to live a good life with him.

    She stopped throwing her temper at him, and when they sat together at the dinner table, they would make simple conversation. She would talk about her day, or about fellow artistes releasing new songs, or even about the beautiful flowers that she had seen blooming by the roadside during the day. He, in turn, would be the perfect listener, as if she were reporting to him about the most important business matters. His gaze would be gentle, happy, and contented.

    He would find time to apany her to shop for maternity and kids items.

    They were like a normal couple and would pick necessities for the baby. The little clothes and bed that she picked were all in colors and patterns that she preferred ¡ª pink, pastel, sweet, and princess-like. Pei Ziheng asked her what she would do if the baby were a boy. She lowered her head with her hand on her stomach and wilfully said, ¡°I just want a girl.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled at her dotingly.

    She was unlike many women who wanted to marry him and would be anxious for the first child to be a son. Only she would disregard the coveted ¡°family heir¡± position and just wanted to have a girl.

    However, whether the baby was a boy or girl was not up to her. This would not change despite how many female baby items she prepared.

    He watched her buy a pile of girly items, and before they went to the cashier to pay, he instructed one of the bodyguards that were following them: ¡°Buy a set of the same items but for a boy baby. Don¡¯t let madam find out.¡±

    Even though they were not officially married yet, he had already begun calling her madam in front of the subordinates.

    The bodyguard was aware that Boss cared strongly for the baby that madam was carrying, and thus, he respectfully bowed and went off to carry out Boss¡¯ instructions.

    Pei Ziheng gently held onto Xia Ling and guided her out of the ss doors of the shop.

    Paparazzi were waiting outside the shop, and they snapped several photos of them before they had time to react. The sh of the cameras made Xia Ling¡¯s eyes squint, whereas Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened. He signaled to the bodyguard to deal with the paparazzi.

    Xia Ling tugged on his arm and said, ¡°Forget it.¡± Being an artiste for two lifetimes, she was used to having photos of her taken by the paparazzi. It would be an endless task to deal with each and every one of them. What¡¯s more, she was pregnant now. It was easier to just ignore them and take it as she was amassing good karma for her child.

    Pei Ziheng let the matter rest after hearing her words.

    She was much more mild-mannered in recent days, as well as more emotional. asionally, he would see her crying while watching soap operas at home. Pei Ziheng did not know what to do, and he thought to himself: <i>Is she so emotional because she¡¯s carrying a girl? </i>He would give a start at the thought. No, his Xiao Ling needed to bear a son, who was to be heir to his dynasty. A girl would not cut it.

    In two months, they would be able to ascertain the gender of the child. He would apany her to the doctor¡¯s to find out at first instance.

    Pei Ziheng decided.

    Seeing that the bodyguards were not going to chase them away, the paparazzi became bolder and openly snapped several more shots from a more open position and with a better angle.

    Pei Ziheng started to feel his temper rising, but he remembered that Xia Ling wanted him to let them be. This irritated him, and he suddenly felt the urge to take revenge. He pulled her over and lifted her fair face to him, nting a light kiss on her lips.

    He did not dare kiss her too deeply for fear that she would blow her top.

    ¡°Hey, you!¡± Xia Ling red at him in shock, a hand raised to her lips. She said usingly, ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    He did not exin but turned to look at the paparazzi.

    The paparazzi gleefully clicked the shutter several more times. From his angle, the photo woulde out as if they had a deep, long kiss in the streets.

    ¡°What a steal, what a steal...¡± The paparazzi murmured as he took more photos. ¡°Wahaha... my dumbpetitors are all staking out at Imperial Entertainment. Luckily I had that brainwave to stake out at high-end maternity and kidswear shops! This must be the first photograph of Boss Pei and Ye Xingling kissing. It¡¯s going to be a massive exclusive!¡± He had originally just wanted to try his luck to see if he could get a photo of Ye Xingling shopping at the store alone, but he did not expect to chance upon Pei Ziheng apanying her to the store and to get this additional benefit of a shot of them kissing. This was bound to garner the envy and jealousy of all those singletons out there.

    The paparazzi was pumped, and at seeing both of them look over at him, he gleefully waved at them and blew them a big kiss before turning around and running away.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was dark.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was gentle as he said, ¡°I told you to chase him away.¡±

    So, he was taking revenge?! Xia Ling was speechless and sternly reprimanded him. ¡°Don¡¯t surprise me like that anymore! You will not be able to pay for it if you scare the baby and something bad happens.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll just have another one.¡± He said nonchntly.

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling became furious. ¡°Did you hear me?! Don¡¯t... surprise... me... like... that... anymore!¡±

    She emphasized each word through gritted teeth.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened, but he did not say anything. He merely helped her onto the backseat of the Rolls-Royce. On one hand, that kiss was indeed for a little bit of revenge, as well as to stake his im over her in public. However, it was also a test as to how epting she was to him and if he could be more intimate with her.

    That night they spent together when they were drunk was just an ident. Normally, she still refused to let him touch her.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to know if she were just trying to be amicable with him for the child, or she was ready to start their rtionship over.

    Unfortunately, her reaction was a disappointing one.

    Even though he did not want to admit it, he knew rationally that Xiao Ling was only staying by him for the child. She did not fall in love with him again, and he was still a loser when it came to love.

    The atmosphere in the car was a repressed one on the way back.

    Xia Ling was too sensitive to the change of mood. When they returned to the bungalow, she hurriedly got out of the car and locked herself in her study room. Worries entered her mind. Now that she was carrying a child, he would not try anything with her. However, what about after she had had the child andpleted her confinement? How long would he be able to resist?

    Fear gripped her heart as she thought about this.

    She looked into the mirror at her abdomen, which was still rtively t, and consoled herself that she was thinking too far ahead. Now, she just needed to ensure that the child was safe and Pei Ziheng did not find out that the child was not his.

 Chapter 441 - All of a Sudden

    <h4>Chapter 441: All of a Sudden</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The sudden kiss shocked Xia Ling.

    Her interaction with Pei Ziheng became more cautious again, no longer as rxed and peaceful as it was in recent days.

    Pei Ziheng started to regret his actions. If he knew that she would be this sensitive, he would have been more careful and test her after she had the child. However, it was toote for him to take back his actions, and he could only think of how to rectify the situation.

    He was not a romantic person and only knew so many ways to try to get into a girls¡¯ good books. These were to give Xia Ling everything she wanted and to dote on her excessively.

    Her morning sickness was much better in recent days, but instead, she always felt tired and sleepy. Every afternoon, she would need to take a nap, whether it was at home, in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s office, at the venue of her schedules, etc. Pei Ziheng was of the view that the rest area in the recording studio building had too many peopleing in and out, which, firstly, made the ce too noisy for her to have proper rest; and secondly, it increased the chances of people knocking into her identally. As such, he created a small rest room in his office. He decorated it with a thick, wool rug, a soft and wide sofa bed, and hungce, flowery curtains that she favored at the windows.

    Xia Ling epted his good intentions as she did not want to argue with him over something so small. She stopped sleeping in the rest area in the recording studio building and came over to his chairman¡¯s office for her afternoon nap.

    Hence, senior managers that came to report business matters to Pei Ziheng would be informed by the secretary to keep their volume down so as not to disturb the Boss¡¯ wife from her rest.

    The senior managers did as the secretary said, all the whilementing in surprise that the cold, domineering Pei Ziheng could be so gentle and sweet to hisdy.

    The wondrous power of love.

    Xia Ling was blissfully unaware of their thoughts, or rather, even if she knew, she would not care. She felt as if her intellect had decreased rapidly over her pregnancy, and she could not think of too many things at once. Her thoughts were upied inrge part by the child she was carrying, and asionally, she would have nightmares.

    She would pine for another man in her dreams.

    On the cliff amidst the thunderstorm, the peach blossom tree... he risking his life to fly over and save her... The knife cutting through the paraglide rope... the peach blossoms flying all around. Those three words: ¡°I love you.¡±

    The sh of lightning... the falling white parachute.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She woke from her nightmare in cold sweat.

    On the other side of the partition, Pei Ziheng was signing a document at his mahogany desk when he heard her cry out. The fountain pen in his hand stopped mid-word, and he looked like he was about to snap it in half.

    The senior manager across from him looked on in horror.

    Oh my, did he hear it wrong? Did thedy boss cry out ¡°Li Lei¡±? Wasn¡¯t Li Lei thedy boss¡¯ ex-boyfriend? The Big Boss Li from Skyart Entertainment? Was she... still pining for him?

    Oh my, oh my, Boss¡¯ face is so dark.

    The senior manager¡¯s heart beat in trepidation. Did he chance on a big secret? Oh my, was Big Boss going to have to kill him to silence him?

    Luckily, Pei Ziheng was not so cruel and unreasonable.

    While his expression was dark, his hand moved as per normal to the pen holder on his desk¡ªmade by a famous sculptor¡ªto pick up another foundation pen, signing the document with a flourish. He pushed the document away from himself and said, ¡°You can leave.¡±

    The senior manager scurried off with the document as if he had just been pardoned.

    Then, Pei Ziheng stood up and went to look at Xia Ling behind the room partition.

    His Xiao Ling was sitting up in the sofabed wearing a loose-fitting spaghetti-strap top. The silk blouse and embroidered scarf that was draped over her earlier had fallen off andy bundled together with the soft nkets that were falling over the sofabed onto the carpet.

    Hearing his footsteps, Xia Ling turned her head to look at him.

    The warm afternoon sun shone on her, giving her an ethereal glow, making her look slightly bewildered and lost. Her hair was messy from just waking up, like a bird that had not had time tob her feathers.

    She looked fragile but beautiful.

    Pei Ziheng forgot his anger as he took in her beauty, his gaze softening.

    ¡°Did you have a bad dream?¡± He asked gently.

    Xia Ling nodded and then shook her head. His attitude was great, and she was uncertain if he had heard her shout ¡°Li Lei¡± when she woke up earlier. She would rather not have to answer any questions about her dream.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember what I dreamed about.¡± She replied softly.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed as if trying to discern if she were telling the truth. After a moment, he merely said, ¡°It¡¯s not good for the child that you are so out of it right now. I¡¯ll get someone to bring you a cup of calming tea.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and stood up from the sofabed. ¡°I¡¯m a little bored. I want to take a walk.¡± She was feeling a little sheepish from the nightmare and did not want to stay in his office.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°A walk sounds good. I¡¯ll apany you.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly taken aback. ¡°But you¡¯re so busy... no...¡±

    ¡°I have time to apany my wife and child no matter how busy I am.¡± His voice was gentle but did not leave any room for discussion. This was his natural force, an authority that was deep within his bones.

    Xia Ling did not say anything, knowing that there was no use pushing back. She changed out of her pajamas and left the room with him.

    They did not go very far and simply took a stroll in the small garden within Imperial Entertainment¡¯s premises. There weren¡¯t many people in the garden at this time, and they took a stroll along the shaded pathway, taking in the scenery in silence.

    While it was peaceful between them, there was greatmotion in the office.

    ¡°Do you know, do you know? Our Big Boss is apanying Ye Xingling for a walk in the garden downstairs! They¡¯re so much in love and are sopatible!¡± The former receptionists were made to leave after they gossiped andmented about how Ye Xingling did not match up to the man-god Pei. The new receptionists learned from their lesson and, while they still gossiped, they were careful never to suggest that thedy boss did not match up to the big boss.

    What¡¯s more, they did indeed look like the best couple.

    The receptionists jostled near the window, trying to catch glimpses of the couple outside. Their unusual action gained attention from other passers-by, and soon, there was a small crowd near the windows looking out. Some would break off every once in a while to go tell another colleague about what they saw.

    Gossip would follow everywhere that had people, and it was not long before the whole office was talking about it.

    The senior manager in charge of finance was close to tears. ¡°Does Boss remember that there is a 3 o¡¯clock meeting? He¡¯s forgotten to bring along his handphone, and we can¡¯t contact him. Now that we¡¯ve found him... Xiao Zhou, go get Boss and bring him to the VIP-3 meeting room.¡±

    Xiao Zhou looked up in terror. ¡°You want me to go interrupt their date?! Why don¡¯t you just fire me now?! It¡¯s too scary... I can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The senior manager bristled at him. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll get him myself!¡±

 Chapter 442 - Wonâ€™t Let You Get Your Way

    <h4>Chapter 442: Won¡¯t Let You Get Your Way</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He decisively went out to the garden and interrupted Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling. It was as if he was holding up a sign saying, ¡°I¡¯m a lightbulb, I¡¯m a lightbulb, I¡¯m a lightbulb! But this meeting is really important. And Boss, you need to be there.¡± Pei Ziheng got his message loud and clear.

    He remembered that there was indeed an important business matter to attend to at this afternoon meeting.

    It was weird. Xia Ling was the one that was pregnant, so why was it that he also seemed to have gotten dumber in the process?

    He reflected on himself, before turning to her and saying in a gentle voice. ¡°Xiao Ling, I need to attend this meeting. I¡¯ll go back to the house tonight to apany you for dinner.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that he was busy and expressed her understanding.

    Pei Ziheng turned to the senior manager in charge of finance and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The senior manager stood where he was and indicated to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Your tie...¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked down and realized that his tie was crooked. It was a little warm walking outdoors in the garden with Xiao Ling, and he had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. Now, he looked a little untidy.

    This was uneptable for a finance meeting.

    He was alreadyte, and there was no time for him to go back to the office to adjust his attire. The senior manager clearly had the same realization, and he smiled widely, saying, ¡°Let me help you...¡±

    ¡°You help me.¡± Big Boss ignored him entirely and turned to Xia Ling for help.

    The smile froze on the face of the senior manager. When he came back to his senses, he silently chided himself for being a busybody. Of course, thedy boss was just standing there... why would Big Boss need his help? Such an oversight...

    Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy dumbness seemed to be rubbing off on everyone around her.

    She blinked in confusion as she looked up at Pei Ziheng. She wanted to ask if he had no hands. How hard was it for him to adjust his own tie? However, she resisted that urge as she remembered the senior manager standing to the side. Hence, she obediently reached out to straighten Pei Ziheng¡¯s tie, the pristine picture of the caring wife. She had to give him some face in front of his subordinates.

    Her fingers gently touched his neck as she deftly undid the expensive tie around it and carefully straightened out the creases on his shirt and buttoned it. She used to do this for him all the time in her past life, and as such, her hands moved with familiarity as she tip-toed to help him with the tie.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his gaze to her and felt as if a small feather was fluttering in his heart. At this moment, he felt like they had momentarily returned to the time when they were close; before any of the conflict and mess urred. That was a beautiful and peaceful time.

    He missed it dearly.

    Xia Ling quickly helped him to neaten his outfit and refastened the tie around his neck perfectly. She took a step back to admire her handiwork, before nodding. ¡°Okay, we¡¯re done.¡±

    In this life, she was shorter and had to stand on tip-toes the whole time toplete this small task that she was able to do with a simple lift of her hand in her past life. Beads of sweat formed on her nose from the mild exertion.

    He felt a little worried for her. ¡°Let me help you back to the main building.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°You should hurry to your meeting. I walk too slowly.¡± Seeing that he was still concerned, she said, ¡°Go call Chu Chen toe to get me. I¡¯ll wait for him under the shade of this tree.¡± Even though she did not like Chu Chen, he was someone that Pei Ziheng trusted. Pei Ziheng would be able to put aside his anxiety if Chu Chen came over to take care of her.

    As expected, Pei Ziheng did not insist on walking her back anymore. Instead, he reminded her to be careful, before heading off with the senior manager swiftly.

    Xia Ling sat down on the bench in the shade of the tree, quietly waiting for Chu Chen.

    On the other end, the receptionists that were watching the scene in the garden pan out were discussing excitedly. Many onlookers also ran off to convey what they saw to their colleagues. ¡°Did you see that? Ye Xingling helped Big Boss with his tie! They¡¯re such a loving andpatible couple!¡±

    They did not know that she used to help him with his tie countless times in her past life.

    Now, they merely felt that it was a romantic and sweet gesture.

    The entire Imperial Entertainment was happy to see this sweet scene.

    Other than Xia Yu.

    Since Xia Yu had an argument with Xia Ling, she was sent off on more difficult programs by Chu Chen. She had just returned from a difficult filming in the outskirts of the city when she saw the scene in the garden.

    Her resting area was the best in the whole of Imperial Entertainment, and it had the best view.

    Xia Yu could clearly see Xia Ling help Pei Ziheng with his tie on her tip-toes. The afternoon sun shone on her, making her look the picture of a goddess. Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze, as he looked down at her, was full of gentleness, and it was as if his love was about to spill out of them.

    Even if Xia Yu did not want to admit it, she had to agree that they looked the perfect couple.

    Her jealousy contorted her expression.

    ¡°B*tch...¡± She gritted her teeth and mumbled. ¡°You think you can gain Brother Ziheng¡¯s favor just because you¡¯re carrying his kid? Dream on!¡±

    Her sister had never managed to marry Pei Ziheng her whole life. Why did this woman deserve to do so?!

    When she was filming, she had seen all the news about Ye Xingling¡¯s pregnancy, and Pei Ziheng announcing that he was going to marry her. Xia Yu felt like her heart was being pricked by needles. Why did this b*tch have all the luck? She was only with Brother Ziheng for such a short time... and she was already pregnant?

    And they were going to get married?!

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you get your way...¡±

    This b*tch was only getting Brother Ziheng¡¯s favor because of her child. If something caused the child not to be born, then she would definitely lose her status as Pei Ziheng¡¯s fiance! Marry Brother Ziheng? Pfft!

    ¡°Brother Ziheng¡¯s wife can only be me.¡± Xia Yu murmured. A sinister smile crossed her face as she thought of a n.

    Xia Ling sat under the shade until Chu Chen arrived to bring her back to the recording studio building. She sat in her resting area for an afternoon tea, casually flipping through the maternity and baby magazines, before lounging around with soft music in the background. As the sun began to set, she packed her things to get ready to go home.

    Chu Chen was not around.

    She called out to her assistant to apany her to the underground garage.

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± When the elevator reached the ground floor, she heard someone call out her name from around the corner.

    Xia Ling turned her head to the sound and saw Xia Yu walking towards her, dressed in an expensive outfit and with full make-up on. Xia Yu typically looked weak, but now that there was nobody else around, she put on a more domineering attitude. There was no sign of her usual fragile self.

    Xia Ling frowned as she caught sight of her.

    Her sister was one of the people that she did not want to bump into since she was carrying a child. She did not want to get into an argument, but every time she met her sister, there was bound to be conflict.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu, how can I help you?¡± She was able to ignore the paparazzi and the chattering receptionists. However, she could not ignore Xia Yu. She could not let Xia Yu treat her with such an arrogant attitude.

 Chapter 443 - The Wrong Month

    <h4>Chapter 443: The Wrong Month</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu red at her as she said, ¡°You¡¯re really shameless... using a kid to tie Brother Ziheng to your side. No one is more shameless than you in the whole entertainment circle. To use such despicable means to marry into a rich family. How disgusting!¡±

    ¡°Then go tell your Brother Ziheng not to marry me. I¡¯ll be ever so thankful!¡± Xia Ling said sincerely. Did she think everyone wanted to marry Pei Ziheng? If someone could convince Pei Ziheng not to marry her, she would be ever so grateful to that person, and would even prostrate in gratefulness three times daily.

    Xia Yu took it as she was showing off. ¡°You¡¯re just being so arrogant because of that piece of meat in your stomach!¡±

    ¡°Which you fail to conceive.¡± Xia Ling was not one to back down, and she retorted Xia Yu calmly. Xia Yu¡¯s expression darkened, which made Xia Ling have a small sense of achievement. Even after getting the upper hand, Xia Ling felt like she was wasting her time. Why was she wasting her words on such a person? She turned to her assistant and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The assistant respectfully greeted Xia Yu. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, could you please allow us to pass?¡±

    Xia Yu continued to re at Xia Ling, but she stepped aside to let them pass.

    The assistant carefully guided Xia Ling forward.

    Xia Ling was concentrating hard on her feet as she descended the stairs. Suddenly, she felt a hard push from behind and fell forward. In her panic, she subconsciously ced her hands protectively on her abdomen, before she lost consciousness.

    ¡°Miss Ye!¡± The assistant¡¯s shout was thest thing she heard.

    Darkness... Endless darkness...

    Pei Ziheng was having a meeting in the VIP meeting room.

    Suddenly, someone crashed into the room. ¡°Chairman! Bad news! Something¡¯s happened!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened and was about to reprimand the person for stepping out of line. That person continued before he managed to say anything. ¡°Miss Ye... Miss Ye had an ident!¡±

    Pei Ziheng pushed the table away and stood up. ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ...

    Xia Ling was sent to Compassionate Peace Hospital, the nearest hospital to Imperial Entertainment, in an ambnce for emergency care.

    Outside the emergency treatment room, Pei Ziheng waited anxiously, his expression like ice.

    Many people stood around waiting as well ¡ª Chu Chen, his secretary, Xia Ling¡¯s assistant, and so on. Yet, nobody dared breathe too loudly, let alone make a sound.

    ¡°What happened?!¡± Pei Ziheng red angrily at Xia Ling¡¯s assistant, his gaze seemingly shredding her into ten thousand pieces. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to take good care of Xiao Ling?! How were you doing your job?! How did she have a fall?!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye... Ye... she... ¡± The assistant stuttered in fear before she exined with difficulty. ¡°I... I was helping... Miss Ye down the stairs... then she... she just suddenly fell...¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s always been careful when walking and was wearing anti-slip shoes. How could she just fall?!¡± Pei Ziheng knew that Xia Ling usually waked with care, and ever since she was found to be pregnant, she would be ultra careful while taking the stairs, fearing that anything would happen.

    Pei Ziheng did not believe that she would be so careless.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know...¡± The assistant was close to tears. She had held onto Miss Ye and was walking slowly. She had no idea why Xia Ling fell. If anything untoward were to happen to the child, would Chairman Pei kill her?!

    ¡°Surveince camera recordings? Show me the surveince camera recordings!¡± Pei Ziheng shouted in anger.

    Chu Chen had been on the phone for some time now. As a loyal servant, he had already thought of all the ways to get to the bottom of the situation once he heard of the incident. He had already checked on the surveince cameras.

    ¡°The ce that Miss Ye fell happens to be a blind spot for the cameras.¡± Chu Chen reported.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became even darker.

    ¡°However,¡± Chu Chen paused, choosing his words carefully. ¡°Before Miss Ye fell, someone saw her having an argument with Miss Xia Yu.¡± Unfortunately, that staff member was too far away and did not witness the entire incident pan out.

    Pei Ziheng jerked his head around to look at the assistant. ¡°Xia Yu was there too?¡± He had never used such a sinister tone when he spoke of Xia Yu,pletely disregarding the rtionship that he had with her for so many years since he adopted her.

    The assistant¡¯s fear intensified, and she stuttered. ¡°Y... Yes... ¡±

    ¡°What were Xia Yu and Xiao Ling arguing about?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu insulted Miss Ye and said that she... was getting your favor only because of the child. Then, Miss Ye retorted her and told me that we were going to leave. I was helping Miss Ye down the stairs when she fell. I... I don¡¯t know if... if it was Miss Xia Yu...¡± She really could not be sure since she did not have eyes at the back of her head. She did not want to met out false usations since it was such a serious allegation.

    Pei Ziheng reacted like a ferocious beast as he instructed Chu Chen. ¡°Lock Xia Yu up!¡±

    Chu Chen lowered his head and responded, ¡°Yes.¡± He sighed internally, thinking that Xia Yu was done for this time. If she had pushed Ye Xingling from the back, Pei Ziheng would definitely tear her apart. Even if she did not push Ye Xingling, knowing Pei Ziheng as Chu Chen did, Pei Ziheng would still me Xia Ling losing her footing on Xia Yu distracting her.

    If she did not have an argument with Xia Yu, how could Xiao Ling be in a bad state of mind?

    If she wasn¡¯t in a bad state of mind, how could Xiao Ling have fallen down?

    Regardless, Xia Yu was going to take the me for the incident.

    Pei Ziheng was still seething with anger. He turned to Chu Chen and said, ¡°So she likes to harm Xiao Ling from the back? Let her have a taste of what it is like to fall down the stairs! Find a tall flight of stairs.¡±

    Chu Chen shuddered but nodded.

    Pei Ziheng was as dominant as he was today not because he always yed by the rules. To met out such bodily harm to another might result in prosecution when it was done by someone else, but Pei Ziheng had many ways and means to punish a person without being caught.

    Now, he just wanted to let Xia Yu have a taste of her own medicine, and this was likely just the first step. Xia Ling was still in the emergency room, and if anything were to happen to her or the child, Pei Ziheng would not hesitate to skin Xia Yu alive.

    Chu Chen was already thinking of what torture to put Xia Yu through such that it would satisfy Boss.

    The emergency room light went off, and Xia Ling was pushed out of the room.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Pei Ziheng stepped forward, and his heart clenched from the sight of her lying unconscious andpletely pale.

    ¡°Doctor, how is Miss Ye¡¯s condition?¡± Chu Chen asked.

    The doctor said, ¡°We were able to administer treatment to her in time. It was just a scare, but both mother and child are fine.¡±

    Pei Ziheng felt his heart rx a little.

    ¡°But,¡± The doctor continued. ¡°She¡¯s very weak and will have to stay in the hospital for a while for observation. The child is also unstable. She¡¯s more than three months into her pregnancy, but the child is still not sitting well. There is a risk that she will miscarriage at any moment.¡±

    More than three months?

    Pei Ziheng lifted his head to look at the doctor. ¡°Did you get it wrong? The child in Xiao Ling¡¯s stomach is only about two months, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    The doctor looked at him in surprise. ¡°What? You don¡¯t know? There are many signs to suggest that the child is more than three months old already. There are many developments every week during pregnancy, and the child she¡¯s carrying can already suck its own fingers. It can¡¯t be only two months.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s stared at the doctor in contemtion, his expression unreadable.

    A sh of lightning seemed to cross Chu Chen¡¯s heart. He was aware that three months ago, Ye Xingling was still with Li Lei. If what the doctor said was true, then the biggest possibility was that the child was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s at all!

 Chapter 444 - Abort the Child

    <h4>Chapter 444: Abort the Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As Pei Ziheng¡¯s loyal dog, he shed a look to the secretary and assistant, signaling for them to make themselves scarce.

    The assistant and secretary obediently left the area.

    Only Chu Chen was left waiting on Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was void of emotion. ¡°Is there a mistake?¡±

    ¡°Not possible.¡± The doctor assured. ¡°We¡¯re a big hospital, and our processes are stringent and by the book. If you don¡¯t believe me, you¡¯re free to get a second opinion in another hospital.¡±

    Pei Ziheng instructed Chu Chen. ¡°Transfer her.¡±

    Chu Chen understood him clearly. This was a serious matter, and he did not dare make the decision on which hospital to transfer Xia Ling to. After verifying with Pei Ziheng, he transferred Xia Ling to another Tier 3A hospital in the city that had absolutely no rtion to Compassionate Peace Hospital and Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital.

    The results of the test in the new hospital came out to be exactly the same as Compassionate Peace Hospital. It indicated that the child Xia Ling was carrying was more than three months old.

    This time, Pei Ziheng saw the ultrasound first hand.

    The child was clearly sucking its own fingers and moving slightly in Xia Ling¡¯s uterus. It looked calm with its eyes closed.

    Pei Ziheng was unable to speak for a long time.

    Chu Chen was worried about him, but could only silently stay by his side, not daring to open his mouth.

    For his beloved woman to be carrying another man¡¯s child, rendering him a cuckold, this was uneptable to any normal man, let alone Pei Ziheng. He was formidable in the business world, a dragon of a man.

    Chu Chen thought to himself that Ye Xingling was going to die a terrible death.

    He was already contemting how to make amends with Xia Yu and repair their rtionship. If Ye Xingling were to lose favor with Pei Ziheng, the most likely scenario was that Xia Yu was going to call all the shots. Which woman would be able to have a higher status than her?

    Suddenly, he heard Pei Ziheng tell the doctor. ¡°Abort the child.¡±

    The doctor was taken aback. ¡°Abort? Mr. Pei, forgive me for being blunt. Miss Ye might have fallen down, and the child is unstable, but she just needs to be more careful and there will not be any issues. To abort after three months is extremely harmful to the mother. There is no need to give up on the child just because of a fall.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice deepened. ¡°I said to abort.¡±

    The doctor was stunned at his forcefulness.

    Chu Chen spoke up. ¡°Doctor Liu, you might be unaware... We thought that the child was only two months old, then the fall would definitely not be a problem. However, if the child is three months old, then the situation is very different. Miss Ye was taking too many antibiotics during that period, and I believe that it is bad for the child.¡±

    Doctor Liu understood.

    ¡°However,¡± He said. ¡°It is unlikely that there were mistakes in testing for the age of the child. Unless... Miss Ye wanted to keep it from Mr. Pei. Mr. Pei, forgive me for being direct again... It seems that Miss Ye was worried that you may ask for the child to be aborted after learning the truth. Even if she used antibiotics then, Miss Ye clearly wants to have the child.¡±

    ¡°Women have soft hearts.¡± Chu Chen continued. ¡°It is better to deal with painful things quickly.¡±

    Pei Ziheng clearly had no interest to waste his breath on random people. He was still dwelling in the pain and anger of having been fooled. Xiao Ling... his Xiao Ling... and he was naive to think that she finally was willing to have his child. He was looking forward to having a good life together... the three of them.

    All along he was the only one with such a dream!

    It was just his hallucination! What a joke!

    Come to think of it... that drunken night together might have been all part of her n!

    Pei Ziheng clenched his fists together so hard that his knuckles made cracking sounds.

    Chu Chen sensed his boiling rage and said to the doctor, ¡°Doctor, you don¡¯t have to persuade anymore. Just tell us directly if the surgery can be done. If you don¡¯t want to abort the child, we will transfer hospitals immediately.¡±

    Doctor Liu¡¯s expression contorted in his dilemma. ¡°If Mr. Pei insists on aborting the child, the surgery can be done. However, it cannot be done now. Miss Ye just had a fall and is still unconscious. Her condition is fragile now. If we do the surgery immediately, it might endanger her life. My suggestion is to allow her to recuperate for a few weeks before we do the abortion surgery.¡±

    This was a sincere suggestion, but also epassed Doctor Liu¡¯s fear of responsibility that woulde with the abortion.

    So what if Mr. Pei was the child¡¯s father? An abortion could not be done without the mother¡¯s sign-off byw. He did not want to go against regtion.

    Pei Ziheng looked at the unconscious girl lying on the bed, his expressionplicated. She had fooled him, and he should not be bothered at all about her condition. If it were any other woman, why would he care if she died on the surgical table? But he could not let that happen to her.

    She was the most precious treasure to him... His beloved butterfly.

    He already lost her once and did not want to lose her again.

    When Xia Ling woke up, she was in the bungalow, lying on the soft bed.

    Her mind was in a blur, and it took a while for her to remember what had happened. She was pushed from behind by someone... and then...

    ¡°My child!¡± She sat up in panic, and her hands flew to her abdomen.

    Her abdomen was like before, still t such that one could not tell if she were pregnant. She felt anxious and grabbed a jacket as she hurried downstairs.

    ¡°Miss Ye, where are you going?¡± Nanny Zhou saw her in the living room and hurried over to hold onto her. ¡°Aiyo... can you slow down? You haven¡¯t recoveredpletely... don¡¯t fall down again.¡±

    ¡°Nanny Zhou,¡± Xia Ling gripped her tightly, her voice trembling. ¡°My child... is my child alright?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the child in your belly?¡± Nanny Zhouughed. ¡°Miss Ye, rx. Your child is fine. Yesterday, Mister carried you back himself and told me that you fell down in the office. He was very worried and sent you to Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital¡¯s emergency room. Senior Zhang said that you and your child are fine.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he had sent her to Huaxin, and the doctor-in-charge was Senior Zhang. Then the child¡¯s identity would still be safe. The greater news was that the child was fine.

    Xia Ling thanked the heavens in her heart for keeping them safe despite her fall. She thought to herself that perhaps the amulet was protecting her, and shielding her and the child from all harm.

    As such, she thought about the child¡¯s real father again... Li Lei.

    How nice would it be for him to be here... but that was just wishful thinking on her part.

    Nanny Zhou boiled some nutritious soup for her and served it to her at the dining table. ¡°Miss Xia, you need to drink this up. It¡¯s good for your body and will strengthen your bones. You need to be well for the child to be well. Mister is very concerned about you and especially instructed me to boil some bird¡¯s nest for you too.¡±

    Xia Ling also wanted to have something nutritious for the child, and so, she sat down to partake in the soup. After she drank the soup, she felt her limbs be warm and more rxed. She asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where¡¯s Mister?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Mister went to the office. He said that he will be busy for some time, so he might not be home every day for dinner.¡±

 Chapter 445 - Sistersâ€™ Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 445: Sisters¡¯ Conflict</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nodded her head and knew not to disturb the busy man further.

    In fact, what she and Nanny Zhou did not know was that Pei Ziheng was busy, but not to the extent that he could not be home for dinner. It was merely that he could not face her ever since he discovered that the child she was expecting was somebody else¡¯s. He could not guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t do anything rash if he were around her.

    Xia Ling did not really want to be around Pei Ziheng either. She always felt a kind of pressure whenever they were together, and it was always suffocating.

    Knowing that he would not be home for dinner actually cheered her up.

    Xia Ling diverted attention and recalled the incident by the stage. She knew exactly who pushed her down the steps ¡ª it was Xia Yu, that sister of hers.

    Her heart hardened a little.

    Xia Ling had always known that Xia Yu¡¯s morals were rather questionable, but she thought they were no more than minor issues like spreading gossips, hurling insults, and the like. She would never have expected Xia Yu to hurt somebody intentionally. This time, her motive of causing Xia Ling¡¯s miscarriage was just all too obvious.

    Xia Ling found her terrifying; she was no different from a murderer now.

    She decided to look Xia Yu up.

    Just as she made her decision, she found out that Pei Ziheng had already given her her punishment, apparently by getting somebody to push her down the stairs as well. She had broken two of her ribs and was lying in the hospital, looking pathetic as it is.

    Her face turned into an awful grimace upon seeing Xia Ling. ¡°Ye Xingling, are you here to mock me?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her coldly and condescendingly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here to mock you, so what?¡± There was no need to be civil with people like her ¡ª the nicer she was, the more she would be taken advantage of by Xia Yu. The best way to tackle her was to thumb her down harshly.

    ¡°You should be counting your blessings, Xia Yu,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°The child is alright despite your doing. If anything actually happened to the child, do you think we could settle the score with just two broken ribs?¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s look was even more awful now as she looked at Xia Ling like she was her nemesis. She agitatedly said, ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t you dare brag about! I won¡¯t let you marry Brother Ziheng! And the bastard child you¡¯re carrying doesn¡¯t deserve to live either!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression changed instantly. She couldn¡¯t care less about however Xia Yu wanted to insult her, but she pulled the child into the picture, and Xia Ling would not have that. She walked towards the bed, took the filled cup by the bedside, and sshed all of its contents onto Xia Yu¡¯s face.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Xia Yu was shocked and angry, but could not move because of the cast she was in. She could only watch the water roll down her face, looking like a mess. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re courting death!¡± She screamed like a vixen with no reservations for her image at all.

    Xia Ling continued looking at her with her unmoving expression as if she were looking at trash. ¡°Xia Yu, you better take control of your hands and your mouth. Otherwise, the next time I ssh something on you won¡¯t be simply cold water.¡±

    She hardly spoke with such a vile tone, and this scared Xia Yu.

    Keeping her eyes on Xia Ling, Xia Yu felt that this woman before her was too much like her arrogant and domineering sister. She knew that people like these could do anything without batting an eyelid.

    After Xia Ling was done with her threats, she tossed the cup into the bin and pped her hands, all ready to leave.

    That was when she saw someone approaching the ward at the door. It was a tall and well-built physique in an elegant ck suit, with a presence that could not be ignored.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. What was he doing here? He was the one who sent someone to punish Xia Yu, and he bothered toe and visit her? It didn¡¯t make sense.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face lit up. ¡°Brother Ziheng, you¡¯re here to see me.¡± She practically forgot about the water on her face and the cast over her ribs as she struggled to sit up.

    But Pei Ziheng did not even look at her. He was only seeing Xia Ling. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Mm, much better. So I decided toe out for a walk.¡±

    It was such a patronizing lie. This hospital was so far away from their vi, there was no way she would end up here if she simply ¡°came out for a walk.¡± She was here for Xia Yu.

    Pei Ziheng did not expose her lie. ¡°You¡¯re still rather weak, so don¡¯t go wandering about on your own. Rest more, it¡¯ll be better for the child.¡± He was not there for Xia Yu. He simply came because he had heard that Xia Ling barged into the ward in anger, and he was worried about it.

    In any case, Xia Ling had dared to kill Wang Jingwan in the past. What if she decided to kill Xia Yu this time?

    Even if he cared less about others¡¯ lives, he did not want Xia Ling to be caught in a murder case. Hence, as much as Pei Ziheng wanted to avoid seeing her, he had to make this trip down to the hospital.

    Seeing that Pei Ziheng was only talking to Xia Ling, Xia Yu realized that it was just wishful thinking on her part and that Brother Ziheng was simply treating her as invisible. Xia Yu felt aggrieved, and her physical and emotional hurt was getting intertwined at this point. She could not help but tear up.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng...¡± she called out meekly.

    Pei Ziheng had actually arrived a while ago and witnessed their conflict. He genuinely felt that Xia Ling was already nice by stopping at just a ssh to the face. And Xia Yu should count herself lucky that the child was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s flesh and blood. Otherwise, he would beat Xia Ling to it and ssh acid on Xia Yu¡¯s face first.

    He was unmoved by Xia Yu¡¯s act of weakness. He said sombrely, ¡°Xia Yu, you know my temper. If you do this again, don¡¯t me me for being ruthless.¡±

    So, breaking two of her ribs was considered being nice?

    Streams of tears rolled down her pretty face as she pleaded for him to listen. ¡°Brother Ziheng, is it because of this woman that you don¡¯t care for me anymore? It¡¯s really not me who pushed her, I¡¯m innocent! Ye Xingling must¡¯ve been too careless when she walked, hence falling over with your child. She¡¯s afraid that you¡¯d punish her, so she¡¯s pushing the me to me!¡±

    His child.

    Those few words pricked at him, and he grew all the more somber.

    Xia Yu continued crying. ¡°If Sister is watching the way you treat me from the Heavens, she¡¯ll be so upset... Brother Ziheng, do you remember how you promised Sister that you¡¯d take good care of me?¡±

    Ha, what a turn of events with these two sisters!

    Pei Ziheng felt so much like telling her, her sister was more daring than ever, even making him a cuckold now, and how much he felt like strangling her over that. But he could not say all that. He simply chided Xia Yu. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about your sister this way.¡±

 Chapter 446 - The Abortion Medicine

    <h4>Chapter 446: The Abortion Medicine</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked up and shot him a re.

    He could feel her eyes prating him and hurriedly added, ¡°Don¡¯t involve your sister in your bad deeds, she won¡¯t be able to rest in peace in Heaven.¡± Although Xia Yu imed to be innocent, and that the incident was not actually caught on the surveince camera, Xiao Ling had said that she was pushed from behind. In that case, either Xiao Lin was lying, or Xia Yu was the culprit.

    Xiao Ling was Xia Yu¡¯s biological sister. Though this was her second lifetime, there was no reason for her to drama Xia Yu this way. It was such a joke when Xia Yu mentioned that Xia Ling had ¡°fallen over with his child¡± when the child wasn¡¯t even his flesh and blood!

    This thought gnawed at Pei Ziheng continually, and this coldness was reflected on his face.

    Xia Yu looked at him and felt afraid by his expression, but that did not stop her from tearing and whining. ¡°Brother Ziheng, I¡¯m really innocent...¡±

    Her acting was so convincing that even Xia Ling was impressed. At that point, there was even a moment Xia Ling actually doubted herself and thought hard about whether someone really did push her, or was it nothing more than a delusion?

    She looked toward Xia Yu sarcastically.

    Xia Yu hated that look, but she could not retaliate in front of Pei Ziheng. She chose to act as the vulnerable one instead.

    Xia Ling felt the thrill fade.

    Well, the water had been sshed, there was no way she could go further and hurt Xia Yu.

    She turned to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Pei Ziheng followed her out of the ward.

    The two of them walked side by side on the quiet, empty corridor.

    ¡°I told you to get more rest, you¡¯d recuperate better,¡± Pei Ziheng said gently as he put his arm around her shoulder. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you listen? Leave it to me to punish the murderer.¡±

    Leave it to him?

    Punish the murderer?

    Xia Ling felt a dull ache in her chest. She remembered the murder case of Wang Jingwan and how she had cried her heart out and dered her innocence. He did not believe her.

    Even now, he still did not.

    A man so opinionated and absorbed in his ideas, did he really love her enough?

    Thankfully, she had awoken from that nightmare and escaped that cruel reality.

    She carefully ced her hand over her stomach. ¡°I have some anger in me that I can¡¯t dispel, and I want to punish the people who¡¯ve hurt me personally. Otherwise, what if she hurts my baby next time?¡±

    At this point, Pei Ziheng really wished that Xia Yu had managed to get rid of the baby. He found Xia Yu so foolish and incapable, how could she fail at causing a miscarriage even by pushing somebody? Now, the onus was on him again to think of a way to get rid of the baby.

    While plotting in his head, he appeared even more tender on the outside. ¡°Let Nanny Zhou boil you some ginseng chicken soup tonight to build your strength.¡± This way, her body would be able to bear it during the abortion surgery.

    Xia Ling did not know about his terrifying idea, and hence, smiled gently at his thoughtfulness.

    Her smile was as beautiful as a blooming flower, catching the eyes of anyone close by.

    Pei Ziheng found himself immersed in her beauty.

    Ever since she became pregnant, she had looked even more alluring than before. She no longer applied any makeup, but the radiant glow shone through her wondrously. He had heard that expectant mothers were especially beautiful because of the immense love they had for the child they were carrying, and the satisfaction and gratitude they had towards life ¡ª

    This made Pei Ziheng feel all the more bitter.

    Under Nanny Zhou¡¯s care, Xia Ling was nursed back to health day by day. She was recovering well, and it reflected in the color that had returned to her cheeks.

    In the morning over breakfast, Nanny Zhou had smiled as she told her, ¡°I¡¯m so relieved that you look healthy and fit now. This way, you¡¯ll definitely deliver a chubby little prince.¡±

    Every expectant mother enjoyed listening to such sweet words, and Xia Ling was no exception. She drank her milk leisurely and smiled back. ¡°Well, who says it¡¯s a chubby little prince? Maybe, it could be a sweet little princess?¡±

    ¡°A sweet little princess would be nice too.¡± Nanny Zhou went along with it, but deep down, she was just like Mister and hoped very much for a boy. But Miss Ye preferred girls, and Nanny Zhou was not about to be rude about it. ¡°A princess would be beautiful like you, and would grow up to marry a man as thoughtful and caring as Mister too.¡±

    As ¡°thoughtful and caring¡± as Pei Ziheng?

    The smile in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes faded.

    She rested her hand on her stomach and wondered if the baby was a boy or a girl. She was already more than three months into the pregnancy, and in the fourth month, she would be ready to get the baby¡¯s gender checked at the hospital. But she could not do that ¡ª each trip to the hospital was an added risk she dared not take.

    She had to bear with not knowing.

    ¡°Mister.¡± She heard Nanny Zhou greet courteously.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw Pei Ziheng walking down the spiral staircase in a ck suit. It was rare for him to have the opportunity of going to thepanyter in the day, and he could finally afford some time to have breakfast with her. When he reached the dining table, he bent over to give her a warm embrace first, then straightened up and looked at her tenderly. ¡°You¡¯re a little fleshier now.¡±

    She had put on some weight since the start of the pregnancy, and the effects were getting more noticeable.

    ¡°I can¡¯t fit into my clothes anymore.¡± Xia Ling was a little conscious. ¡°And I don¡¯t look good in photos anymore.¡±

    ¡°Who says you don¡¯t look good?¡± Pei Ziheng smiled. In fact, she had be even more beautiful since. But, because this sort of beauty stemmed from the child of another man, Pei Ziheng could not smile sincerely.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on yourself to meet deadlines. You should gradually stop taking up endorsement offers and such, and just stay at home to rest instead. Moreover,¡± he paused for a moment, ¡°putting on weight is only temporary, you¡¯ll be back in shape in no time.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling casually responded.

    She was too engrossed in pouring her milk into the little ceramic cup and waspletely oblivious to the sh of darkness in his eyes.

    Some time went by.

    On a particr evening, Pei Ziheng came home to Nanny Zhou busying herself in the kitchen.

    Pei Ziheng walked to the entrance of the kitchen and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Miss Ye?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Mister, you¡¯re back.¡± Nanny Zhou hurriedly dried her hands on her outfit and took a few steps towards him. ¡°Miss Ye is not up from her afternoon nap yet, I¡¯m nning to go up to the room after I¡¯ve prepared dinner. Mister, don¡¯t stand around here, it¡¯s dirty in the kitchen. It¡¯s not a ce for people like you to be at.¡±

    Pei Ziheng had lived in the vi for many years, but had rarely stepped into the kitchen.

    Nanny Zhou found it a little strange. What was going on with him today? If he were just going to her to ask about Miss Ye¡¯s whereabouts, couldn¡¯t he have just gone straight to the room upstairs to take a look?

    She was still in some confusion when Pei Ziheng interrupted it by handing her a packet of powder. ¡°Add this to Miss Ye¡¯s meals in three separate servings.¡±

    Nanny Zhou received the packet and asked, ¡°What is this?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said quietly and calmly, ¡°Abortion medicine.¡±

 Chapter 447 - The Bleeding

    <h4>Chapter 447: The Bleeding</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nanny Zhou got a shock. ¡°Mister, this is...?¡±

    ¡°The child isn¡¯t mine.¡± Pei Ziheng shut his eyes for a while as he maintained hisposure. As a man, having to admit such a fact to a subordinate in the household was an insult to his dignity ¡ª and especially so for a man with such pride.

    Nanny Zhou did not see iting, and was stunned for a moment. ¡°Could there be a mistake? Miss Ye doesn¡¯t seem like that kind of person.¡± Miss Ye appeared reserved and pure, not the sort with aplicated private life. In fact, Nanny Zhou always found her a good match for Mister.

    How could she be pregnant with another man¡¯s child, and having Mister take responsibility for it?

    Nanny Zhou was shocked and angry at the same time.

    How could Miss Ye hurt Mister this way? He treated her so well, how could she bear to do this?!

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Don¡¯t let Miss Ye find out.¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression turned an awful shade. She was just a subordinate in the household and had never done anything like this. What difference was that from murder? But... she knew well enough that Mister¡¯s orders were not to be disobeyed.

    Mister wanted a child more than anyone else and was genuinely over the moon when he discovered that Miss Ye was expecting. Since he dared say that the child was not his, he must have done sufficient checks to verify it.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s hands trembled. She felt as if the packet of powder weighed a ton in her hands and in her heart. Did she really have to cause a miscarriage this way? She could tell that Miss Ye loved her unborn child with all her heart and would not want to imagine her loss.

    Nanny Zhou watched Mister walk out of the kitchen towards the stairs before he held his hand out.

    Miss Ye walked down the stairs and was helped by Mister.

    She had just awoken from an afternoon nap, and the tiredness was still in her eyes. Even so, she held her hand to the stomach intuitively, with a posture so elegant. Any outsider who did not know their story would likely see her as the happiest woman if they were to witness this scene. Mister was in a light grey checkered shirt and looked presentable yet homely, as he gently held Miss Ye¡¯s hand and led her to the living room to take a seat.

    If not for the packet of powder in her hands, Nanny Zhou would really wonder if the caring and loving man sitting in the living room was the same ruthless man who had given her the orders earlier.

    What a pity.

    Looking at the couple sitting in the warm, dim light, Nanny Zhou felt sorry for them. Miss Ye only had herself to me, how could she have another man¡¯s child after getting together with Mister?

    She looked away and carefully opened the packet.

    Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng chatted in the living room. In no time, dinner was ready.

    Nanny Zhou prepared a bowl of chicken soup for Xia Ling and brought it to her smilingly. ¡°Miss Ye, this soup is specially prepared for you. Drink it while it¡¯s hot; otherwise, it won¡¯t taste as good.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked her sweetly and received the bowl.

    Smelling the aroma, Xia Ling figured that chicken must have been of good quality. Xia Ling¡¯s appetite had changed drastically ever since she became pregnant, and chicken was in her list of favorites since. She was just about to have her first mouthful when she decided to push the bowl away. ¡°The smell is making me ufortable. I¡¯m not having it.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked up at Nanny Zhou without Xia Ling noticing.

    Nanny Zhou nodded her head ever so slightly.

    Pei Ziheng understood that she had added the medicine in the soup and gently persuaded Xia Ling. ¡°Isn¡¯t your morning sickness a lot better these days? Nanny Zhou took a lot of effort to prepare this, don¡¯t let it go to waste.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not morning sickness...¡± Xia Ling could not express what she felt. She simply did not feel like drinking the soup.

    Pei Ziheng did not flinch. ¡°Not morning sickness? Well, you should still have it even if you don¡¯t like it. The baby is depending on you to grow, so you can¡¯t be too picky.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head. Pei Ziheng was right, she could not be picky about her food. What if the baby did not get enough nutrition? She held her breath and took it, sip by sip.

    Pei Ziheng and Nanny Zhou watched her until she finished everyst drop of it. Pei Ziheng smiled when she was done and began scooping other dishes for her.

    Xia Ling felt like she overate this meal.

    At night, she tossed and turned in bed, finding it hard to sleep at ease.

    When she woke up the next morning, Pei Ziheng had already left the house. Xia Ling got up groggily and went to the washroom, where she noticed some blood stains on her garments.

    She was frightened by that sight and hurriedly went to Nanny Zhou. ¡°Nanny Zhou, I¡¯m bleeding, what should I do?!¡±

    Nanny Zhou felt her heart drop and knew that the medicine had taken effect. She took a deep breath and gave herself a few seconds to regain herposure before turning towards Xia Ling. ¡°Bleeding? Miss Ye, don¡¯t panic. Tell me more about it.¡±

    Xia Ling was disoriented but managed to give a brief description.

    Nanny Zhou reached her hand out, held Xia Ling, and feigned a smile, ¡°Miss Ye, it¡¯s not a big deal. It¡¯s just a little blood, right? Don¡¯t worry, this is verymon for expectant mothers. It¡¯s nothing much.¡±

    Xia Ling was still worried. ¡°But, I never had this problem.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably the weight you¡¯ve gained recently, and your overexertion while rushing deadlines.¡± Nanny Zhouforted her. ¡°Come, sit down. I¡¯ve prepared corn soup and vegetable porridge for you. You need to eat more to gain nutrition.¡±

    Xia Ling was led by the hand to the dining table. She ate her porridge distractedly and could not help but bring it up again. ¡°Should I get it checked at the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Well, you can if you want to,¡± Nanny Zhou tried to lighten the severity of it. ¡°But it¡¯s not a big issue, you can just inform the doctor during your next checkup.¡±

    ¡°So I don¡¯t have to make a trip down right away?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a few drops of blood.¡± Nanny Zhou smiled casually. ¡°Trust me, Miss Ye. I¡¯ve seen so many cases with mothers and babies. This is nothing much at all, and only first-time mothers like you would be worried about it. When you¡¯re having your second child, you¡¯ll realize how silly all of this is.¡±

    Xia Ling was half convinced by Nanny Zhou and did not insist further.

    She went back to the room to catch up on some sleep after breakfast.

    Strangely, she felt even less at ease than she did the night before. She even had a nightmare, in which a baby was wailing as he floated in a boundless sea of blood.

    She was shocked awake in cold sweat.

    She looked down and found that she had bled once again, and even more than before.

 Chapter 448 - Compassionate Peace Hospital

    <h4>Chapter 448: Compassionate Peace Hospital</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was really frightened now, and the dull ache in her stomach induced even more fear.

    She did not want to dy going to the hospital any further and nned to get the chauffeur to drive her to Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital for treatment. Bearing with the pain, she changed out of her sleep attire and went down the stairs.

    There was nobody in the living room, and Nanny Zhou was busying about in the kitchen.

    Xia Ling was about to leave the house but felt that she should let Nanny Zhou know about it out of courtesy, just in case she would panic when she discovered her missing. She walked towards the kitchen with footsteps so light on the carpet they were practically silent.

    Nanny Zhou did not hear her approaching.

    Xia Ling found it odd that Nanny Zhou was not preparing food in the kitchen, but rather, talking to herself. She looked pale with fear and seemed to be under a lot of stress. With one hand over her chest, Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Ohh Heavens, please forgive me. I didn¡¯t mean to harm Miss Ye this way, it is Mister who ordered me to add the abortion medicine to her food. I had no choice...¡±

    Xia Ling felt a buzzing confusion. What? There was abortion medicine in her food?

    In a split second, she recalled the bowl of chicken soup from the previous night and the breakfast she just had... no wonder she felt difort the whole time. And the worst part of it all was that Nanny Zhou assured her she was fine!

    Not a single person around Pei Ziheng could be trusted!

    Xia Ling did not even have the time to fume. With her hand on her stomach, she dashed out of the house. Baby... she had to save the baby!

    In a hurry, she had identally knocked over a table, sending the antique porcin piece shattering to the ground.

    Nanny Zhou finally heard her this time and came out of the kitchen. ¡°Miss Ye, where are you going?¡±

    She did not respond. In fact, she did not even want to go to the chauffeur that Pei Ziheng had arranged to be at her disposal. She went straight for the garage and pulled the door handle on the Rolls-Royce.

    It was locked.

    The chauffeur was alerted and rushed over towards her. ¡°Miss Ye, Mister has made himself clear that you¡¯re not to go out on your own, as it could be dangerous. I¡¯ll drive you to where you want to go.¡±

    As much as she did not trust him anymore, Xia Ling had no other choice under such circumstances. She was afraid there would be dire consequences if she did not get to the hospital in time.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Huaxin Specialist Hospital, now!¡±

    Seeing how flustered she was, he hurriedly opened the door and let her into the car.

    Nanny Zhou rushed out of the house. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want herpany. Knowing that Nanny Zhou had done her part in hurting the baby made Xia Ling disgusted at the thought of even sitting next to her. But she did not have any more energy to chase her away.

    The pain wasing again, wave after wave. It had aggravated from a dull ache to an almost unbearable torment that took her all her efforts to suppress it. She clenched her fists and almost curled up in pain as she prayed for the best.

    While driving, the chauffeur asked, ¡°Miss Ye, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s chauffeur was very professional and hardly poked his nose into the family¡¯s business, but today was an anomaly. Xia Ling was all too absorbed in the pain and did not hear him.

    Nanny Zhou spoke on her behalf, ¡°Miss Ye was a little unwell this morning, maybe... it¡¯s a case of food poisoning or indigestion.¡± She looked at Xia Ling guiltily and saw that sweat had gathered on her forehead. Only when she realized that Xia Ling was clearly not paying attention to the conversation did she continue, ¡°We should get her to a doctor fast.¡±

    ¡°Chauffeur, could you go faster!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s breaths were short and rapid now as she felt the fear envelop her. Baby... will the baby be alright? She felt as like the baby¡¯s will to live was slipping away, and her fist clenched even tighter...

    <i>Baby, you¡¯ve got to be strong...</i>

    Xia Ling was praying hard. <i>You¡¯ve got to be like your father, surviving even in the toughest of conditions...</i>

    She was in utter regret now. How could she be so careless? She had already seen the spots of blood when she woke up in the morning, how could she believe Nanny Zhou that it was ¡°no big deal¡± and even finish her breakfast?

    If she hadn¡¯t done all that, her condition would not be this serious now.

    She was practically curled up from the immense pain.

    The chauffeur notified Pei Ziheng along the way and updated him about the situation in the car.

    That morning, Pei Ziheng had already instructed him not to let Miss Ye leave the house alone. If she acted strangely or was going to the hospital, the chauffeur was to notify him immediately.

    And also...

    ¡°Go faster!¡± Xia Ling was in so much pain she was practically screaming.

    The chauffeur elerated and a few momentster, the car came to a stop. ¡°Miss Ye, we¡¯re here.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s stomach was hurting more by the minute, and she heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that they had finally arrived at the hospital. With the chauffeur and Nanny Zhou¡¯s help, she got off the car and walked towards the hospital building.

    But something was wrong.

    The buildings at Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital were a warm and weing brick-red color. Meanwhile, this building in front of her was just like any other hospital in this city ¡ª a cold, rigid white.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks. ¡°Where¡¯s this? Are we at the wrong hospital?¡±

    ¡°This is Compassionate Peace Hospital.¡± The chauffeur did not hide the truth from her. ¡°Your condition seemed critical, so I made my own call and drove here instead. Their gynecology department is the best around here, and much nearer to our ce than Huaxin is.¡±

    Xia Ling knew all these.

    But she also knew that Compassionate Peace Hospital had a close rtionship with the Pei family. If she were to seek treatment here, Pei Ziheng could keep tabs on her and the baby at any time. By then, even if the baby survived this mishap, there would be no running away from a forced abortion.

    She was already pale from all the pain, but still turned around and staggered back. ¡°I want to go to Huaxin.¡±

    The chauffeur was practically dragging her along as he persuaded her. ¡°You¡¯re already in so much pain, what more is there for you to consider? It¡¯s better if you just get the job done here. Otherwise, we might be toote by the time we get to Huaxin.¡±

    He was right about this. Given such an emergency, she could not wait another 20 minutes or so, when even a few seconds could potentially cost a life. Xia Ling couldn¡¯t take such a risk.

    She was caught in a dilemma when her insides wrenched. The pain was so intense that she lost her footing and could barely think.

    Out of the blue, she heard a familiar male voice. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you alright?!¡± It was a charismatic voice, but it reminded her of the devil lurking in her nightmares.

    She looked up and saw Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 449 - Powerless

    <h4>Chapter 449: Powerless</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She did not know when he arrived, but when he did, he was in a tailored light blue suit, and he took over from the driver from there. She was being half-cradled by him in the afternoon sunlight, it casting its brilliant rays down on her, and she could feel the onset of a headache creeping up.

    Xia Ling raised her head to painstakingly look at Pei Ziheng, lips trembling, but there was no sound.

    ¡°Where does it hurt? It must feel terrible,¡± said Pei Ziheng, voice bathed in warmth.

    He knew this better than anyone else the truth behind Xia Ling¡¯s suffering. He had tasked his men to administer the drugs himself, and he had already made it a point to pick the absolute mildest of its kind. And still, nothing could quite remedy the world-shaking ache that came with losing your own blood and flesh.

    His brow furrowed in response to watching her struggle. ¡°Xiao Ling, hang in there, please. I¡¯ll bring you to a doctor immediately.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips were turning purple. Her fingers clutched Pei Ziheng¡¯s sleeve desperately, fingernails scraping into his skin.

    The situation didn¡¯t look too good.

    Pei Ziheng was concerned. ¡°How long has Miss Ye been in pain?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye said she felt ufortable after yesterday¡¯s dinner. Today after breakfast, her stomach hurt yet again, so she went to the hospital.¡± Nanny Zhou mbered. ¡°She hasn¡¯t even eaten lunch yet.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s brow furrowed again.

    He had instructed Nanny Zhou about this before. The drug had to be administered thrice to be effective, but as of now, there were only two ingested dosages. It was probably notpletely dead yet.

    The night was long, and dreams, endless.

    Pei Ziheng was speaking softly now, lowering his head to cradle the girl in his arms. She was not doing so well, havingpletely broken out in a bout of cold sweat, tormented by sheer pain. ¡°Xiao Ling, do not be afraid. I think it¡¯s just some food poisoning that caused your tummy upset. Let¡¯s see what the doctors have to say about it.¡±

    He guided her, gripping onto her tightly, ready to send her into the hospital block.

    Xia Ling did not know where the effort came from, but she mustered up all her energy to push him away from her. One arm on her abdomen, and the other gripping onto the wall for support, she staggered before finally pulling herself up shakily to face him.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± she spoke warily. ¡°You liar, why do you want to induce a miscarriage?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was taken aback. How did she find out?

    He sent a pointed look towards Nanny Zhou.

    Nanny Zhou was scared out of her wits at this point, profusely proiming her innocence and ignorance of the matter.

    This wasn¡¯t time to push the me.

    The biggest problem was: Xiao Ling was aware of what she was eating now.

    Pei Ziheng fell silent, searching for an excuse in his head. ¡°What miscarriage? It¡¯s for ensuring a smooth pregnancy. It¡¯s not a big thing, so I didn¡¯t tell you. Anyway, it won¡¯t do you any harm. Whatever you¡¯re having now is food poisoning, trust me.¡±

    Ah yes, food poisoning. The original n.

    If all went ording to n, Xiao Ling wouldn¡¯t have found out that she had taken the miscarriage-inducing pills. When her stomach hurt, the driver would send her to the hospital, and at the hospital, the doctors would tell her that the food poisoning had harmed her stomach beyond repair, and that¡¯s why she had lost the child.

    It was a perfect n. If it had been appropriately implemented, Xiao Ling would have never had to find out the truth. And he would have maintained his image of being a caring and warmpanion. And the unborn child would remain unborn, without him having to shoulder any of the me. Perfect n.

    Unfortunately, because of Nanny Zhou¡¯s mistake, the plot was exposed.

    Xia Ling viewed him with intense ferocity. ¡°Pei Ziheng! What kind of ploy is this! You know what I ate! You beast!¡±

    There was no point in pretending anymore. Pei Ziheng shot point ck. ¡°The kid is a gone case. Don¡¯t be stubborn and listen to the doctors. Get the surgery to remove the dead fetus.¡±

    Xia Ling felt her heart drop. Dead fetus? It hit her like an onught of bullets, and she could almost feel the blood drip from her wounds. No, she believed that the baby wouldn¡¯t have died so easily. She had tried so hard to protect the child. The baby... could not die!

    ¡°Save my child. Save my child, please!¡± she begged.

    She wasn¡¯t going to be usatory and aggressive anymore. For the child, she softened her attitude and acted meekly.

    Pei Ziheng nced at her warily. The girl in front of her was frantic and helpless, and honestly, it broke his heart a little bit. But he couldn¡¯t yield.

    ¡°So now you know how to ask for a favor?¡± His voice fell lower. ¡°When you first lied to me, did you ever think that today would evere? Did you think I was stupid? That you could just push some other man¡¯s child on me? I¡¯m telling you, there is no such thing.¡±

    This entire thing was humiliating.

    Xia Ling shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. No, he wasn¡¯t stupid...

    He was so vicious, how could he not know how much courage she had to muster in an attempt to pull this off? The past few days was a living hell for her, and she felt as if she were treading on ice, fearing the worst if she made one little mistake... and once she fell, she would nevere up for air again.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do this on purpose...¡± she choked between sobs. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I didn¡¯t intend for this to happen. It was only after I was by your side that I realized that I was pregnant and that I wanted it to live.¡±

    She shot him a pleading look. ¡°Save him, please!¡±

    He was standing in the sun, but this was the coldest he had ever been. He was the holder of her fate now, just like back then, and even know, nothing had changed in the slightest.

    An unstoppable flood of hopelessness washed over her. She couldn¡¯t fight this sorrow. Against fate, she was holding her baby. But they were sinking, sinking deep down, and there was nothing to help her resist.

    Fighting to live another day was difficult, so very difficult.

    Slowly, she kneeled towards him.

    ¡°Miss Ye!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye! What are you doing!¡±

    The driver and Nanny Zhou watching from the sidelines were yelling now. Nanny Zhou surged forth to bring her to her feet again. ¡°Miss Ye, you need to get up immediately. Your body is too weak, it cannot withstand this!¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t hear her. She continued to kneel, head raised to look at Pei Ziheng.

    The blood was running between her thighs, at a rate significantly more intense than before. What had previously been a tiny trickle now pooled at her knees, staining the ivory of her outfit and the floor. Her voice was flickering, weakening. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what do I have to do for you to let my baby live? I don¡¯t know... I have no other alternatives...¡± She was crying now, her tears falling continuously. ¡°Tell me, what do you want me to do? I will do anything for you after this, anything! Regardless of whatever it is...¡±

 Chapter 450 - Give Birth to a Child for Me

    <h4>Chapter 450: Give Birth to a Child for Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She wept and pleaded desperately.

    Pei Ziheng was emotionless, but there was a raging storm brewing in his heart.

    Xiao Ling was always a very fragile girl. In the past, she would cry and throw a tantrum over being pricked by a flower.

    However, now, she was forcing herself to tolerate the pain as she knelt on the floor which was covered in blood.

    In this life, she had only begged him twice. Once to save Li Lei and another time to save Li Lei¡¯s child. Two times for the same man.

    Pei Ziheng wished he could cut open her stomach, rip that spawn of a devil up, and trample on him.

    He coldly instructed his apanying chauffeur. ¡°Help Miss Ye up and send her to the hospital.¡±

    He was very close to the head of Compassionate Peace Hospital and had already contacted him in advance to prepare for an abortion.

    Xia Ling also guessed what was about to happen and pleaded with Pei Ziheng¡¯s back-view using a hoarse voice. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you can¡¯t do that! I beg you. Please don¡¯t be like this...¡± She cried. ¡°I¡¯ll do anything you want! I will agree to anything! Don¡¯t you want me to marry you? I¡¯ll marry you! Don¡¯t you want me to have children with you? I¡¯ll have children with you! I don¡¯t mind having a few children with you! Please, I beg you, I¡¯ll do anything as long as you let my child live...¡±

    Pei Ziheng paused in his footsteps.

    ¡°Mister...¡± Nanny Zhou looked worriedly at him and then at Miss Ye.

    Pei Ziheng turned around, lowered his head to look at Xia Ling, and then walked towards her.

    Her face was already pale due to the pain and fear. She was shaking as she knelt and only did not fall down because Nanny Zhou was holding on to her.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Anything?¡±

    Xia Ling vigorously nodded in tears.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression deepened. He did not care that Xiao Ling was unwilling to marry him. Besides, he could easily solve it by tying her up and bringing her to the Civil Affairs Bureau. However, she had to be willing to have his child. Otherwise, she could think of numerous ways to get rid of her child during her ten months of pregnancy.

    Seeing that he was speechless, Xia Ling was more disconcerted. She was afraid that she could not convince Pei Ziheng no matter how hard she tried. Maybe she was overestimating herself. In Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes, getting married or having children was not very important to him.

    She was puzzled. Underneath her, more blood flowed out like the blooming of a scary and hideous flower. She felt that her child was slowly dying. In desperation, she leaned down, crawled towards Pei Ziheng and grabbed the edge of Pei Ziheng¡¯s exquisite pants.

    Her white fingers that were covered with blood stained his clean suit. The ce where she caught on to became wrinkled, and she used even more strength to look up at him with begging eyes.

    Pei Ziheng finally spoke. ¡°I can save this spawn of a devil. However, you must have a child with me.¡±

    Xia Ling immediately nodded as she could not care much anymore.

    Pei Ziheng said again, ¡°Also when this spawn of the devil is born, you must immediately give him away.¡±

    ¡°Ziheng!¡± Xia Ling was stunned. The tears that she tried to hold back surged out. She did not think that Pei Ziheng would propose such a condition that would hurt her immensely. This child was precious to her. How could she give it away?

    ¡°Can we keep him?¡± She weakly asked.

    Pei Ziheng coldly instructed his chauffeur. ¡°Old Zhao¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give him away! I¡¯ll give him away!¡± Xia Ling was really scared that he would change his mind and cried, ¡°I agree to give him away! Pei Ziheng, I beg you, let me give birth to him!¡± She knew that she had wronged her child, but she had no other choice. This was Pei Ziheng¡¯s bottom line.

    Time was tight. Her stomach was bursting with pain, and the blood flow would not stop.

    She could not think and only took a step at a time. Even if she were selfish, she would rather give birth to her child and let it leave her than allow the child to die in her womb.

    If it were alive, there would be hope.

    Only then was Pei Ziheng satisfied. He bent down and warmly hugged her. He instructed the chauffeur. ¡°Inform Head Ouyang that he doesn¡¯t need to do the abortion surgery anymore. Ask him to assemble the best team of experts to protect her child.¡±

    Xia Ling finally sighed in relief and passed out.

    She did not know how long she was in aa for. When she woke up, the first thing she did was to ask about her child¡¯s condition.

    The attending doctor who heard the news said to her, ¡°Congrattions, Miss Ye, the child is saved. However, you have to be more careful in the future. This child has experienced several idents and will be more vulnerable than other fetuses. It is not quite stable, and you should not let get hurt again.¡±

    Xia Ling was extremely grateful to the doctor and seriously agreed.

    She stayed in the hospital to recuperate for a very long time. Every day, she stayed in bed and was put on a drip. After a month, her intermittent bleeding finally stopped, but she had to stay in the hospital for a few more days for further observation.

    During this period, Pei Ziheng did not visit her.

    Now that he knew that the child was not his, he would rather turn a blind eye. He stopped caring about hearing reports that she was fine from those taking care of her.

    On this day, Chu Chen said to him. ¡°Boss, Miss Ye is being discharged from the hospital today. Are you going to pick her up?¡± Recently, he was very cautious about speaking to Pei Ziheng, but he secretly admired Ye Xingling¡¯s supernatural powers after being pregnant with someone else¡¯s child. Although she offended his cold and tyrannical boss, she was still able to keep her and her child¡¯s face. She was truly skillful.

    Pei Ziheng gazed out of the window. The tall office building seemed like it was stepping on the entire city.

    However, in front of her, he was a loser.

    So what if he was powerful? Her child was not his.

    ¡°Are you very bored?¡± Pei Ziheng said deeply to Chu Chen. ¡°There¡¯s a conference with the U.S. side at 10.30 am. Have you prepared all the materials?¡±

    Chu Chen understood what he meant. He probably did not want to pick Miss Ye, so he respectfully left.

    Xia Ling also did not expect Pei Ziheng to pick her up. After going through the formalities to be discharged, she returned to the red brick wall vi which was filled with tiers of roses in full bloom.

    Nanny Zhou greeted her. Once she saw her, she had the shock of her life.

    ¡°Miss Ye, you...¡± Nanny Zhou quickly stepped forward to hold her. ¡°Slow down, be careful.¡±

    It was no wonder that Nanny Zhou was scared. Xia Ling condition was not good, and she looked weaker than before. Her initially white and delicate skin was now dry and sallow. She was also much thinner, and her cheeks were sunken, making her look even older.

    It seemed that she could be knocked down from a gust of wind.

    Nanny Zhou excitedly looked at her stomach. She was about five months pregnant, but her belly bump was still not that obvious. This was not a good sign. Perhaps her child would be very weak once it was born.

    She supported Xia Ling into the house and let her sit down on afortable sofa.

 Chapter 451 - A Badly Frightened Person

    <h4>Chapter 451: A Badly Frightened Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her feelings wereplicated. On one hand, she felt that Miss Ye had iting because she was unfaithful to Mister. Thus, she deserved to be in pain. On the other hand, that day when she watched blood flowing from Miss Ye as she begged in front of Mister, she felt a little sorrowful as a woman. Pregnancy was not an easy task. No matter who the child belonged to, all mothers would cherish their child.

    She entered the kitchen and poured a cup of warm water for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling took it and held it in her hand.

    It was alreadyte summer, but it was still sweltering. The AC was on, and Xia Ling¡¯s fingertips were as cold as the room temperature. After she returned here and calmed down, she finally felt scared. This abortion was really a close call because she almost could not keep her child.

    Her hands trembled so much that she almost could not hold the cup.

    She sadly realized that actually, her current life was the same as her past life. She was always powerless against Pei Ziheng¡¯s forceful ways. Even though she knelt down shamelessly to beg him, he did not let her go. In front of him, she could not protect anything.

    ¡°Miss Ye, drink some warm water.¡± Seeing that she was holding the cup and in a daze, she could not help but say, ¡°You just came back from the hospital and need to replenish your fluids. I will make lunch for you now. What do you want to eat?¡±

    Startled, she looked up at Nanny Zhou and shook her head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know? I will cook snakehead fish for you then to revitalize your body.¡± Nanny Zhou said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating.¡± Xia Ling said. Her voice was a little hoarse. ¡°I¡¯m going upstairs to sleep for a while. Don¡¯t call me.¡± After that, she went upstairs and left Nanny Zhou alone.

    Looking at her, Nanny Zhou was speechless. Finally, she just sighed.

    Xia Ling did not want to see Nanny Zhou. Once she saw her face, she would only remember how this servant of two years smiled with concern as she patiently urged her to eat meals mixed with abortion pills.

    Those were abortion pills!

    Xia Lingy down on the luxurious and spacious bed. As she stroked her lower abdomen, tears flowed out again. ¡°Baby, I¡¯m sorry...¡± She mumbled. She was useless as a mother and almost killed it.

    In a daze, she fell asleep and had a nightmare.

    She dreamed that she ate something wrong. Once she ate it, there was excruciating pain in her stomach. Lots of fresh blood flowed out, and the child was killed.

    She screamed as she awoke from her nightmare in tears.

    A few secondster, someone pushed the bedroom door open. The one who barged in was Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng knew that she was discharged in the afternoon. He decided not to pick her up but felt distracted during the entire afternoon meeting. He could only think of her. Immediately after the meeting was over, he rushed back home without eating lunch. After not seeing her for a month, he wondered if she had gained weight or slimmed down.

    Once he stepped foot into the house, he asked Nanny Zhou about her condition. Before he could say much, he heard a high-pitched scream from the bedroom and immediately ran upstairs.

    He thought that something happened to Xiao Ling, but once he pushed the door open, he sighed in relief. Xiao Ling was fine on the bed. She was probably scared by a nightmare.

    However, in a sh, he saw her face clearly.

    She looked extremely haggard like a withered rose that had lost its vitality.

    What had she endured during this month? Why did she look so weak? How did Chu Chen and those people take care of her? Why was she in this state?!

    Pei Ziheng was heartbroken and angry. However, he silently looked at her and pretended that nothing was bothering him.

    Seeing that he was here, she curled up with some alertness.

    Both of them looked at each other for a long time. After that, Pei Ziheng closed the bedroom door and walked out.

    Xia Ling grimlyughed in her heart. It looked like when she was unwell, suffering, and having a nightmare, Pei Ziheng would notfort her gently liked he used to in the past. Besides, the child in her womb was not his. It seemed that tolerating this child was already his bottom line.

    How could she hope for him to treat her and her child well?

    Xia Ling also did not know the gender of her child. When she was hospitalized, she forgot to ask the doctor. Although she hoped that it was a girl, when she was dreaming, she dreamed that she was holding a small boy, and Li Lei was beside her. Could it be that her child was actually a male?

    She lowered her head in spection and fell asleep again.

    She slept for a very long time and only awoke during dinner time due to hunger.

    She recalled that she had not even eaten lunch. Thus, she went downstairs and headed towards the dining hall.

    In the dining hall, Pei Ziheng was already eating. Under the dim yellow light, roasted foie gras and fried beef bones were exuding a delicious aroma. They were all dishes that Pei Ziheng loved to eat.

    When he saw Xia Linging down, Pei Ziheng only faintly nced at her before lowering his head to eat. Xia Ling paused in her footsteps as she felt that she was in a fix.

    Nanny Zhou greeted her. ¡°Miss Ye, quicklye and eat.¡±

    She diligently pulled out the chair for Xia Ling and ced her favorite tableware on the table. ¡°There¡¯s sea cucumber soup in the kitchen, and it will be ready very soon. Just wait for a while, I will bring it over for you.¡±

    Sea cucumber soup was also something that Pei Ziheng loved.

    It seemed that she did not prepare anything that she liked today.

    She guessed that Pei Ziheng really wanted to abort her baby. Although he agreed not to force her to abort her child, if she did not eat enough, her child would be naturally be aborted, and it would not be his fault.

    Once she thought about it this way, Xia Ling felt upset.

    She was reminded of her nightmare during her afternoon nap. She recalled the previous abortion medicine and the endless flow of blood.

    Nanny Zhou brought the sea cucumber soup over and smiled. ¡°Miss Ye, quickly drink it while it¡¯s hot. Sea cucumber is nutritious and will be good for your child.¡±

    The scene in front of her coincided with what happened some time ago. Was this bowl of steaming sea cucumber soupced with abortion medicine? She obviously knew that the probability was low as Pei Ziheng had already agreed not to hurt her child, but she could not help but feel uneasy.

    She turned pale as she instinctively pushed away her utensils.

    ¡°Miss Ye, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Nanny Zhou was shocked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Pei Ziheng looked up slightly but continued eating without saying a word. As long as she was alive, he did not care about her child at all. It was her decision whether to eat or not.

    Seeing that Pei Ziheng was not persuading her, Nanny Zhou became anxious. Although Miss Ye did something wrong, she could not hurt her body like that because she was still pregnant. Thus, Nanny Zhou daringly said, ¡°Miss Ye, you should eat something. I¡¯m sorry about what I did that time, but you can¡¯t torture yourself like that. Even if you don¡¯t think about yourself, you still have to think about your...¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s mmed his knife and fork on his porcin te, causing a shrill sound.

    Nanny Zhou finally realized that she might have said something taboo to Mister while trying to persuade Miss Ye to eat. She quickly shut her mouth and bowed her head.

 Chapter 452 - Stubborn

    <h4>Chapter 452: Stubborn</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling coldlyughed. ¡°The only reason why I¡¯m not eating the food you made is because I¡¯m thinking about my child.¡±

    Not only did she not dare to eat anything, but she also did not even dare to touch any ready-made items in the kitchen. She was being paranoid, but she could not risk letting the smallest problem affect her child anymore.

    She stood up and left the dining hall.

    She was so hungry that she felt heartburn. She went to the room to look for a thick coat to wrap around her body, put on sunsses, and covered up most of her face before she went to the nearby supermarket to buy something.

    She bought items like sealed mineral water, instant noodles, ham, and milk.

    She brought them back to the vi and turned on the gas stove as she wanted to heat them before she ate. You¡¯re reading on B oxnovel.c om .Tks!

    Nanny Zhou was distressed looking at her. How could a pregnant woman eat those things? She wanted to persuade her, but she realized that she had long lost the ability to do so. ¡°Mister, how about you rece me?¡± Nanny Zhou resolutely said. ¡°Miss Ye doesn¡¯t trust me. If you rece me with someone new, perhaps she will be willing to eat again.¡±

    ¡°This is not something you should worry about.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low.

    Thus, Nanny Zhou did not dare to speak again. However, she felt extremely guilty. It was her who wronged Miss Ye!

    In actuality, Pei Ziheng understood that things would remain the same even if he reced her. As long as it was someone Pei Ziheng assigned, the person would never gain Xia Ling¡¯s trust. Although his Xiao Ling was sometimes foolish, she was very clear about certain things. She definitely knew that every wrong had its cause. She could not really me Nanny Zhou for the abortion medicine.

    Xiao Ling was just throwing a tantrum in front of him.

    Pei Ziheng was unhappy and only coldly looked at Xia Ling preparing as she prepared her dinner without reprimanding her.

    As she was clumsy and identally knocked over the pot, the boiling hot water sshed out, and an earth-shattering <i>bang </i>was heard. The kitchen was in a mess. All of the food she had bought was wasted.

    Xia Ling only felt that her hand was aching. With a closer look, she realized that a big blister had formed on her thin wrist.

    She looked at the blister and the mess around her in shock. Suddenly, she felt that she was really stupid. She could not do anything and could not even cook a meal well. How could she face her baby? The more she thought about it, the more sorrowful, indignant, and helpless she felt. As if she had lost all of her strength, she held her injured hand and slowly crouched down.

    Pei Ziheng looked at everything coldly and whispered something to Nanny Zhou.

    Soon, Nanny Zhou brought over a medicine box.

    Pei Ziheng opened it and took out disinfectant, gauze, and other things. He ignored the mess as he walked towards Xia Ling and squatted down. ¡°Show me your hand.¡±

    Xia Ling shrank back her hand, lowered her head, and nasally rebuked. ¡°I don¡¯t need your help.¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned. ¡°Blisters will leave a scar.¡±

    Xia Ling trembled and suddenly realized why Pei Ziheng did not say a word to her the entire day since he got back home but suddenly became concerned about her injury. She lifted her head and stared at Pei Ziheng with red eyes. ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you only care about whether there will be a scar on my hand? Do you not care about the child¡¯s life at all?¡± She wept, almost about to break down. ¡°I hate you, I hate you!¡±

    The emotions of pregnant women were never stable, to begin with. Furthermore, she was provoked many times.

    Pei Ziheng was upset, but he resisted the urge to argue with her. He forcefully pulled her hand over and applied the medicine on her.

    After that, he wrapped her wound using a white bandage.

    Xia Ling could not fight him and was half forced to let him bandage her wound with tears still flowing down her face. She cried until her shoulders shivered, and her body curled up in fear and helplessness.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take you out to eat.¡± Pei Ziheng hated to see her cry. In the end, he could not bear to see her in tears.

    Xia Ling relentlessly shook her head as she wept and pushed him away. ¡°Go away!¡±

    His slight tenderness and sympathy immediately disappeared. He abandoned Xia Ling as he stood up and coldly instructed Nanny Zhou. ¡°Ignore her. Let her starve to death!¡±

    Nanny Zhou became even more worried. She was so anxious that she almost stamped her feet.

    Xia Ling was still hungry. After crying for a while, she went out to buy dinner. She went to the same supermarket and bought a frozen lunch box this time. As she did not dare to take it back to heat it up herself, she asked the staff for help.

    Unexpectedly, she was recognized by the store employee.

    ¡°Ye Xingling. You¡¯re Ye Xingling, right?!¡± The store employee said excitedly. ¡°Can you give me an autograph?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken back. The store employee was loud and caused several customers nearby to turn around to look at her. It was human nature for people to gather around celebrities. Many people¡¯s eyes were shining as they rushed to surround her.

    Xia Ling knew that she was in an unlucky situation. Without buying her sandwiches, she immediately ran out. After running a few steps, her stomach started to hurt again. It was a terrible pain for pregnant women.

    Her face turned pale, and she regretted running. She hurriedly gged for a taxi beside the road and said to the drive, ¡°Go to Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital.¡±

    The driver quickly sent her to the hospital¡¯s emergency room.

    An old senior professor like Senior Zhang was not on duty during the emergency night shift. The doctor who examined her was young. He recognized her as a celebrity, so he was excited and happy. However, the doctor already knew that Ye Xingling had already been doing birth checks here and would have a child here in the future. Thus, seeing her was not very unexpected. Although he was excited, he maintained good professionalism and carefully checked her.

    ¡°There are slight signs of miscarriage. Miss Ye, you can¡¯t do any strenuous exercise anymore.¡± The young doctor said. ¡°I rmend that you stay in the hospital for the sake of your child. Tomorrow, when Senior Zhanges to work, he will do an even more detailed diagnosis and treatment.¡±

    Anything that happened to the child was a big deal.

    Xia Ling nodded and followed the doctor¡¯s advice and stayed in the hospital.

    Even though she was just discharged in the afternoon.

    ¡°I want... to eat something.¡± In the ward, she was a little embarrassed as she spoke to the head nurse who came to see her. ¡°I didn¡¯t eat anything for lunch and dinner.¡±

    The head nurse was shocked. ¡°With the condition you are in now, how could you not take care of your body? You should at least eat three meals a day on time. You can¡¯t do this anymore in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling obediently listened to her lecture.

    The head nurse turned away and went out. Soon, she gave her a lunch box. ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night, so the hospital cafeteria has already been closed. The nearby restaurants use unhealthy oil, so you can¡¯t eat food from there as well. If you don¡¯t mind, you can eat this meal. I¡¯m working overnight today, so my husband made this as supper for me. It¡¯s very clean.¡±

    Xia Ling was very grateful. She thanked her and took the lunch box.

    When she opened it, it was a very simple homemade stir-fried white rice stem and sliced meat. However, Xia Ling could tell that a lot of effort was put into making it. Every piece of white rice steam and meat was cut thinly and evenly and looked tasty.

    After tasting it, she felt that it was quite delicious.

 Chapter 453 - Feng Kunâ€™s Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 453: Feng Kun¡¯s Invitation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling lifted her head and thanked the head nurse again. ¡°It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    Thus, the professional smile on her face faded away, and she let out a warm and sincere smile. ¡°I think so too. When I just got married to my husband, he didn¡¯t know how to do anything. These years, as I had to workte at night, he learned everything. And now, the family¡¯s meals are made by him.¡±

    Perhaps the night shift was lonely. She stayed beside Xia Ling and took care of her while chatting about her family life. ¡°My husband doesn¡¯t make much money, and he can¡¯t even pay the house mortgage by himself. However, he treats me very well and doesn¡¯t mind doing the dirty work. During these many years of marriage, he never let me suffer any sort of grievance.¡±

    As the head nurse spoke, she smiled. ¡°I¡¯m also content.¡±

    Xia Ling envied her very much as she was able to spend every day together with her beloved ones. What else did a couple want more than a peaceful life together? She recalled that the man she loved was far away, and there was a slight pain in her heart.

    The head nurse asked her, ¡°Why did youe to the hospital alone without Mr. Pei? Is he not at home? I usually see him on the news, and he seems to be busy traveling around.¡± She thought that Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng had a strong rtionship. In reality, almost everyone in the outside world thought this way. Otherwise, why would Pei Ziheng go through so much hardship to marry a wife without any status? This situation was the first of its kind in the Pei Family.

    Xia Ling did not want to exin. She finished her meal and said that she was tired.

    The nurse was afraid of disturbing her, so she kept the lunch box and left. When she turned off the lights for her in the ward, she looked at the way Xia Ling¡¯s frail figure curled up in the darkness and was a little worried. Being together with someone rich was not as ideal as she imagined. Mr. Pei was so busy. It was probably hard on Miss Ye as she was usually alone.

    Unconsciously, she started to sympathize with Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling stayed in the hospital for a night.

    The next day, Senior Zhang came to work and did a detailed check on her. ¡°There are norge problems. However, you can¡¯t run around recklessly anymore.¡± He said the same thing as the night shift doctor yesterday.

    Only then did Xia Ling sigh in relief.

    Senior Zhang gave her some medicine to protect her fetus. After seeing that she was unhappy, he asked, ¡°Did you fight with Mr. Pei?¡± As he knew the secret about the child¡¯s identity, he did not think that her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was so good like others thought.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. In front of his amiable doctor, she revealed a little more. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that he will put medicine in my food, so I don¡¯t dare to eat it.¡±

    A while ago, she was hospitalized in Compassionate Peace Hospital. However, Senior Zhang flipped through her medical record earlier today and found out what she had suffered from some time ago. Thus, heforted her. ¡°Luckily, the child is fine. Stay here a few more stays and eat in the hospital to feel more reassured.¡±

    Xia Ling continued to stay in the hospital.

    Huaxin Mother and Child Specialist Hospital was one of the best hospitals in the city. Competition for bed space was strong, and as she was admitted to the hospital suddenly, the intensive care unit was full. There was no space, so she had to stay in the general ward.

    The double room was very clean. The patient who upied the bed beside hers was discharged yesterday, so it was empty at this time.

    Xia Ling lived calmly and quietly in the hospital. She ate a meal for patients for lunch. It tasted nd, but it was a well-bnced meal with nutrients and would be sufficient to take care of her child well.

    Unfortunately, this simple happiness did notst long. In the evening, a pregnant woman was admitted to her neighboring bed to also prevent a miscarriage.

    The pregnant woman was an ordinary person. When she saw Xia Ling, she became very excited. She kept chatting with her non-stop and bombarded her with endless questions. Xia Ling only then deeply realized about the troubles of being a celebrity. She could no longer continue to stay in this ward.

    Xia Ling asked Senior Zhang, ¡°Is there any space in the intensive care unit?¡±

    Senior Zhang was also troubled. ¡°No. You have to wait for at least a week.¡±

    While they were talking, someone gently knocked on the door of the doctor¡¯s office. Xia Ling turned around and saw her chauffeur. She asked, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± The chauffeur said. ¡°Mister wants me to send you home.¡±

    Yesterday, she ran out without informing him, causing Pei Ziheng to be angry. He initially did not want to care about her, but after calming down, he really could not neglect her like that. He was worried about her being alone outside. After hearing that she was staying in an ordinary ward, he became more concerned and sent a chauffeur to pick her up.

    Originally, Xia Ling did not want to go home. However, since the wards were all upied, she had no choice but to follow the chauffeur back.

    Senior Zhang shook his head. They were really an unrightful couple.

    When she saw the dishes that Nanny Zhou made at home, Xia Ling did not dare to eat them. She went to the kitchen to wash some vegetables. Then, she broke an egg and cooked those ingredients using boiled water. Her cooking skills were taught by Li Lei, and she did not learn them well. Luckily, although she was clumsy, she did not overturn the entire pot likest time.

    As she cooked the vegetables, she thought of Li Lei in her heart. Mist covered her eyes, and she wanted to cry.

    Her bowl of noodles was half-cooked, but she still ate it.

    Nanny Zhou looked at her in distress but was unable to help much. She watched as Xia Ling the entire bowl of half-cooked noodles. After that, she ran to look for Pei Ziheng. ¡°Mister, are you really not going to care about Miss Ye? How will her body be able to survive at this rate?¡±

    After Xia Ling was brought back home, Pei Ziheng became nonchnt towards her again. At that time, his tone was curt. ¡°Let her do what she wants. She won¡¯t die.¡± This man was really cruel when it was time to be cruel and had no sympathy for someone else¡¯s child.

    Xia Ling¡¯s stomach was ufortable for the entire night. The next day, she went to the hospital again. These days, she made repeated trips to the hospital frequently. It really took a toll on her health as she lost a lot of weight.

    Senior Zhang looked at her and said, ¡°You aren¡¯t sick. You will be fine after eating a proper meal.¡±

    Sympathetically, he sent her away.

    Xia Ling was feeling down as she returned to the car.

    The chauffeur said, ¡°Miss Ye, how about I help you buy something to eat?¡±

    She shook her head and rejected him. She did not trust anyone near Pei Ziheng.

    The chauffeur¡¯s phone rang. He answered it for a while before putting it down. He then said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, Mr. Feng Kun is looking for you regarding something. He wants you to visit Imperial Entertainment for a while. Do you want to go?¡±

    Feng Kun?

    Why would he be looking for her at this time?

    Xia Ling was a little doubtful. Recently, due to her pregnancy, she had stopped recording songs and was on aplete break. However, doubts were doubts. She knew that Feng Kun would not look for her for no reason, so she agreed to go to Imperial Entertainment.

    When she arrived at Imperial Entertainment, everyone around turned to look at her.

    She was already five months pregnant. Although her stomach was not very big, she still showed the signs. She wore a pair of ts and carefully walked near the wall. In the crowded building, everyone looked like morous royalty. Only she looked like an unexpected alien.

    All types of eyes fell on her body. Some were envious, some were jealous, and some were ttering.

 Chapter 454 - Silent Love

    <h4>Chapter 454: Silent Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Under their gazes, Xia Ling walked into Feng Kun¡¯s office.

    Feng Kun was already waiting for her in his office. When he saw her walking in, he quickly rushed forward to support her as she walked towards a soft sofa to sit down. He also took two cushions and ced them at her waist.

    He carefully looked at her and realized that she was much frailer, paler, and thinner than before. It broke his heart.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you have suffered during this time.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and forced a smile. ¡°For my child, any suffering is worth it.¡±

    Feng Kun asked, ¡°Is it true that Pei Ziheng found out about the identity of the child?¡± He looked for Senior Zhang, and Senior Zhang said that some time ago, Xia Ling was given abortion medicine.

    Under Pei Ziheng¡¯s care, how could such a careless mistake happen to Xia Ling?

    Feng Kun guessed that perhaps Pei Ziheng was the one who did it.

    Sure enough, after hesitating, Xia Ling nodded and told him everything about what happened some time ago.

    Although the situation was in the past, Feng Kun still shuddered with fear as he listened to her story. He sympathized with Xiao Ling and resented Pei Ziheng more. ¡°That beast! How could he do such an inhumane thing?! The child is not his, so he doesn¡¯t have the right to make the decision for you at all! What he did was a vition of human rights!¡±

    ¡°How can I talk about ethics with Pei Ziheng?¡± Xia Lingmented bitterly.

    Feng Kun also knew that he was too emotional. He could not solve the problem by adding fuel to the fire. Forcing himself to calm down, he started talking to Xia Ling again. ¡°Yes, don¡¯t waste your breath on that beast. You have to take care of yourself.¡±

    He asked Xia Ling again, ¡°Did you not have a proper meal for these two days?¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Feng Kun said, ¡°That¡¯s why I told you toe today.¡±

    He turned around and took out a thermal box from the storage cab which contained a steaming hot meal. ¡°This is a meal I made myself. I don¡¯t know if it suits your tastebuds. Try some.¡±

    You¡¯re reading on  Thanks!

    Xia Ling was surprised to see it and was moved. ¡°Why would you suddenly think of cooking for me?¡±

    Feng Kun said, ¡°You haven¡¯t visited thepany for some time, and I can only find out about you through Chu Chen and Pei Ziheng. But I can¡¯t trust them. Thus, I went to the hospital yesterday to look for Senior Zhang, and he told me that you did not dare to eat anything from Pei Ziheng¡¯s house. So, I thought that I should cook for you.¡±

    After listening to him, Xia Ling was even more moved. She felt that the most worthwhile thing that she did in her past life was making a friend like Feng Kun. She sniffed as she lowered her head to look at the food. It was a meatball and vegetable porridge that was easy to digest. Just looking at it made her eager to eat it.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°If you like it, you cane to thepany every day to eat it in the future. I will bring it every day for you.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Ok.¡±

    Once the porridge entered her mouth, it exploded with vor. It was so delicious that she could not stop. She had not eaten such a delicious and nutritious meal for a long time. Soon, she finished it all, her stomach finally morefortable as the feeling of hunger weakened.

    After she finished her meal, she smiled at Feng Kun. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Feng Kun also smiled warmly. ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for so many years, why are you being so polite?¡± He also asked her, ¡°Is it delicious? What do you think? Does it need any improvement?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°It¡¯s very good. How strange...¡±

    Suddenly, she hesitated.

    ¡°What¡¯s strange?¡± Feng Kun carefully concealed a trace of tension on his face.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I rarely eat the food you cook. However, I don¡¯t know why I feel that this taste is rather familiar. It¡¯s very... sincere.¡± Xia Ling was silent for a moment before smiling. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because we¡¯ve known each other for too long.¡±

    Only then did Feng Kun sigh in relief.

    ¡°We¡¯re good friends!¡± He said.

    He got up, cleared the lunch box on the table, and poured a cup of warm water for her to drink. However, in his heart, he thought, <i>How risky. Luckily, she didn¡¯t find out. </i>How could it be possible that he made that meal? It was obviously Li Lei who sent it over after begging him to give it to Xia Ling to eat.

    Li Lei had always been concerned about her condition.

    Yesterday, the one who went to Hua Xin Women and Children¡¯s Hospital to look for Senior Zhang was not Feng Kun but Li Lei. Senior Zhang listened to his intentions and generally knew that he was the child¡¯s biological father. Although he could not tell him the identity of the child, he revealed that Xia Ling was having difficulties eating well.

    Li Lei was very distressed.

    He did not know that she had been given an abortion drug and only thought she was not eating well because she felt too sick during her pregnancy. He spent a lot of effort cooking a meal for her and asked Feng Kun to deliver it to her.

    He was afraid that she would refuse to eat it after finding out that the food was made by him. Thus, Li Lei did not even dare to use his frequently used ingredients and worked hard to especially learn new dishes. He even convinced Feng Kun that it would be best if Xiao Ling ate all three meals a day provided by him. He had especially cooked the dishes after consulting a dietitian to fit the needs of a pregnant woman.

    Feng Kun¡¯s feelings were veryplicated when he asked Li Lei, ¡°Xiao Ling is pregnant with someone else¡¯s child. Aren¡¯t you resentful?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, and he was quiet for a long time before finally saying, ¡°No matter what, I hope that she lives well.¡±

    <i>Perhaps Xiao Ling will never know the things Li Lei did for her. </i>Feng Kun could not help but sigh. Their rtionship was so difficult. If only Pei Ziheng did not meddle in their romance.

    If Xiao Ling met Li Lei from the start, would everything be different?

    Unfortunately, that did not happen.

    From that day onwards, Xia Ling wanted to look for Feng Kun every day to eat.

    However, Pei Ziheng did not allow her to do so. She was his woman, so she had to apany him for breakfast every day and wait for him toe back for dinner every night to eat with him. This was a rule.

    Xia Ling could not eat Nanny Zhou¡¯s cooking. This was perhaps a psychological rejection. Sometimes, she would feel sick after eating a bite and vomit it out like when she had just gotten pregnant. However, even so, Pei Ziheng refused to let her leave the dining table. He instructed Nanny Zhou to give her a ss of water and made her wait at the table for him to finish eating.

    This man had a calm madness when he was being cruel.

    As Xia Ling was concerned about her baby, she did not dare to be stubborn. In the morning, she would swallow insult and humiliation silently as she apanied him for breakfast and would sit in the car together to Imperial Entertainment. After that, she would look for Feng Kun to eat her portion of breakfast.

    In the evening, she would also eat some food in Feng Kun¡¯s office before going home. Then, she would continue to endure Pei Ziheng¡¯s presence without protest as he ate dinner. Sometimes at night, she would feel hungry and would eat a few packets of biscuits she kept in a small cab that she had the key for.

    Pei Ziheng knew what was going on but was not calctive about it.

    His mind was focused on something else. Very soon, the seventh day of the seventh month would be here.

    On that day, in the early morning, the sky was clear and cloudless. Bright sunlight sprinkled on the luxurious bed in the vi through the floor-to-ceiling windows as Pei Ziheng got up from the bed and pointed to a beautiful package of clothing at the bedside. He said to Xia Ling, ¡°Wear it. We¡¯re going to get the marriage certificate.¡±

 Chapter 455 - Getting Married on Chinese Valentineâ€™s Day

    <h4>Chapter 455: Getting Married on Chinese Valentine¡¯s Day</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was originally in a deep sleep. However, she was jolted awake by his sentence. During her pregnancy, she had many things in her heart, so she almost forgot about this hurdle that was approaching.

    She bit her lip and plucked her courage. ¡°When you said that you wanted to get a marriage certificate, you didn¡¯t know that my child was Li...¡± She felt guilty and asked cautiously in a low voice. ¡°So, we don¡¯t need to officially get married now. Do you think...¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Pei Ziheng knew that she did not want to get the marriage certificate and coldly interrupted her. ¡°Put on your clothes and go.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank as she tried to put up ast fight. ¡°If our marriage is official, he will be your eldest son by name. Why do you want to give this title to a child who is not destined to inherit the family business?¡±

    Suddenly, Pei Ziheng turned around and looked at her darkly. ¡°Xia Ling, listen carefully. You already agreed to give the child away once you gave birth to it. I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s a girl or boy. Once it¡¯s secretly sent away, I will publicly announce the child¡¯s death. Eldest son? It doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered. Publicly announce its death? She did not expect him to have this idea.

    However, thinking about it carefully, to Pei Ziheng, this was already the best n. The bottom line was not to leave the slightest possibility of the child inheriting the family business.

    He would also be able to marry her.

    Xia Ling murmured. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get married.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said coldly. ¡°You want to go back on your word? It¡¯s fine. I can break my promise too.¡±

    Break his promise and destroy the child.

    Xia Ling hated him for using the child to threaten her the most. However, she could not do anything about it. Her eyes turned misty as she said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, how could you be so despicable and force me to do things that I don¡¯t want to do?¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you very willing to marry me in the past?¡± Pei Ziheng stated calmly. ¡°To achieve your goal, you did not even hesitate to kill my fiancee. Now I want to marry you, but you want to flee? Not a chance.¡±

    His tone was gloomy like a voice from the depths of hell.

    Xia Ling fell silent as she knew that she could not go against him.

    Pei Ziheng pointed at the beautifully packaged clothing at the bedside again. ¡°Change.¡±

    Her hands slightly quivered as she opened the package. Inside, there was a very delicate little dress. It had deep red embroidery that looked like a blooming rose, and the skirt was decorated with gorgeous and brilliant diamonds. It was expensive and extravagant.

    Although she was only going to get a marriage certificate and there was no banquet, Pei Ziheng took this event very seriously.

    She took the clothes to the bathroom, closed the door and changed into them.

    Looking at herself in the mirror, she realized that she looked a little more lively wearing the red dress despite her paleness, looking somewhat like a new bride. Her hair was like snow, and she was beautiful and enchanting.

    When she was very young during her past life, she always dreamed about the day she would marry him.

    She thought about how she would be like on that day. Would she beautiful? Would she wear the most beautiful gown and be the happiest person in the world?

    However, now, her gown was probably the most beautiful.

    But she was the most unhappy person in the world.

    She dawdled in the bathroom for a long time and only slowly walked out when Pei Ziheng hurried her.

    Looking at her, there was a sh of amazement in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re really beautiful.¡± He said.

    At this time, he had also changed his clothes. He was wearing a finely crafted suit which was as ck as the night sky matched with an elegant burgundy tie and diamond tie clips for a gentle yet elegant look. Any unsuspecting little girls would be smitten with him at first sight.

    He took her hand as they walked downstairs and got on the Rolls Royce.

    Today, in the Rolls Royce, there was an unusual red rose in clear water. The chauffeur smiled and said, ¡°Mister and Miss Ye, congrattions.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was in a good mood, so he said to the chauffeur, ¡°You have to call her madam in the future.¡±

    The chauffeur found it humorous and smiled. ¡°Yes. Congrattions madam.¡±

    Pei Ziheng gave him a veryrge red packet.

    The chauffeur beamed as he took it and said a few auspicious words before steadily driving the car.

    However, Xia Ling was in a bad mood. She knew that she could not object and was very quiet for the entire journey. Pei Ziheng also did not say anything and only held her hand tightly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s fingers were cold, and her stomach faintly hurt again.

    She said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t feel well.¡±

    Pei Ziheng slightly frowned. He warmly said, ¡°Rest on my shoulder for a while. We will be there very soon.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°My stomach hurts. I want to go to the hospital.¡±

    Pei Ziheng thought that she was pretending, so he intensified his grip around her hand unconsciously. She yelped in pain before he slowly let go of her again. Pei Ziheng¡¯s tone was slightly heavier. ¡°Xia Ling, no matter how ufortable you are, you have to tolerate it. We must settle our marriage today. After that, you can go to the hospital if you want. After we get our marriage certificate, I will take you there.¡±

    Thus, Xia Ling stopped talking. The pain in her lower abdomen gradually vanished. She sighed in relief. At the same time, she felt that the pain just now was only her imagination.

    The car reached the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

    On such a good day like the Chinese Valentine¡¯s Day, many people were there to get a marriage certificate. Couples lined up at the Civil Affairs Bureau, and it was extremely crowded. There were also many reporters and fans who knew that today was the day she was marrying Pei Ziheng and rushed to the vicinity early in the morning to wait for them. It was really bustling with activity there.

    Under the eyes of the public, Pei Ziheng could not skip the queue easily, so he instructed the chauffeur to queue for them while he waited with Xia Ling in the car. A few bodyguards protected the Rolls Royce and made a cordon.

    The car was quiet, perhaps too quiet. The vague pain in Xia Ling¡¯s lower abdomen started toe back again. She was uneasy as it turned out that the pain she felt in the morning was not a hallucination. At this point, she no longer cared about getting married. She said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, I really need to go to the hospital.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°It¡¯ll be our turn very soon.¡±

    ¡°I want to go to the hospital!¡± Xia Ling red at him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Xia Ling, even if you are going to die, you have to do it after we get our marriage certificate.¡±

    Xia Ling shivered in her heart. It was as if this was the first day she met this man.

    She looked at him sorrowfully like she was looking at a stranger.

    The pain in her lower abdomen intensified. She was really worried about the condition of her child and broke out in cold sweat.

    However, Pei Ziheng still thought that she was faking it or did not even care if her stomach hurt. He only shut his lips tightly and coldly held her hand as he waited.

    The long queue in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a marriage certificate slowly moved. After a long time, the chauffeur called him. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    Pei Ziheng went to support Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling desperately struggled as she said, ¡°My stomach hurts. I want to get off the car.¡±

 Chapter 456 - Princess Carry

    <h4>Chapter 456: Princess Carry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was icy. ¡°Xia Ling, you better be serious and obediently sign our marriage certificate. After that, I will immediately send you to the hospital. If you make trouble out of nothing, you will bear the consequences yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling was hurting more and more, but she did not dare to disobey Pei Ziheng¡¯smand. With his help, she got off the car.

    The bodyguards were already in position from the Rolls Royce to the doorstep of the Civil Affairs Bureau, making the short stretch of road like a red carpet. It was very exciting as there were crowds of people everywhere. Some of them came today to get a marriage certificate, some were reporters and paparazzi trying to grab a slice of the news, and some were fans who had gotten wind of the news.

    Xia Ling tried to look energetic as she did not want to disy a painful look in front of the public, and her charming little red dress covered her paleness. With her hair that was like snow and her exquisite essories, she walked beside the tall and handsome Pei Ziheng like a happy new bride.

    There were screams, cheers, and wishes of blessings as they walked into the Civil Affairs Bureau.

    However, inside the Civil Affairs Bureau, it was very quiet; there were no noisy, interfering people. Under the bodyguards¡¯ protection, they walked into a small office to go through the formalities. There was only one clerk inside.

    The apanying bodyguards pulled out chairs for Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling and asked them to sit down.

    Seeing such an arrangement, the clerk unconsciously sat up. He had just got the job not long ago, and it was the first time he was helping a bigshot register his marriage. Thus, he was rather nervous and stuttered. ¡°Both of you, please sit. Con... congrattions. Miss Y... Ye, you¡¯re really beautiful.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s lower abdomen was still painful, so she did not answer him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face fell a little. Could it be that this small clerk dared to tease his woman?

    The clerk was scared by his expression. Immediately, he kept silent like a cicada in cold weather and handed them a nk marriage certificate. ¡°Please... please sign here.¡± He said.

    Pei Ziheng hurriedly signed his name on the marriage certificate. Then, he handed the pen to Xia Ling. ¡°Xia Ling, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    Xia Ling stomach hurt more intensely, and cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

    She forcefully bit her lips until they turned white to prevent herself from screaming.

    Even the clerk in registration office saw that there was something wrong and asked with concern, ¡°Miss Ye, you don¡¯t look too well. Are you ok? Do you need me to pour some hot water for you?¡±

    Xia Ling did not have the strength to answer him. Trembling, she took the pen from Pei Ziheng. Right now, she could only quickly sign this marriage certificate and sell herself. Only then would he send her to the hospital. She was in so much pain that she could not think anymore. Her mind was muddled, and she felt some warmth and dampness between her legs. Perhaps she was bleeding.

    This knowledge made her more afraid.

    She tried to hold the pen a few times but could barely hold it. Cold sweat wet her eyshes. She wanted to sign her name on the marriage certificate, but she did not have any strength.

    Beside her, Pei Ziheng coldly looked at her. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend. It¡¯s useless.¡±

    Xia Ling was hurting so badly that even breathing was difficult. The ck nib made a messy scribble on the marriage certificate. Suddenly, an intense pain struck her lower abdomen. She slumped forward and lost consciousness.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye!¡±

    Everyone eximed at the same time.

    Pei Ziheng quickly held her and carried her skinny body. His hands reached out to see if she was still breathing. Thankfully, she was.

    ¡°Hurry! Get on the car and drive to the hospital!¡± He instructed the chauffeur as he ran outside.

    ¡°Hey, wait!¡± Behind the counter, the small clerk called out. ¡°What about the marriage certificate?¡±

    Although Pei Ziheng had just signed it, that scribble Miss Ye did before she fainted was not counted as a signature. The small clerk was in a dilemma. Should he enter their marriage registration information into the system filing database? Had these two peoplepleted their marriage registration?

    Pei Ziheng paused in his footsteps. ¡°We¡¯re already married. Record it down.¡±

    The clerk was in a difficult situation. ¡°But Miss Ye hasn¡¯t signed yet.¡±

    Thus, Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling back. He held one of her hands and stuffed a ck pen into her other hand. After that, he messily wrote ¡°Ye Xingling¡± on the certificate.

    The clerk¡¯s expression changed. It can¡¯t be! Was he signing for her?

    He hesitatingly said, ¡°This... This is against the rules.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see her take the pen to sign?¡± Pei Ziheng was very impatient and coldly spat.

    This... Wasn¡¯t this distorted logic? The clerk was horrified. He had never encountered such a situation before. In the presence of the most ruthless and powerful business tycoon in themercial world, he was at a loss for words.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at the fainted Xia Ling. ¡°Record it. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences.¡± Xiao Ling was still in aa, and he did not have time to speak nonsense with this small clerk.

    The clerk was frightened by his takedown and said instinctively, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Pei Ziheng harried Xia Ling and rushed out without looking back.

    It was still crowded with people outside the Civil Affairs Bureau.

    Countless people were waiting for them toe out.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to rush out but stopped for a moment at the entrance. He turned Xia Ling¡¯s head towards his chest and used his arms to cover her face before walking out.

    Wow... Ye Xingling was actually being carried by Pei Ziheng!

    They were just so in love!

    There was an uproar in the crowd, and the shutters and screams rang.

    No one found out that Xia Ling had fainted. They only thought that she was shy and refused to show her face. The way Pei Ziheng held her was too beautiful, like a scene in an idol drama. His tall and formally dressed figure looked like a god against the light as he held a girl wearing a gorgeous dress in his arms. Her long hair was flying, and it slightly revealed her neck which was as white as a jade.

    The fans screamed as they could not contain their excitement seeing such a perfect match made in heaven!

    Only the bodyguards looked serious. They opened the door for Pei Ziheng, escorted him and Xia Ling into the car, and immediately closed the door.

    Pei Ziheng said to the chauffeur, ¡°Go!¡±

    The driver stepped on the gas pedal and sped to the hospital as quickly as possible.

    Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling as he directly rushed to the obstetrics and gynecology department. The doctors there were also scared by her condition as they immediately tried to rescue her. It was difficult, but they were finally able to stabilize her vital signs.

    Pei Ziheng stayed beside Xia Ling¡¯s bed and tightly held her hand.

    Just now, he thought that Xia Ling was faking the pain in her stomach, but he did not think that it was real. Just now, the doctor told him that she had some signs of miscarriage and might have been emotionally provoked.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her pale cheeks with a dark expression.

    It was a long time before Xia Ling finally woke up from hera.

    She was put on a drip to protect her fetus.

 Chapter 457 - Wedding Candies

    <h4>Chapter 457: Wedding Candies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She weakly looked at Pei Ziheng and asked, ¡°Is the child ok?¡±

    Pei Ziheng turned cold. He was just showing concern for her, but once he heard her ask about the spawn of the devil immediately after she woke up, he was boiling with anger again.

    ¡°It¡¯s not dead. Such a pity.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling did not expect him to answer her like that. Looking at him, tears flowed out.

    This small life was hard toe by. It did not have the protection of its biological father and had to live under the surveince of another man. Was it really able to survive?

    Seeing her cry, Pei Ziheng felt more agitated. ¡°The child is safe. Why are you still crying? Let me tell you, Xia Ling, you¡¯re my wife now. Don¡¯t cry for irrelevant people.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not your wife.¡± Xia Ling weakly said.

    Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°You¡¯ve already signed the marriage certificate.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t sign it.¡± Xia Ling protested stubbornly.

    ¡°You¡¯ve signed it.¡± Pei Ziheng took out the marriage certificate for her to see. On it, the name ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was clearly written in ck ink.

    This was inconceivable to Xia Ling. She clearly remembered that before she fainted, she only drew a scribble on the document. In fact, the scribble was still there! However, what was with the extra signature there?

    ¡°I did not write that at all!¡± Xia Ling said angrily.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°Since you¡¯ve already signed it, and it¡¯s registered in the system, from now on, you¡¯re my legal wife. No one can change that.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and refused to admit it. ¡°That¡¯s not my handwriting!¡± How could she marry him like this? She was forced to sign it without anyone asking her if she was willing or not!

    Pei Ziheng calmly replied, ¡°You can try doing a handwriting verification.¡±

    You¡¯re reading on B oxnovel.c om Thanks!

    Xia Ling became disappointed. The signature on the marriage certificate was very simr to her own handwriting. She guessed that it was signed by Pei Ziheng instead of her. In the beginning, Pei Ziheng taught her to write, so their handwritings were very simr. They could be faked without much effort.

    Even if she did a handwriting verification, she was afraid that it would not be able to distinguish the real from the fake.

    ¡°You¡¯re despicable.¡± Xia Ling spat.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I promised you that I would allow you to give birth to that spawn of a devil. You also promised to marry me. It¡¯s a fair agreement as we both agreed on the terms. If you break your promise, I can also break mine.¡±

    This threatening sentence again.

    Xia Ling was speechless. Suddenly, she felt dispirited and turned around.

    Pei Ziheng sat beside the bed for a while. After seeing that her condition was stable, he got up and left.

    Outside the ward, Chu Chen had arrived some time ago and was waiting there with the chauffeur. He was always very meticulous when serving his master. Whenever his master had troubles, he would appear immediately to help him out. At this time, he said respectfully to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Congrattions on a happy and evesting marriage, Boss.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at his loyal subordinate and felt much better after being downcast just now.

    His lips curled into a smile and said that he would look for someone to give him a red packet tomorrow.

    Chu Chen also smiled and thanked him. Amused, he asked, ¡°Will there be wedding candies?¡±

    ¡°Of course. How can there not be?¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°I¡¯ve already given them to the entire office. Oh, and also...¡± He slightly paused for a moment. His smile vanished, and his expression became somewhat gloomy. ¡°Send one to Li Lei.¡±

    What was the boss trying to do? Show off?

    Chu Chen was shocked. This was so immature, how old was he... No, he probably never did this before. It looked like that Ye Xingling was really different and had a very important position in the boss¡¯ heart.

    Chu Chen thought about it, he bowed his head and acknowledged him.

    Skyart Entertainment.

    Recently, Li Lei was in a bad mood. The media was filled with reports about Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng¡¯s wedding, and there were also many photos from different angles of them walking side by side as they entered the Civil Affairs Bureau and of Pei Ziheng carrying Xia Ling out of the Civil Affairs Bureau. He helped her avoid the cameras, and it looked like there was a great tenderness between the couple.

    He tore up all of those newspaper reports and threw them in the rubbish bin.

    Outside his office, someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± Li Lei said curtly.

    The person who went in was Su Tang. She was holding arge gift box in his hand. ¡°Young Master, your package.¡± She gestured gracefully and spoke to Li Lei using her warmest tone.

    Originally, she had been far removed from Li Lei¡¯s side. Luckily, due to themercial war between Skyart Entertainment and Imperial Entertainment, Li Leicked subordinates and transferred her back as his special assistant. Su Tang had always been a clever woman and knew very well that she had offended Li Lei greatly when she sabotaged Xia Ling. Now that she had returned, she was especially cautious and did not mention anything rted to Xia Ling in front of him.

    However, this time, this situation could not be avoided.

    Today, when she went to the front desk of Skyart Entertainment, she saw arge group of people surrounding it.

    She frowned and was irritated by the group of people blocking the way when she heard a staff member scream with joy. ¡°Special Assistant Su. It¡¯s Special Assistant Su!¡±

    Arge group of people looked at her with different expressions, and suddenly, she felt very ufortable.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She asked while remaining in an elegant stance.

    ¡°There¡¯s a package for boss over there.¡± One of the staff members pointed at the front desk.

    Su Tang looked at the direction she was pointing at and saw a luxurious gift box on the marble table on the front desk. It was veryrge, sparkled, was adorned with pearls and roses and decorated with pinkce. There was also a big love balloon tied on the handle.

    A strong princess style.

    <i>This is... young master¡¯s package?</i>

    Su Tang almost fainted. No matter what, this did not correspond with the young master¡¯s style.

    The young girl at the front desk stood up respectfully and whispered to Su Tang, ¡°It¡¯s from Imperial Entertainment. A wedding candy.¡±

    Her statement was short, but Su Tang immediately understood why so many people had gathered around. Recently, the news of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman Pei Ziheng and actress Ye Xingling going to the Civil Affairs Bureau spread like wildfire. Everyone knew that Li Lei was Ye Xingling¡¯s ex-boyfriend. Thus, sending a wedding candy to him was a way of showing off.

    What revenge and what resentment?

    Su Tang had a headache. The young master was in a bad mood at this time. If he saw such a big box of wedding candy, he would go crazy. She really did not want to deal with his wrath, so she instructed the front desk girl. ¡°Throw away this wedding candy. Don¡¯t let the boss see it.¡±

    The front desk girl looked at her with some distress.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Su Tang was annoyed.

    The front desk girl sighed and said, ¡°Boss specifically said that you are not allowed to intercept anything delivered to him. He said that he would deal with those items himself.¡±

    Su Tang was slightly startled. After that, her expression became as cold as a jade.

    What was wrong with Li Lei? Did he not trust her? In the past when she was serving him, she had the right to screen what to report and what not to report. However, what about now? Even if he let her return to his side, why did he start to take precautions and be so distant?

 Chapter 458 - Li Leiâ€™s Call

    <h4>Chapter 458: Li Lei¡¯s Call</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was all Ye Xingling¡¯s fault.

    Su Tang looked at that wedding candy box that was decorated withce and pink hearts and sincerely wished Pei Ziheng and Ye Xingling evesting happiness. That way, she would nevere back to harass her young master.

    Maybe in time, the young master would be able to forget Ye Xingling.

    And ept her.

    With this thought, Su Tang felt that Ye Xingling and Pei Ziheng¡¯s wedding was not something bad.

    Beside her, the front desk girl urged. ¡°Special assistant Su, please deliver this wedding candy to the boss. It¡¯s too eye-catching if it¡¯s ced at the door.¡± Many people wereing and going near the front desk, and this box of wedding candy attracted many people to gather there. It was the source of all the gossip in thepany.

    The front desk girls were troubled. If the box were stuck there, it would really affect their jobs.

    Su Tang really did not want to deliver it.

    This box of wedding candy was a tant p on Li Lei¡¯s face. Anyone who delivered it to him would be unlucky.

    Su Tang asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Tan Ying?¡± Now, although she had returned to Li Lei¡¯s side, Tan Ying had not been transferred away. This meant that Li Lei had two special assistants. One was her, and the other one was Tan Ying.

    Besides her, Tan Ying was also qualified to hand things to Li Lei.

    ¡°Special Assistant just entered the office. He saw this box of wedding candy and then... he said that he remembered something urgent and needed to fly to Tokyo. After that, he hurriedly left.¡± The front desk girl said.

    Even though Su Tang was good at exercising self-control, her expression darkened.

    What urgent matter required him to fly to Tokyo? Tan Ying obviously did not want to deliver the wedding candy and used that as an excuse to avoid it!

    ¡°Special Assistant Su, you don¡¯t have anything urgent, right?¡± The front desk asked carefully.

    Su Tang was speechless.

    She really wanted to have something urgent to attend to, but life did not turn out the way she had nned, and her most pressing matter was a document that she needed Li Lei to sign. As such, she could not avoid this matter.

    She secretly scolded herself and took the box of wedding candy.

    She stood outside Li Lei¡¯s office and ced the box of wedding candy on the sofa by the window. Without a trace, she turned around and took out the document that needed Li Lei¡¯s signature and ced it on his desk.

    ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s also this document which requires your signature.¡±

    Li Lei quickly signed it and asked Su Tang, ¡°What¡¯s the package that you just brought in?¡±

    Su Tang was quiet for a while before saying, ¡°It came in a big box. Even I don¡¯t know what it is. Young Master, open it slowly. I will leave first.¡± After that, she rushed out of the office.

    Li Lei did not care much and leisurely walked to the sofa to open the package.

    However, once he caught a glimpse of it, he paused in his footsteps.

    On the gorgeous pink big box, there was a striking card with the words: Wishing the newly married couple Mr. Pei Ziheng and Miss Ye Xingling a lifetime of happiness together after tying the knot.

    Li Lei tensed as he stared at these words. No wonder Su Tang ran away so quickly. How was it possible that she did not know what was sent over? Pei Ziheng... Ye Xingling...

    A lifetime of happiness together after tying the knot...

    The words on the small card were extremely ring, and they gradually turned blurry in front of his eyes.

    He remembered that a long time ago, someone wanted to forcefully marry her. He took a whole team of people to save her and left in power and prestige as he carried her to safety. At that time, she wore a white wedding dress and softly agreed to be his girlfriend. He felt like the happiest person in the world.

    But what about now?

    If he went to steal her on Chinese Valentine¡¯s Day when they were getting their marriage certificate, what would happen?

    He already knew that she was going to officiate her marriage on that day, but he did not steal her back because he finally understood that the reason why he seeded that time was not that he was powerful. Rather, it was because she was willing to leave with him.

    However, this time, she would not be willing to do so.

    She had already tied the knot with another man.

    The phrase was erged in his mind, and it made it hard for him to breath. He reached out to take a lighter and burned the small card into ashes.

    He pressed thendline and called for Su Tang toe in.

    ¡°Settle it for me.¡±

    He did not clearly say what it was, but Su Tang knew he was referring to the box of wedding candy. Su Tang carefully agreed. After some hesitation, she still advised him. ¡°Young Master, you will find someone more worthy of your love.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her coldly.

    He rarely used such a fierce expression, and it caused Su Tang¡¯s heart to skip a beat. She quickly shut her mouth as she did not dare to say anything more.

    ¡°Get out.¡± He ordered.

    Su Tang knew that he was in a bad mood and did not dare to stay any longer. Hurriedly, she took that big box of wedding candy out.

    The office door was closed.

    Li Leiy on the sofa for a long time before dialing Pei Ziheng¡¯s number.

    Pei Ziheng was currently sunbathing with Xia Ling when a pleasing ring tone rang. He nced at the caller ID and realized that it was actually Li Lei. He could not help but feel a little strange and rmed. Why would his love rival that lost call him? Looking at Xia Ling, Pei Ziheng got up and walked a few meters away before answering the call.

    ¡°Treat her better.¡± Li Lei said directly. ¡°Otherwise, I can take her back anytime.¡±

    ¡°By yourself?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was still gentle although he was being condescending and domineering. ¡°She won¡¯t go with you.¡± With that vow, Xiao Ling would onlymit to him.

    Li Lei challenged. ¡°You can give it a try.¡±

    Pei Ziheng snorted and hung up the phone. He felt a little irritated. The feeling of having a love rival monitoring him at the side was horrible. Although he sounded arrogant over the phone, he knew very well who the true loser was. Considering the real father of Xiao Ling¡¯s child was not him, he had already been defeated a long time ago.

    His victory was just a front.

    He put down the phone, turned around, and looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling came over some time ago with one hand ced on her lower abdomen and looked at him rather destely. She overheard some parts of the phone call just now and guessed who had called... She really missed Li Lei, the child¡¯s biological father. She eagerly listened to what Pei Ziheng said and guessed what Li Lei had said over the phone.

    She silently said to her child, ¡°Baby, that¡¯s your biological father...¡±

    He was at the other end of the horizon.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened and warned her. ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to eavesdrop when I¡¯m on the phone in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and did not say anything as she watched Pei Ziheng walk past her.

    Her stomach grewrger every day.

    She did not go to Imperial Entertainment frequently anymore. asionally, when she went, everyone would respectfully give way to her when they saw her and bow as they called her ¡°madam.¡± Even artistes who secretly resented her no longerpeted with her. Marrying into an eminent family was a divide that was too obvious. A saying that describes this well would be: When you have far exceeded your kind, they stop resenting you and start looking up to you.

    Xia Ling did not like to be treated so differently by others.

    However, now that things were this way, what could she do about it?

    She returned to visit the family n once with Pei Ziheng.

    The elders in the family did not like her very much, but because she was pregnant, they could not make things difficult for her at face level. In contrast, they suppressed their grievances as they carefully made concessions for her and wholeheartedly wished for her child to be a girl because such a lowly person like her was not qualified of giving birth to a boy for Pei Ziheng.

 Chapter 459 - Send Him Back

    <h4>Chapter 459: Send Him Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling already knew about the attitude of the elders in the Pei Family towards civilian girls from her past life. Seeing their lukewarm treatment towards her was not a surprise. Besides, she also did not care. Even if she gave birth to a son, she did not wish for her son to inherit the Pei Family business. What they thought of her did not matter at all.

    Pei Ziheng also hoped that she would give birth to a girl as it was better than her giving birth to Li Lei¡¯s eldest son even though Li Lei did not know of the existence of his son.

    Unfortunately, when Xia Ling went to the hospital for a check, she found out that her child was a boy.

    Xia Ling¡¯s feelings wereplicated.

    She originally hoped to give birth to a girl because a girl would not closely resemble her father like a boy. Pei Ziheng would also not be able to tell who her biological father was. However, now that the secret of the baby¡¯s identity was exposed, it did not matter if he resembled Li Lei.

    Since she was giving birth to a boy, it would be able to remind her of Li Lei more.

    Her heart was filled with joy. As she gently stroked her lower abdomen, she let out a satisfied smile.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was very dark. He secretly made up his mind that once the child was born, he would immediately send him far away. Pei Ziheng could not tolerate that bastard child who looked like his love rival upying his woman.

    On the way home.

    Xia Ling did not know about his thoughts. She raised her head and said to him, ¡°Many baby products at home should be changed. We should remove the dolls and small flowers and buy things for boys.¡±

    Pei Ziheng originally wanted to say that he would send the child away once he was born, so what was the point of going through all that trouble. However, once he saw the happy smile on her face, he changed his mind. Why should he say those words and cause another conflict with her? Once her child was born, it would be the same after he sent him away.

    Thus, he said, ¡°Let the chauffeur apany you.¡±

    In reality, when he had apanied her to purchase female baby products in the past, he had already secretly bought a few items for boys. However, those items were only for the heirs of his family. The bastard son in her stomach that was Li Lei¡¯s was not worthy of them. Pei Ziheng did not intend to apany her to purchase items.

    Xia Ling understood that he was already giving in a lot by allowing his chauffeur to apany her.

    The next day, apanied by the chauffeur, she went out and purchased a lot of things to rece all the female items in the baby room. Actually, she did not really know much about what boys liked. She only bought a few toy cars, toy guns, and a furry leopard figurine using Li Lei¡¯s hobbies as a reference.

    Since he was Li Lei¡¯s son, he should probably like them too.

    After Pei Ziheng saw those things, his face darkened. He immediately threw the leopard doll out, and even the toy cars and toy guns were not spared as they were all swept into the rubbish bin.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what are you doing?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xia Ling, I know what you¡¯re thinking. However, don¡¯t even think about getting things that will remind you of that man. I will prepare toys for your son. These aren¡¯t allowed.¡±

    Xia Ling fell silent.

    Sure enough, Pei Ziheng prepared toys for the child. With one look, she could tell that he did not put in the effort at all. There were cheap building blocks and nes made of strange materials that had a pungent odor.

    Xia Ling refused to ept them. ¡°These toys aren¡¯t environmentally friend and will harm the baby.¡±

    Pei Ziheng sneered. ¡°After you send him away, and he joins someone else¡¯s family, he won¡¯t be living in suchfortable house like this one. He should adapt to the life of civilians earlier.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed in her heart.

    She remembered her agreement with Pei Ziheng, and her heart sank. ¡°Do you think we could...¡±

    ¡°No way.¡± Pei Ziheng immediately interrupted her.

    ¡°I beg you.¡± She said softly.

    Pei Ziheng coldly looked at her. ¡°Abort it or send it away. You can only choose one.¡±

    Xia Ling face turned pale, and she sank into hopelessness.

    She treasured every minute and second of her unborn child even more as if the time they had together was heaven¡¯s way of showing mercy to them. She was consumed with thoughts and gradually became thinner.

    Nanny Zhou was very worried and said, ¡°Madam, you can¡¯t continue being like this. Your child won¡¯t be able to tolerate it much longer. You must be healthier and stronger.¡± Although she knew that madam¡¯s child was not Mister¡¯s, he was still a life, and her maternal side could not bear to watch madam and her child grow weaker with every passing day.

    Xia Ling also felt that she could not continue this way. She was too depressed. Thus, to change her mood, she went to Imperial Entertainment sometimes to look for Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun asked her what was wrong, so she told him about her current situation. She bleakly asked, ¡°Will I never have the chance to see my child grow up? What will he be in the future? What sort of family will Pei Ziheng send him to?¡±

    Feng Kun sighed and thought about it for a long time. ¡°Xiao Ling, although you can¡¯t stop Pei Ziheng from sending the child away, can you let him send the child back to Li Lei? That way, it¡¯s better than sending him to a random family?¡±

    Send the child back to Li Lei?

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes shined brightly. That was a good idea. Li Lei was so gentle. He would definitely be a good father. However, this joy onlysted for a short moment before her expression darkened again. ¡°I can¡¯t let Li Lei know about the existence of this child. Only by cutting off all ties with Li Lei will he be able to forget me, marry someone else, and lead a peaceful life.¡±

    Feng Kun sighed in his heart. This girl who was so arrogant in her past life was actually willing to make such a huge sacrifice now. She would rather bear all the pain in silence and let the person she loved be happy.

    This sort of growth was the result of enduring a lot of pain in her life.

    He was a bit sad, but it was not good to continue persuading her. After all, this situation was too personal, and everyone had their way to deal with it. Even if he gave her a suggestion as a friend, there was no way to make the decision for her.

    Feng Kun lightly patted Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Think about it well. No matter what your final decision is, I will always stand on your side.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ah Kun.¡± Xia Ling lightly said.

    She returned to the vi and spent many days thinking about her conversation with Feng Kun, but she was still hesitant to make a decision. Should she send her child back to Li Lei? If Li Lei knew that the child was his, how would he react? Would it trigger the butterfly effect and cause him to ¡°save¡± her again?

    After excessive thinking, her fetus felt somewhat unsteady again.

    She already had several experiences of almost getting an abortion so now, Xia Ling was very carefully. She quickly forced herself to stop thinking about these problems and focused on taking care of her fetus. She spent more effort than ordinary pregnant women to protect her child. This child had experienced so much hardship, and it was very difficult for her to keep him alive.

 Chapter 460 - Expected Date of Childbirth

    <h4>Chapter 460: Expected Date of Childbirth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Unknowingly, the expected date of childbirth arrived. She admitted herself into the hospital in advance.

    Her body condition was still not good, and the doctor suggested that she choose a cesarean.

    However, Xia Ling refused to listen as she heard that natural childbirth was better and would rather endure the pain to deliver her child naturally. Pei Ziheng initially objected to normal delivery. He did not care about the child¡¯s health at all and only cared if her life was in danger.

    However, Chu Chen said to him, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not bad if madam chooses normal childbirth. After that, her body will recover quickly, and you can have another child with her very soon.¡±

    What he said corresponded with Pei Ziheng¡¯s thoughts.

    Thus, he agreed to Xia Ling¡¯s request for natural childbirth.

    On this night, Xia Ling, who was in the ward, felt a faint pain in her lower abdomen. She was very ufortable. Guessing that she was about to go intobor, she pushed the nurse who was beside her and asked her to look for someone.

    The nurse hurriedly looked for a doctor and reported it to Pei Ziheng.

    The doctor did a check for Xia Ling and said, ¡°Your birth canal is not open yet, so you will continue to wait in the ward. It¡¯s still too early for your child to be born.¡± He also instructed her not to yell and try to save her strength until it was time for the actual childbirth.

    Xia Ling listened to the doctor very seriously and endured the pain.

    The doctor went out.

    In the VIP ward, only her and the nurse who was apanying her remained.

    Pei Ziheng did note. This was not his child, so he did not care. In fact, he hoped that this child died in the process of birth. It was also better that he did note. Otherwise, Xia Ling would worry about Pei Ziheng murdering her child when she was in painfulbor.

    Bursts of pain struck her one after another, and she gradually lost her ability to think as if she were left alone in this world with an enormous burden of pain. She was consciously holding the amulet that she secretly carried around in her hand. The amulet that was made of paulownia wood turned warm because of her grip, and the birth chart written in an ancientnguage seemed to give her strength.

    It was like Li Lei was beside her and her son.

    Twilight slowly approached.

    Pei Ziheng received a call from the nurse at night. Initially, he did not intend to go to the hospital to see Xia Ling. However, after he hung up the phone, he was unable to sleep soundly the entire night. Once he closed his eyes, she consumed his entire mind.

    He was annoyed. He got up very early in the morning and instructed the chauffeur to send him to the hospital.

    He looked at Xia Ling through a hospital window far away and asked the doctor, ¡°How is her condition?¡±

    The doctor said, ¡°Looking at her situation, I don¡¯t think she can give birth soon. I¡¯m afraid that she might only go intobor tonight or tomorrow.¡± Women who gave birth either had a smooth process or a troublesome and lengthy one.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her painful expression through the ss. It was strange. The child was not his, and it was obvious that this was her own undoing, but why did his heart hurt so much?

    Looking at his expression, the doctor carefully asked, ¡°Mr. Pei, are you going in to see Mrs. Pei?¡± Other husbands were very nervous when their wives were going through childbirth, especially before they went intobor. They really could not wait to apany their wives and give them strength. However, Mr. Pei seemed too calm. Although he came to the ward, he did not even go in to say something encouraging to his wife.

    Pei Ziheng heard the doctor¡¯s question and hesitated for a while.

    He did not know what sort of attitude he should use to face her in the ward. Should he go in and encourage her to safely give birth to a child that was not his? He admitted to himself that he could not be so open-minded.

    Xia Ling was enduring more and more pain in the ward. There was another wave of intense pain, and she felt like her entire body was being pulled apart. She was now in a trance-like state and subconsciously clenched the amulet in her hand.

    Would she die here?

    She vaguely thought. No, with Li Lei¡¯s amulet, she would not die. She would definitely live on to give birth to her child and protect him.

    ¡°Mr. Pei, go in and take a look.¡± The doctor said. ¡°Women are very vulnerable at this time. They really need thefort and support of their husbands. I have seen the rtionship of couples change because of childbirth. Many wives resent their husbands if they do not care about them at this time. There were also many meticulous husbands who were considerate of their wives during this time, causing their wives to be even more dedicated to them.¡±

    What he said moved Pei Ziheng slightly.

    Although he did not care about the child, he cared about whether Xiao Ling would be dedicated to him. Seeing her face turn pale from the pain, he pushed the ward door open and walked in.

    ¡°Mr. Pei.¡± The nurse saw him, quickly got up, and respectfully gave up her position next to the bed.

    ¡°Madam, Mr. Pei is here to see you.¡± She said to Xia Ling who was in a semia in bed.

    Xia Ling was vaguely aware that Pei Ziheng was here, but she did not have the strength to care. All of her energy was being used to tolerate the searing pain. She had always been afraid of pain. In the past, she would even cry in front of her lover and throw a tantrum when she was pricked by a rose.

    However, now, she could only withstand the pain herself no matter how bad it was.

    She ignored Pei Ziheng and continued to focus on tolerating the pain.

    ¡°How many... inches... has my cervix dted...¡± She asked breathlessly.

    The nurse looked at her and said, ¡°It¡¯s still early. I don¡¯t even think it has dted 1cm.¡± This nurse had given birth to a child before and knew that she could only be sent to the delivery room when her cervix had dted 10cm. She said to Xia Ling, ¡°Madam, you have to tolerate this a little more. All women have to go through this.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have the strength to reply. Beads of sweat were dripping from her forehead.

    Pei Ziheng took a white towel and wiped her sweat off. He gently said to her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m here.¡±

    However, Xia Ling slightly cowered.

    After she saw that he was here, she felt even more uneasy. Now that she could not move on the bed, she waspletely helpless if he wanted to harm her child. She did not dare to say what she was worried about as she was afraid that it would anger him. Her face became ashen.

    Pei Ziheng only thought that she was in pain, so he held her hand.

    ¡°If you¡¯re in pain, just shout it out.¡± He said. ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡± As he did not care about the child, he did not do any research on childbirth and did not know that the doctor instructed her not to scream now as it would waste her energy.

    Listening to what he said, Xia Ling was even more convinced that he wanted to murder her child. She became tenser as she held the amulet tighter and prayed for the amulet to give her strength to get past this hurdle smoothly and safely.

    Pei Ziheng suspected that she was holding on to something in her hand as she tightly clenched her fist. He could not help but force it open to see what was inside. He was stronger than her, so he easily opened her fist without much effort. At once, his face was discolored. It turned out to be the amulet that Li Lei gave her!

 Chapter 461 - The Birth of a Child

    <h4>Chapter 461: The Birth of a Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Xia Ling, I allowed you to keep it, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can bring it everywhere with you!¡± Pei Ziheng said coldly.

    Xia Ling spent a few seconds before she clearly understood what he said and was frightened. He wanted to hide that amulet, but he snatched it before she could. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be holding on to this sort of thing.¡± He said domineeringly as he nced at her coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t use this amulet as an excuse to keep you safe. I will ensure your safety.¡±

    ¡°Give... It... Back...¡± Her voice was hoarse and her mind was in a mess. The lower half of her body hurt immensely, and she felt that her body was being ripped apart and fried in a frying pan. ¡°Give me back... the amulet...¡±

    Pei Ziheng coldly looked at her. ¡°I will apany you. The amulet will not.¡±

    He gave the amulet to the nurse and instructed. ¡°Take it back.¡±

    The nurse looked at the pitiful madam on the bed. She already had tragic childbirth but was still arguing with her husband at this critical moment. However, this was not something she could control, so she carefully acknowledged him and took the amulet out of the ward.

    ¡°Give it back!¡± Xia Ling cried.

    The pain of childbirth was so intense, but she held back because she was afraid of losing strength and could not deliver the babyter. She also had the belief that if she had the amulet, it was like Li Lei was by her side, and she would be fearless.

    However, now, the amulet was taken away.

    Her belief was falling apart.

    Suddenly, she was unsure if she were able to sessfully give birth to her child.

    ¡°Give...¡± She cried out. Another wave of pain hit her and she was speechless again.

    Pei Ziheng was heartbroken seeing her in pain, but he hardened his heart and refused to give the amulet back to her. ¡°With me here, you¡¯ll be fine.¡± He said softly and calmly. ¡°I will stay by your side.¡±

    He did not believe that him, a living man, could not match up to an amulet.

    Xia Ling was about to copse. She hoarsely cried out and turned her body. She was in a very unstable state. The doctor told her not to cry or scream out unnecessarily to save her strength, but she had long forgotten about that. She was extremely scared and was consumed with irrational thoughts. What should she do? If something happened to her child, what should she do?

    ¡°Oh my god, what happened?¡± A nurse pushed the door open and was shocked by Xia Ling¡¯s condition. ¡°You can¡¯t continue like this Mrs. Pei!¡± She leaned over to check Xia Ling¡¯s condition and urgently said, ¡°Your cervix has not dted to the appropriate width. If you use all your strength now, you won¡¯t have any left to give birth to your child!¡±

    Xia Ling vaguely heard her words, and her lost logical reasoning came back. She barely controlled herself, but once her emotional breach was open, it was not easy to recover from it. She was muddle-headed and did not know how long she had waited until a nurse came in the second time. The nurse said, ¡°You can go into the delivery room now, Mrs. Pei. Don¡¯t be nervous. Good luck!¡±

    Xia Ling did not feel very lucky.

    During this period, her physical condition was very poor. She had also wasted a lot of energy arguing with Pei Ziheng just now. Right now, even if she used all of her energy, she could not sessfully push her child out. She worked hard for a long time, but her strength diminished gradually.

    The doctor and the nurse were very anxious. ¡°I don¡¯t think she is able to give birth to her child at this rate.¡±

    The doctor looked for Pei Ziheng and concisely told him about the current situation. ¡°There are two ways now,¡± the doctor said. ¡°One would be to use delivery forceps to get the child out. However, this way may cause injuries to the child such as deformities, cerebral palsy, and other unexpected problems. Of course, the child may also be safe. Another way would be to perform a cesarean section. This may hurt the woman going through childbirth more, and recovery may take a longer time. Pei Ziheng, please make a decision.¡±

    ¡°Delivery forceps.¡± Pei Ziheng said unhesitatingly.

    ¡°Mr. Pei?¡± The nurse at the side was rather shocked. Xia Ling stayed in the hospital for many days, and she knew very well that Xia Ling cared about her baby very much such that she was unwilling to let it suffer the slightest injury. If Xia Ling had a choice, she would definitely choose a cesarean section. Unfortunately, she was hurting so much that she could not think clearly, and the hospital could only ask her husband for further decisions.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to think about it for a while more?¡± The nurse asked. ¡°The technology used for cesarean section is very advanced now, while using the forceps is more dangerous.¡± It was so strange, listening to the news, this child should be the eldest son of Mr. Pei. Logically speaking, he should be more important than Mrs. Pei. How could he not care about him now?

    ¡°If the child is lost, we can have another one. There is only one Xiao Ling.¡± Pei Ziheng said lowly as he seemed to have guessed what the nurse was thinking.

    Startled, the nurse finally realized how in love this man was. He was really the best husband in China! Many people were willing to make their wives suffer for the sake of their children. However, Mr. Pei who was in a high position had endless power and could have any woman he wanted was devoted to his wife and was unwilling to let her suffer any harm.

    The nurse was extremely touched.

    However, she did not know that Pei Ziheng did not care much about the child because it was not his. He really wanted the child dead forever.

    The touched nurse went to prepare the forceps.

    ¡°Mrs. Pei, we will now use the forceps to help you get the child out.¡± The medical staff surrounded Xia Ling and said, ¡°Bear with it. Both you and your child will be safe.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to use the forceps...¡± She protested weakly, but because her voice was too soft, no one heard it.

    This was the best maternity hospital in the city. The group of doctors and nurses said the consequences were very serious in front of Pei Ziheng, but when they actually used the forceps to get the child out, they were extremely careful and did their best to protect the child.

    The child was pulled out.

    Its body was purple, drenched in blood, and its eyes were shut.

    ¡°He¡¯s not crying.¡± A nurse softly said.

    Xia Ling also realized it and was very worried. ¡°Why is he not crying?¡± She looked at the child. He was wrinkled, ugly, and scrawny looking. She did not even know if he were alive.

    Anxiously, she started crying. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    The nurse hit the child twice, but he still did not cry.

    ¡°Quickly rescue him!¡± They decided promptly. One nurse half-knelt beside Xia Ling tofort her. ¡°Mrs. Pei, don¡¯t worry too much. Our hospital encounters new infants that don¡¯t cry frequently every year. Many of them were rescued, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    How could she not worry? She supported her exhausted body as she waited for the news of her child.

 Chapter 462 - The Bleeding Did Not Stop

    <h4>Chapter 462: The Bleeding Did Not Stop</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng went in to apany her and half-knelt as he held her hand. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you ok?¡±

    She did not have the strength nor the heart to talk to him. At this time, she hated him endlessly. If this man did not take her amulet away from her hand, she would not have be unstable and lost the energy to give birth to her child. In that case, she would not have needed the forceps. If the forceps were not used, her child would have probably been safe.

    Her body trembled slightly, and she sped her hands near her chest as she prayed.

    Seeing her like that, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened. He was already thinking about what awful ce to send that spawn of the devil if he managed to survive.

    After a difficult time, the nurse ran over to report the happy news. ¡°Congrattions Mr. Pei and Mrs. Pei, the child is safe!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the child? Let me see him.¡± Xia Ling weakly said.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the incubator and should not be moved around.¡± The nurse tried to console her. ¡°Mrs. Pei, you can see the child after you take care of your body.¡±

    ¡°I want to see him now.¡± Xia Ling insisted.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t move so much now.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Xia Ling was very stubborn. The man in front of her was not her child¡¯s biological father. In such a big hospital, she was the only one rted to her child by blood. If she did not see her child personally, how could she be relieved?

    She struggled as she got up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± The nurse quickly went to support her. Suddenly, she was shocked. ¡°Oh my god, blood... Your bleeding hasn¡¯t stopped!¡± This was a sign of postpartum hemorrhage which could kill her!

    The color was drained from the nurse¡¯s face as she rushed to find the doctor-in-charge.

    Xia Ling also felt faint as she tumbled to the ground.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her body quickly and cruelly said, ¡°You better survive. I will ask them to do all they can to save your child. If you die, don¡¯t even think about protecting your child. He will be buried with you! No, he will be fed to wild dogs! I swear!¡±

    Xia Ling was scared by his ferocious look. Demon... This man was a demon...

    She was sent to the emergency rescue room for a day and a night.

    When she finally opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was her child.

    This was thanks to the doctor. He said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Madam can¡¯t be provoked anymore. The postpartum hemorrhage is very dangerous and can kill her. If she gets anxious because she can¡¯t see her child, the consequences will be dire.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s look was cold, but he still let the staff ce the child¡¯s incubator in her ward.

    Xia Ling turned her head over on the bed to look at her baby. He was a very thin baby boy, and his body was still faintly purple. He looked a little smaller than other babies. His eyes were closed, and his face was crumpled. asionally, he cried weakly like a kitten.

    Xia Ling felt sorry for him, but she did not have an ounce of strength in her body to get off the bed to take care of him.

    Her bed was right beside her child¡¯s incubator for many days.

    In the meantime, Pei Ziheng visited her.

    Xia Ling initially wanted to ignore him, but after some thought, she realized that her child¡¯s life was in his hands. So, no matter what, she could not offend him. Thus, although she was not enthusiastic when meeting him, she was also not cold.

    Both of them maintained a semnce of peace. Including the child in the incubator, in the eyes of outsiders, they seemed like a peaceful family of three. The nurses even said privately that Mr. Pei doted on his wife and took care of his wife more than his newborn son. This sort of man who loved his wife so much was rare.

    However, no one knew that it was because this child was not actually Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    The doctor said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°You must take care of your wife well. Her condition is not good. Although the bleeding from her postpartum hemorrhage was controlled, it is easy for her to get seque. If she is not careful, she may not be able to get pregnant ever again.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face darkened. ¡°No matter what, you have to ensure that she remains fertile.¡±

    The doctor replied, ¡°We will do our best.¡±

    After the doctor left, Pei Ziheng stood at the end of the corridor and lit a cigarette. He could not believe that the situation turned out to be so serious. If he had known that it would turn out like this, he would have ignored her strong resistance and would have aborted the child directly. Pei Ziheng was rather regretful and knitted his brows.

    ¡°Boss.¡± It was Chu Chen¡¯s voice. These days, as Pei Ziheng apanied pregnant Xia Ling, Chu Chen apanied him. Chu Chen asked, ¡°How are we going to deal with the child?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°When her body is better, send the child to an orphanage.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°The child is too small. If we send it away like this, I¡¯m afraid it would be difficult for it to survive.¡±

    Pei Ziheng replied, ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    Chu Chen shuddered in his heart and understood what he meant. He was afraid that even if the boy did not encounter some ident in the orphanage, Pei Ziheng would hire people to create a few idents.

    That child could not live for long.

    ¡°Before Xiao Ling is discharged from the hospital, take care of him well.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was as calm as water. ¡°Let him eat the best food and wear the best clothes. You must ensure that he¡¯s well taken care of so that Xiao Ling is relieved. When Xiao Ling is relieved, she will recover soon and will be able to give birth to the real heir of the Pei Family earlier.¡±

    Chu Chen bowed his head and promised him.

    Pei Ziheng instructed Chu Chen to stay in the hospital and left.

    He did not return for more than a month.

    Every day, Chu Chen would report to him about Xia Ling¡¯s situation. Once, he asked, ¡°Boss, why don¡¯t youe to see madam? Recently, her body is not well, and she can¡¯t eat anything.¡±

    Pei Ziheng answered faintly, ¡°Do you think she can eat more if I¡¯m there? You¡¯re more than enough to take care of her. Once she is able to leave the hospital, send her back home directly.¡±

    Chu Chen understood that he did not intend to visit her. Thinking about it, he felt that it was understandable. This child was not his boss¡¯, and his boss had already made so many concessions for her and her child. How could he possibly personallye to the hospital to visit them and emotionally burden himself?

    Besides, Pei Ziheng was usually very busy with his business. Due to Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy, he had already rejected a few big projects. At this rate, it would affect Imperial Entertainment¡¯s dominance in the industry.

    Thus, Chu Chen continued to take care of Xia Ling for him.

    Xia Ling did not care about seeing Pei Ziheng. If she had a choice, she would rather face Chu Chen every day. At least, the level of danger and oppression she felt was much lower than his master.

    Now, her baby did not need the incubator anymore. His unhealthy purple skin had also faded, and his small hands and feet were small and white. He still could not open his eyes and often drooled.

    Xia Ling cradled him in her arms lovingly.

    She felt that her child¡¯s eyes resembled hers and then felt that they resembled Li Lei¡¯s. They looked very attractive. In reality, newborns looked almost the same. She only felt that her child was attractive because she was biased.

 Chapter 463 - Confrontation

    <h4>Chapter 463: Confrontation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The nurse came over and informed her about the child¡¯s condition. ¡°Mrs. Pei, the baby was somewhat thin when he was born. However, these days, he was well taken care of, so his condition is very stable, except for some problems regarding his blood type.¡±

    ¡°What problems?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    The nurse said, ¡°Madam, you¡¯re blood type A, so Mr. Pei must have a rare blood type. This baby inherited his father¡¯s blood type and has a rare MNSSU blood type. You must protect him more because, if he gets injured and loses too much blood, it will be difficult to get a timely blood transfusion.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank.

    She remembered hearing someone say that Li Lei had a rare blood type.

    She did not think that her child would inherit this trait. Li Lei had many excellent qualities, but inheriting this blood type was not a lucky thing. This blood type was too dangerous, and she only hoped that her baby would be safe. She hugged her child withplicated emotions.

    The nurse reminded her again. ¡°You must take more caution and protect him more.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and thanked her for her reminder.

    Feng Kun found out that she had given birth to a son and went to the hospital to visit her.

    He gave the baby many old clothes and said, ¡°These are old baby clothes from various families and have good energy. If you let your newborn son wear them, he will have a good life. I¡¯ve already disinfected them prior to giving them to you.¡±

    Legend had it that if a child wore clothes from many different families, he would lead a good life.

    Initially, Nanny Zhou also helped her look for many clothes from different families. Unfortunately, after the abortion medicine incident, Xia Ling no longer trusted Nanny Zhou and was unwilling to use items that Nanny Zhou gave her.

    Now, after receiving Feng Kun¡¯s clothes, Xia Ling was very grateful. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Why are you being so polite?¡± Feng Kun smiled. ¡°Let me see the baby.¡±

    Xia Ling carefully handed the child over to him. The baby in her arms was soundly asleep with his little lips curled up slightly. She did not know what he was dreaming about, but it seemed to be a good dream.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°He¡¯s really well-behaved. He knew that a guest wasing and pretended to be obedient. You don¡¯t know how much he tortures us every day. If he feels a little ufortable, he will cry, and his sleep is very light, so we have to keepforting him endlessly.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled and praised him. ¡°He¡¯s a smart boy.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Xia Ling also smiled. ¡°I hope he can be like his father in the future...¡± She wanted to say that she hoped that she would be as smart as his father, but started to think about that man who was at the other end of the world instead. Immediately, she felt a little sorrowful.

    Feng Kun guessed her feelings and changed the subject. ¡°This child was born in winter. You have to be more careful and remember to keep it warm.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and concealed her emotions.

    ¡°The doctor said...¡± She hesitated for a while. She could only tell this to Feng Kun. ¡°The child has Li Lei¡¯s blood type and can¡¯t lose blood unnecessarily.¡±

    Feng Kun was taken aback and gasped. ¡°In that case, you should really make sure the child returns to Li Lei¡¯s side. Both of them have the same blood type, which means both of them are a good blood type match.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated. What Feng Kun said made sense. If both of them were together, her child would be safer as his life would have more protection. However... ¡°If Li Lei finds out that I gave birth to a son for him and wants me to return to his side, what should I do?¡±

    Feng Kun thought about it and smiled. ¡°Xiao Ling, this is a good opportunity.¡±

    ¡°What good opportunity?¡± Xia Ling was utterly confused.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°I think Pei Ziheng won¡¯t agree to let this child return to Li Lei¡¯s side.¡±

    At first, Xia Ling did not understand what Feng Kun meant, so he exined to her, and slowly, Xia Ling¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    She stayed in the hospital for some time.

    Xia Ling and her child were better, so they were discharged.

    On the day of their discharge, the air was cold, and the sky was clear. Only Chu Chen and the chauffeur apanied her and her son. Even the nurse could not tolerate it anymore andined. ¡°No matter how busy Mr. Pei is, he should be here to pick you up. You just gave birth to his son. If he treats you like this, how will he be like in the future?¡±

    The nurses originally thought that Pei Ziheng really loved Xia Ling. Later, when Xia Ling was hospitalized for a long time, they changed their minds. Which husband would disappear for more than a month during the recovery period of his wife and child? No matter how much money he spent or how many helpers he hired, what was the use?

    Xia Ling did not respond to the nurse. She smiled politely and carried the child away.

    Behind her, the nursesmented again. ¡°Do you think that Ye Xingling schemed to marry Pei Ziheng? Was Boss Pei this cold to her and her child because he was forced to marry her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. Stopmenting.¡± Another nurse said. ¡°The mother and child are pitiful enough.¡±

    Their gossip made Xia Ling feel somewhat forlorn.

    She carried the child in her arms tighter and could not help but think about what would happen if her child was born with his biological father by his side. Would he be well taken care of? Would their family of three be happy and would others envy them?

    Unfortunately, those were just thoughts.

    She entered Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls Royce and went home.

    The red brick walls of the vi were still exquisite, and the ck iron door made by a master craftsman was decorated withrge lush ivy walls. The chauffeur opened the door for Xia Ling. She got off with her child and walked into this familiar yet distant home.

    ¡°Madam is back home!¡± Nanny Zhou greeted her and had a warm smile on her face. ¡°Madam, you¡¯ve suffered during this period of time. Are you tired aftering back from the hospital? Come, give young... the baby to me.¡± She initially wanted to say young master, but she suddenly remembered that this child was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s, so she changed the way she addressed him. ¡°Exchange the burden.¡±

    However, Xia Ling looked at her in rm. She took a step back and carried the child further away.

    She could not be med. When she was pregnant, the pain of the abortion medicine caused her to be unable to trust Nanny Zhou anymore. Nanny Zhou stretched out her hand and looked a little guilty.

    A tall man walked out from the front hall and stood at the gallery to look at her.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    Today, he was wearing a dark sweater, and he looked colder than usual.

    He looked at Xia Ling without saying a word. After a month, she had slimmed down. Her palm-size face was smaller, and her chin was sharper. She was all skin and bones. She was dressed in a light beige long coat and holding an infant wearing cotton clothes. She stood in the courtyard with a precautious stance and looked lonely as if a gust of wind could knock her over.

    His heart was annoyed.

    ¡°Give the child to Nanny Zhou.¡± He ordered.

    She was still very vignt.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Madam, just give the child to me. Since you¡¯re back, you can¡¯t carry him for 24/7. Besides, it¡¯s winter, and the courtyard is very cold. What happens if the child catches a cold?¡±

 Chapter 464 - Savage

    <h4>Chapter 464: Savage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling still hesitated. Although she knew that touching her child was a piece of cake for him because she was back, due to psychological barriers, she felt more at ease holding the child in her arms.

    Pei Ziheng coldly said, ¡°Or do you wish for your child to be hurt?¡±

    She looked at him in confusion as she did not understand what he meant. She was carrying her child securely, so how could her child be hurt? However, after a few seconds, she finally reacted. He meant that if she did not give up her child, he would hurt her child!

    Her face turned pale.

    Nanny Zhou walked up a few steps. ¡°Madam, let me take over.¡± As she spoke, she carefully took the child from her arms.

    Xia Ling hesitated. Half-protesting, she handed her child over to Nanny Zhou.

    Nanny Zhou carried the child and retreated to a ce under the gallery. The child¡¯s originally red face from the cold started to feel the warmth. He opened his pair of pure eyes, looked at Nanny Zhou and grinned.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s heart was full of tenderness. In the end, she was still a woman and could not help but protect a child. Even if the child¡¯s biological father was unknown, he was innocent and should not be treated harshly. Nanny Zhou, who had given birth to several children,forted the child lovingly and skillfully.

    Xia Ling was originally somewhat worried, but after seeing that scene, she was slightly relieved.

    Pei Ziheng stood under the gallery and looked at her. ¡°Come here.¡±

    His voice was cold like eternally frozen ice.

    Xia Ling was fearful, but she understood that she could not hide from him. She could not ovee his great overbearance. Plucking her courage, she walked towards him.

    Without warning, Pei Ziheng gave her a tight p.

    The crisp sound was shocking in the quiet winter day. Xia Ling staggered a few steps after she was hit. She tilted her head to the side. Her face was burning, and there was a faint handprint on it.

    She reached out to wipe the blood off the corner of her lip and looked at the man who hit her.

    Suddenly, she understood what he meant when he said the child might be hurt. If she were still holding the child in her arms, the child would have definitely fallen to the ground and be in danger of death when he pped her at her most unexpected moment.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She whispered.

    p!

    Pei Ziheng gave her another p. This time, he used more force and almost sent her flying. Her thin body knocked into a flower bed that was about 1m above her. The lush potted nts and broken branches of plum and pine trees fell on her.

    ¡°Madam!¡± When Pei Ziheng hit Xia Ling the first time, Nanny Zhou¡¯s heart skipped a beat but restrained herself from eximing. The second p scared her, and she could not help but yell. ¡°Mister, what are you doing?!¡± Nanny Zhou was a senior in the home. She had been by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side since his birth and watched him grow up. Nanny Zhou was able to say some things that bystanders did not dare to say. ¡°Madam just gave birth to a child and returned from the hospital. She has not fully recovered yet. How could you hit her so hard? What happens if you break her bones?!¡±

    She was holding a child in her hands and could not help Xia Ling. She said urgently to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to see if madam is hurt?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng stood at the same ce. His lips were tight, and he did not move.

    He wanted to p her a long time ago. Ever since he learned that her child was not his, this hateful woman owed him an exnation. More than a decade ago, he took her home from the orphanage when she was fearful and helpless. He spent so much time and effort raising her, loving her and amodating her. However, what was the result? Her will had hardened as she engaged in an unclear rtionship with another man and even lied to him when she was pregnant with another man¡¯s child!

    A few months ago, he was cautious about her body, so he resisted the urge to hit her.

    However, now, it was time for payback.

    Xia Ling knelt on the gravel brick floor under the gallery. Her arms and back were hurting, and she did not know if her bones were broken. She fell to the ground for a long time without getting up. Faintly, she could hear the baby crying in Nanny Zhou¡¯s arms.

    She looked up painfully at the child. As a mother, she felt very worried once he started crying.

    She tried to prop her body up from the ground again, but unexpectedly, the broken pine branches that were mixed withrge chunks of mud and broken porcin fell from her back, scrapping her arms. It hurt her so much that she fell again. Her white palms desperately supported herself on the ground which was filled with broken porcin pieces which cut her hands and caused blood to flow to the ground.

    The child cried even louder.

    She ignored the dirt and blood as she unsteadily got up and staggered to see her child.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her arm and dragged her into his arms as he pulled her into the bedroom upstairs.

    ¡°Let me go! I want to see the baby!¡± She screamed.

    As if he did not hear anything or cared, Pei Ziheng dragged her to the bed and pressed his tall body on hers as he kissed and bit her fiercely.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± She screamed incoherently in shock and anger, and she desperately tried to fight back.

    Pei Ziheng kissed her for a long time until their lips were covered in blood before he gasped and released her. ¡°Do you really think I won¡¯t dare to do anything to you?¡± He sneered with an air of viciousness. ¡°Xia Ling, you owe me a son. This time, don¡¯t even think of escaping!¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She was frightened to death. ¡°I was just discharged! How can I give you a son now?!¡± Seeing his hand reach for her clothes to rip them off, she was so scared that she shrieked, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this!¡±

    However, he ignored her, peeled off her clothes, and only stopped when her undergarments were left. ¡°This is interest.¡± He slowly let her go, turned around and left.

    Xia Ling was badly shaken. She pulled the clothes he ripped off to cover herself up.

    Psycho... He was a psycho.

    For a moment, she thought that she definitely could not hide from him today. Pei Ziheng wanted a son, and he was hungry for it. Even if her body were still weak and not suitable for pregnancy, it was difficult to ensure that he would not do anything extreme.

    She thought that she had miscalcted the situation.

    Logically speaking, a woman would need at least a year and a half to be pregnant again after giving birth to a child. She thought that she still had a year and a half to think of ways to deal with the situation. However, who knew that on the first day she returned home, he would give her such a huge scare.

    Luckily, he stopped in the end.

    Why?

    Xia Ling did not think that it was because he discovered a conscience. Rather, it was because he knew that she needed some time to recover after giving birth, and he wanted her to recover quickly so that it would be easier for her to get pregnant again.

    Like what he said, what happened just now was interest.

    She shivered as she curled up in bed panic-stricken.

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng went downstairs.

    In the living room, the child cried furiously, and Nanny Zhou could notfort him no matter what she tried.

    ¡°Mister!¡± Seeing that Pei Ziheng was downstairs, Nanny Zhou quickly carried the child over to him. ¡°The baby is crying non-stop. At this rate, he will hurt his voice. I think he misses his mother. How about I carry it over to madam?¡±

 Chapter 465 - The Negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 465: The Negotiation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng looked at the ugly little one in her arms and coldly said, ¡°Missing Mom? He¡¯ll be without a mom soon enough.¡±

    He remembered how she said ¡°thank you¡± when she gave her that p on the face. Oh, how his Xiao Ling was a person with such pride. Back in her previous life when she had been kept in his captivity, she had cried, scolded and even begged him, but never had she thanked him for hitting her.

    He knew why she did it.

    She was grateful that he did not hurt the child, that he inflicted it all on her instead. Now he knew how willing she was to bear with all the pain if that meant that the little creature would be spared any danger.

    For his sake, she would rather be subservient towards Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng felt a prick in his heart.

    ¡°Get the chauffeur here and send this bastard away.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Nanny Zhou got a shock., ¡°Send him away right now? Shouldn¡¯t we... let Madam know?¡±

    Pei Ziheng shot her a cold, ruthless re. Nanny Zhou mmed up upon seeing that look and held the baby even tighter as he cried incessantly.

    Pei Ziheng called for the chauffeur.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Xia Ling arrived before the chauffeur did.

    She had been resting in bed upstairs but had a nagging feeling about the baby when she thought about how dangerous a situation he was in. She decided toe down to take a look and ended up overhearing the conversation between Pei Ziheng and Nanny Zhou.

    She hurriedly went to Nanny Zhou and carried the baby in her own two arms as she coaxed him quietly. The baby was familiar with his mother¡¯s heartbeat and regr breathing and calmed down quickly in her warm embrace.

    The baby revealed a beautiful smile, but all Xia Ling felt was heartache.

    She looked up at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Don¡¯t send the child away.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You promised me.¡±

    She did promise him that she would send the baby away once he was born. But now that the time hade, she could not bear to do it. She forced herself to calm down and remembered the idea Feng Kun had given her before.

    She looked at Pei Ziheng and asked, ¡°Where are you sending him to?¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not hide the truth. ¡°The orphanage.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want my child to end up in an orphanage.¡± She took a few steps back with the baby in her arms.

    As she guessed, Pei Ziheng did not arrange for anything good for the child. Xia Ling had grown up in an orphanage herself and knew exactly how pitiful the orphans¡¯ plights were. Back then, her sister Xia Yu had almost lost her life to illness because they were too poor to afford treatment. Now, this baby here had such a rare blood type, if he were to run into any trouble at the orphanage, what were the chances that he could be treated in time?

    The lives of the children in the orphanage weren¡¯t deeply valued.

    The Head of the orphanage and the other teachers would just discuss for a while, and then it would blow over.

    How could they possibly put in as much effort in saving the child as a biological parent would?

    She cautiously asked, ¡°Can you... not send him to an orphanage? I grew up in one, please don¡¯t let my child go through that as well.¡± She hardly begged him in such a pitiful manner, and her words reminded him of the past when he first met her at the orphanage. Even when she was injured on the foot from stepping on a nail, even when she was in so much pain, she had no choice but to go about her life dancing for the people there.

    His expression softened a little. ¡°Where do you want to send him to?¡±

    Xia Ling was even more cautious with her uing question. ¡°Shall we... send him to Li Lei¡¯s?¡±

    His expression turned cold and ruthless again. ¡°Where¡¯s the chauffeur? Get him here now.¡± He instructed Nanny Zhou.

    Nanny Zhou hurriedly went.

    Xia Ling was flustered. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Dot be like this! This child has a rare blood type, just like Li Lei! If you don¡¯t send him to his biological father, he¡¯ll be at risk!¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Pei Ziheng said softly.

    She was stunned for a moment. Right, so what? Why did it concern him?

    Her hands and feet turned cold as she feared for the child.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xia Ling, just give up. You want Li Lei to know that you¡¯ve borne him a son? Fat hope.¡±

    Xia Ling shielded the child she was carrying. ¡°Then let me raise him! His blood type puts him in such danger, what if something happens when he¡¯s on his own?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was unmoved. ¡°It may be difficult, but other children can survive it, so I don¡¯t see why he can¡¯t. Xia Ling, stop finding excuses.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him pleadingly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t want my child to leave his parents. I¡¯m an orphan myself, do you want my son to be an orphan too?¡±

    Pei Ziheng felt a pinch in his heart.

    He recalled the time he adopted Xiao Ling many years back and how frightened she had been. He often woke up in the middle of the night to find her awake and curled up on the foot of his bed. In the dim light, she would be watching him sleep quietly.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you return to your own bedroom?¡± Pei Ziheng often sat up and asked her gently.

    Xiao Ling would say, ¡°Being adopted by you feels like a dream. I¡¯m afraid that once I close my eyes and open them again, I¡¯d be back to reality. So I dare not close my eyes, I dare not let you leave my sight.¡±

    ¡°Silly girl.¡± Pei Ziheng would kiss her forehead. A whileter, he had arranged for a little bed to be ced in his bedroom, beside his own, so that she could sleep close to him.

    He remembered how she would lie on her bed and keep her eyes on the ceiling as she mumbled, seemingly to herself, but loud enough for him to make out the words, ¡°Brother Pei, you have to be well and fine. I don¡¯t want to be an orphan again.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart hurt even more.

    He had taken a long time to get her out of her fears and trauma.

    Now, Xia Ling was begging him over and over. ¡°Please don¡¯t let my child be an orphan.¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t push it.¡± Even so, Pei Ziheng hardened his heart. This child was a separate matter altogether¡ªshe was the one at fault this time and deserved to be punished. ¡°I only promised you not to force an abortion on you. So you have to keep your promise and let me send him away. Where he goes to is none of your business.¡±

    He could not let Li Lei know that he was the victor.

    Once the identity of the child was exposed, Li Lei would discover who theplete failure was in this battle of love.

    ¡°Mister, the chauffeur is here.¡± Nanny Zhou returned with the chauffeur.

    ¡°Take the child away from Madam.¡± Pei Ziheng instructed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was shrill from panic. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare touch me!¡± She shielded the child and appeared to be scrutinizing everyone around. Finally, her eyesnded on Pei Ziheng. ¡°Pei Ziheng, if you dare send this child elsewhere, I¡¯ll be sure to tell Li Lei the truth! Even if I don¡¯t have the means to protect him in this lifetime, Li Lei does! Li Lei will find him and raise him!¡±

 Chapter 466 - The Compromise

    <h4>Chapter 466: The Compromise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was the idea Feng Kun hade up with. Pei Ziheng had two choices: to let the child stay with her or to send the child to Li Lei. Feng Kun had said, <i>Pei Ziheng is too proud to allow Li Lei to find out the truth. As long as you can set your heart on pushing these two choices, he will definitely be the one to give in eventually. Xiao Ling, he will agree to have the child stay with you.</i>

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was pounding, hoping against all hope that Feng Kun would be right. She tightened the baby in her embrace out of fear, and the little one started crying in difort.

    The way Pei Ziheng looked at her was terrifying, it looked almost as if he could swallow her alive.

    Xia Ling forced herself to stop shivering as she looked him straight in the eye. ¡°You can hold me to my word.¡±

    ¡°Do you know that you¡¯re courting death?¡± Pei Ziheng enunciated every word clearly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t hurt my child, we can talk about things on good terms. Pei Ziheng, if you won¡¯t let this child stay with me, then at least let him be with his biological father.¡±

    Pei Ziheng weighed his options.

    It wasn¡¯t going to be difficult for Xiao Ling to spread the word about the child¡¯s identity. If he had to make a choice between the two options, he would rather raise the bastard child than to let his love rival find out the truth.

    Pei Ziheng took two steps forward.

    Xia Ling backed off step by step until she had reached the wall.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at the child in her arms.

    The child seemed to resemble Xia Ling, with no visible trace of Li Lei¡¯s genes.

    After many moments of silence, he finally muttered in all seriousness, ¡°Xia Ling, this is thestpromise I¡¯m making for this little bastard.¡±

    ¡°You... agree to let me keep him?¡± She was bursting with joy on the inside, but made sure to rify his words.

    Pei Ziheng turned around and instructed Nanny Zhou, ¡°Set up another nursery room, as far away from the master bedroom as possible, and don¡¯t let me see him.¡± The nursery room he had prepared earlier was meant for his first child. It was right beside the master bedroom so that he could take a look at his child the moment he woke up. But this child... this bastard was not fit for that.

    Nanny Zhou just understood what was going on, and was more than happy to get started on it. Although she could understand why Mister would want to send away a child that was not even his, she felt that this child was simply too pitiful. Having Mister ept him was the best possible oue for this situation.

    ¡°Thank you, thank you...¡± Xia Ling said to Pei Ziheng as he walked away. She was in tears of joy.

    Pei Ziheng did not turn around.

    Since he had decided to keep the child by their side, Pei Ziheng could now publicly announce the birth of the child.

    It waspletely different from the announcement of Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy. This time, it was just a statement in the news, and not a single press conference was held. A reporter asked, ¡°Mr. Pei, this is your oldest son and the future sessor of the Pei magnate. His birth must be such joyful news, but why is it kept so low profile?¡±

    Chu Chen responded to the question on Pei Ziheng¡¯s behalf.

    Chu Chen had his camera-ready smile on. ¡°The child is too young and won¡¯t be able to cope with too much public attention. Being low profile is good. Only when a child is free from the pressures of wealth and power can he grow healthily.¡±

    There was such a saying in Ancient China ¡ª that a child should not be too pampered, nor should he bear the pressures of wealth and fortune at a young age. Since members of the public had heard of this saying before, they expressed understanding towards his decision and even felt closer to the Pei magnate because of such heartwarming reasons. Look, this sessful man was raising his child the same way as the average person.

    Only Pei Ziheng knew that all those reasons were rubbish. The actual reason was that the child was not his flesh and blood, and did not deserve such a celebration.

    He could not even look at the child without feeling annoyed.

    But living under the same roof meant there was no avoiding it.

    Having an infant at home meant a lot more hustle and bustle. There was so much to do on a daily basis ¡ª feeding the child, changing his diapers, letting him get some sun, calming him down during his tantrums...

    Xia Ling did not have any experience taking care of children, and Nanny Zhou already had too much on her te; hence, Pei Ziheng employed three more nannies for the household. All three of them lived in the vi as well, and Pei Ziheng found the house increasingly crowded and frustrating.

    He tolerated it day after day, just so he would not have to send the child to Li Lei.

    When he was angered, however, he would think: Li Lei is such a jerk, what kind of father is he, having a child but not even raising him?! He must make sure to raise the child well and groom him to go against Skyart Entertainment in future. It would be best if he could acquire Skyart and leave Li Lei in tears.

    Pei Ziheng had it all nned out ideally, but the reality was a different matter.

    This child seemed to have a weaker constitution than others and was harder to pacify. He cried incessantly at the slightest of sounds or change in the environment.

    Everybody in the vi was all caught up with the child. Even with the three newly employed nannies around, Nanny Zhou did not have much time to rx either. She would spend any spare time helping them out and giving them advice on child rearing.

    That was not the main issue.

    What mattered was that even Xia Ling was spending all her time and attention on the little infant, and had stopped having dinner with Pei Ziheng like before. Pei Ziheng had managed to get her a few times, but she was always distracted at the dinner table.

    Eventually, Pei Ziheng¡¯s wrath was incurred. ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t make me direct this anger towards your child.¡±

    That was when Xia Ling realized the severity of the matter and obediently apanied him for dinner.

    Once she was done with dinner, she would go straight to the nursery room to take care of the child. When he wasn¡¯t crying, he would smile at the sight of people, and il his little arms and legs adorably.

    All the servants in the household liked him.

    Nanny Zhou adored him as well and took very good care of him ¡ª showering him, patting him, and even bringing him lots of toys. But Xia Ling was always guarded against her and would not allow her to be left with the child alone. It was probably just her being over sensitive and paranoid, but ever since the incident about the abortion medicine, she was not about to take any chances.

    The child¡¯s sleep often did notst beyond a couple of hours, and he often woke up crying.

    Xia Ling was always awoken by his cries in the middle of the night and had to go to the nursery to check on him.

    She would feed him, change his diapers, and then coax him to sleep.

    Day after day, it was beginning to take a toll on her.

    Theck of sleep had shown on her now haggard and pale face.

    Pei Ziheng was very unhappy. ¡°There are nannies to attend to him when he cries, why do you have to go to all that on your own?¡±

    Xia Ling dared not anger him and quietly rebutted, ¡°It¡¯ll be different from my care anyhow.¡±

    Pei Ziheng squinted his eyes at her. ¡°You¡¯d better have a proper sleep now, you¡¯ll have tons of opportunities to take care of a baby when you have my child. If you¡¯re not interested in sleeping and recuperating, we can have my child right now.¡±

 Chapter 467 - The Fragile Peace

    <h4>Chapter 467: The Fragile Peace</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was so terrified that she did not dare to rebut him anymore.

    She stopped waking up in the night to care for the child. However, in the middle of the night, she would still wake suddenly in fright, before tossing and turning in bed unable to sleep.

    Pei Ziheng would wake up from her restlessness and ask, ¡°What¡¯s up again?¡±

    She would say softly. ¡°I think I heard the child crying.¡±

    Pei Ziheng gave an irritated ¡°Hmph.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling did not dare move around anymore, forcing herself to try to sleep. Often, she would lie awake with her eyes open till morning, and she started to look even frailer than before.

    Pei Ziheng had no choice but to allow her to wake in the middle of the night to care for the child.

    After all, he wanted her to be well and to take care of her health. The doctor said that if she wasn¡¯t healthy, there was a chance that she would never get pregnant again. Pei Ziheng could not allow that to happen.

    Now, Xia Ling stayed at home 24/7 to take care of her child. When the baby smiled, she would smile as well, and when the child cried, she would feel anxious. The nanny said that it was unusual that a wealthy madam like her would be so involved with her child and not delegate any tasks that she couldplete herself. This child was blessed.

    Only Xia Ling was aware that this was not a blessing.

    The new nannies did not know the child¡¯s identity, and hence, were misinformed about her motivations.

    Every time she heard the nannies remark that they were such a loving couple and the child adorable, her expression would be mildly bitter.

    Several of the nannies misunderstood her expression. ¡°Madam, don¡¯t me Mister. Mister is really busy, it¡¯s understandable that he doesn¡¯t have the time to spend with the Young Master. When the Young Master grows a little older and isn¡¯t quite so noisy, able to call him daddy and to y with him, perhaps Mister will be closer to him.¡±

    Other than Nanny Zhou, all the other servants would call the baby ¡°Young Master.¡±

    They could tell that Pei Ziheng was cold to the child, but they thought that this was because he did not care for small things like taking care of a child. Xia Ling was unable to confide her difficulty to anyone and merely thanked them for their constions.

    She was in turmoil these days.

    The baby was difficult ¡ª he had a weak disposition and would cry easily. He would feel ufortable if things were too cold, or too hot, or he ate too much, or too little...

    This day, Nanny Zhou shook her head andmented. Why was this child so difficult to care for?

    Xia Ling overheard herment and shot her an icy re.

    Nanny Zhou hurriedly shut her mouth.

    Now, her rtionship with madam was on tenterhooks. Madam did not trust her and refused to allow her to touch anything that the child was going to eat or use. Nanny Zhou felt wronged, and also felt concerned for Madam. She was so young and had no experience at all in terms of childcare. She was struggling to care for the child, trying her best to learn everything herself.

    And she also had to watch out for Mister¡¯s emotions.

    Ever since they had the child, Pei Ziheng¡¯s mood has been bad. He instructed Nanny Zhou to never let the child appear in front of him and had not nced at the child even once since they came back.

    Nanny Zhou understood how he felt and, thus, pretended that she did not see all these happening.

    However, this took a toll on Xia Ling. She needed to bnce their feelings, and caring more for one would mean neglecting the other.

    One day, Xia Ling was apanying Pei Ziheng at the dinner table again.

    The child started to cry in the nursery for some reason. He cried with all his might and did not stop despite everyone¡¯s efforts.

    The nanny taking care of the child was extremely anxious. She hurried downstairs to the dining hall and said, ¡°Madam, it¡¯s not good. The Young Master is crying so hard he¡¯s almost hoarse.¡±

    The lighting was dimmed in the dining room.

    Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling were sitting across each other, about to partake in a western candlelight dinner.

    In fact, Xia Ling had already heard the cries of the child, but she did not dare show her anxiety in front of Pei Ziheng. After hearing the nanny¡¯s words, she instinctively wanted to stand up. However, she had barely moved when she heard Pei Ziheng m his chopsticks down hard onto the table.

    Xia Ling did not dare to move. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading.

    How could they just let the child keep crying like that? What if he hurt his vocal cords?

    Nanny Zhou, who was attending to the both of them for the meal, understood the situation. She cared very much for the child, and her heart clenched as well. She carefully said, ¡°Mister, Madam, shall I go have a look?¡±

    Xia Ling nced over at Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression and knew that he was extremely upset.

    Even though she did not trust Nanny Zhou, Xia Ling was aware that before she finished her meal with Pei Ziheng, there was no way that she could leave the table. As such, she turned to Nanny Zhou and said, ¡°Please go have a look.¡±

    She was rarely this courteous to Nanny Zhou.

    Nanny Zhou was taken aback, and she resolved in her heart to do a good job as she hurried to the nursery.

    The baby was still crying, and he was heaving with every cry, his facepletely red. Nanny Zhou hurriedly carried the child in her arms. As she tried to appease the child, she asked the nanny standing to the side, ¡°Have you fed him yet?¡±

    The nanny said, ¡°I¡¯ve fed him already... I don¡¯t think he¡¯s hungry.¡±

    Nanny Zhou felt the bedspread of the cot. It was dry. The problem was not the pampers being wet.

    She paced the room with the baby in her arms, cooing to him. While his cries became quieter at first, he suddenly started to cry loudly again.

    The nannymented, ¡°From the looks of it, I think the Young Master just wants his mummy.¡±

    Nanny Zhou worriedly said, ¡°Madam is eating with Mister right now. She has to finish the meal before she cane up to see the Young Master.¡±

    ¡°So what do we do?¡± The nanny was in a panic.

    She was new and did not dare to disturb Pei Ziheng. As such, she looked to Nanny Zhou. ¡°Please think of an idea.¡±

    Nanny Zhou looked down at the crying baby and gritted her teeth in determination. She went back to the dining room and respectfully spoke to Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling. ¡°The baby¡¯s crying can¡¯t be stopped. We¡¯ve used all the ideas that we can think of. I think the baby merely wants his mummy. Once his mum carries him, I believe he will stop crying.¡±

    Xia Ling could hardly sit still, and she looked pleadingly at Pei Ziheng again. ¡°Can I... can I go to him?¡±

    She had sped through her meal since she was preupied and had long finished. However, she did not dare to leave the table as Pei Ziheng was still taking his time.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her pitiful expression and was suddenly jealous of the baby. Xiao Ling was so concerned about him. If only she would spare a small part of that concern for him...

    The cries in the nursery could be heard in the dining hall loud and clear.

    Pei Ziheng became irritated again but did not want to allow Xia Ling to leave. He frowned and came to apromise. ¡°Carry the baby over here for Madam.¡±

    Shocked registered on Nanny Zhou¡¯s face. ¡°Mister?¡±

    Didn¡¯t Pei Ziheng hate the child? Why was he asking her to bring the child over?

    Even Xia Ling was looking at Pei Ziheng in shock.

    Pei Ziheng bristled irritably. ¡°Just do as I say.¡±

    Nanny Zhou snapped back to her senses and hurriedly carried the child over to Xia Ling.

    The baby was still crying when Xia Ling reached over carefully to carry him in her arms.

    Amazingly, the baby started to quieten down immediately after he felt his mother¡¯s presence. Hey blissfully in her arms and fell asleep.

    A gentle smile spread across Xia Ling¡¯s face. This was a smile that Pei Ziheng had never seen before.

 Chapter 468 - Dirty Blood

    <h4>Chapter 468: Dirty Blood</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng stared at her nkly.

    He had never seen her caring for the child, and as such, did not know that she could be so gentle. He was extremely jealous of the baby in her arms, jealous that he could enjoy all the motherly love that Xia Ling was showing. His jealousy was like ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart, such that his heart was riddled with holes.

    He did not finish his meal, but instead, put down his cutlery and locked himself in the study.

    Xia Ling sensed that he was unhappy, and her mood became pensive in her fear.

    She coaxed the child for a long time before carefully carrying him back to the nursery, to avoid bumping into Pei Ziheng again and making him more upset. The look that he gave the child earlier gave her the chills.

    In the study.

    Pei Ziheng could not calm down. He wanted to deal with business matters, but his entire mind was filled with the image of Xia Ling coaxing the baby. Her every move and every smile, every minute expression on her face, tugged at his heartstrings.

    Why? Why wasn¡¯t that child his?

    If the child were his, everything would be so perfect.

    However, if the child were really his... would Xiao Ling care for him as well as she did now? Would she still show that gentle expression? Would she still do everything for him?

    He became more flustered as he dwelled on this. Reaching out, he picked up a document, crushed it into a ball, and threw it to the corner of the room in frustration.

    He stayed in the study for a long time. When he returned to the bedroom, he realized that the luxurious king-sized bed was still empty. The top-rate silk bedsheets were still neatly made up, clearly untouched.

    He called Nanny Zhou over. ¡°Where¡¯s Madam?¡±

    Nanny Zhou replied, ¡°Madam is still in the nursery. Shall I call her over?¡±

    Pei Ziheng waved her off and walked towards the nursery himself. This was unusual given that he had never stepped into that room on the far north of the house. Yes, he had ced the nursery in that small northern room, that was devoid of sunlight. When he had made that decision, Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was full of disappointment, but she could not do anything about it.

    Then, Pei Ziheng had been happy at seeing the pain in her expression.

    However, now that she preferred to hole in that small room with a child who was less than three months old rather than to sleep in the luxurious bedroom with him, he felt depressed.

    The bedroom felt empty now. An emptiness that could not be exined, and he felt horrible.

    He walked to the doorway of the nursery. Dim yellow lights seeped out from the open door.

    Pei Ziheng looked into the room and saw the little baby quietly lying in the rocking bed. On the carpet beside the rocking bed sat Xia Ling, dressed in her loose-fitting casual wear. She had one hand on the rocking bed and was leaning her head on it with her eyes closed. Under the dim lights, her shoulders looked skinny, and her waist was as slim as that of an unmarried youngdy. Her dark green hair fell slightly messily down her back, and the fair skin of her neck peeked out from between the curtain of her hair.

    She looked beautiful.

    Pei Ziheng watched her with a gentle expression as he quietened his breathing.

    Even though he was upset about the situation, he could not bring himself to rage at her when he saw her peaceful sleeping expression.

    It seemed that the carpet was slightly chilly, and she curled her body closer, hugging her arm around herself.

    Pei Ziheng looked around the room and found a small nket on the other side of the cot that smelled like milk powder. As he was draping it over her, her unique fragrance melded with the milk powder smell, creating a surprisingly addictive concoction.

    He could not resist but kiss her cheek.

    When she was awake, she did not like him kissing her. However, when she was asleep, she would not reject him. Her eyes were shut, and she looked peaceful with her breathing level. Pei Ziheng thought of the saying: ¡°Blissfully quiet days.¡±

    He hugged her to his chest, his forehead against hers, and said softly, ¡°Xiao Ling, let¡¯s have a child together too.¡± He was desperate to have a child with her. If they had a child, would she stay by his side wholeheartedly? Would she perhaps... fall in love with him again?

    There was some movement in the rocking bed.

    Pei Ziheng turned his head and saw that the baby was awake and staring at him with curiosity with his puppy dog eyes.

    The gentle expression on Pei Ziheng¡¯s face disappeared to be reced to one of coldness.

    He did not like this child. Not one bit.

    The child seemed unaware of his dislike and was still curiously staring at him. Perhaps it was because he rarely saw Pei Ziheng, the baby¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement at the novelty. He started to wave his small arms around.

    Pei Ziheng stood up and walked over to the rocking bed to look at him more closely.

    His expression was still cold.

    The child was blissfully unaware of the danger in his environment ¡ª perhaps an attribute passed on by his birth father. Seeing Pei Zihenge nearer, a bright smile lit up the baby¡¯s face.

    Pei Ziheng was stunned.

    Other than Xiao Ling, he was the first person to smile so innocently at him, with nothingplicating matters, like the clean and orange sun.

    He could not shift his eyes away from the child¡¯s shining eyes.

    The baby resembled Xiao Ling on closer look, particrly his eyes, mouth, and nose, which were exquisite and pretty. His resemnce to Li Lei was mild, so mild that Pei Ziheng could barely find any.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart started to soften, and his gaze became gentler.

    The little boy in the rocking bed seemed to sense his change in attitude and started to gargle andugh out loud. He reached out his short arms, seemingly wanting to grab Pei Ziheng, or was asking to be carried.

    If Li Feng were here, he wouldment that the child was just like his father in terms of character, even if he did not resemble him in looks. He was undeterred by danger, and would voluntarily try to befriend the enemy to be able to survive.

    This was a natural survival instinct.

    If Li Feng were here, he would warn Pei Ziheng not to be taken in by the child¡¯s adorable looks and actions. When the child grew up, he would be just like Li Lei!

    However, Li Feng was not here.

    And the inexperienced Pei Ziheng was easily bought over by the adorable little boy. He reached out his hand and carefully touched the little boy like he was bewitched.

    He was soft to the touch.

    The baby¡¯s body was warmer than he expected, his skin smoother than silk.

    Pei Ziheng was taken aback by this new sensation, and he withdrew his hand instinctively. After a while, he could not resist reaching out to touch the little boy again.

    So this was how a baby felt like.

    He stared at the little boy for a long time, his expressionplicated.

    The childughed happily, thinking that this tall man was ying a game with him. He waved his small arms and feet, gargling in excitement, sounding like he was almost singing.

    As expected of Xiao Ling¡¯s child.

    Pei Ziheng thought to himself that the child would probably be a wonderful singer when he grew up.

    Unfortunately, half of the blood that flowed in his body was dirty.

 Chapter 469 - The Wifeâ€™s Family

    <h4>Chapter 469: The Wife¡¯s Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The child was still gargling away, but Pei Ziheng ignored him. He turned away and walked out of the nursery.

    The light was still warmly lit in the nursery.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes snapped open as she watched Pei Ziheng leave the room. She crawled over to look at the baby in the rocking bed.

    Thankfully, the baby was fine.

    Xia Ling carried the little boy, who was still waving his short arms about, into her arms and cooed to him in a soft voice. Many questions were running through her mind. Why did Pei Ziheng suddenly want to see the child? It was so weird.

    In fact, Xia Ling had been awake for quite some time.

    When he draped the nket over her and bent over to kiss her, she had already been awoken. She opened her eyes a little and saw Pei Ziheng right in front of her. In her fear, she hurriedly shut her eyes again. When she tried to sneak a look again, she saw Pei Ziheng standing by the rocking bed quietly watching the baby. His gaze was unreadable, and she could not tell what he was thinking.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart rate increased, fearing that he would do something to harm the child. Thankfully, all he did was to reach out to touch the child before leaving the room.

    Thank God.

    Xia Ling hugged the baby closer to her chest as her body trembled.

    The little boy opened his puppy-dog eyes and stared at his mother curiously like he was confused and did not know why mummy was feeling so nervous. He looked at her until he felt sleepy again. He shut his eyes and fell asleep peacefully in her arms.

    Xia Ling put him back into the rocking bed and switched off the lights.

    She returned to the bedroom.

    Pei Ziheng had already changed into a navy silk nightrobe and was lying on the luxurious king-sized bed.

    He seemed to have fallen asleep already. The moonlight shone onto his handsome side profile through the ss windows, and he looked so handsome with features that many girls would die for.

    However, Xia Ling was no longer at the age of his fangirls.

    She changed into her pajamas and crawled stealthily into bed so as not to wake him. Shey down as far away from him as possible, and as usual, turned her back to him.

    Not longter, she felt his warm body envelop her from behind.

    Her body froze and wanted to struggle, but she resisted the urge. These days, Pei Ziheng hugged her to sleep often. He had a strong possessiveness, and for him to stop at hugging her was already tremendous self-control on his part.

    However, today it felt like things were a little different.

    Xia Ling felt movement on the back of her neck, like something soft was touching her. It felt like his lips. He breathed into her ears. ¡°Give me a child.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was at tenterhooks. Earlier in the nursery, she heard him say the exact same thing. Was he really at the end of his patience?

    Xia Ling carefully said, ¡°I¡¯m not fully recovered yet.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯ve asked the doctor. Half a year is enough. Actually, the doctor said a year, and that six months are a little rushed.¡±

    But he could not wait much longer.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s barely been three months.¡±

    The man behind her hugged her more tightly but did not say anything.

    Xia Ling felt uneasy. If the doctor had said that she could get pregnant again in six months, then there were only three months left. Three monthster, she would be forced to be Pei Ziheng¡¯s consummated wife? And to carry his child? That was terrifying.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes remained open as she pondered on how she could dy the inevitable. She stayed awake throughout the night.

    Since she was engrossed in her worries, Xia Ling lost her appetite the next day, resulting in a shortage of breastmilk for the child. The baby was naturally quite picky with his food, and he started to cry again. He did not like any of the milk powder products and only wanted to drink Xia Ling¡¯s breastmilk.

    Xia Ling had no choice but to request for Nanny Zhou to boil some squid soup to add to her nutrition.

    In the following days, she drank the soup every day until she was so sick of it she wanted to throw up. However, for the sake of her child, she gritted her teeth and drank it obediently. The helpers worked hard to cook nutritious food for her to regain her health as soon as possible. On the one hand, it was for the baby so that Xia Ling would have sufficient breastmilk to feed him. On the other hand, Pei Ziheng had also instructed them to make sure Madam was strong and healthy.

    She needed to have a healthy body to be able to withstand a second pregnancy.

    Her pallor became better day by day, and she felt less fatigued.

    This day, she carried the baby to the garden for some sun.

    Nanny Zhou came to look for her like she had something to say but did not know where to start.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Nanny Zhou, what¡¯s up?¡±

    Nanny Zhou hesitated before replying, ¡°Madam, when I was out buying groceries this morning, I met a woman who imed that she¡¯s from your family. Her name is Liu Zhaodi.¡±

    Liu Zhaodi? Auntie Liu?

    If Nanny Zhou did not mention her, Xia Ling would have almost forgotten that such a person existed. Wasn¡¯t she ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± stepmother? The woman that had betrayed her time and time again.

    ¡°Why did she look for you?¡± Xia Ling frowned slightly as her instincts told her that nothing good was going toe from this.

    As expected, Nanny Zhou said, ¡°She said that even though you¡¯ve married into the Pei Family, you should still interact frequently with your own family. She said that you haven¡¯t contacted them in such a long time. Ever since you announced to the public about your pregnancy, they have been trying to get in touch with you but to no avail. They¡¯re very worried about you, saying that you¡¯re just a young girl, and could not... ¡±

    Nanny Zhou swallowed the rest of her sentence.

    ¡°What did they say about me?¡± Xia Ling was unfazed. She knew that nothing good coulde from Auntie Liu¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Said... she said that... you got pregnant before marriage...¡± Nanny Zhou was upset. It was fine for random people on the street to speak badly of Madam, but how could her own family say such things about her? Even though Liu Zhaodi imed to be Madam¡¯s mother, she did not resemble one at all. It was clear that she was not Madam¡¯s birth mom!

    Xia Ling could not care less. She smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s a fact, isn¡¯t it?¡± This was a blemish that would stay on her reputation. Even if she didn¡¯t get taken away by Pei Ziheng, it was probably going to be hard for Li Lei to marry her immediately as well.

    She asked calmly. ¡°What else did she say?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was impressed at Madam¡¯sposure. ¡°She also said that your father went to look for you at Imperial Entertainment, but was blocked by the guards at the door. The security officer went to look for Chu Chen, and your father was chased away by him. He told them never to try to contact you again.¡±

    So that¡¯s why.

    Xia Ling now understood why Auntie Liu was unable to find her all this while, even though she found out about her pregnancy a long time ago. So they were blocked by Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen probably got his instructions from Pei Ziheng.

    Why was Pei Ziheng not allowing her to meet her family in this life?

    Xia Ling thought about it beforeing to a realization. That was because Pei Ziheng knew that she was reincarnated and had no rtion whatsoever to her parents in this life. In his eyes, these poor rtives were just trying to take advantage of her and bask in her aura.

 Chapter 470 - Self-harm

    <h4>Chapter 470: Self-harm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Then, he was probably concerned that they would affect her emotions during her pregnancy, and hence, chased them away.

    He must have investigated her parents and found out what type of people they are, and knew that Xia Ling did not like them.

    Xia Ling thought about this as she gently lowered her head to tend to the child in her arms. The baby had just had his milk and looked extremelyfortable in his mother¡¯s arms under the sun with his eyes closed.

    Spitting out small bubbles from his mouth, he was half-asleep.

    Recently, he had been spitting up some of his milk. Xia Ling wiped his mouth with a cotton handkerchief and wondered if Li Lei were the same when he was a baby. A sweet smile spread across her face as she thought about how Li Lei could have been this cute before. ¡°Hi little ugly, little crybaby, little mister picky. Forget it, I¡¯ll forgive you since you¡¯re still so small. You must be more handsome as you grow older, okay?¡±

    The little boy started tough in her arms.

    Nanny Zhou stood by the side and pondered. Why wasn¡¯t Madam anxious at all about her family? She seemed a little cold to her family even though they hadn¡¯t seen each other in such a long time.

    She could not understand.

    Xia Ling coaxed the little boy for a while, before realizing that Nanny Zhou was still standing by the side. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± She asked.

    Nanny Zhou hesitated again, before saying, ¡°Madam, they¡¯re your family, after all. Are you not going to meet them?¡±

    Family? All they wanted was money.

    Her lips curled into a cold smile. She searched around for a bangle or earring that she could use to send them away with, before recalling that she had removed all her jewelry for fear that they would hurt the child when she was caring for him.

    She determined in her heart to tell her assistant to send a sum of money to the Ye family every month for their living expenses.

    In fact, she had been sending money to the Ye family for a long time now, ever since she had debuted from Skyart Entertainment¡¯s training camp. She only forgot to do so since the paragliding incident when she was taken away by Pei Ziheng. She only forgot about it because things had been too chaotic recently, and Pei Ziheng had isted her from all connections to the outside world.

    Even though the Ye family was despicable.

    She was still using ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± body and had made a silent vow to help practice filial piety. She was determined to keep her promise. However, since Ye Xingling¡¯s parents were so unscrupulous, she decided that they only deserved to get basic living expenses. She was not going to give them a penny more.

    A few dayster...

    Auntie Liu received the money sent over to her by Xia Ling¡¯s assistant. It was 5000 yuan.

    The assistant also passed a message to Auntie Liu. ¡°In the future, Madam will send you money every month. Please do not go disturb her life.¡±

    Father Ye was happy at receiving the money and had no intention to disturb his daughter. In his view, marrying into a rich family was an enormous blessing anyway. What was there to be worried about?

    Auntie Liu, on the other hand, was unhappy at receiving the 5000 yuan. Sheined to Father Ye. ¡°Just 5000 yuan? Is she taking pity on beggars?! Old Ye, your daughter is doing so well ¡ª she¡¯s a big star and married into a rich family. Why is she being so stingy? Does she treat you like a father at all? How horrible and unfilial!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯tin so much.¡± Father Ye said. ¡°5000 yuan is already more than ourbined monthly ie.¡± This time, Father Ye understood that Xiao Ling was sending them money on ount of their blood ties. Otherwise, given his betrayal in the past, she could have even taken them to court.

    ¡°What¡¯s more, after Feifei became a vegetable, all her hospital expenses are being borne by Xiao Ling.¡± Father Ye spoke up for Ye Xingling.

    ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s all borne by Ye Xingling?!¡± Auntie Liu jumped in anger. ¡°The one that has been paying for Feifei¡¯s medical fees is Mr. Pei of Imperial Entertainment! It¡¯s Mr. Pei¡¯s way of thanking us for helping him to get together with that rascal!¡± Auntie Liu continued. ¡°Without our help, do you think that rascal could have married Mr. Pei?! Do you think she could ever be a wealthy madam?! Now, she¡¯s got it all and doesn¡¯t want to feed the hand that clothed her anymore? Let me tell you, Old Ye, there¡¯s no free lunch in this world!¡±

    Auntie Liu said angrily, ¡°I¡¯m going to make her cough up some money this time!¡±

    Father Ye was speechless. Why did it seem like she had a point? Xiao Ling was wrong to withhold more riches from them after they did so much to help her marry into a rich family.

    ¡°But...¡± Father Ye clung on to his remaining rationality. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything rash, Zhaodi. Don¡¯t forget what Boss Chu said when we went to Imperial Entertainmentst time.¡±

    Chu Chen had warned them sternly ¡ª or perhaps a better expression was he threatened them ¡ª that if they dared to look for Xia Ling or say anything to the media, they would face the consequences. His threat was extremely effective because their other daughter, Ye Xingfei, was still lying in the hospital and depended on Imperial Entertainment for her hospital expenses. If they offended Imperial Entertainment, it would be detrimental to the current arrangement.

    Auntie Liu recalled his warning and was slightly fearful. She thought about it for a while before telling Father Ye. ¡°We won¡¯t say anything to the press, but we can go see Ye Xingling¡¯s newborn son as his grandparents, can¡¯t we? How can she not show her child to her family even after giving birth for so long?¡±

    Father Ye nodded in agreement, thinking that she made sense.

    Auntie Liu was happy that she got the green light to look for Ye Xingling. She considered the possibility that Ye Xingling would not agree to meet them and said to Father Ye, ¡°Call your olddy along. That girl is really close to her, isn¡¯t she? She wouldn¡¯t lock her own grandma out of the door.¡±

    Father Ye weakly grumbled. ¡°That¡¯s my mother, not just an ¡®olddy.¡¯¡±

    Auntie Liu red at him. ¡°She <i>is </i>an olddy, isn¡¯t she? She¡¯s such a country bumpkin with nothing to her name, and she¡¯s still being so picky towards me. She just doesn¡¯t want to see us happy, that old fool! Crazy olddy! And you¡¯re still defending her!¡±

    Father Ye lowered his head and did not dare to say anything.

    He was a useless fellow and did not earn much. He deserved to be hen-pecked. His wife would scold him for being useless every other day, saying that she must have been extremely unlucky or done something bad in her past life to be married to him. Some days she wouldin that her clothes were too cheap, or that the house was too narrow and small, or that the food they ate was too cheap...

    Luckily, Xiao Ling had married well and had helped improve their living standards. When Auntie Liu was living in a bigger house, wearing nicer clothes, and eating better, perhaps she would show some more respect to her husband.

 Chapter 471 - The Daughter That Married Rich

    <h4>Chapter 471: The Daughter That Married Rich</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He thought of Grandma Ye who adored Xiao Ling since she was young. Grandma Ye had been wanting to visit Xiao Ling ever since she heard that she had given birth to a son. However, they weren¡¯t able to contact Xiao Ling, and the news reported that she was recuperating from a difficultbor, so they did not want to disturb her.

    Hence, the couple rang the olddy living in the countryside.

    Grandma Ye was delighted at their invitation. She asked, ¡°Is Xiao Ling¡¯s health all good now? Can she have visitors? Will it be inconvenient for us to go over?¡±

    Father Ye sheepishly responded. ¡°Actually, we¡¯ve not met Xiao Ling yet and don¡¯t know exactly how she is doing. We thought that she has always been close to you, and if you go with us, perhaps she will let us...¡±

    Hearing his words, Auntie Liu anxiously snatched the phone away from Father Ye. ¡°Mum, don¡¯t listen to Old Ye¡¯s rubbish. We¡¯ve already made arrangements with Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry about that. You will definitely get to meet her.¡±

    Even though Grandma Ye was blind, she was sensitive to the discrepancy in their words. She started to worry about Xiao Ling¡¯s condition. Why didn¡¯t they allow her family to see her? How was her husband¡¯s family? Was she very weak now? How was the child? Were they hiding anything?

    It appeared that she would have to make a trip down to be able to answer all these questions.

    Hence, Grandma Ye packed her luggage and rushed to the city that very night.

    This day, when Nanny Zhou went grocery shopping, she bumped into Auntie Liu again.

    A middle-aged man followed behind Auntie Liu, and she was holding on to a blind old grandma.

    Nanny Zhou frowned and recalled that Madam had told her not to get involved with her family members. As such, she was about to go around them and pretend that she did not see them. Yet, Auntie Liu blocked her way insistently.

    Auntie Liu smiled winningly and said, ¡°Aiyo, Nanny Zhou, don¡¯t you recognize me? We just met several days ago!¡±

    Seeing that there was no way to avoid her, Nanny Zhou replied, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Auntie Liu. How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°There is indeed.¡± Auntie Liu continued. ¡°Come, let me make some introductions. Nanny Zhou, this is our Old Madam, who is Xiao Ling¡¯s paternal grandma. The olddy really wants to see her great-grandson. Nanny Zhou, will you be able to help us pass the message to Xiao Ling?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was unmoved. ¡°Madam already said that she won¡¯t see the family, but will regrly send living expenses to you.¡±

    Grandma Ye vaguely understood what was going on. Seeing that Nanny Zhou seemed to be rather reverent to Xiao Ling and was slighting Auntie Liu, it seemed that Auntie Liu had been trying to get money out from Xiao Ling, and hence, Xiao Ling did not want to see them.

    Wealth attracted the unwee, and Xiao Ling had done her part in regrly sending money back. Avoiding them was to be expected.

    After all, Xiao Ling was not close to her parents since she was young. Auntie Liu frequently bullied her in the past, not feeding her well and not giving her enough warm clothes in the cold seasons. Hitting and scolding her were also frequent urrences. She had a hard time at home, and now that she was doing well, for her to still remember to send money back home was already a big show of filial piety.

    Grandma Ye silently scolded Father Ye and Auntie Liu in her heart for being so shameless.

    But she really wanted to see her granddaughter and great-grandson. As such, she took a step forward and addressed Nanny Zhou. ¡°Miss, can I trouble you to just help an olddy and pass a message to your Madam that I¡¯m here? She was brought up by me and has been very close to me since she was a child. If she knows that I¡¯m here, she will be willing to see us.¡±

    Hearing the olddy¡¯s clearly worded request, Nanny Zhou hesitated as she thought to herself that this grandma did not seem to be speaking nonsense. Thest time Auntie Liu wanted to meet Xiao Ling, she didn¡¯t bring along this olddy. Perhaps Madam wouldn¡¯t mind meeting her grandma. As such, Nanny Zhou agreed to pass on the message.

    Nanny Zhoupleted her grocery shopping and returned to the bungalow.

    She found Xia Ling and conveyed to her what Grandma Ye said.

    Xia Ling did not expect Grandma Ye to have made the trip down to see her. She hadn¡¯t seen Grandma Ye since she bade her farewell in the countryside two years ago. She missed her dearly. Too many things had happened in these two years, and she recalled how caring and kindly the olddy was to her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll meet them.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Grandma has bad legs and is blind. Let my dad and Auntie Liu apany her.¡± Even though her parents were money-minded, they were still filial to grandma as her son and daughter-inw. She felt less worried about having them take care of her.

    Nanny Zhou nodded and then asked, ¡°Madam, do we need to tell Mister about this first?¡±

    Xia Ling had forgotten all about that before Nanny Zhou raised it. Even though this bungalow was both of their homes, the real owner was still Pei Ziheng. She needed to seek permission before making any decisions. As such, Xia Ling said, ¡°I will tell Pei Ziheng.¡±

    She raised the topic about her familying to visit with Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng was unhappy. ¡°They aren¡¯t even your real family. Why do you bother with them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going through the motions.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I truly miss grandma.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her in shock. He rarely heard her say that she missed anyone, so he knew that this old grandma had a strong standing in her heart. She was a person that viewed family rtionships strongly as could be seen by her attitude toward Xia Yu in the past. Since she wanted to see them, then he would let it be.

    Hence, Pei Ziheng agreed for her to invite her family over to the house.

    However, he did not want to be involved. ¡°Pick a time when I¡¯m not around.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that he did not like the disturbance and agreed to his request.

    Hearing of the arrangement, Nanny Zhou was not agreeable. She sought out Pei Ziheng in private and said, ¡°Mister, it¡¯s the first time Madam¡¯s family is visiting. How can you avoid them? They will think that you¡¯re not giving Madam any face.¡±

    Pei Ziheng replied nonchntly. ¡°Naggy.¡± That bunch wasing over to see the baby, who wasn¡¯t even his son. Why did he need to go pretend to be one happy family? Such a joke.

    Thus, that was the end of the conversation.

    On a fair-weathered day, Xia Ling asked Nanny Zhou to invite the Ye Family over.

    The Ye Family appeared in their best clothes. Grandma Ye was dressed in a light-green button down, traditional outfit. Father Ye donned a suit. There was a saying that how one carried a suit was telling of one¡¯s upbringing. When Pei Ziheng or Li Lei wore a suit, they looked tidy, clean-cut, and handsome. However, Father Ye did not have the charisma to carry it off and somehow looked a little cowardly and funny.

    But that was that.

    The worst of the lot was Auntie Liu. She freshly permed her hair and was wearing a flower-printed cardigan and a long dress with the same prints. She was essorized excessively with gold and silver jewelry as if she had dug out all the most expensive items at home and put them on all together.

    Since it was her first time entering such a luxurious bungalow, Auntie Liu was extremely excited. She looked around trying to take everything in at once and eximed at everything she saw. ¡°Wow, there¡¯s a sculpture at the door! That must be expensive! And that cupboard over there... what wood is it made of? That must be expensive too, right?¡±

 Chapter 472 - Visiting the Baby

    <h4>Chapter 472: Visiting the Baby</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Auntie Liu touched everything that she could, and every sentence was punctuated with words rted to money and wealth.

    Xia Ling felt a headacheing on from all the noise, but she ignored her and held onto Grandma Ye. She asked, ¡°Grandma, how have you been? I¡¯ve missed you.¡±

    ¡°Grandma also missed you.¡± Grandma Ye¡¯s smiled kindly and held onto Xia Ling¡¯s hand. ¡°Hey little girl, you must have been so tired these two years. You¡¯ve had a hard time, haven¡¯t you?¡± Even though she had not seen her granddaughter in a long while, she kept in touch with all the news reports about her. She knew that she had dated Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Li Lei for a period of time, and then it was reported that they had broken up. Then, she had gone on to film variety shows, release albums, changed artiste managementpanies... and then gotten pregnant with Imperial Entertainment Chairman Pei¡¯s child andpleted a shotgun marriage. So many things had happened in these two short years. Grandma Ye could not imagine what mental turmoil Xiao Ling had gone through.

    Xia Ling felt tears starting to build in her eyes. Everyone only saw the morous part of her life and were jealous that she had married well. They would always discuss behind her back what despicable things she had done to have gotten so lucky and to gain the favor of a man like Pei Ziheng. Only she knew the blood, sweat, and tears she shed behind the scenes.

    No one understood her... only this kindly Old Grandma who hit the nail on the head.

    Xia Ling sniffled and pushed the fragility in her voice back. Sheughed and said, ¡°No, I haven¡¯t had a tough time at all. I¡¯ve been doing well in these two years. I have a good career, a happy family... everyone is envious of me.¡±

    Grandma Ye smiled. She knew that Xiao Ling was not revealing the whole truth, but she wasn¡¯t going to pry further.

    This girl didn¡¯t even know how to lie well. What did she mean she was doing well? One could tell if a woman was doing well from her physical attributes and pallor, not her words.

    So how was Xiao Ling?

    Grandma Ye held onto her hand and could tell that she was so skinny it was almost like she was just skin and bones. This clearly showed that she had not eaten well during her pregnancy, and there was poor regard for her confinement period. She was a wealthy madam now, and logically, she should have tons of people helping her out, not having to worry about clothes or food. How was it that she was not well taken care of?

    Grandma Ye was concerned. Today, Xiao Ling¡¯s husband was not present even though it was the first time they were visiting. Since Pei Ziheng was not here, did this not mean that he didn¡¯t really care about Xiao Ling? As such, Xiao Ling¡¯s physical health was being neglected, and she was putting up a strong front?

    Grandma Ye heart went out to Xiao Ling. ¡°You¡¯re so skinny. Don¡¯t you know how to take care of yourself? Xiao Ling, if you have anything that¡¯s weighing down on your heart, you can tell Grandma. Grandma might not know much, but I¡¯ll help wherever I can.¡±

    Xia Ling was touched but said, ¡°Grandma, I¡¯m really doing well. I¡¯m skinny because the little baby is a difficult little thing. In fact, all I do every day is the take care of the baby, eat and sleep. I will gain some weight after a while.¡±

    Grandma Ye¡¯s frown lifted a little.

    She asked Xia Ling, ¡°Where¡¯s the little baby? Bring him out for Grandma to see.¡±

    Xia Ling helped Grandma Ye to the living room to sit down and instructed the nanny to bring the little baby out. The baby was sleeping in the cot, bubbles forming at his mouth as he opened and closed his mouth in his sleep. Thick and longshes framed his closed eyes. Xia Ling adoringly wiped his mouth before indicating to the nanny to carry him over to where Grandma Ye was sitting.

    The baby was extremely sensitive and immediately felt the change in the environment. He woke with a start and started to cry. Xia Ling remarked helplessly, ¡°This child loves to cry.¡±

    She reached out intending to carry the child away from Grandma Ye to appease him.

    However, Grandma Ye refused as she cooed to the child and shook him in her arms. The baby gradually quietened down and stopped crying.

    Xia Ling watched in amazement, and the nanny standing to the side too stared in awe.

    The nanny said in reverence. ¡°You¡¯re really skilled, Grandma. We take such a long time to coax him before the Young Master quietens down.¡±

    Grandma Ye carefully caressed the child, saying, ¡°I think this child is a little weak, and his soul isn¡¯t too stable. He¡¯s easily frightened. You need to take care of him well. When he grows older, it will get better.¡±

    Her words seemed to have some magical powers, and Xia Ling felt much more at ease.

    Originally, Nanny Zhou had given Xia Ling the same feeling, and she was also someone with a wealth of experience caring for children. However, the abortion medicine incident during her pregnancy caused her to hold a grudge against Nanny Zhou and lose all trust in her.

    Now, shemented to Grandma Ye. ¡°It¡¯s great having you here. I was thinking if the child had any issues since he loved crying so much. But the doctors didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary.¡±

    She had taken many antibiotics in the early days of her pregnancy and was constantly worried about the potential side effects on the child.

    Grandma Yeughed. ¡°What abnormalities? Pfft, touch wood. In my view, some kids are just like that. They have a weaker disposition but have a luxurious life destined for them. This is too much for their little bodies to take. You just need to let him wear quilted outfits and to choose a middle name that is less shy. He¡¯ll be much better.¡±

    Quilted clothes? Feng Kun had given her several of such outfits a while back. It seemed that Grandma Ye had also brought some with her this time around. The child could wear them for a long time. She thanked Grandma Ye.

    Grandma Ye said, ¡°What is there to thank me for? We¡¯re family.¡±

    She asked again, ¡°Have you given the child a name yet?¡±

    She did not mean it, but she had touched a soft spot on Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    The child did not have a name yet. Every day, they would just call him baby. Even the media and fans were asking why they hadn¡¯te up with a name for the child yet. The main reason was that Xia Ling did not dare raise this with Pei Ziheng. After all, they had not decided if the child would follow his surname or hers. She did not know what Pei Ziheng was thinking, fearing that if she raised the issue, he would get angry and take it out on the child.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t thought of a name yet.¡± Xia Ling said in a low voice.

    Grandma Ye frowned. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you picked a name yet? It has been almost two months already, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to respond.

    Even though Grandma Ye was blind, she knew exactly what was going on. There had to be something that Xiao Ling was hiding, seeing how frail she and the child was. However, she knew that she was in no ce to pry. She continued to y with the baby. While the baby liked to cry, he also liked tough. He waved his little arms around happily in Grandma Ye¡¯s arms.

    Xia Ling apanied Grandma Ye and made simple conversation.

    A long timeter.

    Nanny Zhou brought Father Ye and Auntie Liu on a tour of the house.

    Nanny Zhou could only take her hat off to how thick-skinned Auntie Liu was. She had insisted on touring the premises even though Nanny Zhou had told her that they could not do that. Auntie Liu had badgered Nanny Zhou to bring them around the outside of the bungalow instead, asking to see the nearby fountain, garden, and even the underground garage.

 Chapter 473 - Not Given a Name

    <h4>Chapter 473: Not Given a Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When she stepped in the living room, Auntie Liu was still muttering and grumbling ceaselessly. ¡°This vi is too luxurious. Only both of you and a small baby are staying here. Such a waste. Don¡¯t you think so, mom?¡±

    Auntie Liu asked Grandma Ye.

    Grandma Ye said. ¡°It¡¯s true that a big house should have more people living in it. However, you...¡± She initially wanted to say that although they were a family of three, there were many nannies and subordinates, so she did not have to worry about theck of people living in it.

    However, Auntie Liu interrupted Grandma Ye. ¡°Exactly, Xiao Ling! It¡¯s not that I¡¯m criticizing you, it¡¯s just that this house is too big. Why let it be so bare? Besides, empty space is empty space. How about you let your dad and me move in to help you take care of your child.¡±

    Xia Ling was startled as she did not expect that they would dare to make such a suggestion.

    If Grandma Ye were not there, Xia Ling would have ordered for the subordinates to chase them away.

    Her expression was dull. ¡°Pei Ziheng and I like the space, and things are good as they are now.¡±

    ¡°You two may think it¡¯s good, but the child doesn¡¯t.¡± Auntie Liu protested. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re already a mother now. How can you be so insensible? If there are too few people in the house, your child will not be raised well. Look at your son, he¡¯s skin and bones under your care. Can he really survive? You...¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Suddenly, Xia Ling increased her volume and scared everyone present.

    Her expression darkened. ¡°Liu Zhaodi, I won¡¯t argue with you over the things you usually say about me, but don¡¯t you dare curse my child. He¡¯s fine and will definitely live to a ripe old age. If you dare to talk nonsense, then get out!¡± Xia Ling had been a celebrity for two lifetimes, and as long as she was willing to maintain her poise and elegance, she would not lose her cool at any asion.

    However, now that her son was involved, things were different.

    That was her Achilles¡¯ heel, and she did not mind turning into a b*tch who protected her child.

    She red at Auntie Liu ferociously.

    Auntie Liu had never seen her so vicious, and for a moment, she was scared. After some time, she finally whispered. ¡°Do you think you can scold us whenever you like now that you¡¯re a rich madam?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I don¡¯t care about what you think. Either you shut up or get lost.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Father Ye could not bear to watch them argue. ¡°How can you treat your Auntie Liu like this?¡± No wonder his wife said that Xiao Ling was bing more unfilial in the past. She was right since she disrespected her elders like that.

    With Father Ye¡¯s support, Auntie Liu was more courageous and started to rant. ¡°Sigh, why is my life so bitter? In the past, I worked so hard to raise you. Even if I didn¡¯t get the credit, I suffered. Now that you¡¯re independent and sessful, you¡¯ve chosen to fall out with us and act hostile!¡±

    Her voice was shrill. As she spoke, she acted as if she were wiping her tears away emotionally.

    In Grandma Ye¡¯s arms, the baby was disturbed and started to cry again.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered to pay attention to Auntie Liu. She quickly looked at her child, picked him up from Grandma Ye¡¯s arms, and softly consoled him. Grandma Ye¡¯s face fell as she said to Auntie Liu. ¡°Liu Zhaodi, do you know how to be a guest? If you continue to cause a scene here, we will leave now!¡±

    She felt embarrassed. In front of the Pei Family¡¯s subordinates, how could Auntie Liu not consider Xiao Ling¡¯s feelings? Xiao Ling¡¯s body was very weak, and her child was not healthy. Furthermore, Pei Ziheng did not even show up as the male host although so many people from his wife¡¯s family came today. This situation was toomon, and it caused Grandma Ye to specte.

    Xiao Ling did not seem as happy as the news had spread. There were many things hidden about her marriage.

    The thing that Grandma Ye was most worried about was that Pei Ziheng did not love her.

    How could a powerless girl without status continue to survive without getting her husband¡¯s love after marrying into his rich family alone? Furthermore, there was no way her rtives could not help her. How could they drag her down and give her more troubles such that she was turned into a joke in front of all the helpers?

    Thinking about that, Grandma Ye¡¯s expression darkened and berated Auntie Liu again.

    Auntie Liu was born in a lowly family and lived far away from her rtives. She was used to ordering her husband around behind closed doors and did not think that there was anything wrong with her actions.

    She ignored Grandma Ye¡¯s warning and said, ¡°Mom, why are you siding with her? Can¡¯t you see that she¡¯s an unfaithful and unfilial brat? Now that she¡¯s rich, she doesn¡¯t care about us anymore! Are you trying to curry favor with her in hopes that she will give you some benefits?!¡±

    She was saying more disrespectful things, and the Pei Family subordinates besides her were slightly frowning. They acted as if they did not see or hear anything, but they despised Auntie Liu in their hearts.

    Xia Ling had a headache from themotion and said to Auntie Liu, ¡°Either you shut up, or I¡¯ll call the security officer to drag you out.¡± Her voice was not loud, but her determination could be sensed.

    Auntie Liu was finally scared. She had not achieved her goal yet. Today, she was here to get money. How could she be driven out before receiving any money? She judged the situation, quickly stopped her act, and found a way out. She smiled and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, how could I not be worried? You haven¡¯t contacted the family in so long. I guessed that it was because you forgot about us already. That¡¯s why I was so direct just now. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered a little, lowered her head, and continued to take care of her child while ignoring her.

    Under his mother¡¯s constion, the baby gradually stopped crying. Xia Ling carefully gave him back to the nanny beside her and said, ¡°There are many people here, and the air is stuffy. Please bring young master out for some air.¡±

    The nanny respectfully carried the baby and left.

    Only then did Xia Ling speak to the three people in the living room. ¡°Grandma, you¡¯ve had a hard timeing over, so I think you should stay here for a while. This is my first child, and I don¡¯t have much experience in caring for children. I also can¡¯t keep relying on the helpers. If you¡¯re here, I will be relieved.¡±

    Grandma Ye also wanted to stay and take care of her. She was too thin and had experienced too much hardship.

    However, she tried to figure out Xia Ling¡¯s situation in the Pei Family. She asked, ¡°I can stay, but will Mr. Pei agree?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°He doesn¡¯t care much about these things and enjoys his space. As long as you don¡¯t disturb him, there won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    In reality, before hearing that Grandma Ye wanted toe, Xia Ling had already considered it and requested Pei Ziheng to let Grandma Ye stay.

    Pei Ziheng thought about it and felt that another elder in the home would be able to take care of Xiao Ling¡¯s body well. It was not a good thing, so he agreed.

 Chapter 474 - Staying Over

    <h4>Chapter 474: Staying Over</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Grandma Ye finally sighed in relief.

    She asked to stay for the sake of finding out if Xiao Ling¡¯s position in this house was low. After finding out that her position was not as low as she imagined, she was relieved.

    She said, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind that I¡¯m a blind old woman, I will stay for a while to talk to you and take care of your baby.¡± She paused and smiled. ¡°And also to look at your husband.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was nothing good to look at.

    Xia Ling thought silently in her heart. In front of her grandma, she smiled and instructed Nanny Zhou to clean up the guest room.

    Auntie Liu, who was listening at the side, was fed up. ¡°Xiao Ling, let your father and me stay too. Your grandma is old, and it¡¯s difficult for her to walk around. It¡¯s better if we¡¯re here to take care of her. Besides, we can also help you take care of your baby. How can both of you take care of him well?¡±

    Although Xia Ling was gullible, she was not stupid. ¡°There are subordinates here to take care of grandma, so there won¡¯t be any inconvenience. You¡¯re just saying that you want to take care of my child, but I know that you will call for the subordinates and spend the time talking to me. I don¡¯t need other people to take care of him.¡±

    Auntie Liu was unhappy. ¡°Even if we don¡¯t take care of grandma, we can take care of the baby. Your father really likes his grandson. Am I right, Old Ye?¡±

    Xia Ling coldly said, ¡°The doctor said that the baby is weak and doesn¡¯t like it when too many people are around him. It¡¯s difficult for him to breathe when it¡¯s noisy. If you and my dad were to stay here, we would probably need three more helpers. We can¡¯t have that many people living here. Thus, Auntie Liu, I can only thank you for your good intentions. Please go back.¡±

    Grandma Ye secretly agreed with what she said.

    This little girl acted with servility when she was younger. She did not expect that she would be wandering from ce to ce now. She even became a madam after marrying into a rich household and learned to speak in an imposing manner. Only a girl like that would not suffer.

    Thinking this way, she looked at Xia Ling more lovingly.

    Auntie Liu was stunned for a moment before saying, ¡°This house is so big. How will five more people make it more crowded?¡±

    She greedily looked at the sunshine-filled garden outside the window. This mansion was more than 3,000 square feet, and only this little brat¡¯s family of three lived here. Including Grandma Ye, Nanny Zhou, the three nannies, and the two chauffeurs, there was still enough space for more people to live here.

    However, she didn¡¯t know that it really could not amodate more people.

    Although this vi was huge, there wererge areas designated for entertainment, leisure, andndscaping. When Xia Ling designed it, it was only intended for her and Pei Ziheng to live together. Pei Ziheng liked peace and quiet so, besides the master bedroom, there was only one guest room and a few servant rooms. The house did not even have a baby room and was only just created after she got pregnant. How could it house so many people?

    She firmly said, ¡°Firstly, it¡¯s really crowded. Secondly, so what if it¡¯s crowded? I¡¯m unwilling to let you two stay here.¡± A thousand reasons could not match up to her unwillingness.

    Auntie Liu was so mad that she turned white and felt humiliated. ¡°How dare you, brat!¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a brat?¡± Xia Ling coldly looked at her. ¡°After lunch, you will return home with dad. You¡¯ll get a small gift, so you didn¡¯t waste your timeing here.¡±

    Auntie Liu initially wanted to argue with her further, but after hearing that there was a small gift, her attitude immediately changed. Her old face lit up with a smile. ¡°I just knew that our Xiao Ling had a conscience. What gift is it?¡±

    Xia Ling did not respond. Nanny Zhou walked over. ¡°Madam, lunch is prepared.¡±

    Xia Ling supported Grandma Ye and called everyone over to eat.

    Auntie Liu also followed. On the way, she kept looking around. When she looked at the outside of the vi, she did not see the interior. With a look, she could see that it still had a very exquisite, luxurious, and elegant decorative style¡ªexpensive wooden furniture, porcin ornaments, full-length ss windows, and clear water curtains. The small red-bricked patio and corridor were strikingly decorated with arge disy of cedar, plum, and ivy.

    This vi was originally personally designed by Xia Ling, and she consulted with the world¡¯s top designers to get the best materials and construction team to ensure that the vi would be beautiful and satisfy all her romantic fantasies.

    Auntie Liu was starry-eyed after looking at the vi and was even more eager to stay here.

    She was scheming of a way to let Xia Ling relent butter felt that since this brat was insistent on chasing her away, it would be better to dy her stay until the legendary Mr. Pei returned home. Since Mr. Pei married this brat, he was now her son-inw. It was rightful for him to satisfy his mother-inw¡¯s request.

    Excited, Auntie Liu felt that something dramatic was going to ur andpletely did not think of who instructed Chu Chen to threaten them the past few days.

    The group of people sat in the dining area.

    Nanny Zhou and another nanny served a few attractive and delicious dishes. As they knew that madam¡¯s parents would be visiting today, they all cooked their most skillful dishes to prepare the most scrumptious and amazing lunch. Xia Ling personally served Grandma Ye and took some dishes for her.

    When Grandma Ye tasted them, she knew that the dishes were extraordinary. The ingredients used were the freshest, and their cooking skills were top-notch. It looked like the subordinates who lived in this vi did not have the slightest bit of scorn for Xiao Ling¡¯s family.

    Xiao Ling¡¯s position should be very high, at least that of the mistress of the house.

    That was even stranger. Xiao Ling was amoner Cindere who married into a rich household suddenly. To win the respect of the subordinates, her husband had to reinforce her status. That meant that Mr. Pei probably treated Xiao Ling very well.

    In this case, why was Xiao Ling so thin? Her child was also weak.

    What exactly was the hidden truth?

    The more Grandma Ye thought about it, the more she felt confused.

    Xia Ling did not notice her thoughts and continued to smile as she served Grandma Ye and ate a few mouthfuls.

    On the other hand, Auntie Liu was eating very greedily and felt that her stomach was not big enough. If she had known about this, she would not have eaten breakfast so that she would have more stomach space for this feast. She did not know why Ye Xingling was so lucky to be able to marry into such a good household.

    She swallowed a mouthful and asked in a roundabout way, ¡°Xiao Ling, when will Mr. Peie back home?¡±

    ¡°Him?¡± Xia Ling said without much concern, ¡°He maye back a littleter or earlier. I¡¯m not sure.¡± Pei Ziheng was usually very busy. In her past life when she was by his side, it was normal for him toe home in the middle of the night. In this life, to cultivate their rtionship, he tried toe home on time to have dinner with her. However, he really liked peace and quiet and knew that many people would be at home today, so it was hard to predict what time he would be back.

 Chapter 475 - Why are You so Lucky

    <h4>Chapter 475: Why are You so Lucky</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Auntie Liu felt that her reply was too insincere. ¡°How can you not know when your husband ising home? Men should be monitored closely, especially a rich man like Pei Ziheng. If you don¡¯t watch him, what happens if he runs away with someone else? Xiao Ling, I¡¯m not trying to criticize you, but you should be more careful.¡±

    She was not really worried about Xia Ling but hoped that Xia Ling would secure her grip over this big tree called the Pei Family and let her family enjoy more benefits. What happened if this stupid girl didn¡¯t know how to keep her man and was ditched by him?

    Xia Ling did not care. If he really ran away with someone else, she would thank the heavens.

    She ignored Auntie Liu and continued to eat with Grandma Ye.

    Auntie Liu still continued to lecture her.

    Xia Ling felt a little annoyed. Coincidentally, the baby started crying again.

    Since Pei Ziheng was not at home, the nannies did not have to face many taboos, so they directly carried the baby to the dining area from the baby room. ¡°Madam, Young Master is probably missing you again.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed. This child did not have any sense of security since he was born. Once he could not see his mother after a period of time, he would start crying loudly. Sometimes, Xia Ling felt as if he knew that he was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s biological child which was why he was so fearful and insecure.

    She put down her utensils and reached out to hold her child.

    Unexpectedly, Auntie Liu, who was sitting at the furthest end of the table and was the closest to the nanny, snatched the child from the nanny¡¯s hands. ¡°I also know how to console children.¡± Auntie Liu said attentively. ¡°Let me do it.¡± She did not really like this child, but after seeing the luxurious vi and eating such delicious and expensive dishes, she could not bear to leave. She was only focusing on staying here to ¡°help¡± Xia Ling with her child. In that case, she had to show off some of her abilities.

    She carried the baby and shook it a few times. She said, ¡°Baby, don¡¯t cry. Don¡¯t cry... your tears are all flowing out. Come, grandma will help you wipe them.¡± As she said, she used her sleeve to wipe the tears off the baby¡¯s delicate cheeks.

    The child¡¯s skin was tender and was probably hurt by the rough cloth, so he cried even louder.

    Xia Ling was distressed and quickly grabbed the child from her arms. ¡°The child will not be consoled like that.¡± She harshly scolded Auntie Liu after seeing that there was a faint red mark on her son¡¯s cheek. She quickly took a small towel from the nanny¡¯s hand and gently wiped the tears off the baby.

    Only then did the baby¡¯s cries gradually stopped.

    ¡°Are you going to give my child to anyone who wants to hold him?!¡± Xia Ling lifted her head and harshly reprimanded the nanny. ¡°Do you know the rules?! If this happens again, I¡¯ll fire you immediately!¡±

    The nanny was scared as she rarely saw madam this fierce, so she quickly acknowledged her mistake.

    In fact, these professionally trained nannies for rich households would not have casually let outsiders carry their household¡¯s babies if Auntie Liu were not Xia Ling¡¯s rtive. Who would object if young master¡¯s grandma wanted to carry him? However, Auntie Liu was really too ignorant. How could she use her sleeve to wipe the tears off young master? What if there were germs? It was not unreasonable for madam to be so worried.

    After hearing her oblique usation, she was boiling with anger. However, as she wanted to stay here, she could not explode in anger. It was amusing to see her resistance.

    Grandma also put down her utensils. ¡°Xiao Ling, let grandma carry him. You haven¡¯t finished eating. Quickly finish your food. It¡¯s not good for you to go hungry for long periods of time.¡± Just now, Xia Ling was focused on taking care of Grandma Ye, and Grandma Ye was clear that she did not care much about eating herself.

    After hearing what Grandma Ye said, Xia Ling hesitated. ¡°But this child only recognizes me.¡± This small child was difficult to look after and only recognized his mother¡¯s breathing and heartbeat. Sometimes, he would be impolite if someone else carried him.

    Grandma Ye said, ¡°Let me try.¡±

    The elderly had a lot of experience with children. She carefully took the child from Xia Ling¡¯s arms and kindly consoled it. The baby whimpered at first, but soon, it was captivated by this strange old woman. He blinked as he looked at Grandma Ye. Soon, he calmed down and stopped crying.

    The adults surrounding her felt that it was like magic.

    ¡°You have fate with this child.¡± Nanny Zhou smiled and said, ¡°He likes you.¡±

    The nannies beside her were also happy. ¡°That¡¯s right. Young Master has been torturing madam during this time. Now with your help, you can save madam a lot of trouble.¡±

    Xia Ling was also surprised and said that grandma helped her a lot.

    That made Grandma Ye very happy.

    The family had a good lunch, and the nanny carried the baby away for his nap. Xia Ling supported Grandma Ye as she went to the garden to eat some snacks and sunbathe. Auntie Liu also dragged Father Ye as she shamelessly wanted to tag along. She was determined to stay in Pei Ziheng¡¯s house and wanted to ask Pei Ziheng directly for permission to stay.

    Xia Ling vaguely guessed what they were thinking but could not be bothered with them.

    It would be a miracle if Pei Ziheng agreed to their request.

    However, an unforeseen event happened before Pei Ziheng returned home.

    The nanny came to Xia Ling in a hurry. ¡°Madam, things are not good. The young master suddenly has a big rash on his face. He went to scratch it, and now both of his hands are covered in rashes!¡±

    Any small illness could be fatal for the baby.

    Xia Ling became nervous and quickly followed the nanny to see it. Sure enough, the baby¡¯s originally hydrated and smooth skin was reced with a rash. The rash spread at a shocking speed, and his entire body was covered in rashes.

    The little baby burst into tears and screamed, causing Xia Ling¡¯s heart to ache.

    ¡°What happened?!¡± She asked angrily. However, she knew that this was not the time to find out who was responsible and quickly carried the baby in her arms. She hurriedly walked out and said, ¡°Call the chauffeur to prepare the car. We¡¯re going to the hospital!¡±

    Grandma Ye also followed her and got into the car. ¡°I¡¯m older and have more experience than you. Maybe I can be useful in some way.¡± She said.

    Xia Ling was very grateful and thanked Grandma Ye.

    Auntie Liu also shamelessly squeezed in. ¡°More people means more helping hands!¡±

    In the chaos, Xia Ling did not care about chasing her away. The other helpers also did not dare to do anything about Xia Ling¡¯s rtives, so they watched as she followed.

    Auntie Liu sat on the backseat of the Rolls Royce. She touched the leather seats with her hands and became excited. She had never been in such a luxurious car. When she went back home, she had to boast to the neighbors!

    If a sick child weren¡¯t crying beside her, it would be even better.

    That damned child was so noisy.

    Auntie Liu cursed the child in her heart.

    Xia Ling was anxious as she carried her baby. In the past, no matter how badly her baby cried, he would be OK after she consoled him for a while. However, now, no matter how gentle she was, the child was crying and screaming uncontrobly and would not calm down. It was still thrashing about and wanted to scratch itself.

 Chapter 476 - The Baby is Crying Again

    <h4>Chapter 476: The Baby is Crying Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling gently and firmly held the baby¡¯s hand to prevent him from hurting himself.

    However, she became more anxious. ¡°Chauffeur, please drive faster.¡±

    The car sped off. Soon, they reached the hospital.

    The doctor did a check and said, ¡°It¡¯s an allergy. However, I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s the cause of the allergy. Recently, did the baby eat or touch something that he usually doesn¡¯t?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned and thought about it. ¡°No, he didn¡¯t.¡±

    Nanny Zhou added. ¡°We¡¯re always careful when giving new things to the baby at home. We always let him eat a little bit of everything, or touch something briefly to ensure that the items are harmless before allowing him to eat or use them. Today, the baby ate the same things as usual and even wore old clothes that he had worn before. If we¡¯re talking about something different...¡±

    Nanny Zhou gave Xia Ling a distressed look.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling reacted. The difference was that there were more guests today at home. Could it be that the baby¡¯s allergy was rted to them?

    As it concerned her child, Xia Ling racked her brains and went through the details of what happened at home one by one. Suddenly, she thought of something. ¡°Auntie Liu wiped the baby¡¯s face using her sleeve!¡±

    Everyone turned around to look at Auntie Liu.

    ¡°How... how could you me me?!¡± Auntie Liu felt it was absurd. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t nder me! How could you me me once your son faces problems? I only wiped his face a little. What¡¯s wrong with that? In the past, I also wiped Feifei like that, and Feifei didn¡¯t get any allergies!¡±

    The doctor ignored her screaming and said, ¡°Thisdy, can you please take off your coat for us to do a test on the fabric? If the baby is really allergic to certain parts of the coat, it will be very dangerous. We have to ensure the source of the allergy and prevent him froming into contact with it in the future.¡±

    ¡°What right do you have?!¡± Auntie Liu yelled. ¡°What right do you have to use me of causing his allergy? What if it¡¯s because he ate something wrong?!¡±

    ¡°Are you going to take your coat off?¡± Xia Ling usually could not be bothered to argue with her, but since it involved her child, she could turn into a female demon anytime and anywhere. ¡°If you don¡¯t take it off, don¡¯t me me for being impolite!¡±

    She fiercely red at Auntie Liu and made her afraid.

    Auntie Liu did not know why, but she started to take her off her coat obediently and handed it to the doctor. She had a feeling that if she did not follow Xia Ling¡¯s instructions, the consequences would be grave.

    The doctor took the coat and did a test. After a while, he came out and told them the test results. ¡°The source of his allergy has been identified¡ªit¡¯s due to a synthetic fiber on this coat. I¡¯m afraid that the baby can¡¯t be in contact with any clothes with synthetic fibers any more.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Auntie Liu cried. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. How can anyone in the world be allergic to synthetic fibers? Doctor, are you mistaken? If this child is really allergic to synthetic fibers, why is he fine after wearing so many clothes but only allergic to my coat?¡±

    Xia Ling and the others looked at her like she was an idiot.

    ¡°The baby¡¯s clothes are made of pure cotton and other natural ingredients. There¡¯s not a trace of synthetic fibers.¡± The doctor said, ¡°I guess he usually doesn¡¯t touch any synthetic fibers when he¡¯s at home.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°We don¡¯t have any fabrics that are made from synthetic fibers at home.¡±

    The Pei Family was prominent and were very particr about what they ate and wore. Thus, they always wore the mostfortable clothes. Even their subordinates wore clothes that were made of the best natural materials. How could the babye into contact with synthetic fibers at home? She only discovered that he was allergic to synthetic fibers when he was three months old.

    ¡°This is called a rich man¡¯s disease.¡± Grandma Yeforted Xia Ling. ¡°Well, he was born in a family like yours anyway. You just have to be more careful from now on. It¡¯s OK.¡±

    Xia Ling still felt that it was troublesome. ¡°He¡¯s young now; it¡¯s fine since he stays at home most of the time. What happens after he grows up and goes out? The entire world is filled with synthetic fiber.¡± As she spoke, she nced at Auntie Liu.

    Auntie Liu¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Xia Ling coldly said, ¡°In the future, stay further away from my baby.¡±

    The printed clothes worn by Auntie Liu were not only gaudy, but they were also made with questionable materials. No one knew where she bought them from, and one could tell they were not high-end goods at a nce. On the other hand, although Grandma Ye was from the countryside, she was wearing cotton clothes and looked clean and tidy.

    Auntie Liu felt that she was being deeply discriminated against.

    Xia Ling had already turned around to instruct the chauffeur. ¡°Go home first and tell the nannies that the baby is allergic to synthetic fibers. Tell them to clean and disinfect the house thoroughly again. Oh yes, drive another car back here. Just now, Auntie Liu sat in that car; there may be synthetic fibers left on the seats.¡±

    Auntie Liu received another blow.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re looking down on me!¡± She screeched.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m looking down on you. So what?¡± Xia Ling had a bad temper, and this woman in front of her kept provoking her and refused to admit her mistake after harming her child. How could Xia Ling be polite? ¡°Don¡¯t even think about going to the vi anymore. In the future, don¡¯te ever again. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯m your mother! You have no respect for your elders!¡± Auntie Liu became hysterical.

    Xia Ling frowned and looked at the chauffeur again.

    The chauffeur had followed Pei Ziheng for a long time and had witnessed many violent storms. At this time, he instantly understood what Xia Ling meant when she gave him that look. She wanted him to drag Auntie Liu out of the hospital.

    Auntie Liu¡¯s n of staying in the vi was destroyed.

    The baby took medicine and was treated in the hospital. When Xia Ling carried him and returned with Grandma Ye in high spirits, the vi had been thoroughly disinfected.

    Pei Ziheng was also back and was drinking tea in the living room.

    Xia Ling paused slightly at the doorstep.

    Pei Ziheng lifted his head to look at her and saw her grandma beside her. Under the soft lighting of the entrance hall, the blind old woman looked kind as she held a bamboo stick and wore in and clean clothes. Pei Ziheng remembered Xia Ling saying that her rtionship with her grandma was good. Although he did not know she was just her grandma in this life, he wondered why she wanted to establish rtions with the rtives of the original owner of her body. However, since she liked it, he amodated her.

    Pei Ziheng put down his white porcin teapot and greeted Grandma Ye very gently. ¡°Wee. Please stay a few days to apany Xiao Ling. If you need anything, just tell Nanny Zhou.¡±

    Grandma Ye could not see and only heard his voice.

    Although Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was gentle, there was an air of authority and overbearance in his tone. It must be hard for Xiao Ling to be with a man like him.

    However, on the surface, Grandma Ye only smiled amiably and thanked him.

 Chapter 477 - Accommodate the Child

    <h4>Chapter 477: Amodate the Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The nannies walked over and took the child from Xia Ling¡¯s arms.

    Xia Ling carefully instructed them. ¡°Make sure that the child doesn¡¯te into contact with synthetic fiber. And you also have to be more careful with the way you dress. I will give you a few more sets of work clothes.¡±

    In fact, the Pei Family¡¯s helpers¡¯ clothes were called work clothes, but they were of much better quality than many clothes that were bought outside. The texture and style were of the best of the best and looked very decent as everyday clothes.

    A few nannies smiled and thanked madam.

    When Pei Ziheng came back and heard about the baby being allergic to synthetic fiber from Nanny Zhou, he felt a little regretful. Why didn¡¯t he insist on sending the baby away? As far as he knew, even in rich families, including Li Lei¡¯s, there were no such cases. In many cases, artificial fabrics were mixed with natural fabrics. If he were not in the Pei Family, the child would have died due to allergy.

    He was obviously a bastard but had a rich man¡¯s illness.

    The child started to cry again.

    Xia Ling hugged him tightly andforted him again. She looked away inadvertently and saw a sullen look on Pei Ziheng¡¯s face. Afraid that the child would disturb him, she quickly carried her child and left with a few nannies and Grandma Ye. The group of people walked towards the baby room. Soon, only Pei Ziheng was left in the living room.

    Pei Ziheng slowly drank his tea.

    Hearing the vague discussion about the child upstairs, he suddenly felt that the house was no longer his. Ever since the child was born, he added a few nannies, and now, there was even Grandma Ye. Including Nanny Zhou and the chauffeur, everyone was only concerned about the child, and he was neglected as the master of the house.

    Pei Ziheng was a little annoyed, but he felt more deserted and lonely.

    Nanny Zhou walked over and respectfully said to him, ¡°Mister, dinner is ready. After madam and Grandma Ye are done taking care of the baby ande downstairs, you can start eating.¡±

    Now, he even had to amodate the child when it was time to eat?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened, and he said to Nanny Zhou, ¡°I¡¯m not waiting anymore. I¡¯ll eat now.¡±

    Nanny Zhou finally realized that her master was in a bad mood. She did not dare to say anything more as she quickly served the dishes and waited upon him as he silently finished his dinner.

    When Pei Ziheng was finished with dinner, Xia Ling and Grandma Ye still did not appear.

    Pei Ziheng tolerated and asked, ¡°Where are they?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°They¡¯re still taking care of the baby. The baby had a severe allergy today and needs to shower and reapply his medicine. Otherwise, he will be afraid and cry.¡±

    Children had such privileges. The way he troubled others was justified.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression turned colder.

    On the one hand, Nanny Zhou was concerned about madam and the baby upstairs. On the other hand, she was worried about Mister. She said carefully, ¡°When madam is done applying the medicine on the baby, shall I ask her to apany you for a while?¡±

    Pei Ziheng snorted. Without answering, he went to the study room.

    Xia Ling and Grandma Ye had a hard time before they finished taking care of the child. Only then did she remember that they had not eaten. She felt a little embarrassed as she spoke to Grandma Ye. ¡°Grandma, I¡¯m really sorry. You¡¯ve lost track of time waiting for me. You must be hungry. Come, let¡¯s go downstairs for dinner.¡±

    In the dining room.

    The lights were quiet. A few sets of white porcin tableware were ced silently and elegantly on the delicate wooden table. However, the seats were empty.

    ¡°Where is Pei Ziheng?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Mister has already eaten. He should be in the study room now.¡± She had already kept Pei Ziheng¡¯s utensils and ced new ones on the table. She came out of the kitchen and served Xia Ling and Grandma Ye new, untouched dishes.

    Xia Ling did not mind. She supported Grandma Ye as she sat down, and they ate together.

    However, Grandma Ye noticed that something was off. Although Mr. Pei knew about his son¡¯s allergy, he did not show any concern at all. That was unusual. This really made her suspicious. Was this child really his biological son? Besides, he did not even wait for Xia Ling before eating. Wasn¡¯t he being too cold?

    Logically speaking, this was his first wife and his first son. Why were things like this?

    After dinner, Grandma Ye said to Xia Ling, ¡°Little girl, chat with grandma.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and held her as they walked to the guest room and sat at the bedside.

    Grandma Ye held her hand and asked, ¡°Is your rtionship with Mr. Pei good?¡±

    Xia Ling was startled by her question. She did not expect Grandma Ye to see the problems regarding their rtionship on her first day here. She softly answered, ¡°Our rtionship is quite good.¡±

    However, Grandma Ye did not believe her. ¡°You¡¯re lying to grandma. If your rtionship is really good, why would he treat the child so coldly?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. After thinking for a long time, she finally responded. ¡°He¡¯s usually busy and tired after work, so he doesn¡¯t have time to take of the child. Grandma, he treats the child very well. He hired three nannies, and he never cuts corners when providing food and clothes for the child.¡±

    Grandma Yeughed. ¡°How many corners can he cut on a child as a rich man? Xiao Ling, this may not necessarily be a show of love to the child. Grandma is experienced, you shouldn¡¯t hide from me. Mr. Pei actually doesn¡¯t really like this child, right?¡±

    Xia Ling felt that she could not continue hiding from her, but she did not want Grandma Ye to worry. She said ambiguously, ¡°Well, it¡¯s nothing much. When the child was just born, he was a little weak, so he doesn¡¯t like him much.¡±

    Grandma Ye disagreed. ¡°Seriously, how can Mr. Pei be like this? It¡¯s his own child. How can he give up on him like that?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°Grandma, it¡¯s really nothing much. Even if the baby is weak, he¡¯s still under my care. Furthermore, with so many helpers, even if Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t care, he can live well.¡±

    Grandma Ye shook her head and sighed. ¡°You silly child, how can you be so naive?¡± A cold family without warmth was easily broken. Furthermore, their statuses differed by so much. What would happen if their marriage had problems?

    Grandma Ye sincerely advised Xia Ling. ¡°Child, you must manage this rtionship well.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    In her heart, she thought of another man. He had a bright and warm expression like the sunlight. When she thought of him, it was as if the entire world was brighter. <i>Li Lei, how are you now? If it were you... If it were you... Perhaps, I would be able to manage this well.</i>

    Xia Ling was troubled and said goodnight to Grandma Ye.

    Grandma Ye lived in the vi for some time. Gradually, she became familiar with the vi and the people living in it. On this day, when she walked to the baby room with her cane, she suddenly heard the conversation of two nannies inside.

 Chapter 478 - Who Does The Child Resemble

    <h4>Chapter 478: Who Does The Child Resemble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    One of them said, ¡°This baby is really beautiful.¡±

    Another one said, ¡°Exactly. His eyes and mouth really resemble his mother¡¯s.¡±

    One said, ¡°His eyes do resemble hers¡¯, but I don¡¯t think his mouth does.¡±

    Another one said, ¡°His mouth doesn¡¯t resemble his father¡¯s.¡±

    One of them was quiet for a while before she said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange. If you look closely, the baby seems not to have any feature that resembles his father.¡±

    Another one was shocked and also looked closely at the baby. ¡°What you said is really true. How strange! Do you think this child is...¡±

    The other was so scared that she quickly interrupted her. ¡°What are you saying? Boys usually resemble their mothers more. It¡¯s very normal. Don¡¯t spout nonsense. Walls have ears, so be careful. You don¡¯t want Mister to hear about this. You will easily lose your job.¡±

    The other was so scared that she did not dare to say anything more.

    They changed the subject and started talking about something else.

    Grandma was stunned as if a stroke of light shed past. She suddenly understood why Pei Ziheng did not care about the baby. It was possible that the child was not even his!

    This was too horrifying. What exactly happened that Xiao Ling would marry Pei Ziheng while being pregnant with someone else¡¯s child? As for Pei Ziheng, how could he tolerate her and the child being near him?

    Just as Grandma Ye was thinking about this, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. They were slightly heavy like a man walking away. As the chauffeur could not enter the house, the only man in the house was Pei Ziheng. Grandma Ye guessed that Pei Ziheng must have heard the conversation between the two nannies.

    Grandma Ye thought about it for a while and followed the footsteps.

    On the terrace, there was a slight breeze, and the air had a cool aroma of plum blossoms.

    Pei Ziheng lit a cigarette and seemed lonely.

    Grandma Ye could not see, but smelling the smoke, she called out, ¡°Mister, are you here?¡±

    Pei Ziheng turned around. Without saying a thing, he immediately put out the cigarette. It was not because he was afraid that Grandma Ye would find out about his smoking habit, but rather because he grew up in a wealthy family and was well educated. Thus, he knew that putting out a cigarette in front of women was a form of basic courtesy.

    However, Grandma Ye found out his position because of his slight movement.

    Grandma Ye asked, ¡°Mr. Pei, did you hear everything they said just now?¡±

    Pei Ziheng only looked at her coldly.

    Grandma Ye continued to speak to the air. ¡°Mr. Pei, I know that you aren¡¯t feeling good. Is it because what they said is true?¡±

    When Pei Ziheng finally spoke, his voice was cold. ¡°This is none of your business.¡±

    Grandma Ye finally understood. It looked like the baby was really not his, and he probably knew about it a long time ago. Grandma Ye¡¯s expression was rather sympathetic. ¡°Mister, it has been hard for you to raise this child. I didn¡¯t think that the truth was like this. No wonder you¡¯re a little cold towards the mother and the child.¡±

    Pei Ziheng fell silent again and looked at the blind old woman in front of him. He wondered if he should chase her away. However, Grandma Ye continued talking.

    ¡°Mister, I know that you must love Xiao Ling. Initially, when you were that cold, I thought that you didn¡¯t love her. However, now that I know that the child isn¡¯t yours, you must have really deep feelings for her to tolerate what she did. Your heart must be in great pain.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression slightly softened. He did not expect that Grandma Ye would tell him this.

    Throughout his entire life, no one dared to talk to him like that, and no one ever understood or sympathized with his pain. Everyone only looked up to him, worshipped him, or hated him, but no one knew about the darkness behind the mour which he faced all alone. Even Xiao Ling did not know.

    However, this blind old woman in front of him spoke to him lovingly.

    He was not used to her warmness.

    He replied in a hoarse voice. ¡°It¡¯s not that hard. It¡¯s just another child in the family. It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t afford to raise him.¡±

    The grief Grandma Ye¡¯s face intensified as she said, ¡°Mister, when you found out about this, you must have been extremely sad. This is life. It concerns Xiao Ling¡¯s life and also yours. Mister, although I don¡¯t know why Xiao Ling gave birth to this child, I can see that she is working very hard to live her life with you. She has already epted her fate, so you should also ept yours. Since you have allowed this child to stay in this house, if you can¡¯t ept him, are at loggerheads with yourself and unhappy, what is it all for?¡±

    Pei Ziheng snorted. ¡°Happiness? Letting him live is my bottom line. Do you think I should treat another man¡¯s child with a smile?¡±

    However, Grandma Ye said, ¡°You can¡¯t say that, Mister. You and Xiao Ling have concealed the true identity of the child from everyone, right? Since the birth of this child, you and Xiao Ling have been taking care of him. When he grows up, he will only recognize you as his father. He will be your child.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous.¡± Pei Ziheng said coldly.

    How could Li Lei¡¯s child be his?

    Grandma Ye knew that an arrogant man like him was usually stubborn. She hesitated for a while before rephrasing what she said. ¡°Thinking about it, if Xiao Ling gives birth to your real son in the future, he will be this baby¡¯s brother. Brothers can take care of each other. If anything happens in the future, they can support each other. Mister, you¡¯re someone in charge of big businesses and know the value of having someone whom you can trust. Why don¡¯t you give your future son a brother like that? If you treat him well today, he will treat his brother well in the future.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was quiet for a long time before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear this.¡±

    Grandma Ye sighed and knew that she could only advise him this much. Thus, she turned around and walked away. After a few steps, she turned around again. ¡°If there¡¯s a quarrel between brothers in the future, Xiao Ling will be sad.¡±

    Pei Ziheng wanted to smoke again.

    He ignored Grandma Ye, turned around, and went downstairs from another end of the balcony.

    In the small garden, Xia Ling was holding the baby and sunbathing. The rash on the child had mostly subsided. Under the sunshine, his skin was soft and clear. The baby¡¯s smile was bright, pure, and innocent.

    Pei Ziheng looked at them from afar.

    Unconsciously, Xia Ling looked up and saw Pei Ziheng. Her initial smile when humoring the baby suddenly stiffened, and she alertly held the baby closer in her arms.

    The two of them looked at each other for a long time in the garden.

    Then, the child in her arms started crying again.

    Only then did Xia Ling realize that she was holding her child too tightly and quickly rxed her grip. She carefully and gentled consoled him again. The baby continued to cry. A nanny walked over, took the child from Xia Ling¡¯s arms, and said to the child, ¡°Be good, don¡¯t cry. Come and y with auntie.¡±

 Chapter 479 - Holding the Child for the First Time

    <h4>Chapter 479: Holding the Child for the First Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The baby¡¯s cries subdued each time the nanny raised him up in the air.

    Yet, every time she brought him down again, he would cry his heart out.

    Pei Ziheng looked at the child and wondered, how did this tiny infant have the energy to cry this much? He frowned and asked, ¡°Why is this child so difficult to handle?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little flustered. ¡°He¡¯s not difficult to manage at all, he¡¯s just a little bored now. As long as the nanny keeps him entertained, he¡¯ll be alright soon.¡± She was afraid that Pei Ziheng would chase the child out of the house out of annoyance.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her cautious expression and couldn¡¯t help but remember what Grandma Ye had told him: [This is destiny. It¡¯s Xiao Ling¡¯s destiny, and yours as well.]

    He looked at her and the child with a thoughtful expression.

    The nanny was trying her best to entertain the child, but she was out of breath soon after holding him up into the air repeatedly. As he stopped reaching the same height, the baby started crying again.

    Xia Ling was getting worried. ¡°This can¡¯t go on, he¡¯ll damage his throat from all this crying.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at her and took a few steps forward.

    Xia Ling felt her heart in her throat, not knowing what his intentions were. The nanny stopped entertaining the child, and instead, held him tight as she stood before Pei Ziheng and courteously greeted. ¡°Mister.¡±

    The nanny had reared many children from wealthy families and was no stranger to celebrities and authorities. Yet, she felt an inexplicable fear towards Pei Ziheng, as if he wielded more power than the heirs of other magnates.

    Pei Ziheng looked at the child in her arms.

    With a straight face, he told the child, ¡°Stop crying.¡±

    The child looked up at him and was stunned for a while, and then he stopped crying immediately. He looked at Pei Ziheng with curious eyes, thinking that it was a novel sight since he had never really seen a father figure thus far. After a while, he seemed to recognize Pei Ziheng from the time he saw him in the nursery room and slowly revealed a pure, innocent smile.

    Nanny Zhou felt a warmth in her heart as she witnessed their interaction.

    From the perspective of the Pei¡¯s family housemaid, she strongly disapproved of how Xia Ling had had a child with another man and even pushed the responsibility to Pei Ziheng. But from the perspective of a woman, she really adored this baby, and sincerely hoped that he and Mister could build a fond rtionship.

    They should act like a family, at the very least.

    Seeing that the baby was smiling at Pei Ziheng, Nanny Zhou tried to liven the situation up further. ¡°Mister, you¡¯re really good. So many of us have tried all means and ways to coax him, and all it took you was one sentence for him to stop crying.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression softened.

    Who knew where this baby had inherited such naivety from, being able to smile in front of such a dangerous person. Then again, he seemed to be pretty good at adapting to situations ¡ª seeing that the big man standing before him did not appear too happy, he actually reached his arms out and bbered a few sounds.

    Nanny Zhou smiled and told Pei Ziheng, ¡°The baby wants you to carry him.¡±

    Xia Ling stood up nervously. ¡°Let me do it.¡±

    She was afraid he would hurt the child.

    Pei Ziheng did not want to carry him initially ¡ª he was just a bastard child, how could he possibly deserve to be carried by him? But seeing how fearful Xia Ling looked, he changed his mind ¡ª wasn¡¯t she highly guarded against him? He deliberately decided to carry the child in front of her to show her who the head of the household really was.

    He reached out and received the baby.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do...¡± Xia Ling was so close to grabbing the child from him.

    Pei Ziheng calmly looked at her, as if issuing a warning. Xia Ling stopped attempting to take over the child, and instead watched in apprehension as Nanny Zhou helped secure the baby in his arms.

    This was the first time Pei Ziheng carried such a young infant, and he was smaller and more fragile than he had expected. Lying in his embrace, the little one looked up at him with big round eyes, and at that moment, Pei Ziheng felt the jitters he had never before experienced. He was so afraid that one minor movement would put the child in difort or danger.

    Before long, his arms began to ache from tensing up too much. The baby was oblivious to his stiffness and never stopped smiling at him. It was strange, actually. He cried regardless of who carried him, sometimes even when it was Xia Ling, but when it came to Pei Ziheng, he was always cheery and unguarded. The baby reached his arm out and grabbed the button on Pei Ziheng¡¯s suit.

    Pei Ziheng was even tenser now, and it showed on his face. However, his expression was unreadable to others.

    Xia Ling was afraid that he would vent his anger on the baby, and hence, hurriedly went forward to grab onto the baby¡¯s hand. She quietly said, ¡°Be good, baby, don¡¯t be naughty.¡± Because she had to stay with the baby, she ended up standing closer to Pei Ziheng than she had in a long time. Her long hair was resting upon Pei Ziheng¡¯s chest as her scent caught his attention.

    It had been a while since she came this close to Pei Ziheng of her own ord.

    Pei Ziheng stiffened up, his heart pounding rapidly as every cell in his being reverberated with joy. Xia Ling waspletely unaware of it as she continued leaning toward Pei Ziheng to coax the little one.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at her.

    The baby curiously looked at his mother, and then at Pei Ziheng.

    They appeared to be a happy family of three.

    Two of the nannies standing by the side suddenly felt as if they had gotten it wrong this whole time ¡ª previously, they had suspected that the child wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng¡¯s flesh and blood, but how could he not be? Mr. Pei was so nice to the child, and the child appeared to like Mr. Pei a lot too. Just because he did not resemble Mr. Pei did not necessarily mean they were not father and son.

    Who in the world would be this nice to someone else¡¯s child?

    This child had to be Mister¡¯s biological son, he had to be.

    Meanwhile, Nanny Zhou, who knew the truth of the matter, was feelingforted as well. She had been worrying that Mister and Madam would fall out over this child¡¯s identity, but now it seemed like there was a good chance for reconciliation.

    It should note as such a surprise though. Mister had adopted Miss Xia Ling and Miss Xia Yu as well and was not against the idea of raising children who were not rted to him by blood. If that were the case, there was every possibility that they could get along amicably and blissfully as a family of three. Once Madam fully recuperated, they could have another child of their own toplete their family then.

    Nanny Zhou discretely wiped some tears off her eyes as she pictured this perfect scene.

    Eventually, Xia Ling received the baby from Pei Ziheng, finally liberating his sore arms. The baby was in his mother¡¯s embrace, but his eyes never left Pei Ziheng. The cheerful, innocent smile was still on his face.

    With that, Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart softened as well.

 Chapter 480 - The Babyâ€™s Name

    <h4>Chapter 480: The Baby¡¯s Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    From that day onwards, the baby would reach out for his hug whenever he saw Pei Ziheng.

    He liked the buttons on Pei Ziheng¡¯s high-ss, tailored suit, and happily left a generous amount of drool on his suit. Pei Ziheng¡¯s suit was practically destroyed every time he carried the baby.

    However, Pei Ziheng did not mind at all.

    He even secretly stopped smoking, for the sake of keeping the baby away from the smell of smoke on his suit.

    Two males so different in size, getting along amicably.

    Xia Ling saw the two of them getting along so well and felt a sense of relief. As long as Pei Ziheng liked the baby, the little one¡¯s safety was guaranteed, nothing else mattered.

    Xia Ling thanked Grandma Ye, for it was her appearance that brought about this possibility.

    Grandma Ye chose to find Xia Ling for a chat on a bright, sunny afternoon.

    She asked Xia Ling about the profile of the child. Xia Ling didn¡¯t try to avoid the question and told Grandma Ye all that she could say. She told her that the child¡¯s biological father was indeed another man.

    Grandma Ye said, ¡°Xia Ling, Grandma here knows you and Mr. Pei share the same pain. Your heart still pines for another man. However, women now often have to marry whoever they are to marry. Mr. Pei is already considered one of the best, and he treats you well. Even if he is not perfect, you should be content. Now that you have a child, and since you stayed by his side, you should continue to live on like this. Don¡¯t choose to challenge yourself, and don¡¯t choose to challenge fate.¡±

    Xia Ling remained silent for a long while and gently nodded.

    Grandma Ye praised her. ¡°Now that¡¯s a good girl.¡± She patted Xia Ling on the shoulders and left on her walking stick.

    At the bottom of the wall creeping with ivy and flowers, Pei Ziheng listened quietly to the conversation. He didn¡¯t mean to eavesdrop, but he happened to be walking by and overheard his name being mentioned in their conversation, and couldn¡¯t resist stopping to listen.

    He heard Grandma Ye persuading Xia Ling, and saw Xia Ling nodding her head.

    At that moment, he felt a burst of hope and joy and felt as if the whole world lit up.

    He just knew that one day, his Xiao Ling woulde back to him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression softened. He stared at Xia Ling as she sent Grandma Ye off with the baby in her arms and sat on the waist-high flower wall alone, singing a selfposed baby luby.

    It was melodious and enchanting.

    The song slowly came to a halt.

    Pei Ziheng gently asked, ¡°Why did you stop singing?¡±

    Xia Ling turned her head in shock and finally saw him standing by the foot of the wall. He stood in the shadows of the stairs and raised his head gently, his eyes pretty and full of warmth.

    Xia Ling turned her head back and slowly began to sing again.

    Pei Ziheng walked over and sat shoulder-to-shoulder with her. He lowered his head to look at the baby nestled in her arms. The baby snuggled in his mother¡¯s embrace and appeared to be very happy, his short arms and legs dancing around as though he were dancing along with the melody. Seeing Pei Ziheng, he felt no fear at all, and his dancing even picked up in intensity.

    ¡°When he grows up, he will probably be a heavenly king,¡± Pei Ziheng said as he looked at the baby.

    Amazement grew in Xia Ling¡¯s heart ¡ª who would expect that Pei Ziheng would initiate a conversation about the child? This was probably considered a good thing, right? She kept quiet for a moment, and then said with a smile, ¡°Being a heavenly king would be good. He¡¯ll get to bask in magnificence his whole life, and produce music in happiness.¡± This child was destined to have no fate to being heir in the Pei family. He might be Pei Ziheng¡¯s eldest son in name, but with regards to his blood rtions, both of them knew better. There was no way this child could gain power in the magnate in the future. His best bet would probably be to dabble in something ¡ª anything ¡ª but not in business.¡±

    Pei Ziheng strongly agreed. ¡°Just sign a contract with Imperial Entertainment, and his brother can help him in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling had a short shback, remembering a promise she once made to Pei Ziheng to bear a child for him. Her mood immediately sank, and she forced herself tough.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head to look at the baby in her arms. The babyughed in glee, iling his little arms and legs, staring back at Pei Ziheng with dewy, wide eyes. ¡°This child hasn¡¯t got a name yet,¡± Pei Ziheng said gently. ¡°Let¡¯s call him Pei Shaoyin ¡ª Shao meaning sessor, Yin for music.¡±

    Early on during Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy, when Pei Ziheng was still under the impression that the child was his, he already came up with a name for the child. Initially, the name was to be Pei Shao Ye, the sessor of the family business.

    Till today, this child would never be able to seed the family business, so why not call him Pei Shao Yin, to allow him to find his own identity. In the future, when he took on Xiao Ling¡¯s singing abilities, he could be the emperor in the singing industry.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was unsettled.

    He actually suggested for the child to bear the Pei family name.

    This was such a meaningful action, entailing so much patience and eptance. At that moment, she finally regained confidence in Pei Ziheng¡¯s love for her. If this weren¡¯t love, how could he tolerate another man¡¯s child, taking on the identity of being his eldest son and bearing his family name?

    ¡°Thank you...¡± She didn¡¯t know how else to express her gratitude except for this weak, feeble thank you.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression softened even more. ¡°In the future, we shall let the brothers be friendly with each other.¡± What he meant was for his future biological son to get along well with this child in front of his eyes. Just as what Grandma Ye had said, giving the future sessor a right-hand man was always a good idea.

    Xia Ling lowered her head, and the gratitude in her heart slowly seeped away.

    So what if he loved her? It was a tyrannical, forced love. If not for his intervention, this child would have been brought up with Li Lei by her side, their family of three living on happily. The child could even inherit Skyart Entertainment and seeded his biological father¡¯s works of achievement.

    She looked at the swaddled baby, at the tiny, carefree child, as he gurgled andughed in her arms. She suddenly thought of how the child shouldn¡¯t be ¡°a sessor for music,¡± but rather...

    ¡°Let¡¯s call him Shaohui ¡ª Hui for light.¡±

    Xia Ling raised her head, carefully looking at Pei Ziheng, ¡°Pei Shaoyin sounds just like Wei Shaoyin. Shaohui sounds good too, inheriting light, just like...¡± She tilted her head up, staring at the warm winter sun, ¡°Such great weather, such a great sun.¡±

    Just like the man in her heart, Li Lei. Her eternal sunlight.

    Pei Ziheng did not know her true intentions and simply tilted his head up to gaze at the warm winter sunlight alongside her. The golden rays of the sun bathed upon them, providing a sense offort, while the breeze brought them the scent of flowers, creating a rare state of calmness.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s call him Pei Shaohui then,¡± says Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling then trulyughed, because hey, Shaohui was a good name.

    Since the child¡¯s name had been decided, Xia Ling had one less worry on her mind. Next would be obtaining a passport and officiating the name ¡ª these issues would be settled in no time with the servants¡¯ help.

    Not longter, this name was made known to the public.

    All her fans learned of the fact that the child belonging to her and Pei Ziheng now had a name, Pei Shaohui.

    This was indeed a nice-sounding name, and all who heard it imed it sounded good, giving it praise and blessings in return. Reporters interviewed Xia Ling, and she happily replied, ¡°Pei Ziheng and I came up with the name together, and hopefully it brings a good meaning with it.¡±

    With that, everyoneplimented them for their harmonious rtionship.

 Chapter 481 - The Exclusive Interview

    <h4>Chapter 481: The Exclusive Interview</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Some mediapanies even wanted to shoot photos of them together.

    Pei Ziheng was unwilling initially, but a reporter said, ¡°Mr. Pei, your family of three is so blissful together, don¡¯t you want to let the world see this? Everybody would be envious.¡±

    Pei Ziheng wavered.

    He nodded his head. ¡°Alright.¡±

    The location of the interview was the vi.

    The sun shone splendidly on the garden, where Xia Ling was seated in herfortable home attire, carrying her child. Pei Ziheng was right beside her and was pouring her some tea when the baby began bbering and smiling.

    The reporter took a series of photos.

    This was a family of exceedingly good looks ¡ª the head of the household was a gorgeously handsome man, while the mistress was an elegant and sweetdy with an alluring charm. Even the infant wrapped in his nket had beautiful features and eyes full of life, like an angel on earth.

    The garden was dainty with a different vibe from most others. The tables and chairs were made of only the best and sturdiest wood, the porcin utensils were created by hand by a renowned craftsman, while the cakes, fruits, and tea added a wonderful finish to this picture-perfect scene that would be the envy of anyone whoid their eyes on it.

    With the best photographer and reporter around to capture the necessary materials for this special feature, it proceeded smoothly and waspleted in no time.

    That particr issue for the magazine sold out in a mere few hours, and prices skyrocketed in the second-hand market.

    Talks of Pei Ziheng¡¯s happy family were in every street and alley, and many who initially felt that Ye Xingling¡¯s humble background deemed her unworthy of him had since changed their mind. Looking at the photo of them together, the couple appeared extremelypatible.

    Xia Yu was so angry that she ripped the magazine apart.

    The other person who the same was Li Lei.

    Li Lei was intensely annoyed by Pei Ziheng¡¯s gentle expression in the picture and did not think twice before tearing the page in half. He threw the half with Pei Ziheng¡¯s face into the bin, and only kept the other half with Xia Ling and the infant on it.

    She seemed to be living blissfully.

    Li Lei straightened the page and meticulously trimmed along the edges, giving himself a perfect picture to keep. In the picture, there was a gentleness in her eyes that he had never seen before, and he figured that this warmth she exuded was a beautiful byproduct of being a mother.

    So, she actually could live happily even without him.

    Li Lei felt a bitter ache, but he forced himself to give her his blessings ¡ª if this were Heavens¡¯ will, that he could not be by her side, then he would at least give her a strong enough partner like Pei Ziheng to protect her.

    To give her happiness.

    Li Lei¡¯s fists were clenched tightly.

    He told himself the same thing time and again, but there was still a sense of indignance he could not suppress.

    He still entertained the thought of dashing into the Pei household and getting her out, and it was alright even if she wanted to bring the baby along ¡ª as long as it did not include Pei Ziheng. He could not tolerate her being with Pei Ziheng!

    His feelings were so strong that he found it hard to breathe through the thickness of jealousy.

    Li Lei scrutinized the picture and noticed that Xiao Ling¡¯s warm, tender demeanor was only directed towards the baby ¡ª she was not looking at Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei felt a spark of hope and flipped through several other pages with their photos on them. In the other photos, Xia Ling¡¯s expression was still endearing, but in none of them was she looking at Pei Ziheng. Li Lei had a surge of mixed feelings upon noticing this. On the one hand, he was slightly stumped to realize that they were not as close and loving as they appeared to be. On the other hand, he could not be happier that she did not love Pei Ziheng as much as he had thought.

    Maybe, he still had a chance.

    If only there weren¡¯t the baby.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyesnded on the baby who was smiling happily in his mother¡¯s arms. For reasons unknown to him, Li Lei could not seem to detest the baby, and instead, he found himself drawn to him.

    There was a knock on the door, and Tan Ying entered.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Am I hopeless? I actually find Pei Ziheng¡¯s child cute.¡±

    Tan Ying nced at the magazine on the table, and could not think of any words offort. Instead, he said, ¡°She¡¯s already married with a child, why don¡¯t you find another woman to love instead? This child is going to be the sessor of Imperial Entertainment. If you don¡¯t have anybody to pass Skyart on to, how are you going to beat that father-son pair?¡±

    Li Leiughed ironically. ¡°What kind of child can Pei Ziheng even raise?¡±

    Tan Ying shook his head and truly thought that his boss was a hopeless case. However terrible a person he thought Chairman Pei to be, surely he was capable enough to groom a sessor. It was a known fact that the Pei family had bred and groomed elites generation after generation and each of them was sessful in their careers. Li Lei must have done too much wishful thinking even to consider the possibility of an incapable Pei sessor.

    Li Lei knew he was being too naive, and his smile quickly faded. He gazed at the picture distractedly. ¡°If this child is capable enough to ruin Skyart for good, I¡¯ll resign myself to it.¡± He looked at the little one and muttered, ¡°If he¡¯s that capable, at least I¡¯ll know that his mother is in good hands.¡±

    Xiao Ling was innocent and came from an ordinary family. If Pei Ziheng ever got tired of her one day and left her, at least she would have a son to take care of her.

    But Li Lei had another concern. ¡°No, no, this child better not turn out to be too capable, he should just live an ordinary life...¡± If he were too powerful, there was no way Li Lei would have a chance at winning her back even if Pei Ziheng left her someday.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart was in turmoil.

    Tan Ying felt bad for him. This boss appeared carefree andid back all the time, but deep down, he was an utterly devoted man. He was genuinely worried that Boss would never fall for another person in this lifetime.

    He had been hurt way so deeply.

    Tan Ying shook his head and sighed. What kind of ill fate was he suffering?

    He felt sorry for Su Tang, who was still longing for the day Li Lei would have a change of heart. He thought of the soup that Su Tang had personally boiled for Li Lei in thepany¡¯s kitchen. His heart went out to the soup... It had been sitting on his desk for hours and was now cooled, and Boss had not even had a sip of it.

    Tan Ying felt lucky to have married at a young age ¡ª he was free from suchplicated affairs of the heart.

    Over at Xia Ling¡¯s side, the days were peaceful and well.

    Talk of the exclusive feature had spread like wildfire, and countless people were eagerly awaiting a second chance at seeing the family of three together. However, Xia Ling did not want the baby to be showered with too much public attention, and hence, rejected all other interviews as she raised him at thefort of their home.

    Even Pei Ziheng was a little surprised, ¡°You don¡¯t want him to receive too much attention?¡± His impression of Xiao Ling was one who loved the limelight, and who was more than happy to share any little happening with the world. In her previous life, her public ount was updated on a daily basis, never short of things for the public to view.

    But now, she did not even want to publicize something as major and celebratory as having a child.

 Chapter 482 - 100-day Celebration

    <h4>Chapter 482: 100-day Celebration</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling lowered her head. Who said she didn¡¯t want to show her child off?

    However, she was now staying in Pei Ziheng¡¯s ce and could not afford to be too high profile. What if Pei Ziheng became unhappy? What if it put her child in harm¡¯s way? She was careful even showing her happiness in front of the cameras.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking?¡± Pei Ziheng pressed.

    Xia Ling thought for a while before saying carefully, ¡°He¡¯s not going to inherit the family business in the future... there¡¯s no need for him to be too much in the limelight.¡±

    With Pei Ziheng¡¯s intellect, he could read between the lines and realize that she was worried that it would get on his nerves if they were too high profile. He felt his heart clench for Xiao Ling. She should be so proud and carefree... why was she living so cautiously? Since she had made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him, then he should also make sure to give her what she wanted.

    Hence, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the issues surrounding the inheritance. You should bring the child out in public as appropriate. It doesn¡¯t really matter so much.¡± On the one hand, he was keen to let her be so that she could be who she was in her past life ¨D the wilful and carefree princess, who did as she pleased. On the other hand, it was notpletely suitable for him to be too low profile.

    If they were to have another son and his younger brother were to be pushed into the limelight and get more attention, would Pei Zhaohui feel upset about it? Or what if Pei Zhaohui found out that he wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng¡¯s son in the first ce, would he think that he was being neglected because he was illegitimate?

    If he held such grudges, it would be difficult for him to help his younger brother.

    Pei Ziheng resolved to give this child the best treatment the son of a wealthy family could have.

    This was also intended to show his faraway love rival what a happy family looked like.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t have the energy to manage these things.¡± In her past life, her wilfulness stemmed from her happiness, and she just wanted to be the center of attention. However, this life was different. She had no interest in the superstar aura or the pursuit of beauty ¡ª these frivolous things were much less important than the safety of her child.

    She would rather remain quietly in the background and lead a peaceful life.

    However, Pei Ziheng did not agree to this. ¡°You should still be out in the open when you need to be. Other days are fine, but the child¡¯s 100-day celebration is uing ¨D We didn¡¯t celebrate when it was his full-month, so we need to make sure the 100-day celebration willpensate for it.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him with a confused expression. ¡°Why are you suddenly so concerned about the child?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said lightly, ¡°Isn¡¯t that good?¡±

    Xia Ling could not understand what he was thinking but did not dare say that it was bad. She merely lowered her head and mumbled, ¡°Thank you for all that you are doing for him.¡±

    He was not doing it for the child but for her.

    The 100-day celebration was extremely grand. Pei Ziheng invited many wealthy families, socialites, famous people, and the media.

    The private garden looked morous in the night with a live string quartet ying in the background.

    Xia Ling dressed the baby up in a cashmere pantsuit with flower prints and also changed into a matching flowery dinner gown. Her figure showed no sign that she had just given birth three months ago, and her fair, slender shoulders and slim waist made her look all the more svelte.

    Her billowing hair was like a soft cloud, and her smile ravishing. Standing beside Pei Ziheng, she was not overshadowed by his charisma, but instead perfectlyplementary. They looked like the perfect couple.

    The reporters present rushed to get as many photos of the couple as they could.

    It was the first time that the child was in front of so many people and he was curiously looking around. Surprisingly, he did not cry.

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. This child was a crybaby usually, but he seemed to perform appropriately in bigger events. He did not cry and would even smile when someone came up to him, showing off his adorable dimples, melting everyone¡¯s hearts.

    ¡°He¡¯s so cute.¡± A wealthydy bent over to take a closer look at the child, then straightened up and smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Madam Pei, congrattions on giving birth to a son on your first try. You¡¯ve given the Pei family an heir!¡±

    What heir?

    Xia Ling sneaked a look at Pei Ziheng as her heart beat faster in trepidation. Seeing that he showed no change in expression, she worried about what he was thinking. She steeled herself and replied, ¡°As long as the child is healthy, that¡¯s good enough for me. He doesn¡¯t need to be an heir.¡±

    That wealthydy took it as humbleness. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so careful, everyone knows that the Pei family has always had the first son take over the family business.¡± She thought that Xia Ling was not confident because she was from a lowly background. She continued, ¡°A son is a son. You¡¯ve done a great deed for the Pei family. Hasn¡¯t she, Mr. Pei?¡±

    She turned to look at Pei Ziheng with herst question.

    This night, Pei Ziheng was dressed in a dark-colored suit, and his expression was as mysterious as his clothes.

    He did not bother to respond to thedy¡¯s words directly and only said, ¡°Madam Lu, wee to our celebrations. Do forgive us if there¡¯s any oversight in our hosting.¡±

    Madam Lu did not realize that anything was amiss. She merely engaged in a little bit more small talk before walking away.

    Many people came forward one after another to strike a conversation with them.

    They all spoke about the child, and many of them congratted Pei Ziheng for getting an heir to his businesses.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became increasingly dark, but he did not lose his temper given his good upbringing. Xia Ling, on the other hand, was growing more uneasy by the minute. She could tell that Pei Ziheng did not like hearing the word ¡°heir¡± and that he was controlling his temper all this time. Why did he want to organize this 100-day celebration and put himself through such torture then?

    Xia Ling was preupied with such thoughts as she followed Pei Ziheng around. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, and before she could stop herself in time, she bumped her nose on his shoulder hard. ¡°Ouch.¡± Tears sprung into her eyes, and she wanted to reach out to hold onto her nose but had no free hands since she was holding the child.

    He stopped, lowered his head, and reached out to help her rub her nose to ease the pain.

    ¡°Why are you so careless?¡± His voice was warm and caring.

    She blinked her eyes and forced her tears back.

    He called a helper over to relieve her of the child so that she could take a rest. It was now that sheined, ¡°Why did you suddenly stop?¡±

    Pei Ziheng jerked his head towards the front.

    A bodyguard was standing in front ¨D he was the reason that Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks. That bodyguard respectfully said, ¡°Mister, Nanhua Interactive Entertainment¡¯s Mister Ouyang is here and would like to invite you to a private conversation.¡±

    The 100-day celebration was organized on a grand scale. Many of the big-name guests were here to give Pei Ziheng face.

    Time was precious for these famous people, and to search out Pei Ziheng for a private conversation was amon urrence. Pei Ziheng lowered his head and rubbed Xia Ling¡¯s nose a little more, before gently saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look. Take care of yourself and the child, okay?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    She did not care for his business dealings. In contrast, she felt more rxed when he was not around as she did not need to pretend to be a happy family anymore.

    Xia Ling felt a little tired from having carried the child for a long time.

    Thus, she instructed the nanny to carry the child back to the nursery for a rest before she grabbed a ss of orange juice from a waiter passing by and found a quiet corner to catch her breath.

 Chapter 483 - Acting Out After Drinks

    <h4>Chapter 483: Acting Out After Drinks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Yet, it wasn¡¯t long before the guests and reporters realized that she was alone in the corner and made a beeline for her, making conversation or asking for interviews. Xia Ling was used to such things given that she had been a Diva for years in her past life, but she did not enjoy the attention and only felt fatigued.

    She managed to rid herself of them with difficulty.

    She did not dare stand in just any corner but instead started to walk over to the private rest area, holding up her silvery-white dress tail. The moonlight shone on the steps in front of the door, and shadows of the flowers in the trees printed beautiful patterns on the stairs.

    In this beautiful spring night, she saw a person that she did not ever want to see.

    ¡°Xia Yu?¡± She stopped in her tracks and stared at the beautiful girl also standing in front of the door, her voice cold. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± If she hadn¡¯t recalled wrong, she did not send Xia Yu an invitation to the 100-day celebration. How did she manage toe in?

    Xia Yu was dressed in an elegant chiffon evening gown that was swaying in the light spring breeze. She looked even more attractive than before, still keeping up with her fragile damsel-in-distress image. She looked over at Xia Ling and shed a confident and sweet smile. ¡°Ye Xingling? It was Brother Ziheng that invited me, didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    Since when did Pei Ziheng invite Xia Yu?

    Xia Ling was stunned, and a small ball of rage rose up in her chest. He was aware that she despised this little sister, so why did he invite her to the house to agitate her?

    With this thought, Xia Ling¡¯s expression clouded over.

    In contrast, Xia Yu continued to smile. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand... how did a shallow woman like you manage to marry Brother Ziheng? Brother Ziheng doesn¡¯t care about you at all, you know that, right? Otherwise, why would he invite me to this celebration and not tell you at all?¡±

    If Xia Ling still loved Pei Ziheng, she might have been hurt by Xia Yu¡¯s words.

    However, her love for him had long passed.

    Xia Ling arrogantly looked at Xia Yu, revealing a perfect smile. ¡°Very good. So Pei Ziheng allowed you in here, you say? Nevermind, I can still chase you out.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?!¡± Xia Yu¡¯s expression fell.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re so clever, can¡¯t you guess?¡± Xia Ling continued smiling, but a coldness spread in the depths of her eyes. She raised her voice. ¡°Waiter!¡±

    A waiter standing nearby swiftly came over.

    Xia Ling addressed him, but her cold gaze remained trained on Xia Yu. ¡°Call security over and get this woman out of the premises.¡± This was her home, and she had to let Xia Yu know who was thedy boss!

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you wouldn¡¯t dare!¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Xia Lingughed. ¡°Xia Yu, please get things straight. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s married to Pei Ziheng, and I¡¯m the Madam here. Who are you? If you¡¯re smart, you will get out of here right now. If you aren¡¯t smart, then we can blow this up, and the one who¡¯s going to lose face is you!¡±

    Her words were sharp and arrogant, and at that moment, it seemed that the wilful Diva hade back.

    Even Xia Yu thought to herself, <i>This b*tch...</i>

    <i>She really does resemble my dead sister.</i>

    Her resemnce made Xia Yu see red and feel jealous.

    ¡°Madam?¡± Xia Yu copied her tone of voice and burst intoughter, her slender face filling with disgust. ¡°You just relied on your child to get where you are. Brother Ziheng might not like you at all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not something for you to worry about.¡± Xia Ling nonchntly retorted.

    Very quickly, two security guards came over. Under the moonlight, their ck suits looked sharp and formal.

    Xia Ling pointed at Xia Yu. ¡°Get her out of here.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you can¡¯t do this! I was personally invited by Brother Ziheng!¡± Xia Yu started to scream.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t care less about her and hurried the security guards with her eyes.

    The two security guards did not dare to dilly-dally. They walked in front of Xia Yu and restricted her movements from both sides. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, please follow us out.¡±

    Under the circumstances, all Xia Yu could do was re angrily at Xia Ling and say, ¡°Ye Xingling, I will remember this! I will get you back for this!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xia Ling brushed her off.

    The two security guards hurried Xia Yu. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, you have to leave now. Please hurry up.¡±

    ¡°I can walk by myself!¡± Xia Yu red at the two security guards as she straightened out her elegant and luxurious evening gown. Lifting her chin with the remnants of her pride, she was led out under the guards¡¯ watchful eyes.

    Xia Ling watched as she left, her irritation lifting slightly.

    After this quarrel, she suddenly didn¡¯t want to return to the private rest area, but instead felt hungry. Thus, she walked back to the dining area to eat a few, small bites, making small talk with some of the female guests standing around as she partook of the snacks.

    The 100-day celebrationsted well into the night, and when thest of the guests finally left, it was already 2 am.

    Xia Ling dragged her tired body back into the bungalow and asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where¡¯s the baby? Can you go see if he¡¯s asleep or awake? He should be getting hungry again soon... Can you please carry him over so I can feed him?¡±

    Nanny Zhou went off to look for the nanny caring for the child.

    Xia Ling went to the bedroom and realized that Pei Ziheng wasn¡¯t there.

    She wiped off her make-up and looked into the dressing table mirror as she removed the jade-lined gold hair essories from her deep green locks. She then carefully took off the exquisite earrings she was wearing that were of the same series as the hair essories and changed out of the resplendent silver-white silk evening gown into a loose-fitting cotton long-sleeved pajamas.

    She poured herself a ss of water and rested for a while.

    The bedroom door opened. Xia Ling thought that it was Nanny Zhou and chided, ¡°What took you so long? Quick, bring him over so I can see if he is hungry... ¡±

    Before she finished her sentence, she stopped as she caught sight of the person that had walked in.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng stood by the door watching her, still donning his deep-colored suit, his tie and cor neatly in ce. His eyes were narrowed in irritation. ¡°You¡¯re so concerned for your son?¡±

    That was her son... how could she not be concerned?

    Xia Ling thought to herself but kept quiet, knowing that he was not in a good mood. She did not want to agitate him. She stood up and approached him, saying, ¡°I asked Nanny Zhou to carry the child over to me, so I thought it was her when I heard the door opening... Wait... What are you doing?!¡±

    Before she had finished her sentence, he had already pulled her into his arms.

    There was a mild stench of alcohol on his body, and she could not ascertain how much he had had to drink. His voice was lower and more hoarse than usual. ¡°Instead of being so concerned about someone else¡¯s kid, you should be more concerned about our kid. Xiao Ling, give me a child.¡±

    Xia Ling struggled and pushed his chest away with both hands, her heart pounding. ¡°The doctor... the doctor said that we can¡¯t just yet...¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to at all, right?¡± His expression changed, and he gripped her chin with one hand, forcing her to lift her face up to his. ¡°Xia Ling, you just don¡¯t want to have my child! Your n is to drag it out day by day, isn¡¯t it?!¡±

 Chapter 484 - Disappearance

    <h4>Chapter 484: Disappearance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was hurting from his grip and struggled to free herself. ¡°Let go of me! You¡¯re drunk!¡±

    She did not know why he was behaving like that and was terrified. She suddenly thought of the celebrations today, all the guests congratting him about the child and about getting an heir, and his increasingly dark expression. Was he hating the child more and more every day? Did the words of the guests today make him hate the child even more?

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart beat wildly, and she said frantically, ¡°Don¡¯t think of the worst! Things are not what you say!¡±

    ¡°Then you tell me, what are things like?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice became even lower. He released his grip on her chin but instead started to caress her neck. ¡°Xia Ling, if you want me to believe you, then give me a child.¡±

    ¡°I will, but not now!¡± Xia Ling anxiously replied, feeling danger right in front of her eyes. ¡°Pei Ziheng, get a grip on yourself! The doctor said that the risk is huge if I get pregnant so quickly after giving birth!¡±

    ¡°The baby, always the baby!¡± Pei Ziheng started tough coldly. ¡°Xia Ling, do you know that your conversation never leaves that bastard? You care so much for him, right? And you¡¯ve wasted so much of my time because of him! Either you give me a child now, or don¡¯t me me for being heartless!¡±

    He had indeed been triggered beyond measure today. All the guests had congratted him on getting an heir, but behind his back, he heard them discussing ¨D¡±Don¡¯t you think the child doesn¡¯t look like Chairman Pei at all?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, he looks like his mum... but you really can¡¯t tell who the father is...¡±

    ¡°Do you guys think... maybe...¡±

    ¡°Shh, don¡¯t speak rubbish! Which household doesn¡¯t have some skeletons in the closet? It might not be what we are thinking! These days, many kids don¡¯t resemble their fathers.¡±

    All the discussions made him feel like a knife was cutting at his heart, bit by bit.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time that he heard people discussing this behind his back. What about those people that he hadn¡¯t chanced upon? What were they saying? Originally, Pei Ziheng thought that he had a mind of steel and would not care about these little gossips. However, after having a few drinks today, he suddenly felt that all these words were terrible to the ears and weighed down on his heart. He wanted so much to have a child with Xiao Ling.

    He lowered his head to look at Xia Ling before he carried her in his arms and threw her onto the luxurious king-sized bed. ¡°We¡¯re having a child now.¡±

    Xia Ling was frantic. This man was really being unreasonable right now. He did not care for any feelings or the doctor¡¯s advice, and all he wanted was to get what he wanted. She struggled to push him away, thanking the Lord in her head that she had changed out of her evening gown which would have been torn away in an instant.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re nuts!¡± She struggled to protect her body and shouted at him. ¡°Get off me! Get off!¡±

    Her struggles only made him more intent on getting his way. Pei Ziheng pressed himself onto her body, easily restraining both her hands with one of his, and started to pull her clothes off.

    At this moment, Nanny Zhou¡¯s anxious shouts could be heard ¨D

    ¡°Madam, something bad has happened! The child has disappeared!¡±

    What? The child has disappeared?!

    The words were like lightning had struck Xia Ling. She did not know where she found the strength, but she struggled free of Pei Ziheng¡¯s grip and stumbled off the bed to open the door for Nanny Zhou. ¡°What happened to the baby?!¡±

    ¡°The baby has disappeared!¡± Nanny Zhou was so frantic that she was sweating profusely, and she didn¡¯t realize that Xia Ling¡¯s clothes were in a mess. ¡°I¡¯ve asked the nanny and the driver and everyone that could possibly havee into contact with the child. No one has seen him anywhere!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale.

    By now, Pei Ziheng hade over, and his frenzied expression was now back to normal. ¡°Have you searched everywhere in the house yet? Have you looked at the surveince camera recordings? Who was thest person to see the child? Find that person and bring him or her over to be interrogated!¡±

    Xia Ling nced over at him in astonishment.

    He had earlier called the child a bastard. Why was he so concerned and so keen on helping out once something happened to the child? Xia Ling realized that she could not understand this man at all.

    However, there was no time to dwell on this issue.

    She anxiously said to Nanny Zhou. ¡°Do as Mister says.¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°We¡¯ve searched everywhere in the house and did not find the child. Thest person to see the baby was Shuyuan. Shuyuan said that during the celebrations, she took the child from you and coaxed him for a while before bringing him back to the nursery. However, when the celebrations were over and you asked for the child, the rocking bed was empty!¡±

    This was not an ident.

    This thought sprang into Xia Ling¡¯s mind. There was no way there could be an ident in this scenario.

    For the rocking bed to be empty, someone had to intentionally carry the child away!

    Shuyuan was the child¡¯s nanny, and she was called over quickly. She recounted what she knew nervously to Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng, and her story matched what Nanny Zhou had said.

    ¡°Lock her up for the moment.¡± There was nothing suspicious in her story, but Pei Ziheng was not prepared to just let her go. He continued, ¡°What does the surveince camera recordings look like?¡±

    The head of the security team had already been alerted and could not absolve himself of all responsibility for something so major to have happened at the bungalow. He stood in front of Pei Ziheng with his head lowered and carefully answered the question. ¡°There are no cameras inside the bungalow, so we can¡¯t tell what happened inside. We¡¯ve checked all the camera recordings of the outside of the bungalow, but... there¡¯s nothing suspicious.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind whirred into a panic. All the investigations came up with nothing, and her heart sank further and further into the depths of despair. She forced herself to remain calm and asked, ¡°Then, what could have happened?¡±

    The head of security shed a pained expression. ¡°If the nanny is certain that the child disappeared from the nursery, then the possibility of an ident is close to impossible. The greatest possibility is a kidnap ¨D someone secretly took Young Master away.¡±

    Who could it be?

    Who had such a hatred for her?

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a mess, and her body swayed on the spot.

    Pei Ziheng reached out a hand to steady her as he instructed the head of security. ¡°Go do a thorough investigation. Find that child with all means you can think of. Nanny Zhou, go cook some porridge... Madam is not feeling too well.¡±

    They spread out to do as he bid, and Pei Ziheng helped Xia Ling to the bed to rest.

    It took a long time for Xia Ling to calm her senses. She struggled to get off the bed, wanting to go to the nursery to look for the child. ¡°I want to see for myself.¡± Yet, because she was in such a flurry, her legs buckled once they touched the floor. She stumbled and almost fell.

    Pei Ziheng caught her in time.

    ¡°The child is lost, what is there to see?¡± Pei Ziheng said gently. ¡°You need to get some rest. Your body won¡¯t be able to take it at this rate.¡±

 Chapter 485 - Self-harm

    <h4>Chapter 485: Self-harm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°The child is lost. Why does it matter how my body is?¡± Xia Ling said hoarsely.

    Pei Ziheng tried to console her. ¡°There are so many people helping you to find him. He¡¯lle back. Also,¡± He paused before continuing. ¡°If we really can¡¯t find him, we can just have another child. It¡¯s the same.¡±

    We¡¯ll just have another child. It¡¯s the same.

    The words shed through Xia Ling¡¯s mind.

    She jerked her head up and looked straight into Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. ¡°Was it you? Did you lose the child and then pretend to be as anxious as I am? Are you trying to pretend to be the good person?!¡± The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. The security in the bungalow was impable. If it weren¡¯t someone familiar with the ce, how could they just kidnap the child and not leave any clues at all?

    ¡°Where did you hide my child?! Give him back to me!¡± She cried out.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face fell. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡±

    ¡°Why would I believe you?¡± Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯ve never liked this child. Why would you suddenly want to throw him a 100-day celebration? Did you n all of this? To make him disappear in all the chaos andmotion?¡± He couldn¡¯t me her for suspecting him as he had masterminded the abortion incident during her pregnancy. What did Pei Ziheng say the medicine was then? A calming medication? Under these circumstances, how could she believe him at all?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s grimaced. ¡°It¡¯s not me.¡±

    ¡°Then find my child for me! Since you forced me to marry you, why didn¡¯t you take good care of my child?! Pei Ziheng, if I knew something like this would happen, maybe I should have just gone back to Li Lei when I could. Perhaps my child would still be safe and sound!¡± Xia Ling started to say anything that came to her mind.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed onto her cor. ¡°You¡¯re still pining for that wild man?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not a wild man!¡±

    <i>Pa!</i>

    Pei Ziheng seemed fond of pping her recently, and even he couldn¡¯t understand thispulsion. Every time he was with her, she always seemed to be able to make his temper re out of control. He looked down coldly at her as she clutched at her face, tears brimming in her eyes, and heard her say, ¡°Pei Ziheng, is this p because you¡¯re feeling guilty? Return my child...¡±

    ¡°Child?¡± Pei Ziheng became even angrier as he gave a coldugh. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll return you a child.¡± He inched closer to her menacingly and pinned her onto the bed with his long legs. ¡°Let¡¯s have one right now.¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s felt a mix of terror and anger as she pushed against him with all her might.

    He did not budge. ¡°Xia Ling, aren¡¯t you desperate for a child? Don¡¯t expect me to control myself today! Don¡¯t even try to escape!¡± He reached out, ready to tear her clothes off.

    Xia Ling was terrified and beat him with both hands in a frenzy. She managed to roll off the bed with difficulty when there was a small opening. ¡°Don¡¯te over!¡± She grabbed a fruit knife on the bedside table and pointed it at Pei Ziheng, her hands shaking. ¡°Don¡¯t... don¡¯t you daree over here!¡±

    She was putting up a strong front.

    Pei Ziheng looked over at her with a cold expression, remaining calm and collected.

    ¡°Put down the knife.¡± His tone of voice wasmanding, not leaving any room for negotiation.

    But, how could Xia Ling put the knife down?

    She continued to point the knife at him and backed away as he came closer and closer until her back was against the wall. ¡°Don¡¯te over here! Do you hear me?!¡± Her voice started to shake as well, as she realized that she had no ce to run to.

    Pei Ziheng continued toe closer, step by step, watching as she curled into the corner of the room. He said, ¡°Do you dare stab me? Come and stab me... right over here.¡± He pointed to his chest, right above his heart. ¡°Xia Ling, if you can¡¯t stab me, then just do as I say and give me a child.¡±

    ¡°You... you... Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t dare!¡± Her hands shook even more, and her voice broke.

    She had never even killed a chicken, let alone a person, in this life or her past life. She might have seemed wilful andwless in her past life but, in fact, she was a coward when anything bloody was involved. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯te over! Don¡¯te over!¡±

    Pei Ziheng kept walking forward.

    Xia Ling knew that he was a man of his words and would not let her go today if she didn¡¯t do anything. Her voice became weaker, and she started to plead with him. ¡°Not today... really... not today... We haven¡¯t found my baby... Can you let me find my baby first? When I¡¯ve found him, I¡¯ll have a child with you...¡±

    ¡°And what makes you think I will believe you?¡± Pei Ziheng sneered. He was now almost right in front of her.

    ¡°Stop where you are!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice became harsh again in her terror. ¡°If you take another step, I will really stab you!¡±

    ¡°I told you to stab me right in the heart.¡± Pei Ziheng retorted calmly. ¡°If I die in your hands, so be it. Didn¡¯t you kill Wang Jingwan? Killing someone shouldn¡¯t be a hard task for you. Xia Ling, you should kill me if you can. If you don¡¯t, then I take it as you are willing to have a child with me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not willing!¡± She cried out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fool yourself. You¡¯re willing.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was right in front of her, his tailored suit touching the tip of her knife.

    Xia Ling steeled herself and flipped the fruit knife around to point at herself. She plunged the knife straight into her abdomen! Blood gushed out immediately, dying her white pajamas a bright crimson.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened.

    Xia Ling leaned on the wall and slid towards the ground. Her face was pale, but there was a light smile on her lips. She no longer had the strength to hold onto the fruit knife, and it fell out of her hands onto the carpet.

    Pei Ziheng took a huge step forward and hugged her to his chest. He pressed down onto the gushing wound on her abdomen, attempting to stop the bleeding. ¡°Are you crazy?!¡±

    ¡°Yes... I am... crazy...¡± She spoke with difficulty with the loss of blood, her voice sounding weak. ¡°Pei Ziheng, yes, you¡¯re right. I can¡¯t bring myself... to kill you... but... I... I can... kill myself. You want another kid? You... you made my child disappear... so... I will also make it such that you can never have a child...¡±

    ¡°You lunatic.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was void of emotion.

    However, Xia Ling could see the intense hatred in his eyes.

    He pulled the bell to call for the helpers to assist in calling the hospital. He carried Xia Ling in his arms and told her. ¡°You¡¯d better pray that your stomach is just fine. If you really can¡¯t give birth anymore, don¡¯t me me for taking it out on your child.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already... already... made him disappear...¡± Tears started to fall from her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve been staying by your side as you asked of me... but... you... you made my child disappear...¡±

    Her voice faded out, and she fell unconscious.

    The sirens on the ambnce rang out as they rushed Xia Ling to the hospital.

    The doctor rushed her into surgery to treat her wound. When the surgery waspleted, he shook his head at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Madam was already very weak as she didn¡¯t have good delivery. It was going to be hard for her to have another child. Now that she is injured, it is very likely that she will never have another child again.¡±

 Chapter 486 - The Return of The Preceptor

    <h4>Chapter 486: The Return of The Preceptor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart fell. He finally said after a long time, ¡°Do your best to preserve her reproductive capabilities.¡±

    The doctor shook his head, his heart going out to Pei Ziheng. No man would be happy to hear that his wife would not be able to get pregnant ever again, let alone such a domineering man like Pei Ziheng.

    However, such was life. There was no way to change it.

    ¡°I will do my best, but I would advise you not to harbor high hopes.¡± The doctor responded before walking away.

    Pei Ziheng apanied the still unconscious Xia Ling in the ward for a while. He was full of loathing for himself. If he had not had too much to drink at the evening celebrations... If he didn¡¯t quarrel with her... If the child didn¡¯t disappear... perhaps... just perhaps... things would not havee this far.

    Yet, she was exasperating as well.

    How could she suspect that he was behind the child¡¯s disappearance?

    ¡°Xia Ling, I¡¯m disappointed for having provided for your child for so long.¡± He said to Xia Ling in a cold voice as shey unconscious in the ward bed.

    The head of security came in and said to him in a low voice. ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve investigated the bungalow premises thoroughly, both inside and outside. The child is not in the bungalow. Too many guests came through the bungalow today, and they were all in dress suits and evening gowns. There weren¡¯t many who broughtrge bags or carriers; hence, it would be hard for them to have taken the child away. Other than these people, in the period that the child could have gone missing, the only vehicle that went through the premises was a rubbish truck. Judging by the size of the truck, there is a high possibility that they could have taken the child away.¡±

    ¡°Investigate that truck.¡± Pei Ziheng said. He needed to find that child urgently to wash himself clean of the incident. He stood up as he finished his sentence, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°But Sir... we need to go to the rubbish disposal grounds...¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced coldly at the head of security, who immediately shut his mouth and silently led Pei Ziheng to the car and drove towards the rubbish disposal grounds.

    It was 4 am in the morning.

    The wide rubbish disposal grounds was deste under the dark night sky as a sole crescent moon shone over it.

    Pei Ziheng and the head of security spread out to begin the search.

    Rubbish was piled up all around with all kinds of trash. As Pei Ziheng trod through the trash in his expensive hand-woven leather shoes, many cockroaches and rats went scurrying around. Pei Ziheng did not expect himself to have to walk through such a filthy ce to look for a child that had absolutely no blood ties with him.

    If that child was thrown into a rubbish bin, poured into the rubbish truck and thrown here... would he still be alive? He could have died from his skin rotting from all this filthiness, or maybe bitten to death by the cockroaches and mice in the vicinity.

    As Pei Ziheng thought of these possibilities, he suddenly felt bad for the child. The child¡¯s clear and bright eyes came to the forefront of his mind. The child was smiling at him, stretching out his small arms asking to be carried... such an innocent and beautiful sight.

    Pei Ziheng frowned slightly and waved away the weird feelings that had emerged in him.

    He told himself that he was only looking for the child to be able to absolve himself from me with Xiao Ling.

    He would not develop any feeling for that bastard.

    After searching for a long time, his expensive cashmere sweater was stained with all kinds of filth and was beyond repair. However, that child was nowhere to be found.

    He started to feel anxious.

    Suddenly, he heard the cries of a baby.

    tion filled his heart, and he turned his head towards the sound. He saw a man dressed in a snow-white shirt standing on top of a high pile of trash under the moonlit sky. That man was tall, and he was carrying a child in his arms. The child was gargling and making a lot of noise.

    ¡°That¡¯s my child.¡± Pei Ziheng recognized the child immediately.

    ¡°He isn¡¯t your child.¡± The man in the white shirt said.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Who I am isn¡¯t important.¡± The man in the white shirt started to walk closer, carrying the child.

    Pei Ziheng was able to see him more closely, realizing that the man had handsome features. He had monolids over his eyes, with thin but nicely shaped lips. He looked a little like Xia Ling in her past life.

    A name popped into Pei Ziheng¡¯s mind. ¡°Xia Moyan?¡±

    He suddenly recalled that Xiao Ling had mentioned that she had found her family in her past life ¨D her brother called Xia Moyan. If that were true, then given this man¡¯s resemnce to Xia Ling, he must be Xia Moyan.

    A contemtive look came upon the man¡¯s face as he stood tall amidst the trash. ¡°It seems that Xiao Ling has mentioned me before.¡± He paused before adding. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    Xia Moyan had perceptive capabilities, and he could tell that this man in front of him had an unusual rtionship with Xiao Ling. He had heard that Xiao Ling had been together with this man in her past life, and looking at him up close, he definitely was someonepatible with the ¡°Phoenix.¡± However, he was not the sycamore.

    But he was a dragon of a man.

    If Xiao Ling were not the ¡°Fire Phoenix¡± that was destined for suffering, but the ¡°Soaring Phoenix¡± that was destined for happiness, then Pei Ziheng and her would be a match-made-in-heaven. Unfortunately, they were destined to only have that short rtionship of 10 years in her past life.

    Pei Ziheng did not understand what he was saying and frowned. ¡°Return the child to me.¡±

    Xia Moyan tilted his head slightly and asked, ¡°You want this child to continue to raise him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng went silent.

    He realized that he did not really want to bring the child back. So what if he brought the child back to Xiao Ling¡¯s side? The child was going to take up all of her time and her gentleness again, wasn¡¯t he? Was he bringing him back for her to pine after another man again?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was unreadable under the moonlight.

    Xia Moyan stood opposite him with a mysterious gaze. ¡°Think about it really carefully.¡±

    Finally, Pei Ziheng came to a decision. ¡°I don¡¯t want this child.¡±

    Xia Moyan lowered his head slightly and looked at the child in his arms. He mumbled, ¡°You¡¯re Pei Zhaohui, aren¡¯t you? It looks like we should change yourst name to Li.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Pei Ziheng looked at him in high alert. ¡°And... how do you know the child¡¯s identity?¡±

    ¡°Me? I know everything...¡± Xia Moyan replied lightly, before saying again. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a pity?¡± Pei Ziheng realized that something was amiss.

    Xia Moyan did not respond. He looked at the tall man in front of him ¨D the dragon of a man destined to dominate and have a perfect life. His only trial was that of the trial of love. If he were dominant enough, he could resolve this trial of love. If he could tolerate the ¡°Phoenix¡¯s¡± child by his side, then he would win the Phoenix over. Otherwise, he would lose her forever.

    Xia Ling had been through a lot of suffering already, so her ¡°Fire Phoenix¡± characteristics were waning, and her ¡°Soaring Phoenix¡± characteristics were increasing over time.

    Now, she was standing at the crossroads of destiny, trying to determine if she would follow the dragon or the sycamore. Yet, it was the dragon of a man that had made the choice.

    ¡°Sycamore then? That¡¯s good as well.¡± Xia Moyan murmured to himself. He lowered his head and regarded Pei Ziheng. ¡°You have tied Xiao Ling to yourself for a long time with that death vow. Now¡¯s the time for that curse to be broken.¡±

 Chapter 487 - Grievous News

    <h4>Chapter 487: Grievous News</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°What else do you know?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t know much, but I know all that is relevant. You made Xiao Ling swear not to flee, so she doesn¡¯t dare to leave your side. I hope that you will voluntarily let her leave.¡±

    ¡°Voluntarily let her go?¡± Pei Ziheng looked at him. ¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible?¡± He spent so much effort getting Xiao Ling back. How could he let her go so easily?

    Xia Moyan nodded. ¡°I get it.¡±

    However, Pei Ziheng was a little surprised. Was he going to take the situation so lightly?

    Xia Moyan changed the subject. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell Xiao Ling that I ran away with her child.¡± He paused before he continued, ¡°If you can, tell her that her child is dead.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Pei Ziheng was shocked. Wasn¡¯t the man in front of him Xiao Ling¡¯s brother? Since he was going to save her child, why did he have to keep it a secret from her? ¡°You should know that Xiao Ling will be devastated if she hears the news that her child is dead.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Her life is full of bad luck. I¡¯m doing this for her. If you really love her, please keep this secret from her.¡±

    This entire situation was trulyplicated. When Xia Ling begged him for help the first time, he already knew about the existence of the oath. At that time, although he told Xia Ling it was impossible to resolve, it was not truly impossible.

    Rather, Xia Moyan did not want to resolve it that early.

    Xiao Ling had the fate of a Phoenix, and her life was filled with ill luck. She had to endure many different types of disasters, and these disasters could either be threatening but not dangerous or fatal. No matter what, Xia Moyan knew that Pei Ziheng was adding more disasters to Xiao Ling¡¯s life, but they were not lethal. Letting Xiao Ling remain in Pei Ziheng¡¯s shackles was better than letting her be exposed to other disasters in the outside world.

    After all, even with the blessing of the amulet, there was no guarantee that she would not die.

    The blessings and disasters in one¡¯s life were fixed.

    After suffering a few disasters by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, she would experience less of them in the future.

    Thus, Xia Moyan did not immediately dispel the oath that Xia Ling was tied to.

    Now, she had almost experienced all the disasters, and this dragon of a man had already made a decision. It was no longer necessary for Xiao Ling to continue staying by his side. Thus, it was time to undo the oath for her to leave.

    However, leaving did not mean the end of the disasters.

    Xiao Ling still had minimal fate with those with her bloodline, so her child must not grow up by her side. In fact, she must not even find out that her child was still alive. If her heart still held on to that fact, there would be danger.

    Xia Moyan had to minimize the danger. He said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Knowing that her child is still alive is not going to benefit her. Unless you want to see another ident happen to her.¡±

    Pei Ziheng fell silent. He remembered that Xiao Ling once said that her brother was called ¡°The Preceptor¡± and was probably skilled in metaphysics. Since he was able to figure out Xiao Ling¡¯s past and present life and was so mysterious, listening to him should be the right thing.

    Moreover, Xiao Ling should also receive some punishment.

    Pei Ziheng worked so hard to help her raise the child for a long time, but in the end, she used him of secretly trying to harm her child. Why should he still put in an effort to help her with this?

    If she thought he was dead, then he was dead. It did not matter.

    ¡°Fine, you have my word.¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Xia Moyan thanked him and asked, ¡°Are you really not going to consider letting Xiao Ling go?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very low. ¡°Don¡¯t push my boundaries.¡±

    Xia Moyan stopped speaking. He knew that people who were dragons among men were very stubborn. Initially, he just did not listen to advice. He did not expect Pei Ziheng to really agree to let her go with what he just said.

    It seemed that he had another battle left.

    Xia Moyan carried the child, turned around and left.

    Pei Ziheng stood at his original position for a long time before finally leaving.

    Xia Ling was in aa for two days in the hospital. When she woke up, she was extremely weak, and the wound in her abdomen was bursting in pain. The high-end single VIP ward was very quiet. The afternoon light was clear and bright. Beside the potted nt by the window that extended its leaves in the sunlight, there was no one around.

    She supported her body as she pressed the bell next to the bed to call for a nurse.

    The nurse was surprised seeing that she was awake. ¡°Madam Pei, your physical condition is still very weak. You have to stay in bed to recover, and you must be very careful.¡±

    Xia Ling weakly asked, ¡°Where¡¯s my family?¡±

    ¡°You must be referring to Mr. Pei.¡± The nurse said, ¡°Ever since that day you were sent here, Mr. Pei has never been back. He sent a few nannies to visit you a few times. After seeing that you weren¡¯t awake, a nanny went home to boil soup. She said that you would be able to drink hot soup once you woke up. Should I call her?¡±

    Xia Ling guessed that she was talking about Nanny Zhou, so she nodded.

    Soon, Nanny Zhou brought over a steaming hot bowl of soup and eximed. ¡°Madam, you¡¯re finally awake! Do you know how worried Mister was these few days? Quickly drink some hot soup to nourish your body.¡±

    Xia Ling did not take the soup. She only asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where¡¯s my child? Has my baby been found?¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression slightly darkened, and she became silent.

    Xia Ling was very anxious and asked, ¡°What exactly happened?¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice faltered. ¡°Madam, don¡¯t be anxious. Listen to me slowly... This child is not very blessed. He... He...¡±

    ¡°What happened to him?¡± Xia Ling softly asked. Nanny Zhou¡¯s attitude gave her a very bad feeling.

    Nanny Zhou sighed and told her truthfully, ¡°That night after Mister sent you to the hospital, he went to look for the baby again. He found it in a rubbish bin. When he found it, the child was already... already... not breathing.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?!¡± Xia Ling thought that she had heard her wrong.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s tears flowed out as she cried. ¡°Madam, you didn¡¯t hear me wrong. The baby is gone. He¡¯s already dead!¡±

    Xia Ling felt like her entire world had copsed, and she was crumbling. She could no longer hear anything as her whole heart was stunned by the words ¡°already dead.¡± Her baby, her Shaohui... How could he leave the world so easily? He had not even seen his biological father once.

    Xia Ling did not know how she listened to Nanny Zhou¡¯s entire story.

    ¡°Mister did a thorough investigation. It was Miss Xia Yu who snuck into the vi, and while everyone was unaware, she secretly threw the baby in the trash. Then, the baby was transported to the garbage dump by the garbage truck. When the garbage was being dumped, he was squashed until... he was badly mutted.¡± Even Nanny Zhou could not bear to say thest words.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached as she heard Nanny Zhou¡¯s story. She felt as if she were in the clouds, and all the sounds wereing from far away ces without a sense of realism.

    She shut her eyes, and the world was dark.

    She really wished that everything that she had experienced was just an illusion. When she had the courage to open her eyes again, she hoped that Nanny Zhou would not be there, and there was no grievous news.

    However, Nanny Zhou was still there. She looked at Xia Ling sadly and said, ¡°It is a pity that the child died. He was so young, and he didn¡¯t even get the chance to grow up.¡±

 Chapter 488 - Sudden Change

    <h4>Chapter 488: Sudden Change</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling still did not believe that her child was already dead. She shook her head and murmured, ¡°This is not true...¡±

    Nanny Zhou also apanied her as she wiped her tears. ¡°Madam, you have to face reality. Mister is also in pain, and he has lost a lot of weight in these days.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was very hoarse. ¡°I want to see him.¡±

    Nanny Zhou asked, ¡°Are you talking about Mr. Pei, he is now...¡±

    ¡°I want to see my child!¡± Xia Ling angrily interrupted her and cried out. ¡°Take me to see him!¡±

    ¡°That child¡¯s corpse... is too frightening.¡± Nanny Zhou said with great difficulty. ¡°Mister instructed someone to take a photo and sent him to be cremated. I will give you his ashes and relics.¡±

    Nanny Zhou turned around and went out. After a while, she came back with a few things.

    Sure enough, they were the baby¡¯s relics in a small wooden box. Inside, there were his ashes, a piece of his torn clothing that he wore on the 100-day banquet and a photo that was a bit blurry.

    Nanny Zhou exined. ¡°It was at night, so the lighting was not good.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand shook more violently as she held the photo, tears blurring her vision. After a long time, she finally saw what was shown in the photo. It was a small baby, and its body was smashed by garbage. His legs were broken, and even its bones were poking out of his flesh. There was blood everywhere. There were many mice surrounding and biting him, his face bitten till it was deformed. She could only see a few familiar contours.

    Although Xia Ling was mentally prepared, she did not expect such a gruesome sight. How could her baby die so horribly by being crushed into a pile of flesh and blood? How frightened and in how much pain must he have endured!

    She could not speak. Her tears continued to fall down, and she cried until she passed out.

    ¡°Madam! Madam!¡± Vaguely, she heard Nanny Zhou¡¯s anxious shouts.

    Nanny Zhou was regretful. She should not have shown madam such a bloody photo. However, Mister said this was already the mildest photo of the baby being crushed, and it was necessary for her to let madam know how he looked like in the end for her to give up the illusion that he was still alive.

    Thinking about it, Nanny Zhou realized that many women went crazy because they refused to believe that their child was already dead. She did not want madam to be like that.

    In fact, even Nanny Zhou did not know that the photo was fake.

    The baby did not die at all. Pei Ziheng only did this to make Xia Ling give up hopepletely.

    Nanny Zhou stayed beside Xia Ling¡¯s bed for a long time until Xia Ling woke up again.

    This time, Xia Ling was quieter than before, but her face was pale. She hugged the baby¡¯s relics and refused to let go. Her eyes were empty, and it caused Nanny Zhou to be worried.

    Nanny Zhou wanted to give her advice, but she did not know where to start.

    She personally saw with her own eyes how much suffering madam had endured taking care of this child. At the very beginning, she carefully concealed the birth month of the child from Mister. Later, she even knelt and pleaded Mister to let him off. When she was giving birth, she was in a dire situation, and the child was small and thin when he was born. She could not eat, sleep, nor live well...

    It was difficult. And when Mister finally acknowledged the child, something unexpected happened.

    Xia Ling could not eat, drink or sleep. Every day, she was in a trance as she hugged the child¡¯s relics and stared into the distance. Nanny Zhou advised her, but after seeing that she was not listening, she could not help but worry and reported it to Pei Ziheng.

    Recently, Pei Ziheng was very busy.

    Something had happened in Imperial Entertainment.

    Since that night of the garbage dump after Xia Moyan carried the child and left, the next day, Skyart Entertainmentunched another crazy attack on Imperial Entertainment. This time, it was ferocious, far exceeding thest attack. The strength of Skyart Entertainment seemed to have increased a lot overnight. It fatally hit Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Achilles¡¯ heel.

    Pei Ziheng was so busy dealing with the plunge of the stock price and the sudden emergence of numerous ws in the business that he simply could not care about anything else and did not even have time to take care of Xia Ling. After hearing Nanny Zhou¡¯s report that Xia Ling was ok, he was relieved.

    Until Nanny Zhou told him that madam had not eaten or drunk anything for two days.

    Pei Ziheng was utterly overwhelmed, but he still put down the emergency business he had to settle and went to the hospital to visit Xia Ling.

    ¡°The child is already dead. What do you want?¡± This was the first thing Pei Ziheng told Xia Ling after seeing her. He was impolite. He took the ashes, photos, and relics out of Xia Ling¡¯s arms and looked at her coldly. ¡°Xia Ling, you better eat, or else I will throw away these broken toys!¡±

    ¡°These aren¡¯t broken toys.¡± She spoke without any strength. Her voice was in a terrible state. She looked at him with a pair of dull and heavy eyes. ¡°Give me the baby.¡±

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head to look at the pile of things in his hands. Those were not the baby¡¯s ashes in the box. It was nted ash that he had ordered someone to put in the box, and the photo was doctored. The only real thing was that dirty and broken piece of cloth. He resisted his irritation and softened his voice. ¡°The relic is already dirty. I will ask someone to wash it before giving it to you. The ashes should also be buried. This photo is too gory. It¡¯s not good if you keep staring at it. If the baby knew that you are watching hisst ugly state from heaven, he will definitely be upset.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not ugly.¡± Her voice was as thin as a kitten¡¯s meow as she cried out.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart hurt immensely. He knew that this woman was upset over another man¡¯s child, but he could not stand looking at how sad she was.

    He walked over and took her into his arms.

    As Xia Ling¡¯s cheeks stuck to his chest, she smelled a faint tobo smell, and she could feel his strong and powerful heartbeat. At the start, she resisted the urge to cry, but gradually, she cried louder and louder, until finally, she started screaming and bawling.

    Pei Zihengforted her for a long time.

    She was tired after crying and fell asleep.

    Pei Ziheng called the doctor over to give her a nutrition shot, and then gave some instructions and hurriedly rushed back to Imperial Entertainment to handle official business. Seeing Mister in a rush, Nanny Zhou¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, and she was distressed. She quickly took a few steps forward and offered him some chicken soup.

    ¡°Mister, take this to the office to drink.¡± Nanny Zhou said, ¡°It was originally for Madam, but seeing that she won¡¯t wake up soon, and you¡¯ve been working so hard recently, you can¡¯t let your health be affected.¡±

    Pei Ziheng originally wanted to ask her to put it back in the ward in case Xia Ling wakes upter.

    However, when he thought about how he had been sleeping not more than three hours a day because he had to deal with affairs and meetings, he epted the soup. Recently, Skyart Entertainment was being extremely vicious and would not rest until Imperial Entertainment was utterly destroyed. As Imperial Entertainment¡¯s shares dropped rapidly, Imperial Entertainment started to lose ground.

    There was a faint ominous premonition in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. If he did not handle this well, perhaps the entire empire that he built through Imperial Entertainment would vanish.

 Chapter 489 - Li Leis Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 489: Li Lei¡¯s Arrival</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Half a month ago, he could not even believe that someone would be able to push Imperial Entertainment and him to such an extent.

    However, Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Li Lei did it.

    Pei Ziheng felt there was something wrong with this situation. Logically speaking, the overall strength of Skyart Entertainment was slightly inferior to that of Imperial Entertainment. How could it pressurize Imperial Entertainment with such an overwhelming advantage? Everything about it seemed strange.

    However, Pei Ziheng did not have the energy to think about it. Skyart was pressurizing him so much that he could barely breathe. He forced himself not to retreat and gave his all to engage in this violent battle with Skyart. Behind him was the enormous Pei Family. If he lost, it would mean the defeat of the entire family, and this sin was unforgivable.

    However, Xia Ling did not care about that.

    Since that day after she cried and slept, she gradually became willing to eat after she woke up and was in a better mood. Although she was still sad, her grief was within the eptable range of a normal person. When the doctor came over to check the wound on her stomach, she agreed. She was only focused on recovering faster so she could find out the truth about her baby¡¯s tragic ident.

    Pei Ziheng said Xia Yu did it.

    However, was it really Xia Yu? That day when she met Xia Yu on the porch, Xia Yu said that Pei Ziheng invited her over for the 100-daymemoration. Both of them had the motive to murder the baby. She could not base the truth on Pei Ziheng¡¯s words and had to find a way to verify it personally.

    For her baby, she cooperated with the doctor more than ever to get better soon.

    The doctor said, ¡°Mrs. Pei, even if your wound has healed, you can never be pregnant again.¡±

    After she heard that, her heart was empty as if someone had dug out a part of her life. However, this was her own choice, so she did not regret it. If she did not harden her heart and stab herself, Pei Ziheng would definitely force her to have children, and she did not want to give birth to a baby she would not love. All her maternal love had been given to Shaohui. Now, she missed his clear and bright smile, sillyughter, and delicate hands and feet.

    Sometimes, she would stand in front of the window of the ward and look down at the pregnant women in the garden wearing pink patient suits and carrying their newborn children. Tears would then start brimming in her eyes.

    Her baby only lived for a hundred days.

    She was immersed in her memories and was indifferent to changes in the outside world. The weather started to get warmer, and the peace blossoms bloomed again. She remembered at this timest year, a new life was born from her womb. That feeling was wonderful and beautiful... and she would never experience it again in the future.

    In a trance, she ate and slept in the VIP single ward.

    Until one day, when she pushed the door of the ward open, arge group of reporters suddenly barged in.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, do you know that recently, Skyart Entertainment and Imperial Entertainment fought again? We heard that it was because of you. What do you think?¡± A reporter followed her and handed her the microphone.

    Another reporter shoved his way in and said, ¡°Ye Xingling, do you know that Imperial Entertainment is about to go bankrupt? After the bankruptcy, will you divorce Pei Ziheng?¡±

    ¡°Are you amercial spy sent by Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°We heard that the entire Pei Family is cursing you and can¡¯t wait for you to die. Is that true?¡±

    She was startled after being surrounded by the surge of questions thrown at her.

    ¡°What happened?¡± She hurriedly asked the reporter. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± What did he mean when he said Skyart and Imperial fought again, and Imperial was about to go bankrupt? Oh god, what sort of national joke was this? Imperial was so powerful, how could it be destroyed so easily in less than a month?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± A reporter said. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend, Ye Xingling. The news is spreading that Pei Ziheng and Li Lei are fighting over you. Although you married Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re still connected with Li Lei and even handed over Imperial Entertainment¡¯s trade secrets to Skyart Entertainment. Otherwise, how could Skyart Entertainment drive Imperial Entertainment into a corner since it was no match for Imperial Entertainment in the first ce?!¡±

    Xia Ling only felt a buzzing sound in her brain. She knew that there would be no results from engaging with the reporters, so she forcefully pushed them and walked out. In the chaos, she did not know which male reporter lecherously touched her chest, but she did not care about him. Her waist and hips were also touched a few times.

    She was in a different situation and spent a lot of effort to escape the surrounding reporters. Just as she stepped foot in the corridor outside of the ward, the group of reporters chased her again. ¡°Ye Xingling, please answer! Do you know it¡¯s immoral to have rtionships with two people at once? Don¡¯t you feel embarrassed?¡±

    ¡°Exposing trade secrets... Do you think you can face Pei Ziheng?¡±

    They kept chasing her with questions, and someone reached out to pull her back.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± She originally was not a good-tempered person and was furious. In the past, when she was famous, she had seen more reporters than this. However, at that time, there were bodyguards to clear the way and managers escorting her. How could she be in such a bad situation like now?

    Moreover, in the past, no reporters dared to pull her or even touch her randomly with their oily hands!

    She panicked and believed what they said was true. Imperial was really about to close down. Otherwise, how could those reporters barge into the heavily guarded VIP ward to humiliate her?!

    She was trapped. The more she struggled, the more those people chased and touched her. Their questions were getting more intrusive and horrible.

    ¡°Let her go.¡± Suddenly, she heard a voice.

    It waszy and maic, and there was a hidden undertone of anger.

    An unkempt-haired Xia Ling looked up and saw Li Lei in the crowd.

    He stood at the end of the corridor and still looked naturally attractive. He looked like a top male model dressed in a light-colored casual outfit. The clear sunlight streamed into the hallway and onto his body, making him look really handsome. Although the memory of him in her minded was a little faded, he was in a good mood and still had a pair of shining eyes. With a faint expression on his face, he made a thunderous appearance.

    Time seemed to stop.

    She looked at him as if all the shoving and chaos around her was just background noise. His face was magnified in her mind. She looked at him greedily and could not look away.

    As he strode forward, the reporters unconsciously retreated and made way for him.

    ¡°Oh my god, it¡¯s Li Lei...¡± They did not expect that Li Lei would really appear. Did it mean that there was really something going on between Ye Xingling and Li Lei? Initially, they went to the ward for gossip and just had conjectures. They nned to take a few unsightly photos of her and add a sensational caption to them to attract readers.

    Unexpectedly, just as they were randomly specting a love triangle, it turned out to be true?!

    Li Lei walked in front of Xia Ling. He reached out his hand and saved her from the reporters.

    Her clothes were all messy and wrinkled, and her formerly loose hair was also untidy, just like a refugee. Li Lei nced at her, took off his coat, and put it on her thin shoulders, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

 Chapter 490 - Spectacular Win

    <h4>Chapter 490: Spectacr Win</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He took Xia Ling past the corridor and took the elevator up to the small garden on the rooftop.

    The small garden was tranquil, with evergreen broad-leaved nts intertwined with sporadic flowers of the early spring, smelling fresh and pleasant. Outside, bodyguards that Li Lei brought were guarding the door, so the reporters did not dare toe up. After all, now that Li Lei¡¯s power was in full swing, no matter how crazy the reporters were, they did not dare to offend him.

    Xia Ling rxed and finally felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen.

    Li Lei looked at her expression and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Xia Ling ced one hand on her lower abdomen. With a pale expression, she shook her head and did not speak.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Li Lei noticed that something was wrong. He helped her sit down on a low wooden stool that was leaning against an evergreen tree. Half-squatting, he reached out to undo the few buttons of her clothes.

    Just as his fingers touched her clothes, she stopped him. ¡°Don¡¯t look. It¡¯s hideous.¡± The scar was too deep and hideous. She did not want the person she loved so deeply to see it.

    Li Lei paused, then he lifted his head and gave her an appealing smile. ¡°I have seen your ugly side many times. The first time when you vomited because you were scared of Er Mao, did I look down on you?¡±

    As soon as he mentioned their initial encounter, she smiled. It was something that happened two or three years ago, but it felt like a lifetime ago.

    In a sh, his fingers already undid her buttons.

    ¡°Hey, you...¡± Why was he so bad?

    Xia Ling wanted toin, but when she saw his expression, she was taken aback. A second ago, he had a broad smile on his face, but now, it slightly hardened. Looking at her wound which was oozing blood, he was so heartbroken that it felt difficult to breathe. He reached out and carefully undid the white gauze that was wrapped around her waist.

    The entire wound was exposed.

    With Li Lei¡¯s many years ofbat experience, he knew at first nce that it was a stab wound. It cut deeply and violently into her lower abdomen and pierced her internal organs. When she was being stabbed, how much pain must she have felt?

    ¡°What happened?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling paused for a while before lightly saying, ¡°I wasn¡¯t careful.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t careful?¡± Li Lei did not believe her. ¡°The wound is so big. If it weren¡¯t done on purpose, how could you end up with such a bad wound? Did Pei Ziheng do this?¡± His expression darkened when he asked thest question.

    Recently, he fought Imperial Entertainment until it could no longer hold onto its power. After that, he sent someone to check her whereabouts. His subordinate reported that she did not know why she had injured her abdomen and was being hospitalized for treatment.

    Thus, Li Lei came here.

    Although he already knew that she was hurt, after seeing such a terrible wound, he was boiling with rage. In the past, he let her stay by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side thinking that, at the very least, Pei Ziheng would treat her well and would not hurt her. However, he was wrong, grievously wrong.

    Even if she gave birth to a son for Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng treated her so cruelly!

    ¡°Come with me, Xiao Ling.¡± He said, ¡°Leave that demon.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Why? Because of that oath?¡± Li Lei looked at her deeply and quietly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that the reason you stayed beside Pei Ziheng was not because of love but an oath that concerned my life or death?! Xiao Ling, I¡¯m hurt because you lied to me.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°How... how did you know about the oath?¡±

    Li Lei did not say. He lowered his head and dealt with her wound on her lower abdomen first. The wound had been stitched and was healing, but it was torn open when she was surrounded by the reporters. Fresh blood oozed out and stained her clothes and white skin ¡ª it was a mess. Li Lei had braved bullets before and was very experienced in dealing with wounds. Soon, he helped her stop the bleeding and skillfully wrapped the wound with the white gauze again.

    Finally, he said, ¡°The Preceptor.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°The Preceptor looked for me and told me about the oath.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°I just found about what you¡¯ve been lying to me for so long... You don¡¯t love Pei Ziheng at all. You were even forced to give birth to a child for him, right? You did it all for me! Of course, I should quickly save you.¡±

    It turned out that he really knew about everything.

    At once, Xia Ling did not know what to do. She had been hiding the truth from him because she was afraid that he would take her away without considering the consequences. Now, he had rekindled his resolution to do so. ¡°You can¡¯t take me away.¡± She looked at him seriously. ¡°Li Lei, that oath is real and will be fulfilled. I can¡¯t take your life as a joke.¡±

    ¡°That oath won¡¯t be fulfilled.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She was worried. Perhaps he thought the oath was not real and was a superstition, but he did not know about her rebirth. Furthermore, he did not know that there really was a mysterious and invisible force in the world.

    ¡°The oath will be fulfilled! I won¡¯t go with you!¡± Xia Ling urgently said.

    Li Lei smiled softly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling. Recently, I have been attacking that man¡¯s business. Imperial is about to go bankrupt. If he promises to get rid of the oath and let you go, I will let the Pei Family go. Otherwise, the glory of the entire Pei Family will be ruined in his hands. He will have to make a choice.¡±

    Xia Ling feelings were somewhatplicated. She hesitated before saying, ¡°He will choose his business.¡±

    Sometimes, she did not understand Pei Ziheng, but other times, she really understood him. That man loved power too much. For his business, he could sacrifice everything. Otherwise, she would not have experienced so many turbulent times with him in her past life. If he were really at his wits¡¯ ends, he would give her up.

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes and smiled. ¡°Yes, he will choose his business.¡±

    This was something he wanted to do a long time ago. When he tried his best to attack Imperialst time, he was so close to forcing Pei Ziheng to make a choice. Unfortunately, at that time, Skyart¡¯s power was too weak, and he lost the fight. At that time, he did not aplish his goal and was not able to force Pei Ziheng into a corner. In addition, he suddenly gave up because of the news that Xiao Ling was pregnant.

    However, now, things were different.

    He already knew that Xiao Ling did not stay beside Pei Ziheng because of love and had enough power to crush Imperial Entertainment. If he did not save his woman now, he would have wasted his life.

    He warmly looked at Xia Ling. ¡°This time, we will be together.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°How did you suddenly be so powerful such that you can force Imperial into a corner? Is Imperial really bankrupt?¡± These days, she did not pay attention to the outside world, and when she suddenly learned about this, she felt that it was a dream and not reality. Pei Ziheng... could be like this?

    Li Lei smiled again. ¡°Well, your man is that awesome.¡±

    ¡°Tell me the truth!¡± She gave him an angry stare.

 Chapter 491 - There Is No â€œForeverâ€

    <h4>Chapter 491: There Is No ¡°Forever¡±</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei eventually removed the unnatural expression he wore on his face.

    ¡°Preceptor,¡± he said. ¡°it was the Preceptor who gave me the fengshui and allowed me to strategize effectively against Imperial Entertainment, thank goodness.¡± He did not understand why the Preceptor wanted to help him, but when that man appeared in his life, asking him if he were willing to save Xiao Ling, he agreed without a thought.

    It was okay even if it were a scam.

    Even if his life was at stake.

    All he wanted was for Xiao Ling to be blissful, to be free from that man¡¯s clutches.

    Thankfully, his gamble paid off.

    Xia Ling then realized what happened¡ªit was all her brother¡¯s doing. ¡°Didn¡¯t he say the vows could not be broken?¡± she asked giddily.

    Startled, Li Lei said, ¡°When did he say this?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Not long after I was taken away by Pei Ziheng, I instructed Sister Mai Na to pass the amulet to you, wanting you to go and find him. Youter sent me the message saying that the Preceptor expressed hisck of ability to help me in my request.¡±

    ¡°So that was your request back then?¡± Li Lei was slightly confused and did not understand. ¡°If he did not help us break the vows back then, why would he choose to help us now?¡±

    Xia Ling, too, could not understand. It seemed like these questions would only be answered when she met her brother.

    She told Li Lei, ¡°Is the Pei family really going bankrupt?¡±

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re feeling pained over that.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled sadly. She was feeling slightly troubled over it, because regardless of how cruel Pei Ziheng was to her, he did help her out, and that made it all soplicated. ¡°Him liking me wasn¡¯t wrong in any way at the start. He just did so in the wrong way.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was gentle. ¡°You suppressing him is all for the sake of rescuing me, but when he releases me... please don¡¯t give him any more trouble.¡±

    ¡°He treated you that way, and you¡¯re still thinking of him?¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression turned dark. The wound on her lower abdomen was still there, and she was already helping that man plead for forgiveness. ¡°Do you really... not love him?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat, as she sensed his jealousy.

    ¡°I...¡± She didn¡¯t know what to say, and Li Lei was still in the dark about everything regarding the reincarnation.

    ¡°I know I owe you an answer.¡± Xia Ling thought for a moment. ¡°If I¡¯m able to return to your side this time around, I¡¯ll tell you everything that happened between him and me. Li Lei, the person I love now is you.¡±

    Since she could go back to how it was before, she would no longer try to hide it.

    She loved him, and this was a strong vow she made in her heart after all that had happened.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression slowly softened. ¡°Alright.¡± For the longest time, he knew that Xiao Ling¡¯s heart hid a huge secret, one that Pei Ziheng could not know of. Before the paragliding incident, he was so close to finding out the truth, but everything became messy after that event, and thus, the investigation was interrupted.

    The fact that she was willing to tell him the truth herself, how could it not make him happy?

    ¡°Please take good care of yourself,¡± said Li Lei. ¡°I¡¯ll be able toe and bring you away very soon.¡±

    She smiled and nodded.

    Li Lei apanied her for a while more before leaving the hospital.

    When Xia Ling returned to the hospital ward, the crowd of reporters had dispersed. Even the ward itself had been tidied up, with all used items reced with new ones.

    But the nurses were looking at her oddly. Seeing the ongoing battle today, and believing what all the reporters said, they would have thought she and Li Lei had cut all rtions all because she wanted to marry Pei Ziheng in order to be a corporate spy. Today, Imperial Entertainment was about to experience its downfall, and she was about to return to Li Lei¡¯s side.

    They were secretly full of disdain towards her.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t care, as there were already too many things on her mind. She did not have the energy to care about how other people saw her. The wound on her lower abdomen was not stitched yet and hurt from time to time. She did not dare to move much now and needed to take care of herself properly. As long as she could return to Li Lei¡¯s side, it did not matter that she could no longer bear children.

    She regretted her impulsiveness.

    What was an even bigger regret was her not taking good care of the baby. She could have returned to Li Lei¡¯s side with the baby too, and be able to tell him that that was their child, their child called Shaohui¡ªHui bearing the meaning of light.

    Her heart full of bitterness and pain, what was a month felt like a hundred days.

    It had really been a long time.

    She sat in the ward in a very long daze.

    At midnight, the chauffeur came to fetch her. ¡°Madam, please follow me home.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly stunned. ¡°My wound hasn¡¯tpletely healed, I need to continue staying in the ward for treatment.¡± She did not wish to return to the house and face Pei Ziheng.

    However, the chauffeur said, ¡°Mister wants me to fetch you home for dinner.¡± Seeing the unwillingness on Xia Ling¡¯s face, the chauffeur could not help but add on, ¡°Madam, please just head back to see how things are, as Mister has recently lost a lot of weight.¡±

    She then recalled Li Lei¡¯s words about the Pei family soon facing their downfall.

    She suddenly felt a guilty conscience creeping up on her as she was the cause of this mess.

    Pei Ziheng destroyed her and her child, and she also destroyed his family. No one owed each other anything now. She thus decided that it would do no harm to go visit him before Li Lei came to bring her away.

    Therefore, Xia Ling followed the chauffeur back.

    Pei Ziheng stood in the yellow lighting in the living room, staring at her. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Almost a month of not seeing him, hisplexion had be haggard. If Li Lei were to be thought of as radiant, he would be aplete mess.

    For a moment, Xia Ling did not know what to say.

    ¡°Come eat with me since you¡¯re back.¡± Pei Ziheng headed into the dining room.

    Xia Ling followed him in silently, only to see the table piled with all her favorite dishes, from both this life and the previous. ¡°What is this...?¡± Xia Ling was shocked.

    Pei Ziheng had already sat down, and personally ced a piece of grilled scallop onto her te. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±

    There was something not quite right with him today.

    She did not dare to question further and quietly apanied him for dinner.

    After dinner, he did not head to the study as per usual, and instead, pulled her along to the terrace to have some wine in the moonlight.

    ¡°Do you still remember how I brought you back here 19 years ago?¡± Pei Ziheng tilted his head towards the moon, his voice low and distant. ¡°Back then, I fell in love with you at first sight and only thought about protecting you, never letting you get hurt forever.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent. Where was the ¡°forever¡±?

    Ultimately, the one who hurt her the most was him.

    Pei Ziheng poured out a ss of wine, sipping it slowly. He was acting very differently today, causing Xia Ling to be unable to tell what he had up his sleeves. She did not engage in conversation, nor persuaded him.

    Just like that, he downed ss after ss till the bottle was empty.

    He turned to stare at her intensely for a long time.

    <i>Xiao Ling, do you still remember that I once said I would never ever let you get hurt?</i>

    <i>Sadly, I still messed up at the end of the day.</i>

    Pei Ziheng rose to his feet and told Xia Ling, ¡°It¡¯s getting chilly, and the dew is heavy. Let¡¯s turn in for the night.¡±

    Xia Ling found it weird and climbed into bed with him. Just like how many nights went by this past year, she fell asleep in his embrace.

    His body curled behind her back, as he held her in his arms, his hands gripping her tightly.

 Chapter 492 - Skyart, Iâ€™m Back

    <h4>Chapter 492: Skyart, I¡¯m Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When she woke up the next morning, Pei Ziheng had already left.

    Xia Ling got up and went downstairs, only to find that Nanny Zhou was quietly shedding tears.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Nanny Zhou, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    When Nanny Zhou saw Xia Ling, her tears came gushing down. It took her a while to be able to talk between sniffles, ¡°Madam, are you leaving Mister? How could you leave him at such a difficult time? Shouldn¡¯t husband and wife go through tough times together?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. What was this all about?

    She knew that Li Lei would force Pei Ziheng to release her, but how would Nanny Zhou, a servant, know about her leaving? Unless...

    ¡°What did Pei Ziheng tell you?¡± Her voice trembled.

    ¡°Mister said, when you¡¯re up, the chauffeur will send you to Skyart where Mr. Li is,¡± Nanny Zhou said between tears. ¡°He even packed your things personally, and insisted that I made sure you brought them along.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was willing to let her go?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was a nk, and it took her a few moments to return to her senses. It still seemed too unreal. She had worked so hard to escape this cage, and when she was about to lose all hope, he actually decided to release her.

    She stood rooted to the ground, unable to process her emotions.

    No wonder he was acting so weirdly the night before, he must have had made his decision by then. She recalled the sadness in his eyes the previous night.

    ¡°Madam, don¡¯t leave, will you?¡± Nanny Zhou looked at her expectantly. ¡°Mister loves you so much and gives you his all. You don¡¯t know that he... he...¡± Nanny Zhou burst into tears again and could not go on.

    The night before he fetched Xia Ling, Pei Ziheng¡¯s mood was already low. Refusing to eat, he sat in the study room for the whole night.

    The next day when he went downstairs, Nanny Zhou pointed a finger at him in shock. ¡°Mister, you...!¡±

    He did not know what had happened until he took a look in the mirror. That was when he noticed the amount of white hair that lined his head, and began slowly picking at it.

    He looked at himself in the mirror for a long time.

    He then turned around and told Nanny Zhou, ¡°Bring me the hair dye.¡± He was about to fetch Xiao Ling that night, how could he let her see him in such a state? He paused before adding, ¡°Don¡¯t let Madam know about this.¡±

    Hence, Nanny Zhou decided to wipe her tears away and swallow her words instead.

    ¡°Madam, please stay with Mister.¡± She was practically pleading her. ¡°Madam, I know he¡¯s let you down and has not taken good care of the child. But, Mister doesn¡¯t have it easy as well, and he really loves you!¡±

    Xia Ling was miserable too. Thinking back about how she and Pei Ziheng had been through thick and thin together over the years, tears welled up in her eyes as well.

    Even so, she stood her ground.

    Li Lei was still waiting for her at Skyart Entertainment, and he was the one that she truly wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She closed her eyes for a while, and when she reopened them, her voice was void of emotions. ¡°Where¡¯s the chauffeur, get him to send me away.¡±

    Nanny Zhou did not manage to persuade her and continued crying as she walked Xia Ling to the car.

    At the car, Nanny Zhou handed her a briefcase. ¡°Madam, you have to take this along with you. Mister prepared this.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know what it contained and wanted to decline it.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s tears came again. ¡°If you don¡¯t ept it, Mister will be even more hurt. Please, please don¡¯t hurt him any further.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling bit her lip and swallowed her words of rejection.

    The Rolls-Royce took her to Skyart Entertainment.

    Xia Ling looked up at the tall building through the car window. At that moment, everything felt so foreign.

    ¡°Madam, I can¡¯t send you any further.¡± The chauffeur was suppressing his unhappiness towards her. If not for Mister¡¯s orders that they were not to be rude to her, how could he still bring himself to address her as ¡°Madam¡±? For a wretched woman who abandoned her husband when he was facing a rough patch, she did not deserve to be addressed so politely!

    The servants did not know about the past disputes between her and Pei Ziheng and thought that she was a materialistic and ungrateful woman who was returning to her old me¡¯s embrace once Imperial Entertainment was facing trouble. Some even thought that she had been staying by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side to plot against him.

    Poor Mister remained devoted to her and even decided to let her go when he was no longer able to provide her the luxuries of life.

    It took the chauffeur immense effort to keep all these words in.

    Xia Ling put on her shades before alighting from the car with her travel briefcase.

    Now that she stood before the main entrance of Skyart Entertainment, apprehension crept up on her.

    She walked in anyway.

    It was bustling in the main lobby, and celebrities being apanied by their managers, assistants and the like were amon sight. She was petite in stature and had a pastel green top on. In the crowd, she was so unnoticeable, especially because she had her shades on.

    She orientated herself in the lobby and approached the receptionist.

    ¡°Good morning, how can I help you?¡± The receptionist was polite and warm.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Could you help me get Li Lei?¡± She was released by Pei Ziheng, but he had not given her a cellphone before she left. There was no way she could contact Li Lei, and she did not even know if he was currently in the office.

    The receptionist looked at her for a while, finding it rather strange as it was umon for people to ask for the Boss the moment they came. She asked Xia Ling, ¡°Miss, may I have your name, please? Do you have an appointment with him?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have an appointment, I¡¯m¡ª¡± She was about to give her name but remembered the news about her infidelity that had been going around recently. Would it look bad on Li Lei if she looked for him so openly? But she missed him too much to dy meeting him any more.

    ¡°Is he in the office today?¡± She changed the topic.

    The receptionist was taken aback by her directness. ¡°You don¡¯t have an appointment? I¡¯m sorry, but I cannot tell you whether Boss is in the office today.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a surge of urgency.

    She thought for a while and decided to just go for it. ¡°I¡¯m Ye Xingling. Please give Li Lei a call and let him know who I am. He¡¯ll see me.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling?!¡± The receptionist was stunned. Who would¡¯ve expected to see her here¡ªthe news had been going on about Big Boss¡¯ conflict with Chairman Pei, and she was the reason behind all these?!

    Her voice had reached several pitches higher out of shock.

    In that instant, several people had turned their heads toward them.

    Xia Ling furrowed her brows. Not wanting to be surrounded by the others, she hurried the receptionist. ¡°Please, help me give Li Lei a call.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right, sure.¡± If it were Ye Xingling, Boss might really be willing to see her.

    The inner tattletale in the receptionist was more than eager to verify the news she had been reading and immediately made the call to the chairman¡¯s office.

 Chapter 493 - Visitor Pass

    <h4>Chapter 493: Visitor Pass</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The chairman¡¯s office was huge, consisting of two rooms.

    The two special assistants Su Tang and Tan Ying worked in the external part of the office. They submitted all of the documents to Li Lei, as well as answered his phone calls. Today, Tan Ying was out for work, and only Su Tang was present.

    Su Tang picked up a call and coldly said, ¡°Ye Xingling? Say that Boss won¡¯t see her.¡±

    After that, she hung up the phone with a beautiful and long jade-like hand, her eyebrows gently arched. Why did Ye Xinglinge at this time? Recently, Li Lei defeated Imperial for her. She did note this time to plead for Imperial, right?

    If Ye Xingling were really here to plead... she did not care.

    Su Tang was deep in thought. The more she sided with Imperial, the more she pushed Li Lei out, and the chances of her getting back together with Li Lei would be smaller. However, what if she did note to ask for a favor? As the outside world said, perhaps Ye Xingling was a social climber, had loose morals, and would follow any powerful man?

    What should she do if she came here seeking refuge with Li Lei?

    Su Tang did not know about the oath. She also did not know that Li Lei was only able to crush Imperial because of Preceptor Xia¡¯s help. She genuinely thought that Li Lei attacked Imperial out of anger and happened to be lucky.

    The internal phone range again.

    Su Tang picked it up, but it was still the young girl at the front desk. ¡°Special assistant Su, Miss Ye refuses to go. She said that I definitely did not inform Boss and that it was impossible that Boss would refuse to see her.¡±

    Su Tang was somewhat impatient. ¡°Boss is busy dealing with business. Can she afford to waste his time?¡±

    The girl at the front desk stammered. ¡°How about you inform him again...¡±

    In the office, there were already spections that special assistant Su was secretly in love with Boss. However, Su Tang was always restrained and elegant and concealed her emotions very well. Thus, no one could tell for sure. Unfortunately for the front desk girl, there was an impasse between Big Boss¡¯ rumored girlfriend A and rumored girlfriend B.

    She still did not want to be fired!

    However, Su Tang hung up the phone again. The front desk girl looked at Xia Ling with a troubled expression. ¡°Miss Ye, Boss still doesn¡¯t want to see you. How about you leave first?¡±

    Xia Ling felt that something was wrong. ¡°Just now, you called Su Tang and not Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not qualified to contact Boss.¡± The front desk girl weakly said. ¡°All of the internal calls are answered by special assistant Su.¡± She really hoped that Miss Ye would be able to distinguish between the truth and falsehood. If Miss Ye were really with Big Boss, she might ask Big Boss not to fire her.

    Xia Ling did not know about the secretive thoughts of the front desk girl. She lightly lowered her head and remembered that Su Tang did not like her very much. Was she the one creating difficulties for her? She said to the front desk girl, ¡°Can I borrow the phone?¡±

    The front desk girl handed the phone to her.

    Xia Ling took it. Based on her memory, she directly called Li Lei¡¯s phone.

    Li Lei was currently revising the operational n and talking to the general manager of the Strategic Investment Department about a crucial point. When the phone rang, he nced at it. After seeing that it was a foreign number, he did not pick it up.

    Xia Ling waited for a while, but no one answered.

    She refused to give up and called again. This time, Li Lei directly rejected the call.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to answer the call?¡± The general manager of the Strategic Investment Department asked. ¡°There are two consecutive calls. Maybe there is something urgent.¡±

    Li Lei dismissed it and said, ¡°It¡¯s probably an advertisement.¡± He saved all the contacts of close friends and family members on his phone, so if they called, it would not be a foreign number. Besides, if it was really urgent, they could find thepany¡¯sndline and directly transfer the call to him from there.

    ¡°This investment n is very urgent. Let¡¯s talk first.¡± As he spoke, Li Lei pointed his finger at a ce on the proposal. ¡°If I were Pei Ziheng, I would fight back from here...¡±

    Both of them started talking seriously again.

    The front desk looked at Xia Ling as she made the call. The surrounding people also nced at her. Skyart Entertainment was a ce with people who liked to gossip. Xia Ling only needed to stand at the front desk for a minutes before news spread throughout thepany that she was carrying a suitcase and looking for Li Lei. Was it because she had left the crumbling Pei Family to seek refuge with Big Boss Li?

    The nosy crowd started to use every excuse they had to walk past the front desk.

    ¡°The call didn¡¯t get through?¡± The front desk girl asked Xia Ling. She was a little skeptical of the news now. Why didn¡¯t Boss answer the call if Miss Ye called him just now? Was their rtionship as close as rumored, or was it just Miss Ye¡¯s wishful thinking?

    This girl was specting so much that she forgot that her phone number was foreign.

    Xia Ling came back to reality and handed the phone back to the front desk girl. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    After thinking about it, she asked, ¡°Can you help me contact Sister Mai Na?¡±

    ¡°Sister Mai Na?¡± The front desk girl checked the internal line. ¡°Please wait.¡± She dialed Sister Mai Na¡¯s number. After a while, she told Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry Miss Ye. Sister Mai Na is not in the office.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed. ¡°What about Wei Shaoyin? Is Wei Shaoyin here?¡±

    The front desk girl lowered her head and attentively did a check.

    This time, there was pleasant news. ¡°Mr. Wei is in recording studio B. He said he¡¯s busy now, so he can¡¯te down to greet you. He told me to give you a visitor¡¯s card so you can go straight to the main building.¡±

    When Wei Shaoyin was busy, he would be testy and unreasonable. In this case, she was lucky that he remembered to ask someone to give her a visitor¡¯s card. Xia Ling knew that she could not ask for too much.

    Thus, she smiled at the front desk girl. ¡°Thank you.¡± For today¡¯s sake, she could only visit Wei Shaoyin for a while before meeting with Li Lei.

    The young girl at the front desk was not able to determine her rtionship with Boss, but since thepany¡¯s chief music producer did not object to her being there and even wanted her to have a visitor¡¯s pass, the rumors must be real. As someone familiar with the important people of thepany, she deeply understood that with Wei Shaoyin¡¯s explosive personality, he would not meet any guests now unless it was extremely important.

    She gave Xia Ling two visitor passes. ¡°The silver one is for Block B. The visitor pass for Block B and Block A is not connected, so you have to take a detour. If you take the visitor pass for Block A, things will be different because you can go straight through this path on the side of the road.¡± She guessed that Wei Shaoyin was a busy person and did not remember that the visitor passes were not universal. Considering that the rtionship between Xia Ling and Boss was still a mystery, she could only give Xia Ling a silver pass for the sake of preserving her job.

    Xia Ling acknowledged her efforts. She took the two visitor passes and thanked her readily.

    Just as she was about to use her pass, suddenly, she heard a cool, jade-like sound¡ª

    ¡°Who gave her the visitor¡¯s pass for Block A?¡±

 Chapter 494 - Special Assistant Su in Action

    <h4>Chapter 494: Special Assistant Su in Action</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling turned around and saw a woman wearing lc silk embroidered and crocheted dress.

    She spent some effort before finally remembering that this elegant and beautiful woman was Su Tang. They had not seen each other since the Li Family¡¯s headquarters, but she still remembered that Su Tang ced a time bomb on her helicopter. If it weren¡¯t for Li Feng, at that moment, she would have turned into dust in the vast open sea.

    The past wasing back to her.

    She remembered that Li Lei said that he had already transferred Su Tang away from him. Why was she back again?

    Xia Ling did not really like this elegant yet secretive woman. After all, no one liked people who tried to murder them. She looked at Su Tang and took off her sunsses. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Su Tang did not think that Xia Ling would be this confident.

    In Su Tang¡¯s imagination, no matter how hard Xia Ling begged Li Lei to let the Pei Family off or sought refuge with Li Lei, she should be extremely fearful. Why did she look so confident instead?

    What she did not know was that Xia Ling had undergone tremendous changes in the past few days and finally got out of Pei Ziheng¡¯s control. She wholeheartedly thought that she could return to Li Lei, but after he did not pick up her calls, she was annoyed now. Coincidentally, she also bumped into Su Tang, the one who blocked her calls just now.

    ¡°Did you even tell Li Lei that I¡¯m here?¡± Xia Ling asked coldly.

    Su Tang smiled elegantly. ¡°Young Master is very busy and has no time to see you, Mrs. Pei.¡± She deliberately emphasized the words ¡°Mrs. Pei¡± and raised her volume so that people who were hungry for gossip nearby heard her clearly. ¡°You¡¯ve already married someone else and gave birth to an heir for Mr. Pei. Why are you here to meet your husband¡¯s rival in public?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to care about what I do.¡± Xia Ling stated in a cold voice. ¡°Please give way and don¡¯t hinder me from using the pass.¡± There was internal security in Skyart. Without a pass, she could not enter the building.

    ¡°Who was the one who gave her the pass?¡± Su Tang refused to give way and asked the front desk girl.

    Just now, after she rejected Xia Ling¡¯s transfer call, she felt that something was wrong. What if Xia Ling met Li Lei through other means? What happened if they rekindled their love? She had to stop them from meeting. After Li Leipletely defeated Imperial and the Pei Family went bankrupt, perhaps Xia Ling would hate Li Lei, and the two of them would no longer be possible.

    Thus, Su Tang rushed to the front desk.

    The young girl at the front desk had always been a little scared of Su Tang. She was too elegant, no-nonsense, and was the famous cold beauty in thepany. The front desk girl said timidly, ¡°It was Mr. Wei Shaoyin who said to give Miss Ye the pass. He wants Miss Ye to go to Block B from the main building to find him.¡±

    ¡°So you gave Ye Xingling two passes?¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice became colder.

    The front desk girl shyly nodded.

    Su Tang slightly moved her thin lips, and her voice was like a broken ss bead. ¡°Do you know that Wei Shaoyin doesn¡¯t have the authority to issue a guest pass into the main building?¡± The recording studio was in Block B, and the main building which was in Block A was the administrative office building. It housed the chairman¡¯s office, the finance department, the legal department, various economic strategy departments, information centers and more. Misceneous people were not permitted to enter.

    The front desk girl was stunned and speechless.

    Of course, she knew that Wei Shaoyin did not have the authority to issue visitor passes to the main building, but this was not a big deal since Skyart was not a very strict ce. It wasmon for visitors to walk past Block A to get to Block B conveniently, and everyone turned a blind eye to it. When were the rules suddenly so strict?

    However, if one really looked at it, the front desk girl was the most unlucky.

    She could only bow her head obediently as Su Tang reprimanded her. ¡°Do you know who Ye Xingling is? She¡¯s the wife of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei, the chairman¡¯s wife. How could you let someone with such a special title directly into the main building? Will you able to take responsibility if something happens?¡±

    In actuality, she appeared to be reprimanding the front desk girl, but she was actually reprimanding Xia Ling¡ªshe was already Pei Ziheng¡¯s wife, so she should note to Skyart to steal trade secrets!

    Many smart onlookers understood what Su Tang meant.

    She was right. Did this Mrs. Pei think she was still a singer in Skyart? How could she casually enter the main building? Skyart and her husband¡¯s Imperial were still fighting intensively, but she did not know how to avoid suspicion!

    Xia Ling was dumbfounded.

    Although she lost her child, her stupidity remained.

    She did not understand what Su Tang meant and very stupidly said, ¡°I don¡¯t want her to take responsibility.¡±

    Startled, Su Tang was actually speechless after hearing what Xia Ling said. She had always been elegant and always spoke in a roundabout way. When she encountered such a girl with a low IQ, for a moment, she did not know how to deal with it. After pausing for a few seconds, she finally said, ¡°You can¡¯t enter the main building.¡±

    ¡°I want to go in.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t go in.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Xia Ling initially set her mind on entering the main building, but suddenly, she realized that she could take a detour by entering another building. Although Wei Shaoyin did not have the authority to visit the main building, he was in control of the building where his recording studio was! Since she did not manage to talk to Li Lei, she could not take advantage of Li Lei¡¯s boss position, but she could still take advantage of the big producer¡¯s position somewhere else.

    Xia Ling, who was clear about that, turned around and left.

    ¡°You!¡± Su Tang was taken aback. Did she seed so easily? It was said that Ye Xingling was argumentative and a master at arguing. She had defeated Xia Yu, Gu Lin, and others miserably. Now, it did not seem this way. Su Tang was at a loss for words.

    She did not know that Xia Ling liked arguing, but today, she was not in the mood.

    Recently, too many things had happened. Her pregnancy, getting a marriage certificate, having a baby, having her child pass away, getting hurt, the Pei Family¡¯s misfortune... Today, she left Pei Ziheng with extremelyplicated feelings to look for Li Lei. She was emotionally exhausted. So, how could she have the energy to look for more trouble?

    If there were no necessity to quarrel, she would not argue with anyone.

    Besides, she really didn¡¯t like Su Tang. In the future, she would ask Li Lei to stay further away from her.

    Xiao Ling swaggered out.

    Su Tang looked at her back-view and did not even feel the joy of being a winner. In contrast, the more rxed Xia Ling felt, the more nervous she became. She just felt that... something was wrong.

    ¡°At the end, special assistant Su is still more awesome.¡± Nearby, a small supervisor tried to curry favor with Su Tang andughed. ¡°You chased Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman¡¯s wife away with just a few words.¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡± People continuously agreed. ¡°If special assistant Su steps in, she will definitely win.¡±

    The administrative building was different from the studio building and managerial building. The artistic building had a free spirit, and there were no proper formalities. However, on this side, there were many white-cor workers. Although there was lesspetition than otherpanies, it was notpletely absent.

    Many people were willing to tter Su Tang a little when they saw her.

 Chapter 495 - Thank you Lady Boss

    <h4>Chapter 495: Thank you Lady Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A faint smile appeared on Su Tang¡¯s face.

    She watched as Xia Ling walked out of the automatic door.

    It was already close to noon. The outdoor sun was a little bit blinding. Xia Ling raised her hand to cover her forehead and slightly narrowed her eyes, trying to decide if she should turn left or right.

    At this time, a man chased after her. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. ¡°Bo... bo... boss! He chased after Ye Xingling!¡±

    What was this sorcery? Ye Xingling actually made boss personally chase after her! Those who were aware of the situation had already turned to look at Su Tang¡¯s expression and realized that she was not looking very well. Just now, the person who stopped Ye Xingling from seeing the boss was her. Boss¡¯ behavior was simply a p in her face.

    Su Tang was shocked. Why did Li Leie out?

    How did he know that Ye Xingling was here?

    This was because Li Lei hung up on the foreign number.

    He had always been efficient when doing work in the office and quickly worked out the next step with the general manager of the Strategic Investment Department. After that, he finally remembered the strange call and redialed the number.

    The person who answered the call was the front desk girl.

    ¡°Bo... bo... boss!¡± After she realized that the Big Boss had called her, the front desk girl was so excited that she turned incoherent. ¡°Are you asking why I called you? No, the person who called you wasn¡¯t me. It was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman¡¯s wife, Mrs. Pei! Ye Xingling! She was here looking for you!¡±

    Li Lei finally realized that he had missed something and rushed downstairs after ending the call.

    Atst, he managed to catch up at the entrance.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw Li Lei.

    Today, he was wearing a clean white shirt buttoned randomly, revealing a light brown, well-proportioned chest which made many girls blush as he walked past them. He stopped in front of Xia Ling, bowed his head and smiled breezily. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here.¡±

    Xia Ling tilted her head as she looked at him unhappily. ¡°I¡¯m not here to see you.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to see Wei Shaoyin, hmph.¡± She became arrogant. After rejecting her calls, why did he bother to chase after her? ¡°Ah Wei immediately invited me over after one call. What about you? Now that Skyart has expanded, you¡¯re also busier!¡± She red at him ferociously.

    Big Boss Li felt wronged. How would he know she had called? If he knew, he would not have dared to reject her call! Big Boss Li apologized to his most beloved person. ¡°I was in the wrong. I won¡¯t do it ever again.¡± His attitude was good when apologizing; like a student after being reprimanded by his teacher.

    Xia Lingughed out loud, her Initially depressed feelings fading.

    She lightly leaned over to look at him. Tears brimming in her eyes, she softly said, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

    As soft as feathers.

    However, it made Li Lei¡¯s heart to explode in happiness.

    What did she say? She¡¯s back!

    Back to his side and no longer going back to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side?!

    In an instant, the entire world became background noise. Only her pure smile waspletely clear in front of his eyes. The moment she looked at his smile was like the blooming of the most beautiful flower in the world...

    In a daze, he stepped forward, took her into his arms and kissed her.

    It was a long and meticulous kiss that was filled with countless attachment and feelings since their parting. He waspletely immersed in the kiss. At first, it was just light sucking, but it gradually became a violent and domineering siege of her lips. She gradually felt that it was hard to breathe in his arms and finally pushed him away. The surroundings were silent.

    Everyone.

    Everyone was staring at them.

    Oh my god... were they mistaken? The onlookers felt that they were going crazy. What was wrong with the boss? Did he really have an affair with Imperial¡¯s Mrs. Pei? How could he be so immersed in his kiss with a married woman?! Why did they not know about Big Boss Li¡¯s fetish before? Was it dating someone else¡¯s wife?!

    Everyone was bewildered.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression was very unsightly. She had been Li Lei¡¯s special assistant for so many years, even before Xia Ling¡¯s appearance. Li Lei also had so many women around that she had to appear unaffected. However, now, after witnessing this romantic scene in front of her, she was broken.

    Her look was so terrifying that it scared the front desk girls. Oh god, special assistant Su looked ghastly... In contrast, the girl who was in the boss¡¯ arms was bathed in pure golden sunlight and looked as beautiful as an angel.

    Although, that was Chairman Pei¡¯s wife.

    Did their boss really defeat hispetitor for his wife? This was simply too low, too shameless, too... overbearing!

    The young front desk girls were starry-eyed as they stared at their boss.

    Xia Ling had already pushed out of Li Lei¡¯s arms. In front of so many people, her face turned beetroot red. ¡°Shameless man.¡± She whispered.

    Boss Li smiled widely. Suddenly, he lifted her hand and announced to the surrounding onlookers. ¡°Yourdy boss is back! Today, I will treat everyone to a feast!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Everyone cheered.

    Although they didn¡¯t understand what he meant by ¡°yourdy boss is back¡± since Mrs. Pei had not divorced Boss Pei yet, they all understood that a feast was underway, and the boss was treating them! With their previous experience of working with Li Lei, that meant a really extravagant feast! It would be iparable, and would exceed everyone¡¯s expectations!

    The crowd was filled with tears of happiness.

    ¡°Thank you, boss! Thank you,dy boss!¡± Right now, they didn¡¯t care about whose wife Xia Ling was and their moral integrity. A feast was about to happen!

    The crowd celebrated as they rushed off to spread the good news.

    Only Su Tang stood in the noisy crowd with a cold expression.

    Li Lei linked arms with Xia Ling as he walked towards thepany. As he walked, he gently said to Xia Ling, ¡°Be careful... Slow down... How is your wound? Don¡¯t let it split open again.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m not that fragile.¡± When she passed Su Tang, there was a faint pleasant smell of body wash that was mesmerizing.

    The jealousy in Su Tang¡¯s eyes deepened. She then concealed it with some self-control.

    ¡°Young Master, don¡¯t you think it isn¡¯t very good to let Mrs. Pei in?¡± When the two of them passed the door, Su Tang said coldly. She looked calmly and sincerely at Li Lei.

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Xiao Ling being here is like being in her own home.¡±

    ¡°This is Skyart, not Mrs. Pei¡¯s home. Mrs. Pei¡¯s home is in Imperial.¡± Su Tang refused to relent. Although she sounded elegant and cool, she had a ruthless character behind her gentle appearance.

    What she said caused a few onlookers to stare at them again.

    Special assistant Su and Mrs. Pei... did not get along.

 Chapter 496 - Send Him Back

    <h4>Chapter 496: Send Him Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling turned around to look at her. Why was this Su Tang always finding fault with her?

    ¡°Well then, is this your home?¡± She asked Su Tang.

    Su Tang did not expect her to ask a question like that and was slightly startled. She ingeniously changed the subject. ¡°Mrs. Pei, right now we are talking about something rted to you.¡±

    ¡°Who wants to talk to you about something rted to me?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was soft, but she did not beat about the bush. ¡°Who are you to me?¡±

    Su Tang could only cry after meeting such apetitor. She did not even care about maintaining the subtle elegance of a woman or the self-consciousness between girls. Shouldn¡¯t girls be more tactful and less direct? What was with her candidness? If you are so direct, how will the other person react?

    Have you considered the other party¡¯s feelings?

    Su Tang buried her resentment in her heart, and her chest tightened.

    She had been elegant for a lifetime and was used to ying word games. If Xia Ling were mincing her words, she would definitely not be her opponent. Unexpectedly, she was simply rude.

    Su Tang gritted her teeth and hated this girl who was out of the norm. Forcefully, she replied, ¡°I¡¯m the special assistant of Skyart Entertainment. As someone rted to apetitor of ourpany, of course, I have to care if you¡¯re trying to enter our headquarters.¡±

    If Li Lei were not there, what she said would be righteous enough.

    Unfortunately, Li Lei was there.

    Before Xia Ling said anything, Li Lei was already frowning. ¡°Su Tang, did I let you follow me to care about these trivial matters?¡± It was obvious that Big Boss Li was siding with Xia Ling.

    However, Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°You don¡¯t need to say anything. Let me speak.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m helping you!¡± Big boss Li felt wronged.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°I don¡¯t need your help. Haven¡¯t you heard that men shouldn¡¯t interrupt when women are arguing?¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. Could this be considered ttering a person the wrong way? He almost forgot that his Xiao Ling was argumentative and had to personally finish her arguments. However, he did not know that Xia Ling was really not in the mood to argue today. Just now when Li Lei was not around, she turned the other cheek because she did not want to argue with Su Tang.

    There was a reason why she did that.

    She did not want to see him and his subordinate get into a conflict in front of everyone and degrade himself. He was of high status and did not have to stoop so low to argue with Su Tang. It was enough that she was handling the situation.

    Xia Ling stared at Su Tang with a pair of bright eyes. ¡°Exactly, you¡¯re only a special assistant. This isn¡¯t your home as well. You are at best a butler of Li Lei¡¯s family business. As a butler, what right to you have to give orders to your master?¡±

    ¡°What sort of master are you?¡± Su Tang gritted her teeth and said faintly. The word ¡°master¡± was as painful as internal bleeding for her. This woman was already married. Why was she still holding on to her family¡¯s young master so tightly? She was also iming to be a master?

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling only said, ¡°I never said that I was the master. Li Lei is the master, right? If he wants to bring someone in¡ªlike me¡ªno matter who it is, it¡¯s not your position to stop him, right? Besides, you¡¯re part of Skyart, do you have the habit of tyrannically abusing your power?¡±

    Her tone was heavy when she said thest sentence. In front of Li Lei¡¯s face, Su Tang lowered her head. ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°This is not something you are able to control.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s lips curved into a smile and delightedly nced at her. She held Li Lei¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her lovingly as he saw that she was as satisfied as a sly fox and her mood was better. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He walked with her like a general who returned from the war in victory, past the crowd and into the elevator.

    Su Tang was left behind, fuming.

    They reached the office.

    ¡°Why did you hire her back as a special assistant?¡± Xia Lingined as sheid on thefortable sofa.

    Li Lei poured her a ss of water and answered with low and maic voice, ¡°Are you tired? Drink some water. A while ago, I was busy defeating Imperial andcked manpower, so I hired her back.¡± Furthermore, without her by his side, Old Master Li was not at ease and kept saying that he needed someone who knew him well.

    Old Master Li was old and did not want to see him getting worried over him.

    Xia Ling took the ss of water. Although he was away for a year, he still knew what she liked to drink. There were two slices of lemon, and honey was added. It was a perfect drink. Satisfied, she drank a mouthful and closed her eyes to relish the taste like a cat that wasfortably basking under the sun.

    Li Lei looked at her gently.

    Xia Ling indulged for a moment before continuing toin. ¡°I don¡¯t like her.¡± It was aint, but she said it in a spoiled manner.

    Li Lei smiled indulgently. ¡°Ok, you don¡¯t like her. I¡¯ll transfer her away tomorrow.¡±

    Xia Ling widened her eyes to look at him. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Cross my heart.¡± He half-knelt beside the sofa and looked at her.

    ¡°You better keep your promise.¡± Xia Ling reached out to mess his short hair. It was afortable feeling like what she remembered. She really missed it a lot, so she messed his hair more.

    ¡°You¡¯re bullying me as soon as you¡¯re back.¡± Li Lei felt wronged again.

    ¡°I will bully you.¡± After Xia Ling was done messing up his hair, she went to pinch his cheeks. ¡°So what if I bully you? I¡¯ve been bullied for a year. Shouldn¡¯t I be allowed to collect some interest?¡±

    His original smile vanished.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He said in a dark tone.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    He reached out and ced her cold hands in his palms. ¡°This year, when you... were beside that man. How was life? Why did you be so thin?¡±

    Her expression also turned gloomy.

    After a long silence, she tried to understate what happened as much as possible. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not as bad you think it is. He let me eat good food and wear good clothes. It¡¯s just that... when I was pregnant, I was in some pain when I was giving birth to a child and during the recovery period.¡±

    This was the first time he heard her mention the child.

    ¡°I saw it in the news.¡± His voice was a bit dry because she had a child with another man, and it felt like a piece of his heart had been carved out. ¡°He¡¯s called... Shaohui, right?¡± He did not mention his surname and only said, ¡°What a good name.¡±

    A gentle smile appeared on Xia Ling¡¯s lips. ¡°He¡¯s a good boy.¡±

    Suddenly, tears flowed down her cheeks.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Li Lei was rmed. ¡°Is it because you thought of your child? Did Pei Ziheng let you go but not allow you to leave with your child?¡±

    He held her in his arms andforted him in a flurry.

    At the start, she only cried in silence. Gradually, she started to bawl.

    Li Lei became more nervous. ¡°Be good, don¡¯t cry... If you really miss your child...¡± He paused for a long time before finally saying, ¡°Let¡¯s pick him up. I will look for Pei Ziheng to negotiate and make him release him, ok? Don¡¯t worry. I will take care of the baby with you and treat him like he¡¯s my own son.¡±

 Chapter 497 - Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 497: Encounter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling cried even harder. He did not know that the baby was actually his.

    However, he would never get the chance to find out since the baby died on his 100-day celebration before seeing his biological father at least once. She was heartbroken and was unable to tell him that the baby was actually his and that he was already dead.

    Since the baby was already dead, then Li Lei should continue thinking that her son was Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    At least, he would not experience a heart-wrenching pain like her.

    She cried, and her voice shook. ¡°He¡¯s dead... My baby... He¡¯s dead...¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart sank. He recalled the photo in the magazine. That child was smiling innocently like an angel. It was so strange. She had that child with Pei Ziheng, so why did she be so heartbroken after hearing about her child¡¯s death?

    He hugged her and held her hand tightly. With a raspy voice, he asked, ¡°How did he... die?¡±

    She shook her head, refusing to tell the tragedy of how her child died again. In her heart, she inevitably recalled that night at the junkyard, the photo Pei Ziheng asked his chauffeur to give her, the box of ashes and dirty, blood-stained clothes. She cried until her body shivered as she recalled her past injustice. She felt useless. After spending so much effort and enduring so much hardship, in the end, she could not even preserve the life of her beloved son...

    Their baby. He was such a cute baby...

    Li Lei continued tofort her and felt that the person in his arms was about to copse from crying. Her thin body shook like a small boat in the storm. It was as if she would break if he lightly touched her.

    He slightly lowered her head and wanted to say a fewforting words before realizing¡ª ¡°Blood, your wound is open again. Xiao Ling, be good. Come, lie down. I will help you deal with it.¡±

    It was still the wound that was not fully healed.

    She stabbed her lower abdomen deeply with a fruit knife and left a horrific scar.

    Li Lei carefully undid the gauze on her white and t lower abdomen. Sure enough, the bloody scar was there. ¡°Don¡¯t cry.¡± He said very gently. ¡°If the baby knows that you cried until your wound opened for him, he will be very distressed in heaven.¡±

    It took a long time before she finally held back her tears.

    The wound on her lower abdomen was now a bloody mess after splitting open twice in a few days. Li Lei frowned and helped her bandage her wound for a while before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, I have to send you to the hospital.¡±

    She nodded. Then, she thought of something and suddenly grabbed his sleeve timidly.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Li Lei asked softly.

    ¡°I...¡± She said and almost burst into tears again. ¡°I can¡¯t get pregnant anymore.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart sank a little and pursed his lips. This news was too sudden, and he was mentally unprepared for it. Xiao Ling could never be pregnant again? Did that mean that in this lifetime, they would never be able to have a child? Unknowingly, he held her arm tighter.

    Xia Ling felt pain and thought he was unhappy so her tears fell out.

    ¡°If you want to have a child with another girl, just tell me. I will...¡± She choked with sobs. ¡°I will... leave you.. and never...e back...¡±

    ¡°What rubbish are you saying?¡± He was really angry. ¡°I want to marry a wife, not a pregnancy tool!¡± He seriously looked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, divorce Pei Ziheng and marry me. I don¡¯t care if you can give birth to a child or not. We can look for a surrogate. If not, we can adopt a child. In this lifetime, how can I marry someone else besides you?¡±

    She did not expect that he would say something like that and cried even harder.

    Li Lei gently wiped away her tears. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. You¡¯re worrying about nothing. You should focus on recovering from your wound and bing my wife.¡± He wiped her nose. ¡°You¡¯re so old, but you look like a cat when you cry.¡±

    She smiled through her tears.

    Li Lei bent down, helped her up, and called for a chauffeur to take her to the hospital.

    The staff at Compassionate Peace Hospital felt dazed. This Ye Xingling was really capable. She was just taken home by the Pei Family a few days ago, and now, she was sent here by Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Boss Li!

    Those who had seen two-timers had never seen someone do it so openly and harmoniously.

    The doctors and nurses at Compassionate Peace Hospital now believed the news reports. Ye Xingling really had an affair with Li Lei. She might have even married Pei Ziheng to steal trade secrets from the Pei Family. Now that the Pei Family was almost destroyed by Li Lei, Ye Xingling also returned to Li Lei¡¯s side.

    In their minds, it was a perfect n.

    They bandaged her wound, treated it, and looked at her with strange expressions.

    Xia Ling did not really care and remained in Li Lei¡¯s arms the entire time, refusing to let him go. Returning to him was like a dream. She was afraid that once she let go, her dream would be destroyed.

    The doctor rmended. ¡°It¡¯s best if you stay in the hospital for a few days of observation.¡± She did not stay for the rmended time in the past.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay in the hospital.¡± She could not bear to leave Li Lei.

    After looking at her wound, Li Lei felt that it was not much of a problem. She would be fine after carefully resting at home, so he also rejected the doctor¡¯s rmendation.

    The doctor did not insist. He gave her some medicine and then sent them out.

    When they were leaving, they bumped into Nanny Zhou.

    Seeing that Xia Ling was together with Li Lei, Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression wasplicated. She wanted to say something but only slightly moved her lips. Finally, she walked past them without a word.

    ¡°Do you recognize that old woman?¡± Li Lei did not know Nanny Zhou.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng¡¯s helper.¡± Xia Ling said. She did not know why Nanny Zhou was here.

    She hugged Li Lei as they waited for the lift.

    Before the lift arrived, Nanny Zhou walked out with many bags. They were all old items that Xia Ling used when she was hospitalized.

    Xia Ling did not know what she was doing with those things.

    The lift arrived.

    Li Lei supported Xia Ling and carefully entered the lift. He said, ¡°Be careful and look before you take a step. Don¡¯t let your wound rip open again.¡± After that, he said in annoyance, ¡°How in the world did Pei Ziheng take care of you?¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything but Nanny Zhou could not help but sneer at the side. ¡°You must be Mr. Li, the one who stole madam away from Mr. Pei? I don¡¯t need you to care about whether Mr. Pei took care of madam well! Madam,¡± She turned to look at Xia Ling. ¡°this is thest time I¡¯m calling you madam. How can you leave without a word? That¡¯s so cruel! Do you know that in the morning after you left, Mr. Pei fainted in his office? Now, he¡¯s hospitalized in Compassionate Peace Hospital! The first thing he told me to do when he woke up was to tell me to give you back all the things you used before when you were hospitalized. He loves you and treasures you so much, but what about you?!¡±

 Chapter 498 - Keeping A Secret

    <h4>Chapter 498: Keeping A Secret</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was stunned at Nanny Zhou¡¯s words. ¡°Pei Ziheng fainted?

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression was pained. ¡°Mister has been busy in this period while trying to manage your feelings as well. After you left, he was distraught. He fainted because of overwork.¡±

    Xia Ling felt like someone clenched her heart as it started to throb with pain. How weird... he had been so cruel to her, so why was she so sad when hearing that he was hurt?

    Li Lei, who was standing by the side, spoke up, ¡°Since you know that Xiao Ling is no longer your Madam, why are you telling her these things? Also, let me remind you... don¡¯tment so much if you aren¡¯t aware of the full situation. Pei Ziheng was the one who chose his family business and gave up on Xiao Ling. Otherwise, Xiao Ling wouldn¡¯te back to my side. Since he¡¯s made such a choice, then he shouldn¡¯t me it on Xiao Ling like a hypocrite. Don¡¯t make me look down on him.¡±

    Nanny Zhou red at him angrily. ¡°Mister loves Madam so much, why would he give up on her?¡±

    It seemed that this servant had no idea what had transpired.

    Li Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°You don¡¯t know? Imperial Entertainment could not withstand my onught, so he decided to hand over Xiao Ling in exchange of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s safety. Since it was a fair trade, he can¡¯tin.¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Then, you¡¯re just despicable! How could you threaten him and break Mister and Madam up like that?¡±

    Li Lei continued tough coldly. ¡°Despicable? Threaten? Break up? Who is the one that was all of that? You¡¯re just a servant and know nothing. Don¡¯t point your finger at me without the full picture. Xiao Ling never wanted to stay by Pei Ziheng, it was Pei Ziheng who used despicable tactics to force Xiao Ling to leave me. Now, Xiao Ling managed to free herself from him and came back to my side. She¡¯s just following her heart¡¯s deepest desires.¡±

    Nanny Zhou did not expect things to have been this way. She looked at Xia Ling incredulously and asked, ¡°Madam, is what he said true?¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated for a while before nodding her head.

    ¡°I¡¯ve loved Li Lei these two years, and my heart has never changed.¡± Xia Ling told Nanny Zhou. ¡°It¡¯s true that Pei Ziheng broke us up. Nanny Zhou, it¡¯s pointless discussing these right now. All that has passed. Everyone should just live well. You... you take good care of him.¡±

    Herst sentence still betrayed her concern for Pei Ziheng.

    Nanny Zhou looked at Xia Ling as if trying to discern the truth in her words. In disappointment, it dawned on her that whatever Xia Ling said was very likely the truth. From the beginning, she was not pregnant with Mister¡¯s child and had gone through pain and suffering for that child. That showed how much she loved the child¡¯s father.

    Looking now at thepatible couple in front of her, Nanny Zhou thought that this Li Lei must be the child¡¯s real father. Her gaze darkened a little as she came to that realization.

    What possessed Mister to fall in love with a woman that he couldn¡¯t have? There were tons of daughters of wealthy families and socialites that would give it their all to marry him.

    Such a pity... a pity...

    The elevator came to a stop with a <i>ding </i>.

    Nanny Zhou did not say anything more as she grabbed her things and left hurriedly.

    Xia Ling expression was a little sad. As she thought of Nanny Zhou¡¯s words, her heart sank.

    Li Lei looked over at her and asked, ¡°Are you worried about him?¡± He did not say his name, but they both knew who he was referring to.

    Xia Ling was slightly stunned, before nodding and then shaking her head. Her heart was in a mess. She did not love Pei Ziheng, but she was still grateful to Pei Ziheng. Pei Ziheng was the one who raised her and saved her, and that was a fact that nothing could change.

    Even though she wanted to be away from him, she still wanted him to be well.

    Li Lei¡¯s mood dropped as well. He did not understand why Xiao Ling would still care for Pei Ziheng. Perhaps, having a child with Pei Ziheng changed matters? Even though the child was already dead, but... it was still different.

    Both of them were preupied with their thoughts as they walked silently side by side.

    It was not until they reached Li Lei¡¯s car that Xia Ling opened her mouth to speak. ¡°You said that you will leave Imperial be, right?¡±

    Li Lei nodded his head. ¡°Mmhmm.¡± Imperial was not in good shape now, and Skyart merely needed to move a little finger to could crush them as if killing an ant. However, when Preceptor Xia set up the curse against Imperial, he had told Li Lei, ¡°This is only until Xiao Linges back... Once she¡¯s back, you have to stop.¡±

    Li Lei did not understand why, but his only objective was to save Xiao Ling. He was not interested in beating Imperial through Preceptor Xia¡¯s curse. That was despicable, and he did not want Xiao Ling to despise himter on.

    He rang his subordinates in front of Xiao Ling. ¡°All of you should stop now.¡±

    As he hung up, Xia Ling said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Li Lei was unhappy. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to thank me for another man.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback before she shed a huge smile. ¡°Hmm... Okay.¡±

    Li Lei smiled as well before he grabbed her hand in his.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Xia Ling asked softly. ¡°Will you have any regrets?¡± He was so close to crushing Imperial Entertainment. As long as Imperial was beaten down, Skyart could rule the entertainment circle.

    Li Lei knew what she was thinking and replied honestly, ¡°Pei Ziheng is a rival that I respect very much. If I bankrupt him using Preceptor Xia¡¯s powers, I¡¯ll be disrespecting him and myself.¡± After all, he only wanted his Xiao Ling back.

    Xia Ling nodded her head lightly before asking, ¡°Where is The Preceptor now?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°He¡¯s long disappeared and gone off on his gallivanting. Oh right, he asked me to pass you a message.¡±

    ¡°What message?¡± Hearing that her brother had left her a parting message, Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued.

    Li Lei replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t quite understand what he meant, but he said for you to keep secret what he had told you when you two met thest time.¡± He paused before asking, ¡°What did The Preceptor tell you?¡±

    ¡°He already said I needed to keep it a secret.¡± Xia Ling burst into a smallugh. She tried to think back to thest time they had met. What was it that she had to keep secret? Thest time they met, they had spoken about her ¡°Phoenix¡± destiny and... that they were siblings.

    Was her brother telling her not to reveal their sibling rtionship?

    He was so mysterious.

    Xia Ling did not think too much about it. Since he wanted it to be kept a secret, she would do so.

    Li Lei did not get angry at her slight, as he turned the steering wheel and said smilingly, ¡°Sit tight. We¡¯re going home.¡±

    The SUV flew down the road and, before long, they reached Li Lei¡¯s apartment building.

    Xia Ling looked around at the familiar flowers and trees, as well as the familiar building and guards. The head of security greeted her gleefully, ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯re finally back.¡±

 Chapter 499 - The Divorce Settlement

    <h4>Chapter 499: The Divorce Settlement</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yes, Miss Ye. You don¡¯t know how much Brother Dong missed you during this time!¡± Another guard piped up. The guards here, intentionally or unintentionally, did not call her Madam Pei but instead called her Miss Ye. Xia Ling was happy hearing them call her Miss Ye¡ªas if the year of suffering had never happened.

    ¡°Hey, hey.¡± Li Lei remarked jokingly in false anger. ¡°Do you guys want to die? Are you flirting with my girl now?¡±

    These guards were used to joking around with Li Lei and did not take his words to heart. They allughed out loud.

    Xia Ling felt her mood be better from the contagiousughter as she followed Li Lei upstairs.

    It seemed that nothing had changed as she pushed open the apartment door.

    Everything was how it was the day that she left ¡ª the fake mountain separator near the door, the pebble path, the ss stream. On the balcony, at the end of the ss stream was a leopard lyingzily on the ground, his fur coat shining under the sunlight. It was Er Mao.

    Er Mao heard the noise in the living room and opened his eyes slightly to see what themotion was. When he saw that Xia Ling was here, his ears started to move, and his tail began to wag before he went back into hiszy reverie on the balcony.

    A little furball peeked its head out from under Er Mao¡¯s belly, letting out a squeaky ¡°Meow.¡± It crawled out and shook out its fur coat before starting to explore the surroundings.

    ¡°Hairball!¡± Xia Ling eximed in surprise as she took a few steps forward and squatted down by Hairball.

    Hairball looked up at her and seemed not to recognize her. However, he soon realized who she was and jumped into her arms with another ¡°Meow,¡± rubbing his head against her chest.

    ¡°Let me look at you... you¡¯ve grown so much!¡± Xia Ling lifted Hairball up to look at him under the sunlight. ¡°Aiyo, you¡¯ve gained weight. All of us lost weight in this period... only you gained weight.¡±

    Li Lei smiled as he watched her ying with the kitten, before proudly saying, ¡°Of course, who raised him?¡± Ever since Xia Ling moved out of Luo Luo¡¯s apartment, Luo Luo had handed Hairball back to Li Lei under Xia Ling¡¯s instructions. Li Lei had many years of experience taking care of pets and took great care of the kitten. All he did was sleep and eat, or spend time ying with Er Mao. Both Hairball and Er Mao had gained weight.

    Seeing Xia Ling happily ying with Hairball, Er Mao seemed to get a little jealous. He stood up and shifted over to ce his head on Xia Ling¡¯s feet with a look of disdain, before turning his head away.

    This leopard was much chicer than his owner.

    Xia Ling reached out to pat Er Mao as she recalled the first time she met Er Mao and saw his beastly attack. She did not expect to be interacting so easily with Er Mao two or three years after that.

    All thanks to his owner.

    Xia Ling raised her head to look at Li Lei. ¡°When I wasn¡¯t here, you had to look after both of them. It was hard on you.¡±

    ¡°Hard indeed.¡± Li Lei pulled Xia Ling into his arms. ¡°It¡¯s going to be so much easier now that you¡¯re back.¡±

    Xia Lingughed and patted his head as she did to Er Mao. She said, ¡°Bring me to see the other rooms.¡±

    As such, Li Lei brought her on a tour of the apartment. As expected, everything was how it was when she left. It looked like cleaners frequently came, as everything was spotless.

    ¡°You seem to have been keeping it clean for me to return.¡± Xia Ling remarked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not for you to stay.¡± Li Lei¡¯s face fell.

    Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°Why?¡±

    Li Lei smiled and said, ¡°It was so hard to get you back... aren¡¯t you going to stay with me? Don¡¯t stay next door to me... just move into my house! Leave this apartment to Er Mao and Hairball... let¡¯s give them some privacy.¡±

    Give Er Mao and Hairball some privacy?

    Xia Ling was appalled at his rubbish of an excuse.

    Even Er Mao was giving his owner a look of disgust.

    Li Lei was not bothered about it. ¡°Sleep with me! Sleep with me!¡± He said unabashedly. He missed her dearly in this year where she had been kidnapped by Pei Ziheng. The pain of losing his fiance was just too much, and he resolved to treasure every minute and second that he had with her. He particrly did not want to lose out on every second that he could sleep with her!

    Seeing his adorable attempts at winning her over, Xia Ling¡¯s heart softened. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s sleep together.¡±

    She had missed him in the year that they were apart as well. Now that she was back, she did not want to be away from him for even a second.

    Li Lei broke into a big smile before pulling her by the hand into his room.

    His room was decorated to his preferences. There was a wide andfortable living area, simply decorated with a genuine leather sofa and a thick carpet rug. It was neat and chic. Xia Ling walked over to the sofa and sat down.

    Li Lei asked suddenly, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    Xia Ling raised her head and saw that there was cabin-sized luggage in the corner of the living room. She remembered that Pei Ziheng had insisted that Nanny Zhou pass it to her when she was leaving his ce in the morning.

    ¡°It¡¯s something I brought over from Pei Ziheng¡¯s ce.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Weird, didn¡¯t I leave it at Skyart? In your office?¡± When she went to Li Lei¡¯s office, the wound on her abdomen had split open, and Li Lei carried her straight to the hospital. The luggage was left in his office then.

    Hearing her words, Li Lei recalled. ¡°When you were in the hospital, Tan Ying went back to the office and found this luggage in the room. He said that it looked important and asked me if he should keep it safe. I didn¡¯t know what it was and guessed that it was yours, so I asked him to bring it over here.¡±

    Tan Ying was also a regr guest of this apartment, and hising and going wasn¡¯t restricted.

    Xia Ling nodded. She did not know what was in the luggage, so she walked over to open it.

    ¡°There¡¯s a code lock.¡± Li Lei apanied her as they squatted down next to the exquisite leather case.

    Xia Ling could not fathom what the code could be. No one told her of the code, so she could only guess.

    She first tried the Pei Family house number. Incorrect.

    She then tried Pei Ziheng¡¯s birthday. Incorrect again.

    She tried her own birthday. Still incorrect.

    Finally, she tried her birthday in her past life, which was also the day she met Pei Ziheng.

    This time, it was right, and the lock opened. Her heart clenched a little, and her expression darkened. Li Lei noticed the change and knew that she had thought of something in the past. His mood was swayed by hers. Even though his Xiao Ling had left Pei Ziheng, it was difficult for her to rid her mind of himpletely.

    He pretended not to know anything and focused entirely on the luggage. ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡±

    The top-most document in the luggage had two ring words: ¡°Divorce Settlement.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. She did not expect this to be the item that Pei Ziheng had insisted on her taking away. She reached out for the document and saw that Pei Ziheng had signed it already, leaving the other signatory nk.

 Chapter 500 - Precious Jewelry

    <h4>Chapter 500: Precious Jewelry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei thought about her wedding in July and said through gritted teeth, ¡°He really doesn¡¯t go away, does he?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one that signed the wedding certificate thest time. But it¡¯s good now, at least he¡¯s signed the divorce papers.¡± They would no longer have any rtionship after this.

    She told Li Lei, ¡°Bring me a pen.¡±

    ¡°You want to sign this divorce settlement?¡± Li Lei was unhappy. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you didn¡¯t sign the wedding certificate? Then, what right does he have to ask for a divorce?! You were never married in the first ce!¡±

    Li Lei was overjoyed to hear that Xiao Ling had not signed on the wedding certificate. He had always thought that Xiao Ling and Pei Ziheng were married, but now it seemed that Xiao Ling had not married him at all!

    This was wondrous news.

    Xia Lingughed bitterly. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it count? Even though the signature was forged, it was still registered at the wedding registry and is legally binding. Legally, I¡¯m Pei Ziheng¡¯s wife. I still need to sign this divorce settlement.¡±

    ¡°If you sign it, aren¡¯t you admitting that you were married to Pei Ziheng?¡± Li Lei argued. ¡°This is hisst despicable move even after letting you go! No, I¡¯m not letting him get away with this.¡±

    ¡°Then, what do you say I do?¡± Xia Ling was prepared to listen to him obediently.

    Li Lei thought about it before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to validate that your wedding certificate is a farce and get the authorities to dere your marriage void.¡± In this case, Xiao Ling would not be a divorced woman but a single woman.

    Xia Ling agreed. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Li Lei gave her a joyful kiss on the forehead. He should not have let her go through so much suffering and resolved to ensure it never happened again.

    Xia Ling ruffled in the suitcase and realized that there were many precious jewels below the divorce settlement papers. There were the colored diamond bracelet and blue diamond ne worth 200 million that she received from Pei Ziheng in this life, and all the jewelry she received from him in her past life ¡ª the jade earrings, pearl hair clip, the ring adorned with precious rare stones, other bracelets, etc.

    There were so many of them in the suitcase.

    Her expression wasplicated.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?! Why is he giving my girl so many things?!¡± Wasn¡¯t the Pei Family close to bankruptcy? Where did he get the money to flirt with Xia Ling?! If he knew that Pei Ziheng was going to do this, he should have just crushed him when he got the chance! Li Lei was regretting letting him off.

    Xia Ling merely closed the suitcase.

    ¡°What do you n to do with this suitcase?¡± Li Lei asked cautiously, before gently coaxing. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll buy you all the jewelry you want. Don¡¯t wear all of this, okay?¡±

    Xia Ling giggled at his nervous expression. ¡°Whoever said I wanted to wear these?¡± She said wistfully, ¡°I will store this case somewhere safe.¡± What was in the past, was in the past, and her destiny with Pei Ziheng was over. They would be stored away with this case.

    Li Lei¡¯s furrowed brows smoothened out as he smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling is the best.¡± He tried his luck as he remarked, ¡°It¡¯s such a waste to store this somewhere. Shall we sell it all?¡±

    Xia Ling gave him a light knock on the head with her hand. ¡°Dream on.¡±

    The gleeful glint in Li Lei¡¯s eyes dimmed a little.

    Xia Ling realized the change and was afraid that he would take it to heart. She hesitated before saying, ¡°Li Lei, everyone has a past. Pei Ziheng is my past. I can¡¯t throw him away like trash, do you understand? Forgive me, storing this away is the most I can do.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°The first time I confessed my feelings to you I told you that it was fine even if you had someone else in your heart. I will still love you. Xiao Ling, we¡¯ve been through so much to be together. This is nothing to me.¡± Yes, he might not be entirelyfortable with it, but he would still apany Xiao Ling in the long road of life together until they were both old and white-haired.

    He could tell that she was trying her best to love him wholeheartedly, and he did not want to pressure her.

    Xia Ling was touched by his words and gave him a big, warm hug.

    Today was a chaotic day, and Xia Ling was feeling tired. Li Lei ran the bath for her, sent her to wash up and lie down on the bed to rest. As she was showering, he made dinner and carried it over for her.

    Xia Ling took a bite of the prawn dumplings that he had made and looked up with a shocked expression.

    ¡°This taste...¡± She came to a sudden realization. ¡°When I was pregnant and couldn¡¯t eat anything... the food at Feng Kun¡¯s were all made by you?!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei nodded casually, even though he was swelling with pride on the inside. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much.¡± He proudly added after a moment, ¡°I knew it... you can¡¯t live without me.¡±

    ¡°You braggart.¡± Xia Lingughed, but her eyes teared up. He didn¡¯t even know that the child was his, but he was being so good to her. How could she not be touched? It¡¯s such a pity that the child didn¡¯t make it in the end.

    As she thought about this, she subconsciously ced her fair hand on her abdomen, and the mild ache now made her feel sad. The pain would not go away even though she had returned to Li Lei¡¯s side.

    Li Lei caringly watched her and guessed that she had thought about the child. ¡°Take care of your health. Once the wound is healed, perhaps you can have another child. The doctor¡¯s words might not be 100% urate.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. Even if the doctor could not bepletely urate, he would likely be 90% right. The hope of having another child was slim, and she did not want to get her hopes up. What¡¯s more, so what if she were pregnant with another child? The child wouldn¡¯t be the same... wouldn¡¯t be her Zhaohui... that skinny baby with the most innocent smile.

    ¡°I will never let her off...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s said in a low voice.

    ¡°Won¡¯t let who off?¡± Li Lei asked. He had been afraid of bringing up the reason for the child¡¯s death for fear that it would make her feel sad. Now that she had raised the topic, perhaps he could find out if there was any conspiracy?

    Xia Ling was lost in her thoughts, but she felt that something was amiss. ¡°Pei Ziheng told me that Xia Yu snuck into the bungalow and threw the child into the rubbish bin. However, I did not see that with my own eyes and no surveince cameras took evidence of that. Was it really Xia Yu? Or could it be someone else?¡±

    Xia Ling had wanted to say that maybe it was Pei Ziheng. However, Li Lei still thought that Pei Ziheng was the child¡¯s biological father. So, there would be no motive for him to do something like that. If she raised her suspicion of Pei Ziheng, then Li Lei would be highly suspicious of the child¡¯s identity as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible that there are other culprits too.¡± Li Lei did not have any suspects in mind. ¡°Shall I help you to investigate?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Start with investigating Xia Yu. If it¡¯s not her, then expand the investigation. I will also go look for Xia Yu to question her on the matter.¡± She needed to find the culprit that killed her child.

    ¡°You should just rest and recuperate.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Take care of your injury, then you will have the strength to take revenge for your child.¡± He held her hand and assured her. ¡°No matter what happens, I will always be standing by your side. We will solve all the problems together.¡±

    Xia Ling stared into his eyes and gave him a smile. ¡°Okay.¡±

 Chapter 501 - A Chat with Xia Yu

    <h4>Chapter 501: A Chat with Xia Yu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu arranged a meeting with Xia Yu.

    On a sunny afternoon, they met in a box of a high-end Japanese restaurant.

    Their surroundings were tranquil.

    Xia Yu wore a light grey blouse, carried a Chanel handbag, and had a face full of makeup. She looked pleasant. However, Xia Ling was still sick, and her delicate face was slightly pale, looking weary with her thin frame. Xia Yu was in a good mood when she looked at her. She ced her bag on the table and asked, ¡°Why did you look for me?¡±

    Xia Ling also did not beat around the bush. ¡°You killed my child.¡±

    It was a statement, not a question.

    Xia Yu smiled as if she expected this question. She said simply and sarcastically, ¡°Do you have any evidence? If you don¡¯t, then don¡¯t nder people so confidently. In fact, I don¡¯t even know that your baby died. What a pity.¡±

    Xia Ling tightened her grip around her cup of water. She had to resist the urge to throw the cup of water on her.

    She already expected Xia Yu not to admit it so easily. In fact, Xia Ling was not so sure if Xia Yu was really the murder. After sheposed herself, she said as calmly as she cold, ¡°Xia Yu, stop acting. The only one who wasn¡¯t invited that day was you. You secretly snuck into the vi and murdered the baby.¡±

    Xia Yu was still unmoved. ¡°I was invited by Brother Ziheng on that day. I entered the vi only to look for him.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng never sent you an invitation.¡±

    ¡°Of course, he won¡¯t tell you the truth.¡± Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Do you think a man will be honest if he arranges a meeting with another woman?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned in disgust. She knew that Xia Yu was shameless, but she did not expect her to be shameless to the extent to say something so degrading. If she were really Pei Ziheng¡¯s loving wife, she might have been extremely hurt by her damaging words like in her past life.

    Unfortunately, Xia Yu did not know the reason why she married Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°He wouldn¡¯t meet you.¡± Xia Ling insisted resolutely. ¡°Stop giving bad excuses. When you went to the vi, you entered the baby room and threw the baby in the rubbish bin.¡±

    Xia Yu felt a little uneasy after hearing her talk about the details of her n. Could it be that she really found out that she was the murder of her child? However, no matter what, Xia Yu would never admit it. This was a heinous crime, and she was being used as the murderer. If Xia Ling had a voice recording device on her, she would be asking for trouble if she admitted it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± Xia Yu smiled lightly. ¡°Your child is dead. Don¡¯t try to randomly use and pin the me on me. If you want to me someone, just me yourself for not being able to protect him well. That¡¯s why you were ditched by Brother Ziheng.¡±

    The news that Xia Ling left the Pei Family to return back to Li Lei¡¯s side spread like wildfire all over the country. In the beginning, everyone bashed her for being a shameless woman who only cared about money. They thought that she wanted to marry into a wealthy family, and once she realized that the Pei Family was about to copse, she escaped using the fastest speed.

    However, soon, those rumors quickly subsided.

    They disappeared so quickly that Xia Ling did not even feel that she was being scolded.

    However, Xia Yu knew about everything and guessed that Li Lei secretly helped her. She was extremely jealous. How was this b*tch able to get two excellent men to protect her?

    Xia Yu was emotional and sounded harsh when she spoke. ¡°I just knew you were a curse. You were only with Brother Ziheng for less than a year, but his son died, and Imperial Entertainment almost went bankrupt. Once you left, Imperial had aeback. It was right for Brother Ziheng to divorce you. A person like you is not worthy of him to give him a child. The death of that child is rightful.¡±

    A vicious and ugly smile appeared on her face.

    Xia Ling wanted to tear her mouth apart listening to her, but she continued to endure it as she was focused on the task today. She coldly asked, ¡°You really didn¡¯t kill my child?¡±

    ¡°How could it be me?¡± Xia Yu looked delicate, and her tone was also very delicate and filled with a sense of superiority. ¡°Do you think I look a murderer? It¡¯s just too bad that the child is so unlucky such that his murderer can¡¯t be found even after his death.¡± She elegantly drank her tea and smiled. ¡°Oh yes, if you find the murderer, remember to tell me.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was as cold as ice. She stopped talking to her. Taking her bag, she left the restaurant.

    Outside the restaurant, there was a modified cross country car waiting for her.

    Xia Ling got on the car. Her expression was still as deadly as before. ¡°This Xia Yu!¡± She mmed her bag against the windshield and said fiercely, ¡°Regardless of whether she killed my baby, I won¡¯t let her off!¡± She recalled the mocking insults about her child and firmly concluded that she would definitely seek revenge.

    Li Lei sat on the driver¡¯s seat.

    Li Lei asked her, ¡°Did you get the recording?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She took out a voice recorder from her pocket and handed it to Li Lei. She asked Li Lei curiously, ¡°What are you going to with this? She didn¡¯t even confess, so we can¡¯t use it as evidence.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want evidence.¡± Li Lei said while driving. ¡°I only want to help you determine if she killed your child.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to determine that using this?¡±

    ¡°You will know when we arrive.¡±

    Li Lei drove the car along an unfrequented road to a strange ce. As he helped Xia Ling off the car, they walked through an alley and walked down a narrow staircase to get to an underground base.

    The underground base was spacious and bright. From the to time, researchers with badges passed by.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Where is this ce?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°A business under my name that does some interesting research.¡±

    She knew that he had many businesses, but did not expect him to even have one rted to underground research. He brought her into a room. Inside, a researcher was waiting for them.

    Li Lei handed the recording pen to him and said, ¡°Jack, do an analysis and see if there are any lies in this conversation.¡±

    Jack nodded. He took the recording pen and ced it in a sophisticated machine.

    Soon, the results of the analysis were out. He said, ¡°One of the voices, the child¡¯s mother, did not lie. The other voice said many lies. She lied about Brother Ziheng inviting her to the vi and that she went to the vi for a meeting. Her biggest lie was that she did not murder the child. The probability that she murdered the child is 0.9 and above.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Xia Ling anxiously asked. ¡°Is this result urate?¡±

 Chapter 502 - Do You Want to Dismember Her or Make Her Jump Down From the Deck

    <h4>Chapter 502: Do You Want to Dismember Her or Make Her Jump Down From the Deck</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jack smiled at her and said, ¡°This is the most advanced lie detector in the world. Believe me, it hasn¡¯t made a mistake once.¡±

    Xia Ling had mixed feelings. It turned out that the real murderer was her own sister. Would Xia Yu feel regretful or guilty if she found out that she actually killed her nephew? No... she would not. In her past life, she used such vulgar terms to attack her sister. Why would she spare her nephew?

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart turned cold. She did not expect the sister whom she had gone through so much hardship with would actually murder her precious child. She was unsettled and could not even stand straight. She finally held the seat handle and barely stabilized her shaking body.

    ¡°I will help you seek revenge.¡± Li Lei held her. He knew thatforting words were useless, and only revenge could slightly alleviate the pain in her heart.

    ¡°How?¡± Xia Ling raised her head to look at him.

    It was not convenient for him to talk in front of the investigator. Li Lei supported her outside before he spoke. ¡°It¡¯s simple. A life for a life.¡± His voice was cold. There was a strong indifference in his voice¡ªas if he had killed countless people before without her knowledge.

    When he was like that, she felt that he was a little distant but had peace of mind.

    However, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to seek revenge for me.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Li Lei lowered his head and looked at her.

    Xia Ling said slowly, ¡°If she¡¯s dead, it will bepletely over¡ªthat¡¯s letting her off too easily. I don¡¯t want her to die silently. I want her to feel the same pain I did when my entire world copsed and I lost everything.¡±

    Revenge of two lifetimes.

    Her past life was her most difficult life. Xia Yu ruthlessly humiliated and mocked her, salting her wounds such that she almost lost the courage to live. She was even crueler during this life as she murdered her baby. That poor child only lived for a hundred days in this world before disappearing forever.

    She felt like her heart was stabbed.

    She wanted Xia Yu to experience the same pain.

    Li Lei was startled at first, but afterward, he smiled. ¡°That¡¯s also good. If there¡¯s something I can do to help, just tell me.¡± Sometimes, Xiao Ling seemed silly and overly kind. In reality, Li Lei was secretly worried that she would have trouble facing violence and bloodshed after she married into the Li Family because she was too kind.

    However, now, he was no longer worried. His Xiao Ling knew when to give in and when to be ruthless. Perhaps the death of her child brought out her courage. No matter what, she already had the ability to survive in the Li Family, so he was pleased.

    Xia Ling did not know what he was thinking about. She only said, ¡°I want her crime to be exposed to the world. I want her reputation ruined and for her to be punished by thew.¡±

    ¡°Ruining her reputation is easy.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Getting her punished is a little difficult. Have you made a police report? The crime scene is in the Pei Family¡¯s vi, so Pei Ziheng needs to cooperate. If he isn¡¯t willing, even if the police does a forceful investigation, there may be many twists and turns. Furthermore, a lot of time has passed, and the child¡¯s body is already burned. So, they may not find out anything.¡±

    A lie detector could not be used as evidence.

    Even if they knew that the murderer was Xia Yu, there was insufficient evidence to arrest her.

    Xia Ling was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°We have to try.¡±

    Li Lei apanied her to the police station to make a police report. As it involved the city¡¯s two greatest powers, celebrities, and someone¡¯s life, the police were rmed and treated the case very seriously. They went to the Pei Family¡¯s vi for an investigation on the same day.

    This incident made Pei Ziheng very unhappy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it when people barge into my property.¡± He said indifferently and looked at the police, Xia Ling and Li Lei. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to find out anything.¡±

    Li Lei felt that it was somewhat strange. ¡°Don¡¯t you care that your own child is dead?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at him deeply. His lips curved into a mocking smile. After that, he turned around and left.

    Xia Ling was horrified by his smile, worried that he would tell the truth in anger. He was such a proud person. Even though he was defeated in business and love, he would not give anyone the chance to strike him when he was down.

    As for that child¡¯s identity, he and Xia Ling had a very tacit understanding of the truth.

    The police searched the vi, and sure enough, it was futile. The group was a little dispirited as they left. Li Leiforted Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s ok. The investigation takes time. Take it slowly.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded lightly.

    However, after more than a month, there was not the slightest progress.

    The strength of the Pei Family was recovering. After the period of bad luck, Pei Ziheng¡¯s abilities were not any less than Li Lei¡¯s. In a short time, he regained hismercial empire at a shocking speed. Although he suffered massive damages from the fight, today¡¯s Imperial Entertainment was only slightly inferior to Skyart Entertainment.

    However, thanks to The Preceptor, Li Lei was able to take advantage of the increase in luck to be thergest power in the city.

    The two forces were evenly matched.

    The policeman said to Xia Ling, ¡°We will do our best to solve the case, but Mr. Pei is not cooperating. There are two crime scenes¡ªthe baby room and the garbage dump. Due to the destruction, we can¡¯t find any incriminating evidence. Thus, the process of solving the case will be very difficult. You must be mentally prepared for a long term battle.¡±

    Xia Ling was anxious as she looked at Xia Yu¡¯s various jobs and increasing activity in the entertainment industry. She talked and smiled radiantly and looked like she was leading a veryfortable life.

    Xia Ling did not watch idly as the murderer of her baby lived happily.

    She said to Li Lei, ¡°I want to seek revenge on her in my own way.¡±

    Li Lei was invigorated and asked, ¡°Do you want to dismember her or make her jump down from the deck? I know a friend in international waters that do this sort of business. He can entice Xia Yu out and will ensure that not even her bones are left.¡± He never killed anyone in the country as grandfather said that it was necessary to maintain a society ruled byw in China.

    He always listened to his grandfather. Moreover, his grandfather was old and in his twilight years, so he did not want to disrupt the order that his family had now.

    However, Xia Ling rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Entice her to leave the country? Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s troublesome?¡±

    Li Lei felt wronged. ¡°Part of our ancestral training states that we should not vite thew in the country. If not, why do you think that the Li Family is the greatest Chinese power in the open seas for generations? Besides me, no one is interested in China because they can¡¯t be involved in any illegal business here.¡±

    Xia Ling was dumbstruck by what he said and could not believe there were such hidden facts.

    Suddenly, she remembered something. ¡°Then why are so many people afraid of you? They say that you kill people at ease and with frequency. What¡¯s that about?¡±

 Chapter 503 - Impromptu Change

    <h4>Chapter 503: Impromptu Change</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei smirked delightedly. ¡°Isn¡¯t it simple? Of course, those who want to survive need to have some deterrence. The more widespread these rumors are, the more trouble I save.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. It turned out that even though she owed the Skyart¡¯s training sses a lot of money at the start, she didn¡¯t even have to pay back. Unfortunately, she was afraid of being criticized and wanted to debut in the entertainment industry honestly. If she just left directly at that time without paying back the debt, would everything be different now?

    However, that question was just her wishful thinking.

    She discussed Xia Yu with Li Lei. ¡°Killing her and burying her body is being too easy on her. I¡¯ve already said that I want her reputation to be ruined, so let¡¯s do it first. We can think about the restter.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s kill her after her reputation is ruined.¡± Li Lei suggested.

    There were some difficulties in ruining Xia Yu¡¯s reputation.

    Xia Ling wanted her to lose everything she treasured and suffer in pain.

    Actually, Xia Ling did not really know what her sister prized. It was probably two things¡ªPei Ziheng and her music career. As for the former, even if Xia Ling didn¡¯t do anything, Pei Ziheng was also not interested in her, so she did not care about that for now. However, Xia Yu¡¯s music career was taking flight, and she must be very arrogant now.

    Xia Ling decided to viciously step on her in the entertainment industry.

    ¡°There is an opportunity.¡± Li Lei flipped through the recent jobs list and said, ¡°Soon, it will be the Heavenly Voice Music Festival. Xia Yu is participating in an arena contest. When the timees, you can give her a tight p on the face. At the same time, Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve not appeared in the entertainment industry for about a year, and there¡¯s no news about you. You can use this music festival as a chance to get back your poprity and rise so high above Xia Yu that you¡¯re untouchable.¡±

    Li Lei was very confident about Xia Ling. He had a blind optimism towards the woman he liked, just as if there were no other people in the world who were better at singing than her.

    Xia Ling moved closer to him and looked over his shoulder to read the job list. Nodding, she said, ¡°This is a good opportunity.¡± There was a pleasant shower gel scent on her body. Ever since her pregnancy, she stopped wearing perfume and even stopped putting on makeup. She was returning back to her natural look.

    However, Li Lei liked the way she naturally looked. He stretched out his long arms and took her into his arms to enjoy this rare, quiet moment. She rubbed against his body affectionately. Suddenly, she said, ¡°Look.¡± Her finger pointed at a job. ¡°The sign-up date is already over. What should we do?¡±

    ¡°Enter through the back door, of course.¡± Li Lei said matter of factly.

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re always thinking of entering through the back door and using your connections. Do you think that others won¡¯t mind if you tantly squeeze me into the music festival?¡±

    Recently, there were enough rumors about her, and she did not want to be involved in an additional one.

    Li Lei thought that it was fine. ¡°So what? You¡¯re my woman. It¡¯s normal that you have some special privileges.¡± As he spoke, he secretly kissed her ear. Her skin was more tender than the first time she came back, and she seemed to have gained more weight.

    Big Boss Li was very satisfied with his work. Feeding his girlfriend was like feeding a pig.

    Poor Xia Ling did not know what he was thinking about. She flipped through the job list again and read the detailed information about the Heavenly Voice Music Festival.

    ¡°A promotionalbination of two people...¡± As she saw that, her eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°Bai Murong and his partner... but his partner¡¯s name is not specified. Does this mean I can enter as his partner?¡±

    Li Lei also nced at the write-up.

    This was a qualifier round before the official opening of the festival. Every year, music festivals were filled with singers. Except for the popr ones, other singers might not be able to participate if they signed up. Thus, the qualifier round was created. In groups of two, they wouldpete to be shortlisted for a ce.

    If they won, the duo would be shortlisted. But if they lost, they would be kicked out.

    In the end, manyrgepanies developed coping strategies. They let a certain famous superstars pair with singers whose entry was uncertain. This was so that the singer could rely on the strength of the popr singer. The organizers would turn a blind eye because this strategy greatly enhanced the poprity and news during the qualifier round¡ªthat was in favor of the organizers.

    For example, this time, Skyart was pairing Bai Murong with a small singer.

    Li Lei said, ¡°That¡¯s easy. I will let his partner be you.¡±

    ¡°What about the original partner then?¡± After Xia Ling said that, she felt that quite hypocritical. She said that she did not want to enter through the back door, but now she was stealing someone else¡¯s position and was still hypocritically worrying about him.

    Li Lei alsoughed at her hypocritical behavior. ¡°Sly fox.¡±

    She slyly said, ¡°I can give a few of my good jobs to this person. If he¡¯s not as good as me, I can also guide him. I only want to enter the music festival to fight against Xia Yu. Going through a small back door is better than tantly squeezing my way in through the organizers.¡±

    That¡¯s true. It was more low-key to rece a qualifier within thepany.

    Li Lei stoppedughing at her and said, ¡°The qualifiers are today, and time is tight. We must go over now.¡±

    He pulled Xia Ling into the car and rushed to the music festival at the speed of light.

    He also remembered to make a call. ¡°Sister Mai Na, I¡¯ve brought Xiao Ling back. Are you surprised? No, no, I¡¯m not calling you about something you have to feel uneasy about. Rather, there¡¯s some trouble...¡± He eloquently exined the cause and result to Sister Mai Na.

    At the other end, Sister Mai Na was a little confused. However, as the best manager in the industry, she quickly grasped the key points. ¡°You mean that Xiao Ling is back and I have to continue being her manager? Furthermore, she also wants to participate in the qualifier round as Bai Murong¡¯s partner?¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly!¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°Sister Mai Na, I¡¯m relying on you.¡±

    Sister Mai Na cursed over the phone. ¡°Li Lei, you pig! Do you know who Bai Murong¡¯s partner is this time? It¡¯s Zhou Yijie! Zhou Yijie! She¡¯s famous for being difficult! Her manager is also difficult to deal with! Why didn¡¯t you say this earlier? They¡¯re about to go on stage in an hour. Why did you throw such a difficult task at me?!¡±

    Li Lei felt a little guilty. ¡°Xiao Ling has just returned. If I can¡¯t even help her with such a small matter...¡±

    Sister Mai Na deeply sighed and rubbed her forehead. ¡°I got it. Remember to give me a raise when you get back.¡±

 Chapter 504 - A Male and Female as Partners

    <h4>Chapter 504: A Male and Female as Partners</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He hung up the phone.

    Xia Ling stared at Li Lei with her mouth agape. After a long time, it seemed that his innocent acting skills had improved. In the past, he needed three minutes to convince Sister Mai Na. But now, he settled everything perfectly within one minute. It was amazing.

    However, the boss was actually very sympathetic.

    Xia Ling was determined to treat him better in the future.

    The cross-country vehicle quickly arrived at the vicinity of the qualifier round. But, instead of going straight in, they took a detour near the back door and found a quiet ce to stop at. Not far away, there was also a nanny van.

    Someone got out from the huge van. It was Sister Mai Na.

    Today, she was in sleek business attire as usual, and her makeup was exquisite and perfect. She looked swift and fiercepared to Xia Ling and looked more like a celebrity.

    ¡°Go down.¡± Just now, he just gave Sister Mai Na big trouble and now Li Lei was a little scared of her. Very indifferently, he tried to persuade Xia Ling to get off the car first. ¡°There are many reporters nearby, so I won¡¯t apany you. Be careful.¡±

    Xia Ling did not know about his true intentions. She slightly turned her head and gave him a farewell kiss.

    Big Boss Li was ttered. He dumbly pressed his lips against hers and watched her get out of the car.

    It was spring already, and there was a smell of fresh flowers in the air outside.

    Xia Ling looked at Sister Mai Na who was approaching and opened up her arms to give her a big hug. ¡°Sister Mai Na.¡± Her voice was very soft, and there was a sweet scent on her body. She resembled a fluffy and cute little animal.

    When Sister Mai Na saw her, her heart melted and did not ask the interrogative questions she had nned. She could not bear to ask her about what happened and why she did not give her a heads up before returning.

    Sister Mai Na sighed in her heart. It looked like Big Boss really became stupider after being with Xiao Ling. However, Xiao Ling became smarter as she knew how to act cute now.

    She affectionately patted Xia Ling¡¯s head and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±

    She apanied Xia Ling into the location of the qualifier round.

    There were many people hard at work at the venue, and it was very lively. Sister Mai Na¡¯s sense of direction was excellent. She quickly identified Bai Murong¡¯s lounge and brought Xia Ling there immediately.

    ¡°It was originally agreed to be Yijie. Why was she suddenly reced with Ye Xingling? Who exactly is Bai Murong¡¯s partner?!¡± Before they entered the lounge, they heard people arguing at the door. His voice was vaguely familiar, and Xia Ling finally remembered it after a few seconds. It was Zhou Yijie¡¯s manager.

    That manager¡¯s voice was sharp. ¡°If Ye Xingling wants to suddenly join in, who else can she me but herself? Why does our Yijie have to make a concession and give in?!¡±

    Beside him, a group of people was trying to appease her.

    Sister Mai Na and Xia Ling were already around the corner when they heard the argument and could not help but frown. Sister Mai Na said to Xia Ling, ¡°You wait over here. I will take a look.¡±

    As soon as she turned around, she walked in front of the other party. ¡°Sister Lu, we¡¯re all in the samepany. Who doesn¡¯t have an emergency sometimes? This time, Xiao Ling needs your help for special reasons. I will remember this in my heart. In the future, if your Yijie ever needs anything, you can look for me.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± That person called Sister Lu snickered. ¡°With your Ye Xingling involved in so much scandalous news not long after her debut and is now back after reaching a dead end? Considering her character and qualifications, how is she worthy of our Yijie asking her for help? Let me tell you, Mai Na, your empty check must be very pretty.¡± Sister Lu was a veteran in thepany, and because of her pride, she dared to say anything and was not afraid of anyone.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°Sister Lu, that¡¯s not right...¡±

    Before she could say anything else, Xia Ling had already walked out of the corner.

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Someone whispered.

    Everyone¡¯s gaze was directed at her.

    When Xia Ling was in the corner just now, she heard the entire conversation clearly. At this time, she looked at Sister Lu coldly. ¡°Perhaps my character is not good, but now, I¡¯m in Skyart Entertainment and in the same boat as you. I¡¯m also giving you a few other jobs that are of the same standard as this one which will provide you with the same exposure in exchange for this spot. Perhaps I¡¯m not as popr, but half a year after I debuted, I already won the Best Neer Award. So far, every Single of mine has been on the top charts. My manager Sister Mai Na may not be some big manager, but after being under her, more than five singers became popr. I¡¯m more curious about what happened to Zhou Yijie¡¯s predecessors when they debuted and how the sales of their Singles are now. As for you, Sister Lu, have you ever managed a Heavenly King or Diva?¡±

    Her words were sharp.

    Sister Lu did not expect to be degraded by a female singer and was so angry that she was shaking. ¡°You!¡± She red fiercely at Xia Ling and wanted to p her.

    Xia Ling was not afraid of her. Although she did not like to engage in pointless arguments with others, in this industry, once someone wanted to bully her, she never gave in. Just now, she watched as Sister Mai Na, who was usually arrogant as a queen, swallow her pride for her. Thus, she couldn¡¯t help but barge in.

    Why should these random people bully her manager?

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± However, Sister Mai Na red at her. ¡°How could you say that?¡±

    Xia Ling ignored her and continued to look at Sister Lu, refusing to give in. Not only were there no Divas under Sister Lu, but there were also no capable singers. Those under her were only wasting their days until they turned old.

    Now that Xia Ling viciously taunted her, her face turned red in embarrassment.

    ¡°Alright, Ye Xingling. You¡¯re something.¡± Sister Lu was so angry that she shook uncontrobly. ¡°If you have the ability, then don¡¯t steal this position! Don¡¯t meddle in our affairs. Zhao Zhengcheng, say something!¡±

    She was referring to a man beside her in thest part of her sentence.

    Xia Ling knew that that man was Bai Murong¡¯s manager.

    ¡°Xiao Lu, Mai Na.¡± Zhao Zhengcheng was old and was managing an influential person like Bai Murong, so he was very calm. ¡°We¡¯re from the samepany. Why be so calctive? This is something the boss arranged, so I can¡¯t do anything about it. Xiao Lu, just take a step back for the next generation.¡±

    What he meant between the lines was that although he was advising Sister Lu, he was not very satisfied with thepany¡¯s arrangement.

    Although Zhou Yijie was not that talented and never won the Best Female Singer award, she was a very popr person recently and made a good match for Bai Murong in this male and female pairing round. In contrast, although Xia Ling who left half-way was in the news recently, it was for many messy scandals, and she had not released music in a long time.

 Chapter 505 - Settling Business for Boss

    <h4>Chapter 505: Settling Business for Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    If she were on the same stage as Bai Murong, she would more or less affect his status. No wonder Zhao Zhengcheng was unhappy.

    Xia Ling had been in the entertainment industry for many years and had encountered this many times. It was just a small qualifier round, was it really worth fighting for? If it weren¡¯t because she wanted to trample on Xia Yu, she would not have insisted on having the role at all.

    Thinking of this, she said coldly, ¡°Since everyone thinks that this is difficult, then¡ª¡± She wanted to tell them to forget it and look for the music festival organizer directly for a backdoor to enter. Although it would be a questionable act, as long as she crushed her opponent and advanced to the end, she would be back in the game.

    ¡°There are so many people gathered here. What happened?¡± Suddenly, a pleasant female voice was heard and cut off her words. Everyone turned around to see Su Tang wearing an elegant silk and satin dress. She was holding a bag with camellia prints and was standing at the doorway with a delicate but indifferent face.

    ¡°Special assistant Su!¡± Everyone moved to make way for her to walk over. A quick-witted person quickly handed her a ss of water.

    Su Tang was different from Xia Ling. She had been Li Lei¡¯s special assistant for a long time and had a stable position.

    As for Xia Ling? Although it was spread that she recently returned to Boss¡¯ side, she was someone who was ditched by Boss before and even married someone else. No one believed that she wouldst very long with him.

    Thus, they were friendlier towards Su Tang.

    Xia Ling also saw Su Tang many times before. Every time she saw her, it was at Li Lei¡¯s ce. She only thought that she was an elegant and intelligent woman but did not know that she had such a disy of splendor. The strange thing was that they recently fought over Li Lei. Why did Su Tang seem like a busybody today?

    ¡°Special assistant Su, what brings you here today? Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier? I would have sent someone to greet you.¡± Even Zhao Zhengcheng had a sincere smile on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m helping the Boss with something. On the way, I remembered that today¡¯s the day of the qualifier round of the music festival, so I came over to take a look. What¡¯s wrong? Am I not wee?¡± There was a distant smile in Su Tang¡¯s amber eyes.

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re wee.¡± The people present said. No one dared to offend the boss¡¯ special assistant.

    Su Tang scanned the area and saw Xia Ling in the crowd. ¡°Ye Xingling, I heard that during this qualifier round, Bai Murong¡¯s partner has been reced by you. Why are you still standing here? Aren¡¯t you going to prepare?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. She remembered the argument just now and was still unhappy. ¡°Since Sister Lu and Uncle Zhao are so unwilling¡ª¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re willing!¡± Zhao Zhengcheng cut off her words and smiled. ¡°Xiao Ling, seriously, what are you saying? I was just advising Xiao Lu. You just returned to Skyart, and your return is a trending topic now. It¡¯s very suitable if she partners Murong, right, Xiao Lu?¡±

    Sister Lu was upset but did not react. ncing at Su Tang, she said forcefully, ¡°Yijie has something urgent at night. If there¡¯s nothing more, we will be leaving now.¡± She was in no ce to fight.

    These people changed their sides faster than flipping through books.

    Xia Ling smiled lightly. ¡°Since Sister Lu is busy, she better get going.¡±

    Sister Lu red viciously at Xia Ling before she turned around and left.

    Sister Mai Na also said goodbye to Su Tang and pulled Xia Ling into the dressing room.

    ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± There were only two of them in the dressing room. Sister Mai Na closed the door and reverted to her true nature of reprimanding others. ¡°What were you going to say just now? Are you nning on throwing away your opportunity?! Just now when we were facing Sister Lu and Zhou Yijie, why were you so stubborn and insulted them once you opened your mouth?!¡±

    ¡°I... just couldn¡¯t stand it...¡± Xia Ling weakly said.

    ¡°Are you a pig?!¡± She could not help but scold Xia Ling. After a while, she finally said, ¡°Luckily, Su Tang came over to save you. Otherwise, the agreed changes today would have been ruined because of you!¡±

    ¡°Su Tang came over to save me?¡± Xia Ling was in disbelief.

    ¡°Otherwise, do you think she¡¯s so free?!¡± Sister Mai Na was iron-hearted. ¡°Su Tang only has one job in the office, and that¡¯s to listen to Li Lei¡¯s orders! If Li Lei did not instruct her toe over, why would shee here for no reason?! When have you seen her visiting any artiste on the way before?! Moreover, she doesn¡¯t even know Bai Murong well. They are just excuses. Excuses!¡±

    Xia Ling finally realized that Li Lei helped her again.

    ¡°But, but...¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°I just had a fight with Su Tang and even encouraged Li Lei to transfer her.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was slightly startled before reaching out to jab her forehead. ¡°You always dare to request anything you want! Su Tang was assigned to Boss by Old Master Li. How can you ask Boss to transfer her? If Boss agrees to your request, he would be disobeying his old master!¡±

    ¡°But he promised me.¡± Xia Ling said weakly.

    Sister Mai Na was speechless.

    She really had enough of this little girl. She had an extraordinary power of getting what she wanted, and the boss was so obsessed with her that he was willing to agree to all of her requests. After calming down, she finally said, ¡°Well, have you thought of old master? If you continue like this, do you think he will ever like you?¡± Old Master Li already did not like Xiao Ling. Even now, he still thought she was a vixen.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood was dampened. ¡°Besides, he was never fond of me anyway.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was speechless again. This little girl was delicate and pretty but was not very outstanding among the beauties of the entertainment industry. Why were the people she interacted with soplicated?

    After some thought, she sort of understood why Su Tang came over. ¡°Old Master really loves Boss. If Boss wants to transfer Su Tang away, even if old master bes angry, he won¡¯t really do anything to his grandson. Thus, Su Tang cannot depend on Old Master Li and can only rely on Boss changing his mind. Furthermore, Boss probably sent Su Tang over to help you so that your impression of her might improve.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°It¡¯s soplicated?¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, why do you think she helped you?¡± Sister Mai Na wanted to sigh. How did this girl survive with such ack of intelligence?

    Sister Mai Na changed the topic and scolded Xia Ling. ¡°In addition, do you even have the self-awareness of an artiste? How could you interrupt when managers are arguing? Can¡¯t you just tolerate for a while and pay attention to your status?! Look at Zhou Yijie and Bai Murong. Did you see them anywhere from the beginning to the end?! They know how to cherish their image and avoid such confrontations. Only you add to the conflict and even argue with others!¡±

    ¡°I... I was only trying to help you.¡± Under Sister Mai Na¡¯s murderous stare, Xia Ling¡¯s voice faltered.

    Sister Mai Na sighed in frustration. ¡°How did you leave ande back without learning anything? You¡¯re so stupid!¡± She fiercely red at her again. ¡°In the future, when I¡¯m dealing with other people, you aren¡¯t allowed to interrupt. Understand?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded meekly.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s anger finally dissipated. She asked Xia Ling to pour tea for her and drank it in one gulp. After that, her shrewdness and arrogance were restored. She got up from her seat, put on her high heels and went out to look for a stylist for her.

    Xia Ling was alone in the dressing room. Soon, she heard a knocking sound.

    She turned around and saw Bai Murong¡¯s slender figure leaning against the door. There was an enchanting smile on his face. ¡°Hi, we meet again.¡±

 Chapter 506 - Fatal Attraction

    <h4>Chapter 506: Fatal Attraction</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Among all the beautiful and famous artistes, Bai Murong was especially good-looking.

    Xia Ling looked at his sharp face. After not seeing him for a long time, he still had phoenix eyes, thin lips, and a faint smile. Any random standing position looked like he was posing for a famous photographer. He looked impable.

    No wonder he was the prince in the dreams of thousands of fans.

    That attractive prince walked towards Xia Ling. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to smile after seeing me? Xiao Ling, you¡¯re still the same. You¡¯re still cold and have not changed at all.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I sell art, not smiles.¡±

    However, Bai Murongughed out loudly. ¡°Are you still angry? It¡¯s normal that Uncle Zhao and Sister Lu are a little unhappy because of the impromptu change. Moreover, this person will be singing with me on the same stage. Now, time is tight, and the difficulty of the song is high. You don¡¯t know how many are anxious and how many others are waiting to see our joke.¡±

    ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The sheet music.¡±

    Startled, Bai Murong turned around before handing Xia Ling a music score. ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself. Although the song can¡¯t be changed, you can always reduce your part. Anyway, many lines are sung by your partner. If you can¡¯t sing them, you can just sing less.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at the score. It was his recently famous title track ¡°Powerful Opponent.¡± It was really difficult. However, that was to an ordinary person. To Xia Ling who had sung difficult songs skillfully for ten years in her past life and had a perfect voice again in this life, this music score was...

    Not very difficult. The vocal range was not as high as her past life and not asplicated as the songs she sang in her past life. She could handle the song with ease.

    She quietly looked at the music score a few times before returning it to Bai Murong.

    Bai Murong was somewhat startled. ¡°Are you finished?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m finished.¡±

    He was in disbelief. ¡°Sing a few lines.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him and sang the song from the beginning to the end. Her tone was melodious, and her voice was like heaven.

    Bai Murong stared at her like he was looking at an alien. After a moment, he whistled and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve underestimated you. No wonder thepany insisted that you be my partner. Zhou Yijie lost fair and square this time.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered Zhou Yijie¡¯s manager¡¯s angry expression. Zhou Yijie must not be very happy as well.

    Looking at Xia Ling¡¯s expression, Bai Murong guessed what she was thinking about andughedzily. ¡°Feeling guilty? Don¡¯t worry. Thepany never treats anyone poorly during these sorts of impromptu recements. She will definitely bepensated with a better job.¡±

    That was the bare minimum. In reality, Li Lei and she both agreed that they wouldpensate her with not just a job. Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m not feeling guilty.¡±

    Bai Murong snickered and did not say anything else.

    He rehearsed with Xia Ling several times until the time was up. Then, he took the lead and appeared on stage first.

    They were supposed to be a pair, but because he was a superstar helping a small celebrity, there were already unwritten rules in ce by the organizers. The superstar was supposed to sing a song on stage first. After that, the pair would appear. Then, the superstar would sing alone again. If they won two out of three rounds, they would win. Many small stars just walked on stage for a few moments for an easy win.

    Xia Ling stayed backstage for styling and heard the enormous cheers from the crowd.

    Sister Mai Na and Zhao Zhengcheng came to see her. Zhao Zhengcheng said, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be nervous. Just sing as usual. Don¡¯t be stressed because you¡¯re Murong¡¯s partner.¡±

    Xia Ling, who was being styled, faintly said, ¡°I¡¯m not stressed.¡± She understood what he meant. He was afraid that her singing would affect Bai Murong¡¯s reputation. For her, he had no expectations and only wanted to avoid any problems in the future.

    Unfortunately, he thought wrong. The one who was stressed may not be her. Instead, it might be Bai Murong.

    When Xia Ling went on stage, the lights changed, and she was dazzling.

    Bai Murong wore a white long-sleeve shirt with a nted satin sash. The ss earring on his left ear sparkled. Following the music, he reached his hand out to her. There was a natural smile on his face like a prince from a mythical legend. He was devilishly seductive. This made the crowd scream louder than before.

    Xia Ling slipped and leaned on his arm as she walked in front of the stage. She slightly raised her head and let the light shine on her face.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! It¡¯s Ye Xingling!¡± Below the stage, voices rang sporadically.

    She had not appeared on stage for a long time. Even though she was all over the news during this time, it was all due to scandals and nothing to do with her music career. After being pregnant for a year, her poprity really decreased.

    Bai Murong¡¯s charming voice was heard. ¡°From the very start, we were doomed. There are no winners or losers in this game. You yed the game of love but changed as frequently as the weather. We¡¯d separate and meet again, hoping for an eternity...¡±

    As he sang, the screaming became crazy. Numerous people shouted Bai Murong¡¯s name. In a sh, they immediately covered the sporadic shouts of ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± She could not help but admit that Bai Murong was a very influential singer. On the stage, he was amazingly powerful, seductive and persuasive. He was like a whirlpool that sucked everything in.

    If another singer were standing on the same stage as him, they could only be in his shadow. However, today, he was standing beside Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling did not care about who was the main act. When she was on stage, there was only one goal which was to sing to the best of her ability. Since this song was called ¡°Powerful Opponent,¡± she had to sing it with great emotion. Furthermore, her stage presence was better than his.

    She lifted the microphone. Her voice was light like she was walking through a thick fog. ¡°From the very beginning, this game had no end. You used love as a weapon and gentleness as an act. What was real, or what was fake? A painstaking effort...¡±

    It was a different style from his, another type of fatal attraction.

    The audience was quiet for a moment. ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± The screams erupted again.

    Bai Murong tilted her head and looked at her. He smiled deeply, and he increased his singing volume. ¡°When you¡¯ve met your match in a game. You¡¯re destined to be entangled in a mess...¡±

    Xia Ling also looked at him. The lights rotated around them, and the screams were getting louder and louder. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just thinking of being with you. Maybe I want to face it all with you. To the point of no return...¡±

    His voice became higher. ¡°To the point of no return. Caught in aplicated trap...¡±

    Her voice echoed into the distance. ¡°Without regret, no matter what our fate is...¡±

    His smile became more dangerously seductive, and his voice became more fascinating. There was something thrilling and breathtaking about the way he sang. No wonder he was the best male singer in the past two years and was famous for being the dream lover of his fans. The strength that broke out during his performance was something that most singers would never be able to achieve in their lifetimes.

    When they sang together on the same stage, it was a coboration as much as it was apetition. Often, at this time, singers would have an intuitive feeling about the singing of their partners that was stronger than what the audience felt.

    As Xia Ling sang, her mind drifted away. Bai Murong was extremely hypnotic, and there seemed to be some sort of sexual tension between them. They felt as if they could create a world of their own.

    In the past, why did she not realize that Bai Murong had such a profound appearance?

 Chapter 507 - Exceeding the Limit

    <h4>Chapter 507: Exceeding the Limit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly as she was deep in thought.

    She wanted to see what his limit was. Xia Ling¡¯s voice changed as she intercepted his solo part to transform it into a duet. ¡°Look at them being locked in a soundless battle, not daring to look back because they¡¯re afraid of disorder...¡±

    The lyrics were the same, but she improvised the melody based on the original one. It seemed harmonious, but every word put pressure on her partner and had the intention to kill. If Bai Murong couldn¡¯t match up to her and sang in ordance with the original melody, he would bepletely overwhelmed by Xia Ling in a matter of words.

    Suddenly, he turned to look at her. There was a fleeting sense of surprise and anger in his eyes.

    Xia Ling looked directly at him and arched her lips into a smile. The song slowed down by half a beat. This was a challenge. If he didn¡¯t ept it, she would naturally not let him be a mess on stage and gradually hold back.

    Bai Murong was slightly startled, but he quickly smiled. He also changed it up a little. ¡°Look at that pair of happy and sweet lovers. Only I am standing alone on the street, unable to really understand your true intentions...¡±

    Below the stage, the screams almost overturned the roof.

    Xia Ling smiled lightly. Very good. Since he was up for the challenge, she would not be kind.

    The song continued.

    Bai Murong refused to admit defeat and showed off some of his vocal abilities. Although it was more difficult, he did not have the slightest intention of giving up. The song modted. It was sweet then forceful, then sophisticated, and finally sonorous. The unpredictable changes deeply moved the audience.

    The more they sang, the more Xia Ling felt that he was an exceptional singer. He was very talented and skillful. He had a profound singing style and was not limited to one type. Although he was still a smash pop hit, if he continued in the right direction, he could be a 20-year-ssic.

    Xia Ling was very curious from the start, and it motivated her to help him.

    She increased the rhythm and forced him tighter in a corner. However, whenever he could not withstand it, she would give him breathing space. She even deliberately left a gap open to guide him in the right direction.

    Sure enough, he didn¡¯t disappoint her. He was put in a difficult position at the start but became more stable towards the end slowly like a war between opponents. At thest section, Xia Ling forced him into a corner so tight that he could not retreat. Suddenly, he exceeded his limits and sang the ending verses so magically that it was like a dreame true.

    It was ultimate perfection.

    At the end of the song, he gracefully thanked the audience. The apuse of the audience was thunderous.

    Bai Murong stood straight and turned over to nce at Xia Ling with a dark expression.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly escaped.

    Anxiously, she said to Sister Mai Na, ¡°Quick, pack up. Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Sister Mai Na was puzzled. ¡°What¡¯s the rush? You can hardly maintain yourposure. You¡¯re a celebrity, understand? Have you ever seen a celebrity act like you...¡±

    ¡°Hurry up, or it¡¯ll be toote!¡± Xia Ling urged her. How could she not be anxious? Just now, Bai Murong looked at her like a hunter staring at his prey on stage.

    If she did not quickly leave, she would not be able to escape.

    Unfortunately, she was toote.

    Before Xia Ling could step out of the dressing room, Bai Murong had already got off stage.

    ¡°Ye. Xing. Ling.¡± He paused after every syble as he said her name. There was a hint of an unclear smile on his face as he blocked the entrance of the dressing room.

    Xia Ling had a headache.

    As Bai Murong was a big name in the industry, he cleared the scene with a few words, and everyone was asked to leave the dressing room. Even Sister Mai Na looked at both of them with interest and ignored Xia Ling¡¯s pleading eyes as she left.

    Soon, only both of them remained in the dressing room.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Just say it.¡± Xia Ling said in resignation.

    He narrowed his eyes. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell that after a year of not hearing, you see. Not only have your abilities improved, but you¡¯ve also be more arrogant. You even dare to provoke me, huh? You¡¯re seriously audacious!¡±

    ¡°When I was singing, I went out of tune by ident...¡± She shed a fake smile as she exined. ¡°Big Brother Bai, why don¡¯t you let me off this time...¡±

    ¡°You went out of tune by ident?¡± Bai Murong was so angry that heughed. ¡°Why do you sound better than the original after going out of tune, but I have never had any luck doing the same?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Forget it. Don¡¯t make excuses.¡± He waved his hand impatiently as he sat on the sofa and crossed his legs. He said casually, ¡°Ye Xingling, your stage presence reminds me of someone.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°Too many people have said that I¡¯m like her such that I¡¯m numb to it. Please say something fresh, big brother.¡± The situation was already so bad that making it worse made no difference. Besides, even Pei Ziheng recognized her. It did not matter if she faked it. In front of others, she was not very nervous.

    Bai Murong said, ¡°I didn¡¯t think so before, but after pondering closely, I realize that you are really like her. Xia Ling also likes to improvise on change and change the verses. This is not something ordinary people can do.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my idol, and I¡¯m imitating her.¡± This reason was overused by her. Besides, it was embarrassing to be her own idol.

    ¡°Ha.¡± Bai Murong chuckled. ¡°I almost forgot that you sang ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ so vividly.¡±

    That was such a long time ago. No wonder Bai Murong had a hard time remembering it.

    Xia Ling nodded and tried to take it lightly.

    Bai Murong changed the topic. ¡°Although I wasn¡¯t very happy at the start when you changed your verse, in reality, it was done really well. In the past few months, I fell into a stalemate that I couldn¡¯t break through. Today, after being challenged by you, I¡¯ve gained new inspiration.¡±

    ¡°What a coincidence.¡± Xia Lingughed dryly.

    He looked at her inquiringly. ¡°Is it really a coincidence?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯m just a small star who hasn¡¯t sung in more than a year. Do you think that I have the ability to inspire you to unlock your potential?¡±

    He looked at her carefully again for some time before smiling. ¡°That¡¯s true. I was thinking too much. However, no matter what, I want to thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief and picked up her cup to drink some water.

    His next sentence made her hand shake, and she almost dropped her cup. ¡°Ye Xingling, when you were singing with me on stage just now, you didn¡¯t use your full potential.¡± He said affirmatively.

    How was this person so sharp?!

    He was still not finished!

    Xia Ling resisted the urge to impulsively roll her eyes and somewhat regretted helping him break through his stalemate. She secretly told herself to calm down and not be anxious. She looked at him and said, ¡°That¡¯s true, I didn¡¯t use my full potential. If I wanted to, I wouldn¡¯t be singing ¡®Powerful Opponent.¡¯¡±

    ¡°What will you sing then?¡± He was curious.

    ¡°Like Dugu Qiubai, I¡¯m a lonely master who can sing special songs.¡±

    This time, it was his turn to roll his eyes. He mercifully ended their conversation and let her out.

 Chapter 508 - Meeting Wei Shaoyin

    <h4>Chapter 508: Meeting Wei Shaoyin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The song ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± that she sang with Bai Murong immediately became a hit.

    Both their voices were powerful, and together, they achieved a perfect bnce of mysteriousness and charm. Some evenmented that both of them were, in fact, each other¡¯s ¡°Powerful Opponent,¡± and that they didn¡¯t expect such exceptional work even before the start of the music festival.

    Skyart, recording studio building.

    Sister Mai Na apanied Xia Ling down the corridor as the warm,forting sunlight poured in through the ss windows. Xia Ling was in a light-colored outfit, t shoes, and had only applied a thinyer of foundation. The nude makeup and the simple apparel brought out the natural beauty in her, appearing at ease.

    But right now, she was far from feeling at ease.

    She whimpered as she walked.

    Sister Mai Na helped her at her elbow. ¡°I really take my hats off you and Boss. What a couple, really! The both of you know full well that the wound on your stomach hasn¡¯t fully recovered, and you still decided to go for a preliminary round of somepetition. Serves you right! Now, how is your wound ever going to recover properly!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s tears pooled in her eyes as she quietly spoke for herself, ¡°I forgot...¡±

    The wound had been inflicted over at Pei Ziheng¡¯s ce, but after she had returned to Li Lei, she had managed to nurse it rather well. The wound had closed nicely and only left a small scab. Xia Ling was the active sort and often forgot about her aches and pains once she started her dance practices or performances.

    Until yesterday when she showered, she discovered that it had opened again.

    It was still hurting.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you let Boss know? You shouldn¡¯t be running around like that.¡± Sister Mai Na told her off.

    ¡°I dare not...¡± Xia Ling spoke softly, ¡°He¡¯ll be mad at me.¡±

    Sister Mai Na rolled her eyes. This couple had barely gotten back together for a few days, and they were bickering already? She knew what Xia Ling meant¡ªshe hitched a ride in Li Lei¡¯s car to the recording studio that day, and if she went home all of a sudden, Li Lei was definitely going to ask about it. By then, it would be difficult to keep the truth from him.

    This silly girl probably wasn¡¯t just afraid of being told off.

    She was also afraid his heart would ache for her.

    Sister Mai Na sighed and resisted the urge to just send her straight home. ¡°Just bear with it for a bit more, we¡¯re reaching Ah Wei¡¯s recording studio. Once you¡¯re in, you can sit, or stand, or lie down, or even court death by jumping about. You can do whatever you want, I won¡¯t say any more.¡±

    Xia Ling looked downward as Sister Mai Na said that. If she actually had long bunny ears, they would be drooping at this point.

    People on the corridors were shooting nces at them and specting: ¡°Ye Xingling must really have abandoned Pei Ziheng and returned for Boss because Imperial Entertainment is facing its downfall. Though Boss epted her back, it seems like he doesn¡¯t like her that much. Otherwise, why would Sister Mai Na be telling her off like a little child?¡±

    If only Li Lei knew what they were thinking, he would think ¡ª Who doesn¡¯t seem like a little child when Sister Mai Na is the one doing the scolding?

    With much effort, Xia Ling finally found her way to the lift lobby. She was just about to press the button when she noticed Su Tang walking towards her.

    Su Tang was as elegant as usual, her skin delicate as jade, and her makeup highlighting her already beautiful features. She looked splendidly attractive. As she stood before Xia Ling, the air of arrogance she exuded dissipated as she courteously said, ¡°Miss Ye, could I have a word with you?¡±

    ¡°Personal Assistant Su wants to speak with me?¡± All Xia Ling wanted was to get to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s office and lie down to relieve her pain.

    Bu Su Tang happened to be in the way.

    ¡°I need a few minutes of your time.¡±

    <i>Ding </i>¡ª the lift had arrived.

    ¡°If there¡¯s anything, let¡¯s talk in the lift.¡± Sister Mai Na helped Xia Ling in. ¡°Excuse us, Xiao Ling is in a hurry.¡± She knew that Xiao Ling was in pain and wouldn¡¯t allow Su Tang to be a hindrance here.

    Although they were both colleagues in Skyart, Su Tang and Sister Mai Na were not close and often did not see things eye to eye. Sensing Sister Mai Na¡¯s attitude towards her today, Su Tang could barely mask her unhappiness. However, she had a favor to ask of them and had no choice but to bear with it.

    ¡°Shoot, what is it?¡± Xia Ling was not all that nice to her either. With the pain bugging her, being polite was the least of her worries.

    Su Tang felt a prick in her heart¡ªthis woman had been married to someone else, and even had a kid before, but why was she fortunate enough to be cherished so dearly by Young Master? Earlier that day, Young Master had even asked her to be transferred to another post, and the reason he gave was that she had been disrespectful to Xia Ling!

    Holding that thought, Su Tang said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve told Young Master, but I¡¯ve been his assistant for so long, I¡¯m basically his right-hand woman when ites to business matters. Now, he wants to transfer me away for fear that you¡¯ll be unhappy. Do you know how much trouble that would bring him?¡±

    Xia Ling took a while to understand what Su Tang was referring to.

    She blinked her eyes in shock. ¡°It was just a casual remark I made the other day.¡± She could swear that she had nothing against Su Tang. She was simply not in a good mood that day and was just pouring her grievances. She did not expect Li Lei to take it so seriously.

    Su Tang would take it even harder if she knew the truth.

    Sister Mai Na understood what was going on as well. She couldn¡¯t believe it. This silly girl had barely been back for a few days and had already managed to get Personal Assistant Su to ask for forgiveness. This was a skill in itself.

    Su Tang tried harder. ¡°Could you help me speak to Young Master again, and get him to think twice before transferring me away? If I¡¯m not around, he¡¯ll face a lot of inconveniences. I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t want to see him tire himself out, right?¡±

    She felt like she was being as polite as she possibly could.

    Xia Ling did not like her tone though, it was as if Li Lei could not do without her.

    Her wound began hurting again just as the lift came to a stop at their floor. ¡°You can settle it with Li Lei on your own.¡± She pushed the responsibility back to Su Tang. ¡°Just don¡¯te and bother me.¡±

    She limped out of the lift step by step.

    Sister Mai Na helped her along carefully and didn¡¯t even bother to give Su Tang a second look.

    Su Tang stood in the lift and clenched her teeth as she watched them walk away. <i>Ye Xingling... you better remember this. I¡¯ll make sure you feel this humiliation you¡¯ve brought upon me someday!</i>

    <i>Also...</i>

    <i>The way Ye Xingling was walking seems a little weird. What is going on?</i>

 Chapter 509 - Youâ€™ve Lost Weight

    <h4>Chapter 509: You¡¯ve Lost Weight</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had been making ¡°ow¡± sounds all the way into Wei Shaoyin¡¯s recording studio.

    Wei Shaoyin was recording music, and Xia Ling knew better than to disturb him. She found her way to the bed andid down, soon falling fast asleep.

    In her sleep, she suddenly felt an odd, painful sensation on her face.

    She reached for that spot and felt a hand.

    She immediately woke up in shock and saw Wei Shaoyin looking at her with a cold look. He was in a full white outfit, and everything about him¡ªdown to the veryst button on his top¡ªwas prim and proper. He was pinching her cheek with such force that Xia Ling could feel a bruise forming.

    She mumbled, almost in tears, ¡°Let go of me.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin actually released his fingers. ¡°Do you take this ce for a hotel? You didn¡¯t evene and say hi to me before taking a nap.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Was this not a hotel? Her wound had opened, and she was not nning to engage in an activity like singing to exert herself. She was just finding a ce to past her time so that Li Lei wouldn¡¯t get suspicious.

    Wei Shaoyin asked, ¡°Why the silence? Cat got your tongue?¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at him meekly. Worried that he would fly into a rage, she quietly said, ¡°I... I saw that you were recording music... so...¡±

    ¡°I was just making some edits to your previous song! Don¡¯t you know you should greet me first when youe!¡± Wei Shaoyin was used to being revered by the rest, and would not take this lying down.

    Xia Ling was in a fix. He used to tell everyone not to bother him when he was at work!

    She dared not tell him that to his face. So, she simply admitted her mistake. ¡°It¡¯s my fault, my fault.¡±

    What she did not know was that Wei Shaoyin had not actually changed his ¡°rules.¡± Even now, nobody was allowed to disturb him at all as long as he was working in the recording studio. This time was an exception because he simply missed Xia Ling too much, having not seen her for a long time.

    Wei Shaoyin sized her up with squinted eyes. This girl was just awoken by him and still had a sleepy, dazy look on her face¡ªshe was a pig! Only a pig could sleep so soundly in the afternoon!

    Ah Wei looked at how small her stature was and got even more agitated. ¡°Does Li Lei not feed you well? Why are you still so skinny?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at her own body. She was already trying her best to put on some weight, and Li Lei was also putting in tons of effort to prepare food for her every day. In fact, she had already gained a little weight recently. Her body simply had not fully recovered from the chronic stress she faced when at Pei Ziheng¡¯s ce.

    But she would not tell Wei Shaoyin this, for fear that he would worry.

    She looked at him and smiled goofily. ¡°Skinny? I think I¡¯m a little fat actually. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t look good on screen.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t look good?!¡± Wei Shaoyin almost hit her head with the songsheet. ¡°You¡¯d better eat your meals well! You¡¯re a singer! Your looks aren¡¯t that important, okay?! If you hurt your body and can¡¯t sing well, you¡¯ll regret then!¡±

    Xia Ling quietly nodded her head.

    Wei Shaoyin then said, ¡°Remember thest time you called me and said you were at the reception downstairs and wanted to look for me? I got somebody to hand you the entry pass, but you didn¡¯te.¡±

    He was referring to the day she returned to Skyart and got stopped by Su Tang at the front door.

    The other day, Xia Ling had had a conflict with Su Tang. After Li Lei came to take her away, shepletely forgot about Wei Shaoyin. If she told Wei Shaoyin that she had forgotten, she definitely would not hear the end of it.

    She thought for a while before saying, ¡°I was too busy that day and had to rush off to the hospital after that.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin let her off on that ount. When he asked what the trip to the hospital was for, Xia Ling simply exined the wound on her abdomen. ¡°I identally hurt the wound yesterday when I was practicing with Bai Murong. But don¡¯t tell Li Lei that, I¡¯m here to nurse the wound secretly.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin turned serious all of a sudden. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s not a big issue, I should be fine in a couple of days. I¡¯ll be able to make it for the opening of the Heavenly Voice Music Festival.¡± The performance was a week away, she had more than enough time.

    Wei Shaoyin was relieved to hear that and told her, ¡°I¡¯ll be helping you with the preparation for the music festival. You haven¡¯t shown yourself in such an arena in a year, you¡¯ve got to make aeback and regain your poprity. Once the music festival is over, I¡¯ll n for your personal concert.¡±

    In the three years since she came back to life, she had never once held a personal concert.

    She almost forgot what it felt like to have one.

    Now that Wei Shaoyin mentioned it, her eyes sparkled. ¡°Yes. Oh right, my goal this time is to thumb Xia Yu down.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not even on the same level, to begin with.¡± Wei Shaoyin smirked. ¡°What¡¯s the point of thumbing her down? You¡¯re just stooping to her level.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We have something against each other.¡± Remembering her poor child, her expression faded.

    Wei Shaoyin was no longerughing as he tapped his fingers on the table absentmindedly. ¡°You can thumb her down if you want. She¡¯ll be taking part in the head-to-headpetition this year, you can beat her directly. In fact, you¡¯re in a more passive state this year due to your absence, while she has been gathering support. So, in the public¡¯s eye, both of you are of roughly equal standard.¡± With that, he could not help but tell her off. ¡°You¡¯re so silly! You worked so hard in the first two years to garner so much support, and in the third year, you squandered it. You could¡¯ve used the news of marrying into a rich family to your advantage, but now you¡¯re making the headlines with your divorce! Your good name has be a bad one!¡±

    Xia Ling found it a pity too.

    This was not something she could control. She was fortunate enough to be able to leave Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, did it really matter whether that damaged her reputation or not?

    ¡°Let Xia Yu be your stepping stone.¡± Wei Shaoyin made a point. ¡°This time, you must beat her convincingly and let everyone see the difference in your abilities. It¡¯d be best if you could beat a Diva or a Heavenly King. This way, the public¡¯s impression of you would skyrocket, and nobody would bother about how messy your private life once was. A beautiful, skillful voice and a rtionship that has be the talk of the town¡ªthese are practically necessary conditions for being a Diva. By the time you hold your concert, there¡¯d be tons of people dying to attend it.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. How did her ¡°bad image¡± turn into something to her advantage?

    ¡°We¡¯ll see how we can package this.¡± Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°This is so simple, really. Oh, Bai Murong¡¯s crew has passed the message. He says he hopes to sing a duet with you for the song ¡®Powerful Opponent.¡¯ Sister Mai Na came to discuss this with me, and I¡¯ve agreed on your behalf.¡±

 Chapter 510 - Shoulder to Shoulder

    <h4>Chapter 510: Shoulder to Shoulder</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nodded her head indifferently.

    She didn¡¯t really sing duets, mainly because very few had voices that were able to match hers. In fact, not even Bai Murong¡¯s voice did, even though he was very popr. However, she held deep admiration for this man, and really wanted to help him make a breakthrough. Thus, she agreed. If others knew of her true intentions, they would think she was crazy. After all, Bai Murong had a lot more poprity and a higher status than her.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Was the agreement from Bai Murong¡¯s side to have you as theposer?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that she wanted to ask the question, but it was just weird that Bai Murong would agree to this. Back then, during the Neb Music Festival, Bai Murong once called Wei Shaoyin picky, harsh, and perverted backstage. He cursed and swore to never work with him in his lifetime. Truth to be told, this was the attitude that many singers held towards theposer. Why would his attitude change so much?

    Wei Shaoyin proudly lifted his chin. ¡°Of course, they agreed.¡±

    Initially, Bai Murong¡¯s team sought out Sister Mai Na, who was her broker. All that was needed was Sister Mai Na¡¯s approval. Bai Murong¡¯s team had it all thought out. Once Sister Mai Na agreed, they would bring Xia Ling to record the song together with a songposer with whom they were alreadyfortable working with.

    Unfortunately, Wei Shaoyin learned of the n.

    He said that this song, ¡°Powerful Opponent¡±, was too vulgar and needed to undergo drastic amendments; otherwise, it could not be sung, for it would degrade Xiao Ling¡¯s style. He was not her broker, and whether he agreed or not wasn¡¯t supposed to pose a big problem, but he used the next song as ckmail. Eventually, Sister Mai Na yielded under his pressure.

    Causing Sister Mai Na to give in, and also using all sorts of methods, resulting in Bai Murong¡¯s team giving in too.

    When Bai Murong learned of this, he was near tears. To think that after all those years of making his way up, carefully avoiding having to deal with the perverted Wei, he still ended up falling into his hands.

    Xia Ling was unaware of howplicated it all was and merely nodded her head before pushing it all to the back of her mind. She began to focus on activities for the Heavenly Voice Music Festival.

    All her luggage was at Pei Ziheng¡¯s house, so she had no clothes and had to get new ones.

    Li Lei apanied her to the mall, where the entire mall was sealed off. She ecstatically picked and chose her clothes, also choosing pieces of precious and chic jewelry to go with them. Li Lei stood by her side, constantly encouraging her to buy more.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°My credit card is about to explode.¡±

    These few years, she had hardly any ie and depended on her past finances. Her sweeping through the stores had not only depleted all her cash but also racked up a huge credit card debt. Thank goodness she was a celebrity, and previously married into the Pei family to be a richdy, so the bank¡¯s annual quota for her was sufficient.

    Li Lei produced his own credit card, smiling. ¡°Use this.¡±

    With a cheeky face like a dog¡¯s, and just missing a tail wagging at the back.

    Xia Ling settled into a good mood and reached out to caress the top of his head. ¡°Good, when I be your wife, I don¡¯t need you to give me the card because I myself will take it. Your good days are dwindling, so keep it for now to hide some money for yourself.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°It¡¯s settled, you¡¯re going to marry me.¡±

    ¡°Hello, not till you settle your old man.¡± After a tearful year by Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, she treasured Li Lei¡¯s feelings for her a lot more, and would not think any further as long as he proposed.

    Thinking of his grandfather, Li Lei¡¯s expression became somber. The prejudice was too strong, and who knew when Xiao Ling could have a family she could know as her own? He looked down and softly said, ¡°I have made you suffer.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled and gentlyughed. ¡°Regardless of whether there is a certificate or not, we will still be together.¡± Just look at her and Pei Ziheng. So what if there was a certificate? Two people should not be together when they shouldn¡¯t be, and when they should, nothing could stop that. Wanting to move away from this topic, Xia Ling lifted her head, and an ice-cream store across the road entered her line of sight.

    ¡°I want to eat ice-cream!¡±

    Her eyes sparkled as she grabbed Li Lei¡¯s sleeve, jumping in excitement. ¡°Hurry, hurry, bring me there!¡±

    Li Lei followed her line of sight and spotted the ice-cream store. ¡°You¡¯re seeking death,¡± heughed. ¡°With so many people there, they¡¯ll swarm around once someone recognizes you!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I want to eat ice-cream.¡± Xia Ling pouted.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart melted and stared at her before staring at the store. ¡°I¡¯ll send someone to buy it for you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I want to eat in the store.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes began to well up.

    Li Lei became dizzy and said in a pampering voice, ¡°Then I¡¯ll send someone to clear the ce of people.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I want to eat within the crowd.¡± It had been a long time since she was in a crowd by herself. She recalled the times they used to have dates at the yground, with him holding her hand, carefully protecting her and ensuring she did not get shoved by people. That feeling was amazing and was the most precious memory for her in this lifetime.

    Li Lei¡¯s survival instincts told him that this time, he could not afford topromise. Xiao Ling was no longer the slightly popr star she was back then. This time, she was relentlessly and constantly appearing in the news. Portrayed in either a positive or negative light did not matter in the fact that she was now very well-known, and her face was too recognizable.

    He painstakingly tried to coax her. ¡°I¡¯ll buy it for you.¡±

    ¡°I want to go inside the store!¡± She became stubborn. ¡°I don¡¯t care, you protect me. Bing part of the crowd to buy ice-cream, it¡¯s so exciting.¡±

    Li Lei did not know how to respond.

    He began to reflect on whether he had been treating her too nicely.

    Xia Ling was already pulling his arm in the direction of the store, chanting, ¡°Ice-cream, ice-cream, ice-cream.¡±

    At the side, store attendants in ck and white uniforms tried to hide theirughter. This kind of high-end gship store had many celebrities as customers, but rarely such a loving couple. Looks like it wasn¡¯t like what the news had been saying, that Ye Xingling went to find Li Lei in the middle of the night and was taken in by him in pity. Judging by how loving they looked, it was obviously Li Lei pampering her to the fullest.

    Dragging and pulling, Xia Ling eventually brought Li Lei to the doorway of the ice-cream store.

    Out of all the bodyguards following them, some brought the loots of the shopping trip back, while the rest silently slipped into the crowd, ensuring the two of them were in a safe space.

    Xia Ling had at least remembered to put on sunsses and a cap, so rushing into the store had not caused too much of amotion.

    But well, that was not it.

    She had put on sunsses, but not Li Lei!

    Li Lei¡¯s good looks were definitely way high up the scale and mesmerized many girls at the store.

    ¡°Look, just look. He is gorgeous!¡± Girls yanked on theirpanions to look at him. Several people whipped out their phones, secretly snapping photographs of him and staring at the scene of this handsome man gently holding a petite girl as they made their pick of ice-cream vors at the counter.

    Such a sight to behold.

    ¡°Could they be filming a drama scene now?¡± The girls in the store wondered.

    They looked left and right. ¡°But we don¡¯t see any cameras rolling.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be. If not filming for a drama, how could such a good-looking person exist in real-life?¡±

    ¡°His girlfriend is very good-looking too, why does she have sunsses on?¡±

    ¡°That figure looks a little familiar...¡±

 Chapter 511 - Ice-cream

    <h4>Chapter 511: Ice-cream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was clueless about the conversations going on in the crowd around them and stared at the ice-cream blissfully. ¡°I want the strawberry vored one! The vani vored one over there looks good too! The matchatte looks so pretty! And the one over there is chocte toffee, right?...¡± Her eyes lit up. She wanted everything she saw!

    She could not be med though, it had been a year since she ate ice-cream.

    Ever since she was pregnant, Pei Ziheng kept her under a strict diet, one devoid of such junk food.

    Today, it was as if a bird was released from its cage. It liked whatever it saw.

    Li Lei stared at her, holding intentions to pamper her to the fullest, and told the store attendant, ¡°Please give us a serving of every vor.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing.¡± The blissful vibes between the couple were rubbing off on the store attendant, and he happily presented them a membership card. ¡°You can get a discount if you umte 10 points.¡±

    ¡°1, 2, 3, 4...¡± Xia Ling leaned into Li Lei¡¯s arms and counted, her white fingertips dancing within his palm. ¡°We have 9 now, what else should we get?¡± Her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get the hazelnut one, don¡¯t you like hazelnuts the most?¡± Li Lei gently replied. He had already swiped his card to make payment and smoothly received the stic bag in which the store attendant ced the 9 ice-creams. He tore open one of the wrappers and raised it to her lips. ¡°Say ¡®ah.¡¯¡±

    She took a bite, found the taste really good, and took the ice-cream herself.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get the hazelnut one, then,¡± She wore a huge grin on her face and told the store attendant, ¡°Could we get one more hazel...¡±

    As her voice rang out, suddenly, a girl from behind screeched, ¡°Ye Xingling! That¡¯s Ye Xingling!¡±

    She was eventually recognized. During this period, she received too much media attention. Though she did not look exceptionally outstanding, her figure was slim and dainty, and it made it easy to recognize her.

    Xia Ling froze, her hands shaking, and almost dropped the ice-cream.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re Ye Xingling, right!¡± The girls became excited. ¡°Can you remove your sunsses so that we can see you? Oh gosh, it¡¯s a celebrity...¡±

    ¡°Quickly, run!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s face paled with fear as she pulled on Li Lei¡¯s arm and ran out.

    Li Lei was rather athletic and guarded her as they rushed out. Behind them, many girls followed closely. ¡°It¡¯s definitely Ye Xingling! I just searched on Baidu. That handsome guy next to her is Li Lei! Li Lei and Ye Xingling, hurry and give chase!¡±

    In this world, the one thing crazier than being a lunatic was to chase celebrities. While running, Xia Ling kept turning back to look, her ice-cream still in her mouth. ¡°Oh no, my hazelnut vored ice-cream...¡± They were missing one ice-cream!

    Li Leiughed good-naturedly. ¡°You¡¯re still thinking of your hazelnut ice-cream at a time like this! Just run!¡±

    As he said that, he pulled her to avoid the pedestrians and other obstacles in their path, weaving in and out of the crowd. It was only when they ran into a nearby park that they managed to shake off the small crowd of fans chasing after them.

    Panting, Xia Ling sat on the edge of a flower bed. ¡°That was tiring.¡±

    She stared at her ice-cream and sobbed. ¡°My ice-cream is almost melted.¡±

    ¡°You really do only care about eating.¡± Li Lei swiped the ice-cream away from the tip of her nose, then took out the napkins that the store attendant had given to them for her to wipe her nose clean. ¡°You¡¯re willing to give up your life for the sake of eating an ice-cream.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled foolishly.

    It wasn¡¯t that she would give up her life, but that she really enjoyed the time they shared together. It was as if they were just an ordinary couple heading into a store to get desserts, walking on the streets hand-in-hand. No matter how much junk food she ate, he wouldn¡¯t me her for it.

    This was the man she loved for her entire lifetime.

    Her man.

    His ten fingers, as he raised his head. The sunlight fell on his face at just the right angle, the breeze blowing along just fine.

    She recalled their separation that happened a long time back, and a tune came to her mind. [Go see the person you want to see while you still loved him, while he still loves you.]

    Whatever they went through, all the obstacles that stood in their way, they still ended up together in the end.

    Li Lei secretly leaned his head in and took a bite where she bit into the ice-cream. The sweetness and coolness of the ice-cream entered his mouth, and simultaneously, his heart.

    He smiled in contentment. He lifted his head to look towards the sun. How wonderful it would be to spend a lifetime together like this.

    In the direction they were looking at, a hot-air balloon rose slowly. The words ¡°Heavenly Voice Music Festival¡± were printed on it neatly and smartly.

    ¡°The music festival is about to start.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the day after tomorrow.¡± Xia Ling swung her little feet while eating her ice-cream. ¡°Can you go with me?¡± She made her appearance at all kinds of events and always wanted thepany of a loved one. In the previous lifetime, it was Pei Ziheng, but he was always busy having meetings and often rejected her requests. This lifetime, it was Li Lei, and he would sweetly tell her...

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    They were already apart for too long a time, to the point that however much time they spent together was not enough. They couldn¡¯t wait to see each other all the time, though it may be a long time ago, it felt eternal.

    The day of the festival arrived.

    Li Lei really drove her to the venue.

    The first day was the opening ceremony, where Bai Murong and several high-status singers gave performances to kick-start the festival. The never-ending excitement presented on stage brought about waves and waves of increasingly loud screams from the audience.

    Xia Ling put on her sunsses covering almost half her face and wore a pair of clean, white jeans together with a ck hoodie. She held Li Lei¡¯s hand as they stood in the crowd watching the performance. This time, Li Lei had learned his lesson and chose to follow Xia Ling by wearing a simple pair of jeans and a ck hoodie, using its hood to cover his handsome features.

    Both of them stood together and looked like a perfectly normal couple.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t we seen Xia Yu?¡± This was Li Lei¡¯s first time attending a music festival and didn¡¯t know much about them.

    Xia Ling grunted. ¡°She isn¡¯t high up enough on the ranks.¡± Only those who were good enough could start off the festival, and Xia Yu was still slightlycking.

    ¡°How about you? You aren¡¯t up there too.¡± Li Lei was seeking death.

    Xia Ling red daggers at him and let go of his hand unhappily.

    Li Lei cheekily grabbed her hand again.

    ¡°I will be there during the closing ceremony.¡± Xia Ling gazed at the tall stage, whispering softly.

    The opening ceremony had only the most highly acknowledged artistes appearing on stage every year. The closing ceremony had more value, for only those who performed extremely well or were well-liked by the audience had the honor of standing on stage.

    It was purely due to one¡¯s strengths.

    Xia Ling was extremely confident of her own abilities.

    ¡°We shall see.¡± Li Lei also held a lot of confidence in his girlfriend¡¯s abilities.

    As the crowd dispersed, he held onto her hand, using his build to make a path through the crowds, and brought her to explore around the area. The entire festival grounds had about 10 differently sized stages, with each stage being of a different music style. In the center stood a magnificent ring, with two dance floors facing each other and still rather empty.

    A sign at the side stated the rules of the ring and the name list of all the contestants.

    Xia Ling had many thoughts in her head.

    She already knew long beforehand that she would participate, but when she saw the list, she couldn¡¯t help but shake her head and sigh. ¡°She can¡¯t even sing live¡ªher energy isn¡¯t enough, and her body can¡¯t keep up¡ªwhat more ofpeting in such a high-intensity event at the ring? How can she even consider it.¡±

    ¡°That does make it easy for you to beat her at it, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Li Leiughed.

 Chapter 512 - Withered Lotus in the Rain

    <h4>Chapter 512: Withered Lotus in the Rain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, Xia Ling did not smile.

    She still felt that this situation was rather strange. The next day, she pulled Li Lei along to spectate during the head-to-headpetition.

    The first singer of thepetition was randomly chosen by the system¡ªa singer called Vivian was selected. She recently debuted and was currently popr. In reality, singers who signed up for this event did not differ much in skill level. Those who were not capable were afraid of losing horribly and being humiliated. Those who were too skillful were afraid of being used of not winning fair and square. If they lost, it would be even more humiliating. So, they would not participate. Most of those who participated were either neers eager to be famous or those unsessful after being in the industry for a long time and wanted to increase their poprity.

    Vivian was not bad and sang quite well for a neer.

    Guarded by Li Lei, Xia Ling stood in the crowd and overheard what a few fans were saying besides her. ¡°The next few singers are so miserable. The benchmark is too high. Vivian just received the Best Neer Award in a Singapore singing contest.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Someone else said. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that she can only be kicked out if there¡¯s tag team fighting.¡±

    ¡°The first challenger is definitely someone else¡¯s stepping stone.¡±

    ¡°I wonder who will be so stupid to be the first challenger.¡±

    ¡°Who will be so stupid? I¡¯m sure no one will volunteer. There will be another round of random selection for a challenger.¡± The fans who had watched many music festivals nodded in unison.

    Xia Ling also felt this way.

    The host, wearing a ck semi-sheerce dress, asked, ¡°Does anyone want to challenge her? If not, the system will start to automatically select... Ah, wait. We¡¯re very surprised to have a challenger! Who is the one who dares to challenge our best neer?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were fixed on the host.

    It turned out to be...

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± The fans screamed. ¡°She¡¯s crazy! Doesn¡¯t she know that Vivian is on a roll today?¡±

    ¡°How can our Xia Yu be crazy?¡± Some crazily loyal fans rebuked. ¡°She¡¯s awesome. No one else but her dared to challenge Vivian! Only she is not afraid!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Who cares if she¡¯s the best neer in Singapore. She will be mauled by our Xiao Yu!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Exactly!¡±

    The fans cheered for Xia Yu, and even the surrounding crowd that was looking at the stage for entertainment cheered loudly in excitement to find out what would happen next.

    In themotion, Xia Yu smiled lightly as she went on stage. She said softly, ¡°Vivian, please ept my challenge.¡± Her voice was sweet and leisurely like a noble princess.

    ¡°Xia Yu, Xia Yu, Xia Yu!¡±

    ¡°Vivian, Vivian, Vivian!¡± Two groups were screaming at the top of their lungs.

    Even Li Lei was a little uncertain and tapped Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Who do you think will win?¡± He was naturally tone deaf and was lucky to be the boss of an entertainmentpany. At this time, he didn¡¯t feel embarrassed at all and asked for Xia Ling¡¯s advice with an open mind.

    Xia Ling rarely had a sense of superiority when it came to her IQ. ¡°Logically speaking, Vivian has a higher chance of winning.¡± Her eyes were focused on the big screen behind the stage. On it, Vivian¡¯s life story was being yed. She was a folk singer who enjoyed singing since she was a child. In school, she would frequently use time in between sses to y ¡°concerts,¡± and many students woulde out of their sses to hear her sing. She debuted after bing popr and standing out on stage.

    ¡°A singer like her,¡± Xia Lingmented. ¡°probably may not have better singing skills than trainees who received training during training camp. She may even be inferior. However, her stage presence is not bad, which means that she has a very good stage dominance. As long she sings on stage, she will perform better than usual.¡±

    Li Lei listened very attentively and nodded.

    Xia Ling continued, ¡°However, Xia Yu is theplete opposite. Xia Yu¡¯s singing was trained by experts, and her songs even need post-production edits. She¡¯s also naturally weak and doesn¡¯t have much stage experience. If she¡¯s on stage, she won¡¯t perform as well as usual.¡±

    ¡°There seems to be a vast difference in their skill level, so I think Vivian has a higher chance of winning.¡±

    ¡°That means that Vivian will win.¡± Li Lei smiled. How could his Xiao Ling¡¯s judgment be wrong?

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s what I think is strange. Logically speaking, Xia Yu should know very well what her strengths and weaknesses are. Why would she choose to be the first challenger against Vivian? If she had no confidence in winning, she definitely would not go head to head with her.¡± She should know that it was very embarrassing to lose the first round.

    Li Lei was also confused. ¡°That makes sense. What is she relying on then?¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes again. At this time, she felt a little regretful. Why did she bring her boyfriend to this music festival? She should have brought Wei Shaoyin or Feng Kun. A discussion with either of them would have been more interesting as they were more knowledgeable about music.

    She nced at Boss sadly and felt that she was casting pearls before swine.

    Ignorant Boss hugged her as he looked at the stage and quietly waited for the situation to develop.

    Vivian sang one of her famous songs. Once the song ended, the audience erupted in apuse. As Xia Lingmented before, although her singing skills were somewhatcking, she had a very good stage presence, and her emotional appeal was powerful. Unconsciously, everyone was fascinated and immersed in the song.

    Xia Ling believed that it was challenging for Xia Yu to do the same.

    The host was also blown away by Vivian¡¯s singing and asked Xia Yu, ¡°Xia Yu, after hearing such a good song, are you feeling stressed?¡±

    ¡°Stress?¡± Xiao Yuughed delicately. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m stressed. Miss Vivian sang extremely well, but I believe that my singing is not any worse. I don¡¯t think I will lose.¡±

    Below the stage, the crowd went wild again as they anticipated Xia Yu¡¯s wonderful performance.

    The music slowly flowed out like water.

    It was a very emotional song, and also one of Xia Yu¡¯s popr songs: Withered Lotus in the Rain.

    ¡°The cruel early summer of that year. A silent sorrow...¡±

    ¡°The fireflies of that year reflected a pretty picture of you...¡±

    ¡°You asked me if it were the end of the world if you released your sword... Is it true that a withered lotus in the rain looks like art at the end of the world...¡±

    She was very good with this kind of depressing song style which matched her pitiful and extremely fragile appearance. Her mourning singing was like painting a beautiful picture of the Jiangnan river in front of everyone and caused people to be deeply immersed in it.

    Xia Ling felt that she had to refresh her evaluation of her. It was apparent now that Xia Yu was notcking in stage presence when she stood on stage. Although she didn¡¯t make others feel intense emotions, the way she sang was very effective as her song infiltrated the audience¡¯s hearts.

    A schr who had been away for three days must be looked at with new eyes.

 Chapter 513 - This is Not Logical

    <h4>Chapter 513: This is Not Logical</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu¡¯s song ended.

    During the curtain call, the audience erupted in apuse.

    No wonder she had the guts to challenge Vivian. It turned out that her live singing was very good now.

    On the stage, the soft and weak Xia Yu looked like a painting in white. It was as if she were the Jiangnan beauty in her song which was endlessly charming and elegant.

    The results of the live fan voting soon came out. Xia Yu won.

    Although Vivian lost, she was a formidablepetitor. She only smiled at Xia Yu. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to lose in the first round. Those from Imperial Entertainment are really impressive.¡±

    Xia Yu also said very politely, ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡±

    The host asked Vivian what she was feeling, and she responded rather regretfully, ¡°Xia Yu is so amazing, I wonder how good her sister is. Sadly, I was bornte and did not live in the same era as the Diva Xia Ling. Otherwise, I would really want to experience being on the same stage as her.¡±

    Xia Yu almost could not maintain her gracefulness.

    However, the host went along with it. ¡°That¡¯s true. A person like Xia Ling only appears once in a hundred years. However, you don¡¯t need to have regrets. You and Xia Yu are already very good.¡±

    Vivian had a very easygoing personality. She thanked the host forforting her and waved at everyone before leaving.

    However, Xia Yu¡¯s heart was resentful. The host thought of her and Vivian as equals but thought her sister was of a higher and unattainable position. This made her feel... indignant.

    Below the stage.

    Xia Ling felt tired standing and rested all of her weight on Li Lei¡¯s body. Li Lei had no regrets and eagerly hugged her waist as he acted as her pillow.

    Xia Ling¡¯s white hands pulled on his sleeves to get afortable position. ¡°Let¡¯s see how her second performance is. Just now, when the host mentioned her sister, she didn¡¯t look so good¡ªit may have affected her mood.¡± Today¡¯spetition involved tag-team fighting. Since Xia Yu got on stage so early, the smallest w could amplify her weaknesses due to exhaustion.

    Li Lei still appeared brainless. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡±

    Xia Ling started to miss Ah Wei and Feng Kun again.

    The next challenger was a veteran male singer called Shi Nan.

    He had always been an evergreen singer. Although he never exploded in poprity, he nevercked behind. Right now, he smiled at Xia Yu. ¡°Little sister, don¡¯t cry if you lose.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know who will be the one crying yet.¡±

    This time, the challenger sang first. Xia Yu used the time he sang to rpose herself. When it was her turn, she sang another sweet song called ¡°Farewell Reedpipe.¡±

    The crowd below the stage were once again captivated by her singing.

    When the song ended, Xia Yu won again.

    ¡°She sounds amazing...¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is really awesome...¡±

    In the crowd, many fans were very emotional as they said, ¡°No wonder she¡¯s the Diva Xia Ling¡¯s sister. In the past, her voice was not bad, but who would¡¯ve thought that her live performances were so outstanding.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. She¡¯s also beautiful. Not only does she sing well, based on her appearance alone, she will be able to get votes from many people.¡±

    This was indeed something that Xia Yu benefited from. Her looks could be said to be the best among singers. Generally speaking, people who sang well rarely were attractive. However, the Xia sisters were fortunate as both of them were outstanding in both areas. Now that Xia Ling had passed away, even though her sister Xia Yu was not as attractive as her sister, in the world of good-looking celebrities in the entertainment industry, she stood out.

    ¡°Some people probably voted for Xia Yu because of her appearance.¡± Xia Ling mumbled to the clueless Li Lei. ¡°However, something¡¯s not quite right... She sang her live performances too perfectly¡ªthere are no ws at all. Even when I...¡± She wanted to talk about herself in the past, but Li Lei was there, so she changed what she wanted to say. ¡°Even when I was singing with Bai Murong on stage, I couldn¡¯t sing so perfectly.¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t hear the w in her words and just epted everything she said. He continued to be clueless and adhered to the attitude of being agreeable to whatever his future wife said. He continued to nod fervently.

    Xia Ling was in tears and did not want to talk to him anymore.

    The third round.

    This time, Xia Ling was toozy to predict the oue. She directly took out her phone to record the song.

    Xia Yu still won.

    Xia Ling sent the recorded song to Wei Shaoyin with the message: [What do you think?]

    [Xia Yu?] A few minutester, Wei Shaoyin replied: [That¡¯s not logical.]

    Xia Ling finallyughed. Wei Shaoyin really knew her, and she felt more rxed and happy talking to him than Boss. She assumed a morefortable position in Boss¡¯ arms. As she secretly criticized him, she continued to type on her phone. She even sent Feng Kun a video with a message.

    [Did you give Xia Yu special training?]

    Of course, it was impossible that Feng Kun gave Xia Yu special training.

    He replied very quickly: [Heavenly Voice Music Festival? I¡¯m there too. This isn¡¯t like Xia Yu¡¯s standard.]

    Only musicians understood other musicians.

    After hearing that he was here, Xia Ling was pleasantly surprised. She supported herself by pulling on Boss¡¯ sleeve as she jumped to look for him in the crowd. As she was short, she could not see anyone after jumping for a long time.

    Big Boss Li asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Feng Kun is also here.¡± Xia Ling was still looking around. ¡°Let¡¯s go meet him.¡±

    After hearing that it was someone from Imperial, Li Lei was initially unhappy. However, since Feng Kun helped him deliver food to Xiao Ling when she was pregnant, he didn¡¯t treat him as an enemy anymore.

    ¡°How are you going to find him like this? Stupid.¡± Li Lei reproached. ¡°Ask him where he is. We can find a ce to meet him at.¡±

    Xia Ling agreed and told Feng Kun to meet them next to a sculpture outside the ring of people.

    Li Lei escorted her out of the crowd.

    Feng Kun was wearing a casual gray outfit, and his hands were leisurely in his pockets looking very rxed as he waited for them. Although he was a top producer in the industry, he was not a celebrity. He was not shockingly handsome like Li Lei or Wei Shaoyin and could go out frequently without covering up.

    He quietly watched as the hooded couple run towards him and felt sympathetic towards them.

    ¡°Feng Kun! Feng Kun!¡± When she got near, Xia Ling let go of Boss¡¯ hand and went up to give Feng Kun a big hug. Now that she had left Imperial to return to Skyart, she was bright and lively. Her true nature was restored in front of her old friend.

    Feng Kun affectionately gave her a hug like an older brother.

    However, when he lifted his head and looked across his shoulder, he saw Big Boss Li¡¯s icy gaze ready to kill someone.

 Chapter 514 - Viciously Expose Her

    <h4>Chapter 514: Viciously Expose Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun felt that he was innocent.

    He handled the delicate situation well and let go of Xia Ling. Boss gave him a sullen look as he put his arm around Xia Ling and took her away from his arms.

    ¡°Pay attention to your actions!¡± He red at her.

    Xia Ling felt a little wronged. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen each other in a long time.¡±

    ¡°Are you like this to all people you haven¡¯t seen in a long time?!¡± Was this girl aware of the differences between men and women?

    ¡°He¡¯s not the same. He is...¡± Xia Ling wanted to continue, but Boss Li¡¯s killer re caused her voice to falter. In the end, she admitted her mistake with some grievances. ¡°I won¡¯t hug him anymore...¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to hug anyone but me!¡± Big Boss¡¯ face was still sullen.

    ¡°Ok...¡± Xia Ling decided that discretion was the better part of valor. She would not hug him anymore then. ¡°In this case, you aren¡¯t allowed to hug other girls.¡±

    ¡°When have I hugged other girls?!¡± Boss Big rebuked.

    Xia Ling smiled. This time, she went back into Big Boss¡¯ arms. ¡°I know that you¡¯re the best.¡±

    Feng Kun couldn¡¯t bear to look at them. Haven¡¯t they heard that a passionate love affair ends quickly? Could the two of them not make him feel so ufortable?

    Big Boss acted as a protector and hugged his girlfriend. He looked at Feng Kun with unfriendly nces.

    Feng Kun sighed and said, ¡°She¡¯s so silly. I won¡¯t steal her from you.¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Feng Kun, did youe alone? Have you been well recently?¡±

    <i>I was pretty good until your boyfriend red at me. </i>Feng Kun secretly ranted in his heart. On the surface, he warmly said, ¡°Not bad. Imperial¡¯s luck changed and went back to normal. I¡¯m also about to prepare for the production of new singles. Oh yes, Li Lei.¡± He turned around. ¡°Thank you for showing mercy.¡±

    It was no secret in the business world that Li Lei retreated just as he was about to defeat Imperial Entertainment.

    Everyone knew that he spared Imperial and that was honestly more humiliating than Imperial almost going bankrupt. However, Pei Ziheng had no choice but to endure this humiliation. He was the frontman of his entire family and could not let a vigorous battle end everything he had. The only thing he could do was to bow his head and bear the burden of embarrassment as he revived Imperial Entertainment step by step.

    Fortunately, although it was hurt, it recovered quickly.

    The impact on Feng Kun was basically negligible.

    After hearing what he said, Li Lei did not feel proud. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t take the credit for it. It¡¯s thanks to someone else¡¯s help.¡±

    Feng Kun was curious, but it was not convenient for him to ask, so he let the topic pass. However, he understood something in his heart. No wonder Skyart could crush such a powerful entity like Imperial Entertainment. Sure enough, they had help from others.

    What was unexpected was that Li Lei didn¡¯t im credit.

    A man like him who was able to put his pride aside and was self-aware probably had a good mentality.

    Feng Kun was relieved that Xiao Ling was with him. Xiao Ling was innocent and arrogant. If she weren¡¯t with someone gentle and powerful, she would encounter the same tragedy from her past life.

    Now, it looked like Li Lei was a good match for her.

    Feng Kun looked at Li Lei more affably. ¡°Treat Xiao Ling well.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I will.¡± Li Lei said and hugged the person in his arms tighter.

    Not far away, a burst of cheers came from the crowd below the stage mixed with the emcee¡¯s surprised voice. ¡°A four-win streak! Xia Yu currently has a four-win streak! Are there any more challenges? Who else?!¡±

    Many passers-by were attracted and stopped to look at the stage.

    Xia Ling finally remembered the reason why she looked for Feng Kun. She asked him, ¡°How did Xia Yu be so impressive? Her voice can¡¯t withstand such a high intensity of singing. Can she continue to win?¡±

    Feng Kun obviously had already figured it out. He took out a portable headset and handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Listen.¡±

    Xia Ling took it.

    In the earpiece, she heard a sweet melody. It was ¡°Withered Lotus in the Rain¡± that Xia Yu sang.

    [The cruel early summer of that year. A silent sorrow...

    The fireflies of that year reflected a pretty picture of you...]

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the song she sang today? Why are you letting me hear this?¡± Just as she said that, she suddenly understood everything. Her expression changed as she asked Feng Kun, ¡°This isn¡¯t live?¡±

    ¡°This is the official recorded version.¡± Feng Kun said.

    Xia Ling hastily yed the third song she recorded of Xia Yu singing today andpared it with the official recorded version. After she listened closely, she was visibly upset.

    ¡°They¡¯re exactly the same...¡± She said. ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s recorded version is the same as the live version!¡±

    ¡°Singing every song the same way.¡± Feng Kun asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, if it were you, would you able to do it?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°How¡¯s that possible? Not only is the difference between the stage and the recording studio big, even if it were recorded in the studio, the previous and subsequent recordings would be different because of emotions and other vocal technicalities! More or less, there would be subtle differences. People are not machines. How could they do the exact same thing twice? Not to mention the same song!¡±

    ¡°It seems you understand.¡±

    Yes, Xia Ling understood. No wonder Xia Yu sang so perfectly during her live performance. It turned out that she was not even singing live! Xia Yu was directly ying her recorded version on stage! She was tantly lip-syncing!

    This way, the problems with her posture, voice, and physical strength could be perfectly exined.

    No wonder Xia Yu dared to go on stage first. That was because she didn¡¯t even need to put in any effort! She only had to move her lips!

    ¡°I want to expose her!¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°How are you going to expose her? Tell her directly that she¡¯s lip-syncing?¡± Her beloved Li Lei¡¯s IQ drastically fell. Just now, when Xia Ling and Feng Kun discussed music, he couldn¡¯t interrupt and wanted to express himself very badly. ¡°I can look for someone to help you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too simple and crude!¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Be good and don¡¯t mess things up.¡±

    She also said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s necessary to viciously expose her.¡± The reason why she joined the music festival was to relentlessly go against Xia Yu. Furthermore, such a good opportunity fell into herp. ¡°However, if we are to expose her, it needs to be believable. We can¡¯t give her any chance to cover it up.¡±

    Feng Kun firmly agreed.

    At the side, Li Lei looked at him deeply. ¡°This will really hurt Imperial¡¯s reputation. Pei Ziheng just regained some stability after having a hard time. Feng Kun, you¡¯re also part of Imperial Entertainment. How can you just help Xiao Ling like that?¡±

    ¡°As a producer, I must have professional ethics.¡± Feng Kun said faintly. ¡°Regardless of how good or bad someone¡¯s singing is, they¡¯re normal. But lip-syncing...¡± He paused and looked Li Lei in the eye. ¡°has crossed my bottom line. Every musician has the responsibility to maintain the right ethics in the music industry.¡±

 Chapter 515 - 18 Rounds of Victory

    <h4>Chapter 515: 18 Rounds of Victory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei looked at him and broke into a grin. ¡°No wonder Xiao Ling¡¯s close to you.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head vehemently by the side and proudly said, ¡°Of course, my friends are the best.¡±

    Feng Kun was silent. He wanted so badly to remind her of how she had taken Chu Chen to be her bosom friend back in those days but decided against it. ¡°How do you intend to expose Xia Yu?¡±

    Xia Ling looked towards the stage¡ªthe fifth round of the head-to-headpetition hadmenced.

    Xia Yu¡¯s voice was tender, and as usual, wless. With her beautiful makeover, she won the hearts of many fans in the audience. The fans were no longer objective at this point and just hoped for Xia Yu to be on a winning streak. Hence, if they felt that Xia Yu and her opponent were not too different in their standards, they would very much rather vote for Xia Yu and support her instead. As long as Xia Yu maintained her current standard, it would be difficult to beat her.

    And would Xia Yu maintain her standard? That¡¯s for sure.

    She had produced so many songs and albums, how could she make any mistake at this juncture?

    Xia Ling squinted her eyes slightly and slowly said, ¡°Let her sing. I¡¯ll be thest one up on stage.¡± She wanted Xia Yu to rise in all the support and poprity she was gaining. This way, the higher she rose, the greater she would fall.

    She would deliver Xia Yu¡¯s fatal blow.

    Li Lei smiled and nodded. ¡°My Xiao Ling is the best.¡± He didn¡¯t know much about music, but he knew how to defeat an enemy. Xia Ling didn¡¯t have to exin much for him to understand her strategy.

    Feng Kun got it too. ¡°How ruthless.¡± He didn¡¯t know what had been going on in that period, why did Xia Ling suddenly have so much hatred for Xia Yu? In the past, however much conflict they were in, Xia Ling was never the one to take active action against her.

    But since Li Lei was around now, he didn¡¯t ask.

    The three of them went to a nearby cafeteria for a rest as they watched the performances on stage. Xia Yu was getting better each round, and her supporters were expanding.

    Every singer that went up against her left the stage defeated.

    Only Xia Yu was standing strong, albeit with beads of perspiration on her forehead. She took a short break in between and returned even better than before.

    ¡°Xia Yu, Xia Yu, Xia Yu!¡±

    The fans were cheering for her. It had almost be Xia Yu¡¯s personal concert.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be hitting tomorrow¡¯s headlines.¡± Feng Kun looked at the mountain of reporters with their cameras and shooting equipment.

    ¡°And the one on the headlines will be me.¡± Xia Ling finished herst ss of juice and went off to take a walk with Li Lei at the backstage. Just before she left, she had smiled at Feng Kun and said, ¡°Sit back and enjoy watching my performance!¡±

    Feng Kun smiled as well.

    Maybe only a girl this simple and innocent could be this good at music. Usually, she appeared childlike, even silly, but when it involved music, she seemed to transform into another person altogether. It was as if she were made for this field. Even when she had to battle against ten-oddpetitors in a row thest time, she seemed to have achieved it with no stress.

    Xia Ling changed up in the backstage ¡ª off went her simple ck hoodie and on went her eye-catching, morous costume. The costume was tight-fit and emphasized her perfect figure. Despite having a child just less than six months back, her body had recovered its shape and form splendidly, leaving no trace of it.

    In the backstage, a few singers greeted her. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯ve registered for this head-to-headpetition too? Why haven¡¯t you gone up there to battle Xia Yu?¡± They wanted to have her know that it was riskier to go upter. If they lost to Xia Yu in the first few rounds, it could simply be that Xia Yu was slightly better than them. But towards the end, as thepetition proceeded, Xia Yu would be more fatigued. By then, whoever lost to her would simply be seen as incapable.

    Hence, a lot of the contestants had hoped to go up against her first.

    Someone said, ¡°Ye Xingling, are you actually waiting for everybody to tire Xia Yu bit by bit before you go up against her to deliver the final blow?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± another said. ¡°Can¡¯t you see how Xia Yu is getting better each round? A few others had entertained this idea but gave up eventually.¡±

    Everybody felt for each other after being defeated by Xia Yu and wanted to offer her some words of advice.

    Xia Ling attached a hair essory to her head and smiled. ¡°Yup, someone has to gost anyway. I¡¯ll make a small sacrifice then.¡±

    All of them heard the joking tone in her voice and were virtually shaking their heads. This girl was pretty ambitious, thinking of beating Xia Yu in the final round. But she had not shown her face in the arena in a year, how could she possibly beat Xia Yu who was at her peak now?

    Well, she would learn her lesson once Xia Yu defeated her.

    Everyone stopped trying to convince her.

    The audience¡¯s cheers reached a crescendo as everyone became increasingly excited. Would Xia Yu manage tost from the first round to thest? That would be a miracle.

    ¡°Big news. This is definitely some big news. It¡¯s never before seen at the Heavenly Voice Music Festival.¡± The reporters were thrilled as well.

    The emcee echoed the exhration on the floor, ¡°Last round! There¡¯s one,st round! And will Xia Yu manage to im victory for all eighteen rounds, setting a record! Will she be able to defend her win in thisst round and emerge as the final champion?¡±

    ¡°Keep going, Xia Yu!¡± The audience cheered.

    ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s the best!¡± Some of them were going mad from the excitement.

    Xia Yu smiled sweetly and humbly in the sea of roars, making her appear even more appealing to the crowd.

    The emcee continued, ¡°Let us see who thest contestant is ¡ª Ye Xingling! It¡¯s Ye Xingling! It¡¯s been a year since we¡¯ve seen her perform, this must be her first time returning to the stage since then?!¡±

    There was a brief pause in the crowd before an even louder roar erupted.

    The tickets were well worth their price ¡ª not only did they get to see Xia Yu¡¯s 18 consecutive wins, they even managed to catch Ye Xingling¡¯s first appearance on stage in a year! After one year of being a Madam to a rich family, was her voice still as mesmerizing as before?

    The crowd was full of hopes and expectations.

    Xia Yu was a little shocked. What was Ye Xingling doing here?

    The name list that she had received was already set very early on, and Ye Xingling¡¯s name was not on it. It seemed like Ye Xingling had only registered at thest minute, and Xia Yu¡¯s name list had not been updated.

    She was flustered for a while but quicklyposed herself.

    She knew that her voice was no match for Ye Xingling¡¯s, but given that she was just lip-syncing to a recording, and her opponent had not performed a song in a year, she should stand a good chance.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face darkened grimly as her lips curled into a wry smile.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I wasn¡¯t expecting you.¡± Xia Yu said quietly as she saw Xia Ling approaching. ¡°There¡¯s been so many changes in your family recently ¡ª your divorce with Brother Ziheng and the passing of your son. Don¡¯t you need to rest and recuperate for a while more? How could you just push all that sadness aside so quickly and face the audience with a smile?¡±

 Chapter 516 - The Butterfly Canâ€™t Transcend The Seas

    <h4>Chapter 516: The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend The Seas</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was trying to rattle Xia Ling and destabilize her emotions.

    Although Xia Ling hade to terms with leaving Pei Ziheng, her heart still ached at the mention of her son. This vile woman was her son¡¯s murderer, and she could stand here as if nothing had happened.

    She swore that she would make Xia Yu lose everything she loved.

    The head-to-headpetition today was only the beginning!

    She spoke into the microphone, ¡°My child died an unnatural death, and the most I can do is to get the police to investigate. The investigation is underway, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to catch the murderer. I don¡¯t have to carry my sadness around for the world to see, because I know that my child in the Heavens wouldn¡¯t want his mother to lose herself over this. My return to the arena is in the hopes that my baby can see from above that his mother is amazing.¡±

    This speech had a lot of people immensely touched.

    Initially, many of them were not in favor of Xia Ling after hearing what Xia Yu had said, thinking that her child had only passed on two months ago and she must be heartless to be able to stand on stage for such a head-to-headpetition. But now, hearing that she was already doing her best and getting an investigation going over her child¡¯s death, many of them expressed understanding towards her¡ªsadness was only meaningful in action, there was no good in writing it on her face to gain sympathy from everyone else. Moreover, the people that the deceased had left behind should continue to live their lives in a fulfilling way.

    Many of them began admiring her for her strength.

    Apuses started ringing out in the audience.

    Some fans even screamed, ¡°Ye Xingling, all the way! We support you!¡±

    Xia Ling bowed slightly to express her gratitude towards them.

    She was simply that charismatic. Even in her sadness was a sort of strength that brought about an explicable beauty. The reporters were touched by her words as well and hurriedly snapped more shots of her. They even had a title in mind¡ª¡±Ye Xingling returns to the arena, paying tribute to her son with her voice¡ªthe greatest possible act by a singer.¡±

    Xia Yu felt uneasiness as she watched everyone cheer. Her intention was for everyone to see Xia Ling as a heartless person, but who would¡¯ve expected her to turn this around and gain sympathy instead.

    Some people in the audience were already wiping tears from their eyes.

    ¡°So, on this stage today, I¡¯ll be the one who emerges victorious.¡± Xia Ling looked at Xia Yu straight in the eye, almost as if her gaze could prate her skin. ¡°My baby is watching from above.¡±

    Below the stage.

    Li Lei had both his hands in his pockets as he stood in the crowd, looking up at the stage. Out of the blue, a man appeared next to him. He didn¡¯t know who that was, but Xia Ling would¡¯ve recognized him if she were there. He was the researcher who helped her analyze Xia Yu¡¯s voice and statement with a lie detector.

    ¡°This woman...¡± He said as he watched Xia Yu on stage. ¡°is too calm to be a first-time murderer. A first-time criminal is typically more self-conscious and guilt-ridden, but I don¡¯t see this on Xia Yu at all. Just look at the way she¡¯s smiling... she¡¯s enjoying this. She enjoys seeing Miss Ye suffer.¡±

    Li Lei turned somber.

    He didn¡¯t have much of an impression of Xia Yu initially. But now that she was rubbing salt onto Xiao Ling¡¯s wound, and even appeared happy doing that, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of disgust towards her.

    He would not let here to a good end.

    ¡°The police took her statement and didn¡¯t find anything amiss,¡± Li Lei said.

    In the police station, Xia Yu had admitted that she had bought the invitation card on her own and that it wasn¡¯t given by Pei Ziheng. She also admitted that she had slipped into the vi secretly and was not weed by Pei Ziheng. But ording to her, it was out of curiosity and the desire to be included in the event, it had nothing to do with harming the child.

    The police didn¡¯t any find further clues and failed to confirm that she was the murderer.

    The researcher besides Li Lei said, ¡°There are two possibilities. The first being that we¡¯ve used her wrongly. The second is that... she¡¯s a habitual criminal.¡±

    ¡°Habitual criminal?¡± Even someone like Li Lei who was so exposed to the oddities of the world was shocked.

    ¡°Yes, only a habitual criminal can be this calm andposed.¡± The researcher went on, ¡°I suggest you investigate on Xia Yu¡¯s criminal history or find out whether any suspicious and unresolved cases are relevant to her.¡±

    Li Lei slowly nodded his head.

    Onstage.

    The emcee smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°ording to our rules, we¡¯ll have our contestant sing first. Xingling, are you ready? What kind of song will you bring us today?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s a new song, ¡®The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend The Seas.¡¯¡±

    The emcee was surprised. ¡°Xingling, are you saying that you¡¯re bringing us your new song today?! Wow, we¡¯re truly honored! You haven¡¯t released any song in about a year, and today you¡¯ll be performing for us your new song! This is such a surprise, we¡¯re all in for some good music today!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡± The fans were screaming at the top of their lungs.

    At this point, most of them had taken their attention off whether or not Xia Yu would continue her winning streak. All that mattered to them now was Xia Yu¡¯s new song. They were curious about how it would sound like. Up till now, every song she had produced was a hit, and everyone had their expectations up for ¡°The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend The Seas.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell us a little bit about this song?¡± The emcee echoed the wishes of the audience and asked Xia Ling. ¡°Like how it came about, what the inspiration was, and so on.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was crystal clear. ¡°This song is a farewell to my past. And in this song are also words that I never made it in time to tell someone.¡±

    ¡°Tell who?¡± The emcee¡¯s eyes widened. Something told her that there was some juicy news behind it!

    Xia Ling did not answer her question. She simply said, ¡°Just listen to it.¡±

    The instrumental began, sounding hollow and distant¡ªa melody hinting at sadness.

    Li Lei stood at the periphery of the crowd and remembered how Xiao Ling told him earlier in the day that she wanted a ndslide victory.¡± She said that her current songs weren¡¯t suitable¡ªbe it ¡°ss Fingertips¡± or ¡°Meteor Wings,¡± they simply weren¡¯t sensational enough. They were melodious but were more suitable to be listened to in a quiet and leisurely environment, such as when one was sipping coffee. In short, they didn¡¯t have the power to get the floor moving with the beat.

    Feng Kun had agreed with her.

    He even made some almost-statements to Li Lei, the Big Boss of Skyart Entertainment. He said, ¡°Ah Wei is too artsy with hispositions, they¡¯re not suited for the masses. That¡¯s why he hasn¡¯t managed to beat me.¡±

    Li Lei ground his teeth but couldn¡¯te up with a rebuttal to that.

    Xia Ling had said, ¡°This time, I¡¯ll perform my new song.¡±

    She sent Feng Kun a file of her new song. ¡°Please help me with the music mixing. The time is a little tight now, so it doesn¡¯t have to be perfect. It just has to have enough of a groove to it so it¡¯ll appeal to the audience.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled. They had been partners for 10 years, and he knew full well what she wanted with just the look of an eye and some instructions. He looked at the file, plugged in his earphones, and got to work.

 Chapter 517 - I Wish You Well

    <h4>Chapter 517: I Wish You Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Hence, the song ¡°The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend The Seas¡± came about.

    ¡°I could forget half of my lifetime, but not the soul in your eyes...¡±

    ¡°I could face all worldly encounters, but not escape this boundless abyss...¡±

    It was a beautifully enchanting song with a tinge of sadness to it. Xia Ling looked up slightly, her voice low, as every lyric brought about some hurt.

    She knew that a man would be watching her on screen. Even if it weren¡¯t screened live that day, he would be able to search for the video in no time and scrutinize her on screen. She knew Pei Ziheng well enough. If he missed her as much as he did before, he wouldn¡¯t pass any opportunity to catch her on camera. If he had forgotten her, however, then it did not matter whether he got to listen to this song anymore.

    She sang, ¡°The longing of the past, has been reduced to the clouding of our visions...¡±

    ¡°No promises, no cares, no looking back. We¡¯ll take our separate paths, and time shall fly by fast...¡±

    She had left too hurriedly the other day and did not get to bid him farewell. She wanted to let him know through the song, that the love they had only existed in the past. She no longer loved him and never would, and hoped that he would forget about her as he went about his life. He deserved better.

    ¡°The butterfly can¡¯t transcend the seas...

    ¡°Happiness is around you, in your hands, never across the seas...

    ¡°No promises, no cares, no looking back.¡±

    She closed her eyes and let the memories flood before subsiding. Quietly, she whispered into the void, <i>Pei Ziheng, I hope you forget me and find a happiness that truly belongs to you.</i>

    ¡°If you find happiness, hold on tight. Forget your past...¡±

    The song came to an end.

    The beautiful and magical tune mellowed to a stop.

    On the floor, the quiet crowd suddenly burst into an uproar of cheers. ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡± As the apuse and the cheers roared on, some of them were wiping tears from their eyes.

    She sang this song from the bottom of her heart. Along with this spectacr style of music, which was Feng Kun¡¯s specialty, she managed to pulse enthusiasm through the audience with her infectious rhythm and voice.

    Even the emcee was on the verge of tears.

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing...¡± The emcee said, ¡°Ye Xingling, you sang amazingly.¡±

    When Xia Ling wasn¡¯t singing, she looked so quiet and reserved, almost like a lone bird at rest¡ªnot particrly alluring, but brought about a curiosity.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard such a moving song in a while, really.¡± The emcee continued, ¡°Did youpose this song yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling replied.

    ¡°Earlier on you said that these are the words you didn¡¯t manage to tell someone in time? It sounds like a farewell song. Could you tell us who you¡¯re bidding farewell to?¡±

    Xia Ling simply gave a gentle but sad smile. ¡°He¡¯ll know.¡±

    After a pause. ¡°I wish him well.¡±

    ¡°Is it Pei Ziheng?¡± Someone screamed from the audience. Her leaving Pei Ziheng was public news, and such news about a wealthy family often stirred curiosity.

    Rumors about their divorce were already going around.

    In fact, Li Lei had already settled the paperwork for her since the beginning, deeming her marriage invalid in the first ce. Now, she was not a divorcee, she was merely regaining her single, unmarried status. But she was notfortable with letting the public know about her ¡°invalid¡± marriage. Not only would this cause trouble for the professionals and authorities involved, but it would also have many people specting if Pei Ziheng had forced her into a marriage. The thought of such questions and spections was enough to keep her from revealing it.

    Whatever she had with Pei Ziheng was in the past now.

    It should remain in the past.

    She did not want anyone to dig it up.

    Hence, Xia Ling did not answer the question. She turned to Xia Yu and said, ¡°It¡¯s your turn now.¡±

    Xia Yu still had a rather calm demeanor, but she was not about to hold it out any longer. Xia Ling¡¯s ¡°The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend The Seas¡± was just too good. Xia Yu realized that even if she used her best recording for this round¡¯s lip-sync, she would not be able to beat Xia Ling¡¯s live singing.

    Xia Yu was indignant as she cursed Xia Ling in her heart. Why did thest contestant have to be her? This wretched woman just wouldn¡¯t let her off!

    In any case, she refused to lose to her this way.

    She needed to find a way to put her down. ¡°May I ask whoposed the tune to this song? It¡¯s really good, and doesn¡¯t sound like Wei Shaoyin¡¯s style.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little annoyed knowing that Xia Yu was trying to antagonize her. Instead of evading the question, she simply spoke the truth, ¡°It was Feng Kun.¡±

    Some chattering started in the audience.

    It was Feng Kun, a producer from Imperial Entertainment!

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I see you¡¯re pretty capable. You¡¯ve already left Imperial but still managed to sing a song that Imperial has written for you.¡± Xia Yu lined her statement with poison.

    The audience thought: <i>She makes sense, Ye Xingling has already betrayed Imperial and left for Skyart, wasn¡¯t it hical of her to be using a song from Imperial topete against their very own singer? </i>All of a sudden, the audience was split¡ªone team was still for Xia Ling, the other criticized her morals.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a song from Imperial.¡± Xia Ling said, to Xia Yu¡¯s surprise. ¡°It¡¯s all a coincidence, actually. I only bumped into Feng Kun at the music festival earlier today. Although I¡¯ve left Imperial, Feng Kun and I are still friends, and we ended up chatting and catching up with each other. I mentioned a new song I wrote, and he was interested in it, so he decided topose the tune for me.¡±

    With that, Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I thought it sounded really good and couldn¡¯t wait to share it with everyone, so I decided to perform it here on stage today. But Ah Kun had onlyposed it on his cellphone at thest minute, and there are some imperfections that we haven¡¯t brushed up on yet, so I seek everyone¡¯s understanding.¡±

    There was another wave of discussion in the crowd. So this song was actuallyposed by Feng Kun at thest minute! ¡°He¡¯s one of the finest music producers indeed, he can evenpose a song so well with such little effort!¡± Some of the audience was full of respect for him.

    ¡°Exactly! And it¡¯s nothing wrong for Feng Kun to be helping a friend with her song.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s a personal favor. And it wasn¡¯t Imperial¡¯s song, to begin with. Ye Xingling didn¡¯t really do anything wrong.¡±

    In just an instant, their disdain towards Xia Ling turned into utmost admiration towards Feng Kun.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is amazing too...¡± Some said. ¡°It¡¯s a new song, and she managed to sing it so perfectly. I think she¡¯s done it even better than Xia Yu can for a song she¡¯s practiced hard for.¡±

    Many of them agreed.

    Xia Ling smiled in satisfaction¡ªit seemed like this topic was in her favor. She hurried Xia Yu. ¡°It¡¯s your turn to sing now, don¡¯t let us down.¡±

    Xia Yu had tried to turn the tables against Xia Ling multiple times but had failed at every single one. Angry as she was, she had no choice but to take a deep breath and receive the microphone as she prepared for her final song.

 Chapter 518 - Revealing the Lip-synching

    <h4>Chapter 518: Revealing the Lip-synching</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Since she was up against a formidable opponent, Xia Yu decided to sing her most popr hit song.

    It was also the first song that she sang for today¡¯s head-to-head battles ¡ª ¡°Wilting Lotuses in the Rain¡± ¡ª which had made everyone sit up and take notice of her.

    She opened her thin lips to release a lilting melody, pleasing to the ears. ¡°That early summer day with many wilting lotuses, the unheard woes... That year when the glow bugs flew amongst the flowers, tracing your features like a picture...¡±

    Xia Ling stood listening to her from the other end of the stage. Her memory for music was extremely good, and she could tell without a doubt that Xia Yu¡¯s singing waspletely identical to that of the morning session, as well as the recorded version.

    She was sure that Xia Yu was lip-synching.

    An expression of disdain came onto Xia Ling¡¯s face as lip-synching was the one thing that she truly despised. She thought that anyone who lip-synched was not worthy of being called a singer as they did not have the most fundamental sincerity.

    She started to look forward to the moment that Xia Yu¡¯s lip-synching was revealed.

    Xia Yu continued to pretend to sing with her all onstage, unaware of Xia Ling¡¯s thoughts. Even though she didn¡¯t need to sing the song live, it still took much effort to ensure that her expression, movements, and dance looked the part. She smiled more radiantly than she did before, and her movements were more graceful. However, the audience started to get bored.

    ¡°How boring...¡± One of the audience membersmented.

    Another person in the audience gave a big yawn. ¡°Exactly... we¡¯ve been listening to Xia Yu all day.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s doing pretty well.¡±

    ¡°Good? Yeah, it¡¯s good, but it¡¯s boring. There are no mistakes, but there¡¯s also nothing that really stands out. She¡¯s just really steady. She should be like Ye Xingling earlier, who captured everyone¡¯s attention once she opened her mouth.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s more, her singing isn¡¯t as good as Ye Xingling¡¯s...¡± Another person chipped in. ¡°When I was listening to Ye Xingling sing, I forgot that I was here altogether. I waspletely enthralled, like... like I was right in the middle of the whole scenario she sang about. Yes... right in the middle of that. However, when I¡¯m listening to Xia Yu sing, I¡¯m just not into it. I can still have a conversation with you guys.¡±

    Many around her nodded in agreement. ¡°Yes, yes, agreed.¡±

    If Xia Yu could hear their discussions, she would have been speechless with disappointment. Even though she was performing better now aspared to the morning, the audience was so taken by Xia Ling¡¯s song earlier that they found Xia Yu boring. Reviews of her performance now were nowhere close to that of the morning session.

    The murmurings in the audience spread wider and wider. Many started to be distracted by their snacks and water, and some even took a toilet break, thinking that they would make it back just in time for the results.

    Xia Yu started to be flustered in seeing themotion offstage.

    At the edge of the crowds, Li Lei saw that it was about time to set things in motion. He rang a number on his mobile. ¡°Start now.¡±

    Feng Kun suddenly appeared beside Li Lei. ¡°You¡¯re really making things so convenient for Xiao Ling. She doesn¡¯t need to do a thing to reveal this lip-synching.¡±

    Li Lei smiled at Feng Kun, transitioning from the serious expression he had when giving themand over the phone in an instant. ¡°Brother Feng, say more good things about me in front of her. I¡¯ll invite you to the wedding in the future.¡±

    Feng Kunughed out loud.

    This man knew exactly how to butter up the people around him to his favor, and his mind was always on his girlfriend. This afternoon, when Feng Kun was busy with the arrangement for ¡°The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend the Seas,¡± Li Lei was also busy organizing his subordinates to carry out various tasks.

    Onstage.

    Xia Yu was wholly absorbed in her own performance.

    The lilting melody coupled with her graceful dance moves made her look beautiful.

    A female fan, carrying a huge bouquet of hyacinths, came onstage to present her with the flowers. Xia Yu received them graciously and thanked the female fan with a bright smile. However, that female fan seemed to be overly nervous, stepping on Xia Yu¡¯s long chiffon dress by ident. She lost her footing in her high heels and fell toward Xia Yu. Both of them fell down onto the stage.

    The audience gasped in shock in seeing this scene pan out.

    After the initial shock passed, they were in for a greater shock. The background music as well as the singing for ¡°Wilting Lotuses in the Rain¡± did not stop! ¡°You asked me where the ends of the Earth is as I ride on my horse... Is it that... The ends of the Earth also has wilting lotuses in the rain...¡± The sad and pitiful voice rang out in the expanse of the room, echoing out over the audience. What was previously a beautiful song now seemed like an insult to the audience.

    ¡°Lip-synching!¡±

    ¡°Lip-synching!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is lip-synching!¡±

    Pandemonium broke out in the crowd as they booed her loudly. All of them were shocked as Xia Yu¡¯s amazing performances of the day were revealed now to be all but a farce. She was not singing the songs live in these head-to-head battles!

    Liar!

    This was tantly cheating fans of their feelings!

    Everyone was furious, and many cursed out loud. Some were so agitated that they started to throw their bottles of water at the stage.

    Xia Yu was very embarrassed and struggled to stand up, scolding the fan that caused her lip-synching to be revealed. ¡°Quick, get up! Don¡¯t lie on me!¡±

    Even though that fan was small-sized, she was pretty strong. She made a show of struggling to get up, but continued to remain on the floor and held onto Xia Yu¡¯s dress. She apologized to Xia Yu anxiously, ¡°Sorry... sorry... Miss Xia Yu... don¡¯t pinch me... I... I know you... lip-synched... Sorry... sorry... ¡±

    They were entangled on stage, and she was very close to the microphone in Xia Yu¡¯s hands. Thus, her nervous voice was captured and transmitted to the audience. Everyone heard her words loud and clear.

    What... Xia Yu was pinching the fan in anger even after her lip-synching was revealed?

    The crowd became agitated again. ¡°You¡¯re shameless, Xia Yu!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, get off the stage!¡±

    ¡°Get off!¡±

    ¡°Get off!¡±

    ¡°Get off!¡±

    The shouting was unanimous in the ce and peppered with boos and angry whistles.

    Xia Ling watched quietly from the other end of the stage, feeling mildly happy at her vicious sister¡¯s plight. She mumbled to herself, ¡°Baby, are you looking at this? The people that hurt you will get their just deserts. This is just the start... In the future, mummy will let her know what it means to lose all hope and feel pain so deep it prates her bones...¡±

    Offstage, Feng Kun was watching the female fan in amusement, as she made a great show of struggling and apologizing to Xia Yu before managing to stand up. Heughed out loud at the sight and asked Li Lei, ¡°Where did you find that marvelousdy? Her acting is great!¡±

    Li Leiughed as well. ¡°That¡¯s easy, there are a ton of them in my training camp. All the girls were fighting to be involved in this exciting assignment. I merely chose the girl with the highest scores in the acting ss.¡± He paused before adding, ¡°I should totally add some bonus points to her score for this practical lesson.¡±

    Feng Kun was speechless. This Big Boss really knew how to use his resources well. Such a genius move. He couldn¡¯t help but pity Xia Yu... what if this Big Boss decided to have more of these practical lessons? She was in for a hard time. There would be no end to her troubles seeing that she had offended Xia Ling and Li Lei.

    The music and singing onstage finally came to an end. It seemed that the backstage staff realized that something was wrong and had switched the music off frantically. But it was toote, the lip-synching had been revealed. There was no way to hide that fact now.

 Chapter 519 - Turning Hysterical and Shooting Herself in the Foot

    <h4>Chapter 519: Turning Hysterical and Shooting Herself in the Foot</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu didn¡¯t pinch the female fan at all, that was a false usation. But she couldn¡¯t say anything to refute it.

    She was clever and knew that something was amiss. She was afraid that the female fan hade prepared, so she lowered her voice and asked, ¡°Who sent you here?¡±

    That female fan gave her an expression that read ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about,¡± before stammering out more apologies and running offstage in tears with her face in her hands.

    Xia Yu was left onstage alone, utterly embarrassed.

    ¡°I...¡± She wanted to open her mouth and say something.

    ¡°Apologize! Apologize!¡±

    ¡°Shameless woman! Get off the stage!¡±

    ¡°Get off! Get off!¡±

    Bottles, half-eaten bread, and all kinds of things flew toward the stage.

    Xia Yu took a few steps back weakly as she bit her lips, close to tears. She recalled another incident a while back, where simrly, rubbish was thrown at her onstage. That time, she was also battling Ye Xingling, and it was revealed that she had falsely used Ye Xingling and pped a newbie. That night the angered crowd had booed her off the stage.

    Today... it was Ye Xingling again!

    Xia Yu felt that she waspletely ipatible with that b*tch and suddenly came to a realization. That stammering female fan must be someone that was sent by Ye Xingling!

    She red daggers at the person on the other end of the stage.

    Xia Ling stared back at Xia Yu¡¯s scary expression, before smiling and saying into the microphone, ¡°So you were lip-synching... what a surprise.¡± However, her voice did not reveal a tinge of surprise at all. ¡°I pity all those that battled you before me. They lost for no reason at all.¡± Herst sentence was not only to belittle Xia Yu but genuinely feeling for the other singers before her. If they had not been treated so unfairly, perhaps they could have beaten Xia Yu.

    Hearing her words, the audience and fans got riled up again. ¡°Exactly! Our Wei Wei did not deserve to lose! Xia Yu, you don¡¯t deserve to even battle with her!¡±

    ¡°Our Jiao Jiao sang so well! How could she have lost to a piece of rubbish like you! You totally cheated!¡±

    ¡°Apologize to out Fang Huatian! Apologize!¡±

    ¡°Our Sha Sha is tons better than you!¡±

    There were many die-hard fans of the singers in the recording venue for the head-to-head battles, especially here to support their respective idols. They were feeling slightly disappointed in seeing their idols lose to Xia Yu earlier, but they had not expected that Xia Yu had lip-synched. They werepletely indignant for their idols.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time that Xia Yu had encountered such an angry crowd. Since thest time that she was booed offstage and had rubbish thrown at her, she had thought hard about how to deal with such a situation. Now, tears streaming down her face as she choked. ¡°I¡¯m so... so... sorry everyone... I didn¡¯t mean to lip-synch... boohooo...¡±

    Hearing her cries, the murmurings offstage became softer, before they were indignant again. ¡°What are you crying about?! You hypocrite!¡±

    ¡°Exactly... you only know how to act all pitiful!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be taken in by your poor little girl act!¡±

    ¡°You lip-synched! You rubbish!¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression became even more pitiful, but she felt wronged in her heart. ¡°Actually, I only lip-synched for this session... I was singing live all the time before this...¡±

    After hearing her words, Xia Ling felt an uneasiness rise up within her. No... Xia Yu was not going to be so shameless, was she? Under such circumstances, shouldn¡¯t she be so embarrassed that she would run away? Did she already think of a way to reduce the damage to the minimum? The sessions prior to this were over, and there was no way to prove what she said was wrong. Even if there were audio and video recordings, not everyone was as professional as Wei Shaoyin, Feng Kun and her, who could discern the problems in the singing.

    Xia Yu continued to deny her lip-synching.

    Some in the audience started to shout at her for trying to wriggle her way out of it.

    Xia Yu pretended not to hear anything as she continued her act of crying and exined herself. ¡°When I came to participate in this head-to-headpetition today, I really wanted to pit my skills against the other singers and was ready to walk away beaten in the middle. I did not expect myself to be here from start to finish.¡±

    Xia Lingughed silently to herself as she listened from the side. What a liar... Xia Yu had clearly decided from the beginning to stay onstage from start to finish! That was the only way that she could umte poprity in a short amount of time! It would propel her to fame!

    Xia Ling shifted into a morefortable standing position to listen to Xia Yu¡¯s tall story.

    Xia Yu continued, ¡°However, I didn¡¯t expect myself to have such great luck today. All the other singers were going easy on me...¡±

    Boos rang out from all around again.

    Xia Yu cried out loud and said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect tost to the end. Every one of you knows that I have a weak disposition, and standing here from the start is a big burden on my body. What¡¯s more, I¡¯ve been nursing a cold for a few days... I¡¯m really tired... Ye Xingling sang well, but she only just got onstage, unlike me...¡±

    Offstage, Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. This Xia Yu was still trying to pull Xiao Ling down at this point? She was speaking as if Xiao Ling had taken advantage of her! On the surface, it seemed true that Xiao Ling had the advantage since it was a knock-out battle and the one on stage for a longer time was at the losing end. However, Xia Yu was merely lip-synching the whole time! How was she taken advantage of?! On the other hand, Xiao Ling had only recently recovered from her abdomen injury and did not dare exert too much force in her singing yet.

    ¡°Take the live recording and send it for audio analysis.¡± Li Lei turned and instructed the researcher that was watching the show with him. ¡°Compare it with her album recording. Send me the results when you have it.¡± He would find someone to publish it on the inte, using technology that could not be refuted to show that Xia Yu had indeed lip-synched for the entire time today.

    The researcher respectfully epted his instructions but thought to himself.<i>Boss, you¡¯re asking me to use the most cutting-edge technology to help your girl with such a trivial matter?</i>

    Feng Kun also felt that it was wasteful and an unnecessary expense, but he merely smiled. Hmm... he was like Xiao Ling¡¯s big brother right now and felt more at ease knowing that there was a man so thoughtful of her.

    When the results of the audio clipparison were revealed, Xia Yu would have to face another round of insults from theizens.

    Now, he would just wait and see what she was going to do to shoot herself in the foot.

    Feng Kun crossed his arms and continued to watch Xia Yu¡¯s tearful performance.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face was covered with tears. ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s condition was so much better than mine... and I was so tired... When she was singing, the staff came over and told me that they had arranged for me to lip-synch. I had initially rejected their proposal as I felt that it was unbing of a singer... boohoohoo...¡±

    As she spoke, she continued to cry into the microphone. The audience quietened down as they listened to her tearful exnation.

    ¡°But the staff persuaded me for a long time, saying that it was to ensure that thepetition was exciting enough, and it was my responsibility to the audience. After all, the album recording was done by me and was done when I was in the best condition. Letting you hear me sing when I¡¯m so worn out is an imperfect experience for all of you... so it would be better to let you hear me at my best... I was really very tired today and caved after hearing the staff¡¯s persuasive words... I didn¡¯t think too much about it when I agreed...¡±

    Her tears streamed down her face and fell to the floor like a string of beads.

 Chapter 520 - Ye Xingling, Youâ€™ve Won

    <h4>Chapter 520: Ye Xingling, You¡¯ve Won</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Actually, Xia Yu is quite pitiful...¡± Someone whispered below the stage.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Someone agreed. ¡°She already sang the whole day during the head-to-headpetition and should have been tired long ago. The rules of thepetition are quite unreasonable. If someone sings from the beginning to the end, the challengers at the back will have an advantage. No wonder Xia Yu¡¯s team decided to do this.¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is just a singer. If the staff insists that she do this, she can¡¯t reject them easily.¡± More people agreed and sympathized with Xia Yu after hearing what she said.

    Xia Ling was the only one not ovee with emotion as she stood on stage. She had notpeted with her sister for more than a year and did not expect her acting skills to be better. She was no longer the girl who would flee the stage in humiliation after someone poured mineral water on her.

    However, no matter what, Xia Ling would not be soft-hearted.

    Looking at Xia Yu, her voice was like a broken ss bead. ¡°The head-to-headpetition is like that. The more challenges you get, the more tired you be. As a singer who is participating in thepetition, you should know about thismon knowledge. How could you shirk responsibility in the end with this fact in mind?¡± Her words were like firing shots, leaving Xia Yu no breathing space. ¡°If the staff asked you to do things that aren¡¯t in line with professional ethics, you can directly refuse them. Since you didn¡¯t refuse, that means you agreed to do it. So, you should admit responsibility and not wait until the moment you are discovered and push the me to the staff.¡±

    Li Lei wanted to apud Xia Ling.

    Xiao Ling was still the most impressive. She was reasonable and logical. Once she stood on the stage, she was like a sovereign ruler, imposing and worshipped.

    Li Lei had been her die-hard fan since long ago.

    Feng Kun couldn¡¯t help but shake his head and sigh after looking at the bright-eyed Li Lei. A man was scary when he acted like a ve to his wife as his IQ had a tendency to plummet. Even a smart person like Li Lei couldn¡¯t see that not everyone bought Xiao Ling¡¯s aggressive words on stage.

    Sure enough, some people in the audience said, ¡°Isn¡¯t Ye Xingling a bit too much? Xia Yu already knows that she¡¯s in the wrong and is crying so pitifully. Why can¡¯t she let her go?¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Although what she said makes sense, she shouldn¡¯t keep provoking her.¡±

    On stage, after hearing the discussion about her, Xia Yu wept even more sorrowfully.

    ¡°Xiao Ling is receiving bacsh.¡± Feng Kun looked at the unfavorable situation.

    Li Lei was finally awakened by him and was furious. ¡°How dare this group of ignorant people bully my Xiao Ling.¡± He waved his hand at the dark corner not far away. In the darkness, a bodyguard in in clothes walked out and respectfully awaited his instructions.

    Li Lei whispered a few words to the bodyguard.

    The bodyguard nodded and walked out of the crowd. Soon, bodyguards from several directions walked in and dispersed the crowd.

    On the stage, Xia Ling looked coldly at Xia Yu as she cried.

    She also heard the discussion below the stage. Although some people praised her, many people thought that she should just let it go. How could she let it go now? If she really let it go, the crowd would be swayed by Xia Yu¡¯s sympathetic act, and her big n to expose Xia Yu would have gone to waste.

    Furthermore, it was also necessary to give the crowd some perspective.

    Xia Ling raised her microphone and said, ¡°Don¡¯t me me for being impolite or harsh. If you went out of tune while singing or did not perform as well, I would not have degraded you. In fact, I would haveforted you. However, lip-syncing is not eptable. Lip-synching is crossing my bottom line as a musician. To ensure a fair music environment, I have to y my part and can¡¯t tolerate it. Otherwise, it would be sphemous to music. How can you even say that you¡¯re a singer, then?¡±

    She looked petite and small and was not any more powerful than Xia Yu was. However, when she wanted to make a point, her audience was always unknowingly influenced.

    This was the true nature and extraordinary influence of a queen.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is right!¡± Someone shouted from the crowd. ¡°Everyone has the responsibility to protect the music scene. Denouncing lip-syncing starts from me!¡±

    Feng Kun recognized the person who shouted as a bodyguard whom Li Lei just sent into the crowd. It turned out that he instructed people to support Xia Ling. However... ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t you think this ¡®help¡¯ is stooping very low?¡± Feng Kun couldn¡¯t bear to look straight at him. This was seriously the production style of thest century.

    Li Lei also couldn¡¯t bear to look straight at him. ¡°They¡¯re all bodyguards, rough people.¡±

    What he meant was that shouting out slogans was the least violent thing they could do.

    As if in response, people in all directions of the crowd started chanting¡ª

    ¡°Everyone has the responsibility to protect the music scene!¡±

    ¡°Denouncing lip-syncing starts from me!¡±

    ¡°Everyone has the responsibility! It starts with me!¡±

    The chanting gained momentum. At the start, those who replied were the bodyguards scattered in the crowd. Although these slogans were simple and rude, they were catchy, and their effect not bad. Chinese people naturally liked to join in the fun, and very quickly, more and more people started to join in and shout out the slogans together.

    Xia Yu had no tears left to cry.

    As the situation turned out like this, she felt powerless.

    At the other side of the stage, Xia Ling had a look of slight arrogance and purity as she looked at her. ¡°Don¡¯t use excessive fatigue as an excuse. I¡¯m not trying to take advantage of you or drag you down. I would never let people say that I won because my condition was better today. If you aren¡¯t convinced, we can battle again tomorrow.¡±

    How could Xia Yu dare to battle her?

    She was already badly humiliated and only stammered. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t bully others too far.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s strange. I only suggested that wepete again when we are in the same state. How did this turn into me bullying you?¡± Xia Lingughed. ¡°Xia Yu, it¡¯s ok if you don¡¯t ept this challenge. In the future, just don¡¯t say I won because you were in a bad state today or I was in a better state.¡±

    Her voice spread into the distance through the microphone. It was quiet and light but had an arrogant temperament like the arrival of a goddess. Everyone unknowingly held their breath as they waited quietly for Xia Yu¡¯s answer.

    Will they battle again, or will she admit her loss?

    Xia Yu was on an emotional rollercoaster. She deeply understood that no matter how many times theypeted, she would lose. Losing once was better than losing twice. After hesitating for a long time, she gritted her teeth and said, ¡°I concede defeat. This time, Ye Xingling, you won.¡±

    Booing was heard below the stage. The audience always focused on the events that were exciting. After seeing that she admitted her loss so easily, they felt a little bored.

    ¡°Get lost! Get lost!¡± Someone shouted but turned into an uproar. ¡°You lost even though you lip-synced. Get lost!¡±

 Chapter 521 - Cotton Candy

    <h4>Chapter 521: Cotton Candy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was ghastly pale.

    In the cacophony of noise, she finally felt that as pathetic as a clown.

    She cried harder but did not know whether she was crying for real or faking it. Covering her face, she turned around and stumbled down the stage.

    The emcee finally came back and said, ¡°Well then, our ultimate winner is¡ª¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡± Below the stage, the crowd was emotional.

    Xia Ling looked at the boundless crowd, smiled, and raised her hand.

    The crowd cheered louder as they celebrated the birth of their new Arena Queen who dominated the world.

    Xia Ling¡¯s battle was very sessful. Not only was her new song widely acimed, but she also managed to ruthlessly expose Xia Yu. The only unsatisfactory part was that Xia Yu only admitted to lip-syncing once. This made Xia Ling feel unsettled.

    She got off the stage and removed her makeup backstage.

    Li Lei walked up to her with a smile. ¡°Congrattions.¡± He then passed her something from behind his back.

    Xia Ling originally thought that it would be a bouquet or something simr because he used to send her flowers at the end of her performances in the past. Unexpectedly, this time, he gave her cotton candy. It was pink and fluffy. His smile was gentle and sweet.

    She also smiled and took a bite from the cotton candy in his hand. It was a delicious strawberry vor.

    <i>Click! </i>A shutter sound was heard beside them.

    Both of them turned around to see a reporter running away with a camera.

    ¡°Should we chase him?¡± Li Lei asked for Xia Ling¡¯s opinion.

    Xia Ling did not feel like chasing him after looking at Li Lei¡¯s expression. She reached out and snatched the cotton candy. ¡°Jerk, I won¡¯t let you eat it. It¡¯s obvious that you wanted to let the reporter announce it to the world.¡± Ever since she returned to Skyart, rumors circted in the outside world ceaselessly. There were rumors about everything, and the most widespread rumor was that she escaped and ditched Pei Ziheng after seeing that Imperial Entertainment was about to go bankrupt. After that, she went to seek refuge from her ex-boyfriend Li Lei and was epted by him after he found her pitiful.

    Besides telling the people in the Skyart¡¯s building that their dy boss was back,¡± Lady Boss had not officially announced their rtionship to the public. ording to him, she just left Pei Ziheng and lost her son. It was not appropriate to announce a new rtionship after a short month.

    Xia Ling also agreed.

    However, this did not prevent the reporters from continually specting. asionally, he let them take pictures of him being affectionate with her to give her a rightful title. She did not pitifully beg to stay. Rather, she was treated like a treasure in someone else¡¯s hand.

    At this time, hearing her rebuke, Li Lei smiled. ¡°Why can¡¯t you be smarter when it¡¯s time to use your brain?¡± He secretly snuck his head over to take a bite of the cotton candy she stole from him. He caught her off guard and bit off arge chunk of it.

    ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re stealing my cotton candy!¡± She widened her eyes as she stared at its remaining half and looked as Li Lei smiled delightedly. She reached out and punched him. ¡°You jerk! You said this was my gift!¡±

    Li Lei ran away, and Xia Ling chased him.

    Backstage, the other singers and staff looked at them with some disdain and envy. The disdainful part was that both of them were already adults. Why were they still acting like children? Those envious felt that such a sweet love was so beautiful.

    A makeup artist secretly took a few photos of them chasing each other and uploaded them online with the caption: Li Lei and Ye Xingling, the sweetest pair in history.

    This blew up very quickly online. Many people gossiped and spected how far their rtionship had progressed. Had they already rebuilt their rtionship? Could it be that the Ye Xingling who had divorced once and lost a child was thriving with the privileged Big Boss Li?

    Someone even started to gamble and bet on whether they wouldst as a couple.

    A Rolls Royce was moving smoothly on the street. The air in the car was quiet. After being busy for the entire day, Pei Ziheng was on his way to his next meeting. There was a dull pain in his stomach. He ate a few dry biscuits and drank some mineral water in his small storage box to suppress the pain.

    ¡°There are still 15 minutes before we reach. Mr. Pei, you should rest for a while.¡± The chauffeur said.

    Pei Ziheng turned on his phone and habitually entered the search keywords ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Ever since she left his side, he could only monitor her this way.

    News articles popped out. There were some articles about how she defeated Xia Yu in the arena battle and more articles about herughing with Li Lei. Pei Ziheng looked at the photo. He reached out and gently covered the part of the screen which had Li Lei¡¯s body on it, leaving behind the slim and petite girl.

    She was a little plumperpared to when she was by his side. She looked healthier, and her originally thin cheeks had regained their whiteness and smoothness. With just light makeup, she looked so beautiful that people could not turn their eyes away.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her for a long time.

    She liked to eat cotton candy from a young age and consumed it using small bites. She cherished and enjoyed every moment. When she ate itfortably, she would slightly squint her eyes and look like a satisfied cat. He always looked at her as she ate it and restricted her consumption of it as it was junk food which did not meet the bnced diet standards set by nutritionists. Sometimes, she would throw a tantrum and puff up her cheeks as she red at him.

    However, Li Lei was different. Without reasoning with her, he directly ate arge portion of the cotton candy.

    She did not feel unhappy at all.

    Even when she chased after that man, her eyes were shining with happiness.

    There was a bitter feeling in Pei Ziheng¡¯s throat, and his stomach hurt again. He turned off his phone, ced one hand on his stomach, and frowned.

    The chauffeur nced at him from the rearview mirror and was a little worried. ¡°Mister, how about I buy a hot takeaway meal for you? You can eat it before your meeting so your body won¡¯t be hurt.¡± Mister had not rested for days. In order to drag Imperial Entertainment from the dirt, he had to do his best and even slept on the way when he was traveling to venues, whether by car or ne.

    Pei Ziheng replied faintly. ¡°Naggy.¡±

    Thus, the chauffeur did not say anything more. His master was stubborn, and it would be useless to persuade him again.

    At this moment, the chauffeur really missed Miss Ye. It would be really great if she were here because at least Mister would have a person who knew him well. Mister would probably only eat more after listening to Miss Ye.

    ¡°y some music.¡± Pei Ziheng said in a hoarse voice. His stomach hurt tremendously, and his head was filled with thoughts of Xiao Ling. The pain was eating him alive, and he was suffering.

    He wanted to look for something to avert his attention.

    The chauffeur obeyed and turned on the radio.

    ¡°Next, we will y the new song that Ye Xingling sang today at the Heavenly Voice Music Festival, ¡®The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend the Seas.¡¯ She said that she wanted to give it to a person in hopes that the person would forget her...¡±

    ¡°Change the station.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was frighteningly cold.

 Chapter 522 - Not a Worthy Rival

    <h4>Chapter 522: Not a Worthy Rival</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He knew that Xiao Ling wanted him to forget her.

    But how was it possible? How could he forget his love of two lifetimes just like that? Even if he were temporarily forced to let her go, this was definitely not the end! Definitely not!

    Pei Ziheng squinted his eyes. Li Lei...

    As long as all of Li Lei¡¯s forces were wiped out, no one would be able to force him to surrender, and no one would be able to prevent him from being together with Xiao Ling! He had to be stronger to get Xiao Ling back.

    The Rolls Royce stopped at an entrance.

    ¡°Mister, we¡¯re here.¡± The chauffeur asked him with some concern. ¡°Are you really not going to eat anything?¡±

    ¡°Time is precious.¡± Pei Ziheng coldly said. He endured his stomachache and got out of the car.

    The doorman and security officers that were on both sides of the walkway bowed to him. His expression was cold as he strode in with a finely crafted and meticulous suit.

    The location of the music festival.

    Xia Ling chased after Li Lei and ran around the area for a long time before finally catching up with him. She panted, tired, and weakly hit him a few times.

    ¡°Who told you to run!¡± She copsed in his arms and red at him with bright eyes. ¡°Return me my cotton candy!¡±

    ¡°me yourself.¡± Li Lei hugged her and sat down beside a huge banyan tree. He carefully ced her head on his chest and secretly kissed her hairline. ¡°If you didn¡¯t chase me, you could still eat the other half. But now, there¡¯s nothing left.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care! Compensate me!¡± She sat up and pinched his cheeks forcefully. The helpless person was too tired and had insufficient strength, so no matter how hard she pinched him, it did not hurt.

    He chuckled as he grabbed her hand and took her into his arms again.

    The surroundings were very quiet. There were scattered lights in the green belt. The orange and purple lights were reflected on the branches and leaves of the tree, creating a psychedelic and beautiful effect. Not far away, there was the faint song of a heavy metal rock band and the cheering of the crazy crowd. The girl in his arms was soft.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart was satisfied and peaceful.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He called her gently.

    ¡°Yes?¡± She blinked her eyes.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling.¡± He smiled as he said gently, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just feel like calling your name.¡±

    She blinked her eyes again. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei,pensate me with another cotton candy.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re not cute anymore...¡±

    ¡°Your entire family is not cute!¡± She lifted her hand to pinch his face. ¡°Cotton candy, cotton candy, cotton candy. My cotton candy!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how can you be so calctive...¡±

    The moon was bright, and the stars were dim. Theirughter drifted in the night sky and did not disappear for a long time.

    Later, she was tired. He carried her to the off-road vehicle and drove her home. After sleeping for a few hours, the next day arrived. Xia Ling opened her eyes in a daze and realized that the person beside her was already awake and sending emails while sitting on the bed.

    The morning sunlight fell on his handsome face.

    As he leaned over, she could see the inteced, deep and shallow old wounds. His muscles were tight and symmetrical, giving him a sort of wild charm.

    She supported her head with one hand and admired him for a long time.

    His well-defined fingers hit the notebook keyboard rhythmically. For the first time, Xia Ling felt that the way someone typed on the keyboard was like a song. After hitting the keys for a while, he titled his head to look at her and smiled. ¡°Does it look good?¡±

    Xia Ling turned slightly red as she was caught peeping at him.

    She opened her mouth, but before she could answer, Li Lei already said, ¡°You can also touch it.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She couldn¡¯t be bothered to answer him and changed the subject. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Li Lei moved the notebook screen towards her. ¡°These are the tracks from Xia Yu¡¯s first song to herst song from yesterday¡¯s arenapetition. Afterparing them with the officially released records, the results of the analysis show that they are exactly the same without any deviation. You said before that except robots, no human being can be so precise when singing¡ªeven if the same person sang the same song.¡±

    Xia Ling felt energized and crawled out of bed. She went over to see the analysis report which consisted ofrge rows of data. Feeling dizzy, she couldn¡¯t understand it after a long time. However, she understood the final conclusion. At the end of the report, it was simply and crudely stated that Xia Yu was lip-syncing from the start to the end yesterday.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes shined. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re amazing. I didn¡¯t know you could make this sort of report! Is this real? The analysis is not fake, right?¡±

    Li Lei felt very wronged. ¡°Your man has very high moral principles. How can this be fake?¡±

    Xia Ling decided to trust him this once. She looked at the report again and asked, ¡°Are you nning to publish this report and expose Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Li Lei said. He pressed the send button and sent the report to Skyart¡¯s public rtions department. ¡°Just wait and see.¡± The public rtions department was filled with masters of disseminating information and maintaining public rtions. They would know how to use this report to attack Xia Yu well. He would help her finish Xia Ling¡¯s iplete desires.

    ¡°You¡¯re the best!¡± Xia Ling was so excited that she gave him a long morning kiss.

    Getting up, she showered and sang as she walked out of the door.

    Today, she was also participating in the music festival, and her schedule was very flexible. There was enough time to observe Xia Yu as she received her second p in the face.

    Today, Xia Yu was more obedient. When she sang on stage, she didn¡¯t dare to lip-sync and sang everything live. As expected, her standard dropped greatly. Many people said that she didn¡¯t sing as well as yesterday and questioned whether she lip-synced during her previous songs.

    Xia Yu¡¯s public rtions team exined that her condition was not very good today because she was too tired from yesterday. However, the public was only half convinced.

    In the afternoon, Xia Yu participated in a fun question and answer activity as she intended to take advantage of it and avoid singing on stage. She was originally a top student at Cambridge University, so her IQ was definitely higher than most singers at the scene. During the fun question and answer session, her scores were very high, and there was no area for doubt.

    Originally, many audience members who did not like her had a change in impression.

    ¡°She really isn¡¯t a brainless vase. Even though she¡¯s not in the best singing condition sometimes, she is a really fast learner and is a singer with both beauty and brains.¡± Many people acknowledged this point.

    Xia Yu also smiled with some genuine sweetness. She had hoped that this activity would change the impression that people had of her. It seemed that the effects were not bad.

    She scanned the crowd, hoping to find Ye Xingling so she could challenge her on stage. Xia Yu was very confident that in this activity, any woman who wascking in IQ was no match for her.

 Chapter 523 - Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 523: Chaos</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She really managed to spot her.

    In the crowd, a petite girl was wearing a ck dress and a baseball cap. Her beautiful jaw was exposed below her sunsses. With one look, Xia Yu definitely recognized her. It was that b*tch Ye Xingling!

    ¡°Xia Yu! Xia Yu! Xia Yu!¡±

    ¡°Streak! Streak! Streak!¡±

    The crowd was as crazy as yesterday as they anticipated her to create a miracle.

    In the midst of the cheers, Xia Yu smiled as she lifted her microphone. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s such a pity that I lost to Ye Xingling during thatst song yesterday.¡±

    The emcee of the quiz activity received benefits from Imperial¡¯s public rtions team and supported her in her speech. ¡°That was because our Xia Yu was too tired after singing for so long and lost because of physical exhaustion.¡± Yesterday, although Xia Ling tried to hinder Xia Yu from saying that she lost due to physical exhaustion by challenging her to another fair battle.

    However, even though Xia Yu couldn¡¯t mention it, people who supported her could talk about it. This emcee knew how to handle the situation and helped Xia Yu say things that she could not.

    Xia Yu showed a reserved smile. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I lost. However, I actually still want topete with Ye Xingling again. I wonder if she¡¯s also very good at answering intelligent questions?¡±

    The emcee replied, ¡°I believe that everyone is very curious about what the result would be if two singerspeted against each other. However, it¡¯s such a pity that Ye Xingling is not here.¡±

    ¡°I think I saw her.¡± Xia Yu said.

    Xia Ling finally realized that something was off. She only wanted to witness the uproar. Why was she getting the attention suddenly? When it came to intelligent quizzes, she couldn¡¯t match up to her sister and was unwilling to go on stage topete with her because she would definitely lose. Why would she agree and satisfy the enemy?

    However, it was toote to escape.

    All of the spectators were looking around and trying to find her. Furthermore, Xia Yu was staring at her. If she left, she would embarrass herself.

    Xia Ling was furious. She took out her phone to call Li Lei. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to publish the technical report? Why haven¡¯t you done so? She¡¯s getting more arrogant now.¡±

    Li Lei was not at the scene today because he was busy with official business. As he attacked Imperial Entertainment impressively, and Pei Ziheng recentlyunched a counter-attack, Li Lei couldn¡¯t help but put in more effort to deal with him.

    After receiving Xia Ling¡¯s call, Li Lei immediately assured her that he would publish it immediately.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a time limit of one minute.¡± Then, she hung up.

    On the stage, with Xia Yu¡¯s help, the emcee found her. ¡°Ye Xingling! It turns out that Ye Xingling is here!¡± She pointed at Xia Ling with a surprised look. ¡°What a coincidence. Have you been watching Xiao Yu¡¯spetition? How about youe on stage and try it out. IQ quizzes are very interesting, and if you win, there will be small prizes.¡±

    Everyone turned around to look at her.

    ¡°So that¡¯s Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Ah! I can¡¯t believe that she was beside me for so long!¡±

    ¡°She looks smaller in real life than on stage. How cute.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Give me a signature!¡± A few excited fans already rushed towards her.

    Xia Ling secretly cursed the emcee for being wicked. It was impossible that she did not know how it felt like to be a celebrity in a crowd, but she still revealed her identity. Was she deliberately trying to go against her?

    However, she had no choice but to deal with the swarming crowd. With security officers escorting her, she rushed over to the edge of the stage.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re finally here.¡± Xia Yu smiled weakly, hiding her true intentions.

    Xia Ling quietly counted the time in her heart. More than two minutes had passed.

    She also smiled at Xia Yu. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m very surprised that you¡¯re still standing on this stage. I heard that singers who seriously vited the rules of the music festival would be disqualified. Why haven¡¯t the organizers looked for you yet?¡±

    Xia Yu was slightly startled. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    The emcee thought that she was talking about thest song of yesterday¡¯spetition and said, ¡°During thest song yesterday, Xia Yu did break the rules, but it¡¯s not considered a serious vition.¡± The music festival only counted lip-syncing of three or more songs a serious vition.

    The emcee said, ¡°The past is in the past. Xiao Ling, you shouldn¡¯t keep picking on Xiao Yu. Let¡¯s talk about today¡¯s IQ quiz. Do you have the courage to ept Xiao Yu¡¯s challenge?¡±

    ¡°Even if I wanted to ept it, I can¡¯t ept the challenge of a serious vitor of the rules.¡± Xia Ling smiled and only hoped that Li Lei was able to save her in time. ¡°Just now, when I checked my phone, I saw an interesting post which said that Xia Yu was lip-syncing from the start to the end during yesterday¡¯spetition. Why, haven¡¯t you seen the post yet?¡±

    Before the people on stage could react, the audience below quickly took out their phones to check the news. Sure enough, in a short span of a few minutes, the news was blowing up on the inte¡ª

    [A deep technical analysis reveals that Xia Yu was lip-syncing from the start to the end during the arena contest.]

    [She refused to admit responsibility since she was not exposed live. Since she was only caught red-handed for one song, Xia Yu only admitted to lip-syncing for that one song. How could she be this shameless?]

    [The way Xia Yu admitted her mistake showed that this was not the first time she lip-synced. She has experience doing it.]

    [The public urges the organizers to disqualify the singer who lip-synced to ensure that the music festival is fair again.]

    The news articles were trending, and amotion quickly started below the stage. ¡°It turns out that Xia Yu lip-synced from the start to the end yesterday. Why is she still qualified to stand here today?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. She was already given a chance to admit her mistakes yesterday but still protested and only admitted to lip-syncing once. Does she not feel the shame?¡±

    ¡°So what if she¡¯s intelligent? She has no morals!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t wee fraudulent people and those whock morals here! Xia Yu, get lost!¡±

    ¡°Get off the stage!¡±

    Waves of shouts that were louder than yesterday were heard.

    Xia Yu was caught off guard, and her face turned pale. She could no longer smile. The emcee besides her was also bewildered. Only Xia Ling was smiling in this storm. ¡°It¡¯s really such a pity. I can¡¯t believe that you lip-synced from the start to the end. Xia Yu, you can leave the stage of the IQ quiz now. I have to say goodbye to you now because I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to see you anymore during this music festival.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s face was ashen with a very distorted expression.

    At this time, a staff member walked on the stage and said something to the emcee.

    The color was drained off the emcee¡¯s face, and she said somewhat awkwardly to Xia Yu, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Miss Xia Yu, but I just received a notice from the organizer which has determined that you severely vited the rules and are unsuitable to continue participating in the music festival. Please leave the stage.¡±

    She had no choice. Although she received money from Imperial Entertainment, the music festival rules were final.

    Before Xia Yu could say anything, the crowd was already drowning her in boos. She could only stumble down the stage hurriedly. Many angry fans directly ran towards her, wanting to surround and hit her.

    The scene was a mess.

 Chapter 524 - The True Winning Streak

    <h4>Chapter 524: The True Winning Streak</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stood on the stage.

    She was nonchnt as she gazed at the chaos below the stage as if she were not the one who triggered this scene at all. There were a deep arrogance and elegance about her appearance. It was subtle but strong, leisurely but restrained and calm.

    That was the true temperament of someone cultured.

    In contrast, Xia Yu was humiliated after being sent away.

    The emcee suddenly realized that she should not provoke this girl. However, since she already provoked her, even if she smiled dryly, she had to finish this segment. ¡°Xiao Ling, since you¡¯re already on stage, how about you join in the IQ quiz? You can win a few attractive prizes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡± Xia Ling replied clearly as before.

    Below the stage, the original crowd that was immersed in Xia Yu¡¯s scandal suddenly noticed that Xia Ling was still on the stage.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, participate in the IQ quiz!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we really want you to!¡±

    They used their hands to amplify their voices and shouted at the stage.

    Right now, they felt that this girl was very smart, even smarter than Xia Yu. This was because just as she was being called out, she knew how to turn a disadvantageous situation into an advantageous one. She took the initiative to counter and chased her biggestpetitor off the stage.

    She was just too quick-witted.

    However, Xia Ling could only smile bitterly. What was there to expect? Besides singing, she did not know anything else. Even when she sang, she was not as familiar with music like the industry gurus. This IQ quiz involved all these aspects, and she was afraid that she would end in defeat.

    ¡°I really can¡¯t do it.¡± She did not hide it. ¡°I spend all of my time singing.¡±

    ¡°How about we talk about my rtionships?¡± Recently, the gossip about her was widespread, and people started cheering in the crowd.

    ¡°Ok...¡± She had good stage presence and did not panic after being asked any question. In contrast, she felt calmer than before. She slightly tilted her head, and her voice became softer and clearer. ¡°Well, not all about love. Last year, I had a difficult pregnancy, and my child died. So, I¡¯m busy investigating and recovering from this incident. I don¡¯t have much time to read for leisure, and my knowledge is very limited.¡±

    Her appropriate self-exnation was short but sympathetic.

    Unconsciously, many people thought of the little baby who had died not long ago and felt sorrowful, so they were more forgiving towards her. ¡°It¡¯s ok. We won¡¯tugh at you if you lose.¡±

    However, Xia Ling really did not like to lose.

    However, if this continued, the audience would be let down.

    She thought about it and said in a gentle voice, ¡°How about I sing a song for everyone here.¡± After that, she turned to look at the emcee. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can do this. Is this against the rules?¡±

    The emcee was in tears. Of course, it was against the rules. However, since she mentioned it, and the crowd was anticipating it, she didn¡¯t dare to say that it was against the rules now because she would be attacked by the angry fans. The emcee was fearful of that and said, ¡°I can make an exception this once.¡±

    Xia Ling finally smiled. She thanked the host and presented a song to the audience below the stage. She was a Diva in her past life, so her singing skills were perfect. She had also experienced so many emotional changes in this life that the emotions in her song were delicate and impable.

    Although it was only an impromptu song, her performance was moving and perfect. At the end of the song, there was thunderous apuse. She bowed her head gracefully and closed the curtain.

    On this day, the news of what happened during the music festival was released again. Skyart Entertainment¡¯s public rtions department also included herst elegant gift after Xia Yu was chased off stage. When the two incidents were side by side, Xia Yu¡¯s fall from grace was more obvious, while Xia Ling was noble and beautiful.

    Li Lei scrolled down the webpage, satisfied. He decided to increase the sry of the public rtions department.

    The online anti-fans were very formidable. They were not finished after talking about Xia Yu¡¯s loss to Ye Xingling yesterday and continued to criticize her for being shameless the next day.

    Everyone hated her for lip-syncing and were unkind about it.

    As for Xia Ling, although everyone did not know that she deliberately exposed Xia Yu, the first time Xia Yu¡¯s lip-syncing was exposed was when shepeted with her. The second time when she was chased out of the music festival, she was also trying topete with her. They all thought of Xia Ling as an angel and had a good impression of her, especially the fans of the singers that Xia Yu defeated in her previous rounds. They all supported her and thanked her for giving their idols a new chance.

    What was the chance?

    Speaking of it, this was actually disadvantageous for Xia Ling.

    Due to Xia Yu¡¯s lip-syncing during the arena battle, the music festival organizers announced that the contest was invalid and that they would organize another one. As the final winner of the invalid contest, Xia Ling would be the main challenger of the newpetition.

    This meant that she was the first one to stand on stage.

    Besides Xia Yu¡¯s lip-syncing, no one had ever managed to win from the start until the end during the music festival arena battle and be the ultimate champion.

    This meant that the first person to appear was like cannon fodder and a stepping stone for others.

    The masses sympathized with Xia Ling. Initially, she safely became the winner, but due to unexpected changes, she lost her title.

    A music festival reporter made a special trip to interview Xia Ling and asked her, ¡°Miss Ye, do you feel that this arrangement is a pity or feel any dissatisfaction?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel dissatisfied at all.¡± Xia Ling maintained her usual attitude. When she faced the camera, she appeared cold and indifferent. ¡°That¡¯s because no matter how many times this happens, the final winner will always be me.¡±

    ¡°Wow. Such confidence!¡± The reporter was surprised.

    Xia Ling smiled at the camera. ¡°I¡¯ll only know the result if I try it. Along the way, I also want to educate some people and let them know that they don¡¯t have to lip-sync to win from the start to the end.¡±

    This interview sent waves after it was broadcasted¡ª

    ¡°Ye Xingling may be too overconfident. There are so many music festivals and so many singers who failed to achieve this goal. Why does she think she can do it just because she says so?¡±

    ¡°However, I¡¯m still looking forward to it. If she can really win from start to end and be the champion with her own strength, won¡¯t she be viciously trampling on Xia Yu¡¯s already very humiliating situation?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. In that case, Xia Yu will be too ashamed to show her face.¡±

    Everyone was anticipating the new round of the arena contest. On the day of thepetition, the audience was filled, and there were a few times more people than the initial crowd.

    Xia Ling wore a beautiful dress with gorgeous hair essories loosely attached to her flowy hair. Once she appeared, she attracted everyone¡¯s attention. As she raised her microphone and sang the opening song, her voice was mesmerizing and beautiful.

    There was no surprise. She won the first round.

    The second round, the third round...

    The rounds ended, and no one could reallypete with her.

 Chapter 525 - The Megastars Are Scared

    <h4>Chapter 525: The Megastars Are Scared</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She didn¡¯t do it the way Xia Yu did the other day, lip-syncing to pre-recorded songs.

    Xia Ling¡¯s live performances were very varied and spontaneous¡ªeven melodies that had already been set could take on a different spin on the same day. Hence, although she had won many rounds, the audience never got tired of her singing. None of them were fatigued from hearing her voice in the way they felt towards Xia Yu.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡± Each time she reached an instrumental part of the song, the cheers would roar.

    The atmosphere was getting increasingly exhrating, attracting even more audience.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± A tourist walking by asked.

    The audience responded, ¡°Ye Xingling is having a head-to-headpetition, and she¡¯s won 10 consecutive rounds already. We want to see if she¡¯ll be able to make a miracle happen by winning all 19 rounds!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Another audience member joined in. ¡°I see you¡¯re new around here. Come join us, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be worth your time and money. So far, every song Ye Xingling has performed today is a modification of the original she had released. It¡¯s amazing! She¡¯s simply a genius!¡±

    Suchments attracted even more people to join in the fun.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t let them down indeed. Sometimes, she even inserted an additional short bridge or verse during an instrumental, surprising everyone. Many of them became her fans overnight.

    ¡°Oh no, what do I do? I¡¯ve supported Brother Fang this whole time, but now I really like Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°I followed Vivian here all the way from Singapore, but once I saw Xiao Ling... I¡¯m sorry Vivian, I¡¯ve got to change my idol!¡±

    ¡°Shall we get her autograph after the show ends?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡±

    The crowd was going mad.

    To Xia Ling, this was a scene she had seen too many times before in her previous life. She had the stage presence and the power to keep everyone¡¯s eyes on her.

    ¡°Seems like we¡¯ll be seeing a Diva in the entertainment industry soon.¡± Someone in the crowd said.

    11 consecutive rounds, 12 consecutive rounds...

    With Xia Ling as their opponent, all of the singers around did not have any hopes of winning. Some singerspletely gave up on trying to win, all thinking about was how to lose less embarrassingly.

    Even megastars and other heavenly kings like Bai Murong were drawn by the crowd.

    ¡°Hey,¡± a popr male singer nudged Bai Murong. ¡°This is the girl who has recently returned to Skyart? She¡¯s still so good, I can¡¯t even tell that she¡¯s spent a year at home as a Madam of some rich household. In fact, she¡¯s even better than some who¡¯ve practiced for years.¡±

    ¡°But of course, our Xiao Ling is the most talented.¡± Bai Murong smiled, defending his junior.

    Another big star came along. ¡°I already had a feeling the other day that she had overshadowed you during the selection round. Honestly, when both of you sang ¡®Powerful Opponent,¡¯ there were some parts in which she seemed to be leading you along.¡±

    Bai Murong was crying internally. <i>Hey brother, can you be a little less harsh?</i>

    He coughed. ¡°No such thing, how could this little girl lead me along? Sharing the stage with me gave her the inspiration and feel, that¡¯s how she suddenly improved at her stage presence.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡±

    ¡°Oh... okay...¡±

    A few of the megastars gave thoughtful, suggestive looks. Those at that level were pretty good at sizing up other singers, and it was obvious that Bai Murong was just bragging since Ye Xingling¡¯s stage presence and performance style waspletely different from his! Though there were some simrities, Ye Xingling seemed to be even more adept at influencing her audience with her enthusiasm than he was!

    In fact, a more appropriate term for this would be...

    ¡°A cult!¡± One of the celebrities reached an epiphany.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, she¡¯s a cult leader!¡± Another celebrity went along. ¡°It¡¯s scary.¡± This was not meant purely as a joke. In fact, it seemed like they really felt threatened by her. Poprity aside, and just considering her live performances alone, she was not inferior to any of them.

    ¡°Which of you can reach her standard of having the audience revere her like she is a cult leader?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t, either.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Only Bai Murong thought for a while before shaking his head. ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡±

    They were shocked to realize that none of them could do as well as Xia Ling. As she stood on stage, the confidence she exuded was so alluring, the only thing left for the audience to do was to revere her and soak in her astounding influence.

    Onstage, Xia Ling looked up elegantly and confidently with no care for anything beneath her¡ªit was as if all the cheers and screams were nonexistent. She seemed to be the ruler of the universe as she created her very own world of music, one that struck everyone deep in their hearts.

    ¡°She reminds me of somebody.¡± Someone said after a long silence.

    ¡°Oh, please don¡¯t.¡± Everyone could guess who he was referring to. ¡°Diva Xia Ling has passed on a few years back. After her passing, the ticket sales for my concerts rose significantly. If another Diva of Xia Ling¡¯s standard were to appear now, I¡¯m going to lose my ie.¡±

    Another megastar groaned. ¡°Losing ie isn¡¯t the biggest of worries. Don¡¯t you remember how the fans used toment online when Xia Ling was alive? They said that old uncles like us were no match for Xia Ling! Those were the years of humiliation! Humiliation, alright?! I don¡¯t want to relive those days.¡±

    Everyone was on the verge of tears.

    ¡°How about... we strangle her in the cradle?¡± Bai Murong stroked his chin thoughtfully.

    Their eyes lit up. ¡°How? What¡¯s your n?¡±

    ¡°Fire a bomb at her home?¡±

    ¡°Decapitate her?¡±

    ¡°A car ident would be good, we can disguise it as an ident.¡±

    ¡°Shh, you people. What are you thinking?¡± Bai Murong red at them. ¡°She¡¯s with our Big Boss now, and our Boss has a background of being involved with the triads, don¡¯t you know? Whoever dares to fire a bomb, please, leave me out of the picture.¡±

    Everyone kept quiet.

    ¡°Then, what do you suggest?¡± They asked Bai Murong.

    Bai Murong looked up at the stage. Xia Ling was already on her 15th song and seemed a little tired. Yet, she was still going strong, and her voice was still tender and hypnotizing. ¡°If you still love me, you won¡¯t forget me... If you still love me, you¡¯ll remember the rose in your heart...¡±

 Chapter 526 - An Additional Round

    <h4>Chapter 526: An Additional Round</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was definitely a cult.

    Bai Murong swept a nce across the intoxicated audience and truly believed that if Xia Ling said ¡°All of you are to hand me every cent you have now,¡± they would actually follow her orders without hesitation.

    He decided. He was going to do society justice!

    ¡°I have an idea...¡± Bai Murong smiled deviously. ¡°The best way to deal with her is to give her a taste of her own medicine. We can do what she did to Xia Yu. In thest round, when she¡¯s close to victory, we¡¯ll give her a super-super-superstar that would bring her down in the final round, making all her previous winspletely useless.¡±

    ¡°Wow, sounds evil.¡±

    ¡°Hey, is that even your junior you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Brother Murong, are you in love with Li Lei or with Pei Ziheng, why do you have such hatred towards Ye Xingling?¡±

    ¡°Shush, you, I¡¯m being serious.¡± Bai Murong said. ¡°This girl is too young. She¡¯ll be toocent if she wins this so easily. I have her interests at heart and am just trying to put her in her ce so she won¡¯t be too overconfident.¡± This sounded pretty reasonable, so no one interrupted him.

    ¡°But,¡± one of the celebrities said. ¡°if we suddenly get someone to challenge her in the final round, the fans will just think we¡¯re sly and mean. If we win, it¡¯ll be inglorious. And if we lose, it¡¯ll be downright humiliating.¡±

    Most of them nodded their heads in agreement.

    They were all singers who had made a name for themselves a long time back. If they challenged a young girl like Ye Xingling now, they would just appear to be bullying her. What made it even worse was that nobody was certain they could beat her.

    ¡°Look at you people,cking the guts to do this,¡± Bai Murong said. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to feel her stage presence first-hand? I have an idea. You can tell the emcee to modify the rules a little bit and change it to a duet-style challenge instead. Not only will thise off as lesspetitive, but you could also say something about helping the next generation of singers out and, at the same time, experience her prowess first-hand.¡±

    This did not subject anyone to embarrassment, and at the same time, achieved their goal.

    Indeed, they were curious as to just how well Xia Ling could lead the audience along with her influence. Just observing it alone was not enough, one had to truly experience it for himself to know it. The same way Bai Murong did when he performed ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± with her onstage.

    ¡°On that note, how did you feel thest time when you sang ¡®Powerful Opponent¡¯?¡± Somebody asked out of curiosity.

    Bai Murong narrowed his eyes slightly. ¡°This little girl is pretty strong, I have to admit. If I made even the slightest mistake, I would¡¯ve been overshadowed by her.¡± Since someone had already exposed him earlier, so he didn¡¯t bother lying through his teeth. ¡°But fortunately, I was strong enough to maintain my strength and presence. This girl is a little inexperienced, she¡¯s not my match.¡±

    Hisst statement had some of them nodding their heads.

    Most of them had watched the video of their performance for ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± and could tell that, although Ye Xingling seemed to be attempting to overshadow Bai Murong at some point, he managed to perform to his potential without much of inhibition towards the end of the song. They felt more relieved now. It seemed like this little girl was still a notch below Bai Murong and wasn¡¯t as scary as they had thought earlier on. In fact, she might not even be able to beat them.

    But what they did not know was that Xia Ling wasn¡¯t even singing to the best of her ability when she performed with Bai Murong. She was just trying to bring out the best in Bai Murong, and when his performance improved, she modestly held back her best skills.

    Bai Murong was the only one to have guessed her intentions, and hence, wanted to get somebody else to test the waters so he could see just how good Xia Ling could be. He had nned this all along, and nobody saw through him.

    They were very much on his side. ¡°This is a good idea, we can take this opportunity to see just how good she is.¡± They were excited to watch how the up-anding star of this generation was going to perform and find out how good her singing actually was.

    Bai Murong¡¯s smile was as sly as a fox¡¯s. ¡°Who¡¯s up for it?¡±

    ¡°Murong had his turn, let¡¯s exclude him. For the rest of us, shall we just take a random draw?¡±

    Hence, the few of them huddled together excitedly and took a draw. They decided on one person in no time.

    It was Qin Zifeng, a very popr, good-looking male singer who stood at 1.8 meters tall. He called his manager over and talked to him briefly.

    The manager considered for a bit and thought it was a feasible idea. He went over tomunicate this to the organizer of this head-to-headpetition.

    Xia Ling had just finished singing ¡°ss Fingertips¡± and her 19th consecutive win.

    ¡°19 consecutive wins!¡±

    ¡°19 consecutive wins!¡±

    Cheers reverberated.

    This was the first time in the history of the Heavenly Voice Music Festival that a singer managed to win every single round from start to finish, clinching the final title.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling, we love you!¡± Countless fans screamed at the top of their lungs.

    The emcee walked onstage all smiles. ¡°Our Xiao Ling is really amazing, being able to win so many consecutive rounds without the use of a recording or lip-syncing.¡± Xia Ling definitely did not lip-sync for thispetition. Not only did she change her tempo spontaneously and deliver apletely different version from the original album, the way she moved around onstage made it impossible for her to cheat. There were two stages at the site, and she had to alternate between both spaces over the 19 rounds. It was practically impossible to use recordings for such a scenario.

    The crowd cheered even louder upon hearing what the emcee said.

    ¡°Final winner!¡±

    ¡°Final winner!¡±

    ¡°Champion!¡±

    ¡°Champion!¡±

    Everyone was soaking in exuberance.

    ¡°But,¡± the emcee started. ¡°this isn¡¯t considered the final victory.¡±

    This statement had everyone stunned. Xia Ling was confused too, was that not the final round? Didn¡¯t she already beat every contestant? There were 19 rounds, just like thest time. Unless... there was some kind of trick? She tilted her head slightly with a look of confusion.

    The emcee smilingly said, ¡°Actually, a lot of megastars and other amazing singers have had their eyes on this head-to-head battle. In fact, we¡¯ve just got a memo from one of them saying that he wishes to share a stage with you in the final round. Both of you will sing a duet, and then we¡¯ll determine the final winner.¡±

    Xia Ling waspletely puzzled. Which megastar was being so absurd?

    ¡°I wonder if Xiao Ling is agreeable to it?¡± The emcee said. ¡°He also said that if you win, he has a gift for you.¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t the least bit interested in the gift, but she was very curious about who that could be. Anyone who was at the standard of a megastar should be able to tell that she was exceptional in this field. If that was the case, was he really not afraid of being humiliated in front of such a crowd, or was he simply confident of winning?

 Chapter 527 - Trapped In Her Tempo

    <h4>Chapter 527: Trapped In Her Tempo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The audience got excited and began chanting.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Take him on!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Take him on!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the fans thrilled by thisst-minute change. She gave a sweet, elegant smile and raised the microphone, calmly saying, ¡°Alright.¡± The way she agreed to the challenge made it appear as if this were no big deal to her¡ªshe didn¡¯t seem to be facing a megastar, but rather,pleting just another insignificant task.

    She truly exuded the air of a Diva.

    In the backstage, Bai Murong and the other celebrities sipped tea as they watched the event unfold. ¡°This Ye Xingling really seems capable,¡± one of them said. ¡°If it were any other female star, she would¡¯ve just rejected the challenge in the name of thepetition rules. She, on the other hand, epted the challenge readily. That¡¯s impressive.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled. ¡°Otherwise, why do you think our Boss fell for her?¡±

    A few of them nodded.

    That was true. If Skyart¡¯s Big Boss couldy his eyes on this woman, surely she must have her strengths?

    Suddenly, someone asked in an unfriendly tone, ¡°Didn¡¯t your Boss and her break up about two years back? Why are they back together now that she¡¯s divorced?¡±

    Bai Murong smiled patronizingly. ¡°True love.¡±

    The other person couldn¡¯t rebut that.

    Onstage, the enthusiastic emcee went on with the event. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s see who this celebrity is ¡ª Qin Zifeng! Three-time winner of the Best Melody Award, original singer to ¡°End of the World¡± that took the world by storm. Today, he¡¯ll be sharing the stage with Ye Xingling! What surprise will they bring us?¡±

    It was alreadyte at night, and under the starry sky, the dancing lightsnded on Qin Zifeng. He was only in a simple ck shirt for thisst-minutepetition, but he appeared suave in his simplicity.

    The screams got even louder.

    He was screened in the most popr drama series currently, and the fans got all the more hyped up realizing that their idol was the final-roundpetitor. The screams were so deafening that Bai Murong had to cover his ears.

    In this sea of madness, only Xia Ling remained as calm andposed as before as she stood onstage with a sweet smile. As a breeze swept her beautiful long hair, she appeared like a lone flower, blooming spectacrly in solitude.

    Even the air around her seemed to be still and calm.

    ¡°This girl really has a wonderful presence of her own.¡± One of the Heavenly Kingsmented.

    Bai Murong smiled. It was good to know that his junior was outstanding enough not to be overshadowed when she was put together with somebody as popr as Qin Zifeng. At the very least, she had passed the first round of judgment andparison between the two of them. He swelled with pride on the inside.

    On the stage, Qin Zifeng walked towards Xia Ling.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Ye Xingling. You¡¯re really courageous to have epted my challenge.¡± Qin Zifeng initiated conversation.

    Xia Ling kept her smile on, but her next words shocked everyone. ¡°Not much courage is needed to ept your challenge.¡± In her opinion, being a Diva in her first life and then a famous singer in her second gave her an understanding of music that an average person wouldn¡¯t be able to attain. Even if it weren¡¯t Qin Zifeng challenging her today but Bai Murong, or Zheng Chenhao, she would have felt no fear.

    But to everyone else, this statement sounded like ¡ª

    A boast!

    She was just a female celebrity with some poprity, how could shepare herself to a super popr megastar like Qin Zifeng? She actually said that epting his challenge didn¡¯t take much courage! What did she take him for? Was this not a p to his face?

    Qin Zifeng was shocked as well, but he responded politely and smilingly, ¡°You¡¯re an interesting girl, you actually don¡¯t fear me at all. In that case, pick a song and we¡¯ll sing a duet. Either ¡®Meteor Wings¡¯ or ¡®Eyes Beneath The Mask,¡¯ since I¡¯m not too familiar with your other songs.¡±

    Thest statement stirred someughter.

    It was nothing unusual for a megastar like him not to be familiar with the songs of a female singer who had left the scene for a year. In fact, it was already a surprise that he could sing two of her songs.

    To everyone¡¯s surprise, Xia Ling said, ¡°Can I pick one of your songs instead?¡±

    ¡°My song?¡± Qin Zifeng was stunned for a second time.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Xia Ling said matter-of-factly. ¡°Senior Qin Zifeng, I remember your ¡®Fireworks,¡±Flower of the Dawn,¡±Because I Love You¡¯... they were all beautifully written, and I like them a lot. So, how about we sing yours instead?¡±

    ¡°Little girl, I¡¯m d to know that you like my songs this much.¡± Qin Zifeng smiled. ¡°But are you sure about this? You¡¯ll be at the losing end.¡± She had been in thepetition for a whole day and was definitely more fatigued than he was. Given that she was not as popr as him, and was also of a lower status in the industry, picking his song was akin to courting death.

    But Xia Ling did not think so.

    She said, ¡°I can sing most of the popr songs, and I really like a lot of yours, Senior. It¡¯s an honor for me to be able to duet with you.¡± Qin Zifeng¡¯s poprity was not just due to advertisements and sensationalization, his songs were indeed catchy and sincere. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t lying when she said she liked them.

    Qin Zifeng had beenplimented by countless people and was already numb to it. Yet, for some reason, hearing this little girlpliment his songs out of the blue warmed him inside. ¡°Little girl, you¡¯ve got good judgment. I have high hopes for you.¡± He smiled kindly.

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re doomed.¡± One of the members in Bai Murong¡¯s circle said as he asked for some popcorn toplement the unfolding drama. ¡°Zifeng has fallen into the beauty trap. He¡¯s losing his footing with just a few sweet words.¡±

    ¡°Pfft, exactly. Ye Xingling is a smart one.¡±

    Bai Murongughed. ¡°Given the way shepliments others, anyone would have lost their footing.¡±

    This group of megastars had had too many praises, but they were usually from those brainless fans or people outside the industry. Even if someone in the industry gave them a thumbs-up, it was usually for some mary gains or to get into their good books. But Xia Ling was different¡ªwhen she looked at others with her clear eyes, it was almost as if she could look into the depths of their soul. And when she said praised their songs, she meant it from the bottom of her heart.

    Getting acknowledgment from someone like her was an amazing feeling.

    ¡°Hahaha, I think Zifeng is going to be defeated.¡± An outsider might not have been able to tell, but this group of megastars could tell that Qin Zifeng had already fallen into her trap from the very beginning. He was going to go along with her tempo, and she was going to lead him along to her beat.

 Chapter 528 - An Incredulous Stage Presence

    <h4>Chapter 528: An Incredulous Stage Presence</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Unknown to himself, Qin Zifeng was already mesmerized by her.

    When he first went on stage, he was worried about losing to somebody so much lower in status than him. But now that Xia Ling had showered him withpliments and praised him sky high, he suddenly felt a certain connection with her¡ªlike she was a soulmate, a fellow talent who truly understood his music. He was genuinely thinking of her interests now.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t have to sing my song,¡± he said. ¡°My songs aren¡¯t that easy to sing, and it¡¯s especially strenuous for girls. I can sing your song instead.¡±

    Those words actually gave Xia Ling a good impression of him.

    She knew that Qin Zifeng¡¯s songs were usually of the pop style, but he usually added special elements to it¡ªsuch as heavy metal or rock and roll¡ªwhich made it challenging for most female singers. But not for her. Having been a singer for two lifetimes, she had mastered most of the different genres of songs. She could even sing a whole heavy metal or rock and roll song, much less a pop song with just elements of it.

    Hence, she smiled politely. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I really enjoy trying out new styles. The audience has listened to my songs for an entire day, and I even had to repeat a few songs. I bet they must be tired of listening to those, so it¡¯d be good if we could switch things up a little.¡± Her career in this lifetime wasn¡¯t all that long, so she only had those few songs to work with, and had to repeat them when she got to theter rounds.

    Actually, the audience didn¡¯t mind her repeating her songs. Each time she sang the same song, she would make a little modification, giving the song a different style to it. With that, the audience actually did not grow tired of listening to them.

    But now that Qin Zifeng was involved, they were even more curious as to how she would modify or perform another singer¡¯s song. They were behind Xia Ling with regards to the song choice. ¡°That¡¯s right, Qin Zifeng! Let her sing your song!¡±

    ¡°We want to hear your song!¡±

    ¡°Handsome Qin¡¯s songs are the coolest!¡±

    Qin Zifeng didn¡¯t expect things to turn out this way. If she sang his song, wouldn¡¯t it appear as if a senior were bullying a junior singer? He was still weighing his options when Xia Ling said, ¡°Moreover... Senior Zifeng, aren¡¯t you curious as to how I¡¯ll be performing your song?¡±

    His heart fluttered.

    He¡¯d be lying if he said he wasn¡¯t curious.

    During the span of the head-to-headpetition, he had observed that her voice was indeed powerful, and her style unpredictable. She was always giving the audience surprises during her performances. He wondered if she sang his song, what sort of surprise would she be able toe up with?

    ¡°Qin Zifeng! Qin Zifeng!¡±

    ¡°We want to listen to Handsome Qin¡¯s song!¡±

    The audience cheered him on.

    Qin Zifeng finally made a decision. ¡°Alright, little girl, pick a song of mine then.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled, ¡°Let¡¯s sing ¡®End of the World.¡¯¡±

    Qin Zifeng raised his brows slightly. ¡°Are you sure?¡± This girl did not just pick his song, she actually picked the most difficult one to sing.

    ¡°This song is very popr recently,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I¡¯ve heard it more often, so I¡¯m more familiar with it.¡±

    Heard it... more often... the audience froze for a moment. Girl, you¡¯re picking such a tough one topete with him over on the basis that you¡¯ve ¡°heard it more often¡±?

    ¡°This Ye Xingling,¡± one of the megastars smiled and shook his head. ¡°Very interesting.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s bragging shamelessly.¡± Someone said.

    Bai Murong grabbed a handful of popcorn but did notment. He recalled that when they sang ¡°Powerful Opponent,¡± she had only listened to the song once before and went through the lyrics briefly before she reproduced it perfectly. He knew what she was made of ¡ª if she said that she had ¡°heard it more often,¡± then she was definitely capable of singing it very well.

    This was truly a gift.

    Qin Zifeng didn¡¯t want to talk to her anymore for fear of hearing even more shocking and surprising things. He had made considerations in her interests, but she had put him down time and again. It seemed like this girl needed to learn a lesson. She needed someone to show her that she was nowhere near the best.

    He had set his mind to it and wouldn¡¯t persuade her further. ¡°Alright, ¡®End of the World¡¯ it is!¡± He needed to put her in her ce.

    Onstage, the music came on, and the fog flooded the stage.

    It was Qin Zifeng¡¯s song, so he sang the first line: ¡°If the years we have were boundless, if the time we have was eternal, if you would turn around to look at me once more...¡±

    Xia Ling caught on with the next line naturally and fluently.

    ¡°If there was one more connection between us...¡±

    Qin Zifeng turned to look at her and couldn¡¯t mask his admiration. This girl was talented indeed, she could grasp the exact beat and moment toe in, and was neither too overshadowing nor too soft and negligible. It was as if she were built for this melody.

    The fact that she could enter at exactly the right moment with perfectly bnced power in her voice was enough to have everyone cheering for her.

    Xia Ling went on singing, but the next line was an improvised version, one that kept the original elements of it but had even more of a kick to the melody. ¡°If your love for me was only infinitesimal... a connection in twilight...¡±

    Qin Zifeng felt his heart skip a beat¡ªthe time hade.

    He had already known before he came onstage that this girl¡¯s impromptu improvisation was fantastic and that he needed to guard against that. But he didn¡¯t expect her to y it this early on in the song. Slightly shaken, he had to consciouslypose himself. ¡°Bit by bit, sand gathered into a tower...¡±

    Xia Ling continued making variations to it, like a witch putting her powers to use. ¡°How long can they gather for... if itsted forever, would it even reach your fingertips...¡±

    Qin Zifeng was going mad, her power and presence on stage were terrifying. The variation of the second line waspletely different from the first¡ªthere were no regrities to it, but it came together so well. Not to mention the audience, even Qin Zifeng himself had been led into her fantasy world. He was involuntarily going along to her rhythm, her beat.

    ¡°A connection in twilight...¡± He repeated the second verse before realizing to his horror that he had sung it with the melody she had just invented. Frustrated, he went back to his original version. ¡°Can¡¯t reach your fingertips...¡±

    His sudden change in melody sounded a little incoherent.

    The megastars gathered offstage were shocked, ¡°Surely not, it¡¯s only been two lines and Qin Zifeng has already been defeated?¡± What kind of powers did this girl have exactly?

    ¡°Take it easy, maybe he just hasn¡¯t warmed up yet. Zifeng¡¯s a strong singer himself, he won¡¯t be defeated so easily,¡± another one of them said. ¡°Remember when Murong sang ¡®Powerful Opponent¡¯ with her? He was overshadowed by her at one point too, but didn¡¯t he recover after that?¡±

    Bai Murong was exasperated. <i>Brothers, could you stop citing me as an example? Could you just forget about the time this girl overshadowed me? Please?</i>

 Chapter 529 - Her Call

    <h4>Chapter 529: Her Call</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Qin Zifeng could feel himself at the losing end too.

    He regained hisposure and steadied his voice. ¡°At the end of the world, you¡¯re standing tall in the distance, while I walk the path as a humble being...¡±

    Xia Ling admired his steadiness. It took a lot of mental strength to be able to regain one¡¯sposure so quickly. She didn¡¯t have anything against Qin Zifeng and did not want to embarrass him in any way, so she made sure not to go overboard in exhibiting her prowess. Instead, she mellowed down her voice naturally and with ease, the way a Phoenix was in control of her wings at will. ¡°The humblest of believers, in a night of revelry...¡±

    Qin Zifeng had regained his footing onstage but still felt tentative of the situation, worried that Xia Ling would have further tricks he couldn¡¯t guard against. Just as he was all wound up and getting ready to tackle what she mighte up with, she unexpectedly went along with his melody in the next line. That took some weight off his shoulders.

    Qin Zifeng sang a few more lines, and Xia Ling¡¯s voice went along well as an apaniment. Although there were some interesting improvisations here and there, she did note up with anything too difficult for him. Slowly, Qin Zifeng felt himself regain control of the stage.

    <i>That¡¯s right </i>. He thought. <i>This girl probably knows that she won¡¯t be able to beat me, so she executed her strategy right at the beginning of the song. Who knew that I would actually regain my footing so quickly, leaving her with no other option but to back off.</i>

    Qin Zifeng was convinced that he was right, and hence, regained his confidence.

    He raised his pitch and sang with his most spectacr voice. ¡°As time has passed and turned to dust, our connection bes a thing of the past.¡± He intentionally yed with the tune at the end of the line, making it difficult for her to continue with the next. Now that he was confident again, he couldn¡¯t wait to overshadow her and make it clear who the winner would be. He wanted to teach this girl a lesson.

    Xia Ling simply smiled.

    She actually made conscious efforts to ensure he wouldn¡¯t lose with embarrassment, but it seemed like he was getting ambitious and wanted to defeat her. At that moment, she altered her voice the way an elegant Phoenix would spread out her beautiful wings, slowly and mightily. It was a splendid scene.

    ¡°A connection that transcends boundaries, has reached the end of the world, vanishing into dust...¡±

    Her voice seemed to be able to paint pictures ¡ª of a sunset in the distance, a bleak end of the world, a connection that had turned to a magnificent cloud of dust, and even the hopeless expression of a lover.

    Instantly, the audience was fully captivated. They held their breaths as she sang that line.

    Qin Zifeng tensed up again as the feeling of being overshadowed by her returned. Unable to better her, he barely managed his next line. ¡°In ash and dust,y memories of the past...¡±

    The beautiful scape at the end of the world seemed to have vanished.

    His line had everyone snap out of the fantastical world Xia Ling had painted and back to reality. Now conscious that they were simply viewing a performance and not experiencing it, they felt some disappointment.

    ¡°Gosh... unbelievable...¡± One of the megastars in the group muttered. ¡°Qin Zifeng is really going down.¡±

    True enough, Xia Ling had the upper her hand for the rest of the song, and he had to go along with her beat and rhythm. She was like the empress, requiring no effort for others to bow down to and abide by her wishes.

    Qin Zifeng felt her might very strongly.

    And so did the other megastars sitting in the audience.

    The audience was not so professional, but they could sense something too ¡ª although Qin Zifeng was good-looking, he did not manage to tug at their heartstrings the way Xia Ling did. During this performance, it was Xia Ling¡¯s voice that truly had the audiencepletely immersed in it. She was simply amazing. Having left the arena for a year, she was actually a match for an extremely popr megastar.

    The song came to an end.

    Apuse roared.

    Xia Ling gave an elegant bow to end the performance while the audience screamed: ¡°Encore!¡±

    This was only a head-to-headpetition and not a concert, how could there be an encore? But the audience was too enchanted by her voice to consider that. In fact, they neglected Qin Zifeng¡¯s presence onstage and cheered solely for Xia Ling¡ª

    ¡°Ye Xingling! We want to hear your single!¡±

    ¡°Single for ¡®End of the World¡¯!

    ¡°Single for ¡®End of the World¡¯!

    This was Qin Zifeng¡¯s original song, but through this duet, they had a newfound admiration for the girl beside him instead. Qin Zifeng looked awful as he gritted his teeth in frustration. Hepletely regretted taking up this challenge.

    Bai Murong looked at the scene, and a thought shed past his mind.

    He had deliberately egged them on in order to test the waters and see just how good Xia Ling could get. It seemed like she was inplete control of the stage and the audience ¡ª she would mellow down slightly when she wanted to, but she had the ability to steal the limelight and take center stage anytime she wanted. It was her call.

    This was even more terrifying and impressive than just trying to overshadow her opponent throughout the performance.

    Even a Heavenly King as strong as Bai Murong felt threatened by her.

    However, the rest of them did not know her well enough and thought that Xia Ling was simply lucky. ¡°Zifeng isn¡¯t in good form today. He managed to overshadow her in the middle part of the song but somehow lost it towards the end? This girl¡¯s form isn¡¯t all that stable either ¡ª she probably doesn¡¯t have the stamina to overshadow him for the whole performance ¡ª which was why there were some parts she seemed a little more mellow. She could improve on her control of the stage.¡±

    Bai Murongughed on the inside as he heard their conversation and suddenly felt superior to them intellectually. <i>Hmph, you¡¯ve all been duped by this girl. She¡¯s not as simple as you think. And you¡¯d never be able to feel the true power and pressure of her presence until you share the stage with her.</i>

    He looked towards Qin Zifeng with a hint of sympathy.

    Qin Zifeng was in deep thought.

    This girl was a little strange, he could not tell whether she was lucky to have won thepetition or if she really were so good at controlling how much stage presence she wanted to assert. He suspected that she was giving him a chance in the middle part of the song since it seemed like she was fully capable of overshadowing him in the beginning and ending parts. But, what if this girl just did not have the stamina to keep it up throughout the performance?

    He narrowed his eyes slightly and thought about it.

    The audience¡¯s cheers had not ceased.

    Xia Ling felt a little bad. She had just wanted to beat Qin Zifeng to obtain the champion title of the head-to-headpetition and never thought of embarrassing him this way. After all, he was a senior that she looked up to. But it seemed like things did not go as expected, and she had won by a farrger margin.

    At that moment, she really did not know what to say.

 Chapter 530 - Boat Orchid

    <h4>Chapter 530: Boat Orchid</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The emcee quickly went on stage and smiled as he said, ¡°What an entertaining performance.¡±

    Xia Ling still did not know how to react, which was umon in her two lifetimes as a singer. She used to have a very arrogant personality and would never think of someone as her equal. She would never be the bigger person and praise someone else. In this life, this was the second time she considered someone else her equal.

    Thest time she stood on the same stage as Bai Murong, it was not apetition. In the end, she let Bai Murong take the spotlight, but that did not mean she was inferior to him. However, this was different. To win sessfully, she had to suppress Qin Zifeng. She didn¡¯t know how to respond to this situation.

    Should she say that she won by fluke? She was unwilling to undermine her abilities like that.

    Should she praise Qin Zifeng¡¯s singing? Would people she was being sarcastic?

    She was confused and dumbfounded. It was only now that she showed a 20-year-old girl¡¯s innocence. As if the outstanding Phoenix on stage was just an illusion.

    Qin Zifeng lost and felt unhappy. Seeing that she was uneasy, all of his unhappiness turned into a sigh. He felt that he was not defeated by Xia Ling. Instead, he was probably defeated by Bai Murong. He was smart and reacted quickly. He felt that Bai Murong had the same uncertainties as him when he was on the same stage as her. Did she suppress her astonishing skills, or did she not have sufficient skills in the first ce?

    Bai Murong actually found someone to test this out during the second round.

    Qin Zifeng quietly gritted his teeth and secretly cursed Bai Murong for doing something so tasteless. On the surface, he couldn¡¯t help but save the situation. ¡°I lost. Ye Xingling is really impressive and truly a rising star.¡± He lost fair and square. No wonder he was nicknamed ¡°Commander Qin.¡± He really had a masculine andmanding appearance.

    ¡°Even though Commander Qin lost, he still looks so domineering. He¡¯s truly handsome.¡± An audience member said.

    ¡°Exactly. Even though Commander Qin lost, I¡¯m still his die-hard fan.¡±

    ¡°Commander Qin, I want to have your babies!¡± A crazy female fan yelled.

    ¡°Commander Qin is the most mighty!¡± Even more crazy female fans hollered.

    After hearing the shouting, Xia Ling was relieved. It seemed that she didn¡¯t cause much damage to Qin Zifeng¡¯s image. Only then did she let out a rxed smile.

    Qin Zifeng had been singing for years and was very observant. Seeing her reaction, he guessed what she was thinking about, and hisst grievance disappeared. It was not her fault that she sang better than him. In fact, her character was not bad. Although she won, she was still worried about her opponent.

    There was a warm feeling in Qin Zifeng¡¯s heart. In this year, he was only focused on surpassing others, and it was really rare for him to be truly worried about others. Thisdy was really a beautiful and pure person.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that if she were reced with Xia Ling in her past life, she would not be this beautiful and pure.

    In her past life, Xia Ling was arrogant and domineering and could not wait to crush her opponents. When she won, she didn¡¯t know how to suppress her feelings, and her opponent was lucky if she didn¡¯t maltreat them after their loss. Even in this life, when shepeted with people she hated, she would drag them down. He should really burn some incense and thank the heavens because there were only a handful of people that she gave in to.

    After listening to Qin Zifeng admit defeat, the emcee praised him for being a good sport. He also asked Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, I believe that many people here did not expect you to win. Do you have any thoughts?¡±

    Xia Ling had no choice but to speak and chose her words with great care. ¡°Hm... I like Commander Qin¡¯s singing style a lot. Very few people would think of this way to integrate heavy metal elements in their singing. It¡¯s very special. If there¡¯s a chance, I hope to have a conversation about his music direction with him.¡±

    What she said tugged at Qin Zifeng¡¯s heartstrings.

    This girl in front of him really understood music, which was why she was so genuine. Due to that, he knew that she truly admired him. It was unrted to her status and directly resonated from her love of music.

    ¡°Sure. I promise you.¡± Qin Zifeng said. He also couldn¡¯t wait to have a discussion with her.

    A thrillingpetition ended in harmony.

    Everyone was happy.

    The audience below the stage cheered again and congratted Xia Ling for winning the finalpetition.

    The emcee said with interest, ¡°Oh yes, Commander Qin. You said before that if Xiao Ling won, you would give her a gift. Can you let us know what this gift is?¡±

    Qin Zifeng was startled. He had long forgotten that. Before the battle, he never once thought that he would lose and just said that there would be a gift in passing. He didn¡¯t really prepare one.

    He looked awkward and thought about it. Finally, he said, ¡°Recently, there¡¯s a pot of boat orchids that are not bad that I got just in time to give it to Xiao Ling. Fresh flowers for the beauty.¡± His amateur hobby was to collect precious orchids, and many fans knew that a pot of orchids from him was definitely a treasure.

    ¡°Ye Xingling is really lucky.¡± In the group of superstars, someone said, ¡°Zifeng is so stingy. Thest time I went to his home, he wouldn¡¯t even let me touch his baby orchids. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s so generous to give away a pot of boat orchids today.¡±

    Bai Murong also heard about Qin Zifeng¡¯s hobby of cultivating flowers. It was said that he spent the money he earned from his concerts on the orchids, which was why he still couldn¡¯t get a wife. He also heard that recently, he received quite a good pot of orchids that his circle of friends raved about.

    The emcee said enviously, ¡°Xiao Ling is really blessed.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and thanked him.

    Thepetition ended smoothly, and the news exploded. She was the firstpetitor in history to finish the game from start to end, creating a record for the music festival. Thest duet with Qin Zifeng and the gift of orchids turned into a positive discussion.

    Xia Ling¡¯s poprity soared just as she wanted, and she stood on the stage in glory during the closing ceremony of the festival.

    Out of all the singers on the stage during the closing ceremony, she was the most eye-catching because the tform she stood on was the most legendary one, and she was also the most popr singer. Many mysterious auras were intertwined in her presence, and many reporters couldn¡¯t help but point their cameras at her.

    The music festival ended.

    Sister Mai Na analyzed their results. ¡°Not bad. The market response is very good. Word of mouth changed from the initial negative news of you joining the music festival into thepliments of many fans today. Many people even sympathized with you regarding the disruptions of your marriage with Pei Ziheng, and even more people wish for you tost forever with our Boss.¡±

    Xia Ling was calm. These are all superficial. To her, herrgest gain was being able to trample on Xia Yu. Now, Xia Yu was ridiculed every day such that she did not dare to show up, and even her advertising endorsements and official microblogging sites had stopped. It would probably take a very long time before her reputation was restored.

    Another gain was that pot of boat orchids.

 Chapter 531 - Femme Fatale

    <h4>Chapter 531: Femme Fatale</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was a pot of very beautiful orchids. After the end of the Heavenly Voice Music Festival, Qin Zifeng carefully gave it to her and even gave her handwritten detailed instructions on how to cultivate it. He told very solemnly, ¡°This is a treasure among cymbidium tortisepalums. You must take care of it well.¡±

    Muddle-headed, Xia Ling epted it.

    Looking at her clueless face, Qin Zifeng was frightened and scared as he feared that this treasure would be ruined by her. However, as a gentleman, he couldn¡¯t go back on his word, and it was toote to regret his decision. He could only cry in his heart. After repeatedly giving her instructions, he finally reluctantly left.

    Xia Ling ced the orchids in the living room. It was a quiet space, and the elegant orchids were like butterfly wings. The white flowers were fragrant and truly looked very delicate.

    She held her head in her hand as she stared at the orchids.

    Er Maoid beside her and quietly looked at the orchids. He lifted his ws in an attempt to scratch them in curiosity.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch.¡± Xia Ling swiped Er Mao¡¯s paw away to discipline it. ¡°Do you know that this is very precious? You should worry if Qin Zifenges back here to kill you.¡± She recalled Qin Zifeng¡¯s painful look before he left and felt a little guilty. She really didn¡¯t know how to take care of flowers. Would she cause them to die after a few days?

    Er Mao obediently stopped touching it and licked its ws somewhat grievously.

    Li Lei opened the door and walked in. The first thing he saw was a person and a leopard looking stupidly at a pot of beautiful orchids on the table. ¡°Qin Zifeng sent this?¡± Although he didn¡¯t watch the match, he paid attention to her movements and knew about the orchids a long time ago.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling said rather absent-mindedly. ¡°It looks very expensive.¡±

    Li Lei was very knowledgeable. With one look, he could immediately tell that the orchids were the top grade in the breed of Cymbidium orchids. He gritted his teeth secretly. What did he mean by sending someone else¡¯s girlfriend such an expensive pot of flowers?

    Li Lei was extremely jealous and gently said to Xia Ling, ¡°Expensive? Not really. If you really like it, I¡¯ll buy you ten pots of them.¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes at him. How could this person be the local nouveau riche? He didn¡¯t any taste at all. She retorted. ¡°Do I need you to buy them for me? I have my own money.¡± She never liked to use his money to buy expensive things and was unwilling to be a vine that was only able to survive by clinging onto him. She paused for a while, suddenly remembered something, and was very angry. ¡°Li Lei, since when did you help me pay my credit card debt? What¡¯s with the SMS notification on my phone!¡±

    Li Leiughed silly.

    Thest time she went shopping for clothes, she overcharged her credit card, and he secretly helped her pay back the debt. At this time, he acted dumb. ¡°This pot of orchids looks quite dry. Should we give it some water?¡±

    Xia Ling red at him, grabbed a pillow on the furry carpet, and threw it at him. ¡°You jerk! You paid my credit card debt behind my back! You promised to let me be independent!¡±

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m a jerk.¡± Li Lei reached out and grabbed her hand. Taking her into his arms, he felt satisfied and did not mind tolerating her scolding. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be this rough as a girl. In the future, you won¡¯t be able to marry anyone. Only I am willing to marry you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re looking down on me!¡± Xia Ling felt wronged and said in an usatory tone. She continued to throw pillows at him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll marry you!¡± Li Leiughed through the pillow shower.

    She threw the pillow a few more times before she finished venting her anger.

    The feathers of the pillow were scattered all over the ce.

    She felt a little tired and sat on the pile of feathers in a daze. Her line of sight unconsciously fell on the orchids. Li Lei got up from the furry carpet and hugged her from the back, secretly taking a whiff of her hair. ¡°Do you like orchids?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to take care of them.¡± She was very mncholic.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you check on how to take care for them.¡±

    ¡°No need. There¡¯s an instruction manual there.¡± Xia Ling raised her white finger and pointed at the instructional manual on the carpet that Qin Zifeng spent his blood, sweat, and tears writing. ¡°Help me take care of them.¡±

    Li Lei wanted to cry.

    He had always been impatient with these delicate things and desperately wanted to get out of it. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to be independent?¡±

    Xia Ling grabbed the pillow to hit him again, causing the feathers to drift profusely in the air. ¡°You¡¯re only asking me to be independent now?! Big jerk! Shameless man! I don¡¯t care, you¡¯re going to help me take care of it!¡±

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll help you...¡± Li Lei surrendered.

    Satisfied, Xia Ling stopped hitting him.

    The next day, she left the orchids to him and hummed as she went to the recording studio.

    Li Lei was left behind to silently stare at the pot of orchids.

    No matter which angle he looked at them, they just did not look pleasing to him. Once he thought that another man gave them to his woman, he became mad. He called Su Tang. ¡°Help me buy a new pot of Cymbidium orchids. It has to look exactly the same as this pot.¡±

    Since thest time he confessed to Xia Ling, Su Tang really wanted to continue staying beside Li Lei. Thus, Li Lei gave her a simple rule: She was not to make things difficult for Xia Ling.

    Su Tang endured her contempt and agreed.

    She was well culturally trained and was proficient at things like chess and calligraphy. At this time, she pointed at the pot of blooming orchids and said, ¡°Cymbidium orchids are treasures. Young Master, how is it possible to find another one that¡¯s exactly the same?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Well then, find a pot that¡¯s almost the same.¡± Besides, Xiao Ling was stupid and would not be able to tell the difference. He pointed at the pot again. ¡°Get rid of this pot.¡±

    Get rid?

    ¡°How should I deal with it?¡± Su Tang lowered her eyes and awaited further instructions.

    Li Lei was a bit explosive. ¡°I don¡¯t care. You can take care of it, or send it to a museum, or a botanical garden.¡±

    Su Tang slightly bowed and acknowledged him. She carried the pot of flowers, very clear about their origins. She had been monitoring Ye Xingling¡¯s every move and knew that Qin Zifeng gave it to her as it was widely publicized in the news.

    She carried it back to her own home and closed the door.

    After looking at it for a long time, her lips curved into a suggestive smile. She got up, took her mobile phone, and took a few photos of the orchids. Then, Su Tang put down the phone and extended her exquisite hand. She had a light blue lotus manicure on her fingers. With a gentle pinch, a faintly scented orchid flower silently fell to the ground.

    She picked the flower up and crushed it. Then, she smashed the flower pot. The leaves and flowers were all ruined, and her house was in a mess.

    She continued to smile as she took a few more photos using her phone and carefully kept them.

    These photos could not be used now as Young Master would easily guess who did it, and Ye Xingling would not get the me. However, it was fine to keep them. One day, she would be able to use them.

    So what if they were expensive orchids?

    It was just too bad that they fell into the hands of the wrong owner.

    She found a broom, swept the broken pot of millions of dors worth of orchids, and dumped it into the trash.

 Chapter 532 - Selecting a Grave

    <h4>Chapter 532: Selecting a Grave</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sure enough, Xia Ling did not realize that the orchids were different.

    Her days were busy and peaceful, and she bickered every day with Wei Shaoyin in the recording studio. When she returned home, she ate delicious food cooked by Li Lei, and Er Mao would curl up beside her. All was well.

    Sometimes, however, she would have nightmares.

    She would dream of a baby abandoned in the garbage dump, buried in an endless pile of garbage and smashed into a clump of flesh. She even heard his weak crying sounds as everything happened. She often cried as she woke up in the middle of the night.

    Every time this happened, Li Lei would hug her and gently pat her back as he gentlyforted her. ¡°Xiao Ling, everything is in the past. I know you¡¯re very upset, but I will always be here for you.¡±

    She burst into tears. ¡°It¡¯s still not over. I haven¡¯tpleted the final stage of sending my child off.¡± Unlike her dazzling appearance in the spotlight in the day, she looked like she was about to copse in pain from missing her son. How cruel was fate! Her child passed away just after turning 100 days old. If he could just hold on for a month... Li Lei would have defeated Imperial Entertainment and save both mother and child.

    She curled up her body and cried bitterly as she recited her child¡¯s name.

    Li Lei felt helpless and could only stay by her side to apany her for a long time.

    Xia Ling regretted being hospitalized due to abdominal injuries when her child died because she was unable to go the scene of the crime and personally see her child being cremated. He was so small. Was he scared when he was sent to the incinerator? Would he cry and think of his mother?

    As she thought about it, her tears fell again.

    ¡°How about I apany you to see him?¡± Li Lei asked. He didn¡¯t know where her child¡¯s ashes were ced and nned to order someone to investigate the Pei Family.

    Xia Ling shook her head gently. ¡°He hasn¡¯t been buried yet.¡± This child was cremated in a rush and soon Skyart Entertainment attacked Imperial Entertainment. Pei Ziheng was busy dealing with his business and simply ignored the funeral of her child. As for her, her wounds were not healed, and she had no strength to deal with many of these things.

    Things were just dyed.

    ¡°A few days after I was discharged, I chose an auspicious day for him.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°After half a month, he will finally be able to rest in peace. I... must prepare a proper funeral for him.¡±

    Li Lei asked gently, ¡°Have you chosen the grave?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Pei... He chose it.¡± Although he was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s biological child, he did not allow her to interfere with the choice of the grave. The Pei Family was eminent and were well versed in fengshui. Although a baby who died very early couldn¡¯t be buried in the ancestral grave, he had to find a suitable grave that would not affect the family¡¯s luck.

    Pei Family had his own fengshui master and left everything to him.

    Li Lei was also from an eminent family and as his grandpa believed in metaphysics, he knew more or less about the taboos of Pei Ziheng. ¡°Time is running out. He should have already chosen a good burial ground. Xiao Ling, I will help you ask him.¡±

    Xia Ling initially didn¡¯t want him to intervene, but on second thought, he was the child¡¯s biological father yet would never know of his child¡¯s identity. Perhaps intervening was the only way he could help his child. So, she agreed. Li Lei looked for Pei Ziheng to negotiate but things were not very smooth. Pei Ziheng coldly looked at him and said, ¡°Tell Xiao Ling toe herself.¡±

    Li Lei was unhappy. ¡°She is very sad and is having a hard time.¡±

    ¡°Having a hard time?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low. ¡°I¡¯ve seen her recent news. She¡¯s recording songs and doing interviews. How is she in a state of mental and physical exhaustion?¡±

    The subtle sarcasm in his words triggered Li Lei. ¡°You¡¯re not worthy to love Xiao Ling.¡± Xiao Ling was such a proud person. Why would she ever show her true sadness on her face? She was unwilling to be mocked by others and be left behind. She was only tortured by the demons in her nightmares when she was asleep and felt immense pain that she was unable to suppress.

    After hearing what he meant, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression became colder. ¡°Either you tell her to ask herself or get lost.¡± A child from the Pei Family did not need the interference of an outsider. He treated the biological father of the child with a cold shoulder as if he were the real father. Due to his pride as a man, he didn¡¯t tell Li Lei the truth. Instead, he said, ¡°She was the one who gave birth to my child.¡±

    Li Lei felt like he was shot in the heart. He clenched his fists as he watched Pei Ziheng walk away.

    When he returned home, Xia Ling greeted him. ¡°How was it?¡±

    Looking at the anxiety on her face, Li Lei said, ¡°He refused to talk to me. Xiao Ling, he wants you to look for him yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t expect this to be the result, but after thinking about it carefully, it was reasonable. Pei Ziheng was unreasonable and never allowed others to defy his will. The child¡¯s innocent face appeared in her mind. She lightly closed her eyes and said softly, ¡°Ok, I will go by myself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll send you.¡± Li Lei said.

    The high performance modified off-road vehicle was stopped outside Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi.

    Xia Ling felt like she was in a different lifetime returning to this ce. She gazed at the beautiful brick walls, ivy, and roses. Everything felt familiar but distant. Nanny Zhou greeted her at the entrance of the vi. ¡°Madam, no, Miss Ye. You¡¯re here. Mister is waiting for you inside the house. Pleasee with me.¡±

    Li Lei was about to follow her in.

    Nanny Zhou stopped him. ¡°Mr. Li, our Mister has already said that you¡¯re not weed.¡±

    Li Lei frowned and looked worriedly at Xia Ling. Xia Ling felt that Pei Ziheng¡¯s attitude was not surprising, but she refused to give up. She said to Nanny Zhou, ¡°Please let him in. I want him to listen to the discussion about the child¡¯s grave.¡±

    Nanny Zhou already guessed a long time ago that Li Lei was the child¡¯s biological father and felt that he was pitiful because he was unable to participate in the discussion of his own child¡¯s grave. However, Mister was even more pitiful because he wasted his time and money on his ex-wife¡¯s child and ended up empty-handed.

    She couldn¡¯t let this loving couple enter together and provoke Mister¡¯s sensitive emotions.

    Nanny Zhou insisted. ¡°Only you can go in, Miss Ye.¡±

    ¡°I will wait outside for you.¡± Li Lei said, his voice gentle. ¡°If there¡¯s anything, give me a call.¡± Today, she came with her most painful feelings to talk about the grave of her child and did not want to start a dispute over this small issue which would add more unhappiness to her current situation. Although Li Lei didn¡¯t like waiting outside, he could only make a sacrifice for her.

    Xia Ling looked at him hesitantly.

    ¡°Go.¡± He smiled at herfortably.

    Xia Ling finally turned around and walked into the vi uncertainly with Nanny Zhou.

    They passed by the living room and went to the study room on the second floor where Pei Ziheng was. There was a miniature set up on a thick and long rosewood table. The set up was of a cemetery, and there were markings of the directions in which the mountains and rivers faced. He sat behind the miniature setup. Seeing Xia Ling walk in, his voice was low and dark. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She stood straight in front of him. Her back was slightly tightened, and she looked somewhat vignt.

    ¡°We meet again.¡± There was an unclear emotion in his voice.

 Chapter 533 - Different States of Mind

    <h4>Chapter 533: Different States of Mind</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not want to meet with him.

    This unrightful rtionship should have ended a long time ago, and she wanted to stay as far as possible from him.

    However, this was the exact opposite of Pei Ziheng¡¯s thoughts. He cherished every second and minute he had with her. ¡°You look a little tired. Did you not sleep wellst night?¡± He got up and slowly walked towards her, but she vigntly stepped back.

    Thus, he paused in his footsteps and lowered his head to look at her, trying to look deeply in her eyes. Xia Ling was extremely ufortable with him looking at her, and even her voice was a little shaky. ¡°I came to look for you to talk about the baby¡¯s grave. Pei Ziheng, did your family¡¯s fengshui master find a good graveyard for him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng slowly and gently said, ¡°It¡¯s only a baby who lived for 100 days. He¡¯s already dead. Don¡¯t be too sad. Focus on taking care of yourself and don¡¯t let it affect your health.¡± He didn¡¯t want to go straight to the point because he knew that Xiao Ling was only here to talk about the baby. Once it was resolved, she would leave without hesitation. He wanted to see her for a longer time.

    However, Xia Ling was restless. ¡°Did you choose a good graveyard for him or not?¡±

    Pei Ziheng finally said, ¡°In Yongan Vige, ten miles away from H city. The scenery and the cemetery are beautiful.¡± H city was adjacent to S city, but they were separated by quite a distance. Driving back and forth would require more than a day.

    Xia Ling was heartbroken. ¡°Why did you choose such a far away location? No way.¡± Her baby was alone and lonely. Even if she wanted to see him, she could not see him often.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°That ce won¡¯t affect the Pei Family¡¯s fengshui.¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t even your child in the first ce. How can he affect your family¡¯s fengshui?¡± Xia Ling was extremely upset. ¡°You never liked him, and you still want to bully him even though he¡¯s dead by burying him at a ce so far away.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low and slow with a hint of ruthlessness. ¡°Why should I like him? Xiao Ling, I wish I could tear his entire body apart and rip out his every cell topletely destroy everything you and Li Lei made.¡± After that, he smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t love me anymore, right? Didn¡¯t you threaten not to give birth to a child for me? Now, just face the consequences of your actions. You can¡¯t get pregnant anymore. I¡¯m very happy that I won¡¯t be seeing a second spawn of the devil.¡±

    Xia Ling crumbled under his words.

    She said weakly, ¡°I didn¡¯te here today to talk about the past. Can¡¯t you bury the child in a grave a little nearer to the city?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Pei Ziheng said resolutely. ¡°No matter whose child this bastard is, on official documents, he is my child. He needs to follow the Pei Family rules.¡± In reality, this situation was unrted to the Pei Family rules. There were a few cemeteries in the city with good fengshui which were not in conflict with his family¡¯s ancestral grave and rmended by his fengshui master. However, Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t heed his advice and especially chose a ce far away from the city just to prevent Xia Ling from visiting often.

    He couldn¡¯t stand how much she missed another man¡¯s offspring.

    Xia Ling lowered her eyes and asked softly, ¡°I want to be a little closer to him. Can you help me?¡± She would only plead humbly when the situation involved important people.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart hurt a little, but he hardened his heart. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not your child.¡± She finally couldn¡¯t help but scratch the wound.

    Pei Ziheng was engulfed in rage. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s not my child. Do you want me to tell other people?¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and stopped talking. She understood that Pei Ziheng protected her child¡¯s identity only because of his pride as a man and not because he was thinking of Li Lei. If he told the truth to someone else, it was no different from telling Li Lei.

    In this case, he might as well tell Li Lei.

    This was the ending Xia Ling was most unwilling to see.

    She quietly epted the result.

    Finally, there was a satisfactory expression in the depth of his eyes. His voice softened again. ¡°I chose the best ce for good fengshui in the graveyard and asked a craftsman to engrave the tombstone. The grave relics and Fuyin soil will be of the best quality so that his spirit in heaven can rest in peace.¡±

    ¡°I want to prepare a few more things for him.¡± Xia Ling said softly.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her quietly.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I?¡± She was a little worried. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m his mother.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was piercing. His voice was calm and unwavering. ¡°It¡¯s just that you can¡¯t bring anything that has a trace of Li Lei.¡±

    Her expression darkened a little.

    Initially, she nned to put a few of Li Lei¡¯s things as burial articles so that her child would remember his biological father, but Pei Ziheng saw through her intentions.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re too cruel.¡± She croaked.

    ¡°Who exactly is the cruel one?¡± He said slowly. ¡°Xiao Ling, I hope you know that I prepared this since yesterday after knowing that you woulde today. I cleaned the entire vi and even trimmed the garden so that you can see this ce in its most beautiful state. However, even so, you won¡¯t stay. After more than ten years of being together, you had a change of heart just like that.¡±

    She shook her head, not wanting to have another dispute with him. He was too stubborn and would not be able to ept other forms of reasoning after making up his mind. ¡°After 14 days, it will be his funeral. We will meet again on that day.¡±

    She got up and left.

    Pei Ziheng quietly sent her off.

    She walked out of the living room on the first floor, stood under the porch, and saw Li Lei standing outside the garden gate not far away. Outside, the red wall was covered in ivy behind him. The leaves and nts that were just trimmed were very pretty had the warm sun gently shining on them and reflecting his calm expression.

    His eyes were fixed on the porch. Once he saw her emerge, he stood up straight.

    Xia Ling was about to walk a few steps to meet with him.

    Unexpectedly, Pei Ziheng suddenly softly called, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Without knowing it, Xia Ling turned around.

    Pei Ziheng reached out and gently dusted a speck of imaginary dust on her hair. His voice was very gentle. ¡°The door here is open for you at any time.¡±

    She looked a bit stiff as she retreated and left.

    Over there, Li Lei initially casual expression changed. In front of the entrance, that man and woman looked as beautiful as a drawing like they were a match made in heaven. Although he knew that Pei Ziheng did it on purpose, and he told himself not to get angry, his expression couldn¡¯t help but darken a little.

    He walked up, grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s hand, and got on his car.

    On the way back, in the car, Xia Ling was immersed in the sorrow of her child being buried so far away while Li Lei was focused on the image he saw at the entrance. Both of them were in different states of mind, and none of them spoke.

 Chapter 534 - Necktie

    <h4>Chapter 534: Necktie</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They arrived back home.

    Hairball meowed as it rubbed against her feet, and Er Mao remained in itszy and habitual position on the balcony basking in the sun. Xia Ling rxed and finally felt the exhaustion after confronting Pei Ziheng leaving her. She was disturbed and walked towards the bedroom.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei called her.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling turned around.

    ¡°You want to sleep?¡± Li Lei said, ¡°Take a shower first. You¡¯re dirty aftering back from outside.¡±

    Xia Ling said weakly, ¡°I have no energy to shower. I¡¯m sleepy.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was genial. ¡°I¡¯ll help you shower.¡± Just now, the image of Pei Ziheng gently stroking her hair was like a thorn piercing his heart. How could he tolerate another man touching his woman?

    Xia Ling was unaware of his thoughts, but since she loved being clean and didn¡¯t dislike showering before sleeping, she nodded in agreement. Now, she slept on the same bed as Li Lei and did everything that she was supposed to do, so it was no big deal for him to help her take a shower.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes lit up gleefully. He went to fill the bathtub with water and called her in.

    Today, she was wearing a in blouse with loose butterfly sleeves, looking elegant and soft. Li Lei stood behind her and undid the delicate buttons on the back of her blouse. Her white skin was revealed, exposing her thin shoulder des underneath her clothes.

    This was not the first time he saw her, but every time he did, she was always this beautiful.

    Li Lei leaned down slightly, kissed the back of her neck, and drifted his hands restlessly along her beautiful curves.

    Xia Ling felt that his breathing was a bit heavy and understood that he was somewhat aroused, but she was really tired today and had no extra strength to have sex with him. ¡°Don¡¯t make trouble.¡± She softly whispered to him and held his hand to prevent him from touching her waist. ¡°If not, I will shower by myself.¡±

    Li Lei quickly stopped. ¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡±

    After that, he really focused on taking off her clothes and did not try any other advances.

    Her clothes were removed, and her delicate and beautiful curves were exposed to his eyes. Although he had seen them many times on the bed, he rarely saw her like that. The soft afternoon light sprinkled through the one-way ss like gauze and silently fell on her well-proportioned body. She was a dancer and naturally had an indescribable rhythm, which was harmonious and beautiful.

    His line of sight, which fell on her, could not be moved. His heartbeat and blood flow elerated in response. However, due to her protests just now, Li Lei carefully restrained himself and helped her into the bathtub, focusing on giving her a bath.

    Xia Lingy on her back in the bathtub. The gentle water flow was like a song. As the rose petals and delicate shower gel foam surrounded her, she closed her eyes slightly and felt someone gently washing her long hair. He even massaged her skillfully.

    Gradually, she almost fell asleep.

    Half-asleep, she felt something soft cover her lips for a long time until she ufortably reacted. A pair of hands started touching her body. At the start, it was a very gentle clean up, but gradually, there was some taunting. Finally, he carried her and ced her on the soft andfortable bed.

    A heavy body pressed her down.

    Confused, Xia Ling finally reacted to what was going on and became awake. ¡°Li Lei... Don¡¯t...¡± She was exhausted today and had no physical and mental energy.

    Li Lei kissed her and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Xiao Ling, you can continue to lie down. I will do it myself.¡± He couldn¡¯t tolerate others touching his woman, especially Pei Ziheng. Today, that image provoked his heart, and he realized that washing her hair was not enough. He couldn¡¯t wait to mark her.

    However, Xia Ling was unwilling. She reached out and softly pushed him away.

    He lightly grabbed her wrist. ¡°Be good.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She murmured, a little unhappy. This was not a question of lying down and not moving, but rather her depressed mood because of the baby¡¯s burial. How could she enjoy this sort of thing now? However, her voice was too soft and sounded like a banter between lovers.

    Li Lei continued to hold on to her wrist. He bent his legs above her body and started to kiss her.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She was really irritated now and tried to struggle, her movements as soft as before.

    He didn¡¯t take her resistance to heart. Straightening his body, he saw a necktie freely ced on the bedside table, so he took it and wrapped it around her wrists. He was from the triad and had been a mercenary for years, so he bound her wrists very professionally without hurting her or letting her move.

    Xia Ling struggled for a while and felt that her wrists were being tied up. This time, she woke uppletely.

    ¡°Let go off me!¡± Her tone changed slightly as she struggled to get up. The clear sunlight outside the window shone on the spacious bed. In the shadows, the man in front of her seemed to ovep with another person in her memory. In her past life, there was also another man who liked to tie her up and ignore her pain and resistance as he forced himself on her. The memories started to flood back again.

    She started to struggle ferociously. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t...¡±

    Her lips were blocked by someone. It felt gentle and not overbearing. Originally, it was fascinating, but today, she only felt fear. Xia Ling was really scared, but she couldn¡¯t make a sound. She was like a small boat in a storm being tossed about... Pain, horror, humiliation... These dark emotions raged again. Xia Ling weakly resisted as tears fell out, and she fainted.

    When she woke up, Li Lei was sitting next to her.

    The necktie around her wrists had already been removed, and there was only a shallow bruise which disappeared in a few hours without a trace. His binding skills were really good.

    She recalled what happened before fainting and was furious. She red at him and shouted hoarsely, ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re crazy!¡± Her body ached, and her heart ached even more as if it were pierced by countless ss shards. She stumbled out of bed, went into the bathroom, turned on the shower and showered herself.

    Li Lei also calmed down.

    In reality, he was fully logical after she fainted and knew that something was wrong. He didn¡¯t think that he acted violently as he was careful not to hurt her with every move. However, why was her reaction so intense? He followed her to the bathroom and stood by the bathroom door, watching her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I...¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± She screeched and mmed the bathroom door.

 Chapter 535 - Scared

    <h4>Chapter 535: Scared</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Water from the showerhead rained down over her, and the air began to steam up, forming a faint mist. She leaned against the door, slowly sliding down to the ground. She sat on its cold, hard surface, wrapping her arms around herself tightly.

    The bruises on her wrist were still there.

    As Xia Ling stared at the faint traces of the wound, her body began to tremble.

    She had been with Li Lei for a rather long time, and she felt no repulsion towards his touch. If he did use more force in his expression of desire for her sometimes, she would be angry but wouldn¡¯t cross over to her being terrified or furious. However, he used a tie to tie her.

    This scared her to death.

    Why did he not stop when she said no?!

    A knock sounded from outside.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Li Lei sounded tense. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Open the door.¡±

    Xia Ling stayed silent. She recalled how in her previous life, she gave her all into loving a man but ended upnding in a state of imprisonment, humiliation, and aggression. Her reincarnation this time around, she thought she found true love for the rest of her life, but a sudden paragliding incident made them miss their chance of forever. She fought so hard to protect his child, yet the child died a month before he managed to rescue them from the other man. In order to have their child buried nearer to them, she bitterly pleaded with another man, only to face rejection. And while she was drowning in misery and loss of hope, he chose not to care when she struggled and rejected his advances and brutally reopened a fresh wound of hers.

    She was drowning in sorrow.

    She didn¡¯t understand why she faced such a tough and bitter life.

    Was this all fated, for her to never live in bliss?

    She let out a small whimper.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling? Are you okay?¡± Standing outside the bathroom, Li Lei heard her cries and pushed against the door harder. ¡°Please say something! Don¡¯t scare me! I was wrong, it¡¯s my fault, I shouldn¡¯t have treated you like that! Please,e out. Open the door, quickly open the door!¡±

    All she did was cry.

    In both lifetimes, sorrow poured out of her, and at that moment, she wanted just to die and end everything. Brother said that one time of attaining a state of nirvana would bring about a little bliss. So maybe, the next life would be one that¡¯s more blissful?

    But... she couldn¡¯t bear to.

    She couldn¡¯t bear to leave the man frantically pounding on the other side of the door. What if she reincarnated and forgot him? Even if she didn¡¯t forget him, what if he ended up being like Pei Ziheng and no longer loved the new her? She wailed and cried out loud.

    After a really long time, a loud sound came from the wall beside the door.

    Jumping in fear, she looked up with her red and puffy eyes only to see a huge hole through the wall that appeared out of nowhere and Li Lei¡¯s strong figure making his way out of it. Li Lei caught sight of her and immediately kneeled down, sweeping her into his arms.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you all right?¡± He asked anxiously.

    She cried even louder, sounding out of breath. ¡°Li Lei, you jerk! You animal! You bullied me!¡±

    He embraced her gently, her cries taking away his strength and filling him with pain and self-me. He was her man, and he was supposed to protect her. How could he end up hurting her? ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m really sorry... Sorry.¡± He said gently. ¡°I won¡¯t do that again. It¡¯s my fault, all my fault.¡±

    It took a while before she stopped crying, as her tears dried up. Li Lei carefully carried her back to the bed and gave her some honey lemon water to drink. He stayed by her side for a long time, waiting for her to calm down, but he didn¡¯t dare to ask about her sudden breakdown. It was only an act of tying her wrists, why did such a small gesture cause her so much rm?

    She hadn¡¯t properly thought it through, but Xia Ling lifted her tear-stained face and said, ¡°Li Lei, let me stay somewhere else for a few days.¡± Her voice sounded so unlike her.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°Stay somewhere else? Xiao Ling, I was in the wrong, please don¡¯t go. Isn¡¯t we staying together a good thing? I won¡¯t treat you like that ever again.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head weakly. ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice became gentle. ¡°Really, I will never hurt you again.¡±

    She still shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not the problem...¡± She remained in deep thought for a long time, not knowing how to exin. ¡°I¡¯m just... scared. Even knowing you didn¡¯t mean to, and that you won¡¯t tie me up ever again, but this kind of fear just cannot be controlled. Do you understand?¡±

    As she talked, tears spilled out of her eyes again, and she wiped at them with the back of her hands.

    Li Lei felt as if a thousand daggers were stabbed into his heart, and he was in so much pain it felt as if he couldn¡¯t breathe. ¡°The one who should be moving out is me, Xiao Ling. You stay here safely, I¡¯lle back when you no longer fear me.¡±

    Still, she still shook her head.

    ¡°I want to move out,¡± she said, gently but firmly. ¡°I¡¯m scared of not just you, but this bed, this house...¡± She used the back of her hands to wipe away her tears once again. ¡°Once I close my eyes, it¡¯s as if...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s as if?¡± He asked softly.

    The image of shackles and the dog came into her mind, and she fought hard to push back against the terror threatening to overwhelm her. ¡°Let me go.¡± She said, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m not trying to cause a rift between us. I love you, but this incident caused me to fear you. I¡¯lle back when I no longer hold so much fear towards you.¡±

    Li Lei knew that no amount of persuasion was of any use. He was also scared, scared that if he held too much control, he would lose her.

    Finally, he nodded and said somberly, ¡°Where do you want to go? I¡¯ll send you.¡±

    Xia Ling chose to stay at Feng Kun¡¯s ce.

    With a wound from the previous lifetime ripped open, she didn¡¯t dare to venture out alone, and also didn¡¯t want to receive too much concern and interrogation. All she wanted was a quiet and safe ce to stay. Besides Pei Ziheng, only Feng Kun knew about her reincarnation and even about the child.

    She could afford to have on a pained expression and be in such sorrow that she couldn¡¯t stomach any food, and yet nobody would ask about it.

    Li Lei was not in favor of her staying where an unattached man lived¡ªeven if it were Feng Kun, who had a good reputation within the industry. However, her limp form pained him, and he eventually gave in.

    He knew that Feng Kun had been her brother since the beginning.

    Feng Kun looked at her red, puffy eyes and got a shock. While ushering them in, he asked what happened. Xia Ling shook her head weakly, and Li Lei was unable to give a clear exnation too, saying, ¡°She¡¯s not in a good state and expressed her desire toe to stay with you for a few days till she feels better.¡±

    Feng Kun gained a bit of rity about the situation. Xiao Ling probably recalled something from her previous life.

    He said, ¡°No problem. The guest room is free to use. I will take good care of Xiao Ling, so don¡¯t you worry, Li Lei.¡±

    Deep down, Li Lei wasn¡¯t happy. He wanted to immediately grab Xiao Ling and bring her away from this house. But his sanity held him back, and he even told Feng Kun, ¡°Really sorry to have brought you such inconvenience. I wille to visit her often. And please do contact me if anything is wrong.¡±

    Feng Kun nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

 Chapter 536 - Sick

    <h4>Chapter 536: Sick</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei said his goodbyes and left.

    Feng Kun headed to the kitchen to get a cup of fruit juice for Xia Ling and asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    The reason for leaving the house this time was far too secretive and wasn¡¯t something she could exin easily. She just shook her head and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll stay for a short while before leaving. My feelings for Li Lei are still strong, there¡¯s no big problem.¡±

    Feng Kun did not probe further.

    He only replied, ¡°You can stay as long as you want.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head gently and said sincerely, ¡°Thank you, Ah Kun.¡± Maybe, aspared to Xia Moyan who came and went whenever, the man standing before her felt more like a brother to her. So warm-hearted and generous, always there during her saddest and most painful moments to provide her a back route, just like what her own family would do.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Nothing to thank me for, my ce is yours too. I almost forgot. I haven¡¯t congratted you. Your achievements at the Heavenly Voice Music Festival this time were good, and it has be more popr than ever before.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°You¡¯re kidding me, how does that count as much?¡±

    Eventually, Feng Kunughed too. True, even if she did extremely well at the music festival, it was nothingpared to how she attracted millions of people as a legendary Diva in her previous lifetime. At the coffee ce, it was considered to have fallen short. This small achievement was indeed not worth mentioning.

    He got her settled into the guestroom, with entirely new bedding andfortable, quiet space.

    In the middle of the night, she caught a fever.

    Xia Ling giddily got up to look for medicine and hazily recalled how it could possibly be due to her catching a slight cold when she took a bath in the day. Li Lei¡¯s treatment didn¡¯t make things better, and with her emotions then all over the ce, her body¡¯s immunity dropped drastically and led to her falling sick. She felt that she couldn¡¯t let Li Lei help bathe her the next time. He was a big jerk, a vermin, one who wasn¡¯t honest, and the risks were too high.

    While grinding her teeth, she almost collided into another person.

    It was Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun held her up, saw her abnormally red face, and reached out his hand to test her forehead.

    ¡°Are you sick?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling nodded obediently. ¡°I want to take some medicine.¡±

    Feng Kun said, ¡°You head back to the bed and lie there, I¡¯ll go find some medicine for you.¡± He helped her back to the bed, took her temperature, and got some warm water and fever medicine beforeing back to watch over her.

    ¡°When the one at your cees over tomorrow and sees you like this, I¡¯m going to get killed.¡± Feng Kun said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Xia Ling was so feverish that she spoke in a daze.

    Feng Kunughed as he used a handkerchief to dab at the sweat on her forehead and tucked her into bed before getting up to leave the guestroom.

    This bout of fever was a really bad one. The next day, when Li Lei came over to visit, shey on the soft bed of down and whined continuously while Li Lei chided her. ¡°Told you not to stay in someone else¡¯s house. Look, you fell sick the moment you left.¡±

    ¡°I caught a cold while showering, you vermin!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s small face turned red, as she tried to use her dewy eyes to re daggers at him.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart melted. He spoke gently, ¡°I was wrong.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Xia Ling turned her back against him, ignoring him.

    Li Lei decided topensate for his actions and borrowed Feng Kun¡¯s kitchen to make her favorite porridge. He also made a vegetable fruit juice and fed her bit by bit. She took a bit of rice from him before falling asleep.

    Li Lei apanied her for a while, while his phone rang endlessly. Things had been busy at Skyart recently, as Pei Ziheng recovered from his setback and wasing back at him with a strong counterattack, leaving him no choice but to put all his focus into fending him off. Seeing that Xia Ling was in good hands and that her condition was not too major, he requested for Feng Kun to take good care of her before leaving.

    Over the next few days, he could only afford toe by for a short period of time each day.

    Xia Ling was recovering very slowly from the fever andy in bed weakly each day with a heavy head.

    Initially, the n was for her to discuss with Skyart about her newest job offers after the music festival ended, to better aid her in her endorsements and recording of new songs. Wei Shaoyin was already looking forward to it, only to learn that she was cooped up in Feng Kun¡¯s house, sick. How could this be? Xiao Ling was Skyart¡¯s precious, how could she be recuperating from sickness at Feng Kun¡¯s ce?

    The moment Ah Wei learned of the news, he barged into Feng Kun¡¯s house.

    He entered with a fierce aura, rushing to Xia Ling and giving her a harsh scolding. He recently had a lot of experience with scolding and a long history of doing so. He scolded till Xia Ling felt extremely apologetic for letting down Skyart and guilty towards the entire world.

    Xia Ling huddled in the nkets, shuddering, nodding her head apologetically while carefully taking note of his facial expressions.

    Wei Shaoyin was breathing heavily, and when he turned his head to see Feng Kun standing by the door, his demeanor became even fiercer. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± One would think that this was Ah Wei¡¯s house, from the way things looked.

    Feng Kun stood by the door, having stood there for who knew how long, probably because he had never seen anyone scold like that. He stared at him, jaw-dropped, and only began to speak a few secondster. ¡°Are you thirsty?¡± He passed a ss of water over conveniently.

    Wei Shaoyin received the ss and downed it in one shot, probably tired from all the scolding. He then recalled that Feng Kun had not answered his question and asked again fiercely, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I came to pass Xiao Ling her medicine.¡± Feng Kun walked over, handing Xia Ling the Chinese medicine he held in his hand.

    Xia Ling took the two pills and said softly, ¡°I have no water with me.¡±

    It was then that Feng Kun realized. ¡°I¡¯ll go get some for you.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin exploded. ¡°Is this how you treat a sick patient?!¡±

    Feng Kun eyed the ss in his hand. ¡°... That ss of water was intended for Xiao Ling. I saw how long you took to scold her and figured you would be thirsty, so I passed it to you.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin kept quiet.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Feng Kun turned to leave, soon returning with two sses of water. One was a tall, thin crystal ss, with warm water for Xia Ling, while the other was a delicate, white porcin cup, with the bitter incense smell of coffee wafting from it. Feng Kun passed the coffee over to Wei Shaoyin.

    ¡°I heard from Xiao Ling that you like to drink Mandheling coffee. I have it at home, try it.¡±

    Xia Ling only mentioned it to Feng Kun once, never would she have thought that he would remember it.

    Maybe it was the scent of coffee, but Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression softened, and he sighed softly as he took the cup of coffee. Lowering his head to take a sip, his expression softened even more. ¡°I¡¯m alright with it.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled and didn¡¯t bother arguing with him.

    After he finished the coffee, Wei Shaoyin brought up his request. ¡°It¡¯s been really busy over at Skyart, and the amount of work has been piling up. I want to take Xiao Ling away.¡±

    Feng Kun nced at Xia Ling. ¡°She hasn¡¯t recovered yet.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°She can recover from her sickness at my ce too.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Feng Kun looked at him in suspicion and thought of how he should phrase his next words. ¡°You know how to care for a patient?¡±

    Xia Ling thought about how Wei Shaoyin often didn¡¯t know what he was doing and how he was a heinous neat freak and hurriedly blurted out, ¡°He doesn¡¯t!¡± What a joke. Staying here at Feng Kun¡¯s ce, she was able to have three meals provided on time and even midnight snacks, but if she were to stay at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s ce, she didn¡¯t even need to think about eating. Once he entered his workroom to work on his music, she would probably starve to death and no one would ever find out.

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± Wei Shaoyin red daggers at her.

    Xia Ling burrowed further into the covers guiltily.

 Chapter 537 - Masterpieces

    <h4>Chapter 537: Masterpieces</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feng Kun looked at them amusingly.

    After thinking about it, he said calmly to Wei Shaoyin, ¡°You can take Xiao Ling away. Remember to take her temperature every day at 6:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 8:00 PM. She has to take antibiotics three times a day. Give her two and a half pills an hour after every meal with a cup of warm water that is about 43 degrees Celsius. In addition, she can¡¯t catch a cold in the wind, and when she showers, you have to stand outside to take note of the time. If she takes too long, you have to call her to ensure that she doesn¡¯t faint inside. She has to drink clear liquids, and you have to pay attention to her diet. For breakfast, it would be best if she drinks vegetable juice and in porridge. You have to simmer the porridge in the pot for three hours. For lunch, give her food that is soft and easily digestible. For example, freshwater fish. Be careful not to buy types of fishes that have bones. Eggs and stew are fine as well. For dinner and supper, I will give you a list of things. There are not many things that she likes to eat such as beef, mutton, shrimp, squid...¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± Wei Shaoyin was distraught.

    Feng Kun¡¯s expression was peaceful. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin angrily pointed at Xia Ling, who wasying on the bed. ¡°Why is this princess so hard to look after?!¡±

    ¡°Ask your boss.¡± Feng Kun replied irresponsibly.

    Xia Ling wanted to rebuke and say that she was not spoiled by Li Lei, but after looking at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s furious expression, she refrained from uttering a sound.

    Wei Shaoyin was troubled. ¡°But, if Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t return, the recording studio...¡±

    Feng Kun smiled warmly. ¡°You can visit her frequently. I will let you use my working space.¡±

    This suggestion surprised Xia Ling. Music producers took their own workspace very seriously. That was a private space where creativity and inspiration were born. It was inconceivable for them to lent their space¡ªlike how writers wouldn¡¯t let anyone into their studies or how painters would never share their studios.

    Wei Shaoyin was also stunned and said, ¡°Who wants to use your workce?¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s such a pity. I just installed the NYX R Version sound system...¡±

    ¡°Wait, the worldwide limited edition one?! I heard that there¡¯s only one set in this country. It turns out that you have it?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I worked really hard to get it.¡±

    ¡°Well then, that¡¯s settled. You will lend me your workspace. No going back on your word!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless observing their conversation. She couldn¡¯t believe that it was so easy to bribe Ah Wei.

    Just like that, Feng Kun¡¯s house turned into a temporary recording studio.

    Wei Shaoyin visited daily and passed the time making music. He even asked Xia Ling to experiment with him.

    Thanks to him, Xia Ling finally found something that she couldn¡¯t finish. Once she got busy, her illness, Li Lei, and her dark past were pushed to the back of her mind. Her body and spirit became better every day.

    Feng Kun, who was responsible for taking care of the patient, and Li Lei, who frequently visited, were very happy. One said, ¡°Thank god for Ah Wei. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t have recovered so quickly.¡± Another one said, ¡°Yes, it is really time to increase Ah Wei¡¯s sry.¡±

    On this day, Feng Kun sighed as he poured a ss of warm water for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was vexed as she pondered about a melody. She repeatedly scrutinized a detail many times before finally remembering Feng Kun¡¯s words. ¡°Yes, he is a workaholic.¡±

    He truly earned the nickname ¡°Unreasonable Wei.¡± Recently, he was trying to drastically change ¡°Powerful Opponent,¡± the song she and Bai Murong sang until it was beyond recognition. Two days ago, he proudly gave the score to Xia Ling and told her that it was changed until it was almost ready to be sung. He told her to try it out.

    She couldn¡¯t help but admit that Wei Shaoyin was extremely talented. The revised score not only retained the essence of the original, but it also had a sublime beauty. However, Xia Ling felt that if the original singer Bai Murong received this score, he would cry because she also wanted to cry. The revised version relied too much on controlled details and was essentially nitpicking as she would be out of tune if she were not careful enough. These two days, besides eating and sleeping, Xia Ling spent all of her time pondering about the song.

    At this time, she was still in a daze.

    Feng Kun sat beside her. ¡°In the past when you were in Imperial, I have never seen you so bothered by a song before.¡±

    ¡°Was it the same as that time?¡± She asked.

    ¡°How is it different?¡± Feng Kun asked.

    ¡°At that time, there was...¡± She was silent. At that time, Pei Ziheng doted on her, and she was willfully unrestrained. When she wanted to sing, she could sing eight songs at once. When she didn¡¯t want to sing, no one would dare to criticize her even if she did not work for more than a year and a half. However, now, she did not wish to be the canary beside Li Lei. She did not want to rely too much on special treatment, so she had to learn to amodate the pace of others such as showing some team spirit instead of insisting that others follow her.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m not used to singing with others.¡± Xia Ling took the score and sighed. ¡°In the past, I used sang alone. Now that there¡¯s suddenly another person, there¡¯s ack of freedom.¡±

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°You were very self-important when you sang. Sometimes, it was ok when you sang impromptu on stage, but to seriously record a song is very difficult. Xiao Ling, your personal style is too strong, and you were never suited to amodate others.¡±

    Speaking of this, Xia Ling disagreed. ¡°I know how to be the bigger person now. You see, during the music festival, didn¡¯t I sing very well with Bai Murong and Qin Zifeng?¡±

    Feng Kun sped his hands together. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t you think this is where the problem lies?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She was startled.

    ¡°You cooperated with Bai Murong too smoothly... No, I should say that you are cooperating too well with Wei Shaoyin and everyone else. Have you thought that your individuality and unique singing cannot be integrated into another style so quickly?¡± Feng Kun said.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m different from the past. My style isn¡¯t so special and self-important anymore...¡± Before she could finish, she suddenly realized the problem. She was shocked and broke out in cold sweat.

    Looking at her expression, Feng Kun knew that she was aware of it. He got up and reached out his hand. ¡°Come, I will take you to see something.¡±

    He brought her to his workce and took out a sandalwood box from the innermost cab. Opening a threeyer lid, inside was a disc wrapped with white silk. There was a word neatly written on the tag: Masterpieces.

    Xia Ling was somewhat curious. She did not know why he treasured this disc so much.

    He carefully took the disc out and put it into a record yer.

    That was a purely instrumental disc. There was no human voice. The opening melody was enchanting and arrogant, violent and overbearing. Gradually, it became passionate and magnificent, amazing yet suffocating...

    Familiar yet foreign.

    Xia Ling listened to the melody in shock and could not believe it. Feng Kun actually put together all the songs that he had notpleted with her in the past ten years together. Most of them were impromptu songs that they created during their daily conversations as well as alternatives to the main arrangement. The two songs that they recorded halfway before she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng were amazingly there.

    He sorted them but did not finish them.

    Every note was a record of their most authentic thoughts at that point in time.

 Chapter 538 - Ignorance is Bliss

    <h4>Chapter 538: Ignorance is Bliss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She never knew that he did this for her. It was the most perfectmemoration of her after her death. Unconsciously, tears filled her eyes.

    Feng Kun handed her a tissue. ¡°Originally, I didn¡¯t want to let you listen to it because I was afraid that you would be sad. In the end, you still cried.¡±

    She choked between sobs. ¡°Ah Kun, thank you.¡±

    He lightly patted her shoulders like a brother.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Why did you suddenly let me listen to this?¡±

    ¡°This disc is called ¡®Masterpieces.¡¯¡±

    She looked at him in confusion.

    His eyes were quiet and deep. ¡°Xia Ling, if you were to sing Xia Ling¡¯s songs now, would you still be able to deliver the original emotions?¡±

    She was startled and shook her head. Her current vocal range was not as good as before, and even her state of mind was very different from the past. Now, she was physically and mentally exhausted. After going through the vicissitudes of two lifetimes, she could never sing in the same supercilious manner.

    Feng Kun said again, ¡°If Ye Xingling died today, what songs do you think can be considered your ¡®Masterpieces¡¯?¡±

    She was thunderstruck and speechless for a long time.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard all the songs you sang in these years. Every song is Wei Shaoyin¡¯s style and not Ye Xingling¡¯s style. Xiao Ling, the reason why you¡¯re working with Ah Wei so well is that you¡¯re overly amodating. You¡¯re suppressing and not representing yourself. With your experience and skills, pandering to him is very easy for you. That¡¯s why even a person as sharp as Ah Wei can¡¯t tell that there¡¯s something wrong with you. If I didn¡¯t know you well enough, I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell as well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m suppressing myself?¡± She mumbled. Even she did not realize this problem.

    ¡°These years, you hardlyposed any music besides your recent song ¡®The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend the Seas¡¯ and ¡®Stray Cat,¡¯ which was released more than a year ago. ¡®The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend the Seas¡¯ is my arrangement, so let¡¯s not talk about that and focus on ¡®Stray Cat.¡¯ The industry insiders can hear that it¡¯s Ah Wei¡¯s arrangement with their eyes closed as his personal style is too strong. Can you here your style? Not to mention in other songs.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, when you were working together with Ah Wei and the Dongyue people, have you ever given any creative opinions that were adopted? When you had a disagreement with Ah Wei, have you persisted? You¡¯re only passively cooperating and performing. Even when you have some inspiration, you¡¯re still amodating others¡¯ framework.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I dare to conclude that all the singles released in your name are all Ah Wei and others¡¯ ideas.¡±

    Indeed, Feng Kun was right. In front of him, she had nothing to hide.

    Feng Kun looked at her cautiously. ¡°Xia Ling is a legend. She is a masterpiece. As for Ye Xingling, what heights do yo want to reach?¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    Feng Kun knitted his brows.

    Xia Ling lowered her head. ¡°I don¡¯t dare to release music entirely written by myself. That will resemble my past life too much, and I¡¯m afraid that people will say I¡¯m an imitation. I¡¯m also afraid of falling back into the cycle of my past life.¡±

    Feng Kun¡¯s voice was gentle and steady. ¡°Actually, you¡¯re already unable to sing songs that give aplete feel of Xia Ling now. Xia Ling in the past also wouldn¡¯t be able to convey your current emotions. Xiao Ling, since your state of mind has changed, it¡¯s impossible that your style hasn¡¯t changed. Even if you have simrities with Xia Ling, it¡¯s impossible to be exactly the same.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She knew that, but some feelings couldn¡¯t be controlled logically. She didn¡¯t deliberately suppress herself. Rather, she was afraid. Just like that day when she was on the bed with Li Lei. He only tied her gently, but she was traumatized. And until now, she still didn¡¯t dare to return to that apartment.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°I know it¡¯s difficult for you as there¡¯s a lot of pain buried in your heart. However, Xiao Ling, you can only relieve your own pain by oveing it. It¡¯s the same for your singing and love. Instead of retreating, how about you burn your bridges. You must know that there¡¯s no construction without destruction. If you can¡¯t get past this hurdle, you can¡¯t be the best singer... and you also won¡¯t be able to truly be happy with Li Lei.¡± He already guessed her problems with Li Lei and knew this was not the right way to deal with it as she could not possibly hide every time something happened. Feng Kun was trying to advise her through music.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    She thought about Feng Kun¡¯s words for a long time. Perhaps she really should stop avoiding her past life¡¯s style. She should ept her subconscious singing style and integrate it into a new unique style toplete herself. She was not really Ye Xingling because she had Xia Ling¡¯s mind, this part was undeniable.

    A part of her life.

    ¡°Ah Kun, thank you.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°For the advice on singing and love. I will work hard.¡±

    The next time Wei Shaoyin came, Xia Ling quarreled with him in the workce. She wanted to change his score in several ces, but Wei Shaoyin said that they were superfluous. Xia Ling insisted, and Wei Shaoyin almost exploded in anger. Angry, he asked if she was stirred up by Feng Kun.

    At that time, Feng Kun happened to havee bearing coffee. He smiled sincerely and innocently. ¡°I swear that I haven¡¯t expressed a word regarding the song ¡®Powerful Opponent.¡¯ In reality, I haven¡¯t even see the score before.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin half doubted him.

    Feng Kun smiled and added, ¡°Even if you don¡¯t believe me, you should believe Xiao Ling¡¯s professional ethics.¡± He was from Imperial, while she and Wei Shaoyin were from Skyart. No matter what, she should not be showing him scores from herpany.

    Wei Shaoyin obviously just realized this and stiffened. ¡°Of course, I believe Xiao Ling.¡± He turned his head away and looked at the sky arrogantly.

    Xia Ling sighed. Feng Kun always spoke without missing a detail. Indeed, he had never seen the score of ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± or expressed his opinion on it, but he did express his opinion regarding her singing style. At the end of the day, the one who stirred her up against Wei Shaoyin was him.

    However, Wei Shaoyin was actually fooled by him.

    Why didn¡¯t she realize that Wei Shaoyin was this innocent before?

    Feng Kun faintly smiled, put down the coffee and left.

    Xia Ling thought about it for a while and thought she should give Wei Shaoyin a head¡¯s up. ¡°Ah Wei, in front of Feng Kun, you should speak carefully. He...¡± She didn¡¯t know how to describe Feng Kun¡¯s slyness and intentions and did not want to smear her old friend of more than a decade. She also did not want to hurt the pride of her proud friend. As she was thinking about how she should phrase it, Wei Shaoyin already snorted.

    ¡°That guy, besides his coffee making skills, what other talents does he have?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him quietly. Seeing him enjoying the coffee, she thought about it again and changed her mind. <i>Ah Wei, since you drank someone else¡¯s coffee, you should let him collect some interest. Feng Kun was just joking with you. As for you, it¡¯s better for you not to know the truth.</i>

    <i>After all, ignorance is bliss...</i>

    For this song, Xia Ling and Wei Shaoyin argued day and night. Luckily, the results were still gratifying. Although she couldn¡¯t fully express herself, at least she released a song that represented more of her style than her past songs. After a difficult discussion, her style was well integrated into the original song.

 Chapter 539 - Are You Xia Ling?

    <h4>Chapter 539: Are You Xia Ling?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Shaoyin was very pleased when he looked at the score.

    ¡°It¡¯s very different from your previous songs, but perhaps it will be even more popr.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. They didn¡¯t quarrel in vain. Although Wei Shaoyin was picky and annoying, he was definitely a worthy producer¡ªproud but not arrogant. With his recognition today, he needed an extraordinary vision to tolerate others challenging his authority.

    He hugged the score and joyfully walked away, wanting to give Bai Murong a surprise.

    Xia Ling silently prayed for Bai Murong. This was not a surprise but a scare. Anyone would cry after seeing such an obscenely difficult score.

    As she thought about it, she poured a cup of warm water for herself.

    The thin ss cup with a cracked ice pattern was beautiful. The clear water movements were reflected on her long, white fingers like a wless piece of art. She lowered her head to take a sip but felt that something was missing. There was no honey, mint or lemon. The taste was nd and disappointing.

    The house was empty as Feng Kun went to Imperial Entertainment.

    On the fruit rack in the kitchen, there were two golden lemons, but Xia Ling had long given up on her cooking skills. She would rather drink in water than touch them.

    She missed Li Lei.

    It seemed that with the breakthrough in her music style, a small piece of ice inside her heart had melted. There was something budding, a small voice that told her, <i>Xiao Ling, bravely ept the you from your previous life.</i>

    <i>Let your beloved person see your true self.</i>

    She wanted to tell him who she was.

    A long time before Pei Ziheng let her go, she told Li Lei that if she came back, she would tell him about her hidden past. Now that she was back, the promise was yet to be fulfilled.

    She took out her phone and lightly entered Li Lei¡¯s number on the screen. Halfway, she suddenly turned it off. All along, Li Lei was the one taking care of her and amodating her, so much that she was about to call him to pick her and send her back home.

    He was very busy recently. Every day when he came to see Feng Kun, he was always in a rush. Thus, she did not want to trouble him further.

    It would be better if she went back directly and give him a surprise.

    Making the decision, Xia Ling simply packed up her luggage, left a note for Feng Kun, and went back home alone.

    When she reached the apartment, she lightly pushed the door open and walked in.

    The house was very quiet. Er Mao waszily sleeping on thefortable furry carpet. The elegant cymbidium orchids were ced beside it, its jade white petals like butterfly wings.

    ¡°Li Lei, Li Lei?¡± She called him twice and realized that he was not at home.

    She heard the sound of something falling down in the study, followed by a kitten meowing as it dashed out of the half-closed door to greet her. ¡°Hey, Hairball.¡± Xia Ling smiled and bent down to pick the little kitten up. ¡°Have you caused trouble again and knocked something over?¡±

    As she spoke, she walked in the direction of the study, intending to pack up the things that were knocked over by Hairball.

    However, when she pushed open the door of the study, she was stunned. The wall was covered with photos of her previous life. There were pictures of her in concerts, professional photos, casual selfies, and even paparazzi photos... Beside every photo, there was another photo attached topare her expression, angle, or movement in this life with her previous life. They were ced together like some sort ofparison.

    Her heart pounded in her chest, and she had an ominous premonition.

    Walking to the desk, she found a graphic report on the spacious table which seemed to have been read many times as the edges had curled up. Her hand shook a little as she picked it up. The book¡¯s title was ¡°Micro-expression Comparison Analysis Book.¡± It was divided into two parts. The first part was theparison between Ye Xingling three years ago and the Ye Xingling now. The second part was about the Diva Xia Ling and Ye Xingling now.

    Finally, the conclusion was¡ª

    The Ye Xingling three years ago was apletely different person from the present.

    And Xia Ling was shockingly simr to her present self.

    Xia Ling broke out in cold sweat. There was a fear that her secret had been uncovered. She was willing to tell him what had happened, but it was another thing for him to investigate her without her knowledge!

    She scanned the desk. At the side, there was a handwriting identification report, a stack of lifestyle habits investigation reports, and a voice pattern analysis... All of the reports had the same conclusion: She was now so simr to thete Diva Xia Ling that they were like the same person.

    Her mind went nk.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± A man¡¯s voice came from the doorway.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw Li Lei standing there as if he had just returned home. He had not taken off his coat yet. He looked at her, then at the things in her hands. His voice quivered as he said, ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    He stepped forward.

    But she took two steps back.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Her voice shook.

    Li Lei was quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°I know this question is very absurd, but...¡± He looked at her deeply and slowly asked, ¡°Are you Xia Ling?¡±

    This was the first time she heard him call her by this name.

    His tone was so deep and solemn when he read out her real name.

    She didn¡¯t know if she should nod or shake her head. She forgot all of the things she wanted to say to him. Initially, she wanted to slowly test the waters, start to tell him the truth, and stop once he showed signs of not being able to ept it. However, now, her n was ruined.

    She didn¡¯t know what he thought about her true identity. Contempt? Fear? Hostility? Would he think of her as a heresy? Since he had already investigated to this extent, had he already found out that Pei Ziheng imprisoned her for a year and tortured her? Would he... abandon her and look down on her?

    She lightly moved her lips but could not make a sound.

    Li Lei already proved his suspicions by her expression. ¡°So it really is you.¡± His voice was painful like a sigh. In reality, after that paragliding ident, he already started investigating her identity, but when he almost uncovered the truth, he was separated from her.

    That time was tumultuous, so he had to stop his investigation temporarily.

    Later, after she returned to his side, he was ecstatic and only wanted to take care of her and spend time with her. He wanted to forget all about the investigation.

    Until her reaction on the bed.

    He became suspicious again and remembered the investigation that was half-done, so he renewed it. As he had almost finished the investigation, this time, the results came out quickly. The more he looked at it, the more shocking it was.

    If there were such a thing as reincarnation in this world, she must definitely be Xia Ling.

 Chapter 540 - Discovered

    <h4>Chapter 540: Discovered</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The sun was shining outside the window.

    Inside the house, there were many evergreen broad-leaved nts, giving people a chilling feeling.

    Xia Ling turned pale as she looked at the man in front of her with indescribable devastation. She hated the fact that she was not dreaming now or filming a scene. If a director shouted ¡°Cut!¡± now, how good would it be.

    She wished she had not pushed this door open.

    She would rather not know that Li Lei had been investigating her.

    Li Lei looked at her and gently said, ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯ve hurt me so much by lying to me.¡±

    She lowered her head, preventing him from seeing her expression. Her hands were clenched, her fingernails dug into her skin, and she felt a sharp pain. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to lie to you.¡± She used all of her strength, but her voice was still very soft. ¡°It¡¯s just... this thing is so screwed up. People would think that I¡¯m mentally ill.¡±

    This was not theplete reason.

    She did not say the deeper reason because that would cause indelible damage.

    She didn¡¯t dare to look him in the eye. Her body was trembling, and her white teeth bit her lower lip. Unknowingly, she bit too hard and blood flowed out. The man facing her stepped forward and stopped in front of her. He ced a warm and dry hand gently on her cheek.

    Her body shrank.

    He stopped in his movements for a while before continuing. His touch was very gentle like he was touching a butterfly¡¯s fragile wings. He slowly lifted her head up and rubbed her lips with his thumb to wipe the blood from her lips.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said.

    She looked at him with iprehension.

    He said, ¡°If only I knew you earlier.¡± If they met earlier in her past life before Pei Ziheng, would it mean that all of the damage would not happen? How good it would be if she met him on that day in the orphanage.

    Xia Ling batted her soft eyshes like a butterfly pping its wings. Slowly, her tears fell. She understood what he meant by his apology. It turned out that Li Lei did not me her for hiding her identity for so long. He only pampered and loved her so much that he wished he could transmigrate through time to protect her.

    Her tears rolled down her cheeks.

    He took her into his arms for a long time.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He said, ¡°I swear, I won¡¯t ever let you encounter that sort of thing.¡±

    Her body stiffened. That sort of thing? Was he referring to her murder during thest concert of herst life or did he know that she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng and the dark days of her past life? She did not dare to ask him as she was afraid that if he really knew everything, she would feel invisible, lowly, and dirty.

    Looking over his shoulder, her line of sight unconsciouslynded on the thick wooden desk. At a corner, there was a light blue card with the words: Stockholm Syndrome.

    Below it was a thick file.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart froze. He knew about it. He knew everything.

    She started to struggle intensively to break free from him and stumbled into the corner of the wall. She did not dare to look at him. ¡°I¡¯m very... dirty.¡± Her voice was weak. ¡°I¡¯m not worthy of you.¡±

    He looked at her warmly. ¡°We¡¯re already together for so long. Who cares whether you¡¯re worthy or not?¡±

    Her mind was in a mess, and she did not understand what he meant. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I lied to you and caused you to stay with me for so long without knowing anything. I will...¡± She wanted to say that she would leave. She was a woman who was abused and humiliated and could no longer have children. How was she qualified to be with someone who was so good to her?

    There was a sour feeling in her heart. She could not say the word ¡°leave.¡± She was not worthy of him, but she could not bear to leave. He was Li Lei, the only sunshine in her life and her final salvation.

    Her tears fell again.

    A tissue gently wiped her face.

    ¡°You¡¯re crying like a cat. Even Er Mao willugh at you.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s great that you¡¯re back now. How can I manage feeding two pets alone? In the future, you will take care of Er Mao and Hairball with me. We will set good examples for them by not running away from home and not bearing such a sad thing alone.¡±

    She sobbed louder. Her thin arms rested on Li Lei¡¯s shoulders, and her voice was hoarse.

    Li Lei hugged her again like he was hugging a child who had been hurt. If this made her feel better, he would let her lie on his shoulders forever.

    A few days ago, he already confirmed her identity and was heartbroken for her. He was also furious at that beast Pei Ziheng. However, every time he went to Feng Kun¡¯s house to see her, he did not dare to mention it as he was afraid that if he touched her wounds, she would run further away. Li Lei already decided to bury this matter in his heart forever and not let her know anything. He would treat her even better and make her happy.

    However, by mistake, she found out about it.

    ¡°I won¡¯t do anything with a tie anymore.¡± He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you. I don¡¯t care whether you are Ye Xingling or Xia Ling.¡±

    He loved her, not her identity.

    After this day, he was gentler towards Xia Ling than usual, but she didn¡¯t seem to be as lively as before. Sometimes, she would be careful when she saw him as if she were avoiding something. He knew that it was quite awkward, or rather, she felt inferior after someone discovered her wounds. However, it did not matter because they had enough time to heal slowly.

    Sometimes, she would sit on the windowsill and stare into the distance with a sorrowful expression.

    Every time that happened, Li Lei knew that she was thinking about the past. When that happened, it was as if there was an invisible and transparent ss wall in the air that was so far away from him that he could not touch it. Now Li Lei understood why Pei Ziheng was able to manipte her emotions so well. They were an unrightful couple in her past life. Since she was so badly injured, how could she easily forget such a tragic past?

    If he were the one who hurt his beloved woman, he was afraid that he would also be hung up on her.

    Often, Li Lei felt fearful. How should he fight against him?

    He could only be extremely gentle and take care of her meticulously. Perhaps in time, the scars made by another man would fade after a long time of warmth.

    He cooked for her, drove her to jobs, and even drove her on that day she was burying the baby with Pei Ziheng.

    The journey was very long as it was in the outskirts of another city. There was a cordon around the periphery of the cemetery. Today, people were not allowed to wait, and only Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman Pei Ziheng and his divorced wife were allowed to hold the funeral ceremony for their baby.

    Xia Ling arrived first. She was dressed in white and had ck flowers on her chest.

    Today, Li Lei also wore a formal ck suit. He held her and gave her courage and strength.

 Chapter 541 - Funeral

    <h4>Chapter 541: Funeral</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They waited for a long time.

    At thest moment of the appointment time, Pei Ziheng¡¯s ck Rolls Royce arrived.

    His chauffeur, who was wearing white gloves, opened the door for him. A tall figure walked out. He was as cold as before and seemed more oppressive in the gloomy sky.

    He looked at the pair in front of him, and his expression darkened.

    The solemn graveyard brought out their picturesque appearance. There was a simple washed out beauty about simple ck and white. They were not exciting or noisy, but they matched. Compared to him, they looked more like a real couple. Once he recalled that the child was actually Li Lei¡¯s, Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart felt like it was pricked by a thorn.

    He walked to Xia Ling and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±

    He didn¡¯t even look at Li Lei from the corner of his eye.

    Xia Ling helplessly turned around to look at Li Lei.

    Li Lei knew that he couldn¡¯t go in with her. Thest time, he was refused entry into the Pei Family vi, so he already knew how his business and love rival treated him. He was too domineering and would never let him step foot in his territory. He gave Xia Ling a soothing smile. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here for you. If there¡¯s anything, call me.¡± He handed all of his items to Xia Ling. ¡°Help me give this to your baby. Tell him that his mother is being taken care of very well now, so he doesn¡¯t have to worry in Heaven.¡±

    Xia Ling opened her palm to see a small and white daisy. Its petals quivered in the breeze.

    She sniffed and nodded.

    He was the child¡¯s biological father. However, she could only bring in this small flower.

    Pei Ziheng coldly looked at Li Lei. ¡°My child won¡¯t ept your flower.¡±

    Li Lei was not afraid of him. ¡°I¡¯m not giving him this flower because of your child. I¡¯m only doing this because Xiao Ling is his mother, and now, Xiao Ling is mine.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was not good at quarreling with others. He clenched his fists firmly and strode off. Xia Ling looked at Li Lei worriedly, then at the flower in her hand. She knew that although Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t say it clearly, there was no way that this flower could be ced on the tombstone.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°It¡¯s ok. It¡¯s just a flower. It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t put it on the tombstone.¡±

    He didn¡¯t want to trouble Xiao Ling.

    Xia Ling eyes were a little moist. This not was just a flower, it was the only gift the child¡¯s biological father could give to the child. She was upset and whispered, ¡°I want the child to see what you gave him.¡±

    Li Lei was moved. He turned to look at the terrain neraby and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it simple? You and him can bury the child. Once he leaves, I will take the flower to see the child¡¯s grave and talk to him.¡±

    Xia Ling felt better after hearing what he said.

    She softly said to Li Lei, ¡°I¡¯ll be going now.¡±

    Then, she turned away and walked in the same direction as Pei Ziheng to reach the graveyard.

    The funeral was very simple. This was a child who could never be buried in the ancestral grave and was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s biological son. Besides Pei Ziheng who was there to put on a show, the rest of the Pei Family did note. Such a bastard son did not require any formal burial.

    He stood beside the tombstone and looked as Xia Ling slowly approached it.

    She looked as mournful as her clothes in the gloomy sky. Finally, she arrived in front of the tombstone and looked at it with some distress.

    Although Pei Ziheng chose a far away cemetery, its location was not bad as the tombstone was surrounded by greenery. It was also quiet and peaceful. He was right, this was really the best ce in the entire cemetery.

    However, Pei Ziheng was not trulypassionate. Instead, he was acting. Rather than choosing a poor position to make Li Lei suspicious, it was better for him to choose the best position. It was just more costly. Buried underneath the tombstone would not be real human ashes but just nt ash to fool Xiao Ling.

    However, Xia Ling did not know.

    She lowered her head and took the yellow paper and tinfoil from the entourage. She lit them up and ced them into the grave. This was the first step in the ceremony to ensure that the child would sleep peacefully in the grave and not be affected by the storms outside. She carefully warmed every corner of the little hole and mumbled, ¡°Baby... Shaohui, I¡¯m sorry that I couldn¡¯t protect you. In your next life, I hope that you will reincarnate into a good family with good parents and siblings. I hope you won¡¯t be thrown in such a dangerous ce like in this life.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked slightly tensed, but he did not say anything.

    He stood at the side and watched as she mourned for the baby. He was slightly in a trance as he recalled that baby called Shaohui. Although he was not his son, he missed the way heughed so purely and spontaneously. Pei Ziheng felt that he must be crazy to miss the child of his rival.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling had finished warming the hole andid a golden cloth at the bottom of the tomb.

    The entourage handed the child¡¯s small casket to Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng took it and ced it in the dry and warm tomb. He leaned sideways and let Xia Ling walk over to ce a silver cloth on the casket, and finally, a red cloth on the silver cloth.

    The tomb was not big, and both of their bodies were very close. Pei Ziheng could smell the faint fragrance of her hair and feel the faint heat radiating from her skin. Perhaps, in this life, this would be thest time she would be so close to him. This thought caused a sudden sorrow in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart, crushing him.

    There was an uncontroble grief in his eyes.

    Outside the cemetery, Li Lei paced back and forth and snuck in through an inconspicuous corner to look for the ce where the child was buried. Hiding behind the green pines and blue cypress, he quietly looked at the two people in front of the tomb.

    Xiao Ling was about to cry, and Pei Ziheng looked extremely upset.

    They were like a couple that lost their loved one and were sad because of the same person.

    Li Lei could only look from a distance. He was a shadow in the distance. Suddenly, he felt irrelevant. The two people in front of him experienced so much together in two lifetimes. They even raised a child together and experienced the same pain of losing their child. How could his past with Xiao Lingpare?

    He lifted his head and looked at the gray sky with a heavy heart.

    The leaves rustled in the cold wind. Pine needles fell on his body, and he felt a slight and sharp pain.

    Over there, Xia Ling had already ced thestyer of red cloth on the tomb. Pei Ziheng put a whole set of jade and ancient copper coins on the red cloth. Although it was a fake tomb, he put in a lot of effort, and it was actually worth a lot of money. He didn¡¯t do it for the sake of the child, but for Xiao Ling to have a peace of mind.

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling was depressed and did not notice his feelings.

    She took the Fuyin soil from the staff and sprinkled it around the grave.

 Chapter 542 - Who Isnâ€™t in the Inner Circle

    <h4>Chapter 542: Who Isn¡¯t in the Inner Circle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei watched her from afar.

    Even though she was in great pain, she still looked beautiful as she dispersed the soil evenly on the ground, tears flowing down her cheeks.

    Staff members came forward to seal the coffin.

    She half-knelt by the child¡¯s tombstone and refused to leave.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, get up.¡± Pei Ziheng held onto her as he half-carried, half-dragged her away from the tombstone. She struggled, wanting to go back to be by her child, tears flowing uncontrobly. Pei Ziheng¡¯s grip on her became harder as he enveloped her in his arms. He watched expressionless as the coffin was sealed amidst the sounds of her crying.

    The coffin was lowered into the ground and covered, and the tombstone was set in ce.

    The words ¡°The grave of Pei Zhaohui¡± were carved clearly on the tombstone.

    Xia Ling¡¯s cried her heart out. Her child did not have time to grow up before he was cruelly taken away from her. He never managed to see his biological father. ¡°Let go of me... Let me see him.¡± She tried to struggle free of Pei Ziheng again as she spoke.

    Pei Ziheng did not release his grip on her. He said gently, ¡°He¡¯s dead. You need to ept that.¡±

    She knew that he was dead and would not evere back. Her baby¡¯s smiling face came to the forefront of her mind, which only made her feel more miserable. She cried until she became fatigued, and forgot to struggle free from Pei Ziheng anymore.

    Under the pine tree some distance away, Li Lei turned away from this scene.

    He did not want to see them behaving so intimately like they were a real family or partners for life. Before he learned about Xiao Ling¡¯s past life and reincarnation, he had thought that Pei Ziheng was the third party. Who would have imagined that destiny would y such a joke. He was the third party all along.

    The sky was gray and ominous over the deste public cemetery.

    His SUV was parked a street away from Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce. Where Pei Ziheng¡¯s car was parked, there were several bodyguards and the driver in sleek, ck uniforms, all donning solemn expressions. In contrast, his own driver and two bodyguards stood smoking by his car.

    Li Lei had a free personality and rarely brought many people with him. However, he knew that Pei Ziheng liked to make a grand entrance with many of his team in tow. As such, he had brought his driver and bodyguards along today so that the contrast would not be so stark in front of the love of his life.

    Yet, he still couldn¡¯t match up.

    He frowned at his driver and bodyguard, who were still smoking and engaged in conversation about a bet. ¡°You guys... look over at those few across the road... Can¡¯t you guys be more like them and save me some face?¡±

    ¡°Ah? Oh... ¡± The bodyguards didn¡¯t expect to hear Li Lei say that. They turned to look at the bodyguards across the street that were standing smartly at attention, even though their boss was not around.

    They realized that they were being a little too casual and attempted to rectify their postures.

    In the next moment, they gave up andmented, ¡°We¡¯re not the army contingent. Why do we have to stand so ufortably? Boss, can¡¯t you just let us off? They might look all smart standing there like that, but I¡¯m sure we can each take ten of them down.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly.¡± The other bodyguards agreed.

    They were all the elites of mercenary units and the underworld, vicious and experienced in warfare. They chose to retire from their previous life and be Li Lei¡¯s bodyguards out of loyalty to him. As for Pei Ziheng¡¯s bodyguards? They looked like they had been trained in professional agencies, and while they might look good in their uniforms and had professional capabilities, they had much less practical experience aspared to Li Lei¡¯s team.

    ¡°If we were to really go at it, I¡¯m sure we can knock one of them down in just three moves.¡± One of the bodyguards sneered as he looked over at Pei Ziheng¡¯s crew.

    The bodyguards on the other side of the street saw him looking over but remained emotionless.

    ¡°Tsk, how boring.¡± He cursed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve missed the point.¡± The driver spoke up. ¡°Boss is trying to say that we aren¡¯t as cool as those people over there. Miss Ye doesn¡¯t care for fighting or killing, and from her point of view, that bunch over there looks smart and neat. Can¡¯t you guys help Boss out?¡±

    The bodyguards gave a reluctant ¡°Oh...¡± as they looked over at the other side of the street with renewed lenses. ¡°Oh man, they have white gloves.¡±

    ¡°The car over there is really clean.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s driver was in a well-beaten windbreaker and stood leaning against the rustic-looking SUV, a cigarette in his mouth.

    The driver was speechless.

    He silently put out the cigarette.

    ¡°Give it here.¡± Li Lei reached out a hand from the side.

    ¡°What?¡± The driver turned to him, confused.

    Li Lei did not say anything, but reached into the driver¡¯s pocket and pulled out the cigarette pack. He removed one cigarette from the pack and lit it. He had given up. Whatever... how could his bunch herepare to the cold, chic, elite squad across the street? He should just smoke with his bunch here and let them be. After all, if they were to really fight it out, those across the street would be at the losing end.

    ¡°Aye Boss... This is a cheap 10-yuan pack from the nearby convenience store!¡± The driver hurriedly said.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t care less as he took a deep puff from the cigarette. The burn of nicotine entered straight into his lungs, which helped to soothe the ache in his heart. He threw the cigarette pack back to the driver. ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a good pack when we go back.¡± He raised his head to the sky and blew out a long stream of smoke.

    The driver and bodyguards exchanged nces. They could all tell that Boss was in a bad mood. Hence, they took a few steps to the side to keep some distance from him, before returning to their conversations.

    ¡°Is Miss Ye alright in there?¡± One of the bodyguards asked in a quiet voice as he stole a nce at Li Lei.

    ¡°What could possibly happen?¡± Another bodyguard replied. If something had really happened, Boss would have led them on a killing spree inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s precisely because nothing has happened that it¡¯s worrying.¡± Another bodyguardmented. He looked across the road and said, ¡°Is Miss Ye being kidnapped by that gigolo over there again?¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t happen...¡± The driver said, ¡°She¡¯s only been back for a few days. Boss can¡¯t be thatcking in attractiveness...¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, it¡¯s hard to say. Ever since Boss met Miss Ye, his girl-chasing abilities have deteriorated tremendously... I think it¡¯s quite possible that he¡¯s tanked.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Look at Pei Ziheng... his charisma is over-the-top in those suits. His stature also suggests that he¡¯s been training, and there¡¯s no saying if he could beat Boss in hand-to-handbat.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, we will need to help Boss out, man.¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t help him fend off those bodyguards, he will lose for sure.¡±

    The group of them became more animated, deep in discussion.

    ¡°Hey...¡± Li Lei picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the bodyguard nearest to him. ¡°You guys think I¡¯m dead here?¡± These idiots didn¡¯t even know how to stand further away if they were going to speak badly of him.

    ¡°Boss... we¡¯re just trying to help...¡±

    Li Lei picked up another pebble.

    ¡°Boss! Sorry! We¡¯re wrong! Don¡¯t hit us, don¡¯t hit us!¡± The group of them covered their heads with their hands.

    Xia Ling cried in front of the child¡¯s grave for the longest time until she had no more strength in her body. She tottered out of the cemetery with Pei Ziheng holding her up and saw this messy scene in front of her.

    The group of them was messing around by the SUV and looked like they were having fun.

    She paused in her tracks.

    Li Lei was just about to throw another pebble at the bodyguards when he caught sight of Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling standing by the entrance of the cemetery. She was still wearing the in white shirt from the morning, though some soil and dust had dirtied it, and her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying. Pei Ziheng was dressed in a ck suit, his tall stature making her look all the more frail as if they were a couple going through a tough time together.

    The bodyguard¡¯s voices and everything around them faded out into the background.

    Li Lei unknowingly stood up straight and trained his eyes on her.

 Chapter 543 - You Guys Look Pretty Happy

    <h4>Chapter 543: You Guys Look Pretty Happy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He walked over and stood in front of her.

    Pei Ziheng was the first to open his mouth to speak. ¡°You¡¯re pretty happy, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. This man was too cunning, and he was out to drive more distance between Xiao Ling and him. Unfortunately, he had somehow created the perfect scene for Pei Ziheng to use. The driver and bodyguards standing behind also realized that they had put their Boss in a disadvantageous position. They stopped messing around and quietly stood watching.

    Li Lei said to Xia Ling, ¡°It¡¯s not how it looks.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him with sadness in her eyes. Yes, he might think that the child was Pei Ziheng¡¯s, and hence, was not sad. She could understand that they were joking around while waiting for her. However, she still felt upset at seeing them like that.

    ¡°I can send you back to the city.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s gentle voice rang out again. ¡°You need to rest, Xiao Ling. My car will be quiet.¡± The clean, ck Rolls-Royce looked dependable and respectable, and the driver and bodyguards with their white gloves were as serious as the funeral staff.

    Xia Ling shook her head and said softly, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She was thanking Pei Ziheng not because he had offered to send her home, but for everything that he had done for the child. Even though the burial ceremony was not grand, all the usual procedures and items were in ce. Pei Ziheng had stood by her throughout the ceremony and let her child¡¯s final journey look presentable and peaceful.

    Pei Ziheng gently said, ¡°He¡¯s my child, too. You don¡¯t have to thank me. I wille with you every year to see him on his death anniversary and birthday.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression became even darker, and he felt the urge to kill Pei Ziheng rise within him. He pushed the urge down with difficulty and said to Xia Ling, ¡°The wind is strong outside. Let¡¯s go to the car.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him, before silently walking towards the SUV.

    A gust of wind blew.

    Pei Ziheng stood where he was, watching Xia Ling¡¯s slender frame going further and further away from him. The cold wind blew such that her in shirt and long hair billowed out behind her. He suddenly thought of a poem: ¡®Amidst the aloe veras by the faraway river bank, where the dew drops have be frost. The love that I¡¯ve pined for stands at the other side.¡¯

    She was leaving without so much as a nce back at him. The days ahead were looking bleak and lonely.

    ¡°She can¡¯t ever have another child.¡± Pei Ziheng watched as she disappeared into the back seat of the SUV before he regarded Li Lei and said in a cold voice.

    ¡°What are you anticipating? Are you hoping that I¡¯ll chase her out of the car and push her towards you?¡± The coldness in Li Lei¡¯s voice matched his.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed. Li Lei really was a difficult opponent. Hearing his words, it seemed that Li Lei had been aware that Xiao Ling could no longer have a child. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t seem to mind.

    What was his bottom line, then?

    Pei Ziheng looked intently at him and said in a deep tone. ¡°In this life, she will have just this one son with me. We¡¯re the real family with true blood ties.¡± He wanted to nt this thorn in Li Lei¡¯s heart, such that it would take root and be a wedge in his rtionship with Xiao Ling. Perhaps one day, Li Lei would push Xiao Ling back to Imperial Entertainment.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°I would encourage you to just give up. Xiao Ling is mine.¡±

    With that, he turned around and got into the SUV as well.

    Pei Ziheng watched the SUV for a long time as it drove off and left him in the dust.

    In the SUV, Xia Ling was still dwelling in the pain of her lost child and was silent for a long time. Li Lei sat beside her and retrieved a thermos sk from inside the mini-bar. He opened it and passed it to her. ¡°Drink some warm water.¡±

    She took it from him and took a sip of water, before silently zoning out with the sk between her hands.

    The scene from when she exited the cemetery emerged in her mind again. Even though she did not reveal any unhappiness towards Li Lei in front of Pei Ziheng, it would be lying to say that she wasn¡¯t upset. Perhaps he was not as concerned about the child as he had seemed, and the pain that he showed was just to appease her. When he was away from her, he acted like it was nothing at all.

    She should be happy since she was afraid that he would be sad if she had told him about the child¡¯s real identity.

    However, seeing him joking around with the bodyguards when she was in such pain made her feel like he was far away from her. So far away that it felt like they were in two different worlds.

    She started to feel uneasy, but even she could not fathom why.

    The car stopped in front of a small vige pension.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling snapped out from her reverie and looked out of the car window. She asked in confusion, ¡°Here? Where are we?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in a vige near the cemetery.¡± Li Lei replied. ¡°I¡¯ve rented out this pension. We can stay here tonight. Tomorrow we can go back to the cemetery. Didn¡¯t you want me to bring something to the child? I¡¯ve asked someone to prepare some items and flowers to pay respects to him, as well as toys that a child would like.¡±

    He remembered the white chrysanthemums that were thrown in the wind and did not make it to the child¡¯s grave.

    Yet, Xia Ling said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to. Let¡¯s go back.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t have to?¡± Li Lei was stunned.

    She shook her head. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± She had wanted him to leave something at the child¡¯s grave only because he was the child¡¯s biological father. However, since he appeared to care less for the child than Pei Ziheng did, then what meaning did it hold for him to go through the motions? The child would not rest in peace if he knew that his biological father had such a nonchnt attitude towards him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei was sharp and knew that she was reacting this way because of the scene outside the cemetery. ¡°I really want to go see the child, regardless of who his father is. That scene that you saw outside the cemetery is a misunderstanding. I¡¯ve been feeling very upset today while apanying you as well, for you and for the child.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Ye.¡± The driver piped up. ¡°me us if you want someone to me. We were the ones that were joking around with Boss.¡± They had wanted to distract Li Lei seeing that he was in such a bad mood. It was just bad luck that Miss Ye had seen them joking around and misunderstood Li Lei¡¯s attitude.

    The driver was anxious for Li Lei. ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t me Boss.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t me him.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°I just feel that it¡¯s not necessary anymore.¡±

    What did she mean that she didn¡¯t me him? She clearly was still very much affected! Li Lei cursed Pei Ziheng in his mind. If Pei Ziheng had not added oil to the mes with that finalment, maybe the misunderstanding would have been less?

    He gently coaxed Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared everything already. It¡¯ll be such a waste not to go. What¡¯s more, I want to ask the child to watch over us and to make sure that his mum is happy.¡±

    Xia Ling made to reject him again.

    However, Li Lei had already gotten off the car. ¡°Come on down, Xiao Ling. It¡¯s gettingte, and you are clearly tired. Let¡¯s just rest here tonight, we can talk again tomorrow.¡±

    She did rte to thisst sentence.

    It was a five- to six-hour drive from here back to S City. She waspletely drained out from the day and needed to rest. She got off the car and walked into the pension.

    The room had already been cleaned, and there were fresh sheets on the bed

 Chapter 544 - The Singing Voice on the Embankment

    <h4>Chapter 544: The Singing Voice on the Embankment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was feeling ufortable andid on the bed. Soon, she fell asleep.

    She slept in the afternoon and only woke up at 9:00 PM. When she opened her eyes, she saw Li Lei on the bed, looking at her with a pair of sad and quiet eyes. Xia Ling moved and asked Li Lei, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Li Lei smiled gently, and the sadness in his eyes disappeared. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just seeing if you slept well. You must be very tired.¡± He said again, ¡°Want to get up for dinner?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat.¡±

    ¡°Theny down for a while longer.¡± Li Lei didn¡¯t insist.

    Sure enough, Xia Lingid on the bed for a while. It was night time in the countryside. Outside the window, unknown insects were buzzing, and there was the faint sound of children ying. She listened attentively and remembered her dead baby. Her eyes gradually teared up.

    Looking at her, Li Lei reached out and hugged her.

    Her body was slightly stiff. The scene of hering out from the graveyard shed through her mind. Then, she felt that hisfort was not so sincere anymore.

    She told herself that she should not give Li Lei such a requirement. She only hid everything because she did not want him to be hurt.

    However, when he was really excluded, her heart felt empty.

    She gently parted from his hug and sat up. ¡°I¡¯m going to eat.¡±

    Li Lei watched as she got out of bed and looked at his hands bitterly.

    He was also tired after sitting with her in a five-hour car ride, renting a house, cleaning it and asking the chef to prepare her favorite dishes. He also could not lose hisposure in front of Pei Ziheng and attack him covertly. Li Lei apanied her to the dining area to eat a few mouthfuls and had a deep sleep in the night.

    When he woke up in the morning, Xia Ling was no longer there. The bedding beside his body was a little messy and cold.

    She seemed to have gotten up a long time ago.

    Li Lei quickly got up, hurriedly washed up, and asked the chauffeur who was cleaning the yard. ¡°Where is Miss Ye?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye went out early in the morning and said she was going to distract herself. Ah Nuo and Ah Si are following her in secret.¡± The chauffeur said. ¡°Boss, you should eat breakfast first.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Li Lei asked which direction she headed and went out.

    The air was fresh in the early morning of the countryside. It was verdant, and the river bank was quiet, but Li Lei was in no mood to admire it and hurriedly walked for a long time. Golden sunlight emerged from the east. Following the sunlight, he found her at the riverbank.

    She was back facing him and sitting on arge rock surrounded by a group of children.

    In the coconut scented breeze, she sang melodiously with an angelic voice.

    ¡°Sister, you sing very well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, sister. Sing another song.¡±

    The children, who were either standing or sitting, looked at her eagerly.

    Thus, Xia Ling said, ¡°Ok.¡± She sang again. Her voice was very peaceful without any dazzling techniques or momentum. She sang the simplest children¡¯s folk songs¡ªA Day in Spring, A Solitary Flower, and My Home is in the Grasnds...

    The group of children listened transfixed.

    Li Lei was also captivated. He slowed down, quietly hid behind a big willow tree, and looked at her side view. Her cheeks were as white as jade, and there was a faint golden glow due to the morning sun. She sang so beautifully. Her eyes were soft, and people couldn¡¯t help but like her singing.

    She sang one song after another.

    Some children said to her, ¡°Sister, when you have a baby in the future, he will be so lucky because he can listen to such good songs every day.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The other children agreed.

    She bitterly smiled.

    Not far away, a couple called for their children to eat. The children bid Xia Ling farewell and cleared the area. The riverbank¡¯s tranquility was restored, and only the rustling of leaves in the breeze could be heard.

    Xia Ling sat quietly on the big stone. She looked at the sparkling river with a gloomy expression.

    Li Lei walked out from behind the tree and sat beside her.

    She noticed someone beside her and turned over to see him. She quietly turned away to look at the river again.

    ¡°When we get back to the city, I will contact a few good hospitals to treat you. Maybe you can still have children in the future.¡±

    ¡°Do you want a child?¡±

    ¡°I can see that you really like children.¡±

    Xia Ling stopped talking and lowered her head to look at her toes. She was not a qualified mother because she could not even protect her child. Now, how could she rush to be treated so that she could have another child when Shaohui¡¯s body was just buried?

    ¡°No one can rece Shaohui.¡± She said.

    Not to mention, she was not fertile anymore. Even if she were and gave birth to another child, every child was unique, and no one could rece the one who died.

    Li Lei was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go. The riverbank is cold. Let¡¯s go back to eat some breakfast and then go to the cemetery to see Shaohui.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and obediently followed him back.

    After eating breakfast, he took her to the cemetery. Today was not the day of Shaohui¡¯s funeral, and there was no need to clear the area. There were a few family members who came to mourn for their deceased rtives. Wives were apanied by husbands, and the elderly were apanied by children. They looked sad and peaceful.

    Li Lei gently held Xia Ling¡¯s hand.

    Xia Ling struggled a bit in futileness before just going with him.

    Li Lei held her even tighter before he could feel at ease. He felt that they looked like a family on the surface as they came to visit their child like a normal couple.

    That was good.

    When they arrived in front of the child¡¯s tomb, the word ¡°Pei¡± that was engraved on the tombstone was like a thorn that pricked Li Lei¡¯s heart. However, he acted nonchnt because that was her child.

    He heard Xia Ling ask, ¡°Why are there flowers here?¡±

    In front of the tombstone, there was a bunch of fresh white daisies with faltering petals covered in morning dew.

    This was a VIP tomb, so many staff members apanied them as they walked over. At this time, the staff respectfully told her, ¡°Mr. Pei instructed that we put them there yesterday. He wants us to give the child a new bunch of flowers every day for 365 days without interruption.¡±

    Pei Ziheng already knew that she would visit the child when he was not there. Since he couldn¡¯t stop it, he spent more effort decorating the scene so that whenever she came, she would feel that he treated her and her son well. He wanted her to have him in her heart forever.

    Xia Ling did not expect Pei Ziheng to be so considerate. This was not his child, but he paid attention to the minor detail of giving him new flowers every day.

    Li Lei frowned. Why was this man¡¯s presence everywhere?!

    He bent down and ced a few toys, fruits, and snacks that he bought in front of the child¡¯s tombstone. He said, ¡°Shaohui, you must live well in Heaven and ensure that your mother lives happily and healthily.¡±

 Chapter 545 - Small Incision

    <h4>Chapter 545: Small Incision</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I brought you here to pay your respects, not to ask him to bless anyone.¡±

    She only wished that her child would be happy in heaven and not worry about his tragic fate in his short life on earth. Besides, he lived his life too hastily and dangerously.

    She was not apetent mother. How was she qualified to ask for his blessing?

    Li Lei looked at her and saw that she had turned pale after staring at the tombstone intently. Thus, his expression darkened and stopped talking.

    On the way back to the city, both of them were silent.

    When they reached the apartment, she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

    Li Lei sat on the sofa in the living room for a while. In his mind, the image of her crying in Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms when she left the graveyard appeared. Her sorrowful and lonely expression pained his heart. He ced his palm on his chest. That painful feeling was so obvious that he suspected that he was going to have a heart attack.

    Er Mao came over and rubbed his legs with his big head.

    When he didn¡¯t move, Er Mao rubbed him again.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He looked down at the amber-colored eyes of the leopard which had been with him for many years and petted his sleek and soft fur. He felt like a failure because even a leopard worried about him. However, he should not be like this. If Xiao Ling came outter and saw that he was so downhearted, she would also be worried. What would happen, then?

    Or maybe Xiao Ling never took notice of his sadness in the first ce.

    When he thought about this, his chest ached even more. That very realistic and intense pain caused him to crouch down for a long time before slowly getting up.

    He fumbled as he took out his phone to call Su Tang, asking her to buy some pills for him.

    Su Tang asked him how he was in concern.

    He said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just think that I should renew the medicine in the medicine cab.¡±

    His lie was too poorly constructed, the intelligent Su Tang quickly saw through it. She hung up the phone, hurriedly put on an exquisite dress, and wore a pair of high heels that matched her temperament. Her hair was styled to give her an elegant and feminine look. Then, she picked up her pearly white handbag and went out to buy medicine for him.

    Young Master¡¯s body had always been healthy, and the probability of him suffering from heart disease was zero.

    The only possibility was that he was either extremely mad or depressed such that he felt physical difort. Based on her instincts as a woman, Su Tang knew that this was a good time to enter his life.

    She was in high spirits as she bought the medicine and rushed to Li Lei¡¯s apartment. She stood by the door touching up her makeup before taking a breath and entering the password in front of the door.

    Li Lei¡¯s house used a password protected lock. Over the years, Su Tang always had direct ess to it.

    After knowing that Xia Ling lived here, she rarely visited because, every time she saw that the Young Master¡¯s house was filled with female products, she would feel upset. However, today, that did not matter. Her lips curved into a smile. Who else could infuriate Young Master to this extent? It was definitely that woman without a doubt.

    As long as she put in some more effort, that woman would fall out of favor.

    ¡°Young Master?¡± She looked at the empty room and whispered.

    No one answered.

    There was noiseing from the kitchen.

    Su Tang went over to take a look and saw that Li Lei was preparing a meal. He was washing fresh fruits and vegetables and cing them on the white control board prior to chopping them up.

    She walked over. ¡°Young Master, I¡¯m here to deliver the medicine.¡±

    Li Lei turned around and saw her. He said, ¡°Sorry to trouble you. You can put it over there.¡±

    Su Tang went to the living room, poured a ss of warm water, took out a pill, and walked back to the kitchen to pass them to Li Lei. ¡°You aren¡¯t feeling well and should take your medicine on time. Old Master told me to take good care of you.¡± Her voice was like a soft spring breeze that caressed one¡¯s cheeks. She walked a little too close to Li Lei, and he could smell her perfume.

    Li Lei was slightly startled. ¡°How did you know that I wasn¡¯t feeling well?¡±

    She chuckled. Her eyebrows unfolded like a lotus flower as she said, ¡°I have been following you since a young age. Do you think you can hide your condition from me? No matter where you are, I... will always care about you.¡± Her voice became softer as she handed the cup of water and the medicine to Li Lei. ¡°Take the medicine while the water¡¯s still warm.¡±

    Li Lei had been depressed for two days and was slightly relieved by her gentle words. His original pent up emotions were slightly at ease. He also smiled and took the medicine.

    ¡°Let me cook, Young Master.¡± Su Tang said thoughtfully. ¡°You¡¯re already unwell, so you don¡¯t have to cook personally.¡± After seeing the Young Master cook, she felt resentful. Young Master was already unwell, how could that Ye Xingling ask him to cook?! She knew that Ye Xingling was definitely also in this house. Her Young Master was toozy to cook for himself and would only personally cook if he were taking care of someone else.

    How could that damned woman watch her Young Master work although he was sick?!

    She was sure that his sickness was caused by that woman!

    Su Tang reached out and was about to take the knife from Li Lei.

    However, Li Lei avoided her. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I will do it myself.¡± Xiao Ling was a very picky eater. Besides his personally cooked food, she was picky about everything else. She already misunderstood him. If he didn¡¯t perform better, she might get even further away from him. He did not want her to go back to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side because he did not take care of her well enough.

    He could tolerate anyone but Pei Ziheng.

    That beast was so cruel towards Xiao Ling in thest year of her past life. How was he qualified to want Xiao Ling back?! Xiao Ling was so innocent and easily offended others. If she went back, angered Pei Ziheng again, and was punished and abused, what should he do?

    As he thought about it, he sliced the vegetables. Suddenly, his finger hurt.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Tang called out. ¡°Young Master, your hand...¡± She turned around and quickly went to the medicine cab to search for iodine and gauze to treat his hand.

    Li Lei looked at the small incision on his hand.

    The injury was on his index finger. It was not big, but blood was oozing out. He pressed his thumb on the wound. ¡°It¡¯s a small injury, not a big deal.¡±

    However, the bleeding did not stop and dripped on the chopping board.

    Su Tang¡¯s voice trembled because of her nervousness. ¡°You must deal with your wound well. Your blood type is very rare. If you lose too much blood, it¡¯s difficult for you to get it in time.¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°It¡¯s just a small incision. How can I lose too much blood?¡±

    Su Tang was so scared that her face turned pale. ¡°No, it must be dealt with well.¡± She led him to the sofa in the living room, sat down, and applied the iodine carefully on his wound. After that, she used medical cotton balls to stop the bleeding and wrapped the wound inyers of gauze. Her technique was very professional, and she was very careful. Soon, it was settled.

    ¡°Young Master, you have to be more careful in the next few days. Don¡¯te into contact with water.¡± Su Tang said.

    ¡°Ok.¡± Li Lei said softly. He was extremely tired from these two days as he had been quietly giving in, tolerating misunderstandings and heartache to take care of Xiao Ling. Now that someone finally and sincerely cared about him, he slowly rxed.

    Looking at his expression, Su Tang smiled very gently. Half-jokingly, she said, ¡°It seems that Young Master really can¡¯t leave me.¡±

 Chapter 546 - Untitled

    <h4>Chapter 546: Untitled</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    This sentence was heard by Xia Ling from the bathroom.

    She had just finished bathing and was wrapped in a long white towel. Her skin was radiant, and water dripped from her hair.

    Intuitively, she guessed the purpose of Su Tang¡¯s visit. Her blood boiled. She walked in front of the two of them and looked at Su Tang. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Her tone was fierce, and Su Tang was slightly frightened.

    Even Li Lei felt that something was wrong. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. This man really couldn¡¯t tell that that woman was trying to seduce him?! She continued to stare fiercely at Su Tang. ¡°Get out now!¡±

    Su Tang gently tried to exin herself. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m only taking care of Young Master. You can¡¯t cook or help him with his wound. Let me deal with these things.¡±

    Xia Ling was startled and finally realized that Li Lei was hurt. Her gaze fell on the wrapped gauze around his finger.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big injury. I identally cut myself when slicing the vegetables.¡± Li Lei said as he was afraid that she would be worried.

    Thus, Xia Ling was relieved and continued to re at Su Tang. ¡°He won¡¯t die from this small injury and doesn¡¯t need you! Quickly get lost!¡± She was already in a bad mood. After seeing a woman in full face makeup trying to seduce her man, she exploded in anger.

    Su Tang bit her lip slightly and felt wronged.

    Li Lei gently said to her, ¡°Su Tang, thanks for your help. Please leave.¡± He was really afraid that Su Tang would provoke Xiao Ling¡¯s sensitive emotions and cause a more serious misunderstanding. Right now, he already regretted not asking Tan Ying or another male to deliver medicine to him instead of Su Tang.

    Now, Xiao Ling was mad and Su Tang was wronged.

    ¡°But, Young Master...¡± Su Tang said elegantly. ¡°I¡¯m worried about your injury.¡±

    ¡°Is this really something you should worry about?¡± Xia Ling was more furious. Why was this woman so thick-skinned? ¡°Li Lei already told you to leave, so quickly get out! He has me here!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave after cooking for you two, Miss Ye.¡± Su Tang said pleasantly. ¡°Young Master is hurt, and you can¡¯t cook. You can¡¯t possibly let Young Master starve.¡±

    ¡°Su Tang, don¡¯t say anything.¡± This time, Li Lei spoke. ¡°You can go now.¡± He was stricter than before. Although this order would upset Su Tang, taking care of Xiao Ling¡¯s emotions was more important. Xiao Ling was his woman, and even though she was unreasonable and willful, she was his life¡¯s treasure.

    Su Tang knew that Li Lei would be unkind to her if she continued to speak, so she quietened down, bowed and left. Xia Ling looked at the direction she was walking to and angrily kicked the pillow on the furry carpet towards her. Then, she looked at Li Lei. ¡°How could you let someone in so casually?¡±

    Did he really not know that Su Tang had an ulterior motive?

    Or was he basking in the joy of it all?

    Thinking this way, Xia Ling became more upset.

    Li Lei sat on the sofa with his right hand holding his injured left hand. He calmly said, ¡°Ok, I won¡¯t ever let her in so easily again. Xiao Ling, put on some clothes. It¡¯s easy to catch a cold being wrapped in a bath towel.¡± The towel was too thin, and the drops of water on the tips of her hair fell directly on her white shoulders, causing her shoulders to be wet.

    However, Xia Ling only coldly looked at him.

    Looking at her, Li Lei guessed that she was not going to change into clothes, so he supported himself using his uninjured right hand and went to the closet to find some clothes for her.

    However, she pushed him back on the sofa.

    Li Lei was caught off guard and fell back on the soft leather sofa.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Give me your hand.¡± She half-knelt beside him and grabbed his hand to tear the gauze open. He only scraped his finger identally, so why was Su Tang making such a fuss and wrapped his finger like this? How could she let another woman leave a mark on her man¡¯s body? She coldly dismantled the gauze until she pulled thestyer apart.

    She was a little too anxious, and Li Lei winced in pain.

    Finally, she discovered that the innermost gauze was stained with blood and the bandaged wound was open again because of her. She was shocked before grabbing a pack of gauze to bandage his wound again. ¡°I thought you said that it was just a simple scratch?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Well, I was afraid that you would be worried. It really isn¡¯t a big wound.¡±

    Blood oozed out through the new gauze. She lowered her voice. ¡°Liar.¡± She tried her best to deal with the wound but blood did not stop flowing out.

    She was rather worried and did not know what to do. Her eyes fell on the medicine box nearby, but she did not know how to stop the bleeding. She remembered what Su Tang said just now. ¡°Young Master, you can¡¯t live without me.¡±

    A fearful and irritable feeling emerged in her heart.

    Li Lei calmly said, ¡°I will take care of the wound.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± She red at him fiercely. She did not believe what Su Tang said! She was not going to be any less than a woman who cast covetous eyes on him!

    Li Lei smiled bitterly and let her try.

    Luckily, it was not arge wound, and he only lost a little blood.

    Xia Ling still did not know how to stop the bleeding. She half-knelt on the floor helplessly.

    Li Lei said, ¡°First use...¡±

    ¡°You shut up!¡± She red at him. Just now, when Su Tang was dealing with his wound, she definitely did not need his help. How could she lose to that woman?

    She removed the gauze and the blood continued to flow out. Suddenly, she remembered that she used to fight with the older children in the orphanage and sometimes would bleed after being injured. She would then hide and lick her wounds.

    She leaned over and licked Li Lei¡¯s bleeding finger gently.

    At that moment, Li Lei¡¯s body stiffened, and his body seemed electrified. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice was hoarse.

    However, she was unaware. Some of the sweet liquid fell into her mouth, and she licked it away. She only stopped licking after the blood flow stopped and released his finger.

    Looking up, she realized that Li Lei was smiling faintly.

    She softly said, ¡°It has stopped.¡±

    He leaned over, held her in his arms, and pulled her into a long and gentle kiss.

    The long bath towel around her body was loose, and she felt a little cold, so she grabbed his clothes tightly.

    ¡°Why?¡± After a long time, his lips left hers and he muttered.

    She said, ¡°I don¡¯t like you being with her.¡± After seeing Su Tang joking around with him, her heart hurt.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Well.¡±

    ¡°I also don¡¯t like it when you¡¯re with him.¡±

    He did not say who ¡°he¡± was, but they both knew.

    He ced her hand on his chest which was separated by ayer of thin clothing. ¡°It hurts here.¡±

    She looked at his bleak eyes and suddenly remembered that he could only look from afar when Pei Ziheng and her paid their respects to the child. It must have been horrible for him.

    That feeling was more painful than what she felt when she saw him with Su Tang.

 Chapter 547 - Powerful Opponent is Released

    <h4>Chapter 547: Powerful Opponent is Released</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She lowered her head and heard him say, ¡°I saw him hugging you in front of the grave. I was really upset. Ah Nuo and the rest tried tofort me, so they joked with me on purpose.¡±

    She was startled as she never expected the truth to be like this.

    After some silence, she said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be angry with me, ok?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not angry.¡± She said softly.

    She was only a little sad because she thought he was appearing to be sad in front of her but not actually caring about her child. Thinking about it, it was very normal. He thought that her child was someone else¡¯s. What else could she ask for since he was already amodating her so much? She would rather he not care and joke around than engulfed in sadness.

    However, one person could only shoulder that much burden. The world was so big but no one could feel the same as her.

    She should just endure the difficulty.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± She lifted her hand to stroke his eyebrows. ¡°Is it hard being with me?¡±

    He shook his head, then nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why you should treat me better.¡±

    Sheughed softly and lifted her face to kiss him, carefully.

    On the other hand, Su Tang returned to her room downstairs. She put down her elegant handbag, took out a small phone from her pocket, and pressed the audio y button.

    Clear recorded voices were heard through the phone¡ª

    [You aren¡¯t feeling well and should take your medicine on time. Old Master told me to take good care of you.]

    [Miss Ye, I¡¯m only taking care of the Young Master. You can¡¯t cook or help him with his wound. Let me deal with these things.]

    [He won¡¯t die from this small injury and doesn¡¯t need you! Quickly get lost!]

    [Su Tang, don¡¯t say anything. You can go now.]

    She smiled in satisfaction. Since the Young Master told her to buy medicine, she guessed that a situation like that would happen. Before she entered the Young Master¡¯s apartment, she turned on the recording function. Sure enough, this valuable information was recorded.

    She sent the audio recording to Old Master Li¡¯s voicemail and left a message. ¡°Old Master, Young Master seems to really like Miss Ye and would rather protect her even though he¡¯s sick. Miss Ye wouldn¡¯t let me intervene in Young Master¡¯s affairs. She also doesn¡¯t know how to take care of others. I¡¯m worried about the Young Master¡¯s health.¡±

    She was originally sent to Li Lei¡¯s side by Old Master, and Old Master also revealed that if she could take care of Young Master well, they should get married in the future. Sending this report to him was within her duties.

    She waited anxiously for a while. Very soon, Old Master called her.

    Su Tang picked it up. ¡°Old Master... yes... yes.¡±

    She hung up the phone and smiled elegantly. <i>Ye Xingling, your days are running out. Enjoy your time besides Young Master, because it won¡¯tst!</i>

    Xia Ling and Li Lei rested at home for half a day.

    Xia Ling called Sister Mai Na to tell her that she was back. She had settled almost all of her private affairs and could resume normal recording sessions. Sister Mai Na was already numb to her irregr schedule. Fortunately, although she was busy, she was very efficient, and there would not be much of a hindrance. Thus, Sister Mai Na liaised with Bai Murong and Wei Shaoyin to settle the recording date of the song.

    When the day arrived, Li Lei drove her to Skyart Entertainment.

    First, he dropped her off at the recording studio building. Then, he drove to the main building.

    Xia Ling smiled as she went upstairs. Once she entered the studio, she realized that Bai Murong was already waiting for them and holding a score in his hand. He was repeatedly practicing with a distraught expression.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Bai Murong paused, looked up and stared at her bitterly. ¡°That Unreasonable Wei said that I¡¯m not singing the lyrics well enough! Why is it so difficult?! Ye Xingling, let me tell you. The next time you want to die, don¡¯t drag me down. Otherwise, this will be ourst coboration. Hear that? Last time!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled.

    She was already ustomed to Wei Shaoyin torturing others. It would be strange if people, including heavenly king Bai Murong, did notin. However, every song recorded by Wei Shaoyin was amazing. After the song was out, many people would thank Wei Shaoyin for his nitpicking.

    However, it was true that many people didn¡¯t want to coborate with Ah Wei a second time.

    Wei Shaoyin walked out wearing a white shirt. While working, he often wore a pair of tinum-rimmed sses which gave him a cold and stern look. He ignored Bai Murong¡¯s whining and directly ordered the two people to start working. He was never soft-hearted when torturing people. Luckily, Xia Ling had some tolerance after experiencing his torture for a long time. However, Bai Murong was miserable. He was abused until his face turned expressionless. After the recording was finished, he looked like he was floating when he walked out.

    He was then pulled away to take a publicity photo.

    The beautifully printed cover of the disc was released. Under the silver-white glow of the moon, Bai Murong was wearing a ck silk shirt and looked enchanting. Beside him, Xia Ling looked quiet, cold, and mysterious. The meticulously remastered title name was ¡°The mes of a Powerful Opponent.¡±

    ¡°The mes of a Powerful Opponent?¡± Bai Murong scanned the disc. ¡°That can¡¯t be. I think it¡¯s better if it¡¯s called ¡®The Full Face of a Powerful Opponent.¡¯ Are you changing the song or the person who sang it? No, it¡¯s still not right... It should be the ¡®The Elimination of a Powerful Opponent.¡¯ Yes. Only an ¡®elimination¡¯ would be apt to describe you two crazy people.¡±

    Xia Lingughed innocently. ¡°Brother Bai, this is not my fault. The one who tortured you was Ah Wei.¡±

    Now, he called him ¡°Brother Bai.¡± She heard that during the Heavenly Voice Music Festival, Qin Zifeng was incited by someone to go on stage to be abused. She really thanked Bai Murong for sending her apetitor who was more like a stepping stone to catapult herself to fame.

    If Qin Zifeng found about this unfathomable thought, he would definitely seek revenge on Bai Murong.

    However, she was grateful for his kindness and called him ¡°brother¡± because Bai Murong really knew how to care for others.

    On the other hand, it was also a promotional need. The outside world was spreading that they both came from Skyart¡¯s training camp and had the older brother and younger sister feel. No matter what, both of them were a good story to tell.

    Seeing her pure and innocent manner, Bai Murong couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t try to y dumb. I¡¯m not so easily fooled like Wei Shaoyin. You can save the tricks you used on him. I know that this song has many parts which are not even Wei Shaoyin¡¯s style. That only means that you also participated in this. I couldn¡¯t tell because you hid it so well. You can even write such deeppositions?¡±

    Xia Lingughed dryly. Bai Murong could tell that it was easy to deceive Ah Wei after a few days?

    Once ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± was released, it was an instant hit.

    All of the fans were crazy about it and expressed that they never heard such a powerful song that was like an exciting battle between evenly matched opponents and was full of thrills. Public opinion said that they could not tell that Ye Xingling actually had the ability to be so well-matched with Bai Murong. Was that a sign that she had the standard of a Diva?

 Chapter 548 - Satin Gown

    <h4>Chapter 548: Satin Gown</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In some media reports, she was referred to as a ¡°Little Diva.¡±

    The title ¡°Little Diva¡± spread like wildfire. Very soon, the term was adopted by fans. There were no two ways about it. Her exciting duet with Bai Murong was a testimony. Which other female singer was able to demonstrate such singing power throughout the entire song? Besides, at the Heavenly Voice Music Festival, she was able to emerge victorious after going against the megastar Qin Zifeng. How was this not evidence of her singing prowess?

    She was really worthy of the title ¡°Little Diva.¡±

    Bai Murong called to congratte her. ¡°Not bad. You will soon catch up with me.¡±

    Xia Ling answered the call with one hand and flipped through a report with the other. She smiled and said, ¡°Catch up with you? There are still many people who don¡¯t want me to catch up. Look at these headlines. ¡®Little Diva? Bogus Diva? asionally extraordinary.¡¯ ¡®A title that can¡¯t wait in the impulsive music industry.¡¯ ¡®Ye Xingling who was killed.¡¯ These titles are bing more sensational.¡±

    On the other end of the phone, Bai Murong alsoughed. ¡°Do you know how many female stars are jealous of you?¡± Luo Luo told him that there was a huge uproar in Imperial Entertainment. As long as the female stars gathered together, they would discuss her explosion of fame. They would say that she was not impressive at all and just a broken shoe that was discarded by Pei Ziheng. These female stars were emotional andmented that their lives were unfairpared to Ye Xingling¡¯s. Initially, she was just a normal small star, but her fate changed when she married Pei Ziheng. She joined an eminent family for a brief moment and, after divorcing him, she still had the protection of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s boss. After this topic exploded in poprity, she stepped on Bai Murong and Qin Zifeng and continued to rise in fame. Without these four men and Wei Shaoyin, how impressive could Ye Xingling be?

    Luo Luo was furious and did not like it when others talked about her friend like that. She tried to argue but was ridiculed sarcastically. In a rage, she ranted to Bai Murong for a long time.

    Bai Murong did not tell Xia Ling about these twists and turns in the middle.

    He only said, ¡°You¡¯re famous now and have to be more low-key. Be careful in the public eye.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know.¡± Xia Ling agreed but did not take it to heart.

    The world of female stars was no better than the world of male stars. As long as there were people, there would be conflict,parisons, andpetition. All kinds of envy and resentment could not be avoided by acting low-key. However, she would still be low-key and strive hard to reduce the percentage of hatred from 100% to 60%.

    She flipped through the itinerary and said to Bai Murong, ¡°Oh yes, Sister Mai Na and your manager have discussed holding a small ¡®Powerful Opponent¡¯ celebration party. During this time, everyone worked hard. It¡¯s time to reap the benefits of our hard work. Have you heard about it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I already know about it.¡± Bai Murong said. ¡°It¡¯s an event closed to the public. No media representatives will be present as it will only be for us and a few friends. I n to invite Luo Luo.¡±

    ¡°Luo Luo?¡± Xia Ling was slightly startled. Luo Luo¡¯s bright and pure smile appeared in her mind. Since when did this little girl be so close to Bai Murong? She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Are you two very close?¡±

    ¡°Ever since Extraordinary Risks, we have been keeping in contact.¡± Bai Murong smiled. ¡°She¡¯s quite cute.¡± Luo Luo looked like a fresh girl-next-door with limited talents and efforts and would never be able to be a legendary diva-like Xia Ling her whole life. However, she was very lovable. Once Bai Murong saw her, his mood improved.

    Xia Ling was somewhat rmed. ¡°You¡¯re such a flirt. Don¡¯t target my friend.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t take advantage of her.¡±

    He ended the call.

    Xia Ling red at the phone. How could she be at ease like that? Was that jerk dating Luo Luo?

    She called Luo Luo. Over the phone, Luo Luo was in a daze after waking up from her sleep. ¡°Xiao Ling... what, are you talking about Murong? Brother Murong is really great... he took me to fish for goldfish...¡±

    Xia Ling quietly ended the call. It seemed that something was going on!

    Well, she would use this celebration party to see how far they had progressed.

    After finding out that this celebration party was a private event, Li Lei was very happy. He jumped around like arge dog. ¡°I want to go! I want to go!¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°It¡¯s yourpany. You can go if you want. Who would dare to stop you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go as your boss but as a family member.¡± Li Lei winked.

    Xia Ling touched his head. ¡°Ok, family member. You can go, but you have to be good, ok?¡±

    ¡°I just know that Xiao Ling is the best!¡± Big Boss said cheerfully and secretly kissed her.

    Xia Ling also smiled.

    On that day, Li Lei gave her a small dress. It was light blue withyered silk and satin. Dotted with diamonds, it fluttered in the early summer evening.

    She paired it with star earrings, nes, and bracelets.

    Even her crystal high heels were a new limited edition.

    This man, when he was being considerate, was very considerate.

    Xia Ling was usually quite calctive when it came to money and would never ask him to buy anything for her. However, from time to time, he would give her gifts such as hand creams, powder, dresses, and bags. Unconsciously, her body was covered with the items he bought for her.

    Looking at her dress, Li Lei smiled in satisfaction.

    He once said to store away the valuables that Pei Ziheng previously gave her, and she really kept them away, leaving only a few pieces of versatile ssic clothing that she bought.

    Li Lei knew that she was short of money. Although she earned more than ordinary people as a singer, to maintain her gorgeous and sparkling image, she had to buy more expensive clothes, hire an assistant, and pay for her travel expenses... These were costs that she could not save, especially since she was rising in her career, so she really did not have any money left.

    That was why he always silently helped her. Unknowingly, her jewelry box was restored to the standard when she was in the Pei Family and was even better.

    How could he let his beloved woman live a worse life than when she was with his love rival?

    Xia Ling also faintly knew about his thoughts and did not reject him. She twirled in front of him and asked, ¡°Does it look good?¡±

    ¡°Anything you wear looks good.¡± He smiled.

    Indeed, although she was petite, her body was proportionate and was not damaged after giving birth to a child. She had fair skin and was a perfect beauty. When she wore the light blue dress, she looked like a show-stopping fairy.

    Xia Ling also smiled. ¡°That phrase is too overused. Are you just casually saying it?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I swear.¡± Li Lei crossed his heart. ¡°I really feel that you look good in everything. You see, I even prepared a bow tie and cufflinks that match with your outfit.¡±

 Chapter 549 - Wei Shaoyinâ€™s Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 549: Wei Shaoyin¡¯s Secrets</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She looked toward him and saw that he was already suited up in his dark gray tailcoat over his pristine white shirt. He held a box, which contained a necktie that was of the same textile material as her gown. It also had two sapphire cufflinks thatplemented her gown perfectly.

    She smiled, was this a couple wear?

    She took the necktie and put it around his neck. ¡°I¡¯ll help you with it.¡±

    Li Lei looked down at her. Her eyshes were lush and beautiful, her eyes focused, and there was a faint scent between her breaths. She didn¡¯t know that putting on a necktie for someone else was considered a taboo in the triad world. It entailed having someone¡¯s life at their mercy¡ªif a knife or any weapon was concealed in the necktie itself, the person could be killed in an instant.

    He never allowed anyone to put on his necktie for him.

    Li Feng was even more radical about this belief. If any woman even offered to do it, he would kill her on the spot.

    But she was different. She was Xiao Ling, his lover, his woman. Even if she went overboard in anything, it would be forgivable in his eyes.

    He looked like a big tamed animal, allowing her to do whatever she liked with him. When she was done with the necktie, she went on to help him with the cufflinks as well.

    Only when everything was in its ce did she smile. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re done.¡± The sweet expression in her eyes made it hard for him to look away.

    With his arms around her waist, he pulled her close and nted a kiss on her lips.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He said in a low voice.

    She looked at him teasingly, ¡°What¡¯s with that, you¡¯ve ruined my makeup now.¡± She feigned annoyance.

    Li Leiughed and reached for her makeup pouch. He looked for her lipstick and conscientiously applied it on her lips.

    ¡°Not this shade.¡± Sheughed.

    ¡°But I like it.¡± His voice was low and tender. He took a step back and bent his knees slightly to look at her at eye level¡ªshe looked amazing.

    Thus, she left it as it was and walked out the door with him, arm in arm. The car parked in front of their apartment was not the usual SUV. It was a silver luxury car that shimmered in the street light.

    They were attending a banquet today, it was a rare opportunity for him to show off his other cars. The interior of the car was designed ording to her liking. In fact, Li Lei had referenced her Porsche when he furnished it to ensure it was her style.

    This man was indeed thoughtful and meticulous.

    The banquet was in the garden of a private property. The banquet had a minimalistic theme, with artistically pruned horticulture all around. The designer for this area was definitely a highly regarded one in the field. The total amount spent on these furnishes probably exceeded the budget of the vis that Li Lei and Pei Ziheng had given Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling and Li Lei were weed into the house by the butler

    On the way in, Xia Ling asked, ¡°Whose ce is this?¡± She had initially thought that the banquet would be held at a ballroom or the like, and definitely did not expect it to be at a private garden. This area was obviously not open to the public.

    The butler was extremely polite. ¡°This is Young Master Wei Shaoyin¡¯s private property. He usually doesn¡¯t host guests here¡ªyou are the first.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    This butler called Wei Shaoyin... Y- Young Master?!

    Did she hear him wrong?!

    Xia Ling looked at Li Lei in shock. Wasn¡¯t Wei Shaoyin just a small fry under him? No, not exactly ¡°small,¡± but he couldn¡¯t possibly afford such a private garden with his pay! Just the furnishing of the ce alone easily took up his savings from working at Skyart for more than a decade.

    Li Lei wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°Ah Wei never mentioned his background to you? He¡¯s a Young Master of a pharmacological drugs manufacturingpany, but he doesn¡¯t like that sort of lifestyle and profession, so he found his own career and interest. Oh, in fact, the annual bonus he receives from his family business is way more than his pay at Skyart.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. No wonder this man could afford a Ferrari, top-notch music apparatus and equipment, and even owned such a huge garden! He really had so much of him unknown to the world...

    She was almost in tears from this discovery.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Why do you have such a weird expression?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I feel like crying.¡±

    Li Lei responded, ¡°Cry? But why? Honestly, his garden is pretty great¡ªI can buy one for you if you want one. Moreover, the vi under your name is not any cheaper than this ce.¡±

    Xia Ling still felt like crying. ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡± She recalled the time she first returned to Skyart after her reincarnation. Back then, Skyart Entertainment had wanted to transfer her to Imperial Entertainment, and she had no way out of it. Wei Shaoyin had generously offered to pay for her termination fees so she could leave the training camp, but she rejected him, for fear that it would burn a hole in his assets.

    If only she¡¯d known, she¡¯d have agreed to Ah Wei¡¯s offer!

    She could¡¯ve just used Ah Wei¡¯s money to terminate the contract, or even left the entertainment industry for good!

    All that happened after that could¡¯ve been avoided...

    She really did feel like crying.

    Along the white marble porch came Wei Shaoyin in a silver-white tailcoat. ¡°Xiao Ling, Boss, you¡¯re here.¡±

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you told me that you¡¯re this rich?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin innocently said, ¡°Wait, has Boss never mentioned it before?¡± His expression then turned into one of detestation. ¡°It¡¯s good that nobody knows about this, though. There¡¯s nothing much to share about since my whole family is full of looneys!¡±

    All of them were speechless as they kept their thoughts to themselves.

    Xia Ling: <i>Wei Shaoyin, does anyone even say this about their own family?</i>

    Li Lei: <i>I¡¯ve known for a long time that your whole family was made up of looneys.</i>

    The butler: <i>Young Master, can¡¯t you save your family some embarrassment!</i>

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t probe whichpany or family it was since she likely wouldn¡¯t have heard of them anyway. She only knew that having one more rich person around her meant one more avenue she could get a loan from. ¡°You¡¯ve kept it a secret for so long, why did you suddenly invite us here, then?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°I¡¯ve never kept it a secret. You just never asked.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless again. Why would any normal person go up to others and ask ¡°Hey, are you rich?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin said a little boastfully, ¡°I chose this ce because I don¡¯t like the crowds and mess outside.¡± Other than for socializing purposes, he hardly hosted banquets. This time, it was a small-scale, personal one, and he couldn¡¯t be bothered to find an external venue¡ªhe was a clean freak and found many other ces dirty; hence, he settled on his own ce.

    Realizing what she had missed out on in the past three years, Xia Ling made her way to the living room distraught.

    The living room was also tiled with white marbles, giving the ce an extraordinarily ssy ambiance.

    Sister Mai Na, Bai Murong, and some others had arrived, and so had Luo Luo, who came in a pastel-pink gown. She spotted Xia Ling first and excitedly skipped towards her. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling.¡±

    A few guests sipping cocktails and wine by theke turned around and looked at them.

 Chapter 550 - Lin Yunanâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 550: Lin Yunan¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling smiled at Luo Luo¡¯s arrival and gave her a hug before walking over to Sister Mai Na and a few others to greet them.

    Sister Mai Na was in a maroon off-shoulder gown. With her neat, clipped hair, she exuded the air of a leadingdy as she always did. Upon seeing Xia Ling and Li Lei, she raised her wine ss. ¡°Congrattions on your reconciliation.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and nced at Li Lei. ¡°Mm, we won¡¯t split again this time.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling and Boss Li,¡± Luo Luo said. ¡°Oh right. Congrattions Murong, ¡®Powerful Opponent¡¯ is a hit!¡±

    Bai Murong smiled and pinched her nose teasingly. ¡°Practice your singing well, we can duet next time.¡±

    Luo Luo stuck out her tongue out jokingly. ¡°I¡¯m nowhere as good as Xiao Ling. If we duet, you¡¯ve gotta guide me along.¡±

    ¡°Call me Brother, and I¡¯ll consider.¡± Bai Murongughed.

    Luo Luo gave him a stare before breaking intoughter and calling him ¡°Brother.¡±

    Bai Murong ruffled her hair.

    Xia Ling watched their interaction and found it a bit unusual. She quietly asked Sister Mai Na, ¡°They are...?¡±

    ¡°After filming Extraordinary Risks, they¡¯ve maintained a very close rtionship, and Murong gradually stopped dallying with other women. So, what do you think they are?¡± Sister Mai Na replied.

    Xia Ling understood now, it seemed like Luo Luo, the little innocent bunny, had been abducted by Bai Murong, the big grey wolf. She was worried that Luo Luo would be bullied, but looking at how happy andpatible they were together set her mind at ease. She quietly gave her blessings.

    They chatted and joked about with one another easily. Although their Big Boss Li Lei was around, everybody feltfortable and at ease,ing together like old friends at a reunion. Wei Shaoyin joined in the conversation as well, and soon, everybody was discussing why he had given up his position in the family business and chosen a music career instead.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how boring it is in a drug manufacturingpany,¡± Wei Shaoyin said with a look of disdain. ¡°Those researchers go about doing the same boring things day after day, what sort of life is that? If I hadn¡¯t escaped in time...¡± He was about to say more when the butler approached them.

    ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s a guest at the door ¡ª Mr. Lin Yunan.¡±

    ¡°Lin Yunan?¡± Wei Shaoyin furrowed his brows, ¡°Which Lin Yunan?¡±

    ¡°My manager... in the past.¡± Xia Ling had not seen him since the paragliding incident. Back then, Imperial Entertainment had transferred her over from Dongyue Culture and Entertainment without providing a good reason. She felt like she owed him something.

    ¡°Let him in,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Hearing what she said, Wei Shaoyin gave the same instructions.

    Lin Yunan came in a more casual outfit ¡ª a grey-blue shirt with buttons unevenly done up. He did not maintain his sleeves well either, with one side rolled up haphazardly to the elbow. He stormed in and immediately caught sight of Xia Ling holding a ss of wine. ¡°Ye Xingling, you returned to Skyart right after you left Imperial? Did you even think of me? Or even to return to Dongyue for a visit?¡± He was evidently unhappy.

    Xia Ling had not even had a chance to speak before Li Lei responded, ¡°Why are you speaking to our Xiao Ling like this?¡±

    Lin Yunan sized him up. ¡°Li Lei? Don¡¯t interrupt me, I¡¯m talking to my singer.¡±

    Now, it was Sister Mai Na who was unhappy. She ced the winess on the table and said, ¡°Whose singer? Let¡¯s be clear here, she¡¯s my singer.¡± She was Xiao Ling¡¯s current manager, and nobody was going to argue that.

    Even Wei Shaoyinmented, ¡°Exactly. Xiao Ling is Sister Mai Na¡¯s, return to where you came from and don¡¯t be an eye-sore here.¡± The way Lin Yunan dressed put him off ¡ª even the buttons weren¡¯t done up properly. It really upset this clean freak.

    He couldn¡¯t wait for this guy to get out of his sight.

    Lin Yunan practically bore his teeth at him. ¡°Wei Shaoyin, I see. Your uncle got me to keep a lookout for you in the entertainment industry. I haven¡¯t even bothered all these years, but if you step on my foot now, you can be sure I¡¯ll keep my eyes on you.¡±

    ¡°You know my uncle?¡± Wei Shaoyin was shocked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he Wei Lingnan, the one who has a boring face like Pei Ziheng. He has business connections with my family.¡± Lin Yunan was trying to scare him. It was true that he knew Wei Lingnan, but they were in no way on close terms. He was only bringing up names because he heard that Wei Shaoyin was intimidated by his family members.

    Wei Shaoyin was indeed intimidated and did not mention anything about chasing him out anymore.

    Lin Yunan continued talking to Xia Ling, ¡°It was you who got me back into the entertainment industry, how could you just leave like that? In any case, your options are: to let me be your manager, or to let me be your manager.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly, this man really sounded like a scoundrel now. But to be fair, she was the one at fault. He had pinned all his hopes on grooming her to be the next Diva, but she had let him down with no good reason. Then again, she was already under Sister Mai Na now, how should they handle this?

    ¡°How about multi-manager?¡± This was Li Lei¡¯s idea.

    Typically, a manager would be in charge of several artistes, but each artiste would only have one manager. However, there was another option, which was a ¡°multi-manager¡± style. It was verymon overseas, and it often involved a few managers and artistes in one unit.

    That also meant that a single artiste could indeed have a few managers.

    This would be a first for both Skyart and Dongyue.

    Sister Mai Na frowned. She was worried that Lin Yunan wasn¡¯t reliable enough to take good care of Xiao Ling. And she felt better being inplete control of the situation.

    Lin Yunan was unhappy too. ¡°I¡¯ve always taken a one-to-one style with my artistes. Once I¡¯ve decided on one, I don¡¯t even manage a second one concurrently. Li Lei, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re suggesting something like this as an insult to me.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s insulting who now?¡± Sister Mai Na was angered.

    Li Lei watched them calmly.

    Xia Ling stood by the side and did not know what to do. She really shouldn¡¯t have gotten Ah Wei to let Lin Yunan in¡ªshe should have gone to the door to speak to him personally. How could she have forgotten that Lin Yunan and Sister Mai Na were not on good terms?

    Seeing that a fight was about to ensue, Xia Ling decided to say something. ¡°Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t be offended, this is just Lin Yunan¡¯s way of speaking. Lin Yunan, it¡¯s true that I got you back into the industry and then left you to your devices. But I will never return to Dongyue. Back then, Dongyue terminated my contract on their terms which I was not even aware of, and then transferred me to Imperial Entertainment. I can¡¯t possibly return to apany like that.¡±

 Chapter 551 - The Manager Returns

    <h4>Chapter 551: The Manager Returns</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan kept quiet for a while. It was a fact that Dongyue had not handled things fairly.

    A usual transfer process was not supposed to be handled this way. At the very least, the artiste herself should have been informed of the terms and must have agreed to it first.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Dongyue that has let you down. You can choose not to return to Dongyue, but you can¡¯t dump me!¡± Lin Yunan said.

    Dump him?

    Big Boss Li¡¯s expression turned dark.

    Xia Ling was caught in a fix. ¡°Or, you cane to Skyart?¡±

    ¡°Skyart has nock of people!¡± Sister Mai Na would not agree to it.

    ¡°Oh, I see. You don¡¯t wee me? Well, then I will join Skyart.¡± He was considering it initially, but seeing that Sister Mai Na was against the idea, he wanted to pit himself against her.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± Sister Mai Na called her boss by his full name. ¡°You¡¯ll allow a person like this to join us?¡±

    Li Lei looked at Sister Mai Na, then at Xia Ling, and finally at Lin Yunan. A momentter, Li Lei smiled. ¡°Lin Yunan, if you can settle Sister Mai Na, then go ahead. I¡¯ve got to take care of my existing employees, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Lin Yunan clenched his teeth and red at Sister Mai Na. Why is this woman so difficult to deal with?!

    Sister Mai Na red back.

    Xia Ling felt bad about how she left Lin Yunan and quietly said, ¡°How about Ipensate you for all your lost youth... and rmend a few other good artistes to you...¡±

    Under his death re, her voice got softer as she went on.

    Sister Mai Na was not going along with that idea. ¡°Stop talking, Xiao Ling. Why would you need topensate him for any loss? From the very moment he didn¡¯t stop Dongyue from transferring you to Imperial, you¡¯ve lost any rtionship with him! He can¡¯t even protect his artiste¡¯s basic rights, what sort of manager is he?!¡±

    ¡°In that situation, would you have been able to stop it?¡± Lin Yunan was enraged. Back then, it was Chu Chen who was sent to represent Imperial Entertainment and spoke to Dongyue. Imperial had promised generous rewards for this transaction, and at the same time issued threats if they were to disagree to it. At that point, the big boss of Dongyue had no better choice than to terminate their contract with Xiao Ling immediately.

    In any case, Lin Yunan couldn¡¯t possibly have had much say in it at all!

    Sister Mai Na smiled coldly. ¡°Indeed, I would¡¯ve been able to stop it.¡± What a joke, she was in Skyart. If Imperial came over to ask for Xiao Ling, would Boss ever agree to it?

    Lin Yunan understood what she meant and felt even angrier.

    ¡°Alright, alright, enough arguing.¡± Xia Ling tried her best to mediate the situation. ¡°Sister Mai Na, I know you feel bad for me. Lin Yunan, I know you had no choice back then ¡ª you¡¯re already being a very good manager. Today we¡¯re here at Ah Wei¡¯s party, let¡¯s stop going on about this. Since you¡¯re here, let¡¯s just have a drink together.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Luo Luo said as she handed him a cocktail. ¡°Since you¡¯re here, we¡¯re all friends now.¡±

    Her sweet smile helped to diffuse the tension around.

    Lin Yunan sipped his cocktail slowly, asionally shooting venomous res at Sister Mai Na. How should he deal with such an arrogant woman, so that he could join Skyart...

    Suddenly, somebody else came into his line of sight.

    A pair of fair, slim hands rested on his shirt before they hovered over to his buttons and began undoing them.

    ¡°Wei Shaoyin, what are you doing?!¡± Lin Yunan was in utter shock. Oh no, was Wei Shaoyin into that?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Wei Shaoyin said coldly.

    Lin Yunan was so stunned he dared not move.

    Upon seeing them, Bai Murong gave a whistle as he folded his arms and watched the show. Xia Ling and Big Boss Li came over as well to see what was going on. She said, ¡°You¡¯re always getting me to keep a distance from Ah Wei, in case people get the wrong idea about a man and a woman. Look at this now, next time you should be getting Murong and the other guys to keep a distance, instead.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t my type,¡± Bai Murong smiled and said as he sized Lin Yunan up. ¡°Tsk, he looks skinny, but he does have some muscles. Seems like Ah Wei is into this type.¡±

    Lin Yunan red at him fiercely but still dared not move.

    Wei Shaoyin had a straight face on as he undid all the buttons and then did them back the right way, buttoning his shirt all the way up the top. He then unrolled his sleeves, straightened them out, and then buttoned the cuff buttons for him. Wei Shaoyin dusted his shirt from top to bottom once more before considering his work done.

    ¡°This outfit you have is hopeless,¡± Wei Shaoyin said unhappily. ¡°To think you¡¯d dare to appear at my house in this?!¡±

    Lin Yunan snapped back to his senses and took a step back in shock.

    ¡°Wh-what do you mean hopeless?¡± He was just having a back-and-forth argument with Sister Mai Na a while ago, and now he could barely speak without stuttering. ¡°I¡¯m just not in formal attire, that¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Wei Shaoyin gave a coldugh. ¡°Someone like you speaking about formal attire? Look at the creases on your shirt, and the buttons that you did up wrong, and how sloppily you¡¯re wearing this. This is just...¡±

    ¡°This is just impossible for a neat freak to ept, hahaha.¡± Bai Murong couldn¡¯t stopughing when he figured out why Wei Shaoyin had gone over to unbutton Lin Yunnan¡¯s shirt.

    Xia Ling startedughing too when she realized what was going on.

    Lin Yunan was confused. <i>What¡¯s wrong with these people from Skyart, do I really want to join apany like this? Must I reconsider?</i>

    The Virgo clean freak was on the same side as Sister Mai Na and did not wee Lin Yunan as well. Lin Yunan felt annoyed about being disliked by both the chief manager and the chief producer of thepany and had no choice but to follow Xia Ling around, instead.

    Xia Ling felt guilty for what she had done to him before, and hence, took a polite attitude towards him no matter the situation. He was also a reasonable person and had helped Sister Mai Na save a lot of trouble with the reporters and the like when it involved Xia Ling. Sister Mai Na had a few artistes under her, and hence, didn¡¯t have as much time to look out for Xia Ling alone. Also, unlike Lin Yunan, she didn¡¯t have as much ambition to groom anyone artiste to be the next Diva, she simply wanted to do her job well in looking after each of her artistes, so as not to let them down.

    Seeing that Lin Yunan had been helping Xia Ling out all along, she told Li Lei, ¡°If he really wants to manage Xiao Ling as well, we can let him do it. After all, his reputation in this industry is not too bad, apart from his bad temper at times.¡± Speaking of bad temper, Sister Mai Na was reminded of all the times she had arguments with him.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°I see that the both of you get along pretty well.¡± Although they bickered often, they actually shared the same perspectives and opinions on many things. They worked together well as partners.

    Sister Mai Na rolled her eyes at Boss.

    Hence, in only a few days, Li Lei announced that Lin Yunan had officially joined Skyart, and his sole task was to manage Xiao Ling. Sister Mai Na would be her other manager, in charge of the more administrative aspect of her career.

 Chapter 552 - The Unwelcome Guest

    <h4>Chapter 552: The Unwee Guest</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had already be a bit of a Little Diva, and requests for her appearance in shows had increased exponentially. Her team was struggling to cope with this inflow of requests. Even if Lin Yunan didn¡¯t join the team, she would still need to hire more people in the future. His addition to the team helped her avoid the inevitable hassle.

    Lin Yunan was highly capable. His abilities to select suitable schedules and PR capabilities were impable. Before long, he had steadied her poprity and position in the industry, proving her mettle and allowing no one to question her ¡°Little Diva¡± title. With her path in the limelight going smoothly, they started to prepare for her first solo concert.

    At the end of spring and the start of summer.

    Xia Ling woke to feel slightly giddy and nauseous, possibly because of the weather changing coupled with her daunting work schedule. She sniffled in bed feeling like she might have caught a cold.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± Instinctively, she whined and turned to hug the huge human ¡°bolster¡± next to her.

    Li Lei pped her hand away. ¡°Stay away from me. I¡¯ve caught a cold and don¡¯t want to infect you.¡±

    She became less sleepy in an instant and raised her blurry eyes to look at him weakly. ¡°I¡¯ve also caught a cold.¡± She whined. There was no telling which one of them had infected the other. In any case, both of them were under the weather, so it didn¡¯t matter. She inched closer to Big Boss Li and hugged him closer.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. He coaxed gently, ¡°Be good. Let me get up so I can go find us some medicine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to have too much medicine.¡± She mumbled. It was said that cold medication tended to deal with the symptoms and would not cure it entirely, so there was no real need to take them. When she was at the Pei Family house, how did she deal with a cold? She thought for a while with her eyes half-closed, before she whined to Li Lei again. ¡°I want to have some red sugar ginger tea, or vinegar tea, or snow pears boiled with rock sugar.¡±

    ¡°Okay, be good, I¡¯ll go make some for you.¡± Big Boss gently said.

    ¡°Mmhmm...¡± She mumbled back before falling asleep again. Then, she suddenly snapped awake, remembering that Big Boss was ill as well. ¡°No.¡± She said. ¡°You lie down. I¡¯ll go make them.¡±

    Li Lei was taken aback for a moment before a warmth spread within his heart. Was Xiao Ling feeling concerned for him despite being ill herself? Her concern struck him in the gentlest part of his heart, and he looked at her more lovingly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll go. You¡¯re such a klutz, you¡¯ll just make a mess of things.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Xia Ling whined and struggled to climb off the bed. She pulled a random robe out from the cupboard, put it on, and stumbled towards the kitchen. Li Lei had always been the one taking care of her. In this rare asion that he was ill, it was her chance to do the same.

    She found a pear in the fruit basket and washed it under the tap for a bit before she started to slice it up with her head still spinning. She had learned to cook through Li Lei¡¯s insistence but was still an amateur. As she peeled the skin off the pear, she sliced off a good amount of the pear flesh as well. By the time she was finished, there wasn¡¯t much left outside of the pear core.

    Xia Ling stared at the pear core in a daze.

    She heard augh from behind her.

    She turned and saw Big Boss looking on with a huge smile. She bristled angrily. ¡°Hmph... I¡¯m not making any for you!¡± Yet, she carefully ced the pear core into therge pot.

    ¡°Let me take over.¡± Big Boss gently coaxed and took the knife from her while retrieving another pear.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± Xia Ling eximed unhappily.

    Big Boss allowed her to snatch the knife and pear from him before he hugged her from behind and guided her hands. ¡°Look closely...¡± He demonstrated. ¡°This is how you peel a pear...¡±

    She stared down at her hands in his. Almost magically, a perfect pearypletely peeled in a jiffy.

    ¡°Amazing.¡± She murmured.

    Big Boss¡¯ eyes curled into two joyful semi-circles as he smiled widely again. He sneaked a peck on her ear and said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you cook.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you cook.¡± She responded in resignation.

    ¡°Mmhmm, let¡¯s cook together.¡± His voice was nasal as well. Clearly, the cold was not a minor one.

    He helped her to gauge the water level, as well as the amount of rock sugar to add into the soup. Together, they made a pot of the snow pear soup. The sweet fragrance permeated the room, which was extremely heartwarming, and even Er Mao and Hairball couldn¡¯t resist popping into the kitchen to get a closer whiff.

    ¡°The soup isn¡¯t for you guys!¡± Li Lei helped Xia Ling dish the soup into bowls before gloating at them. ¡°Xiao Ling made this for me!¡±

    Er Mao gave him a look that read ¡°childish¡± before leaving with Hairball in tow.

    Xia Ling brought the bowls to the table and tested the temperature with a spoon. She then brought the spoon near to Li Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Have a taste and see how it is.¡±

    He took a sip from the spoon. The soup was sweet, and the sweetness went straight to his heart.

    ¡°You made it. Whatever you make is nice.¡± His smile broadened across his face.

    ¡°You did most of the work.¡± Xia Ling admitted. Even though she was ill, she knew who made a greater contribution to the oue of the soup. She bent down to have a taste as well. ¡°It¡¯s good!¡±

    The taste was different from the soup she tasted at Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    It was sweeter and more delicious.

    The two of them sat down at the small dining table and shared the pot of snow pear soup between them. After finishing the soup, both of them became more energized.

    ¡°Remember not to have any medication.¡± She reminded him. ¡°I¡¯ll boil some porridge for you tonight, and make some sd on the side.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Lei smiled. In fact, he did not have the habit of taking medication when he was ill since his disposition was good. The medication in the house was prepared for Xiao Ling in case she caught a cold. However, he did not reveal this as he relished in her shower of attention over him.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with his answer. She gleefully pulled him downstairs to head to Skyart together.

    Since she had caught a cold, she did not go into the recording studio but insteadpleted a magazine interview apanied by Lin Yunan, firmed up her schedule for theing month, and went to purchase suitable clothes for them. In the afternoon, she recalled her promise to Li Lei on porridge for dinner and, hence, instructed her assistant to buy several recipe books from the bookstore before heading home early intending to practice first.

    As she was unwell, she felt a little dizzy.

    Lin Yunan asked in concern, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I¡¯m just a little ill, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll be fine after a while.¡± Medication would make her drowsy and affect the sensitivity of her vocal cords. This might not be significant for others, but it was for her. She was reluctant to take any medication if she could help it.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°You can¡¯t cook porridge in this condition. I¡¯ll get a nanny toe over to help you with that. Just lie down and rest.¡±

    Xia Ling refused. ¡°But I want to make the porridge for Li Lei.¡± Big Boss Li was usually so healthy and seemingly impregnable, she had no means of finding an opportunity to show her concern for him. She was still feeling guilty about how she treated him regarding the burial. Now that he was ill, she had found a chance to take care of him and make amends.

    Lin Yunan didn¡¯t know how else to convince her, so he rolled his eyes and left her be.

    He sent her to the base of her apartment building and watched as she disappeared into the elevator.

    It was quiet outside the apartment as Li Lei would not typically be home at this time. Xia Ling keyed the password into the number lock to open to door and realized that the house was full of people.

    An old man with a full head of white hair was sitting on the sofa right in the middle.

 Chapter 553 - Send Her Away

    <h4>Chapter 553: Send Her Away</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling recognized this old man.

    He looked like he was in histe 60s or 70s, dressed in a white Chinese traditional outfit with canvas shoes, and was in good spirits. He sat peacefully on the sofa as he watched here through the door, his gaze unreadable. Many of his subordinates stood around him, and the one closest to him was an elegant female ¡ª Su Tang.

    Xia Ling was silent for a while as she took in the scene in front of her and then greeted him. ¡°Old Master.¡±

    She was a little afraid of this old man, perhaps due to the traumatic experience that she had at the Li Family headquarters.

    The Old Master was watching her intently. He had heard Su Tang speak at length about her. With what exactly did this divorcee manage to bewitch his grandson? There was nothing apparent to him on the surface ¨C she was petite and her looks were, at best, innocent and pleasant. There was no way that she could match up to Su Tang, who was both elegant and beautiful, and even that bimbo Gu Lin seemed more attractive.

    So why did Li Lei like her so much?

    ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯re not a good fit for Li Lei.¡± The Old Master made no effort to hide the objective of his visit. ¡°I don¡¯t care what your motivation is in staying with him. Now, I want you to leave immediately.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. She had not expected him to be quite so direct.

    When they first met at the Calming Heart Garden in the Li Family headquarters, the Old Master had clearly not liked her but did not immediately chase her away, maintaining his basic courtesy. This time, his words were akin to pping her in the face right in front of the whole house of people.

    Su Tang lowered her head slightly and smiled discretely.

    Wasn¡¯t this a direct insult? Ever since she handed the recording to the Old Master, and the Old Master realized that the girl he had personally groomed and ced by Li Lei¡¯s side was being chased out by this wild woman, he had been upset with her. How could he simply let this go? He had to mete out the same treatment to this wild woman!

    Xia Ling¡¯s clear, bright eyes looked directly at the Old Master, and she replied as calmly as she could. ¡°Old Master, this is Li Lei¡¯s house.¡± She wanted to say that the Old Master had no right to decide if she should go or stay. If it were anybody else, she would have already shouted back. However, the Old Master Li was Li Lei¡¯s family, and she had to control herself.

    The Old Master returned her stare and asked, ¡°Why not you tell me... why do you think you are a good fit for Li Lei?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback by his question.

    ¡°Looks? Talent? Family background? Intelligence? What do you have?¡± The Old Master continued coldly. ¡°You¡¯re just a jinx that is destined to be alone. Miss Ye, please stay away from my grandson and don¡¯t bring harm to him!¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know if Li Lei had mentioned the amulet to the Old Master, but regardless, Li Lei had already given half his life to her. They were tied together by that sacrifice, and that wouldn¡¯t change even if they were apart from each other.

    She did not reply to his question directly and only said, ¡°I love Li Lei, and Li Lei loves me. Even if I end up with nothing, and he ends up with nothing, our feelings for each other will never change.¡± She had only managed to free herself from Pei Ziheng with great difficulty to return to Li Lei¡¯s side. They knew that they needed to treasure each other, and she would not be threatened by a few sentences from the Old Master.

    Yes, she might not be the prettiest, but her beauty in her past life did not mean that she could match up to the man that she loved. She might not have a good family background, but Wang Jingwan, who had a great family background, did note to a good end either. She might not be the most intelligent, but the intelligent Xia Yu, too, was unable to win the heart of the man of her dreams...

    The storms in her past life made her realize something. Beauty, intelligence, and family background were all superficial, and only love was real and could not be weighed by these characteristics.

    Love was the thing that bound two people together. It was that simple.

    Old Master Liughed in irritation. ¡°Even if Li Lei has nothing, you will still love him? Miss Ye, I¡¯d really question your love for him. I¡¯ve investigated the things that Xiao Lei has done for you. He can even ept the fact that you¡¯ve married and borne a child with another man?! When you said that you didn¡¯t love him, he still gave you everything that he could! If it were you, would you still love him if he hurt you badly by getting married and having a child with another woman? Would you still be somitted to him?¡±

    Xia Ling could not say anything to retort the Old Master.

    She loved Li Lei, but if the person she loved hurt her deeply...

    She recalled the experiences in her past life with Pei Ziheng. Her deep love for him came to naught after he dished out all the pain and cruelty. She had no confidence in stayingmitted even if Li Lei hurt her as Pei Ziheng did before. She lowered her head.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking?!¡± The Old Master signaled for two bodyguards toe forward, and they ced several suitcases in front of her. ¡°Miss Ye, please leave Xiao Lei¡¯s house. Save some dignity for yourself, and save Xiao Lei some face. Don¡¯t force me to do this the hard way.¡±

    ¡°Old Master,¡± Su Tang¡¯s gentle voice rang out. ¡°Should we wait for Young Master toe back before...¡±

    ¡°Leave now!¡± The Old Master shouted in anger.

    Su Tang knew the Old Master¡¯s temper and lifted her eyes to look at Xia Ling, a triumphant smile on her face.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart clenched. She could guess without a doubt who was behind this sudden visit from the Old Master. She slowly lifted her head, her neckline slender and regal. ¡°I¡¯ll leave on my own ord.¡±

    She turned and left the house, under the watchful eyes of the Li Family bodyguards.

    The Li Family bodyguards carried her suitcases as they followed her. All her personal items in Li Lei¡¯s apartment had been packed into them, including the hidden box of jewels that Pei Ziheng had given to her.

    ¡°Flirtatious b*itch!¡± That was the Old Master¡¯s response at seeing the box.

    Su Tang elegantly walked forward and picked up a knitted handbag, which was what Xia Ling was carrying when she entered the house and did not take with her. She nced into the bag before confidently handing it over to a bodyguard and instructing him, ¡°This... bring it back to Miss Ye...¡±

    The bodyguard nodded and left to chase after Xia Ling.

    The Old Master was still fuming on the sofa. ¡°This jinx! She can¡¯t do anything, and she¡¯s still depending on my grandson to take care of her! What has she done at all for Xiao Lei?!¡± Su Tang, who he picked personally, was way better than her. She was polite and intelligent, skilled in the kitchen and perfect as a dinner date. She was the best fit for Xiao Lei.

    ¡°Cool down, Old Master.¡± Su Tang turned back to the Old Master and said with a gentle voice. ¡°The Young Master just had a moment of folly.¡±

    Old Master Li looked up at the bride that he had chosen for his grandson, his expression lifting a little. He asked, ¡°You sent one of the guys off to return something to that woman. What was it?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Su Tang said with a calm smile. ¡°Just some song sheets.¡±

    ¡°Song sheets?! That idiot only knows about her song sheets! Has she ever had a glimmer of concern for Xiao Lei?!¡± Old Master Li became agitated again.

    Su Tang¡¯s smile became even more prominent. When she nced into the bag, she had been shocked to see that it was filled with recipe books. But so what? That divorcee was in no ce to shower any concern over the Young Master.

    Xia Ling was sent out of the apartmentplex by the bodyguards.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± The head of security of the apartmentplex came to greet her, concern written on his face. His loyalty was with Li Lei, and he was concerned about her safety, unlike the subordinates under the Old Master.

 Chapter 554 - New Living Premises

    <h4>Chapter 554: New Living Premises</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    On seeing him, Xia Ling felt some warmth fill her heart.

    However, she knew that he had no power to go against the Old Master¡¯s wishes as well. She told him, ¡°Help me to pass a message to Li Lei. Tell him that once I¡¯ve found a new ce to settle down, I¡¯ll contact him.¡± The hidden meaning behind this message was: If he received a call from her, it meant that she was fine. But if he did not hear from her, something untoward might have happened to her.

    The head of security understood her words and nodded.

    The men under Old Master Li had also understood the hidden message in her words, but remained emotionless and did not stop them frommunicating. Xia Ling and the head of security saw this as a good sign and heaved sighs of relief. It looked like the Old Master had no intention to be so cruel as to threaten her life.

    They sent her all the way into the car.

    The car traveled across the city and into a high-ssed bungalow region.

    There was greenery all around, and flowers lined the one-way street along the ck barricades and red walls. Xia Ling felt like this ce was very familiar. Wait... wasn¡¯t this the bungalow area where Pei Ziheng lived?!

    The car stopped at the bungalow beside Pei Ziheng¡¯s.

    The Li Family helpers started to carry her stuff out of the car ¡ª her suitcases and knitted handbag, etc.

    Xia Ling was feeling uneasy. ¡°You guys are making me stay here?¡±

    The head of the helpers replied in a deadpan manner. ¡°This bungalow was bought specially for you by the Old Master. He asked me to pass you a message: You should be satisfied with getting a bungalow in exchange for the Young Master. Don¡¯t even think about other things that you do not deserve. You are in no position to even think about bing the Li Family missus.¡±

    Xia Lingughed in her anger. So... this was the breakuppensation?

    She looked around and saw that the entire bungalow premises were fairly empty, except for a few wild marigolds and roses in a far corner of the garden. She remembered that when she was staying at the Pei Family house back in March, this bungalow was still upied by a kindly couple. She had met them asionally and would exchange friendly greetings.

    ¡°What happened to the original owners?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°They¡¯ve moved.¡± The helper replied. The original owners of the bungalow were normal business people. The Old Master had offered them three times the valuation of the bungalow, as well as issued a mild threat. It wasn¡¯t difficult for him to make them move.

    ¡°He bought this ce especially for me to stay?¡± Xia Ling asked again.

    The Li Family helper said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s clenched her fists subconsciously. The Old Master had probably investigated her ambiguous rtionship with Pei Ziheng and had made her move in here on purpose. Wasn¡¯t he just trying to make Pei Ziheng and her rekindle their rtionship so that there would be no more possibilities between Li Lei and her?

    ¡°I¡¯m not staying here.¡± Xia Ling resolved.

    She recalled the day that they had buried her child. Li Lei held onto her hand and ced it on his heart, saying honestly, ¡°When I see you with him, it hurts right over here.¡±

    She did not ever want to make his heart ache again.

    Yet, the helper responded, ¡°You have to stay here.¡±

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh.

    The Li Family helper continued, ¡°Then, the Old Master will be furious and hate you even more. Your rtionship with Young Master Li will be jeopardized further. Miss Ye, Young Master Li was brought up personally by the Old Master and is the favored grandson. Do you want him to be enemies with his grandfather because of you?¡±

    Her returning to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side was a more likely trigger that would make the two of them be enemies.

    Xia Ling stood her ground. ¡°I¡¯m not staying here.¡±

    She bent over to pick up her suitcases. The small leather cases were heavy, and she was unable to lift them. She suddenly heard the helper speak up again. ¡°Three years.¡±

    What?

    She lifted her head up with a confused expression.

    ¡°The Old Master said three years.¡± The helper continued in his deadpan voice. ¡°If you stay here for a full three years and still want to be together with Young Master Li, the Old Master will consider your marriage.¡±

    Her hands paused in mid-motion. Now, should she stay or not stay?

    She could obtain the Old Master¡¯s approval just by staying here for three years. That would be the most peaceful resolution. However, there were too many uncertainties in three years. Just Pei Ziheng staying next door, waiting for an opportunity to pounce, was enough for her to lose sleep over.

    ¡°He only said that he would consider?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes narrowed as she started to negotiate. ¡°I¡¯m going to need more certainty than that.¡±

    The Li Family helper responded, ¡°No one in this world has been able to negotiate with the Old Master.¡±

    ¡°I can be the first.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t stay, he won¡¯t even consider it.¡±

    ¡°Saying that he will ¡®consider¡¯ is just a strategy to drag things out. There¡¯s no sincerity at all. Does the Old Master think I¡¯m stupid?¡±

    The helper did not know what to say. <i>Miss Ye, it does seem like you are stupid. With all the information you had previously, isn¡¯t it obvious that the Old Master is against you being together with the Young Master? What if the child you have in the future is as dumb as you?!</i>

    The helper was unsure of what to do given Xia Ling¡¯s determination to get her way.

    He stepped aside and made a call to Old Master Li. ¡°Yes, yes... Okay, I understand.¡±

    He hung up and returned to where Xia Ling was. ¡°The Old Master has agreed that if you stay for a full three years, he will allow you into the Li Family.¡± This was still an ambiguous statement. With what status would she be allowed into the Li Family? As Li Lei¡¯s wife? Or as his mistress? Or was he thinking of marrying her off to one of his random underlings?

    However, Xia Ling did not think of such detail and was satisfied with the negotiation result. As such, she nodded.

    ¡°The Old Master will not go back on his word, will he?¡± She asked.

    ¡°The Old Master has never gone back on his word.¡± The helper said in a cold but proud tone.

    Xia Ling did not doubt his words. In all the time that she had spent with Pei Ziheng in her past life, as well as with Li Lei and Wei Shaoyin in this life, she found that they had something inmon. They were all about presentation and principles. The Old Master Li had no reason to ruin his reputation and principles because of a small character like her.

    She bent down to pick up her suitcases again. Alright then, she would just stay here.

    The Li family helpers came forward to carry all her suitcases into the house and help her to settle in before they disappeared, going about their other work.

    Xia Ling looked at the empty living room filled with her suitcases in a daze. She recalled that she should give Li Lei a call. His line was busy, so she left him a voice message, broadly exining that she had been chased out by the Old Master and informed him of her current address.

    After hanging up, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to organize her things.

    Her head was still heavy and spinning from her cold, and after all themotion, it seemed that her cold had gotten worse. She started to feel a chill run through her body.

    She dug around in her suitcases for a mug and filled it with warm water in the kitchen. She still felt terrible after drinking it up. The Old Master Li had packed all her expensive jewelry and items but did not pack cold medication into the bags.

    Xia Ling sniffled and felt like crying.

    The doorbell rang.

    She struggled towards the front door and saw a tall man standing outside the ck gate against the sunlight. His cold expression was mysteriously oppressing.

 Chapter 555 - A Battle Without a way to Retreat

    <h4>Chapter 555: A Battle Without a way to Retreat</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    She stood beside the fence and did not open the door for him.

    At twilight, there was the faint smell of flowers in the air. Pei Ziheng lowered his head and looked at the petite figure inside. His tone was consistently warm. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me in?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°He won¡¯t be happy.¡±

    The shadow of the setting sun covered Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression.

    Both of them stood quietly for a while. Xia Ling sneezed.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Did you catch a cold?¡±

    Xia Ling rubbed her nose. ¡°It¡¯s not very serious.¡± In reality, her current condition was worse than in the morning. However, in the morning, she could throw a tantrum in Li Lei¡¯s arms. Right now, she couldn¡¯t throw a tantrum in front of anyone. She carefully maintained her distance from Pei Ziheng. She was afraid of hurting Li Lei and not being able to live peacefully for the next three years.

    Pei Ziheng was distressed after seeing that her nose was red and her eyes were watery. She was like a sick little puppy behind the fence. She was soft but looked at him cautiously. It was very cute.

    He said, ¡°I¡¯ll get Nanny Zhou to make stewed sweet pear with white fungus for you.¡± In the morning, Old Master Li sent someone over to tell him that Xiao Ling was moving there but did not mention that she was sick. Pei Ziheng was originally very pleased with Old Master Li¡¯s arrangement, but now he was quite angry because he did not take care of her well.

    Xia Ling¡¯s head was spinning. After thinking about the delicious stewed sweet pear with white fungus, she almost nodded her head in agreement. Luckily, she stopped herself and bitterly shook her head. ¡°No thanks.¡±

    ¡°You used to like it a lot.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat it.¡±

    Actually, she wanted to cry. There was nothing in the vi. She did not know how to cook and had no strength to go out to buy anything. What should she do? Just as she was wondering if she should call her assistant, a man walked towards her from a road outside the fence. His figure was not inferior to Pei Ziheng¡¯s perfect body. His light-colored sportswear faintly outlined his muscr chest. It was Li Lei.

    He was initially handling matters in Skyart Entertainment. Upon receiving Xia Ling¡¯s message, he immediately went to the vi¡¯s address. Li Lei was very troubled after grandpa¡¯s decision. He was well aware of what grandpa was doing. From afar, he saw Pei Ziheng standing outside his woman¡¯s house, separated by a fence. They were talking peacefully.

    rm bells rang in Li Lei¡¯s heard, and he quickly walked towards them.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± Looking at him, Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up. Against the setting sun, he looked more handsome. His deep facial features were coated with a mysteriously golden glow as if he were returning from a distant ce.

    He looked very energetic. Strange, both of them caught a cold in the morning. Why was her condition so bad in the evening but he was fine?

    ¡°Have you recovered?¡± She asked.

    ¡°This is a small illness.¡± Li Lei said. His body was always very strong, and he easily overcame minor ailments. He said to Xia Ling, ¡°Let me in. I will cook dinner for you.¡±

    He understood Xiao Ling too well and knew that she still had not eaten at this time.

    Xia Ling smiled. She was just thinking about how to settle dinner, but Big Boss Li voluntarily visited her. ¡°I want to eat a stewed sweet pear with white fungus.¡± She sweetly said and let Big Boss in.

    Li Lei brushed past Pei Ziheng as he walked in.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was very dark, and he clenched his fists in the dark.

    Li Lei was extremely delighted and satisfied. He walked into the yard and closed the fence door and did not forget to lecture Pei Ziheng. ¡°I advise you to give up.¡±

    Pei Ziheng tightened his lips coldly. He was not a man who was good with verbal arguments. Thus, he would use actions to show who the final winner was. Looking at Li Lei walking with her into the vi, Pei Ziheng also turned around and returned to his own vi. It was alright, there were many days ahead.

    Li Lei was in a good mood because Xiao Ling let him in but not Pei Ziheng.

    He gently supported her as she sat down on the sofa and found a nket in a suitcase to cover her. He then twisted a hot towel and ced it on her forehead. After that, he got up and went to the kitchen to cook stewed sweet pear with white fungus. Soon, it was finished, and he fed her the stew in small spoonfuls.

    She was sleepy and leaned on him. In a daze, she started drooling.

    Li Lei wiped her mouth with a tissue and softly asked, ¡°Why did you move here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your grandpa¡¯s fault.¡± She was very wronged. ¡°He doesn¡¯t like me.¡± As she spoke, she felt like crying. Why was being with him so difficult? There were so many obstacles. When would they stop? She blew her nose and told him about the three-year contract with Old Master.

    Li Lei learned about the treachery of his grandfather. Although he did not say much, he was determined to find a way to solve it and not let it trouble Xiao Ling. ¡°Just focus on getting well.¡± He kissed her forehead and held her in his arms.

    Xia Ling curled up in the arms of her lover. She felt warm and secure. Soon, she fell asleep.

    Li Lei was lost in his thoughts as he looked at her sleepy face. He lowered his voice and made a call to ask a few subordinates to tidy up the vi and ensure that everything was clean. They changed the curtains andid a soft andfortable duvet on the bed.

    He carried her to the bed, and both of them slept together.

    The next day, Li Lei was woken up by a phone call.

    The ringtone rang for a long time. Xia Ling slightly frowned, closed her eyes, and slept unsteadily. Li Lei nced at the caller ID. Old Master had called him. He quickly got up, went to the terrace outside the bedroom, and answered the call. ¡°Hello, grandpa?¡±

    ¡°Your wings have hardened and forgotten where your home is.¡± Old Master Li spoke unkindly.

    Li Lei knew that he was being punished for his actions.

    ¡°Grandpa, why are you back in China?¡± Li Lei decided to change the subject.

    However, it was not effective. Old Master said coldly, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯ve warned you before. You aren¡¯t allowed to be with that female star who is cursed to be lonely and miserable! That¡¯s why her son was cursed to die! Someone who has this fate is destined to be alone forever! You bettere back. Otherwise, don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t dare to hurt her!¡±

    Old Master had been in the triad for two decades. When he got angry, his voice was invible.

    Even Li Lei was scared by hisst sentence. He decided that it was also time to go back for a while to have a discussion with Old Master about Xiao Ling.

    Li Lei ended the call, turned around, and realized that Xia Ling had already woken up. She was wearing white velvet pajamas as she held the door with her white hand which resembled a magnolia flower in the morning sun and looked at him quietly.

    ¡°Are you leaving?¡± She was somewhat disappointed.

    Li Lei stepped forward and nted a kiss on her forehead. ¡°I need to see grandpa and tell him that you¡¯re a very good woman. We will be together.¡±

    This was a battle without a way to retreat. He had to win.

 Chapter 556 - Feast

    <h4>Chapter 556: Feast</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Xia Ling sent him to the door of the vi, adjusted his clothes, and watched as he left.

    In the foggy morning on the pathway, the endless red-brick wall and ivy looked like a scene from a fairy tale. She really wished that their love story was like a fairy tale, happy and peaceful.

    However, the reality was always cruel.

    She felt a little mncholic, sneezed, and went back into the house.

    Li Lei went to see his Old Master because of their future. In that case, she also had to work hard. Old Master looked down on her because she was not pretty nor smart nor from an eminent family nor had a good fate. Perhaps she couldn¡¯t please Old Master in these areas, but at least, she could make herself more famous and stand at the pinnacle of the music industry to prove that she was not a useless person. She could do her best to be a suitable match for her beloved man.

    She called for a chauffeur to send her to Skyart Entertainment.

    She was still sick and could not record any songs. In the office, she had a meeting with Wei Shaoyin and Lin Yunan to discuss her following concert ns. Lin Yunan said, ¡°First, organize a high profile event in the city. Poprity is not important. The important thing is the style and word-of-mouth. Xiao Ling, you are going to be a Diva, so you must know how to amaze people on your first concert and surpass all of the other female singers so that other people will form the impression that you are truly the pinnacle of the era.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    Wei Shaoyin also agreed. ¡°The tour willmence after the first show. Different themes will be set up ording to different cities and festivals. There will be a lot of loose powder and die-hard fans following you from the first to thest show. Creating a topic thatsts in the long term will help you umte loyal fans and keep you popr.¡±

    Lin Yunan snapped his fingers. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Although Lin Yunan and Wei Shaoyin¡¯s personalities were different, they worked very well together. Both of them were smart and could conveyplicated ideas to each other clearly in concise terms, so they got along well.

    Xia Ling was unwell. After some time, she felt sleepy again.

    Lin Yunan wrapped a nket around her and said, ¡°Now, you have to take care of your body and recharge your batteries so you can do your best in your first concert. Moreover, you also have to participate in the promotional and publicity activities.¡±

    Xia Ling said with a nasal voice, ¡°Ok.¡±

    Her body was not as strong as Li Lei¡¯s and took a few days to recover. In the meantime, Li Lei visited her with food but did not really stay over. He told her, ¡°Grandpa is living in my apartment, and I have to apany him. He is old and can¡¯t really get angry. As for our matter, I will find a way around it.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She knew that Old Master was stubborn and Li Lei was helpless.

    ¡°If our love is meant tost, it doesn¡¯t matter how long we are apart.¡± She smiled andforted Li Lei. ¡°Recently, I¡¯m writing a song with an ancient style and reading poetry. My life is very fulfilling, so you don¡¯t have to worry too much.¡±

    She could also feel the pressure caused by the Old Master. Li Lei was obviously busier than before. Even though she went to Skyart¡¯s office to look for him and usually saw him there conversing with Su Tang, discussing business over a pot of coffee or tea which she could not understand.

    After her experience with Xia Yu in her past life, Xia Ling knew clearly what Su Tang¡¯s intentions were.

    She originally wanted to ask why he did not transfer Su Tang away from him, but once she thought about Old Master, she understood that Li Lei was powerless in this matter.

    In this crucial period, it was best if she did not give him any extra trouble.

    She gradually went to the office less as what she did not see could not hurt her.

    Slowly, she recovered. On this day, she opened the vi¡¯s mailbox and found an invitation letter to a high-end charity banquet. This banquet invited celebrities from all around the world and a few stars to participate. The invitation was very polite as they asked Miss Ye Xingling to attend the event. She called Lin Yunan, and Lin Yunan confirmed it. ¡°There is such a charity banquet, and media representatives will be present. You can participate and enhance your image.¡±

    Xia Ling really wanted to improve her image in hopes to give Old Master a good impression. She said to Lin Yunan, ¡°Can you participate with me?¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°This charity banquet is closed to the public. Those who can enter the venue are highly regarded, and the guests can¡¯t bring in any assistants or managers. I¡¯m afraid that you have to go by yourself.¡± He paused and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Are you afraid that you won¡¯t fit in? I can look for an etiquette teacher to give you an intense training session.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too little of me.¡±

    She was a Diva in her past life and attended many celebrity dinners. How could she be afraid of not fitting in? After being excited by Lin Yunan, she felt a little enthusiastic. Wasn¡¯t she just going to participate in a charity dinner alone? It¡¯s not a big deal at all.

    When the day came, she chose an haute couture champagne-colored evening dress with sparkling yet solemn jewelry. Her original delicate face had a swan-like elegance.

    She arrived at the address specified on the invitation.

    It was a very luxurious manor, unlike the minimalist style of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s private estate and was opulent. After seeing her invitation, the handsomely uniformed guards in front of the door directed her and a few other guests towards the same direction. Those people were about the same age as her and looked attractive. She could tell that they were of high status and extraordinary.

    However, they did not look like people in the entertainment industry.

    Xia Ling secretly guessed their identity, and they shot her a few looks.

    ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± She faintly heard a girl in front of her whisper to her female friend. ¡°Isn¡¯t she an ordinary female star? I¡¯m mistaken, right? Why is she here?¡±

    Her friend also whispered something back, but Xia Ling did not hear her clearly. She only heard the other girlugh in a shrill voice and changed the topic.

    A strange feeling emerged in Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    She scanned her surroundings. She did not recognize anyone. Most of the people around her were youths who greeted familiar guests. Xia Ling walked with the crowd. Very soon, she reached the second level. The registration personnel was seated at a long table with a gorgeous tablecloth, and the guests signed their attendance one by one.

    ¡°This banquet is so strange.¡± A girl nearby said. ¡°Why are there two security points?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re afraid that people would sneak in.¡± Her femalepanion said. ¡°After all, the standard is very high.¡±

    The people in front of herpleted their registration and entered the real banquet scene. Soon, it was Xia Ling¡¯s turn.

    She handed the personnel her invitation. Just as she was about to sign her name, suddenly, she heard the guard at the registration area say, ¡°Miss Ye Xingling? I¡¯m sorry, but did youe to the wrong ce?¡±

 Chapter 557 - You Are Always Welcomed Here

    <h4>Chapter 557: You Are Always Weed Here</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Startled, she asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the charity banquet?¡±

    The uniformed guard patiently exined to her, ¡°This is a charity banquet, but the guests invited are either famous or from eminent families. Miss Ye, if I speak honestly, although you are called a ¡®Little Diva,¡¯ you are still not famous enough.¡±

    Xia Ling felt that something was not right. ¡°What about this invitation...¡±

    The guard carefully looked at her invitation. ¡°The watermark on this card is fake. Please go back.¡± Nearby, the guests behind her started whispering and looking at her.

    Before Xia Ling could react to what was going on, suddenly, she felt a light sh in front of her. She turned around in rm. Not far away in the crowd, a reporter took a picture of her and did not leave despite seeing her look at her. He shed her a grin before leaving.

    Xia Ling could already foresee that if the situation continued, the next day, the news would spread that she was driven out of the banquet. She was wearing a champagne-colored silk fishtail gown and could not settle her dispute with the reporter personally. There was also no manager beside her, and it was difficult for her to decide her next move.

    She did not know whose sick joke this was. How could the person send a fake invitation to her mailbox?

    However, before she could think about it, the guard already urged her again. ¡°Miss Ye, please leave. Don¡¯t make things difficult for us.¡± Behind her, many guests from distinguished families were waiting to sign their names, and many people looked very impatient.

    The situation was pressing.

    If she really left like that, she would be extremely humiliated.

    She softly said, ¡°Who is the organizer of this charity banquet? Is it possible that there¡¯s a misunderstanding?¡±

    ¡°Organizer?¡± Behind her, a girl from an eminent family said impatiently. ¡°You don¡¯t even know who the organizer is but you still dare toe here? Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s Old Master Li from Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    Old Master Li?

    Xia Ling was rmed. Could it be that Old Master Li deliberately invited her to embarrass her?

    If that was true, this situation could not be resolved anymore because it was definitely not a misunderstanding. The simple act of chasing her out would destroy her reputation and make her less worthy of Li Lei.

    rm bells rang in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. She knew that there was no way she could avoid this situation.

    She lifted her head and looked at the guard. ¡°The Li Family organized this banquet? Is Li Lei here?¡±

    Before the guard could answer, a girl with gorgeous long curly hair dressed in a morous red gown walked out from the banquet and looked arrogantly at Xia Ling. ¡°Of course, Brother Lei is here, don¡¯t you know that? This banquet was organized for him. However, Ye Xingling, this is not a ce for a lowly person like you. I advise you to quickly get lost before you embarrass yourself!¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and saw that the hateful girl was Gu Lin.

    Enemies were indeed bound to meet on a narrow road.

    She said that this banquet was held for Li Lei. What did she mean?

    Wasn¡¯t this a charity banquet?

    Xia Ling was too busy to think about it as her more urgent task was to prevent herself from being driven out by the guard. She took out her phone from her exquisite handbag and called Li Lei. ¡°I¡¯m at the doorway of the banquet and I ran into some trouble. Can you pick me up?¡±

    Li Lei wore a light-colored suit and was talking to his good friend Du Yunfeng. When he received her call, his face well. What happened? Why was Xiao Ling here?

    Du Yunfeng looked at him strangely. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling is here.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± Du Yunfeng disdainfully snorted. ¡°I told you before that that woman is not worthy of you. Do you think she¡¯s so innocent and kind? That¡¯s just an act. In front of you, she pretends to be pitiful. See, she could not wait toe once you organized a banquet today.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the way you talk about Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei said coldly.

    Du Yunfeng shrugged his shoulders and stopped talking. His friend was good at everything, but no man was wise at all times. Right now, he was obsessed with an unruly woman. Every time they talked about this woman, they would be at odds.

    Li Lei ced his cocktail back on the waiter¡¯s tray. ¡°I¡¯m going to the doorway to take a look.¡±

    Du Yunfeng wanted to apany him to be a bystander. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    The two of them quickly arrived at the doorway. On the marble-paved small square with a red carpet, many people gathered. Several guards were trying to deal with Xia Ling, and a group of morous guests was looking at the scene at the side.

    In the crowd, Xiao Ling looked helpless.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart faintly hurt.

    He quickly stepped forward. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Brother Lei!¡± Before Xia Ling could respond, Gu Lin already walked towards him and intimately linked arms with him.

    Li Lei quietly broke away from her and looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Xia Ling took the invitation letter from the guard and handed it to Li Lei. ¡°This invitation doesn¡¯t count?¡± Her voice was beautiful and intoxicating.

    Du Yunfeng also leaned over to take a look. ¡°The watermark is fake.¡± The watermark on the invitation was an image of a bird while the real watermark was a rose that was about to bloom.

    ¡°Is the invitation really important?¡± At the start, Li Lei looked expressionlessly at the invitation, but then he threw it aside and smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°I will always wee you.¡± He spoke very gently, and his voice sounded more intoxicating than hers.

    Xia Ling also smiled and knew that he would save her from the fire.

    Li Lei reached out his hand in a gentlemanly manner. His light-colored suit fluttered in the summer night. She smiled and ced her white and soft hand elegantly in his palm.

    Li Lei held her hand and walked beside her towards the banquet venue.

    ¡°Brother Lei!¡± Gu Lin was so mad that she stamped her foot. That irritating woman was not invited. How could she be allowed into the venue? The surrounding guests were also disappointed, especially the females who all refused to ept this result. They all came to this banquet because of Second Young Master Li who was noble, strong, and handsome. Now, his rumored lover was here, and she was of such a lowly status. How could they ept this?

    However, Li Lei was oblivious to their angry res. He held her hand very affectionately.

    Several guards looked at one another in a distressed manner. One of them thickened his skin and walked forward. ¡°Young Master, this is against the rules. Old Master already instructed that only eminent guests are allowed in this banquet. Please don¡¯t make this difficult for us.¡± They were all Old Master¡¯s subordinates and listened to Old Master¡¯s orders. Even if young master appeared now, they still did not dare to let anyone off so easily.

 Chapter 558 - Striking Up a Conversation

    <h4>Chapter 558: Striking Up a Conversation</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Li Lei paused in his footsteps. ¡°Old Master did not allow you to let Miss Ye in?¡±

    The guard said, ¡°Old Master only allows famous and noble guests to enter and said that if anyone disobeys the rules, we should chase him away.¡± What he meant was that if Li Lei forcefully brought someone in, it may lead to a power conflict.

    Du Yunfeng gloated over their misfortune. ¡°Li Lei, give it up. How can your Old Master allow Ye Xingling to enter?¡± He should have thought of the reason Old Master held this party. If Old Master respected Ye Xingling, would this party even be held?

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°Famous or noble guests? That means that as long as Xiao Ling is from a noble family, there¡¯s no problem anymore, right?¡±

    The guard was startled before finally answering, ¡°Not a problem.¡± In his heart, he thought, <i>How is that possible? The news already said that Ye Xingling¡¯s parents are ordinary working-ssmoners.</i>

    Li Lei smiled.

    He turned to look at Du Yunfeng, and Du Yunfeng was rmed by his expression. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°From today onwards, Xiao Ling is your godsister.¡±

    ¡°My... my godsister?¡± Du Yunfeng was about to go crazy. ¡°This woman? Is she worthy...¡± He wanted to say something offensive, but after looking at Li Lei¡¯s expression, he shut up. He knew that his friend really liked this woman. Thest time he caused trouble for Ye Xingling on the cruise party, Li Lei had a fight with him.

    Du Yunfeng felt injustice. Due to this irrelevant woman, he was punched by Pei Ziheng and his good friend. He looked at Xia Ling with deep resentment and slowly said, ¡°If you aren¡¯t willing to be my godsister, I definitely won¡¯t insist.¡± He didn¡¯t dare to reject Li Lei. If he gave Li Lei any more trouble regarding his rtionship with this woman, their friendship might be over.

    Now, he could only hope that this woman rejected him.

    Xia Ling also disliked Du Yunfeng, but it was not time to throw a tantrum now. If she rejected Li Lei¡¯s arrangement, not only would she be driven out of the banquet, she would embarrass Li Lei.

    Thus, she softly called, ¡°Brother.¡±

    Du Yunfeng wanted to cry and was very uneasy.

    However, Li Lei was very happy. He smiled at the guard. ¡°Great. Now, this is Miss Du. You can let her in, right?¡±

    The guard was speechless.

    Gu Lin jumped out. ¡°Brother Lei, you¡¯re cheating!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°This is something regarding the Du Family, Miss Gu. It¡¯s not your ce to interfere.¡± When it came to Xiao Ling, he was serious. He would not let anyone who wanted to go against Xiao Ling off so easily.

    Gu Lin was panic-stricken after being called ¡°Miss Gu.¡± In the past, Brother Lei used to call her ¡°Linlin,¡± but now he sounded so distant. Today¡¯s banquet was different, and she was afraid of making Li Lei angry and giving another woman a chance to take advantage of her, so she held back her tears and stopped talking.

    Xia Ling smiled. She linked arms with Li Lei and walked inside.

    Many high society members watched them enter, and the registration process was restored.

    After leaving the crowd, Xia Ling¡¯s elegant and proud look vanished. She asked Li Lei, ¡°What¡¯s going on? What sort of banquet is this? Why was a fake invitation sent to me?¡±

    Li Lei also did not know who sabotaged her. He thought about the possible sabotagers in his mind but said, ¡°Are you tired? I will take you to the rest area to sit down and bring you some fruit snacks. This banquet... is a long story. I will exin it to you.¡± Li Lei felt a little guilty regarding this banquet. He thought that he should feed Xiao Ling a few things that she liked first so that maybe her mood would be better after being full and would ept his exnation better.

    Xia Ling was unaware of his thoughts. She sat down on a sofa in the rest area and nodded. ¡°You can go. I want to eat hazelnut cake and strawberry ice cream.¡±

    ¡°Greedy.¡± Li Lei smiled tenderly and turned around to get her snacks.

    The wind in the summer night was a bit chilly. Ripples formed in the water near the window. She satzily and looked at the clear water surface. Although she was absent-minded, due to her habits of a celebrity for two lifetimes, her posture looked extremely beautiful all the time. Even her sitting position could not bepared to the other guests nearby.

    ¡°Look, that girl over that is so beautiful.¡± Not far away, a man pulled hispanion.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Ye Xingling?¡± Hispanion said. ¡°How did a female celebrity enter? Could it be that the banquet invited a singer, and she¡¯s taking a break now?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± The man said, ¡°Second Young Master Li¡¯s rumored lover?¡±

    Hispanion nced at him. ¡°Why? Are you interested in her?¡±

    The manughed. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that. Just her sitting position looks ten times better than the other females over there. No wonder Second Young Master Li likes her. However, since she is his woman, I can¡¯t touch her.¡±

    Hispanion said, ¡°If you really want to, you can try to pick her up. I think Second Young Master Li is just ying with her. Otherwise, why would this banquet be held today?¡±

    The man thought about it and said, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Hispanion said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with talking to her? That has always been consensual. Besides, Second Young Master Li will be surrounded by so many women tonight. Why would he care about her? As for you, it¡¯s rare for a banquet like this to be held. Why would you rather waste your time with this female celebrity than strike up a conversation with a high society woman of your fancy?¡±

    The man said, ¡°I¡¯m not interested in those high society women.¡± He dusted his suit and walked towards Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling stared at the water with a bored look and felt sad after thinking about what happened when she was stopped at the door. Not long ago, she was still very intimate with Li Lei, and they lived together peacefully. However, now, participating in thisrge banquet, she felt no connection with him at all.

    When did their distance start to widen?

    There were footsteps behind her.

    Xia Ling thought that Li Lei hade back with the food. Thus, she brightened up and said, ¡°Thank you for the hazelnut cake.¡± When she turned around, she realized that there was a young and handsome well-dressed stranger looking at her with a smile.

    ¡°Hello.¡± The man greeted her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I didn¡¯t bring over any hazelnut cake. I can ask a waiter to bring it over for you.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked. ¡°You are...¡±

    ¡°Let me introduce myself. I¡¯m Wang Tao, the third young master of the Wang restaurant chain.¡± The man was very polite. ¡°It¡¯s very nice to meet you.¡±

    However, Xia Ling was not happy at all to know him. She knew immediately that this man was obviously trying to pick her up. She said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m waiting for someone.¡±

    ¡°Are you waiting for Li Lei?¡± Wang Tao smiled politely. ¡°He will be very busy tonight and won¡¯t have the time to apany you.¡±

 Chapter 559 - I Call the Shots

    <h4>Chapter 559: I Call the Shots</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°He will be very busy tonight?¡±

    Wang Tao said, ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t pretend. A straightforward person does not resort to insinuations. Who doesn¡¯t know that this banquet is only a charity cocktail party on the surface? In reality, it was organized by Old Master Li to help Second Young Master Li find a wife. To be direct, this is a big blind date. Look at all these famous and wealthy people... All of them are dressed so well. Why do you think this is so?¡±

    There was a buzzing sound in Xia Ling¡¯s head. A blind date?!

    She looked at the cocktail party not far away. Sure enough, it was more dubious than usual banquet parties. The girls were dressed very meticulously in perfumed clothes and gorgeous hair. Each one was more beautiful than the next.

    She was stunned.

    Wang Tao took two sses of wine from a waiter passing by and handed her one. Leaning against the white jade railing, he looked at the scene with her. ¡°Things are like that in this circle.¡± He sighed. ¡°No matter how messy your life is outside, in the end, you will get married to these few people. How boring.¡±

    He lifted his wine ss and saluted to Xia Ling. ¡°How about we be happy when we can be. Miss Ye, drink this ss of wine and let¡¯s be friends.¡±

    Xia Ling did not hear clearly what he said.

    Her heart was in a mess, and her mind was filled with questions about Li Lei¡¯s blind date.

    Her chest was stuffy, and she finally knew why he did not tell her about this party tonight. She also understood why there was a strange invitation in her mailbox. She was afraid that someone deliberately wanted her to witness everything so that she would embarrass herself or give up on Li Lei. That person spared no effort to break them up.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m not really feeling well.¡± She softly said. Holding the back of the armchair, she stood up and was about to leave.

    ¡°Ye...¡± Wang Tao still wanted to call her.

    Suddenly, two women walked over from the porch. One of them had long curly hair and was wearing a gorgeous red dress and sparkling gold eye-shadow. It was Gu Lin.

    ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Ye Xingling?¡± Gu Lin looked at her and called out. ¡°Why, you¡¯re not with your godbrother after sneaking into the party and are wandering all alone? I just know that Brother Lei doesn¡¯t think highly of you. That¡¯s why he ditched you after you just came in.¡±

    Xia Ling expression darkened. She was already in a bad mood, and now someone was trying to bring her down.

    ¡°Get out of my way.¡± She said. Her heart was focused on the blind date, and she anxiously wanted to look for Li Lei for rification. She did not want to argue with Gu Lin, but Gu Lin was blocking her way.

    After hearing her say that, Gu Lin was furious.

    The woman beside Gu Lin also had an ugly expression. She was an aristocrat and wore a long silver dress with glittering stars. Her corbone was exquisite, and her figure was very slender. Her long hair was like silk and was obviously carefully managed. She was extremely perfect.

    She nced at Xia Ling with her beautiful gem-like eyes and quickly looked away as if she identally looked at rubbish. As she tilted her head and spoke, her voice was reserved and cold, ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°This is Ye Xingling, a singer.¡± Gu Lin lifted her chin and looked at Xia Ling arrogantly and provocatively.

    A singer? No wonder she was so uncultured. The woman in the silver-white dress slightly raised her attractive eyebrows and thought that Xia Ling was a singer who came to sing in the banquet. She couldn¡¯t be bothered to have a dispute with someone like that and said to Gu Lin faintly, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Today, her family gave her a death order to win the favor of Second Young Master Li. She did not want to waste her time with an irrelevant person.

    ¡°But Sister Nangong... I hate her!¡± Gu Lin refused to give up. How could she let Ye Xingling off so easily? She should use this opportunity to drive her out!

    That woman whose surname was Nangong slightly frowned.

    This Gu Lin was too insensible. How could a high societydy fight with a singer and lower her identity?! She appeared a little impatient. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I just returned back to China and am not really used to the climate and culture here. You promised to take me to find Second Young Master Li. I want to ask him how a person who grew up abroad can adapt to the domestic culture.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes.¡± Gu Lin finally remembered Miss Nangong¡¯s purpose and said, ¡°I will bring you there now. Let me tell you, Brother Lei is my childhood friend, and our rtionship has been good from a young age. Brother Lei cares about me the most.¡± As she spoke, she shot Xia Ling a provocative look.

    Miss Nangong slightly nodded, but she thought disdainfully, <i>Everyone says that the eldest daughter of the Gu Family is an idiot, and sure enough, it¡¯s true. If really Li Lei thinks of her as a childhood friend and lover, why would he organize this blind date?</i>

    On the surface, she elegantly said, ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look.¡±

    Gu Lin was very warm. ¡°I will take you there now.¡± She heard that Sister Nangong was going to be engaged to the young executive director of the Du Family, Du Yunfeng, so she was not worried that she would steal Brother Lei and was not on her guard.

    However, Xia Ling saw through her on the spot. This Miss Nangong obviously had an ulterior motive and was targeting Li Lei. She was very unhappy and wanted to rify matters with Li Lei. How could he flirt with others like that?

    ¡°Get out of my way!¡± This time, Gu Lin repeated what she said to her.

    Xia Ling coldly looked at them and softly snorted.

    Miss Nangong felt that this female singer was too audacious and could not help but frown. ¡°Whichpany are you from? Have you not received special banquet training? How can you make money with such manners?¡±

    Xia Ling was so angry that sheughed. ¡°Who said that I was here to make money?¡±

    Miss Nangong grew resentful towards her. She was not here to make money, so could it be that she was here to get a rich husband? However, this was verymon. Every time there was a high society banquet, a group of stupid girls always wanted to sneak in. Unlucky ones would get a wealthy partner, but sometimes, lucky ones were able to marry into rich families.

    She nced at Wang Tao beside Xia Ling and guessed that Xia Ling had this intention.

    She was disgusted looking at this scene as she was from a distinguished family. Disdainfully, she said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to make way?¡±

    ¡°You two are the ones who blocked me first.¡± Xia Ling was infuriated. These women were all coveting her man and still expected her to give way? She sneered as she looked at them. ¡°Looking for Li Lei? He¡¯s not free.¡±

    ¡°Whether or not Brother Lei is free is not determined by you, Ye Xingling. Who do you think you are?¡± Gu Lin was mad.

    ¡°Such an unlucky coincidence because I do call the shots.¡± Xia Ling refused to give way.

    Miss Nangong felt that something was off. ¡°Ye...¡± What was her name? ¡°Do you know Second Young Master Li?¡±

 Chapter 560 - The Cocktail Splashing Incident

    <h4>Chapter 560: The Cocktail Sshing Incident</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°We aren¡¯t just acquaintances... we know each other very well.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak rubbish and make yourself sound so high and mighty. Brother Lei doesn¡¯t know you at all!¡± Gu Lin was so angry she was close to jumping up. She red at Xia Ling and said, ¡°Brother Lei is mine!¡±

    Miss Nangong, who was watching this scene from the side, thought to herself:<i>This little singer does seem to be well-acquainted with Li Lei. Otherwise, why would Gu Lin react in such an agitated way? </i>She gave Xia Ling a quick once over. She looked so normal, and at maximum, could be considered pleasant to the eye. Was Second Young Master Li¡¯s type so innocent and in? She asked, ¡°What rtionship do you have with Second Young Master Li?¡±

    This question stumped Xia Ling. Could she say outright that they were lovers now?

    They hadn¡¯t announced their reconciliation to the public, and Old Master Li hadn¡¯t given them his approval. What¡¯s more, if she were to announce herself to be Li Lei¡¯s girlfriend at this ¡°wife selection¡± dinner with his rtives, there was a danger that she would be a hugeughingstock.

    Xia Ling felt upset but couldn¡¯t bring herself to say anything.

    Her silence made Miss Nangong heave a sigh of relief. It seemed that things were not as grim as she thought. So this little singer had an ambiguous rtionship with Second Young Master Li that could not be spoken about. She was probably just one of his ythings. Once she firmed up her engagement with Li Lei, she would find a way to get rid of her.

    With this thought, Miss Nangong stopped concerning herself about Xia Ling and smoothed her dress before walking by Xia Ling. Xia Ling could not tolerate them approaching Li Lei, and thus, started to follow them.

    Gu Lin reached out and stopped her. ¡°Ye Xingling, are you that shameless?! Why are you following us?¡±

    Xia Ling felt her anger rising and was about to retort.

    Before she did, a man¡¯s voice rang out from the side. ¡°Miss Gu, please be more respectful to others. Aren¡¯t you from a wealthy family? Please maintain the proper decorum a daughter of a family with such high status should disy.¡±

    Who was this person insinuating that she did not have decorum?

    Gu Lin felt like she was going to blow her top. Her head flicked around and caught sight of the man that was silently standing behind Xia Ling now ¡ª Wang Tao. Wang Tao came forward and put an arm protectively around Xia Ling as if he were her knight in shining armor.

    He couldn¡¯t tolerate these two wealthydies bullying the girl that he was fond of.

    Xia Ling nced at his side profile and felt touched. She had only met with cold treatment and eye-rolling since walking into the room today. Other than Li Lei, Wang Tao was the only other person that showed any kindness to her.

    Although she didn¡¯t know why.

    ¡°Who are you insinuating is being disrespectful?¡± Gu Lin sneered at him. ¡°Wang Tao, I heard that your biological mother is just the second wife that can¡¯t be brought to light. Uncle Wang merely pitied you, so he raised you as one of his Young Masters. But a lowly person will always be lowly... It has been so many years, and you¡¯ve never managed to marry any of the wealthydies around you. All you did was to mix around with random women out there. Birds of a feather do indeed flock together!¡±

    Wang Tao¡¯s expression darkened. The reality of his birth status was something that he couldn¡¯t get over easily, and he hated when others spoke about it. Unfortunately, Gu Lin had been spoiled at home, and she spouted whatever came to mind when she was upset.

    Xia Ling saw his fists clench tight and felt bad since he only had to deal with such bad treatment because he had stepped forward to help her. Fine, they were battle partners now. In a mark of camaraderie, Xia Ling swept up a cocktail ss from the table next to her and sshed it at Gu Lin¡¯s face.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! You!¡± Gu Lin shouted out in a fluster.

    Even though Miss Nangong had hurriedly taken a step away from Gu Lin, the ssh of the cocktail still got onto her face and the silver-white gown she was wearing. Their expressions became ashen.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! How dare you ssh cocktail on me?!¡± Gu Lin was almost hysterical as she covered her face. Her makeup was smudged, and her long dress dripped with the colorful liquid. No one had ever treated her like this before. She reached out her hand and made to pull Xia Ling¡¯s dress.

    Wang Tao hurriedly blocked her attack.

    Xia Ling merely stood quietly and set the now empty cocktail ss back onto the table. Her expression was calm as she retorted, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare ssh cocktail on you? You were the one that started this by ndering me, calling me a shameless woman! I was originally Li...¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯re being too much!¡± Miss Nangong interrupted her.

    On hearing the word ¡°Li,¡± Miss Nangong knew that something was amiss. For someone of such a lowly background to dare act out like this in the dinner, she had to be one of the wild women that Li Lei had on the outside. For men with wealthy backgrounds, this wasn¡¯t unusual. Having grown up in such an environment, Miss Nangong was not too surprised.

    Her mother had long taught her how to deal with such women.

    Given the conflict they were in now, she couldn¡¯t let Xia Ling reveal her rtionship with Li Lei as it would put her in an awkward position ¡ª it would be weird to apologize, but also weird to continue fighting with her. The best scenario was to chase Xia Ling out of the dinner without her revealing her identity. That would emphasize her position as the legitimate future wife while being able to absolve herself from me if Li lei were to ask about itter as she could feign ignorance.

    Any man in the right mind would not question his future wife in such a scenario.

    Miss Nangong finalized her n in her head and raised her voice, ¡°Security!¡±

    Security guards came over swiftly.

    Miss Nangong asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we ask people who create trouble to leave?¡±

    The security guards replied, ¡°Yes.¡± They were slightly embarrassed at seeing the mess in the ce created by Ye Xingling, who somehow managed to be let into the premises. Earlier, when the Old Master found out that she had been allowed in, he had been furious and had ordered them to make sure she could not make a mess of things.

    This dinner was nned to introduce several potential wives to Young Master Li. They would not be able to handle the responsibility if anything were to go wrong. The security guards were already nning on getting Xia Ling out of the premises but had yet to find a suitable excuse. This little conflict now was the perfect opportunity for them to make her leave.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± The head of the security team addressed Xia Ling. ¡°we need to ask you to leave for creating such a disturbance here.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a coldugh. ¡°What?! You guys haven¡¯t even investigated the matter yet... how do you know I was the one that was creating a disturbance? Why aren¡¯t you saying that both of them were bullying me?¡±

    The head of security was speechless. They didn¡¯t care who was in the wrong. The two wealthydies were amongst the candidates to be Young Master Li¡¯s wife, whereas Miss Ye was just someone that the Old Master despised. That alone was enough for them to make the decision on who had to leave. However, if they were to say anything to that effect right now, that would just make it seem like they were being unreasonable, wouldn¡¯t it?

    ¡°Miss Ye was the one that threw the cocktail at Lin Lin.¡± Miss Nangong¡¯s elegant voice rang out as she came to the security guard¡¯s assistance. ¡°We were just having a casual conversation and joking around. Who knew that Miss Ye here couldn¡¯t take a joke and would react in such a way? This is simply uneptable.¡±

    The head of security followed Miss Nangong¡¯s train of thought and nodded. ¡°Yes, Miss Ye, you were in the wrong for throwing the cocktail at them. Pleasee with us.¡±

 Chapter 561 - Youâ€™ve Always Been the Outsider

    <strong>Chapter 561: You¡¯ve Always Been the Outsider</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling stared at them with renewed rity.

    She understood that the security guards were finding fault with her likely at the orders of the Old Master. The Old Master wanted her to move out of Li Lei¡¯s house¡ªshe had eded to that. He made her stay in the house next to Pei Ziheng¡¯s for a period of three years¡ªshe had also eded to that. However, she did not think that, despite all thesepromises on her part, the Old Master was still not prepared to let her go. He was bent on breaking Li Lei and her up.

    The ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony? Chasing her out?

    She was not someone that would just take this lying down!

    ¡°Is this how you usually treat your guests?¡± She said in a clear, loud voice. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll leave, that¡¯s not a problem. Maybe I should contact my manager and investigate the issue of the invitation card. And then maybe I should hold a press conference and let everyone see for themselves how the respected Old Master Li treats female artistes with less reputable family backgrounds!¡±

    The security guards exchanged nces. Her threat was beyond the scope they were able to handle.

    If this matter became publicized at such a scale, how would they be able to quash all the rumors? The Li Family would take the brunt of all the cursing of her fans if it were to get out that they were bullying a singer because she did note from a wealthy background. What¡¯s more, this Miss Ye wasn¡¯t without backers. What if their own Young Master Li decided to go against his grandfather and support her in her crazy endeavors?

    ¡°Miss Ye, it doesn¡¯t do anyone any good to blow this matter out of proportion.¡± The head of security responded.

    Xia Ling merely sneered.

    Wang Tao, who was watching from the side,mented with disgust, ¡°What now? You¡¯re not letting her speak her mind after having to suffer your bullying?¡±

    His gaze swept past the faces of the security guards, Miss Nangong and Gu Lin, beforending on Xia Ling¡¯s small, exquisite face. ¡°Let me escort you out.¡±

    Gu Lin was right in that his biological mother was just the second wife of his father. As a result, he had been ostracized in the Wang Family since he was a kid, and had to suffer at the hands of his stepmother, the first wife, and all his step-siblings. His ¡°contaminated¡± blood did not fit in with this luxurious upper echelons of society, and he had had enough of the hypocritical mannerisms of these wealthy socialites. On the other hand, while Xia Ling was already a little Diva in her own right, she was quick for stand up for him and had thrown that cocktail in his defense. Her defiance to protocol and arrogance, which prevented her from being hypocritical, was something he admired very much.

    Xia Ling turned to him and smiled. ¡°Thank you for your trouble.¡± She had to tolerate all kinds of spitefulments at this dinner and was grateful to have Wang Tao on her side so that she didn¡¯t feel all alone.

    Her line of vision looked to a point in the distance. Why hadn¡¯t Li Leie back yet?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Wang Tao offered his arm for her to hold on to.

    ¡°Please stay where you are, the both of you.¡± Now, the security guards were in a dilemma. If the matter were really to be publicized, the Old Master would skin them alive.

    ¡°Why are you asking them to stay? Just chase them out of here!¡± Gu Lin was still holding onto her wet dress, looking utterly disheveled with her hair in a mess. She shouted furiously, ¡°B*tch, you threw a cocktail on me! My dad will never let you off!¡±

    Xia Ling did not even turn to look at her as she stretched out her hand towards Wang Tao¡¯s proffered arm.

    From her side, another outstretched arm reached across and pulled her lightly towards him. Xia Ling caught a whiff of a familiar scent from his body ¡ª it was an intoxicating mixture of sunshine, cigarettes, and flowers.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She lifted her head to look up at him.

    The Li Lei in front of her was dressed in a light-colored suit, his tie neatly around his neck, all prim and proper, making him look as dashing as the starry sky. Even Xia Ling, who saw Li Lei so often that they were like an old couple, felt her heart skip a beat when seeing him like that, let alone Miss Nangong and Gu Lin.

    Now, this handsome gentleman was ring at Wang Tao.

    If a re could kill, Wang Tao would have died several times over.

    Wang Tao gave him an innocent expression. This Second Young Master Li was being unreasonable. Wasn¡¯t this his ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony? Now, he was still monopolizing Xia Ling... how could he keep so many beautifuldies to himself? He should leave some for the rest of them. What¡¯s more, Second Young Master Li couldn¡¯t even protect his girl. If it weren¡¯t for him, Wang Tao, stepping in to save the poor damsel in distress, Xia Ling would still have been bullied by the twodies.

    Unfortunately, Wang Tao could only say these things to himself.

    Li Lei¡¯s death re made him take a few steps backward.

    It was only then that Li Lei lowered his head to look at Xia Ling, his gaze bing exceedingly gentle. ¡°Here, hazelnut cake for you.¡± He ced a small te with a slice of cake in front of her as he released his hold slightly.

    Xia Ling took the te from him and stood up straight.

    She wanted to ask him what had taken him so long and then recalled that this was his ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony. This made her feel out of ce and upset. ¡°Why are you giving me this cake?¡± She asked in a small voice.

    Seeing her expression, Li Lei realized that she had probably found out about the objective of the dinner tonight and felt ready to rip the person who had sent her an invitation apart. He opened his mouth ready to exin himself, but Miss Nangong piped up before he could say anything.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li? You¡¯re Second Young Master Li, right? Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Nangong Qingya.¡±

    Nangong Qingya? Li Lei nced over at this charmingdy in a silver-white gown. She appeared to have the same aura as Su Tang, but perhaps because of her upbringing, she seemed to be a little more refined and had an air of arrogance that Su Tang did not. Of all people, why did Xiao Ling bump into her?

    The Old Master had introduced a few of thedies¡¯ profiles to him before the dinner, who weredies that he considered suitable to be Li Lei¡¯s future wife. Nangong Qingya was one of them. ¡°Qingya¡¯s personality is simr to Su Tang¡¯s. You¡¯ve been amicable with Su Tang all these years, so you should get along with Qingya as well.¡± The Old Master had said. ¡°If you don¡¯t like Su Tang¡¯s self-deprecating manner, then try going out with Qingya. She¡¯s from a wealthy family and has quite a lot of pride.¡±

    The Old Master had put great thought into Li Lei¡¯s future marriage. Su Tang was still in the running to be his wife, but if Li Lei did not like her, then there were always other options. Anyone was fine, as long as it wasn¡¯t Ye Xingling.

    The Old Master was intent on chasing Ye Xingling out of Li Lei¡¯s life as soon as possible.

    Li Lei was more than aware of his intentions.

    However, there was no way that he could reject this dinner.

    Nangong Qingya stood next to the water feature, her hair blowing in the wind, and elegantly stretched her hand out for Li Lei to kiss as a greeting.

    Li Lei stole a nce at Xia Ling, and seeing that her expression was dark, he merely reached out and shook Nangong Qingya¡¯s hand.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression lifted a little.

    On the other hand, Nangong Qingya¡¯s face fell. What was the meaning of this? Did this man consider her inferior to Ye Xingling?! Yet, this did not mean that she would give up. The Nangong and Li families were simr in that they had both made their fortunes overseas. However, the Nangong Family¡¯s wealth paled inparison to the Li Family¡¯s. Her marrying into the Li Family would bring honor to the Nangong Family and was her responsibility as a good daughter.

    Moreover, this man was so handsome.

    She shed a wide smile. ¡°Second Young Master Li, you¡¯re making me feel like an outsider.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an outsider, after all. Why are you trying to pretend to be close?¡± Xia Ling jeered.

 Chapter 562 - Donâ€™t Lose the Forest for a Tree

    <strong>Chapter 562: Don¡¯t Lose the Forest for a Tree</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s expression froze on her face.

    She did not expect a lowly singer to dare insult a wealthy socialite like herself. Just how much did Li Lei dote on this singer? So much so that she dared to speak out at her, the likely future wife of Li Lei! Nangong Qingya shot Li Lei a look, hoping that he would keep his mistress in check.

    Unfortunately, she was going to be disappointed.

    Li Lei merely said gently, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t make a scene.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°I¡¯m the victim, okay?¡± So her boyfriend could hold this massive ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony and she couldn¡¯t speak out at her love rivals?

    Li Lei was in despair. If Xiao Ling were to lose her temper now, things were going to get ugly. He said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just sit here and eat your cake? Once the ceremony is over, I¡¯ll send you home.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression became a little happier. Even though there were so many women throwing themselves at him today, he was still thinking only about her. He could only send one person home, after all. She smiled at him winningly and said, ¡°Okay.¡± She probably shouldn¡¯t make a scene in front of so many people. She would take up the issue about this dinner with him at home behind closed doors.

    rm bells rang in Nangong Qingya¡¯s head as she watched their conversation.

    This female singer... was not going to be easy to deal with!

    She was going to be much more difficult to manage than the idiotic Gu Lin.

    Clearly, Second Young Master Li had no interest whatsoever in Gu Lin. He hadn¡¯t even looked in her direction though she had a whole cocktail thrown on her. And as for Xia Ling? All she did was show some displeasure and jealousy and Li Lei was already chiding and coaxing her.

    Nangong Qingya decided to change her tactic. She adjusted her expression to appear more elegant, before saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that Second Young Master Li was on such good terms with Miss Ye here. We just had a small misunderstanding. Miss Ye, I apologize for my words earlier. It was out of ce, and for you to throw a cocktail at us was not uncalled for. Don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    She was not used to taking an inferior position but was able to change her manner where required. She didn¡¯t mind showing her weak side in front of Li Lei. Generally, men tended to be more partial towards the weaker party. Weaker females tended to gain the upper handter.

    ¡°It¡¯s great that you realized that you guys deserved it.¡± Xia Ling rubbed it into her face.

    Li Lei felt a headacheing on. While Xiao Ling was still wilfully ignorant, he was perfectly aware what Nangong Qianya was ying at. It would be troublesome if someone decided to investigate and pin the me for the incident on her. He did not want Xiao Ling to get into trouble, and hence, chided her firmly, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect him to react this way and bit her lip in disappointment.

    Nangong Qingya smiled to herself. Yes, she was right. Showing weakness in front of a man was the way to go. The more domineering female tended to be on the losing end of the stick. It seemed she had managed to get some brownie points.

    These wealthy socialites were brought up with the notion that they were to prepare themselves for political marriages. Many of them learned techniques from their mothers to gain favor from men and to deal with mistresses. Now, Nangong Qingya spoke up again in a gentle voice, ¡°I heard Lin Lin say earlier that Second Young Master Li had been based overseas, but has already built a business here that can quash the formidable Imperial Entertainment. What an impressive feat. I¡¯ve juste back here myself and am unfamiliar with the people and sights. Could I have the honor of learning a few tricks of the trade from you on how to assimte better here?¡±

    Li Lei could tell that she was finding a way to get closer to him.

    Xia Ling understood her intentions as well. She gripped onto Li Lei¡¯s arm and red at Nangong Qingya and Gu Lin. ¡°Aren¡¯t you both going to get changed? Your dresses are so dirty.¡± She wasn¡¯t going to allow Li Lei to leave with them.

    Nangong Qingya looked down at herself before ncing over at Gu Lin. Sheughed lightly and said, ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right, thank you for the reminder. I¡¯m unfamiliar with this ce. Second Young Master Li, could I trouble you to show us to the changing rooms as the host?¡±

    She went with the flow and naturally raised her request.

    Xia Ling was hopping mad. Was Nangong Qingya so shameless? How could ady ask Li Lei, a man, to take them to the changing room?!

    ¡°You said you were going to apany me to have this cake.¡± Xia Ling tugged at Li Lei¡¯s sleeve and whined.

    Li Lei was in a fix as he saw the security guards watching from the side. He sighed. He wanted to stay here with Xia Ling but could not. The Old Master had already made a death threat to say that he would make it such that they would have hell if Xiao Ling interfered with the ceremony today.

    He had to acquiesce to Nangong Qingya¡¯s request to be able to protect her.

    He gently pried Xia Ling¡¯s hand away. ¡°I¡¯ll apany Miss Nangong for a little while. I¡¯lle back to you in a bit.¡±

    Nangong Qingya felt victorious. She was confident with her charms. There was no way that this little singer could beat her in terms of family background, schemes, or beauty.

    She stretched her arm out elegantly again, and this time, Li Lei held onto her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Brother Lei...¡± This time, Gu Lin spoke up. ¡°Why are you holding onto Sister Nangong and not me?¡± She was the one that got most of the cocktail ssh and was still dripping from the blow!

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m a female guest that he¡¯s seen for the first time.¡± Nangong Qingya coaxed Gu Lin in a sweet voice. ¡°Second Young Master Li is being courteous with me. Lin Lin, you are so close to Second Young Master Li. Naturally, he¡¯s more casual with you.¡±

    Hearing this, Gu Lin was overjoyed. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why!¡±

    Li Lei was well aware of Nangong Qingya¡¯s maniption of Gu Lin, but he did not say anything. After all, he had no interest in either of them, and it made no difference which one of them he held onto. From his grandfather¡¯s standpoint, he would much rather Li Lei show more concern to Nangong Qingya anyway. Gu Lin was just a bimbo and not an ideal wife candidate.

    The group of them walked away from Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling watched as they left, the glimmer in her eyes dimming. She looked down at the floor.

    ¡°Here, your hazelnut cake.¡± Wang Tao saw that she was unhappy and pushed the cake in front of her again.

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating.¡± She grumbled.

    ¡°I told you not to lose the forest over a tree.¡± Wang Tao casuallymented as he felt like they were closer after standing on the same side in the conflict earlier. ¡°Someone like Second Young Master Li has very little say over his own marriage. Unless he bes like Pei Ziheng and renders all the oldies in the family useless, such that he bes the sole decision maker. Oh right, why didn¡¯t you stay with Pei Ziheng before? It¡¯s extremely hard to find someone of his status and wealth with the ability to marry you... oh no... I should say he¡¯s the only one!¡±

    Her divorce from Pei Ziheng was public news and the talk of the town.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and stared at the water beyond the jade barricades without saying a word.

 Chapter 563 - The Broken Promise

    <h4>Chapter 563: The Broken Promise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wang Tao apanied her in silence.

    The dinner party was luxurious, and there were manydies and gentlemen walking by, decked out in their best outfits, disying the extent of the wealth and authority of the upper tier of society. asionally, some would catch a nce at the two of them sitting in the corner, but their gaze wouldn¡¯t linger on them at all, as if they were as inconspicuous as the dust on the ground.

    The night grewte.

    The guests started to leave the party one after the other.

    Yet, Li Lei still did not return.

    Xia Ling called him twice on his mobile, but he did not answer her calls.

    Wang Tao offered her his hand and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll send you home.¡± He felt for this girl. She was being treated so shabbily just because her family background was less illustrious than all of them, wasn¡¯t she? How could these rich people treat her like this just because they were blessed enough to be born into the ¡°right¡± family? He was indignant for her and for himself. So what if they were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they still deserved to be loved and respected.

    He continued, ¡°I drive a Bugatti Veyron. You won¡¯t lose face sitting in my car.¡± Even though he was an illegitimate son, the first wife of his father still made sure that, materially, he was given everything he wanted and more, so as to show how magnanimous she was.

    Hearing his offer, Xia Ling collected her downcast emotions and smiled at him, ¡°Looks like Young Master Wang is living the high life.¡± Even Li Lei was only driving his modified SUV, which was probably not as expensive as Wang Tao¡¯s Bugatti.

    Wang Taoughed. ¡°The olddy gave it to me. Why shouldn¡¯t I drive it? Since they earn so much, I¡¯ll be in charge of helping them spend it.¡± He had been acting the part of a useless, wealthy Young Master to the T. After all, he had two outstanding elder brothers, a younger brother and a few pure-blood, untarnished sisters. Who would deign to give him a small piece of the family business?

    He didn¡¯t even have stocks in thepany, and there was no way that he would be able to dabble in the family business at all.

    The first wife, who was in charge of household finances, would send him arge sum as his allowance on a regr basis, as well as give him luxury cars, branded watches, and yachts to top it off. These were enough for him to live as luxuriously as he liked, without having to do a day of proper work. To people outside the family, it appeared that the first wife was being extremely good to him, and he was the one that was not bucking up and relying on the family to support him.

    His suffering and pain was not something that people could sympathize with.

    Xia Ling was not aware of these but could hear the irony in his tone. She smiled andmented, ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re not satisfied.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a Little Diva now, decked out in haute couture gowns and expensive diamonds. I heard that you are staying in a bungalow as well?¡± Wang Tao slurred, even though he hadn¡¯t had much to drink. ¡°Miss Ye, are you satisfied?¡±

    Xia Ling was mildly taken aback and looked up at Young Master Wang with renewed interest.

    Quite the philosopher.

    ¡°Okay, let me have a ride in your Bugatti Veyron.¡± She ced her empty crystal ss to the side and got up.

    Most of the people had left the dinner party already, and the cleaners were starting to clear the ce.

    It was a little lonely under the starry night sky.

    Xia Ling followed Wang Tao through the back door to the parking lot. As most people had left, the parking lot looked deste with only a few luxurious cars under the rows or European-styled streetmps. Her gaze swept over the remaining cars, subconsciously seeking out the familiar modified SUV.

    She spotted it after a while.

    The powerful-looking SUV was parked under the shadows of the streemps, with only half of its body visible and the other shrouded in darkness. Under the lights, it looked like the back of a beast.

    Xia Ling narrowed her eyes.

    Wang Tao spotted the car as well after following her gaze. ¡°Is that Li Lei¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± She replied in a low voice, her eyes lighting up a little. ¡°He must be really busy and so is not answering my calls. He¡¯s still here, let me go find him. Sorry, Young Master Wang. I¡¯ll try out your Bugatti another time.¡±

    Wang Tao lifted his eyebrows. ¡°Will there be a next time? And you spoke too soon...¡± He pointed towards the SUV in the distance. ¡°See, they areing over.¡±

    Xia Ling looked towards the direction he was pointing at and saw two people walking slowly towards the SUV from a small side road. The handsome man was in an expensive-looking tailored suit, and thedy was carefully lifting the front of her silvery-white gown, chatting happily with the man.

    It was Li Lei and Nangong Qingya.

    Xia Ling felt a sharp pain shoot through her heart like it was being pricked by the thin thorns of a flower.

    She saw them stop next to the SUV and Li Lei opening the passenger seat door for Nangong Qingya. After she got into the car, he circled around the front to the driver¡¯s seat and got on too. The SUV started up and drove away.

    ¡°Now it looks like you have no choice but to take my Bugatti Veyron.¡± Wang Tao said.

    ¡°Thank you... I¡¯d rather go back on my own.¡± She was in a bad mood and did not want to socialize with anyone. She stumbled forward mindlessly and felt her ankle twist suddenly.

    ¡°Aye!¡± Wang Tao anxiously cried out. ¡°Be careful!¡±

    Unfortunately, he was a tad toote.

    Xia Ling missed a step and fell forward down the stairs. Her fair-skinned arm scraped on the graveled path, and she felt a smarting pain from the abrasion. Her ankle hurt even more, the sharp pain shooting to her heart.

    Wang Tao squatted down to check her ankle.

    She wanted to shift her foot away from him, but just a small movement made her suck in a breath of cold air in pain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Wang Taomanded. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve sprained it.¡± He reached out to prod the injured ankle tenderly. She sucked in another deep breath.

    ¡°Yup, you¡¯ve sprained it.¡± Wang Tao concluded. ¡°What¡¯s so good about Li Lei? He promised to send you home but couldn¡¯t keep his promise, causing you to sprain your ankle in your grief. I say you should forget him as soon as possible!¡±

    He reached out and held her ankle in his hands.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked while writhing in pain.

    ¡°Helping you to correct the alignment of your bone.¡± Wang Tao replied. ¡°I y tennis and climb mountains often with my friends, so I¡¯m really familiar with these little tricks when ites to such injuries. Don¡¯t be afraid, it¡¯ll just be a little painful. Bear with it for a bit.¡± As he exined, he suddenly twisted her ankle forcefully, making her shout out in pain.

    ¡°You... you call this a little painful?¡± She red at him with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Right, sorry, I meant really painful.¡± Wang Tao smiled while helping her up. ¡°It looks like you won¡¯t be able to get home by yourself today. Just let me send you back. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t ask to be invited into your house or do anything disrespectful to you.¡±

    She knew that he was trying to make her smile, but she had no mood to do so.

    ¡°Sorry for troubling you.¡± She said in a quiet tone. ¡°Young Master Wang, I have no intention of dating anyone else. If you are having any of such intentions... please don¡¯t waste your time on me.¡±

    Wang Tao earnestly replied, ¡°I did initially want to court you. However, after seeing what happened to you today, I just feel that you suffered great unfairness. Take it as I¡¯m being righteous.¡± No one was more familiar about how it felt like to be discriminated against because of family background and birth circumstances. He really wanted to help her seeing her current predicament.

    He thought for a bit before giving a smile. ¡°Why don¡¯t we be friends? If you¡¯re feeling really guilty for troubling me today, just give me a VIP ticket for your next concert.¡±

 Chapter 564 - Heâ€™s Different

    <h4>Chapter 564: He¡¯s Different</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling finallyughed and responded, ¡°Deal.¡±

    Wang Tao sent her home in the Bugatti Veyron.

    They passed the red walls of the bungalow district and the row of warmly-lit streemps. It was quiet all around. He stopped the car in front of her gate and gave a low whistle. ¡°Wow, this ce is fancy. Is that Pei Ziheng¡¯s house next door?¡±

    When he was driving in, he caught sight of the word ¡°Pei¡± on the neighboring signpost.

    Xia Ling did not respond but instead limped out of the car.

    Wang Tao got off hurriedly and helped her to the main door.

    She opened the door and stepped into her front yard, filled with ivy creepers and evening primroses. ¡°Thank you for sending me home. I¡¯ll not invite you in today since it¡¯s sote.¡± It was close to 12 midnight, and a lone crescent moon shone in the sky amongst the twinkling stars. She did not want to send the wrong message to Wang Tao and put herself in apromising position.

    Wang Taoughed and leaned forward with his arm on the wall. ¡°I¡¯m not a tiger. I won¡¯t eat you up.¡±

    She smiled but did not change her stance.

    He shrugged, feigning disappointment. ¡°Alright then. Good night, my little beauty.¡± He walked back to the Bugatti Veyron and opened the driver¡¯s seat door. Just before he entered the car, he turned and said, ¡°You were the most beautiful of thedies at the dinner party tonight.¡±

    The smile widened on Xia Ling¡¯s face. She knew that he was trying to make her happy, but her mood lifted a notch in hearing hispliment, numbing the pain from today¡¯s events a little.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a VIP seat for my concert.¡± She said.

    ¡°Thanks in advance.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you leaving yet?¡± She asked as she saw him lean his tall stature against his car.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave after you go into your house. Don¡¯t you know that is what a gentleman should do?¡± Wang Tao gave a cheeky half-smile, which made him look more handsome. His family did not allow him to be part of the family business, and thus, all he did was dabble in fun, games and chase girls. He was very smooth with girls.

    Xia Ling felt more attracted to Wang Tao, but not in a romantic way. She merely felt that it wasfortable being around him, and she did not feel held down by the burdens in life.

    She waved to him and told him to be careful on the way home before she went into the house.

    Wang Tao remained leaning on the car until he saw the lights in her bungalow switch on. He then got on the car and left.

    Xia Ling¡¯s ankle was severely swollen. While Wang Tao had helped to realign her bone at the dinner party venue, the injury did not recover quite so quickly. The abrasion on her elbow was also raw with blood seeping out.

    She sat down on the sofa and surveyed her injuries. She had just moved over and had not prepared a first aid kit, so could not tend to the injuries. Should she go next door to borrow some antiseptic medication? That was not a possibility given who was living next door.

    She cursed Old Master Li in her heart. How crooked was his mind to make her live next door to Pei Ziheng? She sighed as she removed her exquisite high-heels and hopped precariously barefooted across the cold, marble floor to the water feature. She dipped a towel into the cold water intending to clean her wounds.

    The doorbell rang.

    Her hand stopped midway through wringing the towel, a sh of happiness running through her mind. Did Li Leie over here at this time of the night? He said that he was going to send her home but didn¡¯t keep his promise. Was he here to apologize?

    She threw the towel aside and hopped towards the door. In her urgency, she almost fell down again. She reached the door with difficulty but saw that it was Pei Ziheng outside the fence.

    He was standing under a bush of ivy creepers, under the warm streemp next to the red wall.

    His expression was unreadable, and she couldn¡¯t tell if he was happy or angry. He stood tall as usual.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± She asked but did not go to him.

    ¡°I recall that Li Lei does not have a Bugatti Veyron.¡± Pei Ziheng replied. ¡°Another man sent you home. I came over to check if you are alright.¡± Since they were staying so close, he had told his security guards to monitor the movements in and out of her house. He was informed once she was sent home in the Bugatti.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°All is well.¡±

    She was still barefooted, and her good foot was standing on the cold marble floor. The chilly ground made her toes curl up. She held onto the pir in the doorway that was decorated with carved flowers to steady herself as a gust of wind blew through her thin evening gown, making her shiver.

    Pei Ziheng frowned andmented, ¡°Are you cold?¡±

    She replied, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going in now.¡±

    His gazended on her foot. ¡°You¡¯re injured?¡±

    ¡°... mmhmm.¡± There was no reason to keep her injury from this man. He would always rely on his judgment anyway, and since he was certain that she was injured, he would not believe her even if she said she wasn¡¯t.

    He said, ¡°You can¡¯t leave it like that. Let me have a look.¡±

    He ced a hand on the low brick wall and flipped over it easily.

    ¡°You... !¡± She red at him unhappily. ¡°This is my house!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re injured.¡± He merely said patiently. ¡°The wind is strong here. Let¡¯s go inside. I¡¯ll leave after tending to your injuries.¡± He knew that Old Master Li had arranged for her to stay here so that he could shower her with concern. He heard that there was a ceremony today to introduce suitable wives to Li Lei. If he didn¡¯t take advantage of the situation now, he shouldn¡¯t even try courting Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling gave him a suspicious look.

    Was he really going to leave after tending to her injuries?

    ¡°I can tend to my own injuries.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how to?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s simple sentence rendered her speechless. He continued, ¡°I¡¯m doing this for your good. Are you going to open the door and let me in or do you want me to break in myself?¡±

    Xia Ling knew that it was useless to convince him otherwise.

    She opened the door dejectedly and coldly said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you think I¡¯ll be grateful to you if you do this and go back to your side?¡±

    ¡°I need to try before I know.¡± He said calmly and lowered his gaze to her elbow and ankle. He made a call to Nanny Zhou and asked her to bring the medicated ointment over.

    Nanny Zhou brought the ointment over in no time.

    Pei Ziheng helped Xia Ling to the sofa and carefully helped her to apply the ointment on the injured areas.

    Both of them were silent.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone for the ¡®wife selection¡¯ ceremony, and you¡¯re still hung up over him?¡± She heard Pei Ziheng all of a sudden.

    ¡°He has his reasons for that.¡± Xia Ling responded in a low voice. She guessed that Li Lei was being forced into attending the ceremony and breaking his promise to send her home. Otherwise, she struggled to reconcile the fact that the person who had sacrificed half the blood in his body to pray for her safety would have a change of heart so quickly.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s said in a deep voice. ¡°I had my reasons for not marrying you in the past.¡±

    She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.

    Under the warm lights in the living room, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

    Xia Ling extracted her arm from his hands and said, ¡°It¡¯s different.¡± What difference was there? She could not articte it and, suddenly, felt an emptiness in her heart.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing different at all... You know that. You don¡¯t have to draw boundaries.¡±

 Chapter 565 - Truth Mixed with Falsehood

    <h4>Chapter 565: Truth Mixed with Falsehood</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Xia Ling did not want to argue with him.

    She gently pulled her arm out from Pei Ziheng¡¯s grasp. ¡°It¡¯s quitete. Thank you for dressing the wound for me. Please go back.¡±

    It was obvious that she was ordering him to leave.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her deeply. ¡°Are you really refusing to wake up?¡±

    Xia Ling ced one hand on the back of the sofa and staggered up. ¡°I¡¯ll send you off.¡±

    Pei Ziheng held her. ¡°I¡¯ll send you to the bedroom upstairs and leave by myself.¡± She had sprained her ankle. If she forced herself to walk up the stairs, her injury would be more serious. He initially wanted to carry her, but she refused, so he carefully supported her and let her lean on him as she jumped forward little by little.

    Both of their bodies were very close.

    There was a fragrant perfume on her body.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her delicate white face and amodated her speed. He thought about how good life would be if they could be like this in this life.

    Unfortunately, someone else was already in her heart now.

    He sent her to the bedroom on the second floor and helped her on the bed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be going.¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°Tomorrow, I will bring breakfast over for you. With your ankle in this state, I don¡¯t think you can get takeaway.¡± He was already familiar with her lifestyle habits and knew that she had not hired a part-time helper. Usually, she would eat outside or at home. Sometimes, she would order takeaway or cook instant noodles.

    ¡°I can manage myself.¡± She insisted.

    ¡°It¡¯s settled then.¡± Pei Ziheng did not allow her to give an exnation. He turned around and walked out of the bedroom. After that, he closed the door and left.

    Xia Ling looked at him as he left, and there was an inexplicable feeling in her heart. Pei Ziheng... He had always been a thoughtful man. If he did not hurt her during thest year of her past life, perhaps they may still be happy together today. Unfortunately, they were destined not to go back.

    She really wished that the one who helped her on the bed tonight was Li Lei.

    She jumped out of bed and returned to the living room, took out her phone from her delicate bag, and for the nth time, she checked the screen, hoping that Li Lei would send her a message or voicemail.

    There was nothing at all.

    The screen was dark. There were no missed calls or text messages.

    She was feeling depressed and lost all of her strength to hop back up to the second-floor bedroom. She quietly curled up on the sofa and fell asleep holding her phone.

    The consequences of this were very serious.

    In the early morning when she opened her eyes in a daze, she heard the anxious sound of someone pressing the doorbell. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?! Are you home?¡± It was Pei Ziheng¡¯s familiar voice.

    She opened her mouth slightly and acknowledged him. However, her throat was very sore. She had caught a cold again.

    Groggy, she struggled to get up, but just as both of her feet touched the ground, they went soft and she fell on the ground in a shock.

    At this time, the door was pried open by someone Pei Ziheng called over.

    Pei Ziheng and the security officers looked at her sprawled on the ground.

    She was in a mess and looked at them silently.

    ¡°How did you fall down here?¡± Pei Ziheng was the first one to react and picked her up from the ground.

    She was weak in his arms. Her body was soft and ufortable. Pei Ziheng touched her forehead. ¡°Did you catch a cold?¡±

    She weakly nodded.

    He carried her to the bedroom and ced her on the bed. Then, he wrapped a nket around her. ¡°I will call a doctor over to give you a checkup.¡±

    ¡°No. I can handle this myself.¡± She did not want to owe him a favor.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Why are you still putting on a strong front in this state?¡± He looked for his family doctor to give her a checkup. Luckily, she was not severely ill, and the doctor gave her some food supplements. Nanny Zhou was also instructed to cook porridge for her.

    ¡°Eat something.¡± He brought the porridge to the bed, attempting to feed her.

    She turned her head over. ¡°I¡¯ll eat it myself.¡±

    ¡°Yesterday night I believed your tant lies and allowed you to fall into this state.¡± Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xia Ling, wisen up. Don¡¯t feel lifeless over a man who went on a blind date. Do you think he will be hurt? Or do you think his new love interest will be hurt? If you reject me, I will take a picture of you in this horrible state and send it Nangong Qingya. Once she sees it, she will definitely be very happy.¡±

    He rarely spoke so much.

    Thest sentence provoked Xia Ling.

    Once she thought about how haggard she was and how Nangong Qingya was glowing when she was talking to Li Lei, she could not stand it. Unconsciously, she clenched her fists. She must get better and rify matters with Li Lei. Even if she died, she had to die knowing the truth!

    After figuring this out, her fighting spirit was ignited, and she let Pei Ziheng feed her.

    Pei Ziheng was very familiar with her tastes and asked Nanny Zhou to cook a very sweet and delicious glutinous rice porridge. Unknowingly, she finished the entire big bowl. Sweating a little, she felt tired and fell into a deep sleep.

    Pei Ziheng watched over her by her bedside.

    Soon, a security officer approached and whispered something in his ear.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened, and he said in a low voice, ¡°I got it. Try to dy the time before letting him in. Also, quickly go next door to get a set of pajamas for me.¡±

    The security officer acknowledged him and left.

    The one who was let in was Li Lei.

    He was still wearing his suit fromst night, looking dreadful and with some stubble on his face. He had a very unpleasant night yesterday and finally managed to escape in the morning. He rushed over to Xia Ling¡¯s vi without changing his clothes. Downstairs, he saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s security officer at the door and Pei Ziheng¡¯s helper busying herself in the kitchen.

    An ominous premonition emerged in Li Lei¡¯s heart.

    He opened the bedroom door and saw that Pei Ziheng inside wearing a ck silk nightgown which slightly revealed his firm muscles and sexy chest. He sat by the bed and on the soft bed, Xia Ling was quietly sleeping. Her duvet was carelessly covering her chest, revealing her bare white shoulders as if she were not wearing anything.

    Li Lei was about to explode.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± He angrily asked Pei Ziheng as if he were facing an enemy regarding a matter of life or death.

    Pei Ziheng acted as if he just saw him. He turned around and lightly raised his eyebrows. ¡°It¡¯s you? Lower your voice and don¡¯t wake Xiao Ling up.¡± He gently nced at the person sleeping, leisurely got up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go outside to talk.¡±

    No matter how angry Li Lei was, he could not vent his anger after seeing that she was fast asleep.

    Even if his emotions were turbulent and his mind was filled with countless things that happened to herst night, he could only resist his anger and follow Pei Ziheng out of the bedroom to an empty room.

    Li Lei looked like he could eat someone up. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you better give me an exnation.¡±

    ¡°Is it necessary to exin? Things are how you see it.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was hoarse with a hint of ridicule. ¡°Xiao Ling gave birth to my child. Do you think that sort of rtionship is so easily broken? The child is dead, and she only returned to your arms because she threw a tantrum with me. In reality, it was only to provoke me, and she never really cared about you. It¡¯s very normal that she¡¯s sleeping with me again now.¡±

 Chapter 566 - Small Accident

    <h4>Chapter 566: Small ident</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Xia Ling heard her phone ringing.

    Her mind was dizzy. Changing her position, she buried her head in the nket and continued sleeping.

    The phone continued to ring ceaselessly.

    She finally could not help but answer it. With a nasal voice, she asked, ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Where are you? Do you know what time it is? This TV job appointment was made a week ago. Now, the entire program group is waiting for you. I give you half an hour, you better get here or else!¡± A voice roared through the phone, making Xia Ling so scared that her hand shook and she almost dropped her phone. She regained herposure and realized that it was Lin Yunan.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick.¡± She weakly said.

    ¡°Sick? I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re infected with a zombie virus. You better get here or else!¡± Lin Yunan was very irritable. ¡°It¡¯s Peace TV channel, do you know that?! You can stand someone who is bigger than you up!¡±

    Xia Ling finally remembered this job and was about to cry.

    ¡°Ok, I will be there.¡± She cried over the phone. Tolerating her difort, she got out of bed. Her head was heavy, and she almost fell down. Looking down, she realized that she was still wearing the champagne-colored strapless evening gown from yesterday night. The skirt was already dirty and crumpled because she fell down a few times.

    There was no time to shower.

    She changed into clean clothes as quickly as possible, tied her long hair into a ponytail, and stuffed it into a cap. She put on a pair of sunsses and walked out of the door.

    At the bedroom doorway, she passed by an empty room.

    A faint dispute was heard behind the door.

    She suspected that she was hallucinating. Why did she hear Li Lei¡¯s voice? Curiously, she opened the door. Sure enough, Li Lei was there, and he was shooting daggers at Pei Ziheng. Both of their expressions were very ugly.

    Seeing that she had entered, both of them fell silent for a moment.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei reacted first. ¡°Why are you with him?!¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip. She twisted her ankle, fell sick, and was upset the entire night waiting for his news. In the end, the first thing he asked why she was with Pei Ziheng?! ¡°You left with Nangong Qingya but you don¡¯t allow me to look for other people?¡± She could not help but rebuke.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. Initially, he was still hoping that the scene in the bedroom with Pei Ziheng was not what he imagined, but unexpectedly, she admitted that she went to look for another man!

    He secretly tightened his fists.

    Xia Ling was groggy. Her head hurt, and her feet were sore. Furthermore, she was in a bad mood and being hurried by her manager, so she did not notice the strange atmosphere or the abnormal way Pei Ziheng dressed. She turned around to walk out. ¡°You can continue talking. I have a job to do.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll send you.¡± Pei Ziheng rushed forward.

    ¡°No need.¡± Xia Ling rejected. ¡°I have my own car.¡± She already parked her red Porsche in the garage of the vi and usually drove herself.

    ¡°After enduring so muchst night, your body is still very weak. How can you drive yourself?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low and ambiguous. ¡°How about I ask the chauffeur to send you there?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression became uglier. What did he mean by that?! He looked at Xia Ling and gritted his teeth. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to get on his car. I will send you there.¡±

    If he did not say the words ¡°not allowed,¡± perhaps Xia Ling would have let him drive her there.

    Unfortunately, thatmand triggered her. ¡°Li Lei, do you think that the world revolves around you? Do you think I must listen to whatever you say? Yesterday you told me to wait, and I waited. However, where were you? How are you qualified to continue ordering me around?!¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Li Lei wanted to say something.

    Xia Ling¡¯s phone rang again. She took it out and realized that it was still Lin Yunan.

    She mmed her finger on the reject button. Bluntly, she told Li Lei, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m very busy now and don¡¯t want to fight with you. Neither of you two needs to send me there. I have my own hands and feet. Goodbye!¡±

    After that, she continued to limp downstairs in a rage.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei chased after her.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed hold of him. ¡°Li Lei, it¡¯s time we talked about the problem between us. Since you already have Nangong Qingya, stop pestering Xiao Ling. Let her be with someone who can give her happiness.¡±

    ¡°Who? You?¡± Li Lei sneered. ¡°Pei Ziheng, why are you so shameless?¡±

    Both of them started arguing again. In the meantime, Xia Ling had already gone downstairs and started her car in the garage. She was sick so she drove slowly. The resounding voices of the two men arguing kept echoing in her head like ten thousand ducks quacking. Although she was more careful, she was still met with an ident.

    Her Porsche hit a Cadic in front of her. The car was deformed, and it was quite serious.

    Luckily, there were no casualties. A man and a woman came out of the Cadic. The man wore a flower shirt and had a sly look as he held a woman who was wearing heavy makeup.

    Xia Ling endured her headache and opened the door. ¡°Mister, I¡¯m really sorry. I didn¡¯t do it on purpose. I will repay you for the damages caused. This is my assistant¡¯s business card, you can contact...¡±

    Before she could finish, the other party already recognized her. ¡°Ye Xingling?¡±

    Startled, she finally realized that she was really muddle-headed. She forgot to wear her sunsses when she got off the car.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± She tried her best to sound polite. ¡°I¡¯m in a rush, so please contact my assistant...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it has to be so troublesome.¡± The other party smiled with intent and pushed the business card back to her. He also stroked her delicate soft hand, refusing to let go. ¡°It¡¯s only a small dent, Miss Ye. You don¡¯t have to worry. How about we be friends and have a cup of coffee together?¡±

    Xia Ling tried her best to retract her hand. She knew that she ran into trouble after hitting a rich yboy¡¯s car.

    She looked at the other party and her expression darkened. ¡°I really am in a rush.¡±

    After that, she went back into her car.

    This was a beautiful boulevard. As it was not the peak period, there were few cars. That man was insatiable and grabbed her arm. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. It¡¯s only a cup of coffee.¡±

    She realized that she could not walk away. She was too polite when reprimanding the other party, and he did not take it to heart. Even his female partnerughed and urged, ¡°Miss Ye, our Brother Long is really good. He won¡¯t treat you poorly. Let¡¯s have some fun and make things lively. Don¡¯t be such a buzzkill. How much do you want? Name a price.¡±

    What did they take her as?!

    She could not escape the other party¡¯s grip, and the other party refused to listen to reason. In a hurry, she took her exquisite phone from the car and quickly pressed 110.

    ¡°I¡¯ve called the police!¡± She coldly said. ¡°The police wille here to settle this ident!¡±

 Chapter 567 - Confrontation

    <h4>Chapter 567: Confrontation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The other party was startled, not expecting her to be so unyielding.

    The young man reluctantly stopped and spat, ¡°Who do you think you are? You¡¯re just a singer!¡± He got on the car with his female partner and left.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart pounded in her chest. When it rains, it pours. Luckily, the police scared him off.

    She pushed the car to no avail. It seemed that she could only call a trailer.

    After this terrible ident and being questioned by the police, she could no longer make it in time for the job at the TV station.

    Lin Yunan drove his own car to pick her up and viciously reprimanded her.

    She lowered her head and listened to him without speaking a word in low spirits.

    He finally realized that something was wrong. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You weren¡¯t a crude and careless person in the past.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°How did you hear about yesterday¡¯s charity banquet? That was actually a wife selection ceremony organized by Old Master Li for Li Lei. Only people from eminent families were permitted entry. I was almost chased out.¡±

    Lin Yunan was stunned. ¡°What?¡±

    He directly stopped the car by the side of the road and noisily took out his phone to investigate. Finally, he ended a call with an ugly expression. ¡°I¡¯ve been fooled by Old Man Li. He announced to the public that it was a charity banquet, but the insiders knew that it was a wife selection ceremony. There were no leaks at all. He probably did it on purpose to embarrass you and make you realize the gap between you and Li Lei so you would give up.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent for a while. ¡°Do you think that it was Old Master Li who ordered someone to send me this invitation?¡±

    ¡°Who else can it be?¡± Lin Yunan asked. ¡°It can¡¯t possibly be Li Lei.¡±

    After thinking about Li Lei¡¯s appearance in the morning, Xia Ling¡¯s mood was even worse. He was the one who went back on his word yesterday. Why did he still self-righteously me her? She waited for him the entire night. She was injured, sick, and let Pei Ziheng in because her guard was down. Was it all her fault?

    Given yesterday¡¯s circumstances, what else could she do?

    Perhaps she should not have been so friendly towards Pei Ziheng.

    However, even though they broke up, she still could not treat him as an enemy. He had taken care of her, adopted her, and saved her so many times. How could she erase those memories like that? Moreover, he took care of her the night before.

    When she was futilely hoping for Li Lei to appear.

    She lowered her head in sorrow.

    Lin Yunan carefully asked her aboutst night¡¯s wife selection ceremony. She replied honestly and only omitted the details after she left. Lin Yunan sighed in relief. ¡°You weren¡¯t driven out, right? That¡¯s ok. Li Lei also gave you a godbrother. In the future, during promotions, you can mention that you¡¯re Du Yunfeng¡¯s godsister to boost your status.¡±

    His entire mind was filled with titles, and he did not care about her emotions overmuch.

    Xia Ling already knew he was this sort of person, so she did not take it to heart. She only said, ¡°Don¡¯t mention Du Yunfeng during promotions. He doesn¡¯t like me and only agreed because the matter was urgent yesterday. We may fall out, and he may refuse to admit this matter.¡±

    Lin Yunan flew into a rage. ¡°Does this mean that we didn¡¯t get anything from this banquet?¡±

    Her head started to hurt again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick and feeling unwell. I¡¯m going to take a nap.¡±

    Lin Yunan finally noticed that she was pale and touched her forehead. ¡°I¡¯ll send you to the hospital. You better be more alert. Tonight, we have a publicity shoot at night. Even if you are going to die, you have to make it past tonight.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Although she knew that he was joking, her mood worsened.

    In her past life when she was sick, Pei Ziheng rarely gave her medicine and said that eating medicine was not good. Instead, he would slowly nurse her back to health. When her illness was too severe, he would try his best to give her Chinese medicine and not antibiotics.

    Later, when she was with Li Lei, he did not care much if she did not want to eat any medicine.

    However, Lin Yunan was different. He did not care about nursing her back to health and directly sent her to the hospital. After she received an injection and ate antibiotics, he said, ¡°When you get on the car, try to get some sleep in the back seat. The publicity shoot tonight is also with Peace TV. You stood them up in the morning, so if you do it again, Peace TV won¡¯t want to cooperate with you anymore.¡±

    In a daze, she nodded and slept in the car.

    Perhaps the medicine was effective. When she woke up, she was more energized. Although she still felt groggy, she could still concentrate and participate in the shoot.

    There were no houses in the wilderness.

    Thus, the crew arranged for two container trucks for the artistes and staff to rest.

    With the help of a makeup artist, Xia Ling did her makeup, changed into a costume, and focused on her shoot. Although she was weak, most of her shots werepleted in one take due to her naturally high professionalism. A few scenes were reshot a few times because the director wanted to film from a few more angles.

    After that, the backdrop was changed.

    The art designer and stage manager were very busy. In the meantime, she was free and went to the nearby container truck to rest. Just now during the shoot, she caught a cold from the wind and her head ached more. Her head throbbed and felt that it was about to explode.

    As she entered a dark container truck, there was only a faint, dimly lit shlight ced on the table. She walked towards the shlight, wanting to take it and look around. She remembered that she saw a nket around before she put on her makeup. If she could find it, she would probably feel better.

    Unexpectedly, before she took the shlight, suddenly, the container door was mmed shut.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± She was shocked and spun around.

    A man as handsome as a top male model slowly walked out from the darkness beside the door wearing dark colored clothes. It was Li Lei. He looked at her and whispered, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Ling was frightened by him, and there was some annoyance in her voice.

    He took a few steps forward. ¡°I¡¯m just here to see if you¡¯re doing ok. I also want to ask you why you were with Pei Ziheng.¡± He broke his promise on one night, and she let Pei Ziheng sleep with her on the bed. Li Lei was heartbroken over this, and there was a suppressed rage in his heart. Was their rtionship really this weak?

    Although he did his best for so long, nothing he did couldpare to what she went through with Pei Ziheng in her past life and having a child with him. Did it mean that she could return to that man any time she wanted?

    Xia Ling looked at him with a sorrowful and angry expression. ¡°Are you here only to ask me this? Why don¡¯t you exin your actionsst night? Li Lei, did you know that I was waiting for you?! Why didn¡¯t you even answer my calls?!¡±

    ¡°I never received your calls.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, when did you call me?¡±

    ¡°When the banquet ended!¡± Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°I called a few times. How is it possible that you didn¡¯t receive them?! Li Lei, you didn¡¯t tell me that you were having a wife choosing ceremony and refused to answer my call. You ditched me and even sent another woman home. What am I to you?¡±

 Chapter 568 - Too Impatient To Wait

    <h4>Chapter 568: Too Impatient To Wait</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I really never received them.¡± Li Lei said and took his phone out for her to check.

    Her call record was really not present in his call history, but Nangong Qingya¡¯s was. Xia Ling stared at her name with a heart filled with anger. She could not help but look at the chat under her name. A short message was seen. [Young master Li, thank you for yourpanionship tonight. I look forward to meeting you next time.]

    Li Lei replied with a smiley face.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°You¡¯re treating her so well!¡± She felt very wronged.

    Li Lei was utterly overwhelmed. ¡°Listen to me...¡±

    At this time, his phone rang again. The caller ID was ¡°Nangong Qingya.¡± Before Li Lei could react, Xia Ling directly answered the call and said, ¡°Nangong Qingya, I advise you to give up. Li Lei is my boyfriend, not yours!¡±

    She then viciously hung up the phone.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei was unhappy and snatched the phone back.

    Xia Ling looked at her empty hands first and then unbelievably at the man in front of her. ¡°You¡¯re upset with me.¡±

    ¡°I will settle my own business.¡± Li Lei¡¯s tone was a little dark. Old Master instructed him to treat Nangong Qingya well. If that woman went to report to Old Master, his rtionship with Xiao Ling would be severely affected! He looked at her and said, ¡°You¡¯re too impulsive.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ming me for being impulsive?¡± Tears brimmed in her eyes. ¡°Li Lei, have you had a change of heart?¡±

    ¡°How could I?¡±

    ¡°Well, you aren¡¯t answering my calls but are having an ambiguous rtionship with another woman!¡±

    ¡°I already said that I didn¡¯t receive your calls.¡± Li Lei was restless with anxiety. ¡°Xiao Ling, my phone signal is sent and received through a special satellite. Grandpa can easily intercept your call and not let me know!¡±

    She shook her head and did not know if she should believe him. ¡°But you promised to send me home. You sent Nangong Qingya home instead of me...¡±

    ¡°She said that she lived very far away. She also sprained her ankle and was afraid of being alone. In this sort of situation, I could only send her home. If she wasn¡¯t happy and told grandpa, grandpa will only vent his anger on you.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°She sprained her ankle?¡± Xia Ling was very low andughed mockingly. ¡°Yesterday when I saw you two, in what way did her ankle looked sprained? On the other hand, I...¡± On the other hand, she truly fell t on the floor and hurt her ankle so bad that she could not walk. ¡°Li Lei, you believe such a pathetic lie?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t not believe it.¡± Li Lei was even more irritated. ¡°I have to treat her well in order for grandpa to treat you well.¡±

    ¡°Treat me well?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°In what way has he done that after organizing a wife selection ceremony and inviting me over to humiliate me?! Li Lei, why can¡¯t you just reject that banquet?!¡±

    ¡°That was part of the terms and conditions set by grandpa.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°From now until three yearster, I have to listen to him and go on blind dates. I can only marry you if I can¡¯t find any suitable match after three years.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying. Your grandpa promised me that as long as I lived next door to Pei Ziheng for three years, he would ept me.¡±

    ¡°ept you? Xiao Ling, do you realize the loophole in this statement? epting you doesn¡¯t mean that he will agree to our marriage. He can marry you to a side branch of the family or someone else, and what will you do about it? A few days, I went to look for grandpa to negotiate, resolved this loophole, and immediately agreed to the blind date.¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect the situation to be like this. Old Master Li was so insidious, using the same thing to control her and Li Lei. However, she asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    ¡°I was afraid that you would overthink.¡± If it weren¡¯t for that fake invitation, Xiao Ling would not have known about his blind dating banquet. After this event peacefully ended, she would still rely on him unknowingly.

    Why would he bother to make things more troublesome?

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I was really scared fromst night until now, Li Lei. Do you know how awful I feel? I would rather you tell me the truth than live in the fear of losing you.¡±

    Li Lei lowered his head to look at her.

    In the faintly lit container, her cheeks were pale and her eyes were faintly watery. It was a sad sight. He couldn¡¯t help but hug her and kiss her gently. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that you were wronged.¡± However, he said, ¡°But Xiao Ling, you haven¡¯t exined. What happened with you and Pei Ziheng?¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng and me?¡± Xia Ling was slightly stunned. She rubbed away the tears in her eyes. ¡°It was just a coincidence. Last night, he found out that I was injured and came over to take care of me. Li Lei, you don¡¯t care about me but also won¡¯t let others care about me?¡± She aired her grievances and sounded childlike.

    However, Li Lei grumbled. ¡°He took care of you until you slept with him?¡±

    ¡°What rubbish are you talking about?!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Li Lei, am I such a person in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°You already gave birth to a son for him.¡± His voice was gloomy. He really did not want to believe it, but Pei Ziheng¡¯s words in the morning made sense, and he was also wearing pajamas in her bedroom. After she woke up, she did not realize anything strange. Perhaps in this game of love, he was really an outsider.

    Li Lei tightened his arms around her.

    She sniffed. It turned out that her son was now her sin. He did not know how desperately she tried to protect that child. In the end, the child still died... She was so sad but could not exin it and had to keep him in the dark to prevent him from being sad too.

    However, he cared so much about it.

    She decided that it was better if she told him the truth.

    She should tell him that the child was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s but his. In that case, would the thorn in his heart fade away?

    However... if she said, the effort she put in to keep this a secret would be wasted. He had already tolerated so much jealousy and pain. Did she really want him to go through another bout of pain?

    Her mind was in a mess.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡± Li Lei lifted her chin, heartbroken. ¡°Xiao Ling, I only left for a night and you rekindled your romance with that man. Did you even consider my feelings?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I considered your feelings enough?¡± She sobbed.

    Li Lei looked at her deeply, lowered her head and kissed her. That was a very aggressive kiss which sought to proim her as his. She felt the pain and struggled a little, but she could not escape him.

    After a long time, his lips finally parted from hers briefly. With a husky voice, he said, ¡°Have you considered my feelings? Use your body to prove it to me.¡± He could not wait to have her and leave his mark on her to wash away what he saw in the bedroom that morning. Otherwise, once he thought about how intimate Pei Ziheng and her were, he would go crazy.

    His hands snuck into her clothes.

    ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re crazy!¡± Xia Ling screamed and pushed him away. This was the crew¡¯s container in the wilderness! He wanted to do this here? What if someone saw it by ident...

 Chapter 569 - That Bastard Li Lei

    <h4>Chapter 569: That Bastard Li Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei grabbed hold of her hand and started to take off her clothes. His hot breath lingered near her ear. ¡°Don¡¯t move. You have to wear this set of clothes outter.¡±

    The container was very dark. The shlight was overturned by her, falling to the ground with a loud impact.

    She was afraid of attracting attention and cried. ¡°Li Lei, let go of me!¡±

    However, he did not let her go and pressed her into a corner filled with a pile of debris. Her clothes were removed, revealing her white shoulders, corbone, and back...

    Xia Ling was an umon sort of beauty. She was as delicate as jade, and every inch of her skin was carefully looked after like a wless piece of art.

    No matter how many times he looked at it, it always fascinated him.

    Hefortingly kissed her and forced himself on her.

    Xia Ling only felt that her body was being ripped apart and the dark shadows were about to engulf her. She helplessly hit his back, cried, cursed, and begged him, but he was indifferent and insisted on doing what he wanted. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was low, like a demon in the dark. ¡°You are mine.¡±

    In a trance, she felt like her body was not hers, and even his voice wasing from a distant sky. Suddenly, she heard someone knocking on the container. ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling, are you inside? It¡¯s time for your scene! Come quickly! Director, I¡¯ve searched everywhere, but I can¡¯t find Ye Xingling. This container door can¡¯t be opened. Is it possible that something happened to her inside?¡±

    There were more anxious knocking sounds and people trying to open the door.

    At once, Xia Ling hurriedly pushed Li Lei away and raised her voice. ¡°I¡¯m touching up my make up and wille out soon!¡±

    ¡°Be quick!¡± The people outside stopped.

    She stumbled to retrieve the shlight in the distance. In the darkness, she tripped over something and fell down. Her entire body hurt and blood flowed out from her wrist.

    She covered her wrist, cowered beside the faint glow of the shlight, and let her tearse out.

    ¡°Where have you hurt yourself? Let me see.¡± Li Lei turned around and squatted in front of her, intending to check her injury.

    Xia Ling pped his hand away.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± She cried. ¡°Yes, that child is Pei Ziheng¡¯s. Yes, I slept with himst night. Yes, yes, yes. Everything you said was right. Are you satisfied now?¡± Her face was covered in tears, and her makeup was a mess. Her body hurt everywhere, and even her voice quivered. ¡°Do you think I can be easily taken advantage of because I have no family or any powerful backing?¡±

    He did not dare not to send Nangong Qingya back home because Nangong Qingya came from an eminent family, and he did not dare to defy his Old Master¡¯s orders because his Old Master was too powerful. What about her? Did that mean that he could do anything he wanted to her, force her to be at his beck and call and take advantage of her in the wilderness?

    Her tears fell like broken beads. She wiped them using her bloody hand, ruining her make up further. As she cried, she looked for the make up remover at the corner of the container, washed her face with cold water, and put on a newyer of makeup.

    The light from the shlight was very dim, but even so, her eyes were as swollen as walnuts, and she was not presentable at all. She resisted her crying. As an artiste, she did not have the freedom to be sad. Even if she wanted to cry, she had to control herself. She resisted the cold water temperature, twisted a tower, and wiped her eyes. After that, she quickly applied smoky eye make up upon hearing the urging voices outside the container.

    She rarely wore such heavy makeup and looked dispirited and deste.

    The knocking sounds grew louder. This time, it was Lin Yunan. ¡°Ye Xingling, hurry up! Time and tide wait for no man! Can you please be more professional?!¡±

    She suppressed her indignation and replied, ¡°I¡¯m almost done.¡±

    She also suppressed her sobbing. After circling the ground, she finally found the clothes that were thrown aside by Li Lei. She put them on, tried her best to smooth the wrinkles on them, and only opened the door after she ensured that she looked presentable.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± In the dark, Li Lei called her.

    She paused for a moment but did not look back. Resisting her aching body, she walked out.

    Lin Yunan gave her an earful. The director and a few other staff members were also upset. She apologized to everyone and focused on her shoot again. Luckily, after seeing that she only needed one take for all of her shots, everyone¡¯s attitudes eased.

    When work ended, it was already three in the morning.

    Lin Yunan found arge soft and thick nket from somewhere and wrapped it around her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What happened just now? You even cried. Do you think that no one will be able to tell after you put on smoky makeup? During your shoot, those busybodies went to check the container.¡±

    Xia Ling was in low spirits. She lowered her head and walked forward without speaking.

    Lin Yunan asked, ¡°Is it Li Lei or Pei Ziheng? Only one of them can make you cry like that and move the container truck away so the busybodies could not find anything.¡±

    Xia Ling opened her mouth, and her voice was hoarse. ¡°I¡¯m very tired and need a break.¡±

    ¡°A break?¡± Lin Yunan helped her into his car and said, ¡°In your dreams. Tomorrow afternoon, you have a live-stream interview. Even if you die, you have to finish that program first.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say in the morning that I can die after participating in tonight¡¯s shoot?¡±

    Lin Yunan replied, ¡°You actually believed my lie?¡± He stopped the car and pulled out his notebook which contained her itinerary. ¡°However, after tomorrow afternoon, you can take a break. The following events aren¡¯t big and can be rescheduled. You should take care of yourself, your concert is going to start soon. It¡¯s your first personal concert, so you better be energetic and not look so dead.¡±

    He rambled on and on.

    But Xia Ling was not really listening to him. She curled up in the back seat and fell asleep in a daze.

    Lin Yunan sent her home. When he carried her upstairs, he realized that there were red marks on her neck. First, he was shocked. Then, he eximed in anger. ¡°Does that bastard Li Lei still wants to live? He actually dared to mess with my people?!¡± At this moment, he was sure that it was Li Lei and not Pei Ziheng. Pei Ziheng was very old-fashioned and did not seem like someone who would do something like that.

    Lin Yunan started to seriously consider whether it was a good idea for her to transfer to Imperial Entertainment from Skyart Entertainment for her future as a Diva.

    Xia Ling did not know how long she slept for. She had many horrible dreams. When she woke up, her face was stained with tears.

    In front of her was Lin Yunan¡¯s erged face. ¡°Grandma, you¡¯re finally awake. I was afraid that you would oversleep, so I didn¡¯t dare to go home and stayed here to apany you so that I could especially wake you up. Quick, shower, change your clothes and apply your makeup. We don¡¯t even have time for lunch. I bought a sandwich for you which you can eat in the car.¡±

 Chapter 570 - Xia Moyan Under the Swing

    <h4>Chapter 570: Xia Moyan Under the Swing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was still sick. Under Lin Yunan¡¯s care, she ate a sandwich and medicine for her cold and forced herself to attend the event.

    There were many people in the live-stream room including the emcee, staff, and audience. She tried to look more energetic as she answered the emcee¡¯s questions and tried her best to be focused, but gradually, she fell into a trance.

    The emcee smiled sweetly. ¡°Everyone of us will miss someone at certain moments of our lives. Xiao Ling, are you missing anyone recently?¡±

    She subconsciously replied. ¡°I¡¯m homesick... I miss my brother.¡± If Xia Moyan were here, would other people stop bullying her? She heard that the Xia Family was very powerful. Could they protect her from harm?

    The emcee said, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard you say that you have a brother before.¡±

    ¡°I was referring to my cousin in the countryside.¡± She corrected herself. However, she mocked herself silently. Her brother wanted their rtionship to be so secretive because he probably did not want others to find out, so what was the use of thinking about him? She should just rely on herself.

    Finally, shepleted the event.

    After Lin Yunan gave her some time off, she immediately fell asleep when she reached home.

    At midnight, she suddenly woke up. In between the curtains, there was a faint light.

    She pulled the curtains open and looked down. On the courtyard of the first floor, there was a man sitting on the swing beside the ivy-covered red wall. He was dressed in white, and moonlight sprinkled on him. It was very quiet. ¡°Brother...¡± She mumbled. Could it be that he really appeared at night because she said she wanted to see him in the day?

    She grabbed a coat and hurried down the stairs.

    When she reached the courtyard, sure enough, Xia Moyan was there. The wind in the summer night was a bit cold, but he was wearing a very thin white shirt and appeared unaffected by the weather.

    He turned around to look at Xia Ling with a pair of calm eyes.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Ling asked him.

    ¡°I heard that you wanted to see me.¡± His voice was as calm as ever.

    Xia Ling finally understood that this person was extraordinary. He was probably able to know whatever she said. However, a few hours ago, she really missed him, but when she really saw him and his indifferent appearance, she felt that she had nothing much to say to him. They were siblings but did not grow up together. She was not as close to him as she was with Wei Shaoyin and Lin Yunan. She said in a low voice, ¡°Thank you for him. In the afternoon... I just had a random thought. I don¡¯t really have anything important to talk to you about. Sorry for giving you more trouble.¡±

    Xia Moyan stood up from the swing.

    The silver moonlight fell on his body.

    ¡°Come here.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling gave him a confused look.

    He pointed at the swing. ¡°Sit.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know what he wanted to do and sat on the swing. This was the first time she saw the swing after she moved into this vi. The rattan chair and armrests were veryfortable as she swayed back and forth.

    Xia Moyan walked behind her and lightly pushed the swing.

    ¡°When I was young, I always wanted a sister to y with. I wanted to push the swing for her.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was heard along with the creaking sounds of the rattan swing. ¡°Later, my mother really gave birth to a girl. That was you, Xiao Ling. However, I couldn¡¯t y with you. My father said that you had the fate of a phoenix and was destined to be alone. You had to leave and be far away from your family... as far as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling did not think that he would talk to her about these things at this time, so she softly acknowledged him.

    As Xia Moyan pushed the swing, he said, ¡°My father abandoned you, but in reality, I knew where you were. However, I could only look at you from afar. I watched as you were bullied by the children of another family, sent to an orphanage, learned how to fight and upied the swing.¡±

    Recalling the past, Xia Ling felt somewhat nostalgic. ¡°That¡¯s true. At that time, I thought that my life was very bitter and difficult, but thinking about it now, it was also a form of happiness.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Sometimes when I saw you sitting alone on the swing in the orphanage, I really wanted to go over and push it for you. I wonder how it would feel like to push your small back. Would the swing sway to a high distance? Would you giggle in happiness? However, I did not dare...¡±

    The rattan swing continued to creak.

    The silver moonlight sprinkled on the ground.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s body was slender, and his shadow intertwined with her tiny figure on the ground.

    He continued on. ¡°The people of Buddhism know how powerful fate can be. Once it was decided that you were destined to be alone, that was it. I could not touch you, not even for a moment. Because if I did, earth-shattering disasters would ur.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I see.¡± She did not really know much about Buddhism. At this time, she felt that most of them were just imaginary fears, but she knew that her brother was not lying to her.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I asked my father if I could ever meet with you. He said that it was possible only in your next life. Only in your next life would you rise from the ashes due to your phoenix destiny, and there may be a turn for the better. I asked my father if you were able to achieve nirvana. He was quiet for a long time before telling me that everyone who had a phoenix destiny in our family never could achieve nirvana.¡±

    His voice was as calm as usual, but Xia Ling could hear the severity in it.

    No one was able to reach nirvana?

    This meant that...

    ¡°At that time, you could never get the chance to push the swing for me, and I could never meet with anyone in the family, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°Later, I stopped secretly going to the orphanage to see you. I was afraid that you may identally recognize me and something bad might happen. I would rather not get the chance to push you on the swing if it means that you can live peacefully.¡±

    His voice was so peaceful.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s emotions were turbulent.

    ¡°Brother...¡± She whispered, ced her feet on the ground and turned around to look at him.

    Under the moonlight, Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°In the end, you were adopted by Pei Ziheng, and he made you a Diva. I was really happy, and so was father. Because this meant that although I couldn¡¯t be close to you, I could frequently read about you on the news. Father, mother and I... All of us were paying attention to you.¡±

    ¡°What kind of people were father and mother?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Very good people.¡± A quiet smile appeared on Xia Moyan¡¯s peaceful face. ¡°Father was very strict with me because I was his sessor and would ask me to stand outside in a snowy day to memorize the astrology chart. However, he was very good to you. He collected a lot of dowry for you. Every time he went abroad, he would collect precious gems, antiques, and inds for you. You know, Xiao Ling, you are already richer than all of your enemies. Even the Pei Family and Li Family could notpare to how much you are worth.¡± There was a faint arrogance in his words.

    Xia Ling whispered. ¡°I don¡¯t want any dowry. I only want... the people I like and the people who like me to live well.¡±

 Chapter 571 - Great Revenge

    <h4>Chapter 571: Great Revenge</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Moyan lightly pushed the swing again.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, do you know what fate is? Father told me that fate is like the ocean. Even if you can predict its flow, you can¡¯t change it. If you know that a storm ising, you can only do what is within your ability to evade it. At the end of the day, only God determines whether you will live or die.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Xia Moyan looked at her gently. ¡°The people you like and the people who like you all have their own fates. You also have your own fate, Xiao Ling. It¡¯s all predetermined by God. No matter who you are with, it can¡¯t be changed by a few people, so you shouldn¡¯t worry so much.¡±

    ¡°Has God arranged for me to be with Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Silly girl.¡± Xia Moyan smiled. Who knew what God had in mind? Their blood rtionship was too close, so he could not see her fate clearly. As a result, he also could not clearly see the fates of people close to her.

    One of them was Li Lei.

    This precisely showed that they were deeply entangled.

    However, he did not intend to tell Xia Ling this. One would have to pay the price of getting a glimpse of fate. Her life was already very rough, and it would not benefit her to know so much.

    ¡°Tomorrow, I can apany you to distract yourself. What do you want to do?¡± He said.

    Warmth filled Xia Ling¡¯s heart. It turned out that her brother was really there to apany her. She felt very ashamed as she had no reason to think that her brother was not close to her in the past. In reality, he was the closest rtive she had.

    She looked lively and smiled. ¡°I want to go shopping.¡±

    ¡°Shopping?¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°Ok. When you girls are unhappy, why are you all the same?¡±

    ¡°Who else is there?¡± Xia Ling asked curiously.

    ¡°Mother.¡± Xia Moyan replied. There was a pained expression on his initially calm face. ¡°Father was too impatient to apany her and always made excuses to avoid going shopping with her. As a result, Pearl and I had to suffer. Oh yes, Pearl is a Persian cat that my mother raised. It always followed her no matter where she went.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled more sweetly as if she became closer to her mother whom she had never met before.

    ¡°I also have a cat.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s called Hairball, and it¡¯s very yful...¡±

    She told her brother about Hairball, and Xia Moyan listened gently. He helped her off the swing and apanied her back to the vi. After that, he made medicated soup for her and said, ¡°This will help you sweat. Go to bed early. When you wake up tomorrow, you will feel better and we can go shopping.¡±

    Xia Ling looked curiously at the medicated soup in the bowl. It was dark green in color and had finely chopped grass.

    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.

    ¡°This is made from the fruits of two 28-year-old bamboo shoots that bore fruit during the year you achieved nirvana.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°Legend has it that the Phoenix eats bamboo as a staple. If you eat some bamboo asionally, it will benefit you.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    What did he mean by asking her to eat bamboo asionally? This was not the diet of a Phoenix but of a panda!

    She slightly grimaced in her heart, but she obediently drank all of the soup. Although the color of the soup was frightening, it tasted surprisingly good. Tasting a trace of sweetness, she immediately felt that her head did not hurt anymore. It was as if she had partially recovered from her cold.

    ¡°How amazing.¡± She said.

    ¡°Someone more amazing is behind you.¡± Xia Moyan said.

    This silly girl actually thought that two bamboo fruits were so easy to find. In a bamboo¡¯s lifetime, only one flower bloomed and bore fruit. The flowering period was uncertain and had always been a mystery of nature. These two bamboo shoots also bore fright during the time she achieved nirvana. After finding out about her death, his father and he ran around the entire world until they found these two bamboo fruits in a primitive jungle. The medical soup was made ording to an ancient secret recipe.

    It could obviously do more than cure her cold.

    ¡°What other magical effects are there?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Xia Moyan replied. ¡°Soon, you will find out.¡±

    Seeing that he refused to talk about it, Xia Ling did not ask further. She obediently put down the bowl and went upstairs to rest. She slept for a long time. When she woke up, the sky was already bright. Her head was no longer dizzy, and she felt very refreshed as if she had never caught a cold.

    Her brother was still the best.

    She was very happy. When she went downstairs, she gave her brother a hug. He was currently trimming the nts in the yard. Slightly startled, he gently hugged her back.

    She really resembled her mother. They were so bright that people could not help but like them.

    ¡°Brother, what are you doing?¡± Xia Ling curiously watched as he trimmed the leaves of the nts.

    ¡°The fengshui in the yard is a little messy. I will help you tidy it up.¡± He did not say too much. This was probably the most he could do for his sister within his ability. In reality, Xia Ling¡¯s fate was very bad and full of ups and downs. Even if her garden¡¯s fengshui was perfect, it could not help much, but it was better than nothing.

    Xia Ling smiled vibrantly. ¡°My brother is awesome!¡±

    ¡°Remember to wear that amulet well.¡± Xia Moyan reminded her.

    ¡°The one that Li Lei gave me?¡± She pulled the amulet out from her neck. ¡°I¡¯m wearing it. He said that anything that ims to be evesting is a lie. My family isn¡¯t there when I¡¯m being bullied, so...¡±

    Her eyes turned a little red.

    Xia Moyan generally knew what happened recently. The Li Family held a ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony, and Li Lei sent Nangong Qingya home in the middle of the night. As Xiao Ling¡¯s brother, he was slightly upset about his prospective brother-inw and was carefully considering if he should rmend his sister to choose someone else.

    ¡°Although Li Lei may be your phoenix tree,¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°he¡¯s not the only phoenix tree in the world. What sort of thing is he, anyway? He actually dared to make you suffer a grievance. I¡¯ll help you seek revenge on him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not a thing... No, I mean.¡± Xia Ling was a little anxious and incoherent. ¡°Don¡¯t seek revenge against him.¡±

    Xia Moyan slowly looked at her. ¡°Do you feel bad?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± Xia Ling was furious.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll seek a small revenge against him, then.¡± Xia Moyan lowered his eyes and continued to trim the leaves of the nts. The beautifully fragrant night willow herb and ivy looked more ethereal in his hands as if they gained a lively charm.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What sort of small revenge?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very simple.¡± Xia Moyan described as he continued to cut the leaves. ¡°I¡¯ll let him get into a car ident or be bankrupt. Old Master Li is also old. Maybe I¡¯ll let his life end a few years earlier. Although there may be difficulties, it¡¯s not impossible...¡±

    ¡°Brother... Brother...¡± Xia Ling trembled with fear. ¡°This is the so-called small revenge you are talking about ?!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan remained calm as if he were talking about something simple and logical such as drinking water before eating.

    Xia Ling was about to go crazy. ¡°Then what if it¡¯s a huge revenge?¡±

    ¡°A huge revenge...¡± This time, Xia Moyan stopped trimming the leaves and thought for a few more seconds. ¡°That will be quiteplicated in fengshui terms. I have to prepare many more materials, and you have to give me some time. Logically speaking, it¡¯s possible to exterminate the entire Li Family and cause them to be doomed eternally. The men will be ves and the females will be prostitutes. Oh, I¡¯m talking about a generation of workers, mistresses, sex workers, and even beggars. This family will no longer be able to make aeback.¡±

    Xia Ling gave her brother a lifeless look. Now, she finally understood why so many people respected and feared him.

 Chapter 572 - How are You Qualified to Stop Me

    <h4>Chapter 572: How are You Qualified to Stop Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Please don¡¯t seek revenge against the Li Family, ok?¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Do you really feel bad?¡± Xia Moyan said lightheartedly.

    Xia Ling was anxious. ¡°Brother!¡±

    ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t joke with you anymore.¡± Xia Moyan finished trimming the nts and kept the tools. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll clean up, and then we can go shopping.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Are you really not going to seek revenge against the Li Family?¡±

    It was said that women tend to side with outsiders. She had not married into the Li Family but was already thinking about them. The Preceptor was somewhat unhappy. ¡°If we don¡¯t go out now, I might really do something during this period.¡±

    Xia Ling hurriedly went to change her clothes.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know that this sort of revenge was not so simple. Xia Moyan was able to destroy families, but he had to pay the price. Unless it was a blood feud, he would not go to this extent. He only wanted to joke with her and let her know that her family would always protect her.

    ¡°However...¡± Xia Moyan blinked and thought about it. There was still a way to help his sister a little.

    While he was deep in thought, Xia Ling changed into a new set of clothes and walked out. She was wearing a beautiful and low-key dress with a silk scarf and sunsses. She only revealed her slender figure and delicate jaw.

    ¡°Does it look good?¡± She twirled in front of her brother.

    ¡°Anything you wear looks good.¡± The Preceptor knew what to say due to his experience shopping with his mother.

    Women were all easy to pacify. After hearing that she looked good, Xia Ling smiled brightly, twirled a few more times, and took his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Xia Moyan ced a card in her hand.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Xia Ling took the card and scrutinized it.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°This is the interest of your pocket money over the years. Now that you¡¯re alone and your family can¡¯t support you much, you can use this money first. If it isn¡¯t enough, you can tell me, and I will think of another way for you.¡±

    When Xia Ling missed her family at the start, she did not expect that it woulde with this sort of benefit, and she was caught off guard. Should she ept this sum of money?

    ¡°It¡¯s not much.¡± Xia Moyan said, ¡°You¡¯re the Phoenix in the family, and the entire family is responsible for you ill-fate. This small sum of money is far from the burden that you carry. If you don¡¯t ept it, the entire family will be very sad.¡±

    Since he phrased it like that, Xia Ling epted the card.

    Xia Moyan took her to the highest end shopping mall in the city. It was filled with luxury gship stores, had an elegant indoor environment and well-trained salespersons with excellent etiquette.

    They strolled around and bought some dresses, shoes, and jewelry.

    Sure enough, once a woman saw good-looking clothes, they could not control themselves. After shopping for a short time, Xia Ling¡¯s mood was obviously better, and she looked like she was flying. Xia Moyan did not let her use her card. He took out his own card and said that he was just treating his sister.

    Xia Ling rarely enjoyed the feeling of being spoiled by her brother, and after hearing that her family was very rich, she did not hold back. She spent so much money that even the salespeople started gossiping. ¡°Which family is this girl from? She really knows how to shop.¡±

    ¡°What daughter of an eminent family?¡± A salesperson nced at Xia Ling who was wearing sunsses. ¡°Don¡¯t you see that a man is paying for her? Maybe she¡¯s just relying on him. We¡¯ve seen too many people like her.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Another salesperson said. ¡°If she were relying on him, he wouldn¡¯t be willing to spend so much money on her. Most of them are their wives or girls they are pursuing.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡± The salespeople nodded.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t hear their discussion, but even if she did, she wouldn¡¯t care. Too many people criticized her, let alone these few salespeople. Today, she was really happy and left behind all of the troubles she had with Li Lei. She felt that she could live without love. He was just a man who took advantage of her, and she would not be upset the entire day because of him.

    She bounced and danced around in the shopping mall.

    Xia Moyan put his hands in his trouser pockets and followed her. Though she bought too many things, he was very experienced in telling the salespeople to deliver the items to her address.

    The mall was veryrge and had just been renovated to look like a maze.

    Xia Ling was like a child explorer looking around in the shopping mall. Unknowingly, she walked into a shop with a strong scent of incense. There was red and ck silk underwear disyed on the shelf, and several female staff smiled cheerfully.

    She paused in her footsteps and felt that this was not a ce she should be at. Just as she was about to leave, she heard a familiar voice. ¡°How¡¯s this? Will it be too rough?¡±

    When she looked up, sure enough, it was Nangong Qingya. She was holding a rose-colored fis suit. Wow, its inferior style was something someone would see in the red light district...

    It turned out that Nangong Qingya liked this sort of thing?!

    Xia Ling was shocked and stared at her.

    Sensing that someone was looking at her, Nangong Qingya turned around and said in a disgruntled voice. ¡°Who is there? What are you looking at so suspiciously? Staff.¡± She flew into a rage at the staff. ¡°Don¡¯t you wee one customer at a time? How can you let someone sneak in?!¡±

    The staff felt wronged. Thedy who snuck in did not enter from the main entrance, so they did not notice her.

    ¡°Thisdy, I have to trouble you to wait outside for a while. We...¡±

    Before the staff could finish, Xia Ling already took off her sunsses. ¡°Nangong Qingya, you were just with Li Lei during the blind date a few days ago. Are you going to buy this suggestive underwear today? I couldn¡¯t tell that you were such a loose woman. I bet you¡¯re hooking up with other men at the same time. You should leave Li Lei as early as possible, you hear me!¡±

    She said in a threatening manner.

    Li Lei and Nangong Qingya only met a few days ago, and it was impossible that they progressed so quickly. It was unlikely that Nangong Qingya bought these things to seduce Li Lei. The only possibility was that she was seeing someone else at the same time. Xia Ling¡¯s mood improved even more. Wasn¡¯t it delightful that she defeated her love rival so easily?

    Unfortunately, when Nangong Qingya saw her, her originally angry and flustered look quickly returned to normal. She looked up with some arrogance and said, ¡°Oh, how can it be that I¡¯m seeing another man? Miss Ye, I¡¯m very sure you know why I¡¯m buying these clothes and who I¡¯ll be wearing them for. I would like to advise you to be clear of your status and not have unrealistic dreams.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned ashen. What did Nangong Qingya mean? Could it be that she really bought these clothes with the intention of wearing them for Li Lei? No, that was impossible. They only met for a short two days. How could they progress so quickly?!

    She looked at Nangong Qingya coldly. ¡°I won¡¯t allow you to buy them!¡±

    ¡°What a joke. How are you qualified to stop me?¡± Nangong Qingya snorted.

 Chapter 573 - War Between the Wealthy and Beautiful

    <h4>Chapter 573: War Between the Wealthy and Beautiful</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words.

    She was really not qualified. How could she obstruct someone from buying the clothes they wanted?

    However, she could not let this go easily. If she really bought these suggestive clothes to wear in front of Li Lei, what did it say about her position in Nangong Qingya¡¯s and Li Lei¡¯s eyes? She took out her phone with the intention of calling Li Lei to rify matters. However, she suddenly remembered that in the dark container that night, he took advantage of her...

    So far, he had not even called her once to apologize.

    Why should she give in first?!

    She put her phone back and looked at the fis suit in Nangong Qingya¡¯s hands. Its red rosy color looked like it was mocking her for overestimating herself.

    Suddenly, she felt dispirited.

    She turned around to walk out but heard Nangong Qingya calling after her. ¡°Why, nning to leave now? If you can¡¯t afford it, then don¡¯te in to look. You should really think about what your worth is!¡±

    From the time they bumped into each other, Nangong Qingya kept talking about their difference in social ss, so Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but feel a little irritated. These people were trying to use their status of being part of a rich family to bully her. What was so impressive about basking in the shade of their parents? She took out her credit card and mmed it on the checkout counter. ¡°I want that.¡±

    She was referring to the item that Nangong Qingya had in her hands.

    At first, Nangong Qingya was startled. Then, she smiled disdainfully. ¡°Do you think that I won¡¯t be able to give up this treasure and let you have it rightfully without paying? Here, have it.¡± She tossed the fis suit to Xia Ling like she was throwing away rubbish.

    Xia Ling avoided it, and it fell to the ground.

    ¡°Oh no, this is thetest limited edition piece from this season! There are only 10 pieces in the world!¡± The staff rushed to pick it up. She was extremely distressed. What should she do if such an expensive piece of clothing was dirtied?

    Nangong Qingya continued to smile. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to wrap it up for Miss Ye?¡± She was from an eminent family and was usually self-important. She had already sworn not to sleep with anyone unless she encountered real love. Thus, she was still a virgin. How would she know what sort of underwear to wear to seduce him?

    The only reason why she wanted to buy this rose-red fis suit was that the staff said that this was the most expensive and sought after item. It was also avable in limited quantities in the world and was studded with diamonds.

    The price was six figures.

    The staff member carefully reported the price to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart hurt as money did note easily to her. She couldn¡¯t believe that such an ugly piece of underwear that she would never wear was so expensive. However, despite the pain in her heart, she couldn¡¯t appear weak on the surface. She calmly said to the staff, ¡°Take my card.¡±

    The staff swiped her card and said, ¡°I will help you wrap your clothes up.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°These clothes can¡¯t even be used as rags. Only a person like Miss Nangong who has a taste which is contrary to ordinary people will like it. You can throw this piece of clothing in the trash.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The staff was stunned.

    Those who had seen a battle of wealth rarely saw it taking ce in an underwear store.

    However, the customer was always right. With the principle of serving customers well, the staff endured heartbreak and threw the fis suit that was originally ced in the best cab of the store into the trash can.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s elegant expression was slightly distorted. How dare this Ye Xingling mock her like that!

    <i>Bam! </i>She mmed her card down on the table and pointed to more than a dozen of the most expensive clothes in the store. ¡°This, this, and this... I want them all. Miss Ye, do you still have money topete with me?¡±

    This was pure provocation.

    Logic told Xia Ling that there was no advantage in fighting with his woman, but she was really angry. She decided that life was short, and the rush of happiness after seeking her revenge was worth it!

    ¡°I want them!¡± Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°I want all of them!¡± She learned from Nangong Qingya and pointed at many of the clothes that Nangong Qingya wanted to buy. ¡°Does Miss Nangong want to buy these? It can¡¯t be that she can¡¯t afford them, right?¡±

    Nangong Qingya smiled calmly without blinking. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll buy them all.¡±

    What a joke. Why was this stupid woman trying to prove who was richer? She was the eldest daughter of the Nangong Family. Why would she be afraid of amoner female artiste?

    With this thought, she smiled more delightedly and pointed at more clothes for Xia Ling.

    At this time, Xia Ling felt that things were bing difficult. At this rate, she would definitely lose. She gritted her teeth and sneered as Nangong Qingya chose a pile of clothes for her and pointed at the remaining clothes for Nangong Qingya. ¡°It¡¯s just a shop. I¡¯m sure Miss Nangong can afford it, right?¡±

    Nangong Qingya was smart and quickly guessed Xia Ling¡¯s intentions. With a faint smile, she said, ¡°Of course, I can afford it. However, I¡¯m more curious about whether Miss Ye can afford it.¡±

    ¡°What can¡¯t I buy?¡± Xia Ling said faintly. ¡°Miss Nangong, you don¡¯t have to encourage me to do something by criticizing my ability. It¡¯s your turn to buy your clothes.¡±

    ¡°If I buy them, how will I know if Miss Ye can afford them?¡± Nangong Qingya was not fooled. She deliberately wanted to see Xia Ling get humiliated. ¡°This time, I won¡¯t fight with Miss Ye anymore. You can buy them.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Miss Nangong, are you admitting your loss?¡±

    Nangong Qingya raised an eyebrow. ¡°How am I admitting my loss?¡±

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t buying them, doesn¡¯t that mean that you¡¯ve lost?¡±

    Seeing that there was a stalemate, the staff did not wish for the scene to be bigger. She quickly persuaded them otherwise. ¡°Both of you have bought many things today. How about this? I will give both of you VIP cards for this store. In the future...¡±

    ¡°It seems that it can only be like this.¡± Xia Ling tried to stop while she still could.

    However, Nangong Qingya was certain that Xia Ling didn¡¯t have enough money. She said, ¡°Miss Ye, you aren¡¯t nning to admit defeat, right? How about this. Since both of us can afford it, let¡¯s have an auction. The highest bidder will be the winner.¡±

    She quoted a price which was double the price of the clothes there.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat. This woman was really vicious! If she were really just amon artiste, she would probably be humiliated. She would have exceeded her credit card limit and not be able to pay back her debt. Luckily, she still had a brother who just gave her a card.

    She took the card out and gave it to the staff. ¡°Help me check how much money I have in this.¡±

    The staff couldn¡¯t stop her, so she could only follow her orders. The young female staff drew a cold breath as she tried to do a check. ¡°Oh god...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m really... sorry.¡± The staff was a little nervous. ¡°Let me try again with another card machine. I don¡¯t know if this one is spoiled.¡± She hurriedly tried again with another machine.

    Listening to the staff, Nangong Qingya chuckled. ¡°This can¡¯t be a fake card, right? Ye Xingling, your credit card limit is not enough, and you¡¯re trying to use this fake card for more money?¡±

 Chapter 574 - Too Exaggerated

    <h4>Chapter 574: Too Exaggerated</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling knew that it was impossible that her brother gave her a fake card.

    Thus, she just looked at Nangong Qingya calmly and said, ¡°Who knows, maybe the machine is really broken or Miss Nangong is nervous. We can just try a different machine.¡±

    However, just as she finished speaking, the staff spoke hesitantly. ¡°Miss... Ye, your card can¡¯t be read. Other cards can be read as per usual, so the machine is not broken.¡±

    Nangong Qingya snorted again. ¡°Miss Ye, why are you still acting? Do you think you can fool us using a fake card? You should just admit that you¡¯re poor to avoid embarrassing yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. How could this be? Her brother would definitely not beguile her with a fake card. She said to the staff, ¡°Try again. This is definitely not a fake card.¡±

    Nangong Qingya sneered at the side. ¡°What for? I¡¯ve seen people pping their faces until they look swollen in an effort to look imposing, but this is the funniest so far. Haha, hrious!¡± A cheerful smile appeared on her delicate face. Her eyes shined, and she looked contemptuous and arrogant.

    Looking at herugh passionately, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but say coldly, ¡°Miss Nangong, why are you so sure that this is a fake card? Do you dare to gamble with me? If that card really has money, would you pay me the same amount that¡¯s inside it?¡± She didn¡¯t know how much her brother gave her, but since he said that it was her pocket money interest, the amount probably would not be too big. She didn¡¯t want to earn Nangong Qingya¡¯s money but regain her pride.

    Nangong Qingya smiled even more beautifully. ¡°Ye Xingling, are you bing crazy over money such that you dare to start a gamble you will surely lose? Sure, I agree. Let¡¯s see how useful this fake card is. If there really is money, not only will I pay you the amount inside, I can even double or triple the amount with no problem.¡±

    ¡°Ok then, you will pay me three times the amount.¡± The more Xia Ling fought, the braver she became. In the face of war, she never retreated. Since Nangong Qingya suggested to pay her three times the amount, she would pay her three times the amount. It was just in time because she was afraid that her pocket money interest was too small and not enough to worry Nangong Qingya.

    ¡°Three times, then.¡± Nangong Qingya smiled without care. ¡°But what about you, Ye Xingling? If there¡¯s no money in this card, what will you do?¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Very simple. If there¡¯s no money in the card, stay far away from Li Lei in the future and stop pursuing him anymore.¡± Nangong Qingya said. Suddenly, she felt that this gamble was very worthwhile because she could easily defeat her love rival without much effort.

    However, Xia Ling fell silent for a moment. ¡°No, I won¡¯t gamble using Li Lei. Choose something else.¡±

    ¡°What, you don¡¯t dare to?¡± Nangong Qingya smirked.

    ¡°Even if I have the confidence of winning, I can¡¯t use my feelings with him as a bargaining chip. Love is priceless.¡± Xia Ling said seriously.

    In the small store, everyone was silent. When this girl spoke, she seemed to exude some kind of magic that made everyone admire her.

    Her love was priceless. The man whom she loved must be very lucky.

    In a sh, several spectators watching the battle felt that although Nangong Qingya was from an eminent family and Xia Ling was an ordinary artiste, thetter was obviously a better match for Second Young Master Li. Unconsciously, they started to support Xia Ling in their hearts.

    Nangong Qingya was still convinced that she didn¡¯t have the guts and smiled scornfully. ¡°I want to bet on him. Otherwise, you can forget about getting three times your money. Before we forget, does your card even have money? How about we cancel this bet and I give you three times the amount of everything in this store so you will get out of Li Lei¡¯s sight.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re all that because you¡¯re rich?¡± Xia Ling said faintly. ¡°I will give you ten times the money, Miss Nangong. Will you get lost?¡±

    Nangong Qingya didn¡¯t expect that she would rebuke, and her face turned pale. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll fall for your tricks?¡± She mmed her credit card on the table. ¡°The money is in here. If you have the ability, win. Otherwise, you can kneel down and bow to me three times. Maybe then I will consider letting you go.¡±

    It was the greatest humiliation to kneel down and bow to someone.

    However, it was much easier to ept for Xia Ling than betting Li Lei¡¯s love.

    ¡°I promise you.¡± She said.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Nangong Qingya arrogantly nced at all the staff present. ¡°All of you here are witnesses.¡±

    The staff members helplessly nodded.

    In reality, they were really curious about whether Xia Ling¡¯s card was fake.

    Xia Ling said to a staff member, ¡°Look for another card reading machine and try again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡± The staff said, ¡°Our card reading machines are all the same. Miss Ye, the reason why your card can¡¯t be read might be because it¡¯s fake or...¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another possibility?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    The staff said, ¡°Another possibility would be because there¡¯s a limit to how much money our machines can read, which is why an error urred.¡±

    Could it be that it exceeded the card reading limit? How much money exactly was that?

    Nangong Qingya couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What is your card reading limit here?¡±

    ¡°10 million.¡± The staff said.

    ¡°Ha, just 10 million?¡± Nangong Qingya chuckled. ¡°However, I don¡¯t think that Miss Ye is someone who can have 10 million in cash. It must be a fake card.¡±

    Xia Ling also felt a bit uncertain. Her brother said that this was only her pocket money interest. How could it be 10 million? Was this card really fake?

    She asked, ¡°How else can I find out how much is in this card?¡±

    The staff said, ¡°If the amount is toorge, I¡¯m afraid that you can only check the amount at the bank counter. You can also call the bank, and the bnce inquiry system will automatically broadcast the bnce of the card for you.¡±

    Nangong Qingya sneered. ¡°Go to the bank counter? So troublesome! I think that Miss Ye should just turn on her phone¡¯s speaker and call the bank to find out her bnce.¡± She was afraid that Xia Ling might cheat and deposit some money into the card. Thus, she had to monitor her closely so that she had no chance to weasel her way out of this.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t mind and really made the inquiry call in front of everyone.

    She pressed the speaker button and everyone heard clearly. After the prompting sound, a pleasant female voice reported, ¡°The bnce of your card is 10 billion yuan. To listen to this again, press 1. To go back to the menu, press 0...¡±

    ¡°Wh... what?! 10 billion?!¡± Everyone was about to go crazy and suspected that they heard wrong.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°How¡¯s that possible?!¡±

    Even Xia Ling was stunned and thought that what she heard was an illusion. She looked at her phone in awe and absent-mindedly called the bank again.

    It was still 10 billion yuan.

    Xia Ling was astounded.

    All of the staff members were shocked too. One of the reacted and mumbled. ¡°Oh my god. Just now, the bet stated that Miss Nangong had to pay her three times the amount she had on the card. This means that since this card really has money, Miss Nangong has to pay Miss Ye 30 billion!¡±

 Chapter 575 - Going Back on Her Word

    <h4>Chapter 575: Going Back on Her Word</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Now that she mentioned it, everyone was reminded of it.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s beautiful makeup couldn¡¯t hide the distress on her face. ¡°No, how could it be 10 billion? There must be something wrong with the system!¡±

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling remained calm as she recalled what Brother had told her before, that even a family as wealthy and powerful as the Peis and the Lis probably would not be able to afford her dowry. 10 billion dors was not an exaggeration at all. She looked at Nangong Qingya with a smirk and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you could follow me to the bank and verify it. But if you lose the bet, we¡¯ll go by the rules and you¡¯ll have to pay up three times the amount.¡±

    Nangong Qingya was about to agree to it subconsciously when it hit her that the probability of something going wrong with the system was minuscule. If she took the trip down to the bank, it was quite likely that she would end up embarrassing herself. Sheposed herself and struck her most arrogant pose. ¡°Oh, I said I¡¯d pay up three times the amount? Very well then, you cane to my house and collect it anytime.¡±

    ¡°Miss Nangong Qingya won¡¯t go back on her word, right?¡± Xia Ling looked at her suspiciously. 30 billion dors was not a small sum ¡ª she did not have that much liquid cash even when she was a world-renowned Diva in herst life. Although Nangong Qingya came from a wealthy family, she might not even be as rich as Xia Ling was in herst life. Even if she coulde up with that money, it probably amounted to a substantial portion of her family assets.

    ¡°You think I¡¯d lie to you?¡± Nangong Qingya looked a little pale as she tried to calcte the odds. She dide from a wealthy family, but how could she ¡ª a Missy who did not work at all ¡ª be able to afford 30 billion dors in one lump sum? Her share of the inheritance, as well as her dowry, probably wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    On second thought, even if she was willing to pay up the amount with all her personal savings, her family definitely wouldn¡¯t allow it. They would chide her for it, and probably even embarrass her. There was even a possibility that she would have nothing to her name if that were to happen.

    By then, she might not even be able to marry Wang Tao, not to mention Li Lei!

    She was determined to find a way around this without having to lose a single cent.

    Despite her worries, she was able to keep a cool front. ¡°One month from now, you cane to me for the money.¡±

    ¡°One month?¡± Xia Ling smirked. She had guessed that Nangong Qingya was going to drag the situation longer than needed. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that you need time to gather that sum of money. In that case, let¡¯s just sign an IOU, and the interest would be charged ording to bank rates.¡±

    It was 30 billion dors, the interests incurred would be a substantial amount.

    Nangong Qingya secretly cursed Xia Ling in her heart. Why was this woman was such a rogue, speaking about nothing but money? She had to object to it. ¡°We can do without the formalities. Unless you don¡¯t even trust my integrity?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. In fact, I really don¡¯t.¡± Xia Ling didn¡¯t bother trying to save her from embarrassment.

    Nangong Qingya turned a little pale hearing that. She felt that her only option to get out of this conversation was to change the topic. ¡°Well, I wonder how Miss Ye managed to have so much money? As far as I know, a singer doesn¡¯t own that much. Unless... it¡¯s from Pei Ziheng and Second Young Master Li?¡±

    She had only returned from abroad a while back and did not know much about Xia Ling¡¯s background initially. However, after viewing Xia Ling as her love rival, she had conducted investigations on her and discovered that she and Li Lei patched up only shortly after her divorce with Pei Ziheng.

    She spected that the money was probably from the alimony fees the Pei family offered her, and from Li Lei as well.

    She was no longer just a woman from a humble background. Nangong Qingya felt that she had to reevaluate her opponent.

    But all Xia Ling said was, ¡°Why should you care where my moneyes from?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Nangong Qingya smiled. ¡°Nobody would want to talk about it if the money came from illegitimate means.¡±

    ¡°Who are you referring to, talking about illegitimate means?¡± A calm male voice was heard.

    Everybody turned around and saw a well-dressed man enter. He looked prim and charismatic and left a good impression on the people present. He walked towards Xia Ling slowly and said, ¡°Why¡¯re you in such a ce?¡±

    It was an using statement, but there wasn¡¯t an usatory tone to it.

    Xia Ling was about to greet her brother when she recalled that he had wanted her to keep their rtionship a secret. Hence, she quietly muttered, ¡°Why are you here only now, I¡¯m being bullied.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at her dotingly. Who was bullying who? He looked at the extravagantly dressed girl opposite them. She seemed like the one being bullied, instead.

    He gently asked, ¡°How did she bully you?¡±

    ¡°She owes me 30 billion dors and hasn¡¯t paid up.¡± Xia Ling was about to tear up.

    It wasn¡¯t just Xia Moyan, but everyone else present felt that Xia Ling was being absurd. She was the one who demanded payment from Nangong Qingya, but she was distorting the story as if Nangong Qingya was indeed bullying her.

    Xia Moyan smiled. ¡°Who says she doesn¡¯t have the money to pay up? She could always use her family assets as coteral, and any excess could be regarded aspensation for your emotional damage.¡±

    ¡°Emotional damage?!¡± Nangong Qingya was stunned. ¡°What emotional damage?¡±

    ¡°You made Xiao Ling all worried and worked up, thinking you won¡¯t be able to pay up. Shouldn¡¯t you pay for this emotional damage?¡± Xia Moyan said coldly. He always used a seemingly neutral tone, but it had a different connotation when he spoke with Xiao Ling and when it was Nangong Qingya.

    It was an invisible power.

    Nangong Qingya felt a chill down her spine. This man... seemed scary.

    But nothing was scarier than the thought of forking out 30 billion dors. Nangong Qingya clenched her teeth and said, ¡°This is in extortion. I will not give you the sum of money.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her, stunned. So, she was really going back on her word?

    ¡°You¡¯re not paying for the emotional damage, or are you referring to the 30 billion dors?¡± Xia Ling verified.

    ¡°Initially, I did n giving you the 30 billion dors. I¡¯ll just treat it as a charitable act, helping out a needy person. But who knew you¡¯d get so overbearing and actually demandedpensation for emotional damage. So I decided, I don¡¯t want to give you any money at all now.¡± Nangong Qingya had her chin raised as she spoke with an arrogant, condescending tone.

 Chapter 576 - We Donâ€™t Understand the Life of the Wealthy

    <h4>Chapter 576: We Don¡¯t Understand the Life of the Wealthy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t expect Nangong Qingya to react this way.

    She was going to go back on her word just like that? Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Can you have some integrity? You owe me the money.¡± It seemed like the debtor wasn¡¯t the one having a hard time.

    The other employees around gave unfriendly looks as well.

    Nangong Qingya was the one who caused this conflict to begin with. She even made it public to prevent Xia Ling from going back on her word if she were to lose the bet. And now, Nangong Qingya was the one who had lost the bet and was unwilling to pay up. It seemed like Miss Nangong¡¯s integrity and principles were only worth 30 billion yuan...

    No, that wasn¡¯t right.

    The employees thought they must have been brainwashed by Miss Ye and the man beside her. How could they possibly have thought that it was ¡°only worth¡± 30 billion yuan as if that wasn¡¯t a big sum?

    They felt sorry for Miss Nangong for provoking the wrong people.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling was still pouring her grievances out to Xia Moyan. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault, why did you interrupt us? I was so close to getting 30 billion yuan. Why did you get her topensate for emotional damage, does it look like she can afford it? The 30 billion yuan would¡¯ve been enough to drain her of her family assets, and now she won¡¯t even pay up.¡±

    Xia Moyan felt wrongly used. ¡°Well, the interest of your liquid assets already make up 10 billion yuan.¡±

    The employees and Nangong Qingya were shocked. What did this man just say? 10 billion yuan made up her liquid assets... but only its interest?!

    Everybody¡¯s jaw dropped.

    Xia Ling asked out of curiosity, ¡°So, how much are my liquid assets?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t remember, but you¡¯ll never finish spending it. I just rounded the figures off, you have got a lot more interest amounts from various avenues elsewhere.¡±

    The others were giddy from this new information. Calling them nouveau riches would be an understatement.

    This was too pompous!

    They were curious as well. If there were 10 billion yuan in her card, who was it from? Did he give it to her? Everybody wondered what rtionship they shared and how he could be so generous toward her.

    Nangong Qingya had a look of disbelief. How could a man possibly give a woman that much money to spend?

    ¡°Impossible, this is impossible...¡± Nangong Qingya shook her head.

    Ten billion yuan would definitely turn she and her sisters against one another. Meanwhile, this amount was not enough for this woman before her?

    ¡°Drop your act, Ye Xingling.¡± Nangong Qingya said, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you really have 10 billion yuan, neither do I care how this man is rted to you. In any case, I¡¯m not giving you that 30 billion yuan. Anyway, don¡¯t you love acting rich? If you continue asking for money, I¡¯m afraid your pretense will fall through.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a conflict between my wealth and my rights to demand what I deserve. Even if it¡¯s a piece of meat, I get to decide whether I want to feed the dog. It can¡¯t be up to the dog, am I right?¡±

    One of the employees burst outughing identally. This was an amazing metaphor, it was probably the first time Miss Nangong had ever been referred to as a dog. But that was exactly how she was acting. Not only was she going back on her word, but she was also being unreasonable with her justification.

    Nangong Qingya felt humiliated hearing the employee¡¯sughter and flew into a rage. ¡°Ye Xingling, watch your words! You¡¯re a brute alright, you don¡¯t even have basic manners!¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression darkened before Xia Ling even retorted that statement.

    Who dared to call his sister a brute?

    Xiao Ling had led a tough life since she was born. She had to bear the curse of the family, live two lives of hardship, and was unable to reunite with her biological father and brother. As a Xia descendant, he had always felt guilty towards her. He was unable to watch her grow up nor protect her, and now, he had to hear someone insult her?

    All of these wasn¡¯t even Xiao Ling¡¯s fault.

    Moreover, she was an extraordinary girl with a kind heart, how could someone speak of her this way?

    He looked at Nangong Qingya with a gaze that could kill. ¡°Basic manners? Well, Miss Nangong is about to lose it very soon.¡±

    Nangong Qingya was shocked. ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    This cold and calm-looking man sent a chill down her spine. She felt vulnerable and defenseless against him.

    She found this man intimidating, but she simply could not give in. Feigning arrogance, she looked him straight in the eye. The Nangong family was a powerful one, after all, this man couldn¡¯t do anything to her.

    Xia Moyan did not say anything more. He told Xia Ling, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Xia Ling muttered, ¡°My 30 billion yuan.¡±

    Xia Moyan wanted to grin at that statement. This silly girl was such a money-face.

    ¡°You¡¯ll receive every single cent of it ¡ª the 30 billion yuan, as well as thepensation for emotional damage.¡± Xia Moyan held her hand and led her out. ¡°With me around, what¡¯s there to worry about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m worried that you can¡¯t care less about this little money.¡± Xia Ling felt slightly aggrieved.

    They were walking out slowly, but their conversation was still audible. What did they mean by ¡°this little money¡±? Thend of the rich was really impossible to understand.

    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Xia Moyan turned around and handed a card to an employee. ¡°All her spendings will be on my tab. Once the clothes are packaged and ready, send it to this address.¡± He took a piece of paper and penned down an address in beautiful cursive.

    The employees had not snapped back to their senses and agreed distractedly.

    Xia Ling waited outside the store for her brother. ¡°I told you not to pay for those, why did you?¡±

    It didn¡¯t feel right for him to be doing this.

    Xia Moyan kept his calm demeanor. ¡°Is that important?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very important! How am I supposed to wear those?!¡± She couldn¡¯t bear to think of wearing a sensual piece of undergarment that was gifted by her brother... it was just odd.

    ¡°Will you even wear it?¡±

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words. He was right, even if it wasn¡¯t from him, she probably wouldn¡¯t want to touch anything that she had obtained by fighting with someone else over it. ¡°Forget it.¡± she shrugged and let out a long sigh. ¡°I want ice-cream, help me get some.¡±

    Xia Moyan took a pair of sunsses out from her pocket and put it on for her. ¡°You¡¯re still thinking about ice-cream at this time?¡± This silly girl didn¡¯t even remember to disguise herself in public. She was a little Diva now and more popr than ever. It¡¯d be all too easy for anyone on the streets to recognize her.

 Chapter 577 - Is it Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 577: Is it Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked around her as an afterthought.

    As expected, there were several groups of people pointing at her and whispering to their friends.

    She hated to be in such a situation in public as it could create unwanted chaos. She hurriedly grabbed Xia Moyan¡¯s hand and made a run for it. Xia Moyan drove her to her bungalow and said, ¡°Have a good rest. I¡¯lle to see you again in a few days.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Xia Ling tugged at the corner of his shirt sadly as she heard that he was about to leave.

    Xia Moyan said in a gentler voice, ¡°There¡¯s something I need to do.¡± His work in the spiritual realm was mysterious, and he did not want his sister to know too much. Knowing the secrets of heaven would generally require one to pay a price.

    Seeing that he was reluctant to reveal anything, Xia Ling did not press him for more information. She said pitifully, ¡°You need toe back to visit me.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°Pinky promise?¡±

    Xia Moyan wordlessly stretched his pinky out towards her.

    A big smile spread across Xia Ling¡¯s face, and she hooked his pinky with hers. ¡°You have toe back!¡±

    Her clear and happy voice made Xia Moyan¡¯s heart clench. How lonely was she that she would pine for thepany of a brother that she hardly saw at all?

    The Phoenix was destined for loneliness...

    How had a young and small girl like her weathered through all the tribtions in her life?

    Xia Moyan lowered his head to hide his emotions before turning around and leaving.

    Xia Ling watched as he left while leaning on the door until she couldn¡¯t see hisnky frame beyond the red walls and pebble path. She then turned and went back into the house. The bungalow was quiet and empty. She had moved over in a hurry and many things had happened since. Hence, the house was barely furnished.

    ¡°It really doesn¡¯t feel like a home...¡± She sighed.

    Subconsciously, she thought of Li Lei¡¯s apartment. It used to be filled with her stuffed penguin and rabbit toys, as well as had fashion magazines from around the world, snacks, and song sheets strewn everywhere. How did her house be so empty? There was also Hairball and Er Mao in Li Lei¡¯s ce. Were they obediently listening to him?

    She fell into a daze, and her mind drifted to the owner of the apartment.

    His handsome features and the glint of a smile in his eyes.

    He used to be her Sun.

    But now?

    Her heart ached as she thought of the ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony a while back when he had been so courteous to Nangong Qingya. She also remembered that dreadful night in the caravan when she was filming outside the city. Yes, her rival was a wealthydy and needed to be treated with respect. And she was just a singer, so she could be bullied and ridiculed?

    She didn¡¯t know where the warm and caring Li Lei had gone to.

    ¡°Why are you still thinking about him?¡± Xia Ling chided herself. ¡°It¡¯s been two days, and he hasn¡¯t even called you. Xia Ling, are you an idiot? Are you still not giving up?¡±

    Shaking her head, she tried to clear her heart and mind of Li Lei. However, her mind was simply filled with him.

    Just as she was getting exasperated with herself, the doorbell rang.

    Xia Ling thought that her brother hade back and hurriedly ran to open the door. Yet, she only saw two courier delivery boys outside the door. They politely said to her, ¡°Are you Miss Ye? Hello, we are from Seagull Private Limited. These are the items that you purchased in the mall today. We¡¯ve helped you bring them over.¡±

    Xia Ling recalled that these were the items that her brother had asked to be sent over.

    She let them in, and the two courier delivery boys efficiently carried all the items into her house, before politely bidding her farewell and driving off.

    Xia Ling squatted in the living room and started to unwrap the items.

    There were all kinds of branded bags, clothes, jewelry... and many other items that she did not know how to use. She flipped through the items and found several fiss, leather skirts, andce outfits.

    The items piled up high in all colors ¡ª rose red, maroon, mysterious ck. The pile became imbnced and fell onto her body, almost drowning her petite frame.

    She took two seconds to react.

    She pulled one of the items off the top of her head. It was a ***. Alright, so this looked like the purchases from the lingerie shop where she had gotten into a spat with Nangong Qingya. She had forgotten to tell her brother not to send those to her. What in the world was she going to do with them?!

    Xia Ling felt depressed.

    The doorbell rang again. Xia Ling thought that it was the courier boys who had forgotten something. She went to open the door listlessly but was stunned when she saw who was standing outside.

    Under the setting sun, a handsome man with defined features and deep-set eyes was standing by the red walls covered with flowers.

    It was...

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She murmured. He had finally decided toe to look for her, just when she thought that he was never going to appear. Many thoughts shed through Xia Ling¡¯s mind in a moment, though they culminated in one thought ¡ª thankfully, he was here.

    Li Lei watched her silently from where he was standing across the empty yard. He reached out and pushed open the low bamboo fence himself, walking towards her. Xia Ling turned her body to make space for him to enter the house, but forgot that the house was now strewn with her many purchases ¡ª the bags, jewelry, and... and the pile of lingerie.

    Li Lei lowered his gaze to the pile ofce and fis on the floor.

    Xia Ling stammered in embarrassment. ¡°That... I... I...¡±

    ¡°Was everything that was written online true?¡± Li Lei said in an emotionless voice.

    ¡°Huh, what?¡± Xia Ling was confused. She hadn¡¯t gone online for the entire day and did not know what he was talking about.

    ¡°The report online said that you were shopping in a lingerie shop with a man, and that man had given you a lot of lingerie.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s breath caught, and she recalled the people staring at her when she exited the mall earlier. They had put this online?! ¡°I... I didn¡¯t...¡± She wanted to exin herself to Li Lei, but did not know where to start.

    ¡°Who is that man?¡± Li Lei asked in a low voice as he stared into her eyes.

    ¡°I...¡± The word ¡°brother¡± was about to spill out of her mouth, but she suddenly remembered that her brother had told her never to reveal their rtionship. She was momentarily at a loss for words and broke into a cold sweat. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to the rubbish online!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why don¡¯t you tell me why it¡¯s all rubbish, then?¡± Li Lei replied calmly and slowly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart pounded. The way Li Lei was looking at her made her terrified. She couldn¡¯t tell if he was happy or angry. She did not like the feeling of not being able to read him.

    ¡°I... I didn¡¯t go shopping with a man.¡± She blurted out with her mind in a whirl.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, do you take me as an idiot?¡± As expected, Li Lei red at her. ¡°Did you think that you could hoodwink me with just any lie? Speak... was that man Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Only Pei Ziheng would apany her to a lingerie shop.

    Only Pei Ziheng could make him boil over with jealousy.

    Xia Ling was shocked at his allegation. She opened

 Chapter 578 - Sweet Candy

    <h4>Chapter 578: Sweet Candy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What kind of person do I take you to be?¡± Li Lei looked down at her, his voice lined with pain. ¡°Xiao Ling, shouldn¡¯t you be asking yourself, what kind of person do you take yourself as? How can you go to a lingerie shop with just anybody?¡±

    Her face turned pale, and her lips quivered as she looked at him wordlessly. She wanted to find a crack in the ground and hide in it from the embarrassment of having the man she loved insinuate something so shameful about her. However, it was just a big misunderstanding. She could only me herself for not looking where she was going and randomly walking into that shop out of all the shops in the mall.

    Not looking where she was going was turning out to be a much bigger mistake than she expected.

    Tears started to fill her eyes. She seemed to be fonder of crying ever since she got together with Li Lei. In the past, it was for other things, but recently, it seemed to be about the pain between them.

    Seeing her tears, Li Lei¡¯s heart started to throb with pain. However, this matter crossed the boundaries of his principles, and his jealousy was like a ball of fire within him. It made him struggle to maintain his rationality. He asked, ¡°So, is it or is it not Pei Ziheng?¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t.¡± She said in a tearful voice.

    ¡°Then who is it?!¡± He suddenly lost his patience and shouted out. ¡°Ye Xingling, can you at least try harder if you are going to lie? Do you really take me as an idiot? The night before you were sleeping together... This afternoon both of you went shopping in a lingerie shop! Ye Xingling, if you want to go back to Pei Ziheng, then just say it! I¡¯ll let you go!¡±

    She looked at him incredulously.

    What was he saying? Let her go? Was Li Lei sick and tired of her? Had he fallen for Nangong Qingya? Was that why Nangong Qingya had said this afternoon that the lingerie she was buying was for Li Lei? Was Li Lei looking for an excuse to break it off entirely with her?

    Tears streamed down her face, and it was a while before she found her voice again. ¡°Back at you! If you don¡¯t want me anymore, just say it! You don¡¯t need to use me of doing something I did not!¡±

    Li Leiughed in his anger. ¡°I put in my all to love you, dote on you, and tolerate all your nonsense... Who would have thought that you would do something like that? And now you say that I¡¯m using you?!¡± A man like him could have any woman that he wanted. And yet he wanted her ¡ª a woman that had had a child with another man, a woman that could not ever be pregnant again. These were fine by him because he loved Xiao Ling, but she shouldn¡¯t crawl into someone else¡¯s bed!

    ¡°Is Pei Ziheng really that great?¡± He walked towards her. ¡°Such that you are so bewitched by him that you will throw away all reservation and principles?¡± He reached out and lifted her chin, and made to kiss her forcefully. He did not mean it when he said that he would let her go. All he wanted to do was to chain her up like Pei Ziheng did many years ago, and to iste her from the world. He wanted to bar her from seeing and listening to anybody else, and for her world to be only him.

    He felt like he sympathized with Pei Ziheng. People who fell in love with Xiao Ling were pitiful and would all lose their minds eventually.

    His lips pressed onto hers forcefully, and he forced his tongue through the barricade of her clenched teeth. She struggled and hit him, the terror and insult of his actions making her want to flee. She did not know where she found the strength to free herself as she stumbled upstairs.

    Li Lei followed closely behind.

    ¡°Don¡¯te over!¡± She ran into the bedroom and realized that there was nowhere else to go. In her fluster, she opened the window. ¡°If you take another step forward, I¡¯ll jump!¡± This bungalow was situated at a high vantage point for great views and lower humidity. The interiors were also designed with high ceilings, and this second-floor window was, in fact, as high as a typical third-floor one.

    Xia Ling nced down and felt a little giddy, but Li Lei seemed more terrifying. She moved closer to the windows subconsciously. ¡°I¡¯ll really jump!¡± She shouted through tears.

    Li Lei stopped in his tracks.

    Xiao Ling was childish and rash, and he was afraid that she would really jump down if pushed to the corner. Pain crept into his heart as he stared at her ¨C this woman that would rather jump down than to kiss him ¡ª like an invisible hand had dug his heart out and was crushing it.

    ¡°Come here.¡± He said in a deep voice while trying to keep his emotions in check.

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Her voice quivered, but she stayed where she was.

    Thest of the setting sun disappeared in the horizon, and there was an expanse of darkness behind her, making her look all the more vulnerable and weak. She was like a small animal that had climbed onto a tree and did not know how toe down. She was terrified but still alert and guarded towards others, ready to take the plunge down and end it all.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart hurt even more, though he didn¡¯t know why.

    ¡°If you don¡¯te over now,¡± He said slowly and clearly. ¡°don¡¯t think ofing over ever again.¡±

    This was the second time since entering the house that he had mentioned breaking up with her, he thought despondently. Maybe Pei Ziheng was her true love. Maybe he should let go and let her go find Pei Ziheng instead. He was not going to sit by and just let her make a cuckold of him!

    Xia Ling¡¯s tears fell with a vengeance, but her fingers hooked even tighter on the window sill and did not move.

    She did not dare go over to Li Lei as his expression was too terrifying. She could not fathom what she would have to face if she went over. In her reverie, the trauma of the time in her past life where she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng came back. In fact, when she was assaulted by him in the caravan she had felt the same terror return. It was as if she was not in control of herself anymore, and she was just a toy and ything to be stepped upon.

    She did not want to be like that ever again.

    Li Lei waited for a while. Seeing that she was not going to move, he slowly turned and started to walk away.

    It seemed that the heavens only allocated a short time for them to be together, and in this short time, they were apart more than they were together. Perhaps they truly were not destined for each other. She watched as his back disappeared out of the doorway and lowered her head, crying as she stared out of the window and saw him walking out of the yard, looking forlorn and lonely.

    Was this going to be goodbye forever?

    She would not be able to hug him as she wished, and would not whisper sweet nothings to each other. She would not be able to eat the delicious meals that he made, and would not...

    Her body crumpled towards the ground and she hugged her knees to herself as she curled into a ball on the floor. She cried for a long time.

    She hated herself. Why did she have the lonesome destiny of the Phoenix and would jinx the people around her? If this was not the case, perhaps she would be allowed to reveal her brother¡¯s identity. Would Li Lei not have blown his top then? She hated herself for not having the courage to go to Li Lei when he had asked her to. If she had gone over and tolerated his kisses and perhaps more, would the problems in their rtionship disappear?

    Why couldn¡¯t she just tolerate him a little more?

    She regretted not calling Li Lei back. But even if time were to go back, she would still not have the courage to go over and snuggle in his arms like before, wouldn¡¯t she?

    She was scared...

    She felt wronged and scared.

    Her teardrops fell onto the floor and a small puddle started to grow by her feet. She cried till her body felt fatigued. Suddenly, there was a sweetness in the air.

    This was a familiar sweet scent ¡ª the sweetness of candy.

 Chapter 579 - Big and Sweet

    <h4>Chapter 579: Big and Sweet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling lifted her head, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

    A huge, fluffy, and pink cotton candy materialized in front of her eyes, with Li Lei¡¯s handsome face behind it. It was slightly queer seeing this well-built man with muscles peeking through his shirt crouching down in the corner of the bedroom with a huge cloud of cotton candy in his hands.

    The bedroom was dark with the lights off, and moonlight shone through the window.

    She sniffled as she took in this scene in confusion. Hadn¡¯t she just been dumped?

    ¡°For you.¡± Li Lei said as he stuffed the cotton candy into her hand.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Her voice was a little nasal from just having stopped crying.

    ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to be together with Pei Ziheng.¡± He said. Li Lei had felt overwhelmed after their quarrel and was bent on breaking up. However, he regretted the moment he stepped out of the bungalow¡¯s main gate. What had he promised before? He had promised to never hurt Xiao Ling, even if she no longer loved him and chose to be with someone else. Yet, that person could not be Pei Ziheng. Pei Ziheng had imprisoned and tortured her. There was no way that he would let her go back to him.

    He had walked by a little stall selling cotton candy and had stared at the olddy tending the stall in a daze. The sweet scent of strawberry and white icing sugar mixed together wafted towards him, and he recalled that Xiao Ling loved to eat cotton candy, as well as the many wonderful memories they had together.

    ¡°Young man, buy one for your girlfriend.¡± The olddy had smiled and coaxed.

    However, Li Lei did not move.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Young man? Did you quarrel with your girlfriend?¡± The olddy asked.

    Li Lei replied with a bitter voice, ¡°We broke up.¡± He felt his heart break the moment he uttered these three words.

    The olddy stared at him intently before asking, ¡°Why did you break up? You look like you still love that girl. If you love her, go get her back. If you let her go, there¡¯s no turning back. You would have just done a favor for the next man.¡±

    This random piece of advice was like a knock on Li Lei¡¯s head. Yes, why was he doing a favor for the next man?

    He said, ¡°Granny, give me a stick of cotton candy. I want it to be very big and extremely sweet.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing.¡± The olddy smiled. ¡°That¡¯s the way.¡± She whipped up a big and sweet cloud of cotton candy for him to take back to the bungalow.

    Now, Li Lei watched as the fluffy cotton candy covered almost half of Xia Ling¡¯s face. Her nose stuck out from the top, a little bit of the pink candy on her nose.

    He reached over to wipe the candy off her nose. ¡°Did you hear me?¡±

    Xia Ling, who had buried her face in the cotton candy to take in the intoxicating scent, felt her happy mood sink down again, tears filling up her eyes again. She grabbed Li Lei¡¯s outstretched hand and bit down on it hard.

    Her bite was deep, and she could taste the fishiness of blood permeating her mouth.

    She didn¡¯t let go and continued to bite him.

    Li Lei felt the pain from the bite but did not retract his hand, letting her vent her anger. Actually, he was the one that wanted to bite someone. He wanted to throw this woman, who was having aplicated rtionship with the man next door, onto the bed and teach her a lesson, to show her who was Boss.

    He looked down at her fair side profile, his breathing bing deeper.

    She bit him for a long time before he felt her teeth rx a little. As expected, there was an additional row of teeth marks on the back of his hand. It was deep and likely to leave a scar.

    She was still crying. ¡°You¡¯re a bastard!¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. She was the one that had bit him. Why was he the bastard now?

    ¡°Why are you learning from the dogs?¡± He lifted her chin up so that she was looking at him, and used a finger to wipe away the remaining traces of blood from her lips. However, he didn¡¯t manage to clean it up, but instead, the blood mixed with the tears on her face.

    Li Lei thought to himself, <i>Would Pei Ziheng want her like this? I should just make her look dirtier and uglier, then she would perhaps forget about going over next door.</i>

    As such, he wiped his blood-covered finger over her face.

    She sniffled and said chokingly, ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep with Pei Ziheng! Why did you use me?¡± All her disappointment came rushing to the forefront of her mind. She remembered the feeling of being wronged and not having the trust of the man she loved in her past life, who did not believe her even after she denied so vehemently that she had killed Wang Jingwan.

    How could the man she loved question her character?

    Thus, she was angry and had to bite off a piece of him.

    However, Li Lei reacted with a confused expression. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep with him!¡± This time, she shouted at him while crying. ¡°Li Lei, you bastard! Bastard! Bastard!¡±

    He understood now why she had bitten him.

    He suddenly felt his mood lift as her words sunk in.

    But...¡±Wait, wait, didn¡¯t you admit to sleeping with him the other day?¡±

    ¡°I just said that in anger! Why did you believe me?¡± She was close to tears again. ¡°If you didn¡¯t treat me like that in the caravan, would I say something like that to spite you?! It¡¯s all your fault, all your fault!¡±

    Li Lei was overjoyed. So that was just her words in anger?

    He carefully probed. ¡°Then, what about that morning when he walked out of your bedroom in his pajamas? You were lying on your bed naked. What happened then?¡±

    Xia Ling stared nkly at him. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you are talking about.¡±

    Li Lei started to get flustered. ¡°It was that day when you were sick! You woke up and saw Pei Ziheng and me talking. Wasn¡¯t he in pajamas that day?¡± He had to admit that even though Pei Ziheng was getting older in years, he still kept in shape, such that Li Lei had the urge to kill him.

    Xia Ling was still confused. ¡°Was he in pajamas? I didn¡¯t notice.¡± She was so sick that her memory was blurry. How could she recall what Pei Ziheng was wearing? But...¡±Why did he wear pajamas to my house?!¡±

    They stared at each other and, suddenly, came to a realization together.

    Pei Ziheng, that scheming uncle!

    ¡°Xiao Ling, tell me what happened that day from the beginning.¡±

    Xia Ling collected her thoughts and recounted. ¡°The day before I sprained my ankle, he brought some medication over and then went home. The next day, I woke up and saw both of you quarreling. That¡¯s all I know.¡±

    Li Lei felt a headacheing on. Was he duped by Pei Ziheng? ¡°When I entered the bedroom, I saw you lying on the bed covered by the nkets. You seemed to not be wearing anything underneath.¡± That was why he had been so jealous he saw red.

    ¡°No...¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I was feeling terrible that day and didn¡¯t change out of my evening gown before going to bed. Oh right, that evening gown was an off-shoulder piece...¡± Maybe that was why she looked like she was not wearing anything?

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    So this was the truth.

    He felt the urge to give himself two tight ps. Why did he get into such a misunderstanding with Xiao Ling? If he had listened to her exin herself, maybe there wouldn¡¯t be all those things that happened after.

    He brought the cotton candy nearer to her lips. ¡°You¡¯ve had a tough time. Have some candy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating it.¡± She turned her head away from him and pouted.

 Chapter 580 - Five Million

    <h4>Chapter 580: Five Million</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She thought that Li Lei would try to persuade her to eat the candy.

    However, all he did was to have a mouthful of the cotton candy himself, saying, ¡°You¡¯re not eating? Then, I¡¯ll have it. Why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s up with the lingerie?¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. He was simply too much!

    Did he think he was listening to a nice story? And why did he steal her cotton candy?

    She grabbed the cotton candy from his hands and took a huge bite of it, saying in a muffled voice, ¡°Why should I tell you since you are stealing my candy?!¡± Then, she pouted again.

    Li Lei looked at the candy in her hands silently. He knew that Xia Ling liked her food and would be much happier and less guarded when she was eating. Hence, he carefully probed again. ¡°Tell me who you were with and I¡¯ll get you all the cotton candy that you want.¡± It was akin to a big bad wolf trying to trick a cute little bunny.

    Xia Ling was caught off-guard and replied, ¡°He¡¯s my...¡±

    She almost slipped up.

    However, she caught herself just before shepleted her sentence, swallowing the rest of the candy in her mouth. ¡°I can¡¯t reveal his identity.¡± Seeing that Li Lei¡¯s expression was turning dark, she hurriedly added. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to tell you, but I¡¯ve promised him to keep it a secret. He said that keeping it secret was for my own good.¡±

    ¡°For your own good?¡± Li Lei¡¯s tone was suspicious. It looked like Xiao Ling was close to this man in question and she trusted him.

    Since when did such a man appear in her life? Why was hepletely unaware?

    Xia Ling felt a little sheepish and curled herself into a ball. ¡°Erm... I actually don¡¯t understand what he means... How about... I¡¯ll ask him if I can tell you the next time we meet?¡±

    ¡°The next time you meet him?¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression became darker. Was there any end to this? ¡°He gave you lingerie this time... What will be his motive the next time you meet?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really not what you are thinking...¡± Xia Ling was helpless as she didn¡¯t know how to exin the situation. ¡°The person I met at the lingerie shop was Nangong Qingya... and I only bought so much lingerie to spite her. That guy was just helping me pay.¡±

    This exnation did nothing to clear the air.

    Li Lei was contemting if he should re up at her. How could she allow any random man to buy her these kinds of stuff? Yet, he rationalized that it was useless losing his temper. What could he do to Xiao Ling? Were they going to have another quarrel and then he would have to buy her another stick of cotton candy?

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure that money is sent to your ount every month.¡± This was the only solution that Li Lei could think of. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to use money from any other man!¡±

    ¡°But... I have money...¡± Xia Ling responded meekly.

    ¡°The little money you have isn¡¯t enough for anything!¡± Li Lei shouted out in exasperation. Why did she reject him every time he offered to give her money? He needed to make sure that she became more spendthrift and to have the habit of getting money from him, for him to have a lever to tie her down.

    Li Lei was uneasy. Why did she have no interest in material wants at all?

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling hesitated, thinking if she should tell him about the ten billion yuan that she had in her bank ount.

    ¡°It¡¯s settled, then!¡± Li Lei didn¡¯t give her a chance to exin or reject him. ¡°Every month I¡¯ll send you five million yuan. You can buy anything you so wish. If it¡¯s not enough, you can get more from me. In any case, you are forbidden from using money from any other man!¡±

    Xia Ling swallowed back what she was about to tell Li Lei.

    This was mainly because she was struggling to calcte how many months Li Lei would have to give her five million to make up the equivalent of ten billion yuan. She knew that men tended to be highly prideful when it came to money, and she felt that revealing her wealth would only agitate Li Lei further.

    She didn¡¯t like to use his money, as her experience with Pei Ziheng in her past life had left her with deep trauma. She felt that if she relied too much on someone marily, she would be unable to break free from that person. The ten billion yuan given to her by Xia Moyan was different. That was money from her parents and brother.

    She decided that she would save all the money that Li Lei gave to her. After all, the ten billion that her brother gave her was enough for her to spend on anything she wanted forever. She would just let Li Lei think that she was spending his money.

    ¡°Oh... alright...¡± She replied reluctantly.

    Li Lei was still unhappy. ¡°Why are you looking so forlorn even when I¡¯m giving you money?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m finding it so tough to have any motivation to be the top Diva in the entertainment circle.¡± She mumbled. She didn¡¯t even make half as much when she held a concert, why work at all?

    Li Leiughed. ¡°I can afford to provide for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh no.¡± Xia Ling was not one to back down. ¡°I¡¯ll provide for you.¡±

    She had ten billion now, more than enough to provide for the daily expenses of two people.

    Li Lei thought that she was joking. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you to earn big bucks.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t exin and instead changed the topic. ¡°I¡¯m holding a concert next week. Remember toe to watch and support me.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I will.¡± Li Lei was already informed of her concert times. He had, in fact, gotten into a spat with his grandfather over this. His grandfather had chosen that very day to ask him to apany him to the Nangong Family, but he had declined vehemently. He said, ¡°Grandfather, I¡¯ve already agreed to meet thedies in the ceremony. You need to give Xiao Ling and me some personal space. If you force a rabbit to a corner, it will bite. If you push too far, I¡¯ll never see Nangong Qingya again.¡±

    Old Master Li was furious but could not do anything to change Li Lei¡¯s mind.

    They were both pushing each other¡¯s limits on this matter of marriage, constantly at loggerheads. This time, Old Master Li relented.

    He dered that he was going to drive Xia Ling out of Skyart.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Grandfather, are you going to meddle in my businesses?¡± There were two types of businesses that he managed ¡ª the business lines he inherited from the family overseas, as well as the business he built for himself locally. The Li Family had an unwritten rule ¡ª if someone built their own business, that business was undoubtedly theirs to keep. No one, be it a senior in the family or the head of the family, could meddle in them.

    Old Master Li could only take back his words.

    Li Lei passed him a concert ticket. ¡°Here¡¯s a ticket for the VIP suite, Grandfather. Xiao Ling is really something else. You shoulde to listen if you¡¯re free.¡±

    Old Master Li was so angry he almost hit Li Lei. ¡°I¡¯m not going!¡±

    Li Lei ced the ticket on the table and left.

    Now, he told Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, you need to perform well that day. Grandfather wille to watch you.¡±

    Xia Ling responded in shock. ¡°The Old Master? Doesn¡¯t he hate me?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°He¡¯s a little fierce, but he¡¯s a nice person. Even though he has some preconceived notions about you, he doesn¡¯t hate you. He¡¯s even prepared to support you ande watch your concert.¡±

    Was this truly the reason?

    No, Li Lei just knew his grandfather too well. Grandfather knew that Li Lei would definitely go for the concert, and to prevent him from beingpletely taken by Xia Ling¡¯s performance, he would likely appear to keep a close eye on Li Lei. What¡¯s more, Old Master Li was also keen on knowing more about Xia Ling and understand how she managed to win the heart of his beloved grandson.

    He would definitely go to learn more about the enemy.

    However, Li Lei was confident in Xiao Ling¡¯s aura on stage. Everyone that watched her live would fall in love with her, and her presence on stage was iparable.

    Grandfather would have a change of heart.

 Chapter 581 - Huayang Street

    <h4>Chapter 581: Huayang Street</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The concert was going to be held at thergest stadium in the city.

    It was in the central business district, where the skyscrapers stood tall, and the beautiful city lights were like stars in the sky.

    Security barricades had long been set up near the stadium. In fact, several of the main streets in the CBD had been closed off. This was a feat that was notmonly seen for artistes.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Fans were waiting in excitement outside the security barricades. ¡°Crystal, look! They are closing the streets off from here! I remember that they didn¡¯t do that when the popr boy group sfy was here!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± The girl called Crystal responded, her face flushing red in excitement. ¡°If you want to see how popr an artiste is, you just need to see where they start closing off the roads! Every additional inch is additional money spent! Closing off a hundred meters is already God-like. Our Xiao Ling has closed off close to a kilometer!¡±

    ¡°Who was thest person that closed off a kilometer?! Quick, check!¡±

    ¡°Do we need to check that? Other than Xiao Ling, thest person that closed off a kilometer was Xia Ling! The Diva Xia Ling!¡± The two girls became even more excited. They were proud of their idol. The Diva Xia Ling had only managed to get a kilometer of roads closed off for her 10-year anniversary concert. And Xiao Ling? She had aplished this feat at her very first concert.

    The two girls were dancing around in joy, and they couldn¡¯t wait to spread the good news to the other waiting fans.

    Unexpectedly, another fan responded in disdain. ¡°You¡¯ve got it wrong! The Diva Xia Ling did manage to close off a kilometer of road, but she closed off the road leading to Clear Water Road. Ye Xingling has closed off the road leading to Huayang Street! That¡¯s one street more than Clear Water Road!¡±

    ¡°Oh my...¡± Crystal¡¯s eyes were opened wide. ¡°In other words, Xiao Ling has managed to close off a longer stretch of road than the Diva Xia Ling?!¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± That fan proudly announced. She was Ye Xingling¡¯s die-hard fan, and she felt a great sense of satisfaction from seeing her idol gain so much recognition.

    After a moment of silence, there was a new round of screams. It was not longter that all the other fans were informed of the record that Xiao Ling had set. Many hugged those around them in joy, regardless of whether they were previously acquainted.

    Xia Ling had not arrived and the atmosphere already was lit.

    A red carpet was spread on the wide street for the kilometer that was closed off. It was grand and eye-catching. A low-key, antique car drove near to the Huayang Street entrance and was stopped by the security guards.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this street is closed off. Please make a detour.¡± The security guard instructed the driver.

    The driver showed him a temporary ess pass.

    The guard bowed and let him through.

    In the back seat of the car with bulletproof windscreen sat Old Master Li in a ck traditional outfit, his face solemn. Su Tang apanied to his right in a white qipao with red plum flower prints. On his other side was an old butler that had been working for him for many years. Looking at the scene outside the car windows, the Old Mastermented unhappily. ¡°This brat! Creating such a huge spectacle for a mere singer. Doesn¡¯t he know that a big tree would attract the wind?¡±

    Su Tang did not say anything but clenched her fists such that her sharp fingernails pricked into her palms.

    The old butler was consoling the Old Master. ¡°Young Master Lei had always been one to act with reason. Maybe he isn¡¯t making this such a big thing solely for Miss Ye, but also because Miss Ye is a singer from Skyart Entertainment. Raising her profile would also mean raising Skyart¡¯s profile.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, you don¡¯t have to console me. Do you think I don¡¯t know my grandson?¡± The Old Master said in a cold voice.

    The old butler did not say anything further andined silently. <i>Young Master, Young Master, why did you ask your grandfather to attend this concert out of the blue? Don¡¯t you know how upset the Old Master will be?</i>

    The Old Master seethed in silence for a while, before asking, ¡°Where¡¯s that brat?¡±

    The old butler wiped the sweat that was forming on his brows, not daring to respond. Did he need to ask? Young Master Lei was most probably apanying Miss Ye. As expected, he heard Su Tang reply in her chic voice, ¡°The dusk ck tailored suit that the Young Master favors disappeared from his room, and he¡¯s borrowed the kitchen from Nanny Qian. I heard that he was baking a hazelnut cake in secret.¡±

    The Old Master understood her immediately. ¡°What?! A man cooking for a girl! How demeaning!¡±

    The butler was speechless. Old Master, who was the one who happily hired the world¡¯s best chefs to teach Young Master Lei when he asked to learn cooking?

    The butler knew that the Old Master was unhappy that his beloved grandson, the grandson that he invested so much time and effort to teach, was chasing after a random woman.

    Ever since returning from overseas, the Old Master had put up with inconveniences to keep Young Master Lei under tight scrutiny. For instance, he had taken up amodation in the Young Master¡¯s small apartment. Yet, while Young Master Lei did not use his own kitchen to cook for Miss Ye, he still went downstairs to borrow the kitchen of his subordinate to perform the task.

    The butler gave a bitter smile. This grandfather-grandson pair was two peas in a pod, both equally stubborn. How long was this tug-of-war going to go on for?

    Oblivious of the Old Master¡¯s bad mood, Li Lei and Xia Ling were enjoying alone time in the Porsche.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I baked some delicious cake for you.¡± Li Lei carefully took out the hazelnut cake that he had painstakingly prepared. The cake was cut into neat squares and ced in a beautiful paper box. Every piece was only as big as a square candy, easy to eat in one bite.

    ¡°Why did you cut it so small?¡± She asked as the fragrance of the cake wafted towards her.

    ¡°Then, it won¡¯t destroy your makeup.¡± Li Lei smilingly replied.

    Xia Ling felt a warmth enter her heart. He was so considerate that she did not know what to do. What if she fell too much into his sweetness and couldn¡¯t free herself?

    He picked up a small piece and fed it to her. ¡°Is it nice?¡±

    ¡°Delicious.¡± Xia Ling felt that Li Lei¡¯s cooking was the best in the world.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get the staff to bring the rest backstage. You can eat a few pieces if you¡¯re hungryter on. Holding a concert is tough work.¡± He fussed over her.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got it.¡± She replied obediently and reached out her fair fingers for another piece.

    He gave a satisfied smile.

    The Porsche drove slowly towards the long, winding red carpet and stopped in front of it. There were countless fans waiting outside the security barricade on both sides of the red carpet, as well as many reporters with zoom cameras in hand.

    The camera shes flickered without stopping.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now. Take care when you are walking down the red carpet. I¡¯ll see you tonight.¡±

    ¡°See you tonight.¡± She nced out of the car window and realized that this was the entrance of Huayang Street. She thought to herself in mild irritation: <i>Li Lei, why are youpeting with Pei Ziheng? </i>In her past life, Pei Ziheng had closed off the roads all the way to Clear Water Street, so Li Lei was now closing it off to Huayang Street? Didn¡¯t they think that the one who would suffer was she? She had to walk the whole stretch in her stilettos...

    Even though she wasining silently, she still felt a warm and fuzzy feeling in her heart.

    The sharply dressed security guard opened her car door, and she elegantly stepped off.

    There was a frenzy of camera shes and screams as if it were going to overturn the entire night sky.

 Chapter 582 - How Should She Walk The Red Carpet This Time

    <h4>Chapter 582: How Should She Walk The Red Carpet This Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was a superstar for two lives and knew how to carry herself in front of the cameras. Her every move had the aura of a Diva. Seeing her in action tended to make people forget that she wasn¡¯t the prettiest in the industry. The charm that she exuded and the electrifying gaze that she gave made people hold their breaths and bask in her presence.

    Anywhere that she went was her showground.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! I love you!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling! I love you!¡±

    Her fans started to shout loudly in unison.

    She kept a smile on her face and naturally turned to address fans in all directions. As her gaze swept across the crowds, everyone felt like she was addressing them directly.

    A new round of screams rang out like a tsunami.

    ¡°I brought the kids here to see Ye Xingling live.¡± There weren¡¯t only fans and reporters present, but also training camp mentors. The mentor thatmented continued, ¡°Her stage presence is the best out of all the female stars in recent years. Letting the kids see how she carries herself live is more effective than teaching this a hundred times in ss.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The other mentor added. ¡°If these kids can just learn a fraction of what Ye Xingling has, I¡¯ll be satisfied.¡±

    ¡°Look over there. Tan Ying has arrived as well.¡±

    Tan Ying was standing amidst the crowd a distance away with the boys and girls from the Skyart training camp. As he watched Xia Linge down the red carpet, he was also lecturing the trainees standing around him.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t General Manager Tan appointed to be Boss Li¡¯s special assistant?¡± Gossip tended to travel fast in this circle. ¡°Why does he still have to bring these kids here personally?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Today is Ye Xingling¡¯s first concert, Boss Li would definitelye to attend! Tan Ying has two roles today: one, to bring the kids around, and two, to address any concerns that his Boss has.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Everyone around reacted in realization.

    Someone else piped up. ¡°So is Ye Xingling and Boss Li dating now?¡± The ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony that was held recently was not public news, and few outside the wealthy circles knew about it. They all merely thought that it was a charity dinner.

    ¡°They should be dating, right?¡± Another person responded in an uncertain tone.

    ¡°Who knows... it¡¯s really messy in this circle anyway. It¡¯s normal to see them get together and break up quickly.¡±

    ¡°If I can get together with a stud like Boss Li, I wouldn¡¯t care even if I get dumped in a few months!¡± Someone joked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see that Ye Xingling¡¯s jewelry has all be rose diamonds?¡±

    If Xia Ling were to hear their discussions, she would have cried from frustration. Those rose diamonds weren¡¯t given to her by Li Lei. She had bought them when she went out shopping with her brother.

    Boohoohoo, why didn¡¯t anyone believe that she was beautiful, fair and rich even without Li Lei?

    Under the spotlight, Xia Ling switched up her poses for the cameras, allowing the reporters to pick and choose the best angles. Reporters loved it when artistes were so cooperative like her, as they could snap good photos even without trying too hard, making their work much easier.

    Their favorable feelings towards Xia Ling rose a notch immediately.

    With her photos taken, she started to walk quicker down the red carpet. She recalled the pain she felt in her legs after having to walk down such a long stretch and was mildly put out for having to suffer through an even longer distance this time.

    She tried to cheer herself up and, suddenly, saw a carriage slowlying down the road in the distance.

    That carriage was being pulled along by four handsome snow-white stallions. They all looked like pure-breeds, with shiny ck eyes and well-proportioned, muscr limbs. The mane on the horses¡¯ backs was long and silky, and they looked elegant and arrogant. The carriage that they were pulling was decorated excessively with white roses and tulips, as well as dozens of ss bottles filled with fireflies. It looked as if it hade straight out of a fairytale.

    The carriage stopped in front of Xia Ling.

    The driver, decked in a clean, white uniform, walked down from the driver¡¯s seat and gave a deep bow. His clear voice was transmitted to everyone in the area through a mini microphone that was clipped on. ¡°The beautiful and respectful Miss Ye Xingling, would you honor me by taking this carriage that was prepared just for you?¡±

    The cheers all around permeated the night sky.

    Oh my God, it was a real carriage! Such beautiful horses! They were alive!

    For normal people, seeing such a fine-looking horse up close was a first. The only ess they had to horses typically was the horse riding clubs¡¯ half-hour experiential ride in the park. The only horses they would see or touch were mixed-blood and less premium horses that were old, sickly, weak or dirty.

    To see horses this tall and fancy was a first and likely only chance for many of them.

    ¡°Quick, look it up! What horses are these?¡± One of the excited fans started to take photos of the horses and post the picture online, waiting for more well-informedizens to respond.

    A reporter was standing next to her.

    The reporter had received the memos from the organizing team, and seeing how excited this fan girl was, he couldn¡¯t resist telling her. ¡°They are pure-bred Arabian horses that have been raised together with ceremonial horses since they were young. They are a rare sight.¡±

    ¡°Wow, amazing!¡± Even though she had no idea what Arabian horses were, the mere sound of the word ¡°pure-bred¡± made the young fan even more excited. Their Xiao Ling was outstanding, and even the horses pulling her carriage had to be the best.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling, we love you!¡± The concert hadn¡¯t started yet, and many of her fans had already shouted till they were hoarse.

    A sweet smile spread on Xia Ling¡¯s face. So Li Lei had considered that it would be painful for her to have to walk the full kilometer and had prepared this beautiful carriage for her.

    He remembered that she loved horses.

    Her mind subconsciously went to Valiant Song, who was still being reared in the Nanshan Riding Club. She hadn¡¯t seen her in two years. Since her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was now more harmonious, perhaps she would discuss buying Valiant Song back from him after the concert.

    This thought shed across her mind.

    She elegantly and confidently boarded the carriage.

    She held onto the side of the carriage, the white roses and tulips enveloping her, and the fireflies dancing in the bottles around her. She looked like a princess out of the scene in a dream, so beautiful that she looked unreal.

    In the VIP suite, Old Master Li and his team had already settled in and were watching the live stream on the big screen.

    Seeing Xia Ling¡¯s smile in the screen, Su Tang felt a sharp pain in her heart. That woman was given the chance to shine in such a grand and luxurious setting under the care of the perfect and handsome Li Lei, receiving all the flowers and cheers. This was all just because she was an artiste.

    And she, Su Tang, was a mere assistant.

    She knew that the Young Master would never prepare such an event for her.

    Xia Ling had a concert. Nangong Qingya had a charity dinner.

    And she, Su Tang, what did she have?

    She was not satisfied!

 Chapter 583 - Her Voice Ruled the World

    <h4>Chapter 583: Her Voice Ruled the World</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang watched the white horse pull the smiling girl on the carriage, her expression cold and unchanging.

    She had always known that Ye Xingling was a big shot, so when she organized the ceremony she had falsely sent an invitation to her home.

    She wanted to help in removing the thorn from their flesh.

    Who knew, Nangong Qingya barely made an impact. She had only served to slightly disrupt the rtionship between Young Master and Ye Xingling, and they had patched up quickly thereafter.

    She still had to think of other methods.

    Unmovingly, she had to think of a new way.

    The red carpet event had ended, and Xia Ling was being escorted by two flower children off the carriage and backstage. The fans were still making their way into the venue, and soon enough, it grew more and more full.

    Dreamy music filled the venue as the host took the stage.

    It was bustling.

    Xia Ling had changed into a sparkly singlet ¡ª she rarely ever dressed this hot and sharp ¡ª and the cheering grew louder. She stood on the stage, and the light shone on her like the moon.

    She heard the cheering from all directions, and the lightsticks fluttered on in the darkness.

    It was a chaotic, fleeting moment that hardly felt real.

    In herst life, this very venue had seen her celebrate her tenth debut anniversary.

    But it had been a bit different. That day, the crowd had been evenrger, more magnificent, the roof open and the stage hung high above. The walls on the side had also been taken down to amodate more people. That was how powerful she had been then, at her peak, her most beautiful, flowing moment, and someone had stabbed her and pushed her off the stage.

    She subconsciously peeked behind her.

    Backstage was dark, and there was nothing there.

    That day, who had killed her? Till now, she had no answer.

    Downstage, the neverending cheering brought her back to the present. She was ready now: one arm outstretched, chin slightly pointed up, stage persona on.

    The fireworks came on.

    Dry ice, fog.

    Rainbows of a thousand colors.

    Followed her single gesture.

    She had hit a high note, a note so high that shocked even herself. She was in good form and felt as if her life was slowlying together,ing back through her music.

    This stage was where her previous life ended, and where her new one was going to begin.

    Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

    ¡°Gosh, Ye Xingling¡¯s condition today is top quality,¡± a music criticmented to the colleague beside him. ¡°You hear those starting notes? They¡¯re so much higher than normal, I thought she had identally started off too high because of her nerves, but no, neither did she grow anxious, nor did she try to pull the one lower. She just went with it! And it sounds better than usual!¡±

    If she had started off too high, the entire song would have to be adjusted even higher. For instance, if the original song had been meant for a mezzo-soprano, it would have be suitable for a soprano instead, and for a singer, this spelled a big challenge.

    ¡°This is beyond science,¡± the other critic replied in awe. In the industry, she had not be famous due to her pitch, but because of her sheer expressiveness that lured listeners in... Typically, this brand of singer hardly had arge repertoire, but did you hear that high note? That was more captivating than her usual tone, just like...

    ¡°Just like a falsetto!¡±

    The critics stared at each other in awe. Falsetto was an extremely rare talent, and it was difficult to train. In the world, the few singers who possessed this skill were few, and in the entire Asian sphere, after Xia Ling had passed, no one else could rece her.

    And today, Ye Xingling¡¯s falsetto...

    It was difficult to tell if it were actually a falsetto or a pharyngeal voice!

    ¡°She must¡¯ve practiced hard to get her voice to do that,¡± the critic began again. A pharyngeal voice was a skill that some singers used when they couldn¡¯t attain a falsetto. However, a pharyngeal voice was inferior to a falsetto in terms of quality and depth, and few could use the former to reproduce thetter.

    His partner nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. Tonight, I better put out a goodment.¡±

    ¡°I think we better listen till the end, one song doesn¡¯t mean anything, we have to see if this quality persists. Furthermore, I¡¯m worried that doing this might be bad for her throat. What if she can barely finish a concert because she¡¯s already lost her voice?¡±

    ¡°That would be a waste? It decreases their shelf life! Who would be that silly?¡±

    ¡°Who knows, everyone wants to make it big. I mean, what¡¯s the big deal? You can just not do big concerts next time.¡±

    They looked at each other, worry evident in their eyes. They hoped that this time, they weren¡¯t watching another star work herself to nothing.

    On stage, Xia Ling kept the music going.

    What the critics had feared hardly came to be, but rather, the concert merely got better and better.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know what had gotten into her either, as if a new burst of energy had been injected into her veins and pushed her to sing better and better. She had guessed that this might be because Master Li was in attendance ¡ª Li Lei had pre-empted her on this, that he was sitting in a second-floor box right opposite the stage ¡ª and she had to do her very best to show him that she belonged here, that she was talented...

    That she was good enough for Li Lei.

    Li Lei was sitting downstage too, first row VIP.

    His clear, warm eyes were on her, pride glowing.

    The fifth song hade and gone.

    ¡°I¡¯m so happy to be standing here. Someone very important to me is also here to see me, and I hope that I have not disappointed him.¡± She was looking at the front row as she said this.

    ¡°How could I ever be disappointed in you.¡± Li Lei mumbled, grinning.

    Downstage, the cheers and screams were growing, sounds of ¡°Who?!¡±¡±Who?!¡± flooded her ears. But she merely stayed there, on stage, smiling, as the sixth song, <Wings of Stars> started.

    ¡°On the wings of stars, flying with my beloved...¡±

    Her voice rang in the stadium, echoing.

    Someone was on stage to give her flowers.

    A handsome young man, in a suit of white silver, a gigantic bouquet of scarlet red roses in hand.

    Xia Ling looked at his roses and smiled, slightly lost, but said nothing as she took them from him. She recognized him ¡ª Wang Tao, from the charity event, from the Wang Family.

    That night he had sent her home, and she had agreed to give him VIP tickets to her concert. It had happened, then.

    Unfortunately, this boy had really wanted this to be unforgettable. Gifting flowers were one thing, but roses?

    Li Lei was still downstage.

    The screams continued to grow. The fans had thought the ¡°important person¡± was this man.

    Li Lei¡¯s face grew darker.

 Chapter 584 - The Rosesâ€™ Embrace

    <h4>Chapter 584: The Roses¡¯ Embrace</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling held the roses in her arm and thanked Wang Tao smilingly.

    Her sweet voice was amplified by the microphone and echoed through the speakers, swooning the rest of them.

    Besides Li Lei, Old Master Li¡¯s face darkened as well. He did not like this female celebrity, but her grandson did, how could she have such an ambiguous rtionship with someone else in public? ¡°What a wanton woman!¡± Old Master Li was enraged.

    Su Tang was secretly happy as she gently coaxed the Old Master. ¡°This is just as well. When Young Master sees her for the person she truly is, he¡¯ll give up on her.¡±

    Old Master was not convinced and was still angry. ¡°I think Li Lei ispletely obsessed with her! That woman is a divorcee and had a kid before, and he still wants someone like her?!¡±

    Su Tang had no words. Indeed, there was no way to stop Young Master from loving Ye Xingling, and this love was something she was envious of.

    Old Master Li raised his voice. ¡°I got you to keep a lookout for him when he first returned from abroad but did you? What have you done? Su Tang, I gave you the chance to be the Li family¡¯s daughter-inw, but you did not seize it!¡±

    Su Tang bit her lip, did she not want to marry Young Master? Much as she hoped for his love, Young Master fell for another woman, and she had no say in this. She had tried all means and ways, even getting Old Master to step in, and yet all she got was his scolding?

    Old Master Li even said, ¡°Even a divorced in Jane could capture his heart, why couldn¡¯t you? Have you spent all your years by Li Lei¡¯s side in vain?¡±

    Su Tang looked down as the words stabbed her heart.

    She had some regrets now, was getting Old Master to return from overseas a mistake? Old Master arranged for a match-making banquet for Young Master the moment he returned, which lowered her chances further. She felt aggrieved ¡ª all the years she had served Young Master hade to nothing, nobody valued or appreciated her! It seemed like Old Master wasn¡¯t on her side... she had to handle this on her own.

    She gently said to Old Master, ¡°I¡¯ve realized my mistake. I¡¯ll try my best to win Young Master over.¡±

    Only then did Old Master Li calm down. The Li family did not need more money or power, all Old Master Li hoped for was that Li Lei could take Su Tang as his wife. Su Tang had been by his side since he was young, and had stayed loyal to him throughout. Moreover, she was intelligent and sensible, a perfect match for Li Lei.

    He was being fierce to Su Tang only because she was his favorite.

    He had expectations for her.

    Unlike the seemingly innocent girl onstage ¡ª he heard that she was arrogant and proud, but also a little foolish and simple-minded. There was no way she was a good fit for Li Lei.

    Onstage, Xia Ling held the roses and continued singing. She had sung several songs but did not feel fatigued at all. In fact, her voice was getting even better and more powerful, even more alluring than before. In the light, she was all the more beautiful.

    Li Lei held an even bigger bouquet of red roses and walked towards her.

    Xia Ling waspletely immersed in the song initially, but almost forgot her lines when she saw him approaching.

    What was this supposed to mean, Boss? Her heart was pounding so quickly...

    As it turned out, she did forget the lyrics. She stood onstage, stunned, as he walked closer toward her. He, in his midnight-dark suit, could make any girl scream in awe of his elegance. With arge bouquet of roses in his arm, the scene felt like a perfect fantasy.

    The lighting crew dimmed the lights and only shone two spotlights on both of them.

    Some of the fans made out who the man was and began screaming. ¡°Li Lei! Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°Oh my, that¡¯s Skyart¡¯s big boss Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s giving Ye Xingling flowers!¡±

    ¡°Is there really something going on between them?!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling mentioned just now that there was a very important person present today. Could she be referring to Big Boss Li?!¡±

    The fans were excited. ¡°Li Lei, Li Lei!¡±¡±Ye Xingling, Ye Xingling!¡± The chants went on.

    Xia Ling bent over slightly and ced Wang Tao¡¯s flowers on the ground. She took a step forward and received therge bouquet from Li Lei. The scent was amazing.

    With that, Li Lei did not leave the stage. He went forward and gave her a hug.

    Xia Ling found it slightly amusing. This man not only got her an even bigger bouquet of roses than Wang Tao did, he even went the extra mile to hug her. Was this all to show off to Wang Tao?

    As he held her in an embrace, she whispered, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t ept flowers from others.¡± He said firmly but quietly, so nobody else heard it but her.

    She smiled. ¡°Alright.¡±

    He went even further. ¡°Turn this way a little, let the fans have a good shot of us.¡±

    Xia Ling shifted slightly to angle herself towards the camera, as she remained in his arms. Being in a sleeveless, figure-hugging outfit and enveloped by him in his suit made her appear all the more petite. Their height difference was perfect as well, and they looked like a couple straight out of beautiful paintings.

    She felt warm and fuzzy on the inside.

    Now that Old Master Li disapproved of their rtionship and forced Li Lei to go on matchmaking sessions, he couldn¡¯t publicly announce that she was his girlfriend. Yet, his ambiguous and suggestive actions every once in a while were enough to drive the fans crazy.

    The cheers began as such: ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡±¡±Li Lei! Li Lei!¡±

    Over time, the roaring chants changed. ¡°Ye Xingling! Li Lei!¡±¡±Li Lei! Ye Xingling!¡±¡±Get together! Get together!¡±¡±Be happy! Be happy!¡±

    He was satisfied with how it had turned out and was finally willing to let go of her. He left the stage.

    Xia Ling held the microphone up, and her voice was even sweeter than before. ¡°If you love me, you will not forget me. If you love me, you¡¯ll remember the rose in your heart...¡±

    The romance hyped up the night.

    The concert ended on a high note with a lot of excitement as fans screamed their lungs out. During the encore, Xia Ling sang another two songs, but it still wasn¡¯t enough. With the passionate cheers from the audience, Xia Ling added onest song at thest minute before ending her show.

    The exhration had not subsided by the time the curtains closed, and the fans who were making their way out could not stop discussing the exciting performance.

 Chapter 585 - Stupid Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 585: Stupid Phoenix</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They did not know of any professional advice, and said, ¡°Ye Xingling is really great at singing, and sings live better than many of the artistes we¡¯ve heard. We can¡¯t say for sure what makes it different, but it was really easy to gain the feels for it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We will definitelye again if she has another performance.¡±

    ¡°Did you see that little satin vest she wore today? Her figure is really good.¡±

    ¡°That fairy dress she changed into halfway through was really pretty too.¡±

    ¡°I managed to take many photographs when Li Lei presented those flowers, I¡¯ll post them out to my social circleter. They look really good together.¡±

    ...

    All the different conversations were all focused onplimenting the concert. Even the red carpet and carpet at the entrance were swarmed with fans, all chanting ¡°My Xiao Ling¡¯s the best!¡±

    This was a very sessful first show.

    Backstage.

    Xia Ling¡¯s dressing table was being engulfed by flowers. Besides the gifts and flowers given by her fans, she also received some from many within her circle of friends; such as Wei Shaoyin, Feng Kun, Bai Murong and Luo Luo. They were all present tonight, seated at the isted VIP table as they watched the entire concert from start to end.

    After it ended, they didn¡¯te backstage to bring about interference, but each of them sent gifts.

    [This first show was very sessful, congrattions.] The formal, asion-appropriate flower basket was from Feng Kun.

    [Not bad.] A bunch of white irises came from the prideful, sharp-tongued Wei Shaoyin.

    [Xiao Ling, you¡¯re going to be a Diva at her peak.] The pink holiday cacti came along with a card on which a huge heart was drawn, and was inscribed with the names of Luo Luo and Bai Murong.

    [That was not bad, I concede to the best.] This was from Lu Tao.

    ...

    And many, many more.

    Xia Ling, with her make-up still on and her hair half-up, leaned by the side of the table as she sifted through all the cards. The corners of her mouth tilted upwards to reveal her slight amusement. As she went through each gift, she came upon a bouquet of red roses.

    This one was evenrger than the ones gifted to her by Wang Tao and Li Lei, and way more extravagant. A ck card of good texturey in the middle of the bouquet, on which a golden butterfly in mid-flight was drawn on using a familiar drawing style.

    There was no inscription, nor a message left behind.

    And yet, Xia Ling knew who it was from.

    Pei Ziheng... Did hee to watch her concert too?

    She felt conflicted. She had already let go of him, but he still came back expressing his love for her. If this continued on, she wouldn¡¯t know what to do if he advanced further and further. The concert¡¯s sess had made her feel so happy as if she were soaring, but now those feelings sunk to the ground.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    Xia Ling ced the card and flowers back onto the table, calling out, ¡± Come in.¡±

    A man with icy, dull eyes dressed in a white shirt entered.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up, as she bounded over to wrap him up in a big hug. ¡°Brother.¡±

    Xia Moyan used his slender fingers to smooth out some of her unkempt hair.

    ¡°Are you tired?¡± he asked her.

    She shook her head. ¡°Brother, why have youe?¡±

    ¡°Something urgent has cropped up. I¡¯m leaving this city tonight, and havee to say goodbye.¡± Xia Moyan replied.

    Xia Ling blinked, startled. She never expected her brother to leave so suddenly, and this made her heart sink even lower. ¡°When will you be back?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but it could stretch to a few months or even half a year.¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t bear for him to leave. Ever since she shed Xia Yu, she had no blood rtive by her side. Now she found a brother, but their time together was short-lived. However, she knew that her brother had his own things to settle, and couldn¡¯t always be by her side. She could only unwillingly say, ¡°I will miss you.¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded and left her a phone number. ¡°Call me if anythinges up. But don¡¯t call often, you¡¯re independent. You can¡¯t be contacting rtives all the time, and have to only use the phone when necessary, understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling replied.

    She suddenly thought about it, and asked him, ¡°Can I reveal your identity to Li Lei? Thest time we kept hanging out together, he seems to have misunderstood. I don¡¯t want him feeling upset over it.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes zed with fury. ¡°That blockhead?¡± He recently felt very dissatisfied with Li Lei, and immediately resorted to calling him a blockhead. ¡°Whoever makes you upset has to pay the price. Let that blockhead suffer inside, and it shall serve as a test and an experience.¡±

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling panicked and whined.

    She didn¡¯t want any misunderstandings with Li Lei again. They had gone through so many obstacles, and it wasn¡¯t easy for them to finally end up back together. Why rile something up out of nothing?

    Xia Moyan lowered his head to stare at her. ¡°This world doesn¡¯t only have him as a blockhead. I can find a better one for you.¡±

    ¡°I want him!¡± Xia Ling became even more riled up.

    Xia Moyan sighed, what an extroverted female. However, he wouldn¡¯t be satisfied if he didn¡¯t make Li Lei suffer a little. His own sister, whom he would do anything for, how could she let a man like that bring her such pain and tears? After a moment in deep thought, he said, ¡°You can tell him of the nature of our rtionship, but only if he does one thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Xia Ling asked in joy.

    ¡°Me leaving this time was a little too hasty, and I didn¡¯t have time to head to the South Pce to help you demand that 30 billion dors worth ofpensation money. I initially intended to head back home to arrange for someone to settle this for me, but looking at this now, I shall let your man do it.¡±

    ¡°Brother, you¡¯re saying you want Li Lei to go to the Nangong family to help me im that 30 billion dors?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan was calm.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling felt anxious again. ¡°His grandfather is in the midst of forcing him to coborate with the Nangong family. If he goes there to demand the money, he will cause his grandfather much upsetness, this won¡¯t do.¡± She felt distressed.

    Xia Moyan was still calm. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t do it, he will cause me to be upset.¡±

    Xia Ling felt as if a whole flock of crows was flying above the roof...

    To provoke either his father or his brother-inw, this was a question of choice, and it was a hard one.

    Xia Moyan saw the expression on her face and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, this is the most I¡¯m giving in. If he can¡¯t even do this for you ¡ª if he can¡¯t even bear this responsibility ¡ª how can I entrust you to him?¡±

    Xia Ling wiped at her nose. ¡°Then could you change it to an easier challenge?¡±

    What did he mean by this responsibility? This was 30 billion dors of extortion from the Nangong family. This could well lead to their bankruptcy.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t considered easy enough? I could settle problems at the age of 7. He¡¯s already 20. If he can¡¯t even handle this, how can he bring himself to marry you?¡± Xia Moyan didn¡¯t budge from his position.

    Xia Ling was near tears. She wanted so much to tell her brother that this really wasn¡¯t the same. He didn¡¯t use honest ways to solve the issue, and Li Lei wasn¡¯t the dishonest kind. He could only use honest methods to try and obtain the 30 billion dors. But she didn¡¯t dare to say these words out loud. Her brother¡¯s facial expression was already a bad one. If she described Li Lei as even weaker than before, she was afraid her brother would really separate them and find another match for her.

    She unwillingly agreed.

    It was decided that, if Li Lei couldn¡¯t aplish the task, she would help him cover it up and fake it till her brother believed he seeded.

    But how could Xia Moyan not know that she would harbor that thought? He chose not to expose her, because anyway, he would know whether Li Lei managed to finish the task in the end, and also...

    He narrowed his eyes unhappily. Did Xiao Ling really think that the man she loved was weak?

    Definitely not.

    There were many parasol trees around, but only the best, the most unique ones would be approved of by the Phoenix.

    Though this stupid Phoenix might have a slightly poorer taste.

 Chapter 586 - Please Invite The Preceptor Here

    <h4>Chapter 586: Please Invite The Preceptor Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As the two were talking, someone walked in.

    Xia Ling looked up from the flowers to see a lively white-haired man wearing a Chinese tunic suit. There was another familiar man beside Su Tang who was sizing her up.

    To be exact, he sized her and Xia Moyan up.

    Xia Ling stopped being rxed, stood up straight, and politely greeted. ¡°Old Master.¡± She had always been afraid of this Old Master. She was not afraid of his power, but rather because he was her beloved¡¯s grandfather. She knew that Old Master was here to watch the concert, but it had already ended, so why did hee backstage? She was filled with questions, but it was inconvenient to reveal them.

    Old Master was expressionless and did not say a word.

    At the side, Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was cold. What did he treat them as? He should really ask himself if he could treat the Xia Family¡¯s daughter like that.

    Seeing that there was some tension, Xia Ling forced out a smile. ¡°Old Master, please sit. It¡¯s quite messy here.¡± She took arge bouquet of roses off a chair and asked Old Master to sit down.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression turned colder. When he entered, Xiao Ling wasn¡¯t even that respectful to him!

    However, Old Master ignored her and did not sit down. He nced at Xia Moyan and then at therge bouquet of roses that Xia Ling was holding. This woman really had loose morals. She was probably seeing many other men. How was she able to seduce his grandson so effectively?

    Even if she weren¡¯t cursed with a lonely fate, she was still not worthy!

    With a disgusted look, he coldly asked Xia Ling. ¡°Where is Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei?¡± Xia Ling was startled. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen him after the concert ended.¡± He said that he would look for her backstage and send her home. This time, he would not go back on his word. However, Old Master approached her first and the concert had been over a long time, but Li Lei was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Really?¡± Old Master did not continue to speak, and Su Tang expressed doubt. Tonight, Su Tang was dressed in a white cheongsam with a red plum branch design. With delicate makeup, she looked elegant and noble. In contrast, Xia Ling was exhausted after singing for two hours during her concert.

    She spoke very elegantly but sounded aggressive. ¡°Young Master¡¯s car is still in the parking lot. After the concert, I called him and he said he was going to look for you, so how could you not know? Miss Ye, just tell Old Master the truth. What¡¯s the point of hiding?¡±

    Before Xia Ling could say anything, Xia Moyan had already stepped in front to protect her.

    ¡°What right do you have to speak to Xiao Ling like that?¡± His voice was cold as he looked at Su Tang like he was looking at a pathetic ant. Su Tang met his gaze, but there was a sudden trepidation in her heart. It was so strange. This man looked calm, but why was his gaze so overbearing?

    She could not tolerate it anymore and took a step back unconsciously.

    His gaze was directed at Su Tang, so Old Master could not feel the pressure in his gaze. He only felt that the man in front of him was rather annoyed and Su Tang took a step back out of fear.

    What was wrong with Su Tang recently?

    Not only could she not capture Li Lei¡¯s heart, she even lost momentum easily during her confrontation with strangers. Did she waste her time going to school? If she continued to be like that, how could she be the future mistress of the Li Family?

    Old Master Li was dissatisfied with Su Tang, but on the surface, he still protected her. ¡°It¡¯s not your ce to berate my people.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also not your ce to berate my people.¡± Xia Moyan said. In front of Old Master Li, he did not exert such a heavy overbearance but was as calm as a smooth water surface, not revealing the slightest emotion.

    Old Master Li had read many people and realized that this man was not simple. People whom he could not fathom at one nce were too rare. He slightlyposed himself and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xia Moyan said faintly. ¡°You don¡¯t need to know that.¡± In the world, there were countless people madly looking for him at all costs. If he reported his name at every location he went, Xia Moyan would never have a day of peace. He would not say the words ¡°Preceptor Xia¡± unless it was necessary. As for his real name ¡°Xia Moyan¡±? There were few people who were qualified to know that.

    Old Master Li¡¯s expression was ugly. No one dared to look down on him like that in his entire life.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± The steward beside Old Master rebuked. ¡°Do you know who you are talking to?¡±

    ¡°Li Shanhe, am I right? Do you think you are that impressive?¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice remained very light. ¡°The Li Family is bing less and less outstanding as the generations go by.¡± His father used to admire the Li Family and even epted the Li Family¡¯s request for help, helping them resolve a period of disaster. However, the next generation of the Li Family...

    Wow, he even dared to bully the most honorable Phoenix of the Xia Family?

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t be bothered to waste his time on them. He lowered his head and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°But I promised to wait for Li Lei...¡± Xia Ling said meekly.

    Her brother nced at her silently and she swallowed her words back.

    In fact, this was just his reaction in front of people. If no one was there, Xia Moyan wanted to strangle her. It was said that girls tended to side with outsiders, but this stupid girl was taken advantaged of and was still trying to wait patiently for a man who went back on his promise. Seriously... where was her pride?

    The Xia Family was about to be embarrassed by her.

    Xia Moyan seriously considered if he should let her get back into the family in advance and summon all of the paulownia woods of the world to host a giant blind date for her. He did not believe that he could not find a person who was better than Li Lei!

    He grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s hand as if there were no one there and walked out of the dressing room.

    ¡°Stop there!¡± The butler called after them.

    However, Xia Moyan acted as if he did not hear him and took Xia Ling far away.

    The three people from the Li Family were left in the dressing room. Old Master Li was about to explode. This Ye Xingling was too disrespectful! He originally wanted to make Li Lei go home and rain on Ye Xingling¡¯s parade by warning her to stay away from Li Lei.

    Unexpectedly, it seemed that someone else rained on his parade.

    Who exactly was that cold man in white? He even dared to protect that stupid woman. Did he not know that she was cursed to live a lonely life? He was fearless of death and even dared to get so close to her!

    Thinking of this, Old Master¡¯s feelings after being rebuked by Xia Moyan improved a little. Hmph! It was better to let that irritating woman be with that reckless man instead of letting her harm his precious grandson!

    ¡°I told you all to investigate the whereabouts of The Preceptor. Why are there no results after so long?¡± Old Master Li reprimanded his butler. ¡°Quickly find him and invite him over for Xiao Lei!¡± As long as he found The Preceptor and removed the binding spell on the amulet, he could kill that irritating woman once and for all.

    If that irritating woman continued to have a dubious rtionship with Li Lei...

    Car ident, drowning...

    Oh, he would have a way.

 Chapter 587 - Brother, Youâ€™re Really Scary

    <h4>Chapter 587: Brother, You¡¯re Really Scary</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was pulled back home by her brother.

    In the small lounge area on the second floor, she was unhappy. She wearily held a small cup of ginger tea that her brother poured for her as the moonlight sprinkled on the ivy-covered walls outside.

    ¡°Are all Phoenixes good-for-nothing?¡± Suddenly, she heard her brother¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Huh?¡± She looked up in confusion.

    Xia Moyan sighed. ¡°What¡¯s so good about Li Lei? He stood you up and even caused you to be scolded by his old master. He¡¯s not worthy of you.¡± Any daughter of the Xia Family should be cherished. That was the bare minimum for an ordinary daughter, let alone the most honorable Phoenix that endured hardship for the entire family.

    Now, she had not officially returned to the family yet.

    Once she officially returned and her status was announced, she would be the supreme and reverent princess. Li Lei was just a merchant that had connections with the triad. Even if kings or presidents wanted to pursue her, she could act as she pleased and they still had to remain respectful to her.

    A Phoenix of the Xia Family was this awesome.

    Just as he was thinking about whether to describe her beautiful life ahead once she returned to the family so that she would not be inflexible and stubborn, her phone rang.

    His sister stared pitifully at him.

    This expression was not of a Phoenix but of a puppy.

    Xia Moyan speechlessly took out her phone. On the screen, the name ¡°Li Lei¡± was clearly seen. This was the seventh time he called tonight.

    This phone was Xia Ling¡¯s. Not long after her she left the concert hall, her phone started to ring because Li Lei called her. She wanted to pick it up, but Xia Moyan stopped her and said, ¡°Li Lei is too unreliable. Why is he only thinking of calling you at such ate hour? Is a girl from the Xia Family supposed to be at his beck and call all the time?¡±

    He refused to let Xia Ling answer her phone and even confiscated it.

    She was upset and wanted to snatch her phone back, but Xia Moyan sternly said, ¡°Do you not understand the saying that an elder brother is like a father?¡±

    She indignantly stopped, but in reality, she could not defeat him.

    At this time, she stared at her brother with a pair of pitiful eyes. ¡°Can you let me answer it?¡±

    Xia Moyan was unmoved. ¡°He can¡¯t even withstand this test. How is he qualified to be with you?¡± He really didn¡¯t like his future brother-inw very much and deeply felt that his sister had poor taste in men. It would be best for him to break them apart so that he could find a more considerate man who was able to protect her better.

    Xia Ling wanted to cry.

    The phone rang for a long time but finally became quiet.

    She drank her ginger tea with a heavy heart and softlyined. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you have to leave the city? Why aren¡¯t you going?¡±

    A smile crept on Xia Moyan¡¯s face. ¡°I will leave.¡±

    ¡°When?¡± Xia Ling was unhappy.

    Xia Moyan nced sideways at the window.

    Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the moonlight was beautiful. Beyond the fence of the vi was a gravel road, and there were endless shadows of the ivy-covered red wall. The path was quiet, and there was a modified off-road vehicle parked in front of her fence. A man came out of the car. He was wearing a suit as ck as the night sky and had a figure as handsome as a top male model.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Xia Ling asked curiously and tried to lean over her brother¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Ah, Li Lei!¡± She eximed in surprise.

    This time, Xia Moyan was unhappy. This little girl was like a puppy that only remembered the good but forgot the bad. Her attitude towards her boyfriend was so soft. He did not pick her up after the concert ended and let the elders of his family bully her. Not only did she not care about that, once she saw him, her eyes also lit up.

    What would happen if she were taken advantage of after she married him?

    Xia Moyan really wanted to ask his father if Phoenixes were supposed to be smart. Why was his family¡¯s Phoenix so stupid? Could it be that they miscalcted her fate?

    He loosened his arm, and the petite girl beside him was already prepared to rush downstairs.

    Xia Moyan grabbed her. ¡°You better sit here.¡±

    Her eyes were puffy as she looked at her brother innocently as if she had been wronged. Xia Moyan was still indifferent. ¡°Girls should really be more reserved, understand? When you see himter, don¡¯t stupidly leap into his arms. Weren¡¯t you very arrogant on stage? Yes, show some of that arrogance and coldnesster. Roll your eyes at him and listen to his apology with greatpassion. Only rx a little when you are satisfied, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling was dizzy after hearing such a long speech.

    ¡°Understand?!¡± Xia Moyan looked at her sternly again.

    She nodded weakly. Her brother was so scary...

    Looking at his soft sister who didn¡¯t even have the ability to kill was really difficult for him...

    Xia Moyan wanted to strangle her again.

    On the other hand, Li Lei pressed the doorbell two times but nobody responded. As such, he climbed over the fence.

    Xia Moyan didn¡¯t have enough time to strangle her, so he said, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving first. Remember, ask him to get back your 30 billion yuan that you are owed. Otherwise, I won¡¯t agree to let you two continue dating!¡±

    After saying that, he coldly and elegantly turned around and left.

    Xia Ling was left alone almost wanting to cry.

    Footsteps crept up the wooden stairs. Soon, a handsome man that was like a top male model appeared by her side. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling looked up to see Li Lei.

    There was some anxiety in his expression which disappeared when he saw her. ¡°You¡¯re fine. That¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°Well yes, I¡¯m fine.¡± She said softly. Shepletely forgot that her brother lectured her to look arrogant and cold while demanding his apology. She took the phone on the table and apologetically said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I couldn¡¯t answer your call just now.¡±

    In the end, she was the first one to apologize.

    If Xia Moyan found out about that, he would definitely strangle her to death.

    Li Lei bent down and hugged her tightly. ¡°It¡¯s ok as long as you¡¯re fine. After the concert, I ran into some trouble and was obstructed, so I could only look for you after I dealt with it. However, the staff said that you had already left.¡± He ran into Wang Tao when he was going backstage. Wang Tao provoked him on purpose and said that he should stop harassing Xiao Ling since he already found someone during the blind date.

    Of course, Li Lei didn¡¯t show weakness in front of an opposer and both of them fought for a while.

    In the end, Li Lei won, but when he went to look for her, she was already gone.

    He called her many times but she did not answer. As he was afraid that something might have happened to her, he searched for her mobile phone¡¯s location and sped all the way here.

 Chapter 588 - The Origin of Ten Billion Yuan

    <h4>Chapter 588: The Origin of Ten Billion Yuan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt a little bad. ¡°Something happened, so I had to leave first.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°Oh...¡± She paused for a moment because she really did not know how to exin what had happened. She carefully said to Li Lei, ¡°Do you still remember the man... who bought... the sexy underwear for me?¡±

    She was afraid that Li Lei would be angry.

    Sure enough, Li Lei was not very pleasant. ¡°Who exactly is he? He looked for you again?¡±

    She nodded weakly.

    ¡°And then?¡± Li Lei wanted to kill her but resisted the impulse.

    ¡°He... he went backstage to see me, and we ran into your grandfather.¡±

    ¡°My grandfather also went backstage?¡± Li Lei slightly frowned. No one told him about this. ¡°Did he give you any trouble? Are you ok?¡±

    After her beloved expressed his concern, she smiled. ¡°I¡¯m ok.¡±

    He knew that his grandfather was stubborn and willful. He was afraid that he would treat Xiao Ling rudely. He patted her soft hair and gently said, ¡°You¡¯ve suffered. Tell me the specific details.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Your grandfather asked if I had seen you. I said I hadn¡¯t, and then Su Tang criticized me a little. That man who was with me stood up for me and brought me back home.¡±

    Su Tang was also there?

    Li Lei generally understood his grandfather¡¯s intentions. He was probably there to tell Xiao Ling that Su Tang was his preferred grand-daughter-inw using him as an excuse. He said, ¡°If Su Tang is rude to you, just be rude back. Don¡¯t worry. You are the person I like, and she¡¯s just an assistant.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated and said, ¡°But your grandfather...¡± Old Master already hated her, and if she argued with Su Tang, she was worried that Old Master would hate her more.

    ¡°Grandfather likes tough women.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°If he likes you, the more you aren¡¯t willing to admit defeat, the more he¡¯ll be pleased. If he doesn¡¯t like you, everything you do is wrong in his eyes. Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t have to care about grandfather, just do as you please. I will handle him.¡±

    He was his rtive, so he should settle things with him. This burden should not fall on her shoulders.

    Xia Ling hesitated again before nodding. She whispered, ¡°Ok.¡±

    Li Lei kissed her forehead, and then his line of sight fell on a cup of warm ginger tea on a small table and a half-filled bottle of water. Were those left behind by that mysterious man who sent her home?

    ¡°Who exactly is this man?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I asked him today if I can tell you his identity, but he said that I can¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling muttered.

    Li Lei said, ¡°What identity?¡±

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a condition...¡±

    ¡°What condition?¡± Seeing that she looked troubled, Li Lei sensed that it was not something good.

    ¡°That day in the underwear store, Nangong Qingya lost a bet and owes me 30 billion yuan andpensation for emotional damages. That man said that if... If you can help me recover the 30 billion yuan, he will allow me to tell you his identity...¡± Xia Ling couldn¡¯t even continue speaking. It was 30 billion, not three hundred yuan!

    ¡°30 billion?!¡± Li Lei was also shocked. ¡°Are you sure that it¡¯s 30 billion and not 3 million?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded weakly and innocently.

    ¡°You... Is this a robbery?¡± Li Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. ¡°How in the world did you end up betting such a huge amount of money? Is Nangong Qingya crazy? She actually gambled with you?!¡±

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t she always been crazy?¡± Xia Ling mumbled. She hid Xia Moyan¡¯s identity and told him what happened that day.

    ¡°You are saying that the mysterious man gave you a card with 10 billion and Nangong Qingya did not know how much was inside, so she stupidly promised you three times thepensation?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded innocently again.

    She was really innocent. She wanted to give in a few times but Nangong Qingya was rushing to gamble with her.

    Li Lei was also about to go crazy. ¡°Why would a normal person put 10 billion in a card?!¡± Even though his family wealth amounted to hundreds of billions, the total valuation of the real estate andpany under his name did not even exceed 1 billion! Who was the local tyrant who would put 1 billion in a bank?!

    No, who was so brain-dead?!

    Did he not know that the renminbi would depreciate? Wasn¡¯t it better to invest with 10 billion dors?!

    No wonder Nangong Qingya didn¡¯t expect that a person in this world would have so much money in a card! No... that was not the main point. The main point was, why would that man give Xiao Ling so much money?! 10 billion! They were unrted, and even if he were chasing after her, it was too ridiculous. What exactly was his motive?!

    Li Lei was rmed and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Why did he give you so much money?¡±

    Xia Ling blinked. This was because he was her brother. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you about this now. In the future when you learn about his status, you will understand. Li Lei, don¡¯t worry. He won¡¯t hurt me.¡±

    ¡°How can you tell me to believe that a strange man would give you 10 billion without any reason?!¡± Li Lei really was about to go crazy. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you know what this means? A person who can give you this amount so casually is from a family that few can outmatch. If he wants to hurt you, he can do it easily!¡±

    ¡°He really won¡¯t...¡± Xia Ling said dryly.

    Li Lei had a headache. If Xiao Ling was as clever and scheming as Su Tang, he might really believe her, but she was very naive, so he was really uneasy.

    ¡°Ok. You don¡¯t have to talk. I will investigate this myself.¡± He tried to speak as slowly as possible. ¡°If I find out your rtionship with him, it won¡¯t vite your promise to him, right?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    ¡°But how are you going to investigate?¡±

    Li Lei shed a savage smile, showing off his white teeth. ¡°You two went shopping together, I can definitely identify him from the surveince cameras. Xiao Ling, I did not look at the surveince cameras before because I respect your privacy. However, now things are different. That man is too powerful and may threaten your safety, so I must investigate.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. How could she forget this?

    She hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°Ok.¡±

    Without further ado, Li Lei immediately called Tan Ying and asked him to get hold of the surveince camera footage in the mall. Now, he and Surveince cameras were distant. It was easy to guess who was the one behind the scenes that made Old Master Li suddenlye back to China. Thus, whenever it came to Xiao Ling, he used Tan Ying instead of Su Tang to maximize his protection of Xiao Ling.

    Soon, Tan Ying sent him the surveince video.

    Li Lei opened it and saw a man with a slender figure. He had a calm face and looked very close to Xiao Ling. That man looked a little familiar...

    ¡°Xia... Preceptor Xia?!¡± After a moment, Li Lei looked at Xia Ling in shock.

    Xia Ling nodded and was somewhat happy. <i>Brother, I¡¯m not breaching the agreement. My Li Lei is just too smart and quickly found out who you are! </i>¡°That¡¯s right. You should be relieved then. The Preceptor is so powerful. Why would he hurt me?¡±

    Li Lei also couldn¡¯t think of a reason why The Preceptor would hurt Xiao Ling.

    However, at the same time, he couldn¡¯t think of a reason why he would give Xiao Ling 10 billion!

 Chapter 589 - Reclusive Family

    <h4>Chapter 589: Reclusive Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at Li Lei eagerly.

    She really hoped that Li Lei was able to guess the truth. In the case, he would not need to help her get the 30 billion back.

    Sure enough, Li Lei lived up to her expectations. After pondering for a moment, he looked up and said, ¡°Although The Preceptor is powerful, it¡¯s rumored that he doesn¡¯t like to interfere in things. His whereabouts are fleeting, and he is also cold. Since he¡¯s willing to give you 30 billion, this proves that your business is important to him. Am I right?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him sparkly-eyed. ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯re getting close. Continue guessing.¡±

    Li Lei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re special or useful to him in some way or maybe he¡¯s just willingly taking care of you. Let¡¯s talk about whether you¡¯re useful to him first. Do you have anything that can benefit him? Your singing? Your fame? I don¡¯t think that an astute man like Preceptor Xia would care about these things.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that your skills won¡¯t be able to exin your special treatment.

    ¡°If he¡¯s using you, he must see something special about your life. I¡¯m not talking about your curse of loneliness. There are too many people cursed with loneliness in this world, so why would he choose you? That¡¯s because you¡¯re special in the way you reincarnated and this is your second life. Although I don¡¯t understand metaphysics, Preceptor Xia probably already realized that you lived in two lifetimes. Xiao Ling, is this true?¡±

    He was really smart.

    Xia Ling continued being starry-eyed. ¡°That¡¯s true. The Preceptor knew that I lived two lives a long time ago. He found out my identity the first time I met him.¡± Besides, her brother only warned her not to tell Li Lei that they were siblings, so telling him about her reincarnation was not a big deal.

    If The Preceptor knew that his sister sold him outpletely, he might really strangle her.

    At this time, Xia Ling happily awaited for her sweetheart to continue his reasoning. ¡°Quickly think about it.¡±

    Li Lei indulgently scratched his head. ¡°So he treats you special because you lived two lives. In that case, how can he use your fate of two lifetimes? If he¡¯s trying to do something with your birth chart... That can¡¯t be because he already knew about your birth chart a long time ago. In fact, thest time when he engraved the amulet, you said that your birth chart is not Ye Xingling¡¯s. Later, I did an investigation and realized that it¡¯s also not Xia Ling¡¯s birth chart which was publicly announced. You said that it was your real birth chart.

    ¡°Did The Preceptor give you that birth chart?

    ¡°If you knew your birth chart in your past life, given your IQ...¡±

    Xia Ling red at him, causing Li Lei to choke on his words. He softly said, ¡°Anyway, if you already knew your true birth chart, you would¡¯ve made it public a long time ago. An artiste¡¯s information would not have a fake birth chart. The only possibility would be that when The Preceptor looked for you, he gave you your true birth chart.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.¡± Xia Ling thought about whether she should teach him a lesson after he dared to look down on her IQ and carelessly acknowledged him.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Since he knows your birth chart, he didn¡¯t give you 30 billion because he wanted to know your birth chart. It could be that he¡¯s nning on using you for something, but this possibility is not very great because, from the surveince camera footage, you two looked really close. He also looked indulgent and caring, so I don¡¯t think that you two have a transactional rtionship.¡±

    Xia Ling continued to nod readily.

    Li Lei said, ¡°So he became close to you and gave you 30 billion not because he wants to use you. I just said that there¡¯s also another possibility that he¡¯s voluntarily taking care of you.

    ¡°What sort of person would make The Preceptor willingly take care of her?

    ¡°I think that the person is either his lover, friend or... rtive.¡±

    He paused for a moment and looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling almost stopped breathing and whispered, ¡°What do you think is the rtionship between me and The Preceptor?¡±

    ¡°I think...¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression rxed. ¡°In your past life, your surname was ¡®Xia,¡¯ and you were an orphan. Coincidentally, The Preceptor¡¯s surname is also ¡®Xia.¡¯¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to give him a standing ovation. What an impressive logical deduction!

    ¡°Quickly tell me what that rtionship is. Hurry!¡± She looked at Li Lei excitedly. ¡°The Preceptor did not allow me to say it, but it¡¯s fine if you guess it yourself. Quickly guess.¡±

    ¡°Ok. He¡¯s your rtive.¡± Li Lei also smiled and was as happy as her. ¡°Judging by his age, he can¡¯t be your father. He¡¯s probably... your older or younger brother. Looking at the way he acts around you, I think that it¡¯s more likely that he¡¯s your older brother.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re so amazing! I love you so much!¡± Xia Ling kissed his face. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. I just know that you¡¯re the best!¡±

    After being praised by his beloved girl, Li Lei¡¯s heart also fluttered. He hugged her andughed. ¡°Of course, don¡¯t you know who I am.¡± After that, he paused for a moment. ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling. You finally found your own family.¡±

    If he saw it with his own eyes, he wouldn¡¯t dare to believe that her identity was so shocking.

    Preceptor Xia¡¯s younger sister?

    Xiao Ling probably didn¡¯t know that her brother and her entire family had a heavenly status in this world. Even the rich and powerful families like the Li Family, Pei Family, and many presidents were only honorable and celebrated. The ones who truly had control over this world were not these recognized families but... the reclusive families.

    The world¡¯s so-called invisible top.

    There are a few giants whose tips of the iceberg were never even revealed.

    For example, the Xia Family.

    He would rather offend ten Pei Zihengs than offend one Preceptor Xia. In fact, Pei Ziheng would also rather offend ten Li Leis than offend one Preceptor Xia.

    Some time ago, Preceptor Xia only lent some of his help and the Pei Family almost went bankrupt overnight. Such power was bone-chilling. Li Lei was very clear that if he were in Pei Ziheng¡¯s position, he had also no chance of fighting back and could only beg Preceptor Xia to stop.

    Now, such a frightening man was his brother-inw.

    Li Lei¡¯s feelings wereplicated.

    Unknowingly, Xia Ling smiled cheerfully. ¡°You don¡¯t have to get that 30 billion back anymore since you already know that The Preceptor is my brother. Haha.¡±

    Li Lei was very mncholic. ¡°I still have to get the 30 billion back for you.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling was startled. ¡°I don¡¯t care about the money.¡± She already had 10 billion and Li Lei¡¯s allowance. Including her sry as a celebrity, she could sustain an extravagant lifestyle without any need for extra money.

    To be honest, if there were too much money, she really didn¡¯t know what to do with it.

    Li Lei patted her head. ¡°You don¡¯t have to care about that. Just patiently wait to collect your money and also thepensation for mental trauma.¡± His pride as a man did not allow him to not demand the payment of 30 billion. How could he let his woman always rely on her family? Besides, his future brother-inw also gave him this task...

    His future brother-inw was not ordinary. If he dared to disobey him, he would be anticipating his death.

 Chapter 590 - Guest Pianist

    <h4>Chapter 590: Guest Pianist</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Liujing Club, one of the most exclusive clubs in the city.

    Water flowed down behind therge ss curtain. In the fake hills and lush bamboo forest, there was a beautiful grand piano. A pianist was focused as he yed a beautiful melody. Xia Ling held a ss of white wine and listened intently as she leaned against the crystal railings on the second floor.

    The pianist hired by this club was very good.

    In this era, there were very few people could y Bach so well. His piano ying sounded solemn and divine. It caused people to forget about fame and fortune and washed away all distracting thoughts in their hearts.

    Li Lei stood by her side. ¡°We can listen to piano ying anywhere. Don¡¯t forget the reason why we¡¯re here today. Go to the private room. If you like this pianist, I can invite him for a private performance in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling already knew that Big Boss Li had zero knowledge of music and silently rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Good music is found by chance, not by searching. You can go in first. Besides, the people we are waiting for are not here yet. I will go in after listening to it for a while more. Oh yes, please also help me bring this ss of wine in.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Li Lei took her half-finished wine ss and asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going downstairs to talk to that pianist.¡± Today, she wore a dress and was not carrying a bag. At this time, she directly went for Li Lei¡¯s pocket and took out a hundred yuan from his wallet. ¡°I¡¯ll return it to you when I get back.¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t care if she returned him the money, but he minded that...

    She went downstairs and walked to the elegant silver-white grand piano to talk to the pianist. She ced the one hundred yuan into his container on the piano.

    Was this girl using his money to hook up with some other handsome guy?

    Li Lei was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

    On the other hand, the pianist did not seem to notice Xia Ling approaching him. With an elegant posture and focus, he performed an entire song. Finally, he looked up and smiled courteously at Xia Ling. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You yed very well.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°This is the first time I heard someone y Bach so well.¡±

    ¡°Are you Miss Ye Xingling?¡± That pianist recognized her. After hearing herpliment, he smiled more sincerely. ¡°I listened to your songs before and didn¡¯t expect that you would know about baroque songs too.¡±

    Xia Ling also smiled. ¡°Actually, I really like to listen to baroque music. There are pure power and beauty in songs from that era. They¡¯re not as impetuous as music nowadays. At that time, more people regarded music as something sacred.¡±

    Both of them got along and started talking.

    Li Lei observed them from the second floor and gritted his teeth harder, but he did not dare to interrupt them. He knew that hecked musical knowledge and would embarrass Xiao Ling if he went downstairs. He could only tolerate it, pretend that he did not see it, and quietly went to the private room.

    Xia Ling happily chatted with the pianist for some time. They talked about Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, and Liszt. She was impressed with his profound and keen musical insights, and as he rarely met people who were knowledgeable about music, he was also very happy and even taught her a few piano ying skills.

    Xia Ling tried to improvise on the piano.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± That pianist said, ¡°Miss Ye, you have not received professional training for this piece. Otherwise, in time, I¡¯m sure that you can also be a master.¡±

    Xia Ling was ted after hearing that and yed more energetically.

    At this time, the pianist¡¯s cell phone started to ring. He nced at it, apologized to Xia Ling and walked away to answer the phone. Xia Ling was left alone and yed a moving melody on the silver-white grand piano.

    The rotating doors of the hall opened.

    A father and his daughter walked in.

    The man was dressed in a ck suit. Although he was middle-aged, he looked majestic. Beside him, a girl in a red high-end mini dress linked arms with him. Her make up was bright, and she looked noble and invible.

    ¡°Today, Young Master Li invited us to dinner, so you have to behave well.¡± That man advised his daughter. ¡°Qingya, you have many sisters, but I have high hopes for you. You mustn¡¯t disappoint your father and strive to win Young Master Li¡¯s heart. You will only be able to enjoy the rest of your life if you marry into the Li Family, understand?¡±

    ¡°Dad, I understand.¡± Nangong Qingya said. ¡°Young Master Li is also very fond of me. You see, we only went on two dates, but he¡¯s already inviting me for dinner and even wants to meet you. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s because he wants to tie me down.¡±

    The middle-aged man nodded and a smile appeared on his face.

    It was said that Second Young Master Li was the most outstanding in the younger generation of men. Sure enough, he invited them to eat at the Liujing Club, a high-end venue, which caused his daughter to think highly of him.

    It seemed that the marriage between the two families was about to be a sess.

    ¡°When you meetter, you have to be more reserved and don¡¯t act so desperate for Second Young Master Li. Otherwise, you will be wrapped around his finger. A daughter from our Nangong Family is not so easily obtained.¡± The middle-aged man said gleefully.

    ¡°I understand, dad.¡± There was a trace of restraint and pride in Nangong Qingya¡¯s voice. She was very proud of her feminine charm. ¡°In fact, I already established the boundaries during the few times we met. You see, there are many girls who are going after Second Young Master Li, but in the end, he fell into my grasp.¡±

    The middle-aged man patted his daughter¡¯s hand in relief.

    ¡°You also can¡¯t let your guard down. There are so many girls eyeing him, for example, that girl who was rumored... What¡¯s her name? Ye Xingling? You have to pay more attention.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I will. Isn¡¯t she just a small star?¡± Speaking of Ye Xingling, anger rushed up to Nangong Qingya. She had not settled her score with her at the sexy underwear shop yet. How was that ordinary singer qualified to act high and mighty in front of her? After she married Li Lei and became thedy boss of Skyart Entertainment, she would like to see how that small star would react!

    Nangong Qingya imagined how it would be like to destroy her opponent when that time came.

    Piano music filled the hall like flowing water which sounded like paradise.

    Unknowingly, Nangong Qingya looked in the direction of the piano music and saw Xia Ling. Speak of the devil! Why did she have to see that hateful woman ying the piano when she just thought of her?

    Her expression darkened.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The middle-aged man sensed that something was wrong with his daughter and asked.

    Nangong Qingya slightly raised her chin and pointed in the direction of Xia Ling. ¡°She is Ye Xingling.¡±

    Ye Xingling?

    The middle-aged man¡¯s face fell as well. He knew that that female star and his future son-inw had an ambiguous rtionship and could not help but stare at her.

    He saw her wearing a beautiful dress and ying a silver-white gorgeous grand piano elegantly. Her long hair was loosely tied into a bun, and a hibiscus flower was casually attached to it. She looked quiet yet beautiful.

    ¡°An act is an act.¡± Nangong Qingya said scornfully. ¡°She¡¯s probably here to sell art.¡±

 Chapter 591 - Small Tip

    <h4>Chapter 591: Small Tip</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s father, Nangong Bohai, was also very unhappy. How could an actress be chasing after the same man as his daughter? He wanted to destroy her pride and walked over with his daughter.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyshes were slightly lowered as she concentrated on ying, and her fingers moved elegantly, creating a naturally harmonious rhythm from the piano. A girl who had a Phoenix fate naturally had a musical talent that was unmatched by ordinary people. Although she didn¡¯t receive much professional training, she could easily y a moving melody.

    Several guests had already gathered around the piano to admire her piano ying.

    That was why Xia Ling didn¡¯t notice the father and daughter walking towards her. She thought that they were just two random ordinary guests who came to listen to her piano ying. She didn¡¯t even lift her head when Nangong Bohai ced a tip on the crystal te on top of the grand piano. At once, people around the piano gasped.

    Finally, Xia Ling was rmed.

    She lifted her head to see Nangong Qingya¡¯s arrogant face and a middle-aged man beside her. Both of their faces were somewhat simr, and she easily guessed that they were father and daughter.

    She stopped ying the piano.

    It was not because she feared the father and daughter of the Nangong family but because they were the ones she was waiting for. Now, the guests had arrived and she should go upstairs to meet with Li Lei.

    Unfortunately, the father and daughter of the Nangong family misunderstood her.

    Nangong Bohai asked in a condescending manner, ¡°Is this enough?¡±

    Xia Ling was startled. ¡°What is enough?¡±

    After that, her eyes fell on the crystal te on the grand piano. In addition to a few scattered tips and hundred yuan bills that she gave the pianist, there was also a gold card. She also did not know who the local tyrant who threw a card in as a tip.

    ¡°The amount of money in this card is enough for you to live your life without worry. You don¡¯t have to y the piano here anymore. Take the money, live the life you want, and leave Skyart Entertainment.¡± Nangong Bohai said pretentiously.

    Xia Ling was a little surprised. ¡°How much money is there in the card?¡±

    Nangong Bohai thought that she was really an ignorant child who couldn¡¯t contain herself after seeing some money and actually asked how much money was in the card directly in front of so many people. This greedy person was very embarrassing, and he didn¡¯t understand why Second Young Master Li was attracted to her.

    At this time, Nangong Qingya felt a little awkward. ¡°Dad...¡±

    Unfortunately, her voice was too soft and Nangong Bohai did not hear her. Nangong Bohai arrogantly looked at Xia Ling and said with a restrained voice, ¡°Fifty million. Is that enough?¡±

    <i>Gasp!</i>

    Everyone drew a cold breath. 50 million! Who would give so much money as a tip?! Could it be that this man admired this piano girl and wanted to hire her as his personal pianist?

    However, after listening to their conversation just now, it did not seem like it.

    Xia Ling smiled lightly.

    Fifty million? He probably still didn¡¯t know how much his daughter owed her.

    With a faint smile, she nced at Nangong Qingya. Sure enough, she looked a little awkward and called out, ¡°Dad...¡± Nangong Qingya didn¡¯t tell her family how much she owed Xia Ling. Moreover, 30 billion was not only arge sum for her, but it was also arge sum for her entire family and enough to make them worry.

    How could she tell her father that she owed such a huge debt?

    She was not his only daughter, and she had a few sisters at home monitoring her every move. As long as she made a minor mistake, her sisters could easily rece her. Once she thought about how her sisters might gain her family¡¯s support to chase the title of the daughter-inw of the Li Family, Nangong Qingya felt extremely discontented.

    As for marrying Li Lei, she had no choice but to seed and not let anyone else stand a chance.

    Now, she was faced with Xia Ling. Suddenly, she regretted pointing her out to her father. If they just walked away directly, she would not be involved in such an awkward situation. If Xia Ling told him about the 30 billion debt, she would be in a tight spot.

    ¡°Dad, let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s not make others wait.¡± Nangong Qingya said to her father.

    Nangong Bohai was not in a hurry. They were supposed to meet with Li Lei at 8:00 PM tonight, and they were 10 minutes early. If he could settle his daughter¡¯s love rival at the same time easily, why shouldn¡¯t he do it? ¡°Take this card and go to Skyart Entertainment to cancel your contract. The Nangong family will pay your contract fee for you.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling reallyughed out loud. ¡°Are you Mr. Nangong? Do you really think that Ick 50 million?¡±

    ¡°Those who work to support themselves shouldn¡¯t pretend to be high and mighty.¡± Nangong Bohai said calmly. ¡°Miss Ye, if you aren¡¯tcking money, why are you selling your art in this clubhouse?¡±

    The surrounding guests were wondering about the same question in their hearts.

    There was also a tray on the piano. If she didn¡¯tck money, why was she trying to make money here?

    Xia Ling was toozy to exin what happened to someone like him. Turning around, just as she was about to walk upstairs, she saw the person who had just walked away to answer the phone walking towards her.

    Suddenly, an idea to entrap them appeared in her mind.

    No... it was not to entrap, but to rob the rich to feed the poor.

    She looked at the Nangong family¡¯s father and daughter and smiled. ¡°Mr. Nangong, you said that this 50 million is a tip for the pianist. Am I right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Nangong Bohai said arrogantly. ¡°A pianist can never earn such a sum of money in his entire life. Keep it and stop interacting with Li Lei.¡±

    The surrounding guests finally understood. It turned out that a love triangle was involved.

    Those who were aware already whispered to theirpanions beside them. ¡°That¡¯s Ye Xingling who is rumored to be with Skyart¡¯s Big Boss Li. The one giving the tip is Nangong Bohai, and beside him is his daughter Nangong Qingya. Recently, she was on a blind date with Li Lei.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Many people were suddenly enlightened.

    This scene was worth watching. It seemed that the female star seemed too rxed. Could it be that she really wanted to ept the 50 million? Well then, she was too easily bought over. The person whom Second Young Master Li liked couldn¡¯t be so short-sighted, right?

    However, it was difficult to determine.

    Who knew if a female star like her would ever be able to marry into a rich family? It might be better for her to earn 50 million now and live a peaceful life.

    Many people looked at Xia Ling with some sympathy and disdain.

    However, Xia Ling smiled lightly. ¡°Ok. The person who epts it will not be entangled with Li Lei anymore.¡±

    Nangong Bohai looked at her more contemptuously. This girl was really shallow and ignorant. She was so easily bought over. How was she worthy of being his daughter¡¯s love rival? The Nangong family was definitely going to win this love battle.

    However, Nangong Qingya was feeling uneasy. She was very clear that Xia Ling had at least 10 billion, why would she give Li Lei up for a mere 50 million?

 Chapter 592 - Dumbfounded Master

    <h4>Chapter 592: Dumbfounded Master</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Dad...¡± She wanted to tell her father not to do it, but she couldn¡¯t find a good reason to persuade him.

    After her hesitation, Xia Ling confirmed her fears. ¡°This money is the pianist¡¯s tip, right?¡±

    Nangong Bohai looked at her more disdainfully. This girl really led the life of a whore and expected a monument to her chastity. She was probably afraid that people would say that she epted a breakup fee and the humiliation of it. Whatever, as long as she was willing to leave Li Lei, it didn¡¯t matter if the money was considered a pianist¡¯s tip or a breakup fee. Thus, he said, ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a tip for the pianist.¡±

    Xia Ling stretched out her white graceful fingers, gently picked up the card, and handed it to the man who had just walked over. ¡°You should quickly thank Mr. Nangong. This is a tip for you.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡±

    The Nangong family¡¯s father and daughter and the entire crowd gasped. What sort of situation was this? Could it be that the tip was not for Xia Ling?!

    The man who had just walked over was the former pianist, and his face turned nk. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Nangong gave you 50 million. Oh yes, there¡¯s also a condition. After you ept the money, you can¡¯t have any ambiguous rtionship with Skyart Entertainment or Big Boss Li Lei. However, you should rx.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Boss Li is heterosexual. I can assure you that he¡¯s not interested in men.¡±

    The pianist was astounded.

    The crowd was also astounded.

    ¡°You... you... you!¡± Nangong Bohai was about to go crazy. ¡°This 50 million is for you! The person who also wants to sever ties with Li Lei is also you!¡±

    ¡°How can it be me?¡± Xia Ling innocently tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯m not even the pianist. I just yed two impromptu songs. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can ask the lobby manager. The resident pianist here is this man, not me.¡± She looked very wronged.

    Besides them, there were guests who couldn¡¯t hold back theirughter.

    Exactly, how could the girl whom Second Young Master Li was interested in be so weak and be scared off by 50 million and some threats? No wonder she had to rify a few times with Nangong Bohai that this money was a tip for the pianist. It turned out that she had nned to extort a sum of money from him for the pianist from the start!

    The expressions of the Nangong family¡¯s father and daughter were very ugly.

    Nangong Bohai was a person with status and power. Usually, people would respectfully bow to him wherever he walked. At this time, after being tricked by someone, he was humiliated and enraged and was about to explode at the scene. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t be so shameless!¡±

    However, Xia Ling didn¡¯t mind. ¡°There are so many witnesses here who heard you saying that the money was for the pianist. I¡¯m not a pianist. I¡¯m just someone ying the piano for fun. Mr, Nangong, you are someone of status. Are you sure that you want to take back your words?¡±

    Nangong Bohai¡¯s face was ashen with anger.

    Recently, the Nangong family¡¯s business was not doing very well. 50 million was not an insignificant sum to them. If it were used to settle his daughter¡¯s love rival, it would have been a necessary investment, but spending it on a tip for an unknown pianist was just absurd.

    The surrounding guests were of high status, and anyone that could enter the club¡¯s premises was of a certain caliber. Although it was painful, he couldn¡¯t take back his words in front of so many people. If he retracted his words, he would be in a very awkward position.

    Xia Ling smiled faintly at him and then looked at Nangong Qingya.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s heart skipped a beat after Xia Ling looked at her.

    ¡°Sure enough, everyone from the Nangong Family is the same.¡± Xia Ling said with implied meaning.

    Nangong Bohai didn¡¯ understand what she meant, but Nangong Qingya did. If he dared to take back his words and not give the 50 million tip, Xia Ling would talk about the 30 billion debt.

    Nangong Qingya would rather die than let her family find out about her 30 billion debt. If she were exposed, her position in the Nangong family that she worked so hard for would be ruined, and she would have to give it to her other sisters. If that happened, it would be worse than being killed.

    She would choose the lesser of the two evils.

    Nangong Qingya made a quick decision and advised her father. ¡°Dad, forget it. 50 million doesn¡¯t mean much for the Nangong Family. Let¡¯s just pretend that we¡¯re rewarding a dog.¡±

    ¡°How could you say that?¡± Before Nangong Bohai could respond, Xia Ling was already unhappy. ¡°Do you know how good and aplished this pianist is? How could you swear at others as you please? I¡¯m afraid that a finger from this person is worth many more times than your entire body.¡± She dared to guarantee that this pianist was a master. His insights were extraordinary, and few people in the music industry could reach his standard.

    The lobby manager was also rmed and rushed over.

    He didn¡¯t hear their argument but listened to thest part of Xia Ling¡¯s speech. At this time, he bowed and said to the pianist, ¡°Master Mu Nan, are you ok? I¡¯m very sorry that I¡¯mte and you ran into trouble.¡±

    Master Mu Nan was dumbfounded.

    He was also unsure if he was in trouble. Like the manager, he didn¡¯t hear most of the conversation. However, he randomly heard about the 50 million yuan.

    There was an uproar in the crowd. ¡°It turns out that he¡¯s Mu Nan!¡±

    Some were also unaware. ¡°Who is Mu Nan? Why is he called a master?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know? He¡¯s the highest ranked master in the piano world. Tickets to his concerts are priceless. However, his temperament is a bit strange as he doesn¡¯t like to have concerts and wanders about frequently. If not, he could earn even more than 50 million in minutes.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡±

    Everyone suddenly realized that this pianist looked unremarkable at first nce, but when they observed closely, he really had a unique temperament that set him apart from ordinary people. It was very distinct.

    ¡°I just know that one of your fingers is worth more than a so-calleddy from a noble family.¡± Xia Ling smiled slyly like a fox. Although she didn¡¯t know that he was a master, she understood music and knew what sort of fingers were irreceable.

    After hearing what she said, Mu Nan also smiled. This girl was quite amusing. She said that his hands were more valuable than anydy from a noble family, but so was her voice. ¡°I heard you sing during your concert.¡± Mu Nan said sincerely. ¡°The value of your voice is not any lower than the value of my fingers.¡±

    Both of them smiled at each other with a sort of mutual understanding.

    On the other hand, the father and daughter of the Nangong family were about to explode in anger. They were really unlucky. Initially, Nangong Bohai wanted to teach this female star a lesson, but who knew that things would turn out this way? Although they didn¡¯t know who Mu Nan was, after seeing the respectful expressions of the crowd, they didn¡¯t dare to curse anymore. It would be disastrous if they offended someone they should not offend.

    ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s go.¡± Nangong Bohai decided that he didn¡¯t want his 50 million back. If he continued to entangle himself in this situation, there would not be a desirable oue. Nangong Bohai and Nangong Qingya turned around and were about to leave.

    ¡°Slow down.¡± However, Xia Ling refused to let them go so easily. ¡°Nangong Qingya, you haven¡¯t apologized to Master Mu Nan.¡±

 Chapter 593 - Apologizing Twice

    <h4>Chapter 593: Apologizing Twice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What, she still had to apologize?

    Nangong Qingya looked resentfully at Xia Ling. This woman dared to make things difficult for her. After she became the Lady Boss of Skyart Entertainment, Xia Ling would regret this!

    Xia Ling smiled lightly. ¡°Miss Nangong is also considered someone of status. I¡¯m sure you understand basic courtesy. After scolding someone, you should apologize. I don¡¯t have to teach you this, right?¡± She always argued a point to death. Although she was more lenient these days, when she was faced with an enemy, she showed her true personality.

    Nangong Qingya gritted her death but couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    On the other hand, Nangong Bohai looked at his daughter with a displeased expression. Seriously, what was his daughter doing? Why did she have to scold the pianist for no reason? Now, she had offended a master and still had not apologized. So many guests were also looking at them. Her actions would cause them to think that the Nangong family was not cultured.

    Nangong Bohai started to doubt if choosing this daughter to marry into the Li family was the right decision.

    Nangong Qingya felt that her father was displeased and started to be nervous. She had not even married into the Li family yet, and even if she was about to get married, she needed the support of her family to be respected in her husband¡¯s family. No matter what, she couldn¡¯t disappoint her father.

    Thus, she acted like a courteous and educated high societydy and smiled at Master Mu Nan. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. I didn¡¯t know that you were a master and offended you.¡±

    Master Mu Nan was very cultured unlike her.

    However, Xia Ling sneered again. ¡°Going by what Miss Nangong means, if he were not a master but an ordinary person, does it mean that you can insult him and call him a dog?¡± Her words were aggressive and caught the w in Nangong Qingya¡¯s words. The loophole she spotted was indisputable.

    In fact, this was indeed Nangong Qingya¡¯s logic. If the pianist here was just an ordinary person, how was he worthy of an apology from her, a daughter of the Nangong family?

    However, after Xia Ling asked her so directly, she could not respond. Otherwise, she would be criticized for discriminating, being uneducated and uncultured... She would tarnish her and her family¡¯s reputation.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s face was quite ugly, and she forcefully said, ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t mean it that way.¡±

    ¡°However, from the way I heard you apologize just now, it really seemed you were implying just that.¡± Xia Ling refused to give in.

    ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t go too far.¡± After seeing that his daughter was being bullied, Nangong Bohai couldn¡¯t tolerate it and sullenly said.

    However, Xia Ling was unafraid. ¡°How am I going too far? I just don¡¯t understand why there¡¯s a rtion between Mu Nan being a master and your daughter calling him a dog. In fact, I think that in your family¡¯s eyes, you think that it¡¯s fine to curse at an ordinary person but not a master.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The surrounding guests whispered. ¡°It seems that the Nangong family is reallycking some manners.¡±

    The other guests also silently nodded.

    Master Mu Nan, who was the main subject, was still in a state of shock. In reality, he was not someone who cared about these details, but since Xia Ling was putting up a strong fight, he would feel bad stopping her.

    Xia Ling imposingly said, ¡°If you want to apologize, you should also be sincere. Otherwise, people will think that your Nangong family is abusing the weak. Are you very powerful? More powerful than the Li family? Li Lei even knows how to apologize when he steps on a small puppy by ident. What about you? You deliberately humiliated someone but aren¡¯t even apologizing sincerely!¡±

    Honestly, she really didn¡¯t mean to use Li Lei as an example.

    She knew very few people from eminent families. Besides the extremely conceited Pei Ziheng, the secretive Wei Shaoyin, and the hedonistic Lin Yunan who liked to wander in bars, only Li Lei had sufficient manners to be used as an example.

    The guests started to murmur again. ¡°Exactly, how could the Nangong familypare to the Li family?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen Second Young Master Li, he really knows how to exercise self-control. It¡¯d a pity if he were matched with Nangong Qingya.¡±

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s heart skipped a beat. This Ye Xingling really knew how to speak between the lines! She deliberately talked about her insincere apology because she wanted to imply that she was not a good match for Li Lei. Was she trying to make the Li family give up on her through public opinion?

    She couldn¡¯t risk big things for the sake of small ones.

    Thinking of this, Nangong Qingya rposed herself. This time, she spoke more modestly and politely to Mu Nan. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to scold anyone just now. Please forgive me.¡±

    Mu Nan said, ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡±

    He was peaceful but had an air of superiority, which was a stark contrast to Nangong Qingya¡¯s modest bow. The onlookers started to whisper again. ¡°I heard that the eldest daughter of the Nangong family is beautiful and elegant. I think that the rumors are fake. That female star called Ye Xingling can¡¯t bepared to her.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. At least Ye Xingling is smart and knows how to seek justice for others. She¡¯s also very talented musically. Intelligence, talent, and conscience. She is better in all three areas than Nangong Qingya.¡±

    After hearing their evaluation, Nangong Qingya¡¯s face contorted into a frown.

    However, Xia Ling was like a smug little fox. This group of onlookers was knowledgeable. She should record what they said and y it for Old Master Li. Maybe Old Master Li may even be pleased and agree to her marriage with Li Lei.

    If Li Lei were here and heard their evaluation, he would probably not know whether tough or cry. His Xiao Ling was talented and had a pure heart. But intelligent? Everyone had misunderstood. She was only smart when it came to bringing others down. As forparing the Li family with the Nangong family to argue that Nangong Qingya was not worthy of Li Lei, it wasplete nonsense and a fluke.

    However, no matter what, Nangong Qingya was already considered inferior to Xia Ling.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± After hearing the whispers, Nangong Bohai didn¡¯t want to remain in this embarrassing situation. He turned around and took his daughter upstairs.

    In his heart, he was slightly disappointed with his daughter. He had set aside so much money to raise his eldest daughter, but she couldn¡¯t even win against a female star. Had she wasted all of her intelligence and scheming? In front of others, he couldn¡¯t react angrily, so he only quickened his pace.

    Nangong Qingya knew that her father was unhappy and did not dare to say anything. She quietly followed him.

    The group of onlookers also gradually left.

    Master Mu Nan yed with the gold card in his hand. ¡°Thank you for your tip.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t give you this 50 million.¡±

    ¡°I know who I have to thank for this 50 million.¡± Master Mu Nan said and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re really special. I hope that we can work on the same stage one day.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling smiled even more happily. ¡°I¡¯m sure we will. Now, I have to go upstairs. I¡¯ll see you again next time.¡± She waved to Master Mu Nan, turned around and went upstairs.

    She pushed the door of the private room open.

    Inside the private room, Li Lei and the daughter and father of the Nangong family turned around to look at her.

 Chapter 594 - Are You a Cat?

    <h4>Chapter 594: Are You a Cat?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She leisurely walked in and naturally sat beside Li Lei.

    Li Lei personally gave her a ss of white wine andined. ¡°Why were you gone for so long?¡±

    She took the ss of wine and smiled. ¡°Was I gone for long? Just now, I was ying the piano but in the end, I got into a fight with two ignorant people.¡± After hearing Li Lei¡¯s words, she knew that the father and daughter of the Nangong family did not tell him about their encounter just now. This was reasonable because they failed to take advantage of her, lost 50 million because of her, and even humiliated themselves. Surely, they would not voluntarily mention it to Li Lei.

    At this time, after hearing her talk about it, Nangong Qingya almost couldn¡¯t contain her anger. With a cold and condescending tone, she remarked. ¡°Ye Xingling, you shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked and acted as though she didn¡¯t understand her.

    Nangong Bohai started to notice something. Since this female star was not a pianist, she was probably a guest of this club. Just now, Li Lei also asked her why she was gone for so long. Could it be that Second Young Master Li and she were together? Both of them looked very close. <i>This... is a problem...</i>

    Nangong Bohai had an ominous premonition. If Second Young Master Li intended to invite his future father-inw to dinner, he would definitely not bring his rumored girlfriend. Since he brought Xia Ling...

    This meant that something was wrong.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li, why exactly did you invite us here today?¡± Nangong Bohai¡¯s expression darkened.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t have the time to care about him as he was busy snatching the ss away from Xia Ling¡¯s hand. ¡°How can you drink like that? You¡¯re not even afraid of getting drunk.¡± This little girl drank the entire ss of white wine like water.

    ¡°I¡¯m thirsty.¡± Xia Ling felt wronged. She had just quarreled with the father and daughter of the Nangong family. She only felt that her throat was dry and was very thirsty. However, she did not have water, so she could only drink wine.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry and asked for a ss of water for her.

    Xia Ling really respected him in front of others and stopped drinking wine. Instead, she obediently drank water. She curled her petite body on the sofa and leaned on his shoulders in an intimate and rxed way like a kitten leaning on its master without any precaution.

    Seeing her like that, Nangong Qingya¡¯s face fell even more.

    Nangong Bohai also didn¡¯t look too good. How Second Young Master Li and this girl behave so intimately in front of him and his daughter? He slowly said, ¡°Second Young Master Li, this private room is small and my daughter is afraid of noise. I think it¡¯s better to ask irrelevant people to leave.¡±

    He wanted to ask Li Lei to chase Xia Ling away.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°There are no irrelevant people here.¡± As he spoke, he searched for a paper towel to wipe Xia Ling¡¯s nose. He was really in awe of this little girl. She almost buried her head in the cup trying to drink water, and her entire face was wet. Was she really a cat?

    Nangong Bohai¡¯s face grew even more unsightly. He thought that he really guessed correctly. This dinner was actually a negotiation. Which young masters of rich families did not have confidantes outside their official marriages? Perhaps Second Young Master Li wanted the Nangong family to agree not to give Ye Xingling trouble after Nangong Qingya married into the Li family.

    His imagination went wild.

    Nangong Bohai felt that it was only a matter of his own family¡¯s pride. If Second Young Master Li was secretly raising someone else outside, he could turn a blind eye to it. However, he still brought that person into a room with his future inws, it was too much for them to pretend to ignore it.

    His daughter had not officially married into the Li family, and he could not let the man destroy her influence.

    Thus, Nangong Bohai¡¯s face fell and said, ¡°Why is there an irrelevant female star in this room when both of our families are having a meal together? Second Young Master Li, my daughter has lived in luxury ever since she was born and has never suffered any grievance at home. In the future when she marries you, I hope that she also won¡¯t suffer any grievances.¡±

    Li Lei nodded and acknowledged him in passing.

    Beside him, Xia Ling somehow had water up to her nose again and lightly sneezed.

    Li Lei¡¯s face darkened and snatched the cup away. ¡°Do you know how to drink water? See, your shirt cor is already wet. What shall I do if you catch a coldter?¡±

    Xia Ling felt wronged. He was talking with the Nangong family and she felt bored. What else could she do besides drink water?

    Beside them, the father and daughter of the Nangong family had dark expressions. This adulterous couple was acting as if no one was there!

    ¡°Second Young Master Li.¡± Nangong Qingya endured humiliation in front of the man she liked and said in a reserved yet brave manner. ¡°How about we talk after you and Miss Ye are done? I will be leaving first today.¡± She retreated in order to advance as she knew that Li Lei would have to care about therger interest and not disrespect his future wife and her father because of a wild woman.

    Sure enough, Li Lei said, ¡°Miss Nangong, please stop. Let¡¯s finish our conversation today.¡±

    Nangong Qingya was ted but acted reserved. ¡°What about Miss Ye?¡± She looked at Xia Ling and anticipated for Li Lei to chase her away.

    However, Li Lei acted like he didn¡¯t understand her intentions at all. He only said to Xia Ling in a low voice, ¡°Be good and sit here. Don¡¯t move. After this is over, I will take you to eat dessert.¡±

    He sounded very gentle.

    ¡°Ok.¡± Xia Ling acknowledged.

    Both of them were very loving and acted as if no one was there. Nangong Bohai was enraged. ¡°Second Young Master Li, I¡¯ve said that our Qingya has been living in luxury, and I hope that her future husband¡¯s family will not let her suffer any grievances!¡±

    Xia Ling could not tolerate someone being so vicious towards her sweetheart and rebuked. ¡°You should tell these things to Miss Nangong¡¯s future husband¡¯s family. What¡¯s the use of telling that to Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± This time, Nangong Qingyaughed.

    Nangong Bohai also sneered. ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t act stupid. Qingya¡¯s future husband¡¯s family is the Li family. The entire Li family, from Old Master to Second Young Master Li, really admires our Qingya.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    Nangong Qingya very elegantly said, ¡°That¡¯s why while two of our families have a discussion, can Miss Ye please leave for a while?¡± She did not want to make Li Lei unhappy, but she was going to be the official wife while Ye Xingling was the mistress, so she should not lose the upper hand from the start and had to firmly gain the advantage. She also wanted to let Li Lei know that she was not a weak girl and was able to take therge responsibility of being the future Missus of the Li Family.

    ¡°When did you agree to marry her?¡± After Xia Ling recovered from the shock, she asked Li Lei rather aggressively.

    Li Lei was very innocent. ¡°I only promised to marry you. Since when did I promise to marry someone else?¡± How was it his fault that some people got the wrong idea?

    Nangong Qingya only felt that her heart was about to explode. Wh... what?! Second Young Master Li said that he only promised to marry that b*tch Ye Xingling?! He never said that he was going to marry anyone else?!

    What exactly was the purpose of this dinner meeting then?!

 Chapter 595 - Physical Evidence

    <h4>Chapter 595: Physical Evidence</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nangong Bohai was also angry. ¡°Second Young Master Li! You better be clear. Have you promised to marry Ye Xingling?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei said nkly. ¡°Is there a problem?¡±

    Was there a problem... He actually asked if there was a problem?! Nangong Bohai wanted to explode. ¡°Why did you go on a blind date with my daughter, then?!¡±

    ¡°The wife selection ceremony was organized by Old Master Li. I¡¯m sure you know about that.¡± Li Lei replied ndly. These people were all social climbers who wanted to reach the high branch of the Li Family. They already heard that his beloved person was Xiao Ling but still tried to chase Xiao Ling away and desperately tried to give him pressure.

    It was time to teach them a lesson.

    ¡°I only followed Old Master¡¯s orders and participated in the ceremony. When did I say I was definitely going to marry Miss Nangong? Besides, a girl like Miss Nangong is not qualified enough to marry into the Li family.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei, what are you saying?!¡± Nangong Qingya was shaking in anger and lost her elegant posture. ¡°Are you looking down on the Nangong family? If I¡¯m not qualified enough, then how is thismoner Ye Xingling good enough?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Xiao Ling is qualified.¡± Li Lei slightly tilted his head to look at the small girl lying on him and gently said. Her reincarnated life was destined and miraculously she was¡ª

    When Xiao Ling thought that she was not born in a good family, she never tried hard to please the rich. After knowing that she was from a high-status family, the Xia family, she remained humble and calm.

    When she became an unknown trainee after her previous life as a Diva, she did not forget herself or go to the extreme. She was not arrogant after bing Preceptor Xia¡¯s sister and obtaining a billion dors.

    The way she maintained her calmness was already better than most girls in the world.

    No matter whether she was rich or poor.

    Li Lei was also a little delighted. When he first saw her at the start, he was already fond of Xiao Ling. After being by her side and experiencing all her hardships with her, she still exuded the glorious brilliance of a jade.

    She was as beautiful as jade.

    She was really as beautiful as jade.

    Only clearsighted people would see it.

    Xia Ling also looked at Li Lei warmly. What more could she ask after her beloved protected her? She also looked very happy. Her Big Boss Li really loved her. With a sentence, he was able to make that woman who was eyeing him shut up.

    Nangong Qingya was so angry that she almost cried. She didn¡¯t know that Xia Ling was born in a reclusive family and was of higher status than a princess. Furthermore, Xia Ling was also the most respectable Phoenix in the family. Even if shepeted against a princess, a strand of her hair was not evenparable to a princess.

    Nangong Qingya only felt that she couldn¡¯t lose to amoner girl. ¡°No. Old Master Li will not allow you to marry Ye Xingling.¡± Relying on logic, Nangong Qingya said to Li Lei, ¡°You don¡¯t have to bring up this girl¡¯s status and use this tactic to disparage me.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Nangong Bohai also said. ¡°Second Young Master Li, who you like is another story. Please don¡¯t use this lowly girl to disparage our Qingya. Qingya is qualified to marry you, but Ye Xingling is not!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Li Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t think that Miss Nangong is.¡±

    His steadfast manner caused Nangong Bohai to suddenly lose confidence. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked in a low voice.

    ¡°Miss Nangong, do you still remember what happened in the sexy underwear shop some time ago?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Suddenly, Nangong Qingya became anxious. How did Li Lei know about this? It must be that b*tch Ye Xingling who told him! It must be! Her face turned pale. She looked at Li Lei in a panic and then at her father. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± She said weakly.

    On the other hand, Nangong Bohai was shocked. ¡°Qingya, what sexy underwear shop? What is Second Young Master Li talking about.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a sexy underwear shop.¡± Xia Ling said animatedly. She was energetic now that they were finally talking about the main subject. She wanted to quickly finish this so that she could eat snacks with Li Lei. ¡°Some time ago when I was shopping, I identally entered a sexy underwear shop. What a coincidence that I saw Miss Nangong trying out clothes there. Miss Nangong provoked me by saying that I had insufficient money to buy the clothes there, so we made a bet. In the end, she lost 30 billion to me andpensation for my emotional trauma.¡±

    She spoke straightforwardly in a clear voice and concisely described the situation.

    ¡°What?! 30 billion?!¡± Nangong Bohai was taken aback and turned around to look at his daughter. ¡°Nangong Qingya, are you crazy?!¡± If there were no outsiders around, he would have almost pped her. He probably couldn¡¯t earn 30 billion even from selling her, yet she dared to gamble with this amount of money!

    This failure of a daughter!

    Looking at her father¡¯s horrifying face, Nangong Qingya panicked and did not dare to admit it. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t lie! When did I enter the sexy underwear shop? When have I ever made a bet with you such that I owe you 30 billion?!¡± She looked pitifully at her, her father and Li Lei. ¡°Am I that kind of person?¡±

    Li Lei remained calm as he watched her performance.

    Xia Ling faintly said. ¡°Of course. How are you not?¡±

    However, Nangong Bohai was slightly rxed now after being furious at the start. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was impossible. Nangong Qingya exercised so much self-control. How could she go to such a dubious ce like a sexy underwear shop? She even gambled with someone and lost 30 billion? It was a joke!

    ¡°Miss Ye, if you want to create a story, please be more realistic.¡± Nangong Bohai looked at Xia Ling scornfully. ¡°Firstly, our Qingya would never go somewhere like that, and even if she were to bet with you, you some money to gamble. If our Qingya could bet 30 billion, what about you? You don¡¯t even have the capital to bet. How could Qingya bet with you? Don¡¯t try to nder others. Otherwise, I will sue you for ckmail and nder.¡±

    Xia Ling felt very wronged. She softly mumbled, ¡°She really went.¡±

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t tolerate it and felt that it was time to stand up for her and not let others bully his woman. He said, ¡°It¡¯s very easy to prove whether Miss Nangong went to the sexy underwear store.¡± He took out his phone, searched for a video, and ced it in front of the Nangong family¡¯s father and daughter.

    The video was the surveince footage of the shop. Nangong Qingya was choosing sexy underwear. Soon, Xia Ling walked in and both of them started talking.

    ¡°This is physical evidence. The staff is also witnesses. If Mr. Nangong has any doubts, you can always confirm matters with the staff there.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°How could you go to that sort of ce?!¡± Nangong Bohai felt that he was utterly humiliated by his daughter and screamed at Nangong Qingya.

 Chapter 596 - Pay up What You Owe

    <h4>Chapter 596: Pay up What You Owe</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nangong Qingya could only swallow her grievances.

    It was also her first time to such a kinky ce. She had intended to buy lingerie to seduce Li Lei with after their date, where she intended to get him drunk. She was still a virgin and was sure that Li Lei would be touched when he realized that fact, then he would take responsibility for his actions. If this n were to have been sessful, there was no doubt that she would snag the position of Li Lei¡¯s wife.

    However, she was not given the chance to set this n in motion.

    Now, there was no way that she could tell everyone about her original n. She became increasingly flustered from her father¡¯s berating, but could only lower her head without saying a word.

    Nangong Bohai took her silence as sheepishness. He didn¡¯t expect his daughter to be such a ****, and to be thinking of throwing herself at Second Young Master Li despite already going on blind dates with him. Was her innocence at home all an act? If this were the case, he was wasting all his efforts and resources in trying to make her marriage to Second Young Master Li happen.

    ¡°Since Miss Nangong has been to that kind of ce, how can she marry into the Li Family?¡± Li Lei sneered.

    Nangong Bohai was immensely disappointed with his daughter but had to defend her in front of his prime son-inw candidate. ¡°Second Young Master Li, you seem to be applying a double-standard here. You just said that Ye Xingling is worthy of marrying into your family, but Ye Xingling also went to that kind of ce. She met Qingya in the lingerie shop.¡±

    Li Lei casually smoothed Xia Ling¡¯s long hair and said, ¡°Xiao Ling was buying lingerie to wear them in front of me. Don¡¯t tell me that Miss Nangong was also buying them for me? We aren¡¯t that close.¡±

    ¡°I... ¡± Nangong Qingya didn¡¯t know if she should say ¡°Yes¡± or ¡°No¡± to Li Lei¡¯s question. If she said ¡°Yes,¡± it would seem that she was being too scheming and eager. If she said ¡°No,¡± it seemed that she was an easy woman or a ****.

    She was caught in a bad ce and was so nervous that cold sweat was forming on her forehead.

    Xia Ling watched her in amusement. Where was the arrogant and cocky woman in the lingerie shop? Was this all that Nangong Qingya had in her? How did she expect topete with her for Li Lei?

    ¡°Nangong Qingya.¡± Nangong Bohai addressed her by her full name, which was a rare urrence. ¡°Exin yourself properly to Second Young Master Li... ¡± As he spoke, he continued by leading her in her exnation. ¡°Were you really buying those lingerie items for yourself? Someone asked you to buy the items for them, right? You don¡¯t have to cover for them.¡±

    With her father¡¯s prompting, Nangong Qingya caught on and went with the flow. ¡°Actually, my third younger sister told me to buy the lingerie for her. She¡¯s just gotten a new boyfriend and was embarrassed to buy the lingerie herself.¡±

    Xia Ling was appalled at her character. Then, she clearly said that she had bought the lingerie to seduce Li Lei with. Now, she was buying it for her third younger sister? Xia Ling felt for her innocent third younger sister that was being thrown under the bus. She was about to retort. ¡°That isn¡¯t... ¡±

    Li Lei nudged her.

    He narrowed his eyes and asked the Nangong father-daughter pair. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what it was!¡± Nangong Qingya hurriedly assured him.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t say anything but took out his mobile and made a call. ¡°Hello, Tan Ying, help me contact the third daughter of the Nangong family. I need her urgently to verify some information.¡± After hismand, he pressed the speakerphone on his mobile and ced it on the table.

    Nangong Qingya knew that this did not bode well. ¡°Second Young Master Li, what are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to ascertain the validity of Miss Nangong¡¯s words.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°I like honest women.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± Xia Ling chimed in from the side.

    Li Lei smiled and ruffled her hair fondly.

    He wanted to use this lie to expose Nangong Qingya¡¯s schemes and lies. Didn¡¯t Grandfather like this woman a lot? He was going to make sure that she lost all credibility and had no ce to be the Li Family daughter-inw. He was going to tell his Grandfather, loud and clear, that this wife candidate was unsuitable.

    Before Grandfather found the next potential candidate, he would be able to have a period of peace with Xiao Ling.

    The Nangong father-daughter pair was like a cat on a hot, tin roof. They stared at the mobile but could not think of any way to prevent it.

    Nangong Bohai was already regretting. Why did he choose this useless daughter out of all his daughters to be introduced to Second Young Master Li? She was about to ruin this perfectly thought out business marriage.

    How unbing!

    He shot several res at Nangong Qingya, who felt enraged and wronged. On the other end, Xia Ling was whining to Li Lei. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve asked the waiter to bring in something for you to eat.¡±

    ¡°The food here isn¡¯t good.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to eat then?¡±

    ¡°Durian puff ¡ª made by you.¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any good durians in this season.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care! I want to eat that!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, okay... I¡¯ll make that for you at your ceter.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled a huge satisfied grin and snuggled into his chest like a kitten.

    This scene was like a million needles had plunged into Nangong Qingya¡¯s heart.

    After sitting around for a nervous few minutes, the line connected. Li Lei asked the third daughter of the Nangong family about her version of the story. The third daughter had never gotten along with Nangong Qingya, and she scolded Nangong Qingya over the phone, cursing at her and saying that she was being framed. She also revealed many of Nangong Qingya¡¯s other poor behaviors.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s face was ashen with anger.

    Li Lei hung up and looked over at Nangong Qingya. ¡°I really can¡¯t think of any reason that a person like Miss Nangong should be my wife.¡±

    ¡°Second Young Master Li, don¡¯t be too much!¡± As much as Nangong Bohai was dumb, he could tell that there was no way that the situation today would end nicely. Hence, he decided to feign anger and said, ¡°My daughters are not born to be insulted. I think there is no need for us to continue with the meal today. Goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡± Li Lei replied nonchntly. ¡°Miss Nangong Qingya here still owes Xiao Ling thirty billion yuan, pluspensation for the mental stress that she had to suffer. I think thepensation for mental stress we can count as another thirty billion. When does Miss Nangong intend to pay off this sixty billion yuan?¡±

    His words left not only the Nangong father-daughter pair in shock but also left Xia Ling in shock as well.

    She had already felt that it was incredulous that he was trying to im the thirty billion back from Nangong Qingya, and now Li Lei was asking for sixty billion in total. She was almost in a daze.

    Nangong Qingya felt herself go dizzy, her legs started feeling wobbly and her face turned pale.

    Nangong Bohai was the first toe to his senses. ¡°Why are you being so calctive over a spat between two girls?¡± He had made up his mind that there was no way that they would pay the sixty billion. It was sixty billion! This was daylight robbery!

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying Miss Nangong is not intending to pay up?¡± Li Lei calmly responded.

    ¡°What not intending to pay up? Sixty billion is just ckmail!¡± Nangong Qingya was hopping mad.

    ¡°Miss Nangong is saying that I¡¯m ckmailing you?¡± Li Lei¡¯s eyes narrowed again.

    ¡°I... I was saying that Ye Xingling was.¡± Nangong Qingya shrunk back under his gaze. This man really could send a chill down your spine when he was putting pressure on you.

    ¡°You¡¯re just paying what you owe.¡± Xia Ling was not going to admit that this was ckmail. ¡°That¡¯s how it should be.¡±

 Chapter 597 - Begging

    <h4>Chapter 597: Begging</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What did she mean this was the way it should be?

    The Nangong family father-daughter pair were boiling with rage. They didn¡¯t dare throw their temper at Li Lei and, thus, could only take it out on Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, how can you be so shameless?! You¡¯re still an artiste, after all! Sixty billion! What makes you think you deserve such a big sum of money? In any case, the Nangong family isn¡¯t going to give you any money!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my money.¡± Xia Ling felt wronged. Why didn¡¯t she deserve sixty billion? Her brother had told her that the interest on her allowance was already ten billion, let alone her actual allowance and wedding dowry.

    ¡°That¡¯s Xiao Ling¡¯s money, indeed.¡± Li Lei backed her up. ¡°Whether she deserves it isn¡¯t for you both to say.¡± He was bent on backing Xiao Ling up all the way. How could he allow anyone to bully her? ¡°Mr. Nangong, Miss Nangong, I would advise you to pay up. If we blow this matter up, it isn¡¯t going to bode well for both parties.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡± Nangong Bohai bristled. ¡°Li Lei, the Nangong family does not deign to marry our daughter to you! What are you going to do? Sue us? This is China! Let¡¯s see if the courts will pass judgment on a sixty billion bet!¡±

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes again.

    Yes, this was China, a country with legal procedures in ce. Hence, he was still being too polite to the Nangong family. If he was overseas right now, in Las Vegas or open waters, he would deal with reneging on the sixty billion bet differently. Killing them would be too easy.

    ¡°I remember that the bulk of the Nangong family¡¯s fortune is overseas...¡± Li Lei opened his mouth and started to speak.

    Nangong Bohai was a businessman and had some dealings that were in the grey areas. Li Lei had only just started the sentence, but he knew what Li Lei was insinuating. That¡¯s right. If this bet was ced in the underworld, there was no reneging on it. The underworld had its own rules, and to kill the whole family over sixty billion was not something unheard of.

    However, Nangong Bohai was banking on the fact that Li Lei was not the one that called the shots in the Li Family. ¡°I would like to see if the Old Master Li wille and im this sixty billion from us for Ye Xingling.¡± He sniggered.

    Xia Ling was also able to hear the undertones of his statement. Clearly, the Nangong Family thought that Li Lei¡¯s power was limited to the country and was unable to exert any pressure on the Nangong Family overseas. As such, he was going to renege on the bet.

    She was furious that they were underestimating her beloved.

    She was just about to say something when she felt Li Lei nudge her gently again. Thereafter, she heard him say, ¡°Oh really? Then, go ahead and leave. When you finallye to your senses and are willing to pay up, you know where to find me. Oh yes, let me also remind you that there¡¯s interest. The interest is a million a day.¡±

    Nangong Bohai red at Li Lei like he was looking at an idiot. Everyone said that the Second Young Master Li was intelligent and daring. But he was just a lunatic, wasn¡¯t he? He was expecting the Nangong Family to voluntarily pay the sixty billion? Wishful thinking!

    He coldlymanded Nangong Qingya. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Nangong Qingya nced longingly at Li Lei for a split second but did not dare defy her father as she followed him out.

    Only Xia Ling and Li Lei were left in the private room.

    Xia Ling was unhappy and bristled at him. ¡°What kind of people are they? Li Lei, you need to lock them all up ¡ª cut off their fingers, dig out their eyes, or make them walk the nk!¡±

    Li Leiughed.

    ¡°What are youughing at?!¡± Xia Ling red at him.

    He reached out to smoothen her long hair again. ¡°Where have you been watching these underworld movies?¡± He asked. He thought to himself: <i>Thest time you watched me kill a fish you were all grossed out. You¡¯ve never seen someone kill another person, have you? You¡¯re speaking so tough now, but if I really killed them, you¡¯ll probably cry about it for a long time.</i>

    ¡°I didn¡¯t watch any underworld movies!¡± Xia Ling red at him again before murmuring in a small voice. ¡°I just read Jin Yifei script for a new movie... ¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Li Leiughed out loud. ¡°Let¡¯s go, it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to make me the durian puff?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± A simple sentence from him had made her forget all about the sixty billion. She didn¡¯t recall this conversation about the sixty billion even after dinner and deep into the night.

    It was already a weekter when she did recall the sixty billion.

    She didn¡¯t even think about it herself, but rather, Nangong Qingya came looking for her.

    At Skyart Entertainment¡¯s recording studio.

    It was a hot summer¡¯s day, and the afternoon sun was shining brightly.

    Nangong Qingya had wrapped herself tightly with a long scarf and had stopped Xia Ling after avoiding the watchful eyes of all her staff members. ¡°Ye Xingling, I need to talk to you.¡± Her voice was still cold and arrogant, but there was a tinge of hoarseness.

    Xia Ling was surprised to see her. ¡°What¡¯s there for us to talk about?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was calling after her in his usual blustery fashion. ¡°Ye Xingling, you bettere over here right this instant! The third sentence of the second verse is off on the melody! We need to record it again!¡±

    Xia Ling signed and told Nangong Qingya. ¡°I¡¯m really busy.¡±

    Nangong Qingya clenched her teeth and said, ¡°You don¡¯t want the sixty billion anymore?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. Li Lei had told them to send the sixty billion after they¡¯de to their senses. She had not expected them toe to their senses quite so soon. She was really curious why the Nangong Family had changed their minds. Hence, she told Nangong Qingya, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give you five minutes.¡±

    She lifted her chin arrogantly and walked into a small meeting room by the side.

    Nangong Qingya followed her in. She threw her handbag on the table and said coldly, ¡°There¡¯s a bank card in this bag, jewelry, stocks, and real estate papers. Altogether, there¡¯s about five billion. I¡¯ll give this to you first. When you get Li Lei to cure my face, I¡¯ll give you the remaining fifty-five billion.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your face?¡± Xia Ling was even more shocked at her words. She noticed now that Nangong Qingya had wrapped herself up quite unusually in this hot weather.

    Hearing her question, Nangong Qingya¡¯s gaze was full of hate, and she said in a shrill voice, ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t pretend to be ignorant! What did you put in the water at the restaurant that day?! It made me into this condition?! Ye Xingling, you won¡¯t die a good death!¡±

    ¡°Back at you.¡± Xia Ling was never one to back down from a fight and swiftly retorted. She stared at Nangong Qingya¡¯s face with interest. ¡°Take off your scarf and show me what¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Nangong Qingya had already been seething at the state of her face, and now that Xia Ling was still being pushy, she couldn¡¯t contain her anger. She raised her hand and was about to p Xia Ling in the face. However, how could a wealthy, spoiled girl like her have more strength than Xia Ling who practiced dance since a young age and was athletic? Xia Ling caught her hand with ease andughed. ¡°Is this how you beg someone to cure your face?¡±

    Xia Ling was angry as well. Was this woman crazy? How could she just run over here and try to hit her? Did she think that she, Xia Ling, was a pushover? Not only was she eyeing her man, but she was also going to hit her now?

    Her voice lilted as she contemted Nangong Qingya. ¡°Don¡¯t put me in a bad mood. When I¡¯m in a bad mood, I don¡¯t help people cure their faces.¡±

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s gaze was as if she wanted to kill someone.

    However, thinking about the condition of her face, she almost hyperventted in agitation. She breathed deeply to rein in her anger.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± She struggled to keep her anger in check, as she begged. ¡°please cure my face for me.¡±

 Chapter 598 - The Mystery of the Falsetto

    <h4>Chapter 598: The Mystery of the Falsetto</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Why should I help cure your face?¡± Xia Ling cutely cocked her head to the side.

    Nangong Qingya felt frustration build in her chest and felt like she was about to puke blood. This b*tch, how could she ask such a question?! If not for her, how could her face be in such a state?! However, since she was in apromising position, she had to beg lowly regardless of how angry she felt. ¡°Once you cure my face, that sixty billion is yours.¡±

    ¡°How interesting...¡± Xia Lingughed lightly. ¡°Miss Nangong, you seem to have gotten it wrong... That sixty billion is money that you¡¯d already owed me. How can you use my money to negotiate with me?¡±

    This b*tch!

    Nangong Qingya was on the verge of ripping Xia Ling to pieces, but she controlled herself, though her voice sounded a little strangled. ¡°Then, what do you suggest I do?¡±

    ¡°You should give me that sixty billion with interest up front.¡± Xia Ling gleefully said, thinking that she had just gotten a huge windfall. ¡°Additionally, how much does Miss Nangong feel your face is worth?¡±

    Nangong Qingya was furious. So, this was her motive!

    She was going to extort even more money!

    ¡°Ye Xingling, isn¡¯t sixty billion enough? Are you out to bleed the Nangong Family dry?¡± Nangong Qingya¡¯s voice started to quiver.

    ¡°I have no interest in bleeding the Nangong Family dry.¡± Xia Ling casually responded.

    Nangong Qingya breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Xia Ling say.

    ¡°However, I¡¯m fully interested in making life difficult for anyone that offends me.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Nangong Qingya¡¯s eyes seemed to spit fire.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Miss Nangong, wouldn¡¯t it have been so easy if you simply paid up in the lingerie shop? Then, it was a mere thirty billion. Later on, Li Lei invited you for dinner and the price then was only sixty billion. But you guys still refused to pay up. And now, you are going to have to pay more to cure your face.¡±

    What did she mean ¡°only sixty billion¡±?!

    Nangong Qingya was almost in hysterics. Sixty billion! Did she think it was six hundred yuan?! Only?! Why didn¡¯t she spit that money out then! B*tch!

    Nangong Qingya cursed in her heart but bit her lip and did not dare make a sound.

    Wei Shaoyin hollered from next door again. ¡°Ye Xingling, where did you disappear to?! Show yourself right this moment! Your song isn¡¯t done yet!¡±

    Xia Ling rubbed her temples feeling a headachee on and then sprung off the table, making to leave. ¡°Take your time to think about what I said. I¡¯m going to go record now.¡±

    ¡°Hold it.¡± Nangong Qingya couldn¡¯t bear to leave her face as it was any longer. She breathed in deeply and said in desperation, ¡°I¡¯ll give you another ten billion.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Xia Ling was taken by surprise. She didn¡¯t realize that the Nangong Family was so loaded. She had managed to get them tomit another ten billion so easily?

    ¡°Ten billion?¡± She asked suspiciously, trying to verify if she had heard wrong.

    ¡°Twenty billion!¡± Nangong Qingya felt her heart start to bleed internally. ¡°Any more and you can just kill me!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. She swore that she was just asking to check if she heard right and wasn¡¯t out to extort any more. Nangong Qingya had voluntarily raised the amount to twenty billion. She was innocent!

    ¡°Deal.¡± She responded cheerfully.

    She heard Wei Shaoyin hollering for her again.

    Her little assistant came over to knock on the door with a sullen expression. ¡°Miss Xiao Ling, I think you need to go to the recording studio to check it out. Brother Wei has blown his top and is scolding everyone in sight.¡± All the staff members loved Xia Ling because when she was around, Wei Shaoyin would only scold her and everyone else was safe. When she disappeared, they would all get the brunt of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s fury.

    Xia Ling wordlessly followed the little assistant and left the room.

    ¡°Hey...¡± Nangong Qingya anxiously shouted after her.

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling did not hear her.

    At the entrance of the pristinely clean recording studio.

    Wei Shaoyin was dressed in a simple white shirt with his tinum-rimmed sses, and his Patek Philippe almost smacked Xia Ling in the face. ¡°You finally decided to roll yourself back here! Get yourself into the recording booth right this instant! Where¡¯s your professional ethics?!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Wei Shaoyin continued. ¡°What kind of look are you giving me? Are you upset?! Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t put you in cold storage!¡±

    Xia Ling asked. ¡°Ah Wei, how much do you think you are worth?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was taken aback. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Next time, don¡¯t be so eager to scold me. Big Sister here is sitting on a fortune of sixty... oh no... eighty... oh wait... ny billion.¡± Sheputed the total amount that Nangong Qingya was going to give her for the bet, psychologicalpensation, to cure her face, as well as the allowance that her brother had given her. She was feeling rich ¡ª she hadn¡¯t even counted the million dor a day interest that the Nangong Family owed and the five million allowance that Li Lei gave her every month.

    This time it was Wei Shaoyin that was rendered speechless. Thisss, was she dreaming?

    In the next second, Xia Ling had already walked into the recording booth.

    She seemed to be apletely different person in the recording booth as she fell into the music. Her voice was angelic, and everyone in the room was still basking in the song even after the recording was done.

    Outside the recording booth, Wei Shaoyin was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Another time.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± Xia Ling asked as she stepped out of the booth.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, did you realize that your voice seems to have changed recently?¡± Wei Shaoyin paused to collect his thoughts. ¡°Your range is wider and higher than before. Sometimes, I can¡¯t decide if you¡¯re trying to sing with your head voice or falsetto.¡± A falsetto was a range that one could only be born with.

    ¡°How is that possi...¡± Xia Ling was about to disregard his statement but stopped mid-sentence, stunned.

    She thought about her singing carefully and realized that it did seem like she had sung a falsetto as she did in her past life.

    ¡°Even your subconscious movements look like you¡¯re singing with falsetto.¡± Wei Shaoyin said as he mimicked her action of pressing behind her ears. ¡°The falsetto pitching is a little different from your normal voice. To make sure that they hit the right pitch, singers that sing with falsetto would tend to do such an action. For instance, the Diva Xia Ling would do the same. When you were singing the high part earlier, you had the exact same action.¡±

    Xia Ling was in shock. No way... had her falsettoe back?!

    That didn¡¯t make sense.

    She walked back into the recording booth in a daze. This time, she paid more attention to her high pitch and realized that her range was indeed wider and brighter, and she was hitting the high notes with much greater ease. When she was engrossed in the song, she would raise her hand subconsciously to press behind her ears.

    The falsetto was still slightly off from her past life.

    But it was definitely beyond the range of a normal head voice.

    ¡°How can this be?¡± She murmured to herself afterpleting the song.

    Wei Shaoyin pushed open the ss door and came into the booth, a look of disbelief stered on his face. ¡°Did you have a second puberty spurt? This is a miracle in the history of the music circle! It¡¯s even more amazing than someone being born with the falsetto!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little dizzy...¡± Xia Ling said as she pushed Wei Shaoyin aside and sat down on the little sofa in the room.

    She tried to recall when her voice had changed.

    ¡°During your first concert, your high tones were ster, but I thought that it was just a result of your hard work in practice...¡± Wei Shaoyin said.

 Chapter 599 - My Familyâ€™s Virus

    <h4>Chapter 599: My Family¡¯s Virus</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling rubbed her neck. In a daze, she subconsciously answered, ¡°I really do work too hard.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°It¡¯s because you work too hard that everyone thinks that you sing outstandingly and did not focus on your whistle tone. Xiao Ling, you know better than me that if you sing using your throat, you will get tired. At the start of the concert, you sang more than ten songs at once. If you only used your throat, it would have been overwhelmed a long time ago.¡±

    Xia Ling thought carefully and said, ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t really feel tired at that time. I thought that I was just in a good state, then.¡± However, no matter how good her condition was at that time, she could not be so rxed. Unless she sang natural whistle notes which was why she could sing them without much effort.

    ¡°This means that at that time, your voice developed again.¡± Wei Shaoyin deducted.

    If at that time...

    Xia Ling carefully recalled why she suddenly used a dolphin sound. Yes, her brother¡¯s bowl of medicated soup! She was excited and took out her phone to rify it with her brother. Suddenly, she remembered that her brother especially instructed her not to call him if there was nothing urgent, so she restrained herself.

    Dolphin sound. She could finally sing dolphin sounds again!

    This meant that she could fly freely at an unattainable level that ordinary people could not achieve and regain the glory of her past life!

    She returned to the recording studio, raised the key of the song she just recorded and re-recorded the song. This time, her performance was more eye-catching, effortless and arrogant. It was shocking.

    ¡°This must be a whistle note!¡± Wei Shaoyin was also very excited. ¡°Xiao Ling, you better cherish your gift. I will speciallypose music ording to your voice so that you will make history!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled.

    She already made history a long time ago as the Diva Xia Ling.

    In this life, she did not want to stop at the position in her past life but soar to greater heights.

    She said goodbye to Wei Shaoyin and prepared to go home to tell Li Lei and her old friend Feng Kun about this news.

    Unexpectedly, just as she walked out of the ss door, she met Nangong Qingya. Nangong Qingya¡¯s face was covered by a long shawl, and her originally bright eyes looked like fire was spewing out of them. ¡°Ye Xingling, you promised to help me fix my face. Don¡¯t try to leave like that!¡±

    Xia Ling finally remembered that this second-rate person existed.

    ¡°I will ask Li Lei to fix your face.¡± She said rather carelessly as if she were dismissing a beggar. She only cared about her dolphin sound and was not prepared to waste any time with irrelevant people.

    However, Nangong Qingya did not let her go. ¡°Call Li Lei now.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Miss Nangong, it seems that you¡¯ve forgotten that you¡¯re begging for help.¡±

    Nangong Qingya was about to explode. As a beautiful woman, her reputation was already destroyed. How could she not be anxious? However, in the face of the sluggish Xia Ling, she could not get angry, so she restrained herself and reluctantly pleaded. ¡°Miss Ye, we are all women. Please don¡¯t make things difficult for me. I beg you to ask Second Young Master Li to quickly repair my image. I, Nangong Qingya, will be eternally grateful to you.¡±

    Finally, Xia Ling nodded in satisfaction. That¡¯s the correct attitude.

    She walked around Nangong Qingya and headed out. Nangong Qingya wanted to stop her, but it would be too awkward to stop her in the middle of the road.

    Wei Shaoyin walked over and saw this scene. ¡°Who are you? Why are you at the recording studio?¡± He was a neat freak, so he wrinkled his nose and smelled the air. ¡°What is this strange smell? It¡¯s so smelly.¡±

    A humiliated expression shed across Nangong Qingya¡¯s face.

    On the other hand, Wei Shaoyin already found out the source of the stench. He took a few steps back from Nangong Qingya. ¡°Quickly leave! Don¡¯t dirty my office!¡± At the same time, he also covered his nose.

    Why was this woman so smelly?!

    The scarier part was that he seemed to recognize this stench...

    No matter what, Nangong Qingya was raised as the proud eldest daughter of her family from a young age. How could she withstand such humiliation? She red at Wei Shaoyin angrily and turned around to leave.

    ¡°Slow down!¡± Wei Shaoyin almost shouted to stop her.

    Even Xia Ling was shocked by his scream. She turned around to look at what had happened.

    Under the silver-white lights, there was a rare horror in Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression. He retreated to the furthest ce away from Nangong Qingya and said, ¡°Take off your veil and let me see who you are.¡±

    How would Nangong Qingya be willing?

    She turned around and walked away.

    ¡°Stop her!¡± Wei Shaoyin called the security officer loudly.

    The security officer was already used to the chief music producer¡¯s neurotic style. Without asking for a reason, he directly blocked Nangong Qingya. ¡°What do you want?!¡± Nangong Qingya was infuriated.

    Xia Ling also couldn¡¯t bear to look at it and said to Wei Shaoyin, ¡°Her face was disfigured. She¡¯s so smelly and ugly. What¡¯s there to see? You should just let her go. Why bother to give yourself more problems?¡±

    So smelly...

    Nangong Qingya felt that she was badly injured.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Don¡¯t go too far!¡± She yelled at Xia Ling angrily.

    However, Xia Ling ignored her and told the security officer directly, ¡°Quickly let her go. After she leaves, remember to disinfect Chief Wei¡¯s office and remove the odor.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to let her go!¡± Wei Shaoyin continued to scream. ¡°Quickly take off her veil!¡±

    He reacted like a provoked cat.

    Xia Ling found that he was acting strange. ¡°Ah Wei, could it be that you have a weird taste and like disfigured women?¡±

    ¡°Bullsh*t!¡± Wei Shaoyin cursed. ¡°Quickly take off her veil and let me see her face! I recognize this stench! It¡¯s a newly developed biochemical substance that contains a highly infectious virus created by the crazy Wei Lingnan!¡±

    Highly infectious virus!

    After hearing those few words, the security officers immediately took a few steps back.

    ¡°Is this for real?¡± Xia Ling was very doubtful. This substance was added by Li Lei. Even if it were tested in Wei Family¡¯sboratory, it would have to be determined safe before he used it. It wouldn¡¯t spread a virus, right?

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®is this for real¡¯?¡± Wei Shaoyin was fuming. ¡°Viruses from my family can turn living people into zombies! Quickly let me see if it¡¯s from my family. If it is, ordinary disinfection won¡¯t work!¡± Thus, he insisted on taking off Nangong Qingya¡¯s veil. This was difficult for him. He escaped from his family because he did not want to deal with deadly high-risks viruses and did not expect that his uncle would spread substances made in hisboratory to the public!

    He was about to go crazy.

    ¡°Ha, living people into zombies? Ah Wei, you¡¯ve watched too many science fiction films.¡± Xia Ling initiallyughed at him, but after seeing his terrified expression, she felt that she should do something. After the security officers retreated, she walked towards Nangong Qingya and took off her veil.

    ¡°What!¡±

    ¡°A ghost!¡±

    Many security officers eximed, the timid ones immediately fleeing.

    Xia Ling was also frightened and unknowingly took a few steps back. ¡°You, you...¡± Her voice quivered as she looked at Nangong Qingya¡¯s disfigured face. In her mind, the word ¡°zombie¡± appeared.

 Chapter 600 - I Guarantee Not to Kill You (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 600: I Guarantee Not to Kill You (Part 1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was a rotting face.

    Her flesh was rolled up and pus was flowing from her cheeks, revealing her bones.

    Originally, Nangong Qingya was very beautiful, with a pair of gorgeous eyes. Now, with a half-rotten face, she looked terrifying. After the shawl was taken off, the stench was stronger, and the two security officers had already covered their noses.

    Wei Shaoyin jumped and screamed again. ¡°That psycho Wei Lingnan! He¡¯s crazy! Insane! He really spread the viruses developed in theb!¡±

    ¡°Those that can turn people into zombies?¡± Xia Ling was brave at the start, but after seeing Nangong Qingya¡¯s rotten face, she lost all of her confidence. At this time, she cowered behind Wei Shaoyin and asked weakly.

    ¡°I want to turn him into a zombie!¡± Wei Shaoyin stamped his foot and cursed his uncle. He also did not forget to instruct the security officers. ¡°Quickly chase that rotten woman away!¡±

    The disfigured woman, Nangong Qingya, fearfully covered her face at the start to avoid the strange looks from people. Later, after hearing that that her disease may have some connection to Wei Shaoyin, she rushed over and begged him. ¡°Save me... I beg you to save me...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin quickly ran away to hide from her.

    Xia Ling also followed him.

    Nangong Qingya refused to give up and continued to follow the two of them around. The yellow and green pus flowed down her face as she ran, leaving a trail on the smooth marble floor.

    Xia Ling was so disgusted that she almost vomited. She scolded Wei Shaoyin. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault! Why did you have to take her veil off?! Why is everyone from the Wei family so crazy?!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was also enraged. ¡°Who was the one who took off the veil? Aren¡¯t you very brave? Stop hiding behind my back!¡± He appeared tough but was weak inside, and his voice uncontrobly shook. God have mercy on him. He was unafraid of everything except the insane viruses that his family created. ¡°If I find out who gave her the virus, I will smash that person into pieces!¡±

    Xia Ling silently prayed for Li Lei in her heart.

    ¡°Quickly think of something!¡± She said in annoyance. ¡°She¡¯s getting closer!¡±

    What could Wei Shaoyin do? He yelled at the security officers. ¡°Quickly pull that rotten woman away!¡±

    All of the security officers were hesitant.

    ¡°Save me...¡± Nangong Qingya smirked like a madman. ¡°You¡¯re not going to save me? Then let¡¯s die together!¡± She frantically charged at Xia Ling. If this virus were highly contagious, she definitely had to spread it to Xia Ling!

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling screamed. She agilely crouched behind Wei Shaoyin and used him as a human shield. Nangong Qingya mmed into Wei Shaoyin, causing him to yelp and kick her away.

    Nangong Qingya rolled on the ground a few times before ending up at the corner of a table and struggled to stand up.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you thrown her out?!¡± Wei Shaoyin jumped and scolded the security officers. ¡°I will fire all of you!¡±

    The security officers felt very wronged. They were actually very professional and would not retreat even if they saw a terrorist. However, this rotten woman was scarier than a terrorist. More specifically, she was too ugly...

    As Wei Shaoyin scolded them, they resisted the urge to vomit and had a hard time kicking Nangong Qingya out.

    The world was peaceful again.

    Only then did Xia Ling sigh in relief. Thinking about what happened, she still felt scared, and her hand trembled as she held on to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s sleeve. However, Wei Shaoyin pushed her hand away rudely. ¡°Tell me! What¡¯s going on?! Why is a rotten woman who used my family¡¯s substance looking for you?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him innocently.

    ¡°There¡¯s no use acting innocent!¡± Wei Shaoyin looked very stern.

    Xia Ling pondered for a moment. If he found out that this situation was rted to her, he might slice and dice her, so she med Li Lei very firmly. ¡°It was Li Lei! He was the one who did it to Nangong Qingya. Don¡¯t ask me why. I don¡¯t know!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked at her doubtfully.

    The situation was already so bad that making it worse made no real difference, so she looked at him courageously.

    Wei Shaoyin did not put in much effort to the discern the truth and lies from what she said. He nced at the pus on the floor and was so disgusted that he wanted to vomit. He bolted out of the door and drove home to take a shower.

    Thank goodness Wei Shaoyin was a clean freak.

    She managed to avoid a scolding.

    Looking at the pus on the floor, Xia Ling also wanted to quickly leave and return home to take a bath. After her bath, she finally had the time to call Li Lei. ¡°What exactly did you give Nangong Qingya? Why is her face like that?!¡±

    ¡°Is the drug working?¡± Li Lei was very excited. ¡°Did you take a photo? Quickly send it over to let me see. I heard that this is the Wei family¡¯stest drug, and it has the best disfigurement effect.¡±

    Unknowingly, Nangong Qingya¡¯s rotting face appeared in Xia Ling¡¯s mind again. She was furious. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you at least warn me in advance? I stupidly removed her veil and was scared to death!¡±

    ¡°I was nning to surprise you.¡± Li Lei felt wronged.

    ¡°Surprise?¡± Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°Come over here and I¡¯ll also give you a surprise. I guarantee that I won¡¯t kill you.¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Ok, don¡¯t be bad. Besides, we¡¯ve already achieved our goal. Did Nangong Qingya look for you today to give you money?¡±

    ¡°Well, five billion.¡± Xia Ling said disinterestedly. ¡°After you cure her face, she¡¯ll give me 75 billion more.¡± She did not really care since she extorted another 20 billion from her.

    ¡°Are you a pig?¡± Unexpectedly, Li Lei asked.

    ¡°What? Are you scolding me?¡± Xia Ling was triggered.

    ¡°It¡¯s only 5 billion. She already gave you her bank card, real estate certificate, and jewelry. With one look, you can tell that she took a long time to gather them.¡± Li Lei analyzedzily. ¡°Do you think she can still give you another 75 billion? She¡¯s so poor.¡±

    Xia Ling never considered the problem before and was startled.

    ¡°Little Pig.¡± Li Lei concluded.

    She felt that her 75 billion was about to fly out of her hands and was not in the mood to rebuke Li Lei. Troubled, she asked, ¡°What should I do then... How is she this poor? She even lied to make me cure her face when she can¡¯t even afford to pay me the money.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Open the door.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling didn¡¯t hear him clearly.

    ¡°I told you to open the door.¡±

    She reacted and rushed to look down from the floor-to-ceiling window. In the garden filled with ivy, a man was standing behind the wooden fence with a phone in his hand. He looked up at the window and smiled at her.

    She snorted with some arrogance. ¡°I¡¯m not opening the door.¡±

    Li Leiughed lowly over the phone. ¡°Don¡¯t you want the 75 billion?¡±

    ¡°My brother said that if you can¡¯t get the money for me, you aren¡¯t allowed to enter the Xia family.¡± Her lips curved into a smile. It did feel good to have her family¡¯s support.

 Chapter 601 - I Guarantee Not to Kill You (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 601: I Guarantee Not to Kill You (Part 2)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei continued to stand beside the fence, his clothes fluttering in the evening summer breeze.

    After hearing Xia Ling¡¯sugh, he smiled more deeply. He then said in a slightly hoarse voice, ¡°Well then, I¡¯m leaving.¡± After that, he hung up and acted like he was really leaving.

    Wh... what?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s mouth was agape as she watched his back view. She was fuming mad. This person was really going overboard! If he had put in more effort to pacify her, she would have let him in! Hmph, he better be careful, jerk!

    The night air was slightly smoky.

    His back view disappeared into the depths of the red wall and ivy.

    A lump formed in Xia Ling¡¯s throat. She immensely regretted throwing a tantrum. She should have just directly opened the door for Big Boss Li because she really missed him...

    Xia Ling looked down unhappily.

    Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice behind her. ¡°Hi, my little beauty.¡±

    It was Li Lei! She turned around in surprise with a pair of bright eyes and gave him a big hug. ¡°Li Lei!¡± After the hug, she hit him hard and cried out. ¡°You jerk! You lied to me! I saw you leave!¡±

    He smiled and patted her head. ¡°Missed me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± She rebuked.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve missed you.¡± He continued to smile and kissed her. Both of them were filled with happiness. He did not climb up the wall in the backyard in vain.

    ¡°If you missed me, why did you leave?¡± She was still unhappy.

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving.¡± He gently said and sat on a small sofa as he hugged her. ¡°Little Pig, are you ok? Were you scared to death by Nangong Qingya?¡± After receiving her call, he immediately rushed over as he was afraid that she had suffered in Nangong Qingya¡¯s presence.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Recalling Nangong Qingya¡¯s face, a lingering fear was still present in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. ¡°What sort of pill did you give her exactly? It¡¯s so scary.¡±

    ¡°A type of substance that makes one¡¯s skin rot.¡± Li Lei said casually. ¡°Some time ago, I delivered a batch of goods to the Wei family and the Wei family gave it to me as a show of thanks. There are still two bottles. One bottle causes the hands to rot, and the other bottle causes the feet to rot.¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered. It was still terrifying to her.

    ¡°They...¡± She swallowed hard. ¡°What exactly does the Wei family do? Why do they create such frightening pills?¡±

    ¡°The Wei family¡¯s pharmaceuticals are very popr in the ck market. Legend has it that they were the supplier of chemical weapons of several big countries. If you run into any danger outside, just report my name.¡± Li Lei slightly paused and was reminded of his obstructive grandfather at home. ¡°You can report Wei Shaoyin¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Xia Ling did not think too much about it. What danger could she be in? However, she felt uneasy. ¡°Will Nangong Qingya be ok?¡±

    ¡°Are you worried about her?¡±

    ¡°She...¡± Xia Ling hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°Her crime is not so severe that she deserves to die. Do you think... we went too far?¡± She knew that Li Lei did everything for her benefit and protected her, but she was really afraid that what she said would make him unhappy. As she spoke, she carefully observed his expression.

    However, Li Lei was fine and ran his fingers through her long hair. In a gentle voice, he said, ¡°You are so soft-hearted. What would you do without me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not soft-hearted!¡± She tried to sound as fierce as possible.

    ¡°Ok, ok, you¡¯re not soft-hearted.¡± He smiled and paused for a few seconds before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Nangong Qingya is fine. The substance that caused her face to rot is not contagious. Her face looks scary, but besides that, there isn¡¯t a big impact. After I give her the antidote, she will slowly recover.¡±

    After hearing what he said, Xia Ling finally breathed a sigh of relief.

    Li Lei noticed it and sighed. How was this little girl not soft-hearted? Luckily, he knew that she would feel bad and especially chose a substance that would have a scary effect but caused the least harm. Otherwise, her conscience would be tortured to death.

    ¡°Give her the antidote, then.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want the remaining 75 billion?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that she¡¯s broke?¡± Xia Ling calmed down. In reality, she was just testing him when she told him over the phone that he could not marry her unless he obtained the money. If Nangong Qingya was really broke, they could not let her pay with her life. Besides, it was just a gamble outside a sexy underwear store. Asking her to pay 5 billion was probably enough.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°Nangong Qingya might not have money, but the Nangong family does.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s 75 billion. Do you really want them to go bankrupt? What feud do we even have with them?¡±

    ¡°If they don¡¯t offend me, I won¡¯t offend them.¡± Li Lei sneered. These so-called eminent families all wanted their daughters to marry him and already investigated his rtionship with Xiao Ling a long time ago. They all knew that he loved Xiao Ling but fearlessly sent their daughters over and even tried to sabotage Xiao Ling¡ª

    Xiao Ling did not know that these days, his bodyguards stopped many car idents and murder ns in secret.

    Li Lei did not intend to tell her these things as they would scare her.

    However, that did not mean that he would not fight back.

    ¡°The Nangong family isn¡¯t as innocent as you think.¡± He said briefly. ¡°Their family is involved in the triad. The difference is that the Li family is involved in arms, casinos, and smuggling goods. The Nangong family, however, is involved in drug-trafficking, human-trafficking, and selling human organs.¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered in horror.

    These things were too unreal to her, like a fantasy.

    ¡°Their money isn¡¯t clean.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Even if they gave it all to you, they deserved it.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling didn¡¯t know what to say. If the money was really dirty and she received it, she would probably have nightmares at night.

    ¡°Have I told you about the Li family¡¯s past?¡± Li Lei softly touched her hair and asked.

    She shook her head.

    Thus, Li Lei said, ¡°The Li family originally lived in China. In the Qing Dynasty, people lived in dire poverty. One ancestor of the Li family couldn¡¯t stand it, so he secretly went overseas. At that time, many people would starve to death on a ship, and less than a dozen would survive. Those who did were thin and yellow and becameborers.¡±

    ¡°Theseborers were arbitrarily beaten and bullied by their contractors. More than half of them died.¡±

    ¡°Under my ancestor¡¯s lead, the remaining three or four people took advantage of a dark and stormy night and killed the contractor. As such, they upied his small piece ofnd and slowly were able to make a living.¡±

    ¡°This was the first generation of the Li family triad.¡±

    ¡°At that time, there was now and normal way to help these sufferingborers. They could only fight, kill, and rely on their fortitude to create a future for themselves.¡±

    ¡°They gradually grew stronger and had their own morals and order. Later, all the poor people who secretly left the country joined my ancestor¡¯s gang. Joining the gang meant they had work, food, protection, and shelter from the storm.¡±

 Chapter 602 - I Beg You to Have Mercy

    <h4>Chapter 602: I Beg You to Have Mercy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was a little stunned after hearing this story.

    Her impression was that gang people were bad, but she didn¡¯t expect that the Li family had a history like that.

    Li Lei continued, ¡°After battling for two generations, the standard of living of theseborers slowly improved. Many people were unwilling to continue doing hardbor, so they started their own small businesses or went to the streets to test their luck, hoping to find some errands to do.

    ¡°But very quickly, everyone realized that it was difficult for Chinese people to integrate themselves into society. They suffered from discrimination, exclusion, and oppression. These hardships were difficult to imagine...

    ¡°Under the leadership of the Li family ancestors, the gang offered them protection again.

    ¡°An for an eye. That was the way they protected the helpless shopowners in precarious situations and sought justice for weak women and children...

    ¡°That¡¯s how the Li family¡¯s power grew and became the world¡¯srgest Chinese power.¡± Li Lei gently said to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, although my family has a gang, we are kind-hearted and are different from other gangs. Later, other gangs formed such as the Nangong family which had the sole intention of profit-maximizing. They smuggled, conducted drug trafficking, forced young girls into prostitution, and other vile things. You don¡¯t have to be nice when dealing with a family like that.¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered in fear. She didn¡¯t expect that such an elegant person like Nangong Qingya would have such a dark background. ¡°Did Nangong Qingya participate in these vile activities?¡± Xia Ling asked a difficult question.

    Li Lei sneered. ¡°No one is clean in their home.¡± He researched Nangong Qingya¡¯s background very clearly. She once handed a girl who angered her to her gang, which killed the girl. After that, she even scraped her skin off and used it to make antern.

    Li Lei once expressed his objection to Old Master Li as he was unwilling to marry such an evil woman.

    However, Old Master Li said, ¡°Xiao Lei, you¡¯re too particr about principles. You may be good at managing a proper business, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you can develop the gang well. You need a cruel and merciless assistant toplement you. Nangong Qingya is a good choice.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t need a woman¡¯s help.¡±

    Old Master Li said, ¡°If you don¡¯t have a scheming strategist, you won¡¯t even be able to beat Li Feng.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to see about that.¡±

    ¡°Stop ying around!¡±

    The conversation between Old Master Li and his grandson ended unhappily.

    In reality, Li Lei was very clear that all that talk about scheming strategist and cruel assistants was fake. Old Master Li only wanted him to settle his marriage as quickly as possible. Anyone was good as long as his wife was not Xiao Ling.

    He kissed Xia Ling¡¯s forehead. ¡°Stay away from Nangong Qingya.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Xia Ling acknowledged.

    Li Lei continued to help her chase after the 75 billion. Nangong Qingya was broke, so she asked for money from the Nangong family. In a few days, the entire Nangong family became a joke. Even the entire Chinese upper ss, both abroad and local, knew about this situation. Second Young Master Li fell out with the Nangong family because of a female star. Not only did he disfigure Nangong Qingya¡¯s face, but he was also trying to recover a 75 billion debt.

    There were also unwritten rules.

    A dutiful child is obliged to pay his parents¡¯ debts and vice versa.

    When someone was in debt, it was very natural for it to involve the entire family.

    Li Leipleted prevented the Nangong family wrong doing business domestically and sneered at Nangong Bohai, the head of the family. ¡°When you finally pay back the 75 billion, I will let you go.¡±

    Nangong Bohai also sneered. ¡°Well then, I just won¡¯t do business in China.¡±

    With amand, he brought his entire business to Southeast Asia.

    Nangong Qingya cried and begged her father to save her and cure her face. However, 75 billion was enough to cause the entire Nangong family to go bankrupt. How could Nangong Bohai sacrifice the umtion of hundreds of years of wealth for his daughter? ¡°If you make more noise, I¡¯ll drive you out of the family!¡± He fiercely warned Nangong Qingya.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s sisters gloated at her misfortune.

    Ha, in this family, Nangong Qingya always thought that she was the prettiest. No matter what, she was ambitious and willing to step on her sisters to get ahead. It served her right. With a disfigured face, she would not be able to marry in the future!

    They all mocked Nangong Qingya.

    Nangong Qingya was embarrassed, scared, and anxious like a cat on a hot roof. Tears flowed down her face the entire day.

    In the Bogu garden.

    Li Lei yed chess with Du Yunfeng, the young executive director of the Du Family Corporation.

    The ck and white chess pieces inteced on the agarwood board. Every step had the rhythm of flowing water.

    ¡°You seem to be in a good mood.¡± Du Yunfeng ced a white chess tile and chatted with Li Lei.

    Li Lei countered his move with a ck chess piece and smiledzily. ¡°Someone is helping me deal with the Nangong family, how can I not be happy?¡± Nangong Bohai dared to fight against him because he was relying on his main business overseas, and Li Lei did not have full control of the Li family business overseas. Thus, Nangong Bohai was sure that Li Lei would not be able to touch him.

    However, he forgot that Du Yunfeng was also there.

    Du Yunfeng was Li Lei¡¯s sworn brother. More importantly, he used to be Nangong Qingya¡¯s fiance. In order to marry into the more powerful Li family, the Nangong family canceled the marriage contract and viciously offended them.

    ¡°Although the Du family is not the most prestigious, dealing with the Nangong family is a piece of cake. However, Second Young Master Li, don¡¯t forget that you borrowed the strength of the Du family to suppress the Nangong family. We also yed a part in this business and contributing territory.¡±

    ¡°How could I forget?¡± Li Lei was still very rxed. ¡°I¡¯m at ease doing business with you.¡±

    In reality, both of them knew very well that even if Li Lei did not ask for the Du family¡¯s help, the Du family also wanted to suppress the Nangong family. The canction of a marriage contract was an enormous humiliation. If they did not seek revenge, the Du family would lose their pride.

    It was just that their forces wererger and more deadly with Li Lei.

    A monthter.

    The Nangong family was forced to the corner of bankruptcy.

    Nangong Bohai finally came to beg Li Lei. ¡°Second Young Master Li, let me go. I beg you to let me go!¡± He understood that begging the Du family was useless. It looked that the Du family was the main threat, but in reality, without Li Lei¡¯s support, they would not be able to amass such thunderous might.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°What a joke. You¡¯re finally begging now.¡±

    ¡°I will do whatever you want!¡±

    ¡°75 billion?¡±

    ¡°Ok! 75 billion!¡± Nangong Bohai cried and gritted his teeth. If he lost 75 billion, the Nangong family would still be able to retain a few million, but if he messed up, he might not even be able to keep a few million.

    ¡°Also, drive Nangong Qingya out of the family.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Your daughter is such a troublemaker, I¡¯m sure that you won¡¯t mind as the head of the Nangong family.¡± Li Lei smiledzily like the spring breeze. ¡°She provoked my woman and wanted to escape?¡± He wanted everyone to see that anyone who tried to step on his Xiao Ling would not have a good oue. So what if they had Old Master Li¡¯s backing? Nangong Qingya¡¯s failure would be their warning!

    In the future, people would have to be more careful before they decided to go against his wishes.

 Chapter 603 - Charity Fundraising Event

    <h4>Chapter 603: Charity Fundraising Event</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As usual, Xia Ling recorded songs and rushed toplete her jobs.

    Until one day, Li Lei suddenly ced 75 billion in front of her.

    She looked at bank card in shock for a long time and mumbled. ¡°Quicklye over and pinch me so I know that I¡¯m not dreaming.¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Litte Pig. All of it is yours.¡±

    Xia Ling was still in a daze. Her brain was half dead for the longest time. She touched the card and mumbled. ¡°How was the Nangong family willing to give you so much money? Are they bankrupt?¡±

    ¡°Yes. They¡¯re bankrupt.¡± Li Lei said in a rxed manner. In fact, causing the bankruptcy of any family who dared to assassinate Xiao Ling was letting them off easy. However, a family like the Nangong family that was involved in the ck market and had countless enemies, bankruptcy was no different than death. Very quickly, many enemies would start looking for them. After that, many bodies of the Nangong family would sink to the bottom of the ocean, never to be recovered again...

    Li Lei didn¡¯t have any emotional burden regarding this oue. He only felt that he defeated an enemy.

    He smiled happily at Xia Ling. ¡°The assets of the Nangong family areplex. Poppy fields, casinos, brothels, drugs... I¡¯m afraid that you can¡¯t manage them, so I asked people to dispose of them. After the money is cleaned, I will deposit it in banks of several countries. You can use the money to buy property. If you don¡¯t know what to do with it, I can also find a financial consultant for you.¡±

    Xia Ling initially didn¡¯t think so much about it. However, thinking about it, 75 billion yuan was probably the amount she would get after selling all of the Nangong family¡¯s assets. They had so many businesses that she could not manage them herself.

    Li Lei was really thoughtfully.

    She started pondering about what she should do with the money.

    Li Lei gave her some ideas. ¡°Invest in some fields or real estate... You can buy some shares of high-qualitypanies. Technologicalpanies are a good choice...¡±

    He rambled on.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling said, ¡°What about doing charity?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Li Lei was shocked.

    ¡°I was talking about doing charity.¡± An idea slowly formed in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. ¡°What¡¯s the use of so much money? At most, I¡¯ll buy a pile of clothes, a few bags, and book a couple of resorts and vis every year. How many hundreds of million will that be? I also don¡¯t know how to manage the remaining hundreds of millions. Even if I have a financial consultant, I would be wasting my energy. I¡¯d rather donate the money to charity.¡±

    Li Lei already knew that his woman was indifferent to wealth, but he didn¡¯t expect her to be so unmoved. He was taken aback for a few seconds before asking, ¡°Why did you suddenly think of this?¡±

    ¡°I always wanted to do this.¡± Xia Ling said and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s probably because of a dream I had when I was younger. You know, I grew up in an orphanage. My sister had a serious heart disease and, because we had no money, she was always on the verge of life and death... That was also why I was willing to follow Pei Ziheng home.¡±

    She felt a little dejected talking about the past.

    If she didn¡¯t have financial constraints, would everything be different?

    She looked up at Li Lei and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want the orphans to suffer the same pain as me and experience a loved one battle a disease every day... How about we set up a charity fund for them? I want them to live a healthy and dignified life.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her gently. ¡°It¡¯s your money, so you can decide. If you decide to create a charity fund, I will certainly support you. However, Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t create this fund in your name. You must remain behind the scenes.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling immediately asked. However, after a moment, she understood. ¡°Yes, it can¡¯t be done under my name. If the public asks me where I got the money, I won¡¯t be able to exin it.¡± She was a public figure. Although her ie was high, it was not an outrageous amount like billions of yuan. If it was too suspicious, people would start to investigate, and if the origin of the money was exposed, the consequences would not be good.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I will look for someone to operate the fund for you. You can also ask The Preceptor for help.¡± He was very proud now. At the start, The Preceptor only asked him to recover 30 billion and emotional damages, but in the end, he managed to recover 75 billion for Xiao Ling. No, including Nangong Qingya¡¯s 5 billion yuan, he recovered a total of 80 billion. Such a huge amount of wealth could make someone rise to the peak of high society.

    When her brother was mentioned, Xia Ling smiled with ease. She imagined her brother¡¯s reaction if he found out that her beloved was so amazing. Would he be shocked or happy?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will trouble my brother with the charity fund. He said that I was destined to be alone and reduce contact with my family.¡± Xia Ling said to Li Lei, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about these things, so how about you help me?¡±

    ¡°You are ok with entrusting me with 75 billion dors of your wealth?¡± Li Lei smiled.

    ¡°80 million.¡± Xia Ling corrected him and smiled. ¡°Why would I not be ok with it?¡± He was her man and they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. If she couldn¡¯t even trust him with her money, how could theyst?

    Li Lei lowered his head and lightly kissed her.

    This was Xiao Ling, his life¡¯s rare treasure.

    There were millions of girls in this world. Perhaps she was not the prettiest, was not the smartest, had an arrogant personality, and frequently ran into trouble... However, in her eyes, 80 billion was not as important as him. This sort of trust and love...

    Was special and irreceable.

    <i>Grandpa, do you know that in your eyes, there may be better granddaughters-inw, but in my heart, Xiao Ling will be the only one for me?</i>

    Li Lei looked at Xia Ling¡¯s white face. ¡°Ok, I will take care of it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Ok.¡±

    Soon, the charity foundation was established in the name of Skyart Entertainment. Xia Ling became an ambassador and spokesperson for the foundation. This way, she was able to participate in its charitable activities.

    Many people started discussing it.

    Some people praised her. They said that not only was the Little Diva Ye Xingling able to sing well, but she also had a pure heart. She was so popr yet she cared about the sick orphans. She was truly an angel.

    However, some people criticized her for putting on a show.

    The eldest daughter of the Gu Financial Magnate, Gu Lin, smashed her cup after reading the news. ¡°Ye Xingling, that b*tch! What¡¯s so good about her? Why is she always there? It¡¯s obviously Skyart Entertainment¡¯s money, Brother Lei¡¯s money, but she gets all the limelight! Is being a celebrity so impressive? She¡¯s only taking advantage of Brother Lei! Disgusting!¡±

    ¡°Linlin, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Father Gu said as he walked into Gu Lin¡¯s room.

    ¡°Dad, it¡¯s unfair!¡± Gu Lin pointed at the news in the magazine and stamped her foot. ¡°Look, that b*tch is cutting the ribbon with Brother Lei! What does Brother Lei¡¯s charity fund have to do with her?!¡±

    Father Gu heard about this news a long time ago.

    This time, he smiled bitterly and advised his precious daughter. ¡°Linlin, you probably don¡¯t know about the origin of this money. The news about it was spread in the circle.¡±

 Chapter 604 - Returning to the Orphanage

    <h4>Chapter 604: Returning to the Orphanage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin was outraged. ¡°What else could this sum of money have been used for?! Didn¡¯t Brother Xiao Lei use it to groom that wretched woman? Charity? What a joke!¡±

    Father Gu said, ¡°The money belongs to the Nangong family.¡±

    ¡°The Nangong family?¡± Gu Lin was shocked but managed a coldugh. ¡°Father, are you referring to the family of the bankrupt Nangong Qingya? I treated her as a friend, but it looks like it was all in vain. She¡¯s about to be married to Du Yunfeng, but here she is seducing my Brother Lei!¡±

    After the Nangong family went bankrupt, Nangong Qingya came to Gu Lin for help. Gu Lin sneered at her and made her leave, but Nangong Qingya knelt down and begged her. She said she was willing to even work for the Gu family, as long as Gu Lin was willing to take her in. Her face had not fully healed even though Li Lei had given her some medication. She needed to take extremely good care of it and apply pearl powder on her face every day.

    Given her situation, how could Nangong Qingya possibly afford pearl powder? She valued her appearance like her life and pleaded with Gu Lin ¡ª as long as she could get the pearl powder, she was willing to work her heart out for her. Gu Lin agreed eventually and gave Nangong Qingya the position of a toilet attendant at the Gu Magnate.

    She was truly vile.

    Father Gu said, ¡°You can ask her where the money has gone after they went bankrupt¡ªit shoulde up to tens of billions of yuan. Rumors have it that Li Lei and the Du family siphoned that sum of money. The Du family did it for revenge after the Nangong family broke the engagement off, and Li Lei did it to set a precedent and warn everybody else never to disturb him and Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Set a precedent?¡± Gu Lin shrieked. ¡°I don¡¯t believe this! What¡¯s so good about that wretched woman, why is Brother Xiao Lei willing to do so much for her? The Du family must¡¯ve begged Brother Xiao Lei for help to deal with the Nangong¡¯s. Otherwise, Brother Xiao Lei wouldn¡¯t have acted!¡±

    Father Gu wished his daughter was right, but everything that had happened seemed to suggest otherwise. If it wasn¡¯t for Li Lei¡¯s permission, nobody would be saying this was ¡°setting a precedent.¡± The fact that it was spreading like wildfire with nobody standing out and denying it meant that it was likely true.

    ¡°Gu Lin,¡± Father Gu sounded concerned. ¡°Listen to Father, don¡¯t find trouble with Ye Xingling.¡± He was afraid now, afraid that she would end up like Nangong Qingya. Nangong Qingya was a wealthy and powerful Missy herself, but she still ended up in hell overnight, disfigured and bankrupt.

    But Gu Lin didn¡¯t want to listen. ¡°Brother Xiao Lei wouldn¡¯t do this to me! We¡¯re old family friends, how could wepare ourselves to the Nangong family? Even if Brother Xiao Lei wanted to do anything to the Gu family, Grandpa Li wouldn¡¯t allow it!¡±

    This was actually true.

    Father Gu was quiet for a while before saying, ¡°Just be careful.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Father.¡± Gu Lin smiled and rested her hand on his arm. ¡°I know my limits.¡± She already had a n. She was going to make sure her presence was known to Grandpa Li and get her rightful position as the Young Missus of the Li family based on their familial connections.

    ¡°I heard that Grandpa Li likes to eat fish...¡± She began plotting in detail.

    Back at the orphanage in City S.

    Xia Ling was in a pastel green dress and had a titanium bracelet with a clover design on her wrist. With Li Lei¡¯s help, she got off the SUV.

    Following behind the SUV were several vehicles of different models.

    In these vehicles were managers and assistants of charity organizations, bodyguards, photographers, and so on. They followed Xia Ling and Li Lei in a pack as they approached the orphanage.

    At the entrance, the Head and a few teachers of the orphanage weed them warmly.

    Xia Ling removed her sunsses and slowly raised her head. She looked at the old, spotted door and the familiar tree growing beside it. It had been long... back then, she had grown up in this small space, where even candy was a luxury. Every day, she had waited for a kind soul to adopt her...

    Who knew she was lucky enough to see the day.

    The Head of the orphanage was older than she remembered him to be. His hair was all white, and he needed a walking stick to move about. In his eyes, one could see his polite hospitality as he spoke to Xia Ling and Li Lei who were decades younger than him. ¡°Wee in, wee in...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached for him, and she moved forward to help him. ¡°Head, it¡¯s sunny outside, and it¡¯s not easy for you to move about. Please, let¡¯s go back in.¡± She understood his hospitality and friendliness towards the visitors. The orphanage always needed more funds for the children¡¯s education, healthcare, new clothes, and facilities... they depended on these donors and charity organizations that were here today for these.

    She was more than familiar with the look in his eyes.

    Back then, the Head had always been very conscientious whenever he was speaking to adopters and charitable groups.

    All the heartfelt feelings surged inside her.

    Her nose scrunched up a little as she held back tears. Gently, with her arms still on his, she told the Head, ¡°Watch your step.¡±

    The Head was not used to the care he was getting. ¡°Please don¡¯t... Miss Ye, please... how could I trouble somebody like you? I¡¯ll walk on my own. I¡¯m fine...¡±

    The teachers were shocked. Almost all of the donors and representatives from charitable organizations that had visited the orphanage were high and mighty, all too arrogant about the help they were offering. But this Miss Ye standing before them? Not only was she humble, she even treated the Head with the utmost respect.

    The photographers at the back began snapping shots of this scene.

    Hence, the teachers came to a realization ¡ª this Miss Ye here was just better at pretending and showing off.

    But Li Lei did not think that way. He knew that Xiao Ling was the previous Diva Xia Ling and that she grew up in this old, tattered orphanage. She must have felt a very strong connection to this ce.

    Li Lei moved forward and helped the Head as well. He thought, <i>Is this old grandpa Xiao Ling¡¯s caregiver when she was a child? It¡¯s all thanks to him that Xiao Ling did not have to roam about homeless and alone...</i>

    He had even more respect and appreciation towards the Head.

    The Head was overwhelmed by the care they were giving him. He kept saying, ¡°How could I trouble the both of you, you¡¯re respectable people... I don¡¯t deserve this...¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°How could you not deserve this? You¡¯re more than deserving. Look, your orphanage has raised respectable people too.¡±

    ¡°Respectable people... you mean, the Diva Xia Ling?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling said.

    The Head felt a lot more at ease now that he was distracted by this thought. Relieved of the tension, he said, ¡°You¡¯re right... Xiao Ling is our pride. Thanks to her, our orphanage has received a lot of help and funding. Many of her fans woulde here to take a look and donate some money. Some of the well-to-do ones would even adopt the children. Xiao Ling really did a lot for us.¡±

    Was that so? Xia Ling herself didn¡¯t even know of such happenings.

    Ever since she left the orphanage 20 years back, she had never returned. Although she¡¯d make donations regrly, she had no idea how the orphanage was doing and what had changed. Hearing the Head¡¯s wordsforted her greatly.

    The two of them helped the Head into the guest room.

    And the teachers followed closely behind.

 Chapter 605 - Orphanage Tales

    <h4>Chapter 605: Orphanage Tales</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The guest room was spacious.

    There wasn¡¯t a lot in it, just a set of couches, a table, and some art pieces on the wall done by the children.

    The Head pointed at one of the art pieces and introduced them to it. ¡°Xia Ling drew this one.¡±

    Li Lei went forward and took a closer look. Done in crayon, it was a drawing of a flower field in spring. ¡°It¡¯s pretty well done.¡± Hemended. ¡°Very talented for a child.¡±

    Xia Ling side-eyed him. Realizing that he genuinely liked the art piece, she smiled a little. The art piece wasn¡¯t extraordinary. The orphanage couldn¡¯t afford to hire an art teacher for them and surely did not expect any of these children, who could barely secure three square meals a day, to be able to excel in art. Spending money on it would simply be a waste of resources.

    There was nothing verymendable about the art piece.

    But Li Lei wasn¡¯tmending her artistic skills. ¡°She chose bright colors as she liked, and the way she put them together seems so carefree and abstract. It reminds me of Xia Ling¡¯s unique voice. I liked it the moment I saw it.¡±

    ¡°She was a good girl.¡± The Head said kindly with a tinge of nostalgia in his voice.

    A good girl who often created trouble, fought with others, and snatched candies for her sister? Xia Ling remembered herself as a problem child, someone who did not get along with the other children. She often argued with the Head when she asked him for money to treat her sister¡¯s illness. Some teachers even said that disciplining her was tougher than disciplining three other boys.

    The thought of these memories moved her.

    The Deputy Head and discipline master said, ¡°Mr. Li, Miss Ye, wee. Please take a seat and have some tea that we¡¯ve brewed with homegrown tea leaves. We hope you can bear with the simplicity of this ce and our hospitality.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered the tea shrub. When she was younger, the discipline master treasured it and took care of it as his precious. He kept saying that the orphanage could not afford to buy high-quality tea leaves, and could only grow their own to serve their honored guests. He also warned the children not to touch the shrub or damage it, because the funding they¡¯d receive from others depended on this shrub.

    As Xia Ling took a sip of the tea, she tasted a little sweetness and bitterness.

    Li Lei took a sip as well and quickly said with a smile, ¡°40-odd-year-old Longjing leaves? It¡¯s not bad at all.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Li is knowledgeable.¡± The discipline master smiled. ¡°Just about right. It¡¯s 45 years.¡±

    The atmosphere was getting better as the conversations came along, and soon, they began discussing the agenda for the day. Li Lei was here today with a long term n, which was to provide funding for the children, as well as regr medical checkups, vinations, and distribution of study materials. More importantly, he set up a foundation that was set aside for the treatment of major illnesses, such that children who needed it could receive medical help.

    The Head and the teachers at the orphanage were extremely grateful for their contribution.

    The photographers filmed the entire process and took a few group photos of them.

    In the photos, Xia Ling was in a simple dress and stood right in the center, alongside the Head. They held up the confirmation document for the donation and various contributions with wide smiles, showing the sess and fruition of this process. On her other side was Li Lei, whose physique made her appear like a dainty little angel.

    He deliberately let her have the limelight.

    This way, when news went out, everybody would remember that it was Xia Ling who held up the document. They¡¯d say that the celebrity Ye Xingling was a kind-hearted person.

    That was all he hoped for.

    After the donation had been made, Xia Ling asked to walk around in the orphanage. The Head was about to appoint somebody to guide them, but Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s alright, Li Lei and I will just take a look around on our own. The assistants and photographers don¡¯t have toe along with us. The teachers can also go about their own matters, we¡¯ll be fine on our own.¡±

    Typically, the orphanage did not allow visitors to roam around in the premises without a teacher.

    But this time, the Head agreed to it. He had a very good impression of them since it was rare for any donor to consider the children¡¯s interests this thoroughly. Every year, there would be a number of organizations who would make their way down to donate funds or goods, but they usually did it for publicity purposes. They¡¯d often get the children to witness the process and expect the children to thank them profusely.

    The children were all so young, it wasn¡¯t their fault that they were poor.

    Letting the children feel as if they were living off others would hurt their dignity over time.

    Xia Ling and Li Lei had taken this into consideration and did not want to call the children out to witness this. In fact, they even declined the Head¡¯s proposal of having some children wee them with flowers at the entrance. ¡°Let¡¯s not trouble them,¡± Xia Ling had told Li Lei. ¡°I was one of those who had to do that. I know the feeling.¡±

    Li Lei respected her wishes.

    At this point, the Head returned them the favor. ¡°The both of you can take your time and walk around. Oh right, the 15th unit on the second floor was where little Xia Ling lived. The unit diagonally across, the 9th, was the medical ward that little Xia Yu upied. Both areas have since been preserved for exhibition purposes, so you can take a look if you¡¯re interested.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked the Head and went ahead with Li Lei.

    Actually, Xia Ling would have taken Li Lei to look at where she lived even if the Head did not mention this. That was where she grew up. It was simple and minimalistic, but also a ce of innocence.

    ¡°Back then...¡± She showed Li Lei around and pointed ces out to him. ¡°I¡¯d wake up every morning and rush to the canteen to snatch for a bun. There were limited numbers of meat buns, and if we wentte, there¡¯d only be vegetable buns left.¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Greedy little one.¡±

    A few children were ying on the corridor and ran past both of them.

    Shadows of the iris flowers were cast on the ground.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It was for Xia Yu. She used to be very fussy, and would only eat that little bit of meat filling in the buns every morning. So, I¡¯d always snatch two buns and let her have the meat filling in both, while I ate the dough on the outside.¡± In fact, Xia Ling never liked buns, what she liked was the tea leaf eggs they served in the canteen. But every child was only entitled to one food item for breakfast, hence, she¡¯d always take the meat bun so that Xia Yu would get to eat more meat. In all those years, she never had the chance to have the eggs at all.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart ached for her. ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll make meat buns for you every day.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°Ginseng buns.¡±

    ¡°Alright, ginseng buns.¡± Li Lei ruffled her hair.

    Xia Ling held onto his hand. She took a few steps with her head down before saying, ¡°Actually, Xiao Yu doesn¡¯t like eating buns, either.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    She took a few more steps forward topose her emotions. It took a while before she went on. ¡°Back then, I was only about seven years old, and I was a girl. The meat buns in the canteen were always snatched by the bigger boys. Even if the smaller children, or girls, managed to get it, they¡¯d often be made to hand it over.

    ¡°I was hit countless times because of the buns I took.

    ¡°Each time I got a meat bun, I¡¯d speed to the dorm and lock the door hurriedly, only then was I safe. But I was often stopped midway when they caught up, and they¡¯d hit me and snatch it from me... I¡¯d be bruised and injured from trying to protect that bun...¡±

 Chapter 606 - A Wish of a Thousand Paper Cranes

    <h4>Chapter 606: A Wish of a Thousand Paper Cranes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Recalling the past, her voice gradually lowered.

    It was like the fists and swearing of the past came back again. They mocked her for being a pig, shameless and breaking the rules when she fought with the older children over a meat bun. They scolded her for being rubbish and told her to die...

    Every word pierced her heart.

    Suddenly, she only felt that her shoulders were slightly warm. A man took her into a warm embrace. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei kissed her hairline and said tenderly, ¡°You¡¯ve suffered.¡±

    Her eyes were red. She turned her head around to look at the fully bloomed flowers in the garden.

    That year, it happened here on this very road. They forced her to kneel and eat the soil on the ground. The children were crueler than adults. They pulled her hair, pped her, and even more abusive teenage boys forced her seven-year-old self to undress for everyone to see.

    Luckily, she fought back and was as fierce as a pack of wolves.

    Although they were not really able to force her to take off her clothes, it wasmon for them to hit her, make her eat soil, and throw stones at her.

    Every time she delivered the meat buns to her sister¡¯s ward covered in injuries, she always paused for a moment outside the door to sort out her clothes and long hair. She would wipe the blood off her face and cover the palm print on her face.

    After that, she would smile as if nothing happened and give Xiao Yu the meat buns.

    Sometimes, Xia Yu would doubt her and stare at her sister¡¯s body or face. ¡°Sister, did you fight with someone?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling always said. ¡°I¡¯m so awesome, who would dare to bully me? Are you talking about the bruise on my wrist? That¡¯s nothing. I identally fell down the stairs.¡±

    After that, Xia Yu would nod. ¡°That¡¯s true. My sister is so awesome.¡± She would thenugh heartily. ¡°I love eating meat buns. Sister, can you deliver meat buns to me every day?¡±

    Looking at the bed in the ward, Xia Ling nodded solemnly. It was rare to see her sister so happy.

    Later, both of them were adopted by Pei Ziheng. Xia Ling fell out with that man and was imprisoned.

    Xia Yu looked at her with eyes sparkling in jealousy and eagerness. ¡°Sister, you know...¡±

    The garden in the orphanage.

    Below the corridor.

    Xia Ling looked up from Li Lei¡¯s arms. She raised her hand to point at the building not far away. ¡°Li Lei, do you see that building... It was that window...¡±

    Li Lei looked at the direction her finger was pointing at. It was a small and old building. There was a closed window. It was dark so he could not see what was inside.

    ¡°That was Xia Yu¡¯s ward.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°She was able to lie by the window and look at the older children hit me. In fact, she was able to see it every day. This was the entertainment that she looked forward to every day.¡± As she recalled her sister¡¯s vicious words when she was imprisoned, she still felt the sting in her heart. ¡°Xia Yu did not like meat buns at all. She wanted me to bring meat buns to her every morning because... she...¡±

    She choked a little and could not continue.

    However, Li Lei already understood what she meant. Xiao Ling worked so hard to steal meat buns for her sister, but that vicious sister only hoped to watch her get beaten up!

    How scary was that?

    Li Lei¡¯s expression tightened. He only hated himself for not knowing Xia Ling then and was unable to help her ovee her troubles. ¡°Just wait.¡± He said to Xia Ling. ¡°Those people who hurt you. Those debts. I will get payback one by one.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and grabbed his hand. ¡°It¡¯s enough that you¡¯re by my side.¡±

    She once doubted her life and wondered if she were treating people too kindly in exchange for suffering. It was like with Xia Yu and Pei Ziheng...

    She did not understand what she had done wrong.

    Just when she was disillusioned by life, luckily, she met Li Lei.

    He was her salvation.

    ¡°I only need you by my side.¡± She whispered again.

    ¡°I will always be there.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle and made her rxed. He held her hand tightly and really wished that he did not have to let her go forever.

    The sunlight was bright in the orphanage, and the air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and buzzing sounds of insects.

    Both of them walked slowly from the porch to the room that she used to live in. The brick tiles inside were still the same. There was a ss of water on the table with a very old ¡°17¡± on it. That was her cup. It could be seen that people cleaned this area every day and there was no stain.

    There were still two more things¡ª

    A booklet that chronicled her life. Inside it, there was arge number of stories and photographs of her in the orphanage.

    A veryrge ss jar with lots of colorful paper cranes.

    Li Lei took out the booklet and flipped through it. ¡°After reading what is written here, many fans will ce a paper crane in the jar. On the paper crane, they will write their wishes and blessings.¡±

    After hearing him, Xia Ling took out a blue paper crane and carefully opened it. Sure enough, there was a row of words on it written with a ck pen: Xiao Ling, you have to be happy in heaven.

    She opened a few more, and all of them were well wishes. There were also a few of them written by children who stayed in the same orphanage as her. They hoped that she would bless them so that they would be adopted by a good family soon. Looking at their hopeful words, she smiled bitterly. Even she did not join a good family. The Pei Family looked extravagant, but only she was aware of the turbulent times, hardship, and humiliation she suffered.

    Li Lei looked at her as she stared at the wishes and misunderstood her.

    ¡°In the future, when we are married, let¡¯s adopt a few children.¡± He said gently. Xiao Ling looked like she really loved children. Was it very difficult for her since she could not get pregnant?

    Slightly startled, she said, ¡°Ok.¡± <i>Li Lei... you must really like children. </i>This was not the first time he brought up the subject of adoption. Xia Ling was hurting in her heart because she could not be pregnant but still selfishly remained by his side. He was the more disadvantaged one.

    With this thought, her heart became heavy, and she let go of the paper cranes.

    Li Lei carefully folded the paper cranes and put them back into the ss jar. The two of them stayed in the room for a while before leaving.

    The orphanage was very old. After many repairs, it looked like it endured the test of time but had a sort of old beauty to it. Due to Xia Ling and Xia Yu¡¯s fame, a sightseeing route opened up in the yard. From time to time, there would be signs written with words like ¡°Where Xia Ling was On Duty¡± and ¡°The ce Xia Ling Used to Practice Singing.¡±

    They walked to a small garden.

    Under a cluster of irises, there was a light colored sign engraved with a beautiful gold font¡ª[The ce Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng First Met]

    She stood still withplex emotions.

    Li Lei also stood there and suddenly felt that his heart was being pricked. He slightly lowered his eyes to prevent her from seeing his dismay. After some time, he finally asked in a low voice, ¡°At that time, was it here?¡±

 Chapter 607 - Holy Ground

    <h4>Chapter 607: Holy Ground</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling lowered her head and felt the gold words with her white fingers.

    How many years had passed...

    Many turbulent years had passed, but the first meeting was still the first meeting. It was clearly imprinted in her heart, and she couldn¡¯t forget it even in her next life.

    She turned around, lifted her head, and looked at a small building nearby. The second floor was the Head of the orphanage¡¯s office. Sunlight was reflected from floor-to-ceiling windows. Behind the window was a spacious and quiet space. No one was there.

    In her heart, the tall man who was as beautiful as a god appeared.

    On that day, he stood silently behind the floor-to-ceiling window wearing a tight ck suit as he overlooked the garden and observed her. She was being chased by people and only nced at him from a distance before she had to flee in another direction. However, it was the one glimpse that became a curse of two lifetimes.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,e, go home with me.¡±

    However, now, the building was there, but the person was missing.

    The person who said those words was no longer by her side.

    She stopped looking at the building and said softly, ¡°It¡¯s all in the past.¡± Time had caused the intimate love affair and cruel bloodlust to be emotional reside in her heart. Sometimes, she would be triggered and would feel some pain, but that was it.

    She turned around to leave this ce.

    Li Lei ced his hands in his pockets and did not keep up with her pace at first until he watched her figure disappear into the depths of the trail covered by irises. Only then did he slowly started walking.

    However, he went in the opposite direction.

    ¡°How much does it cost to get rid of the monument where Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling met?¡± In the Head of the orphanage¡¯s office, Li Lei asked the Head.

    The old Head was very surprised. ¡°Why do you want to get rid of it?¡± It was not easy to generate ie in the orphanage. It was rare that they could make use of the celebrity effect and create a monument of the first ce Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling met. Every day, many fans would gather there to take pictures tomemorate the prodigy, Xia Ling.

    Li Lei did not exin further. He only asked, ¡°How much will it cost?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Li, this is not a question of money.¡± The old Head trembled. With a wrinkled face, he looked at Li Lei earnestly. ¡°This monument is simply a way to generate ie for the orphanage, and all the children here also ce their hopes on it. All of the children dream of being as lucky as Xia Ling and meet a rich adopter who loves them so that they can rebuild their lives. Li Lei, you can¡¯t take away the hopes of the children.¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. Who knew that getting rid of a stone monument was so difficult?

    However, if he did not remove it, he would have to deal with the thorns in his heart.

    The old Head walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and pointed to the stone monument downstairs. ¡°Mr. Li, look, that child is whispering to the stone monument. She is called Xiao Feng and has spinocereber ataxia. Her condition is deteriorating every day, and she can¡¯t live longer than a few years... It¡¯s possible that she won¡¯t be able to be adopted forever and will die in this orphanage. However, she hasn¡¯t given up yet. Every day, she prays for a miracle to happen and hopes that someone like Pei Ziheng would descend from the sky. Just like Xia Ling and her seriously ill sister Xia Yu, she hopes that he would take her away. This stone monument is her only hope. Mr. Li, we can¡¯t take away the children¡¯s only hope.¡±

    The old Head looked at him carefully and worriedly.

    He was old and saw many types of people. He deeply understood that these powerful and rich people were not as kind as they appeared to be. Although he didn¡¯t know why Mr. Li wanted to get rid of the monument, he knew that these people were unscrupulous in order to achieve their goals.

    He was very worried.

    Li Lei could see that the old Head was very uneasy, so he said very gently, ¡°Please don¡¯t be afraid. I won¡¯t hurt the orphanage.¡± This was the ce that gave Xiao Ling shelter in the past. From the words and actions of Xiao Ling, he could tell that she really respected the head of the orphanage as he had been kind to her in the past.

    How could he harm Xiao Ling¡¯s benefactor? Well, except for Pei Ziheng.

    Heforted the old Head and thought about it. ¡°How about this, I¡¯ll use the money to change this monument into a monument forest. I will carve all of the names of the children who left this ce on it and the names of their adopters. In this case, won¡¯t this bring more hope for the children?¡±

    The old Head did not expect him to say that and was startled. Finally, he said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    This was indeed a good idea. Letting the children see how many children joined happy families would be able to give them more hope in their long wait.

    However, why would Mr. Li do this?

    The old Head feared that it was because the single monument of Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling was an eyesore to him. However, he was not linked at all to their rtionship. Why would it be an eyesore to Mr. Li? The old Head was puzzled.

    Li Lei was pleased after the head of the orphanage agreed to his suggestion and left his office.

    Although he couldn¡¯t remove the stone monument, he could minimize the specialty of the ce. From now on, Pei Ziheng was just one of the thousands of adopters in the orphanage and no different from the other adopters. So what if that was their first meeting ce?

    After a year and a half, who would remember? Hahaha.

    He happily whistled and looked for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling waspletely oblivious to what he just did behind her back. At this time, she was sitting on the steps and teaching the children to sing.

    The midsummer greenery was lush.

    Her voice was more pleasant than summer itself.

    Li Lei stood beside the door and quietly listened. Looking at the girl¡¯s beautiful side-view, suddenly, he genuinely thanked Pei Ziheng. He thanked him for not cherishing her. Thanks to him, he was able to benefit.

    He really wanted to praise Pei Ziheng.

    After staying in the orphanage for an entire day, Xia Ling finally said goodbye to the children and followed Li Lei back. Li Lei drove her home and said to her, ¡°In the future, if you want to see them, I¡¯ll send you there again.¡±

    She smiled, agreed, and kissed him goodbye in front of the fence.

    Not far away, in another vi, a man held the jade-white railing as he stood at an inconspicuous ce. He looked at the two people kiss expressionlessly. His fingers tightened, and the veins at the back of his hand were exposed.

    ¡°Mister...¡± Nanny Zhou did not dare to advise him but still bravely said, ¡°You should go in. You¡¯ve already been standing here for a long time. The wind is strong, and it¡¯s easy to catch a cold.¡± The news said that Miss Ye and Big Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment went to do charity work together. They went to the orphanage that Mister adopted Miss Xia Ling from. Thus, Mister went berserk and insisted on staying at the terrace to wait for Miss Ye to return.

    Nanny Zhou didn¡¯t know what he was waiting for.

    Even Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t know. Why did his Xiao Ling bring another man to the ce they first met? Did she forget that she said...

    She said that it was holy ground, a ce that only belonged to both of them.

 Chapter 608 - Plot

    <h4>Chapter 608: Plot</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, now, she took someone else there.

    Pei Ziheng really hoped that her trip to the orphanage with Li Lei would result in unhappiness. That was why he waited for her to return so that he could personally see if she was in a good mood. However, instead, he saw that eyesore of a man send her home and even kissed her behind the fence.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s fingers clenched the railing tighter. His expression was dark.

    He looked at the couple who was in a beautiful embrace and took out his phone. ¡°Chu Chen, make an appointment with Li Shanhe for me. We need to meet again.¡±

    Li Shanhe was Old Master Li¡¯s name.

    At the side, Nanny Zhou was a little worried after hearing him. What exactly did Mister want to do?

    The next day, many reports were released that Xia Ling apanied Big Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment to the orphanage as a charity ambassador, and he made arge-scale donation. In the photo, she stood next to Li Lei and smiled lightly. The donation documents looked very eye-catching in her hands.

    It was a hot discussion topic. Everyone said that Li Lei and she were a good match and a role model couple.

    A match made in heaven.

    Gu Lin was so mad that she smashed things again. Her ss and magazine were scattered on the floor, and the entire house was in chaos. As she vented her anger, she looked at the debris in front of her and felt her blood boil. Without any other way to vent her emotions, she shouted hysterically, ¡°Where is Nangong Qingya? Ask her toe over here to clean up the house!¡±

    Recently, she was addicted to torturing Nangong Qingya. It was enjoyable to maltreat her.

    In order to get pearl powder from her as medicine to cure her face, she could only tolerate the humiliation. After she heard Miss Gu calling for her, she quickly dropped her broom and gloves and hurriedly rushed to Gu Lin¡¯s lounge from the toilet.

    Gu Lin hurled a cup at her. ¡°You¡¯re so slow! Are you dead?!¡±

    Nangong Qingya did not dare to dodge, and the cup heavily hit her shoulders. It hurt so much that she grimaced in pain. Gu Lin, that b*tch! She was sure that arge bruise would form and resisted the urge to curse. On the surface, she only lowered her head and asked very reluctantly, ¡°Miss Gu, do you have any requests?¡±

    Her misery and the way she called her ¡°Miss Gu¡± eased Gu Lin¡¯s feelings.

    Not long ago, Nangong Qingya was more respectable than her. But now? She provoked Brother Lei and her family deserved to fall from grace! Now, she was a cleaner!

    Delighted, Gu Lin arrogantly pointed at the floor. ¡°You¡¯re asking me what request I have? Are you blind? Clean up this mess for me!¡±

    Nangong Qingya did not dare to rebuke, so she could only weakly agree. She turned around to take a broom to sweep up the broken pieces. Nangong Qingya looked calm but was happy on the inside. She wondered who was the one who provoked Miss Gu and upset her. She was very happy that this brain-dead woman was unhappy.

    However, she could only gloat over her misfortune for a short time.

    Very soon, she saw a magazine that was soaked in tea on the ground. On it, Xia Ling was wearing a simple and elegant long-sleeved dress and was standing beside Li Lei. They were both smiling and looked noble. At the side, there was arge headline: Li Lei, the president of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s charity foundation and the spokesperson, Ye Xingling, visit an orphanage to donate money.

    How could it be? That b*tch!

    Nangong Qingya looked at the article and quickly read it. The whole article praised Xia Ling with beautiful words and even said that she and Li Lei were a perfect match.

    Nangong Qingya¡¯s face was distorted from anger, and her hands shook as she held the magazine.

    Suddenly, the magazine was snatched by someone.

    Caught off guard, Nangong Qingya took a step back. She looked up to see Gu Lin.

    ¡°You¡¯re here to sweep the floor, not to read the news!¡± Gu Lin¡¯s voice was shrill. ¡°Do you still think that you¡¯re the eldest daughter of the Nangong family?! Do you think that a cheap good like you is worthy to care about Brother Lei¡¯s news?!¡± As she spoke, she picked up a pot of hydroponic nts and smashed it on the ground viciously. The broken ss fragments fell on Nangong Qingya who was wearing sandals, scratching the unprotected parts of her feet. Nangong Qingya endured the pain and did not dare call out.

    ¡°Clean this as well!¡± Gu Lin pointed to the mess and demanded.

    Nangong Qingya lowered her head and went to pick up the ss fragments on the ground, but the corner of her eye was still fixed on the magazine. Xia Ling¡¯s bright smile on the cover was so dazzling.

    identally, she was pricked by the ss and fresh blood flowed out.

    Ye Xingling!

    Looking at the meandering blood, the hatred in Nangong Qingya¡¯s heart grew like poisonous grass. If it weren¡¯t for that woman, the Nangong family would not go bankrupt, her face would not be disfigured, and she would not have to be trampled on in the mud! She lost everything and wanted Ye Xingling to pay for it!

    As Gu Lin ridiculed and cursed her, she swept up the rubbish on the floor and carefully thought about the report in the magazine. Gradually, a n formed in her heart.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± She lifted her head and acted as sincere and innocent as possible. ¡°I hate Ye Xingling like you. Even in my dreams, I wish for that woman to be ruined. Please give me a chance and let me think of a n for you to deal with that b*tch Ye Xingling!¡±

    Gu Lin looked at her in disbelief.

    ¡°Please believe me.¡± Nangong Qingya put the broom aside and knelt in front of Gu Lin. Tears flowed down her face as she made a heartbreaking plea. ¡°My family, the Nangong family, was driven into bankruptcy by Ye Xingling. Ever since then, my family has been in ruins as our enemies are attacking us every day. I must find a way to ruin that b*tch! Miss Gu, I¡¯ve already fallen to this extent. Second Young Master Li will never think highly of me again.¡± She resisted her disgust and ttered Gu Lin. ¡°You¡¯re so honorable and beautiful. You¡¯re also Second Young Master Li¡¯s childhood friend. Once that b*tch Ye Xingling is dealt with, the priceless position of being Second Young Master Li¡¯s wife would be in your bag.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell, but you do have a good eye.¡± Gu Lin was a little bit pleased with the ttery.

    Nangong Qingya continued to work harder. ¡°That¡¯s why, Miss Gu, we have to find a way to get rid of Ye Xingling. We can¡¯t let that b*tch prevent you from iming your rightful title.¡±

    ¡°You do make sense.¡± Gu Lin looked at her carefully. ¡°Well then, tell me, how are you going to ruin that b*tch?¡±

    A cold and evil smile appeared on Nangong Qingya¡¯s face. She got up and told Gu Lin aplex n...

    ¡°Very good.¡± Gu Lin also smiled. ¡°Ye Xingling, let¡¯s see how you¡¯re going to survive this time.¡±

    A weekter.

    Xia Ling received a phone call from the orphanage to ask her if she had the time to go to the orphanage again.

    Xia Ling checked her schedule. Her first concert was a sess, and Lin Yunan and Wei Shaoyin wanted to seize the opportunity to organize a national tour concert immediately. There were only a few more days until the first performance. ¡°Is there anything important at the orphanage?¡± She asked, ¡°If youck money or have any request, you can talk to the person in charge of the foundation directly. I¡¯m very busy recently and am afraid that I can¡¯t make it.¡±

 Chapter 609 - Sudden Crisis

    <h4>Chapter 609: Sudden Crisis</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The orphanage staff said, ¡°It¡¯s not about money.¡±

    They told Xia Ling that ever since thest time she taught the children to sing, the children started to admire her and were eager to see her and hear her sing again. ¡°Tomorrow, the Skyart Entertainment Charity Foundation will send a batch of supplies to the orphanage. How about Miss Yee again then?¡± The staff invited her.

    ¡°Tomorrow?¡± Xia Ling hesitated.

    She had originally nned to sleep in tomorrow to readjust her state of mind. The day after tomorrow, she would have to set off to other cities to prepare for her tour concert. However, due to the enthusiastic invitation of the orphanage, she canceled her ns and promised to visit the children tomorrow.

    The next day.

    There was no cloud in the clear skies.

    Xia Ling wore a light beige dress. Her long hair was loosely tied up, and she wore a jasmine flower bracelet around her wrist. She went to the orphanage in a simple yet beautiful manner.

    Sure enough, when the children saw her, they were ted. They clustered together,ughed, and posed with her.

    She also liked interacting with the children and teaching them how to sing. She liked ying games with them and was very happy.

    In the afternoon, a teacher came over to give medicine to the children. ¡°This is the anthelmintic drug given by the charity foundation. Two pills per person. Everyone, please eat them now.¡±

    The children lined up to obtain the medicine.

    Xia Ling looked at the white pill curiously and asked the teacher, ¡°Anthelmintic medicine?¡±

    The teacher smiled and said, ¡°Yes. the children are prone to parasites in their intestines. It¡¯s best to deworm them once a year. The orphanage is tight on funds, and we haven¡¯t dewormed them this year. Thanks to Skyart Entertainment Charity Foundation, we were able to get the medicine. Miss Ye, you and Mr. Li are very kind people.¡±

    Xia Ling was in a good mood and said a few modest words.

    On the other hand, a photographer from Skyart Entertainment came over and saw her talking to the teacher. He said, ¡°You¡¯re our ambassador. How about you give a few pills to the children and let me take a few photos. It would be good for a press release.¡± This was also the request of the supplier of the anthelmintic drugs. They heard that it was a charity and were willing to supply the medicine for free in hopes that Miss Ye Xingling would increase the brand awareness of their products.

    Of course, the supplier added that if it was not convenient, they would not force it.

    As a gesture, the people of the charity foundation promised to try. If Miss Ye was willing to be photographed, it would be great. It seemed that they were quite lucky because she did not refuse.

    She took the pills from the teacher¡¯s hands and distributed them to the children.

    Her long hair flew in the breeze. Slightly lowering her head, she smiled peacefully and beautifully.

    The photographer took more photos from a few angles. Under the dim sunlight, she looked like an angel. Some girls were naturally liked by people. Regardless of her appearance, she possessed a certain charm that people admired. The photographer felt that it was apt for Miss Ye to be the charity¡¯s ambassador. She was naturally a good endorser as she was genuine and not fake. Every move was a form of beauty.

    In the afternoon, this set of photos was uploaded on the inte. Countless fans shared them and liked them.

    Even many people who were not her fans were touched by her kindness. They said, ¡°Whether it¡¯s truepassion for the orphans or a show, society needs more people like her who care for the disadvantaged.¡±

    Her poprity soared.

    Xia Ling and the children had a good day. They parted in the evening and she went back home.

    Her big vi was empty, and there was not a sound. Suddenly, she felt a little lonely. She also didn¡¯t know what Li Lei was doing today. She took out her phone and called him.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just miss you.¡± Over the phone, her voice was soft.

    At the other end, Li Lei smiled gently. ¡°I also miss you. Today I saw the news report. You¡¯re very beautiful.¡±

    After being praised by her beloved, she was even happier. Shey on the soft bed with her phone and said, ¡°The children were also very cute. Today, I yed games with them. Do you know that they...¡± She told him everything that happened.

    He listened with a smile. In the end, he said good night to her. ¡°Sleep early.¡±

    Reluctantly, she ended the call, washed up, and fell asleep.

    In the morning, she was shocked when she looked at her vibrating phone on the bedside table. In a daze, she remembered that she identally muted her phone yesterday. She also didn¡¯t know who was calling her so early in the morning.

    The morning light was gently scattered on her bed.

    She reached for her phone and was stunned. When she opened her call log, she had the shock of a lifetime. 15 missed calls from Li Lei, 12 from Sister Mai Na, and 10 from Lin Yunan. Including Wei Shaoyin, Feng Kun and Lin Yunan, she had a total of 100 missed calls.

    Was it the end of the world?

    She was so frightened that she was alert now. The most recent missed call was from Lin Yunan.

    The first thing Lin Yunan did was to berate her. ¡°You¡¯re already an experienced celebrity, Little Diva! How can you be as reckless as a newbie? Why didn¡¯t you bring your manager when you participated in public activities?! Not only did you not bring your manager, you still allowed others to take photos of you?! Are you crazy letting yourself be photographed giving out pills? Great! Now there are problems with the pills as all of the children in the orphanage are poisoned. Do you know how many people online are insulting you? They say that you¡¯re an idiot! Brainless! This is only the tip of the iceberg. Some even say that you¡¯re evil andck morals! They want you to go to hell and are asking why you aren¡¯t dead!¡±

    His explosive voice was like a firecracker.

    Xia Ling listened in bewilderment and barely grasped the main gist. ¡°You... you are saying that there are problems with the anthelmintic drugs the orphanage gave yesterday? The children are all poisoned?¡± She nervously sat up on the bed. Her voice shook. ¡°Are the children ok?¡±

    ¡°You should care about yourself first!¡± Lin Yunan was furious. ¡°Quickly get up and change into something solemn. One hourter, we¡¯re having an emergency meeting. You have to apologize to the media and the public!¡± Whether it was her fault or not, ording to crisis public rtionsws, she had to apologize first.

    Otherwise, her image as a public figure would be ruined.

    ¡°I already sent the press release statement to you. You better memorize it.¡± Lin Yunan spoke very quickly. ¡°Your door is blocked by surrounding reporters, so don¡¯t drive your Porsche out. I¡¯ve already sent a car to pick you up. You better obediently wait at home.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± As she responded, Xia Ling went to look for clothes in her walk-in closet, still concerned about the children. ¡°How¡¯s the situation in the orphanage? Quickly tell me.¡±

    Lin Yunan was enraged again, wondering why she was still pretending to be a goddess in this time of crisis. However, seeing that she was still worried, in order for her to get herself together for a smooth media conferenceter, he still said, ¡°Two died, 19 are in serious states, and 56 are hospitalized for observational purposes. Others are more fortunate and are fine after a check-up.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank to the bottom of the valley. Two died?!

 Chapter 610 - Carpool

    <h4>Chapter 610: Carpool</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Such cute children were gone just like that.

    Her body shook, and she almost lost her bnce. She heard herself ask, ¡°Two died?¡±

    ¡°The two that took the medicine from you! In the photo!¡± Lin Yunan was very annoyed with her bad luck.

    Her face turned pale.

    Thinking about her fate as a widow, could it be that she cursed those small children? She felt that she was crumbling and tried her best to recall which two pictures were taken of her by the photographer. However, too many photos were taken of her that she couldn¡¯t remember the photos that were in the news.

    The children¡¯s faces were blurry in her mind.

    Tears brimmed in her eyes. With a blurry vision, she walked into her closet filled with high-end ready-to-wear clothes. The smell of leather, dried flowers, and perfume filled the air. However, she suddenly felt that everything was meaningless. Even if she worked hard to be a big star and spent millions on a charity...

    In the end, she just hurt innocent children.

    Her fingers unconsciously clutched a in silk satin dress tightly. The delicate dress became wrinkled and ugly in her palm.

    Her tears fell on it.

    At the other end of the phone, Lin Yunan urged her. ¡°Hurry up! The car is almost there!¡±

    Suddenly, she realized that it was not the time to be sad. Hurriedly, she hung up the phone and changed into a ck dress. That long dress was very solemn and formal. It had moderately long sleeves and the skirt reached her ankles. She put on light make-up, tied up her hair simply, matched her outfit with ck high heels and a white handbag. She looked like she was mourning the dead and was about to apologize sincerely.

    The media was sharp and sinister. She couldn¡¯t let them pick out any mistakes.

    After that, she took a deep breath and went downstairs.

    A white SUV stopped at the doorstep of her vi.

    A strange man walked out from the car and said to her across the fence of the vi, ¡°Miss Ye, quickly get in the car. We were sent by Skyart Charity Fund to pick you up.¡±

    Startled, she was about to push the fence door to get on the car.

    Suddenly, someone stopped her.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡± It was a very low man¡¯s voice.

    Xia Ling looked up and saw arge bodyguard. It turned out to be Ah Nuo, Li Lei¡¯s most trusted person. She didn¡¯t know where he came from, but he put himself between her and the SUV.

    ¡°Ah Nuo, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Young Master sent me to protect you.¡± Ah Nuo said briefly. Ever since she moved out of Li Lei¡¯s apartment, Li Lei sent half of his bodyguards to look after her. Some time ago, these bodyguards settled the Nangong family¡¯s assassination n in secret and did not let her know.

    However, this time, they could not keep her in the dark.

    Ah Nuo was worried that due to their negligence, this car was able to enter. Although it didn¡¯t look like killers were hidden in the car, the shing lights of cameras in the dark car and this man¡¯s shining eyes showed that they were obviously not good people.

    ¡°Paparazzi. Am I right?¡± He turned around to look at the SUV. ¡°Quicky leave. Otherwise, Skyart Entertainment is not easy to mess with.¡±

    Xia Ling was astounded.

    Just now, that strange man who invited Xia Ling into the car smiled rather awkwardly. ¡°Misunderstanding. It¡¯s a misunderstanding.¡± Seeing that they couldn¡¯t benefit any longer, they quickly sped off.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart raced. She was almost fooled into entering that car! If the paparazzi had any evil intentions, it would be toote to cry.

    ¡°Ah Nuo, thank you.¡± Still badly shaken, she thanked Ah Nuo.

    Ah Nuo said, ¡°Miss Ye, you don¡¯t have to be polite. This is our duty.¡± After that, he answered hismunicator. A momentter, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°The car that Skyart sent to pick you up encountered a small ident nearby, and they¡¯re still waiting for the trailer. Just now, the car with the paparazzi probably learned of the news nearby and immediately thought of trying to trick you into entering their car so that they could get exclusive news.¡±

    Luckily, the paparazzi was unprofessional when it came to kidnapping and he saw through their n in an instant.

    However, Xia Ling was concerned about something else. The car that was sent to pick her up encountered an ident? ncing at the time, she realized that half an hour had passed since she answered Lin Yunan¡¯s call, put on her makeup and changed clothes. Lin Yunan told her that the internal media conference would start in an hour. Would she be able to make it?

    Just as she was about to go to her garage to drive her Porsche out...

    Suddenly, she saw a Rolls Royce stop beside her.

    ¡°Get in.¡± Winding down the rear window, Pei Ziheng¡¯s cold and emotionless face was seen.

    Startled, Xia Ling never expected that she would encounter him at this time. Although both of them lived very near each other, she always made a point to avoid him, and they rarely met.

    She rejected him. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have my own car.¡±

    ¡°The whole world knows about your Porsche.¡± Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Now, the entrance is filled with the media, fans, and angry protesters. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can try going out by yourself. If you drive your car, you won¡¯t get 10 meters away from the entrance.¡±

    She didn¡¯t say anything because she knew that most of what he said was true.

    ¡°Are you in a hurry?¡± Pei Ziheng was calm. ¡°I saw the news. Half an hourter, you have a press conference. Get in my car, I will take you there.¡±

    Xia Ling was in a dilemma and weighed the pros and cons.

    Pei Ziheng was also not in a rush and waited for her patiently.

    Time waits for no man. A few secondster, Xia Ling decided and told Ah Nuo, ¡°I will sit in Pei Ziheng¡¯s car. Ah Nuo, don¡¯t worry. I will be fine.¡±

    Ah Nuo heard about her entanglement with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Boss Pei before and knew that the owner of this Rolls Royce was his Big Boss¡¯ rival. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Unfortunately, his Big Boss did not send a car for her today and thepany car was met with an ident. He quietly prayed for Big Boss as he watched his future Lady Boss get into another man¡¯s car.

    Inside the Rolls Royce, it was very quiet.

    Pei Ziheng took out a sandwich from the mini fridge in the car. ¡°This news was released very early in the morning. I was afraid that you haven¡¯t eaten breakfast, so I told Nanny Zhou to make a sandwich and prepare fruit juice for you.¡±

    As he spoke, he handed her the freshly squeezed orange juice.

    Hearing him, she finally realized that she really didn¡¯t eat breakfast but had no appetite. She only shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not eating it. Thank you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng gently said, ¡°This sort of news conference is very taxing. This is your first time being involved in such a serious and critical situation, and you have no experience. Do you know that many shrewd questions from the floor can easily humiliate and provoke you into desperation? You must eat something. You will only be able to control your emotions with a full stomach. Otherwise, if you make any mistake, all the effort to save your image will go to waste.¡±

    Only then did she ept his food and ate it slowly.

 Chapter 611 - The Press Conference

    <h4>Chapter 611: The Press Conference</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When one was in a bad mood, the most delicious food would still taste like wax.

    Pei Ziheng reminded her of the things she should watch out for during crisis management, before saying, ¡°If it¡¯s too tough, you still can return to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head wearily.

    Pei Ziheng looked over at her. This petite girl next to him was looking paler than usual, and there was fatigue in her expression as well as a bit of panic. If this was the oue of him letting her go, then he should just try to win her back. ¡°Li Lei has no idea how to take care of you.¡± Pei Ziheng said in a low voice. ¡°When you were in Imperial Entertainment, you never encountered something like this.¡±

    ¡°No one died when I was at Imperial.¡± Xia Ling instinctively rebutted him.

    She couldn¡¯t stand it when others spoke badly about Li Lei. He was already doing his all to give her the best he could. For something like this to happen was outside of Li Lei¡¯s control. She was the one at fault for having allowed the photographer to take those photos.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Who said no one died? Wang Jingwan.¡±

    Both of them grew silent after he mentioned the name.

    Indeed, Wang Jingwan had died then, didn¡¯t she? Simrly, fingers were pointed at her, but Pei Ziheng had protected her and never allowed her to stand in front of the limelight and apologize.

    But...

    That was different.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and looked at the half-drunk juice in her cup.

    His ¡°protection¡± then was just another form of torture and ridicule. She would rather stand in front of the cameras and shlights to apologize to the public than to be imprisoned and isted from the world under the ruse of being ¡°sick.¡± Then, she had felt that she was being humiliated and tortured day after day,

    The half-hour to the press conference passed in a sh.

    The Rolls-Royce stopped at the venue of the press conference.

    Some people recognized the car and started to snap photos ferociously. However, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t think too much about this as she got off the car and was ushered by her staff through the crowds of people and reporters into the press conference hall.

    She stood onstage apanied by Lin Yunan.

    As she scanned the media representatives in front of her, armed with camera lenses of all sizes, as well as the representatives from human rights organizations that were holding signposts of the dead kids that had taken drugs from her.

    Seeing these photos, she recalled the incident that urred.

    They were two boisterous young boys that she had been teaching to sing for a while now. The little one had a particrly good voice, and she had praised him and told him that he would be a famous singer when he grew up.

    When she was giving out the drugs, the two boys had rushed forward to be the first and had happily thanked her.

    She had watched them swallow the two white pills with her own eyes...

    She was the one that had personally caused their death.

    Tears gathered in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, and she was about to swallow them back. However, she remembered Pei Ziheng¡¯s advice: ¡°If you don¡¯t know what to say, then cry... Cry with all your might, uncontrobly if you can. Don¡¯t give the reporters too much time to ask questions. After you¡¯ve apologized, just leave as quickly as you can.¡±

    She knew that the reporters were all like sharks circling their prey. If there was but a bit of loophole in her statement, they would rush forward and shred her to pieces. Hence, she let her tears flow, and her expression looked even more downcast than before.

    Seeing her expression, Lin Yunan breathed a sigh of relief.

    After all, artistes were not given lessons on crisis management in the training camps. Given that Xiao Ling was so innocent, Lin Yunan had been worried that she would make a mess of things.

    Thankfully, she looked like she knew the importance of showing her guilt.

    Lin Yunan, too, wore an expression of grief toplement her.

    As Xia Ling cried, she choked out her apology to the orphanage and the children. She said that it was her oversight not to have checked the drugs and had given them to the kids so ignorantly.

    The reporters asked pointedly, ¡°Miss Ye, you only went for the charity event for show, didn¡¯t you? You don¡¯t care for the children¡¯s health at all, right?¡±

    She shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°That¡¯s not true... I love the children.¡±

    ¡°Is it because you¡¯ve lost a child before and, therefore, you don¡¯t ce as much importance on other people¡¯s children?¡± The reporters¡¯ questions became sharper as the cameras shed constantly at her.

    This question caught her off-guard, and she almost lost her bnce as her ears buzzed. Her tears fell with a vengeance, and she opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn¡¯t say a thing in front of so many people.

    ¡°Miss Ye, why aren¡¯t you saying anything? Did I hit the nail on the head?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Ye, you¡¯ve lost a child before. You should know that kind of pain. How can you be so irresponsible and give deadly drugs to the kids?¡±

    ¡°I heard that the charity fund is shady. Can you tell us if that¡¯s true?¡±

    ¡°There are many rumors saying that you¡¯ve bought many high-end haute couture outfits and jewelry recently. Fendi, Chanel... pink diamond nes, etc. I¡¯ve calcted that the quantity you¡¯ve bought is way past what a typical singer¡¯s ie can afford. Did you embezzle some of the charity¡¯s funds? Was that why you fed the kids inferior quality drugs?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t you have a conscience?¡±

    ¡°Why are you so cruel? Why did you take the money that was meant to buy good drugs for the kids?¡±

    The questions became more intense and harsh by the minute. She didn¡¯t know how to answer all of them. At this moment, she looked down at the sea of shing lights as all the faces in front of her blurred together.

    She wanted to tell all of them that what they said was untrue. Things were not as they were specting. However, it was useless. Nobody would listen to her...

    The PR speech that Lin Yunan gave her and the advice that Pei Ziheng gave her on the way to the press conference were long forgotten in the face of the rampage from the reporters. Her mind was aplete nk, and all she could do was to cry and repeat. ¡°Sorry... I don¡¯t know... I¡¯m really sorry... ¡±

    Her voice grew hoarser and smaller by the second.

    In contrast, the reporters became louder and more animated.

    Seeing that things were not going well, Lin Yunan stood up and said as politely as he could to the reporters, ¡°I¡¯m sorry everyone, Xiao Ling¡¯s emotions are getting the better of her. This incident has caused great trauma to her. We will conclude the press conference here today. Our spokesperson will take charge of responding to all additional questions.¡±

    He held onto Xia Ling and prepared to take her backstage to rest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡± A human rights representative in the crowd shouted. ¡°Ye Xingling, exin yourself today! Did you or did you not embezzle charity funds and receive kickbacks from the factory? Did you feed the kids inferior quality drugs?! Where did you get the money for all your branded bags and expensive jewelry?!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Don¡¯t try to worm your way out!¡± Others in the crowd shouted.

    Lin Yunan ignored them and focused on bringing her away. However, the crowd surrounded them and refused to let them leave.

    ¡°Please give way. Sorry, please make way.¡± Lin Yunan started to get frustrated. If it weren¡¯t for PR purposes, he would have long fought his way out of this crowd.

 Chapter 612 - Those Who Slander Her Will Pay the Price

    <h4>Chapter 612: Those Who nder Her Will Pay the Price</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The reporters blocked their way such that they could not move.

    The camera shes continued to be aimed at Xia Ling¡¯s face as the shutters clicked non-stop. She could barely open her eyes. She cried and instinctively blocked her face with her hands. However, the reporters shouted at her. ¡°Miss Ye, put your hands down! If you didn¡¯t do anything wrong, why are you hiding from the cameras?!¡±

    Many expressed agreement to the statement.

    They wanted to get more photos for their news reports so they could do their job and earn their keep.

    She was pulled and shoved through the crowd. Even though Lin Yunan was protecting her, he was one versus many and could hardly hold up. Suddenly, the crowd was parted by a strong force.

    Xia Ling felt herself being pulled into the steady arms of a man.

    This man had a familiar scent of mild sunlight and leather ¡ª it was Li Lei.

    His deep voice was transmitted over the top of her head to the crowd. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this for all of you here to be bullying a weak girl?¡± His tone was cold and forceful, and there was silence in an instant.

    The reporters had thought that since the Skyart Charity Fund had such a big scandal, chairman Li Lei would try his best to keep a low profile. They had not expected him toe today and reprimand all of them. Everyone was in shock.

    While they were still trying to regain their senses, Li Lei had already brought Xia Ling to a safe zone.

    He hugged her as his cold gaze swept across the crowd of reporters. ¡°Anyone with questions can direct them to me. I¡¯m the Chairman of the charity fund and have the biggest authority to make any decisions. As for Xiao Ling, she¡¯s just an artiste, what does she know? She was chosen as the endorsement model for the charity under mymand. She was told to take those photos under mymand and give out those drugs under mymand. Does she know anything about theponents of the drugs or the business processes? As a charity endorser and spokesperson, she merely did what was within her scope of responsibilities ¡ª y with the kids, teach them to sing, and tell the public through the media to look out for the less fortunate. What else do you guys want her to do?¡±

    There wasplete silence.

    Xia Ling was stunned. She didn¡¯t expect Li Lei to defend her so strongly. The tears that she had managed to stop threatened to fall again.

    She had felt so wronged by this whole incident. There were millions of child who had taken the de-worming medicine, but why was she the unlucky one to had met with something so unfortunate? Yet, she couldn¡¯t say this to the media or they would construe her as someone that shirked responsibility and a cruel woman.

    However, Li Lei was defending her without care at this moment.

    Did he know what he was doing? This was a PR crisis, and with her shallow knowledge based on all that Lin Yunan had been brainwashing her with, wasn¡¯t this the time to keep apologizing and not to pin me on anyone?

    But he wasn¡¯t doing that.

    What if Skyart Entertainment¡¯s image was hurt due to his tough stance?

    She pulled at the edge of his shirt softly.

    However, Li Lei held onto her hand tightly and firmly. He spoke again and, this time, he told the reporters, ¡°It¡¯s Skyart¡¯s responsibility to investigate the reason for the de-worming medicine to have been of inferior quality. I will make sure to give the orphanage and the public a proper exnation for everything that has happened. However, this has absolutely nothing to do with Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling is an innocent party in this entire incident. If I see anyone nder her in your reports, there will be a price to pay!¡±

    His final sentence was said with menace.

    The reporters closest to him took a few steps back in fear.

    This man was frightening when he was angry.

    There was continued silence in the crowd as everyone was in shock at this scene. No one dared offend the Big Boss with underworld background. It was only now that they all recalled how scary Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment was, and all the rumors about him came back to the forefront of their minds.

    Many lowered their heads, not daring to look Li Lei in the eye.

    Li Lei gave a cold huff before looking down at his beloved in his arms, his gaze bing gentle. He said in a low voice, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Then, he held her hand as he parted the crowd and led her away.

    The crowd automatically opened up to reveal a path for them.

    Suddenly, a brave voice rang out. ¡°If the incident has nothing to do with Ye Xingling, then why have this press conference at all?¡± This was not said in a particrly loud voice but was clearly heard by everyone in therge hall given the pin-drop silence.

    Li Lei paused in mid-step and turned around.

    All the reporters lowered their heads and silently chided that one person that had spoken out. If he offended Boss Li now, they were all in trouble of being coteral damage!

    That person was also regretting saying anything and had his head lowered as well.

    Li Lei¡¯s cold gaze swept across the room again, and he said in a tough voice, ¡°Yes, I should never have allowed this press conference.¡± Who were the ones who had put Xiao Ling in the limelight and arranged this press conference to torture her? He asked the staff members near him, ¡°Whose idea was it to hold a press conference?¡±

    ¡°Boss Mai and Boss Lin.¡± One of the staff members mumbled.

    Boss Mai was the vice-chairman of the charity fund and was in charge of the day-to-day running of the fund. Boss Lin was Xia Ling¡¯s manager, Lin Yunan.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Li Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°Inform Mai Ke that he¡¯s been fired! Lin Yunan, you¡¯re also fired!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Lin Yunan stared at him in shock.

    ¡°No way...¡± The reporters also looked on in shock and had eximed subconsciously. Did Boss Li fire two important executives in a split second just to protect his girl?

    They looked toward Xia Ling again. This time, their gaze seemed like they were looking at a monster.

    What in the world did this woman have to make Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss protect her like this? The reporters responsible for all the harsh questions earlier were starting to regret.

    Li Lei did not care what everyone was thinking or feeling. Now, he lowered his head and told his girl gently. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Xia Ling nced over at Lin Yunan worriedly. What should she say? How could he have been fired so suddenly?

    Li Lei did not care for this at all. He grabbed her hand and led her away from the press conference venue.

    They got into his SUV.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I waste.¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression was ashen. She had suffered so much in the few hours since the incident was reported in the early morning. Li Lei felt like whipping himself and Lin Yunan for putting her in the helpless position in front of the reporters, such that she had been questioned until she was in tears!

    Was this Manager an idiot?! How could he not be able to protect a small girl like her?!

    His grip tightened on the steering wheel.

    Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Xia Ling carefully said, ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±

    ¡°I know if you¡¯re okay or not.¡± He retorted before growing silent. After a while, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m so sorry. There was a family matter this morning, and I was summoned by my grandfather for a meeting. That¡¯s why I couldn¡¯t find time to settle the problems on your end.¡±

    Recently, there was aplicated issue in his family overseas.

    This was something that was way more significant than the incident in the charity fund.

    However, if it were up to Li Lei, he would still have ced Xiao Ling¡¯s issue as a priority. There were many capable individuals in his family who could deal with the family issue. Xiao Ling, on the other hand, only had him.

    Yet, it was not up to him.

 Chapter 613 - Three Daysâ€™ Time

    <h4>Chapter 613: Three Days¡¯ Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Old Master Li kept him in the meeting room, forcing him to participate in the decision-making process.

    The Old Master said, ¡°Li Lei, you¡¯re an important candidate to be the heir of the family businesses, and very likely will be the head of the family. How can you be absent at such a critical stage? Are you intending to concede the head of the family position to Li Feng?¡±

    Li Lei wanted to say that as long as Xiao Ling was fine, he could not care less about the head of the family position.

    However, he knew that if he said something to that effect, it would only intensify the Old Master¡¯s hatred towards Xiao Ling and would not help things. Hence, he stayed in the meeting room and had an emergency call with the uncles in the family to decide on the way forward.

    The matter was pretty grave this time.

    Li Feng had overturned a huge mob in Latin America, killing dozens of people. There was a ripple effect as a result of this. The mob¡¯s friends banded together tounch a joint attack on the Li Family, who were now in a disadvantageous position with no allies. They were fending off the attack but only just. The situation was highly precarious.

    When the emergency meeting had concluded, the Old Master instructed Li Lei. ¡°Pack your things. We need to head back to the headquarters this instant.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Grandfather, let me resolve the issue with the charity fund, which has a negative impact on Skyart. I can¡¯t leave now. Go back to the headquarters first, I¡¯ll be there in a few days.¡±

    Grandfather looked at Li Lei with eagle-like eyes. ¡°For Skyart? It¡¯s for that female star, isn¡¯t it? Xiao Lei, you¡¯ve grown up, haven¡¯t you. For a woman, you¡¯re leaving the family in the lurch?!¡±

    ¡°There are so many uncles helping out, and you¡¯re going back to hold the fort. I don¡¯t believe that the Li Family can¡¯t manage without me for a few days.¡± Li Lei returned his grandfather¡¯s re. ¡°Xiao Ling needs me now, and if I just leave like that, what kind of man would I be? Grandfather, she trusts me, and so, she¡¯s allowed me to manage the charity fund and agreed to be the endorsement model. Now, you¡¯re asking me to leave in the midst of this crisis. Is that what you taught me in the Li Family?¡±

    The Old Master had nothing to retort Li Lei with. Thus, he instructed his subordinates to tie Li Lei down so that he could not leave.

    Li Lei continued to re at his grandfather and said, ¡°Grandfather, don¡¯t make me hate you.¡±

    The Old Master¡¯s gaze narrowed.

    The grandfather-grandson pair stared at each other for a long time before the Old Master abruptly shouted, ¡°Useless fool!¡± He waved off his subordinates.

    The Old Master really cared for this grandson and was preventing him from being with Xia Ling for his own good. While they seemed at loggerheads all the time, the Old Master was unwilling for animosity to build between the two of them. ¡°I¡¯ll give you three days.¡± The Old Master said. ¡°In three days, you¡¯d better be back at the headquarters.¡±

    Li Lei lowered his head respectfully as he watched his grandfather leave with his subordinates in tow.

    Three days.

    He knew that this was his grandfather¡¯s limit.

    Li Feng was always like a ticking time bomb, and time and again, he had put the Li Family in dire situations. Now, if the Old Master didn¡¯t go back to hold the fort, Li Feng would only be more radical. His killing spree in Latin America would go out of hand and would be impossible to rein in. They needed the whole family to work together to address the issue.

    Now, he turned to Xia Ling, who was crying by his side. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to exin the matter. After a moment of silence, he gently said, ¡°Are you hungry? Let¡¯s bring you back to rest and have something to eat.¡±

    She broke into a smile.

    ¡°Do you only know how to use food to entice me?¡± She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

    The mild sunlight was shining into the car through the windows.

    Her hair was a little messy, and her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Yet, her smile was like dawn breaking on her face, making her look so beautiful that his heart skipped a beat.

    Li Lei stretched his hand out and caressed her face lovingly.

    He carefully removed the silver hair-tie that she had used to keep her hair up, releasing her long locks andbing them with his fingers. He wiped the remaining tears from her eyes andplimented. ¡°You look much better this way.¡±

    His voice made her feel peaceful.

    ¡°Have a short rest. Then, I¡¯ll send you back to the bungalow and cook something nice for you.¡± Three days were short and precious, and the problems that he had to settle wereplicated. However, he could still spare half that time to take care of her.

    However, she said, ¡°I¡¯ve booked an afternoon flight to City Y. I have a concert over there tomorrow. The first of my world tour.¡± Even though there was the incident about the medication poisoning to grapple with, concert timeslots were too important to cancel.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ll apany you there.¡±

    He drove her to the airport and bought an air ticket for himself, requesting for the seat beside her. That seat was originally Lin Yunan¡¯s seat, but since he had been fired, it was now empty.

    Xia Ling spoke up in Lin Yunan¡¯s defense. ¡°He was just following protocol in trying to solve the problem. Holding the press conference was inevitable. Please don¡¯t fire him.¡±

    ¡°Following protocol? He should be thinking for you.¡± Li Lei was not moved. He wasn¡¯t interested in a Manager that was bent on making Xiao Ling into a Diva. All he wanted was for Xiao Ling to be safe and not get hurt. However, Lin Yunan failed to do that. Lin Yunan was a businessman and would always put mary benefits first. If it meant putting Xiao Ling through some pain so that she could reap rewardster, he would do that without hesitation.

    Just like this press conference.

    Yet, this was not what Li Lei wanted.

    Xia Ling was the most precious gem in his hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing Sister Mai Na back to manage your concert.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling wanted to argue back.

    ¡°You¡¯re tired, take a rest.¡± Li Lei was not interested to grapple with her over these little details. Lin Yunan needed to be punished. He took out his tablet and said, ¡°I have some business matters to settle. I¡¯ll wake you when we¡¯ve reached City Y.¡±

    Seeing that he was busy, Xia Ling did not want to disturb him and, thus, kept quiet.

    She was indeed very tired as the press conference in the morning had drained her. As the ne taxied to the runway and took off, she drifted off into deep slumber.

    She dreamed of the orphanage and the smiling faces of the children that had died.

    They took the drugs from her hands and were thanking her with bright smiles on their faces.

    She woke with a scream.

    Li Lei held her hand tofort her immediately. He asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She was still in shock, and her face was pale as she shook her head. ¡°I dreamed... of some scary things...¡± she said haltingly.

    ¡°Everything will pass.¡± His voice was calm and steady. ¡°I¡¯ll be by your side. Don¡¯t be afraid, Xiao Ling. Nothing can harm you.¡±

    She shook her head again. ¡°No... it was me... I hurt them...¡±

    Li Lei looked at her and continued in his gentle voice. ¡°That incident has nothing to do with you. Logically speaking, there shouldn¡¯t be such a big oversight over de-worming medication. I think someone is picking on Skyart. The children¡¯s death was partly my fault in that case. I will investigate the incident thoroughly. Just do a good job at your concert.¡±

    He had already sent people out to investigate the incident. It shouldn¡¯t be long before the truth was revealed.

    Xia Ling shut her eyes and breathed deeply, forcing herself to calm down. ¡°I wonder who was so cruel.¡± The smiling faces of the two boys appeared in her mind again, and she felt her heart clench with pain.

 Chapter 614 - The First Concert of the World Tour

    <h4>Chapter 614: The First Concert of the World Tour</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei consoled her for a long time.

    The nended in City Y. Due to the charity fund scandal, the airport arrival event was canceled, and there were no fans or media waiting for them. There were only two Skyart photographers in charge of taking a few shots of her and Li Lei disembarking from the aircraft.

    There was a mild drizzle.

    Sister Mai Na was already waiting for them when they reached the hotel. She came forward and embraced Xia Ling, saying, ¡°You¡¯ve suffered. Do well for the concert and don¡¯t worry about anything else. You still have Boss and me holding the fort.¡±

    Xia Ling felt her nose crinkle as tears threatened to fall. She nodded her head resolutely.

    She followed the concert staff to the venue to oversee the audio tuning, set-up, and rehearsal.

    Li Lei apanied her to the concert venue. When she was verifying things on the stage, he was calling people by the side non-stop, instructing them to investigate the de-worming medicine incident. The investigation moved quickly and by nightfall, there had already been some progress. It was Gu Lin, under the instigation of Nangong Qingya, who was responsible for doing something so despicable.

    Li Lei knew that they were targeting Xiao Ling, wanting Xiao Ling¡¯s reputation to be tarnished.

    ¡°Boss, what should we do now?¡± Tan Ying, who was in charge of the investigation, asked over the phone.

    ¡°I wanted to let Nangong Qingya off, but it seems that she¡¯s adamant on pissing me off.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was menacingly low. ¡°Doesn¡¯t the Boss of the Italian Hell¡¯s Dog Mafia like her a lot? Send her to him.¡±

    Tan Ying¡¯s heart jumped in shock, but he answered, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The Hell¡¯s Dog Mafia Boss was a cruel man, and the number of girls that been maimed and killed in his hands were countless. He had been drooling at Nangong Qingya¡¯s beauty for a long time now but had not been able to chase her down because of the Nangong Family¡¯s wealth and power. Now, the Nangong Family was bankrupted, but the Hell¡¯s Dog Mafia Boss heard that Nangong Qingya¡¯s face was disfigured. Hence, he lost interest.

    ¡°Her face is almost cured now, right?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°... Yes.¡± Tan Ying was looking out of the window pensively as he spoke in the phone with Li Lei. The darkness was spreading in the sky, and hemented how there were rules to be yed by in the darkness as well.

    ¡°Cure her face, then send her to him. Don¡¯t make him lose his appetite.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Tan Ying hung up. The world was survival of the fittest ¡ª Nangong Qingya could easily take away the lives of two little kids, and simrly, Li Lei could destroy her with a flick of his fingers.

    She could only me herself for choosing to offend the apple of Big Boss¡¯ eye.

    Tan Ying called his subordinates over and gave them Li Lei¡¯s instructions to carry out.

    On the City Y concert stage.

    Xia Lingpleted her rehearsal and came to the audience stands to look for Li Lei. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Your expression looks awful...¡± Xia Ling asked in concern.

    Li Lei slipped his phone into his pocket and rearranged his expression before smiling gently at her. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡±

    She looked at him suspiciously. ¡°Were you trying to settle the issue with the charity fund?¡±

    He didn¡¯t say anything and instead stood up and draped a scarf over her shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s getting cold in the night. Why are you wearing so little? Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll send you back to the hotel. Rest well tonight, tomorrow you have a concert to hold.¡±

    She lifted her head to look at him. ¡°What¡¯s going on with the charity fund investigation? I keep feeling uneasy... Those two kids...¡± She lowered her head and bit her lip. ¡°They were so innocent... Am I a jinx to strangers as well?¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Li Lei responded. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve already found the culprit. I was afraid that you would worry, so I didn¡¯t tell you. It¡¯s one of my enemies, and he¡¯s targeting Skyart. It has nothing to do with you.¡±

    ¡°Your enemy?¡± As he expected, Xia Ling became nervous. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s one of our opposing forces overseas. They won¡¯t be able to do much to us.¡± Li Lei skirted across the issue. ¡°They couldn¡¯t find a way to get to me, so they chose to hurt the kids in the orphanage. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already sent my men to take care of it. There won¡¯t be anything like this happening again.¡±

    ¡°These people are terrible.¡± Xia Ling felt sad. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t even let those poor little kids off.¡±

    He assured her. ¡°I¡¯ll take revenge for those kids.¡±

    She still felt worried for him. ¡°Will you be okay?¡±

    ¡°I told you... they can¡¯t find a way to get to me, so they hurt the kids.¡± Li Lei spoke in a tone that was even gentler to appease her. ¡°Nothing will happen to me.¡±

    She felt a little better at hearing his assurances, but her expression still betrayed the fact that she was deeply concerned.

    Li Lei held her hand as he led her out of the concert venue.

    At the doorway, she suddenly asked, ¡°Do underworld gangs all need toe face-to-face with life and death all the time?¡±

    He was slightly taken aback before recalling that when he had met Xiao Ling, she had no inkling about his underworld ties. He might have appeared to be just like the Gu Family and Pei Ziheng. Even though she had found out about his underworld background, that was still a distant and surreal revtion which she had not thought much of.

    However, this murder incident had brought her into the midst of it.

    Would Xiao Ling be scared?

    Would she regret falling in love with someone of his background?

    Li Lei started to get anxious.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± He subconsciously started to console her. ¡°It¡¯s pretty safe and peaceful in China. The underworld powers can¡¯t quite enter the country, and you have lots of bodyguards protecting you. None of my enemies will be able to touch you. You¡¯re very safe.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡± She asked anxiously. ¡°Will you be in danger?¡± All along she had never given much thought about Li Lei being involved with the underworld. Even though he would asionally joke about throwing people into the sea to feed the sharks when he got angry, she had never taken him seriously.

    The death of the two children made her realize how cruel the world was.

    ¡°Why would anything happen to me?¡± Li Lei looked up at the night sky and replied to her. He was the second son of the first wife of the Li Family, the future heir to the Li Family fortune. His future was fraught with danger and conspiracy, but he did not want to burden his beloved with details of these. All she needed to do was to just sing her songs.

    Xia Ling was still uneasy.

    Seeing her like this, Li Lei regretted telling her that the culprit was his enemy and not Nangong Qingya. Perhaps he should have told her that it was just an ident. However, Xiao Ling would think that she was the jinx and had jinxed the two kids.

    Li Lei frowned. This thing about destiny was a messy andplicated matter.

    The next night was Xia Ling¡¯s concert.

    The organizers had already estimated that the concert would be badly affected by the de-worming medicine incident. As expected, many fans requested refunds for their tickets, and there were human rights activists standing at the doorway of the concert hall telling the public to boycott Ye Xingling.

    Sister Mai Na consoled her. ¡°There are peaks and troughs in life.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°I understand, don¡¯t worry about me.¡± It would be a lie to say that she wasn¡¯t disappointed. However, she still kept herposure on stage and showed the steadiness of a singer for two lifetimes. In the face of the activists¡¯ chants and boos offstage, she was calm and collected, and immersed herself in the music, blocking out all distractions.

    It was a perfect performance.

    After the encore and thanks.

    Sister Mai Na was waiting backstage for her. ¡°That was fabulous. Full marks.¡±

    Xia Ling responded with a smile, but she didn¡¯t feel particrly happy. So what if she sang well? There were still sporadic boos all the way till the time she stepped off the stage.

    She started to remove her makeup slowly, as she sat in the makeup room drinking a ss of warm water.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Xiao Ling, let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll send you back to the hotel.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m waiting for Li Lei.¡±

    ¡°What?! Li lei didn¡¯t tell you?¡± Sister Mai Na asked in shock.

 Chapter 615 - Old Pei Next Door

    <h4>Chapter 615: Old Pei Next Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at her, confused. ¡°Tell me what?¡±

    Sister Mai Na replied, ¡°He took the red-eye flight back to the Li Family headquarters today. There¡¯s a big problem at the headquarters, and they¡¯ve summoned him back urgently.¡± When Xiao Ling was singing on stage, Li Lei had sought out Sister Mai Na and told her this. He also reminded Sister Mai Na to take good care of Xiao Ling, saying that it would be while before he coulde back.

    Sister Mai Na looked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°When Boss catches a breather, I¡¯m sure he will contact you.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent in her chair for a moment, before nodding. ¡°Okay, I got it.¡± She guessed that he had left in a hurry or he would have informed her first. This was not far from the truth. Li Lei was still wondering how to tell her about him having to leave for the headquarters and had not been able to find an opportune moment to do so. He had intended to tell her after the concert but was urgently summoned by the Old Master mid-way through.

    The Old Master told him that Li Feng had gotten into another huge brawl and had managed to offend all the underworld gangs in the world.

    Li Lei was speechless at his trouble-making brother.

    The Old Master was hopping mad over the phone, saying that both of them were problematic in so many ways. Suddenly, the berating stopped and he heard the anxious shouts of people on the other end of the line saying, ¡°Old Master, Old Master... Are you okay?¡±

    The Old Master was getting on in years... what if something bad had happened?

    Li Lei had booked a flight for the next day but decided to rush back immediately, not even staying for the rest of the concert.

    While Xia Ling did not know the entire backstory, she knew that he would not just leave without a word. She was already starting to miss him, but she reined in her emotions. They had a lifetime ahead of them, she would be able to speak to him again soon.

    As for the scandal that she was stuck in now? She would make sure to stay strong and hang in there, so as to not let him have more to worry about.

    She removed thest of her jewelry and ced it on the makeup counter, before standing and saying to Sister Mai Na. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    SIster Mai Na called her bodyguards and assistant over to keep Xia Ling well protected as they walked towards the parking area.

    There were still many people in the front and backstage, but it was considerably fewerpared to when the concert had just ended. At the end of the concert, some fans and activists had gotten into a conflict, and it almost evolved into a stampede. Luckily, the security guards reacted quickly and managed to separate the two groups of people. They increased the security vignce in the ce and even activated the police to help out.

    Now, many people had cleared out of the concert venue, and there was only a small group left hanging around.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening over there?¡± Xia Ling asked, pointing towards the crowd in the distance.

    Sister Mai Na looked at where she was pointing to. ¡°The fan club had initially nned for a fan-sign event after the concert. However, I think we won¡¯t be having that anymore. I¡¯ve asked the security guards to get them to leave. However, there are many fans that are still waiting for you to get your autograph.¡±

    Xia Ling paused mid-step.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about them. They will leave after a while.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What about all the activists and anti-fans?¡±

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°I told someone to drive a van out of the concert venue earlier. The activists thought that you left already, and thus, have also left.¡± Activists were different from her fans in that her fans were more willing to wait and hope for a miracle.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°There aren¡¯t many fans left, anyway. Since they¡¯ve waited patiently for so long, can¡¯t I go give them my autograph?¡±

    Sister Mai Na replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, right?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her gaze to the floor, feeling sad. In her past life, she was arrogant and wasn¡¯t particrly good to her fans. However, when she was imprisoned and put in cold storage, and even killed, all her friends deserted her, but her fans were the ones that remained stoic in helping her seek justice.

    She wanted to treat them better.

    Sister Mai Na knew that she was in a depressed state and did not want to stand in the way of what she wanted to do. She thought for a while before giving some instructions to the security guards. The guards did a quick scan of the premises, before nodding at Sister Mai Na.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the parking lot.¡± Sister Mai Na told Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯ll get the remaining fans to queue up over there. We¡¯ll leave immediately after you¡¯ve given them your signatures.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up when she heard this and agreed to Sister Mai Na¡¯s arrangements.

    The fans were overjoyed and obediently queued up by the parking lot, waiting patiently to get her signature.

    It was a cool summer¡¯s night, and stars peppered the night sky.

    Those that were still present were her die-hard fans. Even though she was embroiled in the de-worming medicine scandal, they chose to believe that Xia Ling was innocent. As she was giving them her signature, many fans encouraged her. ¡°Xiao Ling, hang in there. You¡¯re the best.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I believe that you are innocent. You need to keep pressing on.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, the concert was great! You¡¯re the best!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I will love and support you always!¡±

    Their words helped to energize her tired spirit from the happenings in the past few days. Even Sister Mai Na was feeling happy at her decision of allowing this mini fan-sign as she felt that the words of encouragement were good for Xia Ling.

    There weren¡¯t many people ¡ª just over thirty perhaps ¡ª and the fan-sign was over in a jiffy.

    Those that had obtained her autograph joyfully departed and disappeared from the dark parking lot.

    She reached thest person in the queue.

    Xia Ling¡¯s head was lowered as she reached her hand out to receive the item that was passed to her. Some fans would hand her posters to sign, others might pass her photographs, and then others would pass her notebooks.

    However, this person stretched out his palm for a signature.

    It was the clean hand of a man.

    The joints on his five fingers were defined, and there was a watch on his wrist. The watch¡¯s face was slightly damaged and the hands had already stopped, but she could tell that it was a custom-made Patek Phillippe.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and took in a familiar face.

    That man had cold, defined features, and his tall stature towered over her petite frame, leaving a long shadow on the ground. His head was lowered as he watched her wordlessly, quietly opening up his palm like there was a butterfly resting on it.

    Pei Ziheng.

    She subconsciously took a step back.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Sister Mai Na recognized him as well and came forward to stand in front of Xia Ling protectively.

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t even so much as nce at Sister Mai Na.

    He stared at Xia Ling and asked in a hoarse, deep voice. ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t you going to give me your autograph?¡±

    His long ck trench coat was pping in the wind.

    Xia Ling¡¯s breathing stopped for a split second, before she said softly, ¡°You¡¯re not my fan.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°But I am.¡± Without waiting for her response, he continued. ¡°I¡¯ve been your fan for half my life, didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    She was speechless.

    Sister Mai Na frowned as she regarded Pei Ziheng. ¡°Chairman Pei, Xiao Ling is exhausted. Please don¡¯t make trouble for her. We have to leave now, goodbye.¡± As she spoke, she made to pull Xia Ling away.

    Xia Ling obediently followed after Sister Mai Na.

    However, Pei Ziheng caught one of her arms.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± His deep voice rang out as he slowly enunciated her name. ¡°is this how you treat your fans?¡±

    ¡°Can you please let me go?¡± She responded softly.

    ¡°Give me your signature. Is it that hard?¡± He had made the trip all the way from S City to watch her concert, pushing away many important meetings to do so. After the concert, he had to wait in the night for her for a long time.

    That was how much he missed her.

 Chapter 616 - The Butterfly is Dead

    <h4>Chapter 616: The Butterfly is Dead</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She lowered her head to look at his hand.

    It was so familiar ¡ª she knew every joint and wrinkle on it. Ten years ago, she would never have thought that there woulde a day that they would be like strangers to each other.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± Her voice was soft and seemed to dissipate in the wind. ¡°don¡¯t be like this.¡±

    ¡°Be like what?¡± He was exceedingly patient in front of her, and now all he wanted to do was to drag the time out and speak to her for a longer period of time. Just to be standing so close in front of her, being able to touch her, was looking to be a scarce scenario for the rest of his life.

    Xia Ling slowly but surely extracted her hand from his grip. ¡°I¡¯ve said that he won¡¯t be happy.¡± She did not say exactly who ¡°he¡± was, but both of them knew who she was talking about.

    ¡°You... you really care so much for him?¡± He couldn¡¯t bring himself to use the word ¡°love¡± to describe her rtionship with Li Lei. Even the word ¡°care¡± was one that he could barely bear to use. He changed the topic almost immediately after his question. ¡°Is it so hard to give me your autograph?¡±

    He did not want to hear anything about her ¡°care¡± for Li Lei.

    ¡°Will you leave if I give you my autograph?¡± She asked.

    ¡°If you prefer for me to stay, I would be d to.¡± His voice remained low and deep.

    Xia Ling took a pen from her staff and wrote the three characters for ¡°Ye Xingling¡± on his palm. Her neat handwriting was simr to his ¡ª he had taught her calligraphy when she was young.

    In the quiet summer¡¯s night, his deep breathing could be heard clearly.

    Xia Ling extended thest stroke of the word ¡°Ling¡± such that it was almost at his wrist. Her gaze fell on the damaged Patek Philippe on his wrist. She remembered that it was the watch that she had custom-made for his birthday. After her reincarnation, he had thrown aside her hand to retrieve the watch when she was struggling in the water.

    The butterfly was dead.

    She returned the pen to the staff standing to the side and raised her gaze to Pei Ziheng¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time on me. Find a girl that loves you and be happy.¡±

    With that, she turned and left without looking back.

    Pei Ziheng stood alone with the night wind blowing on him, watching as she went further and further away from him, and finally disappeared from sight.

    The nearby concert venue was still ying her album in the background. It was a moving song ¡ª ¡°If we had never met that fateful year, would our ending be a different one...¡±

    If they had never met.

    How could they have not met?

    He raised his head in the wind. <i>Xiao Ling, there are so many people bent on breaking you and Li Lei apart, so howe you are willing to hold on for so long? Do you think that it¡¯s just a coincidence that he has to go overseas now? The web is cast, and both of you cannot run away.</i>

    The Old Master Li wanted his grandson back.

    And he, Pei Ziheng, wanted his butterfly back.

    Xia Ling returned to the hotel and took a shower to wash away her tiredness. She crawled into bed and switched herptop on to read the news. The de-worming incident continued to be in the limelight. The police revealed their investigation results, concluding that it was an ident. The factory had carelessly mixed up the expired drugs and distributed them as the approved batch.

    She recalled what Li Lei said. This was not an ident but a revenge attack from Skyart¡¯s enemy.

    Why wasn¡¯t the police continuing with the investigation?

    She felt indignant for Li Lei and rang Tan Ying. ¡°Tan Ying, why did the investigation for the de-worming incident stop? Is there some conspiracy behind it? Can you put pressure on the police to seek greater justice on the matter? They can¡¯t just let the culprit go!¡±

    Tan Ying gave a bitter smile.

    Big Boss might be intelligent and wise in front of them, but this girl that he fell in love with was so innocent. She didn¡¯t know that the conclusion of the police investigation was the work of Skyart Entertainment, and it was the best oue for her and Skyart. If the police continued digging into the matter, the truth of Nangong Qingya and the Gu Family trying to take revenge on her woulde out and push her back into the midst of the scandal.

    Rumors were scary, and theizens were blind followers.

    They wouldn¡¯t care to think if she were the victim and simply say that she had caused the death of two innocent kids. Her reputation would take a huge hit and would be a dent that she could never make good.

    Did she know at all how much Big Boss was protecting her all this while?

    While Tan Ying was chiding her in his heart, he consoled her out loud. ¡°This is the result that Boss wants. He has his considerations. Miss Ye, don¡¯t worry, everything is within Boss¡¯ control.¡±

    Xia Ling hung up but was still not convinced.

    She continued reading the news and saw that Skyart¡¯s PR team had released a sincere apology to the general public, saying that it was their first time handling a charity event and this incident was a result of their inexperience. They promised to learn from this experience and be more careful in the future. Skyart also promised to pay for the funeral expenses for the children, as well as to give handsomepensation to the orphanage that could go toward treatment for the other children that had taken the inferior drugs. Additionally, theymitted to providing for priority entry opportunities to Skyart Entertainment when the children grew up and were seeking employment.

    The PR statement wasprehensive.

    The anger ofizens started to cool off, though there were still some that said that apologies were useless in light of the dead children who would not be revived no matter what Skyart promised. Others alsomented: What about Ye Xingling? She was the one who had handed out the pills to the kids. Was she going to keep hiding out? Why wasn¡¯t she apologizing when the PR team had already issued an apology?

    The report from the previous day was dug out again.

    It showed the press conference that was interrupted by Li Lei¡¯s appearance and his strong stance that she was not responsible for anything.

    Netizens argued over this to no end. Some said that Xiao Ling indeed had no responsibility at all. Others said that being a charity endorser gave her many benefits, and now that there were problems, she was just going to hide behind her man? Didn¡¯t this just prove the point that she had sold herself to gain her fame?

    It was aplete mess.

    Xia Ling looked over several forums and saw that many anti-fans were digging up old news about her. News about her being chased out of the Li Family headquarters... News about her marriage and subsequent divorce from Pei Ziheng... Her dead child and her going to Li Lei when she was having a bad time in the Pei Family. All kinds of things were being said about her, many that were unpleasant to the ears.

    Some even said, ¡°Two children died yesterday and Ye Xingling can still have a concert as if nothing happened at all. Did you guys see? She was smiling so happily and looked ravishing. There was nothing to show that she was grieving at all!¡±

    Below thatment was another round of cursing at her, saying that she was cold-hearted, cruel and horrible.

    She could not tolerate any longer and replied the post anonymously. ¡°It¡¯s not like that...¡±

    Countless started to say that she was being retarded for being Ye Xingling¡¯s die-hard fan.

    She felt so wronged that she wanted to cry and shut theptop decisively.

    The telephone rang. When she picked up, she realized that it was Pei Ziheng.

    His voice was warm on the phone. ¡°You¡¯re not in a good mood?¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong.¡± She answered reflexively.

    ¡°Liar.¡± He said in a light tone. ¡°I can hear that you¡¯re about to cry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡± She stared out of the hotel window at the city lights. They looked resplendent. How odd... the world looked so beautiful out there, so why was her world full of curses? Why won¡¯tizens give her a little more leeway andpassion?

    She sniffled again.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Open the door.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m outside your room. Open the door.¡±

 Chapter 617 - Arrogant Love

    <h4>Chapter 617: Arrogant Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She walked to the door.

    Peering out through the peep-hole, she saw a tall man, dressed in an ash-grey checkered suit with a cold expression standing outside the door.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    He was holding an exquisite tray in one hand that had a te of sliced apples, as well as a fruit sd with all kinds of fruits paired with mint leaves and honey jam. It looked refreshing and delicious.

    ¡°I brought you something to eat.¡± Pei Ziheng gently said in the phone. ¡°Xiao Ling, open the door.¡± When she was in a bad mood, she loved to have snacks. As such, he had instructed the kitchen to make the fruit sd.

    However, she said, ¡°Thank you, but no thanks. Please go back.¡±

    He asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You know the reason.¡±

    ¡°Because of Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m his girlfriend.¡± Xia Ling said. She had gotten into many spats with Li Lei over Pei Ziheng, and this was a sensitive period since Li Lei was away. She didn¡¯t want any misunderstandings to arise.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You can¡¯t manage alone. Let me take care of you.¡± He needed to try to get closer to her while Li Lei was away. Otherwise, what good was scheming to get that man out of the country?

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Just go.¡± Then, she hung up.

    Pei Ziheng called out to her from outside the door. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling.¡±

    However, there was only deadly silence from all around. Was she drawing the line so clearly between them? Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened. <i>It¡¯s useless, Xiao Ling... You¡¯re so fragile, and you¡¯ve been living in the crystal ball cage since you were young, oblivious to the cruelties of the world around you. Without a man protecting you, you¡¯ll not be able tost long...</i>

    <i>Very soon...</i>

    <i>Very soon, you wille back to my side.</i>

    Pei Ziheng turned and left.

    The next day, Xia Ling read the news in the morning.

    The situation was getting worse. Netizens were having a field day cursing at her, and the voices speaking up for her seemed to be increasingly drowned out. Sister Mai Na was worried that she would take it too hard and came early to apany her. ¡°Xiao Ling, just tolerate this for a few more days. Thepany is working to manage this matter, it will be over very quickly.¡±

    She nodded her head weakly.

    At this critical time, she did not want to be an additional burden to everyone. She told Sister Mai Na, ¡°Go busy yourself with the things you need to do. I¡¯ll be fine alone.¡± After sending Sister Mai Na off, she fell into a daze in the hotel room. She had wanted to practice her singing but now could not bring herself to do so. She merely sat doing nothing till night.

    One of the hotel staff came and knocked on her door, saying that a fan had a gift for her.

    This was the only piece of news that gave her somefort over two days. She thanked the staff member and received a huge gift box from him. She carried the box to the sofa and opened it.

    The pink wrapping paper was peeled away to reveal a mess inside. It was a dismembered doll with blood sshed onto it. Its neck was twisted to the side and both its eyes were gouged out. On a card that was simrly blood-stained, it was written in capital letters: ¡°Ye Xingling! Go and die!¡±

    She screamed and threw the box away from her.

    The doll looked so scary with empty eye sockets staring at her, and its smile contorted. She did not know who had yed such a practical joke on her, and she shuddered.

    She was alone in the empty guest room.

    She felt a chill run down her spine, and she hurried to ring for the hotel staff toe to clean up the mess.

    After a while, the hotel staff arrived. Seeing the scene in front of him, he too jumped in shock and had to resist the temptation to run away as he cleared the bloody dismembered doll.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go...¡± Xia Ling called out to him. ¡°There¡¯s still that... that paper...¡± She pointed a shaking finger to the blood-stained card on the floor. The words ¡°Ye Xingling! Go and die!¡± seemed to jump out at her.

    The staff frowned, but picked up the card and threw it into the garbage bin, before carrying the garbage bin out of the room. At the door, he could not resist but turn back and said, ¡°Miss Ye, if your conscience is clear, you shouldn¡¯t be afraid of all this. Even though I¡¯m just a mere staff here and shouldn¡¯t be saying too much, I simply had to tell you this ¡ª What you did to the children in the orphanage was just too much!¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect him to pass such judgment and could only stare after him in shock.

    The hotel staff left.

    She crumbled to the floor in despair. Why did all of them think it was her fault?

    This wasn¡¯t the first time that she was at the end of everyone¡¯s finger-pointing. In her past life, she had been cold-storaged by Pei Ziheng. In this life, she had a public spat with Xia Yu. Both instances,izens had pushed her into the limelight with their negativements, and both times she had pulled through.

    However, this time was different. There were the lives of the two children pinned onto her, and the burden was so heavy that she could barely breathe.

    Subconsciously, she grabbed her mobile and dialed a familiar number.

    The phone was picked up after three rings and Li Lei¡¯s voice transmitted over. ¡°Hello, Xiao Ling? How are you? Why are you calling me at this hour?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± She uttered his name before dwindling out, not knowing how to continue. All she wanted was to hear his voice, then maybe she wouldn¡¯t feel so sad.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Li Lei said to her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I left without a wordst night. There¡¯s an emergency incident at the headquarters and I had toe back to handle it. Take care of yourself, alright.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She could hear many voices in the background as well as random gunshots. Suddenly, she felt that her problems were inconsequential.

    ¡°Are you very busy?¡± She asked Li Lei. ¡°Am I disturbing you?¡±

    He said something in response.

    There was a static interruption, and she didn¡¯t hear him clearly.

    After that, she could not get through to him anymore.

    That night, she tossed and turned in bed, the many curses that she read online running through her mind. She also thought about the call with Li Lei and the gunshots in the background. Where was he? Was he safe?

    There were too many unknowns.

    Skyart¡¯s PR team worked hard, but without Li Lei in the country to lead and many of the key personnel being sent to the headquarters to assist, it was challenging getting the rumors under control.

    The curses hurled at her continued.

    After a few days, she read an article that seemed to speak up for her: ¡°The arrogant love ¡ª what peril did Li Lei selfishly ce Ye Xingling in?¡±

    She nced through the entire article.

    In summary, the view of the author was clear.

    When the de-worming incident first broke out, Lin Yunan and the heads of the charity fund made the right decision to hold the press conference for her to apologize. That apology would be able to appease the anger of theizens and prevent the snowballing of the incident. However, Li Lei¡¯s appearance destroyed all of that.

    Li Lei interrupted the press conference and prevented her from issuing her public apology, saying that she had no responsibility to undertake.

    On first look, this made Big Boss Li look like the hero saving his damsel in distress. However, what happened in reality? After his cool and valiant act, he might have gained the reputation for being a protective boyfriend, but where did that leave his girlfriend? Most of the curses hurled at her today said that Ye Xingling had sold herself to him to gain fame, that she was a coward and despicable...

    Didn¡¯t this all boil down to Li Lei interrupting that fated press conference?

 Chapter 618 - The Troublesome First Young Master

    <h4>Chapter 618: The Troublesome First Young Master</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The conclusion of the article was that Li Lei did not love her as much as he appeared to.

    Xia Ling sat down on the wooden floor, the setting sun shining through the window reflecting her dim mood. She closed the webpage as she rebutted the arguments it expounded in her heart. No... that wasn¡¯t right... Li Lei loved her dearly, more than anybody else in the world. This emergency incident was just an ident, and it was too sudden, so he merely did not think things through too thoroughly?

    The doorbell rang.

    She snapped herself back from her reverie and asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Hotel staff, delivering room service.¡± The voice outside the door replied.

    She peered carefully through the peep-hole and saw that it was indeed a staff with room service. However, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t call for room service.¡±

    The hotel staff responded, ¡°A Mr. Pei instructed us to send room service up and specially requested that I cut the apple horizontally, and for us to add walnuts to the vegetable sd. There¡¯s also steak and shellfish that you like.¡±

    These were to her tastes in her past life.

    Xia Ling opened the door and the staff ced the tray of food on the table before leaving the room.

    Xia Ling saw that there was a slip of paper by the te on the tray. She could see the familiar scrawl with the writing: Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.

    This was signed off with a butterfly.

    It was indeed that man. There was only one man in the world that would do this for her. She looked down at the table full of treats and suddenly felt that things weren¡¯t so unbearable or cold anymore. She slowly finished all the delicious morsels on the te.

    Pei Ziheng was considerate. He knew that she didn¡¯t want to see him and, hence, all he did in the next few days was to quietly instruct the hotel staff to send her three meals a day. He, on the other hand, never appeared in front of her.

    Xia Ling would speak with Li Lei over the phone every day.

    The phone connection where Li Lei was was bad, and their conversations were frequently interrupted after a hurried two sentences.

    She could tell that the situation on his end wasn¡¯t good, and his voice grew hoarser day by day. She was sensitive to sound, so there was no way for him to hide that fact from her.

    However, he was oblivious to her worry and told her, ¡°I¡¯m very good. I have sufficient food and sleep every day. All I need to do is delegate the work to the people here to carry out.¡±

    She wouldugh in response without revealing his lie.

    She would tell him, ¡°I¡¯m very good as well. You don¡¯t have to worry about anything.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Sorry for dragging you into the incident. It will get much better after a while after all the talk has blown over.¡±

    She lowered her head thinking about all the curses directed at her over the past days. His nonchnt attitude towards all of it made her feel wronged all of a sudden. She quashed her unhappiness and replied, ¡°Yes, I understand, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Li Lei reminded her to take care of herself before hanging up.

    He cocked his head as he stared out of the window of the helicopter to the endless foresnd beneath him, his expression mildly depressed. The Li Family was in critical danger this time. Li Feng had overturned many key locations of important gangs in the world, offending all of them. His brother was a lunatic and was thrilled when he made enemies, not caring if they could get things under control.

    He rubbed at his temples, feeling weary. When would he be able to clean up this huge mess and return to China?

    Next to him, Su Tang was dressed in a spaghetti-strap top and denim shorts with a white scarf draped across her shoulders. She asked gently in concern, ¡°Young Master, you¡¯ve only had three to four hours of sleep over consecutive days. At this rate, your body won¡¯t be able to take it. We¡¯re still a distance away from our destination, why don¡¯t you take a rest?¡±

    However, Li Lei responded, ¡°Give me the strategy defense map.¡±

    He wanted to use the travel time to analyze the current situation for the Li Family, as well as for Xiao Ling.

    Su Tang did not move. ¡°Young Master, you must take care of your body...¡±

    Li Lei nced coldly at her, his gaze steely with unspoken authority.

    Hence, Su Tang kept quiet and handed the canvas strategy defense map to him.

    He was in a bad mood and, coupled with hisck of sleep, it wasn¡¯t long before he was exasperated looking at that map. He shut the map with a ¡°swoosh¡± and rubbed at his temples again.

    Su Tang carefully said, ¡°First Young Master is really troublesome.¡±

    ¡°I think Grandfather is also much cause for concern.¡± Li Leiughed coldly. When he returned to the headquarters, he found out that the first time Grandfather called him back, nothing had happened at home. He had just used the ruse of ¡°Li Feng has gotten into trouble again¡± to force him to leave Xiao Ling. Despicable.

    When he found out about the lie, he wanted to return to China immediately but was stopped by Grandfather, who locked him up at home again. He found a way to escape and the boat had already left the docks when he received abrupt news that Li Feng had now really gotten into trouble again.

    That lunatic brother said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯ve offended the world? Then, I¡¯ll do just that! Xiao Lei, you can stay obediently in the headquarters to clean up after me. I, Li Feng, don¡¯t take on false usations! Hahahahahahaha...¡±

    Old Master Li almost blew his top.

    Li Lei was also furious. ¡°Brother, I want to go back to helm Skyart. You can clean up after your own mess.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Li Fengughedically. ¡°Then, you can just wait and see the Li Family get burnt to the ground... Pang!¡±

    Heughed hysterically while leaving the room.

    Li Lei wanted to just leave everything behind, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to. That lunatic brother had done just enough such that everyone needed to be present to solve the problem. If just one important person was away, they would truly be swallowed whole by the other gangs and disappear from the face of the Earth.

    Li Feng¡¯s bet was that Li Lei would stay out of responsibility.

    As expected, he was right. Li Lei stayed to helm the fort at home.

    As for Skyart Entertainment? He could only manage the matter from a distance.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t bring himself to stare at the strategy defense map, thus, he rang Tan Ying instead. ¡°How¡¯s the situation in the maind? Is Xiao Ling okay?¡± Even though Xiao Ling had said that she was fine over the phone, he could not set his heart at ease without confirming things with Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying replied, ¡°The situation in the maind is stable. The police said that the de-worming incident is just an ident and, hence, the public¡¯s outcry is slowly quietening down. However, there are still some random curses being hurled here and there. Nothing serious.¡±

    ¡°Is Xiao Ling alright?¡±

    ¡°There are still many fans supporting her, don¡¯t worry.¡± Tan Ying skirted over the issue. In fact, the situation was much more serious than that. Xia Ling was in the center of all the k from theizens and couldn¡¯t even leave the house. However, Boss was busy with matters in the headquarters, and Tan Ying didn¡¯t want to burden him with these small matters. Moreover, he didn¡¯t approve of Boss being together with Ye Xingling.

    Ye Xingling was too innocent for him.

    Yet, Li Lei didn¡¯t think too much of it and thought that Xia Ling was indeed doing well. Hence, he didn¡¯t take matters too much to heart.

    The day for the second concert of Xia Ling¡¯s world tour came along.

    She was now in the best location in another city, and the location wasrge. Originally, before the de-worming incident was reported, her concert tickets were snapped up. However, after the incident, there were many fans requesting refunds, and the concert venue was only sparsely popted.

    There were also many activists walking around nearby, holding all kinds of signs and chatting away.

    The security guards could not keep all of them away.

    Xia Ling did her best to ignore all of them as she got onstage and prepared to perform to her best of her abilities. Her aim was to ensure that the concert would run smoothly from start to finish.

    However, an ident urred mid-way through the concert.

 Chapter 619 - The Anti-Fan Incident

    <h4>Chapter 619: The Anti-Fan Incident</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Onstage, fireworks and smoke crisscrossed to form a dreamy backdrop.

    Xia Ling was dressed in a long chiffon dress with silver essories as she sang melodious and moving songs.

    Offstage, there was a huge patch of darkness, with sporadic lightsticks waving about, creating a quiet and mysterious setting, like the evesting twinkling starlight. There wereser boards emzoned with the words ¡°Xiao Ling, you can do it,¡± ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you¡± raised in the crowd, swaying to the beat of the music.

    Suddenly, the sea of lightsticks became a chaotic mess.

    At first, it was just a small part in the northeast corner of the concert hall where the lightsticks seemed to have malfunctioned and started to flicker, no longer being able to sway steadily to the beat. However, that soon spread and, very soon, most of the lightsticks appeared to have the same problem.

    There was noise in the distance.

    The surround-sound system onstage prevented Xia Ling from being able to hear the crowd properly. She felt a little uneasy with the flickering lightsticks given the many incidents that had urred in recent days. She did not want anything to happen at this concert. However, things didn¡¯t go as she hoped. She saw security officers running towards the center point of where themotion seemed to being from, and the noise offstage increased in volume.

    She sang a little off-tune with the distraction.

    A female fan came onstage to give her flowers and said in a low voice, ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m one of your staff members. Themotion is just due to someone fainting from low blood sugar. It¡¯s nothing serious. Just focus on your singing.¡±

    As such, she ignored themotion, steadied herself, and continued with the concert.

    The concert concluded.

    When Xia Ling came backstage, she found Sister Mai Na with a grave expression, frantically calling on her mobile and throwing long strings of instructions to the people on the other end of the line. Seeing her appear, Sister Mai Na hung up abruptly and hurriedly told her, ¡°Xiao Ling, something bad has happened. When you were singing, a group of your die-hard fans bashed up two anti-fans. Now, the two anti-fans are seriously injured with broken bones in the hospital and in critical condition.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank as she recalled themotion offstage, realizing what had happened.

    ¡°Thedy that came onstage earlier with flowers told me that someone fainted due to low blood sugar?¡± She rified with Sister Mai Na.

    Sister Mai Na asked, ¡°Whatdy with flowers?¡±

    ¡°She said that she was a staff member and I saw her with a staff pass around her neck.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Sister Mai Na replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t send anyone onstage to pass you a message. Maybe they were sent by the organizers.¡± She was up to her neck trying to deal with the situation and didn¡¯t have the spare capacity to think of such details. She said, ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to send you back to the hotel. Don¡¯t go out today and don¡¯t go online to update your Weibo. We need to preventizens from reacting too strongly to this.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll update you once there is any news.¡± With that, Sister Mai Na patted her on the shoulder and signaled for her to follow her assistant back to the hotel.

    Xia Ling was still feeling uneasy back at the hotel. How were the two anti-fans? How was the progress of the situation? She could not resist going online to see if there were any updates of the incident.

    As expected, there were already reports of the fight at her concert.

    ording to the reports, the fight arose because the two anti-fans were having a private conversation and criticizing her by saying things like: ¡°she¡¯s still singing as if nothing¡¯s happened even though she¡¯s caused the death of two kids¡±, ¡°she doesn¡¯t deserve to stay in the entertainment circle¡±, and ¡°she needs to pay for the death of the two kids¡±, as well as booing her loudly. Xia Ling¡¯s die-hard fans had overheard the conversation and gotten angry at theirments.

    They got into a spat, and the curses hurled by the two anti-fans went from bad to worse.

    Some of her die-hard fans couldn¡¯t hold in their anger and it evolved into a massive brawl. The adrenaline-filled situation pushed things beyond control and some of the die-hard fans started to pummel the two anti-fans excessively. If the security officers hadn¡¯t got there in time to pull them away, the two anti-fans might well have been pummeled to death on the spot.

    Xia Ling held her breath as she read the reports of the brawl. Her greatest fear was for there to be another death rted to her.

    The two kids that had lost their lives due to the de-worming incident haunted her dreams. If two more died, she would surely lose her mind.

    She buried her head in her arms as she hugged herself in an attempt to stop herself from shaking.

    Her mobile rang and she picked it up. The person on the other end of the line spoke in a high-pitched and anxious voice. ¡°Miss Ye, can youment on your thoughts of the brawl at your concert? Many of your fans say that the two victims deserved to have been hit and should have been pummeled to death. What are your thoughts on the matter? Please, can you...¡±

    She hung up.

    She didn¡¯t know who had leaked her personal mobile number such that reporters were able to call her directly.

    She stared at the empty hotel room with a heavy heart and dialed Li Lei¡¯s number. The phone rang for a long time but no one picked up.

    She threw her mobile to the side and fell into a daze while hugging her knees.

    Sister Mai Na was trying to resolve this PR crisis, whereas she could only wait here doing nothing? She could hardly sit this down. Why was it that everyone was working so hard for her and all she could do was watch helplessly? She rang Sister Mai Na and sought her permission before logging into her Weibo and uploading a post, saying: ¡°I implore everyone to follow artistes rationally.¡±

    Some liked her post, whereas there were others who said that she was being a hypocrite and trying to act like she was an innocent party.

    She shut theputer down.

    Her emotions were in turmoil, and she started to miss Li Lei again.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    She peered out of the peep-hole and saw that it was Pei Ziheng at the door. He stood under the dim yellow lights in the corridor, wearing a simple light-colored shirt. He looked dependable and kindly.

    She said to him through the wooden door, ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯te here again. I¡¯ve told you, he won¡¯t be happy.¡±

    ¡°Has he cared if you¡¯re happy or not?¡± Pei Ziheng calmly responded. ¡°Xiao Ling, I heard that there was a problem at the concert, and I¡¯m only here to see how you are doing.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and stared at her toes.

    She thought of the result of her ringing Li Lei earlier ¡ª he didn¡¯t reply. He was really busy and so couldn¡¯t pick up her call, right? She shouldn¡¯t introduce any additionalplications at this juncture.

    ¡°Just leave.¡± She said before walking away from the door, going back to the bedroom.

    There was silence outside the hotel door. It seemed that Pei Ziheng had left.

    Xia Ling felt empty and sad that she had no one to turn to and lean on in such a hard time as this. She found a pen and paper and started to write a song. She wanted to write a song of grief for the two children. Perhaps she would feel better after doing that.

    Time passed quickly.

    Before she knew it, it was the next morning.

    Sister Mai Na came to look for her with a darker expression than the day before. ¡°Xiao Ling, you need to be exceptionally careful about anything you say or post. You need to get my permission before doing anything. The situation is much worse than we thought. I think someone is targeting you.¡±

    Xia Ling gave a start. ¡°What happened now?¡±

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you read the report for yourself?¡± She passed the newspapers to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling took the papers from her and saw that ¡°staff member¡± who hade on stage to give her flowers speaking to the media angrily. ¡°I heard that there was a brawl in the audience and that two people were being victimized. I wanted to tell Ye Xingling about it by giving her flowers onstage, hoping that she would say something to stop them from fighting. The ones being aggressive were her fans and, as long as she said something, they would listen to her. But she didn¡¯t say a thing. She continued to sing as if nothing had happened! She was willing to sacrifice two lives just so she could have a smooth concert! I¡¯ve never seen such a hard-hearted and cruel singer before!¡±

 Chapter 620 - How Could He Bear To

    <h4>Chapter 620: How Could He Bear To</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stared in shock at the news report.

    She anxiously said to Sister Mai Na, ¡°That¡¯s not how it happened! Yesterday, when that person came onstage to give me flowers, she told me to continue singing calmly and that themotion was only because someone fainted from having low blood sugar. No one told me about the brawl!¡±

    The music was too loud when she was onstage, and there was no way for her to know what was happening offstage.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°I believe you. However, the media and the public might not think like me. Xiao Ling, I think someone is staging this entire situation. Someone is fanning the mes and trying to make you go down.¡±

    ¡°Who can it be?¡± She asked.

    ¡°There are just too many suspects.¡± Sister Mai Na grimaced. ¡°There¡¯s Old Master Li, for instance, who would be happy to destroy your reputation so that it will be easier to break you and Boss apart. Simrly, the Gu Family and Pei Ziheng could have the same vendetta.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s breathing caught, thinking of all the concern that he had been showing in this time.

    If it were really him, then he was just too scary and scheming.

    A shudder ran down her spine.

    Sister Mai Na saw her expression and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She shook her head and asked, ¡°Of these three groups of people that you¡¯ve mentioned, who do you think is the prime suspect?¡±

    Sister Mai Na looked at her and said, ¡°Regardless of who it may be, you have to keep your distance from all of them. You cannot have any interaction with any of them in this time, do you understand?¡± She had a prime suspect in mind but no firm evidence. Saying anything now would be pre-emptive and would just upset Xiao Ling. As a woman, she could tell that Xiao Ling had special feelings for that person.

    Even though she didn¡¯t know what they were.

    ¡°It¡¯s Pei Ziheng, right?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was small. ¡°Old Master Li is too busy with the family matters overseas and doesn¡¯t have the time to stage this. Gu Lin doesn¡¯t have the capability to scheme at such a level. Only Pei Ziheng has the time and the ability to do something like this. And he was at the concert venue.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was quiet for a while. ¡°We don¡¯t have evidence and can¡¯t make that conclusion.¡±

    ¡°What evidence will he leave?¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh. She felt her heart throb with pain. She wished that this was not masterminded by that man as she didn¡¯t want for the remaining beautiful memories of him to be tarnished yet again. However, she knew that Pei Ziheng was someone that was unscrupulous to achieve the end that he wanted.

    Sister Mai Na consoled her. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it. We¡¯ll find out the truth soon.¡±

    Yet, her words of constion weren¡¯t strong enough to make Xia Ling feel any better.

    Theizens barrage on Xia Ling continued on.

    Even the huge van that was parked in the hotel carpark was vandalized with profanities.

    Li Lei was abrupt and hurried in his calls to her, and she could always hear a lot ofmotion in the background ¡ª shouting, gunshots, and sometimes the whirring of a helicopter engine. Once, she even heard a heart-wrenching scream in the background. Li Lei consoled her by saying, ¡°I¡¯m very safe. I¡¯m the Li Family Young Master and don¡¯t have to be in the frontline. I¡¯m just delegating duties.¡±

    She told him to take care of himself.

    Heughed. ¡°Mmhmm, I will. Er Mao has grown fatter again. You have to take care of yourself as well.¡± The leopard followed him overseas, acting as his assistant and bodyguard.

    As he spoke, he ruffled the fur on the top of Er Mao¡¯s head.

    The huge leopard gave azy yawn.

    Xia Ling heard him and told Li Lei to hold the mobile next to Er Mao¡¯s furry ears. She told Er Mao, ¡°Er Mao, you need to be obedient and take good care of your master. Don¡¯t just think of eating.¡±

    Li Leiughed again. ¡°He knows.¡± He didn¡¯t tell her that Er Mao was growing fatter because of the amount of human flesh that he was consuming. There were droves of peopleing at him and, if not for Er Mao, he would already be dead.

    He asked Xia Ling gently, ¡°How about you? Have you been having your meals properly? Are you gaining any weight?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve gained weight as well. I¡¯m so ugly now I can hardly be in front of the cameras.¡± Sheined in mock irritation. Her gaze fell on her bony wrists. Yesterday, she had instructed her assistant to purchase a new bangle as her old one was too big for her. ¡°Li Lei...¡± She could not resist but ask. ¡°When are youing back?¡±

    Li Lei stared into the distance at the warriors standing in front of him. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion and one of the warriors had half of his body sted into the sky.

    There was a rain of blood and body parts.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try toe back as soon as possible.¡± He said. ¡°However, I don¡¯t know for sure right now. When I return, I¡¯ll bring back some of the delicacies from where I am.¡± He rubbed Er Mao behind his ears and thought to himself. What delicacies were there here? Would it be too stingy of him to bring back flowers from the forest? Other than that, there was only the stuff he could rummage from the dead bodies... or blood diamonds. There was nothing here that was clean.

    He was thankful that Xiao Ling was in China and did not witness all of this.

    They spoke a little while longer before hanging up. Both of them did not switch on their video calls ¡ª he did not want her to see his weary state, and she had the same sentiments.

    Xia Ling continued to face all the pressure from theizens alone.

    Netizens asked for the cancetion of her world tour, saying that she did not deserve to stand on stage.

    Sister Mai Na and other top executives in Skyart discussed how to manage the situation. These discussions weren¡¯t something that Xia Ling felt she could contribute constructively to and, hence, wasn¡¯t present. All she did every day was to stay in her hotel room and write the song for the two dead orphans, or merely fall into a daze.

    Sometimes, she would go to the nearby sky garden for a short walk to take her mind off things.

    That sky garden was only open to the guests of the presidential suite. There were few people, and it was very quiet.

    This day, she met Pei Ziheng in the sky garden.

    It was the end of summer and the beginning of spring. As such, there was the pungency of wilting flowers in the air. That man was dressed in an exquisite vintage shirt as always, looking dependable and gentlemanly.

    He walked over to her and looked down at her petite frame. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve lost weight.¡±

    She asked directly, ¡°Pei Ziheng, is it you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± He looked at her in confusion.

    Xia Lingughed coldly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, stop pretending. The anti-fan incident at the concert and the fake staff member that came onstage to give me flowers. All of that was masterminded by you, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve always thought of me this way?¡± Hurt shed through his eyes.

    ¡°Is it not?¡± She raised her head and said in a brisk tone. ¡°Pei Ziheng, other than you, I really can¡¯t think of anyone else who can do something at this scale and be so cruel.¡±

    ¡°Why would I harm you like that?¡± He said in a low voice.

    However, his words only seemed like a joke to Xia Ling. ¡°Ha, and you think you¡¯ve never harmed me before?¡±

    He frowned. ¡°Xiao Ling, I admit that I¡¯ve not treated you well in the past. However, the first time, I hurt you because you killed Wang Jingwan. The other times were because I didn¡¯t know you had reincarnated. After that, you were the one that lied to me and wanted to have another man¡¯s child in my name. Xiao Ling, why would I pin such a scandal on you? You are someone that I picked out of an orphanage and groomed to stardom. How could I bear to destroy your reputation?¡±

 Chapter 621 - Imperial Entertainment Is Also a Donor

    <h4>Chapter 621: Imperial Entertainment Is Also a Donor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She didn¡¯t know if she should believe him.

    This man¡¯s thoughts were too deep, and she could not differentiate the truth from the lies.

    Tilting her head, she said, ¡°I¡¯m going back to my room to rest. Goodbye.¡±

    He stopped her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°So what if I believe you? So what if I don¡¯t believe you?¡± In the cool summer, her hair fluttered in the evening wind, and she was mncholic. ¡°Pei Ziheng, we¡¯ve already ended a long time ago. You don¡¯t have to pay attention to me all the time. Today, I spoke too much. I shouldn¡¯t have asked you this question. Actually, whether you caused what happened during the concert is not important. It doesn¡¯t matter if you or Old Master Li or the Gu family did it... All of you are the same.¡±

    ¡°All the same?¡± His voice was low and hoarse.

    She walked around him and left.

    He looked at her as she disappeared at the end of the garden.

    In the evening breeze, the scent of unknown flowers was stronger but could not hide the smell of rottenness. Losing all his fighting power, he leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette.

    ¡°Boss.¡± It was Chu Chen.

    Pei Ziheng did not change his stance.

    However, Chu Chen knew that he was listening. Respectfully, he said, ¡°Those few fans and those people who gave her the flowers are all dealt with. We gave them enough money to shut them up and, after threatening them, they know what to say and what not to say.¡± It was really Pei Ziheng who sabotaged her concert. He was also the one who deliberately stirred up the anti-fans, causing a fight.

    In fact, they even nted people secretly near die-hard fans and initiated the fight.

    Everything was seamless.

    Except for the fact that she doubted him.

    ¡°Is it really meaningful for me to do all of this?¡± Pei Ziheng looked as the sun slowly descended below the horizon and asked in a low voice.

    Chu Chen responded even more respectfully. ¡°In this world, there is nothing that Boss can¡¯t get.¡±

    However, the man who was leaning against the wall did not seem to need his answer. He was deep in thought for a long time. For her, he relentlessly hurt her because he was confident that he could rectify the damage he did. However, what if she was unwilling to go back to him and let him help her heal?

    Suddenly, he was somewhat uncertain.

    However, the n still had to proceed.

    ¡°Prepare for the next step.¡± He extinguished the cigarette in his hand.

    At the side, in the shadow of the evergreen nts in the small garden, Chu Chen bowed respectfully.

    Xia Ling returned to the hotel and found out that Sister Mai Na was already discussing the consequences with some staff members. They would postpone the rest of her tour until the period of insults were over.

    She had no objections.

    ¡°Oh yes, Xiao Ling.¡± Sister Mai Na said, ¡°I contacted the orphanage and confirmed with them that the funeral of the two children will be held. I suggest that you show up. You can mend your public image.¡±

    She was startled for a moment and remembered the cheerful smiles of the two children.

    ¡°Ok.¡± She said after some time, a little doubtful. ¡°Will the orphanage allow me to go?¡±

    ¡°I will make sure to discuss it well with them.¡± Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s impossible that they won¡¯t invite you. Although two children died, these two children brought many benefits for them. The resources invested by the fund have doubled, and it also promised to give children of the orphanage priority to work in Skyart Entertainment. It can be considered a blessing in disguise.¡±

    This reasoning made Xia Ling frown unconsciously.

    However, Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Don¡¯t be upset. This world is cold. Compared to you, the head of the orphanage is more worried about whether this event will damage the rtionship between the fund and the orphanage. He already contacted the charity fund many times and tried to convey the message that you were wronged and to ask for your understanding.¡±

    ¡°What should I be understanding about? He was the victim.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Thinking about the head of the orphanage¡¯s careful and humble appearance when he faced the rich, there was a sour feeling in her heart.

    Suddenly, she realized that she was too wilful in her past life. In her past life when she was in the orphanage, she used to cry and throw tantrums because she thought that the head of the orphanage wronged Xia Yu. She said that the head and the teachers were coldblooded, cruel, and unwilling to use their own money to treat Xia Yu¡¯s illness. In reality, they had no such money. Every single cent gained after they carefully and humbly pandered to the rich. In fact, even after the children in the orphanage died, they were still worried about whether the other party would be unhappy.

    Her voice was gentle. ¡°I don¡¯t me them, really. I¡¯m the one who disappointed them.¡±

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°You¡¯re a good person, then. If other celebrities were dragged in a simr situation, they might really fall out with them. It¡¯s settled then, you will participate in the funeral of the two children. Recently, you were writing a song dedicated to the two of them. You can perform it live during the funeral. I will find someone to film in.¡±

    ¡°Will people think that I¡¯m being fake?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°If we immediately release it, people will really think that you¡¯re insincere, and there will be a bacsh.¡± Sister Mai Na said, ¡°That¡¯s why I will keep this recording and only release it at a suitable time.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    She really wanted to sing the memorial song for the two children. They loved music and listening to her sing when they were alive. At least, within her ability, she could do her best tofort the children in heaven.

    She only felt somewhat sorrowful because a mourning ceremony like that was used by thepany as a marketing strategy.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t me Sister Mai Na. In fact, she really understood her. She was a very good manager and would do everything for Xia Ling, so Xia Ling was extremely grateful for her.

    However, Xia Ling was still dispirited.

    Even when she attended the funeral, she did not feel better.

    She was dressed in ck, held white flowers, and stood in the crowd.

    A mild drizzle started.

    Suddenly, she heard Sister Mai Na¡¯s rmed voice. ¡°Chairman Pei, why are you here?¡±

    Startled, she lifted her head to see Pei Ziheng dressed in an elegant tailored ck suit. Raindrops were caught in his eyebrows, and he looked quite doleful.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I be here?¡± He asked in a low voice. In a rxed manner, he walked beside Xia Ling and stood still.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s expression tightened.

    Seeing that an argument was about to erupt between the two parties, the head of the orphanage said in a faltering voice, ¡°Miss Mai, you don¡¯t know but Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei has been a donor of the orphanage since 20 years ago. Every year, he would donate arge sum to our orphanage. After hearing that something bad happened to the children, he was also very upset and attended the funeral.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a donor?¡± Sister Mai Na did not expect this.

    ¡°Is this strange?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice remained low. Intentionally, he nced at Xia Ling. ¡°20 years ago, I adopted the love of my life from this ce. Don¡¯t you think this is enough to make me be a donor of the orphanage for the rest of my life?¡±

    Sister Mai Na finally remembered that the Diva Xia Ling was adopted by Pei Ziheng from this orphanage.

    She had a headache. Why did her boss and Xiao Ling have to choose this orphanage when they wanted to do charity? However, it was toote. Suppressing her anger, she said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re a donor of the orphanage. This situation has no rtion to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was toozy to argue with her. He continued to stand firmly beside Xia Ling.

    <h4>Comments (4)</h4>

    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 622: Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to a Phoenix</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nced at him and quietly increased her distance from him.

    It continued to rain as the eulogy was read. She recalled Shaohui¡¯s funeral a few months ago. For a moment, she suspected if she were really a curse.

    Warming the hole, sprinkling the soil, and sealing the tomb.

    Supporting himself with a cane, the head of the orphanage wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

    Someone invited Xia Ling up to sing.

    Dressed in ck with a solemn expression, she sang a memorial song in front of the tombstones that were lined with ck bricks for the two children. ¡°If there¡¯s an afterlife, you have to be happy... If you have a family, you must cherish them. If you have parents, you must get along with them... If you have dreams, you will have light. If you have peace, you are blessed...¡±

    Her song lingered in the cemetery that was surrounded by pine trees.

    At the same time.

    Deep in the mountain.

    An old man held a spoon and was adding fragrance to a fire. Smoke rose. Suddenly, there was no wind. Birds flew past and made cawing sounds.

    The old man looked up at the mountains.

    In the depths of the dense green jungle, birds flew around in pairs and called out the same sound.

    ¡°The Phoenix... is singing.¡± He whispered.

    Beside him, there was a young man dressed in white with a bright face and indifferent eyes. It was Xia Moyan. ¡°Father.¡± Xia Moyan softly asked, ¡°What does it mean by ¡®the phoenix is singing?¡¯¡±

    Didn¡¯t the stupid phoenix of their family sing every day?

    The old man continued to look at the group of flying birds. They were flying towards the north and headed to the S City. They chirped loudly yet melodiously like a naturally talented band.

    ¡°A hundred birds facing the Phoenix...¡± The old man said. ¡°Do you still remember the day your sister was born? These birds also called out like this, so I knew that God gave us a Phoenix. She was a singer and usually sang, but in those times, she never achieved the true song of the Phoenix. Do you know what is the true song of the Phoenix?¡±

    Xia Moyan did not know.

    He only knew that he did not have to answer his father and only needed to continue listening.

    Sure enough, the old man said, ¡°The true song of a Phoenix is a prayer. She achieved nirvana, reincarnated, and is able tomunicate with the forces of nature. Anyone who is blessed by her will definitely be in good hands.¡±

    Xia Moyan slightly raised his eyebrows as he did not expect his stupid sister to have such an ability.

    No wonder, the Phoenix was the noblest person in the family since ancient times.

    He fell into a trance as he looked at the birds dancing in the sky.

    In the cemetery.

    After Xia Ling finished her song, everyone was mesmerized by her. Her singing was so good and made everyone feel peaceful. At that moment, everyone felt that their troubles were gone and were tranquil.

    A sound of nature.

    Vaguely, they had a feeling that this girl would not just be a Diva of the entertainment industry in the future.

    Xia Ling turned around and walked back. Suddenly, a child rushed out and threw a stone viciously at her. ¡°Bad woman! You killed Xiao Hai and Songsong!¡±

    She was still immersed in sadness and was caught off guard.

    There was an uproar in the crowd. The stone was the size of a fist. If it really hit her, she would definitely be hurt. No sooner after it, suddenly, a man ran out and protected her in his arms. That stone severely hit that man¡¯s arm. The man stumbled and unsteadily, both of them fell to the ground.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widen as she saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s beautiful face inches away from hers.

    She tried her best to push him away to no avail.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± She said, rather embarrassed.

    Only then did Pei Ziheng let her go and helped her up. ¡°Are you ok?¡±

    She shook her head. Her ck dress was covered in mud, and there was grass all over her hair. She was in a mess. On the other hand, the child was already under control. However, he looked emotional as he struggled and screamed.

    The adults pulled the child away.

    As Xia Ling recovered from the shock, the teachers of the orphanage already surrounded her. ¡°Miss Ye and Chairman Pei, are you ok? We¡¯re really sorry. The child is too insensible. The two people who died were his friends, and he only did this because he¡¯s overly upset.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The teachers looked at Pei Ziheng with concern. ¡°Chairman Pei, what about you? Just now, that child hit you. Are you hurt?¡±

    Pei Ziheng rolled up his sleeve to reveal his arm. On it was arge bruise, and it was a little swollen. The teachers gasped and quickly insisted for him to get medical help.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Luckily, it did not hit you.¡±

    He said thest sentence to Xia Ling.

    Seeing that his arm was injured, Xia Ling felt a little guilty. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He was very gentle. ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone hurt you.¡± His voice was low, dark and ambiguous.

    Xia Ling took a step back. ¡°I should be going.¡± She left with Sister Mai Na and a few other staff members. After a few steps, she turned around to look at him onest time.

    Pei Ziheng observed as she disappeared.

    Chu Chen appeared beside Pei Ziheng. ¡°Boss, let me deal with your injury.¡±

    Pei Ziheng lowered his gaze. ¡°Don¡¯t interfere. Let it be there a few more days.¡± He was the one who hired someone to provoke the child who threw the stone. He also deliberately stood the nearest to her so that he could rush up at once to protect her once the stone was thrown. Xiao Ling was a very soft-hearted girl. Sure enough, after he shielded her from the stone, even though she still maintained her distance from him, she couldn¡¯t help but look back.

    This was a good sign.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to Imperial Entertainment.¡± He said to Chu Chen. ¡°I have to work overtime for the next few days. After Xiao Ling resumes her tour, I will continue the n.¡±

    Chu Chen respectfully acknowledged him.

    Xia Ling returned home and recalled what happened during the funeral. She was devastated. It turned out no matter how the orphanage tried to fixed the situation, the children still hated her. This hatred was like a sword that caused her immense pain.

    Habitually, she took out her phone and wanted to call Li Lei.

    However, she remembered that he sounded very busy these days over the phone, and she did not have the heart to disturb him frequently. Sister Mai Na and the others were also very busy. She put down the phone and slowly went into a trance. She only thought of how big the world ass but there was no one she could talk to.

    She kept less contact with Li Lei than before.

    After a few days, she did not even contact him.

    She was very worried and asked Tan Ying if he knew if something was going on. Was he in any danger? Tan Ying said vaguely, ¡°Boss just received a new task and there¡¯s no signal there. After about 10 days to a month, he will be back.¡±

    She was still very worried and continued to ask questions, but she did not manage to get more information.

    She knew that Tan Ying did not like her.

    A few of Li Lei¡¯s subordinates such as Ah Nuo had a good rtionship with her. Unfortunately, they did not know what had happened.

    She spent this period of time worrying.

    The anthelmintic drug scandal slowly ended.

    Sister Mai Na told her that she could continue with the third stop of her tour.

 Chapter 622 - Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to a Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 622: Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to a Phoenix</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nced at him and quietly increased her distance from him.

    It continued to rain as the eulogy was read. She recalled Shaohui¡¯s funeral a few months ago. For a moment, she suspected if she were really a curse.

    Warming the hole, sprinkling the soil, and sealing the tomb.

    Supporting himself with a cane, the head of the orphanage wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

    Someone invited Xia Ling up to sing.

    Dressed in ck with a solemn expression, she sang a memorial song in front of the tombstones that were lined with ck bricks for the two children. ¡°If there¡¯s an afterlife, you have to be happy... If you have a family, you must cherish them. If you have parents, you must get along with them... If you have dreams, you will have light. If you have peace, you are blessed...¡±

    Her song lingered in the cemetery that was surrounded by pine trees.

    At the same time.

    Deep in the mountain.

    An old man held a spoon and was adding fragrance to a fire. Smoke rose. Suddenly, there was no wind. Birds flew past and made cawing sounds.

    The old man looked up at the mountains.

    In the depths of the dense green jungle, birds flew around in pairs and called out the same sound.

    ¡°The Phoenix... is singing.¡± He whispered.

    Beside him, there was a young man dressed in white with a bright face and indifferent eyes. It was Xia Moyan. ¡°Father.¡± Xia Moyan softly asked, ¡°What does it mean by ¡®the phoenix is singing?¡¯¡±

    Didn¡¯t the stupid phoenix of their family sing every day?

    The old man continued to look at the group of flying birds. They were flying towards the north and headed to the S City. They chirped loudly yet melodiously like a naturally talented band.

    ¡°A hundred birds facing the Phoenix...¡± The old man said. ¡°Do you still remember the day your sister was born? These birds also called out like this, so I knew that God gave us a Phoenix. She was a singer and usually sang, but in those times, she never achieved the true song of the Phoenix. Do you know what is the true song of the Phoenix?¡±

    Xia Moyan did not know.

    He only knew that he did not have to answer his father and only needed to continue listening.

    Sure enough, the old man said, ¡°The true song of a Phoenix is a prayer. She achieved nirvana, reincarnated, and is able tomunicate with the forces of nature. Anyone who is blessed by her will definitely be in good hands.¡±

    Xia Moyan slightly raised his eyebrows as he did not expect his stupid sister to have such an ability.

    No wonder, the Phoenix was the noblest person in the family since ancient times.

    He fell into a trance as he looked at the birds dancing in the sky.

    In the cemetery.

    After Xia Ling finished her song, everyone was mesmerized by her. Her singing was so good and made everyone feel peaceful. At that moment, everyone felt that their troubles were gone and were tranquil.

    A sound of nature.

    Vaguely, they had a feeling that this girl would not just be a Diva of the entertainment industry in the future.

    Xia Ling turned around and walked back. Suddenly, a child rushed out and threw a stone viciously at her. ¡°Bad woman! You killed Xiao Hai and Songsong!¡±

    She was still immersed in sadness and was caught off guard.

    There was an uproar in the crowd. The stone was the size of a fist. If it really hit her, she would definitely be hurt. No sooner after it, suddenly, a man ran out and protected her in his arms. That stone severely hit that man¡¯s arm. The man stumbled and unsteadily, both of them fell to the ground.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widen as she saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s beautiful face inches away from hers.

    She tried her best to push him away to no avail.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± She said, rather embarrassed.

    Only then did Pei Ziheng let her go and helped her up. ¡°Are you ok?¡±

    She shook her head. Her ck dress was covered in mud, and there was grass all over her hair. She was in a mess. On the other hand, the child was already under control. However, he looked emotional as he struggled and screamed.

    The adults pulled the child away.

    As Xia Ling recovered from the shock, the teachers of the orphanage already surrounded her. ¡°Miss Ye and Chairman Pei, are you ok? We¡¯re really sorry. The child is too insensible. The two people who died were his friends, and he only did this because he¡¯s overly upset.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The teachers looked at Pei Ziheng with concern. ¡°Chairman Pei, what about you? Just now, that child hit you. Are you hurt?¡±

    Pei Ziheng rolled up his sleeve to reveal his arm. On it was arge bruise, and it was a little swollen. The teachers gasped and quickly insisted for him to get medical help.

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Luckily, it did not hit you.¡±

    He said thest sentence to Xia Ling.

    Seeing that his arm was injured, Xia Ling felt a little guilty. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He was very gentle. ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone hurt you.¡± His voice was low, dark and ambiguous.

    Xia Ling took a step back. ¡°I should be going.¡± She left with Sister Mai Na and a few other staff members. After a few steps, she turned around to look at him onest time.

    Pei Ziheng observed as she disappeared.

    Chu Chen appeared beside Pei Ziheng. ¡°Boss, let me deal with your injury.¡±

    Pei Ziheng lowered his gaze. ¡°Don¡¯t interfere. Let it be there a few more days.¡± He was the one who hired someone to provoke the child who threw the stone. He also deliberately stood the nearest to her so that he could rush up at once to protect her once the stone was thrown. Xiao Ling was a very soft-hearted girl. Sure enough, after he shielded her from the stone, even though she still maintained her distance from him, she couldn¡¯t help but look back.

    This was a good sign.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to Imperial Entertainment.¡± He said to Chu Chen. ¡°I have to work overtime for the next few days. After Xiao Ling resumes her tour, I will continue the n.¡±

    Chu Chen respectfully acknowledged him.

    Xia Ling returned home and recalled what happened during the funeral. She was devastated. It turned out no matter how the orphanage tried to fixed the situation, the children still hated her. This hatred was like a sword that caused her immense pain.

    Habitually, she took out her phone and wanted to call Li Lei.

    However, she remembered that he sounded very busy these days over the phone, and she did not have the heart to disturb him frequently. Sister Mai Na and the others were also very busy. She put down the phone and slowly went into a trance. She only thought of how big the world ass but there was no one she could talk to.

    She kept less contact with Li Lei than before.

    After a few days, she did not even contact him.

    She was very worried and asked Tan Ying if he knew if something was going on. Was he in any danger? Tan Ying said vaguely, ¡°Boss just received a new task and there¡¯s no signal there. After about 10 days to a month, he will be back.¡±

    She was still very worried and continued to ask questions, but she did not manage to get more information.

    She knew that Tan Ying did not like her.

    A few of Li Lei¡¯s subordinates such as Ah Nuo had a good rtionship with her. Unfortunately, they did not know what had happened.

    She spent this period of time worrying.

    The anthelmintic drug scandal slowly ended.

    Sister Mai Na told her that she could continue with the third stop of her tour.

 Chapter 623 - Variable

    <h4>Chapter 623: Variable</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was even more dedicated to this concert.

    To make up for her loss in poprity, she carefully selected her set list, tried a few costumes with the stylist, and even created new choreography for the show. She made many changes and improvements before finalizing the show.

    On the day of the concert, the venue was bustling with noise and excitement.

    Many fans came to support her, and there were banners saying ¡°Good Luck Xiao Ling¡± everywhere. There were also posters, small billboards, and colorful balloons...

    They used their actions to show their support for her.

    Seeing this, Xia Ling¡¯s depressed mood in the past few days improved.

    A photographer entered the dressing room and took photos of her. He used a retro Proid camera, so she could immediately get the photos after they were taken. ¡°These are going to be given to the VIP audience members. Xiao Ling, please sign them.¡± The photographer said and handed a pen to her.

    She easily signed each photo.

    The photographer took the photos out.

    Not long after, Sister Mai Na walked in with an uneasy expression.

    Xia Ling felt that it was a bit strange and asked Sister Mai Na, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°This Pei Ziheng!¡± Sister Mai Na was fuming. ¡°Why is he always around?! Just now when the staff was distributing the photos to the VIP seats, he saw him again!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was here again?

    Xia Ling stoppedbing her hair and lowered her eyes.

    Sister Mai Na remarked very coldly, ¡°I really wish I could shoot him.¡± Today, she was wearing a red leather jacket and looked like a murderous queen.

    Xia Ling quietly continued tob her hair.

    Sister Mai Na continued to vent her anger. ¡°Isn¡¯t he just doing this because Boss is overseas? Otherwise, Boss will deal with him in minutes!¡±

    Xia Lingforted her. ¡°Just let him be. We can¡¯t possibly chase him out. After he watches a few concerts, he will find it meaningless and will leave by himself.¡± Although she said this, she felt that the possibility of him leaving by himself was very low.

    Sister Mai Na viciously concluded. ¡°From the next concert onwards, I will raise the price of the VIP tickets!¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°Do you think he won¡¯t be able to pay?¡±

    Sister Mai Na replied, ¡°We¡¯ll cancel the VIP tickets and change them to give away tickets.¡±

    Xia Ling was not convinced. ¡°Do you think he won¡¯t be able to get them?¡±

    Sister Mai Na was speechless.

    Both of them stared at each other in silence for a while.

    Sister Mai Na became angrier. ¡°Why are you always siding with Pei Ziheng?!¡±

    ¡°I only said the truth.¡± Xia Ling started tob her hair absentmindedly. Suddenly, she said, ¡°I have a tinum ring pendant with letters engraved on it. Ask someone to go to the hotel to help me get it.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Sister Mai Na looked at her suspiciously.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Li Lei gave it to me.¡± Perhaps when Pei Ziheng sees it, he might give up.

    Although her hope was small.

    Sister Mai Na sent someone to get it.

    Soon, the tinum ring pendant was delivered to her. Xia Ling took the ring off the chain and put it on her left middle finger. The icy tinum¡¯s metallic surface shimmered when she wore it on her slender finger. Later, when she stood on stage and held the microphone, everyone would be drawn to this delicate ring.

    Sister Mai Na¡¯s expression darkened.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, do you know that once you wear this and appear in front of others, it¡¯s hard to retract what you did?¡± She asked. As a famous celebrity and a public figure, anything she wore on her left fingers was a signal that she was betrothed to someone and was engaged. This was not a casual thing and would really create a huge uproar.

    ¡°I know.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°The media will definitely ask me who I¡¯m engaged to, and I will tell them that Li Lei and I have already pledged our love for each other. Even if Li Lei is not by my side, I will continue to stay loyal to him.¡±

    Sister Mai Na looked at her deeply. ¡°If anything bad happens to your rtionship with him, everyone willugh at you.¡± She was not a girl anymore. In fact, she had married, divorced, and lost a child. The public was very harsh to a woman like herpared to an innocent and youngdy. Once there were difficulties in her rtionship, they would be happy to see it fall apart.

    ¡°I only want to know if what I do will affect my managerial team.¡± Xia Ling looked at her seriously. ¡°As for whether I will get hurt in the future, Sister Mai Na, let¡¯s just ignore it for now.¡±

    Seeing that she had already made up her mind, Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Just wear it, then. You¡¯re a star, so it¡¯s natural that you¡¯ll have a few scandals to stay relevant. Based on this ring alone, the media can spin stories for days guessing its origins. When Boss is back, you can announce the answer to the media and your love story will beplete.¡±

    The only thing she was worried about was that both of them might not even be together after two days.

    Sister Mai Na had been in Skyart Entertainment for years and was well aware of Old Master Li¡¯s tactics.

    From the looks of it, although everything seemed peaceful, who knew how long this fragile peace wouldst? She lightly hugged Xia Ling. ¡°Good luck.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and touched her ring.

    Her phone rang.

    She picked it up and saw Li Lei¡¯s number.

    She was excited. This was the first time in over a month that Li Lei called her voluntarily. She missed him too much and also did not know if he was done with his job, healthy or when he was returning back to China.

    She answered the call. ¡°Li...¡±

    Before she could say his name, a stern old voice could be heard from the other end of the phone. ¡°Ye Xingling, stop pestering my grandson. He¡¯s already with Su Tang.¡±

    What?!

    There was a buzzing sound in Xia Ling¡¯s brain, and she couldn¡¯t react instantly. After a few seconds, her voice quivered as she asked, ¡°Old Master, what are you saying? Don¡¯t lie to me... Let Li Lei answer the phone.¡±

    On the other end, Old Master Li snorted. ¡°He¡¯s busy taking care of Su Tang, so he has no time for you. Su Tang is already pregnant and will give birth to a child for the Li family very soon. What about you? Ye Xingling! You¡¯re a woman who can¡¯t give birth. You don¡¯t even have the basic ability of a woman. What right do you have to cling on to my grandson?! Quickly get lost as soon as possible! Scram!¡±

    Xia Ling felt like her world was falling apart as she held her phone.

    Su Tang was pregnant with Li Lei¡¯s child? How was it possible?!

    Furthermore, how did Old Master know that she was unable to give birth? Besides Pei Ziheng, only Li Lei knew about it. Could it be that Li Lei really...

    She dared not think further.

    Trying to suppress her emotions, she said, ¡°I want to speak to Li Lei. I won¡¯t leave him.¡±

    Old Master immediately scolded her for being shameless and said, ¡°Xiao Lei is apanying Su Tang for a check-up. You should really see how much he¡¯s looking forward to the child¡¯s birth. He told me that he always felt regretful that you could not give birth but did not ditch you because of past feelings. However, it¡¯s different now. Su Tang has his child, and they will be aplete family. As for you? Just stop disturbing their family!¡±

    Old Master¡¯s words were like knives that stabbed her heart.

    ¡°I want to speak to Li Lei...¡± She repeated futilely.

    <i>Bam¡ª </i>The line went dead.

 Chapter 624 - If It Were a Dream

    <h4>Chapter 624: If It Were a Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Unwilling to give up, Xia Ling redialled the number.

    Looking at her pale face, Sister Mai Na asked in concern, ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong? What happened?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t answer her, as even her hands were shaking. She did not believe it. Li Lei loved her so much. How could he have a change of heart so quickly in a few short months such that he even had a child with someone else? This was not right. There must be some misunderstanding. She had to rify it. Right now, she was an emotional wreck.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t scare me. What happened?¡±

    Her face was so white that it was frightening because she looked like a terminally ill patient. She was shaking and looked like she could copse anytime.

    However, she remained silent as she did not have any energy to answer.

    Outside, a staff member urged her. ¡°Miss Ye, the concert is about to start. Please prepare yourself. You will be on stage after a minute.¡±

    Absent-mindedly, she acknowledged him.

    Sister Mai Na held her. ¡°How can you go on stage in this condition?¡±

    Only then did she realize that there was someone beside her. It took her some time before she could look at Sister Mai Na and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± After that, she started to walk out.

    Sister Mai Na said, ¡°You can¡¯t even walk stably.¡±

    The staff outside urged her again.

    Xia Ling forcibly controlled her breathing and stabilized herself. Then, she opened her mouth and said to Sister Mai Na with some effort, ¡°I¡¯m really fine. I¡¯m about to go on stage, and I can¡¯t cancel it.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Sister Mai Na was very worried about her, but she knew that Xia Ling was right. It was such arge concert and not a small performance. She couldn¡¯t let tens of thousands of fans down.

    Xia Ling let go of her hand and walked towards the stage step by step.

    The stage lights fell on her body. They were so eye-piercing that she could not see.

    After being a singer for two lifetimes, Xia Ling got used to these strong lights a long time ago, but at this time, she experienced an inexplicable trouble. In her mind, she was still thinking about that call and what Old Master Li said¡ª¡±You don¡¯t even have the basic ability of a woman. What right do you have to cling on to my grandson?!¡±

    What right do you have?!

    Scram!

    Suddenly, she felt that the lights were so strong that she cried.

    Below the stage, there were waves of cheers and shouts¡ª

    ¡°Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!¡±

    The fans waved frantically their boards that said ¡°I love you¡± and ¡°Good luck¡± frantically. With their lightsticks, the crowd was like a starry ocean.

    It was such a familiar sight.

    Since ten years ago, she started to feel like a fish in water on stage like it was part of her life. Every time when she stood on stage, she felt that she could aplish anything with ease, but this time, suddenly, she was uncertain and she forgot how to sing.

    The melody of the prelude started.

    Her hand mechanically lifted the slender microphone. There was a brilliant sparkle on her left middle finger. That ring was a couple ring that Li Lei bought for her some time ago when she went shopping with him.

    No, that¡¯s not right...

    With the rotating lights, the apaniment melody sounded like a dream.

    Suddenly, she remembered that the original ring had been long smelted by Pei Ziheng. The one she was wearing now was an imitation she secretly made because she was afraid that Li Lei would be upset if he found out.

    It looked exactly the same, but in reality, it was different.

    Could it be that their rtionship was like this ring and had actually changed long ago?

    The melody yed for a long time. She stood on stage and held the microphone in a daze without making a sound.

    Suddenly, the initially boisterous crowd died down. Countless people were looking at her strangely and were curious as to why she was not singing. It seemed that almost half a song had passed but she did not move. Below the stage, people started whispering. This noise started to grow and gradually became a cheer¡ª

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Sing!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Sing!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Sing!¡±

    Finally, she was awakened and realized that more than half the song had passed. Frantically, she found her voice again and started to sing in a somewhat t voice. ¡°On the wings of stars, looking for the roses of the immortals. If you still love me, you won¡¯t forget me...¡± Without warning, her tears fell.

    At the start, the crowd did not realize that she was crying.

    Hearing her voice, the crowd burst into apuse and cheers.

    She sang so well. It was so beautiful¡ªmournful andpletely different from the other versions of ¡°Meteor Wings.¡± Sure enough, seeing her live was the correct decision. They heard that Xia Ling would always improvise during every live performance. Even though it was the same song, she could sing it in apletely different style.

    Many loyal fans already made the decision to watch her next few shows in session.

    Only Pei Ziheng in the VIP seat clutched his fists as his gaze fell on the shimmering tinum ring on her finger. His expression was dark. Just now Old Master Li sent him a message saying that he had already told Xiao Ling about Li Lei and Su Tang. Why was she still in love with him given the circumstances and wearing that ring?

    Eager screams from fans came from all directions.

    Only he noticed the tears in the corner of her eyes.

    <i>Cry, Xiao Ling. I want to see how long you canst.</i>

    Pei Ziheng started to tap his fingers gently to the beat and mumbled, ¡°If you still love me, you won¡¯t forget the rose in your heart...¡±

    On stage, Xia Ling¡¯s voice started to warm up.

    Today, her mood was extremely bad, but she sang with enormous power. She sang like a cuckoo crying blood. Additionally, with her whistle notes, her voice was astounding.

    The entire venue erupted in screams. There were even people who knelt down to worship her. ¡°Oh my god, whistle notes! Whistle notes! Our Xiao Ling actually has whistle notes and she even sang them so perfectly! Goddess! She is our goddess!¡±

    The crowd went wild.

    In the spotlight, she could not open her eyes. She lifted her head. Every note she sang was higher than the previous notes as if she were about to fly into a boundless dark universe. Could it be that she had reached that ce? If she went to the depths of the universe, did that mean that she would not have to feel any more pain and would never have to answer a call like that anymore?

    If that call was a dream or a huge hallucination, how great would it be?

    Slowly, she could not differentiate reality from her imagination.

    After she sang her highest note, she felt her mind enter the darkness and she lost her consciousness.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    The crowd was confused and people started screaming and pushing forward as they wanted to know what was going on.

    Pei Ziheng saw in the front row of the VIP seats and clearly saw that her petite body was like a bird with broken wings that softly fell to the ground. He stood up immediately and rushed to the stage.

    That was almost an instinct.

    The staff at the edge of the stage wanted to stop him, but he red at them with cold and thunderous eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t block me!¡±

    The staff trembled. This man... was so frightening.

    Subconsciously, they let him pass.

    Pei Ziheng ran upstage, bent down and carefully picked her up.

 Chapter 625 - The Struggle of a Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 625: The Struggle of a Butterfly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her body was so light that it was almost weightless like feathers.

    Layers of gauze covered her body. Her delicate hair spread out, and her beaded jewelry fell to the ground. Her eyes were tightly shut, causing a faint shadow to brush her eyelids.

    As he was very close, he could smell the floral fragrance on her body.

    The lights on the stage were ring.

    There was pandemonium below the stage.

    However, he felt that this moment was beautiful like many years ago when his butterfly quietly rested in the palm of his hand. A world that only belonged to both of them.

    A few staff rushed up and wanted to take her from him.

    However, Pei Ziheng evaded them and personally carried her backstage.

    When he reached backstage, Sister Mai Na also ran over anxiously. ¡°How¡¯s Xiao Ling?¡±

    Without answering, he strode forward.

    Sister Mai Na pulled him. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Where are you taking Xiao Ling?!¡±

    Finally, he paused in his footsteps and coldly looked at Sister Mai Na, ¡°Is this how you take care of her? Is she physically exhausted or malnourished? How could she faint on stage like that! Move aside, I¡¯m going to send her to the hospital.¡±

    ¡°We will send her to the hospital! We don¡¯t need to trouble you.¡± Sister Mai Na said.

    Pei Ziheng looked slightly impatient. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you.¡± After that, he pushed Sister Mai Na¡¯s hand aside and strode forward.

    Sister Mai Na was stunned by his imposing manner and only reacted after a few seconds. In what way was this man qualified to say that he could not trust them?! What rtionship did he think he had with Xiao Ling?!

    She was so angry that she stamped her foot. As she looked at Pei Ziheng¡¯s figure slowly disappear, she pulled her assistant. ¡°Chase him!¡±

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling to the parking lot and got on his own Rolls Royce.

    ¡°Where to, Boss?¡± The chauffeur asked.

    ¡°Cloud Springs Mountain Manor.¡± Pei Ziheng said. That was one of his holiday vis in the city. It was near the river, and he had exclusive private chefs and servants there. The environment was many times better than the hotel she lived in.

    ¡°Do we need to go to the hospital?¡± Looking at the girl who had fainted in his arms, the chauffeur daringly asked.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and gently looked at Xia Ling¡¯s pale face. Her eyes were tearful and her makeup was a little smudged, but she had a fragile sort of beauty. ¡°Look for a doctor for a proper check-up.¡± He said. He was very clear that she was neither physically exhausted nor malnourished. She was only over-stimted after knowing that Li Lei was with someone else.

    She would be fine after resting for a few days.

    The chauffeur acknowledged him and focused on driving.

    After a while, he suddenly said, ¡°Boss, there are people following behind us.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at the rearview mirror.

    A BMW and was following them very closely. However, due to machine performance, it could not overtake his Rolls Royce.

    ¡°Lose it.¡± He said concisely.

    After receiving the order, the chauffeur made a few turns in the city and spent a lot of effort getting rid of the BMW.

    Soon, Pei Ziheng¡¯s phone rang. It was a foreign number.

    He answered it. Sure enough, he heard Sister Mai Na¡¯s exasperated voice. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Where are you taking Xiao Ling? You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s very safe.¡± He was not triggered. In fact, he patiently fixed the hair of the girl in his arms. ¡°I will take care of her well. Ask Li Lei¡¯s bodyguards to stay further away and not give her problems.¡±

    ¡°You¡ª¡± Sister Mai Na still wanted to say something.

    Pei Ziheng directly ended the call.

    Soon, they reached Cloud Springs Mountain Manor and he ced Xia Ling in the master bedroom.

    It was quiet outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside, a Persian cat was lying on the soft carpet.

    The doctor he had called arrived and, after he examined Xia Ling carefully, he said, ¡°Xia Ling does not have any big problems and only fainted due to physical exhaustion and overstimtion. After more rest, nutrition and constion, she will get better.¡± After that, he gave some advice regarding the food she should eat.

    The doctor was sent away.

    He sat on the bed next to her and looked at her asleep form for the entire night.

    Xia Ling only felt that she had a long and chaotic dream. In the dream, there were many fragmented scenes. There was Li Lei, Su Tang, Old Master Li, Gu Lin, and other unrted people... They mocked her, taunted her, and said that she was not a good woman because she could not give birth to any children. They said that she was not worthy of being with Li Lei...

    She dreamed that she was holding on to Li Lei¡¯s hand and pleading him not to go.

    However, in the dream, Li Lei pushed her away and coldly said, ¡°I already have Su Tang now. And I will have a son with her.¡± Holding the pregnant Su Tang¡¯s hand, they gradually disappeared into the distance...

    She cried and woke up.

    The first thing she saw was a cold face which looked like a god¡¯s.

    She looked at him for a long time before realizing who he was. ¡°Pei Ziheng, give me the phone.¡± She said.

    ¡°You just woke up and are very weak.¡± Pei Ziheng gently said, ¡°Lie down for a while more. I asked the servants to make fruit puree and porridge. You should eat a little first.¡±

    She said again, ¡°Give me the phone!¡±

    He nced at her and handed her the phone.

    Shaking, she dialed Li Lei¡¯s number. The line was busy as previous times and she could not get through. She became anxious and called Tan Ying. ¡°Tan Ying! Where is your boss now?! Why isn¡¯t he answering the phone?!¡±

    Since Li Lei returned back to the headquarters, Tan Ying became his general manager in China and kept in touch with the headquarters frequently. Although it was in the middle of the night, he was still very awake when he answered Xia Ling¡¯s call. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯ve said that boss is settling business and it¡¯s very normal that he can¡¯t contact you in the short term.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Her tone changed slightly. ¡°I heard that Su Tang is pregnant. Is this true?!¡±

    A few days ago, Tan Ying received this news and was very calm at that time. ¡°Yes, boss and Su Tang went to settle business together. Su Tang saved his life. In the wilderness, it is normal for this to happen when a man and a woman are alone. It¡¯s best if you ept this fact.¡±

    Her heart sank. ept this fact? How could she do that?!

    ¡°Since news about them can be spread...¡± She forced herself to remain calm as she questioned him. ¡°This proves that I can contact him, Tan Ying! Tell me how I can contact him!¡±

    Tan Ying frowned. ¡°Miss Ye, I can¡¯t do that. Old Master ordered me to not let you disturb boss and Su Tang¡¯s family.¡± He deliberately used the word ¡°family¡± so that she would give up hope.

    However, she persevered. ¡°Tell me!¡±

    Tan Ying hung up the phone.

    ¡°Give it up.¡± It was Pei Ziheng¡¯s calm voice. ¡°Li Lei used to be a flirt in the past. Before he met you, he had countless female partners. It¡¯s a miracle that he¡¯s able to be with you for such a long time. Do you think he will stay virtuous when you¡¯re not by his side?¡±

    Xia Ling spun around and red at him coldly. ¡°He won¡¯t betray me!¡±

 Chapter 626 - Destroy the Li Family

    <h4>Chapter 626: Destroy the Li Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng looked at her like he was being lenient with an innocent child.

    Feeling his eyes on her, Xia Ling grabbed the cellphone and started dialing. Pei Ziheng was about to tell her not to waste her time, when he heard her speak into the phone, ¡°Brother...¡±

    Her voice was soft and on the verge of breaking.

    He felt a prick in his heart.

    When had she been willing to talk to him in such a manner? Xiao Ling had always been a child who cried easily. When she was younger, even a prick by a rose thorn could set her wailing for hours on end. But she only ever cried before those she trusted, never in front of those who didn¡¯t mean enough to her.

    Subsequently, she gradually stopped crying in front of him, or even speaking to him in such a soft tone.

    Hearing her helpless voice today ached him.

    She said into the cellphone, ¡°The Lis are bullying me...¡± Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke.

    The person on the other end of the line said something, and quickly sniffed and said, ¡°No, I¡¯m fine, they didn¡¯t do anything to me... I was just kidding... Brother, please don¡¯t take revenge on them.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at her.

    He had checked the Xia family out before and knew just how powerful they were.

    They possessed a mysterious mystical power that could ruin the Li family and the Pei family easily. It took nothing more than a thought to send them to their defeat. Only recently did Pei Ziheng finally figure out how Li Lei managed to overpower him so greatly thest time... a Xia must have helped him.

    If anyone were to find trouble with this girl from the Xia family, they could take revenge on one¡¯s entire magnate with the snap of a finger.

    Yet, all Xia Ling actually said, Brother, it¡¯s fine, don¡¯t take revenge on them.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart ached for her, and he felt that this was a lost opportunity; if only Preceptor Xia could help him eradicate his love rival.

    Xia Ling was still on the phone. ¡°Could you... help me find out how I can contact Li Lei? I can¡¯t seem to get him.¡± Only after the cellphonework had been lost did Xia Ling realize just how fragile the connection between them was. The loss of a signal sent her searching for him in the vast crowd.

    That feeling was scary and lonely.

    On the other end, Xia Moyan said, ¡°I¡¯ll call you backter. Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling.¡± He hung up and anger took over him. The Li family was too much!

    He left the house in search for that man.

    In the vintage-looking backyard, the leaves swayed in the wind.

    An elderly was ying chess, and crouching opposite him was a grey fox. The fox would mess the chessboard up every once in a while.

    ¡°Moyan,¡± the elderly called out to his son. ¡°Why the long face?¡±

    Xia Moyan stopped in his footsteps in the yard and politely greeted ¡°Father¡± before getting into the topic of his sister. After giving his father a brief overview, he added, ¡°There are more parasol trees in this world than Li Lei alone, why does Xiao Ling have to put herself through such treatment from his family? How about we ruin the Li family and find a better one for Xiao Ling!¡±

    The elderly tapped a chess piece before conscientiously cing it on a grid diagonally across.

    ¡°When I was younger, I made a trip to the Li household.¡± He said calmly.

    Xia Moyan was slightly stunned. Why was Father talking about this?

    The elderly went on, ¡°I once had a game of chess with Li Shanhe. He won.¡±

    Xia Moyan kept quiet. That was no surprise¡ªeven though Father appeared to know his moves, he was merely an amateur. Even the little fox opposite him could beat him.

    The elderly said, ¡°I¡¯ve taken a look at the fengshui in the Li household, and Li Shanhe¡¯s destiny ¡ª among his descendants, there would be one who¡¯d turn out to be an important and world-changing person.¡±

    Xia Moyan frowned slightly. ¡°So what.¡± However important he was, he couldn¡¯t be more important than his sister and her happiness.

    The bored fox fiddled with the chessboard.

    There was a shift in power on the chessboard, and the elderly had no choice but to go along with the fox¡¯s move. ¡°Your sister is a phoenix. Do you think her judgment would be any inferior to yours? She¡¯s just destined to encounter many obstacles and difficulties in life that she¡¯ll have to ovee.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I still want to destroy the Li family.¡±

    The elderly was speechless. He felt as if all his teachings to his son were in vain.

    Even the fox could sense the ferocity in his quiet voice, and decided to hop away.

    The elderly red at his son, ¡°You ruined my chess game!¡±

    ¡°I want to destroy the Li family.¡±

    The elderly was practically about to hit him. ¡°If you destroy their family, what¡¯s going to happen to Shaohui?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll find him a stepfather.¡±

    The elderly did not know what else to say and waved him away. ¡°Just go, ruin their family and we¡¯ll see how your sister fights it out with you.¡± It was evident how much Xiao Ling liked that Li fellow ¡ª anyone whoid a finger on him would definitely get it from Xiao Ling herself. The elderly decided to take a look at the ancient book ¡ª was the phoenix especially powerful and intimidating when she got angry?

    This time, it was Xia Moyan who was speechless.

    He knew his father was right. That stupid phoenix at home would really turn against her biological brother if he were to hurt thatd!

    He walked away silently.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± The elderly asked, afraid that his son would really do something to the Li family, possibly making them vanish overnight.

    Xia Moyan clenched his teeth, ¡°I¡¯m going to help Xiao Ling... find out... how to contact that man.¡± He would give Xiao Ling a chance to talk to him. Once she had ovee this obstacle, he had more than enough time to deal with that man!

    Xia Ling waited in the bedroom apprehensively.

    Xia Moyan returned her call and gave her a number. ¡°The signal in South Africa isn¡¯t too good, but this is the number to the receiver at Li Lei¡¯s amodation now.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked her brother and hurriedly dialed the number.

    It rang for a long time before somebody picked up the phone on the other end. It was a male¡¯s voice, speaking in anguage she did not understand.

    She asked for Li Lei in English.

    The other party asked her, in English now, who she was.

    She told him her name.

    He got her to hold on for a moment before calling out to Li Lei. In the background, there were sounds of people talking.

    Xia Ling waited in apprehension, nervous and excited. She finally managed to contact him, and in no time, she would be able to verify whether Su Tang¡¯s pregnancy was real. She would know very soon whether he really did betray her...

    It was a familiar voice this time. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She called out, on the verge of tears.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, how are you? Are you alright?¡± Li Lei asked concernedly.

    She had not answered his question before she asked hurriedly, ¡°Li Lei, how are you now? Old Master called me and told me that Su Tang is carrying your child. This isn¡¯t true, right? You love me so much, how could you get together with another woman?¡±

    On that end, Li Lei kept quiet.

 Chapter 627 - Wait for My Return

    <h4>Chapter 627: Wait for My Return</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    His silence made her heart pound.

    She clenched her fingers involuntarily. With short breaths, she asked, ¡°It¡¯s... it¡¯s true?¡±

    Li Lei still did not respond. Instead, another man¡¯s voice was heard, ¡°Who are you? Don¡¯te between Sister Su and Young Master Lei. Sister Su is already more than a month pregnant!¡±

    ¡°Da Li!¡± Li Lei was angered.

    Xia Ling suspected she was hearing things. She asked quietly, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, listen to me...¡± Li Lei started.

    ¡°Listen to you?¡± Her voice was even softer now. H <i>e did not deny what the other man said, which meant that Su Tang was really pregnant. But, with his child?</i>

    On the other end, she could even hear Su Tang¡¯s voice. ¡°Da Li, don¡¯t create trouble. Be more polite to Miss Ye.¡±

    ¡°Sister Su! You¡¯re just too nice, that¡¯s why such a woman could find her way to Young Master! You¡¯ve been with Young Master for so many years, and finally managed to bear his child, yet...¡±

    ¡°Get out!¡± Li Lei shouted.

    ¡°Young Master...?¡± Da Li dared not believe what he heard.

    Li Lei could not be bothered with him. He went on with Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, listen to me, please!¡±

    ¡°What are you going to say? That the child isn¡¯t yours?¡± She tried topose herself and hoped that he was going to say what she wanted to hear.

    Instead, he said, ¡°I can¡¯t exin things clearly over the phone. When I return tomorrow, I¡¯ll speak to you about this face to face.¡±

    She was disappointed ¡ª he actually could not give her an answer over the phone. She knew that things were not so simple; otherwise, he would not tell her he ¡°couldn¡¯t exin things clearly.¡±

    She felt her heart sink bit by bit.

    ¡°Wait for me! I¡¯ll be back tomorrow!¡± Li Lei reminded.

    In a daze, she did not know how she hung up. Meanwhile, Pei Ziheng was looking at her with a look of concern, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be too sad. Since you know he¡¯s such a person, give him up.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wish to see you.¡± She said dryly. At that point, she did not want to hear such advice. She kept convincing herself that Li Lei must have had his reasons. He would exin it all to her when he returned, he definitely would.

    But Pei Ziheng went on. ¡°He already has a child with another woman. He¡¯s let you down.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and walked out of the room. She did not want to be near Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng was gloating internally as he saw her back view. He dialed the same number she did before and someone picked up almost immediately. ¡°I¡¯m looking for Li Lei.¡±

    Li Lei received the phone and asked, ¡°Pei Ziheng, howe it¡¯s you this time?¡±

    ¡°Stop hurting Xiao Ling,¡± Pei Ziheng said calmly in a low voice. ¡°Since you can¡¯t give her happiness, then stop pestering her. She cried in my arms just now, her eyes are badly swollen.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s with you now?¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice turned cold.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I was right beside her when she called you. Honestly, I feel so bad for you. Xiao Ling is such a nice girl, but you went off to have a child with another woman just because Xiao Ling can¡¯t bear children anymore? But thank you. Because you broke her heart, she¡¯s starting to realize how nice I am to her. I will take good care of her, thank you for returning her to me.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t you dare touch her!¡±

    Pei Ziheng smirked. ¡°Who are you to her?¡± Then, he hung up.

    On the other end, Li Lei punched a table.

    Su Tang and the other men in the house looked at him, not daring to make a sound. Li Lei rarely got angry, but when he did, he was one to be feared.

    ¡°Young Master, I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s all my fault...¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice was shaking as she rested one hand on her stomach. ¡°I¡¯ve made Miss Ye unhappy...¡±

    The men looked indignant on her behalf.

    Sister Su¡¯s loyalty towards Young Master all these years was recognized by everyone, and even more so after she went through so much to save him just a few days back. Since Young Master had gotten Sister Su pregnant, how could he not make things clear with other women? Sister Su was really more than anyone could ask for, which other women would sacrifice so much for him?

    But looking at Li Lei¡¯s solemn face, nobody dared to voice those words.

    Li Lei nced at everyone in the house before saying in a somber, almost threatening voice, ¡°If I find that any one of you here is disrespectful to Xiao Ling, don¡¯t me me for cutting all ties with you!¡±

    Su Tang lowered her head and bit her lip.

    Finally, one of the men said something, ¡°Young Master, you have to take care of Sister Su and the baby!¡±

    Li Lei looked at Su Tang and kept quiet for a while before saying gently, ¡°Su Tang, return to the room and rest first. Don¡¯t brood over things.¡±

    Su Tang nodded and made her way to the room. After just a few steps, she stopped and turned around.

    ¡°Sister Su, what¡¯s wrong?¡± One of the men asked.

    ¡°Young Master,¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice was tender. ¡°You¡¯re returning tomorrow to look for Miss Ye? But, your wound...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal,¡± Li Lei said. As he stood up, the wound on his abdomen hurt intensely. He furrowed his brows and stood still for a moment, waiting it out, before saying, ¡°Get the car ready, I¡¯m going to the airport now.¡±

    ¡°Young Master!¡± A few of them tried dissuading him. ¡°You¡¯re still seriously injured!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fuss.¡± He spat those words out coldly and walked out.

    Once he had walked far enough, discussions erupted ¡ª

    ¡°Young Master is too cruel. Sister Su is pregnant and he¡¯s going to meet another woman!¡±

    ¡°What kind of vixen is Ye Xingling? Old Master has already chased her out, and she¡¯s still pestering Young Master. How shameless!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, how can shepare to our Sister Su in any way!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak of Miss Ye this way.¡± Su Tang was slightly pale. With one hand on her stomach, she kept her voice refined as usual. ¡°She had no other choice but to run towards Young Master after escaping from Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Ew, so she¡¯s a used good!¡±

    ¡°Sister Su, you¡¯re too nice! That¡¯s why that wanton woman dares to do this!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t let Young Master return!¡±

    ¡°Yes, we can¡¯t let Young Master return!¡±

    Su Tang looked down. That¡¯s right, she did not want Li Lei to return either. What if he exins everything clearly to that wretched woman when they meet?

    She said her goodbyes to the men in the house and walked towards the Old Master¡¯s ce.

    Xia Ling was standing in the breeze on the balcony of Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi. Her head cleared up in the chilly air.

    She was still upset, but she knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to indulge in her sadness. She walked back into the vi.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I want to go back to City S.¡± Xia Ling looked up at the tall, big man before her. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I want to wait for Li Lei at the airport in City S. He said he¡¯d return tomorrow and make things clear to me!¡±

 Chapter 628 - Awaiting His Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 628: Awaiting His Arrival</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the night breeze, she looked so petite and yet so certain.

    Pei Ziheng knew he could not dissuade her from going, and instead said, ¡°I¡¯ll send you there.¡± He got the chauffeur to drive the Rolls-Royce over and personally apanied her to the airport in City S.

    It was quiet in the car.

    She sat in the back seat all curled up, like a small, injured animal.

    Pei Ziheng said tenderly, ¡°Catch some sleep, I¡¯ll wake you up when we¡¯re there.¡±

    She shook her head. There was no way she could fall asleep now, with so much running through her head.

    The ride was smooth and they arrived at a petrol kiosk after about five hours. Pei Ziheng alighted and bought a warm bento set for her. ¡°Have something warm, we still have a long way to go.¡±

    She looked up. Without receiving the meal, she asked Pei Ziheng, ¡°How long more is this ride going to take?¡±

    ¡°Given the road conditions, it¡¯ll be another five to six hours.¡± Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You should sleep for a bit after eating. The journey is long, and the chauffeur can¡¯t be driving the whole way. I¡¯ll shift to the front seat, you can have the backseat to lie down.¡±

    She nodded her head but still curled up in a daze.

    Seeing that she was not moving, Pei Ziheng found a nket to cover her and opened the bento set for her. He picked some food with the disposable chopsticks and held it up to her. ¡°Open your mouth.¡±

    She turned away, ¡°I don¡¯t feel like eating.¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not give up. ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten in a long time, you can¡¯t go on like this. Do you want Li Lei to see you looking so haggard when you meet him at the airportter?¡± He did not want to mention that man, but that was the only way to get her to obey.

    He was worried that she would fall ill if she didn¡¯t take care of herself.

    Only after he said that did Xia Ling eat the food he offered her. The meal from the petrol kiosk was horrid ¡ª even though Pei Ziheng had already topped up some money to get them to prepare a fresh hot meal on the spot, it still tasted far worsepared to the food Li Lei prepared for her. She chewed the food mechanically as she recalled the good times they shared together, and that made the food even harder to swallow.

    Pei Ziheng saw that she was eating and gently said, ¡°That¡¯s my girl.¡±

    He picked up another spoonful of food for her.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°When are we going to continue the ride?¡± The car had stopped at the kiosk for more than ten minutes, and every minute more was too much. She wanted to reach the airport and be by Li Lei¡¯s side as soon as possible.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Once I¡¯m done feeding you, I¡¯ll start driving.¡±

    Xia Ling received the bento from his hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ll eat on my own, you can drive now.¡±

    He looked at her for a few moments before saying, ¡°Alright.¡± He did not want to argue with her over this. Anyway, Li Lei was going to be out of his life and hers in no time, he might as well be a little more magnanimous now so that she¡¯d be more appreciative of and dependent on him.

    He adjusted the nket on her and then shifted to the driver¡¯s seat.

    He tried the car out.

    The chauffeur politely said, ¡°Boss, this car is rather big. You have to take note of the rearview mirror.¡± He knew very well that his boss had not personally driven a car in years, and was making an exception for Miss Ye.

    Pei Ziheng started the car and went onto the main road.

    Seeing how focused he was at the wheel, it suddenly hit Xia Ling how nice this man had been to her. Whether he was trying to woo her again or not, his care for her was beyond measure. She was actually troubling him to drive her across two cities to get to the airport.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    In the driver¡¯s seat, Pei Ziheng¡¯s hands were still and steady on the steering wheel, but there was a slight tug at the tip of his lips. ¡°There¡¯s no need for such civility between us. Xiao Ling, I just want you to be happy.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down. Was she really happy?

    The journey was long and dull, but she was unable to sleep. Curled up in the back seat, she kept her eyes on her cellphone, waiting for it to ring, or at least light up with a message from Li Lei.

    But it never came.

    When her cellphone finally rang, it was Sister Mai Na calling to ask where she was.

    She told Sister Mai Na, ¡°I¡¯m alright, Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t worry. Once I¡¯ve settled this, I¡¯ll go to Skyart and look for you. I¡¯m sorry for messing up the concert. Let me know how thepany intends to salvage it, I¡¯ll do my best to cooperate.¡±

    Sister Mai Na snapped back. ¡°Who cares about the concert?! I¡¯m only concerned about you!¡±

    Xia Ling felt a warmth in her heart. ¡°I¡¯m fine, really. I¡¯ll be able to see Li Lei very soon, and he¡¯ll exin everything to me... Oh right, Sister Mai Na, please don¡¯t call me in the next few hours. I¡¯m trying to keep my phone signal clear, maybe Li Lei would want to call me.¡±

    Sister Mai Na was silent for a while before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, no matter what happens, I¡¯ll always be on your side. If you face any problems, look for me!¡± After Xia Ling¡¯s look darkened upon picking up Old Master¡¯s call, and her fainting incident during the concert, Sister Mai Na decided to look into it. Tan Ying told her that Boss and Su Tang were together now and that Su Tang was carrying Boss¡¯ child.

    Sister Mai Na knew how big a blow this would be to Xia Ling.

    She guessed that there must have been some kind of misunderstanding. Given Boss¡¯ character, how could he have a child with Su Tang out of nowhere? It was a good thing that Xiao Ling and Boss were going to meet face to face to talk about this.

    For some unknown reason, however, Sister Mai Na felt a strange nagging difort.

    She dared not let Xia Ling know about this, and could only remind Xia Ling to look for her if she had any problem.

    Xia Ling responded in agreement and hung up.

    Her cellphone never rang after that.

    Not a single phone call from Li Lei.

    Sheforted herself ¡ª Brother had mentioned that the signal over in South Africa was bad, and only a telephone receiver could be reached. Li Lei was probably rushing over and could not find time to stop at a receiver to give her a call.

    Anyway, they would be meeting soon.

    In the midst of all her worrying and apprehension, the Rolls-Royce arrived at the airport.

    It was bustling in the airport. Many of them were here to receive passengers.

    Pei Ziheng reserved a high tea lounge near the arrival hall and took Xia Ling there to rest while waiting. She was a celebrity ¡ª if they did not find somewhere quieter and separate from the main area, she¡¯d be surrounded by the public in no time.

    Xia Ling had no idea which flight Li Lei was on and how long more it would take.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°He said he was returning onlyst night. Even if he left for the airport the moment he hung up, he wouldn¡¯t be here so quickly. Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be too anxious.¡±

    But, how could she not be?

    She looked at the arrival gate with her eyes wide open. One wave of people hade and gone, followed by the second, and all the subsequent waves... But Li Lei did not appear.

    It had been a whole day, from dawn till dusk.

    The passengers of thest flight had left and the arrival hall was now almost empty.

    Xia Ling looked extremely pale. It had been a full day without sleep, and full of anxiety and disappointment. At this point, she could barely stand properly.

    Pei Ziheng quietly said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±

 Chapter 629 - He Never Comes

    <h4>Chapter 629: He Never Comes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, she shook her head. ¡°So many people got off the ne. Perhaps I simply missed him.¡±

    She called Li Lei on his mobile. It rang a few times but the person that picked up the call was still Old Master Li. ¡°It¡¯s Ye Xingling, isn¡¯t it? Why are you still badgering Li Lei so much? A woman like you who is a jinx that even jinxed her own child cannot match up to my grandson at all! You should just leave! My grandson and granddaughter-inw are already with child. Don¡¯t be so shameless!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale. She asked softly, ¡°Granddaughter-inw?¡±

    Old Master Li said, ¡°My granddaughter-inw Su Tang! She¡¯s a hundred times more suitable to be my granddaughter-inw!¡±

    She asked incredulously. ¡°They are... married?¡±

    Old Master Liughed coldly. ¡°She¡¯s already pregnant. How can they not be married?!¡±

    Her mobile fell to the ground with a loud tter. How could it be? How could Li Lei not only have a child with Su Tang but also have married her? It was not possible... the Old Master must be lying to her! Li Lei just told her that he woulde back to the country to exin things to her!

    She hurriedly picked up the mobile and redialed the number. ¡°Old Master, where is Li Lei?¡±

    Old Master berated for being a shameless b*tch again and told her to just give up before he hung up on her.

    She didn¡¯t manage to get any information from the Old Master aside from getting an earful, and there were many questions arising in her mind. Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was dark beside her. This Li Shanhe... wait till Xiao Ling was back by his side... He would definitely make sure Li Shanhe paid for being so cruel to her!

    Even if he wanted to break Xiao Ling and Li Lei up, he shouldn¡¯t scold her like that!

    He said to Xia Ling, ¡°Let¡¯s go, follow me home. Why are you staying here and putting up with this nonsense?¡± His Xiao Ling was so precious and had a mysterious and powerful family background, as well as him to dote on her. Moreover, she also had multitudes of fans chasing after her crazily. Someone as ster as she had no reason to put up with the Li Family¡¯s berating!

    Yet, Xia Ling only shook her head weakly.

    ¡°You¡¯re not leaving?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was hoarse. ¡°Xiao Ling, do you think that Li Lei really loves you? If he loves you, why would he make Su Tang pregnant? Why would he marry her? Why would he leave you here in the airport without a word?¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t leave me in the airport without a word!¡± Xia Ling was shaking with anger as she shouted back at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Pei Ziheng, shut up! I don¡¯t want to hear anything from you!¡±

    Pei Ziheng stared at her intently. ¡°I¡¯m saying these for your own good.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to do anything for my good!¡± She screamed at him. ¡°Just leave me alone!¡±

    He pressed his lips tightly together, his gaze so deep that it would make someone¡¯s heart stop with fear. The driver apanying him to the side started to get nervous. <i>Oh my... no one dares act so disrespectfully to Boss. Boss isn¡¯t going to... lose his temper, is he?</i>

    Pei Ziheng, surprisingly, managed to curb his temper.

    ¡°I apologize, Xiao Ling.¡± He said gently. ¡°I¡¯m just too concerned about you.¡±

    She calmed down a little and realized that she had been shouting at Pei Ziheng. She shut her eyes and apologized as well. ¡°I¡¯m the one in the wrong, Pei Ziheng... my emotions are all jumbled up right now.¡± She turned her face away from him and looked out of the tea room at the empty arrival hall. After a long while, she said softly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear any words of discouragement.¡±

    Because she was scared.

    She was scared that all the words of discouragement woulde true.

    Pei Ziheng walked behind her and carefully tried to embrace her.

    She froze and quickly struggled free from him.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to make you feel better.¡±

    She said, ¡°He wille back. He must be too busy and didn¡¯t make it for the flight today. He will be back tomorrow.¡±

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t want to pour cold water on her. He instructed the driver to carry over several chairs and ced them together to form a make-shift bed. Then, he brought a nket over from the Rolls-Royce and draped it over the chairs. ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a rest so that you have the energy to wait for his flight arrival tomorrow? To do a proper headcount.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that he made sense, and hence,id down to sleep.

    He took off his jacket and draped it over her.

    ¡°I¡¯m not cold.¡± She said.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be cold in the night. Be obedient.¡± He half-squatted to take a closer look at her and said in a gentle voice. ¡°Do you remember when you were small? You loved to sleep with my jacket over you, saying that it will keep the bad dreams away.¡±

    She recalled the memories from the old days.

    Then, she had just been adopted by him and was unfamiliar in the Pei Family premises, frequently waking up with nightmares. She suspected then that the luxury and happiness she found herself in was just a big hallucination and dream on her part. As such, she loved it when he draped his clothing over her when she slept as his scent would be on the clothing, which made her feel safe.

    However, now, everything had changed.

    He had hurt her deeply before.

    She reached out to push away his jacket. ¡°I¡¯m no longer a child.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± He pressed his hand over hers with sadness in his eyes. ¡°do you have to draw the boundaries so clearly with me?¡±

    Seeing his sad expression, she suddenly kept quiet. Pei Ziheng... Pei Ziheng... these three words were like a curse to her. Even though her love for him was gone and the happiness had disappeared, she would still never forget the day he had held her hand and took her away from the orphanage, giving her the bright future that she had had.

    ¡°You said that I was your father, brother, and lover... ¡± Pei Ziheng looked down at her and said in his hoarse voice. ¡°If you¡¯ve fallen in love with someone else and also found your family, then what am I now? Xiao Ling, let me be beside you for now... just for now, let me take care of you. Don¡¯t reject mepletely.¡±

    She lowered her eyes, not knowing what to say.

    He covered her with his jacket again and said gently, ¡°Just rest well.¡±

    She was really tired from not having slept in two days. Curling under his jacket, she soon fell into a deep sleep. However, she didn¡¯t sleep for too long. She was still worried about the flight arrival and woke with a start in the middle of the night. Pulling the jacket away, she sat up and realized that the sky was still dark.

    ¡°Sleep a little longer.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s warm voice rang out. ¡°I¡¯ll wake you when the first flights enter the terminal.¡±

    She turned towards his voice and realized that he was just sitting by her side. His eyes were red and blood-shot, and there was stubble growing on his chin. She asked, ¡°Did you not sleep?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You like to kick away your nkets in the night. I was afraid that you would catch a cold.¡±

    She was speechless again. She was really being a burden to him these two days. Who had seen the Chairman of Imperial Entertainment look so disheveled?

    He opened a thermos sk and said to her, ¡°Drink some water.¡±

    She silently drank from the sk as she got up and stared out of the windows. The arrival hall was deste in the night, a drastic difference from the bustling hall in the day. She suddenly felt anxious. What if... what if Li Lei didn¡¯te back? What was she to do then?

    She forced herself to squash this thought.

    No, he would definitelye back.

    He said that he would exin things to her. He loved her so.

    The granddaughter-inw, him getting married... all that were just lies. They had to be.

    Seeing that she was not going back to sleep, Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t pressure her but instead sat down beside her. Dawn was breaking, and there were more people walking around in the airport. The first flight arrived and droves of people came through the arrival hall, creating muchmotion.

    She stared at the crowds more intently than the day before, looking for that familiar face.

    But he was not to be found.

    Not to be found.

    Night fell again and Pei Ziheng tried to persuade her to leave again.

    She refused, stubbornly insisting on staying in the airport for the third day. He didn¡¯t arrive on the third day either, and she waited a fourth day... a fifth day...

 Chapter 630 - Donâ€™t Think I Wonâ€™t Dare to Put You In Cold Storage

    <h4>Chapter 630: Don¡¯t Think I Won¡¯t Dare to Put You In Cold Storage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She waited painstakingly in the airport for him the whole week.

    During that time, she would call his mobile periodically and, every time, Old Master Li would pick up and insult or berate her. He even sent her a video of Li Lei walking in the garden with Su Tang. ¡°Xiao Lei doesn¡¯t have time to bother about you right now! Go back to China to exin things to you? There¡¯s nothing to exin... he has just done what most men would do... unsatisfied with what he had and cheating. He was just bewitched momentarily by your looks and was treating you well so you can be his mistress or second wife. A woman like you who is a jinx and barren can¡¯t expect anything more than that!¡±

    She was stunned to silence at his horrible words and stared nkly at the couple in the video.

    In the video, the light from the setting sun shone on Su Tang¡¯ts face, and she had a hand protectively over her abdomen, walking slowly alongside Li Lei. She smilingly asked Li Lei something and his reply appeared to make her even happier, as sheughed emphatically. While she wasughing, she suddenly tripped over something and looked like she was about to fall.

    Li Lei quickly caught her and hugged her to him.

    The two of them seemed to be in a shock and said something with Li Lei looking down at her abdomen in concern.

    Xia Ling shut off the video.

    There were many people passing by her in the arrival hall. The sun was sweltering, and in her fatigue, she felt a little dizzy.

    Pei Ziheng said to her, ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Xiao Ling. He doesn¡¯t appreciate you, but there are many others who do.¡±

    She got onto his car and returned to the bungalow, locking herself in her room.

    Pei Ziheng knocked on her door wanting to apany her.

    However, she said, ¡°Let me be alone.¡± She locked herself in the bungalow for many days and nights, forgetting to have proper meals. The only thing she religiously did was to make sure that her mobile was charged to the fullest, and constantly worried that her phone was spoiled because it didn¡¯t ring for extended periods of time, testing it time and again with thendline in the house.

    Many days passed again.

    She had reached the point where she had given up and epted that Li Lei was not returning. Her heart felt like it was falling apart as if her life was being sapped from her bit by bit. She never felt him so far away before, even when the paragliding incident happened or when she was trapped with Pei Ziheng¡ªher heart hurt then, but she always knew that Li Lei¡¯s sunlight was shining upon her.

    Yet, now she felt that her sunlight had disappeared.

    Her sunlight was shining upon another woman.

    She was numbed in despair.

    She struggled to pull herself together, seeking distraction in surfing the web, where she sawizens discussing the concert when she suddenly fainted onstage. Some used her of being unprofessional, but many others showed concern over her circumstance. Many fans sent their regards to her in the Weiboments.

    Tears started falling freely down her face. So it wasn¡¯t that everyone in the world had forgotten about her.

    She showered and changed into a clean set of clothes. Putting on some light makeup, she headed out to Skyart Entertainment. She wanted to resolve the matter with the concert and inform Sister Mai Na and her team that she was fine. She needed to immerse herself in her work again.

    Skyart Entertainment was bustling with activity as usual.

    She walked towards Sister Mai Na¡¯s office and many people that she passed by shot her weird nces. There were so many news articles about her recently that even the internal staff were wondering what was going on, let alone theizens. Moreover, General Manager Tan Ying had issued amand...

    Xia Ling was indifferent to all their nces and walked straight to Sister Mai Na¡¯s office doorway.

    She heard the sound of a heated argument inside.

    It was Sister Mai Na shouting at someone. ¡°You can¡¯t do that to Xiao Ling! It was an ident that she fainted on stage, not that she was intentionally skipping out on her work. How can you cancel all of her schedules and work thereafter?!¡±

    ¡°Sister Mai Na, I understand how you feel.¡± Tan Ying responded calmly. ¡°You have a close rtionship with Ye Xingling. However, you need to think about thepany¡¯s operations. It¡¯s not the first time that there have been issues with Ye Xingling¡¯s events. I think thepany needs to reassess her value and the possible risks and damages that she might bring if she continues activities under us. We need to reprioritize and put her behind Xie Ling and the others.¡±

    ¡°Put her behind them? Then, what resources will be made avable to her?¡± Sister Mai Na was furious. ¡°Tan Ying, you¡¯re picking on her unfairly and bringing your personal grudges into this! I know that Old Master Li doesn¡¯t like Xiao Ling, and perhaps he has given you instructions to put her in cold storage. But don¡¯t forget who the real boss of Skyart Entertainment is! If Li Lei returns and sees how you are treating Xiao Ling, what makes you think he will let you get away with it?!¡±

    Tan Ying¡¯s coldugh could be heard from inside the office. ¡°Sister Mai Na, don¡¯t be so naive. Boss and Su Tang are a match made in heaven. How can Ye Xinglingpare to her? Wake up! Su Tang is already pregnant with Boss¡¯ child.¡±

    Xia Ling could not bear listening to their conversation quietly outside the door any longer. She pushed open the door and entered the room.

    Everyone turned their heads towards her.

    There was Tan Ying, Sister Mai Na, and several senior executives.

    Tan Ying frowned and piped up first. ¡°Don¡¯t you have any manners? How can you enter a senior managers¡¯ meeting without knocking?¡±

    Xia Ling ignored him as her gaze swept across everyone in the room. She asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Sister Mai Na stood up and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, everything is fine. There¡¯s just a little...¡±

    ¡°The rest of your world tour has been canceled.¡± Tan Ying interrupted. ¡°We can¡¯t waste the concert premises so I¡¯ve arranged for Xie Ling and Zi Yan to take your ce. Your close-up interview with the broadcast station has also been canceled, as has the new advertisement gig, your VIP role for the music explosion panel... ¡± He rattled on as he flipped through the material in his hands. Finally, he said, ¡°There¡¯s a product event for a feet odor removal product in ten days. We are nning to send you to represent Skyart for that.¡±

    Xia Ling understood immediately that all her good programs were being taken from her and reced with less reputed ones.

    She stared at Tan Ying coldly. ¡°I came back to Skyart Entertainment not to endorse feet odor removal products.¡±

    Tan Ying returned her steely gaze. ¡°We all know why you returned to Skyart Entertainment. Ye Xingling, don¡¯t be too naive. Do you think you can have all the best privileges under Boss¡¯ protection? You¡¯ve given us nothing but trouble in your activities thus far, and thepany has suffered immense losses as a result. You should be thankful that you¡¯re not being cold-storaged altogether.¡±

    ¡°Cold-storaged?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    Yes, she wasn¡¯t the strongest mentally or the most intelligent in dealing with the incidents that were thrown at her. When she heard that Li Lei was with another woman, she was so distraught that she fainted onstage. However, this did not mean that she was a weakling. At least she wasn¡¯t one when it came to her singing career that was her soul and life!

    Tan Ying did not know that he had stepped on her pet peeve.

    He continued to speak domineeringly. ¡°As an artiste under Skyart, you have to follow our arrangements. Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t dare to put you in cold storage!¡±

    ¡°Tan Ying! Don¡¯t be too much!¡± Sister Mai Na shouted at him before pulling at Xia Ling¡¯s arm. ¡°Xiao Ling,e with me. Let me exin to you what¡¯s going on.¡± She wanted to pull the two of them apart and advice Xiao Ling. Otherwise, how would Xiao Ling be able to fight against the top management as a mere artiste?

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°Sister Mai Na, let go of me.¡±

    Her tone when she said this was different. It wasn¡¯t weak or arrogant, it was calm and with a certain authority that made everyone catch their breaths in anticipation.

    Sister Mai Na was stunned and released her arm.

 Chapter 631 - Leaving Decisively

    <h4>Chapter 631: Leaving Decisively</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had been through too much in recent days.

    Like a string on the zither, it was painful and it would be a struggle to pluck at it initially. However, when it was pulled and plucked to its breaking point, it wouldx and be quiet. She knew that it was pointless for her to beg these people that were irrelevant to her ¡ª Old Master Li, Tan Ying, etc.

    She was the Xia Family Phoenix and her father and brother were well-respected and held in high regard.

    Her family traveled the Earth to protect her and give her everything... Why should she degrade herself like this and bear with all this nonsense?

    She did not reincarnate to be bullied.

    After thinking these through, she was peaceful as she regarded Tan Ying. ¡°I want to break my contract with Skyart Entertainment.¡±

    Tan Ying was taken aback before he gave a coldugh. ¡°Break your contract? Ye Xingling, have you read the contract in detail? The penalty for a breach of contract is massive. What are you going to use to pay that off?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, General Manager Tan. I think you might have misunderstood. A mere hundred or two hundred million might be a massive amount to you, but it¡¯s just spare change to me. Please don¡¯t use your poor imagination to estimate what I¡¯m worth.¡±

    With that, she turned and left the room, ignoring Tan Ying¡¯s shocked expression.

    The senior managers in the room took a long time to regain their senses. What did she just say? Hundred or two hundred million for a breach of contract was spare change to her? Was this woman nuts?! Had she lost her mind after being thrown aside by Boss?! That was just too...

    Arrogant and preposterous!

    Tan Ying¡¯s fist clenched together, and the fountain pen in his hands was almost snapped into two. Where did this woman get that much money? Boss must have spoiled her rotten if he gave her that much cash!

    ¡°Tan Ying, you¡¯re going to regret chasing Xiao Ling away!¡± Sister Mai Na hurried after Xiao Ling.

    Xia Ling walked out of Skyart Entertainment and lifted her head towards the sky.

    In the square in front of the building, the air had the chill of early autumn, but the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

    She breathed in deeply and told herself. <i>Xiao Ling, what has passed has passed. Don¡¯t look back now, forget Skyart. Forget that man... it¡¯s not as if you haven¡¯t fallen out of love before. It¡¯s nothing much... you managed to free yourself of all the heartache in the years that you were with Pei Ziheng. This time... you can do the same.</i>

    There was an ache deep in the depths of her heart.

    She intentionally pushed that away from her mind and murmured, ¡°Everything will be fine.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± She heard a shout behind her. It was Sister Mai Na¡¯s voice.

    She turned around and saw Sister Mai Na running out of the building after her in her usual wine-red pantsuit and heels. Sister Mai Na stood in front of her with a thinyer of sweat forming on her brows. ¡°Have you really decided to leave?¡± Sister Mai Na asked worriedly.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You saw their attitude. I have no reason to stay.¡±

    ¡°Tan Ying is just being an idiot!¡± Sister Mai Na said. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t bother about it. Stay strong and wait for Boss to return. Boss will definitely seek justice for you!¡±

    ¡°And if... he doesn¡¯te back?¡± Xia Ling asked in a soft voice.

    Sister Mai Na did not respond.

    Xia Lingughed and said calmly, ¡°Sister Mai Na, I know you care for me. But I¡¯ve been waiting a full week for him at the airport... No, I should count the days that I locked myself in the house... It¡¯s already been half a month. Li Lei still hasn¡¯t returned. Why should I still believe in him?¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s held back because of something... ¡± Sister Mai Na weakly responded.

    ¡°Yes... held back by Su Tang¡¯s pregnancy... ¡± Xia Ling¡¯s tone remained calm, but she paused mid-sentence to quash the rising ache in her heart. ¡°Sister Mai Na, if he still loves me, he wouldn¡¯t care if I was still at Skyart. However, if he doesn¡¯t love me anymore... why should I stay at Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    To put herself in the way of more insults?

    Sister Mai Na knew she had nothing to retort Xia Ling with.

    Xia Lingughed again and suddenly gave Sister Mai Na a deep bow. ¡°You¡¯ve taken good care of me ever since I debuted. I¡¯m eternally grateful for that. But now... goodbye.¡±

    After she said her piece, Xia Ling turned and left without looking back.

    Sister Mai Na stared at her back disappearing amidst the crowd as tears filled her eyes.

    ¡°This child... ¡± She murmured. ¡°This child... the poor thing!¡±

    She covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her sobs.

    With her decision made, Xia Ling felt liberated. She returned to the bungalow and logged into her Weibo to announce her departure from Skyart. There was an immediate response from her fans and the media.

    Before long, her mobile was ringing on end.

    Everyone seemed to be asking about the same thing.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you really leaving Skyart?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, what exactly happened? Did you fall out of love with Skyart¡¯s Boss Li again?¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, do you want to join ourpany? We have great benefits and will be sure to offer you a handsome sign-on package!¡±

    She shut off her mobile.

    Not longter, her doorbell rang.

    She opened the door and saw Pei Ziheng standing outside the vine-filled fence in front of her bungalow in an exquisite shirt.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t pick up when I called, so I decided toe to have a look.¡± Pei Ziheng said. He was really reaping the benefits of staying so close by. The security in this area was stringent and people from the outside would struggle to be let into thepound. He, on the other hand, was just next door.

    Yet, she shut him off immediately. ¡°I¡¯m not returning to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled gently. ¡°Imperial Entertainment is the best entertainmentpany in the business. If you don¡¯te back, where will you go?¡±

    Xia Ling had not thought through this issue yet. After all, her decision to leave Skyart was a spur of the moment matter. Who knows where she will go next?

    ¡°I know you don¡¯tck money and have enough tost you several lifetimes.¡± Ever since finding out about her family background, Pei Ziheng knew that money wasn¡¯t the way to entice her. He started to sell nostalgia. ¡°However, you need a ce for your singing career to prosper. You¡¯ve loved singing since you were a kid, and singing is like your second life. You should do justice to your voice and to your fans. Imperial Entertainment is your best choice.¡±

    Xia Ling quietly looked at him before breaking intoughter.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng,¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ve never realized that you were such a good salesman. If you ever lose your position as Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman, you can consider going into sales.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened but he smiled. ¡°If going into sales will make you return to Imperial Entertainment, I would do that immediately.¡± He responded.

    ¡°Give up.¡± Xia Ling was not prepared to give in on this matter. ¡°I¡¯m tired and want to rest now. You should go home.¡±

    She turned and made to enter her house.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her arm over the low fence. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She turned back with a look of confusion.

    ¡°If you ever need help, feel free to tell me.¡± His voice was warm and gentle.

    Her gaze became gentler as she replied, ¡°Thanks, but no thanks.¡± She would take time to consider what her next step would be. However, this time, she wasn¡¯t going to rely on anyone at all.

 Chapter 632 - Extreme Wealth and Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 632: Extreme Wealth and Beauty</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The fans were all extremely concerned about her.

    All of them tried to find out her future ns through different channels online.

    Xia Ling stayed at home and sieved through all of the entertainmentpanies. She realized that Pei Ziheng was right. Besides Imperial Entertainment and Skyart Entertainment, the otherpanies were too small and unable to give her a very good environment.

    She might as well create her ownpany.

    This thought suddenly appeared in her mind and grew crazily like a weed.

    If she had her ownpany, she did not have to be restricted by anyone and no one would say that she was relying on someone to back her up. The gossip columns were unkind to her because she was an ordinary girl who had ambiguous rtionships with the two big bosses of the tworgest entertainmentpanies.

    She had enough of it.

    The starlight in the autumn night was faint, and the unknown insects chirped in the garden.

    She took a sip of wine and gazed at the starry sky. The breeze slowly blew her shirt and long hair. At that time, the flowers were good and the night was good. Life was like a song and everything was well.

    If she wanted to set up her ownpany, why not take advantage of this moment?

    Especially since Yan Fengmang was still there and ambitions were yet to be extinguished by emotions.

    Especially since the timing was right.

    She made an appointment to visit Lin Yunan¡¯s vi and told him about her idea.

    Lin Yunan was still wearing a shirt that looked dirty. The buttons on his neckline were nted. He grabbed a bottle of beer and poured it into his mouth and smiled a little sarcastically. ¡°Why look for me? There are countless people who want to support you and curry favor with you. Why would you want to look for someone whom you¡¯ve abandoned twice?¡±

    This guy had always been calctive.

    Xia Ling knew that this person was only harsh on the outside but soft-hearted on the inside. If he were not interested in her, he would not have been willing to meet her in the middle of the night. Seeing him speak grudgingly, she squinted and shamelessly said, ¡°The first time when I went to Imperial Entertainment from Dongyue, you weren¡¯t qualified enough to prevent me from transferring to anotherpany. The second time, Li Lei fired you because he did not like the way you did things and punished you. How is this rted to me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, little girl.¡± Lin Yunan took the bottle and made a gesture. ¡°After not seeing you for a few days, you¡¯ve grown up and now dare to rebuke your brother. I can¡¯t believe you are able toe up with such sophistry!¡±

    ¡°Anyway, if I create apany, will you join?¡± Xia Ling was toozy to argue with him.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Lin Yunan said. ¡°However, I have a condition.¡± She was a rare musical talent of the century. Even if she were hard to please and a little difficult, he was unwilling to give her up.

    ¡°What condition?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Lin Yunan leaned forward slightly. ¡°I want to sign an exclusive manager contract with you for a lifetime. Don¡¯t even think about changing your manager anymore! Furthermore, I want a stake in yourpany so that no one will be able to fire me!¡±

    He was probably hurt after being fired by Li Lei.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Sure. I will give you a stake. How about 30%?¡± Not only was this percentagerge, but it was also overly generous. If the big yers Li Lei or Pei Ziheng were here, they would definitely be so mad that they would almost faint after hearing how she was doing business. A 30% stake... was she crazy?!

    Unexpectedly, Lin Yunan was unsatisfied. ¡°I won¡¯t take advantage of you, so I don¡¯t want a stake. Both of us are partners. You get the majority share of 51% while I get 49%.¡± He knew that since Xiao Ling wanted to start her ownpany, he was unwilling to be beneath anyone else. Getting 51% was the minimum to own thepany, so he wanted 49% to ensure that he had an important position in thepany.

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    ¡°What? Not satisfied?¡± Lin Yunan challenged.

    ¡°No...¡± In fact, she did not know anything about shares and was not very interested in earning money. She only wanted to start thispany so she could sing freely. Giving Lin Yunan 30% or 49% was no different to her. The only difference was...

    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t want a stake but you want to use your own money to invest?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes. Why would I take advantage of a girl?¡± Lin Yunan said reasonably. ¡°No matter what, I¡¯m one of the heirs of the Lin Group. I have money. Tell me, how much money do you intend to invest in thepany. I will inject 49% of the amount into yourpany.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him weakly. If she said 10 billion, would she be beaten to death?

    She had no concept about creating a business and only knew that she had 10 billion in cash. Anyway, it was not being used, so she felt that it was better to invest everything in herpany.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking?¡± Lin Yunan was somewhat impatient. ¡°It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t have enough money. I can¡¯t lend you some. It¡¯s also okay if thepany is a little small at the start. We can start building thepany from the bottom. Anyway, the greatest asset of thepany isn¡¯t money but your voice.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that?¡± Lin Yunan eximed, ¡°Don¡¯t undermine the value of your voice!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice faltered.

    ¡°Then what are you talking about?¡± Lin Yunan was really annoyed. ¡°Can you stop beating about the bush?!¡±

    Alright...

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and said, ¡°Actually, I have 10 billion. If 51% of thepany amounts to 10 billion, won¡¯t you have to cough up around 9 billion for 49% of thepany?¡± She epted her fate. Besides, he would only say the truth.

    ¡°Wh... what?! 10 billion?!¡± Lin Yunan was about to go crazy. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious, miss! What did you say? How much? Did I hear something wrong? It¡¯s not 10 billion but 1 million?¡±

    ¡°You heard correctly. It¡¯s 10 billion.¡± Since they were talking about this, Xia Ling had nothing to hide. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This money is clean and unproblematic. I can spend it as I like. I can also give you a percentage to make you rich overnight.¡±

    ¡°Rubbish! Rich overnight? That¡¯s not the main point!¡± Lin Yunan red at her like he was looking at an alien. Why didn¡¯t he realize that this weak girl who looked like she could not do anything besides sing was actually a hidden wealthy beauty?

    He wanted to kneel. 10 billion was about half of the worth of the Lin Family!

    ¡°49% of the shares... Just pretend that I didn¡¯t say anything...¡± Lin Yunan said weakly and epted reality. ¡°At the most, I can give you 150 million...¡± In total, the funds avable for his use only amounted to 150 million.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xia Ling didn¡¯t care, anyway. Besides, 10 billion was an astronomical figure to her and she did not know what to do with it. To her, 10, 150, or 20 billion were the same.

    Lin Yunan heart was bleeding. His 49% stake! Could it be that it had disappeared just like that?!

    Shame, such a shame! She had promised to give him a 49% stake, but in the end, he did not have enough money! Lin Yunan really regretted not digging up her background before negotiating for a stake.

    ¡°If you have so much money, why did you join Skyart Entertainment?!¡± Lin Yunanmented. Could it be that she really went to Skyart Entertainment for that good-for-nothing man?

    Xia Ling innocently said, ¡°Because Li Lei is there.¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

 Chapter 633 - Land of the Sycamore Tree

    <h4>Chapter 633: Land of the Sycamore Tree</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She slightly lowered her head to look at her wine. ¡°But that¡¯s in the past.¡±

    Lin Yunan silentlymended Li Lei. How did it feel like to be favored by a girl who could easily take out 10 billion? He even dared to abandon her! Such an unforgivable sin!

    ¡°Exactly, it¡¯s all in the past.¡± Lin Yunan patted Xia Ling¡¯s shoulders and then aggressively said, ¡°From now on, you¡¯re with me. You have to make me reach the pinnacle and be the world¡¯s best Diva manager. You have to be responsible for me and not fire me! You aren¡¯t allowed to abandon me! Hear that?!¡±

    He was very fierce...

    Xia Ling looked at him weakly and nodded carefully.

    How would she dare to fire him? This man was scary. Regardless of whether he was able to gain a stake, she did not dare to touch him!

    The two of them stayed in the vi and strategized the entire night.

    The general architecture of thepany was finalized. Xia Ling was the chairman, singer, face, and investor. Lin Yunan was the CEO, manager, and other misceneous positions...

    Xia Ling was so touched that she was in tears. She deeply felt that gaining a worker like Lin Yunan was too good to be true. For someone like her who had no knowledge of running a business, she needed someone from an eminent family who was also a hard worker. How could she fire Lin Yunan? Instead, she would burn incense and beg him to stay.

    Lin Yunan was very action-oriented. The next day, he released the news to the public.

    Halfway, he suddenly remembered something. ¡°Oh yes, what should we call outpany?¡±

    At this time, Xia Ling was celebrating with arge bowl of strawberry smoothie. After hearing him, she was taken aback before saying, ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet.¡±

    Lin Yunan wanted to kill her. ¡°Quickly think about it! Don¡¯t waste your time drinking your smoothie!¡±

    ¡°Hey, you shouldn¡¯t be so fierce to your chairman...¡± Xia Ling whispered.

    Lin Yunan yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll give you only three hours! If you can¡¯t think of anything by them, you¡¯ll have to fend for yourself!¡±

    Filled with tears, Xia Ling carried her smoothie silently into the study. She was wrong about needing Lin Yunan to stay at all costs. Once she hired someone else, she would fire him!

    As she grudgingly thought of how to get even with him, she pondered about thepany¡¯s name.

    What should she call herpany?

    She tossed and turned on the sofa but could not think of anything.

    The phone rang and she answered it. She heard Xia Moyan¡¯s voice from the other end. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling eyes sparkled and immediately sat up straight on the sofa. ¡°Brother, brother! Is it really you? Why did you suddenly call me today?¡±

    Hearing her sister¡¯s excitement, Xia Moyan was in good spirits too. In his usual calm voice, he said, ¡°I just saw the news on the inte about you starting your ownpany and that you haven¡¯t thought of a name for it yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Xia Ling guessed that Lin Yunan must have released the news as quickly as possible. She said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of a name now... It¡¯s really hard.¡±

    ¡°Phoenix Down Corporation.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was slightly startled.

    ¡°As the name suggests, it means that a phoenix has encountered a disaster.¡± Xia Moyan said, ¡°Use this name. In fact, leave the location of the office and interior design to me. Feng Shui is involved in these things, and if you choose things appropriately, you can avoid many troubles and suffer less.¡± The ¡°Phoenix Down Corporation¡± is used to fool the heavens and let god think that she had already suffered immensely.

    Xia Ling did not understand theplicated reasoning but chose to believe her brother. ¡°Ok.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Good.¡± He then hung up.

    ¡°Brother...¡± Xia Ling called him.

    ¡°Is there something?¡± Xia Moyan asked.

    ¡°You... aren¡¯t going to ask me why I left Skyart Entertainment?¡±

    ¡°Haha,¡± Xia Moyanughed coldly. ¡°Do I even have to ask? That piece of wood let you down and isn¡¯t worthy of you.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t unworthy of me...¡±

    ¡°Why are you still defending him now?¡± Xia Moyan expected better from her. ¡°Xiao Ling, after you return to the family, you can have any man you want. I will organize a blind date for you and invite all of the world¡¯s sycamore wood types for you to choose. Li Lei? Haha.¡±

    His sneering caused Xia Ling to shudder in fear.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bully him.¡± She softly pleaded.

    Xia Moyanughed.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling eximed.

    Only then did Xia Moyan say, ¡°Why do I have a sister who keeps siding with outsiders? Fine, I won¡¯t bully him. Are you happy now?¡±

    ¡°Actually...¡± Xia Ling mumbled. ¡°I also want to ask... Su Tang and him... Do they really... have a child?¡±

    On the other end, Xia Moyan was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, he is your love interest, so I can¡¯t really interfere or investigate certain things like that. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her eyes in disappointment.

    She wondered how Li Lei was doing now. After not contacting him for such a long time, how was he? Was he so happy with Su Tang that she was thest thing in his mind right now? She remembered the national news she saw about how he went to Eastern Europe with Su Tang. Besides dealing with his business rival, he also bought many pregnancy supplies...

    Her heart hurt.

    ¡°You¡¯re a Phoenix.¡± Xia Moyan said, ¡°Losing you is his loss.¡±

    She was very upset and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m going to hang up. Goodbye, brother.¡± She was a little heartbroken and was unable to talk to him any longer. Although she had 10 billion now and received a lot of attention because she was about to start her ownpany, there was an endless dark pit in her heart.

    The name ¡°Phoenix Down Corporation¡± was registered sessfully.

    It formally became the name of herpany.

    Xia Moyan sent her the location of thepany. Coincidentally, it was the building opposite Skyart Entertainment.

    Xia Ling looked at the map and frowned. ¡°Brother, I don¡¯t want to be located there.¡± Being so close to Skyart gave her an added sense of sadness.

    Xia Moyan originally did not want her to be located there, but although there were hundreds of thousands of sycamore wood types in the world, Li Lei was the only one in S City. Skyart Entertainment was his headquarters, and the energy of the sycamore wood was concentrated there. If Xiao Ling¡¯spany was located nearby, it would benefit her.

    ¡°If I could choose another location, I would not have chosen that ce.¡± Xia Moyan told her truthfully. ¡°I only did it because that ce is the most suitable. Just take a look.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed at the map.

    Lin Yunan looked over and said, ¡°Hey, who is the master who selected this location? He¡¯s really awesome! It¡¯s located opposite Skyart Entertainment and it¡¯s just what I wanted.¡±

    ¡°Just what you wanted?¡± Xia Ling turned around to look at him.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Lin Yunan pointed at the river structure on the map. ¡°There are a total of two entertainmentpanies in the city. One is Imperial Entertainment. It¡¯s located in an old part of the city which is already filled to the brim with buildings, so there¡¯s not a chance of finding any empty spaces. Another is Skyart Entertainment, which is in the new district of the city. After recent years of development, the environment here is beautiful now, and everything is new. The most important thing is, the lease of the building opposite Skyart is about to expire soon, and we can quickly rent the entire building.

    ¡°Furthermore, traffic, poprity, and location are all favorable.¡±

 Chapter 634 - Phoenix Nest

    <h4>Chapter 634: Phoenix Nest</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan was very efficient. A few dayster, he rented the building.

    On this day, Xia Ling got up in the morning and saw a man standing beside the low fence door. The thin morning light fell on his cold and beautiful face, painting his white clothes extraordinarily.

    ¡°Brother.¡± She called in surprise and ran over to open the door.

    Xia Moyan lowered his head to look at his sister. It seemed that she was a little thinner than thest time he saw her. Luckily, she was in good spirits as her smile was not fake. He sized up the yard. The ivy and night willow herbs were lush. Everything was almost the same since thest time he left not long ago.

    He was satisfied with this.

    Xia Ling curiously asked, ¡°Brother, what are you looking at?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Thest time, I helped you sort out the feng shui in the yard. It seems you¡¯ve maintained it well. You have to continue doing this, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded obediently. Her brother was an expert in this area and had excellent aesthetics. Thanks to him, her courtyard looked like a piece of art. She asked him curiously, ¡°Why are you here? Is there something important?¡± She was very clear that she had the life of a widow and had to be separated from her family. Usually, her brother deliberately avoided contact with her. Now that he suddenly appeared here without warning, something must have happened.

    Sure enough, Xia Moyan said, ¡°Have you rented the office building? Come, let¡¯s look at it together.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Only then did Xia Ling react. In theirst call, her brother said that he would help her renovate the building. It looked like he was serious. She smiled and said, ¡°Sure. Let me call Lin Yunan. He¡¯s in charge of the renovation. If you have any suggestionster, he will be the one in charge of looking for a contractor.¡±

    ¡°No need for that.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°I¡¯ve already looked for the contractor and hired an interior designer and a supplier for materials. These people have worked with the Xia Family for a long time and know how to ensure that the feng shui is optimum. If I find an ordinary contractor, it will be very troublesome to coordinate the project.¡±

    Xia Ling thought so as well.

    ¡°So I don¡¯t need to ask Lin Yunan toe over?¡± She asked.

    However, Xia Moyan said, ¡°You know what, ask him toe as well. In the future, you have to rely on him whenever there are problems and maintenance issues.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She called Lin Yunan and told him to meet them in front of the building.

    Xia Ling and her brother drove over.

    That was a very grand building. It was 18 stories high and its exterior was very elegantly and artistically designed. In front of the main entrance, two strangers with tools were chatting. After seeing them get off the car, they greeted them and said very respectfully to Xia Moyan, ¡°Mr. Xia.¡±

    They were the engineering team that frequently worked with the Xia Family. They were very clear that Xia Moyan was The Preceptor but did not know the identity of the petite girl beside him. In front of others, they usually did not call him The Preceptor in case someone recognized him.

    Xia Ling looked at them curiously. The two men looked very unique as they had a restrained yet confident attitude. They should be experts in their field.

    Xia Moyan introduced them to her. ¡°This is Zhang Gong and this is Master Ouyang. Many famous buildings in the world were designed by them.¡± He reported the names of a few buildings and, sure enough, they were well known.

    Xia Ling was always respectfully towards those with skills. Politely, she said, ¡°Nice to meet you, Zhang Gong and Master Ouyang.¡±

    Calmly, Xia Moyan said to her, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite. They aren¡¯t worthy.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback.

    Even the two masters were startled. Who exactly was this girl in front of them? How could it be that they were not worthy of her politeness? She should know that they were famous in the architectural world and many people worshiped and fawned over them.

    Both of them looked at each other suspiciously.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Both of you are here to help Xiao Ling renovate this ce. I won¡¯t hide this from you. Xiao Ling is the Xia Family¡¯s Phoenix. Your ancestors worked for the Xia Family, so I¡¯m sure you know what it means to be a Phoenix of the Xia Family.¡±

    The two of them were shocked. My god...

    Phoenix!

    Legend has it that every Phoenix of the Xia Family has to be discarded from birth because it¡¯s cursed with a lonely life and can never have any familial rtions for a lifetime. It could only return to the family through mysterious conditions.

    Zhang Gong and Master Ouyang were outsiders, so they didn¡¯t know what the mysterious conditions were. However, they knew how rare a Phoenix of the Xia Family was. It was extremely rare for a Phoenix to reconnect with the family, and it was treated like a precious treasure. In this case, even if they had the guts to offend ten preceptors, they would never dare to offend a Phoenix of the Xia Family.

    The two of them quickly stood up straight and quickly said that they were not worthy.

    Would it really distort their luck?

    Xia Ling was half-doubtful and stopped being respectful to them.

    The two master architects were filled with excitement. They never expected to personally see a Phoenix of the Xia Family alive! Oh my god... it¡¯s so exciting! They were even able to build a building for the Phoenix!

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re going to build the building for the Phoenix.¡± Xia Moyan directed them inside and said, ¡°All of the wood has to be sycamore. Its sound has to be deep yet quiet when you hit it. As for the other details, I will exin them to you elsewhere.¡±

    Both of them quickly agreed. They could not suppress their emotions. They had a hunch that this renovation would be the best work of their careers!

    Soon, Lin Yunan also rushed over.

    Seeing Xia Moyan, he critically sized him up and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Who is he?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know how to exin her brother¡¯s identity, and her brother warned her before not to let too many people know about it. After some thought, she said, ¡°Anyway, he¡¯s someone I trust. He helped us look for interior designers and contractors to renovate the entire building.¡±

    Suspiciously, Lin Yunan asked, ¡°Is he reliable?¡±

    Xia Ling told him about the buildings that the two masters had created.

    Lin Yunan was shocked. ¡°Those are masterpieces! How did you get to hire such people?¡± His impression of Xia Moyan changed.

    Xia Ling casually glossed over the situation. She looked at therge empty space and said, ¡°I¡¯m the only singer in this entirepany. I¡¯m not going to hire too many people, so I¡¯m not nning on creating many departments. Is such a huge space going to waste?¡±

    The floor n of this building was no less than Skyart¡¯s.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I¡¯m only in charge of feng shui. As for the usage of the space, that¡¯s up to you. You¡¯re in charge.¡±

    Xia Ling walked around the building and gradually had an idea. ¡°Let¡¯s create an exhibition. Besides the office and meeting area, use the rest of the ce to create an exhibition hall. Put some of my endorsements and works there. We can even let the fans visit it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡± Lin Yunan said, ¡°This will be your fans¡¯ holy ground.¡±

    Xia Moyan also said, ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do it.¡±

    The group of people spent an entire day and finally worked out aplete renovation n.

 Chapter 635 - Who Helped Who

    <h4>Chapter 635: Who Helped Who</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Very soon, the renovation wasplete.

    Xia Ling reluctantly sent her brother away and organized an opening ceremony.

    On the opening day, the building was bustling with activity. The red carpet at the entrance was filled with different flower baskets sent by fans, the media, friends and distinguished people from all walks of life.

    Standing in the sea of flowers, she wore a silver silk and satin dress which was as eye-catching as a painting.

    From time to time, arriving guests shook her hand, hugged her, and congratted her on the opening. She saw a ck Rolls Royce stop in front of the door and a man got off it. He was tall and wore a ck formal suit. He looked cold and majestic. At once, the media representatives went into a frenzy taking photos of him.

    It was Pei Ziheng.

    Now, he was chasing her even more seriously. Xia Ling knew that he would definitely appear during a big day like this and was not surprised.

    When he bent over and hugged her out of courtesy, his tall figure almost enveloped her.

    The cameras of the media representatives shed non-stop. Beside her ear, he said, ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    She smiled lightly. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He looked at her with a pair of deep and quiet eyes. ¡°I have a gift for you.¡±

    ¡°Chairman Pei, you¡¯ve already sent a flower basket over.¡± She said very politely.

    ¡°Flower basket? That¡¯s prepared by the public rtions department.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very gentle. He took out something from his pocket and ced it in her palm. He ced a very small USB driver in her palm. It had a very chic crystal butterfly design.

    She looked at it and did not immediately ept it. Instead, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s inside?¡±

    He said, ¡°Some experiences I had in the past when starting Imperial Entertainment. Perhaps you may find them useful.¡± He knew that she was very simple and was afraid that she would not be able to deal with thepany¡¯s operations. Even though Lin Yunan was assisting her at the side, he did not know if he could be trusted. As such, hepiled some of his past projects and reworded them using terms that she could understand.

    Xia Ling did not know how to react.

    At the side, the media and famous celebrities burst into an uproar. Everyone knew that Imperial Entertainment was a giant in the entertainment world. The chairman of the board of directors of Imperial Entertainment, Chairman Pei, had been in charge for more than 20 years and his experiences were priceless. So many people were willing to go bankrupt in exchange for his knowledge. Did he just give them all to Ye Xingling so easily?

    She was really... a femme fatale!

    His ex-wife was really different!

    People already started gossiping. Was Chairman Pei really chasing after Ye Xingling again like what was written in the tabloids? It was said that Phoenix Down Corporation was worth more than 10 billion yuan. How could a female celebrity get so much money? Could it be that Chairman Pei was secretly supporting her?

    A storm brewed in the crowd¡¯s hearts.

    On the other hand, Pei Ziheng seemed interested in adding fire to the stormy sea. He elegantly and warmly said to her, ¡°You can look at all of the experiences here. If you don¡¯t understand anything, you can always look for me.¡±

    This...

    Is true love!

    Everyone eximed in their hearts. There was nothing truer than this love! Many couples from eminent families would not even tell each other their wealth and be forever on their guard. But Pei Ziheng? He gave everything away so easily! Miss Ye, you should marry a man like him!

    Many nosy people in the crowd thought that they had reconciled.

    However, Xia Ling smiled lightly. ¡°Mypany is not as big andplicated as Imperial Entertainment. I don¡¯t think that I will need to learn from your experiences. Thank you for your kind intentions, but I won¡¯t be epting it.¡±

    The crowd went wild. She was actually not epting it?

    Many people scratched their heads and really wished they could help her ept it. Even if she could not use it, she could still sell it for a high price!

    In the hustle and bustle, Pei Ziheng remained calm. ¡°You aren¡¯t epting it? I will lose face in this crowd.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. What is this Pei Ziheng? A threat? However, looking at the hidden darkness in his eyes, she really had to sumb to his threat. This man really did too much for her and had a good intention. How could she embarrass him in front of so many people?

    She lowered her head and epted the USB driver.

    Only then did a slight smile appear on his face.

    The onlooking crowd breathed a sigh of relief. Exactly, she should just ept such a good gift. Ye Xingling, did you know that you¡¯ve struck gold? The USB driver containing the experiences of Imperial Entertainment that he sent you? He was telling everyone covertly that he is yourpany¡¯s backing!

    This only happens in ridiculously good dreams...

    Initially, before the opening ceremony, many people doubted her ability to operate a business as an inexperienced female star. Now, unknowingly, they stopped criticizing her.

    Xia Ling asked someone to escort Pei Ziheng to the lounge and continued to wee guests at the entrance.

    Feng Kun, Wei Shaoyin, Luo Luo and others came. All of them congratted her and gave her gifts.

    She stood at the entrance for a long time to wee the never-ending line of guests. Her feet started to ache.

    Not far away, a red sports car stopped and a girl got off. She wore a gorgeous and colorful dress, had exaggerated and thick makeup, and was pushing her way to the front. It was Gu Lin.

    Xia Ling slightly frowned.

    Gu Lin walked up the stairs and looked at thepany¡¯s signage. The three words ¡°Phoenix Down Corporation¡± were simply and beautifully written like a piece of art. Thus, she frowned.

    How was this b*tch Ye Xingling worthy of such a goodpany?!

    On the surface, she smiled and looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    However, Xia Ling was not very polite. ¡°I did not invite you.¡±

    The media and the surrounding crowd started to whisper again. It was said that they were in the same circle and the Gu Financial Magnate was quite powerful. How could it be that Ye Xingling did not invite her?

    Gu Linughed sarcastically. ¡°Ye Xingling, that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Remember when you first started out? You had nothing and fell out with others such that you almost couldn¡¯t make aeback. If the Gu Financial Magnate did not pity you and give you the Meteor Wings endorsement, do you think that you¡¯d be where you are today?¡±

    She was unkind.

    Miss Gu always came to provoke others and stir trouble. Everyone knew that she was here to strike Ye Xingling.

    Xia Ling naturally also understood, but she was never afraid of an argument in her life. She sneered and said in a clear voice, ¡°That¡¯s right. I really have to thank Old Master Gu¡¯s astute eye for giving the Meteor Wings endorsement. Later, it was proven that he didn¡¯t choose the wrong person. This was a win-win coboration. I heard that with my endorsement, Meteor Wings created a miracle in the history of perfume sales. When the endorsement ended, the sales of Meteor Wings fell a lot.¡±

    The surrounding crowd started to whisper again. She was right. After that, Meteor Wings¡¯ sales fell and many peoplemented that it was because they lost Ye Xingling as its endorser. Everyone knew who was the one who helped who out. At once, everyone started to look at Miss Gu with some contempt. They heard that Ye Xingling did not continue her endorsement with Meteor Wings because she could not get along with this braindeaddy.

    This caused much loss for the Gu Family.

    This Gu Lin was literally a failure of a daughter.

 Chapter 636 - Trying to Kick Others but Ending up Being the One Who Was Kicked

    <h4>Chapter 636: Trying to Kick Others but Ending up Being the One Who Was Kicked</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin excitedly wanted to bring her down but was rendered speechless after a few words. She was furious.

    After pausing for a moment, she finally said, ¡°That¡¯s rubbish! Meteor Wings¡¯ sales had nothing to do with you at all!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling chuckled. ¡°Miss Gu, are you saying that it¡¯s because Old Master Gu and the Gu Family had poor eyes for talent and chose a useless spokesperson?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin was at a loss for words. Why was this b*tch so hard to bring down? Even if she were convinced that choosing Ye Xingling as the spokesperson was a mistake, how could she dare to say that her own grandfather had a poor eye for talent in front of so many people? Grandfather Gu would skin her alive!

    Infuriated, her face turned red.

    The media representatives went into a frenzy snapping shots of them. In the photos, Xia Ling looked rxed, while in contrast, Gu Lin was boiling with anger.

    Haha, this was aparison photo that they took so easily!

    Many people started to sympathize with Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin also felt that the surrounding crowd was looking at her with some ridicule. She stamped her foot and walked around Xia Ling as she wanted to go inside. However, she was blocked by the staff at the entrance. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, miss. Please show us your invitation.¡±

    Just now, Gu Lin was enraged and forgot about the invitation.

    How could she show them an invitation? Her intention today was to use her status as the eldest daughter of the Gu Family to gain the support of the crowd to enter the building after embarrassing that b*tch for being ungrateful to the Gu Family. Unexpectedly, Ye Xingling was not embarrassed at all!

    Thus, now, she couldn¡¯t even enter the building. And if she left, she would be the one humiliated.

    ¡°Move away!¡± She yelled angrily at the staff.

    ¡°Miss Gu, please don¡¯t throw a tantrum in front of my staff.¡± As the chairman of herpany, even though she was inexperienced and did not know anything about managing her business, she knew how to protect it. ¡°You¡¯re from an eminent family. Please show some of the refined behaviors that someone from an eminent family should have.¡±

    ¡°So what if I throw a tantrum in front of them?¡± Gu Lin raged. She was unable to vent her anger on Ye Xingling, so she vented it on the staff. ¡°Get out of my way!¡± She yelled.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened.

    Since the staff was willing to follow her, she could not let them be bullied by others. She turned around and coldly instructed. ¡°Security.¡±

    The security officer received the order. He walked forward and said to Gu Lin, ¡°Miss Gu, please don¡¯t make a scene and cause trouble. Don¡¯t block the entrance of ourpany.¡±

    This was a warning.

    A few of the surrounding onlookers could not believe it. This Ye Xingling was really unafraid of offending people. Even though she did not get along with Miss Gu, wouldn¡¯t she at least care about the Gu family backing her? They were in the same circle, and seeing that they coborated before for the Meteor Wings endorsement, was it really necessary to be so rigid?

    ¡°Are you trying to chase me away? I dare you to!¡± Gu Lin also fought back. In front of so many people and media representatives, she would be humiliated if she were chased out.

    She screamed. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t forget who my father is! Don¡¯t forget who my grandfather is!¡±

    Now, she could only use her family to scare Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling blinked and said to the two security officers, ¡°Who told you to chase her away?¡±

    It was an unpleasant tone.

    Gu Lin smiled delightedly. Sure enough, after mentioning her father and grandfather, how could this b*tch not be afraid? Hmph, a lowly girl would always be lowly. Why was the media blindly spreading that she had 10 billion? It was definitely fake! She was of such low ss, how could she have 10 billion?

    The media representatives and onlookers were a little disappointed. This Ye Xingling looked like a proud person. How could she be scared after being slightly threatened by someone else? This did not look like a woman who could manage apany.

    ¡°Sigh... After all, she was from a humble family and had to submit to the rich.¡± A media reporter said.

    Hearing this discussion, Gu Lin was pleased and arrogantly raised her head. With her nose in the air, she snorted. ¡°That¡¯s right. Why don¡¯t you escort me in now?¡±

    ¡°Escort you in?¡± Unexpectedly, Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Miss Gu, are you still sleeping? You don¡¯t have an invitation, so why should I escort you in? You really think too highly of yourself.¡±

    The crowd was shocked. If she did not intend to let Gu Lin in, why did she tell the security officer to stop?

    Xia Ling continued, ¡°Gu Lin, just now, you scolded my staff and haven¡¯t apologized. Do you think you can leave just like that? You better apologize!¡± She said thest few words so aggressively that she frightened everyone around.

    Gu Lin was also shocked by her tone. After a long time, she finally said, ¡°No way!¡± What a joke. She was the eldest daughter of the Gu family. Why should she apologize to mere workers? ¡°They aren¡¯t worthy!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t get to decide if they¡¯re worthy.¡± Xia Ling was unwilling to relent. ¡°I¡¯ll give you three seconds. If you don¡¯t apologize, you have to bear the consequences.¡±

    ¡°Ha, what consequences can there be? I¡¯m so scared!¡± Gu Linughed audaciously. She was used to being pampered and everyone giving in to her, so she really did not believe that Xia Ling could do anything to her.

    Xia Ling nced around. In front of the red carpet, there were flower baskets sent by famous families from all around the world such as the Gu Family. That flower basket was given to her in the name of the Gu Financial Magnate by Old Master Gu to establish good rtions with Xia Ling. Although her current rtionship with Li Lei was strained, Old Master Gu was not so short-sighted and always thought that this girl was not simple and was destined to be Li Lei¡¯s lover... Even if she were not able to end up with Li Lei, her future achievements should not be underestimated.

    Old Master Gu did not wish for their rtionship to be ruined because of his granddaughter.

    ¡°This is a flower basket from your family.¡± Xia Ling pointed to the flower basket and spoke coldly. ¡°As the eldest daughter of the Gu family, you insulted my staff in front of everyone. How could I ept this flower basket? Gu Lin, it¡¯s ok if you don¡¯t apologize. I will ask someone to throw this flower basket away.¡±

    There was an uproar in the crowd.

    If she threw the flower basket away, the Gu Financial Magnate would be extremely humiliated!

    It was worse than harshly pping someone¡¯s face!

    Gu Lin also started to panic. Although she was causing trouble, she was worried that her grandfather would really skin her alive. She viciously red at Xia Ling. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare!¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± Xia Ling said firmly and calmly. ¡°Do you know why I started Phoenix Down Corporation? That¡¯s because... what other ce can I be more willful and stubborn at than my ownpany?¡±

    In the past, when she was in Skyart, she had to consider Li Lei whenever she did something.

    However, now, she did not need to care about anything anymore.

    She smiled happily, but in her heart, she was faintly disappointed and... in pain.

    If only he were here.

    If only he came back.

    She would rather not have Phoenix Down Corporation and obediently not cause trouble for him.

    She only wanted her sunshine back...

    However, perhaps, he would never return.

 Chapter 637 - A Brilliant Speech

    <h4>Chapter 637: A Brilliant Speech</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin was stunned.

    She didn¡¯t know Xia Ling would be this ruthless.

    She didn¡¯t know how to proceed. Should she apologize? But she couldn¡¯t swallow it! But if she didn¡¯t, what if Xia Ling really threw that flower basket out? If that happened, Old Master Gu would not let her off!

    Someone on the side smirked and muttered, ¡°This Miss Gu is so silly.¡±

    Gu Lin heard it and rage surged inside her. She couldn¡¯t think rationally anymore ¡ª who cared about her Grandfather, or the family¡¯s pride and reputation anymore? She was angry at everyone there ¡ª Xia Ling, the crew members, and the rest present. ¡°Apologize? This word doesn¡¯t exist in my dictionary! You can throw the flower basket for all I care. The Gu family can very well do without it!¡±

    With that, she turned around and stormed away.

    Xia Ling narrowed her eyes as she watched her leave. Everybody around kept quiet, utterly shocked at what just happened ¡ª this Miss Gu was even more willful than people had imagined! Who did she think she was? The Diva Xia Ling of the past? Back then, Xia Ling had been Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman and was arrogant and willful too with his backing, but at least she had never been taken advantage of! And she never embarrassed Imperial Entertainment!

    But look at Gu Lin. She was willful as well, but why was she so embarrassing?

    The rest of the people present were starting to pity the Gu family.

    Countless eyes were on Xia Ling, awaiting her next move. Was she really going to throw the Gu family¡¯s flower basket out? If she did that, the bridge between the twopanies would crumble.

    ¡°I guess not...¡± One of the reporters was specting with his colleague. ¡°It¡¯s a newpany, how could they afford to offend the Gu Financial Magnate?¡±

    He had barely finished his sentence when Xia Ling casually ordered ¡ª

    ¡°Find the flower basket from the Gu Magnate and throw it in the bin.¡±

    W-What?!

    That reporter¡¯s eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Miss Ye, are you being serious, this is really...

    ¡°Really willful.¡± His colleague finished his thought for him.

    The first reporter nodded his head vehemently. She was willful indeed! It was only the opening day and thepany had already offended a financial giant! She really did not know what she was in for!

    ¡°But...¡± His colleague replied, ¡°Miss Ye has a backing. She has Chairman Pei.¡±

    Right, how could he have forgotten about Chairman Pei?!

    It seemed like Chairman Pei had a unique taste and had a soft spot for willful and mindless girls. It used to be Xia Ling, and now there was Ye Xingling... Well, Chairman Pei was capable enough, so Ye Xingling indeed had nothing to fear.

    ¡°No wonder Chairman Pei was named one of the ¡®top three bosses young girls wished to marry.¡¯ Even my younger sister holds his photo close and calls him her husband.¡± The reporter shook his head and sighed.

    The colleagueughed. ¡°Well, who doesn¡¯t have their little fantasies?¡±

    ¡°Yup, at least she¡¯s just daydreaming about it and nothing more.¡± He replied.

    ¡°No, I meant... Chairman Pei has his own little fantasies. He simply likes having a willful and ignorant... no, I meant a simple and innocent girl.¡± He said the word ¡°ignorant¡± a little too loudly before and attracted some attention, hence he hurriedly paraphrased his words.

    A few people around him silently nodded their heads in agreement. They were all a little envious of Ye Xingling¡¯s good fortune, being able to start her ownpany with 10 billion yuan simply because Pei Ziheng took an interest in her.

    They didn¡¯t believe that the 10 billion yuan was actually her own money, and it was unlikely to be Li Lei¡¯s ¡ª Second Young Master Li¡¯s family was definitely against it. If he were to utilize that much money, Old Master Li was sure to create a scene. Only Chairman Pei had that much power in the family and thepany to be able to spend 10 billion yuan at one go as he wished.

    ¡°It looks like... they¡¯re going to reconcile.¡±

    The crowd began specting and discussing.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already thought of the headlines, ¡®Little Diva Ye Xingling startspany withrge capital sum, with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman as backing?¡¯¡± One of the reporters said.

    ¡°¡®A Reunion: Pei Ziheng and Ye Xingling in the midst of reconciliation¡¯.¡± Another said.

    ¡°¡®A Common Girl¡¯s Counterattack: A p to the Gu Magnate, But With Whose Backing?¡¯¡± Said yet another reporter.

    ¡°¡®Goodbye, Skyart. Goodbye, Li Lei¡¯.¡±

    Headlines rolled.

    Although the opening of apany could make it to the Finance section of the papers, most major press firms wouldn¡¯t think too much about thispany. To be frank, this newly-openedpany was nothing more than a female celebrity¡¯s office, or work studio. But it waspletely different for the tabloid papers. This was going to be sensational news and had brought many entertainment news reporters here. They were discussing non-stop and snapping as many shots as they could, especially when Xia Ling got one of her employees to throw the flower basket into the bin.

    ¡°Miss Ye, aren¡¯t you worried that your actions are being too disrespectful towards Old Master Gu?¡± A courageous reporter finally asked.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Disrespectful? I¡¯m very grateful towards Old Master Gu for his boldness in having me endorse their new perfume back when I was still a minor celebrity and wasn¡¯t famous yet. In order to express my gratitude and return the favor, I introduced Meteor Wings, the perfume, to the world and made it the leading brand all over the globe. I even tolerated Miss Gu several times, all on Old Master Gu¡¯s ount.

    ¡°But not this time.

    ¡°As much as I¡¯m grateful, I can only tolerate her this far. Gu Lin came today to kick a ruckus, counting on the fact that she had the backing of the Gu Magnate. But if I can¡¯t even protect my employee in my very ownpany building, then what good is there in maintaining a rtionship with the Gu Magnate?¡±

    Her speech had everyone quiet once again.

    A momentter, apuse roared.

    ¡°Good one!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    Many of themmended her.

    This girl standing before them was in a dainty little gown, with long styled hair, a beautiful and attractive figure. Even if she was arrogant and willful, even if she was too young to consider all factors before acting upon her thoughts... she was loyal. In order to protect her employee, she was willing to give her all ¡ª that in itself was a boldness that made her unique. In fact, many of the entrepreneurs and big men out there wouldn¡¯t be able to do this.

    ¡°Great job, Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re the best!¡±

    People were cheering for her.

    She stood amidst the cheers, smiling as usual. It was hard to mask her radiant presence.

    Most of the guests had arrived by then, and there was no need to stand by the entrance to wee them. She went back into the building.

    Pei Ziheng walked up to her and smiled. ¡°It was a brilliant speech.¡±

 Chapter 638 - Itâ€™s All a Scheme

    <h4>Chapter 638: It¡¯s All a Scheme</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling smiled at him. ¡°Uh-huh, but not as good as you.¡±

    She did resemble him a little when she put her foot down. He had been her idol since she was a child. In the past, he even took her along when he attended important meetings. Back then, she would look up to him with utmost admiration, almost as if she were his loyal fan.

    As such, her handwriting, and even the way she spoke to people and told them off bore some of his influence.

    Pei ZIheng¡¯s expression softened. At that moment, he was more than content ¡ª so what if she had left him previously? And so what if Li Lei was still in her heart? He had already left an indelible impression in her life. Even without any connection by blood, or a registered rtionship, she was already living his legacy.

    They were bound by an intangible and imperishable connection.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a photo together,¡± he said to her.

    Not too far from the lobby was a picturesque corner specially set aside for a photo booth that day. He led her there, adjusted his height for her, and got the staff members around there to capture that moment.

    A few others approached her for a photo as well.

    Feng Kun was here that day too. He went up and gave her a hug. ¡°Xiao Ling, congrattions.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll still need your help when ites to recording music.¡± She smiled. Phoenix Down Corporation was already established, but this was apany meant for her alone, and the systems were not as well-furnished as Imperial or Skyart. If she wanted to release an album or film an advertisement, she would still have to cooperate with otherpanies.

    And Feng Kun was undoubtedly her best partner.

    ¡°My pleasure.¡± He said kindly.

    ¡°Feng Kun, let me warn you! Don¡¯t you have any ideas on my Xiao Ling!¡± They turned around to see Wei Shaoyin walking towards them. As usual, he was dressed neatly in a white shirt with his buttons done all the way up. With his titanium-rim sses, he looked so cold and callous.

    But the person he was facing was Feng Kun.

    ¡°Hm? Your Xiao Ling?¡± Feng Kun used a nasal voice.

    Wei Shaoyin was at a loss for words. That¡¯s right, Xiao Ling had already left Skyart, how could she be his? At that moment, he detested Tan Ying very much for forcing a talented celebrity out of theirpany!

    Wei Shaoyin felt threatened now.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯m warning you!¡± He couldn¡¯t chase Feng Kun away and ended up directing his anger towards Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯d better be clear which producer is more suitable for you! Why coborate with someone else when you were already working with me?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at Feng Kun and then shifted her eyes to the enraged Wei Shaoyin. She was caught in a fix.

    Other singers had to take great pains to look for a good producer, but what about Xia Ling? How did the best two producers in the industry find their way to her? Their bickering over her made her feel awkward and ufortable.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a photo together first.¡± Feng Kun inched closer towards her and signaled for an employee to take a photo for them. He wouldn¡¯t stoop to Ah Wei¡¯s level, getting jealous so easily. All he did was ce a hand on Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder...

    And Wei Shaoyin shot him a re.

    ¡°I want one too!¡± Ah Wei squeezed into the shot and followed suit by cing his hand around Xia Ling¡¯s waist.

    The shot was taken in an instant.

    Xia Ling had no words left for these two producers.

    Meanwhile, Pei Ziheng was tasting some wine nearby, but his eyes never left the three people in the photo ¡ª specifically, Feng Kun¡¯s hand on her shoulder and Wei Shaoyin¡¯s ws around her waist.

    These two... were going too far!

    How dare they touch his woman?

    Chairman Pei kept his guard up.

    A few photographers in the vicinity were snapping shots of this rare sight continually. Some of them even beganmenting. ¡°This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. The two foes Feng Kun and Wei Shaoyin are actually taking a photo together?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Ye Xingling is truly charming.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that these two brilliant producers admire Ye Xingling a lot. I guess they¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°This is interesting. Now we shall see who Ye Xingling will go to to produce her songs.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s Feng Kun. Think about it. Ye Xingling has cut ties with Skyart, and she seems to be getting closer to Chairman Pei of Imperial Entertainment. If there¡¯s a new song to be released, she¡¯ll definitely approach Imperial.¡±

    ¡°Right, that makes sense.¡± Most people agreed with that thought.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s re softened upon hearing that. Yes, the public has judged correctly.

    Back there, Xia Ling posed for a few more shots with Feng Kun and Wei Shaoyin. She felt as if these two men were trying to outdo one another, while she was just...

    She was just there as a supporting actress?!

    A female prop?!

    What happened to having a photo with her!

    They weren¡¯t even giving her a chance to pose properly.

    In her mind she was quietly saying, <i>Ah Kun, Ah Wei, you both are so adorable.</i>

    It took her a while before she managed to send two off.

    She went to catch a breath of fresh air after all that work when she heard someone say her name, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She looked up and saw Pei Ziheng.

    It was pretty noisy and bustling around there, but he looked so prim and proper, as he always did.

    Pei Ziheng asked her thoughtfully, ¡°Are you tired?¡±

    She nodded her head. ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    She was expecting him to persuade her to get some rest. Who knew, he actually said, ¡°Come over and take a few more photos with me.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± She was stunned.

    He led her by the elbow and took her back to the photo booth.

    She was confused but he helped her along.

    He said, ¡°Come closer, look into the camera.¡± He sounded gentle.

    She went along with his wishes. All of a sudden, she felt a pinch in her waist and saw that he had wrapped his arm too tightly around her, posing intimately.

    She instinctively pushed his arm away, but that was after the photo was taken.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± She red at Pei Ziheng unhappily.

    Pei Ziheng smiled, ¡°Wei Shaoyin can hold you that way, why can¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°You just can¡¯t!¡± She ground her teeth. How was this the same? She and Ah Wei had a purely tonic friendship, they were buddies! Pei Ziheng was someone she had to keep her guard up against!

    Pei Ziheng did not get affected by her little outbursts. Instead, he appeared easygoing. ¡°In your eyes, I¡¯m more special than him?¡±

    Xia Ling was so stunned she did not know what to say to that. This man was really someone she needed to keep her eyes on at all times!

    Upset, she turned away and went off to entertain the other guests.

    Pei Ziheng did not think much about that and asked for the photos. Seeing how intimate they looked, his lips curled into a smile.

    ¡°Take these.¡± He handed the photos to Chu Chen. ¡°Gather the other group photos and send them to Old Master Li.¡±

 Chapter 639 - Devotion

    <h4>Chapter 639: Devotion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    An ind in the South Indian Ocean.

    A many on the bed in the intensive care ward, with a respirator on and several tubes of fluid attached to his once fit and healthy body. He looked out the window quietly, his handsome face revealing more than just a tinge of tiredness and vulnerability.

    The doors opened.

    Old Master Li entered and shed a few photos before him. ¡°Do you see it? This is the woman you¡¯ve been thinking about and longing for, such a wanton woman! You¡¯ve only left for a while and she¡¯s reignited her love with her ex-husband. Xiao Lei, I advise you to give this up and live a proper life with Su Tang instead!¡±

    On the bed, Li Lei¡¯s eyes scanned the photos.

    They were all photos of Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling.

    Some of them were shot secretly, him embracing her onstage ¡ª they were with their heads together in the night breeze as she wrote something on his palm; him walking out of her room in a ssy hotel...

    Some of them were taken openly. He was not sure where that was, but she was in a dainty little gown, pretty as a princess, and was standing very close to Pei Ziheng. They were smiling at the camera, and Li Lei noticed that Pei Ziheng¡¯s arm was wrapped around her waist...

    There was a sh of anger in Li Lei¡¯s eyes.

    Old Master Li was satisfied with that. ¡°Have youe to your senses now? Give it up.¡±

    ¡°She... Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was hoarse as he summoned all his energy to say those words. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t betray me.¡± That day, he had received a call from her and headed for the airport after the call ended. He was all ready to return and make things clear to her, but things had gone wrong ¡ª the Li family got some men to stop him, but he made it past that; the enemies barricaded the area, and he made it past that as well; just before he boarded the ne, Li Feng got close to him, saying that he had some message for Li Lei to ry when he returned...

    In that moment of letting his guard down, Li Feng had stabbed Li Lei in the abdomen. The wound was so deep it could¡¯ve killed him.

    ¡°You want to go back?¡± Li Feng licked the blood off the dagger and smiled like a devil. He started whispering almost seductively, ¡°Xiao Lei... my dearest brother, what¡¯s so good about that woman, that you can give everything else up? I¡¯ve made the rest of the world my enemy, and I still can¡¯t tie you down?¡±

    Li Lei red at him with cold hatred.

    Li Feng was still smiling. ¡°Su Tang¡¯s pregnancy? It¡¯s alright, that child can¡¯t possibly be yours. But neither can you return to Ye Xingling. I won¡¯t allow it, you hear that, Xiao Lei?¡±

    He deliberately jabbed at Li Lei¡¯s wound, sticking the dagger back in and fiddling around.

    Li Lei whimpered involuntarily, his expression awful as sweat trickled down his forehead.

    ¡°Now you know what pain feels like?¡± Li Feng chuckled. ¡°A disobedient brother deserves punishment.¡± He held the bloody dagger to Li Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Does every woman out there like this face of yours? If I slice it, will Ye Xingling still love it?¡±

    He did it.

    The dagger left a deep, long cut across Li Lei¡¯s left cheek.

    Li Lei¡¯s re turned even colder. ¡°Brother... Brother,¡± he said with much effort. ¡°You¡¯re a lunatic... a pervert... a... beast!¡±

    Li Feng gave him a tight p on the face.

    ¡°Beast? Who are you calling a beast?!¡± They were half-brothers with the same father but different mothers. At this point, Li Feng¡¯s voice was even softer while his anger peaked. ¡°Xiao Lei, you¡¯re getting from bad to worse. But it¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll discipline you and make sure you¡¯re as good as the obedient little boy you used to be.¡±

    He stabbed Li Lei a second time.

    Li Lei let out a soft moan as the pain clouded his consciousness.

    He didn¡¯t know what was wrong with his brother, what did his return to look for Xiao Ling anger his brother in any way? Then again, Li Lei knew that his brother was unreasonable once he acted up, he could torture and even murder the people closest to him.

    He kept quiet as he secretly reached for a sharp-edged stone.

    It could be that he was in lucky, or that Li Fengpletely did not expect him to have any means to defend himself anymore. In any case, Li Lei smashed the stone onto Li Feng¡¯s head and then pinned him to the ground. Li Feng stared at him in disbelief.

    ¡°How did you...!¡±

    ¡°I want to... live.¡± Li Lei used every ounce of energy left in him to pin him down and grab the dagger from his hand. He held it to Li Feng¡¯s throat. ¡°I want to... see Xiao Ling.¡± For the sake of that girl with her radiant smile, the one waiting for him anxiously on the other side of the ocean, he had to live on.

    If he were to die, it would hurt her so much.

    But now, as he saw the photos of her as hey in bed, he couldn¡¯t be sure anymore. Was Xiao Ling really longing for him?

    On the surface, however, he was determined to maintain his stand. ¡°Xiao Ling is definitely still waiting for me.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s already left Skyart.¡± Old Master Li showed him the newspapers of various headlines reporting her withdrawal from Skyart Entertainment and her reconciliation with Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei was still in denial.

    Once his wound recovered, he would return immediately and exin everything to her in person.

    Old Master Li read his mind. ¡°You still don¡¯t believe it? She and Pei Ziheng have already exchanged their vows. Just look at the rings they¡¯re wearing, they¡¯re of the same design.¡±

    Only now did Li Lei notice it. In the photo, Pei Ziheng¡¯s left arm was around Xia Ling¡¯s waist, and on that hand was a simple titanium band on his finger. Meanwhile, Xia Ling had the same ring on the same finger.

    Both of them were smiling sweetly.

    Li Lei felt his heart wrenching, it hurt so badly.

    ¡°Impossible.¡± He said, ¡°Xiao Ling does have a ring, but it was from me.¡±

    Old Master Li scoffed. ¡°Didn¡¯t she tell you? Pei Ziheng had it melted!¡± He went on to show Li Lei the video of Pei Ziheng getting somebody to melt the ring. In the video, the initials ¡®l¡¯ and ¡®y¡¯ could be seen on the ring ¡ª it was indeed the one that he had gotten for her on their shopping trip.

    Still, Li Lei insisted. ¡°Impossible.¡±

    But his voice was softer now.

    Seeing that his grandson could no longer mask his devastation despite all his efforts, Old Master Li took his leave, knowing he had achieved his goal.

    In the ward, the silence was restored.

    Li Lei¡¯s hardened look faded.

    He quietly looked out the window, the light in his eyes dimming.

    Xiao Ling...

    My Xiao Ling.

    It was I who let you down, who didn¡¯t make it back in time. Have you been hurt too much by me? Or could you wait no longer, and decided to be with Pei Ziheng again?

    Whaty beyond the window was a quiet, lonely sunset.

 Chapter 640 - Goddess of Falsetto

    <h4>Chapter 640: Goddess of Falsetto</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯spany began operating smoothly very quickly.

    All these were made possible due to Lin Yunan¡¯s efforts. Coming from a business family background, he was able to run thepany very well.

    As for Xia Ling? She only had to focus on her music and matters rted to shows or public activities that she would have to attend. Meanwhile, in the conference room, Xia Ling held a cup of tea with both her hands and said as she tilted her head slightly, ¡°The first thing that we need to settle, would be the matter with regards to the concert tour. Many of my fans have already bought their tickets, but Skyart Entertainment canceled it without any proper notice. Even though they managed to refund the tickets, this caused many people to be dissatisfied. I don¡¯t like the way they have dealt with this matter.¡±

    Lin Yunan nodded. ¡°This would indeed have negative impacts on your poprity. Anyone has any ideas on how to deal with this?¡±

    Every department contributed their ideas. Shortly after the discussion, they decided to continue to hold the concert tour. A notice was published on her official site, which announced this decision. They would sell the concert tickets again and promised that for every concert in the remaining tour, it would be one hour longer than the original duration.

    Lin Yunan was a little worried about how it would affect her vocal cords. ¡°Are you able to manage such high-intensity concerts?¡±

    She smiled, the corner of her eyes showing slight arrogance. ¡°What¡¯s there to feel worried about? Isn¡¯t it just three hours instead of two now? This is still far from what I am capable of.¡±

    Lin Yunan recalled her spectacr stage presence, not forgetting her superb performances every time she was on stage. She had faith in his ability to manage thepany. Simrly, he also had faith in her impressive musical talent. Her existence itself was a miracle.

    Fans who were previously disappointed and furious about the fact that the concerts were canceled had regained hope and anticipation the moment they saw the official notice. They supported hereback with great enthusiasm, shouting out ¡°Defeat Skyart Entertainment¡± as their slogan.

    From an outsider¡¯s perspective...

    Or rather, as a matter of fact, the truth was that...

    She left Skyart Entertainment because of the discrimination against her.

    Many loyal fans felt indignant for her. They were even more unhappy when they heard that Skyart Entertainment would be using the venue, which originally should be for her concert tour, for other purposes. They urged that she should have a head-to-head battle with Skyart Entertainment, and defeat them.

    ¡°Head-to-head battle...?¡± Xia Ling stared at thements on her official site and was deeply absorbed in her thoughts.

    Li Yunan moved over and took a look. ¡°This is such a good idea! Your poprity can definitely win any of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s female celebrities. Moreover, you are a new star. If you win, that¡¯s your glory, and even if you lose, it won¡¯t be embarrassing.¡±

    Xia Ling was also infuriated. What Tan Ying did previously was really uneptable.

    She pushed theptop away, leaned backward, and said casually, ¡°Alright! Then we will have apetition.¡±

    Lin Yunan smiled satisfyingly. The reason that he had chosen this girl and decided to do his best to make her famous was that he liked her arrogance. Not afraid of anything.

    He asked around and realized that Skyart Entertainment used the original venue to hold Xie Ling¡¯s solo concert.

    He ordered the Operations department to rent the same venue that Xie Ling would be holding her solo concert the day after her performance. The same period, the same audio equipment, the same ticket price...

    He was eager to see who would be more popr.

    In no time, fans who were observant noticed the simrity, and many started to debate about this contest. Xie Ling had always been the main celebrity that Skyart Entertainment promoted. As for Ye Xingling, she also became famous under Skyart Entertainment, even though they eventually gave up on her. Between the two of them, who would be able to gather more audience?

    Fans for the two celebrities began topete with each other. Many of them who did not n to watch the concert previously had decided to buy tickets to support their idols.

    Media journalists also focused their attention on these two concerts.

    On the concert day, in the makeup room.

    Xia Ling sat in front of the mirror and gave the makeup artists the freedom to do her makeup.

    Lin Yunan stayed by her side. asional noises from fans outside could be heard.

    Lin Yunan had a rxed smile on his face. ¡°You¡¯re still the best. I went out to take a look just now, the whole audience section was fully filled with people. There are also many outside the venue who don¡¯t have tickets but are trying to sneak in. As for Xie Ling¡¯s solo concert yesterday, even though they sold out all the tickets, the audience section was not full. On top of that, people who were loitering around outside with extra tickets were unable to sell them away for prices higher than yours.¡±

    For this contest, she was destined to be the winner even before she started singing.

    Xia Ling looked down slightly, carefully arranging her shiny nails. Victory was what she had expected, she just wanted to show the public that this was the truth. Objectively speaking, she did not hate Xie Ling, and actually had a good impression of her. Unfortunately, they were on different sides, and one would be destined to be another¡¯s stepping stone.

    After tonight, there would be no such thing as two goddesses of falsetto in the music industry.

    She would be the only goddess of falsetto.

    At the front stage, the cheers were getting louder and louder.

    A staff member came over to inform her that everything was ready for her to go on stage.

    Wearing an extravagant outfit, she walked up to the stage leisurely, putting up an air of arrogance.

    Tonight, this was her stage.

    She showcased her falsetto perfectly.

    Three hours went by really quickly.

    Everyone in the audience was stunned by her angelic voice, unable to recover from the breathtaking performance.

    ¡°Oh my...¡± an audience member grabbed her friend and eximed, ¡°Is this an illusion? No... this is not an illusion, Xiao Ling¡¯s voice sounds even better than before. I dare to say, in the whole music industry, other than Diva Xia Ling who has already passed away, no one is able to sing better than her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Her friend shouted in excitement. ¡°I love you, Xiao Ling!¡±

    The craze spread through the audience.

    The dissatisfactions with Skyart Entertainment canceling the concert and refunding the tickets were all gone after Xia Ling¡¯s marvelous performance. Everyone felt that it was worth to go through all those troubles in exchange to hear such an amazing voice.

    The same night, fans who went to the concert were all describing how perfect and wonderful her voice was. There were even fans who posted online videos that they secretly took during the live performance.

    The whole inte was shaken.

    After Goddess Xia Ling passed away for so many years, another Goddess of Falsetto had finally appeared in the music industry.

    The next day, almost every music rted post was filled withments by her fans, even people who were originally not her fans joined the discussion. As for Xie Ling? She was unnoticeable.

    The result for the contest between the two goddesses of falsetto was obvious.

    Tan Ying was furious. He screamed at a few departments¡¯ managers, ¡°What are all of you doing? Don¡¯t you know how to rent the same venue during other dates as well? Ling¡¯s concert was on Saturday, Ye Xingling¡¯s concert was on Sunday. Even with this arrangement, we were defeated! This is total defeat! Total defeat! Defeat that we can¡¯t even find an excuse for!¡±

    The concert date arrangement matter was indeed something to be upset about.

    As a matter of fact, Saturday was the best concert day choice. Sunday could only be considered as the second best. As a result, the ticket sale for Sunday should be worse than Saturday. Nheless, Xia Ling still defeated Xie Ling, and the defeat was so obvious that it ruined Xie Ling¡¯s reputation.

 Chapter 641 - Adding Fuel to the Fire

    <h4>Chapter 641: Adding Fuel to the Fire</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few directors hung their heads low and kept quiet upon being scolded.

    Xie Ling stood by the side and quietly said, ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I¡¯m not good enough.¡±

    Tan Ying rubbed his temple and softened his tone. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± If Xia Ling did not use a falsetto today, they would still be able to fight it out. Butpetitions were cruel, whoever was more talented would beat the other.

    Xie Ling already reached her potential today and did very well.

    She really couldn¡¯t be med for this oue.

    ¡°Ha.¡± Somebody in the meeting room let out a coldugh. Theughter shocked a few people, causing them to their heads around instinctively. As expected, it was Wei Shaoyin.

    Ever since Xia Ling was forced to leave Skyart, he and Tan Ying had not been on talking terms.

    Tan Ying did not have an easy time dealing with him, this Arrogant Wei was really not one to offend. His family business was no smaller than Skyart Entertainment, and he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Nobody could go against him even if he made a mess of Skyart, much less give a snideugh.

    Tan Ying took a deep breath and pretended not to have heard it.

    But Wei Shaoyin let out another one. ¡°Do you really think that if Xiao Ling didn¡¯t use a falsetto, Ling would be able to beat her with some hard work? Aren¡¯t you too naive!¡±

    Tan Ying did not wish to argue with him, but seeing the deste look on Xie Ling¡¯s face as well as the rest of the directors, he felt a need to voice out, ¡°Ye Xingling is your precious, but you¡¯d better not be too biased! She¡¯s already left Skyart and is an outsider now, how could you be on her side? Moreover... how is Xie Ling unable to beat Ye Xingling? Ye Xingling¡¯s just equipped with a falsetto!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin snorted.

    Tan Ying was about to scream at him for being so rude. Wei Shaoyin was really going overboard! It was Xie Ling who quietly said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about what we should do from here.¡±

    They didn¡¯te together for an argument. Xie Ling was just a singer with no background or power and dared not offend the superiors in thepany. Being caught between Tan Ying and Wei Shaoyin made things difficult for her.

    The tension between Tan Ying and Wei Shaoyin had been rising for a while now, and Tan Ying finally found someone who was also being targeted by Wei Shaoyin. He hurriedly found an ally. ¡°Ling, tell me. If Ye Xingling did not have a falsetto, would you be able to beat her?¡±

    Xie Ling was caught in a fix.

    She honestly didn¡¯t think she would be able to win. Ye Xingling wasn¡¯t just good at showing off her skills, her voice was also packed withyers of emotions that only the best of the best could manage. To theymen, Ye Xingling simply had a good voice, but to the professionals, they knew just how difficult it was to attain that level.

    But if she spoke the truth, it would embarrass Manager Tan.

    Tan Ying figured the answer in her moment of hesitation.

    His expression turned awful as he secretly cursed at how meek Xie Ling was. However, in order to maintain his dignity, he changed the subject and started discussing the uing ns.

    He felt that Skyart should have some publicity strategies in order to mitigate the negative impact on their image.

    However, with Xia Ling¡¯s overpowering prowess, their attempts were all in vain. Instead of improving the situation, everybody was getting even more excited for Xia Ling¡¯s next performance ¡ª the venue was the same as the one Skyart had picked. This time, Skyart¡¯s singers were going to be Lu Tao and Leng Hui, the pair of street dancers.

    Lu Tao went to look for Xia Ling in private. He was desperate. ¡°Sister, Goddess, Grandma... on ount of our past, could you please let me off? My team¡¯s poprity is nowhereparable to yours, to begin with, and after all that news, the disparity is pathetic.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him half smilingly. ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Sister, Goddess, Grandma!¡± Lu Tao pleaded.

    Xia Ling smiled as she recalled the days spent in Skyart¡¯s training camp. Back then, she had still been immersed in the pain from her previous life and unable to escape. But on hindsight, that was also the time she met Li Lei. Those were the good days.

    While Lu Tao was just a small part of those good memories.

    Still so simple, so pure.

    Lu Tao could not figure out what her smile meant, and so close to kneeling down to beg her. ¡°I can give you anything, really! Sister, Sister Xiao Ling, just let me off this once, okay?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s not impossible.¡± Xia Ling said slowly.

    Lu Tao¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re notpeting against us at the head-to-head battle anymore?¡±

    ¡°You wish.¡± Xia Ling said simply.

    Lu Tao was upset again.

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°But what?¡± Lu Tao¡¯s eyes came to life again.

    Xia Ling reached into her little handbag and took out two concert tickets. She handed it to Lu Tao. ¡°Come and support me.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± Lu Tao was confused.

    She did not exin further and simply waved her hand and walked away.

    Lu Tao was still in a daze as he watched her leave. What¡¯s this, he came here to ask for help and ended up with two concert tickets. Wasn¡¯t this helping her opponent gain even more poprity? He had no idea what to make of it.

    The following day, Lu Tao arrived at Skyart¡¯s dance studio.

    His assistant came up to him. ¡°Brother Tao, how did it go?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean how did it go.¡± Lu Tao wasn¡¯t very friendly. ¡°I think the odds are against us, we¡¯d better try harder.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re on very good terms with Miss Ye? That a chat with her was all it would take for her to notpete with our team any more?¡± The assistant asked.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I said.¡± Lu Tao straightened up in an attempt to look high and mighty. ¡°But how could I possibly do such a thing? I¡¯m a man. I¡¯d rather face my challenges than ask her for help.¡±

    The assistant looked at him with admiration.

    Meanwhile, Leng Hui looked up at him, expressionless.

    Lu Tao immediately felt his conscience gnaw at him.

    Well, now that his n had failed, he had no choice but to start preparing for the concert.

    He warmed up his body, all ready for an intensive training session.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so hard on yourself.¡± Leng Hui suddenly said.

    Lu Tao responded, ¡°How could I not? I don¡¯t want to lose too humiliatingly!¡± This duo was considered one of the best in the line of street dance, but they were still a notch below Ye Xingling, who was somewhat considered a Diva now. To be fair, he was already not in her league when they first met at the training camp a few years back. Now, her singing had only improved. He was definitely not her match, but he was still hoping to put up a good fight to maintain his dignity.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Ye Xingling has spread the news.¡± Leng Hui said calmly.

    ¡°What news?¡± Lu Tao was genuinely unaware of it.

    Leng Hui said, ¡°She issued a challenge and asked if Skyart dares to take it up.¡±

    ¡°What? Damn it!¡± Lu Tao was so shocked he could barely watch hisnguage. It was bad enough that she didn¡¯t let them off or help them out on ount of their past. Now, she was even going the extra mile and adding fuel to fire by issuing a challenge? He felt more exasperated than ever...

 Chapter 642 - Kneeling and Singing â€œConqueredâ€

    <h4>Chapter 642: Kneeling and Singing ¡°Conquered¡±</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Leng Hui was calm andposed. ¡°The challenge is very straightforward. Whoever loses will have to kneel on the ground and sing ¡®Conquered.¡¯¡±

    <i>Pfft¡ª </i>Lu Tao spat out the water he was drinking upon hearing that. Between coughs, he asked, ¡°Wait... W-what did you say?¡±

    Leng Hui looked at him like he was an idiot.

    He was used to his partner looking at him this way. As he caught his breath, he asked in shock, ¡°You¡¯re saying Ye Xingling wants us to kneel before her and sing ¡®Conquered¡¯?!¡± Gosh, if that was the case, it¡¯d be utterly embarrassing.

    Leng Hui asked, ¡°Did you just resign yourself to losing thispetition?¡±

    Lu Tao said, ¡°I...! Leng Hui, do you really think we could possibly win her? It¡¯s Ye Xingling we¡¯re talking about! The Little Diva with the falsetto! She¡¯s a renowned cult leader on stage! Us beating her? You¡¯re kidding!¡±

    Leng Hui was still expressionless. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you some good news.¡±

    ¡°What good news could there be?!¡± Lu Tao was so agitated he began pacing around mindlessly. ¡°Don¡¯t bother me. Let me think of how I¡¯m going to deal with this... how am I going to die this time... Well, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ve never knelt down to her back when we were at the training camp. But, this is different, it¡¯ll be in front of so many people...¡±

    Lu Tao mumbled to himself as he walked in circles.

    Even the assistant couldn¡¯t bear with it any longer, and called out to him quietly, ¡°Brother Tao...¡±

    ¡°What a wretched girl, I really should¡¯ve seen through her...¡± Lu Tao continued murmuring.

    ¡°Brother Tao...¡±¡±Brother Tao...¡±

    ¡°Should I kneel with my left leg or right leg while singing it...¡± Lu Tao was going into the specifics.

    ¡°Brother Tao...¡±¡±Brother Tao...¡±

    ¡°Be quiet!¡± Lu Tao was angered. He was already so annoyed, why couldn¡¯t the assistant just leave him alone?

    Leng Hui chuckled coldly. He put on his windbreaker and was all ready to leave the dance studio. He was different from Lu Tao and preferred the simple andfortable style in his apparels whenever he was not dancing.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t go yet!¡± Lu Tao looked up to see his partner leaving.

    Leng Hui stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrows ever so slightly.

    ¡°What¡¯s that,¡± Lu Tao said, ¡°Are you not practicing anymore? We¡¯re facing a crisis here! Even if we have to kneel, we¡¯ve got to find a good pose doing it!¡±

    Leng Hui chuckled again.

    ¡°What are youughing at?!¡± Lu Tao was genuinely anxious.

    Leng Hui finally spoke up, slowly and clearly. ¡°Actually, Xiao Meng has been trying to tell you.¡± Xiao Meng was the assistant. ¡°We won¡¯t be the ones singing ¡®Conquered.¡¯¡±

    ¡°How could it... Wait! What does that mean?¡± Lu Tao was confused. ¡°Are you running a fever? Are you saying that we can beat Ye Xingling?!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to go onstage.¡± Leng Hui said calmly.

    Not going onstage would mean there¡¯d be no win or loss, and no loss would mean no need to sing that song.

    Lu Tao took a few seconds to process it before looking at him in shock. ¡°Why don¡¯t we need to go onstage? The concert... is canceled?! Damn it! Are you serious, thepany¡¯s canceling the concert all because of Ye Xingling?!¡±

    Leng Hui finally looked at him like he had some brains.

    Lu Tao was in a fluster. ¡°But...! Where¡¯s Tan Ying¡¯s dignity?! If nobody¡¯s going onstage, Skyart will be mocked by all the fans! How could he bear to do this!¡± It was evident that Ye Xingling¡¯s challenge had scared everyone.

    Leng Hui asked, ¡°Who said nobody¡¯s going onstage?¡±

    Lu Tao was confused.

    Leng Hui exined slowly. ¡°Yesterday, Ye Xingling issued the challenge openly. All the fans were so excited that they were pressuring Skyart to take it up. So, Tan Ying switched us out and let Bai Murong stand in for us instead.¡±

    Only now did Lu Tao understand what was going on.

    Bai Murong was a megastar with brilliant singing abilities, and his poprity was not to be underestimated. In other words, he was the number one singer in the whole of Skyart Entertainment.

    ¡°But,¡± Lu Tao said, ¡°Bai Murong is a Heavenly King. Wouldn¡¯t it be making a mountain out of a molehill by getting him topete with Xiao Ling?¡± Now that he didn¡¯t have to worry about himself anymore, he was worried for Xia Ling instead.

    Leng Hui looked at him in the eye. ¡°Bai Murong, against Ye Xingling, that¡¯s making a mountain out of a molehill?¡±

    ¡°One is a Heavenly King, and the other is a female celebrity who has only just made it big, is that not too much?¡±

    Leng Hui looked at him as if he were a fool again.

    Lu Tao was beginning to feel his IQ dropping looking at his partner¡¯s expression. He was about to say something more when he realized what Leng Hui was trying to say ¡ª actually, besides the media coverage that they got, how was Ye Xingling inferior to Bai Murong in any way?

    Poprity? There was some difference, but it wasn¡¯t significant.

    Singing ability? Both were splendid.

    Looks? Xiao Ling looked simple usually, but once she went onstage, her incredible charisma and stage presence had everyone forget about her appearance, and all that was left was amazement and awe.

    Thinking about it this way, Lu Tao felt that she really had a chance of winning!

    He was surprised to reach this realization. ¡°Well... if Bai Murong loses, it¡¯d be even more embarrassing than if we did! Why would he agree to rece us?!¡±

    ¡°Do you know what number one is?¡± Leng Hui asked slowly.

    ¡°What is number one?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a g that the public looks up to, embodying a spirit that never dies. Everybody else can withdraw and cower in fear and uncertainty, but not him ¡ª that¡¯s what it means to be number one.¡±

    And Bai Murong was the best of the best.

    Back at Phoenix Down Corporation.

    Xia Ling was holed up in her own office, her petite figure sinking into the soft sofa bed as she savored an ice cream. Every so often, she would dig a small spoonful of it and feed Hairball beside her.

    Hairball meowed affectionately.

    Ever since Li Lei returned, Er Mao had been taken away too. Xia Ling was afraid that there was nobody to take care of Hairball, and hence, secretly contacted the supervisor of the apartment in order to get it for her. Well, it was also a memory that Li Lei left behind for her. Hairball was a stray cat, so it didn¡¯t take long for it to getfortable around the office among new people.

    And Xia Ling now had apanion too.

    When there was nothing much to do, both of them would daydream in the office together.

    She finished a huge bowl of strawberry ice cream and was licking the bottom when Lin Yunan entered. ¡°Aha! I see you¡¯re pretty rxed.¡± Lin Yunan always sounded a little sarcastic with his words.

    ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± Xia Ling said straight to his face. She did not have any projects or shoots to do at the moment and was just waiting for the concert in which she would defeat Skyart. Besides practicing her singing, there was not much to do.

    Lin Yunan tossed her the newspapers. ¡°Yourpetitor is a lot more hyped up over it than you are.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Xia Ling.

    ¡°See for yourself.¡± Lin Yunan set on the couch opposite her with one leg over the other.

    She flipped through the papers and saw Bai Murong¡¯s handsome face all over the Entertainment section. There was also a huge headline: Bai Murong epts Ye Xingling¡¯s challenge ¡ª

    ¡°If you win, this will be thest of it. But if I lose, I¡¯ll kneel down and sing ¡®Conquered¡¯!¡±

 Chapter 643 - Leave it to Heavensâ€™ Will

    <h4>Chapter 643: Leave it to Heavens¡¯ Will</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nced at the newspapers andughed. ¡°How confident.¡±

    Lin Yunan still appeared rxed, but in his eyes, an indubitable light shed. ¡°How sure are you of winning? If a man knelt before a woman and sang ¡®Conquered,¡¯ it could make a great story. But if it¡¯s the reverse, it doesn¡¯t seem too appropriate, right?¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at him, confident. ¡°Why would I lose?¡±

    ¡°Well, nobody¡¯s going to save you if you lose.¡± Lin Yunan tossed the papers aside. In fact, he did have a backup n for Xia Ling if she were to lose, in order to save her from embarrassment. But he didn¡¯t intend to tell her, he wanted her to have a sense of urgency.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling did not bother if anyone was going to save her ¡ª beating Bai Murong was a piece of cake.

    This head-to-head battle had hit the headlines and was a highlight now. Besides the fans of both parties, many others had their eyes on thispetition and had great expectations for their performance. The media was also conducting interviews with both of them, monitoring their schedules and activities as they tried to figure out who the victor would be.

    Bai Murong was right to say that if Xia Ling won, that would be thest of it.

    Since she waspeting with the most popr Heavenly King of the time, her win could only mean one thing ¡ª that she was a Diva.

    There were rumors about how Phoenix Down Corporation had it all nned out. They were going to use Heavenly King Bai as her stepping stone. Of course, this stepping stone was a steep one.

    Tan Ying was angry over it again.

    How could this Ye Xingling be so sly?

    What he didn¡¯t know was that this wasn¡¯t a sly trick at all. She was only eding to Lu Tao¡¯s plea for her to let him off ¡ª that was the only reason she pushed Skyart to send their best singer topete against her.

    With this change made, Lu Tao wouldn¡¯t have to kneel down before her.

    However, she didn¡¯t expect it to cause such a stir.

    Tan Ying was extremely frustrated by it, and wouldn¡¯t stop reminding Bai Murong that he had to win this for the rest of Skyart. Bai Murong agreed lightly. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. I¡¯m the Heavenly King, how could I lose?¡±

    He did not really consider Tan Ying¡¯s worries seriously.

    Tan Ying got down to business very quickly, trying his best to enhance Bai Murong¡¯s performance in every way ¡ª the music equipment had to be the best, the lighting had to be well designed, even the publicity and ticket salesponents had to be in Bai Murong¡¯s favor.

    It was a long preparation.

    The venue for this concert was the well sought after star theater in City J. As per the previous round ofpetition, Xia Ling and Bai Murong were supposed to rent the venue during the same time slot on consecutive days. Bai Murong would perform on the first day, while Xia Ling would perform on the second, which was a Sunday night. However, Xia Ling¡¯s time slot was already taken by another party for a violin activity.

    Xia Ling had no choice but to release the statement online.

    Some people made snide remarks about how Xia Ling was trying to withdraw from thepetition at thest minute. However, the majority expressed understanding as they recognized that it was a prime location for performers. A number of fans even suggested that Bai Murong postponed his performance so as to amodate Xia Ling¡¯s.

    Tan Ying simply chuckled coldly.

    ¡°Murong¡¯s performance will go on as nned,¡± he said. Why did apany as big as Skyart have to amodate just one girl?

    Meanwhile, Bai Murong had his legs propped up on a table in the meeting room, without a care for thements.

    However, just a few dayster, the tables turned in Xia Ling¡¯s favor. Thements online said that Bai Murong was afraid ofpeting with her, and hence, wanted to avoid having a performance so close to hers.

    Tan Ying was enraged by thesements. ¡°Rubbish!¡±

    Bai Murong was still as rxed as ever. ¡°Let¡¯s change the date.¡±

    Tan Ying red at him closely.

    Bai Murong was extremely calm. ¡°Let¡¯s amodate Ye Xingling¡¯s date and time. Since we want topete, we should do it with no ambiguity and controversy. And since we¡¯re going to win, we might as well leave no room for gossips and excuses.¡±

    Tan Ying was extremely reluctant, but as thements spun out of control and became increasingly disadvantageous for Skyart, he had no choice but to go along with Bai Murong¡¯s wishes.

    It was postponed to a Saturday two monthster.

    Xia Ling¡¯s performance would be the following day at the same time.

    Only then did the public and the media let Skyart off. Two months was ample time for them to prepare for the performance, and the two singers ended up spending their days having fun instead of practicing properly.

    Even the bigger press firms posed a question: Was Heavenly King Bai and Little Diva Ye nning to beat each other based on their confidence levels?

    ¡°It¡¯s just a challenge issued by a little girl, not much preparation is needed.¡± Bai Murong said.

    ¡°Heavenly King Bai? I¡¯m confident of beating him, what¡¯s there to prepare?¡± Xia Ling said.

    The concerts had not arrived yet, but the forums, blogs, and fan pages were already buzzing.

    Two months was more than enough time for news andments about this event to spread, turning this into the greatest entertainment event of the year. Even members of the public who were fans of neither singer kept their eyes on the news.

    The excitement and atmosphere built up until the day of the performance.

    The first one was Bai Murong¡¯s concert on a Saturday.

    The ultra-popr Heavenly King Bai arrived to a sea of fans screaming their lungs out as they cheered for him. Tickets for his concert went up to 20,000 yuan each on the ck market, and with that, the demand still exceeded the supply.

    Bai Murong¡¯s performance came to a beautiful close as the audience was kept in high spirits.

    Even the most professional of critics had said that his concert was perfect in every way ¡ª in terms of ticket sales, audience engagement, singing skills, lighting and sounds, organization and all other aspects, there was really nothing that one could criticize.

    Somementers were even worried for Xia Ling.

    But Xia Ling herself wasn¡¯t too bothered. She even called Bai Murongte on Saturday night to congratte him on the sess of his concert. She even said that he¡¯d achieved an impressive breakthrough since his performance half a year ago at the music festival.

    Bai Murong smiled as he leaned against the wall. ¡°You¡¯re so calm? Are you that confident about beating me?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled as well. ¡°Yup.¡± Her answer was short and sweet, and very calm indeed.

    To be fair, Bai Murong only managed to improve on his singing because of her guidance in theirst performance together at the music festival. She could be partially considered his mentor, or even coach, so how could she possibly not match up to him?

    Bai Murong said half-jokingly, ¡°So I guess I should start thinking about how I¡¯m supposed to kneel when I sing ¡®Conquered¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still not toote, you can get the photographers to snap a few shots of you for a special feature.¡±

    They joked a little more before ending the call.

    From the outsiders¡¯ point of view, they seemed to bepeting with each other very fiercely. However, the truth was that at such a high level, only they were able to acknowledge and respect each other¡¯s strengths in ways others could not.

    It wasn¡¯t that Bai Murong didn¡¯t bother about whether he¡¯d lose.

    Rather, it was that he had given his all and done his best. He could only leave the rest to Heavens¡¯ will.

    And now, it was her turn.

 Chapter 644 - The Undercover Fan

    <h4>Chapter 644: The Undercover Fan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was Sunday, and the auditorium was full of top stars.

    It was evening approaching nightfall, nowhere close to peak hour, but the area near the venue was still packed with people. There were fans with all kinds of gifts and messages of support, media reporters with their tripods and cameras, and random passers-by that merely joined the crowd to see what was going on.

    Xia Ling sat in a silver-white limousine that was led by a procession that helped to clear the way. Behind her were reporter vans following along, and both sides of the road had security barricades set up around the entire auditorium. It looked like a shiny and resplendent moving ribbon when looking down from a bird¡¯s eye view from the top of a nearby skyscraper.

    This entrance was enough to squash Bai Murong¡¯s entrance the day before.

    ¡°Tsk tsk...¡± Under the shadow of a huge tree in a quiet corner, three men in low-key outfits were huddled together. One of them spoke to another. ¡°Bai Mu... ¡±

    The other man covered his mouth before he could utter thest word ¡°Rong¡± of his name.

    ¡°Are you out of your mind?!¡± Bai Murong chided him in a low voice as his heart pounded in his chest and nced around anxiously at the crowd around them. After verifying that no one had noticed them, he released his hand covering the other man¡¯s mouth.

    Lu Tao apologized repeatedly. ¡°Sorry, sorry, I was wrong.¡± Last night, they had disguised themselves to queue at Xiao Ling¡¯s concert venue. If the fans around them found out that they were here...

    The consequences were massive.

    Besides the both of them was the third man, Leng Hui, who shot his partner a nce of disdain.

    This Lu Tao was stillcking in the area of disguise and would always be discovered by fans when he was out on the streets. Hopefully, he wouldn¡¯t be a burden for Bai Murong today.

    The fact that Bai Murong was willing to join them in this ¡°danger zone¡± was truly an act of courage.

    ¡°Old Bai,¡± Lu Tao changed the way he addressed Bai Murong as he ced one hand over his shoulder andmented. ¡°Look at this entourage. If wepare it to yours... tsk tsk... did you or did you not offend Tan Ying? Did he cut your budget?¡±

    Bai Murong was speechless.

    Away from them, Xia Ling was stepping off the limousine with the help of her staff. Today, she looked elegant as always, her small face was embellished with simple makeup to give her a natural look, and her long hair flowed down over her shoulders. Her eyes shining, she was dressed in a low-cut,ce evening gown, as pretty as a fairy.

    ¡°Little fairy goddess...¡± Lu Tao eximed and patted Bai Murong¡¯s shoulder in constion.

    Bai Murong silently removed Lu Tao¡¯s arm from his shoulder.

    He sized Xia Ling up from her position in the center of the crowd. This elegantly smiling girl would not be considered the most beautiful by normal standards, let alone ced in the entertainment circle where there were beauties galore. She would almost pass off as a mere innocent-looking passer-by. However, whenever she was in front of the spotlights, everything would change. He could not fathom where her aura came from. In any case, as long as she was in the midst of a crowd, onstage, in front of the cameras, or any other position where she would be seen by many, she would be the beacon of light, be the most elegant and confident version of herself, holding herself with so much poise that no one could take their eyes off her.

    If anyone were to say that she wouldn¡¯t be a Diva, he, Bai Murong, would be the first to retort that.

    It was only a matter of time for her to be crowned a Diva.

    Then, would it be tonight?

    With her appearance, the cheers of her fans resounded. Not longter, there was a steady chant of ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you.¡± The lightsticks andser signboards emzoned with words of encouragement and support were being waved around frantically, and her many young fans shouted till they were almost hoarse before entering the concert venue. Their cheers were deafening.

    Lu Tao rubbed his ears with irritation at the noise.

    Bai Murong pulled them both back a little until they were at the edge of the crowd, away from her young fans.

    ¡°Hey...¡± Lu Tao asked Bai Murong. ¡°Are you confident in winning? This opening alone is enough to knock you down.¡±

    Bai Murong calmly said, ¡°She¡¯s a woman, I¡¯m a man.¡± If female stars appeared in limousines with a parade to open the way for her, that marked her as precious. If a man did the same? People would say that he was showy.

    This time, Leng Hui spoke up. ¡°Idiot.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lu Tao didn¡¯t hear him clearly.

    Leng Hui shot him anotherzy look of disdain before coldly exining. ¡°This opening isn¡¯t to knock Brother Bai down. It¡¯s just for effect.¡±

    ¡°Not to knock Old Bai down?¡± Lu Tao asked. ¡°Then, what is it for?¡±

    Bai Murong understood what Leng Hui was getting at. ¡°Leng Hui is right. If Xiao Ling can beat me tonight, she¡¯ll be crowned the undisputed Diva. If she¡¯s crowned Diva, how can her introduction be overlooked? Phoenix Down Corporation will make sure that her opening is as grand as possible so that it can be used for future marketing or videos for recounting her achievements, etc. It¡¯s all hype.¡±

    Lu Tao finally understood and nodded. ¡°She¡¯s an ambitious one, ain¡¯t she...¡±

    Bai Murong¡¯s gaze looked toward the girl in thece haute-couture evening gown again, watching as she was shepherded through the crowd by several of her bodyguards and entered the spectacr concert hall. His thoughts drifted...

    Would it be tonight?

    Was tonight really the night?

    The legendary crowning of a Diva... would that really happen tonight?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Lu Tao waved the three tickets in his hand, breaking Bai Murong¡¯s train of thought. The three of them lowered the baseball caps over their faces and followed the crowd into the concert hall.

    Inside the concert venue, the stadium was made up in apletely different way to the night before at Bai Murong¡¯s concert.

    The overarching theme was like the darkness in a dream, mysterious and full of shadows with mist and fog shrouding the crowd. The background music was gentle and calm, with a solo violinist ying some of Ye Xingling¡¯s songs.

    The three of them reached the VIP box they had booked, sat down, and closed the door before daring to breathe again.

    They removed their baseball caps, scarves, and sunsses, and Lu Taoy down on the sofa in the room. ¡°Oh my God, that was so stuffy. Bai Murong, I really don¡¯t understand... Leng Hui and I were invited by Xiao Ling and had no choice but toe. You didn¡¯t have toe to torture yourself with us. Why did youe?¡± Disguising themselves to fit into a crowd was a nightmare for any artiste.

    Bai Murong calmly uncoiled his scarf and did not respond.

    Leng Hui shot Bai Murong a nce. ¡°Does Ye Xingling know you are here?¡±

    Bai Murong smiled. ¡°I asked for a VIP box seat. How could she possibly not know?¡±

    This VIP box was reserved for Lu Tao and Leng Hui, so the organizers definitely could not put normal fans in the same box. Anyone that enquired about the VIP box tickets would have to be background checked. Since Bai Murong was someone so significant, the staff would definitely report his request to Xia Ling.

    Leng Hui thought for a bit before saying, ¡°You guys have a really good rtionship.¡±

    This remark was odd and random.

    Lu Tao didn¡¯t bother too much about it butmented while opening a can of beer. ¡°He¡¯s known Xiao Ling for such a long time. Of course, they would have a good rtionship.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled.

    Leng Hui shot Lu Tao another look that seemed to suggest that he was an idiot.

 Chapter 645 - Show of Skill and Admitting Defeat

    <h4>Chapter 645: Show of Skill and Admitting Defeat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling appeared on stage.

    She was dressed in her stage costume and sparkled on stage with her beauty, her alluring gaze sweeping across the audience, eliciting screams wherever she turned.

    She started to sing.

    It was a melody that was more moving than any before.

    The moment she released the first note from her lips, Bai Murong sat up straight in his seat, his expression turning grave. This girl would always bring her singing up a notch just when the world thought she was at her limit of perfection. She was a creator of miracles when it came to singing. That opening note tugged at his heartstrings so strongly that he was sure that tonight...

    She would be the star.

    As expected, Xia Ling¡¯s singing was astonishing, using the falsetto that she recovered from her previous life with ease and matching it to the style of the current song. The effect of this was way more than a mere 1+1=2 equation. Everyone was transfixed by her voice.

    The more Bai Murong listened, the more shocked he became.

    His expression changed with the course of the song. Looking at the girl on stage now so full of arrogance and poise, shining in the limelight, it seemed to confirm his suspicions ¡ª A few months ago during the Heavenly Voice Music Festival preliminaries, they had sung ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± as a duet and she purposefully...

    Pushed him to break past the bottleneck and achieve a breakthrough in his singing.

    Bai Murong could hardly contain himself and raised the beer can to his lips and took a huge swig.

    Beside him, Lu Tao and Leng Hui werepletely enthralled by Xia Ling¡¯s performance. That girl seemed to have magical powers, and even singers that sang apletely different genre from her would be pulled into the emotions that she put into her songs and fall for her.

    The entire audience stared riveted at her.

    Only Bai Murong was distanced and shaking from his thoughts. He had suddenly thought of something that frightened him. He had not realized that when they were singing ¡°Powerful Opponent,¡± not only did she help him to achieve greater heights in his singing, but had also purposefully pulled herself back in the recording studio!

    If she hadn¡¯t pulled back.

    Then, she would havepletely overshadowed Bai Murong with her spectacr voice.

    If that was the case, there was no way that they could record a masterpiece like ¡°Powerful Opponent.¡±

    Bai Murong took another huge swig of the beer. He was a veteran in the industry for more than 10 years and considered his voice to be as close to the benchmark of perfection as it could be. He had never thought that anyone would overshadow him in the recording studio. This mere thought was frightening.

    However, Xia Ling was such a person.

    She had pulled back to let him shine and did all this so discretely. When they were recording the song, he had never felt her dominance like she was a queen ruling over all!

    She was like...

    A Phoenix! A Phoenix flying high up in the sky, looking resplendent and watching everyone down below.

    Bai Murong looked up at the girl on stage with her head held high and subconsciously crushed the beer can in his hand such that the beer spilled out of it.

    In front of her, all other singers had to bow their heads.

    Even someone so indifferent about things like Leng Hui, and the outspoken, ostentatious Lu Tao, werepletely taken at this moment watching her.

    Bai Murong had a strong feeling that Xia Ling was like a Phoenix, and they were mere skrks. Skrks were meant to look up to the Phoenix ¡ª she deserved all the praise and reverence!

    Onstage, Xia Ling finished her song and bowed to thank the audience.

    The audience erupted in cheers.

    ¡°Encore! Encore!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Encore!¡±

    The audience chanted this resoundingly to a fixed beat in the entire stadium.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t follow the usual routine of singing an encore, but rather stood in the middle of the stage and looked up in a specific direction.

    The noise from the crowd started to quieten down and many looked in the same direction that she did.

    The concert director instructed a lighting technician to shine a spotlight in her direction of sight. It was to a mysterious VIP box in the corner. Xia Ling raised her microphone in the direction of the VIP box.

    She stayed like this for a few seconds

    All her fans could not understand what she meant by this action until a man walked out from the VIP box. It was... Bai Murong!

    ¡°Murong, Murong!¡±

    ¡°Bai Murong!¡±

    There was a huge reaction from the crowd as many started to cheer in excitement, the noise deafening.

    Bai Murong was dressed in a simple white shirt with the two top-most buttons unbuttoned. He leanedzily against the VIP box entrance, his charming eyes glinting with a smile. He looked extremely attractive.

    The two of them exchanged a long nce across the dark expanse of the stadium.

    The cheers from the fans became even louder. They had not expected that the other party of thergest bet in the entertainment circle for the year would be present at the concert today. Bai Murong hade to watch Ye Xingling¡¯s concert!

    Now that the concert had ended, who was the winner?

    The staff quickly passed a microphone to Bai Murong.

    Bai Murong didn¡¯t take the microphone from them but instead pushed the staff member away and walked towards the stage. His steps were slow but elegant and confident, with an inexplicable reverence. He walked through the cheering audience stands until he reached the stage as if he was on a pilgrimage.

    Xia Ling had already lowered the arm that was pointed to him.

    They stood face-to-face, and while she had to lift her head to look him in the eye given that he was taller than her by a head, she heard Bai Murong say, ¡°You¡¯ve won.¡±

    It was a simple phrase but had so much packed into it.

    The audience started to discuss animatedly amongst themselves. Xia Ling¡¯s fans had not expected Bai Murong to admit defeat so easily. After all, concerts were notpetitions, and it was difficult to set a standard on what would be good criteria to judge it on. Even if Xia Ling had sung exceedingly well and was popr beyond belief, if Bai Murong and his fans didn¡¯t agree that she had done better, then there would still be no conclusion on the matter.

    Surprisingly, Bai Murong had admitted defeat here and now.

    Without an ounce of dy or hesitation.

    He got down on one knee in front of Xia Ling in a mark of respect.

    The stadium became quiet. Some were stunned to silence, whereas others were busy taking photos, and still others were texting their friends about all that was happening.

    Simr pandemonium was breaking out online with many of Bai Murong¡¯s fans being unable to ept what had happened.

    ¡°Murong is wonderful! How could he have lost?!¡±

    ¡°How can he bow down to Ye Xingling? She can¡¯t even hold a candle to his female co-stars!¡±

    ¡°Our Murong is the best! He can¡¯t have lost!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fake news! It has to be fake news!¡±

    While Bai Murong was still in his half-kneeling position onstage, a battle had erupted online.

    Xia Ling lowered her head to look at him and asked, ¡°Are you going to sing ¡®Conquered¡¯?¡± She was not surprised at this oue. In fact, she had learned from her staff earlier that Bai Murong had gotten tickets from them to watch her live. She guessed then that there were only two oues ¡ª Bai Murong would not kneel, or he would kneel down to her at the concert.

    He hade specially to support her and to create a more spectacr oue for her with all the talk.

    If she showed her mettle, he would show his reverence.

    Her exquisite small face broke into a smile as she said, ¡°Go ahead and sing.¡±

 Chapter 646 - The Benefit of Admitting Defeat

    <h4>Chapter 646: The Benefit of Admitting Defeat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The lights onstage diminished slowly and darkness spread out.

    All that was left was a spotlight like a moon shining over them.

    Bai Murong kept his back straight and tall as he knelt and looked up at the girl with the glorious voice. Her hair was braided borately, making her look like a goddess, and she was wearing a mermaid-like dress with a chiffon tail embroidered with pearls. She had the look of perfection and made it hard for the audience to tear their eyes away from her.

    Tonight was her night.

    His voice rang out, full of passion and ardor. ¡°To be conqueredpletely by you...¡±

    His opening sentence was enough to leave the audience in awe. Many singers had covered ¡°Conquered.¡± Some of the covers were impressive, but none held a candle to Bai Murong¡¯s version. He was a heavenly king in the industry that possessed a soulful voice. The audience hadn¡¯t yet recovered from the first sentence when the second rang out.

    ¡°You¡¯ve cut off all my escape routes...¡±

    The audience waspletely silent as they gave him full attention.

    Bai Murong was conquered by Xia Ling, and they were conquered by him as well.

    This was the force and presence of a heavenly king. Even if he had lost, even if he was singing while kneeling, he still managed to enthrall them all and move their hearts. The third and fourth lines followed after.

    He slowly but surely sang through the entire song.

    Xia Ling stood a step in front of him silently listening to his song.

    Her expression was full of elegance, and she did not sway with the music but was like a queen sitting on her throne receiving the worship of her courtier. Everything seemed so regal, but it looked just the way it should be.

    Even though Bai Murong¡¯s voice was so mesmerizing, and even though he was so well-respected as a heavenly king.

    Everything still seemed so right for her to be standing in front of him and receiving his worship.

    The director signaled for the cameras to zoom in slowly, filming them from all around. He was also a veteran director and nothing should faze him. However, he was almost shaking with excitement at the scene that had unfolded and barked out at the lighting technician, ¡°Just use this light! Don¡¯t change it! Don¡¯t move it at all!¡±

    The warm spotlight shone down on the two onstage.

    One standing, one kneeling, blending together in perfection, a scene that could be captured for eternity.

    It was so simple but so beautiful, something that was extremely hard to achieve. Yet, the two onstage ¡ª heavenly king Bai Murong and Xia Ling who was being conferred the title of Queen ¡ª yed this out to perfection. Their poise and presence did not require lighting effects to bring out. All it needed was one spotlight.

    Outside the stadium, online.

    Bai Murong¡¯s fans stopped their squabbling as they watched the live broadcast of the concert.

    There was no denying that this scene was astonishingly beautiful.

    Bai Murong didn¡¯t have the despondency of a loser but seemed like a reverent follower watching the goddess that he had chased after for so long, worshipping her with his song.

    This was worship, wasn¡¯t it?

    Bai Murong¡¯s gaze was full of sincerity as if he was truly being conquered by her and was not acting. It was not only her singing that made him bow down in defeat but her character as well. When they had coborated, she had covered for him and pushed him to a breakthrough without asking for anything in return.

    Now, it was his turn to return the favor.

    With this song ¡ª ¡°Conquered¡±.

    Bai Murong sang with all his heart and disyed all that he had in this one song, giving Xia Ling all the respect that he thought she deserved. After the song, there was a long period of silence as everyone stared in awe.

    After a long while, there was a sudden eruption of apuse in the audience.

    Xia Ling raised her hand slightly, signaling for Bai Murong to stand up.

    Her gaze had the glint of a smile and full of praise.

    Bai Murong¡¯s eyes were also smiling as he bowed slightly to kiss her hand. ¡°My queen.¡± He said in his deep and attractive voice. ¡°Is this eptable?¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡± Sheplimented.

    He smiled and kissed her hand again.

    The apuse in the stadium was like thunder.

    This was certainly an amazing battle. From Bai Murong¡¯s high-quality concert the night before to the unrivaled performance that Ye Xingling put up today. And then seeing Bai Murong kneel down and sing the most reverent ¡°Conquered¡± they had ever heard.

    The whole series of events was like waves after waves of pure delight.

    Discussions broke out everywhere about this scene where Bai Murong knelt down and sealed Xia Ling¡¯s queen Diva status, lifting her up from an A-lister to a superstar.

    Ye Xingling¡¯s fans celebrated.

    However, there were also many dejected Bai Murong fans, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge their Heavenly king¡¯s loss. How could he have possibly lost to Ye Xingling? He had merely given in to her!

    ¡°A gentleman doesn¡¯t fight with thedies.¡± Many of Bai Murong¡¯s supporters expounded. ¡°Bai Murong must have let Ye Xingling win because she¡¯s ady.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly.¡± Comments in agreement followed closely after.

    Hence, both their fans started to squabble endlessly again.

    Tan Ying scolded Bai Murong for being a useless fellow and summoned him to his office to reprimand him. ¡°Are youcking a nerve in your brain?! Why did you admit defeat to Ye Xingling or even go watch her concert?!¡±

    ¡°I truly can¡¯t match up to her.¡± Bai Murong did not fear Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying was furious. ¡°How many people can truly tell that you can¡¯t match up to her?!¡± Even someone with such a high position in the industry like him could not judge between the two of them, let alone the typical fan. ¡°If you just refuse to admit defeat, who will dare judge on the matter? See what you¡¯ve done now! You¡¯ve willingly demoted yourself to a position under her!¡± Tan Ying almost suspected that Bai Murong was doing this just to spite him.

    Bai Murong merely narrowed his eyes and retorted in a calm voice. ¡°If I didn¡¯t admit defeat, that would truly be demoting myself.¡±

    Tan Ying mmed the table. ¡°What rubbish!¡±

    Bai Murong shrugged.

    ¡°What¡¯s this kind of attitude?!¡± Tan Ying started to get even angrier.

    Bai Murong said, ¡°General Manager Tan, I think you are biased against Xiao Ling and are being blinded by your biased views. Can¡¯t you tell? With her current presence and poise, it won¡¯t be long before she leapfrogs me and soars to the top like a Phoenix. No, it¡¯s a matter of time before she leapfrogs everyone in the industry. When she¡¯s left everyone else in the dust, the media andizens will recall this day that I didn¡¯t admit defeat. I would be aughingstock then, and my entire image would be ruined.¡±

    This was a fact.

    While he did have a good rtionship with Xiao Ling, it wasn¡¯t to the point that he was willing to demote himself and be stepped on by her. He was willing to admit defeat and sing her ¡°Conquered¡± on his knees precisely because of what he had observed.

    If he didn¡¯t admit defeat, it would just be a cause for embarrassment in the future. Many people would say, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t Bai Murong appreciate such talent? Was he just so without ss and taste? How could he not tell that Ye Xingling was singing way better than him?¡±

    If he admitted defeat, people would say instead that, ¡°Heavenly King Bai is indeed a heavenly king. When all of us felt that Ye Xingling¡¯s singing was not top-ss, he had recognized the talent and potential within her.¡±

    Furthermore, there was another benefit...

 Chapter 647 - Being the Third Party

    <h4>Chapter 647: Being the Third Party</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The battle among the fans continued.

    Bai Murong did not respond positively. Instead, he took Luo Luo to cycle on the beach. Some reporters took photos of them. In the photos, Luo Luo sat on the backseat of the bicycle and wore a refreshing mini dress. Her short hair flew in the wind. Both of them smiled romantically at each other and looked like a good match.

    Fans had guessed about their secretly rumored interactions.

    Now, as if they found more evidence, they blew up. Many people shifted the topic fromparing Heavenly King Bai and Ye Xingling to whether Heavenly King Bai was really dating Luo Luo. This new topic of discussion exploded online.

    Bai Murong unhurriedly responded.

    He released a set of photos, all of which showed a variety of desserts.

    [During our seaside vacation, Luo Luo made a lot of snacks for me to eat. She said that whether I was a super-popr heavenly king or a nobody was not important. The only thing that mattered was my happiness.]

    The fans¡¯ discussion blew up again as they replied in thements below.

    ¡°Murong, my male idol, are you really dating Luo Luo?¡±

    ¡°Heavenly King Murong, my heart is broken.¡±

    ¡°Murong, what good is she?¡±

    And so on.

    In reality, Bai Murong¡¯s fans had always disliked Luo Luo. They felt that she was not popr enough and not worthy of the super popr male god Bai Murong. Every time reporters took photos of them together, many impulsive fans would write hatefulments on Luo Luo¡¯s Weibo.

    This time, many fans also went to express their anger on Luo Luo¡¯s Weibo.

    Luo Luo¡¯s Weibo was very lifestyle-oriented. Usually, she would post updates about her doing housework. This time, she also posted pictures of her learning how to make desserts, cutting herself and buying a special box of matcha powder after searching various stores. Slowly, she made the desserts from scratch.

    ¡°My desserts are only made for the best people.¡± She said.

    ¡°Singing doesn¡¯t mean everything. If I like you, it means that I like all of you.¡± She said again.

    ¡°Even if the entire world is trying to bring you down, I will always support you.¡± She continued to say.

    Suddenly, Bai Murong¡¯s fans could not continue. In the past, when Bai Murong¡¯s career was smooth-sailing, they felt that Luo Luo was not worthy of him. But now that Bai Murong had hit rock bottom, Luo Luo did not desert him.

    Ever since the battle of Bai Murong and Ye Xingling, besides the fans of both parties, many other passers-bymented that ¡°King Bai Murong can¡¯t make it anymore¡±, ¡°This is the end of King Bai Murong¡± and ¡°Bai Murong has weakly gone up in mes¡±... This caused many loyal fans to be upset. They quarreled, protested, and did everything they could to speak up for Bai Murong...

    However, it was useless.

    They were just ordinary people. Even if they made a sound, they would still appear weak.

    However, now, another star was clearly standing on the same side as them. It was impossible not to feel any warmth in their hearts. Thus, their rejection of Luo Luo faded immediately.

    ¡°Luo Luo is not bad...¡± Slowly, in Bai Murong¡¯s fanbase, people started to make simrments.

    ¡°Standing together in hard times proves that they¡¯re meant for each other.¡± Some people started to acknowledge her.

    ¡°How could our male god Murong have bad taste in girls?¡± Some fans said.

    In the presence of Ye Xingling, a powerful and foreign enemy with an overwhelming public image, the fans unconsciously epted Luo Luo as their own.

    Xia Ling also forwarded a picture of Luo Luo¡¯s desserts on Weibo with the caption: ¡°What about me?¡±

    There was also a crying emoji.

    Now, she was single. Li Lei was no longer by her side and, from time to time, he appeared in international news apanied by pregnant Su Tang looking very much in love. It was difficult for her to get over this and focus on her business. After winning Bai Murong, she was tortured by Bai Murong¡¯s girlfriend, Luo Luo.

    She really wanted to cry in the toilet.

    Luo Luo replied with aughing emoji.

    Bai Murong¡¯s fans loved Luo Luo even more. They found it impressive that she could get a reaction from Ye Xingling.

    Bai Murong was also ted. He didn¡¯t really care about whether he was being criticized. More importantly, his fans had started to ept the girl he liked. If losing to Xiao Ling meant that his fans would love Luo Luo more, he was willing to lose to Xiao Ling daily... Now, his rtionship with Luo Luo was almost in the open. It was really a good thing.

    He was in high spirits, so he replied Xia Ling with thement: ¡°Too bad.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again.

    Suddenly, things became exciting on Weibo. The tension between the fans of both parties was reduced because of Luo Luo. Bai Murong¡¯s fans felt that their male god Murong was the winning party because Ye Xingling ended up single as she was too ferocious.

    Their emotions stabilized.

    Xia Ling¡¯s fans left long messages on her Weiboforting her. Many people could tell that her rtionship with Bai Murong and Luo Luo was not bad. Thus, taking that into ount, they did not argue with Bai Murong¡¯s fans. The whole world was harmonious again.

    However, such harmony did notst long.

    Xia Ling¡¯s tearfulment about her being single was forwarded by Pei Ziheng.

    As Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman, he liked to be personally involved in matters and was usually updated. This time, he did not respond with a word. Instead, he replied with a single rose emoji.

    It was just a rose.

    There was an uproar in the entertainment circle. The onlookers all guessed that Big Boss Pei still had not given up on his ex-wife. Was he trying to chase her again? Were they going to reconcile?!

    Big news. This was definitely sensational news. This definitely sent more waves than Bai Murong and Luo Luo¡¯s rtionship!

    ¡°Good luck, Chairman Pei!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, why don¡¯t you think about it?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you can also be in love!¡±

    The fans quickly encouraged.

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again...

    She called Pei Ziheng andined. ¡°Can¡¯t you just stop for a moment? Is it fun to be involved in gossip?!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Pei Ziheng replied.

    Yes?

    Yes?!

    Xia Ling was about to go crazy and wanted to kill him. ¡°It¡¯s not funny at all!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said in a low voice, ¡°Xiao Ling, I will always love you and wait for you toe home.¡±

    ¡°We are impossible.¡± She said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Li Lei is no longer here, and you can¡¯t spend the rest of your life alone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡± It was true, Li Lei was no longer here. She looked at the crescent moon outside the window with a heart full of sorrow. The most tragic thing in the world was when a person had a change of heart while the other person was still bitterly waiting. Innumerable twists and turns...

    ¡°I will always wait. The only mistress of my house is you.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice echoed in her ear.

    Suddenly, she felt mutual sympathy for both of them. They were waiting for someone they could never get.

 Chapter 648 - Visiting Shaohui Again

    <h4>Chapter 648: Visiting Shaohui Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng said in a refined and maic voice, ¡°Are you free tomorrow night?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know what his intentions were, but she was unwilling to have unclear rtions with him. She only said, ¡°I¡¯m not free.¡±

    ¡°Do you have an appointment with someone?¡±

    ¡°I have a job.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really dedicated. You have a job on Chinese valentine¡¯s day?¡± Heughed as he saw through her lie.

    ¡°What?¡± Startled, Xia Ling finally remembered that tomorrow was the annual Chinese valentine¡¯s day. Now that she was alone, she did not even remember this day.

    She wondered what Li Lei was doing now.

    Would he spend time with Su Tang tomorrow?

    There was an ufortable and sour feeling in her heart, and she did not have the mood to entertain Pei Ziheng anymore. She only said, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not free tomorrow.¡± Then, she hung up.

    The next day, it was really Chinese valentine¡¯s day. There were all kinds of celebrations on the streets. The stores were having discount sales and roses and balloons were being sold on the streets. Couples were holding hands as they walked outside. On Weibo, photos of Bai Murong and Luo Luo acting romantic were uploaded. However, they were sensitive and did not tag her.

    Xia Ling spent the day in the office. She tried singing her new song but could not focus. In the end, she stopped singing and searched the web for international news for a long time.

    Some reporters wrote that they saw Second Young Master Li shopping with a beautiful girl.

    Xia Ling closed the browser window as her heart ached. Perhaps a woman who could never be pregnant did not have the right to keep her beloved man. She remembered that when they were together at the start, Li Lei told her countless times to not give up and get more treatments from different hospitals. Later, he also said that they could adopt a child...

    She understood that he really liked children.

    Perhaps that was why he was able to ditch her without hesitation after finding out that Su Tang was pregnant.

    She felt even more upset after thinking about her child who died a hundred days after he was born. If Shaohui were still alive, he would probably be able to say ¡°mom¡± or ¡°dad¡± now. If he were still alive, how good would that be.

    Suddenly, she missed him tremendously.

    She called her assistant. ¡°Wei Wei, help me arrange a car to send me to Verdant Acres Cemetery in City Y.¡±

    Very soon, a car was arranged. With two bodyguards and her assistant, they left for City Y. On the way, she saw many affectionate couples.

    She reached the cemetery.

    Her assistant and bodyguards waited outside as she went to visit Shaohui.

    The tomb had not been swept for a long time but it still looked very clean. Verdant pine and cypress surrounded the area. In front of the small tombstone, there was arge bouquet of fresh white daisies.

    The head of the cemetery personally apanied her. ¡°ording to Mr. Pei¡¯s instructions, there are people specially assigned to take care of the grave, deliver flowers, and burn incense for the deceased. Don¡¯t worry Miss Ye, you can rest assured that your child did not suffer any grievance.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    The head of the cemetery reminded her that in name, Shaohui was Pei Ziheng¡¯s son.

    She thanked him and said, ¡°I want to be alone with Shaohui for a while.¡±

    The head of the cemetery was understanding and left.

    The surroundings were very quiet. She slowly knelt beside the grave and touched the cold stone. Hard and cold feelings spread to the bottom of her heart. She caressed the grave for a long time as tears fell down her cheeks. ¡°Shaohui...¡± She sobbed. ¡°Your father... doesn¡¯t want us anymore...¡±

    Her strong facade had faded, and she revealed the vulnerability buried in her heart.

    She was only able to cry without inhibitions here in front of the deceased¡¯s grave and say the truth in her heart. She could not contact her brother frequently, and Li Lei was also gone. How sad was it that in this world, the only ce she could cry was in front of this small tomb.

    She deeply buried her head and did not make a sound.

    Nearby, behind an old pine tree, a man silently stood. There was a long and deep scar on his handsome face that had not recovered fully, making him look frightening. His body condition did not seem very well, and he struggled as he held onto the pine tree.

    He looked at Xia Ling despondently.

    Just now, when she was full of grief, he subconsciously stepped out and wanted tofort her. However, when he heard that she said ¡°your father doesn¡¯t want us anymore,¡± he stopped in his footsteps.

    On the small tombstone, the name ¡°Pei Shaohui¡± was so blinding.

    His Xiao Ling missed her child¡¯s father, and that man¡¯s surname was Pei.

    Suddenly, Li Lei felt that he was a joke. He deliberately escaped his family and went through hell and back just to look for his beloved woman. He chose Chinese valentine¡¯s day to give her a surprise, but what about her? She was crying because of another man in front of her deceased child¡¯s grave.

    His grandfather said that Xiao Ling had a change of heart.

    Initially, he did not believe it. But now, after seeing the scene in front of him, he had no choice but to ept it.

    It turned out that having a child with someone was really significant to her. Even if it were a deceased child, that man called Pei Ziheng would always be her child¡¯s father. Xiao Ling could never be pregnant again, and Pei Ziheng... would be her only son¡¯s father. It did not matter how long ago her child had died.

    Looking at Xia Ling¡¯s shaking body as she cried, Li Lei suddenly felt sorrowful.

    Not far away, another man slowly walked towards her.

    It was Pei Ziheng wearing a solemn ck suit. He walked in front of her and unconsciously nced at the pine tree Li Lei was hiding behind. Li Lei quickly left to hide and was not discovered.

    Pei Ziheng turned around as if nothing had happened.

    In reality, Pei Ziheng knew that Li Lei was hiding behind that tree. Two days ago, he received news from Old Master Li that his unfilial grandson ran back to China to look for Ye Xingling. He wanted Pei Ziheng to look after her and not let them rekindle their romance.

    Of course, Pei Ziheng agreed.

    Li Lei and he were love rivals. As the saying goes, the person who understands you the most is your enemy. More or less, he knew what Li Lei was thinking and guessed that Li Lei wanted to surprise Xia Ling on Chinese valentine¡¯s day.

    However, with him there, it would not happen.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to n a romantic date with Xia Lingst night, but Xia Ling rejected him.

    It did not matter. He hired someone to track her and found out that she was at the cemetery. This was great as it was probably better than a date because the child she was visiting had ¡°Pei¡± as his surname. Quietly, Pei Ziheng let someone disclose the news to Li Lei and, sure enough, Li Lei came over.

    Pei Ziheng was also there because he wanted to create a disy of love so that that man would give uppletely.

    He took off his coat, bent down, and ced it over Xia Ling¡¯s shoulders. Xia Ling only felt some warmth. Shocked, she lifted her head with tears streaming down her face and saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s handsome face.

 Chapter 649 - Time Flies

    <h4>Chapter 649: Time Flies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the graveyard filled with pine and cypress.

    Both of their clothes fluttered in the evening wind.

    Pei Ziheng was the first to speak. ¡°Be careful not to catch a cold.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her hand to wipe her tears. ¡°Why are you here?¡± She did not want him to see her weak and pathetic state as he was no longer someone she could rely on.

    Pei Ziheng knelt by her side and looked at Shaohui¡¯s grave. In a low and sad voice, he said, ¡°Do you remember? Many years ago, we said that we would spend Chinese valentine¡¯s day together every year. This year, I thought that I wouldn¡¯t be able to spend it with you, so I thought of spending it with Shaohui.¡±

    His voice slowly disappeared in the sunset.

    There was a dull pain in her heart. She remembered that when the two of them had a good rtionship, she smiled and promised him that they would spend every Chinese valentine¡¯s day together.

    In a sh, everything had changed.

    She could no longer go back.

    She stood up and the coat on her shoulders fell to the ground.

    Pei Ziheng picked up the coat and carefully ced in on her shoulders again. ¡°Take care of yourself.¡± He said, ¡°If Shaohui sees you catching a cold, he would be upset.¡±

    She lightly nodded and quietly held the coat.

    Only then did Pei Ziheng smile and escorted her out of the small graveyard.

    Both of them gradually left.

    Li Lei turned around from the pine tree and looked at their back views. As the sun slowly set, the stars and moon rose. On the rocky road of the cemetery, she and that man walked together side by side. That man¡¯s coat was around her shoulders, and her petite frame was very close to him. They looked like an intimate couple.

    Suddenly, Li Lei felt so redundant.

    He bowed his head and went to look at the small tomb of the child. In front of it, the bouquet and fruits gave off a sweet aroma. There was also a small card. He was uncertain if Pei Ziheng or Xiao Ling ced it there. Curiously, Li Lei took the card and opened it. On it was a row of small words:

    [We will forever be aplete family of three and never be apart.]

    Li Lei silently ced the card back.

    He lifted his head to look at the cold moon in the night sky. Yes... a family of three. They already had blood rtions. Even if they argued, Xiao Ling would run to the grave and cry about her child¡¯s father ignoring them, and Pei Ziheng would immediately look for her here to pacify her, make up with her, and bring her home.

    It was an unbreakable bond.

    What about his rtionship with her?

    Li Lei only felt that his heart was empty and he was hurting. He walked out of the graveyard slowly.

    Xia Ling was sent home by Pei Ziheng. After resting for a few days, her spirits were lifted.

    After being disappointed in love, she was fullymitted to work. Now, many people recognized her as a Diva, but there were people who did not acknowledge her as well. Besides, she had never won the Best Female Singer Award at the top music festival. No matter how popr or how masterful her singing was, she was stillcking the prerequisite of being called a ¡°Diva.¡±

    She started topose new songs with the goal of winning the award.

    She traveled around the world to find inspiration and recorded a wide range of outstanding songs.

    Her poprity increased every day, and word of mouth was improving every day. Even before it was time for the music festival, countless people were already saying that she was the one who would win the Best Female Singer Award this year. Now, in the Chinese music scene, no other female singer could keep pace with her, and she was the most deserving female artiste.

    Xia Ling was indifferent to these words of praise.

    Diva? She already became one a few years back. Now, she was just trying to take back the crown which initially belonged to her. Thus, it was nothing exciting.

    Not only was she not excited, but she also was not in a good state of mind.

    Every time she went abroad, she deliberately avoided the ces that the Li Family had influence over because she did not want to bump into that man.

    However, she unconsciously paid attention to news about that man. She heard that Su Tang gave birth to a son for him. He was called Li Rui and was a very smart and healthy baby.

    Xia Ling felt that her heart was being sliced apart and thus took a long time to recuperate.

    In the meantime, Pei Ziheng always stayed by her side and took care of her so that this long and difficult time was not so taxing on her. At the end of the year, she dragged her thin body to receive the Best Female Singer Award. On the stage, she gave a speech and thanked Pei Ziheng who had always been taking care of her.

    ¡°I really appreciate it.¡± She said, ¡°Thankfully, I have you.¡±

    The live-stream lens immediately switched to film Pei Ziheng who was sitting in the first row. The man who had the most importantpany in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years smiled elegantly.

    This moment was captured and amplified by the camera lens on the screen. Instantly, it became a ssic.

    The next day, the media overwhelmingly reported that the tables had turned regarding her and Pei Ziheng¡¯s long andplicated rtionship.

    Li Lei, who was overseas, also read this report.

    He threw the newspaper into the trash.

    From his luxurious room, he could see the sea. He looked at the ceaseless waves and thought, <i>Will she spend her life with him? Could it be that I would never have another chance with her?</i>

    Su Tang carried her child and walked into the room.

    Looking at the newspaper on the ground, she was secretly pleased. She said to Li Lei slowly, ¡°Old Master said that he wants to n a hundred-day feast for Xiao Rui. Let¡¯s write the invitations together.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°You can do these things yourself.¡±

    Su Tang lowered her head and bit her lip. Things had always been like that. It was not that Li Lei did not treat her and her child well. Rather, he just shirked responsibility.

    ¡°I know.¡± Su Tang said softly, ¡°The child and I are a burden to you. So you can¡¯t be together with Miss Ye...¡±

    ¡°Just stop talking.¡± Once she mentioned this topic, Li Lei started to feel annoyed. ¡°It was my mistake. I said that I would return back to China to exin it to her, but I missed the appointment. She must be really disappointed, that¡¯s why she¡¯s with Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye doesn¡¯t trust you enough. Why can¡¯t she wait a few more days for you?¡± Su Tang said gently.

    ¡°It¡¯s my mistake.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice remained low.

    Looking at somewhere he could not see, a sh of viciousness appeared in her eyes. They had already reached this point but the young master was still defending that b*tch! He even bore all of the responsibility of their break up!

    That woman was a curse!

    She definitely had to find a way to make young masterpletely abandon her!

    Otherwise, what would happen to her...

    ¡°Things in South Africa are picking up speed and progressing.¡± Just as she was contemting, she heard Li Lei¡¯s instructions. ¡°As long as it¡¯s Li Feng¡¯s main base, I want to take it. It¡¯s just so grandfather quickly decides on his heir.¡± The main reason why Xiao Ling and he broke up was that his grandfather lied to him that the Li family had problems with its territory.

    If he had stronger control over the headquarters, he would be able to see through these scams.

    He would be the truly superior grandson.

 Chapter 650 - This Is Li Rui

    <h4>Chapter 650: This Is Li Rui</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Time flies.

    Unknowingly, Li Lei left the country for four years.

    Sometimes, Xia Ling would wonder if her encounter with that man was a dream. When she woke up, everything disappeared without a trace. She was already used to him not being around. In the morning, she practiced her songs, ate bread and milk prepared by the nanny in the dining area, and went to record songs or finish jobs. After that, she would return home to sleep.

    It was a simple and cyclical life.

    As a result, even though the media expected her to reunite with Pei Ziheng, they gave up trying to keep up with her private life. The lives of her and Pei Ziheng were too dull. Pei Ziheng was always in meetings. Sometimes, he would take time out to visit her and pick her up, but besides that, there was no further development.

    They became the most unromantic ¡°couple¡± in history.

    Even the word ¡°couple¡± should not be used to describe them because Xia Ling stated on various asions that Pei Ziheng and her were just friends. Unfortunately, it was useless because the entertainment industry was always filled with spection, and with Pei Ziheng secretly dropping hints, their rtionship was still left to spection.

    Xia Ling did not really care about the people who had different opinions.

    Now that she was single, there was no reason why she could not be entangled with another man.

    She would just acknowledge the grey areas and move on.

    It was just during the end of spring or start of summer, she would go to S City¡¯s airport.

    The airport in S City was very beautiful. The runway was long and built on top of the sea. Every time a ne took off, it was a breathtaking view.

    She always booked a hotel room with a sea view near the airport. She would sit alone on the coastal beach, listen to the flowing waves, and look at the endless stream of nes. Four years ago, she waited for Li Lei here painfully for a week. However, now, he still had not appeared.

    Xia Ling did not know why she was still waiting here.

    Perhaps it had be a habit just like how Wei Shaoyin had to disinfect his office three times a day. If she did note here every year, she would lose her appetite.

    Looking at the sky, she was deep in thought.

    Not far away, the sound of children frolicking could be heard and adults were vaguely calling after them. ¡°Slow down, slow down.¡± Xia Ling did not think too much about it. This beach was owned by the hotel and only guests were allowed on it. Furthermore, this hotel had a really high rating and membership system. If the person did not have hundreds of millions in worth, they could not stay here.

    There would not be people chasing after celebrities here.

    Thus, Xia Ling was very rxed and continued to look at the sky in a trance.

    Until a ball stopped by her feet.

    A small boy ran over. He looked about three or four years old in age. His facial features were very deep and he looked like he was mixed blood. He was very clean, and the tailoring and texture of his clothes were very exquisite, so he should be from a rich family. He looked at Xia Ling with a pair of bright eyes and did not speak or move.

    Xia Ling always liked children. Seeing that small boy, she gently said to him, ¡°Is this your ball?¡±

    She pointed at the ball at her feet.

    Before the boy said anything, she saw a nanny-like woman chase after him. ¡°Young Master, please slow down. Don¡¯t run around. What if you get lost?¡±

    When she saw Xia Ling, she was slightly startled.

    Why did this young and elegant girl look so familiar?

    Before the nanny could think of where she saw her before, she heard Xia Ling ask, ¡°How old is this child? He¡¯s really cute.¡± Her voice was immensely beautiful.

    As if enchanted, the nanny said, ¡°Thank you for yourpliment.¡± However, she did not answer her question. She was strictly trained to not easily reveal information about the child of the family she worked for.

    When she was little, Xia Ling did not grow up in a rich family, so she had not encountered these things before and did not know about these twists and turns. Seeing that the babysitter did not want to talk and the small boy was looking at her, she teased the child. ¡°Little boy, what is your name?¡±

    ¡°Young Master, we should be going. If we don¡¯t go, your mom will be worried.¡± The nanny urged the child.

    That child ignored the nanny and pointed at the ball beside Xia Ling¡¯s feet. ¡°Give me the ball.¡± He demanded arrogantly. It was obvious that he was pampered from a young age.

    Xia Ling did not mind as she was always very tolerant towards children.

    She bent down and gently pushed the ball in front of him.

    Unexpectedly, that child said, ¡°I told you to give it to me.¡± After that, he kicked the ball towards Xia Ling and hit her ankle. At once, there was a muddy imprint on her feet.

    Xia Ling slightly frowned. She did not think that the child really wanted her to give him the ball personally when he told her to. She could not push or kick the ball. This child looked like he wascking in manners and was probably spoiled. He was too arrogant and impolite.

    However, she did not intend to get into a conflict with a child and did not react.

    The nanny apologized to her. ¡°Thisdy here, I¡¯m really sorry. Young Master is always like that, so please don¡¯t take it to heart. Are you hurt? Can you leave me a contact? I will ask my family topensate for the medical fees.¡± Her apology was very skillful. It seemed that this was not the first time she had to settle such a situation.

    Xia Ling wanted tough. She shook her head and said, ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡±

    Just as she was about to leave, that child ordered again. ¡°Give me the ball!¡±

    The nanny quickly said, ¡°I¡¯ll get it. I¡¯ll get it.¡± She walked toward Xia Ling, picked up the ball and respectfully bent down to hand the ball to the child.

    The child pushed the ball away. This time, it harshly hit Xia Ling¡¯s foot. Xia Ling was caught off guard and eximed in pain. She lowered her head and saw that a bruise had appeared on her foot. This child was really strong.

    ¡°I told you to give the ball to me!¡± The child was very stubborn.

    Although Xia Ling liked children, she was somewhat unhappy now. She slightly raised her eyebrow and was about to leave. On the other hand, the nanny tried to advise the child again. ¡°Young Master, thisdy isn¡¯t a servant. You can¡¯t treat her like that. Let me get the ball for you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Suddenly, a female voice was heard.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat. She turned around and saw an elegant woman wearing a long light purple dress walking over. Her make up was light, and her carefully managed hair fell to her shoulders. It was actually Su Tang!

    It had been too long.

    Her heart beat quickly. Why was Su Tang here? Had she returned to China?! If she were here, did it mean that Li Lei was also back?

    At once, Xia Ling¡¯s head was filled withplicated thoughts and did not know how to react.

    Looking at her, Su Tang was slightly started. She lowered her head to look at the boy and said, ¡°Don¡¯t run as you like. What if you¡¯re bullied by bad people?¡± Her voice was very cold and stern.

    Xia Ling was even more ufortable. Who was the bad person she was referring to?

    Just as she was deep in thought, Su Tang lifted her head and smiled elegantly at her. ¡°Miss Ye, long time no see. Oh yes, I haven¡¯t introduced him to you. This is Li Rui, my son with Li Lei.¡±

 Chapter 651 - Final Appeal

    <h4>Chapter 651: Final Appeal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    My son with Li Lei.

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment and her mind froze.

    She already knew that they had a son, but meeting him in real life was another thing. The boy in front of her looked clean and healthy. She could tell that he had been carefully looked after. Their family of three should be very happy, right?

    She guessed that her expression must have changed because there was a triumphant smile on Su Tang¡¯s face.

    However, she was in too much pain and embarrassment and had stopped caring a long time ago. This living child in front of her was proof that their family of three was a reality. No matter how proud or indifferent she acted, it was just a strong front and could not hide her inward weakness. Anyone could see through her despondent feelings.

    She did not want to waste time talking to Su Tang, so she turned around to leave.

    ¡°Oh god, isn¡¯t she...¡± The nanny beside her looked at Xia Ling. When she turned around, she finally realized who this young girl was. Wasn¡¯t she the girl in the photo that young master always had stuck in his room? In the photo, the female singer smiled clearly and was like a shining fairy.

    She was the girl that young master yearned for and could never forget.

    Su Tang coldly red at the nanny with a gaze that could kill.

    The nanny frantically shut up. All of the subordinates in the Li Family knew that the photo was taboo to Miss Su. It was said that even if Miss Su had a child, she could not marry the young master. The chief culprit was the girl in the photo. They did not dare to rub Miss Su the wrong way.

    Su Tang finally reprimanded her son. ¡°In the future, stay further away from that woman.¡±

    Li Rui frowned as he was still upset over what had just happened. As the first of the youngest generation in the Li Family, he was used to being pampered and getting his way. Unexpectedly, that woman was unwilling to hand him the ball personally when he ordered her to just now. How outrageous!

    ¡°I don¡¯t like her!¡± Li Rui said.

    ¡°She has always been a b*tch.¡± Su Tang¡¯s lips curved into a smile as she was pleased with her son¡¯s response.

    The nanny beside her bowed her head in silence, not daring to say a word.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling also did not know how she arrived back in her room. She pushed the door of the presidential suite and stepped on the soft carpet. Sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and there was a fruity fragrance in the air. However, these things did not make her mood better. She leaned against the corner of a sofa and hugged herself. It was very cold. She felt it deep in her bones, making it hard for her to breath.

    Her entire mind was filled with images of the boy. It turned out that his child was already this big.

    He could walk, talk, and even throw a tantrum when he was unhappy.

    If her Shaohui was still alive, would he also be this big? Her eyes turned red, and she told herself that it was because she missed Shaohui, not because she was thinking of her child¡¯s father. She really did not miss him at all.

    Her body slightly shook like an injured bird.

    She forced herself not to think about that boy and his parents. She forced herself to divert her attention to think about something else... Anything else was good...

    Her line of vision unknowingly fell to the ground and stopped at the ce where she injured her foot. There was now arge bruise beneath the dirt, but she did not have a serious injury. However, it still looked scary. She remembered that she had a job tomorrow morning and had to wear a very short tutu. This injury would be very obvious then.

    She did not want others to guess what sort of injury it was. She tried to act professional and staggered as she got up. She called the service desk and asked the staff to deliver medicine to her.

    Soon, the doorbell rang.

    She went to open the door and her body stiffened.

    Outside, there was a man with wheat-colored skin, a well-proportioned body, and a beautiful face. The only w was a sharp scar on his left cheek, and it looked like he was hurt by a sharp weapon. That man lowered his head, stared at her deeply, and said in a very low voice, ¡°Long time no see... Xiao Ling.¡±

    She only felt that her breathing stopped and could not speak.

    He waited for a few seconds. After seeing that she did not react, he looked a little dejected. He gentled pulled her hand away from the door and walked in with a tray. He said to her, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry. Xiao Rui hurt you. Sit over here. I¡¯ll take a look for you.¡±

    When she heard the words ¡°Xiao Rui,¡± she was jolted back to reality.

    That was his son¡¯s name. Now, he was only here as a parent. She opened the door a little wider and said to him, ¡°I don¡¯t need that. You can go out now.¡± He was someone whom she had not seen in four years and thought about all the time, but she was unwilling to let him see her in such a miserable state.

    There was deep sorrow in Li Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°After not seeing each other for so many years, the first thing you¡¯re doing is to chase me away?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered and provocatively said, ¡°What else should I do then? Ask you to stay for a meal?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was even lower. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. I only wanted to see you. I heard the nanny say that Xiao Rui met you on the beach and injured you. I only wanted to apologize to you in person.¡± He missed for so many years and finally was able to return to China. The first thing he wanted to do was to look for her.

    Li Lei once imagined many possibilities of reunion. What reason should he use to approach her? What sort of topic could make her stay? Should he appear gentle or romantic? Or should he act pitiful so that Xiao Ling would forgive him for those years he disappeared?

    However, at this time, he could not use any of those ideas.

    They just reunited in this unexpected scenario.

    Hearing what he said, Xia Ling suddenly burst into a rage. Yes, he was here to represent his son to apologize. That son was his family while she was an outsider. Even more directly, she reprimanded him. ¡°Li Lei, do you know how to look after a child? The child is already spoiled by you from such a young age. He can¡¯t even apologize when he made a mistake and has to rely on his father to solve his problems for him!¡± As she spoke, she felt more upset. He must have indulged his child too much.

    Li Lei simply replied, ¡°Sorry.¡± He really did not spend much time bringing up that child. He always felt guilty about Su Tang and left the entire upbringing of the child in her hands.

    Unexpectedly, the child ended up in a conflict with Xiao Ling during their first encounter.

    ¡°Let me see your injury.¡± Li Lei looked at her injured foot. His heart hurt when he saw therge bruise.

    However, she said, ¡°Young Master Li, I don¡¯t need your crocodile tears. I will settle my own injury.¡±

    He ced the tray that was filled with medication on the table and closed the door. Catching her off guard, he carried her off the ground. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She eximed.

    Li Lei did not speak. He carried her to the bed and knelt on the carpet. After that, he started to deal with her injury.

    Xia Ling was furious and struggled to get off the bed.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, even a death sentence has a final appeal. I know that I let you down four years ago. However, can you give me onest chance and listen to my plea?¡±

    Suddenly, she fell silent.

 Chapter 652 - See You Again

    <h4>Chapter 652: See You Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Over thest four years, all she wanted was to hear his exnation.

    Yet, when he was ready for it, she was full of panic. What was there to exin? If the exnation was ludicrous, it would only make things more awkward between the two of them, and she would find her years of pain and wait to be in vain. And if the exnation was eptable, so what?

    Would she forgive him?

    She did not even know for sure herself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say anymore.¡± She turned away, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it.¡±

    He did not expect that response. Where was the girl who called him and pressed him incessantly for an answer four years back? All of a sudden, he could feel the distance between them ¡ª a distance that entailed more than just the time spent apart and the ocean thaty between them.

    And this feeling scared him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± There was a change in his tone.

    Xia Ling got out of bed and walked towards the full-length window, where the abundant sunlight spilled through. Outside, she saw a vast shoreline, a long airne runway, and the sleek trail that a ne had left in the sky.

    She had waited here for four years.

    This had be a habit, and maybe a habit was all that it was. ¡°Li Lei,¡± she said softly, ¡°please don¡¯t disrupt my life now. Let the past stay in the past.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Panic engulfed Li Lei. It was a fear he had never felt before, not even when he was inbat. He took a few steps forward and asked, ¡°Why? Xiao Ling, it¡¯s not what you think it is. That child isn¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Stop it!¡± Xia Ling said sharply, stopping him mid-sentence..

    ¡°Li Lei, at this point, I don¡¯t care what went on with the child, or what you and Su Tang had done together! I¡¯m just begging you not toe and look for me anymore. Please, don¡¯te again!¡± She sounded like she was about to cry, but tried her best to suppress it. Pushing him away with one hand, she ran out.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He went after her.

    She kept her head down and ran as fast as she could. She had no idea what was going on ¡ª the answer she had been waiting for four whole years was about to be presented to her, and yet she pushed it away.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei¡¯s flustered voice trailed behind her.

    Xia Ling ran even faster now. She knocked into something and fell to the ground in pain.

    ¡°Ouch!¡±

    Xia Ling had knocked her head onto the wall and was whimpering in pain. She felt tears roll down her cheeks. It hurt, it really hurt... but she refused to cry for a man.

    ¡°Little Young Master, are you alright?!¡± The nanny was almost hysterical.

    Only then did Xia Ling realize that she¡¯d knocked a young boy down. He was only three or four years old ¡ª it was Li Lei¡¯s son, Li Rui. The boy didn¡¯t seem injured. He stood up easily and rushed toward her aggressively, raising a leg to kick her. ¡°How dare you knock me down!¡±

    This boynded a strong kick in her shin where she already had a bruise, and she cowered in pain.

    Li Rui kicked her a second time.

    ¡°This is too much!¡± A strong growl echoed before a force pushed the child away to protect her. Li Lei squatted down beside her and examined her wounds. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you alright? Does it hurt?¡±

    Everything had happened too fast. Xia Ling looked at him, and then at the boy on the carpet. She didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± All of a sudden, the door swung open and Su Tang dashed in. She held Li Rui closely. ¡°Xiao Rui, what happened? Are you alright?¡±

    The child was in a daze for a while before he started wailing.

    ¡°Dad hit me!¡± He cried as if he¡¯d been wronged.

    Su Tang turned to look at Xia Ling and Li Lei, almost as if she just noticed them. She looked a little dismal but kept her tone elegant andposed. ¡°Miss Ye, if the child has done anything wrong, I¡¯ll apologize on his behalf. Could you please let him off?¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy with her statement, who was letting who off now?

    ¡°So a crying child is always in the right?¡± Xia Ling had pent up anger from being kicked several times. Coupled with the fluster in her mind and Su Tang¡¯s triggering statement, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t keep her cool.

    Su Tang looked at Li Lei quietly before hanging her head low and appearing grieved. The child cried out, ¡°It¡¯s her! That bad woman knocked me down first!¡±

    ¡°Li Rui!¡± Li Lei flew into a rage.

    The child shut his mouth immediately. His father usually didn¡¯t care much about him, even when he threw tantrums. But he knew that when his father called him by his full name, he was really furious. When that happened, even his mother and grandfather dared not provoke him.

    Li Rui shrunk and retreated instinctively.

    Su Tang kept him behind her back. ¡°Li Lei...¡± Since the birth of the child, she had stopped calling him ¡°Young Master.¡± Li Lei had agreed to that on the basis of giving the child a healthy family environment.

    But the change in address annoyed Xia Ling.

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± Su Tang spoke gently. ¡°The child is young and insensible, it¡¯s my fault that he was so disrespectful to Miss Ye. Don¡¯t be so fierce towards him, he was just knocked down and throwing tantrums is just part of a child¡¯s nature. me me if you must, I didn¡¯t watch him closely and allowed him to run around in the hallway. Miss Ye, I¡¯m truly sorry.¡±

    It sounded like a sincere apology, but it was clear that Su Tang was trying to make a point.

    Xia Ling had spent enough time with Xia Yu to be able to see through such tricks. She suddenly lost interest in the conversation. What did their disciplining of the child have anything to do with her?

    She hobbled with a limp, using the walls as support.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei went up to help her. ¡°Won¡¯t you hear me out?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei,¡± she stopped in her tracks and looked him in the eye. ¡°It¡¯s toote, do you understand? The two of us... can never go back.¡± Thest four words were so soft, they were almost inaudible.

    Perhaps, he had forgotten how much courage it took for her to be with him, and all the nights that had haunted her before. Since her rebirth, she had sworn never to fall in love with anyone, for fear of getting hurt again. And yet, she fell for him.

    That was already more than she could manage.

    But she had been disappointed and hurt once again.

    Right now, she had no more courage or energy left in her.

    She was afraid of facing his exnation. She was afraid that after hearing his answer, she would forgive him, and they would reconcile. That would mean a possibility of everything falling through once again.

 Chapter 653 - The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 653: The Truth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Can never go back.

    Those four words hammered his heart repeatedly.

    His throat went dry as his heart sank, but he was as persistent as before. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a good exnation. Xiao Ling,e with me.¡± He held her hand and led her to the guest room.

    Xia Ling trembled a little the moment his skin touched hers.

    How many years had it been? How many years ago did hest held her hand? She remembered those sweet memories ¡ª him holding her hand as they went to the yground, went shopping, went to see dolphins in the aquarium...

    The memories flooded back, and it all seemed too long ago.

    She tried to shake his hand off, but he held even tighter.

    She looked up and red at Li Lei. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    Li Lei did not say anything, nor did he release her. With lips pursed tightly, he continued dragging her along.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± She shouted and tried to free herself, but to no avail. She screamed, ¡°You jerk! Gangster! Liar! Let me go!¡±

    The clear and anxious voice echoed through the hallways.

    Su Tang grabbed her dress tightly as she watched the scene unfold with a straight face. Ever since the turn of events four years back, Li Lei seemed to have be a different person. He was no longer the calm and easygoing Young Master that he used to be. Instead, these few years, he had be authoritative, and made it a point for everyone to greet him politely, with no exceptions... no way could anyone scream at him like this wretched woman was doing.

    If it was anybody else, they¡¯d have been punished many times over.

    Xia Ling did not stop. ¡°Li Lei, let me go! Do you think you¡¯re all that great? I don¡¯t care for it! I don¡¯t care, do you hear me?! Let me go! Let me go!¡±

    She screamed her lungs out and struggled all she could.

    All of a sudden, she felt the room spinning, and when she returned to her senses she realized that Li Lei had pinned her to the wall. His well-built physique was against hers as he held her in an embrace.

    His handsome face was just inches from hers.

    She could feel his breathing.

    Xia Ling stopped struggling, almost as if a curse had been cast on her ¡ª she forgot how to struggle, or even move. Her eyes widened and her mind was a nk.

    He lowered his head and he pulled her in for a long, domineering kiss.

    Xia Ling felt like her lips had been wrenched apart by his. She wanted to flee, but waspletely pinned down by him.

    It was a forceful kiss, but it felt extremely soft and sentimental.

    She was paralyzed in his arms, and before long, any wishes that she had of running away ceased. This felt all too familiar, it took her back to the countless nights they had spent together and the countless dreams she had had of him. At one point, she had thought that his embrace would be too much to ask for or even imagine. But now, he was back...

    He hade back, finally.

    Her eyes turned red as her vision became foggy.

    The hallway was silent while Su Tang witnessed the entire scene from a few feet away. Light shone through the windows and fell on the two of them, a perfect golden illuminating the beautiful couple.

    But the more beautiful it was, the more Su Tang¡¯s heart hurt.

    She wished she could go right up to them and wrench Xia Ling from Li Lei¡¯s arms and push her to the ground! The wretched woman... how dare she?! How dare she get Li Lei back as if she was entitled to him, how dare she seduce him so shamelessly even after so many years?!

    She had no decency!

    How could she be so thick-skinned?

    Su Tang was heaving with anger and used every bit of self control to keep herposure. Her slender fingers had clenched together into a fist, ripping apart some fabric from her dress. One of the nannies saw that and got a shock. She hung her head even lower and wished that she wasn¡¯t even present.

    She was worried that Young Master was stirring a storm.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling were still in an embrace and kissing.

    Xia Ling unconsciously ced a hand on his waist and tilted her head up slightly, as if he had broken her barriers.

    Su Tang¡¯s jealousy peaked and she nudged her son. ¡°Go and tell Daddy that we should get going.¡± The two people who were still in each other¡¯s arms did not hear her.

    Li Rui looked at his mother, and then at his father and Xia Ling.

    Suddenly, his brows furrowed and he stomped towards them. He pushed Xia Ling¡¯s leg. ¡°Bad woman! I hate you! Stay away from my father!¡±

    Xia Ling was so engrossed in her kiss, his touch startled her. Li Lei felt her jump and held her even tighter, before realizing that a boy was ring at his beloved woman.

    Most children were sensitive to the presence of a ¡°bad woman¡± ruining their parents¡¯ marriages.

    Li Lei¡¯s look darkened, but he didn¡¯t want to fly into a rage at the child. He quietly told Xia Ling, ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Xia Ling was jolted back to reality after that push. She instinctively shook her head and refused to go with Li Lei.

    ¡°What exactly do you want me to do?!¡± Li Lei was getting anxious. He lifted her chin with his finger. ¡°Xiao Ling, tell me, what exactly do you want me to do? I came all the way back from overseas, and this is not how I wanted it to turn out!¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t how I wanted it to turn out either!¡± Xia Ling raised her voice and sounded like she was about to cry. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m not somebody at your beck and call! Four years ago, you left and abandoned me at your own will! Now you¡¯re back for me, and I have to be at your disposal?!

    ¡°Have you thought of me? Have you considered my feelings?!¡±

    Tears rolled down uncontrobly. ¡°I don¡¯t love you anymore!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± His voice was so soft it was scary.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying!¡± She cried.

    He was done with the nonsense she was spouting and carried her to the guest room, leaving Su Tang and the rest wide-eyed in shock. Li Lei brought her into the presidential suite and tossed her onto the bed.

    She felt as if her bones were about to fall apart, and tried to crawl out of bed. But he pinned her down.

    ¡°Xia Ling, I¡¯m telling you,¡± there was fury in his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t you even think of not loving me! You¡¯re my woman! Su Tang isn¡¯t! And Li Rui isn¡¯t my flesh and blood!¡±

 Chapter 654 - Small Boy

    <h4>Chapter 654: Small Boy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At once, she became quiet.

    What did he say? Li Rui was not his biological son?!

    This answer hit her like a bolt of lightning. After a few seconds, she was ecstatic. She was suddenly so happy that she did not know how to react. She looked nkly at him and even her breathing started to stagnate.

    He said, ¡°Believe me.¡±

    Why would she not believe him? However, what exactly was going on?

    However, he stopped talking. He bent down, lightly kissed her and reached out to take off her clothes.

    The pearl buttons on her clothes were unbuttoned and the thin, silky satin top slipped off her shoulders, revealing her white and radiant skin. Only then did shee back to reality, and pulled up her clothes in a reflexive manner. She said to Li Lei, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this.¡±

    He looked at her with a pair of deep and quiet eyes. In a husky voice, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I really missed you in these years.¡±

    Looking at his eyes, she suddenly panicked and couldn¡¯t help but push him away. Rather miserably, she sat up on the bed. Did he think that she did not miss him all these years? However...

    It was different.

    Some things were gone forever.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She turned around to avoid his gaze. ¡°Please leave. It¡¯s not important whether the child is yours. These four years, I repeatedly told myself to be stronger and said that I could live well even without love...¡±

    She looked at the vast blue ocean outside the window. In a dream-like voice, she whispered, ¡°Do you know? I¡¯m a Diva now and have hundreds of thousands of fans idolizing me. Every day, I receive countless invitations. I even have arge team to help me with daily chores...

    ¡°Everything went back to normal.

    ¡°My days are very peaceful and no longer chaotic. Let¡¯s leave the past in the past.¡±

    Thest sentence seemed to have consumed all of her strength. In her two lifetimes, she had braved many storms and only wanted a peaceful life.

    Love, on the other hand, was like jumping into fire.

    She was severely hurt in her past life and severely hurt again in this life. That was why no matter how appealing it was, she would not be fooled for the third time. That was not something she could afford to happen to her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now. You...¡± She was quiet for a long time. ¡°Take care.¡±

    Her petite body walked away from the presidential suite step by step.

    Li Lei watched as she disappeared out of the door. The entire room was basking in sunlight, but he only felt extremely cold.

    Xia Ling did not want to stay in the hotel any longer. It was difficult for her to breath whenever he was around. She quickly checked out of the hotel and drove her Porsche back to her vi.

    Pei Ziheng was waiting outside the vi for her.

    He appeared elegant and gentle as he stood in the garden of fully bloomed roses.

    Xia Ling stopped her Porsche and lowered her car window. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Today, I met up with arge client to discuss some business, but it ended earlier than expected, so I came over to invite you to dinner.¡± These years, he got along quite well with her. He was very good and winning the support of others. As long as he was willing, he could make anyone feel as rxed as a spring breeze.

    Especially since he put in extra effort on her.

    In the beginning, she was disgusted and afraid of him. But now, she unknowingly started to get along with him.

    However, this time, she said, ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was not surprised. He received a call from Old Master Li in the morning telling him that Li Lei had officially returned to China. The first thing that man did when he returned was to look for Xiao Ling, and it seemed that they had already met.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°You aren¡¯t in a good mood? You should eat something to distract yourself when you¡¯re in a bad mood.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m really not in the mood.¡± After that, she got off her car and directly went into the vi.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her as she walked away for a long time. It seemed that in her heart, Li Lei still had a significant position. If that were not the case, why did she look like her spirit left her body once that man came back?

    This situation... was far from good.

    Xia Ling slept at home for a day, covering herself with a pillow in a dimly lit room. All her dreams were about the disturbances she had in thest few years, and Li Lei appeared in all of them.

    When she woke up, she felt very lost.

    She got dressed and went for a walk in the small garden nearby.

    Only vi residents had ess to the small garden and security measures were very good. Outsiders could not enter, so there were very few people there. Now, only about three sporadic rich neighbors were there, and they always smiled and waved whenever they saw her. All of her neighbors were rich, and after living together for so many years, everyone was familiar with one another.

    Xia Ling walked along the wooden pavement beside the water for a long time and gradually arrived at arge shady area in the woods. In the depths of the woods, she heard the cry of a child. It was not very loud, but her heart inexplicably tensed up.

    She subconsciously increased her pace as she went to look for the child.

    After a few minutes, she finally found the child under a huge old elm tree.

    That was a little boy who looked around four years old. He was very dirty and looked like he had rolled in the mud. He knelt beside the tree, unaware that she was there, and continued to cry sadly. A red squirrel stopped at the boy¡¯s feet as if it were trying tofort him.

    Xia Ling walked up and scared the squirrel away. Ignoring the dirt, she knelt in front of the child and asked, ¡°Little boy, what¡¯s wrong? Why are you here alone?¡±

    That boy sobbed as he lifted his head up.

    His little face was also dirty and had several muddy prints, so she could not see his full face. Faintly, she could see that he had chubby cheeks and watery eyes. He looked very cute.

    At that moment, Xia Ling¡¯s heart throbbed, but she did not know why.

    With a softer voice, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The child stopped crying and looked at her curiously. He was not taking any precautions at all as his eyes were still watery. After a long time, he managed to choke out a few words. ¡°L... l... l... ost m... y w... ay...¡±

    He was not very coherent, but his voice was pleasant to the ear.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart almost melted and her voice became even gentler. ¡°Who are your parents? Where do you live? Tell auntie and auntie will send you home.¡± Although she was only in her twenties, she already raised a child before and unknowingly referred to herself as an auntie.

    In between sobs, the boy said, ¡°I... don¡¯t have parents...¡± His lips quivered and looked like he was about to cry again.

    It turned out to be a pitiful child.

    Xia Ling was a little heartbroken and was more patient towards the boy. ¡°Who took you out, then? Your grandparents?¡±

    ¡°My... uncle...¡± said the boy. This time, he was not sobbing anymore, and she could hear him more clearly. ¡°Uncle said that he was taking me out to look for my mom... After that, I never saw him again...¡±

 Chapter 655 - A Small Animal That Was Abandoned

    <h4>Chapter 655: A Small Animal That Was Abandoned</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had a headache.

    Who was so irresponsible?

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s your uncle¡¯s name? Do you know how he looks like?¡± She asked gently.

    The small boy nodded, then shook his head. ¡°My uncle won¡¯t let me tell others.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t tell me, how will auntie help you look for him?¡± Xia Ling appealed to him kindly.

    The small boy still shook his head. There was a slight glow in his watery eyes.

    Xia Ling looked at the dirty child in front of her. He was soft and cute like a small animal, and she could not bear to leave him here alone. However, he was unwilling to say anything. How could she help him find his family? She looked at her surroundings. The small garden was quiet. However, outsiders were not allowed to enter this restricted part of the garden. This small boy and his uncle must live in one of the vis here.

    She decided to take him to the security officer to ask for help.

    After making up her mind, Xia Ling said to the child, ¡°Come, follow auntie. I will take you to look for your uncle.¡±

    That little boy was very trusting and really extended his chubby hand for her to hold.

    This child was really...

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. Why was this child not afraid of strangers at all? He trusted others so easily. What would happen if he were scammed by evil people in the future? She could not help but lecture him. ¡°In the future, you can¡¯t leave so easily with strangers. What happens if you meet a bad person and are kidnapped?¡±

    The child looked up with his watery eyes. ¡°What is a bad person?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. How did the child¡¯s family raise him? He was about four but did not even know what a bad person was. How old was he exactly...

    ¡°A bad person is...¡± After thinking for a long time, Xia Ling gave up. ¡°Forget it, I can¡¯t exin it clearly. Anyway, after you find your family, you have to be good and not lose them again, ok?¡±

    The child obediently nodded.

    Xia Ling held his hand and walked out of the garden slowly. The breeze created ripples on the water, and the garden was filled with lush greenery. Her palm was warm due to the child¡¯s small and chubby hand. It was veryfortable to hold.

    Unknowingly, she calmed down.

    If her Shaohui were still alive, would he be about this big? No... Shaohui would have been four years and three months old. He should be a little taller and smarter, not like the plump boy beside her. He even stumbled when he walked and had an ignorant look on his face.

    However, this child... was really cute.

    Amodating his footsteps, Xia Ling walked very slowly and lowered her head to look at him.

    The little boy¡¯s eyes widened as he looked around. His eyes were filled with curiosity and joy. Along the way, he also greeted the squirrels and sparrows. Incoherently, he said, ¡°Nice... nice to meet you.¡±

    He looked very happy.

    The animals also really liked him. A few squirrels hopped behind him. Even Xia Ling suspected that if she were not beside him, they would probably run towards the child and y with him.

    The small boy paused frequently to look at the squirrels, goldfish, and greenery around him.

    Xia Ling was dumbfounded. Was this child really lost? She had never seen a lost child so carefree. He waspletely different from the child who cried so bitterly below the old tree just now. Xia Ling felt that she was going crazy.

    ¡°Sister, this flower is for you.¡± Suddenly, the little boy spoke to her.

    She took the flower from him. One look and she was shocked. This wasn¡¯t a flower. It was clearly grass. It was green and had four leaves...

    Wait...

    Four...

    Four-leaf clover!

    Xia Ling looked at the nt in her hand in surprise and then again at the little boy. ¡°How did you find this?¡± She lived here for four years. Every year during the lush period, many people who lived in the vis woulde here to look for four-leaf clovers and try their luck. However, very few could find one.

    What about this child? He found one by randomly looking around!

    The small boy blinked and seemed to not understand her surprise. He pointed his dirty and short finger at the ground beside his feet. ¡°I found it once I looked over here.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Alright, this child was probably lucky. That was why he was able to survive until now without knowing what a bad person was. ¡°Thank you, little boy.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°Auntie really likes it.¡±

    ¡°Sister.¡± The boy said softly.

    ¡°What?¡±

    He pulled her hand with force. ¡°Pretty sister.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Ling smiled. She started to think that this child was not stupid at all. He knew how to tter people at such a young age. When he grew up, he definitely would not be disadvantaged. She patted his head in a good mood.

    Both of them strolled out of the garden. It was initially a 20-minute walk, but they spent two hours toplete it.

    Xia Ling took the boy to the security officer and said to him, ¡°I found this child when I was in the small garden. He is lost and I don¡¯t know where he lives. Can I trouble you to do a check?¡±

    The security officers knew of the severity of the situation and immediately went to do a check. However, they couldn¡¯t find anything.

    ¡°Miss Ye, I won¡¯t hide this from you. We¡¯ve never seen this child in themunity before. Recently, no tenants have moved in as well. The family of this child is probably not part of ourmunity.¡± The security officer said. ¡°However, it¡¯s possible that he came here as a guest of one of the tenants living in the area. How about you leave the child with the security officers? I will send someone to go door to door to see if anyone has any children missing.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it and agreed.

    She apanied the child for a long time. When the security officers returned, they shook their heads. ¡°We asked everyone who is home right now. No one has lost any child. There are also some people who aren¡¯t at home and we can only ask them once they return.¡± The security officer said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯ve waited for a very long time today. How about you go home to take a break? Once there¡¯s news regarding this child, we will contact you.¡±

    ¡°What about this child...¡±

    ¡°We will take care of him.¡± The security officer supervisor said.

    This was a high-end vimunity. Xia Ling lived here for four years and had always trusted the security. Seeing that the sky was turning dark, she had no choice but to kneel down and speak to the child. ¡°You have to wait obediently here, ok? I will be going home first.¡±

    The boy was somewhat reluctant to see her leave. He lightly tugged on her clothes with his dirty hands.

    She said, ¡°When you¡¯ve found your uncle, these security officers will tell me and I will send you home, ok?¡±

    The small boy felt a little wronged but still nodded.

    Xia Ling was unafraid of the dirt and patted his head onest time before she left.

    When she walked out of the security officers¡¯ office, she turned around for a moment and saw that the boy was leaning on the window as he reluctantly looked at her. His small face was still very dirty and his eyes watery. He looked like a small animal that was abandoned.

 Chapter 656 - Untitled

    <h4>Chapter 656: Untitled</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Suddenly, Xia Ling felt very upset.

    She didn¡¯t know what came over her. Her legs seemed to have a mind of their own. Unknowingly, she walked back to the cramped security office. ¡°Let me bring the child back.¡± She said to the security officer. ¡°I will give him a bath and prepare something for him to eat. When you¡¯ve found his family, you can pick him up at my ce.¡±

    The security officer looked at the dirty child.

    The child¡¯s eyes wererge. Although he looked like he had rolled in the mud, he still looked cute and pitiful. The security officer¡¯s heart softened. ¡°Children should be well taken care of. Miss Ye, I¡¯ll have to trouble you then.¡±

    Xia Ling replied that it was not much trouble and reached out to hold the child¡¯s hand. ¡°How about you go with me?¡±

    Joy shed across the child¡¯s face and he nodded vigorously. Looking at his happy expression, Xia Ling¡¯s mood improved. She held his chubby hand like she was holding the world.

    She took him home.

    The nanny who greeted her had the shock of her life. ¡°Miss, this is...¡±

    ¡°A lost child.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°Nanny Tao, prepare dinner and remember to cook arger variety of dishes so that there¡¯s something he likes. After that, clean up a room for him to stay in.¡±

    Nanny Tao quickly acknowledged her and went to the kitchen to start cooking.

    Xia Ling went to the bathroom to fill bathtub with water. She said to the small boy, ¡°Come, I will help you bathe.¡± Once she spoke, she felt that what she said was a little inappropriate. Although the child was very young, they had a gender difference...

    After hesitating, she asked, ¡°Do you know how to shower by yourself?¡±

    The small boy weakly shook his head.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°In the past, who used to bathe you?¡±

    ¡°Uncle, grandpa, and a few other uncles.¡± The small boy counted using his fingers.

    Xia Ling was in a difficult situation. Sure enough, only adults of the same gender bathed him. As a female, it was not very convenient to bath a boy. She gently asked, ¡°How about you try bathing yourself?¡±

    The little boy blinked and looked at her cluelessly.

    Xia Ling took a towel, wiped the ck marks on his face, and then ced the towel in his hands. ¡°Look, you can wash like that.¡±

    The small boy tried to wipe himself and made his face even dirtier.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Just as she was thinking about whether to look for a security officer to help her out, she heard the child softly say, ¡°Sister, help me bathe.¡± He even ced the towel back in her hands.

    He looked at her with an innocent expression.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t stand his pitiful animal-like look. Her heart softened and she agreed. She took off his dirty clothes and ced them in the bathtub. After that, she applied shower gel on him and cleaned him thoroughly.

    When the mud and dirt were removed, the child¡¯s initial appearance was revealed.

    The child was actually very good looking. His facial features were like an angel¡¯s and his skin was very white. He was very chubby and lovable. Even though Xia Ling was cautious about the difference in gender, she couldn¡¯t help but touch him a few times. His skin just felt perfect to touch...

    After his bath, she carried him out of the bathtub and wrapped him with a bathrobe.

    She then took a towel to dry his hair.

    This child was very obedient throughout the entire process. He did not resist at all and only curiously looked at her. Sometimes, he would say something to her, but his voice always sounded muffled.

    It was so muffled that it did not seem like words.

    Xia Ling had a hard time drying him. She had to resist the urge to touch him, pinch his cheeks, or identally take advantage of him. Finally, she held his hand as they walked out of the bedroom. Looking at him covered in the bathrobe, she felt a little troubled. She had no clothes for children. What should she do? She couldn¡¯t let him eat in a bathrobe.

    She thought about it and took him to her bedroom. She dug through her closet and pulled out a pure white blouse. It had ace princess style, but she let him wear it. She didn¡¯t mean to make him wear women¡¯s clothing. It was just that she only had female clothes in her house and only this item was the shortest.

    Luckily, he was very obedient and not picky. He allowed her to dress him up like a doll.

    It was originally a very small S size, but it looked very big on the child. The short sleeves literally became long sleeves, and the ruffled part of the shirt fell to the ground. It was like he was stuffed into a pile of clothes.

    Xia Ling looked at it and found a few pins to pin up the long part of the shirt. After being a Diva for two lifetimes, although she couldn¡¯t sew, she usually handled her own costumes backstage and was very familiar with the process. Soon, she made the blouse look more fitting.

    However, he still looked like a little princess.

    The nanny pushed the door open. ¡°Miss, dinner is ready.¡±

    After looking at the princess-like child, she was startled.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°I don¡¯t have clothes and just let him wear this in the meantime. Is it very ugly?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± The nanny quickly said. ¡°Miss is really skillful. It looks really good.¡± She was speaking the truth. That small boy originally looked beautiful beyond words. With Xia Ling¡¯s skillful adjustments, he could literally dazzle the entire world. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a pretty child.¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling relieved.

    She took a few steps back and carefully sized up the child. ¡°It truly is a very pretty child. If he were a child star, he would definitely be famous overnight.¡± She didn¡¯t know who was careless enough to lose such a beautiful boy.

    After dressing him up, she took the child to the dining area to eat dinner.

    That child was easier to take care of than she imagined. He was not picky and ate a little of every dish. He ate so much that his stomach became round and he kept saying, ¡°So good. It¡¯s so good.¡± His praise made Xia Ling and the nanny smile.

    There was no news from the security officer.

    Xia Ling settled the child in the guest room for a night. The next day, she personally went to the security office to get updates.

    The chief security officer was quite troubled. ¡°Miss Ye, we¡¯ve already asked all of the residents in thismunity and none of them have lost their children recently. I suggest that you report the case to the police and let the police handle it.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. She did not expect such a twist in events. However, she had no choice but to make a police report.

    The police also could not discover any leads.

    A few dayster, they told her: ¡°Miss Ye, we¡¯ve already done a careful search. Recently, there¡¯s no news of any children missing or any human trafficking cases. This child might have been deliberately abandoned. I suggest that you take him to the orphanage.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s such a beautiful child. Who would abandon him?¡± Xia Ling was in disbelief.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible in this world.¡± The police said, ¡°There are too many cruel people in this world.¡±

    Helplessly, Xia Ling returned to the vi.

    That little boy was ying in the small garden. He was covered in mud again. A squirrel jumped on his head and swayed its tail.

    On the other hand, he was carefully opening nuts for the squirrel.

 Chapter 657 - Sister Will Adopt You

    <h4>Chapter 657: Sister Will Adopt You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling found the scene amusing and a little sad.

    Why was such a lovely child abandoned? How could there be such cruel parents in the world? If he were her Shaohui and was so cute, she would not even dare to hurt him, protect him like a gem and never abandon him.

    However, life was unfair.

    She couldn¡¯t have children although she wanted to so much. In contrast, people who could get children did not cherish them.

    She sniffed as she looked at him ying happily in the small garden. The summer breeze brought along a hint of roses.

    That child turned around inadvertently and saw her.

    A little smile appeared on his face. He put down the half-opened nuts on the floor and stumbled as he ran towards her. ¡°Sister, hug...¡± He opened his arms.

    In the past few days, they became close to each other and the child was very attached to her.

    Thus, Xia Ling bent down and picked him up. Although this child was very young, he was quite heavy and it put a strain on her arms. She asked the child, ¡°Were you good today?¡±

    Lazily, the child replied, ¡°Yes...¡±

    The nanny came over and wanted to take the child from Xia Ling¡¯s arms. ¡°Miss, let me carry him. Don¡¯t tire yourself.¡±

    However, Xia Ling did not let go like she did in the past and continued to hug him. She looked at his cute face and was hesitant. Should she really send him to the orphanage?

    However, if she did not send him there, what should she do?

    ¡°Sister, what¡¯s wrong?¡± The child was very sharp and quickly realized that Xia Ling¡¯s emotions were not right.

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± After thinking for a moment, she asked, ¡°Little boy, are you really not going to say the names of your uncle and your family? Are you also not going to say your name? Sister can¡¯t find your family now. If this continues, I can only send you to the orphanage.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know if the child knew what an orphanage was. However, he lifted his chubby and short arms and wrapped them around Xia Ling¡¯s neck. ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave sister.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. ¡°You should return to your uncle¡¯s side.¡± She couldn¡¯t bear to leave him, but he was someone else¡¯s child and she couldn¡¯t separate him from his family. ¡°Be good. Tell sister your name and your uncle¡¯s name.¡± She patiently consoled him.

    This child shut his mouth and vigorously shook his head, refusing to say anything.

    The nanny had an idea. ¡°Miss, how about you give him to the police. After being frightened by the police, he will eventually say it.¡± Although this subordinate had good intentions, she was too insensitive when handling children.

    Xia Ling red at her and said sternly, ¡°Rubbish!¡±

    After being reprimanded, the nanny stopped talking.

    Miss rarely lost her temper and usually smiled at the helper. asionally, she would point out when the bed was not made well enough or the food was a little salty, but she never took it to heart. Unexpectedly, for a lost child, she suddenly flew into a rage. The nanny lowered her head and reminded herself secretly to take care of the child better in the future.

    Xia Ling also felt that her tone was a little too harsh and wanted to appease the nanny. However, she did not say anything. She did not want the slightest mishap to happen to this child. Being strict had its benefits. At least this nanny would know how important this child was to her and not dare to let her guard down in the future.

    Thinking this way, she stopped caring about the nanny and carried the small boy into the house.

    The child also knew that she had a hard time carrying and struggled to be put down on the floor. ¡°I can walk by myself. Walk by myself...¡±

    Xia Ling put him down and continued to ask him about the names of those in his family.

    The boy insisted. ¡°Uncle really won¡¯t allow me to say anything. I can¡¯t tell you.¡±

    Xia Ling had a headache. ¡°If you don¡¯t say anything, how can I send you home?¡±

    ¡°Uncle said.¡± The boy whimpered. ¡°That he wants me to remain by my mom¡¯s side.¡±

    ¡°Well then, what is your mom¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Uncle also won¡¯t let me say it.¡±

    Xia Ling was at her wits¡¯ ends. What sort of ridiculous man was this child¡¯s uncle? Why was he so unwilling to tell her anything? She started to believe that what the police said was right. It was very possible that this child was deliberately abandoned by someone. The usual abandonment trick used this year was telling one¡¯s child that he was bringing him somewhere and then asking him to wait patiently there.

    The child looked at her with watery eyes.

    After a long time, he lifted his short arm and tugged at the corner of her shirt. ¡°Sister.¡±

    Xia Ling did not even have the strength to speak.

    ¡°Sister, do you not want me anymore?¡± The child said carefully.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached. ¡°How is it possible?¡± She guessed that her reaction just now scared the child. Quickly she said, ¡°I like you so much. Of course, I will want you.¡±

    ¡°Well then.¡± The child was still very carefully and said with a serious expression, ¡°Don¡¯t send me to the orphanage, ok?¡±

    Her heart hurt again.

    If they had a choice, which child would be willing to be sent to the orphanage?

    Although the head of the orphanage and the teachers were great, an orphan was still an orphan. Who did not want aplete family? ¡°Ok, I won¡¯t send you to the orphanage.¡± Before she thought about it logically, she already impulsively agreed.

    ¡°I just know that sister is the best!¡± The boy chirped in glee and kissed her cheek.

    Unknowingly, Xia Ling stroked his soft, fluffy short hair and thought that since he was not going to the orphanage, she could only let him stay here. How could she do that? Adopt him?

    The thought of adoption appeared in her head and grew crazily like wild grass.

    She really wanted to have her own child. Ever since Shaohui died, she felt that her heart was hollow and she was frequently in a despondent mood. Four years ago, Li Lei advised her many times to adopt, but at that time, and even now, she never actually adopted a child.

    Somewhere deep in her heart, she felt that adopting a child was betraying the deceased Shaohui.

    However, this boy was different.

    Somehow, she felt that they were very close to each other and had a natural affinity.

    That boy hugged her tightly and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to be with sister. I like sister the most.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head to look at him.

    He was really... a silly child.

    When she met this boy for the first time a few days ago, she felt that he was very silly and not wary of strangers at all. He must be well cared for. Otherwise, how could he live in this sinister world?

    After a moment, she made up her mind. ¡°Sister will adopt you.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s great! I can be with sister every day from now on!¡± The child happily smiled and kissed her face again.

 Chapter 658 - Can I Call You Shaohui

    <h4>Chapter 658: Can I Call You Shaohui</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it happened.¡±

    Large and broad-leaved potted nts lined up in the quiet and empty living room. In front of the potted nts, there was a very elegant dark colored sofa. Xia Ling, who was wearing a long white dress, sat on the sofa and drank tea from a cdon teacup. A man dressed messily in an expensive Armani shirt sat opposite her, with one of his buttons nted and his sleeves rolled up half-way. There was an irritable look on his face, making him look quite scary.

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you crazy?!¡± Lin Yunan reprimanded her. ¡°How old are you this year? 24? You aren¡¯t even married, yet you want to adopt a child? Have you considered the feelings of your fans? Do you not want to survive in the entertainment industry anymore?!¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to exin yourself. Quickly send the child away. As soon as possible!¡± Lin Yunan said loudly.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I won¡¯t send him away. I want to adopt this child. I¡¯m not discussing this with you. I¡¯m just informing you. Lin Yunan, either you help me settle the paperwork or I¡¯ll find someone else to do it for me.¡±

    Lin Yunan looked at her like he was looking at a freak. ¡°Wow, I see. You¡¯re a Diva now and your wings have hardened, so you¡¯re bing more demanding?¡± Suddenly, he stood up and pointed at her. ¡°You... you... After not seeing you for a few days, I can¡¯t believe you have a child now. You¡¯re really... really... the death of me!¡±

    He really wanted to hurl a table. After managing so many artistes, he had never seen anyone do things withoutmon sense like her. However, so what if he couldn¡¯t stand it? He could only force himself to tolerate it! After working with so many artistes, Lin Yunan knew that although this artiste was usually quite obedient, once she was determined to do something, no one could change her mind.

    He irascibly walked up and down the room for a while and forced himself to calm down before saying, ¡°Ok. I will help you do the paperwork. However, you have to let me see that child.¡± No matter what, he would have to make a public rtions announcement ande up with a n to make the fans ept the child.

    Xia Ling understood his intentions, nodded, and asked the child toe over.

    The little boy was originally ying in the small garden and was covered in mud. Xia Ling gave up her n of trying to keep him clean. She didn¡¯t know why this child loved animals so much. If she did not pay close attention, he would run out to y with the cats, dogs, and squirrels happily.

    Thus, the first thing Lin Yunan saw was a very filthy thing.

    His small face and hands were covered in mud, and one couldn¡¯t even tell the color of his shoes anymore. Lin Yunan was about to faint. He turned around to look at Xia Ling. ¡°As someone who is worth more than one billion, how could you raise a child like that?¡±

    How did this child look like he came from a rich family at all?

    He was literally like a small roadside beggar!

    Xia Ling proudly lifted her chin. ¡°I like it.¡± She nced at Lin Yunan. ¡°I can raise my child in any way I like. You aren¡¯t allowed to criticize him, understand?¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Seriously, you haven¡¯t even finalized the adoption papers, yet you¡¯re already calling him your child. Oh my god, have I owed you anything in my past life? Not only do I have to work for you, but I also have to work for this small guy!¡± He still looked at the boy with contempt. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    The boy looked at him innocently and did not say a word.

    ¡°I¡¯m asking you a question!¡± Lin Yunan was even more hot-tempered.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to be fierce to him!¡± Xia Ling shielded the child in her arms.

    Lin Yunan was about to go crazy...

    That boy looked up from Xia Ling¡¯s arms and said softly, ¡°I can¡¯t tell you my name.¡±

    Lin Yunan wanted to strangle him...

    Seeing that Lin Yunan did not look happy, she quickly tried to salvage the situation. ¡°He probably really can¡¯t tell you because he also didn¡¯t tell me. I also don¡¯t know his name.¡±

    ¡°How are we going to settle the adoption papers, then? No matter what, we need a name.¡± Lin Yunan gave up talking to that dirty little child. Was the kid stupid? He did not even know his name. He directly told Xia Ling, ¡°How about this? You give him a name.¡±

    Xia Ling had been thinking about this problem for all this while. Now, after hearing Lin Yunan mention this, she slightly lowered her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lin Yunan was impatient. ¡°Quickly think of something.¡±

    ¡°Do you think...¡± Xia Ling paused for a second. Her clothes were stained in mud due to the child. Finally, she softly said, ¡°How about we call him Shaohui?¡± That was her deceased child¡¯s name.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s very selfish.¡± She added. ¡°But I don¡¯t know why I think that this name really suits him and...¡± And she really missed Shaohui.

    Lin Yunan was also quiet.

    Only that child looked like he did not know what they were talking about. He only continued to y with Xia Ling¡¯s pearl essories happily.

    After a long time, Lin Yunan said, ¡°What is his surname then? Pei?¡± There was subtle ridicule in his voice. If Pei Ziheng found out that the name of his precious eldest son was given to this dirty child who spoke incoherently, would he copse in shock?

    Xia Ling rubbed the child¡¯s hair. ¡°His surname will be Ye.¡±

    Now, she did not intend to marry Pei Ziheng or Li Lei, and this childpletely belonged to her. Having her surname in this lifetime was the best option.

    ¡°At least you still have some brains.¡± Lin Yunan snorted and got up. ¡°Rest assured and wait. I will help you go through the formalities.¡±

    After that, he left Xia Ling¡¯s house.

    Lin Yunan did his job very efficiently. Very soon, he finished everything.

    The child was officially named ¡°Ye Shaohui¡± and she adopted him. Phoenix Down Corporation announced this to the world, causing a great uproar. Some said that she was full of kindness, while others said that she was despicable for using him as her dead child¡¯s substitute and that it was unfair to this child.

    Fortunately, under Lin Yunan¡¯s efforts, the situation was under control.

    The paparazzi, which was quiet for a long time, suddenly became busy again chasing her and intercepting her as they all flocked to ask about the child. She always smiled and said, ¡°He¡¯s a very cute child and always sticks to me. I really like him a lot.¡±

    She always said that, but she never took Shaohui out in public.

    She did not know what kind of family environment Shaohui had grown up in before he was adopted, but since he yed so happily in the mud, he should not be from any famous family. She was afraid that he would not adapt well if he was suddenly bombarded by the media representatives after living a low-key life.

    She decided to take it slow.

    She would patiently nurture him and give him a happy childhood.

    However, the curiosity of the outside world intensified.

    Even Li Lei went to look for her.

    The sky was full of stars on a midsummer night.

    After finishing a job, Xia Ling left the TV station and saw a man standing behind a small flower bed on the side of the road. He had a hand in his trouser pocket and was looking at the night sky. The faint starlight outlined his sexy and charming face. His defined jaw was as beautiful as a sculpture¡¯s and he looked very familiar.

 Chapter 659 - Memories in the Forest

    <h4>Chapter 659: Memories in the Forest</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling paused mid-step.

    Her manager, bodyguards, and assistant surrounding her stopped together with her.

    That man seemed to sense their presence and turned his head to face them, his deep-set eyes falling on her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was slightly hoarse.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to meet him face-to-face.

    She lowered her head and hurriedly tried to walk by him.

    However, he grabbed onto her arm.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?!¡± She red angrily at him.

    Li Lei said, ¡°We need to talk.¡±

    ¡°We have nothing to talk about.¡± She tried her best to press down the fire rising within her. They should have cleared all their misunderstandings 4 years ago. Since he didn¡¯t treasure her then, why should she forgive him now?

    What had passed, had passed.

    Her bodyguards came forward and restricted Li Lei from both sides. ¡°This Mister, please don¡¯t touch Miss Ye.¡± They tried to pull him away several times but to no avail.

    Li Lei ignored the bodyguards and continued to stare at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, if you have absolutely no feelings left for me, why are you trying to avoid me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not avoiding you!¡± She said.

    ¡°Then, why can¡¯t you spare me a few moments?¡± He stared deeply into her eyes. Then, his bodyguards appeared suddenly from behind him and squared off against her bodyguards. Their numbers and force overpowered her teampletely.

    She had no choice but to relent.

    Xia Ling red at him with apparent hatred in her eyes. She instructed her team. ¡°You guys wait here for me.¡±

    Her manager Lin Yunan said, ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t be so cocky! I¡¯m going to call the police!¡±

    Li Lei gave a cold huff and replied, ¡°Suit yourself.¡± He then pulled Xia Ling over to a quieter corner.

    There was a cool night breeze blowing.

    Under a sprawling old oak tree, Xia Ling swung her arm free from his grip. Her tone was cold as she regarded him. ¡°Speak, what do you want?¡±

    Li Lei looked at her pitifully. They were like strangers after not having seen each other for 4 years. His voice softened and he said carefully, his voice showing his nervousness. ¡°I heard that you adopted a child?¡±

    ¡°Did Big Boss Lie from afar just to ask me this question?¡± Xia Ling responded coldly.

    Li Lei stuttered. ¡°You... I... ¡± In front of the girl he loved, he was suddenly at a loss for words, the script that he had prepared seeming weak and useless. He seemed to have lost all ability to interact with girls after meeting her. He was like a teenager just discovering puppy love as he dug around in his pocket for a while and produced a gift. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡± Xia Ling replied without looking at the item.

    ¡°It¡¯s not for you.¡± He contradicted himself.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t say anything but watched him quietly. Li Lei organized his thoughts with difficulty. ¡°This is for Shaohui... the child you adopted. That¡¯s his name, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Her expression softened and she felt her nose crinkle a little.

    Shaohui...

    Shaohui.

    This was the first time that she heard Li Lei say his name.

    Unfortunately, this Shaohui was not the same Shaohui...

    ¡°This is the first time you adopted a child.¡± Li Lei spoke up again, his mind now regaining some rity. ¡°It¡¯ll be difficult for you to care for him alone. I was afraid that you wouldn¡¯t have enough experience, so I picked out a gift for him. A boy should like this.¡±

    ¡°And you have experience?¡± She suddenly questioned.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± Sheughed and softly said, ¡°you¡¯ve been caring for Li Rui all these years. You must be a pro at childcare by now.¡± Regardless of whether Li Rui was his biological son, it was an unrefutable fact that Li Lei was caring for him in the capacity of a father. These few years, she had been tortured by news of their happy family of three, many times turning and tossing in bed unable to sleep. However, it seemed that he was here to brag to her about his ¡°childcare experience.¡±

    Her tone made Li Lei feel uneasy.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I don¡¯t mean anything like that.¡±

    ¡°Then, what is the meaning of this?¡± She lifted her head and red at him again. ¡°Li Lei, I will care for my own child. The child is none of your concern. I chose to care for Shaohui because he has no family, unlike you who seem to have the hobby of caring for other people¡¯s children!¡± Her words were pointed and sharp like a knife.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t expect her to react this way and was quiet.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said. ¡°I should¡¯ve exined the situation to you a long time ago.¡± 4 years ago, he had returned to the country once to look for her to exin about Li Rui and Su Tang. However, he saw her crying in front of Pei Shaohui¡¯s grave, murmuring about how much she missed the child¡¯s father...

    Li Lei was disappointed and crushed and chose to leave the country.

    He swore that he would be better than Pei Ziheng and give Xiao Ling a safe and peaceful environment to live in. These 4 years, he had been working relentlessly in this direction, restructuring the Li Family¡¯s forces and overpowering Li Feng in every way. He even started to match the Old Master Li in terms of his influence in the family. Only then did he decide to return to China.

    As long as she was willing to return to his side, the Old Master would not be able to break them up like before.

    However, now she didn¡¯t want to hear a word of his exnation.

    This made him terrified.

    Xia Ling stared at him and suddenlyughed. ¡°Should have exined earlier? That¡¯s easy for you to say. Li Lei, since you were unable to do that then don¡¯t pretend to be so remorseful in front of me right now!¡±

    ¡°Su Tang saved my life.¡± Li Lei blurted out.

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    Li Lei exined, ¡°4 years ago, the Li family was in a great war with the other gangs. There was a battle that would determine the life and death of the Li family. I led a team in the deep forests of South Africa to battle it out with our enemy and we beat out opposing forces that were several timesrger than our team, saving the family. However, our forces were also severely crippled and injured in that battle. Almost everyone died ¡ª the mercenaries, our private troops, our allies... The only person that survived was me. However, I was also severely injured and lost all consciousness.¡±

    He didn¡¯t wait for her to react as he continued the terrifying story, fearing that he would be interrupted by her if he gave her the chance... and fearing that she wouldn¡¯t listen to his exnation again.

    ¡°Then, Su Tang apanied the Old Master to helm the back-up forces in the headquarters.

    ¡°The battle situation was tense and the enemy troops started to surround the headquarters. Before my team left for battle, trackers were inserted underneath our skin. The trackers would automatically disable if the carrier lost vital signals. Then, all of our trackers disabled, including my own. That was the signal that we had perished.

    ¡°They thought I was dead.

    ¡°They gave up on me, Grandfather included. He was the head of the Li family and needed to think about the big picture. They had lost contact with me for three days, and he decided that it was time to retreat. This meant that I would be left alone in the forest to face the wild beasts and enemies with no back-up, no medication, and no food. I would have nothing.

    ¡°Su Tang was the only one that would not give up.

    ¡°She refused to leave with the troops in the headquarters. She requested some resources from Grandfather and entered the forest alone to look for me. Xiao Ling, do you know what that means? That means that she was on a road of no return. It meant that the chances of her dying were much higher than her surviving. Everyone saw her as good as dead...

    ¡°But, she came to look for me anyway.¡±

 Chapter 660 - Repay Her With His Life

    <h4>Chapter 660: Repay Her With His Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the night breeze, Li Lei unraveled the story of what had happened.

    Xia Ling listened in trepidation, her fists clenching together subconsciously.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I know that she went through much danger to find me. When I woke up, she... ¡± She was sleeping by his side,pletely naked, using her body warmth to warm up his icy body that was devoid of a heartbeat. She had always been an elegant and reserved girl, but her body no longer had its previous glow, and in its ce was scars and cuts that branches and the rough terrain of the forest had left behind.

    Seeing that Li Lei had regained consciousness, Su Tang was so happy that tears fell. She forgot that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything and said throughughter and tears. ¡°Oh my God, how wonderful... Young Master, you¡¯ve finally woken up... How very wonderful!¡±

    He wanted to tell her to put on her clothes, but his injuries were so severe that he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    Shey down with her body pressing against him again, murmuring, ¡°Young Master, please forgive me for this indecency. As long as you survive... everything else is not important at all.¡±

    They spent a long, cold night together in the forest with Li Lei depending on Su Tang¡¯s body warmth.

    His thoughts drifted away.

    He heard Xia Ling ask, ¡°She what?¡±

    Li Lei snapped back to his senses and realized that he hadn¡¯t articted all that went through his mind. However, he didn¡¯t intend to tell Xiao Ling about this scene. If Xiao Ling knew that Su Tang hadin on himpletely naked, she would be sad, wouldn¡¯t she? He straightened out his thoughts and continued with his exnation.

    ¡°When I woke up, I saw her sitting in front of me looking malnourished and full of scars from the trek through the forest, as well as apparent fights with wild beasts. However, she didn¡¯t say a word ofint. She constructed a simple stretcher from tree branches and somehow carried me onto it.

    ¡°Then, I was severely injured with several broken ribs. I couldn¡¯t speak or move.

    ¡°She dragged me on the stretcher bit by bit out of the forest. The road we traveled was in no way smooth. She had to hide from the enemy troops and poisonous snakes or wild beasts. Later, we got lost and the food rations weren¡¯t enough. She ate grass, leaves, and insects, leaving the medication and food rations all to me. Once, she almost fell into a swamp with quicksand. Seeing that she was starting to sink into the mud and sand, her first instinct was to throw the rations that were wrapped in waterproof packaging to me and say, ¡®Young Master, you have to survive.¡¯¡±

    Li Lei paused for a long time.

    Xia Ling was quiet as well. Her heart was in anguish, though she couldn¡¯t decide if it was for Li Lei, Su Tang or herself. If a woman was willing to die for a man, how would it be possible for that man not to be touched? In these direst moments when he was fighting to live, it was Su Tang that was by his side...

    And she, Xia Ling... how could she bring herself to criticize him for choosing to be together with Su Tang any longer?

    ¡°And so, you decided to keep her and her child?¡± She asked softly.

    Li Lei closed his eyes for a long time before he reopened them. ¡°Xiao Ling, everything that I am going to tell you right now, can you promise me never to repeat to another soul?¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because it impacts a woman¡¯s dignity.¡±

    ¡°Su Tang?¡± She asked softly again.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He replied.

    Xia Ling was quiet again before she responded, ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me.¡± So what if she knew more about him and Su Tang? Did he want her to soften her heart and share him with her?

    ¡°Li Lei, I admit that this story is extremely touching, and I am very... ¡± She was full of self-me that she couldn¡¯t have been there for him at these critical moments. However, she continued, ¡°You already have Li Rui with Su Tang, and I have Shaohui and my career. I think this is just our destiny. We were destined to be passers-by in each other¡¯s lives.¡±

    With that, she turned and made to leave.

    Li Lei grabbed onto her arm again. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± His voice was distraught like an injured wild beast.

    She forced herself not to look back.

    He hugged her suddenly from behind. ¡°I beg you to listen to this final part. Please? I owe you aplete exnation! I owe you this! After you have heard me out, I¡¯m at your disposal!¡±

    She didn¡¯t say anything, but her body started to shake.

    Li Lei was afraid that she would run away and continued hurriedly. ¡°We were lost in the forest, the rations were diminishing quickly, and my injuries were getting from bad to worse. Su Tang feared for my life and would scour anything that she could find for me to eat, wild herbs for medication, etc. However, nothing seemed to be working.

    ¡°Later, we passed by a little aborigine vige.

    ¡°Su Tang went into the vige to steal some food but was caught and...

    He took a long time before uttering the next word. ¡°****¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Ling turned and stared at him incredulously.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Su Tang was ****** for trying to find food for me.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°It was by all the men in the vige. There were more than ten virile and strong men... I was lying on the stretcher in the bushes, hearing the menugh as they did as they wished and Su Tang¡¯s cries. She was always so elegant and reserved, and would be upset if anyone were to nce at her with some semnce of lust. To have to suffer this level of insult...

    ¡°I thought that she would die.

    ¡°The hard-headed Su Tang that I knew would kill herself if the men so much as touched her so that she could avoid further humiliation.

    ¡°But she didn¡¯t... she tolerated them for a full day and night. Thereafter, she came back to look for me ¡ª naked, bleeding, but alive. Her body had all kinds of injuries ¡ª from being abused and assaulted...

    ¡°The first thing she did when she returned wasn¡¯t to treat the horrendous injuries on herself. Instead, she took out the food and medication that she stole from the vige to feed me. Then, she hid away to cry...

    ¡°When she reappeared, she was wearing a simple outfit fashioned from leaves and continued to drag me on the way forward. We spent a full half-month before she managed to find a way out of the thick forest. By then, she was so skinny that she was but skin and bones. The minute rescue forces arrived, she passed out.

    ¡°They fought to save me for a full week in the hospital and took ten days to do the same for Su Tang.

    ¡°The first question Su Tang asked when she woke up in the hospital was what had happened to me. Hearing that I was safe and recovering well, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. That afternoon, she waited for the medical staff to leave the room and took out a pair of scissors intending to pierce her own heart. Thankfully, a nurse walked by at that very moment and stopped her before she managed to stab herself deep enough. Blood was all over the floor...

    ¡°I heard the news and rushed over to her, asking her why she would do such a thing.

    ¡°At the start, she wouldn¡¯t say anything. However, when I pressed her further, she finally said, ¡®Young Master, you survived. Su Tang¡¯s job is done here.¡¯ I understood that she was still distraught from the **** incident, and at that moment forward, she might have contemted taking her life. If she had taken her life, she wouldn¡¯t have to suffer the humiliation...

    ¡°But then, she had to save me. So she chose to bear with it. She bore the humiliation of being assaulted by that bunch of animals, ensuring that I made it out of the forest safe and sound.

    ¡°With this missionplete, she had no more reason to live.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was in her mouth at this horrifying tale, and she listened quietly in a daze. She didn¡¯t expect that Su Tang¡¯s devotion to Li Lei was so deep, so determined, like a moth flying towards the fire, expecting nothing in return.

 Chapter 661 - Gift

    <h4>Chapter 661: Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She asked softly, ¡°So that child...¡±

    ¡°That child was conceived in the forest.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°They discovered it after a month or so during a check-up in the hospital. The nurse thought that the child was mine and told everyone, thinking that it was news for celebration. In front of so many people, Su Tang couldn¡¯t bring herself to deny it. The point that she conceived was hard to calcte and all that we knew was that it was conceived in the forest. If it wasn¡¯t those aborigine men, then it had to be me.

    ¡°She lowered her head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Hence, this was what was cemented as the truth. Everyone was delighted, particrly my Grandfather. He made sure that Su Tang was given the very best and brought her home to take care of her. He also rushed me to organize the wedding.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a sharp pain in her heart.

    So that was why he chose to follow through with the marriage? She had heard that they had a wedding ceremony...

    She heard Li Lei continue, ¡°I went to find Su Tang and tried to convince her to abort the child. She refused to listen and insisted that she wanted to keep the child. I asked her why... The father of the child was unclear... Why did she want to keep this child that was conceived out of an ident? She said.... that she loved me.¡±

    These three words made Xia Ling¡¯s heart clench with pain again.

    Why did that woman have such courage to utter those three words? Because she saved his life? Then, what did she, Xia Ling, have with Li Lei...

    Her heart was heavy as she asked, ¡°What ridiculous reason is that? She loves you, so she wanted to keep another person¡¯s child?¡±

    Li Lei shot her a nce. So Xiao Ling¡¯s view was that if you loved somebody you wouldn¡¯t have someone else¡¯s child... Then, her child with Pei Ziheng, Pei Shaohui... what was up with that? Who did Xiao Ling love? She even named the child that she adopted ¡°Shaohui¡±...

    His heart grew heavy as well.

    He didn¡¯t dare to question her for fear of what she would say. There was already a massive gap between them, and he didn¡¯t want to raise anything about Pei Ziheng to make matters worse. Even if she loved somebody else, he was not going to give her up.

    Never again.

    Li Lei collected his emotions and continued, ¡°She said that she loved me and she wasn¡¯t going to marry anyone except me in this life. She wasn¡¯t going to have a child with anybody else as well. Even though she knew I didn¡¯t love her, she asked that I let her have the child and let her retain the connection with me on paper...

    ¡°I said that she was being ridiculous and asked that she quash that thought.

    ¡°However, she asked if I would be able to live with the fact that she would be all alone throughout her life all the way till she died.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, she was so obstinate that I really couldn¡¯t reject her. As such, I allowed her to have the child and to be the father to the child. Only three people know about this ¡ª Grandfather, Su Tang and myself. You¡¯re the fourth person. Xiao Ling, I know that this is unfair to you. Even though Li Rui isn¡¯t my biological son, but he is still my son on paper. But I really didn¡¯t touch her. I¡¯ve only loved you since the start.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    The tale was too shocking for her to digest immediately.

    She shook her head and said, ¡°You... let me think.¡± As she spoke, she pushed him away and stumbled forward. This was why she refused to listen to his exnations near the airport and at the hotel. She was afraid that she would soften her stance, would understand his plight, would fall for him again...

    Now, she truly did soften and was hesitating.

    Yet, she told herself again and again. <i>Xia Ling, you can¡¯t ept this... Regardless of his predicament, he¡¯s brought you so much pain in these 4 years. The pain inflicted cannot be undone. You cannot forgive him so easily.</i>

    She was afraid to put all her heart and soul on one person again.

    Subconsciously, she picked up speed.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei called after her in anguish, stretching his hand out to hold her back. If this exnation could not bring her back to him, he was at a loss of what to do.

    In the night breeze, the leaves rustled softly.

    She was dressed in a white shirt dress, her petite frame looking weak.

    She didn¡¯t turn her head back but said softly, ¡°Li Lei, so what? It¡¯s been 4 years... a whole 4 years... I beg you to just let me go... let me lead a peaceful life.¡±

    She tried to push his hand away.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart sank more and more as she pried his fingers away from her one by one. He knew that he could not win her back, but he still came forward. ¡°This...¡± He pushed the item in his hands into hers. ¡°This is my gift for your adopted child. Xiao Ling, please keep it.¡±

    His voice was gentle, almost begging.

    Xia Ling epted the deep-blue box, her heart in turmoil, and hurried away from him.

    She returned to the ce where her team was waiting.

    Lin Yunan, her assistant Wei Wei, and her team of bodyguards were still in dead-lock with Lin Yunan¡¯s team. Seeing her appear, Lin Yunan breathed a huge sigh of relief and pulled her over. ¡°My Big Madam, do you know how long you¡¯ve been gone? You¡¯re a big star now and shouldn¡¯t be running all over the ce! Let¡¯s go now, do you know how many teams of paparazzi I had to chase away?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and got onto the car.

    Lin Yunan apanied her in the back seat of the car. He stretched out and pressed the button to bring up the sound-proof ss between the driver seat and the back of the car. He then turned to her. ¡°What was Li Lei looking for you for?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Lin Yunan was worried. These few years, he had groomed her to be a Diva and everything was going smoothly. The only problems that arose were her rtionship problems. First, there was Pei Ziheng to give him cause for concern. And now, Li Lei was back. Lin Yunan was worried that there were storms brewing ahead. He could already see the tabloid papers having a field day.

    They sat in silence.

    When Xia Ling returned home, it was already 11:00 PM.

    Shaohui came running forward on his stubby legs, dressed in his pajamas with teddy bear prints, to give her a huge, warm hug. ¡°Elder Sister.¡± He addressed her in adoration.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood picked up at seeing this precious little one. She bent over and picked him up. ¡°Why are you still up at this hour?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m waiting for Elder Sister toe back to sleep with me.¡± He whined endearingly.

    This child was so clingy. Initially, she had prepared a special bedroom for him with his own small bed. However, this child enjoyed crawling onto her bed and hugging onto her as he slept. After a while, this became a habit. Xia Ling knew that this was not ideal, but every time she looked into his puppy-dog eyes, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to reject him.

    She decided that she would try her best toe back home earlier so this child wouldn¡¯t have to wait up for her.

    ¡°Elder Sister, what is that?¡± She suddenly heard the child ask.

    Xia Ling turned and realized that his nanny had brought a blue box into the room. It was the blue box that Li Lei passed to her.

    ¡°This is...¡± She thought for a while before deciding to tell the child the truth. ¡°This is a present from an Elder Brother for you.¡±

    The child gave a yelp of excitement as he struggled to free himself, wanting to go over to open the present. He managed to open the box with difficulty after struggling with the wrapping paper with his stubby fingers for a long time, revealing the contents inside.

 Chapter 662 - Social Circle

    <h4>Chapter 662: Social Circle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was actually a toy gun.

    It was very simr to a real gun, with a metallic case and bore some weight.

    Xia Ling did not expect Li Lei to give this to the child. In her impression, this wasn¡¯t a toy that a pure and naive child should own or y with. Maybe this wasn¡¯t a big deal for the ck triads, but there was no way she would want Shaohui to have anything to do with a cold, ruthless tool like this.

    Shaohui fiddled with the toy out of curiosity.

    Xia Ling pped his hand away. ¡°Don¡¯t touch it.¡±

    Shaohui had never seen her this fierce and looked up at her with a look of innocence and confusion. Xia Ling sighed and toned down. ¡°This toy isn¡¯t fun to y with. I¡¯ll get you something else, alright?¡±

    Shaohui hesitated for a while as he looked at the toy gun longingly.

    Xia Ling scolded Li Lei a few times over in her heart, and finally understood why Li Rui had such a horrid temper. How could any child be respectful and refined growing up in such an environment?

    She suddenly felt fortunate that this child did not live with Li Lei.

    This thought scared her... if the other Shaohui, her biological son, was still alive; if the three of them were one happy family, would the father and son be ying with this toy gun together?

    ¡°Sister, are you unhappy?¡± Shaohui tugged at her sleeve gently.

    She came back to her senses and forced a smile. ¡°No, I¡¯m not unhappy.¡± She kept the toy gun and said, ¡°Sister will get you a toy car tomorrow, okay?¡±

    The child still looked at the toy gun longingly.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t anything good.¡± Xia Ling was at a loss for better words.

    ¡°But, Sister,¡± Shaohui said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say an older brother gave me this? Why would he give me something that isn¡¯t good?¡± He looked at Xia Ling with clear, innocent eyes.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached.

    She didn¡¯t know how to respond to the child. Maybe Li Lei was just giving him what he thought was the best, but from her perspective, it was harmful.

    It was just like their love life, full of obstacles for so many reasons.

    She ruffled that boy¡¯s hair. ¡°Go to sleep.¡± She called the nanny over and asked for the box containing the gun to be taken away.

    Shaohui¡¯s eyes followed the nanny.

    He held his teddy bear with one hand and Xia Ling¡¯s hand with the other. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go to sleep.¡±

    The two of them went to the bedroom and he obediently tucked in her arms, sleeping soundly. In his dream, he saw the toy gun again. He remembered asking his uncle, ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s my father like?¡±

    Uncle said, ¡°Your father is brilliant. He started apany and could fight a war. His shooting is extremely good.¡±

    Shaohui asked, ¡°Shooting?¡±

    Uncle said, ¡°When you return to your father¡¯s side, your father will teach you, alright?¡±

    The young child nodded his head. He smiled as he sucked on his thumb, and thought, <i>Uncle said that Dad and Mom will reunite someday...</i>

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling had a terrible sleep.

    The little one had drooled all over her, leaving saliva marks the next morning. He woke up groggily and walked out of the room, with the teddy bear still in his hands.

    Xia Ling held him back. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°To the garden, to feed the rabbit.¡± He said quietly.

    Xia Ling looked at his pretty little face with some baby fats and wondered, did she raise him to be too... too much like a girl? Maybe letting him y with toy guns and the like wasn¡¯t all that bad?

    ... No.

    No, no, no.

    She was not going to raise her child to be rude and violent like Li Rui.

    She decided, the first thing she¡¯d do when she left would be to get Little Shaohui a toy car and some wooden blocks, ship models... in any case, nothing like guns and weapons.

    Shaohui did not know what she thought and simply spent a happy morning in the garden with the small animals. It was a great environment with a lot of greenery and a pond rich in eco-biology. In fact, it was even better than the dull cityscape. The little animals here seemed to like Shaohui a lot, Xia Ling even saw some squirrels offer him fruit and nuts during breakfast.

    Xia Ling was in a dilemma...

    Was this child going to turn out too much like a girl?

    She left with a heavy heart and got the chauffeur to drive her to a mega toy store. Seeing that a celebrity had arrived, the staff members put on their best performance and rmended all their best buys. Some of the customers stood around and snapped photos of her.

    It didn¡¯t take long for news to reach the online tforms. Netizens were speaking of how nice she was to the child, and how willing she was to personally pick the toys for him.

    Back in the office, Lin Yunan was aware of this too. He especially went to look for her. ¡°It seems like you¡¯re really nice to this child. There¡¯ve been a lot of positivements recently.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Xia Ling casually responded as she took her time to ssify the toys she had bought. ¡°Which toy car is better, the one with the remote control or the one that he should y by hand?¡±

    Lin Yunan couldn¡¯t be bothered to answer her. ¡°But how do you intend to go on from here? This child has to receive education and get some social interaction, you can¡¯t keep him at home for good. Are you going to send him to a school and let him stay in a hostel? Or hire a home tutor? Where is he going to findpanions?¡±

    This series of questions stunned Xia Ling.

    It suddenly hit her how lonely Shaohui was.

    Does he enjoy ying with the squirrels because he¡¯s too lonely?

    ¡°This child looks a bit like a blockhead.¡± Lin Yunan was straightforward and curt. ¡°To sugarcoat it, he¡¯s innocent. But to be direct, he just seems like a blockhead. You¡¯d better educate him well. Otherwise, it¡¯d really taint your reputation as a Diva.¡±

    ¡°This has nothing to do with whether I¡¯m a Diva.¡± Xia Ling retorted instinctively. She didn¡¯t want the child to be pressurized by fame or status, all she wanted was for him to grow up healthily. But Lin Yunan¡¯s questions were real concerns, Shaohui definitely needed education andpanions.

    ¡°I won¡¯t send him to a hostel.¡± The child was so close to her, she couldn¡¯t bear to do it.

    ¡°So...?¡± Lin Yunan asked, ¡°A home tutor, then? What about his social circle?¡±

    Xia Ling hung her head low and thought for a while. ¡°I¡¯ll find a way for him to make friends.¡±

 Chapter 663 - Li Leiâ€™s Here

    <h4>Chapter 663: Li Lei¡¯s Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As the Diva¡¯s son, his status was extraordinary, and it was a given that he wouldn¡¯t be mixing around with just any other children.

    Xia Ling hired a home tutor to guide him along with the unspoken rules and civilities of the high society. The child picked the lessons up quickly, and before long, he was doing all things right and behaving just like a cute little princess... no, prince. Well, it was time for this innocent little prince to face the world.

    She held a grand garden party.

    Members of the high society, as well as their children, were invited. She also extended the invitation to a few reporters, giving them a chance to cover the Diva and her precious child¡¯s first public appearance.

    ¡°Heir of a Billionaire¡±¡ªthe reporters had the headlines in mind.

    Indeed, even before the party took ce, many were already talking about how lucky the child was. He was the only son of the popr Diva Ye Xingling, and if she was to remain unmarried for the rest of her life ¡ª which seemed highly likely ¡ª he would inherit her massive fortune.

    An abandoned child with no one caring for him had turned into a blessed child overnight.

    ¡°If looking foolish and innocent would mean being adopted by Ye Xingling, I wouldn¡¯t mind it myself.¡± One of the reporters said to his mentor as he waited for the start of the event.

    His mentor was Xu Fosheng, an experienced professional in the industry who wrote for the biggest local entertainment magazine, ¡°Star Entertainment Weekly.¡± She was looking at a very expensive camera and did not even bother to look up. ¡°You? Forget it, you¡¯re even older than Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°Then let my son try it out!¡± He clenched his fists, unwilling to give up the thought. ¡°If that means he¡¯ll inherit billions of dors worth in assets, I¡¯m... I¡¯m willing!¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xu Fosheng sneered.

    She was Sister Mai Na¡¯s friend and had done a feature of Ye Xingling when she debuted many years ago. In a way, she had seen how this girl had grown and ovee her obstacles all the way.

    ¡°Ye Xingling came from a humble family,¡± she finally finished adjusting her camera and was taking a few casual shots. ¡°At her lowest, she was despised by others even when she entered a mid-range boutique. Do you think she had it easy?¡±

    ¡°Did she not?¡± The younger reporter pouted. ¡°She married well, that beats anything. Cindere somehow managed to marry Pei Ziheng, and after the divorce, she inherited 1 billion yuan from him... In that case, it seems like Chairman Pei is extremely generous. Is there any chance that he likes men? Say, men like me?¡±

    He began stroking his chin in thought.

    Xu Fosheng rolled her eyes. <i>What¡¯s with young people these days?</i>

    She shoved the camera to him. ¡°Take more photos of the child.¡± There were too many people of power and status at the party ¡ª property tycoons, chiefs and presidents ofpanies and the like ¡ª but only inexperienced reporters would be snapping photos of them. These big shots were in public all the time, it was the children that were more rarely seen. Hence, this was a good time to take more photos of the young ones and how the next generation of high society interacted.

    The younger reporter was still in a daydream and only got to work after being instructed.

    Xu Fosheng helped herself to a cocktail at the buffet area and seemed to be strolling leisurely around the area as she looked for anything newsworthy. Although there were many outstanding and famous people all around, her intuition from years of being a reporter told her that the most important guests had yet to arrive¡ª

    Pei Ziheng and Li Lei were both not here yet.

    She was sure that they woulde.

    All these years, Pei Ziheng had not missed any of Ye Xingling¡¯s important events, even if it meant rescheduling Imperial Entertainment¡¯s important matters. As for Li Lei, rumors had it that he had returned just for Ye Xingling, though Xu Fosheng didn¡¯t understand why he¡¯d take his wife and child along to look for her.

    No, wait, was Su Tang even his wife?

    This was still a question mark.

    Xu Fosheng narrowed her eyes...

    She remembered a news article from overseas, mentioning that Su Tang was pregnant and that Li Lei held a wedding with her. With that, everybody simply assumed that they were husband and wife.

    But Xu Fosheng felt that there was more to that.

    Having spent all these years in the entertainment news industry, she had learned to trust her gut. It was her gut and intuition that led her to be the Number One of that industry.

    She made a calcted spection: <i>If Li Lei is really back for Ye Xingling, he definitely wouldn¡¯t have taken his ¡°wife and child¡± along. After all, which man would take his legal wife to face the mistress? Given Ye Xingling¡¯s pride, she wouldn¡¯t allow this.</i>

    <i>In that case, there are only two possibilities ¡ª</i>

    <i>Li Lei is not back for Ye Xingling; or, he and Su Tang aren¡¯t even married!</i>

    Xu Fosheng¡¯s eyes sparkled and excitement rose in her.

    ¡°He¡¯s here! He¡¯s here!¡± Somemotion started.

    She looked up and saw that Li Lei had arrived.

    He was in a light colored suit whichplemented his tanned skin tone splendidly. There was a scar on the left side of his face, but it did not make him look bad. If anything, he looked even more manly and charming. He held a little boy in one hand ¡ª the boy was in a suit as well and appeared to be Eurasian-looking.

    ¡°That¡¯s Li Rui!¡± The younger reporter had ended up beside Xu Fosheng and was excitedly snapping shots of Li Lei and the boy he was holding.

    To be honest, among all the children of these high society members, and besides Shaohui who had not been seen by the public, Li Rui was the least featured ¡ª this child had just returned from overseas and everything about him thus far was unknown. Yet, he was also an heir of a billionaire, which made him the talk of the town.

    Li Rui was obedient as he followed Li Lei, but his face was frozen in a stiff smile the entire time. It was Li Lei, his ¡°father,¡± who smiled more naturally and was more charming.

    ¡°They don¡¯t look like father and son.¡± The younger reportermented.

    Xu Fosheng nodded her head. In fact, besides the fact that they both looked Eurasian, the child did not resemble Li Lei in terms of his facial features.

    The younger reporter then eximed, ¡°To me, he looks like he¡¯s Pei Ziheng¡¯s son instead.¡±

    Xu Fosheng raised her brows and side-eyed the younger reporter.

    He said, ¡°They have the same stony expression.¡±

    Xu Fosheng almostughed when she heard this. It was true, Li Rui did appear to resemble Pei Ziheng more, in terms of their mannerism. But...

    ¡°You¡¯ve underestimated the Pei family¡¯s education and upbringing.¡± Xu Fosheng said.

 Chapter 664 - You Donâ€™t Have a Father

    <h4>Chapter 664: You Don¡¯t Have a Father</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Ah?¡± The younger reporter was perplexed.

    ¡°Unless the situation calls for it, when have you ever seen Pei Ziheng being stoic? Here at the magazine, our seniors have his childhood photos saved, and even though he doesn¡¯t look as easygoing as Li Lei, he still looks rtively warm and friendly. From a young age, he¡¯s been very good with people.¡±

    People who had enough power, simply never needed to show it through their expressions.

    His existence in itself was impressive.

    On the other hand, the Li child,pared to Pei Ziheng in childhood, was simply different.

    The younger reporter didn¡¯t understand itpletely but nodded his head anyway.

    Back there, Li Lei had already brought Li Rui through security, walking through the grass and making their way around the venue. There was aidback grin on his face, and he sent greetings to the people he knew, engaging several in idle conversation.

    But he periodically looked up to scan the crowd, as if looking for someone.

    Looking for Ye Xingling, perhaps?

    The function was going to begin in several minutes, but there was no trace of Ye Xingling and Shaohui. At the venue, only her staff members were milling through the crowd and sending their regards to the guests. Xu Fosheng¡¯s interest merely thickened as she quietly observed Li Lei¡¯s behavior. He was really... interested in Ye Xingling.

    But even so, why would he bring Li Rui into this?

    ¡°Do you men even think?¡± Xu Fosheng directed the question at the younger reporter, but her eyes were fixated on Li Rui¡¯s stoic.

    ¡°What?¡± He was confused.

    Xu Fosheng sighed. ¡°Say you are invited somewhere by the girl of your dreams, why would you bring a kid that you had with another woman there? Are you not concerned about the emotional distance that you have to bridge?¡±

    The younger reporter looked into the direction that his senior was looking in before it dawned on him.

    He was stunned. ¡°It can¡¯t be! Boss has a poorer EQ than I do? Even I know that you can¡¯t get a girl like this. It¡¯ll be a miracle if she doesn¡¯t hate him by the end of this.¡±

    Perhaps, not all men were dumb.

    But why would Li Lei bring Li Rui along?

    ¡°He can¡¯te in without him,¡± said the younger reporter as he looked at the doors. ¡°This entire thing is for Ye Xingling¡¯s kid. With the exception of the media, all the attendees have to bring their children along to participate. This time, it¡¯s for the children between 3 to 6.¡±

    Xu Fosheng nodded. Then shook her head. ¡°That still makes no sense.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± the younger reporter was perplexed.

    ¡°Think about it, if you are Ye Xingling, would you invite a rival¡¯s child to an event specifically intended to be a social night for your son?¡±

    ¡°That... that is a good point.¡±

    Reporter Xu was in deep thought, contemting something for a moment. ¡°Bring me Li Lei¡¯s invitation.¡± She suddenly grinned.

    ¡°For what?¡± The younger reporter sulked. This was going to be difficult. The invites were kept by security, and even though each card had been clearlybeled, obtaining one would not be easy.

    ¡°I believe that Li Lei¡¯s invite isn¡¯t real.¡± Xu Fosheng was fully smirking now. ¡°Because Ye Xingling would definitely not have sent Li Rui an invitation. And if my conjecture proves to be right, then this will get very interesting. With Boss¡¯ status, why would he have put together his resources to be falsely invited, just for the sake of attending this thing?¡±

    Maybe the answer would reveal so much more...

    Maybe, something sensational!

    Xu Fosheng was raring to go now, clearly excited by this revtion. The younger reporter by her side had been infected by her energy as well. Not to the same extent, he hadn¡¯t projected that far into the future yet, but the news in itself had been pretty earthshaking.

    He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

    Xu Fosheng merely lingered in her spot, sipping her cocktail, inconspicuously keeping her eyes on Li Lei and his son.

    The boy looked well brought-up, with good etiquette, regrettably a bit anti-social. Whoever tried to y with him was haughtily ignored, disregarded like dust.

    That expression resembled his mother, Su Tang a little more.

    Hm, why wasn¡¯t Su Tang here? Xu Fosheng scrutinized the child a little more. Ah, more credibility to back her theory that Li Lei was here in the hopes of getting the woman he adored.

    It was time.

    Xia Ling was in an elegant gown, grasping her son¡¯s hand, slowly approaching the crowd.

    She was petite, her hair thrown back effortlessly, and the boy donned a clean shirt, his short legs bumbling as he tried to walk. It was endearing how his head had been bowed the entire time, but the baby fat on his cheeks still apparent and clearly in view.

    What a beautiful mother-son pair.

    They were back facing the mid-afternoon sun. Just like a pair of perfect angels.

    They were an attention grabber for sure. The guests halted their chatter, and the kids cut their chaos in favor of watching the new entrance.

    Xia Ling was still smiling as she sauntered into the crowd.

    ¡°I¡¯m so thankful for every one of you for taking time out to grace this event with your presence.¡±

    The cameras were going off, fighting for shots of her child¡¯s hand in hers.

    Xu Fosheng was inspecting her son throughout this ¡ª the story was that he had been abandoned as a child before Ye Xingling took him in. Well, then that would mean that he must¡¯vee from a less than favorable background. And yet, here he was, calm before all the cameras, even smiling from time to time, his dimples showing. It was adorable.

    He was even calmer than a lot of kids who had been born into the limelight.

    Xia Ling bent down to introduce her son. ¡°This is Shaohui, my son. He¡¯s super cute, and I hope he gets along well with everyone here.¡±

    A few people greeted Shaohui.

    The child was blinking, as if taking some time to react, but he was still softly smiling, the absolute picture of cuteness.

    ¡°Are you Shaohui!¡± A small girl emerged from the crowd. ¡°My mommy says that you don¡¯t have a daddy. That¡¯s sad. Here, have a flower. I hope you find your daddy soon.¡±

    A hush fell over the venue.

    There were staff members roaring in disapproval. Whose rubbish child said that?! Miss Ye¡¯s previous rtionships had all headed for heartbreak, and everyone had been suspecting that adoption had been her means of announcing her giving up on marriage. And yet, here they all were, watching old wounds reopen again.

    The mother in question looked aghast, deadly pale, taking her daughter to the task. ¡°What are you saying!¡±

 Chapter 665 - The New Socializing Star

    <h4>Chapter 665: The New Socializing Star</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Shaohui looked at the little girl and her mother.

    He still looked innocent and lost as he received the flowers. With a sweet smile, he quietly said, ¡°Thank you, I like it very much.¡±

    It was a red flower, swaying in the breeze.

    The little girl and her mum still looked anxious ¡ª her father was just an ordinary vice-principal, and they surely could not afford to offend somebody of Xia Ling¡¯s status. Everybody knew that Xia Ling¡¯s life journey had been a difficult one. Even if Shaohui didn¡¯t understand much about what their child had said, they couldn¡¯t be sure that Xia Ling would not be angry.

    The guests and reporters were curious as to what was going to happen next.

    After some dead silence, Shaohui looked down at the flower and took a few strides to Xia Ling. He held it up to her. ¡°Sister, this flower is for you.¡± His voice was still sweet and gentle. ¡°I don¡¯t have parents, but I have Sister to take care of me. Sister¡¯s the best person in the world.¡±

    His statement quelled all the awkwardness at the scene.

    Everybody heaved a sigh of relief, while some of them quietly praised Shaohui for his intelligent response. When the girl mentioned earlier that he did not have a father, she was implying that he had Xia Ling as his ¡°mother,¡± and that his ¡°mother¡± did not have a partner, making it sound slightly offensive. But with Shaohui addressing her as his ¡°Sister,¡± he had easily changed the underlying meaning: Sister is still young, there¡¯s no rush getting a partner!

    Even a few experts in themercial world admired Shaohui.

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes for a while before breaking into a smile. It seemed like the child Xiao Ling was raising wasn¡¯t as foolish as he looked, he was a likeable and adorable boy.

    Yet....

    Little Shaohui, your ¡°Sister¡± was about to have a ¡°Brother¡± for herself soon.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyesnded on Xia Ling. She was in a pastel coloredce dress and looked extremely beautiful in this natural light. She bent over and received the flower from Shaohui. ¡°And Shaohui is the most adorable child in the world.¡±

    The child smiled happily upon hearing that.

    With the resolution of the crisis, the reporters resumed their snapping of photos once again. Xia Ling held the red flower in her hand as she entertained the guests, and the atmosphere lightened up quickly.

    The reporters shared the same sentiment ¡ª

    Considering this was the first time he attended a social party, Little Shaohui had performed extremely well. They couldn¡¯t tell whether he was actually smart, or if he was simply kind by nature, but regardless of the reason, his behavior made him a very loveable and adorable child. He really did the ¡°Heir of a Billionaire¡± title some justice.

    They could already see a star rising amongst the second generation of the high society.

    On the other side, Xia Ling had made her rounds and greeted every guest at least once. Her worth now was astonishing, as was her poprity, and she was no longer just the little celebrity that she used to be. Even if there were rumors going around that she ¡°depended on the alimony fee from her divorce with Pei Ziheng¡± to attain her wealth today, nobody could respect her any less.

    Xia Ling had been good with social events since her previous life, and it did not take much effort for her to host one. Today, Shaohui was the main focus of the event, not her, so she didn¡¯t take a long time to greet each of them, except...

    She looked up slightly and nced at a man.

    He looked gloomy.

    The man stood under a tree with a cocktail in his hand, looking slightly tipsy. His eyes chased her with an expression one could barely read.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached.

    She looked away, forcing herself not to make eye contact with him, and walked off in another direction.

    Li Lei chased up quickly. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    A few guests in the vicinity turned around and looked at them. Some of the reporters pointed their cameras at them to capture that scene.

    Xia Ling did not want to embarrass him in front of so many people, but her tone was still unfriendly. ¡°Li Lei? I¡¯m confused, what are you doing here? If I remember correctly, you¡¯re not in the invitation list.¡±

    He seemed to have seen thising. Instead of getting angry, he nicely said, ¡°I missed you.¡±

    ¡°So, you brought Su Tang¡¯s son along to see me?¡± Her tone was curt.

    ¡°You said it yourself, it¡¯s Su Tang¡¯s son,¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice softened, but he went on anyway. ¡°Xiao Ling, you know this child¡¯s situation, I can¡¯t possibly leave the mother and son to their devices. But there really is nothing between Su Tang and me. I love only you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this is not the kind of love I want.¡± Much as she wanted to be with him, this was her bottom line ¡ª no two-timing.

    ¡°You¡¯re very much like Pei Ziheng now, do you know that?¡± She looked into the distance, a little emotional. ¡°Back then, when he got engaged with Wang Jingwan, he¡¯d also said that it was nothing more than taking responsibility for her and that he loved only me... Ha, Li Lei, if this was the love I wanted, need I have waited till now?¡±

    She suddenly turned around and looked straight at him, enunciating each word that stabbed into his heart. ¡°If I could ept it, I¡¯d have lived happily ever after with Pei Ziheng back then. There wouldn¡¯t have been everything that came after, and do you think you would¡¯ve had your turn?

    ¡°Li Lei, stop with your wishful thinking!¡±

    Herst sentence was ruthless. With that, she turned around and walked off.

    He reached out to grab her hand. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Let go!¡± She red at him.

    Some of the guests were already discussing about them.

    Before Li Lei even had the chance to say any more, they heard a child wailing. Everybody ¡ª including Xia Ling and Li Lei ¡ª turned in that direction.

    They saw a few children gathered on thewn, with a six-year-old boy sobbing. Laying in front of him was a pile of toys that had been disassembled and damaged.

    As there would be kids around that day, Xia Ling had specially prepared toys for the event. She had also stated in the invitation that the children could bring their own toys along for exchange or to y with others. Many of them did bring their favorite toys along, and it seemed like quite a number of them were lying in the pile.

    The adults had no idea what had happened and began walking towards them.

    The child¡¯s parents were in the property industry. They hurriedly walked towards him and asked anxiously, ¡°Sweetheart, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

 Chapter 666 - What Did You Just Say

    <h4>Chapter 666: What Did You Just Say</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The child cried until his voice was hoarse and could not speak.

    Beside him, a child softly said, ¡°Longlong gave his water gun toy to Zhouzhou and Zhouzhou identally hit...¡± Saying that he nced somewhat fearfully at a nearby child.

    Everyone also looked over.

    They saw that the child was standing alone on the grass and maintained a few steps of distance away from the other children, looking out of ce. His face was cold and he looked arrogant. He had a serious expression and kept his mouth shut. It was Li Rui.

    The children seemed to be a little afraid of him. Those who were timid took a few steps back.

    ¡°Xiao Rui, what¡¯s wrong?¡± It was Li Lei¡¯s voice. In this scenario, everyone knew that Li Rui was involved in this situation, so he had no choice but to ask him.

    Li Rui¡¯s answer was very simple. ¡°He wet my clothes, so I destroyed his toy.¡±

    Once he spoke, that child cried even louder.

    The children beside him could not stand it and indignantly added, ¡°Not only did he destroy the toy, but he also hit Zhouzhou.¡±

    The crowd finally realized that the crying child had arge bruise in the corner of his eye and his body was covered in broken leaves. Li Lei had a headache. Xiao Rui grew up in the Li Family headquarters and usually yed with guns with the subordinates. From a young age, he already developed a solid foundation for fighting, and because he was used to fighting with people in the family, he did not think that this sort of trouble was a big deal.

    However, the child called Zhouzhou looked as if his whole world had copsed.

    Li Lei said to Li Rui, ¡°Apologize to Zhouzhou.¡±

    Everyone looked at Li Rui. Some adults even looked disappointed. This child had blood rtions with the Li Family, so why was his upbringing so terrible? The upbringing of the Li Family was really worrying.

    In reality, they had all wronged Li Lei. This child was not blood-rted to him at all, and as Li Lei felt very guilty towards Su Tang, he left Li Rui¡¯s upbringing entirely to Su Tang and never interfered. That was why Li Rui grew up to be like this.

    Luckily, Li Rui was quite obedient in front of Li Lei.

    Li Hui saw that Li Lei¡¯s expression was serious. Although he was unwilling, he said to Zhouzhou, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± There was a natural arrogance in his tone as if he was naturally superior to him.

    Zhouzhou continued to cry.

    His parents consoled him. ¡°Zhouzhou, don¡¯t cry. Xiao Rui has already apologized to you.¡±

    No matter how arrogant Li Rui was, he was Li Lei¡¯s only son. In front of everyone, no one had more wealth or powerpared to Li Lei, so no one wished to offend him.

    Thus, Zhouzhou¡¯s parents could only tolerate their anger.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry.¡± However, Li Lei was reasonable and said to Zhouzhou¡¯s parents, ¡°Later, I will ask my family¡¯s doctor to give your child a check up and prescribe some medicine for him. Xiao Rui just returned back to China and is still not used to life here. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    Since Second Young Master Li was so polite, who would dare to take it to heart?

    Zhouzhou¡¯s parents thanked him.

    Zhouzhou whimpered. On one hand, he was afraid of Li Rui. On the other hand, after realizing that the adults were no longer supporting him, he stopped crying.

    Another child, Longlong, knelt down to pick up the broken toy pieces on the floor.

    The water gun toy that was destroyed by Li Rui was still lying quietly on thewn.

    ¡°That was Longlong¡¯s favorite toy.¡± A child said in a small voice.

    ¡°Uncle will buy you another one, ok?¡± Li Lei gently said to Longlong.

    Longlong shook his head a little reluctantly.

    Beside him, a child who looked like he was very close to Longlong helped him exin. ¡°This was a birthday present that Longlong received from his grandma.¡±

    Li Lei was met with some difficulty. The significance of a birthday present was unique. If this child insisted on not buying a new recement, what should he do? ¡°Xiao Rui.¡± Li Lei called Li Rui over. Although he didn¡¯t care much about this child, he did not wish for this child to be irresponsible after causing trouble. He knew that Li Rui was very good at fixing guns. Repairing this destroyed toy was not a difficult task for him.

    Li Rui was very smart. Once Li Lei called him, he understood his father¡¯s intentions.

    However, he refused to give in. Even if he were to help Longlong repair the toy, he wanted Longlong to beg him. He arrogantly lifted his chin and asked, ¡°If you beg me, I can consider helping you put it back in ce.¡±

    However, Longlong was not easily taken advantage of. All of the children present were the pride of their families, and at home, they lived in luxury and were pampered as they grew up. Who would like begging someone for help?

    Longlong refused to say anything.

    The situation reached a stalemate.

    At this time, a small child suddenly appeared. He struggled to enter the crowd with his short arms and legs. It was Shaohui! Just now when conflict broke up among the children, he was nowhere to be seen, but now that the conflict was almost settled, he waste to the scene. There were many broken grass leaves in his hair, and he was carrying a toy bear.

    Xia Ling really wanted to ask him where he had been, but after looking briefly, she couldn¡¯t look straight at him.

    Behind him, a few beautiful girls followed. They were holding toys as they curiously squeezed into the crowd. She guessed that when the boys were having a water gun fight, Shaohui ran to mix around with the girls.

    Xia Ling seriously asked herself if she had raised her child the wrong way.

    Before she could figure out the answer to her question, Shaohui already asked in an incoherent voice, ¡°What is it?¡± He looked very cute and smiled easily. He naturally had a soft heart and got along well with others, so the children all really liked him. Hearing him, a few children immediately told him what had happened.

    ¡°Longlong, do you want the water gun pieced back together?¡± Shaohui said unclearly.

    Longlong nodded. He was still a little hurt. Could it be that begging Li Rui was the only way out?

    Just as he was thinking about this difficult decision, Shaohui bent down and fiddled with the fragments of the water gun on the ground. After a while, he actually managed to repair the water gun.

    Everyone was shocked, and even Li Rui looked at him in disbelief.

    Everyone present was from an eminent family, and the toys they bought for their children were of high quality. The structure of the water gun wasplex, ordinary children could not perfectly repair it. However, on the surface, it appeared that Shaohui really did it as the gun did look almost as good as new.

    However, Li Rui questioned disdainfully, ¡°Who knows if it can still be used?¡±

    As if to reply him, Shaohui pressed the trigger and some residual water was sprayed out. Obviously, the gun¡¯s function had been restored as well.

    Shaohui lifted his head and looked at Li Rui. ¡°What did you just say?¡±

 Chapter 667 - Father and Son

    <h4>Chapter 667: Father and Son</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Rui was speechless.

    He hated the child called Ye Shaohui even more now.

    Xia Ling was also very surprised. She didn¡¯t know that Shaohui, who seemed soft and harmless, had such a skill. Usually, he yed joyfully with the animals and carried around a soft toy around like today. It was really unexpected! She finally felt relieved. This child had not been brought up poorly. Even though he looked silly and soft, he could y well with the other boys too.

    She was just very surprised.

    However, Li Lei¡¯s eyes lit up. Outsiders saw themotion while insiders saw the potential. Others all thought that Shaohui was just assembling a water gun, but Li Lei could tell that this child¡¯s technique was very skillful and professional. His movements were very smooth and his skill level was higher than Li Rui¡¯s.

    In time, this child would definitely be a master at using guns.

    However...

    His expression slightly darkened. What a pity.

    Unfortunately, Shaohui was not his son and could not receive his training. If this child remained by Xiao Ling¡¯s side, he would probably either y with teddy bears or learn how to live in the limelight on stage like her in the future.

    Shaohui was unaware of his regrets. He handed the water gun toy to Longlong, slightly tilted his head and said in a muffled voice, ¡°I can fix many things. If you have anything else that is broken, you can always look for me.¡±

    Longlong happily thanked him.

    A few children started to smile, and the girls beside him also praised Shaohui.

    Originally, the boys and girls were divided into two groups, but with Shaohui as the middleman, they started to y together. However, Li Rui still did not fit in. Seeing that they all looked at Shaohui starry-eyed, he was very unhappy. He snorted and walked away alone.

    Some parents noticed this scene and looked at Li Lei worriedly.

    Everyone knew that Li Lei was the most powerful there and no one wanted to offend him.

    Li Lei also frowned a little. Li Rui was really too anti-social. When he returned, he had to tell Su Tang about this problem. Otherwise, it would not be good for the child.

    On the other hand, Shaohui yed with the children for a while and left by himself.

    The guests all started to disperse and carry on with their own business.

    Xia Ling was very unwilling to face Li Lei and deliberately avoided him. She held a cocktail in her hand and mingled with the other guests. Li Lei was unwilling to have a conflict with her in front of so many people and also walked away. He went to find Shaohui. He did not know why he found that child very extraordinary and wanted to be closer to him.

    Under the vibrant sun, he found Shaohui below the corridor at the backyard garden.

    The small child was sitting on a white step and feeding some crumbs to a flock of birds. Noticing that someone came over, the birds flew away in shock. Shaohui lifted his head and saw Li Lei, but he was somewhat puzzled as to why he came over. However, he sweetly called him ¡°Uncle.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s feelings wereplicated as he asked him, ¡°Why do you call Xiao Ling Sister but me Uncle?¡±

    Did he really look that old?

    The childughed. ¡°That¡¯s because, Uncle, you have a son but Sister doesn¡¯t have one yet.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t sister have you?¡± Li Lei was not satisfied with his response.

    Shaohui continued to mumble. ¡°Sister is Sister.¡± He lowered his head and sped his hands solemnly, making it clear that he did not want to argue with him about this question again.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    He sat down beside the child and tried to talk to him, asking, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Feeding the birds.¡± The child replied matter-of-factly. His soft voice made people¡¯s hearts melt. ¡°These birds haven¡¯t eaten yet. They¡¯re really pitiful.¡±

    ¡°Do you like animals very much?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The child nodded. ¡°My uncle said that animals are our friends and we should care for them.¡±

    ¡°Who is your uncle?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say.¡± The child shook his head and changed the topic. ¡°Sister also really likes animals. She has a cat. It¡¯s really cute and big.¡± The child used his arms to estimate the size of the cat. ¡°Sometimes in the middle of the night, he would crawl up on the bed. It¡¯s so furry and warm.¡±

    Although Xia Ling was single, her bed seemed very exciting. Not only did Shaohui sleep with her, but their cat also squeezed with them.

    Li Lei wanted to listen more about Xia Ling¡¯s affairs and asked the child details about where they met, how he was adopted, what Xia Ling was doing recently, what Xia Ling was eating recently, and if she were resting well...

    Shaohui patiently replied in great detail.

    ¡°Uncle, I¡¯ve seen you before.¡± The child suddenly said.

    ¡°Oh? Where?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°In pictures.¡± The child said, ¡°Sister will sometimes look at a few pictures in a daze. You are always in them. Sometimes, there¡¯s also a very huge...¡± He titled his head and searched the vocabry vault in his mind. ¡°Leopard.¡±

    It seemed that he really saw him before.

    Suddenly, Li Lei¡¯s heart beat irregrly. ¡°Did Sister say anything to you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The child shook his head ignorantly. ¡°Every time she is done looking at your photo, Sister always looks unhappy and doesn¡¯t like to talk.¡±

    Li Lei was silent for a long time. He knew that he hurt Xiao Ling very deeply and caused her to suffer.

    Shaohui looked at him curiously and did not seem to understand why he stopped talking. ¡°Uncle?¡± He asked, ¡°Do you usually look at photos in a daze like Sister?¡±

    Yes, of course.

    Li Lei said that in his heart. His bedroom and study room were filled with her photos. He always took notice of her every step.

    He stroked the child¡¯s soft hair. ¡°How about youe to Uncle¡¯s house to y in the future? I have many photos of your Sister and thatrge leopard. It will be very fun.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The child¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°Uncle can also teach you how to assemble toys.¡±

    Shaohui was ecstatic.

    The two got along very well and did not notice that in the shadow of the small forest, a child stood there gloomily and red at Shaohui viciously. Children were all sensitive. At this time, Li Rui already felt that although his father usually treated him very well, when he was with Shaohui, something... was different.

    There seemed to be a kind of bubble around them which they were happy in and separated them from others.

    The banquet in the mainwn.

    Xia Ling chatted with many guests. When she turned around, she remembered that she had not seen Shaohui for a long time. She asked two staff members but both of them said they did not see the young master. Worried, she got up to look for him.

    Unknowingly, she came to the small backyard porch and saw a small child sitting beside a man. He lifted his small face and they seemed to be happily talking about something.

    The man beside him was Li Lei.

    Xia Ling paused in her footsteps because she did not want to see Li Lei. She wanted to turn around and leave, but she was worried that Li Lei might bully Shaohui. He could look for many other children to y with, so why did he have to look for Shaohui?

    She was in a dilemma, but finally, her maternal instincts took over.

    She walked up and called, ¡°Shaohui.¡±

 Chapter 668 - Untitled

    <h4>Chapter 668: Untitled</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Both of them turned around to look at her.

    She walked up and knelt to look at Shaohui. After seeing that he waspletely clean, she was finally relieved. ¡°Why are you here?¡± She asked, ¡°Haven¡¯t you forgotten what Sister has told you? Don¡¯t talk to strange men.¡±

    Li Lei fell silent. Who was the strange man she was talking about?

    Shaohui ignorantly nodded. ¡°Ok.¡± He then said to Xia Ling, ¡°This Uncle invited me to y at his house.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to go!¡± Xia Ling fiercely said.

    Shaohui¡¯s face fell and looked upset.

    Xia Ling had a headache. What sort of sorcery did Li Lei do to let Shaohui get so close to him in such a short time? How about...

    Just as she was thinking about what to say, Li Lei already pleaded for Shaohui. ¡°He said he wants toe over to see Er Mao. You know that Er Mao is arge animal and it¡¯s not convenient to bring him out. You should just let him go.¡±

    Shaohui also looked at her in anticipation.

    Xia Ling was still very fierce. ¡°No way!¡± Seeing that Shaohui was unhappy, she finally softened her voice a little. ¡°This Uncle is a bad person.¡±

    ¡°What is a bad person?¡± Shaohui innocently asked.

    Xia Ling wanted to give up. Was this child really so stupid? She stopped trying to reason with Shaohui. This time, she fiercely said to Li Lei, ¡°No means no! Don¡¯t think of trying to kidnap him!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°Don¡¯t you miss Er Mao? He... really misses you.¡±

    Suddenly, Xia Ling fell silent. After all these years, how could she not miss Er Mao? When she was poisoned by Pei Ziheng, it was Er Mao who selflessly came to her rescue. Oh yes, and also Li Lei...

    Her feelings wereplicated and she turned her to the side.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice became gentler. ¡°Juste and visit him. Leopards are different from humans as they have a shorter lifespan. You shoulde to visit him while he¡¯s still alive.¡± Heaven forbid he was cursing Er Mao. With Er Mao¡¯s spirited personality now, he could live for another eight or ten years without any problem. The problem was that he was at his wits¡¯ ends trying to pursue Xiao Ling. He had exhausted all of his tricks and had no choice but to use his pet as an excuse.

    Needless to say, this trick was really useful.

    Sure enough, Xia Ling hesitated for a moment. However, it was only a very short moment. She got up, took Shaohui¡¯s small hand and said, ¡°We have to go now.¡± So what if she missed Er Mao? It was better to deal with painful things quickly. She could not continue to have an unclear rtionship with him.

    Shaohui was led away by her. He turned back hesitantly and looked at Li Lei reluctantly.

    However, Li Lei did not look at him. Instead, he looked at the petite girl who was holding him. Under the porch, the wind gently blew. Her appearance was exactly the same in his dreams.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He could not help but rush up, hug her and kiss her deeply.

    Shocked, she unknowingly let go of Shaohui. His kiss was strong and overpowering, not giving her any breathing space. She was very confused and angry. Why was he always like that?

    She wanted to ask him to let her go, but she could not make a sound.

    Xia Ling struggled and wanted to take a step back.

    Li Lei pressed her against the long column under the porch and kissed her more aggressively. He did not believe that she had no feelings for him. Not at all. That child Shaohui already said that she would look at his photo in a daze. Even if she denied again and wanted to push him away, her body would always be honest!

    She was suffocated by his kiss and was weak in his arms. However, her heart was shaking. <i>What is this Li Lei? After so many years of scars, youe and left as you please and unreasonably force yourself on me. What exactly do you take me as?! </i>At this time, she even hated herself. She hated herself for having memories of him and being unable to break away from his violent storm.

    ¡°There seems to be some sort ofmotion there.¡± Suddenly, a clear voice said.

    ¡°Really? Let¡¯s take a look.¡± Someone else said.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling¡¯s originally chaotic mind suddenly became awake. This scene was a big deal. If someone actually found out that she was kissing a married man, she would never be able to clear her name! Her hands and feet were cold and she tried to push Li Lei away again.

    However, Li Lei refused to let go off her and pressed her on the wall forcefully, refusing to let her move an inch.

    On the other hand, the voices of the two men became louder. One of them said, ¡°Reporter Zhou, why did Rainbow Media appoint you today? I thought that you did not like reporting entertainment news.¡±

    ¡°Well, you can¡¯t really say that Reporter Liu.¡± Reporter Zhou said. ¡°Recently, I exposed many shady financialpanies and the entire financial industry is very wary of me, so it¡¯s difficult for me to get news there. Getting entertainment news is like taking a vacation and giving the financial world a breather.¡±

    ¡°Really? Haha, no wonder Mr. Zhou, the investment banker, changed his expression when he saw you.¡±

    The two who wereughing and getting closer were actually reporters!

    Xia Ling was angry and horrified. She tried to push Li Lei away again. However, her hands were still soft and weak. Li Lei did not even have to deliberately stop her to easily do what he wanted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± He whispered in her ear. ¡°If you make a sound, those two reporters will find you.¡±

    She was frightened and did not dare to move. Her body was stiff and tears fell down from the corner of her eyes.

    Shaohui titled his head. He looked curiously at them and then at those two reporters.

    Those two reporters reached the porch. At this time, they heard Xia Ling¡¯s whimper.

    ¡°I just know that there¡¯s amotion there.¡± Reporter Zhou said.

    As the two of them conversed, they walked to the back of the porch.

    Xia Ling only felt the blood rushing to her forehead. Her face was burning and she was trembling. If... If they were found out, what should she do?! However, Li Lei did not let her go and kissed her even more deeply.

    The two reporters were about toe over.

    At this time, Shaohui bounced out.

    ¡°What are you two doing?¡± He slurred and asked curiously.

    When the two reporters saw him, they smiled. ¡°Shaohui, were you hiding behind the long column?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Shaohui nodded matter-of-factly. ¡°There are two birds fighting there. I went to take a look. Now, they¡¯ve flown away.¡±

    The two reporters looked at each other. It turned out that this child was looking at the birds y. What a pity, there was no new news.

    ¡°I¡¯m going look for Li Rui to y with him.¡± Shaohui acted as if he could not tell the disappointment in their eyes and said innocently, ¡°Just now on thewn, I saw that he did not look very happy. If I give him my favorite toy to y with, do you think he will be happier?¡±

    Li Rui? Li Rui¡¯s mother and this child¡¯s ¡°Sister¡± were obviously love rivals. With these two children together, things would get exciting!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We will look for Li Rui with you.¡± The two reporters decided immediately and gave up their initial intention of checking the back of therge column.

 Chapter 669 - A Fight Started

    <h4>Chapter 669: A Fight Started</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When Xia Ling heard that the people had left, she copsed andy soft in Li Lei¡¯s arms.

    Li Lei hugged her and kissed her again before finally letting her go. He used his fingers to gently tidy up her messy long hair and clothes. Gently, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be so afraid, they¡¯re not here anymore.¡±

    This sentence made her blood boil.

    She did not know where she found the strength, but she gave him a tight p.

    There was a crisp sound.

    Five clear fingers appeared on his cheek.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me see you again.¡± She warned and left without looking back.

    She walked very fast and only felt that she was about to explode in anger. As she walked, her thin fairy skirt with tullece fluttered in the wind. She calmed herself and appeared elegant in front of the crowd. Some people cast curious eyes at her, but she turned a blind eye to them.

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye.¡±

    When she walked to the guarded entrance, several security officers greeted her.

    ¡°Who allowed you to let Li Lei in?¡± She was furious. ¡°Quickly chase him out!¡±

    ¡°But.¡± A few security officers looked at each other in distress. ¡°He has an invitation letter.¡±

    ¡°His invitation is fake!¡± Xia Ling was even angrier. She thought that if she did not send an invitation to irrelevant people, everything would be found, but she did not think that some people would be despicable enough to forge an invitation.

    The security officers still felt troubled. Mr. Li was a respected figure. Even if he forged his invitation, it was more like an innocuous joke. Chasing him out in front of everyone would be a ghastly sight. However, their master had the final say, and since Miss Ye instructed them to do so, they could only perform their task.

    The leading security officer picked up an inte and told the patrolling guards inside what to do.

    Unexpectedly, before they could catch him, amotion started again.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Someone eximed. ¡°Young Master Shaohui and Young Master Li Rui are fighting!¡±

    Many guests wanted to look at themotion and quickly rushed in the direction of the voice. Xia Ling also hurriedly ran there. She knew that Shaohui was a very soft child and usually did not even dare to kill a bug. Sometimes when a moth flew into the vi, he would drive the moth away and never kill it. As for Li Rui? Besides this time, he had already beaten up children two times before.

    She was afraid that Shaohui would be bullied.

    However, when she arrived at the scene, she was stunned¡ª

    Shaohui was tackling Li Rui on the ground and mmed him down with his small limbs. He looked very energetic. In contrast, Li Rui wanted to fight back several times but Shaohui always avoided him at the right time.

    ¡°This... is not logical!¡± Some guests already shouted out. ¡°Shaohui looks shorter than Li Rui, how could he win him in a fight? I heard that Li Rui practiced Kung Fu!¡± The surrounding onlookers thought so too. Logically speaking, therger child should be the one bullying the smaller child. Why was the logic reversed? Furthermore, Li Rui always had a foul mood and did not look easy to challenge while Shaohui always looked very harmless.

    The scene in front made them question reality.

    The reality was that... Shaohui fought Li Rui until he was unable to fight back. Both of the children were covered in mud. Li Rui¡¯s face and clothes were stained with blood and he looked horrifying.

    Although it was said that a fight between boys was no big deal, this had turned bloody.

    Someone rushed forward and tried to urge them to stop. ¡°Shaohui, quickly stop. Stop fighting.¡± After that, he reached out to pull the two children apart. However, he was unable to pull Shaohui away. This child looked short and had baby fat, but he was really something when it came to a fight. Even the adults could not pull him away.

    ¡°Shaohui!¡± Xia Ling also called. She did not know what was wrong with this child. He was usually soft-spoken and was never angry after being reprimanded by the subordinates. This was the first time she saw him this angry.

    She did not know if Shaohui heard her. Anyway, he just kept punching Li Rui. As he punched him, he viciously demanded, ¡°Apologize!¡± His voice was very cute and people did know whether tough or cry.

    ¡°Shaohui!¡± Another man¡¯s voice was heard. It was Li Lei. He had arrived some time ago and rushed forward to grab Shaohui¡¯s hand. Somehow, he was able to pull Shaohui away from Li Rui¡¯s body.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch my child!¡± Xia Ling anxiously said and immediately took Shaohui from him.

    Li Rui did not stop her and handed Shaohui to her. He bent down to check on Li Rui. ¡°Xiao Rui, how are you? Where are you hurt?¡±

    Li Rui was a very stubborn child. Although he was beaten up until his face bloody and covered in dirt, he did not say a word. He climbed up and patted the dirt off his body.

    ¡°Where are you hurt?¡± Seeing that he was covered in blood, Li Lei was horrified. To participate in Xiao Ling¡¯s party, he secretly brought Xiao Rui over. If the child was hurt, how could he exin it to Su Tang? After all, Xiao Rui was not his biological child. If the stepmother were put in a difficult situation, the stepfather would not be in a good ce too.

    Li Rui replied sullenly, ¡°I¡¯m not hurt.¡±

    Li Lei was startled, and even the crowd was startled.

    Suddenly, they heard Xia Ling¡¯s anxious voice. ¡°Doctor! Quickly call the doctor!¡±

    Everyone turned around to look at the other child, Shaohui. They saw that Shaohui was being held in Xia Ling¡¯s arms and blood was flowing out of his small arm. However, he was stillforting her. ¡°Sister, I¡¯m not hurt.¡±

    The more he said he was not hurt, the more Xia Ling¡¯s heart hurt.

    She called for a doctor and carried her child as she ran towards the lounge.

    Many people followed her. Even Li Lei took Li Rui with him in shock.

    This main purpose of this banquet was to host a gathering for the children. When she organized it, she considered various idents, so a specialized children¡¯s doctor was already on standby. When he was called, he quickly came over to give Shaohui a check.

    ¡°How were you injured?¡± The doctor examined Shaohui¡¯s arm and asked.

    ¡°I was injured by a stone.¡± Shaohui said softly and added, ¡°Doctor, this is a very small injury, right? Please quickly tell Sister that I¡¯m fine so that Sister won¡¯t be sad anymore.¡±

    Initially, Xia Ling was upset. After hearing what he said, she sniffed and started crying.

    ¡°Sister, don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m really not in pain.¡± The chubby child tried to reassure her.

    ¡°This child is so sensible.¡± Someone from the crowd who followed them in said.

    ¡°How is he sensible? He just beat Li Rui up into a pulp.¡± Someone else offered another opinion. Everyone kept looking interchangeably at the two children and tried to guess what had happened. They were all very interested in the gossip.

 Chapter 670 - Crazily Mad

    <h4>Chapter 670: Crazily Mad</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not care so much. She anxiously asked the doctor, ¡°Is the child ok?¡±

    The doctor stopped Shaohui¡¯s bleeding and carefully wrapped the wound in a bandage. At the same time, he checked other ces of his body. ¡°It¡¯s nothing serious. He did lose a lot of blood, but he did not injure his bones. He will recover after some rest. He is a child, it¡¯s inevitable that he will encounter an ident. He¡¯s not so weak. Miss Ye, you don¡¯t have to worry so much.¡±

    In reality, although he said that the child¡¯s injuries were not very serious, he had arge wound on his arm. Luckily, this experienced doctor was there. If another doctor were there, he would have to get stitches. The old doctor initially wanted to reprimand Shaohui and tell him not to be so rowdy in the future, but after seeing Shaohui¡¯s pleading look and Xia Ling crying at the side, he decided not to provoke Miss Ye.

    After hearing what the old doctor said, she was slightly relieved.

    After the doctor dealt with Shaohui¡¯s wounds, he went to check on Li Rui. He saw that although Li Rui¡¯s body was swollen in many ces, he was not bleeding. ¡°He will be fine after some swelling medicine is applied.¡± The old doctor said. ¡°If you aren¡¯t reassured, you can go to the hospital to do a check to see if there¡¯s any internal bleeding.¡±

    Li Lei thanked the doctor.

    At the side, a reporter asked the two children, ¡°Why did you fight?¡±

    Li Rui coldly looked at that reporter and did not say a word. Shaohui also remained silent.

    This was very strange. Children would usually rush to report the name of the culprit after the fight, but these two children? Both of them looked like they were afraid of letting people know the reason and kept very quiet.

    The reporters became more intersted in the story.

    The two reporters who had apanied Shaohui to look for Li Rui just now were also present. They looked at each other and did not say a word. They personally witnessed how the children started fighting, but this kind of news was exclusive. How could they share it with others? The quieter the children remained, the happier they were.

    ¡°Ok, ok. Everyone, disperse and let the two children rest.¡± Lin Yunan came over to disperse the crowd. During Xia Ling¡¯s banquet, as her manager and staff, his main task was handling the situation at hand.

    The crowd was still unsettled but left. Even the doctor went away.

    Now, only Xia Ling, Li Lei, and the two children remained.

    Xia Ling looked at Shaohui and finally asked, ¡°Tell us. What happened?¡±

    Shaohui looked at her innocently and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Xiao Rui and I were just ying.¡±

    ¡°You were ying until you started hitting him on the ground?¡± Xia Ling was so angry that she almostughed. <i>Oh, Shaohui, are you looking down on your Sister¡¯s intelligence?</i>

    Li Rui snorted.

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°What¡¯s with that attitude?¡± Both of the children were not saying anything. He felt that the situation was strange. He couldn¡¯t help but ask Li Rui, ¡°What exactly happened?¡±

    Li Rui finally slowly said, ¡°He¡¯s very annoying, so I threw stones at him. After that, this bastard tackled and hit me.¡± He did not tell them the whole truth about this incident. He lost this fight and it was humiliating to him. That¡¯s why he did not exin things clearly.

    ¡°Who are you calling a bastard?!¡± Xia Ling red at him. Although she really liked children, this did not mean that she could tolerate other children insulting her own child!

    Li Ruiughed coldly. ¡°The person I¡¯m talking about knows who he is.¡±

    ¡°Li Rui!¡± Li Lei stopped him. ¡°Apologize to Auntie Ye and Shaohui!¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Li Rui was stubborn. His temperament was like Su Tang¡¯s, very arrogant and solitary. He would insist that he was right until the very end.

    Xia Ling was exasperated and summoned the security officers. ¡°Where are the security officers? Why haven¡¯t they driven out the rubbish that snuck in?¡± What right did this child have to insult Shaohui? Bastard? Shaohui was already pitiful enough because he did not have parents. This was not even his fault, so why did he have to endure such insults!

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m really sorry.¡± Li Lei spoke. ¡°I will leave with Xiao Rui. You...¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± She exploded in anger and red at him. ¡°Take your son and stay far away from my child! Does he actually understand what a bastard means? Does he know who exactly is the bastard?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± This time, Li Lei¡¯s expression slightly changed. How could she talk about Li Rui like that? Only Su Tang, Old Master Li, him and she knew that Li Rui was not his biological son. The rest of the world, including Li Rui, thought that Li Rui was his son.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go too far.¡± He said in a more severe tone to protect Li Rui.

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Who exactly is the one that went too far?¡± She pointed at the door. ¡°Get lost! Li Lei, you better leave immediately! Not only did you bully me, but your child also bullied mine! You are not weed here, so get lost!¡±

    She was fuming.

    Li Lei knew that this was not the time to reason with her. If they continued to argue like this, she might even say more hurtful things. The reason why he came to the banquet today was not to make her angry. Thus, he took Li Rui¡¯s hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Xiao Ling. I will apologize again another time.¡±

    He turned around and was about to leave with Li Rui.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Suddenly, Shaohui stopped them with a soft voice.

    Li Lei turned around and lowered his head to look at the child inquiringly.

    ¡°When youe to apologize, remember to bring Li Rui.¡± Shaohui said every word seriously. ¡°He owes me an apology. Furthermore, I¡¯m not younger than him. He should be the one calling me elder brother.¡±

    Li Lei was shocked. This child looked shorter than Li Rui, so why did he have more presence than Li Rui?

    Li Rui snorted coldly. ¡°Apologize? In your dreams! I¡¯ll get someone to kill you!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± This time, Li Lei was even stricter. This child was overly arrogant. He was too self-important and did not know how to get along with other children.

    Li Rui stopped talking and turned around.

    Shaohui looked seriously at Li Lei. ¡°Uncle Li, I¡¯m very happy that you yed with me today and invited me to your house to visit Er Mao. However, you shouldn¡¯t bully Sister. If you don¡¯t bring Li Rui over to apologize to us, in the future, you don¡¯t have to y with me anymore.¡±

    Xia Ling was very confused. What was he talking about? Was he referring to how Li Lei forcefully kissed her just now? However, how was that rted to Li Rui? It was really... strange.

    However, Li Lei sort of understood the underlying meaning. Could it be that this matter involved Xia Ling?

    His expression became stern.

    However, Shaohui stopped talking to him. He raised his chubby face and looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Sister, let¡¯s y with the other children, ok?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re badly hurt but you still want to y?¡± Xia Ling felt angry yet amused at the same time.

    Shaohui nodded vigorously. ¡°I promised to help Sister Cherry make a wood castle. Uncle said that boys who lie to girls are the worst.¡±

 Chapter 671 - Who Hit Who

    <h4>Chapter 671: Who Hit Who</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling understood what he meant.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling¡¯s chest tightened and looked at Li Lei subconsciously. Unexpectedly, her eyes met his deep and quiet eyes. Under the shade of the trees, his expression was mysterious. He looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

    The child did not the feelings of love and loss. He bounced away to y with the other children.

    Xia Ling turned around and was about to leave, but Li Lei stopped her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I don¡¯t expect you to forgive me so soon, but can you please give me another chance to chase after you and make up for what I¡¯ve done?¡±

    Makeup?

    With Su Tang there, it would never be possible.

    Suddenly, she felt a wave of sadness. <i>Oh, Li Lei, you still don¡¯t get understand. Do you know what a woman really wants? Money? Power? These things were actually not important. The only important thing was having someone willing to stay by her side forever. This was the simplest luxury in the world.</i>

    She turned around and left.

    The rest of the banquet continued smoothly. When it ended, Shaohui made many friends like what he wanted. Everyone agreed to meet again to y with one another next time before reluctantly saying goodbye.

    Looking at Shaohui¡¯s happy smile, Xia Ling felt that all of her hard work was worth it.

    However, just as she thought that the next few days would be calm and peaceful, unexpectedly, she saw the headlines of the news the next day. ¡°During the garden banquet, the small host Ye Shaohui and guest Li Rui had a conflict. After that, hemanded the children to ostracize Li Rui?!¡± It was a sensational headline that attracted countless readers.

    In the article, there were two pictures. In one picture, Shaohui was holding a water gun and sprayed Li Rui with water while a group of children stood in front of Shaohui indifferently. In the other picture, Shaohui was pinning Li Rui to the ground and Li Rui had blood on his face. The text was very out of context. Shaohui was portrayed to be a small bully while Li Rui was the one who suffered grievances.

    Xia Ling was furious after reading it. Wasn¡¯t this a false ount of the true facts?!

    The discussion below made her even angrier. Many online viewers who did not know the truth said, ¡°Children who have no parents are like that. Why is this Shaohui so uneducated? He is really capable of anything.¡±

    They were dragging Shaohui down and cursing him.

    There was also another part of thements which was sympathizing with Li Rui.

    Xia Ling could not stand it any longer. She called Lin Yunan over. ¡°Why is this report so full of rubbish? Quickly think of something to deal with it.¡±

    Lin Yunan had also read the report and sneered. ¡°That group of reporters really doesn¡¯t think that themotion is big enough. However, it¡¯s too obvious who the public is supporting. I suspect that someone is pulling strings and trying to besmirch your and Shaohui¡¯s name.¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling asked, ¡°Who? What benefits do they have for doing this?¡±

    ¡°Benefits? There are so many!¡± Lin Yunan sneered. ¡°For example, to make you fall out with Li Lei because of your child or to let the public think that you did not educate your child well enough and that you¡¯re not suitable as a mother. Thus, you aren¡¯t worthy of reviving your romance with Li Lei.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Su Tang?¡±

    ¡°Well, it seems that you¡¯ve learned something in these years at least. You aren¡¯t that stupid now.¡± Lin Yunan said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe she actually used my child. That¡¯s so scary.¡± Xia Ling murmured angrily. In the entertainment industry, she was prepared to be criticized by anyone, but Shaohui was different. What right did they have to drag a small child into the messy world of adults?

    They could drag her down.

    But she would never allow them to do that to her child!

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°I want to fight back.¡±

    ¡°Fight back? How to fight back?¡± Lin Yunan asked.

    ¡°There were so many influential people present and so many eyes that were looking. They all know the truth.¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°Haha.¡± Lin Yunanughed.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Ling was very irritable.

    Lin Yunan leaned over and entered several keywords on herputer to search for a few news articles. ¡°Look, these are the so-called testimonies given by the celebrities.¡±

    Xia Ling took a look at it. Recently, several influential figures who were interviewed agreed without hesitation. ¡°They would notment on the differences among the children.¡±

    ¡°How... how could this be?¡± Xia Ling was very unhappy.

    Lin Yunanughed again. ¡°Miss Ye, no doubt you¡¯re rich now, but what about Mr. Li? I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯s much richer and more powerful than you. There are rumors that he had just dealt with Li Feng overseas and is now the first heir to the Li Family. Do you know what this means? This means that if you touch him, they can kill you and crush most of the people there like ants.¡±

    In this sort of situation, how could she expect those celebrities to speak up for her?

    Anyone that could rise in the social ranks was smart and knew that it was not worth it to offend Li Lei to help her.

    Xia Ling also finally understood theplex situation and gritted her teeth. ¡°I should have driven him out from the very start!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote for that now.¡± Lin Yunan saidzily. ¡°I advise you to go home to look after Shaohui. Don¡¯t let him be affected by public opinion.¡±

    ¡°I want to stop the public opinion!¡± Xia Ling said.

    ¡°I suggest you wait.¡± Lin Yunan respondedzily.

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling felt that she could not wait to unleash her fury. ¡°How can we wait? We can¡¯t let them hurt Shaohui!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you like Li Lei?¡± Lin Yunan said, ¡°You should seize this opportunity to see what he does and think about whether you still want to get back with him.¡±

    ¡°Who said I liked him?¡± Xia Ling rebuked fiercely. Even though she did have some feelings left for him, after the incident with Shaohui, everything disappeared without a trace. She wanted to scream. ¡°He¡¯s a piece of sh*t! I will never ever get back together with him even if I¡¯m dead!¡±

    Lin Yunan shrugged his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s up to you.¡± Although he said that, he thought, <i>Women always do not mean what they say. She was still wearing the amulet that Li Lei gave her at the start. She doesn¡¯t fool anyone when she says she doesn¡¯t like him anymore.</i>

    However, he was toozy to expose her. As her manager, he was not her rtionship counselor. He did not care whether she got back with him or not.

    Lin Yunan sauntered out.

    Xia Ling sulked alone in thepany for a while before getting into a car to apany Shaohui.

    Just as she reached the front door, she saw a group of people surrounding the area. They were all reporters and fighting to ask her questions. ¡°Miss Ye, I heard that your child hit Mr. Li¡¯s child. Is this true?¡±

    ¡°I heard that your child has never received etiquette training before. Does he have problems socializing?¡±

    ¡°I heard that he doesn¡¯t get along with others and is a loner?¡±

    One by one, questions were shot at her like a cannon.

    She had a splitting headache and told the driver, ¡°Quickly drive.¡± The red Porsche which was stuck at the entrance of themunity moved at the speed of a tortoise.

 Chapter 672 - Pei Zihengâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 672: Pei Ziheng¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When she entered themunity, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

    The security measures here were very good. No matter howrge the paparazzi were outside, they could not enter.

    She went back to the vi and paced about in the study room anxiously. After a long time, she finally thought of something and took out her phone. ¡°Hello, is this Mr. Long? It¡¯s like this...¡± Mr. Long was the father of the child whose water gun was broken by Li Rui. Over the phone, Xia Ling tried to persuade him to testify and prove that Shaohui was simply trying to help his child repair a water gun instead of deliberately targeting Li Rui.

    However, unexpectedly, Mr. Long said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Ye. Longlong is still small and I don¡¯t wish for him to be involved in the messy news. Please forgive us for not being able to testify.¡±

    Xia Ling was very angry. She knew these were all niceties. The true reason was that Mr. Long did not dare to offend the Li Family. Unfortunately, she could not do anything about it as she could not hold a knife to his neck and force him to tell the truth.

    She angrily smashed her phone.

    She heard some noise from outside.

    She turned around and saw a small child dragging his long pajamas into the room. As he walked in, he rubbed his eyes and softly called, ¡°Sister.¡±

    At once, Xia Ling¡¯s heart softened and she retracted her anger. Bending down to see him, she said, ¡°Shaohui, are you awake?¡± This child had a habit of taking afternoon naps and was very obedient.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The child nodded and raised his hands as he wanted her to hug him.

    Xia Ling smiled and carried him.

    Shaohui asked incoherently, ¡°Sister, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Xia Ling said. She did not wish to tell her child about these things, so she changed the subject. ¡°Shaohui, what do you want to eat for dinner? I will ask the nanny to prepare it. Be good. After I¡¯m done with my work, I will y with you.¡±

    Sure enough, Shaohui obediently nodded and struggled to be put down. ¡°Sister, finish your work first.¡±

    After that, he ran away.

    The nanny knocked on the door. ¡°Miss.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    The nanny said, ¡°Mr. Pei is here. He wants to see you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng? Why was he here? Xia Ling was a little doubtful. She told the nanny to let him in as she walked towards the living room downstairs. Sure enough, that tall man was standing in the living room. Due to the midsummer weather, he wore a light gray thin shirt. He looked gentle, elegant and dignified.

    He lifted his head to look at her as she was descending the stairs. There was a warm look in his eyes. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She stood a few steps away from him and asked, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Some time ago, Imperial Entertainment bought a scenic spot to start the development of a filming site. I was busy there for a long time and brought you some local souvenirs.¡± As he spoke, he showed her a few unknown fruits in his hands.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Thank you.¡± She told the nanny to take the wild fruit.

    She also said, ¡°I¡¯m still busy with something and will talk to you some other day.¡± Vaguely, she hinted that she wanted him to leave.

    Pei Ziheng did not mind. However, he did not leave and said, ¡°I saw the news report.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled.

    Pei Ziheng then said, ¡°Let me help you with this. Give me the photos of the banquet.¡±

    Xia Ling was currently overwhelmed by this. After hearing that someone could help her, she immediately epted his help regardless of whether he was Pei Ziheng. This situation concerned Shaohui. Even if she had to ask a tiger for its skin, she had to protect her child.

    She sent the photos of the banquet to Pei Ziheng.

    After that, Pei Ziheng sent the photo to his subordinates, made a few calls, and gave a few instructions.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What do you n to do?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said in a very gentle voice, ¡°It¡¯s very simple. I will process these photos and then assemble a group of skeptics to write about some facts that arepletely different from the news. This is the first step. When the two sides start to quarrel, things will be easier. The masses will spontaneously start to investigate the truth. Since this situation happened with so many people present, the truth will definitelye out.¡±

    Xia Ling seemed to understand and nodded.

    Looking at the man¡¯s confidentposure, she suddenly realized something. ¡°You... specially came here to help me?¡± The souvenirs were just an excuse. This man was always like this. Whenever she was met with a big problem, he would always understate it in front of her as if he could easily make it disappear into nothing.

    For some time, there was a sour feeling in her heart.

    ¡°If you¡¯re touched, how about you invite me to dinner?¡± Pei Ziheng smiled.

    This was exactly the oue he wanted. After saving her from distress and the atmosphere was just right, he would try to sneak in. She was about to nod in agreement when suddenly, a small head emerged from behind her.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± A child asked in a muffled voice.

    Pei Ziheng was speechless.

    Why was this child such a killjoy?

    However, he had already learned about him through an investigation done by his subordinates. The child in front of him was Xiao Ling¡¯s precious treasure. Anyone who offended her child would fall out with her. Thus, he could only tolerate the big grievance in his heart. He knelt down to look at Shaohui and said gently, ¡°Are you Shaohui? Hello.¡±

    Shaohui looked at him cautiously.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and said to the child, ¡°This is Uncle Pei.¡±

    The child hesitated before he said, ¡°Uncle Pei.¡±

    ¡°Good boy.¡± Pei Ziheng was very gentle.

    Shaohui lifted his head and looked curiously at Xia Ling, ¡°Sister, Sister, are you very close with this uncle?¡±

    Suddenly, Pei Ziheng felt that something was not right. Why did this child call Xia Ling ¡°Sister¡± but he was called ¡°uncle¡± ?! This... They were not more than a generation apart!

    ¡°I¡¯m Brother Pei.¡± He seriously corrected the child.

    ¡°Uncle.¡± The child seriously said.

    Pei Ziheng was speechless.

    Seeing that the two of them were not giving in, Xia Ling suddenly felt likeughing. Honestly, this was the first time she saw Pei Ziheng being so calctive over a small matter. Only this child dared to rebuke him.

    Pei Ziheng noticed that she was amused, but he was not very happy. Gritting his teeth, he asked, ¡°What does he call Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Uncle as well.¡± Xia Ling resisted herughed.

    Only then did Pei Ziheng¡¯s mood improved. It seemed that this child treated everyone the same. He stopped being calctive and returned to the topic from before. ¡°Are you going to invite me to dinner?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°My house is small and I can¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to tell him that she minded, but since he came over today to give her souvenirs and helped to deal with the negative news surrounding Shaohui, she really had no way to reject him. On the other hand, Pei Ziheng already made his decision. ¡°You don¡¯t have to trouble yourself so much. Let¡¯s just eat here in your home.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. She epted her fate and instructed the nanny to prepare dinner.

    The two of them drank tea in the living room as they waited for the nanny to finish cooking dinner and for Pei Ziheng¡¯s subordinate to settle the problem. Soon, his phone rang and he answered. ¡°Has everything been dealt with?¡±

 Chapter 673 - Silent Kill

    <h4>Chapter 673: Silent Kill</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At the other end of the line, the subordinate said, ¡°Mister, before we could put our skeptics¡¯ team into motion, the negative news online suddenly diminished, especially the major portals and forums. They were all deleted.¡±

    Pei Ziheng slightly frowned. Who was the person who settled this before him?

    On the surface, he appeared calm and instructed in a low voice, ¡°Deal with the aftermath.¡± Then, he hung up the phone.

    Xia Ling guessed that it was rted to Shaohui¡¯s news and asked in concern, ¡°How is it?¡±

    Looking at her anxious face, he warmly assured her. ¡°It¡¯s almostpletely settled.¡±

    She sighed in relief and quickly took out herptop to check the news. Sure enough, arge portion of the news had vanished without a trace, and there was an increasing number of skeptics defending Shaohui. Public opinion was slowly starting to favor Shaohui.

    Thank Heavens.

    She lifted her head and was extremely grateful. ¡°Pei Ziheng, thank you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng remained emotionless. ¡°As long as the child is fine. Now, you can eat in peace.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and specially instructed the nanny to cook more of his favorite dishes. Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes sparkled for a moment. It turned out that his Xiao Ling still remembered what he liked to eat.

    Unknowingly, the two started to get along well again.

    However, no one realized that Shaohui was frowning at the side and he was very upset. He ran back to his own room and took out a minimunicator from underneath a pile of items. ¡°Uncle!¡± He cried, ¡°Things aren¡¯t good! Mom is with that Uncle Pei again!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± At the other end, an indifferent and cold voice was heard. ¡°What about your dad?¡±

    ¡°Dad?¡± The child frowned. ¡°Stupid dad is not here.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Moyanughed coldly. ¡°If your dad is like that, how can he continue to pursue the Phoenix of the Xia Family? We should just let Xiao Ling end up with Pei Ziheng.¡±

    <i>Bam¡ª </i>He hung up themunicator.

    The little child looked at themunicator in a daze.

    Yes, he was the actual Shaohui, Xia Ling¡¯s biological son from four years ago that was taken away by Xia Moyan. Over the years, he was raised by his uncle Xia Moyan. As he grew older, his mother¡¯s curse had weakened and his uncle was able to send him back to his mother with a hidden identity.

    His uncle said that he relied on him to be a matchmaker between his mother and father.

    He also said that he could not reveal his identity because his mother¡¯s curse had notpletely subsided yet.

    Shaohui was young and did not really understand, but he knew one thing. His mother belonged with his father and had no rtionship with Uncle Pei. No way was anyone going to steal his mother from his father.

    That was why after he found out that Uncle Pei came to visit his mother, he immediately reported it to his uncle.

    However, it seemed that uncle was very upset with his father...

    <i>That¡¯s right. Stupid dad </i>, Shaohui thought secretly. <i>No one chases after a girl like you. Even when I¡¯m ying with Sister Cherry, I know that when girls need you to be by their side, you have to be by their side. After noting to look for mom for so long, you deserve to have someonepeting with you for her! Hmph!</i>

    Sadly...

    Shaohui still missed his dad very much.

    He was scared that Uncle Pei would run away with his mom.

    Shaohui was very worried and troubled. He did not know what uncle meant when he hung up the phone. Was he going to think of something or did he not care about whether his dad was dead or alive? Oh no... Uncle Pei looked very fierce and stern. He really did not want Uncle Pei to be his stepfather.

    Shaohuiy in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor and gazed outside.

    After a long time, he saw a man walk on to the stone pavement. He was wearing a clean and fitting shirt and looked very handsome.

    Shaohui was ted and quickly ran downstairs.

    In the living room, Xia Ling was drinking tea with Pei Ziheng and they were having an easy conversation. Both of them had talked like this for a long time and it was rare for them to spend time together so leisurely. Suddenly, the nanny walked over and respectfully said, ¡°Miss, a guest hase to visit. It¡¯s Mr. Li.¡±

    Mr. Li? Li Lei?

    Why did hee?

    Xia Ling slightly frowned, her initial good mood ruined. She said, ¡°Let him leave. I don¡¯t want to see him.¡± However, just as she spoke, Li Lei had already walked into the living room.

    In the shadow behind the carved door, a small child was trying to run away.

    Li Lei looked at the two people drinking tea in the living room and his heart ached. His Xiao Ling was sitting in a rxed position on an embroidered cushion while Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand gently touched her arm. She looked like she was very used to this and felt nothing.

    These two people looked like an old couple.

    Luckily, he just received word from his subordinates that Pei Ziheng had returned to the city and seemed to have nned to visit Xiao Ling at this time. It was just as he expected. Li Lei was d that he rushed over at this time. Otherwise, if things between them continued in such a pleasant atmosphere, who knows what the consequences would be.

    He concealed his feelings and greeted Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face fell. ¡°You¡¯re not weed here.¡±

    Li Lei almost snorted. This ce did not wee him but it weed Pei Ziheng? However, he knew that whatever he said would be used against him now. He could not provoke Xiao Ling again, especially in front of his love rival.

    Thus, he could only say respectfully, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, Xiao Ling. I heard that the news spread messy rumors about your banquet. This started because of Li Rui. After I urgently dealt with it, I came over to look for you.¡±

    ¡°Urgently dealt with it?¡± Xia Ling sneered. If it weren¡¯t for Pei Ziheng, would she be sitting here leisurely and drinking tea? Did Li Lei know what dealing with something meant? However, she did not intend to ask him and only said, ¡°After you¡¯ve handed matters, it would be already toote.¡±

    Li Lei frowned and said, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    ¡°Get out immediately.¡± She ordered again.

    Li Lei¡¯s feet seemed to be rooted to the ground and he refused to move. How could he let his beloved woman be in the same room with a dangerous man like Pei Ziheng? He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I have something to tell you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to talk about between us.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± This time, Pei Ziheng spoke. He stood up and suddenly, there was an overbearing force in the middle of the living room. ¡°Xiao Ling has already told you to leave, so don¡¯t stay here and be an inconvenience.¡±

    However, Li Lei was not scared of him. What sort of storms had he not braved before? He refused to budge and look straight in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. His sturdy figure was not any inferior to the man in front of him, and he exuded a violent aura. ¡°I¡¯m talking to Xiao Ling. It¡¯s not your ce to interrupt.¡±

    The two men quietly confronted each other with their killer eye contact. A war was on the verge of starting.

 Chapter 674 - Different States of Mind

    <h4>Chapter 674: Different States of Mind</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at them nervously.

    In the shadow of the door, a small child also nervously looked at them. Shaohui was afraid that his father would be defeated and silently cheered on him in his heart. However, the battle between the two men reached a stalemate as neither was willing to give in. Shaohui was unhappy, so he went to the dining area to take a look and ran over to pull Xia Ling¡¯s hand. ¡°Sister, I¡¯m hungry.¡± He said softly.

    Xia Ling was quite worried that these two men would start to fight. However, nothing was more important than Shaohui wanting to eat dinner. She gently said to Shaohui, ¡°Are you hungry? Come, Sister will take you to dinner.¡±

    After that, she held the child¡¯s hand and walked towards the dining hall.

    Although the two men were ring at each other, they were very sensitive to her actions. Once they saw they she was leaving with the child, they immediately gave up their fight, viciously red at each other onest time, and rushed to follow her.

    Dining hall.

    The table was full of delicious food.

    The nanny made many dishes, and a few were dishes that Xia Ling specially instructed her to make. Pei Ziheng sat next to Xia Ling and seemingly unintentionally said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you still remember what I like to eat.¡±

    His tone was elegant and gentle.

    But it stabbed Li Lei¡¯s heart.

    Even Xia Ling looked up at him as she knew that he was deliberately provoking Li Lei. She bit her lip but did not say a word. It was also good if Li Lei gave up on his own.

    However, Li Lei had no intention of retreating. In fact, he did not even follow Xia Ling¡¯s orders and insisted on sitting beside her as well. Shaohui looked at him, then at Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng. He had no choice but to sit opposite of Xia Ling, in the middle of Pei Ziheng and Li Lei.

    It was a very strange seating arrangement.

    The nanny brought rice over and sets of beautiful china tableware.

    Li Lei picked up his chopsticks and looked at the table inadvertently. ¡°Stir-fried lettuce with mashed garlic and charcoal scallops are dishes that I really like to eat. Xiao Ling, I can¡¯t believe you still remember. If you ever visit me, I will make sure to make your favorite dishes and desserts.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly startled.

    If he did not mention it, she really almost forgot that the dining table really had many dishes that Li Lei liked. She did not know when, but she started to eat things he liked during every meal. After a long time, it became a habit. She wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if he had not pointed it out.

    Looking at her rmed expression, Pei Ziheng¡¯s face slightly darkened.

    However, Xia Ling was soon back to normal again. She ced arge portion of stir-fried lettuce on Shaohui¡¯s te and said lightly, ¡°This is your favorite vegetable. Eat more of it.¡±

    Shaohui looked at her wrongfully. When did he start to like this vegetable? He hated vegetables the most. The child¡¯s eyes shined as if he wanted to say something, but Xia Ling red at him.

    Pei Ziheng, who was dressed smartly, elegantly cut the steak on his te. Seeing that Shaohui liked to eat vegetables, he smiled lightly. ¡°It turns out that Shaohui is the one who likes it. Shaohui, do you like scallops as well?¡±

    As he spoke, he deliberately scooped up arge portion of scallops for Shaohui.

    Shaohui actually really liked to eat this dish.

    With delicious food in front of him, the child could not avoid the temptation. He nced at his dad who was sitting next to him and then again at the food on his te. Sure enough, he made a decisive choice¡ªdevour the food.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened.

    It turned out that Xiao Ling really did not prepare the dishes for herself but for a child she had no blood rtions with. He was very upset and quietly ate his rice. He even forgot to eat the other dishes and only ate arge bowl of rice.

    Xia Ling noticed it and her heart hurt tremendously.

    She initially thought that she could ignore it, but she realized that she could not do it no matter what. She couldn¡¯t help but ce arge piece of stir-fried lettuce in Li Lei¡¯s bowl and coldly said, ¡°Eat.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her strangely and was slightly surprised.

    However, Xia Ling turned her head away.

    Pei Ziheng was not pleased, but on the surface, he maintained a smile. ¡°As Skyart Entertainment¡¯s boss and the heir of the Li Family, I can¡¯t believe you came here to eat white rice. People who don¡¯t know what happened would think that Xiao Ling was mistreating her guest.¡± As he spoke, he cut small pieces of steak and ced them in Xia Ling¡¯s bowl. ¡°This medium-well-done steak is very soft. Xiao Ling, I remember that you really liked to eat it.¡±

    Suddenly, Xia Ling realized that there were many things in her bowl. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end, she kept quiet and ate all of it slowly.

    Looking at their tenderness, Li Lei choked on his stir-fried lettuce and felt that it was difficult to swallow.

    The atmosphere at the dining table became weirder.

    Shaohui lifted his head to look at the three adults. Suddenly, he asked Li Lei, ¡°Uncle Li, you said before that you were going to take me to your house to visit Er Mao. Do you still mean it?¡±

    Li Lei came back to reality. Yes, he still had Er Mao!

    He could still use Er Mao to win over this cute child!

    ¡°Of course, I still mean it.¡± He said.

    However, Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Li Lei, stop trying to abduct my child. I remember you said you were going to bring Li Rui here to apologize. Where is he?¡±

    ¡°He will apologize.¡± Li Lei said solemnly and looked at Shaohui. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry about what happened at that time. I did not educate Xiao Rui well.¡± He had already figured out what had happened on that day. Shaohui looked for Li Rui to y. However, Li Rui was annoyed, so he scolded him and scolded his sister for using him to deliberately approach Li Lei. He also said that she was too despicable.

    Shaohui was furious. That was why he had a fight with Li Rui.

    Li Lei, who usually did not interfere, was boiling with anger and asked someone to viciously beat him up by the familyw. Now, he could not even get off the bed. Even Su Tang was scared by him and quietly cried as she looked after her child.

    Li Lei was unmoved and said to Su Tang, ¡°In the future, I can ignore what happens to Xiao Rui. I¡¯m even willing if I have to support him for a lifetime. However, I won¡¯t allow one thing. He is not allowed to give trouble to Xiao Ling. That¡¯s my bottom line.¡±

    Su Tang cried, ¡°What does this small child know? It¡¯s my fault for not bringing him up well.¡±

    Looking at Su Tang¡¯s devastation, Li Lei could not continue making solemn statements. Anyway, he had already punished the child, so he decided to leave him in the care of his mother to recover. Now that Xia Ling mentioned it, he finally remembered that he still owed Shaohui an apology.

    ¡°After some time, I will bring him over to apologize to you in person.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°After some time?¡± Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Since you¡¯re insincere, you don¡¯t have toe.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui was beaten by me.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°Now he is lying on the bed and unable to get up. Xiao Ling, if you don¡¯t believe me, I can bring you and Shaohui to visit him.¡±

    Shaohui looked seriously at Li Lei and then at Xia Ling. ¡°Sister, after some time, can you take me to Uncle Li¡¯s house?¡± He used his most effective skill and asked very innocently.

 Chapter 675 - Entertain the Guest Well

    <h4>Chapter 675: Entertain the Guest Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not expect her child to request this and raised her eyebrows.

    Li Lei struck while the iron was hot and smiled. ¡°Shaohui, sister loves you the most. How could she reject your request? Choose a good day and uncle will pick you up to have fun. Not only can you see Er Mao, but there¡¯s also a very pretty garden.¡± He lived in the apartment in the past because she rented it. In reality, that apartment was not his usual home. He had arge vi in another wealthy area of the city and usually, Er Mao liked to reside there.

    However, Xia Ling had no qualms letting him down. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go.¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s face fell.

    Pei Ziheng ced a piece of meat in Shaohui¡¯s bowl and gently said, ¡°Do you like leopards? Uncle Pei will bring you and sister to y in the zoo.¡±

    Shaohui was even unhappier. Wasn¡¯t he pushing Uncle Li Lei further and further away from his sister? He blinked and looked pitifully at Xia Ling. ¡°I want to see Er Mao. Sister, if you don¡¯t want to go, can you let me go alone?¡± He was sure that his sister would not be at ease letting him go alone to Uncle Li¡¯s house.

    Sure enough, Xia Ling replied, ¡°No way.¡±

    He burst into tears and silently yed with his vegetables.

    Li Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal toe and take a look.¡±

    Xia Ling put down her chopsticks and looked at him. ¡°Are you done? If you¡¯re done eating you can leave.¡±

    Li Lei did not utter a word and quietly ate.

    Pei Ziheng saw everything and a smile crept on his lips as he continued to eat quietly.

    Four of them sat at the table with different states of minds. Xia Ling wanted these two bigshots to leave, so she quickly ate. However, those two people did not seem to be in a hurry and were extremely slow.

    Shaohui looked at everything and also ate very slowly.

    Xia Ling could not stand it anymore and said to Shaohui, ¡°Children shouldn¡¯t take so long to eat, it¡¯s not good for their stomachs. Eat faster so that the nanny can clear up the table and wash the dishes.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Shaohui acknowledged sullenly and continued to y with the leaves of the vegetables.

    ¡°Is the food not appetizing?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Shaohui¡¯s shoulders drooped. ¡°I really want to see Er Mao...¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to sigh. Why was this child so silly? After hearing someone describe Er Mao so extravagantly, he insisted on seeing him. Why was he so easily fooled? ¡°Tomorrow, sister will take you to the zoo.¡± Xia Ling said. Anyway, even if Er Mao were not there, he could see other leopards. The child¡¯s curiosity would then fade away.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Pei Ziheng warmly said.

    Li Lei lifted his head and looked at him with a dark expression.

    Pei Ziheng ignored him. ¡°I will ask someone to inform the zoo now. Tomorrow, Shaohui can look as much as he wants.¡±

    Shaohui said, ¡°No. I only want to see Er Mao.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was speechless. Why was this child so disobedient?

    Xia Ling also had a headache. She put down her chopsticks and said, ¡°Well then, you can slowly eat. I will be going upstairs now.¡± She left the group of people behind and did not want to deal with Shaohui¡¯s disobedient behavior. There were some things that she could agree to and some that she could never agree to.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± The two men called at the same time.

    She did not want to care at all. She only felt that it was a mess and did not even look back. Seeing that she was gone, the two men felt that there was no point staying anymore. After pacifying Shaohui, they promptly left. Shaohui reluctantly said goodbye to them, especially to Li Lei.

    This idiotic father could not even get a date with a girl. How stupid was he!

    Shaohui also sighed in mncholy and walked back into the house slowly. What exactly should he say to convince Sister to let him visit Er Mao? He went back to the house, fiddled with his teddy bear, and suddenly thought of an idea.

    No matter what mistakes children made, they would always be forgiven.

    After choosing a sunny day, Shaohui put on his best-looking clothes and left the house after escaping the attention of the nanny. He very smoothly gged down a cab, told the driver Li Lei¡¯s address, and arrived at his destination.

    ¡°Uncle Li, I¡¯m at your doorstep.¡± He called Li Lei and said innocently.

    Li Lei was stunned. ¡°Why did youe here?¡± After that, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t move. Uncle will go back home now!¡± He hung up the phone and rushed back home from Skyart Entertainment.

    Shaohui sighed. He looked at the stern bodyguard, obediently retreated a few steps and sat down in the shade of arge tree to wait for him. He really spared no effort trying to matchmake his parents.

    Soon, Li Lei arrived.

    Seeing that the child was clean and unhurt, Li Lei finally sighed in relief. ¡°Why did youe here alone? What if you encounter a bad person? You can¡¯t do this in the future.¡±

    The child was moved by his concern. His biological father cared about his safety!

    He nodded and said, ¡°Ok, I won¡¯t do it again.¡±

    Li Lei patted his head. ¡°Does your sister know that you¡¯re here today?¡±

    Shaohui shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that Sister won¡¯t let me see Er Mao, so I didn¡¯t tell her. Uncle Li, after I¡¯ve seen Er Mao, you can call my sister and she wille to pick me up.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Ok.¡±

    He carried the child into the house.

    The vi was very big and the interior was beautifully designed with elegance. Shaohui curiously looked around and asked Li Lei, ¡°Uncle Li, is this your vi?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°Why?¡±

    Shaohui leaned over. ¡°The feeling Uncle Li gives me and the feeling this vi gives me is different. This vi seems to be a girl¡¯s house.¡±

    Li Lei was a little surprised. Why was this child so sharp?

    ¡°This vi was decorated by me.¡± Suddenly, a faint voice was heard.

    Shaohui turned around to see a woman wearing avender dress. Her makeup was exquisite, but Shaohui did not know why he disliked her at first nce.

    ¡°This is Aunt Su Tang.¡± Li Lei introduced Shaohui to her.

    <i>This is Aunt Su Tang? Uncle said that there are a few bad women by dad¡¯s side and gave me a list. One of them is Aunt Su Tang, and I </i><i>heard that she¡¯s Li Rui¡¯s mom.</i>

    rm bells rang in Shaohui¡¯s heart, but he smiled more sweetly. ¡°Nice to meet you, Aunt Su Tang.¡±

    Su Tang scrutinized Shaohui and smiled. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Quietly, she turned to Li Lei and asked softly, ¡°Whose child is this? He¡¯s very cute. Are you tired of carrying him? Put him down. I¡¯ll ask the nanny to prepare some snacks for him.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°He¡¯s called Shaohui, and he¡¯s the child Xiao Ling adopted. He came over to visit Er Mao. Su Tang, I will ask Xiao Ling toe over to pick the child up and also ask her to stay for dinner. You...¡± He knew that Su Tang liked him and was very unhappy when she saw Xiao Ling. However, he still had to say this. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to see Xiao Ling, just avoid her for the time being.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s smile vanished.

    On the surface, she appeared to act with decorum. ¡°How could I? It¡¯s because of me that you and Miss Ye have so many misunderstandings. I¡¯m so happy that she cane. I will entertain the guests well.¡±

 Chapter 676 - Meeting Er Mao for the First Time

    <h4>Chapter 676: Meeting Er Mao for the First Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei thought about it before saying, ¡°It¡¯s not necessary.¡± Xiao Ling was still upset at him, and seeing Su Tang might make things worse. If the twodies got into a quarrel, there would be big trouble.

    Hearing this, Su Tang lowered her head and was quiet for a while before she replied in a small voice, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Seeing how forlorn she looked, Li Lei felt a little bad and tried to say a few words of constion.

    Su Tang made another suggestion. ¡°Why don¡¯t we get Xiao Rui to hang out with Shaohui? The two kids can¡¯t have any big grievances against each other. It would be good for them to interact more and not to get into squabbles with each other.¡±

    These words struck a chord with Li Lei.

    If he were to get married to Xiao Ling in the future, Shaohui would be his child as well. Li Rui was, on paper, his biological child, and if the two of them couldn¡¯t get along, it would pose problems down the road. He lowered his head to look at little Shaohui and asked gently, ¡°Can Xiao Rui y with you for a while?¡±

    Shaohui lifted his head to show his big, round innocent eyes, asking, ¡°Is he going to apologize to me?¡±

    Li Lei recalled that Li Rui owed Shaohui an apology. He couldn¡¯t be let off so easily since he had insulted Shaohui¡¯s sister. Shaohui might look harmless, but he held grudges.

    ¡°He will apologize to you.¡± Li Lei promised. ¡°Uncle Li is also saying sorry to you now for not teaching Xiao Rui well, and for him to have said those words to you. Don¡¯t tell your sister, okay?¡± Xiao Ling¡¯s attitude to him seemed to suggest that she was unaware of Li Rui¡¯s insults. Otherwise, there was no way she would have allowed him to enter the house.

    Shaohui cocked his head to the side and contemted for a while.

    Li Lei felt anxious and started to coax him. ¡°Uncle will make delicious dishes for you to eat.¡±

    Shaohui had intended to make things difficult for Li Lei. Hmph, stupid daddy, why did you to cheat on mummy and cause her to be unhappy? Why are you so useless and can¡¯t chase her back? However, now that he heard that Li Lei was going to make something nice for him to eat, Shaohui¡¯s eyes lit up, forgetting his initial agenda. ¡°Okay, okay. Deal!¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡± Li Leiughed and reached out his pinky to hook Shaohui¡¯s.

    Watching this scene from the side, Su Tang¡¯s gaze was slightly depressed. Why did her child have to apologize to that b*tch¡¯s child? However, given the circumstances, she couldn¡¯t do anything but give in. She forced herself to smile before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go call Xiao Rui over.¡± She turned and went into the bungalow.

    Li Rui was pushed out by his nanny on a wheelchair.

    A few days ago, he was caned by Li Lei. This was the first time that Li Lei had caned him since he had been born. Li Lei had been harsh on him, which frightened him. All this was because of that child called Ye Shaohui! Mummy said that that woman, Ye Xingling, was a b*tch as well! He hated both of them!

    He would have revenge, just wait and see.

    He apologized to Shaohui with a straight face, under the eagle-eyes of his dad. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He did not pull any spanners. Mummy said that revenge required patience and had asked him to swallow his pride this once. Hmph, they would wait for Ye Xingling, that b*tch, to arrive, then he would let them understand who was boss!

    Shaohui blinked his eyes and stared at Li Rui for a while before nodding his head and saying like a little grown-up, ¡°As long as you know that you are wrong. Don¡¯t go around insulting others next time. Insulting others makes it seem like you are not well-taught... Moreover, you had to suffer the wrath of my fists and Uncle Li¡¯s caning after your insulting words. See, now you can only sit on the wheelchair. I feel your pain.¡±

    Hearing the words ¡°not well-taught,¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. Yet, he didn¡¯t do anything else. After all, little Shaohui was right. These years, Li Rui had been spoiled rotten and had been treated like the crown prince in the Li Family. Everyone would give him the moon and the stars. It was high time he learned some manners.

    Li Rui¡¯s face turned ashen in his anger, and he had the urge to go up and give Shaohui a few kicks. However, he knew that he was no match for Shaohui when he was healthy, let alone now full of injuries. As such, the upset Li Rui could only hold in his anger.

    Seeing that Li Rui wasn¡¯t saying anything, Li Lei felt a little consoled that Li Rui seemed to have learned some manners and was bing a little more obedient.

    He should definitely interact more with Shaohui.

    Li Lei reached out to hold Shaohui¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll bring you to the garden to see Er Mao.¡± He instructed the nanny to push Li Rui¡¯s wheelchair and follow along. The group of them came to the garden, where the afternoon sun was shining down, the birds chirping and the air brimming with the fragrance of flowers. Li Lei pointed to a huge tree and told Shaohui.

    ¡°Er Mao usually likes to sleep on the branches of this big tree. We should go over softly so as not to wake him.¡±

    Little Shaohui nodded and tip-toed his way to the tree.

    The old oak tree hadyers uponyers of leaves, forming a thick canopy. Leopards had a knack for camouge, and Li Lei was a little worried that Shaohui wouldn¡¯t be able to find Er Mao.

    He lifted his head, prepared to point Er Mao out to Shaohui.

    However, Li Lei was still looking for Er Mao when he heard Shaohui let out a small exmation. ¡°Wow, he¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    Li Lei turned and saw the little child looking a random direction in the midst of the canopy of leaves, where the huge, spotted feline with golden fur was hiding. Er Mao waszily sleeping in the branches.

    Shaohui had found Er Mao faster than Li Lei.

    Li Lei was shocked. This child¡¯s observation skills were remarkable.

    Even Er Mao was surprised as he wiggled his ears. In fact, he had awoken the moment the group of them had stepped into the garden but was merely toozy to move. What threat could two kids that his owner had brought over bring? Particrly, he did not like that irritating child Li Rui and couldn¡¯t be bothered with him.

    This other child was unfamiliar though...

    As Shaohui lifted his head to observe Er Mao, Er Mao too was observing him. He suddenly realized that something was amiss... Hold on... this child seemed to have the same aura as his owner, as well as that woman, Ye Xingling, that his owner pined for day and night!

    Er Mao¡¯s ears wiggled again. This time, he gracefully pranced off the tree branches to the ground.

    Shaohui was able to see him in his fullness now. Oh my God, he had never seen such a beautiful leopard! He was so elegant, and his toned, muscr body seemed to be the perfect sculpture within the forest-like backdrop. His rose-shaped spots and fur shone under the sunlight, and his yellowish eyes were so clear...

    Shaohui was mesmerized by Er Mao.

    ¡°Hello.¡± He greeted the leopard cutely. ¡°I¡¯m Shaohui. Can I be friends with you?¡±

    The leopard responded with a low roar.

    Li Rui, who was sitting on the wheelchair to the side, was shocked and jumped a little in his seat.

    Yet, Shaohui who was standing in front of Er Mao was not intimidated at all. He reached out his hand carefully. ¡°You¡¯ve agreed, haven¡¯t you?¡± As he spoke, he carefully stroked the leopard¡¯s thick fur coat.

    Er Mao opened his mouth revealing two rows of sharp, white teeth.

    Li Lei was a little worried. ¡°Er Mao.¡± Even though he knew that Er Mao would not hurt anyone that he brought here, Shaohui was a person that he had to be sure to protect. If Shaohui were to be harmed at all, Xiao Ling would shred him into pieces.

 Chapter 677 - Then You Can Wait

    <h4>Chapter 677: Then You Can Wait</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Er Mao ignored himpletely.

    In some areas, his owner was an idiot.

    He stretched his tongue out and gently licked Shaohui¡¯s hand that was stroking his fur. The thorny surface of his tongue made a small cut on Shaohui¡¯s little hand, and Er Mao drew his tongue back tasting the blood.

    ¡°Er Mao!¡± Li Lei shouted out in terror. The child¡¯s skin was soft and tender, and a mere lick from Er Mao had cut him. Xiao Ling was going to get so mad at him seeing Shaohui¡¯s injured hand, and she would definitely lose her temper at him. Li Lei was close to tears. Er Mao had never licked Li Rui in all the years that they had stayed together. He thought that this leopard was clever and knew not to harm the children. Who knew...

    Li Lei pulled Shaohui¡¯s hand back to check it. Thankfully, the cut was minor.

    ¡°Does it hurt?¡± Li Lei asked anxiously before instructing his helper waiting at the side. ¡°Call the doctor over.¡±

    However, Shaohui shook his head. He had stayed with his uncle since he was a child and was used to climbing trees, digging through mudbanks, and running around in the mountainous terrain of the countryside. Cuts like these weremon. It was a small cut and didn¡¯t hurt him at all. He stared at Er Mao curiously, wondering why this leopard decided to lick him.

    He stretched his hand out again to test.

    ¡°Shaohui!¡± Li Lei was almost going berserk. This child... did he not know how to be afraid?

    Shaohui ignored Li Lei and took two steps forward,ing close to Er Mao again. Er Mao lowered his head to sniff his hand. This time, he didn¡¯t lick him but instead rubbed his head affectionately against Shaohui¡¯s palm.

    Li Lei breathed a sigh of relief as he watched in amazement. Er Mao was a haughty leopard, and he of all people knew that Er Mao had never paid any attention to any of the kids in the Li Family, including Li Rui. He would always walk away from them without even looking back, uninterested in ying with them.

    Shaohui was the first child that Er Mao was voluntarily willing to get close to.

    And Shaohui? His round, chubby face was full of smiles. ¡°I knew you would like me!¡± He had a way with animals and few didn¡¯t like him.

    Er Mao rubbed against him affectionately again.

    After which, he stretched his tongue out again and carefully touched Shaohui¡¯s hand. This time, there was no aggression in his lick. He simply touched Shaohui¡¯s palm ever so lightly, leaving a sticky patch of his saliva over the injury he had created before.

    Li Rui¡¯s face was full of disgust. How gross! Who knew how much bacteria was in Er Mao¡¯s saliva!

    He pulled at his nanny, urging her to pull his wheelchair further away from them.

    Shaohui was not bothered by Er Mao¡¯s saliva on his hand, his smile bing all the more radiant. ¡°Er Mao, are you trying to help me take care of my cut? Thank you.¡± Having stayed in the countryside since he was young, Shaohui knew that wild beasts would always lick their own wounds when they were injured. Their saliva had antiseptic properties and was able to stop bleeding effectively, better than any medicine.

    Er Mao closed his eyeszily. Hmm...municating with this little owner was easy.

    He had intentionally cut Shaohui earlier to taste his blood. Now, he was certain that this cute child was his owner¡¯s biological son. His poor owner was still in the dark. How...

    Dumb.

    Er Mao felt intellectually superior to Li Lei.

    He yed with this little child for a while more before the family doctor arrived. The doctor took a closer look at Shaohui¡¯s cut and saw that it was nothing serious. Shaohui was having fun ying with Er Mao, patting and stroking him, and Er Maoy down t on the floor bing a huge leopard rug, letting Shaohui lie and roll over him in the sun.

    Li Lei watched on in shock. This... was this the same haughty Er Mao?!

    This... this leopard must have been changed by someone?!

    Li Rui too was watching on in a daze. Hmph... this irritating leopard ignored him all the time and would start to growl menacingly every time he went near. Why was he being so friendly with this stranger? Anger started to build in Li Rui¡¯s heart. He suddenly drew courage and struggled to stand, hobbling off the wheelchair, intending to pull Er Mao¡¯s tail.

    ¡°Roar!¡± Er Mao turned around abruptly and roared at Li Rui.

    His deep, loud roar permeated the area, making birds fly off the trees in terror. Li Rui was so frightened his legs gave way and he fell to the ground. ¡°Boohoohoo...¡± He started to cry out loud.

    The nanny and family doctor ran over to help him up and check if he had been hurt.

    Er Mao was unbothered and moved awayzily, trying to get further away from this noisy, idiotic human being.

    Shaohui was ying with Er Mao and only turned around in shock when he heard Li Rui¡¯s cries. This Li Rui always made himself seem so high and mighty, but why was he such a coward? How could he be frightened by Er Mao? Er Mao was so cute! Li Rui was such an embarrassment.

    Although he was thinking so in his heart, Shaohui still walked over to show concern to Li Rui.

    However, he hadn¡¯t reached Li Rui when he felt a heavy weight pull him back. He turned and saw Er Mao biting on the corner of his shirt and pulling him backward.

    Little Shaohui was stunned and couldn¡¯t understand what Er Mao was doing.

    Li Rui started to cry more intently, pointing a finger at Shaohui. ¡°Boohoohoo... you big bully!¡± He cried without a care for his young master image.

    Little Shaohui was even more stunned now. ¡°How have I bullied you at all?¡±

    Er Mao blew a huff through his nose in disdain. Urgh, why was this family so idiotic. Don¡¯t misunderstand... he wasn¡¯t calling Li Rui and Su Tang idiotic. This mother and son pair were clever ones. He was calling his owner and that silly woman, Ye Xingling, and their little child here idiotic.

    Little owner... haven¡¯t you met with people who would just put the me on you regardless?

    Thankfully, you haven¡¯t walked over to him yet. Otherwise, there was no way that you would be able to wash yourself clean from the situation.

    Er Mao felt worried for the intellect of this family. He pulled his little owner a few more steps further away from themotion. Sigh... it was up to him, Er Mao, to take care of this family.

    On the other end, Li Rui was still being a nuisance. ¡°Boohoohoo... you¡¯re fighting with me over Er Mao! You¡¯vebined forces with Er Mao to bully me! Boohoohoo... I don¡¯t care! You have to pay me back!¡±

    ¡°What do I have to pay you back for?¡± Shaohui was confused.

    ¡°You have to pay for my injuries!¡± Li Rui stretched his hand out revealing an abrasion from when he fell down. ¡°You also have to pay me for a new set of clothes!¡± Today, he had worn a new outfit with the intent to outshine Shaohui. This set of clothes was expensive as his mother had got the best child tailor in the world to custom-make a suit for him. He could hardly bear to let anyone touch the suit. Yet, he had taken a huge fall in the dirt in this new suit today!

    Shaohui frowned. He was kindhearted but hated when others med him for something he didn¡¯t do.

    ¡°You can just wait for it then.¡± He threw down this sentence before running back to y with Er Mao.

    Li Lei, who was watching this y out to the side, stared at the cute child ying with Er Mao and at Li Rui sitting on the floor refusing to stand up. He felt a headacheing. He was so dumb... so dumb... he had always prevented Xiao Ling and Su Tang from meeting for fear that they would fight. Why didn¡¯t he think that Shaohui and Li Rui could get into a fight too?

 Chapter 678 - Amazed at His Own Intellect

    <h4>Chapter 678: Amazed at His Own Intellect</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei felt depressed.

    However, he had to clean up this mess.

    In this incident, it was clear to him that Li Rui was being unreasonable. As such, Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Rui, don¡¯t throw a tantrum. You fell and your new suit is dirty, but that isn¡¯t Brother Shaohui¡¯s fault. Be good, nanny can carry you back to your wheelchair. Don¡¯t try to be yful anymore and just sit quietly.¡±

    Li Rui started bawling louder. ¡°Boohoohoo... it¡¯s all Ye Shaohui¡¯s fault! All his fault! Boohoohoo... daddy never hit me before.... but when Shaohui came along, you hit me! My injuries from your beating haven¡¯t even recovered yet and you¡¯ve brought Shaohui here to bully me! Boohoohoo... daddy is being biased! Daddy is biased!¡±

    His cries were loud and piercing.

    The nanny and family doctor tried to help him up but were pushed away angrily by him.

    Li Lei started to feel irritated but knew he couldn¡¯t be too strict with Li Rui since he wasn¡¯t really his son. He said, ¡°Such a big boy and still crying... stop being a joke in front of Shaohui.¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s cries stopped abruptly and he said vehemently, ¡°He said that he would pay me for this!¡±

    ¡°Since when did I say I would pay?¡± Shaohui asked bewildered.

    Li Rui eximed, ¡°You told me to wait!¡±

    Shaohui was even more bewildered. As he stroked Er Mao¡¯s smooth fur with one hand, he cocked his head to the side and said, ¡°I only told you to wait but didn¡¯t say that I was going to pay you. You can wait till I figure out why in the world I have to pay you before I¡¯lle to find you with payment.¡± His voice was innocent and soft, but his statement was far from soft. His reasoning was clear and left nothing for negotiation.

    The nanny and family doctor watching on were impressed by Shaohui.

    As helpers to this family, they were at the beck and call of this little terror, and nobody could handle the spoiled Li Rui. Finally, someone was able to take Li Rui down a notch. They were almost ready to run around in celebration.

    Li Rui only realized now that Shaohui wasn¡¯t intending to pay him when he told him to wait.

    Li Rui¡¯s face turned red in an instant and pointed a shaking finger at Shaohui. ¡°You... you...¡±

    ¡°I what?¡± Shaohui asked in an innocent voice again, unfazed.

    Li Rui was speechless in his anger. He started to cry out loud again. ¡°He¡¯s bullying me! Boohoohoo...¡±

    At this point, Li Lei had given up hope of a peaceful resolution seeing the battle unfold. He instructed the nanny, ¡°Bring Young Master Rui back to the house and give him a shower. Change him to a new set of clothes and help him to calm down.¡±

    The nanny nodded before going to help Li Rui up.

    However, Li Rui refused to get off the ground.

    Shaohui was unimpressed. How could such a young child be so fond of throwing tantrums? If he were to do this in uncle¡¯s house, uncle would punish him with copying lines and lines of scripture. As he thought of this, he continued to stroke the thick and soft fur behind Er Mao¡¯s neck. He murmured, ¡°The rules in this house are sox... how lucky you are...¡±

    Er Mao gave a great big yawn.

    Li Lei heard Shaohui¡¯sment and his mouth twitched a little. This child... how was he brought up at home? Hisments were so pointed, such that Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to react. How was Li Rui¡¯s behavior a reflection of the rules in the house beingx? It was only because Li Rui was not his own child!

    His hands were tied when it came to his discipline.

    As for Old Master Li? He was even more liberal with Li Rui. ¡°This child, Xiao Rui...¡± The Old Master Li hadmented to Li Lei one day earnestly. ¡°You should feed him and give him all the materialforts all the days of his life. However, you don¡¯t have to be too strict with him. Take it as you are just paying Su Tang back for saving your life. After a few years, you will have your own child. Then, don¡¯t let Xiao Rui be a hurdle for your child.¡±

    Li Lei felt his heart sink a little.

    He had been in this family since young and knew what Old Master Li meant. The Old Master was saying that he should let Li Rui be a good-for-nothing wealthy young master, and do as he pleased. However, Li Rui would have no part in the Li Family Inheritance. He was still an outsider and should not contaminate the Li Family pedigree.

    The best way to ensure this was to raise him to be a nobody.

    Even though this was cruel, it was better than allowing him to be a menace in the future. Li Feng was the perfect example of this. If Li Feng wasn¡¯t so scheming, the troubles in the Li Family would be halved.

    Li Rui continued to cry, but as he was still a young child, the nanny could drag him away against his will.

    Seeing Li Rui being removed, Shaohui watched in envy and murmured again. ¡°Ah... I really want to have a dad too. If I have a dad, does it mean that I can throw tantrums like him too?¡±

    His little face was full of longing.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart clenched and he asked Shaohui gently, ¡°Where¡¯s your dad?¡±

    Shaohui lifted his head to look at Li Lei.

    Er Mao also lifted his head to look at Li Lei.

    Li Lei was bewildered at their stares. ¡°What?¡±

    Shaohui sighed out loud. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen my dad since the day I was born. I¡¯ve also seen very little of my mum. Thankfully, I have my sister now. However, when will sister find me a daddy?¡± The logic in this sentence was a mess. How could his sister find him a dad?

    Yet, Li Lei didn¡¯t pick up on this irregrity. He asked, ¡°What kind of father does little Shaohui want?¡±

    This time, Shaohui replied eloquently, ¡°I want a daddy that¡¯s nice to sister.¡± He added nonchntly, ¡°Sister recorded a new song recently saying ¡®She wishes for someone to love wholeheartedly, till she is old and wrinkly¡¯. Uncle Li, what does that mean?¡±

    Wished for someone to love wholeheartedly.

    That meant to be a couple for life, to grow old together, without a third-party in the rtionship. Clean and simple.

    Li Lei knew that his condition now was a mess. He had to shoulder the burden of taking care of Su Tang and her child, though that was something that he owed to them, and he needed to pay them back. You could say that he was selfish, but he didn¡¯t want to give up on Xiao Ling. He only ever wanted to have a family with Xiao Ling. They could adopt... no, they had Shaohui now... they could live with cute Shaohui all the days of their life.

    And Su Tang... she had a child out of wedlock. Their rtionship was merely that he would let her use his name as the father of her child, such that her child would not be ¡°fatherless.¡± That was it.

    Little Shaohui pulled at Li Lei¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Uncle Li, I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    Unknowingly, the sun was setting and it was getting dark.

    Li Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Uncle will go make something nice for you to eat.¡± He had promised that he would cook for Shaohui earlier.

    However, the child said, ¡°Why isn¡¯t sistering to pick me yet? Uncle, you need to make more food... Can we wait for sister toe before eating? She¡¯s been having a tough time with all the schedules, and she¡¯s only been having takeaways.¡±

    His words made Li Lei¡¯s heart ache.

    ¡°Of course.¡± He patted Shaohui on the head. ¡°I¡¯ll make more dishes that your sister likes. We can wait for her toe to have dinner together with us.¡±

    ¡°Uncle... Uncle...¡± Shaohui started to tug at him again.

    ¡°What else do you want to say?¡± Li Lei asked very gently.

    ¡°Can I learn to cook from you? Sister is so picky and always has to eat those yucky takeaways. After I¡¯ve learned to cook from you, I can make delicious meals for sister.¡± If he could make food that tasted like dad¡¯s, mummy would always think of dad when she ate!

    Little Shaohui was amazed at his own intellect.

 Chapter 679 - A Family of Three

    <h4>Chapter 679: A Family of Three</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei also thought of this point and was very surprised.

    However, he was also a little worried. ¡°You¡¯re so young. Will you be able to learn it?¡± Cooking was a very physical activity, and it was dangerous to hold a knife and be near the fire. No matter how much Shaohui liked to do housework, he was just a four- or five-year-old child. He was not even as tall as the stove. What if an ident happened?

    As if he guessed his worries, Shaohui said, ¡°Uncle, you can custom make a set of kitchen equipment for me and I can just cook using them. You can also make one set for my sister so I can cook for her.¡±

    This child was very smart. Li Lei smiled and agreed.

    However, he was still worried that he could not convince Xia Ling. Shaohui said, ¡°Let me think of a way.¡±

    Thus, it was decided.

    Li Lei went to the kitchen to cook and Shaohui naturally followed him in. He said, ¡°Uncle, you can teach me how to cook as you make dinner. Let¡¯s cook for sister together.¡±

    Thus, Li Lei taught him how to peel a tomato step by step and which type of grain made the most fragrant rice. He also said that the strength of the fire had to be different during different seasons and he had to put in more thought into it. Shaohui was very focused and listened attentively. He was also skillful and peeled the tomatoes beautifully and properly.

    Li Lei praised him. ¡°Compared to the first time your sister did this... No, even now, you¡¯re much better than her.¡± Sure enough, this child was not Xiao Ling¡¯s biological child. He could tell from his natural talent at cooking.

    After being praised, Shaohui was very happy and cutely said, ¡°Uncle, when did you meet my sister? Can you please tell me about you and your sister¡¯s past?¡±

    Li Lei, who was holding adle, hesitated for a moment.

    He finally came back to reality when Shaohui reminded him that his food was about to be burnt. There was some longing in his voice. ¡°I¡¯ve known your sister for many years. At that time, she...¡±

    Both of them chatted as they cooked.

    However, no one noticed that outside the kitchen door, someone was standing there quietly. She was petite and was very casually dressed as she looked at them withplicated emotions.

    As Li Lei beat the eggs, he said, ¡°Your sister doesn¡¯t know how to cook and doesn¡¯t like to cook. At that time I thought that it was lucky I liked to cook and could make many delicious dishes. I could cook for her for a lifetime.¡±

    ¡°What happened, then?¡± Shaohui asked softly, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you end up with my sister in the end?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because...¡± Li Lei started to beat the eggs slower and was quiet for a long time, before saying, ¡°The adult world is not as ideal as fairytales. Perhaps the heavens are testing us, and I¡¯m still trying my best to pass the test.¡±

    Shaohui was confused.

    On the other hand, the petite girl slightly lowered her head.

    Shaohui asked again, ¡°Uncle, why did you add so many green onions to this tomato egg soup?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because your sister likes it.¡±

    ¡°What else does my sister like to eat?¡±

    Li Lei told him all of the dishes she loved like an expert.

    Beside the door, the petite girl could not bear to hear more and was about to leave. Unexpectedly, she identally hit a chair and created a loud noise. The two people in the kitchen immediately turned around.

    ¡°Sister!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    Both of them called at the same time.

    Xia Ling stood still. Her heart surged as she looked at the handsome face of the apron-wearing man in front of her. He still had her in his heart and still remembered what she liked to eat and her other small habits. After so many years had passed, she was surprised that he did not forget it at all.

    However, so what?

    Besides cooking for her, wasn¡¯t he also cooking for Su Tang and her son during his leisure time?

    Imaging their happy family of three, Xia Ling felt very upset.

    ¡°When did youe?¡± Li Lei delightedly walked towards her. ¡°Take a seat first. Shaohui and I are almost done.¡±

    Xia Ling continued to look at him without moving. Then, she said, ¡°Li Lei, you abducted my child here so that he could help you with your cooking?¡±

    ¡°I was the one who pestered Uncle Li to teach me.¡± Shaohui quickly exined for his stupid father.

    Xia Ling red at him.

    However, Shaohui innocently said, ¡°Uncle Li cooks very well. Sister, after I¡¯ve learned how to cook, I can cook for you every day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡± Xia Ling coldly said.

    ¡°I can also cook for myself.¡± Shaohui rarely spoke so smoothly. ¡°I just love to eat the dishes cooked by Uncle Li. I just tried a few mouthfuls and it was delicious. Sister, if you aren¡¯t going to let me eat, can you let me visit Uncle Li¡¯s house every day to eat?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Was this child a golden retriever? How could he bought over so easily?

    A burnt smell came from the pot.

    The few of them were focused on talking and caused the food to be burnt. Li Lei quickly went over to take a look and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling just wait for a while, you can eat soon. No matter how much you dislike me, just eat before you go for the sake of the child.¡±

    Shaohui also said, ¡°Sister, look, I¡¯ve learned how to peel tomatoes today.¡± He lifted the peeled tomatoes for her to take a look.

    Seeing that he was so happy, Xia Ling really couldn¡¯t bear to rain on his parade and waited patiently beside him.

    Sure enough, Shaohui was naturally talented at cooking. After a few instructions from Li Lei, he was able to do everything Li Lei did. However, as a child, hecked strength and had small hands, so he couldn¡¯t hold the cabbage steadily when he tried to peel it.

    Xia Ling really couldn¡¯t bear to continue watching him and helped him peel the cabbage. She did not like to cook, but she couldn¡¯t stand seeing her child suffer. Shaohui was very happy. This was the first time he was cooking with his parents and it was very memorial to him. Looking at the house that was like a battlefield, he happily said, ¡°Wait here.¡±

    He ran out and returned with a servant to help them take a photo as a family of three.

    Xia Ling was not very happy. ¡°How is this worth taking a photo?¡±

    Shaohui said softly, ¡°I learned cooking for the first time today.¡±

    Xia Ling could not say anything. Although she appeared emotionless, she still amodated the photo. Shaohui stood in the middle. He held Li Lei with one hand and held her with his other hand. He smiled vibrantly, and they really did look like a family of three. At the moment when the servant was about to press the shutter, the leopard also appeared and interrupted their photo. Thus, the photo showed a family of three and a leopard with a messy kitchen as their backdrop.

    It was unexpectedly heartwarming.

    Shaohui excitedly looked at the photo and said that he would hang it up when he returned home. Someone had already helped to ce the dishes on the table and distribute the tableware. Xia Ling quietly ate. She had not eaten Li Lei¡¯s cooking for a long time and right now, the taste of it evoked many memories. She looked a little forlorn.

    Li Lei also did not say much and just looked at her tenderly.

    Shaohui was carefree and could not stop talking, so the atmosphere at the dining table was not very awkward. Except...

    Suddenly, a wheelchaired boy being pushed in appeared in front of them

 Chapter 680 - Who Is the Mistress of the House

    <h4>Chapter 680: Who Is the Mistress of the House</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Xiao Rui.¡± Li Lei was the first to notice him.

    Li Rui sat in the wheelchair and looked at the two adults and one child eating in the dining hall. He saw a handsome man wearing a casual shirt, a delicate and pretty woman, and a small child sitting on a high back chair leisurely swaying his legs. He was smiling inplete bliss.

    Even Er Mao, who usually kept a distance from humanszilyy down beside them.

    Li Rui was crazily jealous. Sure enough, his mom was right. As long as his mother and he were not there, that hateful woman and her awful son would seize the opportunity to infiltrate! Li Rui urged the nanny to push his wheelchair faster and came in front of them. He said to Li Lei, ¡°Dad, I¡¯m hungry. I want to eat!¡±

    Li Lei nced at Xia Ling and Shaohui. He gently said, ¡°Xiao Rui, didn¡¯t the nanny send food to you on time?¡± These days, Li Rui was hurt and it was inconvenient for him to move much. He especially did not like to go to the dining hall himself and always asked the nanny to send food to his room. He was also very picky about the dishes.

    ¡°I want to eat here today!¡± Li Rui demanded.

    Many people respected Li Lei in the Li Family. However, Li Rui did not because he was spoiled by his father and rarely angered him. Now, after seeing his father and another woman with her child, Li Rui deeply felt that his position was threatened.

    Li Lei did not notice it and frowned. ¡°Be good. Today, Aunt Xiao Ling is here, so dad can¡¯t eat with you.¡±

    ¡°What sort of...¡± Before Li Rui could say something insulting, he noticed that Li Lei¡¯s face darkened. After remembering the injury on his buttocks, he changed what he was about to say. ¡°This is my home!¡±

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling is like family.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°Oh?¡± This time, Xia Ling sneered. Why was she involved in their father-son argument? ¡°It seems that I¡¯m not weed here, so I¡¯ll be leaving with Shaohui now.¡± She was half-way done with her meal and initially had no appetite. Now, she was even more frustrated. So she took Shaohui¡¯s hand and was about to leave.

    Shaohui reluctantly said, ¡°Er Mao...¡±

    Er Mao obediently got up and bit his sleeve.

    ¡°Er Mao, let him go.¡± Xia Ling was very unhappy.

    Er Mao cocked its head and looked at the woman. After not seeing her for a long time, she looked colder than before and was no longer the weak girl who cried over the smallest thing.

    However, it sort of missed the time when she was like that.

    Hard-heartedness only appeared when people had no one to rely on but themselves.

    While being vulnerable meant that there was someone who could save them and they could rely on.

    Now, she was unwilling to rely on its master. That was why she was so cold and aggressive.

    Er Mao made a few muffled sounds as if it were pleading her to stay. It remembered that its master always patted his head as he thought about her. [Er Mao, what do you think Xiao Ling is doing now?] [Er Mao, do you think that Xiao Ling has really moved on?] [Er Mao, look at that cloud in the sky. Does it look like Xiao Ling?] [Er Mao...]

    Er Mao was about to copse.

    It made up its mind to help its owner get Xia Ling back again. It did not want to be the first leopard in history to be bald because its owner kept stroking its head.

    It was easy.

    He bit the child¡¯s sleeve hard and refused to let go.

    With wild hopes, the child turned around to ask Xia Ling, ¡°Sister, can we bring Er Mao back with us?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t afford it!¡± Xia Ling said resolutely and red at Er Mao. ¡°Are you going to let go?¡±

    Er Mao whined in protest.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    This scene was too messy. Li Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s not good for your stomach if you only eat half of your meal. Even if you don¡¯t care about yourself, you have to think about Shaohui. Finish eating before you leave, ok?¡±

    Xia Ling bent down and tried her best to separate Er Mao¡¯s mouth from her child¡¯s sleeve.

    [Er Mao, bite her!] Li Rui said in his heart.

    However, Er Mao did not bite her or let her child go. In the end, Shaohui¡¯s high-quality cotton shirt was torn. Xia Ling was fast and quickly picked Shaohui up without thinking. She did not hold him firmly and almost hurt her waist.

    This time, she red at Shaohui. ¡°Why are you so heavy after spending the day at someone¡¯s house?!¡±

    Shaohui felt wronged and softly said, ¡°I ate too much...¡±

    If they were not in front of so many people, Xia Ling almost wanted to strangle him. Looking at his twinkling eyes, she gritted her teeth and finally forced out a few words. ¡°Are you going? If you aren¡¯t, I am.¡±

    Shaohui wanted to cry. Why did sister hate Uncle Li so much? She hated him so much that she could leave him alone in Uncle Li¡¯s house.

    On the other hand, Li Lei tried to mediate the situation. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t have the same mindset as Xiao Rui. He¡¯s only a child.¡±

    ¡°So what if I¡¯m a child?¡± Li Rui yelled and pointed at a painting in the dining hall. ¡°Do you see this? This painting, that flower vase, and even the color of the tablecloth... All of them were selected by my mom. This is my mom¡¯s home. What right do you have toe in!¡±

    He finally said it.

    In the morning, Su Tang specially told him that no matter what, he had to let that woman called Ye Xingling know that his entire vi was decorated by her.

    Everyone would know who the mistress of the house was at once.

    Now, after seeing Xia Ling¡¯s face turn slightly pale, Li Rui was delighted and felt that he had aplished what he promised his mother.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°Su Tang isn¡¯t mentally well now and has depression, so the house is decorated ording to her wishes. A peaceful and elegant environment is conducive to her recovery...¡±

    ¡°So both of you are sharing this house?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± Li Lei said, ¡°She and I have our own bedrooms! We are just living under the same roof but are not really together!¡±

    ¡°Dad, you¡¯re lying!¡± Li Rui shrieked. ¡°Every night, you sleep in the same room as Mom!¡±

    Xia Ling turned cold and forcefully shook Li Lei¡¯s hand away. ¡°Don¡¯t look for me in the future!¡±

    Since he could not exin clearly, Li Lei did not speak and dragged her all the way upstairs.

    ¡°Li Lei, what are you doing?!¡± Xia Ling did not think that he would do this and started to struggle.

    However, Li Lei refused to let go and stubbornly pulled her upstairs. Shaohui and Er Mao also followed them. Li Rui refused to admit defeat and yelled at a nanny to push him upstairs.

    ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to bring young master Rui here!¡± Suddenly, Li Lei turned around and loudly instructed.

    The nanny hurriedly stopped the wheelchair and Li Rui remained at his original position.

    Li Rui was so angry that he started bawling and threatening the nannies. However, the nannies did not dare to offend the true owner of the vi.

    Xia Ling stumbled as Li Lei dragged her up the stairs.

 Chapter 681 - Move Out

    <h4>Chapter 681: Move Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The bedroom door was open.

    The first thing she saw was not a bed but arge empty space. The floor was covered with thick carpets, and there was a scent of dried flowers in the air. A long screen separated the room.

    Li Lei pulled Xia Ling to the back of the screen and she saw two doors.

    Li Lei pointed at one of the doors and said, ¡°This is Su Tang¡¯s bedroom.¡± He then pointed at the other door. ¡°This room is mine.¡± He pushed the door open to reveal his real bedroom. In the middle, there was a big ck satin bed. There were no excessive decorative items except for pictures of different sizes on the wall.

    Some of them were newspaper clippings, some of them were publicity photos, and some of them were secretly taken candid shots.

    Every photo was of Xia Ling.

    ¡°These years, I have been thinking about you all the time.¡± Li Lei held her hand and walked into the room. ¡°Xiao Ling, you are the only mistress of my house. No one can change this fact.¡±

    Xia Ling was very shocked and even forgot to break away from his grasp.

    The photos on the wall were arranged ording to year. There were even photos from the year they met. During their four years of separation, there was a staggering number of photos, and even two sketches he drew by himself. She was very vivid in his sketches. One could feel his deep affection from every stroke.

    She took a few steps back.

    ¡°Now, can you believe me?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was in a mess and she did not know what to do. Quivering, she softly asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you already married to Su Tang?¡± She saw the news that they organized a wedding ceremony overseas. By doing this, not only was Li Lei letting her down, but he was also letting his wife Su Tang down.

    However, Li Lei was taken aback.

    ¡°Who told you that I¡¯m married to Su Tang?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him in disbelief. ¡°Isn¡¯t that true?¡± She told her about what she read in the news a few years ago.

    Li Lei¡¯s face darkened. ¡°What newspaper is that?¡± He asked, ¡°Is there an archive? I have to hold them ountable. Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve never married Su Tang. This wedding ceremony is nonsense! The only thing I promised Su Tang was to let her raise Xiao Rui under my name. I have never promised to marry her!¡±

    ¡°How is this possible? You two really did not get married?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can do a check! I have Chinese nationality so you can find my marriage record in the Civil Affairs Bureau!¡± Li Lei cursed and swore. He finally understood why Xiao Ling rejected him so much. It turned out that she thought he was married? ¡°How can I let you be a mistress?¡± He looked at her deeply. ¡°You are the only woman I want to protect in my life.¡±

    ¡°What... what was with that news article, then?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°I will investigate clearly.¡± Li Lei said. He already secretly guessed in his heart that it was due to Old Master Li because he was the one who deliberately tried to keep them apart. He was rather sad. It turned out that Xiao Ling did not trust him enough and was easily fooled by the news. However, even so, he still continued to love her deeply.

    Xia Ling was silent for a long time.

    Shaohui looked worriedly at her and then at Li Lei. He only prayed in his heart that his mother would forgive his father. However, he also hoped that his mother would not forgive him so easily because his lousy dad treated both of them too poorly. After not being by their side for so many years, his father should suffer some hardship so that he would treasure his mother more in the future.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei carefully called her.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and asked, ¡°How exactly are you rted to Su Tang and her son, then?¡±

    Li Lei was very happy that she was finally interested in this situation. He quickly said, ¡°After Su Tang became pregnant, to protect her reputation, I had to acknowledge that her child was mine. However, I announced to the public that it was a mistake after being drunk and rejected marrying her. Su Tang also admitted that it was an ident, so I did not need to marry her or be responsible for her. Now, our rtionship is very simple. We are Xiao Rui¡¯s dad and mom. There¡¯s nothing else besides that.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed in relief. This was better than knowing he was married.

    He could call her selfish for her intolerance towards others¡¯ happiness. She just really did not like seeing the man she loved married to another woman. In fact, she was not prepared to return to this man after a long separation.

    At this moment, she suddenly understood what Pei Ziheng meant when he said he would rather destroy her than let someone else have her. It turned out that when love was too deep, one would really be unreasonable.

    Her feelings were veryplicated.

    Beside her, Shaohui lightly pulled her hand. ¡°Sister, if Uncle Li isn¡¯t married, does this mean that he can marry you in the future? Once we be a family, Uncle Li can cook good food for us every day.¡±

    <i>This greedy boy... </i>Xia Ling almostughed.

    Li Lei quickly struck while the iron was hot. ¡°Xiao Ling, look. Shaohui is a boy. He needs a father to guide him so that he can be a real man in the future. You should give him aplete family.¡±

    Momentary, she was touched and was almost convinced by him.

    However, she remembered how much she suffered in these four years and was still afraid of getting hurt.

    Furthermore...

    ¡°Since you said that you and Su Tang are only acting as parents, why does she live in your vi? She even decided on all the decorations and furnishing.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I can¡¯t immediately ¡®break up¡¯ with her after she just gave birth to a child. This would hurt her and her child too much. Xiao Ling, our n is to go slow and find a suitable time to let the outside world know that we¡¯re ¡®parting ways.¡¯ This way, Li Rui and her reputation won¡¯t be damaged.¡±

    Xia Ling was somewhat ufortable. ¡°So what if her reputation isn¡¯t damaged? Have you ever thought of me?¡± Did he know how she survived these four years?

    Li Lei fell silent for a moment before saying, ¡°I know that you¡¯ve suffered grievances.¡±

    Xia Ling felt even more upset. How could her years of suffering be understated by one brief sentence? She looked at the man in front of her and firmly said, ¡°Make Su Tang move out of your house. If you can¡¯t even do that, don¡¯t bother to look for me again.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes shined. She knew that Xiao Ling had let go of a little of her inhibitions.

    Since she was able to negotiate terms with him, it was better than not talking at all.

    ¡°I will quickly settle this problem.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling snorted and took Shaohui¡¯s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Shaohui reluctantly turned around to look at Li Lei. When they walked past the living room, he reluctantly said goodbye to Er Mao. Unexpectedly, the nanny pushed Li Rui to the living room and he was waiting for them. Seeing that they were out, he screamed, ¡°You all should get lost! Don¡¯t evere to my home again! This territory belongs to my mom and me!¡±

    Xia Ling did not even bother to nce at him.

    However, Shaohui almost wanted to say something. However, after some thought, he remained quiet. The etiquette training he received since a young age told him that he should not provoke the child in the wheelchair. After all, the person who was about to move out was his mother.

 Chapter 682 - Iâ€™m Glad That itâ€™s Not You

    <h4>Chapter 682: I¡¯m d That it¡¯s Not You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling went home. She continued to record songs, finish her jobs and look after her child.

    She lived her life as per normal and nothing interesting happened. Sometimes, Shaohui would ask her, ¡°Sister, when do you think Uncle Li will make Aunt Su move out? I really miss Er Mao and Uncle Li¡¯s cooking.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her gaze and held back her emotions.

    ¡°It¡¯s up to him.¡± She said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if he chases her away or not.¡±

    However, Shaohui could still hear the nervousness and anticipation in her voice. The child was very anxious and anticipated for the moment to arrive every day. <i>Stupid dad, mom already gave you a chance. You better seize it!</i>

    Perhaps the Heavens heard his voice.

    Soon, Li Lei came over to visit. In the golden autumn sunlight, he wore a thin shirt which outlined his defined muscles. After undergoing intensebat training for years, his body was even more wless, and even that sharp scar on his face made him more masculine.

    He held an elegant gift box in his hand and appeared at her doorstep.

    Shaohui opened the door. ¡°Uncle Li, Uncle Li!¡±

    Li Lei shed a toothy smile and leaned down to pat his head. ¡°Shaohui, have you been good?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± He nodded his head vigorously and pulled him into the house. ¡°Sister is currently practicing a dance in the dance studio. I will call for her!¡± He then tip-topped and discreetly whispered beside Li Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°This afternoon, she said that she wanted to eat hazelnut cake.¡± After that, he winked at Li Lei.

    Li Lei understood his intentions and smiled even more vibrantly. ¡°Since your sister is dancing now, let¡¯s not disturb her. After she¡¯s done practicing, you can tell her that I¡¯m here. Let me use your kitchen for a while.¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡± Shaohui happily led him to the kitchen.

    After Xia Ling was done practicing, she showered and changed her clothes before heading downstairs. The first thing she saw was that there was another adult in the living room. Shaohui and Li Lei were holding arge hazelnut cake and smiling as they waited for her.

    ¡°Sister, quicklye over to eat. It¡¯s delicious!¡± Shaohui bounced and grabbed her hand.

    However, she remained rooted to the ground and quietly asked, ¡°Is it done?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Su Tang has already moved out. However...¡±

    Xia Ling slightly raised her eyebrows.

    Looking at her expression, he was anxious but still bravely said, ¡°Xiao Rui is still living at my ce. As Su Tang wants to take care of him, she moved somewhere that isn¡¯t that far away for convenience¡¯s sake.¡± He initially thought that since Su Tang stubbornly gave birth to this child, once she moved out, she would definitely move out with him. However, this was far from reality. Su Tang said that Xiao Rui really liked the environment of the vi and was unwilling to move out so, in the end, he continued to stay in the vi.

    She also said that she woulde to visit the child.

    Xia Ling sneered and guessed what Su Tang¡¯s intentions were. She said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t see it, Li Lei. Why are you two notpletely cutting ties with each other?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°She was my life savior, so I can¡¯t be overly harsh to her.¡±

    ¡°I have also saved your life before!¡± Xia Ling suddenly burst out and looked at the man. Did he know what price she paid to save his life during the paragliding incident? She went back to the nightmare of her past life and gave birth to her child while living in hell-like fear every day. After that, she painfully witnessed as her child died...

    Why did all of this happen to her?

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because I haven¡¯t traversed a dangerous forest with you, never experienced as much hardship as you and was less injured than her? I can never be pregnant again, do you know that?! For you, I would hurt my body without regrets. But now, do you think that another woman is worse off than me and I haven¡¯t suffered as much as her? Is that why you¡¯re doing this to punish me, to hurt me more and make me even more miserable?!¡±

    They started arguing again...

    Shaohui dejectedly covered his ears.

    <i>Stupid dad, do you think it¡¯s worth it to keep that idiotic child? Anyway, he¡¯s already so spoiled. No matter where he is, he won¡¯t get any better, so he should just be returned to his mom¡¯s side! </i>Shaohui sadly stuffed some cake in his mouth. It was so delicious but, in the future, would he still be able to eat it?

    He had already decided that his father had failed.

    Unexpectedly, Li Lei took a few steps forward and looked at Xia Ling seriously. ¡°It¡¯s not like this, Xiao Ling. You will always be the only one in my heart. Do you know, I¡¯m actually very thankful that the person who was in the forest wasn¡¯t you. The way you talked about Su Tang is quite cruel, but this is my honest thought, and that¡¯s why I¡¯ve felt so guilty about her for so many years. It¡¯s not only because she saved me, really.¡±

    His words were surprising and Xia Ling looked at him in shock. Tears started to fall out of her eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± She said softly.

    He reached out and stroked her long hair. ¡°Come over and eat the cake. I also brought a present for you. Open it and take a look.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Tears were still in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes. Did he think that he could use these pacifying words to make her forget Li Rui and convince her to stay in his house? Impossible.

    Li Lei very gently said, ¡°Take a look.¡±

    He pulled her hand and opened the elegant box. In the box was a very beautiful key which glistened with a silvery white shine.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the apartment that we used to live in together? I¡¯ve changed the lock. Besides you and me, no one else can enter, not even my grandpa or Su Tang. I¡¯ve already moved back to the apartment. Xiao Ling, today I wanted to invite you back. Are you willing to move back with me?¡± Since Xiao Rui liked the vi, he could stay there by himself. Besides, he had servants and butlers to look after him, so nothing would go wrong.

    He renovated the apartment andbined it with the apartment next door. It was a ce sufficient for him, her and her child.

    Xia Ling looked at the key, speechless.

    Shaohui was so engrossed that he forgot to swallow the half-eaten cake in his mouth. He did not think that his stupid dad could find a way out. He had moved his sister so much that she was at a loss for words.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,e with me.¡± Li Lei was even more gentle.

    Xia Ling finally returned to reality and took a step back frantically. ¡°Let me think about it.¡± She weakly said. It turned out that although she hated him and rejected him so much, she was still so moved by his actions that she was at a loss for words today. Xia Ling was very scared that she was poisoned again by him and would not be able to escape from now on.

    ¡°No matter how long you take, I will always be by your side and wait for your answer.¡± Li Lei said. Although he was burning with anxiety, he understood that he could not rush her. He needed to give her time. ¡°How about you try some of the hazelnut cake first? Shaohui and I made it, and it tastes the same as the one I made for you in the past.¡±

    She walked in front of the table, cut out a piece of the cake and tasted it. Sure enough, it was as delicious as the one she had in the past.

    Her eyes started to water again.

 Chapter 683 - Time for a Change in Season

    <h4>Chapter 683: Time for a Change in Season</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Feelings were just this delicate.

    The more you wanted to hate someone, the more you couldn¡¯t hate them. The more you wanted to forget someone, the more you couldn¡¯t forget them.

    A piece of hazelnut cake. An invitation to move out. These two things caused many cracks to form on Xia Ling¡¯s cold heart. She was no longer hostile towards Li Lei and did not stop him from looking for various excuses to look for her. As for him, the excuse he used the most was to teach Shaohui how to cook.

    Slowly, the rtionship between the two eased a lot.

    Shaohui was also happy to see the improvement.

    Every time Li Lei was not around, Shaohui would persuade Xia Ling to watch idol dramas. It seemed that this child was recently addicted to soap operas. While he watched them, he would cry and say, ¡°Sister, look at that couple. They¡¯re so pitiful because that bad woman broke them up...¡± Or, ¡°That child is so pitiful. He¡¯s so young but he has no father...¡±

    Xia Ling lowered his head to look at him.

    The child cried very hard. ¡°That uncle is also very pitiful. After being misunderstood by his sister for so long, he still sacrificed so much for her...¡±

    Xia Ling stroked his head and said, ¡°Boys shouldn¡¯t be so sentimental.¡±

    However, Shaohui cried harder. As he cried, hemented, ¡°Shaohui also doesn¡¯t have a father. Shaohui really wants a father...¡± After that, he paused as if he suddenly realized something and looked at her carefully. ¡°Sister, I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t be saying these things...¡±

    Looking at the child¡¯s careful behavior, Xia Ling was heartbroken.

    It was true. Which child did not wish to have a father?

    However, how could she give her child a father? Li Lei and her... still had arge barrier. The ending song of the soap opera started. She looked a little troubled and quickly switched to the news channel.

    The Tv station was currently reporting news relevant to this. ¡°ording to reliable sources, Chairman Li Lei of Skyart Entertainment recently separated from Su Tang whom he had a child with... A few years ago, there was a media report that stated that they were going to get married, but Li Lei recently addressed the rumor and said that both of them never got to the point of marriage.¡±

    Xia Ling tightened her grip over the remote control.

    Shaohui also quietened down and watched the news with her.

    Li Lei¡¯s familiar face appeared in the news. He was blocked by reporters at an unknown ce and said without hesitation, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve never married Su Tang. I¡¯m single, and so is Su Tang. In the past, we were only together because it was convenient to take care of Li Rui. Now that Li Rui is older, she voluntarily suggested living separately from me...¡±

    He spoke eloquently and protected Su Tang¡¯s reputation. He never said that he had abandoned that woman.

    She did not know if he had used any means to put pressure on the media, but in general, the media¡¯s coverage of this news was quite positive. ¡°Two adults sought for bnce between their child and themselves. They made the logical choice to co-habit and separate.¡± All headlines had simrly warm tones.

    Xia Ling rxed. Finally, he had made it public.

    Gleeful, she went to the kitchen to grab an ice cream to eat. Shaohui was also very happy. After the news, he continued to pester her to watch soap operas with him. This time, he cried even more emotionally. ¡°Children without fathers are like weeds... Sister, can you look for a dad for me? This way, there will be someone to look after both of us...¡±

    Xia Ling was both mad and amused. This time, she vaguely acknowledged him.

    She was in a good mood and condition. The next day, she was glowing and dressed up for work.

    Lin Yunan went to the office to look for her. He said, ¡°Xiao Ling, there is a parent-child advertisement job which wants you and Shaohui to be in the photoshoot. What do you think?¡± As he spoke, he handed the n to her.

    She nced at it. It was an advertisement for a newly opened nature reverse which focused on environmental protection, culture and family bonding. It advocated the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature and was very appropriate for her and Shaohui.

    ¡°I will go back and ask Shaohui.¡± She said. She received many advertisement jobs, but this was the first time an advertisement requested for Shaohui. She did not know if the child was willing. But since he liked animals so much, he likely would not refuse.

    Sure enough, after Shaohui heard about this, he was very happy and immediately agreed.

    He also asked Xia Ling, ¡°Sister, can we ask Uncle Li toe along? Er Mao is very majestic. If he¡¯s in the advertisement, it will definitely be awesome.¡±

    Xia Ling knocked his small head. ¡°Forget about it.¡±

    Invite Li Lei and Er Mao?

    The advertiser would go bankrupt just by paying the advertising fee. Not to mention...

    She was slightly downcast. Although he had separated from Su Tang, what was there between them? She was still not ready to start epting him again.

    However, Shaohui still told Li Lei about this.

    Now, he frequently asked Li Lei for cooking lessons and called him often. When they were chatting, he unhesitantly reported thetest news about his sister to Li Lei. After hearing it, Li Leiughed. ¡°Although I can¡¯t be with you for the shoot, I can prepare lunch boxes for you. This way, you two won¡¯t have to eat those awful boxed lunches.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Shaohui was very happy. Although he was a good cook now, he was not as good as Li Lei¡¯s wless cooking, and he loved eating Li Lei¡¯s dishes the most.

    Li Lei cooked many of Xia Ling¡¯s favorite dishes and stored them in a lunch box.

    After thinking about it, he made another small one which contained many of Shaohui¡¯s favorite dishes. Shaohui had the same preferences as him and he very easily cooked the dishes.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling was clueless.

    Recently, she was busy with jobs and did not have much time to chat with Shaohui.

    The location of the shoot was a picturesque forest with a crystal clear stream. The advertisement was shot very smoothly. In the fairytale-like forest, Shaohui wore pure white angelic clothes. He knelt down to pick a flower and gently ced it on Xia Ling¡¯s head. The background music was the sound of flowing water, a beautiful and melodious sound...

    During the intermission, the staff told them to eat.

    Shaohui said, ¡°No need. We¡¯ve brought our own food.¡± He pulled Xia Ling to their huge van and took out two ultra-luxurious lunchboxes from the van.

    Xia Ling was startled. ¡°Since when did we bring food?¡±

    Shaohui blinked. ¡°Uncle Li prepared them. He was afraid that you wouldn¡¯t eat well outside and specially prepared delicious food.¡± As he spoke, he happily took her to arge tree and started to open the lunchboxes.

    Seeing him so happy, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t bear reject him and followed him.

    When she opened the lunchboxes, she smelled a familiar scent. Sure enough, it was Li Lei¡¯s cooking. The lunchboxes were extremely nutritious. She could tell that he had spent a lot of effort on them. She quietly ate as her mind wandered off. That man cared so much about her, but was there really no other lover by his side?

    Originally, Su Tang could have taken care of him well.

    However, for her, he separated from Su Tang.

    At once, Xia Ling felt a little guilty. ¡°After this advertisement shoot is over, let¡¯s go to...¡± She hesitated.

    ¡°What?¡± Shaohui¡¯s mouth was stuffed with rice. He lifted his head and looked at her in confusion.

    Xia Ling smiled and finally said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the mall. I¡¯ll buy a few clothes for you and... buy a few clothes for Uncle Li. The weather is getting cold and the season is about to change.¡±

 Chapter 684 - The Scarf

    <h4>Chapter 684: The Scarf</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Shaohui¡¯s eyes sparkled and he nodded vehemently. ¡°Okay!¡±

    However, the two of them had not noticed that somebody had been following them stealthily. One of the employees went a distance away and made a call. ¡°Miss Su, the people you¡¯d told me to look out for ¡ª Ye Xingling and that boy ¡ª were talking about buying a shirt for Mr. Li... Yes, yes... Miss Su, you¡¯re too kind. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you until the very end!¡±

    The man smirked as he hung up.

    He was excited. This was amazing. All he needed to do was to help Miss Su spy on two people and was rewarded tens of thousands of yuan. This was way more lucrative than his current job ¡ª preparing drinks for the actors and doing the misceneous duties at filming sets! Although the entertainment industry paid well, this only applied to those who had fame and status. Meanwhile, the little employees like him didn¡¯t even earn as much as a white-cor worker, despite being kept busy at others¡¯ beck and call.

    He¡¯d be a fool not to take up this additional task for extra cash.

    He had topose himself for a long while before returning to the crew members as if nothing had happened.

    The filming went smoothly.

    They wrapped up in just one day, and Xia Ling was escorted back with Shaohui.

    It was the beginning of fall and temperatures had dipped a little.

    Xia Ling made appointments with a few renowned tailor stores ¡ª with her current status, she could enjoy the privilege of being the only customer they attended to for the day. She took Shaohui along and bought him some children¡¯s wear, before meticulously picking out a few sets for Li Lei.

    She never forgot his sizes.

    Neither did she forget the style he liked ¡ª he didn¡¯t like suits which were too formal and restricting. He preferred a morefortable and leisurely style. Hence, she bought a knitted vest and some long pants, as well as a jacket.

    She then picked out another scarf.

    She knew he did not like wearing scarves. But the advertisement of the scarf swayed her a little ¡ª in the ad, the male model looked warm and tender with the scarf wrapped around his neck, soft fabric against his side profile.

    She¡¯d looked at the ad for a long while.

    She thought of the scar that stretched out on Li Lei¡¯s cheek where the scarf covered that model. She had not asked about how the scar came about, or how much he had suffered in the years they spent apart, or how many death threats he had had to face... she had been too caught up about whether to reconcile with him and would not ask anything too specific until and unless she hade to a decision, lest it seemed like she was interested in bing a part of his life again...

    But that did not mean that her heart wasn¡¯t hurting for him.

    Every time she saw that scar, she felt a stab in her heart.

    How she wished she could stroke his cheek and tell him, ¡°My heart aches for you.¡±

    But she couldn¡¯t.

    If only this scarf could stay by him, and take her ce in caressing his wound...

    ¡°Miss Ye, this scarf is our newest arrival for the season. It¡¯s made from the best cashmere in the world It¡¯s thin and light, but can keep the wearer warm. It¡¯d make a very good gift.¡± The store manager had personally made an appearance to rmend her the products.

    Xia Ling did not hesitate anymore. ¡°Wrap it up for me.¡±

    Shaohui was jumping by the side. ¡°I want one too!¡± He wanted to wear the same design as his father, a perfect father-son apparel.

    Xia Ling smiled and reached for the child-sized one. She wrapped it around Shaohui¡¯s neck ¡ª it did look pretty nice. ¡°We¡¯ll take this one too.¡±

    The store manager carefully packaged both scarves.

    The shopping trip ended in a resounding sess.

    Having bought many new clothes, Shaohui was extremely joyful. ¡°Sister, you¡¯ve got to give these clothes to Uncle Li quickly. He¡¯ll be so happy to have so many new clothes!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Despite having said that, she still felt conflicted. She felt a sense of regret as she looked at the clothes she had just bought ¡ª how was she going to hand them to Li Lei? How could she make the situation less awkward?

    Would giving him new clothes be too much?

    She couldn¡¯t decide.

    Hence, the clothesy in a pile at home for the next few days...

    Shaohui couldn¡¯t stand the sight of it any longer and secretly gave Li Lei a call. ¡°Uncle Li, let me tell you something. Sister bought you many new clothes... but it seems like she¡¯s too shy to pass them to you. Quick, find a way to get them, or they¡¯ll be out of season real soon... Hehe, don¡¯t thank me, just help me keep this secret. If Sister knows I¡¯d let it out to you, she¡¯ll punish me... Yup, I want good food! Salmon! Okay, that¡¯s a deal!¡±

    He hung up happily.

    How fortunate they were to have him around. If not for him, how would this silly pair of parents work anything out?

    Little Shaohui shook his head as he waited for Li Lei to take action. The very next day, Li Lei arrived with gifts for them. He had actually brought new-season apparels and items for Xia Ling, including shawls, perfumes and even lip gloss.

    Little Shaohui cheered his father on quietly.

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Why¡¯d you suddenly give me all these?¡±

    ¡°I saw thetest ad you shot with Shaohui.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°I suddenly felt like this color of lip gloss would look perfect on you. Oh, the perfume as well, and the shawl... The new season has arrived anyway, just ept them.¡±

    Xia Ling opened the packages, and they were indeed items that suited her very well.

    With that, she finally said, ¡°What a coincidence, I have something for you too.¡± She went to get the few outfits she had bought for him, as well as the scarf.

    Li Lei felt warm and fuzzy. It¡¯d been so many years, Xiao Ling was finally willing to give him things again... there were too many good things in this world, but nothing could beat whatever Xiao Ling personally gave him. He would rather exchange his wealth and assets for her feelings; with her, life was so much better.

    ¡°Open them up and see if they¡¯re suitable.¡± She was actually a little nervous.

    It had been years since shest gave him anything. At this point, she was a little anxious.

    Li Lei said, ¡°As long as it¡¯s from you, it¡¯s good.¡± He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m still wearing the Rolex you bought me years back.¡± He reached his hand out and true enough, the Rolex was on his wrist. Although it was a branded watch, a Rolex was considerably a little shabby for someone of Li Lei¡¯s status. But he had worn it all this while ¡ª no matter how many people had gossipped about hisck of taste.

    Xia Ling looked at the watch.

    She remembered how he had rushed to her rescue when someone set her up in her hometown. She had casually given him a Rolex after that, but did not expect him to be wearing it till now... it had been so many years, and the once-pristine watch now had scratches that marked the passing of time, the same way their love did.

    But it was still there, wasn¡¯t it?

    Some things never really left.

    She hung her head low for a while, attempting to hide her expression.

    Li Lei unwrapped the gifts, and the first one he saw was the scarf. It was soft and of quality material. He usually disliked wearing scarves, but this was from Xiao Ling.

    He even remembered a girl saying ¡ª

    If you love someone, give him a scarf. Wrap it around him, hold him close to you, and never let him leave.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, put it on for me.¡± He quietly told her.

 Chapter 685 - Get Married As Soon As Possible

    <h4>Chapter 685: Get Married As Soon As Possible</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling received the scarf.

    The softness of the fabric touched her heart.

    They had known each other for so many years, gone through breakups, reconciliations and so many other obstacles. But she had never put on a scarf for him. She tiptoed slightly and carefully wrapped it around his neck. Round and round.

    He looked down at her, they were so close to each other they could feel each other¡¯s breathing.

    He could see hershes fluttering ever so slightly, soft as an art brush, and those eyes full of life. How he wished he could hold her in his embrace.

    She did not know what he was thinking, and continued putting his scarf on gently and covering part of his face, the same way she did in the ad. As she was adjusting the scarf around his scar, her hands froze for a moment ¡ª she had identally touched it.

    ¡°Actually, it wasn¡¯t anything serious.¡± He seemed to read her mind.

    She was startled by his voice, and anxiously kept her hands to herself.

    ¡°Nobody asked.¡± She refused to admit it.

    He chuckled softly. ¡°It really doesn¡¯t hurt.¡±

    She took a few steps back, as if somebody was trying to reach deep inside her. The warm glow of sunset poured in through the window panes as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. He rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.

    The memory from four years ago, in which Li Feng ambushed him and scratched his face with a dagger, shed before him. It only just hit him ¡ª if he had died back then, he would never have been able to hold her this way again, to feel her warmth or smell her hair. This was such an amazing feeling.

    Xia Ling stiffened a little, but she did not move.

    His breathing by his ear made her tense up a little, but it was from a strange sense of... safety. It took a while, but that sense of safety calmed her down gradually, and she closed her eyes.

    The room was silent.

    Little Shaohui left the room at some point.

    A long timeter, Li Lei spoke, ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you.¡±

    Hershes fluttered a little bit. She quietly said, ¡°Liar.¡±

    He reached for her hands with his calloused ones. ¡°I¡¯ll never, ever lie to you.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to rebut, but on deeper thought, he¡¯d indeed never lied to her. But, was this love? If this really was love, then what were those years of suffering about?

    She gently released herself from his embrace.

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte,¡± she said. ¡°Go home.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want me to stay for dinner?¡± He looked at the time and smiled.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing nice here for you to eat.¡±

    Li Lei responded, ¡°I¡¯ll cook for you.¡± He would not give her a chance to reject. All of these ¡ª and his ways to ovee it ¡ª had been taken into consideration on his way here. While she was still in a dilemma, he made his way to the kitchen. It did not take he and Shaohui long before a spread was prepared. They called her to the table for dinner.

    Over the meal, he spoke carefully.

    She responded matter-of-factly, not too dismissive, but not warmly either.

    Li Lei knew that there was still a barrier in her heart that he hadn¡¯t crossed, and that it would be better to take things slow. After dinner, he bade his farewell appropriately.

    Xia Ling walked him to the door.

    He gave her ast hug before leaving.

    That night, Xia Ling had a good dream. In her dream was the three of them ¡ª she, Li Lei and Shaohui ¡ª sitting together by the beach as they watched the sunset. Shaohui had called her Mom, and Li Lei, Dad.

    When she woke, she took a while to gather her thoughts. Was this what she truly wanted?

    She drove out of the house, all ready for a day of song-recording with Wei Shaoyin. Herpany had been working independently all these years, but nheless, it was just a managementpany and could not bepared to Skyart or Imperial in terms of scale and diversity. She often outsourced her music producers, and these included Wei Shaoyin and Feng Kun.

    Wei Shaoyin was a proud person. Despite the fact that she was a Diva, he still made it a point for her to go to his recording studio. His studio was in Skyart, and so she didn¡¯t take the main entrance, instead parking in the car park and taking a private lift to his floor. She opened the door.

    Wei Shaoyin was in the phone with someone. ¡°I already said it, no changes! Do you understand music at all? Once you change it, it¡¯ll feel all different! If you¡¯re set on changing it, then don¡¯t work with me! And don¡¯t put my name on that! Do you hear me?! What? You want to look for Li Lei? Well, go ahead, there¡¯s no use even if Li Lei agrees!¡±

    He hung up angrily.

    Xia Ling had long been used to this. She hung her jacket on the rack, poured herself a cup of lemon-infused water, and found her song sheet in the drawer of materials. She began flipping it, ¡°You modified ¡®Cross Junction¡¯ again? Not bad, it sounds even better now.¡±

    Only then did Wei Shaoyin realize that she hade.

    ¡°You¡¯re still the one that doesn¡¯t worry me.¡± Wei Shaoyin was just in an argument, and Xia Ling appeared to be an ultimate good guy now. ¡°New singers nowadays have a horrible attitude. They begged me to supervise the song-recording process, but refuse to sing it the way I tell them to. I don¡¯t understand. If she could make do with such low standards, why did she spend so much time persuading me to help them in the first ce?!¡±

    Xia Ling was amused, ¡°Who¡¯s it this time?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin named somebody.

    Xia Lingughed. How was she a new singer? She was already pretty famous and popr by now. She casually flipped her own set of materials. ¡°I¡¯d asked you to join me at Phoenix Down but you declined. If youe, you¡¯ll just be attending to me alone, life would be so much easier.¡±

    When she left Skyart previously, she had openly asked for him to join her.

    But Wei Shaoyin was firm on his stand. ¡°Aren¡¯t you still recording Feng Kun¡¯s songs? Your taste is so bad, how could I possibly go over and join you?! When you finally cut all ties with Feng Kun and record my songs exclusively, I¡¯ll go over to Phoenix Down!¡±

    Xia Ling sighed.

    These two music producers were really each other¡¯s nemesis. It had been so many years, but Wei Shaoyin still had something against Feng Kun. He wouldn¡¯t stop harping on it if Xia Ling recorded even one more song with Feng Kun...

    <i>Sigh. </i>Xia Ling shook her head.

    ¡°We¡¯ve to record this song fast,¡± said Xia Ling as she flipped through the sheets. ¡°Ah Kun still has another song awaiting me. I¡¯ve to go over in the afternoon.¡± She looked up at him. ¡°Want toe along?¡±

    ¡°You wish!¡± Wei Shaoyin was angered.

    ¡°Ah Kun said he hasn¡¯t seen you in a long time, and even got me to bring you some good...¡± Xia Ling said it as she liked, ¡°Oh, anyway, he makes very good coffee, especially your favorite Mandheling. It tastes amazing.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin wavered slightly, hesitating. Eventually, he still refused. ¡°I¡¯m not going!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so boring for me to go alone...¡± Xia Ling pouted.

    ¡°Get Boss to go with you!¡± Wei Shaoyin red at her. ¡°Didn¡¯t he return just to woo you? You¡¯ve been looking at the amulet he gave you for the past few years, don¡¯t you dare tell me you don¡¯t miss him. Hurry and settle your messy rtionship. Now that he and Su Tang are no longer together, you should take the opportunity and get married as soon as possible!¡±

 Chapter 686 - Fire Exit

    <h4>Chapter 686: Fire Exit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Get married as soon as possible?

    She hadn¡¯t even decided whether she wanted to reconcile with him or not, how could she even think about marriage?

    She ced the cup of lemon-infused water on the table and poured at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°You keep talking about things between me and your boss, but what about your own future? Do you n to remain single all your life?¡±

    ¡°Music is my soulmate!¡± Wei Shaoyin raised his chin.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want a physical partner?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Wei Shaoyin showed a look of disdain. ¡°That sounds so crude, what do you mean physical partner? It¡¯s so dirty, how do you even take it?¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. This was the most absurd reason to remain single that she had ever heard.

    She was done talking to Wei Shaoyin and decided to start recording the song. They got it done in just one morning.

    ¡°Lunch together?¡± Wei Shaoyin asked.

    Xia Ling looked at the time. ¡°I¡¯m meeting Feng Kun.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression darkened and he shooed her out of the studio.

    Xia Ling was on the way down to the car park when she noticed a sh of light from the corner of her eye, which seemed like a camera sh.

    She stopped in her tracks.

    She took a few steps back and kept herself concealed. She then took a mirror out from her bag and tried getting a glimpse of the surroundings and whaty behind her. This time it was obvious ¡ª there was a reporter squatting nearby.

    She could not be sure whether the reporter was waiting for her. After all, this was Skyart¡¯s building and tons of celebrities strutted in and out every day. But it would still pay to be a little more cautious; having been a Diva for so many years, she knew the troubles that a reporter could bring ¡ª especially when she was alone now without any assistants or employees.

    Skyart and Phoenix Down were located very close to each other, and she hardly took anyone along when she came to Skyart.

    Now that this had happened, she could only me herself.

    She backed off some more and nned to walk back to the elevator the same way, and then seek some refuge in Wei Shaoyin¡¯s studio before getting Lin Yunan to send somebody to fetch her. However, she had only taken a few steps when she heard two people¡¯s voiceing from the elevator¡¯s direction ¡ª their footsteps were hasty and they sounded a little hurried. ¡°What happened? Didn¡¯t you say Ye Xingling had alreadye down? Where¡¯s she?¡±

    ¡°This building is too huge, she may have left by another exit. Let¡¯s try to find her again.¡±

    ¡°Alright, get Xiao Zhou to standby near the elevatornding, just in case she hasn¡¯te down yet.¡±

    They walked in her direction as they spoke.

    Xia Ling shrunk back into the shadows of a corridor and held her breath as they walked by her. The two people did not notice her, but now she was sure they were both reporters, although she had no idea why they were so fixated on finding her. Xia Ling sensed something was wrong and tried to find a way to escape.

    The elevatornding was now guarded, and there were people around in the car park.

    From the way they spoke, it seemed like the other exits were all guarded as well.

    She thought of the fire exit, could she possibly ess the building through it? There was only one way to find out. She kept a lookout of her surroundings as she walked towards the fire exit. Finally, she tugged at the knob and realized that it was locked.

    ¡°Li Lei, you jerk!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but chide Skyart¡¯s big boss. How could the fire exit be locked for no reason?! What if there was a fire?! How could this man have no safety awareness at all?! How was she...

    How was she supposed to escape now!

    Xia Ling was on the verge of tears.

    ¡°Ye Xingling! She¡¯s there!¡± Out of the blue, she heard a surprised exmation.

    She turned around and saw that the two reporters from before had returned after making a round and were walking toward her. Shocked by this scene, Xia Ling tried tugging at the door again, but to no avail.

    This was the only option left. Since it was inessible, it seemed like there was no escape.

    The two reporters rushed toward her, ¡°Miss Ye, please hold on! We¡¯d like to interview you! What¡¯s your rtionship with Mr. Li Lei? Are you still together?¡±

    What... what¡¯s going on?!

    Xia Ling did not expect that so many reporters were after her just for this question. Not wanting any gossip or scandal to fester, she mmed against the door even more anxiously. ¡°Open up! Hurry, open up!¡± She was muttering to herself in anger, ¡°Li Lei, you jerk! I¡¯ll sue you for this fire hazard once I¡¯m out of here!¡±

    She was in a fluster.

    The reporters were getting closer and Xia Ling had not seeded in getting the door open. This was getting hopeless, it seemed like there was no escaping them...

    She turned around and took a deep breath as she faced the reporters rushing toward her. All of a sudden, the door behind her opened, and a strong arm dragged her in before the door was locked once again.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling was startled.

    ¡°Shh, it¡¯s me.¡± It was a familiar voice.

    Xia Ling looked up and saw that it was Li Lei, in afortable outfit and a cap that was lowered to cover his face. He had one arm around her waist and a key in the other hand.

    The reporters began knocking on the door, ¡°Miss Ye, please open the door!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t run! We just want to ask two questions!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, are you really dating Mr. Li?¡±

    Li Lei put a finger to his lip, gesturing for her to keep silent as he held her hand and led her up the stairs quietly. By the time they reached the third floor, she was already panting ¡ª it was tiring walking in those heels.

    Li Lei quietly said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a break.¡± He removed his jacket and let her sit on it.

    She did as he suggested without even thinking twice.

    She heard the two reporters conversing outside the door. ¡°She¡¯s not on this floor.¡± They tried opening the door to the stairs. ¡°The stairway is locked, and she doesn¡¯t have the key to escape by this route. It seems like she must have gone to a higher floor. We¡¯ll just have to search floor by floor.¡±

    They took off.

    Li Lei stood near the door to make sure there was nobody else outside, before taking his cellphone out. ¡°Security department? Please help me privatize elevator no.3 of the recording studio building... Yes, besides me, nobody is allowed to scan their cards and ess it.¡± A whileter, he responded, ¡°Thank you so much.¡±

    He hung up and told Xia Ling, ¡°You take a rest, I¡¯ll check it out.¡±

    He opened the door with his key and cautiously went on to check the corridors outside. He then returned and helped her up. ¡°Hang in there for a bit more, we¡¯ll take the elevator up.¡±

    She nodded and followed him into the elevator.

    <i>Ding! </i>¡ª elevator no.3 was not in ess.

    ¡°We¡¯re safe now, nobody else can get this elevator door open.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling heave a sigh of relief. ¡°What a scare, those reporters are mad.¡± Then, something hit her and she red at Li Lei. ¡°And you, why did you lock up the fire exit? What if there¡¯s a fire in the building? Everyone¡¯s going to be burnt alive!¡±

    Li Lei smiled innocently. ¡°Yup, the fire exit is always left unlocked. I got somebody to lock it up when I saw some reportersing in earlier. Otherwise, they¡¯d definitely be stationed at the exits waiting for you. How were you going to escape then?¡±

 Chapter 687 - Something Fishy

    <h4>Chapter 687: Something Fishy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was tongue-tied. After a while, she asked, ¡°Why are they going to such lengths to find me?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°When you shopped for men¡¯s wear at the store a while back, some paparazzi spotted you there. They¡¯ve been trying to look for you the past few days and managed to get some photos of me leaving your housest night. It made it to the news.¡±

    It was rumors indeed.

    Xia Ling was unhappy. Her love life was alreadyplicated enough, she didn¡¯t want the paparazzi to make things worse. But this was the downside of being a celebrity ¡ª constantly living in the spotlight with no concept of privacy. She looked at her watch. ¡°I¡¯ve something on in the afternoon, how long will we have to wait in this elevator?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve already gotten the security department to get to work and to ensure that irrelevant people spotted in the building are asked to leave. Wait a little while more, they¡¯ll inform me once the coast is clear.¡± He paused for a while before adding, ¡°I¡¯ll get some people to escort you out.¡± He had nned to walk her out personally, but given the rumors that were already spreading, this was not the best idea.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with this arrangement and waited quietly.

    A short moment of silence passed before Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She looked at him, a little confused. ¡°What are you sorry for? This isn¡¯t your fault, I was too careless when I shopped at the store.¡±

    Li Lei continued, ¡°This time, the rumors are a little... overboard.¡±

    Xia Ling had an uneasy feeling in her heart. She looked at him with her clear, curious eyes, awaiting an exnation.

    Li Lei took the me. ¡°The photo that they captured yesterday was of us hugging at your door. When it was released, many people began specting that you were the reason Su Tang and I parted ways.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. What¡¯s this now? Although she indeed was the reason for their parting ways, she had been a passive character in this scenario, and Li Lei had never stopped loving her this entire time. She wasn¡¯t a third party, but rather, a woman who requested that her admirer had clear boundaries with other women.

    But she could understand why the public wouldn¡¯t see it this way.

    Preparing herself for the worst, she asked Li Lei, ¡°What¡¯s the situation now? How are thements like?¡±

    Li Lei cut the long story short. ¡°They say that you¡¯re the third party.¡± He cautiously looked up at her, before adding, ¡°Of course, you¡¯re not. Xiao Ling, you¡¯re my only lover. Besides you, I¡¯ve never loved any other women. All the rumors spreading around now are unfair to you, but I¡¯ll handle them.¡±

    She didn¡¯t look too happy.

    Li Lei anxiously said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry, just leave it to me. I¡¯m only telling you this so that you¡¯ll be more careful in the next few days. If a reporter manages to get you, it¡¯ll be even more trouble.¡±

    ¡°How do you intend to handle this?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Li Lei said, ¡°This started because of me. I¡¯ll exin it to the reporters, and tell them that Su Tang and I never had any feelings between us.¡±

    ¡°Will they believe it?¡± Xia Ling was suspicious.

    ¡°It¡¯s been so many years and we haven¡¯t got married yet. This is the best testament to it.¡±

    Xia Ling did not say anything more. The public might believe it, but that was not for sure. In any case, she couldn¡¯t carry the shameful name of a ¡°third party¡±¡ª she was not alone now, there was Shaohui with her, and she didn¡¯t want him to have such a pathetic impression of her.

    She looked at the time again.

    Li Lei felt guilty. This was between him and Su Tang, but he dragged Xiao Ling into this mess time and again. He made another call to hurry the security department, and they finally said, ¡°Boss, the entire building is clear now. Besides Skyart employees, everyone else has left. You and Miss Ye are safe now.¡±

    Only then did he press the button and take her back to the floor Wei Shaoyin was on.

    Wei Shaoyin was shocked to see them. ¡°Xiao Ling, why are you back? Boss, what are you doing here?¡± He was so engrossed in his music that he had no idea what had been going on outside his studio.

    Li Lei exined it briefly before instructing him, ¡°Ah Wei, walk Xiao Ling to the car park.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked reluctant but did not decline. He knew that it wouldn¡¯t be convenient for Li Lei to go personally, and hence, contained his emotions.

    He led Xia Ling out. ¡°Hurry up, I still have a song toplete when I get back.¡±

    Xia Ling followed him to the car park before she even had the chance to say goodbye to Li Lei. The path to her car was cordoned off, and security officers were stationed there to ensure that she would not be harassed. Behind the cordons, reporters were busy snapping photos of her.

    ¡°Miss Ye! Miss Ye! Are you and Mr. Li really dating?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s word going around that you¡¯re the third party, what are your views?¡±

    ¡°Are you really here to record your song today? Or are you secretly looking for Li Lei?¡±

    Thankfully, the security officers Li Lei had deployed were professional in their work, and none of them could get to her physically. Wei Shaoyin apanied her to her Porsche before waving her goodbye as she drove away.

    Only when her car hit the road did she feel a load off her mind.

    Third party? Who exactly was the third party? Looking at her mildly pale, haggard self in the rearview mirror, she sneered. Thisbel was rightfully Su Tang¡¯s.

    She made a detour in order to get the reporters off her back but did not return to herpany. Instead, she headed to Imperial Entertainment. Imperial and Skyart were on two different ends of the city and the paparazzi clearly did not think of finding her there. She sessfully made it into the building and saw Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun seemed to be awaiting her arrival.

    Seeing that she had arrived, he began preparing a pot of tea. ¡°Was your journey here a smooth one?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± She told him what had happened in the morning, and did not try to mask her rage in front of this good friend. ¡°How could they say this about me? Do I seem like such a horrid person?!¡±

    Feng Kunforted her. ¡°The entertainment industry has always been like this and you know it.¡±

    She downed a cup of tea.

    Feng Kun went on. ¡°But, don¡¯t you feel like there¡¯s too much coincidence here? You only go to higher-end boutiques, where the salespeople are trained to keep their customers¡¯ details confidential. How is it possible that the paparazzi stalked you and Li Lei right after you¡¯ve bought the outfits?¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at him. ¡°Are you saying...?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something fishy.¡±

    Hearing what he said, Xia Ling found something odd about it too. ¡°If there¡¯s someone out there who¡¯s against me, the most likely person would be...¡±

    ¡°Su Tang.¡± Feng Kun finished her sentence.

 Chapter 688 - Unique Arrogance

    <h4>Chapter 688: Unique Arrogance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nodded.

    Only Su Tang had such great ability and hatred to plot against her.

    Feng Kun gently sped his fingers and made a low noise at the thick wooden table. ¡°I can help you investigate this matter and collect evidence. As long as there is evidence, Li Lei will discover the truth about this woman and stay far away from her.¡± Love was a zero-sum game. You either lost or won. There was no in-between.

    What Feng Kun wanted to do was to help Xia Ling win.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°No need.¡±

    Feng Kun slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise. Why did Xiao Ling change her mind? If this happened in the past, no matter who provoked her, she would insist on getting even for the smallest grievance, especially when it came to love rivals.

    ¡°Is there something else?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. This man was very smart. Based on one sentence from her, he was able to guess the truth. She nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Besides her, no one in the outside world knew what price Su Tang paid to save Li Lei¡¯s life. Even if a man¡¯s heart was made of stone, he would be moved if a woman like her was willing to sacrifice so much for him. Xia Ling guessed that Li Lei had been suffocated with guilt for very long, and she did not wish to use these filthy things to force him to hate Su Tang. That would be too cruel.

    She lowered her head. ¡°The situation involving Su Tang is already giving him enough trouble.¡±

    Feng Kunughed and shook his head. ¡°If I haven¡¯t remembered correctly, you haven¡¯t reconciled with him yet but you¡¯re already speaking for him? Xiao Ling, when did you be like the Virgin Mary?¡±

    ¡°As if!¡± She red at him. However, she felt disheartened and smiled bitterly again. ¡°Ok, you can¡¯t think that I¡¯ve be like the Virgin Mary.¡± She leaned back to look at the beautiful white lines on the ceiling. ¡°However, I have my pride. I don¡¯t want to choose him because another woman is worse than me. What I want is for his final choice to be me even though there are thousands of excellent women in this world.¡±

    As she spoke, a smile appeared on her face. ¡°Let Su Tang keep her ¡®excellence.¡¯¡±

    Feng Kun was slightly shocked and changed his perspective of this petite girl. After these turbulent years, not only did her spirit not wear out, she became even prouder.

    He remembered that in her past life, many people said that Xia Ling was not very special and only benefited from being Pei Ziheng¡¯s lover. They all thought that any other girl that was taken care of by a rich man like Pei Ziheng would be able to be like Xia Ling.

    However, this was not the case.

    She was the most unique person in the world. Even when she fell from the stage, broke every bone in her body and had to start again from nothing, she never lost the pride in her bones.

    She was different from birth.

    Feng Kun lifted his cup of tea. ¡°To you.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and lifted her ss of lemon water to lightly clink her ss his with his cup. Old friends were old friends. No words had to be said.

    The two of them chatted for some time before Lin Yunan called, sounding somewhat tired. ¡°You troublemaker, how is it that you¡¯re involved in a scandal again? Phoenix Down Corporation¡¯s front door is blocked by reporters. Don¡¯te over for a few days. Ok, tell me. What have you done this time?¡±

    Xia Ling felt a little guilty. She told him that she was discovered by chance when she was buying clothes for Li Lei, someone took a photo of them hugging at her doorstep, and she suspected that Su Tang had looked for someone to follow her.

    On the other end, Lin Yunan said, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ve got it. If any reporters ask you anything, just say that you and Li Lei are ordinary friends and that hug was a courtesy hug between friends. He has just separated from Su Tang. No matter what, you can¡¯t admit that you two are together because you will be criticized as the third party.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I know that, and we are really not together.¡±

    Only then was Lin Yunan slightly relieved. After a few more instructions, he hung up the phone.

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly at the phone. This was really troublesome.

    Looking at her, Feng Kun asked, ¡°Are you just going to suffer this grievance?¡±

    Xia Ling turned cold. ¡°I will contract a private investigator. If Su Tang is really trying to sabotage me, even if I don¡¯t do it via Li Lei, I will make her pay the price.¡±

    Sure enough, she still had that revengeful personality trait.

    Feng Kun knew that he could not stop her, so he said, ¡°Before you do anything, remember to look for Lin Yunan or me to discuss it first before you make a decision. Don¡¯t be rash.¡± He did not really trust Xiao Ling. After traveling extensively with Lin Yunan, Su Tang had all sorts of skillful tricks up her sleeve, but besides singing, Xiao Ling was very ignorant about many things.

    Xia Ling knew that Feng Kun had good intentions and smiled. ¡°I know. I will be careful.¡±

    When they ended their chat, both of them started to prepare the songs that were going to be recordedter. Once they started talking about work, they became very focused. Unknowingly, the sun had set. When they were done, the night sky was already filled with stars. Feng Kun smiled and asked, ¡°Should we eat together?¡±

    She replied, ¡°No. Shaohui is waiting for me at home.¡±

    A woman with a child was different. She really missed her child, and even though the nanny was there, she was not at ease and had to rush back home to ensure that he fell asleep.

    Feng Kun nodded understandingly. He opened the door of the recording studio and sent her out.

    However, before she could leave, she met Feng Kun¡¯s assistant outside.

    ¡°Mr. Feng and Miss Ye.¡± The assistant said to them very politely. ¡°Secretary Ouyang made an internal call today to pass on Chairman Pei¡¯s message. Chairman Pei wants Miss Ye to look for him in the chairman¡¯s office when she is done with her job.¡±

    Secretary Ouyang was Pei Ziheng¡¯s chief secretary. Like Chu Chen, he was a confidant.

    Xia Ling felt a little strange. ¡°How did Pei Ziheng know that I¡¯m here?¡±

    This time, Feng Kun smiled bitterly. ¡°With your eye-catching Porsche parked in the garage, it won¡¯t be surprising that a nosy person told him.¡±

    Xia Ling thought so too and sighed.

    ¡°I will go and take a look.¡± She said to Feng Kun, ¡°If I don¡¯t visit your Chairman Pei, I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to leave. It¡¯s nothing personal.¡± She was half joking and half serious. Pei Ziheng never gave up until he achieved his goal. If she was unwilling to see him, he might really seal up the entire floor and lock her inside until she was willing to see him.

    In recent years, she got along with Pei Ziheng pretty well.

    However, after the gossip about her and Li Lei, Feng Kun was a little worried. ¡°Do you want me to apany you?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Feng Kun stopped insisting and told his assistant to send her there.

    Thus, with the apaniment of his assistant, she arrived at Pei Ziheng¡¯s chairman office.

    Everything was still the same as it was years ago.

    The ck walnut door was dull and heavy.

    Feng Kun¡¯s assistant led Xia Ling to the secretary¡¯s desk in front of the door and said to the secretary on duty, ¡°Secretary Li, can you please help me deliver the message that Miss Ye is here?¡±

    Secretary Li smiled and said to them, ¡°Chairman Pei told me that Miss Ye doesn¡¯t need to report when shees. She can go in directly.¡±

 Chapter 689 - Enemies Are Bound to Meet on a Narrow Road

    <h4>Chapter 689: Enemies Are Bound to Meet on a Narrow Road</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Suddenly, she had a bad feeling. It was as if she had returned to her previous life and had special privileges when she was around him. She lightly closed her eyes to suppress this dizzy feeling before pushing the door open.

    Pei Ziheng was inside.

    He was wearing a pair of rimless sses as he looked at a document.

    This was the first time she saw him wearing sses. The tall figure in a suit was sitting on the dark ck leather chair, and there was an invisible tension in the elegant room. His office was veryrge, but because of him, it was hard to breathe. He had an arrogant and domineering presence.

    She did not immediately go in. She took a few steps and looked at him nervously.

    Seeing that someone had entered the office, Pei Ziheng raised his head. He took off his sses, put down the document, and very warmly said to her, ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here. Sit.¡± He pointed at the long sofa beside the window and not the office chair in front of his desk that people sat on to discuss work.

    Xia Ling continued to stand at the same position and look at him.

    He warmly smiled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is there something on my face?¡±

    ¡°When did you start wearing sses?¡± She suddenly asked.

    Startled, he briefly told her, ¡°I only have slight visual fatigue. The doctor suggested that I protect my eyes. You know, they¡¯re always very worried.¡± In reality, things were not as simple as he described. Although he was always very healthy, he had developed myopia recently. The main reason was that Xia Moyan tried to suppress him and Imperial Entertainment ran into trouble. He had always been strong. He would not have started wearing sses until it became a necessity.

    Xia Ling also understood and knew that all the reasons he said were rubbish, so she lightly squinted her eyes.

    However, so what if it were rubbish? She was no longer something to him for a long time. Since the boundaries were already drawn, she could only say some words of concern. She really wished that he could find a lover who understood him, took care of his three meals and reminded him to wear more clothes when it was colder so that he would not be alone in his long life ahead.

    However, she knew that he did not like to listen to this.

    This man was too self-willed. He would make his own decisions and refuse to listen to others¡¯ advice.

    She concealed her emotions and asked, ¡°What did you ask me for?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I saw the news today. The separation story of Li Lei and Su Tang is quite disadvantageous to you. Now, all of the reporters in the world are looking for you. Come, let me send you home.¡±

    Besides, they lived near to each other and it was on the way.

    Xia Ling got up and followed him out. She asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you busy at night?¡± In her memory, he was always busy with various meetings and frequently worked overtime at thepany.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing tonight.¡± He said. He did not tell her that in order to wait for her, he especially took time off.

    Earlier in the afternoon, Chu Chen told him that Xiao Ling had gone to Feng Kun¡¯s to record songs. Pei Ziheng knew that she did not like to be disturbed when she was recording songs, so he immediately rejected all of his activitiester that day to wait for her in his office. In this life, she was the number one priority and the only one who could make him change his working schedule to match her working hours.

    Xia Ling was unaware of all of this.

    After he said he was free, she felt that she was just getting a free ride. Besides, she was very troubled today and many messy things clouded her mind. Thus, she wasn¡¯t in the mood to drive by herself.

    She entered his Rolls Royce and went back to the vi.

    He sent her to her doorstep. When she was about to open the door, he suddenly called, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She spun around and felt some warmth on her body. Only then did she realized he had bent down to give her a tight hug. Although it was a courtesy hug, she felt that it was very strong.

    In a daze, she let him hug him and realized that the chauffeur had taken a few photos.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a courtesy farewell hug.¡± He was calm. ¡°Isn¡¯t the public using the hug to attack you now? How are you a third party? Once this picture is released, it will be proof that Li Lei is not the only one you hug at your doorstep.¡±

    She blinked and finally understood his intentions. He was trying to clear her name!

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She said. She did not mind this hug. Besides, she was single now... As for Li Lei? He was still in the stage of pursuing her again and still had not passed the test.

    Moreover, in the entertainment industry, a hug was quite normal.

    A child ran out from the vi and spread his hands out at Xia Ling. ¡°Sister, you¡¯re back!¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head. When she saw Shaohui, she smiled and gave him a hug. ¡°Yes, sister is back. Did you eat well today?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I ate a lot. Pine nuts, squid, spinach...¡± He counted the items with his fingers. Suddenly, he saw the tall man at the doorstep. He was quiet for a moment before sweetly greeting him. ¡°Uncle Pei.¡±

    When Pei Ziheng saw the child, he felt that it was strange because he was a child that only lived in Xiao Ling house recently but gave him a familiar feeling. He remained indifferent and said to Shaohui, ¡°Uncle will be going home now. Take good care of sister. I will take you somewhere to have fun in the future.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± said Shaohui.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. After some thought, he bent down and gave the child a hug.

    Xia Ling smiled at the side and the chauffeur also took a picture of this scene.

    With these photos and the fact that Li Lei promised to settle the gossip, Xia Ling was not very worried and felt that this would pass by very smoothly.

    In reality, it really happened in two days.

    Li Lei issued a statement saying that he and Su Tang were not lovers. Su Tang also rified that their separation had nothing to do with Xia Ling, so the public should not hurt an innocent artiste.

    Originally, things were about to gradually die down.

    One day, Xia Ling took Shaohui shopping. This time, she took public opinion into ount and did not seal off the store in case she was involved in another scandal. Instead, she chose a high-end luxury children¡¯s clothing store with few customers. Shaohui and she had a bodyguard following them as they quietly shopped.

    This time, she only wanted to buy clothes for Shaohui, so she was worry-free.

    Shaohui was young but had a high taste. He chose two very fitting t-shirts and persuaded her to buy matching clothes with him. Both of them happily had their measurements taken in the store and requested for it.

    Suddenly, a woman and a young boy walked in.

    ¡°Staff.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was very elegant and slightly reserved. ¡°Take the measures of my child. He needs two custom made autumn outfits.¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head. Unexpectedly, she saw Su Tang and her son Li Rui.

    Enemies were indeed bound to meet on a narrow road.

    Xia Ling slightly frowned and urged the staff. ¡°Please hurry up, I¡¯m in a rush.¡± She did not want to stay here to look at two people who were not pleasing to her eye.

 Chapter 690 - Interview

    <h4>Chapter 690: Interview</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That staff member was quite old and was wearing sses.

    Hearing her, he lifted his wrinkled face and smiled kindly at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, I can¡¯t rush when ites to taking measurements. It¡¯s best if the clothes are fitting. I think that the cuffs are a bit old on young master¡¯s clothes right now. He seems to be a yful child. I will choose cuffs that are more dirt resistant.¡±

    After he said this, Xia Ling stopped hurrying him.

    As a hundred-year-old store, the tailors in this store were very focused and had high craftsmanship.

    She always respected craftsmen, so she nicely said, ¡°Please observe him well. This child is very picky about clothes and likes a soft andfortable cut.¡±

    The old tailor smiled.

    On the other hand, Su Tang also saw Xia Ling, an unfathomable expression appearing on her delicate face. She only faintly urged the staff, ¡°Why isn¡¯t there anyone here to help take the measurements of my child yet?¡±

    The staff hurriedly found another tailor for her. He was very young and politely told Li Rui to stand straight.

    Su Tang slightly raised her eyebrows. ¡°He¡¯s so young. Does he have enough experience in children¡¯s clothing?¡±

    The staff politely responded, ¡°Miss Su, don¡¯t worry. The tailoring standard of our store is very high.¡±

    Su Tang was very elegant. She smiled and said, ¡°Of course I believe that this store¡¯s tailoring is the best. However, as a mother, I always want to give my child the best, so please understand my feelings. May I ask if this young tailor is more experienced than that old tailor over there?¡±

    The young tailor did not hide anything. ¡°That man over there is my teacher.¡±

    Su Tang nodded very elegantly. ¡°Well then, I would like to wait until that old tailor is done so that he cane over to take a look at Xiao Rui.¡±

    Li Rui was a little impatient, but in front of his mother, he did not dare to say anything.

    The staff was a little troubled. ¡°Miss Ye just came in recently, I think that he will busy for some time.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can wait.¡± Su Tang said in a soft-spoken voice. She looked graceful and noble, and the staff was unable to refute her. He only gave her a cup of tea and told her to sit and wait.

    As for Xia Ling, although she was busy with Shaohui¡¯s measurements, she witnessed the entiremotion with Shaohui.

    She sneered in her heart. She wanted to wait? Well then, she could have a long wait. She calmed down andmunicated in detail with the old tailor. He told him about what Shaohui liked, his daily habits, his lifestyle and other things that he could consider. Since she was getting a mother-child set, she also told him about how she met Shaohui, her preferences and other things to consider.

    She took more than an hour.

    Su Tang was really not in a rush and actually drank tea for more than two hours.

    The staff felt very apologetic and broke out in cold sweat. Suddenly, they remembered that Miss Su and Miss Ye were enemies. Recently, thetest news exploded online that the one who caused Miss Ye to separate from Mr. Li was Miss Ye.

    No matter how real this news report was, these two people in front of them looked like enemies who met on a narrow road.

    The staff only prayed that nothing would happen in their store.

    Luckily, the Heavens heard their wishes and nothing happened. Xia Ling seemed to ignore everything that happened in the background, while Su Tang seemed very educated and elegant as she drank tea and did not speak to Xia Ling.

    Even when Li Ruiined that it was taking a long time, she only said, ¡°What¡¯s the rush? For a good tailor, it¡¯s worth the wait.¡±

    Li Rui could not stand the boredom and ran outside to y.

    The staff was somewhat worried. ¡°Miss Su, your child is so young. Will it be safe for him to run out by himself?¡±

    Su Tang smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. The bodyguard will follow him.¡±

    Thus, the staff did not say anything else.

    After a long time, Xia Ling was finally finished. She smiled as she thanked the old tailor and left.

    She held Shaohui¡¯s hand as they walked out. In the lounge, they passed by Su Tang who was drinking tea. The two women nced at each other with faint indifference.

    Xia Ling held Shaohui¡¯s tightly, pursed her lips and quickened her footsteps.

    Shaohui walked out with her but looked back. Suddenly, he stopped her. ¡°Sister.¡± He said, ¡°I think that I dropped a crystal pinecone in the store. Can youe back with me to look for it?¡±

    ¡°What crystal pinecone?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°It was in the toys that Uncle Li sent me. Xiao Hui really likes it.¡± Xiao Hui was a squirrel that frequently visited the garden to y with Shaohui. This child got along very well with animals.

    Xia Ling had no choice but to turn back with him.

    Unexpectedly, just after a few short steps, a reporter was in the store now taking photos and interviewing Su Tang. ¡°So Miss Su bumped into Ye Xingling here just now? She waited for Ye Xingling¡¯s tailor for almost half the afternoon and even Xiao Rui became impatient?¡±

    ¡°For a good tailor, it¡¯s worth it.¡± Su Tang smiled and did not deny what the reporter said.

    Beside her, Li Rui was very unhappy. He said, ¡°Who are they even? I can¡¯t believe they made my mom wait so long and bullied my mom!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak rubbish.¡± Su Tang calmly chastised and said to the reporter, ¡°Take no offense at the child¡¯s words. It¡¯s rare that Miss Ye is taking her child out to buy clothes, so it is understandable why she took so long.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that Miss Ye is deliberately at odds with you?¡± The reporter asked. Today, he heard the news that Su Tang and Ye Xingling appeared in the same store and quickly came over to interview them. Compared to Ye Xingling, he preferred to interview Su Tang. That was because Ye Xingling was a public figure and there was abundant news about her. However, Su Tang could give him a new perspective and it was easier to get exclusive news from her.

    After the reporter asked this question, Su Tang elegantly smiled. ¡°How could this be? I have nothing against her.¡±

    ¡°Nothing against her? Recently, everyone has been talking about you and Mr. Li...¡±

    ¡°What happened between me and Li Lei had nothing to do with her.¡± Su Tang said and lowered her gaze as if she were disappointed. ¡°Miss Ye is a good person.¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s face showed an indignant and disdainful expression.

    ¡°It seems that Young Master Rui doesn¡¯t agree with this statement?¡± The reporter asked.

    Su Tang red at Li Rui with a warning look.

    Seeing his mother¡¯s expression, Li Rui forced himself to hold back. He snorted and looked away.

    The reporter nced at both of them and felt that the situation did not seem as simple as appeared on the surface. Su Tang and Ye Xingling¡¯s grievance was definitely not simple.

    As the interview was being done, Shaohui held Xia Ling¡¯s hand as she opened the door. They witnessed everything, and Shaohui¡¯s small face looked somewhat serious.

 Chapter 691 - Crystal Pinecone

    <h4>Chapter 691: Crystal Pinecone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, Xia Ling looked angry instead of stern.

    No matter how stupid she was, she understood what Su Tang was implying. This was a woman¡¯s intuition and had nothing to do with IQ. She let go of Shaohui and was about to go inside.

    Shaohui quickly said, ¡°Sister, I¡¯ll look for it! I know that the crystal pinecone must have dropped in this store somewhere.¡± He had a very lively child¡¯s voice and a clear smile.

    The people in the store realized that someone had entered.

    Everyone turned to look at Xia Ling.

    At this time, Xia Ling had already concealed her anger and nkly stated, ¡°I¡¯m here to look for something Shaohui lost. Don¡¯t mind me.¡± Just now when Shaohui frantically eximed, she suddenly woke up. If she were exasperated and interrupted the reporter and Su Tang, she would just look uncultured, making Su Tang appear ever more elegant.

    It was a close call. If Shaohui had not woken her up, she would have almost made this lowly mistake.

    She looked at Su Tang with a faint smile. ¡°It seems that Special Assistant Su is really not in a rush. After waiting for so long, you aren¡¯t in a rush to make your child¡¯s clothes and are still in the mood to chat with the reporter.¡±

    Su Tang said, ¡°Reporter Sun came from somewhere far away. I can¡¯t let him waste his effort.¡±

    The meaning between the lines was that she was really understanding.

    Reporter Sun was very moved. Now, a good interviewee like Su Tang was very rare. He was determined to make a good report and write out all the grievances of Miss Su.

    With this thought, he was a little hostile towards Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, you know that Miss Su had been waiting for very long, so why can¡¯t you make your clothes a little faster? Are you trying to make life difficult for her on purpose because of the recent news?¡±

    ¡°Make life difficult for her?¡± Xia Ling sneered as if she heard the funniest joke in the world. ¡°Why would I do that? For Li Lei? I¡¯ve already broken up with that man a long time ago. Even if I¡¯m looking for a father for Shaohui, I have to find apetent father and not one who would spoil my child.¡±

    Reporter Sun sharply picked up something. ¡°Are you saying that Li Rui is spoiled?¡±

    The staff surrounding them drew a cold breath. No wonder Miss Ye was a Diva. She was really high up in the air and arrogant, daring to offend anyone.

    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t it true?¡± Xia Ling sneered again. ¡°Let¡¯s not mention anything else, but thest time I organized a social gathering for Shaohui, all of the children gathered together to y and only Li Rui did not get along with all of them. How unsociable.¡±

    Su Tang finally could not maintain her elegance. ¡°Miss Ye, please mind your words.¡±

    Xia Ling confronted her gaze without fear.

    Su Tang had been a special assistant her whole life and was very apt in ying mind games. The insidious way she carried out her means was perfect, but she was at a loss for words when faced with Xia Ling¡¯s direct criticism.

    She felt that it was necessary to stand up and protect her child. ¡°Xiao Rui was obviously isted that day. He just returned to China and was unfamiliar with life here. Not only did the host Shaohui not try his best to greet and interact with the guests, but he also led the other children against Xiao Rui. Is this really good?¡±

    The reporter hurriedly took notes on a piece of paper.

    Xia Ling smiled proudly. ¡°On that day, every family was rich. Do you think that they were so ignorant and stupid to be easily instigated by Shaohui? Those children didn¡¯t like Li Rui. You should really look for the reasons yourself and review how you¡¯ve been teaching your child.¡±

    Su Tang was so angry that she was at a loss for words.

    Shaohui chimed in. ¡°Xiao Rui, Xiao Rui, let me tell you. It¡¯s very easy to get the other children to like you again. As long as you don¡¯t destroy their toys,ugh at them and make them cry, everything will be fine.¡±

    Suddenly, many of the ignorant staff realized something.

    It turned out that during the banquet organized for Shaohui, Li Rui bullied the other children.

    They all started to show looks of contempt. Honestly speaking, Li Rui was really not as cute as Shaohui. Shaohui was alwaysughing and sweet, not like Li Rui who always had a long face and seemed to look down on people.

    With this thought, sure enough, Li Rui was provoked by Shaohui and furiously snapped. ¡°Don¡¯t meddle in my business!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± Su Tang stopped him and showed a look for forbearance.

    She always knew when it was time to appear weak and slowly said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, these are things that happened a long time ago. You are biased against our Xiao Rui. If there¡¯s a chance to let the two children interact more, you will definitely change your mind.¡± She said those words very sensibly like a mother who understood the whole situation. She was full of elegance, unlike those who tried to nder her.

    However, Xia Ling remained cold. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t want Shaohui to be badly influenced.¡±

    Su Tang wanted to speak, but she hesitated and endured the indignance in her heart.

    Reporter Sun, who was looking from the sidelines, felt that it was unfair. Obviously, the Diva was bullying someone.

    He decided to help Su Tang. ¡°Miss Ye, is there really nothing between you and Mr. Li.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m here today to buy clothes for my child and will not be epting interviews.¡± Trying to twist her words? It¡¯s not that easy! After facing years of reporters, she already knew how to deal with them.

    She lowered her head to look at Shaohui and said in a gentle voice, ¡°Shaohui, quickly look for your crystal pinecone. After you¡¯ve found it, we will leave.¡±

    Shaohui acknowledged and searched the area.

    After some time, he suddenly lifted his head and said to Reporter Sun, ¡°Big brother, have you seen my crystal pinecone? I¡¯ve been looking for it for a long time but can¡¯t find it.¡±

    This child was very soft and cute.

    Although Reporter Sun did not like Xia Ling, he could not bear to hate Shaohui. He said in a friendly voice, ¡°I¡¯ve not seen your crystal pinecone. Is it very important?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a very important toy.¡± Shaohui nodded vigorously. ¡°Uncle Li gave it to me.¡±

    ¡°Which Uncle Li?¡± Suddenly, Reporter Sun¡¯s eyes lit up. There was gossip! Although Xia Ling and Li Lei appeared to be clean, this child unknowingly leaked the truth. It seemed that their rtionship was very good!

    Everyone surrounding them turned to look at Shaohui.

    Even Xia Ling was worried that her child might say something he was not supposed to.

    Shaohui, who was in the center of the storm, seemed to be ignorant. He said, ¡°Yes, Uncle Li Lei gave it to me. I like going to his house to y with Er Mao, and Er Mao really likes me. Sadly, my sister doesn¡¯t like to look for Uncle Li, and Uncle Li rarely contacts my sister. Every time, I have to beg them for a long before I get to see Er Mao.¡±

    As he spoke, he broke down. ¡°If Uncle Li found out that I lost the crystal pinecone and stopped letting me y with Er Mao, what should I do?¡±

 Chapter 692 - Who Er Mao Likes

    <h4>Chapter 692: Who Er Mao Likes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Reporter Sun was very disappointed.

    He originally thought that Shaohui would leak something unknowingly, but he did not expect that not only did he not expose anything, he even cleared up the ambiguous rtionship between Xia Ling and Li Lei. Both of them only tolerated each other for this child. There was no date and she was no third party. It was all nonsense.

    Reporter Sun looked at Shaohui. This child looked extremely innocent and would not lie. Since this child already said that the adults did not frequently contact each other, it was probably true.

    How could he write a new article now? He hesitated and looked at Shaohui, Xia Ling and Su Tang. He could not bear to give up and asked Shaohui, ¡°Uncle Li really did not contact your sister frequently?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard dad call that woman before!¡± Li Rui interrupted.

    Shaohui lightly said, ¡°I was the one who pestered sister to call Uncle Li to ask him when I could go over to y with Er Mao.¡±

    ¡°Why would my family¡¯s Er Mao y with you?!¡± Li Rui was furious.

    Reporter Sun felt that he made sense. The Li family was rich and powerful. They were very particr about who they let in. How could an outsider child be allowed to y with the Li family¡¯s pet? Unless... there was adultery!

    However, Shaohui said, ¡°Er Mao is very lonely. It yed with me, so I yed with it.¡± He looked at Reporter Sun somewhat proudly. ¡°Uncle, do you know? Er Mao is very vignt and won¡¯t let most people get close to it. I heard that it doesn¡¯t even allow Xiao Rui to be near it. Uncle Li said that among all the children, Er Mao only likes me. It only has me as a friend so of course, I have to visit it frequently. Don¡¯t you think so?¡±

    Everything he said made sense, and all loose ends were tied up.

    Xia Ling almost wanted to give Shaohui a standing ovation. No matter what the other party tried to do, this child was able to bring peace out of chaos and clear up the misunderstanding about her rtionship with Li Lei. He convinced the reporter that the only strong bond was between him and a pet.

    Li Rui was boiling with fury. He screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t get so pleased with yourself!¡±

    Seeing Li Rui¡¯s explosion of anger, Reporter Sun asked, ¡°Young Master Rui, is it true that Mr. Li¡¯s Er Mao did not let you get close to it?¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± Li Rui refused to be embarrassed and tried to rebuke. ¡°Er Mao listens to me the most!¡±

    Reporter Sun looked at Shaohui again and sighed. He did not expect that the confusing rtionship involving Xia Ling, Li Lei, and Su Tang would be due to a leopard. If Er Mao was really a solitary leopard and only had Shaohui as its friend, it was understandable that Li Lei allowed Shaohui to frequently y with it. However, if Er Mao got along with others, Shaohui was not important and Li Lei definitely had other reasons for allowing him to visit Er Mao...

    Being astute, Su Tang guessed Reporter Sun¡¯s thoughts after looking at his expression.

    She smiled calmly and said, ¡°Xiao Rui and Er Mao have lived together for so many years. How is possible that they don¡¯t get along? They often y together.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that Shaohui is lying?¡± Reporter Sun¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that.¡± Su Tang refused to leak anything. ¡°Every time Shaohui and Miss Yee to my house, Li Lei will always ask me and Xiao Rui to leave. Shaohui has never seen Xiao Rui and Er Mao ying together, so he mistakenly thinks that Er Mao only has him as a friend. This is very normal.¡±

    There were many hidden meanings in her words. Li Lei told her to leave?

    It was enough to make one specte.

    This time, the surrounding staff, tailors and Reporter Sun¡¯s expressions changed. They did not expect that although Miss Ye looked innocent and was a respected Diva, she had an ambiguous rtionship with a taken man and was the third party who stole him away.

    This was really...

    Shameless.

    They all started to side with Su Tang on moral grounds.

    Not liking how things were going, Xia Ling said, ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡±

    Su Tang elegantly drank tea and elegantly said, ¡°It¡¯s not? Miss Ye, when you and Shaohui came to my house that day, Li Lei really told me to leave. Later, Xiao Rui wanted to look for Shaohui to y with him. However, for some unknown reason, he was shouted at Xiao Rui, causing Xiao Rui to cry wrongfully for a long time.¡±

    What she said made the crowd¡¯s imaginations run wild...

    Shaohui was very unhappy and snorted. Before he left the mountains, his uncle specially warned him that his mother and father were stupid while Aunt Su Tang was the smartest, so he had to help his father and mother take precautions against Aunt Su Tang. Sure enough, considering the situation now, he needed to save them.

    Thinking about this, Shaohui insisted. ¡°Er Mao really only has me as a friend!¡± He looked at Reporter Sun seriously like a child who wanted to protect his beloved toy. ¡°Really! If you don¡¯t believe me, uncle, you cane over to see Er Mao. It really likes me and doesn¡¯t care about other people.¡±

    He then added, ¡°Xiao Rui, you can alsoe along.¡±

    Reporter Sun felt that this was a good idea. If he could personally see Er Mao and how it treated the two children, this problem would be easily solved. Once this was solved, the truth about whether Shaohui really went there to see Er Mao or was a cover for Xia Ling and Li Lei¡¯s date would be revealed.

    Thus, Reporter Sun asked Su Tang, ¡°Is it convenient for us to see Er Mao?¡±

    Su Tang was secretly unhappy and did not think that this small child would be so difficult to handle. On the surface, she continued to smile. ¡°Er Mao doesn¡¯t like strangers. Since he¡¯s also a wild animal, it won¡¯t be good if he hurts you, Reporter Sun.¡± Seeing that Reporter Sun was not about to give up, she added, ¡°I¡¯ve separated from Li Lei, and it¡¯s Li Lei¡¯s pet. It won¡¯t be appropriate if I... do something unauthorized.¡±

    She looked as if she suffered a huge grievance.

    That tone caused many people there to feel her pain. She was such a good woman. Why was life so cruel to her such that her child could not be with his father?

    Reporter Sun thought about it and felt the same.

    However, Shaohui said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let me call Uncle Li. Besides, I also miss Er Mao. Uncle Li said Er Mao is very lonely and I can visit it anytime.¡± To prevent Su Tang from stopping him, he jumped up and quickly tugged on Xia Ling¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Sister, sister. Lend me your phone.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated for a moment but still took out her phone from her delicate bag and gave it to him.

    She did not know why she trusted this child. However, Shaohui seemed to have some sort of magical ability to deal with situations thoroughly and make others feel at ease.

    Shaohui took the phone and dialed Li Lei¡¯s number.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± At the other end of the phone, Li Lei was very surprised. ¡°Why do you have the time to call me?¡±

    When Shaohui made the call, Reporter Sun was very close as he wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation. At this time, after hearing Li Lei¡¯s surprised voice, he started to believe Shaohui more. It seemed that Li Lei really did not interact with Xia Ling often.

 Chapter 693 - Li Lei Rushes Over

    <h4>Chapter 693: Li Lei Rushes Over</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What Reporter Sun did not know was that sense of time varied from person to person.

    To most people, not meeting for a few days did not feel like a long time. But to Li Lei, not seeing Xia Ling was like being away from her for three years, and he missed her immensely. No matter when Xia Ling called him, he would always be surprised.

    Shaohui cheerfully said, ¡°Uncle Li, today when sister took me out to buy clothes, we ran into Aunt Su Tang, Xiao Rui, and a reporter. The reporter doesn¡¯t believe that Er Mao only likes me. Can I take him to see Er Mao? Oh yes, I want Xiao Rui toe too.¡±

    After hearing the word ¡°reporter,¡± Li Lei immediately understood that Xiao Ling was in trouble.

    He knitted his brows. Su Tang was there, but she was not able to exin things clearly to the reporter? Could it be that the reporter still doubted Xiao Ling and thought that she was a home wrecker? Over the phone, it was not convenient for him to ask so many questions, so he only said, ¡°Ok. Where are you? I¡¯ll send a car over to pick you up.¡±

    Shaohui reported an address.

    Li Lei told them to wait at their current location. Soon, a car really came over.

    He also came along with his chauffeur. When he entered the store, he saw Xia Ling, Su Tang, the two children, and the reporter. At once, he had a headache. What was with this chaotic situation? However, on the surface, he smiledzily. The first thing he did was to give Shaohui a hug. ¡°Shaohui, long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Li! Uncle Li!¡± Shaohui was very happy to see him.

    On the other hand, Su Tang was displeased. This man did not show concern for Xiao Rui first but gave that bastard a hug. Li Rui was also very jealous. He was rarely hugged by his father.

    However, Xia Ling fell into a trance looking at this scene.

    The man and child in front of her got along so harmoniously. They literally...

    Looked like father and son.

    She lightly shook her head and tried to push aside her wrongful thoughts.

    She gazed at that man. After not seeing him for a few days, he still looked handsome and charming as always. She saw a clear smile from his sculpture-like side-view as if he had no troubles at all. She looked at his face greedily. Suddenly, she became rmed because this was not the time and quickly turned away.

    Luckily, the reporter did not notice her.

    At this time, Reporter Sun¡¯s attention was directed at that man and child. He realized that these two people were wearing the same brand of clothes! Was this a parent-child set?!

    Reporter Sun quickly scanned his mind for information. Yes, he recalled.

    These days, the news report revealed that when Xia Ling took Shaohui shopping, she went into the store of this brand to buy men¡¯s clothes!

    He looked as if he discovered a new continent and excitedly eximed, ¡°Mr. Li, can I ask if the clothes you¡¯re wearing now were bought by Miss Ye?¡±

    At once, the entire store fell silent.

    Everyone looked at Li Lei in anticipation.

    Xia Ling was secretly scared. Some time ago, she really bought clothes for Li Lei, but she did not expect him to be wearing them today. Coincidentally, Shaohui was wearing the same brand. Out of all the clothes she bought, Shaohui liked this shirt the most. Those two really had the same taste.

    Su Tang¡¯s eyes also darkened a little.

    She already knew that Xia Ling gave clothes to Li Lei, but even so, watching him wear them was another thing altogether. This sort of provocation made her mad. She viciously curled up her fingers and hoped that the reporter would be sharper and directly call that b*tch shameless!

    Li Lei felt that something was wrong.

    However, he looked nonchnt and said to Reporter Sun, ¡°What did you say? Xiao Ling gave this to me?¡± It was if he heard the funniest joke in the world. He turned to look at Xia Ling and asked, ¡°When did you buy clothes for me?¡± He put down Shaohui and stood in front of the reporter. ¡°I¡¯ve been wearing this brand for more than 10 years.¡±

    This was something he fabricated.

    Li Lei always liked simple andfortable clothes, so he always wore this brand.

    When Xia Ling bought clothes for him, she chose items based on what he usually wore.

    Reporter Sun was startled. Just now, he was too emotional and did not notice this. Although he could not remember what Big Boss¡¯ usual style was, since Big Boss said that he always wore this brand, he would not have lied. That was because this sort of clumsy lie was easily exposed.

    Shaohui also said, ¡°Yes, Uncle Li always looks very handsome when he wears this shirt, so I pestered my sister to buy a few clothes for me.¡± After that, he twirled to show off. ¡°Look, aren¡¯t I very handsome too?¡±

    Xia Ling alsoughed. ¡°Show off.¡±

    Shaohui pouted and thenughed innocently.

    Su Tang felt indignance build up in her heart. It was obvious that Xia Ling was the one who gave the clothes to Li Lei. How were they able to get away with it after a few words?! She really hoped that Reporter Sun would persevere and continue to raise questions, but he was already convinced and stopped pursuing them.

    ¡°Excuse me for my assumption.¡± He said awkwardly.

    Although a reporter had to be sharp and imposing, he didn¡¯t know how to act imposing in front of Big Boss Li. That man smiled as easily as the spring breeze but seemed to have some sort overbearance that made people stop questioning him.

    This is the sort of overbearance one gained after being in a position of power for a long period.

    Li Lei continued to smile and patted Shaohui¡¯s head. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted toe over to my ce to see Er Mao? Let¡¯s go.¡± He took Shaohui and was the first to walk out. The other people looked at one another and followed him.

    Li Lei sent an SUV over. It was veryrge and there was still space after everyone got on.

    Reporter Sun felt that he was extremely lucky today. Initially, he just received news that Su Tang was shopping out of the blue and wanted to try interviewing her. Unexpectedly, besides Su Tang, he managed to interview Li Lei, Xia Ling, and the two children. Everyone involved was there.

    He was determined to seize this lucky opportunity to find out the truth.

    Inside the car, it was very quiet.

    Xia Ling sat on the backseat. Beside her, Shaohui and Li Lei kept some distance away.

    Su Tang originally wanted to sit beside Li Lei but was blocked discreetly by him. Li Lei said to Reporter Sun, ¡°You look very unfamiliar. May I know where do you usually go to get your news?¡±

    He spoke very kindly.

    Reporter Sun was ttered by his kind treatment and quickly answered, ¡°My main task is to follow the entertainment industry news. You¡¯re a boss and rarely appears in the frontlines of the entertainment industry, so it¡¯s normal that you haven¡¯t seen me before.¡±

    Naturally, the two of them started a conversation and Reporter Sun sat beside Li Lei.

    Su Tang was so angry that she gritted her teeth and sat beside Li Rui somewhere near Xia Ling. Xia Ling, who was coldly looking at her, was suddenly in a better mood.

 Chapter 694 - Visiting Er Mao

    <h4>Chapter 694: Visiting Er Mao</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The car stopped below Li Lei¡¯s apartment.

    Li Lei led the group up the elevator and opened the apartment door.

    The first thing they saw was a spacious room. The floor-to-ceiling windows caused the apartment to be very well lit and gave them a panoramic view of the city. The floors were covered with soft and thick carpets and the furniture was mostly made of wood and marble. Overall, the colors of the house were mainly ck, white and grey. It looked simple yet homely and really suited Big Boss¡¯ single status.

    Reporter Sun discreetly scanned the area but could not find any signs that a woman lived here.

    He could not help but start to believe that Big Boss Li did not break up with Su Tang over a third party. Big Boss Li seemed to be single.

    At this time, a leopard walked over.

    It was a very muscr leopard and was covered in majestic rose patterned spots. It elegantly and slowly approached the group, its amber eyes looking dangerous and cold.

    Reporter Sun was so scared that he took a step back.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, Er Mao won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    Reporter Sun¡¯s legs went soft. This was the first time he was so close to a wild animal without taking any precautions. He screamed silently in his heart. Wasn¡¯t Er Mao a pet leopard?! Why was this pet leopard so ferocious? This... was even scarier than most animals in the zoo!

    His face turned pale and stopped talking.

    Li Lei ordered Er Mao to take a few steps back and Er Mao obedientlyid down in a corner.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He smiledzily and said to Reporter Sun, ¡°If you are still worried, you can leave first.¡±

    Leave first?

    What a joke!

    The news was just in front of him. How could he retreat now?!

    At once, the reporter¡¯s principles took precedence. Since he was already here, there was no reason to back out now! Reporter Sun braced himself and quivered slightly as he spoke. ¡°I... I¡¯m fine. Your pet is really... fierce. Hahaha.¡±

    After speaking, he stopped very violently.

    Li Lei invited him to sit down and went to the kitchen to pour a few sses of water for everyone.

    Reporter Sun held the ss of water and calmed himself down. He looked at the beast which was obediently lying down in a corner. Now, he really believed it. No wonder Shaohui said that Er Mao did not have friends. It was so terrifying. Who would want to be friends with it?

    Shaohui sauntered towards Er Mao. As he walked, he said, ¡°Er Mao, Er Mao, I¡¯m here to see you. Did you miss me?¡± He opened his chubby and fat hands and was about to embrace the leopard.

    Reporter Sun could not help but exim in fear. Wasn¡¯t this too dangerous? This child was facing a beast! If he angered it, he would definitely be killed!

    He instinctively yelled, ¡°Be careful!¡±

    However, Shaohui had already hugged it.

    Unexpectedly, that leopard did not be angry. Instead, it affectionately rubbed itsrge head against Shaohui¡¯s small body. The child smiled. ¡°I knew that you would miss me!¡± After ying with the leopard for a while, he turned around to invite the sullen Li Rui. ¡°Xiao Rui, do you want to y with us?¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s face was dark. Why was Ye Shaohui always trying to put him in a spot?

    If he could, he would have evaded Er Mao immediately!

    He did not know what was with that leopard. It never liked its true master¡¯s son but was extremely friendly to an outsider¡¯s child! Li Rui was furious, but it was toote for him to turn back. Since he said that Er Mao listened to him the most, he could not retreat.

    Reporter Sun looked at Li Rui. It was already proven that Shaohui and Er Mao really got along, but what about Li Rui? Did Li Rui also get along very well with Er Mao or was he lying?

    ¡°Young Master Rui, Shaohui told you to y with him.¡± Reporter Sun urged.

    Li Rui viciously stared at him. ¡°Just because he told me to y with him doesn¡¯t mean I have to do so!¡± He sat down on the sofa scornfully.

    Xia Ling looked at this spoiled brat curiously and calmly said, ¡°Xiao Rui, didn¡¯t you say that you get along very well with Er Mao? Well then, are you afraid to go forward?¡± Unlike Su Tang, she did not make snide remarks in a discreet way and was very direct. She would provoke anyone she disliked.

    This time, Li Rui red at her viciously. ¡°Why are you such a hateful woman?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui, don¡¯t be rude.¡± Li Lei lowered his voice.

    Li Rui was furious and screamed, ¡°I want to be rude to her! What right does she have to break up our family?! She even brought over that hateful child who stole Er Mao from me!¡± To him, everything his father had belonged to him. Thus, Er Mao was his even though he disliked Er Mao and vice versa.

    Li Lei was about to explode.

    Shaohui quickly interrupted. ¡°I didn¡¯t steal Er Mao from you, Xiao Rui. You made the decision not to y with us. How about youe over to y with us?¡± His voice was very cute. Both of them were about five years old, but his voice sounded more pleasing than Li Rui¡¯s, and people could not help but want to listen to him more.

    However, Li Rui became more hot-tempered. ¡°I¡¯m not going to y with you!¡±

    Shaohui looked somewhat sad. ¡°Could it be that you¡¯re afraid of Er Mao?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of that damned leopard!¡± Li Rui yelled.

    Shaohui blinked cutely. ¡°If you aren¡¯t afraid, thene over and y with us. Otherwise, I will think that you are afraid of ying with Er Mao.¡±

    Li Rui was provoked and lost his logical reasoning. He inched a few steps before striding forward. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll y! Do you think I¡¯m scared of you?!¡± He was consumed with anger and forgot that Er Mao usually was not fond of him. Seeing that he was rushing towards it, it suddenly arched its body and roared at him.

    Li Rui was scared out of his wits and fell to the floor.

    Up close, the beast¡¯s terrifying face was erged, and its amber eyes looked at him coldly like it was looking at a dead animal.

    Li Rui felt the lower part of his body turn warm and a pungent smell formed.

    Shaohui widened his eyes. He did not expect Li Rui to be so timid and peed after being scared. He frowned and pulled Er Mao a few steps back.

    Er Mao turned around to looked at its young owner. It became docile again and walked to the corner to lie down. It initially did not want to scare that spoiled brat Li Rui. Usually, he just ignored Li Rui. However, this time, Li Rui actually dared to rush forward to throw a tantrum at its young owner. How ridiculous!

    Er Mao felt that it should protect its young owner well and teach those who offended its young owner a lesson so that they would not do it again. Thus, it was very fierce just now and showed its ferocious side to scare Li Rui.

    Li Rui remained glued to the floor as a dirty and smelly puddle of water formed below him. However, he could not care about that now.

    After being stunned for a moment, he suddenly started bawling.

 Chapter 695 - Who Exactly Is the Stupid One

    <h4>Chapter 695: Who Exactly Is the Stupid One</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The child¡¯s cries were earth-shattering.

    Looking at this scene, Reporter Sun was shocked. It seemed that Li Rui was not only afraid of Er Mao, but he was also extremely fearful of it. Despite living with this housepet for so long, this child was so scared that he peed in his pants. Was the pet too ferocious or was the child too... cowardly?

    Reporter Sun shook his head in silence. This Li Rui did not look like Big Boss Li¡¯s biological child.

    On the other hand, Shaohui ¡°concernedly¡± asked, ¡°Xiao Rui, are you ok? If you¡¯re afraid of Er Mao, you should say it. It¡¯s not something embarrassing. The only thing that¡¯s embarrassing is that you peed in your pants after being frightened! Quickly change your clothes. So many aunts and uncles are watching. How shameful!¡±

    The child¡¯s innocent words made Li Rui cry harder.

    There was a mess in the living room. Li Rui was bawling, Shaohui looked like he was dissuading him, and Er Maozilyid down without a care in the world. Xia Ling covered her nose and discreetly took a step back, while Su Tang felt trapped. Logically speaking, Su Tang was the child¡¯s mother and should be helping her child, but she looked down on the child for being too dirty. Usually, the nannies would take care of this. Clean up his pee and poop? How could she tolerate it being such a refined and elegant person?

    Li Lei slightly frowned as he looked at the chaos.

    ¡°Reporter Sun, sorry for the embarrassing scene.¡± He said solemnly to Reporter Sun. ¡°Initially, I wanted to ask you to stay for a while, but the living room is so dirty now that it¡¯s really not suitable for you to continue staying.¡±

    Reporter Sun was used to looking for news outside and understood what Li Lei meant immediately. Thus, he got up and said, ¡°Well then, I won¡¯t bother you anymore. I¡¯lle for a house visit next time.¡± Although he felt that it was a pity that he left after a short time, he already gathered all of the news he needed. Er Mao truly only liked Shaohui, and it seemed that Ye Xingling usually only interacted with Li Lei because of her child.

    There was nothing between the two of them, and she definitely was not a homewrecker.

    As Reporter Sun pondered on how he could summarise this in text, he bade them farewell.

    After Li Lei sent Reporter Sun off, he closed the door.

    The living room was still very messy, and Li Rui was still bawling.

    Xia Ling could not stand high pitch screams the most and moved to a ce far away from Li Rui. Su Tang retreated even further. This child was too dirty, and she could not tolerate it.

    Only Shaohui stared to pace around Li Rui. ¡°What should we do? Don¡¯t cry. My uncle said that men shouldn¡¯t cry... Xiao Rui, quickly get up. I¡¯ll apany you to change your clothes, ok?¡± Although Shaohui disliked Li Rui, there was no deep-seated hatred between them. Seeing Li Rui cry so miserably, he could not help but try tofort him. However, he was helpless and did not know what to do.

    Li Lei pulled Shaohui away and gently said, ¡°Let me do it.¡±

    He walked in front of Li Rui and squatted down. Ignoring the dirt and stench on him, he carried the child and said, ¡°Dad will give you a bath.¡± Although this child was not his biological son, he was still filled with guilt over Su Tang¡¯s sacrifice in the past and treated this child like his own.

    After Li Rui saw that someone was paying attention to him, he hugged Li Lei and started crying louder.

    As Li Leiforted him, he ushered him towards the bathroom. Halfway, he turned around. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He looked at her from afar and said more gently, ¡°It¡¯s very dirty here. You can take Shaohui to my bedroom to wait for me. I will ask the nanny to clean up the living room.¡± He liked to manage his house by himself, and there was no long-term nanny staying in the apartment, so he had to specially call someone over.

    Su Tang finally reacted and quickly said, ¡°I¡¯ll call for one.¡± She finally remembered that she was the child¡¯s mother and Li Lei¡¯s ¡°good wife.¡± How could she watch idly when Li Lei was busying himself?

    This... really did not look like a mistress of the house.

    With that thought, she forced a smile at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, it¡¯s better if you go to the tea room to sit down. Xiao Rui scared you. Let me brew some tea for youter topensate.¡± She spoke like a host.

    Xia Ling narrowed her eyes.

    She initially wanted to take Shaohui home, but after hearing what Su Tang said, she changed her mind. This woman always tried toe between her and Li Lei. She might not want to be with Li Lei, but being deliberately provoked by someone was something else! What right did Su Tang have to act as the mistress of the house?

    She smiled beautifully and radiantly. ¡°How can I trouble Special Assistant Su?¡± She emphasized the words ¡°Special Assistant¡± and satisfactorily saw Su Tang¡¯s expression change slightly, although she concealed it in an instant. ¡°I think I will still be taking Shaohui to the bedroom. I¡¯m a little tired, so I¡¯ll sleep for a while.¡±

    As she spoke, she spun around and took Shaohui to the bedroom.

    Su Tang was left alone. She was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

    What right did that b*tch have to go into Li Lei¡¯s bedroom?! Usually, she was not even allowed to enter Li Lei¡¯s bedroom! Their positions in Li Lei¡¯s heart were very obvious. It was as if a deep hole had opened in Su Tang¡¯s heart, hurting it immensely.

    However, on Li Lei¡¯s territory, she did not dare to counter Xia Ling so overtly.

    She stood in the stench-covered living room. After some thought, she made up her mind and walked towards the bathroom. Even though Li Rui was very dirty, to get close to Li Lei, she had to tolerate it.

    She walked into the bathroom and said to Li Lei, ¡°Let me give the child a bath.¡±

    Sure enough, Li Lei said, ¡°No need, Su Tang. I¡¯m almost done. Xiao Rui is quite timid, so don¡¯t let him near Er Mao in the future.¡±

    Su Tang bit her lip slightly. ¡°Ok.¡±

    How was it possible that Li Rui would get close to Er Mao? He just fell into that bastard Ye Shaohui¡¯s trap! ¡°If Shaohui didn¡¯t tell him to go over, he wouldn¡¯t get close to Er Mao.¡± Su Tang said softly. ¡°That child Shaohui is too smart and fearless. I¡¯m afraid that Xiao Rui will be disadvantaged if he ys with him.¡±

    Li Lei smiled dismissively. ¡°Shaohui? That kid is so silly.¡± He was just like his stupid sister and did not seem clever or sensible at all. ¡°Xiao Rui is unfriendly towards Shaohui. In the future, you have to put in more effort so that the two children well get along.¡±

    Su Tang wanted toin about Shaohui, but unexpectedly, Li Lei already countered her before she spoke. With her female instincts, she was sure that bastard Shaohui was not stupid. In fact, he was quite smart! If Li Rui was half as smart as him, she would not be so worried for him as a mother!

    She unhappily looked at Li Rui.

    A South African child was a South African child. He was so stupid, barbaric and detestable!

    If it weren¡¯t to gain Li Lei¡¯s sympathy, this child would have been tossed into the ocean by her to drown a long time ago!

 Chapter 696 - Emergency Situation

    <h4>Chapter 696: Emergency Situation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling took Shaohui into the bedroom.

    This was the first time she came over after Li Lei started staying in the apartment again.

    There were not many changes from the first time they met each other a few years ago. The furniture was the same. The only difference was that there were a few more photos on the wall¡ªa photo of them at the amusement park, a photo of them watching the dolphins, and a couple selfies they took at the beach... All of them were ced with care and looked very heartfelt and happy.

    Shaohui also looked at the photos.

    After a while, the child looked up and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Sister, were you a couple with Uncle Li in the past?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s all over.¡±

    However, the child acted like he did not hear her and said, ¡°These photos look so good. Look at this one. Uncle Li is protecting you from the crowd so well. There¡¯s this also when Uncle Li looked at you while you looked at the penguins. This...¡±

    The child went through the photos one by one.

    Xia Ling let go of his small hand. She walked to the window to feel the slight autumn breeze.

    After hearing the child¡¯s innocent words, she revisited the memories she buried in her heart for a long time again. Those days were so beautiful, but at that time, she felt that it was ordinary.

    Now, he had Su Tang and Li Rui.

    Although it was fake, everything had changed.

    Xia Ling recalled the way he held Li Rui just now. He was not afraid of the dirt or stench like a real father who was taking care of his child. Perhaps, they were more like a family.

    Her heart faintly hurt.

    The bedroom door was pushed open. Su Tang stood at the doorway with Li Rui and looked at her faintly. ¡°Miss Ye,¡± Su Tang said. ¡°Thank you for visiting us today. It¡¯s gettingte, so you should go.¡±

    She acted like the mistress of the house.

    Xia Ling was not convinced at all and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Dad is showering.¡± This time, Li Rui rushed to answer. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault for causing chaos in my family. We don¡¯t wee you here, so quickly get lost.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui, you can¡¯t be so rude.¡± Su Tang reprimanded him without any heat.

    Shaohui frowned. Why was Xiao Rui so full of resentment? Uncle said before that children who were very resentful had difficult lives. Only cute children would be happy.

    He said to Li Rui, ¡°This isn¡¯t good.¡±

    Li Rui red at him viciously. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    Xia Ling could not tolerate it when someone else scolded her children. She looked at Su Tang and Li Rui and said, ¡°Hasn¡¯t Li Lei told you yet? He has already invited me to stay here. For Shaohui and me, he cleared this entire space for us. I can stay here as long as I want, and I don¡¯t think this concerns Special Assistant Su at all.¡±

    The way she called her ¡°Special Assistant Su¡± was ear piercing to Su Tang.

    However, Su Tang maintained her elegance and smiled. ¡°Really? Well, I must be impetuous then. Since it¡¯s like that, Miss Ye should stay and eat dinner with us. I will go to the kitchen to cook.¡± She knew that Xia Ling could notpete with her when it came to cooking. That was because Xia Ling had no cooking skills and could notpare to her superior cooking ability.

    Xia Ling felt that Su Tang was acting like a child. It already came to this but she was still trying to act like the mistress of the house. However, on second thought, wasn¡¯t she childish too? She waspeting with a scheming woman for a man she had an ambiguous rtionship with. Suddenly, she felt dispirited.

    ¡°You can take your time to cook for Li Lei.¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯m busy, so I will leave first.¡±

    Su Tang could not wait for that to happen and smiled as she sent her off.

    In the living room, the nanny had already cleaned the carpet. It was disinfected and the odor was removed, so there was no trace of the stain that Li Rui made. Er Mao was stillzily lying in the corner. When it saw them walk out, it walked up and reluctantly rubbed against Shaohui. <i>Young owner, when will I see you again?</i>

    Shaohui also looked at Er Mao reluctantly and softly said, ¡°I wille again to see you.¡±

    He left with Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was in a bad mood for some strange reason.

    When she returned to her own vi, she answered a call made by Li Lei. ¡°Xiao Ling, why didn¡¯t you wait for me toe out? After I gave Xiao Rui a bath, I got dirty too and was afraid that the smell would bother you, so I also took a bath. I didn¡¯t mean to make you wait for so long.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Su Tang make dinner for you?¡± Xia Ling said indifferently.

    Li Leiughed gently. ¡°Are you jealous?¡± In reality, what she did not know was that after he showered and found out she was no longer there, he did not eat what Su Tang cooked. Instead, he warned Su Tang to not use the kitchen in his house in the future. That was because Xia Ling was the mistress of his house. Although Xiao Ling did not admit, he would not allow other women to touch his things.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s jealous!¡± Xia Ling did know what had happened and unhappily rebuked before hanging up.

    At night, she tossed and turned but could not sleep.

    Shaohui crawled on her bed and did not sleep very soundly as well.

    In the middle of the night, Xia Ling suddenly felt that something was wrong with the child in her arms. His body temperature was frightening. She quickly turned on the lights and was taken aback. To her shock, Shaohui¡¯s body was covered in rashes. They were everywhere on his hands, feet, and face. Not an inch of skin was spared.

    The child¡¯s eyes were tightly shut, and he was mumbling incoherently.

    ¡°Shaohui, Shaohui!¡± Xia Ling yelled.

    However, the child did not wake up. He only frowned in his sleep and looked very ufortable.

    At this time, Xia Ling was very worried. She quickly got out of bed to wake the nanny. When the nanny saw the child, she also had arge shock. ¡°Miss, young master probably has an acute rash. You should quickly send him to the hospital. The child is young, you can¡¯t waste time as things could easily get worse.¡±

    Xia Ling messily changed the child¡¯s clothes and rushed downstairs.

    Shaohui¡¯s lips were dry, and he looked extremely pale. The red spots were very frightening. ¡°Can hest till we reach the hospital?¡± Xia Ling anxiously asked.

    The nanny could not answer this question. However, looking at the young master¡¯s condition, it was critical.

    ¡°Wait!¡± The nanny suddenly recalled something. ¡°Our neighbor Mr. Pei has a doctor at home, right? I think Doctor Ouyang is not bad. Since the child is so sick, how about we ask him to apany us to the hospital?¡±

    It was good to have someone to monitor his condition on the way.

    At this time, Xia Ling also remembered that Pei Ziheng had a doctor at home. Since it was an emergency, she did not care about disturbing him or avoiding suspicious, she instructed the nanny to knock on Pei Ziheng¡¯s door while she carried the child to the car and drove it to Pei Ziheng¡¯s doorstep.

    The nanny reached earlier than her and told the Pei Family¡¯s night-shift staff what had happened.

    Xia Ling sat in the car and watched as rows of lights were turned on in session in the Pei Family¡¯s vi and voices were heard. Anxiously, she looked out of the window. Seconds seemed to have turned into years.

 Chapter 697 - Who Is This Child

    <h4>Chapter 697: Who Is This Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Finally, she saw someone in the doorway.

    A tall man dressed in a trench coat walked to the car in a hurry, bent down and asked, ¡°How is the child?¡±

    After seeing his face clearly, Xia Ling eximed, ¡°Pei Ziheng, help me! Shaohui has an acute rash and I don¡¯t know what happened. Is Doctor Ouyang there?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will apany you to the hospital. Doctor Ouyang will alsoe along.¡± As he spoke, he opened the door of the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Go to the back seat to apany your child. I will drive.¡±

    Seeing that it was not the time to be polite, she hurriedly went to the back seat to hug Shaohui. Shaohui seemed more feverish than before, and the rash looked more severe and dense.

    Doctor Ouyang also got on the car and sat in the back seat with her. He also brought an emergency kit and did a checkup on the child. He said, ¡°Miss Ye, the child is probably allergic to something. You have to find the source. I¡¯ve already done a simple emergency procedure for him that willst until we reach the hospital. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling slightly at ease.

    ¡°Drive faster.¡± She said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°How long more before we reach the hospital?¡±

    Pei Ziheng drove fast and steadily. His voice was very deep. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. Before I left, I already told the nanny to alert the hospital. A few specialists are rushing there to treat the child.¡±

    She was slightly shocked and recalled that the Pei Family was very close to the hospital staff, so they had special privileges.

    The road in the middle of the night was silent, and the darkness looked boundless. However, in this darkness, she suddenly calmed down as if she found someone to depend on. Suddenly, she felt like she returned to her childhood. When she was ignorant and terrified, a god-like man became her life savior.

    She held Shaohui in her arms and quietened down.

    Soon, they arrived at the hospital. Sure enough, just as Pei Ziheng said, the staff were already prepared to give Shaohui a consultation. When they pushed Shaohui into the hospital, a few specialists rushed out. They did a full body examination and told Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, we will put the child in the sterile room for desensitization treatment. It will take some time before we find out his allergies. Please be patient.¡±

    Thus, she waited in the hallway outside the ward.

    Pei Ziheng apanied her. He took off his trenchcoat and put it around her shoulders. Only then did she realize that she was only wearing thin pajamas when she left the house. She was freezing in the corridor. She lifted her head to look at Pei Ziheng and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng consoled her. ¡°Your child will be fine.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my everything.¡± She said.

    Both of them waited outside for a few hours until daybreak.

    The doctor pushed the door open and said, ¡°The allergen has been identified. It¡¯s a chemical fiber allergy. This is a very rare allergy, and any contact with ordinary chemical fibers can cause serious consequences.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind suddenly went nk. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    She remembered that her deceased child also had a chemical fiber allergy. How could it be such a coincidence?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face slightly changed. ¡°A chemical fiber allergy? Doctor, could it be that you made a mistake?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The doctor said, ¡°We won¡¯t joke about this sort of thing.¡±

    Xia Ling was crumbling and did not know what happened to her. It was as if there were voices in her heart, but they were so vague that she could not grasp them.

    Pei Ziheng very naturally supported her and helped her sit down.

    His heart was filled with turbulent waves. Unlike Xia Ling, he knew very well that her child did not die but was taken away by Xia Moyan. He remembered that Shaohui usually mentioned an ¡°uncle.¡± Suddenly, Pei Ziheng had a bold spection. Could it be that Ye Shaohui was actually Pei Shaohui?

    Her biological son?!

    His expression darkened.

    ¡°How is he doing now?¡± Suddenly, he heard Xia Ling ask dryly.

    ¡°His condition is mostly stable as his allergies are under control. However, he needs to be hospitalized.¡± The doctor said.

    Xia Ling nodded.

    She carefully recalled what happened and generally knew why Shaohui suddenly had chemical fiber allergies. Usually, in her house, the child wore pure natural fabrics and the nanny also wore ¡°work clothes¡± which were made of pure natural fabrics. There were no chemical fibers at all.

    However, what about yesterday?

    When he entered Li Lei¡¯s car, she remembered that Shaohui was very close to Reporter Sun. He probably had an allergic reaction to Reporter Sun¡¯s clothes.

    She was very troubled. This allergen was toomon. What should she do when her child was older?

    Thinking about it, she felt that this child was very simr to her deceased child. Was it some sort of fate? Perhaps God saw that she was too pitiful after losing her child and especially sent Shaohui over tofort her...

    Suddenly, she stood up and went to look for the attending physician. She said, ¡°I want to check the blood type of this child.¡±

    The attending physician was confused. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I adopted this child.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°However, I don¡¯t know his blood type. If he encounters any danger in the future, I won¡¯t be able to save him. It¡¯s better if I take this chance to understand some basic facts about him.¡±

    The attending physician felt that this made sense and said, ¡°I will give your child a check. When the results are out, I will tell you.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked the doctor.

    Pei Ziheng overheard their conversation and his expression turned very dark.

    He apanied her as she looked after her child. One dayter, the child was transferred from the sterile room to the normal ward, and his rashes were disappearing very quickly. Most of it was already gone. However, he still could not be discharged and had to be hospitalized for observational reasons.

    Xia Ling was overwhelmed by shock this entire day and did not sleep well. At this time, after seeing that her child was no longer in danger, she finally passed out at her child¡¯s bedside. Pei Ziheng carried her, booked a room in a high-end hotel near the hospital and put her there. He also told the staff to take good care of her.

    He went back to the ward and asked the doctor, ¡°Are the results of the blood test out?¡±

    The doctor said, ¡°Yes. It is a very rare MNSSU blood type. This child has to be protected well. Otherwise, if he loses too much blood, it would be difficult to get sufficient blood in time.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face tightened. He was very sure of the identity of this child now. A chemical fiber allergy, MNSSU blood type, and simr age. How in the world could something so coincidental ur?

    He thanked the doctor and said, ¡°I hope that you can keep this secret from Miss Ye.¡±

    Startled, the doctor said, ¡°This blood type is very dangerous. It¡¯s better to let the guardian know it as soon as possible.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Tell her he has O blood type.¡±

    The doctor was shocked. ¡°Mister...¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at him with boundless overbearance. ¡°I remember that the next vice president¡¯s selection is approaching? If Professor Chen focuses on the selection instead, perhaps there will be surprises.¡± He paused, and then continued, ¡°If you are half-hearted, I¡¯m afraid that you won¡¯t be qualified enough.¡±

 Chapter 698 - To The Gates of Hell and Back

    <h4>Chapter 698: To The Gates of Hell and Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Professor Chen felt a chill.

    He knew very well that Pei Ziheng had the capability and authority to alter the results. Was he going to give up a bright future of possibilities in his career, and even offend a big shot, for the sake of so-called justice and fairness? He didn¡¯t have to consider for long beforeing to a decision. ¡°Mr. Pei, don¡¯t worry. I know what to do.¡±

    Pei Ziheng revealed a sly smile.

    He walked into the ward and stared at the boy on the bed ¡ªatose and on a drip.

    The child still had some baby chub on his cheeks and appeared adorable. On closer look, he seemed to have some semnce to Xia Ling ¡ª her beautiful eyes andshes, her small dainty nose, and her ear lobes. In fact, there seemed to be some of Li Lei¡¯s features as well, but they were not obvious.

    Pei Ziheng felt a little uncertain, when would Xiao Ling find out the truth?

    A red light started glowing as the drip was running out. Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand instinctively searched for the knob to plug the tube, but it suddenly stopped. If he did not plug the tube, air would enter the boy¡¯s bloodstream through the tube once it ran out of liquid. That way, the child would die.

    Bymitting the murder this way, the cause could be attributed to a technical failure.

    His thoughts darkened as he watched the medicated liquid drip, little by little.

    Meanwhile, the child slept quietly and peacefully, almost like a little angel. At that moment, Pei Ziheng simply could not imagine the agonizing expression this little boy would have once the air entered his bloodstream. The thought of it was painful enough.

    The medicated liquid continued dripping and was running out by the minute.

    Pei Ziheng looked at Shaohui expressionlessly; this was his best chance of killing him, if he did not seize it, there might not be another chance like this again. Pei Ziheng knew that this child had some Xia blood in him and that the Xia family was a terrifying and mysterious one. If this child¡¯s death was investigated, and the Xia family traced it to him, even the Pei family might not be able to handle the consequences.

    To kill, or to not kill?

    He did not have much time to consider.

    One drop, two drops, three drops...

    Thest few drops of liquid dripped down.

    At that point, Pei Ziheng reached out and plugged the tube.

    ¡°Count yourself lucky.¡± He mumbled to the child before leaving the ward. It wasn¡¯t as if he had never killed anyone. After all, which sessful businessman was free from such sins? Yet, facing this child, he simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it.

    Maybe it was the memory of the infant years back, who danced and iled his little arms at him. Or maybe it went even further back when Xiao Ling quietly told him about her pregnancy, and how he had burst with joy. Or maybe, it was simply his conscience gnawing at him...

    In any case, he did not turn back.

    The ward regained its peace and serendipity. Little Shaohui became conscious sometimeter and quietly looked at the plugged tube.

    Xia Ling came to see him in the evening.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Little Shaohui,¡± she told the child. ¡°Sister had only nned to take a short nap, but I ended up sleeping for a whole day. How do you feel now? Any better?¡±

    Shaohui nodded obediently. ¡°I¡¯m a lot better now, don¡¯t worry, sister.¡± He did not tell this silly sister that he had gone to the Gates of Hell and back while she was away.

    Xia Ling pared some fruits for him, but was evidently unskilled.

    Halfway through, Li Lei called. He asked her where she was, and told her that his family had sent him some fresh fruits and vegetables from the mountains that he wanted to hand to her. Xia Ling did not have the heart to think about those, and instead briefly told him about Little Shaohui¡¯s condition. ¡°We can forget about fruits and vegetables. I¡¯m not in the mood for that.¡±

    Only then did Li Lei realize how much had happened in a day.

    He asked, ¡°Which hospital is it?¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to let him know, but Shaohui was calling out from the side, ¡°I want Uncle Li toe and see me...¡± Xia Ling nced at the child and decided to give Li Lei the address.

    Li Lei came over quickly and even brought along a few lunchboxes. ¡°These were all prepared with fresh ingredients from the mountains,¡± he said. ¡°He isn¡¯t well now and needs some nutrition.¡±

    Shaohui enjoyed his cooking and bugged Xia Ling to open the lunchboxes.

    The three of them were having their meal at the table in the ward when Pei Ziheng walked in. He came with a lunchbox as well, and mocked himself, ¡°I seem to havee a littlete.¡±

    Xia Ling felt bad about how Pei Ziheng had been the one rushing around for Shaohui for the past day. She hesitated before asking apprehensively, ¡°Join us?¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°Sure.¡±

    He casually grabbed a chair and sat beside Xia Ling.

    Li Lei darted an unfriendly nce at him as tensions between the two men hung in the air. Pei Ziheng acted as if nothing happened and asked Xia Ling gently, ¡°How¡¯s Little Shaohui now? You came running to me in your pajamas in the middle of the night, it really scared me.¡±

    Li Lei raised a brow. Running to Pei Ziheng? In her pajamas? In the middle of the night?

    He scooped some food into Xia Ling¡¯s bowl. ¡°It¡¯s in the middle of the night, why didn¡¯t you call me? How could you bother Chairman Pei? Xiao Ling, move in with me instead, that way I can look out for you.¡±

    Xia Ling was getting a headache, couldn¡¯t these two just stop talking for a while?

    She clenched her teeth. ¡°Keep quiet and eat.¡± She looked as if she was going to chase them out if they continued talking.

    The two big men kept quiet obediently. Strange how the two of them called the shots outside, but when it came to dainty Xia Ling, they listened to her every word... After all, nobody wanted to be chased out in front of their love rival.

    Both of them ate quietly.

    Shaohui was a little picky with food and was all focused on picking out the vegetable leaves and the lean meat he liked. Li Lei took a piece of fish from between the little one¡¯s chopsticks and handed it to Xia Ling instead. ¡°You¡¯re a man, you¡¯ve got to give in to your sister, understand?¡±

    The little one felt wronged. Both of them were so caught up with sister, what was so wrong with him taking care of himself...

    Xia Ling red at Li Lei. ¡°He¡¯s a patient!¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled a little and gave Xia Ling and Shaohui even more food. ¡°When you¡¯re discharged, Uncle Pei will bring you more delicacies.¡±

    Li Lei looked at him in an unfriendly manner again.

    Meanwhile, Pei Ziheng looked at Li Lei calmly.

 Chapter 699 - Why Was He Here?

    <h4>Chapter 699: Why Was He Here?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Suddenly, Xia Ling regretted having these two for a meal. They were well and truly irritating.

    She ate at an incredible speed before sending the two men out to her satisfaction. She closed the door and sighed in relief. ¡°That was tiring.¡±

    Shaohui looked at her curiously. ¡°You don¡¯t like Uncle Pei and Uncle Li?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned, not having expected the kid to ask something like this. ¡°Uncle Pei is hard to read, Shaohui. You better keep a distance from him, he¡¯s dangerous,¡± she contemted.

    Shaohui nodded. That was understandable.

    ¡°But then, why did you ask him for a favor?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled bitterly. ¡°When I saw that you were sick, I was worried. Uncle Pei was nearby, so finding a doctor from his ce was so easy.¡± Silence. ¡°Uncle Pei is hard to read, but he isn¡¯tpletely rotten. I owe him... a lot.¡±

    Shaohui blinked. He didn¡¯t know this.

    His uncle had mentioned something like this previously. Out of the people who objected to his parents being together, there had been Uncle Pei. But even then, he had mentioned as well, ¡°Uncle Pei and your mum go way back, you have to be careful.¡±

    Given that he had almost gotten killed by Uncle Pei today, he suddenly understood what his uncle had meant.

    Grasping onto Xia Ling¡¯s hand, he said, ¡°Then what about Uncle Li? Do you like Uncle Pei more? Or do you like Uncle Li more?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face grew hot at the thought of the handsome mixed-blood man.

    ¡°Shaohui, which one do you like?¡± she shot back.

    ¡°Of course, I like Uncle Li. He¡¯s nice to you, and he also has Er Mao,¡± the kid replied seriously.

    Xia Ling¡¯s smile faded. Ah, it was because of Er Mao. She ran her hands through the child¡¯s hair. ¡°Is Furball not cute enough for you?¡± Furball was the stray cat that she had taken under her wing. It yed with Shaohui often.

    ¡°Cute...¡± Shaohui replied, ¡°However, Er Mao is irreceable.¡± He blinked. ¡°Just like Uncle Pei, even if he¡¯s gentler, he¡¯s not the same as Uncle Li.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned by this statement.

    Out of all the people in the world, it had to be him.

    Even if there were thousands of others, even more gentle, even more outstanding, there was no way she could forget him. A scene etched into her memory, in that storm, standing in the fluttering blossoms, his voice saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you.¡±

    She shut her eyes and felt the bitterness seep into her heart for a moment.

    The days after, Shaohui remained hospitalized, but Xia Ling couldn¡¯t continue staying by his side.

    She was an artiste, after all. In spite of her Diva title, she still had to go to work. She had a gig in another city that she had agreed to attend, but that meant that Shaohui would be alone without a caretaker.

    Upon hearing this, Li Lei stepped up to offer his help. ¡°Xiao Ling, let me look after the child. You have a nanny, but it might be a little difficult for her to make any decisions since she is working for you, after all.¡± There was an underlying sense of urgency in his tone now ¡ª if he didn¡¯t take his chances now, he didn¡¯t know when the next opportunity would arise. If he slipped, a certain Pei Ziheng next door would swoop in to try his hand again.

    Xia Ling deliberated for a moment.

    Seeing how Li Lei had brought Li Rui up, she was worried.

    However, there didn¡¯t seem to be another suitable candidate up for the job. Lin Yunan? Wei Shaoyin? Feng Kun? They didn¡¯t have children, so they were inexperienced. Pei Ziheng? Uh, she¡¯d pass. Li Lei it was, then.

    Her schedule was pretty long this time, almost an entire week.

    ¡°Let Uncle Li take care of you for a while, okay?¡±

    Shaohui pped. ¡°Great, I love Er Mao.¡±

    The child¡¯s answer barely made any sense. Xia Ling sighed over how a certain man¡¯s charms extended beyond his pet. She informed Li Lei of her decision but added on additional conditions. ¡°Su Tang and Li Rui are not allowed near my child. If Shaohui is in the hospital, that means that they aren¡¯t even allowed to step into the ce. If they get sick, they better head to another hospital. Got it?¡±

    Li Lei understood what she meant, and agreed solemnly.

    ¡°Also,¡± Xia Ling added, still worried. ¡°Call me every day and tell me everything that happens to Shaohui.¡±

    This was exactly what Li Lei wanted. Satisfied, he agreed.

    Xia Ling eventually left, albeit still worried.

    At the event, everyone treated her like the goddess she was. She had really made it big, and her reputation was impable. If not for the generous appearance fee, she wouldn¡¯t have simply arrived at any event.

    She worked for three days, singing a song every day, and made earthshakingmentaries.

    It was an easy job. The remaining time was spent on the phone with Li Lei.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t leave a single detail out in their conversations. He talked everything about the kid¡¯s everyday life ¡ª the foods he liked, how his new teeth were starting to grow in, how the weather had been so nice that he managed to grow flowers in the hospital greenhouse.

    And many other whimsical stories.

    Xia Ling listened.

    Both of them rarely had such long peaceful times. It almost felt like back then, before their rtionship went cloudy, in the past where they had nothing to do in the beach vi, watching the tide go in ande out. It scared her, how easily she could slip into the facade, that they were a little family of three, just parents fussing over a child. Unfortunately, Shaohui¡¯s blood type was O.

    Shaohui¡¯s blood type had been her biggest upset, admittedly.

    She had been disappointed, having prayed for some miracle to happen, to return her the child that she had lost so many years ago. But then, the self-reproach washed in, before being reced by a small celebration ¡ª it was fortunate that he had such amon blood type. He would always be safe.

    How could she have ever prayed for Shaohui to have a rare blood type just for her own desire?

    That was dangerous.

    Her feelings were shaken again, but she nagged at Li Lei to look after her kid.

    Hesitated but nagged at him to look after himself too. ¡°You need to look after yourself too. Please don¡¯t...¡± She wanted to say that he had a rare blood type. In the case that anything happened, he probably couldn¡¯t get a transfusion in time. But it seemed too ominous, so she stopped.

    But it seemed like he understood what she wanted to say and smiled, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care too.¡±

    She hung up.

    At the event, the spectators were magnificent.

    Outside the ss panels, the audience was questioning, ¡°Where is Ye Xingling? I heard that she was going to perform? I brought a friend along just to watch her, I wonder when she will appear?¡±

    In thisplicated world, she only cared about one person¡¯s wellbeing.

    And of course, something had to happen.

    She had just finished her first song when Wei Shaoyin called. She had juste back from resounding apuse. ¡°I¡¯m outside your break room.¡±

    And she was confused. Why was he here?

 Chapter 700 - Family

    <h4>Chapter 700: Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She put her sunsses on and went to look for Wei Shaoyin.

    In the quiet hallway, the man¡¯snky silhouette stood out against the dim light. He was in his prim white shirt as usual.

    This man had a clean yet cold aura that she couldn¡¯t find on Li Lei or Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling walked up to him and called him. ¡°Ah Wei.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin turned over. ¡°Xiao Ling, is the event over yet?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s over for today.¡± She said, ¡°There¡¯s one more the following day. Why, is there anything?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Boss sent me to pick you up. Shaohui is in trouble, the elevator he was onnded on a free fall and he had to undergo surgery for his injuries. They transfused the blood of the wrong type, and he¡¯s in critical condition now.¡±

    Xia Ling felt as if she had been caught in a cmity and couldn¡¯t rationalize her emotions at all.

    She had no idea how she left with Wei Shaoyin, except that he led her to the roof to board a helicopter. With both hands together, she prayed many times over in her heart: ¡°Shaohui has to be safe.¡±

    The helicopter headed straight for the hospital.

    She alighted from it and staggered towards his ward as quickly as she could manage. The operating room doors were tightly shut, and the Emergency sign was still brightly lit. ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡± She asked the doctor.

    The doctor said, ¡°The child¡¯s situation isn¡¯t too optimistic. First, he sustained internal injuries when the elevatornded on a free fall. Then, during the surgery itself, we had transfused the O blood type before realizing it was wrong. Hemolysis urred, and hence, his life is still in danger. We¡¯re trying our best.¡±

    Hemolysis?

    She did not understand those medical terms, but Wei Shaoyin had a grave look on his face. ¡°Didn¡¯t you think of checking his blood type first before the transfusion? Hemolysis can kill, how could you be so careless!¡±

    The doctor looked troubled. ¡°We did a blood test on him just a while back, and the results were O-type blood.¡± He had no idea that the main doctor had altered the results, and was still in confusion about the situation.

    Xia Ling was flustered as she asked the doctor in a shaky voice, ¡°What are the chances of survival?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, even ten percent is...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin red at the doctor.

    The doctor hurriedly changed his words. ¡°Thir-Thirty percent.¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered in fear. She rarely had this feeling, it was as if somebody was taking away something vital for her survival. ¡°You¡¯ve got to save him!¡± She begged the doctor. ¡°I¡¯ll give you any amount you ask!¡±

    The doctor was caught in a fix too, this wasn¡¯t an issue about money. The child was already badly injured from the elevator ident, now with the hemolysis reaction, it was hard to pull through! Given that the hospital could be held ountable for both issues, the doctor was worried as well.

    He attempted to offer some words of assurance to Xia Ling, but given that they were insubstantial, it was of no help.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a mess. She couldn¡¯t understand how it could be wrong when Shaohui did have O-type blood. Did the hospital make a mistake during the first blood test? A mistake that could be fatal...

    Was she too much of a jinx that she brought a curse not just to her biological child, but to her adopted child as well?

    How could such freak and impossible incidents befall this child?

    She waited anxiously outside the operating theatre, and yet, could do nothing but me herself. She med herself for going away for a performance at this time. If she had stayed by Little Shaohui¡¯s side, would he have escaped this? Oh right, where was Li Lei? Why wasn¡¯t he here?

    He had promised her to take good care of this child.

    Now that things had happened, where was he?!

    She looked up and asked.

    ¡°Boss? He¡¯s in the operating room.¡± Wei Shaoyin replied, ¡°Shaohui¡¯s actual blood type is MNSSU-type, the same as Boss¡¯. They didn¡¯t have this in the blood bank, and hence, needed Boss to save him.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin added, ¡°Before entering the operating room, he instructed me to pick you up.¡±

    So he couldn¡¯t be there for her because he was saving the child. She had no idea how much blood was needed, but it must be quite arge amount. Was Li Lei up for it?

    She worried for Shaohui alone initially. But now, she had to worry for two.

    She hoped they would both be safe...

    ¡°They will be blessed.¡± Wei Shaoyinforted her. ¡°I¡¯ve mobilized the best specialists back at home to help with the treatment.¡± The Wei family was involved in the pharmacological field and had some of the best doctors and scientists worldwide.

    Even so, Xia Ling did not feel much better.

    This involved the life and death of two beloved people, how could she feel alright?

    She subconsciously reached for the amulet around her neck, the one that took half of Li Lei¡¯s blood to conjure. Back then, he had given up so much blood for her, and now, he was doing the same for her child...

    Xia Ling suddenly realized how good he was to her.

    Although there was Su Tang, and also many other people in the way, this man always did whatever it took to protect her.

    And her child as well.

    Her nose scrunched up a little.

    Wei Shaoyin was still consoling her. ¡°With my people, my family, they¡¯ll definitely pull through.¡± Although he had fled from hispetitive, elite household, he knew just how good they were in this field. If they had no certainty of seeding in any task, nobody else would.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a mess, but his words reminded her¡ª

    Yes, family.

    She reached for her cell phone and called her brother.

    ¡°Hello, Brother...¡± She was about to cry. ¡°Shaohui is in trouble, and Li Lei is donating lots of blood to him. I¡¯m worried about the both of them... What should I do? Do you have any way to save them?¡± All these years, she had rarely contacted her family, but they always came to mind in times of crisis.

    She had talked to her family about it when she adopted Shaohui.

    Back then, Xia Moyan had responded calmly, ¡°He ispatible with you, it¡¯ll be fine as long as you¡¯re fond of this child.¡±

    Now that Shaohui was in trouble, she could only turn to her brother for help. ¡°Aren¡¯t you good at this? Can you help chant a mantra, or say a prayer to bless the both of them?¡± She pleaded.

    On the other end, Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was as calm and unmoved as usual. ¡°They will be alright.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Brother made it out so lightly that it scared her instead.

    Xia Moyan looked towards the spell circle in the middle of the ancient hut before him. Xiao Ling still had no idea that this whole incident had everything to do with the spell he cast. How could he possibly not know whether their lives were in danger?

 Chapter 701 - Determining the Parent-Child Relationship

    <h4>Chapter 701: Determining the Parent-Child Rtionship</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As Xia Moyan had expected, the surgery was an ultimate sess.

    Both man and boy were wheeled out of the operating room and into the intensive care ward, where Xia Ling apanied them.

    With both of them in a deep sleep, the ward was silent. She went over to Shaohui¡¯s side first and saw his pale, sickly demeanor. Only when she felt that his breathing was stable could her uneasiness fade a little. She reached out and stroked his face; this child had such a tough life, having lost his parents at such a young age, and encountered such an ident not long after being adopted.

    She felt bad, thinking that her destiny had rubbed off on the child.

    She sighed quietly and went over to Li Lei. Li Lei¡¯s eyes were tightly shut and his lips were a dull purple from the blood loss. She remembered what the doctor had just said, ¡°In order to save the child, Mr. Li donated more blood than was eptable and safe for a human. He¡¯s extremely weak now and needs extra care and rest.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She mumbled.

    The man lying on the bed did not respond.

    Xia Ling thought that it really is a blessing that Li Lei and Shaohui were of the same blood type. Otherwise, Shaohui wouldn¡¯t have made it. Then again, she couldn¡¯t understand how Shaohui, who had O-type blood all this while, was suddenly found to have such a rare type. How could it be so coincidental? Moreover, it was the same type as herte child.

    Her heart pounded furiously. The answer was calling out to her.

    She scrutinized Shaohui¡¯s face like never before, and noticed that his eyes and brows looked extremely familiar ¡ª they were like hers. On second look, she found that there were some simrities between him and Li Lei.

    In that instant, she got a pair of scissors.

    She carefully cut a strand of Shaohui¡¯s hair and sealed it in a ziplock bag, before cutting one of her own and sealing it in another. Then, a thought hit her, and she went to cut one of Li Lei¡¯s strands too.

    She left the ward and looked for Wei Shaoyin.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t your household the most impressive pharmacological family in the world?¡± She asked.

    Wei Shaoyin was still busy making music in his studio. On hearing that, he was frustrated. ¡°Don¡¯t mention them! The best in the world are all perverse!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. <i>Ah Wei, your music is one of the best in the world too, no wonder some people call you Unreasonable Wei. </i>Even so, this was still an important matter that she needed his help in. ¡°You people have aboratory, right? Can you help me test the DNA of these three sets, to determine if they¡¯re of a parent-child rtionship?¡±

    She handed Ah Wei the three ziplock bags.

    Ah Wei¡¯s look was one of despise. ¡°Just for such a small issue? You could get any hospital to do this, why bother those maniacs in my household?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I can¡¯t put my mind at ease if I let outsiders do it.¡± Although practically any hospital could get it done, she dared not take any risk after Shaohui¡¯s blood-type incident. She wanted to find somebody she could trust.

    Wei Shaoyin was reluctant to approach his family members, and asked her in an unfriendly tone, ¡°Whose hairs are these? Let me make things clear, if it¡¯s some distant rtive of yours trying to ask for a favor, I¡¯m not agreeing!¡± She did not know how much of a nightmare it was for him to face his family, much less ask for their help.

    Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°It¡¯s Shaohui¡¯s and mine.¡±

    She chose not to disclose anything about the third strand.

    After all, if this child turned out not to be their biological son, there was no need to kick up a fuss.

    Wei Shaoyin was shocked. ¡°Yours and Shaohui¡¯s? Isn¡¯t he your adopted child? Xiao Ling, your child passed away four years back!¡± The moment the words left this mouth, he instantly felt he had gone overboard. In a nicer tone, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was just too shocked.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled sadly. ¡°Just take it that I¡¯m hoping against all hope.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin took the three strands of hair and promised that he would give her an answer as soon as he could.

    Not long after, she received a call from the nanny who had been apanying them in the ward, saying that Li Lei had awoken. Xia Ling rushed to the hospital to see him.

    As she entered the ward, she saw that Li Lei was quietly looking at Shaohui in the neighboring bed, with eyes wide open.

    He kept this strange expression when Xia Ling arrived and greeted her with a smile, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling walked over to him. ¡°You¡¯re up? How do you feel?¡± She saw the gentle hue of sunlight illuminate the side of his face. Oh, he looked so handsome. And the way his eyes sparkled, it made her feel a little less worried.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He smiled. ¡°My immune system is strong. As long as I get some nutrition, I¡¯ll recover in no time.¡±

    But things were not as simple as he made it out to be. This time, the excessive blood loss had hurt his body system, and he would need to take extra care of himself and undergo treatment to recover well. Having heard from the doctors beforehand, Xia Ling knew that he was just consoling her and instantly felt warm and touched by his gesture. She picked up an apple from his bedside and began paring it for him.

    Her skills were still rough, and he couldn¡¯t bear to look at how her hands moved.

    Li Lei looked at her for a while before whispering gently, ¡°You¡¯re really beautiful.¡±

    Her hands paused for a moment as some pieces of the apple fell. ¡°You¡¯re already so ill, how do you have the mood to joke.¡± She chided gently.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She looked up at him, confused.

    ¡°I did not take good care of Shaohui.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s me. I did not take good care of him.¡± She paused before going on sadly. ¡°Maybe this is my life, I¡¯m bound to jinx the people around me.¡± She had already decided to consult her brother once things went back to normal. If she was one who couldn¡¯t keep the people around her safe, she¡¯d have someone else adopt Shaohui instead.

    Despite the immense love she had for the child.

    In any case, that was not a good reason to put a child¡¯s life at risk.

    She felt even worse about herself on that thought.

    Li Leiforted her. ¡°Life of a jinx? There¡¯s a way to resolve it for sure. Just look at these past many years, after emergencies and crises, haven¡¯t things turned out alright eventually? Xiao Ling, you have an amulet now. I will share half of your destiny with you. Be it Shaohui or the other people closest to you, they¡¯ll all be fine.¡±

    That was what he exchanged a smooth-going life and a whole road of kowtows for.

    Xia Ling had so much to think about.

    She intuitively looked towards Shaohui, who was sleeping soundly. Yes, if not for Li Lei, Shaohui wouldn¡¯t have got the blood he needed in time.

    A whileter, Pei Ziheng came too.

    When he saw that Li Lei was paring an apple for Xia Ling, his expression turned dark.

    Xia Ling turned around.

    Pei Ziheng gathered his emotions and asked nicely, ¡°Is Shaohui alright?¡±

    Xia Ling handed Li Lei the apple and stood up. ¡°Pei Ziheng, we need to talk.¡± With that, she left the ward first.

 Chapter 702 - Blood-Related Baby

    <h4>Chapter 702: Blood-Rted Baby</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng also went out.

    The silence was a bit strange in the long and empty corridor. Xia Ling looked at the man in front of her and was the first to break the silence. ¡°Were you the one who told the doctor to conceal Shaohui¡¯s blood type?¡± Although she was not smart, she was not so stupid and guessed what had happened.

    Pei Ziheng already predicted that she was going to ask for it after Shaohui was hurt.

    At this time, he replied unhurriedly, ¡°Conceal Shaohui¡¯s blood type? Why would I do something so mindless? This blood type is very rare, and it¡¯s possible that the hospital misdiagnosed it for some time. Xiao Ling, there¡¯s no need for me to hide it from you. He¡¯s not even your child. Your child... is gone.¡±

    He found a rtively mild way to exin it.

    However, Xia Ling continued to re angrily at him. ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie?¡± He frowned and looked at her sternly as if he were disciplining a disobedient child, just like he did countless times before in the past when she threw a tantrum.

    He really acted very well.

    In reality, he was also surprised because he did not expect this child to run into trouble so quickly.

    When he asked the doctor to lie that her child¡¯s blood type was O, he considered the possible consequences. At that time, he was betting on the fact that it was unlikely that her child would encounter an ident that would require a blood transfusion. Many people never had a blood transfusion in their lifetimes. Unexpectedly, sometimeter, Shaohui encountered one.

    Perhaps it was destined.

    Pei Ziheng was somewhat worried about the child, but only slightly. If the child died, he would be sad for a while and burn some incense for him. But that¡¯s it.

    It was unfortunate that he was Xiao Ling¡¯s child with another man.

    His existence was a sin.

    Pei Ziheng calmly told Xia Ling, ¡°You¡¯re too tired, that¡¯s why you¡¯re overthinking it.¡±

    Xia Ling was full of doubt and stared at Pei Ziheng intently, trying to see if she could see any clues from his expression. However, she was destined to be disappointed. This man knew how to conceal his emotions well and she could not see anything off.

    Finally, Xia Ling gave up.

    ¡°It better not be you.¡± She said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to fall out with you to an irreconcble state.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was slightly rmed. ¡°How could it be?¡±

    She did not gain any information from this conversation. After this, she asked Lin Yunan to investigate the misdiagnosis of her child¡¯s blood type. She needed the hospital to give her an exnation. Lin Yunan consulted a team ofwyers and they tried their best to negotiate with the hospital.

    The matter ended with the resignation of the doctor.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s heart started to feel empty and uncertain. Was this really not rted to Pei Ziheng?

    Privately, she went to look for that doctor. However, Doctor Chen only said, ¡°That day, I was just feeling exhausted from work and caused a misdiagnosis. I¡¯m really sorry. Mr. Pei? He didn¡¯t even say much to me. How could such a good man hurt such an innocent child? Why do you think this way?¡± Although he took the me and resigned, he was still under Pei Ziheng¡¯s radar and did not dare to say anything.

    Xia Ling was destined to make a futile trip.

    Since this had already happened, sapped a lot of her energy and the investigation turning futile, she decided not to pursue it. As long as Shaohui was fine, nothing else mattered.

    Furthermore, she was still concerned with something more important.

    The next day, Wei Shaoyin came looking for her.

    In a dignified manner, he took Xia Ling from the ward to the lounge. ¡°This child is actually your own, Xiao Ling? What exactly is going on? Didn¡¯t your child die four years ago?¡±

    The news was too shocking to him.

    Xia Ling was too busy to pay attention to what he said but after hearing the words ¡°your own,¡± she was filled with joy and excitement. ¡°Really?¡± Her voice shook uncontrobly as she looked eagerly at Wei Shaoyin. ¡°Is Shaohui really my biological child?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin nodded. ¡°A hundred percent. To prevent any mistakes, I went to two differentboratories to do the identification test. Both results are the same.¡± He could only do this because he was the young master of the Wei Family and had special privileges. If an ordinary person tried to do this, they would not be able to make twobs do the same test. In fact, the security personnel would chase them out after they requested high profile researchers to do such an insignificant test.

    Xia Ling was so happy that she wept.

    Wei Shaoyin disdainfully said, ¡°You look awful.¡±

    However, she did not care about how she looked anymore. She looked at the results of the identification test and was thrilled. She saw that her DNA matched Shaohui¡¯s and the other man¡¯s DNA also matched Shaohui¡¯s. There was no doubt that this child was hers and Li Lei¡¯s!

    Wei Shaoyin was somewhat curious. ¡°Is this really your child who died four years ago? What exactly happened that year? Why is he still alive and was even coincidentally adopted by you?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head as she also did not know what was going on.

    She put down the report. After some thought, she suddenly recalled that she never saw the child¡¯s corpse that year. All of the photos were of the dead child¡¯s miserable condition which Pei Ziheng asked his staff to describe to her.

    Could it be that Pei Ziheng lied?

    He already knew that her child was not dead!

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widened. In this case, everything made sense. Four years ago, Pei Ziheng did not want to let her know that her child was still alive! It could be that after finding out that Shaohui was allergic to synthetic fibers, he chose to hide her child¡¯s blood type so that she would not be able to find out the truth!

    She took out her phone and called Lin Yunan. ¡°Look for a private investigator to dig into the blood type case carefully!¡±

    She had to rify everything. If Pei Ziheng was this cruel, she would never let him get close to Shaohui again in the future! Four years... Aplete four years...

    His lie made her miserable!

    There was unspeakable anger in her heart and she could not wait to interrogate Pei Ziheng, but she had to restrain her impulses because there were more important things at hand.

    It was imperative that she went to visit Shaohui to take a good look at the child who she was separated from for so long.

    Xia Ling hurriedly rushed back and pushed the door of the ward open.

    In the ward, Li Lei was shocked by her appearance. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Ignoring Li Lei, she stood at the doorway and stared at the small child on the hospital bed. He looked so small and thin. He was already five years old but was not as strong as Li Rui who was not even four years old... How much pain did he endure during these years? Her tears streamed down.

    Li Lei became nervous. Although he was still weak, he struggled to sit up. ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t scare me.¡±

    Step by step, Xia Ling walked towards the child. She reached out a shaking hand and carefully stroked the child¡¯s cheek. The sleeping child was very quiet, and his soft eyshes cast a fine shadow on her hand. She stroked his eyebrows and touched his small body. It was a very honest and soft touch. This was her Shaohui, her blood-rted baby.

 Chapter 703 - Recognition

    <h4>Chapter 703: Recognition</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That year, she endured a lot of pain to give birth to that child.

    She was really grateful to god because she never expected a reunion in this life. Her tears dripped down and fell on the child¡¯s pale face.

    Li Lei was scared. He struggled to get out of bed and hugged her tightly. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened to you? If something happened, tell me. With me here, no matter what happens, I will help you!¡± He knew that he was weak, but he stubbornly gave her support. His heart was about to break seeing her cry like this.

    Xia Ling continued to cry. Finally, in between sobs, she said, ¡°Shaohui... Shaohui is my child. He¡¯s my biological child...¡±

    Li Lei was stunned. ¡°What?¡±

    Xia Ling cried and repeated. ¡°He¡¯s my biological child! The child from four years ago! He¡¯s back again. Back to my side...¡±

    Her words were magnified in Li Lei¡¯s heart like thunder on a sunny day.

    Four years ago, her child with Pei Ziheng was still alive?

    The news was too sudden. Li Lei did not know if he should be happy or dejected.

    Looking at the girl crying in happiness, he felt that he shouldn¡¯t dampen her spirits. How was it not a happy thing? He should congratte her. The child¡¯s return was an enormous piece of good news for her since she could not get pregnant.

    Even though this child¡¯s father was Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was choppy as he whispered, ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    Xia Ling did not realize his hidden thoughts. She waspletely immersed in happiness. Looking at her sleeping child greedily, she mumbled, ¡°This child did not grow up by my side. After so many years, I wonder how much he suffered. Luckily, he¡¯s finally back. I will definitely make it up to him.¡±

    In reality, she treated him well even when she did not know he was her own child.

    She only said this now because she was ted.

    Looking at how joyful she was, Li Lei¡¯s feelings wereplicated. However, although he was dispirited, he still tried to appear happy for her. This was good news, right? Xiao Ling¡¯s happiness was more important than anything else. If the heavens gave her another chance, he would still choose to save the child. No, wait! Save the child?

    He used his blood to save this child!

    Suddenly, Li Lei realized this problem. He knew his blood type, but what about Pei Ziheng¡¯s? It could not be so coincidental that Pei Ziheng also had a special blood type?

    His breathing stagnated. ¡°Xiao Ling, who is this child¡¯s father?¡±

    Startled, Xia Ling finally remembered that the man in front of her was the child¡¯s real father. That year, she did not tell him the truth because she thought her child was already dead and he did not want him to be upset. However, now, the child was alive. If Li Lei knew that the child was his, he would not be upset.

    Thus, Xia Ling lifted her head and looked at him. ¡°Shaohui is your biological son, not Pei Ziheng¡¯s.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart skipped a bit. He doubted his own hearing. ¡°What?¡±

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. ¡°Shaohui is your son.¡±

    Li Lei finally heard her clearly. Initially, he did not know if he was just hanging on to an unclear hope, but he did not expect Xiao Ling to give him such a huge surprise.

    He had a son!

    This son was his biological son!

    At once, Li Lei was exuberant. He felt that he was in a dream. ¡°Shaohui is my son? Biological son?¡± As he spoke, he looked at the child on the bed.

    The small child remained in a deep sleep. His fat cheeks were a little pale, but he still looked cute.

    Li Lei could not get enough of him. Looking at the sleeping child, he criticized himself. How did he not realize it after interacting with him for so long? Although Shaohui did not really look like him, after looking at him closely, he could see a little resemnce. The child¡¯s skin was a little dark and did have some mixed blood characteristics. These were all inherited from him.

    Li Lei half knelt in front of the hospital bed and tightly held Shaohui¡¯s hand. ¡°Shaohui, my Shaohui.¡±

    Looking at the father and son, Xia Ling was even happier. The sad thing was she thought that everything she endured and suffered to give birth to this child would go to waste as the child died after a hundred days. This sort of sadness exhausted her after she gave it her all.

    However, now, she was in a blissful state. Her child finally came back to her.

    Everything she did that year was worth it.

    Their family of three had finally reunited.

    Li Lei looked at the child carefully for a long time. He got up and gave Xia Ling a tight hug. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He said, ¡°You gave birth to a son for me. You actually gave birth to a son for me... Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    Xia Ling leaned her head on his shoulder and her tears fell on his sleeve.

    She did not say anything, and Li Lei did not need her answer. That was because he understood immediately. ¡°That year, you were with Pei Ziheng. If he found out that you were pregnant with my child, he would definitely force you to abort it, am I right? That¡¯s why you had toe up with a n and lie that your child was his.¡±

    She cried even harder as if someone finally understood her grievances.

    She cried as she spoke, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault. It¡¯s all your fault...¡± She med him for being on the verge of death after the paragliding incident such that she was forced to return to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side. It was his fault for not saving her, which was why she had to protect her child under the eyes of a devil. It was his fault that she loved him like a moth flying to a me...

    Li Lei hugged her even tighter. ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve suffered.¡± At this time, he felt immense guilt. Oh god, what exactly did she do that year? He left his woman and child in such a dangerous ce where they had to survive under the watch of a devil-like and vicious man.

    Li Lei was afraid that if his child really died, he would never be able to forgive himself in this life.

    He said to Xia Ling, ¡°In the future, let me protect you two.¡± He had not recovered yet and was very weak. He was not very confident when he said those words, but his chest felt very warm as he carefully hugged her.

    He had a son now. A biological son. He had a son with his beloved woman.

    Arge smile appeared on Li Lei¡¯s face unknowingly. At this time, he felt that his life wasplete.

    Xia Ling leaned in his arms for some time before saying, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for hiding this from you for so long.¡±

    Li Lei lifted her face. Slowly, he kissed her gently and deeply. Some words did not need to be said. Like love, an expression or an action was enough to each other know what they thought.

    He never med her before.

    No matter what she did, how could he me her?

    Li Lei always thought that he did a lot for her. However,pared to what she did to give birth to their child in such a harsh environment, he felt that everything he did was not worth mentioning.

 Chapter 704 - Time for Happiness

    <h4>Chapter 704: Time for Happiness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei could not imagine how she was able to bear the sorrow alone for years.

    She was only a weak girl. How did she endure such a painful time? If she did not know that Shaohui was alive, would she decide to keep this secret from him her entire life?

    Li Lei felt his heart shatter.

    On the bed, Shaohui suddenly moved and opened his eyes.

    Looking at the man and woman hugging beside his bed, he softly called out, ¡°Sister. Uncle Li.¡±

    The child¡¯s weak voice brought the two people back to reality. Li Lei reluctantly let go of Xia Ling and walked to the bedside to look at Shaohui with concern. ¡°You¡¯re awake.¡± His voice was gentler and kinder than usual.

    Xia Ling was more direct and leaned over to give her child a long hug. Her face stuck to Shaohui¡¯s cheek and felt the child¡¯s warmth and breathing. It was so real that she could not bear to let go.

    The small child lifted his fat and short arms and hugged her.

    Smelling the fragrance on her body, the child said, ¡°Sister, don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Xia Ling finally realized that she started crying again. In front of the people she loved the most, she always seemed to be weak. She fumbled as she wiped her tears and reprimanded Shaohui between sobs. ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re fine? Do you know that you almost died? Why were you so careless? How could you run into trouble when I wasn¡¯t around for a few days?¡±

    Shaohui ignorantly said, ¡°I also didn¡¯t know why the elevator would suddenly fail.¡±

    At the side, Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent someone to investigate this. The hospital must give an exnation.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. She did not have the time to care about these things. Luckily, Li Lei was very thorough. On the hospital bed, Shaohui also sweetly said, ¡°Thank you, Uncle Li.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Shaohui, you shouldn¡¯t call me Uncle Li.¡±

    The child blinked in confusion like a butterfly pping its wings.

    Xia Ling knew what Li Lei was about to say. She looked at him and then again Shaohui who was lying on the bed. She reached out, took Li Lei¡¯s hand and ced it slowly on the child¡¯s small palm.

    Their three hands were together.

    ¡°Shaohui,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I¡¯m not your sister and Li Lei isn¡¯t your uncle. We are your dad and mom.¡± She simply told him the results of the DNA test to her child.

    In his heart, Shaohui secretly thought, <i>I already knew it a long time ago.</i>

    He left his uncle to make his dad and mom reconcile. Uncle said that his mom¡¯s fate was a little special. Before the reconciliation, she would have to suffer a lot. But if he was able to shoulder the burden, he would be able to speed up the reconciliation. Shaohui asked his uncle how he could help his mom shoulder her burden of disasters.

    Uncle said, ¡°I will cast a spell and change your good luck into bad luck. You will encounter an ident. It will be bloody and look very dangerous, but you won¡¯t die.¡± The Preceptor, who was dressed in a white coat, looked at his precocious little nephew and asked, ¡°Are you willing to take the risk?¡±

    At that time, Shaohui nodded without hesitation.

    For his mom, he was willing to do anything.

    Sure enough, his uncle was right. This time, he really suffered. However, everything was worth it because his mom finally found out his identity and acknowledged him.

    The child appeared shocked and then eximed. ¡°I have a dad and mom now!¡± He shed a wide smile. ¡°That¡¯s awesome, sister. It turns out that you¡¯re my mom! You¡¯re so beautiful. I¡¯m so happy!¡± He then turned to look at Li Lei. ¡°If Uncle Li is my dad, does this mean that I can look for Er Mao more frequently now?¡±

    This child only thought about ying.

    There was a sour feeling in Xia Ling¡¯s heart, but she was so happy that she wanted to smile.

    On the other hand, Li Lei assured her. ¡°You can visit Er Mao whenever you like.¡±

    The child beamed. He looked at Xia Ling and seriously called, ¡°Mom.¡±

    Without warning, Xia Ling¡¯s tears flowed out again. How many years had she wished to hear her biological son call her ¡°mom¡± once? However, her child ¡°died¡± when he was a hundred days old and could not even speak then.

    She thought that this day would nevere.

    However, now, the tables had turned. She was able to satisfy this luxurious desire.

    Her tears fell more rapidly.

    Shaohui raised his hand to wipe her tears. ¡°Mom, don¡¯t cry.¡±

    She was afraid that the child would be worried, so she tried her best to restrain her tears and smile. Her chaotic state looked very pathetic but also very beautiful. ¡°Mom isn¡¯t crying. Mom is happy.¡± She said.

    Li Lei walked over and gently wrapped her in his arms as if he was giving her support and strength.

    Shaohui looked at his dad. This was the first time he was able to observe his biological father so closely. He still remembered that when he was living in the mountains, he asked his uncle what sort of person his dad was.

    His uncle sneered. ¡°An idiot.¡±

    Looking at the child¡¯s dispirited look, the indifferent Preceptor added, ¡°However, he¡¯s also very powerful since he has a veryrge business and many subordinates are willing to follow him.¡± The Preceptor knew that a powerful father figure was very important to the child as it would be the child¡¯s natural role model from birth. His father would be the earliest source of pride and strength. No one else, including his uncle and mother, could rece him.

    Besides, from different perspectives, his father was still... eptable.

    The Preceptor reluctantly thought about it.

    He knew that the child was pleased by his answer and always admired his dad. When he left the mountain, he was even more proud of his father after seeing that he had such a majestic pet. This was his father. He was better than anyone else.

    He was very willing to call him ¡°dad.¡±

    He called him ¡°dad¡± twice because he enjoyed it.

    Li Lei sniffed and was dangerously close to crying like Xia Ling. Men only wept when deeply hurt. However, he really couldn¡¯t control his feelings in this situation. He lightly closed his eyes and restrained his tears. As if nothing happened, he said to the child, ¡°Good boy.¡± He was a man and did not talk much like Xia Ling. He only supported Xiao Ling as she sat beside the child¡¯s bed and opened his arms to hug the child. From now on, he had aplete family. He would take care of Xia Ling and his son well and be a responsible father.

    The family of three quietly enjoyed this rare warm feeling.

    After a long time, Xia Ling asked Shaohui, ¡°How did you spend your past few years? Who adopted you? Did they treat you well?¡±

    Shaohui blinked. ¡°Uncle and grandpa are very nice to me.¡±

    Uncle and grandpa?

    Suddenly, Xia Ling looked like she thought of something and squinted her eyes. ¡°Who is your uncle?¡±

 Chapter 705 - Give Another Ten Billion

    <h4>Chapter 705: Give Another Ten Billion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Shaohui was in a difficult situation. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you...¡±

    Uncle repeatedly warned him that he could not reveal all of his identity. He could only let his mom slowly unearth it.

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth. No matter how stupid she was, she realized that something was wrong. How could it be so coincidental? Her long-lost child coincidentally appeared in her neighborhood, was found by her when she was taking a walk and was subsequently brought back home?

    If the person who ¡°abandoned¡± him was his uncle...

    At this time, Li Lei also reacted. ¡°Xia Moyan? Was it The Preceptor who deliberately returned this child?¡±

    The two adults immediately turned to look at Shaohui on the hospital bed.

    Shaohui raised his chubby and short hands and covered his eyes. He twisted his body and tried to cover up his misdeed. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. I don¡¯t know anything. I don¡¯t know anything...¡±

    The way he acted made the two adults more suspicious.

    Xia Ling got up and was about to walk out, but Li Lei grabbed ahold of her. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Xia Ling spat. ¡°To look for payback!¡±

    She left the ward and made a call.

    In the misty mountains, the leaves rustled.

    In a quaint courtyard, a gray-haired old man, wearing a white robe, held a white chess piece in one hand. He was currently ying chess with a young man in front of him. The young man was dark skinned and had an indifferent face which was as calm as water. He had already forced the old man into a dead end and destroyed his opponent.

    ¡°Dad, aren¡¯t you going to quit?¡± The young man said faintly. ¡°The winner is already obvious.¡±

    The old man raised an eyebrow and looked furious. ¡°Young brat, now that your wings have hardened, you¡¯re starting to tell me what to do?!¡± He heavily mmed the white chess piece on the board. ¡°Who said I can¡¯t win?¡±

    The young man remained calm as he made his next move and ate another white chess piece.

    The old man was so angry that he red at him. Why he did he raise such unfilial son? It was only a game of chess, why couldn¡¯t he just give in?! He really wasted his time raising this son! He would rather raise a daughter. He heard that his daughter was innocent and soft-hearted. He wondered how she was now...

    The old man¡¯s thoughts wondered.

    Opposite him, the young man stretched out two long white and bone-like fingers and gently stroked the soft fur of a silver fox lying on the edge of the ss. His voice was faint. ¡°Dad, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    The old man anxiously scratched his head and looked at his dire situation in the chess game. What should he do?

    At this time, the young man¡¯s cell phone rang.

    It was a very sweet song by the deceased Xia Ling, ¡°The Butterfly Can¡¯t Transcend the Seas.¡±

    ¡°Quickly answer the phone.¡± The old man was overjoyed. He pushed the board, and the original ck and white tiles were jumbled up. ¡°Let¡¯s not y anymore.¡±

    The Preceptor¡¯s mouth twitched but did not say anything. His father always tried to y dirty whenever he was about to lose. If the outside world saw their reverent Perceptor being such a sore loser, what would they think? He said, ¡°Dad, if you lost, you lost.¡±

    ¡°Who said I lost?¡± The old man red at him. ¡°I¡¯m just not obstructing you from your business! Brat, did your sister call you? After hiding Shaohui¡¯s identity for so many years, she must have called you for payback.¡± As the old man spoke, he was very relieved. Luckily, he transferred all of his skills to his so that he did not have to settle this troublesome ¡°Phoenix¡± business by himself. It was too worrying.

    Xia Moyan was speechless. His dad spoke as if they were not on the same team.

    He answered the phone calmly. ¡°Hello, Xiao Ling?¡±

    On the other hand, Xia Ling¡¯s screams were heard. ¡°Xia Moyan, you jerk!¡± Sure enough, she was furious and did not even address him. ¡°Did you bring up Shaohui? You knew from a long time ago that he was my son, right?!¡±

    Xia Moyan remained nonchnt. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Xia Ling demanded. ¡°Xia Moyan, you better exin this clearly to me.¡±

    The breeze was felt on the t mountain tform. The young man remained calm, and with a strange soothing power, he said, ¡°This is a long story. After a while, I will look for you. Oh yes, remember to keep the identity of this child a secret. Don¡¯t let Li Lei and the others know.¡±

    ¡°You really are a big jerk!¡± Xia Ling yelled.

    Xia Moyan calmly hung up the phone. Looking at the spectating old man, he said, ¡°I will go to the City S in a few days to see Xia Ling.¡±

    The old man waved his hand. ¡°Quickly go. I¡¯m morefortable ying chess with Xiao Hui.¡± Xiao Hui was the fox that waszily lying on the edge of the ss chessboard. It had silver-white fur and looked quite fascinating.

    Xia Moyan was speechless.

    ¡°Oh right.¡± The old man asked him. ¡°Does Xiao Ling have enough pocket money? The next time you go down the mountain, give her another 10 billion. Females should be pampered. She is seriously too poor.¡± In this world, only people in the Xia Family felt that giving their daughter 10 billion was insufficient.

    Xia Moyan nodded. He also felt that Xiao Ling was too poor.

    He looked at his father for a brief moment before saying, ¡°I calcted. ording to Xiao Ling¡¯s fate now, the family can afford to give her 13.528 billion.¡±

    ¡°As you please.¡± The old many did not really care about these things. The Xia Family had umted generations of wealth, a few billion yuan did not mean anything to them. Usually, his son and he rarely used any money, so thisrge sum of money could only be used to take care of his daughter.

    The old man was very mncholic. If only Xiao Ling could return to the family quickly...

    He hoped that Xia Moyan would seed and speed up Xia Ling¡¯s return.

    City S.

    Shaohui¡¯s condition got better every day. Li Lei contacted the specialists and formted a n to treat his allergens. Although chemical fiber allergies were terrible, fortunately, they were not terminal illnesses. He just had to be careful, take a shot, and take medicine regrly topletely recover.

    Shaohui was very cooperative.

    After the first phase of treatment, he was discharged.

    Li Lei helped himplete the discharge procedure and apanied Xiao Ling and his son as they packed up.

    When they were half-way done, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, move into my house. It will be more convenient there.¡± This was not the first time he invited her to stay with him. The previous time, Xia Ling rejected him. But now, things were different. They had a child and he needed a warm home.

    Shaohui heard him and looked at them with bright eyes.

    Xia Ling paused for a moment. ¡°Maybe next time. My brother warned me not to reveal Shaohui¡¯s identity to the world yet. In the future when things are better, we can see what our next step should be.¡± She knew that she had an ill fate, so her brother did not allow her to announce this because he was afraid that something may backfire. She should take more precaution.

 Chapter 706 - Return to the Southern Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 706: Return to the Southern Mountain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was depressed.

    However, he understood her difficulties and did not insist. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll visit you two frequently.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and added, ¡°You should still be careful about the paparazzi.¡± Since she was a Diva, the paparazzi would always ambush her in areas that she often appeared at. If she interacted too much with Li Lei, there was a high chance that his photo would be taken and arouse suspicion.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°When Shaohui¡¯s identity is announced, no one will say that you¡¯re a third party.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Before my brother says anything, you can¡¯t announce it.¡± She instructed Li Lei with what Xia Moyan told her over the phone. ¡°A few dayster, my brother will visit us. When that happens, he will tell me the full story.¡±

    An indifferent man wearing white appeared in Li Lei¡¯s mind.

    In the past, he met Xia Moyan twice. Once when he begged for an amulet for Xia Ling and the second time when Xia Ling was pregnant and wanted to escape Pei Ziheng¡¯s prison. On those two asions, Li Lei did not know that this mysterious Preceptor was his potential brother-inw. Now, after hearing that his powerful brother-inw was about to visit, he was a little nervous.

    He asked Xia Ling, ¡°What does your brother like? It¡¯s rare that he visits, so we should treat him well.¡±

    Xia Ling was very unhappy. ¡°He lied to me for years. Why should I treat him well?¡±

    Li Lei was a little despondent. She was rted to Xia Moyan by blood and they belonged to the same family, so throwing a tantrum would be harmless for her. However, this was the first time he was officially meeting his brother-inw and could not afford to offend him.

    Shaohui lifted his head and listened to their conversation. He guessed that his dad was in trouble and rushed to answer. ¡°Uncle doesn¡¯t really have any special hobbies. However, he likes natural things. If you can brew a nice pot of tea, he will be in a good mood.¡± Xia Moyan was a very distant man. Without Shaohui¡¯s observation, no one would realize these things.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes lit up and he stroked the child¡¯s small head. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    Xia Ling faintly red at her child but did not really get mad.

    Things were settled.

    There were a few days before Xia Moyan arrived. Li Lei just acknowledged his biological child and was in high spirits. He discussed with Xia Ling about letting the child have some fun with him.

    Xia Ling was reluctant to let Shaohui leave her side.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling,e with us. Our family of three hasn¡¯t gone out together yet.¡±

    Xia Ling was somewhat worried. ¡°What about the paparazzi?¡±

    Li Lei shed a toothy smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Southern Mountain Racing Horse Club. It¡¯s a club for members only so the journalists can¡¯t enter, and there are rarely any ordinary people there. Those who can enter are rich, so they won¡¯t bother us.¡±

    Beside her, Shaohui also looked at her expectantly. ¡°Mom, let¡¯s go together.¡±

    The way he called her ¡°mom¡± melted her heart. She finally nodded and said, ¡°Ok.¡±

    The next day was sunny and bright. The family of three went to Southern Mountain Racing Horse Club.

    It was already the start of autumn. The leaves rustled in the forest and the branches swayed. Xia Ling looked at the greenery and flowing water and recalled that when she met Li Lei for the first time many years ago, she also came to this club with him. At that time, she would not have thought that they would have such a deep fate. Now, she was very emotional revisiting the ce.

    Shaohui held both of their hands and looked around curiously.

    He asked Li Lei, ¡°Dad, I heard that you have a horse in this club. Can you take me to see it?¡± Since a young age, he loved animals and had never seen a horse before, so he was very excited.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Of course.¡±

    He also knew that Shaohui loved animals. Today, he specially brought him here for horseback riding. Soon, they arrived at the horses¡¯ holding area. Li Lei held Shaohui¡¯s hand with one hand and whistled with his other. Soon, a ck horse walked elegantly towards them. Its long mane fluttered in the wind. Under the sun, it shined like ck satin.

    ¡°Wow. So pretty...¡± The child eximed.

    The horse stopped in front of the child.

    Li Lei carried Shaohui and guided the child to pet the horse¡¯s nose. He said, ¡°Its name is Thunder. It¡¯s a purebred Hanoverian Horse and has a very good temperament.¡±

    Shaohui smiled and greeted it. ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Shaohui. You¡¯re really pretty.¡±

    The sturdy Hanoverian Horse observed the child and lightly snorted.

    Li Lei said, ¡°It likes you.¡±

    Thus, the child smiled innocently again.

    Li Lei ced the child on the horse¡¯s back. This horse was very stable and did not struggle because an unknown child was sitting on its back. In contrast, it adjusted its posture so the child could sit morefortably.

    At the side, Xia Ling was amazed. ¡°This horse really understands humans.¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°In that year, your horse was also very smart.¡± If he did not remember wrongly, he remembered that the first one who found out that Xiao Ling reincarnated was the Southern Mountain Club¡¯s Valiant Song.

    Now that the horse was mentioned, Xia Ling started to miss it.

    She asked a nearby staff member, ¡°How is Valiant Song? Is it still here?¡±

    The staff said, ¡°We don¡¯t have a horse here called Valiant Song.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°How is that possible? It¡¯s a mix between a Ferghana and a thoroughbred horse. It¡¯s a red female with an intense personality.¡±

    The staff finally understood what she was talking about. ¡°Are you referring to thete Xia Ling¡¯s horse? A few years ago, that horse was taken away by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Mr. Pei and is no longer here.¡±

    Xia Ling looked a little disappointed.

    She thanked the staff, bowed her head and walked forward with Li Lei and the Hanover horse.

    When Li Lei saw that she was unhappy, he said, ¡°I will find Pei Ziheng and ask him to return your horse to you.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°He won¡¯t listen to you. I think it¡¯s better if I go.¡±

    Li Lei was unwilling to let her interact with Pei Ziheng. He said, ¡°Trust me. I have a way.¡±

    Xia Ling tilted her head. She understood his intentions but felt dispirited. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± In the end, the only reason why she could calmly walk shoulder to shoulder with Li Lei was because of her child. If it weren¡¯t for her child, she would never have the thought of reuniting with him, so she did not want to give him too much hope.

    Li Lei understood what she meant and did not say anything more.

    Now, he could only protect this rtionship carefully. This rtionship was too fragile and filled with scars, so it could not withstand the slightest setback. Holding on to Thunder, he walked forward step by step.

    Shaohui sat on the horse¡¯s back. As he looked at the scenery, he listened to his mom and dad¡¯s conversation.

    After hearing that, he couldn¡¯t help but change the subject. ¡°Dad, mom, I want to learn how to ride a horse.¡±

 Chapter 707 - Who Does the Child Resemble

    <h4>Chapter 707: Who Does the Child Resemble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling joked. ¡°Aren¡¯t you learning how to ride a horse now?¡±

    Shaohui lifted his head. ¡°I¡¯m only sitting on the horse¡¯s back now while dad is guiding me. I want to learn how to ride a horse myself.¡± He lifted his small hand and pointed at a horseback rider who was speeding away on his horse. ¡°Like that. How cool!¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You¡¯re still young. You can¡¯t ride such a big horse.¡±

    The child felt a little disappointed.

    Li Lei nced at the child and called a staff member at the horse ranch over to ask if there were any horses suitable for children to ride. The staff said, ¡°Yes, there are. Mr. Li, what a coincidence. Just recently, we added a few domesticated ponies, and it¡¯s about time for them to be used for horseback riding.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Take us to see them.¡±

    Under the staff¡¯s lead, they arrived at the ce where the ponies were held.

    With the help of his dad and mom, Shaohui got off the tall Hanover and looked at the ponies in the stables curiously. The ponies were all very beautiful. They had shiny bodies, sharp eyes, and powerful hoofs. When Shaohui sized them up, they sized him up curiously. This child had a natural affinity with nature and animals all felt good about him.

    The staff introduced them to the ponies. ¡°This is a purebred horse, that is an Arabian horse, and that one is a hybrid of an Arabian and a Mongolian.¡±

    Li Lei lowered his head and asked Shaohui, ¡°Which one do you like?¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s eyes drifted from pony to pony. It was a difficult choice.

    Xia Ling said to the staff, ¡°This is my child¡¯s first time learning how to ride a horse. We want a horse that has a gentle temperament.¡±

    The staff smiled and said, ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t worry. These horses are all not bad and have received special training for children to ride them. They won¡¯t act wildly.¡± In his heart, he was a little curious as to why Miss Ye and her son were with Mr. Li. They seemed like a family of three on an outing.

    He could not help but stare at the three of them as he wanted to know the gossip.

    Unfortunately, he had undergone rigorous training to be able to work at such a high-status club. Even though he wanted to know the gossip, he could not leak guest information and was destined to be unable to share the gossip with anyone.

    The staff was very sad, really.

    He cheered himself up and continued to introduce the ponies. ¡°No matter which pony young master is interested in, you can ride it. You can also buy it as your exclusive horse and we will provide a special stable for it.¡±

    After hearing him, Li Lei told the child, ¡°If you like it, I can buy it for you as a gift.¡±

    ¡°Is it really ok?¡± The child was very happy.

    Li Lei smiled and nodded.

    The value of a horse was very high, especially the high-quality breed. They really burned money like paper.

    The staff was surprised. Considering Mr. Li¡¯s status, although buying a horse like this was not a big deal, the problem was that he was buying it for someone else¡¯s child. Someone else¡¯s!

    What an expensive gift.

    He snuck a nce at Miss Ye beside him and saw that Miss Ye did not refuse. Could it be that the rumor was true? Were they actually secretly back together all this while?!

    The staff wanted to cry. He really wanted the gossip.

    Shaohui happily said, ¡°That¡¯s awesome! I will have my own pony soon.¡±

    The small child paced back and forth, trying to pick a favorite horse. However, they were all too beautiful and it was a tough decision to make.

    At this moment, he suddenly saw a lonely pony standing in the corner of the stable.

    The pony¡¯s fur was dull and it looked very weak as if it could not stand still. When it saw that someone was looking at it, it cowardly took a step back and nervously swayed its tail.

    Shaohui walked over and looked at it for a while.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± He turned around to ask the staff. ¡°Is it sick?¡±

    The staff sighed. ¡°There was an ident during the breeding. The parents of this pony are a purebred horse and a hybrid horse. Ever since birth, it has been very weak and fell sick. The cost of treatment is very high and it¡¯s not a good variety of horse. After a few days, it will be euthanized.¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s face fell. He looked at the pony sympathetically. After a moment, he extended his little hand and touched the pony¡¯s nose. He whispered, ¡°You want to live, right?¡±

    He turned around and looked at the adults. ¡°I want this one.¡±

    The staff was very shocked. ¡°Young Master, how about you reconsider? It¡¯s only a sick pony.¡±

    The staff could not understand it. Horse owners at the Southern Mountain Racing Horse Club only owned famous breeds because they wanted their horses to be more outstanding than others. Only this child was unorthodox. The staff thought. <i>If the child really bought this horse to care for it, in the future, the VIP area of the Southern Mountain Racing Horse Club will suddenly have an ugly little monster among the group of gorgeous and splendid horses. It¡¯s really a disaster...</i>

    The staff was itching to say something and looked at Li Lei inquiringly. <i>Even though your child is ying around, you shouldn¡¯t y around with him! If people found out that this inferior horse was chosen by this child, those who do not know the situation will think that you were stingy with the present. You will be the embarrassed one!</i>

    However, Li Lei only smiled and looked at the child warmly. ¡°Do you really want it?¡±

    ¡°I really want it!¡± The child insisted.

    ¡°Ok.¡± Li Lei turned around and said to the staff, ¡°We will be buying this horse. Prepare the best stable and medical treatment for it. Put the fees on my ount.¡±

    The staff was speechless.

    He did not understand a rich man¡¯s world.

    After the small child received the horse as a gift, he was very happy and affectionately touched the pony¡¯s skinny body. ¡°From now on, you will be mypanion!¡±

    At first, the pony was a little shy, but after the childforted it, it quickly calmed down.

    Looking at her child and pony, Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. She remembered that in the past, she especially went all around the world topare bloodlines and consult experts to breed a perfect horse. She spent more than a year before she took a special ne back with Valiant Song from the UK.

    As for her child?

    He wanted a naturally inferior horse that was about to die. Was he really her biological son?

    She nced at Li Lei and remembered that his father also had the habit of taking care of helpless pets. She was in aplicated mood... Her child¡¯s father took in a leopard for god¡¯s sake!

    As if he saw through her thoughts, Li Lei smiled. ¡°This child is like you. Hairball was adopted by you.¡± That little stray cat was not of a prestigious breed.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

 Chapter 708 - Chaotic Horses

    <h4>Chapter 708: Chaotic Horses</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She gritted her teeth and restrained herself from being impulsive towards her child¡¯s father.

    While they waited for the staff toplete the formalities, she apanied the child to move the sick pony into the stables. The new stables were spacious, bright and filled with the fragrance of hay. The pony seemed to like it very much and could not believe that such a beautiful stable was prepared for it. After walking around for a while, it chose afortable position to rest.

    Shaohui stayed by its side and stroked its dry fur.

    Xia Ling frowned slightly and could not help feeling that such a weak pony could die at any time. If it really died, her child would be devastated. She said to the staff, ¡°Look for a doctor to check on it.¡±

    Since someone was paying the fees, the staff did not say anything about how the treatment was too expensive and immediately asked the best veterinarian in the club to treat the pony. The veterinarian carefully observed the pony, gave it a shot and said to them, ¡°It needs rest. You can¡¯t ride it in the near future, but you can take it out for walks.¡±

    Shaohui sensibly nodded.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. We should eat lunch now.¡±

    Shaohui waved at the pony. ¡°Goodbye. I wille back in the afternoon to see you.¡± He reluctantly bade it farewell.

    The family of three went on their way and slowly walked towards the area where the VIPs stayed. Many fine leaves were scattered on the road. The unique coolness of autumn really made people feel better.

    The small child started to sing a song out of tune.

    Li Lei was also very happy and sang with the child.

    Xia Ling felt thoroughly unwell. They were really father and son, even their singing voices were almost the same. She couldn¡¯t help but imagine how Wei Shaoyin, who had OCD, would react if he heard them. He would definitely lock them in the studio for 10,000 years until their notes were corrected and matched the score.

    ¡°Sing with us, mom.¡± Shaohui was still not satisfied and pulled Xia Ling¡¯s hand.

    Xia Ling was a little arrogant. ¡°No. You two sing too badly.¡±

    Li Lei smiled proudly. ¡°The child resembles me.¡± Although Shaohui¡¯s physical appearance resembled Xia Ling more, his personality and talents were more like Li Lei¡¯s. This made him very proud and treasure his son even more.

    However, Xia Ling was speechless. How was singing off-key something to be proud of?

    ¡°Shameless.¡± She chided.

    Li Lei was not affected at all. ¡°It¡¯s great that he¡¯s like me. When he grows up, he will be handsome and good-mannered.¡±

    Xia Ling slightly raised the corner of her lips. Yes, he was her warm sunshine and their child would also be a small sun. Her world was bright because of them.

    Li Lei snuck a nce at her smile. He slowly approached her and gently held her hand.

    Xia Ling¡¯s originally light feelings suddenly stiffened. She was not used to this and struggled a little. However, Li Lei did not let her go and she let him hold her hand, although ufortably.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°I love you.¡±

    She did not expect him to say this sort of thing in front of her child. Her face was slightly heated and she turned away awkwardly. However, the child looked ignorant and continued to skip and sing an off-pitch song.

    Green hills and blue waters.

    The staff member who had finalized the paperwork for the pony looked at them from afar in a forest. Seeing them this way, he shook his head and said to himself, ¡°They¡¯re really like a family.¡±

    The three of them strolled back to their amodation and had a hearty lunch.

    After the meal, Xia Ling went back to her room to take a nap while Li Lei sat beside her bed to apany her.

    Shaohui felt very energetic and could not sit still, so he left his parents and went out to y by himself.

    He missed the pony, so he ran back to the stables to see it. He realized that its condition was much better, probably because it received a shot. Its initially lifeless eyes had more color. When it saw the child, it bowed its head affectionately and licked the child¡¯s hand.

    Horses understood humans. Even the most inferior horse like it understood who to be grateful towards.

    When he saw that it was much more lively, Shaohui was very happy and said, ¡°How about I bring you out to y?¡± As he spoke, he raised his chubby and small hands. He tiptoped to untie the reins and took the pony out.

    The afternoon sun was shining, and the child and pony walked on the green grass near the forest.

    As the child walked, he spoke to the pony. ¡°Pony, I¡¯m very happy today. After seeing my dad and mom so happy together, I really hope that it can be like this forever...¡±

    He spoke for a long time and the pony tilted its head slightly as if it understood.

    The child skipped on the grass.

    Suddenly, a herd of horses rushed out from the woods not far away.

    Riding them were a few young children. They were very noisy as they approached Shaohui.

    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s someone!¡± A child eximed. When he saw Shaohui and his pony, he quickly tried to pull his horse¡¯s reins to make a sudden break.

    Their speed was very fast. At that moment, the whole group of horses were frightened and became confused.

    A runaway pony charged towards Shaohui and the boy riding it was ashen with fear. He screamed, ¡°Move away!¡±

    Their screams merged into one sound.

    At this time, Shaohui finally turned around and saw the chaotic mess of horses.

    He saw that the runaway horse was about to charge at him and, although it was not a big horse, he knew that the horse¡¯s momentum should not be taken lightly. If he were hit, he might die!

    At the crucial moment, Shaohui¡¯s pony did its best to push him a few steps away. Shaohui stumbled and fell on to the ground. When he looked up, he saw that the other party¡¯s horse had knocked his weak pony to the ground with a powerful impact!

    ¡°Pony!¡± Shaohui panicked and shouted. He stood up from the ground, ignored the dirt on himself and ran towards his pony.

    Suddenly, there was a strong pull on the back cor of his clothes.

    Shaohui struggled a little and turned back to re at the person who stopped him. ¡°I want to see my pony!¡±

    The person who was grabbing his clothes was arge child. He sneered. ¡°Do you want to die?! Can¡¯t you see that it¡¯s a mess there?¡± As they talked, another frightened horse charged towards them.

    The older child reacted quickly and pulled Shaohui a few steps away to evade that horse.

    The child on the horse was screaming, and many other children fell down from their horses. The scene was really chaotic.

    The older child took Shaohui to a safe zone under a tree and went to save the children.

    Shaohui was not willing to stay in the safe zone. Without thinking, he rushed back into the chaotic scene to save his pony. His pony was hit by a crazy horse because it wanted to protect him. How could he leave him behind with the out-of-control horses to die?! In such a chaotic situation, it would be helpless after any horse collided with it!

 Chapter 709 - I Can Give You Money

    <h4>Chapter 709: I Can Give You Money</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He dangerously tried to avoid the frightened horses and arrived at the pony¡¯s side.

    The pony was wounded and lying on the ground. It looked at his little master with wet eyes and snorted a few times. It wanted to tell its master to quickly leave. It was so dangerous here. Staying a second longer could endanger his life.

    However, Shaohui refused to leave. He tried to drag his pony helplessly but could not move it an inch. Shaohui was so anxious that he was about to cry. What should he do? He did not want his pony to die. He stood in front of the pony and tried to wave his arms frantically to chase the ponies that were charging towards him away.

    The way the child pranced around was ridiculously funny.

    However, tears welled up in the horse¡¯s eyes as he looked at the child.

    After a long time, the frightened horses started to calm down. There was a mess on the grasnds, with a few injured children and lifeless horses lying on the ground. A few remaining horses ran away while some remained quietly beside their owners.

    Only then was Shaohui relieved. He knelt beside his pony and sobbed. ¡°Pony, you have to stay strong. I¡¯m going to find a doctor to save you immediately.¡±

    He did not have a phone, so he looked around and saw that the older child who brought him to safety was on the phone. He ran over and said to the older child, ¡°Brother, please lend me your phone. I have an emergency.¡±

    The older child nced at him and said curly, ¡°Everyone here has an emergency now.¡± After saying that his cell phone started ringing again, so he quickly answered it. ¡°Yes, near the small forest in Southern Mountain. Including me, there are seven children. Most of us are injured. Furthermore, ask a veterinarian toe. The horses are quite badly hurt.¡± The older child seemed ustomed to giving orders and his voice was resolute.

    Shaohui was slightly relieved that this older child called for a veterinarian.

    He stared at the older child as he continued the call. ¡°Lele fell from the horse and I think he has a fracture because he can¡¯t climb up. Feiyu is unconscious, Xiao Murong is vomiting a little blood, Ahqiang and Lanwei are injured somewhere...¡± The older child spoke quickly. The person on the phone seemed to give him some feedback. He nced at Shaohui and then said, ¡°Yes, an idiot blocked the road. We were rushing out of the woods and didn¡¯t see him. The horses were shocked, that¡¯s why they were injured.¡±

    He said a few more sentences and hung up the phone.

    He lowered his head and looked at the little idiot with tears streaming down his face. ¡°You, take off your clothes and go over there to press against that child¡¯s wounds. His bleeding isn¡¯t stopping.¡±

    Shaohui said to his face, ¡°Lend me your phone first.¡±

    The child was very hot-tempered. Why was this little idiot still bargaining with him at such a time? Did he know that lives were at stake?! ¡°Quickly go press on his wounds!¡± He fiercelymanded Shaohui.

    Shaohui bit his lip and no longer said anything. He ran back to his pony¡¯s side, took off his clothes and pressed on the pony¡¯s wounds.

    The older child was stunned. This idiot... was really brainless! How much was his inferior pony even worth? Was it more valuable than human life?! If something happened to those children who fell on the ground, this little idiot would not be able topensate them with his entire family¡¯s fortune!

    ¡°Pony, you must hold on.¡± Shaohui mumbled. It was not that he was being heartless and unwilling to help that child whose bleeding did not stop. Rather, after his experience living in the mountains with his uncle, he knew that that child was not in any life-threatening danger and could press on his wound himself.

    However, as for his pony?

    If he did not care about it, no one would.

    He ignored the older child¡¯s anger and disdain and continued to care for his pony.

    The medical team arrived soon and rescued the children. The children who could ride horses in this club were all from rich families, and this collision was a huge deal to them.

    The veterinarian and parents of the children also arrived very quickly.

    A parentined. ¡°What the hell is going on? I heard that a small bastard blocked the way and frightened the horses. Where is this small bastard?!¡±

    A few of the children with less serious injuries looked at Shaohui.

    The parent was shocked. He realized that the child was covered in dirt and looked extremely filthy. He could not help but ask the person who apanied him, ¡°Whose child is this?¡±

    His apanying person shook his head. ¡°General Manager Zhou, this child is not with Young Master Du. We¡¯ve never seen him before.¡± On this day, a few sons and daughters of the Du Family were gathered here to y in the mountains. As they were very young, many adults of the family followed them here.

    However, when they saw this child, it was obvious that he was an outsider.

    The crowd started whispering. Where exactly did this childe from?

    All sorts of eyes were looking at Shaohui, but he did not have the time to pay attention to them. He minded his own business, ran to the veterinarian and pulled on his sleeve. ¡°Uncle, quicklye over to look at my pony. It looks like it¡¯s going to die.¡±

    As he spoke, he shed tears.

    The veterinarian followed the child and saw that the pony that fell to the ground was an inferior mixed blood among a group of injured purebreds.

    General Manager Zhou sneered.

    Initially, he had some misgivings and feared that this unknown child was from some esteemed family. However, he was relieved by what he saw. This child was riding such a lousy horse, how could he be from a good family? He was probably from a third-grade family that could only visit the club asionally after a Herculean effort.

    He strode in front, pulled the veterinarian away and berated. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saving the other purebred horses but wasting your time here with this inferior horse? If the purebred horses aren¡¯t saved in time, will you be able to bear the price?¡±

    Fearful, the veterinarian realized this point.

    There were a few veterinarians in the Southern Mountain club, and this one was not the veterinarian that treated this pony in the morning, so he did not know that Li Lei bought the horse for this child. Like General Manager Zhou, he subconsciously thought that this child was very poor and not from a rich and powerful family. Thus, he was not too concerned about him.

    He apologized to the child. ¡°I will check on the other horses first, so please wait.¡±

    He turned around and left.

    Shaohui was so angry that tears streamed down his face. That was why he wanted to borrow the older child¡¯s cell phone just now. Because he knew that the veterinarian might not be willing to save his pony first in this mess. He already tried his best. While all the other older children were focused on treating the humans, he was the first one to get hold of the vet to ask him to check on his pony. Unexpectedly, he still failed.

    He raised his face and pleaded. ¡°My pony is the most seriously injured. Please look at it first. I can give you money, a lot of money.¡±

 Chapter 710 - Reinforcement

    <h4>Chapter 710: Reinforcement</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The corner of the veterinarian¡¯s lips twitched. A lot of money?

    He seriously doubted the child¡¯s concept of what a lot of money was. After seeing how inferior his pony was, he was afraid that this child did not have much money. Even if he tried to gather all his money, it would still be a ridiculous joke.

    The veterinarian waszy to care about this child¡¯s small fortune and did not want to offend General Manager Zhou, so he turned around to treat the other horses.

    Shaohui was angry and anxious, but General Manager Zhou was still gloating over his misfortune. ¡°Little brat, you¡¯ve injured my son, so why are you still caring about that pony? Quickly apologize to my son or I¡¯ll call someone over to beat that damned pony to death!¡±

    Suddenly, Shaohui looked up at him without saying a word as if he wanted to remember his appearance in his heart.

    General Manager Zhou shuddered after the child looked at him. What was going on? This child seemed more terrifying than most adults! This must be an illusion. Being General Manager for more than twenty years, what sort of turbulent times had he not experienced? How could he be scared by a child¡¯s re?

    General Manager Zhou tried his best to suppress the ufortable feeling and sternly reprimanded the child. ¡°What are you looking at?! Be careful or I¡¯ll dig your eyes out!¡±

    At the side, General Manager Zhou¡¯s secretary was amused. ¡°This little brat is so insensible. He¡¯s not worthy of you stooping to his level. After I¡¯ve checked who his parents are, I will get his parents to kneel and kowtow in front of your family¡¯s young master as payback.¡±

    General Manager Zhou thought about it and felt that this idea was not bad, so he nodded in satisfaction.

    The surrounding entourage tried to tter General Manager Zhou and scoffed at Shaohui.

    However, Shaohui fell silent. He looked around and saw that older child who used his phone to call for help. Thus, he plucked up his chubby feet and ran towards him.

    ¡°Does he know Young Master Du Zheng?¡± General Manager Zhou¡¯s secretary was shocked.

    A few adults looked at one another and felt that the situation was a little unsatisfactory. If the child really had a rtionship with the young master of the Du Family, it would disadvantageous for them to scoff at him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± General Manager Zhou said. Besides, his son was not severely hurt and was already properly bandaged by the medical personnel. He had a lot of time to deal with Shaohui¡¯s problems.

    The group of people followed.

    They saw Shaohui stop in front of Du Zheng. He said, ¡°Lend me your phone.¡±

    Du Zheng was currently telling the story of the incident to an adult. He lowered his head. When he saw the child, he was a little impatient. ¡°Why are you here again, idiot? Go y somewhere else.¡±

    The adults who followed him were relieved. It seemed that this child only wanted to take advantage of young master Du Zheng. General Manager Zhouughed. ¡°Little bastard, you have to be aware of your status when dealing with things. If you¡¯re poor and pathetic, don¡¯t try to act high and mighty. Hahahaha.¡±

    The other people who followed himughed as well.

    Shaohui ignored him and emphasized every word to Du Zheng. ¡°Lend me your phone and I will owe you a favor. If you don¡¯t lend me your phone and my pony dies because its treatment was dyed, none of you will have good days in the future.¡± He rarely threatened others. No, in fact, this was the first time he was threatening someone. Now, he naturally exuded an unquestionable aura. Calm, firm, graceful, and a little sinister.

    Du Zheng was taken aback. Which family did this child belong to? Why was he raised like that?

    He grew up in a wealthy circle and thought he was among the greatest out of the wealthy people, but he was not as threatening as Shaohui at his age.

    This child...

    Was not simple.

    Although Du Zheng was young, he was not as superficial as General Manager Zhou who only knew how to judge people by their appearances. He took the opportunity and gave his phone to the child. ¡°Little idiot, you owe me two favors.¡±

    Borrowing his phone was one favor. Leading the little idiot to safety during the chaos was another favor. The Du Family had always been capitalists and liked to maximize their resources.

    However, Shaohui was not as calctive. He took the phone and directly dialed Li Lei¡¯s number.

    ¡°Uncle Li, quicklye over.¡± The child anxiously said. ¡°My pony was knocked down by another horse and is dying on the ground. Quickly bring a veterinarian over to save my pony!¡± He knew that at this time, it was better to call his father than his stupid mother. In front of outsiders, he couldn¡¯t call Li Lei dad, so he called him uncle like he did in the past.

    The surname ¡°Li¡± was very rare, so the crowd did not think of Li Lei at once.

    ¡°Uncle Li? What Uncle Li?¡± General Manager Zhou frowned and asked his secretary.

    The secretary shook his head. There was no rich family in the city which had the surname of ¡°Li.¡± With this rified, the adults were very relieved. Sure enough, this was the child of a poor family.

    ¡°Young Master Du.¡± General Manager Zhou said a little tteringly, ¡°You don¡¯t have to care about this bastard and lend him your phone. What if he¡¯s full of germs? He might dirty your phone. How about I buy a new phone for you tomorrow. I assure you that it won¡¯t be any less than the one you¡¯re using now.¡±

    Although Du Zheng was not very old, he was the most outstanding boy in the next generation of the eminent Du Family. He was taken care of by his father Du Yunhong and protected by his uncle Du Yunfeng. He was the pride of the family and countless people pursued him.

    Du Zheng did notment. Instead, he looked at General Manager Zhou again after he said ¡°bastard.¡±

    He had very good hearing and was the closest to Shaohui, so he already heard clearly that he was calling someone in the Li Family. This surname was very rare and coincidentally, it was a family that was even more powerful than the Du Family.

    If he had any rtions with the Li Family, it was worth it to get favors from him.

    On the other hand, General Manager Zhou was still unafraid of death. ¡°Little bastard, do you think I won¡¯t dare to deal with you just because you asked your family toe out? Let me tell you, even if the world falls apart today, they will kowtow to my son! You will pay him back ten times the injury you caused him!¡±

    ¡°Who wants me to kowtow?¡± Suddenly, azy voice was heard.

    General Manager Zhou was spluttering with rage. ¡°It¡¯s me who wants you to kowtow for your son. What¡¯s wrong, lowly dog? Unwilling to submit?¡± As he spoke, he turned around. Suddenly, it was as if someone choked him and he stopped cursing abruptly.

    Under the sun, a handsome man stood against the wind with a sharp knife scar on his cheek which caused him to look somewhat cruel when heughed. ¡°Lowly dog? This title is quite fresh.¡±

    ¡°Li... Young Master Li!¡± Everyone was stunned.

    Oh god, were they mistaken? How could Li Lei appear here? What did he just say? ¡°This title is quite fresh¡±?! Could it be that he was this dirty child¡¯s ¡°uncle¡±?!

 Chapter 711 - Give You a Warning

    <h4>Chapter 711: Give You a Warning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    General Manager Zhou was so scared that he broke out in cold sweat. ¡°Young Master Li, do you recognize this child?¡±

    Li Lei smiled meaningfully. ¡°Not only do I know him, but I¡¯m also really familiar with him. Oh yes, I forgot to introduce you to him. This is Ye Shaohui, and his guardian is Ye Xingling.¡±

    This time, not only General Manager Zhou, the other adults who scoffed at Shaohui broke out in cold sweat. They were not afraid of Ye Xingling but her rumored rtionship with Li Lei. Although the entertainment industry was always filled with half-truths, there was no smoke without fire. They would not believe that there was nothing between her and Li Lei.

    Offending the child of Young Master¡¯s beloved woman...

    Although their rtionship wasplicated, it was still frightening.

    General Manager Zhou anxiously exined. ¡°Young master Li, I¡¯m only joking with this child. Don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Joking?¡± Li Lei smiled faintly. Under the sun, the sharp knife scar on his cheek was horrifying. ¡°How about I joke with you too? Kneel down in front of this child and kowtow three times to acknowledge your mistake.¡±

    General Manager Zhou looked awkwardly at him. He was a prideful man, and wanting him to kowtow in front of this small child was as awful as taking away his life. He hesitated. ¡°This, Young Master Li... How about you don¡¯t make things difficult for me...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make this difficult for you?¡± Li Lei continued to smile faintly. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve never been someone who made things difficult for others. Just forget about the kowtowing.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Young Master Li. Thank you, Young master Li.¡± General Manager Zhou wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and drew a long breath. It was so easy to convince Yong Master Li. Pfft! He thought that the little bastard had a high position in Young Master Li¡¯s heart, but it was not very impressive. It seemed that Young Master Li was not very serious about Ye Xingling.

    With this thought, he became more rxed.

    Li Lei ignored him and lowered his head to look at Shaohui. ¡°Shaohui, are you ok?¡± His was very gentle, which was a huge contrast to the vicious way he spoke just now.

    As soon as he arrived, Shaohui was looking everywhere for the veterinarian he was supposed to bring along to save his pony. However, he could not find anyone at all. Just as he was about to turn around again, he realized that the veterinarian who refused to treat his pony just now was kneeling beside his pony, fully focused on treating it.

    ¡°Did Uncle Li call that veterinarian to treat my pony?¡± The child was very smart and guessed it at once.

    Li Lei smiled and touched his forehead. ¡°Silly child, looking for another veterinarian wouldn¡¯t be as fast as asking the veterinarian who is already here.¡± He put down the phone and asked about the situation immediately. Once he realized that it was a big ident and there was a veterinarian present, he directly asked to use him.

    As for the survival of the other horses?

    As a person who had been on the battlefield for so many years, he had long lost hispassionate heart. In a dire situation with ack of resources, he would give priority to those he loved.

    Shaohui, who was his son, understood what he meant very quickly.

    ¡°Thank you, Uncle Li.¡± He said.

    After that, he immediately ran towards his pony to look after it.

    Li Lei was left alone to face General Manager Zhou, Du Zheng, and the others.

    Li Lei asked Du Zheng, ¡°What exactly happened?¡± He had been friends with the Du Family for a long time and knew that Du Zheng was a clear-headed child.

    Du Zheng said, ¡°I took Ahqiang and the others for horseback riding. The weather and road conditions were good, so we were riding the horses at a faster speed than usual. Unexpectedly, as we were rushing out of the forest, we saw that small idi... Shaohui. Lan¡¯s horse was frightened, then all of the horses behind became scared. Ahqiang¡¯s horse lost control and started to charge at Shaohui. This child is so silly...¡±

    Du Zheng paused for a moment and tried to mend his statement. ¡°I mean that Ahqiang is silly.¡± In reality, he said that Shaohui was silly, but in front of Li Lei, he sang a different tune.

    General Manager Zhou was speechless.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    ¡°Continue.¡± Li Lei looked at Du Zheng.

    Thus, Du Zheng continued the story. ¡°Shaohui did not hide in time. It was his pony that saved him as it pushed him aside at that crucial moment and became injured.¡±

    Li Lei narrowed his eyes. ¡°Ahqiang? Whose child is he?¡±

    General Manager Zhou looked at General Manager Zhou.

    General Manager Zhou, whose mood had just improved slightly, started to sweat heavily again. ¡°It¡¯s mine. It¡¯s my worthless son. Young Master Li, please forgive us. On the behalf that this child is young, don¡¯t be calctive with him, ok?¡±

    Li Lei said lightly, ¡°I don¡¯t need to be calctive.¡±

    After that, he walked towards Shaohui and his pony.

    Looking at his back view, General Manager Zhou quickly wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. His secretary patted him on the chest and said, ¡°Oh my god, I almost died of fright. Luckily, Young Master Li is easy to speak with and didn¡¯t make things difficult for you.¡±

    ¡°It seems that my old face has some status in this world.¡± Although General Manager Zhou was shocked, he was quite smug. After offending Young Master Li, he was still able to get out unscathed. He was probably the only one to do that in the world.

    The apanying staff also agreed and tried to tter General Manager Zhou.

    At the side, Du Zheng looked pitifully at General Manager Zhou. ¡°On the behalf of Ahqiang, Uncle Zhou, don¡¯t me me for not warning you. Li Lei might seem agreeable on the surface, but the previous person who offended him and was understated by him... That family is still living in the streets, right?¡±

    ¡°What... what?!¡± General Manager Zhou was baffled.

    Du Zheng said, ¡°My Third Uncle said before that Uncle Li only doesn¡¯t bother to talk nonsense with irrelevant people when he¡¯s truly angry. That¡¯s because there¡¯s nothing to say to a family that¡¯s about to be destroyed.¡±

    General Manager Zhou started to shiver. ¡°It... can¡¯t be right?¡± His face was pale and he forced a smile. ¡°Young Master Du, you aren¡¯t joking with me right?¡±

    ¡°I will only say this. It¡¯s up to you to believe it or not.¡± Du Zheng said and left. He did not have the habit of cleaning up the mess of these lowly figures. He was already benevolent for warning him. As for whether he could save General Manager Zhou, it would depend on what General Manager Zhou did next.

    General Manager Zhou stood rooted in his spot. He was in a tough situation.

    Everyone looked nervously at one another. Just now, they praised General Manager Zhou because they wanted to curry favor with him. Unexpectedly, the tables turned very quickly. It turned out that Li Lei was not calctive but viciously calctive. That¡¯s why he was toozy to speak with General Manager Zhou.

    ¡°How could it be...¡± Remembering about the three kowtows, General Manager Zhou suddenly had a trace of hope in his heart. ¡°Young Master Du also said Young Master Li is toozy to talk nonsense when he is truly angry. However, how can he be truly angry when this child was adopted by another woman?¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡± At this time, his secretary was also convinced. ¡°He¡¯s also not his biological son, so how is it worth the effort? In my opinion, Young Master Li definitely doesn¡¯t want to care about this child. However, this child is his beloved Ye Xingling¡¯s adopted son, so he has no choice. Thus, he acted this way and let you off easily.¡±

 Chapter 712 - The Welcome Gift

    <h4>Chapter 712: The Wee Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    General Manager Zhou felt that what the secretary said made sense.

    He didn¡¯t believe that Li Lei would go through so much trouble for a child that he had no rtion to. If Li Lei really liked this child, he wouldn¡¯t be riding an inferior horse that was not purebred.

    With this thought, General Manager Zhou felt more at ease and pushed the incident to the back of his mind.

    At the other end, Li Lei apanied Shaohui as they watched the vet treat the little horse. The vet was trying his best but feeling extremely nervous.

    Hemented at his unluckiness. He had not thought much of the little child and was prepared to slight him. Who would have thought that this child was adopted by the Diva Ye Xingling and adored by Li Lei, the entertainment mogul?

    The vet was close to tears. So when the child had said that ¡°I will give you lots and lots of money¡±, he was not joking. He indeed had the ability to pay up. The vet felt that he had offended the child and lost the chance to be rich. It was a sad, sad case of lost opportunity.

    The n today was to treat this foal well in an attempt to rectify his mistakes.

    After toiling for a long time with sweat pouring down his face, he finally secured the foal¡¯s bones in a splint and applied some ointment on the injured area.

    After the staff members carried the little foal away on a stretcher, the vet politely said to the child, ¡°Young Master, your foal will be fine. As long as we take good care of him, there won¡¯t be any long-term effects.¡±

    There were tears in the child¡¯s eyes as he replied, ¡°You have to take good care of him.¡±

    The vet assured him several times over that he would take good care of the little foal before the child was willing to leave. However, he kept turning around anxiously even while walking away.

    Li Lei held onto Shaohui¡¯s hand and walked with him towards their amodation. Along the way, he listened as the child recounted the frightful situation that had panned out, his heart clenching in fear. Li Lei was upset that he hadn¡¯t been there at the time of the incident, such that he couldn¡¯t protect Shaohui. ¡°Why don¡¯t you learn some sparring techniques from daddy.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to protect yourself when you are in a bad situation.¡±

    The child nodded and said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Li Lei continued, ¡°Little Shaohui, you should be prepared. Daddy is going to teach you lots of things, and you might find it tough. But that¡¯s the only way that you can be powerful. When you grow up, you¡¯ll be able to protect yourself and the things that you consider to be most important.¡±

    Little Shaohui lifted his head contemtively. ¡°Like how daddy protected me and the little foal?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Yes. Because I¡¯m more powerful than Uncle Zhou, I was able to protect you. When you grow older, you also should strive to be the best and most powerful. In this world, only the most powerful men can protect the things that they want to protect. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why everyone is trying so hard to be more powerful?¡±

    ¡°There are many that want to be powerful, but very few actually can. You need to try hard.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± The child nodded resolutely.

    Li Lei patted Shaohui affectionately on the head, a sense of pride shing through his eyes. He felt appreciative to Xia Moyan at this moment, for having taught this child to be so sensible. He was unlike Li Rui, who knew nothing other than to indulge in the vices of life.

    ¡°Oh right.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Your mum doesn¡¯t know that there was an ident. When you return to the amodation, go take a shower to wash away the mud on your body. Don¡¯t let her worry.¡±

    Shaohui nodded in agreement and strode off to take a shower.

    In the room, Xia Ling was still taking a nap. Li Lei quietly leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. He couldn¡¯t resist lingering and giving her another peck. This time, Xia Ling woke up and opened her eyes.

    She saw Li Lei¡¯s face just inches from her own.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked in a blurry, half-asleep state.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t say anything but continued to kiss her.

    ¡°You rascal... ¡± Her voice waszy from her short nap and she reached out to push Li Lei away. However, Li Lei grabbed onto her wrist. ¡°Rascal...¡± She murmured again.

    He gave a lowugh. ¡°I¡¯m only a rascal when I¡¯m with you.¡±

    This guy was really pushing it.

    She red at him irritably, her cheeks ring out. She looked like Shaohui when he was angry. Li Lei couldn¡¯t resist reaching out to pinch her cheeks, and the softness of her skin made him not want to let go.

    Xia Ling felt taken advantage of and was contemting kicking Li Lei off the bed when she saw the bathroom door open. A dripping wet Shaohui walked out.

    ¡°Mummy,¡± Shaohui called out to her affectionately.

    ¡°Why did you take a shower at this time?¡± Xia Ling pushed Li Lei away hurriedly. She couldn¡¯t let her child see them in such apromising position. She pushed herself up into a sitting position.

    Shaohui said, ¡°I went out to y in the afternoon and got a little dirty.¡± His exnation was vague and skipped over the incident.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t press him further. She got up and walked out into the yard for some sun.

    Shaohui didn¡¯t intend to leave after the shenanigans in the morning, so he stayed in the yard to y with his mum. There was a small patch of forest behind the yard, with all kinds of fruits on the trees. After verifying with the staff members that the fruits were edible, Shaohui brought a basket over to pluck some fruits.

    After obtaining the fruits, he ran back to show them off to Xia Ling and Li Lei.

    Li Lei excitedly counted the fruits with Shaohui, whereas Xia Ling ate the fruits contentedly. Mmmm... they were yummy.

    ¡°Daddy, daddy, there are many more fruits in the little forest at the back, but they are too high. I can¡¯t reach them. Can you carry me up to get themter?¡± Shaohui happily told Li Lei.

    Li Leiughed and teased, ¡°You don¡¯t even know how to climb a tree?¡±

    Shaohui batted hisshes and whined adorably. ¡°I want daddy to carry me.¡±

    Li Lei bent over and picked him up. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go pick some fruits.¡± However, he caught sight of a man staring with his mouth agape at them.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li, you... ¡± That man pointed at him and the child in shock. ¡°What did the child just call you?!¡±

    The father-son pair exchanged a nce. Oh no, the cat was out of th bag.

    ¡°This is your Uncle Du Yunfeng.¡± Li Lei introduced to Shaohui and paused before continuing, ¡°Yunfeng, this is my Godson.¡±

    The man walking over was Du Yunfeng. This time, he brought his young nephew with him to the riding club. His nephew had told him that Li Lei was here after the incident in the morning, and Du Yunfeng thought that he shoulde over and say hi.

    This was when he caught sight of that shocking scene. This child was calling Li Lei daddy?!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the child that Ye Xingling adopted? Is it okay for you to treat him as your Godson?¡± Du Yunfeng didn¡¯t like Xia Ling and wanted to advise Li Lei to stay away from the child, but he saw Xia Ling sitting a short distance away eating fruits. He was quiet for a while and refrained from bad-mouthing the woman that his good friend loved there and then.

    Xia Ling lifted her head and saw Du Yunfeng as well. ¡°Remember to give a wee gift.¡± She muttered. ¡°He¡¯s also your nephew.¡±

    ¡°What?! My nephew?!¡± Du Yunfeng got agitated. ¡°He has absolutely no rtion to me! Don¡¯t try to be so chummy!¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t bother saying too much. Instead, he grabbed Du Yunfeng¡¯s wrist and pulled off the pricey wooden bracelet he had on, stuffing it into Shaohui¡¯s hands. ¡°Here, you can y with this. It¡¯s Du Yunfeng¡¯s wee gift. Call him Goduncle.¡±

 Chapter 713 - Let Me Off

    <h4>Chapter 713: Let Me Off</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Goduncle.¡± Little Shaohui called out obediently.

    Du Yunfeng was unhappy. What was this? Were they stealing from him? That wooden bracelet was worth a lot of money... how could he have lost it froming over here to have a chat with an old friend?! That wasn¡¯t right!

    He red at Shaohui and said, ¡°Who¡¯s your Goduncle?!¡±

    Little Shaohui¡¯s face fell into a pout.

    Li Lei responded unabashedly. ¡°You¡¯re Xiao Ling¡¯s Godbrother, so you are Shaohui¡¯s Goduncle, aren¡¯t you?¡± During the ¡°wife selection¡± ceremony several years back, Xiao Ling had entered the ceremony under the ruse of being Du Yunfeng¡¯s Godsister.

    Du Yunfeng¡¯s face turned ashen as he recalled that incident. He said, ¡°That was under forced circumstances. It¡¯s different from right now. It was in the past, and we can forget about this whole Godbrother business. I don¡¯t have a sister like her.¡±

    Xia Ling nced up at him from the little table filled with fruits.

    Du Yunfeng returned her steely gaze.

    Li Lei tried to resolve the matter. ¡°We¡¯ll just take it that you¡¯re Shaohui¡¯s Goduncle now.¡±

    Du Yunfeng frowned in irritation. ¡°Second Young Master Li, why aren¡¯t you as involved when ites to Li Rui? Why didn¡¯t you get your biological son to call me Goduncle, but rather get this child that you¡¯ve no rtion to be all chummy with me? Are you in your right mind?¡±

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t tell him that Li Rui had no blood rtion with him, and the fact that Shaohui was his biological son was an even bigger secret. He smiled as he helped Shaohui put on the wooden bead bracelet, saying, ¡°That¡¯s not for you to bother about. Just remember to treat Shaohui well. If anyone dares to mistreat him, you need to be his backer.¡±

    Du Yunfeng rolled his eyes. ¡°Do you think I am so free?¡±

    As they were bickering, Xia Ling finally finished eating a small pile of fruits and was elegantly wiping her hands clean before walking over. Under the watchful eyes of the two men, she removed the wooden bead bracelet from Shaohui¡¯s wrist and handed it back to Du Yunfeng.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s such a chore for Young Master Du, so be it.¡± Her voice was light and clear, and she lowered her head to speak to Shaohui. ¡°Be good, we won¡¯t call Uncle Du here Goduncle. When your real unclees along, I¡¯ll get him to give you something better.¡±

    Little Shaohui looked at the beaded bracelet and then up at his mum, before nodding obediently.

    Li Lei was caught in the middle. He was still bickering with his bro here and hisdy had decided to be all haughty now. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be like this.¡± He snatched the beaded bracelet from Du Yunfeng¡¯s hands again and stuffed it back into Shaohui¡¯s. ¡°The child is still young. It¡¯s always good to have another Goduncle taking care of him in case we are otherwise upied.¡±

    Xia Ling raised an eyebrow at him.

    Li Lei was afraid that she would say anything to decline and hurriedly told Shaohui. ¡°Quick, put on the bracelet.¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s big, round eyes looked from one adult to the next, before he slowly put the bracelet back onto his wrist. Lifting his head, he adorably said to Du Yunfeng, ¡°I owe Brother Du Zheng two favors. Now that I¡¯ve worn the bracelet that you¡¯ve given to me, I only owe him one now.¡±

    ¡°Hurhur, little rascal, there¡¯s something wrong with your counting here, don¡¯t you think?¡± Du Yunfengughed in exasperation. ¡°So you¡¯re doing me a favor by allowing me to give you a wee gift and be your Goduncle?¡±

    Little Shaohui blinked several times and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Du Yunfeng could barely look at Shaohui in the eye as he turned to Li Lei. ¡°Are you sure you want to be this little idiot¡¯s Godfather? At the rate he¡¯s offending people right now, in a few years his enemies will be tearing you apart.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression stiffened, but he tried to appear sincere as he said to Du Yunfeng, ¡°Believe me, being his Goduncle is definitely a good deal.¡± If Du Yunfeng knew who the real uncle of this child was, he would be crying and groveling at his feet right now!

    How many people wanted to get close to the Xia family? Some people just didn¡¯t know how fortunate they were.

    Xia Ling gave a wry smile as she heard the undertones of what Li Lei was saying.

    Protect Shaohui? That was all a ruse. He was worried that his bro, Du Yunfeng, would be a target for the Xia family after offending her and wanted to mediate for them.

    Xia Ling walked back to the bamboo chair in the yard and drank her tea.

    Du Yunfengined for a while but didn¡¯t want to put his bro in a tight position. Even though he didn¡¯t like Xia Ling, and didn¡¯t particrly like Shaohui either, there was no way he was getting out of epting this Godnephew.

    He followed Xia Ling and sat down for some tea as well.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Du Zheng?¡± Li Lei asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to speak to him properly at the riding field earlier. He¡¯s already grown so big... why didn¡¯t you bring him toe to see me earlier?¡±

    Du Yunfeng said, ¡°That rascal was just behind me earlier. Hasn¡¯t he arrived yet?¡±

    He looked around.

    At that moment, he heard somemotion from outside the yard. Before long, a group of boys walked over. Other than Du Zheng, there was General Manager Zhou and that child called Ah Qiang.

    Du Yunfeng frowned. ¡°Ah Zheng, why did you bring so many people here?¡±

    ¡°They came to find Uncle Li Lei.¡± Du Zheng said nonchntly. ¡°They said that they offended Uncle Li Lei unknowingly and are here to apologize.¡±

    As he spoke, the overweight General Manager Zhou had already walked in front of Li Lei, saying, ¡°Young Master Li, please forgive me. I was blind and didn¡¯t know better. Can you let the Zhou family off just this once?¡±

    Hearing this, Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued and she asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Du Yunfeng nced over at her in disdain. ¡°In the afternoon, Li Lei had given them a hard time for your son. Why? Didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. Afternoon? Wasn¡¯t that guy stealing kisses from her in the afternoon? ¡°What in the world happened?¡± She looked at Li Lei. ¡°Are you hiding something from me?¡±

    Li Lei red at Du Yunfeng for speaking out of turn. However, at this point, he had no choice but toe clean. ¡°General Manager Zhou here scolded Shaohui, so I made him bow and grovel to Shaohui. He refused, so I instructed Tan Ying to press down the Zhou family shares. In a few days, they¡¯ll probably be bankrupted.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    If she had remembered correctly, the Zhou family was quite a wealthy family in this city. Big Boss Li, was it really okay for you to bankrupt them just over a spat?

    General Manager Zhou was almost in tears. ¡°Young Master Li, I beg you to let us off. You can make me do anything, anything at all. Please.¡± He didn¡¯t expect that Li Lei would go to such extents for the child. Two hours ago, there was news from hispany that the stocks were crashing. He thought that it might have been just a coincidence, but after a series of negative rumors came to his attention, and severalrge transactions in the closing stages suddenly took a turn, he was forced to sit up and take notice.

    The Head of the Zhou Family was hopping mad and asking everyone who had offended the Li family. It was only then that General Manager Zhou realized the implications.

    Now, all he could do was to beg Li Lei to let them off.

 Chapter 714 - Knock Your Head Three Times Loudly

    <h4>Chapter 714: Knock Your Head Three Times Loudly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei nced at him. ¡°Now you¡¯re asking for mercy?¡±

    When he was bullying Shaohui earlier, why hadn¡¯t he bothered about Shaohui¡¯s cries for mercy? The child¡¯s request was simple, he only wanted them to save that little foal. However, General Manager Zhou had refused him. A light smile yed at the edge of Li Lei¡¯s lips, which looked somehow menacing under the sunlight. ¡°If you want me to let you off I can do that. But first, you and your son have to kneel and knock your heads three times on the ground loudly in front of Shaohui as an apology.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t kneel!¡± General Manager Zhou¡¯s son, the boy called Ah Qiang, shouted out angrily. Clearly, he had been spoiled by his family and was still unable to put aside his pride at this point. ¡°Why do I have to kneel down to that bastard?! He¡¯s only been adopted by a mere singer! Daddy, didn¡¯t you say that singers are all lowly, and are just meant to be toyed with? I don¡¯t have to give them any face! Why are we so scared of them?!¡±

    Du Yunfeng and Du Zheng breathed in deeply hearing his cries. This child was really spouting anything that came to mind.

    They nced over at Li Lei and saw that his expression had darkened as expected.

    Li Lei wanted to make things more difficult for this father-son pair, but suddenly, two chilly, slender fingers held onto his hand. It was Xia Ling pulling him back as she sported a light smile. She said to the Zhou family¡¯s father-son pair, ¡°Singers are all to be toyed with, you say?¡±

    Cold sweat broke out on General Manager Zhou¡¯s forehead. ¡°Miss Ye, Ah Qiang didn¡¯t mean that.¡±

    ¡°Then what did he mean?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s tone was emotionless. In fact, she was furious. Even though there were many in the entertainment circle that had indeed found backers as a road to fame, many of her colleagues were still toiling away at their trade properly. The words Ah Qiang spouted undermined all their efforts and was utterly disrespectful.

    General Manager Zhou carefully tried to exin. ¡°He¡¯s young and doesn¡¯t know what he is saying.¡±

    Initially, he hadn¡¯t been afraid of Xia Ling since she wasn¡¯t a business person, even though she was fairly loaded. The Phoenix Down Corporation that she ran for many years now merely broke even. However, seeing how casual she was with Young Master Li, any idiot could see that their rtionship was not that simple.

    She was Young Master Li¡¯s woman and couldn¡¯t be offended.

    General Manager Zhou tried to exin again. ¡°This child is clueless and spouted a bunch of nonsense. I¡¯ll definitely lecture himter on.¡± He turned and chided his son. ¡°Kneel down right now! Apologize to Miss Ye and Young Master Shaohui right this instance!¡±

    Zhou Qiang was still uncooperative. ¡°I won¡¯t!¡±

    General Manager Zhou couldn¡¯t afford to think too much as he aimed a kick at his own son, forcing him into a kneeling position. ¡°Apologize right now!¡± Even though his heart ached for his son, but this was nothingpared to the trouble he would face with the Zhou family¡¯s downfall. If the Zhou family was bankrupted, how would they be able to maintain their wealthy lifestyle?

    Zhou Qiang burst into tears. ¡°Daddy is a bad person! Daddy is a big bully! All of you are big bullies!¡±

    His cries were screeching, forcing Xia Ling to take a few steps back and cover her ears.

    Seeing this, Li Lei pulled Xia Ling into his arms and covered her ears with his hands. Du Yunfeng shook his head. Did these two have to be so lovey-dovey right now?

    His bro seemed to bepletely smitten by this woman.

    As a swinging bachelor, he could only reach over and cover Du Zheng¡¯s ears, while chiding General Manager Zhou. ¡°Are you guys here to apologize or to mourn? Get lost right now. Any more of this screaming and it won¡¯t be so simple as mere bankruptcy!¡±

    General Manager Zhou shuddered. Du Yunfeng¡¯s words insinuated that they were prepared to force the Zhou family to their graves! He turned to look at Li Lei and Xia Ling and, seeing that they did not refute Du Yunfeng¡¯s statement, but instead were ring at them in disdain, he knew that they were in deep trouble. Hurriedly, he turned to beg Shaohui. ¡°Young Master Shaohui, can you bear to see us bankrupted and sleeping in the streets? Please help us and ask Miss Ye and Master Li to let us off!¡±

    Shaohui might be innocent and adorable, but he wasn¡¯t to be messed with. He responded, ¡°You guys almost killed my little foal, so why didn¡¯t you think that he was a living creature as well? Uncle Li was just asking you guys to apologize to me and you refused, so why should I let you off?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry.¡± General Manager Zhou cried out in desperation. ¡°I was wrong, I really was wrong!¡±

    Shaohui didn¡¯t move. ¡°You haven¡¯t knelt and bowed down to me yet.¡±

    General Manager Zhou was stunned. He hadn¡¯t expected this little child to be so difficult and was momentarily embarrassed. It was one thing to get his son to kneel down to this child, but for him to get down on his knees too? That was a humiliation for him.

    He tried to worm his way out of the situation. ¡°Young Master, you¡¯re so young right now... I shouldn¡¯t be kneeling down to you, that¡¯s bad karma for you. I¡¯ll get my son to bow down a few more times to you, okay?¡±

    Shaohui could not resist but don an expression of disdain.

    What kind of father was this General Manager Zhou? He would sacrifice his own son just so he didn¡¯t have to kneel down himself?

    Shaohui nced over at Zhou Qiang, who was still kicking up a fuss, and felt a sense of pity for him.

    The righteous little Shaohui resolved to help Zhou Qiang. ¡°A man should take responsibility for his own actions.¡± Shaohui¡¯s adorable voice piped up again. ¡°You won¡¯t make me incur that much karma, just hurry up and kneel already.¡± Uncle said that he had the blood of the Xia Family Phoenix, and hence, he was extremely regal. Other than his own blood rtives, he was in a position to receive the respects of anyone.

    General Manager Zhou was pushed into a corner. He was about to beg to be let off again but saw Shaohui¡¯s expression bing impatient. ¡°Don¡¯t disturb my sister any longer. I¡¯m going to count to three. If you¡¯re still not going to kneel, then don¡¯t bother anymore.¡±

    The Du family uncle-nephew pair watched this scene unfold and could only marvel at the threat that this little child was issuing. They had thought that little Shaohui was just a cute, clueless child. However, now they could see that he was much more than that. They now could understand a bit better why Li Lei doted on him so much. This little Shaohui was many times more powerful than Li Rui.

    General Manager Zhou looked around at the cold faces of the group standing around, knowing that he was defeated.

    Little Shaohui had already started his count. ¡°Three... two....¡±

    With a loud ¡°thump¡±, General Manager Zhou fell down to his knees. ¡°I¡¯m an idiot and didn¡¯t know any better! Young Master Shaohui, I apologize to you right now. Please show us mercy and let the Zhou Family go just this once!¡± As he spoke, he knocked his head hard on the ground. When he looked up again, there was a huge abrasion on his forehead.

    Shaohui¡¯s expression changed to one of satisfaction.

    Li Lei was also satisfied. This child had his own views and methods even at such a young age. Even though getting General Manager Zhou toe here was from the pressure Li Lei was putting on his business, Shaohui was able to make him physically apologize using his own abilities

 Chapter 715 - I Know Youâ€™re Single with One Look

    <h4>Chapter 715: I Know You¡¯re Single with One Look</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    This child would have a bright future ahead of him.

    Once that thought was over, he saw Shaohui smile majestically. ¡°Ok, you can get up and tell your son toe over to kowtow and apologize too.¡± This little boy was calctive. When Zhou Qiang came in, the first thing he did was to insult his mother so he would never let him go.

    General Manager Zhou already kowtowed and had a stomach full of anger. He did not dare to re up at Shaohui, so he could only take it out on his son. ¡°Little bastard, you better get your ass here!¡± He picked up his bawling son and forced him to kneel in front of Shaohui. After that, he pressed the child¡¯s head down to kowtow three times in front of Shaohui before letting go.

    The child was in pain and furious. He sobbed and cursed, ¡°Little bastard, rotten b*tch, go to hell!¡±

    Shaohui said, ¡°Who are you scolding?¡±

    General Manager Zhou angrily kicked his son. ¡°Shut up, little bastard! Do you believe that I¡¯ll beat you to death?!¡± He viciously punched his own child. On one hand, he wanted to appease Shaohui and others. On the other hand, he wanted to vent his anger on his child. He punched him really hard. Soon, the child was beaten up so badly that he did not dare to scold anyone anymore and even tried to suppress his cries.

    Only then did General Manager Zhou look at Shaohui again and smiled with ttery. ¡°Young Master, are you satisfied now?¡±

    Shaohui turned around to look at his parents.

    Xia Ling thought that they were noisy. ¡°Quickly get lost.¡±

    Seeing her attitude, Li Lei said, ¡°Leave.¡±

    ¡°What about the Zhou Family?¡± General Manager Zhou thickened his skin and asked carefully.

    Li Lei sneered, and General Manager Zhou did not dare to ask any more questions. He left with his child hastily.

    Xia Ling left Li Lei¡¯s arms and sat on the chair again. ¡°Why did you cause so much trouble when I was taking an afternoon nap?¡±

    Shaohui smiled innocently.

    Li Lei did not want her to worry so he changed the subject. ¡°Let me introduce you. Yunfeng¡¯s child is called Du Zheng. He is the only son of the head of the Du Family Corporation.¡±

    Seeing that Li Lei was talking about him, Du Zheng respectfully went up and called Aunt Ye.

    With his chubby face, Shaohui corrected him. ¡°It¡¯s sister.¡±

    Du Zheng looked at this cute little boy in confusion.

    Shaohui seriously exined to him. ¡°You see, I call her sister. If you call her aunt, doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯re a generation after me?¡±

    Du Zheng¡¯s mouth slightly twitched. A younger generation than this five-year-old kid? Of course, he could not stand it. Thus, he immediately took the opportunity and corrected himself. ¡°Sister Ye.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. Her own son still understood women the best and knew that all women did not like being addressed as someone old. Unlike his stupid father... What aunt? No wonder he was unsessful in chasing her!

    She was in a good mood, so she stroked Shaohui¡¯s head and nced at Li Lei.

    Li Lei was at a loss for words. Was this really his son? How could he embarrass his father?

    On the other hand, Du Yunfeng was also confused. ¡°What sort of messy rtionship is this? Second Young Master Li, Shaohui calls you uncle while he calls Ye Xingling sister. I¡¯m your brother and also Ye Xingling¡¯s brother...¡± He was deeply dumbfounded. Couldn¡¯t this child just call Ye Xingling aunt?

    Shaohui looked at Du Yunfeng calmly. ¡°Goduncle.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Du Yunfeng felt worried about this child¡¯s IQ.

    Shaohui said, ¡°You aren¡¯t married and don¡¯t have a girlfriend, right?¡±

    Du Yunfeng felt strange. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Shaohui looked smugly at him.

    Du Yunfeng started sweating profusely.

    Beside him, Li Lei reacted andughed out loud. ¡°Hahahaha... Yunfeng, oh Yunfeng. Serves you right for being single. Even my Shaohui¡¯s ability to chase after girls is better than yours! Hahahaha... Hrious!¡±

    Du Yunfeng¡¯s face darkened and he retaliated. ¡°What about you? Have you managed to sessfully chase after a girl?¡±

    In the small courtyard, Li Lei¡¯sughter came to an abrupt end.

    Xia Ling, who was calmly drinking tea at the side, was toozy to look at those two clowns. She seriously wondered if her child would be stupid as he had such a father and an unreliable uncle.

    Beside her, Shaohui lifted his head and asked Du Zheng, ¡°Brother Du Zheng, how are the brothers and sisters who were hurt in the ident? Are they ok?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°Their lives are not in danger, but some are more seriously hurt so they have to be hospitalized. The rest was discharged.¡± He paused and then added, ¡°They did not look at the road when they were horseback riding. It¡¯s not your fault.¡±

    Although he scolded Shaohui for being an idiot, Du Zheng knew very well that this situation could not be med on Shaohui. The children were riding the horses too quickly and did not look around carefully.

    However, Shaohui said, ¡°Things always start because of me. Brother Du Zheng, take me to see the others. I will bring them some delicious berries to eat.¡±

    However, Du Zheng started to look at this child differently. This time, so many children from rich families were injured. If he were someone ordinary, he would hurriedly clear his name. But what about Shaohui? Not only did he not escape, but he also tried to bear some of the responsibility.

    This was... the style of a leader!

    If Phoenix Down Corporation did not close down, and when this child was older and took over the business, he would definitely be a force to be reckoned with. Du Zheng liked strong people and making friends with them before they fully developed. Immediately, he said, ¡°Ok. I will take you there.¡±

    He bade farewell to Li Lei and the others and took Shaohui to the hospital.

    Since Shaohui was gone, Xia Ling was bored so she strolled outside. Li Lei, who was currently chatting with Du Yunfeng, saw it and quickly stopped her. ¡°Xiao Ling, where are you going?¡±

    ¡°To ride a horse.¡± Xia Ling said. She had not gone horseback riding for a long time. This time, although she did not see Valiant Song in the Southern Mountain Club, she saw many majestic horses galloping and started to miss riding a horse.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± He left Du Yunfeng behind and caught up with her.

    Du Yunfeng was shocked. ¡°Huh? I said...¡±

    How could this person ditch his friend like that for a girl? Could he still be considered a good friend?!

    On the other hand, Li Lei couldn¡¯t hear Du Yunfeng¡¯s innermostints and walked beside Xia Ling in satisfaction. ¡°None of the horses in the club canpare to Thunder. How about you ride my horse?¡±

    Looking at the warm autumn sun, Xia Ling faintly said, ¡°Him? There¡¯s only one horse.¡±

    ¡°We can ride it together.¡± Li Lei smiled.

    Xia Ling looked at him sideways. This person was really shameless.

    Since Li Lei was pursuing her, his skin was really thick. Without much thought, he pulled her hand. ¡°Thunder is very stable and understands humans. You will really like him. Xiao Ling...¡± His gentle voice echoed. ¡°I haven¡¯t ridden a horse with you yet.¡±

 Chapter 716 - Easy Horseriding Strategy

    <h4>Chapter 716: Easy Horseriding Strategy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Perhaps the evening wind was pleasant or his voice was too gentle.

    Xia Ling was slightly moved by what he said and a soft feeling spread in her heart. She turned to look at this man. He looked as handsome as usual and his smile was familiar and reliable. It was so strange. He was someone who disappeared without a trace four years ago. Why was she still attracted to him?

    Was this love?

    No...

    It was an ill-fated romance.

    Just like a moth flying towards the me even though it knew about the danger and that it would turn into ash. However, it could not reject that illusory attraction. It was its life¡¯s destiny. She did not know how long she couldst. Perhaps, she would melt once again due to his tender feelings and face the storms of the world with him.

    However, that was in the future.

    At this time, she was still afraid. She was afraid that this sudden fate that left and reappeared would have some heart-stirring changes in the future.

    She let go of his hand.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± In the evening wind, her voice was very soft. ¡°We have a child, so let¡¯s maintain our peace on the surface because he needs his parents. However, don¡¯t try to get closer. Don¡¯t make me hate you.¡±

    There was a listless and chilling feeling about the evening wind.

    Li Lei¡¯s palm was empty, and so was his heart. Was this God¡¯s punishment? After disappearing without a trace for four years, it was very difficult to get her back now. However, no matter what, he would not give up. She was his only true love in this life. He could not imagine how he would live the rest of his life if he did not with her.

    He quickened his steps to match her pace.

    When they arrived at the VIP stables, he called for his Hanover horse, Thunder. Thunder¡¯s body was still shining like satin. It looked at its master with a pair of smoldering eyes.

    ¡°Thunder.¡± Li Lei touched its nose. ¡°Let Xiao Ling ride you for a while.¡±

    The horse affectionately licked his hand. As if it understood his words, it took steps in Xia Ling¡¯s direction and assumed a position that was easy for her to get on it. Xia Ling also touched it like Li Lei and turned to look at its owner. ¡°Are you really letting me ride it? Let¡¯s agree on this first. I¡¯m not going to ride it with you.¡±

    Li Lei smiled warmly. ¡°Just ride it. I¡¯ll have many chances to ride it in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him somewhat suspiciously.

    Li Lei urged. ¡°Quickly get on the horse. Look, the sky is getting darker. If you don¡¯t ride it now, you won¡¯t be able to ride it tomorrow.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the sky. There was already a hint of rosy sunlight in the clear and blue sky. She knew that Li Lei was right, so she stopped hesitating and got on the horse. As she was a skilled horseback rider for two lifetimes, the way she got on the horse was elegant. When she was securely on Thunder¡¯s back, they looked like a perfect pair.

    Li Lei pped for her at the side.

    She smiled at him delightedly, overflowing with emotions that she could not exin.

    Looking at her was like being tickled by a pool of feathers. He couldn¡¯t help but take a few steps forward and try to persuade her to let him ride with her. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    She saw through his intentions with one nce andughed. ¡°Dream on.¡± She pulled on the horse¡¯s reins and the pureblood Hanover horse started to gallop.

    Against the evening wind, her heart was soaring.

    However, just after a few seconds, she suddenly felt something heavy behind her and was pulled into a secure hug.

    Shocked, her hands shook and she almost let go of the horse¡¯s reins. The person behind her reached out to hold her hand and said in a low voice beside her ear, ¡°Be careful.¡±

    She recognized that voice and frantically turned around. ¡°Li Lei! You...¡±

    This time, he was the oneughing in delight. His eyes were as bright as the sun as he lowered his head and reduced the distance between them further. ¡°Do you think you can ditch me after getting on my horse? Not a chance.¡±

    She was still very angry. ¡°You¡¯re shameless!¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡± He was very delighted. He put one arm around her and used his other hand to control the reins. ¡°Do you know that your man¡¯s horseriding abilities are out of this world? Looks like there¡¯s still much more that you have to learn about me.¡±

    He emphasized on the words ¡°much more¡± near her ear.

    Her face turned red and her heartbeat quickened. However, she was still really angry and continued to re at him. She did not realize that the horse made a turn and she lost her bnce. She eximed and almost fell off the horse, but Li Lei held her waist in a rxed manner and took her gently and safely into his arms.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move around.¡± He said, ¡°I will protect you.¡±

    Those words were like magic and she calmed down in his arms.

    The sturdy horse started to gallop swiftly on the grasnds and they passed by the surrounding trees in a flurry.

    This was the first time Xia Ling leaned against a manfortably while riding a horse. She remembered that in her past life, Pei Ziheng did not like all sorts of strenuous activities besides fighting. Whenever she went horseback riding, she was always alone. Even though they rode together on a horse for a few times, they only rode it slowly and looked at the scenery.

    However, this time, it was different.

    Li Lei was as adventurous as her and rode the horse very fast. With the wind in her hair, she felt as if the world was in her grasp. This was the first time she looked at this fast-moving world from a new perspective. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, she felt safe, stable and peaceful in his arms. It was like...

    Experiencing forever in a moment.

    And in this moment of forever, she was in her own universe.

    Unknowingly, she forgot her anger and the worries she had about the future. She started to calm down, readjust to a morefortable position and leaned her face on his chest.

    The horse galloped at full speed for a long time and circled the mountains before returning.

    He reduced the horse¡¯s speed and kissed her hairline. With a dark voice, he asked, ¡°Are you tired?¡±

    She shook her head. She listened to his strong heartbeat and felt the slight sweat on his body. The horse¡¯s body was smooth like ck satin. With two people on its back, it seemed to be carrying a small world.

    He bowed his head and kissed her gently.

    She squinted her eyes and was toozy to resist him.

    The woods in the early autumn was scattered with leaves.

    Slowly, they rode across this dreamy forest and she looked as if she forgot the warning she made some time ago. ¡°Don¡¯t think ofing closer.¡± Sometimes, this was fate. No matter how hard you resisted, it would always bring people back into your orbit in different ways.

    Seeing that she was gettingfortable, Li Lei reduced Thunder¡¯s speed. They walked for a long time and came to a small wooden house in the forest. The signboard ¡°Qingye Ice Cream¡± was very impressively made.

    ¡°Do you want to eat ice cream?¡± He asked her.

    She nodded. Thus, he directed Thunder to walk over. He got off the horse first and then carefully supported her down. ¡°Just sit down and wait here. I will go in to buy ice cream for you.¡± After saying that, he used his coat to sweep the leaves away on the tree stump for her to sit down.

 Chapter 717 - Crossing Paths with Gu Lin on a Narrow Road

    <h4>Chapter 717: Crossing Paths with Gu Lin on a Narrow Road</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Sure enough, she sat down and patiently waited.

    This ice cream shop was very near the living area and the chatter of children could be heard faintly.

    Xia Ling had not gone horseback riding for a long time. At this time, she felt a little tired. She supported her lower jaw on the wooden table and half-closed her eyes as she looked at the leaves in a daze.

    The leaves rustled.

    Suddenly, she heard a shocking and sharp voice. ¡°Ye Xingling?¡±

    Shezily turned around and saw a beautiful girl standing beside her. She was wearing tight fitting horseback riding clothes which emphasized her figure. Her ming red hair was flying in the wind and she had a sharp and exaggerated eyeliner on. Currently, she was looking at her with hostility.

    It was Gu Lin.

    Over the past few years, Xia Ling¡¯s temper improved. It was not because she became more cultured but because things that deserved her attention were really few. Now, after seeing Gu Lin, she did not have much of a reaction. In fact, she could not even be bothered and changed into afortable posture as she looked at the leaves in a trance again.

    Seeing that she was being neglected, Gu Lin was furious. ¡°Ye Xingling, what sort of attitude is this? Do you think you¡¯re above everyone else after bing a Diva? Why are you here at the Southern Mountain club?!¡±

    Xia Ling felt that she was too noisy so she covered her ears.

    Gu Lin was so annoyed that she reached out to pull her. ¡°Say something! You already have a child, so why are you still interacting with Brother Li Lei? Asking him to stand up for your child, do you have any shame?!¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling awakened and lightly blinked.

    Still interacting with Li Lei? Asking him to stand up for her child?

    It seemed that Gu Lin was really updated and actually came prepared to interrogate her.

    She sat up on the stump and pulled the thin shawl over herself. She asked Gu Lin, ¡°In what way is my rtionship with Li Lei rted to you?¡± She spoke veryzily in an attractive voice.

    ¡°Not rted to me?!¡± Gu Lin was like a cat which had its tail stepped on as she erupted in anger. ¡°How is it not rted to me? Brother Lei already has a son. You¡¯re a bad woman who broke up Brother Lei¡¯s family. Now that I¡¯ve seen it, I can¡¯t help but interfere!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. She wondered if she or Miss Gu were asleep. Her reasoning reallycked logic. What right did she have to interfere even if Li Lei¡¯s family was broken?

    After so many years, why hadn¡¯t Miss Gu learned anything?

    Looking at Gu Lin who was as ignorant as before, Xia Ling suddenly felt as if four years had not passed. She smiled and said faintly, ¡°Miss Gu seems very interested in interfering in other people¡¯s affairs. I couldn¡¯t tell that you were so protective of Su Tang and even rushed to protect her after seeing that her ¡®family¡¯ with Li Lei was broken.¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s face turned white. She was not doing this for Su Tang!

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Li Lei¡¯s ¡®son¡¯ Li Rui is not mine and also not yours, so what do you gain if you chase me away? He has a biological mom, so do you think your turn wille soon? I think that instead of wasting your breath and energy on me, you should look for the child¡¯s biological mom and settle things with her.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin¡¯s face was flushed. Did Xia Ling think she did not want to? If she could win a fight with Su Tang, she would have destroyed that shameless woman herself a long time ago! However, Su Tang was scheming. She gave birth to Brother Lei¡¯s son and even gained Old Master Li¡¯s recognition, so she could not match up to her at all!

    Initially, she had given up on Brother Lei. After knowing about the birth of his son, she shut herself in her room and cried sorrowfully. However, in these years, she dated many men from rich families but did not have the slightest interest in any of them. Her entire mind was consumed with the thought of that man with a bright smile.

    It was a long and difficult wait, but Brother Lei finally returned to China.

    Gu Lin already decided that even if she destroyed his family and became the mistress, she would have no regrets.

    However, Brother Lei did not even give her the chance to be a mistress. He continued to maintain a distance from her and maybe even encouraged Su Tang to keep a distance from her.

    Gu Lin was hurt and enraged, but she was helpless.

    Su Tang was too vicious and frightening. After she was plotted against twice, she almost lost her social standing and reputation, so she did not dare to provoke her any longer.

    She was very despondent until unexpectedly, things turned around. Brother Lei actually separated from Su Tang and started to get back together with that woman called Ye Xingling again. Gu Lin was very happy. Su Tang was difficult to deal with. But Ye Xingling? In her opinion, Ye Xingling was a piece of cake. She only needed to move a finger to make her disappear into ash.

    However, in her excitement, Miss Gu forgot something¡ª

    Could an ordinary woman steal Li Lei from Su Tang?

    How could she think that Xia Ling was not on par with Su Tang?

    She took a deep breath and arrogantly challenged Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s about time that you take your child and get the hell out of Southern Mountain Club. What a joke. You bought an inferior horse yet you dare to show off here? Stop embarrassing yourself!¡±

    She stubbornly wanted to fight Xia Ling till the end, so Xia Ling had no choice but to entertain her.

    However, the way she responded was a bit special. She directly made a call. ¡°Li Lei, why aren¡¯t you back yet? Your old lover is making a scene and throwing a tantrum in front of me. Please deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Who is throwing a tantrum?!¡± Gu Lin shouted.

    Xia Ling was toozy to respond. She quietly counted in her heart. When she got to 30, a man appeared in the rest area covered in leaves. He was holding a veryrge ice cream cone.

    ¡°I remember that you like hazelnut the most. Vani and dark chocte are also not bad, so I let the master mix and match a little. Here.¡± He handed the ice cream to Xia Ling and did not look at Gu Lin at all. After he saw Xia Ling taking the ice cream and licking it, he asked, ¡°Is it delicious?¡±

    He looked like a puppy who was eager to be praised.

    After eating something sweet, Xia Ling¡¯s mood improved, so she acknowledged him seriously.

    Li Lei smiled in satisfaction.

    Both of them were acting as if no one was there, causing Gu Lin to resentfully grit her teeth. She couldn¡¯t stand it any longer and yelled at him. ¡°Brother Lei!¡±

    Li Lei looked as if he just saw her. He turned around and asked, ¡°Linlin, why are you here?¡±

    Gu Lin almost wanted to cry. ¡°Brother Lei, you lied to me! You told me before that you wouldn¡¯t consider another woman in this lifetime! For your family and for Xiao Rui, I chose to leave. However, what about now?! What gives Ye Xingling the right to do this?! Why are you able to give up everything for her?!¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Linlin, don¡¯t make a scene.¡±

    ¡°Who exactly is the one making a scene?!¡± Gu Lin¡¯s eyes were red. ¡°Why did you apany this woman to Southern Mountain Club? Why did you stand up for her son?!¡±

    Looking at this unreasonable girl, Li Lei firmly said, ¡°That¡¯s right. I told you before that I wouldn¡¯t consider another woman in this lifetime. That¡¯s because, from the start until the end, I will only consider Xiao Ling.¡±

 Chapter 718 - Pay With Your Life

    <h4>Chapter 718: Pay With Your Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin stood rooted to her spot as if she were struck by lightning.

    It turned out that the girl he liked from the start was not Su Tang or even her. This petite, unimpressive girl called Ye Xingling in front of her was the love of his life.

    How could such a stupid and unappealing cheap good capture Brother Lei¡¯s heart?!

    Shaking, Gu Lin protested. ¡°Brother Lei, she¡¯s not worthy of you!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°An outsider does not get to judge if she¡¯s worthy of me. Linlin, if we were to discuss this, it would be me who isn¡¯t worthy of Xiao Ling.¡± He lowered his head and looked at Xia Ling warmly.

    Xia Ling smiled and did not deny it.

    She did not think that she wasn¡¯t worthy of him. There was no other person like him in this world who was so dazzling and captured her heart. However, she did not intend to tell him these thoughts. She was afraid that if she told him too early, he would not cherish her. Her brother said that men were only qualified to have a beautiful woman after they had passed the test.

    She cared about him too much, so much that she did not know what to do except follow her brother¡¯s instructions.

    Looking at her indifferent face, the angry mes in Gu Lin¡¯s heart grewrger. This b*tch! It would be reasonable for her to lose to Su Tang because she was the mother of Brother Lei¡¯s child, but how could she lose to Xia Ling?

    This woman was nothing!

    Gu Lin took two steps forward, raised her hand proudly and tried to p Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling turned away to avoid it, and her hand was grabbed by Li Lei.

    ¡°Brother Lei, you!¡± Gu Lin furiously red at Li Lei and couldn¡¯t believe that Brother Lei, who treated her so well when she was younger, stopped her. Before she could rebuke, suddenly, she heard a ¡°bam.¡±

    She covered her face and only recovered after a few seconds. Brother Lei had hit her.

    It happened so suddenly that Gu Lin¡¯s mind became nk. She stared at Li Lei and breathed heavily. She was angry and hurt. Brother Lei hit her... Brother Lei actually hit her! From a young age, she was doted on and spoiled by the Gu Family and was never treated like this before.

    She shook her head and stumbled two steps back.

    ¡°I¡¯m returning this p to you for Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei said to Gu Lin coldly. ¡°Gu Lin, you know very well what you did to Xiao Ling four years ago. That year, I was not vicious to you out of respect of Grandfather Gu, but you¡¯re trying to aggravate the situation now. If you continue to make things difficult for Xiao Ling, don¡¯t me me for seeking revenge on you!¡±

    ¡°What have I done four years ago?!¡± Gu Lin started crying in rage. To her, she had never done anything wrong to Xia Ling but Xia Ling had always wronged her. ¡°Li Lei, you better tell me clearly! Why do you always protect her and malign others just to please her?!¡± She cried.

    She was very loud, and a lot of people nearby started to look over.

    Li Lei was very cold as he said two words. ¡°Nangong Qingya.¡±

    Suddenly, Gu Lin remembered something. Her body shook as if she were struck by lightning.

    Nangong Qingya... Nangong Qingya!

    Four years ago, that piece of trash Nangong Qingya gave her an idea to create the anthelmintic incident and caused two orphans to die in a situation which involved Xia Ling. Later, the truth was revealed and the Nangong family was annihted by a furious Li Lei while Gu Lin went into hiding... She initially thought that she was lucky. She thought perhaps Brother Lei did not know about this, but unexpectedly, he already knew it a long time ago and always remembered it!

    Gu Lin was so scared that she trembled. That was murder. If it were revealed, how was it anythingpared to a p?!

    ¡°No... It was not me...¡± Her voice quivered as she spoke. She couldn¡¯t care less about making things difficult for Xia Ling anymore and hurriedly told Li Lei. ¡°Brother Lei, believe me! The deaths of the children in the orphanage were not rted to me!¡±

    Li Lei demanded. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    However, he was toote.

    Xia Ling had good hearing and asked, ¡°What about the death of the children in the orphanage? What exactly happened four years ago?¡±

    Li Lei secretly scolded himself. Why did he underestimate Miss Gu¡¯s IQ? He initially wanted to scare her so she would not cause trouble for Xiao Ling, but he did not think that she would be so scared and suddenly leak the things that happened that year.

    The things that Xiao Ling initially did not know about.

    He never wanted to let her know that in the past, Gu Lin sent inferior deworming drugs to the orphanage under Nangong Qingya¡¯s instigation because she was jealous of Xia Ling. As a result, two innocent children died.

    He was afraid that Xiao Ling would me herself.

    However, now, it could not be concealed any longer.

    He turned to look at Xia Ling and told her about what happened in the past.

    Xia Ling did not expect the truth to be so shocking and only reacted after some time. ¡°So Li Lei, you mean that you¡¯ve been hiding these things from me for years?¡± She had mixed feelings. In the past, she hid the truth about their son because she was afraid he would be upset, but he also hid things from her because he did not want her to be upset.

    Li Lei looked at her carefully. ¡°Xiao Ling, you can be mad at me.¡±

    He was afraid that Xia Ling would be mad. However, now that she had a son, she was no longer the weak girl who doubted herself. She did me herself for the death of the two children, but she would not be finished for good after it.

    She looked at Li Lei clearly. ¡°You should have told me about this earlier.¡±

    While he was confused, she walked up and pped Gu Lin viciously twice on both cheeks. Gu Lin did not think that even she dared to hit her as she fell backward. She was covered in dirt and her forehead was grazed after hitting a tree branch.

    Gu Lin shouted even more vigorously. ¡°Ye Xingling! It was really not my fault. What right do you have to hit me?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked cruelly and coldly at Gu Lin. ¡°I¡¯m going to call the police.¡±

    As she spoke, she took out her phone.

    In this life, what she couldn¡¯t stand the most was rich and powerful people taking advantage of helpless orphans, not to mention those two orphans who died because of her. She initially thought that the situation was already settled, but she did not think that the real murderer who killed the two children was atrge!

    She dialed the number, but suddenly, another hand held her hand down.

    It was Li Lei.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, calm down.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling turned to loo kat him. ¡°Li Lei, I can understand why you did not let me know the truth. However, why aren¡¯t you letting me hand her to the authorities? Is your rtionship with her more important than human lives?¡±

    There was suppressed anger in her voice.

    Li Lei knew that she was really triggered and calmly said, ¡°It¡¯s not about my rtionship with her but the Gu Family¡¯s rtionship with the Li Family. Xiao Ling, she can¡¯t get in trouble or else my grandfather and Grandfather Gu will not let you go.¡±

    He knew that Xiao Ling was the Xia Family¡¯s Phoenix. However, now, she was unable to return to her family and the Xia Family had its limits when protecting her. He was afraid that she could not deal with the fury of the two elderly men. Even though she had him to shelter her from the storm, problems may ur, and due to her safety, he knew that they couldn¡¯t afford the risk.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°A life for a life.¡±

 Chapter 719 - I Will Really Make a Police Report

    <h4>Chapter 719: I Will Really Make a Police Report</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the early autumn wind, her voice was cold and clear.

    Gu Lin turned pale. ¡°What are you saying? I don¡¯t get it. A life for a life? The death of those two children is not my business at all! Ye Xingling, don¡¯t malign me!¡±

    Xia Ling sneered lightly and did not say anything. Now that she had decided to call the police, she would let the police punish her and did not have to waste any more of her effort. Instead, she turned around and said to Li Lei, ¡°You don¡¯t have to help me with this, but don¡¯t hinder me either. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me for turning my back on you.¡±

    After saying that, she shoved the ice cream backed into his hands and walked away.

    After a few steps, Li Lei caught up with her and shoved the ice cream back into her hands. ¡°What is with your temper?¡± In the slight breeze, the handsome man lowered his head and looked at the girl in front of him with an amused and helpless expression. ¡°You¡¯re just going to leave like that? Can you give me some dignity?¡±

    She hesitated for a few seconds. ¡°Why should I give you any dignity?¡±

    Li Lei was even more amused. ¡°You¡¯re my woman. Why would I not help you?¡±

    Xia Ling rebuked. ¡°I¡¯m not your woman.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Since I helped you, you are my woman.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You haven¡¯t helped me.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. I will apany you to the police now.¡± She didn¡¯t know how troublesome this case was. How was it so simply solved with a police report? This case was already determined to be an ident. Now that it was going to be reopened, many people would be affected and there would be internalplications.

    Furthermore, there would be pressure from his family.

    He recalled Gu Lin¡¯s pale expression and did not doubt how horribly the Gu Family would treat Xiao Ling.

    Only then did Xia Ling seriously look at him. ¡°Are you really helping me? The rtionship between your family and the Gu Family is so strong. If you help me with this, the strong rtionship you¡¯ve had with the Gu Family will probably be ruined.¡±

    Li Lei did not answer. He only resolutely held her hand and walked forward.

    So what if the rtionship between the Gu Family and the Li Family was ruined? In life, you would have to give up something to get other things done. It was the Gu Family which crossed his beloved woman¡¯s bottom line. Thus, they vited his bottom line too. In this situation, he already gave the Gu Family a chance and did not bring up this situation that year. However, the more he backed off, the more Gu Lin went overboard.

    He already warned the Gu Family many times.

    However, this time, since Xiao Ling was unwilling to tolerate it, there was no need to tolerate it any longer.

    In his world, Xiao Ling was the most important. There were a few times he almost lost her. In the future, he did not dare to take such a huge risk anymore. He spent four years driving Li Feng out of the core of Li Family and did his best to stand beside his Old Master as an equal. He did everything so he could protect Xiao Ling.

    If he did not stay by her side at this crucial moment, what was the point of everything he did?

    He held her hand tighter with more determination.

    Xia Ling felt the heat from his palms and was slightly moved. This man seemed to be different from the past. He stopped prioritizing his family and ced her in a more important position. Or was he always like this? Was she not aware of it before?

    She was deep in thought.

    They walked side by side and reached the road junction. Xia Ling went left while Li Lei went right.

    Startled, Xia Ling said, ¡°Left is the direction of where we¡¯re staying. Let¡¯s go back to pack and wait for Shaohui toe back for the night. Tomorrow morning, we will return to the city and make a report at the City S Police Station.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°You said in Gu Lin¡¯s face that you were going to make a police report, so Gu Lin will definitely tell the Gu Family immediately. Once the Gu Family interferes by destroying evidence or bribing the police, things will change. Xiao Ling, I just called the helicopter. We are going to the apron and return directly to the City S to make a police report.¡±

    Xia Ling did not think that he would be so thoughtful and nodded. She also asked, ¡°What about Shaohui?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve already asked Du Yunfeng and Du Zheng to take care of him well. They¡¯re very reliable, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Although Xia Ling had certain conflicts with Du Yunfeng in the past, she understood that Du Yunfeng was Li Lei¡¯s lifelong friend and worthy of her trust. After hearing that Shaohui had them to look after him, she waspletely relieved and followed him in the direction of the apron.

    Luckily, he was there.

    He made sure that proper arrangements were in ce.

    Although she had tens of billions in worth and was a queen that thousands of people looked up to, shecked his depth of thought even when she had the courage to do something. After all, she was just a young woman, and his position could never be reced no matter how high she reached in her career.

    She looked sideways at him and saw that he was currently talking to the helicopter staff. He had a knife scar on his handsome face and looked quite cool when he smiled. However, his smile was very reassuring and it calmed her down.

    ¡°Sister, sister, look for a father for me.¡± Naturally, she recalled Shaohui¡¯s plea.

    She was a little distracted when she got on the helicopter with him. They reached the City S in a short time and went to the police station from for four years ago to make a police report. The police officer knew that they were of an honorable status so he politely asked them to sit down and made a detailed transcript of the problems they conveyed. He then promised to investigate immediately.

    Before they left, Li Lei went to see the police superintendent and the two spoke for a while separately. After that, the superintendent personally sent them out with a smile.

    It was alreadyte at night and the street looked bleak.

    Xia Ling did not wear many clothes when she left, so she was shivering a little from the cold.

    Li Lei took off his jacket and ced it on her shoulders, gently asking, ¡°Are you cold?¡±

    She shook her head. Her heart was still filled with what happened at the police station. Although they promised to reinvestigate this case, she was not very confident that she could bring Gu Lin to justice.

    She recalled that year when she thought Shaohui had died. She also went to the police station to make a police report and asked them to bring the ¡°murderer¡± Xia Yu to justice. However, until now, the police never found any proof about Xia Yu and Xia Yu got away scot-free.

    She heard that Xia Yu was overseas and living quite well.

    Xia Ling was very worried. What if Gu Lin got away scot-free as well? How could she face the dead children then?

    She knitted her brows and looked worried.

    Li Lei knew what she was thinking and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will not let her off easily.¡± At this time, his phone rang.

    Li Lei answered it. ¡°Hello, Uncle Gu?¡±

    Xia Ling titled her head. Uncle Gu? Could it be that Gu Lin¡¯s father called him?

    She became alert and listened more closely.

    Looking at her nervous expression, he simply stood still and took her into his arms. ¡°Yes... this happened.¡± His voice was low and pleasing to the ear. He ced one hand on her body to appease her and continued to talk. ¡°It was Linlin who provoked Xiao Ling first and slipped her tongue. Since Xiao Ling wants to pursue it, I don¡¯t have any reason not to help her out.¡±

 Chapter 720 - The Veteran

    <h4>Chapter 720: The Veteran</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He said a few more sentences into the phone,rgely suggesting that he wouldn¡¯t help block the matter.

    Thest sentence uttered was gentle but firm. ¡°Uncle Gu, our family rtionship should not be withered away on such matters. Nevermind... even if Grandfather was here I would still sing the same song.¡±

    He hung up and reached out to hold Xia Ling¡¯s hand again.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Is this matter putting you in a tight position?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, you¡¯re being too sensitive.¡± Everything else paled inparison to protecting her, so the choice to him was clear. It was not a tough decision for him at all.

    However, she responded softly. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Do you need to be so formal with me?¡± There was a tinge of annoyance in his voice as he felt that Xiao Ling was treating him like an outsider.

    She was taken aback but understood what he was saying. She smiled and lowered her head in silence. In this life, there was no one else that she would love as much as she loved him. Even though she hadn¡¯t formally reconciled with him yet, she knew that the only dilemma that she faced was to decide whether to ept him again or not. He needn¡¯t worry that there would ever be another person in the picture.

    They walked alongside each other in the evening breeze.

    On the other side, the Gu Family was in chaos.

    Gu Lin was spoiled since she was young and was a coward by nature. After Xia Ling threatened to report her to the police, she panicked and worried that her bad doings would be revealed. She didn¡¯t tell the family what she did in the first instance. After dwelling on the matter for a long time, she finally plucked up the courage to tell her father for fear that she would have to pay with her life. By then, several hours had already passed.

    Father Gu knew the gravity of the situation and had no time to lecture his daughter. He immediately called Li Lei up. However, it was already toote and Li Lei had apanied Xia Ling to the police station to record her statement. He even paid a visit to the superintendent to make sure that the evidence and witness statements were well taken care of so that the Gu Family wouldn¡¯t have any opportunity to tamper with them.

    He had also alerted his subordinates and private investigators to keep a watchful eye on the Gu Family to prevent them from doing anything to change matters.

    Father Gu was a tad toote. While he tried to get his people to destroy the evidence, it was futile.

    He knew that approaching Li Lei was useless. The next day, he went straight to look for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was filming an MV scene in the outskirts of town. The weather was tremendous and she was dressed in a svelte swimsuit which sculpted her perfect figure as she walked along the white, sandy beach.

    She walked right by the waves beating on the beach, her long hair billowing in the wind, looking resplendent.

    Father Gu watched the film crew busying themselves around her from behind the barricade set up by the staff members. The director, cameramen, producer and her manager were doing everything they could to make the scene perfect.

    He wanted to enter the film site but was stopped by a staff member. ¡°Please move back. You¡¯re not allowed to enter here.¡±

    The staff member¡¯s attitude was rough and blunt.

    Father Gu started to get angry. Being the head of the Gu family enterprises for many years, no one had dared treat him so carelessly. The staff member took him to be one of her many fans or the media and was afraid that he would do something crazy after entering the film site. He made his identity clear. ¡°I¡¯m the CEO of the Gu family enterprises. I¡¯m looking for Ye Xingling.¡±

    The staff member gave a coldugh. ¡°Who are you kidding? Of all people to impersonate, you¡¯re trying to be the CEO of the Gu family enterprises? Why would a big CEOe to this godforsaken ce and be stuck outside the barricade like everyone else?¡±

    Father Gu was close to losing his temper. ¡°I¡¯m really the CEO of the Gu family enterprises.¡±

    As he spoke, he handed the staff member his name card.

    However, the staff member didn¡¯t reach out to ept it but instead gave him a once over with a wry smile. ¡°Oh wow, you even have props and are dressed to the T for the role. I say... why don¡¯t you learn a trick or two from the veteran paparazzi in your line? Who are you trying to kid, man? It¡¯s too over the top!¡±

    Paparazzi would take on different personas in trying to enter film sites, but few tried to impersonate CEOs. These positions were too senior and tended to be busy people with a ton of appointments. It was a persona that was easy to see through.

    The veins on Father Gu¡¯s neck were green from him trying to hold in his anger. He never expected to be so disrespected and ridiculed by such a lowly staff member. He was cursing Xia Ling in his heart over and over, but could only take a deep breath topose himself after thinking about the predicament that his darling daughter was in.

    ¡°Go tell Ye Xingling that I¡¯m here. She recognizes me and will know that I am indeed the Gu family enterprise CEO.¡±

    The staff member gave him a look of disdain. ¡°Just get lost.¡±

    He walked away from Father Gu after leaving thesest words.

    Father Gu was furious and could not stop himself from shouting profanities at the staff member despite his usualposure. On the other end, Xia Ling was still walking along the beach and making turns for the camera, a picture of grace and elegance.

    A paparazzi standing to the side patted Father Gu on the shoulder with a pitiful expression on his face. ¡°Hey bro... you¡¯re new to this, aren¡¯t you? Let me give you a word of advice... next time don¡¯t impersonate CEOs or government officials. Just stick to delivery men or something along those lines.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a delivery man?! Pfft... what a joke!¡± Father Gu shouted at him in agitation.

    The paparazzi turned away and muttered to himself seeing that his kindness was not appreciated. ¡°What kind of attitude was that? How does he expect to stay in this line with a temper like that? He should just go be a delivery boy instead!¡±

    These words were muttered loud enough such that Father Gu heard him loud and clear, making him even angrier.

    Father Gu dialed his subordinates and snapped at them. ¡°Hey, find me that b*tch Ye Xingling¡¯s number right this instant! What?! You can¡¯t find it? You can only get me her manager¡¯s number? Fine! That will do! Give it to me!¡±

    He called Lin Yunan after receiving his contact number.

    Lin Yunan was leaningzily on a huge rock with the assistant director as they admired Xia Ling and the film scene from afar when he received the sudden call from Father Gu. He wondered to himself, ¡°What is Father Gu doing here?¡±

    However, he answered politely, ¡°CEO Gu? Hello, hello... What did you say? You¡¯re just outside the barricades? Alright, hang on a second! I¡¯lle right out to get you!¡±

    He hung up but didn¡¯t move from where he was, continuing to admire the scenery in front of him.

    The assistant director asked, ¡°Brother Lin, aren¡¯t you going to get him?¡±

    Lin Yunanughed and rolled his eyes. ¡°Dummy! Did you think I meant it when I asked him to wait a sec? He¡¯s nothing to me, man.¡±

    The assistant director shuddered. Brother Lin, the dude is the head of the Gu family enterprises. That¡¯s an enormous MNC, what do you mean he¡¯s nothing to you?

    Lin Yunan continued, ¡°Watch and learn... Why am I not hurrying over to get him? Since he¡¯s stuck outside, that probably means he didn¡¯t make a prior appointment. Xiao Ling and the Gu family aren¡¯t close, and she doesn¡¯t get along with Father Gu¡¯s darling daughter. What good reason can there possibly be for him to be here? It¡¯s more likely that he¡¯s here to make trouble for Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what¡¯s going on from Xiao Ling¡¯s perspective. How can I just go meet him first?¡±

    ¡°I need to wait for Xiao Ling to finish filming her MV at the very least and ask her what¡¯s going on before I go meet him.¡±

    The assistant director nodded in realization. Brother Lin was truly Brother Lin, the star manager. A true veteran.

 Chapter 721 - Stroke

    <h4>Chapter 721: Stroke</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Hence, the two of them leaned back onto the huge rock and waited leisurely.

    Xia Ling¡¯s MV filming took a long time as some of the scenes were difficult to film and had to be retaken several times.

    Father Gu waited impatiently outside the film site for more than an hour, but Lin Yunan, who told him that he would take ¡°just a second¡± didn¡¯t appear. Father Gu grew anxious and called Lin Yunan several more times to no avail.

    Father Gu was someone who was experienced in the marketce. Seeing this situation, he understood what was happening. Clearly, he was not wee and they were making him wait to show their authority. When had he ever suffered such insult? He wanted to turn and leave immediately.

    However, his daughter¡¯s precarious position came back to mind. He had no choice but to suck it up and wait.

    The sky grew darker.

    Xia Ling was finally done with her MV filming and was helped out of the water. She epted the towel handed to her and dried her hair before changing out of her MV outfit anding before Lin Yunan. ¡°I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s go.¡± She said happily to Lin Yunan. She was in a great mood as all the filming for the MV was done and all that was left was final editing.

    Lin Yunan gave a wry smile. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too early for you to leave?¡±

    Xia Ling was used to his weird temperament and raised an eyebrow in response. ¡°What now? Just say it.¡±

    Lin Yunan told her about Father Gu waiting outside and then said, ¡°Tell me now, what trouble did you get into? Why isn¡¯t he leaving after I¡¯ve left him stewing outside for so long?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at Lin Yunan. ¡°I reported Gu Lin to the police.¡±

    She told Lin Yunan all that happened in the past few days.

    Lin Yunan had heard some hearsay about the incident and wasn¡¯t too surprised to hear her story. He was more surprised that Xia Ling had found out the truth after so many years. He said, ¡°This matter is a littleplicated. We¡¯ve settled the matter before, are you sure you want to rock the boat? Xiao Ling, you know that you¡¯ll offend the entire Gu Family, right? They will do all they can in this period to turn the tide on you, not only to clear Gu Lin¡¯s name but also to get back at you.¡±

    Xia Ling responded lightly, ¡°Whatever.¡±

    Lin Yunan shot her a look but merely shrugged.

    After interacting with her for so many years, he was aware of her ability to get into spats. As long as she had made up her mind, she would do all she could to reach her target regardless of what it took. As her manager, he had long given up on advising her otherwise, and would simply deliver what she asked.

    He said to Xia Ling, ¡°Just get on the van. We will go directly back to the city now.¡±

    He waved her away as he turned and walked towards the barricade.

    On the sprawling sandy beach with the sea breeze gently blowing, the red signs on the barricade stood out. Lin Yunan swaggered over to where Father Gu was waiting with a fake smile stered on his face. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, CEO Gu. Xiao Ling had a prior appointment and had to leave first. Perhaps you can speak to me if there are any issues.¡±

    Father Gu was so angry that the veins on his neck and forehead were visible. That b*itch, she stood him up even after making him wait for several hours! What had the worlde to?! Father Gu was someone that typically kept a poker face, but he couldn¡¯t control the anger from showing on his face right now.

    Lin Yunan ignored his dark expression. ¡°If CEO Gu doesn¡¯t have anything important to tell me, I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡±

    ¡°Hold it!¡± Father Gu realized that this wasn¡¯t the time to throw his temper as he hurriedly stopped Lin Yunan from leaving. ¡°Mister Lin, don¡¯t go. It¡¯s like this. My ignorant Lin Lin has offended Miss Ye, and I¡¯m here to apologize to her. Can you tell me where Miss Ye went? Is it convenient to bring me there? The Gu Family will definitely reward you grandly for your kindness.¡±

    Reward grandly?

    Hur hur.

    Lin Yunanughed to himself. Even though he loved money, that was only for money that he had earned through hard work by his own hands. That gave him a great sense of satisfaction. The Lin Family was also a wealthy family, and he was not so in need of money that he would ept such a bribe.

    He responded impatiently, ¡°I told you that Xiao Ling is busy. For a long time, Xiao Ling won¡¯t have time to see you. If CEO Gu can¡¯t handle the matter with me, then please leave.¡±

    Father Gu rarely had to beg anyone, and seeing that he was being stone-walled, he grew unhappy. The anger in his heart festered and threatened to explode, but he controlled himself. He asked, ¡°Does Mister Lin know that there has been a small misunderstanding between Miss Ye and my Lin Lin recently?¡±

    ¡°Ah? A small misunderstanding?¡± Lin Yunan did not hesitate to call him out. ¡°Gu Lin hired a hit man. Is that a small misunderstanding?¡±

    Seeing that Lin Yunan was well-informed on the matter, Father Gu was taken aback. ¡°Mister Lin, please don¡¯t jump to conclusions. How can my Lin Lin think of killing anyone? She¡¯s innocent... ¡± He continued to offer Lin Yunan a whole range of benefits for him to keep quiet about the matter and to persuade Xia Ling not to pursue the matter with Gu Lin.

    Lin Yunan didn¡¯t respond other than to keep the fake smile stered on his face and humor Father Gu.

    Father Gu grew more anxious as he realized that he was not getting through to Lin Yunan at all. He wanted to plead Lin Yunan even more, but Lin Yunan was tired of hearing his woes as he lifted his wrist to look at the time before turning and leaving without another word.

    He called out to Xia Ling when he was halfway back to the city. ¡°Xiao Ling, be careful. That old man is furious right now. I¡¯m worried that he will do something drastic.¡±

    ¡°What can he possibly do?¡± Xia Ling was on the way home when she received his call and onlyughed. ¡°We¡¯ll just take it as ites.¡±

    Lin Yunan shook his head. He knew that Xia Ling was unafraid of offending the wealthy powers in the city and, thus, hung up without saying more.

    The Gu Family¡¯s attempt at revenge came quickly.

    This day, Xia Ling was just stepping out of the broadcast station after her schedule when she was surrounded by reporters. They were asking, ¡°Miss Ye, is it true that you wrongly used Miss Gu Lin of masterminding the incident from four years ago? Is it also true that CEO Gu tried to reason with you and you angered him so much that he had a stroke such that he¡¯s now lying in the hospital?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned seeing the entourage in front of her.

    Her assistant and bodyguard formed a human wall around her and she asked from behind them. ¡°Where did you guys get this information from? I did report Gu Lin to the authorities because I suspected that she was behind the deworming medication incident at the orphanage from four years ago. Wrongly using her? Hur hur... what a joke... the police hadn¡¯te to a conclusion on the investigation yet. How can the Gu Family be so sure that I¡¯ve wrongly used Gu Lin?

    The shes from the cameras flickered continuously.

    Many reporters gleefully recorded down her statement.

    Another reporter asked, ¡°Then, what about you angering CEO Gu so much that he¡¯s had a stroke? Is that untrue as well?¡±

    Xia Ling replied without hesitation. ¡°I have no idea that he¡¯s had a stroke.¡± The reporters started firing a whole series of questions after hearing her statement, but she was shepherded to her van by her bodyguards.

    The reporters outside the van were not prepared to give up and started to hit the van windows hoping that she would open up.

    The van moved off slowly and Xia Ling turned to ask Lin Yunan, ¡°What¡¯s going on? How did Gu Lin¡¯s father suddenly have a stroke?¡±

    Lin Yunan had been apanying Xia Ling on all her schedules for the past few days and was, simrly, only aware of Father Gu¡¯s stroke when the reporters asked about it. He made some calls to find out what had happened. After a while, he told Xia Ling, ¡°It¡¯s news that the Gu Family released themselves. They said that you made him wait in the hot sun outside the film site for several hours. Given that he¡¯s getting on the years, the heat, coupled with you standing him up, caused him to have a stroke when he got home.¡±

 Chapter 722 - The Talk of the Business District

    <h4>Chapter 722: The Talk of the Business District</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was surprised. ¡°He isn¡¯t that old... who would have thought that he¡¯s so weak.¡±

    Lin Yunan rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re the weak one... can¡¯t you tell that it¡¯s just a ploy? What stroke? If he really had a stroke they would be busy trying to save him rather than spending time issuing this press release.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at Lin Yunan, stunned. ¡°You mean to say that they are trying to put me in apromising position?¡± She realized that it was likely that this was thest resort n that Father Gu had thought up to save his daughter. He was trying to use the sympathy of the general public to destroy Xia Ling¡¯s reputation. By doing so, the public would stand by the Gu family and affect the investigative oue of the police and verdict of the judges.

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°You got it.¡±

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth in irritation. ¡°I said that Gu Lin would have to pay with her life for killing children. Even if theye up with these ploys, I won¡¯t let her off so easily.¡± She paused and thought for a while. ¡°It isn¡¯t good for this matter to drag out for too long. I think we should resolve it as quickly as possible.¡±

    Lin Yunan agreed. ¡°I support your thought of resolving it as quickly as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Do you have any bright ideas?¡±

    Lin Yunan shook his head.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue with Lin Yunan as she fell into a deep contemtion on how to proceed. The driver drove the van up the expressway that circled around the city, passing the central business district where her billboard advertisement for a luxury bag brand was hanging on a tall skyscraper. Several fans were taking photos by her billboard.

    Lin Yunan remarked offhandedly. ¡°Tsk tsk, a Diva is truly a Diva. Even after being wrongly used by the Gu family, there are still so many die-hard fans putting you on a pedestal.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°Get someone to find out where Gu Lin is right now.¡± She instructed Lin Yunan.

    An hourter.

    The van stopped in the business district near to the Gu family enterprises building.

    Xia Ling was dressed in an elegant and ostentatious red dress, donning dark sunsses and essorized with stilettos and a shining diamond ne and bracelet set. Her Diva aura was in full force, and she was dressed to attract attention.

    She had just stepped off the van when someone noticed her and shouted out excitedly, ¡°Ye Xingling!¡±

    As the fan was too excited, her voice was loud and many people shopping nearby started to crowd around as well.

    Everyone liked to see stars, especially top stars like Ye Xingling, who were almost like legends and rarely appeared among the general public. Before long, the crowds had grown and she waspletely surrounded.

    Several bodyguards were following her, making sure to create a wall around her to prevent people from pushing into her.

    Within the bodyguard wall, Lin Yunan was shouting, ¡°Let us through! Everyone, please let us through! Miss Ye is here on formal business matters, please don¡¯t dy her from her appointment!¡±

    Many fans of the fans shoving through the crowds in an attempt to get close enough to ask for an autograph or a photo started to ask, ¡°Ye Xingling! What business matters are you here to handle?!¡±

    Xia Ling merely smiled, her sunss acting like a mask, increasing her mysteriousness.

    It was different interacting directly with the Diva that they usually saw on television. Many people remarked that she looked better in person and was more attractive than through the TV screen. They were all highly taken with her friendly smile and persona.

    ¡°Yes, yes, what are you going to do? Let us help!¡± Some started to offer.

    Lin Yunan continued to shout out. ¡°Let us through! Please, everyone, let us through!¡± Seeing that no one in the crowd appeared to be moving away, he started to get impatient and sighed before saying, ¡°All of you saw the rumor that was released today, right? Saying that our Xiao Ling caused the CEO of the Gu family enterprises to have a stroke? We were really shocked by the news. As such, Xiao Ling is trying to verify the information with Miss Gu Lin.¡±

    A rustle of chatter emerged from the crowd. Yes, they had indeed read the news about this, and many media channels had reported that Ye Xingling had an unrequited love for Big Boss Li Lei, thus was jealous of Gu Lin, who was his childhood me. As such, she decided to rock the boat on the old case and pin the me on Gu Lin, hoping to remove her through this false usation.

    Was this real?

    ¡°Ye Xingling, do you really have an unrequited love for Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, what really happened in the deworming medication incident at the orphanage a few years back?¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, are you here to make trouble for Miss Gu?¡±

    The moring of the crowd became louder and louder. Given that this was the CBD with many people passing by, more started to join in as they tried to figure out what themotion was. Lin Yunan, who was standing just inside the bodyguard wall, as well as the fans nearest to them, were being overwhelmed by the noise and covered their ears with their hands.

    Xia Ling lightly raised her hand.

    Under the sunlight, her arm was straight and elegant, the diamonds on her wrist shining brightly.

    The crowd didn¡¯t know what she meant with her hand signal but almost immediately started to quieten down. Was Diva Ye about to make a statement? Even though the people in the rows behind were unable to see her hand signal, they too followed the crowd and became quiet.

    The power of a Diva.

    Xia Ling had brought her onstage aura and authority to the CBD now, emitting a dominance that made everyone feelpelled to follow her every word. As long as she wanted it to be so, she always had a way to make herself the center of attention.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with the effect she had on the crowd. She said, ¡°Is everyone interested to find out the truth?¡±

    Her voice wasn¡¯t particrly loud, but it still ignited a me within everyone listening. ¡°Yes! We want to know!¡± Oh my God, was the Diva Ye Xingling going to reveal the hidden truth to them? How exciting!

    Xia Ling voice was still calm and collected. ¡°You want to? Very good, I want to know the truth as well. Come, follow me. Let¡¯s go look for Gu Lin to ask her what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Lin Yunan took the opportunity to chime in. ¡°Miss Gu Lin is right here in the CBD! Let¡¯s go look for her!¡±

    The crowd was excited again. Everyone thought they were going to witness a historic moment where Ye Xingling was going to have a direct face-off with Gu Lin. Was the issue about CEO Gu¡¯s stroke true? And what was the hidden story behind the deworming medication incident? The answers to all these looked like they were going to be revealed.

    The crowd pushed and shoved each other as they created a path for Xia Ling, Lin Yunan, and the bodyguards toe through, before following them closely behind.

    As they followed them, someone asked loudly, ¡°Is Gu Lin really in the CBD now? Where is she? How are we going to find her?¡±

    Lin Yunan wrily smiled. ¡°We heard that Miss Gu is right here on the fourth-floor female department buying some clothes.¡±

    ¡°Oh, oh!¡± The crowd followed Xia Ling as she headed up to the fourth floor.

    On the fourth-floor female department, Gu Lin was unaware of themotion outside and was trying on clothes. She was in a bad mood in recent days and had been critical of all the clothes in the department store, taking out her emotion on the salesdies. She felt better seeing them close to tears.

    When she was done with criticizing all the clothes, she picked up a dress that she had her eye on, trying it time and time again. ¡°Do I look good?¡± She asked her personal assistant standing to the side.

    This personal assistant was someone that Father Gu had hired to pander to all of Gu Lin¡¯s needs and wants. Of course, he didn¡¯t dare say anything to the contrary andplimented Gu Lin on her beauty.

    At this moment, themotion from the crowd outside drifted into the store.

 Chapter 723 - The Idiotic Daughter of a Wealthy Family

    <h4>Chapter 723: The Idiotic Daughter of a Wealthy Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin turned around several times admiring herself in the mirror.

    ¡°The material of this dress is too cheap.¡± She said as she looked at herself. ¡°It can¡¯t bring out my elegance.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Miss, you are the most perfect person.¡± Her personal assistant was familiar with Gu Lin¡¯s temper after working for her for some time now and hurried to curry favor with her. ¡°Your elegance... @#$%...#@*#...¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Lin couldn¡¯t hear him clearly.

    The noise from outside was bing louder. The personal assistant could only smile and repeat what he said in a louder voice.

    Gu Lin still couldn¡¯t hear him clearly and was upset. ¡°What¡¯s going on outside? Why are they making such a ruckus?!¡± She shouted at the salesdy to the side. ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys in a high-ssed departmental store? Why is the ambiance here so bad? Go get them to keep quiet!¡±

    The salesdy felt wronged. She was only in charge of tending this store, not building management.

    Seeing that the salesdy was still standing there, Gu Lin shed her temper again. She pulled off the hat that she was trying on and threw it at the salesdy¡¯s face, her round eyes opening wide in anger. ¡°Get your ass out there and deal with it!¡±

    The salesdy reflexively turned away but couldn¡¯t avoid the hat. The brooch on the hat made a long cut on her face. ¡°Ah!¡± She shouted out and held a hand to her face. She panicked even more after seeing the blood flow down her hand. Girls were naturally conscious about their looks, and she was worried that she might have been disfigured from the cut. ¡°Oh no? I need to stop the blood... where can I get some tissues?¡±

    ¡°Tissues?¡± Gu Lin was in a terrible mood and gave a coldugh. ¡°What good will tissues be for you? You¡¯re already so ugly as it is, why pretend to care about your face. Just get out there and get them all to shut up!¡±

    Her words made many of the other salespeople see red.

    Objectively speaking, the salesdy that had been at the unfortunate end of her fury was not ugly at all. She was regarded as the prettiest one in the store and was going to hold a wedding with her beloved fiance in two weeks. Everyone had given her their blessings and well wishes. However, she now had a long cut on her face, and there was no knowing if it would recover in time for her wedding.

    The manager on duty shot a nce at another salesperson. ¡°Xiao Zhou, go take a look.¡± He then told Gu Lin, ¡°Miss Gu, please wait a moment. It¡¯s usually not so noisy outside. We are trying to find out what¡¯s going on. You look really good in this dress, it really suits yourplexion. You look like a royal princess.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Gu Lin¡¯s attention was sessfully diverted as she turned back to the mirror to admire herself.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s real.¡± The manager on duty continued to curry favor but felt only disdain for her in his heart. Did she think she was all high and mighty? All she had was a rich dad! If she wasn¡¯t born to a rich family, she wouldn¡¯t even qualify to be hired at this store with her intellect, or theck thereof!

    Gu Lin hadn¡¯t admired herself in the mirror for a long time before the salesperson returned from outside.

    Gu Lin was upset. ¡°Why are you back already? It¡¯s still so noisy outside! Do you not know how to solve the problem?!¡±

    The salesperson stuttered and didn¡¯t know how to exin.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The manager on duty asked.

    The salesperson nced at the manager before responding, ¡°Outside.. outside... Ye Xingling is here with a whole entourage of fans and the media. They appear to be looking for Miss Gu.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling?¡± The manager on duty looked confused. ¡°Which Ye Xingling?¡±

    ¡°That.. the Diva Ye Xingling!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t surprising that the manager on duty didn¡¯t draw the link. It was unheard of that someone of such Diva status would step foot in a department store. It was beyond fathomable!

    Gu Lin reacted first. ¡°That b*tch?! Why is she looking for me?!¡±

    <i>B*tch? </i>The salespeople balked. Miss Gu, are you in a position to call people names? <i>Miss Ye is so popr, and many in this store are her fans. Moreover, there is a crowd of her fans outside right at this moment. If they hear you calling her a ¡°b*tch¡±, their spit alone would drown you!</i>

    Ye Xingling¡¯s fans amongst the salespeople all donned dark expressions.

    Gu Lin¡¯s personal assistant realized that something was amiss and tried to rify with the salesperson that went to scout the situation. ¡°Why is Ye Xingling bringing so many people here to look for Miss Gu?! Who was the one that revealed that Miss Gu was in this store?¡±

    The personal assistant sounded ready to pin me on someone.

    The salespeople looked at each other. No one had revealed Gu Lin¡¯s whereabouts!

    The salesperson that had scouted out the situation replied, ¡°I heard the crowd saying that someone reported that Miss Ye had caused CEO Gu to suffer a stroke, and they also said that Miss Ye had falsely used Miss Gu of... instigating murder... Miss Ye is of the view that there is something amiss here and wants to speak directly with Miss Gu to get to the bottom of the matter. Everyone else is here to be witness to their face-off!¡±

    When he had gone outside, he had been taken aback by the crowd. The stairs in the department store were filled with throngs of people from the first floor up to the third. They were almost on the fourth floor.

    The personal assistant broke out in cold sweat. Oh my God... that was a gigantic entourage!

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± He advised Gu Lin. ¡°Let¡¯s leave right now. It¡¯ll be toote if we linger any longer.¡±

    However, Gu Lin refused. ¡°So what if she¡¯sing?! I¡¯m not scared of her! She wants to face-off?! Let¡¯s do just that! I¡¯ve done nothing wrong! We can see who¡¯ll be at the losing end!¡± She knew that her father had pretended to suffer a stroke and was perfectly fine. However, all she needed to do was to affirm that he had indeed suffered a stroke in front of Ye Xingling and the fans and they wouldn¡¯t be any the wiser!

    It was not as if that woman could infiltrate her house to verify!

    Gu Lin smiled confidently. ¡°Ye Xingling, you want me to lose face? Let¡¯s see who will be the one to walk away embarrassed!¡±

    The personal assistant was on tenterhooks. It was better to not get embroiled in something like this... why wasn¡¯t this idiot rich daughter listening to him? If anything were to go wrong, she would be fine since she was the Gu family¡¯s gem, anyway. He, on the other hand, might be in hot water!

    Hence, he tried to persuade her again. ¡°Miss, why put yourself at the same level as a singer and face-off with her in public? You¡¯re the daughter of a wealthy family, you needn¡¯t lower yourself to face-off with a meremoner. You¡¯re just elevating the status of that b*tch with your precious position!¡± Clearly, he was familiar with working with Gu Lin ining up with such a preposterous reason to try to get her away.

    The salespeople standing around were getting more upset by the minute. What b*tch? That was their idol, Ye Xingling!

    She was several times more precious than this idiotic rich daughter!

    However, they had to control their emotions since they were only salespeople.

    On the other side, Gu Lin felt good hearing the personal assistant¡¯s words. ¡°You¡¯re right! Why should I elevate that b*tch¡¯s status by speaking to her at all? She wants to bring fans here, she can go right ahead! We will leave now! She¡¯ll be left in the lurch. Then we¡¯ll see how she exins herself to all those people!¡±

    As she imagined the scene of Ye Xingling being a step toote, Gu Lin felt exuberant. This way, the media reporters and fans would be greatly disappointed and would take out their irritation on Ye Xingling!

 Chapter 724 - Adding Oil to the Fire

    <h4>Chapter 724: Adding Oil to the Fire</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Lin smiled as she reveled in her own intelligence.

    The personal assistant was too happy seeing that he had finally persuaded this idiotic rich girl to leave the ce. He hurriedly asked the salespeople, ¡°Is there a back door here? How can we avoid the crowd outside?¡±

    One of the salespeople told him, ¡°If you take a left outside the door, you¡¯ll see a box elevator.¡±

    The personal assistant didn¡¯t even say a word of thanks before he hustled Gu Lin out of the store.

    They had only just left when another salesperson turned and chided the salesperson who had suggested them the escape route. ¡°Xiao Zhou, why did you tell them where to go?! That rich missus was so arrogant! You should¡¯ve just let her bump into Ye Xingling and put her under fire!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Xiao Zhou gave a wry smile. ¡°She dared bully the people in our store... do you think I will let her go so easily? Even though Ye Xingling took the esctors up, there are many onlookers taking the box elevator up. The pathway to the box elevators is also packed. They want to escape? Fat hope!¡±

    The manager on duty coldlyughed as well. ¡°She hurt Jia Jia¡¯s face... how can we not take revenge for Jia Jia? Xiao Zhou, go inform the building security to stop the box elevators for a while. Tell them that one of our customers took a dress from our store before paying and we want to chase them down.¡±

    Gu Lin had left in too much of a hurry such that she was still wearing the dress from the store and hadn¡¯t settled the bill yet.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Xiao Zhou was someone that enjoyed witnessing showdowns. Thus, he hurried off to do as he was asked.

    On the other end, Xia Ling was walking up from the esctors with a crowd of people following her. Many heard that the Diva was going to have a face-off with someone and followed along to watch the scene pan out. There were also many reporters that were called over by Lin Yunan, waiting to pounce and take photos so they could be the first to break the news.

    The most terrifying was a bunch of online reporters that had switched on a live broadcast of themotion.

    They were all from sites with huge throughputs and eyeballs. As such, the entire onlinemunity was aware of the happenings in the mall and were following the scene through the live broadcasts. Many were discussing what was going on and were excitedly awaiting the oue.

    Xia Ling took her time like a queen leading her troops and walked leisurely to the store in question.

    The train of her red dress swirled around her feet as she walked, making her look even more regal amongst the crowd. She stood out from the crowd such that everyone could not tear their eyes away.

    She reached the store and walked in.

    The salespeople were long aware that she was arriving. They now donned huge smiles as they weed her. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s really Miss Ye! Wee to our store, you look even more ravishing than on television!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, you have been my idol for many years!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ye, I really love your songs!¡±

    The salespeople were happy to see her.

    Xia Ling smiled as she epted their greetings, but her gaze swept across the store seeking out Gu Lin.

    ¡°I heard that Miss Gu Lin was shopping in your store. Miss Ye is here to look for her. Where is she?¡± Lin Yunan spoke up.

    ¡°Is this Manager Lin?¡± The manager on duty piped up animatedly. ¡°Miss Gu was indeed shopping here just a while ago, but she heard that you wereing and left with her personal assistant!¡±

    ¡°What? Gu Lin ran away?!¡± One of the reporters following behind Xia Ling shouted out loudly in surprise.

    ¡°Gu Lin ran away?¡±

    ¡°Gu Lin ran away!¡±

    His words spread like wildfire through the crowd. Everyone was upset. What was this Miss Gu doing? They were all here to see them have a showdown! It was so irresponsible to just run away!

    They started to boo with no regard at all to Gu Lin¡¯s status as the daughter of a rich family.

    ¡°Do you guys think that Gu Lin is feeling guilty?¡± Someone in the crowd suggested.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Someone else said. ¡°If she wasn¡¯t feeling guilty, why would she run away? That¡¯s so unlike a wealthy daughter.... running away with her tail between her legs. The Gu Family should be ashamed of her!¡±

    ¡°Yes, indeed! So much for being a rich daughter! How useless!¡±

    They had all followed Xia Ling here and were subconsciously biased towards Xia Ling. Now that they heard that Gu Lin had run away and they no longer had a showdown to witness, they pinned all the me on Gu Lin.

    Poor Gu Lin was already being judged by the crowd without even having made an appearance.

    Xia Ling asked in a warm tone, ¡°Can you tell me where Gu Lin went towards?¡± She was extremely polite, drawing direct juxtaposition to Gu Lin¡¯s arrogance and disrespectfulness earlier. All the salespeople were impressed with just this one question.

    They congratted themselves internally for having chosen the right idol to support and told her helpfully, ¡°Gu Lin walked towards the box elevators. Miss Ye, do you want to go there too? I¡¯ll show you the way!¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and thanked them gracefully. Lin Yunan had already issued instructions to the bodyguards. Two guards separated from the pack around Xia Ling and went ahead to chase after Gu Lin.

    Xia Ling nced around and realized that there was a salesdy holding onto her face, blood seeping through her fingers. That salesdy was looking longingly at her as if she had something to say.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    That salesdy started to cry.

    The salesperson standing to the side replied on her behalf, ¡°Miss Ye, when Gu Lin was trying on the clothes here earlier, she made some unreasonable requests. Jia Jia here was unwilling toply and Miss Gu threw a hat on her face. The hat cut Jia Jia¡¯s face.¡±

    Before Xia Ling had time to react, the eyes of the tabloid reporters on the side had already lit up!

    They trained their camera lenses on the salesdy. ¡°Miss, can you put your hand down so we can see your face?¡± For a rich daughter like Gu Lin to have assaulted a salesdy was also a scandal worth reporting. After all, no reporter would mind having more news to report!

    The salesdy hesitated. However, the whole reason she wanted to get Xia Ling¡¯s attention was to publicize Gu Lin¡¯s horrible actions. There was a limit as to how much she could get back from Gu Lin for throwing the hat at her, but if she harnessed the help of the media andizens, they could all help her to seek justice!

    As such, she lowered her hand.

    Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. Oh my, there was a huge cut on the salesdy¡¯s face! Blood was flowing down and it looked frightening. Who knew if it would leave a scar? The poor girl!

    The reporters snapped photos of her face and asked, ¡°Is it painful? Did Gu Lin apologize to you?¡±

    ¡°Apologize?!¡± The manager on duty huffed and replied angrily. ¡°She blew her top at Jia Jia! Even thought Jia Jia was injured, Miss Gu wouldn¡¯t allow her to look for tissues to stop the bleeding and forced her to continue working!¡± He recounted what had happened while adding oil to the fire.

 Chapter 725 - Meeting Again

    <h4>Chapter 725: Meeting Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A buzz went around the crowd. No one had expected Miss Gu to be so vicious.

    ¡°Tsk tsk, you really can¡¯t read a book by its cover. I¡¯ve seen a photo of Gu Lin, and she¡¯s such a beautiful girl. Who would have thought that she¡¯s so evil?!¡± said someone in the crowd.

    Another chipped in, ¡°Exactly... From the looks of it, there is a chance that she might have been behind the orphanage incident.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, these rich people don¡¯t know whatpassion is.¡±

    As they were discussing, one of the online broadcast reporters trained his camera on the injured Jia Jia. The news of a salesdy having been assaulted by the rich Miss Gu spread like wildfire on the inte. Netizens were furious, and there were tons ofments demanding that Gu Lin be punished. However, they were too far away from the scene and, thus, pinned their hopes on Xia Ling to met out the punishment that Gu Lin deserved. Xia Ling¡¯s supporters grew by leaps and bounds within seconds.

    Looking at the deep cut on the salesdy¡¯s face, Xia Ling also felt that Gu Lin had gone too far.

    She said to Jia Jia, ¡°I was the cause of this matter. I¡¯m sorry that you had to suffer because of it. Let me get my assistant to take you to the hospital and get the finest doctor to treat your injury. I¡¯ll foot your medical expenses.¡± With that, she turned and gave her assistant several instructions.

    Her assistant nodded and beckoned to Jia Jia. ¡°Miss, please follow me.¡±

    Jia Jia was taken aback and touched. She had only wanted to reveal Gu Lin¡¯s wrongdoing and did not expect for her idol to show such concern.

    Words of thanks fell out of her mouth as she followed Xia Ling¡¯s assistant out of the store.

    The reporters recorded this exchange and everyone watching, whether at the venue or online,mended Xia Ling for her actions. ¡°A Diva is truly a Diva. Even though she¡¯s rich and famous, she still treats normal people well. Unlike a certain daughter from a rich family, who has nothing to show but still feels that she¡¯s better than everyone.¡± They said.

    ¡°Exactly, you¡¯re right. Gu Lin has no ss at all.¡± Netizens piped up in agreement.

    All the support was falling behind Xia Ling, and with the crowd behind her moring for justice, Xia Ling bade the salespeople goodbye and led the crowd towards the box elevators.

    The bodyguards that went ahead of Xia Ling had already cornered Gu Lin near the box elevators.

    Gu Lin was furious. ¡°What right do you have to keep me here?! Get lost, get out of my way right now!¡±

    The two bodyguards politely but firmly said, ¡°Miss Gu, please wait a moment. Miss Ye is looking for you and won¡¯t take up too much of your time.¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s face was red with anger, and her scolding got louder.

    The crowds looked on in amusement. So people with wealthy upbringing didn¡¯t act any differently from the angry women out in the streets... Oh no... In fact, they seem to be even worse off. Look at her, dressed in expensive clothing and looking all prim and proper... who would have thought that the real her was so disgusting! ¡°Gu Lin, you can¡¯t leave! Gu Lin, stay where you are!¡± The crowd shouted out.

    The personal assistant apanying Gu Lin knew that things didn¡¯t bode well. He hurriedly took a step forward in an attempt to protect Gu Lin, saying, ¡°These two gentlemen... Are you aware that your actions now constitute an illegal restriction of a person¡¯s freedom?¡±

    Clearly, he was not as scatter-brained as Gu Lin and knew how to use thew in this critical moment.

    People in the crowd started to boo him. They were just having fun watching this exciting scene pan out, why did he have to bring in thew to spoil the moment?

    The two bodyguards exchanged a nce. ¡°You are right.¡±

    A victorious look appeared on the assistant¡¯s face, and Gu Lin breathed a sigh of relief. She shouted out, ¡°Then, why aren¡¯t you getting out of the way?!¡±

    The bodyguards replied, ¡°Oh, we¡¯re not keeping you here, you¡¯re free to go. But the elevator has stopped working, and it¡¯s really crowded at the moment. There¡¯s no way for you to leave the ce.¡± They paused and nced around. ¡°It¡¯s so packed here. Are you guys able to make a way for Miss Gu to walk through? We can¡¯t move at all.¡±

    People in the crowd started tough while ying along. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right, we can¡¯t move either.¡±

    As they spoke, they packed even closer such that Gu Lin¡¯s escape routes were all blocked. Keeping someone against her will might be illegal, but to be kept in a location due to the crowd wasn¡¯t illegal, was it?

    The crowd understood this logic perfectly.

    Gu Lin could instantly tell that the crowds were against her, and she stamped her feet in frustration. ¡°You guys are being bullies!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, we really can¡¯t move!¡± Someone shouted out in false sincerity.

    ¡°Yeah! Who stepped on my foot? Ouch!¡± Someone else chipped in.

    ¡°Aiyo, I can¡¯t move as well!¡± Many others added on.

    Gu Lin was almost bursting in her anger, but she had no way out of the situation and was stuck near the elevators.

    On the other end, Xia Ling had reached the edge of the crowd near the elevators. Lin Yunan apanied her protectively, shouting as he walked, ¡°Give way, give way, everyone please give way. Miss Ye is here! Miss Ye is here!¡±

    His voice was loud, and the crowd rustled in excitement. The protagonist was here! Things were getting exciting! They pushed and shoved to make way for Xia Ling to walk through.

    Gu Lin almost spat blood seeing the crowd part. Didn¡¯t they say that there was no way for them to move earlier?! Why were they so readily making way for Xia Ling now?! She eximed, ¡°You traitors!¡± However, she didn¡¯t realize that this scene of her shouting at the crowd so ungraciously was filmed by the cameras.

    In contrast, Xia Ling looked the very picture of elegance as she walked through the crowd.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± She smiled at the exasperated Gu Lin. ¡°we meet again.¡±

    Gu Lin was even more furious seeing her appear. ¡°Ye Xingling, you despicable b*tch! Do you think it¡¯s fun getting people to trap me in this corner?! You¡¯ve already angered my daddy until he¡¯s suffered a stroke! What else is there for us to talk about?!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling responded in mock horror. ¡°Miss Gu, has your dad really suffered a stroke? Then, why are you here happily shopping and not taking care of your poor dad? Let me see... ¡± She nced at the bags that the personal assistant was carrying. ¡°You¡¯ve bought quite a few things, haven¡¯t you? All these beautiful clothes... and this pretty piece that you¡¯re wearing right now... Oh, so in the Gu Family, a daughter doesn¡¯t have to care at all when her father is ill?¡±

    Her words were like a knife piercing through. Gu Lin could only stare, stunned.

    The crowd of onlookers nodded. Yes, the news of Father Gu¡¯s stroke was just released this morning, and Miss Gu was already happily shopping here in the afternoon. Was it that she was really unfilial or Father Gu didn¡¯t have a stroke at all? Everyone stared at Gu Lin suspiciously.

    The personal assistant jumped in wanting to rectify the situation. ¡°Miss Gu doesn¡¯t know that CEO Gu has suffered a stroke yet!¡± This personal assistant was typically a clever person, but the tirade of activity caused him to be flustered and make a big blunder.

    Lin Yunan was the first to pounce on the contradiction,ughing. ¡°Don¡¯t know? But didn¡¯t Miss Gu herself just say that CEO Gu suffered a stroke just a moment ago?!¡±

 Chapter 726 - Luring Out the Truth

    <h4>Chapter 726: Luring Out the Truth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling gave Lin Yunan an impressed look.

    Following which, she gleefully added, ¡°Mr. assistant here... did you forget to get your story straight with the Gu family father-daughter pair? Your lie was just too obvious. Gosh, the Gu family is saying all sorts of things now, what exactly should I believe?¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s face was ashen. She blurted out instinctively, ¡°Of course you should believe me!¡± She turned and chided her assistant loudly. ¡°Why did you speak out? What do you know?!¡±

    The personal assistant was upset at her berating and thought to himself: <i>If not for your mistake, would I have to think of a way to salvage the situation? Fine... since you don¡¯t appreciate my kind attempt at saving you, I¡¯ll just keep quiet. After all, you¡¯ll think that I¡¯m wrong regardless of what I do.</i>

    The assistant took a step back and shut up.

    Gu Lin was satisfied with her show of authority. She had effectively made her assistant keep quiet.

    Her confidence returned and she looked back at Xia Ling. ¡°I never lie. I told you that my dad suffered a stroke because of you. What are you going to do about it?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°So Miss Gu came out shopping even though CEO Gu suffered a stroke?¡±

    Lights from the cameras all around shed non-stop, capturing this exchange in its entirety.

    People in the crowd were tutting as well. ¡°How unfilial... I would beat my daughter alive if she treated me like that.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Such a waste for the Gu family... raising her all these years.¡±

    ¡°Such an ingrate.¡±

    Gu Lin was stunned and had no idea how to turn the situation around. She anxiously turned to her personal assistant, hoping that he would jump in to help. However, the personal assistant didn¡¯t want to help her at all given how she scolded him earlier, so he merely gave her an expression of helplessness.

    Cold sweat was breaking out on Gu Lin forehead in her anxiety. After a while, she eximed, ¡°Why do you care?!¡±

    The crowd booed. Was Miss Gu admitting that she was being unfilial? Who would have thought the beautiful and well put together Miss Gu was such an ingrate?!

    Xia Ling was satisfied with Gu Lin¡¯s reaction and subsequently from the crowd. As expected, it was the right strategy to bring all these people to look for Gu Lin, catching her off-guard. Gu Lin was different from Xia Yu and Su Tang in that she was not as calm and meticulous. She would usually panic when put on the spot.

    Additionally, there were so many witnesses present that she would be unable to deny anythingter on.

    Xia Ling pressed Gu Lin even more. ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to pry into your household matters. However, I¡¯ve never met CEO Gu, so how can you say that I caused him to suffer a stroke? Please tell me, I¡¯m curious.¡±

    Gu Lin gave a coldugh. ¡°How can I say? He went to find you at the film site the other day and you refused to see him. He waited in the sun for such a long time. My dad is getting on in years... he had to wait in the sun with the wind blowing at him, feeling all anxious and frustrated... that¡¯s how he had a stroke!¡±

    Before Xia Ling could open her mouth, Lin Yunanughed out loud.

    ¡°What are youughing at?!¡± Gu Lin red furiously at him.

    ¡°Miss Gu, you really don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like to be a normal person being born with that silver spoon in your mouth, do you?¡± Lin Yunan chuckled and looked at Gu Lin like he was looking at an idiot. ¡°Xiao Ling here is a superstar... a Diva, you know? She¡¯s worked so hard to get herself into this position. Do you think she¡¯s like you who just needs to stay at home with your dear parents providing for you? Xiao Ling needs to work, whether it¡¯s in a rainy or windy day, with countless fans, reporters, business partners, etc., all waiting to look for her. If she needs to meet every single person that wants to meet her, how will she get anything done at all? She won¡¯t have time to sleep!¡±

    Everyone around nodded in agreement at Lin Yunan¡¯s words. Indeed... superstars were busy, why would she meet just anyone?

    ¡°Your dad didn¡¯t make an appointment. I didn¡¯t know he wasing at all.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°That day, my schedule waspletely packed. I can¡¯t dy all my other schedules for your dad.¡±

    ¡°What can¡¯t be dyed?¡± Gu Lin eximed. ¡°My dad wouldn¡¯t have taken too much of your time. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t even have a few minutes to spare.¡±

    ¡°Ah... I really don¡¯t.¡± Xia Ling calmly responded.

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin didn¡¯t expect her to be so direct, and was so angry she almost wanted to hit her.

    Lin Yunan piped up again. ¡°Miss Gu, did you not understand a word I said? I told you that there are countless people waiting to see Xiao Ling. If she spares a few minutes for everyone, Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t get to eat or sleep between her schedules!¡±

    ¡°My dad isn¡¯t just anybody! He¡¯s the CEO of the Gu Family Magnate!¡± Gu Lin said proudly, puffing out her chest. ¡°How can hepare to just any normal person?!¡±

    Xia Ling wanted tough out loud. This Miss Gu was really shooting herself in the foot. ¡°So what you are saying is that your dad is more important than everyone else just because he¡¯s a CEO? I should prioritize this CEO who I have no business dealings with and has no idea what I do over my fans, who follow me to my concerts across several cities, or the reporters that painstakingly stand in queue to interview me? Just because he¡¯s a CEO?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s words incited fury from the crowd.

    ¡°Yeah, why does he deserve to see her? So what if he¡¯s rich?¡±

    ¡°So people in the Gu family think they are better than everyone else? Why are you looking down on all of us?¡±

    ¡°Hmph... and to think I¡¯ve bought the Gu family perfumes before! I¡¯ll never buy them again!¡±

    ¡°Boycott the Gu family! Boycott the Gu family!¡±

    The crowd chanted. Many of them were normal working ss citizens, and Gu Lin¡¯s words brought out deep ss divide hatred. The rich tended to enjoy many perks, and it was fine if they were being low profile about it. What now... after enjoying all the riches they are openly stating that they should be given special treatment?!

    The crowd was ovee with anger.

    Gu Lin was frightened by this turn of events. From where she was standing, the chanting to ¡°Boycott the Gu family!¡± was spreading through the crowd rapidly.

    Her face turned pale, and she weakly tried to defend herself. ¡°I... I didn¡¯t mean it like that... ¡±

    Unfortunately, her voice was too soft and was drowned out by the crowd¡¯s chanting.

    Xia Ling gave her a pained look. ¡°Miss Gu, I¡¯m disgusted that you would feel that the Gu family is more important than anyone else just because you have more money. Why would you have such a wrong mindset?¡±

    Gu Lin was close to tears in her anger and anxiety. She raised her voice and eximed, ¡°I really didn¡¯t mean it like that!¡± What if everyone really boycotted the Gu family? What was she to do? What if this affected their perfume sales? Grandfather Gu would skin her alive! She shouted in an even louder voice, ¡°I really didn¡¯t mean it like that!¡±

    She was close to hysterical.

    Finally, someone heard her voice.

 Chapter 727 - Complete Victory

    <h4>Chapter 727: Complete Victory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Lin Yunan asked, ¡°Miss Gu, what did you mean?¡±

    He managed to find a microphone from somewhere and his voice was transmitted over the noise of the crowd. The crowd quietened down to await Gu Lin¡¯s reply.

    Gu Lin calmed herself down and mentally warned herself that she could not make another mistake. However, her mind was a mess. She subconsciously nced at her personal assistant, begging for help. The personal assistant was still seething but, out of fear that he would lose his job if this idiotic madam were to offend any more people, he spoke up. ¡°Ye Xingling wrongly used Miss Gu of being behind the deworming incident a few years ago. CEO Gu went to look for her out of love for his own daughter. If she didn¡¯t have a guilty conscience, why wouldn¡¯t she meet CEO Gu?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Gu Lin clung on to his words and pointed at Xia Ling with renewed confidence. ¡°My dad didn¡¯t go look for you for no good reason! You were the one that wrongly used me first!¡±

    ¡°Wrongly used?¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh, her gaze turning to the personal assistant. ¡°You think so too?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Even though the personal assistant didn¡¯t know the reason behind Xia Ling¡¯s question, he still responded definitively.

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice rang out pleasantly again, with a tinge of confusion. ¡°But I still don¡¯t understand? If the Gu family thinks that I¡¯ve wrongly used Gu Lin, then why didn¡¯t they go to the police and exin the matter? What¡¯s the use of looking for me?¡±

    The crowd nodded in agreement. Yes, there was a legal system in this country... If Gu Lin had a clear conscience, why didn¡¯t she go to the police?

    Even if the police opened an investigation into the matter, if the Gu family had nothing to hide, they would not get med for something they didn¡¯t do!

    ¡°What is the Gu family afraid of?¡± Lin Yunanughed. ¡°If you guys have a clear conscience, the police will make sure you get justice. You can even counter sue us for defamation. Why bother wasting the timeing to look for us?¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s anger got the better of her. ¡°You guys could be in cahoots with the police!¡±

    The crowd stared at her in shock. Miss Gu, how daring of you to suggest something like that! Are you questioning the independence of the legal enforcement in the country?! Everyone watching from the live stream and in the venue itself started to exchange views on the matter.

    Xia Ling, too, donned an expression of shock. ¡°Miss Gu, how can you have such a scary thought? The legal enforcement system in our country has always been fair. Why would the police be in cahoots with anyone? Taking a step back, even if someone wanted to do something under-the-table, the Gu family is powerful and well-connected. How can a small female star like mepare? Don¡¯t tell me the Gu Family Magnate cannot rival my small Phoenix Down Corporation!¡±

    Her words drewughter from the crowds.

    Yes, the Gu Family Magnate was a multi-national corporation. They were superior to Xia Ling¡¯s Phoenix Down Corporation in terms of manpower and resources. What¡¯s more, Xia Ling¡¯spany was merely for administrative purposes, only operating to break even. Its working capital was still the same since the time of registration, and there was no intention to make thepany public. How could itpare to the Gu Family Magnate?

    ¡°Exactly... even if the police were to help anyone unfairly, it would be the Gu family!¡±

    ¡°Is Gu Lin dumb? Does she feel that her family can¡¯t handle corrupt policemen?¡±

    ¡°Haha, she¡¯s not dumb at all... that¡¯s just an excuse. The police wouldn¡¯t even take bribes, and her family has no ammunition regardless of how much money they have. They probably have something to hide and were afraid that the police would rule against them, thus wanting to look for Miss Ye to privately settle matters!¡±

    ¡°That looks like the case!¡±

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s the most logical exnation!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Gu Lin, stop ying dumb! We know that you were behind the deworming incident!¡± People in the crowd cupped their hands over their mouths like loudhailers and shouted out.

    ¡°Yes, yes! Just admit it!¡±

    It was pandemonium. Everyone was shouting out for Gu Lin to admit her crimes.

    Gu Lin didn¡¯t expect things to turn out this way and panicked. ¡°No... No... I didn¡¯t! I didn¡¯t harm the two kids at the orphanage!¡± She backed away as she spoke. ¡°Let me go... I want to get away from here!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes narrowed as she watched Gu Lin, who was close to hysterics. She had a gut feeling that she would be able to end this once and for all. ¡°You really didn¡¯t harm the kids? Why did the kids appear in my dreams yesterday with blood flowing down their faces, saying that they were killed by you and want to seek revenge on you?¡±

    ¡°It was not me!¡± Gu Lin screamed and grabbed at her own hair with both hands. ¡°They were killed by Nangong Qingya! Nangong Qingya was the mastermind behind everything! I only helped to call the factory and the people on the ground! I didn¡¯t know that the two kids would die! I thought that they would be saved even if they suffered food poisoning! Isn¡¯t that how it usually happens on television?!¡± The dream that Xia Ling described terrified Gu Lin so much that she hysterically rambled out the truth.

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The crowd was now truly shocked at the big secret that Gu Lin was revealing there and then! So it was true that there was a behind story for the death of the two kids. Even though Gu Lin wasn¡¯t the mastermind, she was an aplice in this matter!

    ¡°How cruel! Why would you bring harm to kids!¡±

    ¡°Murderers should be punished severely!¡±

    ¡°Murderers should be punished severely!¡±

    The crowds¡¯ chants seemed like they were going to blow through the roof.

    In the midst of the chants, Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally made Gu Lin admit her crimes in public with much difficulty. There was no way that she was going to get away with this after blurting out the truth in front of so many.

    Everyone had to pay what they owed, and murder should be paid with life. Hopefully, this would allow the two kids to rest in peace.

    Someone had tipped off the police and sirens could be heard outside the building. It wasn¡¯t long before the police arrived and took Gu Lin away.

    Online and offline,izens celebrated the fact that justice was being served after all these years, and that evil did not run free from legal action.

    A reporter posted a picture online in the midst of the chatter.

    It said that the CEO of the Gu Family Magnate didn¡¯t suffer a stroke at all. He was participating in an important meeting today and had just walked out of a high-end club after a long discussion with his business partners.

    Netizens reacted angrily. So CEO Gu was lying?

    Netizens were not dumb and soon purported that Father Gu was probably trying to save his daughter, wanting to appear like they were on moral high ground and to put Xia Ling in a bad position. Xia Ling¡¯s numerous fans were furious, rushing over to post angry messages andments on the Gu Family Magnate official website and flooding online perfume forums. They went under the ruse of revealing the truth and showing the true colors of the Gu Family.

    ¡°Filled with liars ¡ª how can the Gu Family Magnate be trusted?¡±

    ¡°A murderer and a liar run thepany. Who dares buy the Gu Family perfumes any more?¡±

    ¡°Kicking someone to the curb ¡ª why they had a vendetta against the endorsement model for Meteor Wings.¡±

    Each title was more shocking and eye-catching than the previous one.

    The matter kept spiraling outwards.

    The Gu Family Magnate¡¯s perfume sales plummeted, and all kinds of negative news started to be dug out ¡ª them withholding employee pay, cutting corners at the factories, bribing officials...

    The Gu Family Magnate found themselves in hot soup all of a sudden and stock prices fell drastically.

 Chapter 728 - Time Flies

    <h4>Chapter 728: Time Flies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    On the other hand, Xia Ling was experiencing much more peaceful days.

    After the police took Gu Lin away, she was called in a few times by the police for statements and was interviewed by many media channels. Otherwise, she was able to y with Shaohui andpose one or two new songs.

    Shaohui was well-fed by Xia Ling and was growing to be more adorable and chubby day-by-day.

    Li Lei came to visit them both often, bringing with him all kinds of good food and fun toys.

    This day, he came over to knock on her door again with both hands full of goodies.

    Shaohui could already identify his father by his footsteps. Hearing Li Lei approach, he ran over to the door on his short legs, opening the door before Xia Ling gave permission to.

    ¡°Daddy, Daddy!¡± He gave Li Lei a big hug.

    Li Lei kissed him on the cheek before asking, ¡°Where¡¯s mummy?¡±

    Shaohui said, ¡°Mummy is making tea in the back. Uncle Lin gave us some new red tea leaves today. Mummy really likes them.¡± Uncle Lin was Lin Yunan. Being Xia Ling¡¯s manager, he would sometimes buy some things for her.

    However, Li Lei was not happy hearing this. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯ll bring better tea leaves for you both.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Shaohui was d. ¡°I want to drink milk tea. The one that¡¯s really fragrant!¡±

    Li Leiughed and agreed. Raising his head, he saw Xia Ling standing in the living room looking at them while holding a tray of teacups in her hands. Her side view was beautiful, and the afternoon sunshineing in from the windows appeared to shroud her in a veil. Her exquisite eyes and brows were sculpted like fine art, and Li Lei could not take his eyes away from her.

    He felt his heart soften seeing her like that.

    This was what it felt to have a family and a home. His definition of home was to have a woman like her in the house, and regardless of what he had to go through outside, as long as she was there, everything felt blissful.

    However, thedy in the living room didn¡¯t seem to share his views.

    Xia Ling greeted him with a smile but sounded mildly put out. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Li Lei was still carrying Shaohui in his arms.

    Xia Ling was unhappy. It seemed that her son was more clingy to Li Lei than he was to her. Where was the logic in that? She put down the tea set in her hands and carried Shaohui over. The child was heavy, and she almost lost her footing.

    ¡°Be careful, don¡¯t fall... ¡±

    Li Lei hadn¡¯t finished his sentence but Xia Ling was already ring at him. ¡°I can handle it!¡±

    Big Boss Li rubbed his nose awkwardly.

    Little Shaohui took all these in as he looked from one parent to the next. He stretched out his stubby arms and encircled his mummy¡¯s neck, kissing her on the cheek. ¡°Mummy, mummy! Daddy brought some beautiful flowers! Can we arrange them in a vase together?¡±

    It was only now that Xia Ling noticed Li Lei was holding a bouquet of light pink roses. With a few dew drops on the petals of each flower bud, they looked very pretty. He had somehow managed to ensure that the flowers weren¡¯t damaged despite carrying Shaohui in one arm and the flowers in the other. She looked down at Shaohui in her own arms. Why was it that Li Lei seemed to carry him with such ease, whereas she always felt that Shaohui was really heavy?

    Xia Ling felt upset again.

    Li Lei carefully offered, ¡°Shall I...?¡±

    Before she could re at him again, Li Lei hurriedly pushed the bouquet of flowers into her arms in exchange for little Shaohui. The child was indeed rather heavy, and he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Shaohui, you need to go on a diet. See, mummy can hardly carry you now.¡±

    The child was mildly taken aback and pouted. <i>Hmph, mummy is being all jealous, but daddy is just biased. Am I getting heavier because I am getting fatter?! No! I¡¯m a growing child! What diet... boohooo...</i>

    He unhappily grabbed at his father¡¯s clothes.

    Xia Ling piped up in an unhappy tone. ¡°No, little Shaohui doesn¡¯t need to go on a diet. What happens if he gets too hungry? Are you his real dad or not?!¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t respond. Fine... it seemed that he had miscalcted in making thatment.

    He carried little Shaohui in one hand and reached out to hold Xia Ling¡¯s hand in the other. The happy family walked over to the ss windows on one end of the bungalow, where they found a tall and slender crystal vase, and carefully arranged the flowers in it.

    ¡°How nice.¡± The sun reflected off the dew drops in the flower petals, the pink mixing with the sunlight to form a dreamy gleam. Xia Ling admired the vase of flowers with her chin in her hands andmented.

    ¡°Beautiful indeed.¡± Li Leimented as well, but he was looking at her by the window. The rosesplemented her perfectly. She was picture perfect. He subconsciously reached out and ran his hands through her long hair.

    She didn¡¯t move. Unknowingly, even to herself, she grew in her eptance of hispany. Even if he had invaded her life, it was so natural and didn¡¯t feel out of ce at all. She reached out to touch the pink roses gently. ¡°I wonder how long these will bloom for?¡±

    ¡°If you like them, I¡¯ll bring some every day.¡± Li Lei responded warmly.

    She shook her head. ¡°Brother will be here soon.¡± Some days earlier, Xia Moyan had told her that he was going toe for a visit. She discussed with Li Lei that they should go to his mountain vi in the outskirts of the city since her brother liked to drink tea. The teas in the mountain were splendid and the view spectacr with the mountainousndscape andkes. It was also the ce that Li Lei and she had first met. She was sure that her brother would like it there.

    Li Lei recalled their discussion. ¡°It¡¯s all prepared. We can leave tomorrow or the day after and stay there until Brotheres.¡± He addressed her brother like he was his own brother as well.

    Actually, he had taken this matter to heart and instructed the caretaker to tidy the mountain vi over and over.

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Ok.¡±

    The next day, they left for the mountain vi.

    The autumn scenery near the mountain vi was gorgeous with clear waters and vibrant colors of the flora. Xia Ling remembered the time when she hade here as a trainee to film the MV.

    Then, she had still been trapped in the past memories with Pei Ziheng, vowing never to fall in love with another person. Now? She had Li Lei and little Shaohui. Life was so unpredictable.

    ¡°It was under the Phoenix flower tree... ¡± Li Lei pointed out the tree to Xia Ling. ¡°I was standing under this tree listening to you sing. That was the first time I heard such a wonderful voice. Then, I was thinking, what would this girl with such a splendid voice be like?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Nothing special.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re very special.¡± Li Lei said seriously. ¡°You¡¯ve been through so much and have walked such a difficult path. But you¡¯re still so beautiful... ¡±

    Her beauty was not just skin deep, but one that emanated from her bones.

    She aged well, and the years of turmoil never took away the innocence in her eyes and didn¡¯t make her withdraw from everyone else. Now, she was still living life to the fullest, smiling ravishingly, and could even bring a whole crowd to interrogate the wealthy missus when she was angry...

    It seemed that she was never affected by the ways of the world.

    In the eyes of some, this might be a weakness, but it was something that was very attractive to Li Lei, and the thing that he was willing to protect for the rest of his life.

 Chapter 729 - The Controlling Brother and the Husband

    <h4>Chapter 729: The Controlling Brother and the Husband</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling and Shaohui stayed in the mountain vi for several days.

    Xia Moyan arrived a few dayster. When the man in the white shirt appeared amidst the falling leaves, it seemed that the world faded away, making his presence all the more distinct and clear.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling saw him first and ran over to him, holding up her skirt so that she wouldn¡¯t trip over.

    A smile appeared on Xia Moyan¡¯s usually emotionless face. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She happily looked up at him. It was four years since she hadst seen him, and she missed him dearly. She wondered how he had been all these years. Hmm... he still looked like his old self, and there was no indication that he had grown any older. The white shirt that he always woreplemented his skin tone, and he was like a blooming snow lotus.

    He was truly a very attractive man.

    Seeing her look at Xia Moyan with such great awe, Li Lei was a little putout. How can his Xiao Ling look at another man like that? He looked around and saw Shaohui standing by his side, holding his hand. He could not resist but prod him and ask, ¡°Hey, little Shaohui, do you miss your uncle? Hurry, go wee him.¡±

    Shaohui looked up at his dad with a confused expression, before looking over at his mum and uncle. ¡°Oh... daddy, are you jealous?¡±

    ¡°Rascal...¡± Li Lei was mildly embarrassed from having been called out by his son. He pretended to be upset. ¡°I¡¯m not jealous. Your uncle raised you... shouldn¡¯t you be weing him since he¡¯s here? Quick, go over there.¡±

    Shaohui blinked innocently. Hmph... why won¡¯t Daddy admit that he¡¯s jealous? What a liar.

    He shrugged. <i>Forget it, I¡¯ll help you since you¡¯re my dad.</i>

    Little Shaohui breathed deeply before running over on his short legs towards Xia Moyan. As he ran, he shouted out, ¡°Uncle, uncle, uncle!¡± He hugged tightly onto Xia Moyan¡¯s thigh.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s attention was sessfully diverted. He lowered his head and said, ¡°Ah, isn¡¯t this little Shaohui?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me, it¡¯s me!¡± Little Shaohui shouted out gleefully. ¡°Uncle, I¡¯ve missed you so much!¡±

    Xia Moyan gently patted Shaohui on the head.

    As Xia Ling watched this scene, she suddenly thought of a question that she had forgotten to ask. ¡°You¡¯re that uncle that Shaohui always talks about?!¡± When she first met Shaohui, he constantly told her about his uncle. When she asked him who his uncle was, Shaohui wouldn¡¯t tell her. It was really Xia Moyan!

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan calmly admitted.

    Xia Ling was upset in an instant. ¡°Xia Moyan, you lied to me! You knew that Shaohui was my real son from a long time ago, right? For so many years... all these years... ¡± She wanted to shout and scold Xia Moyan, but as she spoke her voice caught while recalling all the hardships she went through. She had thought that her son had died... she was filled with guilt for nights and days... regret... torture...

    Her tears started to fall.

    Xia Moyan had been prepared to face her wrath and insults. After all, it was just words. As long as she had an avenue to throw her temper all would be fine. However, he didn¡¯t expect her to burst out crying and was at a loss of what to do. ¡°Don¡¯t cry... ¡± He reached out, wanting to hug her.

    She pushed his hands away angrily. ¡°You imbecile!¡±

    Her scream left him stunned.

    Even Xia Ling couldn¡¯t understand why she was suddenly so ovee with tears. She thought she understood that her brother had kept Shaohui¡¯s identity from her for fear that she would jinx him. Yet, her tears fell uncontrobly when she recalled all the turmoil in the years past.

    She couldn¡¯t stop her tears from falling.

    Xia Moyan had never had to deal with crying girls. In his world, all the girls regarded him with respect and fear, tending to be very nervous. Nobody would dare cry so uncontrobly in front of him. He was out of his depth here. He would rather face the toughest sorcery... but the problem here had to be solved...

    He tried to reach out to hug her again.

    He was blocked again.

    However, this time it wasn¡¯t Xia Ling that blocked him, but...

    Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the man that dared block him. <i>Rascal... who do you think you are? My sister might have pushed me away, but she¡¯s my sister... And you? Who are you?</i>

    Preceptor Xia¡¯s eyes seemed to be full of fury.

    <i>Boohoohoo... Uncle looks so scary.</i>

    Little Shaohui recalled the times that he had seen Uncle show such an expression. That was always when someone was in for trouble. Shaohui took a step back carefully, wanting to be away from the outburst. On the other end, the man that his uncle was ring at ¡ª his father ¡ª was standing motionless like a statue, hugging his beloved woman in his arms.

    Li Lei stared straight back at Preceptor Xia, before smiling. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t worry, Xiao Ling will be fine. I¡¯ll take good care of her.¡± As he spoke, he patted Xia Ling on the back,forting her.

    Xia Ling was still sniffling against his chest.

    Xia Moyan said through clenched teeth, ¡°Who¡¯s your Brother?¡± How did this man dare snatch his sister from him? Did he have a death wish? His darling sister was not someone that could be messed with!

    Unfortunately, Li Lei had the exact same thought as him.

    His beloved woman was not to be touched by anyone else!

    Even if it was her own brother, it was still uneptable!

    Hence, when Xia Moyan was about to hug Xia Ling, Li Lei hade between them decisively. Now, all the thoughts that he had before about not offending Xia Ling¡¯s brother, especially one that was so powerful, was long forgotten. Li Lei had only one thought: ¡°Don¡¯t touch my girl!¡±

    He hugged Xia Ling tighter, seemingly trying to stake his im.

    He was still smiling widely on the surface. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m Xiao Ling¡¯s man.¡± He answered Xia Moyan¡¯s question at face value, but at the same time reminding him: your sister is now taken, don¡¯t hug her so freely.

    ¡°Very good...¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s death re slowly dissipated as he reverted to his usual calm nature.

    However, little Shaohui was getting even more nervous. <i>Daddy, daddy, do you know that you¡¯ve just offended Uncle? Thest person that offended Uncle is already up in heaven!</i>

    <i>Boohoohoo... I don¡¯t want Daddy to go to heaven...</i>

    Little Shaohui¡¯s eyes clouded over as he was close to tears.

    Xia Moyan slowly regarded his sister. ¡°Xiao Ling, is this your man?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little fatigued from all the crying and her tears had almost stopped. Hearing her brother¡¯s question, she realized that she was being hugged by Li Lei. His embrace was too warm, and she was greedy for more of it. This thought shocked her and she sprung away from Li Lei. ¡°Who said he¡¯s my man?!¡±

    Her face was a little red as she turned her head away.

 Chapter 730 - Who Is Your Brother

    <h4>Chapter 730: Who Is Your Brother</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei wanted to hold her hand to no avail.

    Xia Moyan calmly looked at Li Lei. ¡°So who is your brother?¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Even Shaohui did not dare to look at him directly. <i>Uncle, why are you bullying dad? We just reunited as a family of three not long ago. What if you scare dad away?</i>

    He cautiously walked forward and held his mom¡¯s and dad¡¯s hands in an attempt to heal the cracks in the family. Unexpectedly, his small hand was grabbed before he could hold his dad¡¯s hand. It was his uncle.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go into the house,¡± Uncle spoke easily as he led Shaohui and his mother towards the house. He did not even bother to nce at Shaohui¡¯s father whom he coldly ignored as he walked towards the mountains.

    Li Lei was abandoned miserably.

    Looking at the two adults and one child, he really wanted to run up to hold Xiao Ling¡¯s hand, but he knew that his future brother-inw was still angry at him and it was better not to provoke him. Well, at least his future brother-inw was not holding his beloved woman¡¯s hand...

    As for his son?

    Li Lei looked at his son jealously. He gritted his teeth. <i>Young brat, how dare you to steal your mom¡¯s hand in front of your dad? In the future, I will teach you a lesson...</i>

    With different states of mind, the group of people entered the mountains.

    The scenery of the vi in the mountains was beautiful. The breeze was apanied by the rustling of bamboo leaves. In the bamboo forest, there was a stream with a wooden bridge above it, which lead to the ce for tea tasting.

    Xia Moyan did not say a thing as he led them into the vi. However, he secretly looked around at the environment and realized that, although this vi was not very big, he felt that the area was very profound due to the solitary house and the surrounding forest. Since the location and construction of the house were done by masters, the feng shui was top notch. No wonder his sister met her sycamore wood here that year.

    With this in mind, he was somewhat unhappy. <i>Hmph, cheap score!</i>

    He held Shaohui¡¯s hand, walked to the tea room and sat down.

    Xia Ling sat beside him. Li Lei was thest, so he asked someone to serve tea.

    The best Lao Shan white tea was served. It was clear and had a dark fragrance. Li Lei was a little distressed. If he knew that his future brother-inw wanted topete for Xiao Ling, he would not have asked for such good tea and would have changed it to some other random tea leaves. However, since it was already served, he could only pretend that nothing happened. He asked, ¡°Brother, does it taste good?¡±

    Xia Moyan slowly took a sip.

    In all fairness, the Li Family¡¯s tea leaves were not bad, and he was quite satisfied. However, as his future brother-inw, how could he be bought over so easily? Xia Moyan said in a reserved and clear manner, ¡°It¡¯s just passable.¡±

    Li Lei almost wanted to throw the tea set at him.

    He smiled hypocritically at Xia Moyan. ¡°Can I ask why you are here today?¡± He meant that he wanted him to quickly tell them what was going on and quickly leave so that he would not remain an eyesore.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was clear as usual. ¡°I¡¯m here to visit Xiao Ling.¡±

    With one sentence, Li Lei was at a loss of words.

    Li Lei wanted to cry.

    Beside him, Shaohui used his small hands to cover his eyes as he could not bear to see his father being bullied like that.

    However, his mother looked as if she could not see the tension between the two men and drank her tea as if nothing happened. She evenmended the tea. ¡°This tea is not bad. It¡¯s stronger than the tea you usually brew for me.¡±

    The speaker had no intentions, but the listener read his own meaning into it.

    Xia Moyan only felt that the blue veins on his forehead were protruding. One reason was that his stupid sister exposed him by praising the Lao Shan white tea, and another reason was that he was baffled. How could this young brat brew tea that was of lower quality for his sister on a daily basis? Sure enough, he was only trying to put on a show in front of his future brother-inw!

    If the Xia Family were to give a score out of hundred to grade this future son-inw, based on this point alone, Li Lei would have all his marks deducted. Including the faux pas just now, in Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes, Li Lei was already a failure.

    He started to seriously consider if he should use this opportunity topletely destroy Li Lei.

    Besides, there were thousands of sycamore woods in the world, and he was certain that he would be able to find someone else who was satisfactory.

    Beside him, Shaohui saw his murderous look and was so scared that he almost cried.

    ¡°Actually, the tea that dad usually brews is also quite nice to drink.¡± After some thought, he still decided to help his idiotic father. ¡°It¡¯s my favorite milk tea.¡±

    Only then did Xia Moyan¡¯s expression ease.

    Xia Ling, who waspletely oblivious to what happened, asked as she sipped on her tea, ¡°Brother, why exactly are you here today? When can I announce Shaohui¡¯s identity to the world?¡±

    After hearing his sister¡¯s question, Xia Moyan finally talked about the crux of the matter. ¡°I came over because of this. Now, Shaohui is still quite safe by your side. That¡¯s because you¡¯ve done some charity, so the situation is better than expected. You only have toplete the final step before you can be officially recognized as a family of three.¡±

    The three of them looked at one another in delight.

    ¡°Brother, what is the final step?¡± Li Lei couldn¡¯t help but ask first.

    ¡°I¡¯m not your brother.¡± Xia Moyan said grudgingly and paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°Everyone has to prepare a bowl and a small, sharp knife. Oh yes, prepare a few sheets of disinfectant gauze too.¡±

    Li Lei quickly told his subordinates to bring those items over.

    After a while, the items were given to him on a delicate tray.

    Xia Moyan raised his pale hand, ced the bowl on the table, picked up the dagger and grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s hand.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Li Lei asked rmingly.

    Xia Moyan looked at him faintly. ¡°Drawing blood.¡±

    Li Lei became even more nervous. ¡°Why do you have to draw blood? Is there any other way?¡± His Xiao Ling was afraid of pain the most. If she were cut by a knife, how could she bear the suffering?

    Xia Moyan looked at him like he was looking at an idiot.

    However, Xia Lingforted him. ¡°I will be fine.¡± How could her biological brother hurt her? This must be a necessary ritual for the family to be recognized.

    Xia Moyan was not happy. Females were really biased towards outsiders. How could this girl support an outsider so much?

    He adjusted the angle of the knife and made a small incision on her palm. He cut her palm lightly and urately. Instantly, blood flowed out and fell in the bowl on the table.

    Li Lei looked at Xia Ling nervously. ¡°Is it painful?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything.¡±

    Xia Moyan snorted in his heart. He learned bloodletting from his father since he was three years old and his skills were almost perfect now. It would be impossible for him to hurt his sister.

    Li Lei was slightly relieved. Heartbroken, he took her hand and bandaged it.

    On the other hand, Xia Moyan took Shaohui¡¯s hand and did the same thing. Shaohui was a little worried. ¡°Uncle, don¡¯t hurt me.¡±

    Xia Moyan faintly said, ¡°It won¡¯t hurt.¡± Sure enough, he painlessly made a light incision on Shaohui¡¯s palm.

    Finally, it was Li Lei¡¯s turn.

 Chapter 731 - Before the Ritual

    <h4>Chapter 731: Before the Ritual</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei felt that he was very unlucky.

    Xia Moyan looked at his expression and thought, <i>Of course, it¡¯s not going to be painless.</i>

    Sure enough, when Xia Moyan grabbed his hand, the angle at which he cut his hand was different. With one slice, the blood was drained from Li Lei¡¯s face. He couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath and break out in cold sweat.

    This...

    This was his future brother-inw¡¯s workmanship, it was truly awe-inspiring. When he did not want to hurt others, it was so painless that women and children like Xiao Ling and Shaohui didn¡¯t feel a thing. However, when he wanted to hurt others, he was really ruthless. Li Lei had been on the battlefield for many years and experienced many life or death situations, but with one cut by Xia Moyan... Oh my god, it hurt more than being injured on the battlefield that year!

    It was so painful that he almost fainted.

    His body trembled, and he felt that he was sweating all over. There were bursts of warmth and coldness on his body, and the intense feeling of pain almost made him faint. He heard his grandfather say that there were many acupuncture points in a person, and some acupuncture points were so painful that people wished for death instead. Could it be that his future brother-inw wickedly picked that acupuncture point?

    Xia Moyan clearly looked at him. ¡°Does it hurt?¡±

    With some difficulty, Li Lei looked up with a blurry vision. When he saw his future brother-inw¡¯s indifferent expression, he was furious. Damn him! He cut him so painfully and acted as if he did not do anything wrong? Why was he such a jerk?! Schemer! Wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing!

    He used all the curse words he knew to scold The Preceptor who was high up in the air in his heart.

    On the surface, he acted calmly. ¡°Pain? How is that possible.¡± Even his voice was low andzy, and he sounded more rxed than Xia Moyan.

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t help but have some respect for him.

    He picked the most deadly acupuncture point. That year when he was learning from his father, he was poked by this acupuncture point for the first time and it was so painful that he cried... At that time, he was only poked, but now, Li Lei¡¯s skin was cut by a knife. He could only imagine how painful it was.

    Finally, this man had some redeeming points.

    Looking at Li Lei who was resisting the pain, Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes softened.

    Xia Ling also felt that something was wrong with Li Lei and asked in concern, ¡°Are you ok?¡±

    The most intense wave of pain at the start was already over. Li Lei took deep breaths secretly and smiled warmly at her. ¡°It¡¯s ok. I just wasn¡¯t prepared just now, so I had a shock.¡± Seeing that she was still a little worried, he added. ¡°Don¡¯t you trust your own brother¡¯s skills? It doesn¡¯t hurt at all.¡±

    Half doubtfully, Xia Ling finally nodded.

    Only then did Li Lei discreetly sigh in relief. Compared to his pain, he was more worried about Xiao Ling worrying about him. After pacifying Xiao Ling, he looked at his future brother-inw and smiled more radiantly.

    Xia Moyan was speechless.

    He tolerated it since he saw how much this young brat cared about his sister. After that, the arrogant and reserved Preceptor made a decision to stop torturing him.

    Looking curiously at the blood in the bowl, Shaohui asked, ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s this for?¡±

    Without rush, Xia Moyan took out a quaint box and opened it. Cold air rushed out as the box was filled with ice and a translucent thread. Xia Moyan took out the long silk thread and dipped it in the mixture of blood.

    After a while, he took it out. The thread was dyed red.

    The three of them looked curiously at Xia Moyan¡¯s actions.

    Xia Moyan was very fast and his movements wereplicated and beautiful. Soon, the silk thread was tied into a wishing knot and ced back in the small ice box. He pushed the box to Xia Ling. ¡°Take it.¡±

    Xia Ling was dumbfounded. ¡°Is the ritual over?¡± Did it mean that from now on, she could announce the truth about her son to the world and live happily? With this thought, she was extremely emotional.

    However, Xia Moyan dampened her spirits. ¡°The ritual hasn¡¯t even started yet.¡±

    Xia Ling was thoroughly unwell. ¡°What were we doing just now then?!¡±

    Matter-of-factly, Xia Moyan said, ¡°Just now, it was just preparation for the ritual.¡± After that, he took out a map, opened it, and pointed at a red spot on it. ¡°You have to go to the northernmost snow-capped mountain and bury this box at the peak. Remember, from the foot of the mountain to the top, the three of you have to walk by foot. You can¡¯t use cable cars, helicopters or help from others.¡±

    Xia Ling was still quietly studying the mountain.

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°The entire family of three has to go?¡± He was not afraid, but what about Xiao Ling and Shaohui? Were they able to tolerate the suffering?

    As if he saw through his thoughts, Xia Moyan said, ¡°Yes. The entire family of three has to go. You can¡¯t have one less or one more person.¡± He obviously only wanted this eyesore sycamore wood to go up the mountain alone. How could he bear to see his own sister and young nephew take such a risk?

    Unfortunately, there was no other way out.

    No matter how powerful the Xia Family was, they could not vite thews of nature.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression darkened.

    After Xia Moyan¡¯s speech, Li Lei also realized that if there was another way out, his future brother-inw who did not like him would seize the opportunity to send him up the mountain alone.

    He smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Ok. Is there a time limit?¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at him in approval. This piece of broken wood had some redeeming qualities. When it was time to get down to business, he was able to ask the correct questions quickly. He liked speaking to smart people. ¡°There isn¡¯t a time limit. You can give Xiao Ling and Shaohui some special training courses. Once they¡¯ve adapted, you can scale the mountain.¡±

    Li Lei also had this n in mind and nodded.

    Things were settled.

    Xia Ling was not very worried about herself. She had already died once and was able to remain calm in the face of such a big expedition. However, she was worried about Shaohui. He was five years old and very young. How could he climb up such a steep snow-capped mountain?

    The afternoon sun shined brightly.

    The staff in the vi purchased the training props and built a room to simte the cold and oxygen deficient environment in the snow-capped mountains. Across the ss, Xia Ling looked as Shaohui experienced the environment in the room. His chubby face was very red and his teeth could not stop chattering.

    She couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious.

    Li Lei walked behind her and looked at their son in the ss room. Although they were separated by oneyer of transparent ss, the environment inside waspletely different. He was very proud of his son. In such a harsh environment, his young child persevered. He could see that he was very calm as he climbed up the simted snow and peaks in the room. It was his first time, but he already remembered all of the important points and did not fall into the snow at all.

 Chapter 732 - Li Xiao Lei, The One Who Seeks Death

    <h4>Chapter 732: Li Xiao Lei, The One Who Seeks Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°He will be an outstanding warrior.¡± Li Lei said.

    Many children from the Li Family headquarters received strict training from a young age but none of them were as outstanding as Shaohui. This child had a natural talent in many things. In time, he would surely be a huge weapon.

    However, Xia Ling was scornful. She did not want him to be a warrior and only wanted him to be safe.

    Li Lei stepped forward and ced his hand on her shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Nothing will happen on the snow-capped mountains. I will protect both of you. Even if God wants to get to you, he will have to step on my dead body to do so.¡±

    ¡°What rubbish are you saying?¡± She became anxious and red at him.

    Before they left, could this person at least say something auspicious?

    Looking at her somewhat annoyed look, he smiled, lowered his head and kissed her lightly. She was a little taken aback and wanted to turn away, but he held her jaw in ce with one hand, half-forcing her to ept him.

    A lingering kiss.

    His breath was a mix of the fragrance of the grass, the coldness of snow and ice from the room just now and the warmth of his own body, creating an intoxicating taste that was unique to him. Xia Ling was lost in his kiss. Her petite body gradually became soft and she couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    Li Lei ced his hands in her cloak and touched her uncovered waist.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice was hoarse.

    An electrical current passed through Xia Ling¡¯s body. It was numbing. She wanted to escape and also wanted more at the same time. Her mind was nk and in disarray due to his caress.

    Li Lei wasn¡¯t any better. He was already fascinated with her from a long time ago. He pressed her against the translucent ss wall and deepened the kiss.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± She regained more of her senses when she felt the coldness of the wall. She realized that she was outdoors, in broad daylight, and a small child was still receiving training in the room behind her. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this...¡± She weakly said, her voice as soft as a mosquito.

    Li Lei ignored her and continued to do as he pleased.

    As if he felt something, Shaohui, who had been focused, suddenly turned around and looked outside. He saw his mother being pressed against the cold crystal clear wall by his father. The pale golden sunlight shined on their bodies, making them look like a painting of paradise.

    ¡°Oh no, this isn¡¯t something that good children should see...¡± Shaohui mumbled to himself and covered his eyes with his small hands. However, he couldn¡¯t help but secretly raise his fingers to observe. In a careless moment, he slipped and fell into the snow.

    The trainer was speechless.

    He reached out to help the child out and reprimanded him. ¡°You have to focus, understand?! If you really look around when you¡¯re on the mountain, you will die!¡±

    Shaohui was covered in snow but still couldn¡¯t help but look at the direction of his parents.

    The trainer really wanted to rush out to scream at the couple which was lost in their kiss. Couldn¡¯t they just stay away and not distract the child?! However, after considering that his sry was paid by them, he endured it...

    He turned around, blocked Shaohui¡¯s line of sight and continued to reprimand him with a serious expression. ¡°From the first day of training, I told you that you can¡¯t look around when you¡¯re walking. If you want to look around, you have to stop first. Understand?!¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Shaohui responded obediently. After a moment, he asked curiously, ¡°Coach, if sister and Uncle Li kiss like this on the snow-capped mountains, will it be very dangerous? What if they fall into the snow during their kiss? What should I do?¡±

    The trainer was so angry that he startedughing. ¡°Is this something you should be worried about?¡±

    After being shouted at, Shaohui drooped his shoulders and continue his training.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling was weak due to the kiss and suddenly felt a certain part of his body gradually bulging. She reached out and pushed him. ¡°Don¡¯t...¡±

    Li Lei ignored her, carried her and strode to the room.

    Just as he took a few steps, he was stopped by someone.

    ¡°Get...¡± At this time, men were usually very aggressive, and Li Lei was no exception. What¡¯s more, the person in his arms was a beauty that he had missed for years. However, before he could say ¡°get lost,¡± he suddenly swallowed back his words andughed dryly. ¡°Brother... brother.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at him expressionlessly.

    Xia Ling opened her misty eyes and her cheeks were flushed. Before she could figure out what had happened, she said breathlessly, ¡°Let me down...¡±

    Suddenly, she felt her body soar. A powerful hand grabbed her cor and ced her on the floor.

    When her feet hit the ground, she was more awake. She raised her eyes and looked at her otherworldly brother. She recalled what happened with Li Lei and realized that her brother had seen them by ident. Oh god...

    Xia Ling turned red and wished she could bury her head somewhere.

    ¡°Are you done with the training today?¡± Xia Moyan asked coldly.

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± She stumbled. ¡°I.. I will return to my room to rest.¡±

    She fled the scene.

    Li Lei was left alone to face his furious future brother-inw.

    ¡°Brother, I...¡± Li Leiughed dryly and tried to exin.

    Xia Moyan gritted his teeth. ¡°Your physical strength is not bad, huh?¡±

    This... Li Lei¡¯s mind had a ckout. How should he answer this sort of question? If he denied it, he would be throwing away his manly pride. But if he said yes, he would be adding oil to the fire!

    Li Lei wanted to cry. He med himself for not creating more security checkpoints. Why did nobody alert him that his future brother-inw was approaching?

    After thinking about it for some time, he looked at his future brother-inw who was obviously still waiting for his answer. Li Lei thickened his skin and said, ¡°It¡¯s... not bad...¡±

    Just as he spoke, he felt that he was doomed. Xia Moyan only dangerously squinted his eyes. ¡°Not bad? That means that you¡¯re not physically strong enough. Let¡¯s go. I will apany you in training.¡±

    After that, he walked towards the training room which was filled with ice and snow.

    A few hourster.

    Xia Ling already returned to her room, showered, calmed down, and waited for dinner time.

    The maid of the vi invited her to the dining area and said, ¡°Mr. Xia and Young Master Shaohui are waiting for you.¡±

    Thus, she went to the dining area and realized that Li Lei was not there. ¡°Where is he?¡± She asked strangely and sat beside Shaohui. Although she was a little awkward when she faced her brother, they were all adults and this would pass very quickly.

    Xia Moyan did not respond.

    In sympathy, Shaohui said, ¡°Dad is...¡±

    Xia Moyan nced at the child faintly.

    Shaohui said amusedly, ¡°In the afternoon, dad did a demonstration for me. He just got out and is quite tired, so he probably went to take a break.¡±

 Chapter 733 - Climbing up the Mountain Alone

    <h4>Chapter 733: Climbing up the Mountain Alone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not doubt him. ¡°Let¡¯s eat first, then.¡±

    After that, she raised her utensils.

    Xia Moyan seemed to stop looking at him, so Shaohui silently breathed a sigh of relief. <i>Uncle is too terrifying. Dad is so pitiful. He endured so much suffering but couldn¡¯t let mom know...</i>

    He recalled what happened in the afternoon. How was it a demonstration?

    It was obvious that Uncle was abusing his father. He told his father to show him what was the wrong action and what the consequence would be... Once was not enough. He had to repeatedly demonstrate. In the end, dad climbed the snow peak n times, fell into the snow n times, and pretended to freeze to death n times...

    Shaohui thought it was really cruel.

    Unfortunately, he was too young and did not dare to go against his uncle¡¯s demands.

    After living with his uncle for a few years, he deeply understood that offending his uncle would disadvantage himself. His allowance, rest time, snacks, and even luck...

    Everything would disappear without a trace!

    The small child quietly lowered his head and ate.

    After Xia Ling finished eating, she initially wanted to see Li Lei. However, once she recalled what happened in the afternoon, her face turned red and her heart started pounding, so she retraced back her steps.

    ¡°Mom,e over and watch TV with me!¡± Shaohui called.

    Xia Moyan gave him an approving look. Yes, it seemed that this child was bing more aware of what was going on and knew that he had to stop his mom from secretly going to visit his dad¡¯s room. What a good kid.

    He made way and gave Xia Ling a ce to sit.

    Xia Ling sat down and somewhat absent-mindedly apanied them to watch TV. She had almost fallen asleep when she suddenly saw a piece of news. [After a re-investigation by the police, it¡¯s confirmed that four years ago, the eldest daughter of the Gu Financial Magnate, Gu Lin, was the mastermind behind the orphanage poisoning incident. Today, the court sentenced Gu Lin to life imprisonment, effective from today.]

    Xia Ling looked at the news with mixed feelings.

    Finally, she was charged.

    She finally sought justice for the two innocent orphans who died four years ago. However, so what? People could not be resurrected. No matter how heavy the punishment was, it was impossible to save the children¡¯s lives.

    She was in a bad mood and lowered her head.

    Beside her, Xia Moyan said, ¡°Bad deeds will lead to bad karma.¡±

    ¡°What about good deeds, then?¡± She softly asked. ¡°What did those two children do wrong?¡±

    Xia Moyan stroked her soft hair. This girl did not know that when the two orphans were buried, they were blessed with the requiem that the Phoenix sang for them. It was enough for them to be safe and prosperous.

    This was a great reward for a good deed.

    ¡°Would you like to see Gu Lin?¡± Xia Moyan asked. ¡°To see how the wicked end up.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°Not interested.¡± It was enough to know that the girl was sentenced to life long imprisonment. Although that girl was spoiled, people gave her many chances... If she did not make things difficult for her in the forest, this harrowing past would be hidden forever.

    Perhaps Gu Lin¡¯s blessings were all used up.

    It was all her own undoing.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and lectured Shaohui. ¡°You have to be a good person, understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Shaohui nodded vigorously and looked at Gu Lin on the TV screen.

    On TV, Gu Lin was wearing a yellow prison uniform and her head was shaved. She looked horrible as she screamed. ¡°I¡¯m being framed! Framed! Save me! Save me! Ye Xingling, you b*tch!¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. At this time, Miss Gu was still scolding others?

    Xia Moyan said faintly, ¡°I can let her have the death penalty.

    Startled, Xia Ling said, ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡± The death penalty was meaningless. She wanted to let her live and be imprisoned and tortured for the rest of her life. She could wear cheap clothes while doing hardbor and thinking of how she could never return to her former glorious days. This was the most painful punishment.

    Xia Moyan saw through her thoughts and nodded in approval. Thankfully, his sister wasn¡¯t sopassionate. He was relieved. ¡°Now that you¡¯re so famous, you probably have fans that are in prison,¡± said Xia Moyan with ease. ¡°I will visit the prison staff and let them lock Gu Lin up with your fans.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°Brother, you¡¯re cruel.¡±

    Beside her, Shaohui shuddered. <i>Mom, you just found out...</i>

    Uncle was the world¡¯s most frightening man.

    He somewhat sympathized with Aunt Gu Lin who was in handcuffs.

    After living in the mountain vi for some time and receiving strict training every day, Xia Ling and Shaohui mastered the essentials of climbing snow-capped mountains and could set off to bury the box.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Well then, be careful on the way. I will be leaving.¡±

    Xia Ling reluctantly bade farewell to her brother and Li Lei also sent his very frightening yet difficult to deal with future brother-inw away with mixed feelings.

    The family set off north in a private jet. After a few days, they arrived at the foot of the snow-capped mountain.

    Looking up, it was a really tall mountain.

    ¡°How beautiful...¡± Shaohui eximed. The child seemed to naturally not know what fear was and did not feel how difficult it was to conquer the snowy mountains. He was very happy as if they were going on an outing.

    Xia Ling also nodded. The snow-capped mountains were really beautiful.

    Li Lei checked their bags for thest time. He was carrying most of the weight which consisted of tents, ice axes, snow shovel, and other equipment. Xia Ling and Shaohui only carried the necessary food items, medicine and shlights to prevent danger if they got lost.

    The three people cautiously headed for the snowy mountains.

    They gradually walked up the mountain. At the start, the slope was not very steep, and the climate was not bad. They frequently met many tour groups which looked curiously at the family of three. Many concerned people asked, ¡°Where are you from? Have you lost your tour group? Join ours. It¡¯s very dangerous for so few people to be in the snow-capped mountains.¡±

    Xia Ling was a huge celebrity, so she wore a hood to cover most of her face. She did not talk and acted cold.

    Every time, Li Lei just smiled very warmly. ¡°It¡¯s ok. We are individual travelers. The three of us will be walking up ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Walking up yourselves?!¡± The tourists were all very shocked, especially when they saw Shaohui. They were stunned. ¡°This... this child is so young. How can you let him follow you up freely? Do you want him to die?!¡±

    Li Lei continued to smile. He held Shaohui¡¯s little hand and walked over.

    The tour group looked at them disapprovingly. One woman walked to the tour guide and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that their actions are very suspicious? Could it be that they¡¯re trying to get across the border to sell the child?¡±

    The tour guide shook his head andughed. ¡°Across the border to sell the child? They won¡¯t be taking this route! Even if they scale the mountain, they won¡¯t reach the border, and the child will probably be dead by then. However...¡± He pondered. ¡°It¡¯s really strange. Bringing such a small child up the mountain and not following a group. I¡¯m afraid that there¡¯s something wrong.¡±

    ¡°How about we follow them to take a look?¡± A kind soul said, ¡°It¡¯s for their own good. These three people have an exaggerated opinion of their own abilities. What if something happens to them? With us following them, they will be safer.¡±

 Chapter 734 - The Groupâ€™s Imagination

    <h4>Chapter 734: The Group¡¯s Imagination</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A gust of wind blew.

    In the snow-capped mountains, Xia Ling took off her hood and finally was able to breathe and pour out the snow that fell into her jacket. They were climbing towards the peak and already made it very far. Li Lei walked in front, Shaohui walked in the middle, and she walked behind them.

    Looking at the big and small figure in front of her, she was a little lightheaded.

    She usually did not feel it, but right now, Shaohui really looked like Li Lei. His back view, hair color, and even the way he walked were exact copies. The little child had been imitating his father and looked up as he walked, seeming like a confident young man. He was probably too young, and his father¡¯s pace was a little too fast, so he had to skip a few steps from time to time before he could urately step on his father¡¯s footprints.

    Luckily, his father took care of his son and his mother and did not walk too fast.

    ¡°Take it slow. Don¡¯t rush.¡± He said, ¡°Step on my footprints so you won¡¯t step on air.¡± He created a path for them and ensured that the snow was safe to step on so they would not encounter any danger.

    Sporadic snowkes flew around in the cold wind that blew his short hair.

    Looking at his back view, Xia Ling slowly had a sense of security, as if the snow-capped mountain and any other danger were all not worth mentioning as long as this man was there.

    They walked for a long time.

    Suddenly, Li Lei stopped in his footsteps.

    The small child did not stop in time and bumped into his dad.

    Li Lei turned around and supported the child.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Someone is following us.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat and turned around. Sure enough, a tour group was walking in their direction not far away and gossiping on the way. When they realized that the family of three were looking at them, they turned away and acted indifferently. They pretended to look at the scenery and ignored them.

    It seemed that something was wrong.

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Why are they following us? Could it be that they are coincidently on the same path as us?¡±

    ¡°This is not the normal tourist route.¡± Li Lei simply replied, then took out his binocrs and looked down. After that, he smiled. ¡°They suspect that we¡¯re traffickers. Some people think that we¡¯re treasure hunters or tomb thieves... and we¡¯re bringing a child as a sacrifice to unlock some secret.¡±

    Xia Ling was baffled. What sort of rubbish was this?

    ¡°Have they watched too many episodes of ¡®Grave Robbers¡¯ Chronicles¡¯?¡± She didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry.

    Li Lei was also in disbelief. ¡°The imagination of this group is really wild.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered something. ¡°We¡¯re so far away from them. How do you know what they¡¯re talking about?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I can read lips.¡± Since a young age, he grew up in the triad. When he was ten years old, he left home to be a mercenary. If he did not have any extraordinary skills, he would have died many times over.

    Xia Ling nodded. She was no longer surprised that this man had so many skills.

    However, Shaohui was very excited. ¡°Dad, I want to learn it too! Can you teach me how to read lips?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei smiled and touched Shaohui¡¯s small head. However, he only touched ayer of snow. It was not snowing in the mountains but the cold wind was very strong, and it caused sporadic snowkes to fall from the top of the mountain which umted on their clothes. Looking around, Li Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and persevere for a while longer. If we climb up a little more, there will be a small cave for us to spend the night in.¡±

    This was the result of the investigation by the troops he sent in advance.

    Xia Ling and Shaohui nodded and followed him.

    Sure enough, after a long walk, they arrived at a cave. The cave was very dry, and there was food and dry wood left by the troops half a month ago. Li Lei started a fire, ced a stainless steel pot on it to melt some snow, and ced a few pieces of dried meat and some other grains in it.

    The family waited for dinner around the campfire.

    The glow of the fire dyed Xia Ling¡¯s delicate eyebrows a blushing red, making her look extraordinarily beautiful. As she warmed herself by the fire, she asked Li Lei, ¡°Will those people keep following us?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± Li Lei replied. ¡°They¡¯re only ordinary tourists and followed us out of curiosity. It¡¯s possible that they may follow us for ten days to a month.¡±

    ¡°Hateful.¡± Xia Ling was unhappy.

    She was already annoyed that she had to climb such a dangerous snow-capped mountain with her young son. However, people were intrusive and wanted to investigate them. ¡°How can get we get rid of them?¡± She asked.

    Li Lei opened the map in front of the fire and pointed out some locations to her. ¡°The tourist area is here. There is still a half-day journey left for us. If we continue upwards, it will be too dangerous for tourists. As they are traveling with a group, the tour guide will not allow them to enter the restricted area. Tomorrow, let¡¯s go there fast and enter the restricted area first.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. It seemed that this was the only way now.

    In the howling wind, the family ate their meal. Li Lei even found a pack of hot chocte in the supplies left by the troops that he sent in advance, so he melted some snow and added in it in boiled water.

    Once they were full, Xia Ling felt warm and fell asleep holding Shaohui. Li Lei stayed by their side but did not sleep. Looking at the fire that was slowly dying, he looked warmly at them. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He mumbled affectionately.

    He only woke Xia Ling up at daybreak when it was time for her to keep watch and slept for a while.

    They continued on their way.

    After a long time, they left the safe tourist zone and entered the danger zone.

    ¡°From here, it¡¯s going to get dangerous.¡± Li Lei looked serious, but his voice was very soft. ¡°Do you remember the key points of your training? You must step on my footsteps, and when you walk, you can¡¯t look around. Also, don¡¯t speak too loudly. If it causes an avnche by chance, everyone will be buried alive.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded seriously.

    Shaohui also nodded seriously.

    Only then did Li Lei started to walk forward. He walked step by step and was slower and more careful than before. At first nce, they looked like they walked very far due to the meandering snow, but in reality, the route was difficult and steep and it was impossible to walk very far.

    Suddenly, a faint voice was heard from below.

    Xia Ling turned around. It turned out to be the tour group from yesterday that had caught up to them at the edge of the restricted area. The tour group stopped at the edge and did not enter. Several people pointed at them, but she could not hear what they were saying.

    For some reason, Xia Ling started to feel uneasy and pulled Li Lei.

    At this time, Li Lei also noticed themotion below them. His expression changed, and just as he thought that things were far from good, a tourist used his hands to amplify his voice and shouted at them loudly. ¡°Hey! Where are you going?! That¡¯s a restricted area. It¡¯s dangerous!¡±

    That man¡¯s voice echoed in the snow-capped mountains.

    Vaguely, a dull booming sound came from the mountains.

 Chapter 735 - Life After the Avalanche

    <h4>Chapter 735: Life After the Avnche</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt a block of ice hit her face.

    She was about to look up when Li Lei shielded her with his body. ¡°Danger! It¡¯s an avnche!¡±

    She felt her head spin, and before she even had the time to let out a scream, she had plunged into darkness, unconscious.

    When she woke up, the re of the sun made everything worse as her vision had not cleared up. ck spots were appearing in her line of sight and she could not make out her surroundings properly. Every once in a while, ice chunks would fall from above and some would hit her face with an icy sting she did not like.

    She tried to move.

    The arms she was lying in held her even firmer.

    Only then did she realize that she was lying in someone¡¯s embrace, against the warm, sturdy chest of another person. He appeared to be her only source of safety in a world of cmity.

    Xia Ling slowly regained her senses.

    She remembered where she was and what had happened ¡ª right after the tourist had screamed, a huge avnche urred and ice boulders came rushing down the mountain, swallowing the people on it. Herst memory was of Li Lei shielding her, which meant that the person carrying her must be Li Lei.

    But...

    Shaohui...

    Where was Shaohui?!

    She started panicking and struggling as she tried to scan the surroundings.

    Li Lei could feel her attempts to wrest herself out of his embrace. ¡°Don¡¯t move, Xiao Ling. The avnche is not over.¡± His voice was kind and calm. All the years of surviving in the wild and on the battlefield made it instinctive for Li Lei to rush into a small gap between the boulders and hide behind it. It was a small space, but it was safe enough to keep them alive.

    Xia Ling struggled nheless, while speaking almost inaudibly, ¡°Hui... Shaohui...¡±

    Li Lei managed to figure out what she was saying. He kept quiet for a while before saying, ¡°He¡¯ll be alright. Xiao Ling, stop moving about, it¡¯ll be bad if another wave urs. You have to get through this well and fine before we can look for Shaohui when it¡¯s safe.¡± His tone was firm and convincing, not to mention miraculously reassuring.

    She was still worried but tried her best to suppress her desire to look for Shaohui there and then.

    She waited anxiously and felt as if time was passing more slowly than ever. The howling of the winds could still be heard, and some time passed ¡ª minutes, hours, she had no idea ¡ª before it finally stopped.

    Xia Ling climbed out of Li Lei¡¯s embrace and was about to stand when she realized she couldn¡¯t ¡ª they were caught in a small space between a few boulders, and there was no way she could straighten up without knocking her head.

    ¡°I want to look for Shaohui!¡± She said in a panic as she tried to dig at the snow beneath her.

    Li Lei grabbed her hands. ¡°Don¡¯t move! Once it copses, we¡¯ll all be buried under!¡±

    Xia Ling was on the verge of tears. ¡°Then what do we do? He¡¯s so young, he won¡¯t make it long in the cold!¡± She couldn¡¯t bear to imagine how Little Shaohui was doing all alone in the cold.

    Li Lei said, ¡°He¡¯s a brave boy, he¡¯ll be fine.¡± This was an attempt to console her as much as it was to console himself. He made her stand behind him and said, ¡°I¡¯ll dig.¡±

    He was much more experienced than her and knew which spots were safe for digging and exert pressure on.

    Xia Ling took a few steps back and watched in worriedly. They were trapped in a ce with little sunlight, and only when he dug a little more to allow light to enter did she realize ¡ª¡±Your head is injured?!¡±

    She suddenly recalled the blood she tasted before that. So, she wasn¡¯t the injured one.

    Instead, it was him.

    Li Lei wiped the blood off with his arm. ¡°It¡¯s nothing big.¡± A hailstone had smashed into his head when he was shielding her. It had hurt for a while and bled, but in this cold, the blood had clotted faster than usual.

    Her heart hurt for him. She dug into her belongings for a while before finding a bandage for his wound.

    When the bandage touched his wound, he felt so much like telling her there was no need to waste emergency supplies this way ¡ª if his teammate or subordinate had done this, he would have kicked them out of the team. Out in the wild, even a little bandage or medication could save a life, how could it be used on such a minor wound?

    And yet, she was not his subordinate.

    She was simply a woman who cared for him too much to think rationally.

    Li Lei felt warm inside as the cold words of chiding melted away. As they said, those in love were blind and irrational ¡ª Li Lei left her to attend to his wounds as she wished. When she was done, he took a bandage from his bag and put it in hers to replenish her supplies.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What for?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°My bag¡¯s too heavy.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the chisel and shovel in his bag and believed him, allowing him to transfer all of the emergency medical supplies into her bag instead.

    Li Lei carefully dug a little path in the snow, and finally, sun rays came pouring in. He got onto his feet cautiously and climbed his way out before helping Xia Ling out as well.

    Xia Ling had regained her footing on the ground outside.

    The avnche finished as quickly as it started. The sky had cleared to show a cloudless blue, hanging as a backdrop to the beautiful mountainndscape.

    The ground had undergone major changes, and there was no way to tell where they hade from previously.

    Xia Ling scanned her surroundings and did not see Shaohui, nor any trace that he had left behind. ¡°What do we do now? Where are we supposed to find him?!¡±

    Li Lei took hispass out ¡ª thankfully, it was just slightly demented but still fully functional. He figured their position and said, ¡°Shaohui should be somewhere near the foot of the mountain. We should go in that direction.¡±

    He pointed the direction to her.

    And Xia Ling hurriedly walked along.

    Li Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°Follow behind me.¡±

    The snow was soft under their feet after the avnche, and that spelled danger since there was no way to figure out if a hole in the ground or the edge of a cliffy beneath. There was no way he was letting her take the step before him.

    She suppressed her desire to overtake him and walk in front. ¡°Hurry, Shaohui is so young, he can¡¯t hold it out for long.¡± She was about to burst into tears again but realized this was not the time to be vulnerable. Wiping off her tears, she followed Li Lei closely.

 Chapter 736 - Golden Time for Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 736: Golden Time for Rescue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The two of them walked for a bit in the snow.

    It was a distance before Li Lei stepped onto something hard, something that did not feel like snow. He stopped in his tracks.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Lei did not say anything. He bent over and, with trembling hands, dug into the snow. Having been out on battlefields for years before, he already made a guess ¡ª it felt like a corpse that had chilled and hardened. He prayed hard that it wasn¡¯t his biological son buried beneath.

    Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t.

    Under thatyer of snow was a random stranger¡¯s face, distorted but frozen in a moment of shock and panic. Seeing the outfit he was in and the luminous bangle on his wrist, Li Lei identified the corpse ¡ª this was one of the people who followed them and eventually caused the avnche.

    He told Xia Ling about it.

    Xia Ling had mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt sympathy as she looked at how tragically he had died. On the other, there was some gloating and anger towards him ¡ª after all, wasn¡¯t their actions that caused the avnche? If not for the avnche, would Shaohui have gone missing?

    By the time she snapped out of her daze, Li Lei had already dug deeper into the icy ground.

    Beneath the surface were more corpses, all belonging to the same group of people.

    Xia Ling went over to help dig even deeper. There was a fear she couldn¡¯t put into words, and she could only wish that all the snow could melt away, just so she could confirm that Shaohui wasn¡¯t buried deep under.

    She would rather not find him at all than discover his body.

    As she had hoped, Shaohui was not any of the corpses that they had dug up in the vicinity. Xia Ling heaved a long sigh of relief and let herself copse to the ground, tired.

    The chilly windsing from all directions had tangled her hair, and she did not know whether she was sweating or if it was melted ice stiffening the knots.

    Li Lei searched the belongings of the deceased and gathered all the food and medical supplies he could find. Given the aftermath of the avnche, their descent to the foot of the mountain was sure to be dyed, and having more supplies was an advantage.

    After that was done, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll continue looking for Shaohui.¡±

    She took onest look at the corpses lying around and tried her best not to picture how Shaohui could possibly look like by now. Both of them covered a great distance, but still did not see Shaohui at all. They began walking in another direction ¡ª this time, they saw a child¡¯s glove lying in a pit.

    ¡°That¡¯s Shaohui¡¯s glove!¡± Xia Ling walked there hurriedly and picked it up. She couldn¡¯t be wrong, she was the one who put it on for him.

    She put it back down and searched the surroundings, digging at theyers of snow...

    And yet, the glove was the only thing they found.

    Her hope vanished instantly, and it felt even worse than if there was no hope to begin with. Xia Ling felt every ounce of energy in her evaporate as she plonked onto the icy ground, tears welling up.

    Her child was still so young, so vulnerable against the forces of nature. Without the protection of an adult, how was he going to survive...

    A hand rested on her shoulder lightly.

    ¡°Shaohui will be alright.¡± Li Lei said.

    This time, it did not offer her any assurance. She turned towards him and red angrily. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you save him?! Why didn¡¯t you save him during the avnche?! He¡¯s so young, he¡¯s still a child! You¡¯re his father! You¡¯re his father, do you know that?! Why didn¡¯t you save him?!¡±

    She cried incessantly.

    Li Lei¡¯s hand tightened into a grip, but he remained silent.

    It was an emergency situation, and his first instinct was to keep her in his arms and protect her. If he had to make a choice between mother and son, he would have chosen her. Cruel as it was, and even if it meant that he was an irresponsible father, he would still make the same decision if given a second chance.

    If he lost her, what meaning was there left in his life?

    But she did not understand that. She cried and pped his arm away. ¡°You¡¯re not fit to be his father!¡±

    Li Lei took it all in without refuting her.

    He looked up and saw that the sky had darkened slightly. ¡°Xiao Ling, we¡¯ve got to look for a ce to stay the night. Otherwise, we¡¯ll freeze here.¡±

    She choked on her tears. ¡°I¡¯m going to look for Shaohui!¡± She struggled to stand and began staggering off.

    He grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. ¡°Be good!¡±

    She tried to wrench herself out of his embrace. ¡°I¡¯m going to look for him! What if he¡¯s still alive... he must be alive! But it¡¯s so cold in the night, what¡¯s he going to do? What if he can¡¯t hold it out till tomorrow morning?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so dark in the mountains, how are you going to find him?!¡± Li Lei raised his voice. ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯d better listen to me and find a ce to rest at! You want to look for him? Fine! I¡¯ll go! If you fall into a pit or go missing, how am I going to ount to Shaohui when he gets back?!¡±

    Only then did she stop crying and look up at him.

    ¡°You¡¯ll go?¡± She asked with some hesitation.

    Li Lei held her hand and walked on. ¡°I know how to survive out in the wild, it¡¯ll be safer if I go. I¡¯ll look for a safe spot for you to rest, and tomorrow, I¡¯ll bring him to you.¡±

    He sounded confident and convincing.

    Xia Ling did not say anything. She simply hung her head low and followed him.

    They walked for a long time before reaching a hiding spot, a cave-like structure.

    Once they entered, Li Lei started a fire for her and left.

    Xia Ling watched him walk in the chilly wind; that handsome man looked so small against the majestic nature. She suddenly regretted her actions ¡ª she should not have lost her temper at him. It wasn¡¯t his fault that the child went missing, and it was already tough on him to keep her safe.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She dashed out and called.

    He turned around and she saw his torch flicker.

    ¡°Don¡¯t...¡± She hesitated before going on. ¡°Don¡¯t look for Shaohui. It¡¯s too dangerous at night, we¡¯ll look for him together tomorrow morning.¡± She was worried about Shaohui, but she was worried for him as well.

    Li Lei smiled upon hearing her words, and all the hurt in his eyes faded. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± he said. ¡°The first 72 hours are considered the golden time for rescue. I have to get to Shaohui as soon as possible. Xiao Ling, I¡¯m not trying to pit myself against you, I¡¯m being serious. It¡¯s dangerous in the night, but not to the extent where I can¡¯t be out on my own. I survive well in the wild, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    With that, he vanished into the wind.

 Chapter 737 - Eyes in the Dark

    <h4>Chapter 737: Eyes in the Dark</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling got through the night anxiously.

    She sat by the fire and watched it flicker, but her heart was with Li Lei, in the dark and in confusion. Did he manage to find Shaohui? The mountain was huge, would he and Shaohui be alright? She felt as if a stone was weighing on her chest, making it all too hard to breathe.

    But she knew this could not go on.

    Li Lei left her behind not just because he was more adept at surviving in the wilderness, he also wanted her to have a good rest before the long walk the following day.

    She could not waste this precious time on overthinking and worrying.

    She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. After counting sheep after sheep, she finally fell asleep in the cool wind. And yet, she could not sleep deeply, her dreams were a mess and disturbed her.

    She woke up in shock.

    She opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. The fire in the cave had died while she was unconscious, with only ashes and residual red flickers in its ce.

    Outside the cave, the howling of the winds had stopped as well.

    Suddenly, she heard a sound.

    Something had stepped on the twigs lying in the ashes.

    Xia Ling broke into a cold sweat and looked up instinctively. Only then did she realize that a pair of green, luminous eyes was staring at her in the dark silently.

    She could feel her hair stand, and in that instant, she held her breath as her mind became a nk. Her body stiffened up and thoughts ran through her mind ¡ª What was that? A snow leopard? A wolf? When did it enter? Was it going to eat someone?

    Slowly and stealthily, her hands wandered in the darkness and finally found a dagger. Before they left for the expedition, the first team had already reported some sightings of wolves and other predators in the mountains. Li Lei had specially prepared a dagger and a gun for her, but she had lost the gun after the avnche. Meanwhile, the dagger had been lined with concentrated anestesia; any person or animal struck by it would be immobilized.

    She was confused and flustered, but told herself she had to stay calm.

    Yet, the moment her fingers wrapped around the dagger, the creature suddenly pounced on her!

    Out of shock, she reacted reflexively and rolled away, escaping by a close shave. The creature bit onto her sleeve with its sharp teeth and ripped the fabric apart.

    She had no time to be afraid. She reached for the dagger but it took her a few tries to grab hold of it due to the cold. When she finally looked up, she saw that the creature had stopped attacking, and instead, was crouching in a defensive position and sizing her up.

    The moon creeped out between the clouds.

    Xia Ling could now see that it was a silver-white arctic wolf. It looked malnourished and hungry for any food it could possibly find. The arctic wolf bared its teeth at her andunched another attack!

    Xia Ling dodged it again, but this time, her long hair swept across her face and partially blocked her view.

    She felt a weight on her body and saw that the hungry wolf was just inches away from her, its green eyes staring straight at hers.

    Its paw was on her body.

    She could hide no longer and had no choice but to watch it bite down on her. She swung her head sideways and avoided the first bite, but the hungry wolf went for her neck next and tore her apparel slightly.

    An awful smell dissipated in the air.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t be more grateful for her mountaineering apparel ¡ª it was thick and of such good quality that the wolf did not manage to bite into her flesh both times. Even so, her apparel was in bad shape now, and the horrid smell was getting stronger.

    The wolf sniffed around and crouched lower, but did not attack her. Instead, it let out a whimper.

    Xia Ling took advantage of its moment of hesitation and swung the dagger at the wolf!

    s, the hungry wolf sensed her movement and managed to duck. It was now alerted and aggressive.

    The rest of the battle was chaotic.

    Xia Ling had no experience surviving in the wild on her own, and she was also not strong enough physically. Yet, each time it bit into her apparel, the smell that dissipated made it stagger backward in apparent disgust.

    This went on for a while.

    Xia Ling was injured on the face and parts of her body.

    The wolf did not have it much better. Having been shed by the dagger, it was under the influence of anesthesia and was reacting much more slowly. However, it had not eaten for days and was desperate for some food.

    It pounced onto Xia Ling again and she fell over.

    Xia Ling had lost a significant amount of blood in this arduous battle, and this time, the dagger had flown out of her hand upon being attacked. Knowing that she was defenseless now, the wolf bore with the awful smelling from her apparel and was ready to bite into her flesh.

    It did not act fast, but she was even weaker than it was now, and had no way of escape.

    She thought, <i>It¡¯s all over. After living for two lifetimes, I¡¯m going to die in the hands of a wolf... How¡¯s Shaohui and Li Lei doing now? If they¡¯re still alive, will they be devastated to find me dead?</i>

    <i>Shaohui...</i>

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    She missed them so much...

    In the blurriness, she suddenly saw a handsome man appear before her eyes, but she had no idea if it was just a delusion. That man had an amazing physique and beautiful features, and he swiftly stabbed the wolf¡¯s head with the dagger.

    The wolf that was pinning her down instantly fell to the ground.

    The man kicked the dead wolf aside and held her up. ¡°Xiao Ling? Xiao Ling?! Are you alright? Where are you hurt! Hang in there, you¡¯ve got to hang in there!¡±

    ¡°Li... Lei...¡± She mumbled as she melted into his firm embrace. She could smell the familiar scent on him, and feel the rising and falling of his chest. At that moment, she couldn¡¯t hold it back any longer and burst into tears.

 Chapter 738 - Thank You, Er Mao

    <h4>Chapter 738: Thank You, Er Mao</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The tears kepting, as if all her emotions had been suppressed for this moment.

    The more she cried, the more afraid she got. If she had not woken up then, if she had not brought the dagger along, if the hungry wolf had not hesitated that split second or slowed its reflexes, if Li Lei had not arrived in time...

    Only then did she realize how lucky she was to have survived this time.

    She cried so hard she choked on her tears. Her body trembled as she gripped his shoulders tightly andy against his chest.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright now, it¡¯s alright now...¡± Li Leiforted her gently as he caressed her hair. Meanwhile, he scanned the surroundings and checked for the winds outside.

    ¡°Where are you hurt? Let me bandage it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. She was still traumatized from what had just happened andpletely forgot about the pain.

    Li Lei slowly helped her up and checked for her injuries. The moment she got up from his chest, he could see how wounded she was ¡ª her chest, her elbow, her waist... her mountaineering apparel was aplete wreck, and the smell of her blood and the chemicals filled the cave.

    Seeing that they weren¡¯t deep cuts or serious injuries, Li Lei heaved a sigh of relief.

    He took the medical supplies out of the bag and treated her wounds quickly.

    She had not snapped out of her daze yet and allowed him to treat her wounds as he wished without even flinching. Only after some time had passed did she slowly regain her thought process. The first thing she asked was, ¡°Did you find Shaohui?¡±

    Her voice was hoarse and soft.

    Li Lei did not stop working on her wounds. ¡°I did. He fell into a pit with a hot spring and is very safe there. But his ankle is injured, and though it isn¡¯t too serious, he has trouble walking.¡± He finished up thest bandage. ¡°It¡¯s too dark and too dangerous to bring him back right now. I¡¯m back so we can go over to meet him together once the sun rises.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°You aren¡¯t lying to me?¡±

    ¡°Why would I be?¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°Our son is very smart. When I went over, he had already treated his injury on his own. He doesn¡¯t have a lighter, but he managed to melt some ice to water with the heat from the hot springs. He¡¯s also been eating the food that he brought along and is doing well. Also, he told you not to worry; he¡¯s been living with his uncle since he was a young child and has no fear of this environment.¡±

    Xia Ling finally felt a weight off a chest upon hearing this.

    Yet, the very next moment, her worries came back. ¡°It¡¯s so dark outside, and he¡¯s so young... Li Lei, why didn¡¯t you apany him over there? And thene back for me tomorrow morning?¡±

    Li Lei was silent for a while before saying, ¡°I had an uneasy feeling.¡±

    He was intending to return only in the morning. However, it seemed like he felt some premonition. He had a nagging feeling, an impulse toe back to her.

    Maybe, that was what it meant to be the parasol tree?

    Each time she was in danger, he¡¯d be around in time to protect her.

    Fortunately, he came back.

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°Will he encounter creatures there?¡± She turned towards the dead wolf and shivered a little. What if a predator like this went for Shaohui too?

    With regards to that question, Li Lei¡¯s expression was a little odd.

    ¡°He won¡¯t.¡± He paused before saying, ¡°He¡¯s... safe there.¡±

    Xia Ling was still worried. All she wanted was to be by Shaohui¡¯s side right now. ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Your mountaineering gear is already ripped apart, you¡¯ll freeze to death if you go out like that. How about this, get some waterproof cloth, and a needle and thread from my bag. I¡¯ll settle it for you.¡± He began looking at some of his other supplies.

    Xia Ling did as he said and calmed down. She suddenly found the odd smell from the apparel bing more pungent and unbearable. ¡°What exactly is inside the apparel? It stinks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s swan feathers.¡± Li Lei responded.

    ¡°And this smell...?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s... Er Mao¡¯s liquid excretion.¡± Li Lei tried to say it less explicitly.

    Xia Ling was nauseated upon hearing that ¡ª no wonder it smelled so bad. Her expression was even more awful than when she saw the wolf. ¡°What?!¡±

    Since he had already started, he might as well go on exining it. ¡°This mountaineering apparel is custom-made ¡ª I had them mix it into swan feathers this way. As you know, there have been sightings of predators in the mountains. I figured that using Er Mao¡¯s scent could hold them back a little.¡± Er Mao was a strong leopard that could scare away snow leopards and the like. Thus, using his smell was a good deterrent. Li Lei was smart to have had it sealed in the apparel; this way, humans would not be able to detect it, and hence, he did not think of telling Xia Ling. However, the smell was strong enough for these creatures to pick up.

    If not for the fact that the wolf was starving and desperate, it would not have dared take the risk.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She had only just discovered what she had been wearing all this time, and it made her feel... strange. However, it had proven that this method worked. It seemed like the hungry wolf hesitated time and again because of Er Mao¡¯s smell.

    In her heart, she thanked that leopard.

    With Li Lei at work, the apparel was fixed in no time.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Li Lei grabbed her hand and helped her up.

    They couldn¡¯t stay here any longer ¡ª there were blood stains all over the cave, and the winds were not in their favor. It wouldn¡¯t take long for the smell of blood to travel to the other predators around.

    They had to leave before any other creatures came for them.

    When they left the cave, the first light had already emerged on the horizon. Meanwhile, the crescent moon was still high in the sky.

    Xia Ling¡¯s long hair swayed in the breeze.

    Li Lei tightened the buckle around her hat and gestured for her to step in his footsteps.

    Step by step, he led her to where he had seen Shaohui.

    Almost two hourster, they arrived at a narrow gap in the boulders. Li Lei told Xia Ling, ¡°Shaohui is hiding in here. Be careful, I¡¯ll guide you there.¡±

    He squeezed through the tight space first and got ahold of Xia Ling¡¯s belongings before helping her in.

    Xia Ling scanned the surroundings and saw that there was a hot springs tub there indeed, and...

    A scene that made her jaw drop.

 Chapter 739 - The Little Animals Like Me

    <h4>Chapter 739: The Little Animals Like Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She finally understood why Li Lei had looked at her strangely when she asked if Shao Hui was going to get attacked by the wild beast. When she looked up, right beside the fountain, was a snake, about the thickness of two people embracing each other, covered in dark green spots across his body. Quite frankly, it would¡¯ve looked sinister if not for how it was wrapped around the child like a pet, letting the child do whatever he wanted to do to it¡ª

    To prevent the child from slipping down, it even used its tail as a makeshift barrier.

    Xia Ling was bewildered.

    ¡°Mom!¡± Shaohui beamed upon seeing her, waving his chubby arms and legs. He turned to the snake and said, ¡°Please send me to my mummy!¡±

    And almost as if the snake understood, it obediently deposited the child in front of Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling picked up her child and scanned him over and over to check whether he had gotten hurt. Upon realizing that he was fine, she hurriedly berated, ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Why are you with a snake? What if the snake hurts you?¡±

    Upon hearing that, the snake waved its tail in dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be unhappy, I will tell my mother that you are a good and friendly snake,¡± Shaohui reassured.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Li Lei did not dare to look up. This was why he could afford to leave Shaohui to his own devices to look for Xia Ling. Last night, when he found the cave opening, he had seen the kid riding the snake. Thinking that Shaohui had gotten hurt, he had rushed up to save the child and yet had been greeted with Shaohui¡¯s excitement ¡ª¡±Dad, this snake is adorable!¡±

    Adorable...

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t wrap his head around this. The snake was mboyant, ring coldly at him as it flicked its triangr tongue, poised to attack.

    He was well and truly perplexed by this child.

    Shaohui slid down from where he was sitting on the snake and grabbed his father¡¯s hand, guiding him towards the scales on the snake. ¡°Snake, please don¡¯t bully my father, he is a good person.¡±

    The snake looked at the kid and slowly to put its guard down.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t exin what was going on in front of him. ¡°How did you do this?¡±

    The kid blinked in confusion. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think the little animals just like me.¡±

    The question was, was this snake really a ¡°little¡± animal?

    Li Lei wanted to m his head against the wall.

    Regardless, he was somewhat relieved. For some reason, this snake really loved Shaohui and protected him with whatever it had. When the boy slipped into the hot spring identally, the snake had actually tried to fish him back up again.

    Li Lei had been surveying the area for a while, and indeed, the snake nest was here ¡ª usually, beasts fought near water sources. Only the strongest could live near these ces, and these snakes practically owned the entire watering hole. Well, this snake should be the absolute king of the beasts.

    And since it had decided to protect Shaohui, Shaohui was very safe here.

    With this thought in mind, and the inability to quell his rising doubt, he decided to make his way back to search for Xia Ling.

    Here they were today, with Xia Ling going through the initial shock, just like he had, all over again.

    Li Lei told her his experience, and she was beginning to calm down in eptance.

    The small family of three settled down around the hot spring, under the snake¡¯s protection. Li Lei distributed some rations for the both of them to eat, and Xia Ling refused to let go of the child, not allowing him to leave her even half a step.

    Ironically, it was Shaohui who seemed perfectly fine. ¡°Mom, you don¡¯t have to worry about me. Uncle says that the child of the Phoenix cannot die in the mountains.¡± For some reason, he had such blind faith in his uncle that when he spoke about him, his eyes lit up.

    Xia Ling almost wanted to retort. If it wasn¡¯t for his uncle, they wouldn¡¯t be here. She took an aggressive bite before asking Li Lei, ¡°What next? If we go up earlier, we can bury this wishing knot earlier, and finish this quickly.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you sure you want to continue?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Li Lei hesitated, unsure whether to continue. ¡°We¡¯ve barely made it midway and so many things have happened. And the most dangerous parts have yet toe. I¡¯m worried that you cannot withstand this. Compared to having the family together, your lives are more important.¡±

    Xia Ling knew what he meant.

    He meant to go home.

    Xia Ling quietened, running her fingers through Shaohui¡¯s short locks. ¡°I want to be reunited with my child. I don¡¯t mind the risks.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s merely a name. You¡¯ve already adopted him, and the world knows that you are his legal guardian. Even if one day he decides to call you his mother, nobody would be suspicious. Is it really worth it to go through all this just to prove to the world that he¡¯s your biological son?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him silently, eyes glinting.

    ¡°Mom...¡± Shaohui tugged on her shirt sleeve.

    ¡°Li Lei, do you think I¡¯m burdensome? Or do you not want to acknowledge Shaohui?¡± He was right, a small change in status wouldn¡¯t matter much to her. But what about him?

    If they didn¡¯t finish the ritual, she couldn¡¯t tell the world that the child was hers. By extension, the child and Li Lei wouldn¡¯t be biologically rted either.

    Did Li Lei not want to acknowledge Shaohui? After all, he wouldn¡¯t be considered a legitimate child, even if he was the oldest. In the future, if anything were to happen, his status would surely be the talk of the town.

    ¡°Of course not.¡± He was just afraid, afraid that he couldn¡¯t ensure their safety. If misfortune were to befall them on this journey, he could never forgive himself in this life.

    ¡°Then there isn¡¯t much to discuss.¡±

    Hence, the three of them sank into silence.

    They eventually said their farewells to the snake and left the springs, moving on with their journey upwards. This time, there was barely any talking beyond the necessary.

    Finally, a rest stop.

    Xia Ling was tired, and drifted off to sleep after having her meal, leaving Li Lei to take on the night watch. In her sleepy haze, she could hear both of them talking¡ª

    ¡°Dad, is Mom not happy?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make things up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying, Mom is not happy because she thinks that you don¡¯t want me.¡±

 Chapter 740 - A Family

    <h4>Chapter 740: A Family</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It quietened down in the cave again, except for the asional crackling from the fire.

    Li Lei was deep in thought, and only snapped out of it when Shaohui called him, ¡°Dad?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I acknowledge you?¡± He smiled and ruffled his head. ¡°Whether or not you can openly address me as your father, you¡¯ll always be my precious son. This fact won¡¯t change, even if we can¡¯t go along with the ceremony.¡±

    Little Shaohui seemed a little confused. ¡°But, if we don¡¯t perform the ceremony, the three of us can¡¯t act like a family openly. And, you and Mom...¡±

    ¡°Will your mom and I be able to openly be together after the ceremony?¡± Li Lei was asking himself as much as he was asking the child. ¡°With this ceremony, we can dere publicly that you are our biological son, and it¡¯d be easier for me to woo her... but this is just a strategy.¡±

    Shaohui did not seem to understand what he was getting at.

    Li Lei quietly said, ¡°Dad hurt your mom before, it¡¯s understandable that she doesn¡¯t want to forgive me. If she¡¯s unwilling to forgive me... all these strategies will only be a bother to her. There was no need to put your lives on the line because of this, hence I suggesteding down first.¡±

    He would keep her safe while wooing her, but in the event that he could not, he would rather give up being with her than endanger her. Her safety was his utmost priority.

    It went quiet again in the cave.

    Xia Lingy in the corner of the cave but could not fall asleep. So this was the reason Li Lei did not want to continue scaling the mountain? For some reason, her heart ached and she felt awful.

    She was uncertain now about why she had insisted on bringing the child along. As Li Lei said, if it was all just for a title, was this worth it?

    All she knew was that she still wanted to continue scaling the mountain.

    Light from the fire illuminated the cave, as the smell of burnt wood filled the air every so often.

    She heard Li Lei tell Shaohui, ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, go and sleep.¡±

    The young child nodded obediently andy down near her.

    She heard a familiar sound and figured that Li Lei must have been tucking him into the sleeping bag.

    ¡°Dad,¡± he asked onest question before going to sleep. ¡°Will you protect us until we reach the peak of the mountain?¡±

    In the silence, she guessed that Li Lei was smiling. ¡°Yes. Wherever you and Mom want to go, I¡¯ll protect you to the very end, however dangerous it might be.¡±

    The child fell asleep peacefully.

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose scrunched up a little.

    His words brought up too many past memories. Since they first met, he had rescued her from Pei Ziheng¡¯s hands time and again, before saving her at the paragliding incident, and then the drowning case during her filming...

    The attack by the wolf happened just a while ago too.

    She was almost losing count of how many times he had saved her.

    All these years, this man had been etched in her heart. Each time she saw him, she felt so secure, so unafraid of anything that might befall her. That was why she buried herself in his chest and cried after he killed the wolf ¡ª she knew that it was the safest spot in the world.

    Right there, she could unleash her emotions and not put up a front.

    It suddenly hit her. Maybe, it wasn¡¯t because she wanted to dere Shaohui as her biological son that she insisted on getting to the mountain peak, to have the whole family acknowledge one another. It was because she wanted to let the world know that her child¡¯s father was none other than him.

    Li Lei.

    This name made its way around in her heart and in her mind. It had reced Pei Ziheng long ago.

    When Li Lei said he wanted to turn back, she had been so angry. But it wasn¡¯t because she was afraid he wouldn¡¯t acknowledge Shaohui. She was afraid that he loved her no more.

    This realization shocked her a little.

    Somebody around her shifted, and a soft rustling sound came from her sleeping bag.

    She dared not move and hoped that he wouldn¡¯t discover she wasn¡¯t asleep yet. Meanwhile, that person did not leave. Instead, he seemed to be sitting on the ground beside her. It could be a delusion, but she seemed to be able to sense his body heat, shielding her from the harsh cold outside.

    With her mind groggy, she fell asleep.

    When she woke up, she took a look at her watch and realized that it was already four in the morning.

    She had slept too long, and it was already her turn to keep vigil. Why didn¡¯t Li Lei wake her up? She checked the sleeping bag and saw that Li Lei had already fallen asleep, while a small silhouette sat before the fire in a daze.

    ¡°Shaohui?¡± She walked over.

    Little Shaohui looked at her and smiled. ¡°Mom, you¡¯re up? Look at that star over there, isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t be bothered with the star. She frowned and asked, ¡°Why are you the one keeping vigil?¡±

    How could such a young child be doing something so tough?

    Shaohui tilted his head slightly. ¡°Dad said a man has to learn to do this.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. He was just a child, how could he be considered a man?

    ¡°Your father woke you up for this?¡± She didn¡¯t sound too happy.

    Little Shaohui blinked his eyes and weighed it out, before deciding to betray his father. ¡°Yup.¡± Actually, his father just wanted his mother to get a bit more rest. He had told Shaohui that Mom had been worried about him the night before and did not get to sleep well.

    Little Shaohui had wanted to protest by saying that he did not get much sleep as well because of the python. But seeing his father¡¯s determined expression, he had no choice but to crawl out of his sleeping bag.

    Dad was being mean.

    Since his mother had already asked, he decided he might as well make up a story. ¡°Dad even told me not to tell you the truth. He said that if you asked, I¡¯d have to tell you that I woke up on my own and volunteered to keep vigil.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened immediately.

    All the gratitude she had towards Li Lei before she fell asleep evaporated instantly. She instructed Shaohui, ¡°Go to sleep.¡± And took on the duty herself.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Little Shaohui happily went back into his sleeping bag. It felt nice to be Mom¡¯s precious.

    As for Dad? Hmph, he couldn¡¯t be bothered. Mom would just be angry for a while before remembering how loving Dad was to her and how much he had sacrificed.

    Little Shaohui held onto his little sleeping bag and fell asleep in no time.

    He did not manage to sleep for long before the sun rose. When he woke up, he saw Dad preparing breakfast with a long face, as if he had just been lectured. Meanwhile, Mom¡¯s look was still dark and unhappy, but she was helping Dad with the boiling of water and all.

    Well, that¡¯s the way.

    Little Shaohui nodded at himself. Uncle said that it was usual for couples to argue and patch up quickly.

    Look how harmonious they were.

 Chapter 741 - Parent-Child Show

    <h4>Chapter 741: Parent-Child Show</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The next few days were uneventful.

    Although Xia Ling often pulled a long face, she was more willing to talk to Li Lei now. They usually spoke about day-to-day stuff and appeared like a family. Under Li Lei¡¯s protection, there were no more idents for the rest of the journey, and they managed to reach the mountain peak safely.

    The mountain peak was a t tform covered by glistening snow.

    Li Lei determined their position with hispass and urately dug a deep, narrow pit at the center of the peak. The three of them stood around the pit and carefully ced the wishing knot in it.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Exactly seven weeks from now, the wishing knot will melt along with the snow. By then, the world will ept that the three of us are one family unit, and we¡¯ll be able to announce Shaohui¡¯s actual identity.¡±

    This was what Xia Moyan had told them before they left for the mountain.

    The other two knew about this as well and nodded their heads.

    The three of them worked together to fill the pit with the ice they had dug out earlier. Shaohui pped his hands when they were done and said, ¡°This is great, in seven weeks I¡¯ll be able to acknowledge Dad and Mom as my parents!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and ruffled his hair.

    The journey back was smooth as well.

    Since they had already aplished their task, the rule stating ¡°no outsiders¡¯ help¡± was no longer in effect. Hence, Li Lei got a helicopter to pick them up from the mountain peak directly.

    Their journey to the mountain hade to a good end.

    Xia Ling gave Xia Moyan a call to inform him of the good news.

    Xia Moyan simply replied ¡°okay,¡± as if the oue was expected. After he hung up, he finally revealed a smile on his usually expressionless face without Xia Ling knowing. He left the house immediately and went to inform his parents.

    On the other side, Xia Ling¡¯s days were eventful but leisurely.

    She took Shaohui to all sorts of ces ¡ª concerts, filming sets, television stations, shopping... he was always caught on camera. Mother and child were always in matching outfits and seemed to be very close to each other.

    Little Shaohui was not camera-shy at all ¡ª even if the paparazzi suddenly made their appearance, he would smile sweetly. His adorable and innocent look made everyone fond of him, and he soon had tons of followers and fans.

    Shaohui¡¯s photos went viral online.

    Lin Yunan did not like where this was going. ¡°Using a child to gain poprity? This is a strategy used by outdated celebrities and celebrities no longer loved by the audience. You¡¯re still far from that stage but are already using this strategy, don¡¯t you find it a disgrace?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°... You mean, I should only do this when I¡¯m no longer popr?¡±

    Lin Yunan looked at Little Shaohui standing beside her and the baby chub that he still had. He was engrossed in eating candy floss. ¡°Well, by the time you¡¯re unpopr, your child won¡¯t be cute anymore. It¡¯d be wiser if you just adopt another one.¡±

    Xia Lingughed.

    In fact, Xia Ling wasn¡¯t taking Shaohui around to boost her poprity ¡ª given her current standing, there was absolutely no need for that. She was doing this so that there¡¯d be an easier transition when their family acknowledged one another in seven weeks¡¯ time. When they first left the mountain, Xia Ling had already discussed an issue with Li Lei: Little Shaohui was their biological son, but when did they give birth to him? Where? How? This would be hard to exin to the public.

    Xia Ling was a celebrity, and everyone knew that she had only been pregnant once. That time, the child she delivered was ¡°Pei Ziheng¡¯s son.¡± So where did this second biological sone from?

    Li Lei made his stand clear. He felt that it was better for them to be honest to the media and the public ¡ª they should exin that the child she had back then was Li Lei¡¯s, not Pei Ziheng¡¯s, and that the child had not passed on.

    But Xia Ling was not for it. ¡°That¡¯s not nice.¡±

    Regardless of the reason back then, Pei Ziheng had agreed for her to deliver the child and had even given the child the Pei family name. If they exposed that lie now, how was Pei Ziheng supposed to exin himself to his family and to themercial world?

    He was going to be mocked at for being a cuckold his whole life.

    Li Lei was a little bothered. ¡°Xiao Ling, at this point, you¡¯re still concerned for him? If he had not forced you to stay by his side, would all these have happened?¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at him. ¡°Li Lei, you had your grievances, and I had mine. I did not interfere with whatever you had between you and Su Tang, so I hope you¡¯ll respect my decision with regards to Pei Ziheng.¡±

    With that, Li Lei kept quiet.

    He felt as if something had pricked his heart, and it was stinging.

    Maybe this was life. Besides the sweet parts of a rtionship, there were alsopromise and negotiation involved. It wasn¡¯t easy to maintain a rtionship, even if there was love.

    She was right. Since she could tolerate having Su Tang¡¯s child registered under his family name, what right did he have to insist that she exposed Pei Ziheng¡¯s lie?

    ¡°We¡¯ll think of something else.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief and toned down, ¡°Thank you, Li Lei.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± He smiled and concealed his unhappiness.

    Hence, she smiled as well.

    Both of them came up with an idea that would help exin Shaohui¡¯s identity, and the first step to this was for Xia Ling to take him out and make him appear to the public often.

    She did the first step well.

    It was about time they got started on the second step.

    On this day, she took Shaohui to the office early in the morning. She postponed all other meetings and deadlines and spent the time ying with him in the office, awaiting something.

    Not too long after, Lin Yunan came to look for her with an odd expression on his face. ¡°Xiao Ling, there¡¯s ady outside who ims to be Shaohui¡¯s biological mother. She tried to get the security officers to let her through, and even got captured by reporters.¡±

    This was not a surprise to Xia Ling.

    But in front of Lin Yunan who knew nothing about their scheme, she had to put up an act. ¡°What? Shaohui¡¯s biological mother?!¡± She stood up in shock. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡±

    Lin Yunan¡¯s expression got even odder. ¡°I¡¯d already told you not to take him around and show him off so much, but you wouldn¡¯t listen. Thedy said she saw a photo of him online, and insists that this is her child who went missing about a year ago ¡ª that¡¯s about the same time as when you adopted him.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at Lin Yunan as if she was trying to process what he said.

    She started walking out. ¡°Whatever it is, we need to go and take a look. We can¡¯t let her make a scene.¡±

    Lin Yunan hurriedly caught up with her. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought too. I¡¯ve already brought her to the meeting room.¡±

 Chapter 742 - Is He Really Your Son?

    <h4>Chapter 742: Is He Really Your Son?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The meeting room was quiet, and the air conditioner was turned on.

    Xia Ling entered and saw a 30-odd-year-olddy sitting on the couch anxiously. She was dressed in a simple dress and stood up instantly when she saw Xia Ling enter. It took her a while before she greeted, ¡°Miss Ye.¡±

    Xia Ling noticed that her hands were sped together and trembling slightly ¡ª she looked just like it was her first time meeting a celebrity and had to discuss something extremely important.

    Xia Ling was very impressed. This actress that Li Lei had found was a natural, she was way better than many professionals out there. Yet, she could be sure that thisdy was not a professional and likely did not have any connections or involvement with the entertainment industry at all ¡ª wanting to im Shaohui as her own was bound to make the news; hence, her identity had to bepletely unknown to the world before this.

    Xia Ling took a few steps forward and said, ¡°Sit.¡±

    One word was enough to send thedy sitting anxiously again.

    Xia Ling sat on the adjacent couch, and Lin Yunan sat right next to her. As her manager, Lin Yunan had every duty to help her with such situations.

    Yet, he had no idea that this was just a show through and through, and the only audience in the meeting room was him.

    He sized thedy up. ¡°So, what¡¯s your name, and where are you from?¡±

    Thedy wrung her hands and stuttered a reply, ¡°My name is Ma Yufang. I¡¯m... I¡¯m from a vige. I... I¡¯m here for my son.¡±

    Lin Yunan asked a few more questions before he could be sure that Shaohui was her son.

    ¡°His original name is Ah Niu. Can you please let me see Ah Niu?¡± Ma Yufang said.

    Xia Ling almost broke into a smile when she heard that. Who gave the name Ah Niu? It was so cheesy.

    She gave a look of hesitation, portraying herself as a foster mother who had done so much to raise a child, only to have the child¡¯s biological mothere up to demand him. A few secondster, she said to Ma Yufang, ¡°He¡¯s not here. You can meet him another day.¡±

    She got up and left the room.

    She returned to her office and saw that Shaohui was building blocks on his own. She pinched his cheek affectionately and said, ¡°The show has begun.¡±

    The child knew what she was referring to. He blinked at her and then smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m really good at acting.¡± This skill was attributed to his father. His ability to lie harmlessly and innocently had nothing to do with this mother here.

    Xia Ling smiled back. This child was young, but he never worried anyone.

    A whileter, Lin Yunan left the meeting room as well and came to look for Xia Ling at her office. ¡°We need to talk.¡±

    Xia Ling knew it had to be about Shaohui and hence followed him to another room.

    Lin Yunan got directly to the point. ¡°How do you intend to deal with this woman?¡±

    Xia Ling saw thising and pretended to be in deep thought before replying, ¡°We¡¯ll do a DNA test first to determine if she¡¯s speaking the truth. And... if she really is his biological mother, we can¡¯t possibly stop her from acknowledging him.¡±

    Lin Yunan asked, ¡°You¡¯re intending to return the child to her?¡±

    Xia Ling appeared upset and quietly said, ¡°We¡¯ll see how it goes after the DNA test. Moreover, we have to see what Shaohui thinks about it.¡± She did not intend to tell Lin Yunan any more from this point on, at least for the time being. She reassured him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll handle this appropriately and not let this affect my image.¡±

    Lin Yunan nodded his head but did not say more.

    In any case, it didn¡¯t matter to him whether Shaohui was with her or not. All he cared about was whether the case would tarnish her image. But if this ended up benefitting her, it would be all the better.

    Later that day, this incident made the news.

    The public was in shock. Their favorite Little Shaohui had a biological mother now? And his mother was somebody so ordinary and average-looking?

    ¡°Little Shaohui is so cute, how could he be her son?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, they don¡¯t look alike at all.¡±

    ¡°Maybe this woman is poor, and she¡¯s trying to make some money out of this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s possible, Little Shaohui has no semnce to her at all. If he¡¯s her biological son, how is it possible that he didn¡¯t inherit any of her features at all?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, but now I feel like Little Shaohui looks a little like Ye Xingling. Look closely at his eye features. Don¡¯t you think...?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right...¡±

    The public was extremely interested in this news. Meanwhile, coges of Xia Ling and Shaohui were going viral online, with more and more people saying they looked alike.

    ¡°Could Little Shaohui be Ye Xingling¡¯s biological son instead?¡± Someone asked.

    Another said, ¡°But everyone knows that the Diva Ye only gave birth to one child, and that child belonged to Chairman Pei of Imperial Entertainment. Moreover, that child is dead and buried.¡±

    Thatment got many of them nodding their heads. That¡¯s true, Diva Ye had only been pregnant and given birth once. She was a public figure, there was no way she could¡¯ve gotten away with having a second child without anyone knowing. As much as Little Shaohui and her looked alike, he could not be her biological child.

    Hence, the spection died down after a while.

    But Xia Ling was more than happy when she saw the news. Well, this was going even better than she had expected. She continued taking Little Shaohui around, allowing him to make appearances at shopping malls and while she was filming, as if she wasn¡¯t the least bit affected by the incident. Many reporters were trying to get thetest updates. To that, Xia Ling simply smiled and said, ¡°We¡¯re getting the DNA test done. We¡¯ll see how it goes.¡±

    Li Lei came to look for her.

    Back at the vi, she was lying on the swinging wicker chair in the garden while watching Little Shaohui y. She seemed happy and rxed.

    Li Lei came with a bouquet of white lilies and bent over. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Hershes fluttered a little as she looked up at him. ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    She sounded leisurely.

    He nodded and ced the bouquet on her, the flowers and petals falling out all over her.

    She tossed and turned a little in the sea of petals. Ever since the journey up the snow mountain, their rtionship had improved. She was no longer rejecting his advances nor hiding her true self from him.

    Li Lei could sense the difference as well, and he was happy about it.

    He wanted so much to maintain and protect this serenity and eptance between both of them. But today, he had to tell her something. He looked down at her before taking a seat beside her.

    ¡°What is it?¡± She sensed something wrong.

    ¡°Well...¡± Li Lei thought for a while before telling the truth, ¡°Xiao Ling, my grandfather is back.¡±

 Chapter 743 - Above All Others

    <h4>Chapter 743: Above All Others</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling kept quiet.

    Her eyshes fluttered for a while as her body sank deeper into the chair.

    Her dress was swaying in the wind, and her voice became as light as a feather, ¡°What has that got to do with me?¡±

    She was saying it to Li Lei as much as it was to herself.

    She was no longer the little girl from back then that wanted nothing but to be with Li Lei. The person she was now had been through several heartbreaks and suffering for different reasons. Hence, as much as she wanted him... it was not enough for her to sacrifice everything anymore.

    The journey up the mountain had reignited some passion inside her, but whatever it was, it had faded the moment the sentence was uttered.

    Li Lei knelt down beside her chair and held her hand. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve been treating your brother like my own...¡±

    ¡°So, you want me to treat your grandfather like my own?¡±

    Her voice was calm and steady, with a hint of coldness and heartlessness, simr to how Xia Moyan usually spoke.

    Li Lei paused for a seconds before saying, ¡°This time, I will not let him hurt you. So please, give him a second chance? Grandpa is old and often harsh with his words, so I don¡¯t expect you to treat him like he¡¯s your own grandfather. I just hope you won¡¯t leave me because of him.¡±

    She was speechless.

    He guided her hand to his chest. ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you.¡±

    Love, what a curse it was.

    Xia Ling did not know what got over her, but she agreed to his request ¡ª she would not curry favor with his grandfather such that he would ept her, but she would not leave him because of his disapproval either.

    Only then was Li Lei relieved.

    Old Master Li arrived very soon. It was only 30-odd days until the announcement of Little Shaohui¡¯s identity. With the apaniment of the butler and several others, he made his way to City S.

    Xia Ling saw the photo on the news.

    Old Master Li arrived in a private jet, and Li Lei, along with Tan Ying, Su Tang and others were there to wee him.

    Li Rui was there as well. Initially, Su Tang was holding Li Rui¡¯s hand and standing on Li Lei¡¯s left, looking like a natural family. Thereafter, Li Lei gestured for Tan Ying to take a few steps forward and stand on his right, before he himself took one step up. With that, they did not look like a family anymore, but rather, a boss with his subordinates.

    When Old Master Li alighted from the ne, he scanned the surrounding at once and called for Li Lei to support him. Li Lei was helping him on one arm, while he held Su Tang and Li Rui on the other and spoke to them affectionately. For the whole journey, Tan Ying, the bodyguards, and their family doctor walked behind them ¡ª just like a crowd of subordinates clustering around a wealthy family.

    A reporter did an analysis on the three positions that everyone had taken and concluded¡ª

    Madam Su Tang yearned to stand beside Second Young Master Li, but he felt otherwise. Meanwhile, Old Master Li hoped to act as a matchmaker for both of them. Given the way he stood and moved about, he hadpletely taken Su Tang to be his granddaughter-inw.

    Xia Ling put the papers down slowly.

    She knew there was nothing good about Old Master Li returning.

    She stood up and looked out the rooftop office of Phoenix Down Corporation. Skyart Entertainment¡¯s magnificent building was just opposite, and arge crowd of reporters was gathered at the foot of the building with their cameras. They were busy snapping shots of the people entering ¡ª Old Master Li, Li Lei, and Su Tang.

    Old Master Li was being helped by his grandson, while he held Li Rui in the other hand and spoke with Su Tang.

    They appeared to be a harmonious family.

    What was Old Master Li doing at Skyart? To observe them? Or to assert dominance against her? Or was it to announce to the world that Su Tang was the granddaughter-inw he epted?

    Xia Ling was not sure exactly, but she knew it was nothing good.

    She reached out and drew the curtains.

    She heard a sneering from behind her and turned around.

    ¡°Lin Yunan?¡±

    ¡°I knew you¡¯d feel bothered by it.¡± Lin Yunan exposed her. ¡°So I¡¯m here to remind you ¡ª you¡¯re a Diva now, not the little celebrity of the past. Don¡¯t send yourself to be at their mercy. If you¡¯re chased out of their house again like thest time, it¡¯d be utterly embarrassing.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t get over how she was chased out of the Li household years back.

    Back then, she was still a minor celebrity and could bear with the disgrace.

    But now, her fame and elegance were above all others. If she were to be chased out of someone¡¯s household, it wasn¡¯t just a matter of her pride anymore ¡ª her poprity and ss would be affected, and her endorsements and advertisements as well.

    She couldn¡¯t afford it.

    Xia Ling understood that. ¡°Who says I¡¯m going to throw myself at them?¡±

    She looked at her watch.

    Lin Yunan knew why she checked the time. ¡°Usually, Li Li would pick you up for dinner at six o¡¯clock sharp. And if you¡¯re busy, he¡¯d prepare some food and bring it over for you. Tsk, it¡¯s almost six, will he be able to make it in time, given that the old man and Su Tang are there?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter even if he can¡¯t make it,¡± Xia Ling spoke as if it wasn¡¯t a big deal. ¡°Pei Ziheng has been inviting me to his ce for a while, to have a taste of the red wine he got at the auction. It¡¯s about time... we opened that wine bottle.¡±

    Lin Yunan felt a chill.

    Wow... it sure was scary to offend a woman.

    Especially a woman that one could not call his own yet. Just a moment of inattention and she could abandon him.

    Lin Yunan was still in a daze when Xia Ling left the room. She went to look for an outfit, some matching essories, and applied her makeup. By the time she was out of the changing room, she had changed out of herfortable loose-fitting dress and into a figure-hugging lined with diamonds and gems. Her purse was part of the limited edition set and came with the gown. With her stilettos on, she was simply dazzling.

    Lin Yunan gave a whistle. ¡°My queen, where would you like to go?¡± It was rare to see her dressed like this outside a performance.

    Xia Ling smiled, and her shimmery eyeshadow seemed to shine beautifully. ¡°Downstairs.¡±

    She put one hand out, elegantly but naturally.

    Meanwhile, it took Lin Yunan a while to realize what it meant before he went up to receive her hand. He thought, <i>Women are horrifying when they¡¯re up for a fight.</i>

    He looked up and saw that the clock had struck six exactly.

    There were many stories in the Phoenix Down building, and it was designed to look like a phoenix nest ¡ª or rather, to look as luxurious as a pce, with every step of the stairway and every floor carpeted. Those who walked on them would feel ssy just by setting foot around here.

    Lin Yunan helped Xia Ling down every step of the way.

    He knew what she was trying to do. Since she wanted to put on an act, she had to do it well.

    About one-third of her journey down, they began hearing amotion downstairs. Slowly, they started noticing shlights and hearing sounds of a crowding up the stairs. Lin Yunan couldn¡¯t help but smile as he whispered to Xia Ling, ¡°It seems like you¡¯re still on that man¡¯s mind. He isn¡¯t so silly as to let you appear in front of his rival dressed like this.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled ever so slightly, almost unnoticeable.

 Chapter 744 - The Reporters Felt Cheated

    <h4>Chapter 744: The Reporters Felt Cheated</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Themotion was getting closer.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks like a high and mighty queen standing in the middle of her pce.

    She looked down and watched as a man made his way up step by step.

    He was in an off-white shirt today with the hook and eye of his shirt unbuttoned, revealing his appealing tanned skin. His dressing was considered appropriate attire for receiving his grandfather. Yet, against her extravagant outfit, it appeared a little contrasting.

    Li Lei did not expect to see her like this, and there was a hint of shock in his eyes.

    But it didn¡¯t take him longer than a split second to snap out of his shock. Without even stopping in his tracks, he continued going up the stairs towards her.

    There were tons of cameras,rge and small, as well as reporters, following behind him in a cluster. They had practically jammed the entire stairway of Phoenix Down, and even the main lobby was full of people. They tried as hard as they could to capture shots of Xia Ling and Li Lei.

    Xia Ling smiled. This was good, he had brought all the reporters here.

    Old Master Li probably did not expect that his n to put Su Tang in an advantageous position today had turned into her obstacle in achieving her ce in this rtionship.

    Four years back, she had tolerated and given in to Old Master Li on ount that he was the elder of the man she loved. All herpromises had led to her days and nights of suffering and heartache.

    At this point, she was not going to give in anymore.

    It was time to prepare for battle.

    She smiled radiantly, just as she had onstage for so many years. As long as she wanted it, she could be the center of attention in any situation.

    Seeing how beautifully she smiled, Li Lei was enchanted.

    His Xiao Ling was like a demoness who could change to various forms ¡ª innocent and charming, vulnerable and gorgeous... nobody knew what she could offer.

    His footsteps became more determined, more steady.

    Among the media representatives, someone had already eximed, albeit quietly ¡ª¡±Look, that¡¯s the Second Young Master Li indeed. He¡¯s wearing an ordinary shirt, but he doesn¡¯t appear inadequate or sloppy even in this moment of splendor, facing a Diva dressed so extravagantly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, he¡¯s a prince wherever he goes.¡±

    The way he wore his shirt ¡ª slightly opened at the cor ¡ª became a trend among male youths for a while, simply because he was able to present himself as a king in that outfit when faced with the queen of the pce. That outfit in itself signified masculinity and strength.

    The cameras continued shing.

    Many of the reporters were excited beyond measure and felt that they had not made a wasted trip. The scene before their eyes was that of a blockbuster film, and it made their ¡°tickets¡± well worth it.

    In the chaos of photo-taking, Li Lei finally arrived before Xia Ling.

    He stood one step below her but was still taller than her. He looked down slightly and said, ¡°You¡¯re dressed so beautifully, were you waiting for me?¡± He smiled teasingly.

    Xia Ling raised her brows. He¡¯d just arrived and was already trying to be the protagonist of the show?

    Too bad, this wasn¡¯t his day. Now that she had already yed her card and decided to bring her stage presence into this setting, she was going to rein this night.

    She smiled but did not answer his question. She simply put a hand out.

    Li Lei blinked a few times. Under the chandelier, the expression in his eyes was unreadable.

    The two of them stood face to face for the next few moments, in silence.

    Her hand was still put out.

    One second, two seconds...

    Li Lei¡¯s limpid eyes seemed to say to her: Today¡¯s the day Grandpa returns, is it a good idea to be causing such an uproar here?

    Meanwhile, her gaze seemed to answer his question: I¡¯m just this high-profile, do you want to take it or not?

    The reporters were whispering among one another. What was going on? Was there some conflict between the both of them, and Li Lei wasn¡¯t here to show off their love, but rather to find fault with her?

    An air of uneasiness spread around.

    One of the reporters could not bear to look at the tense atmosphere anymore. ¡°Don¡¯t you think Ye Xingling is too much? Even if Li Lei likes her, she¡¯s going overboard by doing something like this on the first day his grandfather returns. Isn¡¯t she afraid that Li Lei might embarrass her in front of so many people?¡±

    ¡°If Second Young Master Li really doesn¡¯t take her hand, it¡¯ll be so disgraceful for her.¡± Another reporter said.

    Someone else added, ¡°That would be too hurting for her.¡±

    Unknowingly, everybody began worrying that Li Lei was actually here to find trouble with her. The two of them were beautiful together, so much so that they overshadowed everything else at that moment. The reporters truly hoped that a couple aspatible as they were would not end up with cracks of tension between them.

    But still, Li Lei did not reach out to take her hand.

    He looked at her quietly, with an expression that nobody could read. Meanwhile, Xia Ling was evidently not bothered by it as she left her hand hanging in midair.

    Their gazes met for a long time.

    In a corner, Lin Yunan yawned and took a look at his watch.

    ¡°This actor and actress have quite a bit of self-control, I must say.¡± He muttered to himself. He wasn¡¯t worried that Li Lei would do anything in Xia Ling¡¯s disfavor. That man had taken so much effort to woo this Diva, if he messed up at this time, he could well wait for her to ce that hand in Pei Ziheng¡¯s instead.

    Just as Lin Yunan was yawning a second time, Li Lei finally smiled.

    He steadily reached out and took her hand in his, before bending over and nting a kiss on her hand. That kiss was elegant, gentle, and utterly gentlemanly.

    In the crowd, there was a unanimous sigh of relief.

    The reporters were even more uptight than either of them, and some were so tensed up they even forgot to snap a photo of the beautiful kiss. ¡°Do you have a photo of Li Lei kissing her? Send me a copy.¡± One of the reporters poured at the other beside him.

    The other reporter looked at him cautiously. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t kid with me. I want my reward.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯ve been buddies for years...¡±

    ¡°When I get my reward, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal.¡±

    Hence, those who didn¡¯t manage to capture that scene pulled long faces.

    Under the crystal chandelier, Li Lei¡¯s maic voice was heard, ¡°My beautiful queen, would you be so kind as to have dinner with me?¡±

    The crowd burst with excitement ever so discreetly.

    Most of the reporters waiting at Skyart were trying to get information and interview opportunities with regards to Old Master Li¡¯s arrival. They were confused when Li Lei suddenly walked towards Phoenix Down, but followed along anyway, thinking: If Li Lei could forsake Old Master Li and Su Tang on the other side toe and look for Xia Ling, there must be something important.

    s, it was just for a meal?!

    What a joke!

    The reporters all felt cheated.

 Chapter 745 - My Only Woman

    <h4>Chapter 745: My Only Woman</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling smiled.

    She still did not say a word as he helped her down the stairs. Their height difference was even more perfect when they walked side by side, his tall buildplementing her petite figure beautifully.

    ¡°Tsk, these photos easily beat the ones we took of Su Tang just now.¡± One of the reporters said as he continued snapping photos.

    Another said, ¡°Of course, the photos with Su Tang are of the family theme. With Old Master Li and Li Rui right in the middle, it was impossible to snap any ¡®couple shot.¡¯ There was this time where I finally found the perfect angle and was about to take a photo of just Second Young Master Li and Su Tang, but he moved away instantly. How could the family theme be more appealing to readers than the couple theme, right? Moreover, Miss Ye is a celebrity.¡±

    The others nodded in agreement.

    Celebrities always had a special appeal for readers, which was way stronger than Su Tang¡¯s.

    Seeing that Xia Ling and Li Lei were about to leave, the reporters hustled to follow behind them, when bodyguards suddenly appeared to stop them.

    ¡°Show¡¯s over, everyone. Time to go.¡± Lin Yunan raised his voice. ¡°Let¡¯s give Xiao Ling and him some personal space, shall we? Everyone¡¯s been busy, feel free to have some refreshments provided by thepany.¡±

    The reporters stopped giving chase, realizing that they could not catch up anyway.

    Phoenix Down was very particr about their refreshments and was serving top-grade Big Red Robe Chinese tea. These reporters had been out and about for years, and had usually only been offered tea brewed with tea stems; they rarely ever got to drink such good tea like they did today. It was apparent that they were being shown respect, and that improved their impression of Phoenix Down greatly.

    They were subconsciously already more inclined to be in favor of Xia Ling.

    They also had a rough idea of how they were going to write their articles for the day.

    Lin Yunan watched as the reporters gradually rxed as they sipped their tea, and was more than satisfied with this oue ¡ª if there was anything that Phoenix Down Corporation had an abundance of, it was money. Otherpanies were after profits, but theirs was after favors and advantages for Xia Ling. Moreover, she had just pumped another few billions of yuan into thepany.

    Even Lin Yunan had no idea where did ite from.

    He was starting to feel that this diva he had been grooming was a little too mysterious. She managed to gather so many funds so discreetly, how was this normal? ¡°Hey, are you some kind of rich girl from a secretly wealthy family?¡± He asked half-teasingly one day.

    Xia Ling only responded with a smile, ¡°Guess.¡±

    These billions of yuan were the allowance that Xia Moyan had brought along for her when he visited. In fact, he had brought tens of billions for her, but she had no idea how to spend them and was toozy to go to the bank. Hence, she pumped part of it into thepany, and simply told Lin Yunan, ¡°Use it for the employees¡¯ welfare.¡±

    Since it wasn¡¯t his money anyway, Lin Yunan instructed the Finance and Human Resource departments as per her wishes. Not only were there for privileges for the employees, but all the drinks, lunches and even nts in and around thepany were also of the best quality.

    All things aside, just the tea alone was of a better grade than those in managerial-level pantries in most otherpanies.

    After finishing the tea, the reporters left in satisfaction.

    As for Xia Ling, she was in Li Lei¡¯s car and on the way the high-end restaurant nearby that they often patronized.

    The supervisor of the restaurant was obviously well-acquainted with them as he guided them to the private dining room they were used to dine in. Meanwhile, the waiters served up the dishes they loved without them having to ce any order.

    The red wine in the tall ss reflected the light from the candle.

    Only then did Li Lei start talking. ¡°Angry?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at him and swirled the winess in her hand without replying.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re really angry? Can you have more confidence in yourself, so what if my grandpa is back? I only love one person, and nobody can change that.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled coldly. ¡°Have confidence in myself? I was pretty confident four years back.¡±

    When it came to the past, Li Lei had no words.

    He awkwardly poured more wine into her ss and diverted the topic. ¡°Why are you dressed so beautifully today? Were you nning to look for me at Skyart? Actually, you could¡¯ve just waited for me, that¡¯d save you the trouble of bumping into my grandpa.¡± When he arrived, she happened to be making her way downstairs. Hence, he assumed that she was going to look for him.

    Xia Ling gave the same sneer. ¡°Don¡¯t think so highly of yourself.¡±

    Shocked, he pouted pitifully. ¡°You weren¡¯t going to look for me?¡±

    The candlelight continued flickering.

    In the dim light ¡ª part streaming in from the windows and parting off the candles ¡ª she looked at this man¡¯s beautiful facial features. He was so handsome, and when he pouted, it made it hard for anyone to reject him... no wonder so manydies went crazy over him. In this world full of possibilities, would they be able to walk through this life journey together?

    She was never sure of it.

    She jabbed him gently with her stiletto, and half-jokingly said, ¡°If you didn¡¯te today, I¡¯d go look for another man and create some gossip.¡±

    He blinked, slightly hurt. ¡°But, I came.¡±

    ¡°Which is why I¡¯m sitting here.¡± She smiled.

    Li Lei looked at her and slowly began to smile as well. His Xiao Ling was a demoness indeed. Whether she was a butterfly or a phoenix, she never failed to enchant him, making him so afraid to lose her.

    He suddenly felt as if his sole purpose in this world was to meet her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll settle the issue on Grandpa¡¯s side.¡± He said firmly.

    At least this time, he had not disappointed her.

    After receiving Old Master Li, Li Lei had put aside his grandfather and Su Tang, and went to Phoenix Down to pick her up for dinner. Many of the reporters asked, ¡°Second Young Master Li, why did you do this? Is it really more important to have dinner with Miss Ye than to attend a wee feast for the Old Master?¡±

    Li Lei smiled innocently. ¡°Grandpa has Su Tang to apany him. He¡¯s said that he always treated Ah Tang as his biological granddaughter, so I¡¯m more than at ease knowing that she¡¯s there with him. But as you know, Xiao Ling had been alone all these years, and Shaohui told me yesterday that she¡¯s been having some gastric issuestely, and asked me to take good care of her. How could I let this child down?¡± This statement was not entirely true nor false, but no one could pick out any loophole.

    Many spections were going around in the news ¡ª would Second Young Master Li get back together with Xia Ling because of the child?

    Countless fans joined the discussion as well, providing their own perspectives. Along with the beautiful moments captured by the reporters, the majority was in support of them getting back together.

    Old Master Li was fuming, ¡°What a sin! Is it impossible to get you to stay away from Ye Xingling?!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei looked at his grandfather in the eye. ¡°In this lifetime, she is my only woman, and will be my only wife.¡± He was more determined now than ever before, and Old Master Li could not do anything, even if these words angered him.

 Chapter 746 - Old Masterâ€™s Compromise

    <h4>Chapter 746: Old Master¡¯s Compromise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Old Master was enraged for the next few days.

    Li Lei tried using a few different strategies to get to his grandfather. This time, he brought a cup of tea to his room and smilingly said, ¡°Grandpa, don¡¯t be too angry, it¡¯s not good for your health. Here, have some tea. Xiao Ling has a lot of strengths, could you try and ept her?¡±

    ¡°ept, my foot!¡± Old Master spat.

    Li Lei smilingly left the ceramic teacup on the wooden desk and made his way behind Old Master. He began massaging his shoulders gently. ¡°Grandpa, so you dislike Xiao Ling because you¡¯re afraid she will jinx me? Look, we¡¯ve been together for so many years, but we¡¯ve been fine, right? ... Well, at least in recent times.¡±

    Old Master red at him. ¡°Who knows when her widow¡¯s curse will act up?! Can¡¯t you just stay away from her and like another woman instead? There are so many women in this world! And so many of them can bear kids!¡±

    The smile on Li Lei¡¯s face slowly disappeared upon hearing that.

    His voice was gentle and sincere. ¡°Grandpa, allow me to say this ¡ª you loved Grandma so much, if Grandpa had a destiny like Xiao Ling¡¯s, or if Grandma could not bear children, would you have abandoned her back then?¡± Their love was one to be envied. Although Grandma looked old and ugly when she was ill, she always remained the most beautiful woman in Grandpa¡¯s heart.

    Old Master mmed the desk, spilling some of the tea. ¡°Bastard!¡±

    This bastard of a grandson, how could hepare a woman like Ye Xingling to his precious Ah Wan?! That woman was too wretched for this! Old Master¡¯s eyes were wide with fury as he pointed a trembling finger at his grandson. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    He shouted so loudly that even the butler standing at the entrance was startled.

    The butler wiped some sweat off his forehead and took a peep at the study room, which was shut. What was going on inside? Old Master had always loved Second Young Master. Given the way he scolded him, it must have been something serious.

    Was Second Young Master... alright?

    In the study.

    Li Lei kept his head low as he looked at the spilled droplets on the desk.

    He knew thatparing Grandma to Xiao Ling was sure to anger Grandpa, but this was the only way he could think of to let Grandpa understand just how important she was to him.

    He looked up and calmly faced Old Master.

    The study was silent for a while.

    Old Master Li¡¯s pants slowed down. ¡°Your Grandma was such a brilliantdy. She was smart and gentle, could cook and clean, and yet waspletely unmoved even if she had knives against her throat. What about Ye Xingling? Unrefined, arrogant and impulsive, what strengths does she have?!¡±

    Li Lei smiled slightly. Thinking of that girl was like thinking of all the good in the world. ¡°I like her that way,¡± he said softly. ¡°I love her.¡±

    Love did not require a reason.

    Old Master red so hard at him, it was as if he wanted to bear a hole in his grandson.

    Li Lei went on, ¡°Grandpa... you say that she has a widow¡¯s curse, but that actually isn¡¯t so scary. If she passes on before me, then the curse is off, right? And if she passes on after me... don¡¯t you think that the one who leaves first is luckier?¡± They wouldn¡¯t have to bear with the suffering of losing a loved one.

    Old Master turned away.

    ¡°Get out.¡± He said after a long silence.

    Li Lei bowed towards his back view before taking his leave.

    ¡°Young Master.¡± The butler greeted him at the door and looked at him with some worry.

    He seemed to be in deep thought and only noticed the butler momentster. He simply waved his hand, signaling that he and the person inside were both alright.

    He had already made his point clearly.

    Whether or not Grandpa would ept it was another matter.

    Completely unaware of the battle that took ce over on this side, Xia Ling spent her days happily.

    Ever since the day the reporters captured photos of Li Lei asking her out for dinner, the public was even more excited about them getting back together. They even came up with reasons to justify why Xia Ling was a better match for him aspared to Su Tang.

    As she was in better spirits, her appetite increased as well. She even put on a little weight and outgrew some of the clothes from the previous year.

    She took Li Lei along to go shopping for new clothes and was captured by some reporters again. When the photo reached Su Tang, she ripped the photo apart.

    Xia Ling did not know that.

    But she wouldn¡¯t have been bothered anyway.

    She did whatever made her happy. This time, she really did not give a hoot about what the Li family elders thought of her ¡ª anyway, even if she did, would it make a difference?

    Who knew, the winds blew the other way.

    That day, Li Lei came to look for her happily. ¡°Xiao Ling, the begonias in my family¡¯s vi have bloomed. Grandpa ns to hold a mini garden party for everyone to admire the flowers. It¡¯s tomorrow, and he¡¯s inviting you.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked, and her first thought was ¡ª¡±How¡¯s Old Master nning to humiliate me this time?¡±

    Li Lei was a little hurt. ¡°Actually, Grandpa isn¡¯t as bad as you think. Over this period of time, I¡¯ve been trying to appeal to both his emotions and logic. He¡¯s finally agreed to try epting you, which is why he¡¯s inviting you for this party.¡±

    Xia Ling was half doubtful. Since when was Old Master Li so reasonable?

    Li Lei said, ¡°Grandpa has loved me a lot since I was young. As long as I insist on being with you, he¡¯ll eventually be the one to give in. Xiao Ling, our Shaohui will be able to regain his identity in no time. By then, we¡¯ll be a big happy family.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him and nodded.

    That¡¯s right, there was still Little Shaohui.

    If Old Master did not want to ept her, that couldn¡¯t be helped. But since he was already trying, why should she reject that? In any case, he was Little Shaohui¡¯s great-grandfather, it wouldn¡¯t be good if their rtionship was too strained.

    She asked, ¡°Can I bring Little Shaohui along?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Well, I feel that we should do it step by step. Let Grandpa ept you first, and then ept Little Shaohui.¡± Old Master was already very turned off by the fact that she could no longer bear children. If she brought ¡°someone else¡¯s child¡± to meet him, Old Master would be even more upset at her.

    It would be better to slowly introduce the child after he had epted her.

    By then, Shaohui¡¯s identity might have been announced, and it¡¯d be a celebration for everyone.

    Xia Ling thought for a while and decided there was no need to subject the child to his potential humiliation ¡ª if Old Master decided to pull a long face at the both of them during the party, wouldn¡¯t it be too hurting for Little Shaohui?

    He was her precious, how could she bear to see him being put down in any way?

    Hence, on the second day, she left Little Shaohui at home while she changed into a beautiful dress that she conscientiously picked, applied some make-up, and then followed Li Lei to visit Grandpa.

 Chapter 747 - Little Shaohuiâ€™s False Identity

    <h4>Chapter 747: Little Shaohui¡¯s False Identity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The begonias in the garden had bloomed beautifully.

    At the mini party were Old Master, Li Lei and Xia Ling, and no one else. Maybe Old Master was really nning to ept Xia Ling, given that he did not invite Su Tang or even Li Rui.

    Xia Ling was a little cautious at first, afraid that Old Master was actually setting a trap for her. But as the meeting proceeded, she realized that although he didn¡¯t seem to like her yet, he was trying his best to suppress it. He was putting in the effort to be civil and courteous.

    Hence, Xia Ling reciprocated with sincerity and was polite to him as well.

    She wasn¡¯t expecting them to be on good terms after one meeting, all she hoped for was that Old Master wouldn¡¯t disapprove of their rtionship.

    Li Lei was happy as well, or rather, he was the happiest of the three ¡ª his most beloved woman was being epted by his most respected grandfather, what a blessing this was!

    The little party ended on a good note.

    Before they parted, Old Master even told Li Lei to send Xia Ling home.

    Li Lei more than willingly agreed. While driving, he said, ¡°I told you Grandpa would surely ept you, Xiao Ling. You¡¯re so brilliant, everybody likes you.¡±

    Xia Ling revealed a smile as well. ¡°Nonsense. Old Master obviously doesn¡¯t like me, he just has no choice but to try epting me on your ount.¡± She believed her guess was right, but she didn¡¯t mind that fact. It was Li Lei whom she loved. As for everyone else... it would be good enough if they didn¡¯t stand in the way.

    After that, Li Lei took a few more opportunities to bring Old Master and Xia Ling together.

    Old Master¡¯s attitude towards Xia Ling improved over time. Although it was still passive, he no longer showed any despise towards her. In fact, when he received specialty local products from acquaintances, he would even get Li Lei to give Xia Ling some.

    Xia Ling¡¯s days got even better and her mood improved as well.

    Little Shaohui was happy for her too. ¡°Mom, Mom! Dad¡¯s grandfather likes you now, this is awesome!¡±

    Xia Ling pinched his nose cheekily. ¡°Twenty-five more days to go before we can announce your identity. When the timees, you¡¯ll be able to address him as your great-grandfather.¡±

    She looked forward to the day they could have a proper reunion.

    Little Shaohui smiled and nodded his head.

    He really wished to see this great-grandfather of his. He had heard that this man was very impressive; back then, he had led his men in fights and battles in order to expand the Li family business to more than double its original scale.

    He had gone forward with his head up.

    As for Shaohui¡¯s ¡°identity mystery,¡± the public was slowly getting to learn of it.

    Under Xia Ling¡¯s and Li Lei¡¯s arrangement, thedy who came to demand Shaohui ¡ª Ma Yufang ¡ª underwent a DNA test. Of course, the test results were prepared long before and showed that her DNA had no rtion to Shaohui¡¯s.

    Once the news came out, many expressed sentiments such as ¡°I saw thising¡±, and began specting that Ma Yufang was trying to make a name for herself by doing this. Yet, Ma Yufang cried out, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to kick a fuss, nor use underhanded means. Little Shaohui is my child!¡±

    The public mocked her, was she still trying to deny the facts?

    Who knew, Ma Yufang spilled the beans. ¡°I was a surrogate mother for a wealthy family. The middleman said that thedy was unsuitable to have a child, and hence, the couple inserted a test-tube baby into my womb. I gave birth to Little Shaohui after nine long months, there¡¯s no lie about this! I have the hospital¡¯s proof!¡±

    There was another uproar now with this new information.

    So, Little Shaohui¡¯s background was soplicated?

    However¡ª

    ¡°She hasn¡¯t shown any evidence, on what grounds should we believe Ma Yufang?¡± Many fans shared their sentiments online. If it was really a surrogate case, who could verify it?

    ¡°Exactly. Poor Xiao Ling, she¡¯s being dragged into suchplicated matters.¡±

    There were many opinions and perspectives going around.

    In this chaos, Xia Ling was actually very calm. ¡°In this case, we should just ask Shaohui himself.¡±

    She took Shaohui to see Ma Yufang.

    The following day, the news reported that the child had cried as he went for Ma Yufang¡¯s embrace, calling her ¡°Mom.¡± The little one personally told the reporters that Ma Yufang was indeed thedy who raised him and that he recognized her.

    It seemed like there was another turn of events now. Had the child finally found his own mother?

    ¡°Madam Ma, you said you were a surrogate mother, so who¡¯s the child¡¯s father? Why hasn¡¯t he been around all these years?¡± A reporter tried to get to the bottom of things.

    Ma Yufang wiped her tears as she replied, ¡°This child has led a tough life. Not long after he was born, I lost contact with the middleman. I tried looking for the child¡¯s biological parents but to no avail. Seeing that the child was still so young, I decided to raise him myself instead.¡±

    Xia Ling attended the interview with her. On hearing that, her eyes went red as well.

    ¡°Miss Ye,¡± Ma Yufang raised her head. ¡°Thank you for raising Little Shaohui for the past year. With you by his side, he has lived a much better life. I see that he¡¯s even put on some weight. Right now, I have no requests, except that I hope you¡¯ll find his biological parents for him. You¡¯re much richer than I am, it¡¯ll be easier for you to find them.¡±

    With that, she went on her knees and kowtowed to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling hurriedly helped her up, and assured her with her hand ced over hers. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely try my best to find his biological parents. I¡¯ve no idea why, but I feel very much for this child. The thought of him not being able to acknowledge his parents brings me heartache.¡±

    Both women were teary-eyed and shared simr sentiments.

    They walked out of the interview room.

    Li Lei came to pick her up in a car. Ruffling her hair, he said, ¡°Your acting was pretty good.¡±

    They had nned this show a long time ago, just so that they could introduce Shaohui¡¯s background and identity in a reasonable manner. As of now, the n seemed to be going well ¡ª the whole nation was touched by this story and nobody had any doubts.

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°For some reason, I really did feel bad when I said those words.¡±

    Li Lei kissed her gently. ¡°That¡¯s because you love our son too much. Even though you know that it was scripted, your heart still ached.¡± This was his Xiao Ling; whenever it involved the people she loved, she was soft-hearted beyond measure.

    Xia Ling leaned on his shoulder and felt more at ease than before.

    Thankfully, that was only a story.

    Thankfully, she did not really have to go the extra mile to look for the child¡¯s father.

    The following day...

    Someone had arrived at the vi.

    Pei Ziheng was in an ash grey shirt, his silhouette against the sunset as he glowed with charm. In his arms was a huge gift box.

    Xia Ling looked at him through the gate. ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    ¡°To thank you.¡± he smiled easily. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the news.¡±

 Chapter 748 - Only A Child

    <h4>Chapter 748: Only A Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling knew what he was referring to.

    She had gone to so much trouble with handling Shaohui¡¯s identity, just so that the public would not find out that he was the same child that she had had under Pei Ziheng¡¯s name. The whole setup took her much time and effort to n.

    As for Pei Ziheng, he saw through it immediately.

    She smiled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to thank me for.¡± She did not make a move to ept his gift.

    He was still standing at the gate. ¡°You¡¯re not going to invite me in?¡±

    She simply said, ¡°It¡¯s not convenient.¡±

    He looked down at her. He was hardly ever rejected by anyone in his life, yet even as she challenged his authority and power time and again, he could not do anything about it. But it was alright... they were destined to be entwined with one another for the rest of their lives. He was sure that she still had a ce for him in her heart. Otherwise, why would she go to this much trouble for him?

    And, she was not with Li Lei yet.

    Nothing was set in stone.

    He would take everything back.

    With a gracious smile, Pei Ziheng ced the gift box in her hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave the gift with you. If you need any help, look for me.¡± He left without giving her a chance to respond.

    Xia Ling saw his back view disappear into another vi before she took therge hamper into the house. She opened the gift box and saw that it was a splendid nightgown; it was very much like him to give her something like this. The design and color were elegant and extravagant, with brilliant details.

    The most crucial part was, it suited her wonderfully.

    Still, she had no intention to wear it. She dragged the nightgown upstairs and ced it in a storage room ¡ª over the years, Pei Ziheng had given her too many things for her to fit into a storage box, and she had to move them into a room instead. Everything in the room wasn¡¯t going to be used anytime; they were just memories sealed in the past.

    ¡°Mom, did Uncle Pei give you something again?¡± Little Shaohui had suddenly appeared in the storage room beside her.

    ¡°Yup.¡± It didn¡¯t have to be kept from him. ¡°Don¡¯t let your Dad know.¡±

    Little Shaohui nodded obediently. Truth be told, Dad already knew whaty in the storage room and had even tried urging him to take some things out and throw them away.

    Little Shaohui decided he could not do something like that ¡ª and more importantly, Uncle had instructed him to let his father feel a sense of threat sometimes. Dad had bullied Mom for years, he couldn¡¯t let him have her so easily. Little Shaohui did not agree with his perspective, but...

    He dared not go against Uncle.

    So Dad would have to bear the brunt of this.

    As such, the storage room still existed until now.

    Before Xia Ling closed the door, she scanned the room ¡ª everything Pei Ziheng had given her was expensive and valuable. She let out a quiet sigh and remembered a poem: ¡°If only life were always like the very first encounter.¡±

    If only it was, how nice would that be.

    With Pei Ziheng out of the picture, she often took Shaohui out to y, went on dates with Li Lei, and even visited Old Master Li every so often for a meal or tea. It seemed like Old Master Li was really beginning to ept her ¡ª each time she was there, he would make sure Su Tang wasn¡¯t around. She noticed that and did feel a little moved by his efforts.

    Maybe Li Lei was right, he was a good grandfather indeed.

    Until something happened.

    That day, Xia Ling went home after a day of work. It was alreadyte at night and extremely quiet all around.

    She went upstairs to see Shaohui, only to realize that he wasn¡¯t there. She frowned a little. It waste, why was he not sleeping? Back in the hallway, she called out, ¡°Shaohui?¡±

    Still no response.

    She went back downstairs to take a look, but he wasn¡¯t around either.

    Xia Ling started to get anxious and woke the nanny up. ¡°Where¡¯s Little Young Master Shaohui? Did you see him?¡±

    The nanny was puzzled. ¡°Little Young Master? Isn¡¯t he in the bedroom? I only came back to rest after tucking him into bed.¡± She followed Xia Ling to take a look, but he wasn¡¯t there.

    The nanny was getting worried too and joined Xia Ling in around for him.

    He was nowhere to be found.

    Her heart was pounding and a bad feeling began surging inside her. She was about to call Li Lei when her phone started ringing ¡ª it was an unknown number.

    ¡°Hello?¡± She picked up.

    The other end was Old Master¡¯s voice, ¡°Ye Xingling?¡±

    ¡°Old Master?¡± Xia Ling was all worried about Shaohui but still did her best to remain courteous to this elder. ¡°Is anything the matter? Could you call back in a while? I¡¯m busy¡ª¡±

    ¡°Looking for that child Shaohui?¡± Old Master¡¯s voice was calm and collected.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart almost leaped out of her chest. ¡°How did you know? Where is he?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s safe for now, don¡¯t worry.¡± Old Master sounded a little different from usual. He sounded colder, more ruthless. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m curious as to how much you love this child. Would you give up your supposed love for this child?¡±

    Xia Ling felt her head buzzing. ¡°What?¡±

    Old Master¡¯s voice got even colder. ¡°Honestly, I didn¡¯t like you the first time I saw you, and I still don¡¯t. This period of time, I¡¯ve been putting on a front of epting you, but this is only to make Xiao Lei feel better. And...¡± He sneered. ¡°So that Xiao Lei wouldn¡¯t suspect me when I send somebody to kidnap Shaohui.¡±

    ¡°You kidnapped Shaohui?!¡± Xia Ling felt like her world was going to copse. So, all the harmony that they had achieved was just a lie? She had fallen into his well-plotted trap. ¡°What... do you want? What does it take for you to return him to me?¡± She asked with a trembling voice, even though she could already guess the answer.

    s, Old Master said, ¡°Leave Li Lei.¡±

    She bit her lip. ¡°What if, I can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I got someone to email you a video. If you¡¯re interested, you can have a look.¡± Old Master spoke slowly. ¡°Maybe, it¡¯ll be better to negotiate with me after you¡¯ve taken a look at it.¡±

    Xia Ling dashed to herptop before she even hung up. Indeed, there was a video file lying in her inbox. With trembling fingers, she opened the file and saw a horrifying scene ¡ª Little Shaohui was stripped naked, and his arms were held up by a set of handcuffs hanging from the center of the ceiling. He was blindfolded as a man dressed in a ck suit caned him.

    Shaohui¡¯s expression was distorted with pain as red lines emerged on his skin.

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling screamed. She seemed to have lost her senses as grabbed her phone once again. ¡°Li Shanhe, what are you doing to him?! He¡¯s only a child!¡± Her voice was so shrill, it no longer sounded like her. Now, all her horrid memories from her previous lives flooded her mind once again. Her vision began spotting as she almost lost her footing.

 Chapter 749 - Too Much

    <h4>Chapter 749: Too Much</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She knew very well what Little Shaohui was going through.

    She couldn¡¯t believe that Old Master Li would actually hand the child to a sadistic pervert and leave him to treat him like a ve. This was the most inhumane form of hurt anyone could inflict on others; she had been through it herself and refused to recall it, but today, the memory had been forced upon her again.

    She was trembling all over and needed support from a table to able to stand.

    Old Master Li¡¯s voice remained steady. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m not sure if you know what the child is going through now. Let¡¯s put it this way, there are a lot of perverts in this world who have a fetish for children, and would buy them home for their pleasure. Perhaps to treat them as a ve, or perhaps as living anatomy, or even to feed a beast... they love these.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this to him.¡± Her pleaded meekly.

    She used to think that she would be able to deal with whatever Old Master Li coulde up with against her. But not this. Shaohui was practically her life, he was her bottom line. She had lost him once before, and would not allow him to suffer a second time.

    Old Master Li said, ¡°Leave Li Lei.¡±

    Xia Ling closed her eyes slowly. A few secondster, she surrendered. ¡°Alright.¡± She had no other choice; this was nothing inparison to the pain Shaohui could potentially be put through. Moreover, they had to wait just 20-odd days before Shaohui¡¯s identity would be announced. By then, Old Master¡¯s attitude would change for the better.

    They just needed to drag this out for the next 20 days or so.

    Old Master Li was very satisfied with her answer, and it reflected in his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to take good care of the child. As long as you and Li Lei are not together, the child will be well and fine. Miss Ye, don¡¯t even bear the thought of ¡®agreeing for now, and then getting back with Li Lei once the child is released.¡¯ I will never return this child to you, but your decision will affect his fate in my hands.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Xia Ling was all tense. ¡°You¡¯ll never return him to me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Old Master smiled. ¡°Otherwise, how am I going to keep you in control?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned paler by the second. She couldn¡¯t trust the word of this sly old man ¡ª for each day Shaohui wasn¡¯t back, she would not live in peace.

    Even though it was just 20-odd days to the announcement...

    Who knew what could happen in this period of time? In herst life, she had suffered under Pei Ziheng¡¯s sadistic ways, and those memories continued to haunt her. She knew full well that many people wouldn¡¯t be able to pull through 20 days, much less a child.

    What if he was tortured into no more than a ragdoll ¡ª soulless and irreversibly damaged ¡ª in less than 20 days? Or what if, he couldn¡¯t hang in there...?

    Her heart raced faster as she thought of these scenarios. ¡°Return the child to me, I promise I¡¯ll leave Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t believe your promise, Miss Ye.¡± Old Master Li said. ¡°Give it up, Shaohui is nevering back. If you do as I say, I can show you some videos of him safe and sound. But if you try pulling any tricks, then you¡¯ll bear the consequences.¡± Old Master threatened.

    Her expression turned awful.

    Old Master Li went on, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to breathe a single word to anyone. If I find out that Xiao Lei has heard about this, take my word for it ¡ª Shaohui will die faster than any help you can send.¡±

    He hung up.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. This was not the time to be crying worriedly. Her child was in crisis and awaiting her rescue.

    Xia Ling, you can do this...

    You definitely can save your child!

    She ran through his words from memory: Old Master said that Shaohui would be safe for as long as she stayed away from Li Lei, which meant that she could not be seen in close proximity with him for the time being. He even warned her not to tell anyone about this.

    How was that possible?!

    There was no way she could rescue Shaohui on her own, she really required someone else¡¯s help. Only one person had the capacity to help her, and that person was so powerful that even Old Master could not do anything...

    She dialed her brother¡¯s number.

    Her voice was still trembling, but she managed to take her brother through the whole situation briefly. Xia Moyan sneered on the other end. ¡°Li Shanhe is tired of living.¡±

    Xia Ling was close to tears. ¡°Brother, think of something.¡±

    Xia Moyan consoled her. ¡°Little Shaohui has a good life, he¡¯ll be fine this time, don¡¯t worry. But... Xiao Ling, this is the destiny of your love, I cannot interfere. Only you and Li Lei can work this problem out together.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling was really crying ¡°But, Li Shanhe won¡¯t let me tell Li Lei!¡± If that old man discovered it, wouldn¡¯t Shaohui be in danger?

    Xia Moyan was calm as usual. ¡°He is your parasol tree and is more than capable of protecting you and your son.¡± There was one more thing, but he chose not to say it ¡ª If Li Lei couldn¡¯t protect them, then just let things happen.

    Shaohui¡¯s life was a good one, even if he encountered trouble, it wouldn¡¯t be a cause for concern.

    But... he couldn¡¯t say the same for Li Lei.

    But Xia Moyan didn¡¯t bother much about this. Given the way the Li family was treating his little nephew, they should be counting themselves lucky that he wasn¡¯t destroying their entire household. <i>Li Shanhe... you¡¯d better pray that Li Lei is able to protect Xiao Ling this time. Otherwise, once the Phoenix changes her parasol tree...</i>

    <i>It¡¯ll be time for the Li family to crash and burn!</i>

    A sh of hatred appeared in his eyes.

    Xia Ling was in a daze after she hung up.

    Then, she got up and spoke to the bodyguards taking their positions near the vi. She instructed them to split into two groups ¡ª one group would check for suspicious-looking persons nearby while the other would be doing the same near Li Lei¡¯s apartment.

    She waited until both groups had guaranteed that the surroundings were safe before giving herself a cleaning attendant makeover. It was past midnight when she drove a garbage truck into Li Lei¡¯s estate and found her way to his apartment.

    It was all silent.

    Li Lei was already sleeping.

    It was Er Mao who heard her arrive and reached up with both paws to open the door for her, before walking her to Li Lei¡¯s bedroom. It raised its front paw and tapped its owner, waking him up.

    Li Lei was shocked and sat up immediately. ¡°Xiao Ling, why are you here?¡± The dim moonlight shone on his white duvet and beautifully tanned skin, making him look extremely sexy.

    But Xia Ling was not in the mood to admire the view. ¡°Shaohui is in trouble.¡±

    She told him what was going on in the fewest words possible. When she finished, Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened.

    ¡°Grandpa...¡± his voice was deep. ¡°He¡¯s too much.¡±

 Chapter 750 - Firing an Arrow with No Return

    <h4>Chapter 750: Firing an Arrow with No Return</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling grabbed his hand. ¡°We have to save Shaohui!¡±

    Li Lei also knew about the severity of the situation and did not say something stupid like how the fate of the child would be determined after twenty-five days. In such a harsh environment, it was uncertain if Shaohui could survive for such a long time.

    He got off the bed. Under the flowing silver moonlight, his well-proportioned figure was exposed as he was only wearing a pair of ck low-rise boxer shorts, looking as perfect as an ancient Greek sculpture. He opened his cab, took out an encryptor, and connected it to his phone before he made a call.

    His secret order was sent out and his subordinates were deployed to look for Shaohui.

    After he hung up the phone, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. These people are all trustworthy and will not reveal this to grandpa. Xiao Ling, I will definitely send you back. Tomorrow, you should go for your jobs as usual. Let¡¯s y a scene to let grandpa think you¡¯ve given up on me. This is for you.¡± He handed her a signal encryptor. ¡°Whenever you call me, turn it on so grandpa won¡¯t be able to detect you. Let¡¯s keep in contact.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and asked worriedly, ¡°Will be able to save Shaohui?¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± He lowered his head and kissed her hairline.

    Although he was very anxious, he could not show a hint of it in front of her.

    He was a man and was her everything. During these times, he should bear everything for her.

    Hearing his warm yet firm voice, her anxious feelings got slightly better. After bidding him farewell, she returned to her vi unknowingly by a familiar road. The next day, she did her jobs as usual. At noon, Li Lei visited her to ask her out for lunch as usual...

    However, he was chased out by her.

    ¡°Mr. Li.¡± Lin Yunan, who was outside the recording studio, saidzily, ¡°Today our Xiao Ling is in a rush, so she won¡¯t be eating with you.¡± When he said this sentence, many people passing by immediately paid attention.

    Who didn¡¯t know that these days, the feelings between Mr. Li and Miss Ye were heated up?

    However, what sort of situation was this? When Ye Xingling came to record songs in the morning, she was still smiling and told everyone that she could leave after recording one song easily. Why was Lin Yunan guarding the door and not letting Li Lei in?

    Li Lei also looked a little strange. ¡°No matter how busy she is, she has to eat. What¡¯s wrong with Xiao Ling?¡±

    Before he could say anything more, Lin Yunan had already impatiently cut him off.

    Xia Ling finished recording her song and arranged to meet Luo Luo for a meal. In the middle, Li Lei came to look for her again but she deliberately avoided him. Luo Luo was an avid gossiper, so this situation spread.

    Old Master Li received the report and was very pleased. Finally, that girl understood that she had to draw a line with his grandson. Just as he was nodding in approval, he received a call from Xia Ling.

    On the other end, Xia Ling¡¯s voice was very cold. ¡°Li Shanhe, I¡¯ve done as you¡¯ve told me to do. I want to see Shaohui.¡±

    Old Master Li smiled faintly. ¡°I will also follow the agreement. I haven¡¯t hurt your child. Soon, I will send a video of him today to your mailbox.¡±

    ¡°How will I know that your video is real?¡± Her voice was still very cold. ¡°I want to speak to Shaohui.¡±

    Old Master Li replied, ¡°Ok.¡± He instructed his subordinates to join the video call.

    Xia Ling anxiously looked at the screen. Shaohui was wearing a ragged white shirt and there were blue and purple bruises on his bare skin under the shirt. His face was very thin and much of his original baby fat had faded. His eyes were half squinting and he looked very lifeless.

    ¡°Shaohui!¡± She called him at once with a shaky voice.

    The child in the video blinked and forced himself to turn his head before he realized that the recording device was there. ¡°Mo... Sister...¡± Almost having a slip of tongue, his eyes watered.

    Xia Ling was heartbroken. Her Shaohui had always been smart and cute. Even during the avnche, he was still smiling brightly. How did he be so distraught? How many times had she seen him cry?

    ¡°Are you ok? Did they bully you?¡± She wished she could rush to his side.

    In the video, the small child opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. However, in the end, he just said, ¡°I¡¯m fine, sister. They said that they won¡¯t do anything to me. I just didn¡¯t sleep wellst night because of the waves here...¡±

    <i>Bam </i>¡ª The video was cut off.

    In the final sh of the video, Xia Ling saw a man walking in and kicking the child to the ground.

    ¡°Li Shanhe!¡± She said fiercely after suddenly realizing something. ¡°You promised not to hurt him!¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± Old Master Li sneered. ¡°It¡¯s too bad that he¡¯s disobedient. He tried to use the video to give you hints. No wonder the people there punished him. There¡¯s still a good show waiting for him this evening. Ye Xingling, it¡¯s all your fault. If he didn¡¯t say anything to you that he shouldn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t be punished.¡±

    Her heart pounded. Just because Shaohui said the word ¡°waves¡±?

    Waves...

    Where exactly was he?

    Just as she was deep in thought, Old Master Li¡¯s voice rang again. ¡°Ye Xingling, give it up. Don¡¯t try to look for your child. I assure you that there are many ways to make your child wish he was dead!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t look for him.¡± Her voice was still shaking as her tears flowed out like pearls. ¡°Li Shanhe, no, Old Master Li... Don¡¯t you know my status? I¡¯m just a celebrity who made it in the market. If one puts it nicely, I¡¯m a Diva. If one puts it badly, I¡¯m powerless. A titan like you can squash me to death with one finger. What can I do to save him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s best that you think this way. Those who know their limits are smart people.¡± Old Master Li hung up the phone.

    In the study, the floor-to-ceiling windows were wide open and the bamboo leaves rustled slowly in the slight breeze.

    The butler respectfully massaged Old Master Li¡¯s back.

    Looking at the phone that he just hung up, Old Master quietly asked the butler. ¡°Am I making a mistake or am I doing the right thing?¡±

    Slightly startled, the butler carefully replied, ¡°Young Master Lei... is too pitiful.¡±

    ¡°Who asked about that bastard?!¡± Old Master Li spat. ¡°I will never agree to him and that woman! That ordinary woman will never be able to enter the Li Family!¡±

    The butler¡¯s neck shrunk after he was scolded and he stopped talking.

    After a long time, Old Master Li sighed.

    He still felt a little uneasy. He had experienced many things, learned how to kill people since he was a child, and many enemies died in his hands or were tortured by him for years. However, Shaohui was different. He was still a child... Although he never saw the child before, he did not know why he felt ufortable after seeing the child¡¯s frail body in the video.

    This time, was he wrong?

    Unfortunately, what was done was done.

 Chapter 751 - Returning Back to a Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 751: Returning Back to a Nightmare</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not make this call for no reason.

    Soon after she put down her phone, she received Li Lei¡¯s call. ¡°The location has been cracked. Shaohui is in a certain ce on the high seas of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea is vast and there is no cover. If we dispatch a rescue helicopter, it will be too obvious. We have to think of another way.¡±

    Xia Ling was very uneasy.

    Although she already guessed that there was a high chance that Shaohui was kidnapped in a foreign country, when the truth was finally revealed to her, she was really frightened. Not manyws governed the high seas, and no order was in ce. Anything terrible could happen.

    She asked Li Lei, ¡°Who are the people who are looking after Shaohui? Are they from the Li Family?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°No. The investigation results show that it¡¯s a master-ve syndicate with a huge military and political support. They sail the high seas all year round like ghosts. People call it the ¡®Blissful Paradise.¡±¡¯

    Blissful Paradise...

    Xia Ling held her breath and her face became pale.

    She heard of this syndicate before. To be exact, she joined it before as a ve.

    In her past life, Pei Ziheng brought her to a conference hall by Blissful Paradise for professional tests. That was one of her deepest nightmares, and until now, she trembled at the thought of it.

    She knew how cruel that ce was.

    ¡°We must save Shaohui right away!¡± She could not wait a moment longer.

    Li Lei sighed. ¡°The best way is to sneak in. Blissful Paradise has a membership system, and only the most supreme ck card members can get on the high sea ship. I will find a way to get ess.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Xia Ling asked, ¡°Only you?¡±

    Li Lei spoke very slowly. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve inquired about the membership system there, and the person who submits the membership application must have great interest and prowess in S&M. The person also has to... perform in front of the interviewers.¡±

    He tried to be vague.

    Xia Ling understood what he meant. To enter, one had to be a sadist or a masochist.

    There was no other way.

    Her body began to shake uncontrobly. She understood why Li Lei did not want her to participate. He knew what she had encountered in her past life. If she returned to her nightmare, he was worried that she would copse.

    ¡°How do you n on joining?¡± She asked a difficult question.

    Li Lei already thought about it. ¡°I¡¯ve sent people to look for a master in this area to teach me how to be a sadist. I will also look for a masochist to perform with so that we can get past the membership interview.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. Her voice was very soft. ¡°There won¡¯t be enough time.¡±

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Why not?¡±

    She looked out of the window. In the distant night sky, the crescent moon was like a hook. She felt the icy cold breeze of thete autumn night. She said, ¡°This city is so small, and people who have this fetish... are very limited. Themunity is too small. Who doesn¡¯t know one another? If you rush to hire people, it will be suspicious.¡±

    Her eyebrows frowned as she looked out the window at the vi not far away next door.

    Nearby in that house lived a senior member of Blissful Paradise, Pei Ziheng. If he received a little bit of the news, who knew what would happen?

    She took two steps back and her body disappeared in the darkness.

    At the end of the phone, Li Lei also thought about it for a moment. ¡°Perhaps you are right. So far, my people haven¡¯t found a suitable master.¡± It was very easy to find an ordinary sadist. Blissful Paradise had beginner services that catered to those who just joined this interest group, but these beginners were unable to get a Supreme ck Card which was only avable to real masters.

    That meant that only real masters could get on that ship.

    ¡°Furthermore, you won¡¯t be able to find a suitable... ve.¡± She said the words with difficulty and closed her eyes as she recalled the conversation she overheard when she was brought to the terrifying club by Pei Ziheng. From the conversation of those members, she learned that ves who qualified for the Supreme ck Card were fewer than those who qualified to be submissive members. They also had fixed masters who could not be found easily.

    In her mind, a n gradually surfaced.

    Her body trembled even more.

    Li Lei stayed silent, and she also did not speak.

    She faced a dilemma. She fought with the fear of her past and her maternal instinct, which was the desire to save her child.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei, I will go with you.¡±

    After a long time, both of them spoke at the same time.

    Li Lei was taken aback and became anxious. ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t!¡± He knew that this nightmare had tormented her for a long time before she finally overcame it. How could she go back?

    However, she said, ¡°Li Lei, you can¡¯t find anyone. There¡¯s only me.¡±

    If there was really another way, she wouldn¡¯t be willing to re-enter this nightmare.

    However, after experiencing so much, she knew clearer than everyone else that Li Lei would not be able to find a suitable person in a short amount of time. In other words, he would also not be able to be a master with such short notice. Furthermore, Li Lei still had to mix around with the Supreme ck Card members and take a huge risk to save someone.

    ¡°I will tell you how to be a highly skilled master.¡± Her voice was as light as a feather. She almost couldn¡¯t stand straight and was leaning her back against a rough wall. ¡°As for me... I¡¯m already a very good ve.¡±

    Some wounds were already deeply imprinted on her soul.

    Even though she was in another life, she knew how to please and fawn on her ¡°master.¡±

    Pei Ziheng had already destroyed her. Now, she was a building that was reconstructed from the ruins of her soul and was extremely fragile. If it were gently pushed down, it would reveal the darkness and filth buried in her past.

    She would rather experience it again than let Shaohui be like her.

    She made a list for Li Lei. ¡°Prepare these things and a secret venue.¡±

    Even though Li Lei was unwilling, his subordinates didn¡¯t get any results just like Xia Ling predicted. He couldn¡¯t even find a senior master to be his teacher, so he had no choice but to agree with Xia Ling¡¯s n.

    Xia Ling changed into a casual shirt, put on light makeup, and left with her manager and assistant.

    The news reported that she went to the mountains for a shoot and would only return in a month.

    After seeing the news, Old Master Li was very satisfied. He felt that this girl¡¯s life was hard, but she was bing obedient since she left the city to avoid his grandson.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that she assigned Lin Yunan and her assistant to a secret base to create the illusion of her being on a filming job. On the other hand, she made a huge detour and rushed to meet with Li Lei.

 Chapter 752 - Her Sunlight

    <h4>Chapter 752: Her Sunlight</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At a secret base.

    Located deep in the mountains. There were endless deciduous forests nearby where cold and bleak winds blew.

    Xia Ling walked in alone, and the heavy automatic door slid quietly behind her. <i>Bam¡ª </i>The soft sound seemed to announce her arrival as the white lights in the corridor gradually lit up and extended all the way into the depths of the mountain. As she followed the lights and turned around, her eyes suddenly widened.

    It was huge.

    The silvery-white metal floor, the four walls and ceiling gave off a cold and oppressive feeling. All kinds of props were on the floor and hanging on the walls: cors, whips, handcuffs...

    They came in all shapes and sizes.

    A man standing in front of the props looking at the bone whip in his hand seemed to be waiting for her. He was wearing a casual shirt, the thin cotton fabric faintly outlining his muscles. He looked like an oppressive and dangerous beast.

    Her footsteps stopped suddenly and she shivered.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    She had never seen him like this. Holding a whip in his well-defined hands, slightly lowering his head with a contemtive look in the soft silver-white light. He looked much colder.

    Like... Pei Ziheng in that year.

    Gentle and cruel.

    Her body shook even more and she could barely stand still.

    Over there, the man noticed her and turned around. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His low maic voice echoed in the silent metallic room, forming a strange lingering charm.

    She subconsciously took two steps back.

    Li Lei put down the whip and walked towards her. ¡°Did everything go well on the way here? I¡¯ve told them to seal this ce. There will be only the two of us in this space, so it¡¯s very safe. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    However, she could not calm down at all and retreated like a frightened bird.

    Only then did he realize that she was afraid and stopped in his tracks. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was gentler. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± He knew better than anyone else about how horrible it was for her to return to her nightmare. However, they had no choice. This was the only way to save Shaohui.

    He made the least hostile stance and looked at her tenderly.

    After a long time, she used all of her strength to take a deep breath and suppressed the fear in her heart as she walked towards him step by step. ¡°I¡¯m fine...¡± She said with difficulty. ¡°Shaohui is still waiting for us. Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    As they got closer, they could hear each other¡¯s breathing.

    Xia Ling still looked pale as she looked at his handsome face without hesitation, forcing herself to cast aside the horrible thoughts in her mind. Her breath was short, her heartbeat was in disarray, and she broke out in cold sweat.

    Li Lei warmly said, ¡°Rx, Xiao Ling. Before we start, can you tell me what is our safe word?¡±

    ¡°Safe word?¡± She was too nervous and did not react immediately.

    Li Lei was slightly startled. ¡°I did some research be I came. I heard that this sort of arrangement has a safety word to ensure the safety of the... masochist.¡± In the process, the crying and begging of the ve was a form of delight for the sadist. Thus, even if the ve pleaded for mercy, the sadist would not stop.

    Unless the ve said the safety word. It was the only word that would make the master stop.

    This was the agreement between the ve and master to ensure the safety of the ves.

    Xia Ling finally understood what he was talking about and looked a little absent-minded. No wonder she did not respond. In her past life with Pei Ziheng, that sort of word... did not exist. In the year of purgatory, even when her endurance reached its limit, the man would never be soft-hearted or pity her.

    All of her screams, struggles, and cries could not be exchanged for the slightest glimmer of light.

    Now, looking at Li Lei, her eyes turned red and she almost cried.

    Li Lei felt that something was wrong. ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± She frantically shook her head. After thinking about it, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s use ¡®sunlight.¡¯¡±

    The man in front of her was her only sunlight in her darkness. In the beginning, he led her out of her horrible nightmare and past life, so he could definitely do it again. This word made her feel alive.

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s change our clothes first.¡±

    He casually took out a set of leather outfits that he had prepared and took off his thin cotton shirt and trousers. He was only wearing his low-waist ck boxers and was about to wear the leather outfit.

    ¡°That... you also have to take that off.¡± Xia Ling whispered.

    Startled, Li Lei realized that she was referring to his boxers. He did not know why, but his handsome face was slightly heated. He looked at the leather outfit in his hands. To be specific, it was just a few leather straps connected to a few pieces of leather. It looked very strange. If he removed his boxers, what... could this cover?

    Looking at his dumbfounded expression, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help butugh, and her originally depressed mood faded a little. She said, ¡°Let me help you. Take that... off first.¡± The man in front of her had perfect proportions and wasparable to the world¡¯s top male model. When he stood in front of her like that, she couldn¡¯t help but blush.

    Li Lei really took them off. He had such a perfect body that she didn¡¯t dare to look at him.

    She took the item from his hands and tried to focus on the thin leather straps, not daring to look at even an inch of his body.

    Even so, her ears had already turned red.

    ¡°We¡¯re already an old couple.¡± He said softly as he mocked her. ¡°Why are you so shy?¡±

    ¡°Since when are we an old couple?¡± She rebuked. Thest time she saw him naked was a long time ago, such that their son was so old now. However...

    She was still embarrassed!

    Li Leiughed softly. ¡°You¡¯re really cute.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the cute one!¡± She got angry and forced the leather strap around his waist. She really wished she could strangle this man. Seriously, why did he have to work out till his body was like that? Was it to seduce others?!

    In annoyance, she didn¡¯t realize that the tension between them eased a lot. She was no longer pale, and her forehead was no longer covered in cold sweat.

    Li Lei looked at her with a gentle expression.

    After a long time, she finally put the leather suit on him. Technically speaking, it was leather, but more urately, the outfit was made of a post-modern abstract style as the scraps of leather barely covered him. Large parts of his chest and legs were exposed, revealing hispact muscles.

    She only felt the blood rush to her head and was blushing very hard. She tried her best to avoid looking at him.

    ¡°You can be like this.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Look at me more and get used to it, or else, we won¡¯t pass the membership interview at the club.¡±

 Chapter 753 - Helping Her Heal

    <h4>Chapter 753: Helping Her Heal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She red at him and ignored his nonsense.

    Li Lei rummaged through a pile of props for a long time before taking another set of leather clothes. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    This set of leather clothes was different from the one he was wearing. Although it was also abination of ck metal, ropes, buckles and leather, its design was very elegant and conservative. ces that could be covered were securely covered, and it only exposed some of her calf and her back.

    It was not even as revealing as the dresses that she wore on the red carpet.

    She took it. ¡°This...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s enough for one person to expose himself. As I said, you will be very safe,¡± said Li Lei. Their goal was to get the Supreme ck Card membership. If they were too conservative, the club would suspect that they were not perverted enough. However, if one person wore revealing clothes and the other was a little more conservative, it would be considered a coordinated set and would, thus, be eptable.

    Li Lei chuckled. ¡°I only dressed like this for you.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him again. However, looking at the leather clothes that protected her very well, she felt a current of warmth in her heart. This man always thought about her even in times when she did not think about herself. Perhaps after these years and experiencing so much pain, this was why she was still unwilling to forget him.

    She touched the buttons on her shirt. Just as she was about to change, suddenly, she remembered something and red at Li Lei even more fiercely. ¡°Turn around. You aren¡¯t allowed to turn back!¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Li Lei knew that she was shy and turned around.

    Only then did Xia Ling slowly change her clothes. However, looking at the leather¡¯s matte texture, she started to tremble again and was short of breath. Thus, she couldn¡¯t put it on easily.

    This was not a problem about how revealing the outfit was.

    This leather outfit was a symbol of her return to her nightmares.

    Just by touching the cold buckle with her fingertips, she didn¡¯t dare to imagine how she would look like when she wore it. The horrific memories of her past came back again, and any glimpse of light was just an illusion.

    Old Master Li was really cruel. He kidnapped Shaohui and ced him somewhere she would never want to be in so that she would fail at the preparatory stage.

    Her hands trembled, and finally, she couldn¡¯t help but throw the leather outfit far away.

    <i>Crash.</i>

    Li Lei spun around. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me!¡± She covered her face and crouched helplessly in a corner like a powerless creature.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. He walked over and knelt in front of her.

    He knew what she was afraid of and was clear of what she experienced in her past life. He knew that putting on this outfit required a lot of courage from her. He reached out and wrapped her in his arms. Using his warmest voice, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.¡±

    He tired his best tofort her.

    She struggled and cried, ¡°Let me go!¡± She didn¡¯t want him to see her in this state. At that time, she was dripping in blood and there was no way of escape.

    She didn¡¯t want him to know.

    However, he did not let go of her hand. Instead, he tightened his grip and was as firm as a mountain.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok, it¡¯s ok...¡± He said over and over again. ¡°I¡¯m here. I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    Perhaps his arms were too warm or maybe his voice was too gentler. She finally stopped shaking and raised her tearful face in his arms. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this...¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this...¡±

    He swept her long hair aside and said, ¡°We¡¯ll think of something else then.¡±

    However, she stopped talking. Another way? No, there was no time. Every second that Shaohui was on that ship was dangerous, and no one knew what would happen. Their time was very tight, and they could not mess it up. Biting her lip, she pushed him away and went to pick the leather outfit again. ¡°I must wear this.¡±

    Her voice was frail and weak.

    Li Lei frowned. He didn¡¯t want her to force herself. However, he knew that this was the best solution. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡± He was worried that if no one helped her, she would not be able to stand straight.

    Xia Ling hesitated, knowing that her condition was pretty bad. Finally, she nodded.

    Li Lei took the leather outfit and, with her guidance, slowly unfolded it and wrapped the pieces around her thin body slowly. She closed her eyes and remembered that many years ago, when she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng, that man treated her like a doll and always used to help her put on clothes that she did not like...

    The darkness was back again.

    Her body began to tremble again. She exhausted her strength trying to restrain herself from pushing Li Lei¡¯s hand away.

    <i>Crack.</i>

    It was a very soft sound.

    Li Lei only felt that his hands were wet. When he looked at them, he realized that there was blood on them.

    He turned around. ¡°Xiao Ling?!¡± Under the silver moonlight, her face was still white, but there was a patch of redness on the corner of her lip. She had bitten herself.

    She looked horrible as she stared at him nkly. Even her voice was empty. ¡°I¡¯m fine. You... move faster.¡± She didn¡¯t know how long she could endure before copsing.

    Li Lei felt like his heart was being sliced. He once vowed to not let her suffer any harm. Unexpectedly, in the end, she still had to return to her endless nightmare. He sped up, finished dressing her up and held her in his arms.

    ¡°Ok.¡± He said softly, ¡°You¡¯re safe.¡±

    Breathing a sigh of relief, her body became soft and she fell in his arms.

    Li Lei held her. He lightly lifted her chin and used his fingertips to wipe off the blood on her lips. Unknowingly, he lowered his head and kissed her gently.

    Her body trembled a little. She instinctively tried to push him away, but somehow, she seemed to have lost all of her strength and couldn¡¯t even lift a finger. She closed her eyes and let him carefully lick the blood on her lips. It was as if she was dependent on him to heal.

    Her tears gushed out.

    After some time, he finally cleaned the blood on her lips.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt yourself again.¡± His voice was very low. ¡°My heart will hurt.¡±

    Her reasoning slowly returned with the sound of his voice. Although she was still in a daze, she forced herself to stand up and by supporting herself using the wall. Looking at him, she said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s go to the next step.¡±

    Time waits for no man.

    Their Shaohui could not wait.

    ¡°The next step?¡± Li Lei looked at her. ¡°How should we do it?¡±

    Xia Ling finally remembered that the man in front of her did not understand this dark game. She slowly walked away from him, picked up a whip, and put it in his hand.

 Chapter 754 - How Could She Give Him Up

    <h4>Chapter 754: How Could She Give Him Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei looked at the whip and then at her.

    In the spacious silver-white hall, her petite body looked so frail as if she could be easily knocked down by the wind. It seemed that even if he gently waved the whip, she could be knocked down just by its sound.

    Her face turned pale and she unconsciously started to bite her lip.

    Her body slightly shook, but she continued to stand in front of him. It was obvious that she was extremely afraid, but she did not cower in fear.

    Li Lei raised the whip.

    Her face became paler and she shut her eyes. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, she did not experience the pain she expected. A little fearfully, she opened her eyes and saw that he was still holding the whip in the same position. The cold, silver-white light was sprinkled on his face which was as handsome as a sculpture. There was silence.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± She asked softly.

    Li Lei walked towards her step by step. Looking at the whip in the man¡¯s hand, she subconsciously retreated.

    Until her back fell against the icy cold wall. There was no other way out.

    Li Lei stopped half a step away from her and looked down at the pale and delicate girl. She was shaking in her dark matte ck leather outfit. It was as if she were restrained by endless darkness, enved and unable to breathe, her slightly erged eyes filled with fear.

    He really didn¡¯t know what would happen if the whip really fell on her.

    Perhaps she would no longer be herself and he would no longer be himself. They might not be able to return to the past anymore.

    This kind of scary and dangerous game could easily destroy one¡¯s psyche. Li Lei was afraid that he might lose control and be a demon like Pei Ziheng. That year, even though Pei Ziheng loved her so deeply, it was destroyed by this terrifying game. He was really not confident that she could still love him if he inflicted such pain on her.

    He was unwilling to take the risk.

    Li Lei ced the whip handle in Xia Ling¡¯s hands. ¡°There¡¯s no rule that states the ve has to be a woman, right? Let me be your ve, Xiao Ling. With me here, you¡¯ll always be free.¡±

    She did not expect him to do this and looked at him in shock for a long time before reacting.

    Tears fell without warning. In this world, there was no man who had done this for her before; even Pei Ziheng never did this. However, Li Lei, who was such an arrogant man, was willing to let go of his pride for her... To be exact, he was willing to be a lowly ve.

    ¡°Do you understand what this means?¡± Her voice was very soft and hoarse. ¡°Li Lei, being a ve is not as simple as you think it is. I could whip you, insult you, make you kneel, order you to crawl like an animal or even make you lick my feet...¡±

    Suddenly, she stopped to take a breath.

    ¡°Like this?¡± In front of her, the man knelt down. Wearing skimpy clothes that barely covered his body, he lowered his head and devotedly kissed her toes with his lips.

    As she was wearing the ve costume, she did not wear any shoes. A current of numbness ran up her toes and she almost couldn¡¯t bear it.

    ¡°Stop... Stop it...¡± She weakly said.

    Li Lei stopped, but he continued kneeled as he looked up at her. ¡°I can do it very well, master. I belong to you.¡± Unconsciously, he changed the way he addressed her, but he did not feel the slightest humiliation or difort. To him, this was not embarrassing. It was his responsibility as a man to protect his beloved woman.

    If she really copsed because she couldn¡¯t stand this sort of game, this would be the humiliation of his life.

    Thus, he was willing to take on the dangerous role.

    Startled, Xia Ling looked at him as if this was the first time she saw him. She didn¡¯t know what she was feeling. Even though she thought about a thousand and one oues to mentally prepare herself such as her going crazy, copsing, screaming, crying to quit...

    She never expected that she would be the ¡°master.¡±

    And the man who was stronger than her by ten thousand times was at her feet and willing to be her ve.

    She held the whip in her hand and was at a loss for words.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, master?¡± Li Lei continued to look up at her and spoke gently. ¡°You don¡¯t need to hesitate or be afraid. I will cooperate with all your instructions. We still have to save Shaohui, we don¡¯t have time to waste. Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    Only then did she came back to reality.

    Yes, they still had to save Shaohui.

    She was unsure how much time she needed to enter the role if she were a ve. She was even unsure if she wouldpletely copse. As for Li Lei? At least on the surface, he looked like he was adapting well and his emotions were more stable than hers. If he were the ve, their training would progress much faster.

    She said, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Li Lei smiled at her. ¡°I said that I am yours.¡± He gazed at her like a devout follower admiring his goddess. To him, she was everything.

    Xia Ling closed her eyes and took a deep breath to adjust her state of mind.

    When she opened her eyes, she was ready to y her role. ¡°The first thing I want to teach you is¡ª¡±

    She raised the whip and hit him mercilessly. ¡°When you¡¯re speaking to your master, you have to be more polite.¡±

    In the silver-white, cold and empty hall, she was high up in the air like a queen.

    This training required a day and a night. Li Lei adapted very well, and after oveing a few psychological roadblocks, she slowly mastered the skill of being a master.

    She ordered to Li Lei get up and exited the training mode.

    ¡°Take a break.¡± She said, ¡°We¡¯re almost ready now and can apply for a ck card membership for Blissful Paradise.¡±

    Li Lei nodded and stretched his aching body after kneeling for a long time. His body was still as perfect as before the training. His healthy wheat-colored skin only had a few traces of bruising that would soon disappear. After entering Blissful Paradise, no one would notice his injuries.

    This was not because Xia Ling¡¯s technique was perfect.

    Her strength and skills were still a littlecking.

    However, his skin was thick, unlike her delicate skin which virtually offset many injuries.

    Xia Ling looked at him remorsefully. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that you suffered from this...¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing you have to be sorry about.¡± He interrupted her and smiled. ¡°Xiao Ling, I love you. I¡¯ve already been yours a long time ago. This time, it¡¯s just an act which was rified.¡±

    She did not know if he wereforting her or if he actually thought this way.

    She only sniffed and had a hunch that perhaps she could never leave Li Lei anymore in this life.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already been yours a long time ago.¡±

    This sentence was like a spell.

    Since he was hers, it was like he was a part of her life or part of her body or another soul of hers or her shadow... How could she give him up?

 Chapter 755 - Entering Paradise

    <h4>Chapter 755: Entering Paradise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After a night of rest, they arrived at Paradise the following day.

    Xia Ling was in a leather outfit and had on an exquisite, gem-studded mask to hide her famous face. She had a leather leash in her hand that was hooked onto the cor around Li Lei¡¯s neck, while Li Lei was in the outfit from the previous day and had a mask on as trailed behind her subserviently.

    They walked into Paradise.

    ¡°Wee.¡± One of the employees came out to greet them courteously. ¡°Respected Madam, may I help you?¡±

    He was looking at Xia Ling mostly, and as for Li Lei?

    Too bad, ves were not considered people in their eyes.

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was yed through a voice-altering device; she sounded different, but with the same arrogance as before. ¡°I heard that you have interesting activities on the cruise? I n to have a look.¡± When she spoke, she exuded a natural aura ¡ª this was the result of having been in the spotlight for so many years. As long as she wanted it, she could be the center of attention anytime she wanted, and rule the ce like a queen.

    Just like a perfect S-grade ¡°owner.¡±

    The employees sized her up quietly. Frankly, they had seen so many guestse and go over the years that they had long be immune to even the most perverse S-type ¡ª also known as Sadomasochist ¡ª¡±owners.¡± But thisdy before them was different ¡ª they detected no attempt to unt her authority and power in her voice, and she even sounded leisurely and casual. Yet, there was a natural sense of arrogance and pride that one simply could not emte...

    And it made them want to surrender to her.

    The employees tried not to get too affected by her.

    It had only been a brief minute since they met, and they were already full of admiration towards her; for such a brilliant S-type, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if many M-type ¡ª Masochists ¡ª would vie to be her ve. How lucky this man must feel to have such a perfect owner.

    They looked behind her.

    Li Lei was one head taller than Xia Ling, and his splendid physique ¡ª those well-built abdominal muscles and toned limbs ¡ª actually made him appear threatening, almost like a wild beast.

    At this point, this ¡°wild beast¡± was being willingly led along by his owner, with no intent to break free from his cor. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it, given the way he looked at his owner with utmost admiration, and possibly even love.

    The employees found out that they were wrong.

    It wasn¡¯t the ve who was lucky to have such a perfect queen as his owner.

    The queen was equally lucky to have such a perfect ve.

    They were basically a match made in heaven.

    ¡°Why, is there a problem?¡± Thedy¡¯s proud voice rang with a hint of annoyance.

    ¡°Oh, n-no.¡± Only when the employees snapped out of their daze did they realize how long they had been staring at this pair. Knowing that they were being rude, he hurriedly said to Xia Ling, ¡°You¡¯re not a member of Paradise, right? It¡¯s very simple. If you want to get onto the cruise, you just have to pass a test and be our ck Card member.¡±

    ¡°Very simple...¡± Thedy smiled and tugged at the leash with her ve, before turning to the employees. ¡°Then let¡¯s get it done now, I don¡¯t have much patience.¡±

    In fact, the test wasn¡¯t so simple.

    But seeing that they were a perfect owner-ve pair, the employees had no doubt that they were experts in this field. For experts, the test really was a piece of cake.

    They took them to the room specially used for tests.

    Xia Ling was extremely nervous ¡ª whether or not they could get onboard the cruise to save Shaohui depended on this.

    Li Lei could tell that she was nervous, and he began to look at her with even more gentleness and reverence. ¡°My Owner,¡± he knelt down. ¡°I belong to you, forever.¡±

    I belong to you, forever.

    Wherever you go, I¡¯ll follow.

    Xia Ling knew what he was really trying to say, and managed to calm herself down.

    She raised her hand, and the performance began.

    The test took close to an hour to conclude, and it was a favorable result. Both of them had gotten a ck Card membership, and were allowed to board the cruise whenever they wished to. Xia Ling did not want to dy this any further. She instructed the management of the cruise to send a helicopter to their location to pick them up, and take them to the cruise on the seas.

    The helicopter stopped at the deck.

    With their masks still on, Li Lei helped her up the deck.

    Her 20-centimeter tall stilettos were glistening with diamonds as her eyes shed with utmost pride. As she took her time to strut towards the helicopter, everyone nearby ¡ª from the guests to the employees ¡ª turned their heads to watch her. She appeared to be such a respectable queen, bringing along her ve who seemed to protect her like a tamed beast.

    ¡°Who is she?¡± Some people whispered, ¡°Is she the Peacock Queen?¡±

    The Peacock Queen was a renowned figure in the field.

    Someone nearby shook his head. ¡°Peacock Queen? That woman is too flirtatious, how could she be anywhere as haughty as thisdy here? But it seems like she¡¯s even more difficult to get ahold of than Peacock Queen.¡±

    ¡°I think so too.¡± Another nodded. ¡°Is she knew? I¡¯ve never seen her.¡±

    Most of the guests had masks on. Given that it was a luxurious cruise, many of them were high-flyers, and some were even celebrities who appeared on the news before. The majority of the guests found it taboo for others to discover their odd fetishes, and hence, often used masks and voice-altering devices to conceal their identity and keep their secrets.

    ¡°She has a mask on, how¡¯d you know if you¡¯ve seen her?¡± Another guest said and walked towards Xia Ling with his ve. ¡°I might as well say hi to her.¡±

    A few other guests followed closely out of curiosity.

    ¡°Hi.¡± The man arrived before Xia Ling and greeted her easily. ¡°Nice to meet you, Miss. Do I have the honor of getting to know you? I¡¯m Fiery Eagle, but you can call me Eagle.¡± Besides masks and voice-altering devices, people here often used a nickname as well.

    An employee had already gone over such details with Xia Ling on their way here.

    She sounded as carefree and unshaken as usual. ¡°Are you interested in me, or in my ve?¡± She looked at the Eagle and his ve with a tinge of sarcasm, portraying her character well. ¡°You¡¯re an ¡®Owner,¡¯ and so am I. I don¡¯t see what interest you could take in me besides my ve.¡±

    In this circle, a recognized pair had to be made up of an owner and a ve.

    The Eagle smiled upon hearing her words. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll admit it. I¡¯m indeed a wee bit interested in your ve.¡±

 Chapter 756 - First Young Masterâ€™s Taste

    <h4>Chapter 756: First Young Master¡¯s Taste</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling said, ¡°There are many interested in him.¡±

    She turned around a little and caressed Li Lei¡¯s face ¡ª with his mask on. Meanwhile, her ¡°ve¡± was looking up at her, his eyes full of admiration.

    They were a perfect pair.

    Even somebody who had seen as much as Eagle was in awe. Although this was a ratherrgemunity, it was difficult to find a wonderful ¡°owner¡± or ¡°ve.¡± Yet, the two of them had everyone¡¯s heart racing just by ncing or caressing each other, even without any intent at torture. This interested Eagle even further.

    He looked at Xia Ling. ¡°How about we be friends?¡±

    It wasmon for owners to exchange their ves. Maybe one day when she was done torturing him, she could let him have this perfect ve. Though this was a far-fetched idea, there was some benefit in interacting with her. Perhaps he could learn more about how she managed to train her ve this well.

    Well, too bad Xia Ling saw right through him.

    She took her hand off Li Lei¡¯s face and rugged at the leash. ¡°I¡¯m not used to making friends, don¡¯t even think of having my ve.¡±

    With that, she strutted past him in her 20-centimeter stilettos.

    Li Lei looked at her with reverence throughout and seemed to tune out everything else. Seeing his owner walk off, he hurriedly caught up with those long, toned legs.

    Behind him, whistles and catcalls sounded.

    Although his owner was dressed rtively conservatively, he was simply dressed too skimpily, so much so that everyone could see practically every inch of his tanned skin and the well-toned muscles beneath.

    ¡°Tsk.¡± one of the members said as Eagle rejoined the group. ¡°Given his physique, anyone wouldn¡¯t mind just having a child with him. So, Eagle, did you manage to find out anything about them?¡±

    The Eagle shook his head in dismay. ¡°Thatdy seems like she doesn¡¯t like making friends. But...¡± He squinted at the two of them as they walked off and smiled. ¡°Looking at his physique, I doubt it¡¯s a result of training in the gym.¡±

    The muscles that were toned in the gym were vastly different from those that naturally urred after years on the battlefield. Although it wasn¡¯t too obvious to everyone, it was a considerable difference for this group of people.

    His partner nodded. ¡°They¡¯re in trouble.¡±

    The Eagle agreed. ¡°That pervert Li Feng is on the cruise too, and that ve happens to be just the type he likes.¡±

    Li Feng was a well-known figure around here. Even in the pervertedmunity, he was considered one of the most extreme. The fact that he didn¡¯t wear a mask nor hide his name said enough ¡ª he couldn¡¯t care less about anyone finding out he had such a fetish. In fact, he was even proud of it.

    It was said that any ve who ended up in his hands did note to a good end.

    Most of them went missing, and some people had even seen broken skulls and decapitated limbs and body parts in the sea. They were mostly still covered in blood, attracting the sharks. A smaller percentage of them was slightly luckier ¡ª they managed to get out of it alive, but never sane. Whenever someone asked about their experience, they¡¯d lose their minds or start crying hysterically.

    They were either ced into mental health institutions or left the field entirely.

    ¡°First Young Master Li ruined so many ves, just the amount of money he paid inpensation is unimaginable. I remember that he just bought two pretty good ves from Paradise a while ago. Is he back for more already?¡± One of Eagle¡¯s friends mentioned.

    Most of them brought their own ves to the cruise.

    However, Paradise also provided the option of buying and selling ves. Nobody really knew what happened to such ves eventually ¡ª even if they died, no one bothered.

    Eagle stroked the chin of his ve and ordered her to get on her knees and act as a stool for himself. Once he wasfortable sitting on her back, he said, ¡°I was around thest time Li Feng came to buy the two ves. Back then, he seemed unsatisfied with them, saying that... they looked too scrawny, their skin tone didn¡¯t seem healthy enough, their muscles were not toned and that they probably wouldn¡¯t hold it out for even two weeks. True enough, it hasn¡¯t even been two weeks yet and he¡¯s back.¡±

    His friends around couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill.

    Someone even whispered, ¡°This First Young Master Li is way too cruel.¡±

    Someone shook his head. ¡°His criteria for a ve seems to be modeled after a person...¡±

    Everyone kept quiet. This was actually a secret that had been going around ¡ª the ves who had been tortured to death by Li Feng resembled his brother Li Lei in some way. Some even said that Li Feng hated his brother to the core, while some said... he was simply perverse.

    Nobody knew the actual truth.

    And nobody had the courage to ask Li Feng in person.

    Once, someone had asked out of curiosity, and the following day his corpse was hanging on the entrance.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this. Next topic.¡± Eagle found it disturbing to be having a conversation about this man.

    His friends shared his sentiments and hurriedly moved on to another conversation topic. Only then did the odd feeling of heaviness and suppression dissipate.

    Xia Ling led Li Lei along as they walked about on the cruise. There was a lot going on there, with various venues for specific activities ¡ª watching special performances, trading ves, wine-tasting, and gambling of sorts.

    All Xia Ling wanted was to find Shaohui.

    Yet, with eyes all around her, she couldn¡¯t appear too anxious. All she could do was to act like she was strolling leisurely, and at times she even made an effort to greet the other members briefly.

    Finally, they¡¯d walked on every space a member was allowed ess to.

    Nothing, there was nothing at all.

    They hardly even saw children around, not to mention Shaohui.

    Xia Ling was getting frustrated and decided to walk to a secluded corner on the third floor for a breather.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too anxious.¡± Li Lei knew she wasn¡¯t feeling too good. ¡°We¡¯re already here, we¡¯ll definitely find him. He¡¯s probably in the hands of an employee here, maybe we could try asking about buying ves.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded, knowing she had no better option.

    They were still talking when Eagle suddenly arrived on the same corridor with his ve. Seeing that it was Xia Ling and her ve, he approached them. With a smile, he greeted once again, ¡°Hi, what a coincidence. We meet again.¡±

 Chapter 757 - Greetings and Formalities

    <h4>Chapter 757: Greetings and Formalities</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was a coincidence indeed. She¡¯d just wanted to get some information, and someone hade.

    In that split second, she had reced her anxious expression with a rather carefree yet overbearing facade.

    She slowly replied, ¡°So we meet again.¡±

    Eagle acutely sensed something different about her, and half teasingly said, ¡°Why, the mighty queen was too proud to speak to me at the deck a while ago, but now she¡¯s interested to talk?¡±

    Xia Ling casually fiddled with Li Lei¡¯s leash. ¡°It¡¯s boring here.¡±

    Eagle smiled. ¡°Most first-timers on the cruise find it all too enticing.¡±

    Under Xia Ling¡¯s mask, her lips curled up a little as she made no effort to hide her despise. ¡°That¡¯s all there is to Paradise? There isn¡¯t anything more... special?¡±

    ¡°Special?¡± Eagle narrowed his eyes. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    In the sunlight, he saw that thedy¡¯s skin was fair and smooth, almost like a young girl. Her ve humbly covered her shoulders with a ck shawl to prevent Eagle from eyeing on her flesh.

    Eagle asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you find this unnecessary?¡±

    He noticed that the ve couldn¡¯t be bothered about how skimpy his dressing was as he kept his eyes on his owner in admiration at all times. Once he noticed that someone was potentially taking interest in his owner, however, he draped the fabric over her immediately. Now, almost every inch of her skin was covered.

    Eagle looked at Xia Ling. ¡°This ve of yours seems very jealous.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t seem bothered by it and even reached out to caress her ve¡¯s face. ¡°I just like the way he¡¯s so concerned about me, every single moment.¡±

    Eagleughed. ¡°He looks more like your owner.¡±

    Xia Lingughed as well. ¡°Don¡¯t say that, it makes me feel uneasy.¡± She pulled the leash and her ve knelt before her immediately, erasing Eagles suspicion. Xia Ling still sounded disinterested. ¡°It¡¯s so troublesome. I¡¯ve to oftene out to take walks to expose him to others so that he¡¯ll be jealous of the attention I¡¯m getting. So, in order for me to see him this concerned about me and at my convenience, I¡¯ve decided¡ª¡±

    Xia Ling smiled all of a sudden. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to buy another ve.¡±

    ¡°You want to have two ves who¡¯ll vie for your attention? What a good idea.¡± Eagle was impressed. Most people around here only owned one ve, as it took quite a bit of effort and time to train even one. But there was a small number who owned two, or even more, ves¡ªthat was a kind of fun too.

    Xia Ling sighed. ¡°I came to take a look because I heard that there¡¯s a sale of ves onboard. But what a pity...¡± She shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re all rather disappointing. None of them is even half as good as the one I have.¡±

    Upon hearing that, Li Lei cooperated by looking up at her with gratitude.

    Eagle truly felt that this owner-ve pair was meant for each other, and it would be way too hard to find another toe between them. He asked Xia Ling, ¡°Have you seen all the ves on sale?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ve looked at the ve chamber on the first floor, but there¡¯s nothing good there.¡±

    Eagle smiled. ¡°No wonder you find this ce boring. Those on the first floor are just ordinary ves. If you want the higher grade ones... there¡¯s a monthly auction here. Oh, you¡¯re just in time, there¡¯s er at midnight.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up.

    She asked Eagle, ¡°What sort of ves are put up for auction? Sex, weight, and age?¡±

    Eagle said, ¡°It¡¯s different for each auction. There are males, females, sometimes even transgender ones. The oldest ones are probably in their 70s, while the youngest...¡± He tried recalling. ¡°Last year, there was a four-year-old girl.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat. They were selling children!

    She tried to conceal her disgust as much as she could. ¡°Girl? Do they have boys?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Eagle smiled again, but then looked at her ve a little doubtfully. Given his figure, he must¡¯ve been well trained inbat, and would qualify as a bodyguard or for the special forces. ¡°You like boys? Children are very fragile though, you can¡¯t y with them in the same way you y with yours now.¡±

    Xia Ling felt nauseous hearing that but hid it well. ¡°It¡¯s good to change my tastes every once in a while.¡±

    Eagle shrugged. ¡°Well, as you wish.¡±

    They talked for a while more, and then Eagle divulged everything she needed to know, including the exact ce of the auction as well as things she needed to take note of. He even remembered to remind her: ¡°When your taste has changed and you¡¯re done with this male ve,¡± he pointed towards Li Lei. ¡°Remember to look for me.¡±

    Xia Ling yed along. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Eagle still felt that she was a newbie and added, ¡°Oh, by the way, there¡¯s this person here that you have to avoid at all costs¡ª¡± He had to tell her about Li Feng. Otherwise, if Li Fengid his eyes on this ve, nobody else was going to have a chance.

    But before he managed to finish his sentence, someone called out to him.

    ¡°I¡¯ming!¡± He hurried off and left Xia Ling hanging.

    But Xia Ling barely registered what he was saying. Once he left, she staggered a few steps back and turned around, puking in a corner.

    There was nothing but bile.

    Li Lei supported her. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you alright?¡±

    She panted for a while before weakly saying, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± The things Eagle had told her were far too disgusting. Although she already knew that there were children on board, it was a different matter to hear someone talk about the specifics.

    Li Lei wrapped her in an embrace. ¡°Our Shaohui will be alright.¡±

    She prayed hard that Shaohui was well and fine. ¡°What should we do next?¡± She asked Li Lei.

    Li Lei was evidently better when it came to rescue. He had already thought of the next step when Xia Ling was talking to Eagle. ¡°Eagle said that there¡¯s a name list for the auctionter. We¡¯ll get a copy of it first and see if Shaohui¡¯s name is on it.¡± If it was, then things were simple; they could simply buy him back.

    But Li Lei felt that a second possibility was more likely¡ª

    ¡°Since Grandpa told you that he¡¯ll keep him safe as long as we¡¯re not together, then it¡¯s unlikely that he¡¯ll be auctioned off. If my guess is right, he¡¯s just being detained.¡±

 Chapter 758 - Useless

    <h4>Chapter 758: Useless</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Then what should I do?¡± She asked despondently.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was very calm. ¡°Let¡¯s first take a look at the auction catalog and rule out the possibility that the child will get auctioned off. Then, you should go back to the room and have a rest...¡± Every guest in this ce had their own guest room. Li Lei continued, ¡°I¡¯ll go around and explore all the nooks and crannies in this ship that we haven¡¯t explored yet.¡±

    This was the fastest way to look for Shaohui.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t have a better idea, so she agreed with Li Lei¡¯s n.

    The two of them arrived at the auction venue. Since it was not yet time for the auction, it was quiet in the room with only a few staff members tending to guests that hade to get the auction catalog. Xia Ling dragged Li Lei to one of the staff members and asked for a catalog as well. They scrutinized the exquisitely put together catalog, which was printed on nine pages of craft paper, each with a picture of a ve.

    There were seven adults within them, and thest two were kids.

    Both were girls. Shaohui was not in the catalog.

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief.

    The staff members asked respectfully, ¡°Miss, is there anything that I can help you with?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was cold and arrogant, maintaining her queen-like image. ¡°Nope, not necessary.¡± She walked away elegantly with her man-ve¡ªLi Lei¡ªin tow.

    They bumped into someone on the way out.

    ¡°Yo...¡± The person let out a long and sleazy acknowledgment, which made Xia Ling give a start. This voice...

    She lifted her head and saw a face that she would never forget in her entire life.

    She was right, it was Li Feng. He was the first person that Xia Ling saw who was not wearing a mask or using a voice distorter on this ship. He was dressed in a long traditional Chinese robe and had grown out his ck hair. His gleaming, slitty eyes that peeked out from under his fringe had the cunning, cold glint of a snake.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks and had to physically stop herself from taking a step back.

    Li Feng looked down at her andughed lightly. ¡°Not bad... it¡¯s rare toe across someone that isn¡¯t afraid of me.¡±

    After he spoke, his gaze moved from her to the man standing behind her¡ªLi Lei. At this moment, Li Lei was wearing a mask, but his tan face was grim under the ck stic bands of the mask. His muscles were tensed up like a beast that was alert and ready to battle.

    Li Feng¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly.

    He walked closer to Li Lei and reached out his pale hand, making to lift his chin up.

    Xia Ling blocked his hand before he could do so. ¡°You can¡¯t touch my ve without first seeking my permission. Don¡¯t you know this basic courtesy?¡± She was trying her best to control her voice such that it would not tremble. She put herself between Li Lei and Li Feng, and looked Li Feng in the eye, trying her best to exude a rxed confidence.

    Li Feng appeared to be mildly surprised. ¡°Interesting... Miss, do you know who I am?¡±

    ¡°Do I need to know who you are?¡± Xia Ling was pulling out all her acting chops, wishing at this moment that the spirits of all the acting geniuses in this world woulde upon her, such that Li Feng would not realize her real identity.

    She couldn¡¯t understand why she was so unlucky to be meeting the lunatic Li Feng here.

    But she knew that every time she came face-to-face with him, nothing good came out of it.

    She lifted her head and looked coldly at Li Feng.

    One of the staff members ran over nervously, wiping away his cold sweat as he did so. ¡°Mr. Li, it¡¯s this miss¡¯ first time here in Blissful Paradise. Please forgive her if she¡¯s offended you unknowingly.¡± He then turned to Xia Ling and said, ¡°This is Mr. Li Feng. No one in this ce dares to offend him.¡±

    As he spoke, he shot Xia Ling a warning nce.

    The staff member was doing this for Xia Ling¡¯s good. Everyone that offended Li Feng had note to a good end. He didn¡¯t want this big client to suddenly die after her first trip to Blissful Paradise.

    However, Xia Ling was not hearing any of it as she continued to stand in front of Li Lei protectively.

    Of course she knew who Li Feng was. She couldn¡¯t be more aware of what a lunatic he was. Yet, she couldn¡¯t give in because the man behind her was the love of her life. She didn¡¯t know what would happen if she stepped aside.

    Li Feng smiled pensively as he watched her, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips like a snake. ¡°If it was anywhere else, I might have the interest to y this little game with you. However, here...¡± He made a sudden motion and pushed Xia Ling aside.

    Xia Ling only felt herself being flung aside by a strong force and didn¡¯t have the time to react as she took a few steps backward to steady herself. Just as she was about to fall to the ground, she felt someone catch her.

    It was Li Lei.

    He had materialized behind her to ensure that she didn¡¯t fall and hurt herself.

    ¡°Master, are you alright?¡± His loyal voice rang out.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was pale but shook her head.

    Li Feng was walking over slowly.

    ¡°Excellent agility...¡± Li Feng pped lightly, a knowing smile on his face, his gaze falling on Li Lei¡¯s half-naked torso. ¡°What a loyal ve... you remind me strongly of someone.¡±

    Li Lei nced at him coldly through the mask, his voice ringing out through the distorter attached. ¡°No one can harm my Master.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Li Fengughed as he gave Li Lei a once over. ¡°Be my ve.¡± This was amand, not a question.

    ¡°No way.¡± Li Lei rejected without so much as a thought. He held onto Xia Ling and walked out of the room.

    Li Feng watched as they left, the smile deepening on his face, and his gaze full of interest.

    A frail-looking ve was following behind Li Feng, and for some reason, he looked like he had been tortured so much that he couldn¡¯t stand steady and was always on the verge of falling.

    Li Feng watched as Xia Ling and Li Lei disappeared around the corner before he turned and nced in disdain at his own ve. He suddenly gave him a tight kick. ¡°Just look at him... look!¡± He was suddenly furious and gave the ve on the ground a few more kicks to vent his anger. ¡°What rubbish are you?!¡±

    The low thump of someone being hit rang out in the room.

    Together with the sounds of ribs being broken.

    Not longter, Li Feng¡¯s ve lost all consciousness.

    Li Feng was still upset and kicked the corpse on the ground till it was almost deformed, staining the expensive parquet floorboards with the bloody mess. Several of the staff members were standing to the side watching as Young Master Li kicked a person to death. This scene wasmonce for them, and nobody even thought of stepping forward to stop him.

    A long timeter, Li Feng finally stopped.

    One of the staff members came forward with an exquisite porcin basin and a pristine white towel. He bowed respectfully to Li Feng, saying, ¡°Mr. Li, please wash your hands. It wouldn¡¯t be good for you to dirty your clothes. We¡¯ll clean this up.¡±

    Li Feng took his time washing his hands. By this time, staff had alreadye forward and were kneeling as they cleaned his shoes with water before waxing it with shoeshine.

    The staff carefully said, ¡°You bought this ve about a week ago. Since he¡¯s dead now, do you want to pick another?¡±

    Li Feng gave a huff. ¡°They¡¯re all useless.¡±

 Chapter 759 - The Auction

    <h4>Chapter 759: The Auction</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The venue was quiet.

    The staff member who made the suggestion became quiet at his disdain, not daring to make a sound.

    A cold, sinister smile appeared on Li Feng¡¯s face, as he whispered like a snake. ¡°Take me backstage to have a look. Hopefully, there are some interesting new finds.¡± He was not limited to the nine ves listed in the catalog. There were many other ves-to-be that hadn¡¯t been trained yet in Blissful Paradise obtained through various underground channels. Li Feng¡¯s impatience meant that they were part of his choice pool as well. He wouldn¡¯t care to wait until these ves were trained properly.

    The staff murmured something before taking him backstage.

    On the other end, Xia Ling and Li Lei returned to their guest room.

    The highly luxurious room was clearly prepared for the ultimate tinum card members. When they opened the door, they were met with a wide living room with a thick, gold-lined carpet and an eye-catching king-sized bed right in the middle of the room. Behind the bed was a full-length window that was semi-zed such that they were able to see out of it at the beautiful blue sea beyond the deck, but no one could look into the room from the outside.

    Xia Ling only rxed when they were safely in the room and threw her scarf on the bed.

    Li Lei pulled out their luggage and changed out of the sexy and revealing leather outfit he was in into a conservative and expensive-looking ck suit that covered his chest and thighs. He lookedpletely different but still exuded a beastly attractiveness.

    Even though she was preupied, Xia Ling still gave a start when she saw Li Lei dressed so handsomely.

    This man always looked so outstanding that it was difficult for her to remove her gaze from him.

    ¡°You can look at me all you like when we get home.¡± Li Lei caught her in her reverie and teased, before leaning forward to give her a light peck. ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look at the ces that are not open for guest ess and then report back to you.¡±

    She nodded and told him to be careful, before watching as he left the room.

    Li Lei was away for more than two hours, and just as Xia Ling was starting to get antsy, he suddenly returned.

    She hurriedly went up to him and asked, ¡°How is it? Are you alright? Did you find out what happened to Shaohui?¡±

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°He¡¯s in a little isted cell on the third floor of the ship. It looks like he¡¯s only suffered some minor abrasions and is in good mental condition.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. Shaohui was fine. What great news!

    Almost immediately, she became antsy again. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you save him?¡±

    Li Lei was clearly prepared for this question. ¡°This ship is in open waters. Every day, only the Blissful Paradise helicopters can take-off andnd on this ship. The guests on this ship have to use their helicopter if they want to leave. Even if I save Shaohui from the cell, we can only leave here via helicopter, so...¡±

    ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°I need to create a ¡®legal¡¯ identity for Shaohui to be able to take him onto the helicopter without problems.¡± Li Lei responded. ¡°At the auction tonight, there¡¯s a girl that is being auctioned who is about Shaohui¡¯s age. Xiao Ling, you need to go buy her back so that we have three spots on the helicopter.¡±

    Xia Ling understood what he was saying. ¡°You¡¯re saying that you want Shaohui to take the ce of that little girl and board the helicopter with the identity of being the new ve that I bought?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°We can dress the little girl like Shaohui and put her in his cell. Nobody will notice the difference for a while.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated. ¡°Isn¡¯t that being too cruel to the little girl?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Xiao Ling, there are too many people in this world to protect. You can¡¯t protect them all. We can only protect the ones closest to us. That girl¡¯s life was destined to be tough the moment she was captured and brought to Blissful Paradise. She¡¯s going to be bought by a lunatic sooner orter, and there¡¯s nothing you can do to change that.¡±

    Xia Ling replied softly, ¡°But if I buy her and take her away from here, she¡¯ll be free.¡±

    Li Lei incredulously asked, ¡°And you¡¯re okay with her taking Shaohui¡¯s ce?¡± With Li Lei¡¯s upbringing, he was long used to seeing all kinds of cruelties from a young age. It was not that he was ruthless, but that he had to learn to sacrifice some things for others.

    Xia Ling bit her lip. ¡°It¡¯s Shaohui that would be taking her ce.¡±

    Li Lei gave a cold huff. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Shaohui, would you be here to buy her?¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t say anything. She knew that Li Lei was right. Regardless of whether she was here, that girl¡¯s destiny was not going to change. She couldn¡¯t put her own son in danger because of her sympathy. Everyone was selfish, and she was no exception. Especially when family was on the line.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go with your n.¡± She said.

    Li Lei hugged her. ¡°Don¡¯t be upset.¡±

    She shook her head to indicate that she was fine, but her unhappiness was written on her face.

    ¡°Blissful Paradise isn¡¯t going to be here much longer.¡± Li Lei consoled her. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to destroy this ce when we go back.¡± Given that they were in this mousetrap now, and it was a critical moment when Shaohui¡¯s identity was about to be revealed to his family, he didn¡¯t want to create any more trouble. As such, he didn¡¯t wage war against Blissful Paradise because of its many strong backers.

    But they would have to answer to his wrath for daring to touch hisdy and her son.

    Blissful Paradise would be annihted very soon.

    Xia Ling felt better after hearing this.

    The two of them rested and then had dinner.

    Li Lei was still dressed in the outfit he was in while exploring the prison cells, but he changed his mask. If he didn¡¯t admit to it, nobody would be able to tell that he was that man-ve beside Xia Ling in the morning.

    He bade Xia Ling goodbye and they went in separate directions.

    She was heading to auction for the little girl, and he was going to save Shaohui from the cells.

    Xia Ling draped a ck scarf over her shoulders and walked down the luxurious corridor of the ship in her 12 cm stilettos to the auction venue. She retrieved her auction number and sat down in the crowd.

    There were already many guests gathered in the auction room, all in leather outfits and masks, making it difficult to identify anyone¡¯s true identity. The room was dimly lit and had an eerie atmosphere.

    Xia Ling controlled her rising difort as she waited for the auction to start.

    The auctioneer was dressed in a fis outfit as he went onstage. He used a sickly passionate tone as he introduced the first ¡°auction item¡± for the night¡ªa young man with ghostly pale skin and a pair of innocent and doe-like eyes. His eyes were filled with tears as if he was terrified of his impending doom but had no way of getting himself out of the situation.

    The auctioneer exined where he came from and his main characteristics, as well as the skills he had developed through the training program.

    Many terms were greek to Xia Ling, but it still made her shudder.

    Her back was tense as she sat up straighter in her seat. At this moment, she wished that Li Lei was by her side so that she wouldn¡¯t feel so alone in this eerie room.

    Unfortunately, he had his mission to carry out.

    And she had to do this alone.

    The auctioneer started the auction at a million for the ghostly pale young man, and the price tag soon escted to five million. He was sold at the price of seven and a half million yuan.

    ¡°Done!¡± The auctioneer announced in the same passionate voice. ¡°Let¡¯s invite the lucky winner of the first auction item¡ªnumber 18, Mr. Shark¡ªtoe onstage to retrieve your prize!¡±

 Chapter 760 - The Mysterious Bidding Rival

    <h4>Chapter 760: The Mysterious Bidding Rival</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The room broke out in apuse.

    Xia Ling saw a plump man with a green monstrous-looking mask go onstage. Ignoring the struggles of the pale young man, he dragged his prize like a victor off the stage.

    Xia Ling subconsciously clenched her fists. She was tempted to buy all the ves on auction at that moment so that all the young girls and boys would not have to suffer such dreadful destinies. However, she knew that she couldn¡¯t do that and cautioned herself to keep her cool. She needed to remain low-key and out of the limelight so that she could save Shaohui without a glitch.

    Li Lei was right. He should destroy Blissful Paradise when they returned home.

    This horrendous enterprise should not be allowed to exist.

    She took a deep breath to keep her emotions in check as she waited for the next ¡°item¡± to be auctioned.

    The auction continued with each ¡°auction item¡± being dragged on stage and retrieved by their respective owners after a round of intense bidding. Finally, the auction came to the first little girl in the catalog.

    Xia Ling sat up straight and held her breath.

    She wouldpete in this round of bidding. If she failed in this round, there was still a second little girl to follow. If she didn¡¯tpete in this round, she would only be left with the second little girl. The risk was too high.

    The auctioneer started the auction. ¡°This is really a good bargain. You have to know that every country is doing a lot to watch out for these little ones. It was really difficult for us to get such a beautiful and cute little girl. The starting price is... eight million!¡±

    This starting price was a full eight times higher than the first young man that came onto the block.

    However, there were still many bidders raising their hands. ¡°Ten million¡±, ¡°thirteen million¡±... The prices being called out went on and on. Xia Ling raised her slender fingers and entered an amount in the bidding machine in front of her.

    Twenty million.

    ¡°Twenty million!¡± The auctioneer shouted out. ¡°Twenty million once! Twenty million twice... and thirty million!¡±

    The auctioneer¡¯s voice became increasingly excited. ¡°Who would have thought that thirty million would be the next bid! Does anyone want to up the bid? Thirty million once! Thirty million twice! Thirty million... Thirty-two million!¡±

    It was Xia Ling. She had increased the bid by a further two million.

    She frowned. Things were not going as she expected. The auction for the previous few ves had been uneventful, and the prices had risen slowly and steadily. This girl that she was bidding for didn¡¯t seem to be all that special, why was someone increasing the bid in ten million increments? As she was still deep in thought, the mysterious rival raised the bid again.

    ¡°Forty million!¡±

    This time, there were rumblings across the room.

    Even though most of the guests on this ship were wealthy and would consider tens of millions spare cash, they still thought it exorbitant to be paying such a high price for this pretty little girl.

    The auctioneer shouted out in surprise. ¡°Forty million! Is this going to be tonight¡¯s highest price? How exciting! I¡¯m shaking all over in excitement... Is anyone going to follow? Anyone at all?!¡±

    He started to count down again. ¡°Forty million once! Forty million twice!¡±

    Xia Ling input forty-three million into the system.

    ¡°Forty-three million!¡± The auctioneer screamed out.

    ¡°Fifty million!¡± The mysterious bidder followed immediately.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was ashen. She needed to give up on this little girl or else she was going to be the center of attention with this crazy bidding. It would then be extremely difficult to switch the little girl for Shaohui when they wanted to leave.

    Hence, she remained silent as she heard the auctioneer count down.

    The gavel came down and the little girl was bought for fifty million.

    The auctioneer announced. ¡°Congrattions to guest number 23, Mr. Lonewolf, for winning this little girl. Pleasee onstage to retrieve your prize!¡±

    From within the crowd.

    Mr. Lonewolf bowed towards the man by his side, his voice quivering. ¡°Mr. Li Feng, I¡¯ll go onstage to get your prize right now.¡± He was feeling incredibly unlucky for having sat right next to the lunatic Li Feng today and being forced to bid for this little girl.

    No one dared to offend Li Feng. He was almost close to tears.

    Li Feng¡¯s blinked his narrow slitty eyes and said in a sleazy tone, ¡°Go right ahead. Don¡¯t let my little baby realize that you are retrieving her on my behalf.¡± As he spoke, his tongue flitted out to lick his lips.

    Mr. Lonewolf felt goosebumps appear on his body as he hurriedly went onstage to retrieve the little girl.

    Li Feng smiled in the shadows and murmured. ¡°My little baby... who would have thought that you woulde into a ce like this... Comee... let me finish this little game with you... haha... haha... hahahahaha... ¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at the person that went onstage to retrieve the little girl.

    He looked like a normal man. So why did he go all out to win this little girl?

    Perhaps...

    Did he have a weird fetish?

    Xia Ling almost balked at this thought.

    Now, she could only pray that this man would be satisfied with buying this little girl and wouldn¡¯t fight her for the next little girl.

    However, it was not meant to be.

    The next little girl¡¯s starting price was ten million. When Xia Ling opened the bid at fifteen million, someone called it up to thirty million immediately. The rumblings from the crowd got louder. Even though kids were a rarity in these auctions and would fetch higher prices, it was still umon to see the prices rise at such an rming rate.

    Everyone was waiting to see if anyone would raise the bid.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression became darker. However, she needed to win this little girl at all cost.

    ¡°Forty million.¡± She no longer tried to hide and went head-to-head with the mysterious bidder.

    The mysterious bidder continued. ¡°Fifty million.¡±

    ¡°Sixty million!¡± It wasn¡¯t that she wanted to be the center of attention but that she needed to win this girl to save Shaohui. Now, there was no time for her to overthink.

    ¡°Eighty million.¡± Her rival calmly raised.

    ¡°A hundred million!¡± Xia Ling followed.

    A hundred million!

    A buzz went through the room. This bid was a historical high in the auctions but usually reserved for extremely rare and outstanding ves. However, this little girl didn¡¯t seem all that special.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that person with so much spare cash to spend?¡± Someone started to whisper.

    ¡°Right?¡± Someone else joined in. ¡°A hundred million for a little girl? Is she crazy?¡±

    ¡°She must be new, right?¡± The murmurings spread out through the room.

    Onstage, the auctioneer was banging the gavel excitedly. ¡°A hundred million once! A hundred million twice! Is anyone going to follow? Anyone?¡± The room was silent.

    Mr. Lonewolf, who was still helping Li Feng with the bid, was standing by the sinister man in trepidation. ¡°Li... Mr. Li... Do we still follow?¡±

    ¡°Follow?¡± Li Feng¡¯s face broke into a scary smile as he shook his finger.

    Mr. Lonewolf nervously retracted his hand.

    ¡°A hundred million... sold!¡± The auctioneer¡¯s gavel came down. ¡°This little girl belongs to...¡±

 Chapter 761 - Fall of the Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 761: Fall of the Phoenix</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The auctioneer looked at the number. ¡°Number 33 ¡ª Phoenix!¡±

    Phoenix was the nickname Xia Ling gave herself in Paradise. Little Shaohui knew that she was the Xia family¡¯s Phoenix, and this nickname would, hopefully, allow him to identify her more easily.

    The auctioneer raised his voice. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s invite Madam Phoenix onstage to im her prize!¡±

    Xia Ling adjusted her mask more securely, draped the ck shawl over her shoulders, and walked onstage on her shiny stilettos. The little girl was curled up in a cage set right in the center of the stage and looked up at her with eyes filled with fear.

    An employee dressed as a clown came forward with an intricately designed tray.

    And on the tray was a single key.

    Those who had watched the auction before would know that this was the key to unlock the cage and retrieve the person inside, iming the ve as their own.

    But those eyes filled with horror were still fixated on her, through the grills on the cage.

    At that moment, she recalled her tragic predicament in her previous life, where she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng as well... That experience was all too painful to look back on, and she suddenly felt suffocated by that memory.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Someone hugged her from behind and said with a sly voice.

    Xia Ling was shocked and turned around, only to see a tall man with a cobra mask on. The two fangs on the mask made him appear to be smiling sinisterly.

    ¡°Who are you? Let go of me!¡± She struggled.

    But the man was skilled and experienced, as he manipted her to move as he wished. Holding on to her hands and locking her legs with his, he forced her into his embrace.

    ¡°My little girl...¡± The man¡¯s slender fingers caressed her exquisite mask ever so gently, almost like a lover would.

    And yet, Xia Ling was stiff from fear, because she¡¯d identified this man by his voice.

    That man was none other than...

    ¡°¡®Mr. Li! You can¡¯t do this!¡± The auctioneer was caught in a fix and had no idea why he hade. However, since it was his responsibility to run the auction smoothly, he had to try to settle this issue. ¡°Thisdy over here is a Paradise guest, not a ve. Don¡¯t you remember the rules for guests? They¡¯re not allowed toy hands on other guests here.¡±

    ¡°What a nag.¡± Li Feng¡¯s voice was still grimy, and he evidently could not be bothered by the auctioneer. His fingers found their way around Xia Ling¡¯s mask.

    Xia Ling stared at him without even blinking. In fact, she had also been holding her breath all this while.

    Li Fengughed easily as if noticing her fear. ¡°¡®My little girl...¡± He said slowly, ¡°Let me see who you are...¡±

    Before he finished his sentence, he had sent Xia Ling¡¯s mask flying!

    Everyone present was in shock.

    This was extremely disrespectful¡ª

    No, not just disrespectful. This was practically asking for trouble! Starting a feud!

    The guests in Paradise put on masks simply because they wanted to conceal their identity. If someone was to expose them, how much hatred would they bear towards the other?! Moreover, the fact that they could afford the exorbitant membership fees meant that their revenge would be horrifying as well.

    And yet, this rule did not apply to Li Feng.

    Respect? This word never existed in his dictionary.

    Revenge? Only he took revenge on others, who dared take revenge on him?

    Hence, Li Feng had ripped her mask off her so arrogantly without a second thought.

    As the diamond-studded mask lined with feathers fell to the ground, it revealed a familiar face. That was the face of a youngdy, with fair skin and lips the color of cherry blossoms.

    Not a magnificent look per se.

    And yet, beautiful enough to keep everyone¡¯s eyes on her.

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± Someone screamed out. She was a Diva now and was recognized everywhere.

    There was amotion among the guests.

    Never would they have imagined that the Ye Xingling who appeared all charismatic and pure onscreen shared the same dark desires as they did!

    ¡°Well, this is interesting...¡± Li Feng stroked her face and mumbled. ¡°It¡¯s you indeed. I assume this means that my brother must be somewhere near?¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly realized who he was really targeting.

    ¡°Li Lei isn¡¯t here!¡± She said.

    ¡°Shh...¡± Li Feng ced a finger on her lips. ¡°Girls who lie are bad girls.¡±

    He dragged her to a standing mic and announced in his grimy, snake-like voice. ¡°This female ve is mine. Auctioneer, bring me a leash.¡±

    Everyone present was in shock.

    Offstage, Eagle was stammering to his friends. ¡°Oh my... Oh my god. Has Li Fengpletely lost his mind? That woman... that Phoenix! Y-Ye Xingling! S-She¡¯s an S!¡±

    S referred to the owners, not ves.

    Eagle¡¯s friends were shocked as well. ¡°First Young Master Li¡¯s taste is getting weirder!¡±

    Onstage, the auctioneer was sweating profusely. He tried to force a smile. ¡°Y-Young Master Li, please stop joking. How could you hold an S-type guest as your ve...¡±

    ¡°How could I not?¡± Li Feng smiled sinisterly. He reached for the belt that held Xia Ling¡¯s leather outfit together and removed it.

    With that, her clothes fell to the groundyer byyer...

    She was dressed conservatively and primly at first, but now she looked a little pathetic with her clothes lying at her feet. Yet, with her fair skin and shoulder des revealed, there was a strange kind of beauty to her as well.

    She struggled instinctively.

    Li Feng kicked her to the ground.

    Xia Ling felt the ceiling spin as her ears buzzed. She felt a sharp pain in her chest and wondered if she¡¯d broken any ribs. Before she managed to pick herself up, that dangerous man hade forward and pulled her by her long hair, and then tied her hands and feet with some rope.

    ¡°Done.¡± Li Feng released his grip in satisfaction as he watched her lose her bnce and fall to the ground, leaving a blood stain on the stage where she hit her forehead.

    ¡°So weak, no fun at all...¡± He smiled and kicked her a few more times. ¡°So, does anyone want to trade with me? If you can hand me a satisfactory ve, I can trade this fragile little girl with you.¡±

    He sounded like a devil.

    ¡°M-Mr. Li... You really can¡¯t do this...¡± The auctioneer could not think of anything better to say, and yet also dared not go forward to stop him.

    If it was any other guest who flouted the rules so tantly, he would¡¯ve been kicked out of Paradise. But Li Feng was different, nobody wanted to offend this pervert!

 Chapter 762 - Onstage Confrontation

    <h4>Chapter 762: Onstage Confrontation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Feng¡¯s eyes glistened like a snake¡¯s.

    He appeared bored and decided to casually stomp on Xia Ling. There was a clear sound of her bones breaking as she coughed blood. Li Feng found it interesting and used even more force.

    Xia Ling was in so much pain, dark spots were clouding her vision. She felt like she might die.

    Li Feng¡¯s eerie voice rang out. ¡°What a pity, no one wants to trade... it seems like you aren¡¯t that popr here... how about this, let¡¯s y a little game.¡± He reached for a whip on disy and cracked it. Everyone could hear it sweep through the air.

    Xia Ling was alerted by what he said¡ª

    ¡°This whip was badly manufactured, it¡¯ll kill someone with just a few strokes. But I guess I¡¯ll make do with it.¡±

    He whipped it around for a while more and aimed it at Xia Ling. ¡°Since nobody wants to trade for you,¡± heughed with those eyes of a devil. ¡°Then we shall watch youe to the end of your life on this stage.¡±

    He raised the whip and was just about to swing it against her.

    ¡°Stop.¡± A cold yet steady voice was heard.

    Li Feng¡¯s smile widened as he turned around and looked at just the right spot.

    The other guests followed his line of vision.

    Under the dim light was a man standing at the entrance. He was dressed in a ck leather outfit and was walking towards the stage. Although the mask concealed his expression, his jaw was evidently clenched in anger, almost like a wild beast approaching its rival.

    Excitement and apprehension filled the room.

    ¡°Who¡¯s he? Is he actually thinking about challenging Li Feng?¡± Someone whispered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, could he be new? Only a newbie would be so ignorant as to go against Li Feng.¡± Another said.

    The people around nodded in agreement.

    Eagle looked at Li Lei for a long while before nudging his friend beside him. ¡°Isn¡¯t that man Phoenix¡¯s¡ªwait, I mean Ye Xingling¡¯s ve?! I can barely recognize him in this outfit!¡±

    His friend realized it now. ¡°Yes, I think that¡¯s him! He¡¯s putting his life on the line against Li Feng just to save his owner!¡± Pitting oneself against Li Feng was akin to courting death.

    Some of them looked at him in awe.

    ¡°True love...¡± They eximed.

    But Eagle seemed to have thought of something else and got agitated. ¡°Do you guys remember that Ye Xingling¡¯s ve happens to be Li Feng¡¯s favorite type?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but so what?¡± His friends didn¡¯t seem to understand what he was getting at. ¡°Is there a need to be this agitated?¡±

    He was even more anxious hearing that. ¡°Then, do you guys remember that Li Feng¡¯s favorite type is apparently modeled after his brother Li Lei? And recently, gossips about Ye Xingling and Li Lei have been going around?!¡±

    ¡°Gosh, are you saying...¡± Somebody widened his eyes in disbelief.

    ¡°That man is Li Lei?!¡±

    Eagle and his friends were shocked by their spection and were in utter disbelief. If that man really was Li Lei, then this would be a good show. An older brother who¡¯d fantasized about torturing his younger brother for years had finally encountered his brother in person, and in such a situation at that. Meanwhile, his younger brother was willing to fight it out with him in order to save his girlfriend...

    Just the thought of it was exciting!

    It was getting obvious that more people were beginning to reach the same conclusion. The guests quieted down as they kept their eyes glued on this pair of brothers.

    Xia Ling, who was now lying on the stage, watched as Li Lei approached as well.

    She had broken a rib, and the bone had pierced into her lung, making it hard for her to talk or even breathe. She wanted so badly to ask Li Lei to leave, to avoid this pervert of a man, but no words came out of her.

    She coughed some more blood.

    Li Lei walked onto the stage and red at Li Feng. ¡°Let her go, the person you¡¯re looking for is me.¡±

    He took his mask off in a swift move.

    The crowd gasped silently. It was Li Lei indeed! On stage, his handsome features and model-worthy side profile¡ªfrom his distinct nose bridge to his well-toned arms and abdomen¡ªhad everyone¡¯s eyes on him.

    ¡°No wonder Li Feng has so much against him...¡± Eagle sighed. ¡°He¡¯s really...¡± He paused for a few seconds before saying in a fantasizing manner, ¡°God¡¯s work of art.¡±

    The people around him sighed, mesmerized by his charisma.

    Li Feng looked at his brother and licked his lips. ¡°You want to exchange her? With yourself? You... are offering to be my ve?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lei said without hesitation.

    This single word was like a rock that shattered the fragile silence in the room; the crowd began buzzing again. ¡°He¡¯s mad!¡± Someone said, ¡°Does he know what it means to be a ve in Li Feng¡¯s hands?!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re biological brothers, how could Li Lei not know?¡± Another said, ¡°But for Ye Xingling¡¯s sake, Li Lei is willing to give up his dignity and even his life.¡±

    A number of them agreed.

    Although Li Lei came as a ve, he was serving and bowing down to his beloved woman; that in itself was a sort of delightful appeal. But being forced to bow down to a man was apletely different thing¡ªit was humiliating.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li...¡± Someone eximed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the Li family has not only produced a ruthless, heartless First Young Master, but also a devoted Second Young Master!¡±

    There was a moment of silence.

    In the meantime, Xia Ling had curled up from the pain but finally managed to utter a few words arduously. ¡°L-Li Lei, no... You, go...¡± She wanted to ask him to just take Shaohui and leave without her.

    But how could Li Lei possibly bear to do this?

    He took a few steps forward.

    Li Feng reached his arm out to stop him. ¡°Don¡¯te near my female ve.¡± His voice was gentle but ever so sinister. He had a smile on, but it was lined with hatred. ¡°You want to save her? Not so easy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already agreed to be your ve.¡± Li Lei said coldly.

    Since he was a child, he had always known what his brother wanted from him¡ªhis unconditional admiration and respect, his willingness to surrender to him, and everything else that was his, including his body and soul. But how could that possiblye true? He would never agree with his brother¡¯s violent ways and distorted world view; they could never be brothers on the same page.

    And yet, today, he had to bow down to his brother.

    All for the sake of his beloved woman.

    Li Feng red at his brother with bitterness and ruthlessness. ¡°Xiao Lei...¡± He reached out and lifted Li Lei¡¯s chin. ¡°You¡¯ve never given in to me... and now, you¡¯re willing to do this for a woman? I¡¯m very angry... do you know that?¡±

 Chapter 763 - Leave the Woman and Child Out

    <h4>Chapter 763: Leave the Woman and Child Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There were many people in the auction area.

    And yet, it was dead silent when Li Feng uttered those words.

    His voice seemed to have suspended in the air, causing difort to everyone around. Under the red light, he looked all the more demonic.

    Xia Ling coughed weakly, sounding like a broken ragdoll.

    Li Lei looked at his brother straight in the eye. ¡°Just what do you want?¡±

    ¡°What do I want?¡± Li Fengughed. ¡°Your little girlfriend was being mean, actually daring to bid against me during the auction. Since she likes that little girl so much...¡± He nced at the girl in the cage and sent a chill down her spine.

    Li Feng was still smiling. ¡°Then she shall use her own little boy to exchange for her.¡±

    ¡°Her own little boy?¡± Li Lei had a bad feeling about this.

    ¡°Let me think of his name... Shaohui, am I right?¡± Li Feng grinned like a Cheshire cat. ¡°Exchanging a child for an adult, you¡¯re already having it cheap.¡±

    ¡°No...¡± Xia Ling struggled to speak even before Li Lei had said a word. Regardless of the sharp pain she felt each time she breathed a word, she said while coughing blood, ¡°You can¡¯t... give Shaohui... to him... you can¡¯t...¡±

    She looked at Li Lei with eyes that had long lost their light.

    Li Feng seemed amused by their interaction. He looked at her, and then at Li Lei. ¡°Aww, what a noble love. But Miss Ye, you can¡¯t go back on what you¡¯ve said.¡± He said to Li Lei, ¡°To exchange the child for her or not... the choice is in your hands. Xiao Lei, all you need is to give me a slight nod, and this woman is yours again.¡±

    It sounded like a devil¡¯s temptation.

    Li Lei knew what he was trying to achieve.

    Li Feng was simplying between them. If Li Lei really used Xia Ling¡¯s precious child to exchange for herself, Xia Ling would hate him for life. Even if she was free from Li Feng today, she wouldn¡¯t want to be with Li Lei again.

    Li Feng¡¯s n was to have him doomed.

    Li Lei tensed slightly. ¡°The child isn¡¯t on board, I can¡¯t exchange him right now.¡±

    He wanted to buy time to think of a better solution, but Li Feng saw right through him. He smiled sinisterly. ¡°Xiao Lei, you¡¯re still as naive as before. Did you really think you could fool me like that? The child is onboard, I saw him backstage just this afternoon. He¡¯s being detained in a cage... tsk, poor thing.¡±

    Li Feng had gone backstage in the afternoon to pick out potential ves.

    He had recognized Shaohui at once. This child had a pure aura and was very charismatic, just like his little brother in his memory. It was the first time he saw a child who had a vibe this simr to his brother.

    Li Feng had wanted the child at once, but the employees refused, and even had to call the management to talk to Li Feng. Seeing that there was no way to stop him, the management had no choice but to reveal that the child was sent here by Old Master Li. Old Master had made it clear that he was only to be detained, and no one shouldy a finger on him.

    Li Feng figured out what was going on at once.

    He did not do anything to the child back there, just so that he could use him as a pawn to pit Xia Ling and Li Lei against each other.

    Li Lei sensed that things were taking a turn for the worse since Li Feng actually knew about Little Shaohui¡¯s incident! He gave the straightest face he could manage. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    Li Feng smiled. ¡°You¡¯re not handing the child over? Then you can wait to watch her die.¡±

    Saying that, he raised his hand and aimed the whip at Xia Ling.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Some guests began screaming. This was too cruel to watch on.

    Xia Ling watched as the whip approached her with every passing moment. She tried with all her might to move away, but the excruciating pain from her broken rib was making it impossible. She foresaw that if the whip hit her this time, it wouldn¡¯t just be a case of split skin.

    In that split second, a hand grabbed hold of the whip.

    Blood trickled down the whip and dripped onto Xia Ling¡¯s face.

    Xia Ling looked up and saw that Li Lei¡¯s arm hade between her and Li Feng. The spiked whip wastched in Li Lei¡¯s palm as it bled.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± Her voice was hoarse and weak.

    The man still looked handsome, but at this moment, it was colder than ever before. Instead of looking at Xia Ling, he kept his eyes on Li Feng as if he was a venomous snake to be wary of. ¡°Leave the woman and child out of this, you¡¯ve beening for me the whole time. Brother, let¡¯s fight it out. If you win, I¡¯ll leave it to you to punish me. If you lose, I¡¯m taking Xiao Ling away with me.¡±

    ¡°And the child?¡± Li Feng grinned suggestively.

    The Paradise employees had gone to check the cage upon hearing his words and found that the one holding Shaohui was now empty. They locked down the entire cruise and began splitting up to search for the missing child.

    Li Lei felt an odd shift in the atmosphere.

    But onstage, he appeared to be worried about Xia Ling with no room to be concerned for the child.

    He had already rescued the child earlier and hid him in the room. Now, he could only pray that the employees were not going to check the rooms, or that Little Shaohui was smart enough to make an escape.

    He looked at Li Feng. ¡°Forget the nonsense. Are you up for the bet?¡±

    Li Feng said, ¡°You can exchange the child directly, you know.¡±

    Li Lei threw a punch at him.

    Li Feng managed to duck just in time, but the cobra mask on his face had slipped and scratched his cheek. He touched his cheek and licked the blood on his fingers. ¡°So we¡¯re doing this for real...¡±

    He smiled even more deviously and kicked at Li Lei in a sh.

    s, Li Lei managed to dodge it.

    The two brothers began their fight onstage, and it was a spectacle.

    But nobody dared to reach out and stop them.

    This was an internal fight of the Li triad family, who would want to get between them and ask for trouble?

    Paradise¡¯s management and employees were getting anxious. If any of these Young Masters of the Li family was to get into trouble, Old Master Li was sure to skin them alive!

    ¡°Hurry, go look for Old Master Li!¡± A manager said.

    An employee looked at him nkly. ¡°Look for Old Master Li?¡±

    ¡°Get Old Master Li here! As fast as you can. Use the helicopter!¡± The manager was in a panic. ¡°His two precious grandsons are here. No matter who gets injured, we can¡¯t possiblypensate him!¡±

    Although Paradise was rather powerful, and couldn¡¯t even care less about policymakers andmercial giants, they were actually afraid of situations like these, where fights involved members of the ck triad.

    Paradise was running their business well and fine, how could they possibly deal with such trouble?!

    The helicopternded at where Old Master Li was in the shortest time possible.

 Chapter 764 - Toss Her into the Sea

    <h4>Chapter 764: Toss Her into the Sea</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Onstage, the brothers were still up against each other.

    Li Lei¡¯s punches and kicks were ruthless and strong, evidently polished from all his years inbat, fighting among stray bullets. But Li Feng was not any less intimidating with his attacks. Both brothers were very familiar with each other¡¯s strengths and styles¡ªafter a long battle, nobody was able to take the other down.

    Xia Ling was still lying on the ground as her vision got increasingly blurry. Her chest was throbbing with so much pain, and she had not stopped coughing blood. She tried her best not to pass out as she kept her eyes on their fight, praying hard that Li Lei would not be hurt.

    If anything were to happen to him, all three of them were doomed.

    She reached for her phone and dialed a number. ¡°Brother...e, quick...¡±

    Thereafter, she began coughing even more furiously, and could not utter a single word anymore.

    The bright red lights were still gathered on the stage and finally, Li Lei had gotten the upper hand. Li Lei hit Li Feng in the split second that he wasn¡¯t paying attention, and before he got up, pressed his weight against his body and held his hand against Li Feng¡¯s neck. They red at each other coldly as the air seemed to go stale around them.

    ¡°Kill me... why, don¡¯t you dare?¡± Li Feng smiled like he was the victor, despite having been pinned to the ground.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened while his hand tightened around Li Feng¡¯s neck. Even so, he kept silent.

    Li Feng was beginning to have difficulty breathing, but still struggled to say, ¡°Haha... Xiao Lei, you¡¯re always like this¡ªkind as a woman. You know, if you don¡¯t kill me, I¡¯ll kill you.¡± His lips curled at the tips and he appeared delighted even as his life was in the hands of someone else.

    Li Lei said coldly, ¡°Promise that you¡¯ll let Xiao Ling off, and I¡¯ll let you off.¡±

    Li Fengughed. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll promise you that?¡±

    Li Lei tightened his grip further, and the man in his hand could barely speak anymore. His face began turning pale, and even his gaze was drifting.

    Li Lei recalled their younger days when their rtionship was not as strained as it was now. Initially, there was always this lonesome boy watching him y in the garden from afar. Sometimes, he would catch some creepy crawlies and ce them under his nket; other times, he would stuff some jam in his room and pretend that it wasn¡¯t him who stole it. Back then, he had been young and foolish, always willingly calling him ¡°Brother¡±...

    When did it all change?

    In that moment of distraction, the once lonesome boy had turned into the devilish man before him.

    He heard a gasp from Xia Ling before Li Feng got up and pushed Li Lei to the ground.

    ¡°Getting distracted during a fight, that¡¯s not a good move...¡±

    Li Feng sneered and gripped his throat, the same way he had been gripped moments before.

    ¡°So, do you think I¡¯ll kill...¡±

    Just before he uttered thest word ¡°you,¡± the tables turned.

    The crowd was inplete shock witnessing this scene: Xia Ling had garnered all her remaining strength and found a way to get up. She staggered towards them and, with every ounce of force she could muster, stabbed the key¡ªwhich she was supposed to open the cage with¡ªinto the back of Li Feng¡¯s neck.

    Li Feng fell to the floor, face down.

    Li Lei instantly flipped him around and reached towards his nose¡ªthankfully, he was still breathing. He took the whip from Li Feng¡¯s hand and tied him with it skillfully.

    Only then did he look up at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, how are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She did not even sound like herself anymore. ¡°Quick, look for Shaohui.¡±

    Li Lei picked her up. ¡°Hang in there, I¡¯ll take you back to the room first. The child will be fine.¡±

    He was just about to carry her down the stage when an old voice was heard. ¡°Put Ye Xingling down.¡±

    Li Lei stopped in his tracks and his expression turned awful. ¡°... Grandpa.¡± <i>Why is Grandpa here at such a crucial moment? Nothing good ever happens when he¡¯s around.</i>

    Li Lei¡¯s body tensed up defensively.

    Guests whispered downstage as they saw Old Master Li walk towards the stage in his usual Chinese outfit and cloth shoes. He looked well and healthy, but the look on his face was dark¡ªthe first thing he had seen when he entered was Xia Ling hurting his precious grandson. Now, Li Feng was lying on the stage barely alive, and Li Lei was actually ignoring his brother and helping the troublemaker instead?!

    Old Master Li pointed a finger at Li Lei. ¡°Bastard, kneel down!¡±

    Li Lei stood firmly with Xia Ling in his arms and did not make a move to kneel. ¡°Grandpa,¡± he said calmly. ¡°Let me get a doctor for her first and make sure she¡¯s settled down before paying for my sins.¡±

    Old Master Li sneered in anger. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll let this woman off?¡±

    Old Master Li felt that he¡¯d been way too kind to her in the past, giving her a chance to wreak havoc in their family today. Since he had already made his way to Paradise and was caught in this embarrassing situation, there was no harm going all out. ¡°All of you, throw this woman into the sea!¡±

    The people who had apanied Old Master Li immediately surrounded Li Lei.

    ¡°Excuse us, Second Young Master.¡± The leader among them approached Li Lei and was ready to attack, while the rest cooperated in his move. They had one goal¡ªto take Ye Xingling from his arms!

    Li Lei¡¯s mobility was greatly restricted as he was carrying her. Furthermore, his energy had beenrgely depleted after the ferocious battle with Li Feng. There was no way he could take on all of them.

    He backed off each time somebody approached and reached the deck in no time.

    ¡°Grandpa.¡± Even now? He refused to let go of her. ¡°Do you remember the amulet? My destiny and Xiao Ling¡¯s have long been intertwined. You want to toss her into the sea? Fine, I¡¯ll go down with her.¡±

    Xia Ling was extremely pale. With the rib still stuck in her lung, she was numb from pain by now.

    Cold sweat was trickling down her forehead as her vision got blurry again. Even Li Lei¡¯s voice felt like a distance away, buzzing in her ear from afar. The only thing she could be sure of was that she was in his arms, and his warm chest and strong heart were bing the only safe haven she knew. Wherever they went, they were now a single entity. She tightened her grip on him subconsciously.

    Feeling her dependence on him, Li Lei¡¯s expression was firmer than before.

    ¡°Grandpa,¡± he said. ¡°Let Xiao Ling off. Don¡¯t do something you¡¯lle to regret.¡±

 Chapter 765 - You Cannot Marry Another Woman

    <h4>Chapter 765: You Cannot Marry Another Woman</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Old Master Li red at him. ¡°I will not regret this.¡±

    The sea breeze swept past them as Li Lei stood on the edge of the deck with her in his arms.

    He had backed off to a dead end, and Old Master¡¯s men were still inching forward.

    They had cornered him sessfully and now had their eyes on the wan. Although Li Lei could make it out of the sea well and alive, Xia Ling was already badly injured, and jumping off the deck was just courting death for her. The circle around him was getting smaller and smaller, and they were almost within arm¡¯s reach.

    Xia Ling was still grasping the key that had injured Li Feng; it was now stained with blood, and she had no idea if it was Li Feng¡¯s or hers.

    She felt threatened beyond measure.

    She knew that if she died here today, these people would not receive their punishment, and the guests and employees who¡¯d witnessed the scene would not say a word for her either. Her only hope was Li Lei.

    She looked up at Li Lei.

    He looked colder than she remembered him to be, and his body was arched slightly forward in an aggressive stance. Even so, they continued getting closer.

    She suddenlyughed.

    Old Master Li looked somber. ¡°What are youughing about?¡±

    Herughter gave him a bad feeling.

    Xia Ling did not respond to him, but rather, continued keeping her gaze on her man. ¡°All these years, I¡¯ve been mean to you.¡±

    This statement came out of nowhere, and yet, Li Lei seemed to understand herpletely. With eyes still on his enemies, he said to her, gentle as ever, ¡°Yup, very mean.¡±

    ¡°It seems like I won¡¯t have the chance to be good to you in the future.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°No, don¡¯t talk like this.¡±

    She smiled even more sweetly now, knowing full well that he didn¡¯t want her to die just then. But, what choice did they have? She wanted to live too¡ªshe was still young, was a Diva, and her reputation was wonderful as it could be... and there was Shaohui, someone who had all the time in the world. And yet, with her serious injury, Li Lei¡¯s depleted energy, and a crowd of enemies that wished her dead, it was silly to even harbor the thought of living.

    Her voice was getting softer and weaker. ¡°When I¡¯m gone, don¡¯t tell Shaohui the truth. And, you cannot marry another woman.¡± Destiny was aplicated thing; maybe she coulde back to life and find him again just like she had with Pei Ziheng. If there was a next life, she would definitely live blissfully with him, happily ever after.

    Li Lei dared not look down at her. He was afraid that the moment his eyes left theirs, they would all pounce on him and Xia Ling. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare leave. If you do, I¡¯ll marry many women.¡±

    Tears welled up in his eyes as his voice went hoarse.

    She coughed again. Her rib had been broken for a while now, and she was beginning to shiver from the cold. ¡°Protect Shaohui well,¡± she said. ¡°If... if... something happens... to Shaohui, I-I¡¯m... n-noting back...¡±

    Blood spewed out of her mouth, contrasted against her discolored lips.

    Li Lei suddenly realized something: even if Old Master Li and his men did not toss Xia Ling into the sea, given her injuries and how weak her body constitution was, could she even hold out?

    He carefully ced her on the ground against a pir.

    ¡°Hang in there.¡± he gently whispered. He then straightened up and faced the army before him coldly. He red at them with hatred, the same way he had done for years on the battlefield. He could not care less that these people included his elders who had watched him grow up.

    ¡°Li Lei! You¡¯ve turned against your people!¡± Old Master Li was enraged.

    Li Lei was already approaching them and positioning himself. Not too far away, some of the spectating guests were getting increasingly tense from watching them, as some of the Paradise employees joined Old Master Li¡¯s force.

    Li Lei shouted at the Paradise employees, ¡°Are you making yourselves my enemies too?¡±

    The Paradise employees looked at each other before taking a few steps back.

    Much as they wished to help Old Master Li, they did not want to offend Second Young Master Li. Who knew, in the decades toe, he might own all of the Li family¡¯s assets and properties. Backing out now would make Old Master Li unhappy, but that was all. If they went up and hurt that girl, it wouldn¡¯t just be unhappiness with Second Young Master. It would be hatred.

    They had weighed their options beforeing to a quick decision.

    Old Master Li was extremely put off by their actions, but there was nothing he could do right now.

    With one hand on his walking cane, he said, ¡°Take the bastard down!¡±

    The army went forward¡ªsome nned to attack him while others tried moving him away from Xia Ling so they could take her.

    Li Lei was agile in his defense. He ducked from those who attempted to assault him while managing to fend off the people who tried getting to Xia Ling. It did not take him much effort to toss some of them into the sea.

    He had already regained some of his strength and energy from the walk to the deck. Although it wasn¡¯t all that easy to take on so many at once, it wasn¡¯t umon for his enemies to lose their footing during their attack and fall into the sea.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li really is as good as they say.¡± Some guests began whispering.

    Among them were government officials and businessmen who knew nothing about fights. Although Li Lei¡¯s duel with Li Feng was already world-ss, the average person wouldn¡¯t be able to tell. But now, Li Lei was taking on so many people at once, it became obvious just how good he was.

    Old Master Li¡¯s expression darkened.

    He knew his grandson best. Once he was pushed to a corner, hisbat effectiveness would peak to an rming level that was hard for anyone to take on. He hade in such short notice this time and hadn¡¯t brought enough men with him. If the current situation persisted, this unfilial grandson could possibly toss everyone into the sea and leave sessfully with Xia Ling!

    Old Master Li put his walking cane aside and walked towards the battlefield.

    ¡°Look, Old Master Li is joining the fight!¡± The guests were getting agitated.

    ¡°Old Master?¡± Another asked. ¡°Can he do this?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t belittle this old man,¡± said a third person. ¡°When he was younger, he was known to be the most ruthless man around. His hands are stained with the blood of countless people. Today, he¡¯s out to teach his grandson a lesson personally!¡±

    Everyone was practically holding their breaths. They had witnessed Li Lei¡¯s prowess¡ªin this short time, a number of them had been tossed into the sea, while some were lying on the deck, heavily injured and with no motivation to fight on. Only less than half was still on their feet to take him on.

 Chapter 766 - The Mysterious Man in White

    <h4>Chapter 766: The Mysterious Man in White</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Would the Old Master be able to take him down?

    Everyone was watching with bated breath. The Old Master attacked with lightning-fast agility, reaching out to grasp Li Lei¡¯s shoulder. Li Lei¡¯s body was full of injuries and blood was flowing down from all the open wounds. He was fending off one of the warriors but heard the Old Master approaching from behind. At the veryst moment, almost reflexively, he avoided the Old Master¡¯s attack by a whisker.

    He turned and lifted his eyes to meet Old Master Li¡¯s re.

    The grandfather-grandson pair stared at each other and Li Lei moved his lips as if about to say something. However, he saw the warrior circle round his back and was about tounch a sneak attack on Xia Ling!

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was ghostly white as she foresaw herself being caught by the warrior and thrown into the open seas. The other warriors that had been thrown into the sea by Li Lei were all brawny fellows and strong swimmers. Even if they were injured, there was no doubt that they would still be able to survive. However, Xia Ling was different¡ªshe had a broken rib. If she were thrown into the sea, she was as good as dead.

    That warrior lurched menacingly towards her defenseless self.

    As she closed her eyes to ept her impending doom, a hand emerged from the side and pushed the warrior away. There was a fluster of activity and, before she could react, that warrior was flung into the sea.

    After Li Lei had dealt with the warrior, perspiration flowed down his face. The countless rounds of battle had drained him of all energy.

    Yet, he stubbornly remained by Xia Ling and nced around at his opponents in vehemence. Finally, his gaze fell on Old Master Li. ¡°Grandfather, even Brother will take me on one-on-one. As an elder in the family, you¡¯re not going to outnumber me like this, are you?¡± Li Lei said in a cold, low voice through pants.

    Old Master Li narrowed his eyes.

    He knew that this was just a dy tactic by Li Lei. He could tell that his grandson was reaching his limits, and if they were to attack all together right now, they could easily throw Xia Ling into the sea to feed the sharks. However, seeing the gleam of hope in his grandson¡¯s eyes, Old Master still relented. He raised his hand and signaled for the warriors to back off.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go one-on-one with you!¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed in alertness. He knew how scary his grandfather was as an opponent as his abilities had all been taught by his grandfather. Even though grandfather was now old, Li Lei still didn¡¯t have full confidence that he could beat him.

    Moreover, he was tired from all the fighting while grandfather was still pretty fresh given all the help that he had.

    Yet, there was no backing off as Xiao Ling was behind him.

    She had handed her life to him to protect and had no regrets despite being this close to death. Yes, he knew that she had no regrets. She had told him that even if she died, he was not to marry another woman and had hinted that she would return to look for him.

    He understood that if Xiao Ling reincarnated again like the Phoenix she was, she was still willing to spend her next life with him.

    He didn¡¯t want her life to be so tremulous.

    He only wanted them to be together in this life, and to protect her well.

    He focused his eyes on his grandfather like a predator ready to pounce.

    The situation was tense, and there was only the sound of the wind blowing through everyone¡¯s outfits. At this crucial moment, a helicopter suddenly flew over from a distance andnded at the other end of the deck.

    Many guests turned around and reacted in surprise.

    ¡°Look, that person!¡±

    ¡°Oh my. Isn¡¯t that the owner of Blissful Paradise?!¡±

    This sentence sent a ripple through the crowd. The owner of Blissful Paradise was like a legend, and no one had truly seen him in person. Yet, all the staff and guests of Blissful Paradise knew who he was, as his portrait was all over the ship. He donned a deep gold leather jacket and had metal chains and locks as essories all over his outfit. The most eye-catching was the open fan in his hands, that had the words ¡°Blissful Paradise¡± written in ostentatious cursive handwriting.

    He looked exactly like the portraits.

    ¡°The owner of Blissful Paradise!¡± Numerous guests shouted out.

    Only Li Lei and the Old Master remained motionless in deadlock, keeping their eyes trained on each other.

    Xia Ling, who had her back against the protective railings of the deck, didn¡¯t move as well. She was watching her man through tired eyes. She didn¡¯t know if they would be able to escape from here and was willing herself to remember every line on Li Lei¡¯s face. She didn¡¯t want to forget him if she were to be reincarnated again.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise apanied a man as they walked toward where the battle was happening.

    Guests were whispering to each other. ¡°Who¡¯s that person beside the owner of Blissful Paradise? Why is the owner of Blissful Paradise being so courteous to him?¡± This was all too weird. Since when did the owner of Blissful Paradise have to pander to anyone?

    Being courteous was just the tip of the iceberg.

    The attitude that the owner of Blissful Paradise was showing that young man was almost that of nervousness. It was as if that young man was a monstrous beast and would destroy him if he wasn¡¯t careful.

    That young man by the side of the owner of Blissful Paradise was dressed in a long white robe, his expression calm, as if he didn¡¯t take anything to heart. Even the nervous energy that the owner of Blissful Paradise was exuding seemed to be expected.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize him...¡± Many guests shook their heads as they took in his unfamiliar face.

    There were sudden bursts of recognition. ¡°Oh, I know! He is...¡± As guests turned in curiosity to the outbursts, wanting to find out who he was, those guests who recognized him covered their mouths in shock and terror, fearfully staring at that young man as if worried that they would be med for speaking out of line.

    Even if other guests asked them to share the man¡¯s identity, they would still remain silent.

    Everyone¡¯s curiosity was piqued.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise walked over with the young man to where the grandfather-grandson pair was locked in battle and said, ¡°Please stop fighting, the both of you.¡±

    Old Master Li ignored him as if he were thin air.

    Li Lei ignored him as well at first but caught sight of the young man in white from the corner of his eyes. Almost reflexively, Li Lei immediately became respectful and greeted him sheepishly. ¡°You¡¯re here...¡±

    His words were just out of his mouth when Old Master Liunched an attack at Xia Ling, seeing that Li Lei had dropped his guard!

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t looking at the Old Master at all. Her gaze was trained on the young man that had arrived, her exquisite face donning an expression of sadness and happiness at the same time.

    Old Master Li was almost in front of her now.

    And she didn¡¯t avoid him at all.

    Someone caught Old Master Li¡¯s hand before he reached Xia Ling. It was the young man in white who seemed like something out of this world. The man¡¯s voice rang out clear as day. ¡°She isn¡¯t someone that you deserve to touch.¡± With a simple fling of his hand, the Old Master staggered backward, almost falling to the ground.

    His staff hurriedly came forward to catch him.

    The Old Master looked at the young man in front of him as if he had encountered his mortal enemy. ¡°Who are you?¡± He was highly confident in his own abilities, and even if he was getting on years, he still was able to fend off strong opponents like Li Lei. However, this man in white had only raised his fingers and appeared to bepletely in control.

    How scary was that?

 Chapter 767 - Heâ€™s The Preceptor

    <h4>Chapter 767: He¡¯s The Preceptor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What was more shocking to the Old Master was the calmness that this young man exuded.

    It was as if nobody in this world bothered him and were like leaves on the tree or ants on the ground¡ªnothing to be overly concerned about.

    Who exactly was he?

    The man in white didn¡¯t look at him but instead knelt down to inspect Xia Ling¡¯s injuries.

    Li Lei hurriedly instructed the owner of Blissful Paradise. ¡°Arrange the best ward you have in this ce and call for a doctor. The second and third rib in her right chest is broken, and it¡¯s pierced her lung walls. When we carried her earlier, it pierced even deeper.¡±

    The owner of Blissful Paradise was staring at the man in white in shock. How could such an important man kneel down to inspect a girl¡¯s injuries?! Even though that girl was a Diva, which guest in this ce wasn¡¯t loaded and famous? Many were more important than this songstress that had no family background or schemes.

    Yet, all of them, including the owner of Blissful Paradise himself, could only bow down to this man in white.

    But even if they wanted to kneel down, they would have to first see if he even cared for them to pay their respects. And Xia Ling? The man in white had proactively knelt down to check her injuries!

    The owner of Blissful Paradise knew that she was important and didn¡¯t have time to care about how Old Master Li would feel. He turned and instructed his men. ¡°Go. Hurry and do as the Second Young Master Li says!¡± He had a premonition that if anything were to happen to this girl on board the ship, he would be doomed for this life, the next life, and the rest of eternity!

    His men ran off to do as told.

    The man in white swept Xia Ling¡¯s messy hair away and gently wiped away the blood stains on her face.

    She coughed with difficulty and grimaced at the sharp pain in her lungs.

    The man on white said, ¡°Hang in there.¡± Then he reached out, intending to carry her in his arms.

    Li Lei stopped him.

    The man in white raised an eyebrow, a look of irritation appearing on his face.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise watched in horror, almost ready to ask Second Young Master Li if he was out of his mind. Didn¡¯t he know who this man in white was?! Even if he had a death wish, he shouldn¡¯t take the boat down with him!

    Li Lei shuddered at the look the man in white was giving him as well.

    Given the secrecy of Xia Ling¡¯s identity, he swallowed back the word ¡°Brother¡± that was at the tip of his tongue and said, ¡°Don¡¯t move her. She¡¯s very weak now, and moving her might worsen the injury. Wait for the stretcher.¡±

    The irritation in the man in white¡¯s eyes dissipated and he stood up straight again.

    Old Master Li looked closely at the young man again before suddenly recalling that they had met before. Many years ago, this man had gone to look for Xia Ling at the end of her concert backstage.

    Why was he always around?!

    Old Master Li said in an unfriendly tone, ¡°Who in the world are you? This is a Li Family matter and is not for you to interfere with!¡±

    Cold sweat was starting to break out on the face of the owner of Blissful Paradise. Old Master Li was really courting death at the way he was pushing the man in white. He shot several warning nces at Old Master Li, hinting for Old Master Li to leave the man in white alone and not anger him. However, Old Master Li didn¡¯t intend to back off given that the matter at hand involved his grandson.

    He red at the man in white coldly.

    The man in white replied calmly, ¡°My surname is Xia. People usually call me The Preceptor.¡±

    The Preceptor... Xia?!

    The Old Master Li thought he had heard wrong. ¡°What?!¡±

    Xia Moyan calmly looked down at him.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise piped up anxiously. ¡°Old Master Li, this is the legendary Xia family¡¯s current Preceptor Xia!¡± He was almost close to tears. What was going on here? If they were to anger The Preceptor, everyone here was going to be coteral damage.

    Old Master Li looked like he had been struck by lightning. What?! This calm and collected man in white was the Preceptor Xia that he had been looking for all these years?! No... no... ¡°Preceptor Xia... shouldn¡¯t he be an old man?!¡± He remembered clearly that he had met Preceptor Xia when he was a young man, and the Preceptor wasn¡¯t much younger than him. He should be old and crinkly by now.

    Xia Moyan replied lightly, ¡°Father is already getting on in years. He¡¯s long passed the baton to me.¡±

    Old Master Li was in shock.

    Even though he didn¡¯t want to believe it, but when he regarded this man in white closely, there was truly some resemnce to his predecessor. They had the same thin eyes that went up at the sides, thin lips, and beauty amidst a cold expression. The Old Master knew clearly that anyone that dared offend The Preceptor had a big price to pay!

    He stumbled backward.

    Looking at the way that The Preceptor was treating Xia Ling, he could tell that The Preceptor cared for this girl even if he didn¡¯t know their rtionship.

    And he had wanted her dead...

    His face turned ashen as he struggled to think of a way to turn things around.

    On the other side, Xia Ling coughed with difficulty again.

    Xia Moyan ignored Old Master Li and turned to look at his sister. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you in great pain? Hang in there a little while longer. The stretcher is almost here.¡±

    Xia Ling coughed like she was about to cough her lungs out and Xia Moyan and Li Lei looked on anxiously, fearing that she was about to cough herself apart. She caught her breath after a long while and gripped onto her brother¡¯s hand. ¡°You... you bastard! Why are you only here now?!¡± As she spoke, tears flowed down her face.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise was almost in hysterics, as were Old Master Li and all the other people around that knew of The Preceptor. Was this girl courting death?! Didn¡¯t she know who The Preceptor was? Who in this world dared to speak to The Preceptor like that?!

    Many guests turned away, not daring to look at what The Preceptor would do to her.

    They feared that The Preceptor was going to throw her into the sea to feed the sharks.

    However, The Preceptor¡¯s reaction stunned everyone. The young Preceptor didn¡¯t me Xia Ling but instead donned an expression of guilt. ¡°Sorry I¡¯mte. I¡¯ve made you suffer.¡±

    Xia Ling was still crying. ¡°Find Shaohui for me!¡±

    ¡°Shaohui is already safe.¡± Xia Moyan consoled her and carefully asked, ¡°Do you want to see him? Or should I first get the helicopter to send him home? Xiao Ling, don¡¯t get agitated. You need to care for your injuries.¡±

    Everyone watched on in shock at the timid way that Xia Moyan was speaking to Xia Ling.

    Why was he treating this injured girl so well?!

    What was their rtionship?!

    All of them started to worry for the consequences that they would face for standing aside when this girl¡¯s life was being threatened. If The Preceptor decided to pin the me on all of them, they would all be doomed!

    Many started to regret. If they knew that Xia Ling was rted to The Preceptor, they would be fighting to step forward and save her earlier! So what if they offended Old Master Li and that lunatic Li Feng? If they could leave a good impression on Preceptor Xia, offending a hundred Li Families would still be worth it!

 Chapter 768 - Remove Your Masks

    <h4>Chapter 768: Remove Your Masks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The stretcher arrived quickly.

    The two carrying the stretcher were nervous and didn¡¯t dare to lift their heads as they stood by Xia Moyan.

    Only Li Lei¡¯s expression appeared normal as he ignored his own injuries and helped Xia Moyan lift Xia Ling onto the stretcher, before protectively following her towards the ward. The people crowding around watching themotion hurriedly moved aside to create a pathway for the stretcher toe through, not daring to breathe.

    However, Xia Moyan stopped abruptly.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise was jittery as he asked, ¡°The Preceptor... what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Take off all your masks.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s cold voice rang out.

    What?!

    The guests standing around were stunned. None of them wished for their identities to be exposed as being people involved in the pervert activities on board Blissful Paradise. Their masks were like a protective shield for them, and they were all hoping that The Preceptor would not find out who they were.

    However, this wish of theirs was quashed with his statement.

    ¡°The Preceptor...¡± The owner of Blissful Paradise¡¯s expression darkened. All these guests that enjoyed the thrill ofing to Blissful Paradise werergely here on the assurance that their identities would be kept secret. How would all these wealthy people react once their identities were exposed?

    Xia Moyan remarked mildly. ¡°It¡¯s time for Blissful Paradise to close down.¡±

    This incident had made him furious, but he knew this was a part of his sister¡¯s destiny, so he couldn¡¯t interfere too much. To merely close Blissful Paradise down was already a huge pardon on his part. If the consequence was too big, it might mess with his sister¡¯s destiny. Otherwise, he was tempted to annihte every person on this boat such that they would disappear for eternity.

    These people should feel relieved that the Xia Family always taught their Preceptors to be tolerant and restrained. If Xia Moyan was a lunatic like Li Feng, the matter would not be resolved so simply.

    The owner of Blissful Paradise¡¯s face turned white as he thought to himself, <i>Oh no...</i>

    He was regretting having epted Old Master Li¡¯s request to bring that problematic kid on board the ship. Not only did this bring Li Lei and Xia Ling to the ship to save the child, but it also gained the attention and fury of The Preceptor. When The Preceptor came to him, he knew that his good days were over.

    ¡°Yes...¡± Cold sweat was forming on his brows as he replied respectfully, ¡°Blissful Paradise will be closed effective immediately. All members will be stripped of their membership, and there will not be another simr organization in this world ever again.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was unreadable as his gaze swept across the guests that were still wearing their masks.

    Seeing that the owner of Blissful Paradise had caved, many guests reluctantly removed their masks, revealing the faces of many influential gentlemen. Away from this ce, many were in positions to effect changes that could affect the world. Yet, now they didn¡¯t have the mood to look at each other and were just anxiously regarding Xia Moyan, praying that this powerful man would let them off.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice rang out again like a cool breeze blowing across the ce. ¡°Those who removed their masks can leave, but don¡¯t ever think ofing to the Xia Family for help in three generations.¡± As he spoke, he turned to a man with greasy hair and said, ¡°Johnny, go tell your first uncle that his meeting with me three dayster is canceled.¡±

    The man named Johnny stood stunned as he recalled that his first uncle had managed to enlist the help of Preceptor Xia with much difficulty. The date of their meeting had been set for three dayster and the whole family had been preparing for Preceptor Xia¡¯s arrival. The entire premises had been newly renovated, and the ingredients and utensils for the banquet carefully selected, fearing that anything would not be to Preceptor Xia¡¯s tastes.

    If he were to let his first uncle know that the meeting had been canceled and that the family was not to look for The Preceptor for help for three whole generations, his first uncle... no... his entire family would hate his guts. He would be the ck sheep of the entire family.

    ¡°Preceptor Xia!¡± He knelt down with a loud ¡°thump¡±. ¡°Please, I beg of you, don¡¯t cancel the meeting!¡±

    Xia Moyan ignored him.

    Seeing that begging had no effect on The Preceptor, Johnny turned towards the weak Xia Ling on the stretcher. ¡°Miss Ye, you¡¯re beautiful and kind, please help put in a good word for me with The Preceptor...¡± He could tell that The Preceptor thought highly of this girl, and if she pleaded on his behalf, perhaps The Preceptor would listen.

    Yet, before Xia Ling could say anything, Xia Moyan huffed in disdain. ¡°You dare disturb Xia Ling at this juncture, Johnny. That¡¯s adding fuel to the fire. Your family can forget about ever seeking help from the Xia Family.¡±

    Johnny¡¯s face was ashen as he crumpled dejectedly to the ground.

    He didn¡¯t dare beg Xia Moyan anymore, fearing the consequence on further incurring his wrath. Perhaps next time it wouldn¡¯t be so simple as not helping his family anymore, but rather to met out severe punishment. That would then truly be a disaster beyond proportions! He was really regretting appearing on this ship.

    Seeing Johnny resigned to his fate, several other guests removed their masks as well.

    Even though they were wealthy gentlemen, they weren¡¯t in the echelons that had heard of the mysterious Xia family. They hadn¡¯t bothered about Xia Moyan¡¯s threats. However, seeing the powerful senator Johnny falling to his knees in fear, all of them realized the severity of the problem and hurriedly followed in removing their masks.

    There were only a few left still wearing their masks.

    Those with their masks on had never heard of the Xia family and didn¡¯t realize what deep trouble they were in. They didn¡¯t give Xia Moyan¡¯s words much thought, thinking that they were powerful enough to deal with him.

    Xia Moyan looked down gently at Xia Ling, grimacing slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to begin a killing spree.¡± Killing someone would be bad karma for his sister and make her life more difficult than it already was.

    One of the men still wearing his mask gave a coldugh. ¡°You? Kill me? Dream on!¡±

    Xia Moyan continued speaking to Xia Ling listlessly, as if not hearing the man¡¯s outburst. ¡°But they didn¡¯t lend a helping hand to you even though you were in such a dangerous position. They are also testing the power of the Xia Family.¡± He ran a long slender finger gently across his sister¡¯s face and concluded in a low voice. ¡°Thankfully, there¡¯s someone to help share your burden. So...¡±

    He turned and shot a nce at Li Lei.

    Li Lei instructed the few remaining warriors standing by Old Master Li. ¡°Go remove the masks off those people that refused to do so. Then, throw them into the sea.¡± Removing their masks was so that they could identify them, so that Xia Moyan could reject all future requests from their families for help. Throwing them into the sea was giving them a taste of their own medicine. Since they were mere bystanders when Xia Ling was in trouble, then the whole ship could watch as they were thrown overboard.

    They were in the open seas, and there was no other ship in the near vicinity. Being thrown overboard was a death sentence.

    This was the consequence of offending the Phoenix.

    The warriors nced at each other before looking to Old Master Li for direction.

    Old Master Li reluctantly instructed. ¡°Do as the Second Young Master says.¡± He was old but not ignorant. He could tell that he had offended Preceptor Xia through and through. The only way to save matters was to count on his grandson.

    Hence, the brawny warriors did as they were told and threw the individuals overboard.

    Hearing the cries of help as they were thrown into the deep seas, the remaining guests on board felt relieved that they had chosen toply with removing their masks. Otherwise, they would be met with the same sad fate

 Chapter 769 - Their Love

    <h4>Chapter 769: Their Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The Preceptor was truly someone not to be trifled with.

    Now, The Preceptor ignored everything that was happening around him and focused entirely on Xia Ling. He followed the stretcher into the ward.

    No one dared dy the provision of treatment to Xia Ling after witnessing all that had happened.

    The doctors on board the ship were already waiting in the ward and administered treatment immediately.

    As they injected her with anesthesia, Xia Ling drifted off under the bright lights of the surgical room. When she woke up, she found herself lying on afortable bed in a wide room with the curtains drawn and a subtle natural fruit fragrance.

    She moved a little and let out a groan.

    A man sitting by the bed put the book in his hands down. His voice was clear as he asked, ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    Xia Ling looked over at him and realized that it was Xia Moyan. He was still wearing a white robe, and the blinds in the window cast a light shadow on his body. She wanted to greet him, but her throat felt like it was burning with pain and she couldn¡¯t make a sound.

    Xia Moyan poured her a ss of water and raised the bed so that she could drinkfortably.

    He wasn¡¯t particrly good at caring for patients, thus causing a stream of water to trickle down her neck onto the blue-striped patient uniform she was wearing.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    He stopped feeding her the water.

    Little Shaohui materialized beside him, calling out to Xia Ling. ¡°Mama, mama!¡±

    Seeing that the child that she was so worried about was safe and sound, Xia Ling felt the huge stone in her heart get lifted. Despite having just woken up and still being weak, her mind was nowpletely focused on Shaohui. ¡°How are you? Are you hurt? Did those bad people bully you?¡±

    She was really afraid that the messed up environment of Blissful Paradise had left an indelible scar on Shaohui.

    Hearing her words of concern, Shaohui was quiet for a moment before he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m alright, mama. Don¡¯t worry. Those bad people only whipped me a little when they caught me, before locking me up in that isted cell. They sent me food every day, but otherwise, no one bothered about me.¡±

    Was it truly as simple as he described?

    The owner of Blissful Paradise had wanted to just lock him up since the agreement with Old Master Li was to keep him here for a little while. However, Li Feng came aboard the shipter on and showed great interest in Shaohui. If Li Lei hadn¡¯t been on board as well to save Shaohui, he would probably have already been taken hostage by Li Feng.

    Shaohui suffered a great deal as well.

    But he knew not to say these in front of his mother.

    He was afraid that she would worry.

    Xia Moyan was clearly aware of all that Shaohui had been through but didn¡¯t reveal any of it as well. He merely said, ¡°The child will be fine.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Thank you foring, Brother.¡± If not for Xia Moyan, she knew that the three of them might not have survived the ordeal. After being forced into the corner on the deck of the ship, she had mentally prepared herself for the worst.

    Xia Moyan responded nonchntly, ¡°We¡¯re family. What¡¯s there to thank?¡±

    As he spoke, his expression turned mildly irritated. ¡°What lousy sycamore did you find? He¡¯s so useless! Why is it that I had to interfere and help him out for this small matter?¡± To be fair, it wasn¡¯t a small matter at all since it was a matter of life and death, and Li Lei had already done very well.

    Yet, Xia Moyan was not satisfied.

    The best result was that Li Lei was able to protect Xiao Ling himself and save Xiao Ling.

    However, he had failed and Xiao Ling had to call Xia Moyan for help. When Xia Moyan received the phone call, he hesitated, wondering if he should step in. He had calcted that there was a 70% chance that Li Lei would be able to pull through himself, and if he did, their lives would be smooth-sailing thereafter.

    But there was still a 30% chance of death.

    Xia Moyan was unsure and nervous about the situation, and that was when he received his sister¡¯s call for help.

    Hearing her tearful and helpless voice, Xia Moyan¡¯s rationality flew out of the window. He didn¡¯t care about the probabilities or remaining calm anymore and headed straight to the ship.

    When he arrived at the scene, he saw that Li Lei had a good chance of holding the fort.

    However, Xia Moyan had already interfered and it was destined to be an imperfect ending.

    Xia Moyan didn¡¯t me himself for being a busybody. Instead, he med that sycamore for being too weak, such that he and his sister couldn¡¯t put their full confidence in him. Yes, it was all Li Lei¡¯s fault! Xia Moyan felt that his logic was infallible and that Li Lei deserved to shoulder all the me.

    Poor Big Boss Li didn¡¯t realize that he had again unknowingly incurred the wrath of his brother-inw.

    Xia Ling spoke up in Li Lei¡¯s defense. ¡°He¡¯s already tried his best.¡±

    Xia Moyan gave a coldugh.

    Little Shaohui was sitting on the bed and looking first at his uncle, then at his mother. He contemted for a long time before deciding to also speak up in his father¡¯s defense. ¡°Thankfully daddy came to save me. Otherwise, the bad people were going to hit me again.¡±

    After hearing Shaohui¡¯s words, Xia Ling felt pain shoot through her heart. She pulled Shaohui into her arms.

    Xia Moyan felt that they were being ridiculous. He said decisively, ¡°I¡¯m taking the both of you back to the Xia Family with me. What daddy? What great-grandfather? Do they deserve those titles?¡±

    ¡°Go back to the Xia Family?¡± Xia Ling had never truly been back home, and couldn¡¯t help feeling excited at the idea of meeting her birth parents.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Yes, we should go back to the Xia Family now. Then, that Old Man won¡¯t ever get to see his great-grandson again and can forget about having a granddaughter-inw.¡±

    So this was her brother¡¯s true objective.

    Xia Ling pushed aside her excitement of going home and said, ¡°I¡¯m not going back.¡±

    To save Shaohui and protect her, Li Lei had chosen to act as her ve. Later on, when she was in danger, he had risked his life to save her.

    Xia Ling had thought that she wouldn¡¯t be able to survive the ordeal and was regretting not being able to spend more time loving him when she could. They had wasted so many years because she was afraid to ept his love and had pushed him away. She had vowed in her heart that if she survived, she would never let him go again.

    She lifted her determined gaze to look at her brother.

    <i>Crap, she¡¯s truly turned rebellious.</i>

    Xia Moyan was getting agitated, and his usually calm demeanor was broken by a tinge of unhappiness. ¡°What¡¯s so good about him?¡±

    Xia Ling gently ran her hand over Shaohui¡¯s soft hair. Hmmm... what exactly was so good about Li Lei? Even though he had money and power, he wasn¡¯t the richest or most powerful person she had ever met. Even though he was handsome, he wasn¡¯t the best looking person she knew. And his temper? It wasn¡¯t as if he hadn¡¯t hurt her before...

    So why did she love him so much?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Xia Ling shook her head and replied softly. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because every time I¡¯m in danger, the person I think of and appears by my side is always him.¡±

    Xia Moyan burst out in anger. ¡°But when you were in danger this time you called me!¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°That was because he was in danger.¡± She gave a bitter smile. ¡°Brother, do you know? In my two lifetimes, I¡¯ve called for help just twice. Both times... it was for him.¡±

 Chapter 770 - Not a Dream

    <h4>Chapter 770: Not a Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was willing to do anything for him.

    Perhaps there wouldn¡¯t be another man that she would be so willing to do anything for.

    This was destiny.

    Xia Moyan controlled his urge to tear that irritating sycamore to pieces. Every possible way of killing a person shed through his mind, and he had to chant silently to himself to calm down.

    ¡°You¡¯re really not going back with me?¡± His tone of voice was menacing.

    Xia Ling still replied stubbornly, ¡°No.¡±

    Xia Moyan warned. ¡°If you ever face any more problems, don¡¯t even think ofing to me.¡±

    Many sought help from The Preceptor, and she only needed to say a word and he woulde. So many would give all their riches to be able to call him at will, but Xia Ling was not moved.

    She gritted her teeth and looked at her brother in the eye. ¡°Okay.¡±

    It was not that she didn¡¯t realize what she was losing, but that she understood that there were some things more precious to her. That was Li Lei¡ªher one true love.

    Xia Moyan was ovee with anger. ¡°Good... very good... I hope you will never live to regret this.¡±

    She responded softly, ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±

    Xia Moyan got up and walked towards the door.

    Little Shaohui, who was watching anxiously from the side, knew that his uncle was truly angry. Oh no... what was he to do? Mummy was really cool to reject his arrogant uncle like that...

    Little Shaohui gave a silent thumbs up to his mother.

    While he was still wondering how to rectify the situation, he saw his uncle return from outside the room and regard his mother with a dark expression. ¡°Remember to look for me if you are in danger again in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling was mildly taken aback beforeughing. ¡°Okay, brother.¡±

    She understood the depth of her brother¡¯s love for her. How could he bear to leave her in the lurch when she was in danger?

    Xia Moyan gave a cold huff and grabbed Shaohui on his way out again. ¡°Don¡¯t disturb your mother from her rest.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s body was weak and she needed to recuperate.

    The pair of them left the room.

    The ward quietened down and the natural fruit fragrance became more apparent.

    Xia Lingy on the bed staring at the little angel prints on the ceiling in a daze, recounting the happenings over the past few days. She hadn¡¯t thought that she would meet Li Feng and Old Master Li on the ship. After all that animosity, how were they to act the next time they came face-to-face?

    She was going to be together with Li Lei and they would be her rtives.

    This was truly aplicated and messy situation.

    A rustle from outside the window broke through her thoughts. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± She asked in full alert.

    There was the rustling of leaves outside the window again before someone jumped through it. It was an agile young man with the toned limbs of a lion. His tan skin seemed to shine under the sunlight that came through the blinds. He was so attractive that she could hardly tear her eyes away.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She called out to him.

    Li Lei walked over to the bed and lowered his gaze to look her over. ¡°Xiao Ling, the doctor said that the surgery was a great sess and you¡¯ll recover fully after a good rest. How do you feel?¡±

    She nodded and asked, ¡°Why did you enter through the window?¡±

    Li Lei gave a bitter smile. ¡°Your brother is barring me from entering the room.¡±

    Xia Ling returned his grimace. Just how much did her brother hate Li Lei?

    She said softly, ¡°I just had a quarrel with my brother. He wants me to leave you.¡±

    ¡°And you rejected him?¡± Even though he had an inkling of the conclusion from her words, Li Lei was still nervous to hear the answer to his question.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I told you that you are not to have another wife.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°So...¡± She continued. ¡°I¡¯ll take responsibility for you.¡±

    Li Lei blinked nkly as the words sunk in. Then he broke into a huge smile. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He said tedly. ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯ll be my wife?¡±

    She cocked her head to the side. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Before she finished her question, Li Lei had already pulled her into his arms. ¡°That¡¯s awesome! I have a wife now... I have a wife now!¡± He was overjoyed and kept kissing her cheeks.

    Her wound hurt under his tight bear hug, but the pain she felt made everything feel real. It was truly the best feeling in the world to be together with this man. Why didn¡¯t she ever feel like marrying him before? To love one another and grow old together, and to seal that promise in marriage.

    They embraced for a while longer.

    Li Lei thought that he was dreaming. ¡°Pinch me once.¡±

    Xia Ling gave him a hard pinch.

    Li Lei yelped in pain. ¡°Did you really have to pinch so hard?¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes. ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me to pinch you? Do you still think you¡¯re dreaming now that I¡¯ve agreed to marry you? Do you want me to pinch you awake from this wondrous dream?¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± Li Lei hurriedly eximed. ¡°Let¡¯s go to register our marriage once we go back. We need to invite all of our friends and rtives! We need to tell the world that we are getting married!¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t nod this time. ¡°What are we going to do with your grandfather, your brother, and my brother?¡±

    Their families were all against them being together. Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to go through with a wedding without their blessing.

    Li Lei calmed down and thought about her question, before saying, ¡°Your brother broke four of my brother¡¯s ribs to help you get back at him.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t expect Xia Moyan to be so vicious. She said, ¡°Sorry, my brother just loves me too much. He...¡± She wanted to say something to apologize on Xia Moyan¡¯s behalf as his actions weren¡¯t particrly friendly towards people that were about to be rtives.

    But she couldn¡¯t think of a reason to apologize.

    Perhaps subconsciously, she thought that her brother had done the right thing.

    It was instead Li Lei who consoled her. ¡°I know what kind of person my brother is. He should have a taste of his own medicine; otherwise, he will get too out of hand. However...¡±

    He frowned.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Your brother hit my brother and locked him up in a cage. But somehow my brother managed to escape. We¡¯re on open waters... I have no idea where he managed to escape to.¡± Li Lei had mixed feelings about this. Should he be angry because the criminal had run away? Or should he be happy because his brother had managed to escape?

    After all, Li Feng was in a precarious position at the hands of the powerful Preceptor.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Then, what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent men to look for him.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°There needs to be some closure between my brother and me.¡± They had been at loggerheads their entire life. When Li Lei was alone that wasn¡¯t too much of an issue, but now he had Xia Ling and little Shaohui. He wouldn¡¯t allow anyone, not even his own brother, to harm them.

    Li Lei had thought through the matter carefully. ¡°After I¡¯ve found my brother, I¡¯ll have a good chat with him. If he still ns to act like a lunatic, then I¡¯ll lock him up forever.¡± With Li Feng¡¯s crimes, a life sentence was already letting him off easy. He should be killed a hundred times over.

    But, he was still Li Lei¡¯s brother. Blood was thicker than water.

    Li Lei could only bring himself to give him a life sentence.

    But first, he had to capture him.

 Chapter 771 - Serving Tea as an Apology

    <h4>Chapter 771: Serving Tea as an Apology</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling sighed softly. In some situations, hate and love were intertwined.

    Li Lei half knelt and held her hand beside the hospital bed. Looking at her with deep and quiet eyes, he asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you think I was not vicious enough?¡±

    She felt warmth in her heart as she shook her head.

    She reached out and touched his soft short hair. ¡°I just like it when you¡¯re silly.¡±

    This man she loved had principles and a bottom line. Even if he were provoked to the extreme, he would not do anything horrible or vicious. That was why she felt safe and could depend on him.

    Thus, he smiled softly. ¡°You¡¯re the silly one.¡±

    She touched his short hair again. ¡°Yes. I was too silly, that¡¯s why I fell for you.¡±

    The two of them looked at each other gently and smiled.

    Days spent on the cruise ship were as peaceful as water. Xia Lingid on a luxurious andfortable ward to recuperate. The room had floor-to-ceiling windows and the sea seemed to sparkle under the pale golden sun.

    She recovered very quickly. She did not know what medicine the doctors prescribed her, but soon, she could get out of bed and walk by herself. While she was walking in half circles on the deck and wearing a loose robe, Xia Moyan found her. ¡°I will go back to the mountains now. Are you really noting with me?¡±

    She looked up at her brother. ¡°Please send my regards to mom and dad for me.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was unkind. It was said that married daughters were like water that was poured out. However, she was not even married yet. Why was she so insistent on being with that broken piece of wood?

    It was time for him to teach that broken piece of wood a lesson...

    Li Lei¡¯s future brother-inw had a worse impression of him now. Poor Li Lei!

    Xia Moyan left by himself. Before he left, the owner of Blissful Paradise gave him the entire cruise ship as a gift. And in front of everyone, he gave it to Xia Ling without thinking twice.

    Everyone was unable to remain calm anymore. What exactly was the rtionship between this girl and Xia Moyan?

    However, no matter how they asked, they couldn¡¯t get a response from her.

    This group of people started to take care of Xia Ling extremely well for the fear that they treated the girl that The Preceptor cherished too poorly at the start. This made Li Lei very at ease as he was able to spend most of his time with Shaohui.

    This time, after being in Blissful Paradise, Shaohui witnessed too much darkness and was beaten cruelly by others. These left a deep scar in the child¡¯s young mind and he did not dare to turn off the light every night when he went to bed. He usually screamed and was awoken by nightmares in the middle of the night.

    However, he was a sensible child and did not tell this to Xia Ling.

    He only pulled on the corner of Li Lei¡¯s shirt and said, ¡°Dad, I¡¯m scared.¡± In his small mind, his mom had already withstood enough pain and was so weak that she could not bear any more burdens. As for his father, he was a strong and reliable man.

    Li Lei gentlyforted the child. Every night, he would remain by his child¡¯s side and sleep with him.

    Even in the day, he would y with him to distract him from the shadow of captive experience.

    Xia Ling did not know what he was busy with and thought that he still had not recovered from his injuries when he confronted Li Feng, so she did not bother him. The cruise was slowly moving towards the shoreline. When she was free, she would make a pot of tea, sit on the deck, enjoy the sea breeze, and write some songs. asionally, seagulls wouldnd on the fence.

    On this day, she ate lunch as usual and sat on the deck.

    Suddenly, she heard footsteps.

    She looked up and saw Old Master Li.

    Ever since that day Xia Moyan saved her, Old Master Li was nowhere to be seen and Xia Ling almost forgot that this person was on board. Now, seeing Old Master Li walk over, she folded the score in her hand.

    ¡°Is there something?¡± Her voice was clear, but she vaguely resembled Xia Moyan. This was a kind of indifference from the Xia Family when they were facing insignificant creatures.

    Due to Shaohui¡¯s incident, unconsciously, she started to treat Old Master as an outsider.

    She stopped calling him ¡°grandpa¡± as she did in the beginning.

    Old Master was wearing a navy tunic and holding a finely crafted agarwood walking stick in his hand. Someone followed behind him with a tray with a cup of tea on it.

    They walked in front of Xia Ling and stood still.

    Old Master took the tea, lightly leaned forward, and ced it in front of her hand.

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was directed to the beautiful azure porcin and the wrinkled hands and face of Old Master Li. She did not say a word and remained cold.

    Old Master Li started to change his impression of this girl. In the past, why did he not realize that this girl could remain calm with poise? ¡°Miss Ye.¡± Since she was not speaking, he spoke first and firmly. Although he had a humble posture, he was as sturdy as a massive rock. ¡°I¡¯m here to apologize to you with this cup of tea. It¡¯s my fault for being ignorant and not knowing that you are close to The Preceptor. I have offended you many times. Please forgive me.¡±

    Xia Ling only stared at him coldly and did not ept his cup of tea.

    On the deck, this was a somewhat strange scene. As the old man bent down, his white hair scattered in the sea breeze, the young girl whoseplexion was as pink as cherry blossoms remained cold and proud.

    Old Master Li started to feel angry. He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m serving you tea.¡± As he had been an Old Master for arge part of his life, he had his head high up in the air and, when he spoke to Xia Ling, he was rather arrogant as if it was her honor to receive his apology.

    Thus, Xia Ling smiled faintly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need a cup of tea.¡± She turned around and looked at the sea. ¡°After causing my child so much harm, don¡¯t you think that a cup of tea is not enough?¡± Some things could be forgiven, but not this. She did not dare to imagine what would happen to her child if she did not rescue him. At the least, his life would be controlled by others forever. If it were more serious...

    Remembering the scene on Blissful Paradise, her heart felt like it was being pierced by needles.

    Old Master Li did not have a deep understanding of her. For the most part, he relied on reports that Su Tang and his other subordinates. In their reports, they said that this girl was idiotic, impulsive, and weak. She was somewhat like that Miss Gu who was thrown into jail and only knew how to cry and depend on men when she needed help. By herself, she was incapable.

    Now, after offending her, he realized how wrong his intelligence team was.

    He couldn¡¯t help but squint his eyes and re-evaluate her again in silence. This girl looked petite and small. She was like a quietly blooming flower. At first nce, she was not eye-catching and did not seem intimidating, as if she could be destroyed with the touch of a finger.

    However, what was the reality?

    How many people could give the cold shoulder to the Li Family which had been in the triad for generations, ruthlessly killed many people, and was able to impact the world with a small action?

 Chapter 772 - Pei Ziheng Did It

    <h4>Chapter 772: Pei Ziheng Did It</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was indifferent and carefree.

    It was not because she was overwhelmed after he tried to tter her or because she was conceited as she had The Preceptor¡¯s support. In fact, she did not even show that she was angry that her child was kidnapped. Where exactly did this temperamente from?

    What a pity...

    If her background was better, she would be eligible to marry into the Li Family.

    Thinking about this, Old Master Li looked at Xia Ling. ¡°Since I¡¯m sincerely apologizing, I will naturally do my best to satisfy you. Miss Ye, just tell me what you want.¡±

    Xia Ling continued to look at the sea. ¡°I want to go back in time and prevent Shaohui from being kidnapped.¡± After that, she turned around at smiled at Old Master Li. ¡°You can¡¯t do that, right?¡±

    Old Master Li said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid even The Preceptor can¡¯t do this.¡±

    Xia Ling stood up and looked far away. ¡°Old Master, you know what I want.¡± She wanted to be with Li Lei, epted into and live harmoniously with the family.

    However, Old Master was unwilling to do so.

    Sure enough, the old man frowned and lowered his voice. ¡°Miss Ye, it seems that you¡¯re asking for too much. Instead of asking me this, how about you ask The Preceptor to eliminate your disaster curse. When that happens, the Li Family will let you marry into the family as you wish.¡±

    On the deck, the young girl paused in her footsteps and turned around. ¡°Oh, really?¡±

    She continued to walk forward.

    She wanted to spend her life with her beloved man, but she was not begging to marry into the Li Family. It would be best if she could get the Li Family¡¯s eptance and blessing, but if that wasn¡¯t possible, she would not insist on it. In the worst case scenario, she would just not have a marriage ceremony with Li Lei and not marry into the Li Family. As for the Li Family, they would never know what they lost.

    The honor of a phoenix marrying into their family.

    In exchange for her the tough life, she would bring blessings to the family she married into.

    This was the true essence of the phoenix¡¯s fate. After nirvana and many disasters, there would be longsting blessings. Any family that benefitted from it would have peace and wealth for generations. Thus, her brother always warned her not to easily marry into any family. If the Li Family refused to acknowledge her and did not have the courage to bear her disasters, naturally, they did not deserve to have her bless them for future generations. If she married into the family by force, the Li Family would only receive ill luck.

    When the Phoenix perched on a Chinese parasol tree...

    The tree had to be able to withstand its weight.

    She walked forward step by step. She appeared elegant and dignified, as if she should not be vited. Old Master Li was rather lost. Who exactly was this girl?

    ¡°You...¡± He finally couldn¡¯t resist and asked, ¡°How are you rted to The Preceptor?¡±

    Xia Ling paused, turned around, and smiled again. ¡°If I said that The Preceptor met me due to luck, promised to help me once, and there¡¯s no other rtionship, will you be very disappointed Old Master?¡±

    She was obviously mocking him. Old Master¡¯s face darkened.

    This girl was really not giving him face!

    It turned out that she did not have any deep rtionship with Preceptor Xia and was borrowing someone else¡¯s influence to throw her weight around!

    Old Master clutched the teapot in his hand tighter and almost crushed it. At the side, his subordinate looked worried and carefully said, ¡°Old Master, don¡¯t be angry over such an insensible little girl. It¡¯s not worth it.¡±

    Old Master Li thought so as well. He restrained his anger and calmed down.

    Since Xia Ling had nothing to do with The Preceptor, Old Master Li had no intention of remaining on the cruise. Before he left, he called his grandson over. ¡°Li Lei, I will never allow her to marry into the family. You know it well.¡±

    ¡°In this life, Xiao Ling will be my only wife.¡± The young and handsome man red at his grandpa fearlessly. ¡°No matter what you do, you will never break us apart. I have also something to ask you. How exactly did you to think of bringing Shaohui to this ce? Was it Pei Ziheng?¡±

    He was not stupid and suspected for years that his grandpa was colluding with Pei Ziheng in secret, but he was never able to find any conclusive evidence. However, this time, it was too suspicious. Why would ordinary people ce a child in a ve and Master club? Only Pei Ziheng would know about Xiao Ling¡¯s worst fears and horrific past and decide on such a deliberate move.

    Sure enough, Old Master Li squinted his eyes and smiled sarcastically. ¡°Have you only realized it now? Yes, I have colluded with Pei Ziheng a long time ago. That man spends more effort on Ye Xingling than you. They are predestined to be together, so don¡¯t get between them.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa!¡± Li Lei almost couldn¡¯t restrain his anger.

    Old Master sneered and walked away.

    Behind the screen of the luxurious room, a girl who wearing light silk robes walked out quietly and looked as Old Master walked away with a pale expression. ¡°It¡¯s actually him...¡± She mumbled. ¡°I thought that after so many years, everyone could finally get along. It turns out that he was just faking it in front of me...¡±

    She clenched her pale fingers into fists.

    Even if fate separated old lovers, in their memories, their most beautiful time together was ever present like a dream.

    However, what about her past lover?

    He was like a bloody thorn.

    She lowered her eyes so the others could not see her expression.

    Li Lei stepped forward and gently hugged her thin body. ¡± Xiao Ling, the past is in the past. Stay away from that man in the future. He¡¯s too dangerous.¡±

    She was silent for a long time.

    Finally, the cruise arrived on the coast. When she lifted her skirt and someone was trying to help her off the ship, she turned around and said to him, ¡°A few dayster, Shaohui¡¯s identity will be announced to the public. Change the news a little.¡±

    As if he already expected her to say this, Li Lei was not surprised. ¡°Ok.¡±

    In his heart, he silently lit a candle for Pei Ziheng. He couldn¡¯ help but feel a little happy. This was the result of not giving up. At the start, Xiao Ling still thought of that man positively. But now, everything was ruined by him.

    He thanked his rival.

    Li Lei smiled wider.

    Xia Ling brought Shaohui home. After they settled in, she went straight to the vi next door to look for Pei Ziheng.

    Nanny Zhou, the Pei Family¡¯s subordinate, opened the door. When she saw her, she was very surprised. ¡°Miss Ye, what brings you here today? Quicklye in. Mister is in the study. I will call him down immediately.¡± Mister already informed her that no matter when Miss Ye visited, she had to inform her immediately.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°No need. I will go look for him myself.¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°That¡¯s also ok.¡± Although mister did not like people disturbing him when he was in the study, he made an exception for Miss Ye, and she always had special privileges.

    Xia Ling went upstairs. It was a familiar path. When she walked to the study room at the end of the walkway, she pushed the door open. Inside, a tall man was sitting behind a spacious rosewood desk and dealing with mountains of official documents. His facial features were as cold and profound as ever. In the dim light, he was slightly frowning and his wrinkles were clearly carved on his face.

    After hearing some noise, he raised his head and softened his expression. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

 Chapter 773 - Vindictive Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 773: Vindictive Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling walked towards Pei Ziheng step by step and stopped in front of him.

    Separated by his desk, she stared at him coldly, like this was the first time they were meeting. She looked very distant from him. Pei Ziheng did not notice it. He got up and walked around the desk in her direction. ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Suddenly, she raised her hand and pped him harshly.

    The crisp sound echoed in the study. Nanny Zhou, who was at the door, was shocked. Oh god! She had never seen anyone dare to treat Mister like that before! Nanny Zhou was worried and wanted to move forward to stop the fight, but after looking at the two people again, she retracted her footsteps. Mister did not like people interfering in his business with Miss Ye.

    Nanny Zhou hesitated. She did not dare to look at the clear fingerprints on Mister¡¯s face, so she left.

    In the study, Pei Ziheng touched his face and stared at Xia Ling with abyss-like eyes. His voice was low and hoarse. ¡°Why are you so angry? This p is really painful.¡±

    Until now, he was still pretending to be learned and refined.

    Xia Ling remembered how he had lied to her countless times in the two lifetimes she had lived. That was why Shaohui was kidnapped to such a dangerous ce. She could forgive many things, but she was calctive when her child was involved. She wanted her child to grow up happily and peacefully. Any small amount of harm was not tolerated.

    ¡°We are done.¡± She spat out these three words and left.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed hold of her fiercely and pulled into his arms. ¡°What happened to you this time?¡± With teeth gritted, his voice was terrifying. ¡°You rushed in to p me and now you¡¯re leaving? What exactly have I done wrong?¡±

    She lifted her head and red at the man who was much taller than her. Her eyes looked like they could spit out fire. ¡°How dare you treat my child like that! Pei Ziheng, I will never forgive you!¡±

    He finally realized that he was exposed.

    After colluding with Old Master Li for so long, he never imagined that he would be sold out so thoroughly. Yes, he was the one who came up with the idea of kidnapping Shaohui to the ve and Master cruise ship. He knew what had to be done to make Xia Ling copse, so he could threaten her and force her to break up with Li Leipletely.

    However, he still failed.

    It was fine that he failed because he could think of other ns as long as Xia Ling did not find out that he was involved. At once, Pei Ziheng thought of another n. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to admit it?¡± Xia Ling was like a lioness. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I never hoped for you to admit it. I¡¯m just here to tell you¡ªwe¡¯re done!¡±

    She said those words again, she viciously shook his hand off and made to leave again.

    Seeing the unprecedented resoluteness in her smoldering eyes, he almost went crazy looking at the indifference he saw in them. He had a hunch that this time, he would really lose her. Pei Ziheng grabbed her and pressed her on the table with the thick kraft paper envelopes on the desk. Ignoring her resistance, he viciously kissed her and almost violently stripped her clothes off.

    She widened her eyes in shock and fought back even more ferociously. She kicked around wildly but was unable to hurt the man in front of her at all. Pei Ziheng forced her to lie on the table, toppling the stack of papers to the ground and scattering them everywhere on the carpet.

    As she was pressed down in the cramped space, the purple bruises that appeared on her snow white skin from resisting were shocking. Her hair was messy, her clothes were almost torn, and the man¡¯s tall figure entrapped her. She could already feel his body heat above her thin clothes.

    <i>Crazy...</i>

    <i>This man is insane...</i>

    Xia Ling panicked and finally realized that she was too impulsive to have stormed into this demon-like man¡¯s study. Perhaps he did not hurt her body too much because she forgot how scary he was when he was angry. She kicked him helplessly. ¡°Let go of me!¡±

    With an iron grip, he held her jaw. ¡°I initially wanted to talk to you slowly. You forced me to do this.¡± Since he was unable to make her willingly go back to his side, he would make her suffer and be unable to escape forever.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes turned red and he looked ferocious.

    Xia Ling was really frightened. Seeing that he was about to tear her thin clothes, she suddenly racked her brains and yelled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that my brother is The Preceptor! He will never let you off!¡±

    This made Pei Ziheng stop.

    The Preceptor.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes darkened. This time, he had a murderous look that made people shiver. In addition to Li Lei, the person he hated the most was Preceptor Xia Moyan. If it weren¡¯t for Xia Moyan, Xiao Ling would be trapped by him forever after that paragliding incident. How could so much have happened after that?

    Unfortunately, Xia Moyan gambled with the survival of his entire family and forced him to give up Xiao Ling.

    Now, was he going to do that again?

    Pei Ziheng wished he could immediately look for Preceptor Xia and use the world¡¯s most cruel punishment to tear him to pieces. s, he could not. No family in the world couldpete with the supreme Xia Family. No matter how many grievances he had, he could only endure them. Slowly, he let go of Xia Ling.

    After regaining her freedom, Xia Ling covered her almost torn clothes and ran out.

    She swore to never return to this pervert¡¯s house again. It was too dangerous. Without looking back, she down the corridor. However, before she could get far, her arm was grabbed again forcefully.

    Before she could react, Pei Ziheng already pressed her firmly against the wall and kissed her ferociously again. This was a long and aggressive kiss. He did not hold back and was as violent as a beast. He hit her tongue and lips as if he was going to swallow her alive.

    ¡°Xia Ling.¡± After a long time, when she was almost out of breath, he finally let her go. ¡°You are mine. In this life, in your next life, and in the next. I will never let you go.¡±

    She trembled. She had no time to care about what he said and stumbled out of his vi.

    The vi door was wide open behind her like a bottomless ck hole.

    She ran back into her vi and ignored the servants¡¯ strange looks. She ran to the second-floor bedroom, closed the door and hugged herself. Pei Ziheng was crazy... Even her brother¡¯s name could not scare him. She really did not know what else he would do next.

    No, she had to quickly announce Shaohui¡¯s identity to protect her child from harm.

    Shaking, she dialed a number on her phone. ¡°Li Lei, how is the preparation for the banquet for Shaohui? Invite all the celebrities and media representatives. I must let everyone know how much we value him so that everyone will think twice before hurting him!¡±

 Chapter 774 - A Fight in Evening Dresses

    <h4>Chapter 774: A Fight in Evening Dresses</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few dayster.

    In the evening, Li Lei sent his bodyguard Ah Nuo to deliver some things to Xia Ling.

    She took them and opened the biggest gift box. She opened the exquisite kraft paper and took off the velvet and ribbonyers to reveal a light-colored long dress lying quietly inside. It was a formal dress made by a famous designer she did not know. With a smoky color, it was soft and elegant. Dotted with glittering diamonds, it had a mesmerizing charm.

    There were also jewelry and high heels that matched the outfit.

    Xia Ling looked at Ah Nuo. ¡°What is this for?¡±

    Ah Nuo lowered his head respectfully and answered, ¡°This is the outfit that Young Master specially chose for you to wear during the banquet. There¡¯s also one for Young Master Shaohui.¡± Since Su Tang and Tan Ying passively resisted his orders and gave trouble to Xia Ling, Li Lei stopped letting them handle affairs regarding her. Now, only his loyal bodyguard was responsible for affairs regarding Xiao Ling.

    Ah Nuo and Xia Ling had known each other for years.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t afford it.¡± She was no longer the little girl who just debuted from Skyart Entertainment training camp in order to repay millions of yuan of debt. Now, she had a worth of hundreds of millions and had the behemoth Xia Family to protect her. Why would she need a man to send her these things?

    However, Ah Nuo said, ¡°Young Master was just thinking of you.¡±

    She blinked and stroked the soft cloud-like material with her white fingers. It was obvious that Li Lei had chosen it with great care. The texture, color, and style all suited her.

    She epted the expensive gift and said, ¡°Please thank your young master for me.¡±

    ¡°Young Master said you¡¯re not an outsider, so you don¡¯t have to thank him.¡± The strong bodyguard smiled gently.

    Thus, Xia Ling smiled again. Yes, they were almost about to be a family.

    She called Shaohui over and dressed him in the clothes that his father bought. The child looked very spirited wearing the pearl-white tuxedo. When he smiled, two dimples were revealed. He looked handsome and cute.

    ¡°Mom, do I look good?¡± He spun around in front of Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Of course you look good. Remember, you aren¡¯t allowed to tease the young girls, aunties or grandmothers during the banquet, ok?¡± This child inherited his father¡¯s strong facial features. Coupled with his charming smile, he captured the hearts of young girls to old grandmothers.

    Xia Ling felt that she was very sinful as she was raising the next generation of female killers.

    Shaohui did not know about his mother¡¯s thoughts and nodded seriously. ¡°Ok, even if the sisters and aunts pinch my face, I won¡¯t resist.¡± The adults loved to pinch his chubby face and never got tired of it.

    Xia Ling was humored by him and gently squeezed his cheek. ¡°Good.¡±

    She took her child to the banquet location.

    This banquet was held in Li Lei¡¯s name. On the invitation, he said that arge piece of news would be announced during the banquet. All the celebrities and media representatives had arrived. Now, Second Young Master Li was thergest power in both the triad and music industry. Everyone was curious about what he wanted to announce and also did not dare to offend him.

    When Xia Ling walked in, she saw Feng Kun.

    Feng Kun asked, ¡°Is this matter rted to you?¡± When he was invited, the first thing he did was to get the list of invited guests and realized that besides the media, everyone else had personal rtions to either Li Lei or Xia Ling. He was very smart and guessed it at once.

    Xia Ling vaguely replied, ¡°Tonight is a good day.¡±

    Feng Kun was holding a ss of champagne. In the magnificent ballroom, his ck suit looked refined and pleasing to the eye. ¡°Are you finally getting married to Second Young Master Li?¡±

    Sheughed. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m someone who will easily get married?¡±

    Feng Kun sized her up on purpose. ¡°Second Young Master Li has already wrapped you around his finger and can easily get you.¡±

    Xia Ling was annoyed and the two bantered for a while.

    Wei Shaoyin also came over. When he saw her chatting with Feng Kun, he was very unhappy and walked over to join their conversation with his wine ss. ¡°Xiao Ling, you should stay away from certain people. Be careful of being cheated.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to sigh. <i>Oh Ah Wei, after fighting with Feng Kun for so many years, aren¡¯t you tired? Luckily, Feng Kun is very calm. If he were as hot-headed as you, the world would have ended a long time ago!</i>

    She quietly looked at Feng Kun, the meaning in her eyes very obvious¡ª <i>I don¡¯t care. You have to manage your rival yourself.</i>

    Feng Kun didn¡¯t fail her expectations. As if he did not hear Ah Wei¡¯s underlying intentions, he changed the subject. ¡°Yes, Xiao Ling, you have to be careful tonight. Look over there.¡±

    Xia Ling followed his line of sight.

    Even Wei Shaoyin gave up trying to start an argument and looked over. ¡°Su Tang? She is really dressed up today. What¡¯s that for? Is Li Lei finally going to marry her?¡± He arrived toote and did not hear the conversation between Feng Kun and Xia Ling. Being very simple-minded, he guessed what would be announced tonight.

    Xia Ling was so angry that she hit him with her elbow. ¡°Hey! It¡¯s more likely that Su Tang is going to marry you!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t curse me!¡± Wei Shaoyin rebuked. ¡°I hate scheming people the most!¡± Saying that he looked at Feng Kun. ¡°It¡¯s more likely that he will marry her! Two conspirators make a pair!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Feng Kun was also taken aback. ¡°Thank you?¡± Even his marriage was arranged by him.

    Wei Shaoyin replied, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    The three of them took a new ss of champagne from the waiter¡¯s tray and gazed at Su Tang from afar. Tonight, Su Tang¡¯s makeup was very grand, and she was wearing a golden dress with a long trail. She looked extremely elegant and dignified like a bride. She mingled around with the guests in the crowd like a hostess.

    Xia Ling silently looked at her lotus colored dress. She looked... like a mistress!

    She gritted her teeth and cursed Li Lei in her heart. Seriously, did men have any appreciation of beauty at all? He obviously knew that her love rival would be here tonight, so why did he give her this inferior dress and her armor?!

    If the master who designed this dress knew about this, he would really cry. He spent immeasurable effort on this dress, from the material selection to its design to the sewing. More thought was definitely put into this dress than Su Tang¡¯s. This was why the result of this dress was amazing because it fluttered and suited her very much. It was extremely luxurious and suitable for many asions. However...pared to the gold dress, this fairy-like dresscked the aura of an empress.

    Li Lei was an idiot.

    After being the big boss of an entertainmentpany for so many years, why did he still not understand the battle between women?!

 Chapter 775 - Who Exactly Is the Master

    <h4>Chapter 775: Who Exactly Is the Master</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling silently cursed him.

    Even Wei Shaoyin saw that something was wrong. ¡°Are you unhappy? Why?¡±

    Xia Ling said lifelessly. ¡°My clothes don¡¯t look good.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°It¡¯s quite beautiful. I even wanted to ask you where you got your dress from. It must definitely be from a rare master craftsman. It far exceeds the dresses of any of the other women here.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed heavily. ¡°It¡¯s not as good as the one that Su Tang is wearing.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked at her with a disdainful look. ¡°This dress makes you look out of this world! Su Tang¡¯s dress is only suitable for general asions. It¡¯s luxurious and elegant, but the smell of copper is too strong and the design sense is iparable to yours. Have you lost all your taste?¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and refused to talk to him.

    However, Feng Kun got the hint andughed. ¡°Are you jealous? You can rest assured that since Li Lei sent you this dress, he has his reasons. How can he make you inferior to someone else?¡± Just now when he chatted with her, he already knew that her dress and Shaohui¡¯s tuxedo were given by Li Lei.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°You¡¯re the one who is jealous!¡±

    Feng Kun smiled like he was looking at his unreasonable sister.

    Xiao Ling¡¯s temperament seemed to have changed a lot from her past life, but in her bones, she was the same. She was pure and self-willed, and people could not help but indulge her bad temper.

    Some girls were born to be spoiled.

    Xia Ling threw a small tantrum and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to see her.¡± It was not the time for Li Lei to announce Shaohui¡¯s identity yet, and there were really ignorant banquet guests like Wei Shaoyin who guessed that this banquet was held to announce Li Lei and Su Tang¡¯s marriage. Many peopleplimented Su Tang warmly.

    Xia Ling did not want to bump into Su Tang at this time because she felt that her dress was not as outstanding.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°What are you afraid of? Use your ability to rule the stage.¡± As long as she was willing, her presence could overwhelm anyone in an instant. Even Wei Shaoyin was fully convinced of this.

    Wei Shaoyin nodded vigorously at the side. It was rare that he agreed with Feng Kun.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°Troublesome.¡± She did not want to waste energy and use her skills to deal with a woman who had lost a long time ago.

    Wei Shaoyin rolled his eyes. ¡°Seriously.¡±

    Feng Kun lightlyughed again as he saw how proud she was.

    After drinking the champagne in her hand, she lifted her dress and went in the opposite direction of Su Tang. There was a garden over there which was quietly lit and a good ce to hide during the banquet. She did not want to fight with Su Tang here and let Big Boss Li think that his charm was boundless.

    After all, she was still resentful towards Li Lei.

    At the other end of the banquet hall, Li Lei, who was socializing, sneezed.

    Xia Ling¡¯s dress fluttered as she walked out. After a few steps, she still could not hide and watched as Su Tang appeared from nowhere and blocked her way with her noble and dignified golden silk dress.

    It really looked like the empress was stopping a concubine.

    Xia Lingmented in her heart.

    On the surface, she appeared proud. ¡°Su Tang?¡±

    Many gossipers were already looking at them. In recent years, their love triangle with Li Lei was well known. However, these guessers had at least a rtionship with either one of these two women. Could it be that the dust had finally settled?

    The onlooking crowd was very interested.

    Looking at Xia Ling, Su Tang¡¯s lips curved into a smile. ¡°Miss Ye, wee to this banquet. Please forgive me for the poor reception.¡±

    Sure enough, she acted like she was the hostess.

    Xia Ling initially did not want to start any conflict with her since today was Shaohui¡¯s big day and she was still mad at Li Lei. Why should she show that she was jealous? However, since her love rival was in front of her, she should put her in ce and let her know that Xia Ling was not someone she could easily bully.

    Xia Lingmented in her heart for not being at ease and prepared herself for a fight.

    She looked at Su Tang and smiled sweetly. ¡°The reception isn¡¯t poor. It¡¯s very good here. I chose the location, and the bartender and the cook were specified by me, the menu was decided by me and even the guest list was selected by Li Lei and me. On the other hand, I¡¯m sorry to trouble you Miss Su for helping me entertain my guests.¡±

    When she said this sentence, the situation was reversed instantly.

    Everyone who raised their ears to hear the gossip was astounded. The banquet location, drinks, and guests were all decided by Xia Ling?! If that was the case...

    How close was her rtionship with Li Lei?!

    On the other hand, Su Tang turned into a servant who was only doing chores for her masters.

    ¡°Su Tang is only Second Young Master Li¡¯s special assistant. Perhaps she is really only helping out.¡± Someone whispered.

    ¡°Rubbish. Have you seen the help wearing something more extravagant than the hostess?¡± Someone retorted.

    The crowd started to discuss the dresses that the two women were wearing. Xia Ling was like a fluttering fairy while Su Tang was graceful and elegant. When it came to presence, Su Tang definitely stood out.

    At once, some people started to side with Su Tang again.

    After hearing Xia Ling¡¯s words, Su Tang¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Initially, she only knew that Li Lei was going to hold a banquet to announce something major, but she did not know that the banquet would be held jointly with Xia Ling or what would be announced. It seemed that, as she guessed, the big announcement was rted to Xia Ling!

    Could it be that Li Lei was really going to announce his marriage to Xia Ling?

    Su Tang¡¯s heartbeat was erratic. On the surface, she maintained her elegance. ¡°Miss Ye really likes to tell jokes. Before the banquet, Old Master told me to greet the guests well, so that is my responsibility. Oh yes, he also wanted Xiao Rui to greet the young guests. Don¡¯t worry. Shaohui will feel at home here.¡±

    These two sentences implied that she and Li Rui were the true masters.

    The guests were shaken again. That¡¯s right! They almost forgot that Su Tang gave birth to Li Lei¡¯s child. Their child was also here in the banquet. How could his child¡¯s mother be a servant?

    This banquet was probably meant to announce something rted to Su Tang and Li Lei.

    The guests secretly developed their own opinions and looked at Xia Ling with some sympathy. Poor Miss Ye. So what if she were young, beautiful, famous and rich? She still lost in the battle of love. They heard that she was not able to give birth anymore, so she had to adopt a child and her child was not rted to the Li Family...

    Everyone knew which woman Li Lei would choose without thinking.

    Many people thought that the overall situation had been determined. A good-hearteddy could not bear to see Xia Ling degraded in public, so she went forward and said to her, ¡°Miss Ye, I heard that the scenery in the garden is beautiful. Can you apany me for a walk?¡±

 Chapter 776 - Should She Go on Stage

    <h4>Chapter 776: Should She Go on Stage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nced at thedy. ¡°You are?¡±

    Thedy kindly said, ¡°I¡¯m married to the Du Family. My husband is Du Yunwei and my son is Du Zheng. Du Yunfeng is my brother-inw. Speaking of this, you¡¯re Yunfeng¡¯s godsister, so you should call me sister-inw.¡±

    Xia Ling finally realized that this was the wife of the chairman of the Du Family Corporation.

    Everyone she saw in the Du Family was very astute and did not expect Missus Du to be so kindhearted.

    Thus, she went with the flow and said, ¡°Sister-inw.¡± Even though she did not get along with that annoying man Du Yunfeng. However, Du Zheng once helped Shaohui and now Mrs. Du was giving her a helping hand. She was very willing to acknowledge their rtionship.

    Mrs. Du did not know that her unintentional kindness won her the friendship of a hidden family.

    She reached out and naturally ced it on Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go and admire the flowers, sister.¡±

    Xia Ling was also toozy to care about Su Tang. Besides, once Shaohui¡¯s identity was revealed, this woman would be humiliated. She did not want to waste any effort arguing with her and followed Mrs. Du. ¡°I heard that the tulips here are beautiful but unfortunately, it¡¯s not the season for them to bloom yet...¡± She said to Mrs. Du and was about to walk out.

    Unexpectedly, someone stopped her. ¡°Slow down.¡±

    It was an old, overbearing voice.

    Xia Ling frowned. She turned around and saw Old Master Li. Tonight, Old Master Li was wearing a tunic suit as usual which was embroidered with dragons. It looked very sophisticated and domineering. Holding an agarwood walking stick, the old man stared at Xia Ling. ¡°Since Miss Ye is here, why don¡¯t you apany everyone in the banquet hall? How could you go to the deserted garden? Could it be that my hospitality is poor?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Xia Ling smiled and said firmly. ¡°I¡¯ve said before that this banquet was organized by Li Lei and me. If you¡¯re saying that, you mean that my hospitality is poor, so please pardon me.¡±

    The crowd started buzzing. No one expected her to be so daring to be at odds with Old Master.

    Logically speaking, to ordinary people, since she loved Li Lei, she should respect Li Lei¡¯s elders. Even though Old Master Li hated her, she should be more diligent in currying favor with him. How could she make these rude remarks?¡±

    How was this eptable for someone of the younger generation?

    A few of the reporters at the banquet quickly recorded what had happened.

    Xia Ling did not care at all. When she first debuted, she already dared to p other people. Now that she was rich and famous and had a family backing her, she did not care what the reporters wrote. Her conscience was clear and she had no obligation to be polite towards that filth of an old man who plotted against her several times.

    Old Master Li was furious. This girl was really insensible!

    She was not allowed to marry into the Li Family!

    His expression turned cold. ¡°Miss Ye, how about you sing a song for us.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was slightly startled.

    Old Master Li slowly said, ¡°I let Xiao Lei organize this banquet for one purpose only, which is to look for a mother for Xiao Rui. Xiao Rui is almost five and doesn¡¯t have aplete family. His parents aren¡¯t married yet; that isn¡¯t eptable. Don¡¯t you think so, Miss Ye?¡±

    Xia Ling gawked at Old Master. What was he stirring up now?

    Feng Kun¡¯s expression darkened. No matter how much this old master disliked Xiao Ling, how could he be so harsh? Once he spoke, he changed the entire purpose of the banquet. Could Li Lei really fight against his grandpa? If he did, he would fall out with him. Then, how would the media describe Xiao Ling?

    If he did not fight...

    Their rtionship might be ruined.

    The more he thought about it, the more he felt that things were tricky. Unknowingly, he took a few steps forward and was ready to intervene.

    Old Master Li continued to say, ¡°Xiao Lei should get married soon, and his bride will be his child¡¯s mother, Su Tang. Miss Ye, this is really a celebratory event, don¡¯t you think? You are Xiao Lei¡¯s friend and a singer. Well then, you should go on stage and dedicate a song to Xiao Lei and Su Tang to send your blessings to them.¡±

    This time, even Wei Shaoyin felt that something was wrong.

    ¡°He wants Xiao Ling to sing? Is this old man crazy?!¡± Wei Shaoyin¡¯s voice was like a cold de. Although he was not as sharp as Feng Kun, after being in the music industry for years, he knew very well that if Xiao Ling went on stage to sing, she would be lowering her status from a VIP to a singer. She would not be any different from the violinist in the band. Not to mention, she would be singing for her love rival...

    This was pure humiliation.

    Old Master Li was deliberately humiliating her!

    He looked at Old Master Li unkindly.

    With his eyes fixed on Xia Ling, Old Master Li was obviously trying to humiliate her. He was telling her with his expression: Ye Xingling, you¡¯re a singer and an act. You¡¯re not worthy of marrying into the Li Family!

    Xia Ling understood his expression.

    She lightly said, ¡°My appearance fee is very expensive.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Wei Shaoyin couldn¡¯t help but call her. He was really afraid that she would stupidly go on stage to sing. If she really lowered herself here, she would be embarrassing herself! The next day, the newspapers would all be mocking her!

    However, Xia Ling did not notice his anxious call.

    She quietly looked at Old Master Li.

    Old Master Li was so angry that heughed. ¡°Very expensive? Miss Ye, perhaps to you, a one-off performance fee is very expensive. But to the Li Family, it¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Su Tang also said, ¡°We won¡¯t treat you unfairly. We¡¯ll pay three times the amount of your highest price.¡± She was really afraid that Xia Ling would ask for an extremely high fee and quickly prevented that from happening. In fact, now she seemed very generous and had the aura of a hostess.

    Xia Ling stared at her for a long time.

    Suddenly, Su Tang felt that this girl¡¯s gaze seemed to be magical like it was able to prate one¡¯s heart. Under her gaze, she almost wanted to hide.

    However, she resisted and continued to look at Xia Ling in a dignified manner.

    Xia Ling thought about what sort of ridiculous price she shouldmand to make things difficult for Old Master and Su Tang and vent her resentment. <i>Hm, it¡¯s best to let Big Boss Li be hurt too so that he¡¯ll regret letting these peoplee over to spoil the event...</i>

    Before she made up her mind, suddenly, she heard a voice. ¡°I¡¯ll sing for Xiao Ling!¡±

    She spun around and saw Luo Luo.

    The short-haired young girl was as lively as an elf. Wearing a pink and green tutu, she looked beautiful and youthful. Looking at the crowd, she said seriously, ¡°Today is Xiao Ling¡¯s big day. She shouldn¡¯t be singing personally.¡±

    Feng Kun taught her to say this sentence.

    Just now, when Feng Kun saw that the situation was not good, he quietly went to look for someone. He saw the guest list and knew that many of Xia Ling¡¯s friends were invited, including Luo Luo and other singers.

    ¡°I will also sing for Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°How can you forget me on such a memorable day?¡±

    ¡°Me too. I¡¯m also willing to sing.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget me...¡±

    Various famous stars in the entertainment industry appeared out of nowhere.

 Chapter 777 - Group of Celebrities Singing

    <h4>Chapter 777: Group of Celebrities Singing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Soft light overflowed in the banquet hall.

    Luo Luo, Bai Murong, Xie Ling, Lu Tao... These various celebrities were dressed to the nines and surrounded Xia Ling like stars surrounding a moon.

    The shutters of cameras belonging to reporters sounded again.

    Xia Ling looked around. Her friendship with these celebrities was not very deep, but during this crucial moment, they actually stood up for her and did not hesitate to offend Old Master Li. This kindness was enough for her to remember forever.

    Luo Luo blinked and quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s rare to sing a song for Xiao Ling. We don¡¯t even want an appearance fee because she is our friend. If it were someone else, we wouldn¡¯t sing no matter how much money was offered. Am I right? Murong? Ling?¡±

    The celebrities around her smiled and nodded.

    The singer profession was somewhat special. They seemed to be endlessly special in front of ordinary people, but when they were with the titans of the world, they were easily called out for just selling their art and not received any respect. Many celebrities here experienced Xia Ling¡¯s unfortunate situation before and now empathized with her.

    There was another reason.

    Besides Luo Luo and a few others who were true friends of Xia Ling, Bai Murong, Xie Ling and others were all celebrities under Skyart Entertainment. Although Old Master Li was powerful, he was not the one overseeing thepany, so of course they had to support Big Boss Li. Big Boss Li already said that Xia Ling was thedy boss. At this crucial moment, how could they not support thedy boss? Besides, even if the world fell apart, they would not be afraid because they could rely on Big Boss Li.

    They happily stood in ce.

    Old Master Li was furious. ¡°This banquet has nothing to do with Miss Ye.¡±

    The group of celebrities ignored him andughed as they walked to the band and softly said something. After seeing so many celebrities, the band had no choice but to give them face and y the song that they requested.

    The celebrities went on stage and a familiar tune sounded.

    It was a ssic song that had been popr for many years both nationally and internationally: The Whole World Is Singing For You.

    It was very suitable.

    Bai Murong, who was wearing a vintage suit, held the microphone gracefully and sang the first verse. ¡°You are the swaying light in midsummer, the fragrance of flowers in my dream...¡±

    When the heavenly king sang, it was extraordinary.

    The entire banquet, even those who did not notice the conflict, all turned to look at him. Only then did they realize that a dozen luxurious and beautiful celebrities had gathered on stage. Everyone looked graceful and acted as if they were performing at a concert.

    ¡°What is this?¡± A guest wondered. ¡°Is this a pre-arranged performance?¡±

    Hispanion was also confused. ¡°It can¡¯t be. I remember that Mr. Bai and several of them were admitted as guests, not performers. Furthermore, Luo Luo and the rest of them... Don¡¯t you think this group is made of diverse people?¡± On the stage, there were heavenly kings like Bai Murong and ordinary singers like Lu Tao and Luo Luo, who were not as famous. In fact, it was strange because Luo Luo was not a very famous singer and did not fit in with the group.

    All the guests felt the same.

    Their curiosity grew. Soon, someone realized something else. ¡°Look, it seems that all of the singers who came to the banquet are on stage except Ye Xingling!¡±

    After he said that, everyone realized that sure enough, all of the singers were on stage but Ye Xingling. She stood below the stage listening to them with a smile on face and champagne in hand.

    The dim light shrouded her, and her skirt fluttered like a fairy.

    ¡°Is Ye Xingling being pushed out?¡± Someone who did not know the truth asked.

    Those unaware of the truth observed the situation for a while. ¡°That seems unlikely. Look, she seems to be very close to Feng Kun and Wei Shaoyin. If those singers dare to push Ye Xingling out, they wouldn¡¯t dare to offend Feng Kun and Wei Shaoyin.¡±

    Which singer would dare to offend the top producers in the industry?

    The crowd was even more confused about the truth.

    ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s listen to the song. We can learn more about it after Bai Murong and the others get off the stage.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± They gathered in front of the stage and enjoyed the song.

    The song, ¡°The Whole World Is Singing For You,¡± was too popr and everyone knew how to sing it. Even though the celebrities on stage did not rehearse beforehand, their experience performing made them quickly adapt to the spotlight and they cooperated very smoothly. Xie Ling and Bai Murong sang together: ¡°Legend has it that being unrestrained...¡±

    Luo Luo continued, ¡°The whole world is singing for you...¡±

    Lu Tao sang. ¡°The whole world¡¯s voices are ringing for you. Only for those who are strong...¡±

    Every sound and every verse was like a dream-like world.

    The banquet hall was veryrge. Li Lei, who was originally at the end with guests, was also attracted. He turned around and looked at the stage. Beside him, the chairman of Chen¡¯s Real Estate Development said with a smile, ¡°It seems to be very lively there. Second Young Master Li, why don¡¯t we take a look.¡±

    Li Lei also smiled. He took his champagne ss and strolled over.

    In the crowd, Su Tang stood beside Old Master Li but kept searching for Li Lei. At this point, after seeing Li Lei, she quickly ran to him and looked pale. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Young Master. I did something wrong.¡±

    Li Lei raised his eyebrows slightly.

    ¡°I...¡± Su Tang lightly bit her lip. ¡°Old Master was very protective of me and wanted to ask Miss Ye to sing me a song. However, Miss Ye was unwilling and called her friends over...¡±

    Li Lei understood. Grandpa was trying to squeeze Xiao Ling out again.

    He gently told Su Tang. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡±

    Su Tang was very uneasy. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for me...¡±

    ¡°Even if it weren¡¯t you, there would be somebody else.¡± Li Lei was very open-minded. Old Master Li did not like Xiao Ling, so he tried to use Su Tang to go against her. Today, even if Su Tang weren¡¯t here, Old Master Li would still use other means to make things difficult for Xiao Ling. He did not me Su Tang because the crux of the problem did not lie with Su Tang but Old Master Li¡¯s prejudice.

    Su Tang sighed in relief secretly. It was great. She easily removed herself from the problem.

    She wanted to borrow Old Master Li¡¯s influence to deal with Xia Ling but did not want her actions to affect Li Lei¡¯s view of her. If she did, how could she remain by his side? Now, this situation was the best case scenario. Li Lei only thought that Old Master Li was in the wrong and would not push any me to her. This was the result she wanted.

    ¡°Thank you, young master.¡± She whispered. She remained by Li Lei¡¯s side as they watched the performance.

    On the other hand, Xia Ling looked at the stage and waspletely immersed in the music. Even if there were countless problems, music always gave her a second life. It was also especially rare for so many singers who were on different levels of their career to sing together. She was so invested in it that she analyzed their pros and cons.

 Chapter 778 - How Dignified

    <h4>Chapter 778: How Dignified</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Well, Murong had a good start but did not consider the singing level of the people after him, so he was somewhat out of touch with the next person.

    Lu Tao¡¯s singing skills had improved, but at the end of the day, hip hop was very different from mainstream music, causing him not to integrate very well with the group. She could tell that she wanted them toplement each other, but it still sounded awkward. Luo Luo¡¯s tone was still very lively and cute. At first nce, she did not seem to be very skillful, but her voice was able to blend in well with all kinds of singers. Whenever she sang, the transition was very smooth...

    She was immersed in her analysis and thought about whether she should tell them after they got off the stage.

    Suddenly, Feng Kun gently nudged her.

    She turned around and heard Feng Kun whisper in a low voice, ¡°Look over there.¡±

    She followed his gaze and saw that Li Lei appeared and was looking at the stage with his arms crossed. Su Tang was standing beside him and they looked like a couple.

    Xia Ling was fuming. ¡°Adulterous couple!¡±

    Big Boss was in for it.

    Feng Kun was amused. Her love rival was almost about to steal her man but she was just focused on analyzing the celebrities¡¯ singing. If she did not curse, he really thought she did not care anymore.

    Xia Ling lifted her dress and stormed towards them.

    She stopped in front of Big Boss Li. ¡°Li Lei!¡±

    When Big Boss turned around and saw her, he smiled. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He naturally opened his arms and gently took her into his arms. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    He hugged her as they watched the performance together.

    Looking at this scene, Su Tang¡¯s face slightly turned pale, but she concealed it very well.

    After being embraced by Li Lei, Xia Ling rested her back on his warm and broad chest. Her anger vanished and she assumed afortable position in his arms, not forgetting to nce at Su Tang in delight.

    Feng Kun, who looked at them from a distance, couldn¡¯t bear to look at them directly.

    Seriously, she was so easily deceived for two lifetimes and sumbed to a little sweetness. He simply couldn¡¯t understand why Pei Ziheng was unable to seed in pursuing such an easily deceived Xiao Ling. She was really stupid...

    ¡°Did grandpa make you unhappy again?¡± Li Lei whispered in Xia Ling¡¯s ears.

    The scene of them embracing was as beautiful as a picture and many reporters couldn¡¯t help but take pictures. As they took photos, they discussed. ¡°It seems that Second Young Master Li still likes Ye Xingling. The overall situation is determined and Su Tang has lost.¡±

    Those with bad intentions aimed their cameras at Su Tang and captured the expression on her face.

    Su Tang sensed the reporters¡¯ maliciousness and had to escape from Li Lei¡¯s side. She refused to remain there, let otherspare her with someone else and be turned into a joke! She returned to Old Master Li¡¯s side and acted filial.

    Xia Ling clearly watched Su Tang leave and casually answered Li Lei¡¯s question. ¡°What your grandpa is trying to make me unhappy about is just a small matter. I¡¯ve argued with people for two generations and am not afraid. However, if he goes on like this, he will face my brother. If my brother gets angry... I don¡¯t know what the consequences will be.¡±

    Li Lei was a little worried. His future brother-inw was fierce!

    ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡± He continued to whisper in her ear. ¡°After tonight, everyone will know that you¡¯ve given birth to a son for me and grandpa will ept you.¡±

    Xia Ling mumbled, ¡°Considering what he did to Shaohui, I don¡¯t really care.¡±

    Some people liked her for who she was. Like Li Lei.

    Some people liked her because of her ability to give birth to a child. Like Old Master Li.

    She didn¡¯t care about thetter because they only treated her as a tool. ¡°In the future, don¡¯t make me meet your grandpa often. I won¡¯t bother him, and I¡¯ll really thank the heavens if he stops bothering me.¡±

    This was the biggest concession she could make.

    Li Lei nodded vigorously. ¡°He lives overseas in the headquarters while you live in this country. You won¡¯t see him often.¡±

    In the eyes of others, their whispering looked like a romantic conversation. The reporters were all satisfied. This time, with the beautiful pictures of both of them, they would be able to cause an explosive reaction in the world.

    They really loved interviewing Li Lei and Ye Xingling.

    Looking at them, Su Tang felt that thousands of thorns were piercing her heart. No, she couldn¡¯t let them continue to be so loving! If they really announced that they were together tonight, wouldn¡¯t that mean that things were hopeless for her?!

    Thinking about it, Su Tang whispered to Old Master. ¡°Grandpa, pardon me for leaving for a while. I will look for the nanny to send Xiao Rui home. If Xiao Rui sees his father with another woman, he will be upset.¡±

    This tactic of pretending to leave was very sessful. Instantly, Old Master Li was furious. ¡°Leave? You better stay here! I don¡¯t believe that that young brat will rebel and dare to marry a woman that I don¡¯t agree with!¡±

    After that, Old Master left by himself.

    A faint smile was etched on Su Tang¡¯s face as she watched Old Master leave.

    On the stage, the group of singers was reaching the end of the song. Xie Ling sang thest line. ¡°When the whole world is singing for you, you¡¯ll be glorious and have eternal hope...¡±

    The celebrities elegantly bowed during the curtain call.

    Below the stage, thunderous apuse erupted.

    Bai Murong raised his microphone and was elegant as a prince. ¡°I¡¯m very honored to sing a song for Xiao Ling on her big day. However, honestly speaking, Xiao Ling, what good news are you and our boss about to announce? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time to reveal it? Could it be that you¡¯re going to get married?¡±

    The audience roared withughter.

    Some guests started to shout. ¡°Second Young Master Li, is the news that you¡¯re going to announce today really rted to Miss Ye?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, stop dying it. Quickly tell us!¡±

    Li Lei gently let go of Xia Ling and shed a toothy smile. Just as he was about to say something, suddenly, the banquet hall lights turned dark. Many people eximed, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is there a power outage?¡±

    In the midst of chaos, a beam of white light slowly lit up on stage.

    Old Master Li walked out from the light wearing a dragon tunic. ¡°Everyone, stop joking around. How is anything that the Li Family is announcing tonight rted to Miss Ye? What I want to announce is that Su Tang and my grandson, Li Lei, are getting married. Their child is almost five and it¡¯s time that their child is given aplete home.¡±

    At once, the audience was stunned.

    Just now, what Old Master Li said to the guests and what he said on stage was the same. Could it be that it was true? Wasn¡¯t he pping Miss Ye¡¯s face then?!

    Just now, Bai Murong put her on a pedestal, but now she was kicked to the ground in an instant!

    Countless people wanted to look at Xia Ling¡¯s expression, but since it was pitch ck, no one could see a thing.

    However, another beam of light fell on Su Tang who was below the stage, causing her resplendent gold dress to sparkle. ¡°Su Tang,e up.¡± Old Master Li¡¯s voice was stern. ¡°Let everyone see how good and dignified the Li Family¡¯s future daughter-inw is.¡±

 Chapter 779 - Publicly Announcing His Identity

    <h4>Chapter 779: Publicly Announcing His Identity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Everyone¡¯s line of sight fell on Su Tang.

    Su Tang¡¯s face, which had exquisite makeup, showed the right amount of surprise and dumbfoundedness. She was like an actress who was extremely shocked after realizing that her name was being called to receive an Oscar.

    She couldn¡¯t let Li Lei find out that this was premeditated by Old Master Li and her.

    She had to act as innocent as possible so that Li Lei would not direct his anger at her.

    Old Master Li did not see through her intentions and only thought that he did notmunicate with her well beforehand, which was why she was so surprised that she did not know how to react. Thus, Old Master urged. ¡°Su Tang, what are you waiting for? Quicklye up.¡±

    Only then Su Tang acted like she just awoke from a dream and walked on the stage with elegance.

    Her long gold fishtail dress swayed as she walked up the steps. At this time, she was not inferior to the big celebrities who walked the red carpet. Many guests whispered. ¡°No wonder this woman is deemed worthy by Old Master Li. She looks so calm and generous. She is truly material for marrying into a rich household.¡±

    Many people secretly nodded in agreement.

    In fact, some people also said, ¡°Inparison, Ye Xingling is like a child.¡±

    Although she was an extremely popr Diva and was full of arrogance on stage, she was too famous. Everyone knew how simple-minded and innocent she was in real life¡ªlike a little girl who had not grown up.

    ¡°Su Tang already has the aura of a queen while Ye Xingling is still a little princess.¡± Someone concluded.

    They watched as the queen-like Su Tang walked on stage and stood beside Old Master Li.

    Old Master Li looked down from the stage. ¡°Xiao Lei, you should alsoe up.¡±

    The purpose of wanting him to go on stage went without saying. He definitely wanted to promote the marriage between him and Su Tang!

    Old Master Li was really vicious to take such a drastic measure. In front of so many people, could Li Lei really oppose him? If he did, he would humiliate the Li Family and Su Tang!

    Xia Ling was infuriated. She grabbed Li Lei and said in a low voice, ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to go on stage!¡±

    However, Li Lei gently let go of her and softlyforted her. ¡°Be good, Xiao Ling. I will take care of this.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to do that? Agree to this ridiculous marriage?!¡± Xia Ling red at him.

    Li Leiughed. This little girl was really cute when she was jealous. He pinched her cheeks. ¡°Haven¡¯t you forgotten that we have Shaohui?¡± After that, before Xia Ling could react, he went on stage.

    On the stage, Old Master Li and Su Tang stood in the circle of silver lights.

    A small beam of light fell on Li Lei. He slowly walked forward and said, ¡°Grandpa, you¡¯re right. My child needs a mother and aplete family.¡±

    There was a slight uproar below the stage.

    Did this mean that Second Young Master Li agreed with Old Master Li¡¯s words?

    Even Old Master Li was astonished. He thought that his grandson would resist, but who would have thought that he would actually agree? What exactly was he hiding...

    Old Master Li¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Well then, you should give Xiao Rui aplete family.¡±

    When it came to this, Su Tang shed a smile. Victory was in sight. She couldn¡¯t think of any other way Li Lei could evade this. She looked at him affectionately. ¡°For our child, I¡¯m willing to be with you.¡±

    ¡°B*tch!¡± Below the stage, Wei Shaoyin couldn¡¯t help but curse. This woman couldn¡¯t wait to get married to Li Lei but was still putting on an act! She was still pretending to be innocent while taking advantage of him! Shameless!

    Beside him, Feng Kun said, ¡°Calm down. You must trust that Xiao Ling has chosen the right man.¡± It couldn¡¯t be that Li Lei was that weak and obediently obliged to Old Master¡¯s request.

    Unexpectedly, Wei Shaoyin rolled his eyes at Feng Kun. ¡°Are you sure that we can trust that stupid girl¡¯s taste in men?¡±

    Suddenly, Feng Kun fell silent.

    On stage, Li Lei looked at Su Tang warmly and sounded apologetic. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t marry you.¡±

    Wh... what?!

    Second Young Master Li was actually rejecting this marriage in front of everyone?!

    There was a huge uproar. Everyone imagined it, but no one expected that this would really happen! Second Young Master Li disregarded his elder and violently attacked Old Master Li and Su Tang!

    Su Tang looked at Li Lei incredulously as she also did not think he would speak so directly. She was embarrassed and angry at the same time. Her face was so red that it looked like she was bleeding. How could this be... How could this be?! She asked in a trembling voice, ¡°Why...¡±

    Li Lei answered gently and sincerely, ¡°Su Tang, you¡¯re a good woman, and I owe you too much.¡±

    Old Master Li rebuked. ¡°Since you know that you owe her too much, why are you refusing to marry her?! I order you to marry Su Tang as your wife!¡±

    ¡°Grandpa.¡± Li Lei turned around and looked at Old Master Li. ¡°That¡¯s because I owe Xiao Ling even more.¡±

    Old Master Li sneered. ¡°What can you owe her? She¡¯s the one who owes our family!¡± Once he thought about how that girl¡¯s ill luck brought misfortune to the Li Family in recent years, anger started boiling in him.

    Li Lei said, ¡°When Su Tang gave birth to Xiao Rui, although he had no status, he was taken care of well by my side. Xiao Rui grew up in the Li Family and had the honor of being a young master. He was fed and dressed well. He was safe beyond measure.¡±

    Old Master Li snorted. ¡°So you think that you¡¯ve done enough?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s face turned pale and tears flowed down her face. However, she still resisted the shame and softly said to Old Master, ¡°Young Master has been very good to me in these years. We... Both my son and I are... content.¡±

    Many people started to sympathize with her.

    Li Lei continued to look at her apologetically. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    He turned around again and said to Old Master and the guests, ¡°However, there is another child who is also my son. He¡¯s my biological son. When he was conceived, I was not there and his mother endured hardship to give birth to him. He went missing on his 100-day banquet, and for five years, he disappeared without a trace. I¡¯ve never done my part as his father. Now, he is back and I mustpensate him. He is Shaohui, the son that I had with Xiao Ling.¡±

    When he said that, the audience was stunned.

    Even Old Master Li was astounded. ¡°What?! Li Lei, are you talking nonsense? Are you creating a story to lie to me just so you can be with Ye Xingling?!¡±

    ¡°How can I use this to lie to you, grandpa?¡± Li Lei said. ¡°The paternity test results are out. I¡¯m Shaohui¡¯s biological father and Xiao Ling is his biological mother. There¡¯s no doubt about it.¡±

    He handed a document to Old Master Li.

    With shaking hands, Old Master Li took the file and quickly read it. Sure enough, the conclusion on it was that Li Lei was Shaohui¡¯s father and Xia Ling was Shaohui¡¯s mother!

    This meant that he finally had a biological great-grandson!

    He was not a great-grandson like Li Rui whom he had no blood rtions with but his biological great-grandson!

    This piece of good news came too suddenly and felt unreal.

    Old Master lifted his head, still in disbelief. ¡°Really? How could Shaohui be your son? Wasn¡¯t he adopted by Ye Xingling? Where is the child? Quickly let me see him!¡±

 Chapter 780 - Shaohuiâ€™s Bloodline

    <h4>Chapter 780: Shaohui¡¯s Bloodline</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt that her hand was held by a soft little hand.

    She looked down and saw Shaohui¡¯s face in the dim light.

    The small child looked up and said uneasily, ¡°Mom, I don¡¯t want to go on stage.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± She knelt and asked gently.

    The child¡¯s voice was very soft. ¡°I don¡¯t want to call that person... great-grandfather.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart hurt. She knew her child best. He was always happy-go-lucky and did not mind when the servants offended him ocassionally. What kind of suffering did he endure such that he fully rejected a person?

    She said, ¡°Then don¡¯t call him that.¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°Is that really ok?¡±

    ¡°When have I ever lied to you?¡± Xia Ling smiled and stroked her child¡¯s head in sympathy. ¡°Rest assured, even if the world falls apart, your mom will be here for you.¡±

    Thus, the child sighed in relief.

    A soft white light swept through the crowd and stopped when it found the mother and child. On the stage, Li Lei smiled warmly as he invited them on stage. ¡°Xiao Ling and Shaohui,e up.¡±

    She held her child¡¯s hand and walked on stage.

    As they walked, the crowd automatically parted to give way to them.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were focused on the mother and child. The shing lights of cameras were ceaseless as they captured this momentous scene. Xia Ling was already used to this, so she was elegant and calm as usual. Shaohui, however, rarely experienced this, so he tried to put on a majestic appearance. With his chubby face, he looked really cute.

    They stood by Li Lei¡¯s side and were separated from Old Master Li and Su Tang by a few steps.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression was awful, but it was concealed very well by her makeup and hair essories. She still couldn¡¯t believe that Shaohui was actually Li Lei¡¯s biological son. Could this be an intentional strategy to make Old Master Li agree to Li Lei and Xia Ling as a couple?

    It definitely must be!

    She definitely had to expose their scheme!

    She tightened her fists, her sharp nails piercing her palms.

    Beside her, Old Master Li did not notice anything strange. He waspletely focused on Shaohui. This was the first time he saw the child. When he was kindapped, he did not even bother to take a look at the photos. This child was very well-groomed and his eyebrows were beautiful. He wore a small silvery-white tuxedo and his posture was naturally noble, unlike civilian children who couldn¡¯t even learn this no matter how they were dressed.

    What was more surprising was that he waspletely different from Li Rui who had a gloomy temperament.

    Shaohui looked silly like Li Lei when he was younger.

    After his past memories were evoked, Old Master Li liked this great-grandson even more. There was an unprecended kindness in his voice. ¡°Are you Shaohui?¡±

    Shaohui held Xia Ling tightly and shrank behind her light fairy-colored dress.

    Old Master Li¡¯s smile stiffened.

    Li Lei exined. ¡°This child is a little afraid of strangers.¡± In reality, he knew that this was a lie. Shaohui was scarred after being kidnapped to Blissful Paradise.

    Old Master Li¡¯s awkward expression eased a little.

    Li Lei beant down and picked the five year old boy up without difficulty. He held the microphone and said to all the guests below the stage, ¡°This is my son, Shaohui. He¡¯s five years old this year and is older than Xiao Rui by one year. He¡¯s my eldest son.¡±

    There was another uproar.

    Besides the media representatives, the guests were all from the upper ss and understood what it meant to be the eldest son. At once, all kinds of gazes fell on Shaohui, Li Lei, Xia Ling and Shaohui. They initially thought that the eldest son was Su Tang¡¯s Li Rui, but unexpectedly, it was Shaohui now.

    Things were about to get interesting...

    Who in the fourth generation of the Li Family would get the inheritance right?

    Although the Li Family did not really follow the right of primogeniturepletely, the eldest son would definitely get more benefits than the other sons as long as he was not dead.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression was ghastly, and she almost couldn¡¯t keep it together.

    Shaohui¡¯s identity reveal was too sudden, and she just realized that this bastard was older than Li Rui by a year! How could it be?! She had to force herself to remain calm to avoid appearing awkward in front of the media.

    Old Master Li smiled happily. It was great to have him as an eldest son...

    Since this child was Li Lei¡¯s biological son and his eldest, there was no pressure to take care of that good-for-nothing Li Rui who had no blood rtion to the Li Family.

    In the future, there would not be any situation in which Li Rui tried topete for the inheritance right.

    Old Master Li was ted.

    Below the stage, a reporter asked, ¡°Mr. Li and Miss Ye, congrattions for finding your biological child. However, there¡¯s something I don¡¯t understand. If this child is really yours, when was Miss Ye pregnant with him? We all know that Miss Ye is a public figure and only got pregnant once five years ago when she married into the Pei Family.¡±

    After he asked this, everyone realized the questionable parts of the story.

    ¡°That¡¯s true, Miss Ye. Give us an exnation. Was that child you gave birth to five years ago Pei Ziheng¡¯s son? That child died after a hundred days, right?¡±

    Xia Ling already expected that she would be interrogated about this.

    She looked at Li Lei, who gave her an encouraging look.

    Thus, she held the microphone and slowly told her story. ¡°The situation is ratherplicated and it¡¯s quite hard to exin. In reality, the child I had five years ago wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng¡¯s but Li Lei¡¯s. The child went missing when he was a hundred days old and I thought he was dead. Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t, and after many years of separation, God sent him back to me.¡±

    There was a hugemotion in the crowd. This new information was too mindblowing, and their brains almost couldn¡¯t ept it.

    Su Tang was the first to react and immediately asked, ¡°Miss Ye, do you mean that when you married Pei Ziheng and announced that you were pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child, it was all just a show? The Pei Family did not get an heir but...¡± As if she knew she spoke rashly, she swallowed back her words.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m too shocked.¡± She sogtly apologized.

    Xia Ling looked at her coldly. She did not even need to think to know that she did that on purpose.

    Below the stage, the reporters were already mouring for a response. ¡°Miss Ye, were you ying Pei Ziheng for a fool?¡± Huge gossip, this was definitely mindblowing huge gossip! There was new conflict regarding the love affair of the two giants in the entertainment industry regarding the shocking mystery of their heirs!

    The reporters were extremely excited.

    However, many influential people looked at Xia Ling with faint disdain.

    They all came from wealthy families and knew that lying about a child¡¯s bloodline was a horrible crime to them.

 Chapter 781 - The Declaration on Stage

    <h4>Chapter 781: The Deration on Stage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was calm and collected while being berated with questions from all around.

    The bustle around her slowly quietened down as everyone waited for her response.

    She raised the microphone and said, ¡°These are private matters that I cannot reveal in totality. However, I would like you to know that from the moment I was pregnant, Pei Ziheng was aware that the child was not his.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t lying. When Pei Ziheng had found out the truth then, he went out of the way to make her abort the child.

    If she hadn¡¯t knelt in front of him and begged for her child¡¯s life, the child would have long been dead. As she recalled this dreadful experience, she felt as if she had just downed a ss of the bitterest wine. Before announcing Shaohui¡¯s real identity, she was concerned about the judgment from theizens and had considered fabricating a story around little Shaohui being a child born through surrogate means, which would exin the confusion around the pregnancy period. With this backstory, no one would realize that this child and ¡°Pei Shaohui¡± was the same person, and ¡°Pei Shaohui¡± wasn¡¯t Pei Ziheng¡¯s biological child.

    But Pei Ziheng was too cruel.

    He hade up with the scheme with Old Master Li to send Shaohui to the horrid Blissful Paradise.

    He didn¡¯t deserve to be Shaohui¡¯s father, even if it was just on paper.

    Xia Ling raised her head high and said, ¡°Shaohui is the name that I gave my child. It means for him to inherit the aura. More urately, it¡¯s to inherit the aura of his biological father¡ªLi Lei¡ªwho is my eternal sun.¡± Pei Ziheng had forced her to pull down the veilpletely. She had told him that they were over and she meant it. She didn¡¯t want there to be any more spection about the drama of her love life. She just wanted to live openly and honestly with the man she loved and their child.

    She felt a tight squeeze around her shoulders. Li Lei was hugging her lightly. ¡°You¡¯ve suffered greatly.¡±

    Su Tang was ring at Li Lei¡¯s hand on Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder, almost as if she was boring a hole through it. This bitch... she was really pulling out all her tricks to get herself married into the Li Family! What inheriting the aura? What a beautiful way of putting it! She was just saying that to make Li Lei happy... and he was buying it!

    Su Tang grew more jealous by the minute, and her heart felt as if it was being stabbed by thousands of knives.

    The moring from the audience started up again. Some pped and cheered for Xia Ling, whereas others questioned if she was telling the truth. Did Pei Ziheng truly know about Shaohui¡¯s identity? Everyone had their own interpretation of Xia Ling¡¯s words.

    Li Lei beckoned to his staff to bring a ss of wine onstage and proposed a toast. ¡°I¡¯ve invited everyone here tonight so that we could get your blessing and congrattory words. Please congratte me for finding my biological son and that the woman I love reciprocates my love for her!¡± As he spoke, he raised his ss.

    ¡°Congrattions!¡± Bai Murong was the first to shout out and raise his ss in return.

    Feng Kun, Wei Shaoyin, and many other guests followed.

    The entire room had their sses raised soon after.

    Regardless of what they truly felt about the situation, this event was organized by Second Young Master Li and it was important that they gave him face. No one was keen on offending him. Many were waiting to see what Pei Ziheng¡¯s reaction to this announcement would be, but given that Pei Ziheng was not present, they could only wait for tabloid reports toe. Such a pity!

    Everyone smiled and clinked their sses.

    ¡°There is something else I wish to announce...¡± Li Lei raised his voice over the bustling crowd.

    Everyone looked towards him wondering what else Second Young Master Li wanted to say.

    Li Lei snapped his fingers and a female staff came over holding an exquisite tray at his signal. There was a beautiful diamond-lined tinum tiara resting on a chiffon bed, surrounded by tulips and roses. This was a tiara that was every girl¡¯s childhood fantasy.

    Li Lei picked up the tiara and ced it on Xia Ling¡¯s head.

    The tiara immediately transformed her into a goddess with her long flowy dress, and many stared awestruck at her beauty.

    ¡°Tsk tsk.¡± Wei Shaoyin sipped his wine while throwing Xia Ling a look of disdain. ¡°I said that that girl has the worst taste. She was justining that her long dress couldn¡¯tpare with Su Tang¡¯s get-up. Just look now, with that tiara she has instantly transformed into a goddess. How can Su Tang evenpare?¡±

    Feng Kunughed at Wei Shaoyin¡¯s words. Yes, he was right, that tiara made her simple long dress look elegant. She was petite and slender, which made her look all the more regal. Su Tang, on the other hand, was dressed to the nines in an outfit intended to look grand, but now appeared paunchy and stout beside Xia Ling¡¯s. It was a fashion disaster.

    Wei Shaoyinmented some more about how that idiotic girl was so lucky to have someone choose her outfit for her and how unappreciative she was.

    On stage, Xia Ling finally understood why Li Lei chose this dress for her.

    Clearly, he knew what the effect of the tiara would be.

    Her unhappiness of having been overshadowed by Su Tang earlier disappeared. It wasn¡¯t that she had the same appreciation of her outfit like Wei Shaoyin, but rather that she was simply fascinated with the tiara atop her head. Who cared about Su Tang with her gold, grand outfit? Did she have a tiara? No one could look better than her if she had a tiara on her head!

    Her logic was that crude and simple!

    She nced over at Su Tang with a sweet smile on her face.

    It was as if she was showing off to Su Tang.

    Su Tang¡¯s face darkened, and she couldn¡¯t resist turning away and stalking off stage, quite unlike her usual calm self. She left the light fragrance of Dior perfume in her wake.

    Old Master Li saw the victorious smile on Xia Ling¡¯s face and Su Tang turning away.

    Anger boiled within him. This jinx of a girl... it was one thing to steal his grandson away, but why was she openly taunting his granddaughter-inw?! Why was it this irritating girl that had borne the Li Family a great-grandson?! If only she could switch sons with Su Tang! As these thoughts ran through his mind, animosity filled his eyes as he looked towards Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling had mentally prepared herself to be at loggerheads with the Old Master Li her entire life. Seeing Old Master Li stare at her with a cold expression, she stared right back at him before turning away and sweetly gazing at Li Lei.

    Li Lei was also looking down at her gently as he raised the microphone to his lips again. His deep attractive voice filled the room. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll never be able to pay you back for all that you¡¯ve suffered for me. I, Li Lei, promise to be true and devoted to you. Regardless of the storms that we may face in life, I¡¯ll do my all to protect you.¡±

    His deration of love was like a sudden punch to her, and she was almost winded in surprise.

    She looked up at him stunned. ¡°So all this while... you weren¡¯t giving your all?¡±

    There was a moment of silence in the room before everyone started tough. This idiotic girl... what was she saying? The romantic atmosphere waspletely destroyed by her!

    Bai Murong and Lu Tao almost doubled over inughter.

    Xia Ling was mildly embarrassed. ¡°Why are you allughing?!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, we won¡¯tugh... hahahaha...¡± Lu Tao wiped at the tears forming around his eyes.

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Li Lei chucked as well. He gave her a peck as he embraced her from behind. ¡°Xiao Ling, thank you for choosing me.¡±

 Chapter 782 - Who Said I Want to Marry You

    <h4>Chapter 782: Who Said I Want to Marry You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The melodious sound of a violin rang out, breaking through theughter.

    The string orchestra started to y softly in the background. The light of the chandeliers in the room shone on the guests¡¯ smiling faces, and the waiters weaved through the crowds with exquisite trays in hand as the party continued on.

    Li Lei helped Xia Ling offstage.

    Little Shaohui ran over on his stubby legs andined, ¡°Bad daddy! You only want mummy and not me.¡± He was following behind them in his little white tuxedo.

    Old Master Li bent over wanting to hold onto Shaohui¡¯s hand.

    Little Shaohui avoided him. Raising his head, he took a close look at Old Master Li¡¯s face before running away.

    Old Master Li frowned.

    As the cocktail party continued, Li Lei brought Xia Ling to a quiet room to take a rest, asking for some flower tea and snacks. ¡°Have something to eat.¡± He said. ¡°Grandfather is going toe over and look for us for sure. That¡¯s not going to be an easy conversation.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to naively think that the Old Master Li would relent on ount of his great-grandson.

    As expected, Old Master Li followed Shaohui into the room a whileter.

    Su Tang was by his side.

    Li Lei spoke up first. ¡°Su Tang, I think you shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    Old Master Li¡¯s face darkened. ¡°What do you mean she shouldn¡¯t be here? Su Tang is part of the Li Family!¡±

    Li Lei knew that the Old Master Li considered Su Tang to be his granddaughter-inw. Given that Su Tang had saved his life and was assaulted in the process, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say that she was an outsider.

    Xia Ling piped up nonchntly. ¡°She can stay. It¡¯s better we all be present to make things clear.¡±

    She wanted to see what other stunts the Old Master would try to pull.

    Li Lei kept quiet after Xia Ling spoke up. He waspletelypliant to whatever his wife... oh no... future wife said.

    He picked little Shaohui up and sat him down on hisp, peeling hazelnuts for Shaohui to munch on.

    Su Tang watched the father-son pair, a sad look settling on her face.

    Old Master Li asked, ¡°Su Tang, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Su Tang snapped back to her senses and forced a smile. ¡°Grandfather, I¡¯m fine.¡± After saving Li Lei from the forest, she earned the right to call the Old Master ¡°Grandfather.¡± She said, ¡°Seeing the both of them act so intimately makes me think of Xiao Rui. He never had the chance to...¡±

    She couldn¡¯t bring herself to continue.

    Old Master Li recalled that Li Lei had never treated Li Rui the way he was treating Shaohui. Even though Li Rui wasn¡¯t his biological son, he was still the son of Li Lei¡¯s life savior. Li Lei was being too much! The Old Master was just about to chide Li Lei, but when he caught sight of his cute great-grandson, his anger dissipated in an instant.

    Little Shaohui waspletely focused on eating the hazelnuts, his cheeks puffing out as he chewed. He looked adorable.

    Old Master Li¡¯s voice became gentle. ¡°Good boy, if you like eating hazelnuts, great-grandfather will make sure to prepare lots of them for you.¡±

    Little Shaohui lifted his head to look at the Old Master furtively and hugged himself closer to Li Lei.

    Li Lei patted him on the head and told the Old Master. ¡°Shaohui has always only been with Xiao Ling. He needs to get used to seeing so many family members. Things will get better after I marry Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Old Master Li blew up. He was happy to ept this great-grandson, but that didn¡¯t mean he would ept Xia Ling as his granddaughter-inw!

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling also looked up from her cup of tea with a stunned expression.

    ¡°I said that we should get married.¡± Li Lei said smilingly, ignoring her shocked expression. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re getting older. It¡¯s about time you get married, isn¡¯t it? Grandfather...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the old one!¡± Xia Ling red angrily at Li Lei. What was he saying?! Was he adding up her years all the way from her past life? In any case, she wasn¡¯t going to admit that she was getting old!

    ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯m getting old.¡± Li Lei corrected. ¡°I should get married.¡±

    The Old Master¡¯s face was ashen from trying to hold in his temper. He mmed a hand onto the table. ¡°I don¡¯t agree to this marriage! Li Lei, I¡¯ve told you that you can never marry this jinx of a woman!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s the mother of my child.¡± Li Lei returned the Old Master Li¡¯s re, unfazed.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to marry her, she might even jinx the child!¡± Old Master Li retorted angrily. He turned and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ye, why do you have to cling onto Li Lei and marry into a family that doesn¡¯t wee you? The Li Family can ept your son into the family and give him all the benefits thate with it. If you think that we will ept you as well just because you¡¯re his mother, you¡¯re being way too naive!¡±

    Upset by the Old Master¡¯s words, Xia Ling redirected her anger at Li Lei. ¡°Did you hear what the Old Master said?! I¡¯m not marrying you!¡± Who was the one that was trying to be clingy? She was the Xia Family phoenix! Anybody that married her was the most fortunate person ever!

    Li Lei tried to appease her. ¡°But we¡¯ve discussed this...¡±

    ¡°There was no agreement made!¡± Xia Ling maintained.

    Li Lei felt wronged. ¡°You said you¡¯ll marry me in the ward on the ship...¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback but recalled that she had indeed said those words.

    Li Lei carefully added. ¡°Shaohui can be my witness.¡±

    Little Shaohui nodded while eating the hazelnuts that his dad had peeled for him.

    Xia Ling was bashing herself for having proactively said that she would marry Li Lei before. Her gaze moved from the Old Master Li over to Su Tang, realizing that they were both looking at her with disdain. Clearly, they both thought that she had been scheming to marry Li Lei all along.

    ¡°Drop the act, Miss Ye.¡± The Old Master said coldly. ¡°The Li Family won¡¯t ept you.¡±

    Xia Ling shouted at Li Lei again. ¡°I¡¯m not marrying you!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°You said you will marry me!¡±

    Little Shaohui merely lowered his head and continued to munch at the hazelnuts...

    The room was a mess.

    Su Tang piped up, feeling that her position was being threatened. ¡°How are we going toe to a conclusion with all this bickering? Old Master, I think the matter of greatest urgency is to bring Shaohui to meet the family. Everything else can wait.¡±

    She said these words in a sweet and elegant voice, causing the bickering to immediately quieten down.

    Old Master Li nodded. Yes, the most important thing was to get Shaohui to call him great-grandfather. He looked down gently at the child, saying, ¡°Little Shaohui, were you frightened by our arguing? Come with great-grandfather and daddy back to the Li Family, okay? Great-grandfather will prepare a big, big house for you to live in.¡±

    Little Shaohui finally spoke up. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to be locked up.¡±

    Old Master Li was stunned. This child was holding a grudge from the incident at Blissful Paradise!

    But who was the one that told the child the truth? The Blissful Paradise kidnap was carried out by the Old Master¡¯s subordinates. If no one told the child who the mastermind was, why would the child be able to draw the link?!

    As he contemted this, the Old Master looked towards Xia Ling with hatred. It must have been that woman!

    Xia Ling gave a coldugh. ¡°Someone has a guilty conscience. Do you really think my child is clueless? Stop trying to cajole him!¡± She refrained from saying nastier things for Li Lei¡¯s sake.

    That Old man had kidnapped her child to Blissful Paradise, and now he was trying to tear them apart!

 Chapter 783 - Reckless

    <h4>Chapter 783: Reckless</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The two stared angrily at each other, neither intending to back off.

    Li Lei felt a headacheing. Grandfather was stubborn and had the worst temper, and Xiao Ling was not any better. She resembled him more than him! He put little Shaohui down, hoping to prevent them from fighting in front of the child. ¡°You...¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence, Su Tang smilingly said to Shaohui, ¡°Little Shaohui, why would great-grandfather lock you up? You¡¯re his beloved great-grandson and he can¡¯t wait to shower you with love! You look exactly like...¡± Her voice caught a little and she paused before continuing, ¡°Your face shape is exactly like the Li Family¡¯s.¡±

    Fortunately or unfortunately, little Shaohui resembled his mother more and there was little resemnce to Li Lei.

    Old Master Li looked towards Shaohui hearing Su Tang¡¯s words and found that while the child had simr mannerisms to Li Lei when he was young, his features were more effeminate and less sculpted and defined than Li Lei¡¯s.

    Su Tang nonchntly said, ¡°Thankfully, there is the DNA test to check for parental rtionships... It¡¯s great that the three of you can reunite.¡±

    The listener understood the meaning.

    Old Master Li thought to himself, <i>Is Shaohui truly my great-grandson? If Ye Xingling can lie to the Pei Family about her pregnancy, why wouldn¡¯t she be lying to the Li Family as well?</i>

    He said, ¡°Let¡¯s do another DNA test.¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Grandfather, you don¡¯t believe me?¡±

    Old Master Li¡¯s gaze was cold. ¡°This matter affects the bloodline of the Li Family. There can¡¯t be any mistake.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We¡¯re not doing it.¡±

    Old Master Li turned his cold gaze to her. ¡°Miss Ye, are you feeling guilty? Are you afraid that the DNA test will expose your lies?¡± Seeing Xia Ling reject the test so quickly, Old Master Li was even more suspicious of Shaohui¡¯s identity.

    Perhaps that was why the child didn¡¯t like him. They didn¡¯t share the same blood.

    Xia Ling smiled, but her tone was full of disdain. ¡°Old Master, do you think everybody worships the Li Family? Do you think everyone wants to marry into the Li Family? I¡¯m sorry, from my perspective, the Li Family is not worth the effort of scheming so much to marry into. If not for Li Lei, I wouldn¡¯t want to be associated with the Li Family in this life, or the next life, or any life after that!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Li Lei rubbed his temples. Was she about to start a rampage at the Old Master now?

    Xia Ling red at Li Lei. ¡°Did I say anything wrong?!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, you¡¯re right. You didn¡¯t say anything wrong...¡± Li Lei was close to tears. He was aware that she was the Xia Family¡¯s Phoenix and that anyone that married her was the fortunate one. Everything that she said was her true feelings and she was not being hypocritical. But the Old Master wouldn¡¯t be happy hearing that... how was he going to maintain the harmony in the family like this?

    He was tempted to bring this question to online forums forizens to help give him some pointers.

    On the other end, the Old Master lost his temper as Li Lei expected. He banged his dragon-head walking stick on the ground hard. ¡°I¡¯m going to make sure you do that DNA test! If you don¡¯t do it, don¡¯t me me for not epting this great-grandson!¡±

    Xia Ling responded, ¡°Who wants you to ept him?¡± This child had both parents, a doting uncle, and a maternal grandfather to care for him. What importance was there in having another great-grandfather? She was determined not to do the DNA test as she felt that it was an insult to her and her child. The Li Family was not showing her basic respect and trust... how were they going to be a family?

    Li Lei said, ¡°Fine, we won¡¯t do it if you don¡¯t want to. Grandfather, Shaohui is really my biological son!¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡± The Old Master didn¡¯t believe him. This grandson was prepared to do anything for this girl, and epting a random kid as his biological son was perfectly within reason!

    Xia Ling bent over and took little Shaohui¡¯s hand in hers. ¡°You guys can argue all you want. I¡¯m going to bring my child home now.¡± Little Shaohui had finished all the hazelnuts and was rubbing his eyes sleepily. It was time for his nap.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go...¡± Li Lei was at wits¡¯ end. How was he going to salvage the situation?

    Suddenly, the room door opened and another little boy crashed in. ¡°Where is Ye Shaohui?¡± The child shouted out angrily. ¡°Why are you stealing my father from me?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± Su Tang called out.

    The boy that had crashed in was Li Rui.

    Li Rui was bored in the party earlier amidst all the adults and had snuck out to the little garden out front to have some snacks. He had just heard that his father had announced the presence of another son and felt extremely threatened. As such, he ran over to look for Shaohui.

    Little Shaohui was walking down the steps from the tatami cushions.

    Li Rui ran over and pushed him. ¡°Who are you?! Why are you stealing my father?!¡±

    ¡°Aiya!¡± Little Shaohui was taken by surprise and slipped, falling on the hard wooden floor. His head hit the edge of the tatami stairs and blood started to flow.

    ¡°Shaohui!¡± Xia Ling anxiously ran over and carried the child in her arms.

    ¡°Let me take a look!¡± Li Lei grew anxious as well, running over to check on the injury. Thankfully, it was just a small cut in the corner of Shaohui¡¯s forehead, and while it was starting to swell, it didn¡¯t look too serious.

    ¡°It¡¯s painful...¡± Little Shaohui whined.

    Li Lei¡¯s face darkened and said to Li Rui coldly, ¡°Where are your manners? Is this how you treat your older brother?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not my older brother!¡± Li Rui screamed.

    Li Lei turned and said to Su Tang, ¡°Su Tang, I¡¯ve never truly disciplined this child too much because I thought you would have your own way of educating your child into a fine gentleman. But now? How is he any different from a wild child?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s face turned pale at Li Lei¡¯s statement and lowered her head.

    Li Lei had never truly cared about Li Rui¡¯s education and discipline. Even if Li Rui went as far as burning a house down, he would merely ask, ¡°Is Li Rui alright?¡± However, Li Rui had just given Shaohui a shove, causing Li Lei to be ovee with anger!

    That b*tch Ye Xingling¡¯s child was truly different to him!

    Su Tang¡¯s heart was filled with hatred.

    Old Master Li scolded Li Lei. ¡°Why are you scolding Xiao Rui?! He¡¯s your son!¡±

    The Old Master treasured family rtionships, and since he had epted Li Rui, he truly saw Li Rui as part of the family. He was prepared to shower Li Rui with all the worldly riches and dote on him... how could Li Lei scold him like that?

    Li Lei didn¡¯t relent. ¡°No one can touch Shaohui.¡±

    Old Master Li was furious. ¡°Who knows if Shaohui is truly part of the Li Family?!¡± The Old Master Li was sure that the child had no rtion to them given Xia Ling¡¯s vehemence when it came to the DNA test.

    Li Lei wanted to say something but heard a voice pipe up.

    ¡°Wow, what amotion. What¡¯s going on? Someone doesn¡¯t want to ept his great-grandson?¡±

    Everyone turned to look towards the door, where they saw a young man dressed in an Italian-style white shirt and a full suit, regarding them with a calm expression.

    All the adults quietened down in the room.

    ¡°Preceptor... Xia!¡± Old Master Li was the first to snap back to his senses and acknowledge Xia Moyan respectfully.

    Xia Moyan strolled over slowly like a silent wind from far out.

    Xia Ling snapped at him. ¡°What are you doing here?!¡± She didn¡¯t recall sending her brother an invite to today¡¯s event. Why was he suddenly interested in parties? If he were going toe, he should¡¯ve arrived earlier! That would save her from having to argue with the Old Master Li for so long. He should¡¯vee to help her earlier!

    Seeing the way Xia Ling was speaking to Xia Moyan, the Old Master was close to hysterics. Given all the fluster of activity today, he seemed to have forgotten that Xia Ling treated Xia Moyan in a simr fashion on the ship thest time they met.

    ¡°How rude!¡± The Old Master chided. ¡°How can you treat the reverent Preceptor Xia so discourteously?¡±

 Chapter 784 - Compatible Backgrounds

    <h4>Chapter 784: Compatible Backgrounds</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Before Xia Ling could say anything else, a small shadow pranced towards Xia Moyan. ¡°Uncle, uncle!¡±

    Everyone looked down and saw little Shaohui hugging onto The Preceptor¡¯s right leg, looking up at him smilingly.

    Old Master Li was in shock. ¡°What... what did you call The Preceptor?!¡±

    ¡°Uncle...¡± Little Shaohui answered matter-of-factly. He raised his hands up towards Xia Moyan. ¡°Carry me, uncle.¡±

    The Preceptor bent over and picked him up.

    Old Master Li¡¯s face turned into various shades of red. He didn¡¯t realize that this problematic child was Xia Moyan¡¯s nephew! Moving down the same line of logic... if this child was Xia Moyan¡¯s nephew, then the child¡¯s mother was...

    ¡°The Preceptor is your brother?¡± Old Master Li asked Xia Ling with a look of disbelief.

    He suddenly understood why Xia Ling dared treat The Preceptor with so much disrespect, and why the distant Preceptor Xia was so close to her. No wonder she was so brazen!

    Xia Ling smiled coldly and ignored Old Master Li.

    The Preceptor nced at Old Master Li and replied on her behalf. ¡°Xiao Ling is my sister, but I don¡¯t want this matter to be publicized.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s destiny was slowly stabilizing. Hence, her true identity could be revealed within a small group but not be widely publicized.

    As such, Xia Moyan decided to tell Old Master Li the truth but ask for him to keep the secret.

    Cold sweat started to form on Old Master Li¡¯s brows. What?! Did he hear Preceptor Xia wrong? How could this girl be The Preceptor¡¯s sister? But The Preceptor was the one that confirmed her identity!

    He looked from Xia Moyan to Xia Ling as if he was dreaming.

    Xia Moyan continued lightly, ¡°Also... I don¡¯t like people shouting at Xiao Ling.¡± When he had entered the room earlier, he had heard Old Master Li berating Xia Ling. As a daughter of the Xia Family, Xiao Ling was to be respected, not scolded. If not for Li Lei, that old man would be dead by now.

    Xia Moyan was not happy.

    Old Master Li sensed his unhappiness and his face turned pale. ¡°Yes, yes... I¡¯m sorry, I was in the wrong.¡±

    He looked at Xia Ling who was still wearing the lotus-colored chiffon dress, standing quietly by Li Lei¡¯s side. The crystal chandelier¡¯s light reflected off her face and she looked resplendent like cherry blossom trees. She was still the same person, but Old Master Li suddenly saw her in a new light. His animosity disappeared immediately. Who said that she couldn¡¯t match up to his grandson?! They were a perfect match! Fullypatible!

    His gaze was now kindly.

    Su Tang was still in shock. Having grown up in the Li Family, she knew all the rumors about Preceptor Xia and knew what fortune it was to be associated with the Xia Family. Tons of people bragged about having spoken to The Preceptor before. And Ye Xingling? She was The Preceptor¡¯s sister?!

    How was that possible?!

    No...

    No way...

    Something was amiss here...

    Su Tang piped up with her suspicions. ¡°Miss Ye, isn¡¯t your family name Ye? I remember that Miss Ye¡¯s biological parents are normal citizens... how is it...¡±

    She was subtle in revealing her suspicions.

    At her words, the Old Master Li grew suspicious as well. He looked back at The Preceptor, waiting for an answer.

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t care less about exining the details to thesemoners. He asked Shaohui, ¡°How did you get injured? I told you to take care of yourself when you left the mountains. Your mum is so silly, so you can¡¯t depend on her. Have you forgotten what I said?¡±

    Xia Ling shouted at Xia Moyan. ¡°Who are you calling silly?!¡±

    Little Shaohui nced meekly at his mother, deciding that he shouldn¡¯t be embroiled in this argument. He turned to Old Master Li and said, ¡°I was raised by my uncle in the mountains beforeing down to look for mummy.¡±

    The Old Master Li drew his own conclusions from Shaohui¡¯s exnation. When Ye Xingling lost Shaohui, he somehow was adopted by Preceptor Xia and waster returned to Ye Xingling. For the child, they must have decided to be sworn siblings. Ye Xingling was truly a lucky one! How unfortunate that they weren¡¯t biological siblings...

    How long would their rtionshipst?

    He respectfully said to Xia Moyan, ¡°Preceptor Xia, I¡¯ve been looking for you for many years intending to get your help in altering Miss Ye¡¯s fortune so that she won¡¯t jinx my grandson, and so that they can be together happily.¡±

    Before Xia Moyan could respond.

    Xia Ling gave a cold huff. ¡°Old Master, didn¡¯t you say that I didn¡¯t deserve to be with Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°He said that about you?¡± Xia Moyan piped up. ¡°Then why do you still want to marry into the Li Family?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling was at a loss for words. In her bid to get back at the Old Master, she had forgotten her brother¡¯s animosity towards the Li Family. Wouldn¡¯t he be even more upset at them now? She turned towards Li Lei, silently asking for help.

    Li Lei saw her helplessness through her eyes and took a step forward. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely marry Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡± Uncle Xia was truly upset. He carried little Shaohui and swept his gaze across the room, settling on Su Tang for a few seconds.

    ¡°You are Su Tang?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Tang responded in trepidation. Was The Preceptor going to punish her for being at loggerheads with Xia Ling? She subconsciously clenched her fist.

    Xia Moyan stared at her for a long time, and just as she was starting to tremble from the pressure, he looked away. He turned to regard Old Master Li, saying, ¡°You like her as your granddaughter-inw? Keep her then. Manage your grandson so he doesn¡¯t cling onto my sister. I¡¯m taking Shaohui away. He will never appear in front of you again.¡±

    Before anyone could react, he carried Shaohui out of the room.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Ling ran out to chase after him. Li Lei followed suit, but The Preceptor was too fast for them and disappeared from their sight.

    Old Master Li, Su Tang, and Li Rui came out of the room as well.

    Li Rui came back to his senses and started to cry from the tenseness in the room earlier. ¡°I don¡¯t like him! I don¡¯t like him!¡±

    As he cried, he stamped his foot on the ground.

    Old Master Li said sternly to Su Tang, ¡°Get someone to take Li Rui home! This child needs to be disciplined! How can he just injure another person like that?!¡± He had injured the child that Preceptor Xia had raised. If The Preceptor were to pin the me on the Li Family, they would be in trouble!

    Old Master Li added as an afterthought, ¡°Lock him up for a few days to reflect on his actions!¡±

    Su Tang was upset but could not defy the Old Master.

 Chapter 785 - Donâ€™t Have to Do a DNA Test

    <h4>Chapter 785: Don¡¯t Have to Do a DNA Test</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was unhappy for having lost her brother.

    She took out her unhappiness on Li Lei, hitting him several times on the chest with her clenched fist. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault!¡±

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, yes, yes. It¡¯s all my fault.¡±

    ¡°What is your fault?¡± Xia Ling wouldn¡¯t let the matter rest.

    Li Lei was taken aback. ¡°My fault for...¡± How would he know why was it his fault?! He was just trying to cate his wife when he epted the me. He felt really wronged!

    Xia Ling started to hit him again. ¡°You¡¯re just humoring me!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Yes, yes, I was humoring... Oh no... why would I be humoring you?!¡±

    Xia Ling snapped. ¡°You¡¯re humoring me again!¡±

    Li Lei was close to tears.

    Just as he was contemting what exactly he had to shoulder the me for, he heard Old Master Li clear his throat. ¡°Miss Ye, I was in the wrong earlier. Please forgive an old man for being ignorant.¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Grandfather, we¡¯re family. You can cut the nonsense and just be sure to treat Xiao Ling like she¡¯s your granddaughter. We can resolve all the differences.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to say something but caught herself on ount of Li Lei.

    She disliked this old man, but he was still Li Lei¡¯s grandfather. She didn¡¯t want Li Lei to be caught in the middle.

    The Old Master said to her, ¡°Next time, your problems are all the Li Family¡¯s problems.¡± Since The Preceptor regarded her as his sister, then Old Master Li thought that epting her as his granddaughter-inw was the right thing to do, regardless of whether they were biological siblings.

    How many wealthy families wanted to have a rtionship with the Xia Family? This was a fortune that would keep him smiling in his dreams.

    With regards to Xia Ling being a jinx? Since The Preceptor had epted her as his sister, there must be a way to alter her fortune. There was no reason for him to continue to object to the marriage that his grandson wanted so much for.

    Seeing his change in attitude, Xia Ling was well aware of what the Old Master¡¯s considerations were.

    Unfortunately... ¡°Since you dislike Shaohui so much, even if I wanted to marry Li Lei, I still wouldn¡¯t.¡± She sighed in mock resignation. Sheshed out at Li Lei again. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault! Why did you go anger my brother?! If he doesn¡¯t like you, why would he agree to our marriage?!¡±

    Li Lei tried to cate her. ¡°I¡¯ll go look for brother and apologize.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s your brother?!¡± Xia Ling shouted at him. ¡°Return my son to me!¡± Boohoohoo, her brother had taken little Shaohui away in his anger. She didn¡¯t know when she would be able to see Shaohui again. She was already missing him.

    Li Lei was also missing Shaohui as he weakly responded, ¡°We¡¯ll get Shaohui back.¡±

    Xia Ling was not convinced. Did he think that he could beat her brother in a fight, or that he would be able to verbally convince her brother to return Shaohui? Boohoohoo, her brother was a tyrant... the big boss viin inputer games. She thought about it for a moment before taking out her mobile and ringing Xia Moyan. ¡°Xia Moyan, return my son to me!¡± She screamed into the phone.

    Xia Moyan said something on the other end of the line.

    Xia Ling hung up, her face ashen.

    ¡°What did brother say?¡± Li Lei nervously asked.

    ¡°Who¡¯s your brother?!¡± Xia Ling shouted at Li Lei again, before saying in an unhappy tone, ¡°My brother said that since we don¡¯t want little Shaohui, he will keep him. He¡¯ll care for Shaohui in the Xia Family and won¡¯t ever let the Old Master see him.¡±

    Li Lei felt depressed.

    He knew that his brother-inw was a man of his word.

    Xia Ling was upset as well. ¡°Isn¡¯t he horrible? Even if he doesn¡¯t want to let the Old Master see Shaohui, he can just send the Old Master out of the country! Why did he have to take Shaohui back home? Now, even I can¡¯t see Shaohui!¡±

    Old Master Li was speechless. <i>Hey... I¡¯m not dead yet.</i>

    As Su Tang nced over at the Old Master¡¯s dark expression, her heart dropping a little. After realizing Xia Ling¡¯s identity, the Old Master¡¯s attitude towards her had had a 180-degree shift. He was so nice to her that it was too much. Look here now, Xia Ling had said something so disrespectful to him and he wasn¡¯t even going to chide her about it.

    Su Tang felt that things were getting out of hand and piped up softly. ¡°The Xia Family is a powerful family indeed, but they can¡¯t just treat us like that. They are taking Shaohui away just because we¡¯ve suggested a DNA test? We don¡¯t know if he¡¯s truly part of the Li Family bloodline yet. We can¡¯t take this matter lightly.¡±

    While Xia Ling was prepared to put up with Old Master Li for Li Lei¡¯s sake, that didn¡¯t mean that she was going to put up with Su Tang. She red at Su Tang and gave a coldugh. ¡°Yes, we can¡¯t take matters of the child¡¯s bloodline lightly. Miss Su, didn¡¯t you think about that as well when you chose to have Li Rui?¡±

    Her words were like a needle piercing Su Tang¡¯s heart.

    Su Tang knew that Li Lei would tell Xia Ling the truth, but hearing Xia Ling say it still hurt her. Originally, she had thought that Xia Ling was like her in that Shaohui was not Li Lei¡¯s biological son, but now it appeared that Xia Ling¡¯s child was indeed Li Lei¡¯s. Wasn¡¯t that just putting Su Tang in a bad position?

    Su Tang lowered her head with a face pale.

    The Old Master Li said in Su Tang¡¯s defense, ¡°Miss Ye, Su Tang is Xiao Lei¡¯s savior. The eptance of that child is repayment for what she did for the Li Family. Be magnanimous and don¡¯t take it to heart!¡± He was still fond of Su Tang and wouldn¡¯t leave her in the lurch. Xia Ling might be The Preceptor¡¯s sister, but what had she done for Li Lei and the Li family?! All she did was to create a lot of problems for them these few years!

    Even though he was going to ept Xia Ling into the family, deep down he was still more fond of Su Tang.

    Su Tang¡¯s predicament was such a pity... it was such a pity that she couldn¡¯tpare to Xia Ling in terms of family background.

    The heavens were ying a joke on him. After all that happened these years, his grandson was still going to be together with that girl.

    Seeing the Old Master take Su Tang¡¯s side, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t resist but say, ¡°Old Master, Miss Su here clearly doesn¡¯t believe that Shaohui is the biological child of Li Lei and myself. It¡¯s alright, regardless of whether you guys believe it or not, Shaohui¡¯s identity is not going to change. It¡¯s fine even if I can¡¯t marry into the Li family my whole life!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Grandfather, Shaohui is really my son. There¡¯s no mistake whatsoever. I¡¯m not going to let Xiao Ling and the child do another DNA test. I believe them. Even if the whole Li family doesn¡¯t ept it, Shaohui is still my biological son. He¡¯s going to be my only bloodline in this life.¡±

    Xiao Ling could no longer conceive, and he wasn¡¯t going to get together with anybody else.

    Shaohui was his only precious son.

    Su Tang¡¯s face was pale. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Li Lei, Miss Ye. I¡¯m sorry for making you angry... I... I was just thinking for the Li Family.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her sternly. ¡°Don¡¯t even talk about the DNA test ever again.¡±

    Su Tang bit her lip and nodded.

    Old Master Li said, ¡°Fine, don¡¯t do the DNA test. I believe that Shaohui is of the Li Family bloodline.¡± He had initially thought that Xia Ling was lying about Shaohui¡¯s identity to marry into the Li Family. But The Preceptor¡¯s appearance had overturned the Old Master¡¯s hypothesis. If she had the Xia Family backing her, why would she need to bother about lying about the identity of her child?

    Shaohui had to be Li Lei¡¯s son.

    With that thought, his urgency to see his great-grandson emerged again. ¡°Where did The Preceptor bring the child to? I was too disrespectful earlier... let me go look for him to apologize and bring the child back.¡±

 Chapter 786 - Unreasonable and Inhumane

    <h4>Chapter 786: Unreasonable and Inhumane</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling also wanted to take her child, but her brother refused.

    She lightly shook her head. ¡°When Shaohuies back is up to my brother¡¯s emotions.¡±

    The night¡¯s banquet came to a close in a somewhat dampened mood. The guests left. Li Lei said goodbye to Old Master Li and Su Tang and drove his modified off-road car to send Xia Ling home.

    In the middle of the night, the breeze was cool and the sky was full of stars.

    The off-road car stopped in front of the gate of Xia Ling¡¯s vi and the two of them got off the car.

    Xia Ling opened the low fence and walked into the fragrant small garden in the front yard. Li Lei gently hugged her from the other side of the fence. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry.¡± He said, ¡°The child wille back.¡±

    She smiled bitterly. ¡°Yes.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know when her brother¡¯s anger would subside and agree to let her have her child back. With a heavy heart, she walked down the hallway and opened the main door. The elderly maid stood at the doorway and greeted her with a warm yellow light. ¡°Wee home, miss. Where is young master?¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯te back for the time being.¡± Xia Ling lightly said.

    Looking over the maid¡¯s shoulder, she realized that therge living room was cold and empty. Without her child¡¯sughter, even the toy gun on the table seemed lonely.

    She also remembered that the toy gun was a gift to Shaohui from Li Lei.

    As if she were possessed, she stopped in her footsteps. She turned around at the doorway to look at the man behind her. He continued to stand outside the fence and stared at her quietly.

    The bleak evening wind blew his formal evening suit, but his expression was warm.

    Suddenly, she asked, ¡°Do you want toe in for a cup of tea?¡±

    The man was slightly startled, but his eyes lit up.

    Ever since she came back to China, Xiao Ling stopped inviting him over for tea. She was hurt too badly and was always in a dilemma about whether she should ept his feelings. Recently, thanks to Shaohui, she realized her inner feelings.

    He smiled and said, ¡°Sure.¡± Before she helped him open the gate, he already walked past the fully scented garden and stood firmly in front of her elegantly.

    Xia Lingughed. This man was so old yet still acted like a child.

    Two of them entered the living room and sure enough, she asked a servant to brew tea for him. However, he said, ¡°How about I make a cocktail for you? I haven¡¯t made a cocktail for you in so long.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I just drank so much just now during the banquet.¡±

    ¡°But those weren¡¯t made by me.¡±

    Xia Ling amodated him.

    In high spirits, he went to her wine cab, selected a few kinds of alcohol she liked and skillfully mixed them together in a slender goblet. With the scent of blooming flowers in the eye, it was a charming sight.

    She took the cocktail and tasted it.

    ¡°It has a very special taste. I¡¯ve never tried it before.¡±

    ¡°I invented it for you.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve given it a name: The Beautiful Woman.¡±

    She swayed and was a little tipsy. ¡°Please.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°In my heart, you¡¯re a beautiful woman.¡± After that, he reached out and took her into his arms. Resting his chin on her soft hair, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m really happy today. Do you know how happy I am that we can announce that Shaohui is our son to the world?¡±

    She was a little tired, so she assumed afortable position in his arms. ¡°That¡¯s not strange. Men are always very happy when they find out that they have a son.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s our son.¡± He lowered his head and gently kissed her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to appease me.¡± She did not believe him.

    He did not answer and nted a row of kisses on her. Like a feather, he brushed his lips across her eyebrows and ended it with a deep kiss on her lips. He kissed her until she was out of breath. ¡°Li Lei...¡±

    ¡°How long have I not touched you?¡± His voice became hoarse and he wrapped his hands around her waist.

    She protested. ¡°You...¡± However, her mind seemed tog behind. She did not know if it was because of the alcohol, but she was a little muddle-headed. How long exactly had he not touched her? Four or five years?

    Even when they went to Blissful Paradise and did many master and ve activities, he knew that she was not in the mood so he did not touch her.

    So many years had passed...

    Thinking about thest time things got heated, her face turned red and her heart soared.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you remember?¡± He mumbled and kissed her earlobe. ¡°How about we do it again tonight?¡±

    ¡°No... How about no...¡± Her breathing was unsteady and she was a little embarrassed. It was really strange. She already had a child with him, but every time he came close, she always became helpless.

    Li Leiughed lowly. He really liked seeing her face turn red.

    He reached out to take off her dress and his movements were very gentle.

    Xia Ling wentpletely soft under his domineering touch and red at him weakly. ¡°You... You stop it...¡±

    Not stopping, he ced a finger on her cherry blossom lips. ¡°Youngdy, do you know the consequences of inviting a man into your home to drink tea in the middle of the night?¡±

    She rebuked. ¡°You jerk...¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am a big jerk.¡± He cackled delightedly and leaned over to continue what he had started.

    They had a romantic night indeed.

    The next day, Xia Ling woke up with a backache and only felt as if her bones were about to fall apart.

    She resisted her splitting headache from her hangover and got out of bed. Wait, get out of bed? Didn¡¯t she sleep on the sofa in the living room downstairsst night? Last night... What exactly happenedst night?

    The memories flooded back to her bit by bit. She remembered that ss of unscrupulous alcohol, Big Boss¡¯ body head and...

    Suddenly, her face turned hot and she covered her face in embarrassment. Oh god, how could she sleep with him so easily? This was absurd and he was inhumane! She sighed and got out of bed. She promised to restrain herself and stand up for her and Shaohui after Big Boss ditched them. She promised herself that she would make Big Boss wait in agony as he chased after her. <i>Oh, Xia Ling. How could you forget all your grievances just because someone made a cocktail for you! Are you an idiot?</i>

    She secretly cursed at herself and then cursed Big Boss Li. It really hurt. <i>Li Lei, you... You have never been so harsh before! Are you a dog or a human?!</i>

    With tears in her eyes, she groaned as she took a shower and changed her clothes.

    Filled with resentment, she went downstairs. She heard some noise from the kitchen and a servant greeted her. ¡°Miss, Mr. Li is in the kitchen preparing your breakfast. He said that you love fresh cabbage and, to preserve its original taste, he specially prepared a morning sd dressing for you that you can¡¯t buy outside.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s legs went soft. Who cared about some sd dressing?

    ¡°Quickly make that jerk leave.¡± She whispered. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see him.¡±

    ¡°I heard that... you are trying to chase me away?¡± Behind her, that jerk¡¯s yful yet somewhat dangerous voice was heard.

 Chapter 787 - Going Out to Buy Candies

    <h4>Chapter 787: Going Out to Buy Candies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was taken aback and spun around.

    She saw that Li Lei was wearing a robe and his muscr chest was slightly revealed. He was holding a spat in his hand, be the way he held it looked like he was holding a scepter. In the morning light, he smiled and faintly said, ¡°Afterst night, you have to be responsible for me.¡±

    Her face turned redder and she nced subtly at the maid.

    Why was this man such a loud talker? The servant was still there!

    The elderly maid closed her mouth slightly and silently smiled. How good it was to be young. They could even engage in outrageous activities like roleying as master and ve. They were as sweet as honey. Knowing that it was a delicate situation, she said, ¡°Miss Ye and Mr. Li, I will go to the backyard to water the nts. Please carry on with your conversation.¡± After that, she left.

    Li Lei walked up and hugged Xia Ling.

    ¡°Did you sleep well?¡± He asked.

    Once he mentioned it, she realized that her body was aching and even her bones felt like they were about to break. She red at him angrily. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try it for yourself?¡±

    Without good intentions, he smiled. ¡°Sure, we can try it again tonight.¡±

    Only then did she realize that she said something wrong and hit him in her anger. However, as she did not use enough strength, he barely felt anything.

    Li Lei said rather lovingly, ¡°After breakfast, I remember that you have to work today?¡±

    When she opened her schedule and read it, she was thoroughly unwell. Today, she had to go to the studio to film a music video¡ªa very physically taxing activity. Considering her body¡¯s current situation, it was hard to stand straight, not to mention changing costumes and moving around with props... Xia Ling felt that her entire world turned grey.

    ¡°It¡¯s all your fault!¡± She was very unhappy and couldn¡¯t even eat her breakfast. ¡°Changling Studio¡¯s schedule is always very tight. If we don¡¯t film this today, I don¡¯t know when we will be able to get the venue again.¡± She lightly bit her cherry red lips until there was some blood. ¡°I have no choice but to go today.¡±

    Li Lei was very satisfied with the results ofst night. He wanted to drain all of her energy so that she would not run away with another man. However, he only thought it to himself silently. If he said that out, Xia Ling would definitely fall out with him. He coughed and tried to appease her. ¡°That¡¯s simple. I¡¯ll get the driver to send us there. I¡¯ll apany you and massage you on the way.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it and felt that this was the only way, so she nodded dejectedly.

    Big Boss was ted. He could be close and touch Xiao Ling again. Truth be told, her skin felt really nice to touch, and he was impatient for night time toe again.

    He attentively served Xia Ling breakfast. After that, the two of them got on the car.

    The backseat of the modified off-road car was very spacious. Xia Ling softlyid on the backseat and Big Boss touched her using the excuse of massaging her. However, it was really quitefortable...

    Hmm...

    Xia Ling fell into the enemy¡¯s hands.

    In this half-asleep state, she reached the filming studio. Big Boss helped her get off the car.

    Today, they were shooting a music video in cooperation with Feng Kun. She was acquainted with everyone, including the producers and directors. On the way, they greeted Xia Ling and nodded at Li Lei. They all heard about yesterday¡¯s sensational news. It turned out that Xia Ling¡¯s son who was born many years ago was Li Lei¡¯s. It was very difficult for the family of three to reunite.

    Some people congratted them.

    Even the director Jin Yifei came over to visit. Once he came in, he shouted, ¡°Sister-inw, congrattions! You¡¯re finally officially with Brother Li. Where is my nephew? Quickly let me see him.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°Who is your sister-inw?¡±

    Jin Yifei cheekily said, ¡°Li Lei is my brother, so of course you¡¯re my sister-inw. Why didn¡¯t you bring your son over to the studio to y? Quickly give us the wedding candies. After announcing such huge news, you should give us some candies.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. Jin Yifei was really skillful at this. No matter the asion, he could always make things lively. At the venue, many people started cheering with him. ¡°Give us the candy, Sister Xia Ling!¡±

    She was now a Diva. Although she was young, even people who were of higher positions had to call her ¡°sister.¡±

    She smiled, took out a nameless credit card from her bag, and threw it to the small clerk nearby. ¡°Go and buy some candies.¡±

    The small clerk acknowledged and quickly left.

    The assistant directed her to the dressing room. After her makeup was done, she changed into her costume for the shoot and found out that the small clerk was not back yet. ¡°Why is he so slow? Quickly look for someone to chase him.¡± She said.

    Just as she spoke, the curtains that were temporarily set up were torn apart. A tall figure walked over.

    The whole scene fell silent.

    She looked up and saw Pei Ziheng against the light. He was wearing a suit and had a bag of candies in his hand.

    Beside him, the clerk looked like he was about to cry and apologized. ¡°Sister Xia Ling, I didn¡¯t mean to do this...¡± Pei Ziheng was too overbearing and snatched his candies away without warning.

    Xia Ling put down the makeup bag in her hand.

    Li Lei stood up from the resting chair and stood in front of her protectively.

    ¡°Get lost.¡± Pei Ziheng was as cold as the depths of hell. His gaze was fixed on Xia Ling¡¯s body.

    Li Lei sneered. ¡°Pei Ziheng, did you wander to the wrong ce?¡±

    Only then did Pei Ziheng divert his gaze to him. He lifted the bag of candies and dropped it on the floor. Immediately, the colorful candies spilled out. ¡°Are you very happy about your son¡¯s identity being revealed?¡± His low voice made people shudder.

    Only then did everyone realize that when Xia Ling revealed the child¡¯s identity, she also revealed that ¡°Pei Shaohui¡± was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s biological son. To a man, this was an enormous insult, and even ordinary men would go crazy in this situation, let alone Pei Ziheng.

    Li Lei refused to give in. ¡°At the start, you used a despicable way to steal Xiao Ling from me. You¡¯re very happy about that too, right? Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t forget. This child was never yours, to begin with.¡±

    The crowd paid close attention and understood what Big Boss Li meant. There was more to the story? They all looked curiously as the intense situation unfolded. Jin Yifei, especially, wished that something violent would happen.

    Unfortunately, Pei Ziheng did not answer.

    His eyes were like an abyss as he looked at Xia Ling. ¡°That year, you begged me to keep your child and now you¡¯re treating me like this?¡± She did not know how much pressure he withstood from his family because of her. He did not care about any of that. Now, he only cared about her betrayal.

    In the eyes of the public, Xia Ling did not retreat. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I gave you a chance.¡± She did not say anything else. If it weren¡¯t for the Blissful Paradise incident, why would things turn so ugly?

    Initially, this matter could be solved using another way.

 Chapter 788 - I Will Give You An Explanation

    <h4>Chapter 788: I Will Give You An Exnation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng looked at her for a long time.

    He spat out one sentence. ¡°You still owe me.¡±

    Xia Ling felt as if a thorn was lodged in her heart. She remembered that when she was younger, he held her hand and brought her out of the orphanage. He promised her a happy life. Who would¡¯ve thought that this would happen?

    In the end, they gradually grew distant.

    She took a few steps forward, stood beside her beloved man, and looked up at Pei Ziheng. ¡°We were already done a long time ago.¡± After that, she held Li Lei firmly and decisively.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze fell on their interlocked hands. With a mysterious expression, he left.

    Everyone knew that this was not the end. Pei Ziheng was not the type of person to let go of people easily. Perhaps his anger just now was enough to eliminate everyone.

    Many staff members were brought over by Feng Kun and they all belonged to Imperial Entertainment. At this time, as they looked at their chairman walk out in a depressed mood, they couldn¡¯t help but ask Feng Kun worriedly, ¡°Producer Feng, are we still going to continue the shoot?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Why would we stop it?¡± His voice was calm and stable.

    He knew their concerns. The Pei Family was notorious for seeking revenge for the smallest grievance. Especially Pei Ziheng, who ensured that those who offended him suffered. However, Xia Ling was different. She was the only one who could challenge his authority and continue to live a good life. She was special.

    Feng Kun pped his hands. ¡°Everyone, disperse to do your jobs.¡±

    The crowd then left in all directors like wild animals and returned back to their jobs.

    The venue props were prepared. Xia Ling arrived at the venue wearing a gorgeous dress. She faced the camera and the shoot began. Perhaps it was the small squabble she had just now, but she just couldn¡¯t calm down. She was very irritated and could not get into the state for shooting. After the director shouted for the fourth time, she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I need to take a break.¡±

    Phoenix Down Corporation was hers, and she was also the investor.

    If the person who was paying them wanted to rest, who would dare to defy her?

    The director cooperated and paused the shooting for a while. He even thoughtfully asked someone to give her mineral water.

    Xia Ling took it and went to rest in a quiet, unupied corner. Her mind was in a mess. This was incredulous to her because she usually could transition into a serious state for shooting.

    She took a sip of water.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± A man walked towards her and knelt down.

    She turned around and saw Li Lei¡¯s face close to hers. ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood.¡± Before she could think, she blurted this out, and even she was shocked.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°Because of Pei Ziheng?¡±

    She lowered her eyes and stared at the smallbel on the mineral water for a long time before saying, ¡°Shaohui suffered too much in Blissful Paradise. Your grandpa, Pei Ziheng... This was the cause of two conspirators, and they did not receive any punishment.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes darkened. Was that why Xiao Ling was upset?

    ¡°Actually...¡± He hesitated for a while before saying, ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that Pei Ziheng was walking a little strangely? I hired people to beat him up, and he¡¯s not fully recovered yet from the broken bones.¡± After finding out that Pei Ziheng colluded with Old Master Li to harm Shaohui, Li Lei did not hesitate. He wanted to look for Pei Ziheng personally and beat him up himself.

    However, he was worried that Xia Ling would be worried, so he did not tell her about it.

    Even though he was speaking now, he did not tell her that he was the one who did it and pushed the responsibility on his subordinates.

    He was very harsh and Pei Ziheng did not hold back either. Although he broke Pei Ziheng¡¯s bones, he suffered some serious injuries and was still in a little pain.

    Xia Ling was surprised. ¡°You hired people to beat him up?¡±

    Li Lei was a little embarrassed. ¡°I initially wanted to dislocate one of his hands, but I was worried that you would feel sorry for him.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°You should¡¯ve done it!¡±

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°Then I will fight with him again. This time, I won¡¯t make any concessions.¡±

    Xia Ling sighed. ¡°Forget it. I¡¯m not being serious.¡± Although she hated Pei Ziheng, she couldn¡¯t bear to break his hand or leg when it came to seeking revenge. She still felt indebted to him because he adopted her and was her life savior for a long time. Hate and love were too entangled in this situation.

    Unconsciously, she tightened her grip around the mineral water bottle. ¡°So what if you just remove one of his hands? Pei Ziheng never cared about something like that.¡± He was cruel towards others but worse to himself. He was a cruel devil-like man that could not be defeated by a few injuries.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I thought so too.¡±

    She fell silent. Her heart was empty and she was filled with resentment that she did not know how to vent.

    Li Lei looked at her warmly. ¡°Xiao Ling, you have to be happy. Your happiness is the best revenge.¡±

    Xia Ling was startled. Wasn¡¯t that true? If she could be happy after leaving that demon and not even look at him again, it was probably that man¡¯s worst nightmare...

    She would be happy.

    And get the best revenge possible.

    However, she was in low spirits. She understood why she was uneasy. For a long time, she and Shaohui endured hardship and madepromises while the people who pushed her to this extent lived peacefully. Every one of them was rich and healthy.

    She turned around and asked Li Lei, ¡°What about your grandpa? After harming Shaohui, do you think he can be let off?¡±

    Li Lei remembered those days when they were on the cruise. Shaohui couldn¡¯t sleep well at night. He did not let others turn the light off and stuck to him in fear... Such a small child had so many nightmares and endured so much pain.

    ¡°I will give you an exnation for this.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°What exnation?¡± Xia Ling said with gging interest. ¡°Make him apologize? Do you think an understatement of an apology can make up for the danger and scars? Li Lei, he¡¯s your grandpa. I don¡¯t believe you can break his limbs.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°It won¡¯t just be an apology.¡±

    She lifted her head and looked at him.

    However, he did not answer her doubts. He only touched her soft hair. ¡°Just wait and see.¡±

    Somewhat unwillingly, she nodded. However, her heart was still empty. She started to think of her child again. She missed that small figure. Was he doing alright living with his uncle? When exactly could she take her child home from his uncle¡¯s home?

    With a head full of thoughts, her next shoots were not very smooth. However, with the experience that she umted over the years, shepleted the job at a high level.

    When it was time to wrap up, Feng Kun said to her, ¡°Xiao Ling, you need to rest well.¡±

    She replied, ¡°I know.¡±

    She got on Li Lei¡¯s car and he drove her back to her vi.

    Seeing that she was in a bad mood, he stayed in the vi to apany her. They ate dinner together and went to bed. This time, nothing happened except for the fact that she slept peacefully in his arms. With her head on his chest, she listened to his strong yet calm heartbeat and drifted off to sleep.

    When she woke up the next day, the servant was knocking on the door. ¡°Miss Ye and Mr. Li, Old Master Li is here.¡±

 Chapter 789 - The Li Family Changed

    <h4>Chapter 789: The Li Family Changed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Old Master Li? Why was he here?

    Xia Ling was filled with questions and raised her head from Li Lei¡¯s naked chest. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see him.¡±

    Li Lei reached out and stroked her soft hair. His ck hair shined in the morning light with a fascinating luster. He warmly said, ¡°I will see him. If you don¡¯t want to, you don¡¯t have to appear.¡±

    She nodded and watched as he got up, wore a robe, and went downstairs.

    She tossed and turned on the bed for some time. Initially, she wanted to go back to sleep, but no matter what, her mind was just upied by what was going on downstairs. After hesitating for some time, she sighed and gave up. She got up, took a shower, applied makeup, and made herself look wless before she walked downstairs wearing thetest dress of the season.

    Li Lei and Old Master Li were in the tea room together.

    The Japanese styled paneled door was slightly ajar.

    She heard Old Master Li¡¯s voice. ¡°That¡¯s our ancestral purple jade bracelet. Only the mistress of the Li Family is worthy of wearing it. I¡¯ve brought it here. Give it to her and tell her that the Li Family is willing to ept her.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was low and deep. ¡°It¡¯s toote, grandpa. If you took the bracelet out before we boarded the Blissful Paradise cruise, Xiao Ling would be really happy. She is a soft-hearted girl, and you don¡¯t know how happy she would¡¯ve been if you treated her well then... However, she¡¯s also a very fragile girl. Once she¡¯s hurt, it¡¯s very difficult for her to get over it. She won¡¯t ept this bracelet.¡±

    Xia Ling stopped in her footsteps. She stood at the doorway and listened to their conversation quietly.

    Old Master Li¡¯s voice was somewhat hoarse. ¡°You know that I never cared about her status. When I was choosing your wife, I only cared about her personality. Based on this, Ye Xingling can never match up to Su Tang. If she isn¡¯t willing to marry into the Li Family, it¡¯s fine. She¡¯s the one unwilling, so Preceptor Xia can¡¯t me us. You would be happy after getting Shaohui back and marrying that girl as your wife.¡±

    Old Master really did not care about family status.

    After learning about their rtionship and The Preceptor, he was overjoyed and thought of the enormous benefits that woulde if the Li Family and the Xia Family were united by marriage. However, after calming down, he was afraid. He was on bad terms with Xia Ling, and that girl did not look nice to mess with. In the future, she could ask her family to destroy the Li Family with just a word.

    That sort of possibility was too terrifying.

    Now that Old Master was willing to let Xia Ling marry into the family, he had to worry more about the revenge of the Xia Family than ever.

    If Xia Ling was unwilling to marry into his family, the Xia Family could not find any fault with him. Wasn¡¯t that something to be happy about?

    Outside, Xia Ling understood Old Master¡¯s intentions. Years passed by coldly. She did not expect that after seeing close friends and family stab each other in the back, she would have to witness it again.

    She did not hear the rest of the conversation. She silently walked away.

    When Li Lei sent Old Master Li away, he saw her on the swing in the yard.

    Wearing a light pink dress, she was drenched in sunlight. Holding the ivy-covered handrails with her white fingers, she swayed like a butterfly and looked lost in her thoughts.

    Li Lei called her. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    As if she suddenly returned to reality from her deep thoughts, she turned around and looked at them.

    Old Master Li took a few steps forward and spoke in a genial tone. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m very sorry foring over and disturbing you early in the morning. I brought over a gift. Xiao Lei will hand it to youter.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to talk to him. Faintly, she responded. ¡°I¡¯m a little tired.¡±

    After being in charge of the Li Family for so many years, he never experienced the cold-shoulder before. He almost shot her a murderous look. However, Li Lei was sharp and noticed it, so he quickly went up to separate them. He smiled as if nothing happened and said, ¡°Grandpa, be careful on your way back. I will find some time to visit you.¡±

    Old Master look at his grandson deeply. Slowly, the unkind expression on his face faded.

    After living for so long, he knew when it was time to endure. He took a deep breath and his kind tone was restored. He urged his grandson. ¡°Take care of Miss Ye.¡±

    Li Lei acknowledged him and watched as Old Master Li walked out the fence door of the vi.

    Xia Ling continued to sit on the swing unhappily.

    Li Lei reached out and helped her push the swing lightly. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve suffered a grievance. Grandpa is the head of the family and has to consider how the marriage of his grandson will affect the family. He did not target you on purpose.¡±

    Only then did she raise her head and slowly said, ¡°You knew that I was outside?¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°If I didn¡¯t cover it up, grandpa would have known. Xiao Ling, don¡¯t do something so dangerous in the future. In the eyes of a veteran in battle, the way you tried to eavesdrop was child¡¯s y.¡±

    She red at him. ¡°This is my home.¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is your home.¡± He pushed her swing gently again. ¡°In the future, the entire Li Family will be your home.¡±

    She looked at the tree a short distance away. The green leaves sparkled in the golden sunlight. Out of spite, she said, ¡°I won¡¯t marry into the Li Family.¡± She was not willing to degrade herself to that extent by marrying into a family who looked at her with disdain. That would be lowering herself and it would bring shame to her family.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no rush. I will wait until the day you are willing.¡±

    Unexpectedly, the day she was willing came very soon.

    After Old Master Li visited the vi, Xia Ling recorded music and finished her jobs as usual. When she was bored, she called her brother and asked to bring Shaohui over. After being ruthlessly denied, she took her anger out on Li Lei. Hitting Li Lei when she was eating or sleeping became amon urrence.

    Li Lei dly endured the hardship and smiled as she took advantage of him.

    It was to the extent that she even forgot that he was a big boss who could make people shudder with his authority. She did not ask what he was busy with because she was also very busy. In order to rush for a job or a concert, she would disappear for ten days.

    Suddenly, on one day when she participated in amercial shoot, she overheard the staff discussing something. ¡°Big news! Big news! The internal structure of the Li Family has changed. Old Master Li Shanhe stepped down and gave his position to his grandson Li Lei! This is revolutionary!¡±

    In shock, she pulled the staff over and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡±

    The staff looked at her and was more shocked than her. He stuttered. ¡°Miss... Ye... You don¡¯t know about this? The news said that Old Master Li and Second Young Master Li had a ceremonial ritual at the headquarters yesterday. Since then, Old Master Li is no longer the head of the Li Family. The true head of the family is now Second Young Master Li Lei!¡±

 Chapter 790 - Picking You Up in a Helicopter

    <h4>Chapter 790: Picking You Up in a Helicopter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The news was too sudden, making her dumbfounded.

    After not seeing him for a few days, how did Li Lei win the authority of the Li Family and be its new head? She went to the ind where the headquarters was and knew what kind of terrifying weapons and heavily armed guards were employed there. Despite this, Li Lei seized the power of the headquarters in such a short amount of time?!

    Her heartbeat was a little irregr. What kind of man was the person she was in love with?

    Just as she was lost in her thoughts, a staff member suddenly ran towards her. Holding his knees and gasping for air, he said, ¡°Miss... Ye... Something big has happened. Quickly go out and take a look!¡±

    She did not know what was going on, so she left with the staff member and arrived at the high steps of the performance hall. Immediately, they were dazzled by the scene outside. On therge square, a beautiful white helicopter was parked. The propellers made a roaring sound. A handsome man, who was as good looking as the world¡¯s top model, stood beside the helicopter holding arge bouquet of roses and was shing her a vibrant smile.

    He was followed by several bodyguards which were all tall and muscr.

    Further away, the area was cordoned off. There were many journalists and fans gathered outside. They raised their cameras and mobile phones and crazily took photos of them.

    ¡°Li Lei.¡± She smiled and whispered.

    The man holding the roses climbed up the white marble steps and stood in front of her.

    She looked at him. The sunlight fell on him, giving his body a warm golden tint.

    Li Lei ced the flowers in her hand and gently kissed her forehead. In a maic voice, he said, ¡°I¡¯m here to bring you home.¡±

    Her eyshes fluttered like a butterfly¡¯s wings. ¡°Home?¡±

    He stopped talking, held her hand, and walked down the steps. Behind the cordoned area, the sounds of cameras clicking and screams became crazier. Not only did they not disperse, but the fans also started cheering for them hysterically. ¡°Ye Xingling! Li Lei! Ye Xingling! Li Lei!¡±

    She and he were in the center of the crowd just like a prince and princess in a fairytale.

    A teenage girl said to her friend with a dreamy expression, ¡°It¡¯s really a helicopter. Ye Xingling is so lucky. Her beloved man flew a helicopter to pick her up. If only I could have a boyfriend like him.¡±

    Her friend was also very envious. ¡°Unfortunately, meeting someone like Second Young Master Li requires luck. He¡¯s already the most powerful Chinese leader of the triad andes from the Italian mafia. How many men are like him? Only a woman like Xiao Ling is worthy of him.¡±

    The two girls sighed. Like the other fans, they watched as they got on the helicopter.

    The helicopter slowly took off and headed towards the sky.

    Xia Ling sat in the helicopter but did not forget to wave to the crowd from the ss window. Her smile was as sweet as the blooming of the first flower and her crystal beaded dress that she did not have time to change made her beauty stand out even more. At this moment, many girls envied her. If they could live such a happy life and have such a devoted boyfriend, they would die without regrets.

    The helicopter finally vanished into the sky.

    Only then did Xia Ling stop waving from the window. She took off her high heels in an udylike manner and walked barefoot on the soft, thick wool carpet in the helicopter.

    ¡°I¡¯m deadbeat.¡± Sheined. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you call beforeing? I haven¡¯t even changed yet.¡±

    ¡°What you¡¯re wearing is great.¡± Li Lei, the pilot, smiled. ¡°I wanted to give you a surprise.¡±

    She rubbed her feet. When she looked down, she saw a trace of blood. Her heel was hurt by the high heels. These shoes were meant for the performance and were notfortable. When she was on stage, she already felt her feet hurting. Initially, she wanted to change them for the next round of performances, but unexpectedly, she was sent 30,000 feet above the ground by him.

    She found a tissue in her bag and wiped the blood away.

    She did not tell him that her feet were hurt. At this time, she had to satisfy her curiosity first. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I like it, but I sure am shocked. How did you manage to suddenly take over the whole family?¡±

    Li Lei skillfully maneuvered the helicopter. ¡°I said before that I would give you an exnation.¡±

    She was startled again and finally remembered that in the past few days, she was depressed and grievously asked why the people who hurt Shaohui were not punished... It turned out that he always remembered to get even for them.

    This was his exnation.

    Li Lei did not turn around and continued to say, ¡°Now, I am in control of the Li Family. They will listen to my orders and no longer hurt you. I will take you back to the headquarters to let everyone know that you are my most beloved woman.¡±

    She was silent.

    He flew the ne for a while and noticed something wrong. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked.

    Finally, she said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I am... very happy.¡± She would be lying if she said she was unhappy. This man was willing to do so much for her to ensure that she and their son would be safe in the future. This was really something to be happy about. However, she had a bad experience on the ind of the headquarters before...

    Thest time she went there, they all rejected her vehemently. Would they ept her this time?

    As if he saw her concerns, Li Lei said, ¡°You are my woman and the mistress of the ind.¡±

    Mistress of the ind? She forced a smile but was still nervous.

    The helicopternded on the familiar yet foreign ind.

    Just like the previous time, it was surrounded by green trees. Sea breeze blew against the castle, which was mysterious and majestic.

    The only difference was,

    She became even more anxious.

    When Li Leinded the helicopter, the subordinates had already lined up on the tarmac.

    Li Lei did not open the door of the helicopter but said to her, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t be afraid. This time the security is very tight because I just took over as head of the family. It will be better in a few days.¡±

    She nodded.

    Only then did he open the rear hatch. He went out first and turned around to help her.

    She was a little unsteady as she tried to stand on the wool carpet and her bruises were exposed in front of him. He slightly frowned and decided to carry her instead. He carefully lifted her light body and carried her out of the helicopter.

    Under the subordinate¡¯s gazes, her face suddenly became red.

    ¡°Let me down.¡± She whispered and did not dare to look around.

    From the apron to some distance away, a group of people stood in rows. They were all dressed in formal attire. There were men and women of all ages, and their faces seemed to have simr characteristics. It looked like the whole family had gathered to wee the return of their new leader and her...

    Their young leader¡¯s woman.

 Chapter 791 - Su Tang Is Unworthy

    <h4>Chapter 791: Su Tang Is Unworthy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She¡¯d walked down the red carpet in the spotlight for two lifetimes and yet still couldn¡¯t help but blush today, as Li Lei carried her down the aisle with her feet bare and her ankle injured.

    He looked at her ears which had gone red andughed quietly. ¡°Rx, nobody¡¯s going to eat you up here. They¡¯re all so envious of you.¡± It was an ultimate honor to be the mistress of the Li n leader. Even the other magnates and wealthy families all around the world were in awe by this. Well, except for the Xia family.

    Her ears got even redder as she hid in his chest, too embarrassed to look up.

    Everybody he walked past¡ªwith her in his arms¡ªwas standing in two straight rows. They bowed slightly with their right hand over their chest, offering their greatest respect to their leader and his wife.

    Among them, a three-year-old girl looked up in awe and turned to her mother. ¡°Mom, look! That big sister is so beautiful.¡± From her view, she could only see the extravagant, gem-studded gown, her long hair, and part of her face. She looked like a princess and a goddess all at once.

    The little girl was mesmerized.

    Her mother hurriedly nudged her. ¡°Keep your head down.¡±

    The children did not quite understand the situation, but the adults knew full well why Second Young Master, who had been raised by Old Master Li, rebelled. They heard that it was all because of this woman here. Some said it was romantic, while others said it was absurd, but there was no denying the ugly truth thaty beneath this extravagant ceremony today. Chaos had broken out in the Li family, lives were lost in the midst of it, and people had turned against one another, just for the fate of this ¡°throne.¡± It was a hefty price to pay...

    Only thisdy named Ye Xingling was being pampered by the new leader.

    Second Young Master Li was making a statement¡ªshe was his bottom line.

    Trespass it at your own risk.

    After a long walk, Li Lei had finally reached the main hall with Xia Ling still in his arms.

    He carefully ced her on the throne before sitting beside her. Among the people lined up in two rows, those of higher status had entered the main hall as well and were now standing before them.

    Li Lei said in a serious voice, ¡°This is your mistress.¡±

    Everyone bowed with respect once again.

    Xia Ling raised her chin as she sized them up. Some of the faces were familiar to her, while others weren¡¯t. She had seen a few of them thest time she came, and as for those she had never seen¡ªording to Li Lei, they were the important leaders who had been assigned to different parts of the world for their tasks and were called back to especially witness the weing of their mistress.

    ¡°The one right in front of you is in charge of the ASEAN region, Li Fangxian.¡± Li Lei began introducing each of them to her. ¡°On his left is Li Pengcheng, in-charge of the North American region. In the secondst row are Li Qingyun and Li Chang¡¯an, both in charge of the security and logistics of our n.¡±

    Shemitted each of their names and faces to memory and nodded her head to every single one in acknowledgment.

    They were being extremely polite to her now, and one could barely tell that these were the same people who¡¯d wished her dead when she arrived years ago. Yet, behind this facade could be unhappiness that they couldn¡¯t disy.

    A young man stepped forward and asked, ¡°Second Young Master, she hasn¡¯t been married in and still isn¡¯t part of the family yet. How could she deserve a grand wee ceremony like this, as if she was our great Madam?¡±

    ¡°She will be your Madam.¡± Li Lei left no room for doubt.

    ¡°Then what about Sister Su Tang!¡± That young man was evidently on good terms with Su Tang. ¡°And Xiao Rui!¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, and he was about to lose his cool when Xia Ling squeezed his hand.

    She held her gaze at that young man and spoke in a crystal clear voice that sounded somewhat like Xia Moyan. ¡°How could you even think ofparing me to Su Tang? Andparing my son to Li Rui? I¡¯m Li Lei¡¯s only woman in this lifetime, and my son is the oldest son of this generation of Li¡¯s. What does she have to be in my league?¡±

    The young man was shocked by how imposing her tone was.

    That was how majestic a Phoenix was.

    Yet, he refused to give in, and said angrily, ¡°Sister Su Tang and Young Master are childhood sweethearts who grew up together!¡±

    ¡°Childhood sweethearts, huh.¡± Xia Ling scoffed. She scanned the room slowly. ¡°But I heard Li Lei isn¡¯t Su Tang¡¯s only childhood sweetheart. All the children in the Li family grew up together, isn¡¯t it? Whoever grew up with her, step forward.¡±

    Everyone in the hall exchanged nces, but nobody moved.

    Li Lei echoed in a somber voice. ¡°Step forward.¡±

    Only then did some of them begin stepping forward. Including that young man, there were seven of them who grew up with Su Tang, five of whom were men. Xia Ling sneered. ¡°How about all of you marry Su Tang instead?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too vile!¡± The same young man responded.

    Xia Ling gave him the death stare. ¡°Am I wrong? ording to your reasoning, childhood sweethearts who grew up together should get married. In that case, I¡¯m applying it to all of you.¡±

    The young man was at a loss for words.

    Xia Ling got serious. ¡°All of you grew up with Su Tang, and it¡¯s alright that you admire and respect her. But please be clear about who Li Lei¡¯s woman is, and don¡¯t create trouble for her.¡±

    Thest few words sounded a little sinister.

    It sent a chill down their spines. It was strange, the one sitting in the throne was just a female celebrity, a girl who had no experience in the triad matters. Yet, everyone here, despite having been trained inbat, felt oppressed and intimidated by her when she spoke.

    At that moment, some of them were beginning to change their minds about her.

    They initially felt that she was unworthy of the title, but now began to think otherwise.

    A few bowed their heads even lower.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with this result. If there was anything she learned thest time she went to the Li family headquarters, it was that she could not always depend on Li Lei alone. Even if Li Lei loved her to bits, and did all he could to protect her, she would still be in danger if she couldn¡¯t win the heartfelt respect of the rest.

    She wanted everyone to approve of her.

    Li Lei, on the other hand, was still unhappy with what had happened. He ordered. ¡°Take Li Xiaoyao to get some sea breeze and wisen up.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao was the young man who had spoken up.

    Upon hearing what Li Lei had said, a few people in the hall grimaced. ¡°Young Master!¡±

    Li Lei calmly added, ¡°You people should join him as well.¡±

    No one dared say another word.

    That young man and the few others who tried pleading for him were taken away.

    Xia Ling asked out of curiosity, ¡°What does it mean to get some sea breeze?¡±

    Li Lei smiled but did not answer her question. He simply lifted her from the throne. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you to get some rest.¡±

 Chapter 792 - Uninvited Guest in Fall

    <h4>Chapter 792: Uninvited Guest in Fall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He carried her out of the hall the same way he did when they arrived.

    It probably took just once for her to familiarize herself. This time, as he walked down the middle of the hall, she did not blush anymore. Instead, her chain was tipped up slightly with pride, just like she was the queen.

    She was his woman, or rather, he belonged to her.

    Since they were openly and officially together now, she had a right to be this proud.

    Li Lei liked it when she acted this way. Once they arrived at their amodation¡ªThunderous Yard¡ªhe closed the door and began nting kisses on her, making herugh and duck away. ¡°No... your stubble is pricking me.¡±

    Only then did he realize that he had gotten too busy these days to shave his beard, and it was starting to grow out as a little stubble. Heughed and continued trying to prick her. ¡°You¡¯re my woman now, you¡¯ve got to get used to your husband¡¯s beard, alright?¡±

    ¡°If you dare leave your beard out, I¡¯ll break up with you!¡± She red at him teasingly and burst outughing when she tried imagining him with a beard.

    Heughed as well. ¡°Alright, no beard.¡±

    This time, he got close to take in her scent but was careful not to prick her.

    Lying down on the tatami mat with her long hair flowing down her shoulders, she looked as leisurely as a house cat. She reached out her hand and caressed his face gently. She remembered how shameless he had been back then when he specially waxed his hair and wore a brand new suit to fetch her at Feng Kun¡¯s house, just so he wouldn¡¯t look any inferior to Pei Ziheng.

    But now?

    He had actually forgotten to shave his beard for such an important ceremony.

    Just how busy had he been recently?

    Her heart began to ache for him.

    Li Lei held her hand and kissed her palm. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He seemed to have read her mind. ¡°The n to take over the throne went more smoothly than I expected. We got the army to surround Grandpa when he let his guard down and appealed to him with both logic and emotion. The handover waspleted in no time.¡±

    Xia Ling knew it wasn¡¯t as easy as he made it out to be.

    If Old Master Li could be appealed by logic and emotion, would things have gotten to this state?

    ¡°Liar.¡± She whispered.

    He smiled. ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°Yup, I know.¡± After going through so much together, she truly believed that this must be the deepest love she¡¯d ever know. Back when they were making preparations to get onto Paradise cruise, he had handed her the whip and knelt before her willingly. At that time, she knew that she was never going to let him go.

    This was fate.

    Maybe, all those days of being tortured by Pei Ziheng were just for the heavens to let her know how much Li Lei¡¯s kneeling down to her meant. It was almost like a voice telling her that this was the Phoenix¡¯s parasol tree.

    Her parasol tree.

    She wrapped her other arm around his neck and pulled him closer into a kiss.

    It was an enchanting night.

    As dawn approached, she opened her eyes in a daze and overheard someone whispering outside. ¡°Miss Su has been kneeling at the entrance for a long time. She says she isn¡¯t leaving until she sees you.¡±

    The other voice she heard was Li Lei¡¯s, but she couldn¡¯t make out what he was saying.

    Xia Ling turned around and realized that there was nobody on the other pillow, but it was still warm. She guessed he must¡¯ve been called up just a while ago. She reached for the nearest outfit she could find and got off the bed.

    As she walked to the door, she heard that person say, ¡°It¡¯s cold at night, and very harmful for the body.¡±

    She heard Li Lei a little more clearly this time. He sounded annoyed. ¡°Send someone to take her away.¡±

    She opened the door.

    Li Lei turned around. ¡°Xiao Ling? Why are you up so early, did we wake you?¡± His tone waspletely different from a moment ago.

    She felt as if this man had changed after he held more power.

    Or rather, maybe she had never noticed this side of him? He wasn¡¯t always friendly when he spoke to his subordinates, and sometimes, he even sounded cruel and violent.

    She did not know if this change was good or not.

    But she remembered something that Pei Ziheng had said before: [If a man wants to protect something, then he must allow himself to be cold and harsh.]

    She couldn¡¯t help but feel afraid that he would be like this someday.

    And this fear could fester in the future.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Su Tang?¡± She asked. ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    That subordinate nced at her and then led the way to the entrance. When they arrived, they saw that Su Tang was indeed kneeling on the steps. It was already Fall, but she was only wearing a t-shirt as if she had rushed out of her bedroom without having time to change up. The V-neck cor was a little low, and one could vaguely see her cleavage.

    ¡°Get Miss Su a sweater.¡± That was Xia Ling¡¯s first order.

    The subordinate hurriedly went to get it.

    Su Tang looked up. She was pale, and her lips were turning purple from the cold, but she still looked elegant and beautiful. The dew from the wee hours had added moisture to her fabric and skin, causing the thin clothing to entuate her figure even more.

    ¡°Young Master...¡± She looked at Li Lei only.

    Seeing the way Su Tang looked at Li Lei, she turned to him. ¡°Go in!¡±

    But Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t have to worry about this. I¡¯ll settle it.¡±

    ¡°Then turn around!¡± Xia Ling was still taking it out on him.

    Li Lei was shocked for a while before realizing that she was being jealous. He couldn¡¯t help but grin as he turned away from Su Tang.

    The way she treated Li Lei, and the way Li Lei took it graciously and willingly, made Su Tang angry and envious all at the same time. The two of them appeared to be showing off how loving they were. She looked down at the t-shirt she had picked conscientiously and felt indignant. In her script, the story should¡¯ve unfolded as such: Li Lei would pity her for kneeling by the door for a night and be attracted by her figure. He would then drape a sweater over her personally.

    Who knew Xia Ling would appear and ruin the plot.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What are you doing, kneeling at my front door in the middle of the night?¡±

    Her front door?! Su Tang clenched her teeth so hard she thought they might shatter. This was obviously Li Lei¡¯s house! Her Young Master¡¯s house! She remembered how she had carefully picked out every tree and every inch of grass in Thunderous Yard, cleaned up the ce countless times over the years, and sat here to have some tea with Young Master.

    Ever since this woman appeared, everything had changed.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression darkened, but she refused to answer Xia Ling¡¯s question. ¡°Miss Ye, if I¡¯ve offended you, please juste at me. Don¡¯t take it out on Xiaoyao and the rest.¡±

    Xia Ling was confused, what was going on?

    ¡°Who¡¯s Xiaoyao?¡± She asked.

    Su Tang said, ¡°... The person who offended you yesterday, and was punished by Young Master to get some sea breeze.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling recall his name¡ªLi Xiaoyao. ¡°What¡¯s with the sea breeze?¡± She was curious again. ¡°I didn¡¯t even take it out on them.¡±

 Chapter 793 - Against the Rules

    <h4>Chapter 793: Against the Rules</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei frowned a little. <i>It¡¯s better for her not to know about some things.</i>

    But Su Tang looked sorrowful. ¡°Miss Ye, don¡¯t you know? It¡¯s...¡±

    ¡°Su Tang.¡± Li Lei stopped her mid-sentence.

    Xia Ling shot an unfriendly nce at him. ¡°Let her finish. What are you hiding from me?¡±

    Li Lei appeared innocent. ¡°Why would I be hiding anything from you? I¡¯m letting them cool down by getting some sea breeze. Once they¡¯re calm, they will stop creating trouble.¡±

    Xia Ling was suspicious. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    She looked at Li Lei, and then at Su Tang. Su Tang looked as if she had more to say, but stopped herself.

    Xia Ling decided. ¡°Take me there to have a look.¡±

    ¡°Have a look at what?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°The sea breeze.¡± Xia Ling red at him discreetly.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Xiao Ling, it¡¯s going to take a while before the sun rises. The night is cold, and it¡¯s pretty far from here¡ªyou shouldn¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°I want to go,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m not as weak as you think I am, and I know what your family is like. You didn¡¯t get to where you are today by talking things out amicably with the people around you. Take me there.¡±

    Seeing that she was determined, Li Lei had no other choice. ¡°Alright, but put on a few more pieces of clothes.¡±

    She nodded and got him to lead the way. Su Tang naturally stood up to follow them.

    Xia Ling stopped and turned to Su Tang. ¡°Why are youing along?¡±

    Su Tang was surprised by her question. ¡°Thank you, Miss Ye, for being willing to save them. I¡¯ll lead the way for you.¡± She¡¯d knelt for too long and looked a little exhausted. There were marks on her knees from kneeling on the soil, and her hair was a mess.

    Xia Ling was rather unhappy. ¡°Get yourself cleaned up. Don¡¯t let others think that I¡¯ve bullied you.¡±

    Su Tang was caught by surprise. Wasn¡¯t that exactly her n? To kneel by the front door for a whole night and then plead with them pitifully on behalf of her fellow friends. Everybody would be grateful to Su Tang and see her as a loyalpanion, and that would emphasize how cruel and cold-blooded this new woman was. By then, everyone would be on her side and reject Xia Ling.

    Although Xia Ling wasn¡¯t as scheming as her, she could sense that something was amiss.

    And she hit the nail on the head.

    Su Tang turned pale from anger and disappointment and was lost for words.

    Li Lei frowned at her. ¡°Su Tang, go back and rest well. Xiao Ling and I will handle the situation regarding Xiaoyao. He¡¯s been with us for so many years, I know my limits.¡±

    Su Tang hung her head low silently and was helped by the maid as she left.

    The surroundings were quiet as they walked towards the sea. On the coast wererge reefs and rocks that stood amidst the sshing of the waves.

    The first light could be seen gleaming behind the clouds.

    Li Lei slowed down and told Xia Ling, ¡°It¡¯s right ahead.¡±

    Xia Ling walked in the direction he pointed and realized that there were a few people tied up standing. They were all those who spoke up yesterday, including Li Xiaoyao.

    They were in no more than boxers, and there were evident wounds and cuts on their skin. The wounds were evidently fresh, and some of them were still bleeding. Each time the tides came, the seawater woulde into contact with their open flesh, causing them to moan in agony.

    ¡°This is what it means to get some sea breeze,¡± said Li Lei in an innocent tone. ¡°We use this to manage disobedient people. That¡¯s how they learn.¡±

    Xia Ling had a rather unpleasant expression. She could see that some of the wounds had turned white from the exposure to salt and appeared extremely raw. A few of them seemed to have passed out before, but their eyes were half-open from the pain that bolted them awake.

    An eagle circled above their heads.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Will they die?¡±

    Li Lei kept quiet for a while before saying, ¡°It¡¯s up to the heavens.¡±

    He sounded so ruthless and cold that it disturbed her. She didn¡¯t like this feeling and decided to take a few steps towards those tied up. ¡°Release them.¡±

    There were two men assigned to watch over those being punished. They looked at each other, and then at Li Lei.

    Li Lei said to her, ¡°ording to the rules from our ancestors, they have to go through this for a full day. If the time¡¯s not up, it¡¯s not appropriate to release them.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t care about those rules.¡±

    Her slightly raised voice shocked them. Li Xiaoyao struggled to open his eyes and red at her. ¡°Ye... Xingling, drop... the pretense. You¡¯re... the bad... guy...¡± He began coughing profusely.

    As the tides came, some seawater entered his lungs and washed over his wounds.

    Turning pale from the pain, his chest rose and fell weakly.

    Xia Ling scoffed. ¡°You look like a dying fish, but I¡¯ll still let you go. I¡¯m just soft-hearted and can¡¯t bear to witness this.¡±

    She was speaking the truth.

    Although they offended her, she would never wish death upon them.

    The punishment they¡¯d received was more than enough.

    She looked at Li Lei. ¡°I said, release them.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao sneered with a distorted face. ¡°Wow... who do you think you are? He¡¯s the leader... of the Lis, why should he listen to a woman...¡±

    Before he had finished his sentence, he realized¡ª

    Li Lei was giving amand. ¡°Untie them.¡±

    W-What?!

    Li Xiaoyao was shocked at what had happened. A few them¡ªnow alert and conscious¡ªcould not believe what they¡¯d just heard. This punishment of ¡°getting some sea breeze¡± had been passed down for generations. It was to be executed for precisely one entire day, and their life and death was up to their destiny. Even one minute more or less to this punishment was not to be tolerated.

    But Li Lei actually flouted that rule and released them early.

    ¡°This... is not abiding by the rules!¡± Li Xiaoyao red at Li Lei weakly. ¡°Second Young Master, you¡¯re actually making an exception... for a woman!¡± He growled like a provoked beast. He knew this woman was a troublemaker, and he was right! A rule that had been passed down for so many generations was now ruined in her hands!

    ¡°What a nag.¡± Xia Ling said coldly and kicked Li Xiaoyao, who was now lying on the ground. She asked Li Lei, ¡°Can he be saved?¡±

    Li Lei nced at him and said, ¡°He won¡¯t die just yet.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling went ahead and kicked him a second time. This time, her shoe had hit his wound, and he let out a scream.

 Chapter 794 - Killing Two Birds with One Stone

    <h4>Chapter 794: Killing Two Birds with One Stone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling smiled coldly. ¡°Look how weak you are.¡±

    She didn¡¯t raise her voice, but in the chilly wind, her words felt just like another lump of salt to their wounds. ¡°If you¡¯re courting death, don¡¯t drag me into the picture. You¡¯re expecting me to take the me with my reputation? I¡¯m sorry, your worthless lives do not deserve to corrupt my hands or my name.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao was bursting with anger. How he wished he could take a piece of flesh off her! She actually implied that their lives were not even as valuable as her reputation?

    Who did she think she was?!

    Yet, however angry he was, he could do nothing about it.

    On their end, Li Lei was gently draping a sweater over her shoulders. ¡°The wind here is pretty strong. Don¡¯t mind these insensible brats, let¡¯s go.¡± He didn¡¯t even nce at the rest of them.

    She looked at him and smiled, before walking off as he said.

    ¡°Ye Xingling!¡± Li Xiaoyao was still screaming weakly from the coast.

    She stopped and turned around.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± Li Xiaoyao was panting as he uttered each word arduously. ¡°You¡¯d better listen, the Li family doesn¡¯t wee you... and never will! It¡¯s you who broke the rules of the ancestors, who caused chaos in the family, who made Second Young Master turn against Old Master!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really a windbag.¡± Li Lei said before Xia Ling had a chance to. He looked coldly at the half-dead being on the shore and said, ¡°Toss him into the sea.¡±

    He was really enraged now, and wouldn¡¯t mind taking a life.

    A few of the subordinates who followed them here walked over and were already carrying Li Xiaoyao to the sea.

    Li Xiaoyao had been tied up the whole night, and his wounds were still raw. Throwing him into the ocean would mean certain death. He closed his eyes.

    Xia Ling shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t kill him.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I won¡¯t allow anyone to be rude to you.¡± Even in a family like the Lis, death was considered a heavy penalty. It was seldom issued, especially when it involved someone like Li Xiaoyao who grew up in the household since he was a child. Li Lei was using this punishment to serve as a warning to everyone else. He needed to let them know just how important Xia Ling was!

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°He isn¡¯t worthy to die for me.¡± She did not like to watch people die. Even though she had numerous enemies, and wished that misfortune would befall them, death was never on her mind.

    After all, she was a celebrity in the entertainment industry and wasn¡¯t used to such situations.

    Li Lei raised his hand slowly, signaling for the subordinates to put him down. ¡°Today, I¡¯m letting you off on Xiao Ling¡¯s ount.¡± He made sure everyone was listening. ¡°From now on, Xiao Ling¡¯s order will be my order as well.¡±

    The subordinates bowed in understanding.

    He turned around and held Xia Ling¡¯s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He was taking a lot of effort to secure her position. He was willing to be the bad guy while letting her be the good guy who pleaded for leniency. If breaking the rules could make them respect her and be grateful to her, he was more than willing to do so.

    He knew Li Xiaoyao very well. Although he imed to hate Xia Ling to the core, something would¡¯ve changed the moment she saved his life. Li Xiaoyao was extremely loyal, and this was evident from how he stood up for Su Tang this time at his own risk. Now that Xia Ling had saved him, he owed her a favor, whether he liked it or not.

    He had her to thank for his life.

    He would find a chance to return this favor, and until then, Xia Ling would not die. There was now one less enemy against her and one more loyal bodyguard.

    It was killing two birds with one stone.

    Li Lei¡¯s spirits were lifted on the way back, as the golden sun began to rise.

    But Xia Ling was a little moody. Li Xiaoyao¡¯sst words to her kept echoing in her head: because of her, Li Lei had turned against Old Master Li, he had be unfilial.

    The price he paid was too hefty.

    Back at Thunderous Yard, she had breakfast with Li Lei with a heavy heart, before going back to the room to rest.

    Li Lei had just taken over the ¡°throne¡± and was extremely busy. After telling her to have a good rest, he set off for a busy day.

    Xia Ling tossed and turned in bed but could not fall asleep.

    She called a maid over. ¡°Tell me about your Young Master and Old Master.¡±

    ¡°Young Master and Old Master?¡± The maid was stunned.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Just speak the truth, I won¡¯t punish you.¡± She knew the maid had considerations. It was said that Old Master being ced under house arrest by Li Lei had be a hush-hush topic in the Li family.

    The maid hesitated. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m not too sure...¡±

    ¡°Not too sure?¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t like it when people lie to me, it makes me mad. If I¡¯m mad, Li Lei gets mad too, and I heard he¡¯s into killing recently.¡± She wouldn¡¯t believe that this maid could be unsure about their rtionship. When she brought Xia Ling clean clothes the previous day, she had just said that she watched Young Master grow up.

    As she guessed, the maid bent over slightly and asked, ¡°Miss Ye, what would you like to know?¡±

    ¡°Just tell me about them, it¡¯s your call.¡± She had no idea what she wanted to know exactly.

    Hence, the maid began her story. ¡°Old Master really loves Young Master. Among all the grandchildren, Young Master was the only one who was raised by Old Master personally. He always saved the best food and toys for Young Master and was only friendly to him. When it came to the others, he hardly ever smiled or said a word...¡±

    Once she started, she could barely stop. ¡°Young Master lost his mum when he was five, and he almost lost his life when First Young Master pushed him into the pond in winter. It was Old Master who watched over him by his bedside, feeding him his every meal and painstakingly nursed him back to health.

    ¡°Young Master was extremely yful when he was seven and had identally knocked over a whole room of antiques. Those were Old Master¡¯s favorite, and everyone expected him to punish Young Master harshly. But all Old Master did was ask if he was injured...

    ¡°When he was 12, Young Master killed someone for the first time, and it was an assassin. The assassin¡¯s dagger was just an inch from Old Master¡¯s heart¡ªif Young Master had just been a split second slower, Old Master would have been gone. That was the first time I saw Young Master cry so loudly. With the assassin¡¯s blood still on his face, he bawled his eyes out and asked Grandpa not to die...

    ¡°When he was 13...

    ¡°When he traveled...

    ¡°When Young Master returned and established Skyart...¡±

    The maid went on and on.

    Xia Ling was almost in a daze. She had always known that the two of them were close, but hearing about all these anecdotes really touched her. It was no wonder Li Xiaoyao and the rest were so against her¡ªthe grandfather and grandson were on such good terms until she came between them as an ¡°outsider.¡±

    Moreover...

    She looked out the window for a while¡ªthat old man must be feeling pretty down.

    She instructed the maid. ¡°Take me to see him.¡±

 Chapter 795 - A Long Talk

    <h4>Chapter 795: A Long Talk</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The maid hesitated. ¡°Well...¡±

    Second Young Master had only instructed her to take good care of Miss Ye, he never mentioned anything about taking her to see the Old Master.

    Xia Ling hurried her. ¡°Quick, take me there. If you¡¯re unwilling, I¡¯ll just get another person.¡±

    The maid thought for a while before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Since Second Young Master had entrusted her with Miss Ye, she had to ensure her safety. Second Young Master had only just taken power, and the system was still not well in ce yet. If anything were to happen, it¡¯d be toote for regrets... She had to take good care of Miss Ye.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She followed the maid to a quiet courtyard.

    This was actually where she met Old Master Li for the very first time when she first came to the headquarters years back. It was the same as how she remembered it, with dried leaves littering the ce in fall. She remembered how she used to be a naive little girl, expecting and hoping that the Old Master would like her, and fantasizing about a life of happy-ever-after with Li Lei. And yet, her dreams had been shattered when she came.

    This time, she had no hopes that the Li¡¯s would be friendly to her. She stood at the entrance with a stone cold heart, as she experienced the role reversal. Back then, she had to bow down to him, and now the tables had turned.

    What a joke the heavens were ying on them.

    She was still in her thoughts when the maid said, ¡°Miss Ye would like to see the Old Master.¡±

    The area was guarded by several armed men, and the atmosphere was somber and cold. Xia Ling looked at them and thought, <i>Li Lei has really turned against Old Master this time. Fancy him sending this many guards to keep him under house arrest.</i>

    The door opened.

    With the apaniment of a few guards, she entered.

    She walked through the dimly-lit reception pavilion and found the Old Master in the worship hall.

    It had only been a short while since theyst met, but Old Master seemed to have aged a lot. The wrinkles were more evident on his face now, and his back was slightly hunched. Instead of the energetic old man he used to be, he resembled an abandoned elderly instead.

    He looked at her with clouded eyes. ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    Xia Ling did not respond, she simply sized him up quietly.

    Old Master said, ¡°Get out.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling speak. ¡°Li Shanhe, do you still think of yourself as the powerful man you used to be? Don¡¯t lie to yourself, you¡¯re almost like a prisoner now, what right do you have to ask me to leave?¡±

    Old Master closed his eyes.

    Xia Ling sat in front of him. ¡°Look at you now, looking like degenerating skin and bones after you lost your power. Is power really all that important?¡±

    Old Master Li looked out the window, away from her.

    <i>What does this girl know? What I¡¯ve lost isn¡¯t power. My heart hurts the most when the grandson I¡¯ve raised all his life pointed a gun at me.</i>

    <i>Xiao Lei...</i>

    <i>Oh, Xiao Lei.</i>

    <i>You¡¯re abandoning Grandpa for an outsider?</i>

    As tears were beginning to well up in the Old Master¡¯s eyes, he closed his eyes again.

    Xia Ling seemed to have read his mind. ¡°Sure, maybe it isn¡¯t about power, but what you know as kinship.¡±

    He looked up and shouted at her, ¡°You have no right to talk about kinship. It was you who turned my grandson against me!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him, calm as ever. ¡°Li Shanhe, don¡¯t you get it? It isn¡¯t me who has no right to talk about kinship, neither is it Li Lei¡ªit¡¯s you. You feel hurt that your grandson has betrayed you, don¡¯t you? But you know what? He used to respect you and admire you to the skies.

    ¡°When he first started telling me about you, his eyes were always full of wonder. He said that Grandpa was the most deserving of respect.

    ¡°But, how did you treat him in return? When he brought his beloved woman to see you, hoping to receive your blessing, you shattered his hopes and almost killed me.

    ¡°Li Shanhe, did you know that all the pain you¡¯re feeling now, Li Lei has already experienced that years back!¡±

    Old Master kept quiet and maintained a straight face. But even so, it was evident that his grandson¡¯s betrayal was a huge blow to him. He didn¡¯t even look like the man he was before.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want Li Lei to be hurt.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t feel good taking over your power, you know. The maid told me that a few days back, Li Lei had brought you some medicine for your flu. When you threw them all onto the floor, Li Lei had squatted outside by the doorway for a long time. Li Shanhe, I hate you. You hurt my son, and now you¡¯re hurting the man I love most.¡±

    Old Master Li¡¯s lips quivered. ¡°There¡¯s no point in telling me all these. I will never forgive that ingrate.¡±

    Xia Ling mellowed down. ¡°I¡¯m not here to ask for you to forgive him.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re here to disy your prowess?¡± Old Master sneered. ¡°You¡¯re the Miss of the Xia family, and soon you¡¯ll be the Madam of the Li¡¯s. Are you getting smug?¡±

    Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°I¡¯m not here to disy anything. Li Shanhe, there are many things in this world that cannot be untangled or resolved. But since there¡¯s Li Lei and Shaohui, we¡¯re bound to be family in this lifetime, whether we like it or not. I¡¯m here today to ask for us to live in harmony.¡±

    ¡°Live in harmony?¡± Old Master Li eyed her.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Yes, live in harmony. Honestly, I don¡¯t like you, and I know you don¡¯t like me either. I don¡¯t intend to portray a false facade and act like we¡¯re all happy. I¡¯m just hoping that we¡¯ll mind our own business and be civil when we see each other. Let¡¯s not make things difficult for Li Lei, how¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Why should I agree to that?¡± Old Master Li scoffed. ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve this treatment from me.¡±

    ¡°You love him.¡± Xia Ling looked straight into his eyes.

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± He had reached his breaking point. ¡°I want to kill him so much!¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re feeling upset, but what I¡¯m trying to say is that Li Lei loves you a lot, even now. If you don¡¯t forgive him, he¡¯ll be in pain for the rest of his life.¡±

    Old Master shouted even louder, ¡°Leave! Right now!¡±

    Xia Ling got up from her seat. ¡°Think about it carefully.¡± And then she left.

    Behind her, the heavy doors were shut again. The maid who¡¯d been listening all this time heaved a sigh of relief¡ªthankfully, nothing much happened in there. However, she was beginning to see Miss Ye differently...

    Going by what Miss Ye said to Old Master, she was taking the big picture into consideration.

    Miss Ye really loved Second Young Master, and had the wisdom to be the Madam of the Li family.

    The maid was starting to form a different impression of her now. Initially, Su Tang had made her out to be an innocent and mindless little girl. But now it seemed like, innocent as she might be, she was able to make good and important decisions when needed.

    And this was what it took to be a Madam.

    When she went back, she had to let the other maids know about this.

    The maid beside Xia Ling had been thinking this the whole time.

 Chapter 796 - Attending the Banquet

    <h4>Chapter 796: Attending the Banquet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling and the maid walked back together.

    She asked the maid, ¡°Has Young Master been cing Old Master under house arrest all this time?¡±

    Any maid that could be left alone with Xia Ling was Li Lei¡¯s trusted subordinate. On hearing the question, she said, ¡°Yes, ever since the changes took ce, he had asked for Old Master to rest there. Now that the situation has not stabilized, and that First Young Master is missing, the public still has their eye on Second Young Master. Hence, Second Young Master can¡¯t let Old Master out yet. He needs to be extremely cautious.¡±

    She nodded. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t having an easy time.

    She did not want to cause him any more trouble. For the rest of the afternoon, she simply did some gardening around Thunderous Yard and did not n to be out of the house too often. It¡¯d be bad if someone plotted against her, just like thest time she came to the headquarters. Wouldn¡¯t that be a bother to Li Lei?

    Li Lei only returnedte at night.

    Xia Ling was lying on a chaise couch with a nket over her and appeared to have fallen asleep while waiting up for him. When he arrived, she rubbed her eyes. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re back.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart ached for her. He bent over and hugged her, asking gently, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get in bed and sleep?¡±

    ¡°I was waiting for you.¡±

    She hadn¡¯t waited up for somebody in a long time. All of a sudden, it felt like they were back to the simple, good times they had before when she waited for her beloved man to return homete in the night¡ªback then, her greatest frustration was having to decide what they should have for supper. She asked him, ¡°Have you eaten? I got the chef to prepare some chicken soup.¡±

    He was too busy to have dinner and appeared exhausted from a long day. Yet, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve eaten.¡±

    He kissed her before saying, ¡°But I¡¯m a little hungry now, let¡¯s have supper together.¡±

    She smiled. ¡°Sure.¡±

    A warm, dim light illuminated the room as they shared some chicken soup in the dining hall. The world beyond those walls was a rough and tough one, but at that moment, they were at peace.

    If only Shaohui was with them, how perfect that would be.

    She began thinking of her troubles.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°You went to look for Grandpa in the day?¡±

    His spies were all around in the headquarters. She knew that there was no way to keep this from him, and had no intention of doing so anyway. ¡°Yup, we can¡¯t go on like this. You and your grandpa have to get along eventually. I told him that I hope we can stay out of each others¡¯ business.¡± She did not borate on the unpleasant details of the conversation, lest it worried him.

    But Li Lei knew her well. If not for the fact that Old Master was his grandpa, given her prideful character, there was no way she would speak to someone she didn¡¯t like.

    He quietly said, ¡°It¡¯s hard on you.¡±

    She smiled easily. However hard it may be, having his understanding was more than sufficient.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Ah Xiang was saying that you¡¯re starting to disy the charisma and wisdom of a Madam for our family.¡± Ah Xiang was the maid who apanied her to look for Old Master Li.

    Xia Lingughed and teased him. ¡°Who¡¯s the Madam of your family?¡±

    ¡°You, of course.¡± Li Lei¡¯s eyes were gleaming with delight. ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯m nning to host a banquet in a few days¡¯ time, and I¡¯ll be inviting the partners and allies of the Li family toe together that night. Will youe with me?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xia Ling was confused. ¡°What would I go for?¡±

    ¡°To have a meal together, and for them to get to know you.¡± Their rtionship was a big deal, and partners in both the business world and the triad world knew full well that he had taken over the power for her sake. Moreover, Xia Ling was a celebrity¡ªthat made her an easy target. It would be more advantageous for her if he introduced her to the allies sooner.

    Xia Ling was a little uncertain. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I can talk about with them.¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Just take it as a usual event. I¡¯ll be there, so you can just sit there and eat.¡±

    She said, ¡°Alright.¡±

    When that day arrived, she wore an outfit he had gifted her¡ªit was ace embroidered gown that came with an exquisite and matching shawl. She looked elegant and charming.

    Li Lei looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful.¡±

    She was a little doubtful. ¡°Really? Are they bringing their female partners? Will they look better than me?¡±

    Li Lei walked out the door with her. ¡°Those who¡¯re more beautiful than you don¡¯t look as dignified and majestic as you do, and those who¡¯re more majestic than you are nowhere as beautiful.¡± He meant it from the bottom of his heart: those who looked better than Xia Ling were often the mistresses of the old bosses, and all they had were superficial looks butcked the brainy aspect. Meanwhile, the official wives of these bosses were indeed more dignified and had an imposing presence, but they were often of age. If one were to speak of having the best of both worlds, no one could beat her¡ªshe was a Diva, how could a Diva be overtaken so easily?

    Even in the triad world, her status remained.

    His words worked like a miracle drug, as she began letting go of her worries. This was the first time she was attending a dinner with his allies in the triad world, and she was bound to be a little anxious. Yet, with him around, she knew it would be alright.

    At the entrance of the venue, the person who led them in was Li Xiaoyao.

    Xia Ling sized him up and asked Li Lei, ¡°He¡¯s here too?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Yup, Xiaoyao is very skilled inbat. He¡¯ll be in charge of the security around here.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao shot Xia Ling an unfriendly nce. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯ll do my job well. I won¡¯t take the opportunity to take revenge on you because of our personal grievances.¡±

    ¡°Why would I be worried?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°As your Young Master has said, you¡¯re a loyal person.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao was slightly stunned; he didn¡¯t expect that she wouldpliment him. He tensed up awkwardly and kept quiet for the rest of the time he led them in.

    The ballroom was full of the various bosses and their women.

    Most of the men were in a formal suit and had an expensive wristlet watch on. The majority of them were at least middle-aged, and understandably so. It would¡¯ve taken them years of hard work to achieve the sess they had today, few and far between could hold as much power as Li Lei at his age.

    The women with them were all dressed presentably as well, and it was evident that they had put in the effort to look good for this event. Those who attended were either the first wives of these men, and looked wise and extravagant, or the mistresses they could trust. Either way, they knew how they should dress and act in such situations.

    As Li Lei and Xia Ling walked in, everyone¡¯s eyes were on them.

    Everyone was familiar with Li Lei, and his skills were known to be the best of the best. It was said that when Old Master Li was old and no longer capable to run the Li¡¯s, he would probably hand the throne over to Li Lei, the grandson he raised, rather than his own son.

    But no one would¡¯ve expected that this grandson of his had impatiently ¡°snatched¡± the power from Old Master Li even before he had gone frail.

    Those who managed to take something away from Old Master Li were not to be reckoned with.

    They turned to look at the woman beside him as well. Ever since news of him turning against his grandfather spread, many of them had gone to find out more about Xia Ling. From what they had found, she was just an ordinary woman¡ªshe came from a humble family, was then selected to go for Skyart¡¯s training camp, and eventually became a Diva after years of being a singer. Her life was simple, and even though she¡¯d reached the pinnacle of the entertainment industry, her interactions with others weren¡¯t all that sophisticated. More importantly, she had nothing to do with this triad world at all.

 Chapter 797 - Each with a Plan

    <h4>Chapter 797: Each with a n</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A woman like this should be pretty simple.

    Based on what they¡¯d found, she was not extremely intelligent, and neither was she scheming. Compared to Li Lei¡¯s assistant, Su Tang, she was basically as innocent as a nk sheet and posed no threat.

    However, when they saw her in person, they realized how wrong they had been.

    Perhaps she really was innocent and wasn¡¯t scheming, but when she walked side by side with Li Lei, they were just incrediblypatible. They were like a match made in heaven, stealing the attention of everyone there.

    Her influence on Li Lei was unfathomable.

    And this was the biggest threat to everyone else.

    As for Su Tang, so what if she was scheming and intelligent? When she stood beside Li Lei, she always looked like a subordinate.

    Li Xiaoyao pulled the chairs for both of them and Xia Ling settled into her seat. Thereafter, Li Xiaoyao and a few other subordinates took a few steps back and got into position.

    Li Lei sat in the master seat and scanned his surroundings. He started. ¡°All of you seated here are long-term friends and allies of our Li family. I¡¯ve invited you here today for two main reasons¡ªfirstly, it¡¯s to let you know that our leader has been changed and I have since taken over, so I hope to have your support; secondly, it¡¯s to introduce my Xiao Ling to the rest of you. She will be the future Madam of the Li family.¡±

    Everyone was quiet, until then one of the big bosses smiled and said, ¡°Second Young Master Li, you¡¯re too humble. All of us know that you¡¯re young and capable! I¡¯ve been coborating with the Li family for so many years, we shall go on working together as we have before. But as for Miss Ye, this is the first time I¡¯m meeting you. It¡¯s my pleasure.¡±

    It wasn¡¯tmon for people like them to formally introduce their women.

    As for those who were introduced, they definitely had a certain weight and status.

    A few of them sized Xia Ling up quietly. They knew that she¡¯d borne Li Lei a son, and likely had the right to have a hand in the Li family business in the decades toe.

    Xia Ling simply smiled but did not say a word.

    She knew that her role for the day was just a decorative vase and that Li Lei would handle anything that had to be handled. Knowing that she could depend on him allowed her to relieve herself of stress and worry, and she naturally glowed with a carefree aura. Her innate pride, coupled with her sweet and simple persona, made her appear extraordinarily lovely.

    Not a singledy there could hold a candle to her.

    Many of them admired her quietly¡ªno wonder Second Young Master Li fell in love with this woman. They¡¯d seen many simple-minded people around, and dignified people weremon too. However, when it came to someone who blended these two qualities together perfectly, she was a first.

    Such ady was a rare gem.

    Yet, not everyone was just in awe of them.

    Some of them thought further¡ªLi Lei had only just taken over the family business, and he was so young, was he really capable of running things right? In the past when the Li family was at its peak, nobody dared trifle with them. But now, there was chaos in the family, and they were at their most vulnerable. It wasn¡¯t surprising that some people were nning to benefit from this.

    One of the men, named Wang Long, said, ¡°Second Young Master, you must be very busy, having taken over the throne not too long ago. Recently, the deliveries to South America have really been too slow, our men can¡¯t wait any longer. If this goes on any longer, they¡¯ll be out of jobs! How about this, you can release a few of the routes and let our men take over the deliveries instead. This is a win-win situation for everyone, what do you think?¡±

    The atmosphere changed the moment he uttered those words. The delivery routes to South America had always been under the Lis¡¯ sole control. Now Wang Long was nning to find a ce for himself where the Li family monopolized¡ªthat was a greedy move.

    One of the other bosses immediately put his tea down and was ready to tell Wang Long off, but was stopped by another businessman beside him.

    Many of them respected the Li family, but it was mostly for formality¡¯s sake. As the saying went: there¡¯s no forever friend, only forever benefit¡ªespecially in the triad world. Countless people had their eyes on the Li family¡¯s business and hoped to have a part of it.

    Now that Li Lei had just taken power, and the household was in a vulnerable state, it was a good opportunity for them. What they needed most was to sound him out.

    And Wang Long had already done it on their behalf.

    Would Li Lei not be able to tell what he was thinking? Li Lei calmly said, ¡°If it¡¯s slow, wait for it.¡± It was a short statement with no further boration nor exnation, but it said volumes.

    Wang Long¡¯s face stiffened. ¡°Second Young Master, this is unreasonable. Our men need an ie to make a living, you can¡¯t be expecting them to starve, right?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°My words are reason enough.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Wang Long had only just mmed his hand on the table when the subordinates positioned behind Li Lei pointed their guns to his head. Wang Long¡¯s subordinates got up at once as well and pointed their guns at Li Lei and Xia Ling. All of a sudden, the atmosphere turned stale.

    Li Lei looked at Wang Long calmly, perhaps even nonchntly.

    Some of the other big bosses exchanged nces before someone finally stood out to ease the situation. ¡°Second Young Master Li, Brother Wang, both of you calm down. Second Young Master Li, Brother Wang has good intentions, he¡¯s just trying to share your workload. Don¡¯t be angry, alright?¡±

    Li Lei remained expressionless.

    It seemed like their attempt to sound him out failed. They didn¡¯t expect Li Lei¡¯s stance to be so strong, and for both parties to be pointing guns at each other. As much as they wanted a part of the Li family business, they did not want to offend Li Lei or the family in any way. The family might be in chaos now, but who knew whether they could remain right on top of the food chain in the triad world? If they did, offending them was no different from courting death.

    Another big boss came forward as well. ¡°Brother Wang, don¡¯t be insensible. Quick, apologize to Second Young Master Li.¡±

    Wang Long¡¯s heart was pounding as the guns were pointed at his head. He knew that if he killed Li Lei here today, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of the ce alive, and his family might even be in trouble for his mistake. But even if he didn¡¯t kill Li Lei, his life was going to be tough.

    All he wanted was to sound Li Lei out, but Li Lei¡¯s aggression scared him.

    Maybe he had been wrong about Li Lei. The Second Young Master Li who was always carefree and smiling had turned into a cold-blooded leader after the transfer of power. He was no better than Old Master Li back in the day.

    Seeing that someone was giving him a chance to turn the tables, Wang Long hurriedly said, ¡°Second Young Master, please don¡¯t be angry. Forget I ever said those words.¡±

 Chapter 798 - Singing Hostess

    <h4>Chapter 798: Singing Hostess</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was still expressionless as he watched Wang Long panic.

    Somebody else mentioned. ¡°Wang Long, aren¡¯t you getting your men to put their guns down?¡±

    Only then did Wang Long realize that they were still in an aggressive stance. He ordered his two subordinates. ¡°Put the guns down.¡±

    They heeded.

    The same partner who reminded Wang Long about the guns smiled at Li Lei. ¡°Second Young Master, please calm down. Wang Long is just being insensible, don¡¯t take his words to heart. Could you get your men to lower their guns too?¡±

    The Lis¡¯ subordinates still had their guns pointed at Wang Long.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression did not change a bit even after hearing those words. Instead, he held up two fingers. Just as everyone was about to heave a sigh of relief, they suddenly heard two gunshots, and the two subordinates standing behind Wang Long fell to the ground. Each of them had a bleeding hole on their head.

    A few women screamed, and some had covered their eyes.

    The woman who came along with Wang Long turned pale and fell into her seat.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li, what do you mean by this?¡± Wang Long was enraged. ¡°I¡¯d already told my men to put their guns down, don¡¯t you go too far!¡±

    This time, Li Lei did not say a word.

    It was his subordinate who spoke for him. ¡°Whoever points a gun at Young Master has to die.¡±

    The malice in his voice sent a chill down Wang Long¡¯s spine as he turned pale as well. The banquet hadn¡¯t even started, and he had already lost his two subordinates; what an embarrassment. However, he couldn¡¯t go on looking Li Lei in the eye. Li Lei seemed to exude a ferocious aura that intimidated people and made them fear for their lives. Finally, between the options of face and survival, he chose survival.

    He fell into his chair and kept quiet.

    At that moment, everyone went silent. The air was stale and heavy.

    Everyone was shocked by what Li Lei had just done. Nobody would¡¯ve thought that this Second Young Master Li¡ªwho was known for his good nature and even temper¡ªcould be this cruel as well? He wasn¡¯t too different from Old Master Li, after all.

    Meanwhile, it was Li Lei who lightened the mood first. He smiled. ¡°Why have you gone quiet? I invited you here for a good meal. It¡¯ll only taste good when you¡¯re in a good mood.¡±

    He pped his hand, signaling for the waiters to serve the food.

    A generous amount of delicacies¡ªbirds¡¯ nest, shark fin, and more¡ªwas served to each table.

    Somebody finally reacted ordingly and smiled. ¡°Come, let¡¯s eat. Today¡¯s Second Young Master Li¡¯s good day, we should all celebrate. Second Young Master, congrattions on taking over the leadership of the Lis, and for getting together with your beloved woman. Here¡¯s a toast to you.¡± With that, he downed a ss of alcohol.

    The atmosphere livened up gradually.

    The two corpses were dragged away by employees discreetly and swiftly.

    Everything went on as per normal as if that tragedy had not taken ce.

    In between dishes, some people came along to congratte Li Lei. ¡°Second Young Master Li, you really have good judgment. If I remember correctly, Miss Ye was never in the triad world? The way she maintained herposure during the exchange just now was really admirable.¡±

    Throughout the event¡ªwhether Xia Ling was being targeted by a gun or witnessing the death of others¡ªshe maintained her usual nonchnt demeanor, disying a stark contrast from the other flustered girls.

    But this was all a facade.

    Xia Ling was actually falling apart inside.

    She never liked seeing blood, as it reminded her of her unhappy past. It took her a lot of effort and will to keep her emotions in check. But she understood that this was a crucial moment, and she absolutely could not embarrass Li Lei at this juncture. Hence, she put her acting skills to use and tried to portray her calmest self.

    Only Li Lei knew that her hands beneath the table had been shaking this whole time.

    He held her hand firmly, hoping that his warm, coarse hand would give her strength and support.

    Upon hearing the big boss¡¯pliments, Li Lei turned to her and smiled. ¡°Uncle Ouyang hardly ever praises people.¡±

    As such, Xia Ling smiled as well. ¡°You¡¯re too kind. Our lives are but a dream, life and death are part and parcel of it.¡±

    ¡°Life and death are part and parcel of it! Well said!¡± A man named Qian Kaifuughed. ¡°Miss Ye, here¡¯s a toast to what you just said. I¡¯ll down this ss first!¡±

    He finished it in a gulp.

    Xia Ling raised her ss and took a sip before putting it down.

    Before attending the banquet, Xia Ling had asked Li Lei who they could afford to offend, and who they had to be civil to. Li Lei had said: [Xiao Ling, there¡¯s no one here that we can¡¯t afford to offend. Do you know who the Li family is in the triad world? We set the rules, we are King! Although they¡¯re all big bosses, you actually can offend any of them.]

    This was how confident the Li family was.

    Xia Ling had not much understanding of a huge family like his, but with Li Lei¡¯s words, she could now behave at ease. In fact, she could even just take a sip of alcohol when the bosses toasted to her.

    Being a singer, she needed to take good care of her voice, and should not be drinking too much alcohol in the first ce. There was no need to sacrifice herself for the sake of socializing.

    True enough, nobody dared say a word about how she acted. Some of them were even in awe of how she reacted¡ªshe appeared petite and new to this industry, but she truly acted like the Madam of their family.

    Qian Dafuughed again. ¡°To congratte you, I even brought a singing hostess along today. Of course, her voice can¡¯t hold a candle to Miss Ye¡¯s, but she¡¯s not too bad. Please allow her to sing a couple of songs for the two of you.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around to look at Li Lei.

    Li Lei nodded.

    Qian Dafu pped his hands, and before long, the singing hostess appeared on stage. She was beautiful in the way that appealed to men at first sight¡ªher eyes wererge and bright, and her makeup was thick and expressive. Her figure was good as well, with beautiful curves and a slim waist that could not be concealed even with heryered dress.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t too happy, she did not likedies who dressed so seductively.

    The singing hostess bowed to all the guests before beginning her performance. She sang and danced at the same time, bewitching those present.

    It did not take long for everyone to be immersed in her voice.

    She swayed her hips and exchanged seductive nces with the audience, with her eyes on Li Lei most of the time. At one point, she even gave him a flying kiss.

    Xia Ling was even more unhappy now. Each time the hostess darted a nce at Li Lei, she¡¯d pinch his thigh under the table. Li Lei felt the pain but had to put on a front and pretend nothing was going on.

    Li Xiaoyao, who was standing behind them throughout, saw everything. His facial muscles spasmed a little¡ªhow could this woman be so cruel to his Second Young Master?!

 Chapter 799 - Giving You a Female Singer as a Gift

    <h4>Chapter 799: Giving You a Female Singer as a Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The graceful dance and singing voice echoed in the banquet hall.

    After a long time, it gradually stopped, but the singing voice continued to reverberate.

    The singer bowed at the audience. Her shy eyes were stained with tears as she looked affectionately at Li Lei, before lowered her head again.

    Qian Dafu softly pped and asked Li Lei, ¡°Second Young Master Li, what do you think of my singer?¡±

    For heaven¡¯s sake! Xia Ling was still sitting beside him. How could Li Lei dare to praise other women? His thigh was still hurting and estimated that a bruise had already formed...

    Thus, Second Young Master Li faintly said, ¡°It¡¯s just passable.¡±

    Qian Dafu almost snorted in annoyance. This singer was carefully selected by him and he was very confident that she could charm any man. In the end, Second Young Master Li only said that she was just passable? This was ridiculous!

    Qian Dafu endured the urge to spit out blood and smiled. ¡°I bought this singer at a high price. She was specially trained since she was a child. She¡¯s really clean and still a virgin. If Second Young Master Li and Miss Ye like her, how about I give her to you as a gift? You can also treat her like a maid.¡±

    When he said that, everyone knew what was going on.

    It was obvious that this singer was not an ordinary person. Who didn¡¯t know that using her as a maid was just another way of saying she could be Second Young Master Li¡¯s concubine? How could Xia Ling tolerate this sort of thing?

    At once, everyone¡¯s expressions becameplicated.

    Xia Ling¡¯s hand never left Li Lei¡¯s tight, and now she pinched him even harder. Li Lei was in pain and his legs were bruised. However, he appeared indifferent and said, ¡°Uncle Qian, I appreciate your good intentions, but I have to reject your singer.¡± Only then did she retract her hand from his thigh.

    However, Qian Dafu said, ¡°Why do you have to be so polite Second Young Master? It can¡¯t be that you¡¯re a henpecked husband.¡±

    In these years, he always wanted to ce a spy in the Li Family but was never sessful. This time, he wanted to take the opportunity when Li Lei just became the head of the family. Young Masters were energetic and wild. How many of them could resist a beauty like that? Qian Dafu chose this beautiful woman out of thousands, but unexpectedly, she was rejected by Li Lei.

    He refused to give up and smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ye, you don¡¯t seem like a petty person. The mistress of the household always knows how to be magnanimous, right? Quickly help me advise Young Master.¡± He used these words to pressurize Xia Ling as if she¡¯d be narrow-minded if she did not agree to it. Many women would tolerate it just to avoid losing their pride.

    However, how was Xia Ling an ordinary woman?

    She smiled lightly and waved at the singer. ¡°Come over here.¡±

    The singer nced up at her and gracefully walked over, leaving a fragrant trail.

    Xia Ling asked her, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    That singer said, ¡°Ah Jiao.¡±

    ¡°What does your name mean?¡±

    ¡°It means ¡®siren¡¯ in Chinese.¡± The singer replied.

    ¡°Ah Jiao? What a great name.¡± Xia Ling smiled faintly. ¡°Come over and kneel down. I don¡¯t like looking up and talking to people.¡± Although she was smiling, she sounded naturally domineering.

    Ah Jiao had no choice. She could only kneel in front of her.

    Everyone looked at them, but no one knew what Xia Ling wanted to do.

    Xia Ling raised two white and slender fingers and lifted Ah Jiao¡¯s chin. She praised her. ¡°You¡¯re truly a beauty. Even I can¡¯t help but love you. However...¡± She finally got to her main point and smiled. ¡°Everyone says that sirens sing beautifully, but why do you sing so horribly?¡±

    Ah Jiao looked calmly at her and said sarcastically, ¡°Miss Ye, you must be joking. Sirens are only fictional characters in legend. Who heard them singing before? Mr. Qian gave me this name because of its allegorical meaning.¡±

    She dared to rebuke.

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth and considered whether she should just throw this shameless woman who wanted to seduce Li Lei into the sea as food for the sharks. On the surface, she lightly said, ¡°Really? What song did you just sing?¡±

    ¡°Moonlight Ship.¡± The singer elegantly said. ¡°A song about the fervent love between a man and woman.¡±

    Xia Ling let go of her chin. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about Moonlight Ship, but I know about a few things. You were too sharp when you started singing, and I don¡¯t know if you noticed, but you sang the climax really poorly. Your transition between notes is so stiff. Do you think that people won¡¯t notice that? You obviously don¡¯t know how to sing whistle notes, so you should really focus on training your mixed voice first. The vibrato part of the ending was even worse. Why would you bother to show off such ugliness? People... should know their own limitations.¡±

    Herst sincere words were meant to abuse Ah Jiao by ostensibly pointing to other people.

    The singer was full of dissatisfaction, but she knew that every sentence Xia Ling said was meant to hurt her. She already did her best to sing. In the eyes of others, it was perfect. But to Xia Ling, all of her mistakes were pointed out in a few minutes. She even said them so reasonably that they were irrefutable.

    She bit her lip and lowered her head.

    Qian Dafu smiled and tried to ease the situation. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re the world¡¯s best Diva. Miss Ye is really amazing.¡±

    Xia Ling was not very happy. ¡°Qian Dafu, why are you giving us a person like her who sings so badly? Even if I can tolerate it, my son will have nightmares after listening to her.¡±

    Once she brought up the Young Master of the Li Family, Qian Dafu snorted. <i>Keep talking! No matter what excuse you use, today¡¯s gift will be finalized!</i>

    Qian Dafu smiled fakely. ¡°Miss Ye, she also knows how to take care of people.¡±

    Xia Ling also smiled faintly. ¡°Really?¡±

    The singer softly said, ¡°Miss Ye, I know how to clean, make the bed, and massage. If you¡¯re tired, I can make sure that you are reallyfortable.¡±

    ¡°Your master hasn¡¯t allowed you to speak, so it¡¯s not your turn to talk. Why are you so rude?¡± Xia Ling criticized.

    She spoke crudely, but everyone with a discerning eye could see that this singer said that she would serve her and Li Lei, but in reality, she was probably supposed to be his concubine. How could the dignified mistress of the household be kind to her?

    After the singer was scorned again, she bit her lip and lowered her head, looking pitiful.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible for us to ept her.¡± Xia Ling toyed with her saucer andzily said. ¡°We don¡¯t need her to make the beds. As for massage...¡± She looked at Li Lei and smiled. ¡°I have someone to do that already.¡±

    Li Lei also smiled at her gently. ¡°I will massage you for a lifetime.¡±

    The crowd could not bear to see such a public disy of affection.

    Xia Ling continued, ¡°That¡¯s why, Uncle Qian, Ah Jiao will be useless to us if we ept her. However, since you sincerely want to give us this gift, we can ept it. Besides, the Li Family can afford to feed another mouth. How about this? She can work in the stables for a few days first. Our purebred horses also need massages to maintain their health.¡±

    She actually wanted Ah Jiao to massage horses!

    Qian Dafu did not think that things would turn out like this and blurted out. ¡°Miss Ye, I¡¯m sincerely giving you and Second Young Master a gift! Don¡¯t go too far!¡±

 Chapter 800 - Without Excellent Wine and Delicious Food

    <h4>Chapter 800: Without Excellent Wine and Delicious Food</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Sincere? Well then, I don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m also sincerely trying to find a ce for her to work. Uncle Qian, don¡¯t tell me that you want to intervene in how the Li Family organizes their staff?¡±

    She said those words too sternly, and Qian Dafu could only say, ¡°How could I intervene in the Li Family¡¯s affairs?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°It is settled then. She will be working in the stables.¡±

    Qian Dafu felt frustration build in his chest.

    Suddenly, the singer lifted her head and looked at Li Lei fearlessly. ¡°Second Young Master Li, I¡¯m willing to serve you.¡±

    Since she couldn¡¯t deal with the mistress of the family, she would have to settle with the head of the family. She didn¡¯t believe that this man would be able to resist her charm. She walked a few steps in Li Lei¡¯s direction, revealing her delicate lips, beautiful neck, and white chest. Her eyes were filled with tears and sorrow.

    Hearing her voice, Li Lei was about to explode¡ªthe bruise on his thigh was slightly painful.

    Between the beauty and Xiao Ling, he would definitely choose Xiao Ling. Thus, he expressionlessly said, ¡°p her.¡±

    Immediately after he spoke, a subordinate from the Li Family walked up and pped the singer twice. <i>Bam! Bam! </i>She was hit twice harshly in front of everyone. Blood dripped from her lips and her cheeks were as swollen as a pig¡¯s.

    Qian Dafu¡¯s face turned ghastly pale. ¡°Second Young Master Li! You should give us some face!¡±

    Xia Ling viciously interrupted. ¡°She did not even give me any face. Why should I show her any respect?!¡±

    The other bigshots there felt that what she said was very reasonable, and some even nodded silently.

    Qian Dafu wished he could rip this interfering woman into pieces. In a rigid voice, he said, ¡°Miss Ye, I gave you someone who could serve you with good intentions. Ah Jiao was also respectful to you as she even knelt when you asked her to. Why couldn¡¯t you at least not humiliate her?!¡± He could only resort to sophistry to justify himself.

    The group of people scorned him in their hearts. By giving them this beautiful woman, you were never showing them any respect in the first ce!

    However, something like that was never good to say aloud.

    Xia Ling waszy and calm. ¡°Did you hear what I just said? When her master is talking, servants should not interrupt. However, what about her? She knew that but still rebelled! Uncle Qian, it¡¯s ok to give us a servant, but can you please choose someone better? Someone like that who doesn¡¯t even respect the rules is useless! Should I feed her to the sharks for fun?!¡±

    Li Lei looked at her indulgently. ¡°You want to feed the sharks for fun? Tomorrow, I will take you there.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled slyly at the singer.

    This time, the singer was really scared. This was the first time she felt that her life was in the hands of this petite girl. She couldn¡¯t help but tremble and beg. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡±

    This time, Li Lei¡¯s subordinate pped her twice again without Li Lei¡¯s instructions.

    Xia Ling shook her head and sighed. ¡°Your master already said to not interrupt. Why haven¡¯t you learned anything?¡±

    Qian Dafu¡¯s face was flushed with anger. She was a singer and entertained people in their rooms. How could she abide by the rules to please others like an ordinary servant? Furthermore, if Xia Ling weren¡¯t aggressive, Ah Jiao would not have randomly spoken. However, he couldn¡¯t say those words directly and secretly endured.

    Li Lei looked at Qian Dafu. ¡°Are you feeling sorry for her?¡±

    Startled, Qian Dafu quickly said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. Ah Jiao is blessed that Miss Ye is willing to teach her and acknowledge her.¡± No matter what, Xia Ling already epted Ah Jiao as her servant, so he wanted Ah Jiao to just enter the Li Family. Even though the conditions at the start were more difficult than he imagined, with Ah Jiao¡¯s beauty and charm, the situation would improve sooner orter.

    With this thought, Qian Dafu became more optimistic.

    Li Lei slowly got up from his seat. ¡°I¡¯m someone who doesn¡¯t have a lot of bottom lines.¡± He said. ¡°However, coincidentally, Xiao Ling is one.¡± He walked over to the back of his chair, took the gun from Li Xiaoyao¡¯s hands, and aimed it at Ah Jiao.

    Qian Dafu and everyone present gasped.

    Qian Dafu asked, ¡°Second Young Master Li, what are you doing?!¡± It was not easy for him to cultivate a spy. How could she die before she even infiltrated the Li Family?!

    Ah Jiaoid on the ground and widened her eyes at Li Lei. She was scared to death. After a few seconds, she started crying and kowtowing to Li Lei. ¡°Second Young Master Li, I beg you. Spare my life!¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was low. ¡°Anyone who offends Xiao Ling will not have a good ending.¡±

    After saying that, he turned the pistol away from Ah Jiao and aimed it at Qian Dafu. Before anyone could react, a gunshot was heard. Qian Dafu fell to the ground with a pool of blood forming around his head and sshing onto the table and walls.

    The women started to scream. A cowardly one even crouched on the floor. Ah Jiao also screamed and fainted. The men did not look very good. Part of Qian Dafu¡¯s brain sshed into arge bowl and one man at the table vomited.

    ¡°Second Young Master Li, what are you doing?!¡± A bigshot leaned over, tried to feel if Qian Dafu was still breathing, and asked in shock.

    Li Lei returned the pistol to Li Xiaoyao. He took a white towel from the waiter and wiped his hands calmly. Without even batting an eysh, he said, ¡°You can cross me, but you can¡¯t cross Xiao Ling.¡±

    When Wang Long offended him, he only killed two of his subordinates.

    When Qian Dafu offended Xiao Ling, he killed Qian Dafu himself.

    Everyone present was as silent as cicadas inte autumn. It turned out that this woman was more important to Second Young Master Li than they thought. At once, they started to look at Xia Ling with panic-stricken looks.

    If one should know, Qian Dafu was not a small fry but a really powerful man!

    He was gone just like that.

    Second Young Master Li was really daring!

    Even Xia Ling was frightened and almost couldn¡¯t maintain her elegant and calm expression. Her lips slightly turned white. Even though she already knew that he was from the triad and never innocently thought that he was clean, witnessing him actually kill someone was really baffling to her.

    The impact was too big.

    Li Lei returned to his seat and held Xia Ling in his arms in front of everyone. He kissed her forehead and softly said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. He hasmitted his full share of crimes and deserved to die.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart palpitated. She shrunk in his arms and lightly tilted her head to avoid the gazes of others. She ced her cheek on his chest for a long time before finally calming down.

    All of the triad leaders and women in the room did not look good.

    A few waiters silently stepped forward and removed the cups and dishes that were stained with blood and brains. They quickly reced them. Soon, the only thing remaining from the shooting just now was the mottled blood on the white tablecloth.

    Li Lei looked unperturbed and gestured to the crowd. ¡°Everyone please continue to eat. Don¡¯t waste the excellent wine and food.¡±

 Chapter 801 - A Request Over Tea

    <h4>Chapter 801: A Request Over Tea</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The hall was silent. The big bosses forced themselves to apany Li Lei for dinner.

    Li Lei took a small bowl and a small silver spoon and started feeding Xia Ling soup.

    Everyone there realized that this woman was Second Young Master Li¡¯s treasure. No, how could she be as simple as his treasure? She was literally his lifeline.

    Big boss Qian Dafu was one of the most powerful in the industry, but once he offended Xia Ling, he was immediately shot by Li Lei without warning. They were very lucky that neither of them offended Xia Ling. In fact, even Wang Long was very lucky because he only offended Li Lei and not Xia Ling. That was why he only lost two subordinates but not his life.

    They should never ever provoke Xia Ling.

    They learned this lesson at the banquet.

    Li Lei achieved his goal. After dinner, everyone left.

    Xia Ling was very tired and went to the bedroom to rest with Li Lei. After she took a bath, sheid on the bed. However, she did not dare to close her eyes. Once she closed her eyes, her entire mind was filled with the scene of blood sttering everywhere.

    Seeing that she was ufortable, Li Lei reached out and gently touched her cheek. ¡°Were you scared? I¡¯m sorry Xiao Ling, but that was something I had to do. I wanted to let everyone know that they shouldn¡¯t provoke you.¡±

    Xia Ling understood his difficulties. Since he became the head of the family, he had to take up the burden of governing the family. There was no way he could back down, and sometimes, violent means were necessary.

    Not to mention, those people were not innocent.

    Li Lei told her. ¡°Qian Dafu, whom I killed today, was in the business of selling human organs¡ªhe¡¯s a guilty man. You don¡¯t have to feel guilty. Although the Li Family is in the triad, we only sell firearms and are involved in the casino business. We won¡¯t hurt ordinary innocent people.¡±

    Xia Ling wrapped her arms around his waist and ced her cheek on his chest. ¡°I¡¯m still scared.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling softly said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you might be killed by them.¡± The triad was so ruthless, and three people could be killed by a random person. Life here was so fragile and could not withstand a single blow. She was really worried that something bad might happen to him.

    Li Lei understood her concerns and kissed her forehead.

    ¡°Your man is very strong. He will be fine.¡± He assured her.

    Xia Ling forced a smile and hugged him tighter.

    The two of them hugged the entire night. The next day when she woke up, Xia Ling realized that Li Lei was not there.

    She knew that he was busy recently. There was a multitude of things that she could not interfere with. She slowly got up, washed up, ate breakfast, and went to take a walk in the small forest in Thunderous Yard.

    The sun was just right, and there was a genial breeze blowing by.

    Apanied by a bodyguard, Xia Ling strolled for a while but her heart was still shrouded by a shadow. Yesterday was the first time she witnessed a gathering of big bosses in the triad. She realized that they would really kill people over a disagreement. It was a different world from her previous living environment and she could not adapt to it at the moment.

    Fortunately, Li Lei did not force her to adapt to it immediately.

    He said, ¡°There will be no other ns in the future. You can live however you want to as long as you¡¯re happy.¡±

    However, she knew that since she chose to be with him, she had to quickly integrate herself into his world as soon as possible. No matter how dark or bright his world was, she had to deal with it for a lifetime.

    In this regard, she was willing.

    With this thought, yesterday¡¯s banquet did not seem so scary anymore.

    At the end of the small forest, a young man walked out. It was Li Xiaoyao.

    He stopped in front of her and said in a somewhat rigid voice, ¡°Miss Ye, Old Master Li wants you to go over for a while.¡± After yesterday¡¯s banquet, Li Xiaoyao¡¯s impression of Xia Ling changed. He initially thought a celebrity who had never seen a bloody killing before would embarrass the Li Family, but unexpectedly, her performance was quite good. In fact, it was quite amazing.

    He sort of respected her but was still unwilling to admit it.

    Xia Ling asked him, ¡°Old Master Li? Why does he want to see me?¡±

    Li Xiaoyao said impatiently, ¡°Just go as he asked. Old Master Li has his reasons.¡±

    Xia Ling did not care about his disrespect of her. Li Xiaoyao was different from Qian Dafu. He belonged to the headquarters of the Li Family and would never go to the extent of humiliating her. She knew that he was loyal to the Li Family, so she let it go.

    She said, ¡°Lead the way.¡±

    Li Xiaoyao took her to Old Master Li¡¯s courtyard.

    The surroundings of the courtyard were the same as thest time she was there. There were arge number of troops protecting it.

    Xia Ling walked in and saw Old Master Li sitting next to a tea set. He was currently brewing tea for himself. He was in much better spirits thanst time. Although he still looked old, he was not as dispirited as before, and part of his demeanor as the head of the household was restored.

    When he saw Xia Ling, he pointed to another seat next to the tea set and said, ¡°Sit.¡±

    She sat down and asked, ¡°I wonder why Old Master is looking for me today.¡±

    Probably due to the fact that they hated each other more when they saw each other, Old Master did not turn around and said, ¡°I ept your proposal from that day.¡±

    The proposal from that day? Xia Ling was startled before she reacted. ¡°We are not involved in it. Shouldn¡¯t we mind our own business?¡± She only proposed this way of getting along because she had no choice as both of them were rted to Li Lei. She already knew that Old Master Li would ept it, but she did not expect him to ept so quickly.

    Old Master Li said, ¡°I heard about what happened yesterday. Your performance at the banquet was not bad. At the very least, you¡¯re qualified to be the mistress of the Li Family.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to dispute with him over words, but she understood that Old Master Li probably agreed to reconcile in advance because of this reason. She guessed correctly. Not only did outsiders see her importance to Li Lei, but Old Master Li also understood that his era was over and the new era had begun.

    Beside reconciliation, there was no other way out.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Li Lei will be very happy.¡±

    Old Master said, ¡°There¡¯s something else.¡±

    Xia Ling raised her eyebrows slightly.

    Old Master said, ¡°I hope that you can treat Su Tang and Xiao Rui kindly.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback, but then lightly sneered. ¡°Old Master, do you think that you are still qualified to negotiate with me?¡±

    However, Old Master Li said, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to negotiate with you. This is a... request.¡± Thest word was very difficult to say. This was the first time Old Master Li was asking someone for help.

    He had no choice. In this situation, he was in a weaker position. Now, the entire Li Family was under Li Lei¡¯s control. In other words, Xia Ling also had some authority. If she hated Su Tang and her child and made life difficult for them, they would lead a difficult life, and their lives would perhaps not even be protected.

    Xia Ling looked deeply at Old Master Li. ¡°You are really concerned about that mother and child.¡±

    Old Master Li said, ¡°Su Tang saved Li Lei¡¯s life before and the Li Family remembers her kindness.¡±

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t promise you anything.¡± Until now, Su Tang had still not given up and was still trying to think of ways to snatch her man. Why should she be kind to her?

 Chapter 802 - Find Another Place to Stay

    <h4>Chapter 802: Find Another ce to Stay</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Old Master Li said in a deep voice, ¡°Miss Ye, you should give others a way out.¡±

    Xia Ling lightly sneered. ¡°Give her a way out? When Su Tang was hung up over something she shouldn¡¯t be caring about, has she ever thought about giving me a way out?¡± To women, the only things they could not tolerate were situations involving their lover and child.

    Since they couldn¡¯t get along, Xia Ling got up first.

    After walking a few steps, she looked back and saw the old man sitting beside the tea set silently and looking at the scenery in the distance. The autumn wind blew his white hair and his back was a little hunched. He actually looked a little deste.

    There was a sour feeling in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. At one point in his life, he was also young and full of energy.

    ¡°Do you all look so miserable when you¡¯re old?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Old Master did not look back. ¡°My oue is not bad. I don¡¯t even know if that bastard can live to my age.¡± In the triad, everyone¡¯s lives were in danger every day. He was not exactly lying.

    Xia Ling was furious. ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t curse your own grandson like that!¡±

    ¡°My grandson...¡± Old Master Li smiled coldly. ¡°In the past, I always felt that he was not harsh enough. In the end, he was the cruelest one.¡± He clenched the cup of tea with his old and dry fingers. What happened more than 20 years ago reyed in his mind. The small boy in front of him lost his mother and was bullied by his brother. After he decided to raise the child, he watched as the boy grew up day by day and learned how to ride a horse and shoot a gun... Every time that child smiled and called him grandpa, he felt that he was content with life.

    However, everything was ruined now.

    Old Master coughed in the wind.

    Looking at his back, Xia Ling hesitated for a long time before finally saying, ¡°If Su Tang knows her boundaries and stops trying to seduce Li Lei, I won¡¯t make things difficult for her or her child.¡±

    However, could Su Tang do it?

    Nearly impossible.

    After Xia Ling finished her sentence, she turned around and really left.

    She walked out of Calming Heart Garden. Lifting her head up in the autumn wind, she took a deep breath. The bodyguard who was guarding the doorway walked towards her and escorted her to Thunderous Yard.

    On the way, the bamboo leaves rustled. The lush green scenery was really beautiful.

    Her initially dampened mood after seeing Old Master improved a little. Shemended. ¡°This route is not bad.¡±

    The bodyguard replied, ¡°This is one of the most beautiful routes in the Li Family headquarters. Old Master Li lived in Calming Heart Garden for many decades and built Second Young Master Li¡¯s Thunderous Yard nearby. The two of them have always been close.¡±

    As he spoke, he realized that he might have said something wrong and stopped talking.

    Xia Ling did not mind and smiled bitterly. ¡°What about now? It¡¯s probably too awkward for them to live so close to each other, right?¡±

    The bodyguard did not know how to answer her, so he bowed his head in silence.

    The two of them walked for a while before Xia Ling asked again, ¡°Is it true that only Second Young Master and Old Master live in this area?¡±

    The bodyguard replied, ¡°Yes. Old Master likes his close family members to be near him. Besides his most beloved grandson, other people do not live here. Only Miss Su¡¯s residence is next to Thunderous Yard because she recently needs to take care of Second Young Master.¡±

    It was days since she arrived at the headquarters but Xia Ling never really cared about where Su Tang lived. After hearing the bodyguard say that, she became interested and asked, ¡°Which one is it? Take me there.¡±

    The bodyguard took her down a winding road. After they walked along the bamboo forest for a while, they came to an open and delicate courtyard. On the que in front of the door, the calligraphy words ¡°Tang Hua Yuan¡± were written elegantly with a woman¡¯s soft touch.

    One could tell that the owner of the courtyard had taste.

    Xia Ling realized that it was really not far from Thunderous Yard. If she looked east, she could see the western wall of Thunderous Yard. The bodyguard said, ¡°There is a small road connecting the two yards. Usually, when Miss Su visits Second Young Master Li with Young Master Rui, she will take that road.¡±

    It was so intimate.

    This realization made Xia Ling very ufortable.

    A small boy was kneeling in front of the courtyard. Li Rui was ying.

    When he saw Xia Ling, he picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at her. ¡°Bad woman! Get out of my home!¡±

    Xia Ling did not evade it and coldly watched as the stone fell a few steps away from her feet and rolled towards her.

    The door of the courtyard opened.

    Su Tang was wearing a light blue embroidered blouse. She stood on the steps and looked at her.

    The two women did not speak. After a while, Xia Ling turned around and left.

    The first thing she did when she returned to Thunderous Yard was to call a servant over. ¡°Is there any unused house in the headquarters?¡±

    The servant replied, ¡°There are a few houses that are empty. May I know why you are asking?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Living in Thunderous Yard is too boring. I n to move somewhere else.¡±

    The servant¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°Do you want to live separately from Young Master? He won¡¯t be happy about it.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Who said I was going to live separately from him. I want to move out with him.¡±

    The servant was even more frightened. ¡°Miss Ye, the position of Thunderous Yard was determined by Old Master. Second Young Master lived here since young. Don¡¯t you think asking him to move isn¡¯t very appropriate...¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s appropriate is not up to you to judge.¡± Xia Ling said rather coldly. Nowadays, she had more of the characteristics of the upper ss. She revealed her arrogance in her bones without hesitation. Whatever she wanted to do was not to be decided by the subordinates.

    The servant had no choice but to lower her head in silence.

    Xia Ling instructed her to bring a map over. Sheid it on the table and studied it for the entire afternoon.

    When Li Lei came back, he saw that her small body could almost be sucked in by the table. He couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± He took off his coat and went over to her side to take a look.

    Xia Ling pointed at a ce on the map with her white and slender finger. ¡°What do you think of this empty house?¡±

    ¡°This vacant house?¡± Li Lei nced at it. ¡°In the past, my third aunt¡¯s second uncle¡¯s godbrother¡¯s wife lived there. After that, she died and this house became vacant.¡±

    ¡°She died in the house?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she died of an illness.¡±

    Xia Ling slightly knitted her brows.

    Li Lei asked her, ¡°What exactly are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I want to move out.¡± Xia Ling said unhappily. ¡°This ce is too near Tang Hua Yuan.¡±

    Li Lei was slightly startled but then smiled. ¡°Are you jealous?¡±

    ¡°She lives so nearby. Don¡¯t you think that makes enough sense?!¡± When he mentioned this, Xia Ling became angry and red at him viciously. Her eyes were watery and her cheeks were puffy. She looked really cute.

    Li Lei smiled again and kissed her cheek. ¡°Ok. Whatever you say.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re so easily convinced?¡± This time, Xia Ling was startled. ording to what the subordinates said, Li Lei had sentimental feelings for this ce, and a suggestion of moving out would most likely lead to rejection.

    However, Li Lei said, ¡°You¡¯re willing to move out with me instead of chasing Su Tang out. That¡¯s giving her face. Since you¡¯re willing to show her some respect on my behalf, how can I not be willing to move out with you?¡±

 Chapter 803 - Marriage Bedroom

    <h4>Chapter 803: Marriage Bedroom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was touched. He always understood her intentions.

    Indeed, the best way to solve this situation was to make Su Tang and Li Rui move out. However, that would seem as if they were chased out of their own home and they would be humiliated. If she moved out with Li Lei, things would be different. Even if people gossiped, it would not be as bad if Su Tang moved out.

    Besides, Su Tang saved Li Lei¡¯s life before.

    No matter how unwilling Xia Ling was, she could not neglect this point. She loved Li Lei and was unwilling to let him feel guilty over that woman. No... Li Lei did not remember Su Tang for his entire life because she was kind but because he felt guilty. That was something she did not wish to see.

    She had to make Su Tang fade in his heart.

    Li Lei leaned over beside her and looked at the map for a long time. He raised his head and said to her, ¡°Why do you have to find a house that¡¯s already there? We can just build our own house. This ce is not bad.¡± He pointed to an area near the mountains and ocean. ¡°The scenery is very beautiful and it¡¯s very quiet. It¡¯s easy to defend and difficult to attack. You will like it.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued and also looked at the map.

    Indeed, it was not bad. She really liked it. She said, ¡°We can build a very big vi. It also needs to have extremely luxurious bedrooms, a beautiful terrace, and a child¡¯s room... In the future, we can look at the sea with Shaohui.¡±

    Seeing that she was being imaginative, he smiled. ¡°Marriage bedroom.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She did not hear him clearly.

    Li Lei lightly touched her nose. With a gentle voice, he said, ¡°When the house is built, marry me.¡±

    Finally, she understood him and her face turned red. ¡°No way.¡± Her voice was soft.

    ¡°Bring Shaohui over too.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s live happily as a family of three.¡± He already nned to look for Xia Moyan to bring Shaohui back home once he settled his family¡¯s business and his power was stabilized.

    Xia Ling was lost in her thoughts. The prospect of her being able to live happily with her family of three made her heartbeat race in excitement.

    She softly acknowledged him as if she agreed to his proposal.

    Li Lei was satisfied and gently kissed her.

    He looked for architects and a construction team to create the ¡°marriage room¡± of their dreams. Xia Ling was fully in charge of them. Women naturally loved to build their own homes.

    Sure enough, Xia Ling was very happy about being in charge of designing her house. She discussed with the architect daily and did many site checkups. She never imagined that she would be able to design her own house. In her past life, after Pei Ziheng singlehandedly destroyed their love, Xia Ling thought that her heart would be dead forever and she would lose all confidence in love.

    Luckily, there was Li Lei.

    As if she were traveling along a familiar road in a light carriage, she worked out a very beautiful illustration with the architect.

    There was an uproar in the Li Family. Many people talked about it and congratted them on their new love nest.

    Some also talked about Su Tang. There were a few people who sympathized with her, but few dared to mention this topic in front Su Tang. The new house ¡°Qing Hui Yuan¡± became a taboo.

    Su Tang hid in her own house and looked at her face in the mirror.

    She was really pretty and more delicate than Ye Xingling. Why did Li Lei not even nce at her? What good was that woman?!

    Su Tang refused to face reality and crushed a flower in her hand until it was broken into pieces.

    Li Rui threw a tantrum. ¡°I don¡¯t want that bad woman! I don¡¯t want dad to move!¡±

    Su Tang hugged him with tears in her eyes. ¡°Xiao Rui, don¡¯t cry. It¡¯s all that bad woman¡¯s fault. She¡¯s the reason why dad doesn¡¯t want us. You must remember that Shaohui and her are our enemies.¡±

    Li Rui nodded vigorously as his tears fell out in hatred. ¡°I hope that they die a horrible death!¡±

    In approval, Su Tang stroked his head.

    She went to look for Li Lei and said to him, ¡°Young Master, I know that Xiao Rui is not your biological son, and I wouldn¡¯t dare to ask for more. However, can you let Xiao Rui move in with you? The child is innocent and doesn¡¯t know about his status. These days, he keeps crying because he thinks his dad doesn¡¯t want him.¡±

    Li Lei looked at the woman in front of him who was as delicate as a blooming flower.

    He remembered that she was his loyalpanion for so many years, so he softened his voice. ¡°I understand what you mean, but Xiao Rui doesn¡¯t like Xiao Ling and doesn¡¯t get along with Shaohui. If he lives with us, everyone will be unhappy. Ah Tang..¡± He looked at Su Tang¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m indebted to you and will always think about you. However, you should let Xiao Rui remain by your side. At the start, you persevered to give birth to him, so he should grow up with you and apany you when you¡¯re old.¡±

    Su Tang hated herself for saying too much in the past. Her face was filled with mncholy. ¡°However, Xiao Rui is unhappy...¡±

    ¡°This ce is very close to my grandpa.¡± Li Lei interrupted her. ¡°Grandpa really likes Xiao Rui and takes care of children well. That year, I was brought up by my grandpa. With grandpa apanying Xiao Rui, you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    After thinking about it, he added, ¡°Xiao Rui can also apany grandpa. He¡¯s very lonely as well.¡±

    Hisst sentence eliminated all possibilities of Su Tang¡¯s request. Just like how his guilt weighed him down, Su Tang could not reject filial piety.

    She became more resentful. This time, she hated Old Master Li for being a roadblock.

    However, she was powerless and could only suppress her indignance. ¡°Well then... Take care Young Master.¡±

    Li Lei consoled her. ¡°If Xiao Rui misses me, you can bring him to see me.¡±

    Su Tang nodded silently.

    She watched as Xia Ling designed a blueprint with her architect. Soon, the foundations of the house wereid and building started.

    She thought it was too fast, but Xia Ling thought it was too slow.

    Xia Ling frequentlyid down beside the blueprint and counted as the days went by. ¡°When will it be finished?¡±

    Li Leiughed at her. ¡°Do you think a house is built so quickly? At least one and a half year is needed. After I settle the entire underground world, let¡¯s return to China. The next time wee here, it will be time for us to move in.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded sadly.

    Li Lei stabilized his power at a shocking speed. Soon, everything was restored to its well-organized state and everyone who thought that the Li Family was a joke was cruelly beaten up. The entire underground world was rmed at Second Young Master Li¡¯s atrocity. They realized that he was more difficult to deal with than Old Master Li.

    All of the bigshots in the triad world respected him.

    Li Lei said to Xia Ling, ¡°We can let grandpa out now.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Wasn¡¯t he under house arrest?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°The change of power isplete. Everyone is under my control now. Even if grandpa is out, he won¡¯t be able to cause any waves. No matter what, he¡¯s still my grandfather and it¡¯s time for him to spend his remaining days happily.¡±

 Chapter 804 - Comeback

    <h4>Chapter 804: Comeback</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling nodded.

    The day Old Master Li was released, she didn¡¯t apany Li Lei to fetch him. She guessed that the grandfather-grandson pair would have lots to say to each other, and as an outsider to the family, it was better that she stayed away. Later, a helper reported to her that the Old Master had chased Li Lei out of the house with his walking stick. As he hit Li Lei with the stick, he shouted that he ¡°didn¡¯t have a grandson like that.¡± His voice was so loud such that the entire Li Family could hear him.

    The helper was extremely worried that the Second Young Master would lock the Old Master up again in his anger.

    In contrast, Xia Ling felt relieved. If the Old Master had so much energy to chase Li Lei away, that was a good sign. It was much better than the period when she went to visit where he looked downcast and dull. Li Lei would feel more relieved to see the old man strong and healthy.

    She remained in the headquarters with Li Lei for a few more days. Seeing that things were stabilizing, they decided to return to China.

    Their return was highly publicized and all the media¡ªboth for entertainment and business news, and even some international press¡ªwere alerted. The reporters with cameras of all shapes and sizes, together with Xia Ling¡¯s numerous fan clubs, formed a huge crowd in the arrival hall at the airport such that it was hard to move.

    The security guards in the airport set up a barricade. It was as if they were walking the red carpet.

    Yet, what hadn¡¯t Xia Ling seen before? She wasn¡¯t even bothered to dress up and was wearing afortable, in-colored shirt, pumps, and sunsses. She held onto Li Lei¡¯s arm as she stood by his side and walked slowly towards the crowd.

    The man was fit and handsome, thedy rxed and exuberant.

    Their height difference was of perfect proportions, eliciting screams of excitement from the crowd as they caught sight of the attractive couple.

    A well-connected reporter with a special pass came forward to approach the couple, pushing a microphone in front of them. ¡°Mr. Li, Miss Ye, wee back. May I ask if the passing of power within the Li Family went smoothly? What are your ns now that you¡¯re back?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°The pass-on of power was smooth. Everyone loved Xiao Ling. We are nning to live as how we were before. There are some new ns, but we are not at liberty to reveal those at the moment.¡±

    The reporter conveyed his well-wishes to them.

    Xia Ling smiled and waved to her fans in greeting.

    There was another wave of screams from the fan club.

    Themotion seemed like it was about to burst through the airport roof. The two of them got onto their car. Li Lei unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt after he settled into the car, breathing a sigh of relief. ¡°That was madness.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Two-thirds of them were fans.¡±

    ¡°Two-thirds of the reporters were also here for you.¡± Li Lei said proudly. ¡°My Xiao Ling is still the best. I was able to experience a true superstar wee because of you.¡±

    Xia Ling leaned her head against his chest affectionately. ¡°If my man wasn¡¯t you, they wouldn¡¯t have been half as excited.¡±

    A superstar and a wealthy young master¡ªthey were the perfect pair. Regardless of how sessful a female star was in her career, she would still seem imperfect without a good love life. She was one of the lucky ones with the most sessful career and a perfect other half.

    Listening to the steady throb of his heartbeat, Xia Ling shut her eyes in contentment.

    Li Lei smoothened her hair gently and said, ¡°Have a nap. You must be tired from the long flight. I¡¯ll wake you when we¡¯ve reached home.¡±

    She calmly fell into dreand.

    Lin Yunan came to visit the very next day. He silently grumbled that he had to be the manager with the hardest to handle artiste. She would encounter problems every other day that she wouldn¡¯t tell him about, and would disappear suddenly. As such, all her schedules would be dyed and he would have to deal with the aftermath of broadcast stations and sponsors begging for his help. Regardless, Miss Diva wouldn¡¯t give a hoot about it all.

    ¡°Can you give some thought to your career?!¡± Lin Yunan threw a pile of papers in front of her. ¡°So many people are begging you to appear for your schedules, literally throwing money in your face. And you? You refuse to ept any of them! At this rate, the country is going to forget who you are!¡±

    Xia Ling instructed her helper to pour Big Manager Lin a cup of tea to cool down.

    She yawnedzily. ¡°I have things to do recently.¡±

    ¡°What could you possibly have to do?!¡± Lin Yunan blurted out several profanities in irritation. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything when you were kidnapped by Li Lei a while ago. Now that you are back, you¡¯re still not going to work?! Which idiot gave you so many billions? I should take them all away from you! I¡¯ve realized that you have little motivation to do anything when you have money!¡±

    Ever since Phoenix Down Corporation was created, Xia Ling¡¯s motivation to work had been low.

    Xia Ling felt her temples start to throb from his berating. ¡°I want to go pick Shaohui up. When I¡¯ve settled the matter with Shaohui, I promise to start working on some of those schedules, okay?¡±

    ¡°Shaohui?¡± Lin Yunan was stunned for a moment before remembering that he hadn¡¯t seen that child in a long time. ¡°Didn¡¯t that child follow you back to the headquarters? Where did he go?¡±

    ¡°Erm...¡± It was difficult to exin to Lin Yunan what exactly had happened. Xia Ling skirted over the question and said, ¡°His foster family took him for a few days. Li Lei and I are going to pick him up from them.¡±

    Lin Yunan was silent for a while. People who knew Xia Ling well would know that the child was her life. Schedules? Her Diva poprity? They were less important than a finger on little Shaohui¡¯s hand. Since she was preupied with her child, it would be futile to try to change her mind about her schedules.

    Lin Yunan felt depressed... extremely depressed. He dejectedly walked out from Xia Ling¡¯s house, prepared to decline all the waiting schedules.

    Xia Ling called Xia Moyan and said angrily when he picked up, ¡°Return me my kid!¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°Xiao Ling? You¡¯re back from the Li Family headquarters? Are you doing well? Did they treat you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling was exasperated. ¡°Xia Moyan, listen up right now. If you don¡¯t return my child to me, I¡¯m going to go burn down your house! Do you hear me?!¡±

    Xia Moyan responded lightly, ¡°My house is also your house.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± Xia Ling shouted. ¡°Return me Shaohui!¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°Okay... okay?!¡± She hadn¡¯t expected him to agree quite so easily. She started to get suspicious and asked, ¡°What are you trying to do now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to do anything.¡± Xia Moyan replied. ¡°You¡¯ve been through many trials and found your sycamore, and have reconciled with Shaohui. Your life is bing more and more stable, and it¡¯s time for you toe back to the family. The Xia family will organize aeback ceremony for you. Then, you will see Shaohui and you can bring him back with you.¡±

    ¡°Whateback ceremony?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°After the ceremony, you can tell the world that you are the Xia family daughter and openly call me ¡®brother.¡¯ Also... you can reconcile with your real parents.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    The thought of meeting her real parents and greeting them face-to-face was thrilling to her.

 Chapter 805 - Ye Xingfei Wakes Up

    <h4>Chapter 805: Ye Xingfei Wakes Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She asked carefully, ¡°Dad and mum... do they miss me?¡±

    Now that she was so close to meeting them, she was feeling a little nervous.

    Xia Moyan could tell that she was uneasy and assured her. ¡°They both love you very much. Dad is always the one that sends me to pass you your allowance. And mum decorated your room with your photos, as well as installed a new balcony overlooking a flower garden. You have a pet cat as well, right? Mum prepared a little cat house for him too.¡±

    Xia Ling felt more rxed hearing Xia Moyan¡¯s assurances. Lowering her head, she saw little Hairball striding elegantly over with his furry tail raised up to the sky. He came over and licked her fingers. She gently stroked Hairball affectionately and said with a smile, ¡°I won¡¯t be bringing Hairball with me this time.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Up to you. Remember to bring that broken wood-head home, as well as your Ye family parents.¡±

    Broken wood-head? Xia Ling took a while to realize that he was referring to Li Lei. Bringing Li Lei back wouldn¡¯t be an issue, that guy had been hounding her about wanting to go to the Xia Family to get Shaohui and to ask them for her hand in marriage. However, the Ye family parents?

    ¡°Why do I need to bring the Ye family parents along?¡± Xia Ling was mildly put out.

    ¡°I know they are rather materialistic and you dislike them.¡± Xia Moyan responded calmly. He too wanted to teach the Ye family parents a lesson, but now wasn¡¯t the time. He said, ¡°But they are your parents in this life. They still took care of you and are the reason that you¡¯ve survived till today. They should be present at youreback ceremony to the Xia family.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°Just bring them along.¡± Xia Moyan didn¡¯t borate anymore.

    Xia Ling felt a headachee on as she grumbled. ¡°Using money to entice them? I really don¡¯t want to have anything to do with them anymore.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t care what you use to bring them back. You¡¯ve used the identity of a Ye family daughter, so you have to repay them. I¡¯ll go set a Fengshui altar up that will wake Ye Xingfei up so that she will no longer be a vegetable.¡±

    Xia Ling recalled that she had a sister who was still in a vegetative state.

    This sister got into a car ident the year that she had reincarnated, and had been lying in aa ever since, kept alive by drips. She had been lying in the hospital for a good seven or eight years now. In the memories of Ye Xingling, she enjoyed a close rtionship with her sister. Saving this little sister for the Ye family would truly be a wondrous thing to do, and would be perfect as repayment for the use of Ye Xingling¡¯s body.

    Xia Ling thanked her brother.

    After a few days, she received a call from Father Ye. ¡°Xiao Ling! Feifei is awake! Your sister has woken up!¡± In the call, she could hear a trembling middle-aged man¡¯s voice while he conveyed the joyous news.

    Xia Ling smiled at the news.

    She was aware that Ye Xingfei would wake up these few days, but she pretended to be surprised. ¡°What? Feifei has woken up?! That¡¯s great news! How did she wake up? Is she okay?¡±

    Father Ye said, ¡°We don¡¯t know what happened as well! She woke up all of a sudden. Your Auntie Liu is overjoyed... Xiao Ling, Feifei has been asking for you ever since she woke up. Can you spare some time toe see her?¡±

    Xia Ling hadn¡¯t gone back to the Ye family home for several years now.

    Thest time they met, she had just given birth to Shaohui and was staying at Pei Ziheng¡¯s house. Father Ye, Auntie Liu, and Grandma Ye hade to visit to see her child. That time, Auntie Liu and Xia Ling had parted on an unhappy note. Ever since, there had been nomunications between Xia Ling and the Ye family, other than the monthly allowance that she had instructed her assistant to send to them.

    Auntie Liu had gone around to all her neighbors toin about what an unfilial daughter Ye Xingling was.

    Some small tabloid reporters interviewed her and published it in articles.

    Then, Xia Ling was Pei Ziheng¡¯s wife on paper, and Pei Ziheng had sent Chu Chen to deal with the articles. With some threatening, Auntie Liu didn¡¯t dare to speak badly about Ye Xingling anymore.

    Of course, she would still insult Xia Ling within the boundaries of her home.

    Father Ye realized that his request was a little weird given the strained rtionship and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, I know that you don¡¯t like toe home, but Feifei is your sister after all. Can you juste back to speak to her? She¡¯s still staying in the hospital now, so you don¡¯t have to enter the house. Really.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t really feel like going to meet Feifei as her other sister, Xia Yu, was a nemesis to her and she had a trauma towards a ¡°sister¡± figure. However, she needed to take responsibility for assuming the identity of Ye Xingling, and taking care of Ye Xingfei fell within her scope of responsibilities.

    Moreover, she needed to think of a way to convince Father Ye and Auntie Liu to go meet the Xia Family.

    She sighed inaudibly and said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯lle.¡±

    She asked for the hospital address and realized that it was the same one that Pei Ziheng had chosen for Ye Xingfei. Xia Ling hung up and instructed her driver to send her to the hospital. She bought a bouquet of flowers at the entrance after she alighted.

    Donning her sunsses and baseball cap, she entered the hospital discretely and went up to the VIP floor wards. The elevator door opened to reveal a wide and long corridor with a luxurious heavy wooden door at the end of it.

    Memories flooded her mind.

    She recalled that thest time she stepped onto this corridor, she had just reincarnated and was a mere trainee in the Skyart training camp. She had caught the eye of Pei Ziheng and he tried to woo her. When she rejected him, Pei Ziheng set a trap and got Father Ye and Auntie Liu to trick her intoing here. The situation had been nerve-wracking, and if not for Li Lei, perhaps she would have been captured by Pei Ziheng and brought back to be tortured. Her destiny would also have changed.

    Thankfully, she met Li Lei.

    Her sunlight.

    Xia Ling strolled down the corridor as she recalled all these memories, before finally stopping in front of her sister¡¯s ward.

    She pushed open the thick, wooden door with exquisite flower carvings all around without making a sound.

    In the ward, Father Ye and Auntie Liu had their backs to her as they stood by the bed. The three of them were having a conversation. Auntie Liu¡¯s voice was high-pitched and loud. ¡°Feifei, you¡¯re finally awake! Do you know how much I¡¯ve suffered taking care of you all these years? Your terrible sister... she didn¡¯t evene back to spare a nce at you all this while!¡±

    Ye Xingfei¡¯s voice was weak. ¡°Mum, you¡¯ve had it hard... Sister never came back to see me?¡±

    There was disappointment on her pale face and her voice sounded downcast.

    Father Ye hurriedly said, ¡°Your sister cares a lot for you, but she¡¯s too busy. Feifei, you aren¡¯t aware, but Xiao Ling is a big superstar now. A Diva! She has so many schedules to go to everyday... she doesn¡¯t have time...¡±

    ¡°She can¡¯t disregard her sister even if she¡¯s really busy!¡± Auntie Liu interrupted him angrily. She turned and said to Ye Xingfei, ¡°Your sister is a heartless wolf! She¡¯s not my child and there¡¯s bound to be friction between us! Let me tell you, Feifei! Now that you¡¯re awake you have to pay her back for me! You should be a big star as well and take that irritating girl down a notch!¡±

 Chapter 806 - The Pink Princess Dress

    Chapter 806: The Pink Princess Dress

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Ye Xingfei was surprised to learn that her sister was already a big superstar.

    Before her car ident, her sister was so mediocre, tending to stutter in front of people and seemed to only be her sidekick. When they were auditioning for the training camp, she had heard two teachers discuss them. ¡°Only Ye Xingfei has talent. If not for wanting to create a sister duo group, we wouldn¡¯t even consider someone of Ye Xingling¡¯s standard.¡±

    How did her mediocre sister be so famous?

    She had mixed feelings about this news. On the one hand, she was happy for her sister, but on the other hand, she was disappointed.

    If not for the car ident, would she be the famous one right now?

    Auntie Liu¡¯s voice cut through her thoughts. ¡°Feifei... that girl used to listen to every word you said. Now that you¡¯re awake, you should tell her to help you, and let you record some of those popr pop songs and go on programs. You¡¯re so pretty and you sing so well, you¡¯ll definitely be able to be more popr than her!¡±

    Xia Ling stood speechless at the door of the ward.

    She had found a new low about Auntie Liu¡ªshe had no lower boundary to her shamelessness.

    She raised a hand and knocked on the room door. The three at the bed turned to look at her. A look of surprise came across Ye Xingfei¡¯s face, before turning to awkwardness. ¡°Sister... you¡¯re here.¡±

    Auntie Liu, on the other hand, showed no difort as she greeted her with a fake smile. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here! We were just talking about you, saying that you¡¯re such a big superstar now. You should help your own sister... when Feifei is all better, perhaps you can sign her into yourpany and groom her to be a big star too.¡±

    Xia Ling ignored Auntie Liupletely and walked over to Feifei¡¯s bedside. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Not bad.¡± Ye Xingfei smiled and replied Xia Ling.

    Auntie Liu was upset from being ignored. ¡°Ye Xingling, I¡¯m talking to you!¡±

    Xia Ling turned and nced at Auntie Liu, saying resolutely, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°No?!¡± Auntie Liu immediately lost her temper. ¡°Ye Xingling, you heartless person. I¡¯ve fed and clothed you all these years and now that you have some semnce of sess, you¡¯re biting the hand that fed you!¡±

    ¡°Zhaodi...¡± Father Ye tried to stop her sheepishly. ¡°Xiao Ling only just got here to see Feifei. We can discuss about longer term nster on. Don¡¯t be impatient. Xiao Ling, please don¡¯t take Auntie Liu¡¯s words to heart. She¡¯s just worried about Feifei¡¯s future. Dad knows that you¡¯re the most understanding and will help your sister in her future ns, right?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a cold smile. Look, so this was what her ¡°father¡± and ¡°mother¡± were like. They hadn¡¯t met in about five or six years, and they were already looking to see how she could be of benefit to their biological daughter without so much as a word of concern or wee!

    How sad.

    She responded lightly, ¡°I know what to do.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s faces in the room lit up hearing her words.

    With this promise from the Diva, Feifei would be set in the industry, right?

    ¡°I just knew that Xiao Ling wouldn¡¯t be an ingrate.¡± Father Ye was overjoyed, wanting to reach out to pat Xia Ling¡¯s shoulder, but was side-stepped by Xia Ling. He sheepishly retracted his hand. ¡°Please do find a way to help Feifei.¡±

    Xia Ling was getting mildly irritated. She turned and passed the bouquet in her hands to Feifei. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    Feifei epted the flowers¡ªa bouquet of pink and white carnations¡ªwhich filled the room with a pleasant fragrance. She bent over to smell the flowers, saying, ¡°They are beautiful. Thank you, sister!¡±

    However, Auntie Liumented, ¡°You bought these flowers at the entrance of the hospital, didn¡¯t you? I remember that stall... their flowers are 5 yuan a stalk. This bouquet didn¡¯t cost you more than a hundred yuan with the packaging, did it?¡± Given that she had been taking care of her daughter in the hospital all these years, she was extremely familiar with the shops in the area, down to the items that they sold and their prices.

    Xia Ling had sent her assistant to buy the flowers and didn¡¯t know how much they cost, but thought to herself that the stalls near the hospital would probably all be around this price point. She said, ¡°Yes, I got these at the hospital entrance. I came over immediately after taking Father Ye¡¯s call and didn¡¯t have any time to buy a present. Feifei, I¡¯ll give you another present next time. What do you want?¡±

    Feifei smiled sweetly. ¡°Sister, do you remember that we used to pass by a store window on the way back from school? There was a pink dress in the window and I would stare at it for ages. I wonder if that shop is still around... can you buy me that dress?¡±

    In Xia Ling¡¯s memories, there was indeed a pink princess dress.

    When Ye Xingling and Feifei were in middle school, they would pass by a clothes shop every day after school. In the window was ace princess dress that was lined with faux crystals. It wasn¡¯t expensive¡ªjust two hundred and forty yuan¡ªbut that was exorbitant to the two of them, who were not well-to-do at that time. The sisters saved all they could from the allowance given to them and promised to share the dress after they managed to buy it.

    Recalling this memory, Xia Ling felt envious of the sisters for having such an innocent and close rtionship.

    She said gently to Feifei, ¡°I¡¯ve already bought that dress a long time ago¡ªit¡¯s in my closet at home. It¡¯s brand new. I¡¯ve not worn it even once. I was waiting for you to wake up so that we can share it.¡± Before Xia Ling¡¯s reincarnation, Ye Xingling had been saving up ever since she got into the training camp to buy that dress. That silly girl remembered her promise to her sister and prayed for the day a miracle would happen and her sister would wake up.

    Now, it was time to bring out that dress which was a testament to their close rtionship.

    Feifei¡¯s eyes opened wide as she eximed, ¡°Really?!¡± Her eyes filled up with tears.

    She knew why her sister had bought the dress as the promise was still fresh in her mind as well. At this moment, she forgave her sister for noting to visit her in the hospital. She forgave her for everything. The promise was real and she was so touched that her sister fulfilled it.

    ¡°Sister!¡± She cried and hugged Xia Ling tightly.

    Xia Ling was not used to having someone lean onto her like that and froze momentarily, before slowly stroking Feifei¡¯s soft hair on the top of her head. At that moment, Ye Xingfei felt like the real sister that she never had.

    Auntie Liu¡¯s voice destroyed the touching atmosphere. ¡°You¡¯re talking about that new dress in the closet at home? Xiao Ling... that was bought so many years ago? Are you going to be so stingy? That only cost you two hundred and forty yuan.¡± Auntie Liu had discovered that dress in their closet many years ago and had beat Ye Xingling for buying it, scolding her for wasting money, even though Ye Xingling had exined while crying that she bought it for Feifei.

    Auntie Liu said in disdain, ¡°That dress is made of synthetic fibers! It¡¯s not even made of pure cotton, let alone silk! The beads on the dress are all ss, and while they look all sparkly, they are worthless! Our beautiful Feifei can¡¯t be dressed so shabbily¡ªwe¡¯ll be aughingstock! Xiao Ling, shouldn¡¯t you minimally be giving Feifei some branded items... LV... and, and... cha... what is it... Chanel? You should also buy her some nice essories¡ªearrings, nes... If your sister is dressed well, it¡¯ll look good on you as the older sister as well, won¡¯t it?¡±

 Chapter 807 - The Entertainment Circle Is a Dark Place

    Chapter 807: The Entertainment Circle Is a Dark ce

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling said, ¡°That dress is my heartfelt gift to Feifei.¡±

    Even though that pink princess dress was cheap and of poor quality, it was the only gift that thete Ye Xingling left for her sister. No amount of luxurious gifts that Xia Ling gave would be able to match the heart behind this small gift.

    She looked down at Ye Xingfei. ¡°ept the dress.¡±

    Ye Xingfei nodded. In her memory, that dress wasn¡¯t as bad as her mother put it. She said to Xia Ling, ¡°Sister, please bring the dress over for me when you have the time.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in response.

    Auntie Liu grew frustrated and prodded her daughter¡¯s forehead with a finger. ¡°Useless!¡± She red at Xia Ling. ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re such a big superstar now, staying in that luxurious mansion and driving such a good car. How can you just watch us struggle in misery? You¡¯re really too stingy!¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Then, what do you want me to do?¡±

    Auntie Liu puffed up her chest and said, ¡°My daughter might be easy to bully, but not me! You¡¯re not going to buy her the branded items? Then, you have to buy them for me! I want gold essories as well! I¡¯m your mother!¡±

    ¡°Zhaodi!¡± Father Ye shouted out in embarrassment.

    Auntie Liu unleashed her anger at him. ¡°What? What?! Just look at your good daughter here! Aiyo... why is my life so difficult? Why can¡¯t I enjoy the riches that my children give to me?¡± She whined dramatically, fully acting the part of a disappointed mother, merely one step away from using eye-drops to fake some tears.

    Xia Ling was unmoved by this scene, having been used to all kinds of things in the two lives she¡¯d lived. She extracted herself and made to walk out of the room. ¡°Feifei, your mother is too agitated today. I¡¯lle by to see you another day.¡±

    ¡°Sister!¡± Feifei held onto her. ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡± She was always aware that her mother bullied her sister, but she didn¡¯t expect that after all these years, even after sister had be a big superstar, her mother was still treating her with such a bad attitude. She turned and pleaded with her mother. ¡°Mum, can you and dad go out for a little while? Can I have a private moment with my sister?¡±

    ¡°You ingrates... what do you have to say in private? Aiyo... even my own daughter is chasing me away... Aiyo... my life is so bitter! Bitter!¡± Auntie Liu¡¯s wails became even louder.

    Feifei was holding on to Xia Ling¡¯s hand, preventing her from leaving. Hence, she could only look at Auntie Liu coldly. ¡°If you don¡¯t shut up, don¡¯t me me for getting someone here to teach you a lesson! Haven¡¯t you learned enough from Chu Chen five years ago?¡±

    Hearing Chu Chen¡¯s name, Auntie Liu shuddered.

    She recalled how much she had to go through because of that man, and it scared her so much that she had suppressed all she wanted to say about Xia Ling to the press and didn¡¯t utter a bad word about Xia Ling to anyone thereafter.

    Yet, after shuddering, she shouted out indignantly, ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll be scared of your threat?! Chu Chen works under Boss Pei... do you think I don¡¯t know that?! You¡¯ve been chased out of the house by Boss Pei! You¡¯re divorced! Even your son isn¡¯t his! Do you think he will still help you?! Dream on!¡±

    A sinister smile spread across Xia Ling¡¯s face. ¡°You seem to have forgotten who the real father of my son is.¡±

    Auntie Liu was taken aback before recalling that while Shaohui was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s son, his biological father¡¯s background was also not to be messed with. Rumors had it that Li Lei was from the underworld!

    Auntie Liu shuddered again and shut up, even though her face was full of reluctance.

    ¡°I¡¯ll count to three. Both of you get out.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Hurry now.¡±

    She started to count. Father Ye and Auntie Liu looked at each other in shock, but Auntie Liu was ultimately dragged out of the room by Father Ye.

    ¡°Close the door.¡± Xia Lingmanded.

    Father Ye hurriedly closed the door after himself.

    Xia Ling turned to face Ye Xingfei and remarked. ¡°Now it¡¯s nice and peaceful.¡±

    Ye Xingfei stared at Xia Ling as if she was a monster. She realized that she barely recognized this sister anymore. The shy and meek girl in her memories no longer existed, and in her ce was an arrogant and wilful superstar, who seemed to think that anything she did was the way it should be.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is there something on my face?¡± Xia Ling asked, seeing that Ye Xingfei¡¯s expression was off.

    Ye Xingfei snapped out of her reverie and hurriedly shook her head. She said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that after being in aa for so many years, the dynamics in the family had changed so much. Sister, I heard from Dad that it was all because of you that I am able to stay in such a good hospital and receive top-notch medical care. Thank you so much.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. She hadn¡¯t thought that Father Ye would tell Ye Xingfei about these... It looked like he still had a conscience. She smiled. ¡°We¡¯re sisters. Why are you being so courteous?¡±

    Although she said this out loud, Xia Ling still felt weird speaking to Ye Xingfei in this way given that she wasn¡¯t really her sister. She was at a loss of what else to say as she regarded the girl lying in the hospital bed. Ye Xingfei was already over 20, but only looked about 15 or 16 years old as the years of lying in the hospital had made her fragile and weak.

    Ye Xingfei was dressed in the hospital patient wear, her wide, bright and curious eyes etched on her pale and skinny face. In contrast to Ye Xingling, Ye Xingfei was a true beauty. Even though she wasn¡¯t as ravishing as Xia Yu, she would still garner many nces if she were to walk along the streets.

    No wonder she was recruited by the Skyart training camp.

    The pair of bright eyes were regarding Xia Ling. ¡°Sister, you seem like apletely different person from before.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart dropped a little, worried that Ye Xingfei might have realized that she was a different person through the reincarnation. She responded as lightly as she could, ¡°Oh? What is different about me?¡±

    Ye Xingfei was mildly flustered. ¡°I can¡¯t really pinpoint what exactly... it¡¯s like... it¡¯s like you¡¯re more beautiful than before. You¡¯re more confident and you dare to talk back to mum.¡± If it were Ye Xingling from before, she wouldn¡¯t dare say a word to rebut Auntie Liu, let alone chase her out of the room.

    Xia Ling silently breathed a sigh of relief that Ye Xingfei hadn¡¯t pinpointed any major issues.

    She smiled naturally. ¡°Ever since getting into the Skyart training camp, I was determined to change. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t get to debut and would find it even harder to stay in the entertainment circle. Feifei, the entertainment circle is a terrible, dark ce, and it can change a person. I¡¯ve been in the circle for quite some time now, and I have had to change to some extent.¡±

    Before Ye Xingfei got into the car ident, she was a star-chaser and was familiar with all the gossip in the entertainment circle. She knew that the circle was not a simple ce. This exnation seemed to sit well with her, so she didn¡¯t think too much about it.

    Xia Ling rxed and silently congratted herself on her intelligence.

    Ye Xingfei said, ¡°Sister, you¡¯re really something. You became such a big superstar in such a short time.¡± As Ye Xingfei said this, she sighed in envy. ¡°If I didn¡¯t have an ident those years ago, I would be a star too, wouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Being a star isn¡¯t all that easy.¡± Xia ling consoled her. ¡°There were so many people in the Skyart Training Camp while I was there. Of them, only Lu Tao and Leng Hui are doing alright... the rest are struggling.¡±

    Ye Xingfei responded unhappily, ¡°If I were to debut at the same time as you, I would definitely not be a mere struggling artiste.¡± Before her ident, she was better at everything than her sister. Given that her sister could be a Diva, then she could very well outshine her.

 Chapter 808 - Idol Man-God

    Chapter 808: Idol Man-God

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling merely thought that she was being a na?ve little girl and didn¡¯t think too much about it.

    She sat and chatted with Feifei for a while more before leaving the room after reminding Feifei to have some good rest. She located Father Ye and Auntie Liu, who were waiting outside the room, and told them, ¡°You might already know that Shaohui was lost for several years. The foster family that took care of him wants to be family with us. Thus, they¡¯ll be holding a ceremony to wee us. In the future, I¡¯ll be the goddaughter of that family.¡±

    Father Ye was a little afraid of this superstar daughter and said while rubbing his hands nervously, ¡°Okay, okay... bing family is good. They took care of Shaohui for so long... we¡¯re already family on ount of that. Xiao Ling, we¡¯ll do as you say.¡±

    Auntie Liu tugged at Father Ye¡¯s sleeve, ring at him. ¡°What okay? Some random poor family wants to be our rtives just because Xiao Ling is a superstar? Why should we agree to it?¡± She was worried that if Xia Ling were to have Godparents, there would be less money to split between them in the future.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m informing you on what¡¯s going to happen. This isn¡¯t a discussion.¡±

    Auntie Liu wanted to say something more but Xia Ling continued, ¡°That family stays in the mountain. They want both of you to be present for the ceremony. Settle the matters at home, we¡¯ll leave in three days.¡±

    Auntie Liu started to shriek. ¡°What¡¯s this? This irritating girl... we haven¡¯t agreed to go yet! Why? You¡¯re disowning your biological parents and epting some strangers as your godparents?! I¡¯m not going! Your dad isn¡¯t going either!¡±

    ¡°Ten thousand yuan.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Auntie Liu was suddenly silent, greed gleaming in her eyes. She hadn¡¯t expected that she would be paid for going into the mountains and was quietly calcting how much she could get out of this. She pretended to be dissatisfied and said, ¡°Just ten thousand? That¡¯s too little... do you think we are beggars?¡±

    ¡°Thirty thousand yuan.¡± Xia Ling responded. ¡°Any more and you can go fly your kite.¡±

    She had guessed that Auntie Liu would bargain, so she was already prepared to part with thirty thousand yuan.

    Auntie Liu was still not satisfied. ¡°Miss big superstar... are you that poor? Only thirty thousand? I think we still shouldn¡¯t go... I¡¯ll just stay here and tend to the kids, y some mahjong... that would be so much morefortable.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°You¡¯re not going? Fine, don¡¯t go then. Anyway, they were just being polite in inviting you guys. It doesn¡¯t really matter if you go or not. I¡¯ll go by myself then and save that thirty thousand yuan.¡±

    Auntie Liu became anxious hearing Xia Ling¡¯s words. ¡°Aye... you can¡¯t be like this! Who said I¡¯m not going?!¡±

    ¡°You said it yourself, didn¡¯t you?¡± Xia Ling gave a cold smile. ¡°Thirty thousand... do you want it or not?¡±

    Seeing that she couldn¡¯t squeeze any more from Xia Ling, Auntie Liu agreed reluctantly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go.¡± However, she wouldn¡¯t give uppletely. ¡°We need to dress up nicely to go over to their ce, or we¡¯ll be throwing face for the Ye Family. Your dad and I don¡¯t have any new clothes. Xiao Ling, perhaps you can bring us to buy some new things?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± Xia Ling waved at them before turning and walking away. ¡°Wear whatever you like.¡±

    Auntie Liu was left stamping her feet in anger. ¡°That irritating girl... I hope she gets knocked down by a car!¡±

    Father Ye tried to reason with Auntie Liu. ¡°Come on, Zhaodi... thirty thousand yuan isn¡¯t bad already. The television and hot water dispenser in the house need changing. We also have money to buy some nutritious food for Feifei since she just woke up.¡±

    Auntie Liu shoved Father Ye and scolded. ¡°What do you know?! It¡¯s all your fault that daughter of yours is like that! She¡¯s a Diva and has such a bigpany! I heard that even the cleaners in herpany drink Da Hong Pao tea! Did I ask her for a lot? Thirty thousand yuan? That¡¯s peanuts to her! She¡¯s treating us like beggars!¡±

    Father Ye became unhappy at Auntie Liu¡¯s words.

    He thought about it closely. Yes, Zhaodi¡¯s right. Thirty thousand yuan might be a lot for normal households, but for Xia Ling, what is that? He recalled watching a news channel that reported that the diamond bracelet on her hand was a least two hundred million. She was so stingy to the family but was willing to splurge on her little essories?!

    ¡°This daughter... aye...¡± Father Ye sighed. ¡°She¡¯s a little unfilial.¡±

    Hearing him sigh, Auntie Liu felt as if she found arade and became excited. She started to rant about Xia Ling with gusto. After ranting, they went into the ward to see Ye Xingfei, remind her to take care of herself, and encouraged her to be a big star as well.

    After they left, Ye Xingfei couldn¡¯t bring herself to restpletely. After all, she was an active young girl and had just woken up from a long sleep. She started to surf the web to get herself up to date on all the news in recent years, taking particr notice of her idol¡¯s recent activities. That year, she had auditioned for Skyart¡¯s training camp to get closer to her idol.

    As she scoured the web, something caught her eye.

    She called Xia Ling in excitement. ¡°Sister! Sorry for disturbing your rest sote in the day! You are well acquainted with Bai Murong, right?! I saw that you filmed a variety show with him! Oh my God... he¡¯s my idol... I like him so much! Sister, you¡¯re so lucky to be able to film a program with my idol!¡±

    Xia Ling had just taken a bath and was in a blurry, rxed state with a towel wrapped around her body. She toweled her hair as she listened to Ye Xingfei swoon over the phone. ¡°Bai Murong? Ah right, yes, I know him. That variety show was filmed a long time ago... the Man-God episode of Extraordinary Risks, right? I¡¯ve also filmed several music festivals with him. He¡¯s a nice guy.¡±

    She ran through the memories in her head and finally recalled that this sister was crazily in love with Bai Murong before her ident. Then, she would pull Ye Xingling everywhere to watch Bai Murong¡¯s concerts, buy fan merchandise, and was also the president of one of Bai Murong¡¯s fan clubs. She couldn¡¯t resist but smile to herself. This sister was just too adorable.

    Xia Ling grew up in an orphanage and was constantly worrying about Xia Yu¡¯s sickness when she was a young girl. Later, she was adopted by Pei Ziheng at the age of twelve and groomed to be a superstar. As such, she had never chased after a star before.

    She extracted all the memories of Ye Xingfei and Ye Xingling chasing after Bai Murong. It was filled with all kinds of emotions... crying ones,ughing ones... It was surreal for her to see the entertainment circle through the eyes of a ¡°fan.¡± She was touched by the innocence of the girls.

    Ye Xingfei was so excited that her words tumbled out of her mouth. ¡°Sister, sister, can... do... do you still contact Bai Murong? Can you help me arrange a meeting with him? I really like him so, so much! I want to talk to him and take a photo with him! All my friends will be so envious of me!¡±

    Xia Ling was in a good mood as she teased. ¡°You have a superstar sister... isn¡¯t that enough for your friends to be super envious of you?¡±

    Ye Xingfei¡¯s face turned red as sheined. ¡°No, no, that¡¯s different! Murong is a Man-God to me! Man-God!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay... your Man-God.¡± Xia Lingughed out loud. ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll see when Bai Murong is free to meet up.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sister! Sister, you¡¯re the best!¡± Ye Xingfei thanked her profusely.

    Xia Ling hung up and immediately called Bai Murong. She told him that her sister had woken up from her vegetative state. She also told him that this sister was his die-hard fan and wanted to meet him.

    Bai Murong smiled on the other end of the line. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re lucky that I¡¯m in S city these two days to film a show. Tomorrow night I¡¯ll be flying to Japan. Why don¡¯t you bring her over to meet me tomorrow afternoon? I¡¯m having high-tea with Luo Luo, but I¡¯m sure she won¡¯t mind having the both of youe along.¡±

 Chapter 809 - Donâ€™t Fall in Love with Me

    Chapter 809: Don¡¯t Fall in Love with Me

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    After getting Xia Ling¡¯s response, Ye Xingfei was very happy. She was so emotional that she could not sleep.

    Once she thought about how she would be able to see her Man-God that she had dreamed of for years, she smiled silly. She thought about what she should wear tomorrow. Should she wear makeup? Would her Man-God like it?

    She called Auntie Liu in the middle of the night. ¡°Mom, look for the new pink dress that you bought for my sister and buy some makeup. Tomorrow, please give them to me.¡±

    After Auntie Liu received the call, she started toin. To summarize, she wondered why she treated that awful dress as a treasure and wanted to wear makeup. She was wasting the family¡¯s money. However, since she was her precious biological daughter, she sent them over the next morning.

    Ye Xingfei was ted. She put on her new dress and admired herself in the mirror. The gorgeous bright pink dress made her look more energetic. She was also a natural beauty and once she dressed up, she looked very eye-catching.

    She smiled in satisfaction after seeing her reflection.

    Xia Ling sent a chauffeur to pick her up at 1 pm and send her to the cafe near the TV studio punctually.

    When the chauffeur sent her there, she felt that she could not get enough of the ce. The elegant interior was decorated with beautiful tables, chairs, and cups like a European pce in the past. It was a luxury that she never saw before. When she pushed the door open, Xia Ling was already in the room waiting for her. When she saw her, she smiled. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    Ye Xingfei nodded. ¡°Sister, it¡¯s so beautiful here.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Bai Murong likesing here. He likes these extravagant and retro things.¡±

    Ye Xingfei was well aware of her Man-God¡¯s style and nodded. ¡°He has such good taste.¡±

    Xia Ling did notment. Bai Murong¡¯s taste was surely unusual. He liked sexy and also exaggerated clothing. It was truly a miracle that he became famous in these years.

    She told her sister to sit down and handed her a menu. ¡°Just order whatever you like.¡±

    Ye Xingfei took it and saw that the menu had strange food items such as ¡°Italian Beauty,¡± ¡°Aegean Breeze,¡± and ¡°ck Pearl Fireworks.¡± She was lost.

    Xia Ling pointed to the pictures at the side. ¡°The names of the drinks in this store are very strange. I remember that you haven¡¯t tried coffee before? You¡¯ve just recovered, so you should drink other drinks. The flower tea here is not bad. You can look at the pictures and order whatever you like based on them.¡±

    Ye Xingfei nodded. She flipped through the menu. Every drink was very pretty like a work of art, making it difficult for her to choose one. Just as she was making up her mind, the door was pushed open.

    Ye Xingfei looked up and saw Bai Murong walk in.

    The afternoon sun sprinkled through the gap between the curtains on the face of her handsome male idol. The image of the real him ovepped with the photos in her mind. This feeling was wonderful. Ye Xingfei felt that she was blinded by sunlight. Her breathing stagnated as if she were in a dream.

    She sat rooted to her seat and even forgot how to breathe and how to move.

    ¡°Hey, Xiao Ling.¡± Bai Murong was the first to greet her sister. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in a long time. What have you been busy with recently?¡±

    Half-jokingly, Xia Ling said, ¡°What are you busy with, Heavenly King Bai? Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m amodating your schedule?¡±

    ¡°Sorry to let you wait for so long, beauty.¡± Bai Murong slurred and strode towards them. He sat opposite them and looked at Ye Xingfei. ¡°Is this your sister?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Yes. She has been your fan for years. You aren¡¯t allowed to bully her.¡±

    After hearing that she could meet Bai Murong, Ye Xingfei bugged her sister toe over earlier before the scheduled timing. If not, Xia Ling would never wait for others. She was usually thest one to arrive.

    However, for her sister, she did not mind.

    At this time, Ye Xingfei was extremely emotional. She looked at Bai Murong speechlessly. In front of her idol, she did not know where to ce her hands and her face turned red. ¡°You... You...¡± She mumbled before finally saying something. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    Bai Murong smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Your sister is really cute.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± He said with a professional attitude of a celebrity who just met his fan.

    Hearing her idol respond to her, Ye Xingfei became even more nervous. Today, Bai Murong was really handsome. Wearing a tailored white shirt, his first button was open and a small part of his mesmerizing chest could be seen. His hair was somewhat messy and unruly, but it really brought out his charm and people could not look away from him.

    Xia Ling secretly whispered, ¡°Ladykiller.¡±

    She heard as Bai Murong talked to Ye Xingfei in a professional voice. ¡°I heard from Xiao Ling that you¡¯ve finally woken up. Congrattions. How is your body?¡±

    After her idol expressed concern, Ye Xingfei was very touched and tripped over her words as she responded. She was initially a very lively girl, but when she became nervous, she could not say anything andpletely relied on Bai Murong to take the lead on the conversation. Luckily, Bai Murong had seen a wide variety of fans and especially knew how to talk to girls so he was not cold.

    Xia Ling was a little bored listening at the side and held the menu to look at the flower tea.

    After she looked at the menu for the tenth time, the two of them were still talking about boring topics such as their favorite colors. Finally, she couldn¡¯t help but ask Bai Murong, ¡°Where is Luo Luo?¡±

    Bai Murong said, ¡°Luo Luo has an activity now, so she¡¯ll bete.¡± After that, he raised his wrist to look at his watch. ¡°She should be here soon.¡±

    After hearing the name ¡°Luo Luo,¡± Ye Xingfei immediately raised her head. Yesterday, she learned from the web that these years, Bai Murong had a rumored girlfriend and she was this second-tier star, Luo Luo.

    At the start, many fans said that Luo Luo was not worthy of Bai Murong. However, after Bai Murong protected her, they changed their attitudes and started to support them. However, Ye Xingfei could not ept that her idol was dating a small star who was not very outstanding. In her heart, Bai Murong should be with a Diva to match his status.

    She carefully asked Bai Murong, ¡°Are you really dating Luo Luo?¡±

    Bai Murong blinked innocently. ¡°Guess.¡±

    Ye Xingfei was a little uneasy. ¡°I guess that the rumors are all lies. You¡¯re so good...¡±

    ¡°Luo Luo is also really good.¡± Bai Murong gave her a dazzling smile and interrupted her. ¡°Miss, you can¡¯t ever fall in love with me. I already have Luo Luo.¡± He said half-jokingly.

    As if her idol acknowledged her love for him, Ye Xingfei felt like she was struck by lightning. She was afraid that her face was not right and quickly lowered her head, but her fingers unconsciously twisted her skirt under the table.

    The door of the box was silently pushed open.

    A bright voice rang. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! Murong! Murong!¡±

 Chapter 810 - I Also Want to Be a Huge Star

    Chapter 810: I Also Want to Be a Huge Star

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    She turned around and saw a girl in a pink dress in the crowd.

    The girl had fluffy short hair which was tied with a cute bow tie. The only difference between Ye Xingfei¡¯s princess dress and hers was that her princess dress was made of better material. Its cut was more refined and it was paired with fine silk satin. She looked just like a real princess.

    As soon as she came in, Ye Xingfei felt ufortable.

    Initially, Feifei thought that her clothes were very beautiful, butpared to Luo Luo, the difference was like heaven and earth. She finally understood why Auntie Liu said it was ¡°cheap¡± and of ¡°inferior quality.¡± In front of Luo Luo, she felt that she was fat, her limbs were ugly, and she wondered if her makeup was melting because she was sweating.

    Unknowingly, she shrank back as if she wanted to hide.

    The other three people in the box did not notice anything different.

    Luo Luo was entirely focused on Bai Murong and happily chirped. ¡°You guys haven¡¯t ordered yet? That¡¯s great. It seems that I wasn¡¯tte. Bai Murong, give me the menu.¡±

    Bai Murong gave the menu on the table to her rather affectionately.

    Luo Luo flipped through the menu leisurely. Bai Murong called the waiter over and asked Xia Ling and Ye Xingfei, ¡°What do you two want?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Icy World.¡±

    The waiter wrote it down and asked Ye Xingfei, ¡°What about you, miss?¡±

    Just now, Ye Xingfei only cared about talking to Bai Murong and forgot all about the menu. At this time, she was dumbfounded and only said, ¡°I¡¯ll have the same as my sister.¡±

    ¡°An Icy World too?¡± The waiter wrote it down again.

    Bai Murong looked at them andughed. ¡°You two really are sisters. I can¡¯t believe you like lemonade so much.¡±

    Only then did Ye Xingfei find out that ¡°Icy World¡± was lemonade. When she fell into aa after a car ident, she was only fifteen and still had the tastebuds of a child, so she did not like things that were too cooling. However, since she already ordered it and the menu was in Luo Luo¡¯s hands, she just smiled at Bai Murong because she had no courage to change her order.

    Xia Ling argued. ¡°What¡¯s so bad about lemonade? It protects my voice. Murong, I don¡¯t care if you don¡¯t protect your voices, but you always take Luo Luo to drink rubbish like coffee and alcohol. Do you know you can really shorten your careers as singers?¡±

    Bai Murong shrugged his shoulders without care. ¡°How many years can it be shortened? At that time, it¡¯ll be time for me to retire.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°What about Luo Luo?¡±

    ¡°I will retire with Murong!¡± Luo Luo raised her head from the menu and rushed to answer the question. She smiled radiantly at Bai Murong and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Murong said that he will take care of me!¡±

    Xia Ling had enough of this couple and stopped talking.

    Luo Luo pointed at a picture on the menu and said, ¡°I want the Ice and Fire Rose!¡± She pointed at another picture and said, ¡°Give Murong a Cup of Dragon Bones. He really loves to drink this!¡±

    Bai Murong stroked her short hair affectionately.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t stand it. ¡°Do you know that passionate love affairs end quickly?¡±

    Bai Murong rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re talking as if you don¡¯t do the same with someone else.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Bai Murong was delighted. ¡°Luo Luo really knows me. She knows that I hate drinking lemonade. You people who drink lemonade are heretics.¡±

    The speaker had no intentions, but Ye Xingfei suddenly became nervous. What, did she just order a drink her idol hated by ident? What should she do? Seriously, why didn¡¯t her sister give her a head¡¯s up?

    Her mind was in a mess and she was overthinking everything. She also looked enviously at Luo Luo. Luo Luo was only a second-tier star but could make a fuss and joke around beside Bai Murong. She was really lucky!

    Soon, the drinks were brought over by the waiter.

    As they drank their drinks, they chatted. Luo Luo was someone who could make the conversation exciting. With her around, people never felt cold or left out. However, she was overly enthusiastic and led the conversation from the start to the end. Ever since she entered the box, Ye Xingfei was unable to have another conversation with Bai Murong.

    After some time, Bai Murong raised his wrist to look at his watch. ¡°Xiao Ling, Feifei, I have to go first. Tonight, I have to catch a flight. If there¡¯s a chance, let¡¯s meet again in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that his schedule was tight and nodded.

    Bai Murong pulled Luo Luo along and bade farewell to them.

    The box became quiet. Xia Ling said to Ye Xingfei, ¡°Are you hungry? I can take you to eat something. After that, I will send you back to the ward for you to rest. I will visit you again.¡±

    Ye Xingfei was still immersed in the fact that she just met her idol face to face. Somewhat absent-mindedly, she nodded.

    Today, Xia Ling¡¯s outfit was very low-key. She wore an ordinary T-shirt, jeans, sunsses, and a baseball cap. She walked out of the cafe with Ye Xingfei, walking past themercial center. Thismercial center was very high-end and things here were very expensive, so there were few passers-by. However, the people on the street were very well dressed.

    Ye Xingfei noticed the gap between her and the people nearby. She snuck a nce at Xia Ling and by ident, she saw the logo on her shirt. Compared to ordinary stores, her shirt was outrageously expensive, giving her a big fright.

    She realized that she was wearing the cheapest clothes out of everyone here.

    She lowered her head and looked very dejected.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Sister...¡± Ye Xingfei thought about it and said, ¡°I want to be a big celebrity.¡± If she became a celebrity, she would be able to wear many beautiful clothes.

    ¡°Well...¡± Xia Ling thought it was only a little girl¡¯s dream and smiled. ¡°You do have some talent and initially, you were epted by Skyart Entertainment¡¯s trainee camp. After you¡¯ve recovered, I will talk to the people there and let you continue your training. If you want to be a huge celebrity, you have to focus on your training and make a debut in the future.¡±

    ¡°How many years will that take?¡± Ye Xingfei asked anxiously. ¡°Sister, you¡¯re so famous now. Can¡¯t you let me debut directly? I can sing and dance quite well. You know that. Why do I still need to train?¡±

    Xia Ling paused in her footsteps to look at her. In a sincere voice, she said, ¡°Feifei, you can¡¯t master the basic skills in such a short amount of time. Don¡¯t be anxious about wanting to be famous. You have to pay the price for fame. Your singing and dancing are not bad, but it¡¯s far from enough. Believe it or not, but Luo Luo is so much better than you. You have to build your foundation.¡±

    Ye Xingfei bit her lip and was a little unsatisfied.

    Luo Luo was only a second-tier celebrity. How could shepare to her? Her singing and dancing were so much better than her sister¡¯s, so she definitely had the ability to be a Diva. Why was her sister raining on her parade?

    Xia Ling did not notice her thoughts. She took her to dinner and sent her back.

    When her phone rang, Xia Ling answered it. ¡°Hello, Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°You had the time today to look for Bai Murong and Luo Luo but not me,¡± said Big Boss Li jealously as if he suffered a grievance.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°I took my sister to see her idol. It¡¯s too bad that you aren¡¯t her idol.¡±

    Big Boss Li gritted his teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t care. No matter what, you have toe over to my ce tonight.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you arrive.¡±

 Chapter 811 - Why in Godâ€™s Name

    <h4>Chapter 811: Why in God¡¯s Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling obediently went to Li Lei¡¯s house.

    The spacious apartment was filled with all sorts of things such as silk, dark sea pearls, ck jade, chess pieces made of fine white tallow jade, toy guns, toy cars, and sweets.

    Xia Ling did not realize what was going on. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°See if there¡¯s anything missing. The first time we go to your house, we should give your dad, mom, and your brother something. Do you think these things are suitable?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. How would she know if they were suitable? ¡°I prepared something for them before, but I specially made a call to ask my brother for advice. In the end, he refused to tell me what my parents liked and told me not to prepare anything. All I had to do was go home.¡± She said very honestly.

    Li Lei was also dumbfounded. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re prepared to go home empty-handed?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Of course not. I wrote a special song for them about their selfless love.¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Xia Ling walked into the pile of gifts andmented. ¡°Pearl, agate, and white jade? They are expensive, but how do you know if they¡¯ll like them?¡±

    Li Lei said proudly, ¡°Isn¡¯t this simple? I already expected this day to happen, so I already talked to Shaohui from the start and gained a clear understanding of what your parents like.¡± He did not prepare those gifts blindly. Her brother liked tea, so he prepared the finest Laoshan white tea which was picked from the only remaining authentic Dahongpao tea. Only three batches of tea were produced in a year. He heard that her dad liked to y chess, so he prepared a chessboard made of thousand-year-old agarwood. The ck chess pieces were made of ck jade while the white chess pieces were made of white jade. The craftsmanship was excellent and was an underrated work of art. He heard that her mother liked to shop, so he prepared rare satin from the Nordic countries. This kind of satin was very difficult to find and was extremely gorgeous. It kept people warm in winter and cool in summer, and its making would soon be a lost skill.

    He also bought toy cars and toy guns for Shaohui, pearl bracelets for the other people in the family, and candy for the children. He considered every aspect thoroughly.

    Xia Ling was speechless. ¡°How long exactly have you started thinking about this after Shaohui was gone?¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a matter of sooner orter, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Xia Ling fell silent. She was really touched. He was really thoughtful and even managed to do something she did not even consider so well. She ignored the fact that he talked about his parents so casually and said, ¡°Since Shaohui said that, it must be true. Shaohui understands them better than me.¡±

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°I think so too.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. <i>Seriously, can¡¯t be he say something nice?</i>

    She deliberately bickered with him. ¡°What if Shaohui¡¯s report is wrong?¡±

    Li Lei shed a toothy smile. ¡°When he¡¯s back, I will teach him a lesson!¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to hit my son.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Your son betrayed me.¡±

    These two people started arguing about something that did not even happen. Xia Ling took a pillow on the couch and hurled it at Li Lei. Li Lei smiled and blocked it from hitting him. At once, feathers fluttered all over the living room.

    On the carpet in the corner, the furry leopard yawnedzily. It licked its front paws, changed its posture, and went back to sleep. They were really a bunch of stupid humans.

    When everything was ready, they set off to the Xia Family.

    The Xia Family was located deep in the mountains and couldn¡¯t be found with any map. ording to the directions given by Xia Moyan, they first took a ne and a car. Lastly, they had to walk because the car could not even be driven into the mountains.

    Li Lei urged Xia Ling. ¡°Be careful. The mountain road is dangerous.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Behind them, their bodyguard Ah Nuo carried their luggage and shouted, ¡°Young Master, don¡¯t worry. With you leading the way and me guarding your backs, Miss Ye will be very safe in the middle.¡±

    Just as he spoke, Auntie Liu¡¯s voice rang. ¡°It¡¯s only a few steps on the road. What¡¯s with the fuss?¡±

    Father Ye and her were also there. For 30,000 yuan, they would do anything. Originally, she was still partially convinced that Xia Ling had a rather impressive rtive, but in the mountains, she gave up all hope. This road was so inessible and poorly made like in the countryside. How could they be rich people? This stupid girl really had a bad eye for people. How could she acknowledge such lousy rtives?

    Auntie Liu was dissatisfied andined. ¡°If you can¡¯t walk then go home. Why should you waste so much effort toe here? Oh yes, when you go back, remember to give me 30,000 yuan.¡±

    Xia Ling paused in her footsteps. She turned around and sneered at them. ¡°If you want to go home, then go! You won¡¯t get 30,000, and you will still have to pay for your trip back yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you brat! You...¡± Before Auntie Liu could say anything, Xia Ling had already turned around and continued to move forward.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile. He walked beside Xia Ling and said in a low voice, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you reincarnate into a better family after achieving nirvana? You really suffered in the hands of this family.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him and pinched his arm. ¡°You seem to enjoy gloating in my misfortune.¡±

    In pain, Li Lei stopped talking rubbish and quickly continued to lead the way in front.

    The road on the mountain meandered and they walked for a long time before they reached the end. Seeing that the sky was a little dark, Ah Nuo said, ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s something wrong. We seem to be walking in circles.¡±

    Li Lei stopped and said, ¡°Give me the map.¡±

    Ah Nuo handed him to map. Li Lei checked it and frowned. ¡°There¡¯s really something wrong. ording to the direction we¡¯re heading, we should¡¯ve reached this mountainous area a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be that we¡¯ve encountered something supernatural, right?¡± Ah Nuo said.

    ¡°Supernatural?¡± Auntie Liu was frightened and grabbed Father Ye¡¯s arm. ¡°What sort of horrifying ce is this? Let¡¯s quickly leave and nevere back.¡±

    ¡°Well, then you¡¯ll have to be able to walk out then.¡± Xia Ling sneered.

    ¡°You brat!¡± Auntie Liu almost wanted to scold her again.

    Li Lei coldly looked at Auntie Liu. ¡°If you continue to make noise, we¡¯ll abandon you here.¡± From a young age, he had experienced terrifying conditions of bloodshed and war. At this time, he had a murderous look, scaring Auntie Liu speechless.

    Only then did Li Lei continue to look at the map andpared it with his surroundings. ¡°This is probably a tactical formation. The Xia Family is so secluded, their headquarters is probably not easy to ess.¡±

    Xia Ling also thought that he made sense and was very angry. ¡°I will call my brother now and ask him why he trapped us here and demand that he quickly let us in.¡±

    Li Lei stopped her. ¡°I guess that this is the test that your brother gave us. Even if you call him now, he won¡¯t let us in. We have to find the way in ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Why in god¡¯s name do we have to do that?¡± Xia Ling refused to listen and took out her phone to call her brother.

 Chapter 812 - Breaking in

    <h4>Chapter 812: Breaking in</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei calmly watched as she dialed his number.

    After some time, Xia Ling was upset and put down her phone. ¡°Bastard brother, there¡¯s no signal here! He did it on purpose, right?¡± Xia Ling gritted her teeth. With the Xia Family¡¯s wealth, it was impossible that there was no signal in the mountains. The only reason was that someone deliberately blocked the signal.

    Li Lei smiled as if he were saying ¡°I told you so.¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy and pinched him again. ¡°You¡¯re stillughing!¡±

    ¡°Ok, I won¡¯tugh... Haha...¡± Li Lei really couldn¡¯t restrain hisughter. He chuckled a little before trying his best to act serious. ¡°You can rest here and wait for me to investigate the ce. Ah Nuo, protect everyone.¡±

    Ah Nuo nodded and acknowledged him.

    Xia Ling worriedly asked, ¡°Will you get lost?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Every time Ie to the wilderness I will leave marks on the way. Even if I can¡¯t find the entrance, it won¡¯t be hard for me to find my way back here.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling feel relieved and watched him leave.

    The group waited at the same ce for some time. Sure enough, Li Lei turned around and said, ¡°This maze isn¡¯t easy to figure out. I found out a few clues but am still far away from solving it.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What should we do then?¡± In this group, she could only rely on Li Lei. If Li Lei could not solve this maze, everyone would be stuck here. Of course, they would definitely not starve to death on the Xia Family territory. Xia Moyan would definitely send someone to save then, but it would be too embarrassing if that happened.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I have a n.¡±

    At the same time, on the observation deck halfway up the mountain.

    An old man and a young man were standing at the edge of the cliff looking down at what was going on.

    The young man who was dressed in white asked the old man beside him, ¡°Father, do you think they will seed?¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°Moyan, don¡¯t worry. Don¡¯t underestimate the capabilities of your future brother-inw.¡±

    Xia Moyan snorted. ¡°Future brother-inw? Capabilities? He just went to scan the area and did not even see the answers lying in front of him. Didn¡¯t he just return to the group with his tail between his legs? How is he qualified to be my brother-inw?¡±

    The old manughed again. ¡°Your sister likes him. Even if he¡¯s dirt, you still have to acknowledge him.¡±

    Xia Moyan rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that young bratcks in capability and isn¡¯t worthy of sister? Father, don¡¯t forget what we¡¯ve agreed on beforehand. This time, we have to let that young brat endure some hardship to let him know that the Xia Family isn¡¯t easy to mess with.¡± He was not pleased that his sister fell for this man so easily, so he wanted to think of a way to make things difficult for Li Lei. He already nned for Li Lei to have a hard time passing this obstacle of the Xia Family.

    The old man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a given. Does he think that marrying the daughter of the Xia Family is so easy?¡± He didn¡¯t deliberately want to break this marriage apart but felt that what Xia Moyan said made sense. They couldn¡¯t let Li Lei pass this obstacle so easily.

    Only then did Xia Moyan¡¯s expression ease.

    On the hillside, Xia Ling was unaware of the conversation between her brother and her father. She looked at Li Lei in anticipation. ¡°What good n do you have?¡±

    Li Lei took out his phone. ¡°I will make a phone call.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. ¡°I thought you had some amazing n. Do you think that your call will seed? I just tried, there¡¯s no signal!¡±

    Li Lei smiled very deceitfully. ¡°Who said there¡¯s no signal? My phone is a stronger model.¡± He took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and sure enough, his phone could receive the signal. The Li family had a satellite-specific signal which had a strong pration strength and could not be blocked.

    Xia Ling was finally convinced and listened as he made the call.

    ¡°Hello, grandpa? I¡¯m on the way to the Xia Family now. The Xia Family has a tactical formation that I can¡¯t figure out so I need to rely on you... How could you say that you don¡¯t have a grandson like me? I was forced to do that in the past. From now on, I will be filial to you. Besides, we can¡¯t let the Xia Family look down on the Li Family, right?¡± With an awkward expression, he said a lot of things to pacify Old Master Li.

    At the side, Xia Ling was speechless. She initially thought that he had a good idea, but instead, he was begging Old Master Li for help? Could that old master really help?

    Just as she was thinking about it, she saw Li Lei gesturing for them to keep up.

    Suspiciously, she followed him. She heard him describe the mountain to Old Master along the way and he stopped to observe his surroundings from time to time. Gradually, he really led everyone out of the original maze.

    Halfway up the mountain.

    Xia Moyan and the old man noticed their movements.

    ¡°Is he almost here?¡± The old man nodded. ¡°This man is still quite capable.¡±

    Xia Moyan was displeased. ¡°He obviously made a call for foreign aid. What¡¯s so great about that?¡±

    The old man smile. ¡°The fact that he was able to break through the formation is already very impressive. And it¡¯s also impressive that he knows contacts to help him in this sort of situation. This young man is still quite eptable.¡±

    Xia Moyan toyed with a small signal monitor. He listened to it for a while and sneered. ¡°He called Li Shanhe for help. That old man treated Shaohui like sh*t!¡±

    After hearing what Xia Moyan said, the old man remembered how horribly his grandson was treated and his expression turned cold. However, after a moment, he returned to normal. ¡°It¡¯s quite impressive that Li Lei can still get his grandpa¡¯s support after seizing his grandpa¡¯s power and position.¡±

    ¡°Father, you can continue to praise him.¡± Xia Moyan was very dissatisfied.

    The old man smiled again. ¡°Fine, I know that you don¡¯t think highly of him. Later when they¡¯re up on the mountain, you can make things difficult for him. I won¡¯t interfere. How about that?¡±

    Xia Moyan said quietly, ¡°I will make things difficult for him now. How about I increase the difficulty of the formation now?¡± The Xia Family had a few tactical formations and today¡¯s formation was already the simplest one.

    The old man shook his head. ¡°Li Shanhe only has a basic understanding of metaphysics. The current formation is already enough to make him rack his brains. If you increase the difficulty, they will be trapped in the mountains. Do you want Xiao Ling to starve and freeze with them?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Moyan was stumped. After a long time, he sneered and said, ¡°He¡¯s lucky.¡±

    Li Lei, who just escaped some hardship, finally solved the maze under the guidance of his grandfather. The group cheered and leaned on arge rock lethargically. Panting, Xia Ling said, ¡°Bastard brother. Later when I see him, I will definitely give him a piece of my mind.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t. If you really scold him, he will definitely direct his anger at me.¡± He was really a little scared of his future brother-inw. In fact, he was more afraid of him than his wife-to-be.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Can you be more useful?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°How about I kill him? After I marry you, the Xia Family can¡¯t retaliate against the Li Family and its future generations.¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eye at him. ¡°Idiot.¡±

    Li Leiughed, walked to her side, and held her petite body. Mysteriously, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. After a few days, your brother can¡¯t be arrogant anymore.¡±

 Chapter 813 - Welcoming the Phoenix Home

    <h4>Chapter 813: Weing the Phoenix Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You have a n to deal with him?¡±

    If Xia Moyan saw her eager appearance, he would definitelyment that the Xia Family was unlucky for giving birth to such an unloyal daughter who always sided with outsiders.

    Li Lei evaded her question. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy, so she turned away and ignored him.

    Auntie Liu held her legs andined. ¡°This mountain road is killing me. Are we able to get there by today? When we get there, I will need a good rest for my old arms and legs to recover...¡±

    Besides Father Ye, no one else heard herin.

    Xia Ling asked Li Lei, ¡°What should we do next?¡± In front of them was a lush mountain forest. The scenery was beautiful and they could hear the faint flowing of water. It was as if they entered the Emerald Dream.

    Li Lei buried his head on the map and said, ¡°Is this your home or my home?¡±

    ¡°So what if it¡¯s my home? Does that mean I have to know the way?¡± Xia Ling rebuked proudly.

    Li Lei gently stroked her head. ¡°Be good.¡± After that, he continued to study the map.

    Xia Ling was bored waiting and went to y with his hair happily.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s face turned ck and he gritted his teeth as he watched them from the tform halfway up the mountain. ¡°How dare he flirt with my sister.¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°I told you to send someone to pick them up earlier, but you still said that they would be anxious and wanted to continue watching them. Are you done watching them now? The couple doesn¡¯t even care about where they are.¡±

    Xia Moyan was speechless.

    He took out his walkie-talkie and unwillinglymanded. ¡°Everyone, be prepared to wee the phoenix back to her nest.¡±

    After he said that,nterns clearly lit up in the evening, forming a sea of red lights on the mountain. The shape of a phoenix tail feather was painted on them, making them look spectacr.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Father Ye was the first to notice something wrong and eximed.

    Xia Ling, Li Lei, and the others looked up and realized that the entire mountain was lit up by beautifulnterns.

    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful...¡± Xia Lingmended.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Your parents and brother are weing you home.¡±

    Now that they were at this stage, Xia Ling felt a little awkward. She hid behind Li Lei and asked, ¡°What... what should I do?¡±

    Li Lei gently said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. Just wait and see.¡±

    In the green forest, faint red lights shone through. Two groups of men wearing in blue robes and carrying phoenixnterns walked towards them with respect and happiness that they could not hide.

    A middle-aged man walked up to the group. With a nce, he urately identified Xia Ling. ¡°This... must be Miss Ling, right? Our Phoenix!¡±

    His voice trembled with emotion.

    Xia Ling was ttered. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡±

    The middle-aged man gushed. ¡°That¡¯s great... That¡¯s great! The phoenix that the Xia Family has been waiting for so many years is finally home!¡± He was the first to kneel down and bow his head in front of Xia Ling. ¡°Congrattions on your return home.¡±

    The two groups of people behind him also knelt down. ¡°Congrattions on your return home!¡±

    Their voices echoed in the mountains and caused more responses. There were countless people repeating this sentence, cheering and congratting the return of the phoenix.

    Xia Ling was even more ttered and unknowingly held Li Lei¡¯s hand.

    Behind her, Auntie Liu and Father Ye were so scared that they didn¡¯t know how to react. They were only ordinary citizens and had never seen such an uproar before. At once, they were stunned.

    Only Li Lei remained calm and gently held Xia Ling¡¯s hand.

    The firmness that came from his grip gave her strength. She took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite. Please get up.¡±

    The middle-aged man led the crowd by bowing before getting up. With a smile, he said to Xia Family, ¡°The Xia Family only has a phoenix once every many years. Very few phoenixes achieve nirvana. You¡¯ve suffered so much karma of the family and endured so much hardship. You deserve all of our respect.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°My family has also taken care of me well.¡±

    After that, she asked, ¡°Where are my brother and my parents?¡±

    The middle-aged man replied, ¡°Head of the Xia Family, madam, and Young Master Moyan are all waiting for you at the Heaven and Earth Pce at the top of the mountain. Everyone, please follow me.¡± After that, he led them up the mountain.

    Xia Ling nced at Li Lei and followed him.

    Along the way, they learned that this middle-aged man was in charge of the affairs of the Xia Family. His name was Xia Haichao and he was ordered to lead them into the mountains. ¡°After your parents heard that you wereing back, not only were they happy, they immediately told the servants to clean up a room and prepare a banquet for you. They¡¯re really excited about it. Young Master is also very happy as he has been missing his parents.¡± Xia Haichao was very talkative and smiled after mentioning Little Young Master Shaohui. ¡°This must be Little Young Master Shaohui¡¯s father, right?¡±

    ¡°Uncle Haichao, please call me Li Lei.¡± In front of the Xia Family, Li Lei was very polite.

    Xia Haichao said with a smile, ¡°Mr. Li, you think too highly of me. I¡¯m just a subordinate. I wouldn¡¯t dare to call you by your name. Even though my surname is Xia, I¡¯m only distantly rted and am here to help the Xia Family Head out. I¡¯m not some ¡®uncle.¡¯¡± The Xia Family had been expanding for thousands of years and was not umon for distant branches of the family to know each other and support each other for a lifetime. However, they were not really considered rtives.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Since you are Xiao Ling¡¯s father¡¯s direct assistant, you are my uncle.¡±

    Xia Haichao was startled butughed. ¡°Ok, with this daring thought, I will ept you call me ¡®uncle.¡¯¡± In his mind, he felt that this man was really audacious. He had not gained the recognition of the Xia Family but was already speaking so casually. No wonder Young Master Moyan did not like him. He really had unbelievably thick skin... At this moment, his respect for Li Lei deepened.

    Xia Haichao roared withughter. He started to like this audacious man a little more.

    Xia Ling quietly nudged Li Lei and said, ¡°How could you be so rude? You can¡¯t address my dad so casually.¡± Now that she was nearing the Xia Family, she was very nervous as she was about to meet her parents for the first time. She was afraid that she would leave a bad impression with Li Lei being so audacious and casual.

    However, Li Leizily smiled. ¡°Your dad definitely likes me.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°My brother doesn¡¯t like you.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Your brother is weird.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that he¡¯ll hear you?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Are you going to tell him?¡±

    Xia Ling was so angry that she decided to ignore him. This person was really absurd when he was not serious...

    Behind them, Auntie Liu, who had been listening to their conversation, was dissatisfied. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here to acknowledge your godfather and godmother, right? How could you call them your dad and mom? Don¡¯t forget your biological dad and... I are still here! We¡¯re not dead yet!¡±

    Xia Ling frowned and coldly said, ¡°You¡¯re really noisy.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m noisy? You!¡± Auntie Liu stamped her foot.

 Chapter 814 - The Rugged Mountain Road

    <h4>Chapter 814: The Rugged Mountain Road</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had not even uttered a word when Xia Haichao said, ¡°Who¡¯s being rude to Miss Ling?¡±

    Auntie Liu said, ¡°Miss Ling? She¡¯s just a little girl who came from a humble family, does she really think she¡¯s a rich madam now?¡±

    Xia Haichao looked at Xia Ling for further instructions. ¡°Miss Ling, do you want me to toss her off the mountain?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°You can even do that?¡±

    Xia Haichao said, ¡°Once she¡¯s tossed off, it¡¯ll be quiet.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down. They were already halfway up the mountain, if she fell from this height, she¡¯d be seriously injured, if not dead. ¡°It¡¯s not good to kill people so casually.¡±

    Xia Haichao replied sincerely, ¡°It¡¯s not good, indeed. But if they¡¯ve offended you, that doesn¡¯t apply to them anymore. You¡¯ve got too many obstacles to deal with in your life, and the Xia family should do what we can for you. If you do incur the wrath of the heavens, Old Master and Young Master Moyan would find a way to help you reconcile with it.¡± He was trying to convince her to approve of his actions; he truly wished he could toss Auntie Liu off the mountain at once.

    Auntie Liu turned pale from fear. ¡°Don¡¯te near me! Killing is an offense!¡±

    Xia Haichao did not even bat an eyelid. ¡°We¡¯re deep in the mountains, who¡¯s going to find out that I was the one who killed you? Moreover, when the wild animals finish up your corpse, no one is going to find your remains.¡±

    His words sent a chill down her spine.

    Only now did Auntie Liu truly feel the weight of the situation. She trembled, ¡°A-Alright. Shall we talk things over calmly? Let¡¯s not get physical, eh?¡±

    Xia Haichao sinisterly said, ¡°My one job is to protect Miss Ling. Whether you¡¯ll be tossed off the mountains is Miss Ling¡¯s call. Rather than plead with me, you might as well apologize to her.¡±

    Auntie Liu was terrified of the idea of being eaten up by animals. She swallowed her pride and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Um, Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve been kidding all these while, you see. Don¡¯t take it to heart. Though it wasn¡¯t me who gave you life, haven¡¯t I raised you up all those years?¡±

    Xia Ling did not buy it. ¡°Have you?¡±

    ¡°Have I not¡ª¡± Auntie Liu almost raised her voice, but quickly suppressed it when she saw Xia Haichao¡¯s unfriendly re. ¡°Alright, alright, it¡¯s my fault. I haven¡¯t raised you well all these years. I even took your allowance, and sent you to training camp as soon as I could, leaving you to your own devices. It¡¯s my fault, I deserve to die.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°You deserve to die... you think your statement suffices?¡±

    Auntie Liu was shocked by her response. ¡°Huh? What more do you want?¡± She had been arrogant all her life and had never apologized to anyone.

    Xia Lingid down the rules. ¡°You have to be good. When you see my parentster, you¡¯re not allowed to be impolite to them. You have to do as they say, got it? Otherwise, Uncle Haichao has tons of opportunities to toss you off the mountain.¡±

    Auntie Liu nodded vehemently. ¡°Will do, will do.¡±

    Only then was Xia Ling satisfied. She instructed Xia Haichao. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Their group continued their way up the mountain. Father Ye was right at the back, helping his wife along and muttering, ¡°Why did you offend her? She¡¯s rich and powerful now and can re up at us as she wishes, why would she listen to us? I think we¡¯ll have to count ourselves lucky if we can make it out of here unscathed. Why did you even think of risking our lives for that 30,000 yuan?¡±

    Auntie Liu dared not vent her anger on Xia Ling, and hence, directed it at her husband instead. ¡°What do you know? Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Moreover, I want that 30,000 yuan for the family! Now that Feifei has woken up we need money her food, clothes, and education! Are we supposed to depend on your measly pension? Or on your stingy ways? If I don¡¯t work harder for money, what is our family going to live on?!¡± She got angrier the more she spoke, and soon her teeth were clenched.

    Father Ye hung his head low and thought of how he couldn¡¯t even make 30,000 yuan in a year. He felt guilty towards his wife and Feifei, but that guilt had partially turned into a grudge against Xia Ling¡ªshe was so rich, and yet she wasn¡¯t willing to give her family some of her money. What was the point of having so much for herself? What an unfilial child!

    He decided to give Xia Ling a piece of his mind when he found an opportunity.

    Xia Ling was getting tired from the long windy road. She leaned against Li Lei and said, ¡°I can¡¯t walk anymore.¡±

    Li Lei called out to Xia Haichao, who was right in front. ¡°Uncle Haichao, shall we take a break?¡±

    Xia Haichao acted like he was caught in a fix. He looked up at the sky, a signal that they were short on time. ¡°But Old Master and Madam are waiting for you at the mountaintop.¡±

    Xia Ling poured for a bit but did not want to be rude to her parents whom she hadn¡¯t met. ¡°Let¡¯s go on then, I can handle it.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart went out to her. He walked in front of her and squatted down. ¡°Get on, I¡¯ll piggyback you.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°It¡¯s alright, you¡¯ll be too tired.¡±

    Li Lei hurried her. ¡°Come on up, don¡¯t let our parents wait too long. Plus, you aren¡¯t heavy.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you tired?¡± Xia Ling asked quietly.

    How could he im to be tired at a time like this? He casually said, ¡°I¡¯m way fitter than you, this is a piece of cake to me. You¡¯d better hurry up before I change my mind.¡±

    Xia Ling hurriedly got onto his back.

    Li Lei carried her easily and smiled. ¡°Now that¡¯s a good girl.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°If you¡¯re tired, don¡¯t force yourself. You can just put me down.¡±

    Li Lei teased. ¡°Who was the one who got up right after I said I might change my mind?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°... You¡¯re being mean!¡±

    Li Lei chuckled and walked on with her on his back.

    Xia Haichao watched their whole interaction and nodded his head discreetly; this man wasn¡¯t too bad. Old Master had already told him not to be too unreasonable towards her potential husband, but at the same time, they could not go too easy on him. At the very least, he had to be good enough to marry the Phoenix of the Xia family. Xia Haichao not allowing them to stop for a rest was, in fact, a calcted move.

    But not everyone was as happy as they were. A few people were rejoicing while others were upset.

    Auntie Liu was envious of the way they behaved so affectionately. ¡°I¡¯m tired too!¡±

    Father Ye saw how Li Lei carried Xia Ling and felt extremely pressurized. He was already panting from the journey thus far, not to mention that his wife was way plumper than Xia Ling. He stammered. ¡°You can just... hang in there...?¡±

    Auntie Liu hit him hard on the head in anger. ¡°Good-for-nothing!¡±

    Father Ye hung his head low and kept quiet.

    The path was getting steeper and more precipitous. Carrying extra weight, even Li Lei was beginning to sweat. Xia Ling¡¯s arms were around his neck, and she could feel his breathing getting heavier by the minute. Her heart ached. ¡°I think I should get down and walk on my own.¡±

 Chapter 815 - Whoâ€™s Your Dad

    <h4>Chapter 815: Who¡¯s Your Dad</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Shush, we¡¯re almost there,¡± Li Lei told her.

    ¡°Uncle Haichao, are we close?¡± Xia Ling called out to him.

    Xia Haichao looked at the two of them. ¡°At least a mile to go.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°... Li Lei, put me down.¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°I can still go on. I¡¯ll put you down when I can¡¯t walk on anymore.¡± What a joke, everyone could tell from Xia Haichao¡¯s expression that this was a test, how would he dare to put her down? This was the first time he was meeting his father-inw, he had to make a good first impression. Otherwise, what if he decided not to let Li Lei marry his daughter?

    However tired he might be, Li Lei had toplete this task.

    Xia Ling moved her legs wildly in the hope that Li Lei would give up, but he was stronger than her, and his grip got even firmer... Hence, she decided to stop making things difficult for him. The route was long and Li Lei took each step slowly but steadily. He even had the heart to joke with her. ¡°Wifey, what do you think, is your husband strong and attractive?¡±

    Xia Ling had intended to ask, <i>Who¡¯s your Wifey?</i>

    But seeing that he was soaked in sweat, her words dissolved into a gentle ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh? That¡¯s it?¡± Li Lei wasn¡¯t satisfied with her answer.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What more do you want?¡±

    Li Lei thought for a while. ¡°Sing me a song.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you being childish? You¡¯re a full-grown adult, do you need to listen to songs while walking?¡±

    Li Lei pouted. ¡°You¡¯ve never sung a song especially for me.¡± As a Diva, she¡¯d always been singing songs for others. Even in herst life, she¡¯d written ¡°Perfect Dream¡± for Pei Ziheng alone. But in this life, the two of them didn¡¯t even have a song that was truly theirs.

    Li Lei thought for a bit. ¡°How about, I sing you a song?¡±

    Xia Ling almost broke out in cold sweat. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± She¡¯d experienced this Boss¡¯ singing first-hand¡ªit sounded like a cross between a wolf¡¯s howl and a ghost¡¯s whimper and was so bad that Skyart¡¯s employees would go into hiding when they heard him. He could sing on any other day, but right now, in her territory? No way was she going to let him embarrass her this way.

    She surrendered. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll sing for you.¡±

    She considered a few songs before settling on one that had been popr recently. ¡°That year the flowers bloomed beautifully, as you stood under that little bridge... That year the birds chirped wondrously, as you spoke of the splendor of a little vige... The splendor of nature couldn¡¯t hold a candle to your eyes, theing of spring took me back to your smiles...¡±

    Her beautiful voice echoed through the thickness of the trees.

    In the thin fog, some birds had flown out of their homes and circled them.

    Everyone was immersed in her voice, and even Auntie Liu had forgotten about her petty anger. The locals nearby put down their chores and exchanged nces. ¡°Look over there... Do you see that? It¡¯s the Phoenix, the Phoenix really has returned! In the stories that our ancestors passed down, there was a part that said: ¡®Birds gather around the Phoenix¡¯!¡±

    ¡°Indeed!¡± The locals were excited but dared not make too much noise. Instead, they lowered their volume and continued enjoying the music, as their hearts swelled with admiration.

    With her voice as apaniment, Li Lei¡¯s footsteps seemed to lighten as time went by. He felt less fatigued and even thought that he could go on for another three miles. At that moment, utmost pride surged in his chest¡ªhis Xiao Ling was the best singer, the most perfect being in existence.

    They went on walking.

    When they reached the mountaintop, Li Lei put Xia Ling down.

    Xia Ling stopped singing and looked towards a courtyard in the distance¡ªit was a wooden and stone structure that appeared majestic in the fog. It stretched out along the mountain ranges and appeared to be arge-scale vacation resort.

    On the entrance was a sign that said ¡°Heaven and Earth Pce.¡±

    ¡°This is where the Family Head, Madam, Young Master Moyan, and Little Young Master Shaohui live.¡± Xia Haichao told them. ¡°Please follow me.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and nced at Li Lei. He gave her hand a soft squeeze and a reassuring smile as they walked in together. The courtyard was quiet, but down the hallway, shuffling footsteps could be heard before some people came forward. An elderly man came first, followed by an elegant woman who now stood by his side, and right next to them were Xia Moyan and Shaohui.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    Almost intuitively, she figured out who that elderly man was¡ª

    ¡°Dad!¡± She choked on these words.

    The elderly man appeared calm andposed initially, but responded emotionally right after he heard her, ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± He hurriedly came down the steps.

    Xia Ling let go of Li Lei¡¯s hand and rushed forward, wrapping him in an embrace.

    Kinship was a strange thing. Although this pair of father and daughter had never met and had been apart for years¡ªor one could say, a lifetime¡ªeven in a crowd of strangers, one look at each other was enough for them to recognize the other.

    This was what it meant to be family.

    ¡°Dad...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice turned nasal as shey her head on her father¡¯s chest. Two lifetimes of pain and suffering surged in her, as well as the longing she¡¯d had for her family...

    ¡°Good girl, my good girl...¡± Xia Family Head¡¯s voice was breaking too. This elderly man who stood fearless and expressionless in the face of challenges now had tears welling up in his eyes. ¡°My Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve suffered. Father has finally found you...¡±

    Both father and daughter smiled and cried at the same time.

    The elegantdy who stood by the side came forward as well and wiped tears from her eyes. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling released her father and turned to look at thedy, before leaning in for a hug. ¡°Mom!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Thedy cried profusely as well while holding her daughter tight.

    After being apart for decades, this family had finally found each other ande together. Xia Family Head and his wife spent a long time scrutinizing Xia Ling from head to toe, but couldn¡¯t seem to get enough of it. ¡°You¡¯ve been living on your own outside, and don¡¯t know how to take good care of yourself. Look at how thin you are!¡± Madame Xia felt bad for Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling smiled shyly and told her not to worry.

    Mother and daughter settled into casual everyday conversation in no time.

    Xia Family Head couldn¡¯t find a ce in the conversation and turned away, only to see a young man standing nearby. ¡°You must be Li Lei?¡± He narrowed his eyes slightly and scrutinized his son-inw to-be, just as every father-inw did.

    Li Lei tensed up, afraid that he¡¯d appear rude in any way. He cautiously replied, ¡°It¡¯s me, Dad.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s your dad?!¡± In the same way that Xia Moyan felt when he first addressed him as ¡°Brother,¡± Xia Family Head felt that this young brat was getting toofortable, too fast.

    Li Lei felt that he wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s family is my family as well, so Xiao Ling¡¯s father is my father.¡±

    Xia Family Head was speechless.

    Xia Moyan muttered into his ear, ¡°Father, do you see that? This guy just needs to be taught a lesson.¡±

 Chapter 816 - Where Have Your Morals Gone?

    <h4>Chapter 816: Where Have Your Morals Gone?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Family Head shared his sentiments. He had not even passed the test nor gifted the dowry, and was already calling him ¡°Dad¡±? Did he think his daughter was an easy girl? No, it was time to give him a piece of his mind!

    Xia Family Head coughed deliberately and portrayed his most serious expression. ¡°Call me Uncle.¡±

    That meant to say that he would not acknowledge this ¡°son.¡±

    Fortunately, Li Lei was thick-skinned. He simply smiled and said, ¡°Everyone says that a son-inw is half a son, isn¡¯t it too distant to call you Uncle? Dad, I brought you, Mom, and Brother some gifts.¡±

    ¡°Gift?¡± Xia Family Head was curious, what did this son-inw to-be bring?

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Dad, don¡¯t be fooled by him.¡±

    Seeing that his future brother-inw was about to ruin things for him, Li Lei quickly added, ¡°You¡¯ll like it. It¡¯s a chessboard made from old, antique wood. The chess pieces are constructed with dark jade and sheep-fat white jade. Oh, and there¡¯s a game record.¡± Before anyone had time to react, he had signaled for Ah Nuo, who had been standing quietly behind him all along, to get the presents out.

    Ah Nuo had been holding onto a piece of luggage the whole time, and now it was time for him to serve his purpose. He took an exquisite chessboard set out of the luggage and handed it to Li Lei, while Li Lei politely handed it to Xia Family Head.

    The family head received it with a nonchnt demeanor. ¡°The Xia family is no short of such ythings... the Gxy Game Record!¡±

    He shrieked all of a sudden as his hands trembled.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s the Gxy Game Record indeed, the one that existed in the legend of the chess world. The original record has beenpletely destroyed; the one in your hands is the one and only replica in the world. You can¡¯t find another one.¡±

    ¡°No wonder... no wonder!¡± Xia Family Head¡¯s fingers found their way across the discolored record. ¡°No wonder I haven¡¯t managed to find it, despite trying for half my life. So it¡¯s been in your hands all this while!¡± Xia Family Head wasn¡¯t exactly talented in chess, but that did not make him love it any less. He had always been interested, or even in awe of these game records.

    From a short distance away, Little Shaohui discreetly gave Dad a thumbs up.

    Dad had gotten his help a long time back. He had told Dad that Grandpa loved all sorts of chess game records, and there was one named the ¡°Gxy¡± that he never managed to find. If he could bring it along, Grandpa would definitely have a good impression of him.

    God was on his side.

    Li Lei activated all his resources and took to various resorts in order to get hold of this godforsaken record.

    Seeing how overjoyed Xia Family Head was, Li Lei was delighted as well. ¡°Dad, it¡¯s such a shame for me to hold on to such a gem. Only someone with your wisdom and eye for this form of art should deserve to keep it.¡±

    ¡°Good! Good! Good!¡± Xia Family Head had no better words.

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t watch on. His father was simply intellectually challenged at this game but always refused to admit it. <i>¡°Only someone with your wisdom and eye for this form of art should deserve to keep this¡±? Li Lei, don¡¯t you feel a tinge of guilt at all saying this?</i>

    He blurted out, ¡°How do you know if my father¡¯s good at chess?¡±

    Li Lei looked at him innocently. ¡°Of course I do know. When Shaohui was with us down the mountains, he couldn¡¯t stop telling me about how good his grandpa was at chess. In my heart, Dad is the number one expert!¡±

    He looked so sincere when he said that.

    Xia Moyan now understood how this man ran an entertainment firm, he was being so dramatic! He nced at Little Shaohui with a straight face¡ªwell then, little one, I see that you¡¯re learning from your mom and helping outsiders. Watch how I¡¯ll teach you a lessonter.

    Little Shaohui felt a chill from his uncle¡¯s look. <i>Oh no, Dad. Even if you¡¯re trying to curry favor with Grandpa, don¡¯t drag me down. Once Uncle holds a grudge against me, my days here are going to be tough...</i>

    He felt sorry for himself. It was always the son giving the dad away, why was it the other way around for him?

    Xia Family Head looked at the record over and over again with joy and agitation. He wouldn¡¯t let go of it.

    Xia Moyan said coldly, ¡°Dad.¡±

    Xia Family Head had no response.

    Xia Moyan called out a little louder this time. ¡°Dad!¡±

    Xia Family Head finally snapped out of it, only to see his son¡¯s serious, almost threatening re. <i>Oh no, how did I get bribed so easily by this young brat Li Lei? I¡¯ve yet to do my part for my daughter!</i>

    He cleared his throat and tried to recover his original, somber expression as he said to Li Lei, ¡°It¡¯s good that you put in heart and soul into finding something as rare as the Gxy Game Record. But I don¡¯t quite like superfluous youth, what good is there in trying to curry favor with others? You said I¡¯m the number one expert in chess, do you not feel conscious at all?¡±

    To be fair, everyone enjoyed listening to praises.

    The family head was already more than happy to hear that he was a chess expert.

    But with his son eyeing him from the side, he had no other choice but to be hard on his future son-inw.

    Li Lei looked even more sincere now. ¡°To be honest, Dad, I enjoy ying chess as well and often get Little Shaohui to y against me. Little Shaohui said I was nowhere as good as you. Initially, I refused to ept it, but after he gave me a recount on a particr game that you yed, every move and strategy... Impressive! I believed his words immediately. Really, Dad, you¡¯re my idol!¡±

    Little Shaohui was speechless.

    So was Xia Moyan.

    Xia Family Head was only half convinced. ¡°Really? You really admire the way I y chess? Which game did you watch, exactly?¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t hesitate for even a moment. ¡°It was the one in which you started the game with this ck piece, and then dived right into a sophisticated strategy. You made sure that the opponent was unable to y a single good move after that. I was utterly amazed by how swiftly you did it! I wondered to myself, why didn¡¯t I think of that? I¡¯d gotten Little Shaohui to recap that game of yours with me over and over again so I could pick up that strategy too.¡±

    Xia Family Head tried to recall and realized that he did y a game like that indeed. Well, it seemed like this young man wasn¡¯t lying at all, he was genuinely in awe of his skills. Li Lei¡¯s words hit the right spot, causing him to burst outughing with joy. ¡°But of course! My skills are pretty impressive, but not many people know how to appreciate them! Come here,d, I¡¯ll tell you about another strategy...¡±

    He held on to Li Lei and began to speak passionately about the chess.

    Li Lei listened in all seriousness with a look of wonder and admiration. He even eximed in awe every once in a while.

    Little Shaohui quietly covered his eyes...

    He remembered recounting Grandpa¡¯s chess game to Dad. But it was with Dad¡¯s IQ score of 200 and impressive chess abilities that he managed to ¡°revive¡± Grandpa¡¯s originally hopeless and logically-wed gamey.

    He remembered showing Dad the moves Grandpa had made, and how Dad could barely watch on: [That¡¯s how your grandpa ys? I could win him with my eyes closed!] He had even demonstrated a hundred ways to defeat Grandpa.

    Back then, Little Shaohui had been in awe of his father.

    But why was it that the moment he came to Grandpa¡¯s house, Dad... just...

    Began lying through his teeth?

    Hey, Dad, where have your morals gone?

 Chapter 817 - Adoption

    <h4>Chapter 817: Adoption</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Little Shaohui had mixed feelings.

    Xia Moyan as well¡ªhe never would¡¯ve thought that Li Lei would try to curry favor with his father with chess. But well, it certainly worked.

    He red at his father¡ªthis old man wasn¡¯t reliable at all, nor was Shaohui. It seemed like he could only count on himself and his mother to ensure his sister¡¯s happiness.

    He nced at Madam Xia, who was still chatting happily with Xia Ling. The two of them went from talking about how difficult Xia Ling¡¯s life had been, to thetest fashion trends in the market. On that note, Xia Ling seemed to have thought of something and got Ah Nuo to hand her an item from the luggage. ¡°Mom, take a look at this satin. This North European craft is about to be a lost art, so Li Lei especially got someone to make this for you. He heard that you like cape jasmines, and hence requested for it to be dyed this color...¡±

    ¡°Really? Oh my, it looks beautiful. This print and shade are so unique, I¡¯ve never seen anything simr. Xiao Lei is really filial.¡± Madam Xia¡¯s eyes lit up with joy and immediately addressed Li Lei affectionately.

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t bear the sight, even his mother had fallen into the trap.

    Little Shaohui quietly distanced himself from his uncle, whose expression now was really scary.

    Xia Family Head held onto the game score and chess set like it was his treasure, and asked Li Lei into the room to continue their discussion on chess. Madam Xia hooked arms with Xia Ling and led her along. ¡°Come, Mom decorated a room for you. See if you like it.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Anything Mom decorates is good.¡±

    Mother and daughter happily strutted in.

    They left Little Shaohui and Xia Moyan behind.

    Had they been... forgotten?

    Shaohui hurried towards the luggage and looked up at Ah Nuo. ¡°Uncle Ah Nuo, Mom and Dad didn¡¯t prepare any gift for me?¡± He asked expectantly.

    The big man squatted down and smiled. ¡°Little Young Master, of course they did. You¡¯ve been on their minds this whole time.¡±

    He took several things out of the luggage¡ªtoy cars, toy guns, remote-controlled airne models and more. Shaohui cheered. ¡°I knew it. Mom and Dad are the best!¡±

    On the other side, Xia Moyan¡¯s expression stiffened even more.

    Little Shaohui hurriedly zipped his mouth and turned around slowly and cautiously, like a child who had done something wrong. Seeing that Uncle did not go on to lecture him, he asked, ¡°Uncle Ah Nuo, did Dad bring anything back for Uncle as well?¡±

    Ah Nuo smiled and retrieved something from the luggage. He straightened up and politely handed it to Xia Moyan. ¡°Preceptor, Young Master heard that you¡¯re a tea lover. He went up the mountain to look for what is known to be the legendary white tea tree on Earth and picked the fresh tea leaves personally. Please try them and see if they¡¯re to your liking.¡±

    Xia Moyan received the gift but did not look any less unhappy.

    Did these people think that he was just like his unreliable parents and the untrustworthy kid Shaohui? He wouldn¡¯t be bribed by just a gift, hmph.

    ¡°Manager Haichao, take them to the guest room for a rest.¡± He instructed.

    Xia Haichao nodded and said to Ah Nuo, Father Ye, and Auntie Liu, ¡°It¡¯s been a long way here, pleasee with me.¡±

    The Xia family¡¯s reunion had left Auntie Liu and Father Ye feeling a little awkward, but the valuable gifts were what truly shocked them. Auntie Liu did not bother with the civilities. ¡°So, Ah Nuo, did your Young Master prepare any gifts for me? Don¡¯t forget that Old Ye and I are Xiao Ling¡¯s real parents!¡±

    Ah Nuo said matter-of-factly, ¡°Young Master did not prepare any.¡±

    Li Lei had intended to get them gifts. After all, the Ye family was Xia Ling¡¯s family in this lifetime.

    But Xia Ling stopped him. ¡°Haven¡¯t I done enough for them all these years? It¡¯s not as if they¡¯ve ever treated me like family. They¡¯ve tried to sell me away time and again, and they¡¯re even asking me for money now. In any case, I¡¯ve already given them 30,000 yuan. That¡¯s considerably generous in their context. You don¡¯t have to give them anything more, lest they get addicted to money ande asking for more in the future.¡±

    She¡¯d taken over Ye Xingling¡¯s physical body, but even so, she would¡¯ve repaid any favor that she needed to over all these years. From this point on, she¡¯d only attend to the Ye family if it was regarding major issues, such as sickness and death. Otherwise, if it was just a scheme to take advantage of and exploit her, she would not give an inch.

    Li Leiughed at how petty she was.

    And she snapped back at him. ¡°Well, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    Li Lei ended up having to coax her for the rest of the day.

    Hence, this time, Li Lei had followed his wife¡¯s orders and did not prepare anything for the Ye family. He even told Ah Nuo that if the Ye family was to ask about it or kick a fuss, he didn¡¯t have to be too polite in response.

    Once Ah Nuo said that Li Lei had not prepared anything, Auntie Liu red up. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why isn¡¯t there one? It must be you, you¡¯re corrupt! Mr. Li loves my daughter so much, how could he possibly not have prepared a gift for me?¡±

    On the inside, Ah Nuo utterly despised her¡ª <i>so now you remember that Miss Ye is your ¡°daughter,¡± huh?</i>

    <i>When you¡¯ve never treated Miss Ye like a daughter all this while!</i>

    He was fuming on the inside but managed to maintain a dignified demeanor.

    Meanwhile, Xia Haichao had had enough of her nonsense and gave a deliberate cough. ¡°There are some things that we should rify as soon as possible. Mr. Ye, Madame Liu, we invited you over this time, not simply because we wanted Miss Ling to acknowledge them as godparents. In fact, we hope that Miss Ling can be officially adopted by the Xia family from today onwards. Once that is done, Miss Ling will be the daughter of the Xia family, and would have nothing to do with the Ye¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Both Father Ye and Auntie Liu eximed in shock.

    This was Xia Haichao¡¯s task, to begin with. Now, more than ever, he really wanted to give the Ye¡¯s a piece of his mind. ¡°Three days from now, the locals will be holding a ceremony for Miss Ling¡¯s return. We hope that you both will cooperate to allow the smoothpletion of the process.¡±

    ¡°Fat hope!¡± Auntie Liu disagreed. ¡°You¡¯ve got it all nned out, eh? You poor, grimy vige people were lucky enough to find Xiao Ling¡¯s son, and now you¡¯re getting all haughty? Trying to get yourselves connected with a superstar like Xiao Ling? You wish! Let me tell you, she can forget about trying to sever ties with me!¡±

    Her saliva was sttered all over Xia Haichao¡¯s face.

    Xia Haichao calmly wiped his face with a tissue and said, ¡°Madame Liu, this will not change, whether or not you agree to it. Our Xia family doesn¡¯t likemitting sins, but that doesn¡¯t mean we don¡¯t kill.¡±

    ¡°W-What does that mean?¡± Auntie Liu was stunned.

    Xia Haichao smiled. ¡°Remember when we were on our way up the mountain? I wanted to toss you off the mountains. I could carry on with it now if I wanted to.¡±

 Chapter 818 - The Most Expensive Food

    <h4>Chapter 818: The Most Expensive Food</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Auntie Liu recalled the massive threat she received!

    Her face turned white as she was afraid that the mountain vigers would hurt them if they were angered.

    Father Ye¡¯s face was ashen as well, and he stuttered. ¡°Xia... Brother Xia... you¡¯re not being reasonable here. How can you forcefully break our family apart? Xiao Ling is my biological daughter, after all. I want to speak to her... I want to ask her myself why she¡¯s being so unfilial...¡±

    Xia Haichao couldn¡¯t let him do something like that.

    He was firm and refused to move aside. ¡°Miss Ling doesn¡¯t have time to meet you.¡±

    ¡°You... aren¡¯t you being a bully now?¡± Father Ye was anxious. Even though he didn¡¯t usually show much concern for this daughter, and under Auntie Liu¡¯s instigation, he failed to show her much fatherly love over the years, she was still his biological daughter. Furthermore, she was famous and sessful. He couldn¡¯t ept simply breaking all ties with her out of a sudden.

    Auntie Liu¡¯s face was still pale, but she piped up in a small voice. ¡°This girl... why does she treat strangers better than her own father?¡± Her gaze subconsciously drifted to the huge backpack Ah Nuo was carrying. It was filled with all kinds of gifts for the Xia Family.

    ¡°Grandfather Ye, Grandmother Liu!¡± Suddenly, an adorable child voice rang out.

    Everyone turned and saw Shaohui running over to the Ye Family couple, despite having run ahead earlier. Auntie Liu took a while to realize that ¡°Grandmother Liu¡± was herself. Was this child tired of living? Why was he making her sound so old?

    ¡°Who are you calling old?!¡± She shrieked and was about to throw her temper when she caught sight of Xia Haichao¡¯s warning nce. She shuddered and shut up.

    Father Ye also noticed that the child was present.

    He didn¡¯t have much impression of Xia Ling¡¯s child.

    Thest time they met was five years ago when she had just given birth. The child was skinny, sickly, and weak¡ªnot adorable at all. Later, he heard that the child died, and while he was a little sad, he didn¡¯t think too much about it. Then, Chu Chen was constantly threatening the family and disallowed them from going to look for Xia Ling. With Auntie Liu fanning the mes, he was furious at Xia Ling and thought to himself that her child dying was her punishment.

    Hence, when Xia Ling was grieving for her dead son, he didn¡¯t even give her a call to console her.

    A whileter, he heard that Xia Ling had adopted a child. Auntie Liuined. ¡°Her parents and sister are so poor that they have to skip meals, and she doesn¡¯t even give a whisker of concern to us. What now? She¡¯s spending money on a bastard from God knows where? Why did she adopt him? So that he will fight us for her wealth?!¡±

    His anger festered within and he didn¡¯t want to show any concern for the child.

    As such, when it was revealed that this child was actually Xia Ling¡¯s biological son, Father Ye continued to ignore him out of habit.

    It was only when the active child came bounding over to him that he suddenly realized what it felt like to have a little grandson. This grandson was adorable from having been well taken care of by the Xia Family when he was younger. His features were pretty and he had his adorable little head raised to look at Father Ye with round, innocent eyes. When he smiled, his eyes would form a line, making him look all the cuter.

    Father Ye¡¯s heart melted and he said gently, ¡°Are you little Shaohui? I¡¯m your grandfather.¡±

    Little Shaohui reached out his small chubby hands. ¡°Hello, Grandfather Ye. Do you have a gift for me?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Father Ye¡¯s smile froze on his face. He had onlye here because of Xia Ling¡¯s request and Auntie Liu¡¯s orders. He was only here to earn that 30,000 yuan. How would he have remembered to bring a present for this child?

    Father Ye¡¯s expression turned to embarrassment at little Shaohui¡¯s question.

    Father Ye felt around in his pockets, but other than a pack of cigarettes, there was nothing else. ¡°Grandfather will bring you something next time...¡± He replied awkwardly.

    Little Shaohui¡¯s face was filled with disappointment. He turned to Auntie Liu. ¡°How about Grandmother Liu?¡±

    Auntie Liu scoffed. ¡°Your mother already wants to break all ties with our family... And you think I will bring you a gift?¡±

    She thought that the child would cry after hearing her answer, and had already thought of a n to deal with his tantrum. However, Shaohui merely retracted his hand and nodded. ¡°Grandmother Liu is right. Only family will remember to bring a present.¡±

    This sentence struck Father Ye in the heart.

    He suddenly realized that he never treated Xiao Ling and her child as family, always wanting to get something from them, and never giving anything in return.

    Even though they were father and daughter, the distance between them was far, almost like strangers.

    Xia Haichao secretlymended the little Young Master for his statement, before speaking up, ¡°Little Young Master Shaohui is right. Both of you didn¡¯t even prepare a present for him. We in the Xia Family have reason to suspect that you¡¯ve mistreated Miss Ling and Little Young Master Shaohui. Please stop resisting the matter of transferring their family registration to us.¡±

    Father Ye lowered his head like a defeated rooster.

    Auntie Liu tried to salvage the situation. ¡°You can¡¯t speak like that. Children are not supposed to scorn us for being poor or ugly. We might be penniless, but you guys don¡¯t look any better! Why should we transfer Xiao Ling¡¯s family registration over to you?¡±

    The Xia Family lived a free and casual lifestyle, and while they had raised immense wealth over the years, they didn¡¯t show it. Even the structures in the mountain vige were old and wooden, which didn¡¯t stand out even though they were nned and created to perfectly match the mountainous backdrop. Hence, it wasn¡¯t surprising that Auntie Liu thought that this was a normal, small mountain vige.

    Xia Haichao smiled. ¡°Little Young Master Shaohui was still painstakingly brought up by the Xia Family, regardless of whether we have money or not. We gave the little young master food, education and presents, all of which still add up to a significant sum. How about this? If the two of you can return that money to the Xia Family, we will stop asking for the transfer of their family registration.¡±

    Auntie Liu was at a loss for words. Caring and educating a child for four to five years required significant expenditure. Was it worth it to pay so much for this irritating child?

    She tried to do the mental calctions.

    Father Ye opened his mouth to ask after plucking up the courage, ¡°How much are you asking for?¡± He was reluctant to lose his daughter given that she was the first superstar in the Ye Family bloodline. He was hoping that she would continue to make the family proud.

    Xia Haichao continued to smile as he responded, ¡°Not much... we are a self-subsistent family and all the food we have here is grown in the yard. It¡¯s hard for me to give an exact calction. Let me see, a few years ago one of the people in our vige brought the rice in the fields to the city to be sold. It was about ten thousand yuan for half a kilo of rice.¡±

    The Ye Family couple sucked in a breath of cold air at hearing the figure.

    ¡°You liar!¡± Auntie Liu eximed. ¡°How can rice be that expensive?¡±

    ¡°Oh.. not just the rice... the vegetables, fruits, melons, fish, meat... everything here is of fine quality and fetches a high price. Little Young Master Shaohui stayed here for a whole four years... why don¡¯t you make the calctions?¡± Xia Haichao calmly responded. In actual fact, with the Xia Family¡¯s wealth, they could easily hand Xia Ling two billion yuan as an ¡°allowance.¡± The amount they spent on the meals really wasn¡¯t considered that expensive.

    The crops here were grown and harvested ording to Fengshui, and the quality was unmatched. Many people would bring bundles of cash to them to buy some of their crops.

    To normal people, it was exorbitantly priced.

    Auntie Liu shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you... you¡¯re just making things difficult for us...¡±

 Chapter 819 - Meeting the Best Chess Partner

    <h4>Chapter 819: Meeting the Best Chess Partner</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Haichao reflected on his own words and decided that the example he raised was too difficult to understand.

    He reluctantly switched to an easier one. ¡°When the little young master was brought back here, the head of the family personally gave him a jade bangle for long life. That antique blue fields jade was passed down from the time of the monarchy. It¡¯s priceless. Both of you can go ask around to see how much it¡¯s worth. Otherwise...¡±

    He thought for a while, but could not think of anything that could be a good representation of the jade¡¯s worth. The Ye Family husband-wife pair just wouldn¡¯t understand. He sighed and said, ¡°The head of the family said that little kids cannot be gifted with too many riches. It will be harmful to their future fortune. We¡¯ll keep the silvers and the gold and gift them to the little young master when he¡¯s older.¡±

    Auntie Liu gave a coldugh. ¡°I knew you were trying to scam us! What ancient blue fields jade... you can just walk into any old jade shop along the streets and buy a rtively good piece for ten or twenty yuan a piece! Don¡¯t think I can be scammed that easily!¡±

    Xia Haichao sighed again. This Auntie Liu was truly a mountain tortoise.

    Little Shaohui nced at Xia Haichao in sympathy. It looked like he would have to take over from here. ¡°Grandfather Ye, Grandmother Liu, if you don¡¯t want me to be registered under their household, then just give them three-hundred-thousand yuan aspensation. When I was learning to tame animals in the circus, Grandfather and Uncle paid around the same for the school fees.¡±

    Xia Haichao was speechless. <i>Little Young Master, what rubbish are you talking about?</i>

    Auntie Liu regarded Shaohui suspiciously. ¡°What taming of animals?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s like this.¡± The little boy said matter-of-factly. ¡°I really like animals and asked to go to the circus to learn how to tame them. Hence, Uncle hired a master for me from the circus. Uncle said that master tames animals for a living and was afraid that teaching students would cost him his business, thus didn¡¯t take many students. He asked for three-hundred-thousand to teach me.¡±

    Auntie Liu believed him now, as she thought the story about the master being afraid to teach students for fear of losing business made sense. These specialized skills were expensive to learn. However, she was reluctant to part with the money. ¡°You spendthrift little fellow... why did you learn this useless skill that can¡¯t feed yourself? Do you want to be an animal tamer in the circus in the future?¡±

    Little Shaohui said in mock agony, ¡°Oh... what¡¯s to do? I¡¯ve learned the skill already. The fees are so expensive that Mum and I can only choose to be part of their family. Grandmother Liu, if you don¡¯t agree to us doing so, then help me foot the school fees.¡±

    ¡°You wish!¡± Auntie Liu was furious. ¡°Your mother hasn¡¯t given us three-hundred-thousand in all these yearsbined!¡± It was a whole three-hundred-thousand! Father Ye and Auntie Liu didn¡¯t have that amount of savings in their bank ounts!

    ¡°So... why don¡¯t wee to an amicable agreement?¡± Xia Haichao chose this opportune moment to speak up. ¡°If the two of you don¡¯t wish to spend that kind of money for your grandson, and think that your daughter hasn¡¯t paid you the equivalent all these years, why try to keep them? You¡¯ll only get increasingly irritated with each other.¡±

    Auntie Liu didn¡¯t say anything. She would definitely not pay three-hundred-thousand for this child that they had no blood rtion to.

    Father Ye lowered his head and was quiet for a moment, before saying resolutely, ¡°I, Ye Xiaozhong, am a useless fellow with no ability to care for my daughter and grandson. Since they want to leave, I¡¯m willing to let them go. However...¡± He raised his head and looked Xia Haichao in the eyes. ¡°I have one condition.¡±

    ¡°What condition?¡± Xia Haichao asked.

    Father Ye said, ¡°Xiao Ling might be registered under the Xia Family, but she¡¯s still my biological child. We have blood ties; she can¡¯t disregard that. In the future, if the Ye Family encounters any problems, she can¡¯t refuse to help us!¡±

    Hearing his condition, Xia Haichao silently breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even if Miss Ling doesn¡¯t care for the Ye Family, regardless of whether there are sad or happy events, the Xia Family will make sure to provide you with all the support you require. I will give you my direct line. If there are any issues in the future, feel free to call me.¡±

    Father Ye epted Xia Haichao¡¯s proposition reluctantly and ambled off with Auntie Liu to the guest room to take a rest.

    Havingpleted his mission, Xia Haichao went in search of the Xia Family Head to report the sess.

    Walking through the long Zhennan wood corridor that seemed to meld with the forest backdrop, Xia Haichao knocked on the door of the room at the end.

    The room was filled with the fragrance of tea and the exquisitely flower-carved window was half-open, letting in the cool autumn breeze and sounds of birds chirping. He saw the Xia Family Head and Li Lei sitting cross-legged facing each other ying an intense game of chess. The Xia Family Head¡¯s joyous voice rang out, ¡°Young Master Li, what do you think of this clever move? I¡¯ve trapped two of your pieces! Heheheh... you didn¡¯t think of that, did you? I¡¯ll kill off your big dragon very soon!¡±

    Li Lei was also engrossed in the game as he pped his thigh and eximed, ¡°Clever, indeed! Dad, that¡¯s a stroke of genius right there! Why didn¡¯t I think of that? Now I have a problem...¡±

    The Xia Family Headughed heartily.

    Li Lei fell into deep thought for a moment before suddenly pping his thigh again. ¡°Got it! I¡¯ll do this... Look, now you can¡¯t take my piece anymore!¡±

    The Xia Family Head looked down at the chessboard and remarked. ¡°Rascal! You¡¯re a clever one, aren¡¯t you? But did you forget about the pieces on this side? Doing this might save your big dragon, but this entire area is mine now!¡± The old manughed out loud again, happily iming half of Li Lei¡¯s territory on the board.

    Li Lei¡¯s face fell. ¡°You¡¯re still one step ahead of me! I still couldn¡¯t prevent you from conquering my pieces! Dad, you¡¯re really a grand master! Little Shaohui was right when he told me how good you were!¡±

    The Xia Family Head reveled in his praises as hisughter became louder.

    Xia Haichao stood by the door watching this scene, admiring the boot-licking prowess of a certain son-inw-to-be. Was he really unable to win the old man in the game? Clearly, he had calcted it perfectly. He was letting the Xia Family Head win while making it as unobvious as possible, such that the Old Master would have a great sense of satisfaction!

    He hadn¡¯t seen the Old Master this happy in a long time.

    Usually, the Old Master was friendly and wise. When he was ying chess, he was like a big child as he red and smacked the table passionately. Mostly that was because he was at the losing end, and was angry at Young Master Moyan...

    Being this happy from winning in chess was pretty much a first.

    Xia Haichao suddenly felt that Miss Ling had found a great partner in Li Lei. The Xia Family was rich and powerful, and all theycked was a caring personality. Mr. Li was so caring in his interactions with the Old Master Xia, and must be even more so in his interactions with Miss Ling...

    They would be happy.

    Xia Haichao knocked on the open door of the room again.

    The two men turned towards the door. The Xia Family Head smiled and said, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Haichao! Come over and take a look! I¡¯ve not met another chess yer that¡¯s so close in standard to me! Young Master Li here has talent! Talent!¡±

    Xia Haichao thought to himself, <i>That¡¯s because he¡¯s purposefully losing to you.</i>

    He respectfully said out loud, ¡°Old Master, the Ye Family couple has agreed for Miss Ling to be registered under the Xia Family. I¡¯ve already arranged for someone to exin to them the agenda for the Phoenix Comeback Ceremony. There shouldn¡¯t be any problems during the ceremony.¡±

    The Xia Family Headmended Haichao for his good work and pulled him over to the table to watch their chess game.

    Xia Haichao didn¡¯t want to watch the game and found an excuse to escape.

    ¡°Did you see that? None of them are willing to apany this old man... how sad...¡± Old Master Xia shook his head and sighed. ¡°Come, let us continue!¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°How can they understand the beauty of your chess game? Dad, after I get married to Xiao Ling, I¡¯lle y with you every day!¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± The Old Master agreed happily. ¡°When you get married...¡± He stopped abruptly and scolded in amusement. ¡°Young Master Li, you rascal! How can you trap me like that? Who¡¯s agreed to your marriage?¡±

 Chapter 820 - Iâ€™ll Be Wherever She Is

    <h4>Chapter 820: I¡¯ll Be Wherever She Is</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    That was close... he almost sold his daughter off just like that.

    ¡°I¡¯m not ying anymore!¡± Xia Family Head pushed the chessboard away. ¡°If I y anymore I¡¯ll fall into one of your traps, you rascal.¡±

    Li Lei smiled unabashedly. ¡°Oh, what are you saying... you¡¯re so wise and intelligent, how could I trap you? Dad, just give me Xiao Ling¡¯s hand in marriage! We love each other, and we¡¯re a match made in heaven!¡±

    Xia Family Head shook his head and said, ¡°If I give her to you so easily, your mum and your brother will cut me into pieces and bury me all over the fields like I¡¯m fertilizer.¡±

    Your mum and your brother?

    So Xia Family Head had already decided to ept him as a son-inw? Although the Xia Family Head hadn¡¯t directly agreed to their marriage, Li Lei was already overjoyed that he seemed to be treating him like family.

    It looked like this game of chess was well worth it.

    He enthusiastically told the Xia Family Head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry, even if we don¡¯t get married I¡¯ll stille y chess with you.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± The Xia Family Head became happy again. ¡°Let¡¯s y another round!¡±

    They reced the ck and white pieces to their starting positions. Even though the Xia Family Head¡¯s chess skills were mediocre, he offered Li Lei the white pieces thinking that he was the better yer. Li Lei pretended to think about his first move, though in actual fact merely ced the piece randomly on the board. ¡°Dad, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    Xia Family Head immediately put down his ck piece.

    Having already yed several rounds, the two of them were quite friendly with each other already. Xia Family Head asked, ¡°Young Master Li, tell me about your rtionship with Xiao Ling. How did you guys meet?¡± Not being able to see Xia Ling grow up was always a regret that Xia Family Head had.

    Li Lei said as he ced a white piece down on the board, ¡°My feelings for her... It was love at first sight.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was gentle as he spoke about his beloved. ¡°Then, she had just reincarnated and appeared a little silly... No, innocent is a better word, and very...¡±

    ¡°Very what?¡± Xia Family Head pressed.

    ¡°Very...¡± Li Lei searched for the best word to describe Xia Ling. ¡°... depressed... no... not really depressed, but there was a coldness in her eyes, and she had an aura around her that said not toe close to her. She seemed somehow weak and fragile to me, and I wanted to get closer to and protect her.¡±

    Xia Family Head¡¯s eyes narrowed and he said in a questioning tone, ¡°I heard that you wanted to take her as a mistress.¡±

    Li Leiughed awkwardly. He thought that he had been very discrete about that, but it looked like bad behaviors tended to spread like wildfire, whereas nobody talked about good deeds. Although being able to uncover this was to be expected given the Xia Familywork and power. He said, ¡°Dad, let me exin. Men... hehe. And I was hanging out with a bunch of bad friends then. They were bad influences.¡±

    Xia Family Head asked, ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course! As true as gold!¡± Li Lei eximed. ¡°If not for the bad influences of those friends, I wouldn¡¯t do something so terrible! That guy, Jin Yifei... and, and Du Yunfeng... till date they are still womanizers, changing girlfriends faster than I change my clothes! Ever since I got to know Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve never joined in their womanizing! When I go back this time, I¡¯m going to make them change for the better!¡±

    A thousand miles away, Young Master Du and Young Master Jin both sneezed suddenly given that someone was talking behind their back.

    Xia Family Head was taken by Li Lei, but as this matter concerned his daughter¡¯s happiness, he wasn¡¯t going to let Li Lei off so easily. ¡°Don¡¯t try to float over this! Speak, why did you decide to properly pursue Xiao Lingter?¡±

    Li Lei replied, ¡°Because I couldn¡¯t get her as a lover... Oh no, no... Dad, don¡¯t be angry! I¡¯m saying thatter I found out that Xiao Ling was a really special girl, and was worth me throwing aside everything to pursue. I¡¯m willing to give her my life, let alone her rightful ce as my wife. If she¡¯s willing, and I am able, everything will be hers.¡±

    Xia Family Head nodded his head slowly. Even though this rascal was a little cheeky, his feelings for Xiao Ling were real. They had gone through so many trials and tests together, and their destinies were long intertwined.

    ¡°A Phoenix is meant to fly up in the air.¡± Xia Family Head remarked out of the blue.

    Li Lei looked at him, confused.

    Xia Family Head continued, ¡°The Phoenix flies high up above everyone¡ªbeautiful, regal, arrogant¡ªand will be the center of attention. Do you know why Xiao Ling couldn¡¯t grow old happily with Pei Ziheng in herst life?¡±

    Li Lei shook his head.

    Xia Family Head said, ¡°That¡¯s because Pei Ziheng is a dragon, and he too flies in the sky. When both of them are together, they can only live as a legend, being revered by everyone. However, they can nevernd on the ground. Once theynd, they will die.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean bynding?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Xia Family Head responded, ¡°Just living life normally, dealing with trivial matters, getting married, having kids... removing the mor of their careers... being on the receiving end of jealousy... too many. These are all examples ofnding. Anyone of those would have destroyed Xia Ling.¡±

    Li Lie was quiet. How could anyone¡¯s life only be filled with joy and mor, but nevernd in that case?

    ¡°Once the Phoenix flies up high, she can nevernd again.¡± Xia Family Head picked up a chess piece and took his time to ce it down on the chessboard. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m very thankful to Pei Ziheng for taking care of her for more than ten years, allowing her to grow enough to reincarnate. Did Moyan tell you? Xiao Ling is the only Phoenix in the Xia Family that managed to sessfully reincarnate. There were so many Phoenixes in the family that lost strength and fell before they were strong enough to reincarnate.¡±

    ¡°Meeting Pei Ziheng was a fortunate thing for Xiao Ling.¡±

    Li Lei was a little bitter. ¡°I had always thought that he was her... misfortune.¡±

    ¡°He is a misfortune on one hand... but he isn¡¯t as well.¡± Xia Family Head said. ¡°Every rtionship has a reason behind it. Young Master Li, you need to cherish your fate with Xiao Ling. The Phoenix flying in the air can only rest on a sycamore... the only person that can allow her to rest is you. You need to protect her.

    ¡°Otherwise, perhaps there will be a day where she can¡¯t resist the temptation of the open skies and will fly away with the dragon.¡±

    Li Lei looked up at Xia Family Head. ¡°But you said that she won¡¯t be able tond if she¡¯s with him. Only I can give her happiness.¡±

    Xia Family Head said, ¡°Who knows? In herst life, she flew for a good 16 years before eventually falling. In this reincarnated life, she is freer and stronger, perhaps she can fly for 20 years? 50 years? 100 years? Young Master Li, don¡¯t think that she¡¯s safely in your arms now. Be good to Xiao Ling... do you understand me?¡±

    Li Lei nodded and promised. ¡°I¡¯ll be wherever she is.¡±

    Xia Family Headughed and they continued their chess game.

    On the other end, Madam Xia brought Xia Ling to her room, which had been specially prepared for her. The room was sparkling clean, with the fragrance of flowers on the new bedsheets and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

    Madam Xia smiled as she said, ¡°When I first saw you in the news articles, I knew that you were suitable for a room like this. This room has been waiting for its owner for many years.¡±

    ¡°I love it. Thank you, mum.¡± Xia Ling sincerely responded. Her tastes matched that of her mother perfectly.

    They conversed casually, talking about their experiences over the years. There was no semnce of unfamiliarity between the mother-daughter pair, and theyughed and cried together throughout the conversation, forgetting the time altogether.

    Little Shaohui came into the room to look for them. ¡°Mummy! Grandma!¡±

    He climbed up into Xia Ling¡¯sp.

 Chapter 821 - It Was Time to Show His True Skills

    <h4>Chapter 821: It Was Time to Show His True Skills</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling reached out to hold onto him.

    The child was heavy and her legs felt a little numb with him on herp. She scrutinized his face under the lighting in the room and smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve gained a bit of weight and became taller. The water and food here are definitely better.¡±

    Madam Xia smiled as well. ¡°They have to grow more when they¡¯re young.¡±

    Xia Ling knew that things weren¡¯t that simple. When she was pregnant with Shaohui, she had the paragliding ident and a lot of antibiotics were used on her in the hospital. Later, she had to scheme against Pei Ziheng for a long time during her pregnancy, which took a toll on her mental condition. What¡¯s more, he had fed her that abortion medication. This child was so weak when he was born, if not for the Xia Family taking good care of him and giving him the necessary nutrition, it was hard to think that he could be this healthy.

    No one could tell that he used to be skinny and frail.

    She caressed Shaohui¡¯s face and said to Madam Xia, ¡°Thank you for all that you¡¯ve done... and also a big thank you to Daddy and Brother.¡±

    Madam Xiamented. ¡°Not being able to raise you myself is the biggest regret in my life. Later, when your brother brought Shaohui home, I treated Shaohui like how I would¡¯ve wanted to bring you up. Unfortunately, he¡¯s a boy like your brother... how nice would it be to have a little girl.¡±

    Hearing this, Shaohui raised his head up from Xia Ling¡¯s chest. ¡°Grandma, Grandma, why don¡¯t you get mummy to make me a sister? I want a pretty and cute sister! I¡¯ll help you take care of her!¡±

    Madam Xiaughed out loud at his words. ¡°Little rascal... you can¡¯t even take care of yourself now.¡±

    Little Shaohui said in all seriousness, ¡°I¡¯ll be really, really, really good to my sister. Just like how uncle treats mummy!¡± He turned and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Mummy, can you give me a little sister?¡±

    Xia Ling recalled that she could no longer have a child, and her heart clenched. However, she didn¡¯t want to upset the child and merely pinched his soft cheeks. ¡°Okay, after mummy and daddy gets married.¡±

    Even though she couldn¡¯t give birth anymore, she didn¡¯t want to be in a situation where she was pregnant out of wedlock again. The pain that she experienced while trying to give birth to and care for Shaohui was not something that she wanted to go through again. Thankfully, Shaohui was a boy and was a little more hardy to criticisms. If she had a girl who was sensitive to the title of ¡°illegitimate daughter,¡± she would under so much mental torture from the harsh words of others.

    Little Shaohui asked, ¡°Mummy, when are you and daddy going to get married?¡±

    Xia Ling pinched his cheeks again. ¡°Mummy has to discuss that with Grandma and Grandpa.¡± She looked up at her mother and said, ¡°Mum, Shaohui is almost six years old. It¡¯s time that he goes to school. I¡¯m nning to send him to the private elite school in S city. Before then, he needs to have a different identity so that he doesn¡¯t get teased in school.¡±

    Madam Xia understood that Xia Ling was referring to his ¡°illegitimate son¡± status.

    Madam Xia looked down at her grandson and then back to her daughter. ¡°You¡¯ve thought about it carefully? Marriage is a lifelong decision. Don¡¯t marry someone on ount of your child. You need to make sure you are happy when deciding who to marry.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Yes, he¡¯s really good to me.¡±

    No multitude of words could weigh more than these words of affirmation. After going through so many trials and afflictions, she was now about to understand her own heart. She wanted to be together with that man in sickness and in health, regardless of wealth.

    Madam Xia said, ¡°Let me discuss it with your father.¡±

    Marriage was a big matter, especially to a respected household like the Xia Family. Hearing this, Xia Ling nodded and hesitated before adding, ¡°Mum, can you please put in a good word when you speak to Daddy and Brother? Don¡¯t make life too difficult for Li Lei.¡±

    Madam Xia was taken aback beforeughing out loud. ¡°You... are you feeling worried now? Don¡¯t worry... they have their boundaries.¡± She knew her husband and son well. She guessed that Li Lei would be able to win over the old man after their game of chess. As for Moyan? He loved his sister so. Even though he didn¡¯t like Li Lei, he wouldn¡¯t go so far as to destroy his sister¡¯s happiness.

    She reassured Xia Ling before telling her to get some good rest. ¡°Tomorrow night is theeback ceremony. Rest early tonight.¡±

    She then left the room, taking little Shaohui with her.

    Xia Ling took a shower and changed into her pajamas, before crawling into thefortable king-sized bed. However, she couldn¡¯t fall asleep even after tossing and turning for a long time. She could hear the sounds of crickets outside the window, and the room was dimly lit by the nightlight in the corner of the room. She opened her eyes and her mind drifted. What was Li Lei doing now? Was he sleeping? Did Dad and Brother create any trouble for him?

    Suddenly, she heard some rustling near the window.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± She sat up alertly, grasping the nkets tighter around herself.

    Someone entered through the window andughed in a low voice. ¡°Shh... it¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°... You scared me!¡± Seeing that it was Li Lei, Xia ling rxed and pinched his cheeks like she pinched Shaohui¡¯s earlier. However, she used more strength this time. ¡°Do you have a death wish? Climbing into my room through the window in the middle of the night?!¡± It wasn¡¯t the first time that a certain big boss had to climb through a window. In the many years of their courtship, he had to climb through many windows.

    Li Lei yelped in pain from her pinch. ¡°Ouch... pain!¡±

    He reached out and hugged her to him. ¡°I missed you... it took me so long to make your dad happy. I was saying all kinds of good things and he was so happy... but he asked me to go to the guest room! What¡¯s the meaning of that? Thankfully, I could easily solve that problem. What¡¯s climbing through a window? The security in the Xia Family is quitex.¡±

    Someone knocked on the door just after Li Lei finished his sentence.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡± Xia Ling became nervous again, afraid that Li Lei would be discovered. She covered his mouth with her hand.

    The voice outside the door was calm. ¡°Miss Ling, this is Xiao Cui. Madam asked me toe tend to you. Earlier, Madam asked me to bring two cups of fruit wine to help you rx, and also asked me to tell you and Mr. Li that tomorrow¡¯s ceremony will be extremely tiring, so you should get some rest.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    She red at Li Lei angrily. Who was the one that said that the Xia Family security wasx? Wasn¡¯t climbing through a window really easy for him? How did he get found out?!

    Li Lei looked at her red face in amusement, trying to decide if she was angry or embarrassed.

    He was calm as he gave her a peck on the cheek and went to open the door, receiving the two cups of fruit wine on her behalf. ¡°Madam is so thoughtful.¡± He smiled at Xiao Cui and her face turned red at hiszy charm.

    He took his time to thank her before shutting the room door again.

    Xia Ling snapped back to her senses and angrily pinched him again. ¡°You dare climb through a window to my room the first time we¡¯re back here?! And to get found out by my mum?! Ah?! Li Lei, where are your stealth skills?!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t! Wine! The wine is going to spill!¡± Li Lei precariously bnced the two cups of wine and ced them down on the bedside table while fending off Xia Ling¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you all frightened earlier? Why did you suddenlye alive when I closed the door? Do you only know how to bare your ws at me?!¡± After having been bullied for the whole day, and being on his best behavior in front of the Xia Family Head and Xia Moyan, he was tired of having to control himself. He urately pounced onto Xia Ling and his lips curled into a smile. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to see what my true skills are.¡±

 Chapter 822 - Sleepyhead Xiao Ling

    <h4>Chapter 822: Sleepyhead Xiao Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to see his true skills at all... boohoohoo...

    However, Big Boss Li was full of energy and her objections were futile. She could only acquiesce to him andtery spent in his arms as he kissed her. ¡°It hurts...¡± She said teary-eyed.

    Big Boss Li hugged onto her, satisfied, and said in a husky voice, ¡°Where does it hurt? I¡¯ll help you rub it.¡± His hands started to wander around her body again.

    ¡°Rub your head!¡± Xia Ling smacked him several times with a pillow. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t have much strength left in her hands, and he continued to smile cheekily through her smacks.

    ¡°You bully... boohoo...¡± She said unhappily and tried to struggle out of his arms.

    ¡°Be good, don¡¯t struggle.¡± Li Lei lowered his head to kiss her neck. ¡°If you continue moving like that I¡¯ll be tempted to go one more time... we still have that ceremony to attend.¡± He swore that if not for that ceremony, he would make sure that she was unable to get off the bed the next time.

    Now, he could only restrain himself. Who was the one that was being bullied here?

    Xia Ling felt the hardening of a certain location in his body and hurriedly stopped moving, for fear that he would carry out his threat. Boohoohoo... the rascal... the bastard... he always bullied her! She turned away so that she wouldn¡¯t face him and felt into a deep sleep, fatigued from all the activity.

    Seeing her quiet down, Li Lei also closed his eyes and fell asleep.

    The two cups of fruit winey full on the bedside table under the moonlight shining in from the window.

    The next day, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t wake up as expected. Her eyes were still closed when a certain Big Boss dragged her out of bed. She mumbled, ¡°I¡¯m so sleepy... let me sleep a little more.¡±

    Li Lei found her clothes and helped her to dress. ¡°Raise your hand. Okay... now the other one.¡± As he did so, he chided. ¡°Miss, look at the time. I¡¯ve washed your face and changed you. I¡¯ve even chosen your shoes and essories for you. If you still don¡¯t wake up, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re a bit too much?¡±

    Xia Ling grumbled. ¡°You¡¯re too much...¡±

    Li Lei ignored her grumblings as hebed her hair and smoothed her outfit, before helping her sleepwalk to the toilet. He sat her down in front of the sink and stuffed a toothbrush into her hands. ¡°Hold this... okay, brush your teeth yourself. I¡¯m going to get breakfast.¡±

    With that, he walked out of the room.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t open her eyes at all. She ced her head down on the sink and fell asleep instantly.

    When Li Lei brought breakfast back to the room, he didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry seeing her sleeping in the toilet. He reached out and pinched her small nose. ¡°Hey you, wake up! Are you a pig? Today¡¯s your big day!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the pig.¡± She murmured in her dreams. ¡°Li Lei, are you an idiot or what? The moon is in the water... why are you trying to burn it...¡±

    Li Lei was speechless.

    He shook his head and was about to give up when he heard the doorbell ring.

    He opened the door and saw an old couple standing outside. The man was dressed in a cotton priestly robe, and the woman was in a casual long dress. They looked very good together. He was surprised to see them and greeted. ¡°Dad, Mum, good morning.¡±

    Xia Family Head gave a heartyugh. ¡°Xiao Lei, morning! You¡¯re up? Did youe here this early to look for Xiao Ling?¡±

    Li Leiughed awkwardly with him. It looked like only Madam Xia was aware that he had sneakily climbed in through the window yesterday. He said, ¡°I brought Xiao Ling her breakfast.¡±

    ¡°This girl is sozy... just like someone.¡± Xia Family Headughed.

    Madam Xia wasn¡¯t so impressed. ¡°Li Lei, I haven¡¯t given you the red packets to signify that you can change your greeting yet. Call us uncle and auntie.¡± She might have closed an eye aboutst night and wasn¡¯t going to object to their marriage. However, she still needed to put Li Lei through some tests as a future son-inw.

    Li Lei felt a little depressed but could only say respectfully, ¡°Yes, auntie.¡±

    Xia Family Head smilingly watched as his wife chided his future son-inw. ¡°Xiao Lei, where¡¯s Xiao Ling? Why hasn¡¯t shee out yet? We¡¯ve been here talking for quite some time now.¡±

    Li Lei hurriedly said, ¡°She¡¯s here, she¡¯s here. Girls tend to take a little longer getting ready in the morning.¡±

    Xia Family Head nodded in understanding.

    Li Lei invited them into the room. ¡°Dad, Mum... oh no... auntie... don¡¯t remain standing here at the doorway. Come in, have a seat. I¡¯ll go call Xiao Ling over.¡± The room prepared for Xiao Ling was a suite, with a living room space for meals and hosting guests. The breakfast that Li Lei brought back was ced on a little square table with a tasseled table cloth in the middle of the room.

    Xia Family Head walked in and sat down on the sofa near the window.

    Li Lei went into the bedroom to call Xia Ling out.

    Madam Xia was keen to see her daughter after only having a short conversation with her the night before. She said, ¡°Let me go in with you to get her.¡± She walked into the room despite Li Lei¡¯s attempts to stop her.

    There was no one in front of the dressing table.

    And no one in the walk-in closet.

    The bed was also empty.

    Madam Xia asked suspiciously, ¡°Where did that girl go?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was embarrassed. ¡°I... I¡¯ll go get her.¡± He walked into the toilet and lightly shook Xia Ling¡¯s arm. ¡°Get up now... your mum is here.¡±

    ¡°Liar...¡± Xia Ling was drooling in her sleep. ¡°Don¡¯t disturb me...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you.¡± Li Lei was close to tears.

    Madam Xia¡¯s voice rang out from behind. ¡°So you¡¯re here? You¡¯re not awake yet?¡± Madam Xia didn¡¯t know whether tough or be angry. When she was following the entertainment news, she always saw this girl filming thingste at night or early in the morning. Waking up at the break of dawn to film in the outskirts of town was not umon. Why didn¡¯t she think that this girl would be so hard to wake in the morning?

    Xia Ling continued to sleep like a pig in the toilet in front of the sink.

    Madam Xia walked forward and called, ¡°Xiao Ling? Get up now... we have lots to do today.¡±

    Li Lei nervouslyughed, fearing that Madam Xia would get angry. ¡°The rxing wine that you sent over yesterday was too effective.¡±

    Madam Xia said, ¡°Really?¡± She turned around and saw the two full cups sitting on the bedside table untouched.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    ¡°So noisy...¡± Xia Ling was stillining. ¡°Li Lei, I told you not to torture mest night. And you¡¯re here again this morning. Why are you so insatiable, you bastard...¡±

    She fell asleep again.

    Cold sweat started to form on Li Lei¡¯s brows. Madam Xia had instructed them to have a good rest yesterday, but he didn¡¯t listen and had bothered her deep into the night. As such, she couldn¡¯t wake up this morning. Wouldn¡¯t his future mother-inw be furious if she found out about this?

    He carefully looked up at Madam Xia¡¯s face.

    Madam Xia¡¯s eagle-like eyes spotted the suspicious red spots on Xia Ling¡¯s neck.

    She nced over at Li Lei. ¡°I will tell the others that Xiao Ling seems to be having trouble getting used to the food and water here since it¡¯s her first time in the mountains. You both can take a rest in the morning. I¡¯ll push all the segments that require her to the afternoon. Take good care of her.¡±

 Chapter 823 - The Phoenix Comeback Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 823: The Phoenix Comeback Ceremony</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei hurriedly responded, ¡°Yes, yes.¡±

    Madam Xia turned and left the room in the same calm and collected manner.

    Li Lei watched her leave. Xia Ling had, at some point, hugged onto the corner of his shirt and her face was on his arm, drool flowing down his hand.

    Madam Xia suddenly stopped in her tracks.

    Li Lei tensed up again in nervousness.

    Madam Xia turned and gave the messy bed a once over beforending on Li Lei again. ¡°Hmm.. you seem to have quite good stamina...¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Li Lei proudly reacted, before realizing that something felt amiss. He tried to exin himself. ¡°Auntie.. no... I can exin.. It¡¯s an ident, all an ident...¡±

    Madam Xia turned and left, ignoring his pleas.

    Li Lei thought to himself that he was in deep trouble now. Xiao Ling had really put him in the hot soup now. Her sleeping in today was akin to pushing him into the fire pit. He didn¡¯t think that his animalistic behaviorst night was a problem but rather thought that his girl was too weak. Why couldn¡¯t she withstand his onught yesterday? It looked like they would need to have lots of ¡°practice¡± and ¡°training¡± in the future...

    He lowered his head to look at Xia Ling, letting his mind wander to future bedroom trysts...

    Xia Ling slept deeply, and when she finally woke up, it was already noon. Li Lei was standing by the window and greeted her. ¡°Madam, are you awake now? Your parents have alreadye and went.¡±

    ¡°Ah? My parents were here?¡± Xia Ling responded in shock. ¡°They didn¡¯t find out about us, did they?¡± Even though they already had a child together, she was still embarrassed to think that her parents had found out about their lovemaking.

    Li Lei calmly responded, ¡°How would that be with me around? Your mum thinks that you are feeling unwell from the food and water, and told me to take good care of you. Hurry and get up now. They¡¯ve prepared clothes and makeup for you. It¡¯s going to take some time for you to get ready.¡±

    Xia Ling got up in a daze and groaned as she felt her body ache.

    Li Lei looked at her in disdain. ¡°You¡¯re really weak. Tonight, we¡¯ll...¡±

    ¡°Fat hope for tonight!¡± Xia Ling smacked him with a pillow. ¡°If you dare climb through my window again, I¡¯ll call the police!¡±

    They bickered as she got ready.

    The makeup artist in the vige was waiting, together with several vigers, and they all scrambled to get her ready¡ªclothes, make-up, hair... When everything was done, the sky was just starting to get dark.

    The ceremony wouldmence shortly, and she was escorted to the venue.

    The sky was filled with twinkling stars, and the torches in the vige lined the corridor, burning like a long dragon, lighting up the night sky.

    The Phoenix Comeback Ceremony was formal and all the vigers, regardless of gender and age, were in attendance. The crowd organized themselves by seniority, all dressed in greenish-grey robes, their expressions serious.

    The ce was full of people but it was quiet, so quiet that you could hear the crackling of the burning torches.

    Xia Ling was led by two female attendees dressed in grey to the mountain path in the middle. That mountain path was lined with genuine white jade, and the stairs were covered with peacock feathers. Walking on the path made her feel so light like she was walking in the sky, and the train of her long, white dress flowed out behind her. It swept over the sea of feathers, creating a rainbow wave behind her.

    ¡°So beautiful...¡± Many remarked in the crowd. ¡°Truly a Phoenix...¡±

    They watched her in full reverence. In the Xia Family, everyone had heard about the legend of the Phoenix. It was said that the Phoenix had a hard life because she was tanking all of the worries of the family on herself, and was a more precious existence than Preceptor Xia and the Xia Family Head. Every Phoenix was a treasure in the family.

    Yet, in so many generations, Xia Ling was the only Phoenix that could make aeback.

    This alone was worth the full respect and reverence of the vige. They watched as she walked to the altar in the front. Flying birds gathered behind her. At first, there were only two or three birds, but slowly, more birds joined the procession and followed behind her, their chirping filling the entire mountain top.

    Everyone didn¡¯t dare to speak as they watched this scene pan out.

    It was said that when she was born, birds circled the skies above the house. Many thought that it was an exaggeration, but the procession of birds today made them realize that it was not an exaggeration at all. The birds wereing to pay respects to the Phoenix. A whole variety of birds were gathered behind her.

    There was no repetition in the breed of birds.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even know there were so many types of birds in these mountains.¡± Some of the vigers had been staying in the mountains their whole life, but this scene still marveled them. They became even quieter, and some even bowed their heads respectfully as Xia Ling walked by.

    Xia Ling kept walking forward without looking back.

    She didn¡¯t know about the procession of birds gathered behind her but could hear the sounds of the birds chirping. Their chirps helped her nervous heart to rx, disying a familiarity that she couldn¡¯t exin. She lifted her head and walked step-by-step to the altar at the top. Preceptor Xia Moyan was standing at the stop, dressed in his usual white robe, watching his sister as she ascended the steps.

    She stopped when she was in front of her brother.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice had an unusual seriousness. ¡°Today, you will reim your real name.¡±

    He recited a long verse of scripture and raised his left hand. ¡°Bring them up here.¡±

    An attendee in grey brought two people up to the altar. They were Father Ye and Auntie Liu.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice became more serious. ¡°Ye Xiaozhong, Liu Zhaodi, you¡¯re the biological parents of the human that the Xia Family Phoenix took in this life. Everything that you¡¯ve done for her will be rewarded. There is always an end to the intertwining of destinies. Tonight, the Phoenix will return to us. From now on, she has no rtion to the Ye Family.¡±

    One of the attendees brought up an exquisite dagger that had intricate carvings all around.

    Xia Moyan received it and aimed it at Xia Ling¡¯s forehead between her brows.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t move as she watched him. She knew that her brother wouldn¡¯t harm her.

    Xia Moyan pierced the spot between her brows deftly and a single drop of red blood fell into the jade bowl that he ced beneath the dagger. The clear water in the bowl was soon dyed red from Xia Ling¡¯s blood.

    Xia Moyan ced the bowl in Xia Ling¡¯s hands.

    Xia Ling held the jade bowl in her slender hands and walked in front of the Ye Family couple, pouring the bloody water beneath their feet. ¡°This breaks the family ties between us. We no longer have anything to do with each other.¡± She said.

    Father Ye looked at her, his expression a mix of sadness and unwillingness. His lips shook and he struggled as he echoed, ¡°This breaks the family ties between us. We no longer have anything to do with each other.¡±

    This was the rundown of the ceremony that they had been briefed on before.

    Father Ye hadn¡¯t thought that saying those words would be quite so difficult. Could family ties really be broken? At this moment, he felt that his heart was empty and he felt unbearably sad.

 Chapter 824 - Owner-Slave Covenant

    <h4>Chapter 824: Owner-ve Covenant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt a slight sharp pain between her brows.

    It felt like something disappeared from between her brows, and she felt a weight lift from her heart. She had a hunch that the memories of ¡°Ye Xingling¡± had been lifted from her body.

    It was an inexplicable and weird feeling.

    When she reincarnated, she inherited all of Ye Xingling¡¯s memories, and now all the memories had disappeared. Even though she still remembered some of Ye Xingling¡¯s experiences, what remained were only those memories that she had specifically perused and not because she still had ess to all of Ye Xingling¡¯s past memories.

    She looked up towards the night sky, filled with countless shining stars, and thought that she saw a small, weak star appear in a corner. She said a silent prayer, ¡°Ye Xingling, thank you. Please rest in peace.¡±

    That little star sparkled for a moment as if responding to her prayer.

    The female staff came to bring Father Ye and Auntie Liu away from the altar.

    Father Ye was in a downcast state. He had only walked a few steps away from the altar before he fell on his bottom by the mountain path and lowered his head into his hands. ¡°I¡¯ve let down this child...¡± He murmured. The instant he severed ties with Ye Xingling on the altar, the father-daughter rtionship that was buried in the depths of his heart resurfaced. He remembered the innocent, sparkling eyes of his daughter when she was just born, the first time she wasplimented by her nursery teachers, the happy smile that she gave as she carried a small bouquet of red flowers in her hands... and many other memories flooded his mind.

    When did they start growing apart?

    It seemed that after he got to know Auntie Liu, their rtionship grew more distant. Then, he would always get into arguments with Ye Xingling¡¯s biological mother and would destroy things in the house to vent his anger. His little girl would curl in a corner of the room, her eyes filled with tears, saying softly, ¡°Stop fighting...¡± But no one would listen to her.

    Later, during the divorce proceedings, both parents had no spare capacity to even make dinner for Ye Xingling.

    One night, he heard a loud sound from the kitchen and rushed over to see what had happened. Ye Xingling had identally dropped a pot and the hot water sshed onto her feet. Blisters were forming on her feet.

    Father Ye was in a bad mood and had shouted angrily at her, ¡°Silly girl, what are you doing?!¡±

    The five or six-year-old girl had tears in her eyes as she mumbled, ¡°I¡¯m hungry...¡±

    ¡°Such a useless thing!¡± He was young and foul-tempered, taking out his frustrations on her. ¡°Eat, eat, eat... all you know is how to eat! You¡¯ve been more trouble than help! When I divorce your mother just follow her, don¡¯t stay here and be a burden to me!¡± He had agreed with Auntie Liu to rid himself of Ye Xingling and her mother and marry Auntie Liu.

    The little girl had to tolerate the pain of the burn blisters on her feet and the anger from her father. She cried through the night on an empty stomach. The next day, her mother found her with her blistered feet and decided that she had to divorce Father Ye.

    He had thought that things were going smoothly, but Ye Xingling¡¯s mother suddenly died in an ident.

    The little girl became the burden that he couldn¡¯t get rid of, and he was forced to care for her while trying to marry Auntie Liu. Under the brainwashing of his new wife, he grew more and more irritated with this daughter and slowly stopped giving concern to her, frequently showing her an angry face.

    Thinking back, he really owed her too much.

    It was destiny that made them father and daughter in this life, and it was only now that he had lost her did her remember to cherish what he had.

    A mountain breeze blew over in the night, sending a chill through his body.

    Auntie Liu stopped in her tracks beside him, saying, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Why are you looking so forlorn?! You can¡¯t even control that silly girl! She¡¯s rebelled and left home now, and you are acting as if the sky has fallen! Who do you think is going to feel sorry for you? Tsk!¡± She ranted at him for a long time,rgely berating Xia Ling forcking in her conscience.

    Father Ye was feeling frustrated. For the first time in his life, he felt that Auntie Liu¡¯s words were unpleasant to the ears.

    On the altar, the Phoenix Comeback Ceremony continued.

    Xia Moyan, dressed in his white robe, spread a long scroll onto the jade table. It was the family tree, on which he located Xia Ling¡¯s name beside his own and wrote in small letters below her name: theeback phoenix.

    After adding the words, he raised the scroll high in the air for everyone to see. The vige broke out in cheers.

    ¡°Theeback phoenix!¡± Xia Moyan shouted out.

    ¡°Theeback phoenix!¡± The crowd responded.

    Standing on the high altar looking down at the many pairs of eyes staring up at her in reverence, she had a sudden feeling of reality sinking in. This was what it felt like to be home. She was no longer afraid or distant. She had family now. She raised her hand along with everyone, a smile forming on her face.

    The cheers were deafening.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Bring the sycamore up.¡±

    Someone led Li Lei onto the altar. He was dressed in a white shirt that had the same pattern as Xia Ling¡¯s attire, with light-colored lines embroidered on the edge of his sleeve. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top to reveal his toned chest.

    He was brought before Xia Moyan.

    Xia Moyan picked up a new dagger, staring straight into Li Lei¡¯s eyes.

    Li Lei calmly returned his stare, though his heart thumped in nervousness. Thest time this brother-inw had drawn blood from him with the dagger, it was excruciating. Was he going to do it again?

    If not for Xiao Ling, he would have made a run for it.

    Xia Moyan was expressionless as he pierced Li Lei right at where his heart was located. The pain that followed was not as bad as Li Lei imagined. This time, the Preceptor let him off easy and was just looking to extract that drop of blood from his forehead as part of the procedures.

    Blood from the forehead was said to be the most effective for rituals, given that was where one¡¯s energy was concentrated.

    Xia Moyan extracted that drop of blood and mixed it with some herbs in a bowl. He passed it over to Xia Ling, saying, ¡°Drink up.¡±

    Xia Ling obediently epted the bowl and downed the concoction.

    Xia Moyan ced the bowl back in position and looked at the both of them, saying in a serious voice, ¡°This drop of blood from each of you will be the bind the ties you together for life. Sycamore, even if you die and are reincarnated, you¡¯ll continue to serve the Phoenix with all your heart forever.¡± This was his punishment from the Xia Family. Originally, the Phoenix and Sycamore had a two-waymitment where the Sycamore would love the Phoenix all the days of his existence, and the Phoenix would reciprocate that love. They would be together forever.

    However, the incident this morning changed things.

    Madam Xia didn¡¯t react when she left her daughter¡¯s room but went straight in search of her son. ¡°What¡¯s the covenant being exacted during theeback ceremony?¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°I haven¡¯t decided. The two-waymitment is being too nice to that rascal.¡±

    ¡°Exact an owner-ve covenant, then.¡± Madam Xia remarked lightly.

    Xia Moyan had looked at his mother in surprise. ¡°Didn¡¯t you like that rascal?¡±

    Madam Xia smiled. ¡°He¡¯s not bad, but he has too strong a view and can¡¯t be controlled. I¡¯m worried that your sister will be at the losing end in the future. An owner-ve covenant will put me more at ease. He will love her forever with all his heart, following and protecting her, but your sister can have more choice. She will be free to decide whether or not to reciprocate his love.¡±

 Chapter 825 - Never Giving Him Up

    Chapter 825: Never Giving Him Up

    Xia Moyan nodded. ¡°My thoughts exactly.¡±

    Given that they were family to the bride, the consideration was always how to protect Xia Ling first and foremost, so that she had a handle on Li Lei.

    The Xia Family was highly respected, and marrying Xia Ling came with a whole host of benefits for the groom. At the same time, he would have to give up many things. Only amitment to serve the Phoenix always was worthy of her hand in marriage.

    Hence, this matter was decided without the knowledge of Xia Ling and Li Lei.

    Hearing her brother¡¯s deration, Xia Ling looked up in shock before ncing over at Li Lei.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°I¡¯m fully willing to protect Xiao Ling forever.¡±

    The ceremony wasplete.

    Fireworks lit up the night sky, celebrating theeback of the Phoenix.

    In the midst of the celebrations, the three of them stepped off the altar. Xia Ling grabbed onto her brother and asked, ¡°A lifetime of servitude. What¡¯s that all about?¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s remained expressionless. ¡°That he¡¯ll love you always.¡±

    Xia Ling did not make a sound.

    Xia Moyan continued, ¡°The celebrations willst throughout the night today... There¡¯s wine, a feast, and lots of singing and dancing. You guys should rx and enjoy yourselves. You¡¯ve had it hard these few years.¡± With that, he turned and left.

    The grand fireworks show continued.

    Xia Ling was a little downcast as she sat down on a big rock.

    ¡°It¡¯s chilly here. Let¡¯s go into the house.¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Why are you upset?¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head to look at Li Lei. ¡°Will you love me forever?¡±

    Li Lei was taken aback. ¡°Why not? Your brother said that I¡¯ll be yours always.¡±

    ¡°Will you really be mine always?¡± She asked softly again.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you today? You¡¯vee back home... we¡¯ve made ourmitment... all these are things to be happy about! Why is it that you¡¯re unhappier after the ceremony? Are you not used to your new status?¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet for a long while.

    She wanted to ask Li Lei: What if there came a day that he didn¡¯t love her anymore, but he was stuck in thismitment and unable to extract himself? He was stuck loving her for the rest of eternity! The only thing that was more painful than lovers being apart was being forever in a one-sided love.

    However, she didn¡¯t dare ask this as the question was sensitive, and she didn¡¯t want him to be sad. She forced a smile. ¡°I¡¯m alright... just a little tired. You¡¯ve suddenly be mine, giving me the feeling that we¡¯ve somehow gotten married early.¡± She made up her mind to ask her brother if there was any way to undo themitment.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Silly girl... we already have a child together. We should have been married a long time ago. After we go back home, I¡¯ll get a matchmaker toe and request for your hand in marriage. We should get this sorted as quickly as possible.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Xia Ling felt tears fill her eyes. He was calling her silly, but he was the silly one. Did he know what it meant to make thismitment that was tost forever? This was too unfair. Perhaps he had agreed to themitment in full awareness of what it entailed given his intelligence,pletely willing and even celebrating their livelong partnership.

    How much did he truly love her?

    She couldn¡¯t resist putting her hands around his waist and burying her head in his chest. ¡°I will do all I can to be good to you.¡± This was her promise to him. She told herself that she had to be responsible for him and never have a change of heart.

    ¡°Silly girl...¡± Li Leiughed again. The fireworks in the night sky were reflected in his eyes¡ªgrand, beautiful, and dream-like. He happily took her hand and led her into the celebrations.

    Auntie Liu returned to Father Ye¡¯s side after picking up a huge te of food. ¡°Come, you need to try this wild rabbit meat roasted with mountain fruits... it¡¯s delicious! How did they make it taste so good? And this salmon... I can¡¯t identify what fruit they used in this wine... and these wild mushrooms. Old Ye, I¡¯m telling you... it was worth making the trip down here. This poor vige is full of delicious things to eat! No wonder that butler dared to brag that the rice here would fetch ten thousand yuan.¡±

    She spoke while munching through the food, her saliva spitting out in all directions.

    Father Ye was still ovee with sadness and didn¡¯t respond.

    Auntie Liu elbowed him while holding onto a piece of meat. ¡°Hey... go help me get some of that pork knuckles... I want the one that is marinated with red wine! I saw some people eating that over there... The smell was amazing!¡±

    Father Ye stood up listlessly and obediently brought some pork knuckles over for her.

    Auntie Liu continued after he returned, ¡°Old Ye, you should eat as well. Eat as much as you can! We need to make this trip as worth it as possible! When we¡¯re about to leave, I¡¯ll get them to make some of these for us to take back to Feifei. We should let Feifei try the organic and clean delicacies they have here! Why aren¡¯t you saying anything? What are you thinking about? You shouldn¡¯t be caring anymore about that idiotic girl... she¡¯s part of another family now! It¡¯s useless thinking about her... the one that¡¯s going to take care of us when we¡¯re old is Feifei!¡±

    Father Ye snapped back to his senses at her words and gave a bitter smile. He stuffed a pork knuckle into his mouth.

    Auntie Liumended. ¡°That¡¯s right! Who cares about what happened? We¡¯ll just eat away our worries! Come, have more! These vigers seem like they are actually quite rich... they eat well and dress well!¡± After living here for two days, she could tell that the vige was not as poor as she had initially thought. Even though she had no idea what the extent of the Xia Family wealth was, she knew that they were wealthy.

    She started calcting in her head what they would be able to take back with them.

    As they ate, someone from the vige came over to chat with them. ¡°Are you two Mr. and Mrs. Ye? Nice to meet you both.¡±

    Auntie Liu was eating happily when she heard the question. She raised her head to look at the person and realized that it was a middle-aged woman with a head peppered with white hair. Even though she was dressed in the same high-quality green ceremony robe, it didn¡¯t serve to hide her yellowing skin and wrinkles that revealed her age.

    Auntie Liu asked while eating, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Xia Shujuan. Madam Ye, you can call me Shujuan.¡±

    This was the first time Auntie Liu heard someone refer to her as Madam. It made her feel more important. Thus, her impression of Shujuan rose a notch. She smiled and said, ¡°So you¡¯re Shujuan! Come,e, have a seat. Don¡¯t need to be so formal! Come have some food with us.¡±

    Xia Shujuan did as she said and sat down beside them.

    She had two polite mouthfuls of food as they made conversation. Xia Shujuan said, ¡°Madam Ye, congrattions! You¡¯re so blessed that a Phoenix has been reincarnated into your family!¡±

    Auntie Liu gave a huff. ¡°What use is that? Didn¡¯t you see us cut all family ties with her on the altar?¡±

    ¡°Oh, but you can¡¯t say that...¡± Xia Shujuan said. ¡°I heard that every family that fostered a Phoenix would be blessed immensely.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, what blessing? I haven¡¯t earned back all the money that I used to raise her.¡± Auntie Liu remarked. Thinking of something, she asked curiously, ¡°You guys keep saying that she¡¯s the Phoenix... why is it that I can¡¯t see what you guys see? Can you exin to me why she¡¯s the Phoenix? What exactly is a Phoenix?¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you don¡¯t know?¡± Xia Shujuan exined. ¡°The Phoenix is a legend in the Xia Family. Legend has it that she will die and be reincarnated.¡±

 Chapter 826 - My Daughterâ€™s Name Is Xia Yu

    Chapter 826: My Daughter¡¯s Name Is Xia Yu

    ¡°Reincarnation?¡± Auntie Liu eximed in shock. ¡°That exists?¡±

    ¡°Who knows...¡± Xia Shujuan said. ¡°It¡¯s a legend passed on for generations. It¡¯s probably simr to thema incarnation in Tibet. They say it¡¯s a reincarnation but no one truly knows if it¡¯s real. It¡¯s too out of the world.¡±

    Auntie Liu nodded in understanding. ¡°So it¡¯s like a scam.¡±

    Xia Shujuan nced around and said, ¡°Madam Ye, please keep your voice down. Saying that of the Phoenix is too disrespectful... you¡¯ll offend the entire Xia Family. Moreover, this time it might be the real deal. Everyone is saying that your Ye Xingling is the reincarnation of Xia Ling. They are so simr in terms of singing abilities and aura.¡±

    Auntie Liu stared in shock. ¡°Who? Xia Ling?! Which Xia Ling are you talking about?!¡±

    ¡°What other Xia Ling is there?¡± Xia Shujuan said. ¡°The Xia Ling that was popr nationwide... the Diva that everyone knew about. The superstar that was adopted by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Xia Ling dead?¡± Auntie Liu asked. ¡°How is Xiao Ling simr to her at all? Wait, wait... so you¡¯re saying that that girl is the Phoenix reincarnation... which means that the dead Xia Ling reincarnated within her? How is Xia Ling rted to your family?¡±

    ¡°Hai... isn¡¯t it obvious? Her surname is Xia.¡±

    Auntie Liu¡¯s eyes grew wider. ¡°So the Diva Xia Ling is part of this family? Her biological parents are somewhere in this mountain vige?¡±

    Xia Shujuan pped her thigh in agreement. ¡°Exactly! You know her parents as well. They are our Family Head and Madam. As such, once they knew that your girl is Xia Ling reincarnated, they were so eager to bring her back into the family.¡±

    Oh my God, what big news... big news indeed!

    The dead Diva Xia Ling had found her biological parents. If she were to sell this information to reporters, how much would it be worth?! Auntie Liu got more excited as she thought about this possibility. She grabbed Xia Shujuan¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Quick, quick, tell me more.¡±

    Seeing Auntie Liu show such interest, a mysterious smile came upon Xia Shujuan¡¯s face. ¡°Madam Ye, I do want to tell you more. But I have some concerns in my heart, and thinking about Miss Ling brings me memories about my long lost daughter. It¡¯s saddening for me to talk about Xia Ling... I just can¡¯t...¡±

    As she spoke, she wiped at the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.

    Auntie Liu was keen on getting the gossip first-hand to sell to reporters, and hence asked emphatically, ¡°Old Sister... what worries do you have? Come, tell me all about it... don¡¯t keep it to yourself. We have such rapport and hit it off so well... let your young sister here help you. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to help you find a solution to your problem?¡±

    Xia Shujuan looked at Auntie Liu in suspicion. ¡°Sister Ye, you are really willing to help me?¡±

    In this short span of time, the two of them were now referring to each other as sisters, like they were the closest of friends.

    Auntie Liu promised. ¡°Of course! Everyone in my area at home knows that I¡¯m most helpful! I will definitely help when I can! Isn¡¯t that right, Old Ye?¡± She elbowed Father Ye again.

    Father Ye nodded without saying a word. His emotions were turbulent at this moment. What? Xiao Ling was the Diva reincarnated? But, but, the age isn¡¯t right... when Xia Ling died, his girl was already fifteen or sixteen years old. Was this a reincarnation? Or was Xiao Ling being possessed by Xia Ling¡¯s dead spirit?

    Thinking about her sudden change in character, Father Ye shuddered.

    This was a big matter that concerned his daughter. Even though he had just broken all ties with her, they still shared the same blood. His curiosity was piqued and he too wanted to know more.

    Xia Shujuan¡¯s objective in speaking to Father Ye and Auntie Liu was to get their help. The entire conversation before this was to get them hooked. Now, seeing their eagerness to help, she said, ¡°Actually, my worry is a simple one. I just want to find my long lost biological daughter. You guys should have heard about her. She is Xia Yu. The sister that Miss Ling brought with her to Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Auntie Liu was past the age of chasing stars, but thankfully she had a daughter that was up-to-date on all the entertainment news. The year Ye Xingfei got into an ident was the pinnacle of Xia Ling¡¯s career. Ye Xingfei would always tell Auntie Liu all about this superstar. As such, she recalled that there was a sister called Xia Yu.

    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ve heard about her. Old Sister, I didn¡¯t think that your daughter would also be an artiste.¡± Auntie Liu¡¯s face was stered with a fake smile as she sought to boot-lick Xia Shujuan. Her only aim was to keep her happy so as to get more information off her.

    Xia Shujuan sighed. ¡°What artiste? When she was just a little baby she was taken from me. I don¡¯t know which human trafficker or kidnapper did that... My poor little girl was taken from me, and only after them sisters became famous did I see her on television...¡±

    She reached out to wipe off the tears forming around her eyes again.

    Did things pan out the way that Xia Shujuan was depicting? Then, she had abandoned Xia Yu since she was unhealthy. It was pure luck that Xia Yu had survived. However, she couldn¡¯t tell another soul about the truth and had to pretend to be the innocent victim. Only this would garner pity for Xia Yu and herself.

    Xia Shujuan continued, ¡°All these years, I¡¯ve missed her so. Many times I wanted to go find her. However, to be extremely open with you, the rules in the Xia Family are stringent. None of us are the leave this mountain vige unless we get special permission. I¡¯m out of ideas and can only wait and hope to be able to meet my daughter again someday.¡±

    Auntie Liu¡¯s expression was full of sympathy. ¡°Xia Yu must miss you too.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say...¡± Xia Shujuanmented. ¡°A blink of the eye and the child is already so big now. Old Sister... do you know where Xia Yu is now? Can you help me find her so that we can be reconciled? A few years ago I could still get news about her on television, but she seems to have disappeared into thin air since. I have no idea where she is now.¡±

    Auntie Liu recalled that Xia Yu was well-know as the sister of the famous Diva Xia Ling. She became a singer and artiste as well but was only popr for a brief period of time. Uncles and aunties of their age did not follow entertainment news much, so it was normal for most people to not have heard of her.

    Auntie Liu said, ¡°Let me go back and try to find out for you. But...¡± Her eyes sparkled calctedly. ¡°Old Sister, it¡¯s going to be really tough to find someone without an inkling of where she is at all. We¡¯re going to have to pay some people off to help get more info. Old Ye and I are just mere citizens without much spare cash... I really want to help you, but we just might not have the means...¡±

    Xia Shujuan understood what she was getting at¡ªAuntie Liu was clearly asking for money. Xia Shujuan cursed silently. These greedy and cunning citizens! On the surface, she appeared understanding and said, ¡°Of course, of course. But do you think I look like I have money? Old Sister, can you think of a way to help pay for the expenses first? When I find Xia Yu and she¡¯s brought back to the family, she¡¯ll be so happy that she¡¯ll be willing to give you so much more, don¡¯t you think?¡±

 Chapter 827 - The Announcement

    Chapter 827: The Announcement

    The Xia family¡¯s wealth was astonishing, but it was solely controlled by the wife.

    The other Xias lived in the mountains generation after generation, living their days nting crops, refurbishing their buildings, and finding freshwater... They worked hard in exchange for a simple life with a decent standard of living that was different from the world outside. Even so, there were a number of them who werezy and tried to evade responsibilities when it came to the splitting of tasks. Over time, these were those who lived in poverty as they gave up the opportunity to earn a living.

    Xia Shujuan¡¯s family was an example.

    There weren¡¯t that many families who could barely afford food.

    That was why she¡¯d been dying to reunite with Xia Yu, to recognize her as her own. She would then have a chance at living a life of luxury.

    Auntie Liu had always been calcting with money and could figure out what she was getting at. She sneered. ¡°Old Sis, aren¡¯t you being a little unreliable here. What if Xia Yu doesn¡¯t acknowledge you? Won¡¯t my money go down the drain?¡±

    Xia Shujuan cursed at her inside for being so sharp, but on the outside, she maintained a smile. ¡°That girl is my flesh and blood, how could she not acknowledge me? Just let her have a look at how glorious Miss Ling is after she acknowledged her family and ancestors. Her status isn¡¯t as high as Miss Ling¡¯s, but given that she has been through thick and thin with the Phoenix, they¡¯d definitelypensate her.¡±

    Auntie Liu thought for a bit and found this logic pretty convincing. If she could find Xia Yu, that¡¯d be a feat in itself. Once Xia Yu acknowledged her biological mother and took thepensation, Xia Shujuan would get her daughter back and have someone to depend on. That way, they¡¯d all benefit from this, and there¡¯d be no way they¡¯d left her out of these gains. She smiled at Xia Shujuan and said, ¡°Old Sis, don¡¯t be too anxious. I, too, feel bad seeing that you and your biological daughter are miles apart. Don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯ll definitely find Xia Yu and bring her back to you.¡±

    Only then did Xia Shujuan feel relieved.

    Both of them had their own schemes and plots but continued a civil conversation before parting.

    The fireworks were still lighting up the night sky, revealing the happy faces of the Xias. Xia Ling was also soaking in the atmosphere and had temporarily forgotten about her woes and frustrations as she spent a good time with Li Lei.

    Both of them lived in the mountains for a while longer before taking Shaohui on their journey back.

    The Xia family could not bear to watch her leave and prepared a lot of local specialty goods for her. These included homegrown chickens and ducks, a

    fukubukuro

    , and even jade pieces. Besides that, Madame Xia had even given her extra allowance¡ªa full sum of 30 billion yuan.

    Xia Ling looked at that huge amount in shock before breaking into a smile. ¡°Why do I feel like making money is a piece of cake?¡± Back when she was living on her own outside of home and trying to raise money for her sister¡¯s medical expenses, she¡¯d practically sold her body to Pei Ziheng. Her second life wasn¡¯t any better, being forced to stay in the training camp in order to pay off the debts of the person whose body she took over.

    Now, she had gotten hold of billions of yuan so easily. And yet, there was no urgent need for it at all.

    What a prank the heavens were ying on her.

    Madame Xia smiled as well. ¡°You¡¯vee a long way. From now on, you can juste home whenever you need money. We¡¯re old and living in the mountains, and have not much use for it. But it¡¯s different for you¡ªyou¡¯re young and living in a cosmopolitan world, it¡¯s better to always have spare cash with you.¡± She even reminded Xia Ling time and again that she had to tell the family if she ran into any trouble outside.

    Xia Ling nodded in understanding.

    On their way back, she, Little Shaohui, and Li Lei went in one car, while Auntie Liu and Father Ye went in the one behind them.

    Auntie Liu felt indignant. She nudged Father Ye and said, ¡°Did you see that? The Xia family gave her all that good stuff, inrge and small bags. But what about us? We have nothing.¡±

    Father Ye gloomily said, ¡°They¡¯ve already acknowledged her as their own.¡±

    Auntie Liu was enraged. ¡°So what? We¡¯re the ones who raised their daughter! Even selling a dog could fetch some money! You¡¯ve raised her in vain! Those bunch of Xias were so dense, they didn¡¯t pick up the hints we dropped and refused to give us a cent. How shameless!¡±

    Father Ye felt extremely embarrassed thinking about how they were mocked when she went to Xia Haichao to ask for gifts. ¡°Can¡¯t you just create less trouble.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ming me?! I¡¯m doing this for the family!¡± Auntie Liu yelled.

    Father Ye kept silent for the rest of the dreadful journey.

    When Auntie Liu returned to the city, she tried to find a source of money. She called a journalist who wrote for a tabloid. ¡°Hey, is this Reporter Qian? I have some sensational news! Did you know, our Ye Xingling is actually the reincarnation of the Diva Xia Ling! And did you know who acknowledged her? The Diva Xia Ling¡¯s biological mother! We¡¯ve finally found the biological parents of thete Diva Xia Ling!¡±

    She went on excitedly.

    When her story was over, she asked, ¡°Reporter Qian, I¡¯ve given you so much sensational information, how much will that fetch me?¡±

    Who knew, Reporter Qian let out a loud yawn. ¡°Liu Zhaodi, stoping up with such strange stories. Back then, Mr. Chu Chen had already given us a warning. He made it clear that you, me, and everyone else are not allowed to investigate anything regarding Miss Ye Xingling anymore. Stoping to me over this.¡±

    Auntie Liu was flustered. ¡°That was what he said back then. Things have changed. Why are you so narrow-minded? It¡¯s such huge news, don¡¯t you want it?¡±

    ¡°Huge news?¡± Reporter Qian scoffed. ¡°Did you not see today¡¯s headlines? Everything you¡¯ve said has already been published, and that information came straight from the horse¡¯s mouth¡ªthe mysterious Xia family. They¡¯re even hosting a press conference tonight, which makes it way more credible than the information you provided. After this, I¡¯m going to attend the press conference as well.¡± Before she could react, he had already hung up.

    Auntie Liu stared at the phone in silence for a while before rushing to flip open the newspapers. The front page was covered with news of Ye Xingling acknowledging her biological family, and even had information that suggested she was the ¡°Xia Ling incarnate.¡±

    ¡°We, the Xia family, believe in reincarnation.¡± The Xias¡¯ representative was quoted. ¡°There are many legends and stories in this world that involve the idea of reincarnation, one of which is during the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qian Long regarded He Kun as the incarnate of his lover. The Xia family believes that Miss Ye Xingling is Miss Xia Ling¡¯s incarnate¡ªthey resemble each other in terms of their singing, their looks, and in many other aspects. Hence, Miss Xia Ling¡¯s biological father, the Head of the Xia family, has acknowledged Miss Ye Xingling as his daughter. He has finally fulfilled his wish of many years.¡±

    The rest of the article covered how Xia Ling spent her years living life as an orphan, and how the Xia family coincidentally adopted Little Shaohui before realizing that his mother was Xia Ling¡¯s incarnate...

    It was an borate article, that after careful editing and removal of the traditional, superstitious aspects, became a story that most ordinary people could ept. With that little bit of fantasy running through the story, it was hard not to gasp every now and then while reading it.

    A Japanese New Year custom in which merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within.

 Chapter 828 - Materialistic Benefits

    Chapter 828: Materialistic Benefits

    Many of the fans had mixed feelings about this news. In fact, the current ¡°Ye Xingling¡± did have an aura that resembled Xia Ling back then¡ªand this was exactly what had led to Ye Xingling¡¯s fans and Xia Ling¡¯s fans arguments time and again. Although some of Xia Ling¡¯s fans had converted and eventually became Ye Xingling¡¯s fans, a good portion of them had insisted that Ye Xingling was simply trying to emte and imitate Xia Ling. Even if Ye Xingling achieved great heights, she would never be able to rece Xia Ling in their hearts.

    Until the Xia family held a press conference and announced that Ye Xingling was Xia Ling, but in her second life.

    Those who had initially kept their faith finally gave in this time, many of whom even became ¡°Ye Xingling¡± fans overnight. Although most of them knew, rationally, that reincarnation was unscientific, this story was just like a beautiful fantasy that everyone wanted to believe.

    This story instantly became the talk of the town.

    Xia Ling stood before a full-length mirror and did her hair conscientiously. She had to go for a photoshoot that day, ying the role of a youngdy from a wealthy family. She applied her own makeup that brought out her elegance and grace, put on a tailor-made gown, and wore some diamond essories that shimmered against her fair skin.

    Lin Yunan walked into the makeup studio and scanned her from head to toe. ¡°After all these years, you¡¯re better at doing makeovers than anything.¡± He was always stingy with hispliments to her, and never failed to throw in some sarcasm whenever she waste for appointments due to personal matters. This time was no different. ¡°Busy woman, you¡¯ve got even more matters at hand now.¡±

    Xia Ling had long been used to his tone. She was trying to attach a hair essory, and hence, looked at him in the mirror without turning around. ¡°What is it this time?¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°What a huge revtion of your identity, it must¡¯ve been hard to keep it from me.¡±

    Xia Ling was more patient now than ever before and did not rush him to get to the point. Instead, she casually said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it just acknowledging my parents? Why are you making it a big deal?¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°Me? Making a big deal? Those media representatives and the public out there have no idea which Xia family it is, but do you think I¡¯m in the dark too?¡± He came from a rich family as well and had his own sources. In the high society, word was already going around that the Xia family she came from was the same one as the great, mysterious Preceptor Xia¡¯s.

    If this wasn¡¯t a big deal, what was?!

    ¡°I finally get it,¡± eximed Lin Yunan. ¡°I found it weird initially, that after your divorce, Pei Ziheng was generous enough to give you 10 billion yuan to start apany, and then another few billion yuan for funding. In fact, however, the money didn¡¯te from Pei Ziheng at all, right? It was from the Xia family all along.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Lin Yunan burst out, ¡°I¡¯m so silly, I really am! I should¡¯ve guessed it long ago, but I only realize it now, after working with you for so many years! And you, you¡¯re really good at hiding it!¡±

    Xia Ling was done with her hair and was checking out her outfit in the mirror. Seeing that everything was in ce, she turned around and smiled at Lin Yunan. ¡°Well, so what if you realize it now? What¡¯s important is that I have a family now, they¡¯re nice to me, and that I love them very much.¡±

    Lin Yunan was half stunned as he looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re really Xia Ling¡¯s incarnate?¡±

    She did not give an answer. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    The look in Lin Yunan¡¯s eyes deepened. ¡°If this was someone else, I definitely wouldn¡¯t believe it. But the Xia family is different¡ªthis family has some extraordinary, or rather, psychic abilities that we can¡¯t make sense of. In that case, nothing is really impossible if it involves them.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°What¡¯s with all this supernatural stuff? Didn¡¯t you think about how old I was when Xia Ling passed away? The Xia family had been looking for their daughter, but she was already dead when they found her. Seeing that I shared some semnce with Xia Ling, and that they happened to take Shaohui in, they decided to take me as their daughter. It¡¯s just fate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Lin Yunan was skeptical.

    ¡°If I really could reincarnate, I would¡¯ve been locked in and taken for ab test by the authorities. How would I be standing here getting ready for a shoot?¡± Xia Ling shrugged, but even that didn¡¯t make her any less elegant. In fact, her words weren¡¯t all false. She hadn¡¯t been taken by the authorities for two reasons¡ªfirstly, nobody had enough power to dare offend the Xia family; secondly, many of them did not actually believe the reincarnation story wholeheartedly. All that fantasy was just for everyone to better cope with the situation.

    Nobody really took it to be the truth.

    After hearing her words, Lin Yunan had no idea what to trust anymore. He was confused.

    ¡°But,¡± Xia Ling smiled and happily said, ¡°This is a pretty cool story to use. Xia Ling¡¯s reincarnation, the Phoenix¡¯s nirvana, how cool is that?¡±

    Lin Yunan was speechless.

    He now truly believed her. How could this pea brain be the Phoenix incarnate? How could there exist such a silly Phoenix?

    He rolled his eyes and changed the topic. ¡°I actually do have something to discuss with you. You¡¯ve acknowledged the Xia family and risen to fame, but have you ever thought of your biological parents¡¯ feelings? I¡¯m talking about the Yes. Somebody interviewed them and asked about their views regarding your ¡®reunion¡¯ with the Xia family. The tabloid journalist captured your father¡¯s sad expression, and even captioned that you were being pragmatic, leaving your dad for the sake of material benefits.¡±

    Xia Ling looked surprised. ¡°Uncle Haichao¡ªbasically, the main manager of the Xia family¡ªtold me that he¡¯d already had a talk with the Ye family, and had told them not to voice their thoughts to outsiders. They¡¯ll abide by it.¡± When the Xia family ¡°had a talk¡± with someone, they did it in a more unique way¡ªif anyone were to flout it, their predicament would be tragic. Hence, no one would even try to go against their words.

    Lin Yunan was even more convinced now that she wasn¡¯t some Phoenix in herst life. ¡°Hello, Miss, do you even have a brain? The Ye family indeed have not said much, but that doesn¡¯t mean their emotions aren¡¯t written on their faces. The reporters just need a few photos to stir up some gossip. It¡¯s not as if you didn¡¯t know how fertile their imagination can be.¡±

    He even added, ¡°Are you really doing it for the material benefits, though?¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t bother to be kind with her tone. ¡°The Xia family couldn¡¯t wait to acknowledge me.¡±

    Lin Yunan nodded as if he understood her circumstances. ¡°No wonder, who¡¯d dare to go against the Xias¡¯ wishes?¡± He looked at Xia Ling a little sympathetically. Tsk, what a dream it must be to be a part of the Xia family... Then again, if that meant having to leave their biological parents, shouldn¡¯t there be at least a little pain?

    Xia Ling felt that Lin Yunan¡¯s current understanding was for the best. She happily decided that if anyone were to ask her a simr question, thinking that she was doing this for material benefits, she would reply them in the same manner.

    Now that her spirits had been lifted, she¡¯d forgotten all about the Ye family article. She simply said, ¡°Just deal with it as you deem fit.¡±

 Chapter 829 - Whoâ€™s Being Heartless

    Chapter 829: Who¡¯s Being Heartless

    Lin Yunan was about to say something more when assistant Wei Wei rushed in. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, this is bad! Ye Xingfei is right outside the building now, and she brought reporters along with her and says she wants to talk it out with you!¡±

    Xia Ling was still processing what Wei Wei had just said, but Lin Yunan had already dashed out of the room.

    She chased up and saw that there was indeed a crowd outside¡ªover 10 reporters were huddled around a young girl, with their cameras up and filming. ¡°Miss Ye Xingfei, what are your thoughts of Miss Ye Xingling leaving the Ye family? You mentioned that she¡¯s heartless and unfilial, is this true?¡±

    At the entrance, several bodyguards and security officers were holding out a cordon to contain the situation.

    Ye Xingfei was wearing a pink dress and standing before a cluster of reporters. This was her first time having so many cameras pointed at her, and it was evident that she was slightly distressed about it. Even so, she managed to stammer. ¡°Sister is unfilial! How could she suddenly decide to be adopted by another family? Does she know how devastated Dad has been these few days?!¡±

    A series of shes shone.

    Someone shouted, ¡°Ye Xingling is out!¡±

    Everyone turned around and saw Xia Ling standing at the entrance. She was dressed in an exquisite gown but showed no expression. All of a sudden, every camera was pointed at her instead¡ªthe reporters had given up Ye Xingfei for her instantly.

    When Ye Xingfei turned around and first saw her sister, she looked a little frightened, almost as if she was a bad girl who¡¯d just been caught gossiping behind someone¡¯s back. A few secondster, however, she straightened her back and loudly questioned, ¡°Sister, why did you abandon us? Why did you abandon our family? You¡¯re already rich and famous, did you really have to give up this kinship for the sake of riches?!¡± She was genuinely shocked and upset by this, and could not understand why her sister would do this. When she woke up, she thought that she and sister would continue to share a close bond, but it turned out that her sister did not want her anymore.

    Tears began rolling down her face. ¡°You¡¯re heartless!¡±

    Xia Ling did not have a good temper, to begin with. It took her a lot of self-control to keep her emotions in check as she was being falsely used. She coldly looked at this supposed sister of hers and said, ¡°Feifei, are you done talking? Don¡¯t spout nonsense if you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. I¡¯ll get someone to send you home.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ye Xingfei red at her and yelled, ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but I know what shame is! I know who raised me! You¡¯re too cold-blooded. Have you forgotten the parents who raised you?!¡±

    The reporters never stopped capturing this scene. The Diva was fighting with her sister, what sensational news this was.

    Xia Ling knew that if this went on, the reports could turn out very ugly. She was about to get someone to take Ye Xingfei away when a majestic-looking modified SUV stopped by the road. A man came out of the car and approached them.

    Everyone¡¯s focus shifted when he appeared.

    The cameras changed their target again and began snapping him instead.

    ¡°It¡¯s Li Lei! Big Boss Li is here!¡± The reporters were getting agitated. However, seeing his somber expression, they subconsciously quietened down.

    Li Lei stood before Ye Xingfei and asked in a serious tone, ¡°Did your parents not teach you about manners, and how you shouldn¡¯t create amotion on the streets?¡± When he didn¡¯t smile, he looked intimidating and threatening. Ye Xingfei took a step back in fear.

    ¡°W-Who are you?¡± She stuttered.

    ¡°I¡¯m your brother-inw,¡± said Li Lei. ¡°I heard you saying that your sister¡¯s unfilial? Let me tell you, even if everyone said it, you and your Ye family have no rights to say this! Did you know how she looked like when she was first selected to attend Skyart¡¯s training camp? She was covered in bruises¡ªGod knows who did this to her¡ªand was always wearing old clothes. I have the photos from the training camp, do you want me to take them out for everyone to have a look?

    ¡°When you met with the car ident, she knelt before Tan Ying in public just so she could raise money to save you, did you know about this? She paid up millions of yuan for you! Not to mention the hospitalization fees, the money it took to nurse you back to health¡ªshe settled each and every aspect on her own! Your so-called parents didn¡¯t give a single cent nor do a thing for you!

    ¡°And what about her? Back when she was in the training camp, she did not receive an allowance from the family and had no other source of ie. She ended up having to work as a cleaner in the canteen, causing her fingers to swell in the stinging winter cold. After she was done with her cleaning, she had to go back to dance practice, and when her blisters broke, leaving blood all over the dance floor, the teachers scolded her and her ssmates despised her. When all that happened, where was the Ye family?!¡±

    Ye Xingfei was stunned and could not utter a word.

    Everyone there was shocked as well. All they had known about the Diva Ye Xingling was through the information that had been released after moderation. It was said that she had been extremely hardworking and conscientious, but nobody ever talked about how pitiful her life was before she became famous.

    Li Lei continued, ¡°Xiao Ling is a proud person, and has never, ever mentioned a word about this after she made her debut. Even when she was being interviewed on screen, she had only ever talked about the good of her family. She took on all this suffering alone, and for what? For you to say that she¡¯s heartless!

    ¡°Who¡¯s being heartless here?!

    ¡°When you regained consciousness in the hospital the other day, she was so happy for you. She put down all her work and postponed everything at once to go down to the hospital to see you. But what about you? How are you treating her now? You know full well that she¡¯s a celebrity, a public figure, and you still gathered a bunch of reporters to spread bad word about her. She has really loved you for nothing!¡±

    Li Lei was so harsh with his tone that Ye Xingfei had backed down and was now sitting on the ground in utter shock.

    Xia Ling was shocked as well. She didn¡¯t expect him to remember all of these things that had happened so long ago, that even she had long filed it at the back of her mind. Although a lot of the earlier suffering had been borne by the actual Ye Xingling, Xia Ling herself did, in fact, do a lot for this so-called sister. For instance, she had stayed in the entertainment industry in order to pay for her debt and was even abducted by Pei Ziheng a few times.

    If it weren¡¯t for the car ident and the debt, everything could have been different.

    She looked at Li Lei and quietly said, ¡°It isn¡¯t worth getting angry over.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her and his expression softened immediately as he walked towards her.

    The crowd naturally parted in the middle to make way for him to get to her. Li Lei walked up the steps and held Xia Ling¡¯s hand, whispering, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± He brought her back into the building.

    Everyone seemed to have just woken from a dream as they finally saw the light.

    The cameras began shing again, and this time, the reporters were busy capturing the couple¡¯s back view, holding each other in support.

 Chapter 830 - What Do You Have to Get Rid of Me

    Chapter 830: What Do You Have to Get Rid of Me

    Only then did Lin Yunan snap out of his daze and ordered the security officers. ¡°Take Miss Ye Xingfei away to have some rest.¡±

    The security officers hurriedly got to it.

    Seeing that the show was over, the reporters dispersed and hurried back to get their article drafts done. There were great scoops today¡ªBig Boss Li¡¯s revtion of the Diva¡¯s past was enough to keep the fans agitated and excited for a while.

    Back in the building, Xia Ling and Li Lei went to a lounge.

    Xia Ling asked him, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Li Lei was still slightly upset from what had just happened. ¡°I was nning to just take you out to dinner, but who knew what I ended up witnessing. Didn¡¯t you think to get someone else to handle it? Why did you show yourself?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled at him. It really felt good to have him protect her.

    She reached out a hand and stroked his face. ¡°Angry? It¡¯s nothing much, don¡¯t think about it. Ye Xingfei is just a little girl, why take things to heart with her? She¡¯s still immature.¡±

    ¡°Does being a little girl make it alright to spout nonsense?¡± Li Lei disagreed. ¡°You¡¯d better stay away from her in the future, and sever all ties with the Yes.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Alright.¡± She¡¯d nned to help this little sister initially; after all, the actual Ye Xingling had been concerned about her sister even until her death. But after what had just happened, it did seem like there was no need to get too close to her. Ye Xingfei was still an immature girl, and putting her in the spotlight before she was mature enough wasn¡¯t going to do her any good.

    Out of the blue, Lin Yunan walked in. ¡°Xiao Ling, that sister of yours is really a bother. We brought her to a lounge and now she¡¯s crying inside and asking to go home. But how can I let her out like this? What if she spouts nonsense again?¡± He looked at her and Li Lei. ¡°The both of you can decide what to do.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s no longer Xiao Ling¡¯s sister.¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°Alright, my mistake.¡± Lin Yunan did not give a hoot. ¡°So, what do we do now?¡±

    Xia Ling found this pretty troublesome to deal with. Girls that age were way more impulsive and street-smart than Auntie Liu¡ªthey might re up and do things without considering the consequences. She could not threaten her the way she did Auntie Liu.

    Xia Ling was caught in a fix.

    But Li Lei said, ¡°How about we send her to Skyart¡¯s training camp?¡±

    ¡°Send her to Skyart¡¯s training camp?¡± Xia Ling was skeptical about that suggestion at first, but it suddenly hit her. She smiled. ¡°This is actually a pretty good idea, why didn¡¯t I think of it? Ye Xingfei has always wanted to be a celebrity, sending her to training camp would help her with her technical skills and at the same time hone her patience and discipline.¡±

    The training camp was Li Lei¡¯s territory. As long as they got her in there, nothing much could happen.

    Li Lei was grinning at himself. ¡°I¡¯ll get Tan Ying to discipline her.¡±

    Xia Ling pinched his cheeks. ¡°You¡¯re the smart one.¡± She walked into the adjacent lounge in good spirits to tell Ye Xingfei about the decision.

    Ye Xingfei had just slipped and fallen, evident from her elbow abrasion and dirtied clothes. She paced up and down anxiously and yelled at the bodyguard assigned to watch her. ¡°What right do you have to lock me in here? I want to go home! I want to meet Ye Xingling!¡±

    ¡°Do you want to go home, or do you want to see me?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was hearding from the door.

    Ye Xingfei turned around abruptly and saw her¡ªstill in her exquisite gown and her perfectly done hair, looking elegant and beautiful. She then looked at herself and how pathetic she appeared. She felt her shame evolving into rage. ¡°Ye Xingling, now that you¡¯re rich and famous, you¡¯re abandoning us? And you¡¯re even getting outsiders to bully me?¡±

    The bodyguard coldly said, ¡°Is this how you speak to Miss Ling?¡±

    She had already left the Ye family and acknowledged the Xias as her kin. The Xia family had also openly dered that her name in the Xia registry was officially ¡°Xia Ling.¡± Hence, it was inappropriate for anyone to continue addressing her as ¡°Miss Ye.¡± Yet, ¡°Miss Xia¡± wasn¡¯t all that suitable either¡ªafter all, Xia Ling and Ye Xingling were still recognized as two different people in the entertainment industry, with different voices and songs.

    Only by calling her ¡°Miss Ling¡± could everyone ept it.

    Ye Xingfei bit her lip and kept quiet after being told off by the intimidating bodyguard. However, she did not conceal her indignance.

    Xia Ling calmly said, ¡°You really wish to be famous, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Ye Xingfei did not quite understand what she was getting at, and angrily replied, ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with you? Who doesn¡¯t wish to be famous in this day and age? You don¡¯t have to mock me over this. Back then, your singing couldn¡¯t hold a candle to mine!¡±

    The bodyguard was about to react once again, but Xia Ling raised her hand to stop him.

    She looked at Ye Xingfei, and with her lips slightly curled at their tips, she proudly said, ¡°Have you heard of this saying? ¡®I love how you look, knowing that you detest me but can¡¯t get rid of me.¡¯¡±

    ¡°You! Don¡¯t go overboard!¡± Ye Xingfei was practically panting from anger.

    Xia Ling smiled again. ¡°Did I say anything wrong? Ye Xingfei, just look at you, what difference are you from that shrew of a mother you have? You have nothing to your name now, what do you have to get rid of me? So what if you detest me? Did you really think that gathering a few reporters and creating some negative news about me would even hurt me a bit? I have a whole corporation of managers and security officers to deal with you, and you think a girl like you can make an impact?¡±

    Ye Xingfei spat. ¡°My mom is not a shrew! Ye Xingling, don¡¯t you use her! I detest you, no... I hate you!¡± It was aplicated sort of hatred, the kind that had been buried within her the moment she regained consciousness from thea. She was indignant. Why was it that all her splendor of the past had left her with nothing today? And yet, her quiet, introverted sister back then had turned into a megastar?

    It was envy and jealousy mixed together.

    And yet, there was guilt deep down inside her. She tried to suppress all the negative thoughts, knowing that she shouldn¡¯t be hating her sister. But now that her sister was degrading her own mother, all her hatred began spilling from where they¡¯d been hidden. She could now openly express her hatred for her sister, in the name of defending her mother.

    ¡°I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!¡± She yelled over and over.

    Xia Ling waspletely unmoved. There were so many people who hated her in both lifetimesbined, this little girl here didn¡¯t make a difference.

    Xia Ling nced at Ye Xingfei. ¡°If you hate me, then find a way to defeat me.¡±

    ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± Ye Xingfei said. ¡°One day, I¡¯ll crush you with my foot!¡± Those words came from the bottom of her heart.

 Chapter 831 - Celebratory Party

    Chapter 831: Celebratory Party

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll wait and see.¡±

    Ye Xingfei was stunned for a while before scoffing. ¡°Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re not bothered.¡±

    Xia Ling spoke slowly and surely, ¡°Who in the singing world can surpass me? I really wish I had apetitor. Otherwise, it gets boring after a while. Feifei, I came from Skyart¡¯s training camp, and now I¡¯m sending you there as well. As for how far you can go... it depends on you.¡±

    Ye Xingfei did not expect to be granted such an opportunity after creating such a scene.

    However, she was not the least bit grateful. ¡°Drop your pretense. Back then, I¡¯d gotten into Skyart¡¯s training camp on my own ability, I don¡¯t need you to send me there. You, on the other hand... did you think you could¡¯ve been selected if not for me? You should thank me!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her like she was a joke. How nice it must feel to be young and naive, to be able to insist on one¡¯s unreasonable facy. Rather than feeling annoyed, she felt sorrier for Ye Xingfei¡¯sck of intellect¡ªit¡¯d been difficult to find someone less intelligent than herself in herst lifetime.

    She did not say more and took her leave.

    The bodyguard still did not release Ye Xingfei. He kept her in the lounge until Tan Ying, who¡¯d received instructions, came to pick her up and send her to the training camp. Manager Tan had a way with disciplining others, and chances were that it wouldn¡¯t take long before Ye Xingfei kept her mouth shut in front of the media representatives.

    After this minor hup, Xia Ling got to her work andpleted her shoot a little past her scheduled time.

    ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting.¡± She rushed out and told Li Lei before she even changed out or removed her makeup. ¡°Where are we going for dinner tonight?¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes shimmered. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to a good ce.¡±

    He led her to the car and drove to a high-end club at the border of the city.

    Xia Ling got off the car, and the once quiet ce suddenly illuminated, revealing the familiar faces of Wei Shaoyin, Feng Kun, Sister Mai Na, and even Bai Murong, Luo Luo and more.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, congrattions!¡± A group of them popped party poppers at her. ¡°Congrats on finding your family! When are you going to marry Boss?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little shocked by this. ¡°What are all of you doing here?¡±

    Luo Luo spoke for everyone, ¡°It¡¯s Boss¡¯ idea. He said we should throw a celebration for you, and at the same time hold a gathering since we haven¡¯t met in a while. Xiao Ling, you¡¯re amazing, you actually managed to acknowledge the Xia family as your kin. I heard they¡¯re extremely rich and powerful, is that true?¡±

    Luo Luo wasn¡¯t in the high society and had not heard about the tales of the Xia family.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Rich or not, they¡¯re still eating three meals a day and sleeping on a bed. And since we¡¯re finally all here today, let¡¯s have a good time tonight.¡±

    The group of them huddled and walked into the club.

    There were champagne pyramids and cocktail tables all around the clubhouse. Under the enchanting lights, and with the string ensemble¡¯s apaniment, the ce was like a dream set.

    Xia Ling drank as she caught up with these old friends.

    Feng Kun approached her. ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling. After all these years of suffering, it¡¯s finally paid off.¡± Although everyone present was her friend, the only person who truly understood her difficulties in both lifetimes was Feng Kun. This man had watched Xia Ling throughout her journey¡ªfrom the little girl that Pei Ziheng pampered, to the Diva she became after years of practice, and then having her wings broken as she reached rock bottom... followed by her reincarnation and the struggles she faced, before finally achieving what she did today.

    ¡°I truly admire all that you¡¯ve done and ovee,¡± said Feng Kun from the bottom of his heart.

    Xia Ling was a little tipsy. ¡°When someone¡¯s forced into that situation, they don¡¯t really have a choice but to work around it. Moreover, thankfully, I had Li Lei with me.¡±

    Thankfully, he had been her guardian angel.

    ¡°To you and Li Lei.¡± Feng Kun raised his cocktail.

    ¡°Cheers.¡± Xia Ling downed her cocktail.

    As the party reached its climax, the string ensemble began ying faster-paced songs as well. A few of them got onto the dance floor and began dancing to the music. Meanwhile, Xia Ling was having a mild headache from the alcohol and decided to take a breather at the garden outside.

    The garden was quiet, with the only sounds being the rustling of the leaves and a vague tuneing from the clubhouse.

    She stood there alone for a while before hearing a foreign voice. ¡°Miss Ling.¡±

    She turned around and realized that it was a man she¡¯d never seen. A man with deep-set features and dressed in a tailor-made suit was looking at her politely. But she knew that behind that polite expression, he was sizing her up, almost like one was assessing a prey. It made her ufortable.

    She tensed up intuitively.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so tense.¡± That man could sense that she was getting defensive and attempted to be a little less cold. Perhaps because he had been too used to looking at this world with those cold and ruthless eyes, his attempt failed.

    Xia Ling was still looking at him with caution. ¡°How did you get in? The whole ce is booked tonight.¡±

    The man said, ¡°A booking can¡¯t stop me. I haven¡¯t introduced myself. I¡¯m Wei Lingnan. You¡¯ve probably heard Wei Shaoyin mention me.¡±

    Wei Lingnan?

    Xia Ling did not find the name familiar at all, but on closer look, he did share some semnce with Wei Shaoyin. In fact, even his clean-cut disposition was simr to Wei Shaoyin¡¯s.

    The difference was that Ah Wei gave the impression of a proud, elegant man, while this person made others feel threatened.

    She dared not let her guard down. ¡°How are you rted to Ah Wei?¡±

    The man smiled, but before he answered her question, Ah Wei¡¯s nervous voice could be heard ringing through the hallway. ¡°Uncle! What are you doing here?!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin rushed towards them and grabbed Xia Ling¡¯s arm, pulling her back a step. He seemed frightened and looked at Wei Lingnan even more cautiously than Xia Ling did.

    Xia Ling was curious now.

    ¡°He¡¯s your uncle?¡± She recalled now, vaguely, that Wei Shaoyin or Li Lei had indeed mentioned something about the Weis. It was said that the head of the Wei family was now Wei Shaoyin¡¯s uncle, who possessed an incrediblyrge amount of biochemical weapons. If they were to be released, it could cause destruction.

    Xia Ling remembered how a long time ago, just a tiny amount of the Wei¡¯s chemicals had disfigured a girlpletely. The horrifying image was still branded in her mind; it was basically the real-life version of a human turning into a zombie.

    She felt a chill down her spine and subconsciously backed off a few steps.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve heard of me, indeed.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°Rx, I¡¯m not that scary.¡±

 Chapter 832 - Dangerous Matchmaker

    Chapter 832: Dangerous Matchmaker

    Wei Shaoyin said in a low voice, ¡°Don¡¯t trust him.¡± As he was nervous, his voice was slightly tense.

    Xia Ling did not understand. Even though the Wei Family was arge biopharmaceutical group and had some horrifying technology, Wei Shaoyin was from the Wei Family. Every year, he received dividends. Logically speaking, he should be quite close to his family. Why was he so afraid of Wei Lingnan?

    It was just a thought.

    Wei Lingnan spoke. ¡°Shaoyin, this doesn¡¯t concern you.¡± He did not deliberately increase the volume of his voice. Even the tone of his voice did not change, but Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face turned white and he did not dare to rebuke anymore.

    Xia Ling was not very happy. ¡°Mr. Wei Lingnan, this is not the Wei Family¡¯s territory. I don¡¯t like that you¡¯re reprimanding my friends on my territory.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips slightly curved as if he were smiling faintly. ¡°It has been years since someone dared to speak to me this way. It¡¯s no wonder that Miss Ling is the phoenix of the Xia Family.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What¡¯s so good about you?¡±

    Were all of the people in the Wei Family so self-important?

    Wei Lingnan had no interest in arguing with her. He only said, ¡°Miss Ling, congrattions on your return to your family. I¡¯ve brought a present for you.¡± After that, he presented a very small ss bottle to her. The bottle was filled with a translucent blue liquid. The shiny liquid floated around in the bottle.

    Just as Xia Ling was about to take it, Wei Shaoyin suddenly stopped her.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Wei Shaoyin thickened his skin and asked. He knew how horrible those unidentified items in his family were, and even though he ran the risk of provoking his uncle, he was not willing to let Xia Linge into contact with it ignorantly.

    This time, Wei Lingnan did not reprimand him. Perhaps, he was giving Xia Ling face.

    Looking at Xia Ling, he said, ¡°This medicine can heal your body, allowing you to get pregnant again.¡±

    ¡°Since when were you unable to get pregnant?!¡± Wei Shaoyin looked at her in shock.

    Xia Ling looked at Wei Lingnan in shock. ¡°How do you know that I can¡¯t get pregnant?!¡± She never openly announced this, and very few people were aware of it.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her very calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t be so shocked, Miss Ling. I know a lot more about you than you think.¡± One of the reasons was that he suspected that she reincarnated a long time ago and investigated her before. He even ordered Wei Shaoyin to secretly collect her hair and send it to him for tests.

    With the Wei Family¡¯s powerful research and analysis, it was not so difficult to find out that she could not be pregnant.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t be so rmed. This is only a bottle of a resuscitation drug. It will do nothing except heal your body. Considering the Xia Family, how could I hurt you?¡±

    He smiled again a little sarcastically.

    When he wanted to collect information about her and analyze her biological information, the Wei family¡¯s heavily guarded underground base suddenly silently copsed and many experimental products and viruses were leaked, causing heavy losses. Wei Lingnan knew that this was a warning from the Xia Family to not harm Xia Ling.

    He really did not dare to touch Xia Ling. In this world, there was no one powerful enough topete with the Xia Family.

    Even if they were as strong as him.

    ¡°Just treat it as an attempt to maintain good rtions with the Xia Family.¡± Wei Lingnan handed the bottle of medicine to her and said, ¡°Actually, today I am here to ask you and Mr. Li about something.¡±

    Beside him, Wei Shaoyin, who had been listening to their entire conversation, turned as white as a ghost. Did he hear wrong? His uncle was asking for something?! Did the sun rise from the west?

    Xia Ling felt that her IQ was insufficient. Instinctively, she felt that she could not deal with this man. She epted the medicine and asked Wei Shaoyin to help her look for Li Lei. Soon, Li Lei rushed over.

    ¡°Mr. Wei Lingnan.¡± He seemed to recognize this man. ¡°Long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Long time no see, Mr. Li.¡± Wei Lingnan also greeted him politely and smiled. ¡°Thank you for taking care of my nephew for so long. Furthermore, congrattions on gaining the recognition of the Xia Family¡¯s phoenix.¡±

    ¡°It seems that you already knew what the Xia Family phoenix means a long time ago.¡± Li Lei squinted. When it came to Xiao Ling, he was always very careful, especially when he was dealing with someone dangerous like Wei Lingnan.

    He knew Wei Lingnan because their families were business partners.

    Few people knew that as the leading biopharmaceutical group, their real core base was built deep underground and they used many rare and prohibited materials, weapons, and defense systems. Arge number of their items were transported by the Li Family. Besides the Wei Family, only the Li Family knew how scary their base was.

    Li Lei had a deep understanding a long time ago: He could not afford to offend the Wei Family.

    Especially the man in front of him. From the first time he saw this man when he apanied his grandpa as a child till now, twenty years had passed, but this man¡¯s appearance had not changed at all.

    Li Lei did not know what sort of person or thing he was.

    He quietly guarded Xia Ling. ¡°May I ask why Mr. Wei Lingnan is here today?¡±

    Calmly, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I heard that you¡¯re going to marry the phoenix. Since you¡¯re marrying into arge family like the Xia Family, it¡¯s necessary to go through all the rituals ording to tradition. However, worthy matchmakers aren¡¯t easy to find, right? What do you think if I rmend myself?¡±

    Li Lei slightly frowned. ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°Why? Am I not worthy enough?¡± Wei Lingnanughed.

    ¡°If Mr. Wei Lingnan is not worthy, then there¡¯s no one else in the world who is worthy enough.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°However, I¡¯m really surprised. Why are you suddenly interested in these insignificant things?¡±

    ¡°I want to visit the Xia Family.¡± Wei Lingnan did not hide his intentions. ¡°Li Lei, others do not believe in reincarnation, but I do. I want to see what sort of environment will cause such a miracle.¡±

    This was a very good reason.

    Li Lei knew that the Wei Family had been studying these biochemical systems for generations and the ultimate transition from life to death was beyond their imagination. Luckily, Xia Ling was rted to the Xia Family. Otherwise, she would have been kidnapped to the Wei Family for experiments a long time ago.

    He deeply understood how dangerous and cruel Wei Lingnan was. He said, ¡°Marriage is the union of two families and I will respect the opinion of the Xia Family. How about this, Mr. Wei. I will mention you to the Xia Family. If the Xia Family has no opinion about it, I will have to trouble you to be our matchmaker.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    After that, he walked into the darkness and disappeared.

    Looking at his back view, Xia Ling finally realized that her heart was pounding wildly. Her palms were cold as she grabbed Li Lei¡¯s hands. In a low voice, she asked, ¡°This... person... Why is he so scary?¡± There was an inexplicable difort in her heart. It was more like a biological instinct. When she saw that man, she inexplicably wanted to flee.

    Even though he tried to show his goodwill and gave her some medicine, it was useless.

 Chapter 833 - Underground Hive

    Chapter 833: Underground Hive

    Li Lei gently hugged her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here.¡±

    Xia Ling also wrapped her hands around his waist and nodded. The things that happened tonight were too strange. Xia Ling quickly called her family. ¡°Brother, a person called Wei Lingnan...¡±

    She told him everything about how Wei Lingnan came to visit her and asked to be her matchmaker.

    After listening to her, Xia Moyan¡¯s cold voice was a little serious. ¡°Xiao Ling, you must be careful around this person. He is the most dangerous person in the world. Even with the Xia Family¡¯s protection, he may be the only one who can potentially hurt you.¡±

    Xia Ling did not think that the situation was so serious. ¡°How scary is he, exactly?¡±

    Xia Moyan was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Perhaps, in this world, he shouldn¡¯t even be... living.¡± Whether intentionally or not, Xia Moyan did not use the word ¡°person.¡±

    Xia Ling was terrified. ¡°What should I do then?¡±

    ¡°Stay away from him and just focus on living your life. Although he is very dangerous, he still doesn¡¯t have the ability to harm our family. As long as we don¡¯t drive him into a corner, he won¡¯t ever think of making things difficult for you. In the best-case scenario, he would just fight to his death.¡±

    Her brother¡¯s worlds slightly calmed Xia Ling down.

    She stopped thinking about Wei Lingnan¡¯s identity. No matter what, her family had her back. She asked, ¡°In that case, should we let him be our matchmaker?¡±

    ¡°Let hime.¡± Xia Moyan already made up his mind. ¡°Otherwise, he won¡¯t give up.¡±

    Xia Ling acknowledged. After hesitating for a moment, she asked her brother about the medicine that Wei Lingnan gave her.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°For many years, the Xia Family has been monitoring Wei Lingnan. This man is very goal-oriented and won¡¯t hurt others for no reason. Besides, he has no reason to be enemies with the Xia Family. He won¡¯t hurt you. However, we may be wrong. I don¡¯t rmend that you drink the medicine. I care more about your life and health than your ability to have children in the future.¡± He was still worried that there may be something wrong with the medicine and could not afford any mishaps.

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I¡¯ve got it. Thank you, brother.¡±

    She hung up the phone and was deep in thought.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°What did your brother say?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the small bottle in her hand. The mysterious blue liquid shimmered in the starlight in a life-like way. It was hauntingly beautiful. Was this poison or an antidote?

    She did not know.

    Suddenly, she lifted her head and asked Li Lei, ¡°If I die, will you remarry?¡±

    ¡°What rubbish are you talking about?¡± Li Lei thought it was ridiculous. ¡°Why are you suddenly saying these inauspicious things? If you die, I will die with you. In the next life, we can be husband and wife again.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t even married yet.¡± Xia Ling was humored by him.

    ¡°Well then, why did you ask me if I would remarry?¡± Li Lei pinched her nose and looked curiously at the item in her hand. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°A cocktail.¡± Xia Ling responded. She unscrewed the cap and drank the liquid.

    She thought about it clearly. She wanted to give birth to a few more children for Li Lei. She wanted boys, girls, and more grandchildren when she was older. If she had to take this risk, she was willing.

    Li Lei grabbed the empty bottle from her hand and smelled it. There was a sour and sweet scent. ¡°How is this a cocktail? Xiao Ling, what exactly is this?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression could not fool him. She finally said, ¡°It¡¯s a gift from Wei Lingnan. He said that it will benefit my health if I drink it. I¡¯ve asked my brother and he said that it¡¯s not dangerous.¡±

    The color was drained from Li Lei¡¯s face. ¡°How can you drink something Wei Lingnan gave you so casually? Even if your brother says it¡¯s not dangerous, you can¡¯t! Come with me.¡± He pulled her as he ran to his car and drove to the hospital.

    When they arrived at the hospital, he looked for an expert to give her aprehensive physical examination. After a long time, the inspection report came out and everything was normal.

    Only then did Li Lei sigh in relief and warned her. ¡°If you ever randomly eat things again, I will...¡±

    ¡°What will you do?¡± Xia Ling looked at him innocently.

    ¡°I will...¡± Li Lei thought about it but could not find any way to threaten her. He finally said, ¡°I will tell your dad!¡±

    Xia Ling fell silent. Even the doctors beside them were quiet. Second Young Master Li, could you be any more childish?

    She nodded insincerely. ¡°In the future, I won¡¯t eat random things anymore.¡± She turned around and asked the doctor, ¡°In the past, my abdomen was injured and the doctor said I can¡¯t ever get pregnant again. Can you help me check what the situation is like now? I¡¯ve always had some hope in my heart that it will heal after a long time.¡±

    The doctor looked at the report. ¡°I can¡¯t see that it has ever been hurt before, Miss Ling. We can give you a more detailed check on your fertility.¡±

    This time, the results of the inspection came out very quickly. ¡°Miss Ling, you¡¯re really healthy and can give birth to a baby at any time.¡±

    Although Xia Ling was waiting for a miracle, when the miracle really happened, she felt that she was in a dream. ¡°Really? That¡¯s amazing! Li Lei, did you hear that? We can have a child again!¡±

    She smiled through her tears and hugged Li Lei.

    When Li Lei hugged her back, suddenly, he realized why she drank that bottle of medicine. She was not ignorant or afraid of danger, she just wanted to have more children with him.

    There was a burst of warmth in his heart. He hugged her tighter. ¡°Silly girl, how is a child more important than you?¡±

    A false rmed was turned into good news. The two of them were immersed in happiness. Li Lei entrusted Wei Lingnan to be their matchmaker with no hesitation.

    The two families had already acknowledged the marriage. The matchmaker was just for ceremonial purposes. Very quickly, Wei Lingnan finished his task.

    No one knew what he learned from the Xia Family, but he seemed to be in a good mood. He even asked Wei Shaoyin to give two more bottles of medicine to Xia Ling and Li Lei. ¡°One bottle is an aphrodisiac.¡± Wei Shaoyin gave them the bottle in disdain. ¡°Another bottle is also an aphrodisiac. Boss, since when did you start underperforming?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red. Resisting herughter, she ran away.

    Big Boss Li¡¯s expression darkened. He threw the two bottles back to Wei Shaoyin. ¡°I¡¯m doing really well! You can use these yourself, don¡¯t thank me!¡± After that, he chased after Xia Ling to give her an exnation.

    Wei Shaoyin looked at his back view in even more disgust. He mumbled to himself, ¡°How dare he reject the Wei Family¡¯s new medicine. He can¡¯t even buy it on the ck market!¡± He really kept them and decided to give them away to someone else.

    The Wei Family headquarters.

    Deep in the honeb-structured base 300 meters underground, the corridors were built by rare alloys and strictly guarded. On both sides of the corridor, there were ss rooms. Some of them were filled with formalin, some housed monsters that could not be named, and some had busy workers who were dressed in white coats.

    Wei Lingnan walked to the deepest part of the corridor and opened a door.

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡± He called the name of the girl who was inside.

 Chapter 834 - Found That Flower

    Chapter 834: Found That Flower

    The girl in the room was extremely thin and was half-squatted on the floor. Her hands were held up by rings made of ck steel. Her wrists were filled with scars and traces of dried blood.

    She looked up weakly and saw Wei Lingnan. Instantly, there was a look of horror on her pale face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so afraid.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was very gentle. He walked up to her and raised her chin with two fingers. ¡°Today, you won¡¯t be used for experiments. I¡¯vee to tell you good news.¡±

    The fear in Xia Yu¡¯s eyes did not fade but became stronger.

    Demon... The man in front of her was a demon!

    She had been kidnapped here for many years. After the Heavenly Voice Music Festival where she was exposed by Xia Ling for lip-syncing, she had to disappear due to angry public opinion. During this time, she nned to go abroad to avoid the limelight and soon, she returned to China. Unexpectedly, after being overseas for a while, she was kidnapped here. She lived every day in this darkb and they took her blood, dissected her, and conducted experiments on her. There was also this monster-like man...

    Her head was forcefully lifted by that man. That man¡¯s smooth amber eyes did not seem human. She did not know if it was due to the pale lighting, but his face looked slightly distorted as if it could melt at any time.

    Xia Yu started to shake uncontrobly.

    Wei Lingnan carefully rubbed her cheek and whispered softly, ¡°After studying you for so long, your blood, gic structure, and vital signs are the same as ordinary people. Sure enough, you¡¯re not a phoenix. Unfortunately, the phoenix is the treasure of the Xia Family. I can¡¯t kidnap her here, so I have to trouble you for the time being.¡±

    After being locked in the experimentalb for so long, Xia Yu already knew who that man referred to when he said ¡°phoenix.¡± He was talking about her sister, Xia Ling! The more she feared this man, the more she hated Xia Ling. If it weren¡¯t for Xia Ling¡¯s so-called Phoenix destiny, she would not be dragged down and treated like a piece of meat every day!

    After thinking about, the hatred in her eyes was revealed.

    ¡°You hate Xia Ling? That¡¯s not good.¡± Wei Lingnan joked as he seemed to be in a good mood. He straightened up his back, went to the fridge to find a tube of chemicals, and injected it into Xia Yu¡¯s body.

    ¡°You¡¯re free now.¡± Wei Lingnan took off her shackles.

    Xia Yu, who was kneeling on the ground as her hands were held by the shackles, suddenly lost her support and fell to the ground like dirt. She had a hard time looking up and was in shock. In a hoarse voice, she said incredulously, ¡°I¡¯m free...?¡± She was careful and eager to hear a positive answer. At the same time, she was afraid that it was just a cruel joke.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I don¡¯t have time to waste on you. I want you to return to the Xia Family and help me do something.¡± He took a small petal out from his outer coat pocket. Its edges were white, but its inner portions were me red. ¡°I went to the Xia Family and found this sort of Bromelia nt. Someponents of this flower are very interesting and I hope that you can bring back another one for me. It only grows in the Xia Family.¡±

    The Xia Family was a very closed-off environment. Wei Lingnan only went in once as a matchmaker. It was impossible for him to enter again. However, Xia Yu was different. She was a family member. As long as she acknowledged her roots and ancestors, she would be able to enter.

    ¡°Xia Family?¡± Xia Family muttered again a little awkwardly.

    ¡°Do you still not know? Your sister is Xia Ling and in this life, she is Ye Xingling. She has already acknowledged her ancestors and reunited with her family. The Xia Family is also your family. I want you to return home to acknowledge your rtives.¡±

    Xia Yu was shocked again. ¡°The Xia Family acknowledged Ye Xingling? They really think that Xia Ling reincarnated as Ye Xingling?!¡± She initially did not believe this and treated Wei Lingnan as a crazy person who turned into a demon because he was doing research on reincarnation and linked Xia Ling and Ye Xingling together because of his wishful thinking.

    However, if the Xia Family also acknowledged Ye Xingling, things were different.

    It couldn¡¯t be that everyone was blind, right?

    Could it be that in this world, reincarnation was really possible?!

    There was a turbulent feeling in Xia Yu¡¯s heart.

    Looking at her expression, Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Do you still not believe after you¡¯ve been locked here for so long?¡±

    Xia Ling shuddered and quickly said in a soft voice, ¡°I believe it, I believe it.¡± She saw too many strange things in this secret base: monsters, viruses, and even this man who did not look like a human... If all these existed, then why couldn¡¯t Xia Ling reincarnate?

    ¡°I only want that type of flower. Maybe there will be a breakthrough in reincarnation research.¡± Wei Lingnan told Xia Yu, ¡°Once you help me get that flower, you will be truly free. I will never give you trouble again. I promise.¡±

    ¡°What did you inject in me just now?¡± Xia Yu asked.

    ¡°Oh, that?¡± Wei Lingnan gave her a brief response. ¡°It¡¯s just a little thing I did to control you. If you can¡¯t get the flower in the agreed time, your skin will start to rot from your fingers until your entire body copses and dies.¡±

    Her voice became as soft as a whimper.

    Xia Yu did not seem to doubt him at all. Over the years, she had seen many of this man¡¯s unscrupulous means. She was extremely afraid and lowered her head humbly. ¡°Yes, Mr. Wei. I will bring that flower back for you.¡±

    ¡°Good girl.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°When you¡¯re back, I will reward you.¡±

    After that, he turned around and instructed the guarding researches outside to release Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu was sedated. Her eyes were covered with a ck eye mask. After a long car ride, finally, she was pushed and shoved until she arrived in the wilderness. When she opened her eyes again and took off her mask, she only saw a sky full of stars. She couldn¡¯t help but cry in joy. She had not seen the light of day in many years. Finally, she could leave that monster... Finally, she did not have to be an experimental subject!

    All of the hardship she suffered was because of her sister Xia Ling or Ye Xingling.

    She would definitely get her revenge!

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression turned cold as she swore to herself.

    ...

    Xia Ling was recording a song in the studio.

    The melody of this song was a littleplicated. No matter what, she couldn¡¯t find the most perfect tone. She tried time and again, but it was still far from perfect. In annoyance, she took off her headphones and copsed on the recording table.

    Her assistant Wei Wei knocked on the door.

    Xia Ling tilted her head. ¡°Come in.¡±

    Wei Wei walked in with a face as white as a sheet. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, someone at the door wants to see you. She... She¡¯s Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu?!¡± Xia Ling jumped in fright. Why did she suddenly appear? How many years ago did shest see Xia Yu? It was so long that she almost forgot her name.

 Chapter 835 - Xia Yuâ€™s Hatred

    Chapter 835: Xia Yu¡¯s Hatred

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Under Wei Wei¡¯s directions, she walked into the guest room.

    The guest room was elegantly furnished with dark embossed walls and a burgundy leather sofa. A thin girl was sitting on the leather sofa looking a little haggard in the quiet light.

    Xia Ling had a fright. ¡°Xia Yu?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t be med for being surprised. The weak yet delicate Xia Yu whom she remembered waspletely different from the girl in front of her. Her eye sockets were sunken, her cheekbones were sharp, and her lips were dry. No amount of cosmetics could cover that sort of haggard aging. In a blink of an eye... Xia Yu aged.

    How old was she this year?

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Wasn¡¯t she just 28? Or was she 29? She was not at the age when women turned old. Furthermore, she was wealthy and had all the skincare products in the world.

    Why was she in this state?

    ¡°What in the world happened to you over the years?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    As if she were shocked to see her, Xia Yu¡¯s line of sight moved up from a nt. A little shaken, she stood up and spoke haltingly. ¡°Sister.¡±

    ¡°What did you call me?¡± Xia Ling thought she had heard her wrong.

    ¡°Sister.¡± Xia Yu said and her tears gushed out without warning. ¡°I know who you are now. You¡¯re my sister Xia Ling, right? Sister, forgive me!¡±

    As she spoke, she copsed to her knees.

    Xia Ling instinctively took a few steps back. To be honest, she was even more shocked that Xia Yu acknowledged her identity and knelt to apologize. At this moment, her feelings were veryplicated. There seemed to be no joy or self-satisfaction. She only felt a sense of prolonged exhaustion.

    ¡°I¡¯m not your sister.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯m Ye Xingling. The rumors about my reincarnation are fake. Do you really believe the gimmicks of the media to create this hype?¡±

    ¡°I believe them! I believe them!¡± Xia Yu cried and hugged her legs. She raised her head and said, ¡°Sister, I saw the news that you¡¯ve returned to the family. I¡¯ve heard things about the Xia Family. Since the Xia Family Head and The Preceptor already acknowledged you as the reincarnated phoenix, you must be! You must be my sister Xia Ling!¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t escape with Xia Yu hugging her legs. She sighed silently.

    She lowered her head to look at Xia Yu and spoke emotionlessly. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, whether I¡¯m Xia Ling or not, I will never acknowledge you as my sister. After the way you hurt me in my past life and plotted against Shaohui in this life, I really wanted to turn your bones into ash if Shaohui weren¡¯t alive. What right do you have to beg for my forgiveness? Get lost.¡±

    ¡°I understand! I understand!¡± Xia Yu¡¯s tears flowed down. ¡°Sister, I was wrong in the past. I shouldn¡¯t have treated you or Shaohui that way! However, please let me exin...¡± She looked miserably at Xia Ling and begged. ¡°Ten years ago, it was my fault for falling hopelessly in love with Brother Ziheng, so I lost all my senses and wanted you dead... Sister, after you died, I realized that I was really regretful. I was really living in regret! I regret not treating you well when you were alive and betrayed you when you needed me the most! You are my only sister and I¡¯ve always treated you as my biological sister! After you died, I realized how important you were to me. I really missed you and wished you could be alive again. I wanted to tell you sorry in person... Really, even in my dreams...¡±

    The more she spoke, the more intensely she sobbed.

    There was a slight sour feeling in Xia Ling¡¯s heart. She did not think that she would hear that her sister felt regretful in her lifetime. She remembered many past events in the orphanage. That girl who was always sick shared all her meals with her, shared the smallest piece of candy with her, and even heard all the songs sheposed...

    She was almost moved.

    However, she remembered the buns.

    ¡°I remember what you said.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was a little cold. ¡°You already hated me when you were at the orphanage. You didn¡¯t like to eat meat buns but deliberately told me that you wanted to eat them so that I would fight with the older kids. Every time you saw me beaten up, you would feel really happy. Xia Yu, you hated me since you were a child, right? Don¡¯t me it on Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I didn¡¯t like you since I was young.¡± Xia Yu was still crying. She raised her hands and pped her cheeks until they were swollen. ¡°I was insensible when I was younger. I was always jealous when people praised you. Sister, do you know that they never praised me? At that time, I was still a kid. Every day, I waspared with you who was so outstanding. Do you know how that felt?¡±

    Xia Ling fell silent. She never thought about this problem before. She shined as a child and the closest people to her were left in the shadows. No matter what they did, they could not gain the approval of others. What kind of despair was that?

    Xia Yu went on, ¡°Sister, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose. I knew that you were good to me. However, I couldn¡¯t control the jealousy and resentment in my heart... At that time, I was young and ignorant. Now, I know that I¡¯m wrong. Sister, can you please forgive me? You can hit me and scold me, but I don¡¯t want to lose you, sister!¡±

    She fumbled around to grab Xia Ling¡¯s hands and held them close to her face.

    Xia Ling hastily withdrew her hands and tried her best to escape Xia Yu¡¯s arms. She took a few steps back. ¡°Stop holding on to me.¡± She coldly said. ¡°Don¡¯t want to lose me? In the past when I didn¡¯t want to lose you, what did you do to me?! When I didn¡¯t want to lose Pei Ziheng, do you remember how you treated me?! In this life when I didn¡¯t want to lose Shaohui, what did you do to him?! Xia Yu, do you think you can salvage the past with your insignificant words? It¡¯s toote... It has been toote a long time ago! You¡¯re lucky that I haven¡¯t tried to hurt you. Quickly get lost.¡±

    Xia Yu shook her head and cried. ¡°Sister... Give me a chance to repent...¡±

    Xia Ling was toozy to waste her time talking to her and turned around to leave.

    Xia Yu hugged her legs again and sobbed. ¡°Sister! I¡¯m begging you! I¡¯m really remorseful! They said that people who offend the phoenix do not have good oues and have no family to return to. Please forgive me, ok? I... I really miss home... I want to look for my mom and dad...¡±

    Suddenly, Xia Ling realized that her sister suddenly changed because she wanted to return to the Xia Family.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help you with this, Xia Yu. If you knew about this, why did you have to act that way in the past? No matter who asks me, my answer will always be four words: You are not forgiven.¡± After that, she forcefully pushed Xia Yu away and walked out.

    Whether Xia Yu could return home or not had no rtion to her.

    The sympathy she felt for her sister had been eradicated in her past life. Now, it was already difficult for her to not strike her when she was down. She definitely could not fulfill any of her sister¡¯s wishes and cause herself to suffer a grievance.

    Xia Yu, if you knew it woulde to this, you would have acted differently.

 Chapter 836 - Return to Skyart Entertainment

    Chapter 836: Return to Skyart Entertainment

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling walked slowly along the corridor, her mind still thinking about Xia Yu. It was strange. Where exactly did her sistere from? That year when she vanished, Xia Ling tried to look for her to avenge Shaohui but she disappeared without a trace.

    It was really strange.

    ¡°Miss Ling.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ling.¡±

    Along the way, many staff members saw her and bowed to greet her.

    Deep in thought, she passed through the rows of people. Suddenly, she paused in her footsteps. She turned around and walked to Skyart Entertainment through the 22nd story link bridge. This link bridge was built this year. It spanned the entire road, connecting her office to Li Lei¡¯s office across the street.

    She entered Li Lei¡¯s office through a specially designed door.

    Li Lei was currently dealing with business. A subordinate was sitting opposite him and the two of them were discussing about something.

    When he saw Xia Ling walk in, he waved his hand to signal to the subordinate to leave. Looking at her, he smiled. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± He opened his arms and wanted her to hug him.

    Xia Ling was not in the mood and ignored his arms. She slouched on the sofa next to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her white fingers unconsciously fiddled with the tassels of the pillows. She said dryly, ¡°Guess who looked for me.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Li Lei was curious. ¡°Did that person make you unhappy? I¡¯ll help you beat him up.¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°Xia... Xia Yu?!¡± This time, Li Lei was shocked. ¡°You mean your sister in your past life that has been missing for a few years? Why did she suddenly show up?¡±

    ¡°How would I know?¡± Xia Ling was still in a sullen mood. She rested her head on her knees. ¡°When she appeared, she acted really strangely. She admitted her mistakes and asked me to forgive her. She said that she also wanted to acknowledge her roots and ancestors and return to the Xia Family.¡±

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Does she know that you don¡¯t have the same parents? Your father is the head of the family while her father is probably a very unknown and distant rtive.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t know.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Maybe after seeing that the family you returned to is so influential and you gained so benefits, she became jealous.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s also possible that she really misses her parents.¡± After that, she smiled bitterly and shook her head. ¡°However, that¡¯s hard to say. How could a person like her who doesn¡¯t have a conscience miss their family?¡±

    Li Lei asked her about what happened when they met. After that, he called his subordinates and asked them to investigate why Xia Yu went missing for years. They had to proceed carefully. He had to know about the people who appeared in front of Xia Ling very well.

    His subordinates went to perform their task. Li Lei said to Xia Ling, ¡°Be alert and don¡¯t interact with her.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and said gently, ¡°I understand.¡±

    It felt good to be cared for by him. Soon, her low mood slowly vanished.

    Outside the door, someone rang the doorbell.

    ¡°Come in.¡± Li Lei said.

    A secretary walked in and slightly bowed. ¡°Boss, General Manager Tan wants me to ask if you have any opinion regarding the ¡®Star¡¯s Return n¡¯ training camp.¡±

    Just now before Xia Ling appeared, Li Lei was discussing this matter with someone.

    He turned to look at Xia Ling and smiled. ¡°You came just in time. I have a matter to discuss with you. The Skyart Entertainment training camp is creating a ¡®Star¡¯s Return n.¡¯ To put it bluntly, it¡¯s for predecessors to return to the training camp to share their experience and give some lessons to the younger generation of trainees. Xiao Ling, are you interested?¡±

    Xia Ling slightly tilted her head. ¡°Return to the training camp?¡±

    Honestly, her skills were not polished by Skyart Entertainment. However, she did start from there in this life. No matter what, she should go back to the training camp to give a lecture.

    ¡°Ok.¡± She agreed softly. ¡°I really miss those days.¡±

    Li Lei knew that she would agree and smiled. ¡°I will go there with you.¡±

    In this world, there were hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to be famous celebrities. However, only very few people could do it. This was a difficult and narrow road. The achievement of a general cost many lives. Compared to the number of famous people, many more were eliminated in this industry. Thus, famous celebrities who could return to their alma mater went back with high honors.

    The school chose a day with excellent weather and stuck posters of her all over the school. Her songs filled the air. The sky was clear and the greenery was lush.

    Xia Ling went back with Li Lei.

    She strolled in the training camp. The surroundings were fragrant and theke shimmered.

    She pointed to Li Lei and said, ¡°Do you see the grass over there? Sometimes I would practice dancing there. There is a big stone over there that faces theke which is a good ce to sing in the morning. Ah, those vines. Did you know that when I was on duty, I watered them? It was my first time doing chores after I left the orphanage. I had already forgotten how to do them. At the start, I was very clumsy and was scolded by the group leader many times... There¡¯s also that small road and that building...¡±

    She pointed at everything and told him about her past.

    Li Lei¡¯s lips slightly curved as he listened to her talk cheerfully.

    In reality, everything she did in the training camp was already reported to him by Tan Ying without missing any detail. However, it was one thing to look at the cold report and listen to her talk about it personally. That radiant smile and lively expression drew people in and unknowingly, it was as if they returned to the past with her.

    Nearby, a few trainees passed by but were ordered not to disturb the two of them. They only looked at them from a distance, whispered excitedly and left.

    Xia Ling inteced her fingers with Li Lei¡¯s hand and pointed to another building with her other hand. ¡°Look, that was my dormitory over there. Do you see that balcony? In the past, I used to go there to answer your call in the middle of the night. I caught a cold and the next day, Sister Mai Na scolded me.¡± Thinking of the past, she smiled.

    Li Lei looked at her lovingly and acknowledged her in a maic voice.

    She leaned her head on his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s great to be back. At that time it seemed so difficult, but now I really miss it. Li Lei, without this training camp, do you think we would still be together?¡±

    Li Lei naturally wrapped his hands around her waist. ¡°We¡¯d still be like this.¡±

    His voice was assertive.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She looked up at him.

    Li Lei kissed her cheek and said, ¡°No matter where you are or how you look like, we will always be together. I am your parasol tree and you are my phoenix. This is a match made in heaven.¡±

    She was startled and her expression softened.

    That¡¯s right. He is my parasol tree and I am his phoenix. Forever and always. This will never change.

    They walked side by side into the training hall. On a dance room on the second floor, there were several young girls in white dance costumes practicing hard.

    Xia Ling stood outside the door and did not disturb them. She whispered to Li Lei, ¡°It was here. In the corner, when I opened my eyes, I realized that I had turned into Ye Xingling...¡±

 Chapter 837 - Winning People Over By Virtue

    <h4>Chapter 837: Winning People Over By Virtue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei took a few steps forward and saw that in the warmly lit room, the floor looked ordinary and there was nothing unusual. However, it was at this ordinary ce that his beloved woman reincarnated. How amazing was that!

    He was a little enchanted by it.

    In the dancing room, a few trainees stopped and started to rest.

    A girl handed a white towel to a boy and asked, ¡°Are you not going to practice anymore?¡±

    The boy said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to practice anymore. In the afternoon, Ye Xingling will lecture. I have to quickly secure a seat.¡±

    The girl was a little unhappy. ¡°You know that I hate Ye Xingling. I like Xia Yu.¡±

    After hearing her, Li Lei turned to look at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling pulled his sleeve, stopping him from impulsively wanting to teach the girl a lesson. At this age, girls chased many stars and there were so many celebrities in the world. She couldn¡¯t force everyone in the world to like only her. So what if the girl liked Xia Yu? There was nothing much to say.

    She implied that she wanted Li Lei to back down and quietly leave with her.

    Unexpectedly, before they could leave, they heard the boy¡¯s voice again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Well then, I won¡¯t see Ye Xingling any longer and will buy you thetest magazine that has an interview with Xia Yu. I heard that she¡¯s back and held a media conference to apologize to her sister as she also wants to return to the Xia Family.¡±

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks. Xia Yu held a media conference and caused such a hugemotion?

    The girl snorted. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Who does Ye Xingling think she is? How dare she act as Xia Ling to make Xiao Yu apologize? Is she worthy? Hmph, my Xiao Yu is just too forgiving and easily bullied. But us fans aren¡¯t easy to bully! Let¡¯s go, I will show my support for Xiao Yu on the inte now.¡±

    She pulled the boy and walked out with great enthusiasm.

    Xia Ling wanted to avoid them, but Li Lei pulled her back.

    Due to this, when the two children walked out, they were startled seeing them.

    Xia Ling also felt a little awkward and lightly red at Li Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    However, Li Lei did not leave. He pointed his finger at the two of them and smiled mesmerizingly. ¡°A hundred marks will be deducted from both your final scores.¡±

    The two children were astounded.

    ¡°Bo... Boss, it¡¯s not fair for you to deduct our marks like that!¡± The boy was the first to protest. ¡°A hundred marks is the total score of one ss. If you deduct them like that, we won¡¯t be able to pass the exam!¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± The girl also plucked her courage. ¡°What school rule have we broken?!¡±

    ¡°You two have not vited the school rules.¡± Li Lei was still smiling. ¡°What I¡¯m teaching you is that life is unfair and sometimes luck is important. Today, you two were unlucky because you ran into me. And it just happens that I¡¯m not very happy with you two. Nothing more.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± The two children wanted to say something more.

    Big Boss shook his finger. ¡°Don¡¯t exin it. I will hate you more. In fact, I may even directly evict you from the training camp in the future.¡± After that, he shed a toothy grin.

    The two children looked at each other and saw the hesitation and fear in each other¡¯s eyes.

    The girl especially felt that she could not drop out of school to chase stars. If she left Skyart Entertainment, her own dream of bing a star could not be realized anymore.

    In a low voice, she apologized to Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Ling felt that Big Boss was making a mountain out of a molehill. Was it meaningful to bully small children like that? However, she still felt a little happy seeing him protect her like that and smiled slightly. ¡°He who understands the times is a wise man. The way you¡¯ve apologized is not bad. You¡¯ll get 50 more marks then.¡± She said, ¡°You guys are lucky that this is the training camp. When you really enter the entertainment industry, you don¡¯t know how badly you¡¯ll end up after offending people.¡±

    After that, she pulled Li Lei¡¯s hand and left.

    Big Boss saw her slightly raised lips and secretly criticized: How dare you look down on me for bullying the children! Aren¡¯t you feeling very happy after bullying them too?

    The two of them walked out of the corridor and only stopped when they were very far away.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to change my lecture topic.¡±

    ¡°Change your lecture topic?¡± Li Lei asked. She initially wanted to talk about how to improve stage presence. Did she decide to change her topic suddenly because she was provoked by the two children? ¡°What are you going to change it to?¡±

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth. ¡°A person¡¯s bottom line.¡±

    An hourter.

    When she stepped onto the podium in the auditorium and faced the crowd of students, she really talked solely about the moral topic of a person¡¯s bottom line. She told everyone that in the lustrous and dazzling entertainment industry, there were too many temptations and it was really hard to be a good person. For example, people would sell out others for money, some would be blinded by hatred, and a few others would use unscrupulous means to gain the upper hand...

    She hoped that everyone could remain pure and be true to their conscience.

    This made many students who came to listen to her lecture feel like bursting into tears. What the hell? Goddess Xiao Ling, we came early to secure our seats and took time off to listen to your lecture because we wanted to gain some of your knowledge and skills! Why did you give us a lesson on morals? Is it toote to leave?

    A few people really secretly left.

    The rest wanted to follow them but very quickly, amotion spread in the crowd.

    ¡°Do you really want to leave? Are you looking to die? Haven¡¯t you heard that Big Boss Li is outside catching everyone who left early? Just now, Wang Hao and Zhao Dalong who left early were caught and were both deducted 50 marks.¡±

    ¡°What, so severe?!¡± The remaining students cried. ¡°This is forcing us to die!¡±

    ¡°Oh well, we just have to bear with it. Besides, there are only two hours left... After enduring it, it will be fine.¡±

    Everyone held back their tears.

    This was their goddess Xiao Ling¡¯s lecture! They thought they would gain a lot of knowledge here! Everyone was excited to learn something at the start, so they did not fully charge their phones and did not bring any PAD, game consoles, or e-books. Now, everyone regretted their decisions.

    ¡°Do you think that goddess Xiao Ling wants to keep her skills secret?¡± They started to whisper.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s hearing was very good. ¡°You over there, and you. I¡¯m talking about you. I want you who said that I¡¯m hiding my secrets toe on stage... How have I hidden my secrets? Do you know that ethics is very important? Now, many artistesck in morals. I¡¯m stopping you from bing like them...¡±

    She was unable to prevent the children from liking Xia Yu. Besides a few students, the majority did not know Xia Yu¡¯s true personality. She only wanted to warn the children to have a bottom line and not let thempromise their morals.

    She started an eloquent speech again.

    Everyone below the stage started to cry in their hearts.

 Chapter 838 - Scramble

    <h4>Chapter 838: Scramble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the midst of it, a girl packed the things on her table and was about to leave.

    Herpanion quickly grabbed her and lowered her voice. ¡°Feifei, are you looking for death? Didn¡¯t you hear that Big Boss Li is personally at the doorway catching people? Do you really want to lose 50 marks?¡±

    Ye Xingfei snorted. ¡°50 marks? I¡¯d rather all my marks be deducted than continue listening to her nonsense! I thought that she was teaching us something useful. In the end, she did not even show us her abilities. She¡¯s just bluffing all of us that she¡¯s a Diva!¡± She spoke a little loudly, causing the students nearby to all turn to look at her.

    Herpanion anxiously grabbed her tighter. ¡°Lower your voice!¡±

    Ye Xingfei was very angry. She stood up and mmed into the tables and chairs. Widening her eyes, she loudly eximed, ¡°I just want to say something! Ye Xingling can do it herself but won¡¯t let others do it?! I really can¡¯t stand to hear another second of this lecture from a shameless and hypocritical person!¡±

    She interrupted Xia Ling in the middle of her speech, causing everyone to fall silent.

    After Ye Xingfei¡¯smotion, the hundreds of students present turned to look at her. ¡°Isn¡¯t that Ye Xingfei? I heard that she¡¯s Miss Ling¡¯s sister? How could she talk about her sister like that?¡± People started to gossip.

    ¡°How are they sisters?¡± Someone said. ¡°Miss Ling has already left the Ye Family and Ye Xingfei probably doesn¡¯t feel that it¡¯s fair.¡±

    ¡°Something interesting is about to happen.¡± The trainees who almost fell asleep during the lecture about morals were suddenly revitalized and looked at themotion with sparkling eyes.

    Ye Xingling did not expect Ye Xingfei to attend her lecture. Initially, she thought that considering Ye Xingfei¡¯s level of hatred towards her, she would not show up at all. She looked calmly at Ye Xingfei, lifted her microphone, and slowly asked, ¡°Did you say that I¡¯m shameless and a hypocrite?¡±

    ¡°Am I wrong to say that?!¡± Ye Xingling was very emotional. Since she was already the focus of the audience, she did not hold back at all. She thickened her skin and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Your biological dad is still alive but you severed ties with him and went to the Xia Family instead. Are you looking down on our family because we¡¯re not as rich as the Xia Family? How dare you talk about morals based on what you¡¯ve done!¡±

    Everyone present drew a cold breath. This girl was really audacious! How could she talk to Xia Ling like that?!

    Although they were blood-rted, what she said was too disrespectful!

    Below the podium, the discipline master shot a look at the security officer, indicating that he wanted him to quickly lead the person on stage away.

    However, Xia Ling stopped the security officer and said to Ye Xingfei, ¡°This is also one of the things I want to teach you. Don¡¯t be fooled by appearances. Feifei, you only saw me leave the Ye Family but did not see how much I suffered in the Ye Family or how much the Xia Family helped me. We should not judge whether a person is good or bad based on our likes and dislikes. Even if you really think that someone is a bad person, you should keep this judgment to yourself when the person did not hurt anyone instead of announcing your opinion so flippantly. Many among you will be famous in the future and be public figures. Every word and action of yours will have its consequences, and it will affect you in more ways than you can presently imagine. Thus, please be cautious and ountable to others. In this way, you are also being ountable to yourself.¡±

    She cited several examples of the mishaps that happened in the entertainment industry. Some celebrities were really caught for not being cautious with their words. In the end, their reputations were ruined or they severely hurt their rtives and friends.

    Below the podium, the trainees who initially wanted to see the sisters tear each other apart unknowingly became immersed in the case studies she talked about and nodded because they were convinced. They felt that Xiao Ling was truly a goddess. Her attitude and perspective was not an ordinary person¡¯s. Inparison, Ye Xingfei looked like a child throwing a tantrum.

    Seeing that no one was helping her, Ye Xingfei was as furious as a cat who had its tail trampled on. Her cheeks turned red. Before she could say anything more, the security officer already walked up to her and politely but firmly told her to leave.

    The doorway of the lecture hall.

    Big Boss Li moved a lounge chair over, brew a pot of tea, and yed with his phone leisurely.

    When he saw her walk out, he grinned. ¡°Leaving early and disrupting the ss. 300 marks deducted.¡± He was not seeking revenge, but he saw Ye Xingfei yelling at Xiao Ling just now. He would make people feel pain without relief if they dared to offend his woman. He was unreasonable like that!

    Ye Xingfei initially thought that only 55 marks would be deducted. When she heard ¡°300 marks,¡± her body unknowingly shook. This semester, if she did not score full marks for every assignment, it would be really hard for her to pass the final exam. If she did not pass, she would be sent back home.

    She opened her mouth in an attempt to protest this unfairness. However, as soon as she saw Li Lei¡¯s sinister smile, all of her courage faded.

    This man was very scary.

    Ye Xingfei lowered her head and walked away in defeat.

    Looking at her disappearing back view, Li Lei waved his hand.

    Beside him, General Manager Tan Ying, who apanied him in the cold winds, walked over unhappily. Resentfully, he asked, ¡°Big Boss, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± It was a normal lecture, but every time Big Boss appeared, nothing good happened. This time, he deducted so many marks from so many students that Tan Ying could already foresee arge group of students going into his office to beg him to let them off...

    How troublesome.

    However, Li Lei acted as if he did not notice General Manager Tan¡¯s annoyance and asked him, ¡°How is Ye Xingfei¡¯s performance in the training camp?¡±

    ¡°Not bad.¡± Talking about the children under him, Tan Ying spoke with great familiarity. ¡°Although she only arrived here a few days ago, her performance is outstanding and she¡¯s really celebrity material. As long as we train her well, she will definitely shine in the future.¡±

    ¡°Well then, you must really train her well.¡± Big Boss Li gave a savage smile. ¡°Let her quickly understand how far away she is from Xiao Ling and stop her from entitled thinking.¡±

    Tan Ying replied, ¡°Yes...¡±

    Big Boss, do you know that your recent personal revenge has be more severe?

    However, that girl was really too arrogant. As she had natural talent, she thought that everything was very easy and did not even put in as much effort as Ye Xingling in the past. If this continued, no matter how good her talent was, it would be wasted... Tan Ying was deep in thought. It was time to let her suffer a little...

    On the other hand, in the big lecture hall.

    Xia Ling talked about the importance of ethics for two hours. After a long time, her talk finally ended and the trainees who looked as if they were at a funeral suddenly became alive again. They cheered and scrambled to rush out of the hall.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Tan Ying said to the crowd. ¡°Is this the correct attitude to treat your goddess?!¡±

    ¡°As if she¡¯s our goddess! Teacher Tan, I can¡¯t stand it any longer!¡± A boy heard this sentence, paused, andmented to Tan Ying. ¡°From now on, I¡¯m going to change my goddess! I¡¯ve made a decision! My new goddess is the sweeper aunty who rings the ss bell!¡±

 Chapter 839 - Individual Training

    Chapter 839: Individual Training

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°Minus...¡± Li Lei opened his mouth.

    ¡°Boss, Boss, I¡¯m wrong!¡± The male student looked as if he saw a ghost and fled immediately.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even finished talking...¡± Li Lei felt upset that he did not manage to deduct that student¡¯s marks.

    ¡°I beg you, please stop giving me trouble.¡± Tan Ying was about to explode. His Boss was a crazy psycho who was overly protective of his future wife! They were not even married yet. In the future, if they get married, does that mean that they won¡¯t give people a chance of survival at all?!

    The crowd dispersed very quickly. Only then did Xia Ling stroll out.

    When she saw Tan Ying and Li Lei at the doorway, she smiled. ¡°How was it? How was my lecture?¡±

    ¡°Good...¡± Dream on! Tan Ying thought silently.

    ¡°Great! It was amazing!¡± Big Boss Li looked at her endearingly. ¡°I just know that you¡¯re the best. Xiao Ling, look, I¡¯ve moved a chair to the doorway so I could listen to you from the start to the end. I could listen to you speak for a hundred times.¡±

    Tan Ying seriously could not stand them any longer. He vomited in his heart. Big Boss, could you be any worse of an actor? You did move the chair to the doorway for your beloved woman, but can you exin what you¡¯ve been looking at on your phone the whole time? From the start till the end, besides paying attention to Ye Xingfei when she rebuked, you were just ying games the entire time!

    He really wanted to tell Xia Ling the truth.

    Unfortunately, he could not. A trainee who crossed her would get his marks deducted, but if he did this, his sry would be deducted! He was not stupid.

    Thus, Xia Ling, who was innocent and unaware, smiled sweetly and lifted her chin a little proudly. ¡°I also thought that my lecture was not bad. When ites to ethics and art, ethics is definitely more important. In fact, I thought of a good idea.¡± Her eyes shined as she looked at Li Lei and Tan Ying. ¡°What do you think of making this lecture an entire ss? I can be a long-term lecturer and teach them moral values. The result will definitely be better than me visiting once or twice.¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Sure. As long as you have the time.¡±

    Xia Ling counted using her fingers. ¡°My time is a little tight, but that¡¯s ok. I can reject a few jobs. Instilling morals in children is the most important.¡±

    Li Lei looked at her even more lovingly. ¡°Well then, I will get the training camp to amodate you.¡±

    Even if she wanted to burn down a house, Tan Ying was afraid that Li Lei, who was crazily in love, would agree to her request without hesitation. Tan Ying was put in a difficult position. He held it back at first, but finally, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Can you two stop treating me as if I¡¯m dead? Li Lei!¡± He was so furious that he stopped calling him ¡°Boss.¡± ¡°At the start, you put the training camp in my hands, so the head of this ce should be me, right? The children¡¯s time is very precious. Do you think they have time for some ethics ss? Besides, the training camp has already arranged for someone else toe!¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°You¡¯re unwilling?¡±

    Tan Ying went crazy. ¡°Ye Xingling, you also came out from the training camp. You know how much work the children usually have. If you still give them more homework, aren¡¯t you going to kill them? More importantly, no one likes listening to this ss. It will be a waste of time...¡±

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. It can be changed to an elective course.¡±

    ¡°Elective course?¡± Tan Ying said in annoyance. ¡°When not a single student enrolls for it, you will be humiliated! If the paparazzi gets hold of this news, you will really be the talk of the town.¡±

    Xia Ling, who was rarely this confident, looked at Tan Ying disdainfully. ¡°Of course I have a way to make theme to my ss.¡±

    ¡°What way?¡± Tan Ying did not believe that she coulde up with any good n.

    Xia Ling smiled and asked him, ¡°I remember that the lecture hall has surveince cameras installed. Just now when I was lecturing, did the cameras film the entire thing?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Tan Ying said.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Ask someone to check the surveince cameras to see if there were any students who really paid attention from the start to the end. Find out who they are and then announce to the whole school that these students can be individually trained by me. I will definitely coach them based on their needs and solve their problems.¡±

    This...

    Tan Ying¡¯s eyes lit up and looked at her from a different perspective. He did not expect this girl who was usually stupid to asionallye up with good ideas! Individual training with the Diva! Many children would kill to get this golden opportunity. To them, just listening attentively to an ethics ss could give them this chance!

    The ethics ss will be so popr that it will be full in no time!

    Furthermore, everyone would listen very seriously!

    Tan Ying was satisfied with her response. ¡°This idea is good and feasible.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled proudly and let Tan Ying arrange it.

    The surveince film was closely examined and three to four students were really lucky. They paid attention from the start to the end and looked serious. Tan Ying instructed someone to notify them and arranged a one-to-one individual coaching session with Xia Ling. These children almost fainted after hearing such good news. They were happy, emotional, and excited... Many emotions overwhelmed them and they happily spread the news.

    Soon, the news was spread to the entire training camp.

    Many children regretted it. If they knew that listening attentively would lead to benefits, they would not have let their minds wander off! If heaven gave them another chance, they would definitely listen attentively and not daydream!

    As if heaven listened to their prayers, the training camp announced that in the future, Xia Ling would take the time to give a series of ten lectures on morality and ethics. Every lecture, the ten most attentive students would have the chance to get individual training with her.

    The training camp boiled with excitement and the students cheered.

    Many children made up their minds to pay more attention to ethics education.

    Xia Ling and Li Lei ate a simple meal at the training camp. After that, she found a quiet ssroom and started to teach the lucky trainees.

    Although the children said that they wanted to change their goddess, they were still really excited when she gave them individual training. They were careful and wary of leaving a bad impression on their goddess. Xia Ling was very patient and used her precious years of experience and sharp eyes to point out their ws and proposed solutions to target their problems. Everyone was given sufficient training and benefitted a lot.

    Every child left in extreme gratitude.

    Thest one who came in was called Ouyang Shuangshuang.

    Through the floor-to-ceiling ss windows, one could see that the sky was turning dark. Xia Ling turned on the lights and looked at the girl who was nervous and a little reserved. ¡°I¡¯ve seen your information.¡± She said to the girl. ¡°Your basics are very solid, and you also sang your songs at the end of the semester quite well. However, are you trying to imitate Xia Yu¡¯s singing style?¡±

 Chapter 840 - The Training Camp Is Not a Refuge

    Chapter 840: The Training Camp Is Not a Refuge

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Ouyang Shuangshuang lowered her head and said, ¡°S... Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Why are you apologizing?¡± Xia Ling raised her eyebrow and said.

    Ouyang Shuangshuang was very uneasy. ¡°Miss Ling, I know that you don¡¯t get along with Xia Yu. I shouldn¡¯t imitate someone you don¡¯t like. I... I just... think that I am very ordinary and I have to work very hard before I can achieve some results. Xia Yu also seems to be the same. Her vocal ability is simr to mine. That¡¯s why I feel that imitating her is a shortcut I can take. I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    She bowed her head low.

    Xia Ling was a little startled and did not think that something casual she said would lead to such a response.

    She couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°I have no intentions of reprimanding you. You copying her and me disliking her are two separate matters. If copying her can help you improve, even if I have deep-seated hatred towards her, I won¡¯t be mad at you because of her.¡±

    Half-doubtful, Ouyang Shuangshuang asked, ¡°Really?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Why would I lie to you? Come, sing a song for me. I want to see how your voice is like.¡±

    Only then did Ouyang Shuangshuang sigh in relief, chose a song that could showcase her vocals the most, and started singing. The beautiful melody echoed in the air. She could hear that her foundation was very solid but something seemed to be missing.

    At the end of the song, she bowed again. ¡°Miss Ling, please advise me.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Sing the phrase ¡®One look of your features is not enough¡¯ again.¡±

    Ouyang Shuangshuang sang it again.

    ¡°Sing a semitone higher.¡±

    Thus, she tried it and sang again.

    ¡°Sing a semitone lower.¡±

    This time, she sang it a semitone lower.

    After that, Xia Ling said, ¡°Sure enough, Xia Yu¡¯s style doesn¡¯t suit you. You¡¯re Shuangshuang, right? You have to stop imitating her immediately and find your own path again.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Ouyang Shuangshuang was shocked. ¡°I¡¯ve always felt that my style is the most simr to hers.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t heard her sing live.¡± Xia Ling directly exposed her. ¡°Xia Yu is only a recording studio singer. Big parts of her voice have to be processed using a synthesizer in the studio after recording, understand? As for you, you¡¯re trying to use your voice to imitate her voice after so much editing. You¡¯re right that her vocal range is not any different from yours. That¡¯s why she can¡¯t rely on her voice to finish singing her songs and you will find it difficult too. That¡¯s why you haven¡¯t been sessful after imitating her for so long. Do you feel it yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yes...¡± Ouyang Shuangshuang was shocked. ¡°Oh my god, she is actually a recording studio singer? No wonder... No wonder I always find some parts of her songs very difficult to sing and can¡¯t go up higher... I thought that I did not work hard enough and my singing level is not high enough. It turns out that it¡¯s not my problem at all!¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Yes, you shouldn¡¯t force yourself. If you do, your voice will be damaged.¡±

    Look, this was the importance of ethics. If Xia Yu had more morals, she would expose the fact that she relied on post-production and the young generation would not be led astray by her. Perhaps their entire progress would be stalled because of her! ¡°As a person, you must have a bottom line...¡± She murmured.

    Ouyang Shuangshuang was very terrified. ¡°What should I do then?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s very simple. Don¡¯t go for the resplendent style. Your singing voice is very clean, it¡¯s more suitable for the lyrical and fresh style. You can choose some of Wei Shaoyin¡¯s early works to practice. You will definitely improve.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Thank you, Miss Ling!¡± Ouyang Shuangshuang was extremely grateful. For a long time, she felt that she was stuck in at an impasse and did not know how to find a breakthrough. Now, after Xia Ling advised her, she immediately gained new insights and learned a lot. She thanked her profusely and left.

    After she sent Ouyang Shuangshuang away, Xia Ling leaned against the wall of the ssroom and drank a ss of water.

    After teaching a ss for a day, her voice was tired and she needed a good rest.

    Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the gentle night sky was full of stars and the quiet boulevard of the school extended far into the distance. She remembered the time when she was a trainee many years ago. In Imperial Entertainment, sweat ran down her like raindrops everyday and she dreamed about the day she would finally be famous with her ssmates.

    At that time, she had not fallen out with her sister Xia Yu yet.

    She had not started crying in front of the media, hinting that she was unwilling to forgive her and Xia Yu was unable to return home to acknowledged her roots and ancestors.

    Public opinion was a little messy.

    Some people ridiculed Xia Yu for not gaining her family¡¯s recognition and relying on others. However, there were others who sympathized with Xia Yu and really thought that she was unable to return home because of Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling could not be bothered to pay attention to these things.

    Now, she only wanted to live happily with Li Lei and lead a peaceful life without stirring up any waves. However, a situation always takes its own course regardless of someone¡¯s wishes. Even if she tried to ignore the situation involving Xia Yu, small flies kept staring at her belongings.

    Xia Ling¡¯s line of sight fell to an area outside the window and she gradually focused on it.

    Outside the window, Li Lei was walking along a tree-lined path towards her. He was wearing ck casual sportswear and his hands were casually inserted in his pants¡¯ pockets. The evening wind blew his short hair, making him look neat and handsome. He could make people blush. As he walked, suddenly, a girl impetuously mmed into him. If he were an ordinary person without his well-built body, he would have been knocked to the ground.

    However, Li Lei caught hold of that girl with only one hand and stabilized his body.

    He bowed his head to say something to the girl and was about to let her go when suddenly, whether deliberately or out of fear, the girl tightly wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. Her thin shoulders slightly shook and she simply refused to leave.

    Xia Ling felt the blood rush to her head. She mmed her ss on the table and rushed out.

    She walked through the corridor in her high heels and arrived outside.

    Under the faint yellow European streetmplight, the girl continued to hug Li Lei tightly and incoherently said, ¡°Save me... I¡¯m scared... Just now, someone was chasing after me. Really...¡± The girl was wearing a very short top, revealing her white back, and her mini skirt was also extremely short, revealing her slender thighs that stuck to Li Lei¡¯s legs. As she trembled, it looked as if she was gently stroking him.

    Xia Ling was more furious. Li Lei, how dare you do this in front of me!

    Big Boss Li, who was entangled with the girl, looked up and saw Xia Ling who was about to explode. He was terrified and quickly pushed the girl away from him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be angry...¡± He weakly told Xia Ling.

    The girl continued to back-face Xia Ling and thought that Li Lei was talking to her. ¡°I... How could I be angry at you? Even if you pushed my hand away and it¡¯s a little painful... Look, it¡¯s all red...¡±

    She raised her hand again and rubbed it on Li Lei¡¯s body.

 Chapter 841 - Iâ€™m Just That Arrogant

    <h4>Chapter 841: I¡¯m Just That Arrogant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei evaded it and called. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    That girl¡¯s hand suddenly froze in midair. She turned around and saw Xia Ling standing a few steps away. The light flickered on her blouse, revealing an unfathomably quiet expression.

    That girl had a splitting headache. This was the first time trying to seduce Big Boss Li but she was already caught. What should she do? She was a little frantic and said in a low voice, ¡°Miss Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled sarcastically at them. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Li Lei quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s a misunderstanding. Nothing happened. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    After that, he immediately went up to grab Xia Ling, trying to leave the scene of the crime. He heard that women were very scary when they were jealous, especially hot-tempered women like Xiao Ling... He was afraid if he dyed any longer, he and that unknown girl would be turned into a bag of bones.

    However, it was toote.

    Xia Ling did not move. ¡°How can we go so easily?¡±

    Under the dim roadside lights, she sized that girl up and suddenlyughed. ¡°You must be freezing in the cold.¡± It waste autumn, but this girl was wearing a low cut top that revealed her back and her chest looked like it was bursting from her clothes. She looked really sexy.

    The outfit that initially made the girl really proud, caused her to feel embarrassed. She couldn¡¯t help but take a step back, lower her head, and say evasively, ¡°I just came out from the dance ssroom and haven¡¯t had time to change my clothes after practicing.¡±

    Xia Ling slowly circled around her. ¡°The times are truly different. At that time when I was in the training camp, I mostly wore simple training clothes withoutce or decoration. They were not sexy at all. That¡¯s because only the simplest clothing can urately let one observe one¡¯s movements and is the most convenient for practice. Are the trainees nowadays dressed so shily?¡±

    The girl broke out in cold sweat as she was interrogated by her.

    Why would the current trainees dress so shily? Now when they practiced dancing, they wore regr, in training clothes. She only dressed like this because... she was here to seduce Big Boss Li!

    She had a hard time finding out Big Boss Li¡¯s whereabouts and quickly put on her sexiest clothes. After calcting the timing, she mmed herself into Big Big Boss Li¡¯s arms. She was confident that since she was younger than Ye Xingling, had arger chest than Ye Xingling, and her body was in excellent shape, Big Boss Li would definitely like her!

    There were rumors in the training camp that Ye Xingling only made it to today because she relied on Big Boss Li. It wasmon for women to rise up in the ranks in the entertainment industry because they had male backing. If Ye Xingling could do it in the past, why couldn¡¯t she do it now?!

    It¡¯s inevitable that the younger generation is worthier than the older generation. Ye Xingling had upied Big Boss Li for too long.

    Men always hated the old and loved the new. The girl made up her mind to capture Big Boss Li¡¯s heart tonight!

    Unexpectedly, before she could do anything, Xia Ling already caught her.

    She cursed inside but did not dare to offend Xia Ling because this woman was really intimidating. She was obviously angry and had a murderous look, causing her heart to pound in her chest.

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°I asked you a question. Why aren¡¯t you answering?¡±

    The girl¡¯s hands were mmy and she did not know if she was scared or feeling some other emotion. She looked at Li Lei pleadingly.

    Li Lei was also frightened. <i>Girl, if you want to die, don¡¯t drag me down with you! I don¡¯t know you at all, ok?! </i>He was anxious to clear his name. Bravely, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re right. Trainees should really wear suitable basic exercising clothes when exercising. How about I ask Tan Ying to set this rule so that only uniformed exercising clothes are allowed in the training camp?¡±

    Originally, Skyart Entertainment Training Camp was set up to cultivate future big celebrities, so they had different requirements from ordinary schools. In order to develop the individuality and taste of the trainees, the camp never stipted what they could or could not wear. The whole training camp was a battleground for attractive individuals and everyone racked their brains to dress up and suppress others through their appearance.

    In this situation, if the camp really announced that everyone could only wear uniforms, everyone would despair.

    However, Xia Ling felt that his idea was not bad and smiled. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do it.¡± It seemed that Li Lei had been conditioned to be submissive very well. When he knew that she was unhappy, he quickly killed any possibility of this coquettish young girl to seduce others in the future.

    The girl lowered her head in silence.

    After being caught trying to seduce Boss, she did not care if a rule was implemented to prevent everyone in the training camp from wearing beautiful clothes. In fact, she secretly prayed for Xia Ling to let her off easy after setting this rule.

    Unforunately, life did go as she wished.

    When Xia Ling was faced with someone who offended her, she was never soft. At this time, she continued tough. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad rule. However, I need someone to enforce it. Seeing that you have a nice body, you are a good choice. From now on, you are part of the training camp¡¯s disciplinemittee and your role is to monitor others¡¯ dressing. Soon, you will inform everyone about the new regtions regarding school uniforms... Oh yes, do we have uniforms?¡±

    She asked Big Boss Li thest question.

    Why did she remember that the training camp never had school uniforms at all?

    Li Lei was also taken aback. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He was always busy and never had time to deal with these insignificant matters.

    Both of them turned to look at the girl.

    With a lump in her throat, that girl still desperately said, ¡°Boss, Miss Ling, we don¡¯t have uniforms. I beg you, please don¡¯t make me part of the disciplinemittee. I know that I¡¯m in the wrong...¡±

    As she was a woman, she could sense the malice in Xia Ling¡¯s words when she appointed her as a member of the disciplinemittee. Informing and monitoring everyone¡¯s dressing was a destable job. It was taxing and unenjoyable. In fact, it was forseeable that she would be pushed out of her inner circle of friends. She was sure that Xia Ling did it on purpose! She did it as revenge!

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°This job reflects highly of you. Why are you in such a panic? It turns out that we don¡¯t have uniforms. Well then, you should measure everyone¡¯s sizes and then report it to the school so that the school can make the uniforms. Don¡¯t worry, everyone won¡¯t look down on you. I will ask the school to issue a notice of appointment and let the whole world know that you¡¯re part of the disciplinemittee.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ling, I beg you...¡±

    ¡°Do your job well. I have high hopes for you.¡± Xia Ling smiled and patted her shoulder. After that, she held Li Lei¡¯s hand and walked away.

    The girl was left alone. She stood at her original spot helplessly in resentment and fear.

    Li Lei caught a glimpse of Xia Ling¡¯s ability to stir up trouble. How long had it been since she returned to the training camp? However, she already drove the entire camp into a tizzy. He couldn¡¯t help but remember the reports made in her past life. The gossip stated that many trainees and celebrities from Imperial Entertainment said she was full of herself, arrogant, and made people want to strangle her to death...

    Now, he believed them.

    In the future, would Skyart Entertainment face the same trouble too?

    Li Lei silently looked at the sky.

 Chapter 842 - Liu Liâ€™s Advice

    <h4>Chapter 842: Liu Li¡¯s Advice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The Big Boss had forgotten that he was an aplice himself.

    Xia Ling dragged him to a quiet ce before thrashing things out with him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, she pounced your way and you actually weed her with open arms?! Did you enjoy holding her? Why didn¡¯t you just let her fall!¡±

    Boss meekly said, ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°What?! Why are you dressed so flirtatiously in the middle of the night?! You know that you¡¯ll attractdies, why didn¡¯t you stay home and wait for me?!¡± Xia Ling tugged at his sports attire¡ªthe thin fabric was unable to conceal his well-built muscles, the inverse triangle proportion, and that toned abdomen...

    She was even angrier now. ¡°You¡¯re so handsome, stay home and stop creating trouble!¡±

    Boss said, ¡°I...¡± He was really being wronged. To be fair, his attire was already the most conservative model in the market! If anything, it was his outstanding figure that made him attractive regardless of what he wore.

    Boss looked like arge tamed animal looking at its owner after it had been wronged; he was just short of wagging a tail.

    Xia Ling looked at those puppy eyes and was slightly appeased. She said, a little harshly still, ¡°In the future, don¡¯t leave the house unless I¡¯m with you! Got it?!¡±

    Boss nodded his head quickly.

    He then nudged Queen Xiao Ling. ¡°I know I¡¯m in the wrong. Shall we go home now?¡±

    It was the thick of fall, and the winds were chilly. As it swept through them, it carried along with it the faint scent of her perfume, as appealing as always. Boss quietly took in some of it and immediately felt warm inside. Although Xiao Ling was angry, he was actually happy¡ªbecause he knew that Xiao Ling was getting jealous over him.

    How much he must mean to her for her to react this way.

    Li Lei looked down and kissed her head, saying gently, ¡°I¡¯ll prepare some good food when we¡¯re home.¡±

    Xia Ling was finally coaxed now and happily held his hand as they walked to the carpark. ¡°It¡¯s about time we got home, I still have an appointment tomorrow. I want bird¡¯s nest with rock sugar, and snow pear with white fungus.¡±

    ¡°Sure, anything you want.¡± Boss was more than happy.

    Their silhouettes gradually faded into the dark of night.

    The next day, the training camp posted an announcement, appointing the girl who had seduced Li Lei the night before¡ªHua Mei¡¯er¡ªto be amittee member for conduct and discipline. She was to be responsible for supervising the trainees¡¯ dressing in particr. The appointment sparked a lot of discussions. Why was the school management so strict about this all of a sudden?

    Some curious fellow had read the entire announcement in detail and realized that there was information about how this new appointment came about. It basically mentioned that the previous night, Hua Mei¡¯er had identally stumbled into Big Boss Li¡¯s embrace, and Big Boss Li had found that she was wearing too little, but subsequently found out from her that she was in that attire because of dance practice. However, considering that the attire itself did not benefit the practice in any way, the school management had decided to standardize the attire...

    Well, there was gossip wherever there were people.

    Not to mention this ce was filled with youth whose hormones were raging, and that the announcement concerned each and every one of them. It did not take long for someone to find out about Hua Mei¡¯er¡¯s background¡ªshe came from an ordinary family and engaged in pensated dating¡± outside of school in order to get herself a branded bag. In the end, however, she¡¯d been cheated. Not only was she unable to get the branded bag, she even had to spend extra money for an abortion. Not long after, she had bumped into Big Boss Li.

    Everybody was no fool.

    They understood that Hua Mei¡¯er was trying to get something out of Big Boss Li. But who knew she¡¯d get herself into such a predicament. Rather than saying that she had been appointed a role, it was actually a warning for the rest of the school, to let everyone know what they should stay away from.

    ¡°Poor thing...¡± During lunch break, some people saw Hua Mei¡¯er holding a pen and a book and walking from room to room noting down the measurements of the school uniforms. She received countless sarcastic remarks on the way, and someone even eximed, ¡°Who asked her to offend Big Boss Li. Did she think she could afford to get involved with someone as godly as him? Now she¡¯s brought the entire training camp down with her and we won¡¯t get beautiful clothes anymore. It¡¯s hard not to hate her for this.¡±

    Another trainee added, ¡°Didn¡¯t she look at herself in the mirror? She¡¯s cheap from head to toe, and still shameless enough to throw herself at Big Boss Li! Did she think he had such bad taste?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, Boss already has Ye Xingling. How is sheparable to Miss Ling in any way?¡±

    She heard every single one of them.

    Hua Mei¡¯er was fuming and yet had no words to rebuke them. She had no choice but to swallow her anger and continue her task of recording the measurements. From today on, her name waspletely ruined¡ªeven the attendants of the dorm had looked at her with despise when she entered the building. She felt hurt and offended.

    It was toote to regret all she had done, she really should not have offended the wrong people!

    But she wasn¡¯t the only one who was regretting her actions.

    The other was Ye Xingfei.

    Ye Xingfei regretted going to bed early the night before and not doing extra practice before the monthly assessment. During the assessment earlier today, she had dropped out of the top 10 in ss for the first time ever,nding in 11th ce.

    She found that it was because a ssmate who had always been of a lower standard, Ouyang Shuangshuang, had surpassed her and made it to 10th ce.

    Coincidence, it had to be a coincidence!

    Ye Xingfei swore to herself that she would take back her cing in the next assessment!

    When ss ended, she saw a few girls approaching Ouyang Shuangshuang. ¡°Shuangshuang, congrattions on making it in the top 10. We were all shocked, weren¡¯t you in 20th ce for the assessmentst month?¡± These few girls were rather good friends with Ouyang Shuangshuang and remembered her cing.

    Shuangshuang smiled and said a little shyly, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to Miss Ling. She gave me one-to-one coaching yesterday, and I managed to pick it up. I practiced through the night to be able to do well today.¡±

    The girls looked envious as they chirped. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s so cool! Miss Ling is really a Diva. She only guided you for a while and you managed to make such a huge improvement.¡±

    ¡°I heard Miss Ling will give talks and seminars in the future. Even if she says the Earth is t, I¡¯ll give her all my attention! It¡¯s worth the effort if I could earn a ce for her one-to-one coaching!¡±

    ¡°Me too, we¡¯ll fight for it together!¡±

    The few girls huddled together with the same goal and drive.

    Meanwhile, Ye Xingfei¡¯s expression got increasingly awful. So, Ouyang Shuangshuang managed to beat her because of Xia Ling¡¯s coaching?! Why did it have to be her nemesis, Xia Ling?!

    She was in a daze when her ssmate Liu Li said, ¡°Feifei, it seems like Miss Ling¡¯s guidance is very useful. You¡¯re her sister... S-sorry, I meant, even if Miss Ling has already left the Ye family, the two of you are biological sisters, after all. Why don¡¯t you take advantage of this and get her to help you? You¡¯ll definitely be able to improve by leaps and bounds.¡±

 Chapter 843 - Talent and Morals

    <h4>Chapter 843: Talent and Morals</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Hmph, do I need her in order to improve by leaps and bounds?¡± Ye Xingfei was fuming mad. ¡°She was never as good as me in the first ce! Back then, I was the one who scored well enough to get into the training camp! The school just took her in on my behalf! Why would I beg a woman who¡¯s not even at my standard?!¡±

    But Liu Li disagreed. ¡°Feifei, don¡¯t you know that we should look at things in the present? Even if you did way better than Miss Ling back then, she¡¯s the one who¡¯s be a Diva now. Don¡¯t talk about your entrance score anymore, do you know a lot of our ssmates are saying...¡±

    Liu Li stopped mid-sentence.

    ¡°What do I not know?¡± Ye Xingfei asked impatiently.

    Liu Li hesitated, unsure of whether to go on.

    ¡°Tell me!¡± Ye Xingfei hurried her. ¡°Liu Li, am I still a friend to you!¡±

    Liu Li had no choice but to go on. ¡°Feifei, a lot of our ssmates are saying that Miss Ling has incredible talent and that it¡¯s evident to everyone. The only reason she could¡¯ve scored lower than you back then was that... the examiners must¡¯ve been blind.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Ye Xingfei was angry and shocked. ¡°How could they say that? They¡¯re the ones who¡¯re blind! Did they know who my examiner was! It was Tan Ying! Chairman Tan! How could Chairman Tan be blind?!¡±

    ¡°Feifei, don¡¯t be like this...¡± Liu Li tried appeasing Ye Xingfei, who was beyond agitated.

    Out of the blue, they heard a faintugh. ¡°Haha, I was blind indeed.¡±

    The high and mighty voice lined with sarcasm got the two girls to turn around. They saw Tan Ying holding a huge stack of files, and he simply said, ¡°Please excuse me.¡±

    Ye Xingfei and Liu Li made way for him in shock.

    ¡°C-Chairman Tan!¡± Ye Xingfei called him just as he was about to disappear into the distance. ¡°You said, you... you were blind?¡± She asked incredulously.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Tan Ying admitted easily, not the least bit embarrassed. ¡°My vision must have been clouded when I saw Ye Xingling back then. The biggest mistake I¡¯ve made in my life was almost selling her to Imperial Entertainment.¡± He thought for a while before smiling at Ye Xingfei. ¡°If you really want me to pick, a hundred of you can¡¯t even hold a candle to Ye Xingling¡¯s fingertip.¡±

    Ye Xingfei¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief as she staggered backward.

    No... how was this possible?!

    Chairman Tan actually said that a hundred of her couldn¡¯t hold a candle to Ye Xingling¡¯s fingertip! Was she really trash?

    She... was indignant!

    ¡°Feifei! Feifei!¡± Liu Li looked at her, concerned. ¡°Are you alright? Don¡¯t take Chairman Tan¡¯s words to heart, maybe he just isn¡¯t in a good mood today? You¡¯re actually very outstanding, you...¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± Ye Xingfei uttered this name through clenched teeth.

    Liu Li was frightened by her terrifying expression.

    Ye Xingfei said, ¡°I will definitely surpass Ye Xingling and prove to the world that I¡¯m the best!¡±

    If Xia Yu was here, she would definitely have told her not to do something so silly. Back then, Xia Yu had also tried to surpass her dazzling sister. She ended up spending so much of her life chasing in the trails of her sister, only to find out eventually that it was an impossible task. Her sister was too good for her, and it had all been a hopeless dream.

    What a pity that Xia Yu wasn¡¯t here.

    Ye Xingfei was still an immature little girl who thought that she could achieve anything in this world as long as she tried hard enough. She clenched her fists in determination and swore that one day, she would walk all over her sister!

    ¡°Fight!¡± She shouted.

    On the other end of the hallway, Tan Ying smiled.

    Not too long ago, Li Lei had instructed him to agitate Ye Xingfei. He was to make her face the reality that she was nowhere as good as her sister so that she¡¯d stop being so disrespectful. Now, although Ye Xingfei still detested Xia Ling, she knew full well that her sister was way ahead of her in terms of achievements. Only when she realized that would she work hard.

    Tan Ying did not want Ye Xingfei, who was considerably talented, to waste her potential.

    He¡¯d let this girl work hard for her goal. Then, when she improved herself and was in a position closer to her sister¡¯s achievements, maybe she¡¯d finally realize the difficulties her sister had faced.

    While things were getting ugly here, Xia Lingpleted her shoot on the other side.

    When she was done, she dragged her tired self to the lounge and removed her makeup. Meanwhile, her assistant Wei Wei walked in and gave her thetest updates. ¡°Hua Yu Financial Firm called today and asked if you could reconsider your decision regarding their opening ceremony¡ªthey really hope that you will be present on the day... Reporter Liu of the Entertainment People magazine called to ask if you¡¯re avable for a special interview anytime soon... Neb Television Station hase up with the guestlist for their end-of-year banquet and asked if you¡¯d be willing to share a table with Mr. Zheng Chenhao from Imperial...¡±

    Every point and detail was presented clearly by Wei Wei.

    Xia Ling listened while she removed her makeup and gave herments here and there. In no time, most of the items on the checklist were roughly settled. ¡°Oh right,¡± Xia Ling asked as she removed her earrings, eyes still on the mirror. ¡°How are things at Skyart training camp?¡± She¡¯d stirred some things up for them the day before.

    Wei Wei couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°The news reported it. It said that you went back to give a seminar as an alumnus on the topic of artistic ethics and even emphasized on the attire in the camp, the discipline, and more. A lot of middle-aged mothers were very happy to learn about it. They were always worried that their children would go astray when they idolized celebrities, and now they¡¯re saying that if their children had to idolize someone, they¡¯d want it to be Miss Ye Xingling, someone who has both talent and morals.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. Talent and morals, what?

    In any case, she was surprised that she had the support of middle-aged mothers. To a female celebrity, middle-aged women were the hardest target audience for them to impress and gain support from. This audience was hypercritical and nitpicked at everything when it came to female celebrities¡ªthey could even criticize one at length just for wearing a bare-back outfit to a red carpet ceremony.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t all too popr with this group of audience, but it seemed like now there was some good result.

    Wei Wei put her notebook down and helped her remove her hair essories. She smiled. ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, a national goddess needs to gain the support of everyone, regardless of age and gender. You used to be extremely popr among young men, and now you even managed to impress so many mothers. In the entire entertainment industry, I don¡¯t think anyone is as ¡®national¡¯ as you are!¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t as excited as her, though. ¡°Any other news?¡±

    Wei Wei said, ¡°No, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°How¡¯s the situation regarding the new disciplinarymittee member I appointed?¡±

    Wei Wei was shocked. Whatmittee member? She did not even know about such a minor thing. But since Xia Ling asked, she had to check it out. She came back to report her findings once she was done. ¡°Themittee member Hua Mei¡¯er has been pretty badly bullied by her ssmates. Everyone¡¯s ming her for offending Boss Li, and causing everyone to be wearing boring clothes!¡±

    ¡°ming her for offending Li Lei?¡± Xia Ling was confused. ¡°Isn¡¯t it for offending me?¡±

    Wei Wei did a more detailed check and said, ¡°Boss Li protected you very well. He didn¡¯t mention your name throughout. Now the students are all saying that Boss is being too strict, but nobody¡¯s directing their unhappiness at you.¡±

 Chapter 844 - You Forgot Something

    <h4>Chapter 844: You Forgot Something</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s hands stopped searching for the essories in her hair for a while before quietly acknowledging what she¡¯d heard.

    It was an indubitable fact that Li Lei loved her a lot, but she did not expect that he¡¯d take such a minor detail into consideration. Standardizing school attire was something that invited unhappiness and unpleasant attitudes. If he had not handled it this way, every student in the training camp might turn against her. And although she did not find it a bother... he did.

    Her lips curled up at the tips ever so slightly. She got up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go look for Li Lei.¡±

    Li Lei was having a conference call in the top floor meeting room. Now that he had taken over the family business, he was much busier than before. Besides the time he spent with Xia Ling, he was upied with negotiations and meetings on all sorts of policies.

    He had lost some weight, and there was more coldness in his expression now. However, the moment he saw Xia Ling walk through the door, his initially stern expression softened and he broke into a wide smile. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here.¡± He pressed the red button on the phone and said, ¡°That¡¯s all for today¡¯s meeting, we¡¯ll continue tomorrow.¡±

    He got up and gave Xia Ling a hug.

    Xia Ling looked up at him and stroked his face. ¡°Been bushtely?¡±

    ¡°Not too bad.¡± Li Lei smiled and brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. ¡°What do you want for dinner?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Have you forgotten something?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± He was a little bewildered.

    Xia Ling jabbed his cheek. It was stiff and hard, unlike Shaohui, whose face was soft and tender. She jabbed it again before saying, ¡°You don¡¯t remember? Forget it, then.¡±

    She turned around and was about to walk out.

    Li Lei hugged her from behind and gently said, ¡°What is it? What have I done wrong, or forgotten, can you tell me?¡± He kissed her on the ear.

    Xia Ling was blushing from his touch against her skin.

    She pretended to struggle but did not manage to wrench herself out. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you, you¡¯d better think about it. If you don¡¯t recall, I¡¯ll...¡±

    ¡°You will...?¡± He bit her ear gently and affectionately.

    Xia Ling felt her body go numb and soft as she leaned against his strong, sturdy chest. She was locked in an embrace with a man who exuded an attractively threatening aura.

    He chuckled as his calloused hands found their way beneath her clothes. ¡°What did I forget? Come, tell me...¡±

    ¡°I... I won¡¯t...¡± Her voice was trembling as she tried to escape from those ws of his. Yet, she had unknowingly sunk deeper into this entanglement. ¡°Li Lei, y-you...¡± She red at him with a now clouded vision. ¡°Your hands are...¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Here? Or here?¡± He smiled a little deviously and lifted her, and then tossed her onto the long couch by the full-length window. Thereafter, he held both her wrists down with his hand and admired her in the dim light.

    She was really beautiful, with eyes and brows that came straight out of a portrait. Her fair skin had now been dusted with some natural blush, and her pink lips were even more appealing.

    He vaguely recalled some people saying that she wasn¡¯t pretty. Did they even know how to admire her beauty?

    She wasn¡¯t a stunning beauty at first nce, but her looks were unique in that she looked all the more exquisite each time one saw her. Every inch of her skin was wless, just like a portraited China doll.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He called out in a low husky voice.

    Xia Ling blinked, her long, softshes fluttering like a butterfly¡¯s wings. Her body had gone soft, and now her voice as well. ¡°L-Let go of me. You¡¯re horrid.¡±

    He smiled and pressed his body against hers. ¡°Then tell me, what exactly did I forget?¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± She turned her head away. How could he forget such an important thing, and even expect her to remind him? She refused! No way...¡±Ah!¡± She suddenly screamed in embarrassment. ¡°Don¡¯t pull my clothes! This is the office!¡±

    But it was toote.

    Boss had pressed his lips against hers to keep her quiet.

    Xia Ling did not know when this ended. Her mind was a mess, and all she remembered was his overbearing acts... his eight-pack... his all too attractive body...

    Yup, it was prettyfortable...

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red. It was weird, no matter how many times they engaged in this in bed, she would blush and feel embarrassed each time. She wanted so badly to cover her flushed face with a pillow, but it was as if her body parts had been taken apart¡ªshe had no energy to even lift a finger.

    She curled up against his body weakly. Their bodies were pressed against each other on the narrow couch, its decorative jewelsplimenting her fair skin, and the red marks it had left on the canvas of her skin.

    Li Lei kisses her over and over. ¡°Can you tell me now?¡±

    Her mind was still miles away and it took her a while to respond to that. She looked at him with her clouded eyes and said, ¡°You¡¯re horrid! I¡¯m not telling you!¡±

    Li Lei smiled again. ¡°So it didn¡¯t work, should I try again?¡±

    He went ahead with those inappropriate acts again.

    Xia Ling was defenseless against him. Why was he so strong?!

    ¡°I... I¡¯ll say...¡± She started. ¡°I-I just wanted to ask, since the matchmaker has already done his part, why you haven¡¯te over to my ce to ask for my hand in marriage?¡± It was tough on her, having to be taken advantage of in such a setting, and even to be the one to bring this up! All this while, she had been waiting for him to ask for her hand. But ever since the matchmaker Wei Lingnan returned, nothing was done. What about the next step? Why was he acting as if nothing had happened?! Was he not going to do it if she didn¡¯t bring it up?!

    She was but a rich girl!

    Couldn¡¯t he be a little more thoughtful and proactive?

    Li Lei was stunned for a while and then realized what she was referring to. Heughed and teased her. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve forgotten about it. The rituals are so troublesome, I think I¡¯d better not go ahead with it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare abandon me!¡± At that moment, she was so anxious she forgot about her aching body. She got up and sat on him. ¡°You¡¯ve already taken advantage of me, now be responsible for it! Did you hear me!¡±

    Her eyes were sparkling in the dim light as her hair flowed over her fair shoulders. She was simply beautiful. Li Lei watched her quietly as she sat on his abdomen, and broke into a smile looking at how adorable she looked when angry.

    Xia Ling figured out something was amiss.

    She hurriedly covered her chest and got off him, not forgetting to say, ¡°What a jerk!¡±

 Chapter 845 - The Haute Evening Gown

    <h4>Chapter 845: The Haute Evening Gown</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei grabbed her hand and tugged lightly, and she fell back onto him.

    She struggled to get up but he had already put one hand around her waist. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    His low, husky voice was gentle and attractive.

    As if a spell had been cast on her, she subconsciously stopped struggling and looked at him innocently. His eyes were beautiful and deep as ake. His nose bridge was high and his lips were thin; he was practically the most perfect sculpture on Earth...

    She was enchanted by his good looks and at that moment, forgot everything about the marriage proposal.

    He smiled and then kissed her. This innocent little girl was too adorable, how could he bear to leave her? He quietly said, ¡°I¡¯ve already prepared the gifts for asking your hand in marriage, all that¡¯s left now is a good day for it¡ªwhen Wei Lingnan came thest time, he¡¯d given me the dates your brother had calcted and suggested. Wait, your brother didn¡¯t tell you about it?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°No.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°I thought he¡¯d told you.¡±

    With that, Xia Ling realized what was going on. Both of them had already known about the date but thought the other person would have mentioned it to her. The result: she had been kept in the dark all this time, anxiously waiting.

    ¡°A bunch of jerks.¡± She clenched her teeth and concluded.

    Li Lei smiled again. ¡°But I¡¯m very happy to know that you¡¯re so concerned about it. Since you can¡¯t wait to be a part of the Li family, I¡¯ll let you know¡ªGrandpa has already set off from the headquarters with the gift. He¡¯ll reach the Xia household in about three days, so if we set off the day after tomorrow, we should be able to reach in time.¡±

    When asking for thedy¡¯s hand in marriage, both man anddy, as well as their parents, had to be present.

    She was to wait in her home for him and his family to arrive with their gifts.

    She eximed, ¡°The day after tomorrow?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I have a shoot on that day!¡± She pulled a long face. ¡°I knew it, you¡¯re all jerks! How could you not have told me about something so important? The day after tomorrow is Neb¡¯s awards ceremony and banquet! It¡¯s live!¡±

    Li Li was stunned too.

    He had been pretty upied with the overseas¡¯ business recently and had not paid attention to the local entertainment news. He actually forgot something as grand and important as the annual awards ceremony. Neb¡¯s awards ceremony was the nation¡¯s most influential event in the singing industry¡ªXiao Ling had already won the Best Female Singer title three years in a row; this would be her fourth.

    She couldn¡¯t possibly be absent for it.

    ¡°What to do, what to do...¡± Xia Ling murmured. ¡°I¡¯ve already picked out my evening gown for the ceremony. It¡¯s beautiful, the most haute of the season! It¡¯ll be out of date if I don¡¯t wear it now...¡±

    Li Lei was speechless.

    <i>So, Darling, you¡¯re just worried about the evening dress, aren¡¯t you?</i>

    Xia Ling was troubled. ¡°Tell me, what do I do?¡±

    Li Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Well, you attend the awards ceremony every year, it should be alright to miss it just this once. Why don¡¯t you give this year¡¯s a miss, and stay home to wait for my proposal.¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t satisfied. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t get to wear my evening gown for that.¡± Asking for her hand in marriage was an important event, but it was basically the male¡¯s family visiting the female¡¯s family. It would be no more than a little party, and a gown would be too much for it.

    Li Lei went quiet again. So in the eyes of a woman, a man wasn¡¯t even half as important as a piece of clothing?

    Xia Ling pped his chest. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault, it¡¯s all your fault...¡±

    Li Lei was in pain but dared not reason things out with her. Nobody reasoned things out with a woman¡ªespecially when it involved clothes¡ªunless he was tired of living.

    ¡°If there¡¯s no other choice, we can change the date of the proposal.¡± He announced painfully.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes sparkled as she looked at him expectantly. ¡°We can do that?¡±

    ¡°Why not? Count on me to do it!¡± Li Lei confidently said, ¡°This is our proposal, it¡¯s up to us to decide.¡±

    Xia Ling was finally satisfied with the arrangement and ruffled his hair. ¡°I knew you¡¯re the best.¡±

    Li Lei smiled radiantly, but he was quietly bleeding inside. <i>So, in Xiao Ling¡¯s heart, I¡¯m worth less than a piece of clothing...</i>

    What he did not know was that it wasn¡¯t about the dress at all.

    This would be Luo Luo¡¯s first Best Song award, and she wanted to be there to support her. Luo Luo and Bai Murong¡¯s rtionship was getting better by the day, but something was weighing on her shoulders. A while back, she went to look for Xia Ling and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you think I¡¯m lousy? Murong is a Heavenly King whose poprity is incredible, but what about me? I¡¯ve been in this industry for years and haven¡¯t made a name for myself. A lot of them are saying I¡¯m not good enough for him.¡±

    Back then, Luo Luo had looked so down.

    Xia Ling had gently asked her, ¡°You and Bai Murong have been together for a while, and thesements have been going around too. Why is it getting to you now more than ever before?¡± Quite a number of Bai Murong¡¯s fans had never liked Luo Luo to begin with. They found that she had little experience andcked poprity, and definitely was not good enough for their Heavenly King.

    Thesements had been going on all these while, but they were never the majority¡¯s voice. Yet, in recent times, Bai Murong¡¯s fans had been increasingly vocal about their thoughts against Luo Luo.

    Luo Luo said, ¡°Murong has a call-and-response team with a very outstanding leader, but she¡¯s kept a low profile for a few years now. Recently, she made an appearance again, and she¡¯s been spreading bad word about me among his fans.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡±

    Luo Luo shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but her online ID is Murong Feifei.¡±

    Murong Feifei!

    Xia Ling knew at once who it was¡ªYe Xingfei! She¡¯d been involved in such activities since she was young and had gained arge following before she fell into aa. Now that she had recovered, she was back in this club?

    This sister of hers was really causing trouble!

    Xia Ling was angry now. Brother had saved Ye Xingfei on her ount, and now that she had regained consciousness, she was going against Xia Ling¡¯s good friend? Luo Luo and Bai Murong did not have it easy, and this girl had suffered enough criticisms being with him. She should not have to deal with such coldness from his fans anymore.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you in theing Neb ceremony.¡± She told Luo Luo, ¡°Once you win the Best Song award, they¡¯ll quieten down. All the best to shut the mouths of those who¡¯ve looked down on you.¡±

    Luo Luo was still not good enough to win the Best Female Singer title¡ªeven if Xia Ling wasn¡¯t up topete, there was still Xie Ling, Shu Wanyi, and several others. But Luo Luo could give the Best Song a shot. As long as she gained enough support at the ceremony itself, she had a good chance to gather enough votes for it.

 Chapter 846 - Everyone Was Waiting

    <h4>Chapter 846: Everyone Was Waiting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Luo Luo nodded her head. For Bai Murong, she¡¯d give her all!

    On the day of the Neb awards ceremony, Xia Ling was sitting in a limousine as it made its way to the venue slowly.

    Lin Yunan had gone with her and instructed the chauffeur. ¡°Drive slowly.¡± He then turned around and told Xia Ling, ¡°A lot of female celebrities have not arrived yet. You should wait a little longer and make the final appearance like you did the past few years.¡±

    The female celebrity who made the final appearancemanded a higher status.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw that there were indeed several luxury cars around her traveling at a tortoise¡¯s pace. They were evidently trying to arrive a littleter for the red carpet. She couldn¡¯t help but smile and say to Lin Yunan, ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    She was proud and ambitious when she was younger and very particr about details like this. Whenever she was attending an event, nobody could make the final appearance but her. Back then she was extremely popr and had Pei Ziheng¡¯s backing; hence, everyone went with it her way.

    But now in her second life, she¡¯d learned to take things a little easier.

    Making the final appearance was a given, it was simply a statement of her status and reputation. She was the top-notch Diva in the country and nobody could hold a candle to her¡ªwhenever she was around, every other female celebrity would have to give in to her and show respect. Hence, even if someone else arrived after her and made the final appearance instead, nobody would think of them as being better than Xia Ling in any way.

    Xia Ling waspletely rxed as she closed her eyes for a rest.

    Meanwhile, Lin Yunan was very invested in this. He made a phone call. ¡°Hello, Old Han? You and Lu Yisi are on the Lamborghini in front of us, right? Stop your dilly-dally, this year¡¯s final guest is still none other than our Xiao Ling. You might as well make your way there earlier and settle down... Hey, you¡¯re trying to fight it out with us? Haha, hahaha.¡±

    Before he was doneughing out loud, the car in front had already sped to the venue.

    Xia Ling was speechless. He¡¯d managed to scare them away just like that?

    Lin Yunan was getting smug. ¡°Did you see that? You¡¯re now the Queen of the entertainment circle and everyone¡¯s running away just from hearing your name.¡± He loved this feeling, this sense of power and authority to thumb everyone down. Wasn¡¯t that exactly why he insisted on managing only the best and most popr celebrities?

    Lin Yunan hummed a little tune and made one call after another.

    There was no denying that Manager Lin had a big part to y in Xia Ling¡¯s sess at being the final guest all these years. He always had a way to fend off the otherpetitors, chasing away even the most ambitious of female celebrities.

    Xia Ling smiled. It was nice having a partner like that.

    She closed her eyes again for a rest and heard Lin Yunan say, ¡°It¡¯s settled, all the other female celebrities have given their word to arrive first. You¡¯ll be thest to make an appearance.¡± At this point, the car was already near the red carpet and there were a few cars in line like hers.

    The red carpet ceremony proceeded smoothly as each celebrity walked up, stopped, and posed for photos.

    A few other big shots alighted from the cars around her and slowly made their way to the red carpet.

    Lin Yunan appeared more rxed now and began counting the number of people who were already present as he hummed a tune.

    Xia Ling felt her ears itching to shut out, ¡°this manager¡¯s singing was as bad as Big Boss¡¯,¡± but also happened to enjoy singing. Seeing that most celebrities had alighted, she quickly instructed the chauffeur. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    They were hanging back a little and had to arrive right at the red carpet for someone to open the door for her. The reporters would also be snapping the precious moments¡ªfrom her stepping out of the car to setting foot on the carpet.

    The chauffeur started the car.

    All of a sudden, Lin Yunan yelled, ¡°Wait!¡±

    Xia Ling was startled. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°46, 47, 48... That¡¯s not right, only 49 groups are here.¡± Lin Yunan looked puzzled. ¡°I¡¯ve checked, there are supposed to be 51 groups present today. That means that besides you, there¡¯s one more person who hasn¡¯t walked the red carpet! If you go down now, you¡¯ll be the secondst, letting someone else take your ce to make the final appearance.¡±

    Xia Ling was getting a little impatient from all the waiting. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, it¡¯s not as if it¡¯ll cost me anything.¡±

    In any case, she¡¯d still have the greatest coverage. Reporters and fans loved seeing her more than anyone else.

    Lin Yunan rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve already waited so long, you might as well wait a little more. And even if you don¡¯t bother about being thest appearance, could you spare a thought for me, your manager? I just made so many calls out, using incentives and threats to get other celebrities to give it up. If it turns out that you aren¡¯t the one, do you know how long I¡¯ll be mocked for?¡±

    ¡°Probably a whole year...¡± All the way until the following year¡¯s red carpet ceremony.

    Xia Ling said after some serious thought.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Lin Yunan pped his thigh. ¡°For my sake, could you please hold it out a little longer? Let me check who thest person is...¡±

    He began making calls again while looking through information.

    Xia Ling rolled her seat down. Thankfully, Lin Yunan stopped humming when he was busy.

    ¡°I got it!¡± Lin Yunan figured it out. ¡°I was wondering who was the daring one, and turns out it¡¯s Xia Yu! Her manager has called the organizing crew to say that they¡¯ll bete. Pfft, what an old trick. I¡¯ve used this more than a decade ago. They just want to make the final appearance at the red carpet.¡±

    The female celebrities would do all it took to make thest appearance.

    Xia Ling was shocked. It was actually Xia Yu! She was d she hadn¡¯t been impulsive enough to get the chauffeur to go ahead¡ªshe could give this ce up to anyone, just not Xia Yu!

    Back then, Xia Yu had tossed Shaohui into the trash bin. Even though Shaohui had survived, the seed of hatred had been sown nheless. She was not about to take revenge actively, but there was no way she would give up anything that belonged to her to Xia Yu!

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait.¡± She decided without hesitation.

    Wasn¡¯t it a game of who was arrivingter? No problem, she could afford it.

    Each minute went by...

    10 minutes, 20 minutes...

    The reporters had seen many different luxury carse and go, but now, only one white limousine was left. Seeing that the car was not about to move, they couldn¡¯t help but begin discussing.

    ¡°Is that Miss Ye Xingling! It seems like she¡¯s the only one left.¡± A reporter told a fellow friend beside him.

 Chapter 847 - Dancing down the Red Carpet

    <h4>Chapter 847: Dancing down the Red Carpet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yup,¡± said another reporter. ¡°Everyone¡¯s gone, why isn¡¯t sheing down yet? Unless... there¡¯s someone else who hasn¡¯t arrived?¡± They had covered the entertainment news for years and knew how the battle for the red carpet worked. ¡°Xie Ling and the rest have already entered, I don¡¯t think anyone else is fighting it out with Miss Ling for the final appearance.¡±

    ¡°Who knows, should we get someone to hurry her a bit?¡± The reporters were stationed outside the venue in the stinging cold, but no one was willing to leave until they got photos of this Diva.

    One of the reporters managed to get hold of Lin Yuhan¡¯s number and decided to make the call. ¡°Manager Li, all the celebrities have left, please get Miss Ling toe out soon. All of us are waiting here just for her.¡±

    Lin Yunan turned around and nced at Xia Ling, only to realize that her eyes were still closed; she was probably already sleeping.

    He calmly said, ¡°What¡¯s the hurry, the most dazzling person is worth the wait.¡±

    Yet, he reached out to nudge Xia Ling once he hung up. ¡°Hey, wake up, you¡¯re about to drool.¡±

    Xia Ling woke up in shock and was about to wipe her lips subconsciously. But Lin Yunan grabbed her wrist in a split second. ¡°Don¡¯t touch it, you¡¯ll smudge your lipstick. There¡¯s no drool, I was just kidding.¡±

    Xia Ling red daggers at him.

    But Manager Lin couldn¡¯t care less. He went on to update her. ¡°ording to the bodyguards outside, Xia Yu had reached somewhere near the venue very early on. Her car is parked at the bend fifty meters away, and it¡¯s been more than half an hour. I bet you, once you get off the car and onto the red carpet, she¡¯lle right after you and make the final appearance.¡±

    Xia Ling ground her teeth. ¡°Then we¡¯ll wait. Let¡¯s see who can wait it out longer.¡±

    ¡°Sister, this is a live broadcast.¡± Lin Yunan looked at her like she was a fool. ¡°You¡¯re a VIP that they¡¯ll be introducing at the start of the ceremony, and you¡¯ve got a costume change after that. But she¡¯s only going on stage more than a half an hour after you and has way more time to wait it out than you do. Haven¡¯t you figured that out?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°T-Then what do we do?¡±

    Lin Yunan chided her. ¡°Fool.¡±

    Xia Ling looked out the window and saw a huge crowd of reporters gathered just behind the cordon. They were all waiting for her at the red carpet.

    ¡°If not for you, these reporters wouldn¡¯t even have the patience.¡± Lin Yunan told her.

    Not everyone had the capacity to do this.

    Xia Ling felt a spark go off in her mind. ¡°Wait, I can get off now and walk the red carpet! I¡¯llplete that distance in the shortest time possible! Before Xia Yu even makes it here, they¡¯d have packed up! Hahaha, she can bete all she wants. When the red carpet ceremony is officially over, she won¡¯t be the ¡®final appearance¡¯ even if shees after me.¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°You aren¡¯t so foolish, after all.¡±

    When she was sleeping, Lin Yunan had been busy figuring out Xia Yu¡¯s location and getting everything nned out forter. He only woke her up when everything was in ce.

    Manager Lin smiled cunningly as he presented Xia Ling with his n...

    The reporters lined up along the red carpet finally saw the white limousine approach and stop before them. Almost as if they¡¯d received an order, all the bored reporters immediately livened up and enthusiastically snapped away at their cameras. With so many shes going off continuously, it looked like firecrackers were going off.

    The doorman opened the car door.

    She stuck a slim leg out the door and set her stiletto on the soft red carpet.

    The screamsmenced as countless fans looked forward to her appearance. ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling!¡± The cheers were deafening as posters and neon boards were now raised.

    Only then did Xia Ling slowly made her way out, standing elegantly on the red carpet.

    She was wearing the most haute evening gown of the season, its thin mesh draped over her shoulders and back beautifully. There were gems studded all over the gown, shimmering in the light, its dazzle bringing out her elegance.

    She walked quickly and steadily even with those thin stilettos heels and turned slightly towards the reporters. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to have kept everyone waiting. Let¡¯s get this done quickly.¡±

    She was posing for a few shots while speaking to them. Her movements were so fluid, it was as if her feet didn¡¯t touch the ground.

    But the reporters were very upset.

    Miss Ling, all the other female celebrities tried to prolong the amount of time they had on the red carpet, but why do you want to ¡°get this done quickly¡±?! It¡¯s true, we don¡¯t like celebrities who hog the red carpet, but we love snapping photos of you! Could you just... walk a little more slowly?!

    ¡°Miss Ling, please slow down! The final appearance doesn¡¯t need to rush!¡± A reporter couldn¡¯t help but call out.

    On hearing that, Xia Ling turned around and shed the reporter a smile, causing that young man to blush. She did not stop walking this whole time and hadpleted the red carpet in an almost dance-like movement. The reporters who did not have the time to look for a better angle simply held the shutter button and hoped for the best. To their surprise, the photos still turned out wonderful.

    ¡°Alright, it¡¯s a wrap. Thank you, everyone, for your efforts.¡± Xia Ling thanked the reporters smilingly when she reached the end of the red carpet.

    She was a Diva and naturally exuded a respectable grace. Even the way she said ¡°it¡¯s a wrap¡± sounded a little like an order, and the reporters subconsciously began packing their items as well. They had already spent longer than expected at the red carpet and it was time they rushed inside to capture other moments.

    The crowd dispersed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t leave!¡± A man rushed forward out of the blue.

    He was, however, stopped by two bodyguards taking their positions.

    ¡°W-Who are you?! What¡¯s this about?!¡± That man was in a fluster.

    ¡°Mr. Li, am I right?¡± Lin Yunan appeared out of nowhere and smiled at the man. ¡°Nice to meet you. It must be tough being Miss Xia Yu¡¯s Manager, isn¡¯t it? What a shame, this just isn¡¯t Miss Xia Yu¡¯s year. If it was Chu Chen who apanied her here today, she probably wouldn¡¯t be this unlucky.¡±

    This middle-aged man was appointed by Chu Chen to be Xia Yu¡¯s assistant manager when she returned to Imperial Entertainment. Although Xia Yu¡¯s main manager was still Chu Chen, he was kept busy enough managing the department and having to wait upon Pei Ziheng. Trivial everyday duties such as apanying Xia Yu around was left to this assistant manager instead. By now, it was Manager Li who followed Xia Yu to attend such events.

    Manager Li looked at him, horrified. ¡°You¡¯re Lin Yunan! Ye Xingling¡¯s manager!¡±

    Lin Yunan smiled. ¡°That¡¯s the right answer, but you don¡¯t get a prize.¡± Heughed at Manager Li. ¡°Don¡¯t think I can¡¯t read your mind. You¡¯ve waited outside for so long just to make the final appearance, right? What a n, knowing that all the other celebrities would go on ahead on Xiao Ling¡¯s ount. You wanted toe after Xiao Ling right after she¡¯d eliminated your rivals for you, hahaha. Fat hope.¡±

 Chapter 848 - Starting Price of 100,000

    <h4>Chapter 848: Starting Price of 100,000</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He casually ced his arm around Manager Li¡¯s shoulder and dragged him forward in the face of two bodyguards.

    Manager Li refused to go. He had not told the reporters that Xia Yu was about to arrive and they should not leave! It was a pity that Lin Yunan used to fight in bars. He was very strong and Manager Li could not leave.

    In the eyes of the outsiders, they seemed to be particrly friendly based on their back views.

    Manager Li was dragged away like that in despair.

    As for the news that Xia Yu was about to arrive? Unfortunately, not a single reporter heard it.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t get to take pictures of Xia Yu this time.¡± Some reporters were a little disappointed. As they kept their cameras, they said to theirpanions, ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s first red carpet walk since hereback is also quite a good piece of news.¡±

    Another reporter said, ¡°I heard that she is stuck in a traffic jam. Who knows when she wille? She¡¯s also not a Diva like Miss Ling, so no one will wait for her if she¡¯s toote.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. If she¡¯s behind Miss Ling, we can still wait. If the time discrepancy is too long, we won¡¯t wait then. Especially waiting for her is not worth it.¡±

    The two reporters joked around and crossed paths with Lin Yunan.

    Manager Li opened his mouth and looked like he was about to tell them that Xia Yu was arriving, but Lin Yunan nimbly covered his mouth and dragged him to a dark corner.

    At the red carpet, the group of reporters dispersed. Only then did Lin Yunan happily let go of his hand and patted his shoulder. ¡°Ok, you can go now.¡±

    Manager Li was furious. ¡°Mr. Lin, what you¡¯re doing is illegal! Restricting the freedom of others!¡±

    Lin Yunan did not care at all. ¡°Ok, you can sue me.¡±

    Manager Lin was even angrier. Trembling, he pointed his finger at him but could not say a single word. Rascal... Lin Yunan was a rascal! In such a morous entertainment industry, how could a person use such underhanded means without caring about his dignity!

    In his rage, Manager Li forgot that the person who started the scheme was him.

    If he did not deliberately schedule for Xia Yu to appear behind Xia Ling, would thismotion happen?!

    <i>Ring¡ª</i>

    A phone rang.

    Manager Li could not be bothered to argue with Lin Yunan and quickly answered his phone. ¡°Hello, Miss Xia Yu? I¡¯m really sorry. Please don¡¯t move and remain at your original spot. I will go over to look for you now!¡±

    He red angrily at Lin Yunan onest time before hurriedly rushing off to look for Xia Yu.

    At this time, Xia Yu was in an embarrassing situation. Her limousine was stopped not far from Xia Ling¡¯s. Once she saw Xia Ling on the red carpet, she followed her original n. Her sense of time was very urate. Normally, a female star usually took five to ten minutes toplete the red carpet walk. Thus, she only had to appear on the red carpet after ten minutes. This was the perfect time because the reporters had not left yet.

    She already fantasized about her perfect and dazzling appearance.

    In the future, the news would report about how she made a stunning return to the music scene.

    Unfortunately, she did not expect Xia Ling to finish the red carpet so quickly. It was as if she finished it in a gust of wind and did not stop for even a minute. In a sh, she also told the reporters that they could leave.

    That group of idiotic reporters really started to pack up!

    Xia Yu was frantic now. She lifted her dress and was about to scurry onto the red carpet. However, after a few steps, a young girl appeared out of nowhere and knocked into her. When the girl raised her head and saw Xia Yu, she apologized profusely, said that she was her fan, and excitedly asked for a photo and signature.

    After she dealt with this ¡°fan¡± and arrived at the red carpet, the cordon had been removed.

    The initial neat rows of reporters on both sides of the red carpet were gone and most of the reporters with admission passes had already entered Neb Music Festival to grab news. The remaining reporters who did not have admission badges were randomly interviewing fans or chatting with one another.

    When they saw Xia Yu, many people looked shocked.

    ¡°Miss Xia, over here!¡± A sharp reporter called her.

    She turned around and tried her best to suppress her anger. Now, her manager was not by her side. Didn¡¯t Xiao Li say that he was going to greet the reporters? Where was he? Her assistant was also not with her. As she rushed over too quickly, she unknowingly ditched her assistant somewhere behind her.

    She was alone lifting her dress, looking helpless and embarrassed. Behind her, there was a messy crowd and amotion in the background. Even the shape of her fishtail dress was a little deformed. Could a red carpet shot like this be eptable?

    She was embarrassed and angry. On the surface, she still tried her best to remain elegant.

    Not all reporters would also consider her opinion. Click! Before she was prepared, some reporters had already taken pictures of her embarrassing situation in the crowd.

    Startled, she instinctively wanted to get even with that reporter but remained rooted to the ground.

    Getting even was usually done by the manager and assistant! When has anyone seen a celebrity quarrel with the media before? That was beneath her!

    Xia Yu was infuriated. Why were her manager and assistant not here yet?

    She could do nothing but watch as the reporter walked away.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu! I¡¯m sorry, really sorry! Just now, Lin Yunan...¡±

    ¡°Stop with your rubbish and quickly chase after that reporter!¡± Xia Yu did not have the time to hear her manager¡¯s exnation. She pointed in the direction that the reporter went. ¡°He took my photo. I want you to quickly make him delete it!¡±

    Manager Li hurriedly ran off again.

    ¡°Reporter Wu! Reporter Wu!¡± Manager Li¡¯s entire forehead was covered in sweat as he panted and grabbed the reporter who took the photo. ¡°Did you take Miss Xia Yu¡¯s photo just now? How much money do you want? Name a price. I¡¯ll buy it!¡± Imperial Entertainment had a lot of money, and like Chu Chen, Manager Li was very skilled when negotiating with money.

    Reporter Wu shot a look at hispanions and they left.

    Smiling, Reporter Wu said, ¡°So you¡¯re Xiao Li? Well then, don¡¯t be nervous. How about you name a price? If it¡¯s suitable, I will sell it to you.¡±

    To put it bluntly, this was hush money.

    Panting, Manager Li held out five fingers.

    ¡°Fifty thousand?¡± Reporter Wu asked.

    Manager Liughed dryly. ¡°Brother Wu, five... five thousand.¡±

    ¡°Five thousand?¡± Reporter Wu¡¯s expression suddenly changed. ¡°Are you treating me as a joke? Xiao Li, don¡¯t me me for not reminding you. At that time when Chu Chen was managing Xia Ling, he always called me ¡®brother¡¯! At that time, I have never sold a photo for fifty thousand. My starting price is a hundred thousand, understand?¡±

 Chapter 849 - The Group of Stars Along the Corridor

    <h4>Chapter 849: The Group of Stars Along the Corridor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Manager Li smiled bitterly in his heart. How could Xia Yupare with thete Xia Ling?

    At that time, Xia Ling was favored by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Pei Ziheng and everyone in the industry knew that. There was no cap on the public rtions fees spent on Xia Ling, and on financial reports, Big Boss Pei did not even mind at all. However, Xia Yu? Now, Xia Yu had already lost all of her special privileges and had the same budget as other artistes in thepany. If her public rtions fees were too high, she would be held ountable!

    He smiled back at Reporter Wu and said, ¡°Brother Wu, please be the bigger person and help me out. How can Xia Yupare to thete Miss Xia Ling? How about you let her off today and when she bes famous, you will definitely be heavily rewarded! How about... Ten thousand? No, twenty thousand?¡±

    Compared to the price of Xia Ling¡¯s photo, the price of Xia Yu¡¯s photo was seriously dismal. But he knew that it couldn¡¯t be any higher.

    Reporter Wu pretended to sigh. ¡°Twenty thousand... It¡¯s still too...¡±

    ¡°Brother Wu, how about you do me a favor. Please?¡± Manager Li tried to coax him.

    Not far away, behind Manager Li¡¯s back, Reporter Wu¡¯s colleagues appeared again and gave Reporter Wu the ¡°ok¡± signal.

    Thus, Reporter Wu smiled. ¡°Since you are so sincere, Xiao Li, forget it. I will be a good person for once and sell the photo to you. I will call my agency now and make them delete the photo.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you!¡± Manager Li was extremely grateful.

    Reporter Wu really made a call in front of him. ¡°Lili, can you please go to our entertainment department¡¯s email inbox, find the email I sent, and help me delete... What? You already published the photo? Why did you do it so fast? Ok... I understand.¡±

    He hung up the phone and shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Xiao Li, it¡¯s unfortunate. I also don¡¯t know why my agency was so fast, but they¡¯ve already sent the photo to the newspaper. I can¡¯t sell this photo to you anymore. I¡¯m really sorry about that.¡±

    Manager Li looked as if he were hit by lightning. He burst out. ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    Reporter Wu irresponsibly said, ¡°It¡¯s too bad. Perhaps thepetition is too fierce nowadays and the editors who work overtime are more dedicated... It¡¯s really a pity that I can¡¯t help you.¡± After that, he patted Manager Li¡¯s shoulder and walked away.

    What a joke... How could he sell the photo to Manager Li?

    Reporter Wu had been in the entertainment scene for many years and had stopped caring about hush money long ago. His priority was topete against the chief correspondent and take his position to the next level! Every time he encountered valuable news, it was more meaningful to him than ten thousand yuan!

    He was not that stupid.

    Just now, when he heard Manager Li¡¯s request, he immediately gave his colleagues a look and his colleagues immediately sent the news. It was a done deal.

    Reporter Wu happily whistled.

    Manager Li¡¯s face turned ashen. With shaking hands, he opened thetest news page. Sure enough, he saw a real-time report on the Neb Music Festival on the Inte with a picture of Xia Yu wearing a long dress and standing in the messy ground. The reporters and staff were talking amongst themselves and no one took notice of her.

    Next to it there was also a striking title¡ª

    ¡°Xia Yu was deliberatelyte to steal the limelight on the red carpet but it was an epic fail.¡±

    The article described in detail about how pathetic Xia Yu was and evenpared her to how dazzling Xia Ling was. On the news page, many fans criticized Xia Yu for being scheming and shameless. She was unaware of her limitations and wanted to take advantage of Xiao Ling. In the end, she turned herself into a joke.

    The public loved gossip and was just gloating over her misfortune.

    After a short few minutes, pages of replies under the post appeared, all degrading Xia Yu.

    Finished. Everything was finished...

    Manager Li was dejected. He could already imagine how angry Xia Yu would be when she saw this report. He did not dare to go back to Xia Yu¡¯s side immediately. Gritting his teeth, he called her assistant and told her to serve Xia Yu well while he hid in a secluded ce to smoke a cigarette.

    Inside the Neb Music Festival TV station.

    Xia Ling arrivedte. With the help of the staff, she slid off her red dress in the nick of time and changed into a shiny dress. Her hair was restyled,plimentary makeup was applied, and she stepped onto the live stage with crystal stilettos.

    Along the corridor, she bumped into Xia Yu who had just entered.

    Enemies were indeed bound to meet on a narrow road.

    Xia Yu looked pathetic. As she did not have her manager¡¯s protection, her initially gorgeous dress was now ruined after she squeezed out of the messy crowd. Several ces were wrinkled and it looked really dirty. On the other hand, Xia Ling had an elegant makeover and was surrounded by celebrities, looking wless.

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes were filled with resentment, but very soon, she suppressed her emotions.

    Lin Yunan was making way for Xia Ling. Curtly, he said to Xia Yu, ¡°Please make way. We are in a hurry.¡± Before Xia Yu could move, Lin Yunan already quickly squeezed her to the side ruthlessly and the other staff members followed behind and carefully waited after Xia Ling.

    ¡°Miss Ling, please slow down. Let me help you carry your silk dress.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ling, be careful. Your crystal shoes have very thin heels.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ling, don¡¯t move. This hair essory is very fragile. You have to walk slowly...¡±

    Everyone was showing concern for Xia Ling as if they were protecting a national treasure. In reality, this was also natural. Several makeup artists and stylist contributed to Xia Ling¡¯s look today, and she was also a very important opening guest, so there was no room for mistakes. They all counted on her to make a living.

    As they were focused on Xia Ling, no one noticed Xia Yu who was squeezed to the side.

    However, Xia Ling suddenly stopped when she passed by Xia Yu. She nced at Xia Yu and smiled faintly. ¡°You were reallyte and didn¡¯t even make it to steal my limelight, huh?¡±

    Hearing the sarcasm in her voice, Xia Yu slightly bit her lip and lowered her head.

    She hated Xia Ling, but on the surface, she had to resist showing it. Now, everyone around her was protecting Xia Ling, and if she showed even a little disrespect, she would be caught and severely dealt with.

    She had just made aeback and needed to think of a way to enter the Xia Family again. A little impatience would spoil great ns.

    Xia Ling¡¯s entourage did not stop for long and went in the direction of the live stage.

    The live stage was brilliantly lit. ording to custom, Neb Music Festival always had the best male and female singers as guests to make a speech and sing during the opening ceremony every year.

    The open guests this time were Xia Ling and Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Zheng Chenhao.

 Chapter 850 - Opening Duet

    <h4>Chapter 850: Opening Duet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling always had some problems with Zheng Chenhao and tonight, the mocking started again.

    When the host asked what Miss Ling felt about sharing the same stage with Mr. Zheng again, she said unkindly, ¡°What a pity that Bai Murong caught a coldst year. If not, I think I would be sharing the stage with him instead.¡±

    Zheng Chenhao¡¯s expression darkened on the spot.

    In all fairness, Bai Murong and he were rivals. Every year, it was very suspenseful to watch the announcement of the best male singer. Last year, it happened when Bai Murong had a cold and his performance was not very good, so Zheng Chenhao won by a small margin. However, even after a year, many people said that if Bai Murong weren¡¯t sick, the oue of the victory would be different.

    Now, was Xia Ling trying to throw shade at Zheng Chenhao?

    However, the emcee was very happy. This sort of show had to have some drama. If the guests were too harmonious, there wouldn¡¯t be much to write about. He smiled and asked Xia Ling, ¡°Xia Ling, do you mean thatpared to Mr. Zheng Chenhao, you think more highly of Bai Murong?¡±

    ¡°I have worked with Zheng Chenhao and Bai Murong before.¡± Xia Ling smiled and answered. ¡°Bai Murong¡¯s style has changed many times and over the years, he has been making many breakthroughs. However, Mr. Zheng Chenhao, you seem to be doing the same thing for your entire career. From the genre to style, there seems to be no change at all. If you sing one song topete, your skill levels will be about the same. But if you twopete for over ten or twenty songs, Bai Murong will definitely win.¡±

    Zheng Chenhao¡¯s face darkened more. He couldn¡¯t help but wish he could tear this woman apart.

    She just poked the ce that hurt in his heart. Over the past few years, he felt that he was aging and falling short on his strength and ambition. Sometimes, at night, he would worry about when he would be reced. As for Bai Murong? He was younger, had different genres, and his future potential was endless.

    He also said sarcastically, ¡°Miss Ling, let¡¯s not talk about this. In reality, this is just because Bai Muronges from Skyart Entertainment. Who doesn¡¯t know that Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment is your son¡¯s father? You haven¡¯t even married him yet but are always leaning towards him. What a good role model you are for the young girls today.¡±

    After he spoke, his fans pped and cheered.

    However, more people had a subtle difort in their hearts. Xia Ling was reasonable when she said he was inferior to Bai Murong, but instead of rebuking with something rted to music, he criticized her private life as a woman and satirized children that were born out of wedlock. No matter what, as a man, Zheng Chenhao was really too uncultured to do that.

    Xia Ling fans were already screaming from below the stage. ¡°Zheng Chenhao, you have no qualities!¡±

    Zheng Chenhao fans also refused to give in. ¡°So you think Ye Xingling has qualities? She married Pei Ziheng but gave birth to Li Lei¡¯s child. After she divorced him, she now wants to marry Li Lei! She has such a destructive mindset!¡±

    The fans mored to no end. Xia Ling¡¯s even argued back more fiercely. ¡°So what? Our Xiao Ling has such a cute son, Shaohui! What about Zheng Chenhao? When his girlfriend broke up with him, she said that she was unwilling to have children with him!¡±

    Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans were triggered. ¡°Ye Xingling is an easy woman! She supports Bai Murong so much that maybe she¡¯s involved with Bai Murong too! Shameless adulterous couple!¡±

    This time, even fans of Bai Murong joined the war. ¡°What are you talking about? Clean your mouths! Our Murong sings better than Zheng Chenhao. All of you are just jealous! Yes, just jealous!¡±

    The group of fans had an intense argument.

    Looking below the stage, a smile crept on Xia Ling¡¯s lips. In actuality, although she hated Zheng Chenhao, she would not waste time talking to him during live-streams. This time, she onlypared Zheng Chenhao to Bai Murong because she wanted to gain the support of Bai Murong¡¯s fans, which would help her when she promoted Luo Luoter.

    Now, Bai Murong¡¯s fans and her fans were united.

    Xia Ling was very happy and slowly answered Zheng Chenhao, ¡°So what if I¡¯m leaning towards people from Skyart Entertainment? Li Lei is my man and Bai Murong is my good friend. If I don¡¯t support them, am I supposed to support you?¡±

    Zheng Chenhao did not think that she would say that so arrogantly and was at a loss for words. ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Lingughed. ¡°Heavenly King Zheng, calm down. I think you should focus on singing the opening song with me. It¡¯s a rare chance. For next year¡¯s opening, I want to sing with Murong.¡±

    What she implied was that Zheng Chenhao would not be able to win the best male singer award this year.

    Zheng Chenhao was about to explode. He held back his anger and said, ¡°Next year, I will continue to stand on this stage. On the other hand, you should be more worried about your best female singer title getting stolen!¡±

    ¡°Who can steal it?¡± Xia Ling was stillughing. ¡°Last year, I won with nearly twice the score of the second ce singer. As for you, Zheng Chenhao, you only won Bai Murong by a slight margin, right?¡±

    As if a knife had stabbed him, Zheng Chenhao wanted to vomit blood again.

    Now, he really believed that Ye Xingling was the reincarnation of Xia Ling. The way she ruthlessly insulted him was exactly the same as what Xia Ling did in the past! Xia Ling was nothing good as well!

    The emcee was happy to see the stars tearing each other apart. However, it was not good if they went overboard. Seeing that the conflict was heating up, the emcee quickly changed the subject and indicated that they could start singing the opening song.

    The prelude to the opening song yed slowly.

    No matter how unwilling he was, Zheng Chenhao had to follow the customs of the Neb Music Festival and sing a song with Xia Ling. This year, they chose a track that was a couple¡¯s duet. But now, Zheng Chenhao was not in the mood to sing it with Xia Ling. He forced himself to enter that state of mind but was unable to express any feelings.

    However, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t care less.

    When it came to music, she could get in the right state of mind immediately and was rarely affected by the outside world. In the past, she sang with Bai Murong before and at that time, she suppressed herself to amodate Bai Murong so the two seemed evenly matched and the song was harmonious. However, this time was different.

    This time, she disliked Zheng Chenhao.

    Xia Ling did not hold back and sang in her best condition, regardless of whether Zheng Chenhao could keep up with her pace. Her alluring voice echoed on the stage in a breathtaking way as if there were no one else present. In a sh, she already overpowered Zheng Chenhao¡¯s singing. If he were somewhere else, Zheng Chenhao¡¯s singing would be outstanding. But in contrast to Xia Ling, everyone felt impatient listening to him.

    Besides Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans, everyone else watching the live broadcast was immersed in Xia Ling¡¯s voice. Once Xia Ling stopped and Zheng Chenhao¡¯s part started, they would feel very annoyed and could not wait for Zheng Chenhao to quickly end so that Xia Ling could continue singing.

 Chapter 851 - Luo Luoâ€™s Input

    <h4>Chapter 851: Luo Luo¡¯s Input</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice reverberated on stage. It was heavenly and elegant like the sound of nature.

    Everyone watching her live broadcast was mesmerized as if they were enchanted by something mysterious. Gradually, they realized that she had surpassed Zheng Chenhao by many levels because, in their eyes, Zheng Chenhao no longer existed. Even when Zheng Chenhao sang, their eyes were fixed on Xia Ling¡¯s movements, anticipating her singing voice and admiring her goddess-like stance.

    In their hearts, she was a goddess.

    As for Zheng Chenhao? He was nothing. As a heavenly king, he was probably a clown behind her horse.

    Zheng Chenhao waspletely suppressed by Xia Ling on the same stage.

    He was horrified to find out that he couldn¡¯t keep up with her rhythm. Her whistle notes were so beautiful, bright, and unparalleled that he didn¡¯t even know how to make his transition natural. His face went red. After using all the skills he learned in his life, he dejectedly realized that the gap between him and this woman was enormous.

    She couldn¡¯t be beaten.

    Just like thete Xia Ling from Imperial Entertainment, she was untouchable at the pinnacle.

    In front of her, he was just humble dust on the ground.

    Zheng Chenhao gradually lost his cool and started to break out in cold sweat. Looking at the darkness below the crowd, the fans were holding fluorescent banners, and all of them had Ye Xingling¡¯s name on them. Even his fans did not raise banners of him out of embarrassment or forgetfulness.

    He was in a mess and his singing became worse than before.

    ¡°What happened to Zheng Chenhao?¡± In the background, the producers started whispering. ¡°It¡¯s said that his singing level is not that bad, why is he singing like this? In the future, he probably won¡¯t be able to lift his head in front of Ye Xingling.¡±

    Another producer said, ¡°You probably have not cooperated with Ye Xingling before. Her terrifying ability to suppress her opponent is not any worse than Xia Ling¡¯s. How many people is she able to share the spotlight with? I really almost believe that she¡¯s the reincarnation of Xia Ling.¡± Most of these people heard about the gossip about Xia Ling¡¯s reincarnation and felt that this may not bepletely false.

    The producer who spoke first looked at him. ¡°Really?¡±

    Another producer said, ¡°Why would I lie to you? I have worked with Brother Feng before and dealt with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Xia Ling and Ye Xingling before. That kind of stage presence... Honestly, I was already curious from the start. Why was Bai Murong able to maintain his stage presence when Ye Xingling sang with him? After seeing Zheng Chenhao¡¯s tragic situation, I realized that she was giving in to Bai Murong. Am I right, Brother Feng?¡±

    Everyone turned around to look at the man who was quietly drinking tea in the corner.

    Feng Kun lifted his head and smiled at the producers. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Everyone drew a cold breath.

    Among all the producers, Feng Kun was the most skilled and worked with Ye Xingling for a long time. Since he said that, it must be true. It turned out that when she sang ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± with Bai Murong, she was not really a powerful opponent. She did not go all out in consideration of her partner!

    This performance with Zheng Chenhao was a true demonstration of her capability!

    This was truly shocking and... terrifying!

    ¡°This girl...¡± After a moment, someone finally spoke in the lounge. He sighed and then fell silent again.

    Everyone was silent as they prayed for Zheng Chenhao in their hearts.

    Zheng Chenhao was crushed.

    Completely and thoroughly.

    He felt that he had never been so humiliated in his entire life. Although he was a heavenly king, he never imagined that he would be so humiliated on this day. He was muddle-headed and did not even recover after the end of the song. He didn¡¯t even know how he got down from the stage and went backstage in a daze.

    The Neb Music Festival was very strange. As a tform for superstars to showcase their skills, it was a leading TV program, but the set had not been renovated for years and the organizers did not use the money to rebuild the building. Due to this, the makeup rooms backstage were insufficient and many small stars and staff had to squeeze in arge dressing room.

    When Zheng Chenhao walked in, everyone was quiet.

    They all saw his miserable performance on stage. At this time, no one dared to make eye contact with him and everyone bowed their heads. How could Zheng Chenhao not notice their abnormal behavior? He was furious and disappointed, but he still had to maintain his proud heavenly king image. With a straight face, he walked back to his seat.

    After that, Xia Ling also walked in.

    As Xia Ling often co-operated with two music producers, Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Feng Kun and Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Wei Shaoyin, the threepanies were ced in the same room.

    Now, once she walked in, Luo Luo bounced up and eximed, ¡°Not bad, Xiao Ling! It turns out that your singing is better than what I imagined! Heavenly King Zheng was defeated by you!¡± Due to her innocence or the fact that she had Bai Murong¡¯s protection, Luo Luo, who had been in the entertainment industry for so many years, directly praised Xia Ling in front of so many people.

    <i>Crack! </i>Zheng Chenhao¡¯s broke his makeup pen.

    However, Luo Luo remained ignorant. ¡°I thought you were on the same level as our Murong, but you¡¯re much better than him, right? When you sang ¡®Powerful Opponent,¡¯ you were giving in to him. Xiao Ling, you¡¯re really considerate!¡± The girl happily embraced Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words.

    Even Bai Murong was baffled. <i>Hey, dear, it¡¯s fine that you praised Xiao Ling for suppressing Zheng Chenhao, but do you have to put your boyfriend under the bus, too? </i>Bai Murong coughed a few times, his expression different.

    Looking at him, Xia Ling smiled and touched Luo Luo¡¯s short hair. ¡°Murong is very awesome. He knows how to lead the song. Honestly, I have ack of experience in singing duets. Thanks to him, I was able to smoothly deliver my lines in ¡®Powerful Opponent.¡¯¡± She was not lying. She really didck experience in duets and Bai Murong really taught her a lot during ¡°Powerful Opponent¡± for her to achieve her desired effect.

    Only then did Bai Murong¡¯s face turn back to normal. Just now, he was scared to death. If Xiao Ling directly admitted that she did not use her full capabilities, Luo Luo, him, and many people would be humiliated. He did not want to end up like Zheng Chenhao who was already humiliated as a heavenly king.

    Luckily, Xiao Ling was loyal and covered it up.

    Suddenly, as if she had an epiphany, Luo Luo smiled and said, ¡°I get it now! When you were singing ¡®Powerful Opponent,¡¯ it was so harmonious because our Murong knew how to lead the song! Zheng Chenhao¡¯s not experienced in leading the songpared to our Murong, so your connection had some problems, leading to arge gap. Am I right?¡±

    Zheng Chenhao was so angry that he was about to copse...

    What sort of unlucky encounter was this? Even a small second-tier dared dare to stab him with a knife!

 Chapter 852 - Exciting Stage

    <h4>Chapter 852: Exciting Stage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Some people couldn¡¯t help but snigger.

    Zheng Chenhao couldn¡¯t stand it any longer. He sneered, mmed the table, and walked out.

    Everyone in the dressing room was terrified and silently watched as Heavenly King Zheng left. After a few seconds, Luo Luo patted her chest and said, ¡°He scared me to death. Why did he throw such a huge tantrum? What¡¯s so embarrassing about not being as skillful as others?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and couldn¡¯t help but stroke this girl¡¯s head.

    Luo Luo was pretty simr to her in her previous life. They were both innocent and did not understand what this embarrassment meant to heavenly king Zheng Chenhao. After this, public opinion would be that he was not as good as two people¡ªDiva Xia Ling and Heavenly King Bai Murong. Zheng Chenhao was not on the same level as them. Such a blow may be fatal to an aging heavenly king like him.

    An old predecessor like Zheng Chenhao who had not made much progress would have a hard time getting back on track after being knocked down.

    The heroic feeling onlysted a moment.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling wondered if she were too ruthless? She gave him such a lethal blow when her opponent was unprepared. She was lost in her thoughts as she watched Zheng Chenhao leave.

    ¡°It¡¯s inevitable that the younger generation is worthier than the older generation. Status is earned based on strength, not by mercy or pity.¡± As if he saw through her thoughts, Lin Yunan stood by her side and said.

    Xia Ling understood what he meant. She thought about how Zheng Chenhao led the people in Imperial Entertainment to mock her in private when she was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng in her past life. In the end, she turned around. ¡°It¡¯s time to change my makeup.¡± She said to Lin Yunan. ¡°We¡¯ve wasted enough time. I have to go on stage again soon.¡±

    Arge group of staff gathered around her and started to prepare her for her third look tonight.

    Lin Yunan did not interfere when the staff applied makeup on her. He sat at the side and looked at the news on his phone. Looking at the real-time report of Neb Music Festival, heughed. ¡°Haha, this time, Bai Murong¡¯s fans will finally feel self-satisfied. Last year when he lost to Zheng Chenhao because he had a cold, they were mocked by Zheng Chenhao¡¯s fans for a year. This is great. Once you went up the stage, they found reasonable evidence to rebuke.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean goddess Xiao Ling said that Bai Murong was much better?¡±

    ¡°When goddess Xiao Ling and Murong were singing on the same stage, they were coordinated. When Zheng Chenhao sang with her, he couldn¡¯t keep up with her. Of course our Murong is much better, then...¡±

    ¡°Haha, Xiao Ling, do you know much Bai Murong¡¯s fans love you now?¡±

    The corner of Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled into a smile. Now, Bai Murong fans had a good impression of her. Later, when she used her power to promote Luo Luo, wouldn¡¯t she easily gain their support as well? She hoped that after today, they would be less prejudiced against Luo Luo.

    However, soon, she heard Lin Yunan spit out his water. ¡°Hey¡ªWhat else are they saying? It¡¯s killing me... Xiao Ling, our goddess, we won¡¯t look down on you for being someone who has had a child. You can marry Murong because you two are truly a match made in heaven?! Hahahahaha...¡±

    He roared inughter, but Xia Ling was speechless.

    Luo Luo also rushed to join in themotion. ¡°Xiao Ling, I don¡¯t want to be in a love triangle with you. No, there¡¯s still one, two, three, four, and five more people involved.¡± She used her fingers to count in Li Lei and Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but flick her forehead. What exactly was this girl thinking?

    ¡°You should focus on your singing.¡± She said to Luo Luo. ¡°You must win the Best Single Award to make those opposed to you shut up.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will work hard!¡± Luo Luo nodded seriously.

    Finally, she touched up her makeup, smoothed her dress, and went on stage in the best state of mind. The lights on stage were blinding, her smile was radiant, and she danced and sang her popr solo track this year. ¡°The wandering flowers scattered in the distance along with my thoughts, hopes, and dreams...¡±

    Below the stage, in front of the TV screen, many people sang along.

    This song was suitable for all ages. The melody was catchy and it was extremely popr. Before the opening ceremony of the Neb Music Festival, some critics predicted that she had a huge chance of winning the Best Single Award.

    Sure enough, when the song ended, the crow roared in apuse and cheers.

    Luo Luo smiled sweetly as she bowed to everyone and left.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, did I sing well?¡± When she returned to the dressing room, she rushed to ask Xia Ling this question.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Not bad. It¡¯s not time to get votes yet, but your score is already so high. Later when I show my support for you, this award will surely be yours.¡±

    Luo Luo¡¯s eyes shined as she nodded.

    Every year, the Neb Music Festival had some changes in the rules of thepetition. For this year¡¯s Best Single Award, there would be real-time scoring after each song of a participant and there would be a final voting session before the award-winning song was announced. To gain votes, each participant would send a ¡°cheerleader¡± to incite people to vote.

    Xia Ling was the captain of Luo Luo¡¯s cheerleading team.

    Luo Luo also felt that her chances to win Best Single Award were very secure, so she was rxed and joked with the staff. Xia Ling also did not have much to do. The next time she went on stage was half an hourter, so she drank lemonade and absent-mindedly watched the broadcast.

    On the screen, Xia Yu appeared.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Xia Ling asked her assistant Wei Wei who was beside her. ¡°I remember that she was not scheduled to perform today?¡± As she spoke, she flipped through the program flow chart but did not find Xia Yu¡¯s name.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably an impromptu performance.¡± Xia Ling said. She heard that Xia Yu was among the invited guests and thought that Xia Yu was only here to watch the ceremony. She did not expect her to go on stage without being informed beforehand.

    What sort ofmotion was she going to cause now?

    On the screen, the emcee smiled and asked Xia Yu, ¡°Miss Xia Yu, I¡¯m really happy that you¡¯re joining us here today. Can I ask if you¡¯re also looking to get the Best Single Award?¡±

    Wearing a sheer dress, Xia Yu said in a weak voice, ¡°Yes. After not appearing in the music scene for so many years, if I want to stand on this stage today, I have to win the Best Single Award. Thus, I have to participate.¡± She spoke as if she had no choice.

    However, Luo Luo clenched her fists. What was she doing? She wanted so badly to win the award, but this woman was ¡°forced¡± to participate? Did she really think that the other contestants were easy to bully?

    However, Xia Yu and the emcee on stage were not affected at all.

    The emcee continued to smile and asked, ¡°Well then, can you tell me why you must sing on the stage tonight?¡±

    ¡°Tonight, I have to sing on the stage because I n to apologize to someone.¡± Xia Yu said.

 Chapter 853 - Forcing Her Hand

    <h4>Chapter 853: Forcing Her Hand</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling frowned slightly, guessing what she was going to say.

    As expected, Xia Yu said, ¡°In the past, I didn¡¯t know that Ye Xingling was the reincarnation of my sister, Xia Ling, and hence, my behavior to her was uneptable. Now that I know that she is my sister, I¡¯m regretful of all my actions. I hope I can gain the forgiveness of my sister.¡±

    Her tone was forlorn and pitiful.

    The emcee was full of sympathy for her, but still raised fair suspicion. ¡°In that case, Miss Xia Yu, why didn¡¯t you look for Miss Ling in private to seek her forgiveness? Why did you have to pick a public event like today to do so?¡±

    ¡°To be honest...¡± Xia Yu had tears in her eyes. ¡°I did go find my sister a while back. However, my sister refused to forgive me, and wouldn¡¯t even agree to meet me. Every time I go to look for her, her bodyguards will prevent me from getting anywhere near her. I¡¯m really out of ideas and this is myst resort. Sorry for taking up everyone¡¯s time.¡±

    The emcee¡¯s expression turned to shock. ¡°Miss Ling wouldn¡¯t forgive you? Is there any misunderstanding between you both? I remember that Miss Ling treated you as the most precious gem that she had in her past life. Your rtionship was so close. I believe that she¡¯ll still forgive you regardless of what you do in this life.¡±

    Emotional music started ying in the background.

    Xia Ling was so furious she almost smashed the ss cup in her hands onto the floor.

    ¡°What is this emcee doing?¡± She angrily said to Lin Yunan. ¡°What does she mean by I will definitely forgive her? Are they trying to get the moral high ground here?! I want to lodge aint against her!¡±

    Lin Yunan¡¯s expression was cold. The emcee was being too much¡ªhow could she not have checked with Xiao Ling on her views on such a grave matter, and speak as she pleased in the live broadcast. This ran against all the rules in the industry, and was a big disrespect to someone of Xiao Ling¡¯s status.

    He responded in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯ll handle this.¡±

    Xia Ling calmed down a little and continued to watch the live broadcast.

    Xia Yu was exining to the emcee how she intended to apologize to her sister. ¡°Four years ago, my sister said that I was lip-synching. Then, I was young and didn¡¯t know any better. Moreover, I had been studying business administration at Cambridge University, and didn¡¯t receive much formal music education. Hence, my singing was horrendous. I didn¡¯t want others to say that ¡®Why is Xia Ling¡¯s sister such a bad singer,¡¯ and thus, decided to lip-synch on stage. I really regret that...¡±

    Tears were flowing down her cheeks. Coupled with her makeup, it made her look all the more pitiful.

    People were being bought over by her performance in the audience. Yes, her sister was so famous... It was perfectly understandable for a young girl under so much pressure to do something like that. What¡¯s more, she was sincere in her apology.

    In an instant, many hearts softened towards Xia Yu, and they couldn¡¯t bring themselves to pin me on her any longer.

    Xia Yu had always been proficient in garnering pity from the audience. Now, she continued, ¡°After that lip-synching incident, I¡¯ve disappeared from the entertainment scene. I¡¯ve been practicing my singing overseas, hoping to be able to redeem myself from that shameful incident. I can¡¯t let ¡®Xia Ling¡¯s sister¡¯ be known for lip-synching my entire life. That would be too disrespectful to my sister.¡±

    There was sporadic apuse offstage from some in the audience that were touched by her words.

    Many were forgiving to a person that was willing to repent and change.

    The background music became more emotional, and even the emcee started to wipe at the ¡°tears¡± that were forming at the corners of her eyes. She said, ¡°Xia Yu is such a good girl. So you¡¯ve practiced diligently for youreback this time, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yu nodded and regarded the audience sincerely. ¡°These years, I¡¯ve been practicing through the night. Even though I wouldn¡¯t profess to have reached my sister¡¯s level of singing, but I¡¯ve improved a lot from before. I want to sing a song that I¡¯ve written for my sister these few years that I¡¯ve been away. To prove that I¡¯m not lip-synching, I¡¯ll sing this acape.¡±

    Acape!

    There was bustling offstage.

    It was much harder to sing acape than with background music. Many songs that sounded great with background music tended to lose its vor when sung acape. This was a big test of a singer¡¯s foundation and abilities. Up till today, the only singer that dared sing acape in front of an audience was probably only Xia Ling.

    Could Xia Yu do it?

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu, are you really going to sing acape? This is too shocking, but we are also full of anticipation.¡± The emcee remarked with mild excitement. ¡°Then, let us hear the song of apology that you¡¯ve prepared for Miss Ling today.¡±

    The emcee went offstage, leaving Xia Yu alone on the vast stage.

    Xia Yu was elegant and confident, her chiffon skirt being dyed with many colors from the stage lighting. Lyrics flowed out of her lips like a river, and her voice was as light as a feather and so melodious that it struck at the audience¡¯s heartstrings. ¡°From the beginning, it was just you and me. But I didn¡¯t know to cherish you... till I lost you...¡±

    Even though it was sung acape, she was able to make it so pleasant that the audience felt like they were in a dream. This was a marked improvement from her singing abilities a few years back.

    Backstage, Lin Yunan and Xia Ling were watching the live broadcast together. They couldn¡¯t resist butment. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Xia Yu has be a different person. This singing standard is so much better than her singing a few years back... she can almost match up to Xie Ling and the others... This is too suspicious. Even if a talented trainee trained incessantly in the training camp, it would still be difficult to reach this standard in four years!¡±

    Xia Ling felt more irritated.

    She was a perfectionist when it came to music, maybe due to the amount of time that she spent with Wei Shaoyin. She was of the view that music was a disy of one¡¯s beauty within. Such a beautiful voice could onlye from a clean and pure spirit. How was it that the singing wasing from this fake and cruel person?

    ¡°Switch off the sound.¡± She didn¡¯t want to hear any more.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, she¡¯s singing an apology to you.¡± Lin Yunan remarked but picked up the remote as he spoke, muting the sound. The subtitles still showed the lyrics of the song, which was recounting the love-hate rtionships between the two sisters in their past life. Even though the lyrics were not sufficient to move Xia Ling, it did serve to touch the audience listening.

    Tons ofizens online were leavingments talking about the rtionship between the sisters.

    Many spoke up for Xia Yu and begged Xia Ling to forgive her.

    In their opinion, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± and Xia Yu didn¡¯t have too big a misunderstanding in this life. They had some conflict during their debut period in rtion to performance venues, but nothing that couldn¡¯t be forgiven. It seemed like if ¡°Ye Xingling¡± chose not to forgive Xia Yu, she would appear to be petty, and many would start to suspect if she truly was Xia Ling reincarnated. After all, Xia Ling openly doted on her little sister in her past life, and couldn¡¯t possibly be so unforgiving to her over such trivial matters.

    There were posts everywhere with the words ¡°Xiao Ling, forgive her.¡±

    Lin Yunan showed thements to Xia Ling, whose face was cold as snow. She seethed, ¡°No way.¡±

    Someone pushed open the door of the makeup room and a staff member walked in. Smiling at Xia Ling, he said, ¡°Miss Ling, it would be good for you to make an appearance after Miss Xia Yu has finished her song.¡±

 Chapter 854 - Playing Along

    <h4>Chapter 854: ying Along</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was still seething and didn¡¯t bother to respond to the staff member.

    Lin Yunan was aware of her temper and spoke up on her behalf, ¡°Xiao Ling won¡¯t be going onstage. The agenda that wasmunicated to us by the broadcast station didn¡¯t have this segment.¡±

    The staff member was taken aback. Even though this was an additional segment, they all thought that Xia Ling would be happy that Xia Yu had apologized to her. Regardless of what misunderstanding the sisters had, this was a perfect opportunity for them to be reconciled. None of them had thought about the possibility that Xia Ling wouldn¡¯t be willing to cooperate.

    The staff member thought that Xia Ling was unwilling to put aside her pride and tried to persuade her. ¡°Miss Ling, Xia Yu and you are family. Your rtionship was so close in the past, how can there possibly be any deep hatred, right? Miss Xia Yu has already put aside her pride to apologize to you in front of so many people. Can you bear to see her standing on stage all alone after the song?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression remained cold and she didn¡¯t say anything.

    Lin Yunan replied, ¡°Don¡¯t disturb Xiao Ling¡¯s rest. We will not be going on stage, period. The one that agreed to this segment can go on stage themselves. And... can the broadcast station give us a good exnation for the proceedings today? Is the emcee or the agenda nner new? How can there not be any discussion with us about something as important as this? Are they tired of being part of this industry?!¡± His voice was stern and loud, and the entire makeup room turned to look over at themotion.

    The staff member started to panic, realizing that Lin Yunan and Xia Ling were truly upset about what had happened.

    He hurriedly apologized. ¡°Sorry, sorry... the program team only received the request by Miss Xia Yu today, and hence, we didn¡¯t have time to discuss it with you. We also thought that it would be a nice surprise...¡±

    ¡°Hurhur, a big surprise indeed.¡± Xia Ling piped up. ¡°I thought that a big broadcast station like Neb would have proper ways of doing things. Who would have thought that you guys are no different from the small broadcast stations in the lower-tier cities? Should I give you a surprise as well? Who was the one that agreed to the addition of thisst-minute segment? With the amount of negative repercussions that this is bringing me, I think it¡¯s not too much to ask for that person to resign from his post, right? If he doesn¡¯t want to resign...¡± Xia Ling smiled, picked up her Chanel purse and stood up. ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. Shaohui is waiting for me to read him a bedtime story.¡±

    The staff member was almost in hysterics. What was she doing now? Was she going on a strike?

    Not attending this segment was fine. Was she not going to go on stage to ept her Best Female Singer award as well?!

    It was almost set in stone that the Best Female Singer award was going to Xia Ling. Even if the broadcast station wanted otherwise, there was no way to prevent that from happening. Her poprity was way ahead of the number two! If she didn¡¯t go on stage when they announced the Best Female Singer winner, coupled with herck of response to Xia Yu¡¯s apology, there would be all kinds of spections! Rumors would say that Xia Ling and Neb broadcast station did not get along...

    Digging a bit deeper would easily reveal that there were problems in the agenda, which angered Xia Ling. All her fans would be angered, and their spit alone would be enough to drown them!

    ¡°Ling... Miss Ling... please calm down. Sorry, we¡¯re so, so, sorry!¡± The immediate priority was the make sure that Xia Ling was appeased. Cold sweat broke out of the staff member¡¯s brows. ¡°This matter is our mistake... please give me the chance to speak to my manager to decide how best to deal with the situation. Please take a seat...¡±

    As he spoke, he signaled to the other staff members to pour Xia Ling some tea.

    Xia Ling sat slowly back down with a cold expression on her face.

    Lin Yunan gave a cold smile at the staff member. ¡°Your station isn¡¯t new to the scene... didn¡¯t you guys hear about us and how we deal with matters before?¡±

    The staff member hurriedly apologized again. ¡°Yes, yes... sorry... it¡¯s our mistake.¡± He thought to himself: <i>No wonder everyone said that Xia Ling is hard to deal with. Now that I¡¯ve experienced it first-hand, hard to deal with is a huge understatement!</i>

    Lin Yunan continued, ¡°Tell your manager to make the program nner resign. And... deal with that emcee as well... Otherwise, the matter might be blown up out of proportion. And if they were to be forced to resign from the anger of theizens, that would truly be nasty.¡± This was not an empty threat. Xia Ling¡¯s fans truly had the ability to force such a scenario.

    The staff member ran off in search of his manager with a grave expression.

    Leaving behind a room of people staring at Xia Ling in shock.

    ¡°What are you guys looking at?¡± Lin Yunan asked as he served Xia Ling her tea. ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen a big shot at work?¡±

    Everyone was speechless.

    They had seen big shots in the workce, but one that was so overbearing was a first.

    However, there was no running from the fact that the broadcast station was in the wrong. Many artistes had been the victim ofst minutes changes to the rundown. Thus, they did understand Xia Ling¡¯s frustration.

    Lin Yunan lowered his head and whispered to Xia Ling, ¡°When the broadcast stationes back with a proper exnation, you¡¯ll still have to appear on stage after Xia Yu¡¯s song.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go.¡± Xia Ling grumbled.

    Lin Yunan chided her. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid! Now that the matter has reached such a state, and it being a live broadcast, you not going onstage would result in too much negative talk. People will say that you¡¯re petty... or escapist... Even if you don¡¯t want to forgive Xia Yu, you can¡¯t allow for spection. You should go out there and give a proper reason for not forgiving her. Don¡¯t lower your positive image in everybody¡¯s eyes.¡±

    Xia Ling felt even more upset. Wasn¡¯t she being forced onstage by Xia Yu, then?

    But she knew that Lin Yunan was right, so she didn¡¯t say anything to retort him.

    Lin Yunan continued, ¡°Also, can you really just go on strike now? Don¡¯t be naive! Even if you don¡¯t want the Best Female Singer award, you still need to show support to Luo Luo. If your image is affected in this period, your ability to influence will be lowered. Wouldn¡¯t that be putting Luo Luo at a disadvantage, then?¡±

    Xia Ling lifted her head and nced over at Luo Luo who was sitting a short distance away.

    The sweet girl was looking at her with eyes full of concern.

    Xia Ling sighed. ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯ll go onstage.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my girl.¡± Lin Yunan snapped his fingers in satisfaction.

    It wasn¡¯t longter that the head of nning for the Neb Music Festival was led over by the staff member to put out the fire. They had run over and were panting and wiping away their sweat by the time they came before Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ling, I¡¯m so sorry, it¡¯s our oversight that made you feel so upset.¡± The head of nning decisively said, ¡°Thisst-minute segment was put in by nning Manager Zhou, who is the second-inmand here. I¡¯ll fire him once our program is finished for today! I didn¡¯t supervise him well and can¡¯t shift the mepletely¡ªI¡¯ll punish myself, as well as emcee Annie, by docking three months of pay. Miss Ling, please forgive us for our oversight on ount of our sincerity in dealing with the matter. All the fans are waiting in anticipation for your appearance... could you help us save the situation, please?¡±

    There was no value in not ying along now, especially with the broadcast station¡¯s pleading. Xia Ling was appeased and nodded her agreement after remembering Lin Yunan¡¯s advice a minute ago.

 Chapter 855 - Xia Yu Get Off the Stage

    <h4>Chapter 855: Xia Yu Get Off the Stage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Onstage, Xia Yu had finished her song, and the emcee was dragging out the time.

    The head of nning promised to gift a branded bag to Xia Ling to apologize, while half-pleading, half-dragging Xia Ling towards the stage. When she was finally on stage, the head of nning breathed a huge sigh of relief.

    His assistant fanned him from the side and said, ¡°Brother Liu, sorry that you had to clean up the mess that nning Manager Zhou created.¡±

    Head of nning Liu gave a coldugh. ¡°This is retribution.¡±

    nning Manager Zhou was an upstart that had just returned from overseas and was not only from a prestigious university but had also headed up several top-notch programs. He had never regarded the Head of nning highly. This time, when he heard that Xia Yu had contacted the program team, Head of nning Liu knew that the opportunity had arisen to rid himself of nning Manager Zhou. Everyone in the industry knew how difficult Xia Ling and Lin Yunan were to work with. They would nitpick on every detail of the rundown with high standard and requests that were difficult to aplish.

    Head of nning Liu had intentionally avoided Xia Yu and sent her to nning Manager Zhou to handle.

    He had also gotten someone to hint to nning Manager Zhou to keep Xia Yu¡¯s request from Xia Ling so as to get a more dramatic and real reaction during the live broadcast. As expected, nning Manager Zhou stepped right into his trap.

    And Xia Ling got angry right on cue.

    Head of nning Liu had used her to remove the thorn in his flesh and was feeling extremely satisfied. But of course, he didn¡¯te out of itpletely unscathed as well. He had to dock three months of his own sry, but that was nothing in return for removing a strong rival and holding down his position.

    He smiled and instructed his assistant. ¡°Go pick a bag that would suit Miss Ling¡¯s tastes.¡±

    He hummed to himself on the way back to his office.

    Xia Ling walked slowly on stage, and all the cameras immediately panned towards her. They captured shots of her from all angles, from her exquisite pearl-lined dress to the impable makeup on her face.

    Her expression was calm as she looked over at Xia Yu on the other end of the stage.

    Xia Yu choked as she said, ¡°Sister, you¡¯re finally willing to see me!¡± The crowd reacted to her act of choking up from happiness, thinking that it was a remarkable show of the closeness of their rtionship.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t have a sister like you.¡±

    The audience and emcee were stunned. They didn¡¯t expect things to pan out this way. Wasn¡¯t Xia Ling supposed to be so touched after hearing Xia Yu¡¯s song that she would run over to embrace and forgive her?

    Xia Yu¡¯s tears fell like beads of pearl. ¡°Sister, you will always be my sister! If you are really my sister, Xia Ling, reincarnated, you won¡¯t be so harsh to me, right? You were so nice to me before... you couldn¡¯t bear to say a harsh word to me even though I did something wrong. I¡¯ve been missing you every day all these years...¡±

    Her crying became louder.

    Actually, Xia Yu didn¡¯t fully believe that Ye Xingling was her sister reincarnated. What rubbish was that about the reborn Phoenix... it was all too out of the world. For normal people, it was just a beautiful legend.

    However, regardless of whether she was indeed the reincarnated Xia Ling, Xia Yu had to gain her forgiveness if she wanted to return to the Xia Family.

    Xia Yu said to Xia Ling tearfully, ¡°Sister, I beg for your forgiveness.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s gaze was cold. What was the meaning of this? Was Xia Yu trying to threaten her now? If she didn¡¯t forgive Xia Yu, was she going to throw shade on the veracity of her being the reincarnated Phoenix? The hidden meaning in Xia Yu¡¯s words made Xia Ling unhappy.

    Her voice was icy as she regarded Xia Yu. ¡°Some people believe that I am the reincarnated Xia Ling, but others don¡¯t. I don¡¯t really care if you believe me or not. The past is the past, and I¡¯m only concerned about what happens in this life. Feigning illness in the filming site, pping me, lip-synching... all these I can ignore. However, there is one thing that I cannot overlook. Tell me now, at Shaohui¡¯s hundredth-day celebration, did you or did you not throw him out like garbage when no one was around?¡±

    There was a collective gasp in the audience.

    ¡°Wha... what? Did I hear wrong?¡± The emcee stuttered in her shock. ¡°Miss Ling... are you saying that Xia Yu was behind the disappearance of your child, Shaohui, at his hundredth-day celebration?¡±

    Xia Ling continued to stare at Xia Yu with an icy re.

    The police didn¡¯t find any evidence and this investigation was never made known to the public. There was no way of verifying if Xia Yu was truly the culprit unless she admitted it herself.

    Xia Ling had originally not wanted to pursue this matter as long as Shaohui was fine. However, this woman had decided to show up in front of her, begging for forgiveness. Then, they had to be upfront about all their grievances, hadn¡¯t they? ¡°You¡¯ve always been in love with Pei Ziheng. In the past, everyone thought that the child¡¯s father was Pei Ziheng. Hence, you were jealous and not only tried to make me have a miscarriage when I was pregnant, but also tried to kill my child at his hundredth-day celebration, right?¡±

    Everyone watching the live broadcast started to discuss this revtion emphatically. So Xia Yu had done something so horrible to Xia Ling? Who would have thought... Xia Yu looked so weak, innocent and harmless... who would have thought that she was so cruel! ¡°Is she still the sister that Xia Ling doted on so much? She¡¯s so cruel!¡± Someonemented.

    However, many didn¡¯t believe that she would do such a thing. ¡°It can¡¯t be... would Xia Yu really be so horrible? Is there some sort of misunderstanding? Xia Yu, hurry and exin yourself... we want to know the truth!¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans were especially keen on hearing what she had to say.

    ¡°How could Xiao Yu possibly be in love with Pei Ziheng? How could she possibly have tried to murder a little baby?¡± They discussed. ¡°There must be some misunderstanding! Ye Xingling is spinning a story... she has too much of an imagination! She doesn¡¯t seem to be Xiao Yu¡¯s sister, she can¡¯t be the reincarnated Xia Ling!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ye Xingling can¡¯t be the reincarnated Xia Ling!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re too gross! Get off the stage!¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, get off the stage!¡±

    Many of Xia Yu¡¯s fans started to fill online forums with this chant.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s fans overpowered Xia Yu¡¯s manifold. They retaliated in the online forums. ¡°You brainless fools! How can you even think that Xiao Ling is telling lies? She has to be the reincarnated Xia Ling! Xia Yu must have done something terrible to her!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! The one that should get off the stage is Xia Yu!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is just too cruel! How can she try to harm a pregnant woman and a child!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, get off the stage!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, get off the stage!¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s fans were soon drowned out by Xia Ling¡¯s fans.

    While the two sisters on stage couldn¡¯t see the online battle between their fans, the atmosphere at the venue was even more heated.

    Xia Yu¡¯s stared at her sister, her expression pale, thinking to herself: <i>Should I or should I not admit? </i>If she didn¡¯t admit to it, there was no way that they would be able to find any evidence to prove that she was the culprit. In fact, most people would think that she was wrongly used, garnering her a lot of pity votes and poprity. Maybe some people would even use Xia Ling of nder.

    This was the perfect opportunity to build her own image and destroy Xia Ling¡¯s.

    But... she couldn¡¯t.

    The medicine that Wei Lingnan gave her was like a fishbone in her throat. She couldn¡¯t imagine what it would be like if couldn¡¯t return to the Xia Family, and her body rotted to death. If she wanted to return to the Xia Family, she needed to bow down to Xia Ling.

 Chapter 856 - The Confession

    <h4>Chapter 856: The Confession</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    And Xia Ling would clearly not ept her excuses.

    Xia Ling¡¯s sentence was not a question, but a definite statement. She was waiting for Xia Yu to make her confession.

    Xia Yu was intelligent and immediately guessed what her sister was trying to do. After weighing her odds in her head, she gritted her teeth and said, ¡°I was wrong. I was out of my mind then. I shouldn¡¯t have tried to push you down the stairs when you were pregnant, and shouldn¡¯t have thrown little Shaohui into the rubbish bin during his hundredth-day celebration... Sister, I didn¡¯t know that you were my sister then! I thought that you were taking away everything that belonged to us sisters...¡±

    Her tears fell unfettered as she covered her face.

    The emcee was so shocked she dropped her microphone.

    Offstage, there was a split second of silence in the audience as they took in what they had just heard before pandemonium broke out. What?! Xia Yu admitted to such a grave crime?! She had tried to harm Xia Ling more than once!

    ¡°That¡¯s preposterous!¡± A middle-aged mother who hade to watch the Neb Music Festival with her daughter remarked. ¡°That girl was pregnant! How can Xia Yu push her down the stairs? She could have killed two lives! What was she thinking?!¡±

    Her daughter¡¯s expression was ashen. ¡°I... I¡¯m never liking Xia Yu again.¡± She had been Xia Yu¡¯s fan and was absolutely certain that there was no way that Xiao Yu would do something like that. However, that perfect picture was broken with Xia Yu¡¯s confession. How could she worship such a cruel and evil woman?!

    The girl was regretting all that she had done to support Xia Yu.

    Many in the audience were angry. ¡°Little Shaohui is so cute... how could she bear to do that to him?! Horrible woman!¡±

    Little Shaohui had appeared alongside Xia Ling in many asions now, and being the adorable son of a wealthy father and a Diva mother, he was garnering his own pool of fans. They were protective of him and were furious to hear that someone had tried to kill him!

    ¡°Xia Yu is too much! That is murder!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Murder!¡±

    Angry audience members dialed out to the police, hoping that the police woulde to arrest Xia Yu.

    The broadcast station received a call from the police station informing them that a matter like attempted murder was a criminal offense, and even if the victim didn¡¯t report the matter to the police, they would still be activated on getting any other tip-off.

    Moreover, Xia Yu is an artiste and had confessed under live broadcast. The societal impact would be grave if they didn¡¯t take action.

    The director of the music festival passed a slip of paper to the emcee who, upon reading it, turned and asked Xia Yu, ¡°Miss Xia Yu, do you know what you are saying? Throwing little Shaohui into the rubbish bin is illegal and you will be subject to criminal liability. You need to think this through clearly!¡±

    ¡°I did it.¡± Xia Yu eximed. She was all-in now. So what if she had to serve a sentence? That would still be better than having her body to rot from that weird drug that Wei Lingnan gave to her! ¡°I... after the program, I¡¯ll go to the police station to turn myself in.¡±

    As she spoke, her tears continued to flow. She looked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°Sister, I genuinely regret all my actions. Can you forgive me on ount that I¡¯m going to jail and taking responsibility for what I¡¯ve done? I beg of you... I want to go home... boohoohoo... I miss dad and mum... Sister, we both grew up in the orphanage... All these years, you know that my biggest wish is to find my biological parents. And now I know that they are still alive... can you forgive me, please? Let me see them... even if it¡¯s just a nce... I beg you to tell me how I can find them...¡±

    She cried so hard that her shoulders shook uncontrobly.

    The Xia Family was too mysterious. Xia Yu tried all she could but didn¡¯t manage to find a way to contact the Xia Family. Turning to Xia Ling was herst resort. To return to the Xia Family, she was prepared to give up everything!

    But she also had another thought.

    So what if she admitted that she tried to kill Shaohui? She was the actual daughter of the Xia Family! Even though the ¡°Ye Xingling¡± in front of her now imed to be the reincarnated Xia Ling, she still didn¡¯t have blood ties with the Xia Family! The Xia Family wouldn¡¯t leave the actual daughter in the lurch over an outsider, right?

    She had asked Wei Lingnan what kind of family the Xia Family was.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips had curled into a mysterious smile. ¡°The Xia Family¡¯s power goes beyond your imagination. As long as you return home, you will be set for life. You¡¯ll be able to call the shots wherever you go and enjoy all kinds of riches.¡±

    As long as she could return to the Xia Family, what Ye Xingling? What police? None of them would matter!

    Her cries became louder, ¡°Sister, I beg of you... forgive me... don¡¯t keep my identity a secret from dad and mum... I really miss them...¡±

    The audience members that hated Xia Yu¡¯s gut just a second ago started to pity her again.

    ¡°This girl is such a poor thing... there¡¯s much to hate about her, but there¡¯s also a lot to sympathize with her as well...¡± Theymented. ¡°Even though she was out of her mind in wanting to harm Xia Ling and her son, she knows she¡¯s in the wrong now. She¡¯s even going to go turn herself in to the police. She might even have to go to jail... It¡¯s fair for her to be given the chance to see her biological parents before being packed off to prison, right? She¡¯s been an orphan for so long and just found her parents, after all...¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly...¡±

    Many were saying, ¡°I hope that Miss Ling can forgive her.¡±

    Xia Ling was furious on stage. Xia Yu was still trying to act all pitiful now? What was her scheme now? Why was Xia Yu making it seem as if she was preventing her from meeting her parents?!

    ¡°I will never forgive you.¡± Xia Ling regarded her coldly, unmoved by her antics. ¡°I¡¯m a mother... and regardless of whether you¡¯re truly regretful of your actions, I will never forgive a woman who tried to kill my child.¡±

    Her gaze turned towards the camera and she spoke to the audience. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for disappointing all of you. I am a person... one with blood, tears, and emotions... I¡¯m not an actress that was prepared by the director to perform in front of the cameras. I can¡¯t act out a scene of reconciling with my sister just so all of you can watch a happy ending. Ask yourselves now... if your child encountered something like that... how many of you can truly forgive the culprit? My child almost died! Twice!¡±

    Everyone was silent. Even the audience watching from home stopped munching on their snacks.

    They could tell that she was truly furious. They started to reflect if a simr incident happened to them, would they be able to put it aside and forgive the culprit so easily?

    No....

    Many realized that they could not.

    But... Xia Yu was so pitiful...

    The audience were conflicted.

    ¡°Sister...¡± Xia Yu cried out, her knees buckling as she made to kneel down.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kneel down to me.¡± Xia Ling averted her gaze. ¡°It¡¯s no use. Even if you didn¡¯t kill Shaohui, you were the reason that we were separated from each other for four years... You also indirectly caused me to be separated from the love of my life for four years. Time past cannot be turned back... life as well. If not for the fact that Shaohui was thankfully saved by someone, he would have died in that rubbish dump.¡±

 Chapter 857 - Completely Untarnished

    <h4>Chapter 857: Completely Untarnished</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart sank as she saw how resolute Xia Ling¡¯s expression was.

    No... she couldn¡¯t be the reincarnated Xia Ling... she must be just a normal woman, right? She was just darned lucky and somehow managed to get the title of the reincarnated Xia Ling. The real Xia Ling was soft-hearted and dumb, and would definitely forgive her if she knelt down and begged for forgiveness... This woman... was not Xia Ling.

    Xia Yu¡¯s emotions wereplicated as she tried to decide if she was more angry or disappointed.

    She snapped back to her senses quickly. It was not important at all if this woman was the reincarnated Xia Ling. The more critical thing at this point was to find a way to return to the Xia Family, and the key to thaty in Xia Ling¡¯s hands! Xia Yu lift her head and begged again. ¡°Alright... I don¡¯t expect you to forgive me immediately... Sister, I¡¯ll pay you back for all my sins all the days of my life... But can you please tell me how to contact the family... help me to find dad and mum... please?¡±

    Xia Ling looked down at the girl in tears curled up near her feet.

    Xia Yu¡¯s performance was ster in front of the cameras and the national audience. She had touched all of them and was using their sympathy to exert pressure on Xia Ling.

    If Xia Ling was not moved, her reputation for being heartless would be cemented.

    Regardless of whether she was right or wrong.

    She gave a snigger. ¡°You want to meet mum and dad? Why?¡±

    Xia Yu lifted her face to look up at Xia Ling with a lost expression. ¡°I really miss them... I¡¯m part of the Xia Family. Sister, wanting to go home is normal for anyone, right?¡±

    Normal for everyone. Well yed.

    Xia Ling recalled her brother¡¯s exnation of the family tree to her when she was back at home.

    To protect the peace in the Xia Family, they lived a secluded life, away from the world. Other than Xia Family members, outsiders could not easily enter the Xia Family premises. In order words, once Xia Yu returned to the family, she would have to live in the mountains with them for the rest of her life.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Fine. Going home will be good for you.¡± Regardless of what the verdict was when Xia Yu turned herself in to the police, if the alternative was going back to the Xia Family, there was no way that she would be able to harm anyone from the constraints of prison or the mountain vige. Sending her to the scenic mountain vige might help her to gain some good karma.

    Hence, Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll let you meet mum and dad...¡±

    Before she finished her sentence, Xia Yu was already thanking her profusely. ¡°Thank you, thank you so much, Sister!¡±

    She made to knock her head on the ground.

    Xia Ling frowned and averted her nce again.

    At this moment, the emcee heard instructions from the director in her in-ears. She turned away to listen more closely, her face turning to surprise. She then turned back and smilingly said, ¡°Oh, what a coincidence! Miss Ling, your brother wants to have a video call with you right now. We are connecting him to the screen right this moment, is that alright?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. <i>Brother wants to call me live?</i>

    He was watching the show?

    She nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    The director immediately switched the screen footage, and Xia Moyan appeared on the big screen dressed in his usual white robe. His expression was elegant but cold, and there were retro-designed houses in the background, as well as the sound of the swishing leaves of the bamboo forest.

    His appearance made the hearts of many in the audience skip a beat.

    There were all kinds of handsome men in the world¡ªsome were brash, some were cheerful, and some were cold and chic. Yet, Xia Moyan¡¯s aura was one that was hard to pin down. It seemed like he was not from this world, like something that was from a piece of Chinese ink art, like he had walked out from someone¡¯s hallucination. Completely untarnished by the world.

    It was a beauty that couldn¡¯t be exined. Subtle, but still enough to capture everyone¡¯s attention.

    Even Xia Yu was mesmerized.

    ¡°So he¡¯s Preceptor Xia...¡± Some wealthy businessmen were watching the show, whether for work reasons or to keep up with news on the future missus of the Li Family. They weren¡¯t as clueless as mostizens about the situation and had heard about the Preceptor Xia to a certain extent. They were all slightly shocked at his appearance. Who would have thought that someone as powerful as the Preceptor would appear on a mere music festival?!

    ¡°Record it down, record it down!¡± Many of the businessmenmanded their subordinates. ¡°Next time, if we want to look for the Preceptor, we can use this image to hunt him down! Also, make sure to analyze the Preceptor¡¯s outfit to identify what he likes. When we want to ask for his help, we need to be able to gift him with items that are to his preferences.

    Dozens of staff were mobilized to capture this small image on the screen.

    Yet, Xia Moyan appeared to bepletely unaware of this. He called out to his sister, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling cocked her head to the side. ¡°Brother, why are you calling me now?¡± Didn¡¯t this brother hate to be in the limelight? Why did he have to go to this extent to get in touch with her?

    Before Xia Moyan could respond, Xia Yu was already crawling towards the big screen. ¡°Brother!¡±

    Xia Moyan seemed to only just realize the presence of this other girl, and his voice was cold. ¡°Who¡¯s your brother?¡±

    Xia Yu started to cry again. ¡°Brother, it¡¯s me, Xia Yu! I was sent to the orphanage with Sister Xia Ling when we were young! You¡¯re an older brother to Sister, which means you¡¯re my brother too, right? Brother, I¡¯ve missed you...¡±

    Even though Xia Yu had no idea what Xia Moyan did, that mysterious Wei Lingnan told her that the Xia Family¡¯s power was beyond imagination. In which case, Xia Moyan must have wealth and power beyond measure. Xia Yu was keen to gain her brother¡¯s eptance. Maybe she¡¯d be treated like a princess in the future!

    Rather than to continue staying in the Pei Family, and having everyone say that she was a fake rich daughter!

    She was going to be a real rich daughter!

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes sparkled behind the tears.

    However, Xia Moyan only said, ¡°You¡¯re mistaken.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Yu¡¯s face turned to shock. ¡°You... aren¡¯t you Sister Xia Ling¡¯s brother?¡± How weird... didn¡¯t Xia Ling just call him brother?!

    Xia Moyan said nonchntly, ¡°I¡¯m Xiao Ling¡¯s brother, but not yours.¡±

    Xia Yu couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. Staring nkly, she asked, ¡°Brother, what are you saying? I don¡¯t understand...¡±

    Xia Ling sighed silently. This Xia Yu... she had it in her head to know everyone in the Xia Family, but had no idea who she was trying to get to know! She should¡¯ve stopped and thought about it... Xia Moyan had searched her, Xia Ling, out, but never went to find Xia Yu. There must be some reason for that, right? That was because she wasn¡¯t Xia Moyan¡¯s sister at all!

    Unfortunately, Xia Yu wouldn¡¯t understand.

    Xia Yu started to plead. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t abandon me... there must be some misunderstanding, right? There must be! Is it her...¡± She turned and pointed at Xia Ling, her lips quivering. ¡°Did Sister say anything to you about me? It¡¯s all a misunderstanding... Brother, I did do some horrible things to Sister... but I¡¯ve already admitted to my mistakes... Can you forgive me? Sister, sister... say something...¡±

 Chapter 858 - Abandonment

    <h4>Chapter 858: Abandonment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She started crying again.

    Xia Ling looked at her in disgust. Even at this time, she still thought that Xia Moyan refused to acknowledge her because Xia Ling insulted her in front of him. In front of the national audience, she was ¡°really good¡± to her sister!

    Xia Ling sneered and watched her performance.

    There was amotion in the audience. ¡°Could it really be that Ye Xingling said something bad about Xia Yu which made it difficult for Xia Yu to be acknowledged by her family? If this were true, Ye Xingling went too far!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, no matter what, the blood in Xia Yu¡¯s body is truly part of the Xia Family¡¯s.¡±

    At once, everyone started discussing.

    Noticing themotion below the stage, a spark of joy appeared in Xia Yu¡¯s eyes. Yes, she wanted to take this opportunity to get revenge on Xia Ling and disrupt Xia Ling¡¯s rtionship with her family. This way, when she returned to the Xia Family, she would be more loved by the family than Xia Ling! When that time came, Xia Ling would have no choice but to lower her head when she saw her!

    She could then torture Xia Ling with twice the grievances she faced in the first half of her life!

    The more she thought about it, the more delighted she was. She almost could not hold back a smile.

    Xia Ling was a little annoyed. She looked at Xia Yu like she was looking at a clown. If the camera were not shooting and she did not have to maintain her elegant image, she almost wanted to yawn. It was really boring.

    On the big screen, Xia Moyan seemed emotionless. ¡°That¡¯s right. Xiao Ling told me that you bullied her.¡±

    Bullying was truly an understatement. He still remembered how his sister rushed into his arms and cried as she recalled her past. Shemented that she did everything she could for Xia Yu, but in the end, she only returned her kindness with painful betrayal. He remembered the night his sister was drunk. Her tears were like raindrops. At that time, he wished he could tear her scheming and vindictive sister apart... Now, she was right in front of him.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if Xiao Ling ever exaggerated.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes shined brighter. What did her brother mean? Was he asking her for the truth? Sure enough, being blood-rted to the Xia Family was different. She only had to meet him once to make her brother suspicious that reincarnated the Xia Ling was a liar! Definitely, she was much closer to him as a blood-rted rtive.

    She seized the opportunity and sobbed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what my sister said to you, brother. Sister suffered so many grievances over the years. Even if she went a little overboard, I deserved it. Please don¡¯t me sister.¡±

    The audience was moved. Xia Yu was truly a good girl who could learn from her mistakes. Even though she had the chance to expose Xia Ling in front of her family, she still defended her sister¡¯s image. In contrast, Xia Ling exaggerated her words and obstructed her return to the family. Didn¡¯t she go too far?

    ¡°Many people are willing to forgive those who repent. Miss Ling and Mr. Xia, you should forgive Xia Yu.¡± Even the emcee couldn¡¯t help but support Xia Yu, she had no choice. That girl¡¯s pitiful face made people¡¯s hearts ache.

    Xia Moyan said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve never med Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Brother, you never med... What?¡± Xia Yu looked at him in shock. Just now, after he said that Xia Ling exaggerated her words and talked badly about her, Xia Moyan said that he did not me Xia Ling?!

    How could that be?!

    ¡°Brother, do you hate me then?¡± Xia Yu cried again.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t hate you.¡±

    Joy shed across Xia Yu¡¯s eyes. ¡°I just know that my brother will not hate me! Although we lost contact for so many years, we¡¯re still brother and sister! You feel very sorry for me, right?¡±

    However, Xia Moyan said, ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re not even qualified to receive my hate.¡±

    Xia Yu was stunned.

    The audience and the media representatives were all stunned.

    What did The Preceptor say? Xia Yu was not even qualified to receive his hate?

    ¡°Oh, who does that little girl think she is?¡± An old man shook his head and sipped on his red wine as he watched the live-stream. ¡°The Preceptor is so reverent and doesn¡¯t even think much about life and death. How can a little girl¡¯s act stir his emotions?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± His wife joined in and said, ¡°Three years ago, we were lucky enough to meet The Preceptor. At that time, didn¡¯t he say that there were only three important people in the Xia Family¡ªthe Xia Family Head, The Preceptor, and the Phoenix. Especially the phoenix. She protected the existence of the family selflessly. Who does this girl think she is? How could shein about the phoenix in front of The Preceptor? She¡¯s looking for death!¡±

    The old man nodded and looked at this ignorant little girl with contempt.

    Some people who were aware of the situation also thought of Xia Yu as a joke and watched as she embarrassed herself. However, Xia Yu remained ignorant and asked Xia Moyan in disbelief, ¡°Brother, you... You said that I¡¯m not qualified?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me brother.¡± Xia Moyan looked at her nkly. ¡°You aren¡¯t even my biological sister. Only Xiao Ling is. Xiao Ling is the family¡¯s most distinguished phoenix. As for you? You¡¯re just part of the branch family. If you really want to talk about how closely we are rted, we¡¯re probably distant cousins separated by god knows how many families.¡±

    They were distantly rted!

    Xia Yu acted as if she were struck by lightning and took a few steps back in disbelief.

    The audience watching was also very shocked. Xia Yu was not actually Xia Ling¡¯s biological sister but a distant cousin?! The gap between Xia Ling¡¯s honorable status and Xia Yu¡¯s status as a distant cousin was toorge! Xia Yu could never be as honorable as Xia Ling!

    ¡°I just knew that our Xiao Ling is the best.¡± Some fans patted their chests and sighed. Initially, they were worried that Xia Yu would bully Xia Ling after she was epted back into the family. Now, they did not need to worry any longer. Small fry like Xia Yu could neverpete with someone from the main family.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°I... I am the daughter of a side family?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan did not have any intentions of hiding anything. ¡°In the beginning, your parents adopted Xiao Ling and were very cruel towards her. They would abuse her, scold her, and hit her. After you were born, seeing that you were naturally sickly, they did not want to spend money on your treatment, so they sent you and Xiao Ling to the orphanage.¡±

    There was amotion in the audience. It turned out that people who abandoned Xia Ling and Xia Yu were Xia Yu¡¯s biological parents!

    ¡°What sort of evil people are they?¡± Many people sympathized with them. ¡°They are too cruel! Not only did they abandon their adopted daughter, but they also abandoned their biological daughter! Naturally sick children who do not receive treatment will die!¡±

    On the stage, even the emcee was shocked. ¡°The Preceptor, are you telling the truth? Xia Yu¡¯s parents did not even want her? Were they so poor that they were unwilling to pay the medical fees to save their daughter¡¯s life?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s parents were good-for-nothings. They were the poorest in the family. They were always starving and relied on the other n members to stay alive. Although they could ask for help to save Xia Yu, they had to work to repay them. However, they were unwilling to put in the effort to work, so they chose to abandon her.¡±

 Chapter 859 - Daughter of a Wealthy Family and Dirt

    <h4>Chapter 859: Daughter of a Wealthy Family and Dirt</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What he said exined the entire situation clearly.

    Everyone had a contemptuous look on their faces. What sort of parents were they?! Xia Yu was also quite miserable. Xia Yu had suchzy and ruthless parents. So what if she reunited with them again?

    On the big screen, Xia Moyan looked at Xia Yu¡¯s pale face. ¡°So, do you still want to reunite with them?¡±

    Xia Yu was distressed. How could this be? Didn¡¯t Wei Lingnan say that the Xia Family was very wealthy? After Xia Ling reunited with her family, she started to dress in silk and satin gowns. All of her formal gowns were made from the best designers, and even during this Neb Music Festival, she changed into three gowns of thetest season! Furthermore, she had a matching diamond and jade jewelry that was exceptionally expensive.

    Now, just by standing on stage, Xia Ling was glowing, looking like a piece of art.

    In this life, she was not a stunning beauty but took care of herself very well such that she was extremely beautiful now and a goddess in the hearts of many. As for Xia Yu? She had natural good looks, but after Wei Lingnan¡¯s torture in the past few years, she looked haggard and even cosmetics could notpletely cover up herck of vitality.

    Xia Ling was definitely prettier than her.

    This was the benefit of money and power. She was the true daughter of a rich household and a star.

    Initially, Xia Yu thought that once she reunited with her family, she would also be able to enjoy the same treatment. However, unexpectedly, her real parents were actually good-for-nothings! They even selfishly abandoned her!

    ¡°No... I don¡¯t believe it...¡± She mumbled wearily.

    Xia Ling was a little annoyed. ¡°So, do you want to reunite with your family? Make up your mind. This is a live-stream and the audience is still waiting. The show can¡¯t be dyed because of you.¡±

    The emcee was also brought back to reality. That¡¯s true, time was tight! She quickly raised her microphone. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, are you going to acknowledging your roots and ancestors or not? Since there¡¯s so many people and media representatives watching, it¡¯s a good chance for you to state your answer.¡± The emcee was focused on the gossip and did not mind the drama. She wanted to know if Xia Yu still wanted to reunite with her family after suffering such psychological damage from her parents.

    Xia Yu was very distracted. After hearing the emcee, she abruptly lifted her head.

    Finished... Her dreams of being part of a rich family went up in mes. It turned out that from the start, she was never from a rich family! In the past, she relied on Xia Ling in the orphanage. Moreover, Pei Ziheng adopted her only because of Xia Ling. Now, even when it came to reuniting with their families, she was still inferior to Xia Ling!

    Xia Yu was crestfallen. Why... Why was she so unlucky? Why was she always losing to Xia Ling?!

    Her eyes were filled with resentment. When she looked up and saw that the camera was pointed at her, she quickly covered her face and acted sorrowful. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect... my parents to be like this... They probably don¡¯t want me anymore...¡±

    She cried in devastation. She really suffered too much in her life. Why should Xia Ling stand in the clouds as a phoenix while she remained as lowly dust?!

    After a long time, the emcee started to be impatient. ¡°Miss Xia Yu... Miss Xia Yu... Can you stop crying? Although we all sympathize with you, this is a live show and have limited time. Can I ask if you are going to acknowledge your biological parents? Quickly tell everyone your decision.¡±

    As Xia Yu¡¯s crying was interrupted, she became furious. Did that small emcee think she could push her around? What sort of attitude was this?! She did not give her enough time to cry obviously because she looked down on her family background!

    She red at the host fiercely. The emcee was scared by her ferocious look and took a step back.

    This time, the cameras caught this scene.

    In front of the screen, many viewers said incredulously, ¡°Look, did you just see Xia Yu¡¯s expression? Why did she be so fierce? Wasn¡¯t she always very weak before? How terrifying!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t read a book by its cover. She probably suffered a huge blow and lost control of herself.¡± Another audience member said.

    Some even shook their heads. ¡°Initially, I sympathized with her. But how could she re at the emcee like that? The emcee did not even provoke her. How rude!¡±

    That one re was too sinister, causing many people to be disgusted.

    There were even people who whispered. ¡°No wonder she could plot against Xiao Ling¡¯s child. Judging from that look, she¡¯s probably not a good person. In fact, her former pitiful and weak personality was probably an act.¡±

    Very soon, this conjecture was posted online.

    Many people started discussing whether Xia Yu was weak and kind or just acting to gain the sympathy of others? Once a perfect act had cracks, it was difficult for her to cover up any longer.

    Onstage.

    Xia Ling also urged her. ¡°Xia Yu, are you going to acknowledge your parents or not? You spent so much effort to force me to ept your apology because you wanted to return to your family, right? Now that my brother has told you your identity, it can¡¯t be that you¡¯re hesitating, right? Children don¡¯t look down on their families because they¡¯re poor and won¡¯t ever think that their parents are ugly. You can¡¯t refuse to acknowledge them because they aren¡¯t the best people.¡±

    Xia Ling was very happy. In fact, she was gloating over Xia Yu¡¯s misfortune. Hahaha... After being the victim of Xia Yu¡¯s schemes for so long, she finally got what she deserved! She felt as happy as ark and almost wanted to sing in glee.

    After hearing her urges, Xia Yu knew that she couldn¡¯t avoid this any longer.

    Gritting her teeth, she said, ¡°How could I not acknowledge them? No matter how my parents treated me, they¡¯re still my biological parents. I... I still hope that after acknowledging them, I can support them.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little surprised.

    She initially thought that Xia Yu would think of a way to evade this and not acknowledge her humiliating parents. Unexpectedly, Xia Yu acknowledged them. Had she really changed and be kinder?

    She looked at Xia Yu in bewilderment.

    She did not know that Xia Yu was on a mission. She had no choice but to acknowledge her parents. Even if the entire world mocked her for returning home, she still had to get the flower and be ountable to Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Moyan spoke as calmly as before. ¡°Your parents are part of the Xia Family. Since you want to acknowledge them, as the Xia Family Preceptor, I have to tell you a few things. Firstly, if you did not acknowledge them, based on your rtionship with Xiao Ling in the orphanage, you could still call her ¡®sister.¡¯ However, since you acknowledged your family, there are rules that you have to follow. As a daughter of a family in the side branches, you have to call Xiao Ling ¡®Miss Ling.¡¯¡±

    The color was drained from Xia Yu¡¯s face. This was tantamount to hammering a nail into her heart. In this life, she always lost to Xia Ling no matter how hard she fought back. And now, she lost even more miserably!

 Chapter 860 - Marriage Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 860: Marriage Proposal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Miss Ling!

    This also meant that Xia Ling was the daughter of an eminent family while she was only a lowly servant!

    Xia Yu never thought that her background would be so inferior to Xia Ling¡¯s. Weren¡¯t they sisters? How could this be... They were actually not biological sisters! She was only the daughter of a lowly side branch family!

    She... refused to ept this!

    However, so what?

    There were only two routes she could take now. She could either acknowledge her roots and ancestors or rot to death by Wei Lingnan¡¯s poison!

    Where¡¯s there¡¯s life there¡¯s hope...

    Xia Yu recited this phrase in her heart to remind herself to endure the shame. After a long time, she finally found her weak and deferent voice again. ¡°I¡¯m an orphan. Now, after so long, I¡¯ve finally found my parents. To acknowledge them, I¡¯m willing to do anything. Miss Ling.¡± She turned around to face Xia Ling. ¡°Since you¡¯re so resolute, I won¡¯t ask for your forgiveness anymore. However, whether you acknowledge me or not, in heart, you will always be my sister...¡± As she spoke, tears flowed down her cheeks again.

    At this time, she was still trying to gain sympathy?

    Xia Ling was really annoyed and ignored her. She asked her brother, ¡°What¡¯s the second condition?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Xia Yu, the second condition is that you have to obey the rules of the Xia Family. Not only do you have to respect Xiao Ling, but there are also many taboos. You must think about it carefully. Once you return to the family, there¡¯s no room for change anymore. For example¡ª¡±

    He nced at the numerous audience who were listening attentively and stopped talking. ¡°When you return, people will tell you slowly.¡± He initially wanted to say that she could not leave as she pleased, but after taking into ount the number of people present, he decided that it was best not to say it. Besides, ordinary people did not understand the significance of the Xia Family¡¯s rules and would only criticize him for being too harsh.

    It was not as if the family did not have children who wandered out of the family.

    These children grew up in society, away from the n, and epted the teachings and value systems of the outside world. Every time they wanted to acknowledge their roots and ancestors, the Xia Family would always tell them that in the future, they could no longer leave.

    They always had the freedom to choose whether to acknowledge their roots or not.

    Even if some children chose not to do so and continued to live away from the family, they would receive the blessing and understanding from the Xia Family.

    However, Xia Yu was different. She chose this live TV program that had a national audience to directly force Xia Ling to let her in the family. It was not suitable for the Xia Family to reveal internal matters to the public. As such, Xia Moyan did not warn Xia Yu in advance. When Xia Yu realized that she would be unable to leave after she entered the family, it would be all toote.

    However, so what?

    It was all her own doing.

    Xia Moyan did not sympathize with her at all.

    Sure enough, ignorant Xia Yu said, ¡°I¡¯m willing! I¡¯m willing to follow any rule! Bro... No, The Preceptor, I beg you. Please let me return to the family. I really miss my parents...¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded. ¡°Ok.¡±

    It was so easy to return home? A sudden burst of joy made Xia Yu dizzy. She wiped her tears and thanked Xia Moyan. However, Xia Moyan said, ¡°I have been held up for too long. You can leave now. I have some things to discuss with Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Yu was startled. Xia Ling was startled. The audience was startled.

    Wait, so the purpose of The Preceptor¡¯s video call was not to settle Xia Yu¡¯s return to the family?

    Only a triad boss who had some interaction with The Preceptor before sipped on his wine and said to his wife, ¡°How can Preceptor Xia appear for a small fry like Xia Yu considering his honorable status? He surely has something else and only settled Xia Yu¡¯s business in passing.¡±

    His wife smiled and nodded. ¡°I also guessed that he came for his sister.¡±

    On stage, Xia Yu had not reacted yet.

    Xia Moyan urged her. ¡°Emcee, I heard you say that time is precious on the show?¡±

    As if she were awoken from a dream, the emcee quickly drove Xia Yu away. ¡°Miss Xia, that¡¯s great. You¡¯re done acknowledging your parents and you look overwhelmed with emotion. I will get someone to support you down the stage.¡± After that, she nced at the staff and the staff quickly half-dragged Xia Yu down the stage.

    Poor Xia Yu. She was so confident when she went on stage but looked so miserable when she went down the stage.

    In a dream-like state, she returned to the dressing room and watched the broadcast with everyone else. She saw that Xia Ling¡¯s sheer dress was really eye-catching and she was looking at her brother curiously and in confusion. Her gaze was naturally innocent and delicate, unlike the respect way people were when they looked at The Preceptor.

    Xia Ling asked her brother, ¡°Now, can you exin the purpose of your video call?¡±

    Xia Moyan looked warmly at his sister. ¡°Today, a guest visited our family.¡±

    ¡°A guest?¡± Xia Ling blinked in confusion.

    ¡°Do you still remember what day it is today?¡± Xia Moyan asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the day of the Neb Music Festival?¡± Xia Ling was still lost.

    Xia Moyan bowed his head slightly and picked up a pair of delicate jade twin lotus flowers on a stalk from the sandalwood table. Every detail of the lotus was perfect from the thin p-like lotus petals to the elegant and slender and naturally curved leaves. The jade carving was in a well-preserved color and it shined in front of the camera.

    ¡°How beautiful...¡± Many people sighed.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Today, someone came to the house to send this over.¡±

    Xia Ling was still confused. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Stupid girl.¡± Behind the camera, an old manughed. After that, the Xia Family Head, who was wearing a traditional Chinese tunic, ced his hand on Xia Moyan¡¯s shoulder and squeezed into the frame. ¡°The kid from the Li Family came here to propose! He brought over so many gifts and said he wanted you to be his wife. Seriously, why are you still working on such an important day? Even if you win a big award, is it as important as your proposal day?¡±

    Xia Ling waspletely dumbfounded. What? Li Lei actually asked for her family¡¯s permission to marry her?

    He... Didn¡¯t he say he would do it another day?!

    Xia Ling felt that she was being tricked. ¡°You... you two aren¡¯t joking, right? I¡¯m not mentally prepared at all.¡±

    The Xia Family Head continued tough. ¡°You don¡¯t need to mentally prepare for this. I think quite highly of the kid from the Li Family. Listen to your dad, pack up and prepare to get married!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. <i>Dad, are you really my biological dad?</i>

    Why did she feel that he treated Li Lei better than his own daughter?

    Xia Ling looked at her brother weakly. Could it be that her brother also agreed to it?

    The camera was turned to Xia Moyan¡¯s side again. This time, Li Lei, Old Master Li, Uncle Li, Aunt Li, and other well-dressed rtives were seen on the screen.

    Li Lei smiled at Xia Ling through the video call and went on one knee. ¡°Xiao Ling, marry me.¡±

 Chapter 861 - Marry Him

    <h4>Chapter 861: Marry Him</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling suspected that she was hallucinating. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Marry me.¡± Li Lei said one word at a time. Under the soft light, his face was unusually handsome. His facial features looked like they were hand-carved by famous craftsmen. In this situation, he did not appear to have the slightest w. His thin lips softly uttered those words, making countless girls blush.

    Unconsciously, some people ced their hands on their hearts.

    Some people held their partners¡¯ hands.

    There were some girls who held their hot cheeks and softly replied, ¡°I am willing.¡± They wished they could rece Xia Ling and immediately agree. Big Boss Li was so rich, powerful, young, handsome, and caring. A man like him was hard toe by. Anyone who passed on him was an idiot!

    ¡°Quickly say that you¡¯re willing, Xiao Ling.¡± In the dressing room, Luo Luo became nervous and unknowingly grabbed Bai Murong¡¯s arm. Bai Murong nced at his beloved woman lovingly.

    On the stage, Xia Ling stammered. ¡°You... Didn¡¯t you agree to postpone the date? Why did you secretly run to my home?¡± At such an important event with so many eyes staring at her in anticipation, she still did not forget to bring up this old promise. The audience was driven to tears watching Xia Ling.

    Li Lei continued to smile gently. ¡°How can I change the date set by your brother? Besides, I also wanted to give you a surprise.¡± The date of the proposal was set by Xia Moyan on a prosperous day. He would not dare to change it since her brother disliked him so much.

    He already made the decision a long time ago to stick to the original n.

    As for the fact that Xiao Ling was upied on that day? Not a problem. He could just make a long-distance video call and let the entire world see how much he loved this girl. He wanted to announce to the whole world that this girl belonged to him!

    Pei Ziheng, Rong Ping, Feng Kun, and Wei Shaoyin... They should all make way! Xiao Ling was his!

    Big Boss Li smiled even more warmly. ¡°Xiao Ling, marry me. I will cook for you every day, drive you to your jobs, y with you and Shaohui, and read bedtime stories to you every day. Don¡¯t you like wearing beautiful clothes? I will order as many sets as you like. You like shiny jewelry, so you can choose all the crystals and diamonds you want. I will apany you when you go shopping and traveling... No matter where you go, I will always be by your side.¡±

    ¡°Spend your whole life with me, ok?¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡± In the dressing room, Luo Luo and the thousands of viewers eximed unanimously. Big Boss Li¡¯s promation of love was too moving, they couldn¡¯t help themselves.

    Bai Murong red at Luo Luo in annoyance and flicked her forehead. ¡°What do you mean ¡®ok¡¯?! I¡¯m your boyfriend!¡±

    Luo Luo lowered her head with tears in her eyes. ¡°But Xiao Ling and he are too romantic... Murong, when are you going to propose to me? I also want it to be that romantic.¡±

    Bai Murong¡¯s expression softened and rubbed the area that he hit her at. ¡°You want to get married? Sure. Very soon, I will propose to you.¡±

    Only then did Luo Luo smile happily.

    Onstage, Xia Ling was also moved by his promation. Happiness came so suddenly that she was left speechless. Although she already knew that she would marry him and that he would eventually propose to her one day, when this day really came, she was as overwhelmed as a young girl who was in love for the first time.

    Such a solemn ceremony in front of the entire world.

    Her eyes turned misty.

    ¡°Wow, Xiao Ling is moved to tears...¡± Some fans eximed. ¡°Xiao Ling rarely cries. She must be really happy... Even the way she cries is so beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Say yes, say yes, say yes!¡± Many viewers couldn¡¯t help but say.

    Below the stage, the audience started chanting. ¡°Xiao Ling, say yes! Xiao Ling, say yes! Xiao Ling, say yes!¡± Very quickly, the cheer gained momentum.

    As the crowd chanted, Li Lei continued to kneel and look at his beloved woman. ¡°You see, so many people think that marrying me is not bad. What reason do you have to reject me?¡± When he smiled, his dimples were revealed. He tilted his head and said, ¡°I have even created a live poll.¡±

    At this time, the emcee interrupted and said very excitedly, ¡°That¡¯s right, Miss Ling. At the request of Mr. Li Lei, we have started a live poll regarding whether the public thinks you should marry him. Option A: Marry him. Option B: Marry him. Option C: Marry him. Option D: Marry him! The audience is voting very enthusiastically!¡±

    On the screen, the four options were highlighted. In just a few short minutes, thousands of votes were already in. Marry him, marry him, marry him...

    Every choice was to marry him!

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you manipting the results...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s beautiful eyes were still stained with tears, but she couldn¡¯t help butugh. Looking at her beloved man, she asked, ¡°Can you not be so unscrupulous?¡±

    ¡°I care about popr opinion.¡± Li Lei did not feel ashamed at all. Looking at the audience, he smiled and raised his voice. ¡°Thank you for supporting us, everyone. Those present will all receive a small gift from me. And those who voted, you will also receive a small gift.¡±

    Everyone cheered. A gift! A gift from Big Boss Li!

    ¡°Marry him! Marry him! Marry him!¡± The audience cheered even louder.

    The online voting participation soared. The words ¡°Marry him¡± were erged on the screen.

    In the excitement, Li Lei looked affectionately at Xia Ling and said again, ¡°Marry me.¡±

    Xia Ling finally couldn¡¯t resist the uproar and heard herself softly say, ¡°Ok.¡±

    It was a simple word, but it was linked to the most solemn promise. Wearing a sheer dress on stage, her skin was white and her hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. She was truly in her best state.

    The cheers rang in the hall and swallowed her at that moment.

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing! Really amazing!¡± Some fans grabbed their boyfriends¡¯ hands in tears. ¡°Our Xiao Ling had a hard life. She endured so much hardship but finally, she can be together with her beloved man!¡±

    There were also many fans who hugged in celebration of their engagement.

    Big Boss Li was very sessful in his proposal. He received the blessings of Xia Ling¡¯s fans and countless other viewers. He slowly stood up and said to Xia Ling gently, ¡°Wait for me to marry you.¡±

 Chapter 862 - Campaign for Votes

    <h4>Chapter 862: Campaign for Votes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As the figure in the video gradually faded, there was silence once again.

    Xia Ling, who was so happy that she could explode, walked down the stage in a daze and went back to therge dressing room.

    Luo Luo rushed up and hugged her. ¡°Xiao Ling, this is amazing! Congrattions on finally being able to marry Big Boss Li!¡± Her shrill voice echoed in the room.

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling, many people sent flowers over.¡± Wei Wei smiled and pointed at the pile of bouquets of roses, lilies, tulips and fans¡¯ cards filled with congrattory words.

    Lin Yunan and the others also came forward to congratte her.

    Xia Ling epted their well-wishes and said, ¡°I never thought that this would happen. It came too suddenly.¡± After that, she smiled. ¡°On the day of our marriage, all of you have toe and celebrate with us.¡±

    ¡°Yes, definitely.¡± Everyone agreed.

    Only then did Xia Ling nod in satisfaction. ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. I have to continue changing clothes. Luo Luo,ter I will be your cheerleader. I will definitely make sure you win the Best Single Award!¡± After the marriage proposal, she became extremely popr and it was easier to campaign for votes now.

    Luo Luo was also very happy. ¡°Ok! Xiao Ling give me some of your luck so that Murong and I can be as happy as you and Boss Li!¡±

    ¡°I definitely will.¡± Xia Ling went into the changing room and then sat on the seat to be styled. This was her fourth gown and it was as beautiful as the previous ones. It made those female celebrities who had a hard time borrowing even one of these high-end gowns jealous.

    Finally, it was time for the voting for the Best Single Award.

    The onespeting for this award were Luo Luo, Xia Yu, and three other singers from otherpanies.

    The performance of Luo Luo¡¯s single was not bad, so the other singers couldn¡¯t help but feel afraid. Only Xia Yu, who had just made aeback with a shocking improvement in her vocals and acknowledged her family despite their lowly status, was too miserable and won many sympathy votes from the viewers. Thus, she turned into a strongpetitor.

    ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s song is actually not bad.¡± An audience member said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Another audience member said. ¡°She specially wrote it to apologize to her sister and poured so many emotions into it. Even though she made a mistake andmitted a crime, she¡¯s about to pay the price. We shouldn¡¯t be prejudiced. This award may be the final one she gets before she receives her punishment.¡±

    Some people felt sorry for her and could not help but feel like voting for Xia Yu.

    Seeing that she was about to surrender herself to the police, they wanted her to have a beautiful memory before she received her punishment.

    ¡°Maybe Luo Luo¡¯s appeal is not enough.¡± The producers shook their heads in the lounge. ¡°If it were Miss Ling, no matter how tragic Xia Yu¡¯s story is, it would not be enough to sway the crowd at all.¡±

    As Feng Kun nodded, he sipped his tea.

    Regardless of the background or the song, Xia Yu really sang better than Luo Luo. Furthermore, Luo Luo¡¯s song was released about a year ago and the audience was getting tired of it. On the contrary, Xia Yu sang her song for the first time today. It made people awestruck. Thus, she could easily gain votes.

    However, if it were Xia Ling, things would be different.

    Xia Ling¡¯s strength was overwhelming, and no matter what Xia Yu tried, she couldn¡¯t be affected.

    ¡°However, it doesn¡¯t mean that Luo Luo doesn¡¯t have a chance at all.¡± Another producer said. ¡°Miss Ling is her cheerleader. Tonight, the brightest female celebrity will help her campaign for votes. This can make up for Luo Luo¡¯s ws.¡±

    ¡°So the winner of the Best Single Award will depend on the votes.¡± Someone concluded.

    Onstage, several cheerleaders were present.

    Beside Luo Luo was Xia Ling, causing a deafening cheer when she went on stage. She was really popr today. From the red carpet to the dream-like finale. She amazed the crowd from the start to the end and received a marriage proposal that all girls dreamt of... Now, they looked Xia Ling as if she were their goddess. No matter what she said or did, their eyes would always be focused on her, even if she were just sitting quietly.

    Xia Ling nced at the group of singers.

    Many singers were very rxed and some even looked dignified. They already knew that they would not win and gave up fighting for the award. They only wanted to get this over with elegantly, so they were very rxed.

    Only Xia Yu wished topete with Luo Luo.

    She originally debuted at the same time as Luo Luo and Xia Ling. Now, Xia Ling reached the pinnacle of her career while Luo Luo won many awards in session. Only her name was thrown in the dirt for lip-syncing. After returning to the music scene, she made up her mind to make Wei Lingnan improve her voice and revitalize her path to stardom!

    After she handed the flower from the Xia Family to Wei Lingnan and received the antidote, she would be able to continue her job in the music industry. With her present talent, there was a possibility that she could be a Diva!

    As for the fact that she tried to murder Shaohui?

    Shaohui was not dead yet. He was still alive and well. Furthermore, even if she admitted her guilt...

    She would not receive any severe punishment.

    Xia Yu took everything into ount. Onstage, she looked at Xia Ling with some vignce. She only hoped that Luo Luo would not gain too many votes because of Xia Ling. If she couldn¡¯t win the Best Single Award, she would lose to a second-rate artiste! That would be humiliating!

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling¡¯s appeal was far beyond her imagination.

    Xia Ling smiled as she lifted the microphone. ¡°You all know that Luo Luo is my good friend. However, very few people know how Luo Luo and I became friends, am I right?¡±

    Everyone was startled. What she said was true.

    They all knew that both of them were from the same batch in Skyart Entertainment. However, there were so many other people in the same batch as them. How did Luo Luo, who waster transferred to Imperial Entertainment, be friends with Xia Ling? Xia Ling was not very friendly. After being in the music industry for so many years, she had few friends; it really made everyone curious.

    The emcee asked the question that everyone was asking themselves. ¡°Xiao Ling, how about you tell everyone how you and Luo Luo became friends?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled lightly. She told everyone about how she was bullied in the training camp and received Luo Luo¡¯s help. After that, she said, ¡°In the beginning, when I was suffering so much, only Luo Luo was willing to help me. Now that I¡¯m a Diva, it¡¯s time for me to help my friend. My fans, I hope that you can all support Luo Luo. If you support her, you are supporting me. As for the other audience members, even though you¡¯re not my fans, I hope that you can also vote for Luo Luo. Her songs are her representatives. She¡¯s really clean and simple. She genuinely puts her heart and soul into singing her songs.¡±

 Chapter 863 - Retrieving Her Jacket

    <h4>Chapter 863: Retrieving Her Jacket</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    With Xia Ling¡¯s massive influence, Luo Luo¡¯s votes skyrocketed in an instant, overtaking Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face turned white in her anger, but there was nothing she could do. It was her fault that she couldn¡¯t find someone of Xia Ling¡¯s standing to be her backer. Her backer was a third-rate singer that was called over at thest minute, who was hoping to gain some notice leeching off Xia Yu¡¯s poprity. Xia Yu was bitter but knew that all was lost.

    Luo Luo got the award for Best Song of the Year and went onstage to ept her award with a sweet smile on her face.

    The other singers who lost out of the award maintained theirposure, smiling and apuding Luo Luo, some even offering encouraging embraces and congratting her. When it was Xia Yu¡¯s turn, Luo Luo whispered, ¡°Sister Xia Yu, thank you for letting me win. I wish you all the best for next year¡¯s award... Oh wait... sorry... you won¡¯t be here next year, right?¡±

    Xia Yu didn¡¯t expect to be jeered at by Luo Luo, and she struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

    Luo Luo was making reference to the fact that given Xia Yu was going to turn herself in after the event today, there was a good chance that she would be in jail when next year came around! Xia Yu gritted her teeth and whispered back to her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me... what pride do you have, winning the award because of your friend¡¯s poprity?¡±

    Luo Luo smiled sweetly. ¡°That¡¯s still better than some people... who can¡¯t even find a good friend to help her out.¡±

    Xia Yu only now realized that the usually innocent and lovable Luo Luo could be this vicious when she was trying to be insulting. Every word Luo Luo said hit her where it hurt. She had suffered so many blows today¡ªthe price she was going to pay for wanting to return to the Xia Family, paling inparison to Xia Ling by a mile... Luo Luo¡¯s insults seemed to have snapped the nerve of rationality in her mind, and she couldn¡¯t resist but give her a death re that was full of hatred.

    ¡°Quick... go back! Capture Xia Yu¡¯s expression and y it back!¡± The director excitedly eximed in the editing studio.

    He had caught sight of Xia Yu¡¯s re in that split second, and the hatred that spilled out of her eyes was a huge juxtaposition to her usual sweet image. So was she this scary after experiencing failure?

    ¡°Go back, rewind!¡± The director was rubbing his hands together with glee. ¡°Zoom in! We can be top of the viewership board with this scene!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t a charity program, and the aim was not to portray the artistes in a harmonious and good light. Neb Music Festival generally sought to have several dramatic moments like these in their show. They wanted there to bepetition, and for there to be clear winners. Of course, the expression of the people who failed to win awards were in the spotlight as well. Xia Yu¡¯s re was full of jealousy and indignance, a dramatic twist from her usual image. This was going to cause some buzz!

    As expected, the inte blew up with discussion with the yback.

    ¡°Did you guys see that? Xia Yu red at Luo Luo! She red at Luo Luo!¡± Many people were re-sharing the screen capture. ¡°This is just too shocking! And I thought she was weak and innocent! I was just praying that the police would show leniency to her! Who would have thought that she was actually such an evil person?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes...¡± Many agreed. ¡°So much for being all remorseful and regretful... She doesn¡¯t dare offend Xiao Ling, so she¡¯s taking it out on her friend? Everyone else that lost out on the award is congratting Luo Luo. Only Xia Yu is being all hateful about it! Does she think that our Luo Luo can be easily bullied? She¡¯s horrible!¡±

    ¡°You really can¡¯t tell a book by its cover!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is really a ster actress!¡±

    Suddenly, countless online forums ofizens turned against Xia Yu. Poor Xia Yu had almost undid all the sympathy that she had received earlier with that one re!

    ¡°Let her go to prison!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, just go to prison already!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯te back to the entertainment circle and be a menace to others!¡±

    Xia Yu was informed of the change in the tide of the online forums by the assistant when she went backstage and felt even more hatred towards Luo Luo and Xia Ling. However, she couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°Where¡¯s Manager Li?¡± She threw her temper at her assistant. ¡°Why isn¡¯t he here yet? My jacket is still with him! I need to change and leave!¡± There weren¡¯t many more scenes for her to appear in. She was keen to change and leave the broadcast station as soon as possible, to avoid more attention. Tonight was truly an embarrassing night!

    Her assistant stuttered in her nervousness ¡°Li... Manager Li called to say that he¡¯s having diarrhea and had to leave early. Before he left, he passed me his car keys. Miss Xia Yu, I... I¡¯ll go retrieve your jacket for you.¡±

    ¡°Hurry and go!¡± Xia Yu bristled.

    Her assistant left feeling wronged. She was a fresh graduate and was excited to enter a bigpany like Imperial Entertainment, and to be an artiste¡¯s assistant. However, she was now really worried about her future since she was assigned to Xia Yu, who appeared to be racking up quite a criminal record and had a horrendous temper. What would the future hold for her?

    Even though she was a fresh graduate, she was still sharp enough to realize that the attitude that General Manager Chu Chen showed towards Xia Yu indicated that Xia Yu was not one of the top priority stars in thepany.

    Many of the other assistants that had entered thepany at the same time were doing well working with other artistes.

    What was she to do?

    The assistant was walking dejectedly when she heard someone call out to her. ¡°Mei Mei!¡±

    Mei Mei turned and saw that it was the assistant of the new singer in Imperial that thepany was pushing as a top priority, and her best friend Ah Rou. Ah Rou walked quickly up to her and gleefully said, ¡°Mei Mei, what a coincidence! I was just about to look for you these few days. Brother Lie is looking for a new assistant... do you want to jump ship?¡±

    Mei Mei¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Brother Lie is looking for an assistant? Really?¡± Hua Lie was Imperial¡¯s most promising new singer, and many in the industry said that Imperial was grooming him to be the Heavenly King Zheng Chenghao¡¯s recement. His path ahead was bright and promising. Mei Mei¡¯s good friend Ah Rou was an assistant under Hua Lie.

    Ah Rou sheepishly said, ¡°There was originally no additional headcount, but I was recently found to be pregnant, so it will be hard for me to follow Brother Lie all over the ce. Brother Lie doesn¡¯t want to work with someone he doesn¡¯t know; hence, I rmended you. Mei Mei, you¡¯re the most meticulous of our batch of new hires! If you work for Brother Lie, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be satisfied!¡±

    Mei Mei was just getting worried about her future prospects, so this was the perfect opportunity for her.

    She smiled and said without hesitation, ¡°Okay, Sister Xia Yu doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯llst much longer. If Brother Lie is happy to hire me, I can go over any time.¡±

    Ah Rou pped her hands and said happily, ¡°That¡¯s great! Now I can put aside my worries. Mei Mei, it just so happens that Brother Lie is here tonight as well. Do you want toe see him now? If Brother Lie agrees to hire you, everything will be settled.¡±

    ¡°But... I...¡± Mei Mei wanted to say that she had to help Xia Yu retrieve her jacket. However, she thought about how badly Xia Yu was treating her and decided that the meeting with Brother Lie for this new opportunity should take priority! Hence, she said, ¡°It¡¯s fine... where¡¯s Brother Lie? Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two young assistants chatted happily as they went off in search of Hua Lie.

    Leaving Xia Yu alone, staring at her reflection in the mirror, waiting anxiously for Mei Mei to bring her jacket back.

 Chapter 864 - The Diva Flew Away

    <h4>Chapter 864: The Diva Flew Away</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The most important prize of the Neb Music Festival was the Best Male and Female Singer awards.

    This year¡¯s Best Female Singer was awarded to Xia Ling as expected.

    The emcee joked as she regarded Xia Ling, who was dressed in an exquisite silver evening gown and essorized with expensive jewelry, on stage. ¡°You¡¯ve won the award for four years running now, Xiao Ling. The Best Female Singer award is almost bing Neb Music Festival¡¯s most predictable award. As long as you are around, the other female singers don¡¯t stand any chance!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and modestly responded that everyone was being too kind.

    She enjoyed getting into conflicts and would never back down from a fight, rarely showing this humble side of her. Standing on stage, in the middle of the spotlight now, she didn¡¯te across as arrogant or boastful. This was the aura of a Diva at the apex of her poprity. Any number of awards to her was to be expected.

    She was no longer surprised or fazed by these des.

    The emcee praised her over and over, and the cameramen and reporters kept snapping photos of her. Even though she had won the award for four years running, there was something about her that was able to continually keep everyone¡¯s interest. Any scene with her would have high viewership ratings. Now, the inte was brimming in excitement. ¡°Look, quick, Xiao Ling is getting her award! I was right, she is still the Best Female Singer this year! Our Xiao Ling is the best!¡±

    ¡°Look at that dress she¡¯s wearing... it¡¯s amazing! This is the fourth dress she¡¯s changed into today, isn¡¯t it? It really brings out her elegance.¡± Many girls discussed her outfit in excitement.

    ¡°Of course she looks pretty!¡± A long-time fan said proudly. ¡°Every time Xiao Ling attends an event she buys her own outfits! Her haute-couture gowns are in the hundreds of thousands to the millions. She doesn¡¯t wear each outfit more than once, and they are all stored in a special showroom in Phoenix Down Corporation for everyone to see. Unlike some artistes... they will always need to borrow or get sponsorships for their haute couture gowns, and would have to return them after the event.¡±

    People responded in agreement. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. Xiao Ling is really a wealthy daughter!¡±

    They were excited and proud to be Xia Ling¡¯s fans, and would discuss everything about her... from the things she wore, to her every action, and even the length and color of her hair. They were going to talk through the night today.

    The ceremony ended and Xia Ling returned to the backstage makeup room.

    Many artistes were packing up and preparing to leave.

    Xia Ling changed out of her gown into a little ck dress, draping a tasseled scarf over her shoulders, the perfect embodiment of being exquisitely low-key. She was in a good mood. Picking up her Chanel clutch, she said to Lin Yunan, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Lin Yunan had his arms crossed in front of his chest and stayed where he was. ¡°Even if you dress as ck as ink, don¡¯t think you¡¯ll safely be able to go unnoticed by the reporters. Do you think they¡¯ll just let you go after you¡¯ve revealed something so groundbreaking tonight?¡±

    Before he had finished his sentence, Wei Wei, who had gone to scout an escape route, came back in a fluster. ¡°Miss Xiao Ling, it¡¯spletely packed outside. Other than reporters, there¡¯s a whole bunch of fans with banners showing their support. They are all waiting for you.¡± Wei Wei reported dutifully, her eyes round in mild panic.

    Several of the artistes that had initially left the room came back.

    ¡°Madam Ling...¡± One of themined. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault... Can you please hurry up and leave already? We all can¡¯t leave until you do...¡± All the exits were clogged up by the reporters and fans.

    Xia Ling went to the window and looked out. The crowd below shocked her as well.

    All she did was announce her marriage... what was the big deal? Why were there so many people waiting for her? The entire road downstairs was crowded with people, and it stretched all the way to the crossing a good hundred meters away. There was no way to escape.

    ¡°It¡¯s all Li Lei¡¯s fault.¡± She seethed. ¡°Why would he choose to propose at such a big event like this?¡±

    Lin Yunan joked. ¡°You can take it out on him when you get home. At this rate, the only way to escape is via helicopter.¡±

    Xia Ling took him seriously and asked for the coordinates of the broadcast station, as well as whether a helicopter couldnd on the roof of the building. The response from the broadcast station was disappointing. ¡°Miss Ling, our rooftop is too small. The helicopter can only put down a rope. It¡¯s too dangerous... we won¡¯t let you take the risk.¡±

    If she were to identally fall to her death, the broadcast station could not run the risk of being held liable.

    Xia Ling was depressed. ¡°Then what am I going to do? Little Shaohui is waiting for me at home to read him a bedtime story... boohoohoo...¡±

    The other artistes in the room were depressed as well. Miss Diva Xiao Ling, we are all waiting for you to go home as well!

    Lin Yunan gave an evil smile. ¡°Who said there¡¯s no way out?¡±

    The eyes of Xia Ling and the other artistes lit up. They asked simultaneously, ¡°How?¡±

    ...

    Outside the broadcast station, reporters with cameras of all sizes were camping out by the exit, with the army of fans behind them.

    ¡°Why is Miss Ling still noting out?¡± One of the reporters asked a fellow colleague. ¡°With this crowd outside, the other artistes are probably also stuck in the station. Even if not for herself, shouldn¡¯t she think for the other artistes ande out already? If she doesn¡¯t leave, everyone else can¡¯t, right?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± His colleague nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be much longer. So many people will be putting pressure on her. Let¡¯s just wait patiently a little while more.¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm... wait patiently...¡± The reporters encouraged one another, as did the fans waiting out in the street.

    Suddenly...

    ¡°Look over there! What¡¯s that?!¡± Someone shouted out.

    ¡°Many lifted their heads to look up at the night sky. A helicopter was hovering above the broadcast station, dropping a ropedder near to the rooftop.

    ¡°It¡¯s a helicopter! Is Xiao Ling going to leave on that helicopter?!¡± One of the fans shouted.

    Everyone was close to tears at hearing this posttion. It couldn¡¯t be... they had been waiting for so long... Do you mean Xia Ling was going to just fly away like that? Was she going to be so cruel?

    Many were disappointed.

    Some were consoling one another. ¡°No, it¡¯s just a coincidence... it can¡¯t be her...¡±

    They then saw a petite girl dressed in a ck hoodie climbing up the ropedder to the helicopter.

    ¡°Bye... I¡¯m going to fly home now...¡± Fans saw Xia Ling update on her official Weibo channel.

    ¡°Are you serious?!¡±

    ¡°Oh no!¡±

    ¡°Oh my God, she¡¯s really going to fly away?!¡±

    Everyone was upset from waiting in the cold night for so long. Why? Why was their Diva going to fly away like that? Fly away!

    Many of the reporters and fans were close to tears in their disappointment.

    ¡°Alright, forget it... we can just take a few more shots of other artistes, then.¡± They grumbled.

    Some of the disappointed fans were already dispersing. They were here to see Xiao Ling. Since Xiao Ling was already gone, why waste time waiting for the other artistes? They were better off going home.

 Chapter 865 - Throwing Xia Yu Under the Bus

    <h4>Chapter 865: Throwing Xia Yu Under the Bus</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In about ten minutes, the crowd had dispersed significantly.

    Watching from the window of the makeup room, Xia Lingplimented. ¡°Big Manager Lin, you¡¯re still the most resourceful. You¡¯ve managed to take in so many of them using that helicopter decoy.¡±

    Lin Yunan smiled arrogantly. ¡°Of course. Remember who you are talking about here.¡±

    The broadcast station wouldn¡¯t let Xia Ling board the helicopter, and they had to abide by their rules given that they were on the broadcast station premises. Thankfully, Lin Yunan thought of the alternative n of getting a bodyguard to board the helicopter as a decoy. The bodyguards that followed Xiao Ling around were all highly skilled. Climbing up a ropedder to the helicopter was a piece of cake.

    The broadcast station had no choice but to agree given Lin Yunan¡¯s persuasive powers, coupled with the reliable-looking bodyguard.

    The female bodyguard that was of simr build and size to Xia Ling impersonated her to scale the ropedder. This proved effective. Not only did no one realize it wasn¡¯t Xia Ling, but the bulk of the crowd had also dispersed as a result.

    The other artistes were overjoyed and bade Xia Ling goodbye as they made their exit.

    Xia Ling was about to follow when Lin Yunan stopped her. ¡°Are you stupid? You think you can leave as easily as them? Believe me... the moment you step out of this ce, you¡¯ll be surrounded by the remaining reporters and fans.¡±

    The reporters and fans wouldn¡¯t react so strongly with the other artistes. Even though some would get excited, many would maintain their sanity. Hence, they could leave quite safely. Xia Ling, on the other hand, would garner way too much attention.

    Xia Ling was close to tears. ¡°But... but... I want to go home... boohoohoo...¡±

    She watched enviously as the other artistes broke free from the crowd with their assistants and managers in tow, leaving for home on their respective vans.

    Lin Yunan rolled his eyes. ¡°Go home? You can just wait here patiently until everyone has left. You can only leave this ce when almost everyone is gone.¡±

    ¡°Then, how long do I have to wait...¡±

    ¡°Optimistically... an hour or two...¡± Lin Yunan nced at his watch and estimated.

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again. An hour or two? Then Shaohui could only go to bed around midnight? The child was clingy right now, and especially on an important day like this when ¡°Daddy proposed to mummy,¡± he would be waiting up for her back home. She looked pleadingly at Lin Yunan. ¡°Do you have any other bright ideas for the crowd to go away more quickly?¡±

    ¡°Idea...¡± Lin Yunan enjoyed when she begged him for help. He said, ¡°Of course, a wonderful manager like me will have some more ideas.¡± He snapped his fingers. ¡°Wei Wei,e here.¡±

    Wei Wei came over, a look of confusion on her face.

    Lin Yunan gave her a series of instructions.

    ¡°Wow... that¡¯s so despicable!¡±

    ¡°Wow... that¡¯s so despicable!¡±

    Xia Ling and Wei Wei remarked simultaneously. What horrible idea was this?

    Lin Yunan rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine, don¡¯t do it. The one that wants to go home urgently isn¡¯t me.¡±

    Xia Ling became anxious. ¡°Fine, do it! It¡¯s worth a shot! I¡¯ve had the short end of the stick with Xia Yu so many times, it¡¯s about time I get one back at her. This doesn¡¯t even amount to the interest on the debt she owes me. Wei Wei, go for it.¡±

    Wei Wei also remarked. ¡°Well, I guess despicable people should be dealt with using despicable means! Brother Lin, your idea is a good one! I¡¯ll go do as you say now!¡± She ran off to do his bidding.

    Outside the broadcast station.

    The reporter was going down his list in the cold wind. ¡°Wei Shaoyin, Zheng Chenghao, Xie Ling, Lu Tao... there are so many that haven¡¯te out yet.¡±

    His colleaguemented while snapping another shot of a passing artiste. ¡°It¡¯s really cold out tonight. I think we should leave after waiting for a few more big names. Leave the smaller fries to the other people to report on.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly.¡± The reporter responded, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

    Suddenly, there was amotion in the crowd.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The two reporters nced at each other. One of them rushing over to find out, before running back quickly to grab his colleague. ¡°Go, go, go... big news!¡±

    ¡°What big news?¡± His colleague almost fell over from being pulled. ¡°My focus lens! That¡¯s worth almost five hundred thousand yuan! It¡¯s going to get smashed!¡± As he spoke, he grabbed his gear and ran after his colleague. ¡°If this isn¡¯t a groundbreaking piece of news, I¡¯ll skin you alive!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu is in that Audi out front. She¡¯s heading towards the nearest police station to turn herself in!¡±

    ¡°What?! She¡¯s really turning herself in?! Go, go, go... we need to catch up with her!¡± The reporter revved up his motorcycle. She was turning herself in for attempted murder! A top female artiste was confessing her crimes! This was big, big news! Other than Li Lei¡¯s proposal to Xia Ling, this was the other piece of news that was worth mentioning!

    Very soon, half of the remaining reporters and fans went off chasing down the Audi, wanting to get in on the action at the police station.

    Xia Yu was flustered as she quested her assistant, Mei Mei. ¡°Why are so many people following us? I¡¯ve already changed my car! Did you carelessly leak my whereabouts?¡±

    ¡°I... I didn¡¯t,¡± said Mei Mei in a soft voice.

    Earlier, she had gone off to meet her friend and Hua Lie, almost forgetting the time. When she returned to the music festival with Xia Yu¡¯s jacket, the proceedings had ended and she was met with the raging crowd outside.

    Xia Yu was so angry that she threw her jacket at Mei Mei,manding her to find another car so that they wouldn¡¯t be followed. Xia Yu knew that the reporters would be on her tail given that she was the second biggest piece of news after Xia Ling¡¯s engagement. Many reporters were waiting to pounce on the story of her turning herself in for attempted murder of Shaohui.

    Mei Mei managed to get another Audi dispatched from thepany with much difficulty.

    The dispatch officer on the other end of the line was insulting when Mei Mei had called to request the Audi. She was getting the brunt of ill-treatment from following Xia Yu! Imperial Entertainment was a ce where picking the right factions mattered. Moreover, Xia Yu was Xia Ling¡¯s sister. In the past, Xia Ling had offended many people with her arrogant and overbearing attitude, but no one dared take it out directly on her. Now that Xia Yu had lost favor, they were all treating her doubly badly as revenge for her sister¡¯s past attitude.

    As such, Xia Yu was beingpletely bullied at Imperial Entertainment.

    And Mei Mei, as her assistant, was the target of many insults as well.

    However, this wasing to an end really soon...

    She recalled Hua Lie¡¯s offer to her today: ¡°You¡¯re wee toe over and be my assistant.¡± The knowledge that these intolerable days were almost over lifted her mood considerably. As for Xia Yu? Xia Yu didn¡¯t treat her subordinates well. While she looked weak and pitiful, she was, in fact, evil and harsh to her staff. Her assistant had to do many difficult tasks for her.

    As such, Mei Mei didn¡¯t feel guilty at all in making arrangements to leave Xia Yu¡¯s team in secret.

    ¡°Excuses...¡± Xia Yu seethed. ¡°I think you¡¯re clearly not interested in any bonuses this season. If it were not for your carelessness, how would so many people know that I¡¯m in this car?¡±

 Chapter 866 - Xia Yu Turns Herself In

    <h4>Chapter 866: Xia Yu Turns Herself In</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Mei Mei felt wronged and wanted to retort, but she bit her lip to prevent herself from doing so.

    The entertainment circle was a ce that hierarchy was strictly kept to. The gap between an assistant and her artiste was insurmountable. An artiste¡¯s politeness to his or her assistant was a blessing, and they were permitted to treat their assistant as they wished. If you were bullied, you could only suffer in silence.

    No one cared about a mere assistant¡¯s feelings.

    Mei Mei had always been meticulous. She had chosen a secluded spot outside to make the call to request the Audi, and the cold wind was blowing such that her fingers felt frozen. She had made sure that no one would find out. She wanted to ask Xia Yu if she had been followed when she walked out of the makeup room. However, she didn¡¯t dare ask, fearing that it would invite another round of berating.

    Her guess was urate. Xia Yu was followed on her way out.

    Wei Wei had paid off a cleaner to pretend to be cleaning up, but in fact to be watching Xia Yu¡¯s every move. He reported back to Wei Wei when Xia Yu left her makeup room and the car that she boarded. All Wei Wei needed to do was to leak that information, and immediately droves of fans and reporters were on Xia Yu¡¯s tail.

    It was a rarity to see a female artiste turn herself in to the police!

    They just had toe to have a look for themselves!

    At this moment, Mei Mei received a call from a reporter asking if Xia Yu was really going to turn herself in. Mei Mei nced over at Xia Yu and told the reporter ¡°Noment¡± before hanging up.

    Xia Yu heard the question and her expression grew cold.

    The car was going towards her house. What turn herself in? Even if she was going to the police, she wouldn¡¯t have made it quite so high profile! She would first go home to change and switch to a less ostentatious car to avoid all the reporters!

    All these people wanted to watch her turn herself in? No way!

    ¡°Go faster.¡± She instructed the driver.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu, I¡¯m already going as fast as I can.¡± The driver responded. The speed limit for the street they were on was eighty kilometers per hour, and there was a traffic jam. There was no way that he would be able to speed up any more to lose the cars following them. After all, Xia Yu was the anxious one... there was no real reason for him to risk getting demerit points for speeding.

    Xia Yu was unhappy. ¡°Big Brother Wang, I remember that you used to drive really fast when driving my sister around! Why do you have so many excuses when ites to me? Don¡¯t be biased!¡±

    ¡°Aiyo... Miss Xia Yu, how could I possibly dare?¡± The driver was not threatened at all as heined. ¡°The whole reason why Boss sent me to drive Miss Xia Ling around was that I was a steady driver and wouldn¡¯t speed. Who would have guessed that Miss Xia Ling would steal the steering wheel off me?! She¡¯s a reckless driver and broke all kinds of rules. I couldn¡¯t stop her at all. Later, Boss demoted me to the back office to drive all the other artistes instead. I was so wronged...¡±

    This matter made the driver boil with rage, and his attitude towards Xia Ling¡¯s sister became even worse. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take over the wheel as well? You can chase me off the car... I won¡¯t stop you even if you drive at a speed of a hundred and eighty.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Xia Yu felt frustrated but couldn¡¯t do anything.

    Xia Ling was wilful and a daredevil. She dared take over the driver¡¯s wheel because her driving skills were top-notch¡ªXia Ling was a top driver in the Racing Club. As for Xia Yu? She had always been weak with bad health, and she enjoyed the feeling of being driven around by a driver as it made her feel important. She had only driven herself around several times, and wouldn¡¯t dare to drive in this jammed street at high speed.

    She sulked in the back seat.

    Looking out of the window, she could see several motorbikes following closely, with the reporter rider aiming his camera at her car window. Even though the windows were zed and they wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything, Xia Yu still felt extremely ufortable.

    Mei Mei¡¯s phone kept ringing.

    They were all calls from reporters, asking about the veracity of Xia Yu turning herself in.

    Mei Mei couldn¡¯t resist but ask Xia Yu, ¡°Sister Xia Yu, should I just tell them that you are nning to go home so that they will stop following us?¡±

    Xia Yu shot her a warning nce. ¡°Don¡¯t try to be clever.¡±

    She had originally thought of going home first, but now she had two minds about it. She grabbed her phone to check the news, searching for ¡°Xia Yu.¡± It was all news about reporters following her in real-time.

    One of the reporters said, ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s Audi has turned onto Chengnan Street. I wonder which police station she is going to?¡±

    ¡°The Audi has made a turn! Wait... isn¡¯t this the direction to her house? It¡¯s the opposite direction of the police station!¡±

    ¡°Is Xia Yu really going to turn herself in?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu isn¡¯t going to go home and sleep, is she?¡±

    The voices of suspicion grew.

    The reporters were starting to get really unhappy. If she was really going to go home to sleep, then what were they following her all this time for?! Online,izens waiting for the real-time reports from the reporters were also getting unhappy. Were they staying up all this while just to read about Xia Yu riding a car home?!

    ¡°Xia Yu, go turn yourself in!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, stop faking it! Hurry and go turn yourself in!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, are you going back on your words? Have you regretted what you said earlier today?!¡±

    Many started to call the police, saying that Xia Yu wasn¡¯t going to turn herself in and they should go arrest her. They also asked for there to be severe punishment met out given that she was not remorseful!

    Xia Yu was shocked.

    There was too much hype on this matter. She started to worry that if she didn¡¯t go straight to the police station, the police might knock on her door in the middle of the night to arrest her. Then, she wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to turn herself in!

    This would affect her ability to plead for a lenient sentence!

    She cursed silently at theizens forcing her to turn herself in.

    She shut her eyes before saying decisively, ¡°Turn around. Go to the police station.¡±

    ¡°The police station?¡± The driver was stunned. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, are you really going to turn yourself in?¡±

    ¡°Just drive.¡± Xia Yu was in a bad mood and didn¡¯t want to say any more. She shut her eyes again, pretending not to see the driver¡¯s and Mei Mei¡¯s weird expressions. She didn¡¯t have time to think about all the people that were going to watch as she turned herself in. This was still better than dragging it out and losing the chance to do so altogether! The matter of immediate urgency was to make sure that she could plead for a lenient sentence. Who cared about her face or pride? Only leniency would give her the opportunity to make aeback in the future.

    The Audi finally drove into the police station.

    At the same time, at the broadcast station.

    The crowd had almost dissipatedpletely with the attention on Xia Yu. There were just a few people left trying their luck.

    Lin Yunan said gloatingly, ¡°Okay, now we can go.¡±

    Xia Ling walked out of the broadcast station in her ck dress and tasseled scarf, surrounded by Wei Wei, several bodyguards, and Lin Yunan. A cool night breeze blew through her hair and clothes, picking up the pleasant scent of her perfume.

    ¡°Oh my God, that¡¯s Xia Ling! She hasn¡¯t left yet!¡± Very quickly, the sharp-eyed fans spotted her.

 Chapter 867 - Men Should Be Romantic

    <h4>Chapter 867: Men Should Be Romantic</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They started to crowd around Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ling, look over here!¡±

    ¡°Miss Ling, can we take a photo together?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I love to hear your singing! I¡¯ll always support you!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling you¡¯re prettier in real life than on television...¡±

    Everyone was shouting out random things as they surrounded her.

    Xia Ling was smiling politely, and she nced around to acknowledge all the people that were shouting encouraging words to her. With the bodyguards breaking through the crowd, she very quickly got onto the car. She breathed a sigh of relief once on the car, and removed the tasseled scarf from her shoulders, throwing it haphazardly on the snowy-white backseat. ¡°That was so tiring...¡± She said.

    Lin Yunan popped a lollipop into his mouth. Ever since bing Xia Ling¡¯s manager, he had to quit smoking to minimize the amount of second-hand smoke that Xia Ling came in contact with to protect her vocal cords. Lollipops were the substitute that he got hooked on. ¡°It¡¯s finally over. The event today was really one of the most tiring... I need to go home to have afortable warm bath.¡± He remarked.

    Xia Lingined. ¡°I still need to coax little Shaohui to bed.¡±

    Lin Yunan leaned back in his seat andined as well. ¡°And you think I really mean it when I say I¡¯ll have afortable bath? I need to organize the press releases for you tomorrow while having my bath... and also to make tweaks in your schedule to ount for the marriage bombshell that you dropped! Oh right, you need to tell me when exactly Li Lei and you are getting engaged... and when are you getting married? Tell me now!¡±

    Xia Ling blinked as she thought about it, before replying, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t... don¡¯t know?!¡± Lin Yunan almost jumped up in anger. ¡°Are you or are you not the one getting married?!¡±

    ¡°But I really don¡¯t know...¡± Xia Ling whined. Her idiotic brother and that bastard Li Lei forgot to tell her something as important as the wedding date. And she... also forgot to ask.

    Lin Yunan gave her a sarcastic thumbs-up, not saying another word.

    Wei Wei asked softly, ¡°Then Miss Ling, what will we do? So many reporters called me to ask about your wedding date... how should I reply to them?¡±

    ¡°Reply my ass!¡± Lin Yunan bristled. ¡°Just say... Madam Ling here does not know!¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Wei Wei stared with her mouth agape. <i>Hello, Big Manager Lin, do you really need to be throwing such a tantrum?</i>

    Lin Yunan took out his mobile and dialed a number.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Lin Yunan rolled his eyes. ¡°Since you don¡¯t know anything, your man should, right? I¡¯m asking him when the wedding date is.¡±

    As expected, asking Big Boss Li directly was more useful. A whileter, Lin Yunan obtained the exact dates for Xia Ling¡¯s engagement and wedding. He smiled in satisfaction. ¡°Oh, they are all good dates... he really knows how to pick them.¡±

    Xia Ling asked curiously, ¡°When is it?¡±

    Lin Yunan ignored her. ¡°You want to know? Go ask your man yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know how to respond. Boohoohoo, Brother and Li Lei bullied her, and now her Manager joined in.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care... you guys will have to let me know in due course, anyway!¡± She started to suck and turned away. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask. Let¡¯s just see how long you guys are going to keep it from me! Then, you¡¯ll have to beg for the bride to appear!¡±

    Seeing Xia Ling throw a tantrum, Big Manager Lin merely said, ¡°Childish.¡±

    The car drove to the doorstep of Xia Ling¡¯s bungalow.

    Lin Yunan watched as she got off the car and entered her house before driving off.

    The bungalow was decorated in a homely fashion, with dim yellow lights creating a warm atmosphere. As expected, little Shaohui was still awake. He ran down the stairs and over to her, dressed in his teddy bear pajamas. Hugging onto her leg, he shouted, ¡°Mama! Mama!¡±

    Xia Ling threw her Chanel clutch aside and bent over to pat him on the head. ¡°Waiting for mummy toe home again? Were you a good boy today? Did you eat your meals properly?¡±

    ¡°I was good...¡± Little Shaohui nodded proudly. ¡°I drank the millet porridge that Auntie Jasmine made. Mummy, are you hungry? Auntie Jasmine is still warming some on the stove for you.¡±

    As he spoke, the maid, Jasmine, had already carried some porridge out on a tray. ¡°Miss, please try some.¡±

    Xia Ling was feeling exhausted from the day¡¯s activities¡ªwalking down the red carpet, receiving Li Lei¡¯s proposal, epting her awards, showing support for Luo Luo¡ªand every segment sapped her energy. Even getting away from the reporters and fans toe home required so much work. She was really hungry and nodded to Jasmine, leading little Shaohui over to the dining room to have her porridge.

    When she was done, she followed little Shaohui to his bedroom to read him a bedtime story.

    Little Shaohui hugged onto her elbow. ¡°Mama, are you going to get married to daddy? I saw him propose to you on television today. It was so romantic!¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°You little one... what do you know about romance?¡±

    ¡°Of course I know!¡± The child nodded proudly again. ¡°Uncle Lin Yunan said that men need to be romantic for women to like them. Daddy is too romantic, so there are many aunties that want to snatch him away from mummy.¡± He thought for a little while before adding, ¡°Uncle Lin said that when I learn to be romantic, I¡¯ll also see dozens of girls falling at my feet. I can change wives every day if I want to! Mummy, why do I need to change wives?¡±

    Xia Ling felt deep in her heart that Big Manager Lin was a horrible influence on her son. She pinched Shaohui¡¯s little cheeks and said, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to Uncle lin! You need to be devoted like your father, do you understand?¡±

    The child nodded but looked confused. ¡°But... daddy has Auntie Su Tang and Little Rui as well...¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face fell. What rubbish was he thinking?

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Ling pinched his cheeks a little harder. ¡°You can treat little Rui as your brother. But don¡¯t think that Auntie Su Tang is a good person! She¡¯s bad! She wants to break up our family! Do you understand?¡±

    Little Shaohui¡¯s cheek was hurting from Xia Ling¡¯s pinching, and tears started to fill his eyes. <i>Boohoohoo.... that hurt... mummy is so scary! Uncle Lin was right in saying that you shouldn¡¯t anger women... boohoohoo...</i>

    He nodded, almost in tears.

    Xia Ling released her hold.

    As she read Shaohui his bedtime story, her mind wandered. This child didn¡¯t understand what happened between Su Tang and Li Lei and didn¡¯t know that Li Rui was not Li Lei¡¯s biological son. What did people watching from the outside think as well? How many thought that Li Lei was being disloyal and having multiple wives?

    She was glum and upset.

    The child fell asleep midway through her story, his breathing bing heavier. Under the warm lights in the bedroom, he looked so peaceful.

    Her heart softened as she watched him sleep. Regardless of everything, she was happy to be able to protect little Shaohui and live her life with Li Lei by her side. So what about Su Tang and Li Rui? What could they do? They were still outsiders and wouldn¡¯t be able to be a real happy family with Li Lei.

    She reached out to cover little Shaohui up with his nket. In her tiredness, she put her head down on his little bed as well and drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 868 - His Size

    <h4>Chapter 868: His Size</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When she woke the next day, she found herself lying on the broad, sturdy chest of a man.

    Under the morning sunlight, the tan chest exuded a healthy gleam and looked extremely sexy. It seemed to have the powerful beauty of a beast. She stared the chest in front of her in confusion. When had Li Lei arrived? Wasn¡¯t he at the Xia Family mountain vige?

    When had he carried her back, changed her into her pajamas, and...

    Had his fill of her?!

    Xia Ling looked down at his hands that were sneakily inside her silk nightgown. Smacking his hand away, she sulkily prodded him. ¡°Hey, wake up!¡±

    Yet, the Big Boss merely pulled her back into his embrace while half-asleep, adjusting himself into a morefortable position such that she was under him, and snuggling with a satisfied smile on his face, as if she was a huge human-shaped bolster.

    Xia Ling struggled to get up. ¡°You... get up... so heavy!¡±

    Big Boss continued to sleep like the dead.

    Xia Ling red angrily at him, but it was no use. The Big Boss waspletely unaffected, his lips pressed onto her cheek and his warm breath blowing by her ears.

    She was ufortable under him and tried to push him away, but her hands and legs were all under him and she couldn¡¯t move at all.

    Xia Ling started to cry.

    She struggled a while longer, tiring herself out, before giving up and falling back to sleep. When she next woke up, she realized that the Big Boss was taking advantage of her again, kissing her soft skin and his hands traversing all over her body.

    ¡°Li Lei, you...¡± Xia Ling exploded at him, pinching his ear. ¡°Are you a pig?! Why were you so dead in your sleep?! And what are you doing just as you¡¯re up?! Do you have no shame?!¡±

    What¡¯s shame? Can it be eaten?

    Li Lei ignored her and silently had his fill again.

    Hence, Xia Ling could only submit to his will in full indignance....

    Boohoohoo...

    Lying in the thick and soft down feather duvet, a certain Big Boss smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°You were so passionate this morning... were you happy to realize that I was back?¡±

    Xia Ling was close to tears. Happy my foot! When was she passionate? She was trying so hard to resist! Resist! She asked angrily, ¡°Weren¡¯t you with my dad and brother? Why did youe back so fast? How about your grandfather... and you father... and all of your other rtives?¡±

    She spotted Old Master Li and many Li Family members in the proposal video yesterday. Even Li Lei¡¯s father, who rarely made an appearance, surprisingly appeared in the video.

    Li Leizily kissed her again. Mmhmm... Xiao Ling¡¯s skin was the best... fragrant and soft... Being away from her was like torture to him, and he would miss her every moment of the day. He skirted over her question. ¡°I left after the proposal yesterday. Grandfather and the rest went back to the headquarters overseas. I took a red-eye flight all alone yesterday to rush back to see you. Aren¡¯t you touched? Why were you sleeping by Shaohui¡¯s bed? You¡¯ll catch a cold like that. That little rascal was hugging onto you, refusing to let go. Hmph... how dare he try to steal his dad¡¯s woman? Is he tired of living?¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to retort on Shaohui¡¯s behalf. Who was the one that was refusing to let her go now?

    Rolling her eyes, Xia Ling said angrily, ¡°I¡¯m hungry. I want to eat.¡±

    A certain Big Boss was still not satisfied and said, ¡°Be good, let me kiss you a while longer before I cook you breakfast. I brought some of the goodies from your hometown back here.¡±

    Xia Ling could only lie helplessly as Li Lei smothered her with kisses.

    When he finally got enough of kissing her, she was covered with red marks all over her body. Li Lei surveyed his masterpiece gleefully. Hmph... how could that little rascal Shaohui think that he could steal Xiao Ling from him?

    Li Lei proudly dressed up and went to the kitchen.

    Xia Ling dressed as well, feeling sore all over. She suddenly thought of something and asked, ¡°When exactly is the date for our engagement?¡±

    ¡°Take a guess.¡± Li Lei yfully responded.

    Xia Ling blew up again. ¡°All of you are big bullies! I¡¯m sleeping with Shaohui tonight!¡±

    Li Lei was taken aback. ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± He unwillingly told her the date. ¡°Brother¡¯s the one who chose the date, saying that we¡¯ll definitely grow old together.¡±

    The words ¡°grow old together¡± quashed her anger.

    So romantic...

    Her heart softened at the thought of being able to spend the rest of her life with Li Lei. Her one wish in this life was to be happy and safe with him. After going through so many trials, growing old together was the reward that they obtained with great difficulty. ¡°What do I need to prepare?¡± She asked.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°You? You just need to have a few more days of beauty sleep and take care of your health so that you¡¯ll be the most beautiful bride on the big day!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to prepare anything else?¡±

    ¡°Oh, there is something...¡± Li Lei replied. ¡°ording to custom, you need to buy me a set of new clothes to be worn during the engagement ceremony. I¡¯ll also buy you a few new wedding gowns.¡± In a normal household, there would usually be a lot of discussion on the costs of the suits and gowns. However, for wealthy families like the Lis and Xias, these were like spare change.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy! Just buying new clothes, right?¡± Yet, she caught herself almost immediately. Wait, had she ever bought Li Lei clothes? What was his size? He seemed to have lost weight... did his size change?

    She looked over at him and sheepishly asked, ¡°What... what size are you wearing now?¡±

    Oh my God, she really didn¡¯t know.

    Hearing her question, Li Lei felt upset. ¡°You don¡¯t know my size?! Even if I don¡¯t tell you, can¡¯t you guess after touching me so many times?!¡± As he spoke, he pulled her hand onto his body.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned red as her fingers came in contact with his muscr body.

    ¡°Stop trying to be a gangster!¡± She scolded as she tried to extract her hand from his grip. However, it was to no avail. He was moving her hand from his chest down to his waist.

    ¡°What gangster?¡± Li Lei retorted angrily. ¡°I totally guessed your size after feeling you up! I was spot on even a few years back. You¡¯ve been with me for so long and you have no idea?!¡±

    This...

    This conversation sounded all wrong... it seemed to be moving in a direction that would put her at a grave disadvantage.

    With her face still red, Xia Ling recalled the first time that she had stayed in Li Lei¡¯s apartment. He had given her a once over and urately guessed her measurements, instructing Su Tang to buy some outfits. Recalling this, she felt that she paled inparison to Li Lei as well. Why was it that he could tell her size from just a nce, and she couldn¡¯t tell his after looking at him all these years?!

 Chapter 869 - Tailor-Made Suit

    <h4>Chapter 869: Tailor-Made Suit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    But it still seemed like there was something amiss.

    Xia Ling suddenly thought of something and questioned, ¡°Li Lei! Jin Yifei told me a long time ago that your personal life was a mess! Is that true?! That¡¯s why you know so much about women¡¯s sizing measurements! Tell me, how many women did you have all those years behind my back!¡±

    Li Lei felt that he had just done himself in...

    He was so smug he forgot how he had honed this skill of ¡°measuring one¡¯s figure with his eyes¡± years ago. Back then... he, Jin Yifei, Du Yunfeng, and their bunch of friends had changed their female counterparts at the rate of chanting their clothes. Knowing about the ¡°three measurements¡± wasn¡¯t a big deal.

    ¡°I...¡± He tried to exin. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past. Ever since you, I¡¯ve been loyal and never got involved with anyone else. Moreover, the ¡®three measurements¡¯ isn¡¯t much of a skill. Thatd Jin Yifei can even tell with one nce whether the girl is a virgin... ouch!¡±

    Xia Ling pinched his ear.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Xia Ling recalled how Jin Yifei used this skill on her many years back and her anger rose. ¡°Do you feel like you¡¯re missing out, not being able to tell whether the girl¡¯s a virgin? Do you want to pick up this skill from Jin Yifei, huh?!¡±

    ¡°I-I won¡¯t do this again. Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling, I know I¡¯m in the wrong...¡± Li Lei was in agony having his ear pinched. But he had asked for it, hadn¡¯t he?

    Xia Ling was not appeased. ¡°You¡¯re sleeping in your own house tonight!¡±

    And that was how Li Lei was punished by his future wife.

    After chasing Big Boss out the house, Xiao Ling spent her time reflecting¡ªhad she been too nice to Li Lei? Was that why he had such unbridled behavior?

    She crossed her arms and sat on the floor in a daze.

    Little Shaohui came to look for her. ¡°Mom, stack blocks with me.¡±

    Xia Ling asked her son restlessly, ¡°Tell me, is Mom too much of a bun?¡±

    Little Shaohui was confused. ¡°What¡¯s a bun?¡±

    ¡°It means too much of a pushover, too vulnerable, that¡¯s why Dad keeps bullying Mom.¡±

    Little Shaohui was speechless. He knew full well who was the one who chased the other out that morning. Dad¡¯s sad expression when he left the house was still etched in his mind, reminding him never to offend a woman in the future. If Mom was being too much of a bun like that, then what was Dad to be?

    Little Shaohui felt a chill down his spine and decided to save his father. ¡°Mom, you¡¯re not a bun at all. Really, look how subservient Dad is to you. He even told me to take good care of you before he left today.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling was skeptical.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Little Shaohui said.

    Only then did Xia Ling¡¯s mood improve. She went on to stack blocks with Little Shaohui happily.

    They yed with blocks for a whole afternoon. When evening came, Ah Nuo knocked on the door of their vi. ¡°Miss Ling, I¡¯ve brought Boss¡¯ clothing measurements. You can take them and order the clothes ordingly.¡±

    He handed Xia Ling a neatly folded slip of paper.

    Xia Ling unfolded it and saw a detailed record of Li Lei¡¯s physical measurements¡ªfrom his waist circumference to the length of his limbs, everything was precisely measured. ¡°Is this thetest measurement?¡± She asked Ah Nuo.

    Ah Nuo said, ¡°It is. Boss especially went to a tailor today to get these measurements. The tailor handed this to me immediately and I came here as soon as I got it.¡± This was supposed to be within a personal assistant¡¯s job scope, but ever since Li Lei distanced himself from Su Tang, he had not found another suitable person to handle such matters. His next best choice was his bodyguard Ah Nuo.

    Xia Ling thanked Ah Nuo and went back in.

    ¡°Mom, Mom.¡± Little Shaohui came up to her. ¡°Are you going to order clothes for Dad?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°It¡¯s for your dad¡¯s engagement suit, we have to get him the smartest one. We also have to order one for you for the engagement ceremony. Do you want to go shopping for these with Mom tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Little Shaohui pped his hands in delight.

    The Xia family women all enjoyed shopping, Xia Ling and Mrs. Xia alike, and they took him along whenever possible. Seeing that he looked so adorable, they always got him bags of new outfits. Each time they asked him to go shopping with them, he¡¯d appear excited and enthusiastic, just so he didn¡¯t offend the scary women.

    But deep down, he wasn¡¯t all too willing.

    <i>Will Mom and Dad get married already... </i>He thought to himself. Once they were married, they¡¯d live as a family of three and Dad would apany Mom to go out shopping, giving him his time alone. This was good enough reason to bring Dad and Mom together.

    The weather was good the following day.

    Xia Ling dressed up and took Little Shaohui, who was equally dressed up, to the best suit boutique in the city. The store was not especially big, but it was a quiet and private space that only those of great status visited. She could rest assured that her fans wouldn¡¯t hound her there.

    She happily handed Li Lei¡¯s measurements to the employee and said, ¡°I want a set of men¡¯s suit, to be worn for an engagement ceremony.¡±

    The moment she was done speaking, a woman standing in a corner of the store looked up. She was in a pastel purple dress and had beautiful makeup done; her hair was done up in a bun and adorned with hair essories. This elegant woman was none other than Su Tang.

    It had been so long, who would have expected to bump into the other here.

    Xia Ling saw that she was holding a small boy, Li Rui, while she herself was holding onto Little Shaohui. She couldn¡¯t help but think, <i>Enemies really cross paths often </i>. She couldn¡¯t be bothered by Su Tang and went on to speak to the employee. ¡°Do you have any rmendations?¡±

    The employee found the situation extremely awkward. She was a celebrity, Su Tang had followed Li Lei around all these years, and news about them had been reported repeatedly over the past few years. The employee knew full well the rtionship between both women and both children around. Right now, the official first wife had bumped into the mistress and her bastard child... They¡¯d better not fight around here.

    The employee guided Xia Ling away from Su Tang and smiled politely. ¡°Please take a seat first. We have a lot of good fabrics to rmend. I¡¯ll bring them out for you to have a look.¡±

    Xia Ling and Little Shaohui took their seats on the longfy couch as the employee brought an array of fabrics before their eyes and introduced each one in detail.

    ¡°This indigo shade is extremely suitable for suits¡ªit makes you appear more energetic.¡± The employee said, ¡°Those over there are made from camel¡¯s hair¡ªour boss traveled all around the world to pick the best of this material. Although this material is a little warm, there¡¯ll be air conditioning during the engagement ceremony, so it¡¯s not a big issue. Over here we see...¡±

 Chapter 870 - Quick-Witted Little Shaohui

    <h4>Chapter 870: Quick-Witted Little Shaohui</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He introduced each and every single item.

    Xia Ling just wasn¡¯t satisfied no matter which fabric she looked at. ¡°It¡¯s not that your goods aren¡¯t good enough.¡± She exined to the employee. ¡°But this engagement is simply too important. I¡¯m looking for something more special, something that can¡¯t be used at just any asion.¡±

    The employee nodded in understanding.

    Xia Ling got up and looked through each and every item disyed in the store. Of all ces, Su Tang happened to be standing in the high-quality goods area where the best materials were disyed. Most of the items that the employee had brought to Xia Ling had been taken from those shelves as well.

    Xia Ling shut Su Tang out and continued looking.

    All of a sudden, her eyes lit up as a haze-shaded material caught her eye. It glistened in the dim light and was extremely unique¡ªa material that did not suit just any event but would definitely stand out at an engagement ceremony. She reached out for that piece of fabric, and at the exact same time, another hand approached it.

    Xia Ling turned slightly and saw Su Tang.

    Su Tang saw her as well and smiled. ¡°Miss Ling, your taste is getting increasingly simr to mine.¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy. Her taste was increasingly simr to Su Tang¡¯s? It sounded as if she were copying Su Tang! She said, ¡°I¡¯ve done some research on such materials myself. This must be silk-cashmere; the workmanship is good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s silk-cashmere, indeed.¡± The employee smiled cautiously. Things were gettingplicated. He tried so hard to separate both women but they still ended up in each other¡¯s way, fighting for the same fabric. What should he do now? He could only pray that none of them would kick a fuss and cause any trouble.

    Su Tang spoke elegantly, ¡°Miss Ling has always been smart and curious, all these years of research have changed others¡¯ impressions of you. Unlike years ago when you were still wearing synthetic fiber... Back then, I¡¯d never have thought that you¡¯d have good enough judgment to be shopping here already.¡±

    She was mocking her, implying that she came from a poor family and couldn¡¯t wait to learn the ways of the rich.

    Xia Ling fumed. She¡¯d only just reincarnated at that time and did not have the money to get herself high-quality goods, but that did not mean that her judgment was bad. In her previous life, she¡¯d worn almost 20 years of the best fabric one could ever find, and Su Tang had the audacity to despise her this way? Yet, the angrier she was inside, the calmer she appeared to be. ¡°Miss Su is too kind. I¡¯d never have expected toy my eyes on the same piece of material as you, too. On that note, I¡¯m about to be engaged to Li Lei and n to use this fabric for his engagement suit. I wonder who Miss Su is getting this for?¡±

    This was a suit boutique that only tailored men¡¯s outfits, so Xia Ling knew full well that Su Tang wasn¡¯t getting it for herself. Could she be... getting it for Li Lei, too? Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but keep her guard up.

    Su Tang could sense it. She smiled and said, ¡°This doesn¡¯t seem to concern Miss Ling.¡±

    How did it not concern her? Xia Ling was about to lose it but told herself she had to keep it in and maintain her perfect attitude and demeanor. No way was she going to make herself appear inferior to Su Tang in any way. After cursing at Su Tang internally, she smiled. ¡°Miss Su, we know each other for a while, I just thought it¡¯d make sense to show some concern. If you¡¯ve already found someone else who¡¯ll bring you happiness, I¡¯ll be more than willing to personally ce this in your hands. Cherish what you have and chase your happiness. After all, Li Lei and I are already blissful, how could we bear to see you live such a lonely life, right?¡±

    This time, it was Su Tang¡¯s turn to boil with anger.

    Only now did she remember that Xia Ling had always been merciless but tactful with her words and had never lost out in such arguments before. She fumed inside. <i>Why should I waste any more time or energy on her? </i>Hence, she gave another smile. ¡°It isn¡¯t that easy finding someone as devoted as Young Master. I¡¯ve heard about your engagement and am happy for you, which is why I brought Xiao Rui today to get some outfits tailored. Even if I don¡¯t receive an invitation to your engagement ceremony, I¡¯ll still celebrate that asion with Xiao Rui at home.¡±

    Xia Ling almost scoffed. Did she think that gaining sympathy would work on her? Fat hope! She¡¯d seen enough of Xia Yu¡¯s ploys in her previous life. ¡°Are you really ordering it for Xiao Rui?¡± She eyed Su Tang doubtfully.

    Su Tang gently said, ¡°Who else could I possibly do this for?¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to question her. She was about to ask whether it was Li Lei when a spark went off. She smugly said, ¡°Well, the most important thing about a suit is that it¡¯s fitting. Li Lei just handed me histest measurements yesterday, so only I am able to order the most fitting suit for him. Everyone else can forget about it.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s expression wavered a little and she went quiet.

    Xia Ling saw that she looked defeated and gave a proud smile. ¡°Miss Su, I¡¯ll take this fabric. How many outfits will you be ordering for Xiao Rui today? Put it on my tab, it¡¯ll be mypensation to you.¡±

    ¡°Bad woman!¡± Li Rui had been ring at her with hatred the moment she entered. If Su Tang had not held him back, he would¡¯ve dashed at her. Now, he¡¯d finally found a chance to voice out. He yelled at Xia Ling, ¡°I don¡¯t want your wretched clothes! I want this fabric! I won¡¯t let you have it!¡±

    Little Shaohui furrowed his brows. He wouldn¡¯t let anyone insult his mother like that.

    He took one step forward and spoke to Li Rui seriously. ¡°My mom is not a bad woman, your mom is. This is why Dad didn¡¯t marry her and instead will marry my mom. Are you questioning Dad¡¯s judgment?¡±

    On hearing that, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t hold back herughter.

    She was angry, but after hearing what Shaohui said, her anger vanished. There was no point in debating who was better, what really mattered was who Li Lei felt was better. And the highest de for ady was for a man to choose to marry her. So, things were actually obvious¡ªin Li Lei¡¯s heart, Xia Ling was better than Su Tang.

    Xia Ling was happy with how this turned out. Thankfully, her son was quick-witted enough and managed to take Li Rui down.

    The employee almost burst outughing, too. Who would¡¯ve known that Little Shaohui was so aggressive at such a young age? How was Li Rui supposed to answer this question? Admit that Dad¡¯s judgment was good? Then what would that make Su Tang? Say that Dad¡¯s judgment was bad? Then would Dad still love him in the future?

 Chapter 871 - Engagement Gift

    <h4>Chapter 871: Engagement Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The employee thought, <i>Little Shaohui and Li Rui are children with the same father but different mothers. If Li Lei loves Li Rui less, he¡¯ll then love Shaohui more.</i>

    <i>Isn¡¯t this a dead-end for Li Rui and his mother?</i>

    Even he felt anxious for them.

    There was literally no way to answer this question right.

    Li Rui did not think so far, he simply said, ¡°My mom is a good person! Your mom is horrid!¡±

    But Su Tang knew better and thought even further than the employee. Li Rui wasn¡¯t Li Lei¡¯s flesh and blood. Given how badly he insulted Li Lei¡¯s beloved woman, who knew if Li Lei would get even with them? Although she¡¯d saved Li Lei¡¯s life once, gratitude would run thin eventually. What she needed to do now was to strengthen their rtionship while Li Lei still had some gratitude towards her, and not make Li Lei detest them over this bickering.

    She grabbed Li Rui by the arm and chided him sternly. ¡°Nonsense! Don¡¯t be rude!¡± Her expression turned awful, out of worry and of the need to put on a show for the rest.

    Li Rui rarely saw her this fierce. He felt wronged and began wailing. ¡°Bad Mom! Bad Mom!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the child with despise. Just how did Su Tang raise this child? How could ady as elegant as she raise a child to be such a rascal?

    What she did not know was that Su Tang never liked the child, to begin with. If it wasn¡¯t for using him, she would not even have given birth to him, much less raised him.

    Li Rui wailed even louder, and it was getting on their nerves.

    Su Tang pped him on the face. ¡°Why are you crying! Apologize to Miss Ling and Shaohui!¡±

    She was still plotting in her mind¡ªthe more miserable Li Rui appeared to be, the easier it was to prove that Xia Ling and Shaohui were bullying them. Once this news got to Li Lei, even if it wouldn¡¯t change his feelings towards Xia Ling immediately, he¡¯d remember Xia Ling for her arrogant and domineering behavior, and Su Tang for her amodatingpromise...

    Eventually, things would change and Li Lei would finally understand who among them was suitable for him.

    Su Tang had it all nned out, but she did not expect that her p would cause Li Rui to lose all rationality. He needed to find a way to vent his anger¡ªwith all his energy, he ran towards Little Shaohui with his head angled out while yelling, ¡°I¡¯ll knock you down to death, you monster!¡±

    Little Shaohui followed his uncle around in the mountains when he was younger and then went on to learn defense tactics from Li Lei, Ah Nuo, and others. He agilely got out of Li Rui¡¯s way and ducked him. Meanwhile, Li Rui couldn¡¯t stop his momentum and rammed his head into the wall.

    He fell onto the floor and bawled even louder than before.

    Xia Ling was getting a headache from all the noise. All she wanted was to order a tailor-made suit for their engagement, why did she have to bump into such a rascal? She covered her ears and said to Su Tang, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to check if he¡¯s injured? Get someone to send him to the hospital, what are you waiting for?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t being kind, the noise was just getting to her.

    Su Tang looked at her son coldly and felt that he was an utter embarrassment. He was a bastard alright, with the blood of a barbarian flowing through his veins¡ªuncultured and uncivilized! When she became Li Lei¡¯s official wife, she would bear Li Lei a child of their own and get rid of this bastard child!

    She looked devious as she harbored that thought.

    The employee who had been observing her all along was terrified by her expression. Afraid that things would get worse, he hurriedly intervened. ¡°Miss Su, the child is so young, it¡¯d be bad if he¡¯s injured. I¡¯ll carry him to the car for you.¡± He picked the child up and walked out of the store.

    Su Tang did not stop him. It wasn¡¯t so bad, after all¡ªwith Li Rui ending up in the hospital, they¡¯d still appear to be the vulnerable party in this scenario. If Li Lei got wind of it, it¡¯d sound like Xia Ling was being the mean one. She nced at Xia Ling and Little Shaohui before following the employee out of the store.

    Xia Ling was finally relieved as she stopped covering her ears.

    Another employee had cleared the mess that Li Rui had caused and rearranged the items on the shelf. He brought a few cushioned chairs to Xia Ling and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Ling, for having to let you witness that. Please continue looking around, we¡¯ll make sure to get it done for you as soon as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t be bothered about Su Tang. She calmed herself down and continued browsing. The haze-shaded silk-cashmere was simply too beautiful. She looked at it over and over again and finally decided to get it. ¡°I¡¯ll take this. Tailor one ording to the measurements I handed you, alright?¡±

    The employee carefully took the fabric off the shelf and attached a sticker¡ªwith her name and date of collection¡ªon it. He smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Ling. We¡¯ll surely meet your expectations.¡± He then told his colleague to get the best tailor for this order.

    Xia Ling then ordered another set for Little Shaohui before leaving the store.

    Their service was top-notch indeed, it took them a mere few days to get both suitspleted.

    Xia Ling got Little Shaohui to try it on first on the spot. It was extremely fitting and satisfactory.

    She then took a look at Li Lei¡¯s suit. The unique textile was a perfect choice for a suit. It glistened slightly under the light and added a tinge of prestige and romance to a typical men¡¯s suit.

    She ran her fingers over that beautiful suit and could already imagine how handsome her beloved man would look in it. She smiled and said to Little Shaohui, ¡°Be good at home, alright? Mom is going to Dad¡¯s office for a while to hand him the suit.¡±

    Little Shaohui nodded his head and saw her out.

    Xia Ling nned to give Li Lei a surprise and hence did not call him to let him know she wasing. When she arrived at the top-floor Director¡¯s office, the secretary sitting outside gave a strange expression.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Is Li Lei inside?¡±

    The secretary said, ¡°Boss is inside, but...¡±

    Before the sentence was finished, she had already entered. She¡¯d never have to ask for permission whenever she came, but this time, the scene that greeted her gave her a shock¡ªbehind a screen, she saw a woman back-facing her and talking to Li Lei. ¡°I got a few suits tailored for you. Considering that you¡¯re about to be engaged, you can consider this my engagement gift to you.¡±

 Chapter 872 - Chasing Away the Love Rival

    Chapter 872: Chasing Away the Love Rival

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t ept this.¡±

    Su Tang sounded as gracious as always but more tender than the way she spoke to others. ¡°I know. With Miss Ling around, it isn¡¯t too appropriate to be giving you clothes. But Xiao Rui wants to have matching outfits with you... Thest time, he was envious when he saw that you and Shaohui were in matching outfits. Li Lei, you¡¯re about to start a family with that woman, and you love Shaohui so much, Xiao Rui is actually very sad to know this. Even though he isn¡¯t your biological child, could you... be nicer to him?¡±

    There was some vulnerability and pleading in her voice.

    Xia Ling was always sensitive to sounds and tones, and especially more so when it involved her love rival. It did not take her long to figure out what Su Tang was trying to achieve. Without waiting for Li Lei to respond, she walked past the screen and sneered. ¡°Miss Su.¡±

    Su Tang was startled. What was Xia Ling doing here at this time?!

    Sheposed herself after a moment of shock and then turned around to face Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling sized her up. Su Tang had obviously put in the effort to dress up today¡ªher long ck hair fell over her shoulders beautifully and her knitted maxi dress brought out her figure. By her feet were bags of clothes, and Xia Ling recognized the packaging at once¡ª

    It was the same suit boutique she had ordered from!

    ¡°When I asked you the other day, didn¡¯t Miss Su say you were ordering it for Li Rui?¡± Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but question her. ¡°So what are all these suits for Li Lei doing here?¡±

    Su Tang managed to keep herposure and elegance. ¡°That day, I was indeed getting clothes for Xiao Rui. But Xiao Rui kept asking for matching outfits with his dad, I had no choice but...¡± She sighed. ¡°Miss Ling, please be magnanimous and grant the child his little wish. Besides, as a form of blessing, I¡¯ve even made a custom order for a dress just for you.¡±

    She bent over and looked for the only different paper bag in the cluster, and then handed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Although it can¡¯t hold a handle to the haute evening gown you wore to the Neb ceremony, it¡¯s considered one of the best tailor-made gowns in the city. The design and material are top-notch¡ªI remembered your measurements from a few years back and ordered it ordingly. You can try and see if it¡¯s fitting.¡±

    Fitting... my foot!

    Xia Ling felt mocked. Back in those days, she had only just reincarnated and was a skinny set of rag and bones. She wasn¡¯t fat now, but she was better nourished and, at the same time, a half-inch bigger than before.

    To a woman, a half-inch was a lot!

    Well-fitting clothes would appear too tight and low-ss because of that extra half-inch!

    She wanted to ask Su Tang, Are you trying to mock me for being fat?

    But she wouldn¡¯t let Su Tang get her way, and hence, swallowed her anger.

    However, she didn¡¯t reach out to receive the paper bag. ¡°Thank you for your thought, but I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    Su Tang felt awkward and looked to Li Lei for help.

    How would Li Lei dare to help her out? That¡¯d be adding fuel to the fire! It wasn¡¯t too long ago that she¡¯d chased him out of the house for something that happened years back. Would he dare anger her again this time?

    Li Lei gave a deliberate cough. ¡°Su Tang, we appreciate your thoughts, but I think you should take these back. As for Xiao Rui, I¡¯ll exin it to him myself.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t you get going?¡± Li Lei said.

    He furrowed his brows slightly as his voice brought about a hint ofmand.

    Su Tang did not want things to backfire and decided to go along with his wishes. Defeated, she gathered the clothes and bags on the floor and was about to leave the office.

    ¡°Hold up.¡± Xia Ling suddenly said. ¡°I changed my mind, leave this here.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±¡±Miss Ling?¡± They said at the same time.

    Xia Ling gave Li Lei a re. How dare you share such a moment with her?

    Li Lei felt attacked. Who knew that even this would anger his wife-to-be? He quickly shut his mouth and pretended to be non-existent.

    Xia Ling smiled at Su Tang. ¡°I¡¯ve thought it out. You¡¯re right, we shouldn¡¯t let Xiao Rui down. Matching outfits it is, then. We¡¯ll ept it. Thank you, Miss Su.¡±

    Not knowing what she had in mind, Su Tang had a bad feeling about it and did not want to leave these clothes to Xia Ling. Yet, she couldn¡¯t find a good reason to take them away with her. She pursed her lips and put the clothes back down. ¡°Thank you, Miss Ling, for your magnanimity.¡±

    She was one of a kind, looking so dejected after gifting someone.

    But how could she not bow down to others in their territory? After all, Xia Ling was Li Lei¡¯s ¡°official wife.¡± Until she got the title herself, she could only give in.

    Hopefully, days like these wouldn¡¯tst too long...

    Su Tang swore to herself to get rid of Xia Ling as soon as possible.

    She then bade them farewell and left.

    Xia Ling red at her back view until she disappeared behind the door, and then turned around to face Li Lei. ¡°You! Attracting women outside! Did you not think of rejecting her?!¡±

    Li Lei looked at her meekly. He had intended to decline her gifts, but before he had the chance to, she¡¯d stormed in. ¡°I won¡¯t do it again...¡± Don¡¯t talk reason with women, don¡¯t talk reason with women... Li Lei reminded himself as he apologized to her.

    Xia Ling still did not let him off. ¡°Stay away from her next time, do you hear me!¡±

    Li Lei nodded quietly.

    ¡°And get another personal assistant! A good one! A male! Someone who doesn¡¯t like Su Tang!¡±

    Li Lei was caught in a fix. ¡°My buddies who¡¯ve gone through life and death with me, they¡¯re all close to Su Tang...¡± Meanwhile, those who had not gone through life and death with him were not to be trusted with such an important position.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡±

    Li Lei considered for a while. ¡°How about Ah Nuo?¡± Ah Nuo could handle aspects of his personal life, and as a bodyguard, he was not as emotional as the other subordinates. Moreover, he and Xia Ling were on good terms. As for his work aspect, Tan Ying and the others could handle it.

    Xia Ling found that it wasn¡¯t a bad choice. She nodded and her anger subsided.

    Seeing that she was appeased now, Li Lei cautiously asked, ¡°Why did you ask Su Tang to leave the clothes here?¡± He knew better than to believe Xiao Ling would allow him to wear them.

 Chapter 873 - Scapegoat

    Chapter 873: Scapegoat

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    As he expected, Xia Ling smiled a little deviously. ¡°Getting rid of her tracks.¡±

    She was not going to let Su Tang keep these outfits, how could her man¡¯s belongings be in another woman¡¯s hands? Even if he wasn¡¯t going to wear them, they had to keep them.

    She took a casual nce at the gown Su Tang gave her before tossing it aside and focusing on the other paper bags lying around. Opening up every bag, she saw that the outfits Su Tang had brought for Li Lei were of splendid quality. She had even taken the effort to pick out matching ties, cuffs, and shirts for him.

    Xia Ling was even more unhappy after seeing this. ¡°Hmph, how attentive she is.¡±

    Li Lei tried to appease her. ¡°How could these hold a candle to the one you got me?¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t even seen what I bought, how¡¯d you know it¡¯s better?¡± Xia Ling was happy to hear this but knew full well he was just coaxing her. Hence, she decided to expose him this way.

    Li Lei went on. ¡°I trust your judgment.¡±

    This time, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    She picked at the pile of clothes and had to admit that Su Tang¡¯s judgment was pretty good¡ªbe it color, material, or design of the suits. But... she took abel out of one of the bags and saw that it was one size smaller than the measurements she had handed the tailor.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve already said it.¡± Xia Ling said smugly. ¡°But she insists on getting them for you, and she doesn¡¯t even know they¡¯re one size too small. All things aside, the size itself would make a world of difference when ites to suits. How could you even wear suits out when they aren¡¯t fitting?¡± Now that she¡¯d put it this way, he had enough reason to tell Li Rui why he couldn¡¯t wear matching outfits with him¡ªhis mother didn¡¯t get his father the right size, so there was no way he could wear it.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t wear it even if it fit me.¡±

    Xia Ling was delighted to hear that. It was an amazing feeling to know something her love rival did not. She happily handed the paper bag to Li Lei. ¡°Take a look, do you like it?¡±

    Li Lei received the bag and opened it. What greeted him was an extravagant set of a haze-shaded suit of rare color and texture, giving it an air of uniqueness. He was never too particr about clothing and dressing, but after seeing such a wondrous outfit before him, he thought, So what if Su Tang¡¯s judgment is good? It¡¯s simply from the experience she gained over the years. Meanwhile, only one person could create something with such a unique aura¡ªXiao Ling.

    ¡°I like it a lot,¡± he told Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s the best suit I¡¯ve ever received.¡±

    Xia Ling felt a touch of sweetness in those words and hurried him. ¡°Quick, put it on and I¡¯ll have a look.¡±

    Li Lei did not decline her request. He took off his top right before her and put on the haze-shaded suit. He was handsome, to begin with, and looked good in anything, but putting on something so rarely seen and yet so fitting made him appear even more attractive.

    Xia Ling reached out and touched his face. She looked at him without blinking as she took in every part of the masterpiece that he was. ¡°Spin around.¡± She said subconsciously.

    Li Lei actually did it. He turned a full circle on the spot and smiled. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    She nodded vehemently with the expression of a love-struck fool. She made it a point to dress him up more often in the future; it was such a pity if a man as handsome as he did not try on more clothes.

    ¡°A good height, long legs, firm chest muscles...¡± Xia Ling continued staring at him, starry-eyed. ¡°With the outfit I picked out this is simply perfect! Wait... no.¡±

    She suddenly stopped.

    Li Lei was puzzled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She furrowed her brows before taking a step forward and resting her hand on his shoulder, and then his waist. ¡°It looks, a little big...¡± Her voice sank. Having been a celebrity for two lifetimes, she was extremely particr when it came to clothing. She could tell at once whether the outfit truly fit a person or not. And this outfit here happened to be...¡±One size too big...¡±

    She felt her heart sink.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± Li Lei did not know what was going on. ¡°I just got a new measurement and handed it to Ah Nuo, it can¡¯t be wrong.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s obvious that it¡¯s wrong once you put it on.¡± She bent over and casually picked up a piece that Su Tang brought. ¡°Try this on instead.¡±

    Li Lei was stunned for a while, and in that time, Xia Ling had removed his current outfit and put on Su Tang¡¯s for him.

    This time, it was neither too tight nor too loose. It was just right.

    ¡°How did she have your measurements?!¡± Xia Ling was agitated.

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know.¡± Li Lei was just as bewildered. Although Su Tang was the one who bought most of his clothes in the past, it had been a long time since he allowed her to take charge of such personal matters. Ever since he got together with Xiao Ling, he¡¯d avoided gossip and spections by distancing himself from Su Yang. ¡°Even if Su Tang has my measurements, it should be an outdated one...¡±

    Li Lei stopped himself mid-sentence.

    It was a fact that Su Tang held onto his old measurements, but thisdy was meticulous; maybe she could make a precise estimate of his figure the way he could with ady¡¯s ¡°three measurements¡±? After all, she¡¯d been getting clothes for him since they were young¡ªshe was probably aware of any changes he might have physically.

    Xia Ling did not think that far. She red at him. ¡°Tell me! Did you leak out your most updated measurements?¡±

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t.¡± Li Lei wouldn¡¯t dare admit to something like that, or say that Su Tang could gauge his figure so urately since Xiao Ling herself couldn¡¯t! He¡¯d be agitating her if he said that.

    Li Lei racked his brain and came up with an unconvincing reason. ¡°Coincidence. It has to be a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°How could this be a coincidence?!¡± Xia Ling was fuming mad. ¡°How could it be that the outfit she ordered is just the right size, and mine is one size bigger? Do you dislike me, and not want to marry me, that¡¯s why you¡¯re getting Su Tang to do this? Did you deliberately give her the correct measurements and hand me the wrong ones?!¡±

    Li Lei felt wronged but had no way of dering his innocence. ¡°Do I look like such a cold-blooded person?¡±

    ¡°You do!¡±

    Li Lei had to coax her for a long while.

    His wife-to-be seemed to be getting increasingly difficult to deal with, but he knew full well that she was being unreasonable only because she cared too much. On the other hand, if she was as cold and shut off from the world as she was when they first met, he¡¯d be crying. He gently wrapped her in an embrace and coaxed her until she calmed down.

    ¡°So tell me how it could¡¯ve happened.¡± She sniffled. She knew that she was being unreasonable as well, but she enjoyed being pampered this way and refused to be released from his embrace.

    ¡°Maybe, Ah Nuo got it wrong?¡± Li Lei figured that the only way was to find a scapegoat.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Ah Nuo!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up. She found that it was a usible reason and got him to call Ah Nuo into the office.

    The moment Ah Nuo entered the office, he felt something that was amiss about the atmosphere in there. Boss and his future wife were looking right at him with strange, solemn expressions.

 Chapter 874 - Supervise His Exercise Time

    <h4>Chapter 874: Supervise His Exercise Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I... Did I do something wrong?¡± Ah Nuo asked carefully.

    Big Boss and Madam Boss both nodded at him. Big Boss cleared his throat. ¡°Did you pass the measurements meant for Xiao Ling to Su Tang?¡±

    Ah Nuo jumped in shock. ¡°No, no... that¡¯s not possible... I wouldn¡¯t make such a big mistake.¡± Even if he were careless, he wouldn¡¯t pass something for Madam to her love rival. He wasn¡¯t ready to die yet. He ryed honestly. ¡°When I got the measurements from the tailor, I was going to send it to Miss Ling immediately. I was really only dyed for a few minutes... Boss, you asked me to get a tie from your apartment...¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly opened his eyes wide in realization. ¡°Oh my, I was wrong! Boss, Miss Ling, I¡¯m so sorry!¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Li Lei had a hunch that something was amiss.

    Ah Nuo exined, ¡°Boss, I went to get the tie for you from the room, and put the slip of paper with the measurements in the closet for the moment. When I left, I think I took the wrong one...¡±

    His voice gradually grew smaller.

    Li Lei recalled. ¡°Every year I¡¯ll tailor some clothes and the measurements are all stored in the closet near to the drawer where I keep my ties.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless. So this was just a huge blunder. She couldn¡¯t resist chiding. ¡°Why do you keep so many measurements in your house? Are you waiting to eat them?¡±

    Li Lei had nothing to say. Actually, these matters were usually handled by Su Tang, and she loved topare his measurements year on year, to check if he had gained or lost weight. Later, it became a habit and he had a drawer in his closet that kept all these measurements.

    However, he couldn¡¯t tell this backstory to Xia Ling. That would be courting death.

    He told her, ¡°If you don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ll go home and throw it all away.¡±

    ¡°Yes, throw them all away.¡± Xia Ling angrily responded. ¡°All the clothes are now too big! Boohoohoo... what do I do now? Don¡¯t you know that suits that don¡¯t fit well look horrible?!¡±

    Li Lei wanted to say that he couldn¡¯t tell the difference.

    But he knew that saying that would make Xiao Ling unhappier. Hence, he resisted the urge to do so.

    Knowing that he had made a big mistake, Ah Nuo tried to salvage the situation. ¡°Or... or... should I go look for the right measurements now? Miss Ling, maybe you can get the tailor to make a new outfit?¡±

    ¡°Do you think this fabric is so easily avable?¡± Xia Ling was upset. The tailor had told her that she was extremely lucky to purchase this high-quality fabric made from goat wool and wild silk. The way it was woven together was also extremely special. This was the one and only reel of such fabric in the world.

    She felt extremely depressed but caught sight of the guilty expression on Ah Nuo¡¯s face when she looked up.

    ¡°Forget it... go busy yourself with your other matters.¡± She sighed. ¡°There will definitely be an alternative solution. It¡¯s just a suit, right? A small matter... don¡¯t take it to heart...¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Ah Nuo felt really bad. Wasn¡¯t this Boss¡¯ engagement outfit?

    ¡°It isn¡¯t his wedding outfit, why are you getting so nervous?¡± Xia Ling consoled. ¡°I¡¯m upset mainly because the suit that Su Tang made has measurements that are more urate than the one I made... it¡¯s nothing to do with the outfit itself.¡±

    Ah Nuo went away feeling a bit better.

    Li Lei was mildly touched at Xiao Ling¡¯s reaction. He knew that Xiao Ling was heartbroken over the botched suit, and there was a grave disappointment in her beautiful eyes. However, she controlled her temper and consoled Ah Nuo instead, so that he wouldn¡¯t feel too guilty about it.

    That was because Ah Nuo was his trusted subordinate.

    Hence, she was being considerate of him.

    Feeling touched, Li Lei said something that he might live to regret. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re really so considerate and kind... I¡¯m willing to do anything for a wife like you!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes narrowed, like a cat surveying her prey. ¡°Anything at all? You¡¯re not going to regret this?¡±

    ¡°No regrets!¡± Li Lei said rashly.

    ¡°Very good...¡± Xia Ling thought of something. ¡°This suit is so beautiful... it¡¯ll be a waste not to wear it. We can¡¯t make any changes to it or else there will be alteration marks, which will make it imperfect. You should eat more in this period and gain some weight. Work hard to get yourself to a size that will fit this suit.¡±

    As she spoke, she patted him on the shoulder in a show of support.

    Hu... Huh??

    Li Lei donned an expression of shock. Didn¡¯t everyone alter clothing to fit them? Who had to gain weight to fit clothes? Even though it was just one size too big, did she think that it was easy trying to gain weight with his high metabolism? What¡¯s more, he had to make sure that he gained weight such that the measurements for his shoulders, waist, and limbs matched those of the outfit.

    He realized that he had just dug himself a pit.

    Xia Ling became much happier, thinking that she had found the perfect solution. ¡°Work hard to gain weight, I won¡¯t despise you for being fat.¡± She smiled widely, feeling that she was the most intelligent being on the. This idea killed two birds with one stone¡ªnot only would Li Lei be able to fit the suit perfectly, but he also would not be able to fit into the suit that Su Tang bought after gaining weight.

    That would anger Su Tang to death.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t know what she was thinking and tried to bargain. ¡°Can you...¡±

    ¡°Nope, can¡¯t!¡± Xia Ling rejected him before he finished his sentence.

    Li Lei felt wronged. ¡°But you haven¡¯t heard what I was about to say...¡±

    ¡°Do I need to?¡± Xia Ling gave a coldugh as she gave him a once over. ¡°I was just thinking that you¡¯ve lost some weight recently. So it was true. ¡°Ah Nuo said that he got these measurements from your closet, which means you were more buff before. Make sure you get back to this size, do you understand?¡±

    She was actually feeling worried for him for working long days and nights and losing weight from the stress of his schedule. Taking over the running of the Li Family was no easy task. She couldn¡¯t help him with that, so all she could do was to supervise his exercise to make sure that he became buffer.

    Li Lei wanted to say something more.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°It¡¯s decided, then. I¡¯ll get Ah Nuo to supervise you closely. He¡¯ll be so happy to know that the problem with the suit can be solved through this method. Also, if the suit doesn¡¯t fit on our engagement day, don¡¯t even think ofing to my ce. We will only get engaged when you can fit into the suit.¡±

    Li Lei waspletely speechless. What was all this?

    However, the mere thought of wearing a suit that was one size too big for the engagement ceremony and the looks of disdain from the Xia Family members was too much for him to ept. Fine! Let¡¯s do it! He couldn¡¯t lose face in front of Xiao Ling¡¯s family! He needed everyone to see that her fianc¨¦ was the most handsome in the world!

    Li Lei clenched his fists in determination. It was just gaining some muscr mass, right? Easy!

    He started the painful days of carbohydrate loading and exercising every day...

 Chapter 875 - All For Love

    <h4>Chapter 875: All For Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t just sit back and watch.

    She asked Li Lei, ¡°Exactly how many sets of outfits were purchased by Su Tang for you?¡±

    Li Lei blinked and gritted his teeth as he responded, ¡°Well... almost... almost all of them.¡± With his busy schedule as the family¡¯s young master, where was he going to find the time for the menial task of shopping? Moreover, Su Tang was meticulous and would purchase everything he needed every season. Since he was young, he had been used to having his outfits ready for him. It was as natural as having food on the table and water to drink. Even though he was most distant from Su Tang in recent years, and prevented her from managing his wardrobe, he had beenzy to buy new stuff and was wearing all the old clothes that she purchased before.

    Xia Ling lost her temper. Dragging him back to the apartment, she opened the closet and went through each and every outfit, throwing away everything that Su Tang had bought. Li Lei¡¯s expression was nk as he saw the empty closet. What was he to do? He had a meeting with one of the big military ammunition dealers the next day, and there was nothing for him to wear to the negotiations!

    Xia Ling threw him a random t-shirt. ¡°Wear this for the time being.¡± He had no suits left, just casual outfits.

    Staring at the cute teddy bear design on the t-shirt, Li Lei could only resign to his fate.

    Xia Ling announced: ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for buying all your clothes in the future! You¡¯re not allowed to let any other woman do so, do you understand?¡± She was already thinking of going to the tailor and purchasing suits for all four seasons, as well as essories, socks, and shoes. Hmm... she should go to the Li Family headquarters and clear out the closet there as well...

    And how was she going to deal with all the old clothes that Su Tang bought?

    Hur Hur, Hur Hur, Hur Hur Hur...

    Xia Lingughed sinisterly. The next day, she really made a trip to the Li Family headquarters.

    Even though the headquarters was now headed up by Li Lei, he was still concerned about her safety. He sent Ah Nuo to apany her as her bodyguard and sent Tan Ying as well to do everything she bade.

    Tan Ying cringed as he watched her swagger into the headquarters, go through Li Lei¡¯s closet excessively, throwing out everything including the suits he wore in his childhood. She then instructed the staff to find an empty basement storeroom to store all of the clothes. Tan Ying was of the view that if not for the fact that burning clothes was inauspicious, she would have done so in a blink of an eye.

    Women were scary.

    Especially jealous women.

    Rumors were rife in the headquarters, saying that the future missus hated Su Tang, and this was an act to stake her im and show Su Tang who was boss. Some staff that were closer to Su Tang called her to inform her of what Xia Ling was up to, exaggerating most of the facts.

    But so what if Su Tang knew?

    Xia Ling was the future missus. And she? She was just someone that was instructed to take care of the young master since he was a child. Su Tang hung up and sat in a daze, recalling all that she had done for Li Lei out of love all these years. Her tears started to fall without warning.

    ¡°Mama!¡± Li Rui suddenly ran into the room, shouting angrily. ¡°Jennifer from next door said that I¡¯m a fatherless child! I gave her a good beating! Her face is all scratched up, but she deserves it! That stupid old butler of hers is here to pin me on me! Don¡¯t pay them anything! Hmph!¡±

    As he shouted, one of the maids came into the room as well. ¡°Miss, Young Master Rui scratched Miss Jennifer¡¯s face. It¡¯s quite serious and might leave a scar. The butler from next door is here to seek an exnation.¡±

    This was an expensive neighborhood, and everyone staying here was of high standing. Jennifer¡¯s father was the heir to a multinational conglomerate and the current Pacific Asia CEO. Jennifer was his only daughter and he doted on her excessively. And her son had scratched up her face such that it might leave a scar?! This was a grave matter that she might not be able to handle.

    Su Tang hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯lle to have a look.¡±

    She scolded Li Rui. ¡°You troublemaker!¡±

    Li Rui was shocked by her harsh words. He nced over at his mother and realized that her face was streaked with tears and her makeup was a mess. He started to cry. The maid caught sight of Su Tang¡¯s face as well and her expression turned to shock. She had never seen Miss Su Tang cry. What was wrong with her today?

    Su Tang realized that something was amiss. She reached out and wiped away her tears, ring at Li Rui and the maid sternly. ¡°What¡¯s there to look at?! Get out, all of you! Get out!¡±

    Seeing her close to hysterics, the maid dragged Li Rui out of the room.

    She was so scary...

    So the elegant Miss Tang had such an ugly and angry side to her?

    Su Tang covered her face and cried out loud in the room.

    On the other side, at the Li Family headquarters.

    Xia Ling finally cleared out all of Li Lei¡¯s old clothes and was feeling aplished.

    Old Master Li¡¯s face was ashen, thinking to himself that this granddaughter-inw was being wilful and overbearing, but couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Li Lei was the one that called all the shots in the Li Family now, and Xia Ling was next in the hierarchy. Li Lei had instructed his subordinates to give Old Master Li the respect he deserved, but still to take his words as subservient to Xia Ling¡¯s. Hence, Old Master Li could do nothing when it came to matters involving Xia Ling.

    Old Master was furious. Why was he so cooperative in going to the Xia Family to ask for her hand in marriage?! ¡°Miss Ling...¡± He couldn¡¯t resist saying to her while ring coldly. ¡°There are rules within this household. I don¡¯t care how powerful your family background is. If you marry into the Li Family, you should follow our rules. How can you cause such a hugemotion?¡±

    However, Xia Ling wasn¡¯t afraid of him.

    She smiled and sweetly said to the Old Master, ¡°What do you mean I¡¯ve caused amotion? Have I killed anyone? Committed arson? Logically, women should be in charge of the household while her husband is out working. I¡¯ll call the shots in the house in the future! Why? Do I not have the freedom to move my man¡¯s stuff as I wish?¡±

    The Old Master red at her. ¡°Just be reasonable... Ah Tang has worked hard for this family. Don¡¯t be too harsh on her!¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that apply to her as well?¡± Xia Ling remarked. ¡°To be fair, if she didn¡¯t try so hard to buy clothes for Li Lei this around, I wouldn¡¯t have even thought of clearing out his closet. We give her all the riches so that she and her son can live out their lives worry-free. I didn¡¯t say a word about that at all. But Old Master... if she has any ideas that she shouldn¡¯t harbor, then don¡¯t me me for being harsh!¡± Her words were sharp like a knife, and the Old Master could think of nothing to retort.

    Xia Ling was mildly frustrated. Who would be happy if the grandfather of her one true love was biased to her love rival?

    She said to Tan Ying, ¡°Hurry and bring all these to the basement storeroom and lock it tight. Throw the key to the sharks!¡±

    The Old Master was so upset he had to be helped away.

    Tan Ying frowned. Even though she was the missus-to-be, she was being a tad too arrogant.

    When they returned back home, he went to look for Li Lei in the office.

    ¡°Boss.¡± He said to Li Lei. ¡°Miss Ling is being way too harsh. If you guys treat Su Tang so badly after she¡¯s been so loyal to you for so long, it will affect morale for the other subordinates too.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling treats Ah Nuo quite well, though.¡± Li Lei smiledzily, with a tinge of warning in his tone. ¡°Tan Ying, I know you¡¯re close to Su Tang. However, you need to view this matter separately from everything else. Su Tang¡¯s overstepped Xiao Ling¡¯s bottom line for this matter, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Do you understand?¡±

    The danger in Li Lei¡¯s tone was intensified the second time he asked the question. Tan Ying was taken aback and lowered his head. ¡°Yes.¡± So what if he didn¡¯t really understand? If he persisted in speaking up for Su Tang, he would possibly make the situation worse.

    Love was something that couldn¡¯t be exined.

 Chapter 876 - The Engagement Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 876: The Engagement Ceremony</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    With all these trivial matters out of the way, it was finally the day of the engagement ceremony.

    ording to custom, the engagement ceremony was to be held in the bride¡¯s house. As such, Old Master Li led the family over to the Xia Family vige. While Old Master Li didn¡¯t like this granddaughter-inw, he knew that her family background was not to be disrespected or offended. Hence, he made sure that he showed Xia Ling face in all the preparations.

    He handed a jade bangle to Xia Ling, saying, ¡°This is the Li Family heirloom. It¡¯s traditionally worn by the Family Head¡¯s wife. I¡¯m handing it to you now. In the future, this will represent your status as the wife of the Family Head.¡± The deep green jade bangle with beautiful marbling shone and was warm to the touch.

    Xia Ling received it and respectfully thanked the Old Master.

    Since the Old Master was being courteous to her, she would return with the same courtesy. Regardless of how much they bickered at home, he was still an important person in the Li Family and they knew that this ceremony was not one that they should act out of ce.

    She smiled at her husband-to-be. ¡°Help me to put it on.¡±

    Li Lei smiled back at her before reaching out and helping her to slip the jade bangle onto her hand.

    It fit perfectly.

    ¡°Live well with Li Lei in the future... the Li Family has such high hopes for you, don¡¯t disappoint them.¡± This time, it was Madam Xia, who was dressed to the nines, speaking. Madam Xia was happy to see that the Li Family was giving the jade bangle to Xia Ling preemptively, as this was a mark of respect and eptance of Xia Ling into the family.

    However, who said that the Old Master truly epted Xia Ling?

    He was just wary of the Xia Family¡¯s power and hence, decided that it was appropriate to gift her the family heirloom ahead of the wedding.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t tell the backstory to her mother. This matter was not something that her mother should worry about. She smiled sweetly and took her mother¡¯s words to heart, responding softly, ¡°Mummy, I¡¯ll make sure to be happy.¡± She lifted her head and looked lovingly at her one true love.

    Li Lei was dressed in the smoky-colored suit that she had gifted him, looking dashing. He was like the perfect protector standing by her side. He nced at her gently before turning to Madam Xia. ¡°Mum, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take good care of Xiao Ling.¡±

    He smiled. It was wonderful to be able to call Xia Ling¡¯s mother ¡°mum.¡± It made them feel so much closer.

    Madam Xia was overjoyed. Other than preparing huge red packets for them, she also ced two heavy gold chains into Li Lei¡¯s hands. She said, ¡°Good child... feel free to treat this ce as your home as well. I was drawn to you the moment we met... you¡¯re so unlike that ice cube we have in the house. After so many decades, he¡¯s never called me mum quite as sweetly as you do.¡±

    The ¡°ice cube¡± big brother standing to the side felt irritated. Was she even his biological mother? Even though he knew that his mother was always regretful that she had only one son, and would always chide him for being too serious,menting that she should have had one more son to cheer her up, but... Mum, who was the one who asked for the two-sided contract to be changed to the owner-ve covenant during the Phoenix Comeback Ceremony?

    After what you did to Li Lei, you¡¯re still smiling like nothing¡¯s wrong? Does Li Lei even know about what happened?

    Big Brother was tempted to reveal what she had done but controlled himself for the sake of peace in the family.

    Madam Xia didn¡¯t feel abashed at all. In her eyes, Li Lei was an outsider before, but after the owner-ve covenant was established, and now that he had called her mum, he was both part of the family as well as their private property. With such a sweet-talking son-inw, what use was this cold eldest son?

    In that moment, the poor big brother was being despised by his own mother.

    Li Lei continued to smile happily, calling Madam Xia ¡°mum¡± a few more times. He said, ¡°My biological mother died when I was really young. All these years, I¡¯ve been so envious of others with their mothers. Now that I have you, I¡¯ll treat you like you¡¯re my biological mother.¡±

    Madam Xia was touched and said, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll be just like your biological mother in the future.¡±

    The saying goes that mothers-inw tended to like their sons-inw more as the days past, and this was a perfect example of that. Even Family Head Xia started to get jealous. He cleared his throat several times and said a few stern words to Li Lei.

    Li Lei responded warmly, ¡°Dad, I¡¯lle to y chess with you often in the future.¡±

    With that, Family Head Xia¡¯s irritation dissipated entirely. ¡°That¡¯s my good son!¡±

    Xia Moyan was speechless.

    The engagement ceremony continued without a hitch. The Xia Family arranged for a banquet, and the entire vige joined in the celebrations. The day¡¯s festivities endedte, and the Li Family stayed the night.

    Xia Ling returned to her room, changed out of her gown, and removed her makeup. She was feeling sore from running around all day andmanded Li Lei, who had climbed through the window as usual. ¡°Give me a back massage.¡±

    Li Lei did as she asked, massaging her into a state of full rxation.

    As he hugged her to himself and prepared to sleep, there was a sudden knock on the door. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    Li Lei was upset. This was the voice of the big brother that always sent a shiver down his spine.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go open the door. You be good.¡± Xia Ling mouthed to him.

    Li Lei nodded and watched as she left.

    Xia Ling opened the door and asked, ¡°Brother, you¡¯re looking for me?¡±

    Xia Moyan said lightly, ¡°Xia Yu is back.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment, before asking, ¡°She tried to murder Shaohui and turned herself in. How did she manage to appear here all fine and dandy?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you remember that other than turning herself in, she said that she wanted toe back to the family?¡± Xia Moyan reminded her. ¡°Xia Yu did go turn herself in. However, given how things panned out, and seeing that no real harm was done, the courts ruled that she botched her attempt at murder and was sentenced to three years in jail, but can serve her sentence on bail.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s legal knowledge wascking.

    ¡°In other words, she¡¯s a free bird in these three years. She¡¯s free toe back to the Xia Family, and to stay here if she wishes.¡± Xia Moyan replied.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that being too lenient on her?!¡± Xia Ling was upset. ¡°My little Shaohui almost died!¡±

    Xia Moyan responded calmly, ¡°What¡¯s there for you to be unhappy about? She¡¯s chosen to turn herself in ande back to the family. There are rules within the family as well. She¡¯s tried to kill the son of the Phoenix... do you really think we will let her off so easily?¡±

    ¡°Will you kill her?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°We would, usually.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°However, she¡¯s part of your destiny and it¡¯s not appropriate for us to punish her too harshly or it could alter the course of your life. We¡¯ve decided that she will receive 30shes, and that will be repeated every year on the birthday of the Phoenix¡¯s son.¡± This wasn¡¯t a light sentence. 30shes would usually result in there being many open wounds, and Xia Yu would be virtually bedridden for a good ten days to half a month.

    Xia Ling was mildly disappointed but decided that this was better than Xia Yu going scot-free.

    Xia Moyan could tell that she wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°She¡¯s now in the main room preparing to receive her punishment. Do you want to go to watch?¡±

 Chapter 877 - The Real Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 877: The Real Phoenix</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling followed her brother to the main hall.

    The bonfire party was still ongoing in the open-air field, but there were many people gathered in the main hall¡ªFamily Head Xia, Madam Xia, the family elders, Xia Yu¡¯s biological parents, as well as the vigers who were going to mete out the punishment. All of them had serious expressions as they looked toward the girl who was kneeling in the middle of the hall.

    That girl was Xia Yu.

    She was wearing a thin t-shirt, and her long hair was in a messy state. She looked extremely pitiful with her forlorn expression. She was speaking to Family Head Xia, ¡°Family Head Xia, I was momentarily taken by my own jealousy andmitted the grave mistake of trying to harm the Phoenix¡¯s son. I¡¯m willing to ept any punishment for my folly, but can you give me a chance to redeem myself on ount that I had no idea that Shaohui was the Phoenix¡¯s son. Don¡¯t exile me from the family...¡±

    Her face was covered in tears.

    Family Head Xia didn¡¯t reply. He looked up at Xia Ling, who had just entered the room. ¡°Xiao Ling, what do you think?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at her. After all, her son was the victim of the attempted murder. She should have the most say in whether the punishment should be severe or lenient.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°Xia Yu, you still daree back here?¡±

    Xia Yu cried even harder. ¡°Sister, even though you don¡¯t recognize me as your sister anymore, please allow me to call you that one more time. I know I was wrong! I really regret my actions... I shouldn¡¯t have done all those things to you. I deserve to die!¡± As she spoke, she pped herself several times. Her face started to swell up very quickly.

    She was afraid that if she wasn¡¯t harsh on herself, and didn¡¯t look pitiful enough, there would be graver punishment awaiting her.

    However, Xia Ling was not moved. Her gaze was still cold as she asked, ¡°Then, tell me. What shouldn¡¯t you have done?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have tried to kill the little young master!¡± Xia Yu choked.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have tried to push you down the stairs when you were pregnant.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have pretended to have a heart attack to frame you when you just debuted.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have lip-synched... bringing shame to the music scene, which you are so passionate about...¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Yu didn¡¯t know how to continue. What else was there? She had mentioned everything that she had done that was harmful to ¡°Ye Xingling.¡± All the other things she had done was in Xia Ling¡¯s first life¡ªwhen she framed Xia Ling in the orphanage; when she tried to snatch away Pei Ziheng; when she fanned the mes when Xia Ling was imprisoned by Pei Ziheng...

    But how could she admit to all these now?

    Other than the real Xia Ling and her, nobody else knew about these wrongdoings. If she were to admit to all of them now, wouldn¡¯t she just be courting death? The Xia Family would definitely give her harsher punishment!

    ¡°There¡¯s... nothing else...¡± Xia Yu replied.

    ¡°Hur...¡± Xia Lingughed coldly. ¡°... think again.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at her pensively, unsure of what she meant.

    Xia Yu wasn¡¯t fully convinced that ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was truly the reincarnated Xia Ling and that she had inherited all of her past memories. Or was she just someone that the Xia Family had chosen as a representation of the Phoenix, a figment of their imagination?

    If it were thetter, then ¡°Ye Xingling¡± would have no idea about the wrongdoings in her past life.

    Xia Yu couldn¡¯t be the one to proactively admit to all of that.

    But... what if it were the former? If ¡°Ye Xingling¡± had Xia Ling¡¯s past memories? Her insistence on keeping mum about all her wrongdoings would anger her sister even more.

    No....

    How was that possible?

    ¡°Ye Xingling¡± couldn¡¯t be her reincarnated sister... her age was all wrong!

    And... how could something so out of the world be real?

    Xia Yu forced herself to remain calm and decided that the likelihood of ¡°Ye Xingling¡± not knowing about Xia Ling¡¯s past was higher. Yes, ¡°Ye Xingling¡± must be bluffing right now, wanting to test if she would readily admit to other wrongdoings. She couldn¡¯t fall for her trap! She must not admit to anything else!

    She gritted her teeth and maintained her story. ¡°Nothing else. Other than these, I¡¯ve not done anything else to harm you. Sister...¡±

    <i>Pa!</i>

    A loud p rang out.

    Xia Ling had used all her strength to give Xia Yu a tight p, causing her to fall over on her side. Xia Yu¡¯s head knocked on the cold, hard cement floor and a gash appeared on her forehead. Blood started to flow from the open gaping wound.

    She looked up at Xia Ling with a confused expression.

    Many of the vigers also stared at Xia Ling, confused.

    Xia Ling shook her smarting hand. She had really put all her strength into that; her hand was really painful. ¡°Xia Yu...¡± She looked into Xia Yu¡¯s eyes menacingly, as if looking at a dead dog. ¡°... don¡¯t you dare call me Sister. You don¡¯t deserve to! You don¡¯t know what else you did wrong? Okay, let me tell you then!¡±

    ¡°In the orphanage, you lied to me saying that you loved to eat pork buns, when in fact you merely wanted to watch me getting hit by the big kids when I went to snatch the pork buns for you. Later, Pei Ziheng adopted us and you tried to seduce him behind my back. I also gave you all my finances to manage, and all you did was to intentionally lose all my money. Later on, Pei Ziheng imprisoned me... you came to jeer at me, ridicule me, and you even asked me why I didn¡¯t choose to kill myself...

    ¡°Xia Yu, did you forget all of these?¡±

    <i>She knows...</i>

    <i>She really knows!</i>

    Xia Yu stared at Xia Ling incredulously. How could she possibly know?! She...

    <i>She¡¯s really Xia Ling!</i>

    She wasn¡¯t a recement, or in an imaginary position. She was the true reincarnated Phoenix, and she had all of Xia Ling¡¯s original memories!

    At that moment, Xia Yu was so shocked that she forgot to breathe.

    ¡°No...¡± She shook her head and murmured. ¡°You¡¯re my sister? How can you be my sister?¡± Tears started to fall from the corner of her eyes without warning. ¡°My sister is dead... Xia Ling... she... she died a long time ago...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re extremely shocked, aren¡¯t you?¡± Xia Ling walked up to her and squatted down, lifting Xia Yu¡¯s chin up so that she was looking at her. ¡°Look at me closely. Think about it... think about how you sweet-talked me, calling me Sister oh so dearly, before stabbing me in the back... I¡¯m very thankful for the period of time that Pei Ziheng imprisoned me... It allowed me to see the true colors of many people, and understand many things. Including you, my dearest little sister.¡±

    She released Xia Yu, who slid down to the floor weakly.

    Everyone watched this scene between the two sisters pan out. Many of the vigers had thought that the legend of the Phoenix was just something made up for the vigers to hold onto. However, after seeing Xia Yu¡¯s expression today, they were also in shock.

    So Xia Ling had really reincarnated?!

    Madam Xia rushed forward and hugged Xia Ling, already in tears.

    Even though she had always believed that Xia Ling had truly reincarnated, there was still that sliver of doubt in that ancient legend of the Xia Family on the Phoenix. Now, the evidence was clear and she was ovee with tears in an instant.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... my darling daughter...¡± She hugged Xia Ling tightly, almost as if she was trying to meld their bodies together.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes filled with tears as well, and she leaned lightly against her mother¡¯s shoulder.

 Chapter 878 - Xia Yu Receives Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 878: Xia Yu Receives Punishment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The mother-daughter pair cried for a long time before finally managing to stop their tears.

    Xia Ling wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and said to Madam Xia, ¡°Mum, don¡¯t be sad. I¡¯m back here safe and sound, aren¡¯t I? We can live happily as a family in the future, never to be apart again.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Madam Xia almost started to cry again.

    Madam Xia might look elegant and regal, but she was sensitive and weak like Xia Ling at the core. She would easily dissolve into tears when something tugged at her heartstrings. Hence, Xia Moyan had always felt that his sister¡¯s artistic talent came from his mother, and they were almost identical in some ways.

    Thankfully, his sister had inherited his mother¡¯s character.

    If she inherited his father¡¯s character... Xia Moyan nced over at his father, who had a stern expression stered on his face. However, he could see his father observed the mother-daughter pair from the corner of his eye, looking like he was longing to step forward to give both of them a warm embrace, but controlling this urge given that it was inappropriate for someone of his status.

    Oh, Dad... stop trying to fake it.

    Seeing his father¡¯s internal struggle, Xia Moyan knew that he couldn¡¯t count on him to call the shots. He stepped forward and looked down at Xia Yu, who was still crumpled on the floor. ¡°I was under the impression that you only attempted murder on the Phoenix¡¯s son... but in fact, you¡¯ve harmed Xiao Ling time and time again in her past life? Do you know the seriousness of your offenses?¡±

    Xia Yu hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock of learning the truth about Xia Ling, and she looked up nkly at Xia Moyan with her lips pale and quivering.

    ¡°She needs to be punished for harming the Phoenix as well.¡± One of the elders spoke up. ¡°The Preceptor, even though the Phoenix¡¯s life is said to be fraught with trials and tribtions, we can¡¯t just let Xia Yu off like that. Killing her might affect the Phoenix¡¯s destiny, but we should still mete out a harsh punishment.¡±

    Xia Moyan agreed. ¡°There¡¯s an empty room by this hall. Xia Yu, you¡¯ll spend your days copying out scripture in that room, and praying blessings over the Phoenix. Without special permission, you are not toe out of that room.¡±

    This was basically life imprisonment.

    However, not being able to exit the small enclosed room was much worse than not being able to leave the Xia Family premises.

    Xia Yu was to spend the rest of her days in this small room.

    This was a severe punishment. But at the same time, a way to save her from all her sins. She could try to redeem herself bit by bit, through the copying of scripture and prayer, amassing good karma for her next life.

    Several elders nodded their agreement at this punishment.

    Xia Yu was still in a daze and seemed to not have heard a word that Xia Moyan said. She continued to murmur, ¡°Ye Xingling, are you really my sister? You¡¯re... you¡¯re not dead?¡±

    Xia Ling had just finished consoling her mother, and her attention was back on the proceedings in the hall. She heard Xia Yu¡¯s question and almost lost her temper again. ¡°I told you... you have no right to call me Sister! You¡¯ll get a p from me every time I hear you call me that, do you understand?!¡± pping her was dirtying her hands!

    Even if she could forgive Xia Yu for everything else, there was no way that she would forgive her for what she did to Shaohui!

    Some matters could not be forgiven!

    Xia Yu shrunk back a little, a surprising change from her usual fake acts and retorts. Her expression was still lost as she shook her head, smiling suddenly before tears started to fall from her eyes.

    Had this girl lost her mind?

    Many elders frowned and thought.

    Xia Moyanmanded unflinchingly. ¡°Bring in the rods.¡±

    The vigers responsible for the flogging punishment came forward. The leader asked Xia Yu as a matter of formality with a straight face, ¡°You will be flogged thirty times, and whether you die from the flogging is a matter of fate. Do you have anything to say? It might be your final words.¡±

    Xia Yu remained crumpled on the ground as if his words were like wind past her ears.

    The leader turned and asked Xia Yu¡¯s biological parents, ¡°Xia Qiushan, Xia Shujuan, do you have anything to say to your daughter? If you don¡¯t speak now, you might never get the chance.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s biological parents had been standing in the hall for a long time now, witnessing the entire proceeding. As they watched, they became more and more shocked. Oh my God, their daughter had not only tried to kill the Phoenix¡¯s son but had also harmed the Phoenix herself! Why was she such a troublemaker? If they recognized her as their daughter, wouldn¡¯t it be courting trouble for themselves? Wouldn¡¯t they be looked down on by the entire vige?! Maybe they might even have to be punished along with her!

    ¡°You¡¯re such an embarrassment!¡± Xia Shujuan pointed at Xia Yu and scolded. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just piss on yourself? How did you dare treat Miss Ling with such disrespect? You should be flogged to death! Pfft!¡± She genuinely wanted to see Xia Yu dead. She never felt any closeness to this daughter given that she never yed any part in nurturing her. If this daughter died, they wouldn¡¯t be embroiled in this matter any longer. What¡¯s more, they would inherit all that Xia Yu had earned over the years, wouldn¡¯t they? After all, they only wanted her money... they didn¡¯t care at all if she was dead or alive!

    Xia Ling nced at Xia Shujuan. What a cold-blooded woman...

    However, that wasn¡¯t her problem. She remembered her brother telling her once that she was once taken in by this woman, and she had been abused and abandoned. Xia Ling didn¡¯t want anything to do with this woman.

    Xia Yu lifted her head with great difficulty and looked straight at her birth mother.

    Xia Shujuan felt a shudder go down her back at Xia Yu¡¯s empty eyes and took a fearful step back. ¡°What are you looking at?!¡± After a moment, she regained her courage and scolded. ¡°You b*tch! Just die!¡± It was as if she thought that the harsher the words she said to Xia Yu, the greater the distance she could draw between them, such that she wouldn¡¯t have to suffer any repercussions from this matter.

    Xia Yu lowered her eyes wordlessly to the ground, feeling a piercing pain in her heart.

    She was not sad... why should she feel sad? All these years, she had dreamt of meeting her birth parents and had thought that they would treat her like the most precious gem when they found her. She had thought that they would praise her, and wouldn¡¯t overlook her on ount of her sister¡¯s amazing aura. She always thought that her parents would love her very, very much.

    If not for these thoughts...

    She wouldn¡¯t have been able to live through all the lonely nights ...

    Yet, her dream was shattered today.

    Her birth parents were a far cry from Xia Ling¡¯s parents in terms of their status. Even their love for her couldn¡¯t match up. She just saw how Madam Xia hugged Xia Ling in tears, whereas her own mother had merely told her to die!

    Maybe some people were just born to be cherished, whereas others were just meant to be treated like dirt.

    Xia Yu stood up shakily and walked over to the wooden bench set up for the flogging by herself. Fine, they could flog her all they wanted. So what if she died? There was no one in the world that cared anyway.

    The few vigers that were to carry out the flogging looked at each other.

    The leader nced at Xia Moyan and lifted his rod high in the air after receiving Xia Moyan¡¯s signal to start.

    The first rod came down with a loud thud, closely followed by Xia Yu¡¯s scream. However, she stopped making a sound mid-way through her first scream, as if someone had suddenly gagged her. She had lost all motivation to live and didn¡¯t even have the energy to scream. Her expression was nk like she had already died inside.

 Chapter 879 - Where Is the Money

    <h4>Chapter 879: Where Is the Money</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the silent ancestral hall, shadows floated across the room.

    Xia Yu already passed out and was unconscious. There was blood on her thin, light-colored shirt. Very soon, it was drenched in blood and blood started dripping on the concrete floor.

    Would she die?

    Xia Ling was somewhat deep in thought. Before the execution, the leader¡¯s words determined her fate. Perhaps Xia Yu would be beaten up here.

    She remembered that year when she was in the orphanage. She tried her best to keep Xia Yu alive. It took a lot of hard work, but she managed to ensure Xia Yu¡¯s safety. Now, could she easily watch as Xia Yu was beaten to death? What was the pain and persistence of the past for?

    Her thoughts were somewhat erratic.

    Xia Moyan nced at her and seemed as if he saw through her thoughts. He said, ¡°Rx, she won¡¯t die.¡± The speech about life and death was only routine. These executioners knew their boundaries. They knew how to kill someone and also how to beat someone up into a pulp but not damage their brain or bones.

    When they dealt with Xia Yu, they used thetter.

    Only then did Xia Ling slightly calm down.

    Although she hated Xia Yu, she did not want to kill her. No matter how badly Xia Yu treated her, she never truly killed her son and did not have to pay with her life. She remembered how Xia Yu pulled on her sleeve when they were younger in the orphanage and called her sister... She looked so innocent and bright.

    Was Xia Yu ever sincere towards her before?

    Even for a second?

    The sound of the nk was very deep before it gradually stopped.

    The executioner bent down, checked if Xia Yu was breathing, and announced. ¡°She¡¯s still alive.¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help but breathe a sigh of relief, not knowing why.

    Xia Moyan instructed. ¡°Take her away to heal. When her injuries are better, lock her in the monastery.¡±

    The executioners acknowledged him, lifted the stretcher, and moved Xia Yu out of the room very skillfully. The fewrge men moved the weak girl effortlessly. In the process, Xia Yu¡¯s bloodstained and torn clothes were scattered, revealing her brutally beaten sh. It was unbearable to watch.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Xia Ling stopped them.

    She stepped forward and nced at Xia Yu. Her ¡°sister¡± on the stretcher had her eyes closed and her body was soft like a dead fish without a spine. She was also covered in blood and stank. It was as if she returned to her childhood when she was disheveled and ugly. Xia Ling took off her jacket and lightly covered Xia Yu¡¯s injured body and torn clothes.

    ¡°Go.¡± She softly said.

    The executioners gently bowed their heads and carried Xia Yu out.

    The elders also dispersed.

    As for Xia Shujuan? She was afraid of being implicated and already disappeared without a trace.

    In the main hall, only Xia Ling¡¯s family was left.

    Xia Moyan looked at his delicate sister. ¡°You have a kind heart.¡± He was referring to how Xia Ling gave Xia Yu her jacket which was really unexpected.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We were sisters once.¡± However, their rtionship as sisters had ended.

    She turned around and left the main ancestral hall with her family.

    This little episode did not affect the Xia Family much. The only troublesome thing was that the next day, as Xia Shujuan and her husband knew that Xia Yu was not dead, they pressured her to hand over her money.

    ¡°Xia Yu, you¡¯re an unfilial daughter.¡± They said, ¡°You¡¯re making money but don¡¯t know how to show filial piety! Quickly hand over some money to support the family or we won¡¯t be finished with you!¡±

    Xia Yu was on the verge of death on the bed. She smiled coldly and did not make a sound. She saw the true colors of her good-for-nothing parents. They never had any rtionship but still tried to squeeze benefits from her. Not a chance!

    Many people in the n came to watch the conflict in the family.

    Seeing that there were more people, Xia Shujuan became more energetic. She pointed and scolded Xia Yu. ¡°You¡¯re a piece of useless trash! You have money but don¡¯t even think about bringing it home, and now you think you cane back and take advantage of us after you messed up outside?! You¡¯re so dirty and smelly but I have to take care of you. Why didn¡¯t those 30shes kill you? Seriously!¡±

    She groaned,ined, and humiliated Xia Yu until she seemed worthless.

    The onlookers gossiped. They did not have a shred of sympathy for the girl who plotted against the Phoenix and Xia Shujuan¡¯szy family. They were only gloating over their misfortune.

    Xia Yu continued to lie on the bed. Every single word of Xia Shujuan¡¯s vulgar scolding stabbed Xia Yu¡¯s heart. She was severely injured and had no strength to fight back. She straightened her body and widened her eyes as she stared at the in ceiling.

    Her rehabilitation days flew by.

    Xia Shujuan treated her poorly. She never changed her medicine and even frequently forgot to give her food. Furthermore, she did not care to open the windows, turn her around, take her to the toilet, or clean her bedpan. Xia Yu¡¯s wound quickly ulcerated and the abscesses were covered with flies and bugs. Finally, on one day, she felt that she would really die if things went on like this.

    Silently like a bug that rotted to death on the bed.

    Dead... She was about to die...

    Besides, no one loved her.

    With empty eyes, her gaze unknowingly fell on a corner of the bed. A magnolia flower on the lightly-colored silky shirt was blooming. Even in a room that was filled with a stench and blood, it looked beautiful.

    That was... Xia Ling¡¯s shirt.

    She still remembered that on the day she faced her sentence, Xia Ling wore this shirt and denounced her crimes. However, how did this shirt end up on her in the end?

    Xia Yu was not stupid.

    She understood it at once. Xia Ling must have put it on her.

    <i>Oh, Xia Ling... Sister, you¡¯re still innocent and stupid. We¡¯re already enemies yet you still covered me with your shirt? Are you trying to show how kind you are? You¡¯re always like this, using my piteous state to gain praise for yourself. Do you know that you¡¯re the most scheming person in the world?!</i>

    <i>Xia Ling!</i>

    <i>I hate you!</i>

    <i>I hate you!</i>

    Her tears flowed out and covered her unrecognizable cheeks.

    She had to live on and live better than Xia Ling. She had to trample on all of those people who looked down on her and humiliated her! She viciously red at the magnolia flower and swore.

    ¡°Xia Shujuan.¡± The next day, when Xia Shujuan carelessly gave her a rotting meat bun, she suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice. ¡°Do you want money?¡±

    Startled, Xia Shujuan smiled smugly. ¡°Hahaha, I just knew that you wouldn¡¯t be able to tolerate it, trash. If you knew about this, why did you have to act that way in the past? If you said it earlier, you wouldn¡¯t have to suffer so much now!¡±

    She deliberately abused Xia Yu to force Xia Yu to hand over her wealth. Sure enough, this strategy worked! Xia Shujuan was ted and fiercely interrogated Xia Yu. ¡°Tell me! Where is the money?!¡±

 Chapter 880 - Lovers Under the Moon

    <h4>Chapter 880: Lovers Under the Moon</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring the money back.¡± Xia Yu weakly and hoarsely said, ¡°If you want it, you have to treat my injuries. When I have healed, I will go out and bring it back.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Shujuan eximed. ¡°You didn¡¯t bring the money back?! Why do I have such a stupid daughter like you?! You worthless trash, do you know that once you enter the family territory, you can¡¯t leave?!¡±

    This time, the color was drained from Xia Yu¡¯s face. ¡°I can¡¯t leave?!¡±

    She was horrified and instinctively wanted to sit up, but she did not have half the strength in her weak body. After lifting her body by an inch, she fell back, shocking the flies that were dancing around her wounds.

    Xia Family looked at her in disgust and held her nose. ¡°It stinks so badly. Look at you! What do you think the Xia Family is? All the rich people in the world are crying for us to help them! If we did not live in seclusion for the past generations, we would not have been able to live in peace! Only very few people can enter and leave freely in the Xia Family!¡±

    Xia Yu shook her head incredulously. This was such an important piece of information but she only found out now!

    Oh god! She still had to look for the flower for Wei Lingnan and give it to him. Otherwise, she would rot to death! She was unwilling to die like this and definitely had to get out! However, she was already inside the family now. How could she get out? She was not prepared at all. If she knew about this early, she would have prepared a few things beforehand.

    Xia Shujuan was still rambling on. ¡°Retarded! Idiot! Useless!¡±

    Xia Yu became annoyed and couldn¡¯t help but snap at her. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Xia Shujuan was startled and did not expect her daughter to rebuke. She couldn¡¯t help but curse. ¡°You dare to talk back to me? Who do you think you are? I hope you die early you piece of trash!¡±

    Xia Yu said faintly, ¡°Xia Shujuan, do you believe that before I die, I have a hundred ways to drag you down with me?¡±

    Her eyes were gloomy as if she were a ghost from hell, immediately scaring Xia Shujuan. At the end of the day, Xia Shujuan was a shrew and had never seen someone so cruel before. Her heart pounded in her chest. This trash was already half-dead, so why did she still look so intimidating?

    However, she did not dare to be so arrogant any longer.

    She said sternly to Xia Yu, ¡°I can cure you. However, you must give all your money to me. I don¡¯t care if you brought your money back or not. Even if it¡¯s outside, you have to think of a way to get it back in here!¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Ok. However, you must help me get out to get the money.¡± After a few short sentences, she already knew that since this woman was so greedy, she would use this greedy woman¡¯s weakness to leave this family. When she left, there would be a whole life ahead of her. As for the promise? What a joke! She would never give Xia Shujuan any money.

    Xia Shujuan said, ¡°I want to help you, but do you think it¡¯s so easy? If I could leave, I would have left a long time ago! Why would I have to wait for you toe back in?!¡±

    Xia Yu sneered in her heart. This woman could not leave? That¡¯s because she was brainless!

    However, that did not mean Xia Yu was brainless like her.

    As sheid on the dirty bed, she replied Xia Shujuan confidently, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to give me ideas. When I need your help, I will tell you what to do. First I have to ask you, who are the people who can leave freely in this n?¡±

    This question was simple. Xia Shujuan said, ¡°The only ones who can leave freely are Xia Family Head and his family,pradors who are involved in trade, and some temporary workers can also go out if they gain the Xia Family Head¡¯s permission.¡±

    ¡°What is a temporary worker?¡±

    ¡°That can be a lot of things.¡± Xia Shujuan said. ¡°Some leave to learn technology, some leave to gain information... However, I advise you to not to think about it. The people sent out are all elites that were trained since a young age in the n. As for you... Haha. Just focus on farming at home.¡±

    Xia Yu ignored her snidements and slightly frowned. It was a little tricky.

    ¡°What about aprador?¡± She asked, ¡°How often are they allowed to go out and what is their route like?¡±

    Xia Shujuan lifted here for a lifetime and was very familiar, so she immediately spoke up...

    At night, the moonlight was intoxicating.

    Xia Ling did not sleep very well. She dressed in a nightgown and looked at the moonlight outside.

    Outside the windowpane, the shadows were heavy and she could hear the sounds of insects. Xia Ling felt a little lonely. Her room was empty and Li Lei had returned to the city with his family a few days ago.

    She initially wanted to go with him.

    However, Madam Xia could not bear for her to leave. After confirming that she had the memories of her daughter¡¯s previous life and that Xia Ling really reincarnated, Madam Xia softly convinced her to stay. ¡°You¡¯re engaged and will marry him soon. You spent so little time in your own home. Stay a few more days and let your mom look at you for a few more days, ok?¡±

    How could Xia Ling refuse?

    She called Lin Yunan and asked him to adjust her schedule. She stayed in the Xia Family and devoted her time to apany her parents. Her family treated her like a gem and the other people were even more respectful towards her.

    However, she still felt lonely. After not seeing Li Lei for many days, her heart felt empty.

    Unknowingly, that man had be a part of her life.

    Standing in the moonlight, she couldn¡¯t help but miss him. She raised her fingertips and gently drew his eyebrows in the still air. Outside the windowpane, the shadows swayed as if the entire world recognized his beautiful face. She was lost in her thoughts. Suddenly, she felt that something was moving in the shadows.

    She thought that it was an illusion.

    After that, the branches rustled unnaturally again.

    She stopped trying to draw her sweetheart¡¯s face and started focusing her attention on the trees. It was only then that she saw a thin girl in the flowers not far from the room limping about and looking for something.

    ¡°Xia Yu?¡± Xia Ling mumbled. It was sote, why did she appear here?

    Without thinking much, she draped a coat over her and walked out.

    ¡°Xia Yu!¡± In the flowers, she suddenly appeared behind Xia Yu and called her coldly.

    Xia Yu was taken aback. She turned around, saw her, and quickly hid the item she was holding behind her back.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Ling narrowed her eyes and asked.

    ¡°I... I couldn¡¯t sleep, so I decided to walk around.¡± Xia Yu stammered.

    Xia Ling did not believe her excuse. Looking at the way she limped, it was obvious that her injury had not recovered yet. She would be crazy to wander into the ce where the Xia Family Head lived from the slums. ¡°You can¡¯t fool me.¡± She exposed Xia Yu. ¡°What are you holding in your hand.¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. Just... a flower.¡± As she spoke, Xia Yu slowly extended her hand for Xia Ling to see in the moonlight. Sure enough, it was a small flower. It had a very light color and was almost transparent. This type of flower was very special and only seemed to grow near Xia Ling¡¯s house.

    It was not very eye-catching and looked like a wildflower.

 Chapter 881 - Business Deal

    <h4>Chapter 881: Business Deal</h4>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling nced at her and did not discover anything wrong. She only asked, ¡°Why are you picking flowers?¡±

    Xia Yu lowered her head. ¡°I lost my way and arrived here. I saw that these flowers were very pretty and couldn¡¯t help but pick one. Miss Ling, I¡¯m sorry for disturbing you.¡±

    What she said seemed reasonable.

    Xia Ling sized her up again and did not see anything suspicious, so she chased her away. ¡°Please leave. This ce is not somewhere you should be. Don¡¯t let me see you again.¡±

    There was some ecstasy in Xia Yu¡¯s heart. She turned around and was about to leave.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Xia Ling stopped her.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Miss Ling?¡± Xia Yu turned around.

    In the moonlight, Xia Ling pointed at the flower in her hand. ¡°Leave that.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression changed slightly, but she concealed it instantly after. Pitifully, she said, ¡°Miss Ling, this is only a wildflower. Why can¡¯t you let me go?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t want to let you go. So what about it? Leave it behind.¡± She still felt that something was wrong. Although she couldn¡¯t tell what the problem was, she couldn¡¯t let Xia Yu take advantage of the situation. Thus, she wasn¡¯t willing to let Xia Yu go with that flower at all.

    Xia Yu slightly bit her lip.

    Xia Ling urged her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You can¡¯t bear to leave this flower?¡±

    Xia Yu was afraid that she could see through her scheme, so she quickly let go of the flower and it was blown away into the trees by the night wind.

    Only then did Xia Ling allow her to leave. After looking at her back view, she returned to her room to continue sleeping.

    Stumbling, Xia Yu went back to the simple raft shed in Xia Shujuan¡¯s backyard, closed the doors and windows, and returned to her bed. She quickly rolled up her leaves and saw three silky white flowers lying quietly underneath her sleeve. The flowers that were almost in full bloom looked transparent in the pale moonlight.

    ¡°Thank heavens.¡± Xia Yu murmured. She looked for a box and ced the flowers in it carefully.

    This was the type of flower Wei Lingnan was looking for.

    Fortunately, Xia Ling camete. At that time, Xia Yu already found a few of the flowers. She intended to find a few more to make Wei Lingnan a little happier and satisfy a few more of her wishes, but unfortunately, she could only bring back three. What could three flowers be exchanged for?

    Xia Yu was deep in thought¡­

    After a few days, with Xia Shujuan¡¯s help, she escaped the Xia n¡¯s territory.

    As she said, Xia Shujuan was a pig brain but she was not. Combining the information Xia Shujuan gave her about the family and contacting Auntie Liu who had always been in contact with Xia Shujuan, she asked about how Auntie Liu entered the premises in great detail and learned about the tactical formation.

    Perhaps she was lucky. Over the years, no one in the n had ever tried to escape to the outside world and the internal defense was very weak. In addition, the Li Family visited frequently, so to facilitate their ess, the tactical formation in the mountains did not change. Based on Auntie Liu¡¯s recount and her own memory, she actually escaped the ce.

    She was finally out!

    Looking up at the clear sky outside, her heart was filled with joy.

    She definitely did not want to copy the scriptures in that remove mountain vige for her entire life until she died! She was still young and had an entire life ahead of her! She had to live amazingly and better than Xia Ling!

    Taking a deep breath, she went to the ce Wei Lingnan told her to meet him at.

    In a quiet room.

    Wei Lingnan took the box she handed over. When he opened it, he saw the three small white flowers lying quietly inside and at once, his unsmiling face looked a little rxed. He carefully took out the flowers with tweezers made of special metal like they were rare treasures and packed them into sealed boxes that were filled with crushed ice.

    ¡°This is the antidote.¡± He gave Xia Yu what she wanted.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Wei!¡± Xia Yu quickly took it. Then, she looked at him nervously and trembled as she asked for a request. ¡°For these few flowers, I fled the Xia Family. If they catch me, I will die! Mr. Wei, can you save me? I don¡¯t want to go back and die!¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her and said, ¡°This is simple. If you return to the biochemicalb of the Wei Family, they won¡¯t touch you.¡±

    Thinking of that dark biochemicalb with strange experiments, Xia Yu couldn¡¯t help but shudder. If she had to go back there, she would rather copy scriptures in the Xia Family! ¡°I beg you.¡± Xia Yu knelt and looked up. ¡°I only want to continue life as an ordinary person. I don¡¯t care about those dark secrets surrounding the Wei Family or Xia Family! Mr. Wei, since you¡¯ve done so many experiments on me and I also found those three flowers for you, please give me a way to live! I know that you¡¯re extraordinary and in this world, only you can deal with the Xia Family! I beg you! I beg you!¡±

    She kowtowed relentlessly. Soon, the blood on her forehead stained the floor.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her emotionlessly and seemed to murmur to himself. ¡°Am I the only person that can deal with the Xia Family? Based on your knowledge of this, I should destroy you.¡±

    Xia Yu was scared speechless and started to kowtow with more effort.

    She did not think that she would be murdered after she gave him the flowers. However, given this pressing situation, she had to take a risk. In the face of a monster like Wei Lingnan, she did not have any intention of rebuking at all!

    In the secret room, Wei Lingnan looked handsome. The light shined on the girl who was kowtowing relentlessly. He looked like her as if he were looking at a lowly ant. ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky.¡± After a second, he finally spoke. ¡°I can¡¯t openly kill people in your world, this damned¡­¡±

    His voice trailed off and he said hisst few words in a low voice. It was a strangenguage like a myriad of sounds and seemed like the roaring of beasts in the wind.

    Xia Yu did not understand it and did not dare to understand it.

    She knelt lowly by his feet and only pleaded for a chance to leave this room alive.

    Wei Lingnan walked to the window and looked out. The streets were bustling and the crowd was busy. People were as tiny as ants. With a deep expression, he spoke, ¡°You can leave now.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wei?¡± Xia Yu lifted her head and carefully looked at him with confusion. ¡°Are you agreeing to help me deal with the Xia Family?¡±

    ¡°Get lost.¡± He seemed to be in a foul mood.

    Xia Yu did not dare to ask more questions. She felt a horrible chill down her spine again and remembered how scary this monster in front of her was, so she quickly stumbled out of the room.

    Wei Lingnan did not stop her.

    ¡°You¡¯re very lucky.¡± He continued to look at the traffic and mumbled. ¡°Just like the Xia Family, I can¡¯t leave too many traces in this world. Since you entered the Xia Family because of me, I will help eliminate the subsequent effects for you.¡±

 Chapter 882 - Secret History

    <h4>Chapter 882: Secret History</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling heard about the news that Xia Yu had escaped.

    She asked her brother in confusion, ¡°The people guarding the forest are so strict. How did she manage to escape?¡±

    Xia Moyan took up the mountain slowly. Looking as the people changed every inch of the tactical formation at the entrance, he said, ¡°She¡¯s very smart. We have all underestimated her intelligence.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not smart!¡± Xia Ling was annoyed and refused to ept this statement. She walked up the mountain with Li Lei before and they were stuck in it at the start until Li Lei called Old Master Li for help. If he said that Xia Yu was smart, didn¡¯t that mean that she and Li Lei were stupid?!

    How could her man be stupid?!

    Xia Moyan did not pay attention to her thoughts and only said, ¡°She graduated from Cambridge.¡± As for his sister? Yesterday, their mother took her to count her dowry, but after counting with her fingers for half a day, she still got the amount wrong. If it weren¡¯t for her memories of her past life, Xia Moyan would seriously doubt if she were really his sister.

    Xia Ling was more furious. ¡°I don¡¯t care! She¡¯s just not smart!¡±

    As she raised her volume, a few of the nsmen exploring the mountain looked over.

    Xia Moyan felt a little embarrassed. It was enough that his sister was so stupid, but did she have to let the entire world know? He silently sighed and moved her focus to something else. ¡°Besides knowledge, we left out something. Her background.¡±

    ¡°What sort of background can she have?¡± Sure enough, Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued.

    ¡°Last night, Wei Lingnan sent a small team to try to enter the n and was discovered.¡± As Xia Moyan walked, he spoke. ¡°They tried to enter using the way Xia Yu escaped. We captured a few people and after an overnight interrogation, I discovered that Xia Yu disappeared for years because she was held in Wei Lingnan¡¯s base and has be a member of the Wei Family. This time, she returned to the Xia Family only to help the Wei Family with an agenda.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. It was as if she was listening to the story of Arabian Nights.

    After a long time, she finally made sense of her thoughts. ¡°Are you saying that Xia Yu appeared now not because she wanted to acknowledge her roots and ancestors but because she deliberately wanted to mix with the family to help them with a mysterious task?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°It¡¯s probably a mission to explore the territory of the Xia Family and create a topographic map for Wei Lingnan.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered that night when Xia Yu was suspiciously lurking near her room. It turned out that she had this sort of motive! She couldn¡¯t help but spitefully say, ¡°Well that, we should have tied her up and thrown her out at that time!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Moyan suddenly had a premonition.

    Xia Ling told Xia Moyan about what happened that night.

    ¡°Take me to see that kind of flower.¡± Xia Moyan said decisively. All this time, he had a vague spection that Wei Lingnan was trying to uncover the secret of reincarnation of the Xia Family. This secret definitely had something to do with Xiao Ling, so what exactly did they take away near Xiao Ling¡¯s room?!

    Xia Ling took him to the flower patch.

    Under the sun, the scattered little white flowers looked ordinary. They had a hint of red and looked different from the white and transparent flowers in the moonlight. ¡°Oh, it seems that they can change.¡± Xia Ling whispered in amazement. She crouched down and plucked one flower.

    ¡°This is the flower of Nirvana.¡± Xia Moyan said.

    ¡°Flower of Nirvana?¡± Xia Ling was shocked. She thought it was an ordinary wildflower.

    ¡°This is also the first time I¡¯m seeing it. However, there is a record in the family¡¯s records.¡± Looking carefully at the flower in her hand, Xia Moyan said in a clear voice, ¡°Legend has it that the flowers will sometimes bloom near the ce where the phoenix lived after reincarnation. No one knows its feelings.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps Wei Lingnan knows?¡± Xia Ling examined the flower. Now, she guessed a little bit of the truth. ¡°Xia Yu must¡¯ve been looking for this flower. It can¡¯t be that she just plucked them by coincidence.¡± She also said, ¡°Luckily I was smart enough to not let her take it away.¡±

    ¡°She has already taken it away.¡± Xia Moyan said.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was stunned.

    Xia Moyan lowered his gaze. ¡°If she didn¡¯tplete her task, would she dare to leave the Xia Family? No one is willing to face a furious Wei Lingnan who is a madman.¡±

    ¡°What sort of person is... Wei Lingnan?¡± Xia Ling was finally curious.

    ¡°He¡¯s not human.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Ling had a fright.

    Xia Moyan looked at her faintly. ¡°This isn¡¯t strange and depends on what you define as a human. To a certain extent, you aren¡¯t human too.¡±

    This... Why did it sound like an insult?

    Xia Ling was not calm anymore. ¡°How am I not a human?¡±

    ¡°How could ordinary people reincarnate? You¡¯re a phoenix, not a human.¡± Xia Moyan said.

    ¡°So is he also a phoenix?¡± Xia Ling seemed to understand a little.

    ¡°A phoenix is unique and only appears in the Xia Family.¡± Unexpectedly, Xia Moyan immediately corrected her. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t even know what sort of... creature he is. No one knows.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked, horrified.

    ¡°Why are you so sure that he isn¡¯t human?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because the first time the Xia Family ancestors saw him was four hundred years ago.¡± Since things were at this stage, Xia Moyan did not intend to hide anything more from Xia Ling. Besides, Wei Lingnan now had his eyes set on her. He said to Xia Ling, ¡°I said you aren¡¯t human because you reincarnated. I said he isn¡¯t human because he doesn¡¯t grow old and doesn¡¯t die.¡±

    Doesn¡¯t grow old and doesn¡¯t die?!

    Xia Ling was thoroughly frightened this time. ¡°Are there really people who can¡¯t grow old and die in this world?!¡±

    ¡°At least, in the eyes of ordinary people, he doesn¡¯t grow old and can¡¯t die.¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°No one is sure of what sort of creature he is. Of course, no one knows if he can die either. No matter what, his lifespan is longer than ordinary people and we just take it that he can¡¯t grow old or die.¡±

    Can this sort of thing be assumed?

    Xia Ling fell silent.

    ¡°But...¡± She still had questions. ¡°Why are we so sure that the Wei Lingnan from four hundred years ago is the same person as the Wei Lingnan today? Perhaps they have the same name and gender or maybe they look alike?¡±

    Xia Moyan shook his head and said, ¡°I wish it were so simple.¡±

    He began to tell Xia Ling about this secret history. ¡°The first time the Xia Family ancestor saw him was at a ce called Weiling. It was in the wilderness and there was a run-down wooden sign that was buried halfway in the sand. On it were the words ¡®Weiling, Nan.¡¯

    ¡°The ancestor then met a naked youth. He was very handsome and very wet as if he had just climbed out of the water. However, it was very strange. The weather was hot on that day and there was no water source nearby.

    ¡°Then, he attacked a passerby. He hid behind a rock and jumped out like a beast, tearing the passerby¡¯s limbs, sinking his teeth in his flesh and gorging the passerby¡¯s body. ording to the handbook left by the ancestor, he really thought at the start that he met a beast or a feral child.¡±

 Chapter 883 - Planet Guardian

    Chapter 883: Guardian

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°He was probably starving because he did not chew on the man before swallowing him. The surrounding travelers fled the scene. Only our Xia Family ancestor looked at him in shock and wonder.

    ¡°After he finished eating the body, he looked up at the Xia Family ancestor.

    ¡°Only then did the ancestor see that his teeth were densely packed. Unlike normal people, they were sharp and closely resembled a carnivorous beast¡¯s teeth. He could easily rip a person into shreds. His hands and feet also looked like a beast¡¯s. He had many characteristics of a beast such as his strength and sharp nails that were like des.

    ¡°He was covered in the blood of the dead man he just ate. His eyes were fixed on the ancestor. Oh yes, his eyes were also a pale amber like a beast¡¯s.

    ¡°He charged at the ancestor as if he was about to kill him.

    ¡°Our ancestor had already prepared for a battle but did not expect that the man would suddenly fall on the ground, scream, and roll around in pain.

    ¡°The ancestor stood still and considered if he should help him out. Although the Xia Family was a family of preceptors and were more self-disciplined than ordinary people, we could not easily intervene in the affairs of ordinary people. Just as the ancestor was making up his mind, that young man struggled to sit up and did something that shocked our ancestor. He scratched himself with his sharp ws, opened up his stomach, and the undigested body parts of the man he just ate flowed out. Body parts and broken internal organs were everywhere.

    ¡°They all flowed out like minced meat. There was also something gold that looked like an animal¡¯s bone or fossil. Until now, no one knows what it is.

    ¡°After all the meat, internal organs, and that golden thing flowed out, that young man felt better. He stopped groaning in pain and took deep breaths as he sat on the floor. After that, he looked up at our ancestor again.

    ¡°Our ancestor had already taken out his weapon that he carried with him. He was not afraid of beasts, robbers, bandits, or even an army. However, this man who could eat a person without blinking and tear up his own stomach gave him the chills. He looked at the man seriously.

    ¡°After tearing open his abdominal part, although the man did not die, he was very weak. He gasped for air like a beast and said to the ancestor, ¡®I need your clothes.¡¯¡±

    ¡°He seemed to have a hard time speaking. He had a very strong ent and almost couldn¡¯t be understood. The strange thing was that the people in the Xia Family traveled widely and the ancestor was the 37th Preceptor. He was very knowledgeable. How could there be an ent that he did not know about in this world?

    ¡°The ancestor became even more curious. He took off his clothes and threw them at the man.

    ¡°Initially, he thought that the man would use his clothes to wrap up his abdomen wounds. To his surprise, that man tore off the cleanest and softest part of his clothes and carefully wrapped up that strange golden bone or fossil from his wound.

    ¡°That originally violent man seemed very gentle when he was wrapping that thing.

    ¡°Our ancestor curiously looked at him and asked, ¡®What is that?¡¯

    ¡°He looked up in an instant and there was a murderous look in his eyes that was more terrifying than before. Our ancestor had no doubt that if he were not injured and could move, that man would have killed him.

    ¡°Our ancestor took two steps back to show that he had no ill intentions.

    ¡°Only then did the man lower his head and carefully ced the thing he wrapped up near his hand. He used the remaining cloth to wrap his wound. Once he was done, he held the wrapped bone in his hand. It was obvious that that thing was very important to him.

    ¡°Our ancestor could not suppress his curiosity and asked, ¡®What happened to you just now? Why were you suddenly in so much pain?¡¯

    ¡°¡®I ate... something wrong.¡¯ That man¡¯s voice sounded a little foreign but became smoother in the span of a short sentence. ¡®I need food.¡¯

    ¡°Our ancestor sized him up carefully and thought about what he meant when he said that he ate something wrong. Could it be that the man¡¯s body was not suitable for him? It seemed that he did not usually eat people.

    ¡°Our ancestor said, ¡®I can give you food. However, you must tell me what you are.¡¯ He did not believe that the man in front of him waspletely human. Since when would a human rip another human apart? Furthermore, he had such sharp teeth and ws and his eyes were amber... They were not characteristics of humans.

    ¡°Only then did the man look seriously at our ancestor. ¡®You¡¯re not afraid of me.¡¯ He said firmly.

    ¡°Our ancestor smiled and said, ¡®The Xia Family has never been afraid of anyone.¡¯

    ¡°The man lowered his head. Suddenly, he became violent again and charged at our ancestor! However, this time, he fell in midair. His wound broke open and his intestines and blood flowed out again. He passed out on the ground.

    ¡°When he awoke, he realized that he was lying on a bed. The first thing he did was to get up and look for that bone-shaped fossil. He did not care that his movements were too rough and his wound broke open again. ¡®You touched it!¡¯ He red viciously at our ancestor who was beside his bed.

    ¡°When he was sleeping, our ancestor opened up the thing he wrapped because that gold bone fossil was really special and our ancestor tried to figure out what it was. God gave the Xia Family very different abilities and thus, it was our duty to observe the world, record history, and remember everything special for the future generations.

    ¡°Our ancestor did not hide it from him. ¡®Take it as your payment for me rescuing you.¡¯

    ¡°The man still gave him a murderous look. After a long time, he finally said, ¡®You¡¯re the guardian of the.¡¯¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Xia Ling was shocked the most by this. ¡°The guardian of the? I didn¡¯t hear wrong, right? He said ¡¯?!¡± Oh my god, that was four hundred years ago! What sort of era was it? In any case, it was not now! How could anyone know things that had not been discovered yet!

    ¡°You didn¡¯t hear wrong.¡± Xia Moyan said, ¡°Four hundred years ago, our ancestor wrote the word ¡¯ clearly in his journal.¡±

    Xia Ling drew a cold breath. ¡°Could it be that... Wei Lingnan is an alien?¡±

    Xia Moyan did not deny that possibility. ¡°I will continue telling you the story. Our ancestor did not understand what he meant by ¡®guardian of the¡¯ and asked him, ¡®What is that?¡¯

    ¡°The man sneered and said contemptuously, ¡®What an uncivilized ce. Even the guardian of the is so ignorant and weak.¡¯ After that, he refused to say another word.¡±

 Chapter 884 - The Criminal Records

    Chapter 884: The Criminal Records

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling was stunned and couldn¡¯t speak for a long time.

    She could ept her own reincarnation but didn¡¯t think that there would be something else that was even more unfathomable. What was Wei Lingnan? This was out of the world.

    She stared at her brother. ¡°You mean to say that that person from four hundred years ago is really Wei Lingnan?¡±

    Xia Moyan replied, ¡°Yes. Our ancestors asked for his name, and he said that it was ¡®Wei Lingnan,¡¯ but it was clear as day that that was merely the street name on the road sign. Nobody truly knows his real name. He¡¯s different... our ancestors tried to set up an altar to figure out who he was but to no avail.

    ¡°Information on Wei Lingnan is aplete nk.

    ¡°There are only two possibilities: first, his identity is more superior aspared to that of our ancestors, or second, he¡¯s attained a much higher level of enlightenment in the art of prophecy. I think this is highly unlikely because the Xia Family is already renowned as the most enlightened in the world. The other possibility is that he¡¯s not from this world... hence, traces of his destiny are not found in this world.¡±

    Xia Ling breathed in deeply, murmuring, ¡°He¡¯s really an alien?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Our ancestors suspected that he might be from the outer world, or what we call outer space. He could also be from three other ces: Hell, the Yellow River, or Three Mountain Ridges... But who knows? We don¡¯t even know if these ces truly exist. In any case, he¡¯s caught the attention of our ancestors, and ever since that coincidental meeting, our ancestors have been watching him. After realizing that he¡¯d kidnap humans to dissect and analyze them, our ancestors had considered ridding the world of him. In other words, they wanted to kill him for the greater good.¡±

    The Xia Family believed strongly in thews of destiny, and would rarely interfere in the atrocities of the world. However, Wei Lingnan was different... he was not of this world. Hence, the Xia Family felt that they had a responsibility to protect the other living beings in the world from being killed by a being from the outer world.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Then, why wasn¡¯t he killedter on?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Our ancestors sent our best forces tounch a stealth attack, but they didn¡¯t manage to harm Wei Lingnan. Wei Lingnan didn¡¯tunch a counterattack on the Xia Family for whatever reason. He told our ancestors, ¡®I don¡¯t want to be enemies with you. I just want a ce to stay. But if you choose to anger me, I don¡¯t mind destroying the world alongside your family.¡¯¡±

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± Xia Ling said angrily. ¡°Destroy the world? What rubbish is he talking about?!¡±

    Xia Moyan asked, ¡°What do you think of the Wei Family¡¯s technological prowess?¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback but recalled Wei Shaoyin telling her that if the Wei Family¡¯s weapons of chemical warfare or contagion warfare were to be released, it could destroy the world several hundred times over.

    Xia Moyan looked at her pointedly and said, ¡°He had the same ability four hundred years ago. As a warning, he created a gue in a small vige, and the entire vige perished overnight. Our ancestors tried to save them by sending in skilled doctors, but none o the doctors could diagnose the gue or find a cure.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s crazy!¡± Xia Ling said.

    Xia Moyan continued, ¡°We postted that he would have to pay some sort of price every time he killed someone on Earth. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t do so unless provoked. After that gue, he didn¡¯tunch any other attack for many years. Other than looking for human specimens for his experiment, he wouldn¡¯t harm humans unnecessarily.¡±

    Xia Ling remarked in a fury. ¡°But using human specimens for his experiments is already a crime that he should be punished harshly for!¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s gaze was pensive as he stared up into the sky. ¡°There are many things in the world that are beyond our understanding, and we are but a small cog within the universe. Perhaps to the upper beings, humans are like the birds in the sky or any other animal on Earth. We are just bigger than the ants on the ground, that¡¯s all. Do you think that the upper beings will care for the death of an ant? No, they won¡¯t.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at her brother, confused.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°If you follow the history of the Wei Family, you¡¯ll realize that they¡¯ve done more charitable words than any other family. Wei Lingnan willpensate the world through charitable works as much as he¡¯s killed people in his experimentalbs. He has done a lot to protect the flora and fauna in the world, build roads and infrastructure, send food to refugees in Africa... Oh right, he¡¯s also a Peace Ambassador for the United Nations. The upper beings only want bnce in the universe, and hence, appeared to have let him be.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s mouth was agape in shock. ¡°What rubbish of an upper being would allow this?¡±

    Xia Moyan gave a bitter smile. ¡°Did you think I was joking when I said that all living creatures are like ants? Xiao Ling, don¡¯t curse the heavens... You¡¯re someone that has received blessings beyond measure already. If not for the protection of the upper beings such that Wei Lingnan daren¡¯t touch the Xia Family Phoenix, do you think you¡¯d still be alive?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s thoughts moved away from the heavens to herself. ¡°So... Wei Lingnan wants to capture me?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± Xia Moyan responded. She pushed aside her uneasy feelings and followed her brother towards the main housing quarters.

    They heard the sound of crying when they passed the main hall.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Xia Ling asked her brother.

    Xia Moyan nced over at her and said, ¡°Xia Shujuan didn¡¯t do a good job of supervising Xia Yu. She¡¯s getting punished right now. We couldn¡¯t take any action against her when she abused and abandoned you due to it being rted to your destiny, so we are giving her double the punishment right now.¡± He had to take revenge after finally getting a chance to after so many years.

    Looking at the grand main hall under the sunlight, Xia Ling suddenly felt that Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t so scary, after all. She had her family, and many other people protecting her. What was there to be afraid of?

    While Xia Shujuan was being punished, a decision was also being made on Xia Yu¡¯s punishment.

    Since she¡¯d sought refuge with Wei Lingnan, then she couldn¡¯t return to the family vige. The Xia Family didn¡¯t want Wei Lingnan¡¯s reach to extend within the confines of the vige, and couldn¡¯t take any risks that might lead to that end. Xia Yu was to be exiled permanently, never to step foot in the vige ever again. Her name would also be written in the Xia Family¡¯s ¡°Criminal Records.¡±

    Only vigers who hadmitted grave offenses had their names written in the Criminal Records.

    ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of the ¡®Criminal Records¡¯?¡± Xia Ling asked her brother.

    Xia Moyan responded, ¡°We¡¯ve always stored the Criminal Records in the location with the worst possible luck. Any name written in the book will experience retribution all their lives for their wrongdoings. For someone like Xia Yu, who is still alive, she¡¯ll get immediate retribution.¡±

    Immediate retribution!

    She deserves it!

    Xia Ling was suddenly keen to find out what retribution Xia Yu would face.

    In S City, in a bungalow district.

    Xia Yu was dressed in a pale pink dress as she lifted her hand to knock on Pei Ziheng¡¯s door.

    Nanny Zhou came to open the door and stared at her in shock. ¡°Miss Xia Yu? Why are you here today?¡± Ever since Xia Yu fell out of favor with Pei Ziheng and disappeared, she never appeared in the bungalow district. Pei Ziheng¡¯s attitude towards her now was no different from how he treated any normal artiste in thepany.

 Chapter 885 - The Watercolor Painting

    Chapter 885: The Watercolor Painting

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Yu said, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Brother Ziheng in a long time and am here to see him. Is he in?¡±

    Nanny Zhou hesitated. ¡°This... wait a minute... let me go inform him.¡± It was already past nine at night, and Nanny Zhou knew that Mister would usually be in his study clearing his paperwork and hated to be disturbed. Furthermore, Mister hadn¡¯t wanted to see Miss Xia Yu for many years now, would he get angry with her if she told him that Miss Xia Yu was here?

    However, as a mere helper, she didn¡¯t have the authority to reject Xia Yu outright.

    She turned and started to walk into the bungalow with worry written on her face.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Yu called her back. ¡°Nanny Zhou, please tell Brother Ziheng that I¡¯ve just returned from the Xia Family vige where I met sister. I¡¯ve brought a present for him.¡± Seeing Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression, Xia Yu knew that Pei Ziheng¡¯s attitude towards her would be hostile and feared that he would refuse to meet her. She knew that even if Brother Ziheng didn¡¯t want to see her, he couldn¡¯t refuse any information on Xia Ling.

    Xia Yu thought jealously.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu.¡± Unexpectedly, Nanny Zhou lifted her eyes to look straight at Xia Yu with a serious expression. ¡°I know that you care for Mister, and bringing him a present from so far away must not have been easy. I shouldn¡¯t say too much being a mere helper, but forgive me for being direct. Miss Ling is about to get married... she has no fate with Mister. If you really care for Mister, I think the most important thing now is to help him to forget Miss Ling, rather than to keep reminding him of her.¡± Nanny Zhou had observed how much Mister pined for Miss Ling over the years. She had been taking care of Mister since he was a child, and couldn¡¯t bear to see him stuck in such an unrequited love.

    Xia Yu cursed silently at Nanny Zhou¡¯s words. Why did she care so much about her master¡¯s business as a mere helper? However, she controlled her temper given that she needed Nanny Zhou¡¯s help to pass Pei Ziheng the message. ¡°I understand your concern, Nanny Zhou. Do you think I want to talk about Sister? But if I don¡¯t, will he see me? If we forget about me altogether, think about it... has he shown an interest in any other girl other than Sister all these years? Nanny Zhou, can you bear to see him be alone all his life at this rate?¡±

    How could Nanny Zhou possibly bear to see that happen?

    She had watched Mister grow up, having been taking care of him since he was just five or six years old. She knew how hard he worked as a child, studying and memorizing books till the break of dawn. He would be hit by his father often even though he was a bright child, and would sometimes be made to kneel in the yard on a snowy day, doing math calctions while shivering through the cold. She watched him be the most ster of the Pei Family children, developing his steadiness and discipline and showing the gravitas of a leader as a young man. The wealthy families that worked with him would often sing him praises...

    Later, she personally packed his bags when he was sent overseas to study.

    He had only been gone for two years when there was news that his father, the previous family head, passed away from illness. Pei Ziheng hurried back to take up the mantle as the family head at the young age of sixteen and to run the sprawling Imperial Entertainment business. Then, many waited to see him mess up, but he pulled through. He pulled countless all-nighters to prove his mettle and led Imperial Entertainment to new heights.

    He had always been an outstanding leader, earning the trust and support of his loyal followers.

    However, there was a price to pay for all of this.

    Mister didn¡¯t have a personal life at all. His schedule every day was filled with meetings after meetings. The only ray of sunshine in his dull life was that girl, Xia Ling... oh, andter there was Ye Xingling. But apparently, they were the same person... anyway, none of this was important.

    What was important was that that girl came into his life for a fleeting moment before leaving him.

    Mister was left by himself to face the stresses of the world, his hair turning white overnight. He was still pining for her until now.

    Nanny Zhou felt for him and prayed that another girl woulde into his life. It didn¡¯t matter whether she was poor or rich, and her age and character were all unimportant. As long as she could bring back the spark to Mister¡¯s eyes...

    She lifted her head to look at Xia Yu.

    As a woman, she knew that Xia Yu harbored a love for Mister all these years. Would Xia Yu be that girl for him?

    The chances were slim.

    If Mister liked her, they would¡¯ve been together many years ago. However, given Mister¡¯s current condition, there didn¡¯t seem to be anybody that could open the doors of his heart. Perhaps there was no harm in letting Xia Yu try again. It was better than nothing.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°I will pass your message to him.¡±

    She went upstairs to inform Pei Ziheng of Xia Yu¡¯s arrival.

    Carrying a big, t box, Xia Yu walked slowly up the wooden steps to Pei Ziheng¡¯s study on the second floor. In the study, Pei Ziheng was sitting quietly with only the dim lights of the antique tablemp illuminating his face. Half his handsome face was lit up, while the other half remained shrouded in darkness. He looked like a resting beast.

    ¡°This is the present?¡± This was his first question to Xia Yu.

    No warm greetings or words of concern. His attention was only on the item in her hands.

    Xia Yu felt a piercing pain in her heart. However, she snapped back to her senses and smiled. ¡°Yes, Brother Ziheng. I spent many days making this present. I hope you like it.¡±

    She passed therge gift box over to him.

    Pei Ziheng received it and tore the wrapping paper open. A beautiful watercolor painting came into view¡ªit depicted a moonlit mountain range with a small olden Chinese room shrouded with flower bushes. A girl was looking out of the window, admiring the moon in the sky, looking resplendent in the quiet night.

    That was... Xiao Ling.

    Pei Ziheng held his breath as he reached out stiffly and smoothed his fingers over the girl¡¯s pristine side profile. She appeared more beautiful than before, with a peacefulness between her brows. Was that because she was about to get married?

    His gaze darkened with this thought.

    ¡°This is Sister¡¯s living quarters in the Xia Family vige. I¡¯ve drawn it to replicate reality as much as possible.¡± Xia Yu spoke up after observing Pei Ziheng quietly for a while. ¡°That night, I was standing in the bushes and happened to catch sight of Sister in the window admiring the moon. She looked so beautiful that I just had to draw her as a gift to you.¡±

    ¡°Is she okay... in the Xia Family?¡± He asked, before immediately feeling the redundancy of his question. What wouldn¡¯t she be well in the Xia Family? That was her home... she was with her family, and... Li Lei.

    As expected, Xia Yu replied, ¡°She¡¯s very good. She¡¯s getting prepared for her wedding and is happy every day.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand holding the painting stiffened, leaving an indentation on the canvas. ¡°You can leave now.¡± He told Xia Yu.

 Chapter 886 - Youâ€™re Not Xiao Ling

    Chapter 886: You¡¯re Not Xiao Ling

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Why would Xia Yu listen to him?

    She carefully observed Pei Ziheng before saying in a small voice, ¡°Brother Ziheng, it¡¯s difficult for me to go home at this time of the night. Can I stay here tonight, please?¡±

    Pei Ziheng put down the scroll and looked at Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu hurriedly added, ¡°I don¡¯t have any other intentions. You know that Sister refuses to acknowledge me now, and I¡¯m very sad about that. I just miss her so much, and really want to stay in the guest room that she decorated just for me. That room is still as it was, right?¡± This bungalow was built when Xia Ling was still treating her like her most precious gem and had prepared a guest room just for her. Everything in that room was purchased personally by Xia Ling.

    Pei Ziheng hadn¡¯t changed a thing since Xia Ling died.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Go ahead.¡± He pitied her because they both missed the same girl.

    Xia Yu thanked him profusely before backing out of the room quickly.

    She went to the guest room and saw that it had been kept the same. It was decorated in different shades of pink for a little girl, in a style that Xia Ling liked very much. However, this was a style that Xia Yu hated. She never liked anything that her sister prepared for her in the past. Xia Ling, on the other hand, wanted to be involved in Xia Yu¡¯s life. This caused a build-up of Xia Yu¡¯s hatred for her sister.

    Xia Yu casually threw her bag on to the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. She changed into a low-cut, bare-back spaghetti-strap nightgown, which was meant to be extremely sexy and revealing, so short that her panties were almost visible. She meaningfully sprayed perfume onto her neck and looked at the alluring woman in the mirror.

    She smiled in satisfaction after seeing her reflection.

    Her n was working perfectly. Now, all she had to do was to seduce Pei Ziheng and sleep with him. She didn¡¯t want to waste any more time trying to make him fall for her. She had purchased a secret concoction from the Wei Family at a high price, which she had put in the watercolor painting. The drug would enter a person¡¯s bloodstream as long as he or she touched the painting and cause a hallucination. That person would imagine any woman as his beloved.

    Once they had slept together, everything would be easy.

    She had tracked her ovtion cycle and knew that these few days were when she was most fertile. She was confident that she would be pregnant with his child, and then, even if Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t love her, he would still have to allow her to be his wife. When she gained that title, they would live together and she was sure that there woulde a day that she could soften his heart to ept her.

    Xia Yu walked out of her room ording to her n.

    Nanny Zhou was cooking porridge in the kitchen.

    ¡°What porridge are you cooking?¡± Xia Yu asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu?¡± Nanny Zhou turned and jumped in shock at the sight of Xia Yu. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asleep at this time of the night?¡± She knew that Xia Yu was staying the night in the bungalow and had cleaned out the guest room for her. She knew that Xia Yu was weak and in the many years that she had stayed in the bungalow, there was rarely a night that she would be up thiste.

    Xia Yu smiled weakly and said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep, so I decided toe out and take a walk. Is this porridge for Brother Ziheng?¡±

    Nanny Zhou scooped out a bowl of porridge as she replied, ¡°Yes. Mister¡¯s stomach hasn¡¯t been good in recent years, so porridge is easier for him to digest for his supper. This is sea cucumber porridge. It¡¯s very nutritious.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Let me bring it up to him.¡±

    Nanny Zhou nced at her in surprise before realizing that she was in a revealing and seductive nightgown. She saw through Xia Yu¡¯s n in an instant.

    ¡°Then, I thank you for your trouble.¡± She passed the bowl of porridge to Xia Yu.

    In the past, Nanny Zhou despised woman like Xia Yu that openly tried to seduce men. However, the situation was different now. Extreme steps had to be taken to be Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman. That man had closed himself off to everyone, and it was highly likely that he would die alone at this rate.

    Nanny Zhou preferred for him to be with any woman rather than to be alone.

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Thank you, Nanny Zhou.¡± She took the bowl and walked slowly up the stairs.

    The warm yellow light was still on in the study, and the heavy wooden door was ajar. Xia Yu pushed the door open and stepped into the room. ¡°Brother Ziheng...¡±

    ¡°Get out.¡± Before she had finished her sentence, Pei Ziheng¡¯s cold voice rang out.

    Xia Yu lifted her eyes and saw that his expression was off. His breathing was heavy as he held onto the scroll, staring at Xia Ling in the painting. He looked somewhat eerie.

    Xia Yu knew that the drug was taking effect. She smiled seductively and locked the door behind her. ¡°Ziheng, what¡¯s wrong? Let me take a look.¡± This time, she didn¡¯t call him ¡°Brother Ziheng¡± but used ¡°Ziheng¡± as she knew that this was what Xia Ling usually called him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed. He turned and saw a woman in an alluring nightgown walking towards him. ¡°You¡¯re ill. Let me feed you some porridge. Ziheng, do you remember? When you were ill before, I cooked you some porridge. It was horrendous but you still finished it all... Ziheng, have a taste of this porridge that I made. This time it¡¯s delicious...¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± He called out hoarsely.

    That womanughed and ced the porridge bowl on the table by her side, before reaching out to encircle his neck. ¡°Look at the new nightgown that I bought... do you like it? The silk is really soft... you can touch it...¡±

    She pulled his hand over and made to ce it on her body.

    Pei Ziheng started to feel hot all over. The face of the woman in front of him started to ovep with his memories of Xia Ling as if that innocent girl had returned. ¡°Is this a dream?¡± He murmured as he caressed her face. ¡°Xiao Ling... when did you return? Do you know that I really miss you...¡±

    He hugged her tightly as if trying to meld her body with his own.

    Xia Yu was ovee with emotions. This was the first time in so many years that Brother Ziheng hugged her! His rough, chapped hands encircled her waist, his heavy breath against her cheek. Xia Yu returned his embrace and choked. ¡°Ziheng... my Ziheng...¡±

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and was about to kiss her.

    However, a cold wind blew through the open window. Pei Ziheng was momentarily awoken from his hallucination. He looked closely at the woman in his arms and pushed her away instantly. Xia Yu was taken by surprise and fell hard onto the wooden floor. Her eyes filled with tears at the pain.

    ¡°Ziheng... what are you doing?!¡± She looked up, shocked.

    ¡°Get out.¡± Pei Ziheng said hoarsely. He was struggling to control his urge to release himself under the drug¡¯s influence. He groaned and his breath was heavy.

    However, his rationality told him that he could not lose control.

    This woman was not Xiao Ling, but Xiao Ling¡¯s sister. Even if he slept with all the women in the world, he could not sleep with her! He couldn¡¯t make Xiao Ling sad.

    ¡°Get out!¡± He shouted while clenching his fists. His eyes were red from the effort he exerted to control himself, and he shook from the effects of the drug.

 Chapter 887 - The Despised Xia Yu

    <h4>Chapter 887: The Despised Xia Yu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu decided to go all out. She threw herself at Pei Ziheng and cried, ¡°I love you!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was furious and pushed her away again. This time, he used more force such that she fell over and knocked her forehead on the corner of a hardwood coffee table. Blood started to flow from the open wound, and her hair and clothes were in disarray. Ignoring her disheveled state, Xia Yu crawled over to Pei Ziheng and grabbed onto his leg in tears. He kicked her away and willed himself to walk out of the room with what remained of his rationality.

    He walked straight to the bathroom in his bedroom.

    Turning on the showerhead, he stepped into the cold running water fully clothed. In a few seconds, he waspletely drenched. The heat emanating from within him dissipated a little but seemed to start to build again after a split second of respite. This time, it was even more overwhelming, and he struggled to contain his virility that was screaming for release. His blood seemed to be gathering at his groin, and he ached with his desire, such that he was close to losing his mind.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was still etched in his mind, and he recalled the times when they were still lovers. Then, she would lie alluringly under him, the bare skin on her neck, chest, waist...

    ¡°Darn!¡± He punched the hard wall in the shower.

    His desire didn¡¯t dissipate under the cold shower but instead red even more.

    The Wei Family¡¯s virility drug was way more potent than any other drug in the market. There was no way for him to quell the heat other than to sleep with someone.

    Pei Ziheng recognized this fact very quickly.

    He rushed out of the bathroom and ran downstairs.

    ¡°Mister! What¡¯s wrong with you?!¡± Nanny Zhou eximed in shock, seeing him appear dripping wet.

    Pei Ziheng instructed. ¡°Prepare a car. I need to go to the nearest night club.¡±

    Hearing his heavy breathing and the unnatural bulge of his groin area, Nanny Zhou understood what had happened. So it looked like Miss Xia Yu had drugged him?! ¡°Where¡¯s Miss Xia Yu?¡± Nanny Zhou couldn¡¯t help asking. Why was Mister going so far to seek his release? Wasn¡¯t Miss Xia Yu a willing subject that he knew better than any random girl outside? Why wasn¡¯t Mister looking for her?

    Pei Ziheng red angrily at Nanny Zhou. Even though he was being tormented, he knew that Nanny Zhou was trying to help Xia Yu! That¡¯s why she sent that b*tch into his study with the porridge!

    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with you when I return.¡± He said through gritted teeth as he went in search of the driver himself.

    His driver was also shocked to see Pei Ziheng in such a state and hurriedly started the car to send him to the nearest night club. The ck Rolls-Royce sped off into the night.

    Xia Yu stared at the leaving car in her disheveled state from the window of the study.

    She felt like her heart was being pierced by thousands of needles. This man would rather look for a prostitute than to touch her. What was more humiliating to a woman than that?

    She crumpled to the ground destely.

    After this incident, Pei Ziheng released a notice for Chu Chen to be relieved of his role as Xia Yu¡¯s managerpletely. Additionally, he announced that Xia Yu was not allowed anywhere near him in the future. Everyone could tell that she was being despised.

    ¡°What did she do to offend Boss to such an extent?¡± The receptionists in Imperial Entertainment started to gossip with one another, after seeing Xia Yu walk by alone. ¡°This is the first time that I¡¯ve seen Boss show such disdain towards a person. She can¡¯t even appear in front of him. Wow, what did she do?¡±

    There was no way for them to know what had happened that fateful night in the study. However, the gossipers had a good imagination and postted other possibilities. ¡°I think Xia Yu was just super unlucky. Isn¡¯t Ye Xingling and Li Lei about to get married? Boss likes Ye Xingling, right? Some rumors say that Ye Xingling is the reincarnated Xia Ling. Maybe Boss is just taking out his frustration on Xia Yu since she¡¯s Xia Ling¡¯s sister. His love for Xia Ling has turned to hate, and Xia Yu¡¯s the one that is getting the brunt of that hatred.¡±

    ¡°But... Miss Ling has disowned her as a sister in public.¡±

    ¡°Aiya... who cares? He just wants to take it out on somebody, right?¡± The receptionists discussed heatedly. ¡°If you¡¯re unlucky, something will get stuck in your teeth even if you¡¯re just drinking water! I think Xia Yu is just extremely unlucky!¡±

    They didn¡¯t have any deep hatred for Xia Yu and were just discussing these topics happily to pass time. Imperial Entertainment was a ce where your status meant everything and would determine the treatment that you got. With this huge fall from favor, Xia Yu¡¯s manager knew that it was pointless trying to get good schedules for her, and she was relegated to lousy programs.

    News about Xia Yu¡¯s fall from grace soon spread in the industry.

    What future did an artiste have if she were despised by her own Boss? The entertainment circle was a practical ce, and soon Xia Yu got fewer and fewer schedules. This was a vicious cycle.

    This day, she was filming a variety show in front of the broadcast station.

    Xia Yu was holding on to an old, drabby clown¡¯s hat, as she questioned the staff angrily, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯d be wearing a dress and pretending to be a fairy? What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu.¡± The staff member gave her a condescending smile. ¡°Fairies need to have innocent and clean images. They have to be pure and beautiful, you know? You¡¯ve just received a criminal sentence and filmed several shows that saw a fall in their ratings. And you still want to be a fairy? Let¡¯s be honest... if not for the fact that we¡¯ve signed a contract with Imperial Entertainment and have to use you for the show, the director is extremely keen to sub you out. I¡¯ve racked my brains to create this clown character for you. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s perfect for your current image?¡± Several other staff members standing around tried to hide theirughter behind their hands.

    Xia Yu was furious and turned to leave. Manager Li, who was in charge of her, ran forward to stop her. ¡°Miss Xia Yu, we¡¯ve signed a contract with the broadcast station! If you don¡¯t film this show, it¡¯s a breach of contract and you¡¯ll have to fork out thepensation!¡± He didn¡¯t mince his words and wasn¡¯t particrly courteous to Xia Yu since she was no longer in a threatening position.

    Xia Yu replied, ¡°It¡¯s not as if I can¡¯t pay!¡± She had money. The millions that her sister left for her couldst her several lifetimes. Compensation? That was spare change!

    However, Manager Li said, ¡°Other thanpensation, thepany will very likely put you in cold storage.¡± Did Xia Yu think she was a big star?! Why was she acting like a big shot?! Thepany didn¡¯t care for artistes like her, and putting her in cold storage was a perfect way to keep the rest of the artistes in line!

    Xia Yu was quiet. She deliberated for a while before turning around and heading back to the makeup room.

    She didn¡¯t want to be put in cold storage and be theughingstock of the industry. Particrly, she dreaded to see Xia Ling¡¯s gleeful expression if she heard about this news. This thought alone made her blood boil!

    She picked up the clown¡¯s hat and clenched her fists, but didn¡¯t say anything else.

    She put on clown¡¯s makeup, coloring her face in many different colors, and waiting for staff members to call her for the filming. However, nobody came to call her even after more than an hour.

 Chapter 888 - The Secret Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 888: The Secret Invitation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu grew impatient and told her Manager, ¡°Go take a look at what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Manager Li went away for a long time before returning with a sheepish expression. ¡°The other artistes aren¡¯t done with their parts yet. The broadcast station is asking us to wait.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression darkened. The broadcast station was clearly bullying her! The hierarchy in the entertainment industry was closely followed, and this was determined by poprity. If a big star was filming, then he or she wouldn¡¯t have to wait at all. If it were a normal artiste, they would have to abide by the broadcast station¡¯s schedule. There was no way of telling how long they would have to wait.

    In the past, Xia Yu never needed to wait to film a show. However, she was now being treated like a normal artiste. How could she take that lying down? But she knew that her poprity now was a far cry from before, and even though she was fuming, no one would bother about her. Hence, she had no choice but to swallow her anger and wait.

    Two hours passed... three hours passed...

    Xia Yu couldn¡¯t sit still any longer. She told her manager, ¡°Go hurry them a little.¡±

    Manager Li went away again and returned with news that made her even more furious. ¡°Xia... Miss Xia Yu... they... they¡¯ve packed up. They forgot that you are still here...¡± Manager Li¡¯s voice grew smaller as he spoke.

    ¡°That¡¯s preposterous!¡± Xia Yu mmed the table and stood up in anger.

    Manager Li felt like he was incredibly unlucky. Why was he assigned to an artiste that was in such a slump? ¡°How about... wee back tomorrow afternoon?¡± Manager Li suggested. ¡°The broadcast station said that the part about the clown getting hit by water bombs is interesting and they would like to take a few shots of that. They will borrow the filming venue of another program tomorrow for a little after that program is done filming.¡±

    What? She had to be hit by water bombs?

    Xia Yu shouted, ¡°Are you still my manager? Why are you taking all this just like that?! You¡¯re not speaking up for me even though I¡¯m being so obviously bullied! Go tell them that I¡¯m not filming this! Go!¡±

    ¡°Then, thepensation...¡±

    ¡°They are the ones that breached the contract first. At most, I¡¯ll hire awyer to sue them. Go! Right now!¡±

    Manager Li sighed silently but left reluctantly to do as she said.

    Xia Yu stayed in the tiny makeup room by herself, staring at the empty walls. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. The colorful clown makeup seemed to be gloating at her misery. She stared nkly at the mirror for a while, before reaching out to wipe off the makeup with vengeance, like she was ready to tear her skin off.

    After which, she picked up her bag and walked out of the makeup room.

    When she got to the carpark, she realized that her driver seemed to be skiving off somewhere and hadn¡¯t arrived.

    She stared at the empty cars in the carpark, a sudden feeling of helplessness falling upon her. Backing into the shadows near the walls, she slid onto the floor.

    She couldn¡¯t care less about maintaining her image any longer or the possibility of there being paparazzi staking out in the carpark. She thought of all the years that she felt like she was living in hell... her sickly childhood... always living in her sister¡¯s shadows... the revtion of her lip-synching... being captured for live experimentation... the punishment from the Xia Family... And now, even a mere staff member dared to bully her.

    She hugged herself tightly, her shoulders suddenly shaking as she cried.

    She heard the sound of footstepsing closer.

    A pair of expensive, elegant, pointed-toe heels came to a stop in front of her.

    A bottle of water appeared in front of her.

    Xia Yu didn¡¯t raise her hand to receive the bottle and glumly said without lifting her head, ¡°Are you here to jeer at me as well?¡±

    A woman squatted down and said in a soft voice, ¡°I¡¯m not here tough at you. I¡¯m in the same boat as you. Ye Xingling is the most hateful woman on this Earth, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    Xia Yu lifted her head and saw that it was Su Tang.

    Today, Su Tang was dressed in her usual embroidered long dress, donning her carefully applied makeup, and her long hair tied into a bun. She was the embodiment of elegance. Su Tang smiled and said, ¡°An enemy¡¯s enemy is a friend.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression rxed, but she was still in high alert. ¡°What do you want from me?¡±

    Su Tang said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a good ce to talk. Let¡¯s have a secret meeting tonight, okay?¡± She gave Xia Yu the address of a cafe that had a private room with soundproof walls.

    Xia Yu wasn¡¯t sure what Su Tang¡¯s objective was, but was intrigued by her statement: ¡°An enemy¡¯s enemy is a friend.¡± Everyone was aware that Su Tang had lost Li Lei to Xia Ling, and Su Tang had every reason to hate Xia Ling as much as Xia Yu did.

    Xia Yu nodded her agreement.

    Su Tang¡¯s lips curled into a smile again, then she stood up and walked away.

    On the other side, Xia Ling apanied her family for a few days before bidding them goodbye and heading back to the city for work matters.

    When she was back in the familiar surroundings of S city, she felt her mood lift. It wouldn¡¯t be longter that she and Li Lei would be officially married. She smiled blissfully as she called Li Lei. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m back. Where are you?¡±

    Li Lei was delighted to hear from her. ¡°You¡¯re finally back from the vige? I¡¯m in the headquarters settling some stuff and will be home in three days to see you.¡± He had taken over control of the entire Li Family business and had to go back to the headquarters every once in a while to oversee the operations. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to handle the family business so well despite being based away from the headquarters on a long-term basis.

    Xia Ling knew that he was busy, so she reminded him to take care of his health before hanging up.

    She went back to the bungalow to rest, before updating her personal social media page with a post telling everyone that she was back.

    In moments, Luo Luo sent her a text message. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re finally back! We¡¯ve missed you so! Do you have time tonight? Several of us have prepared something special for you at the Blue Imagination Club! It¡¯s a huge surprise... you have to be there! Oh right, remember to dress really nice!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled at the text message. Luo Luo was still the same yful girl as before. What crazy idea did she have now? Xia Ling recognized the name of the club as one of the high-end clubs in the city. Many artistes frequented that ce, and Xia Ling herself had been there once or twice.

    ¡°Okay.¡± She replied Luo Luo.

    She dressed up for the night and headed out to the club.

    The bouncer at the door recognized her and asked smilingly, ¡°Miss Ling... what an honor to have you here tonight. Are you here on a whim or do you have a reservation?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m with someone.¡± She gave him the room number that Luo Luo had texted her.

    The bouncer led her inside andmented, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Miss Ling was into this as well.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know what he meant and was even more curious what Luo Luo had in store for her. She followed the bouncer deep into the club to a mysterious and half-hidden door at the end of the corridor, where the bouncer waved her into the room.

 Chapter 889 - Anti-Wolf Spray

    <h4>Chapter 889: Anti-Wolf Spray</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Once she entered, Xia Ling felt that something was wrong.

    The lights were dim in the box and smoke lingered in the air. There were countless of bodies intertwined together, and the psychedelic electronic music was ring.

    Why would Luo Luo ask her toe to this sort of ce?

    Very quickly, Xia Ling noticed that something was off. She turned around to pull the door handle but was unable to open the door. It was already locked from the outside.

    ¡°Little beauty.¡± A man¡¯s body slithered closer to her, his breath stinking of cigarettes as he whispered in her ear. ¡°Come have some fun with me. You¡¯re really pretty, and your skin is so smooth...¡± He restlessly moved his hands up her waist.

    Suddenly, a horrible scream was heard.

    Only then were the other people in the box rmed. Some people turned around abruptly in her direction. They only saw Xia Ling standing emotionlessly and the man groaning in pain as he covered his groin area.

    ¡°Ye Xing... ling?¡± Someone finally recognized her and called incoherently.

    Xia Ling looked around and saw that it was a small star who recognized her. She saw her a couple of times on television; she had a very pure image. Unexpectedly, she had such loose morals and was in the middle of a group of middle-aged men. Her clothes were almost all gone, her thong was hanging by her ankles, and she looked like she was in a daze.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually you, Xiao Ling?¡± Another voice was heard. It was a woman wearing fis stockings. In fascination, she walked over and touched her face. Her fingernails were painted a deep red. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember me? I¡¯m Hua Jie. You... saw me in the past before.¡± Hua Jie gave her a drunk smile.

    Xia Ling took a step back in disgust. However, she did recognize that woman, Hua Jie. Her poprity did notst in the entertainment industry, but they had met before. After closely observing the people in the room, Xia Ling shockingly realized that more than half of them were artistes, directors, and producers in the entertainment industry. At this time, they were smoking, entangled with each other and all looked like they were high on drugs.

    She became more rmed. With her body leaning tightly against the wall, she tried to pull the handle again, but it still could not be opened.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,e here and take a smoke...¡± Almost leaning on her, Hua Jie handed Xia Ling her half-finished cigarette. ¡°It¡¯s very high quality and something is added in it... Hehehe... You¡¯ll definitely... like it.¡±

    Xia Ling understood immediately that they had gathered to take drugs. The smell of the strange smoke in the made people uneasy, but it also seemed to make people calm down as if they were weak and had no strength. In fact... To her horror, she realized that her body was starting to heat up. A date rape drug was probably infused in the smoke.

    She tried to calm herself down, but her mind was spinning. In her calmest tone, she said, ¡°I¡¯m at the wrong ce. Can you please ask the staff to open the door and let me out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re at the wrong ce?¡± A male director with no clothes on stood up from the sofa and walked towards her. He smiled wickedly. ¡°Beauty Ling, do you think it¡¯s so easy to get out after you¡¯ve entered this ce? There¡¯s so many people here. What if you go out and expose us? Come... enjoy with us. We have the best marijuana and new drugs here. After you¡¯ve smoked and joined us, you will be one of us.¡±

    He took Hua Jie¡¯s cigarette and was about to shove it into Xia Ling¡¯s mouth.

    Xia Ling avoided it at once and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡±

    This time, the man was angered. He snickered and reached for her delicate cheeks. ¡°So you¡¯re not going to smoke? Well then, it¡¯s not bad if you have some fun with us in another way. I¡¯ve always wanted to know how you tasted!¡±

    He started to take off her clothes. She anxiously tried to stop him, but soon, a few other people walked up and helped to strip off her clothes as well. Although Xia Ling knew some self-defense, she couldn¡¯t fight such a huge crowd. Things were about to be really bad. She pushed two people hard, saw a gap in the crowd, and quickly rushed out.

    ¡°Chase her!¡± Behind her, someone yelled.

    The room was not big, and the door was already locked, so she ran towards the back of the box. Luckily, she found a small door. Without caring much, she immediately went in and locked the door.

    The knocking outside the door was incessant.

    She adjusted the clothes that were almost pulled off her body and realized that she was in a bathroom. It was very small and dirty. The toilet bowl looked like it had not been washed for 10,000 years, and there were traces of vomit and suspicious substances everywhere. She couldn¡¯t care much and leaned against the back of the door to prevent the people from rushing in.

    She reached into her bag and quickly found her phone.

    However, there was no signal.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but curse. She was 100% sure that someone had set her up. In addition to ordinary signals, her phone could also connect to the satellite signal used by the Li Family. Even in the wilderness, the satellite signal coverage was extremely strong. There was only one possibility. A very powerful signal blocker was installed nearby. However, why would a high-end club have a signal blocker installed?

    Unless... someone deliberately wanted to harm her and prevent her from making any calls!

    She threw her phone back into the bag. Outside, the smashing sounds were getting louder. The fragile toilet door was creaking and seemed like would fall apart soon.

    Calm down... She definitely had to calm down...

    Xia Ling forced herself to calm down. She had to figure a way out. Otherwise, once she fell into the hands of this group of drug addicts, who knew how badly she would be vited!

    However, at this time, she heard the sirens of a police car.

    ¡°The police are here!¡± She rejoiced. Could it be that they were here to arrest this group of drug users? However, after thinking about it, her heart sank again. Since someone wanted to frame her, these police officers would definitely bring her back to the police station for interrogation and maybe, there were reporters outside to take photos of this scene!

    Her reputation was about to be tarnished!

    More importantly, as the future daughter-inw of the Li Family, how could she be spotted at this sort of ce?!

    It was too humiliating for the Li Family!

    Xia Ling cursed again. She scratched her head wildly. Suddenly, her eyes fell on the small iron window at the top of the bathroom wall. She stopped moving. There was a way out!

    Immediately, she became more hopeful. In a sh, she emptied all of the items in her bag such as lipstick, powder, and tissue paper on the dirty ground. They were not important anymore. She took out a small bottle of anti-wolf spray from a secretpartment of her bag and couldn¡¯t help but hug and kiss it.

    This bottle of anti-wolf spray was very special. If it were used in the normal way, it wasmon anti-wolf spray, but there was a small mechanism on the bottle cap. If Xia Ling pressed it three times, another liquid would be mixed into the spray. That liquid was highly corrosive, especially for metal objects.

 Chapter 890 - Up a Tree

    <h4>Chapter 890: Up a Tree</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    This kind of liquid was specially requested by Li Lei because he was worried that she might be kidnapped.

    It was very effective when it came to handcuffs, anti-theft windows, knives, and even guns. Xia Ling kicked off her high heels and climbed up the toilet with her hands and feet, ignoring the dirty floor. She carefully dripped the liquid on the iron window. This was the first time she actually used this liquid, and she silently prayed in her heart for it to work. Sure enough, in a sh, arge piece of the iron window was eroded, creating an exit that a person could barely pass through.

    She was very happy. Just as she was about to crawl out of the window, she thought of a question. Could this liquid corrode human skin?

    Although she did not use much of the liquid and there was not much of it left after it corroded the iron window, she did not dare to risk touching the residue. She really did not want to be disfigured! She tried to recall what Li Lei said at the start. Yes! In the case of a small amount of liquid residue, she could wrap her face and exposed skin with thick clothing and rush out at the fastest speed!

    But...

    Looking at what she was wearing, she wanted to cry.

    Luo Luo¡¯s text message was to me! It told her to dress well. She really wore very beautiful but also very skimpy clothes! She wore a ck dress with shing gold embellishments. It barely covered her thighs, and besides that, there was no additional fabric. In her current situation, she would be looking for death if she crawled out of that small window stained with corrosive liquid like that.

    The sirens had stopped. The police could be heard knocking outside the box. ¡°Open the door! Impromptu check!¡±

    At once, a frenzy ensued in the box. Those who were knocking the toilet door couldn¡¯t care less about her anymore, but she did not dare to open the door. ¡°Calm down, calm down, calm down...¡± She repeated. In the corner of her eye, she spotted the water tank of the toilet bowl. Without losing a second, she took off the lid, took out the water tank, and soaked her dress with the water. After that, she poured arge amount of the water on the corroded iron windows.

    After some time, the corrosive liquid was diluted to arge extent.

    The police had already rushed into the box and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t move! Everyone, kneel down! Hands behind your head!¡±

    Seeing that danger was around the corner, Xia Ling forced herself not to listen to those voices and focus on the matter at hand. She poured a lot of water on her body to minimize the damage of the corrosive liquid identallying into contact with her skin. After that, she ced her wet dress on the iron window. There was a soft bang and smoke rose from many areas. It was obvious that there was some corrosion.

    Fortunately, however, it was not serious and there were no holes.

    Xia Ling encouraged herself and put her tree climbing skills that she learned in the orphanage and the self-defense skills she learned as an artiste to the test. She picked up her high heels and bag and agilely climbed out of the window.

    The window was more than a meter above the ground. She threw her high heels and bag down first. Then, she jumped down and finally threw the small dress down from the window. She initially wanted to wear the dress because it would be better than wearing ck underwear. Unfortunately, life was at odds with her. Although the dress was notpletely corroded, there were already a fewrge holes on the side and it looked like it was going to be torn apart soon. Xia Ling was speechless...

    ¡°Chief, look! There¡¯s a toilet here!¡± Suddenly, a policeman called from inside.

    Xia Ling felt that she couldn¡¯t stay under the wall any longer. She quickly picked up her high heels and pieces of cloth and ran away barefoot in ck underwear. She felt that in both lifetimes, she had never been in a more miserable state. If she ran into a reporter at this time, it was guaranteed that she would make the headlines the next day.

    Her hair was messy and her body was drenched in water, but she managed to sneak in the greenery not far away after some time. She saw a tree and climbed up with some difficulty.

    She then looked in the direction of the club.

    There was already a policeman inspecting the back window of the toilet.

    She silently eximed in worry. At this rate, as long as they followed the water trail, they would eventually catch her sooner orter. She quickly pulled out her phone and dialed Li Lei¡¯s number. Luckily, she was out of the signal blocker¡¯s range and easily got through to him.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She cut to the chase and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been set up by someone. The police are at the club to catch the drug users. I escaped by the back window and am on a tree now. They¡¯re about to look for me now!¡±

    ¡°Can you continue fleeing in another direction?¡± Li Lei also did not waste any time. While talking, he gestured to his subordinates in his conference room, indicating for them to look for the coordinates of the caller.

    ¡°I can¡¯t escape.¡± Xia Ling was so devastated that she was about to cry. ¡°I¡¯m not even wearing any clothes. I can¡¯t go out without clothes!¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. ¡°Just wait on the tree and don¡¯t move. I will think of a n.¡±

    After saying that, he hung up the phone. Looking at Xia Ling¡¯s current coordinates, he dialed another number. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m looking for Police Superintendent Cui...¡±

    Outside the club.

    In the night, several police officers with shlights inched closer and closer.

    ¡°Looking at the traces, it should be this area,¡± said one of the policemen. ¡°The other party is probably a petite woman. She can¡¯t escape far. You must search carefully and not let a drug addict off!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Several policemen agreed and dispersed.

    Xia Ling hid in the tree. She was only wearing underwear and was still drenched. When the cold wind blew at her, she shuddered. She was scared and anxious. What if the police discovered her? Now, she could only hope that Li Lei thought of a n to save her.

    However, Li Lei was thousands of miles away. Could he do it?

    After waiting in trepidation for a while, two policemen arrived at her tree.

    ¡°Did we see a ghost? Why can¡¯t we find her?¡± One policeman said.

    Another said, ¡°You have to be patient. It¡¯s so dark. She¡¯s probably hiding somewhere. The lipstick and powder left in the toilet were all high-quality products. This woman is probably someone famous. If we catch her, it will be a big sess.¡±

    ¡°Hey, is it raining?¡± Suddenly, one policeman asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± Another one said.

    ¡°Why is there water, then?¡± The first policeman touched the back of his neck and looked up at the tree.

    Xia Ling quickly snuck into the dense foliage. Suddenly, there was a hot sensation on her skin as if she were bitten by a bug, but she couldn¡¯t care less.

    The other policeman picked up the shlight and swept it around the tree.

    Xia Ling curled tighter into a ball. She prayed in her heart. Please God, bless me so that I won¡¯t be caught by the police...

 Chapter 891 - Escaping Danger

    <h4>Chapter 891: Escaping Danger</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There was a pleasing ringtone.

    A policeman¡¯s cell phone rang.

    He answered it. ¡°Ok... Yes, we will go over now.¡± After that, he hung up his phone and said to the other policeman, ¡°Let¡¯s go. There¡¯s a new case in the east of the city thatcks manpower. We are being transferred to that case.¡±

    ¡°But we still haven¡¯t found one person yet.¡±

    ¡°After looking for her for so long to no avail, our hopes of finding her are slim. Let¡¯s go and help with the case in the east of the city.¡± The policeman patted the shoulder of hispanion and the two of them quickly left.

    Only then did Xia Ling sigh in relief. She finally realized that the pain on her shoulder stung. As she reached out to touch it, a soft and furry caterpir fell from her body. She was scared to death and almost screamed. Her hand hurt from touching the caterpir, her body hurt from the caterpir, and more terrifyingly... she was afraid of bugs! Caterpir! In the past, she would have cried for a full night about it!

    Aggrieved tears flowed out. Luckily, she was mature now and did not make a sound.

    In the night, her phone rang again¡ªit was Li Lei. She picked it up and sobbed. ¡°I¡¯ve been bitten by a bug.¡±

    Li Lei was relieved. Great. Since she was able to cry over a small matter such as being bitten by a bug, it seemed that the crisis was over. He calmly appeased her. ¡°A bug? Don¡¯t worry. When I¡¯m back, I will take you to kill hit. I heard reports that the police on your side is gone now. How is your situation now?¡±

    ¡°The bug bite hurts...¡± She cried in a weak voice. However, she still remembered what situation she was in. ¡°I¡¯m still on the tree and am not wearing any clothes, so I don¡¯t dare to go down. However, there are scary caterpirs on the tree... You have toe and save me...¡±

    Scary caterpirs...

    Li Lei was in a mess. He sighed silently and continued to cate her softly. ¡°I¡¯m still in the headquarters. Even if I set off now, it will be a long time before I cane back. Just wait on the tree and bear with it for some time. I will send Ah Nuo to save you.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Tell him to hurry up.¡± She sobbed.

    Li Lei instructed people to look for Ah Nuo. He did not hang up the phone and continued to whisper to her in a pacifying voice. He wanted tofort her because she was alone, cold, and scared in the dark.

    After a long time, she said, ¡°Ah Nuo is here.¡±

    Under the tree, a tall man holding a shlight found the tree she was in. He lifted his head and said to her, ¡°Miss Ling,e down and be careful. I¡¯ve brought clothes for you, they¡¯re at the bottom of three. I will keep guard nearby.¡±

    A small bag of clothes was ced near the roots of the tree, and there was also a shlight. A faint beam of light shone on the mottled tree trunk, illuminating the way for her to get down. As for Ah Nuo, he turned around to avoid looking at her.

    The underwear-d Xia Ling carefully climbed down the tree and flicked two caterpirs off her body. She resisted the pain and wore the clothes that Ah Nuo brought. It was a very fitting long dress that she ced in Li Lei¡¯s house when she stayed there for a while. After she wore it, she called Ah Nuo.

    Only then did Ah Nuo turn around, look at her, and smile. ¡°It¡¯s great that you¡¯re ok. Come, I will take you to the young master¡¯s house to rest.¡± Although Xia Ling did not speak much to Li Lei over the phone, considering the situation at hand, Li Lei guessed that someone wanted to harm her. It was better to be safe than sorry. He instructed Ah Nuo to take her to his house because the security there was better.

    Xia Ling nodded and followed Ah Nuo.

    Only then did Li Lei hang up the call.

    As Xia Ling arrived at his apartment, a sleek leopard greeted her. It stepped forward elegantly and rubbed her legs with its huge head.

    ¡°Er Mao.¡± Looking at it, Xia Ling¡¯s fearful feelings eased. She rubbed its forehead, went into the bathroom, closed the door, and took off her dress.

    There were red andrge swollen areas on her shoulders, waist, and thights. They were all caused by the caterpirs. She groaned in pain and mumbled to herself, ¡°Once I find out who set me up, I will throw him in a heap of caterpirs!¡± She turned on the shower tap, hurriedly showered, changed into sleepwear, and applied medicine from the medicine box on herself.

    Er Mao quietly stayed by her side as if it were recing its master¡¯s role to protect her.

    Xia Ling was sleepy and tired. After applying the medicine, sheid on the sofa in the living room and fell asleep.

    When she woke up, the sun was high in the sky.

    The afternoon sun quietly sprinkled in the room through the gauze curtains on the sofa and the man who was hugging her. She realized that she was leaning on Li Lei. The soft light silk of her pajamas was hanging off the edge, touching the furry carpet. The man was half squinting as he gently re-applied medication on her. As the faint aroma of herbs dispersed in the room, a cool feeling spread from the red patches on Xia Ling¡¯s, making her feel veryfortable.

    She moved gently and said in a confused voice, ¡°Why are you back? I thought you would onlye back three dayster?¡±

    ¡°I missed you.¡± He softly said and continued to apply the light green herbal cream on the red marks on her wrists. After he received her call for helpst night, he quickly handled his affairs in the headquarters and returned home in advance. He was very worried. Even though she was safe, her crying voice over the phone hurt his heart.

    Xia Ling understood what he meant. She closed her eyes peacefully and slept again.

    This time, she only woke up at night.

    Li Lei made dinner for her and also told her the results of the report. ¡°We¡¯ve already found out that the person who told you to go to the club was not Luo Luo. Someone used a software to change his number to pretend that he was Luo Luo.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little shocked but was also relieved. It was great that it wasn¡¯t Luo Luo. Otherwise, she would not know how to face her good friend. She did not want to be betrayed or lose a friend again.

    Li Lei understood her feelings. His heart hurting, he gently kissed her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even if everyone in the world doesn¡¯t like you, I¡¯m still here. I will always love you and protect you.¡±

    She acknowledged him softly.

    ¡°Who is the person who pretended to be Luo Luo?¡±

    Li Lei spat out two words. ¡°Xia Yu.¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu?!¡± Xia Ling was shocked but soon calmed down. ¡°That¡¯s so strange. Why does she still want to hurt me? In the past, she hurt me because of Pei Ziheng. But I¡¯m about to marry you. Even if she has problems with the Wei Family, the intention of yesterday¡¯s plot was to ruin my reputation and not to drag me down in private...¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°In the boxst night, the people using hallucinogens were very special. They mixed marijuana with some new types of drugs. I¡¯ve sent people to investigate the new drugs¡ªthey¡¯re new products made by the Wei Family. Currently, they¡¯re only sold to very few customers such as Xia Yu. Among these people, only Xia Yu has animosity with you.¡±

 Chapter 892 - A Small Voice

    <h4>Chapter 892: A Small Voice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°Until now, why does she still want to hurt me?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°She might be resentful, unwilling to resign to her fate, jealous... There are many reasons. More importantly, the investigator I sent said that recently, Xia Yu went to stay at Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi for a day and at night, then they saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s car go to a love club. This is very strange.¡±

    Xia Ling also nodded. With her years of understanding of Pei Ziheng, she knew that this man was not sloppy or indulgent. He did not like to find temporary women. Even after her death in her past life, he only took care of a few girls but never went to public ces to have a fling. What outrageous thing did he do that night?

    Li Lei continued, ¡°The next day, Pei Ziheng announced in Imperial Entertainment that Chu Chen was no longer in charge of Xia Yu and that Xia Yu was no longer allowed to appear in front of him. That¡¯s very fishy. I guess that it¡¯s possible that Xia Yu offended Pei Ziheng that night. For example, she might have tried to drug Pei Ziheng, which was why he was so enraged.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little shocked. Drug? Her sister who looked so weak and deserving of sympathy actually dared to do something so unscrupulous?!

    ¡°Even so, how is this rted to me?¡± She asked.

    Li Lei looked at her a few more times. ¡°Do you really not get it?¡±

    ¡°Get what?¡± Xia Ling was a little confused.

    Li Lei looked at her again and realized that she was really lost and innocent. Suddenly, he was a little happy. He smiled and said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s not rted to you.¡±

    ¡°What exactly are you saying?¡± Xia Ling threw a pillow at him. ¡°Tell me.¡±

    After being hit by the pillow a few times, Li Lei continued to smile. ¡°You¡¯re about to marry me but Pei Ziheng is still hung up over you and perhaps, he can¡¯t get over you. Due to this, Xia Yu, who wanted to rape Pei Ziheng, felt unfulfilled and resentful of you, so she...¡±

    Rape Pei Ziheng?!

    What...

    Xia Ling almost choked. She could barely imagine it. However, she felt sad. She was about to marry someone else but he was still waiting for her bitterly?

    She quietened down.

    Li Lei touched her forehead. ¡°Everyone has a different fate.¡±

    She looked up at him and knew that he wasforting her, so she nodded. That¡¯s true. Everyone had a different future. No matter how much she sympathized with Pei Ziheng, it was toote. In the future, that man would have to lead his life alone.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Xia Yu to be this crazy.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°How do you n on dealing with her?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Ling was confused.

    Li Lei said, ¡°The person she offended was you, so you have the right to decide how we should deal with her. Just tell me. Should we hand over to the police or disfigure her in a car ident?¡±

    ¡°Caterpir!¡± Xia Ling suddenly became spirited and was filled with indignation. ¡°I was almost bitten to death by the caterpirs! I want to throw her into a pile of caterpirs and pull her out for questioning after two days!¡±

    Suddenly, Li Lei felt that his triad was about to embark on such an imaginative punishment... that was really strange. However, his wife had the final word, so he really sent people to catch many caterpirs and captured Xia Yu.

    After two days, Xia Yu was dragged out. Her entire body was swollen and her face looked like a pig¡¯s head.

    Xia Ling looked at her in disdain. ¡°Xia Yu, why are you still trying to harm me now? Why haven¡¯t you changed?¡±

    ¡°I... I harmed you?¡± Xia Yu suddenlyughed crazily. ¡°Xia Ling, do you know what sabotage means? If I really wanted to sabotage you, you would¡¯ve been dead by now, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling coldly red at her. ¡°Stop beating around the bush! You¡¯re talking as if you weren¡¯t the one who fooled me and made me go to the drug club! Do you think your sophistry will work?¡±

    Xia Yu looked at her deeply. ¡°If I said I didn¡¯t do it, would you believe me?¡±

    Xia Ling was startled. It wasn¡¯t her? How could this be? ¡°Stop lying.¡± She said, ¡°You¡¯ve lied to me many times over the years. Do you think I will believe your rubbish? All of the evidence is pointing at you. If it isn¡¯t you, who can it be?!¡±

    Xia Yuughed. ¡°At that year... when you died... all of the evidence was also...¡±

    She spoke so softly that Xia Ling did not hear her clearly. ¡°What?¡±

    However, Xia Yu stopped talking.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You really can¡¯t turn over a new leaf. You¡¯re still trying to deny what you did at this time.¡±

    Xia Yu lowered her eyes. ¡°How do you n on punishing me?¡±

    Looking at the caterpir bites on her body, Xia Ling coldly said, ¡°Of course I¡¯ll punish you severely.¡± In reality, besides the caterpirs, she did not think of another punishment. She couldn¡¯t really kill Xia Yu, right? No matter what, Xia Yu was not guilty of death. She would slowly think of her punishment in the future.

    On the other hand, Xia Yu misunderstood her and thought that she would face a very terrible punishment. Sheughed wryly again. ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯re also looking at a dead end.¡± She was really not the mastermind of this n to sabotage Xia Ling.

    On that day, Su Tang looked for her and suggested that she join forces with her to get rid of Xia Ling¡ªthat is, murder her.

    Xia Yu rejected it.

    She did not know why she rejected her. Perhaps it was because she had murdered Xia Ling once but realized that it was futile because she achieved Nirvana and reincarnated? Perhaps in these years, after nights of reflections, she found her conscience?

    She still remembered that during the year after Xia Ling¡¯s death, she had a fever. It was very severe and she was sent to the best hospital by her servants. She received the best treatment when she was hospitalized. However, in the night, her mind was blurry and she felt lonely and helpless. She really wished that a hand would gently touch her forehead. Even if it were useless, she wished someone would whisper softly in her ear, ¡°Xiao Yu, don¡¯t be afraid. I will always be with you.¡± However, that person was already gone.

    In her life, only that girl called Xia Ling treated her so warmly before.

    Even Pei Ziheng never did that.

    That night, Xia Yu cried.

    Later, she asionally dreamed of her sister. In her dreams, she secretly wished for her sister to resurrect. However, this thought was immediately annihted in a moment. She was not in the wrong! Xia Ling was too dreadful! She always stole everything she had! Xia Ling deserved to die!

    She was in a dilemma with herself until she witnessed Xia Ling¡¯s reincarnation a few days ago.

    However, she was very disappointed.

    Her sister was no longer her sister. She never smiled at her anymore. All of the warm greetings turned into icy words. She did not want a sister like that!

    It was better to treat her as if she died.

    When Su Tang looked for her and suggested to join forces to murder Xia Ling, it was not that she did not consider it, but inside, a voice stopped her and made her tell Su Tang. ¡°I don¡¯t have any interest in killing people. I don¡¯t want to participate in this n.¡±

 Chapter 893 - Wang Jingwanâ€™s Death

    <h4>Chapter 893: Wang Jingwan¡¯s Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang mocked Xia Yu for being a coward who did not even dare to kill her love rival.

    Xia Yu smiled coldly. Murder? That year when she did something earth-shattering, she wondered what Su Tang was doing. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for death, don¡¯t drag me down with you.¡± She said to Su Tang. ¡°If you kill her, the Xia Family, Li Family, and even Pei Ziheng will dig the earth to look for the killer. Do you think you can escape the grasp of so many powerful families?¡±

    Su Tang said, ¡°There¡¯s always some risk.¡±

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Xia Yu concluded.

    Su Tang slightly narrowed her eyes. ¡°You seem to know something.¡±

    Xia Yu said faintly, ¡°I know that even people who are smarter and more powerful than you do not dare to hurt Xia Ling.¡± She was referring to Wei Lingnan. If she did not understand what a taboo Xia Ling was in the past, she found out after being locked in the Wei Family¡¯s secretb. Even a powerful monster would rather be in a hopeless tangle with her substitutes than touch Xia Ling. She did not believe that Su Tang was more powerful than Wei Lingnan.

    Su Tang heard the ominous meaning in her words.

    Since she was able to be Li Lei¡¯s special assistant, she was definitely not a crude and impetuous woman. Even if she wanted to get rid of Xia Ling, she had to find a way to make herself seem innocent. What she wanted was to enjoy the benefits after Xia Ling¡¯s death. She asked Xia Yu doubtfully, ¡°I really can¡¯t kill her?¡±

    ¡°You can try it out.¡± Xia Yu said curtly. She did not intend to spend much effort stopping Su Tang. In reality, if Su Tang was able to kill Xia Ling by herself, it would be a good thing. In that case, Pei Ziheng wouldpletely give up on Xia Ling and look for another woman.

    However, Su Tang faltered.

    After some time, she said, ¡°Fine. I won¡¯t kill her. However, I want to ruin her so that she would not be qualified to marry Li Lei or Pei Ziheng. In fact, I want both men¡¯s impression of her to be ruined. I¡¯m sure this time, you¡¯re willing to participate.¡±

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Ruin herpletely? What¡¯s better than being caught doing drugs?¡±

    Su Tang also smiled. The two women quickly reached an agreement and made a n.

    Xia Yu provided the drugs. Su Tang found out the gathering ce of artistes who smoked marijuana in the city, tampered with her phone number to act as Luo Luo, and sent a text message to Xia Ling. Finally, she set up a mobile phone signal blocking device near the club and even misled the police to capture Xia Ling¡¯s bodyguards outside so that Xia Ling could not escape.

    Everything seemed seamless.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling was still able to escape.

    In the small imprisonment room, Xia Yu¡¯s body was red and swollen because of the caterpirs and many of her wounds had turned into ulcers because she scratched them. She initially wanted to tell Xia Ling that she did this all alone, but as soon as she saw that disdainful and arrogant look on Xia Ling¡¯s face, resentful feelings rushed to her head.

    Why did she have to tell Xia Ling the truth?

    Xia Yu viciously thought of keeping Xia Ling in the dark forever so that she would not be on guard against the ill-intentioned woman. Even if that woman killed her one day, she deserved it.

    Thinking about it, sheughed again.

    ¡°Why are youughing?¡± Xia Ling frowned.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°I¡¯mughing at your innocence and stupidity.¡±

    Xia Ling was very unhappy. Why did she say she was innocent or stupid? ¡°You¡¯re already a prisoner here, so don¡¯t carry on having this sinister expression on your face, Xia Yu. Await your punishment.¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and left.

    The sunlight outside shone brightly.

    Xia Ling took a deep breath. The fragrance of the grass was refreshing. She told herself not to think about what Xia Yu did anymore, but she did not know why Xia Yu¡¯s words lingered in her heart.

    Was she stupid?

    Was Xia Yu just randomly speaking or was there some truth to it?

    When she was having dinner on this day, she told her inner doubts to Li Lei. ¡°Do you think that this was really done by Xia Yu.¡±

    Li Lei ced some chicken breast on her te and said without a thought, ¡°She already admitted guilt. Why are you still asking this?¡± Er Mao squatted between their feet.

    Xia Ling bit her fork and tilted her head. ¡°I just feel that something is wrong. I told her that all the evidence is pointing to her, but she told me...¡± After thinking about it for a long time, she still couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°That year... when someone died? All of the evidence was also...¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Li Lei looked at her in confusion.

    Xia Ling shook her head and continued to eat. Her mind was still thinking about Xia Yu¡¯s words.

    Halfway through her meal, she suddenly put down her knife and fork. ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡± Under the warm yellow light in the dining room, her face turned pale and even her fingers shook.

    Li Lei was scared to death. ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°That year... when Wang Jingwan died, all of the evidence pointed at me! Yes, that was what Xia Yu meant!¡± She looked at Li Lei with a pale expression. ¡°Xia Yu knew that I was framed. She knew that I did not kill Wang Jingwan! That¡¯s why sheughed so provocatively when I used the evidence to incriminate her just now!¡± She was so emotional that she rambled on incoherently. This case happened so many years ago, and she initially thought that her name would never be cleared, but it turned out that someone knew the truth!

    Li Lei also put down his knife and fork. This was not a small matter. ¡°Are you sure that Xia Yu said this?!¡±

    ¡°A hundred percent!¡± Xia Ling nodded vigorously. Her voice quivered. ¡°She knew that the murderer wasn¡¯t me! In fact, she may even know who the real killer is! That year, she hated me so much. It¡¯s possible that she didn¡¯t say anything even though she knew.¡±

    Li Lei stood up and grabbed her hand. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Xia Ling was dragged out by him. ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°To watch the surveince cameras.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°The ce she is held at is the secret base of the Li Family. There are surveince cameras inside and I can read lips.¡±

    The two of them went to the security room downstairs. Li Lei keyed in the details of the secret base to ess the recorded conversation between Xia Ling and Xia Yu and erged it. The angle was very good. Xia Yu¡¯s lip movements were very obvious. Li Lei read them three times and confirmed without a doubt that she said: ¡°that year when Wang Jingwan died, all of the evidence pointed to you¡±!

    All pointed to Xia Ling!

    Rting what she said to what happened, it was possible that Xia Yu was hinting that the mastermind of the plot to harm Xia Ling was not her, like how Xia Ling did not kill Wang Jingwan!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Li Lei pulled Xia Ling out again. This time, they entered a car and sped to the ce that Xia Yu was held captive at.

    ¡°Xia Yu, regarding Wang Jingwan¡¯s death, how much do you know?¡± Li Lei asked.

    Xia Yu did not eat anything for a day and was extremely weak. When she heard Li Lei, she smiled but did not say a word.

    ¡°Don¡¯t force me to torture you.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was ominous.

 Chapter 894 - Shrouded in Mystery

    <h4>Chapter 894: Shrouded in Mystery</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu shut her mouth and refused to say anything.

    Li Lei signaled for someone to pull Xia Yu up and hang her using handcuffs from the ceiling. He took out a syringe and pointed it at her fingernails. ¡°There¡¯s acid in this.¡± Li Lei said calmly, his voice low and menacing, like someone speaking from the depths of hell. ¡°We can start at your fingers, and watch how it corrodes your hands. Not to worry... the night is long.¡± Li Lei was not a soft person given the influence in his family since he was young. He could be extremely cruel when dealing with enemies.

    Xia Yu lowered her head and remained quiet.

    Li Lei pressed on the syringe to release the acid into her fingernails. Xia Yu screamed out in pain.

    The burning smell of acid corroding her body spread in the room, and very soon her finger waspletely corroded. Xia Yu screamed out as she squirmed from the pain, sweat trickling down her brows.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was still steady. ¡°Tell me... tell me the truth of Wang Jingwan¡¯s death, then I¡¯ll make sure you suffer less. Perhaps if I¡¯m happy I¡¯ll find a doctor to help treat your injuries and arrange for you to stay in the presidential suite.¡±

    A contorted smile appeared on Xia Yu¡¯s face. Suffer less? Presidential suite?

    If he knew the truth on who murdered Wang Jingwan, he would chop her into a thousand pieces!

    She wasn¡¯t stupid!

    ¡°I... I won¡¯t tell you...¡± Xia Yu¡¯s voice was weak. ¡°Just kill me...¡± She was confident that Li Lei wouldn¡¯t kill her as she was the only person with all the clues to the events in the past. As for his methods of torture? Xia Yu believed that she could withstand them all. After all, hadn¡¯t she been through all the horrible secret experiments Wei Lingnan did on her in hisb?

    Li Lei¡¯s methods of torture might scare others, but they were nothingpared to what she had seen in Wei Lingnan¡¯sb. He could forget about trying to get a word from her using torture!

    Li Lei¡¯s gaze hardened, and he signaled for his subordinates to continue with the torture.

    At the break of dawn, he emerged from the dungeon reeking of blood.

    Ah Nuo came forward. ¡°Young Master, Miss Ling is waiting for you outside.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to get her to go to bed first?¡± Li Lei asked. Even though he had rashly pulled Xia Ling to this ce where Xia Yu was being imprisoned, he knew that the torture process to try to get Xia Yu to speak would be bloody. He didn¡¯t want Xia Ling to have to witness that. Hence, he had managed to convince her with difficulty to wait outside the dungeon, but she refused to head to bed first.

    Ah Nuo gave a bitter smile. ¡°You couldn¡¯t get her to go the bed... how could I possibly be able to do so?¡±

    ¡°Get her to wait a few minutes more.¡± Li Lei said as he changed his course. ¡°I¡¯ll go take a shower. Bring me a clean set of clothes.¡± He didn¡¯t want his beloved wife to see him in this bloody state. He had a quick shower to wash away the blood on his body, changed into a clean set of clothes, and sprayed on some cologne before he went out to meet Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was hugging a panda cushion as she slept on the sofa in the waiting room. A nket that Ah Nuo had found was draped over her body, and she was snuggled under the soft wool, her hair messy.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression softened as he walked over and gave her a peck on the forehead. His light kiss made her snap awake immediately. She rubbed her eyes in a daze and called out, ¡°Li Lei?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Mmhmm, it¡¯s me.¡± He sat down on the sofa and hugged her lightly.

    ¡°How did the interrogation go?¡± She asked while yawning.

    Li Lei replied, ¡°We tortured her, but Xia Yu is really keeping mum about things. Why are you sleeping here? You¡¯ll catch a cold... why didn¡¯t you go to the room around the corner to sleep?¡±

    She shook her head sleepily. ¡°Waiting for you.¡±

    She yawned again and asked despondently, ¡°So you didn¡¯t manage to get anything out of her?¡± Wang Jingwan¡¯s death was a mystery that gued her. There was no way that she could wash herself clean, and it was this incident that had soured her rtionship with Pei Ziheng then. In the past, the line between happiness and hell was this Wang Jingwan incident.

    Even though it was a long time ago, and she no longer cared what Pei Ziheng thought of her, this matter still nagged her. If only she could find out who the real culprit was!

    Li Lei knew what she was thinking. ¡°Don¡¯t worry... we¡¯ve already sent people to search Xia Yu¡¯s home to see if there are any clues there. If she had a partner-in-crime to be able to frame you as a drug user, there will likely be some clues in her ce. We just need to wait patiently.¡±

    This was really the only thing they could do now.

    Xia Ling nodded. Her arms encircled Li Lei¡¯s neck as she said, ¡°I¡¯m sleepy. Carry me to bed.¡±

    Li Lei smiled as he carried his beloved to the huge bed in the room next door.

    The results of the investigations shocked everyone. They found poison, formaldehyde, murder weapons, as well as some items that seemed to have been left behind by a victim, like blood stains and hair. They also found a threatening letter. ¡°Xia Yu, if you don¡¯t give me the money, I¡¯ll reveal everything that you did in the past.¡±

    Li Lei sent his men off to investigate who had written the letter, as well as who was the victim.

    After he got the investigation report, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder at how scary Xia Yu was.

    Xia Ling came to look for him. ¡°What did the report show?¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t show her the report immediately, asking instead, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you remember who Bao Renjiu is?¡±

    ¡°Bao Renjiu?¡± Xia Ling thought for a long time before she recalled who he was. ¡°Is it an old man? He used to work as the props manager for Jin Yifei¡¯s filming team. I haven¡¯t seen him in a long time.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°What?¡±

    Li Lei continued, ¡°Bao Renjiu tried to get close to you at some point. I realized his intentions and sought him out to give him a warning. He told me something... he said that he was the Head of the Wang Family¡ªWang Jingwan¡¯s biological father.¡±

    ¡°What?! He¡¯s Wang Jingwan¡¯s biological father?!¡± Xia Ling waspletely taken aback. She recalled that she had seen the Head of the Wang Family in social events before. He was charismatic and confident, a far cry from the dirty and scrawny old man caring for the props in the film site. ¡°How is that possible?!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible in this world.¡± Li Lei replied. ¡°After Wang Jingwan died, the Wang Family was convinced that you had killed her. Her brother, in particr, went around telling everyone that he was going to kill you. So when you were murdered at your tenth-anniversary concert, Pei Ziheng was sure that the Wang Family was the culprit behind your death. The police also found evidence and witnesses pointing to Young Master Wang as the prime suspect. Hence, he was sentenced to death.

    ¡°Having lost both his son and daughter in a short span of time, and with Pei Ziheng still so furious that he was using all methods possible to drive the Wang Family to bankruptcy, Wang Family Head was forced to live in the streets, with nothing left to his name.

    ¡°However, Wang Family Head believed that you weren¡¯t killed by his son, and was determined to clear his son¡¯s name. So, he changed his name to Bao Renjiu, which also means revenge if you put the words together.

    ¡°He had been investigating this case since several years ago.

    ¡°Then, I was already suspected that there was some special rtionship between you and the Diva Xia Ling, so I sponsored his investigations. However, I suddenly lost contact with himpletely one day. My subordinates told me that he died in a car ident. At the same time, I found out about your true identity and was too preupied to find out what happened to Bao Renjiu. The investigation this time around suggests that he didn¡¯t die in a car ident, but was likely murdered by Xia Yu.¡±

 Chapter 895 - Bring the Secret to My Grave

    <h4>Chapter 895: Bring the Secret to My Grave</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale. She never thought that Xia Yu was such a psycho.

    In her mind, Xia Yu was cruel for having thrown her baby child into the rubbish bin. Who would have thought that Xia Yu would make use of all these murder weapons¡ªpoison, daggers, guns... as well as detailed maps on the location of the crime, and disposing of the bodies. She had killed so many people!

    These were all human lives!

    She held onto the chair for support, hearing herself ask, ¡°You¡¯re sure that Xia Yu was behind this?¡±

    ¡°About eighty percent sure.¡± Li Lei replied. ¡°I¡¯ve sent someone to do a more detailed investigation, and we are nning to interrogate Xia Yu one more time to try to get her to admit to it herself.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I want to see her.¡±

    Li Lei anxiously responded, ¡°Xiao Ling... she¡¯s in a horrible state right now.¡± Her fingers were corroded by acid, and her toenails had been pried off. There were needle piercings in every sensitive area on her body and broken bones in many parts of her legs such that she couldn¡¯t stand by herself. Xia Yu now reeked of dposing meat, with maggots growing in various parts of her body. How could he allow Xiao Ling to see this horrendous scene?

    Xia Ling insisted. ¡°I¡¯m not so weak.¡±

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t stop her, so he apanied her into the dungeon to see Xia Yu.

    In the dungeon, Xia Yu was still being hung by her wrists, and her clothes were in tatters from all the torture that she had been through. Her head hung forward and her eyes were closed, with houseflies and bugs flying around her body like it was a piece of dead meat. All kinds of whips, hooks, needles, and other torture tools hung on the four walls around Xia Yu, most spotted with blood and starting to smell.

    Xia Ling covered her nose.

    Li Lei said, ¡°If you can¡¯t take the smell, we can go out now. You don¡¯t have to be here.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I want to ask her something personally.¡±

    Li Lei gave a signal and his subordinate waiting by the side poured a basin of cold water on Xia Yu¡¯s head. Xia Ling groaned in pain as she woke up. It took some time for her eyes to regain focus. Seeing Xia Ling in the room, Xia Yu lips turned up into a jeering smile. ¡°Oh... so the Madam has decided to grace me with her presence now? Are you happy to see me like this?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We found a lot of murder evidence in your house.¡±

    Xia Yu was taken aback momentarily, before continuing in a nonchnt tone. ¡°And so? Since I¡¯m here right now, I¡¯ve never thought of leaving this ce alive... kekeke...¡± She started to cough intensively, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The flies in the room flew excitedly towards the fresh blood.

    Li Lei told Xia Ling, ¡°When we were torturing her, we broke her ribs and it¡¯s hurt her lungs.¡±

    Xia Ling nced over at Xia Yu. ¡°If you reply to my questions properly, I¡¯ll send you for treatment and to live in a clean ce. How about that? You know me... you know I¡¯m a person of my words.¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling... do you know what I hate most about you?¡± Xia Yu suddenly said as she looked at her with narrowed eyes.

    Xia Ling frowned and didn¡¯t respond.

    Xia Yu continued, ¡°I hate your arrogant attitude! Like you¡¯re highest than everyone else in the world! Do you know how irritating that is? Do you?! Kekeke...¡± She started coughing again in her agitation.

    Li Lei pulled Xia Ling back so that the blood wouldn¡¯t stter onto her.

    Looking at them, Xia Yu¡¯s expression was rxed and she smiled. ¡°Oh... how touching... Li Lei... Second Young Master Li... Everyone says that you are such a protective man. I can see that they are right. Unfortunately, why did you choose a broken shoe that has been worn before?!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s face darkened.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Am I wrong? Xia Ling... my wonderful sister... shall I tell your beloved husband everything that happened when you were being imprisoned by Pei Ziheng? How you were naked, having to pander to Pei Ziheng¡¯s will? How you had to kneel like a dog and lick his boots... you....¡±

    <i>Pa!</i>

    A loud sound rang out.

    Xia Ling pped her with all her might, her face white, body shivering, and chest heaving with deep breaths. Li Lei rushed forward to hug her, trying to calm her in a gentle voice. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Xiao Ling... It¡¯s okay... Everything has passed. I love you regardless of anything that happened to you before... I love you... always...¡±

    He hugged onto her tightly, his heart clenching at how much she was trembling.

    That time of imprisonment was the greatest scar on Xiao Ling¡¯s heart, and she hated for anyone to touch it. Yet, Xia Yu had pulled that wound open in front of everyone in the room. Li Lei knew how much Xia Ling was hurting.

    He signaled to the two subordinates, who silently left the room.

    Xia Ling was still trembling, and her face was pale.

    Xia Yu¡¯s head was turned to one side from the force of Xia Ling¡¯s p. There was a cut on her lip and the blood trickled to the floor.

    It took a while for Xia Yu to regain her senses. ¡°Haha... hahaha...¡± She coughed and red at Xia Ling with frenzied eyes. ¡°You can¡¯t take it, right? You don¡¯t want me to continue? You¡¯re afraid of the things that you have done in the past! Xia Ling... you whore! You¡¯re just a f**king whore! Slut! What right do you have to gain all the love from all these men? You don¡¯t deserve it! You should just die in that bungalow! Hahahaha....¡±

    Xia Ling struggled to free herself from Li Lei¡¯s embrace, wanting to p Xia Yu again.

    Xia Yu smiled as she jeered. ¡°Hit me! Just hit me to death! You can¡¯t change anything that happened even if you kill me! Hahahahah... Xia Ling, you dirty b*tch! What right do you have to act all high and might! You have no right! Ah...¡±

    Thest word was a scream of pain.

    Li Lei was holding the syringe filled with acid. ¡°Have we destroyed all your fingers yet? It¡¯s fine... keep talking... next will be your eyes.¡±

    This time, Xia Yu shut up in fear.

    Xia Ling was still pale and could only steady herself with Li Lei¡¯s help. She didn¡¯t want to hear any of the nonsense that Xia Yu was spouting. Hence, she asked directly, ¡°Xia Yu, you know who killed Wang Jingwan. Speak!¡±

    Xia Yu smiled again. ¡°Oh yes... I do know.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Li Lei was the one who questioned this time.

    Xia Yu stared straight at Xia Ling. ¡°You want to know? I¡¯m not going to tell you... Just kill me... I¡¯ll bring this secret to the grave and let you lose sleep over it for your entire life!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yu, you¡¯re asking for it...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s expression was ashen.

    Xia Yu lowered her head with a snide smile and kept quiet.

    Seeing that any more questions were futile, Li Lei helped Xia Ling out of the dungeon and locked the room behind him. He instructed his subordinates outside the door. ¡°Don¡¯t give her any meals and don¡¯t clean her wounds. Torture her three times a day. Keep her just on the brink of death.¡±

    His subordinates nodded. They could tell that the Young Master was furious.

 Chapter 896 - Reenacting the Tenth Anniversary Concert

    <h4>Chapter 896: Reenacting the Tenth Anniversary Concert</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling followed Li Lei onto the car, and the driver started up the vehicle.

    She was quiet as she thought about the exchange with Xia Yu earlier and the past memories.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry... even if Xia Yu refuses to say anything, we can still find out the truth. She killed Bao Renjiu, as well as many other people that tried to ckmail her. There has to be some rtionship between all these people.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded listlessly.

    Li Lei could tell that she was preupied, and knew what she was thinking about. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, saying gently, ¡°Xiao Ling... everyone has a past. Those experiences were not your fault. You don¡¯t have to me yourself for it.¡±

    Xia Ling turned her head away and looked out of the window at the quickly passing buildings. She remembered that in the final year with Pei Ziheng, he would take her outside sometimes. Then, she would sit in the back seat of the car, her body hurting from all the wounds and abrasions, not daring to defy anything that that man wanted. But... she always had the urge to open the car door and jump out. Then, even death was a luxury.

    Her greatest wish then was that herpliance to Pei Ziheng¡¯s will would allow her to be kindly treated. She couldn¡¯t fathom meeting another man or being in another blissful rtionship so that she could leave the trauma behind her.

    What she had today far surpassed her expectations.

    Her body started to rx and she leaned against Li Lei¡¯s chest. She said in a soft voice, ¡°I love you.¡±

    Li Lei smiled, his eyes reflecting the afternoon sun like sparkles of gold, making him look even more attractive with the buildings in his backdrop. ¡°I love you, too.¡± Li Lei responded and kissed her forehead.

    The results of the investigations came back very quickly.

    Li Lei showed it to Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s been confirmed¡ªBao Renjiu was murdered by Xia Yu. She also killed several other people... those others are the family members of the person responsible for your death.¡±

    ¡°The person responsible for my death?¡± Xia Ling took a while to understand what he meant. During her concert, she was pushed offstage after being stabbed in the heart from the back. The actual murder was not carried out by Young Master Wang himself, but by a gangster that had been paid off.

    ¡°That murderer was sentenced to death together with Young Master Wang.¡± Xia Ling murmured. ¡°By right, a gangster such as him shouldn¡¯t be associated with Xia Yu at all... but his family sent a ckmail letter to Xia Yu, saying, ¡®If you don¡¯t give me the money, I¡¯ll tell everyone about what you did before.¡¯ On the other hand, the Wang family kept going on about how they were framed...¡±

    Her face turned white.

    Li Leipleted what she was unwilling to say out loud. ¡°If Bao Renjiu¡¯s assertion that the Wang Family was framed is true, then the true mastermind behind your murder is likely not Young Master Wang, but Xia Yu. So... when Bao Renjiu was investigating the matter, he was killed secretly by Xia Yu.¡± Everything fell into ce with this exnation.

    Xia Ling shook her head, unable to speak.

    She couldn¡¯t believe that the sister that she doted on so much was the mastermind behind her murder.

    ¡°She tried to harm Shaohui... it¡¯s not surprising that she tried to harm you, too.¡± Li Leimented. Everything was crystal clear to him since he was an independent party. ¡°She craved Pei Ziheng¡¯s attention, and you were in her way. It¡¯s that simple.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was weak. ¡°I need to see the evidence.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then we will look for the evidence.¡± Li Lei didn¡¯t like harming the innocent but also didn¡¯t like to let enemies off. Anyone that dared touch Xiao Ling was harming his reason to live.

    They started to gather the evidence.

    Since they were trying to uncover the truth of an old case, then reenacting the crime scene was a good method. Li Lei willingly forked out the money to rent the tenth-anniversary concert venue and hired a private investigation house to reenact the scene from that fated concert.

    Xia Ling put on the glimmering dress from the concert and stood on the vast, empty stage.

    This was the exact outfit that she wore then, and she looked resplendent.

    Looking down at the empty audience stands, she was in a daze. This was such a familiar scene, but everyone and everything was different. The private investigators busied themselves in the venue, trying to uncover any clues to the events in the past.

    Li Lei walked onto the stage and asked, ¡°Are you nervous?¡±

    She shook her head.

    Li Lei passed her the ss of lemon water that he had brought over. ¡°Drink some water and have a rest. Later, we¡¯ll do a walk-through to reenact what happened then. When the lights dim, the person rushing on stage to attack you from the back will be me. Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯ve also arranged for bodyguards and snipers with infrared weapons. If anyone other than me tries to attack you, they will fire immediately and kill the person.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Why does it feel like you are more nervous than I am?¡±

    Li Lei lightly caressed her face. ¡°Yeah... I¡¯m paranoid of losing you at this same venue that you died in your past life. Even if the possibility of that is almost zilch.¡± As such, he chose to impersonate the murderer ande onstage himself and had arranged for so manyyers of protection. He even cushioned the cement floors with safety sponges at the ce where she would fall off the stage. If she fell off stage identally, she wouldn¡¯t be harmed.

    Xia Ling felt a warmth fill her heart. The sadness that she was feeling from Xia Yu being found to be the prime suspect disappeared in an instant. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± She told Li Lei. ¡°I still want to grow old with you.¡±

    Her words made Li Lei¡¯s heart melt.

    He kissed her and said, ¡°I hope to be able to wrap this matter up before our wedding.¡±

    She responded, ¡°Yes, we will.¡±

    The private investigator told them to get into position.

    Li Lei kissed her again before walking off stage, hiding in a position that she couldn¡¯t see.

    She stood onstage alone, facing the empty audience stands. Imagining the ten-thousand strong audience from her tenth-anniversary concert, she raised the microphone to her lips and started to sing. ¡°The caged butterfly, with wings but can¡¯t fly...¡±

    Midway through her song, the electricity cut suddenly.

    She thought that she would remain calm, but the terror of her murder returned to her. She panicked as she heard the screams from her fans in the crowd, the sound of something being pushed over, and the sound of her own beating heart. She broke out in cold sweat as she tried her best to control her emotions and keep calm while she reenacted her steps from the concert. Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid... It¡¯s me, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei voice rang out from behind.

    Xia Ling felt herself breathe a huge sigh of relief, as she crumpled into his chest.

    After this reenactment, the private investigators reced them with body doubles and reenacted the scene a few more times. Asking Xia Ling to reenact the scene the first time around was to stimte her memory to see if there was anything that she missed. The additional reenactments were to ensure that they captured everything. The body double actors went as far as to be ¡°stabbed¡± by knife props with fake blood and being pushed off the stage onto the sponge protected barriers.

 Chapter 897 - The Crystal Teddy Bear

    Chapter 897: The Crystal Teddy Bear

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    After the simtions, the private investigator reported to them. ¡°Based on our reenactments, it appears that what the gangster said in his statement was urate. His motion path on stage was the best possible one¡ªhiding behind the curtains backstage, under the drum set, moving rapidly when the lights went out. The person that designed the path of movement must have surveyed the venue many times.¡±

    Xia Ling and Li Lei exchanged a nce.

    Li Lei instructed. ¡°Find out who came into the venue before the concert, as well as where Young Master Wang, the murderer, and Xia Yu went in the three months before the incident.¡±

    The private investigator went off to do his bidding.

    Xia Ling felt a little dizzy as she looked up at the vast concert venue, a surreal feelinging over her. In her reverie, she felt the lines between the present and the past blurring, and she felt as if she had returned to the concert in her past life. ¡°Feng Kun was sitting here... and Xu Fosheng from Star Entertainment Weekly was sitting here...¡±

    She pointed toward the first-row VIP seats and recited.

    Li Lei looked at her, worried. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly pulled his hand and dragged him onstage, pointing animatedly at the VIP seats. ¡°Xu Fosheng was beside Feng Kun, and Xia Yu was beside Xu Fosheng! When I was stabbed, Xia Yu wasn¡¯t in her seat!¡± When she was singing the encore, the lights were too dim offstage, and she was ovee with sadness. Hence, she didn¡¯t realize who was present. Live videos of her concert never filmed the VIP row in the audience as well.

    When she was reenacting the scene, she felt that something was missing.

    She finally recalled that Xia Yu wasn¡¯t present then!

    ¡°You¡¯re sure that she wasn¡¯t there?¡± Li Lei asked. The incident was many years ago, and it was dark offstage. Since she hadn¡¯t recalled this detail before, was she absolutely sure that her memory was urate now?

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°I¡¯m sure! Her health was bad, and Pei Ziheng wanted to bring her to the VIP room on the second floor.¡± She pointed to the middle of the audience stands on the second floor, where there was a private room in a prime location. This was the most expensive and exclusive seats for the concert. ¡°Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t like mixing with the crowds, and would always watch my concert from the private room. In the past, Xia Yu always chose to sit with him in the room. However, during the tenth-anniversary concert, she said that she hadn¡¯t watched my concert in a whole year, and insisted on sitting in the first row. Pei Ziheng merely let her be.¡±

    Li Lei nodded. This did appear suspicious.

    Xia Ling had mixed feelings and spoke in a pensive tone. ¡°Then, even though she berated and cursed me, I thought that her conscience got the better of her at my concert, and her sisterly bond with me triumphed her feelings for Pei Ziheng. I thought that that was why she had rejected Pei Ziheng¡¯s suggestion that she sit in the private room with him, and wanted to sit in the front row of the audience stands. I...¡±

    As she spoke, she shook her head and her eyes were filled with sadness.

    Li Lei consoled her. ¡°You can never read a book by its cover. Don¡¯t waste your time and emotion on someone like her. Was Xia Yu not at her seat from the beginning of the concert?¡± Li Lei looked at the empty seat.

    Xia Ling shook her head again. ¡°No, if she wasn¡¯t there from the start, I would have noticed it immediately. She was there throughout the concert, from the first song to the encore. She only left her seat when I sang ¡®The Caged Butterfly.¡¯ I gave her a crystal teddy bear key chain, and even though she told me that she hated it when I was imprisoned, she would still hang it on her bag to show Pei Ziheng how close we were.

    ¡°When I was singing ¡®The Caged Butterfly,¡¯ I saw that little bear moving along in the aisle. That¡¯s the bear that I personally bought from one of the luxury shops. It¡¯s one of a kind. I won¡¯t be mistaken.¡±

    Xia Ling asserted. ¡°Believe me!¡±

    ¡°Of course I believe you.¡± Li Lei¡¯s deep voice had the power of calming her. He took her hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go... let¡¯s walk along the aisle and see how long it takes to reach the power supply room.¡±

    In Xia Ling¡¯s murder incident, other than masterminding the murder, the other charge pinned on Young Master Wang was him switching off the main power in the concert venue, creating the perfect cover for the murderer to jump into action. Young Master Wang¡¯s hair was found in the power supply room and was the main evidence that resulted in his conviction.

    But... what if Young Master Wang was framed?

    Then, Xia Yu would have to be responsible for switching off the power.

    She was the real culprit for the ckout!

    Li Lei said, ¡°You should run there once, walk there once, and briskly walk there once, to see how long each method would take.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and did as he said. ¡°How tiring...¡± Sheined afterpleting the final run.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re a woman... it¡¯s more urate to take your timings than mine.¡± He would have done the honors if he could, but as a man who had been through the tough training of a mercenary, he would likely be much faster than Xia Yu, who was known to be sickly. The timings taken would have been a horrible benchmark.

    ¡°Xia Yu¡¯s health was weak.¡± Xia Lingmented. ¡°You should still increase the time needed from my timings.¡±

    Li Lei nodded and adjusted the range ordingly.

    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go.¡± He said. ¡°We¡¯re done here. Let¡¯s go home for dinner.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°We¡¯re done already? We¡¯re not doing any more investigations?¡±

    ¡°What investigation? I¡¯m hungry!¡± Li Lei remarkedzily. ¡°We¡¯ve done all we can. I¡¯ll speak to the private investigator on our suspicion for the power supply cut, and then we can wait for their investigation findings. And also...¡± He smiled menacingly. ¡°... figure out how to make Xia Yu admit to her crime.¡±

    Xia Ling followed him out of the venue.

    Their footsteps echoed in the long, empty corridor.

    Xia Ling asked after a moment of quiet contemtion, ¡°If Xia Yu was really behind that incident, what should we do with her?¡± The probability of Xia Yu being the mastermind was high given all that they had found out in recent days. While there hadn¡¯t been any sess in the investigation into Wang Jingwan¡¯s case, the investigation had instead revealed new insight into her own murder case.

    Li Lei held her hand tightly. ¡°If it was really Xia Yu, I won¡¯t let her off easily. The police or feeding her to the sharks... we¡¯ll do whatever you like.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head again as she followed beside him.

    When they reached the end of the corridor, she said in a low voice, ¡°Send her to the police.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Li Lei was surprised that she would choose the most troublesome method out of all the methods they could use to punish Xia Yu. However, he supported any decision that she made. ¡°Send her to the police, you say? Okay, let me think of how I can make her admit to her crimes and pay for it.¡± This was an old case and evidence was scant. He might not have enough evidence on hand to get a conviction.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Will it be too much trouble?¡±

    Li Lei smiled and replied, ¡°It¡¯s more troublesome than feeding her to the sharks, definitely. But don¡¯t worry, there¡¯ll be a way.¡±

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to punish her through private means. She owes both me and the Wang Family a life. We should help overturn Young Master Wang¡¯s conviction to return him his innocence. Perhaps... we should also find out what happened to Wang Jingwan.¡±

    Li Lei promised. ¡°Wang Jingwan? I will definitely find out the truth on her death as well.¡±

 Chapter 898 - Patek Philippe and Rolex

    Chapter 898: Patek Philippe and Rolex

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    The investigation into Wang Jingwan¡¯s death had been concluded with Xia Ling¡¯s conviction.

    Pei Ziheng had erased all records on this matter using his influence and hence, was harder to investigate than Xia Ling¡¯s murder.

    Li Lei ran into a roadblock and decided to simply call Pei Ziheng. ¡°I have an important matter to speak to you about.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was working in his study when he received the call, and his typically emotionless face had a sh of surprise. He looked out of the window at the shadows of the trees, saying in a low voice, ¡°What is there for us to talk about?¡±

    ¡°It has to do with Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei responded directly.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice became even lower. ¡°You¡¯re getting married... you can¡¯t be inviting me to your wedding, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind inviting you.¡± Li Lei smiled through gritted teeth. ¡°However, do you even deserve an invitation? A good girl like Xiao Ling was killed after a mere ten years... and you have the cheek to ask me to invite you to her wedding?¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I suspect that Xia Yu is behind Wang Jingwan¡¯s death.¡±

    With a loud crack, the pen in Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand was snapped into two. This information was too shocking to him, and he responded instinctively, ¡°No! Xiao Ling admitted to killing Wang Jingwan!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know her temper? How could you believe the words that she said in anger?¡± Li Lei huffed coldly. ¡°She was blind to have fallen for you. Pei Ziheng... let me ask you... Do you want to find out who was the real culprit behind the events of the past? Your fianc¨¦ was murdered, and your beloved woman was framed for that murder, eventually being killed at her concert as well. If you are a man, you should be doing something to find justice for her! What kind of a man are you to not be able to protect the woman that you love?¡±

    Pei Ziheng threw the phone against the wall with a loud bang.

    He leaned against the study table with both hands for support, heaving deep breaths. How was that possible? Xiao Ling... she wasn¡¯t the one behind Wang Jingwan¡¯s death?! Oh my god... what big mistake had he made in the past? What did he do to Xiao Ling?!

    He opened his palms and looked down at his shaking hands. It was this right hand that had pped Xiao Ling hard, such that she fell onto the ground and cut her forehead. Her expression of terror and disbelief came to the forefront of his mind, and he felt a sharp pain in his heart.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice was trembling as well. He didn¡¯t know how he could face the prospect that Xia Ling wasn¡¯t responsible for Wang Jingwan¡¯s death. So... they could¡¯ve had a happy life together?

    Pei Ziheng shut his eyes slowly.

    When he reopened them, there was a menacing glint in his eyes.

    He walked with long strides to the basement and retrieved all the information and evidence from the past, putting them into a portable safe. He was going to meet Li Lei and find out the truth. While the truth might be cruel, if there truly was another mastermind behind the events in the past... he would make that person¡¯s life a living hell!

    In a secret location at Skyart Entertainment.

    The windows of the room were tightly shut, and Li Lei was sitting alone behind a thick,rge wooden desk, holding a stalk of Biluochun tea leaf. The sprig was being twisted in his hands, and he looked at his Rolex from time to time, anxiously tapping on the table with the tea set.

    The phone rang. ¡°Young Master, Mr. Pei Ziheng is here. He¡¯s brought with him a portable safe and refuses to allow us to check it.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Let hime through.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re alone in the room, Young Master...¡± Ah Nuo said worriedly as he looked up at Pei Ziheng. This man carrying the portable safe exuded a coldness that was menacing, like he was about to blow up a building.

    ¡°Let hime through.¡± Li Leimanded in a louder tone.

    Erm... okay.... His boss appeared to be getting irritated. He rarely spoke in such an impolite tone.

    Ah Nuo beckoned for Pei Ziheng to go ahead.

    He was finally here.

    Li Lei put down the tea set with renewed spirits, staring at the door as he awaited Pei Ziheng¡¯s arrival. When Pei Ziheng came through the door, Li Lei¡¯s gaze moved immediately to the safe in his hand, before quickly shifting away. ¡°You¡¯re half an hour early.¡± His anxiety had disappeared as he greeted Pei Ziheng with his usualzy tone. ¡°Sit.¡±

    Pei Ziheng sat across from him. ¡°You¡¯re here waiting for me early as well.¡±

    The undertone of his statement was that it was clear that they both were anxious, so Li Lei should stop trying to ridicule him.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Tea, or coffee? This tea is brewed by Xiao Ling, so the fire control isn¡¯t great. However, it¡¯s full of her love. I specially brought the thermos over with me... do you want to have a taste?¡±

    This was a clear challenge.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze darkened. ¡°You don¡¯t want what I have any more?¡±

    Li Leiughed arrogantly. ¡°I want it! Why wouldn¡¯t I want it? However, I think someone here is more anxious than I am. The items won¡¯t run away, will they?¡± He had invited Pei Ziheng over to get information about Wang Jingwan¡¯s murder. It seemed that Pei Ziheng had indeed kept the records.

    Since he had brought the information over, then there was no hurry to see them.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t resist jeering at Pei Ziheng a little more. After all, if Pei Ziheng hadn¡¯t been so horrible to Xiao Ling in the past, she wouldn¡¯t have suffered so much. His anger threatened to boil over just thinking about this, and it was a miracle that he didn¡¯t hit Pei Ziheng already.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was ashen, his gaze falling on Li Lei¡¯s wrist.

    Li Lei was wearing a tacky Rolex, which had been reported on by a small tabloid reporter. This was a present that Li Lei had received from Xia Ling when she had just debuted.

    Pei Ziheng said coldly, ¡°She gave you a Rolex? I received a Patek Philippe couple watch from her.¡± As he spoke, he revealed the watch on his right wrist. It was a custom-made Patek Philippe, exquisite and stylish in every way. No normal watch could match up.

    Li Lei seemed unfazed on the surface but was crying out inside.

    Patek Philippe! Couple watch! Custom made!

    It would take a hundred Rolexes to match up to that Patek Philippe!

    Li Lei thought to himself, Xiao Ling, how did your taste deteriorate so much from before? In the past, you gave him a custom-made watch, and in this life, you merely grabbed a random watch from the shelves?! Your husband-to-be is losing out to your ex! What should I do?

    Thankfully, he saw a way out.

    Li Lei smiledzily again. ¡°Patek Philippe? It seems that the repair costs are over the top... Chairman Pei doesn¡¯t seem willing to fork out the money to buy a new one despite the face of this one being shattered already. If my Rolex is broken, Xiao Ling can just buy a new one immediately. Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin... whatever I wish.¡±

    Li Lei could tell that there was some imperfection in the Patek Philippe that Pei Ziheng was wearing. It had been repaired before.

    Actually, if Pei Ziheng had allowed the Patek Philippe official workshop to do as they pleased, the repairs wouldn¡¯t have been visible. However, this watch was given to him by Xia Ling, and Pei Ziheng viewed it as important as his life. He had thrown aside ¡°Ye Xingling¡¯s¡± hand when she was begging for him to save her to save this watch instead. Hence, when he sent the watch for repairs, he had asked for them to retain as much of the original material as possible, resulting in some visible repair lines.

    Now, it was Pei Ziheng¡¯s turn to be irritated.

    He suddenly thought... what¡¯s the use ofpeting with Li Lei over this?

    Xiao Ling was Li Lei¡¯s now... how could he ever win?

 Chapter 899 - Hit Me If Youâ€™re Capable

    Chapter 899: Hit Me If You¡¯re Capable

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Sunlight spilled into the house abundantly.

    Pei Ziheng did not bother with the small talk and shifted the safe towards him. ¡°This is what you asked for, but some crucialponents are missing. It¡¯s not sufficient to turn the case around.¡± Back then, he had gotten rid of a lot of evidence in order to protect Xiao Ling, retaining only some mementos, such as a personal diary.

    Li Lei nced at him before opening the safe.

    He took the diary out and began reading:

    [September 3rd, Rainy. Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t admit that she killed her, and scolded me for being an idiotic, violent madman. I locked her in the basement and starved her. She¡¯s been so pampered by me all these years, she even dares to lie over such a serious matter. Does she not realize that I¡¯m the only one who can save her now? The police are investigating, I will not let her get arrested or charged by them.]

    [September 14th, Sunny. A seller in the ck market has given his statement, saying that ady dressed in ck had purchased drugs from him. She had used a ck veil to mask her face, but her physique and voice resembled Xiao Ling¡¯s. The seller said he smelled a fragrance on her, and after the police handed him a variety of fragrances to pick from, he confirmed the one that Xiao Ling often used.]

    [September 15th, Stormy. The Wang family wants Xiao Ling topensate them with her life, but Xiao Ling still refuses to admit it. I hit her, tore her clothes off, pinned her onto the couch and told her I wanted her, badly. She screamed and called me a perverted beast, telling me I deserve to die. She kicked me, bit me... but I didn¡¯t let her off. I exhausted her of all her energy till she passed out. Maybe we¡¯ve both gone mad.]

    [September 26th, Cloudy. Xiao Ling admitted it. She asked me weakly, ¡®Is this the oue you wanted?¡¯ My heart ached and I wanted to hug her, to tell her there was no need to be scared, for I will find a way with the police. But, she evaded my arms.]

    [September 27th, I asked her how the crime took ce. I need to know the details in order to help her, but she refused to say anything. With no other choice, she scoffed at me, ¡®Believe what you would, aren¡¯t you convinced that I¡¯m the murderer, anyways? Aren¡¯t you very smart?¡¯ I wanted to hit her again, to punish her severely, to rip her skin apart and see if a heart actuallyy beneath. It takes me a lot each day just to refrain from hurting her.]

    Li Lei¡¯s hand was trembling. Just what kind of torture was Xiao Ling put through all those years?

    He forced himself to read on:

    [October 1st, Sunny. The police came to interrogate Xiao Ling again. She was emotionally unstable and almost admitted to the murder in front of them. I was furious and hit her after the police left. This time, I hit her harder and warned her that if this happened again, I would skin her and burn her to ashes. She curled up at the foot of the bed, bleeding and shivering as she looked up at me.]

    Li Lei mmed the diary shut.

    He clenched his fist and red at Pei Ziheng. ¡°This was how you treated her?¡±

    Pei Ziheng quietly said, ¡°You can¡¯t only be finding out today.¡±

    Li Lei flipped the table and sent a punch to his face. ¡°You love hitting people? Why hit a woman?!¡± He shouted and sent another punch. ¡°Hit me if you¡¯re capable!¡±

    Pei Ziheng intuitively evaded the punch and returned it. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to hit you a long time ago!¡±

    The two men began fighting. Both of them had been trained in martial arts since they were young and were physically strong. It did not take long for both to be covered in bruises. The furniture and ornaments were all over the ce, some damaged, others shattered.

    Eventually, Li Lei, who¡¯d killed many on the battlefield, emerged victorious. He was a notch above Pei Ziheng and managed to keep him in control. Locking Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms in ce, Li Lei punched him a few more times until he bled from his nose. ¡°You beast!¡±

    Pei Zihengy in the debris panting, unable to get up.

    His exquisite suit was torn in a few ces and stained with blood. Li Lei did not look much better¡ªhis face was bruised and his t-shirt, now torn, was dotted with blood as well.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°You¡¯re not better.¡±

    Li Lei grabbed him by the cor. ¡°How could you do that to Xiao Ling?!¡± The girl who he¡¯d always treated like a gem and protected so well all this time was once so badly tormented without his knowledge, just the thought of this hurt him. He had heard of things going on between Pei Ziheng and Xiao Ling before and knew that Pei Ziheng had held her hostage and tortured her. But knowing it was one matter, reading about it from the perpetrator himself was another.

    Pei Ziheng red at him before wrenching Li Lei¡¯s hand from his cor.

    He could tell that Li Lei was genuinely furious and agitated; only a man who loved a woman deeply would react this way. He was envious. He had always thought, if Li Lei wasn¡¯t outstanding enough, or didn¡¯t love her enough, maybe Xiao Ling would return to him one day.

    But now?

    The chances were slim.

    ¡°This letter,¡± Pei Ziheng started. ¡°is a record of how everything took ce. But all the evidence that I mentioned inside¡ªthe fingerprints, the witness¡¯ statement, the surveince camera recording... have all been destroyed. You can try to deduce the truth from this information, but if it¡¯s really Xia Yu who did it, it¡¯ll be hard to charge her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it, however hard it is.¡± Li Lei sat on the ground beside him.

    Pei Ziheng sat up|. ¡°Tell me, why do you suspect Xia Yu?¡±

    Li Lei looked at him. ¡°You¡¯re not fit to find out.¡± After reading the diary, there was no way Li Lei wouldn¡¯t hold a grudge against him.

    Pei Ziheng narrowed his eyes and said with a threatening voice, ¡°Not telling me? Are you sure you don¡¯t need my cooperation for the rest of the investigation?¡± If not for the sake of finding the truth, why should he help Li Lei?

    Li Lei¡¯s fingers fiddled. ¡°I feel like punching you again.¡±

    ¡°The feeling¡¯s mutual.¡± Pei Ziheng mumbled.

    Unwilling as he was, Li Lei told Pei Ziheng about his suspicions regarding Xia Yu, hoping that this would help with the investigation. After hearing him out, Pei Ziheng kept quiet for a long while.

    ¡°Now you know how absurd it was for you to use Xiao Ling back then.¡±

    Pei Ziheng shook his head, still silent. It did seem like he might have wrongly used Xiao Ling back then. All the beatings and insults that she had endured were so unnecessary...

    Li Lei said, ¡°If you still love her just a little bit, then work with me to get the truth out. If it really is Xia Yu, let her serve her sentence, only then can you serve Xiao Ling and the Wang family their justice.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked solemn. ¡°We¡¯ll set something up. With insufficient evidence, the only way is for Xia Yu to confess to the crime.¡±

 Chapter 900 - Miss Ling Wants Me to Protect You

    <h4>Chapter 900: Miss Ling Wants Me to Protect You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei and Pei Ziheng discussed for a little longer.

    Both of them were leaders who wielded much power. Together, they came up with a n pretty quickly.

    Pei Ziheng smoothed out his outfit¡ªdespite the fact that it was now torn and tattered¡ªand rose to leave.

    Li Lei did not walk him out.

    Once the door closed behind him, Li Lei felt his aches and pains act up. The area around his eye was pounding as if someone had hit him in that spot with a hammer. He touched it and winced. ¡°That beast wasn¡¯t kind at all.¡± Li Lei picked up a ss fragment on the floor and looked at his reflection in it. In the blurriness, he could see the bruise around his eye, a deep shade of green-purple.

    He called for Ah Nuo to bring some ointment over.

    Ah Nuo came with the ointment in no time, and his first words upon seeing him were: ¡°Young Master, you¡¯re still alive!¡±

    He looked delighted.

    Li Lei stared at him. ¡°Are you wishing I was dead?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Ah Nuo shook his head hard. ¡°I saw Mr. Pei covered in blood when he left and was worried something happened to you.¡±

    Li Lei wanted to knock him on the head. ¡°Do you think I can¡¯t beat Pei Ziheng? Why would I be dead if he isn¡¯t?¡±

    Ah Nuo eyed him cautiously. ¡°Miss Ling wanted me to protect you. She told me that when you taught her defense techniques, she could put a few moves to good use while sparring against you after picking them up in just a couple of hours. But she never could do well against Mr. Pei.¡± What Ah Nuo was trying to say was that Young Master wasn¡¯t even as good as Mr. Pei.

    Li Lei was speechless.

    He swore never to pretend to lose to her ever again when they sparred in the future.

    ¡°Bring it here.¡± He said unpleasantly to Ah Nuo.

    Ah Nuo politely handed it to him and asked, ¡°Do you need me to apply it for you?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Li Lei took a lump of the medicated lotion and tried to locate his bruises. ¡°Don¡¯t let Xiao Ling know I met Pei Ziheng today, just tell her that my bruises were inflicted by a robber in the alley.¡±

    Ah Nuo said matter-of-factly, ¡°Which robber would dare rob you?¡±

    Li Lei retorted. ¡°... Whose bodyguard are you?!¡± Why was he always exposing him?!

    Ah Nuo quietly hung his head low.

    Li Lei applied the medication and changed into fresh clothing before returning to the apartment.

    He opened the door and felt the cool air-conditioning in the living room. It was all quiet as Xiao Lingy curled up on the couch. She had fallen asleep with the wedding gown catalog in her hand, beautiful variations of it printed all over the pages.

    A few other catalogs were sprawled on the carpet beside the couch.

    A leopard wasying beside, asleep as well. Its paw was resting on a catalog.

    Li Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile at this scene. However much obstacles they had to face, his beloved woman was now safe and blissful, and nothing more could hurt her in this lifetime.

    He walked towards her and kissed her on the forehead.

    She was awoken by even that tender gesture. ¡°Li Lei?¡± She rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± He said gently and took a seat at the edge of the couch. ¡°Why are you sleeping here, what if you catch a cold?¡±

    ¡°What happened to your eye?¡± She was in a daze while she looked at the bruise around his eye.

    Although he had applied some medication, the bruise had not discolored yet. He said, ¡°I bumped into a gangster on the way.¡±

    Xia Ling was awake now. She sat up and asked, ¡°Gangster? Are you alright?¡± She reached out and touched his wound, causing him to wince.

    ¡°Are you trying to kill your husband?¡± He grabbed her smooth, fair hand.

    She blinked her eyes. ¡°Just a little jab.¡± She jabbed it some more.

    Li Lei was in agony; this was his dear wife, indeed. To think he had bothered to keep the truth from her, afraid that she¡¯d get too worried. But look at her, not even hesitating to hurt him!

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry.¡± She looked at his pitiful expression, sat up, held his head in her hands, and gently kissed his bruise. ¡°No more pain.¡±

    Li Lei blinked at her and stopped pouting.

    Dear wife! Her kiss was so effective!

    He wrapped her in an embrace and kissed her repeatedly. ¡°I knew you¡¯re the best!¡± He was smiling so blissfully he¡¯dpletely forgotten about how she had jabbed him.

    Lying in his embrace, Xia Ling felt like going back to sleep again. She thought, <i>This is really effective. I¡¯m going to coax Little Shaohui this way if he gets injured next time. </i>She then got into afortable position, wrapped an arm around his waist, and was all ready to go back to sleep.

    Li Lei gave an ¡°ouch¡± as Xia Ling identally touched another wound of his.

    Xia Ling was startled awake this time.

    ¡°You said you were injured?¡± She asked.

    Li Lei nodded. Didn¡¯t she already see it a while ago? Was all that kissing and hugging just in her sleep?

    He guessed right...

    She wasn¡¯t even awake this whole time.

    She began to work around his clothes. ¡°How badly injured are you? Take it off and let me see. And...¡± Something seemed to have hit her. She asked firmly, ¡°Was it really a gangster? Isn¡¯t this city your territory, which silly gangster would choose to attack you?¡±

    Li Lei blinked his eyes in silence. Wasn¡¯t she always so easy to appease? Why was it that she suddenly seemed to have achieved enlightenment, and at such a wrong time? He did not resist as she lifted his clothes here and there. ¡°Well, these young boys are new to this and don¡¯t know who¡¯s the boss. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve scared them away.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s Ah Nuo?¡± Xia Ling was angry. She jabbed him on the wound again. ¡°He¡¯s your bodyguard, wasn¡¯t he with you? I don¡¯t believe that the both of you, so skilled inbat, can¡¯t chase away ten-odd gangsters!¡±

    ¡°He was looking for a carpark lot, so I got off first.¡± Li Lei continued lying. ¡°Don¡¯t jab anymore, it hurts.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him skeptically. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°It really hurts... Ouch!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not asking if it hurts! I¡¯m asking if what you said is true!¡± Xia Ling was upset.

    ¡°It¡¯s all true! I swear!¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling eyed him for a while more before letting him off. He was bruised, but they were evidently minor injuries. If he was more severely injured, there was no way she would let him off this easily.

 Chapter 901 - Wedding Preparation

    <h4>Chapter 901: Wedding Preparation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei took her into his embrace again, this time making sure he held her hand down so she wouldn¡¯t touch his wounds.

    He kissed her on the ear and smiled. ¡°Looking at wedding gowns?¡±

    She nodded and used her foot to bring a catalog from the carpet to herself. ¡°These are the newest designs from the boutiques. I like this one with pearls, and Er Mao seems to like this one with lotus leafce designs. Which do you like?¡±

    He smiled again. ¡°You¡¯re considering Er Mao¡¯s opinions?¡±

    ¡°Of course, he¡¯s our family.¡± She rubbed Er Mao¡¯s neck with her foot.

    Er Mao ruffled his ears while asleep, turned over, and continued in his dreamscape.

    Looking through the pages, Li Lei found them all beautiful. Each gown was conceptualized by a renowned designer, and the intricate details in each were stunning. Most importantly¡ª¡±You¡¯ll look good in any of them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just patronizing me.¡± Xia Ling bit his hand.

    He let her be as he smiled on. ¡°What does Shaohui think?¡±

    ¡°Shaohui is being led astray by Lin Yunan.¡± Xia Ling was a little unhappy about this. ¡°He¡¯s been into piratestely, and keeps bugging Uncle Lin to tell him stories about them, such as the Somali pirates. He even wants you to turn up at the wedding dressed as a pirate.¡±

    Li Lei kept quiet.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m wondering if it¡¯s been too long since we kept this child in check.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded solemnly. ¡°I think so, too. Once this busy period is over, you should start taking him in hand. He¡¯ll be all gangster-like if he continues hanging out with Lin Yunan so much. Early this morning, Lin Yunan took him to the suburbs to watch a piracy show, and he even chose the most sensational one.¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. So he hadn¡¯t been seeing his son around because he¡¯d been with Lin Yunan? He clenched his teeth. ¡°This little jerk has forgotten who his dad is?¡±

    Xia Ling sighed. ¡°He doesn¡¯t remember who his mom is, either.¡±

    For reasons unknown to them, this child shared a strange affinity with Manager Lin. Recently, Xia Ling and Li Lei had been busying themselves with the investigation. Hence, this adult and child hade together, bing each other¡¯spany. They started off with pirate stories, progressed to having fun together over meals and activities, and once, Xia Ling even caught Lin Yunan teaching the child how to gamble.

    Little Shaohui was having so much fun.

    He went to bed the moment he reached home and did not even ask his mother to tell him bedtime stories anymore.

    ¡°If this goes on, he might really see Lin Yunan as his dad...¡± Xia Ling ruffled Er Mao¡¯s fur as she thought. ¡°I only have Er Mao with me even while I pick out my wedding gown.¡±

    Li Lei felt bad for her. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m here with you. When that little jerkes back, I¡¯ll hit him.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Really.¡± Li Lei promised her. He wasn¡¯t one to hit his wife, but that did not imply he wouldn¡¯t hit his child! After all, his son bullied his wife! He narrowed his eyes and thought about how he was going to discipline him.

    Xia Ling pped her hands. ¡°We Chinese believe in hitting kids with a ruler. It hurts and helps them remember never to make their mistakes again. But few people use the ruler nowadays, most of them just use their hands. Since you¡¯re so skilled, you should just let him have a taste of how good his dad is! There¡¯ll be no need for him to watch martial arts shows in the future!¡±

    Li Lei was a little stunned. ¡°... Are you his biological mom?¡± Why did she not sound like it?

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ve never hit him before, it¡¯s time to try it.¡± Many mothers on online forums had said that it was important to hit a child to discipline them. Even the maid at home said that appropriate punishment was necessary if a child did wrong.

    Of course, Xia Ling hadpletely ignored the word ¡°appropriate.¡±

    Li Lei kept quiet.

    He thought for a while and felt that her violent ideas were not ideal. He sighed. ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s just coax him back and get him to watch the pirates back here.¡± Maybe after watching some pirate shows at home, the child would be less dependent on Lin Yunan¡¯spany and more willing to spend time with his parents.

    ¡°Coax him back and get him to watch the pirates?¡± Xia Ling was confused.

    Li Lei kissed her lightly. ¡°Do you want a pirate-themed wedding? Doesn¡¯t he like the Somali pirates? We can get married in Somali and have a pirate crash the wedding¡ªbut don¡¯t worry, the pirates there are my buddies. I¡¯ll then take him along to rescue you¡ªhe¡¯ll then think that his father is cooler and better than the pirates.¡±

    This idea...

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    Li Lei thought that she was being timid. ¡°You don¡¯t dare to do this? Forget it, then. We¡¯ll just stick to hitting him.¡± Anyway, there were several different ways they could keep him away from Lin Yunan. Hitting him was thest resort, but an option nheless.

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling was practically glowing. ¡°This idea is amazing! Wow, dear, how did youe up with such a brilliant idea?! I¡¯ve never seen real pirates! Actual, real-life ones!¡± She kissed him hard on the cheek. ¡°Hubby¡¯s the best!¡±

    This was the first time she called him Hubby.

    Li Lei was in a daze and burst with joy.

    Meanwhile, Little Shaohui, who was watching the filming of a pirate show in the suburbs with Lin Yunan, waspletely unaware that he¡¯d narrowly escaped a beating.

    Li Lei got back to working on Wang Jingwan¡¯s case.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t so adept in this field and couldn¡¯t do much more than asking about the progress asionally. She spent most of her time picking out her wedding gown, his suit, Little Shaohui¡¯s suit, the bridesmaids¡¯ and best men¡¯s outfits... and the types of liquor, flowers, sweets... she¡¯de to realize how troublesome it was to n for a wedding.

    As the wedding day drew closer, Madame Xia hade over from the vige to help her out.

    They excitedly discussed the wedding details. When she found out it was going to be a pirate-themed wedding, she couldn¡¯t help but think of how romantic it must be. ¡°This is a wonderful idea! Li Lei is way more brilliant than your dad was! Your dad simply patronized me with a traditional wedding...¡±

    Madame Xia went on about her past and then held Xia Ling¡¯s hand tightly. ¡°Just enjoy the wedding thoroughly. Don¡¯t worry about the Somali pirates, they never dared offend the Xia¡¯s, and will definitely be nice to you. I¡¯ll also arrange for some female bodyguards to be part of your bridesmaid group.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I trust him.¡±

    After so much had happened, her trust towards Li Lei was practically blind. Even if she stood at the edge of a cliff, if Li Lei told her it was safe to leap off it, she would do so without hesitation.

    This was the trust he got in exchange for putting his life on the line for her time and again.

    Madame Xia looked at her daughter and feltforted by her bliss. Although she would miss her daughter, she knew that marrying her to such a capable and trustworthy man was simply... wonderful.

    Madame Xia turned around and quietly dried the tears of joy in her eyes.

 Chapter 902 - Interrogating Xia Yu

    <h4>Chapter 902: Interrogating Xia Yu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After a long time, Xia Ling finally decided on her wedding gown design.

    She dragged Li Lei to get it ordered. At the store, she got her measurements noted down and mentioned a few modifications she wanted. The employee served them well and smilingly said, ¡°Miss Ling, you have a good figure and good looks, you¡¯ll look nice in any gown. Mr. Li looks handsome in any outfit as well, the both of you are sopatible.¡±

    Both of them exchanged nces and smiled.

    As they walked out of the store, Li Lei and Xia Ling basked in the European sun hand in hand. It was a peaceful scene on the streets, with children ying with one another and an elderly man stroking a cat. Now that they were overseas, Xia Ling was finally free from the pressure of fans and reporters hounding her wherever she went. This perfect couple got nces every once in a while, but it was nothingpared to the chaos andmotion when they were back in China.

    Xia Ling was carefree and rxed. She took in a breath of fresh air and said, ¡°I wish I could walk on streets like this every day.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°If you like, we can move here after we get married.¡±

    She smiled and shook her head. They had their career and business respectively back there, was it that easy to move away?

    ¡°Honestly,¡± Xia Ling looked up at him. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve taken over the entire business, is it good to be staying in the country so much?¡± Li Lei¡¯s family was involved in dangerous business and it was only safe to keep their headquarters overseas. It didn¡¯t seem like an ideal long term n for Li Lei to constantly hop between the overseas and the local branches.

    Li Lei had evidently thought through this as well.

    He gently told Xia Ling, ¡°You enjoy singing locally, so I¡¯ll stay there and apany you. There are other trustworthy partners to manage things at the headquarter, you don¡¯t have to worry about that. Transportation is so convenient now, I¡¯ll just go back for a look each time you have to leave for filming.¡±

    She nodded but went on. ¡°I haven¡¯t gone there in a while.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Aren¡¯t we going back this time to get married? The new house on the ind is almostpleted, we can start living in it once we¡¯re there.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I really hope we can settle Xia Yu¡¯s issue before the wedding.¡±

    Li Lei had something to tell her about this. ¡°Regarding Wang Jingwan¡¯s case, the private investigator is more or less done with his part. He¡¯s 99% sure that Xia Yu was the murderer, who then made you the scapegoat.¡±

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    It really was her!

    Although Xia Ling had guessed this long before, learning that it was, in fact, the truth was more hurtful. She could barely believe it as she muttered, ¡°I was so nice to her...¡±

    Li Lei could understand her feelings. Anyone would be in pain if they were so viciously set up by someone they loved and cared for with all their heart. Heforted her. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past. Maybe we should thank her instead, for if not for her, there wouldn¡¯t be us.¡± If Xia Yu had not set her up, Xiao Ling and Pei Ziheng would not have turned against each other, and she would not have reincarnated to meet and fall in love with him.

    But Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°If not for her, I¡¯d be spending the rest of my life blissfully and peacefully with Pei Ziheng.¡±

    Her destiny would not have changed, and all the other cmities need not have urred.

    Li Lei looked at her. ¡°Just take it that I¡¯m selfish, but I feel that it was a blessing you reincarnated. There are billions of men in this world, no matter who you fall for, even if not me, I¡¯d give you my blessings. But you can¡¯t fall for Pei Ziheng! He might not torture you in the first decade, but what about the next, or the following? Or what if he tortured you over another incident, if not this? How would you know that he wouldn¡¯t unleash his inner devil when he encounters something else? How would you know that you¡¯ll live blissfully with him for the rest of your life? Don¡¯t be naive, Xiao Ling, he¡¯s a beast!¡±

    Xia Ling hung her head low and said, ¡°I understand.¡±

    She had long understood that everything Pei Ziheng gave her was just a fantasy. But he was her lover, after all... and this fantasy was ruined because of a misunderstanding.

    How nice it would be if this case had not existed.

    ¡°I¡¯m just a little sentimental now.¡± When she looked up, the disappointment in her eyes had vanished as she smiled at Li Lei. ¡°I feel blessed, too, that the Heavens have allowed me to meet you. It really is my fortune.¡±

    Both of them shared a kiss in the afternoon sun, on the streets of Europe.

    On the way back, Li Lei described a n to Xia Ling. ¡°Pei Ziheng has destroyed all the important evidence years back. It¡¯ll be hard to charge Xia Yu as guilty unless she confesses to it herself. Xiao Ling, I need you to get those words out of her and make her spill the truth.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Alright.¡±

    She and Li Lei plotted in detail for a long time and ran through the possible situations she could encounter during the conversation. Only when they had ironed every uncertainty out did she go to meet Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu was led out of the prison cell and into the interrogation room.

    Xia Ling was in a casual pastel-colored outfit and sipping tea. With the afternoon light shining on the side of her face, she appeared peaceful and happy.

    Seeing that Xia Yu was clumsily led into the room, she smiled. ¡°Sit.¡±

    She poured another cup of tea and edged it towards Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu did not reach out to receive it. She had been tormented rather badly during this period and was now skinnier and more haggard than before. She looked at her sister with threatening eyes, and with a cold voice, she said, ¡°What are you up to this time, why put up such pretense?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not putting up a pretense,¡± said Xia Ling with a calm, peaceful smile still on. ¡°I¡¯m just here to tell you that I¡¯m getting married. On that note, I really should be thanking you. If you had not framed me, how would I have died, and subsequently met Li Lei?¡±

    Xia Yu kept her cool. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Drop your act, Xia Yu,¡± said Xia Ling. ¡°We¡¯ve got it investigated thoroughly. Wang Jingwan was murdered by you, and I was pushed off the stage by someone you¡¯d hired. You¡¯re impressive, killing two birds with one stone, getting rid of two love rivals. You even caused the Wang family to go bankrupt.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°You think too highly of me, I didn¡¯t do any of that.¡± It wasn¡¯t so easy getting the truth out of her.

    But Xia Ling wasn¡¯t worried at all. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to drink some tea? The tea leaves were picked from the tree that Li Lei personally grew. He really knows how to enjoy his life, and he¡¯s always taking me out to have fun and expand my horizons. When I was with Pei Ziheng, I had to make an appointment with him whenever I wanted to go out. Such a boring person, I really wonder how I tolerated him.¡±

    Xia Yu flinched. ¡°You can¡¯t say that about Brother Ziheng!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her. ¡°You really love him a lot, but I don¡¯t anymore. I¡¯m more than blissful with Li Lei. The one problem I have is that I want to find out the truth, I don¡¯t want to have died without knowing why. Xia Yu, if you tell me about how the crime took ce, I¡¯ll help you get together with Pei Ziheng. How¡¯s that?¡±

    <h4>Comments (2)</h4>

    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 903: The Confession</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was tempted. Did Xia Ling really say she¡¯d help her get together with Pei Ziheng?

    That man had lived in her heart for the longest time. She¡¯d put her heart and soul into plotting to be with him, even killing the people around her, but in exchange for what? If she could be with him, she was willing to pay any price! With Xia Ling¡¯s help, they might really be able to be together!

    Xia Yu tried to suppress her wild desires as she red at Xia Ling. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Pei Ziheng hasn¡¯t given up on me yet, and it disturbs me. I love Li Lei, and I want our marriage life to remain peaceful and undisturbed, which is why I¡¯m trying to get rid of the pest Pei Ziheng while I can. The best solution I can think of is finding him a loving wife such that he¡¯ll forget me. Xia Yu, you¡¯re the most suitable candidate.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Sounds good. But I didn¡¯t kill Wang Jingwan, how do I admit to that?¡±

    She¡¯s still trying to deny it at this juncture!

    Xia Ling felt like reaching over and shaking her, or even pping her on the face. But she calmed herself down and spoke in the same calm, sweet voice, ¡°What? Then take it that I never mentioned helping you get together with him. Besides, I¡¯ll even tell Pei Ziheng that you never loved him and that you¡¯re just eyeing his money and power.¡±

    Xia Ling got up slowly and picked her handbag from the desk before walking out. Just as her handnded on the door handle, Xia Yu¡¯s voice was heard. ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t you go too far!¡±

    ¡°How is this going too far?¡± Xia Ling turned around slightly and smiled. ¡°So only you¡¯re allowed to lie, while others can¡¯t? Xia Yu, you either spill the beans about Wang Jingwan¡¯s case and how I died or just wait on for Pei Ziheng to misunderstand you and hate you. He¡¯ll probably not want to see you for the rest of his life.¡±

    Xia Yu red at her with hatred.

    But Xia Ling was unshaken. She stood by the door and looked back at her.

    Both of them stared off.

    At this point, someone knocked on the door.

    Xia Ling opened the door and saw that Li Lei¡¯s bodyguard-cum-chauffeur-cum-assistant Ah Nuo was standing before her. ¡°Miss Ling, Young Master finished his tasks early today and wants to take you out tonight to watch some night fishing activity at the club. He sent me here to pick you up. It¡¯s about time now, are you ready to leave?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at Xia Yu and casually said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She made a move to leave.

    ¡°Hold on!¡± Xia Yu finally called out.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up ever so slightly before disappearing again. She said to Ah Nuo, ¡°Wait outside first.¡± She then strode back towards the desk and spoke to Xia Yu, ¡°I don¡¯t have much time. You¡¯d better speak soon, Li Lei won¡¯t be happy to miss the night activity.¡±

    Xia Yu red hard at her, wishing that her re itself could rip her face apart. She remembered the first time she saw ¡°Ye Xingling¡±¡ªback then, she wasn¡¯t all that pretty, she was just another face in the entertainment industry. But now? Her skin was fair and smooth, actually even radiant. Her eyes were bright and her features put together a perfect face. She was so beautiful now.

    Only a woman who lived in luxury and was showered with tender loving care could glow this way.

    Xia Yu felt a stab to her heart. As much as she wished her dead, she could not deny that she envied her. Could she be this blissful as well if she was with someone she loved? She wavered. ¡°What if I told you the truth and you decide not to help me get together with Brother Ziheng?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We grew up together, you should know better than anyone that I never go back on my words. If I say I¡¯ll help you, then I will. Moreover, what more can you do besides trust me?¡± She took a nce at her wristwatch. ¡°If you¡¯re not gonna talk, I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    Xia Yu clenched her jaw. ¡°I¡¯ll talk! You¡¯re right, I killed Wang Jingwan and then made you the scapegoat. I was also the one who hired a hitman to push you off the stage!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened. She could barely take it, hearing the sister she had raised say something like that. She had to reach for a wall for support as her head spun. ¡°It really was you.¡±

    ¡°It was me, indeed.¡± Once she¡¯d started, Xia Yu was more thanfortable to go on. ¡°Xia Ling, I¡¯d hated you since we were kids, especially because you were in the way between Brother Ziheng and me. I¡¯d wanted to kill you a long time ago, but I never had the chance. Then, when Brother Ziheng mentioned marrying Wang Jingwan, I realized that my time hade.¡±

    She looked at Xia Ling and broke into a grin. ¡°Silly woman, you actually met up with Wang Jingwan one-on-one to thrash things out, and even told me about it beforehand. Didn¡¯t you hand me my opportunity on a tter? I disguised myself as you and went to buy drugs from the ck market before following you to the location.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I treated you as a close sister and told you everything, but you...¡±

    Xia Yu scoffed. ¡°Close sister? You just needed a prop! You used me to bring out your kindness and virtues! Let me tell you, I¡¯m not dumb. I¡¯ve had enough!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I was just caring for you. I didn¡¯t expect the praises others had for me would cause you so much pain.¡± Xia Yu was born with some congenital disease and Xia Ling was still young when it all happened. Moreover, they were living in an orphanage, who could have possibly taught her how to heal her sister¡¯s heart of jealousy?

    She was only trying her best to give her sister all that she could.

    When others praised her, she felt good as any other person would and did not read too much into it.

    She was only a child back then, and it was hard enough fighting for her sister¡¯s survival. How could she have thought of the hurt her sister felt fromparing the two of them to each other?

    After all, her sister had never even shown any hint of unhappiness.

    When Pei Ziheng adopted them, Xia Ling lived better than before. She had thought that her sister would be as happy as she was¡ªafter all, she was able to go for her surgery, to recover, do well enough to get into an elite school, and life had gotten better.

    It was toote to discover the truth now.

    But Xia Yu did not care for her exnation. She sneered. ¡°I hid the drugs under my fingernails. When the waiter walked past me with the tray, I casually bumped into him and dropped the drugs into the cup of coffee. Don¡¯t ask me how I managed to figure out which cup was Wang Jingwan¡¯s, it was clear as day to me¡ªyou¡¯re always drinking lemon-infused water to protect your throat and voice, so the beverage that did not hold your lemon-infused water was definitely hers.

    ¡°And s, I guessed right.

    ¡°I hid in the corner to watch. Half an hourter, you left the private room, leaving Wang Jingwan behind. She sat there for a while longer. The drug took about an hour to take effect, and I walked in thereafter to imprint your fingerprints I got from home onto the coffee cup. It was all too simple.¡±

 Chapter 903 - The Confession

    <h4>Chapter 903: The Confession</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yu was tempted. Did Xia Ling really say she¡¯d help her get together with Pei Ziheng?

    That man had lived in her heart for the longest time. She¡¯d put her heart and soul into plotting to be with him, even killing the people around her, but in exchange for what? If she could be with him, she was willing to pay any price! With Xia Ling¡¯s help, they might really be able to be together!

    Xia Yu tried to suppress her wild desires as she red at Xia Ling. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Pei Ziheng hasn¡¯t given up on me yet, and it disturbs me. I love Li Lei, and I want our marriage life to remain peaceful and undisturbed, which is why I¡¯m trying to get rid of the pest Pei Ziheng while I can. The best solution I can think of is finding him a loving wife such that he¡¯ll forget me. Xia Yu, you¡¯re the most suitable candidate.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Sounds good. But I didn¡¯t kill Wang Jingwan, how do I admit to that?¡±

    She¡¯s still trying to deny it at this juncture!

    Xia Ling felt like reaching over and shaking her, or even pping her on the face. But she calmed herself down and spoke in the same calm, sweet voice, ¡°What? Then take it that I never mentioned helping you get together with him. Besides, I¡¯ll even tell Pei Ziheng that you never loved him and that you¡¯re just eyeing his money and power.¡±

    Xia Ling got up slowly and picked her handbag from the desk before walking out. Just as her handnded on the door handle, Xia Yu¡¯s voice was heard. ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t you go too far!¡±

    ¡°How is this going too far?¡± Xia Ling turned around slightly and smiled. ¡°So only you¡¯re allowed to lie, while others can¡¯t? Xia Yu, you either spill the beans about Wang Jingwan¡¯s case and how I died or just wait on for Pei Ziheng to misunderstand you and hate you. He¡¯ll probably not want to see you for the rest of his life.¡±

    Xia Yu red at her with hatred.

    But Xia Ling was unshaken. She stood by the door and looked back at her.

    Both of them stared off.

    At this point, someone knocked on the door.

    Xia Ling opened the door and saw that Li Lei¡¯s bodyguard-cum-chauffeur-cum-assistant Ah Nuo was standing before her. ¡°Miss Ling, Young Master finished his tasks early today and wants to take you out tonight to watch some night fishing activity at the club. He sent me here to pick you up. It¡¯s about time now, are you ready to leave?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at Xia Yu and casually said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She made a move to leave.

    ¡°Hold on!¡± Xia Yu finally called out.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up ever so slightly before disappearing again. She said to Ah Nuo, ¡°Wait outside first.¡± She then strode back towards the desk and spoke to Xia Yu, ¡°I don¡¯t have much time. You¡¯d better speak soon, Li Lei won¡¯t be happy to miss the night activity.¡±

    Xia Yu red hard at her, wishing that her re itself could rip her face apart. She remembered the first time she saw ¡°Ye Xingling¡±¡ªback then, she wasn¡¯t all that pretty, she was just another face in the entertainment industry. But now? Her skin was fair and smooth, actually even radiant. Her eyes were bright and her features put together a perfect face. She was so beautiful now.

    Only a woman who lived in luxury and was showered with tender loving care could glow this way.

    Xia Yu felt a stab to her heart. As much as she wished her dead, she could not deny that she envied her. Could she be this blissful as well if she was with someone she loved? She wavered. ¡°What if I told you the truth and you decide not to help me get together with Brother Ziheng?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°We grew up together, you should know better than anyone that I never go back on my words. If I say I¡¯ll help you, then I will. Moreover, what more can you do besides trust me?¡± She took a nce at her wristwatch. ¡°If you¡¯re not gonna talk, I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    Xia Yu clenched her jaw. ¡°I¡¯ll talk! You¡¯re right, I killed Wang Jingwan and then made you the scapegoat. I was also the one who hired a hitman to push you off the stage!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression darkened. She could barely take it, hearing the sister she had raised say something like that. She had to reach for a wall for support as her head spun. ¡°It really was you.¡±

    ¡°It was me, indeed.¡± Once she¡¯d started, Xia Yu was more thanfortable to go on. ¡°Xia Ling, I¡¯d hated you since we were kids, especially because you were in the way between Brother Ziheng and me. I¡¯d wanted to kill you a long time ago, but I never had the chance. Then, when Brother Ziheng mentioned marrying Wang Jingwan, I realized that my time hade.¡±

    She looked at Xia Ling and broke into a grin. ¡°Silly woman, you actually met up with Wang Jingwan one-on-one to thrash things out, and even told me about it beforehand. Didn¡¯t you hand me my opportunity on a tter? I disguised myself as you and went to buy drugs from the ck market before following you to the location.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I treated you as a close sister and told you everything, but you...¡±

    Xia Yu scoffed. ¡°Close sister? You just needed a prop! You used me to bring out your kindness and virtues! Let me tell you, I¡¯m not dumb. I¡¯ve had enough!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I was just caring for you. I didn¡¯t expect the praises others had for me would cause you so much pain.¡± Xia Yu was born with some congenital disease and Xia Ling was still young when it all happened. Moreover, they were living in an orphanage, who could have possibly taught her how to heal her sister¡¯s heart of jealousy?

    She was only trying her best to give her sister all that she could.

    When others praised her, she felt good as any other person would and did not read too much into it.

    She was only a child back then, and it was hard enough fighting for her sister¡¯s survival. How could she have thought of the hurt her sister felt fromparing the two of them to each other?

    After all, her sister had never even shown any hint of unhappiness.

    When Pei Ziheng adopted them, Xia Ling lived better than before. She had thought that her sister would be as happy as she was¡ªafter all, she was able to go for her surgery, to recover, do well enough to get into an elite school, and life had gotten better.

    It was toote to discover the truth now.

    But Xia Yu did not care for her exnation. She sneered. ¡°I hid the drugs under my fingernails. When the waiter walked past me with the tray, I casually bumped into him and dropped the drugs into the cup of coffee. Don¡¯t ask me how I managed to figure out which cup was Wang Jingwan¡¯s, it was clear as day to me¡ªyou¡¯re always drinking lemon-infused water to protect your throat and voice, so the beverage that did not hold your lemon-infused water was definitely hers.

    ¡°And s, I guessed right.

    ¡°I hid in the corner to watch. Half an hourter, you left the private room, leaving Wang Jingwan behind. She sat there for a while longer. The drug took about an hour to take effect, and I walked in thereafter to imprint your fingerprints I got from home onto the coffee cup. It was all too simple.¡±

 Chapter 904 - Xia Yuâ€™s Arrest

    <h4>Chapter 904: Xia Yu¡¯s Arrest</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was as postted by the private investigators.

    An expressionless Xia Ling asked, ¡°What about the CCTV cameras?¡± Then, the footage opened by the police were from cameras with altered angles, cing the crime path in the perfect blind spot. Only one camera in the corner was missed, and that filmed Xia Linging out of the private room in an agitated state.

    Xia Yu replied, ¡°I adjusted all the camera angles so that I wouldn¡¯t be filmed, and created the impression that you had premeditated the crime. As for the camera that I missed? That was left on purpose... it was the camera that filmed everyone that came from the private room to the main hall. It would definitely capture you. I, on the other hand, left from the rubbish dump behind the corridor. There was no way that I would be captured.¡±

    ¡°The police didn¡¯t suspect a thing?¡±

    ¡°It matched your character perfectly, did it not? Sister?¡± Xia Yu smiled. ¡°You weren¡¯t someone that was meticulous, and even if you premeditated the crime, there was bound to be tons of loopholes. That made it seem even more likely that you were the culprit. Unfortunately...¡± She sighed. ¡°Brother Ziheng was too protective of you. He used all the methods avable to him to destroy several important pieces of evidence, and the courts couldn¡¯t convict you. Everything I masterminded went to waste.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart churned with emotions at the thought of that man.

    She had thought that Pei Ziheng¡¯s imprisonment of her was a punishment. However, she found outter that it was for her protection. ¡°Then...¡± Her voice was empty. ¡°... he was too fixated on his conclusion, and I was too wilful. If only one of us wasn¡¯t so extreme, perhaps things wouldn¡¯t have be like that.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Yes... all you knew to do was to cause him trouble and whine. You didn¡¯t deserve to be with him.¡±

    Xia Ling was quiet before she looked up at Xia Yu. ¡°So tell me, Xia Yu... you think you¡¯re graceful and kind and are the perfect match for him, right?¡±

    Xia Yu responded, ¡°At least you are well aware.¡±

    Xia Ling pressed on for more details, asking where Xia Yu bought the poison and how she cleaned up after her tracks before she moved on to the second incident. ¡°How about the concert? You paid off a gangster to kill me?¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°I thought that you¡¯d be embroiled in Wang Jingwan¡¯s case, and would be sentenced to death, or would be killed by the angry Wang Family. Who knew that the police and the Wang Family would be so useless... and Brother Ziheng would be so protective of you despite what you appeared to have done. He made it such that no one could get to you at all!¡±

    ¡°I was furious... and I realized one thing. That is... as long as you were still alive, no matter what wrong you did, Brother Ziheng would never abandon you! I... I couldn¡¯t ept that! Hence, I went to see you time and again in that bungalow that you were imprisoned in. I humiliated you, tried all ways and means to make you breakdown, told you to kill yourself... As long as you were dead, Brother Ziheng would be mine! But... you didn¡¯tmit suicide... so, I decided that I needed to give you a helping hand.¡±

    Xia Ling could feel goosebumps forming all around her body. Xia Yu was a monster.

    What kind of sister had she brought up?!

    Xia Yu continued, ¡°I observed that gangster for a long time. He was one of the ck market ticket sellers that hung out near the concert venue and lost all his money gambling. Hence, he was knee-deep in debt. He had a sickly mother at home, and a brother that was still studying. Even though he was a good-for-nothing gangster, he loved his family. I sought him out and told him to kill you, and frame Young Master Wang. In return, I would pay off all his debts, and take care of his mother and brother.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°So he listened to you... and even though he was given a death sentence, he still asserted that Young Master Wang was the mastermind?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yu smiled sweetly. ¡°Young Master Wang was too useless, but he did go around ranting about how he was going to make you pay for what you did to Wang Jingwan. Many people heard him... He was just a coward that couldn¡¯t take actual action. However, after you were killed, and after the killer¡¯s statement, he was quickly arrested as the prime suspect.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°After all, his hair was found in the power supply room as well.¡±

    ¡°So how did the hair appear there?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Easy... I nted it there. During the concert, I intentionally didn¡¯t sit in the private room with Brother Ziheng so that it would be convenient for me to put my n into action. I was seated in the first row VIP stand, but my position was bad since I was beside a reporter. The whole time I was there, he was trying so hard to talk to me and get information about your whereabouts for the whole year. I couldn¡¯t find a chance to switch off the power and was about to give up and me it on tough luck. Who knew that the heavens were helping me... You added another song on your own ord...¡¯The Caged Butterfly.¡¯

    ¡°Oh, my dear sister... your singing was marvelous!

    ¡°When you started singing ¡®The Caged Butterfly,¡¯ the entire stadium was riveted, and even that reporter forgot all about me, turning his attention to your song. I hurried to the power supply room, left Young Master Wang¡¯s hair sample by the power switch, and switched off the power. That gangster ran onstage and...

    ¡°Killed you... with one stab.¡±

    Silence.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t speak for a long time.

    That traumatic experience was said in such a passing manner by Xia Yu, giving her the false impression that they were talking about somebody else.

    Xia Yu smiled at her again. ¡°What do you think, Sister? Wasn¡¯t I really clever? There¡¯s no way that you could think up such a wonderful n, right? Only someone like me can match up to Brother Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t match up to me.¡± Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind.

    Xia Yu jumped and lifted her head instinctively. The room door was opened at some point, and Pei Ziheng strode into the room and headed straight for Xia Yu. ¡°Pa! Pa!¡± He gave her two tight ps.

    ¡°Mr. Pei! Mr. Pei, don¡¯t be rash!¡± Several policemen followed after him, trying to hold him back.

    Several other policemen walked over to Xia Yu and handcuffed her.

    ¡°Xia Yu, you¡¯re under arrest.¡± One of the policemen said. ¡°You¡¯re now the prime suspect for murder. Please follow us back to the station for further investigation.¡±

    Xia Yu lifted her head to look at Pei Ziheng with a shocked expression, before turning to Xia Ling with vehemence in her eyes. ¡°You tricked me?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Xia Ling came clean. ¡°Xia Yu, thank you for telling me everything that happened in front of the police. Everything that you said was recorded in the room next door. Look here... can you tell that this is a one-sided ss window?¡±

    Xia Ling ran her finger on the wall behind the sofa. ¡°We can¡¯t see into the room next door, but they can see us clearly. After so many years, the evidence is scant. Without your admission, we really would have no way to convict you.¡±

    ¡°Ha.. haha... hahaha...¡± Xia Yu started tough all of a sudden. She never expected that in all her cleverness, her demise would still be in Xia Ling¡¯s hands. This was destiny, wasn¡¯t it? Sheughed till she started to tear.

 Chapter 905 - Finding Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 905: Finding Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling watched as Xia Yu was taken away by the police.

    The room was now empty except for Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling, and Li Lei, who was standing behind Xia Ling.

    Pei Ziheng held onto the sofa for support, still maintaining the position where the police had restrained him. He was looking at Xia Ling with deep pain in his eyes.

    She wasn¡¯t responsible.

    What confounded him to treat her so harshly in the past?

    If he had believed her when she said ¡°I didn¡¯t do it¡±, or he didn¡¯t whip, ****, and torture her... she wouldn¡¯t have given up and admitted to such a crime, would she?

    Then, they would have been so happy...

    His heart clenched and he had trouble breathing.

    The Pei Ziheng that Xia Ling was looking at appeared to have suddenly aged ten years, his deep sorrow almost making him unrecognizable. Wasn¡¯t he always so strong and dominant? This man would never admit his mistake... What was this sorrowful expression for?

    If life was left only at first impression...

    But all that was in the past.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei spoke up as he gently took up her hand and led her out of the room.

    She nced over at Pei Ziheng onest time before she followed Li Lei into the car. After shutting the heavy car door, she suddenly felt fatigued, like she had just fought an intense battle and her body felt empty.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Tired? I¡¯ll give you a massage when we get home.¡±

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°It¡¯s alright. Send me back to the bungalow... I want to be alone.¡± Now that the truth was finally out, and her name was cleared, Xia Ling didn¡¯t feel any joy but rather understood how terrifying the world could be. The heavens were ying a huge joke on her¡ªthe Sister that was so precious to her was her enemy, and the man that she had loved so dearly was now like a stranger.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t insist on staying with her. He sent her back to the bungalow and watched her enter the house.

    He understood her need to be alone. He was an outsider and couldn¡¯t help her face the pain and misery of what had happened in her past. She had to face all of that alone.

    ¡°I¡¯ll head over to the film location to fetch Shaohui.¡± Li Lei told her helper. ¡°Shaohui can stay at my ce, I¡¯ll take care of him for these few days. You take good care of Miss Ling.¡±

    The helper nodded.

    Li Lei left after leaving these instructions.

    Xia Ling hugged the feather-filled pillow as she sat cross-legged leaning against the bedhead. The pillow was soft against her fair cheek, and her puppy dog eyes were half-open. It was hard to tell if she was thinking deeply about something or merely in a daze. The sun started to set, and soon, twinkling stars peppered the night sky.

    Nanny Zhou came over and knocked on the door.

    After a moment, the helper knocked on Xia Ling¡¯s room door. ¡°Miss, Nanny Zhou from Mr. Pei¡¯s residence wants to see you.¡±

    Nanny Zhou? Why was she here? Xia Ling put down the pillow and grabbed a random cardigan to put on, before following her helper downstairs to the living room to meet Nanny Zhou.

    Nanny Zhou was rubbing her hands together uneasily. ¡°Miss Ling, sorry to disturb you at this time of the night. I know that I¡¯m acting out of ce, but Mister has been out all day and hasn¡¯te back. I can¡¯t reach him on the phone, and Mr. Chu can¡¯t reach him, either. I¡¯m really too worried and wanted to ask if you knew where he went?¡±

    Nanny Zhou remembered that Pei Ziheng mentioned that he was going to meet Xia Ling in the morning.

    Xia Ling hade home a long time ago, so what happened to Mister?

    Xia Ling was mildly stunned. ¡°He¡¯s still not back yet? Perhaps he¡¯s having a meeting somewhere and forgot the time. His phone would be in silent mode then.¡± This was not something that was unusual for Pei Ziheng.

    However, Nanny Zhou said, ¡°I¡¯ve checked his schedule with his secretary. He has no meetings today. Everyone can¡¯t find Mister anywhere. Miss Ling, you¡¯re the only person that I can think of that can help. If you don¡¯t know Mister¡¯s whereabouts as well, I¡¯ll just have to report his disappearance to the police after 24 hours. But who knows what can happen in such a long time?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was so anxious that she was jumpy. Nothing can happen to Mister!

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Wait here. Let me call him.¡±

    She took out her mobile and hesitated for a moment, but still dialed his familiar number. This was the number that Pei Ziheng had specially created for her. Nobody else knew about it.

    The phone rang for a long time.

    Just as she was about to give up, the line connected.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s husky voice could be heard. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m alright.¡± It seemed like he had been crying.

    She could hear that he was not in a good condition, and she worriedly asked, ¡°Pei Ziheng, what¡¯s up with you? Where are you now? Everyone is really worried about you!¡±

    However, Pei Ziheng hung up and refused to answer the phone thereafter.

    Nanny Zhou looked hopefully at her. ¡°Miss Ling, did you manage to contact him? How is he?¡±

    Xia Ling rubbed at her temples, feeling uneasy. So much had happened this afternoon, and even she, who had found Li Lei and was so blissful, had to spend some time alone to lick her wounds from the pains of the past. What about Pei Ziheng? All these years, he had been trying all he could to win her back. Today, he found out that he was the cause of the breakdown in their rtionship. How could he deal with the regret and the destion?

    Xia Ling was worried that he would harm himself.

    She asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Did you go look for him?¡±

    Nanny Zhou told her, ¡°Mr. Chu has already dispatched a bunch of men to look for him, but they couldn¡¯t find him.¡±

    Xia Ling was even more worried. Even though she didn¡¯t love Pei Ziheng anymore, she didn¡¯t want anything untoward to happen to him. Instinctively, she wanted to call Li Lei, and ask him to use the Li Family¡¯s satellite tracking system to pinpoint Pei Ziheng¡¯s location. However, she had brought up Li Lei¡¯s contact before she retracted her finger.

    She called Xia Moyan instead. ¡°Brother, can you help me to pinpoint the location of this number...¡±

    Xia Moyan gave her the coordinates of the number very quickly. It was a random location in the outskirts of the city¡ªnumber 89 private residence, a private bungalow that Pei Ziheng rarely used.

    Xia Ling knew the ce. She drove out of the crowded city and reached the destination very quickly.

    The deep red, retro-designed wooden door was vine-filled and quiet. There were two bodyguards standing in front of the door, and Xia Ling recognized them to be Pei Ziheng¡¯s personal bodyguards.

    They blocked Xia Ling from entering. ¡°Boss instructed us to not allow anyone to disturb him even if the sky was falling.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Tell him that I¡¯m here.¡±

    Yet, the bodyguards refused to move. ¡°It¡¯s useless even if you are here, Miss Ling.¡± Just as Xia Ling recognized them, they also recognized her. Even though their tone was polite, they were firm in their stance.

    Xia Ling felt her heart drop. In the past, no matter how critical the matter he was handling was, she always enjoyed special treatment and could meet Pei Ziheng as she wished. And now? Knowing Pei Ziheng, it was unlikely that he would retract her special privileges. Hence, the only possibility was that he didn¡¯t want to see anyone. Even her.

    She anxiously ran up to the door and started pping her palm on the wood. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Pei Ziheng, open up!¡±

 Chapter 906 - Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 906: Punishment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Yet, regardless of how hard she pped the door and shouted out, it waspletely silent behind the door.

    The two bodyguards knew Boss treated this woman like the most precious gem, so they didn¡¯t dare to be too rough with her. Hence, they stood quietly to the side.

    Xia Ling grew more anxious as time passed, her pping bing more numerous, and her voice growing hoarse. A wealthydy walking by with her dog looked over at the ruckus that Xia ling was making, before saying something to her femalepanion. Both of themughed in amusement. Xia Ling ignored all of them and continued to shout, ¡°Pei Ziheng, open the door!¡±

    Her breath caught in her anxiety, and she broke into a coughing fit.

    The red wooden door finally opened.

    A tall man stood at the doorway, lowering his head to look at her.

    In half a day, he seemed to have aged again. There was pain in his eyes and he looked frail, nothing like his usual dominant self. He looked down at her in silence, not saying a word and not moving, like he was a cement statue.

    Xia Ling was shocked by his appearance and stared at him in silence for a while.

    A breeze blew over and she started coughing hard again, like she was about to cough her lungs out.

    This time, Pei Ziheng finally moved, pulling her into his arms suddenly. His arms were so tight around her that she could barely breathe. She struggled and said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go...¡±

    However, he only hugged her tighter, putting his entire weight onto her body.

    With his arms encircling her body, he started to slide down slowly, his arms sliding down her back, waist, and thighs. When she realized what had happened, he was already kneeling in front of her.

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what are you doing?¡±

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t say anything. His forehead leaned onto her knees, as he knelt before her, shaking.

    She had never seen him in such a state¡ªin so much pain and so fragile. He had shed every bit of his strong fa?ade and lookedpletely broken. Was this still that man that she knew?

    She didn¡¯t know what to do and her heart went out to him. ¡°Stand up first.¡±

    He refused and continued to stay in the same position, unmoving.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± She couldn¡¯t resist but shout.

    He made a low sound that was like a howl¡ªunclear and like a wounded beast.

    He was hugging onto Xia Ling¡¯s legs and she couldn¡¯t move. She could see from the corner of her eye that the passersby had stopped to see what was happening, and were discussing while pointing at them. She was a well-known Diva now and could easily be recognized. He was also a big name that appeared in the media frequently. This scene of him kneeling in front of her in a doorway was truly an eye-catching one. Xia Ling eximed nervously, ¡°Pei Ziheng, what are you doing? Are you trying to make us into a joke? Even if you want to, don¡¯t bring me down with you!¡±

    He reacted to her statement and released her legs slowly.

    Regaining her freedom, Xia Ling immediately strode into the room and closed the door behind her.

    The house was dark with the lights switched off, and only the moonlight shone through the translucent curtains. She could see shattered porcin in the far end of the room, and it seemed that he had swept an entire dining table of cutlery onto the ground. It was a huge mess. Xia Ling walked over and picked up a piece of shattered porcin.

    There was a dark bloodstain on it.

    She gave a start and returned to Pei Ziheng¡¯s side. Squatting down, she pulled his hand over firmly.

    He was still kneeling by the door, his tall frame crunched up and his head hung low, almost like he was going to touch the floor.

    Xia Ling put his hand under the moonlight and saw that his arm was filled with countless cuts. Some were deep and some were not, crisscrossed across his entire arms. Some looked like they were from him smashing up the porcin ware, but some were deep and clean cuts, like the old wound on his wrist that she found many years ago on a yacht party.

    Only... these wounds were fresh and blood was still seeping out of them.

    He seemed to have cut himself when he was feeling sad.

    ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± She scolded, her voice breaking. ¡°Xia Yu already admitted to her crimes! What are you trying to do? The one that murdered people was her, not you! Do you have to harm yourself like this over such an old case?!¡±

    He said something in a low voice.

    She couldn¡¯t hear him clearly and so moved closer. ¡°I... I¡¯m sorry...¡±

    That simple sentence was said with much difficulty.

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    In the past, when she was being tortured by him and in such pain, she always dreamed of hearing these words from him. Yet, he never said them, and she thought that she wouldn¡¯t ever hear them from him. She gave up all hope.

    Now, she heard them under such unexpected circumstances.

    It was surreal, like a hallucination.

    She turned her head away so that he wouldn¡¯t see the tears that were rolling down her cheek.

    Pei Ziheng seemed to have mustered up his strength as he continued, ¡°I... what can I do to make it up to you?¡± He was the one that was in the wrong... He had said that he would protect her all her life, but the one that harmed her the most was him. He hated himself and wanted to kill himself.

    Yet, Xia Ling said, ¡°Make it up to me? There¡¯s nothing for you to make up for.¡±

    His entire palm and arm were dripping with blood under the moonlight, and the blood was covering her hands. She looked down at the bloody mess and tried to change the topic gently. ¡°You need to get these wounds treated... Let me find the first-aid box.¡± As she spoke, she made to stand up.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed onto her. ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    She finally blew up in rage. ¡°Do you think anything you do can make up for the harm you caused me?! What can possibly repay the hurt you caused for the monstrous things you did to me?! Pei Ziheng... I lived hell for a year! Hell! Do you understand?! Do you know how I spent that final year with you?!¡±

    She extracted her hand from his bloody palm and ran deeper into the house.

    He didn¡¯t chase after her, and only destely crouched down on the floor, using both hands to support himself.

    Xia Ling shook in agitation and started to flip through things in the house, searching for something that even she didn¡¯t know. It took her a long time to calm down, and when she wiped her face, she felt that it was filled with tears.

    She wiped the corner of her sleeve across her face and looked out of the window at the moon, the memories of the pasting back to her.

    Then, she heard that Wang Jingwan was dead and became anxious. She was so innocent and na?ve, and that was the closest that she ever encountered any death. She lost her cool entirely. Pei Ziheng saw her anxiousness as a guilty conscience, concluded that she had murdered Wang Jingwan, and refused to listen to any of her exnations.

    Her cries were only met with more cruel treatment and assault.

    Later, she grew afraid and was ovee with rage, such that she admitted to the crime that she nevermitted. She recalled that it was a cloudy day, with dark clouds outside the window. She had said in a weak voice, ¡°Yes, I killed her. So what if I did?¡±

    He had stretched out his hands wanting to hug her, and she avoided him.

    What followed was another round of assault and humiliation¡ªher punishment for rejecting him.

 Chapter 907 - Sweet Water Rice

    <h4>Chapter 907: Sweet Water Rice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng...

    That name ran through her mind a gazillion times. ¡°Onest time...¡± She told herself. ¡°Onest time... and after tonight, we¡¯ll never see each other again.¡± She found the first-aid kit and went back to the living room.

    Squatting down again, she took out the alcohol disinfectant and gauze to help Pei Ziheng dress his wounds.

    She dabbed at his open wounds with the alcohol, which should have been extremely painful, but he didn¡¯t make a sound. After she had dressed his wounds, he asked in a soft voice, ¡°Why did you admit to it when you didn¡¯t kill anyone?¡±

    ¡°I was dumb...¡± Xia Ling lowered her gaze and started to pack the items back into the first-aid kit. ¡°It¡¯s not entirely your fault. I shouldn¡¯t have been so wilful just because you spoiled me so much, and I shouldn¡¯t have thought that you really loved me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was like he had been struck by lightning. Her words hurt him so much that he felt like dying.

    She finished packing up the first-aid kit and stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Take my car back home. Don¡¯t let Nanny Zhou worry about you so... she¡¯s getting on in years.¡±

    Pei Ziheng responded, ¡°I love you.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled cynically. ¡°Love?¡± She didn¡¯t want to argue with him, so she picked up her car keys and strode out of the house. After walking a few steps, she realized that he wasn¡¯t following her. She turned slightly, like a beautiful elf standing under the moonlight, and said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, are youing or not? I only came here because Nanny Zhou begged me to find you. Now that I¡¯ve found you and said my piece, you can go home yourself if you don¡¯t follow me right now.¡±

    Pei Ziheng slowly followed her into the car.

    Her red Porsche drove steadily back into the city.

    Pei Ziheng was quiet in the front passenger seat for a long time, like a beast that was on the brink of death,pletely lifeless. When they reached the entrance to his bungalow, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll make Xia Yu pay for this.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback. ¡°What are you intending to do?¡±

    That man raised his head and his expression was eerie. ¡°I will make it up to you. I will take revenge for you.¡±

    ¡°The courts will take revenge for me.¡± Xia Ling said firmly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t do anything dangerous. Xia Yu will get hereuppance in court. I don¡¯t need you to make things up to me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re worried about me?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about you.¡± Xia Ling turned her head away from him and looked straight out at the quiet street in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ve grown tired of you doing all sorts of crazy things under the excuse of doing it for me. You should live your life for yourself, and not waste any more time on me.¡±

    He was quiet for a moment, before saying, ¡°Those who harm you have to pay.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°The one that hurt me the most was you.¡±

    ¡°I already paid the price.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was hoarse. Look here... didn¡¯t he pay the greatest price possible? The woman that he loved was now with another man, never returning to his side. He stared at her intently. ¡°Xiao Ling... Xia Yu needs to pay the price, too.¡±

    The tone he used was one that Xia Ling was most afraid of¡ªcalm and steady, but with a tinge of danger. He only spoke like that when he was furious, and something terrifying and unfathomable would happen shortly after. She grew uneasy and repeated, ¡°Don¡¯t touch Xia Yu!¡±

    He didn¡¯t reply and merely opened the car door and stepped out.

    She never could control him¡ªshe couldn¡¯t when they were lovers, let alone now. She watched him walk into his bungalow with trepidation. Nanny Zhou weed him at the door, looking extremely relieved.

    She went back to her own bungalow still in an uneasy state. Lying on the bed, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

    The next day, she rushed to the police station and told the police that Pei Ziheng¡¯s condition was weird. She told them to be careful of what he might do to Xia Yu, who was being detained in the station. The police assured her. ¡°Miss Ling, I think you¡¯re too tired. Don¡¯t worry so much, we will take care of and protect the suspect. She¡¯s very safe with us.¡±

    Xia Ling reminded them several times to be careful before leaving the police station.

    Perhaps due to the vignce of the police, or perhaps Pei Ziheng had changed his mind, there was a period of peace before the day of Xia Yu¡¯s appearance in court for trial.

    The cases that she was being charged for had a huge societal impact.

    Firstly, there was the wrong conviction that was being reopened for investigation, and secondly, the identities of the victims of the cases were well-known.

    In the first case, the victim Wang Jingwan was a wealthy socialite, whereas the second case was the murder of the Diva Xia Ling. There were several other smaller cases as well, including the death of Bao Renjiu and the ckmailer, where the killings were cruelly done. Furthermore, Xia Yu herself was an artiste. All in all, this made the case highly publicized.

    It was an open trial.

    Xia Yu admitted to her crimes in front of all the media reporters, cameras, and everyone in the country that was watching the trial.

    Following which, the judge read the sentence. ¡°The defendant, Xia Yu, hasmitted several counts of premeditated murder. She killed the victims cruelly and brutally and caused grave societal harm in consequence. This court decides to sentence Xia Yu to death.¡±

    Xia Ling and Li Lei sat quietly in the courtroom as the judge read out the sentence.

    Li Lei gently hugged Xia Ling around her shoulders.

    Xia Ling leaned her head on his shoulder, and they watched Xia Yu brought away from the stands in handcuffs. The camera shlights flickered non-stop, and the reporters were like sharks attracted to fresh blood as they chased down Xia Yu in her prison scrubs.

    Xia Ling felt like everything was so ironical.

    She couldn¡¯t help thinking: <i>Xia Yu, are you happy now? You tried so hard to fight with me and used all kinds of methods to try to draw everyone¡¯s attention away from your sister to yourself.</i>

    And now?

    All the reporters were chasing Xia Yu down and no one even cast a nce at Xia Ling who was sitting in the courtroom.

    Xia Yu, are you happy?

    ¡°We should go.¡± Li Lei gave Xia Ling a peck on the top of her head.

    Xia Ling breathed out a huge sigh, quietly following Li Lei. Today, she felt a little fatigued and told Li Lei when they got on the car, ¡°Don¡¯t go to the office this afternoon. Can you apany me instead?¡±

    Li Lei kissed her again. ¡°I didn¡¯t make any ns in the afternoon today. I¡¯m all yours for the day.¡±

    He knew that she was downcast in recent days, and had persuaded Lin Yunan to take care of little Shaohui. The two of them could be gallivanting anywhere right now. As they returned to the apartment, he made a delicious fruit pudding for her. It was said that desserts would make one feel more blissful, and his greatest wish was for her to be able to put the trauma of the past behind her as soon as possible. He wanted her to be happy again.

    That night, someone from the courtroom appeared at their doorstep.

    ¡°Miss Ling.¡± He informed Xia Ling. ¡°We will be carrying out Xia Yu¡¯s sentence in a few days. When we asked her what she would like for herst meal, she said that she wanted to have a bowl of sweet water rice that was personally made by you.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned.

    The man from the courtroom looked apologetic as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I know that this is a difficult thing to ask since it might not be true that you are the reincarnated Xia Ling. How would you know how to make a dish her sister made in the orphanage for her? But as this is the final request of a criminal on death row, we are under obligation to bring the request to you. Please tell us if you are or are not able to acquiesce to her request.¡±

 Chapter 908 - People Are Immune to Poison

    <h4>Chapter 908: **** People Are Immune to Poison</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling asked after the details on when the meal was to be expected and promised. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    The courtroom staff smiled, thanked her, andplimented her on her graciousness before taking his leave.

    Li Lei hugged her gently from behind. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you really going to do it?¡±

    Xia Ling said in a low voice, ¡°We were sisters, after all.¡± That girl didn¡¯t ask for any delicacies, but only wanted to have such a simple dish with her impending death. This moved Xia Ling a little. She told Li Lei, ¡°Then, the orphanage would prepare meals very everyone, but it usually wasn¡¯t sufficient to go around. Making it taste nice wasn¡¯t even in consideration. Xiao Yu was frail and had fevers often. Whenever she had a fever, she would be very picky with her food and couldn¡¯t stomach anything. I melted some sweets in water to pour over the rice so that she would at least eat some of it.¡± In fact, while the sweet water rice wasn¡¯t particrly delicious, it was already a luxury for the two girls.

    Li Lei didn¡¯t realize that the meal was something so simple. ¡°Since you¡¯re going to make something for her, shouldn¡¯t you make her something better?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I think she¡¯s reminiscing about the taste of her childhood.¡± As she spoke, she smiled, ¡°I thought that she waspletely heartless already.¡±

    ¡°People tend to be kinder when they are facing death.¡± Li Lei stated matter-of-factly. ¡°No matter how nostalgic she is, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that she killed so many people.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Seeing that Xia Ling was feeling down, Li Lei offered to help her prepare the sweet water rice.

    Hence, Xia Ling dragged him over to the orphanage and asked the old head of the orphanage, ¡°What¡¯s the brand of the sweets that you used to give out twenty years ago when Xia Yu was living here?¡±

    The old head of the orphanage called the stocking manager over.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any more of those.¡± The stocking manager said while rubbing his hands together nervously. ¡°Then, we had no money in the orphanage, and could only afford the cheapest sweets. Those were unbranded sweets manufactured by third-rate factories. Now, because of you... Oh, I mean you in your past life, the Diva Xia Ling... the Pei Family, and other generous donors, we have healthy financials. Oh right, Mr. Li and yourself donate to us as well. The conditions in the orphanage are much better now, and the sweets have all been switched to that produced by first-rate factories.¡±

    Xia Ling was happy to hear about the improvements in the orphanage but quickly felt disappointed as well. ¡°Can you tell me where I can buy those sweets?¡± She wanted to recreate the sweet water rice exactly like how it was in their childhood. Hence, she needed those sweets.

    The stocking manager frowned. ¡°Those sweets were bought from a random sundries shop. The boss of that shop died a few years ago, and his wife moved away with their son. I have no idea where they moved to.¡±

    Xia Ling thanked him and the Head of the orphanage, bidding them goodbye.

    She used Li Lei¡¯s connections to find out where the wife of the boss moved to, and then found out through the wife where the sweets had been bought from. Unfortunately, the small factory had been closed down after a police inspection.

    With great trouble and Li Lei¡¯s help, she managed to locate the sweet makers in the factory and asked them to recreate the sweets as they did in the past. These sweet makers were all getting old and didn¡¯t understand why she would want to do such a thing. One of them told her, ¡°Miss Ling, we shouldn¡¯t be telling you this, but the sweets that we made weren¡¯t anything good at all. It was full of artificial fragrances and sweeteners, as well as preservatives. A lot of the ingredients are harmful to the human body. Someone as precious as you shouldn¡¯t be eating sweets like these.¡±

    Xia Ling thought to herself: <i>I¡¯ve had so many of these sweets when I was young.</i>

    Li Leimented, ¡°Where we are from, everyone is immune to all these poisons whether rich or poor. What¡¯s there to be afraid of? Yesterday I was just eating dried meats in the street in front of our house that¡¯s notorious for using day-aged oil to cook with.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    As were the sweet makers.

    Since they were being so adamant, the sweet makers didn¡¯t advise otherwise anymore and started to make the sweets.

    Xia Ling was responsible for trying the sweets, whereas Li Lei made sure to watch that she didn¡¯t eat too many of them. Even though he had said that **** people were immune to poison, he still didn¡¯t want for his wife to be eating too many of these inferior sweets. He was nervous, afraid that there would be an adverse reaction.

    Xia Ling threw the sweets into her mouth without much thought, scolding him as she did so. ¡°What are you so worried about? They are just a few sweets! Oh... I like this... I loved this taste when I was a kid.¡± She threw another sweet into her mouth.

    LI Lei snatched the sweets away from her. ¡°Are you making these for Xia Yu or for yourself? You¡¯ve never said that you liked sweets that much?¡± What¡¯s wrong with this girl? Why was she forgoing all of the nice, nutritious, prettily packaged sweets in the world anding here to eat these third-rate sweets?

    Xia Ling lowered her gaze, her eyshes flitting like the wings of a butterfly. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I think this taste is just the most delicious ever. Perhaps it¡¯s because I had to take care of Xiao Yu then, and would keep almost all the sweets for her.¡± She was also a child then, and while she was the sensible one and needed to care for her sister, she loved eating the sweets too. However, she couldn¡¯t eat them and had to leave them all for her sister, as that was one of the few things that would make her sister¡¯s miserable and sickly childhood a little happier.

    ¡°I wanted to eat them for so long...¡± She looked at Li Lei pitifully.

    Even though Li Lei didn¡¯t know what transpired between the two sisters, he guessed what had happened. He pulled Xia Ling into his arms and kissed her. ¡°Next time, I¡¯ll make you anything you want to eat.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Pinky promise.¡±

    Xia Lingughed and stretched out her hand to hook his pinky in hers.

    They looked into each other¡¯s eyes lovingly.

    The sweets were finally done, and Xia Ling took the trouble again to seek out the rice that was used in the orphanage when they were living there. She made a huge bowl of sweet water rice and brought it to the women¡¯s prison together with some of the delicious delicacies that Li Lei whipped up.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°Do you want me to follow you in?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°No, this is between me and her. You don¡¯t have to worry... the prison is really safe.¡±

    Li Lei was still worried and insisted on sending her to the doorstep, but waited outside.

    It was the first time that Xia Ling was in a ce like this. She looked around her at the grey walls and narrow, steel bars. She was a little lost, but thankfully the prison warden came forward and asked politely, ¡°Do you have anything in particr that you are looking to do here? Oh! You¡¯re Miss Ye Xingling, right? You¡¯re really her?¡±

    The female prison warden suddenly eximed.

    Xia Ling was extremely recognizable given her poprity. ¡°Yes, I am her. I¡¯m here to send Xia Yu her meal.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, Xia Yu! The death sentence is being carried out tomorrow!¡± The female prison warden was highly excited given that it was her first time seeing a big star. ¡°Miss Ling, I¡¯m your fan. Can you give me your autograph?¡± Under the warden uniform, this young twenty-year-old girl was no different from other fans.

 Chapter 909 - Was She Abused

    <h4>Chapter 909: Was She Abused</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was used to these situations. ¡°Can you wait after I¡¯ve seen Xia Yu?¡±

    The female warden realized that she was acting out of ce and hurriedly said, ¡°Sorry, sorry. Of course. Please follow me, I¡¯ll take you to see the prisoner.¡±

    She led Xia Ling into the visiting area in the prison.

    The long corridor was quiet, the deep grey-brick walls creating a solemn atmosphere. Limited skylight shone through the narrow and tall metal-grilled windows, making the ce feel even more oppressing. Somewhere deep in the prison, there seemed to be the sound of screams and the knocking of metal. The sound echoed through the empty corridor, sending a chill down one¡¯s spine.

    Their footsteps echoed through the empty expanse as well.

    After walking for quite a distance, the female warden stopped and opened a door with a metal key that she was carrying. She told Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Ling, we¡¯re here. Please wait in here for a moment... Xia Yu will be here in a minute.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and walked into the room carrying the thermos containers with the food.

    She saw that she was in an empty room with a safety ss separating it down the middle, the only opening being one that was just enough to pass the food containers through, and a telephone hanging on the ss separator. Xia Ling waited for a while, and seeing that no one wasing, she turned and asked the warden, ¡°She¡¯s still noting over?¡±

    The female warden felt that it was weird as well. Typically, it didn¡¯t take so long to bring a prisoner over.

    She replied, ¡°Let me go take a look.¡±

    She had just walked to the doorway when another female warden came rushing in. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong.¡± Her expression was grave, and she nced over at Xia Ling, before pulling her colleague out of the room.

    Xia Ling sensed that something was off and waited in trepidation for a while longer before the female warden that had brought her in came back. She told Xia Ling with a solemn expression, ¡°Miss Ling, I¡¯m sorry... Xia Yu won¡¯t be able to have herst meal. She¡¯s found to have died in her prison cell.¡±

    ¡°Died?¡± Xia Ling eximed in shock, and the containers she was holding fell to the floor.

    The female warden replied, ¡°Yes, died. We¡¯re still trying to find out the cause of her death. My initial hypothesis is that she had a heart attack from her congenital heart disease.¡±

    ¡°Not... not possible...¡± Xia Ling shook her head in disbelief.

    Even though Xia Yu was going to be put to death the next day, it was the proper legal procedure that way. Now, she had just suddenly been dered dead? She hadn¡¯t even had the chance to eat the sweet water rice...

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was in a whirl and she felt a little dizzy.

    Seeing Xia Ling¡¯s pale expression, the female warden asked in concern, ¡°Miss Ling, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Xia Ling pulled herself together and said, ¡°Where¡¯s she? Take me to see her.¡± Xia Yu had been exiled from the family and didn¡¯t have any other close ones or friends. Now that she had died such a pitiful death, Xia Ling felt like she was the only one that could see her for thest time.

    The female warden looked uneasy. ¡°Miss Ling, this is against protocol.¡±

    ¡°I need to see her.¡± Xia Ling insisted.

    The female warden shook her head. ¡°Although I¡¯m your fan, there are rules in this prison. I can¡¯t let you do that.¡±

    Xia Ling felt upset that she couldn¡¯t even take a final look at the sister that she had brought up. She should be the one sending Xia Yu off and saying her final goodbyes. She called Li Lei and told him what happened. Li Lei pulled some strings and called her back in no time. ¡°It¡¯s settled. Go ahead and see her.¡±

    Xia Ling hung up and nced at the female warden.

    Someone walked into the room at this moment and said to Xia Ling unwillingly, ¡°Miss Ling, we¡¯ve been informed that you have special permission from above to see the deceased in the prison cell.¡±

    She followed the two wardens to Xia Yu¡¯s prison cell.

    The eight-person prison cell was now empty with no sight of the other prisoners. Xia Yu¡¯s body was lying on her bed,pletely lifeless. She was wearing the grey prison uniform, her messy short hair looking grimy, and her face was bruised all over. Her limbs were also bent in unnatural directions.

    Xia Ling was furious. ¡°Why is she in such a state? Was she abused?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t abuse her.¡± The warden that had appearedter replied. ¡°This is an ident.¡±

    ¡°She was in the prison cell... what kind of ident could render her in such a state?! She was going to be put to death tomorrow! Were you guys unable to just wait a day?! You wouldn¡¯t even let her have herst meal in peace?!¡± Xia Ling became more agitated as she spoke. She red at the wardens. ¡°What rubbish about a heart attack? I think you are hiding something here!¡±

    The female warden that had first brought Xia Ling in sighed silently. This was why she didn¡¯t want to let Xia Ling see the body. In this ce, even if the wardens didn¡¯t abuse the prisoners, there were bound to be spats and conflicts between the prisoners. Clearly, Xia Yu had been at the losing end of one of those fights.

    Xia Ling looked at Xia Yu¡¯s distorted body on the drabby metal bed and couldn¡¯t resist reaching out, wanting to help straighten out her limbs so that they¡¯d look more natural.

    However, one of the wardens pulled her back. ¡°Don¡¯t touch her, Miss Ling. Her body is fragile now. Earlier, the doctor merely touched her and her elbow almost fell out.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°This is abuse.¡±

    The warden replied, ¡°We didn¡¯t abuse her.¡±

    Xia Ling said angrily, ¡°I want a post-mortum to be done on her. The prison will have to take responsibility for this.¡±

    The warden said, ¡°We really didn¡¯t abuse her. Please don¡¯t make life difficult for us.¡±

    He was speaking very politely to Xia Ling but was feeling a headacheing on. If it were any other person, he wouldn¡¯t be wasting his time speaking to her about this issue. However, Xia Ling was someone that could be granted special permission within minutes, and the future wife of the Big Boss of the underworld. He couldn¡¯t afford to offend her.

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°You don¡¯t want me to make life difficult for you? Fine, tell me the truth.¡±

    The wardens nced at each other before one of them piped up. ¡°Miss Ling, Xia Yu died because of her health condition. That¡¯s the truth.¡± Even the girl that had proimed to be Xia Ling¡¯s fan nodded in support of this exnation.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s anger turned into a smile. ¡°Do you guys think I can¡¯t get to the bottom of this? Well... wait and see!¡±

    With that, she strode out of the prison.

    Li Lei was waiting for her at the doorway, leaning casually against his jeep with a hand tucked in his pocket. Seeing her emerge in such an angry state, he asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Xia Ling furiously ryed. ¡°Xia Yu died such an inexplicable death! I want to know what happened!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°She¡¯s tried time and again to harm you. Why do you even bother to help her?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Because she asked to have sweet water rice as herst meal!¡± In actual fact, she had a hidden worry that she didn¡¯t reveal. Pei Ziheng had threatened to seek revenge on Xia Yu. Was he behind this?

    Li Lei didn¡¯t say anymore and helped her to begin investigations into the matter.

    After a few days, he told her, ¡°The security in the prison is stringent, we¡¯re having trouble finding a way in. But I¡¯ve received some information that might be helpful¡ªGu Lin is also in that prison. Before the incident happened, she was in contact with Xia Yu. Perhaps she knows something.¡±

    Gu Lin?

    If Li Lei didn¡¯t remind her, Xia Ling would have almost forgotten about her existence.

 Chapter 910 - The Ruthless Convicts

    <h4>Chapter 910: The Ruthless Convicts</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After she had killed the two orphans back then, she¡¯d been sent to prison to serve her sentence. How was she doing now?

    Xia Ling went to the prison again. This time, it was to visit Gu Lin.

    Gu Lin was taken to the interrogation room. She was clothed in a prisoner¡¯s attire and her once radiant skin was now dry and malnourished. Her withering hair encapsted her sunken face as her huge, lifeless eyes stared out. With a dazed expression, she was seated opposite Xia Ling, with a ss panel set between them.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What happened to you?¡±

    The Big Miss Gu she remembered was one who cared very much about her appearance. She was always carrying a handheld mirror around, touching up her makeup whenever needed, unwilling to let anyone see a single w on her. But now? She was apletely different person.

    Gu Lin looked up upon hearing her words and red at her with hatred. ¡°Ye Xingling, I never would¡¯ve expected you toe! You¡¯re just here to mock me, aren¡¯t you? You won¡¯t have your way!¡±

    Xia Ling calmly said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you enough of a mockery right now?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin mmed the table and wanted to rush at her. However, she knocked her head against the bulletproof ss panel and got a bump on her head instantly. She held her hand to her forehead and winced.

    Xia Ling watched her silently.

    When she was done curling up from her pain, Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t have all day with you, I just have a few questions. You¡¯d better think carefully before answering me. If you give a good response, I¡¯ll agree to help you fulfill a reasonable request. But if you give a bad response, I¡¯ll tell Li Lei that his Sister Gu has turned into an ugly madwoman.¡±

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Gu Lin yelled.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Xia Ling looked at her,pletely unfazed.

    ¡°Brother Lei won¡¯t listen to your nonsense!¡±

    Two shutter sounds went off¡ªXia Ling had whipped out her phone and snapped two photos of Gu Lin. Gu Lin intuitively tried to duck, but it was toote.

    Xia Ling took a look at the photos in satisfaction and let Gu Lin have a look too. She chuckled. ¡°Your Brother Lei may not believe my nonsense, but what if I showed him these photos? He didn¡¯t even have his eyes on you when you were beautiful, if he sees the way you look now, he¡¯ll despise you for life.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death! You wretch!¡± Gu Lin screamed at her.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t the least angry. ¡°I¡¯ll give you three seconds to make a choice. You either take up my interrogation, or I¡¯ll let him see the photos. Three, two...¡±

    Gu Lin stopped her yelling before Xia Ling reached thest count.

    ¡°What do you want to ask?!¡± She spat.

    ¡°Good.¡± Xia Ling leaned forward slightly and looked into her eyes. ¡°Gu Lin, you¡¯ve been in prison for so long, you should be clear about the situation. Let me ask you, how did Xia Yu die?¡±

    Gu Lin was stunned. ¡°So, you¡¯re here for Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°Although she¡¯s been given the death sentence, I won¡¯t let thest meal I prepared for her go to waste. I need to do that meal some justice.¡± Xia Ling said.

    Gu Lin looked at her and all of a sudden, she startedughing.

    Initially, it was a soft chuckle she couldn¡¯t keep in. But herughter got louder and louder, and eventually, she sounded like a maniac.

    Xia Ling frowned, not knowing what she was trying to get at. A whileter, she reminded. ¡°I don¡¯t have much time here. I can send Li Lei these photos anytime.¡±

    Gu Lin almost burst into tears fromughing. ¡°Ye Xingling, you actually don¡¯t know how she died? Haha, haha, hahaha... This is too funny. How could you act this innocent?¡±

    Xia Ling was even more confused now. Did Xia Yu¡¯s death have something to do with her?

    She held her finger above the ¡°Send¡± button and watched Gu Lin quietly.

    Only then did Gu Lin force herself to stopughing and recovered her devious re towards Xia Ling. ¡°Wretch, don¡¯t you have a lot of fans? Xia Yu was killed by your fans!¡±

    Xia Ling was genuinely shocked to hear this. ¡°What?¡±

    Gu Lin rolled up her sleeves and showed her the scars on her arm. Her once smooth, fair arm was now branded with burns from cigarette butts¡ªnew and old wounds clustering altogether. Among the round marks were several other sh wounds. ¡°All these are the work of your fans,¡± said Gu Lin. ¡°In this prison, anywhere out of sight of the prison wardens is their kingdom.¡±

    ¡°There are fans of mine in this prison?¡±

    ¡°Your fans are everywhere.¡± Gu Lin rolled her sleeve back down and gave a sarcastic smile. ¡°There are a few powerhouses around here, thergest being a drug trafficking gang led by a demoness named ¡®Li Li An.¡¯ She is your hardcore fan¡ªI mean, a hardcore fan of Ye Xingling and Xia Ling. She gathered all the criminals who idolized you and found trouble with those who didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Once, a female criminal said: ¡®Ye Xingling¡¯s songs are rubbish,¡¯ then Li Li An gathered her people to beat her up. She was bedridden for three days.

    ¡°Of course, their favorite target is none other than me. But what can I do about it? I¡¯ve offended you before, and was even your love rival.¡± Gu Lin clenched her jaw as she spoke.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Ling corrected her. ¡°When were you ever worthy of being my love rival? Li Lei has never acknowledged your feelings, you were at best doing your wishful thinking.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Lin was agitated again.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°You¡¯re already in prison, it¡¯s about time you stopped thinking about men you can¡¯t get¡ªjust serve your sentence as you should. Gu Lin, it¡¯s important for one to have self-awareness.¡±

    Gu Lin gave her the death re. ¡°Don¡¯t be too smug! You might be abandoned someday!¡±

    ¡°Li Lei won¡¯t abandon me.¡± Xia Ling calmly said, ¡°Go on.¡±

    Gu Lin was fuming. ¡°Why should I? I¡¯m not saying anything more!¡±

    Xia Ling waved the cellphone before her face.

    Gu Lin immediatelyposed herself and went on, ¡°They tortured me in the name of protecting you. There came a time where I was afraid whenever the prison wardens left. Once they did, I¡¯d be tortured, wherever I was.¡±

    ¡°Thankfully...¡± Gu Lin gave a distorted smile. ¡°Xia Yu came.¡±

    Xia Ling straightened up. It seemed the important part was here.

    Gu Lin said, ¡°All I did was set you up, but Xia Yu killed you, and even tried to kill your child. She carried a far worse name than I did. Li Li An and her gang quickly changed their target and went for Xia Yu instead. As for Xia Yu, she¡¯d unknowingly stumbled into a powerful, ruthless gang who happened to hate her. What good end could shee to?¡±

 Chapter 911 - The Will

    <h4>Chapter 911: The Will</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    At this point, Xia Ling was fairly clear about what had happened.

    Her fans were probably unhappy with Xia Yu and found all means and ways to torture her, eventually to her death.

    She gasped internally, realizing how Xia Yu had paid her price after setting others up her whole life. ¡°Is no one in prison bothered about this?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Gu Lin sneered. ¡°Who¡¯d bother? Your fans are among the prison wardens, too. We could count ourselves lucky that they didn¡¯t find trouble with us, but they¡¯d probably be happy to know that we¡¯re being tortured! Let me tell you, your fans are beasts! A whole pack of them! When I¡¯m released from prison after my serving time, I¡¯ll get Dad to take revenge on them!¡±

    She was getting agitated again.

    Xia Ling looked at her haggard face and suddenly pitied her¡ªsuch a rich and pampered missy being tortured so horribly with no one toe to her rescue, it was a miracle she hadn¡¯t gone insane. Xia Ling toned down as she continued asking, ¡°Based on what you¡¯ve said, this isn¡¯t Li Li An¡¯s first time finding trouble with others. But why did she go overboard this time, to actually torture Xia Yu to death? They have the guts to kill someone in prison?¡±

    Gu Lin shook her head and quietly said, ¡°They¡¯ve never killed anyone. At least... not in their records.¡±

    That was strange. Xia Ling simply could not figure out why they¡¯d take such a risk to kill someone who¡¯d be facing the death sentence the following day? Was there...

    Some other reason?

    She looked at Gu Lin. ¡°Nothing strange happened in the past few days?¡±

    Gu Lin shook her head and remained quiet.

    Seeing that she was not getting anything more out of her, Xia Ling sighed. Part of her suspected that this had something to do with Pei Ziheng, but if it really was the case, this man was just too deep and scary.

    ¡°Is there anything else you want to ask?¡± Gu Lin said.

    ¡°That¡¯s all for now.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°Now, as my form of repayment, you can request something. As long as it¡¯s within my means and not against my principles, I¡¯ll do it for you.¡±

    Gu Lin fiddled with the corner of her top. After a while, she finally swallowed her pride and whispered, ¡°Can you ask Li Li An and the rest not to find trouble with me anymore?¡± Ever since she entered prison, life had been a living hell. They¡¯d even knocked out some of her teeth, this was unbearable.

    But this request was an easy one.

    Xia Ling opened her red handbag and took out a pretty little notepad. It held lyrics, musical notes, and little doodles from when she got inspirations while on the go. She tore a piece from it and used an eyebrow pencil to write the words ¡°For Li Li An¡± before signing under it. It was beautifully written, and that little note seemed like an art piece. She handed it to Gu Lin, saying, ¡°Pass this to Li Li An, tell her it¡¯s from me. Ask her not to make things difficult for you anymore.¡±

    Gu Lin received the note with trembling hands.

    She¡¯d suffered beatings and watched Xia Yu die before her eyes. After Xia Yu¡¯s passing, the gang had turned to torturing her for entertainment. What good could this slip of paper do to such a ruthless gang? Gu Lin was uncertain this would not work, and yet, she was full of hope.

    Xia Ling did not share her worries. She simply grabbed her handbag and walked out of the interrogation room.

    A prison guard was waiting for her outside.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Is anything the matter?¡±

    The prison guard said, ¡°Miss Ling, we heard that Xia Yu has been chased out of the household and doesn¡¯t have a single kin now. Could you collect her body? Otherwise, we¡¯ll just bury her like she is a nobody.¡±

    It just urred to Xia Ling about this problem.

    She gazed at the long hallway and the dim light at the end of it. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll collect it.¡± After all, all the hatred between them would¡¯ve already left when Xia Yu died. Moreover, they were indubitably sisters, what bad could it do to send her on her final journey?

    The prison guard heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Thank you, Miss Ling. This will save us a lot of trouble. Oh right, please follow me for a moment, Xia Yu handed us a letter before she left. She said to hand you this letter if you¡¯re willing to collect her body for her. Otherwise, we are to burn it.¡±

    Xia Ling was curious. What letter could it be?

    When she reached home, she kicked her shoes off and settled on the couch cross-legged, all ready to read the letter.

    It was a very thin letter, so lightweight it felt almost non-existent. She got the maid to hand her a paper-knife and very cautiously retrieved the slip from the envelope. It was Xia Yu¡¯s handwriting:

    [Sister, by the time you receive this letter, I¡¯d have left this world.

    [Don¡¯t feel sad for me. Well, maybe you won¡¯t, but I believe that you do feel for me, even just a little. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t even have decided to collect my body, right?

    [For that, I¡¯ll let you know something¡ªI wasn¡¯t the one who duped you into going to the club to do marijuana, it was Su Tang. Take my word for it, she hates you even more than I do. Since she¡¯s failed to drag your name in the mud thest time, she might find an opportunity to deal with you again in the future¡ªmaybe even kill you. A woman can get very scary when she¡¯s dealing with her love rival. You¡¯ve experienced that with me, don¡¯t think that Su Tang would be any kinder.

    [That¡¯s all I have to say. It¡¯s up to you to believe it.

    [I¡¯m looking forward to your sweet rice. It¡¯s strange how I¡¯ve eaten all sorts of delicacies when I grew up, and yet all I crave before my death is an inferior bowl of rice that tastes like the orphanage.

    [Oh, the assets.

    [When you passed away in yourst life, I inherited all your assets. I guess it¡¯s a cycle, or maybe my karma, but it¡¯s time for me to return them all to you. After managing them wisely all these years, they¡¯ve risen at least two to threefold. You¡¯re so bad at managing your finances, you¡¯d better not lose them all.

    [Sister...

    [Let me call you Sister onest time, and help me apologize to Little Shaohui on my behalf.]

    Xia Yu signed off.

    It was a short letter, but Xia Ling read it over and over. She was curled up on the sofa in a daze, letter in hand. Somewhere in the depths of her heart, there was a strange, inexplicable ache. So it was true that people regained their conscience when they were facing death...

    She sat on the sofa for a long time.

    The maid walked over and looked at her, slightly worried. ¡°Miss, are you alright?¡±

    Only then did she snap out of her daze. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She got up and went upstairs into the study room. She was just about to keep the letter in a corner of the drawer...

    When her eyes rested on the words ¡°it was Su Tang¡± a moment longer.

 Chapter 912 - The Wedding

    <h4>Chapter 912: The Wedding</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was Su Tang?

    She did not know whether to believe Xia Yu. Did she really regain her conscience, or was she still trying to stir up trouble?

    In any case, it didn¡¯t hurt to have her guard up. In the evening, when Lin Yunan sent Shaohui home, she told him about Xia Yu¡¯s warning regarding Su Tang. ¡°You have to be very careful when you take Little Shaohui out. I¡¯ll appoint another bodyguard to him.¡±

    Lin Yunan frowned. ¡°What about you?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll take note, too.¡±

    Lin Yunan asked, ¡°You don¡¯t intend to let Li Lei know about this?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little down. ¡°I don¡¯t have any evidence, and I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s true, how would I expect Li Lei to believe it? Su Tang is his benefactor, I don¡¯t wish to make things hard for him.¡± She wasn¡¯t afraid, she just didn¡¯t want to see her beloved man caught between love and loyalty. If she really wanted to go against Su Tang, she¡¯d do it herself.

    Lin Yunan shook his head. ¡°How noble, you don¡¯t even know if he¡¯ll appreciate it.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I actually wish Su Tang wasn¡¯t behind all that. She could just take Li Rui far, far away and live a life by themselves. As long as we don¡¯t cross paths, all is well.¡±

    Lin Yunan said, ¡°She isn¡¯t a simple person.¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯s a match for me.¡± As of now, Xia Ling had had the upper hand in any of their ¡°battles,¡± be it in terms of status or in getting Li Lei to change his clothes and dressing... Other than the incident Xia Yu mentioned in her will, in which Xia Ling did not take action since she could not confirm Su Tang¡¯s involvement. But even then, Su Tang did not stand to gain from it.

    Lin Yunan looked at her a while longer.

    Xia Ling snapped. ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    Lin Yunan smiled. ¡°Actually, Su Tang is way more scheming and calcting than you are. It¡¯s strange how she hasn¡¯t managed to outdo someone who doesn¡¯t even take her brain out with her.¡±

    ¡°Who are you referring to, not bringing her brain out with her?!¡± Xia Ling red at him.

    Lin Yunan raised his hand as heughed, patronizing her. ¡°Sure, you bring your brain along. Today¡¯s the day you do it best.¡±

    He said his farewell and whistled as he walked off.

    Although Xia Ling had already mentioned she wouldn¡¯t bother Li Lei with this, the whole issue revolving Su Tang still weighted on her mind. She went to look for her brother instead. ¡°Is there a way for us to check whether Su Tang was behind it?¡±

    Xia Moyan was calm as usual. ¡°Is it important?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s important!¡± Xia Ling looked at him with a serious expression. ¡°Only then can I find out how mean she is! I need to know how much she¡¯ll hurt Shaohui and me!¡±

    ¡°Her destiny is bound to sh with yours, it¡¯s long been the case.¡± Xia Moyan wasposed. ¡°I¡¯d be finding it strange if she didn¡¯t try to hurt you.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    ¡°But don¡¯t worry,¡± he added. ¡°You have the life of a Phoenix, the worst you ever have to face is already over. From now on, everything will get better, she doesn¡¯t have any way of actually hurting you.¡±

    ¡°How about Little Shaohui?¡±

    ¡°That child is way smarter than you.¡±

    Xia Ling felt like punching someone. Why was everybody hinting that she wasn¡¯t intelligent? She swung her head aside. ¡°Hmph, I¡¯m not inviting you to my wedding anymore.¡±

    ¡°That little bastard wouldn¡¯t dare to not invite me.¡± The Preceptor said calmly and certainly.

    Poor Li Lei, how would he ever dare to offend this ruthless brother-inw of his!

    Xia Ling felt pathetic, too. Why did her husband appear so small before her brother?!

    She had no choice but to send him an invite.

    The wedding day finally arrived.

    Guests came to give their blessings.

    Countless media representatives from all over the world reported it in real-time. Dressed in a white wedding gown, she slowly made her way out of the red-brick vi. The pearls studding her gown gleamed and glistened in the sunlight, leaving an afterglow in her tracks. Equally well dressed were her bridesmaids, friends, and family, whose eyes followed wherever she went as they wished her well. Meanwhile, she glowed with a radiant smile that shone even in her eyes.

    ¡°Xiao Ling... Our Xiao Ling is finally getting married...¡± Tons of her fans stationed themselves before the television, watching the live telecast more agitated than Xia Ling herself. A number of young girls even held their best friends as they teared with joy. ¡°Xiao Ling and Li Lei had it so tough and went through so much. They can finally be together, I envy them so much...¡±

    Theyughed and cried, and eximed in both delight and envy.

    When Xia Ling finally exited the vi, she turned around and took a look at this ce she¡¯d resided in for many years.

    This building was a ¡°gift¡± from Old Master Li. Back then, this was hispensation to her when he asked her to leave Li Lei for good. He had forced her out of the house and into this new vi under the watch of several bodyguards. She had been so miserable at that time,cking money, status, and the support of her powerful household. All she had was the little poprity as a singer and her love with Li Lei, and even that was robbed from her. Old Master Li had told her: [Live here for three full years and I¡¯ll agree to you and Li Lei¡¯s rtionship.]

    But too much had happened in these three years, a wave of peril after another.

    But it was all in the past, and there was a sense of detachment now as she looked back.

    ¡°Goodbye, vi.¡± She quietly said to the house.

    People crowded around now, yelling words of congrattions and blessings. The matron of honor hurried her up the bridal car. ¡°The bride should get in the car now, it¡¯s an auspicious time¡ª¡±

    Hence, she turned away from the vi and walked towards the car.

    The leading car was the SUV that Li Lei often drove. It was decorated ording to tradition¡ªa floral bouquet in the front, red ribbon all around, exuding an air of festivity and celebration. Li Lei was dressed in an extravagant suit and standing by the car. With that perfect smile on, he appeared even more handsome than usually.

    Many of thedies stole nces at him.

    But he only had eyes for Xia Ling. He opened the car door for her and carefully helped her into the car. The camera shutters were going off nonstop, as with the shes the cameramen jostled to get the best shots. The matron of honor recited well wishes as she tried her best to speak over the chattering between the flower girl and flower boy. It was a joyous asion.

    Before the television, some of the fans even tugged at their partners. ¡°Li Lei is so handsome, and Xiao Ling is so beautiful today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. But why are they using his SUV as the leading car?¡± Li Lei¡¯s SUV was used for his day-to-day transport, and it was getting a little old. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t branded or luxurious. Hence, no one understood why this was the case.

    Thementator for the live telecast quelled their curiosity. ¡°As you can see, the choice of their leading car has shocked us, but they have a good reason for it... We¡¯ve interviewed Mr. Li, asking why he chose this car as the lead. He said that he had driven this car for his first date with Xiao Ling, and from then on, it has been a part of their lives, in good times and bad, in both major and trivial incidences. It holds a lot of memories. Hence, they decided that this was the perfect vehicle for all of their shared moments.¡±

 Chapter 913 - Iâ€™ll Marry Mom When I Grow Up

    <h4>Chapter 913: I¡¯ll Marry Mom When I Grow Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The viewers were touched beyond words.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling sat in the SUV, smiling at each other. They were amongst the richest people on the and didn¡¯t have to take so much into consideration. Even if they used a tractor as their lead car on their wedding day, no one would think that they couldn¡¯t afford it.

    The fleet of cars set off.

    Following right behind the lead car were the bridesmaids, best men, parents of both the bride and the groom, flower boy and girl, and many more.

    Further back were the cars carrying the dowry gifts, including furniture, decorative ornaments and the like. In the past, the bride¡¯s family often prepared extravagant items for disy in order to show their power and dominance as a form of backing for their daughter in the new family.

    Today, the piles of dowry gifts were considerably extravagant. Fans lined up across both sides of the streets with fresh flowers, tossing them at their own will as if the road was the aisle of the ballroom.

    Xia Ling leaned her head on Li Lei¡¯s shoulder.

    Li Lei held her hand firmly but tenderly.

    How lucky she was to be able to spend her life with her beloved this time around.

    While everyone was busy celebrating, no one noticed that the vi just next to Xia Ling¡¯s was locked shut as a man kept himself in the basement alone, cut off from the festivity of the world.

    Pei Ziheng knew that this was Xia Ling¡¯s wedding day.

    He did not attend the ceremony, nor gave his blessings. He did not even prepare a gift for the newlyweds.

    He gulped alcohol like it was water and got himself drunk the same way he did when she fell off the stage to her death. She was now gone, and she had robbed him of all hope.

    How cruel.

    Pei Ziheng whimpered ever so softly as he sank into the cold, hard ground.

    Outside the vi, a number of reporters who did not trail behind the newlyweds arrived at his doorstep instead and asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Is Mr. Pei at home? What is his take on Mr. Li Lei and Miss Ling¡¯s wedding?¡±

    Nanny Zhou shook her head. ¡°Please do not bother us.¡±

    She refused to let out another word.

    After Nanny Zhou finally got rid of the insistent reporters, she decided to go to the basement to take a look at Pei Ziheng. But the door was locked from the inside, and she could hear a strange sound¡ªa cross between a howl and a cry. He sounded like an injured animal.

    Mister...

    Nanny Zhou was worried about him, but there was nothing she could do.

    On the other end, the substantial fleet of cars arrived at their destination at a private pier. Li Lei helped Xia Ling down the car as they took slow, steady strides towards a grand cruise.

    ¡°Apparently, the manufacturing cost of this cruise was in the hundreds of millions, and it was customized by an Italian ck triad leader for his grandson¡¯s wedding gift. The entire cruise was intricately designed with a vintage touch¡ªfor instance, the wooden nks on the deck were personally nailed in one by one by more than a hundred carpenters.¡± Thementator was evidently excited by what he was reporting. ¡°Many of the invited guests consider the fact that they could enter this cruise an honor in itself.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful...¡± Many of the viewers were awestruck by the cruise.

    Xia Ling and Li Lei posed on the deck for photos, and before long, Shaohui and the flower children had their chance to be the center of attention as well.

    ¡°Dad, Dad, can you not marry Mom anymore?¡± Little Shaohui¡¯s words were shocking.

    Everyone turned to look at him. Li Lei asked with a smile, ¡°Why?¡±

    Shaohui was in an adorable little suit. He tilted his head slightly and said, ¡°Mom looks beautiful today, I really like it. When I¡¯m older, I can marry her! Dad, can you marry someone else instead?¡±

    Everyone around startedughing.

    Li Lei looked at his son helplessly and pouted. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have expected that after beating all my love rivals, I still have to get through my son.¡±

    Some others yed along. ¡°Young Master Shaohui is a threatening love rival, indeed.¡±

    Li Lei pinched his son¡¯s chubby cheeks and smiled. ¡°You want to marry Mom? When you grow up to Dad¡¯s height and can defeat me, we¡¯ll talk about it.¡±

    Little Shaohui blinked his eyes and nodded in all seriousness. ¡°I will work hard.¡±

    The people aroundughed their hearts out.

    The cruise set sail slowly in the direction of the Li family headquarters. The weather was perfect, white clouds drifting across blue skies while seagulls danced in the background. It was a long journey in the open waters, but plenty of refreshments and drinks were provided, allowing guests to talk over their meals and rest freely.

    This wedding was considerably unique. While the cruise was on its way, Xia Ling and Li Lei took the opportunity to mingle with the guests. Those invited were the couple¡¯s close family and friends. Hence, there was no awkwardness or tension, just lightheartedness and shared joy.

    Xia Ling carefully held her gown up as she made her rounds. Many of the guests gave their congrattions and she smiled in acknowledgment. All of a sudden, she saw a man approaching her. He was in an exquisite best man suit and looked extremely handsome against the clear skies.

    ¡°You really scared me,¡± said the man said. ¡°You actuallye from such a powerful background, the daughter of the Xia family. No wonder you always pulled off such an aura, now I see that you could afford to.¡±

    ¡°Du Yunfeng.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Back when I asked to be your godsister, you still seemed pretty unwilling. Do you feel like you¡¯ve benefited now?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I benefited lots from it. This has been the best transaction of my life.¡± Du Yunfengughed. ¡°On ount of everything that happened in the past, I¡¯ll offer my apology. In the future, we¡¯ll be family. Keep in close contact, shall we?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s your family now?¡± It was Li Lei¡¯s voice. He came over and nudged Du Yunfeng while holding his wife tight. ¡°Let me set this straight, don¡¯t you even take an interest in my wife. I¡¯ve enough love rivals now, just dealing with Little Shaohui alone is enough. Don¡¯t make me busier.¡±

    ¡°Wow, my godnephew is so impressive?¡± Du Yunfengughed. ¡°When he seeds in the future, I hope he¡¯ll remember his goduncle.¡±

    ¡°To hell with that.¡± Li Lei jokingly teased. ¡°Back when he was to acknowledge you as goduncle, you were so unwilling to give up even one bead bracelet. Such a stingy uncle!¡±

    ¡°Come!¡± Du Yunfeng was more than generous now. He couldn¡¯t afford to offend the Xia¡¯s. ¡°The Du family¡¯s treasure chest is wide open. My godnephew can take his pick from the mountains of treasure.¡±

 Chapter 914 - The Pirates Are On Board

    Chapter 914: The Pirates Are On Board

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Lei rubbed his fists and palms. ¡°When Xiao Ling and I are done with our honeymoon, we¡¯ll arrive with a box to take our pick.¡±

    Du Yunfeng¡¯s eyelids twitched. A box? Who was treating the other as an outsider now? He smiled stiffly and said, ¡°Well, your wife and my godnephew can keep in contact with me. As for you, we can forget about it.¡±

    Li Lei scoffed at him for being petty before telling his wife to pick the most valuable item on his behalf.

    They joked and teased in the sea breeze as the pearls and seashells studded on Xia Ling¡¯s gown glistened in the sun. All of a sudden, someone yelled¡ª

    ¡°Look, a pirate ship!¡±

    Everyone swung their heads towards the sea and saw that a cluster of pirate ships had emerged across the blue horizon. All the ships had huge sails and were equipped with canons. They got into formation and approached the wedding cruise at high speed.

    ¡°So many pirates!¡± said a voice full of fear.

    Everyone on the deck began panicking. Most of them grew up in a wealthy family and were sheltered and protected throughout their lives, who would have ever encountered true pirates? Yet, their upbringing was put to good use now¡ªas worried as they were, they did not scream in shock or act evidently flustered, even with their pale faces.

    However, the emcee was in a panic. Seeing the approaching ships, his voice trembled as he reported, ¡°Pirates! Oh my, why are there pirates in this area of the sea?! This logo... Somali! These are the notorious Somali pirates! How did they end up here?! I¡¯ve never known them to venture into open seas so far from their homnd! Do they have something against Li Lei?!¡±

    The emcee sped through his report as he tried not to tremble.

    Many of the television viewers dropped whatever was in their hands when they witnessed this scene. Gosh, were they real pirates?! The ships were getting closer and everyone could see the cold, ruthless expressions on each pirate. They looked like they were out to kill, it was too real for any actor to portray!

    ¡°Oh my gosh!¡± The fans started to get worried. ¡°Will Xiao Ling be alright?!¡±

    Li Lei kept this pirate-themed wedding from everyone, including Shaohui. Everybody expected this to be a usual cruise wedding, not something so horrifying!

    Back at Skyart¡¯s training camp, the trainees were huddled together to watch the live stream.

    When the pirates appeared, a girl named Liu Li grabbed Ye Xingfei¡¯s arm and said in a shaky voice, ¡°Gosh, there are actually pirates?! Will Xiao Ling and the rest be alright?¡±

    Ye Xingfei was a little pale as well as she focused on the progression on television.

    Liu Li said, ¡°What if something really happens to Xiao Ling? I really like her!¡±

    Ye Xingfei snapped out of her worries and remembered that that woman was no longer her sister. She coldly said, ¡°Even if something happens, she deserves it. She was the one who turned against her biological parents for money and luxury. This is her retribution! The pirates should just take her away!¡±

    ¡°How could you say this?!¡± Liu Li red at her with eyes wide open. ¡°Xiao Ling is the incarnation of Xia Ling, it makes perfect sense for her to return to the Xia family. Moreover, she¡¯s been forking out most of the money for your medical bills and school fees¡ªshe¡¯s done a lot for you!¡± As her friend, Liu Li knew quite a bit about the Ye family. She knew that they could not possibly afford these, and hence, Xia Ling had been offering help this whole time.

    Ye Xingfei was even more frustrated now. ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me about this!¡±

    The medical bills and school fees had always been a sore point for her. She hated this woman so much, and yet could not deny that she had received much help from her before, such that she could not go against her as an ingrate. Ye Xingfei had told herself that once she was sessful, she would earn more than enough money to return to Xia Ling!

    Liu Li stopped talking.

    She knew what her good friend was like. Ye Xingfei was a nice person, but she just had something against her sister. But what could she do? Nobody else could talk her out of it, she had to think it through herself. Liu Li turned back to the screen and kept her eyes on it. ¡°The pirates got on board!¡±

    In the time they spent talking, the pirates had surrounded them all on the cruise and the rest made their way up. They pointed their guns at the guests and yelled in English, ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡±

    Shrill screams filled the air.

    The photographer shook from fear and the equipment slung over his shoulder almost fell. But a scarred-face pirate shouted at him, ¡°Hold your equipment up and continue filming!¡±

    With that, he pointed a long sword at his face.

    The photographer picked the equipment up with shaking hands and continued filming silently. However, the camera was shaking as his body trembled, and the viewers could sense his immense fear from the footage. A few other photographers faced the same situation but went on filming, afraid that their survival would bepromised if they did not abide by them.

    On the deck, Li Lei shielded Xia Ling.

    He looked at the pirate captain and said, ¡°Jack, the Li family has no grudges with you, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Others were genuinely frightened, but he was just going ording to the script. He even found it interesting and thought about how fun it must be to be an actor.

    The pirate captainughed out loud, enjoying the performance as well. ¡°When the Somali pirates want somebody, do you think we even need a grudge as a reason? Li Lei, I heard you¡¯re getting married. My brothers and I are happy for you, we wish to be a part of this!¡±

    Right after those words were uttered, a few pirates dashed towards Xia Ling!

    In his dashing suit, Li Lei smashed a wine ss on a pirate¡¯s shoulder while kicking another off, stalling three of them at a go. Even so, it was impossible for him to tackle so many of them at once. A few other pirates sped forward and pounced on Xia Ling!

    Du Yunfeng intuitively fended one off. He did not know that this was staged, but he was clear that he couldn¡¯t let his buddy¡¯s wife get injured, and decided to give his all.

    The photographers shook uncontrobly but tried their best to point the cameras in their direction. They had to capture such heroic moments for the viewers.

    ¡°Li Lei is so suave! I want to marry him!¡± A girl shouted before the television.

    ¡°Silly, he¡¯s married!¡±

    ¡°Then I want to marry Du Yunfeng!¡±

    This conversation wasmon across the different households.

    Although it was said to be a live stream, the program on television actually had a five-minute dy. The overall director was one of Li Lei¡¯s men and was one of the very few who knew about this idea. He was to edit the footage such that only the faces of those who appeared calm and fearless were captured for the audience, while those crying, wetting themselves, or whose image was in any way damaged were to be kept off-screen.

 Chapter 915 - Heroic Little Kid

    Chapter 915: Heroic Little Kid

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Shaohui¡¯s performance was also very heroic.

    He grabbed the pirate with his two small hands and tried to hit his legs as he screamed, ¡°Bad man! Don¡¯t touch my mom!¡± The videographer captured his anxious expression and showed the recording on the screen.

    The middle-aged mothers sitting in front of the camera were very touched, and one even wiped her tears and said, ¡°Seriously, he¡¯s so pitiful. How could such a filial child be struck with this sort of unfortunate situation?¡±

    They did not know that this was actually Shaohui¡¯s wish. If this child did not whine about wanting to see pirates, why would Li Lei n a pirate-themed wedding? Before the wedding, Xia Ling asked Li Lei a little worriedly, ¡°This child is so small. What if he gets scared?¡±

    Li Lei shed a toothy smile. ¡°How could a son of the Li Family be so weak? If he¡¯s scared of pirates, how can he take over the family business in the future? It¡¯s time that he receives some training.¡± Thus, they did not tell Shaohui the truth. However, Xia Ling still felt that it was revenge because some time ago, their child did not y with them.

    On the deck, Xia Ling was heartbroken when she looked at Shaohui, who was a few steps away, and wanted to rush over. She screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t touch my son!¡± Although she knew that it was just a performance, when Shaohui fearlessly rushed forward to protect her, she was really nervous and worried that he would encounter danger.

    A pirate stopped her andughed. ¡°Don¡¯t think about running away!¡±

    On the other hand, Shaohui was already kicked to the deck by a pirate and his faced was covered in dirt. In reality, that pirate did not use much strength. He did not dare to really hurt his Boss¡¯ brother¡¯s son. Furthermore, Li Lei was one of the top mafia bosses in the world and had a mafia background. Xia Ling was also the pride of the Xia Family.

    He honestly only kicked him lightly.

    However, Shaohui did not suffer a light injury. Some of his skin tore, but he ignored the pain and climbed back up with the intention of charging forward. As he ran, he yelled, ¡°Mom! Mom!¡± He saw that his mom was being surrounded by a few pirates. One of the female pirates smirked, picked her up, and was about to agilely enter the pirate ship.

    Anxiously, Shaohui also ran in that direction.

    Suddenly, his back cor was caught by a huge hand. It was the head of the pirates, Jack. He grinned. Like an eagle that caught a chick, he threw the child back to a safe ce on the deck. ¡°Little kid, don¡¯t mess around. Tell your father to bring the ransom money.¡± After that, he whistled and all the pirates retreated back to their own boats.

    With a group of bodyguards, Li Lei chased after the pirate ship on a boat.

    Shaohui anxiously called, ¡°I also wanted to save mom!¡±

    Li Lei nced at him and really brought him along. The audience in front of the TV and the people on the deck was about to go crazy. It was such a dangerous rescue mission. Why did he bring his small child along? However, some smart people already realized what was going on.

    During the scene on the deck, Feng Kun silently took a cocktail for himself.

    Beside him, Wei Shaoyin cursed at him. ¡°Do you have any humanity?! Xiao Ling is already captured but you¡¯re still in the mood for a drink?! What sort of friend are you?!¡± Just now, when the pirate captured Xia Ling, Wei Shaoyin also tried to save her, but sadly, how could a music producer win against a ferocious pirate?

    While he burned with anxiety, he did not expect the guy next to him to be in the mood for a drink.

    Feng Kun smiled elegantly. ¡°This cocktail has a delicate taste and richyers. It must have been made by someone famous. Do you also want a ss?¡±

    ¡°As if!¡± Wei Shaoyin almost wanted to kick him.

    In front of the TV screen, countless people wanted to kick him, too. ¡°True personalities are revealed during key moments. Why is Feng Kun¡¯s personality so bad?! Everyone holds him in high regard in the industry and his reputation is so good, but it turns out that everything is a lie!¡±

    However, some fans said, ¡°There must be a reason why our Ah Kun is doing this!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s fans sneered. ¡°Reason? He¡¯s just showing his true colours. Our Ah Wei is so loyal. He is truly the number one music producer in the universe!¡±

    The fans started arguing on the inte.

    Everyone¡¯s greatest concern was still Xia Ling¡¯s situation. After being kidnapped by the pirates, Xia Ling¡¯s hands were tied to her back. Her long bridal headdress dragging behind her fluttered in the sea breeze. She still looked so beautiful.

    Pirate Jack stood beside her and smiled. He secretly lowered his voice and told Xia Ling, ¡°Little beauty, don¡¯t be afraid. Li Lei and I are friends, I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    Xia Ling also lowered her voice. ¡°Look after my son.¡±

    Jack continued tough. ¡°Li Lei¡¯s son? That small kid is really spirited and almost pulled down my pants. In the future, he will definitely be a good fighter.¡±

    She did not want him to be a fighter. She only wanted him to be safe.

    She anxiously looked around and saw that Li Lei had already caught up. He was fighting alongside Shaohui and dealing with the pirates who were in their way. In the luxury cruise ship, away from the threats, the cameramen became excited. They followed the action with their lens and were afraid of missing the action.

    ¡°Li Lei... Come on....¡± In front of the TV, the countless viewers prayed.

    Shaohui became braver and braver. Somehow, he managed to pick up an assault rifle that a pirate dropped on the ground. It took some effort, but he lifted it and pointed it at his opponent. In reality, he never thought of firing it and only wanted to scare the pirates away so they would let his mother go. ¡°Let us through! Otherwise, I will fire the gun!¡± He screamed.

    All of the pirates were startled. Pirate A nudged pirate B who was beside him. ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t that gun yours? When did you drop it?¡±

    Pirate B was dumbfounded. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the kid would be so fierce. It hurts when he hits me. My gun identally dropped when I was avoiding his punches.¡±

    Pirate A quietly rolled his eyes at him.

    Although this was not a real kidnapping and the pirates were not really serious, they were veterans who had experienced many battles in the past. It was quite impressive that such a small child could steal his opponent¡¯s gun. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the act was not finished yet, they all wanted to cheer for Shaohui. Now, they all pretended to look fierce and said to Shaohui, ¡°If you dare to shoot us, we will shoot your mom.¡±

    Shaohui¡¯s face tightened and he held the gun without moving.

    While he made the threat, the other pirates already surrounded him and his dad. All of them raised different sorts of guns and pointed their weapons at them.

    The pirate boss, Jack, continued to joke with Xia Ling in a low voice. ¡°Your son is really awesome. This is his first battle, but he¡¯s not afraid of facing death. He¡¯s truly worthy of being the son of prestigious families.¡±

    The Li Family, Xia Family, and families of the triad.

    However, Xia Ling was very nervous. ¡°That gun is not loaded, right?¡±

 Chapter 916 - Entertaining Showdown

    Chapter 916: Entertaining Showdown

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Jack smiled. ¡°Li Lei didn¡¯t tell you?¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Tell me what?¡±

    Jack snickered as he rushed towards the pirates surrounding Li Lei and made a hand signal. The pirates immediately removed the safety catch on their guns. Danger lingered in the air.

    Li Lei lifted his head and saw Jack in the crowd. This was not part of the agreed script!

    Jack shrugged his shoulders and hollered. ¡°Initially, I wanted to let you all off, but your son just had to steal our gun. Now, I¡¯m really angry, and the consequences will be severe.¡± As he spoke, he waved his hand and all of the pirates suddenly fired their guns.

    Shaohui also did his best to fire his gun at them.

    Everyone on the cruise ship screamed. Two timid girls fainted. Wei Shaoyin grabbed Feng Kun¡¯s arm tightly and almost forgot how to breath. In front of their TV screens, the entire world was horrified.

    Shaohui thought that he was about to die. It was impossible that he could survive after being surrounded by so many guns. Unexpectedly, the darkness and pain that he imagined did not happen. Instead, colourful confetti exploded everywhere andnded on his small head and handsome suit.

    Shaohui was startled. Even Li Lei was startled. Since when did Jack bring so many fake guns on board filled with colorful confetti? In front of the TV, the audience stared at the confetti and was about to explode. ¡°What is the situation now? Did these pirates take the wrong guns?!¡±

    On the cruise ship, only Feng Kun was calm. He quietly saved his arm from Wei Shaoyin¡¯s death grip and continued to drink his cocktail.

    ¡°You...¡± Wei Shaoyin looked in the direction of the pirate ship and then at hispanion. Only then did he had an epiphany. ¡°You knew that the kidnapping was fake a long time ago, right? Those pirates were colluding with Xiao Ling and this is part of the wedding! Did Xiao Ling tell you in advance? She didn¡¯t even tell me!¡±

    Looking at his indignant expression, Feng Kun slowly said, ¡°It¡¯s simple reasoning. Somali pirates would never fight so arrogantly. Furthermore, the Li Family is of extraordinary status and the Xia Family is not someone they would dare to mess with. Why would the pirates have a death wish?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin blinked.

    Feng Kun continued to drink calmly.

    After some time, Wei Shaoyin suddenly reacted and roared at Feng Kun. ¡°What¡¯s with your scornful tone just now?! Are you looking down on me?! What¡¯s there to look down on?!¡±

    Feng Kun smiled at him warmly, as if to say he knew that Wei Shaoyin¡¯s IQ was low but he would notment on it.

    The inte also blew up. Most people were talking about the confetti and petals that suddenly popped up on the pirate ship, but there were also some people protecting either Feng Kun or Wei Shaoyin. They tirelessly argued. ¡°Just now, who said that our Ah Kun had a poor character? I think it¡¯s just that Wei Shaoyin has a low IQ! Our Ah Kun saw that the kidnapping was fake a long time ago! Hahahaha...¡±

    Wei Shaoyin fans cursed back.

    On the pirate ship.

    Shaohui also recovered from themotion. He threw aside his confetti gun and lifted his head to look at his mom and the pirate head. After that, he looked at his dad. ¡°Were you trying to fool me?¡±

    He said in a very cute yet indignant voice.

    The audience¡¯s hearts melted. Some middle-aged mothers began to wipe their tears. ¡°Shaohui is so cute. Seriously, how could Li Lei and Xiao Ling bear to lie to him? Why isn¡¯t he my son? I would definitely never lie to him and love him dearly.¡±

    Shaohui did not know this, but if he knew that so many audience members wanted to adopt him, he would definitely think about changing his parents. With teary eyes, he looked at his dad, awaiting an answer.

    Li Lei was very calm. ¡°When did I lie to you?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Shaohui initially wanted to say that he lied about the pirates, but was then rendered speechless. Besides, his dad never told him anything about the pirates. He just did not tell him theplete truth.

    Li Lei was delighted. His young brat wanted to fight with him? Dream on!

    He said to Shaohui, ¡°Don¡¯t you like looking at pirates? These are all real pirates, you can look at them as much as you want. The next time you want to see them, don¡¯t look for Uncle Lin Yunan, just look for your dad directly.¡±

    Lin Yunan, who was on the cruise listening to the conversation, was speechless. He saw that Li Lei was deliberately getting even with him. This really made his hair stand on end. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was able to do this to such a small child.

    Shaohui also saw it. He blinked and looked even more indignant.

    Li Lei messed his short hair and the soft confetti fell to the floor. ¡°These pirates are dad¡¯s friends. Quickly greet Uncle Jack and the other uncles.¡±

    Shaohui grievously addressed them all as ¡°uncle.¡±

    Thinking about it again, he was very happy. His mother¡¯s safety was more important than anything else.

    Furthermore, the pirates were really handsome!

    The young child¡¯s mood improved. In a sh, he already forgot about his dad¡¯s scheme and looked curiously at the pirates. ¡°Uncles, you¡¯re all so awesome! When I grow up, I want to be a pirate too.¡±

    Jackughed. ¡°Sure, join us!¡± He turned around to look at Li Lei. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m sorry but your son really has a lot of affinity with me. In the future, let him join us. As for the sessor of the Li Family? You and your future wife can have another child.¡±

    In a few words, he summed up Shaohui¡¯s future.

    Li Lei was a little annoyed. ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to have any ideas regarding my son. Oh yes, quickly release my future wife.¡±

    Since the act was over, he ordered them to let Xiao Ling go.

    Jack smiled and said, ¡°Do you think I would let her go just because you asked me to? How embarrassing would that be? You have to at least win a fight with me.¡± He rolled up his sleeves and was about to go to the deck to fight with Li Lei.

    Li Lei also smiled. ¡°You were already defeated but you still want another fight?¡± A few years ago in Somalia, the two had a famous battle. Li Lei defeated Jack, winning the respect and friendship of all the pirates.

    Now, Jack said, ¡°After losing to you I have worked hard. This time I will definitely win.¡±

    Li Lei was not afraid of him. He shook his arms and was really about to fight with him. All of the cameras were pointed at them. Even Xia Ling was ready to watch the entertaining showdown.

    However, at this moment, there was a sudden change!

    A masked man wearing all ck came out of nowhere when everyone¡¯s attention was focused on Li Lei and Jack and dragged Xia Ling into his arms at lightning speed!

    ¡°Ah¡ª¡± Xia Ling¡¯s exmation left everyone shocked.

 Chapter 917 - Snipers and Sharks

    Chapter 917: Snipers and Sharks

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    The person wearing all ck looked to be a man. He was tall and his seductive eyes were exposed. His gaze was intimidating. He held a dagger against Xia Ling¡¯s neck in one hand and looked at everyone with a faint smile. ¡°How exciting. Stealing the bride is such a fun game. Why didn¡¯t you invite me... Xiao Lei?¡±

    ¡°Li Feng!¡± Li Lei recognized him and did not even care about addressing him as his brother. ¡°Let go of Xiao Ling. You can seek revenge on me.¡± They had an entrenched hatred and had long forgotten about their blood ties. In fact, there were already many security measures in ce for this wedding cruise to prevent Li Feng¡¯s interruption. But unexpectedly, instead of sneaking into the wedding cruise, he snuck into the pirate ship.

    Li Feng gave an enchanting smile. The sea breeze blew his mask away, revealing his face.

    The other people saw his face and sure enough, it was Li Feng, Li Lei¡¯s biological brother! They drew a cold breath. What exactly was going on? Was this nned? Or was this another conflict between the brothers?

    On the ship, Xia Moyan said to the live-stream director, ¡°Stop shooting.¡±

    Startled, the director quickly told all of the videographers to turn their cameras off. Soon, there was an uproar among the TV viewers, who started asking questions like ¡°What¡¯s going on¡± and ¡°Is the reception bad.¡±

    They worriedly and anxiously waited. Unexpectedly, advertisements started before the live stream was over.

    The sea breeze lightly blew on the deck. Xia Moyan looked at his sister being held captive from afar coldly. He looked to one of Li Lei¡¯s subordinates and asked, ¡°Do you have a sniper rifle?¡±

    The subordinate quickly answered, ¡°Yes! This time, to ensure the safety of the cruise ship, many guns and ammunition were prepared. There is one in the storage, I will take you there now.¡±

    Before Xia Moyan was about to follow him, Old Master Li quickly stopped him. His look was stern. ¡°Preceptor, what are you doing?¡±

    Xia Moyan coldly said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Old Master Li was taken aback. He did not think that someone would dare to speak to him like that. However, the person who spoke was the Xia Family¡¯s Preceptor Xia. He was qualified. He resisted the anger in his heart and firmly said, ¡°Preceptor Xia, please show some mercy. That¡¯s my grandson! Li Lei¡¯s biological brother! God forbid anything should happen to someone, Li Lei won¡¯t feel good. And do you think our families can be on good terms after that?¡±

    Xia Moyan squinted his eyes and red murderously at Old Master Li. He had no time to waste, so he pushed Old Master Li away and strode towards Li Lei¡¯s weapon storage.

    Old Master Li wanted to chase after him, but two of Li Lei¡¯s trusted subordinates held him down.

    ¡°Preceptor! Please show mercy!¡± Old Master anxiously screamed from afar.

    Xia Moyan walked forward without looking back.

    Many people on the cruise ship heard this argument and amotion started at once. Was this bride stealing real or fake? Was The Preceptor really about to kill Li Feng?

    Immediately, everyone started to panic.

    Feng Kun frowned. This time, he finally put down his cocktail ss.

    Wei Shaoyin looked at him and asked worriedly, ¡°Will Xiao Ling be fine?¡±

    This question was too difficult to answer. Feng Kun knew that in such an isted environment, it was very hard for him to get away with kidnapping Xia Ling. Unless he was about to kill her on the spot and escape.

    Xiao Ling¡¯s situation was not optimistic.

    However, he was unwilling to scare Wei Shaoyin. These things were better left unsaid.

    Wei Shaoyin became more nervous. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡±

    Feng Kun consoled him by patting his shoulder and then turned around to look at the pirate ship a distance away.

    Over there, Xia Ling only felt something painfully poking her neck. A warm liquid slid down her skin, which seemed to be blood. She did not dare to move or speak because she was afraid that the dagger might pierce her deeper. She could see that Shaohui was so anxious that he was about to cry, and Li Lei was trying his best to remain calm despite the stressful situation.

    She heard Li Feng say, ¡°Long time no see, Xiao Lei.¡±

    In his calmest tone, Li Lei said, ¡°Brother, I¡¯m really happy that you attended this wedding. I prepared many wines and desserts on the ship, and I even reserved a room with a sea view for you. Move there to enjoy them. Let go of Xiao Ling. The bride stealing was a joke by Jack and the event is already over.¡±

    He sent a wedding invitation to Li Feng before because he was still a family member and he did not want to antagonize Li Feng. The best way to monitor him was to invite him into his territory. He ensured that there was a state of the art security on the ship and left the room with a sea view for Li Feng. It was made of bulletproof material, had multiple password locks, was situated away from the other guests, and was easy to supervise.

    Unfortunately, Li Feng did note.

    He deliberately wanted to mess up the wedding. Now that he was here, he did not have any good intentions.

    With an enchanting smile, Li Feng dragged Xia Ling across the deck. ¡°It¡¯s over? Why do I think that this bride stealing event is more fun than drinking? Can¡¯t we just y a little longer?¡± This time, he dragged Xia Ling to the edge of the deck. The deck of the pirate ship was not high, it only reached a person¡¯s thighs and one could easily be pushed over.

    Li Feng smiled more brightly. ¡°Xiao Lei, look at what¡¯s in the ocean?¡±

    What else could there be in the ocean? Li Lei had been in charge of many shipping transactions recently and knew the seas by heart. This was the ce with the most sharks! In a sh, he understood that Li Feng deliberately waited for them to cross this ocean before causing trouble! ¡°Brother.¡± He took a deep breath and slowly called Li Feng. ¡°I have no interest in looking at the sharks.¡±

    This time, all the guests on the ship also realized that something was wrong. One of them pointed at the pirate ship and eximed, ¡°Look! So many sharks!¡± A group of sharks had gathered below the pirate ship. They were swimming around as if they were snatching some food and blood was scattered in the ocean.

    ¡°Oh my god!¡± Two weak girls fainted.

    Xia Ling was too close to the edge. In the corner of her eye, she could clearly see the fierce sharks. Her stomach turned and she shuddered. Could it be that Li Feng was about to throw her into the sea?!

    She really guessed it. Li Feng smiled and said, ¡°Is it fun? To lure the sharks over, I tied three bodies to the bottom of the boat. Jack, your pirates are all trash. It¡¯s not even challenging to kill them.¡±

    Jack was horrified. He turned to look at his subordinates.

    One pirate yelled, ¡°Johnny is gone!¡±

    Another also shouted, ¡°An Dong and Johnson are gone, too!¡±

    They were shocked and red at Li Feng furiously. ¡°We will kill you!¡±

 Chapter 918 - Thoughts in the Deep Sea

    Chapter 918: Thoughts in the Deep Sea

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Feng let out an unbridledugh. ¡°You guys are trash! Do you think you can do it?¡±

    The pirates had a splitting headache. They wished they could rush up and crush Li Feng¡¯s body. However, he had a hostage and Jack stopped them.

    He looked at Li Feng. ¡°Let go of Xiao Ling. If you¡¯re a man, then fight with me!¡±

    Li Feng smiled even more arrogantly. ¡°Jack, do you think I¡¯m dumb? Do you think you can save this woman like this? Don¡¯t fret. After I¡¯m done with her, I will get payback from you.¡±

    Li Lei quietly walked forward. ¡°Brother, let go of Xiao Ling. I¡¯ll agree to any condition you state.¡±

    Li Feng looked at him and smiled. ¡°How touching, Xiao Lei. What if I want to be the head of the household?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give the title to you.¡± Li Lei replied without hesitation.

    Li Feng smiled again. ¡°What if I want your life?¡±

    ¡°I will also give it to you.¡± Li Lei said without hesitation.

    However, Xia Ling started screaming. ¡°No! Li Lei, I won¡¯t allow you to exchange your life for mine!¡± She was very emotional. Due to her negligence, the de deepened the cut on her neck and fresh blood streamed out.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, calm down and don¡¯t speak!¡± Li Lei looked at her worriedly.

    However, Xia Ling said, ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to die!¡± The bleeding was worsening.

    Anxiously, Li Lei replied, ¡°Ok, I won¡¯t die.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t die? Then let her die!¡± Li Fengughed gleefully. ¡°Your love for each other is really deep, and I almost can¡¯t bear to do this. How about I help you out?¡±

    As he spoke, before anyone else could react, he pushed Xia Ling off the deck.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Mom!¡±

    Li Lei and Shaohui yelled.

    At the same time, there was a gunshot. There was a patch of red blood on Li Feng¡¯s chest and his body fell to ground weakly.

    Xia Ling only felt that the weight behind her body was gone in a sh. However, most of her body was already off the deck. Even if Li Feng fell down with her, it could not change the fact that she was about to fall into the ocean. It was a critical moment. She looked at the ferocious sharks and turned her body away from them instinctively.

    The pirate ship was very tall. Although it looked like it only had a short distance from the sharks at first, when she really fell into the ocean, there were only a few meters between her and the sharks.

    They were just a few meters, but they saved her life!

    Xia Ling was not immediately eaten by the sharks. She sank deep into the ocean. Only then did the sharks react and sawm over.

    The ocean was very quiet.

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widened in fear and she looked up. Above her, golden sunlight streamed through theyers of the blood-stained blue ocean. It was beautiful, but it was quickly covered by arge number of approaching sharks. From her angle, she could only see their white bodies and sharp teeth.

    Just one bite was enough to tear her body into pieces.

    Would she die here?

    Xia Ling struggled to no avail, remembering that she could not swim. Many years ago when she had a shoot near the water, Pei Ziheng coldly abandoned her in the water. She once thought of learning how to swim before. However, whenever she entered the water, she would feel uncontrobly scared. Thus, until now, she was still unable to swim.

    Even if the sharks weren¡¯t there, she would still drown.

    Xia Lingughed at herself. Her body sank deeper and the sharks were getting closer. In her hopelessness, she wondered if she would die by drowning or being eaten alive by the sharks.

    Her neck hurt and she could not breathe anymore.

    In front of her eyes, scenes from her life shed past. Her rebirth, meeting Li Lei, having a child, getting married... They had been through so many ups and downs together.

    It was a pity that she could not apany him and Shaohui for their remaining lives...

    Above her, the sharks seemed to scatter. The sunlight prated into the ocean. In the ocean, the shadows of an adult and a child appeared. They moved swiftly in the water and were about to reach her.

    Li Lei... Shaohui?

    Why were they here? Weren¡¯t they safely on the deck? Did they know how dangerous the ocean was?! There were so many sharks! However... it must be her imagination... It must be her imagination...

    How could they bypass the sharks?

    The sharks swam around the two of them. One of them opened its mouth to bite Li Lei, but at this time, Shaohui ced his hand on Li Lei. The child was still young and perhaps had insufficient strength or was not used to the pressure of the ocean. Suddenly, he could not swim any longer and struggled helplessly in the water.

    Li Lei held him steadily with one hand. With such a powerful grip it allowed the child to calm down.

    The shark that tried to bite Li Lei retreated. It seemed to have some misgivings about the father and son pair and continued circling them with the other sharks. After a few more seconds, the entire group of sharks dispersed.

    Xia Ling was in disbelief.

    Imagination. It must be her imagination. Why didn¡¯t the sharks bite anyone?

    In a sh, she remembered what happened in the snow-capped mountains. When the ferocious serpent faced Shaohui, it showed cautiousness.

    [Animals all like me.]

    What the child said rang in her ear.

    Could it be that the sharks let go of the family of three on Shaohui¡¯s behalf?

    Her mind was in a mess. In front of her, Li Lei and her child were getting closer and closer...

    There was a lot of water in her lungs, and her brain was seriously deprived of oxygen. Xia Ling did not know if the figures of Li Lei and her son were real or an illusion caused by her strong desire to survive. She only reached out instinctively and held Li Lei¡¯s strong and powerful hand that was extended to her.

    The two hands intertwined.

    A very secure feeling arose from the bottom of her heart.

    Li Lei changed his position and carefully lifted her with one hand. As he had to swim, he let go of Shaohui. The child seemed to have recovered. He continued to struggle in the water but was more stable now.

    Using thest of her strength, she firmly grabbed her child. Under Li Lei¡¯s lead, the family of three swam towards the surface.

    ¡°They¡¯re out! They¡¯re out!¡± On the pirate ship and the deck of the wedding cruise ship, people gathered anxiously for their news. Once they saw theming out of the ocean, deafening cheers erupted everywhere.

    ¡°My god, this is really a miracle!¡±

    ¡°The sharks didn¡¯t eat them. Unbelievable!¡±

 Chapter 919 - Beat Him to Death

    <h4>Chapter 919: Beat Him to Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The crowd was boisterous as they cheered in celebration of their survival.

    The lifeboat had been released a while back, and the lifeguards were now helping the three of them back up onto the cruise. Xia Ling was drenched and her soaked gown was a little translucent, emphasizing her great figure even more. She looked just like a mermaid out of the water, but she was extremely weak.

    She coughed out some water and panted heavily, using herst bit of strength to check for Little Shaohui¡¯s breath. The child had fainted and his face was pale. She reached out towards his nose with a trembling hand, and after what seemed like an eternity, she finally felt his weak breathing.

    Only then did she heave a sigh of relief, before passing out too.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei called out to her. At that moment, he didn¡¯t have the heart to care that he was exhausted as well, or that he was dripping wet. He immediately did CPR on her before managing to get some water out of her. He gave her chest many more pumps before her breathing stabilized.

    Li Lei picked her up and strode towards the cabin. ¡°Where¡¯s the doctor!¡±

    The doctor on board hurriedly caught up with Li Lei. On the other side, Little Shaohui was already out of the woods after treatment from the lifeguards. He was brought into the cabin not too long after.

    Xia Ling had no idea for how long she was unconscious.

    She had a long dream, in which a vast ocean and the dim light of the sun appeared in the distance. She dreamt a group of sharks was chasing Li Lei; she tried to save him but to no avail, and eventually had to watch as the sharks ripped him into shreds...

    ¡°Ah!¡± She woke up screaming.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± The man keeping vigil looked up at her, ovee with joy. ¡°You¡¯re up? How do you feel? Are you hurting anywhere?¡±

    She looked at him, stunned for a few seconds, before proceeding to hug him and wail like a child.

    Li Lei was caught off guard. ¡°Xiao Ling? Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong? Where are you hurting? Don¡¯t scare me!¡±

    She continued crying without giving an exnation. But soon after, she began chiding him between sobs. ¡°Li Lei, you jerk! Why did you jump in to save me?! What if you got eaten by the sharks?! If you die, what am I to do?!¡± She cried even harder now and was barely catching her breath.

    Li Lei finally understood why she was so upset. He hurriedly exined, ¡°Xiao Ling, be good, don¡¯t cry... Aren¡¯t I doing fine now? I couldn¡¯t think so much just now. The moment I saw you were in trouble, I just had to jump in.¡±

    He kissed her forehead. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. Don¡¯t cry, alright.¡±

    But she could not stop her tears. ¡°Who allowed you to jump in? Who allowed you to jump in! If not for Shaohui, you would¡¯ve been killed by sharks! W-Why did you bring Shaohui down with you?! He¡¯s so young, how could you be so cruel!¡±

    Li Lei felt so wronged. ¡°I didn¡¯t take him along, he chose to jump in with me. If we weren¡¯t in the water, I would¡¯ve bashed him up! Yes, once he¡¯s recovered I¡¯ll teach him a good lesson!¡±

    Xia Ling reached out to hit him. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you a good lesson first! Why would you dare jump in on your own if you didn¡¯t bring him along?! Did you think about the consequences? If he didn¡¯t follow you, you¡¯d have been dead!¡± She hit him over and over again, but because she was still weak, Li Lei did not feel any pain.

    Li Lei did not evade her beatings at all. After taking them for a while, he tried to coax her again, only to realize that whatever he said was wrong anyway. He had no other choice but to hold her in his arms gently, pat her back, and speak to her calmly and tenderly. When she was finally tired from the crying and from hitting him, she stopped.

    He got some tissue paper and wiped her face. ¡°It¡¯s alright now. Look at us, isn¡¯t our family of three doing just fine? You¡¯re my Phoenix and I¡¯m your parasol tree, nothing will go wrong as long as we¡¯re together.¡±

    Xia Ling felt like crying again. He¡¯d saved her life countless times all these years, and she had lost track of how many lives she owed him. She sniffled and nced at Shaohui, who was sleeping on the bed beside her. His breathing was slow and steady, and he seemed to be smiling as if he was having a sweet dream.

    Li Lei followed her gaze and looked over, too.

    ¡°Our son is brave.¡± Heforted her. This time, it was Little Shaohui who saved both their lives.

    ¡°Beat him to death!¡± Xia Ling said sulkily. Their son was so young and was already getting defiant. The sea was full of sharks and he actually dared to jump? When she saw him struggling helplessly in the water, her heart practically broke¡ªthis time they were lucky to escape unscathed, but what if they hadn¡¯t been?

    Evidently, Li Lei was finally singing the same tune as his wife with regards to this issue.

    Their son was brave indeed, but he was also asking for it!

    Li Lei, who¡¯d survived yet another cmity, was already thinking of how to give his child a piece of his mind.

    Meanwhile, Little Shaohui was still soundly asleep and oblivious to his parents¡¯ ns. He turned over and began sucking on his thumb, as if he¡¯d dreamt of some delicacies.

    Seeing how blissful his son looked, Li Lei couldn¡¯t help but hug his wife even tighter.

    He kissed her on the forehead again and whispered, ¡°Shall we have another child?¡±

    Xia Ling leaned against his sturdy shoulder and watched her son sleep as well. She whispered back, ¡°One is already enough to worry us, what if we can¡¯t manage with two children?¡±

    Li Lei smiled and began unbuttoning her top. ¡°We can have a little girl this time, she can¡¯t be as mischievous as this little brat.¡±

    Xia Ling gasped a little. ¡°Our son is right here!¡±

    But he couldn¡¯t be bothered. He pinned her under his weight...

    It was probably because of the near-death experience, or that they were too afraid of losing each other again, but this time they cuddled for a long, long while. When it was over, she wrapped her arms around his neck. ¡°Apany me.¡±

    He gently snuggled back into her embrace.

    Feeling his breathing and the warmth of his body, she gradually felt more secure. It was almost as if the incident in the sea had be nothing more than a fictitious story, a false memory.

    ¡°The night sky is beautiful,¡± she murmured as she looked out the window.

    Before they knew, the night hade.

    Li Lei looked up at the stars with her and said, ¡°The wedding will be dyed slightly. We were supposed to reach the ind today for the banquet, but we¡¯re only doing that tomorrow now. The guests are all being very nice; they didn¡¯t have a single word of grievance about this. Anyway, there¡¯ll be a party on the cruise tonight, and the wedding will resume tomorrow.¡±

    She nodded. It was so good to have him around, he always ensured everything was properly dealt with.

    Out of the blue, she thought of someone. ¡°How¡¯s Li Feng doing?¡±

 Chapter 920 - Completion of the Wedding

    <h4>Chapter 920: Completion of the Wedding</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened upon hearing this name.

    Xia Ling wrapped her arm around his waist and looked up at him. ¡°Did Li Feng run away?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°He was sniped by your brother and the gunshot wound was only one centimeter away from his heart. He almost lost his life. I¡¯ve already kept him under arrest with his arms and legs tied up. He can¡¯t run.¡± Until now, Li Lei did not know whether his brother-inw had missed the target or if he was extremely urate in his shot and deliberately spared Li Feng¡¯s life. In any case, he dared not ask.

    His brother had finally gotten a bit of teaching.

    ¡°How do you intend to deal with him?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep him locked up first until he recovers from his injury. I¡¯ve looked up the Wei family and will be purchasing a new kind of medicine that will slowly degenerate his intelligence and turn him into an idiot gradually.¡± He did not want to do this to his brother, but as of now, this was the best case scenario possible. In the past when Li Lei was single, he could let him off on ount of their blood ties. But now that he had Xiao Ling, he could not put her in any danger.

    Xia Ling asked in a whisper, ¡°Are you sad?¡±

    He did not expect her to ask such a question, and somewhere in his heart, he felt an ache. He stroked her hair before saying, ¡°There are a lot of things that make us sad in this world. We have to give something up, to protect what¡¯s more important.¡±

    She felt a strange ache as well and hugged him closer.

    Both of them fell asleep in each other¡¯s arms. The next morning, Little Shaohui woke up and the family of three changed into their outfit and got their makeup done. They were on to the next segment of the wedding.

    The cruise stopped at an ind.

    It was the Li family¡¯s private ind and it was now beautifully set up for the wedding. Colorful balloons and white flowers filled the ce as uniformed employees served the guests.

    It was as if the little hup the previous day had not happened at all.

    On the ind, Xia Ling changed into a more formal wedding gown. It was an extravagant bare-back design with a stunning 10-meter long drag on her gown. Along with the flow of the music, her father¡ªthe Xia Family Head¡ªpersonally walked her down the aisle towards Li Lei, who was waiting at the floral gate, smiling.

    The Xia Family Head handed her daughter to Li Lei.

    Li Lei politely received her. She was wearing ace glove which cast beautiful shadows over her slender hand; she looked just like a fairy.

    ¡°Take good care of her.¡± The Xia Family Head said as he tried his best to conceal his reluctance to part with her.

    Li Lei looked at him sincerely. ¡°Dad, I will take good care of Xiao Ling. I¡¯ll protect her and keep her blissful for the rest of her life. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    The Xia Family Head nodded his head solemnly and revealed his longing to his daughter.

    Li Lei led Xia Ling towards the floral gate and was about to walk through it when Xia Ling suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned around, and gave her father a hug. ¡°Dad!¡± She choked.

    Her life had been a tough one. Since she was young, she¡¯d never known who her parents were. When they finally acknowledged each other, she was about to marry into another family before she even had the chance to fulfill her filial duties to her parents. It wasn¡¯t just her father who was reluctant to part with her, she felt the same... She wrapped him in her arms tightly and sobbed.

    The Xia Family Head was initially trying to keep up his tough front, but at this point, his eyes had turned red. ¡°My dear daughter,¡± he said, his heart aching. ¡°Be happy with Li Lei. Without Dad by your side, you have to take good care of yourself. Come back and visit us when you¡¯re free, alright?¡±

    He could not go on any further as his voice went hoarse.

    A number of guests shed tears as well. They had practically forgotten that the person standing before them was none other than Xia Family Head¡ªa man who could change the world as he wished. His role now was solely a father, one who was simr to all other fathers and who could not bear to part with his daughter.

    Xia Ling nodded her head vehemently as tears rolled down her cheeks.

    Xia Family Head coaxed her. ¡°Don¡¯t cry, it wouldn¡¯t be good if your makeup smudges. It¡¯s your big day today, Xiao Ling. Lighten up, okay?¡±

    She nodded, but her tears never stopped.

    Li Lei took a few steps forward and gently pulled her away from her father and into his arms. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s alright.¡± He coaxed her tenderly. ¡°I¡¯lle with you to visit your parents and brother often.¡±

    Only then did she feel better and obediently held his hand as they walked towards the stage.

    The bridesmaids and best men followed behind them, while the flower boys and girls tossed flower petals.

    When they reached the stage, the emcee made the necessary statements and the two of them exchanged their vows and rings. When the glistening titanium ring was worn on her finger, her tears came again.

    ¡°Little crybaby.¡± He teased her before bending over to kiss her.

    The scene in which they exchanged kisses seemed like the most beautiful portrait on the. Reporters just off the stage could not stop snapping photos, trying to capture the best moment for eternity.

    The audience roared with apuse as the official ceremony came to a beautiful close.

    She was finally his bride, finally the official Mrs. Li. From now on, no one could call her the third party or any other names; it was all official.

    Meanwhile, the one who was ¡°unofficial¡± was another woman, Su Tang.

    Su Tang did not appear at the wedding.

    It wasn¡¯t a bad thing that she did not attend. Li Lei had not forced her, and even Old Master Li agreed with his grandson¡¯s stand this time. Well, the bride came from a mysteriously powerful family, it¡¯d be bad if her appearance offended them in any way. Moreover,pared to the bride¡¯s identity, Su Tang was... insignificant.

    Old Master Li had said to Su Tang, ¡°Ah Tang, you¡¯re a good girl, you have to tolerate this. Even though you don¡¯t have an official title, you¡¯ll always be the Li family¡¯s granddaughter-inw in my heart.¡±

    Su Tang agreed sadly but was fuming on the inside. <i>The granddaughter-inw in your heart? So what! Who are you when your words don¡¯t even mean a thing to Li Lei!</i>

    What she wanted was the official status of Li Lei¡¯s wife!

    Since even Old Master was unwilling to help her out, she had no choice but to help herself!

    She cooped herself up at home and was practically torturing herself by watching the live stream of the wedding. She had to learn as much about her enemy as possible toe up with a wless plot against her.

    The more she watched on, the more irksome the program became.

    Ever since the bride left her house the previous day, mes had been rising in her heart. It was incredibly hard to control her emotions and she wished so much to jump into the TV screen and rip Xia Ling apart. After that, the signal was lost and her intuition told her that something was wrong. She was so happy she knelt down and prayed for Xia Ling to die a terrible death.

 Chapter 921 - Su Tang Hit the Child

    <h4>Chapter 921: Su Tang Hit the Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What a pity, the next day, the connection recovered and the wedding went on as nned.

    When Su Tang saw the two of them exchange their rings and embrace each other in a kiss, she felt as if a thousand insects were gnawing at her heartstrings. No longer able to keep her emotions in check, she picked up the vase on the table and hurled it at the television.

    The vase shatteredpletely, but the television remained intact.

    Onscreen was Li Lei expressing his love for Xia Ling. ¡°I will love you forever, take care of you and protect you. No matter where you are or how you turn out to look, I will stay by you, forever and always.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled so sweetly, she looked like the most blissful woman on earth.

    Su Tang stormed to the kitchen and found a chopper. She began hacking on the television until the screen finally shattered, sparks flew, and then everything became dead silent. Even then, her anger was not quelled. She continued hacking at it until it became a pile of debris. Only then did she release the chopper and fall to the ground.

    ¡°Airne! Airne¡¯s flying and flying...l...¡± A child¡¯s voice rang out before Li Rui appeared with an airne model. He was running around the house imitating the flight of an airne.

    ¡°Lla,l,l...¡± Li Rui continued yelling as his footsteps thundered across the ground. The pile of debris appeared interesting to him, so he tossed the airne model on top of it and shouted, ¡°The airne¡¯s up the mountain! The airne has crashed! The airne is dead! Dead! Dead! Lla...¡±

    Su Tang was getting frustrated. She red at him and said, ¡°Get out!¡±

    ¡°Lla! Boom!¡± Li Ruipletely ignored his mother and went on ying with the airne and the debris. He grabbed a random piece of junk and threw it towards his mother. ¡°Boom boom boom! It¡¯s a fighter jet! Jet number five, get ready for attack! Cannon! Boom boom!¡±

    The object hit Su Tang pretty hard.

    A bruise began forming on her elbow.

    Su Tang looked at this worthless child and remembered how Little Shaohui looked on screen a while ago. That child was in a white suit, looking handsome and trying to appear serious, what an extremely adorable boy. But what about this one at home? Such an ill-bred child! Both of them were five years old, going on six, but why was there such stark contrast?!

    She¡¯d lost to Xia Ling, and even her son had lost to Xia Ling¡¯s son!

    An inexplicable rage rose inside Su Tang and she gave him a tight p on the face. ¡°Piece of junk! Fly! I¡¯m telling you to fly! Did you hear me! Fly!¡± Her p was hard and Li Rui yelled the moment it hit him.

    Li Rui had no idea why his mother hit him, but he had long been used to hiswless ways. Now, he was struggling to hit his mother with his elbow. ¡°Bad mom! Bad mom! I hate you! Airne, attack Mom!¡±

    Su Tang was even angrier now. She pushed him to the floor and hit him incessantly.

    Li Rui tried to retaliate initially, but he was a child after all, how could he possibly defend himself against an adult? It didn¡¯t take long for him to cry and beg for mercy. ¡°It hurts! Mom, stop hitting! Bad mom! You can¡¯t hit me!¡±

    His wailing got louder.

    Su Tang got increasingly frustrated and her beatings got harder. Slowly, the image of Li Rui faded out before her and was reced by all those years of indignance and pent up anger¡ªshe saw the first time she met Xia Ling and how that pretty face of hers made her tempted to rip it apart; she saw the time Li Lei was dejected because of that woman; she saw Li Lei tucking her in when she¡¯d fallen asleep unknowingly; she even saw how Li Lei missed her and longed for her for all four years they had been apart...

    Until the end, when both of them finally tied the knot.

    ¡°I¡¯ll beat you! I¡¯ll beat you to death!¡± Su Tang was in tears now, but even as her vision blurred, the vengeance in her eyes did not quell. She treated Li Rui as Xia Ling and got increasingly ruthless with her beatings. Initially, Li Rui could still scream and shout, but now he wasn¡¯t even crying anymore. There was no way to run or beg for mercy, and now he had gone silent.

    When the maids came rushing out after hearing themotion, they got a shock¡ª

    They saw Su Tang hitting Li Rui like a madwoman while the child was curled up on the ground. Beneath him was a pool of fresh blood on the sturdy wood flooring.

    They hurriedly pulled Su Tang aside and sent him to the hospital.

    Li Lei received news of it that very afternoon¡ªafter the wedding, while they were holding a reception in the yard, a subordinate came up to him and whispered in his ear.

    Xia Ling, who was right beside him, asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much. You can go get some sun first and drink some fruit wine, I¡¯ll go check if the helicopter for the guests is ready.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head and saw him off.

    Li Lei took a few steps away until he was out of her sight before asking the subordinate, ¡°How¡¯s Li Rui¡¯s injury?¡±

    The subordinate said, ¡°It¡¯s serious. He¡¯s still undergoing emergency treatment and in critical condition. Sister Su Tang isn¡¯t in a good state, either. She hasn¡¯t eaten anything or said a word since they discovered her. The doctor suspects...¡± The subordinate paused midsentence.

    ¡°Suspects what?¡± Li Lei asked.

    ¡°Suspects Sister Su Tang¡¯s mental state may not be normal. He suggests... that she gets a thorough assessment of her psychiatric condition.¡± The subordinate was a little pained. ¡°Young Master, would you like to see her?¡±

    These subordinates went through life and death with Su Tang since many years back and felt strongly for her. They knew well and clear that elegant and righteous Su Tang only lost her mind because of the Young Master¡¯s wedding. Although Xia Ling was a rather good woman, many of them still sympathized with Su Tang.

    Li Lei looked at him with cold eyes. ¡°Ah Wang, you know what asion it is today.¡±

    ¡°But, Sister Su Tang is already in this state! Little Young Master Rui is still in critical condition...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a doctor nor a psychiatrist, what difference does it make if I go?¡± Li Lei did not waver. ¡°Contact the best specialist around and pay any price it takes to save Li Rui. As for Su Tang, get somebody to stay by her side and take care of her round the clock. Over the next few days, if there aren¡¯t any major changes in their conditions, don¡¯te bothering me, and don¡¯t even think about going to Xiao Ling¡ªsend my order down, anyone who lets Xiao Ling know about this will get it from me!¡±

    The subordinate was indignant but helpless, and he had no choice but to leave.

    Li Lei took a ss of wine from a passing waiter and began scanning the yard for Xia Ling. She had changed into another outfit and now donned a pastel pink gown that subtly showed off her curves; she looked so stunning. She was holding a ss of wine as well and was happily chatting with Bai Murong and Luo Luo. Luo Luo had her arm hooked around Xia Ling affectionately as they spoke.

 Chapter 922 - The Little Brat Ratted It Out

    <h4>Chapter 922: The Little Brat Ratted It Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the abundant sunlight, she appeared exceptionally blissful.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression softened unconsciously. In order to protect her serenity and bliss, he was more than willing to face all the troubles and frustrations alone.

    The rest of the wedding ceremony went on smoothly. After sending the guests off, the couple took a helicopter to the Li family headquarters, received their wees and blessings, and moved into the newly renovated house. The new house was constructed back then because Xia Ling wanted to keep a distance from Su Tang. It was near tall mountains and the blue sea and surrounded by a bamboo forest¡ªthe view was simply perfect.

    Happy with how the house turned out, she kissed Li Lei on the neck.

    Li Lei smiled affectionately at her. ¡°You like it? We cane here to stay more often.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± She did not hesitate for even a moment. Deep in her heart, she knew that there was no way Li Lei could abandon such a huge business now that he had taken over as the head of the household. In that case, they would have to live in the headquarters for good eventually. As of now, Li Lei was just dying this process on ount of her career.

    But she could not hold him back forever just because of her matters.

    Managing the ck triad business was very different from managing a usual one. It was like walking on a tightrope¡ªanyck of conscientiousness could cost them their survival. As for singing? Couldn¡¯t that be done anywhere?

    Xia Ling thought about this for a moment before nting another kiss on him.

    Little Shaohui covered his eyes with his hands. Seriously, Dad and Mom didn¡¯t even care that he was still too young for this, hmph. Although his hands were over his eyes, he was still peeping through the gap between his fingers. How envious... Dad and Mom were so loving. When he grew up, he was going to find a beautiful wife to spend the rest of his life with, too.

    The little one peeped for a while more before making his way to the new house.

    Xia Ling, Li Lei, and Shaohui lived at the headquarters for a while. Li Lei settled the urgent matters as soon as he could before the family of three went for a round-the-world honeymoon trip.

    Why as a family of three?

    Li Lei had not nned on bringing Little Shaohui alone initially. They finally got to spend their time as a couple, why would he want to bring a gooseberry along? But Little Shaohui wouldn¡¯t have it and went crying to Xia Ling about how Dad did not want him anymore. Xia Ling could not bear to see him cry and decided on the spot that they were taking him along.

    Now it was time for Li Lei to be the one crying.

    But it was a two to one vote, there was no point in crying over it.

    Li Lei had no choice but to take their son along with them.

    They mainly toured around European countries and specially picked out the ces in which Xia Ling had never released an album in so no one would recognize her. Xia Ling rarely got to enjoy such moments of being free from paparazzi. She toured happily and even put on some weight.

    The toursted over a month but seemed to have flown by so quickly. The day of returning hade.

    On this day, Xia Ling was sitting before the mirror, grooming herself in her ocean-view hotel room. Little Shaohui dashed in and climbed his way onto herp. ¡°Mom, Mom,¡± He looked up at her. ¡°Let me tell you a secret.¡±

    ¡°What secret?¡± Xia Ling smiled at her son as she put her ivoryb down.

    In the morning light, the child¡¯s softshes fluttered as he blinked his eyes. He whispered, ¡°When I went to the little forest back there to look for some fruit jam, I heard Dad talking on the phone. I think Aunt Su Tang and Xiao Rui are sick. Xiao Rui¡¯s sickness sounds serious and he misses Dad.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart almost dropped. What was it again this time?

    She asked the child, ¡°What else did you hear?¡±

    The child shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s all. Oh, and I heard Dad tell them not to tell you about it.¡±

    Why didn¡¯t Li Lei tell her? Xia Ling only considered that question for a second before deciding to directly ask him about it. Having gone through so much together, she no longer held any doubts about him.

    She quietly asked the child, ¡°Then why did youe to tell Mom?¡±

    The child blinked his eyes. ¡°Because Mom told me to treat Xiao Rui as my little brother.¡± Of course he had to tell his mother if his little brother was ill. Big Brother Du and his private teacher told him that brothers in such a big family had to be close and nice to each other. Otherwise, every minor issue could trigger much unhappiness.

    Xia Ling ruffled his hair.

    Honestly, she did not regret getting Shaohui to treat Li Rui as his little brother. After all, the child was innocent and she did not want to make things difficult for Li Lei. She said to Little Shaohui, ¡°Alright, Mom knows what to do now. I¡¯ll ask Dad about it.¡±

    Once she said that, Li Lei¡¯s voice could be hearding from the door. ¡°Little rascal has learned to tell on others?¡±

    Both mother and son turned around to see a man leaning against the door hinge. He attempted to look fierce but failed to conceal the smile in his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s Dad!¡± Little Shaohui called out before hurriedly covering his eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t let out a secret! You can¡¯t see me, you can¡¯t see me...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve even learned to lie.¡± This time, Li Lei could not help butugh. He walked over, held him up by his back cor, and took him in his arms. ¡°The other time, Brother Du Zheng told you to be close and harmonious as brothers, right?¡±

    Shaohui nodded his head honestly.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°What else did he say?¡±

    Shaohui quietly replied, ¡°Brother Du Zheng said that I¡¯ll be taking over the whole family business in the future. For everyone to respect me, listen to me, and be willing to do things for me, I¡¯ll have to be nice to them from now on.¡± He paused for a while to think before adding, ¡°And I guess that if I¡¯m nice to Li Rui, he¡¯ll like Mom someday.¡±

    He knew that Li Rui had always hated his mother, and hoped that the two of them could get along well.

    Li Lei pinched his cheeks and smiled. ¡°Have you thought of other ways to deal with them?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Little Shaohui was confused.

    Li Lei went on. ¡°It¡¯s not wrong to want everyone to respect and like you. But is being nice to them the only way to achieve things?¡±

    The child looked at Dad and then turned to look at Mom.

    Xia Ling looked everywhere but at him. She thought, <i>I¡¯m sorry Shaohui, even Mom can¡¯t help you this time. The question your Dad hase up with involves the family business and inheriting the throne, it¡¯s not my business!</i>

    The child was speechless.

    Li Lei asked, ¡°You have no idea?¡±

    Little Shaohui shook his head.

    Li Lei ced him on the bed and began teaching him. ¡°There are many ways. Getting them to be grateful towards you and appreciate you is one way, but you can also make them fear you, or... you can make them disappear from this world.¡± His tone got deeper, and it was beginning to get more serious.

    Xia Ling felt a chill down her spine but did not stop Li Lei.

    She knew that such gory and dark ideas were something that they had to deal with. In a world where all sorts of evildoers existed, given Shaohui¡¯s status and the expectations others had of his future, being too kind and vulnerable wouldnd him in trouble.

 Chapter 923 - Each Generation Better Than the Last

    <h4>Chapter 923: Each Generation Better Than the Last</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Little Shaohui thought about it for a while.

    Then, he looked up at his Dad and said, ¡°I can even secretly tell Mom about it... no, Uncle.¡± Mom was too silly, she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle such aplex issue. ¡°I can get Uncle to kill Aunt Su Tang and Xiao Rui while they¡¯re still seriously ill. This way, everything will be solved.¡±

    The child¡¯s voice was still meek and adorable, but his words were terrifying.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°Yup, going to your uncle is a good idea. But Uncle¡¯s family believes in the Mandate of Heaven and will hardlymit such acts. He might not be willing to help you.¡±

    Shaohui thought for a while and realised that if Uncle was involved, Aunt Su Tang and Uncle Li Feng would have been dead long ago. He furrowed his brows and thought for a while. ¡°Uncle Ah Nuo and the rest are Dad¡¯s men, they¡¯ll definitely let it out on Dad...¡±

    Oh no, he realized that there was actually nobody around him that he could trust.

    Li Lei smiled again. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you were able to exclude Ah Nuo and the rest. Beforeing up with a good and clear n, it¡¯s better not to act than to alert others unnecessarily.¡±

    ¡°Then what should I do?¡± The child looked up at his Dad.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Firstly, you have to hone your own skills and power. You have to know that even though Dad has power, you may not always be able to use it. You have to find someone who is loyal only to you and willing to die only for you. Secondly, when the time isn¡¯t ripe yet, you can¡¯t win them by fighting it out, but you can outwit them. Take today¡¯s case for instance, you could choose to pretend not to do anything, but secretly instigate Xiao Rui. Xiao Rui is simple-minded and hot-tempered, and he¡¯ll easily cause trouble when instigated. You could find a way to make Dad detest him more and more, or evene between Aunt Su Tang and him. One day, you¡¯ll get what you wish for.¡±

    The child nodded his head in understanding.

    Xia Ling looked at the father and son pair¡ªdisregarding the gory, she was touched by the scene. She knew that Li Lei had never imparted any of this to Li Rui, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be acting so mindlessly and childishly now. And yet, he was willing to teach Shaohui everything that he knew. He had even told Shaohui that he needed to have his own power and loyal ally, and it wasn¡¯t sufficient if they were just loyal to Dad.

    They were biological father and son, but how many fathers and sons were actually this close?

    She felt gratified that the two men she loved most were getting along so well.

    Li Lei was satisfied with his understanding and ruffled his hair. ¡°I¡¯ll give you an extra drumstick for dinner.¡±

    Little Shaohui was overjoyed and pped his hands. ¡°Yay, yay! Dad¡¯s drumsticks are the most delicious!¡± He paused for a while before asking Li Lei, ¡°Then, is Xiao Rui alright now?¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Now that you know all these ways to go against Xiao Rui, you¡¯re still worried about whether he¡¯s alright?¡±

    Little Shaohui said very seriously, ¡°He¡¯s my brother, and Mom said I should treat him as my biological little brother. As long as I can get along with him peacefully, I won¡¯t use all those cruel ways on him. Unless it gets to the point where our rtionship can¡¯t be salvaged any longer and I have no choice, in that case, I¡¯ll have to kill him.¡±

    ¡°That gets you another drumstick.¡± Li Lei smiled very happily.

    He was proud of his son. At such a young age, he was able to have his own opinion and was not easily influenced even by a figure of authority. What was even more valuable was that he wasn¡¯t inflexible in his thinking¡ªif there was a need to be ruthless, he would be.

    This was practically a perfect heir.

    Li Lei smiled and ruffled his soft hair again.

    Xia Ling was smiling as well. ¡°Why are you so happy? He¡¯s so capable, beware of him ousting you next time.¡±

    ¡°Well, by all means.¡± Li Lei said, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to give up the position, anyway. Little Shaohui, you¡¯ve to get capable soon, okay? Remember how Dad took over Grandpa¡¯s power? You can do that too, and prove that you¡¯re better than I am. The Li family heirs should be more and more capable by the generations. By then, Dad can retire early and tour the world with Mom, bearing you a bunch of younger brothers and sisters.¡±

    ¡°Who wants to bear you a bunch of kids!¡± Xia Ling blushed as she snapped at him.

    Li Lei continued smiling shamelessly.

    Little Shaohui was happy, too. How nice it would be to have a bunch of younger siblings.

    After they¡¯d had their fun, Xia Ling went to ask Li Lei about Su Tang and Li Rui¡¯s situation. Li Lei tried to exin it in the briefest terms possible. ¡°When I got married to you, Su Tang could not take the blow and her depression rpsed. She even had a manic episode and went mad hitting Xiao Rui. Right now, Xiao Rui is still warded for recuperation, and Su Tang is warded too, for treatment of her manic disorder. I n to visit them after our honeymoon.¡±

    In any case, Su Tang was his benefactor, and her current situation was caused by him.

    When they were first married, he had considered Xia Ling¡¯s feelings and decided not to visit the mother and son first. But it was only right for him to make an appearance and show some concern after their honeymoon. Since Xia Ling had already found out, he did not intend to hide it from her. Both of them hade so far together after many trials and tribtions, it was better to be honest and open with each other about things.

    Xia Ling nodded and expressed her understanding.

    There was a tinge of difort inside her, but it wasn¡¯t towards Li Lei, but the woman who refused to leave.

    ¡°Xiao Rui is rather pitiful.¡± She looked at her adorable Little Shaohui. Ever since she had her own child, her maternal instincts rang louder than anything. ¡°Which mother could be so brutal to hurt her child so badly?¡±

    Li Lei felt that Su Tang had gone overboard, too. ¡°Logically speaking, he¡¯s not my biological son, so I shouldn¡¯t be intervening. But in any case, since Xiao Rui addresses me as Dad, I can¡¯t possibly not be concerned about him knowing that he¡¯s seriously injured. If Su Tang can¡¯t face the reality, I¡¯ll have no choice but to find Xiao Rui another guardian.¡±

    Deep inside, he really did not want to tear the mother and son apart. But this could not go on for Xiao Rui, he was truly afraid that Xiao Rui would grow up to be a second Li Feng. That child needed a proper home environment.

    ¡°Find him another guardian?¡± Xia Ling asked softly.

    ¡°Yup, I¡¯ll find someone in the family who¡¯s willing to adopt Xiao Rui and raise him. Don¡¯t worry, Su Tang is on good terms with the family, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult finding people who want to raise him.¡± Li Lei said.

    Xia Ling nodded and did not go on, but she still looked troubled.

    Once the honeymoon was over and the family of three were back, they went to the hospital Su Tang and Li Rui were in.

    They went to see Li Rui first. The child was lying in bed and on a drip, and his face was distorted with anger. He yelled at the nurse who was changing the drip for him. ¡°I don¡¯t want Mom! Bad Mom! I want Dad! I want Dad toe and see me!¡± He began wailing.

 Chapter 924 - Moving Back to the Headquarters

    <h4>Chapter 924: Moving Back to the Headquarters</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei entered the room and said to him tenderly, ¡°Dad¡¯s here.¡±

    Li Rui, who was lying in bed, was hit with delight and called out, ¡°Dad!¡± But once he saw that Xia Ling and Little Shaohui were following right behind, he began throwing a tantrum. ¡°Bad woman! Get out! Li Shaohui, you too! Get out!¡± In a fit of anger, he threw a mug at them.

    The child did not have enough strength to aim well. Hence, Xia Ling and Shaohui easily evaded it.

    Li Lei grabbed Li Rui¡¯s hand and told him seriously, ¡°Xiao Rui, don¡¯t be rude. Your Aunt Xiao Ling and Brother Shaohui specially came to see you. You have to get along well with them, do you hear me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want them toe to see me!¡± The child was still yelling. ¡°Damned Aunt, damned Brother! If not for them, I wouldn¡¯t be called a bastard child! Get them to die! All of them!¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Who called you a bastard child?¡± He had instructed the subordinates long ago and warned them not to tell Li Rui about his actual identity. Who actually dared go against his words!

    To his surprise, Li Rui said, ¡°It¡¯s Mom! Mom said everyone else is mocking me for being a bastard child! If it wasn¡¯t for that woman, she could be your wife! Our family of three would be officially recognized!¡±

    Who knew it would be Su Tang who said this?

    How did she even raise her kid?

    Li Lei knitted his brows together even more. He began to wonder if he had been wrong to show ack of concern to Li Rui all these years. He had thought that Su Tang would be a good mother. But given the way things were now, it seemed like she wasn¡¯t all too concerned about this child. Besides the harsh beatings, she was even feeding him such tales!

    How could this go on in the long run?

    He was about to say something when a soft, gentle voice interjected. ¡°Xiao Rui, even though there¡¯s Mom and me now, you¡¯re still Dad¡¯s son. Your mom lied to you. Even though Dad and your mom aren¡¯t married, your mom is the only one whose status is affected. You¡¯ll always be the Li family¡¯s Little Young Master.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Li Rui yelled instinctively, but he was already slightly wavered by Shaohui¡¯s words.

    Little Shaohui was still soft and meek. He took a few steps forward and held Li Rui¡¯s hand. ¡°Mom has always told me to be nice to you because you¡¯re my younger brother. Look, besides your mom, no one else has ever called you a bastard child¡ªshe¡¯s the only one who¡¯s ever treated you like one. Dad, my mom and I, as well as the other aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, have always treated you as the honorable Little Young Master Li. Whatever I have, you have too, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Li Rui was even more convinced now. He wanted so much to rebut but had no words.

    Li Lei nced at Little Shaohui¡ªthis child was really applying what he had learned. Just a few days back he had imparted some knowledge to him, and now he was already sowing discord between Li Rui and Su Tang.

    ¡°Shaohui.¡± He warned solemnly.

    In any case, Su Tang was Li Rui¡¯s biological mother. Little Shaohui was being too much.

    But Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Li Lei,e out with me. Let the brothers have a talk.¡±

    Li Lei did not expect his wife to be so protective of their son. This was getting tough¡ªShaohui was obviously trying to brainwash Li Rui into thinking that his mom was all bad. Meanwhile, Li Rui was way too simple-minded to see through that, and it wouldn¡¯t take long for him to be convinced.

    Xia Ling clenched her teeth and whispered, ¡°Su Tang was hard-hearted enough to hit her child this badly, don¡¯t you want him to have his guard up against her even a little? Are you going to regret it only when Li Rui loses his life?¡±

    Li Lei felt a shiver down his spine and realized that she made some sense. Hence, he followed her out of the ward.

    They left Little Shaohui alone inside and could not figure out what he was saying to Li Rui.

    Xia Ling watched them through the window. She saw that Little Shaohui was looking at Li Rui with his sincere eyes the entire time and gesturing as he spoke. Initially, Li Rui was guarded against him and appeared rather fierce, but he gradually rxed over time and began showing some skepticism. A whileter, he began asking Shaohui questions, and then the two brothers ended up hugging each other.

    Seeing Li Rui wailing his eyes out in Little Shaohui¡¯s embrace, Xia Ling kept silent.

    What sort of spell did this child have to settle a little devil so quickly?

    Li Lei went to the window and saw what was going on, too. He shook his head in awe. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll really be able to retire prematurely.¡±

    Xia Ling rolled her eyes. ¡°Who was the one who didn¡¯t allow Shaohui to speak earlier on?¡±

    Li Lei smiled awkwardly. But smiles aside, he knew that it could be hard for Li Rui to get along with his mother properly in the future, given how Shaohui had depicted Su Tang before him. Seeing the wounds on that child, Li Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve to look for a family for him as soon as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at Li Rui who was sobbing inconsbly and kept quiet for a long time.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking...¡± Xia Ling paused for a while before going on slowly. ¡°Li Rui is your child. Since that¡¯s what everyone knows as fact, it doesn¡¯t seem appropriate to have him at someone else¡¯s home. No matter the reason, it would appear that both his parents have abandoned him. Why don¡¯t we raise him instead? That way, Little Shaohui and he would both have somepany.¡±

    Li Lei was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re willing to raise him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not your biological son, anyway.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°If he was, I¡¯d have strangled him and tossed him into the sea long ago. But this child is too pitiful, just let me be Mother Theresa for once.¡±

    She used to detest this demon child Li Rui to the core, but when she saw him lying on the hospital bed covered in scars, she couldn¡¯t help but feel sad for him. She felt so sorry for hisck of familial love. How pitiful and lonely he must be feeling; how traumatic it must have been for him to be beaten so badly by his biological mother.

    This must be why he was crying so hard in Little Shaohui¡¯s arms now.

    Xia Ling looked up at Li Lei very seriously. ¡°Get the adoption papers settled and change Li Rui¡¯s guardian from Su Tang¡¯s name to yours. This way, he¡¯ll officially be a Little Young Master of the Li family. Our new home is huge, we can prepare a room beside Shaohui¡¯s for him, so that the two brothers can y together. With a close rtionship, there won¡¯t be too much rivalry and trouble when they¡¯re older.¡±

    She had thought of everything.

    Li Lei was a little shocked. ¡°New home? Xiao Ling, you n to move back to the headquarters?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°For my sake, you¡¯ve been running between our city home and the headquarters for so long, it¡¯s been tough on you. Since it¡¯s a matter of time that we move back, why not do it now? It¡¯ll be good for Shaohui to get along and bond with the uncles and children back at the headquarters, too.¡±

 Chapter 925 - Accused for Nothing

    Chapter 925: used for Nothing

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    This way, Li Lei wouldn¡¯t have to have it so tough, too.

    Li Lei felt heartened, knowing full well that everything she was doing was for his sake. ¡°How are you going to handle your singing and endorsements?¡± He asked.

    Xia Ling looked at him with tenderness and love. ¡°What difference does it make if I sing elsewhere? I¡¯ll set up a studio at the headquarters and record my songs there when I need to. And anyway, traveling is convenient. I¡¯ll just go to Ah Wei and the rest if I need outdoor shoots and filming. Moreover...¡± She said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of phasing out slowly.¡±

    ¡°Phasing out?¡± Li Lei was shocked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I¡¯ll stopmercial endorsements and makingmercial appearances. I¡¯ll just stick with the purest and most simple of them all¡ªreleasing songs and holding concerts. Right now, I have nock of fame or money, why do I need to tire myself out? I¡¯ll just do it for my interests¡¯ sake and spend the rest of the time with you and Little Shaohui¡ªoh, and Li Rui.¡±

    She knew that he couldn¡¯t disregard Li Ruipletely. Rather than sending him off to another family reluctantly and be subjected to others¡¯ criticisms, they might as well go with the best option¡ªkeep him with them and raise him.

    But Li Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t mind you phasing out, I just want you to be happy. And Xiao Ling, you know that Xiao Rui doesn¡¯t quite like you. I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ll get hurt living under the same roof as him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a young child, how much could he hurt me?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Rx, there¡¯s Shaohui to watch over me, and Shaohui is much smarter than he is. Moreover, don¡¯t you think that he could start liking me gradually? I¡¯ve always been good with kids.¡± There was one more thing she did not and could not mention, which was the little selfishness she had as a woman. Since Su Tang was using the child to snatch Li Lei from her, she would take away Su Tang¡¯s tool once and for all.

    Once Li Rui was on her side, Su Tang wouldn¡¯t even have any means of appealing to Li Lei!

    What a pity. That woman had been smart her whole life and yet had made such a fatal mistake. Hitting her child? And almost to death? Did she expect her child to continue loving her in the future?! Such naivety!

    Li Lei kissed her on the forehead. ¡°Alright, then we¡¯ll bring Xiao Rui over and raise him.¡±

    Initially, he had nned to let Su Tang raise him so that she would have someone to depend on in her old age. But who knew that her bipr disorder would turn out to be so serious? She almost killed him! The other day when he went to look for the psychiatrist, he had said, ¡°Mr. Li, you have to take extra note of the child¡¯s safety. Although it¡¯s said that even a tiger won¡¯t eat her child, it¡¯s different for such disorders¡ªmothers with bipr disorder would think that keeping their child in this world is a form of torture. In order to liberate their child from suffering, they sometimes choose to kill them.¡±

    Li Lei was terrified to hear that.

    Given Su Tang¡¯s condition, she was definitely unfit to raise Li Rui.

    Xia Ling smiled at him. They were raising a child anyway, how hard could one more be? They just had to give him good food and a good life and make sure he did not go astray.

    He did not have to turn out especially capable.

    In the ward, Li Rui was almost done crying.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling re-entered.

    Li Lei ruffled Little Shaohui¡¯s hair first before giving Li Rui a warm embrace.

    The child cried again in his father¡¯s arms. ¡°Dad!¡±

    ¡°Dad¡¯s here.¡± Li Lei coaxed him tenderly. ¡°From now on, you¡¯ll be with Dad, alright? You¡¯ll live in Dad¡¯s house with Brother and Aunt Xiao Ling. We¡¯ll be a family of four.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Li Rui agreed with tears still rolling down his face. ¡°Dad, what took you so long toe?! You don¡¯t know how scary Mom was that day! She hit me so hard! I begged her to stop, but she wouldn¡¯t listen!¡± He was sobbing between words.

    ¡°Dad and Aunt Xiao Ling don¡¯t hit children. You¡¯ll be safe once you move in with us.¡± Li Lei was gentle with his words.

    Xia Ling could barely listen to him speak. How fickle-minded Li Lei was¡ªwho was the one who was deciding how to hit Shaohui thest time? If not for the pirate-themed wedding, Shaohui would¡¯ve been done for!

    She looked at Shaohui a little sympathetically. Not knowing why his mom was giving him that look, Little Shaohui felt a little creeped out.

    ¡°Xiao Rui seems to hate me less now?¡± Xia Ling whispered to Shaohui.

    Shaohui was proud of it. ¡°But of course! I told him that my mom is the best mom in the world and will tell lots and lots of bedtime stories, and take me to lots and lots of fun ces. He got so envious! Xiao Rui hated you because he thought that you were being mean to Aunt Su Tang, but I told him that it was just Aunt Su Tang spouting nonsense and lying to him... Even if Xiao Rui doesn¡¯t like you now, he doesn¡¯t exactly hate you.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her son in awe. This young boy was incredible, given how he managed to convince him so quickly and easily. He¡¯d definitely grow up to be a fine and capable man.

    She smiled and ruffled his hair.

    ¡°You people keep stroking me.¡± Little Shaohui quietly grumbled. ¡°I can¡¯t grow tall like this.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and stroked his head a few more times.

    The four of them got along pretty well. Li Lei said to Li Rui, ¡°When you¡¯re better, Dad will settle your discharge papers. What sort of room do you like? Dad will get someone to prepare the room for you. You¡¯ll be having the room beside Shaohui¡¯s, then you can y together.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Li Rui was delighted. ¡°I want one with a big dinosaur!¡±

    Li Lei agreed to it at once. Just then, a shrill voice came from the door. ¡°I won¡¯t agree to it! Don¡¯t even think about taking my child away!¡±

    Everyone turned around and saw that Su Tang was at the door in a white and blue striped patient outfit. Her hair was slightly disheveled and she was panting heavily while looking at them with bloodshot eyes.

    Li Rui immediately hid behind Li Lei. Ever since he was almost hit to death, he began to fear his mother.

    Su Tang looked at Li Lei and cried. ¡°Young Master... You took my love away, and now you¡¯re taking my son too? Can you return him to me? Don¡¯t listen to that woman¡¯s words, she¡¯ll kill my son!¡±

    She pointed at Xia Ling indignantly.

    Xia Ling felt used for nothing. She had not done anything and was already being med. But there was no point in bickering with this woman, she simply grabbed Shaohui and backed off a few steps as she waited for Li Lei to deal with it. He had to settle this woman, hmph.

    Li Lei was caught in a fix. He used to think of Su Tang as a pretty gooddy, but recently, she had be increasingly stubborn and unreasonable. ¡°Su Tang,¡± he said patiently. ¡°I know you can¡¯t bear to part with Xiao Rui. But the doctor says that given your current condition, you¡¯re in no state to take care of him. So I¡¯ve decided to raise him and take good care of him. He¡¯s still young, he can¡¯t be on his own.¡±

 Chapter 926 - Protecting Xiao Rui

    Chapter 926: Protecting Xiao Rui

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Su Tang staggered backward and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you! It must be that woman, she¡¯s sowing discord, isn¡¯t she? She wants to take my son away. Ye Xingling, return my son!¡±

    Tears streamed down Su Tang¡¯s face and she charged right at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling could not react in time and was pushed backward, losing her bnce. She knocked against the corner of the wooden desk and felt a sharp pain. As she tried to regain her footing, the world spun before her eyes and she fell to the ground with a whimper. She had no idea what was going on either, but her face had already turned pale.

    Su Tang was about to push her again.

    ¡°Enough! Su Tang!¡± Li Lei had alreadye forward and pulled her aside.

    He could not be bothered about Su Tang¡¯s feelings as he rushed forward towards Xia Ling. He knelt beside her and held her in his arms. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you alright?¡± He saw that her face was still pale and there were droplets of sweat on her forehead. For some reason, she even seemed to have difficulty breathing as she looked up at him weakly, as if she was going to pass out any moment.

    Li Lei¡¯s heart dropped. The way she appeared now, it didn¡¯t seem like a push would cause such a serious impact!

    What was with Xiao Ling, was she ill?

    He carried her up and strode out the ward as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to the doctor.¡±

    Little Shaohui looked at Dad and Mom worriedly and was about to follow them out, but at that moment, he turned around and saw Li Rui all curled up on the bed, looking at Su Tang in utter horror.

    Little Shaohui gave a little sigh and stayed in the ward.

    On the other side, Su Tang was sitting limply on the ground and murmuring to herself, ¡°He pushed me... he actually pushed me...¡± In the beautiful afternoon light, her words sounded oddly gloomy. All of a sudden, she snapped upwards and red meanly at Li Rui. ¡°You bastard child, aren¡¯t you happy now? You¡¯d rather have that wretched woman than Mom! I¡¯ll hit you! I¡¯ll hit you to death!¡± She dashed forward and raised her arm, all ready to hit him.

    Li Rui wailed. ¡°Mom, don¡¯t hit me! Mom, it¡¯s my fault!¡±

    He turned around and tried to shield himself, but it was toote, her hand had alreadynded on him heavily. His nightmare was back. Images of the other day flooded his mind again¡ªhis mother¡¯s ferocious look, his screams and cries, and the blood that eventually pooled on the floor...

    Shaohui yelled from the side, ¡°You can¡¯t hit Xiao Rui!¡±

    He tried to push Su Tang aside but was pushed away instead. Little Shaohui was shoved to the ground, his head hit the sturdy leg of the bed and hended in a pile of ss debris from medicine bottles, bleeding instantly. But he did not have the time to attend to his pain. He went forward and tried pulling Su Tang away, but was shoved aside once again.

    He was soaked from head to toe in grape-vored medicine and his blood. He scanned the surroundings and noticed a bright red button by the bedside¡ªhe went for it and pressed it before pouncing on top of Li Rui, protecting Li Rui¡¯s body with his.

    Su Tang¡¯s beatingsnded on him.

    Seeing that Shaohui was shielding Li Rui, she flew into a rage and sneered brutally. ¡°Very well... your mom is a cheap good, and so are you! Trying to y the hero? Fine! I¡¯ll satisfy you! I¡¯ll beat you to death too!¡±

    She held up the drop stand and swung it towards Shaohui, with the drip and tubes still attached to it.

    The moment it hit him, Shaohui let out a soft whimper and tasted blood in his throat, before feeling some blood dripping from the corner of his lips. But he never loosened his grip on Li Rui. Even when Su Tang hit him a few more times, he insisted on taking it all on himself, unwilling to let Li Rui get hurt even a little.

    Li Rui looked at him with wide eyes as his mind went nk.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    ¡°Stop right now!¡±

    ¡°Nurse! Take this patient back to her ward!¡±

    A few strangers called out and doctors who heard the emergency bell began rushing in. They discovered to their horror that Su Tang was hitting the two children like a madwoman, and instantly went up to stop her.

    It didn¡¯t take long for Su Tang to be sent back to her room.

    The doctors hurriedly took a look at the two children. ¡°Little Young Master Shaohui, Little Young Master Rui, are you alright?!¡± These two children were the only two precious ones in this generation of Li¡¯s, the hospital wouldn¡¯t be able topensate if either of them got seriously hurt! The doctors were in a fluster.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright...¡± Shaohui sounded a little weak, but his words were crystal clear. ¡°Take a look at Xiao Rui first. He hasn¡¯t recovered from his old injuries and was hit again...¡±

    Shaohui coughed blood.

    ¡°Little Young Master Shaohui!¡± The doctors were stunned.

    Shaohui tried to hold it out. ¡°I-I might have fractured a rib, it¡¯s fine...¡± Although he was young and not well-built yet, he had learned some martial arts from his uncle and dad before. He understood his body condition well and knew when it was serious and when he could still hold it out.

    But given what he said, the doctors dared not take it lightly.

    A rib fracture?!

    It was so serious! As if Li Lei wouldn¡¯t skin them alive!

    They hurriedly got the children to take an X-Ray and undergo a full body checkup to ensure that it was just fractures and superficial injuries. Only when they confirmed that no organs were affected could they heave a sigh of relief.

    Shaohui was afraid that Su Tang would return and hence, requested to be ced in the same room as Li Rui. The doctors agreed and set up an additional bed beside Li Rui¡¯s for him, and got him into bed.

    After giving the children their proper treatment, they sent them back to the ward.

    The medical personnel left the room and it became all quiet.

    Only then did Li Rui snap back to his senses. He asked quietly, ¡°Why did you help me?¡± Mom looked so scary just now, he thought he was done for this time. He did not expect Shaohui to put his life on the line, holding onto him despite how hard his mom was hitting. At that time, Li Rui was in utter shock; he saw Shaohui getting injured but had no idea how to react. Yet, he had a strange sense of security like never before, as if...

    As if with Shaohui around, nobody could hurt him at all.

    This was a first, and he never even felt it with his mom.

    Little Shaohui was on a drip and was still sore all over from the wounds. However, he smiled as if nothing had happened and said, ¡°Because I¡¯m Xiao Rui¡¯s older brother. Xiao Rui, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll always protect you in the future.¡±

 Chapter 927 - Pleasant Surprise

    Chapter 927: Pleasant Surprise

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Rui was stunned, so it was just because of that?

    Older brother... what did that really mean?

    He remembered how his mom had told him through clenched teeth that Ye Xingling¡¯s son Shaohui couldn¡¯t be any good. They were all out to get him!

    But...

    When he was about to be beaten to death by his mom, it was his older brother Shaohui who saved him...

    ¡°Brother...¡± he said subconsciously.

    Little Shaohui was shocked for a second, then he responded with a radiant smile, ¡°Hey, Brother.¡± This was the first time anyone addressed him Brother. It felt... really nice. He looked towards his brother and gave a silly smile. From now on, he had responsibilities to fulfill¡ªhe would take good care of his younger brother and protect him. He would be the best older brother in the world.

    After that smile, he got a little worried. Why were Mom and Dad not back yet? Were they alright?

    Was Mom... in any trouble?

    He couldn¡¯t help but press the emergency button again to get the doctor. ¡°Is my mom alright?¡±

    The doctor smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Little Young Master. Madam is fine, Mr. Li is apanying her to do some tests.¡±

    Little Shaohui blinked his eyes in confusion. Fine? If she was fine, why would she be doing tests? The doctor added, ¡°Little Young Master, please rest and recuperate well. Mr. Li said that they would visit both of you tomorrow, and there¡¯ll be a surprise.¡±

    ¡°What surprise?¡± Little Shaohui gave an adorable expression, in the hope that he¡¯d get the answer.

    The doctor said, ¡°For such surprises, we have to wait for Mr. Li and Madam to tell you personally. I can¡¯t be the one saying it. Little Young Master, please rest well. Madam doesn¡¯t know that you¡¯re injured yet, she¡¯ll be sad and worried if she sees you like that, and it won¡¯t be good for her. Mr. Li said...¡±

    The doctor smiled sympathetically at him as he got to it. ¡°If you don¡¯t rest well and you still look... half dead tomorrow, he¡¯d punch you.¡±

    Huh?!

    Since when did Dad be so ruthless?

    Li Rui looked at the doctor defensively. ¡°Don¡¯t punch my brother!¡± His impression of a punch was something scary and painful. Ever since Shaohui saved him, he had instantly considered Shaohui as family and was afraid that something would happen to him.

    But it was Shaohui whoforted him. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Xiao Rui. Dad is just scaring me, he¡¯s never ever hit me.¡± Although that¡¯s what he said, he wasn¡¯tpletely sure of it. Dad definitely wasn¡¯t one to hit him for other reasons, but if it involved getting Mom hurt... who knew whether Dad would bring himself to do it?

    Little Shaohui was worried.

    Li Rui readily said, ¡°I don¡¯t care! If anyone hits you, I¡¯ll hit them back!¡± He had not received much parental love since he was young and hence, treasured his rtionship with Shaohui very dearly. He would be nice to whoever was nice to him, simple as that.

    Little Shaohui wasn¡¯t so worried anymore. He smiled. ¡°Yup! When brothers unite, we can take anyone down!¡±

    ¡°Brothers unite, take everyone down!¡±

    The two littleds got excited.

    The doctor shook his head and smiled as he left the ward. He thought, No matter how united the both of you are, you still won¡¯t be able to defeat your dad, a ck triad gang leader...

    After leaving the children¡¯s ward, he went to take a look at Su Tang before finally arriving back at Xia Ling¡¯s VIP ward. The ward was more than 100 square metersrge and was decorated with nts all around. It was quiet and peaceful and even had a faint fragrance.

    Li Lei was peeling an orange by Xia Ling¡¯s bedside. The full length of an orange peel fell through his fingers perfectly, a wondrous artistic sight. ¡°They said cravings for sour food means it¡¯s a boy, and cravings for spicy food means it¡¯s a girl. You like sour food so much now, it has to be a boy again.¡±

    Yes, Xia Ling was pregnant again.

    This child came so quietly. She did not have morning sickness at all and didn¡¯t even realize she was pregnant despite being two months into it. If not for Su Tang¡¯s push, which induced her anemic symptoms and got Li Lei all worried, they would not have gone for the tests. Who knew when she¡¯d have realized it, then?

    When he heard that she was expecting, Li Lei was so happy he spun three rounds with her in his arms.

    Back then when she was expecting Shaohui, too much had happened. They had to live apart and stay away from each other, and he spent all that time thinking the child was Pei Ziheng¡¯s... With all those obstacles, Li Lei never got the chance to experience the joy of being a father-to-be. But this time was different. They were married, Xiao Ling was by his side, and the child would be born after months of anticipation and love. He was going to make up for all the suffering she had had to go through before.

    ¡°This time, I won¡¯t let you suffer.¡± Li Lei kissed her on the forehead and asked for the best ward so that she could rest in a peaceful environment. The doctor said that her progesterone levels were low and she was at risk of a miscarriage, and hence, adviced her to rest and recuperate well for a period. Li Lei was so anxious that he stayed by her side the whole time.

    He only ever left for a few minutes in between.

    That was when the doctor asked to talk to him personally about Su Tang hitting Little Shaohui and Li Rui.

    Although Su Tang was his benefactor, her actions were making him increasingly put off by her. It was bad enough that she hit her child, and now she was going after Little Shaohui as well? And at such a crucial time when Xiao Ling was pregnant?

    Did she know how hard it was for them to have this child?!

    Xiao Ling had gone through so much pain; in order to maintain her chastity with Pei Ziheng, she had stabbed herself in the abdomen with a knife and was devastated when she thought that she would never be able to get pregnant again. If not for the medicine from Wei Lingnan, it would be practically impossible for her to have another child.

    Now that they had managed to expect a child against all odds, he was not going to let anything affect her!

    ¡°Tell Shaohui to rest and recuperate well,¡± Li Lei told the doctor. ¡°He has to appear as mildly injured as he can tomorrow when Xia Ling sees him. Otherwise...¡± he smiled deviously. ¡°I¡¯ll beat him to death.¡±

    What a tragedy.

    When the doctor said ¡°otherwise... he¡¯d punch you¡±, he was already sugarcoating it.

    The actual words were¡ªotherwise, he¡¯d punch you to death!

    Poor Little Shaohui, he had turned into a child no longer loved by his parents. Even Xia Ling had almost forgotten about him. Besides casually asking where he was and then getting an answer that he was ¡°ying with his little brother Li Rui¡±, she never showed any other concern...

    All she thought about was the child inside her.

    ¡°I want a daughter, though,¡± she said as stroked her belly and smiled sweetly. ¡°We already have two sons, it¡¯d be nice if this one was a daughter.¡±

    ¡°Two sons?¡±

    ¡°Yup. Xiao Rui,¡± Xia Ling said gently. ¡°Since you already acknowledged him as your son, he¡¯s my son too.¡± Ever since she got pregnant, her maternal instincts had been glowing from the inside out.

 Chapter 928 - Here to Antagonize You

    Chapter 928: Here to Antagonize You

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Lei wrapped her in his arms gently.

    This girl was always so kind. Although she appeared a little fierce and proud sometimes, when it came to major matters, she was more soft-hearted and sympathetic than anyone else.

    How could he not love her?

    He looked at her with tender eyes. ¡°As for Xiao Rui¡¯s status, it¡¯s your call.¡± If she wished to raise him, they¡¯d keep him with them. But if she did not want to, he¡¯d have someone send Xiao Rui away. He¡¯d take care of Xiao Rui¡¯s material needs and ensure that he had more than sufficient to live a good life. But as to where the child was going to live and who he would have to get along with, it was all up to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was a little sleepy as she ate the orange. She said, ¡°Let him and Shaohui live together. They seem to get along pretty well, and it¡¯s good that they have each other forpany.¡± She stroked her t tummy. ¡°On ount that Shaohui is nice to Xiao Rui, I hope that Xiao Rui would be nice to our little baby as well.¡±

    Li Lei smiled and bent over, cing his ear against her stomach.

    Besides the gentle rise and fall of her abdomen, there was nothing new.

    Xia Ling teased him. ¡°It¡¯s barely been two months, why are you so anxious? You still have to wait a few more weeks before you¡¯ll be able to detect any changes.¡± She¡¯d had experience in this before and was calm now.

    Li Lei pouted. ¡°I just wanted to say hi to the little one as soon as possible.¡± He nestled his head gently on her belly. ¡°Hi, sweetheart. I¡¯m Dad. Dad hopes that you¡¯ll grow up fast, and be strong and healthy...¡±

    Xia Ling smiled upon hearing it. She reached out to tickle his ear and ruffle his hair affectionately. It was aforting feeling, and she began humming a tune.

    They rarely had the time to rest like this and hence, treasured the moment dearly.

    The following day, Li Lei went downstairs to take a look at Little Shaohui first. Seeing that he appeared alright without much injury, he then cautiously broke the news to Xia Ling. ¡°Su Tang was hitting Xiao Rui, and Shaohui went forward to shield him. He¡¯s not badly injured. He just knocked against the leg of the bed, but he¡¯s fine now.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little worried. ¡°I¡¯ll go check on them.¡±

    Li Lei helped her down the stairs.

    In the children¡¯s ward, Li Rui was still lying in bed and on a drip.

    In order not to get his mom worried, Little Shaohui was already sitting on the sofa and reading an adventure book to Li Rui. ¡°The pirate ship was so tall it reached the sky. When it emerged on the horizon, Lan Lan and his buddies screamed in fear...¡±

    The child spokeically.

    Li Rui was engrossed in the story. He did not know that besides the toys he yed with, there were so many more interesting things going on in the world. He was hooked on listening to stories now.

    Xia Ling stood by the door and watched them for a while, but did not bother them.

    Seeing that Shaohui was alright, she was now at ease. Moreover, it seemed like the two children were getting along better than she¡¯d expected.

    She turned around and led Li Lei out of the ward. They walked for a while in the hallway before she found a bench to rest at. ¡°I¡¯m tired, could you make me some tea? I want fresh lemons and honey in it, something sweet and sour.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°How am I going to find lemons and honey in the hospital? I¡¯ll get the maid to bring it over.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I want you to prepare it right now.¡± She acted coquettishly. ¡°Don¡¯t you know that expectantdies get emotional easily? If I don¡¯t get my honey lemon drink right now, I¡¯ll be very... unhappy...¡±

    Li Lei had no choice but to agree to her request. He urged her not to move about on her own as he went to find those ingredients. But once he took his leave, she called a bodyguard over to apany her, asked a nurse for Su Tang¡¯s ward number, and then went to look for her.

    Heavy curtains were drawn in the ward.

    The lights were turned off as well. Even though it was daytime, the whole room appeared dull and gloomy.

    Su Tang sat in the darkness with a stoned expression.

    Xia Ling called out to her.

    When she looked up and saw that it was Xia Ling, a look of hatred took over her face. Seeing that Li Lei was not around, she could not be bothered with even the simplest of civilities, and coldly said to Xia Ling, ¡°Get out of here, I don¡¯t wish to see you.¡±

    Xia Ling refused to. With the bodyguard by her side, she closed the door and sat down.

    Su Tang was so angry her lips quivered. ¡°This is my territory!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Your clothes, amodation, food, and everything is provided by the Li¡¯s. Every inch of fabric on your body, you owe it to the Li¡¯s. What right do you have to ask me¡ªthe Li family¡¯s Madam¡ªto leave?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s expression hardened and her menacing eyes threatened to swallow Xia Ling whole. ¡°You¡¯re not fit to be the Li family¡¯s Madam!¡±

    ¡°Oh? If I¡¯m not fit, are you?¡± Xia Ling smiled easily,pletely unfazed.

    Su Tang kept quiet, but her cold expression was telling Xia Ling that yes, she was fit.

    ¡°What a shame, Li Lei doesn¡¯t like you.¡± When Xia Ling bickered with someone, had she ever lost? She could easily provoke and anger others by picking on their most vulnerable spots, which was why she had so many haters in both lifetimes.

    Su Tang was no exception. Her bipr disorder had been acting up recently, and she finally lost her cool. She dashed forward and was about to give Xia Ling a tight p on the face. ¡°You wretched woman!¡±

    But the bodyguard beside Xia Ling held her wrist calmly and swiftly, before flinging her aside.

    Su Tang knocked into the metal bed frame in the corner and ached all over. Her hair was messy and she looked utterly pathetic. She was about to get up and assault Xia Ling again when she heard Xia Ling say¡ª

    ¡°I¡¯ll advise you not to waste your efforts. Did you think I came without any defensive measures? Let me tell you, I¡¯m pregnant, and I definitely won¡¯t put myself in a dangerous situation.¡±

    What?!

    Su Tang widened her eyes in disbelief. ¡°Y-You¡¯re pregnant?!¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling was still smiling. ¡°Thanks to your shoving yesterday, we found out that I¡¯m almost two months into the pregnancy. Honestly, I¡¯ve really got to thank you. If not for you, I wouldn¡¯t have found out until now, and I might still be going around drinking or eating the wrong foods.¡±

    She sounded so blissful that every word felt like a stab to Su Tang¡¯s ears.

    Su Tang subconsciously clenched her fists. No, impossible! How could this wretched woman be pregnant?! She did not believe it, she simply wouldn¡¯t! ¡°You¡¯re lying to me, you¡¯re lying to me, right?!¡± Su Tang was manic again and rushed forward, but the bodyguard held her back. ¡°Ye Xingling, you must be lying to me. You¡¯re just pretending to be pregnant in order to antagonize me! You¡¯re shameless, despicable!¡±

    ¡°Ha, I¡¯m indeed here to antagonize you.¡± Xia Ling did not hide the fact. Su Tang hadid her hands on Little Shaohui; if Xia Ling did note to take revenge by antagonizing her, was she really Xia Ling? ¡°But, I also am indeed pregnant. Li Lei and I are on such good terms, we could have another half a dozen kids.¡±

 Chapter 929 - Donâ€™t You Know How to Appease Women

    <h4>Chapter 929: Don¡¯t You Know How to Appease Women</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her voice was crystal clear and it seemed to suspend in the quiet ward.

    Su Tang felt her jealousy rage like an inferno, and she wanted so much to rip this woman apart.

    And yet, she could not.

    Xia Ling¡¯s bodyguard was eyeing her every move, there was no way she could do anything to her.

    Even so, Xia Ling decided to antagonize her further. ¡°Sigh, Su Tang, you think you can get together with Li Lei? All things aside, the fact that you hit the children is bad enough! There are only two Little Young Masters in the Li family, and not only did you almost beat Li Rui to death, you evenid your hands on Shaohui. Do you really think Li Lei wouldn¡¯t think much of it?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s expression turned awful. The other day, she simply could not control herself when she was hitting Shaohui. To be fair, she had wanted to get rid of that boy a long time ago. Since he chose to put himself on the line to protect Li Rui, how could she possibly let him off?! He should count himself lucky that she had not killed him that day!

    Only when she calmed down did she realize that hitting Shaohui was stepping on Li Lei¡¯s bottom line. But given that there were so many stressors in her life recently, it was impossible to control her temper!

    She looked at Xia Ling coldly. ¡°You did it on purpose.¡±

    Xia Ling was slightly stunned. ¡°Did what on purpose?¡±

    Su Tang nced at the bodyguard before sneering. ¡°You knew that I¡¯ve been emotionaltely, so you deliberately left Shaohui in the ward, tempting me to hit him so that Li Lei will detest me. You¡¯re so scheming!¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling understand what was going on¡ªshe was saying it for the bodyguard.

    ¡°Are you hoping that the bodyguard will ry your words to Li Lei?¡± Xia Ling smiled as well. ¡°There¡¯s no use. The fact that I take this bodyguard along with me means that I trust him enough. Su Tang, I¡¯m not like you. After serving for your whole life, you can¡¯t even find one person whom you can trust to be loyal. I have more than enough people who¡¯re loyal to me, if I wished to activate them, I wouldn¡¯t even need any of Li Lei¡¯s men!¡±

    She was the Phoenix of the Xia family. She had every right to be this arrogant.

    As for Su Tang? She was just a pitiful woman who was adopted as a child, and who had served others her whole life!

    Her words were practically venomous as it stung Su Tang mercilessly, edging her towards insanity. Su Tang took deep breaths as she tried to suppress the anger rising inside her. She told herself that there was no point in fighting it out with this woman, as she stared at Xia Ling in the eye. ¡°You won¡¯te to a good end.¡±

    Her re was menacing.

    Xia Ling could not exin why, but Su Tang¡¯s words made her ufortable, almost as if it was a curse from hell. She did not like Su Tang, not at all. And yet, she did not have it written on her face. She raised her chin slightly to appear high and mighty as she said to Su Tang, ¡°What? Before Ie to a bad end, you¡¯ll meet yours first¡ªover the next few days, someone will send awyer¡¯s letter to you, to charge you for abusing children, and you will lose your custody over Li Rui. From now on, Li Rui will be living with us, and I will raise him like he is my own... He will have enough time to forget his evil biological mother.¡± Taking over her rival¡¯s child as her own and seeing her clench her teeth in anger in helplessness... it felt pretty great.

    Xia Ling was more than satisfied with herself. She side-eyed Su Tang provocatively before taking her leave.

    She left Su Tang alone in the ward, who then grabbed a flower vase and hurled it against the door.

    Xia Ling returned to the hallway and was about to take the seat she was on when Li Lei left when she saw a man approaching. He was in a fitting t-shirt and had one hand in his pocket, while the other held up a bottle of honey lemon drink. His skin glowed healthily and he was simply alluring.

    The man looked right at her, it was Li Lei.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    Li Lei walked towards her and said, a little seriously, ¡°Why are you here? I¡¯ve been looking for you.¡±

    She tried to downy it. ¡°I was a little bored, so I decided to take a walk around.¡±

    ¡°Take a walk around, and you found your way to Su Tang¡¯s ward?¡± Li Lei did not intend to let her off so easily.

    Xia Ling was at a loss for words. She red at him with some annoyance. Why was he asking the obvious? ¡°Yes, I tried to get you away so I could find trouble with Su Tang.¡± Since he was already having questions, she might as well give him the answers. ¡°She hurt my son, of course I have to give her a piece of my mind! She should consider herself lucky that I didn¡¯t hit give her a bashing!¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    Xia Ling was extremely unhappy when she saw his expression. Was he still defending that woman at a time like this? ¡°I know she¡¯s your benefactor,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Which is why I didn¡¯t want to make things difficult for you. I took efforts to keep you away while I went to look for her myself. But can you not make things difficult for me too, by just pretending you didn¡¯t see any of this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already seen it, how can I pretend I haven¡¯t?¡± Li Lei was having some trouble. Why was his wife so worrying? If she was a little smarter and did it more inconspicuously, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to find out! But now that he did, how could he act otherwise?!

    Li Lei looked at Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯re expecting now, it¡¯s dangerous to go and look for her like this. She has manic episodes every now and then and will hurt others, what if you get hurt?¡±

    ¡°I brought a bodyguard along with me, what could go wrong?¡± Xia Ling was fuming. ¡°I think you¡¯re more worried about me hurting her!¡±

    ¡°I... I...¡±

    ¡°Da Liu, let¡¯s go!¡± She called out to her bodyguard and was about to turn and walk away from Li Lei.

    Li Lei tried to stop her. ¡°Xiao Ling, wait!¡±

    But Xia Lingpletely ignored him as she made her way back to her ward.

    ¡°Damned Li Lei, bad Li Lei...¡± She was hurling things as well in her own 100-odd square meter ward. ¡°We¡¯re already married, but he¡¯s still thinking of that woman. Does he even care about me?! Hmph!¡±

    She hurled a few more pillows towards the door, and one of themnded right on Little Shaohui¡¯s face when he entered. ¡°Mom!¡± Little Shaohui called out to her with a pout as he hugged the pillow.

    Only then did Xia Ling stop. She pulled her son closer and checked if she had hurt him.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± She asked.

    Little Shaohui blinked his beautiful eyes and said meekly, ¡°Dad came to look for me. He told me that he made you angry, and wanted me to check whether you were still mad.¡±

    ¡°And he isn¡¯t here to appease me himself!¡± Xia Ling was upset again.

    But, how would Li Lei dare toe look for her? She was now an expectant mother and her emotions were unpredictable. What if he antagonized her and ended up hurting her or the baby? All things considered, he decided that the least risky method was to get his son to help him check on his dear wife.

 Chapter 930 - Running Away

    <h4>Chapter 930: Running Away</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    But Little Shaohui didn¡¯t have a way with his mom either. ¡°I¡¯ll get Dad toe and coax you then.¡±

    With that, he headed for the door.

    ¡°Hold it there!¡± Xia Ling was fuming at both father and son. Why were they all avoiding her? Fancy them leaving after a mere few words! ¡°Do you both not want to see me!¡±

    Little Shaohui intuitively nodded his head, but upon seeing his mother¡¯s expression, hurriedly shook his head instead.

    Well, he wanted to see the usual mom who was even-tempered when she yed with him, but he didn¡¯t wish to see this angry mom! The doctors and nurses said that Mom was pregnant now and might get emotional, so he was to give in to her whenever he could¡ªbut he and Dad had always been giving in to her, why was she still so angry?

    Poor Little Shaohui, he was still a straightforward little boy who had note to the realization that ¡°when women say no, they mean yes¡±. He actually left when a woman chased him away? That was the way to make her even angrier!

    Xia Ling threw another pillow at her son. ¡°Tell your dad that both of you don¡¯t have toe anymore, hmph!¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± This was Little Shaohui¡¯s first time witnessing his mother¡¯s wrath. He hugged the pillow and walked out of the ward slightly confused.

    Xia Ling was left alone in the ward, fuming mad.

    ¡°None of you are coaxing me, I¡¯m running away!¡± She dered to the empty ward. She made good on her word and left the hospital right away, with her bag in her hand.

    The following day, back in her vi.

    In the red-brick house, the maid opened the beautifully carved wooden door and had a shock seeing Xia Ling. ¡°Miss, wait no, Madam, you¡¯re back! Why are you here?¡±

    Xia Ling strode into the house angrily. ¡°Don¡¯t tell that jerk Li Lei that I¡¯m back!¡±

    The maid said, ¡°But...¡±

    Before she could go on, Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    Sunlight poured into the living room abundantly through those full-length windows. On her thickcy couch was a man, lyingfortably with a cat in his arms. He was smiling peacefully while stroking the cat.

    Xia Ling dropped her bag. The cat had got her tongue¡ªL-Li Lei?!

    The man on the couch looked up at her and grinned. ¡°Hi, Xiao Ling. It¡¯s not good to be going missing so soon after the wedding.¡± The cat in his arms purred.

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± In order not to let him find her, she had turned her cell phone off and flew back without letting anyone know. She had thought that she could get him anxious, and that he would be coaxing her properly when he found her, but who knew...

    She had left only a while ago?!

    And he was already waiting for her at the destination?!

    Li Lei was proud of himself. ¡°I went to the ward to look for you yesterday and found that you were missing, and so was your bag. I called you but you didn¡¯t pick up, so I figured you must have run away.¡± After so many years, how could he not know that his wife was not smart? Now that she was pregnant, it was all the more likely that she would turn to the ce she was most familiar with, which was her own home¡ªthe red-bricked vi.

    Li Lei took a private jet over and ended up arriving earlier than she did.

    Just 10 minutes before, he had arrived at the house and told the maid that he was here to wait for Xia Ling. The maid was skeptical when she heard it, but not too long after, here she was.

    It was no wonder the maid had such a shocked expression.

    Xia Ling was in shock as well. ¡°You! You followed me!¡±

    Li Lei shrugged and pointed at his head. ¡°It¡¯s intelligence, my love.¡±

    ¡°What a jerk!¡± She threw a throw pillow at him.

    The man on the sofa grinned from ear to ear. He wrapped her in a hug despite her struggle and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t be angry at me anymore, alright?¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± In fact, her anger had mostly subsided when she was on the ne home. Coming home to such a huge surprise had further reinforced her belief that he truly loved and cared for her, and that was enough to quell all her anger. The only thing in the way was her pride to admit it.

    Li Lei smiled and kissed her ear. ¡°I¡¯ll make you something nice to eat?¡±

    ¡°I want strawberry pudding,¡± she said coquettishly. ¡°Double the caramel.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± He smiled. The strawberry pudding wasn¡¯t a big deal if that meant making her happy. Li Lei got down to it quickly and in no time, served up a sweet serving of strawberry pudding to his wife.

    Xia Ling finished everyst bit of it.

    Her spirits were lifted immediately.

    Li Lei massaged her shoulders and her calves. ¡°You¡¯re not angry anymore?¡±

    She shook her head shyly before asking, ¡°Where¡¯s Shaohui?¡±

    ¡°That boy?¡± Li Lei said casually. ¡°I left him in the hospital. What use is he if he can¡¯t even appease his mom? His punishment is to apany Xiao Rui. When Xiao Rui is better, they cane back together.¡± The fact was that Shaohui was still injured. Su Tang had caused him to vomit blood and fracture a bone when she hit him; although it wasn¡¯t obvious on the outside, he still needed more rest and recuperation. The act would fall through if he was around his mom too often.

    Hence, this was a good chance to let him nurse his wounds in the hospital.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t the least bit skeptical about it. She nodded. ¡°That little brat really is silly. If he doesn¡¯t learn to coax girls, how will he marry a girl next time?¡±

    Li Leiughed. ¡°He¡¯s my son, why wouldn¡¯t he be able to get a girl?¡±

    Xia Ling nced at him and realized how true his statement was¡ªthis father and son were equally silly; since the father could get a wife, maybe there would be another girl who was nice enough to marry Little Shaohui without despising hisck of intelligence?

    Xia Ling found this logic perfect.

    Poor Li Lei, he did not even know that his dear wife thought of him this way.

    After making sure she wasfortable with all the massages, he felt that it was the perfect time to pop the question. ¡°We¡¯re already married, why do you stille back all the time? We already have a home on Cumulke Isles, don¡¯t we?¡±

    Cumulke Isles was a high-end area in the city. It was far from her own home, and the houses there were all beautiful.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling bought a unit there as their love nest.

    Xia Ling was stunned for a while. It just hit her that she had instinctively gone back to her own home,pletely forgetting about the new home that she hadn¡¯t even spent a night in yet.

    Looking at Li Lei¡¯s expectant expression, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s pack up a little and head there then, shall we?¡±

 Chapter 931 - The Past Memories Are like Passing Clouds

    Chapter 931: The Past Memories Are like Passing Clouds

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Thus, Li Lei smiled happily.

    After he smiled, he audaciously asked her, ¡°Have you moved all of your things over? Once you do, sell your house and don¡¯t ever go back. Our family of three and Xiao Rui won¡¯t be able to stay in such a small vi anyway.¡±

    Suddenly, Xia Ling realized his true intentions. ¡°Are you... jealous?¡± From her angle, through the bright ss window, a corner of Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi could be seen.

    Li Lei honestly admitted it. ¡°I don¡¯t like you living so close to him. I¡¯ve already locked Su Tang in the hospital, so you should stay as far away from Pei Ziheng as possible, ok?¡±

    Thinking about it, Xia Ling felt that he made sense.

    They were already married. There was no need to let her beloved man feel ufortable over such minor issues. Besides, she was pregnant now and, considering the experience she had with Shaohui¡¯s birth, she was also really worried that Pei Ziheng would do something again.

    As such, the next day, the two of them packed up and moved out.

    There were not many things that needed to be moved. The important things were her clothes, Shaohui¡¯s toys, and Hairball the cat. They finished packing up very quickly, and just as they were about to move, Xia Ling found something in the cupboard. It was a beautifully carved box. When she opened it, she realized that it was filled with various bracelets, nes, earrings, hair essories, dresses, handbags, scarves, and bank cards.

    They were all items that Pei Ziheng gave her.

    A very long time ago, she sealed all the items that man gave her. The value of these things was enough for a few rich families to livefortably. She gently stroked the valuable items with her long and white fingers. Unknowingly, she sighed emotionally. In a sh, so many turbulent times had passed...

    Behind her, there were footsteps. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and saw Li Lei. She continued to stand beside the box without moving. Narrowing her eyes, she sighed. ¡°These things are not suited to be moved to our new house.¡±

    Li Lei walked over and looked at them.

    He easily understood their origin.

    ¡°Return them to him?¡± He gritted his teeth and suggested.

    However, Xia Ling shook her head. She did not want to see that man ever again. She touched the items again and finally made a decision. ¡°Bury them in the backyard.¡± Let their history be buried with them in the dirt and remain forever uncovered.

    Li Lei nodded. This was already apromise.

    He helped her move the items downstairs, dug a hole in the middle of the rose bushes in the backyard, and ced the box inside.

    It was covered withyers of soil.

    Her face was stained with mud. After she ced thestyer of soil on the box, there was a slight sorrow in her eyes. In the bottom of her heart, something was empty. She said to herself silently, ¡°Goodbye, Pei Ziheng.¡±

    A gust of wind blew.

    The rose petals were scattered.

    Behind a courtyard wall, a man was watching them from his study window on the second floor. He wore a finely crafted gray id shirt with a vest of the safe color. His tall figure resembled a god¡¯s and his cold facial features were like a knife in the dim light.

    He looked at the couple in the rose bushes and grabbed the window frame unknowingly.

    Xiao Ling...

    Are you going to move? To be with him? Are you going to move somewhere I can never see you again?

    His heart shattered. Pei Ziheng only felt his heart throbbing and he almost could not bear it. His face turned pale and even his breathing stagnated. His eyes gradually became gloomy.

    ¡°Mister...¡± At the door, Nanny Zhou called him worriedly.

    She already heard from the servant next door that Miss Ling would be moving out today and she was already pregnant. Very soon, her second child with Mr. Li would be born. Nanny Zhou looked at Mister with a distressed look. He really should not be wasting time on that woman!

    As if he did not notice that Nanny Zhou was there, Pei Ziheng continued to look at them in silence.

    He saw how that man gently put her hair behind her ear when the wind messed it up. She smiled, said something, and ced her hand gently on his lower abdomen.

    Thus, that man also smiled and gently held her.

    ¡°She¡¯s pregnant,¡± Pei Ziheng said with certainty.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Who was the one with the sharp tongue? Mister must feel awful after hearing this news. She could not help but ask him, ¡°Who told you that? It¡¯s not...¡±

    However, Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I know.¡±

    His voice was very dark but his tone was firm. He was familiar with her appearance and expression. He knew how happy she looked when she was pregnant¡ªthat look was irreceable.

    She buried all of the things he gave her and was pregnant with another man¡¯s child.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart hurt even more and he slightly bent down.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Mister, don¡¯t look at them anymore. You have not hung up the overseas phone call yet and there are some people waiting for you to return to the conference call.¡± He was in a meeting when he heard the sound of a vehicle in the neighboring vi and immediately ditched the important directors to look silently at the scene.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his voice. ¡°Help me end the call.¡±

    After that, there was a gust of wind. He looked as if he could not even withstand the small breeze. He suddenly held the wall and coughed. After coughing for a long time, he looked very out of breath. Nanny Zhou quickly rushed over to pat his back. He only slowly recovered after some time.

    ¡°Mister, how about you visit the hospital?¡± Nanny Zhou was heartbroken. ¡°Recently, you¡¯ve been coughing a lot and you look worn out. You can¡¯t go on like this...¡±

    However, he ignored Nanny Zhou and walked down the stairs step by step.

    ¡°Mister! Mister, where are you going?!¡± Nanny Zhou anxiously called and quickly chased after him.

    In front of the vi.

    Xia Ling was in Li Lei¡¯s arms as she watched the chauffeur and servants move the boxes away. She was happy andzy. However, inadvertently, she noticed a man walking out from his vi next door. He was wearing a gray id shirt that she gave him a long time ago. It was already very old and there were unwashable stains in the corners. However, he still cherished it and ironed it properly.

    He walked towards them step by step.

    Unknowingly, she escaped Li Lei¡¯s arms and stood up straight.

    Li Lei frowned but did not stop her. He only looked at Pei Ziheng with hostility. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Pei Ziheng ignored him and focused his gaze on Xia Ling. Sure enough, she looked like she was going to be a mother. There was a beautiful tranquility in her eyes. She was so beautiful. She lifted her head in the sunlight to look at him like the way she did when they first met many years ago. It was distant but moving.

    He heart violently hurt again.

 Chapter 932 - Farewell and Take Care

    Chapter 932: Farewell and Take Care

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling was a little nervous.

    She remembered thest time she saw him. In the dark study of his vi, he pressed her against his desk and forcefully ripped off her clothes... This man was a dangerous person. No matter where he was, she could never let her guard down. She looked at him with caution.

    His voice was dry. ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡±

    She said, ¡°I¡¯m already married to Li Lei, so of course I have to move out. I also hope you find your other half soon.¡±

    I hope you find your other half soon...

    Her words were more painful to him than anyone else¡¯s. The words were like a sharp knife that sliced his heart. Pei Ziheng lowered his head to look at her. ¡°You are the only one I love.¡±

    Li Lei looked ufortable. This man was seriously too arrogant. Did he think that her husband was dead?!

    Xia Ling said, ¡°The past is in the past. Farewell and take care.¡±

    ¡°Farewell and take care?¡± There was faint light in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. In the corner of his eye, he saw the servant hang the signboard which said ¡°For Sale¡± on the flower vine.

    ¡°Sell your house to me.¡± He said.

    This time, Xia Ling was not very happy. ¡°Pei Ziheng, why are you still clinging on to the past? We were done a long time ago. You are handsome and have a sessful career. There are many girls waiting to be picked by you. Forgetting me is good for you and for me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled lightly. ¡°We are done? We will never be done.¡±

    Xia Ling coldly said, ¡°Please make way. Li Lei and I are about to enter the car.¡±

    Pei Ziheng refused to give way. ¡°What you owe me and what I owe you will never be paid in this lifetime.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want to be entangled with him any longer. However, when he mentioned that she ¡°owed¡± him, something shed through her mind. These two days, when she was packing her items, she finally remembered what Pei Ziheng owed her! ¡°Where¡¯s my horse, Valiant Song?¡± She lifted her head and asked Pei Ziheng. ¡°If you give Valiant Song back to me, I will sell this vi to you.¡±

    This time, Pei Ziheng was slightly startled.

    Xia Ling was a little anxious. ¡°I give you my word.¡± Since he wanted the vi, he could have it. Even if she refused to sell it, he had countless ways to obtain the vi from her hands. It was better to use the vi to exchange for her loyal horse, Valiant Song...

    Was it very old now? However, it was fine. She would take care of it well.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was dark. ¡°Valiant Song? It¡¯s dead.¡±

    What?! Dead?!

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe...¡± Xia Ling mumbled. ¡°It¡¯s a purebred horse and is from a noble bloodline. It was always healthy and logically speaking, it shouldn¡¯t die so easily. Did you abuse it?!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, in your heart, am I that sort of person?¡± Pei Ziheng sounded hurt.

    Xia Ling stopped talking, but her eyes clearly said ¡°yes.¡± Seeing the stalemate between the two, Li Lei stepped forward, took Xia Ling¡¯s hand, and skillfully separated her from Pei Ziheng. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Xiao Ling. You just got pregnant and the doctor said that you have to rest well. Let¡¯s talk about Valiant Song some other time.¡±

    There was a sharp pain in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart again. She was really pregnant!

    He looked very hurt, angry and betrayed. There was also some reluctance...

    She did not dare to look at him again. Her heart was in a mess as she hurriedly got on the car with Li Lei.

    The car slowly left.

    During the ride, Xia Ling was in a bad mood. She leaned her head on Li Lei¡¯s shoulder and looked at the city scenery outside the window without speaking. Li Lei gently hugged her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will investigate what happened to Valiant Song. Perhaps it¡¯s not really dead and Pei Ziheng just does not want to give it back to you.¡±

    She whispered, ¡°I feel restless.¡±

    Li Lei kissed her. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    She looked at the scenery outside the window for a while and then slowly opened her mouth. ¡°At that time when I reincarnated, I had no family, was targeted by Pei Ziheng, and was in so much debt. No one would acknowledge me and everyone bullied me. Even you, Li Lei... At the start, you treated me as a fling.¡±

    She mumbled and told him about her past.

    Li Lei was a little distressed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± At that time, he never loved any girl before and did not understand what love was. He mixed around with Jin Yifei and Du Yunfeng and changed women like he changed clothes, treating it as something normal. When he took interest in an ordinary girl, his first reaction was to treat her as a fling and not a girlfriend that he nned to marry. However, if he knew what was about to happen next, he would immediately take her to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a marriage certificate. Perhaps, there wouldn¡¯t be so many twists and turns then.

    Xia Ling¡¯s butterfly-like eyebrows twitched. ¡°Only Valiant Song recognized me at first nce. You don¡¯t know how muchfort it gave me at that time... I only have myself to me. Why didn¡¯t I think of getting it back years ago? Li Lei, I¡¯m really afraid that it¡¯s really dead... I won¡¯t be able to forgive myself in this life.¡±

    As she spoke, tears gathered in her eyes.

    Perhaps she became weaker after her pregnancy. Li Lei took care of her more gently. ¡°Once we get home, I will investigate what happened to Valiant Song.¡±

    ¡°I will go with you.¡±

    ¡°No way. You¡¯re pregnant.¡± Li Lei rejected her.

    Xia Ling leaned over to look at him. ¡°Li Lei, I have to do something for it. Regardless of whether it is alive, there has to be an exnation. Without rifying it, I won¡¯t feel at ease.¡±

    Li Lei could not convince her otherwise and could only agree. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll go together.¡±

    The weather was good the next day.

    The Pei Family¡¯s private resort in the suburbs of the S City.

    The Pei Family had lived in S City for generations, so the private resorts in the suburbs also had been used for generations. Thend space wasrge, the environment was quiet, and no other family in S City could enter, even the Li Family.

    Pei Ziheng looked at a horse in the stable.

    Its whole body was red, its fur was smooth and velvety, and its body was strong. It had a pair of sharp eyes. Anyone who saw it would exim that it was a ¡°good horse.¡± Unfortunately, this horse was crippled. No matter how hard it tried, it was obvious that its legs were unbnced and could no longer run.

    Pei Ziheng looked at it for a long time.

    The sunlight scattered on its back, highlighting its cold look. No one knew what it was thinking.

    This horse was beaten and crippled by him. That year, he did not know that ¡°Ye Xingling¡± was the reincarnation of his beloved Xiao Ling. He hated how intimate Valiant Song was with another woman other than Xiao Ling. In anger, he broke its leg. However, now, the reality was that Valiant Song was right at that time. It recognized her at first sight.

    This crippled leg seemed to mock him for his arrogance, stubbornness, and the way he continued to hurt his beloved woman again and again. Those were the reasons why he pushed his woman into the arms of someone else.

    He looked at Valiant Song and his expression gradually turned dark.

 Chapter 933 - Valiant Song, Valiant Song

    Chapter 933: Valiant Song, Valiant Song

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°Give me the gun.¡± He instructed Chu Chen, who was behind him.

    These years, Chu Chen became the general manager of Imperial Entertainment and rose in power. However, no matter how powerful he was, in front of Pei Ziheng, he was as respectful as ever like when he had nothing at the start and begged Pei Ziheng for a future as a young man.

    This was why Pei Ziheng still deeply trusted him after so many years.

    He silently handed a clean pistol to Pei Ziheng and took two steps back.

    Pei Ziheng lifted the gun and pointed it at the beautiful red horse.

    ¡°Mister!¡± Guessing what he was about to do, the servant who raised the horse looked at him pleadingly. Over the years, he developed a deep bond with Valiant Song and could not bear to see this beautiful and proud horse shot to death.

    Pei Ziheng was unmoved and pulled the trigger.

    Bang! Valiant Song¡¯s body copsed and fresh blood stained the soil.

    Smoke rose from the muzzle. The barrel was hot and his palm was burning. Pei Ziheng looked at the dead horse not far away. In his heart, he apologized to Xiao Ling. He could not let her find out that it was crippled, so it had to die. However, he would create a beautiful tomb for her to visit it often.

    In fact, as soon as she asked about the horse yesterday, he already decided to kill it. At first nce, it was obvious that its leg was crippled and there were many old wounds on its body from being whipped. How could he let Xiao Ling see those scars?

    Death was the best way to bury these facts.

    He dropped the gun and handed it back to Chu Chen.

    In a low voice, Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss.¡± His voice was rming and strange.

    Pei Ziheng turned around and realized that there were two more people on the grasnds. The young woman was wearing a long maternity dress and she looked at him incredulously. Her body looked like it was crumbling and she could not deal with the blow. If it weren¡¯t for the support of the man next to her, she would have fallen down.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was dry and anxious.

    When did she arrive? Were the workers in the vi all sleeping? Why did no one discover them and inform him?! A storm was brewing in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. At this moment, he decided to punish the staff severely after this was over.

    However, on the surface, he only said in a low voice, ¡°Listen to me...¡±

    However, Xia Ling did not listen to him at all. With Li Lei¡¯s help, she staggered to Valiant Song¡¯s side, knelt down slowly, and gently touched the horse¡¯s beautiful cheeks with shaky hands. ¡°Valiant Song...¡± Her tears rained down. She was the one who harmed it. If she did not suggest to get Valiant Song back yesterday, it would not have suffered such a tragic fate. She was unable to suppress her anguish.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei hugged her. ¡°Don¡¯t cry, don¡¯t cry. Think about your baby.¡±

    However, she continued to cry. She stroked its elegant neck and cheeks. She felt the remaining warmth of its fur and realized the horrible old scars... ¡°How could this be...¡± She murmured. Her fingers anxiously checked Valiant Song¡¯s body. ¡°When it was in Southern Mountain Racing Horse Club, it was still fine. Why did it suffer so many injuries in just a few short years?!¡± She continued to touch its hind legs and suddenly stopped.

    Over there, was a trace of a broken bone. It was obvious that one leg was shorter than the other.

    Li Lei also saw the old wounds. ¡°It must¡¯ve been broken by someone.¡± He said.

    Xia Ling shook more viciously. It took a long time before she could force herself to stand up, lift her head, and interrogate Pei Ziheng. ¡°Why did you abuse it and kill it?! It¡¯s only a horse! Why can¡¯t you let it go?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was silent and did not know how to reply.

    Beside him, Chu Chen said, ¡°Miss Ling, this horse was crippled by me. Boss has been spending the past few years trying to heal it, but he hasn¡¯t been sessful. He didn¡¯t want to let it suffer any more pain, so he ended its life.¡± He appeared to be sincere and in grief when he looked at Xia Ling.

    Xia Family shook her head. Sheughed sadly and sarcastically. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m stupid? Oh, Chu Chen, you¡¯re really a loyal dog! If you destroyed any of Pei Ziheng¡¯s things, I believe that you wouldn¡¯t even be standing here in one piece. I don¡¯t believe you! You don¡¯t need to cover for your master. I know that he was the one who personally harmed Valiant Song! Pei Ziheng, you bastard! You¡¯re a savage!¡±

    She looked Pei Ziheng in the eye when she said herst sentence.

    Pei Ziheng was very tense. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    After being caught red-handed, he really did not know how to defend himself. He only weakly said, ¡°It¡¯s only a horse. I¡¯ll give you another horse.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my horse!¡± She cried. She slowly knelt down beside Valiant Song again. The residual warmth of the horse gradually faded. Its body turned cold and her heart broke into pieces. ¡°Valiant Song... Valiant Song...¡± She sobbed and called its name. ¡°I¡¯m sorry... I¡¯m sorry...¡±

    If it did not have a lousy owner like her, it would still be roaming the fields with the other horses and attracting cheers from the people. It was so beautiful and was the proud queen of the Southern Mountain Club. Sadly, it ended up like this...

    The more she cried, the more devastated became. Her whole body was leaning on the horse.

    Li Lei was very anxious. ¡°Xiao Ling! Calm down! If it¡¯s in heaven now, it will definitely not want to see you so sad!¡± However, he could not persuade her to stop crying. He regretted bringing her to look for her horse and trespassing the Pei Family¡¯s vi. If they visited normally, Pei Ziheng would have sufficient time to clean the corpse. Even if Xiao Ling did not find out Valiant Song¡¯s wounds and death, it was better than her depressed state right now.

    She was fragile during her pregnancy. Any small situation could make her heart soft.

    As she cried, she hugged the horse¡¯s neck and fainted.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei worriedly yelled and picked her up. ¡°Prepare a room! Call for a doctor!¡±

    Only then did Pei Ziheng finally return to reality and quickly looked for the family doctor.

    After the family doctor examined Xia Ling, he had a serious expression. ¡°Mrs. Li¡¯s... I mean, Miss Ling¡¯s condition is not very good. Due to overwhelming grief, there is a risk of abortion and she needs a lot of rest. I will give her an injection now.¡±

    However, Li Lei stopped him. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. You only have to monitor her exterior body and do the most basic care. You aren¡¯t allowed to inject her with any drugs. The Li Family¡¯s doctors and ambnce are already on the way, all you have to do is ensure that her condition will not deteriorate.¡±

 Chapter 934 - A Ruthless Name

    <h4>Chapter 934: A Ruthless Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The doctor was caught in a fix. ¡°Mr. Li, it¡¯s difficult to stabilize the patient¡¯s condition if we don¡¯t inject her!¡±

    Li Lei bent over and held Xia Ling¡¯s hand, whispering to her, ¡°Xiao Ling, hang in there, you¡¯ll be fine.¡± He looked up at the doctor and a cold expression took over his face. ¡°You have to stabilize her condition. If anything happens to her, I¡¯ll bury you along!¡± He knew very well that Pei Ziheng wished for Xiao Ling to have a miscarriage, how could he trust the Pei family doctor?

    The doctor was at a loss.

    On the way here, Mr. Pei did give him instructions to get rid of that baby, but he also made it clear that he had to keep Miss Ling alive at all costs. If anything were to happen to Miss Ling, Mr. Pei would kill him first before Li Lei did!

    The doctor wiped the sweat off his forehead. ¡°Regarding the injection, I think you should consider further...¡±

    Pei Ziheng said to Li Lei, ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to be rash, let the doctor give her the injection.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes were almost like a wolf¡¯s. He red at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Get out.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t you forget whose territory you¡¯re on!¡±

    Li Lei did not bother to let him go on. He swiftly whipped a gun out and shot Pei Ziheng on the leg! A patch of blood began spreading on Pei Ziheng¡¯s pants as he stumbled to the floor. ¡°Li Lei, you...¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s gun was still pointed at him steadily.

    The doctor screamed in dyed fright. With that, Li Lei turned said in a cold voice, ¡°Make sure Xiao Ling is treated. If anything happens to the mother or child, I¡¯ll chop off your limbs. If both of them are affected, I¡¯ll feed you to the sharks¡ªdon¡¯t doubt my words, too many people have lost their lives in my hands, you wouldn¡¯t make a difference.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s legs were shaking. He knew full well that the man before him wasn¡¯t kidding.

    Second Young Master Li was known to be ruthless since long ago, he was a true gang triad member! He took it in all seriousness! Looking at the pool of blood Pei Ziheng was in, the doctor picked up his apparatus with shaky hands. He no longer dared to mention the injection or medication and instead proceeded to use the least interfering methods of treating her.

    He persevered at it for a long while.

    Finally, someone entered. ¡°Boss, the Li family¡¯s ambnce...¡± Chu Chen stopped mid-sentence, utterly shocked by the scene. He saw that Pei Ziheng¡¯s leg was soaked in blood and his face was pale as a sheet. Meanwhile, Li Lei¡¯s gun had been pointed steadily at his forehead the entire time.

    ¡°Boss!¡± Chu Chen yelled and knelt before his boss. ¡°Are you alright? Hang in there! I¡¯ll help you up to get treatment!¡±

    Pei Ziheng grabbed his hand with whatever energy he could muster and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine... Xiao Ling...¡±

    At a point like this, he was still concerned about her?!

    Chu Chen was so mad he wanted to give Pei Ziheng a p on the face to snap him back to his senses, but he dared not act on it. He turned around and nced at Xia Ling before shifting his view to Li Lei. ¡°Li Lei!¡± Chu Chen yelled, ¡°If anything happens to Boss do you really think Ye Xingling won¡¯t hold it against you?! Put the gun down, let me take him to receive treatment!¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened, but he lowered his gun anyway.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± Pei Ziheng refused to go.

    Chu Chen suppressed his anger towards his boss. ¡°Doctor, how¡¯s Ye Xingling doing?¡±

    ¡°The patient¡¯s condition has stabilized,¡± the doctor replied cautiously. ¡°She¡¯s out of the woods.¡±

    Chu Chen said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Did you hear that? Ye Xingling is fine! The Li family¡¯s ambnce is already here, she¡¯ll be receiving the best possible treatment! And if anything happens to you, isn¡¯t that too good a deal for Li Lei?! You¡¯ve got to be healthy and strong, only then can you win her back!¡±

    Li Lei was speechless and kept quiet.

    <i>Manager Chu, what a talent you have inforting people!</i>

    Chu Chen couldn¡¯t care less about offending Li Lei. He looked at Pei Ziheng worriedly and said, ¡°Boss, let me take you to the doctor, alright? We can¡¯t wait any longer!¡±

    Only then did Pei Ziheng nod his head and stagger out the room with his help.

    On the other side, the Li family¡¯s paramedics wheeled the unconscious Xia Ling out.

    They did not send Xia Ling home. Instead, they took her to the best mother and child hospital in the city¡ªthe same hospital that Xia Ling did her tests in when she was expecting Shaohui. In the VIP ward, the doctor said, ¡°Fortunately, she was sent here in time. She just needs to rest and be ced under observation for a while.¡±

    Li Lei could finally heave a sigh of relief.

    One full dayter, Xia Ling regained consciousness. What greeted her was the white ceiling and the nt by the windows dotted with little flowers. Every once in a while, an image shed before her¡ªValiant Song lying in a pool of blood.

    She trembled.

    Li Lei, who was right by her bedside, realized that she was awake. ¡°Xiao Ling?¡±

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t saying a word, he looked at her concernedly and wrapped her in an embrace. He rxed only when he sensed that her body temperature and breathing were fine and normal. Yet, the words he uttered sounded mean, ¡°I really wanted to kill you.¡±

    She reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist.

    He rested his head on hers and quietly said, ¡°Do you know how worried I was? If I knew this would happen, I wouldn¡¯t have taken you to see Valiant Song! Xiao Ling, this is an extraordinary period, if you or the child were to run into any trouble, I would never be able to forgive myself!¡± He got increasingly agitated as he said it.

    Xia Ling hugged him even tighter. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She did not know things would turn out this way too. Everything happened so fast, she wasn¡¯t prepared either. Initially, she had thought that the worst-case scenario would be seeing Valiant Song¡¯s grave, or Pei Ziheng refusing to let her take Valiant Song away. She never would¡¯ve expected to witness such a bloody scene before her, involving that beautiful horse...

    It was gone with a bang.

    Tears began streaming down her face.

    Li Lei felt her crying instantly and hurriedly held her face in his hands. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t cry. I didn¡¯t mean to be fierce at you. I¡¯m sorry, don¡¯t get upset...¡±

    She shook her head and choked on her tears as she held him.

    It took a while before she finallyposed herself and asked, ¡°Valiant Song... what happened after that?¡±

    Li Lei was a little disappointed. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asking if our baby¡¯s fine?¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling give him a fleeting smile. ¡°The baby¡¯s fine, I know that.¡± As they say, mother and child always had an indescribable bond. She just knew that her baby was fine, and maybe telepathy was the only exnation.

 Chapter 935 - A Thousand Paper Cranes

    <h4>Chapter 935: A Thousand Paper Cranes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei smiled too. ¡°Yup, our baby¡¯s fine. The doctor said he¡¯s healthy.¡±

    He then went on to tell her about Valiant Song. ¡°It left without too much pain. It took just one shot to kill it, and that¡¯s probably the only littlefort anyone can take in this tragedy. I brought its ashes and bones back; I n to bury it in the headquarters, in a spot where our home can be seen. That way, it will be by your side forever. Oh, I¡¯m also thinking of bringing Xiao Lei from the Southern Mountains Equestrian Club over to the headquarters. It shall roam around in the vicinity of Valiant Song¡¯s grave, and they can be each other¡¯spany in some sense. There¡¯s Er Mao, Hairball, and not to forget Shaohui and Xiao Rui, our home will be full of life.¡±

    He tried his best to brush over Valiant Song¡¯s death and focus on the good stuff instead.

    Xia Ling hugged him for a while more. She was still upset, but that was inevitable¡ªValiant Song was like her child; back then, she had bred it personally, saw it be born, and fetched it home in a private jet from the UK. At that time, it was such an adorable little horse... and now, its life ended in such tragedy.

    Li Lei seemed to read her mind. ¡°Don¡¯t be too sad. You¡¯re expecting a little baby, if you¡¯re sad, the baby will be sad too. Valiant Song wouldn¡¯t want to know that you¡¯re affecting the baby because of it.¡± With that, he nted a kiss on her forehead.

    She nodded and tried topose herself.

    Li Lei apanied her for a long while and only left after dinner. There were a lot of urgent matters he had to handle.

    Xia Ling tossed and turned in bed. Each time she closed her eyes, she heard the ¡°bang¡± once again, and relived the scene where Valiant Song fell to the ground. She wanted to run forward, but was stopped by Li Lei. She could hear herself scream ¡°Valiant Song!¡± before seeing Pei Ziheng turn around expressionlessly.

    Her mind was in a mess.

    She dared not shut her eyes anymore. Instead, she sat up with the nket over her knees and stared out the window.

    It was silent in the night, and the early fall breeze cooled the air. She was in a daze for a while, until her cellphone on the bedside cab rang. As she reached out for it, she saw that on the screen were the words ¡°Pei Ziheng¡±.

    It waste, what could he be calling for?

    She looked at his number quietly but did not pick up.

    The ringing went on and on, filling the room with a strange kind of sadness.

    Did he want to apologize? He used to do that a lot, apologizing and coaxing her after he had done something wrong. But he never truly reflected on his mistakes and alwaysmitted them again.

    He never really cared about her feelings.

    All he cared about was himself, and an obedient ything.

    She looked at the blinking screen and finally decided to press the ¡°decline¡± button, before adding his contact to the cklist. From then on, she wasn¡¯t going to receive phone calls from him again. It would be a clean break.

    She looked up at the starry sky and took in all its beauty.

    She was hospitalized for a while more until her condition stabilized and the doctor said the baby was healthy. She thanked the doctor, left the hospital, and went to live in the house on Cumulke Isles that she and Li Lei had bought for their wedding.

    Li Lei was extremely busy recently, having piled up a lot of backlog during his extended honeymoon trip. Xia Ling told him she didn¡¯t need hispany all the time, and that she had her own matters to handle as well, both at Phoenix Down Corporation and in preparation of moving to the headquarters. Hence, both of them got to their own businesses¡ªshe woke up each morning, washed up, and took her time to head to Phoenix Down. While she was carefree and rxed, there was order in the things she did, and she managed to be productive without tiring herself out.

    But days like these didn¡¯tst very long.

    One fine day, as Xia Ling was brewing some floral tea in her office as she looked through the unfinishedpositions, someone knocked on the door. It was Lin Yunan, and he brought another person along¡ªChu Chen. ¡°He insists on seeing you.¡± Lin Yunan scratched his head in some frustration. ¡°There was no way I could stop him, it¡¯s as if he¡¯s on steroids.¡±

    Xia Ling put her work down and looked at Chu Chen. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing to do with your master anymore.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Just onest thing.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°There¡¯s no such thing.¡±

    She was about to call for the security officers, but Chu Chen had already walked into the office and ced a huge box before her. ¡°Miss Ling, this is from Boss, please take a look.¡±

    The box was exquisite¡ªa deep violet kraft paper was used, and the box was embellished with silver hasps. It looked almost like the beautiful night sky she had stared into.

    Was he sending her a gift because he couldn¡¯t get through on the phone?

    That man was always trying means and ways to make her happy.

    ¡°I¡¯m already Mrs. Li,¡± Xia Ling was unwavered and refused toy her fingers on the exquisite box. She looked coldly at Chu Chen. ¡°Take it away, I don¡¯t want anything from your boss.¡±

    Chu Chen did not move. ¡°This really is thest time, please ept it.¡±

    There was a hint of helpless plea in his voice which shocked Xia Ling. When did the assertive Chu Chen be so mild and meek? Even so, she did not want to give Pei Ziheng¡¯sckey a chance. ¡°Get out.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss has been nice to you, please don¡¯t reject his kindness.¡±

    ¡°Lin Yunan, get him out!¡± Xia Ling was getting angry.

    Chu Chen was being dragged out of the room by the arm, but he did not give up. ¡°Miss Ling, please at least take a look! It¡¯s just a gift, and Boss made it himself! I¡¯ve already passed through security when I came, the gift is definitely safe!¡±

    ¡°You think I¡¯m afraid?¡± Frustration surged inside Xia Ling, and she became harsher with her words. ¡°Chu Chen, let me tell you, I don¡¯t want your Boss¡¯s trash, you can keep it for yourself if you like! Otherwise, just hand it to any beggar on the streets, there are tons of people looking up to your master anyway!¡±

    Chu Chen was getting angry too. ¡°Ye Xingling, don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s going overboard now?!¡± Ye Xingling sneered. ¡°Back then when Pei Ziheng split Li Lei and me apart, was that not going overboard?! When he tried to kill my Shaohui, was that not going overboard?! When he killed Valiant Song, was that not overboard?! So what¡¯s wrong with me throwing just one of his gifts away!¡±

    She reached out, grabbed the box, and hurled it on the ground. ¡°Get out! Don¡¯t bother me with his trash!¡±

    The box tumbled on the ground before opening up. The contents spilled onto the ground¡ªa thousand colorful paper cranes. Xia Ling stared at the array of colors,pletely stunned.

    A thousand paper cranes?

    In both lifetimes, the only gifts he had ever given her were flowers, jewellery, clothes, bags and title deeds. He gave her whatever was valuable on the market, and never had new ideas to express his feelings. But when did this change? When did he start thinking in a girl¡¯s point of view, and giving paper cranes instead?

 Chapter 936 - Boss Is in Trouble

    <strong>Chapter 936: Boss Is in Trouble</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    It was a full box.

    The contents were all over the ground.

    Lin Yunan was stunned as well. He even stopped in his tracks and forgot to drag Chu Chen out. What was going on, these capable and sessful chairman and manager came all the way from Imperial Entertainment to Phoenix Down Corporation, passed through all the levels of security and subjected themselves to such humiliation, just to send a box of paper cranes?!

    This must be... the most expensive delivery in history?

    The cost of the delivery was more expensive than the item to be delivered!

    Lin Yunan was confused. Was Imperial Entertainment... not in the right mind?

    Chu Chen was fuming. ¡°Ye Xingling, do you have to be this angry? Boss folded each and every one of the paper cranes on his own. He has been missing you all this time.¡±

    ¡°I should be thanking him then!¡± Xia Ling was furious. At a time like this, Pei Ziheng was still acting all saint-like to disgust others?! She scoffed. ¡°Chu Chen, you¡¯ve been hisckey for so many years, you¡¯re really willing to speak up for him anytime. But what a pity, I¡¯m no longer the child who¡¯s infinitely grateful for his one act of kindness anymore! He misses me? If he really did miss me, he wouldn¡¯t have done so many horrible things! Chu Chen, you¡¯d better pick up all this trash and leave! The both of you will get your retribution!¡±

    She still had not released her anger. She stepped onto the paper cranes and exerted force until they were deformed under her heels.

    Chu Chen rose his voice. ¡°Ye Xingling! Don¡¯t be too much!¡±

    Xia Ling looked into his eyes so calmly that he was slightly stunned. She smiled. ¡°Too much? Chu Chen, I didn¡¯t even know you were the sort to get angry, nor did I know that you even knew what ¡®too much¡¯ meant. Tell me, what¡¯s the mission your master gave you today¡ª¡± She walked on the paper cranes and arrived before him. ¡°Was it for you to make me change my mind and return to him? I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ll have to disappoint you. Are you going to be punished because of this? Is that why you¡¯re so agitated? Let me offer you some advice, don¡¯t work with that beast anymore, you¡¯ll get your retribution if you continue to stay by him!¡±

    Chu Chen red at her like a predator. If not for Lin Yunan holding him back, he would¡¯ve pounced onto Xia Ling and given her tight ps on the face.¡±You¡¯re the one who will get retribution. Ye Xingling!¡±

    But this time, Xia Ling kept quiet. Her eyes shifted to the space behind him.

    There was silence.

    Behind him, by the sturdy door, was Pei Ziheng. He was bent over slightly against the sunlight, and his expression was barely visible.

    ¡°Boss...¡± Chu Chen turned around and looked at Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng looked quietly at Xia Ling. They stood on two sides of a door but appeared to be standing in two different worlds.

    ¡°Boss, that¡¯s not what it looks like!¡± Chu Chen was getting flustered as he tried to exin things. ¡°Miss Ling didn¡¯t mean to say that about you. I offended her, that¡¯s why she¡¯s taking it out on you...¡±

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, I actually do mean to say that about you, so what? I don¡¯t know what Chu Chen is doing, taking all the me on himself, but let me make things clear to you now. I meant every word I said!¡± She tipped her chin up and looked at him. ¡°No matter how much trash you give me, I won¡¯t forgive you. I remember everything you owe me! In this life, no, in all the lives toe, the thing I regret most is knowing you!¡± With that, she opened the other door and walked out.

    It was fall.

    In the suspended garden of the building, the sunlight was abundant, but the air was chilly.

    Xia Ling ced her hand on the railing and looked down at her employees hustling, but the image of Pei Ziheng still haunted her mind. She seemed to have seen his expression, but not quite. The scene of his slightly slouched back, his unreadable expression, and her own feet stepping on the paper cranes repeatedly were all jumbled up, and they actually made her feel a little... bad.

    What was there to feel bad about? Xia Ling, haven¡¯t you stopped caring about him a long time ago?

    She looked down and asked herself, so what if he folded all of those paper cranes on his own? So what if you hurt him? Hasn¡¯t he hurt you countless times before?!

    She forced herself to look up and face the hazy sun of fall.

    Behind her, footsteps approached.

    She turned around and saw that it was Chu Chen. He was still in a prim suit, but his expression was solemn.

    She really disliked seeing him. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you left?!¡±

    Chu Chen looked at her with a tinge of disgust on his serious expression. ¡°There¡¯s something that Boss told me never to tell you about. But I feel that you have the need to know.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to know.¡±

    ¡°Boss has cancer.¡±

    W-What?!

    Pei Ziheng has cancer?!

    Those words seemed to explode beside her ears. She couldn¡¯t believe what she had heard. ¡°What did you say? Can you say it again?¡±

    Chu Chen still seemed annoyed at her. He looked at her coldly and added, ¡°Ye Xingling, you keep saying that I¡¯m just like a dog that follows Boss wherever he goes, but even a dog develops feelings after a while. What about you? You¡¯re inferior even to a dog!¡±

    She shook her head. She wasn¡¯t in the mood to fight back at all as her head was in a mess. It felt almost like a dream.

    Impossible...

    Pei Ziheng was so big and strong, he was insurmountable, how could he possibly be down with such a horrifying terminal disease?

    She asked softly, ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right? You¡¯re just trying to lie to me.¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie to you over something like this?¡± This time, it was Chu Chen who sneered. ¡°Unless his life is no more than a joke to you?¡±

    She continued shaking her head in disbelief.

    For the longest time, Pei Ziheng had been a respectable god-like figure in her heart. He was just like a mountain, sturdy and strong. She never would¡¯ve thought that an unconquerable mountain could copse one day too...

    Into shambles.

    An inexplicable fear choked her. She staggered to regain her footing, pushed Chu Chen aside and went to look for Pei Ziheng to rify things.

    That man was still in her office.

    The early fall sun rays filled the room, reflecting off the paper cranes scattered all over. He was squatting in the middle of this ¡°wastnd¡±, trying his best to smoothen out all the traces that she had stepped on them. His movements were slow and almost unnoticeable, and his back was still bent over.

    Xia Ling had never noticed that he had his moments of sadness and loneliness too.

    She stopped at the door and did not have the guts to step forward.

    Pei Ziheng had his back facing her. He coughed asionally while trying to erase the footprints on the paper cranes, and that hollow sound echoed through the quiet room.

 Chapter 937 - Sad Lungs

    <strong>Chapter 937: Sad Lungs</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling had never noticed before, when did he start coughing?

    She started recalling the day she shifted into her new home and how he had already been coughing slightly in between his words.

    Her heart sank. Was Chu Chen telling the truth about his terminal illness? Watching the man as he picked up the paper cranes off the ground, she wanted so much to dash forward and rify her doubts. But she was afraid, what if it really was the truth? What was she to do? Eventually, she just stood by the door as her mind spun.

    Pei Ziheng picked up each and every piece and smoothed the folds out before cing them back in the slightly damaged box. Thereafter, he sped the hasps carefully, tried to salvage the damage on the surface, and then used his sleeves to wipe the dirt off.

    Xia Ling felt her nose scrunch up a little. He had always been someone so particr about his image and had never been willing to stoop to the level of cleaning something with his pristine sleeves.

    A whileter when he was finally done dusting the box, he stood up and saw her. He was a little stunned.

    He had not had the time to hide his fatigue and sadness and hence, tried to force a smile out, which turned out a little awkward. ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± His voice was a little hoarse, but that did not conceal his pleasant surprise.

    She could not keep it in any longer. ¡°Pei Ziheng! Don¡¯t even think that you can use Chu Chen to lie to me,ing up with those absurd stories to win me back!¡±

    He was a little confused. ¡°What?¡±

    She yelled at him, ¡°You¡¯re still pretending! Chu Chen said you have cancer! What a joke, you¡¯re so strong, how could you possibly be down with that illness?! Can¡¯t you think of a better lie?!¡±

    He looked downwards and tried to hide his expression.

    A whileter, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have gotten Chu Chen to lie to you.¡±

    Her heart sank to the pits. Having spent 20-odd years with him over two lifetimes, she knew him all too well. She knew that if he had really been lying to her, he wouldn¡¯t be admitting it so readily. ¡°It¡¯s true, isn¡¯t it?¡± Her voice trembled.

    But Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I was lying to you.¡±

    ¡°Then what did you call me for the other night?¡±

    He kept quiet, knowing exactly which night she was referring to¡ªthat day, she had witnessed Valiant Song¡¯s tragic death and passed out from it. While she was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, he had been shot by Li Lei. Chu Chen sent him to the hospital for treatment, and he underwent a full body checkup...

    That was the night he was diagnosed with the terminal illness...

    He held onto the report and had a hard time trying to fall asleep in the luxurious single ward. Scrolling through his contacts list, he realized that there was no one he could turn to. Before he knew it, he was already dialing her number, but his call was declined.

    His expression was ashen.

    Xia Lingposed herself. ¡°What sort of cancer?¡±

    Pei Ziheng took a long pause before saying, ¡°Lung cancer.¡±

    ¡°Show me the report.¡± She wished it was a dream.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Show it to me!¡± She yelled, unable to suppress her emotions. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you monster, maniac, devil, beast! It¡¯s bad enough that you¡¯re torturing others, why can¡¯t you let yourself off?! You¡¯re already so ill and you should be lying in a hospital bed, why did youe all the way to look for me?! Do you want to die even earlier?! Pei Ziheng, this is all a result of your own doing!¡±

    With each word she scolded, he looked more dismal than before.

    Xia Ling lost all rationality and went forward to grab him by the cor. ¡°You beast! Haven¡¯t you hurt me enough all these years?! And now you¡¯re still manipting me?! Finally... finally, Li Lei and I are about to live blissfully... we¡¯ve got so many children, our own life... awaiting the arrival of our baby... b-but you... you actually fell ill... how could you?¡±

    She choked on her words and her voice got weaker as she spoke.

    Pei Ziheng looked even more forlorn than before. He looked at her helplessly.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± she cried while grabbing tightly onto his cor, barely able to stand. ¡°You¡¯re so mean, but why, why can¡¯t I get over you... if anything were to happen to you, h-how am I supposed to live in bliss peacefully...?¡±

    Her voice got increasingly hoarse as her grip loosened.

    He did not expect her to utter such words and reached out to embrace her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry...¡± He repeated it over and over despite her struggles.

    That day, Xia Ling followed him home and went through the report.

    Nanny Zhou was wiping her tears by the side while telling her, ¡°Miss Ling, you don¡¯t know how sad Mister has been all these years... Ever since you left, he hasn¡¯t had a good night¡¯s sleep. He often wakes up in the middle of the night thinking that you¡¯re still around, and he¡¯d ask me, ¡®Where¡¯s Xiao Ling?¡¯ In order not to think about you, Mister spent all his time at work, but how could he possibly stop missing you? He kept it all in his heart... Slowly, he began coughing, but he still refused to see the doctor...¡± Nanny Zhou sobbed. ¡°The other day, Mr. Chu finally got him to take a test, and the doctor said it was sad lungs...¡±

    The elderly nanny was crying very hard.

    Xia Ling was holding in her tears too. She read through the entire report in one sitting: cancer,te-stage, and all sorts of medical terms she vaguely remembered including ¡°metastasis¡±, ¡°radiotherapy¡± and the like...

    Xia Ling felt herself go weak. She had no idea what to do, it was almost as if her world was crumbling. In fact, she was gripped with more fear now than when she saw Li Lei fall off the cliff. Because she knew that if anything were to happen to Li Lei, she could die with him in the name of love. But what if Pei Ziheng was the one?

    He was her god, her sky, her undying mentor, father, senior...

    And the love and hate of two lifetimes.

    She used to think that he was indestructible, that he could stand tall even if a cmity were to befall him. Only now did she realize that he was a man of flesh and blood, a man who would age and die too. Maybe a turning point in life was all it took for him to leave this world for good...

    She did not know how she ended up at home.

    Li Leipleted his tasks early that day and was preparing some delicacies at home while waiting for her return. He saw how she looked and got a shock. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened to you?!¡±

    She shook her head and murmured, ¡°Pei Ziheng is ill.¡±

    Li Lei frowned. ¡°A serious illness?¡± He understood hisdy. If it was just any ordinary illness, she wouldn¡¯t be acting like this.

    As he expected, she said ever so softly, ¡°Cancer.¡±

    She curled up on the sofa and hugged her knees. She asked, neither to herself nor to Li Lei in particr, ¡°If he dies, what¡¯s to happen?¡± Although she had a family now, her parents, husband, and adorable children, nobody could ever rece him in her heart...

    As much as she hated him...

    He would always be the one who got her out of the orphanage, the one who raised her.

 Chapter 938 - Entrust

    <strong>Chapter 938: Entrust</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Li Lei sat down next to her. ¡°Everyone has their own lives.¡±

    He was silent for a while before adding, ¡°No matter what happens, I will always be by your side.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down for a long time, then looked at Li Lei a little pleadingly. ¡°Can we return to Headquarters a littleter? I... I want to spend more time with him... Maybe... it¡¯s thest time...¡±

    Her voice gradually lowered as she controlled her emotions.

    Li Lei held onto her. ¡°Okay. But you have to promise me, you will take good care of yourself and the baby in your belly. You are not to leave the bodyguard by even a step, and you are not allowed to go anywhere dangerous, okay?¡±

    Rather than letting her be shackled in guilt for her whole life over Pei Ziheng, it would be better to get it over with once and for all, to let her apany him on hisst journey. Maybe then, she could put it downpletely.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Ling said softly.

    Li Lei stayed by her side for longer, until she was fast asleep in his arms. He stared after her sleeping face for a long time, gently kissing her eyebrows that resembled the shape of butterfly wings. He then carried her back to the bedroom bed and came out by himself.

    He then went to find Pei Ziheng.

    In the Chairman¡¯s office, the man was just as majestic as ever, with no sign of his illness at all. He stared seriously at Li Lei and said, ¡°I¡¯m very busy. I don¡¯t have time to talk nonsense with you.¡±

    ¡°You are indeed very busy,¡± Li Lei said deliberately. ¡°You can still do so many things while sick, and even have the energy to go harass someone else¡¯s wife. Who else in this world could be busier than you?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s pupils seemed to contract. ¡°Xiao Ling told you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like you calling her Xiao Ling, that¡¯s not for you to call.¡± Li Lei did not bother being courteous with him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, Xiao Ling said that she¡¯ll stay in the country to apany you, and I have agreed. But I don¡¯t want her facing any harm. If you dare to do anything that endangers her, I swear, after you¡¯re dead, the whole Pei family ising to join your burial.¡±

    The two men were fully aware that Pei Ziheng was Imperior Entertainment¡¯s sole owner, the core, and if he were to die, there was no other heir that was capable enough to even strike a bnce with Li Lei. He was even young, too young to have time to truly pick and cultivate an heir. His illness came too sudden, and the Pei family¡¯s transfer of the heir was broken.

    Under these circumstances, it was more than easy for Li Lei to do anything to the Pei family.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was grave. ¡°Maybe before I die, I should get rid of you first.¡±

    Ling Lei smiled carelessly and said, ¡°You¡¯re weed to do that anytime.¡± They both knew how difficult it would be to defeat a bigpany like Skyart. It was not simply a one-off effort and was impossible in even ten years, let alone a few years.

    Pei Ziheng did not speak, and he red at Li Lei for a long time, his re as dangerous as a menacing tiger¡¯s.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we make a deal? You make sure Xiao Ling stays safe, and after you die, I will make sure the Pei family stays safe as well. And if you make Xiao Ling forget you, I can even support the Pei family financially to tide over these difficult months.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling will not forget me,¡± Pei Ziheng said with conviction.

    ¡°You know what? That is what makes you most detestable,¡± Ling Lei said.

    Pei Ziheng gave a rare smile. ¡°Why? Does it make you feel ufortable? So what if you married her? Don¡¯t forget, when she was at the orphanage, the one that she always worshipped at first sight was me, and it will always be me!¡±

    Li Lei really wanted to hit him.

    The urge was almost impossible to control, ah, the power of the wild.

    He flexed his fingers instinctively, wondering if a patient could be beaten to death directly if he hit him ruthlessly. Opposite, Pei Ziheng slowly removed his suit coat, ready to beat him at any time.

    ¡°... Forget it.¡± Li Lei put down his fists eventually. ¡°I don¡¯t pick fights with someone about to die.¡± He was not going to take the bait. Now that Pei Ziheng was terminally ridden, hitting someone else would be useless, and even Xiao Ling would not bear to say anything harsh to him. However, what if Li Lei were to hit Pei Ziheng? Xiao Ling would probably never forgive him.

    Li Lei was resentful.

    Pei Ziheng also kept his fighting stance.

    He looked at Li Lei and said, ¡°I will not hurt Xiao Ling, and I can even persuade her to live well with you for the rest of your days. But after I die, you are not to touch the Pei family, and when they face any difficulties, you are to reach out and help. Do you agree to these conditions?¡±

    ¡°You sure are greedy.¡± Li Lei grumbled.

    ¡°How is this considered greedy?¡± Pei Ziheng retorted. ¡°You want the person you cherish most to stay safe, and I want the family I cherish most to be safe¡ªan even transaction, fair and reasonable.¡±

    ¡°It sure is fair and reasonable.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°With you saying it like that, it does sound just a tad reasonable. No wonder you were able to inherit the whole family at a dangerous time at just the age of 16... Pei Ziheng, if we weren¡¯t love rivals I would actually love to be friends with you. I promise you for the conditions you mentioned.¡±

    The man¡¯s deep eyes also showed some gentleness. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Li Lei kept his gleeful expression and reached out his hand. ¡°A gentleman¡¯s word.¡±

    Pei Ziheng also reached out his own hand formally, grabbing Li Lei¡¯s in a handshake. ¡°A gentleman¡¯s word.¡±

    One woman, one family, their fate had been sealed with a handshake between these two men. They were not worried about the other party going back on their words because, to a certain extent, they were the same kind of people, carrying heavy responsibilities on their shoulders, with things they needed to guard in the depths of their hearts. Hence, they had nothing to lose...

    Pei Ziheng gestured for Li Lei to leave with his eyes.

    Turns out that that man only came to get him to treat Xiao Ling well.

    If he really had no choice but to die, then leaving Xiao Ling¡¯s future in the hands of a man like Li Lei was undoubtedly the best choice. Suddenly, he felt his chest contract and Pei Ziheng started coughing fiercely...

    Xia Ling had no idea about the alliance that the two men had juste up with.

    She was putting even more effort than before in taking care of her baby, since her child was going to be running between her new house and the Pei family¡¯s for quite a while... She had put on some light makeup, brought her bodyguard, and was sitting on the nanny¡¯s car to the vi to find Pei Ziheng.

    Nanny Zhou opened the door and looked at her with low eyebrows. ¡°Miss Ling, Mister isn¡¯t here, please go back.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Where did he go? I was just at the hospital, and the doctor said that he¡¯d already gone home, so why is he not back yet?¡± Her words showed her worry and anxiety.

    Nanny Zhou shook her head. ¡°He probably went to the office to hold a meeting.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go find him there,¡± Xia Ling said, thanking Nanny Zhou and leaving towards thepany.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression revealed a hint of concern. ¡°Miss Ling, Mister¡¯s illness cannot be known to the public, and the whole Pei family still do not know. You finding him at thepany with no reason is just too attention-grabbing, please don¡¯t give him any trouble.¡±

 Chapter 939 - Fresh Youth

    <strong>Chapter 939: Fresh Youth</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling was a little shocked. She had never thought that finding him would bring him trouble.

    ¡°Then...¡± Feeling a little upset, she asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°How has he been? How¡¯s his energy, has he been eating his medicine on time and sleeping?¡±

    Nanny Zhou told her one by one.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ve been calling him these past few days, why has he not been picking up?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Electronic projects have radiation, the doctor instructed Mister not to use them. If you have anything you want to say just tell me, I will help you convey them to him.¡±

    Xia Ling thought it over and found it made sense, so she instructed Nanny Zhou. ¡°You have to take good care of him. I heard that the Wei family has a cure for cancer, but I¡¯ve been blocked every time I went. Please tell him the news, maybe there¡¯s still a chance to live...¡± She knew that the chances were slim, but it was just like a dying person grabbing desperately onto thest life-saving straw. If it was possible, then it was worth a try.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°It should be true.¡± Xia Ling was not so sure herself. ¡°Wei Shaoyin was the one who told me, saying that the family had discovered a cure long ago. But the effectiveness is not very stable, an estimated... one in a thousand chance of recovering. Furthermore, the ingredients are very rare. Also, there¡¯s no use finding other people for it, we can only find Wei Lingnan.¡±

    Unfortunately, Wei Lingnan was avoiding her, and even Wei Shaoyin could note up with an idea.

    Nanny Zhou was full of gratefulness. ¡°Thank you. No matter what, news is better than no news at all. I will make sure that Mister hears about this. If he recovers, you will be his life savior!¡±

    Xia Ling gave a few more instructions, looked up to look at the vi, then left.

    The nanny car drove further away slowly.

    Behind the second floor¡¯s curtains, a man was staring outside the window, his expression slowly bing solemn. The dimly lit tablemp shone like a bean, casting his originally tall figure against the rosewood bookshelf and grey-washed wall. It stretched and bent into a weird shape, making it look like the figure of an old man.

    His face was haggard, his eyes weak.

    Nanny Zhou softly walked to the door. ¡°Mister, Miss Ling has left.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Very good. Bring me the documents that Chu Chen brought over, and prepare a video conference at five.¡±

    Nanny Zhou could not bear it. ¡°Mister, you have been handling your business these past few days, your body will not be able to take it! Why are you avoiding Miss Ling? With her around, she can convince you!¡±

    Pei Ziheng shook his head, and said with a stronger tone, ¡°Go move the documents.¡±

    Why would he not want Xia Ling¡¯spany? Why would he not want her by his side tofort him, apanying him in his life¡¯s final months? The thing was, he couldn¡¯t. He could not let Xiao Ling see him in such a feeble state, just like a wilting towering tree. He was her God, her sky, her faith, and her dependence...

    If he was going to leave this world, let it be of him as a strong man in her memories.

    And not this sickly, fragile man who coughed with every few words.

    He was deliberately avoiding her, not picking up her calls, not seeing her, just because he did not dare to meet her.

    Nanny Zhou stared after him with tears in her eyes. ¡°Mister, you have to at least take care of your body! Miss Ling just told me that the Wei family has a cure that could possibly cure your illness! How about we go beg the Wei family?¡±

    ¡°There is no ¡®beg¡¯ word in my Pei Ziheng¡¯s dictionary,¡± he said.

    If the prescription was easy to get, Xiao Ling would already have given it to him. If even her ¡°Xia family¡¯s Phoenix¡± background could not get it, then why should he waste his time trying? He would much rather use the energy to settle his family¡¯s work, choose the next heir, and ensure a bnce of power at the exchange.

    With a plethora of things to handle, where would he get the energy to ponder over his illness?

    Pei Ziheng went back to focus on his documents.

    After Xia Ling went to find him a few times, she slowly regained her logic, and one day, she went to the vi again, holding onto Nanny Zhou and asking, ¡°Is he avoiding me deliberately?¡±

    Nanny Zhou finally exploded. ¡°Miss Ling, please go persuade him! Mister has been tiring himself out these days! He would not listen to the doctor¡¯s word, nor Mister Chu¡¯s words! The only person who can persuade him is you!¡± She intermittentlyined about how hard Pei Ziheng had been working, crushing his own limit. Even normal people would not be able to withstand such high work intensity, much less a sick person!

    Nanny Zhou got down onto her knees. ¡°Miss Ling, I beg you, please save Mister!¡±

    Xia Ling listened with her heart in her throat. She had not imagined that the situation would have gotten this severe. She asked Nanny Zhou anxiously, ¡°Where is Pei Ziheng now? I want to find him!¡±

    Nanny Zhou wrote up a hospital address for her and said, ¡°Mister has been working overnight these past few days. Yesterday, he suddenly coughed up blood and was sent to the hospital by an ambnce. His condition has just stabilized a little.¡±

    As she continued talking, tears started to fall.

    Xia Ling could not concern herself withforting her. She rushed towards the nanny car and ordered the driver to head towards the hospital.

    The hospital was very remote, and was not owned by the Pei family. Even the dignitaries were rarely seen. On the top floor of the hospital, even the VIP room¡¯s conditions were much worse than those of big hospitals¡¯. The floor in the dimly lit corridor was old and broken, and the floorboards squeaked when stepped on.

    If not for the two familiar bodyguards standing in front of the hospital door, Xia Ling would have suspected that she had gone to the wrong ce.

    The bodyguard tried to stop her. ¡°Miss Ling, Mister has ordered us to not let anyone disturb him.¡±

    Xia Ling red fiercely at them. ¡°Is it the first day you know me? Don¡¯t you know I have special privileges?¡± With that, she rushed inside without waiting for the bodyguards¡¯ response.

    The room was dead quiet.

    Aside from Pei Ziheng lying on the hospital bed, beside the bed stood a fresh young man.

    The young man wore a steel grey suit, and his eyebrows were slightly sharp, just like him. The two of them were talking, and they froze when they saw here in. Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression held a hint of surprise, and also an iprehensible weariness. ¡°Xiao Ling, why have youe?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him.

    He did indeed look very feeble, having lost a ton of weight and seemingly lost his shape.

    She could not help but think of the person in her memories that year in the orphanage full of blooming irises. She¡¯d looked up at the broken ss of the principal¡¯s office on the second floor, and that guy... tall and handsome, like a God.

    How did he be like this?

    Her nose soured, and she almost cried out.

    Pei Ziheng also felt a little awkward, so he changed the topic and introduced to her. ¡°Xiao Ling, this is Pei Xiu, Imperial Film¡¯s CEO. He just came back from studying in Germany.¡±

    Imperial Film was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s parent-sonpany. This Pei Xiu was considered Pei Ziheng¡¯s direct subordinate, and his position was very high. Hearing the introduction, Xia Ling was shocked at his youthfulness. But thinking about it, when Pei Ziheng inherited the whole Imperial Entertainment urgently, he was even younger, but of 16 years old, so it was not strange at all.

 Chapter 940 - You Are Not Allowed to Die

    <h4>Chapter 940: You Are Not Allowed to Die</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling gave him a slight signal to show her friendship.

    He was born very good looking. Certainly, the Pei family were all very good looking. This kind of beauty was not the same as Xia Ling¡¯s stunning looks in thest life, but a delicate and almost introverted feeling. If you looked at it carefully, you would realize that every angle was perfect and wless. That was the genes that could only be possessed by superior families after generations of survival of the fittest.

    However, Xia Ling did not put much thought into the handsome young man. She still red furiously at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Why are you hiding from me?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not answer, he only said to Pei Xiu, ¡°You go out first.¡±

    Wearing his steel grey suit, the young man gave him a bow and went out.

    The slightly broken old hospital room door closed, and Pei Ziheng asked Xia Ling, ¡°What do you think about him?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    However, Pei Ziheng changed the topic casually. ¡°Today¡¯s weather is not bad, I went to take a walk in the little garden in the afternoon, and daisies were blooming. I remember there was a year you plucked many daisies to make tea, and almost drowned the whole kitchen. In the end, Nanny Zhou had to clean for a really long time before it went back to normal.¡±

    Reminiscing, his solemn face was reced by a hint of a smile.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart, however, was floating in a haze. ¡°Pei Ziheng, why are you living inside such a remote and unappealing hospital? Why have you called Pei Xiu here? You... You are arranging things, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    He said with a low tone, ¡°No, don¡¯t overthink.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Xia Ling was furious. ¡°Your illness was supposed to be a secret! Chu Chen and Nanny Zhou told me again and again not to leak it! Even the phoenixes don¡¯t know, but you? You¡¯re meeting Pei Xiu in a hospital room! Pei Ziheng... you¡¯re arranging a sessor, right?¡±

    He was shocked, his expression revealing slight surprise and a hint of unnoticeable sadness. ¡°Silly girl, after two generations you¡¯ve grown all big, yet why are you still thinking so much?¡±

    Her nose soured. The reason why she was not sensitive to the past things was because of the presence of him and Li Lei, so there was no reason for her to worry. Furthermore, she did not care about power and authority. However, it was different now. The matter involved his death, and even a slight blow of the wind could activate her sensitivity.

    She walked towards the bed step by step, half knelt down and grabbed hold of his ice-cold hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to find a sessor, not allowed to die.¡±

    He stared after her, his gaze warm. ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t die.¡±

    ¡°Swear!¡±

    ¡°I swear.¡±

    She looked at him doubtfully. ¡°You swore too easily, swear it again.¡±

    He smiled fondly, and time seemed to return to many years ago. She returned to being the wilful little girl in his memory, and him, he was still her God, her eternal hero and mountain of support. Pei Ziheng reached out his hand, gently helping her to tuck the pieces of stray hair behind her ear and said softly, ¡°I swear, I won¡¯t die. If I break this oath, then call me... call Xiao Ling to live to a hundred years, blissful for her entire life.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng! You!¡± She could not hold it in anymore and exploded in tears.

    What kind of oath was this?! What kind of a bullshit oath?!

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t count! Not counted!¡± She hit him with her hands, crying out. ¡°You rogue! You liar! You only made this oath to make fun of me! Pei Ziheng... Pei Ziheng...¡±

    She cried so hard that her energy was not enough.

    Pei Ziheng stared at her longingly, the corners of his eyes tearing up too. Carefully, he brought her into his embrace. ¡°Xiao Ling...¡± His voice was soft and gentle. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t be by your side for eternity, can¡¯t watch your kids give birth, can¡¯t keep fighting with Li Lei... I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to, I don¡¯t want to hear you say sorry... You have to get better, do you hear me?¡±

    He hugged her even tighter, not saying a word, but not letting go.

    If there was a possibility of getting better, who would not want that? However, once you had cancer, it was like you were written in the Grim Reaper¡¯s books. How many had actually escaped? They both understood, so what if they took an oath? In the face of death, words held no power. The girl in his arms was crying so hard she was almost fainting, so he searched for words before saying with difficulty, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry. The doctor said there is still a chance for surgery.¡±

    She stopped crying and lifted her tear-stained face to ask, ¡°Really?¡±

    He said, ¡°Yes.¡± In actual fact, the surgery carried a huge risk, and his lung cancer that was in the middle tote stage was not suitable for it. Aside from harming his vitality, it could even be a failure, elerating his death.

    Regardless of whether he did it or not, the oue was already decided.

    Xia Ling was very helpless. She knew deep inside that if things were really this simple, he would not have had to scout Pei Xiu behind everyone¡¯s back, settling the aftermath. However, she wanted so badly to believe him. If he could continue staying alive, how good would that be? In a state of irony, she murmured, ¡°Why did you call Pei Xiu?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°That is only a precaution. If something... really happens to me, I have to find someone who is reliable and can hold up the family business, and also, someone who can treat you well.¡± Actually, there were a few who had the ability to hold up the Pei family, but he had eventually chosen Pei Xiu only because out of all the other candidates, he was the only one who did not have biases against her.

    Many of those under the Pei family were famous in their own names, and before Xiao Ling¡¯s phoenix identity was exposed, many looked down on her¡ªPei Ziheng could not let someone who looked down on her be the sessor. Only Pei Xiu, who treated everyone as equals, could continue to take care of her after his death, to be her mountain of support.

    Even if there was already the Li family and the Xia family.

    But as for her mountains of support, the more the better.

    Pei Ziheng touched the hair of the girl in his arms lovingly, telling her, ¡°I still have some money and immovable property, those are left for you. I have already gotten awyer to write it. It¡¯s not much, but it can ensure you live your life with no worries.¡±

    Her heart continued to sink. He had already thought of all the details.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re not allowed to die...¡± With a thousand words, this was the only sentence she could formte.

    She started to stay by his side, visiting him every few days, sometimes in the hospital, sometimes in the vi where the red wall was wrapped in ivy. His illness deteriorated quickly, and he kept coughing, frequently coughing out blood. However, he did not stop working and was even busier than before.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart hurt as if it were being torn apart, and she could not bear to see it anymore.

    That day, when he was arranging his financial ounts, she snatched the thick folders from him all of a sudden. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t you want your life anymore?! Is your body or your business more important?! Why can¡¯t you just rest properly!¡±

    She was the only one who dared to snatch his folders away from him.

    He stared at his empty hands, yet did not feel angry, only said patiently, ¡°Xiao Ling, give the folder back to me. Be good. I don¡¯t have much time, and while I still have the ability to do these, I need to...¡±

    ¡°You promised me you wouldn¡¯t die!¡± She interrupted, her voice choking up.

 Chapter 941 - On Purpose

    <h4>Chapter 941: On Purpose</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was gloomy, and he turned his head slightly.

    She grabbed onto those official documents tightly, distorting the thick and white papers and leaving behind ugly marks. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to die...¡± She murmured, tears rolling down her cheeks. ¡°I beg you, please don¡¯t be like this, don¡¯t make me feel as though you will leave me anytime, anywhere...¡±

    Pei Ziheng said mutely, ¡°Everyone has their own lives.¡±

    She cried, ¡°That¡¯s not your life! Pei Ziheng, if you die, I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll follow Li lei back to the headquarters, give birth to a pile of children and anger the life out of you!¡± She was incoherent, not caring that her words carried illnguage.

    His expression was shocked, and after a long while, he suddenly said with a low tone, ¡°Xiao Ling, if I die, just live a quiet life with Li Lei. Let him protect you, take care of you, give birth to a bunch of kids, and let them be filial to you when they grow up.¡±

    It was then that she was shocked still. ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    He closed his eyes, and even breathing seemed to hurt. If possible, why would he have let go of the women he loved to someone else? However, he was going to die... He could not protect her anymore, could not see her live blissfully without worries. She was so pure that any small trick was sure to hurt her...

    He could only let that man protect her.

    In the years and time that he could not reach, he hoped that she would continue to be blissful.

    Xia Ling cried while shaking her head. Looking at him, she cried furiously, ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re not allowed to die! You¡¯re not allowed to die, do you hear me?! If you die, I¡¯ll never be happy! I will be depressed for a lifetime, do you understand!¡±

    She screamed and fell down to kneel beside his feet.

    He mourned and hugged her tightly, letting her head rest against his legs. ¡°You¡¯re so cruel.¡± Stroking the crown of her silky smooth long hair, he muttered, using a volume so small she could not hear. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so cruel, do you know that?¡± Did he want to live, to watch as she and Li Lei lived happily, to be filled with jealousy and not be able to escape it his entire life? However he... still wanted to promise her...

    He shut his eyes and said softly, ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t die.¡±

    As if he could decide it.

    That day, she stayed by his side for a long time.

    Since he had already promised her not to die, he did not have to look soboriously at the documents anymore. The two of them took a walk in the little garden as a form of recuperation. Pei Ziheng deliberately chose a few happy stories to tell her, making herugh, while she, for his health, cooperated byughing out.

    Everything seemed so harmonious.

    Until all of a sudden, without warning, she copsed under a lc tree.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Madam!¡¯

    Pei Ziheng and the bodyguards all changed their expression, shouting in unison.

    They carried her into the bedroom anxiously, called a family doctor, and then the bodyguard gave another call to Li Lei. Very soon, Li Lei hurried over. ¡°Pei Ziheng, if anything happens to Xiao Ling I will settle it with you!¡± These were the first words that left Li Lei¡¯s mouth when he stormed in, while he went to Xia Ling¡¯s side with the greatest speed.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?!¡± He called urgently, ¡°Wake up, don¡¯t scare me!¡±

    At the side, the Pei family¡¯s doctor said, ¡°Mr. Li, don¡¯t rush, Miss Ling just fainted because she was a little exhausted. It¡¯s not much, she just has to rest for a few days. I gave her a bit of grape sugar, she is sleeping soundly now, and the baby in her tummy is also safe.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s line of sight fell to her still t belly.

    After two months of pregnancy, it was still not obvious, but it was a period of infant instability, and she could not afford any turmoil. ¡°Baby, you have to be well...¡± He stuck his face to her tummy and said softly.

    Finally, the Li family¡¯s doctor was here.

    The doctor repeated a set of tests on Xia Ling and told him, ¡°Sir, Madam is indeed fine. She was just overworked,bined with her emotional sorrow. She will be fine after resting for a while. Pei family¡¯s doctor...¡± He said, nodding to his fellow doctor. ¡°Handled it very well.¡±

    After hearing this from someone he trusted, Li Lei breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing her away.¡± Li Lei nced over at the sleeping Xia Ling.

    ¡°Sir, Madam¡¯s current situation makes it inconvenient to move around. It¡¯s best to wait until she has woken up.¡± Li family¡¯s doctor stopped him. Li Lei hesitated. This was Pei family¡¯s house, Pei family¡¯s bedroom! How could he let his woman sleep on his bed with a peace of mind?!

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you love her? Yes, this is my bedroom, my bed. Xiao Ling has slept on this bed countless times, even the mattress was chosen by her. She likes this bed and is sleepingfortably. Are you going to move her, ignoring her safety, just because of your jealousy?¡±

    Li Lei said with a low voice, ¡°Don¡¯t make me punch you.¡±

    It was not that the Pei family did not have any guest rooms, he just chose to make her sleep on his own bed!

    It was so deliberately done on purpose! On! Purpose!

    Pei Ziheng said provocatively, ¡°Sure,e beat me. Best if you wake her up, and let her see just how childish and rash is the man she has married.¡± He was fearless now, with nothing to lose. But Li Lei was different. He was a man who was over-concerned about her and refused to let her suffer any ounce of grievance.

    If that was the case, then even if he died, it would be of no regrets.

    As expected, Li Lei forced himself to calm down and unclenched his fists. He turned, leaned over, and looked at the woman sleeping on the bed. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll apany you.¡±

    The sleeping her moved a little and grabbed hold of his hands.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± Her voice was as low as a mosquito¡¯s.

    Li Lei was ecstatic. Fiercely repressing his inner joy, he said gently to her, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± She still had not opened her eyes. As if she was still dreaming, even saying a few words seemed to take a lot of energy. ¡°I¡¯m... afraid...¡±

    ¡°Afraid of what?¡± He hugged her body, and she did not retaliate.

    ¡°Afraid...¡± She stopped for a long while, and when he thought that she had fallen asleep again, she said gently, ¡°Afraid something will happen to Ziheng... and... our baby...¡±

    His heart trembled, and he looked up, taking one nce at Pei Ziheng who was not far away. Even when his woman was sleeping, she was still thinking about that man! And even called him ¡°Ziheng¡±! Not Pei Ziheng, and not some bastard beast, she had clearly called him the title of the past life when they had fallen in love! So familiar and lovely...

    Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face revealed a victorious smile.

    Li Lei, however, felt thousands of red burning charcoal fires in the depths of his heart, as if there were countless needles stabbing it, but he had no choice other than to control it, using an even gentler voice to say, ¡°The baby is fine. Ziheng... he¡¯s fine too.¡±

    In her sleep, the corners of her lips revealed a hint of a smile.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± She found afortable position in his arms and murmured, ¡°You¡¯re the best. I love you the most.¡± With that, she spoke no more and fell into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 942 - Visiting the Sick

    <h4>Chapter 942: Visiting the Sick</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He was a little shocked. The countless numbers of steel needles that were originally in his heart were now gone, followed by an uncontroble joy that threatened to explode. So what if she was concerned about Pei Ziheng? The one she loved the most, was him!

    They were partners for a lifetime!

    A bright smile appeared on Li Lei¡¯s face, and he gently nted a kiss on her forehead. ¡°Sleep, I will be by your side the whole time.¡± A family of three, squeezing in the old butfortable bed, enjoying the rare peaceful times.

    And Pei Ziheng, he had already turned and left the room without his knowledge.

    The long corridor, the dark room.

    Pei Ziheng lit up a cigarette, taking in a deep puff.

    He should be happy, right? To see Xiao Ling¡¯s life being taken care of by such a loving man. However, why was a thick sense of unwillingness rising in his heart? His lungs were burning in pain, and it was hard to breathe.

    Unexpectedly, he thought back of today at the study room, where she had cried and pleaded for him not to die.

    If he did not die, would she not have to be sad?

    Could it be that he would have a chance to snatch her back in this remaining long time?

    His cold, handsome godly features were obscured by the thick dense smoke.

    ¡°Sir.¡± It was the Pei family¡¯s doctor, who had followed him and saw him smoking. ¡°Your lungs were never good, to begin with, stop smoking!¡± He said, shocked.

    Pei Ziheng put out the cigarette. ¡°Tell the hospital to prepare for surgery.¡±

    ¡°Surgery?¡± The doctor was shocked, changing his expression to one of solemnity. ¡°Sir, you have really decided to undergo tumor resection surgery? You have to know, your condition now is not suitable for undergoing surgery, the risks are very high...¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Pei Ziheng interrupted him, a little impatient. ¡°Even if it fails, isn¡¯t it just dying a few months earlier?¡± On the other hand, if it were to seed... he would not have to die and could continue to be beside Xiao Ling.

    Even if the chances were extremely slim, almost dismissable.

    He had, however, endured enough of staring at her in some other man¡¯s embrace, and not being able to do anything about it.

    Be it life or death, why not make it quicker?

    The doctor looked at him worriedly. The tumor resection surgery is normally aimed toward patients in the early stages of cancer, when the lesion has not spread and was easy to remove it cleanly, to control the condition and even cure it. However, to someone in theter stages of cancer? There were too many lesions in the body, and it was impossible to cut it cleanly! Moreover, the surgery would greatly consume the patient¡¯s physical strength and will elerate the patient¡¯s death! Sir has long since been clear with them about the treatment ns¡ªthat is, no surgery, only conservative treatment to maximize the survival time¡ªabout a few more months probably. Then, after he has settled his family affairs and arranged his after-event, he could pass peacefully.

    Now, however, where had he gone crazy?

    The doctor spent all his efforts talking, but still failed to persuade Pei Ziheng. He had no choice but to go to his team of doctors and experts to re-establish the treatment n. Just the thought of Pei Ziheng dying on the surgery table was enough to make the doctor want to cry.

    The surgery n was formted intensively.

    Under Li Lei¡¯s care, Xia Ling also recovered day by day.

    The Li family¡¯s doctor said, ¡°Madam, you cannot overtire yourself, nor have too many ups and downs in your mood. The first three months of pregnancy are the most critical. To say something unpleasant, I heard that young master Shaohui was very weak and thin when he was born. It was actually caused by your negligence of nutrients when you were pregnant. Thank goodness young master Shaohui was born safely... However, this time, you might not be as lucky as the previous time. So you have to take extra care of yourself, don¡¯t put the cart before the horse!¡±

    Xia Ling stroked her belly, her heart full of sorrow.

    On one side was a child who had just been bred, on the other, a man who was about to die. How could she be calm?

    However, in any case, she was indeed unwilling to see anything happen to the unborn child. After fainting at Pei Ziheng¡¯s house, she lessened her visits andmunicated with him mainly through WeChat and calls.

    She learned that he was actively preparing for surgery.

    [Is the surgery very risky?] She asked him on WeChat.

    [I promised you I won¡¯t die,] he replied. [I will grab hold of any chance.]

    While talking, he coughed out fresh blood on the phone, turning it a sh of red. Pei Ziheng managed to recover from his fit with difficulty, but his heart was at peace. Great, thank goodness she was not there to see this scene, WeChat¡¯s typing function was just too great. He wiped away the traces of blood on the corners of his lips and replied with a smiley face.

    However, Xia Ling was not assured.

    She researched on a lot of medical information, and said to Li Lei, ¡°With his circumstances, the surgery has high risks. I¡¯m suspecting that he¡¯s lying to me, pretending that nothing is going to happen. I still want to see him with my own eyes.¡±

    Li Lei frowned a little. ¡°What about the child in your belly?¡±

    She lowered her head and stroked her belly gently, then raised her head to look at him. ¡°When the first three months have passed and the infant has stabilized, will you apany me to visit him? That will be safer.¡±

    He was finally more at ease since she had offered to let him apany her.

    He pondered over it and agreed to her request. ¡°Okay, but you have to take care of the child carefully. Also, we¡¯reing back right after we see Pei Ziheng.¡±

    She nodded.

    The first three months finally passed, and she went to visit Pei Ziheng with Li Lei.

    Li Lei knew, Pei Ziheng would not be happy to see him, and he did not want to have disputes with someone about to die, so he took the initiative to wait outside the hospital room. Xia Ling turned and walked towards the room, turned back halfway there, and saw the look of loneliness in his eyes.

    Her heart twitched slightly, and she turned back, reaching out to lower his head and nting a kiss.

    ¡°I love you,¡± she said.

    He stared at her with surprise and smiled. ¡°Yes, I know.¡± He said with a very soft tone.

    She then turned around and walked towards the hospital room. No matter how worried she was about Pei Ziheng, she understood that in this lifetime, the one she loved and wanted to grow old with was only Li Lei. She did not want her loved one to suffer just because of the fate of her past self. She was trying her best to minimize the impacts.

    She opened the door.

    Pei Ziheng was reading a book inside.

    It was a beautifully framed picture, with a flying bird and a pair of white wings spread across the sky.

    He raised his head to look at her, shocked. After a few moments, he closed the book and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, why have youe?¡± Even with such a short sentence, he coughed numerous times, and blood spewed out from the corners of his lips.

    Xia Ling looked on, her heart knitting tightly together. It had been only a few days since she had seen him? He was weak again, too thin to even be a human figure. His cheeks were deeply sunken, and the pale green blood vessels and bones could be seen clearly under his skin.

    She wished that time could stop so that he would stop weakening further.

    Finally able to control her emotions, she said with the calmest tone she could muster, ¡°I came to see you. Have you been listening well to the doctor? How¡¯s your body?¡±

 Chapter 943 - Be the Godfather

    <h4>Chapter 943: Be the Godfather</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Halfway through, she could not help but choke on her words.

    However, he smiled faintly. ¡°It¡¯s quite good. You see, I don¡¯t even have to handle official business now. I take a walk every day, look at albums¡ª¡± He gestured toward the album in his hands. ¡°A beautiful bird, you will like it too.¡±

    She nced over at it. ¡°Yes, I like it a lot.¡±

    At an angle where he could not see, she secretly wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

    Wearing the sick gown, he looked as thin as a bone shelf, yet was still pretending that nothing happened. ¡°I was preparing for the surgery recently, and the doctor said that I could have the surgery soon. I will get well soon. Xiao Ling, you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    She nodded, sitting with him for a while and smiling, not knowing how bad her acting skills were, how her fake smiles were uglier than her crying. Pei Ziheng could not bear to see it, and in turn, advised her. ¡°Go back, we have plenty of time.¡±

    Plenty... of time...?

    These few words were like the most uncertain questions in the world, who knew if they could be realized?

    She could not bear to go, and said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng...¡± She murmured but did not know what to say.

    Pei Ziheng smiled warmly and elegantly, reassuring her. ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, the baby in your belly is more important. How can I die? I still want to see your child be born, and call me his Godfather.¡±

    She was teased by him and smiled. ¡°Okay, once the child is born, he will recognize you as his Godfather.¡±

    ¡°Li Lei will probably be very angry?¡±

    ¡°He will definitely be angry, and then call the child to bring the riches back to his own house. You have to be careful, don¡¯t let the Pei family be emptied by the little guy.¡± Xia Ling sniffed, and was silent for a while, before saying in a low tone, ¡°You have to get better.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°I promise.¡±

    Afraid that she would be upset and injure her body, he persuaded her a few more times until she finally left.

    Looking at her disappearing figure at the corner of the corridor, Pei Ziheng held onto the door frame for bnce. He bent down and started coughing violently. The doctor had said that his condition was not good¡ªlet alone to undergo surgery, even whether he would stay alive till his surgery was unknown. He slowly sat down on the ground, an unbearable aching paining from all over his body. It was a cancer pain that was unique to thest stage of cancer. He had already been enduring it for a long time in front of her and was finally unable to hold it in any longer. He pressed the emergency button immediately.

    Xia Ling was headed down the other direction and did not hear the bell sound.

    She returned to where she had parted from Li Lei, but could not see him.

    She looked around everywhere, and when she could not find him, she stepped out of the hospital and was almost knocked down by a speeding car. Behind her, someone pulled her back. ¡°You are looking for death!¡±

    It was Chu Chen.

    She took some effort to get out of her shocked state to recognize the person, and asked a little awkwardly, ¡°He¡¯s going to die, isn¡¯t he?¡± One¡¯s physical state could not lie, and Pei Ziheng¡¯s body was already at its weakest point. The chances of him living were slim. She was not stupid. Even if he did not tell her, she could see it.

    Chu Chen¡¯s expression was ferocious. ¡°If you were to die before he dies, I will kill your whole family! You can die as and when after he dies, nobody is going to stop you!¡±

    Indeed, he was really dying...

    Even Chu Chen, who was such a loyal dog, was saying something so depressing.

    Xia Ling shook her head and stared at him, suddenly saying something sarcastic, ¡°Chu Chen, if he was to die, what would you do? An emperor has a courtier. If it was Pei...¡± She paused for a moment, swallowing back Pei Xiu¡¯s name. She was uncertain if Chu Chen knew about the matters of the next sessor. She only said, ¡°If it was changed to someone else, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be able to gain power? You should just take good care of him and pray that he lives to a hundred years!¡±

    It was Chu Chen¡¯s turn to sneer. ¡°What happens to me is not your ce to worry about. And so is his life and death.¡±

    All these years, he had witnessed just how his boss had loved the woman in front of him, even when he was ridden with a terminal illness he could not forget about her. Other than Imperial¡¯s stocks that could not fall into the hands of outsiders, a huge part of the other assets were all taken up by this woman when he was consulting thewyer to do his will.

    This woman, however?

    She even came to the hospital with Li Lei to see Boss!

    He was afraid that Boss would see the figure standing at the corner of the corridor and that his condition would aggravate. Hence, he had devised a n to lure Li Lei away. Looking at Xia Ling, he said, ¡°Li Lei is noting back anytime soon, he has urgent matters to attend to. Seeing that Boss cares so much for you, why don¡¯t I send you home so that nothing happens to you midway and Boss need not worry.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°Where did Li Lei go?¡±

    ¡°I saw him on the way here, he was on the phone and was dealing with a little business at the headquarters.¡±

    The business over at the headquarters wasplicated, and something big must have happened, or he would not have left so urgently without informing her. Xia Ling was, however, unwilling to just leave with Chu Chen. ¡°I¡¯ve received your good intentions, but I¡¯ll just call for the driver toe pick me up.¡±

    Chu Chen shrugged and watched as she took her call.

    She was just talking to the driver when, all of a sudden, she heard Li Lei¡¯s voice sound from not far away. ¡°Xiao Ling! You have to be careful¡ª¡± He sounded anxious, and his face was full of worry.

    She raised her head, saw him run over towards her, but could not react in time before she felt her body being pushed into a car. The car was stuffy, and a manughed inside. ¡°Hi, we meet again, my cute little rabbit... Or should I call you ¡®sister-inw¡¯?¡±

    ... Li Feng.

    It was Li Feng!

    All of Xia Ling¡¯s body hair stood on end. This pervert, was he not locked by Li Lei in the headquarter¡¯s dungeons? There was even someone to deliver him three meals a day and medicine, and that medicine was supposed to turn even a highly intelligent elite into an idiot once taken for long!

    Why did he look fine?!

    ¡°You must be very surprised, how did I manage to escape?¡± Li Feng¡¯sughter was cold and slippery, like a snake-like breath that was licking her in the darkness. ¡°Xiao Lei looked down on me, that makes me so upset... Speaking of that, that medicine is so interesting, I gave it to the people who guarded the dungeon, and they actually became idiots, falling onto the floor and spewing white foam from their mouths. It was convenient for me to take my keys, so I did and walked out of there gloriously...¡±

    His smile was disturbing yet charming. ¡°My cute little rabbit... I heard that you¡¯re pregnant with my dear brother¡¯s baby again? I am so happy! This time, what game shall we y?¡±

    His cold hands pressed onto her belly, causing her heart to rise to an inexpressible fear.

    ¡°Li Feng! Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t hurt the child!¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Hurt? What do you consider as hurt? I¡¯m the child¡¯s uncle, I will definitely treat it well... Let me think, what kind of games will make it happiest?¡±

    Xia Ling only felt a moment of her chest tightening, and before she lost her consciousness, she grabbed tightly onto the wrist of Li Feng and said with her final strength, ¡°Li Feng! If anything happens to the child, Li Lei and the Xia family will not forgive you!¡±

 Chapter 944 - Abnormal Art

    <h4>Chapter 944: Abnormal Art</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When she woke, she was in a strange and unfamiliar ce.

    Xia Ling supported herself with her hands and lowered her head to stroke her little belly immediately. Fortunately, the child was probably okay. She breathed a sigh of relief, and as soon as she raised her head, she saw a handsome yet demonic man smiling at her¡ªLi Feng. Today, he was rather beautifully dressed, arge red peony flower embroidered robe clinging to his slender body, a carnelian ring on his fingers, and bright red lips beaming happily.

    His voice was as soft as ever. ¡°Wee to my territory, my dear little rabbit.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s chest tightened, and she could not help but shrink her body back. If there was anyone else in the world she was afraid of more than a mad Pei Ziheng, it was Li Feng. This was a true madman, a pervert, a devil who killed without blinking and even reveled in it. Falling into his hands was like going into Hell.

    She could not stop shaking but tried her best to resist it. She raised her head and said, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Li Feng smiled at her, his gorgeous phoenix eyes wrinkling together, devious yet enchanting. ¡°Don¡¯t panic, my dear little rabbit, you have already been unconscious for three days and three nights. It¡¯s thanks to my care that you have woken. You make me sad by being so wary of me.¡± He touched his chest deliberately with his sharp fingernail, crushing the peony flower brooch hanging off his robe, twisting it into a broken shape.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression changed. So, she had been unconscious for three days and three nights? Li Lei should be driven crazy with worry?

    She asked anxiously, ¡°What about Li Lei?! He saw you grab me into the car, he must have contacted you!¡±

    Li Feng smiled very happily. ¡°Li Lei? My brother sure is stupid, I¡¯ve already escaped from the dungeons for so many days, yet he still has not realized. These few days, I¡¯ve been following you, and I finally caught an opportunity... Ah, Chu Chen that idiot, so concerned about Pei Ziheng, so I conveniently slipped him information about my escape, and he couldn¡¯t wait to give a call anonymously to Xiao Lei to divert him away from the hospital rooms. And then the rest you already know. I am very happy to be able to capture you in front of Xiao Lei.¡±

    Turns out it was all him!

    Chu Chen was used by him to pull the trigger!

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart undted, and she scolded Chu Chen¡¯s ignorance quietly. But things had alreadye to this, and there was no other choice. She kept her emotions in check and asked Li Feng, ¡°Where is this ce?¡± Looking around, it was a Chinese-style room, with streaks of sunlight pouring through the mahogany carved window frame. The dust in the air danced, and at first nce, it seemed as though nothing was out of the ordinary. However, she saw with her sharp eyes past the fine-grained curtain of the bed to the wall, where two sswares were arranged neatly. One of them was as tall as a human, and the other was only one foot tall.

    It was filled with an unknown, pale yellow liquid.

    Li Feng let her look on, even pointing ecstatically at a few of the machines to her. ¡°You noticed too? Aren¡¯t they beautiful? No... No, they are not perfect yet. Wait for me to put you and your child inside as specimens, these two bottles filled with formalin, then it can be called art.¡±

    He smiled charmingly, as if he were talking about something really wonderful.

    Xia Ling, however, felt shivers down her spine. She remembered how many years ago, when she had visited the Li family headquarters for the first time and had been captured to the Snake Hall, this man in front of her had said that he would turn everything Li Lei cared about into specimens.

    Turns out, even up to this day, he had still not given up on this.

    What to do?!

    A huge sense of crisis hit her heart, making it almost stop pumping. Her brain turned at a fast speed as she tried to think. How could she stop this crazy man?! Her blood shot up to her brain, and she forced herself to stay calm to grasp more information. ¡°Li Feng, why are you so stubborn about specimens?¡±

    ¡°Stubborn?¡± He tilted his head, smiling. ¡°Don¡¯t you think they¡¯re beautiful? Actually, I have never understood why Xiao Lei was interested in those weak, ugly creatures, like cats, dogs, and rabbits. Oh, that¡¯s right, and... you.¡± He looked at her, a sinister look in his eyes, making her heart tighten as she looked on. His expression changed all of a sudden and he smiled. ¡°However, when I made them into specimens, I could understand Xiao Lei a little... they are really beautiful,¡± he said in dreamy admiration.

    Xia Ling almost vomited, not knowing if it was a side effect of the ss bottles or if it was a psychological effect. She only felt that the air was filled with a foul formalin smell that made it hard to breathe, just as disgusting as the man in front of her.

    She forced herself to stay calm and said softly, ¡°Li Feng, beauty is not like this.¡±

    ¡°What qualifications do you have to discuss beauty with me!¡± Suddenly, Li Feng exploded with rage, turning to grab onto her slender neck. ¡°Ye Xingling, who do you think you are?! Xiao Lei likes you, doesn¡¯t he! He thinks you¡¯re beautiful, right! So let me see, after you¡¯ve be a specimen, let¡¯s see if he will still feel something for you!¡±

    His strength was too great, and she was suffocated at once. She struggled weakly, but it was to no avail, the oxygen in her lungs was getting thinner, and her vision was getting blurry. Was she... going to die here...

    No, she could not die...

    She was still pregnant with her baby, she must bring her baby safely into the world...

    Just before her consciousness slipped away, suddenly, her neck was loosened, and air started to flow into her lungs. She coughed, takingrge breaths of air, weak and feeble.

    Li Feng looked at her from a higher level, seemingly a little unhappy. ¡°The things that Xiao Lei likes are always so weak. Just one touch and it breaks, so boring.¡±

    She panted for a really long time, before finding her own voice back. ¡°You... You¡¯re not going to kill me?¡±

    Li Fengughed. ¡°Kill? That word is too violent.¡±

    He knelt down and lifted her chin with two fingers, his words as cold and smooth as that of a snake. ¡°I just want to make you into a specimen, that¡¯s all. My little girl, do you know what is called a specimen?¡±

    Only a ghost would know what kind of specimen this sick mouth was talking about?!

    She did not want to know at all! However, at the time of crisis, she had to ask despite herself, ¡°What is it?¡±

    Li Feng smiled again but still did not answer. He licked his red lips and stood up. He walked over to the square cassette in front of the table, pressed the button, and a red light shed¡ªit was then that Xia Ling realized, this thing that was disguised as an antique cassette was actually a camcorder!

    ¡°Hi, Xiao Lei,¡± Li Feng said to the camcorder joyfully. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in three days, have you missed me? The farewell at the hospital, that must have made it very unforgettable for you... Don¡¯t be too moved, I have an even more unforgettable present for you, hehehe...¡±

    He turned, taking a dagger from the shelf on the side and then walking step by step toward Xia Ling.

 Chapter 945 - The Cruelest Revenge

    <h4>Chapter 945: The Cruelest Revenge</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    An ominous premonition enveloped Xia Ling¡¯s whole body.

    Even if she was stupid, she understood then and there what Li Feng was trying to do, and she could not stop herself from saying, ¡°Don¡¯t fool around, Li Feng. Don¡¯t do something that everyone will regret!¡±

    Li Feng turned a deaf ear to her, and stood beside her, easily holding her in one hand, the other holding onto the dagger, shing around her beautiful and slender neck. ¡°I heard that you are a phoenix. I specifically made the craftsman create a knife with a phoenix totem. I even embedded it with a ruby stone. Do you like it?¡± His eyes shed with a bloodthirsty and exhrating light, making him look full of energy. ¡°Very like you,¡± he said, licking his lips.

    The disgusting and sickly expression made Xia Ling¡¯s heart jump in her throat. However, she did not give up. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, we¡¯re all one family. We can talk it out, right? If you kill me, Li Lei will be sad!¡±

    ¡°He will remember me forever,¡± Li Feng said in a soft tone, the cold sharp tip of the knife touching her neck.

    She did not dare to speak nor move.

    Li Fengughed. ¡°You appear to be very frightened, why bother? Let me tell you how much of a beautiful thing this is¡ªthis dagger will go down your neck all the way, cut open your belly while you¡¯re alive, and also cut the little thing in your belly in half... no, no, don¡¯t worry, I will not cut it in half, it¡¯ll be more interesting to dig it out whole. After digging it outpletely, I will throw it into the formalin while alive in front of you, until it drowns, and you can only stare at it while bleeding out, with those beautiful eyes filled with desperation... You will then struggle and then die along with it. How perfect, it¡¯s too perfect! Hahahahaha¡ª!¡±

    Crazy, he was really crazy.

    Xia Ling could no longer care about the sharp knife that would cut into her throat. She opened her mouth to plead. ¡°Don¡¯t do this, please...¡±

    Tiny beads of blood rolled down following her words.

    Li Feng stared at her white neckline that was oozing bits of red, his gaze deepening.

    He reached out a fingertip to wipe it away, bringing the fresh drop of blood to his mouth to taste, then saying with a hoarse voice, ¡°No wonder Xiao Lei likes you so much... I like it too... This kind of blood...¡± He added a little more force, and more drops of blood oozed out.

    Xia Ling could not bother about her pain anymore, her whole focus was on how to protect her baby and keep herself alive. Between the flint and the electricity, an inspiration suddenly dawned on her and she called out, ¡°You think death is the most painful revenge for him?¡±

    Li Feng was surprised, and he moved the dagger away. ¡°Is it not?¡±

    ¡°Li Feng! Cough...¡± Her throat was hurt, making her words less fluent, yet she still said desperately, ¡°Killing someone is the lowest practice, it¡¯s impossible to make someone experience the maximum pain! The only way you can make him experience the greatest grief is to harm me in front of Li Lei, to let him witness the flesh-and-blood scene first-hand! To want to save me and yet be unable to, and have no choice but to watch as me and my child die in a ce within his reach!¡±

    She did not know if these words were useful to Li Feng, but she knew instinctively¡ªLi Feng hated Li Lei!

    Only this strong hate would justify him constantly finding trouble for Li Lei and trying to destroy his happiness at all costs! If that was the case... then let the hate be even more hearty!

    She stared deadly at Li Feng, waiting for his reaction.

    Li Feng was stunned for a while, then he murmured, ¡°You¡¯re right... Painful living, how could I have not thought of making Xiao Lei in so much pain he wished he never lived?¡± A strange smile appeared on his face, and suddenly, he was furious again. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault... it¡¯s all your fault! It was you, because of you I was captured by Xiao Lei, captured by him to eat one piece of that medicine! Even though I only ate one piece before finding it strange, but how dare you! How dare you try to damage my unparalleled intelligence!¡±

    He was furious. He put aside the dagger and pped Xia Ling with great force. ¡°If it was not for me having eaten that medicine, how could I have not thought of torturing you in front of him? Yes, in front of him! That¡¯s much better than killing you in a video! Hahahahahahaha!¡±

    He was happy and pped Xia Ling again.

    The crisp p sound echoed in the room, and Xia Ling¡¯s face was tilted to the side by his ps, five finger marks appearing on her white skin. However, she could not bother about these. She stared intensely in the direction of the dagger, quickly calcting about how on earth to rescue herself!

    Li Feng stared at her with a pair of snake-like eyes, his chest rising up and down. After a long while, he smiled. ¡°I have changed my mind, I am going to keep you, and raise you... Until I have lured Xiao Lei out. When he appears in front of me and sees the living you just within his reach, I am going to slowly... slowly... dig out the little thing in your belly, letting him witness as you two die painfully... if I do that, he will definitely remember me forever, right?¡±

    Li Fengughed, his face arrogant and enchanting, like a dangerous blooming poppy.

    Xia Ling only felt her whole body freeze up, but she breathed a sigh of relief internally. Finally, she could keep her and her baby¡¯s lives for the moment. It was not that she wanted to bring Li Lei into this, but she understood Li Lei. Since he had already seen her being kidnapped by Li Feng, he would definitelye to rescue her! It did not make sense to have him note.

    For the sake of the present, she could only take things step by step.

    She looked at the man in front of her who wasughing like a madman, moving her body carefully towards the direction of the dagger on the floor.

    However, before she could reach the dagger, Li Feng grabbed her once again. ¡°My dear little rabbit, the death penalty is unavoidable, and the living sin cannot be escaped. Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know, you only made this n to keep yourself alive. However, I like this n of yours... I am bing more and more interested in you.¡±

    His hands were cold and slippery, yet he held onto her really tightly, and no matter how fiercely she struggled she could not escape. An inexplicable fear found its way to her heart. It was strange. She knew that her life was not in any danger for now, but that sense of fear became even more intense. Her struggling agitated him, and his gaze hardened. Seemingly without any movement, he used one hand to flip her hand gently, mping her two wrists tightly and holding it high above her head.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    He smiled, his fingers tracing along her still bleeding neck. He moved aside the cloth of her cor. ¡°Your skin is so white... my dear little rabbit... don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t hurt you, just be good and you will enjoy it...¡±

    She suddenly realised what he was going to do. This... This beast!

    ¡°I am your brother¡¯s wife!¡± She said, her voice trembling, not knowing if it was shock or anger.

    ¡°What belongs to Xiao Lei belongs to me too.¡± He chuckled, his hands moving quickly to unbutton her second button.

    She was helpless and turned around to avoid it, but he used the weight of his whole body to press against her body. He whispered near to her ear, ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy. Beware of my anger. If I be enraged and kill you in advance, then what would we tell Xiao Lei?¡±

 Chapter 946 - Dear Xiao Lei

    <h4>Chapter 946: Dear Xiao Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She shuddered. ¡°I, I still have a baby! If you do this, the baby will die!¡±

    Li Fengughed lowly, his teeth biting her earlobe. It hurt, and she suspected that her whole ear was going to be bitten off by him. His voice was still calm as ever as he said, ¡°How could our Li family¡¯s little baby be so weak?¡± His hands traced along the outline of her breasts, moving to her little belly and stopping there. ¡°Little baby,¡± he said softly. ¡°Look... Your father can see you through the videotape. You can¡¯t die, don¡¯t disappoint your father.¡±

    Not far away, the video recorder on the mahogany carved table shimmered with a cold red light.

    This pervert...!

    He wanted to record him torturing her and send it to Li Lei!

    Xia Ling started struggling as if her life depended on it, screaming sharply, ¡°Li Feng, let go of me! You pervert!¡±

    However, her resistance only made him suppress her with more force.

    Li Feng¡¯s voice was still very soft, and he even had an enchanting smile on his face. ¡°I said it before, be good,¡± he whispered the words as if having a lover¡¯s conversation. He put a little force on his hands, and with a ¡°Ka¡± sound, one of Xia Ling¡¯s straps were cut from her shoulder. ¡°This is a tiny punishment. If you continue to not listen...¡±

    A strangeugh sounded from his nose.

    Xia Ling only felt a wave of pain in her arm, cold sweat flowed, and she stared as he pulled her clothes off, revealing the thin strap inside, yet she could not retaliate. Her brain was sounding loudly, and she pushed him with her good arm as if in a craze. Heughed loudly, riding on her body and reaching out to unzip his trousers.

    Xia Ling did not know how she did it, but when she hade to her senses, she could only hear Li Feng screaming as if pigs were being ughtered, and she had already retreated to the corner of the room.

    Li Feng¡¯s whole person had copsed on the floor, his hands grabbing onto his private part and crying out in pain. Xia Ling came to a realization that she had reacted in the time of crisis and kicked his private part. Could she have disabled him with this kick? However, it was not the time to ponder about this. She grabbed the dagger on the floor hurriedly, pulled open the door and ran outside.

    The corridor was very dark, as if it were built in a cave. The walls were natural stone walls, covered with moss, and there were snake totems everywhere. asionally, there were sporadic guards patrolling, probably Li Feng¡¯s subordinates.

    Xia Ling carefully hid from the guards, her head buzzing. She could only remember off the top of her head what Li Lei had taught her about survival when he was idle: [When lost, just head in one direction, where there is light, where there is wind, where there is the sound of water... that is the exit.]

    She focused on the feeling of the direction of the wind, running towards it until finally, she saw a hint of light at the end. She was ecstatic and doubled up her pace. However, when she got there, a huge shock met her¡ªit was not an exit. Underneath, it was clearly a cliff!

    If it wasn¡¯t for her quick brake, her whole body would have fallen off!

    She was shocked senseless, and quickly took a few steps back.

    The tip of her toes hit a small stone, and the stone rolled down off the cliff that was covered by the clouds and disappeared. A long time passed and yet, there was still no echo.

    ¡°This time, you have really angered me...¡± Behind her, a cold voice sounded.

    Xia Ling turned around stiffly and saw Li Feng. That man looked extremely fragile, his big red embroidered peony robe wrinkled and his face extremely pale. He even walked with a limp, as if a hidden part of his body was still hurting. He stared at Xia Ling slyly. ¡°You can¡¯t escape.¡±

    Xia Ling had nowhere to retreat, so she held up the dagger in her hand and pointed it at him. The mountain wind from the cliff blew, making her in white skirt blow in the wind like clouds. Her hair was messy, and her face was as pale as Li Feng¡¯s.

    Li Feng licked his lips and smiled. ¡°You think this toy will hurt me? Don¡¯t be naive, little girl. Even if I don¡¯t do anything, I just need to send two people here to guard you, and before three days is up, you will starve to death.¡±

    Xia Ling knew he was right.

    However, she was not willing to be made his prisoner again!

    ¡°You never intended to keep me alive till Li Leies, so what if I starve to death?¡± She red into his eyes. ¡°You tried to do something to me that even beasts would not do. Li Feng, if the baby was to die, I would not survive either. All the talk about waiting till Li Leies before killing us in front of him is all bullshit!¡±

    Li Feng smiled sinisterly. ¡°You want to die in front of my brother so badly? I don¡¯t mind. I want to see if you can grab the opportunity too. Look¡ª¡± He pointed to the ground.

    Xia Ling lowered her head, and her breath almost stopped.

    On the surface of the stone were a few drops of red blood that she had not noticed. At first, she thought it was blood that had dripped from her throat, but she remembered how she had torn off the corners of her skirt to wrap around her throat wound when she was fleeing and realized... this blood... was the precursor to miscarriage!

    She stared at the bloodstains on her skirt, her sky darkening.

    ¡°I can save you.¡± Li Feng smiled sinisterly. ¡°As long as you throw the dagger off the cliff ande back in quietly.¡±

    Xia Ling could not trust him. However, there was no second choice. She forced herself to stay calm and emphasized to him, ¡°Li Feng, don¡¯t forget that I am the phoenix of Xia family! If anything is to happen to me, you and your whole family are finished!¡±

    ¡°Trying to threaten me?¡± Li Feng was not afraid. ¡°If I was so easily scared, I would not have kidnapped you from S City¡¯s hospital. Little girl, what does Li family being destroyed have to do with me? So what if the whole world was destroyed? What Li Feng wants to do... nobody can stop him.¡±

    His narrow eyes glinted in the dark.

    Xia Ling felt chills in her heart. What was the point of trying to negotiate with a person like this?!

    Her body was still bleeding, and she could feel the warm liquid flowing down the outline of her inner thighs. The child... protecting the child could not wait any longer. She bit down on her teeth and threw the dagger off the cliff before walking by herself back to the corridor.

    Face to face with Li Feng.

    Li Feng raised his hand to p her, hitting her so hard her head spinned, and she knocked forcefully against the hard mountain wall. Before waiting for her reaction, he grabbed her long hair again and pulled her head to hit against the mountain wall, once, twice...

    Until fresh blood flowed from her forehead, staining her cheeks.

    ¡°There, you look much better.¡± Li Feng finally let go and let her fall slowly onto the ground.

    He smiled, taking a miniature camera from his arms, and saying to the camera, ¡°My dear Xiao Lei, did you see that? I am ying very happily with your dear little rabbit. Don¡¯t worry, I will take good care of her, both her and her child will not lose their lives. They have to be alive in order to y with me, no?¡±

    With that, he stuck out his tongue to lick the camera before closing it.

 Chapter 947 - Signal

    <h4>Chapter 947: Signal</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was locked in the room again.

    The red mahogany bed, the gauze, the appliances, Li Feng gave only the best for her to use. However, every day¡¯s food was horrible, mixed with mud and sewage water, and the food was degraded. Yet, that constituted the whole of her nutrition. She tried to reason with Li Feng. ¡°If you do this and my body can¡¯t take it, then the baby won¡¯t be able to take it too. We won¡¯t live till Li Leies to rescue us, and will die straight away!¡±

    Li Feng smiled enchantingly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, how could I bear to let you die? Dear sister-inw, I have long prepared a doctor for you. He will keep you and your child¡¯s vital signs on the minimum safety line. Just the thought of Xiao Lei seeing how skinny and weak you are... Hahaha, I am so excited.¡±

    He recorded down her appearance, messy hair and bloody body.

    He did not even give her cutleries, and every time he walked in, he would throw the stinky food directly on the ground, the bed, on her body, and would watch as she struggled to kneel down and grab the food with her hands little by little. Often, the food would even have some lizards and cockroaches, and she would strike out in fear, but for the child, she had no other choice but to consume the food. Her face was pale and her spirit was getting even worse.

    Li Feng was, however, very pleased. He sent videos to Li Lei every day, enjoying Li Lei¡¯s look of rage yet helplessness. ¡°My dear brother...¡± he said to Li Lei in the video, ¡°Does your heart ache? What is there to be in pain over? These little things like crickets, you have eaten them on the battlefield those years. So have I, and so have so many of our family¡¯s brothers. If she can¡¯t even take such a small thing, how can she be your wife?¡±

    Li Lei had to fight hard to keep himself calm. ¡°She¡¯s different, don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    However, this was not even live messaging, nor two-way messaging¡ªall these videos were sent to Li Lei¡¯s email after rounds of transferring to different IP addresses. Li Lei had assorted all means, yet was still unable to find the origin of these videos. Li family¡¯s satellite, Xia family¡¯s positioning system, and even several government search systems in countries they were in good rtionships with... all discovered nothing.

    Xia Moyan told him, ¡°Li Lei, you are the only one that can rescue her now. Xiao Ling is my closest rtive. However, the fortune teller cannot see his own future, neither can he see his closest rtive¡¯s future. Hence, I cannot possibly use my metaphysics to urately locate her. You have to find a way to rescue her.¡±

    Li Lei could feel the enormous burden on his shoulders.

    He forced himself to stay calm. ¡°Li Lei, don¡¯t worry, there will be a way, there has to be a way! Each day that I don¡¯t find her means each day that she stays alive. Li Feng will not let her die so easily...¡± He sshed his face with cold water, opening his bloodshot eyes that had not slept for a few days and nights and resumed a new round of searches.

    <i>Xiao Ling, hold on...</i>

    However, as time passed, he knew better than anyone else, it could not go on like this.

    Given Li Feng¡¯s personality, he was sure to lure him to save her, and then find a way to torture them. However, seeing as how he had still not given the clue for him to rescue her, it only showed that Li Feng had still not fully prepared the means of winning. Once Li Feng gave the clue, however, even if he were to find her, it would be toote!

    Li Lei was beginning to get more and more anxious, and he put all of the Li family¡¯s manpower to participate in the search.

    Xia Ling¡¯s situation was getting worse.

    The baby was four months old now, and she did not know if it was just an illusion, but sometimes, she could feel the baby moving in her belly. The baby seemed ufortable, really hungry and upset. She would touch her belly asionally andfort her baby while telling herself, [Xiao Ling, the baby is still so young, how could you possibly feel her emotions? It¡¯s all just your own illusions from being captured for so long, it must be...]

    Now, she was already using ¡°her¡± to address her baby.

    It was all thanks to Li Feng, who had made the doctor give her daily examinations and check on the gender of the baby. ¡°Girl?¡± After hearing the news, Li Feng smiled slyly. ¡°That¡¯s great... With Shaohui, and now a baby girl, you and Xiao Lei are considered to have both dragon and phoenix now.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him with a mix of fear and wariness and did not speak.

    Li Fengughed to himself, lowering his head to look at his long and sharp fingernails. ¡°I wonder, what would it feel like if I were to use this pair of hands to dig out your daughter in front of Xiao Lei? It... must feel really good, hahahahaha...¡±

    Xia Ling sucked in a deep breath and said with a feeble voice, ¡°I want to see him.¡±

    ¡°See who? Xiao Lei?¡± Li Feng was still smiling. ¡°My little rabbit, no need to be anxious. Just wait till I have prepared for the execution, then I will let Xiao Lei in to reunite with you. Be good.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled sadly, her eyes listless and empty. ¡°I have been feeling that my physical condition is worsening, and I might not be able to hold on to that day anymore... Li Feng, I want you to tell him personally that I am pregnant with a girl. Please just fulfill my wish once, okay?¡± She crumbled onto the floor slowly, as if she would fall down at any second and would never wake up.

    Li Feng looked at her for a long time.

    A woman in trouble, a creature that was just so annoying and weak.

    However, if he did not fulfill her wish, and if she were to suffer a blow and really die in advance, then how was he to continue this game? Li Feng frowned and pondered over it for a long time, before finally taking a step back reluctantly. ¡°You have to keep this location a secret, and I will not let you and himmunicate through live chat. However, you can record down whatever you want to say in the videotape, and he will be able to see it... I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t y any tricks, or I won¡¯t mind digging your child out in advance!¡±

    She was ecstatic and promised not to y any tricks.

    Li Feng enjoyed how fragile she looked in front of the camera, it was as if he was looking at a lover he had not seen for a long time. ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m still alive. The child is still alive too. Don¡¯t worry, Li Feng has given me a check-up¡ªit¡¯s a girl. You have to rescue us, then we can live with both son and daughter...¡± She said while stroking her belly.

    Li Feng did not wait for her to say any more before shutting down the recorder.

    Perhaps it was the sentence ¡°You have toe rescue us¡± that pleased Li Feng, for, in the following days, his attitude towards Xia Ling was much better than before¡ªeven though she was still eating leeks, but she was not receiving scoldings and beatings from him anymore.

    Xia Ling took the chance to recuperate and prayed silently in her heart for her tiny action to be noticed by Li Lei.

    In S City, Li Lei carefully analyzed the video she had recorded, not letting go of any details. When he was watching it for the second time, he suddenly froze the video and erged the image, and the hint fell on the hand that she was caressing her belly with.

 Chapter 948 - Sniper

    <h4>Chapter 948: Sniper</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When a pregnant woman caresses her belly, the palms are always facing inwards.

    Xiao Ling used to do that too, but this time it was different. One of her fingers seemed to move inadvertently towards the outside, and there seemed to be something on her fingers. It was a kind of... moss.

    Li Lei recognized the message she was trying to show to him.

    He stood up hurriedly from his chair and ordered his subordinates. ¡°Pass on the order to analyze what type of moss this is and where it grows, then send people to rescue her at the fastest speed!¡±

    Xia Ling was imprisoned in the room.

    She was giddy every day and could only differentiate time from when they delivered food to her.

    She had no idea what was going on in the outside world, and no idea whether the message she had painstakingly conveyed to Li Lei was understood¡ªthat type of moss was the kind she had grabbed from the walls when she had knocked down Li Feng and was escaping from the room. When Li Feng grabbed her hair and mmed her violently against the walls, she had endured the pain to hide the moss.

    She had prayed to God, <i>Please let luck stand by my side this time...</i>

    Perhaps her pleas were heard by God, for some timeter, Li Feng suddenly mmed the door and strode into the room. He was still wearing a beautifully embroidered cotton robe. However, that robe was like his anxious feelings, having been torn by the stones on the walls while he was on the way, thus looking really pitiful.

    He grabbed a handful of her long hair and dragged her out without pity, saying, ¡°You vile person, you still sent Xiao Lei a message behind my back! I should have thrown you into the pit to feed the snakes! Come, aren¡¯t you looking for death! I will torture the devil in you to death today!¡±

    Xia Ling staggered as he dragged her, and she endured the pain, forcing herself to keep up with his pace and not let herself fall.

    They passed through thebyrinth of dark corridors, and when she waspletely lost, panting and unable to hold on any longer, Li Feng threw her onto a stone tform.

    She gasped and panted at the shock, her belly aching dully.

    She protected her abdomen in panic, yet still listened as Li Fengughed coldly. ¡°Still worrying about your child while you¡¯re on your deathbed? Just wait a while and she¡¯ll be there to be buried with you! Look...¡± He pointed to the bottom of the tform. ¡°These are the children I have collected from all over the world, how marvelous...¡±

    Below the tform was a burst of stench.

    Xia Ling looked down and discovered that they were in a huge cave. Below it was a snake pit of one or two hundred square meters, with all kinds of colorful snakes swimming inside, slithering and spitting out their red forked tongues with a stinky stench. A narrow bridge that looked very unstable was hung above the snake pit, swaying dangerously, reaching her side of the tform. Above the tform was a sling, which Li Feng was tying her to with great agility.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± Xia Ling struggled.

    Li Feng smiled happily. ¡°Do you hear that sound? Xiao Lei has brought a group of people to attack here. He is so desperate, how could I not give him a little surprise? Just let us see, will he conquer this ce sooner, or will I cut open your throat and feed it to the snake first!¡±

    His crazy yet sharp voice echoed in the empty cave.

    At that time, Xia Ling could hear the sounds of gunshots from outside, which became denser and denser, and so were the fighting sounds.

    After a while, she could indeed see a bunch of people rushing in. The head of the group was drenched in blood, a beautiful face amidst the dim light of the dark cave, murderously staring at the side of the tform. ¡°Li Feng! Let go of Xiao Ling!¡± It was Li Lei, he was finally here.

    Xia Ling almost cried out in excitement, and she shouted, ¡°Li Lei!¡±

    Li Feng smiled unrulily. ¡°Wee to the snake pit, my dear brother. You sure have a deep affection for my sister-inw. I wonder what kind of method was used, for you to be able to find this ce in advance?¡± He said, pinching Xia Ling¡¯s chin from behind his back using his full force, as if he were trying to break her bones.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Let go of her!¡±

    Li Feng smiled with pleasure, slicing through Xia Ling¡¯s clothes with the fingertips that were wearing sharp-armored nails. He conveniently sliced through her weak body, making long traces of blood appear. ¡°Since you are in such a hurry... Xiao Lei, I don¡¯t mind opening her stomach up in front of you.¡± He licked Xia Ling¡¯s earlobes, added more force, and his sharp fingernails entered Xia Ling¡¯s body as if slicing through tofu!

    Xia Ling screamed out in pain. She was afraid Li Lei would be worried, so she held back and endured the pain quietly. Her face was pale, and sweat dripped from her forehead bead by bead. She turned to her side instinctively, trying to avoid bringing harm to the child in her belly.

    At the end of the snake pit, Li Lei¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, and he raised his gun to take aim at Li Feng.

    However, the range of the pistol could not hit Li Feng who was only a few hundred meters away. Li Fengughed broadly, gently turning the armor of his fingernail that was embedded in Xia Ling¡¯s belly. The pain almost made her faint. ¡°I will let you see just what is inside the opening of the belly!¡± Li Feng took the armor out of her belly, raised it high, and was about to be even more vicious!

    Suddenly, a red spot appeared on the cave wall beside Li Feng¡¯s body.

    It was a small dot, but the cold spot made people feel chilly.

    ¡°A sniper?!¡± Li Feng¡¯s expression changed, immediately looking at the source of the spot. However, the terrain of the cave was tooplicated, and from his viewpoint, there was only pitch ck in the depths of the cave. ¡°No, impossible...¡± Li Feng murmured, suddenly raising his voice at Li Lei. ¡°I understand this cave too well, the only sniper position that can shoot inside here is too far! With such a distance, even the world¡¯s best sniper will not be able to shoot. Don¡¯t think of trying to scare me!¡±

    Li Lei was very calm, on the other hand. ¡°Whether it¡¯s true or fake, you can try it out.¡±

    Li Feng looked at him gloomily, thenughed slyly all of a sudden. ¡°He can¡¯t shoot me! The red dot is beside me on the wall! Hahaha! If he could have shot me at this angle, he would have already! Right?! Hahahahahahaha...¡±

    Li Lei frowned. This crazy brother of his, how was he still so prudent at this juncture? He was right, the positioning of the sniper did have its limits, and even though it was only a difference of a few meters, he indeed could not hit Li Feng. Otherwise, Li Lei did not doubt that the sniper would have blown Li Feng up into pieces at first sight!

    He looked at Li Feng coldly and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. With this position of yours, the sniper can¡¯t shoot you. But if you open up Xiao Ling¡¯s abdomen, you can believe that the moment you reach out your hand, the sniper will shoot it and disable it!¡±

    Li Feng looked at him enchantingly. ¡°Your sniper position is too far, I don¡¯t believe there¡¯s anyone in the world with such urate aim.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°The one aiming at you is called Xia Moyan.¡±

    Xia Moyan!

    Brother was here too!

    Xia Ling¡¯s spirit was jostled, and she struggled to tell herself to hold on and cooperated with Li Lei to frighten Li Feng. ¡°Brother¡¯s marksmanship has always been urate, you can¡¯t use a normal human¡¯s standards to assess him!¡±

 Chapter 949 - I Will Rescue Xiao Ling Even If I Die

    <h4>Chapter 949: I Will Rescue Xiao Ling Even If I Die</h4>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    After hearing that the sniper was actually Xia Moyan, Li Feng hesitated.

    Xia Ling was right, how could he usemon sense to assess The Preceptor?

    He narrowed his eyes and looked at Xia Ling. It would be wonderful if he could die together with Xia Ling, then Xiao Lei would not be able to forget about him for his entire life... However, the speed of a bullet was faster than that of a dagger, and he understood clearly that even before he could cut open Xia Ling¡¯s belly, the bullet would have disabled his arm!

    Do not make unnecessary sacrifices.

    Having thought through this point, Li Fengughed slyly. ¡°It¡¯s such a pity, my dear sister-inw, that I can¡¯t cut your child out of you myself. But don¡¯t worry, I have prepared an alternate n in preparation for this kind of situation. Look.¡± He pointed to a tiny tform not far away, where there was only a chainsaw on it, as well as a huge meat grinder. The two machines were connected by steel cables, which sprawled across the snake pit and were connected to the chains that held Xia Ling¡¯s hands together.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned pale once again.

    Li Fengughed like a child who had just expressed his love for his toys to adults. ¡°The chainsaw and meat grinder aren¡¯t bad, right? Xiao Lei, your beloved woman will be hung across the snake pit with the steel cable, and then longitudinally shed by the chainsaw. The baby in her belly will also be sliced into two parts... After that, their bodies will be ground into pieces of meat, flowing into the snake pit piece by piece and feeding my snakes! Interesting, isn¡¯t it? Hahahahaha!¡±

    With that, he pressed roughly on a red button, and the cable started to turn slowly!

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei shouted, so anxious that his tone had changed.

    Xia Ling was hung on the steel chain,pletely unable to resist against the huge mechanical force, and was slowly heading towards the direction of the chainsaw! Li Lei did not have time to think much further, he stepped onto the narrow bridge that linked the snake pit to the tform not far away, on his way to save her. However, the moment he stepped onto it, a snake flew up ferociously from the pit and tried to bite him!

    He dodged it instinctively, relying on the intuitive response from all those years of knives and fire, only able to avoid it by using the instincts he had developed by facing life-and-death situations. The narrow bridge under his feet shook violently, almost throwing him into the snake pit. He stabilized himself, shocked, and heard Li Feng¡¯sughter sound from somewhere. ¡°Oh Xiao Lei, this is the little bridge that I have prepared just for you. Is it fun? Hahaha! There are countless of these flying snakes, it will definitely be enough to make sure your journey is filled with joy, just be careful not to be bitten by them. Oh, and be careful not to fall into the snake pit, your dear little rabbit is still waiting for you toe rescue her! Hahahahahaha...¡±

    He did not know what equipment he had used, but his voice seemed toe from all directions.

    Li Lei raised his head to look and saw that Li Feng¡¯s figure was no longer at the tform where he originally was.

    He took a deep breath and focused all his attention on concentration. No matter how difficult the obstacles, he was going to strive his best to rescue the woman he loved!

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± It was Xia Ling¡¯s voice. Her hands were tied up in mid-air, and she was sliding closer towards the chainsaw. Her voice carried her tears as she cried, ¡°Go back! Don¡¯te here! Do you hear!¡±

    Those snakes were colorful and had beautiful triangr heads, and at first nce, it was obvious that they were poisonous!

    Li Lei bit his lip and did not answer. He advanced towards her step by step, he had to get to her before she was sawed in half by the chainsaw! Another snake leaped, and he ducked it yet again. On the other side, another flying snake flew at him in a smashing angle, trying to bite him, and it looked as though it was impossible to escape it!

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± Xia Ling cried out.

    ¡°Peng!¡± A gunshot sounded, and a sudden burst of blood was seen in the air. The snake that had been flying at him was hit by the bullet, and was instantly broken into two! The snake fell weakly before falling into the snake pit, and the tens of thousands of snakes inside fought over it for food. In a sh, all that was left was its white skeleton!

    Xia Ling looked on with shock, almost forgetting that she was in danger herself, and only praying for Li Lei to be safe.

    Li Lei clenched his teeth and continued advancing. Another snake leaped up, and this time, he did not need to dodge, for the bulletnded on the snake¡¯s body firmly. Like its unfortunate predecessor, it burst into a ball of blood mid-air and was quickly gobbled up by his fellowpanions.

    That was...

    Xia Moyan¡¯s sniper rifle.

    Stable and urate.

    Xia Ling was right, he was indeed not an ordinary person. No sniper in the world could hit at a distance like that, but he could. He was hiding behind a hole far away, narrowing his eyes to aim inside the snake pit, taking cover for Li Lei so that he could advance. One shot, another shot...

    The two men worked together seamlessly, and Li Lei was nearing the rooftop little by little.

    Another snake leaped up. Xia Moyan pressed onto the trigger, and a shot was about to go off when suddenly, someone came out from behind and stabbed a dagger into the back of his heart!

    Xia Moyan was concentrating on his mission, and when that person appeared, he waspletely unprepared. He only moved slightly to the side by instinct, barely avoiding the critical spot, but he still snorted and was immediately injured.

    ¡°Ah... I thought you were so powerful, but The Preceptor is just this much.¡± A cool, slimy voice sounded. It was Li Feng. This was the snake cave, his old nest, and when he was being aimed at by the sniper at the rooftop just now, he had already guessed the location of the sniper¡¯s ambush and hade over quietly after pressing the chainsaw¡¯s button.

    He lifted his leg to turn Xia Moyan¡¯s body, seeing how Xia Moyan¡¯s white clothes were now stained with his fresh blood. He smiled happily. ¡°Being able to kill The Preceptor myself... I am truly excited...¡± He slowly leaned down and was so excited that his whole body was trembling. Although his main target was Li Lei, it was undeniable that being able to step on Xia Moyan, whom the whole world feared, brought some kind of thrill to him!

    He licked his lips and raised the dagger in his hands, then stabbed Xia Moyan.

    Although Xia Moyan¡¯s identity was honorary and had the technique of metaphysics to predict things, in the face of a real gunfire war, he was only good at his sniper skills. At closebat, he was simply not Li Feng¡¯s rival, a man who had experienced countless wars. He could only watch as the dagger head towards his heart and stab into it, and yet he could not dodge it.

    At the time of life and death, suddenly, another gunshot sounded.

    This time, it was Li Feng¡¯s chest that opened like a bloody flower. His eyes widened, and he slowly fell down, incredulous. ¡°Who... You...¡± That gunshot had not hit his critical point, and he struggled, wanting to look back.

    Xia Moyan looked behind him too, his expression calm as water. ¡°You¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    Behind him, a tall God-like figure stood there, and although his face was sallow and full of illness, his cold bloodthirsty eyes made him seem like the Death God from Hell.

    Pei Ziheng stepped forward, kicking Li Feng away and pulling Xia Moyan up.

    ¡°Li Lei still has not finished crossing that bridge, cough.¡± He coughed and said to Xia Moyan. ¡°Continue firing to protect him. And even if he dies, we still have to rescue Xiao Ling.¡±

 Chapter 950 - Shirt Drenched in Blood

    <h4><strong>Chapter 950: Shirt Drenched in Blood</strong></h4>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Moyan¡¯s injury was critical, and his white shirt was soaked in blood.

    However, for his sister¡¯s safety, he still hoisted his sniper gun forcefully and used all of his willpower to aim urately at the flying snakes in mid-air. One time, two times, he maintained the life passage on the short bridge.

    Li Lei had already been bitten by the snakes twice.

    These kinds of snakes were poisonous, and although he already knew that Li Feng liked poisonous snakes before he hade to rescue her, and had done some protective measures for this purpose¡ªsuch as antidote shots¡ªbut after all, it was impossible to bepletely unaffected, and the injury caused his movements to be dull and awkward. He struggled to advance in the midst of the protection of the gunshots before finally arriving at the tform where Li Feng was previously standing. He closed the chainsaw¡¯s button immediately.

    The steel chain in the automatic operation stopped.

    Xia Ling, who was suspended in mid-air, also stopped just a few inches away from the chainsaw.

    However, she was in another isted tform.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, hold on!¡± Li Lei yelled at her.

    Xia Ling stared after him, her eyes filled with tears. The corners of her skirt were almost rolled into the chainsaw¡ªif he had not arrived on time, she and her baby would have already turned into a puddle of mud by now. However, the excruciating pain of her lower body was bing more intense, and she did not dare think about what condition her baby was in. She forced herself to focus all of her attention on Li Lei, and said in a crying tone, ¡°Be careful!¡±

    Li Lei was covered in blood, and it was hard to differentiate whether it was caused by the enemy or by the snake who had just bitten him.

    He gestured an ¡°OK¡± sign to her and took off his outerwear, tying it into a rope and hanging it on the steel chain, then sliding over in her direction. The strenuous exercise made the blood in his body flow even faster, and the poison spread, making his head feel giddy. He held onto his breath and slid over to her side of the tform, carefully releasing her away from the steel rope. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you okay?!¡± He asked anxiously.

    Xia Ling swallowed and did not say a word, only knowing to shake her head.

    He surveyed her. She was wearing a thin dress, and the shes across her chest done previously by Li Feng were almost impossible to cover. What was even more terrifying was that her white fair skin now had traces of long thin bloodstains left behind. If it had cut a little deeper, it would have been enough to open up her belly!

    Afraid, Li Lei helped her tidy her clothes before carrying her on his own back.

    ¡°Hold on to me,¡± he said to her. ¡°This tform has snakes in all directions, I am taking you back to the tform on top. After that, we will cross the bridge from there and head to somewhere safe.¡±

    The pit was boiling with snakes, and they arched their heads, slithering and spitting their red forked tongues as they looked at them on the tform. Xia Ling looked up over at the tform he had leaped from, her voice slightly unstable as she asked, ¡°Can we climb over?¡±

    Between the two tforms, there was a slope.

    They were currently at the lower levels, which was why Li Lei could use the tied clothes as a rope to sway down so quickly. However, swaying back there from the bottom level to the higher level was much more difficult.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice was stable and powerful, just like a mountain, calming her heart. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you just have to grab on tightly to me. I will not take you and our child¡¯s lives lightly.¡±

    The child...

    Xia Ling could only feel unbearable pain in her lower belly, and she did not know how the child was. Was it still alive? She continued to heal, yet more and more snakes were gathering below the tform. A few of the snakes even used the help of their umtedpanion¡¯s strength and almost flew up the tform several times!

    It would not be long before the tform fell into the midst of the snakes.

    There was no other choice.

    Xia Ling recognized the situation quickly and hugged on tightly to Li Lei¡¯s back.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Hold on tightly.¡± He climbed the thick steel rope with great force, alternating his hands and slowly moving towards the upper tform with much difficulty. His physical strength had always been good, and even with someone on his back now, he was still stronger than most ordinary people. Furthermore, Xia Ling had lost so much weight these days, relieving him of further burden.

    However, even though that was the case, carrying the weight of two adults and climbing up against gravity was much more difficult, and sweat dripped from his forehead bead by bead, soon drenching his whole body. The hand he was gripping the steel chain with was trembling, and a few times he almost slipped. However, at the thought of his back carrying the lives of the woman he loved and his own child, he gritted his teeth and carried on no matter what...

    Xia Ling did not dare speak nor move, and even her breathing was taken with care.

    She was afraid that she would distract him, making him lose his grip identally and fall into the terrifying snake pit. Underneath the steel rope, countless colorful snakes were gathering at the ces where his sweat and blood dripped on, and their hissing sound grew louder still. The flying snakes continued to leap at them, trying to bite their bodies.

    Through the soaked clothes, she could feel his muscles trembling and stretching out, as if every force in the body was being squeezed and used without mercy, working hard for their survival without reservation.

    Suddenly, one of his hands slipped, and the two of them lost their bnce and almost fell into the snake pit.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling cried out in shock.

    Li Lei stabilized his body in shock. This slip had, however, retreated them back by almost half a meter. For God¡¯s sake, when he was climbing just half a meter just now, he had felt like a century had passed...

    He gasped vigorously, sweat dripping off him.

    At his feet, flying snakes leaped one after another, and even with Xia Moyan¡¯s sniper¡¯s protection, all the snakes could not be hit urately due to his injured state. One thick snake almost touched Li Lei and Xia Ling¡¯s feet but was kicked away fiercely by Li Lei.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± She looked over at the tform that was still far away, opening her mouth and her voice carrying her tears. ¡°Put me down... if only one of us can survive, just put me down!¡± She was afraid. An unprecedented fear filled her. She was truly afraid that he would not make it to the end, and let the family of three perish together in the snake pit.

    If God had decided to let her die, then she did not want to drag him down too.

    Li Lei panted heavily and stopped for a while before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous.¡±

    One bite of lip, one forceful movement, and they moved up again with great difficulty.

    The steel cable was dangerous, and the snakes below were piling up higher and higher. There were always snakes leaping up, and one of them even managed to bite his calf. She could hear his yelp of agony, yet he still gritted his teeth and climbed upwards.

    Xia Ling hung onto his back, the clothes on his lower body tying a marvelous knot and clinging onto his waist, binding the two together. At that moment, she only wanted to find a tool and cut off the clothes that were blocking her from fulfilling her intentions. Maybe then he would have less burden and could make it across the tform alone.

    Her tears fell like broken beads of a ne.

    Unfortunately, there were no tools, and even if she let go of her hand, she would not fall directly into the snake pit and would cause him even greater disturbance by causing a sudden loss of bnce. Xia Ling was both afraid and anxious, what on earth could she do?

 Chapter 951 - The Last Craze

    <strong>Chapter 951: The Last Craze</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    The colorful snakes squirmed, piling up inyers and chasing in their direction.

    Xia Ling looked down at them and understood that they were chasing the smell of blood! As long as the two were still injured, and still dripping blood, this chase would not stop!

    What to do?!

    Suddenly, she said a blessing to her soul before biting down harshly on her fingers and swinging it into the distance.

    She bit too harshly, and the blood spewed out like a broken thread of a ne. The snakes immediately gathered around, and many of them left the high snake pile and chased after the direction of the blood. The snake pile became a lot lower, thus, even if the snakes at the top were to leap, they would not be able to touch the feet of the two no matter how high they flew.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was overjoyed, and she swung out the beads of her blood one after another.

    Between the two, one climbed up with gritted teeth, and the other one guarded against the snakes below. As if hundreds of millions of years had passed, they finally arrived at the high tform. The moment his two feet touched the ground, Li Lei¡¯s physical strength was overdrawn, and he could not hold it in anymore. He fell directly to the ground.

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± Xia Ling was bound to him and fell to the ground together with him, but she couldn¡¯t care less about the pain. She squatted and pushed him. ¡°Li Lei, how are you doing? Wake up! Wake up!¡±

    However, the man¡¯s eyes stayed tightly shut and he could not wake up no matter how much she called.

    Xia Ling cried and looked at him. He was soaked in sweat as if he had been fished out of theke. The palms of his hands were already worn out by the rough steel cables, and his flesh and blood were blurred. What was even more shocking was that there were several wounds on his arms and ankles that were bitten by the snakes. ck blood oozed out of the deep blood holes. Xia Ling was too scared, she understood how poisonous the snakes that Li Feng had bred were. She could not think too much, and bowed her head to suck away the venom in the wound. After sucking for a long time, she finally saw that the ck blood had gradually turned back to dark red.

    Yet his face was still a scary iron green.

    ¡°Li Lei! Li Lei!¡± she cried. ¡°Nothing can happen to you, nothing can happen to you...¡±

    She did not even know that below her body, a big pool of blood had gathered unbeknownst to her...

    Here, she cried and mourned, and there, Xia Moyan, who had finallypleted the cover task, could no longer hold the sniper rifle anymore. The face that had lost too much blood was as white as paper, and he fainted to the ground.

    By his side, Pei Ziheng silently watched him fall to the ground.

    The tall man crossed the body of Xia Moyan with one foot, took the sniper rifle, and silently aimed at the unconscious person on the distant tform. Li Lei... As long as he died, no one would ever fight with him for Xiao Ling anymore.

    Pei Ziheng looked at the person in the aiming ne, his expression gradually bing cold.

    Yes, he was terminally ill. In the most desperate time, he was also fortunate that there was a man like Li Lei who was beside Xiao Ling. However, looking at her sitting on the ground, holding the man and crying her heart out, his heart felt as ufortable as though a knife had stabbed it, and a feeling called jealousy rose up in him. At his ear, a devil seemed to keep repeating the words, [Pei Ziheng, kill him. Kill him and Xiao Ling will be yours! So what if you are about to die? She will be able to apany you wholeheartedly in yourst remaining days! There will no longer be any Li Lei, no longer any obstacles! You two can even go back to the past and you can even propose to her!]

    It was too big of a temptation.

    Pei Ziheng pressed onto the trigger tightly.

    However, her tear-stained face was like a branding, hotly printing into his heart¡ªsee, she was crying so sadly. If Li Lei died, would she also go with him?

    Pei Ziheng was uncertain.

    Maybe... she really would be this emotional?

    He looked at her crying her heart out, watched as she took out a phone from Li Lei¡¯s body and called for help while shouting loudly. He watched as she hugged him in a hurry. It seemed to be to provide his body with the warmth he had lost from the heavy blood loss... She had done everything she could think of, worked hard, then worked harder...

    Just to save the man.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened slowly and he put down the gun.

    ¡°He.¡± There was a sneer in the darkness.

    Pei Ziheng immediately turned his head, only to see Li Feng half dead andying down against the wall, looking at him with shallow breaths. Li Feng¡¯s narrow and mboyant phoenix eyes sparkled with sorrow. ¡°Pei Ziheng, amongst all the Bai Dao people I only admired you initially, able to see blood, able to be vicious. However, I did not expect that you are just like a girl.¡±

    Pei Ziheng lifted the gun and smashed it at him.

    Li Feng snorted, and the sound of rib breaking echoed. His lips were stained with blood, but his smile was still bright and beautiful. ¡°Haha, what kind of hero are you to be so vicious? If you have the ability, be vicious to your love rival! At this point, you are not as good as me. I can open the woman toparotomy, but you¡ªUh!¡±

    Pei Ziheng smashed him down again with the gun.

    He condescendingly and coldly watched Li Feng on the dirty ground, his voice as if from a ghost purgatory. ¡°I can open aparotomy on you.¡± With that, he threw the sniper rifle, bent over and took out the sharp enamel carved armor pierces from his fingernails and stabbed it into his body deeply!

    ¡°Whoosh¡ª¡± Li Feng¡¯s brocade robes were torn.

    Pei Ziheng did not give mercy, and he drew a long hole from his chest to the belly. The blood was suddenly released, the flesh was rolled, and arge number of intestines mixed with unknown organs also flowed out.

    The stinking smell spread in the cave and was enough to make anyone vomit.

    Pei Ziheng did not move, his face cold and God-like, as if what he had just opened was not a person, but a lifeless prop.

    Li Feng screamed painfully and twitched, but he did not die and did not even faint. He looked at Pei Ziheng, a sly smile on his pale face, and said with difficulty, ¡°Why... Why, are you angry? Hahaha... because I touched Ye Xingling? It¡¯s a pity that she is not your woman...¡±

    As he spoke, he gasped hard, and a long while passed before he went on to say, ¡°Pei Ziheng... you and I are both losers... We... are losers in love.¡±

    The expression on Pei Ziheng¡¯s face changed slightly.

    He looked at Li Feng and immediately understood¡ªif he could not get Xiao Ling for himself and hence, had be a loser in the love field, then the person that Li Feng wanted to get was... Li Lei?! So that¡¯s why he was so cruel to Xiao Ling! With this, everything made sense!

    ¡°You are really disgusting,¡± he said coldly to Li Feng. ¡°Li Lei will never like you.¡±

    ¡°You are spewing nonsense!¡± Li Feng was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and he screamed weakly. ¡°Xiao Lei loves me! The person who loves Xiaolei has always been me! He... he was only blinded by the sly woman for a while! Haha, haha, hahahahaha...¡± He looked distorted, his eyes looking at a distant void, sometimes gnashing his teeth, sometimesughing wildly.

 Chapter 952 - Surgery

    <strong>Chapter 952: Surgery</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Crazy, this person waspletely mad.

    Self-discipline had always been a part of the cold Pei Ziheng, but after seeing Li Feng¡¯s madness, he felt strange and disgusted. He stared condescendingly down at Li Feng. Under the bleak light, Li Feng¡¯s intestines flew to the ground, hisughter gradually weakening. Although it still lingered, he was unable to say a word.

    Pei Ziheng coughed a few times, bending over and dragging him away.

    He would not let Li Feng die so easily¡ªopening aparotomy on him was too easy for this pervert who tried to murder Xiao Ling. He ignored his weak body, and the pain in his body from the cancer made him almost unable to stand. He dragged Li Feng down to the cave step by step, the red brocade robe broken, his intestines and blood on the ground.

    He panted heavily as he dragged him.

    This time, he came to know that something had happened to Xiao Ling just a few minutes before he was about to enter the operating room. He had ignored everyone¡¯s opposition and hade over here. He was willing to use his own life to protect the safety of his beloved girl, but Li Feng this pervert, how dare he use such cruel methods to treat the girl he cherished!

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s body was crumbling due to his illness, but his eyes were gloomy and cold.

    He dragged Li Feng to the bottom of the cave, a dozen meters from the snake pit, a stagger causing him to fall to the ground. He had already exhausted all his strength, and there was no way he could drag the person into the snake pit anymore...

    He stared at Li Feng, his eyes filled with unwillingness. To let this pervert die from aparotomy? No! That was taking it too easy on him! However, so what if he was not willing? The fight outside was still going on. In the vast cave, except for him, there was only the unconscious Li Lei on the tform and the Xia Ling who was crying like a faucet. No one could help him drag Li Feng to feed the snakes! Seeing that Li Feng would soon die from blood loss, Pei Ziheng clenched his fists in hatred.

    Li Feng looked at him weakly.

    Although he could not speak, his eyes were full of ridicule.

    He understood Pei Ziheng¡¯s intention¡ªthe man wanted him to die as terribly as possible, but unfortunately, haha, it could no longer go as he wished! Although Li Feng was very dissatisfied with his death, at the thought of Pei Ziheng being dissatisfied, he couldn¡¯t help but want tough out in joy.

    Just then, a gorgeous colored leopard rushed into the cave.

    It was covered in blood, and its pair of amber eyes found Pei Ziheng and Li Feng in a sh. It rushed at the two with a low growling sound. Pei Ziheng recognized that this was the leopard raised by Li Lei, Er Mao. He did not know what Er Mao wanted to do, nor whether it would hurt him, but he was already exhausted and still had to fight the sudden pain of cancer. He was unable to move his body, even if just for a minute.

    Er Mao rushed over and stopped in front of them.

    It did not even give Pei Ziheng a nce, the fierce light from its amber inorganic eyelids fixed on one person¡ªspecifically, the one who had just hadparotomy and had a figure not resembling that of a human. It roared fiercely and bit Li Feng¡¯s arm with one mouthful, and in an instant, it had torn off his arm from his body!

    Even though Li Feng was already near death, he could not help but scream out in pain.

    Still not satisfied, it flung the arm away with one swing of the head and licked its blood-covered mouth, staring at Li Feng and roaring dangerously.

    ¡°Er Mao, right?¡± Pei Ziheng coughed, his expression painful, and he opened his mouth weakly. ¡°If you can understand me, drag him to the snake pit over there...¡± He barely raised his hand and pointed his finger at the stinking snake pit a dozen small meters away.

    He had already discovered that Er Mao did note to deal with him.

    It was to deal with Li Feng!

    The human-like leopard bowed his head and bit hard on Li Feng. His sharp white teeth were deeply trapped in the flesh around Li Feng¡¯s waist, but it did not bite him into two pieces. It dragged Li Feng, ignoring the sma and intestines flowing all the way. From time to time, the intestines would encounter the stones on the ground, get entangled and torn apart.

    Li Feng was pulled so badly that he continuously rolled his eyes and spat out fresh blood. Finally, he was dragged to the edge of the snake pit with much difficulty. Er Mao let him go, roared, bowed his head and bit his lower body!

    Li Feng could not even scream in pain this time. He looked at his separated upper body and legs. He went down, his shoulders and ribs mixed with the blood and intestines on the ground, and fell into the snake pit. Instantly, countless of poisonous snakes came up, and his former pets he used to cherish ate him clean, leaving only half of the bones.

    Er Mao was finally satisfied.

    The furry leopard then looked up and around and quickly found Li Lei on the tform. He ran along the short bridge towards Li Lei and Xia Ling. The snakes were still crowding around Li Feng¡¯s white skeleton reluctantly, and when they finally came to their senses, Er Mao had already run to his master.

    It looked down at its ashen-faced and unconscious master, whimpering and butting his huge head at Li Lei¡¯s body.

    ¡°Er Mao...¡± Xia Ling cried, ¡°What should I do? Help me, nothing will happen to Li Lei, right? Nothing will happen to your master!¡± Her tears dripped onto Er Mao¡¯s fur.

    Er Mao gently extended his tongue, licking his master and her hand.

    It squeezed its huge body around its owner, keeping him warm from his massive blood loss, letting Xia Ling¡¯s nervous and stiff body rx a little.

    ¡°Li Lei, you can¡¯t die...¡± she muttered, not caring if he could hear her. ¡°You promised me we would grow old together, go to our new home together, watch the sunrise and sunset together, and give birth to a lot of children together... Li Lei, you, you haven¡¯t seen the birth of our second baby...¡±

    She said, one hand on her belly. There seemed to be no pain there, but...

    The feeling of emptiness gave her heart an ominous premonition.

    Finally, the rescuers arrived. When those warriors who were as bloody and bruised as Er Mao rushed to her and spoke to her loudly, she could not really understand it.

    In fact, like Li Lei, she had already lost too much blood.

    The wound Li Feng had left on her was seemingly not deep, but under the intense activities, it had already broken apart. Especially the bloody hole under her belly, too much blood had been lost. If it was not for protecting Li Lei, depending on her confused consciousness to support herself forcefully, she would already have passed out.

    Rescuers urgently sent them to the hospital. In the middle of her confusion, she saw stretchers, ambnces, doctors and nurses, Old Master Li, Su Tang, and her mother¡¯s worried face...

    Then she was pushed into the operating room and given an anesthetic.

    ¡°What are you doing...¡± Her voice was weak, and she struggled uneasily, trying to get down from the operating table. ¡°I, I am fine... Why do you want to operate me...¡±

    The doctor looked at her sadly. ¡°Mrs. Li, you had a miscarriage. You must have surgery immediately, otherwise you will be in danger.¡±

 Chapter 953 - Brother, You Are So Handsome

    <strong>Chapter 953: Brother, You Are So Handsome</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    What, miscarriage?

    She could not believe it, and her eyes widened at the doctor, as if she could not understand what the doctor had just said. There was no sense of truth. Her dry, petal-like lips twitched and she wanted to say something, but the effect of the anesthesia gradually developed, and soon, she fell into darkness.

    When she woke up, she saw the white ceiling of the ward and the ss hanging bottle.

    Madam Xia was holding her hand and sitting beside the bed, a hint of a dark green shadow at the bottom of her eyes.

    Xia Ling called out, ¡°Mom.¡± Her voice was so hoarse and weak that it was almost inaudible.

    Madam Xia heard it, however. She looked up and, seeing that she had woken up, showed her a tired yet joyful smile. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯ve woken up? It¡¯s a relief that you¡¯re fine, I¡¯ll call the doctor to check on you.¡±

    She said, reaching out and pressing the call bell on the bedpost.

    Xia Ling gently touched her hand. ¡°Where¡¯s Li Lei?¡± She knew Li Lei better than anyone else. If he was fine, he would surely have stayed at her side without leaving. But now he was missing, so his injuries must be really serious. However, she hoped so badly that she had guessed it wrong. She looked at her mother¡¯s eyes with a hint of hope.

    Madam Xia couldn¡¯t bear to look at her. She held her daughter¡¯s hand and said in the mostpassionate tone, ¡°You know the situation at the time, he was injured. When you were sent to the surgery room, he was sent to the rescue room as well. He is still recuperating in the hospital bed, and it¡¯s estimated that he will wake up in a few days.¡±

    She breathed a sigh of relief first. Great, he did not die.

    Immediately, her heart rose to her throat again. He had not yet woken up from aa?

    She looked at her mother and said, ¡°I want to see him.¡±

    Madam Xia stopped her. ¡°Your body is still very weak. The doctor has instructed for you to not walk around. What if you develop the root of a disease and cannot give birth to children anymore?¡±

    Hearing that, Xia Ling fell silent.

    She only started feeling an emptiness in her body at that moment. She could not help but grieve at the thought of her daughter whom she had been pregnant with for three or four months being gone just like this. It was her own carelessness. When she hade out from Pei Ziheng¡¯s ward, she should have stayed in the same ce and waited for Li Lei, or, or what... She did not know. She gently loosened her mother¡¯s hand and covered her soft belly, shedding tears uncontrobly.

    Madam Xia also wiped her tears in sadness. ¡°You are still young, you just have to take care of your body and you will be able to have children in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling did not want her mother to be sad, so she stopped her tears with much difficulty and changed the topic. ¡°What about my brother?¡± When she had been shackled on the steel rope, she had heard that her brother was also there.

    Madam Xia thought of her son and her expression darkened. ¡°Your brother was injured by the beast Li Feng, and he has been lying in the hospital bed for a few days already. But now it¡¯s no longer a problem. The doctor said that he can recoverpletely in a few days. Oh yes, his ward is just next door to you. I¡¯ll tell him toe and see you.¡±

    Xia Ling found it strange. ¡°Is this not the gynaecology department?¡±

    The general hospital inpatient department was divided ording to departments. As she had a miscarriage surgery, she must be in the inpatient department of gynecology to rest. But what about Xia Moyan? No matter what injury he had, it was not possible for him to be here.

    Madam Xia smiled. ¡°Stupid child, you are in the VIP ward on the top floor of the inpatient department. This floor is quiet, and you were supposed to stay here alone, but your brother missed you and hence, asked toe here to rest. Who dares not to give him face?¡± Rich people naturally had privileges, not to mention important people like Xia Moyan who had the world in his palm.

    Hearing that, Xia Ling nodded.

    Madam Xia got up and was about to call her son when suddenly, Xia Ling asked, ¡°What about Li Lei¡¯s ward?¡±

    Madam Xia¡¯s footsteps swayed slightly, and she turned around, bringing a sway of her fringed shawl. ¡°He is in the ward of the building next door, with the Li family apanying him. Everything is well, you can rest assured.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned, feeling as though something was wrong.

    However, after thinking for a long time, there was still no conclusion. Xia Moyan had alreadye in wearing a hospital gown. It was rare to see him like this, no longer dressed in a white coat. The blue and white stripes were very casual on him, and the top two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned, revealing a little of his corbone.

    Even though she was his sister, Xia Ling still felt a little amazed.

    Why had she never found out before just how beautiful and provocative her brother was! It was obviously a loose hospital gown, but the way he wore it with a littleziness and abstinence was alluring, making people...

    Making people...

    Xia Ling silently used her hands to cover her eyes. ¡°Brother, you are so handsome.¡±

    He was so handsome that she could not stand it anymore.

    Xia Moyan did not expect her first sentence to be this, and with a smile on his cold eyes, he teased her deliberately. ¡°I look good, or the one in your family looks good?¡±

    ¡°Li Lei is the most handsome!¡± Xia Ling did not hesitate to change her tune.

    At the side, Madam Xiaughed out. Seeing the face of her son who had always been cold turn slightly ck, she could not help but smile while saying, ¡°Xiao Mo even said that he would live next to you to guard you. In the end, when he was not here on this floor the area was quiet and peaceful, but the moment he moved here, this floor was almost smashed by all the nurses trying to grab his attention!¡±

    The little nurses did not care about The Preceptor. Given their level, they would not understand what this title meant. They only knew that there was a handsome guy in the VIP room on the top floor. He was very handsome, very handsome, rich and handsome, with a perfect body... In the past few days, almost all the nurses in the hospital hade under the pretense of having to check the rooms, find the doctor, change shifts, send lunch boxes, and various other reasons just to check out Xia Moyan again and again. Several nurses responsible for his bed were even more excessive. Every day, in order to fight for who was responsible for changing his medicine, the girls would almost fight. The girl who had garnered the opportunity would be extremely excited, and while changing his medicine, they would take the opportunity to stare at his body in in sight, taking advantage of him...

    Xia Moyan was almost driven crazy.

    Madam Xia, however, was only too happy to see this. She felt as though she could finally advertise for her cold and abstinent child, so she refused to let him stop the nurses from touching him. Hence, he could only... endure.

    Because this was the only fun that the mother could have while being worried about his sister.

    Xia Moyan went to stand beside his sister¡¯s bed and bent over to look at her. ¡°Awake? Now that you¡¯re awake, follow me to recuperate back at the vige and settle the hospital procedures to leave.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked her eyes and was a little stunned. ¡°What¡¯s the hurry? Li Lei has not woken up yet.¡±

    Xia Moyan said with a ck expression, ¡°I will not stay here and be harassed by the nurse gang anymore. Moreover, the air in the vige is good, and the food and water quality are better than here. It will be very beneficial to your recovery.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head firmly. ¡°Then you go back first. I won¡¯t, I have to wait for Li Lei.¡±

    She said while looking at her brother up and down. ¡°Mom said that you were injured by Li Feng, where is the injury? Is it heavy? It looks like you¡¯ve recovered?¡±

    Xia Moyan secretly grinded his teeth. This sister finally remembered to care about him?

 Chapter 954 - Which Ward Is He in?

    <strong>Chapter 954: Which Ward Is He in?</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    In fact, Xia Ling could not be med for this.

    She had gone through too much recently¡ªPei Ziheng¡¯s cancer diagnosis, Li Feng holding her captive, Li Lei¡¯sa since his serious injury, the miscarriage... when she saw that Xia Moyan had entered the ward in his entirety, she heaved a huge sigh of relief. He was alive, and he was still in one piece; that was enough.

    Xia Moyan knew exactly what she meant, and spoke to her gently, ¡°When I fired the shot to protect Li Lei, Li Feng suddenly attacked me from the back. Fortunately, Pei Ziheng was there in time to stop him and I only had minor injuries.¡± He did not tell her that it was an almost-fatal gunshot wound.

    Seeing that he appeared well and good, Xia Ling believed his words.

    But, Pei Ziheng was there too?

    She verbalized her thoughts. ¡°Why haven¡¯t I seen Pei Ziheng? Is... is he alright?¡±

    Her voice shook as she asked him. She was genuinely afraid that Brother would tell her something untoward had happened to Pei Ziheng. As a cancer patient, every day was precious, and a mere few days to a normal person might mean life and death to them.

    She subconsciously clenched her fists in fear.

    Xia Moyan sounded even gentler now. ¡°He postponed his surgery to save you. When he returned, he was running a high fever and went into a three-daya. But don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s alright now and his tuberculous focus has shrunk significantly. His condition is stable now and he¡¯s undergoing further treatment.¡±

    Only then was she relieved.

    It was so nice to know that Pei Ziheng was fine.

    ¡°He¡¯s so silly,¡± she murmured. ¡°He¡¯s already so sick, why did he stille to save me?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Li Feng was killed by him and Er Mao.¡±

    He described the scene of Li Feng¡¯s death briefly.

    Xia Ling was a little dazed after hearing that.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that a ruthless, cold-hearted person like him would end up in such a sorry state? Till now, she still could not understand why Li Feng hated Li Lei so much. And if Li Lei woke up to find out that Li Feng was already dead, how would he feel? ¡°Did he have anyst words?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Xia Moyan shook his head. ¡°Only Pei Ziheng would know.¡± When Li Feng and Pei Ziheng were conversing, Xia Moyan had already passed out. Everything he knew after that was told to him by someone else.

    Xia Ling did not want to think about this further. She had enough on her te to worry about.

    She refocused the conversation on Li Lei. ¡°I still want to see him. I won¡¯t be able to feel relieved until he regains consciousness.¡± She looked at her mother and brother with a pleading expression.

    Madam Xia frowned. ¡°Silly girl, you need to take care of your own health.¡±

    Xia Moyan was unhappy. ¡°What for? If not for the Li family, would you have suffered so much? You¡¯d better follow me back to the Xia household and recuperate there.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head stubbornly. ¡°I want to see him!¡±

    Madam Xia tried another method instead. ¡°Mom won¡¯t stop you from seeing him, but you¡¯ll at least have to wait till you¡¯re able to get off the bed and walk on your own. You have to nurse your own wounds first. When you¡¯re better, Mom will apany you to see him.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to look for Li Lei immediately, but she understood that her mother¡¯s words made sense.

    She stayed in her own ward obediently and recuperated, hoping that she¡¯d be able to walk soon and visit Li Lei. Her cell phone had gone missing during the struggle with Li Feng, and she asked her mom for a new one to relieve her boredom. With that, her friends¡¯ words of concern andfort had been pouring in through calls and texts.

    But Xia Ling still felt lonely.

    The person she loved most still had not contacted her.

    She looked at Li Lei¡¯s handsome profile picture on WeChat and decided to record a voice message for him: [I¡¯ve regained consciousness and am alright. Li Lei, you¡¯ve got to be fine too. Wake up soon, you¡¯ve got this.]

    She pressed the send button.

    That afternoon, the nurse came to change her drip bottle.

    The wooden door was left ajar, and amotion from outside could be heard¡ª¡±Your daughter is human, and my grandson isn¡¯t? Preceptor Xia, Madam Xia, what right do you have to stop me from entering? I want to see my granddaughter-inw! Don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    Xia Ling recognized Old Master Li¡¯s voice and turned to ask the nurse, ¡°What¡¯s going on outside?¡±

    The nurse looked a bit confused and stuttered. ¡°I-I will go and take a look.¡±

    She changed the drip bag and rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Xia Ling waited for a good few minutes in bed but the nurse did not return. There was nothing she could hear behind the sturdy wooden door.

    Frustration rose inside her.

    At this point, her cell phone rang and she intuitively picked it up.

    ¡°Ye Xingling,¡± It was Old Master Li¡¯s angry voice. ¡°You¡¯re awake and you¡¯re not seeing my grandson?! Li Lei still isn¡¯t out of the woods yet! I went to look for you, but your mom and brother actually stopped me! What sort of inws are you?! If something untoward happens to my grandson, I won¡¯t let you off!¡± Old Master was losing rationality from his anger.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart almost stopped. ¡°What, Li Lei isn¡¯t out of the woods yet?!¡±

    Mom and Brother did not tell her that! They simply said that ¡°his condition has stabilized and he¡¯ll be conscious soon¡±. She didn¡¯t even know things were this serious!

    ¡°Which ward is he in, I¡¯ming over right now!¡± Xia Ling asked while struggling to get off the bed. Just getting herself to sit upright was enough to drench her in cold sweat.

    Old Master Li snorted unpleasantly and gave her his ward number.

    All this time, Li Lei had been in the intensive care unit undergoing emergency treatment, which was why he wasn¡¯t able to move into another ward even when Xia Moyan had moved to the one beside hers. The hospital had already issued two notices with regards to Li Lei¡¯s critical condition, while Old Master Li and Su Tang hung around outside his ward day and night. Even Little Shaohui had cried a few times seeing his father, but what about Xia Ling? This granddaughter-inw was nowhere to be found!

    Old Master Li had attempted to contact Xia Ling a long time ago.

    But Xia Ling had been in aa for a while after her surgery. Following that, her family members had secured the entire VIP ward area and restricted ess to any outsiders. If she had not sent a message to Li Lei on his phone, Old Master wouldn¡¯t have been able to get her even now! He stormed to her ward the moment he received the message but was stopped by her family.

    Old Master Li, who¡¯d wanted to tell her off in her face, had no choice but to call her.

    Xia Ling did not know that she¡¯d had the wrong idea this whole time, but she figured out that her family simply wanted her to recuperate without worries. She was extremely anxious to see him now, but having just undergone surgery for her miscarriage, she was still very vulnerable. The moment she had her feet on the ground, she felt herself go weak and copsed.

 Chapter 955 - Critical Condition

    <h4>Chapter 955: Critical Condition</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The drip bottle fell as well andnded on her, shattering into fragments.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Madam Xia was shocked to see such a scene when she entered the ward.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t be bothered with the pain. She red at her mother. ¡°Mom! You deliberately hid Li Lei¡¯s condition from me, right? I want to see Li Lei! Take me to see him!¡±

    She struggled to stand up, but her bare feet began bleeding as she stepped on the ss shards.

    Madam Xia¡¯s heart ached for her and she hurriedly helped her up. Knowing that there was no way she could hide it any longer nor stop Xia Ling from seeing him, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t be impatient, I¡¯ll get a nurse¡¯s aide to wheel you there. Li Shanhe is really too much, what good can you do by being there?! You aren¡¯t even a doctor!¡±

    ¡°I just want to see him!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. ¡°If anything happens to him, I can¡¯t live on.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this about life and death?¡± Madam Xia frowned and helped her to the bed. She got a nurse to pick out the ss shards from her feet and found another nurse¡¯s aide to bring her a wheelchair. They then made sure she wasfortable in it and had a nket over her, before getting Xia Moyan and a bodyguard to tag along as they made their way to the intensive care unit.

    There were a number of people from the Li family waiting outside the ward, including Old Master Li, a few subordinates, and bodyguard-cum-life assistant Ah Nuo. Ah Nuo was carrying Shaohui in his arms as the child slept soundly.

    Beside Old Master Li was Su Tang, who said gently, ¡°Old Master, even if Ye Xingling is being immature, you shouldn¡¯t be taking it out on your own body. Now that Li Lei is in trouble, the whole family is relying on you.¡± She was dressed in a lc cardigan and her hair was put up in a simple bun. With her updo, she appeared like a sensible wife and mother.

    Old Master Li sighed heavily. He looked at her and wondered why his grandson didn¡¯t fall for a nice girl like Su Tang. And of all people, he married Ye Xingling the vixen! Shended him in such a state and didn¡¯t even bother to visit him! Old Master said, ¡°That woman hasn¡¯t been around, it¡¯s been hard on you.¡±

    This whole time, Su Tang had been keeping watch outside the ward almost every moment, and Old Master appreciated it.

    Su Tang lowered her head slightly, strategically hiding the delight in her eyes. Well, besides being worried about Li Lei, wasn¡¯t she keeping watch just for Old Master¡¯s eyes? Once hepared her to Ye Xingling who hadn¡¯t even made an appearance... wasn¡¯t it clear enough who would make a better granddaughter-inw?

    She gently said to Old Master, ¡°This is Su Tang¡¯s duty, it hasn¡¯t been hard on me.¡±

    ¡°Duty, huh.¡± Xia Ling had only just arrived outside his ward in a wheelchair and was already feeling disturbed realizing that Su Tang was around. Hearing Su Tang¡¯s words got her even more agitated and her wound was beginning to hurt again. ¡°Su Tang, when did it be your duty to take care of my husband?!¡±

    Her words were so curt that Su Tang¡¯s expression darkened instantly.

    Everyone turned around, only to see a gang of Xia family members.

    ¡°Madam.¡± Ah Nuo was the first to break the silence. He said with a pleasant surprise, ¡°You¡¯re here, are you feeling better?¡± He was Li Lei¡¯s main bodyguard and also his life assistant. He had long been well-acquainted with Xia Ling and was in a position to speak to her like that in front of the rest.

    Xia Ling nced at Little Shaohui in his arms. ¡°I¡¯m fine, how¡¯s Li Lei?¡± She was very happy with what Ah Nuo was doing. At the very least, he had not handed Little Shaohui to someone else to care for while she was recuperating.

    Ah Nuo appeared to be caught in a fix. ¡°Young Master¡¯s condition...¡±

    He could not go on and instead turned to Old Master Li pleadingly.

    Old Master Li snorted meanly, but in front of the Xia family, he did not utter harsh words to her. ¡°Since you¡¯re here, go in and take a look at Xiao Lei. His condition is still unstable and he isn¡¯t out of the woods yet! Since you¡¯re so loving with each other, maybe listening to your voice would help him.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and told a nurse that she wanted to enter the intensive care ward.

    The nurse said, ¡°Madam Li, in order to prevent infection, our intensive care wards are quarantined. Please follow me to get dressed in a sterilized gown before going in.¡± She took a look at the nurse¡¯s aide and added, ¡°You too.¡±

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯ll go in alone, I can maneuver the wheelchair on my own.¡±

    Since it was to prevent infection, the fewer the people, the better for Li Lei.

    The nurse nodded her head and helped her into a sterilized gown before watching her enter.

    Su Tang watched from outside the ward as envy brewed inside her. Preventing infections again! All this while, besides Old Master Li and Little Shaohui who¡¯d gone in to see him only once, everyone else was denied ess. Even Su Tang who¡¯d been keeping watch every single night wasn¡¯t granted permission to enter.

    But what about Xia Ling? She hadn¡¯t appeared in so many days, and the moment she appeared, she was allowed in!

    Su Tang clenched her fists tightly, but she had no choice but to swallow her anger. After all, she did not have an official title, what right had she to be next to him...

    On the other side, Xia Ling wheeled herself in effortfully.

    The quarantine door closed behind her.

    It was exceptionally quiet in the ward, with only the asional beeping from the machines.

    She looked at the man lying in the middle of the bed, eyes closed as tubes were inserted at various points on him. His chest wasn¡¯t rising and falling; if not for the pulse monitor, she wouldn¡¯t even be sure that he was alive. ¡°Li Lei...¡± she mumbled his name, struggling to get as close to him as possible.

    She looked down at the face she yearned day and night.

    ¡°Li Lei, wake up...¡± She was devastated. ¡°Why were you so silly... you knew that Li Feng was a madman, why did you still save me? If you were to die, how am I supposed to live on my own?¡± Tears streamed down her face as she looked at him for a long, long time. She said a lot to him, but he didn¡¯t seem to hear any of it, nor did he react at all. Her heart sank as fear gripped her. What if he wasn¡¯t going to wake up? What if... he died?!

    No... No....

    She didn¡¯t want him to die...

    ¡°Li Lei, wake up.¡± Her voice was hoarse from crying. ¡°You promised to live in bliss with me...¡±

    She didn¡¯t know how much time had passed before the nurse spoke to her through the speaker. ¡°Madam Li, your visitation time is up. For the safety of the patient, please leave as soon as possible to prevent infection.¡±

    As much as she hated to go, Xia Ling could only take onest long look at him before wheeling herself out of the ward. In the hallway were the same bunch of people as before.

    ¡°How was it?!¡± The most anxious of all was Old Master Li. ¡°How¡¯s Xiao Lei¡¯s condition? Did he react when you spoke to him?!¡±

 Chapter 956 - A Risky Plan

    <h4>Chapter 956: A Risky n</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling shook her head in disappointment, unable to utter a word.

    The lighting in the hallway was dim, and it made her look exceptionally haggard, almost as if she¡¯d been drained of all energy and had nothing but an empty shell left. She did not want to talk to anyone nor make any expression. Scenes of the encounter with the snakes shed before her eyes repeatedly. She remembered how confident and assuring his voice was when he told her to hold him tight, and how she just knew she could depend on him. But now?

    When he needed her support most, she couldn¡¯t do a thing.

    Just next to her, ady said, ¡°How could you possibly not get him awake? Don¡¯t you love him the most, or is it that he doesn¡¯t love you enough? Otherwise, how could he have no reaction when he heard your voice?¡±

    She did not know whose voice that was as she remained caught up in her own bubble.

    Xia Moyan, who was standing right next to Xia Ling, nced at Su Tang. He did not know her, but it wasn¡¯t difficult to see through the enmity in her tone and the jealousy rising inside her. He questioned Old Master Li calmly, ¡°Is this ce open to random troublemakers as well?¡±

    Old Master Li was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was referring to Su Tang. He hurriedly tried to diffuse the tension. ¡°Ah Tang didn¡¯t mean it that way. She¡¯s just too anxious, that¡¯s why she...¡±

    ¡°Ah Nuo.¡± Xia Moyan didn¡¯t hear him out. He called the quiet bodyguard who¡¯d been holding Shaohui. ¡°Invite the irrelevant people out of here.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Ah Nuo handed Little Shaohui to Madam Xia and said to Su Tang, ¡°Miss Su, please leave this ce.¡± Although he was the Li family¡¯s bodyguard, he had taken orders from Li Lei¡ªthis brother-inw was to be treated as family, while Su Tang would just be a subordinate, an outsider.

    Su Tang widened her eyes in disbelief. Was he rebelling?!

    A Li family member was helping an outsider then against her?!

    ¡°Ah Nuo, you!¡± Su Tang was shocked and humiliated. Her pitch went up several keys. ¡°Don¡¯t forget which family you¡¯re from!¡±

    Ah Nuo was firm in his stand but remained polite. ¡°Miss Su, please don¡¯t force me to take action.¡±

    He had rebelled indeed! Su Tang bit her lip and looked towards Old Master Li for help. This was the first time she¡¯d been issued an order, and in front of her love rival at that. How was she supposed to save her image?!

    But all Old Master Li did was sigh before saying, ¡°Ah Tang, you¡¯ve been keeping watch for so many days, it¡¯s about time you took a good rest.¡± Old Master was advanced in age, but his eyesight hadn¡¯t failed himpletely. He could see that Preceptor Xia was evidently very unhappy, and he did not want to create more trouble at a time like this. Moreover, Li Lei had taken over his power a long time ago; even if he ordered Ah Nuo, Ah Nuo wouldn¡¯t abide by it. All he could do was make things less awkward for Su Tang by putting in some words for her.

    Su Tang¡¯s heart went cold¡ªduring crucial moments, she meant nothing to Old Master.

    Old Master had always prioritized his family¡¯s interests, but today she was alone and helpless in the Li family...

    ¡°Miss Su, it¡¯s time to go.¡± Ah Nuo hurried her and reached out to grab her elbow. He said diplomatically, ¡°Apologies.¡± And headed right out the hallway.

    Su Tang staggered upon being dragged along by him and spat. ¡°Let go of me, I can walk on my own!¡±

    Biting her lower lip, she left the crowd with a face as white as sheet.

    The atmosphere was a little awkward.

    Xia Moyan saw that his sister was in a bad state and told the nurse¡¯s aide, ¡°Wheel her back to her ward.¡±

    The nurse¡¯s aide nodded, but just as she began wheeling Xia Ling away, she jolted up as if awoken from a dream. She immediately held down the wheels of the wheelchair and said, ¡°No, I¡¯m not leaving! I want to stay and apany Li Lei!¡± She looked up at Xia Moyan hopefully. ¡°Brother, save Li Lei. Can you save him?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°It¡¯s toote, I can¡¯t.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head in disbelief. ¡°How could you not have a way? Brother, stop lying to me, you surely have a way, right?¡± She looked up at him and tried to spot any clue, but all she got was silence. The spark in her eyes slowly died down.

    Old Master Li had been rejected by Xia Moyan a few days back and did not find it surprising. ¡°My poor grandson...¡± he murmured agonizingly and staggered shakily to the bench.

    Xia Ling lowered her head and kept watch beside him.

    Hershes drooped as her eyes went dark and gloomy. No one knew what she was thinking.

    Madam Xia¡¯s heart ached for her. ¡°You should go back, Xiao Ling. You¡¯ve been staying out here for so long. You have to take good care of yourself, your body hasn¡¯t recovered yet.¡±

    Xia Ling looked up and forced a smile. ¡°Mom, I¡¯m alright. You and Brother can go back first, I¡¯ll stay with him for an hour more before getting the nurse aide to wheel me back.¡±

    Madam Xia saw that there was no point in coercing her and sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll stay here and apany you then.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m really alright. You and Brother can leave first, I¡¯d like some time on my own. Oh right, take Shaohui along with you. I¡¯m afraid he¡¯ll fall sick if he doesn¡¯t sleep well here. I¡¯ll be fine, Ah Nuo is here anyway.¡±

    Madam Xia looked at Ah Nuo, the big man with few words. He appeared very reliable and seemed to be loyal to Xia Ling. She took another look at Shaohui who was sound asleep and her heart went out to the child. Receiving the child from Ah Nuo, she gave Xia Ling a few more words of advice before leaving with her son.

    Only Xia Ling, Old Master Li, and Ah Nuo were left in the hallway.

    Xia Ling whispered to Old Master Li, ¡°Grandpa, I¡¯m asking for you to help me with something.¡±

    Old Master raised a brow at her but did not say a word. He detested this granddaughter-inw. If not for her, his grandson wouldn¡¯t be in so much trouble.

    Xia Ling did not mind his attitude towards her and went on. ¡°I¡¯m asking you to help me leave this hospital. I¡¯m going to look for Wei Lingnan, he might be the only one who¡¯s able to save Li Lei now.¡±

    Old Master Li broke his stone-cold expression a little. ¡°The Preceptor can¡¯t even save him, but he¡¯d be able to?¡±

    ¡°We have to try,¡± Xia Ling said. Her brother had told her about Wei Lingnan¡¯s background before. She knew that this mysterious man was the only one in the world who was capable of going against the Xia family. Since he was that powerful and was also involved in the drug manufacturing business, he might really have a way to save Li Lei. At this point, they just had to give it a shot.

    Old Master Li was for the idea; this was his grandson, after all, any ounce of hope was worth pursuing. He stood up and told Ah Nuo, ¡°You¡¯ll wheel Ye Xingling and follow me. Be careful on the way, don¡¯t let anyone sense something fishy.¡±

    Ah Nuo did not look too pleasant. ¡°Old Master, Madam?! This is too risky. Madam, you¡¯re still weak, what if something happens along the way?!¡±

 Chapter 957 - I Must Meet Him

    <strong>Chapter 957: I Must Meet Him</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Who has the final say here, you or me?!¡±

    Ah Nuo was caught in a fix. This wasn¡¯t about who had the final say, but rather, how she shouldn¡¯t be putting herself at such risk! Young Master had made it clear to him that taking care of Madam was of utmost importance¡ªshe was to be prioritized even above Young Master¡¯s matters. If Young Master woke up to find out that Madam had run into trouble, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to pay for his sins with his life!

    Old Master Li frowned. ¡°Enough talking, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Ah Nuo did not care to listen to Old Master Li. He was Li Lei¡¯s trusted subordinate, not Old Master¡¯s. He looked toward Xia Ling hopefully, wondering if she would change her mind.

    Xia Ling appeared gullible usually, but at a time like this, she wasn¡¯t the least bit foolish. She continued ring at him. ¡°Are you not wheeling me? I can always stand and walk on my own!¡± She staggered to her feet and held onto the railings, but just a few steps in, she almost tripped and fell.

    Ah Nuo¡¯s heart skipped a beat watching the scene unfold and hurriedly went to help her. ¡°Madam, Madam, please don¡¯t make things difficult for me. I¡¯ll wheel you, alright?¡± This 1.80-meter tall man was actually feeling helpless. Seeing how determined she was to do this, he figured that it was for the best that he followed them.

    Only then did Xia Ling contentedly take her seat in the wheelchair, still gasping and sweating from her efforts.

    Old Master Li took the lead. He was old, but he had enough experience from years of fighting to take him through. Without the Xia family members around, it was easy to find their way out of the hospital. They contacted the Li family¡¯s chauffeur and were taken to the headquarters of the Wei Corporation.

    It was an ordinary-looking building, and it even appeared a little run down.

    It looked just like any other small-medium enterprises in the city. If Xia Ling had note the previous time for Pei Ziheng¡¯s illness, she really wouldn¡¯t believe that this was the nest of the only ¡°weirdo¡± in the world who could go against the Xia¡¯s. The virus released from this building could cause destruction to the world.

    Ah Nuo wheeled her in and Old Master Li took his ce beside them.

    The receptionist was polite. ¡°Good afternoon, may I know who you¡¯re looking for?¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan.¡± Xia Ling stated.

    The receptionist flinched a little. Among the many people who stopped by, only a very small number had ever asked to meet their mysterious Big Boss specifically. She took a few more nces at Xia Ling and asked, ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little anxious. ¡°No, just tell him Ye Xingling is here.¡±

    The receptionist wasn¡¯t one who followed entertainment news closely, but upon hearing her name, she recalled this familiar face¡ªIt¡¯s Ye Xingling! The Super Diva at the apex of her career! Gosh, it¡¯s the superstar in person! ¡°M-Miss Ling, is it really you? I¡¯m so honored to be talking to you!¡± The receptionist was almost awe-struck. ¡°Could I have your autograph?¡±

    Although she wasn¡¯t a fan, many of her other friends were!

    It was very morous to be able to have Ye Xingling personally sign her autograph!

    Ye Xingling got even more anxious. On an ordinary day, she wouldn¡¯t mind building her image and interacting with someone like this. But at a time when Li Lei was on the brink of death, how could she be in the mood for an autograph?!

    ¡°Please help me get Wei Lingnan as soon as possible!¡± She was barely able to suppress her annoyance.

    But the receptionist seemed to be ced in an awkward situation. ¡°If you don¡¯t have an appointment, you can¡¯t meet Chairman Wei, even if you¡¯re a megastar.¡± She had long heard that her Big Boss was a terrifying person and that anyone who offended him ended up in a sorry state. Instead of offending him, she¡¯d rather offend the superstar, as much as she hated to.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°You must be new here.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± The receptionist was a little stunned, how did she know that?

    Xia Ling said coldly, ¡°Thest receptionist who stopped me from meeting Wei Lingnan has gone missing with no traces.¡±

    The receptionist felt a chill down her spine. When she first entered thepany, she had indeed heard that the receptionist before her had offended someone and was dealt with by Chairman Wei. It seemed like... this was the woman she had offended?! ¡°P-please give me a moment, I will check it out for you.¡± She stammered.

    Xia Ling had no choice but to wait for her to get permission. The receptionist wasn¡¯t in a high enough position to speak directly to the Boss and hence, had to make a few calls before getting an answer. After thest call, she apologetically said to Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Ling. Chairman Wei is currently busy. He won¡¯t meet anyone for now, even you.¡±

    What exactly could Wei Lingnan be busy with at this time?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank. Thest time she came, Wei Lingnan had at least taken some time off to speak to her. Even though he had not agreed immediately to treat Pei Ziheng of his illness, he hadn¡¯t rejected her outrightly. But what was going on now? She nced at the receptionist and understood that thisdy did not have enough authority to do anything. Seeing that there was no point in pressing thisdy further, she decided to call Wei Shaoyin instead. ¡°I¡¯m at your family¡¯s headquarters. I want to meet your Uncle, do you have a way to get this done?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was shocked. ¡°Are you insane?! You want to meet that maniac?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if he¡¯d eat me up,¡± Xia Ling said in annoyance.

    ¡°He would!¡± Wei Shaoyin was getting worked up on her behalf. ¡°Stay where you are, I¡¯ming over right now!¡±

    Half an hourter, Wei Shaoyin appeared at the reception. His quality white shirt wasn¡¯t even buttoned properly, and his hair smelt vaguely of shampoo. In fact, there was some foam in his hair, and he actually looked like he¡¯d dashed out of the shower halfway. Xia Ling looked at him, confused¡ªwas there a need to be in such a hurry?

    Wei Shaoyin yelled at her, ¡°What are you doing here?! Don¡¯t you know what a perverted maniac my uncle is? Even a hundred of you won¡¯t be enough for him to have his fun!¡±

    Xia Ling looked up at him while in her wheelchair. ¡°I know all of this. But Li Lei still isn¡¯t out of the woods yet, and your uncle might be the only person who can save him.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin went quiet.

    He¡¯d been following the newstely and knew that Li Lei was in trouble. More importantly, he knew how much Li Lei meant to her.

    Seeing how haggard she looked, he paced around in the lobby in frustration for a while before finally deciding. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you to stand against him.¡± He knew how stubborn she was. She usually appeared gullible and easy to convince, but when it came to things that mattered to her, she wouldn¡¯t back down. Wei Shaoyin and Ah Nuo had the same thought¡ªinstead of letting her go about it at her own risk, they¡¯d rather help her out and keep her safe.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Thank you, Ah Wei.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin red at her. ¡°Don¡¯t you thank me! I really think it¡¯s a silly idea to bring you in to find him!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled anyway. She was thankful for this friend who¡¯d helped her time and again.

    Wei Shaoyin shot a look of despise at her wheelchair. ¡°My uncle hates noise. Your bodyguard and Old Master should just stay out, just in case it upsets him. I¡¯ll wheel you in myself.¡±

 Chapter 958 - Entering the Depths of the Weisâ€™ Base

    <strong>Chapter 958: Entering the Depths of the Weis¡¯ Base</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling nodded.

    Wei Shaoyin scanned her wheelchair for a long while. Then, he reached his hand out and then took it back, before finally asking with a perplexed look, ¡°How long has this wheelchair not been disinfected?¡± He despised things from the hospital.

    Xia Ling had almost forgotten he was a clean freak.

    But this time, she wasn¡¯t in the mood to bicker with him. ¡°Hurry up and wheel me in!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin still hesitated. He turned around to ask the receptionist, ¡°Are there any wheelchairs in our storeroom? Bring a new one over.¡±

    The receptionist knew that he was the Young Master of the Wei family, and replied politely, ¡°There aren¡¯t any more in the storeroom, but two new ones have just been brought into the Zone G experimentalbs. Shall I bring one for you?¡±

    ¡°... Forget it.¡± Wei Shaoyin despised that even more. Zone G experimentalb? The virus contained in that area was the most destructive and harmful! He¡¯d rather use an old and tattered wheelchair from any ordinary hospital than a new one from Zone G! He asked the receptionist for some tissue paper and covered his hands in them before holding the handles with a look of reluctance.

    The building appeared simple and ordinary, but it was all just a facade to fool themon man.

    The Wei family¡¯s most impressive bases were built underground. Wei Shaoyin wheeled her through what looked like a maze before finally entering the lift that took them underground. After a long descent, they ended up in a vast space.

    Why the word ¡°vast¡±?

    Simply because this was a mini man-made world on its own. Vegetation was abundant, the breeze was calming, and above their heads was a domed roof hundreds of meters high. Dotted with shimmering lights, it really appeared as if they were out in the wilderness. ces like these were usually constructed to prevent employees working in the basement from being ustrophobic. But such arge scale one like the Weis¡¯ was really a first.

    Wei Shaoyin wheeled her through the tall grasses and fireflies effortfully. The wind swept past them and it was a little chilly.

    After a pretty long walk, an electronic gate stood in their way.

    Wei Shaoyin reached out to scan his finger. The next moment, an automated voice came from the machine: [Gene matched, unlocked.] Immediately after, however, another recorded voice was heard: [Little Young Master Wei Shaoyin, your rights have been adjusted. This gate only allows you, and only you, to enter. Please do not bring anyone else along. Otherwise, he or she will be killed, period.]

    Wei Shaoyin was speechless.

    What was going on? Which ruthless person made such an adjustment to his rights?!

    Xia Ling, on the other hand, figured it out. She sighed. ¡°It seems like your uncle foresaw that I was going toe. He deliberately changed your rights so you wouldn¡¯t bring me in to see him.¡±

    Why did Wei Lingnan do that?

    Hadn¡¯t he always taken an interest in her?

    Wei Shaoyin frowned, feeling that Xia Ling¡¯s exnation was logical. ¡°Wait here,¡± he said to her. He knew how impressive the security system was; if anyone were to ess it without permission,sers from all directions would kill them instantly. ¡°I¡¯ll look for my uncle and convince him to meet you.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded her head and saw him enter.

    A long timeter, Wei Shaoyin still had not returned.

    The weather in the man-made world took a turn. The stars flickered a little less brightly as a few snowkes began falling to the ground before it developed into heavy snowfall. Xia Ling sat in her wheelchair and scanned the surroundings, before wheeling herself to a spot beneath a huge tree so as to avoid the snow. But still, the snowfall got heavier and branches began breaking, while more snow piled up on the ground, slowly concealing the path she¡¯de from. Xia Ling was shivering from the cold and holding herself tight.

    Is it time to go back?

    She thought as she looked at the locked electronic gate, and then at the path she came from.

    As long she backed off to the lift, she¡¯d be safe. She¡¯d be able to get an employee to hand her some warm clothes, or maybe even a warm drink. But that way, she wouldn¡¯t get to see Wei Lingnan. She looked up at the falling snow and thought, could Wei Lingnan be using such inclement weather to force her away? In aplex underground structure like this, was her every move in his surveince?

    She couldn¡¯t be sure.

    But no matter what, she wasn¡¯t willing to back away just like this.

    Her lips were turning purple from the cold, but she used all effort to yell into space, ¡°Wei Lingnan! Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m the Phoenix of the Xia family! If you dare freeze me to death, the Xia family won¡¯t let you off!¡± She called out a few times, but all she heard was the howling wind, and besides that, a hollow silence.

    She began having second thoughts¡ªmaybe Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t even watching her in the first ce?

    The main surveince room wasrgely empty, with just a few wolf-like, dog-like creatures barking at and biting one another. In the midst of the tussle, a few of the buttons on the panel were damaged, one of which was responsible for the space Xia Ling was in. A row of levers that adjusted the temperatures was pulled to the lowest possible level, resulting in the corresponding screen showing heavy snowfall in the area. Blood spots dotted the room, and a corpse whose neck had been broken was on the ground.

    ¡°Experimental test number 21 specimens have escaped again!¡± A few people dressed in full protective suits and holding guns charged into the surveince room and fired shots. A whileter, a few of those strange creatures fell to the ground weakly.

    One of the people said, ¡°Lock them in their cages and record this experimental data. Then get someone to clean up the ce and send a new surveince room in-charge here.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The other people in the same suit responded.

    ¡°Manager Lu, a few of the equipment have been damaged,¡± someone mentioned. ¡°Should we get someone to check on those regions?¡±

    The leader among them was irritated by the question. ¡°Who can even make it into such a ce? The specimens from experimental test number 21 are very aggressive, you need to lock them in as soon as possible and prevent them from escaping again. All of you, get to it! Don¡¯t you bother about the surveince room, when the new in-charge arrives and the equipment is fixed it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    They nodded and quickly got to work.

    Xia Ling was still shivering under the tree. She tried to wheel herself to a safer ce, but the snow had piled up and her wheelchair was now partially buried in it. She staggered to her feet, but her vision was blurry from the freezing temperatures. After taking just a few steps, she fell onto the snow.

    Li Lei...

    She reached her hand out as if wanting to grab onto something. She had only one thought, ¡°I can¡¯t die... I still have to look for Wei Lingnan... to save Li Lei...¡±

    In her daze¡ªand she didn¡¯t know if it was a delusion¡ªa tall man approached her.

    He was dressed in white from head to toe, his outfit swaying in the wind. His expression was a little cold as he bent over to pick her up. ¡°Are you courting death?¡± His voice was calm and clear. ¡°Is it worth doing this just for a person who signed a master-servant agreement with you?¡±

 Chapter 959 - Esoteric Chanting

    <h4>Chapter 959: Esoteric Chanting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling reached out to grab his sleeve, her voice almost inaudible. ¡°Brother... don¡¯t.¡±

    Xia Moyan furrowed his eyebrows and held her in a safe ce. She grabbed his sleeve more forcefully. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go... don¡¯t take me away... I want... to save... Li Lei...¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was dyed with anger. ¡°How can you save him if you¡¯re dead?!¡±

    Xia Ling murmured, her face pale, ¡°If he dies, I will die with him.¡±

    Xia Moyan said nothing and carried her the way he hade. The metal door closed behind him, leaving behind the wind and snow in another world. He pressed the elevator button and the beautiful electronic synthesis came: [Wee, Mr. A50714, which floor do you want to go to? ]

    ¡°The ground floor,¡± said Xia Moyan.

    Xia Ling faintly struggled. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go, I have to wait for Wei Lingnan...¡±

    Xia Moyan bowed his head and told her, ¡°Wei Lingnan recently retreated to do something crucial. Even if the sky falls, he will not care to see you. If you really want to save Li Lei...¡± He was silent for a long time. He looked at his sister, who was struggling more and more, not giving up until she got her way, before saying, ¡°I have a way.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly stopped struggling and looked at him incredulously. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that there was no way?¡±

    ¡°Because that method requires you to take a big risk.¡± Xia Moyan did not want his sister to be in danger, so he had said that there was no way to save Li Lei. But his sister had said that if Li Lei died, she would also not live...

    He believed she would do it.

    There was another reason. Wei Lingnan was indeed in retreat, but who knew when he woulde out? If his experiment was to fail again this time and he could not figure out the mystery of the nirvana of reincarnation, maybe he would really do something to Xiao Ling. Who told Xiao Ling to send herself straight to his doorsteps? Xia Moyan would never allow such a thing to happen.

    He took Xia Ling back to the hospital to receive treatment before telling her the method of saving Li Lei.

    With her brother¡¯s method, Xia Ling worked even harder to recover. Three dayster, she was standing on the stage of Fan Yun Stadium, thergest venue in the city. The stage was covered with a brand new sycamore floor, the top of it carved by an unknown method intoplicated patterns, circle by circle. Looking at it from afar, it looked like a big array.

    Xia Ling wore a in white dress with her hair let loose. She was barefooted and was not wearing any essories.

    She stood in the middle of the stage like a sacrifice, holding the microphone, facing the live audience and the camera that was broadcasting it live, saying, ¡°Everyone has seen the news and know that my husband Li Lei is still in aa. He is still in the hospital and not out of danger. In half a month, the hospital has given him five critically ill notices. I am really scared, afraid that he would leave me like this...¡±

    Her voice caught in her throat, and she paused to swallow a sob.

    Thousands of spectators looked up at her from under the stage, and the venue was silent, everyone waiting for her next words. They all knew that Li Lei had been in trouble recently. Although they were not clear how Li Lei got so hurt, they understood that as a newlywed wife, she must be sad, extremely sad. They had seen the advertisement for the ¡°Blessing Concert¡± in the media and hade to support her and give her strength.

    The atmosphere under the stage was solemn. Even the drop of a needle could be heard.

    Xia Ling went on to say, ¡°I am not a doctor, and I can¡¯t help much even if I were to stand guard at the hospital. I can only pray for God to bless him. I believe that there is a wonderful power in the world that can help us achieve those things that seem impossible. So, I have held this concert in order to pray for him. I sincerely invite each of you to pray for him too. With the strength of so many people, we can definitely touch God.¡±

    She said, bending down deeply and bowing to the people below the stage.

    Under the stage, many people were embarrassed.

    This concert did not require tickets, and the only admission requirement was to pray for Li Lei. Through her goddess charisma, the site that could amodate 10,000 people was full, and many fans from overseas were also on their way... At this juncture, countless fans and passers-by had chosen to help her.

    They rolled their hands into loudspeakers and shouted to the stage, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t worry, Li Lei will definitely get well!¡±

    ¡°Yes! God sees how much you love him, he would not bear to let him leave you!¡±

    ¡°He will definitely recover!¡±

    ¡°We will help you pray!¡±

    The sound of people shouting one after another was like a wave.

    Xia Ling looked below the stage and was too moved to speak. Her eyes turned slightly red. At this moment, she felt extremely fortunate that she was a big star, which allowed her to call so many people to pray sincerely for Li Lei. Her brother had said, the more people who prayed for the blessings, the more effective they would be. With the extent of Li Lei¡¯s injury, gathering her fans from all over the world could barely count as an attempt.

    She thanked the people below the stage and said to the camera lens, ¡°To the friends who are watching this live broadcast in front of the TV and media, please support me as well. Thank you for your blessings. I will be grateful to you all forever!¡±

    She also bowed deeply to the camera.

    In front of the TV, many fans who could not go to the venue were also touched. They made up their minds to pray for her and Li Lei. She loved him so much, he would definitely be fine.

    On the open stage, under the stars, she raised her microphone and sang.

    The song she sang this time was different from any of her previous songs. It was a strange, inexplicable melody, like the mysterious chanting from a distant timezone, and was also like an unknown bird¡¯s swirling cry.

    This was the singing of the phoenix.

    Everyone was shocked and immersed in the magnificent chanting for a long time. They had originally thought that even if it was a praying concert, she would use the ssic repertoires of her past concerts, but this time, it was clearly a melody that nobody had ever heard before! There was no pattern being followed, yet it was still so beautiful it seemed otherworldly!

    ¡°Oh my God, what is this...¡± In front of the TV screen, a girl who was drinking water was shocked out of her soul, and the ss in her hands suddenly fell. ¡°Mom... Mom,e and listen! I have never heard such good music! No, it¡¯s not good, it¡¯s... sacred!¡±

    Sacred, solemn, and beautiful.

    The wonderful chanting was like the flow of water under the starry sky, attracting countless people and immersing them in it.

    Xia Ling was in white, and she slightly tilted her head and closed his eyes. Her pale lips that had almost lost all color were, however, spouting out the most shocking melody. The night wind blew across her clothes, making them flutter like a dream.

    Beforeing on stage, she had asked her brother anxiously, ¡°What should I sing?¡±

    Xia Moyan had said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to ask what to sing. When you get on the stage, you will naturally know. You are a phoenix. Your soul is deep in the memory of the ancient phoenix, and the array on the stage will help you remember the long-lost chantings. Theye from your soul. As long as you open your mouth you will naturally know what to sing.¡±

 Chapter 960 - Stubborn Persistence

    <h4>Chapter 960: Stubborn Persistence</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was still anxious but had chosen to believe her brother without reservation.

    Now, immersed in the night atmosphere, she seemed to have forgotten who she was. She sang the touching melody word by word, following her heart¡¯s desire to ¡°seek safety and wellness for Li Lei¡±. It was like the ups and downs of a wave, like the sweet sound of the sky.

    She did not know how long she sang and did not even know what she was singing. The memories of her and Li Lei¡¯s past floated up to her mind. The clear sunshine in the forest where they had met for the first time, his smile that was like a spring breeze blowing, his figure that had flown up the cliff in the middle of the thunderstorm to rescue her, the blood-stained amulet, the hand that had stretched out to her in the sea...

    Li Lei.

    He had done so much for her.

    Now, it was time for her to save him.

    She was stupid, and could not do anything right. The only thing she could do well was sing, so this was the only thing she could do to wake him up.

    She sang till her voice was hoarse.

    The whirling of the textured sycamore floor was like a flowing vortex under the effects of the light that resembled a blurry dream. It faintly echoed to the stars in the night sky. It was uncertain if it was but an illusion, but as more and more people were moved and the desire for blessing got bigger and bigger, the texture of the sycamore also seemed to be getting clearer and clearer, reflecting the starry sky.

    She sang until her energy was exhausted, and fainted on the stage.

    The concert did not end, and most of the audience did not leave. They were waiting for her to sing again. They had all been informed that this blessing concert wouldst for a long time. As long as Li Lei was still in aa, this concert would not end. During this time, besides having the necessary physiological needs such as eating and sleeping every day, Xia Ling all but remained on stage and sang tirelessly about blessings.

    They were all very worried about her body.

    But they were also deeply moved by her love and volunteered to stay with her to the end.

    As the concert progressed, the news gradually spread, and more fans came to the scene with great pains. Even many passers-by were so touched that they volunteered to join the team. The 10,000-person gymnasium was unable to hold them all, so the crowds gathered like tides outside the gymnasium. While holding onto their phones or small TV screens to watch the concert, they also raised signs that said ¡°Early Recovery For Li Lei¡± and ¡°Xiao Ling Hold On¡±.

    Even the traffic was congested.

    The Li family and Xia family had alreadymunicated with the government to seal off the block to free up more venues for everyone to pray. Even Xia Moyan hade out to personally apologize to the public, saying that they had sealed off the block as ast resort and that all affected citizens would getpensation. In addition, he also asked everyone to pray for Li Lei.

    More and more citizens were joining the blessing team.

    On the way to and from work, during the lunch break in school, all kinds of equipment to listen to Xia Ling¡¯s concert live broadcast could be seen. Many men, women, elderly and children were also reciting the words of blessings or praying silently with their heads lowered.

    However, Li Lei still did not wake up.

    He was lying quietly in the intensive care unit. The severe snake venom was making him struggle on the line of life and death. Sometimes he would have a relentless high fever, and sometimes he would be so cold it was like he had fallen into an ice cave. Every time the doctor went in to check, he would be shaking his head when he came out.

    ¡°Doctor, please be sure to save my grandson, at any cost!¡± Old Master Li stopped the attending doctor who had just left the ward and begged him. These days, he seemed to have gotten a lot older in just one night, and was just like a real old man, no longer full of spirits like in the past, but anxious and helpless.

    The attending doctor looked at him sympathetically but had to say, ¡°The situation of Mr. Li has not improved. We have tried all the methods possible. Whether he wakes will depend on God¡¯s will.¡±

    ¡°Is there really no other way?¡± Old Master Li was desperate.

    The attending doctor looked back at the ward that was separated by a whole ss observation wall. He could see a small speaker inside. The green light of the speaker was shing, ying Xia Ling¡¯s blessing concert. ¡°The way? You can only pray that Miss Ling¡¯s method would be useful.¡± The attending doctor said with a sigh, but he knew in his heart that unless a miracle appeared, Li Lei would definitely die this time. The snake poison was bing more and more invasive, and his body organs were getting weaker and weaker. If this continued, Li Lei might not be able to keep his life, much less wake up!

    He whispered, ¡°Old master, don¡¯t be too upset.¡±

    After saying that he walked away.

    Old Master Li suddenly leaned against the wall for support and slowly fell to the bench on the side of the corridor. With his grandson like this, how could he not be upset? ¡°Xiao Lei...¡± He looked through the ss wall and stared at his grandson who was in the critically ill room. ¡°How could you be so cruel, your old man has not died yet, but you want to leave me first? Xiao Lei, wake up soon, can you wake up soon? As long as you wake up, I will promise you anything!¡±

    The turbid eyes of the old man held sorrow that could not be resolved.

    On the stage, Xia Ling had no idea how many times she had fainted already. Every time she would only take a little rest before stepping onto the stage again. Madam Xia felt so sorry for her that she had to keep wiping her tears away. Xia Moyan was also very worried. Would his sister be able to hold on until the day Li Lei got better? The news from the hospital was not optimistic...

    This was why he had told everyone that ¡°there was no way to save Li Lei¡± in the first ce.

    The sess rate of this method was only fifty-fifty, but the damage to Xia Ling was huge. Even her life could be threatened if they were just a little careless. She had just recovered from her serious illness, how could she withstand such a high-intensity concert? But he could not stop her, for she had already set her heart on saving him at all costs. The result could only be handed over to God. Xia Moyan could only pray in his heart and hope that God would be more open-minded and let go of this poor couple on ount of the Xia family having umted enough fortune.

    Xia Ling was exhausted again and was taken down from the stage to drink water.

    Madam Xia distressingly fed the semi-liquid food with extremely rich nutrition into her mouth, saying, ¡°Xiao Ling, it¡¯s important to save Li Lei, but you must also pay more attention to your body. If you were to copse, he would put all the me on himself! Xiao Shaohui also needs his mother!¡±

    Xia Ling was too weak to speak, and she only ate her meal silently.

    She did not know how many days in a row she had sung for. Her throat had long turned bloody and hoarse. If not for the special drugs the professional doctors had prescribed for her, her throat would have spoilt already.

    She refused to listen to anything Madam Xia said, and once she had finished her meal, she turned and walked unstably to the stage again.

    Madam Xia looked at her thin back, and her tears flowed out all of a sudden.

    Suddenly, someone called, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    It was a low-temperature, mellow man¡¯s voice.

    Xia Ling did not hear it, and it continued to drift gently up the stage like that of a soul¡¯s.

    The man reached out to grab her shoulder, forcefully turning her over so that she was facing him. He looked at her fragile state, frowned and said, ¡°You can¡¯t go on like this anymore.¡±

 Chapter 961 - Subversion

    <h4>Chapter 961: Subversion</h4>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    She took some effort to see clearly who the person in front was¡ªPei Ziheng.

    Reaching out, she tried to remove his hand, but she was so exhausted that she did not even have this strength. No matter how hard she tried, she could not move his hand. She red fiercely at Pei Ziheng, signaling him to let go of her.

    Pei Ziheng did not let go. ¡°You need to rest.¡±

    She was so angry that she almost cried, and she continued trying to remove his hand on her. Her throat was so overloaded withbor that she would not talk when there was no need to, for she wanted to use her voice to pray for Li Lei. However, her strength was too small, and the man opposite her did not move. She could not hold it in anymore and said in anger, ¡°Let go!¡±

    Her throat was hoarse beyond salvation.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xiao Ling, why are you doing this? You think that by abusing yourself, he would get better?¡± Ever since his return from the snake cave, he had been lying on the hospital bed for a long time. Once the doctor had finally allowed him to go, he hade to find Xia Ling immediately. However, he did not expect her to not just be obsessed, but to be entirely enchanted.

    Xia Ling did not want to argue with him. She looked at her brother and mother for help. ¡°Tell him to let go of me.¡±

    However, Xia Moyan and Madam Xia did not move¨C¨Cwhy would they not want her to rest? Since they could not persuade her themselves, they could only be grateful that Pei Ziheng was able to!

    Xia Ling understood their meaning when she saw how they were not moving. Sadness rose inexplicably in her heart, and tears fell without warning. ¡°Not only is God bullying me, but you all are too! Pei Ziheng, let go of me, or I will fight you!¡± She said, stepping onto his feet forcefully and hitting him indiscriminately with her hands as if in a craze.

    Pei Ziheng was not hurt at all, and he took her into his arms instead. ¡°Xiao Ling, that¡¯s enough, I know you are upset... Just cry, you can beat me and hate me too, but you have to rest. Be good.¡±

    She refused to be good and struggled even harder using her hands and feet, even biting him with her teeth. ¡°You let go!¡±

    Pei Ziheng refused to let go no matter what she said.

    Xia Ling was feeling anxious. Every second dyed endangered Li Lei¡¯s life! She bit onto his shoulder until he was oozing fresh blood. However, Pei Ziheng only winced in a low tone, and still did not let go.

    Xia Ling had no choice, she cried and said, ¡°Who do you think you are? What qualifications do you have to control me? You are not qualified!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was shocked, and a hint of anger rose in him. ¡°Yes, I am not qualified. The person who is qualified to control you will never live again! You want to save Li Lei, right? Xiao Ling, let me tell you, if you continue to resist, I¡¯m going to the hospital to pull out the infusion tube in Li Lei!¡±

    ¡°You are despicable!¡± Xia Ling screamed at him with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind being despicable if I can save your life.¡± Anyway, in her heart, he had always been a mean and hateful person, wasn¡¯t it? Pei Zihengughed at himself, his heart aching painfully, but he still continued persuading her patiently. ¡°Take a good rest and go to sleep. Continue singing when you wake up, okay?¡±

    She still insisted. ¡°Let me go.¡±

    Seeing that he refused to let go no matter what, she suddenly started singing in his arms. It was still the same kind of chanting melody, yet the hoarse voice brought a different kind of sorrowful beauty. She sang with intermittent pauses, coughing from time to time. However, she refused to stop and continued to tire her voice out.

    Pei Ziheng was extremely worried. ¡°Xia Ling, are you crazy?!¡±

    She simply ignored him and sang on her own. There was only one thought in her mind. It was to save Li Lei no matter what! Just hold on longer... hold on a little longer... maybe Li Lei will wake up the next second?

    The look of Pei Ziheng became cold.

    ¡°Xia Ling,¡± he said to the woman in his arms word by word. ¡°Don¡¯t deceive yourself. He has no more hope. Didn¡¯t your brother and mother tell you? In these few days that you have been singing, Li Lei¡¯s condition has not improved at all. It has even worsened! What blessings, it¡¯s all bullshit! He would die sooner orter!¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± Xia Moyan and Madam Xia shouted angrily at him in unison. They had hoped that Pei Ziheng could persuade Xia Ling to rest more, not to agitate her!

    Pei Ziheng still looked at Xia Ling coldly. ¡°Li Lei will die.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him incredulously. What... what¡ª ?! Li Lei¡¯s condition had not only not improved, it worsened?! She turned her head and stared at her brother and mother. ¡°You lied to me?!¡±

    Every time she stepped down from the stage, her brother and mother would tell her that Li Lei¡¯s condition was very stable, that Li Lei seemed to be a little better, that the doctor said that he would wake up soon...

    How did it be totally opposite to Pei Ziheng¡¯s words?!

    Facing her daughter¡¯s wounded and pleading expression, Madam Xia could not bear to watch. She turned her head away.

    Xia Moyan frowned, but still looked at his sister. ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t think so much. What you need most now is a good rest. Li Lei is a good person, he will receive good retribution.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the stage and then at her brother. Finally, her eyes stayed on Pei Ziheng. ¡°Give me your phone.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    Xia Moyan and Madam Xia disapproved.

    But Pei Ziheng still handed her mobile phone to her.

    Xia Ling took the phone and called Ah Nuo. ¡°Ah Nuo, tell me, how is Li Lei¡¯s condition these past few days?¡± The only person she could trust now was Ah Nuo. Her voice carried her weakness as she said, ¡°You must not lie to me, Ah Nuo. Don¡¯t let me down...¡±

    ¡°Madam...¡± Ah Nuo hesitated for a long while.

    He was now guarding the ward. While on the phone, he turned his head to look through the ss monitor screen at Li Lei. Forget it... since Madam had already said this to him, he might as well tell her the truth and prepare her for the worst. Otherwise, if Young Master was to go...

    The sudden blow was the most deadly.

    Taking a deep breath, Ah Nuo said, ¡°This morning, the doctor asked Old Master to prepare for his passing.¡±

    ¡°Pa!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s phonended on the ground.

    Her body crumbled. If not for Pei Ziheng supporting her, she would have fallen to the ground.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, are you okay?¡± Madam Xia shouted in dismay. She took her from Pei Ziheng and carried her onto the chair at the side with Xia Moyan¡¯s help. ¡°Say something! Don¡¯t scare your mother!¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t say anything. Her mind was nk. Ah Nuo¡¯s words repeated over and over in her mind. Prepare for passing... prepare for passing... prepare for passing...

    Pei Ziheng half-squatted beside her and took her hand.

    Beforeing here, he had found out that Li Lei was dying. Although his heart ached at the sight of Xiao Ling¡¯s sorrow, but it was impossible to say he was not secretly happy. When he hade back from the snake cave, he had a high fever. After he recovered, the doctor had discovered that his cancer cells had miraculously decreased. His doctor had been overjoyed and had told him that the medical profession had such a precedent. Under high heat, cancer cells could be killed. This terminal illness could possibly heal itself.

 Chapter 962 - From the Bottom of Her Heart

    <h4>Chapter 962: From the Bottom of Her Heart</h4>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Pei Ziheng cooperated fully with the doctor¡¯s treatment.

    Recently, his condition had gotten increasingly stable. The doctor had finally told him smilingly that his chances of a full recovery were high and hence, gave him the green light for discharge. Pei Ziheng thanked the Heavens for this fortune¡ªif he managed to live on, would he then able to continue protecting Xiao Ling? Maybe, he could even be a little more ambitious and aim to get her back from his love rival. His hope was reignited, especially at a time where Li Lei¡¯s life was still in danger.

    The Heavens were really with him.

    He did not wish to see Xia Ling in such misery, and said to her, ¡°Everyone dies someday, take it easy.¡±

    Xia Ling was filled with pain and anger. She had never hated Pei Ziheng so much in her life before. Li Lei was not dead, how could he say something like this! ¡°You will die someday!¡± She yelled at him, ¡°Pei Ziheng, die on your own if you want! Don¡¯t drag Li Lei along with you! He¡¯ll be fine! He¡¯ll definitely be fine!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression stiffened instantly.

    Xia Ling felt that those words were inappropriate the moment they left her mouth. He was still gued with cancer, wasn¡¯t this too mean a curse? But... he was simply too infuriating, how could he curse Li Lei like this?! Xia Ling looked at Pei Ziheng sadly, an apology lodged in her throat, but she could not speak the words.

    Pei Ziheng loosened his grip on her hand.

    This morning when he found out about his chances for survival, he was bursting with joy, and his first thought was to share this news with her. He had rushed to the concert venue to tell her about it, but what he got in exchange was her angry curses. He shut his eyes slowly, and something in the depths of his heart shattered.

    Xia Ling held onto the seat for support and was about to get up, but having dealt with the blow of receiving an unfavorable notice of Li Lei¡¯s condition, she was even weaker and more fatigued than before. She was barely on her feet when she fell back.

    Madam Xia¡¯s heart ached. ¡°Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t be like this! You need to rest!¡±

    She looked down at her hands and tears began flowing. ¡°I¡¯m so useless. After everything, I still didn¡¯t manage to help him...¡± Her voice was getting weaker and softer as the world spun before her. She almost passed out.

    Xia Moyan frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll carry you back to your bed for some rest.¡± There was a small lounge at the backstage¡ªsome basic emergency apparatus and afortable bed were specially prepared for her.

    Xia Ling raised her head effortfully and looked at her brother with pleading eyes. ¡°Carry me to him. If he really were to die, I... I want to die with him.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Please, Brother...¡± Tears filled her face. ¡°Please let me see him, I¡¯m begging you...¡±

    Hearing her pleas, Xia Moyan felt as if his heart was being stabbed. He wanted very much to reject her, but knowing his sister¡¯s determination to achieve what she¡¯d set out to, she really might do something silly if anything were to happen to Li Lei! When someone had a will so strong, how could the people around her possibly be able to stop her?

    In that case, it would be a better choice to just fulfill her wish now by apanying her to see him.

    Xia Moyan bent over to pick her up. She was rag and bones now and barely weighed a thing under her white blouse. Xia Moyan felt as if he wasn¡¯t holding a girl, but rather, a lifeless piece of soft fabric.

    He suppressed the ache in his heart and carried her to the car. They headed to the hospital.

    With the help of a nurse, she changed into a hospital gown and was brought to Li Lei¡¯s bedside.

    Li Lei was still lying in bed with his eyes closed, and he looked even more haggard than thest time she came to visit him. His cheeks were slowly sinking in and his skin seemed to be turning yellow. He was bing as skinny as she was... no, even skinnier.

    Xia Ling could barely stop her tears. She had been crying too muchtely.

    She reached out to hold his hand that had long been poked with needles and tubes. She quietly said, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m here.¡±

    The unconscious man did not react. In fact, even his chest wasn¡¯t rising and falling anymore¡ªif not for the regr peaks and crests registered on the apparatus, he¡¯d have been thought to be dead.

    She was held in her brother¡¯s arms and tried to lean in closer to Li Lei.

    Xia Moyan gently said, ¡°Alright, Xiao Ling, we should go. Don¡¯t let him get infected.¡±

    This was an aseptic ward. Although they were in simple disinfected gowns, they were posing a greater threat to him the longer they stayed. But Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving. You said he¡¯s dying... I-I want to stay with him. I want to be with him in life and in death.¡±

    Xia Moyan teared up upon hearing that.

    Outside the ward, Old Master Li, Madam Xia, Pei Ziheng, and the rest were watching her through the full-length ss panel. Although they couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying, her sorrowful expression weighed on their hearts.

    ¡°Leave me here, Brother.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice was soft and weak but determined. She was just like a true Phoenix, her nobility could not be infringed upon, and her will was not to be vited.

    As such, The Preceptor, who had a mystical power to call the shots all over the world, simply sighed, and then carefully lowered her to the edge of Li Lei¡¯s bed. The bed wasn¡¯t wide, but both of them were so small and thin now that there was still a little space even when they shared the bed. Xia Moyan carefully arranged the tubes by the bed so they wouldn¡¯t tangle around her, before tidying up her hair.

    She reached out and wrapped her arm around Li Lei, hoping to get even closer to him.

    Just like how she¡¯d done each time they overcame a cmity together, she rested her face against his chest. She tried to feel the warmth of his body, and to listen to his almost inaudible heartbeat. Her voice was extremely soft as she said, ¡°Li Lei, I¡¯m here. Why were you so silly to save me at your own expense? You¡¯re too selfish, are you thinking of dying before me? So you could leave me to grieve on my own? I won¡¯t let your wishe true... Li Lei, if you die, I¡¯ll die with you. Do you hear me? I won¡¯t let you feel lonely on your way...¡±

    Her tears were soaking his hospital gown.

    The ward was very quiet, with only the soft beeping of the apparatus and her whispers.

    She hugged him for a while and went on, ¡°Liar. I held a concert as a prayer for you, why aren¡¯t you better yet? Did you hear me sing? Shall I sing for you?¡±

    She began singing quietly and intermittently.

    It was that mystical tune. Brother told her there was no need for a music score, nor for a rehearsal before singing it. All she needed was the voice that flowed from the bottom of her heart. Her voice was hoarse and she barely had enough energy to carry on. Her singing got softer and it became more effortful to go on. As her whispering voice suspended in the almost silent room, it felt as if that was a final lingering me waiting to be extinguished.

 Chapter 963 - Bound Destinies

    <strong>Chapter 963: Bound Destinies</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Eventually, she becamepletely worn out, and the singing stopped.

    She was still rested against his chest, hershes quivering as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.

    She didn¡¯t know how much time had passed before his finger suddenly twitched. She was so caught up in her misery that she didn¡¯t even notice it. Meanwhile, those standing outside were getting agitated from what they¡¯d just witnessed through the ss pane. ¡°It moved! Li Lei¡¯s finger moved! Get the doctor, quick!¡±

    The doctor and nurses rushed into the ward immediately.

    Xia Ling was looking in shock at the hustle around her and had no idea what was going on. All of a sudden, she heard a hoarse voice calling, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    She thought she was hallucinating

    She slowly and apprehensively turned to look down at his face. Only then did she realize that he had opened his eyes and was now looking at her weakly. Li Lei...¡±Li Lei!¡± She called out and embraced him tightly. ¡°You¡¯re awake? You¡¯re really awake?!¡± She wasughing and crying all at once.

    Li Lei tried to lift his hand and wipe her tears away, but did not have the strength to.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright now...¡± He said hoarsely. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll always be with you...¡±

    ¡°Mm, okay!¡± She nodded her head vehemently and grabbed his hand, at a loss for words.

    The doctors conducted thorough check-ups on Li Lei. Under the care and treatment of a specialist group, he recovered day by day. All this while, Xia Ling made sure to be by his side at every moment. The hospital even set up a bed beside his so that they could undergo treatment and recuperate together, while their families took turns to visit them.

    After yet another close call with death, they began opening up about the incident slowly.

    After piecing together all the information, they realized that Li Feng had been sadistic since he was a child. He was more familiar with the prison in the headquarters than anyone else was, and had even dug up a secret path a long time ago so he couldmit those shameful sins without being found out. After he escaped, he stalked Xia Ling and nned to rob her from Li Lei, since he¡¯d figured out that such a loss would cause the greatest blow to him. As such, when Li Lei apanied her to visit Pei Ziheng, Li Feng¡¯s chance came.

    He took advantage of Chu Chen¡¯s consideration for Pei Ziheng and his desire to drive Li Lei away. Once Li Lei had left, he abducted Xia Ling as soon as he could and set a trap in the snake¡¯s nest, luring Li Lei into it.

    Fortunately, Xia Ling had given Li Lei some hints with the moss, allowing him to be on the offensive as he entered the den beforehand.

    Otherwise, once Li Feng set up his borate trap, it was possible that none of them would¡¯ve been able to escape.

    ¡°Li Feng is dead,¡± Xia Ling told Li Lei. ¡°Pei Ziheng cut him up alive before Er Mao tore him apart further and tossed him into the pit.¡±

    Li Lei kept quiet for a long time after hearing how his brother had died.

    Xia Ling looked at him, a little worried. ¡°Are you... very sad?¡±

    Li Lei kept quiet for a while more before saying, ¡°I grew up with Brother. He was very mean to me when we were younger. During winter, he hid snakes in my nket; in the middle of the night, those hibernating snakes would wake from the warmth and bite me. I reared a little rabbit, and he skinned the rabbit alive before hanging it on my bedroom door while still dripping with blood. He even pushed me into deep waters and tried to kill me... But, I don¡¯t know why. I just feel that...¡± He appeared especially sentimental today. After pausing for a long moment, he went on, ¡°I just felt that he was very lonely.¡±

    Xia Ling found it hard to believe that a pervert like him could feel loneliness too. She mumbled, ¡°Unbelievable.¡±

    Li Lei shook his head andforted her instead. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m overthinking this. He¡¯s a tough nut to crack, who¡¯d know what he really thought? Maybe he was truly happy. Xiao Ling, although I¡¯m upset by his death, I feel a sense of relief too¡ªat least I know that there¡¯s one less person who poses a threat to you now. I really don¡¯t understand why he kept finding trouble with you.¡± He could understand that Old Master Li found trouble with her out of his love for his grandson. He also understood that Su Tang found trouble with her because of jealousy of a love rival. But Li Feng?

    It was a tough riddle.

    ¡°Thest person who spoke to him was Pei Ziheng. Maybe Pei Ziheng would know something,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Li Lei nodded his head but said, ¡°Forget it. Since he¡¯s already dead, there¡¯s no point talking about it. Whatever Pei Ziheng knows, let it be gone with the wind. From now on, we¡¯ll not bring Brother¡¯s name up in front of the children.¡± That horrid man was practically the opposite of a good role model.

    Xia Ling agreed with his take on this.

    On his cheek, the scar that Li Feng left with a dagger years back was still visible. How painful that must have felt...

    She reached out and stroked that scar. ¡°We¡¯ve got to keep a lookout for Shaohui and Xiao Rui, and make sure they don¡¯t turn out like Li Feng.¡± Indeed, parenting and nurturing started from a young age.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Shaohui is a good boy. Xiao Rui will also learn to be more sensible now that they¡¯re hanging out together.¡±

    She smiled in constion as well, and they carried on chit-chatting.

    A whileter, there was a knock on the door.

    They raised their heads and saw Old Master Li enter.

    Old Master was looking better and more energetictely. It seemed like his grandson¡¯s recovery had brought some radiance to his once haggard face. He gave a deliberate cough before trudging towards the bed. ¡°How are you feeling today?¡±

    ¡°Pretty good. Thank you for asking, Grandpa.¡± Li Lei was grinning. Although Old Master Li was no longer the head of the household, he had brought Li Lei up and Li Lei respected him a lot. He did not want these obstacles to be a barrier between them.

    Seeing that he looked well, Old Master Li felt content too.

    But when his eyes shifted to Xia Ling, he gave another cough out of awkwardness.

    Xia Ling calmly greeted him. ¡°Grandpa.¡± She was the Li family¡¯s granddaughter-inw now, and there was no way to deny the kinship she shared with Old Master, whether they liked it or not. Moreover, she did not want things to be difficult for Li Lei.

    Old Master shared her sentiment and gave a solemn nod. ¡°Rest well. You need to be well too before being able to take good care of Xiao Lei.¡± After this incident, he¡¯d figured out that this grandson and granddaughter-inw were inseparable¡ªif one of them got into any trouble, the other would follow in life or in death. So what if he got uptight over it? The only thing he could do now was hope for the best for them.

    Maybe this was what The Preceptor meant when he said ¡°Bound Destinies¡±.

    Old Master was a little helpless now¡ªas much as he didn¡¯t like her, there was no other choice but to ept her. At the very least, Li Lei¡¯s ident showed him that she wasn¡¯t an ingrate who¡¯d turn away when he was in trouble. Then again, that was all thatforted him.

    With amanding eye and an upright stance, he looked down at

 Chapter 964 - The Distant Bliss

    <strong>Chapter 964: The Distant Bliss</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Before Xia Ling said anything, Li Lei had already defended his wife. ¡°We take care of each other.¡±

    She was stunned for a while before breaking into a smile. This was her beloved man, the one who always did his best to protect her. He was there to shield her even before she got hurt.

    What more could one expect of their man?

    She looked at him tenderly.

    Old Master took a few deep breaths to stop himself from whacking the ungrateful brat with his walking cane. How could this brat turn against his own people?!

    ¡°In any case, you¡¯re on your own.¡± Old Master Li did not want to see them being affectionate with each other. Understanding the saying ¡°out of sight, out of mind¡±, Old Master strode off slowly.

    Li Lei watched Old Master as he disappeared out the door.

    He looked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°That¡¯s just how Grandpa¡¯s like, it¡¯s been hard on you.¡±

    ¡°With you around, what does that little hardship even count for?¡± She smiled. ¡°Once we¡¯re out of the hospital, we¡¯ll have space to ourselves. Moreover, we won¡¯t be living together, there won¡¯t be much conflict with each other.¡±

    Li Lei nodded.

    But deep inside he was still thinking¡ªjust what did it take for Grandpa and Xiao Ling to get along with each other? One was an elder who raised and nurtured him, the other was his beloved partner; he didn¡¯t want them to be like this for the rest of the time.

    As they got better day by day, the doctor finally gave them the green light for discharge.

    Back in their new love nest in City S, Xia Ling said to Li Lei once they¡¯d settled down, ¡°I wish to see Pei Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°See Pei Ziheng?¡± Li Lei frowned slightly.

    Xia Ling hesitated a little but decided to go on, ¡°He did help us quite a bit during this incident, and I felt that there¡¯s a need to thank him. Moreover...¡± Moreover, she went overboard the other day during the concert, Pei Ziheng must be very hurt by it.

    ¡°Moreover... what?¡±

    ¡°I owe him an apology.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead then,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Remember to bring along two trusted bodyguards. Beware of him.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t expect him to agree so readily. She looked at him gratefully and asked, ¡°You¡¯re not jealous?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am!¡± Li Lei showed some displeasure. ¡°Do you think your husband is so magnanimous as to tolerate anything? Xiao Ling, I¡¯m telling you, if you have an affair outside, I-I will...¡±

    ¡°You will...?¡± She blinked curiously.

    He pulled her into his arms and snuggled at her ear. ¡°I will... teach you a lesson.¡± With that, he fell onto the couch with her and they filled the room with joy and excitement.

    Xia Ling swore to herself that she¡¯d not ask Li Lei such a dumb question ever again. The achessted a full day and she could barely get herself off the bed. She postponed her meeting with Pei Ziheng and rested at home for a few more days until the red love marks had faded.

    Pei Ziheng asked to meet by the beach.

    Both of them liked this ce a lot in her previous life. There was fine white sand all around, and the crashing of the waves against the shore felt almost like a couple¡¯s affectionate banters.

    Xia Ling was wearing floral overalls over her blouse and a short skirt as she stood before him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She looked into his eyes. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have said such mean stuff to you that day.¡±

    Having not seen him for a while, Pei Ziheng seemed to have gotten better. His skin did not appear as jaundiced as before, and he was slowly regaining some of his physique. He looked down at the petite girl before him; no, she was no longer a girl, she was already someone¡¯s wife and mother. ¡°I will recover from my illness, so it doesn¡¯t really matter what you say about me.¡±

    But, did he really feel that it didn¡¯t matter?

    He just didn¡¯t want to appear weak before her.

    Xia Ling still felt guilty about her doings, but upon hearing that he would recover, she cheered up a little. ¡°Really?¡±

    The sincere and genuine joy in her eyes made him feel better, and he toned down his voice. ¡°You¡¯re not dead yet, how could I possibly die? I¡¯ll be by your side for the rest of your life.¡±

    But she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to be by my side for the rest of my life. Pei Ziheng, find a good girl and settle down with her. You¡¯re so outstanding, and so many girls like you, you¡¯ll definitely be able to find someone better than me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her in agony. Deep inside, he asked, Xiao Ling, how is that possible? How could anyone in this world be better than you? After losing you, who else can I get together with...

    But he didn¡¯t verbalize any of it.

    Seeing that he was keeping quiet, Xia Ling decided to be a little harsher with her words. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go, I already have Li Lei. Even if Li Lei dies, I¡¯ll die with him! You don¡¯t have a chance, you never will!¡±

    He quietly said, ¡°You actually care about whether I have a chance?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t!¡± She rebuked. Her voice got softer. ¡°I just... I just... Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m very grateful for you, for getting me out of the orphanage and raising me. It was your credit that I managed to have a good education in music, and eventually turn out to be a Diva. D-Don¡¯t make me worry, alright?¡±

    Don¡¯t make her worry.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s originally indestructible mask seemed to crack a little.

    He remembered how she had cried her heart out when she first found out about his cancer, and how she had run around trying to find him help despite being pregnant... even though she was now married to Li Lei, was there always a ce for him in her heart?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart warmed up a little.

    ¡°You¡¯re worried about me?¡± He asked.

    She looked into his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve loved you and hated you, been grateful to you and afraid of you. Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t know what you mean to me anymore. Once, I¡¯d tried to cut you out of my life entirely. I tried to not care about you at all, to have nothing to do with you in any way, but I couldn¡¯t. Each time something happened to you, my heart still ached... don¡¯t you think I¡¯m just cheap? You were so mean to me, and you¡¯d tried to hurt me and even my child.¡± She mocked herself and wondered if this was all a curse. She must¡¯ve been cursed never to be able to forget him, cursed to still feel for everything that he did!

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯ve got to be blissful,¡± She said softly. ¡°If you aren¡¯t blissful, how am I supposed to live my life blissfully without guilt?¡±

    He looked at her for a long long time, thoughts scrambling in his head.

    Bliss...

    What a distant word it was for him.

    When she left his house with her luggage in her previous life, the bliss in his heart had already crumbled, dissipated, disintegrated into nothingness. For so many years, he tried so hard to bring his bliss home, but she kept getting further and further away from him, and now she was nevering back.

    In this lifetime, how could he still be blissful?!

 Chapter 965 - An Affair

    <b>Chapter 965: An Affair</b>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    The sea breeze brought with it a bigger story.

    Pei Ziheng gave her a deep and long gaze, before speaking in a low voice, ¡°You go ahead and live your life, there¡¯s no need to worry for me. Whenever there¡¯s a time where you cannot tolerate Li Lei, juste back to find me.¡±

    She understood the intentions behind his words. This man still could not bear to let go, yet promised never toe and cause disruption to her peaceful and stable life. Her heart pulsed with pain, and she said quietly, ¡°Pei Ziheng, why would you do this?¡±

    Heughed softly, hisughter disintegrating amidst the sea breeze, drowning in the waves. ¡°When you¡¯ve seen the sea, no other water bodies would satisfy you as much anymore. Xia Ling, how could you expect me to fall in love with someone else when I¡¯ve loved you?¡± The moment heid his eyes on her for the first time, the ending was already decided. She was his butterfly, his source of light, and it was she who held all his passion and desires.

    If he could turn back time, back to that summer where iris flowers were in full bloom, he would have immediately slipped the engagement ring onto her finger. It didn¡¯t matter if she were shocked, or even if she called him a pervert. Nothing would have mattered more than having her be his till the day they had white hair.

    Unfortunately, there was no ¡°What if¡± in this universe.

    The sea breeze blew gently across waves as soft as tulles breaking gently onto the sand.

    She stared at him for a long time,ing to the understanding that nothing would convince him otherwise. She could only tell him to take care of himself.

    ¡°I will.¡± His voice was filled with warmth, just like how it was the first time they met that year. It made him seem dependable. He gazed into her eyes and chuckled again. ¡°This time, after we part ways, I won¡¯t bother you again. Could you give me onest hug, as a form of farewell?¡±

    He opened his arms and stood facing her.

    She stared at his eyes suspiciously, then eventually relented, walking slowly into his embrace. A tiny body ridden with illness, engulfed into a hug by arger man, felt like being surrounded by a strong and sturdy mountain. At that moment, she experienced him as if he was a father or brother. The calmness she felt as a child flooded into her, and it felt like... it felt like no matter what she would encounter in the outside world, there was no need for fear.

    The hugsted for a long time.

    The sea breeze lifted the ends of her clothes, her hair dancing in the wind.

    After a while, Pei Ziheng softly said, ¡°Take care, Xia Ling.¡±

    Releasing her, he walked away without looking back.

    She stood on the beach, dazed, as she stared at his back view slowly disappearing into the distance. A part of her heart felt empty, as if she was losing a part of her that would never return. ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She unexpectedly called out.

    That man heard her voice, but didn¡¯t look back.

    He clenched his fists tight, restraining his body with such force that he shook, as he tookrge strides forward. He didn¡¯t dare look back, because if he did, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold himself back anymore, and would once again do anything he could to bring her back to his side, regardless of the consequences. She is happy now. If she loses Li Lei, she will die... I cannot disturb her anymore. Pei Ziheng told himself this over and over again. It felt as if his heart was being stabbed with every step he took, and it hurt so much.

    Goodbye, my dear girl.

    Goodbye, my... butterfly.

    The sun¡¯s rays colored the sea¡¯s surface. The two people drowning in their sorrowful goodbye didn¡¯t even realize, that in a forest not far off, a journalist was photographing that very moment of encounter between them.

    The moment it was published online, the onlinemunity exploded.

    ¡°Hurry,e see!¡± In a mall in City S, a female store attendant called out to her colleagues, her phone in her hand. ¡°Someone at the South Beach caught Ye Xingling and Pei Ziheng meeting secretly! Oh my goddess Ling, how could this be? They were even hugging. This can¡¯t be adultery, right?¡±

    A sound of shock immediately got a mass of attention.

    Colleagues swarmed in front of her phone. ¡°Let me see, let me see... It¡¯s true, Xia Ling is hugging Pei Ziheng! So beautiful!¡±

    ¡°How is this beautiful! Looking at this, they must have hugged many times before! Just look at that, their bodies meld together sofortably!¡± Someone shouted out angrily. ¡°This is too much. What about my boss, Li Lei? He is just recovering from his injury, then this happens? Is he being made a cuckold?¡±

    ¡°This can¡¯t be?¡± Someone who was more reasonable spoke up. ¡°Not long ago, Xiao Ling just held a congrattory concert for Li Lei. She can¡¯t possibly have gone into an affair this fast?¡±

    ¡°Who says?¡± Someone else spoke up. ¡°Have you never heard of the saying, ¡®a woman¡¯s heart is hard to understand¡¯? Furthermore, Xia Ling is Boss Pei¡¯s ex-wife! You never know, the me may have reignited between them for some reason!¡±

    ¡°That makes sense...¡± Some people nodded their heads in agreement.

    Throughout the world, in restaurants, bars, subways, parks... simr conversations wereing into y. Within minutes¡ª¡±Ye Xingling in an affair¡±¡±Ye Xingling left¡±¡±Ye Xingling and Pei Ziheng¡¯s secret meeting¡±¡±Li Lei made a cuckold¡±¡ªheadlines like these shot up in online search rankings.

    Even Old Master Li, who normally didn¡¯t pay much attention to celebrity news, was startled.

    ¡°Old Master,¡± Su Tang came to him and showed him the news. ¡°What should we do? If these discussions continue spiraling, it is really disadvantageous to Young Master. I can¡¯t believe Ye Xingling would do this kind of thing!¡±

    Old Master was also furious. This daughter-inw, how dare she make someone in the Li household a cuckold?!

    He banged his walking stick, andmanded Su Tang, ¡°Go! Find Li Lei!¡±

    Both of them got into a car and headed over to Li Lei¡¯s newlywed vi, where Li Lei was sorting out some books about warfare in his reading room in deep concentration. He was so concentrated that, when his grandfather called him out, he was confused. ¡°What happened?¡±

    Old Master Li thrust the photographs towards him. ¡°Look what your wife has done!¡±

    Li Lei picked up the photographs, and only saw the scene of a sea colored by the rays of the sun as it set over the horizon. The photographer took a very beautiful shot of Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng. The silhouette of the man and woman looked sopatible, like a match made in heaven, like a couple together in bliss. The Xia Ling in the photograph had her eyes gently closed, and she seemed so at ease andfortable.

    A small me of jealousy lit up in Li Lei¡¯s heart, but it was quickly extinguished. ¡°What do you want to say? Grandfather, I already know that Xiao Ling went to meet Pei Ziheng. There¡¯s no problem in that.¡±

    ¡°The Inte is going insane over this!¡± Old Master raged on. ¡°The reputation of the Li family has been destroyed because of her! And you¡¯re still defending her at this point in time?! Must she be caught doing it in bed before you will be willing to face reality!¡±

    ¡°Grandfather!¡± Li Lei¡¯s face darkened. ¡°I don¡¯t like the way you talk about Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because of what she has done!¡± Old Master refused to back down.

    Li Lei stared at him icily. ¡°Your assumptions about Xiao Ling have gone too far. Have you never thought that, if she really didn¡¯t like me and wanted to be with Pei Ziheng, she wouldn¡¯t have held a celebratory concert for me! Wouldn¡¯t it have been better for her to just let me die? If she wanted to be with Pei Ziheng, it would have happened a long time ago.¡±

 Chapter 966 - Visitation Rights

    <h4>Chapter 966: Visitation Rights</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> As Studios <b>Editor:</b> As Studios

    Old Master Li was lost for words.

    On second thought, it seemed like his grandson¡¯s words actually made sense?

    But what about that photo, it couldn¡¯t possibly be photoshopped!

    Li Lei read Old Master¡¯s mind and said, ¡°Rather than specte among ourselves, why don¡¯t we just wait for Xiao Ling to be back to find out the truth? Grandpa, once she¡¯s backter, please don¡¯t put any me on her. Don¡¯t make her feel bad.¡±

    Old Master scoffed but didn¡¯t say a word.

    Li Lei turned around and looked at Su Tang solemnly. ¡°And you, Su Tang, don¡¯t you talk about this in front of Xiao Ling. It¡¯ste, why did you follow Grandpa here? I¡¯ll get the chauffeur to send you back. Rest early.¡±

    This was an order.

    Su Tang bit her lip and appeared wronged. ¡°I was worried for Old Master and you, so I came along. Moreover, I haven¡¯t seen Xiao Rui for a while. I miss him.¡± She looked up at Li Lei and gently said, ¡°Ye Xingling made such bad news, I¡¯m worried about the children.¡±

    What she meant to say was: Ye Xingling wasn¡¯t morally upright and hence, wasn¡¯t fit to nurture or raise her child.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°You¡¯re in no ce toment on Xiao Ling¡¯s case now.¡± She was his benefactor and he usually tried his best to tolerate her, but these were two separate matters. He wouldn¡¯t let anyone speak of Xiao Ling like this!

    ¡°Li Lei!¡± Old Master Li was unhappy again. This young brat was speaking to Su Tang like this?

    Li Lei said, ¡°Grandpa, don¡¯t forget who your granddaughter-inw really is. Ask yourself, if it wasn¡¯t for your bias, if it was Su Tang or any other girl in this situation today, would you be so sure they were cheating?¡±

    Old Master Li kept quiet. He knew full well that his grandson was right.

    If Xia Ling really wanted to be with Pei Ziheng, she wouldn¡¯t have gone through all the prayers for Li Lei. Since she held a prayer concert just to save Li Lei and was so grief-stricken when he was in critical condition... how could she be cheating on him in such a short time? Old Master Li was old, but he wasn¡¯t irrational or incoherent yet. His grandson¡¯s reminder made him realize just how blinded by prejudice he was when it came to Xia Ling.

    He sighed. ¡°Su Tang, say no more.¡±

    There was probably more to this than met the eye.

    Su Tang¡¯s heart sank. She had the guts to smear Xia Ling¡¯s name here only because she depended on Old Master¡¯s favor for her and his dislike towards Xia Ling. But now he wasn¡¯t helping her anymore? How was she going to get anything out of this alone! She felt defeated and betrayed and wanted to fight for herself, but seeing Li Lei¡¯s awful expression, she stopped herself.

    The fact that she was able to stay in the Li household until now said something about her ability to react appropriately to bodynguage and situations.

    Su Tang forced a smile and changed the subject. ¡°I¡¯ve gone overboard. I¡¯m sorry, Young Master. But could you let me take a look at Xiao Rui? I hit him only because I was sick back then. Now that I¡¯ve undergone treatment, I¡¯m able to control my depressive symptoms. I miss the child, I really want to see him.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Rui won¡¯t see you.¡± A clear voice came from behind her all of a sudden.

    Everyone turned around and saw Xia Ling sauntering in through the front door. As her clothes swayed in the night breeze, her petite stature made her appear all the more like a graceful bird. She was calm andposed, both in her expression and her movement. With the help of a housemaid, she removed her cardigan and approached them.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    She side-eyed him a little unhappily and scanned the surroundings to understand the situation. ¡°What¡¯s Su Tang doing here?¡± She had no objection about Old Master Liing to see his grandson, but what did Su Tange along for?

    ¡°She missed Xiao Rui.¡± Li Lei tried to keep it as brief as possible. ¡°So she decided to follow Grandpa along to see him. On that note, since Grandpa hasn¡¯t seen his two great-grandsons in a while, he could just stay the night. As for Su Tang, Xiao Rui doesn¡¯t wish to see you for now. You could make a prior appointment to see him next time.¡±

    Make a prior appointment?

    Su Tang was stunned. Since when did it take a prior appointment to see her own son?!

    ¡°Young Master!¡± Her eyes turned red and tears were almost welling up.

    Li Lei waspletely unswayed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to plead with me. Xiao Ling is the matriarch here, she takes charge of the household matters. If you have any issue with it, you can tell it to her directly.¡± He knew that Xia Ling got jealous easily; rather than have anything to do with Su Tang, he might as well let Xia Ling deal with her personally.

    Xia Ling was satisfied with his response. <i>Yes, Hubby¡¯s the best.</i>

    She smiled at Su Tang. ¡°Children are very fragile on the inside. After you hit him so badly thest time, he¡¯s still having nightmares from it. Su Tang, you abused the child and had unpredictable violent tendencies from your disorder. Hasn¡¯t the court already deemed you unfit to raise Xiao Rui, and given Li Lei the custody? I am Li Lei¡¯s wife, which makes me Xiao Rui¡¯s mother. As a mother, I won¡¯t let you see him now.¡±

    Her words were fully justified, but it reeked of arrogance.

    Hmph, she just didn¡¯t like Su Tang and wanted to make her angry. As if it wasn¡¯t obvious enough that she was here for Li Lei!

    Su Tang did her best to conceal her anger and tried to fight with logic instead. ¡°Even if I don¡¯t have the right to raise him, I have visitation rights!¡± <i>Ye Xingling is such a wretch, she¡¯s actually dering herself Xiao Rui¡¯s mother?</i> Su Tang was almost shaking from the anger¡ªnot because she really loved the child, but because Xia Ling was actually taking away yet another thing that belonged to her!

    ¡°What visitation rights? Why don¡¯t I know about it?¡± Xia Ling replied as calmly as always.

    ¡°I can sue you in court!¡± Su Tang clenched her jaw.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Sure, go ahead and sue me.¡±

    Seeing her fearless expression, Su Tang finally got it. She definitely knew that biological mothers had the rights to visit their children, but she never thought of respecting that rule! Su Tang could barely deal with how much of a bully Xia Ling was being.

    So what if she really sued her?

    Xia Ling had so much backing. The Li family had the bestwyers in the world, and it was a piece of cake for any of them to defeat a lone girl. Su Tang knew that there was no way she could win the case...

    Helpless, she looked to Old Master for help. ¡°Old Master!¡±

    Before Old Master Li said anything, Li Lei said, ¡°Grandpa, we have our rules in the household. Such situations are handled by the matriarchs, it¡¯s best that we as men don¡¯t interfere.¡± The Li family was more traditional in their thinking than other locals, possibly because they were an overseas Chinese faction. Hence, they¡¯d always adhered to the ideology of men taking charge of external affairs while women took charge of domestic affairs. With regard to anything that was considered household matters, the woman had the final say.

 Chapter 967 - The Childâ€™s Question

    <strong>Chapter 967: The Child¡¯s Question</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Hearing that, Old Master Li sighed and advised Su Tang. ¡°Su Tang, go back first.¡±

    Su Tang felt her heart turn cold. She could not believe that Old Master Li was not supporting her just because of a few words by someone else when he usually protected her. So what if she wanted to continue fighting with Xia Ling? There was no use... The three words ¡°The Household¡¯s Matriarch¡± were the highest token. As long as Xia Ling was upying this position, nobody would be able to defy her!

    Su Tang lowered her head hatefully. With the maids urging her on, she left the vi.

    Xia Ling was still angry. She said to the maids, ¡°Do not let her in next time!¡±

    The maids obeyed her.

    Su Tang headed out with her back stiff, feeling a deep sense of embarrassment. She used to be of such high esteem and was even held in admiration by the Li family. How had she fallen to this state? She clenched her hands into fists secretly at the sight of the maids looking at her with pity. Xia Ling, it was all because of Xia Ling! If it were not for that vile woman, she would still be the center of attention! And also the woman Li Lei admired most! She... was not satisfied!

    As the night wind got colder and colder, she was chased out of Li family¡¯s doorsteps. Her heart was heavy withplex thoughts.

    There were only three people left in the living room¡ªLi Lei, Xia Ling and Old Master Li.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Grandpa.¡± She was uncertain of what to say.

    Old Master did not like the vicious way she had driven Su Tang away. He reprimanded. ¡°Xiao Ling, you are already the Li family¡¯s matriarch, you have to remember to be cautious at all times. You must serve with virtue!¡±

    ¡°How did I not have virtue?¡± Xia Ling rebutted unhappily. Old Master was being too much of a busybody! He still thought he was still the all-powerful Li Shanhe! He should know who the head of Li family was now, as well as which family¡¯s daughter she was! He really thought she was a push-over, like a soft persimmon for him to squeeze at any time? Xia Ling was very unhappy. Why were there still so many people who did not respect her even though she was already the Li family¡¯s matriarch!

    Old Master Li¡¯s expression darkened. This girl, acting out of her line just because her family had power!

    He was about to continue reprimanding her when Li Lei interrupted. ¡°Grandpa, aren¡¯t you here to see Shaohui? I¡¯ll get a maid to bring you to the backyard. You won¡¯t be able to see him when he goes to sleepter on.¡±

    Li Lei added more emphasis to hisst sentence.

    Old Master Li red at him angrily. This stinky boy has learned how to threaten people?! The meaning of his words was that if he were to make Xia Ling unhappy, he would not even be able to see his great-grandson! Even though he had note specifically to see his grandsons, but it had been a long time since he¡¯d seen the two of them... Oh, he missed Xiao Hui the most. This child that had the Li family blood flowing in him was so adorable. He was entirely a replica of young Li Lei, and was much more likable than this grown-up grandson of his! Sadly, Xiao Hui was not close to him. He would have to spend more time with the children and think of ways to improve their rtionship...

    Old Master Li thought it over and finally decided not to reprimand Xia Ling.

    Li Lei smiled happily and rewarded his grandpa. ¡°The kitchen has Xiao Hui¡¯s favorite desserts. He has not eaten dinner yet and should be hungry by now. Why don¡¯t you bring some over to him? Also, he¡¯s not into pirates anymore. He likes to listen to our fighting stories now. Grandpa, you know more about this than I do, so why don¡¯t you stay here for a few more days and tell the stories to Xiao Hui?¡±

    Old Master was ted. He went to find his great-grandson with the desserts.

    Xia Ling silently watched him leave before saying to Li Lei, ¡°You know Shaohui discriminates him.¡± She felt ufortable. The one who had ordered Shaohui to join the Training Club was this great-grandpa of his!

    Li Lei embraced her. ¡°Angry?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She murmured, not wanting to bother with him.

    Li Lei smiled and pinched her nose. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like it, but Xiao Hui is to be our family¡¯s heir. He needs to have greater tolerance and smartermunication skills than the average person. He needs to know how to forgive for him to be able to understand what is called ¡®There is no eternal enemy, only eternal friend.¡¯ Only then can he go further in this survival-of-the-fittest world.¡±

    ¡°Is it really only because of this?¡± She did not believe it.

    This time heughed bitterly. ¡°Okay, I am a little selfish. I hope that my most beloved son and my most respected grandpa can get along cordially.¡±

    She raised her head to look at him. ¡°You want me to be cordial with grandpa too right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Grandpa has softened towards Xiao Hui, regretted it, and is now treating his great-grandson with much care. That is why I hope for Xiao Hui to take over him. However, Grandpa seems to have a prejudice against you. He is always making you unhappy, so how could I ask that of you too? I¡¯ll be thankful if you two don¡¯t fight.¡±

    Sheughed, understanding his pains.

    She leaned onto him and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t make things difficult for you.¡±

    Love was love, but life was life. She was unable to endure any kind of wrong in love, which exined why she had been so nervous and defensive back when he was chasing her. She had wanted to test him. But once they were together, getting married and living together was a different matter. She was willing to learn how topromise in order to maintain this family for her loved one.

    Li Lei nted a kiss on the crown of her head, his heart filled with affection for her.

    Night fell, and he returned to his bedroom to sleep while she followed her routine to read bedtime stories to Shaohui and Li Rui.

    The two used to sleep separately in different rooms. But once their rtionship improved, the two rooms werebined into one and they were now living together. Xia Ling had initially been worried. Li Rui was, after all, a brat, what if he were to negatively influence Shaohui? But her worries were unfounded. Shaohui did not get influenced negatively, he even started to listen to the rules of the Li family more obediently. He was a true brother.

    Xia Ling went in with the storybook.

    She sat by their bed and recited softly about the story of Little Snow Wolf and her Wolf Mother. A clear tranquil sound seemed to echo in the air, bringing the children to a fascinating environment unconsciously. The two children were enchanted by her story, and when she put down the storybook they were still thinking about it.

    ¡°What happened after that? What happened to the Little Wolf?¡± Shaohui asked while grabbing onto her sleeves.

    Xia Ling smiled and said gently, ¡°It¡¯ste, go to sleep. I¡¯ll tell you more tomorrow.¡±

    The children were a little reluctant, but they obediently snuggled into their nkets.

    Xia Ling tucked him in before tucking in Li Rui. Suddenly, she head Li Rui call, ¡°Aunt Ling.¡± He had never called her Mother before, but Xia Ling did not mind.

    She asked the child, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Rui seemed to hesitate before asking, ¡°Was my mother here?¡±

 Chapter 968 - Jealous

    <strong>Chapter 968: Jealous</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling did not lie to him. ¡°Yes, Xiao Rui. How did you know?¡±

    Li Rui raised his head to look at her. ¡°I saw her and great-grandfather get off the car when I was ying at the terrace.¡± He had intended to y with great-grandfather, for he treated him much more endearingly than Father did. But he had hesitated after seeing his mother. The experience of having been beaten near death by her was still deeply engraved in his mind. He was too afraid to face her.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Xiao Rui, do you miss your mother?¡±

    The child shook his head in a hurry and said stubbornly, ¡°She hit me, she¡¯s a bad mother!¡±

    Xia Ling agreed with the child. She was not so kind to cover for her enemy, so she said, ¡°If you do not want to see her, then you won¡¯t have to. I will make sure she doesn¡¯te here.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Aunt Ling!¡± The child finally breathed a sigh of relief. He said happily, ¡°It¡¯s not that she misses me, she just wants to tell on you to Father. Heng, I heard it all while hiding behind the living room!¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Tell on me?¡±

    Li Rui said, ¡°Aunt Ling, she said that someone had taken a picture of you hugging someone called Pei something. She said that this will influence us negatively. I don¡¯t really understand, how is this going to influence me?¡±

    Xia Ling, however, understood her meaning. Could it be that pictures of her meeting with Pei Ziheng had been taken secretly?! She tucked the child in before switching off the lights and heading out. She lowered her head to unlock her phone. News of her and Pei Ziheng were all over the inte. The two of them hugging quietly under the sunset by the sea¡ªso beautiful it was like a painting.

    Unfortunately, thements below were not as beautiful¡ª

    [Ye Xingling is unfaithful.]

    [Ye Xingling and Pei Ziheng are adulterers.]

    [Marriage change?]

    Variousments were hogging the front page. Even though many fans were defending her, the ¡°conclusive evidence¡± made it hard for them to argue their point.

    Xia Ling looked through thements and pressed on the ¡°Next page¡± button.

    However, the page shed and a sign popped out, saying that someone had deleted the post.

    She returned to the previous page and selected other news articles and blogs. But within a short time, all the pictures on the inte had been deleted cleanly. Even thements had been deleted. What followed was the statement of Li Lei published by several major portal tforms. [I have faith in my wife. I will hold anyone who spreads this rumor with legal charges.]

    The rumors died down immediately.

    Xia Ling stared at the website, aware that Li Lei had used his power to remove the posts. Warmth filled her heart. He had acted as though nothing had happened when she¡¯d walked in just now. Not a single word was said about it. But he had been doing so much for her without her knowledge. If not for Li Rui letting her in on this, she would not have even known about this crisis.

    She shut her phone and headed toward the chambers.

    Inside, Li Lei had just taken a bath. He was lying on the bed reading an economics magazine while donning a bathrobe. He put down the magazine to give her azy smile when she came in. ¡°Wife¡ª¡±

    She sat down beside him and pinched his face. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    His speech was unclear with his face pinched. ¡°About what?¡±

    Xia Ling pinched him even harder. ¡°You¡¯ve seen those rumors, why didn¡¯t you ask me about it?¡± Rather than being angry, she was sorrier. She could imagine how it must have felt to learn about someone he loved being with someone else. If she¡¯d discovered he was with Su Tang...

    She would have exploded.

    However, he was acting as if nothing had happened.

    She did not believe that he was not affected by it at all. He simply loved her too much and did not want negative things to affect her. Thinking of that, her heart ached and she let go of his face.

    He held onto her fair, slender hand while lying on his side. He kissed her hand gently before smiling calmly. ¡°I can guess what happened, more or less. It must be because you two are finally going separate ways. That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t resist when he hugged you. That was the final farewell, right?¡±

    She was shocked. She had underestimated his insight.

    She bit her lip and asked softly, ¡°So... you¡¯re really not jealous?¡±

    For some weird reason, her heart felt empty.

    Li Lei wrinkled his eyes at her before chuckling. While she was unprepared, he suddenly flipped her over and pinned her under him. His voice was hoarse as he said, ¡°I¡¯m jealous. I¡¯m extremely jealous. So, what are you going to do topensate me? My... little beauty...¡±

    With a gentle flick of his fingers, the straps of her thin shirt fell.

    Her face reddened and she whispered, ¡°You!¡±

    Heughed dangerously yet casually. ¡°You really thought your husband was so easygoing? I would be spoiling you if I didn¡¯t give you a little punishment. I promise you, this punishment will be something you will never forget.¡± There was the sound of cloth tearing and her expensive light gauze shirt was torn into shreds by him. They drifted to the floor at the bedside.

    A thin fog was in her eyes. She was afraid now. He was usually never this fierce to her. He¡¯d even torn her clothes, was he really angry? She could feel his hands moving downwards on her body, a little more forceful than normal. It was as if he was either trying to provoke her or make her feel pain deliberately. She pleaded weakly. ¡°I¡¯m at fault, I know I¡¯m at fault... Li Lei, you, you, don¡¯t...¡±

    Her string of words was broken by his kiss.

    One night...

    It wasn¡¯t a lingering memory at all. It hurt badly and she kept calling him evil while crying.

    The second morning, she lied on the bed, unable to straighten her waist. She looked resentfully at Li Lei, who was wearing his clothes in a gaiety energized way. She stabbed his voodoo doll figure in her heart multiple times.

    Hate, hate, hate...

    Her eyes were foggy and she felt she would not be able to do anything today.

    Li Lei brought her breakfast with a smile on his face. He said while feeding her, ¡°You have to be good from now on, understand? Don¡¯t let me see another man hugging you, or I wouldn¡¯t mind doing it again.¡±

    She red at him foggily. She did not even have the energy to hit him with the pillow.

    After she had finished her breakfast, she turned her back and ignored him.

    Li Lei called after her a few times, but she only snorted arrogantly in return. Heughed and left the room with the tes while shaking his head. The sunlight filtered into the living room. He handed the tes to a maid and looked out through the windows. He could see Shaohui and Li Rui chasing each other while holding simtion guns. These guns held harmless bullets. They were simting a gun war.

    Li Lei looked on and realized that Shaohui had improved on his marksmanship. He was not too far off aspared to adult professional shooters. On the other hand, Li Rui¡¯s gunshots were crooked. It was obvious that he had not received any professional training. He was still happy to y with his brother¡¯spany, however, and the two of them decorated the whole yard with colorful traces of gunshots.

 Chapter 969 - Li Ruiâ€™s Future

    <strong>Chapter 969: Li Rui¡¯s Future</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    An elderly stood behind him. ¡°Xiao Rui is always ying these kinds of games with Shaohui. It¡¯s not good.¡±

    Li Lei turned. ¡°Grandpa.¡±

    Old Master Li was dressed in a white Chinese tunic shirt and mleuca cloth shoes. His silver hair wasbed meticulously. He took slow steps to stand beside Li Lei and looked out the window at the children. ¡°Shaohui needs more elite ymates, while Xiao Rui need not learn so much.¡± For the heirs of aristocrats, careful cultivation since young was a necessity. Take this game of gun war, for example, it might seem like just a game, but in actuality, it was a form ofbat education. The heir needed to learn how to distinguish danger with astuteness, how tobat with a greater sense of bravery and alert, and also how to lead the masses. He would also need a more powerful opponent...

    However, all these were unnecessary to a hedonistic son.

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Shaohui is very clever. He has already learned a few advanced firearm andbat skills from Ah Nuo. Xiao Rui cannot catch up to him. They are also separated during ss.¡±

    Old Master Li said sternly, ¡°That¡¯s not enough. You have not noticed Shaohui teaching Xiao Rui all that he has learned. Furthermore, Xiao Rui worships him. He takes him as a role model and has been bing more hardworking.¡±

    Li Lei followed Old Master¡¯s gaze.

    On the field, Shaohui was focused on correcting Li Rui¡¯s gun-holding position. Li Rui¡¯s expression was indeed full of admiration. He was bothered by it. He had already discovered this problem thest time. Their rtionship was too intimate and Shaohui was too much of a responsible brother.

    Li Lei had warned Shaohui not to impart his knowledge to Xiao Rui before.

    Shaohui had said unexpectedly, ¡°Father, I am the elder son. I should be helping my brother more. Didn¡¯t you say that unity was a strength? He is my kin brother. When we have grown up, he will be my assistant. Furthermore, if something was to happen to me and I¡¯m unable to inherit the family¡¯s business, Xiao Rui can rece me.¡±

    Li Lei had been so angry that he wanted to hit him.

    Li Lei had reprimanded him first and had warned him not to face any mishaps before saying, ¡°Even if you meet with a mishap, it will be your future brother that will inherit the business, not Xiao Rui.¡±

    The little Shaohui blinked his eyes innocently. ¡°That¡¯s unfair to Xiao Rui.¡±

    ¡°There is no absolute fairness in a big family.¡±

    ¡°Father, you are not allowing Xiao Rui to grow stronger. He never had the chance to fight equally with me and my other brothers in the first ce.¡± Shaohui was clever and had understood the adults¡¯ intentions. ¡°Father, you don¡¯t love Xiao Rui as much as you love me, right? If Xiao Rui was to find out, he would be extremely upset.¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°So, you won¡¯t tell Xiao Rui, right?¡±

    The young child had nodded gravely. ¡°I don¡¯t want him to be upset.¡± He then followed by saying something that owed him a beating. ¡°Father, it¡¯s not right to do this. What if Mother is unable to give birth, and I¡¯m unable to inherit the family¡¯s business due to some circumstances? Then wouldn¡¯t there be no sessor left?¡±

    Li Lei wanted to cough old blood out. This child, was he really of his bloodline?

    Why was he always going against him!

    He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°That¡¯s why nothing can happen to you. You have a huge responsibility.¡±

    Without waiting for the fellow toe up with ten thousand questions pertaining to why, he quickly banished him to his study room to copy down the notes on warring states.

    Thinking back about those days, Li Lei felt panic in his heart. This fellow had obviously not taken his teaching to heart. He had even gone behind his back to teach Li Rui the skills!

    ¡°We have to separate them.¡± Li Lei decided.

    Old Master Li was more calctive. ¡°The extent of this separation must be handled well. These two fellows have only been together for a short while. If they were to bepletely separated, their kinship would wane, and disputes might even ur in the future. In my opinion, why not impart Xiao Rui with a different set of skills? Skills such as gardening and painting.¡±

    Li Lei was enlightened. This way, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem even if these two fellows were to live together. ¡°How do we shift Xiao Rui¡¯s interest to things like gardening and painting?¡± He lowered his head, deep in thought. After a while, he sought his grandpa¡¯s opinion. ¡°How about music? Xiao Ling can guide him and be his role model.¡±

    Old Master Li frowned. ¡°No!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Grandpa, you have a prejudice against Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°You are the one with the prejudice!¡± Old Master Li red at his grandson. ¡°You think I¡¯m not allowing your wife to guide Xiao Rui just because I don¡¯t like her?¡±

    ¡°Is that not it?¡±

    ¡°What?! Do you think your grandpa is such a narrow-minded person!¡±

    Li Lei wanted to nod, but he managed to hide his true thoughts with great difficulty after seeing his grandpa¡¯s flustered expression. He smiled charmingly. ¡°Grandpa is the most open-minded person.¡±

    Feeling morefortable after the ttery, Old Master finally exined himself. ¡°Music is a no. What if he bes a megastar like your wife and has countless fans all over the world? If he were to have any disputes with our family, imagine how much trouble the thousands of fans would make if they protested against us.¡±

    This was also the reason why he did not like his grandson¡¯s wife. Old Master had pondered over it before. Even without the Xia family¡¯s backing, with his granddaughter-inw¡¯s status in the music scene, Li Lei would have to have second thoughts before touching Xia Ling. It would be difficult to solve any dispute and leave unscathed without firing a shot. Moreover, if she was a little smarter, it would be possible for her to betray them too.

    Old Master had already cklisted the ¡°celebrity¡± job.

    Li Lei thought he made sense.

    Old Master continued, ¡°Performing is even worse. Setting aside the problem with fans, putting an enemy highly-skilled in acting beside him would be terrifying. It would be digging your own grave.¡±

    Li Lei nodded again. Sure enough, with experiencees wisdom. Grandpa has given all aspects careful consideration.

    ¡°Only interests like painting, calligraphy or gardening would allow for him to venture deeper into it for the rest of his life. It harbors no danger nor will it bring the Li family shame. It will also require the family¡¯s financial support,¡± Old Master Li said boastfully to Li Lei. ¡°Once Xiao Rui has ventured into these hobbies, he would have to rely on Shaohui for support forever.¡±

    The two brothers¡¯ rtionship would then be even more harmonious. This would also ensure Shaohui¡¯s safety.

    ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you, grandpa.¡± Li Lei decided then and there.

    The first step was to pique the child¡¯s interest.

    The second day, when Shaohui was attending lessons in international trade, Li Lei went to the yard where the two children often yed. He set up an easel and pretended to paint.

    Xia Ling was incredulous. She went over to take a look. ¡°The flower you¡¯ve drawn is so ugly.¡±

    Li Lei was speechless. He put down his brush and realized with sadness that he had baited the wrong person with his show. ¡°How could you say it¡¯s ugly!¡± He was indignant.

    It was safe to say that Li Lei was not gifted in painting. However, the drawing was nowhere near to being ugly. The hydrangea spread widely across the canvas. It was painted in vivid colors and was still considered pleasant to the eye.

 Chapter 970 - Letâ€™s Be Models Together

    <strong>Chapter 970: Let¡¯s Be Models Together</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling had been lying in bed for the whole day yesterday and today and had finally gotten up reluctantly. Her whole body was still aching painfully. Begrudgingly, she mocked him now without reservation. ¡°Was your Art lesson taught by your PE teacher in primary school? Look at this here, here, and here... Do you know what aposition is? What about shading?¡±

    ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡±

    ¡°How did you know that my primary school Art lesson was taught by my PE teacher?¡±

    This time, Xia Ling was speechless. It was actually taught by his PE teacher? She really tipped her hat off to Li Lei. How had he grown so big all this while? In order to improve the other half¡¯s artisticposition and aesthetic appeal, Xia Ling picked up the brush without hesitation. She told him proudly, ¡°Learn.¡±

    She firstbined a few pigments into a new color before using her brush to draw the other half of his painting. A delicate and beautiful Hydrangea blossomed under her strokes. Everyyer of color was ample and exquisite. The flower petals seemed to tremble and it was as if a blow of the wind would cause them to flutter to the ground. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

    She drew slowly and cautiously. Under her long eyebrows was a serious expression, and her pale pink lips were gently pouting. It carried a hint of concentration and allure.

    She painted while he watched.

    It seemed as though time stood still. On this side of the small world, it was so quiet they could hear each other¡¯s breath.

    She finally put down her brush after a while and lifted her chin. ¡°Done.¡± A butterfly flew with the breeze and stopped lightly on the flower that she had drawn. It stayed there, refusing to leave.

    Li Lei held onto her waist and embraced her.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Unprepared, her brush stained her white tracksuit. She said in annoyance, ¡°My shirt¡¯s dirty now.¡±

    He leaned down and kissed her. ¡°You¡¯re prettier than the flower.¡±

    She smiled and continued to say proudly, ¡°Don¡¯t change the topic. Look at how well I¡¯ve painted. It¡¯s a masterpiece, it will fetch a sky-high price if we sell it at the auction, hehehe.¡±

    Heughed. This girl was probably a cat, vanity consuming her every once in a while.

    However, her painting was indeed beautiful. The butterfly flew to and fro around it, leaving behind imprints of its curled feelers on the parts of the hydrangea that had yet to dry. Li Lei hugged her and appreciated her painting. He was a little shocked. ¡°How did you draw so well? I¡¯ve never seen you draw before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve specialized in it before,¡± she said.

    She thought back on her youth in her former life. A distant cousin of Pei Ziheng had lovingly painted him a portrait. Pei Ziheng had looked incredible in the painting. The light and shadow in it inteced and had made him look handsome and cool, just like God. Under the praise of everyone, his distant cousin had looked at Pei Ziheng emotionally to ask softly, ¡°Can you hang this in your study room, please?¡±

    Xia Ling had been watching from the midst of the crowd, and jealousy had burned in her. Once she was home, the first thing she did was ruin the painting.

    Pei Ziheng had watched on in amusement as she tore it. He looked into the distance and said in a gentle voice, ¡°Since you¡¯ve ruined my belonging, you have topensate me. How about you draw a portrait of me?¡±

    It had obviously been just a joke, but she had taken it seriously. She had scouted the best art teacher and practiced hard under her for a whole year. The second year, on his birthday in front of everyone, including his distant cousin, she had given him a portrait painting of him.

    She had drawn him to be even more handsome and majestic aspared to the paintingst year. Every element and fine line was life-like.

    She had lived together with him and stayed in the same ce.

    So how could his distant cousin possibly triumph her in familiarity?

    Besides, she was the cared-for darling of God and her artistic talent surpassed that of others. Within just one year of professional practice, she had outdone his distant cousin, who had specialized in painting for many years. Be it in skills or feelings, she had left his distant cousin far behind her. She watched as the distant cousin had run away in tears at her brave provocation. The audience at the banquet each had different expressions. Some looked at the girl that Pei Ziheng apparently cherished most with jealousy, some with hatred.

    She had held her head high through the whispering of the crowd. Like a warrior defending his property, she sat unscrupulously at the seat nearest to Pei Ziheng and got him to cut fruits for her, to feed her, and to satisfy all her capricious unreasonable requests.

    That was all just a distant, youthful memory...

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was a little absent-minded. She had then destroyed the painting with her own hands during the fight that had urred after her imprisonment. She had also destroyed the set of tools and brushes. She had sworn never to touch brushes nor draw in front of a man ever again. After her reincarnation, she had somehow forgotten that she could draw.

    It was until now that she saw Li Lei¡¯s painting that all the memories shed back into her mind.

    ¡°What are you thinking of?¡± Li Lei asked.

    She was startled. ¡°Nothing. Actually, I draw portraits best. Why don¡¯t I draw you one?¡± She said and got up excitedly. She decided to let go of what happened in the past. Today, she had a man she could spend a lifetime with, and she was willing to depict the prosperity of the world for him.

    Li Lei was ted. ¡°Okay, you have to draw me handsomely.¡±

    She frowned. ¡°You wish.¡±

    Having found a new game, the two of them instructed the vi¡¯s maids to move suitable chairs, tables, fruits, desserts and tea sets as the background in a mad rush of excitement. Li Lei then squatted down and prepared himself for his wife to paint his heroic moment.

    The maids all looked on.

    They dared to stand there and watch Madam draw Sir from far away as it was thete afternoon and they had nothing much to do. Furthermore, Li Lei and Xia Ling were both good people and were not strict on them.

    In the corner of the yard, a tiny figure was also peeking out amongst the bushes.

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± It was Xia Ling who discovered him first.

    The child was shocked and a little shy from being called out. He stood helplessly on the spot as if he hadmitted a wrong. Even though he was on good terms with Xiao Hui and Xia Ling, he was still not close to her. Even Li Lei, his ¡°kin father¡±, also did not y with him much.

    ¡°Xiao Rui,e here.¡± Xia Ling called.

    The child could only walk over, ill-at-ease in front of so many people.

    When Xia Ling had been chatting with Li Lei, she had asked him about the reason why he had moved so many painting equipment over. Li Lei had told her truthfully that it was to cultivate Xiao Rui¡¯s interest. Although they had diverted from the main purpose, however...

    Inspiration struck her. She could also cultivate Xiao Rui¡¯s interest in this way.

    She waited till the child was beside her before handing him a piece of the dessert that had served as a backdrop. She smiled at the child. ¡°Xiao Rui, do you want to y with us?¡±

    The child was shocked and did not know what to say.

    Xia Ling was still smiling. ¡°Father is lonely modeling alone. Xiao Rui, why don¡¯t you join him? I¡¯ll draw the two of you into the picture. I promise it¡¯ll be beautiful.¡±

 Chapter 971 - Talent

    <strong>Chapter 971: Talent</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Perhaps it was her bright smile that influenced the child. Li Rui hesitated before nodding.

    Li Lei pulled him to sit by his side, stroking his head and giving him more pieces of the dessert while smiling. Li Rui was not often treated this way by Father. He was ttered and immediately straightened his back, working hard to showcase his best side so that Father and Aunt Ling would take a greater liking to him.

    ¡°Xiao Rui is so cute.¡± Xia Ling praised before wielding her brushes to paint.

    The drawing of portraits required patience. It was not only hard on the painter, but on the models as well, for they had to stay still for one to two hours. Xia Ling took into consideration that the child was still young, so she did not have high expectations of him. ¡°Xiao Rui, you can eat some dessert and chat with Father.¡± Only then would the child be able to stand sitting there and hopefully develop an interest.

    The child obeyed happily and chatted with Father while eating the desserts. After a while, his feelings of restriction and timidness disappeared. He would even burst intoughter from time to time. Li Lei pitied the child for having been neglected by his mother and was more patient towards him. He deliberately chose some interesting topics to talk about with him. Time passed quickly.

    Xia Ling drew her final stroke on the canvas and announced, ¡°Done.¡±

    Both the young and old rushed to look at it in excitement. Under the light and shadow, beautiful showers clustered. A handsome man was talking with his head turned to the side to a child. His expression was focused yet gentle, as if he treated the child beside him as the world¡¯s most precious treasure. The child was looking up at him, full of admiration and respect.

    ¡°Great drawing.¡± Li Leiplimented his wife. ¡°Turns out I¡¯m so handsome.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled while ring lightly at him. ¡°You¡¯re just standing under Xiao Rui¡¯s spotlight. Xiao Rui¡¯s such a cute child, how could he admire an ugly person? That¡¯s why I had to draw you a little more handsome.¡±

    The two joked around.

    Li Rui listened to them talk while ncing at the painting. He did indeed look incredibly cute in the painting. He was wearing clean clothes inside and holding onto the dainty dessert. The sunlight shone on his face as if the whole world was lit up. However, that was not what moved him most. What touched him most was the expression of Li Lei as he looked at him, so focused and gentle. It made him feel as though he were genuinely loved.

    It turns out that Father really did like him...

    Warmth rose in Li Rui¡¯s heart. He reached out his hand to touch the painting.

    ¡°The painting hasn¡¯t dried yet.¡± Xia Ling smiled and pulled his hand back. ¡°Xiao Rui, if you like it, I¡¯ll give this painting to you. I¡¯ll get the maids to hang it in your room.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The child raised his head in joy.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Xiao Rui, do you like to paint?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The child nodded fiercely.

    ¡°Then these are yours. I¡¯ll give these painting tools and dyes to you. If you¡¯re interested, you can try painting yourself.¡± Xia Ling smiled sweetly. ¡°You could be a great painter in the future.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The child nodded fiercely again before taking the brushes from her solemnly.

    In the days that followed, Li Rui did indeed develop an interest in painting. When Shaohui was in ss he would be painting by himself. At first, he started painting abstract color blocks, then when he had acquired the art ofposition, his painting became more realistic.

    Xia Ling went to see him often. She would praise and guide him on his painting.

    ncing at the respecting and trusting gaze of the child, she would feel a little despicable sometimes. No matter how dedicated she was in teaching him, it could not hide the fact that she was simply removing a possible obstacle of Shaohui. Having an artistic brother was much better than an ambitious one.

    Because of her guilt, she was even more attentive to the child.

    Her guilt was so big she even invited a personal tutor. She would even personally ask after his food and clothes.

    Even Xiao Hui would be a little jealous sometimes and would grumble. ¡°Mother has been too good to Xiao Rui.¡± He was overwhelmed with homework these days, and could not spend time with her as much as Li Rui did. Furthermore, his time spent together with Father was not always pleasant¡ªSadly, when Father was teaching him the various techniques and he was inconsistent, he would hit him. He was not as gentle and patient as Mother was to Li Rui.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Aunt Su Tang is not here, so Mother has to take care of him.¡±

    Shaohui blinked his eyes, speechless. This child was clever. He had known ever since Li Lei had the conversation with him that the adults did not like Li Rui gaining too much practical knowledge. He had already guessed that Xia Ling showing concern for Li Rui was only one facet of it, but the other more frightening facet was to have Li Rui immerse himself in some useless art so that he would not pose as a threat to Shaohui in the future.

    However, he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

    He had taken to heart the good of Father and Mother, but the wrongs that Xiao Rui had faced had long been lingering in his heart. Why was there no perfect solution in this world? The child looked up wistfully at the sky. He has me as his life¡¯s first difficulty.

    Xia Ling still continued to take care of Li Rui with all her heart.

    Li Rui was now much closer to Xia Ling. Under the cultivation of her and the private tutor, many of his bad habits were fixed. He no longer hit and scolded people, and he could differentiate the atmosphere and was now more patient.

    Even Old Master Li was satisfied.

    Old Master had indeed wanted a rich yboy, but not one that would throw the Li family¡¯s face. It was fine if he lived his life astray, but he could not be the topic of people¡¯s gossip and make people think that the Li family was not cultivated. In the past, Su Tang¡¯s teaching methods had been too coarse. She had almost turned him into a citymoner, no different than that of a wild child in the mountains. However, Xia Ling was now guiding him towards the path of the arts with dedication. This would allow the child¡¯s wild behavior to be changed into the unrestrained disposition of an artist. It was a charming temperament belonging to those of a rich family.

    Old Master Li¡¯s impression of Xia Ling slowly changed. He had thought of her as useless in the beginning, but who was to know that she would actually be well qualified for the role of the matriarch. At least in theponent of educating a child, she was far ahead of Su Tang.

    This day, Old Master Li was drinking tea in the yard.

    Li Rui walked over to him with a painting. ¡°Great-grandfather, great-grandfather, look at the portrait I¡¯ve drawn of you. Is it good?¡± The child¡¯s eyes shone as he awaited praise.

    Old Master Li took the painting and examined it. The sketch was simple. Theposition and shading were amateurish, but the drawing seemed to carry a sort of temperament that drew out the character¡¯s traits. Old Master¡¯s charitable and sharp gaze was life-like on the canvas. He was ted to see this and repeated ¡°Good¡± many times.

    Li Rui was happy to receivepliments from him. ¡°Aunt Ling also said it was good! She said it was much better than brother¡¯s paintings!¡±

    Old Master Li lifted him onto his knee and asked cordially, ¡°Aunt Ling really said that?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The child nodded fiercely. His face was flushed with excitement. ¡°She said that I was especially talented in drawing and few kids canpare to me. She also said brother does not have this kind of talent!¡±

 Chapter 972 - Old Masterâ€™s Transformation

    <strong>Chapter 972: Old Master¡¯s Transformation</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    It was not that he belittled his brother. It was just that Brother was too outstanding. Be it in gun fare, fighting, math, physics, and history, he was far beyond. Even though he worshipped his brother, he was, after all, still a little boy, it did not feel good to be constantly being suppressed by him. So now that he was better than his brother at something, how could he not be excited?

    It was also because of this that his interest in painting expanded.

    Old Master Li understood Xia Ling¡¯s intention. He smiled and said, ¡°Brother has his own specialty and you have your own. This is good. Your Aunt Ling... is good too.¡±

    These days, Li Lei hade to talk to him while he was staying in the vi.

    Li Lei had pleaded with him earnestly to ept Xia Ling. He had said, [Grandpa, even if you don¡¯t like Xiao Ling, the fact that she will remain as the Li family¡¯s matriarch for many more years will not change. Compared to being upset for a whole day, why not just be cordial and happy?]

    Old Master Li had chased his grandson out from his room.

    However, once he had calmed down, he began pondering over his grandson¡¯s words.

    Xia Ling was still the jewel of the supper-hidden family. Furthermore, her rtionship with his grandson was also amicable, and her status unremovable. Even if there were twists and turns in life, his grandson had already set his mind on life and death with her. It was non-negotiable. For the sake of the family¡¯s harmony, there was no other choice than to ept Xia Ling. But the thing that made Old Master most ufortable was¡ª

    How could the Li family¡¯s matriarch be so weak?

    Xia Ling was not shrewd nor scheming and did not have any skills in strategizing. She simply could notpare to Su Tang, who was really one in a thousand. So how could a matriarch like Xia Ling bring the family any benefits? Although she had a superior family background, Li Lei¡¯s business could not possibly rely on the matriarch¡¯s family for long. That would be aughing stock for the world!

    That was why Old Master always had a barrier in his heart.

    It was not until the event of Li Rui learning painting that Old Master Li realized that this grand-daughter-inw might actually serve some use. Even though she had a simple mind and did not know how toe up with any conspirations or tricks, but she could make the family live together cordially. To an extremelyplicated family like this, what was more important than her ability to make his great-grandsons grow up amicably?

    Inparison, Su Tang, who might serve as a good subordinate and could be the heart and limbs, was notparable to Xia Ling in terms of managing the peace of the house and raising the children.

    ¡°Forget it...¡± Old Master Li sighed. ¡°Nobody is perfect. There are so many subordinates in the Li family, it doesn¡¯tck a profound senior. At least she could raise the children well, there¡¯s only so much you can get.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa, what are you saying?¡± Li Rui asked, curious.

    Old Master snapped out of his daze and stared at the boy who was his great-grandson only by name. He smiled and said dotingly, ¡°Do you like Aunt Ling?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The child said without hesitation. ¡°Aunt Ling is the best, she is even better than my Mother! She teaches me how to draw, ys with me, buys me new clothes and even reads storybooks to me during bedtime! I like Aunt Ling the most!¡± A child¡¯s world was just this innocent. He would remember whoever treated him well.

    Old Master Li smiled at his words and caressed the child¡¯s head.

    It was the first time he felt that Li Lei had married the right person.

    Su Tang came again after a few days. She wore a grey dress embroidered with diolus flowers with elegance. She stood in front of the ss window in the living room and said to Xia Ling in a low voice, ¡°How is Xiao Rui? It has been a long time, I¡¯m here to see him. You can¡¯t possibly forbid me from seeing him forever.¡±

    Xia Ling did not bother to pretend with her. She called a maid and instructed. ¡°Go find Young Master Rui, tell him his Mother Su Tang hase and see if he wants to see her.¡± She wore home clothes, a loose crop that was offortable soft material and made her look leisurely,pletely opposite of Su Tang¡¯s exquisite look. Her face carried a faint color and made it obvious that her life was blissful. The light that sted out from within her was like that of a flower blossoming casually.

    Comparing the two of them, although Su Tang was pretty, she looked too deliberate.

    Su Tang looked at her and guessed that she and Li Lei were living blissfully. Jealousy and hatred filled her heart. This kind of life should have been hers in the beginning! She should have been the matriarch in Li Lei¡¯s family! The more she thought about it, the more unreconciled she was. Her heart was like a burning ball of fire. These days, following the distancing of Li Lei, her heart had already lost the arrogance she had once possessed even if her graceful posture still maintained the exquisite lifestyle of her past.

    She had be a woman who could not hold back. She said to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Rui will definitely want to see me. Don¡¯t pretend to send people to ask for his opinion, how do I know whether it¡¯s real or just an excuse you made up to pacify me?¡±

    Xia Ling scoffed. ¡°I have never met anyone who thought so highly of herself! It¡¯s Xiao Rui¡¯s freedom to decide if he wants to see you. How do you know he wants to? Don¡¯t kid yourself, you almost hit him to deathst time. He will hate you forever!¡± Honestly, children did not actually have any grudges. Their thinking was simple, and even if they had been scared to death when being beaten, once it was over, they would forgive their Mother with just a few coaxes from her.

    However, Xia Ling was not nning to give Su Tang this opportunity.

    This woman was too unpredictable and was not able to raise the child well. Even if Li Rui were to forgive her and treat her as his kin mother again with respect and trust, there was bound toe a day when he would be abused again! Xia Ling and Li Rui had gotten along well these days, and it would be a lie to say that she did not care for him. Now, Li Rui was truly like her own child. She was taking care of and teaching him dedicatedly. She did not want the child to trust the wrong person and be harmed.

    The two women stood in the living room, both refusing to back down.

    After a while, the maid returned and looked at Xia Ling respectfully. ¡°Madam, Young Master Rui was in the garden painting butterflies. He has said that he does not want to see his Mother.¡±

    Xia Lingughed lightly and looked at Su Tang. ¡°Heard that? Please leave.¡±

    Su Tang shook her head in disbelief. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it! You must be lying! You must be!¡±

    ¡°Su Tang!¡± They heard an old and stable male voice. It was Old Master Li. He hade in by the side door without their knowledge. He had been beside the child who had been painting butterflies and had heard the maid. He hade out to look at the situation. ¡°Xiao Rui indeed said he does not want to see you. He hates to be disturbed when he is painting. Sit here and rest, we¡¯ll see what Xiao Rui says after he finishes painting.¡± He did not harbor the same dislike towards Su Tang Xia Ling did. He only felt that Su Tang was unable to educate children, yet he still admired her other skills. So, he was still hopeful that their mother-son rtionship could be reconciled.

    Xia Ling gave one nce to the Old Master.

    Who was the master of this house? Why was he letting the guest stay all on his own ord?

    Old Master Li understood the meaning of her nce. He sighed. ¡°Xiao Ling,e with me.¡± His rtionship with Xiao Ling had improved recently. However, they were still not considered close, so it was necessary tomunicate when they faced any form of disagreement.

 Chapter 973 - Will of the Matriarch

    <h4>Chapter 973: Will of the Matriarch</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling ordered the maids. ¡°Serve Miss Su well.¡±

    She said the word ¡°serve¡± with a harsher tone, and the maids understood her meaning. They stared deadly at Su Tang and observed her every action, making her unable to perform any antics.

    Su Tang was furious, but there was nothing she could do.

    Xia Ling followed Old Master to the tiny rest area behind the living room and said in dissatisfaction, ¡°Grandpa, this is between us women, I don¡¯t want you to be involved.¡± Her words were straightforward, and although she tried her best to be gentle, it still came out rude.

    Old Master Li looked at her and said, ¡°No matter what you say, Su Tang is still Xiao Rui¡¯s kin mother. How can there be overnight grudges between mother and son? Since she has admitted her wrong and her bipr disorder is not acting up anymore, why not let her see Xiao Rui and resolve the misunderstandings?¡±

    Xia Ling did not want the child to be negatively influenced by her. She snorted lightly. ¡°I don¡¯t agree.¡±

    All the maids in the house listened only to Xia Ling¡¯s orders. As long as Xia Ling did not agree, Old Master Li¡¯s words held no weight whatsoever. Old Master Li was furious. He had just thought that this grand-daughter-inw wasn¡¯t that bad, but it had only been two days and here she was, preventing a hero like Su Tang from seeing her own son just because of her emotions?

    If this continued, wouldn¡¯t it be letting down Su Tang?

    Noticing that Old Master Li¡¯s expression was stern, Xia Ling told him her concerns. ¡°Grandpa, it is true that I don¡¯t have good feelings toward Su Tang. However, this has nothing to do with why I¡¯m refusing to let her see Xiao Rui. You have seen just how Xiao Rui has turned out under her care from all those years. He did not understand manners nor gratitude. He would even hit and scold people. Don¡¯t you think he was the exact replica of Li Feng? Do you wish to have a second Li Feng in your house?¡±

    Old Master took a deep breath.

    Li Feng, this rascal, would always be a knot in his heart.

    Speaking objectively, Li Feng was very outstanding. In terms of gun fare, plotting, and the skills to persuade people... They were all of top quality. If the Li family did not have Li Lei, Li Feng would have been the sessor without a doubt if it was picked based on skills. Unfortunately, such a brilliant child had to have a cynical personality. He eventually harmed his family and also caused his own death... Old Master Li would dream of him and be often heartbroken over his grandson who had died early. If only he had taken more care of him when he was young and had guided him towards the righteous path. Could there have been a better oue?

    Old Master¡¯s face revealed his pain.

    Xia Ling softened her voice and said gently, ¡°I don¡¯t like Su Tang, she doesn¡¯t like me either. Old Master, she is not as broad-minded as you think.¡±

    Old Master came to his senses. He rebutted. ¡°Su Tang has always been very understanding.¡±

    Xia Lingughed lightly. ¡°Who would be generous toward their enemy? Fine, even if she has not revealed her hateful jealous side in front of you, you have witnessed Xiao Rui¡¯s attitude toward me before. Who taught him that?¡±

    Old Master Li did not speak. Deep in his heart, he really did not wish to see the Su Tang he had always thought highly of bearing such hatred toward Xia Ling. However, ever since he had removed his biases against Xia Ling, there were many things that did not seem right once he stopped to think about them calmly.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Even if you don¡¯t care about me, you have to care about Shaohui. Su Tang hates me, so naturally, she hates Shaohui as well. Xiao Rui¡¯s attitude towards Shaohui was very poor in the past. The two brothers finally have a cordial rtionship now. If Su Tang were to draw a wedge between them and make Xiao Rui hate Shaohui, the wall between the two brothers would then be the greatest disaster to our family ten or twenty yearster.¡± It was not that she was knowledgeable in this area, she was only thinking deeper into it because she was concerned about her own son. She looked pleadingly at Old Master and believed that if even she herself could understand these reasons, Old Master would too.

    As expected, Old Master was silent for a long time before sighing longly.

    ¡°Forget it, forget it. Don¡¯t let Su Tang see Xiao Rui before she has gotten rid of her feelings for Li Lei,¡± Old Master said. ¡°Once she has a motive, she will be determined to achieve it. Don¡¯t influence the child negatively.¡±

    The corners of Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up in a smile. It was a victory smile.

    She really wanted to give herself a thumbs up. The Old Master who had hated her and sided with Su Tang all this time was finally on her side and helping her block Su Tang. She was satisfied with it even if it had been because of the two children. After all, she did not wish to have a conflict with the grandpa of her loved ones.

    The two returned to the living room after their discussion.

    Su Tang was sitting on the sofa and sipping tea with an elegant pose. Her back was pencil straight, and the sunlight that fell on her embraced her body like chiffon, attracting the gaze of people unknowingly.

    She was such a beauty.

    However, Xia Ling did not give her face on purpose. She said while smiling, ¡°Miss Su, we¡¯ve made you wait long. I have discussed things with Grandpa. Xiao Rui has been overwhelmed with sses every day and is too tired. Since he does not wish to see you, then it¡¯s better to not meet. It¡¯s better for men to have their own opinions, no? We have to start respecting his opinion since young, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    She was full of nonsense!

    Su Tang was furious. She suppressed her fury and turned to Old Master Li in disbelief.

    It was expected that Xia Ling would not let her see him, but when had Old Master Li started supporting Xia Ling?! A sense of threat rose in her heart. Su Tang put down her teacup and stood up. Feeling wronged and helpless, she shouted, ¡°Old Master!¡±

    Old Master looked at her pitifully. ¡°Ah Tang, since you are in the Li house, you have to abide by the Li family rules. Don¡¯t defy the matriarch and set a good example for others. Xiao Ling has been taking care of your child and he is well, don¡¯t worry. Xiao Ling has her own reasons for not letting you see the child. When she deems it fit for you to meet him, she will arrange for you to meet your child. It won¡¯t be toote. Listen to me, you have to see the big picture.¡±

    She staggered a few steps backward with tears rolling down her cheeks. ¡°Please, don¡¯t do this...¡±

    Old Master Li frowned. This child, why was she not listening? ¡°Ah Da, send Miss Su back,¡± he instructed a maid. ¡°Take good care of her, okay?¡±

    The maid obeyed and said to Su Tang, ¡°Miss Su, please.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s face was ashen. Seeing that she could not fight her way past this, she said quietly, ¡°No need to send me off, I¡¯ll leave by myself.¡± She let two more drops of tears fall. As if resisting many grievances, she lifted her head to look at Old Master Li. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you, I¡¯m leaving. You... you help me take good care of Xiao Rui. Goodbye.¡±

    After saying that, she left quickly, covering her face and choking on her tears.

    Old Master Li stared after her back, feeling sorry. He had once been in control of the Li family, and he understood deeply that sometimes, in order to ensure the whole family benefited, there was a need to sacrifice some people¡¯s benefits, even if it was Su Tang. Being charitable would not support an army, so as an elderly, he must possess cold objectiveness.

 Chapter 974 - New Song Release

    <h4>Chapter 974: New Song Release</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling rested for a few days at home. Her body was getting better day by day, her skin regaining a moist glow, her eyebrows refined and delicate. Her mood was also getting better. She had restarted her work in the recording studio and was working on theposition of a new song. The first song she recorded was named <Chanting>, which she had sung during the concert when Li Lei had been in critical condition. This was a song that did not have any lyrics, yet it was more moving than any other melody in the world. The indescribable air of inspiration and mysterious atmosphere lingered, carrying with it Zen and divinity, letting people forget their troubles by listening to it.

    Once <Chanting> wasunched, it received enormouspliments.

    The download volume hit a new high overnight, and people were forwarding it everywhere to their circle of friends. Its poprity as an online topic was also soaring. On the streets, everywhere was filled with discussions of the song.

    ¡°Have you heard <Chanting>? It¡¯s the new song that Goddess Miss Ling just released. It¡¯s so good!¡± Girls were introducing the song to their friends in school.

    ¡°I heard it!¡± More girls were replying in excitement. ¡°There¡¯s no other female singer that is better than Xiao Ling! I was at the praying concertst time and I was thinking that it would be amazing if <Chanting> could be recorded as a song. I can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s released so quickly! I want to rmend it to others!¡±

    The fanatic fans had automatically advertised the song.

    It was already the superstar¡¯s new song, and it even had a beautiful background love story. This, coupled with many loyal fans who spared no effort in promoting the song, through the word of the mouth... The song was soon spread throughout the whole country. Even in other countries, the melody could be heard.

    Even Xia Ling herself was shocked at the number of downloads.

    ¡°We¡¯re rich, hehe.¡± In Phoenix Down Corporation, the big manager Lin Yunan moved behind her and took a look at the number of downloads. He quickly calcted it and smiled while saying, ¡°The fees from the praying concert you held for freest time areing back every second. The remaining extra money can allow you to squander away for a long time. This year¡¯s best-selling singles award will be none other than this song... Looking at the word of mouth, the best song and the best female singer award won¡¯t be any suspense either.¡±

    Xia Ling could not bother with these awards now. She stared nkly at the numbers on the screen and said with reassurance, ¡°It¡¯s a relief that everyone likes it. It didn¡¯t waste my efforts in recording it and giving it back to them.¡±

    Lin Yunan shrugged. ¡°With your superstar status in this present day, let alone this borate song, even if you take out an abandoned song and release it, wouldn¡¯t the bunch of obsessive fans still worship it?¡± He said while humming ¡°Most lonely without an enemy¡±, leaving the office leisurely.

    As she was invincible in the music scene, her big manager was extremely lonely from being unable to find a worthy opponent.

    The song was spread and broadcasted with a stance as if engulfing the world, and within a few days, there were even some mysterious rumors going around¡ª¡±Did you know? <Chanting> has been blessed. If you sing it while confessing to your crush, your confession will seed. If you listen to it before your exams, you will pass with certainty!¡±

    ¡°Really? I¡¯ll try!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try too!¡±

    The fans started trying it out in excitement. A few of them really seeded in their confession or achieved satisfactory results from their exams. Each of them was ecstatic and ran around spreading it. ¡°This song really works! Goddess Xiao Ling is indeed Xia family¡¯s phoenix reincarnation, this song is simply divine! A divine song that has been blessed!¡±

    Soon, more and more people were listening to this song and anticipating it to bring good luck to their lives¡ªbefore confession, before exams, even before finding jobs, before entering the casino and before all kinds of important events in life...

    Xia Ling did not know whether tough or cry. How was she to know that this song would have such a use?

    It was Xia Moyan who questioned her when he came to visit. ¡°You are the phoenix, this blessing song that you have sung with gratefulness and a rewarding heart has ¡®power¡¯. Even though this power does not help any specific person, it is still able to protect those lucky people and let them receive some good luck.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s all real?¡± Xia Ling could not believe it. ¡°I thought it was all just rumors.¡±

    Xia Moyan said lightly, ¡°This is their blessing, and it is your blessing too. The blessing of the phoenix is also a way to umte blessings for yourself. Xiao Ling, your life will be more and more smooth from now on.¡±

    Xia Ling was happy. She was d that she had released this song.

    Of course, there were those that did not receive the good luck as well.

    Some people said she was a liar, that <Chanting> was not magical at all. They said even though they had listened to it before their exam, they still were not able to pass. Also, they had still failed their interviews even though they had listened to it beforehand. Hence, many of them shared the experience of their sesses and failures and came up with a bunch of rituals together. For example, you must burn incense and bathe before listening to the song, and when you listen to the song, you must have your hands together and recite the words. There was also a ritual where you could not be interrupted while listening...

    Many people actually pursued this.

    Seeing how its poprity was rising, Xia Ling¡¯s web site¡¯sment section was filled with people talking about their wishes or their wishes having been fulfilled. The huge inflow almost made the tform fail. She was unable to control their passion and thought for a while before deciding to open a <Chanting> concert in order to thank the people for their love. Brother had said that hearing her live performance was better than her recording. Furthermore, this would help bring her even more blessings.

    Once the news of the concert came out, it triggered a huge wave and even one ticket was hard to get.

    As ast resort, the officials had to take the form of a lottery draw to give the tickets. Only then were they able to draw tens of thousands of lucky fans from therge number.

    During the day of the concert, Xiao Hui also mored to join in the fun.

    Xia Ling adored her own son and agreed with good nature. She also brought Li Rui along. The media took pictures of the three of them exiting the white limousine. She walked down the red carpet while holding the two children¡¯s hands. She carefully amodated to the pace of the children and was gentle and caring.

    ¡°What a good mother...¡± The reporters eximed.

    ¡°Inparison, Su Tang is just too unprofessional.¡± Another reporter discussed it with his friend. ¡°Have you seen the pictures of Su Tang holding onto Li Rui? She did not even notice or care about the child. The child even had to run a little to catch up with her. Compared to Ye Xingling, Ye Xingling is like the real mother while Su Tang is the stepmother!¡±

    His friend flipped through some of the older pictures and said, ¡°It¡¯s true! Was this child born by Su Tang? In all the pictures where the two appear, Su Tang was not looking at the child in any of them. She was only concerned with her spotlight!¡±

    The reporters were quick to publish newsparing the two pictures, and published it on different media after photoshopping it. Here, the concert had yet to start officially. There, the photoshopped pictureparing them triggered heated discussions.

    Su Tang stayed at home alone while drinking red wine in loneliness.

 Chapter 975 - Concert Break

    <strong>Chapter 975 Concert Break</strong>

    It was said that today was the day of Xia Ling¡¯s concert. The ce was full of liveliness.

    Even that unfilial son Li Rui is there. That child, has he already forgotten who is his real mother? ¡°Betrayer!¡± Su Tang squeezed the goblet tightly and said evilly while looking at the red liquid in the cup.

    It was then that the phone rang.

    She picked up, and it turned out to be a reporter. ¡°Miss Su, what are your thoughts on Ye Xingling bringing the children to the concert? There are many rumors about how the children like Ye Xingling more, and that they don¡¯t like you. What do you think?¡±

    She was full of anger and indignance, but she cared for her image and could not afford to explode. Hence, she said stiffly, ¡°Noment.¡±

    She hung up the call, yet her heart could not calm down for a long while. Why was there such a rumor in the world? She admitted that she did hate Li Rui, but she had always been putting on a fake front in the face of others. It must be Ye Xingling that wretch. She must have said some malicious nder on her. That must have been the reason behind the blind jeers of people, thinking that Li Rui did not like his mother!

    It must be!

    Su Tang¡¯s expression turned gloomy. The phone rang again, this time it was to interview her about Li Rui. This time, she replied stiffly with the sentence, ¡°Noment.¡± Then, she hung up. However, the phone rang even more frequently. Su Tang could not be bothered to answer it, so she directly powered it off.

    IIIN

    Even though the phone was shut off, her hatred was still not resolved

    Ye Xingling this wretch, how dare she initiate a discussion that would stab her in the back!

    Her expression turned increasingly gloomy until finally, she mmed the goblet of red wine onto the table and retrieved another phone from the secret drawer in the bedroom. She dialed a number. This phone had been dealt with especially, and nobody would be able to trace the phone call. Hence, it was entirely safe.

    She said, ¡°Listen, the n has been pushed forward. It will be executed tonight.¡±

    ¡°Pushed forward?¡± The person on the other end was shocked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say to carry it out three dayster? Tonight is Ye Xingling¡¯s concert, there will be lots of reporters and fans. The target is too famous. It won¡¯t be easy to carry out the n.¡±

    ¡°You will push forward the n if I say so!¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice carried anger. ¡°Carry it out while it¡¯s messy! She has a lot of fans, doesn¡¯t she? After you have killed her, just push the me onto the fans, call it ¡®A Crazy Fan Kills For Love¡¯, or ¡®Blessing of the Chanting Leads To Revenge¡¯. There are plenty of excuses! You can escape easily too!¡±

    The party at the other end thought about it and found it reasonable. ¡°Okay, I will take action tonight. However, I will have to take more risks since the n has suddenly changed. Remember to send more money, I want it doubled!¡±

    ¡°Doubled? You¡¯re crazy!¡± Su Tang scolded.

    ¡°You¡¯re refusing to pay me?¡± The person on the other endughed savagely. ¡°Fine, then I won¡¯t be doing this business! I¡¯ll even spread the news of someone wanting to kill Ye Xingling secretly to Master Li. Do you want to guess how much money Master Li would offer

    me?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s expression turned agitated. ¡°Dream on! Li Lei will definitely kill you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not just scaring you!¡± The person said even more fiercely. ¡°You can try not giving me double the money! At most, we¡¯ll just perish together!¡±

    Su Tang took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm. She must stay calm...

    What was the use of talking logic to this desperate person? Ever since she had been chased out of the Li family by Xia Ling, she had been looking for a hitman to murder Ye Xingling secretly. She had calcted it carefully in advance. Given Ye Xingling and Li Lei¡¯s degree of love, normal negative news or rumors would not be useful at all. The only once-and-for-all method was to secretly kill one of them! She had finally found a suitable hitman and did not want anything to happen at a critical moment.

    ¡°Fine, double it is.¡± She conceded.

    Even though the original price was already enough to make her live frugally, and doubled the price was sending her near bankruptcy, but as long as she could get rid of Xia Ling and be the wife of the Li family, how much of the money wouldn¡¯t be returned to her?

    This business transaction was worth it!

    Su Tang reassured herself.

    The hitmanughed, pleased. ¡°You finally know the importance of time. Wire me the money now.¡±

    Su Tang gathered the money in all kinds of ways and was finally able to gather the money with much difficulty. She wired over the money to the hitman with instructions from him.

    After that, her whole body was weak, and she knelt down to pray to God. (God, other demigods, or even the devil, please help me make sure this murder plot is sessful. Once Xia Ling is gotten rid of, there won¡¯t be any future trouble...]

    Xia Ling was unaware of her actions. She was still singing <Chanting> under the starry stage. The concert was going smoothly. Besides the new song, she also sang many of her songs since her debut. Even the songs she had sung in her past life at Imperial Entertainment, she also performed them in the form of a ¡°cover¡±.

    The whole ce¡¯s atmosphere was off the roof. Especially when Xiao Hui and Li Rui walked amongst the crowd wearing sparkling stage costumes, the heated apuse that sounded was about to overturn the sky.

    The two children giggled happily.

    Li Rui was especially happy. It was his first time standing on such a big stage and receiving apuse from so many people. His heart held even more gratitude and admiration towards Xia Ling. Aunt Ling waspletely different from Mother. When he had been with Mother, the things he encountered every day would be depressing. However, now that he was with Aunt Ling, he seemed to be happy every day... The little child raised his head and stared at the back of Xia Ling who was on stage. He suddenly thought of something. If only Aunt Ling was his real mother, how happy he would be.

    The concert¡¯s official song ended and Xia Ling held an encore for numerous times before she finally left the stage under the lingering gaze of the fans. She went back to remove her makeup and take some rest.

    The dressing room was full of fresh flowers that the fans had sent.

    Lin Yunan yed with the flowers while saying to her and the children, ¡°So many fans have appeared at the concert. You all have to be careful when going to the garage in case anyone ambushes you and asks for a signature or do something excessive.¡±

    Xia Ling took out her earpiece and casually said, ¡°I know.¡±

    After she had removed her makeup and changed into her usual attire, she turned back to caution Xiao Hui and Li Rui again. ¡°Later on you two have to open your eyes wide and be on all four ears, understand? Don¡¯t be kidnapped by strange people.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The two children nodded fiercely. However, they were hiding the excitement in their hearts. Wow, it was so exciting!

    After changing her clothes, Xia Ling brought them down to the garage.

    The garage was silent, and most of the people had been brought out by the guards. However, some skillful paparazzi or fans had still managed to infiltrate the area. Thus, Xia Ling did not let down her guard.

    The bodyguard walked a few steps behind her.

    Lin Yunan walked in front of her and helped her open the car door.

    When she was holding the two children¡¯s hands and standing at the road, a blinding sh of light beamed at the corner of her eyes all of a sudden. She turned around instinctively. Arge lorry was charing at her and the children with a roar!

    ¡°Mother!¡±

    ¡°Aunt Ling!¡±

    A few different voices eximed in shock.

 Chapter 976 - Hit-and-Run Driver

    <strong>Chapter 976 Hit-and-Run Driver</strong>

    In the heat of the moment, Xia Ling could not think too much. She pushed the two children away instinctively.

    The two children staggered and just so happened to knock against the bodyguard that had been charging forward. The three of them fell down in a mess. The bodyguard calcted in his heart and knew that even if he were to charge forward now, he would not be able to save Xia Ling!

    Was this God¡¯s will?

    The bodyguard was perplexed, why had she pushed the children over?! ording to Li Lei¡¯s instructions, his first priority should be to protect Xia Ling. When the lorry had been charging forward, he had already judged the situation. It was impossible to save the three of them at the same time, but he had been confident of pushing her to a safe ce.

    But it all turned futile when she pushed the two children over.

    Now, the two children were saved, but what about her? What could she do?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s push had taken up all her strength. She had no more energy left to avoid the lorry that was rushing quickly towards her. Therge lorry was just about to hit her and crush her into a pile of meat!

    ¡°Mother!¡± Shaohui cried.

    ¡°Mother!¡± Li Rui also cried. His mind was in aplete nk and something shocked his soul-At the time of crisis, this beautiful woman in front of him had disregarded her own safety and had exhausted all her strength to push him to a ce of safety! Instinctively, he had called out ¡°Mother¡±, not some stepmother, not Aunt Ling. At that moment, the little child had voluntarily recognized this woman who had saved him as his own mother!

    Therge lorry¡¯s blinding white light shed across.

    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud gunshot sounded.

    It was the bodyguard who had taken out his gun at the critical moment. He fired at the tires of the lorry. The tires exploded and the lorry lost its bnce. The front of the lorry tilted to the side and stopped with a ¡°peng¡± sound.

    Xia Ling, however, was knocked. She flew a few steps and fell onto the ground, bleeding profusely.

    ¡°Mother!¡± Shaohui and Li Rui cried out, rushing forward toward her.

    The bodyguard hugged tightly onto them. ¡°Young Masters, it¡¯s dangerous!¡± He quickly dragged the two children to the car. He was afraid that there would be an aplice beside the driver, so he locked the car door and quickly rushed to check on Xia Ling.

    Lin Yunan was kneeling down next to Xia Ling. He dialed the phone quickly. ¡°120! 120! Hurry up! It¡¯s Ye Xingling that¡¯s met with an ident! Yes, the singer Ye Xingling! If something is to happen to her, her husband and fans from all over the world will never forgive you all! Wait, don¡¯t hang up, tell me the first-aid procedures, hurry!¡±

    Under the instructions from the phone, the bodyguard and Lin Yunan hurriedly gave her first-aid.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was as thin as a sheet of gold paper. Her whole body was bloody, but it was unknown where her wound was.

    Luckily, the bodyguard had shot the tires of the lorry in time and had made the lorry leave its original track. Thus, the lorry hitting her was not severe enough to take her life. Her breathing was shallow and weak, and she fought to live.

    The ambnce whizzed on the road and sent her to the hospital. She was rushed to the emergency room.

    Soon, Li Lei arrived.

    ¡°What happened!¡± He was like a furious lion and interrogated Lin Yunan and the bodyguard.

    The two of them roughly told him the story of what happened. In the end, the bodyguard added, ¡°Because the fans were dispersing at the time, the rest of the guards were keeping guard outside. I was the only one at the scene. It was my fault that the driver ran away. I¡¯m sorry, Young Master!¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Investigate! Whoever dared to find trouble with my wife¡¯s children, I want him dead!¡±

    The bodyguard received the instructions sternly and set about investigating with Tan Ying, who had just rushed over.

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. He paced back and forth outside the emergency room for a few hours before he saw the emergency light fade and a doctor wearing a hospital gowne out.

    ¡°Doctor, how is she?!¡± Li Lei asked anxiously.

    The doctor removed his mask. ¡°The patient has many broken bones. Her soft tissues have also contused. However, her important organs have not been harmed. It¡¯s not a big issue, she will be fine after her bones heal.¡±

    Li Lei let out a long sigh of relief and rxed his whole body. He copsed onto the long bench in the corridor as if he had lost all his energy. Soon, Xia Ling was pushed out of the emergency room and into the ward.

    Li Lei stayed beside her the whole time until finally, she opened her eyes.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re awake?¡± He was ecstatic and squeezed her hand, his eyes red.

    Xia Ling looked at him with difficulty, her voice weak as she asked, ¡°Li Lei? Shao... Shaohui? How is he? What about Xiao Rui?¡± The memories of the scene before she had lost consciousness shed in front of her. She could only remember the sudden white sh of light and the children¡¯s helpless rmed screams...

    ¡°The children are fine. They are not harmed,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°You have to take care of your body and not move around.¡±

    She was reassured, and stared at his red eyes andughed with difficulty. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. You¡¯re a big man, it makes you ugly.¡± She wanted to raise her hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, but since her hands were stered, she was unable to raise them. Only now did she think of asking about her own condition. ¡°What did the doctor say? I¡¯m... fine, right?¡±

    ¡°So you know how to be scared!¡± He looked at her with distress and anger. ¡°Why did you push the children with the bodyguard around? Why can¡¯t you take care of yourself first?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m their mother.¡± She was still weak but rebutted stubbornly. After that, she reassured him. ¡°I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t be angry. Don¡¯t you see that I¡¯m fine now?¡± She nced at him and knew that she did not have any serious injuries. If she were to have any severe injuries like any disability, he would not be talking to her in this reproachful tone.

    He red at her lightly. ¡°You call this being okay? You¡¯ve injured your bones and your nerves, so rest well and don¡¯t develop any illnesses.¡±

    She smiled and replied gently, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The two of them chatted for a while, enjoying the warm time they shared from the aftermath of the ident. A long time passed before Li Lei asked, ¡°Did you see clearly who was in the lorry?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°The headlights of the lorry were too blinding. I wasn¡¯t able to see anything. Why, you couldn¡¯t find the hit-and-run driver?¡±

    ¡°I suspect that someone was trying to hit you deliberately.¡± Li Lei¡¯s expression was grave.

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Ling asked. Logically, the chances of it being an ident were big. Such as drunk driving, or the driver being a new female driver... Why did he suspect that there was a reason behind it?

    Li Lei said, ¡°Once the ident happened, I sent some people to investigate the driver, yet nothing could be discovered. If it was really an ident and the driver was to escape in the heat of the moment, there is no way he could hide from the Li family¡¯s expansive resources.¡± Unless there was a n behind it, and it was a pre-mediated murder n.

    Xia Ling shuddered. Who on earth would harbor that much hatred toward her, to put even the children in danger?

    ¡°Is there any evidence on the killer?¡± She asked Li Lei.

 Chapter 977 - Even a Tiger Spares Its Cubs

    <strong>Chapter 977: Even a Tiger Spares Its Cubs</strong>

    Li Lei shook his head and reassured her. ¡°There will be evidence.¡±

    He returned to the office and called over a few of his trusted subordinates to open up an investigation. Tan Ying was also part of it. Tan Ying now was no longer just the general manager of the training camp. He also shouldered important responsibilities, and was one of his valuable side-kicks.

    He asked Tan Ying, ¡°You¡¯ve been in the country for the longest time. Naturally, you¡¯re the most familiar with the entertainment world. Does Madam usually have any enemies?¡± Since he was unable to investigate the hit-and-run driver, he was going to flip it around and investigate based on what kind of people Xia Ling could have offended. Who would hold such a deep grudge against her that they were desperate to take their lives?

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Madam has offended some people, but they are all small contradictions such as fighting over an advertisement. None of them are enough to anger anyone until they are willing to risk offending the Li family in order to murder her secretly. Boss, I¡¯m guessing it is someone who has grievances toward the Li family. Since he is unable to harm you, he has diverted his attention to Madam and the children.¡±

    His words made sense, and a fire ignited itself in Li Lei.

    Another of his sidekicks said, ¡°There are some who have a deep-seated hatred¡ªMadam has married you, and has even fostered Young Master Rui. This brings deep hatred to Miss Su Tang.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s heart skipped a beat. How could he have forgotten about her?

    He heard Tan Ying reprimand. ¡°Jack, what are you saying! Su Tang has been fighting alongside us for so many years and is utterly loyal to Boss. How could she have tried to murder Boss¡¯s wife and children?!¡±

    Jack said, ¡°Being loyal to Boss doesn¡¯t mean being loyal to Madam.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s poprity in the Li family was indeed good, but there were bound to be some who were not affected and could analyze the situation calmly.

    Tan Ying was about to say something, but Li Lei had already calmed down. He said, ¡°Investigate Su Tang as well as the enemies of Li family. See which forces have been active in S City and investigate them too.¡±

    ¡°Boss!¡± Tan Ying was anxious. ¡°You will hurt Su Tang¡¯s feelings if you do this!¡±

    ¡°Tan Ying.¡± Li Lei stared straight at him. In the dim light, his eyes were as sharp as a falcon in hunting. ¡°Can I trust you?¡±

    Tan Ying was even more anxious. ¡°Of course! You have seen my loyalty all these years!¡± In a hurry to show his loyalty, he addressed his Boss honorifically, which he rarely did. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m only speaking for Su Tang because I hope everyone can get along cordially. I don¡¯t want to see any disturbances within the Li family!¡±

    ¡°If anything terrible happens to Xia Ling, that will be the true disturbance.¡±

    ¡°Su Tang can see the big picture, she would never harm Madam!¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t she,¡± Li Lei said softly, as if he were asking Tan Ying or talking to himself. Perhaps Su Tang was a woman who could see the big picture in other situations, but regarding love... He thought back about the woman who had passed through the primitive jungle alone, enduring humiliation in order to rescue him from dying... His heart ached as if a needle had pierced itself into him.

    ¡°I hope it¡¯s not her too,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°However, nobody can maintain their wits in the face of love. Tan Ying, let me ask you, if it was really Su Tang who had tried to murder Xiao Ling, would you stand on her side?¡±

    ¡°Su Tang wouldn¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying what if.¡±

    Tan Ying was silent. He looked at Li Lei¡¯s serious expression, and arranged his own too. He gave his answer, ¡°If it was really Su Tang, I would never protect her.¡± Even though in terms of personal feelings, his affection for Su Tang was far greater than for Xia Ling, but he understood that Xia Ling was now the Li family¡¯s matriarch. The Li family¡¯s future heir was also Xia Ling¡¯s son. Hence, Xia Ling¡¯s safety was more important than a hundred Su Tangs added together. He could not be confused because of his personal feelings.

    ¡°Good.¡± Li Lei stared at him. ¡°I will hand the investigation of Su Tang to you. Whether she is innocent or guilty, I will leave it up to you to find out.¡±

    ¡°Boss!¡± This time, it was Jack who was anxious. How could he let Tan Ying investigate Su Tang? If Su Tang was the real murderer, but her crimes were covered by Tan Ying, what could he do?!

    Tan Ying was shocked too. He had not thought that Li Lei would hand such an important task to him.

    ¡°Boss?¡± He asked uncertainly.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t think you can handle the task, you can reject it,¡± Li Lei said calmly. As the saying went: Untrusted men cannot be appointed, but those appointed should be fully trusted. He did not want such a valuable subordinate to remain spiteful and have thorns in his heart over Su Tang¡¯s matter. Hence, he had decided to take the opportunity to let Tan Ying investigate the truth for himself. Li Lei did not wish for Su Tang to be the murderer too, but what if it really was Su Tang? With Tan Ying¡¯s testimony, those in the Li family who were on Su Tang¡¯s side would have nothing to say.

    He did this for Tan Ying and those subordinates, and also for Xia Ling.

    This was the only way where if Su Tang was the true criminal, the subordinates would not be able toin against Xia Ling.

    No matter what, Xia Ling was still an outsider. To have a firm standing in the Li family, it was simply not enough to have a son. It would also take a long time to integrate and operate inside.

    Li Lei hoped that one day, the subordinates would protect Xia Ling just like how they were protecting Su Tang.

    Tan Ying stared at Li Lei, his expression perplexed. After a long while, he said, ¡°I can take on the mission.¡±

    Li Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    The matter was thus settled. Tan Ying began his investigation on Su Tang. All traces of Su Tang¡¯s whereabouts were investigated; where she had been to, the people she had met with, those she had called...

    Su Tang never imagined that the person secretly investigating her would actually be Tan Ying, who was always on her side. She did not have any precautions against Tan Ying and had left some clues unknowingly. These clues caught Tan Ying¡¯s vignce, and even if Tan Ying was reluctant to admit it, his high professionalism still made him take action¡ªhe installed several monitors and bugs in Su Tang¡¯s residence. Soon, he obtained evidence.

    [What a useless piece of trash, how could you have failed to kill even one?!] In the room, Su Tang had called the killer in utter difit. [You still have the nerve to ask me for money?! Get lost!]

    It was unknown what the person on the other end had said, but Su Tang had replied in annoyance, [Don¡¯t drag in these unrted topics. So what if Li Rui is my son? He alone can be exchanged for Ye Xingling and Li Shaohui, it¡¯s worth it!]

    After a while she said, [Don¡¯t bother threatening me. You solve the problem you yourself created! Isn¡¯t that wretch still lying in the hospital? Find some way to get rid of her! I¡¯ll double the price! If you can¡¯t get rid of her, then don¡¯t expect to get the rest of the money!] After saying that, she hung up the phone in a fit of rage.

    Tan Ying was beyond shocked.

    He had not imagined that it would actually be Su Tang! It turns out that Su Tang, who had always been so elegant and generous, actually had such a vicious ugly side. When she had screamed that Xia Ling was a ¡°wretch¡±, what had been the difference between her and a city shrew? What was even more terrifying was that she had said she could use Li Rui to exchange for the lives of Ye Xingling and Shaohui...

    As the saying went: Even a tiger would not eat its own cubs. This woman¡¯s heart was even more wicked than that of a tiger¡¯s!

    If that huge lorry had hit, let alone Ye Xingling, both of Li Lei¡¯s children would have been killed! The Li family only had these two young masters which the whole family was dutifully protecting. But under her words, they had be worthless sacrifices! Tan Ying¡¯s heart jumped to his throat. This was the first time he felt that women like Su Tang could never be married.

 Chapter 978 - True Murder

    <strong>Chapter 978: True Murder</strong>

    There was no time for him to dwell in his shock.

    Su Tang had not yet given up and had urged the hitman to continue plotting murder against Xia Ling. Tan Ying was worried about Xia Ling¡¯s safety, and he immediately reported the news to Li Lei.

    Li Lei received the news and his expression was not surprised. ¡°It really was her.¡±

    Tan Ying looked at him worriedly. ¡°Boss, how do we handle this?¡±

    Li Lei gave his orders. ¡°Send more people to protect Madam. Arrest Su Tang immediately and keep her under lockdown.¡±

    Tan Ying pleaded. ¡°Boss, Su Tang has been following you for so many years. Even if she has no credit, she still has her fair share of hard work. Even if she has lost her way, it was also because of love. Please...¡±

    ¡°Do your part.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice turned cold.

    Tan Ying looked at his frightening expression and stayed quiet. He did not know that unlike every other thing, Li Lei was unwilling to step down regarding matters pertaining to Xia Ling. If he were to be merciful with Su Tang on her crimes, what if other people were to copy her actions? He could not afford to put Xia Ling in danger again over a moment of benevolence.

    Li Lei went to the hospital to visit Xia Ling and told her about the news.

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Turns out it was her! She was even willing to throw away her son¡¯s life!¡±

    ¡°She hates that you are so close to Xiao Rui,¡± Li Lei said. It was also his first time discovering that Su Tang was not only vicious to her enemies but was cruel to her own people too. She was willing to harm her own son, what else was she capable of doing? He caressed Xia Ling¡¯s long hair gently, pondering over how to handle Su Tang.

    Xia Ling also thought about this. ¡°What do you n on doing to her?¡±

    Li Lei pondered over it before deciding. ¡°How about X Prison?¡±

    ¡°X Prison?¡± It was the first time Xia Ling had heard this name. She asked curiously, ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°In a mysterious ce on earth,¡± Li Lei said, ¡°It was jointly built by several powerful people andrge forces. It specifically holds serial killers, murderers, perverts and other wicked criminals. They are all incarcerated for life. Once someone enters, they will nevere out again. It¡¯s so chaotic inside that even the jailer does not dare enter. Putting Su Tang into it not only punishes her, but also gives her a chance¡ªthe worst that can happen for the people inside is to live worse than death, but it is possible to live well inside too. They can obtain the position of the King. She has saved my life and is also Xiao Rui¡¯s birth mother. I don¡¯t want to be too harsh on her.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent for a while before nodding her head. ¡°Okay.¡±

    To repay someone for saving their lives was a given, thus it was only right to punish those who hadmitted the crime of murder. This decision was already the best ending under this trade-off. Furthermore, when Li Rui grew up, he would be ufortable if he were to know that his birth mother had died because of her. Now that her rtionship with Li Rui was getting more and more intimate, she did not wish for the child to be separated from her.

    Li Lei embraced her with affection. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Sheughed lightly. ¡°There¡¯s no need for these niceties between us.¡± Just like how he had trusted her to settle the issue with Pei Ziheng, she also trusted that he would deal with Su Tang. Growing old hand in hand and sitting on the same boat bearing rain and storm was probably like this.

    Su Tang was arrested.

    In the interrogation room, her face was pale and she was filled with indignance. ¡°I¡¯m framed! I want to see Li Lei!¡±

    The steel door opened slowly to reveal Xia Ling, who was sitting in a wheelchair and being pushed by a bodyguard into the room. She replied to her, ¡°Long time no see.¡± She stared at Su Tang and smiled lightly.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression changed. ¡°You¡¯re disabled?¡±

    Xia Lingughed again. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that I have to disappoint you again. I¡¯m doing really well. I¡¯ve just broken a few bones when I was hit by the lorry, that¡¯s all. I¡¯ve just removed the ster, and I¡¯m able to walk now, but Li Lei was just too worried and made me sit in the wheelchair. He just loves to worry about me.¡±

    She boasted deliberately.

    Su Tang had already been immensely disappointed in hearing that she was fine. But after hearing her boast about their love so proudly, she wanted to rush up to her and rip her face off. She suppressed her anger with difficulty and said to Xia Ling with tolerance, ¡°It¡¯s good that you are fine. How could I have hurt you? I was framed.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling¡¯sughter was a little cold. She was still trying to make excuses for herself at this time?

    Su Tang, however, still looked at her ¡°sincerely¡±. ¡°Madam, you have to believe me! Xiao Rui was also present at the ident. How could I possibly have tried to harm him when I love him so much?¡±

    ¡°You still have the face to mention Xiao Rui!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s anger could not be suppressed for much longer¡ªenemies fighting for life and death had already happened to her in her past life with Xia Yu, it was not strange. But between mother and child? ¡°Su Tang, are you still human? How could you have tried to murder such a young child! You almost hit Xiao Rui to deathst time, and now you even wanted to kill him directly?! Don¡¯t you think you are too vicious and cruel to exchange me and Shaohui¡¯s life with Xiao Rui¡¯s?¡±

    Su Tang continued to act innocent even though she had already been exposed. ¡°I did not. Madam, since you don¡¯t believe, call Li Lei here and I¡¯ll exin myself personally to him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still so obstinate about seeing Li Lei even at this juncture?¡± Xia Lingughed coldly. ¡°The monitors and bugs have all caught conclusive evidence. Tan Ying and the rest have even caught the murderer. I advise you to stop struggling in your death!¡±

    What, even the murderer had been caught?

    Su Tang¡¯s face turned deadly gray. She knew she had no more chances to quibble.

    Since she had already been exposed, she did not need to pretend anymore. She changed her elegant gentle tone and stared coldly at Xia Ling with a snigger. ¡°Yes, so what if it¡¯s me? It¡¯s too bad that that useless hitman did not kill you! Otherwise, your grave should have grown weeds already!¡± Her expression was vicious and she was clenching her teeth foully.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally showing your true colors?¡± Xia Lingughed coldly. ¡°I have a big life, didn¡¯t you know? I heard that the hitman you hired was the best in the world, and has never failed a mission before. You have even spent a fortune, even risking bankruptcy... Ha, I¡¯ll have to thank you for thinking so highly of me. But it¡¯s unfortunate, didn¡¯t you know what I was doing at the concert? Blessings, giving back, my brother has said that chanting had this kind of power. I¡¯ve blessed tens of thousands of people on the Earth, and the tens of thousands of people have also blessed me. With so much blessing in my body, to die? Don¡¯t kid with me.¡±

    Su Tang shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it! They are all just myths!¡±

    ¡°Ignorance is ignorance.¡± Xia Ling mocked her without reservation. ¡°You think my Xia family¡¯s name was just extolled by people? You didn¡¯t believe The Preceptor¡¯s words, thus you¡¯vended in this pitiful state.¡±

    ¡°Ye Xingling, you¡¯re only depending on your good background!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have a good background, better than yours, so what?¡± When had Xia Ling lost out in arguments? Angering someone would not kill, so she continued, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the truth. I¡¯m not some Ye Xingling, I¡¯m just Xia Ling. Imperial¡¯s Empress! Shocking, right? In the beginning, when I recognized my ancestors and returned to the Xia family, they had already announced that I was the reincarnation of Xia Ling. Unfortunately, you all thought you were so clever and took all of it as a gimmick.¡±

 Chapter 979 - Send You Off

    <h4>Chapter 979: Send You Off</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang¡¯s expression was as if she had just seen a ghost. ¡°How could there be such a bizarre thing?¡±

    Xia Ling held her head high with a form of arrogance. ¡°You are just ignorant. Su Tang, it was wrong of you to fight with me from the very beginning. Did you have that good of a birth background? Did you have a family that can support you? Did you make Li Lei fall in love with you at first sight? Are you as loveable as me? As beautiful as me?¡±

    She asked the questions as if firing a cannon. Su Tang almost vomited blood.

    Forget about her background and family, but making Li Lei fall in love with her at first sight?!

    ¡°Li Lei did not fall in love with you at first sight!¡± Su Tang exploded and dug into her words viciously. ¡°He only thought of you as someone to sleep with in the beginning! Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know, many women came back and forth before you arrived! You were nothing special in his eyes! You only managed to win his favor through some shameless means!¡± Su Tang said to Xia Ling in a high-pitched voice.

    Xia Ling had known about Li Lei¡¯s yboy history since a long time ago, but she did not put much thought into it on ount of how he had cut off all flirtatious rtionships with other girls after meeting her. So now that Su Tang had mentioned it, she was not hurt by it but was even more excited in attacking Su Tang. ¡°You¡¯re right, he had so many partners in the past. Hehe, Assistant Su... Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve forgotten that you have no more rights to be an assistant anymore. Miss Su, your muddling along turned out to be even worse than I had imagined. You¡¯ve been beside Li Lei for so many years, yet unlike me, you¡¯ve been unable to even control him and prevent him from finding more women? The moment he met me, he voluntarily cut off connections with those girls. I really don¡¯t know what to say about you,¡± Xia Ling said joyfully, watching as Su Tang¡¯s expression turned even worse.

    Su Tang puffed up her chest and said, ¡°What are you so arrogant about! Besides your family and a few strokes of luck, you are no better than me!¡± What she was most unsatisfied about was the fact that she had lost to such a stupid woman like Xia Ling! This stupid woman was unable to help Li Lei handle his business matters, and could do nothing besides singing. She could not even protect herself in times of danger. She was this stupid, yet had still managed to get through all the obstacles so far. She not only managed to get rid of stupid people like Gu Lin and Nangong Qingya, but she had also even gotten rid of her, Su Tang! You have to know that she had been praised as a ¡°genius¡± since young!

    She was the one who waspatible with Li Lei!

    Xia Ling continued to agitate her further. ¡°Yes, yes, so what if you are smart? Oh yes, did you not hear me just now? I said that I was more beautiful than you, more beautiful.¡±

    She smiled sweetly, her fair skin looking extremely attractive under the dim lights of the investigation room.

    Su Tang was about to explode with anger. Beautiful?!

    Was she kidding?!

    She still remembered the first time she had seen Xia Ling. That girl had been so small and skinny and had been wearing a training dress that was so out of fashion. Her appearance could have only been considered fresh, and she wouldn¡¯t stand out in a crowd. And what about Su Tang at that time? She always had exquisite make-up, and her long hair had been carefully arranged. Her skin, her nails, even her matching earrings and bracelets, there was no ce on her whole body that did not radiate a radiance that attracted people.

    Those days, the chances of turning heads while Su Tang walked on the streets were fairly high.

    Even Li Lei had jokingly said to her that out of all the beauties he had seen, Su Tang was the most beautiful.

    His words had made her overjoyed. She was secretly looking forward to the day when he would look back from his riding on thousands of sails ande back to live with her for the rest of their lives. She had always thought that she was different, that she was Li Lei¡¯s favorite person. She had thought that he was not touching her simply because he did not want to y with her casually. She had always looked forward to the day when the yer would give his heart to her and they would spend their lives together.

    However, in reality, if not for Xia Ling who had appeared out of nowhere, this wrong of hers could have been fulfilled.

    Old Master Li had already established his thoughts on how ¡°Su Tang was a good wife material¡±. However, every time Grandpa had said that Li Lei would have burst outughing inexplicably. Su Tang¡¯s heart had been injured by his mockery. Finally, Old Master Li had seen enough. He had reassured Su Tang, [Xiao Lei has said that when he has reached a suitable age and is still unable to find a girl he likes, he will marry you if you are willing.]

    She had left Old Master¡¯s tea room with her face red and full of embarrassment.

    However, she had remembered those words in her heart and had taken greater care of Li Lei.

    Unfortunately, the ¡°girl he likes¡± had to appear. It turned out to be an unattractive ugly duckling, even in the eyes of Su Tang who had seen plenty of handsome men and beautiful women.

    But today, that small woman was actually boasting in front of her saying that she was more beautiful?!

    She could not tolerate it!

    Su Tang sniggered coldly and said, ¡°Beautiful? Why don¡¯t you look at yourself in the mirror? Tan Ying must have been blind to have chosen you to join the training camp. With you looking like that, nobody would even want you if you were put in a pageant!¡±

    ¡°You can continue to be jealous, but I am ¡®more¡¯ beautiful than you.¡± She added more emphasis on ¡°more¡±, and even turned around to ask the bodyguard on purpose, ¡°Tell me, who is more beautiful?¡±

    The bodyguard said seriously, ¡°Of course it is Madam.¡±

    God was a witness to his sincerity, he was not just saying that against his beliefs. The Xia Ling in front of him was indeed much more attractive than Su Tang¡ª

    Now that she had recovered fully, she was wearing a soft pink shirt, making her originally pale skin look much better with the color. Her long ck hair had been trimmed carefully, and it was smooth and light. She also had long butterfly wing-like eyshes and light, beautiful cherry-like lips...

    Inparison, what about Su Tang?

    She had straw-like messy dry hair, dark yellow skin, and deeply sunken cheeks...

    There was simply no need for aparison?!

    Su Tang realized that something was wrong, and she realized with a shock that today, she would be described as haggard, and the gap between her and Xia Ling who had been so pampered was huge. The white swan and ugly duckling from so many years ago had beenpletely reversed today. That woman had be a highly-regarded allure, while she herself had be the one nobody would want in a pageant!

    ¡°As the saying goes, one¡¯s appearance is formed by their heart.¡± Xia Ling lowered her head to y with her fingernails lightly. ¡°Some people be more and more beautiful, while some be increasingly ugly. Su Tang, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to see Li Lei? Aren¡¯t you afraid that with your current state now, he¡¯ll see you and love me even more?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Su Tang shouted angrily. She charged forward intending to hit her but was stopped by the bodyguard.

    ¡°It¡¯s not nonsense.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Have you heard of Madam Li in ancient times? She had been adored by the Emperor all her life, and when she was dying, her appearance was described as extremely haggard. She knew to prevent the Emperor from seeing her, so as to leave behind a beautiful memory of herself in him. Li Lei has never even loved you before. If he sees your current state, I¡¯m afraid he¡¯ll have nightmares.¡±

    Su Tang was furious. ¡°You, this wretch!¡±

    ¡°Li Lei knows best who is the true wretch.¡± Xia Ling was still smiling. She was not afraid of her. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to see some wretch, so he has sent me here to send you off. Su Tang, Su Tang, do you have anything you want me to help you convey?¡±

 Chapter 980 - Oppressing Su Tang

    <h4>Chapter 980: Oppressing Su Tang</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang caught onto the meaning behind her words with astuteness. ¡°Send me off?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her. ¡°Yes. On the ount of you being Xiao Rui¡¯s mother and having saved Li Lei¡¯s life before, he does not intend to kill you. He has decided to send you to X Prison. You¡¯ve been beside him for so many years, you must have heard of that ce? Anyways, I¡¯m not familiar with it, so I can only wish you luck.¡±

    Su Tang was trembling slightly.

    She had indeed heard of that ce before. Rumor had it that that ce was the world¡¯s most miserable prison. Criminals who entered would never be able toe out alive... That ce was independent of the three regions of the world. The depths of the jail hid numerous vicious and cruel criminals that even the jailers did not dare step foot inside!

    Li Lei was going to send her there?

    She smiled sorrowfully. ¡°This is the oue of me saving his life?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Su Tang, even the biggest goodwill can be exhausted. You have been challenging his limits time and time again. You plotted to kill his wife, and not only that, you were even nning to kill his son! Li family¡¯s future heir! Even if one life is offset, you still owe him one life. Him giving you mercy is already your biggest fortune, yet you still have the face to me him?¡±

    Su Tang red at her fiercely. ¡°How could the life of you and that wretched child offset his?!¡±

    ¡°Whether it is worth it or not is not up to you to decide.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°Also, didn¡¯t anybody tell you not to scold people casually? Congrattions, from today until you go to X Prison, you will not be given any food.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s heart leaped to her throat. It was one thing to not have any food outside, but going to X Prison in hunger was a different matter! Rumor had it that the people there were even cannibals from theck of food. Who was to know if she could have enough food and would be able to eat a full meal! She was not familiar with the surroundings at all, and to go into the prison in a state of hunger and weakness was not a wise move at all! Su Tang¡¯s mind wasplex with numerous thoughts, and she stared at Xia Ling, her expression unpredictable.

    Xia Ling was deliberately trying to frighten her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were very beautiful? I¡¯ve heard that in this prison, it¡¯s impossible to separate the male criminals from the female criminals. With such a ¡®beautiful¡¯ woman like you going in... He, how many days would you be tortured for? I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± Don¡¯t me her for being cruel, the fact that Su Tang had plotted murder against her had agitated her. If they had been careless, it would have been three people¡¯s lives at stake, even her child Shaohui would have been a part of the tragedy!

    Inparison, scaring Su Tang with these few words were simply going easy on her!

    However, Su Tang¡¯s face had already turned pale. She was by nature unafraid of anything, and would not show even a hint of fear in the face of the most vicious war or a rain of bullets. However, being raped was different. She had already experienced such a blow when she had been in the primitive jungle. It had given her nightmares every night. She did not want to experience such a tragedy for the second time.

    ¡°I... I¡¯ve done wrong.¡± Her expression was weak, and she finally conceded to Xia Ling. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have scolded you. Nor should I have scolded Young Master Shaohui. Please forgive me and give me food.¡± She would only be able to think of ways to deal with the criminals once she was full and energized! She did not wish to enter the prison in a terrible starving state. She did not wish so at all.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°What did you say? I couldn¡¯t hear you.¡±

    Su Tang clenched her teeth and said louder, ¡°I was wrong! Please forgive me!¡±

    Staring at the woman¡¯s face, Xia Lingmented. She had been such an elegant and prideful woman when they had met for the first time, with her head held high. However, she was actually being forced to plead guilty with her for forgiveness now. It must feel terrible.

    If not for the obsessions deep in her heart, how would things havee to this?

    Compassion had already risen in Xia Ling¡¯s heart subconsciously. However, thispassion was quickly suppressed by her. Someone had once told her thatpassion towards an enemy was cruelty to oneself! She looked at Su Tang and her smile turned colder. ¡°You admit your mistakes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Tang swallowed her pride.

    ¡°You want me to give you food?¡±

    ¡°Please give me food.¡± Su Tang clenched her teeth so hard they almost broke. Her whole body was shaking. The unprecedented humiliation shrouded her, and anger was biting fiercely at her. But what other choice did she have?

    Xia Ling narrowed her eyes at her and pondered over it in her heart. What else could she use against her? Make her swear to cut off all thoughts of Li Lei? Don¡¯t be silly, this kind of wishful thinking was not so easily cut off. Make her promise to never harm Shaohui and the rest? That was useless too. Other than the fact that her promise could not be trusted, once she was in X Prison, she would not be able to get out anyways, and making such a promise would not make any difference.

    What else could she exploit from her...?

    Xia Ling looked at Su Tang, who waspletely abjected. She looked at her as if looking at a piece of meat on the chopping board.

    Su Tang was restless under her stare and seemed to understand her intentions. She attempted. ¡°Madam? Is there anything else I can do for you? As long as you say it, I will do it! I, I¡¯ll give you all my assets! I¡¯ll tell you all the secrets of the Li family¡¯s business!¡±

    Xia Ling said with amusement, ¡°The little assets you have? Why would I want that? And what kind of Li family secrets. Since Li Lei has already decided to exile you, it must be because the ¡®secrets¡¯ you have on your hands are no longer worthy. You haven¡¯t been his assistant for so many years, how could you have gotten ahold of critical matters? Don¡¯t think so highly of yourself.¡±

    Regarding matters of the Li family¡¯s business, although she did not have much judgment, she believed in Li Lei¡¯s judgment.

    Su Tang¡¯s expression was pale. All the things she had possessed that she had been proud of¡ªbeauty, intelligence, fortune, and information... all these things were being trampled on by Xia Ling. Yet Xia Ling was looking at her as if she was looking at a piece of worthless garbage. When had she been treated as such? At that moment, she was humiliated and angry. Combined with the terror of the unprecedented future in X Prison, her whole body was trembling uncontrobly.

    Xia Ling was also feeling sullen. Was there really nothing worthy she could exploit from her?

    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t look so afraid,¡± she said to Su Tang impatiently. ¡°Didn¡¯t you think that you were so intelligent? Then think of what you can do to help me. If you think of something, I¡¯ll give you food, but if you don¡¯t... Hehe, then you¡¯ll just go to prison in starvation.¡±

    Don¡¯t say that she had not given Su Tang a chance. She regarded Su Tang¡¯s intelligence highly.

    With that said, she motioned for the bodyguard to push her out of the room.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Su Tang gathered her wits in a hurry and thought of an idea. ¡°Madam, there is something! Bring Li Rui here, I¡¯ll tell him the truth about how I wanted to kill him! He will surely hate me and will be devoted to you for life. He will treat you as his real mother!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Xia Ling lifted her hand, indicating the bodyguard to stop. ¡°You¡¯re that kind-hearted?¡±

 Chapter 981 - Secret Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 981: Secret Meeting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Su Tang¡¯s eyes shed, and she said as though breaking an old jar, ¡°Either way, I¡¯m already going to be locked up in the prison forever, so what does it matter even if Li Rui were to hate me? Why not let himpletely devote himself to following you, at least he¡¯ll have a path to live.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Seems like you¡¯ve gotten over it. However, I forgot to tell you. Li Rui is alreadypletely devoted to me. He¡¯s even calling me ¡®mother¡¯ and is especially attached to me now. And as for you? I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯llpletely forget about you after a few more years.¡±

    Her words were like steel needles hammering themselves into Su Tang¡¯s heart.

    This wicked woman, not only did she steal her man, she was even taking away her son! Even though she did not like the child, but he was still her child, after all! How could he recognize her enemy as his mother?!

    Su Tang considered rushing up to Xia Ling and ruining her face. Her whole body trembled as if she were about to go mad.

    Xia Ling looked at her disdainfully. ¡°With all your thought into it, you could only think of this? What a disappointing worthless garbage.¡± With that said, she gestured for the bodyguard to push her out.

    ¡°Madam!¡± Su Tang was anxious. What if she really did not give her food to eat?

    Her only reply was the echo of the empty corridor. Xia Ling had already been pushed far away from the room by the bodyguard.

    Once Xia Ling was homed, she ate dinner with her family and read bedtime stories to the children. Then, she returned to her bedroom and took a bath before changing into her silky, soft pajamas. She sat in front of her dressing table to apply some facial products.

    Li Lei had already bathed. He stood behind her in a silk bathrobe, gentlybing her hair for her. ¡°You went to find Su Tang today?¡± He asked whilebing her hair.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xia Ling said, unconcerned. She opened a bottle of body lotion and tried it, then changed to another bottle. ¡°Do you like the rose scent or thevender scent?¡±

    ¡°Rose,¡± he replied. ¡°Let me help you apply it.¡±

    Xia Ling passed the bottle to him. He poured the liquid onto his palms and gently rubbed them on the pale fair skin of her corbones. ¡°You are beautiful,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Of course.¡± She looked at the man who was concentrated on applying body lotion on her body through the mirror. Actually, he was even better looking. The soft bedroom lighting outlined his deep and sexy facial features. His hair on the front of his forehead was slightly long, and it covered his eyes. Yet, it made him look even more charming.

    She was fascinated. Such a good looking man was her beloved husband. What else could she wish for in this life?

    He was very focused on applying the lotion and made sure not to miss any spot. His slightly coarse hands carried warmth as they massaged against her clean back, letting the rose fragrance absorb into her body and diffuse into the air quietly. She rxed subconsciously and blurrily heard him ask, ¡°What did you and her talk about?¡±

    ¡°Su Tang?¡± She half-closed her eyes and like azy kitten, was sofortable that she almost purred. ¡°I scolded her and vented the anger that had umted all these years... go to the left a little... yes, there... Li Lei, do you know that it was really a wise choice you made to marry me? Su Tang has already reached the end of the road and was penniless, yet she was still intent on harming Xiao Rui. I¡¯ve never seen a mother like her before.¡±

    Li Lei chuckled lightly. ¡°Yes, the wisest choice I¡¯ve made in my whole life was to ovee all difficulties and be able to finally marry you.¡± He then asked with a little curiosity, ¡°How did Su Tang harm Xiao Rui?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°She wanted to tell Xiao Rui the truth that she was the one who had hired a hitman to knock us... Xiao Rui is just a child, imagine what kind of feelings he would have when he finds out that his own mother had tried to kill him. The worst thing would be for this to remain as a shadow in his heart for his entire life. Su Tang is really capable of doing anything in order to aplish her goals.¡±

    Li Lei had not expected this and was shocked.

    Was it that the elegant woman had changed, or was it that he had never seen her true colors?

    He pondered over it, focused on rubbing the rose body lotion on her and asked, ¡°How did you reply?¡±

    ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t let her harm Xiao Rui.¡± Xia Ling was sofortable she was about to fall asleep. She told him hazily, ¡°I rejected her. I don¡¯t want Xiao Rui to meet her and face such a cruel truth.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s gaze deepened. Xiao Ling was much more devoted to Li Rui aspared to Su Tang, even though he wasn¡¯t even her own son that carried her bloodline. Disregarding his love for her, she was the one most suited to be the family¡¯s matriarch. Her affection for this woman deepened, and he carried her up before cing her on the soft bed.

    She mumbled and turned over to switch to a morefortable position. She hugged him tightly as if hugging onto a big pillow. ¡°Sleep with me.¡± She whined in a sleepy haze, rubbing onto his muscr lean body a few times before falling deeply asleep.

    Leaving Li Lei alone, a fiery passion brought out by her. However, staring at her sleeping in an angelic and peaceful way, he could not bear to disturb her and finally decided not to eat her clean.

    He embraced the little vixen and got through the night torturously.

    The next day, Li Lei went to visit Su Tang behind Xia Ling¡¯s back.

    Su Tang had not eaten for a day and was frail with hunger. Her eyes had already lost the radiance it once held. Once she saw Li Lei, it was as if she had seen her savior, and she ran forward to embrace him. ¡°Young Master! Young Master! I was wrong, please forgive me! Save me! I don¡¯t want to go to X Prison!¡±

    Li Lei only took a while to remove her from him. He frowned. ¡°Su Tang, Xiao Ling doesn¡¯t like it when other women touch me. If you continue to be like this, I will leave immediately.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s heart ached painfully, but she suppressed it and did not continue to embrace him. She stared at him, tears falling from her eyes like rivulets. ¡°Young master...¡± She cried while saying, ¡°I really do know my wrong. I was obsessed and lost my way because I love you, I love you too much...¡±

    ¡°Su Tang, I¡¯ve already told you that we are impossible. You¡¯vended in this state because of your obsession and obstinance.¡± Li Lei¡¯s gaze showed pity, but his words were extremely heartless. ¡°I¡¯m not who I used to be. I¡¯m not alone anymore, I have a wife and a son. I have to be responsible for their safety. I have no other choice but to send you to X Prison, Su Tang. Take care of yourself.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s tears fell uncontrobly. ¡°No... Young Master, you wouldn¡¯t be that cruel. It must be Ye Xingling, she must have instigated you to do that, right? Sending me to X Prison must have been her idea!¡±

    ¡°It was my idea,¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°It was her idea! You don¡¯t have to cover for her!¡± Su Tang¡¯s voice rose in pitch.

    Li Lei stared at her pitifully. ¡°Su Tang, stop lying to yourself. You know it in your heart. How could Xiao Ling have known what X Prison was? It was me who made the decision because I didn¡¯t want you to be able to hurt her.¡±

    Su Tang stared at him in disbelief. Her tears had stopped. Suddenly, she screeched. ¡°Why are you this cruel! Who don¡¯t you just kill me! Why?!¡±

 Chapter 982 - Only One Mother

    <h4>Chapter 982: Only One Mother</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei was silent.

    But his deep eyes told her that it was because he was indebted to her, so he couldn¡¯t bear to.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t bear to, right... Hahaha.¡± Su Tangughed while crying. She reached out her fragile, thin hands and pointed straight at him. ¡°Li Lei, you too have times when you can¡¯t bear to do something?! Why don¡¯t you just kill me directly! Come, kill me!¡± She shouted, throwing herself at him, pulling his arms and hitting herself with them. ¡°Kill me, kill me! Kill me!¡±

    He easily caught her arms and stared silently at her. He waited till she was exhausted from crying and had copsed onto the muddy cold floor. Su Tang covered her face and cried hopelessly. ¡°You won¡¯t even kill me...¡±

    Li Lei finally opened his mouth. ¡°Kill? You will forever be a loser if you die here. Why don¡¯t you live on, perhaps then you could turn over the flow of your life¡ªthat is the Su Tang I know.¡±

    Turn over?

    He had said¡ªturn over?!

    Su Tang quickly raised her head, seeming to have forgotten about crying. She stared at him dead in the eyes and asked hurriedly, ¡°Will you love me? Will you love me in the future?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The only reply she got was, however, a harsh denial.

    ¡°Then why are you talking about turning over?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you could fall in love with someone else, someone better than me, and thus take revenge on me.¡±

    Hearing that, Su Tang burst out into crazedughter. Sheughed so hard that tears fell. This man still did not understand her. How could she fall in love with anyone else? ¡°Li Lei, just tell me.¡± She red at him spitefully. ¡°What is your real motive ining here? It isn¡¯t to see me, is it?¡±

    Li Lei had not wanted toe see her. His heart was indeed upset to see someone he had fought alongside with end up in this state. However, the things that Xia Ling had told him about yesterday night had reminded him¡ªsince certain things were already done, why not do them with a little insurance.

    ¡°When Xiao Ling was here yesterday, you gave her a suggestion but was rejected by her. I¡¯vee because I hope you can carry out that suggestion. In return, I will give you the best care possible in the few days before you enter X Prison,¡± Li Lei said. He had already heard from his subordinate that Xiao Ling had not given Su Tang food yesterday. Looking at the frail and starving Su Tang, he was slightly emotional¡ªhow had thingse to this?

    Su Tang was shocked. The clever her understood his intention immediately. ¡°You want Xiao Rui to hate me so that he can devote himselfpletely to Ye Xingling! Li Lei, you are so cruel to me! Li Rui is my son!¡±

    ¡°He was not your son from the moment you tried to kill him.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice turned cold. It was true, he wanted Li Rui to see the true colors of his birth mother. So what if the child was to suffer? That was better than him backstabbing them and retaliating even after Xiao Ling raised him painstakingly!

    In the face of certain things, Li Lei was cold-hearted.

    He did not dote on the child as much as Xia Ling. Instead, for Xia Ling¡¯s safety, he was more than willing to hurt the child and cut off all his thoughts on his birth mother!

    Since Xia Ling had raised Li Rui, then he should see her as his mother!

    Li Lei stared at Su Tang unquestioningly. ¡°Tell Xiao Rui the truth about you trying to kill him.¡±

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t?¡± Su Tang was not satisfied. How could he be so good to that wretch?!

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll enter X Prison with an empty stomach,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°You must have heard much about the prison from me. What happens to those who are unfit... you must be clear.¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s body trembled at the thought.

    Of course, she was clear. If she was to go in that state, even death would be considered lucky!

    She stared at Li Lei. In his calm and innocent eyes, she could not see any room to change his decision. Finally, she gritted her teeth and said, ¡°Fine. I promise you. But you have to promise me something too.¡±

    Li Lei raised his eyebrow.

    Su Tang pleaded softly. ¡°Young master... Give me a picture of you and let me bring it to the prison.¡± That would be the only form of support to her in the future long, slow and dark times.

    Li Lei was surprised. He had not thought this would be the condition. His heart ached. How had such a capable side-kick of his turned into this state? He nodded. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll get someone to deliver it today.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said softly.

    There was no more to say between the two of them. Li Lei opened the door and left.

    That night, he brought Li Rui over and entered the room next to the imprisonment room as nned. Through the room¡¯s one-way ss window, he could see clearly what was going on in the imprisonment room, yet that room was unable to see through the ss window.

    Li Rui looked at his mother and grabbed onto Li Lei¡¯s hand in nervousness.

    Li Lei lowered his head to look at him. His voice was gentle as he said, ¡°Scared?¡±

    Li Rui shook his head, then nodded. He hid his body behind him before saying, ¡°I¡±m afraid she¡¯ll hit me again.¡±

    ¡°She can¡¯t see you, she doesn¡¯t know you¡¯re here.¡± Li Lei reassured the child before finding him a stool to sit on. The things that he was going to hear next would develop into an incurable psychological damage to him, but there was no perfect solution in this world.

    ¡°Xiao Rui,¡± Li Lei said gently yet sternly. ¡°You are a man, and you have to be brave. Some things might be very cruel, but a man can only grow from that, understand?¡±

    The child nodded as though he understood.

    Li Lei heaved a sigh of relief in his heart before sitting down next to him.

    He held onto the child¡¯s hand tightly as if giving him strength.

    In the imprisonment room, an interrogator went in and conversed with Su Tang, letting her tell the truth.

    Li Rui could hear everything clearly from the other room. He widened his eyes in disbelief. What... Was it not enough that his mother had tried to hit him to death? This time, she was even going to kill him and Brother Hui, and even Mother Ling?!

    The child¡¯s heart trembled, and his face was soon covered with his tears.

    After a while, the interrogation finally ended.

    After hearing the truth, Li Rui¡¯s hands and feet were ice-cold. He was so upset he could not speak.

    Li Lei took off his jacket and wrapped the child in it before carrying him into the car. Inside the car, the air conditioner was warm as summer, and it let out a low rhythmic rum. The driver manipted the steering wheel and drove into the streets of the city, letting the childe back to his senses little by little.

    ¡°She¡¯s not my mother...¡± He whimpered.

    Li Lei held onto him. ¡°She only gave birth to you to try and make use of you to garner Father¡¯s affection. She never truly loved you. But it¡¯s okay, Xiao Rui. I and Mother Ling love you, and we dote on you as if you were our own son. You will have a very very good mother, so good that other kids would be jealous.¡±

    The child was silent for a long time.

    They stopped in front of the house and he finally said softly, ¡°Mother will not hurt me. I only have one mother.¡±

    In an angle where he could be seen, Li Lei smiled. He reached out his hand to wipe away the child¡¯s tears. ¡°Yes, you only have one mother. Stop crying now, and don¡¯t tell mother about where you¡¯ve been today or she¡¯ll be sad.¡±

 Chapter 983 - Xia Moyanâ€™s Action

    <h4>Chapter 983: Xia Moyan¡¯s Action</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was stretching her body in the practice room.

    All these years she had never once fallen behind in practicing her basic singing and dancing skills. Even when she had been captured by Li Feng, she would close her eyes and practice in her mind. This not only helped her surpass the other singers by a great extent, but it also helped her remain peaceful.

    The sunlight shone through the ss window into the room.

    Her whole body seemed to be ted with an obscureyer of gold.

    She extended her four limbs, stretched her back and spun. She was as elegant and light as a feline.

    Er Mao lied downzily on the wooden floor next to the window and looked at her sleepily. His life had be less boring ever since his owner had gotten married¡ªthere was more fragility in his territory now... Yes, at least in Er Mao¡¯s eyes it was like that... The female master as well as the two children that needed protecting. They were not like Master, who could take care of himself well. They needed his constant concern.

    Er Mao felt deep responsibility.

    Ovee with boredom, Er Mao staredzily at Mistress dancing. It could not understand her. What was the use of these actions that held zerobat power? If the fans of Xia Ling were to know, they would surely shed tears and riot against Er Mao, for this celestial being was able to watch Goddess Ling practice dancing in such close proximity! But it found her dancing boring instead?!

    Xia Ling spun and spun.

    Er Mao was about to fall asleep.

    Just when it was contemting whether he should head outside to find the cute Young Master Shaohui to y with, Li Lei entered the room.

    He wore a casual white shirt that contrasted against his bronze skin and made him look clean and handsome. He headed toward Xiao Ling and spoke, his doting voice carrying a hint of reproach, ¡°Why are you practicing now? Xiao Ling, you just removed your ster not long ago. You¡¯re not taking good care of your own body. Be careful not to injure yourself.¡±

    She stopped spinning and turned back to smile at him. ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve been practicing dance my whole life, how could I not know my own limits? Besides, suitable exercise can help me recover quicker.¡±

    He nced at the wheelchair that she had abandoned at the corner of the practice room and shook his head helplessly. ¡°You... Sigh.¡± Then, he turned back and said to the leopard by the window sternly, ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s fooling around, and you¡¯re fooling around with her too? Why are youzing around looking at a beauty? If you find out that she¡¯s not taking care of her own body the next time, you have to tell me immediately, understand?¡±

    The leopard yawned loudly and ignored him.

    Xia Lingughed and asked, ¡°You¡¯ve settled all your business today?¡±

    Li Lei wrapped his hand around her soft and gentle waist. He nted a kiss on her forehead. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll cook salmon for you for dinner, okay?¡± Before she could speak, Er Mao lifted his tail joyfully.

    Xia Lingughed, eyeing Er Mao. ¡°Sure.¡±

    She continued to ask, ¡°Su Tang is going to X Prison tomorrow?¡±

    He nodded, yet did not tell her about him bringing Li Rui secretly to find Su Tang. He only said, ¡°X Prison¡¯s security is extremely strict. Even though it has captured the most vicious and wicked criminals, not one of them has managed to escape it for more than 200 years. A second Li Feng will not repeat itself, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    She nodded and was reassured.

    She was slightly emotional thinking about it. The elegant and prideful woman that she had met for the first time hadnded in today¡¯s state. She exchanged some sweet affectionate words with Li Lei for a while before heading to the bathroom to take a bath. She changed out of her sweat-drenched dance clothes and dialed her brother¡¯s number. She told him about the family¡¯s situation and also told him about how Li Lei had dealt with Su Tang.

    Xia Moyan murmured, ¡°X Prison...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, brother?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was light. ¡°It¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    He hung up, changed into a clean white gown, and took his magical instrument. He said to Xia Family Head, ¡°Father, I¡¯m going out.¡±

    The old man was ying chess with the family¡¯s silver fox. Hearing Xia Moyan, he waved his hand dismissively. ¡°Go, this punk of a son doesn¡¯t want to y chess with me, and rather thinks about murdering for money from morning to night.¡±

    The veins on Xia Moyan¡¯s forehead jumped¡ªwhat did he mean murdering for money?

    ¡°I¡¯m helping sister deal with her love rival.¡± He gritted his teeth.

    ¡°Your sister has that punk from the Li family to protect her, what kind of interest are you mixing in blindly?¡± Xia Family Head was intive. That punk from the Li family was not a good man. When he had been chasing his precious daughter, he had said all kinds of stuff to suck up to him, and had even yed chess with him solicitously... But what about now? Once he had obtained his precious daughter, he didn¡¯t even bothering to y chess anymore!

    Xia Moyan felt that his own cultivation was really of top quality. Even in this situation, he had not cast a disdainful re in his father¡¯s direction. Was the old man¡¯s chess more important, or was his own sister¡¯s future happiness more important?! That Li family¡¯s punk handled things too inefficiently. Did he really think that everything would be okay after sending Su Tang to X Prison? In that ce, even though ny-nine percent of the people there lived tragically, there was still a very small possibility of being recognized as the king of the prison. They would be able to control the forces of nature and wield absolute power. They would be able to enjoy living inside more so than they had in the outside world. He was not going to allow his sister¡¯s love rival to be so lucky.

    Ignoring the old man, The Preceptor carried his instruments and headed out.

    X Prison.

    Overwhelmed by this unexpected visit by The Preceptor, the warden allowed Xia Moyan to enter. He served his tea and offered his seat to him. With profound respect and humility, he said, ¡°Pre... Preceptor! What brought you here? Whatever orders you have, I will do it!¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°You have a new criminaling tomorrow called Su Tang, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± The warden was prepared to say he knew without reservation. ¡°I heard that she hasmitted an unforgivable crime against the Li family... Oh, that¡¯s your sister¡¯s side of the family...¡± The warden seemed to understand something. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sir. I know how to deal with her. I will make sure that she enjoys the ¡®top quality¡¯ treatment! You and Madam Li do not need to worry!¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s light eyes carried satisfaction.

    ¡°Hand me her prison suit,¡± he said.

    The warden did not know what he was intending to do, but he still handed him the prison suit that had been prepared for Su Tang.

    Xia Moyan carried the suit into a cleanroom along with his magical instruments. One night passed, and he walked out with the suit and handed it to the warden. He ordered. ¡°You must make her wear this suit. Remember.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes!¡± The warden promised.

    Xia Moyan handed him another object. ¡°I¡¯ve performed a little magic on the prison suit. It has disrupted the luck bnce in the prison. This amulet will protect you. It will absorb the extra good luck that has flowed out after being broken by my magic. It will ensure you live a life of fortune.¡±

    The warden received the amulet ecstatically. He was beyond grateful and repeated his thanks incessantly. He would have even kotowed to Xia Moyan. He knew that cooperating with The Preceptor would bring benefits to him! Casually making an insignificant prisoner wear a set of clothes could actually exchange for something this great. It was extremely worth it!

 Chapter 984 - Entering X Prison

    <strong>Chapter 984: Entering X Prison</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    As for the broken flow of luck for Su Tang and the prison? He did not care!

    Anyway, whoever entered X Prison were human g and garbage. Whatever their fate became was also a punishment they deserved!

    Xia Moyan was very satisfied. As The Preceptor, he had not wielded his powers to help his family before, since being forcibly involved in the fortune of his own family easily defied the rules of heaven and earth. However, Su Tang¡¯s case was different. Li Lei¡¯s punishment had been handed down first, and he was only adding a small fortune bonus onto Li Lei¡¯s punishment. This kind of adjustment was still epted within the rules of heaven. Although he still had to pay a price, it wasn¡¯t anything serious.

    Being able to deal with his sister¡¯s love rival was reallyforting to him.

    The second day, Su Tang arrived at X Prison.

    She had already tried her best to prepare herself mentally, but Su Tang was still utterly humiliated and angered by the violent treatments of the jailers¡ªin front of everyone... with the males and females mixed together... they had stripped her of all her clothes. Amid the wolf-whistles and mockery, they had violented covered her in the prison suit that reeked terribly and almost made her puke.

    ¡°Get lost, wretch!¡± A fat jailer kicked her forcefully down a deep ck hole. She could not see her fingers in the dark steep hole. She walked on with her bare feet stepping onto the rough mud and stones. She did not know how far she had walked, but she finally found the exit after her pampered feet had already formed blisters.

    ¡°Roar!¡±

    She had not yet reacted in time when she heard the low growl of a beast. Instinctively, she backtracked. In front of her, she saw a wild dog that was only skin and bones ring hungrily at her with a pair of distant eyes.

    Her heart hammered. She did not have any weapons, and she watched as the wild dog started charging towards her. The only thing she could do was turn around and run. She did not know how long she ran for, but luckily, the wild dog was weak and had low stamina. It couldn¡¯t keep up with her pace and slowly disappeared from view.

    She stopped, not knowing where she had run to. She surveyed her surroundings; a bleak, dark forest and a blood-red moon hanging from the sky. Sounds of beasts growling came from near and far, apanied by the asional presumptuousughter of humans or the blood-curdling screams of dismay. It was so creepy it made one¡¯s blood run cold.

    Su Tang leaned against a tree, panting hard. Using the dim light of the moon, she surveyed her own body. Her two feet had already lost their senses and she was unable to move another step. The soles of her feet were ground to a hideous state and were bleeding profusely. She tore off a piece of cloth from her clothes and bandaged her feet with it, enduring the burst of stench from the fabric. It was only then that she discovered¡ªher toes had been ground so badly that her white bones were revealed...

    This was only the first day since entering this prison. What was she to do in the future?

    As she bandaged her injuries, a wave of sorrow overcame her. Her heart was consumed by a painful dejection.

    What she was unaware of was that this prison suit that had been given to her by the warden was contaminated with the ¡°doom¡± of Xia Moyan¡¯s enchantment. As long as she was wearing it on her body, the doom would not end. She cherished this only set of fabric and did not waste even a little bit of rag. She carefully put it close to her body for future use.

    After she was done bandaging her two feet, she raised her head, only to discover a few cavemen-like men and women smiling at her savagely. ¡°Newbie?¡± One of the burly fellows licked his lips and said, ¡°This time the goods seem not bad. White and clean, with fair skin and tender meat... Looks like we¡¯re going to have lots of fun, hahaha.¡±

    Su Tang was so afraid that she was trembling from head to toe. What did they want?

    She heard a scoff from the crowd, which came from a tanned skinny woman. ¡°Not bad? She¡¯ll turn ugly and coarse after staying here for a few more days. I say the few of you should stop thinking about that kind of stuff. What¡¯s more important ispleting the Witch¡¯s mission quickly! If we can¡¯t find the tester, we¡¯ll have to die ourselves!¡±

    One of the men had originally been touching Su Tang¡¯s face, disregarding her weak struggles. His dirty big palms had originally been traveling down her face toward her breasts. After listening to the woman, he grabbed it a few times before letting go unwillingly. He cursed. ¡°What a wet nket!¡± He got up and waved his hand. ¡°Bring this woman away!¡±

    Immediately, two big and tall men came forward and tied Su Tang up tightly.

    One of the men kicked her, almost making her fall. ¡°Walk quickly!¡±

    How was Su Tang able to move when her feet were injured? She was panting heavily from just taking a few steps. The entire group was forced to stop to wait. ¡°Why are you dilly-dallying?¡± The tanned skinny woman came forward and pped her. ¡°You still think you¡¯re a pampered rich girl in our world? Move quickly! If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll have your guts for garter!¡±

    ¡°Before you do that, you must let us brothers enjoy her!¡± A few of the men chuckled pervertedly.

    Su Tang¡¯s face turned pale. She knew that she would face even more terrifying humiliation if she were to struggle. So, she clenched her teeth and dragged her injured body along. However, the whole group was still slowed down by her slow pace.

    ¡°We¡¯ll camp here for today,¡± one of the men said after seeing how she was unable to move further. ¡°Let¡¯s not exhaust this wretch till she really dies. What if we send her to the Witch and she doesn¡¯t want to ept it? Where would we go to find a recement?¡±

    The rest of them thought his words made sense. They settled down and set up camp there begrudgingly. A bunch of them started a campfire and ate wild fruits and meat while ying games andughing. A few horny men carried some women from the crowd and disappeared into the darkness. It wasn¡¯t long before various unbearable noises started spreading.

    Su Tang tried her hardest to shrink her body into a ball. She tried to diminish her sense of existence as much as possible. She understood fully well that these people were all vicious and cruel criminals and she could not speak logic with them. If she was careless, she could suffer some irreparable damage. How could she protect herself? Her mind whirred quickly, and she tried to figure out what they meant by the ¡°Witch¡± they had been talking about.

    She was racking her brains when suddenly, a man wearing a fur coat walked over to her.

    ¡°This wretch really looks good.¡± He reached out his hand to tear apart Su Tang¡¯s clothes. He smiled and said pervertedly with stinky breath, ¡°Come, let me enjoy...¡±

    Su Tang was frightened out of her wits. She struggled to withdraw her body from him. In a rush of desperation, she said hurriedly, ¡°Big brother, I, I will definitely serve you well, but would you tell me who The Witch is, please?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, consider yourself tactful.¡± The man was very pleased. He continued to tear off her clothes while saying, ¡°The Witch? He is X Prison¡¯s Supreme God! It¡¯s an honor to be brought there to be his experiment. You only have to lie on the big stone and let him cut open your brain. Then, he¡¯ll attach some animal¡¯s tail or ws to your body... If you can survive, you won¡¯t have to worry about your meals. Even if you were to run out asionally, nobody would dare touch you after recognizing that you are The Witch¡¯s property. Haha, haha, hahaha... This kind of good thing really makes people jealous! So, little wretch, you¡¯re thankful to me, right? Let me bring you to a good ce. Quick, serve your master well!¡±

 Chapter 985 - The Witch

    <strong>Chapter 985: The Witch</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°Wait!¡± Su Tang¡¯s face was pale and her voice went a key higher.

    She had one hand against the man¡¯s chest as she tried to stop him. She understood now that the so-called Witch was a pervert! These people were helping him to find a test subject, and she was the one! Once she got to The Witch, she would end up¡ªas the man said¡ªwith the fate of ab rat!

    She... couldn¡¯t take it lying down!

    ¡°Bitch, why are you so hard to deal with!¡± That man gave her two tight ps on the face out of anger. He did not care to waste more time talking to her, and immediately pinned her down.

    ¡°The Witch won¡¯t let you off!¡± Su Tang screamed, ¡°If you darey your hands on me, I¡¯ll get him to kill you once I be his test subject! As long as I cooperate with him and let him have his way as a test subject, he¡¯ll definitely fulfill my wish!¡±

    She was banking on the fact that they feared The Witch.

    From their descriptions of him, The Witch seemed to be an intimidating figure in this prison that no one dared offend. It even seemed like they were afraid of him.

    She was right.

    The man was about to force himself on her but stopped his attempt the moment she said that. He red at her, gave her another two ps, and then held her by her hair. ¡°Who do you think you are, telling tales about me to The Witch?! Do you think he¡¯ll listen? Let¡¯s see if I should kill you right now!¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± At this point, Su Tang was oddly calm. She looked into that man¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare kill me, because once I¡¯m dead, it¡¯ll be hard for you people to find another test subject. What did that woman say just now? If you don¡¯t find one, they¡¯re going to get one of you to take to The Witch instead. Hazard a guess, would they pick someone else, or would they pick the person who killed me?¡±

    Her calm questioning left him slightly shaken.

    The man really would not dare to kill her, and the reason was as she had mentioned. If she died, who was going to take her ce? In Prison X, each group had toe up with a test subject for The Witch on a rotational basis. Once, a group had been unable to find one for him during their turn, and everyone else witnessed the bad end that they came to!

    Nobody dared to offend The Witch.

    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t kill you, I can rape you!¡± He wanted to force himself on her again.

    Su Tang said, ¡°I¡¯ve learned some medical skills before, and I might even be able to hold a nice conversation with The Witch. Even if I can¡¯t, I could always be a good test subject to favor him. That way, I¡¯ll be able to get him to punish the people who¡¯ve bullied me before. I¡¯m guessing that killing you people is as easy as chopping vegetables to him. If you¡¯re daring enough, give it a shot.¡±

    The man was fuming but suppressed all temptation to hit her.

    ¡°Bitch!¡± He yelled at her.

    Su Tang knew that she was safe for now and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t get so angry. If you can protect me and send me to The Witch safely, I promise I¡¯ll ask him to reward you.¡±

    A reward from The Witch?

    The man¡¯s eyes lit up. That must be good stuff! The rice grains, penicillin, lighters and all the other desirable things that were brought into prison were hoarded by a few ¡°powerhouses¡±, and The Witch was one of them. Even if he managed to get just a little of these items, it¡¯d be enough enjoyment for a while!

    The man sized her up. Most newbies in prison were frantic, scared and disoriented; it was rare to see someone as calm and organized as this woman. For all they knew, she might really be able to convince The Witch to reward them!

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll help you this time!¡± In any case, this woman was too dangerous toy his hands on. He might as well do her a favor, and if he did get his reward, his status in the group would rise.

    They reached a deal.

    From then on, that man really did protect Su Tang from getting vited by the others. He even made sure she had enough food and rest. Su Tang¡¯s days got better, but she still got yelled at by other inmates every once in a while. Meanwhile, some grimy men would ogle at her openly, sending chills down her spine.

    She found herself unlucky enough to be captured by this group of people the moment she entered prison.

    The inmates¡¯ uniforms were beginning to reek of a stench. Initially, she despised the uniform and found it too dirty to be on her. But just a few dayster, she found that it wasn¡¯t smelly or dirty enough¡ªshe wanted to be all the grosser, only then could she keep those disgusting men away. All this time, she never stopped racking her brain. She spent every moment thinking of a way to escape, but these people kept such a close eye on her, she never found a chance.

    Eventually, she ended up at The Witch¡¯s.

    It was a wizened, ugly old man. His face was distorted and hisplexion was horrid¡ªin all, his look was appalling. The group of people were evidently very afraid of him, given that their voices shook as they spoke before him. ¡°Y-Your Honour, The Witch, we have brought along your test subject.¡±

    The Witch walked towards Su Tang. He used two of his dry, wrinkled fingers to check her out, and nodded in satisfaction. ¡°A newbie? You did well this time, this new thing is way better than the old and used ones in prison.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for thepliment!¡± A few of them eximed in joy.

    The man who¡¯d looked out for Su Tang all this while gave her an eye, signalling for her to get him his reward as promised.

    Seeing that they weren¡¯t leaving yet, he frowned. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    Su Tang scoffed. ¡°He wants me to ask you for a reward.¡±

    The Witch was taken aback. This test subject was a daring one. Not only was she not crying and begging for mercy, she even spoke to him directly; this was a first. He narrowed his eyes at Su Tang and asked, ¡°Little girl, do you know who I am?¡±

    ¡°I do, the respectable Witch.¡± Su Tang said politely, not wanting to offend this old pervert. After all, she wasn¡¯t courting death. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about you and the things you do. I know that you¡¯ve dug the brain of someone alive before, and even grafted animal limbs to a human body. How creative. I¡¯ve learned some medical skills outside, it would be such an honor if I could be your assistant.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± The Witch smiled. So, it wasn¡¯t that she was unafraid of death, she simply had another idea in mind.

    ¡°This is a pretty new way of keeping yourself alive.¡± The Witch seemed to be in a good mood. ¡°So, tell me how much you know about medical skills.¡±

    ¡°Not much, just some simple procedures like removing bullets, rejoining broken limbs and the like. I was out inbat before, so I¡¯m fine with treatingmon injuries. But I can¡¯t do very much beyond that.¡± She added politely, ¡°But, Witch, since I¡¯m sincere about sticking with you, I can pick up the other skills you need me to. I will definitely be able to help you.¡±

    The Witch was a little unhappy initially when he heard that that was all she knew. But realizing that there wasn¡¯t much of a choice in this prison, he figured that he had something to gain.

 Chapter 986 - Su Tangâ€™s End

    <strong>Chapter 986: Su Tang¡¯s End</strong>

    He stared at Su Tang for so long that she felt the chills.

    Finally, he gave a strangeugh, ¡°You¡¯re pretty lucky, little girl. You¡¯vee at a time where I don¡¯t feel like killing. I don¡¯t have ack of test subjects now, what I need more urgently is an assistant. You just need to help me dissect human heads and settle the corpses. But let me set things straight now, if I find that you¡¯re plotting any ideas, you¡¯ll die a terrible death.¡±

    Su Tang eximed with joy, ¡°Thank you!¡±

    The few of them who escorted her smiled along as well and felt that she was one lucky girl who managed to favor The Witch. One of them tried his luck. ¡°So, our rewards...?¡±

    The Witch frowned. He never rewarded these people for delivering his goods. He looked towards Su Tang. ¡°Little girl, what did you promise them?¡±

    Su Yang scanned the few of them and said, ¡°I had a deal with that guy over there...¡± she pointed at the man whom she had exchanged conditions with. ¡°If I could get here safely, I¡¯d ask for some rewards for him on his behalf. But I never promised that he¡¯d get it for sure¡ªwhether or not he gets his reward ispletely up to you,¡± Su Tang said politely to The Witch.

    ¡°You!¡± The man was getting anxious, this wasn¡¯t how they negotiated it!

    What did she mean by ¡°whether or not he gets his reward ispletely up to you¡±? Everyone could tell that Su Tang evidently wasn¡¯t sincere in helping him get a reward! The Witch could tell what she was getting at too and beganughing aloud. ¡°Interesting... interesting! This little girl is standing to gain at no cost! I like it! Well then, how do you think I should punish them?¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s cold, icy nce swept across them. ¡°I don¡¯t really like them, and I¡¯d like to ask The Witch if you could use them as test subjects. I¡¯ve just be your assistant, I need people to try my hand on.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha...¡± The Witch chuckled. He was beginning to like this new girl for her ruthlessness. ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll go along with your wishes!¡±

    The few of them looked at each other in fear and were about to take flight.

    But The Witch acted swiftly and activated a nearby button. All of a sudden, a closed up all around them and they were lifted altogether in that trap!

    ¡°The Witch, please let us off! The Witch, please let us off!¡± They cried for mercy.

    But The Witch just kept grinning deviously. He looked toward Su Tang and said, ¡°Little girl, are you satisfied now? All of these materials are prepared for you. Do your job properly and don¡¯t let me down.¡±

    Su Tang nodded courteously. She¡¯d been bullied by these people this whole time, it would be a disservice to herself if she didn¡¯t give them a good lesson now!

    Over the next few days, she experimented on these people under the watch and guidance of The Witch. She cut them up, skinned them, dug their brains out... they did not stop at anything. Initially, her hands would shake when she heard their moans of pain and cries for help, but she slowly got used to it. Eventually, those pitiful pleas had be nothing but white noise to her and they no longer affected her work.

    The Witch was very pleased with this female assistant.

    Su Tang was pleased as well. She hade to realize that everyone Prison X, however powerful they were outside, were polite towards The Witch¡ªfor the reason that The Witch was the only one in this chaotic war zone who knew how to operate on others and treat them of injuries. He even bred venomous insects and extracted their venom, which he used to threaten his enemies¡¯ lives or make some profit...

    This allowed The Witch to find his ce in Prison X.

    Meanwhile, as The Witch¡¯s only assistant, Su Tang could also stand to gain. Everyone who saw her gave way to her, and some even tried to get into her good books. The treatment she was getting now was significantly better than when she¡¯d first entered prison. Su Tang slowly became more ambitious, and felt that if this went on, she¡¯d eventually be the most respected figure in Prison X, and then... she¡¯d escape the prison and return to the Li family.

    In order to achieve this secret dream, she worked hard day after day.

    Before she went to bed, she would take a close look at the photo that Li Lei had given her. With the moonlight, she would stroke Li Lei¡¯s face in the photo, with her finger that smelt of blood.

    ¡°Li Lei...¡± she mumbled the name of her lover. ¡°Wait for my return...¡±

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The Witch¡¯s voice came from behind her.

    Su Tang jumped in shock. When had he arrived, why had she not realized! She didn¡¯t make it in time to hide Li Lei¡¯s photo, and was left with no choice but to say to The Witch, ¡°I miss... an old friend.¡±

    ¡°Hah, you mean a lover.¡± The Witch hit the nail on the head.

    Su Tang blushed slightly but did not rebut.

    ¡°Let me have a look at the photo,¡± The Witch said before picking it up on his own. But upon seeing it, his expression changed. ¡°This is... the Li family¡¯s little bastard?! Tell me! How do you know Li Lei!¡±

    Su Tang¡¯s heart sank. From the way he spoke, it seemed like he had a horrid impression of Li Lei.

    She tried toe up with a lie to get herself out of trouble while The Witch paced in circles before her. He suddenly pointed a finger to her face. ¡°I get it now, Li Lei sent you here to keep close to me! It¡¯s been 10 years, that little bastard is still trying to harm me! Let¡¯s see how I¡¯ll wrench his ws off today!¡±

    ¡°The Witch, don¡¯t!¡± Su Tang shrieked. She never would¡¯ve imagined that the backing she begged for was actually Li Lei¡¯s enemy! She tried to evade his clutches as she pleaded. ¡°I was not sent by him to hurt you! Really!¡±

    But The Witch could not care for her exnation. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her onto the bloody operation table like she was a limp sheep.

    A monthter.

    Xia Moyan received a report from Prison X, regarding the death of a female inmate. ording to the report, her arms and legs had been amputated and refitted with that of a monkey and a wild dog. Half her face had been disfigured too, with parts of her body revealing the bones beneath. When she was found, her body had been bitten and torn apart by a wild beast, and her stomach had been filled with weed and stones. At the same time, the dubious liquid of a wolf¡¯s kind was found at the bottom half of her body.

    Xia Moyan frowned as he reached the end of the report.

    ¡°Xiao Mo, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Madam Xia asked as she entered his room with a cup of warm tea.

    Xia Moyan sounded calm as usual. ¡°Nothing, just a little ident.¡± Although the sorcery worked and she ended up in such misfortune, it seemed like this curse was a little too harsh... he had only intended for her to suffer in prison, but she was tortured to death in merely a month?

    He had overestimated Su Tang.

    That woman actually tried to fight with his sister? She really did not know her abilities. Xia Moyan picked up the white ceramic teacup and began sipping his tea.

 Chapter 987 - The Queenâ€™s Bliss

    <strong>Chapter 987: The Queen¡¯s Bliss</strong>

    He had not told his sister about Su Tang¡¯s death. As such, Xia Ling was unaware.

    It was autumn, she and Li Lei were discussing moving back to the headquarters. They had already settled on a date during their honeymoon holiday, but due to the various idents that had urred following that, they were unable tomence act upon it.

    Li Lei smiled and said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡±

    The two children were ted. Returning to the headquarters meant that they would have even more partners to y with, and even bigger space to mess around in. It was so exciting for them. Especially for Li Rui. This new expedition had taken his mind off his sorrow over Su Tang. Excited, he had dragged Shaohui to pack their luggage and n theyout of their new room.

    Even Xia Ling was drawn into their passion. She too started packing.

    The family portrait on the dining room¡¯s wall was definitely to be packed, so was the pot of flowers by the sofa that everyone had watched grow. Other things that needed to be packed included the flower vase that Xia Ling had purchased from an auction, Er Mao¡¯s favorite pillow, and Hairball¡¯s catnip...

    Each of these items brought back fond memories.

    Xia Ling had moved house numerous times. She had been very poor in the past and had only had several old dirty furniture that she had thrown away when moving. After she had earned a bit of money, a house was just a shelter without temperature to her. So every time she had moved she would only bring a few of her clothes and essories. The rest of her stuff, she would repurchase.

    But this time it was different. This vi held the family¡¯s wonderful memories.

    She spent a very long time packing, choosing numerous items that she could not bear to part with to be moved into the new house. The other items remained where they were. She instructed the left-behind maids to clean them properly to prepare for when they moved back to the country to stay.

    Finally, it was the moving day.

    The whole family brought along Old Master Li and boarded the private ne.

    Once on the ne, Xia Ling felt a little ufortable. Her head was giddy and her chest felt tight.

    She forced herself to chat with Li Lei and the rest for a while before she could not endure it any longer. She rested her head on the man¡¯s strong shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t move, let me sleep for a while,¡± she said softly.

    Li Lei did not think too much about it. He thought she was just tired from moving house. He requested a nket from a maid and cuddled her into it gently, taking care of her before she fell into a deep sleep. Xia Ling sept for a few hours and only woke up once to eat some fruits. She still felt terrible and wanted to puke.

    It was only then that Li Lei felt something was wrong. He ced his hand on her forehead and asked, ¡°Sick?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head feebly. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, it¡¯s probably just that the ne¡¯s engine is too noisy.¡±

    Li Lei was assured. He chuckled and teased her. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had airsickness.¡±

    She rolled her eyes at him weakly. Her eyes were misty and beautiful. He kissed her affectionately before giving her a pair of anti-noise earplugs and cuddling her into a morefortable position. She fell asleep once again.

    She was asleep until they reached.

    He waited until the ne had stoppedpletely before he woke her. ¡°Wake up, sleepyhead. We¡¯re here.¡±

    She opened her eyes groggily. Her head was still a little giddy. She turned her head to stare outside the window. It was indeed thending strip of the golden sand beach. Towering coconut trees swayed in the wind as a form of wee. The two children were extremely excited. Once the ne door was opened, they cheered and rushed down with the bodyguards to y.

    Li Lei helped Xia Ling walk down slowly. ¡°Be careful of your steps.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that weak,¡± she murmured unclearly. Before her voice even settled, she almost slipped in the air and her whole body fell to one side.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± Li Lei held onto her immediately.

    She did not even have time to speak before she felt her stomach churn and she vomited with a loud sound. Holding onto the lift¡¯s handle, she vomited for a very long time. She had nothing in her stomach except some acid.

    Weak all over, she frowned deeply and felt terrible.

    Li Lei was extremely anxious and rushed her to the headquarters¡¯ hospital immediately.

    ¡°Congrattions, Young Master.¡± After the examination, the doctor came out to tell Li Lei jubntly. ¡°Madam is five weeks pregnant. Both the baby and the mother are healthy.¡±

    What... what?!

    Li Lei stared at the doctor in disbelief. ¡°Say that again?¡±

    ¡°I said, Madam is pregnant.¡± The doctor smiled. It was said that those who became fathers would be silly. Indeed, his own master was so happy he did not know what to do.

    ¡°Thank you, thank you, brother!¡± Li Lei¡¯s eyes lit up. His smile spread across his whole face and he patted the doctor¡¯s shoulder vigorously. Then, he rushed to the examination room to find Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was standing by the window. The bright sunlight shone onto her body and made her look warm and beautiful. She carried a hint of a smile on her face and was listening attentively to the doctor telling her about the precautions during pregnancy. Even though she had already heard all these from the two times she had been pregnant, it did not bother her to listen attentively again.

    It was the doctor who first noticed Li Lei. He smiled in greeting. ¡°Young Master.¡±

    As Xia Ling turned around and saw him, her eyebrows rxed and she became ted. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    Li Lei gave her a bear hug and was so excited he was repeating himself. ¡°We have a baby again? That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great. It¡¯s too great!¡±

    She reached out to hug him around the waist. ¡°Yes, we have another baby.¡± She leaned her face on his chest and a blissful smile opened on the petals of her beautiful lips. After facing so many hardships, happiness was finally here. This baby was the most timely gift from God.

    ¡°This time we¡¯ll take good care of you and the baby. Both of you will be safe and sound.¡± He embraced the woman he loved and swore again. This time, there was nothing that could harm her.

    Ten monthster, she gave birth to a healthy and adorable baby girl. She was named Ying Luo.

    Ying Luo meant ¡°beautiful jade¡±. A precious treasure.

    This child was the pearl in their palm, the precious baby that was the symbol of their love.

    The whole family loved the child. Shaohui and Li Rui took on the responsibilities of protecting their sister voluntarily. They woulde to y with her whenever they were free, ted to stare at her waving her tiny hands and feet about. Together, they made a pact to protect their sister for eternity.

    Old Master Li also came to visit his great-granddaughter often and would bring lots of food and toys.

    In past generations, the Li family had often given birth to men. It had been a few hundred years without a baby girl. Thus, Old Master was even more doting on his great-granddaughter. His affection for her exceeded even that for his great-grandson Shaohui. With the care for this girl, his rtionship with Xia Ling also saw a turn. The whole family was getting along more and more cordially.

    Finally, Old Master no longer had any biases against Xia Ling. He began to truly cherish his granddaughter-inw.

    And Xia Ling had already had all her dreamse true.

    When she had nothing on her hands, she would nt trees and flowers andpose music.

    She was already close to retirement. Yet, her fame as The Queen was still undefeated and unattainable to others. Every song she released would spread across the whole earth and her countless fans would go crazy over them.

    However, although she was under the spotlight, she no longer cared about fame.

    She only cared about her family, her sons and her daughter. In the long and beautiful months to follow, the family supported one another lovingly. This was the best way to live.

    _These kinds of tiny moments of happiness are what bliss is called,_she thought.

    This life, she would live well with her family.

 Chapter 988 - Fall of a Career (Chu Chenâ€™s Backstory)

    <strong>Chapter 988: Fall of a Career (Chu Chen¡¯s Backstory)</strong>

    When Chu Chen was a young child, his father had taught him that it was important to be an honest and upright person.

    Chu Chen had once revered his father and those words of wisdom, until the day his father was set up by someone and put in jail.

    His father was a very skilled surgeon and had been in practice for more than twenty years, working in a rather reputable hospital in his hometown vige. He was a decent doctor who did his best for every patient, one who never sought to outdo others in terms of status, unlike others in the same field of work. As a responsible andpassionate surgeon, he often rushed out of the house after an emergency on the phone, even if he had barely had time for rest or a proper meal.

    The hospital management liked getting Chu Chen¡¯s father to be on duty because, while others were busy asking for a pay raise or a promotion, he was always doing his job well and sincerely without any agenda. In fact, he was even willing to let others im his credit as theirs in order to fight for a rise in position. ¡°To be at a disadvantage is a blessing,¡± he had said to Chu Chen.

    Hence, despite his consummate skills, he wasn¡¯t quite a renowned doctor.

    When he was younger, Chu Chen had asked his father, ¡°Dad, why don¡¯t you tell everyone that Head of Department Zhou¡¯s tumor removal surgery, Manager Li¡¯s knotty diagnosis and so many others... were all your work?¡±

    His father had ruffled his hair and said, ¡°Son, a doctor¡¯s job is to help the sick and dying, why should we im credit for that? All of these are merely worldly possessions, it doesn¡¯t matter whether we have them.¡±

    Chu Chen did not really understand.

    Chu Chen¡¯s mother was a nurse. Each time his father said this, she would look at him with admiration and gentleness and add, ¡°That¡¯s right, as long as the three of us are safe, healthy and happy together, why do we need fame and fortune? They don¡¯t matter a bit.¡±

    Their wishes were so simple.

    Yearster, Chu Chen would still be thinking about what could have been, if not for that disaster. Perhaps, he would have grown up to be like his parents, an ordinary person who worked hard for society without asking for anything in return. Perhaps, he would have been a contented person who derived joy from the littlest of things.

    What a pity, however, that the disaster changed things so drastically.

    Back then, a seriously ill patient hade to the hospital¡ªit was thest stage of cancer and the cells had spread in his body. His family, however, refused to heed the doctor¡¯s advice and insisted on going ahead with the surgery. Every doctor knew that the surgery carriedrge risks, and any minor mistake could cause an earlier death. Yet, because this family was considerably rich and powerful in the small town, the doctor in charge decided to agree to the surgery in order to improve his ties with them.

    That doctor¡¯s skills, however, were not refined enough to perform such a major operation.

    He requested for Chu Chen¡¯s father to be the chief surgeon instead.

    But Chu Chen¡¯s father knew the risks that the surgery would carry, and refused to take it up. He tried to exin things to the doctor in charge. ¡°This patient isn¡¯t suitable for surgery. Since his chance of recovery is practically non-existent, the most responsible and appropriate thing to do is to ensure that he lives as long as he can without intervention.¡±

    The doctor in charge refused to listen.

    He had already made promises to the patient¡¯s family. If he did not go ahead with the surgery now, it wasn¡¯t so much the patient¡¯s health at risk, but rather his career opportunities.

    He cried and begged Chu Chen¡¯s father, and even brought tons of gifts to their house¡ªback then, Chu Chen was still a young child, and it was his first time seeing bottles of wine, live seafood, branded watches... only then did he realize how many luxury goods there were in the world...

    He looked up at his father, hoping that he would ept them. But eventually, his father still declined the gifts.

    The doctor in charge knelt down and wept, before he ended up questioning Chu Chen¡¯s father, ¡°Doctor Chu, you¡¯re the best surgeon in our hospital. If you don¡¯t take charge of this surgery, I¡¯ll have no choice but to get Doctor Liu! You know Doctor Liu¡¯s certificate was bought with money, he was just a vet before this! He has barely done a few proper surgeries, much less take charge of something soplicated! If I get him to do this, that patient is basically being given a death sentence! Are you so heartless as to watch the patient die in the operating table?¡±

    His father thought in silence for a while before finally agreeing.

    He was a soft-hearted man, after all. The doctor in charge thanked him profusely before leaving.

    He took much time to prepare for that surgery¡ªgoing to research centers, analyzing simr cases from overseas, asking the doctors and nurses about the patient¡¯s details... he was even caught up with thinking about the surgery during mealtimes.

    Eventually, under the pressure of the hospital management and the patient¡¯s family members, he walked into the operating room.

    Chu Chen knew that he had done his best.

    Even so, doctors were not divine beings. Although his father had put in every ounce of effort and was perfect in his execution, the patient still went into aa and did not live past the month.

    His father was greatly pained and full of self-reproach. ¡°I really regret this. If he had not undergone this surgery, he would¡¯ve lived for another month at least, and witnessed the birth of his granddaughter.¡±

    But he was just a surgeon, after all, there were things that were simply out of his control.

    For the first time, he felt upset for being just an ordinary doctor. If he had more power and authority, could he have stopped this tragedy from happening?

    After the patient¡¯s death, he was reticent for a long time.

    Little Chu Chen and his mother were worried about his state of mind, but never would they have expected that this was just the beginning of their nightmare.

    The family of the deceased started voicing their unhappiness. They aggressively demanded an exnation from the hospital.

    The hospital management could not deal with the pressure and decided to push Chu Chen¡¯s father forward instead.

    Chu Chen¡¯s father was dumbfounded. He had done all his preparation, executed his techniques perfectly, and went through each step as per the requirements. He had not betrayed his conscience at all, how could he be held responsible for this tragedy? If anyone was to be ountable, it should be those who single-handedly made the decision to go ahead with the surgery!

    What¡¯s worse, the hospital held him responsible for this charge¡ªerror in surgical procedure, medical mishap.

    They said that Chu Chen¡¯s father had been a doctor for so many years but was never given a promotion. In a bid to climb the ranks as soon as possible, he boasted that he¡¯d be able to do the surgery well and hence, swayed the doctor in charge to give the green light. Moreover, he even made countless mistakes during the surgery itself, directly leading to the death of the patient.

    His father did not protest against those words; there was practically no way to justify himself.

    The doctor in charge who had wept and begged him back then had now turned against him. He looked at him with utter disdain and chided him in front of the deceased¡¯s family as well as their colleagues. ¡°Doctor Chu, I never thought you were such a person. If you hadn¡¯t guaranteed the sess of the surgery, I wouldn¡¯t have agreed for my patient to undergo this risky procedure! I can¡¯t believe how hical you are, what a disappointment!¡±

 Chapter 989 - Metamorphosis

    <strong>Chapter 989: Metamorphosis</strong>

    Chu Chen¡¯s father stared at the doctor in shock. It was his first time encountering someone who mixed up right and wrong to such an extent.

    Angry family members rushed forward, throwing kicks and punches at his face and skull, leaving him with bruises and wounds. Not only that, but they also brought him to court, and making use of connections, got him a heavier sentence of 10 years in jail,pared to his initial sentence of three years. 10 years... how many 10 years did one even have in life?

    On the day of the hearing, Chu Chen¡¯s mother cried so hard that she cked out.

    Chu Chen, 12 years old at that time, dissolved into a pool of panic and anxiety as he held his mother¡¯s copsed body close to him. He called out her name over and over, raising his head to plead with whoever was passing by, begging them to save her...

    However, passers-by were afraid of offending the powerful family in this district, and not a single person offered to help. Not even Director Deng who smiled at Chu Chen when he went to find his father at the hospital, not even the Auntie Chen who once gave him a few sweets, not even Professor Li who teasingly chided him to put on more clothes...

    Every single one of them stayed a distance away from the mother and son, as if they were avoiding a flood.

    It was only many yearster that Chu Chen realized why nobody had been willing to take a stand for someone who held no power nor authority. Offending the hospital management, and dealing with that powerful and of high authority bunch of snakes, why bother?

    Unfortunately, he could not fathom this logic at such a young age.

    12-year-old Chu Chen held the weak, limp body of his mother in his arms, and a feeling of helplessness and fear engulfed him. He scanned his surroundings, and amidst the fast-moving, indifferent crowd around him, he spotted a man walking down from the witness seats. It was that man who spent a night at his doorstep, holding an extravagant gift with him as he knelt in front of his father begging and pleading, thenter turning around to betray them.

    Chu Chen couldn¡¯t care less.

    He rushed forward and went on his knees, just like how that man knelt at his father¡¯s feet that night. He pleaded tearfully. ¡°Uncle, please! Given that my father has helped you before, please save my mother!¡±

    The man¡¯s expression suddenly changed. In front of everyone¡¯s eyes, he kicked Chu Chen, scolding angrily. ¡°You rude and irritating brat! Don¡¯t spout nonsense! When did your father ever help me?! Is it not enough that he has brought me so much trouble?! Such horrible luck, you better stay as far away from me as possible!¡±

    The man then left the court.

    Chu Chen was kicked till his body hurt. When he opened up his shirt, he found a big bruise on the area above his heart.

    He tolerated the pain and made his way back to his mother step by step. He removed all his clothing, following what his parents had taught him regarding first aid to keep her warm.

    His mother gradually woke up. She held his hand, and panicking, she painstakingly brought him home.

    While crossing the road, a truck came racing upon them.

    Chu Chen stared wide-eyes as the truck rammed into his mother, sending her frail body flying into a distance. Blood was everywhere, and passers-by shouted to take cover. That moment became his world¡¯s most brutal and harsh slow-motion shot.

    Her two legs were lost, only her upper body was left.

    What was to follow was a state ofck of nutrition, a huge drop in immunity level, and infection of wounds.

    12-year-old Chu Chen sought out many ways and means to get money for his mother¡¯s hospital fees. Initially, he could borrow some money, but nobody was willing to continue lending endlessly. The aunties and uncles who were so friendly to him, now avoided him as if he were a god. Even in his nightmares many years down the road, Chu Chen still dreamt of the time he went to the house of a rtive. Him wearing old and tattered clothes, bowing his head down as he stood in the morously decorated living room, while his rtives had their meal. A pretty little girl dressed in pink taking the bones to tease the family dog. The aroma of the food wafted into his nostrils, and he was so hungry that his stomach rumbled loudly.

    Nobody noticed him.

    He was so embarrassed he wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury himself in it.

    From young, his parents couldn¡¯t give him a luxurious life but taught him how to be a good person. The moment his stomach let out a noise, he felt that he had ruined his family¡¯s image.

    Forcing himself to move past the embarrassment, he bowed his head and said, ¡°Second Uncle, please lend me some money. When I¡¯ve grown up and found a job, I will definitely return you all the money. Definitely!¡±

    In response, Second Uncle gave a heartlessugh.

    ¡°Brother looks so pitiful, let¡¯s give him something to eat.¡± Under the crystal chandelier hanging above the dining table, the little girl dressed in pink held the bone she was teasing the family dog with, innocently pointing it in his direction.

    Her mother pped her hand, reprimanding her. ¡°Eat your food properly! If you don¡¯t listen, you will also be like this in the future, begging for food!¡±

    Chu Chen didn¡¯t know how he ended up walking out of this house.

    The main doors closed shut behind him. He stood, hands empty, stomach grumbling, as he stared at the moon and silently swore to himself that he would produce results and never had to beg anyone again!

    He then dropped out of school and worked several jobs in a day. Ushering passengers at the train station, putting up posters, washing dishes for a small restaurant, clearing leftover rice and dishes... He gave it his all, and slowly umted the money for his mother¡¯s treatment based on his own hard work. Though it still isn¡¯t near enough, it was better than nothing.

    The day she was discharged, he self-assembled a simple wheelchair from what he could find from the garbage and wheeled his mother back to the musty air of their home. He hugged his mother¡¯s frail body and cried soundlessly.

    He then lifted his head and told himself that from then on, he would not shed any more tears.

    His father would have wanted him to be an honest and good man. But this was the year whereby 12-year-old Chu Chen understood one thing¡ªin the face of power, all justice bows down in surrender.

    Two yearster, his fate took a turn during winter.

    A bed of snow enveloped the entire district. While Chu Chen was working at the restaurant, an order of over 20 bento sets came in through the phone. The snow was heavy, and the journey was long. Nobody was willing to take the delivery, and out of desperation, the boss offered two times the pay, in addition to a bento set with meat, to anyone who was willing to take the delivery.

    Still nobody was willing to take it.

    Only Chu Chen epted the offer, after thinking about his bed-ridden mother.

    He braved the wind and snow and eventually delivered the bento sets to the location.

    To a crew who was filming a snowy scene in a very remote ce.

    It was so cold that everyone was freezing. When they spotted the warm bento boxes, they surrounded him and while eating, gave praise to Chu Chen. ¡°Thisd is not bad, delivering bento sets on such a cold day. You have such a heart, you¡¯re a good guy!¡± Theyplimented him and patted him on the shoulder.

    Chu Chen humbly responded with a few words. He received the money from the scene manager and was about to leave after giving a firm nod.

    The director then rushed over, calling out, ¡°Hey, wait up. Could you help us out? Due to this weather, many of our extras are absent. We arecking extras, could you help us fill in?¡±

 Chapter 990 - Greed

    <h4>Chapter 990: Greed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Me?¡± Chu Chen was dubious.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the director said. ¡°There will be no lines, you only have to make a few movements and reveal your face a few times. Your figure is just perfect,¡± he said while stuffing a costume and a wad of cash into his hands. ¡°This is the fee for your delivery. Don¡¯t go back today, wait till we have finished our work here, then I¡¯ll give the pay for being an extra to you.¡±

    Chu Chen lowered his head and looked at the wad of cash. He said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    He was willing to do anything for money. From the day his family had met with mishaps, he had sworn to support the family. One day, he would not have to endure being looked down upon by others. He would not have to beg for favors from them nor suffer from hunger.

    He worked hard to y as a part of the extras.

    The snow was too heavy and everyone was unbearably cold. Only Chu Chen was not hesitant in sprinting and lying down when instructed. He lied on the ice-cold ground without moving for a good few minutes, pretending to be a dead body. Someone stepped onto his body, and he controlled himself to ensure his expression did not even have the least bit of change.

    Within one day, his four limbs had frostbite.

    The director handed him medicine and cash. ¡°Not bad, young fellow. Are you stilling tomorrow?¡±

    Chu Chen looked down at the wad of fresh red hundred-yuan bills in his hands and said without hesitation, ¡°Yes!¡±

    He followed the crew for one week and earned 700 yuan.

    He took the money and searched the whole market before buying a wheelchair for his mother. He carried her carefully to the wheelchair and pushed her outside to take a walk in the sunlight. She grabbed onto his hands and cried.

    ¡°Son, I¡¯m sorry...¡± The disabled woman wept.

    Chu Chen knelt down and wiped her tears away bit by bit. He remembered how before he had dropped out of school, a teacher would often say that when God closes a window, he opens another. Now, he reassured his mother with the same logic. However, he had not expected that God would open a cold and rugged yet magnificent window for him.

    His experience in being an extra made Chu Chen realized that it was much easier to earn money in this job aspared to being a dishwasher for restaurants.

    He quit his job at the restaurant and obtained a ce amongst the extras in the suburban city¡¯s Film and TV industry. The building was very far from his house, and he had to leave the house before the sun had even risen. He would cross half of the city in search of opportunities. After work, he would then spend another three to four hours rushing home to help his mother boil water, cook, and wash her feet.

    asionally, when he looked into the mirror, he was already unable to recognize himself.

    Aspared to his pictures as a student living a worry-free life, his life now seemed worlds apart.

    His mother¡¯s heart ached for him, and she would weep alone frequently thinking that he was unaware. However, the wet towels and her swollen red eyes had long betrayed her. Her tears made Chu Chen even more heartbroken and guilty.

    If only he was more useful and powerful, then she would not need to be so sad.

    Chu Chen worked from dawn to dusk in the Film and TV industry, observing and learning. He could not be resigned to being an extra forever. He aspired to learn even more and climb even higher until one day, he could finally allow his mother to live an affluent life and prove his father¡¯s innocence. He wanted to step on every one of his father¡¯s family who had trampled on them!

    Opportunity favors only the prepared mind.

    One time, he had followed a martial arts production crew. The crew had used a young script logger who had just graduated from university. He had been professionally trained but had no experience. He would do things in a fluster and made mistakes incessantly, causing everyone to voice theirints. The director was also angry. He hit the boy right in the face and scolded him until he cried. The young boy then washed his hands off the job and quit right on the spot, throwing his sleeves angrily and leaving. The director was furious, but he could not do anything about it.

    Chu Chen had been standing at the side watching the scene. He walked up to the director from amid the crowd and said, ¡°Let me try.¡±

    The director looked at him doubtfully. ¡°You?¡±

    Chu Chen reported some details to him on ces where the young script logger had remembered wrongly. He exined clearly to him about which scene required which tools, which line could be removed from which episode, and which scene needed to be refilmed...

    The director¡¯s eyes lit up. He was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re just an extra, yet you noticed all these?¡±

    Sess or failure was dependent on just one action. Chu Chen stared him in the eye and tried hard to hide the tremble in his voice, a result of his excitement and nervousness. He told the director, ¡°I don¡¯t want to remain as an extra for the rest of my life.¡±

    The director looked at him deeply and smiled. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give you a chance.¡±

    This opportunity was not an easy one. It was more difficult than the other extra jobs and had a lot more stress. Chu Chen gritted his teeth and pulled through. He worked till midnight every day. He was thetest to end work and the earliest to start work the next morning. He would often sleep only two to three hours before rushing down to work and would drink cup after cup of tea to give himself more energy.

    Fortunately, all the hardship was worth it.

    When the film ended, the director patted his shoulder and said, ¡°Not bad, young fellow. Follow me from now on.¡±

    Chu Chen was ecstatic.

    However, following the crew all around the country to film would mean he could not be at home. He gave it numerous thoughts, and after discussing it with his mother, he decided to sell the house, rent a tiny room and use the remaining money to hire an hourly worker to take care of her. The day he sold the house, he carried his bags while pushing his mother¡¯s wheelchair and turned around to take onest look at the ce he had spent his whole life in. He swore silently to himself that one day, he would be back to repurchase this house. One day he would.

    He spent two years being a script logger. He was intelligent and hardworking and received the director¡¯s appreciation.

    The director cultivated him wholehearted and brought him everywhere he went.

    Slowly, he began to have a tiny reputation.

    The director took on an Imperial Entertainment¡¯s film. It was a major project and had heavy investments. However, during the filming, an ident happened¡ªthe female lead suddenly announced her departure. She would rather pay the expensive fee for terminating the contract than to continue filming. No matter what kind of threats and benefits the actors and producers gave her, she would not change her mind. The whole production crew was in a mess. If the female lead was changed, that would mean that a huge part of the previously filmed videos would be entirely useless and they would have to refilm everything.

    If that was the case, then they would not be able to meet the second year¡¯s golden period and be able to be nominated for awards.

    During break time, the directorughed bitterly. ¡°This is not our fault. When there are internal fights in Imperial Entertainment, us small fishes in the moat suffer.¡±

    Chu Chen instinctively caught the meaning behind his words and pestered the director to tell him the details.

    The director let him in on it. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family was alternating between new and old power. The head of the house was critically ill, and the heir Pei Ziheng had epted orders to take over Imperial Entertainment on the brink of his death and to prepare for the official session shortly. However, Pei Ziheng was still young, and some of the old officials who had partial stocks as well as his fellow brothers were not satisfied. They were trying to trip him up secretly and jeopardize his road to session. Thus, this film was being secretly disrupted and would not be filmed smoothly.

    Once such a big production was to suffer losses, the stockholders would be able to question Pei Ziheng¡¯s abilities and make things difficult for him.

    Chu Chen gathered information and investigated on this person.

    He was young, only sixteen years old. Yet, he had already aplished many big things that had shaken the business world. His actions were tyrannical and more ruthless than many adults. Seeing how he hadmunicated with pictures and texts in his press conference, it could be seen that he was full of temperament and had been inculcated with the Imperial Entertainment style since young. He had deep thoughts, showed no distinction between joy and anger, and had unpredictable expressions.

 Chapter 991 - Selection

    <h4>Chapter 991: Selection</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A fine bird makes its own selection.

    Chu Chen once again felt the mysterious atmosphere of fate. He knew that his opportunity had arisen where he could reach it. He had to grab hold of it tightly... he had to! If this went ordingly, he would skyrocket and be the young Imperial founding father¡¯s subordinate! Authority and fortune, what else would he not be able to obtain in the future?

    His heart surged. He knew that one had to hedge his bets quickly. He went to find the director immediately and told him that he had a n to make the female lead return to the film. However, he hoped that when this matter was settled, the director would rmend him to Pei Ziheng.

    The director looked at him thoughtfully for a long time before saying, ¡°I hope your ability is worthy of your ambitions.¡±

    The young man¡¯s sight was firm and his heart ambitious. Actually, Chu Chen was not extremely confident at the time. However, he understood that opportunities were fleeting, and he had to grab hold of it without any reservations. He racked his brains and lent some money to hire the best private detective to investigate everything about the female lead.

    Finally, he caught hold of her secret weakness. He used it to threaten and bribe her unscrupulously.

    On the 24th day after she quit her role, the female lead surrendered and returned to the crew. The production team worked tirelessly to hasten the production and finalize it. As promised, the director introduced Chu Chen to Pei Ziheng.

    It was the first time he¡¯d seen Pei Ziheng. The young regent was just like how the rumors described him¡ªyoung but mature, with indistinctive joy and anger. In the middle of the night, Pei Ziheng was in his small study room that had the scent of sandalwood. He looked on as Chu Chen convey his loyalty and expressed his vision for the future.

    At daybreak, Chu Chen had finished his speech apprehensively.

    The corners of Pei Ziheng¡¯s mouth revealed the first hint of a smile since they¡¯d met. ¡°I heard that in order to investigate the female lead, you took a high-interest loan. I will get people to pay for that. Report for duty tomorrow.¡±

    Chu Chen was wild with joy. He began to work as Pei Ziheng¡¯s subordinate officially.

    That year, he was 17 while Pei Ziheng was 16. The two of them were of simr age, and the two ambitious young men were determined to aplish something big for themselves and the heavy responsibilities on their shoulders.

    Pei Ziheng had him transferred to the managing department. He said that such an ambitious and intelligent man like him would be wasting his talent as a script logger or even as a director. Pei Ziheng was always urate in deploying a man to the right task. Indeed, being a manager was the most suitable job for Chu Chen. He excavated artistes, stole artistes from otherpanies, suppressed his rivals, and snatched advertisements...

    Chu Chen was like a fish back in water. He took out enemies from all surroundings and within, and in a short two years, he had already made a name for himself. At the mention of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s managing department, the entertainers all retreated in the face of the superior strength. None of them dared go against him.

    Pei Ziheng had given him a sufficiently high ranking and scope of authority. He also had ample rewards.

    He fulfilled his wish of buying back the old house that was just waiting to be sold. He refurbished it and painted it over, cing new sets of rosewood furniture inside. After that, impably dressed and driving an Audi, he brought along a few assistants and went back to fetch his mother gloriously.

    Neighbors all over came out to stare. The people who had looked down on them or pitied them were now all looking at them with curiosity and envy.

    Chu Chen hired a few professionally trained nannies to take care of his mother. Looking at her under the care of the nannies, he chatted casually with the neighbors, full of joy and pride. He even handed out little gifts to everyone. His heart was filled to the brim with bliss.

    However...

    His father was still in prison, and his grievances were still not rectified. The murderers that had framed him were still unfettered and beyond thew.

    He knew that he had to work even harder and climb to an even higher position.

    In these two years, he and his boss Pei Ziheng were already sitting stably on the majority of the country¡¯s heads and their prestige was difficult to shake. The ones that had once been against the boss suffered losses and paid allegiance to him. Even if some of them were still against him, they were unable to touch him.

    Chu Chen knew that he had not followed the wrong person. The opportunity that he had grabbed in his youth without reservation had brought him ample reciprocation. However, he was not yet satisfied with all that. He did not just want to be his subordinate, he wanted to be his trusted aide. Only then would he be able to climb to an even higher position and win even bigger benefits.

    However, this would need a turning point.

    At the time of Pei Ziheng¡¯s 18th birthday ceremony, Chu Chen made painstaking efforts to give him a big present¡ªhe dug a big grave for the rivalpany with impressive methods, leading to the direct demise of thepany. Thepany was then swallowed by Imperial Entertainment.

    Pei Ziheng was very satisfied and asked him what he wanted as a reward.

    Chu Chen had followed him for two years and knew that he bestowed people with nothing else but money and power. This time, Chu Chen did not ask for anything, he only pleaded for his help with something¡ªhe told him about his family¡¯s demise, about how his father had been thrown into jail under false usations. He asked him to find a way to liberate his father and give him his innocence. He also asked for those who had bullied and trampled on the Chu family to face their retributions.

    Pei Ziheng used his fingers to tap twice on the table and said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Chu Chen felt assured. One, was because his father had hope and would be able to take revenge on his foes; two, because he had finally found the right time to expose his weakness and information that could be used against him¡ªhis family.

    He loved them. Furthermore, he regarded emotions highly.

    Nobody would dare put one who was perfect in an important position.

    Just as he wished, soon, his father¡¯s case was reopened. The truth was finally out, and his father, whose hair had turned white under the tortures of the long years spent in jail, was finally released as innocent. The people that had bullied and humiliated them in the past¡ªthe head doctor, the chairman and the families of the patients... they all met with mishaps one by one.

    And Pei Ziheng put him in a position that was even more important. No matter where he went, he brought him along.

    Chu Chen knew that he had given his boss a wonderful present.

    However, this was not the best present. The ultimate present was one given to himself¡ª

    A beautiful girl.

    He still remembered that it was a season when the irises were in full blossom. The orphanage outside S City¡¯s suburbs was illuminated by the limpid golden sunshine. He and his boss had been drinking tea outside the chairman¡¯s office. They had been listening to the chairman thanking Imperior Entertainment for the charity donations with a hint of fear and fright. He had talked incessantly about his ns for the orphanage.

    Suddenly, his boss had gotten up and walked towards the ss window not far away.

    He had followed, and after that, had seen the girl downstairs¡ªor more urately, among a bunch of fighting kids, he had noticed her at first nce.

    She was beautiful.

    It was the kind of beauty that was breathtaking and unforgettable. It was like a ball of golden sunlight, or a regiment of a bright ze. Or... Or what...

    At that moment, he had heard his boss said in a low tone, ¡°Butterfly.¡±

    Yes, the girl was like a butterfly dancing under the sunlight. She was beautiful and enchanting, mysterious yet enigmatic. She had been up against a bunch of older kids alone, and when she fought, there was no hint of her being in a disadvantageous position. Although she was wearing old clothes full of patches and her hair was messy as well, her beauty was impossible to conceal and her face radiated touching vigor. She looked to be innocent and wless, yet she could bare fangs and brandish ws. She was also arrogant and prideful.

 Chapter 992 - Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 992: Butterfly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chu Chen raised his head to look at Pei Ziheng.

    His boss was looking intensely at the girl fighting below.

    In Chu Chen¡¯s memories, he had never seen Boss look at anyone or anything with such an expression before. At that moment, he understood the importance of the girl in Boss¡¯ heart. After all, he had been able to stay by Boss¡¯ side for so many years not merely due to luck. He was able to weigh someone¡¯s thoughts just by their expression. He thus asked the chairman, ¡°Who is that girl?¡±

    The chairman had also seen the fighting children. He looked embarrassedly at them and told them that the girl¡¯s name was Xia Ling. She was used to living without rules and would often fight with the other children.

    Pei Ziheng cut off the chairman. ¡°I want to adopt her.¡±

    He had used an absolute word and was without hesitation.

    The Chairman was surprised. A hint of joy shed across his face, but he continued to say carefully, ¡°She is the most beautiful girl in our orphanage. She sings well, is good in sports, and is even smart and healthy. Many families want to adopt her. However, she has a sister who is extremely ill. Xiao Ling has already sworn that if anyone wants to adopt her, they will have to take her sister along to receive treatment for her illness. Otherwise, she will not agree to the adoption.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at Chu Chen. ¡°Go carry out the adoption papers for the sisters.¡±

    The Chairman was ecstatic. To be able to be with such a powerful and respectful person, the two children would definitely be saved.

    The Chairman escorted Chu Chen eagerly to handle the adoption papers. Chu Chen asked the chairman, ¡°What does Xia Ling like normally? How¡¯s her usual lifestyle? Tell me all about her.¡± He was not only capable of reading expressions, but he was also attentive. Since it was a person that Boss thought highly of, he had to take care of her with consideration. This was an essential quality of a trusted aide.

    That day, when Pei Ziheng was bringing Xia Ling back to his residence, all the events that had happened in her lifetime, her usual diet, her interests and hobbies, even the story of how she was a little scared of dogs now because she had been bitten by a poodle when she was young... all these information was already stacked neatly in a thick pile on Pei Ziheng¡¯s table.

    Chu Chen knew exactly what the appropriate behavior was.

    He did not arrange anything for Xia Ling directly and was not anxious to gain her favor. He simply handed everything he had investigated to his owner and let him take care of that beautiful toy himself.

    Yes, in Chu Chen¡¯s eyes, Xia Ling was a toy.

    Just like a stalk of a delicate flower in a flower shop on the roadside, or like a beautiful kitten in the pet shop, passers-by would find it new and fresh, and would thus purchase it home to y with for a few days. They would feed her, change her water, and build her an expensive den. Everything would be fine when she was still being pampered, and even the slightest disobedience and willfulness would be considered adorable. However, once she was no longer adored, she would be the world¡¯s most worthless garbage that was ready to be abandoned anytime.

    Chu Chen always saw things clearly.

    His perfect actions made Pei Ziheng trust him even more. He handed the task of taking care of this elegant kitten to him. Hence, he became Xia Ling¡¯s manager, nanny, bodyguard, helper and punching bag...

    As well as all other positions you could think of.

    Under Pei Ziheng¡¯s indulgence, the girl was willful and arrogant, and was so undisciplined she would cause trouble everywhere.

    At first, Chu Chen had been taking care of her with an even-temper, but when she had thrown a prop she did not like in his face during a concert, everything changed. ¡°I said I didn¡¯t want the blue one! It¡¯s so ugly!¡± She had screamed in anger and continued to take her anger out on him. ¡°Where¡¯s Pei Ziheng? Are you all doing things half-heartedly and neglecting me just because he¡¯s noting to watch me?!¡±

    Chu Chen knew that her mood was not good that day. She had fought with Pei Ziheng before leaving the house. Pei Ziheng had been unable to attend her concert because he had an important investment meeting.

    She was used to being spoilt and had not intended on going against him. The prop only hit his face because it leaned to the side when she smashed it.

    He rubbed his face. His nose bridge had been damaged, and fresh blood was flowing out profusely, making it very scary. He still said calmly to her, ¡°Xiao Ling, go up on stage first. I will fire the prop artist and watch Boss attentively. I will tell you once he has ended his meeting.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care whether he has ended his meeting or not!¡± She was still in a fit and turned her head to stomp up the stage.

    The backstage staff members who had been keeping quiet out of fear only dared toe out now. They moved quickly in helping him treat his wounds. One of the make-up artists said, ¡°Ms. Xia is too much to hit you in the face...¡±

    Chu Chen red at her fiercely.

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak ill of Xiao Ling.¡± He warned gravely.

    The dressing room was quiet once again. From afar, the prop artist¡¯s protesting voice could be heard. ¡°You can¡¯t just fire me like this! The prop was originally blue. Ms. Xia also confirmed it yesterday, I didn¡¯t bring the wrong one!¡±

    Chu Chen closed his eyes.

    He knew in his heart that the prop artist was right. He had indeed let Xia Ling confirm the props yesterday. However, she had demanded to change the prop today, and there was just no time for that to happen. But so what if that had happened? Xia Ling was still under Pei Ziheng¡¯s adoration and regardless of what happened, Boss would be on her side nheless. In the face of power, justice would not even withstand a blow¡ªher lightly saying ¡°I don¡¯t like it¡± was enough to make everyone here, including Chu Chen, lose their job. Just like back then, so what if his father had been just? In the face of authority, justice for the weak was just a joke.

    Chu Chen raised his head. The fresh blood in his nose flowed backward and made him cough. It was so bitter and fishy.

    Xia Ling was the kind of person he loathed most. She was unreasonable and lived willfully while being pampered. He thought back to how when he was twelve, his family had met with a mishap and their fate had turnedpletely into a most disastrous and miserable life. But what about when she was twelve? She was luckily adopted by the huge alligator in the entertainment world, relying just on her beautiful face. Without even a need to use her brain, she had obtained so easily what others had fought with their youth for... Moreover, Chu Chen had fought for so many years, yet now that he was in Imperial Entertainment, he was still iparable to his ¡°toy¡± in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes.

    He felt extremely frustrated and worked hard to suppress the disgust he felt towards her.

    Once the concert was over, Xia Ling returned backstage and was startled to see that he had a ster on his nose. ¡°How¡¯s your nose?¡± She had long forgotten about hurting him just now.

    Chu Chen smiled and replied peacefully, ¡°It¡¯s just a tiny scratch, nothing serious.¡±

    She stared at him for a long time before remembering that she was the one who had injured him. Startled, she fumbled on. ¡°Sorry, sorry, Chu Chen. I didn¡¯t do it on purpose... I was too angry and was careless... and I was in a rush to get on stage... I¡¯m sorry, are you okay?¡±

    He smiled. ¡°I already told you I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m touched that you care for me so much.¡±

    Compared to the prop artist who had just been fired in ill-luck, what was his tiny wound? Chu Chen¡¯s heart hardened. He stared at the gorgeous girl in front of him and calcted silently. How long more would it take for Boss to be fed up with her?

 Chapter 993 - Blind Date

    <h4>Chapter 993: Blind Date</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He had note to Imperial Entertainment to be a nanny for the girl.

    However, since this was a task handed by the Boss, he did not dare to neglect it.

    The second day, when he entered thepany to hold a high-level meeting, Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°What happened to your nose?¡± Even though he had already taken off the ster, the scar could still be seen.

    Chu Chen did not dare to hide things from him. ¡°Xiao Ling got angry and smashed something on me.¡±

    All the executives sitting around him had different expressions. Some looked surprised, some looked investigatory, while some took delight in the disaster. Many people in thepany were well aware of him working extremely hard for Xia Ling. Many of them were jealous of him for having such a cushy job. He needed only to serve Xia Ling well and, once Xia Ling spoke well of him in front of Pei Ziheng, what kind of riches and fortune could he not obtain? However, many looked down on him too. For a man to use this kind of method to reach the top seemed a little too dishonorable.

    Pei Ziheng said lightly, ¡°Oh.¡±

    As if he had not seen the various expressions of the executives, he reassured Chu Chen. ¡°She¡¯s just like that, you have to excuse her. This girl even bit on my hand once when she red up, I almost had to get stitches.¡±

    Chu Chen knew that Boss was giving him a way out of an embarrassing situation.

    That pampered girl dared to bite even Boss, so what if she had hit him? It was simply going easy on him!

    The colleagues that had looked down on him quickly arranged their expressions. Chu Chen smiled at Boss as if nothing had happened. ¡°I understand that Xiao Ling did not have bad intentions. Her straightforward personality actually makes her easy to get along with. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    A few colleagues around him simply wanted to give him a big thumbs up. Goodness, he was really a brave warrior! In this whole universe, the only person who dared say that the spoilt missy Xia Ling was easy to get along with was probably Chu Chen! Which part of her was easy to get along with! Was his bootlicking not too obvious?!

    The members raised their heads in anticipation, knowing that Boss Pei hated it most when his subordinates sucked up to him. This time, he would surely dislike Chu Chen for his bootlicking. However, contrary to their expectations, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression turned warmer. He nodded seriously and said, ¡°She is very good.¡±

    All of them were silent. ¡°...¡±

    What could they possibly say? What was there to say?!

    There was nothing to say. They continued staring with envy and hatred at Chu Chen¡¯s ¡°Good Assignment¡±. They could only cry on one another¡¯s shoulders.

    A while after this episode had passed, Chu Chen received a thick stack of wads of constion cash from Pei Ziheng. He also gave him a much wider scope of authority. He understood that this was Pei Ziheng¡¯s way ofpensating him for the hardships and negligence he had faced being with Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling always thought that he was her friend, but he never forgot who he was serving with his life.

    Thus, when she had been imprisoned and had put all her efforts and suffered many hardships to escape from that huge vi, he had been able to intercept her and return her back to Pei Ziheng without even batting an eyelid.

    He had seen the despair in her eyes, her pale face written with disbelief. In that instant, her heart had broken, and she had been so deeply hurt. It had made him silent for a long time, and he had felt an ineffable throbbing pain. But it had only been for a tiny moment. He never regretted anything that he had done. It was precisely his seemingly cold-hearted decisions that had supported him to this day and enabled him to win so much power and authority. He was not a woman and did not have her good assets, and was thus unable to make use of the most primitive weapon to gain benefits from men. All he had was his own intelligence.

    And his intelligence had told him that the wisest choice was to abandon Xia Ling and protect Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Some people just can¡¯t seem to recognize that they are simply just a toy. What love? Friendship? It¡¯sughable.¡± Chu Chen muttered to himselfte at night in his luxurious apartment while sipping red wine.

    The night wind blew gently. His mother pushed her wheelchair over to the balcony. ¡°Ah Chen, are you unhappy?¡±

    He was slightly shocked. ¡°Why? I¡¯m very happy today.¡± Yes, very happy, he was finally able to get away from the life of being Xia Ling¡¯s nanny. From now on, he no longer had to receive orders from someone so arrogant and bossy¡ªin this world, even Pei Ziheng¡¯s words were warm and affectionate. It was as if he was bathing in a spring wind, and respect was given between words.

    As long as there was no more Xia Ling, everything was fine.

    His mother, however, could not put down her worry. ¡°But you look a little upset.¡±

    He smiled half-heartedly and made his worried mother leave. How could he be upset? How could someone like Xia Ling, so innocent and naive, make him upset? In this world, so what if her talent was good? She was not scheming and deceitful enough, and would onlye to a dead, sorry end.

    ... Just like his father back then.

    Chu Chen put down his ss. Suddenly, he did not have the mood to continue drinking.

    His family took care of matters and made him go on blind dates. He was not young anymore and had yet to be in a rtionship before. He had always dyed it by making excuses about how he was too busy. However, now that he was thirty-something-years-old, it could not be dyed anymore.

    His mother had asked a favor from someone to send information about a few girls to him. ¡°Look and pick one that you like. Those matchmakers were so proactive once they heard that it was you who I was searching for a partner for. They all said that with how sessful you are, all the girls would definitely like you. Ah Chen, don¡¯t be so picky. Our family isn¡¯t that kind of big and grand family like that of President Pei¡¯s. We don¡¯t have the aspiration to marry some virtuous rich daughter from a prestigious family. I will be satisfied to see you marry a woman who knows how to live well and endure hardships.¡±

    Chu Chen smiled at his mother.

    After witnessing the ¡°love¡± that Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng had had for the past ten years, he felt deeply that it was such an illusory and fragile thing. Even the two of them were unable tost long, what could he possibly hope for? He took the pictures from his mother and looked through them one by one. Suddenly, he saw a girl wearing a simple dress that looked slightly familiar.

    ¡°This...¡±

    ¡°The daughter of your brother-inw, Chu Yingying,¡± Chu Chen¡¯s mother said. ¡°Thisdy is also very pitiful. She met with an ident when she was ten and required blood donation. It was then that they found out she was not the birth child of your brother-inw. This enraged him and he divorced his wife, who then remarried. She is called Li Yingying now. She is now 29 and has not yet married, so her family is extremely anxious. They keep sending her to blind dates. The matchmaker has said that this girl¡¯s personality is not bad, so she has introduced her.¡±

    She was no blood rtion and was not part of their family anymore. There was nothing inappropriate about that.

    Chu Chen stared at the photograph and thought back about how he had gone to find his brother-inw at the age of twenty to borrow money. The little girl had been wearing a pink dress. Under the crystal lights, she had looked just like a princess from a fairytale. While caressing her pet dog, she had been feeding him with leftover bones. [Brother looks so pitiful, I¡¯ll give this bone to you to eat.]

    He had observed everything in detail.

    Even until today, the same sensation of a needle sticking into him could be felt.

    He made an appointment with Li Yingying to meet in a high-ss coffee shop. The private room was quiet, and the music was gentle.

    He had reached first, and stared through the ss one-sided window as the girl came in from outside. She wore what looked like a dress on offer during sale season in supermarkets. An unbranded bag was slung over her shoulder. Ufortable, she had followed the immactely dressed waiter to the private room where Chu Chen was waiting.

 Chapter 994 - Nightmare

    <strong>Chapter 994: Nightmare</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Everything on her body added together did not surpass three hundred yuan.

    This was his first impression of the girl. It was not that he was snobbish, but it had been an upational habit that he had developed from being a manager for so long. When he looked at someone, he would first assess the person¡¯s clothing, her temperament, and how she held herself, then he would quickly calcte whether the person was ¡°Star Quality¡±, ¡°Exploitable¡±, or ¡°Useless¡±.

    The girl in front of him was slightly hunchbacked, and her strides were not graceful either. Her skin was yellow and coarse, and he knew with one nce that she had not taken good care of it. Despite himself, he thought of Xia Ling, whose age was simr to this girl. Xia Ling had such touching eyes and fair, glowy skin. When she smiled, the whole world seemed to lit up...

    Even during thest time they¡¯d met when she¡¯d looked at him in disbelief with a broken heart, it had still been so memorable. It was a kind of temperament that few people possessed. It was vivid, lively, and was able to shake one to the core regardless of whether they loved or hated her.

    After interacting with her, other girls appeared to be in as a ss of water.

    Chu Chen was slightly distracted.

    It was the girl who broke the silence first. ¡°Do I have something on my face?¡± she asked while touching her face consciously.

    Chu Chen realized that he had been staring at her for too long.

    He invited the girl to sit and asked her what she wanted to drink gentlemanly. They ordered two drinks and started chatting idly. He was out of form and his mind wandered often. However, the girl was still very meticulous about this blind date. She racked her brains to search for more topics to talk about and tried her best to liven the atmosphere.

    Halfway through, he received a call from Pei Ziheng.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Li, I have matters to attend to, so I¡¯ll leave first. You can stay here and finish your drink.¡± He called the waiter and took out his limitless card to pay for the four-digit bill.

    Li Yingying stared fixated at his limitless card, his crocodile skin wallet, and the expensive receipt. She swallowed and watched as he hurriedly took out two hundred-dor bills to tip the waitress. Inparison, she could not even bear to buy such an expensive dress for herself.

    Where else could she find such a more outstanding man?

    She held onto the bone china ss and came to a silent conclusion in determination. She must win him over.

    Night fell and Chu Chen returned home.

    His mother asked eagerly, ¡°How was the blind date? The matchmaker gave me a call and said that thedy was very satisfied with you. Ah Chen, I think you have to stop being so picky, just like that female singer you brought overst time. What was her name again? Xia Ling? She did not even move a finger when she was here for dinner. Girls nowadays are getting more and more finicky, unlike Li Yingying. The matchmaker has said that she is well educated and knows how to cook. You¡¯re so busy all the time and hardly have time to eat a proper meal, so you should find a wise and kind wife who can take good care of you. Then, I will be reassured.¡±

    Chu Chen burst outughing despite himself. ¡°How could youpare her to Xia Ling? Didn¡¯t Xiao Ling offer to help only to be rejected by you that day?¡± Besides, even if Xia Ling wanted to help out, he would not have dared to let her. If anything were to happen to this precious pampereddy, would Pei Ziheng not skin him alive?

    His mother was not satisfied. ¡°What was that girl capable of doing? Just looking at her carrying the bowl and you know that the posture is wrong. You better not let her break the chinaware you brought back with much difficult from Italy. Forget it, you won¡¯t understand this kind of girl talk. Just find a wife that can be wise and kind, understand?¡±

    Chu Chen could not win over her, so he just nodded in agreement.

    In his eyes, women were not much different from one another. Other than Xia Ling¡¯s kind, who were ¡°capable of hitting it big time¡±, and Li Yingying¡¯s kind, who ¡°would not be famous or earn money even after a thousand years¡±, to him, the rest of the women were all the same.

    Since his mother liked her, he started dating Li Yingying with no serious intentions.

    During Spring Festival when he had to offer sacrifices to his ancestors, he brought Li Yingying along to visit the Chu family¡¯s rtives. His brother-inw¡¯s expression turned shades of white and red, and he was very surprised. ¡°You... why are you with her?!¡± He asked, tongue-tied.

    The Chu Chen now was no longer the same lost youth who had stood outside his family¡¯s restaurant in a predicament, waiting to borrow money in embarrassment while enduring his hunger. He had already managed to single-handedly pay off all the expenditure of the sacrifices for his family¡¯s ancestors and had long be the most sessful and authoritative figure in the Chu family. With a fake smile, he said, ¡°Yingying is not snobbish like other people, I like that a lot.¡±

    It was not just his brother-inw, but all the other rtives who had refused to lend money to him before, all lowered their heads awkwardly.

    If not for his mother pulling him and hinting to him not to overdo it, perhaps he would have satirized and mocked them until they could not stay any longer. Now that he had returned to his hometown in silken robes, all his rtives were following his orders blindly and saying yes to everything, afraid that they would offend him unintentionally.

    Under the gathering of the stars, he, however, only felt lonely.

    Late at night, he dreamt again about Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, how her formerly pair of bright eyes and pupil disying her quick-wittedness had shown despair and disbelief instead. It was as if she was asking, [Chu Chen, why did you lie to me?!]

    He woke with a shock in cold sweat.

    Li Yingying woke up too. She got up to switch on the lights and asked him what was wrong in concern.

    He shook his head, ¡°Nothing.¡±

    Li Yingying said gently, ¡°Sleep early, we have to go back to the city tomorrow. Oh yes, the north side¡¯s shopping mall is having a sale these few days, do you want to apany me shopping?¡±

    Chu Chen agreed.

    This woman was indeed great at housekeeping. She did not spend much when buying clothes and would pick them wisely so that they did not surpass one thousand yuan even when added together. Chu Chen thought of Xia Ling, how she would order people to hand her the custom-made shop¡¯s catalog when she waszy to leave the house. She would randomly point to one and say, ¡°I don¡¯t want this and this. I want all the rest in different colors each.¡±

    He had once joked with her. ¡°Only Boss can support your behavior.¡±

    She had lifted her chin and smiled arrogantly. ¡°I like him and he likes me.¡± While saying that, her whole body seemed to glow in a sweet and blissful manner.

    Like. What on earth was that?

    Chu Chen stared at the girl beside him and was unable to understand the sudden eager palpitation of his heart.

    However, this did not stop him from holding her hand and going through a few branded shops to buy a few stylish fitting clothes for her. It was not considered expensive and was only one or two thousand yuan per piece. If it were ced next to Xia Ling, she would not even give it so much more as a nce. However, the girl in front of him seemed to be excited and happy for half the day.

    Perhaps this was what his mother had meant by being satisfied with what one had.

    He began to give serious thought to marrying the girl.

    The second day, he went to Imperial Entertainment and saw Pei Ziheng sitting in his office drinking thick coffee. His eyes were bloodshot as if he had not slept for the whole night. Chu Chen asked in concern, ¡°Boss, is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Hand me the stomach medicine over there.¡±

    Chu Chen handed it to him and watched him swallow it with a frown, before saying carefully, ¡°This is because of Xiao Ling?¡± That butterfly-like and attractive girl seemed to have locked him up, causing him to vex over her. In just a few short months, so much trouble had happened because of her.

    Pei Ziheng was silent for a long time. He waved his hand and gestured for him to leave.

    Chu Chen closed the door for him and stood in the corridor. He suddenly felt that it was not a wise move to be considering marriage at this time.

 Chapter 995 - Happily Married Couple

    <strong>Chapter 995: Happily Married Couple</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    His mother urged him to get married.

    He was unable to tell his mother his true concerns. If he were to tell her that it was because he could not be too high-profile when his Boss¡¯ love affair was not going well, given his mother¡¯s personality, she was sure to find his Boss directly.

    He could only say, ¡°I have my ns.¡±

    Li Yingying was even more anxious than his mother. She was just a normalpany white-cored worker and received a sry of a few thousand yuan per month that could not feed her full yet did not leave her hungry. Like the rest of the normal people in the city, she would squeeze into public transportation every day and then share a list of take-outs with her fellow colleagues for lunch. If there was no ident, she would follow the existing orbit and live a normal life like all the rest of them¡ªeven buying more presentable clothes would need her to be calctive over it for a long time.

    It was Chu Chen¡¯s arrival that had changed her lifestyle.

    She could now wear what she could not bear to buy in the past, her essories were of top quality, she sprayed expensive and quality perfume, and even carried the same Chanel bag as Xia Ling.

    In the face of the eyes of jealousy of her female colleagues, she knew that she would have to hold onto this wealthy husband.

    Whether she was able to transform her destiny all depended on one action.

    She indirectly urged him on marriage, saying that she was not young anymore and had to get married to give birth so that both their families¡¯ parents would be reassured. However, Chu Chen said, ¡°Boss has not been in a good moodtely. In this critical junction, we cannot be too high-profile. Oh yes, don¡¯t tell my mother that it is because of Boss.¡±

    Li Yingying asked, ¡°Is it because of Wang Jingwan¡¯s death?¡±

    Wang Jingwan¡¯s death had caused a great sensation. Countless media had sighed and said that such a happily married couple made in heaven had parted ways in such a sad way. As a normal gossipy person, Li Yingying¡¯s heart was igniting in mes of curiosity.

    However, Chu Chen was not willing to talk about it. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t ask about what you should not know.¡±

    He wanted a wife who knew her own ce, not a busybody who groundlessly mixed rumors together. After following his Boss for so many years, his loyalty to him was something an ordinary person would find hard to achieve. For example, he would never talk behind Boss¡¯ back, even to his closest parents and wife.

    Meticulous thoughts and a tight mouth¡ªthis was Pei Ziheng¡¯s evaluation of him.

    Li Yingying was a little unhappy, but she did not say more. In fact, how was she to know that powerful Pei Ziheng who was so set up on high was not actually secretly upset over his fiance¡¯s death? The woman that Pei Ziheng cared about would forever be only one¡ªXia Ling. His butterfly, his life, and his light.

    When Chu Chen saw Xia Ling once again, she had slimmed down a lot. Her pair of eyes had lost its radiance, and she was curled up docilely in Pei Ziheng¡¯s embrace, letting him feed her some shark fin swallow¡¯s nest porridge that had been boiled down to a soft mushy texture. When she saw Chu Chen, her expression was no longer heartbroken and one of disbelief. Dazed, she had her eyes downcast like a lifeless beautiful doll. This made Chu Chen¡¯s heart heavy unknowingly.

    He had originally only cared about Pei Ziheng¡¯s feelings and had not nned on getting married at this juncture. However, now that he saw how Xia Ling was behaving, he felt from his heart that he did not want to get married. The pair of empty soulless eyes was impossible to get rid of from the bottom of his heart. He began to suspect, had it been a wrong move to hand her over to Pei Ziheng when she had tried to escape?

    No, how could it be wrong?

    She was originally Boss¡¯ personal toy.

    Chu Chen convinced himself repeatedly and thought back on how unscrupulously behaved and overbearing she had been when he was her manager. He told himself that each person had their own lives. She had enjoyed so many years of pampering and had trampled on so many people¡¯s lives. This was just the time for her retribution.

    However, it was no use.

    He still could not control it and would dream of that pair of eyes incessantly.

    There was no second pair of eyes in the world that was that crystal clear and yet was able to shake one to its core. It was fine for her to throw her weight about when she wascent and to be heartbroken when disappointed, but her quick-witted eyes seemed to speak. However, because of the selfish desire of the powerful one, the spirit behind her eyes was now forcibly wrecked.

    The end of the road for The Queen.

    However, Chu Chen was unexpectedly not used to her not being by his side. There was to be no more reckless girl stirring up trouble and needing him to clean up her mess at all times anymore; there was to be no more pampered and fussy child that would make her assistant run to the fruit juice shop over the sweetness of her citrus juice; there was to be no one who wouldugh happily by his side and say, ¡°Chu Chen, look how pretty the sunlight is today, let¡¯s go film an MV!¡±¡±You¡¯re so amazing. You can capture the most perfect shot every single time!¡±... One by one, those memories tortured him, making him toss about in bed.

    He asked for a leave from Boss and brought Li Yingying to the beach.

    Perhaps this would help him forget about Xia Ling.

    Li Yingying was indeed a perfect housewife. She would use the hotel¡¯s kitchen to cook for him personally, give him massages with gentle strokes, warn him repeatedly about taking care of his body so as not to catch a cold, wash and clean his clothes, and even iron them neatly before cing them at his bedside. But she would never onceugh impudently like Xia Ling, and not to mention stirring trouble, even when she identally knocked against someone at the beach she would be terrified and would apologize incessantly.

    Chu Chen did not need to clean up after someone anymore.

    His heart felt empty.

    He felt as though he were a criminal. He had finally gotten rid of the devil incarnate Xia Ling, and should be putting his hands together praying to God, so how could he be going crazy over how boring life was now that she was gone?

    Sometimes, he would stare at Li Yingying and fall into a self-suspicion¡ªwas this really the woman he wanted to spend his whole life with? A woman as in as water, who would not be able to fight alongside him, arouse his fighting spirit nor even interest him to give her another nce.

    He felt as though he had really gone crazy. Where on this earth could he go to find a second Xia Ling?

    Yet she was Boss¡¯ property¡ªa woman he did not dare to even think about, much less touch.

    His thoughts were in turmoil and he closed his eyes painfully.

    Li Yingying tried to hint him by saying, ¡°When will President Pei¡¯s mood get better? Why don¡¯t we n our wedding sequence first, and when his mood is better, we can get married immediately?¡±

    Chu Chen opened his eyes and nced at her. ¡°You want to marry me that badly?¡±

    Li Yingying blushed. She said shyly, ¡°I feel that you¡¯re the one who can give me happiness.¡±

    ¡°Do you love me?¡±

    Her face got even redder. She nodded.

    ¡°Tell me, what do you love about me?¡±

    ¡°Chu Chen¡ª¡± she said coyishly, avoiding the question. ¡°You¡¯re so bad.¡±

    However, he waited for her answer unmovingly.

    Li Yingying pondered over it. What did she love about him? It was said that marriage was a woman¡¯s second reincarnation. What she ced importance on was nothing else but money and authority. Oh yes, and his immactely-dressed appearance and out-of-the-ordinary style of conversation. To be able to bring such a husband out, she would definitely be able to grow some face. She said bashfully, ¡°I love you for treating me well.¡±

    ¡°How have I treated you well?¡±

    ¡°You bought me clothes and brought me to the beach to y. You... you treat me well.¡± Her eyes were filled with bliss.

 Chapter 996 - Demoness

    <h4>Chapter 996: Demoness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°So, it¡¯d be alright if someone else was nice to you?¡± He asked.

    Li Yingying flinched. ¡°O-of course not, why would you say this?¡±

    ¡°Any rich person could get you gifts and take you to the beach.¡± Chu Chen had been a manager for so many years and had seen all sorts of people in the entertainment circle. Li Yingying¡¯s simple mindset was practically written on her face, unlike other scheming female celebrities.

    She loved wealth and material goods, but did she really love him for the person he was?

    Chu Chen wasn¡¯t sure, but at that moment, he did not want to avoid the question any longer.

    Li Yingying did not expect him to ask such a question. Her face went red and she seemed to have been exposed for something personal. ¡°W-why, Chu Chen, i-it¡¯s you I love.¡±

    ¡°Is it me, or is it money?¡±

    That day, they parted ways on an unpleasant note.

    Li Yingying, who felt insulted, had run away with her hands over her face. Back in City S, they went into a cold war. She was so sure that Chu Chen would make the first move and apologize, but he had not even contacted her after a few days. Li Yingying got uptight and had no better choice than to give Chu Chen¡¯s mother a call and pour her grievances to her.

    When Chu Chen returned home from work, his mother chided him. ¡°The both of you were doing so well together, why did you do this? Hurry and apologize to her, don¡¯t let my daughter-inw run away!¡±

    Chu Chen felt that he did go overboard that day as well and hence, went to look for Li Yingying at her ce in a small estate. In thete afternoon light, there weren¡¯t many people on the streets of that humble estate. He walked towards the foot of Li Yingying¡¯s apartment and saw her taking the trash out in ace dress and some nude makeup.

    He had bought that dress for her. Ever since they got together, her dressing had be more extravagant than before.

    Chu Chen was just about to walk up towards her when he saw a man appear beside her. He held her arm and said some things that were inaudible to Chu Chen. Seeing that their expressions seemed a little odd, Chu Chen stopped in his tracks.

    The two of them got increasingly agitated and began raising their voices at each other.

    He heard the man say, ¡°Li Yingying, I didn¡¯t expect you to be this materialistic. Three years of our rtionship isn¡¯t even worth as much as the clothes and bags he gave you?!¡±

    Li Yingying scoffed at him. ¡°Don¡¯t be naive! What are feelings even? Can they keep me warm?! Zhou Qiang, I do love you, but what have you given me? I don¡¯t want to spend the rest of my life just having cheap food with you! I have the chance to be a rich mistress now, why would I say no to that life?! Please stoping to look for me, we¡¯re over!¡±

    So it seemed like love was worthless in her eyes.

    Chu Chen had just found out the truth, and yet he did not feel hurt at all¡ªas he had guessed, he wasn¡¯t truly in love with her. His thoughts drifted and he recalled the time Xia Ling sat on the swing in Pei Ziheng¡¯s backyard. She had looked at that man smilingly and said, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to stop loving me. Even if we¡¯re left with nothing someday, we have to continue to be in love!¡±

    She was a butterfly, a little genie.

    Whenpared to her, tons of women became nothing more than greedy fools.

    He found himself losing interest in this.

    He turned around and left the little estate that was now illuminated by the streetlights.

    Unwilling to return home to his mother¡¯s long-winded talks, he walked about aimlessly. When he finally snapped back to his senses, he realized that he had arrived at Imperial Entertainment¡¯s entrance. s, besides his workce, where else could he actually go? He mocked himself and decided to enter the building; since he was already here, he might as well do some work.

    He walked along the quiet and empty hallways but noticed that there was lighting from the Honor Hall.

    It waste, who could be in there? The Honor Hall exhibited portraits of the Heavenly Kings and Divas in Imperial Entertainment over the years. But it wasn¡¯t a popr ce for anyone to visit, much less at night.

    Chu Chen entered and saw a man.

    Pei Ziheng was standing before thergest portrait right in the center of the hall in silence. It was Xia Ling¡¯s portrait. In it, she was wearing a bright red dress and in the middle of a spin. Her dress was swaying, her hair was slightly messy, but in her eyes was radiance and mor that filled the rest of the picture.

    Chu Chen called our quietly, ¡°Boss.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s beautiful.¡± Pei Ziheng had not even turned around when he uttered this with a hint of sentiment.

    Chu Chen was a little stunned, given that he rarely spoke with such an emotional tone. Perhaps everyone was a little more fragile in the dead of the night. He wisely kept quiet for a while, knowing that Boss did not require an answer. Pei Ziheng then reached out and stroked the ss pane, where Xia Ling¡¯s beautiful eyesy behind. He was gentle with his touch, as if any force he applied would break something fragile.

    Thereafter, Pei Ziheng turned around and asked him, ¡°It¡¯ste, what are you doing here?¡±

    Chu Chen smiled sadly. ¡°I broke up with my girlfriend.¡± After witnessing the scene in the estate, there seemed to be a wound in his heart that had not closed or healed yet. He was frustrated at his dull and boring life, but the breakup was only necessary.

    Pei Ziheng wasn¡¯t too surprised. ¡°She¡¯s not suitable for you.¡± He had heard about her from Chu Chen before and had long felt that this ordinary girl was simply not good enough for his right-hand man.

    Chu Chen gave another sad smile. Well, what kind of girl suited him then?

    He turned away slightly to avoid seeing that red-clothed demoness.

    Those eyes were too beautiful, it felt as if one could fall into a trap permanently if they looked at them for too long.

    Pei Ziheng... must really love those eyes too? Or rather, he was missing them. Chu Chen suddenly understood why his boss was standing here sote at night. The girl he kept at home had been tortured horrifyingly and had lost the glow in her eyes. In this world, no other pair of eyes held such beauty; once it was destroyed, it was gone for good.

    Pei Ziheng took onest look at the photo before leaving.

    His footsteps were heavy and he seemed to be carrying a heavy burden.

    Chu Chen felt bad for him as well, and in a moment of impulse he said, ¡°Boss, let her go.¡±

    He did not mention who exactly, but both of them knew full well. The big man suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at him with a cold, ruthless look in his eyes.

    Chu Chen¡¯s heart stopped momentarily as he tried to regte his breathing.

    Pei Ziheng red at him for a while. Only when he backed off under the pressure did Pei Ziheng solemnly say, ¡°Just this once, I¡¯ll take it that I didn¡¯t hear this.¡±

 Chapter 997 - Reminiscence

    <h4>Chapter 997: Reminiscence</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was soft, but Chu Chen heard it clearly¡ª

    I¡¯ll take it that I didn¡¯t hear it this time around¡ªthis simply meant that if he were to say this again, awaiting him would be strict punishment! This was the first time Pei Ziheng had talked to him in this tone.

    Everyone had their bottom line which couldn¡¯t be infringed upon.

    Staring at the ¡°dragon amongst man¡± walk away, Chu Chen¡¯s heart palpitated. He realized that his shirt was drenched with his cold sweat. He felt that he was bewitched. Else, he would not have been so stupid to go over the line. After working with his boss for so long, he should have learned that for some things and tasks, he should only listen and follow orders, instead of probing more.

    After that night, he hid this matter deep down in his heart and never talked about it again.

    He was still Pei Ziheng¡¯s right-hand man: assisting him in handling everything about Xia Ling, contacting the ve-training club, buying those shameful and not-to-be-seen equipment, giving the excuse of ¡°recovering from disease¡± during press releases to cover up the fact that she had been imprisoned, and even negotiating with Wang Jiawo to promise that the Wang Family would not assert revenge against her.

    Everything was under his control.

    asionally, when he looked for Pei Ziheng at the secret lock-up, he would see Xia Ling as well.

    That demoness-like woman looked even more haggard. She was pale and skinny, almost like a piece of paper that could be gone with the wind. She was very obedient and her ankles were locked with thin gold chains. Even when her skin was scratched and bloodied, she did not dare to scream. Shey tamely in Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms, and when he released her from his embrace, she would even look up at him with admiration.

    Well, everyone led a different life.

    Chu Chen told himself, it was great that she was able to get along with his boss again.

    Pei Ziheng told Chu Chen, ¡°I am nning to let her out.¡±

    Chu Chen was not surprised. Now that the murder case of Wang Jingwan had died down, and she had be obedient, it was impossible to lock her up for eternity. Moreover...

    He recalled the look in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes as he browsed through her past photos that night in the ¡°Honor Hall¡± of Imperial Entertainment.

    Beneath his solemn appearance, he actually missed the flying butterfly. After all, beauty trapped in a cage was not truly beautiful. Maybe deep down in their hearts, they all had a secret longing¡ªa longing that the vain butterfly would return.

    Unfortunately, things went wrong before that day arrived.

    When the stage lights dimmed, Chu Chen knew instinctively that something was wrong. This was City S¡¯s best concert hall. Professionals would have checked the equipment thoroughly before every show. How could they make such a lowly mistake like a power shortage? He had jumped to his feet, but before he could break through the horde of audience and the security, the lights had switched back on. Following which were screams of terror from the crowd...

    The butterfly had fallen.

    Looking back, Chu Chen did not understand how he managed to survive that period. He had to settle her funeral, handle the queries from reporters, console the dejected Pei Zhiheng while maintaining his focus against those power-hungry people eyeing Pei Ziheng¡¯s seat in Imperial... he was so busy that he did not have time to mourn her death.

    Chu Chen¡¯s mother asked, ¡°That girl who came over to eat, she died just like that?¡±

    Chu Chen rubbed his forehead, unable to answer her.

    His mother sighed with sympathy. ¡°It¡¯s a pity, she was young and pretty. By the way, Chu Chen, remember to visit her tomb. And bring along the yam powder I made. She liked it a lot.¡±

    He helped his mother make the yam powder before searching high and low for the antique Italian porcin bowl that he brought home many years ago. It was a limited edition item, and even his mother was unwilling to use it.

    His mother stopped him. ¡°Why use such a rare and expensive antique as an offering bowl for her? We don¡¯t reuse offering bowls, it will be such a waste.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy another one for you.¡±

    He insisted on using the bowl.

    She was such a vain person, how would a normal bowl be fitting for her?

    Ever since her death, every time he worked overtime till daybreak, or when he was tired and dizzy, an illusion would sh before his eyes¡ªher eyes filled with hurt and disbelief, staring at him in despair as if saying, ¡°Chu Chen, why did you lie to me?¡±

    If only he plucked up the courage to grab her hands when she escaped.

    If only he had tried harder to persuade Pei Ziheng when he was looking at the photo in Honor Hall.

    Would there be a different ending? Without the tragedy?

    However, dead men never rise. There was no point in regretting now.

    He had always been a pragmatic person who did not allow himself to sink into such despair. He told himself again and again, ¡°Look, this is how the weak end up. In this dog-eat-dog world, only the strong will survive.¡±

    He would continue to follow Pei Ziheng until he got stronger.

    Even though Xia Ling had passed on, he was still, without a doubt, the best agent in Imperial Entertainment, or even the entire industry. There were many artistes who wanted him to help them boost their poprity. To achieve this, the artistes schemed against each other every day, while he had a bird¡¯s eye view of all their antics. He knew he would find a new source of entertainment very soon and get over her death.

    Pei Ziheng assigned Xia Yu to him.

    He threw himself back into work. But Xia Yu was different from her sister. She knew how to observe and examine the situation. Even when she threw her tantrums, she did it to an extent that abided by the unspoken rules of the entertainment circle, which meant that he did not need to clean up after her. And it turned out that there was simply... no fun.

    He still missed his time as Xia Ling¡¯s agent.

    He still couldn¡¯t get over her death.

    Until Ye Xingling appeared.

    The first time he saw her, her eyes caught his attention. After Xia Ling¡¯s death, he would habitually use people¡¯s eyes to rate them. Unfortunately, all of the artistes he met had disappointed him. None of them had eyes as pristine as Xia Ling¡¯s.

    But Ye Xingling was different.

    Her eyes were like a clear, iridescent ss surface. Compared to Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, her eyes were a different kind of distant and cold. However, it radiated innocence like a body of clear water.

    He was deeply attracted to her.

    As if he was looking aimlessly for someone else in her.

    He knew that Pei Ziheng was also attracted to the innocent and mysterious air she exuded. In some ways, she was too simr to Xia Ling.

    He epted Pei Ziheng¡¯s orders to turn her into his exclusive sex toy.

    ¡°From now on, things won¡¯t be boring anymore.¡±

    Chu Chen thought as he epted the order.

 Chapter 998 - The Later Years (Side Story of Pei Ziheng and Xia Lingâ€™s Past Life)

    <h4>Chapter 998: The Later Years (Side Story of Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling¡¯s Past Life)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng was now old.

    He was 92. His longevity often drew envy, even from the world¡¯s richest.

    His eyes were still bright and sharp as a hawk¡¯s when he looked at others. His teeth were great for his age. He could chew through his favorite rare steaks with ease. However, he knew that his inner organs were failing one by one. During his annual health check-ups, his family doctor would always say, ¡°Mr. Pei, you must take care of your body. At this age, every day alive is a blessing from God. You must cherish the time you have left.¡±

    He took strolls regrly, yed golf, and followed his doctor¡¯s instructions so that he could live longer.

    All these, because he couldn¡¯t die yet.

    His mission was notplete. The girl he loved was still alive. He had promised her to protect her for life, how could he die before her?

    ¡ªThe girl he loved, was Xia Ling.

    He called her a ¡°girl¡±, but she was already 72, with grey hair and a gentle smile. However, in Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart, she was still the 12-year-old girl he met. Innocent and carefree, oblivious to the dangers and perils in the world.

    He said he would protect her for life and he meant it.

    Even if she was married and with a family.

    Even if she was happy with another man.

    Every morning, Pei Ziheng would drink a cup of ck coffee and read the news. In the ¡°Global Economy¡± or ¡°International News¡± section, he would see the man she married¡ªLi Lei. His hair had greyed, but still looked energetic with a calm yetmanding smile. He kept his body in shape, with a nice set of teeth, as if challenging Pei Ziheng to live a longer life.

    Pei Ziheng was in very low spirits.

    He was 92 this year, Li Lei was 80. A full Zodiac cycle between them. Unless he could live another 12 years, he would definitely die before Li Lei. As he thought of this, he solemnly ate his bread while cursing Li Lei to meet with an ident tomorrow.

    However, before Li Lei sumbed to his curse, Pei Ziheng met with an ident.

    He copsed suddenly while golfing.

    Hispany hurriedly rushed him to the hospital. But it was all toote. Even though they were able to resuscitate him, half of his body was paralyzed from the sudden brain hemorrhage. The doctor informed him that he would have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Hearing that, he stared soullessly into the sky.

    He started settling his business.

    He made sure that everything that needed to be nned and passed down was done ordingly and made his will.

    The sudden paralysis made him realize the fragility of life. He had to settle things quickly before he became a vegetable.

    He sent out a courier to the Li family overseas, stating his intention to meet Xia Ling.

    The courier arrived on a spring evening. The grey-haireddy was sitting on the rattan chair in the backyard, pruning camellias. Upon hearing Pei Ziheng¡¯s invite, she was lost in thought and muttered, ¡°It has been some years since I met him.¡±

    Ever since she migrated, you could count with one hand the number of times they had met. As she grew older and built her family, she sealed all these memories deep in her heart, nning to let it die with her.

    Why the sudden invite?

    The courier said respectfully, ¡°You should know, Director had a sudden brain hemorrhage. After his resuscitation, I think he feels rather sentimental.¡±

    As we grew old, we would all be sentimental.

    Especially for someone like Pei Ziheng, who had never married. Rumors flew around that he never forgot the only woman who had stepped into the halls of marriage with him¡ªYe Xingling, or Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling stared at the red camellia in front of her. After a long while, she agreed.

    At the snap of her scissors, a stalk of camellia fell.

    The courier was ted and thanked her profusely.

    Sheid down her scissors and stood up, carefully swiping away the petals on her shirt. With her housemaid¡¯s assistance, she went to look for Li Lei. She said softly to the man that had apanied her for life, ¡°I saw the news a few days ago. He is paralysed now. It just feels wrong, like...¡±

    She did not continue.

    Li Lei knew her intention. Pei Ziheng was already old and was prone to illness. She was worried that before she could say her goodbyes, he would leave the world forever.

    He looked at his wife. ¡°If you want to, you can go. Remember to bring more clothes and take good care of yourself.¡± At their age, they were no longer the spontaneous and rash youth they used to be. Even if they met, nothing would happen. But if they did not, she might regret for life when he passed.

    Xia Ling looked at him gratefully and gave him a long hug.

    Without packing any luggage, she followed the courier to the Pei family. To be exact, it was the house she decorated during her youth, the one she lived in with Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Why does he still live here?¡± She questioned the courier. ¡°Don¡¯t the Pei family have many huge mansions, hot springs and rejuvenation vis? This house is so small. How many doctors and servants can it fit? He is already so old, what if any mishap happens?¡±

    The courier knew this too. He said with a bitter smile, ¡°The Director insisted on living here. He doesn¡¯t listen to anyone. You know his temper. Once he has made up his mind, no one can change it. But...¡± He looked cautiously at Xia Ling. ¡°Maybe if you try to persuade him, he might just listen to you.¡±

    Xia Ling pursed her lips and walked solemnly into the vi.

    Pei Ziheng knew she woulde. He specially ordered his servants to prepare a tea room, wore his newly tailored grey suit, andbed his silver hair. Even though he was half paralyzed, he still asked his servants to move him to the sofa. He sat as upright as he could, as if the paralysis had never happened.

    The housemaid was very concerned. ¡°Sir, with your body strength now, you won¡¯t be able to sit like this for long.¡±

    Pei Ziheng insisted. The sole reason he wanted to see her, was to leave a good impression for her before he became fully paralyzed.

    He looked elegantly as she stepped into the tea room, just like years ago. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯vee.¡±

 Chapter 999 - Dreaming of the Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 999: Dreaming of the Butterfly</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She slowly sank into the seat opposite him.

    The young girl back then had now be an olddy with a head of silvery hair. Her lips had lost their gleam, no longer possessing the same allure as before. But all these didn¡¯t do much to cover up the beauty she held today. This was the kind of beauty that came from months and years of umted peace and calmness, and that was even more precious than natural beauty.

    There were over a thousand old women in this universe, but she was the most beautiful of them all.

    Pei Ziheng stared at her, momentarily caught in a daze. It was obvious that Li Lei had been treating her well, not allowing her to work nor undergo any difort. He felt a wave of reassurance wash over him, and also a tinge of disgruntlement. The feeling of both emotions winding together felt foreign.

    The housemaid came up to ask her what she wanted to drink.

    She said, ¡°I¡¯ll have some rose tea, thank you.¡±

    He spoke warmly, ¡°It¡¯s been so many years, but your taste is still the same.¡± No coffee, no alcohol, only warm water or floral and fruit teas. With such nourishing tastes, he figured that she would live till a ripe old age.

    Sheughed. ¡°These few years, I¡¯ve been idle, and am more able to brew tea with flowers I pick on my own.¡± The children had grown up, each of them now living their own lives. She had sessfully retired, and to fill her time, she had taken up an interest in gardening. She paused for a moment, before continuing, ¡°If you like it, I¡¯ll send some over when I get home.¡±

    He warmly epted the offer.

    For two people who had not met for many years, and who had left such deeply significant marks in each other¡¯s lives, they had nothing to say to each other. In that silent moment, she was the one who first broke the silence. ¡°Why are you still living here? Staying in such an old house isn¡¯t good for the body. You should move to somewhere more suitable for you.¡±

    He replied, ¡°I like it here.¡±

    This response was said with a low voice, with such warmth and meaning, as he looked at her.

    She bowed her head slightly.

    Deep in her heart, she knew why he liked this ce. This house was personally designed by her and hade a long way, carrying with it the many memories they shared between them.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± She gently called out his name. Her voice did not possess the same sharpness and rity as it did before, but something about it touched his heart. These few words left the tip of her tongue with much bitterness and a sigh.

    What more could she say?

    So many years had passed, and yet he was still hung up on the memories of the past, dwelling in the same space he was in since then. How could she still hope for him to wake up from those dreams of his? With much bitterness and sadness, a person understood the importance of family and children as they age. But here he was, all high and mighty but alone. At the age of 92, he had nothing.

    If he didn¡¯t meet her, would he have had a much more blissful life?

    She gently held the cup of rose tea to her lips, taking a small sip, while lowering her eyelids.

    It didn¡¯t seem like he was thinking as much as she did, nor bearing many negative feelings. ¡°Is the rose tea nice?¡± he asked. ¡°We always have your favorite things prepared. Every now and then, the maids will rece the expired ones with new ones.¡±

    She felt her nose scrunch up.

    Such an embarrassment. How old was she, to still be crying when she was a guest?

    She fought back her tears as she struck up a casual conversation with him, discussing mostly about typical topics like the weather, food, and drinks, about how she cared for this family of kittens she owned, how she found her partner...

    It felt like they talked a lot, but yet didn¡¯t really talk about much.

    He was half paralyzed, and couldn¡¯t sit down for long. He chased her off without inviting her to have dinner. ¡°It¡¯ste, you should head back early, and not let people at home worry for you.¡±

    Startled, she said, ¡°I stay overseas. There isn¡¯t a ne for me to catch at this time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to prepare the guest room for you. When you leave tomorrow, I won¡¯t be here to send you off.¡±

    She did not expect his attitude to be so determined. It was strange. He was the one who requested for her toe, so why did it seem like he could not wait to send her away after only chatting for a short while? ¡°Pei Ziheng...¡± She spoke in a low and gentle voice but had nothing left more to say.

    Pei Ziheng smiled at her. ¡°Go back, my little girl.¡±

    She was obviously an old woman with a head full of silver hair. Yet, in his eyes, she would always remain the most beautiful view. He stood up to send her off, as she made her way out of the tea house with the help of a housemaid, before suddenly copsing back onto the sofa in cold sweat.

    Why didn¡¯t he just keep her there a while longer?

    Why not continue to chat with her casually for a longer period of time?

    He could not. His body was already at its limit, and his waist could no longer hold him up. He didn¡¯t want her to see a trace of his physical difficulties, not even a single bit. He wanted to always be that strong man in front of the woman he loved with all his heart, putting up a strong front.

    She was that little girl in his memories.

    And he wished he would always be that strong, dependable mountain for her to lean on.

    The maid walked back into the tea house and, upon seeing him copsed onto the sofa, was so startled that she hurriedly brought him back to the bedroom. She called the doctor in, and the doctor had a solemn expression on his face after inspecting his chest with the stethoscope. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you are pretending to be too strong. Sitting on the sofa and drinking tea like a normal person has exerted too much on your body. In the following days, you must stay in bed to recuperate and not go anywhere at all, understood?¡±

    He didn¡¯t take into mind much of what the doctor was saying, and waved his hand at them, indicating he wanted them out of his room.

    The doctor didn¡¯t dare to disobey and retreated.

    Pei Zihengid on the bed, staring out of the window wistfully with a heavy heart as if a huge hole were cut out of him. He wanted to lift his hands, but did not have the strength to do so, and could only slightly wriggle his fingers such that the tip of his fingernails grazed across his palms. Earlier, while passing Xia Ling her teaspoon, his nails unintentionally touched her hand.

    What a warm and blissful feeling.

    It left a sense of nostalgia.

    He knew that their meeting this time was probably thest time they would meet in this lifetime. In the end, there was nothing he could gain, nothing he could keep with him. Not even that small sensation left behind on his fingernail.

    Pei Ziheng slowly shut his eyes.

    That night, he had a long dream.

    He dreamt of the days when he was young, when he first met her under those iris flowers, reaching his hand out towards that girl who was so unbelievably beautiful.

    Come, Xiao Ling, let me bring you home.

    He dreamt of the house they lived in at that time.

    The first time he brought her back, it was to the ce he often stayed at when he was young. The best one out of all the houses the Pei family owned, a longhouse inherited by them, where it was dedicated to them as a living residence.

    He held her hand and entered amidst the wee of the maids.

    When she first arrived, the little girl was wary, and carefully analyzed her surroundings. Seeing so many exquisitely, reverently dressed maids, she didn¡¯t even know how best to put her arms and legs, and quietly stood a little closer to him.

    ¡°Nanny Zhou, this is Xia Ling.¡± He introduced her to one of the housemaids. ¡°Prepare a room for her, as she will be staying here from now onwards. From now on, she will be referred to as Miss Pei.¡±

    Nanny Zhou looked at her, startled and in wonder, and agreed. She raised her head towards Pei Ziheng and said, ¡°Sir, Miss Jingyu hase and is currently waiting for you on the second floor.¡±

 Chapter 1000 - His Little Girl

    <h4>Chapter 1000: His Little Girl</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Just after that, he saw a beautiful girl appear at the stairway on the second floor.

    She had fair skin and her long ck hair was obviously conscientiously put in order as it rested neatly on her shoulders. She had on an elegant, pastel-colored dress and looked poised in it.

    Wonder and joy could be seen in her eyes as she looked at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Big Cousin, you¡¯re here.¡±

    She held her long dress up and walked down the stairs elegantly, like a beautifully bloomed lily in the wind.

    Pei Ziheng introduced her to Xia Ling. ¡°This is Pei Jingyu, a younger cousin of mine. She¡¯s 15 this year, just three years older than you. You can call her Sister Jingyu.¡± He then said to Pei Jingyu, ¡°Jingyu, this is Xiao Ling, a child I¡¯ve just adopted. Take good care of her.¡±

    Only then did Pei Jingyu realize that he was holding a little girl¡¯s hand.

    Her first impression of this little girl was¡ªgorgeous.

    Truly gorgeous. Xia Ling¡¯s beauty was the sort that left a deep impression on people. Even Pei Jingyu, who had seen all sorts of beauties, had to admit that describing her as ¡°devastatingly beautiful¡± was in no way an exaggeration. Her eyes were deep and moving and the tips of her eyes were slightly pointed upwards, like that of a phoenix¡¯s tail. Hershes were thick and lush, her nose small but its bridge high, and her lips were lightly colored like a cherry blossom. She looked just like a genie who had entered the human dimension, or a barbie dolle alive.

    She was breathtaking.

    It took just one look for Pei Jingyu to dislike this little girl.

    As the honorable daughter of the Pei family, she had been praised for her attractive appearance since she was a child. Her naturally pretty features, coupled with the efforts taken to enhance her looks, made her prettier than most girls, and it had be her pride. Many boys were besotted by her, while many other girls and housemaids often said, ¡°Miss Jingyu is so pretty, what a natural beauty. There won¡¯t be any other person in this world who would be prettier than Miss Jingyu...¡±

    Her looks had been her one source of pride, and yet a little girl had beaten her in this aspect.

    The moment she saw Xia Ling, she knew she¡¯d been defeated¡ªan utter, embarrassing defeat at that.

    The little girl was just 12, but she was already such a stunner¡ªyes, only a stunner was appropriate enough to describe her sort of beauty. Pei Jingyu even wondered whatmotion she might cause if she were to make an appearance in social circles.

    Pei Jingyu saw her as a thorn in her flesh.

    How could there exist a girl who was prettier than her, and younger than her?!

    She didn¡¯t like Xia Ling one bit.

    She sized Xia Ling up with disdain and saw that her clothes looked a little old and worn out. The material appeared inferior and the sleeves were already fraying. It was simply... embarrassing.

    Pei Jingyu regained some of her dignity as despise shed through her eyes. She then looked toward Pei Ziheng and smiled, ignoring Xia Ling like she was just ordinary trash. ¡°Big Cousin, I¡¯ve been waiting for you for a long time. Grandpa told me toe and hand you a pack of white tea leaves that have just been harvested this year. Hurry and take a look to see if you like it!¡±

    She took an exquisite tea box out of her leather handbag and handed it to Pei Ziheng.

    But Pei Ziheng did not reach out to receive it. Instead, he looked into her eyes and said, ¡°You haven¡¯t said hi to Xiao Ling.¡± Pei Jingyu¡¯s look of despise had not escaped his eyes, and her coldness towards Xia Ling was all the more obvious. Pei Ziheng would not allow anybody to treat the people who mattered to him this way, nor would he tolerate anyone who challenged his authority.

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s expression turned a little awful.

    She never would¡¯ve expected that her Big Cousin could be this nice to a beggar-like girl. What was this about, this random feral child walking into their house openly? When Pei Ziheng introduced them to each other, Pei Jingyu, who had undergone training for etiquette and manners, had already noticed¡ªhe had introduced her to Xia Ling first, before introducing Xia Ling to her!

    ording to the unspoken rules of socializing, it was the rule of thumb for the younger one to be introduced to the older one first, or for the one of lower status to be introduced to the one of higher status first. Pei Ziheng was the leader of arge, wealthy and powerful household, his education and training had been perfect. He couldn¡¯t possibly have made such a silly mistake. And yet, he had introduced her first.

    It could only mean one thing¡ªXia Ling was of a higher status than she was in his heart.

    Pei Jingyu was fuming on the inside. If not for the sake of maintaining her demure image in front of her Big Cousin? She would have exploded. How could this little beggar be of a higher status than her? She was the official and deserving Miss of the Pei family! Her mother was a well-knowndy of another powerful n, her father was the vice-president of Imperial Entertainment, her grandfather was thergest shareholder of the Imperial Entertainment Group, and that made her just second to Chairman Pei Ziheng in terms of the shares they owned!

    Her grandfather was the biological younger brother of Pei Ziheng¡¯s grandfather and had much say and power in the household and thepany. Pei Ziheng was the only son in his family, and there were no daughters. Hence, she was the most respected Miss in the entire Pei family. Everyone had been pampering her through all her growing years, and she never had to deal with something like this. But this little girl had put her in such a position!

    Pei Jingyu was clenching her teeth in anger, but she dared not vent it on Pei Ziheng. She now hated Xia Ling a little more than before. Unwilling to say hi to Xia Ling, she said coquettishly, ¡°Big Cousin...¡±

    But Pei Ziheng was unwavering as he kept his eyes on her silently.

    He wasn¡¯t doing or saying anything, and yet Pei Jingyu felt as if his re was an invisible mountain, suffocating her with its weight. Finally, she could not deal with the pressure anymore. She turned to Xia Ling and reluctantly said, ¡°Hi.¡± That was it.

    Xia Ling apprehensively said, ¡°Hello.¡±

    She was daring and outspoken in the orphanage, but that was only because she was in a familiar ce, and everyone there was of the same status. Now, she was actually standing in a rich family¡¯s house, and she could sense that the elegant girl standing before her did not wee her. Naturally, she felt a little nervous.

    She tightened her grip on Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand.

    Pei Jingyu was so close to giving her a scoff. This little beggar, what right had she to say ¡°hello¡±?! She ignored her again and turned to Pei Ziheng, attempting to strike up a conversation with him.

    But Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Does the family teach you to greet others this way?¡±

    ¡°I...!¡± Pei Jingyu felt even more wronged now. She was already being very nice to even speak to this little beggar, what else did he expect from her?!

    Did this little beggar deserve it?!

    Pei Ziheng nced at her in silence again, but this time, his expression hardened. He would not let anyone be so mean to the child he brought home. If she was being patronizing even in his presence, who knew what she could get up to when he wasn¡¯t around? He wanted to establish Xia Ling¡¯s status from the onset.

 Chapter 1001 - The Trick to Rearing Kittens

    <h4>Chapter 1001: The Trick to Rearing Kittens</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was his little girl, which made her the Miss of the eldest branch of the Pei family.

    She should be the girl with the most respectable status in the entire household.

    Pei Ziheng felt the little hand in his grip shift a little and held it more firmly to offer strength. The little hand stopped fidgeting uncertainly as if it felt safe and secure now and was relying on him.

    As much as she was unwilling to, Pei Jingyu had no choice but to speak to Xia Ling nicely. ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Pei Jingyu. You¡¯re wee toe and y with me next time.¡±

    Xia Ling mustered up the courage to give her a friendly smile.

    Pei Jingyu was fuming on the inside, but it wasn¡¯t in her ce to show her temper. She kept telling herself: Act mature, act mature... and finally managed to suppress that anger temporarily. She dared not offend Big Cousin since Grandpa had repeatedly told her that they couldn¡¯t bear with the consequences of having him be angry at them. Grandpa even said that she had to forge a close bond with Big Cousin as he was the youngest and most powerful head of the Pei family in all of their history and that being in his good books was more than favorable.

    Pei Jingyu had always remembered Grandpa¡¯s words.

    And she did like this Big Cousin. Of all the men in the Pei family, he was the most outstanding.

    In any case, she could settle all these grievances with Xia Ling the little beggar privately. Pei Jingyu was convinced she¡¯d do just that.

    She handed the tea box to Pei Ziheng once again. ¡°Big Cousin, hurry and open it up. Grandpa says this sort of white tea is great, it cleanses and nourishes the body. There are only two boxes produced this year, and he¡¯s keeping one for himself and giving the other to you; even my dad doesn¡¯t get one.¡±

    Pei Ziheng received the tea. ¡°Thank Granduncle on my behalf.¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled. ¡°We¡¯re family, what¡¯s with the civilities? Big Cousin, have you had lunch while you were out? There¡¯s a newly opened wagyu beef restaurant in the east of the city. I heard it¡¯s pretty good, shall we go try it together?¡±

    Pei Ziheng passed the tea box to the housemaid and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯ll be busy settling some things, let me get the chauffeur to send you back.¡±

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s expression darkened as she swept another nce at Xia Ling. What could he be busy with? Since he¡¯d just brought this little beggar home, it¡¯d probably be about her?

    What a party pooper.

    She acted a little peeved. ¡°Big Cousin doesn¡¯t love me anymore.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled warmly. ¡°You¡¯re my cousin, I¡¯ll naturally love you.¡±

    He then turned around and told the housemaid, ¡°Send Miss Jingyu home.¡±

    He was always like this¡ªhe spoke calmly and casually, but his stance was strong and unchallenged.

    Unhappy as she was, Pei Jingyu couldn¡¯t do anything but to follow the housemaid. As she walked out, she started thinking. <i>Just how should I punish that little beggar?</i>

    Xia Ling felt unsettled as she watched Pei Jingyu leave. She could feel that that rich girl disliked her from the beginning. Her little face could barely mask her emotions as worry was written all over it. That was when she realized that Pei Ziheng was looking down at her.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± He asked.

    She paused for a while before saying, ¡°Did I make Miss Jingyu angry?¡±

    Pei Ziheng held her hand and took her upstairs. ¡°Before you, she isn¡¯t any Miss. Xiao Ling, you remember this, there¡¯s no girl in the Pei family whose status is more respectable than yours. You¡¯re brought home by me.¡±

    She nodded her head half in understanding.

    His words were strangely reassuring and managed to calm her.

    Pei Ziheng took her to the room that had been tidied up and prepared for her. It was clean and spacious, and arge bed lined with duvet covers was set in the center. Thin curtains were put up across the full-length window panes and an abundance of sunlight spilled across the room floor. A mild fragrance of iris flowers filled the room.

    He told her, ¡°This is your room.¡±

    ¡°So beautiful.¡± Her eyes sparkled; she loved this ce. She¡¯d never lived in such a spacious and beautiful room. Back in the orphanage, a few children had to squeeze into one small room full of bunk beds and misceneous hoarded objects. There was no room to even turn around in one¡¯s sleep.

    Unlike here, where it was so big she could dance around.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I love it!¡± She nodded vehemently and let go of his hand to explore the new room. She fiddled with the little things in the room and unconsciously broke into a bright smile, momentarily forgetting all the unhappiness with Pei Jingyu earlier. She did a little spin in the room and said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled back at her. He didn¡¯t know why, but seeing her happy lifted his spirits as well. This was unprecedented with anyone in his life.

    His eyes glimmered. ¡°Tell Nanny Zhou if you need anything, she¡¯ll help you with it.¡±

    ¡°Anything at all?¡± She looked up at him.

    ¡°Anything at all.¡± He responded warmly.

    She tilted her head in thought and a sparkle came into her eyes. ¡°I want to visit Xiao Yu and show her this room. I¡¯ll let her know that I¡¯m doing well so she won¡¯t have to worry about me.¡±

    After the adoption, the sisters parted ways.

    She followed Pei Ziheng home, while Xia Yu was sent to the best hospital in City S for treatment.

    Pei Ziheng did not expect such a request. Wouldn¡¯t most girls just enjoy and indulge in what they had if they were given such luxury after years of deprivation? She was different, the first thing she thought about was her sister. But maybe this was exactly why he liked her from the beginning...

    She was so pure, so kind.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to buy some clothes tomorrow morning, then we¡¯ll head to the hospital in the afternoon.¡±

    She was still dressed in the horrid old clothes from the orphanage. How could such cheap stuff be fit for a girl he liked?

    She nodded happily.

    She turned around and saw a vase of iris flowers. ¡°Such flowers are nted nearby too?¡±

    He said, ¡°No, not anywhere near. I got someone to bring this vase over from the orphanage.¡±

    When he left the orphanage, Chu Chen had told him that the people there mentioned how much she loved these flowers. They even talked about the trick to rearing kittens¡ªwhen you gave a little kitten a new home, you should bring along things that it was familiar with. This would reduce their anxiety levels, helping it to adapt to the new environment and be more receptive to its new owner.

    He guessed that it was the same with people.

    Indeed, she looked at him with gratitude. With eyes that shone like the radiance of dawn, she said, ¡°You¡¯re great.¡±

 Chapter 1002 - Little Princess

    <h4>Chapter 1002: Little Princess</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He took her to buy some clothes.

    This was the first time he entered such a shopping mall too. Shopping in a ce crowded with people was a strange and new feeling for him. He held her little hand and looked at her¡ªshe appeared to be ovee with joy as her eyes explored the ce excitedly.

    He asked her, ¡°What do you like?¡±

    ¡°That one!¡± She pointed at a store not too far away. They were disying little gowns with sequins andce on them, and they glistened in the store lighting. However, something suddenly hit her as she retracted her hand and looked at him apprehensively. Quietly, she asked, ¡°Do you think it looks nice?¡± Just like him, this was also her first time at a mall, and she had no idea how to pick her own clothes. Back in the orphanage, all the clothes were donated by others and they simply wore whatever was avable without much choice.

    She suddenly recalled Pei Jingyu¡¯s look of despising the previous day.

    What if she chose the wrong clothes and got mocked by her?

    Pei Ziheng couldn¡¯t be bothered with these considerations. He took her to the store and got the employee to get one for her to try on.

    The employee could tell at one nce that Pei Ziheng was a rich man. Hence, she smiled enthusiastically and said, ¡°You have such good taste. This is our new design for the season, it really suits this miss here. A beautiful miss like you should wear an equally beautiful dress.¡±

    Xia Ling held it tight and went to the fitting room.

    Her physique was perfect and herplexion was fair and good. With her pretty little face, she looked good in anything. When she walked out of the fitting room, Pei Ziheng almost forgot how to breathe. He had seen her fight, he had seen her anxious and upset, but he had never seen her look so perfect.

    She was like a princess in a dreamscape.

    How could such a beautiful person possibly exist? Pei Ziheng gazed at the girl before him, who had to tilt her head up to look at him. He thought that maybe this was why he brought her home¡ªto give her a good life, one that she was worthy of.

    ¡°Is it bad?¡± She got worried again as he kept quiet.

    Only then did he snap out of his gaze. ¡°No, it¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    The employee was also awed by her beauty. A few others who were serving their own customers turned around to take a look at this beautiful little princess. Even some of the customers themselves widened their eyes in awe. ¡°Whose daughter is this? She¡¯s gorgeous.¡±

    The employee smiled andplimented her. ¡°Miss, you look so perfect in this, it¡¯s as if this dress was made for you!¡± She adeptly went on to look for a few essories. ¡°Just a dress won¡¯t do, you¡¯ll look better if you wear it with some essories! Here¡¯s a seashell hair essory, here¡¯s a...¡±

    She went on as she began putting it on for Xia Ling.

    Out of the blue, a hand reached out and took the essory away from the employee.

    Pei Ziheng bent over and looked down, carefully clipping it onto Xia Ling¡¯s hair. His slow breathing beside her ears got her a little tickled. As she blinked and looked up at him, she suddenly realized just how handsome he looked¡ªhis featured were deep-set, his eyes were serene and quiet, his nose bridge high, his lips intuitively pursed into a straight line; he looked so serious and dependable.

    She watched him as he the essory on her.

    The store was faintly scented and the lighting was abundant. In there, her little dress glistened and glowed.

    Time seemed to have frozen at this moment; all the best things were captured in one scene. Everyone in the store stopped what they were doing and watched them with their breaths held back, not wanting to disrupt this beautiful fantasy.

    Finally, a little girl broke the silence. ¡°Mom, that big sister is so beautiful, and the big brother is so nice to her. Are they the prince and princess?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably what a prince and princess would look like,¡± the mother ruffled her hair and said gently.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up as she heard the whispers. She felt a little shy, but also sweet and fuzzy inside. All her life, everyone had referred to her as a little troublemaker, a feral child, but no one ever told her that she could be a princess too.

    Every girl had dreamt to be a princess.

    And her dream was slowly being fulfilled in the hands of Brother Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng tried on a few different essories for her, as if he was dressing a barbie doll. Only after a long while did he straighten up and nudge her towards the mirror.

    She looked at her own reflection and couldn¡¯t believe that the pretty little girl she saw was actually herself.

    She reached out and touched the cold ss surface with her fingertip gently, and saw that the little girl before her did the same. She gazed at this scene for a long time.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± He asked her as he reached his hand out as well and wrapped her little hand in his.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking...¡± her voice suggested that she was still in a daze. ¡°Could this be a dream? And that once I¡¯m awake, I¡¯ll lose everything.¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Little one, you¡¯ll never wake up from this dream.¡±

    That day, he took her to many different stores and bought her everything sheid her eyes on.

    They shopped around hand in hand for a long time, but deep down she was still thinking about her sister in the hospital. Finally, as much as she hated to leave the mall, she headed for the hospital.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, I¡¯m here to see you.¡± She smiled and entered Xia Yu¡¯s ward with Pei Ziheng.

    The little girl in bed looked sickly and tired, her lips purple and her body shrunken. She looked up at her sister holding that man¡¯s hand. Sister was dressed in a beautiful dress and her lush ck hair was tied up with a pretty ribbon, just like she was an exquisite doll.

    But what about herself? So skinny, so weak, so ugly.

    Xia Yu bit her lower lip and forced a smile. ¡°Sister, I¡¯ve missed you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you too.¡± Xia Ling could not see the dismay beneath her eyes. She walked towards Xia Yu and took a pretty little dress out of a huge box. ¡°Look at this, Xiao Yu. Do you like it? I specially picked this for you, it¡¯s from the same collection as the one I¡¯m wearing now. Oh right, being from the same collection means that the designs are of a simr standard, that¡¯s what Brother Pei told me!¡±

    She announced her new knowledge to her little sister with pride as she handed her the dress, awaiting her reaction.

 Chapter 1003 - Etiquette Class

    <strong>Chapter 1003: Etiquette ss</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Yu took over and lowered her eyes. Her fingers that were swollen from her illness gently stroked against the delicate fabric. Her voice was a little weak when she said, ¡°Very pretty, Sister, you are so good.¡± Then she raised her head to look at Pei Ziheng who was standing beside Xia Ling. ¡°And thank you... Brother Pei.¡±

    She could differentiate very clearly who was the master of the gold.

    If not for Pei Ziheng supporting their livelihood and paying for her hospital treatments, she would still just be a pitiful creature degenerating in the orphanage struggling strenuously on the brink of death.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was warm. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me. Your sister asked me to buy it for you.¡±

    Xia Yu smiled weakly and whispered softly, ¡°Brother Pei is so good to Sister.¡± Many emotions churned in her heart. She felt envious and discontented. They had already left the orphanage, but why was everyone only centered on her sister? What was so good about her?! She dropped her gaze and stared at the dress in her hands. The delicate yellow goose color did notplement her skin color at all, only making her whole person seem dull and ugly. It was entirely disharmonious.

    How stupid was her sister to think that she would like this dress?!

    Did she not know that she was still sick? To dress in this way to visit her, and even gift her such a beautiful dress, was it because she knew that she wouldn¡¯t have an opportunity to wear it, so she came on purpose tough at her and provoke her?!

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart was filled with grievances. The hand that was hidden under the nket clenched itself into tight fists unconsciously.

    Xia Ling did not sense any of this. She chatted with Xia Yu for a while before leaving with Pei Ziheng.

    On the car ride back, she was a little tired and yawned a few times.

    Pei Ziheng said warmly, ¡°Lean on my shoulder and sleep. I¡¯ll wake you when we reach home.¡±

    After all, she had only been adopted by him yesterday, so she was a little shy. She said softly, ¡°I¡¯m not sleepy.¡± She leaned onto his shoulder in embarrassment. However, the smooth drive on the Rolls-Royce was just toofortable. Unknowingly, she was even more sleepy. Her head leaned onto his solid shoulders slowly and without control.

    Not wanting to wake her up, Pei Ziheng adjusted his posture slightly to allow her to sleep morefortably.

    At first, she had been a little awkward, but once she slept on and fell into a deep sleep, she forgot where she was headed. She stretched out her elbow and hugged onto his arm, rubbing onto it with her cheeksfortably. After a while, she extended her other elbow and hugged onto him tightly with her two arms like a ko hugging a tree trunk.

    He looked down at her.

    She was sleeping sofortably on his shoulder. Her sleeping posture was different from all the prestigiousdies he had been so used to seeing¡ªher petal-like lips were slightly open and her sparkling saliva was staining his exquisite shirt.

    His expression was gentle as he reached out and wiped away her saliva lightly without thinking it was dirty.

    She slept for a while and woke up to see him wiping her saliva. She jumped in shock and her face turned a deep red in embarrassment. ¡°I, I, I didn¡¯t drool on purpose.¡± She stammered, letting go of him and apologizing.

    He smiled slightly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± He retracted his hand, yet his heart felt a hint of regret. The soft beautiful sensation of her petal-like lips was still on his fingertips, but sadly, she had already woken up.

    She looked at the small watermark of saliva she had left on his shoulder and blushed even redder.

    She scolded herself internally for being so reckless. What if she made him unhappy? Her two hands stirred the corners of his shirt in anxiety and she said, ¡°Should I help you wash it?¡±

    He raised his eyebrows. ¡°Can you?¡±

    She shook her head honestly.

    He burst outughing. ¡°Why would you ask if you can¡¯t?¡± His voice was filled with affection for her.

    She blushed again and whispered in retaliation, ¡°I, I can learn. I can¡¯t just take from you without repaying you.¡± He was too good to her, so good that she was almost shedding tears of gratitude. She was unable to return the favor, so she desperately wanted to be able to do something to repay him.

    Pei Zihengughed again. This silly girl really thought that helping him wash his clothes could repay him for everything he had done for them sisters? Even the material cost of his shirt would not be repaid with thebor of her washing his clothes. He nced at her softly. ¡°I¡¯ve said before that I will bring you up to be the most famous artiste in the world. If you wish to repay me, then work hard and try to achieve this goal.¡±

    She nodded fiercely. Since this was his expectation for her, she would surely aplish it.

    However...

    ¡°What should I do?¡± She nced at him and asked anxiously.

    Pei Ziheng nced at the drool on his shoulder before saying, ¡°I will arrange for you to learn etiquette with the other girls in the family. You will learn how to possess a beautiful bearing and be an elegant girl. After you have learned all that, I will arrange for you to learn the temperament of an artiste as well as the importance of the style of conversation.¡±

    She was still disregarded by him.

    Her face turned red again and she stared at the watermark of her drool with some sadness.

    He noticed her looking and said, ¡°Of course, that is your disposition in front of others. You don¡¯t have to be so restrained when it is just the two of us. Just like this...¡± He pointed to the imprint on his shoulder. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    The tiny sadness vanished like smoke in thin air.

    She nced at him gratefully and felt that this majestic Brother Pei looked so amicable.

    Indeed, Pei Ziheng contacted all the teachers in the family and had the maids send her to the lessons. All thedies of the Pei family studied etiquette together. The ssroom was built in a serene environment inside the family interior. When Xia Ling walked in, thedies were already gathered in twos and threes.

    They were either standing or sitting, chatting with theirpanions or enjoying the scenery alone.

    Everyone turned around uniformly when Xia Ling entered, all sizing her up.

    So beautiful¡ªthat was thedies of the Pei family¡¯s first impression of her.

    The second impression was that she was really old-fashioned¡ªso old-fashioned she was rustic. Which tiny workshop actually manufactured such a shoddy dress? It was brightly colored and had pearl beads and patchworkce that shone so much it was almost blinding.

    ¡°Who is this?¡± Already, one of thedies was covering her mouth andughing lightly with the girl beside her. ¡°Her outfit is just too magical. Does she really think she¡¯s a princess?¡±

    Herpanionughed too. ¡°Where did you buy this dress, it¡¯s so ugly.¡±

    This dress was the dress that Xia Ling had bought with Pei Ziheng. She liked it very much. When she had been trying it on in the store, all the store assistants hadplimented her. She had ced it aside for a few days and had been reluctant to wear it, wanting to save it for the lesson to wear it for the first time. She had wanted to leave a good impression on the teachers and the other girls.

    In the end, it turned out to be counterproductive.

    Xia Ling stood ufortably at the door of the ssroom. She could not understand why these bunch of girls did not like the dress that so many people hadplimented her on before. She looked at them carefully and realized that the majority of them were wearing very elegant and refined colors of white and grey... the style of the dresses was simple and did not have any colorful decorations. They were unlike the dress on her body which had all sorts of sequin pearls and dried flowerces all piled up on her body.

 Chapter 1004 - A Bunch of Uglies

    <strong>Chapter 1004: A Bunch of Uglies</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Standing at the door of the ssroom, she suddenly found herself out of ce.

    A youngdy of the Pei family wearing a little western dress looked her over and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°My name is Xia Ling, Ie from...¡±

    ¡°She came from the orphanage in the suburbs. She has no parents, and it is thanks to our family¡¯s kindness that has allowed her to learn etiquette with us.¡± Before Xia Ling even had the chance to talk, a clear and arrogant voice sounded. Everyone looked toward the source and saw the girl sitting at her desk next to the window. She was wearing a light pearl white silk top, and her hair was long and beautiful. She was about 15 to 16 years old. It was Pei Jingyu.

    She was the most distinguisheddy of this generation of the Pei family and was faintly the leader of this group of girls. The girls were all shocked after hearing what she said. They swept over Xia Ling with curiosity, in doubt and disdain. A wild child from an orphanage, no wonder she was dressed in such an unssy way. However, how had she even gotten into the Pei family?

    A girl snorted and asked Pei Jingyu, ¡°Sister Jingyu, since when has our family started doing charity work, letting just anyone attend ss with us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s too much,¡± said another girl.

    They were all conceited and could not even tolerate a lowly orphan sharing the same room as them, much less her attending such a grand and graceful ss like etiquettes that symbolized the affluence of their identity!

    Pei Jingyu stared at Xia Ling and sneered softly. ¡°You see, little beggar, you¡¯re not weed here, so why don¡¯t you just get out?¡± She had long found Xia Ling unpleasant to the eye. It had been inconvenient to attack her in front of Pei Ziheng back then, but now that there was no Pei Ziheng around to support her, she could properly vent her resentment towards her.

    She had already sent people to investigate Xia Ling and make clear all her background information. She had even heard Grandpa talk about why Pei Ziheng had adopted this girl¡ªbecause he was nning to develop her into a huge star.

    Pei Jingyu guessed that Xia Ling was nothing but a prop in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes.

    Forget about being a big star or a little star, or the fact that she was not famous yet. Even if she gained fame in the future, which big star of Imperial Entertainment could afford not being extremely deferential to the Pei family? An entertainer was an entertainer, and no matter how famous, she would still only be trampled on by such a prestigious family!

    She looked provocatively at Xia Ling. Her eyes were cold and fierce, her expression full of oppression.

    Xia Ling felt extremely wronged. She had meant to say that she hade from the side of Pei Ziheng, yet she had been interrupted by Pei Jingyu¡¯s words. She stared at these prestigious girls who looked down so much on her and felt as though a thorn had prated her heart. It hurt painfully. What was wrong with being from the orphanage? Diding from the orphanage mean she was lowly?

    She bit her lips and felt grievances in her heart. She raised her head and stared at Pei Jingyu. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m an orphan. So what? You guys only depend on seeking refuge in a good birthce. There¡¯s nothing impressive about it!¡±

    She had also often quarreled with people in the orphanage and was now a small expert in stirring trouble. In the past few days when she had joined the family, she had carefully suppressed her temper. Now, she could no longer suppress it.

    Pei Jingyu had not expected her to have the guts to talk back. She was shocked.

    Before she could even say anything, the other girls who always tried to curry favor with her immediately charged forward to speak out. ¡°Xia Ling, right? How can you talk this way to Sister Jingyu? Why don¡¯t you look at yourself first! Sigh, look at what you¡¯re wearing, was it picked from the rubbish bin? It¡¯s so hideous I don¡¯t even want it if you paid me.¡±

    She jeered at her whileughing.

    The girls beside her were all leering at Xia Ling. They were extremely pleased to see this little beggar being defeated.

    Xia Ling was even angrier now. This dress was not that ugly! She had picked this dress with Pei Ziheng, so even if she had no eye for beauty, Brother Pei had also said it was pretty!

    How could anything Pei Ziheng say be wrong?!

    The angry Xia Ling did not understand one thing¡ª

    Pei Ziheng was the head of Imperial Entertainment and was busy with business every day. So how could he have had time to go shopping? The clothes he wore from head to toe were all especially rmended by a professional image consultant and purchased by a butler. He simply had to wear clothes without worrying over how to match them.

    He was even less experienced with girls¡¯ clothes.

    However, he could not be med entirely for this. Xia Ling was beautiful, and she looked good in whatever she wore. Such a magnificent and splendid dress would normally suppress whoever wore it, but she could somehow look like a fairytale princess in it, so beautiful that it could take people¡¯s breath away. It was not that this dress was not pretty, it was just that it did not conform with the dressing style of the prestigious virtuous girls.

    Pei Ziheng had known about this problem, but he had decided to ignore it and pamper her.

    One, because it was enough that she liked the dress. Two, because he had already instructed the butler to find a suitable professional stylist and he had been nning on transforming her image after the stylist was in ce. However, he had not expected the girls¡¯ fighting and scheming against each other to be this severe. His little princess had been mocked by the whole group of them the moment she stepped into the ssroom.

    Xia Ling red at the girls opposite her and retorted sarcastically. ¡°You guys are the ugly ones. A bunch of uglies, did you think you would be beautiful after wearing clothes when you look so ugly? You guys are so pitiful, relying on clothes to make up for your ugly faces.¡±

    She had practiced the skill of scolding people in the orphanage as well as the skill of how to jab at people¡¯s sore spots. The group of Pei family¡¯sdies was so angry at Xia Ling¡¯s words they were about to explode. God, how could there be such an uncultivated beggar in this world?! How dare she say they were ugly?! How could she say they were ugly?!

    The group of them was about to retort and return her ridicule, but they could not find anything to say despite racking their brains.

    It was because everything Xia Ling had said was true! They were a bunch of prestigiousdies and were all beautiful inparison to the daughters of ordinary families. However, they were justpletely iparable with Xia Ling! Xia Ling¡¯s beauty was one-of-a-kind that could not be crushed. No matter how much one hated her, they could not deny her stunning beauty.

    Just like a 100 points and 0 points, they were not on the same level as Xia Ling.

    ¡°You!¡± One of the Pei familydies was so upset she poked her hand on Xia Ling¡¯s nose. ¡°Who do you think you are? Don¡¯t be too arrogant! Get out of here! Hurry up and get out!¡±

    Xia Ling reached out her hand to p the girl¡¯s hand away. ¡°And who do you think you are?!¡±

    ¡°You dare to hit me?¡± Thedy cried incredulously. Her name was Pei Jingshan. Her father¡¯s position in the Pei family was not low and she personally had a good rtionship with Pei Jingyu as well. Thus, she had never imagined that anyone would dare treat her like this. Pei Jingshan was furious. She rushed up to tear Xia Ling apart. ¡°How dare you hit me! I¡±ll kill you! I¡±ll kill you!¡±

    ¡°Jingshan!¡± The otherdies were stunned and only came to their senses after a good few seconds. Pei Jingshan was not old and was of the same age as Xia Ling¡ª12 years old. The two could not endure their anger and could not refrain from using violence when angered.

    The otherdies were all conceited and did not rush up to help. They only stood by the side to scold Xia Ling. ¡°Little beggar, get out of here! You¡¯re not worthy enough to fight with Jingshan!¡±

 Chapter 1005 - Prejudice

    <h4>Chapter 1005: Prejudice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling could not be bothered with them. She wrestled fiercely with Pei Jingshan.

    She hade from the orphanage and had fought over buns with the bigger kids every day, so her experience was beyond rich. Now, wrestling with such a dainty girl without the strength to even truss a chicken did not require much effort form her at all. Quickly, she had already gained the upper hand and was pressing Pei Jingshan on the ground, hitting her until she could not retaliate.

    Pei Jingshan cried, ¡°Help! Help!¡±

    The other girls exchanged nces with one another. They had not expected things to develop in such a way. Who would have thought that this little beggar would be so intrepid when fighting? A low-ss was indeed a low-ss!

    They were a little terrified and backtracked a few steps.

    Pei Jingshan cried even harder. Seeing how her sisters were refusing to help her, she shouted without restrain, ¡°If you don¡¯t help me, I¡¯ll tell my father! He will make sure you suffer!¡± Pei Jingshan¡¯s father held a high position in Imperial Entertainment, and half of the girls here did not have backgrounds that couldpare to hers. In the Pei family, origin and strength decided everything. Those girls started to feel afraid involuntarily after hearing what she said.

    Pei Jingshan came to her senses now. She stamped her feet and shouted, ¡°What are you all waiting for? Hurry up and pull the little beggar away! You guys outnumber her, how can you be afraid of her?!¡±

    At her heavy shouting, some of the girls stopped hesitating and came up to pull Xia Ling away.

    Xia Ling¡¯s body was pulled by them and Pei Jingshan got up in tears. She pounced forward and tore her apart fiercely. ¡°Stupid beggar! How dare you hit me! I¡¯ll kill you! I¡±ll kill you!¡± She said while crying and reaching out to p Xia Ling. Xia Ling¡¯s hands and legs were pinned down by the girls, so she had no other choice but to turn her head to the side forcefully to avoid being hit.

    Pei Jingshan¡¯s sharp and pointed nails scratched onto her and left behind a line of red marks on her fair, white neck.

    She snorted and spat on her, her saliva sshing onto Pei Jingshan¡¯s face. She scolded. ¡°Despicable!¡± How impressive was it to rely on so many people to bully her?! Even spitting on her was being polite!

    Pei Jingshan covered her face and stared at her in a daze, then bawled loudly. ¡°You spat on me!¡± Ever since young, when had she ever endured such humiliation? She pointed at her while crying. ¡°You guys beat her to death for me! Tear apart her mouth! Yes, tear apart her mouth!¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare!¡± Xia Ling red at them. Her bright eyes were aze.

    Her expression made the girls hesitate. It was so fierce and frightening.

    Standing by the side and observing coldly, Pei Jingyu thought to herself about how these sisters were so useless. She could not help but give a girl standing beside her a meaningful nce.

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s followers were numerous, and the girl who adhered to her understood her meaning. She shouted, ¡°Did she not think that she was very pretty? Scratch her face! Serves her right for showing off around us!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Scratch her face!¡± The girls were excited, how could they have forgotten this? They were all noble and beautiful girls, how could they tolerate this little beggar being better looking than them? Since this little beggar had offended them, then she deserved them scratching her face off!

    A group of them came forward to scratch her face together.

    Xia Ling recognized the turn of events. She started struggling hard and screaming, ¡°Let go of me!¡± She looked up inadvertently and her sight swept across the outside of the crowd. She saw Pei Jingyu standing peacefully in her white flowyce shirt, being escorted by the girls and smiling at her from high ground.

    Pei Jingyu¡ª!

    She understood immediately, and with her sudden newfound strength, she broke the restraint of several of the girls and was about to charge towards Pei Jingyu. However, it took two to tango. She had not taken a few steps when the girls dragged her back and she was back to being attacked.

    Xia Ling furiously fought with the girls in a hurry.

    Pei Jingyu smiled and looked on as Xia Ling was beaten a few times. She was extremely pleased. However, she could not smile anymore when gradually, the girl began to take the upper hand suddenly. She hit the group of young girls who had besieged her until they were howling in tears. Even though it was difficult to determine whose sess it was at that moment, but the oue seemed to be decided on already.

    Pei Jingyu surveyed her surroundings. The girls crowding around her who had not made a move were either her trusted aide or girls whose fathers held higher positions. They were all nobledies who were notckeys and would be unsuited to charge up to join in the fight. She muttered to herself irresolutely and came to a decision. She then gave some instructions to the girl standing beside her.

    The girl nodded and walked out of the ssroom quickly.

    In the siege of the crowd, Xia Ling gradually became red-eyed and had long forgotten what the purpose of fighting with these girls was. All she knew was that if she had been bullied, she would bully them back ten times more! She tore their hair, twisted their elbows, and bit their fingers... Again and again, she hit them until many of them saw blood.

    Her own condition was not very good. The gorgeous little dress had been torn violently, exposing her shoulders and arms. Her face was covered in bruises and blood marks left by fingernails.

    She grabbed a girl and without knowing who it was, starting hitting hard.

    Suddenly, she heard a woman scream, ¡°Stop¡ª! Which family¡¯s little bastard is this to be hitting my daughter?!¡± She pulled the children apart quickly, grabbing Xia Ling with one hand and then fiercely throwing her out.

    Xia Ling only felt a burst of dizziness before her body mmed painfully against the wall with a ¡°Peng¡± sound. She was in so much pain that it took her a long while to return to her senses. She pantedboriously and coughed a few times before wiping the blood from her face and raising her head, She stared at a well-dressed youngdy who was still screaming at her in an angered hurry. ¡°Little bastard, who do you think you are? How dare you hit my daughter?! See if I don¡¯t tear off your skin!¡±

    She said, shouting loudly, ¡°Ah Wang! Hit her to death!¡±

    A tall and strong bodyguard beside her responded by taking big steps forward and was about to hit Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling stared helplessly as the bodyguard advanced on her. Her whole body was weak and she was left with no more strength. She was unable to move. <i>I¡¯m dead meat</i>, she thought to herself. <i>What can I do now that I can¡¯t defend myself?</i>

    She was still feeling anxious when suddenly, she heard a voice¡ª

    ¡°Stop there.¡±

    The bodyguard stopped.

    Everyone turned their heads to look at the woman who had spoken. She had a tall figure and was dressed in a starry ck professional suit. Her long ck hair was tied neatly in a simple high bun.

    ¡°Teacher Gao.¡± Thedy who had screamed at her earlier looked at the woman and suppressed her anger. ¡°What do you mean? This wild girl has injured my daughter! Are you defending her?!¡± She said while using her body to shield her crying daughter like a hen protecting a chick. Her daughter was Pei Jingshan, the one who had been the most provocative.

    Pei Jingshan was now looking like a mess. She had her long hair scattered all over her face and her body was injured in a few ces. She looked even more fragile than Xia Ling did.

    Xia Ling looked at her and sneered.

 Chapter 1006 - Unrivalled Pampering

    <h4>Chapter 1006: Unrivalled Pampering</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few of the girls red at her.

    Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother even screamed in a high-pitched voice, ¡°Teacher Gao, look at this little bastard stillughing! Who on earth put her here? I want to fire that person!¡± This was the Pei family¡¯s etiquette ss and it only epted thedies from Pei family. Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother¡¯s first impression of Xia Ling was that she was some child of a maid who had ventured into the wrong ce.

    ¡°I heard you want to fire me?¡± A low voice sounded.

    rmed, Pei Jingshan¡¯s mom turned around¡ªOh God, who did she see?!

    It was a young tall man who was standing by the door of the ssroom. He wore an exquisite, well-crafted fine wool suit. His eyes were dark and his expression cold.

    ¡°Zi, Zi...¡± Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother stammered. Her whole body was paralyzed with shock and she could not say a single word.

    ¡°Brother Pei,¡± Xia Ling said softly. Herst fall had been the most severe, and she was curled up in the corner of the wall, unable to get up at that moment.

    Pei Ziheng walked through the crowd and even the corners of his eyes did not bother to sweep past the crowd in the ssroom. He walked straight to Xia Ling and knelt down in front of her. ¡°Let me see.¡± He reached out his hand and gently wiped away the blood and dust on her face. ¡°Where are you hurt? Does it hurt?¡±

    She nodded, then shook her head.

    She was on the verge of tears. Everyone had bullied her, yet he was the only one who treated her well.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was gentle yet carried a little me. ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to protect yourself properly.¡±

    ¡°They have too many people, I can¡¯t defeat them.¡± She felt wronged and wanted to cry.

    Without another word, he took off his coat and carefully wrapped her in it, covering her dress that had been ripped by the girls. He carried her bridal-style and headed out.

    The people around were all shocked.

    God, what had they seen? The patriarch, the owner, the head of Imperial Entertainment was hugging this beggar-like girl in such a gentle way?! It turns out that she was not some wild child, she was the child put into this ss by Pei Ziheng!

    Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother also reacted and her legs went weak. ¡°Zi, Ziheng, listen to me, this was just a misunderstanding. Everyone is one family, you...¡±

    Pei Ziheng red at her coldly. His gaze was like a thousand years of ice with a sense of smothering murderous intent.

    Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother shut her mouth automatically.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s line of sight also swept through the girls. No matter who was swept by him, their bodies shook uncontrobly and they lowered their heads, afraid to meet his gaze.

    Big Cousin was really... so frightening...

    The girls were all extremely frightened. Had they known that Xia Ling was sent here by Big Cousin, they, they would not have been so brazen to provoke her! Provoking Big Cousin was the same as looking for death!

    Their bodies quivered and they were all speechless.

    Pei Ziheng carried the girl in his arms and walked out step by step.

    ¡°Wait.¡± It was Teacher Gao speaking. She stood in front of him, blocking him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes were filled with anger. ¡°What?¡±

    His strong stance made even Teacher Gao¡¯s heart tremble.

    However, as the teacher of this ss, she had to say certain things. ¡°Chairman, this is a matter between the girls, it¡¯s not convenient for you to intervene. There are rules in this country and rules in your family. Hence, our ss also has our own ss rules. Regarding this matter, I will deal with it myself. Please leave Miss Xia here.¡±

    Pei Zihengughed coldly. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    He bypassed her and walked on with Xia Ling in his arms.

    Teacher Gao wanted to block him again. She followed after Pei Ziheng only to be blocked by two bodyguards. She pursed her lips tightly. This Chairman was too much...! How could he teach a child well with this kind of behavior?!

    A few days ago she had been informed by Pei Ziheng that he had newly adopted a girl and was cing her in the Pei family¡¯s etiquette ss to learn etiquette. Regarding the girls in the ss, Teacher Gao had always been treating everyone equally favorably and did not give special treatment to those who were of a higher status. Hence, she had not publicized the news.

    The adoption of Xia Ling by Pei Ziheng was recent news and many people in the family were not aware of it. Even if they knew, not many talked about it. Thus, the girls in the ss, except for Pei Jingyu, were all unaware of the fact.

    Pei Jingyu had sent a girl to inform the teacher that Xia Ling had started a fight with the other girls.

    Teacher Gao had been speaking to Pei Jingshan¡¯s mother in the office, so they had rushed to the ssroom after hearing the news.

    Halfway through, Teacher Gao had remembered the phone call from Pei Ziheng about how he would being to visit since this was the first lesson Xia Ling was attending. He was already on the way. Thus, she had called Pei Ziheng immediately to inform him about what had happened. s, she had been toote. Pei Ziheng was already there.

    Teacher Gao did not know whether tough or cry at this scene in front of her. She had not expected Pei Ziheng to be so gentle to this girl. He had never been this way to any other girl? This girl Xia Ling only suffered a few tiny injuries, but he directly carried her away from the ssroom and even refused to let her stay and receive her punishment. God, a child could not be so pampered on!

    Teacher Gao could not figure it out. She had heard that Pei Ziheng had suffered a lot when he was a child and would be beaten half to death at the slightest mistake. He even had to rush his homework covered in injuries¡ªso howe he could not bear to see this girl suffer even the slightest injury! If this carried on, this girl would be crippled!

    Teacher Gao sighed to herself.

    Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling onto his Rolls-Royce and ordered the driver. ¡°Go to the hospital.¡±

    The driver stepped on the gas pedal and sped quickly to the hospital.

    Xia Ling was cuddled up in his embrace and her voice was a little weak as she said, ¡°This kind of small injury doesn¡¯t really matter, Brother Pei. You don¡¯t have to go to the hospital, it¡¯s too troublesome.¡± She was afraid of hindering him from doing important business. Even though they had only gotten along for a few days, she had already discovered that he was always extremely busy. Furthermore, she had gotten into fights in the orphanage often and had suffered injuries more extreme than these. These tiny injuries were not severe at all and would recover by themselves.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and said, ¡°Be good, listen to me.¡±

    Indents of fingernails were left on her face, leaving behind fine blood marks. The girl¡¯s skin was so delicate, what if they were to leave a scar? He used his finger to touch her wound gently. Her red blood stained his rough fingers like a rose juice would.

    She stared at him. His embrace made her very much at peace.

    ¡°Brother Pei,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Do you think... they don¡¯t like me?¡± Her voice carried a hint of her injury.

    ¡°Who said that? You¡¯re so beautiful that everyone likes you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    So she smiled and reached out her hand unconsciously, embracing him tighter.

 Chapter 1007 - Gifts

    <h4>Chapter 1007: Gifts</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The doctors in the hospital all thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill. However, on the ount of him being rich and powerful, they endured it silently and summoned a group of experts to diagnose and cure the injury of Xia Ling. Under Pei Ziheng¡¯s request, they had conveniently done a full body checkup on her.

    Finally, the doctor told Pei Ziheng, ¡°Congrattions Mr. Pei, Miss Xia is very healthy and has no diseases. Her bones and muscles are well developed and her teeth are all neat. The only regret is the few scars on her body. They were probably formed when she fell down or fought with people, but they can be removed by our stic surgery center when we are treating the small wounds too.¡±

    Hence, Pei Ziheng asked them to remove all the scars on her body.

    She became a wless little girl with soft and tender skin. There was not a single blemish on her.

    After the incident, he got the butler to hire a beauty consultant to take care of her daily physique and appearance professionally. Such a beautiful girl must be kept beautiful forever.

    Because of the injury, Pei Ziheng asked for leave from Teacher Gao.

    She did not attend ss and stayed instead in his luxurious vi to recuperate. Every day, she bathed in rose milk, ate food and used things that had been specially selected and sent over by the butler.

    Pei Ziheng was very busy, leaving her alone at home most of the time.

    She asked the butler, ¡°What kind of person is Brother Pei?¡±

    The butler smiled at her kindly. ¡°What kind of person do you think he is?¡±

    Xia Ling took a mouthful of ice cream and thought about it. ¡°He is a good person. Nobody has ever been so good to me.¡±

    The butler said, ¡°Then he is a good person.¡± The outside world¡¯s judgment of Pei Ziheng varied, some thought he carried the style of a monarch while others thought he was cruel, cold-blooded and was a heinous big devil. However, it was not important what other people thought. The most important thing was what people around him thought of him.

    The butler was very pleased. Sir had paid sincere attention to this little girl, and this little girl had indeed not let him down. The doorbell rang and the butler went to open the door. Standing at the door was a timid middle-aged man carrying a gift. The man asked the butler with a smile, ¡°Butler Mu, is nephew Ziheng at home?¡±

    The butler said politely, ¡°Sir has gone to thepany.¡±

    The middle-aged man asked again, ¡°Is Miss Xia here?¡±

    The butler said, ¡°Sir Pei Zhang, why are you looking for Miss Xia Ling?¡± Sir had instructed him to protect Miss Xia Ling well and not to let just anyone in.

    Pei Zhang¡¯s status in the family was not very high. He was also not able to talk much about friendship with Pei Ziheng. Hence, he was cautious around the butler and did not dare rush him. ¡°It¡¯s like this, my daughter Pei Jingmei has offended Miss Xia Ling in the etiquette ssst time. I feel extremely apologetic and have thus brought some gifts over as a form ofpensation.¡±

    So that was why.

    The butler understood that the man did not mean harm to Xia Ling. He was only afraid of Pei Ziheng¡¯s power and had no choice but toe. He had seen much of this kind of person and was skilled in dealing with him. ¡°Miss Xia Ling is currently taking an afternoon nap and it is not convenient for her to see guests. Please go back¡ª¡±

    ¡°Butler Mu, who¡¯s outside?¡± Suddenly, a girl¡¯s voice sounded from behind him.

    Butler Mu turned around to see Xia Ling. She had woken up from her afternoon nap and was walking towards the door wearing a pair of rabbit slippers and pajamas with small flowers. Her long hair was a little fluffy and she was rubbing her sleepy eyes.

    ¡°Miss Xia.¡± He greeted respectfully.

    Xia Ling walked to the door and saw him as well as the middle-aged man. ¡°Who are you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m Pei Jingmei¡¯s father.¡± The middle-aged man quickly smiled at her. ¡°Jingmei has offended you identally in the etiquette ss a few days ago. I have already reprimanded her and havee today with a few gifts to ask for your forgiveness. Miss Xia Ling, you are all ssmates and have to get along cordially in the future, please forgive her and ept the gift.¡±

    He did not want to be rushed back by the butler. If the one who came to the door the next time was Pei Ziheng, he was sure to make things difficult for him. Many of the Pei family¡¯s uncles were afraid of this nephew, and Pei Zhang was of no exception.

    It was better to take the opportunity and act on it quickly. Hence, he had directly asked Xia Ling to ept the gift.

    ¡°What gift?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    Pei Zhang saw his opportunity and became even more solicitous. ¡°They are all toys, Swiss candy, Japanese dresses and some hairpins shipped from France. They are all very beautiful.¡± These were originally things that Jingmei had mored for, but since she had offended her, she could only bear the pain and give them to Xia Ling.

    After all, Pei Zhang was uncertain what Xia Ling liked, so sending her these little girls¡¯ toys was much safer.

    Sure enough, beautiful things were well-liked by little girls.

    Xia Ling felt her heart itch with desire. Furthermore, what this middle-man had said was right. She was indeed ssmates with the girls and would have to see them often, so it was not good to be in a deadlock with them. Hence, she smiled sweetly at Pei Zhang and said, ¡°Thank you, uncle. I will dly ept it.¡±

    Pei Zhang was overjoyed. He quickly handed over the box of beautifully packaged things to her.

    The butler watched from the side with a headache. He had intended to send the man away, but who was to know that Miss Xia woulde personally? <i>Forget it. Since she likes them, let her take them. Anyway, Sir has instructed to let her decide on things as long as it does not involve a big problem on principle.</i>

    Xia Ling carried the gifts happily back to her room.

    She felt as though she had done a good job by epting the gifts. It represented reconciliation with Pei Jingmei. This would mean that everything would be fine the next time she went to ss, right? After all, she couldn¡¯t trouble Brother Pei to clean up after her mess.

    She hummed a tune lightly and opened up the gifts.

    It was indeed a beautiful, Japanese-style dress with puffy princess sleeves. It was unlike the flowery dress she had bought thest time. The elegant color naturally revealed a sense of dreamy sweetness.

    She put it on. Pei Jingmei¡¯s figure was simr to hers and it fitted just right.

    She continued humming and ate candies while trying out the hairpins.

    She repeated this continuously. The butler continued handing her more gifts.

    It turned out that the news of Pei Zhang sending her gifts had spread like wildfire. Several of those who had participated in the fight were afraid of offending Xia Ling and had thus alle forward to send her gifts, hoping for her forgiveness. The butler sighed deeply. Due to the principle of ¡°offending people if he selectively epted some gifts¡±, he had no choice but to ept them all.

    That day, Xia Ling had a joyful time in her room. She had received many new clothes and beautiful essories as well as many candies. It made her awfully busy until dusk.

    Pei Ziheng stepped into the house. Nanny Zhou offered him tea and the Butler came to take the coat off Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Xiao Ling?¡± Usually, that little goblin was the first one to wee him when he reached home. However, he could not see her weing him home today.

 Chapter 1008 - The Sudden Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 1008: The Sudden Conflict</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The butler told him what happened in the morning.

    Pei Ziheng went upstairs and saw that her bedroom door was ajar. Carefully, he pushed it open. There were pretty clothes, jewelry, and sweets thrown everywhere. Amongst all the spectacle, she was sitting on the floor back facing him. Humming happily, she spread out a skirt.

    Her back view was so beautiful, he could not wait to hold her in his arms. However, his gaze darkened as he saw the pink shirt that was outlining her attractive curves.

    Xia Ling stood up elegantly, humming away. She sized up the skirt before the mirror and saw Pei Ziheng in the reflection. ¡°Brother Pei!¡± A wide smile blossomed across her face. She turned around and went up to him. ¡°You are back. Look at all these new dresses! Aren¡¯t they beautiful?¡±

    He snatched the skirt and threw it away.

    ¡°Brother Pei?¡± She looked at him, puzzled. She realized that there was something wrong with his expression.

    ¡°Who told you to ept these gifts?¡± He questioned in a deep tone.

    She was shocked. She had never seen him so angry before and was at a loss of words. ¡°I...¡± He did not explicitly allow her to ept the gifts, but he never said she could not ept them either. Didn¡¯t he say that she could do everything she wanted to? She thought that by epting these gifts and building a good rtionship with her ssmates, Pei Ziheng would have been happy.

    Before she could gather her thoughts, Pei Ziheng ordered. ¡°Strip them off now.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She was stunned again and could not react.

    Frowning, he pulled her shirt impatiently. The shirt tore and exposed her white undershirt.

    ¡°No!¡± Terrified and stunned, she covered her chest with her hands reflectively.

    Her 12-year-old body had not fully undergone puberty yet. Beneath the translucent undershirt was her undeveloped breasts. The shape of it caused his throat to turn blue.

    Covering herself, she ran out.

    Her hurried footsteps disappeared down the corridor. Pei Ziheng stood rooted to the ground and did not pursue her.

    He looked down at the hand that he used to tear her shirt. There was still warmth left on it. It was a strange kind of warmth, the kind that made one breathe irregrly. He did not know what got into him. When he saw her wearing clothes gifted by others, he felt furious and instinctively tore apart the unsightly clothes.

    But he had forgotten that she was just a girl.

    He only reacted and realized what he had done when he heard that shocked and terrified ¡°No¡± from her. His actions were too violent. He... how could he have treated her like this?

    Pei Ziheng closed his eyes and slowly adjusted his breathing. He shut out the images that he should not have seen. After which, he turned around and traced her steps.

    After searching a couple of rooms, he finally found her in the small tea room at the end of the corridor.

    She cowered in the corner, her arms crossed before her chest. Her pale fingers tightly holding onto her shoulders. Seeing him, she cowered further into her corner.

    Pei Ziheng stood at the door and did not walk in.

    A few steps between them, they stared at each other.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was not pleasant. She could not hide the fear in her eyes. His actions scarred her. Even though she was still young and did not understand the things between men and women, she still instinctively felt scared and ufortable. At the same time, she felt guilty. Pei Ziheng was so nice to her, how could she be afraid of him? She mustered up the courage to not cower further from him, but she dared not move towards him either.

    Finally, Pei Ziheng broke the silence. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Sorry? She was shocked again. However, after a few seconds, her body started to rx. For some reason, his hoarse voice had a soothing effect on people.

    Carefully, Xia Ling tried to smile at him.

    Her smile was a bit forced, but to him, it was the prettiest thing in the world.

    She did not know, but Pei Ziheng had never apologized to anymore. This was the first time in his life. He was even more nervous than she was, afraid that she would reject his apology.

    Luckily, she did not.

    Pei Ziheng took a step forward. She became anxious and cowered further.

    He stopped in his tracks. As gently as he could, he said, ¡°I have no ill intentions.¡±

    She bit her lip, not knowing what to say.

    Pei Ziheng paused for a moment and continued, ¡°I didn¡¯t do it intentionally, I just didn¡¯t like seeing you in clothes gifted by other people.¡± He rarely exined himself to other people, and so, these words came slowly. ¡°I adopted you, thus I should be responsible for your food, lodging, clothes and everything you need. I was ovee with anger and couldn¡¯t think straight just now.¡±

    He did not know whether she understood his words and looked at her anxiously.

    She stared at him with a puzzled look. Slowly, she seemed to understand his actions. She probed carefully. ¡°So, Brother Pei, you were only angry that I was wearing clothes gifted by other people?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± he answered.

    Her heart settled as she understood his intentions. Her anxiety from the prior vition started to clear, guilt recing it. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t know you didn¡¯t like it,¡± she said. If she had known it from the start, she would not have worn those clothes no matter how pretty they were.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s tense expressions started to rx. ¡°I won¡¯t me you as this is the first time. Do not do this again.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± she said. She then took the tablecloth from the tea table beside her and covered her torn shirt. She slowly moved towards him and looked up. ¡°Brother Pei, from now on, I¡¯ll only wear clothes from you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my girl.¡± Happiness filled his eyes as he held her hand and left the tea room together.

    That day, he ordered his men to throw away all the stuff in her room. After hearing from his butler that they could not find a suitable fashion consultant for her, he called his own fashion consultant to attend to her temporarily.

    His fashion consultant specialized in men¡¯s fashion and was not adept in women¡¯s fashion. However, he did not dare to reject the offer. He had no choice but to take it up and agonize over how to dress this little princess.

 Chapter 1009 - The Punishment That Came Late

    <h4>Chapter 1009: The Punishment That Came Late</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was blessed with natural beauty and allure.

    Like what many said, some people looked good even if you dressed them up in rags. Xia Ling was this kind of person.

    The stylist closed her eyes and, with much difficulty, used the standards used to put together Pei Ziheng¡¯s clothes to put together an outfit for Xia Ling. The style and the color schemes were all chosen to be very much simr to Pei Ziheng¡¯s. The elegance of the various shades of grey, the warmth of the dark, light and gentle hues of blue, together with some ck, white and a detailed pattern which most girls would not be in favor of, somehow looked really good on her.

    Xia Ling wore the outfit to ss.

    When she stepped into the ssroom, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.

    The Xia Ling today was no longer the colorful peacock who was mistaken for being one of the swans. She looked gorgeous and elegant and had be a swan of nobility. It was as if she was the most beautiful swan of the flock.

    mes of jealousy burnt up bright in the hearts of many.

    Only this time, they did not express it too obviously.

    Ever since that time in the ssroom when Xia Ling was personally carried away by Pei Ziheng, this group of girls now knew that she was a person of background. Who would dare offend Pei Ziheng? Many of the women were reprimanded by their parents when they went home, scolded for being blind, and even had some of their precious belongings taken to give to Xia Ling as a form of repayment...

    So what if they held much unwillingness and dissatisfaction in their hearts?

    The circumstances faced in a situation were more significant than the people themselves.

    But this didn¡¯t mean that they liked Xia Ling. The rules of hierarchy were anchored deep in the hearts of each of thesedies who lead extravagant lives. Having to be on the same level as this low-life was an insult to them. Many of them were already secretly plotting, waiting for the day Pei Ziheng abandoned Xia Ling to get back at her.

    Xia Ling stood at the ssroom door, scanning across the room.

    She found it strange that the students were being so quiet. As if not many of them liked her...

    <i>That¡¯s strange. Didn¡¯t their families send many presents over to express their apologies?</i> She couldn¡¯t wrap her head around the way thesedies acted. A sh of suspicion entered her heart, but she didn¡¯t think too much of it. She spotted an empty desk not far off from where she was and began making her way over.

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling.¡± Suddenly, a voice called her to a stop.

    She turned around to find a woman, dressed in a working suit, her hair piled high on her head.

    ¡°Teacher Gao.¡± She called out gently, recognizing her as the teacher she had previously met.

    Teacher Gao had on silver-framed sses, and behind those sses, steely eyes held her in a gaze. ¡°Do you acknowledge your mistake?¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. Mistake? What mistake?

    Teacher Gao told her, ¡°Miss Xia Ling, for the fight between you, Pei Jingshan, and Pei Jingmei, they have already received their punishment. You have not. So today, I am going to punish you.¡±

    Pure ecstasy bloomed on the faces of the otherdies.

    They already knew that Teacher Gao was extremely strict during her lessons, and clear in her distinctions between praise and punishment. When they deserved to be punished, she would not go easy on them regardless of their status.

    Xia Ling gaped in silence. She had forgotten about this.

    ¡°They were the ones who provoked me first.¡± She tried to reason softly.

    Teacher Gao exploded in anger. ¡°I don¡¯t care who provoked who first. Fighting just isn¡¯t right! You are alldies from the Pei family. When you walk out into the world, you carry with you the image and reputation of the Pei family. If someone sees you fighting in public, all they will care about is that thedies of the Pei family hit someone, they will not care who is right or wrong. You all are ruining the image of the whole family! Also, people will im that you have no values. They wouldn¡¯t care about the difficulties you faced!¡±

    Teacher Gao was strict in her tone and facial expression.

    Xia Ling felt misunderstood. She wanted to say that she was not ady of the Pei family, but the moment she thought about Pei Ziheng, she silently kept that line tucked away at the corner of her mouth. He took her in, so how was she that much different from thedies of the Pei family?

    ¡°Do you understand?!¡± Teacher Gao asked her sternly.

    She nodded her head, feeling miserably wronged.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking up? Are you mute?!¡± Teacher Gao¡¯s voice sharpened.

    A fewdies of the Pei family chuckled under their breaths, watching the scene unfold in front of them in glee. This lowly beggar, this brat from the countryside, what did she know about mannerism? What did she know about being natural and unrestrained, about mincing one¡¯s words?

    Out of the corner of her eye, Xia Ling spotted themughing at her, and her heart sank even further. s, receiving those gifts meant nothing. They still didn¡¯t like her. As her mind ran wild, the coldness of the tip of a long cane lifted her chin. This took her by surprise, and in the next moment, her eyes were locked in Teacher Gao¡¯s cold, steely gaze. ¡°Drifting off during a teacher¡¯s reprimanding, adds one count of punishment. Miss Xia Ling, please answer me. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Frightened by Teacher Gao¡¯s demeanor, she replied instantly.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Teacher Gao released her, a look of satisfaction on her face. ¡°Since you have understood, you go stand over there. You shall stand throughout the entire day, as due punishment for your involvement in the fight, and for drifting off during a teacher¡¯s reprimand.¡±

    Xia Ling obediently headed over to the ssroom wall and stood at where Teacher Gao instructed her to.

    The rest of thedies gleefully took in the sight of her being punished. Many of thesedies had previously been punished to stand because of a fight with her, and finally seeing her going through the same punishment today was a sight to behold. Haha, at least they hadpany and were not seen by this beggar when they were punished. Now, she was being punished and they were there taking in the moment! At the end of the day, they were the ones who got the upper hand.

    Thedies felt ted.

    Teacher Gao began the ss, telling them all about manners and etiquette.

    Initially, Xia Ling stood obediently, but her tiny shoulders began to sag as the tiredness seeped into her.

    ¡°Stand properly!¡± Teacher Gao was facing the ssroom straight on, but she was keeping an eye on Xia Ling all the time in her peripheral vision. The moment her shoulders sank, a whip of the cane came down on her. ¡°Did you not have enough to eat for breakfast? You are not standing properly, even a beggar from the roadside can stand with better posture than you!¡±

    Xia Ling felt cold, and the whip of the cane was painful, causing her to release a yelp of pain.

    Anothersh of the cane came down on her. ¡°Why are you making noises? Ladies do not make noise unnecessarily, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes misted over, but she remained silent. Two moreshes of the cane came down on her shoulders, and they stung painfully. Teacher Gao still didn¡¯t let her off and used the cane on her once more. ¡°Stand up straight! Lift this part of your body higher!¡±

    She caned on the parts of her shoulders that weren¡¯t straight enough.

    Xia Ling fought to keep her body posture upright.

    ¡°Lift your chest! Keep your stomach in! Feet t on the ground! Don¡¯t move your hands unnecessarily!¡± With every line Teacher Gao made came onesh of the cane. There were at least ten moreshes before the cane was kept away. Teacher Gao then gave the girl standing ramrod straight by the ssroom wall onest look before resuming with her delivery of the lesson.

    Xia Ling was exhausted from all that standing, but she did not dare move a muscle.

    Every movement was immediately met with ash of the cane.

    Since young, when had she ever taken such a strict mannerism ss? Barely past an hour and her whole body began to sway. In her mind, Teacher Gao shook her head. Was this girl really so delicate? She deliberately went harder on her, choosing to go on a while more with her lesson, only dismissing the ss when Xia Ling looked like she was going to faint if she stood any longer.

 Chapter 1010 - Limited Edition Teacup

    <h4>Chapter 1010: Limited Edition Teacup</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling heaved a huge sigh. Finally relieved, she decided to take a walk in the hallway and rx herself.

    But having stood still for too long, her legs had gone numb, and she fell t on the floor the moment she tried to move. In the fluster, she had knocked into something and heard someone go ¡°Oh no¡±, followed by the shattering of an object. Warm water sshed on the floor next to her and wet her clothes.

    ¡°This is a birthday gift from my brother! It¡¯s a limited edition!¡± A girl squatted down beside her and looked at the fragments sadly. She told her off, ¡°How could you be so clumsy!¡±

    Xia Ling struggled to get up, and only then did she see all the shattered pieces.

    It seemed like she had broken a cup.

    She felt bad about it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She remembered that this was the same woman who fought with her a few days back but could not recall her name.

    The girl was very unhappy. ¡°What¡¯s the point of saying sorry? This is a limited edition cup! My brother made it himself! Tell me what I should do now that it¡¯s broken!¡±

    A few other girls came closer and beganmenting about it.

    ¡°A feral girl will always be a feral girl, how unrefined.¡±

    ¡°Who does she think she is? So what if she¡¯s been adopted by Big Cousin?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Big Cousin is such an outstanding person, why would he see anything in her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯d definitely feigned pity to get into our Pei family. When Big Cousin sees her true colors, he¡¯ll definitely chase her out.¡±

    ¡°Ha, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The girls¡¯ words were getting to Xia Ling, making her frantic and angry all at once. <i>No, it won¡¯t be like what they say, Brother Pei won¡¯t abandon me! If Brother Pei really did abandon me, what¡¯s to happen to Xiao Yu? Her illness was not treated yet!</i>

    She bit her lip and did not even think to rebut them.

    The girl whose cup had been shattered was still upset about it. ¡°My cup!¡±

    Xia Ling apologized to her meekly. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. Could Ipensate you with another one?¡± She was living under someone else¡¯s roof and had to do her part well. Otherwise, Brother Pei might chase her out.

    But the girl couldn¡¯t take it lying down. ¡°Compensate? With what? You can¡¯t afford it, and even if you could, you wouldn¡¯t be able to find one like this! Even if you could get a limited edition piece, you can¡¯t pay for my brother¡¯s thought!¡± She was about to start crying.

    Xia Ling realized that she made sense with every word, what else could she say?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± She couldn¡¯t do anything but apologize.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, did something happen?¡± A beautiful voice was heard out of the blue.

    ¡°Sister Jingyu, it¡¯s Sister Jingyu.¡± The group of girls stepped aside and made way for Pei Jingyu to get to the scene.

    Pei Jingyu was in a white embroidered top andplemented it with a thin titanium ne. She looked beautiful and elegant, especially among the other girls around. But what a pity it was, she still lost by a notch whenpared to Xia Ling.

    Pei Jingyu looked down at Xia Ling who was still on the ground and felt jealousy rise inside her again. She was a brat, a feral child, a cheap girl, how could she possibly look so beautiful?!

    Xia Ling¡¯s hair was a little messy from the fall, and her grey blouse was simple and dull. Yet, with her pretty face, there was another air to her look. She was the sort who looked attractive under any circumstances, regardless of what she wore. Now that her head was hanging low, the sadness in those eyes made her appear so pitiful.

    Pei Jingyu stopped herself from tearing her face apart. ¡°Xia Ling, you created trouble again?¡±

    Xia Ling detested her arrogant tone and impulsively snapped back. ¡°How¡¯s that your business?¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled haughtily and looked at her with a pitying expression. Another girl dashed into the picture to defend Pei Jingyu. ¡°How can you speak to Sister Jingyu like this? She¡¯s the most respected in our etiquette ss, and she¡¯s our ss monitor, of course she has the right to be involved!¡±

    So she was the ss monitor.

    Xia Ling was annoyed. Why was she the ss monitor, of all people? She knew that Pei Jingyu had disliked her all this one. The first time she attended ss, Pei Jingyu had already backstabbed and made things difficult for her. From then on, she disliked Pei Jingyu to the core.

    She firmly responded, ¡°What¡¯s the big deal about being the ss monitor?¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled easily. ¡°There¡¯s no big deal about being the ss monitor. But since everyone trusts me and got me to be the ss monitor, then it¡¯s my responsibility to settle this conflict here. Xia Ling, there are rules in every ce and institution. Since you¡¯re Big Cousin¡¯s adopted child, you should bring him some pride, instead of embarrassing him by breaking the rules.¡±

    Xia Ling had no idea what she could say about that.

    She did not want to be chased out by Pei Ziheng, nor did she want to embarrass him. Well, who could she me for knocking the cup over? She bit her lip and had no choice but to admit her wrongs. ¡°So, Monitor, what do you say I should do?¡±

    Pei Jingyu was delighted to hear that. Ha, she knew she could thumb this little one down.

    She was about to say something when Xia Ling added, ¡°I hope that you¡¯ll give a fair ruling, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t be convinced. If things get out of hand and your parents end up bringing gifts to Brother Pei as a form of apology, I¡¯ll feel bad.¡± Although she had no choice but to have Pei Jingyu decide on how to settle this, she wanted to make things clear from the onset to protect herself. Otherwise, it would be impossible for her to say anything if Pei Jingyu really made things difficult for her.

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s expression turned awful. This feral girl knew nothing but to use Big Cousin as a backing!

    The girls who¡¯d arrived at their door with gifts and apologies before were looking more annoyed too. This feral girl was really too much! It was such an embarrassing incident and she actually remembered it!

    ¡°Sister Jingyu, you¡¯ve got to punish her harshly!¡± Pei Jingshan, who had been beaten by Xia Ling previously, said to Pei Jingyu deviously.

    Although the other few girls didn¡¯t have much input, the expression in their eyes said the same thing.

    Pei Jingyu smiled again. ¡°We¡¯re all Misses of the Pei family. Our status is so respectable, how could we stoop to the level of a little girl from an orphanage, whose family background is unknown? Jingshan, Jingmei, have you forgotten how our parents and seniors have taught us? When ites to treating those lesser than us, we¡¯ve got to be benevolent and kind.¡±

    On the surface, it sounded as if she was chiding the few Misses with her, but was it not obvious who she was really against? She simply meant to say that Xia Ling was a lesser person and just another orphan!

 Chapter 1011 - Worry Under the Stars

    <h4>Chapter 1011: Worry Under the Stars</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few of the girls held back theirughter and nodded.

    Unfortunately, Xia Ling was unable to vent, since what they said was true. Se did not have parents. Her little fingers clenched into tight fists on the side of her body and she told herself to endure it no matter what so as to avoid causing trouble.

    Pei Jingyu had taunted her enough. She said, ¡°The teacher has taught us to be magnanimous. We don¡¯t want to make things difficult for you. How about this, you pour tea for Jingmei as a form ofpensation for one semester and this thing will be over.¡±

    The girl she had knocked over was Pei Jingmei. Her father had even brought some gifts for Xia Ling to apologise to her a few days ago. Xia Ling¡¯s heart sighed with relief. This was indeed not a serious punishment, who told her to make a mistake? Pei Jingmei¡¯s precious cup had been broken by her, and she must be feeling very upset over it.

    Compared to this, it was not a big deal to make tea for her for one semester.

    Hence, she looked at Pei Jingmei and said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to make tea for you as a form ofpensation.¡±

    Pei Jingmei¡¯s upbringing made her very graceful. She looked at her reluctantly and said, ¡°This is the only way you canpensate me. This valuable cup is too expensive for you to afford. If you tell Big Cousin, he¡¯ll punish you. Although you can¡¯t make up for breaking my cup no matter how many cups of tea you pour for me, there is no better way.¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled. ¡°Pei Jingmei is so magnanimous. Then it¡¯s settled.¡±

    A storm had passed just like this. It was settled with Xia Ling pouring tea for Pei Jingmei for the whole semester.

    Xia Ling still felt very ufortable. Even though she had been in the wrong, it was still really unpleasant to be lectured on as if they were set up on high and taking pity on her. She felt vexed over it, and her expression showed her worry when she returned home listlessly for dinner.

    Pei Ziheng asked her, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, are you sick?¡±

    She gave him a forced smile. ¡°Nothing. I was just not used to the first day of lessons and I¡¯m just tired.¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°How are you getting along with the other kids? They¡¯re not being difficult on you, are they?¡±

    She forced herself to be more energetic. ¡°They already know that I was adopted by you, so how would they dare to make things difficult for me? I was just unustomed to the ss. As you know, I came from the orphanage... I can¡¯t keep up with the pace in a lot of ces.¡± This was not exactly fake. Teacher Gao had said a lot of professional terms that she had not understood. It was very difficult for her.

    Pei Ziheng took her words for it and thought that she was just tired from ss.

    He cut a small steak into tiny pieces for her and squeezed some sauce into her te. ¡°It¡¯s normal to be unustomed on the first few days of ss. It will get better. I¡¯ve spoken to Teacher Gao and you can ask her anything you don¡¯t understand. Although she is strict, she¡¯s still a good teacher. All the two generations of the Pei family were taught by her.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and heaved a sigh of relief internally. Luckily, she had fooled him.

    In the ssroom, the whispers of thedies also echoed in her ears¡ª[Big Cousin is such an aplished man, how could he have taken a liking to her?] [Once Big Cousin sees her true colors, he¡¯ll definitely drive her out.]

    Every word pierced through her heart.

    She did not dare to tell him about being bullied in ss. What if he really started to dislike her and chased her out? Xia Ling ate the steak bit by bit, forcing a smile, her mind loaded with worries.

    At night, she lied on her bed and stared outside at the starry sky through the window and could not fall asleep. She got up and took out the exquisite phone Pei Ziheng had given her and dialed Xia Yu. Xia Yu also had a mobile phone that Pei Ziheng had given to her. It was to make things convenient for the two sisters. After a few rings, the line was connected.

    ¡°Sister?¡± Xia Yu sounded a little confused.

    Xia Ling suddenly realized that it was already veryte. ¡°Xiao Yu, were you sleeping? Did I disturb you?¡± Xia Ling stared at the starry sky and asked softly.

    In the ward, Xia Yu frowned and rubbed her sleepy eyes, feeling a little impatient. However, she still answered the phone in a gentle voice that brought even a hint of joy. ¡°How could my sister possibly disturb me? Even if I have been woken up, I¡¯m still very happy to receive a call from my sister.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡± Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling pondered over her matters. Her slender white fingers unconsciously rolled his hair into curls. ¡°Xiao Yu, do you think that one day, Brother Pei wouldn¡¯t want us anymore?¡±

    Xia Yu was shocked awake. ¡°Why would you say that? Sister, did you make him angry?¡± She asked while sitting up in bed. She was extremely anxious. Her illness had finally turned for the better. The doctor had even said that they could arrange a surgery after resting for a while. He had warned her not to have any idents at this juncture! But this damn sister, she did not just ruin things for her right!

    She cursed Xia Ling in her heart and calcted it. If this stupid sister of hers was to really annoy Pei Ziheng, how would she be able to protect herself? ¡°Tell me quickly, how did you offend him, I¡¯ll help youe up with a strategy!¡±

    After hearing her sister¡¯s anxious and nervous voice, Xia Ling could not help but feel a burst of warmth explode in her heart. Sure enough, her sister cared most for her. The sisters were connected with their hearts, Xiao Yu was simply not the same as the ¡°sisters¡± from Pei family who did not have any blood rtion with her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± She reassured. ¡°It¡¯s nothing big, I was just bullied by the people in ss.¡± She told Xia Yu everything about what had happened in etiquette ss. Because she had kept hidden so many grievances in her heart, she ended up talking for a long time without even realizing it.

    Xia Yu listened quietly and finally rxed. Good, it was only this stupid sister not living a good life. But fortunately, Brother Pei was not angry with her! ¡°You must never tell Brother Pei about these,¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°If he finds out that you can¡¯t do anything well, he¡¯ll definitely detest you! Sister, you have to endure it, you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know.¡± Xia Ling felt like crying. ¡°I won¡¯t tell him. I just... I¡¯m just a little upset. Xiao Yu, are we inferior just because we came from the orphanage?¡±

    Xia Yu sneered in her heart.

    Who said that people who came out of the orphanage were inferior? She had been living in the hospital these days and had been enjoying the pampering that richdies had. All the other patients in the building were all envious of her! Xia Yu could not understand how, even with Pei Ziheng¡¯s support, this stupid sister hadnded herself in this pitiful state?

    But of course, she did not say this directly to her.

    Sheforted Xia Ling softly and quietly. ¡°The situation¡¯s not as bad as you think, sister. Even if they¡¯re smarter than you, better than you and have a better background than you... even if you can¡¯tpare to them in all aspects, as the saying goes, stupid birds fly first. As long as you work hard, you¡¯ll be able to make up for the gap.¡±

 Chapter 1012 - By Your Side

    <h4>Chapter 1012: By Your Side</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Am I, am I really stupid?¡± Xia Ling asked softly.

    Xia Yu sneered in her heart, but said outwardly, ¡°Why would they bully you if you were smart? Sister, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange that Brother Pei would adopt you? I think those girls were right, he doesn¡¯t understand you at all. If he was to see your true face, he will definitely throw you out!¡±

    Xia Ling panicked. ¡°Then what should I do?¡±

    Xia Yu was very satisfied. She could not bear to see her sister¡¯s triumphant appearance. The more upset her sister was, the more satisfied she was. So, she pretended to advise her. ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t panic. As long as you work harder and not let Brother Pei find out the fact that you can¡¯t do anything well, it¡¯ll be okay. Sister, don¡¯t me me for being straightforward, but who else in this world would treat you sincerely? We two sisters are mutually dependent for life.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Yes, Xiao Yu. I¡¯ll listen to you. How could I me you?¡±

    Xia Yuughed again. This time, it was a gloomy satisfaction¡ªif her sister was listening to her, didn¡¯t that mean that she admitted that her intelligence was beneath hers? Sure enough, between them two sisters, she was the more outstanding one!

    She chatted with her sister for a while more before hanging up.

    Xia Ling went offline and climbed onto her bed to sleep. Unexpectedly, she tossed and turned in bed and couldn¡¯t fall asleep¡ªbefore she had had this talk with her sister, she had faintly felt that the Pei family¡¯s girls were trying to push her out by saying those ugly words to intimidate her on purpose. However, even Xia Yu said that Pei Ziheng would abandon her...

    Her heart was filled with fright and fear. She tossed and turned for the whole night.

    This matter was just like arge ck cloud that was pressing heavily on her heart. The second day, she was absent-minded for the whole day. She made a few wrong actions in etiquette ss and was reprimanded heavily by Teacher Gao.

    When she got home, Pei Ziheng was not there.

    Nanny Zhou brought dinner for her. ¡°Miss, Sir has an important meeting tonight and will not be back at night. He has instructed you to eat first and then rest early.¡±

    ¡°Is he noting back?¡± Xia Ling was a little disappointed. She could not help but wonder if he was avoiding her because he did not like her. She knew in her heart that it was a ridiculous idea, but she still couldn¡¯t control her thoughts.

    Nanny Zhou did not detect anything wrong. She said with a smile, ¡°Yes, he won¡¯t being back. I heard that he is talking business with the Wang family. Miss, have you heard of the Wang family? If you go to the high-end beach resort, you will see the Wang family¡¯s speedboats and cruise ships everywhere. Their business is huge.¡±

    Xia Ling absent-mindedly took a mouthful of her food. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of them.¡±

    Nanny Zhou added more food to her bowl. ¡°The rtionship between the Wang family and the Pei family has always been very good. I heard that the Wang family is even interested in making Sir into his son-inw. At this meeting, Old Master Wang is bringing Miss Wang along. After the meeting, there will probably be a ball. Sir is extremely good at dancing, he will definitely be able to capture Miss Wang¡¯s heart.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m done eating.¡± Xia Ling pushed away her te.

    Nanny Zhou looked at her curiously. ¡°Why did you eat so little today? Are you feeling unwell? Miss, you can¡¯t do this, this is your growth period and you have to eat more.¡±

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°I¡¯m a little tired, I¡¯ll go and sleep first.¡± Before waiting for Nanny Zhou to react, she pushed her te away, jumped off the dining chair and went up to her room.

    While walking, she could not help but think, he was dancing with Miss Wang? What did he look like when he was dancing, would he smile at Miss Wang? Just like how he smiled at her...

    She felt extremely vexed and did not know what to do. Her heart felt miserable.

    She forced herself to climb onto her bed, but could not fall asleep. Her insomnia tonight was even more serious thanst night. Finally, she began to fall asleep in a daze, but she had a nightmare. In her dream, she did something wrong and Pei Ziheng simply got a maid to chase her out of the house cold-heartedly. She dreamt of herself pleading desperately, but he said he did not want her anymore. He didn¡¯t care that she was wearing only a thin shirt, and just threw her out onto the unfamiliar streets to wander around barefooted...

    She woke up in a shock.

    Outside, the night scene was clear as water with a resplendent sky.

    She surveyed her surroundings and found that she was still sleepingfortably on the bed in his vi. She was still wearing the silk satin pajamas he had picked out for her. There was still the faint floral fragrance in her room¡ªher favorite iris flower scent.

    She held her nket, sat up, then got out of bed barefoot.

    The faint fluorescent clock pointed to midnight.

    She could not settle down no matter what. The scenes in her dream nagged at her repeatedly, resounding in her heart. Softly and quietly, she walked out of her room into the dimly lit corridor. The firefly-like nightlight fell onto the wooden floor and reflected its dye. She came to the door of his bedroom and leaned in to listen. He didn¡¯t seem to have returned.

    Downstairs, the living room was very quiet. Nanny Zhou and the butler were not around.

    Her gaze swept across the empty house andnded on the clothes hanger beside the sofa¡ªon it hanged one of his coats. It was a dark grey thin western suit, the one he had worn when he had adopted her at the orphanage.

    She looked up and stared at the suit for a long time.

    Like the demons and Gods at work, she reached out to take the suit and hugged it tightly in her arms. The touch of the suit was soft, it was an extremelyfortable and indescribable texture. She held onto it tightly, her small face as big as a palm rubbing against it. A faint scent drifted from the suit to her nose, a smell that belonged to him.

    She began to calm down inside.

    Hugging the suit, she went upstairs and returned to her room. She wrapped the suit on her body and got up onto her bed again. She then drifted off to sleep as if she was wrapped in his embrace.

    Pei Ziheng returned home at two o¡¯clock in the morning.

    Nanny Zhou took over the coat he took off and handed him a bowl of sobering soup.

    He asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where¡¯s Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°Miss did not eat any dinner. She went to sleep very early,¡± Nanny Zhou said.

    Pei Ziheng took a sip of the soup and went upstairs to her room to see her. He pushed open the door gently and saw his little princess sleeping soundly on the soft white bed. Her soft eyshes were shut peacefully and her breathing through her tiny nostrils was undting and stable.

    He approached her and reached out to tuck her in, but unexpectedly found that she was wrapped in a suit¡ªit was the one he hand hung outside in the living room.

    He was a little surprised. In a sh, his gaze softened. He reached out and gently caressed her delicate, fair and petal-like tiny face. It felt so good that he was reluctant to leave.

    She was woken up by his touch.

    ¡°Brother Pei?¡± She rubbed her eyes sleepily. Her voice could not hide her excitement.

    ¡°Why are you hugging my clothes to sleep?¡± he asked gently.

    Her face suddenly turned red and a long time passed before she stammered. ¡°I... I¡¯m afraid of the dark.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be afraid anymore after hugging my clothes?¡±

    She lowered her head. ¡°It¡¯ll feel like you¡¯re beside me. Then I won¡¯t be afraid of anything anymore.¡±

 Chapter 1013 - Moving the Bedroom

    <h4>Chapter 1013: Moving the Bedroom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A smile formed on his usually cold and stern face.

    When he was having breakfast the second day, he told Nanny Zhou, ¡°Clean up my bedroom, put up a screen as a partition then bring in a small bed and move all of Miss¡¯ stuff over.¡±

    Nanny Zhou was taken aback. ¡°Sir?¡±

    Xia Ling was also surprised. ¡°Brother Pei?¡±

    Pei Ziheng followed his routine of using the small knife to cut off chunks of the smoked chicken breast meat for her. His voice was warm as he said, ¡°If you¡¯re scared of the dark, then just move over to sleep with me. Do you think that¡¯s good?¡±

    She could hardly believe her ears. She would be able to live by his side? The sudden surprise made her extremely excited and she did not know what to do. She took a deep breath and nodded hard. ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± Nanny Zhou was anxious. She had never understood why Pei Ziheng adopted such a small girl. Ever since Xia Ling had moved into the house, she had carried a vague concern in her heart¡ªever since he had been young, he had never taken any interest in any woman before. Even his most exciting teenage years had been spent without any incidents. Could it be that he was oriented towards ordinary people?!

    Pei Ziheng ignored Nanny Zhou and ced the cut chicken breast onto Xia Ling¡¯s te. ¡°Eat more, it¡¯s your growing period. What kind of screen do you like? A sandalwood one? Or tulle? The crystal pearl kind?¡±

    Xia Ling racked her brains over it and thought carefully. Then she smiled cheerfully. ¡°Everything Brother Pei picks is good.¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± Seeing that both of them were ignoring her, Nanny Zhou had to say with thick skin, ¡°It¡¯s not appropriate for Miss to live in the same room as you! Miss is already so big, men and women should not be so close...¡±

    Pei Ziheng raised an eyebrow and nced at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling also stared at him with blinking eyes. As a 12-year-old girl, she had grown up in a simple environment like the orphanage and was ignorant about the things between men and women. Thus, her expression was one of innocence at the moment.

    Pei Ziheng asked her gently, ¡°Do you think it¡¯s inappropriate?¡±

    She bit her fork and said, ¡°I¡¯m still young.¡± She did not know why, but she had an inexplicable trust in the man in front of her. Staying by his side made her feel very safe. She was also very happy to be able to live in the same bedroom as him because she was more worried about being chased out of the house aspared to the danger that simply did not exist in her intuition. He was willing to share his bedroom with her. This proved that he liked her very much... right?

    Pei Ziheng told Nanny Zhou, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to prepare the room?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was extremely anxious. It was okay for the little girl to be insensible, but even Sir was being insensible? What could be done about this? She had taken care of Sir for so many years and had watched him grow up. She could not just stand there and watch as he went down the wrong path! She stared at him sternly and said, ¡°Sir, I want to talk to you alone.¡±

    Finally, he gave face to the woman who had watched him grow up. He let the driver send Xia Ling to ss, then took a white paper towel to wipe the corners of his mouth gracefully before indicating that Nanny Zhou could now speak.

    Nanny Zhou said seriously, ¡°Sir, you¡¯re not young anymore. It¡¯s time for you to get a girlfriend. Imagine what a scandal it would be if your girlfriendes into your bedroom to see another girl living inside? Miss Xia is only twelve and doesn¡¯t understand a lot of things, but you of all people should!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression turned somewhat sullen. ¡°Why is it scandalous?¡±

    Nanny Zhou gathered up her courage and said, ¡°Sir, Madam has passed early and there are some things that she could not instruct you on. So I can only be the one to nag on you now. You¡¯re at an age where you¡¯re young and vigorous. It¡¯s fine to have a lot of girlfriends outside, but by putting a small girl beside you, it¡¯s not good for either you or her!¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned. He had not considered all these when he had adopted Xia Ling. Back at the orphanage, when he had seen her for the first time under the bright sunshine, a hidden voice had whispered to him in his heart¡ªthis is her, Pei Ziheng. You have to bring her home.

    And as for what would happen once he¡¯d brought her home?

    How would they get along?

    There were too many unknowns.

    He had never intended on making her his girlfriend. It was good as long as she belonged to him.

    Such possession was like possessing a flower, a cat, exquisite fragile porcin... He wanted it, he could afford it, so he¡¯d bring it home and y with it, nothing more.

    ¡°Nanny Zhou, you¡¯re overthinking it.¡± He decided to end this topic. ¡°My orientation is normal. There is no problem. I will marry a prestigiousdy from a family well-matched to our social status and give birth to kids. As for Xiao Ling?¡± The corners of his lips curled up without him even realizing it. ¡°She will forever belong to me, it¡¯s that simple.¡±

    He got up, put on his coat and walked outside.

    Nanny Zhou was shaken to the core by his words¡ªforever. What a dangerous word.

    But she was just a servant and could not change anything. That night, she still hanged the screen in the bedroom ording to Pei Ziheng¡¯s instructions and ced Xia Ling¡¯s cot beside his bed.

    Xia Ling cuddled in the softfortable bed and did not have any more nightmares.

    Even in the deepest darkness, she knew that the man she trusted and depended on was just within reach. If she was to be in any danger, he would protect her immediately.

    She thought that she would probably not be abandoned.

    Her spirits lifted and her mood was better. In these few days, she was radiant and more beautiful than ever.

    Many of the girls in the etiquette ss were full of jealousy. However, they would not think of anything. The only constion was that this wild girl still couldn¡¯t remember the cumbersome rules and etiquette of the upper ss and made countless mistakes. Thus, she was often reprimanded fiercely by Teacher Gao.

    Teacher Gao was ruthless when she hit people, even more so towards beautiful girls. ¡°The more beautiful you are, the more attention you will attract,¡± she said sternly to Xia Ling. ¡°The more noticeable you are, the more magnified your shorings will be. If you don¡¯t want to shame yourself and throw the Pei family¡¯s face, you¡¯ll have to double your efforts!¡±

    Xia Ling gritted her teeth and endured it.

    She endured through the ss with much difficulty but still had to brew tea for Pei Jingmei.

    Ever since she had broken Pei Jingmei¡¯s teacup, she had kept to her words and had taken on the task of brewing tea for Pei Jingmei for the semester. Among the group of thedies¡¯ servants, she started brewing tea clumsily in the narrow damp tea room. Pei Jingmei¡¯s servant pointed at her and instructed. ¡°Miss Jingmei thinks that the first cup of tea tastes too strong and is also dirty, so she never drinks the first cup. You have to throw it away and then pour a second cup. You have to be careful when you¡¯re serving it, the water can never exceed the line along the cup. Otherwise, it will shake too much and affect the taste of the tea...¡±

    She memorized all the details in her heart and her attention on it was no less than on etiquette ss.

    The other servants could not stand it. A senior maid said to Xia Ling in the corridor, ¡°Miss, I¡¯ll help you serve it. You¡¯re already so tired from the ss, yet you still have to put such great care in serving tea. Once you¡¯re done serving tea, the ss will be starting immediately but you haven¡¯t even taken a break.¡±

 Chapter 1014 - Condemning a Crime

    <h4>Chapter 1014: Condemning a Crime</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling smiled at her. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I was in the wrong first. I broke the precious cup of Jingmei. She must be very upset over it. As long as I can use serving tea topensate her, then it doesn¡¯t matter even if I¡¯m tired.¡±

    The senior maid stopped trying to persuade her and sighed loudly.

    Xia Ling carefully carried the tea and walked to the door of the ssroom.

    Today, Teacher Gao had some urgent matters to attend to, so ss was startingter than usual. A few of the girls had gathered together to chat. ¡°Jingmei, you¡¯re the most capable one. All of us find that little beggar unpleasant to the eye, but only you have a way of rectifying her.¡±

    Hearing this, Xia Ling stopped in her tracks.

    An ominous premonition rose in her heart. She stood at the door and heard Pei Jingmei say, ¡°Ah, she only has herself to me for being so stupid. I simply yed a little trick on her and she was actually fooled!¡±

    Another girlughed loudly. ¡°Right? That day when Xia Ling fell down, I saw that she didn¡¯t even hit you at all. Fortunately, you were clever and immediately smashed the cup onto the ground. That stupid wretch really thinks that she was the one who smashed it. Jingmei, that teacup wasn¡¯t even a gift from your brother, was it? If it was really a limited edition cup, how could you be willing to part with it?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Pei Jingmei said smugly. ¡°It¡¯s just an ordinary cup. I have a lot of them at home. How could this kind of ordinary cup with no logo be a limited edition? It¡¯s just that the little beggar is ignorant and was thus fooled so easily, hahaha.¡±

    All the girls praised her for being so clever, saying how it was too worthwhile to be able to fool Xia Ling into serving her tea for the whole semester and to bow her head to her. Pei Jingmei basked in the praises smugly, calling her ¡°little beggar¡± and ¡°wretch¡±. She was enormously proud of her sess and was degrading Xia Ling to being below that of rubbish.

    Xia Ling only discovered the truth now. Her whole body shook with rage.

    Ever since young, she had never eaten such a loss. Unexpectedly, she had been tricked by such a sinister method into pouring tea for so long! Back at the orphanage, even if everyone could not see eye to eye with one another, it would all be settled with a fight. How could someone be so vicious as to nt me andpose a lie with such a sympathetic storyline to trample on others!

    She felt so wronged that she wanted to cry. She heard the girls say, ¡°Jingmei, you¡¯ve really helped us vent our anger. I¡¯m bubbling with rage at the thought of how my father gave my favorite flower hairpin to that little beggar! How is she deserving of such a good thing?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather feed it to the dog than give it her!¡± Another girl said viciously.

    Pei Jingmei also said, ¡°Right? Why would I be so angry if not for my father giving her my favorite dress? How could a beggar like her wear a new dress that I¡¯ve never even worn before? She¡¯s not even worthy enough to wear the clothes I¡¯ve torn! Sigh, consider herself unlucky to have offended me. I¡¯ve specially ordered my servant to pick on her more and make her double the process of tea making. Hahaha, actually I don¡¯t even drink tea that has to be brewed a second time. It was just to make things difficult for her!¡±

    The other girlsughed too and gathered to mock Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling felt her blood boil. She did not know how she managed to walk inside with the horrified eyes of the girls on her and ferociously pour the cup of hot tea on Pei Jingmei!

    ¡°Ah!¡± Pei Jingmei was caught off guard and the water sshed all over her face and hair. She screamed, ¡°My face!¡±

    The girls at her side also screamed.

    ¡°My hand!¡±

    ¡°My neck!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so hot!¡±

    ¡°It hurts!¡±

    They were all wailing and howling loudly. The tea had just been brewed by Xia Ling. Pei Jingmei had meant to make things difficult for her and had specifically ordered her to brew scorching hot tea every day so that she would have to be extremely careful when serving it and would even burn her hands from time to time. Now, she had made her own bed and was lying on it. Her whole body was soaked in the scorching hot tea. Instantly, many big and bright blisters formed on her face and neck. It looked horrifying.

    A few of the other girls sitting close to Pei Jingmei had also been hit by the scorching tea. Blisters formed where they had been hit. They were all crying and screaming, and the whole scene was a big mess.

    Teacher Gao walked in and saw this shocking scene. She saw Xia Ling holding the empty cup in her hands, ring coldly at the girls who were shielding their faces and crying loudly for their parents. The faint sunshine outside the door shone on her body. It was obviously so warm, but it reflected her as a regiment of ice-cold ze.

    It brought shivers to the bottom of people¡¯s hearts.

    Teacher Gao screamed, ¡°Xia Ling! What are you doing?!¡±

    However, this was not the time to punish her. Teacher Gao¡¯s second sentence was directed at the girls who were not injured. She rushed toward them and shouted, ¡°Why are you all just standing there? Call the doctor quickly!¡± Thesedies¡¯ faces were more important than their lives. What if they were to be disfigured?! These were the chips for the Pei family¡¯s future marriages!

    The fewdies seemed to snap out of their daze and immediately ran to call the doctor.

    The incident was blown up.

    This time, there were a total of five youngdies who had been injured by Xia Ling. This included Pei Jingmei and the few who had been closest to her¡ªPei Jingmei¡¯s injury was the most severe. The doctor said that she would have to stay for further examinations and might even have a scar.

    Pei Jingmei¡¯s father was angered beyond words. But he could not say anything as he simply could not provoke the head of Pei family, Pei Ziheng.

    However, Pei Jingyu¡¯s father was different¡ªhe was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Vice President as well as the son of the secondrgest director of Imperial Entertainment Pei Zhenyuan. Be it in the Pei family or Imperial Entertainment, he had authority and his words carried weight. Seeing how his daughter that he regarded as a precious jewel had been bullied by such a wretch, he made a call to Pei Ziheng and demanded an exnation.

    The busy Pei Ziheng actually came down to the hospital after his phone call.

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s father Pei Ren thought that his nephew knew who was in the wrong and couldn¡¯t refrain from reprimanding him. ¡°Ziheng! Your wings are hard now, so you¡¯ve adopted any random person who dares to bully the honorabledies of the Pei family! You have to answer to me! Punish this wretch and ount to us!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ount to me!¡± Pei Jingyu¡¯s eyes were filled with tears as she chimed in.

    Her face was covered withyers of gauze, making her look ridiculouslyical as she resembled a mummy. She was usually proud of her appearance, but now she looked ugly and ridiculous.

    And Xia Ling was standing by the bed with her head lowered. Her beautiful eyes were downcast and it was hard to figure out what she was thinking.

    Pei Ziheng walked over and lifted her chin to scrutinize her carefully.

    Good, she was not injured.

    His voice was cold as he said, ¡°You¡¯re getting bolder, do you know your mistakes now?¡±

    Xia Ling knew that she was in big trouble now. She had impulsively inflicted so much harm on thedies of the Pei family and had ruined their appearance. Was Pei Ziheng not going to kill her? After all, she did not have the blood of the Pei family running in her veins. Nor did she have the right to be as arrogant and hard to deal with as the youngdies.

 Chapter 1015 - What on Earth Was Wrong

    <h4>Chapter 1015: What on Earth Was Wrong</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She looked at him fearfully and her voice was soft. ¡°I know I¡¯m in the wrong.¡±

    His expression stayed the same. ¡°Where were you wrong, tell me.¡±

    ¡°I, I shouldn¡¯t have poured tea on Pei Jingmei and the rest,¡± she muttered. ¡°I injured them.¡±

    The girl¡¯s cautious and weak voice echoed in the ward. Several of the Pei family¡¯s faces showed smugness. They didn¡¯t believe they couldn¡¯t control this wild brat! Indeed, at the crucial moment, Pei Ziheng was on the family¡¯s side! Following the obvious attitude of Pei Ziheng, Pei Ren unscrupulously got up, pointed at Xia Ling¡¯s nose and scolded. ¡°Who do you think you are to injure my daughter! Even one of Jingyu¡¯s fingers is more valuable than you! Xia Ling, right, you¡¯re just a beggar living in the Pei family. You... Ah!¡±

    He screamed in pain all of a sudden.

    Pei Ziheng had unknowingly twisted his hand behind his back. He said in a cold tone, ¡°Since when was it fourth uncle¡¯s turn to lecture my people?¡± The tall figure of the man was full of oppression, and a murderous aura emitted from his whole body.

    Pei Ren only felt as though his hand was going to break off. Cold sweat formed on his face as he said, ¡°Ne, Nephew Ziheng, what are you doing? I, I¡¯m helping you lecture this stupid...¡± At least he was still not that dumb. He saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression turn colder, and he swallowed the words ¡°stupid brat¡± back into his throat.

    ¡°Father!¡± Pei Jingyu shouted in worry from the hospital bed. Even with a distance of one or two meters, she could still hear the creaking sounds of Pei Ren¡¯s bones! She was genuinely worried that Pei Ziheng would break his arms off!

    ¡°Apologize to Xiao Ling,¡± Pei Ziheng said coldly.

    ¡°What, what?¡± Pei Ren could not believe it. He wanted him to apologize to the wretch?!

    Pei Jingyu was also in disbelief. She couldn¡¯t help but shout, ¡°Big cousin! How could you cover for this stupid brat when she was the one who burnt us and Father is only seeking justice for me! My father is such a distinguished figure, how could he possibly apologize to such an insolent little brat!¡±

    Pei Ziheng ignored her and twisted Pei Ren¡¯s arm even tighter.

    More and more cold sweat broke on Pei Ren¡¯s face. His arm was in so much pain that it didn¡¯t feel like his own anymore. He stared in panic at his nephew¡¯s cold expression and began to suspect that if he did not back down, this nephew was really going to disable his arm! Be it in thepany or the family, Pei Ziheng¡¯s ruthlessness was notorious!

    Pei Ren was afraid and did not dare to challenge his authority. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°I apologize.¡±

    Pei Ziheng still did not let him go. He turned to his side and shifted Pei Ren so that he was facing Xia Ling.

    Pei Ren understood his meaning. He wanted him to apologize directly to this stupid brat! He could tell that the brat was just as shocked as he was. Her face was pale and her pair of beautiful breathtaking eyes were staring at him in helpless panic. He was just not willing to lower his voice and apologize to such a brat!

    However, so what?

    His arm was more important than his pride. Pei Ren weighed the severity of the matter and in the end, did not dare to let Pei Ziheng break off his arm. He swallowed and said to Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have reprimanded you in Ziheng¡¯s ce.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him in a daze. She did not know how to react.

    Pei Ziheng loosened his grip on Pei Ren¡¯s arm and Pei Ren heaved a huge sigh of relief. He quickly backtracked three meters lest he was caught by this ferocious nephew again. Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingmei were dumbstruck by this scene in front of them. They had not expected Pei Ziheng to still be protecting that beggar brat at this timing!

    ¡°Big cousin!¡± Pei Jingyu could not overlook it. She said with red eyes, ¡°You have to lecture this stupid brat carefully, our faces can¡¯t be injured for nothing!¡±

    Pei Ziheng still ignored her and lowered his head to look at Xia Ling.

    ¡°This time do you know where you were wrong?¡± he asked.

    Xia Ling was unable to respond. She looked at him timidly. Why, was her answer just now wrong? Had she made a more severe mistake?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was gloomy and full of oppression.

    Ayer of fog settled in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes as she cried, ¡°Don¡¯t abandon me...¡±

    Pei Jingyu was ted to see her cry. As expected, Big Cousin had not let her Father interfere because he had intended to lecture this little beggar himself! ¡°Big Cousin, chase her out!¡± she screamed.

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose soured and she looked pleadingly at Pei Ziheng. Her eyes were full of tears that were about to fall.

    Pei Ziheng frowned and reached out to wipe away her tears a little roughly. ¡°Why are you crying?¡±

    She did not dare to cry anymore and tried hard to endure. Her voice, however, still held her tears. ¡°I, I... I won¡¯t dare anymore. It¡¯s my fault that I hurt Jingyu and Jingmei and them all, please don¡¯t chase me out...¡±

    Her little body was trembling.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her and felt a deeply hidden part of his heart ache.

    He was not fierce on her anymore but was still unhappy. ¡°Who said that I was going to chase you out? What does it have to do with you injuring Pei Jingyu and the rest? Have I said that I med you?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± She looked up in confusion.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her sternly. ¡°You still don¡¯t know where you¡¯ve gone wrong? Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you were being bullied by them in etiquette ss?¡±

    It turned out he was ming her for not telling him?!

    Xia Ling was in a daze, and so were Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingmei. They had originally thought that Pei Ziheng was here to help thedies vent their anger, but unexpectedly, his anger was due to the wretch being bullied and keeping quiet about it.

    Pei Jingyu was so angry her veins throbbed. How could things havee to this?!

    ¡°Big Cousin!¡± She screamed fiercely. ¡°Who bullied her, she was the one who hurt us! I¡¯ll tell Grandpa if you don¡¯t punish her!¡± In this whole family, her Grandpa¡¯s status was the most respected and even Pei Ziheng had to consider the consequences.

    However, Pei Ziheng only red at her coldly. His murderous aura made Pei Jingyu shut up immediately.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and continued to lecture Xia Ling. ¡°If anyone else bullies you in the future, make sure you tell me. Also, you can fight back like this again. It doesn¡¯t matter how vicious you are. If you¡¯re in trouble, I¡¯ll cover for you.¡±

    It took some time for Xia Ling to understand his meaning.

    She batted her eyshes lightly and a single tear fell down her cheeks as she nodded fiercely. It turns out Brother Pei was not intending on abandoning her, he was only fierce on her for her own good... Her heart melted and she was so touched she didn¡¯t know what to say. Her little hand was held by his rough, warm hands and he carried her out of the room.

    The two walked a long distance in silence. He stopped at the exit of the hospital.

    ¡°Brother Pei?¡± Xia Ling lifted her head to look at him.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me you were being bullied?¡± He clung onto the question she had not answered.

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again. ¡°I was afraid... afraid you wouldn¡¯t want me anymore.¡± She was so weak and stupid, what if he abandoned her just like how the Pei family¡¯sdies and Xia Yu had predicted?

 Chapter 1016 - Silver Bracelet

    <h4>Chapter 1016: Silver Bracelet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng frowned slightly. ¡°How many times do you want me to say it? I won¡¯t abandon you.¡±

    She lowered her head slightly and felt that she shouldn¡¯t be like this. Why was she always questioning his sincerity? But happiness hade too suddenly and she was still thinking that it was all a big gorgeous dream.

    Was she worthy of all these?

    How could she not suffer from any losses?

    Her thoughts wereplex as she held his hand and got into the car. She heard him instruct the driver in a warm voice. ¡°Notify Secretary Li to postpone this afternoon¡¯s meeting. Go to the old silver workshop first.¡±

    The old silver workshop was the best silver shop in S City.

    They got off the car and entered. Pei Ziheng picked out a very minimalist silver bracelet and put it on her to test it out. He said to the clerk, ¡°Engrave the initials of our family name on the inside as well as the four words ¡®Never Leave Each Other¡¯.¡±

    It was done on the spot.

    He put it on her again and told her, ¡°When you¡¯re afraid that I¡¯ll abandon you again, just look at this bracelet. Remember what I said. I¡¯ll never ever abandon you.¡±

    At that moment, the silver bracelet on her wrist seemed to glow slightly, reflecting the man¡¯s solemn expression.

    Xia Ling looked at the bracelet and then at him again. She nodded solemnly.

    The small bracelet seemed to fill an empty void in her heart. At night, Pei Ziheng worked overnight in thepany and Xia Ling tossed and turned in her bed, ying with the silver bracelet on her wrist, unable to fall asleep. She could not suppress the joy in her heart, and she called Xia Yu. ¡°Hey, Xiao Yu, do you know what happened? Today, Brother Pei gave me a silver bracelet.¡±

    Her voice carried her smile.

    At the other end of the phone, Xia Yu was jealous, yet she still said softly, ¡°Silver bracelet? Sister, I heard that silverwares are very cheap and that rich people don¡¯t wear it often. Their favorite are diamonds, tinum and the like. Why would Brother Pei give you silver?¡±

    Xia Ling did not register the maliciousness in her words. She said with a smile, ¡°When I was having dinner, Nanny Zhou told me that silver is good. It can judge whether your body is healthy ording to its color. He said that Brother Pei treats me very well and is even willing to pay attention to these tiny details. Also, I¡¯m just a child, and it¡¯ll break my luck easily if I wear expensive essories.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart felt sour. ¡°Nanny Zhou is his servant, obviously she would speak for him.¡±

    Xia Ling turned overfortably on her soft bed and did not think too much about her words. ¡°I think Nanny Zhou was right. Besides, I like silver. I like whatever Brother Pei gives me.¡± She held her wrist high in the air and stared at the resplendent ray of light. She felt like the happiest person in the world.

    Xia Yu could not speak above her. She felt as though a thorn had stabbed itself into her heart, and it made her so miserable she could not fall asleep.

    On the second day of breakfast, Pei Ziheng told Xia Ling, ¡°You don¡¯t have to go to etiquette ss anymore.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Why?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I have hired a private teacher for you. Ms. Sofia has previously taught several princesses from the small Eastern European countries and she has her own original views on etiquette.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little uneasy. She put down her fork and looked at him. ¡°Brother Pei, do you think I¡¯m not qualified to go to ss with Jingyu and the rest?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said gently, ¡°Silly, they¡¯re not worthy of you.¡± He would not let his beloved girl suffer even a little bit of grievance. Since she was unable to get along with the group of arrogant girls, then she would simply not. The new teacher he found for her was more knowledgeable and remarkable than Teacher Gao. Everything he gave her was the best.

    The matter was settled like this. Xia Ling was to have her own etiquette teacher.

    Ms. Sofia was indeed different from Teacher Gao. On the first day of ss, she looked very appreciatively at Xia Ling and smiled. ¡°Miss, you have a very unique beauty that is unforgettable. We learn etiquette not to constrain this beauty, but to make it bloom to its fullest extent.¡±

    She did expect Xia Ling to use those rigid uses and regtions. Instead, shebined the unique characteristics of Xia Ling and taught ording to her aptitude. This made the etiquette ss be extremely interesting and effective.

    If it was said that the various virtuousdies taught by Teacher Gao were all stereotypical and repetitive, like a soulless puppet who only knew how to conform to the rules of etiquette, then Xia Ling, who was polished by Ms. Sofia, was a brilliant, unique diamond with many intricacies and tiny fine ridges. Each ridge became her own special charm.

    ¡°Miss has be more beautiful.¡± Nanny Zhou smiled.

    As a servant, she did not know much about the noble etiquette. She only knew that Xia Ling¡¯s body radiated a little bit of radiance. From a slovenly dressed and mannered brat, she had turned into a rose that had thorns. She was beautiful and elegant, yet possessed a sort of enchanting mysteriousness. Her beauty carried wind and rain. It was bright and dangerous.

    It was so so unique that it was unforgettable.

    Xia Ling heard Nanny Zhou¡¯s praise and smiled happily. Girls all loved hearing that they were beautiful, and she was no exception. In her spare time, she would walk along the flowery path along the vi area and pick arge number of wildflowers. Pei Ziheng and Ms. Sofia did not stop her hobby. In this aspect, the two adults¡¯ opinions were surprisingly consistent¡ªeverything she liked, let her do it. It was better to let this girl follow her natural instincts.

    On this day, she picked wildflowers and hummed a song, preparing to take it back to decorate the luxurious vi.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi was mainly ck and white and grey, which made it look gloomy and solemn. She had been shocked by this noble style when she¡¯d first came in, but after living for a long time, she felt depressed and monotonous. Hence, she often took the flowers and went back to decorate his house. She even ordered beautiful porcin and vases from a shopping booklet to decorate his house a little.

    She thought, <i>Brother Pei is so good to me, I should do something for him too.</i>

    During summer, a wide variety of wildflowers bloomed brilliantly. She picked a bunch of sunflowers and mimosa and was about to go back when she turned around and saw a girl¡ª

    Enemies were indeed bound to meet on a narrow road.

    A few steps away, Pei Jingyu was wearing a light pearl white silk dress and was about to head out while apanied by two servants carrying an umbre. This area was the vi area of the Pei family. Xia Ling had unwittingly came to the door of Pei Jingyu while picking wildflowers on the way.

    Pei Jingyu saw her and a sinister look shed across her face.

    Not long ago, Pei Jingyu had been poured hot tea on by Xia Ling and had almost had her face ruined. She had to stay in the hospital for a long time to heal and now that she was meeting her at this moment, how could she possibly look kindly at her.

    ¡°Get lost, good dogs don¡¯t block the way!¡± She screamed arrogantly at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s arms were holding onto therge bunches of sunflowers, and her soft little floral dress was stained with dirt and looked dirty. She stood on the side of the road and did not move. Instead, she retorted. ¡°You¡¯re in such a rush to reincarnate?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Jingyu was furious. How could this wild brat have such a vicious mouth!

 Chapter 1017 - Midsummer Ladyâ€™s Flower Banquet

    <h4>Chapter 1017: Midsummer Lady¡¯s Flower Banquet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling sneered and looked at her provocatively.

    Ever since thest time she had burned Pei Jingyu and the others and had not been punished, Xia Ling¡¯s courage had grown bigger. She simply did not put the girls in her eyes. ¡°What?¡± She lifted her chin slightly. ¡°Sister Jingyu is so busy, you¡¯ve just recovered from your injury and yet you¡¯re going out so enthusiastically. Be careful not to get hurt outside.¡±

    Pei Jingyu was so angry her chest heaved up and down. However, her anger subsided when she saw Xia Ling hugging the sunflower while covered in mud. She shed her most snug smile and continued to jeer at her. ¡°What do you know, you brat? A few dayster it¡¯ll be the midsummerdy¡¯s flower banquet. The banquet organizer has sent me an invitation, so of course, I¡¯ll have to go out and pick out a few nice essories. Unlike someone who didn¡¯t receive an invitation. I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re not even qualified to know what this banquet is about. Ha.¡±

    Once she was done talking, she turned around gracefully and got in the car with the help of the servant.

    The car swept dust on Xia Ling and choked her with its exhaust fumes as it rode off. She sputtered a few times and admitted just how unlucky she was as she backtracked a few steps on the road. Looking down, she realized that the sunflower in her arms was dried out by the sun and was now a little tilted. ¡°Annoying!¡± She muttered to herself angrily. ¡°What¡¯s so great about that flower banquet.¡±

    She picked some flowers again and went back to stick them in the newly bought ceramic jars. She looked at them unhappily.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, little girl?¡± She hadn¡¯t heard Pei Ziheng returning home. Pei Ziheng looked at the girl staring unmovingly at the flower pot and walked up to her to apany her.

    Xia Ling turned and upon seeing him, her eyes lit up in surprise. ¡°Brother Pei!¡±

    Pei Ziheng helped her remove a few des of ss in her hair andughed. ¡°Why have you be like a mud monkey? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been here in a daze all afternoon after picking your flowers?¡±

    She blinked and sullenly lowered her eyes.

    ¡°What made you unhappy?¡± Pei Ziheng asked patiently. ¡°Tell me about it, I¡¯ll help youe up with a solution.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling stretched out her slender fingers and started twisting them together. ¡°I met Pei Jingyu when I was out picking flowers today. She told me that she was going to attend some flower banquet. She said that I was just a wild brat and was not qualified to go.¡±

    ¡°The Midsummer Ladies¡¯ Flower Banquet?¡± Pei Ziheng remembered that if there was any more important event in the high society, it was this. This flower banquet was held yearly and was made up of several first-ss noblepanies in China. It was called a small feast, but in reality, it was more like a disguised match-making banquet. Usually, the elders would bring along their unmarried children to attend the banquet. It was to let the children socialize with one another and also to make it convenient for the parents to observe their children¡¯s ability and prepare them for future marriages.

    Xia Ling nodded sullenly.

    Pei Ziheng stood up and took her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± She was led out by him, looking nk.

    ¡°To order a dress,¡± Pei Ziheng said gently. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just the Midsummer Ladies¡¯ Flower Banquet? If you want to go, we¡¯ll go.¡± Ever since he¡¯d taken over Imperial Entertainment, he¡¯d been so busy that he¡¯d ignored all the invitations that the banquet organizer had sent him. It was said that many nobledies had cried. They had spent ages dressing up in order to see him, all willing to be his wife.

    Originally, he had not intended to go this year.

    <i>But since Xiao Ling wants to go, then he¡¯ll bring her there to y.</i> The little girl hasn¡¯t gone out to y much ever since he¡¯d adopted her. Given her lively and active personality, she was probably half bored to death.

    Xia Ling was full of enthusiasm. She had not expected Brother Pei to be so good to her just because she was a little upset. She followed after him happily to the best tailor in the city to take her measurements and order an expedited dress.

    Soon after, the little dress was done and it was sent to Pei Ziheng¡¯s house.

    She put it on. Under the unique cutting of the tailor, the beautiful material of the dress perfectly showcased the little girl¡¯s still-developing body shape, which was a little underripe. However, it was still beautiful and lithe as ever and provoked the tender feelings of others.

    When she wore it and descended the spiral staircase from the second floor, Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze deepened.

    She was so beautiful, more so than any other girl he had ever seen.

    He reached out to hold her hand gentlemanly.

    When she took his arm and appeared at the banquet, everyone was shocked.

    ¡°Look over there quickly. God, what am I seeing?¡± A distinguisheddy called to her husband. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the new Chairman of the Pei family? He¡¯s only 18 and rumor has it that he¡¯s busy every day, thus he hasn¡¯t attended the banquet for two years. What brought him here today?¡±

    Her husband looked over as well. ¡°Who¡¯s that little girl he¡¯s holding? She¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    All kinds of gaze were concentrated on Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling. They were surprised, curious, and more were to probe into it or to point it out. Xia Ling was sensitively aware that she was being looked at. At first, she was not used to being looked at, but soon she began to calm down¡ªas long as she was with Brother Pei, there was nothing to be afraid of.

    She adhered to the teachings of Ms. Sofia and walked with an elegantly straight back and smiled calmly.

    ¡°What a good demeanor,¡± said anotherdy to herpanion. ¡°This littledy is more beautiful than Pei Jingyu and the otherdies. I¡¯ve never heard of the Pei family having such ady?¡±

    ¡°Since when was she ady?¡± Herpanion was obviously more well-informed. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Pei Ziheng has just adopted a new girl and has brought her from the orphanage to his house. She¡¯s rumored to be extremely beautiful. That must be her.¡±

    ¡°No way?¡± The distinguisheddy was shocked. ¡°He brought an orphan to this kind of ce?¡±

    While discussing it, Pei Ziheng had already begun exchanging conventional greetings with people. The handsome young man walked around with the beautiful girl on his arms and gently and elegantly introduced her to everyone. ¡°This is Xia Ling, my newly adopted girl. Please take good care of her in the future.¡±

    ¡°No way...¡± The distinguisheddy who had been discussing with herpanion was shocked. She said, ¡°She¡¯s really an orphan? What a pity, I¡¯d wanted to match her with my son Yuan You.¡± Thisdy had always been interested in discussing marriage with someone from the Pei family but had been picky about it. She was not very satisfied with Pei Jingyu, Pei Jingshan and the rest of thedies. Finally, she had seen Pei Ziheng bring a neer to the show, and had thought that she was anotherdy the Pei family was supporting who was attending the social gathering for the first time.

    Even if she was just a girl being supported, but to be brought out by Pei Ziheng was enough to show her importance to the family, and it was worth a shot to try marrying her into her family. However, it was apletely different matter now that she was an orphan with no blood rtion to them. So what if she had been adopted? An official document was too weak. Who was to know when Pei Ziheng would get tired of her and turn his back on her?

    This kind of girl was not suitable for marriage at all.

 Chapter 1018 - Scandalous

    <h4>Chapter 1018: Scandalous</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Thedy shook her head in disappointment.

    Herpanion also sighed. ¡°It¡¯s a pity.¡± Unfortunately, such a beautiful girl did not have the right birth qualifications. Although birthce did not determine everything in the upper ss, it determined the value of a person, especially that of a girl.

    The two of them sighed.

    The breeze blew gently and the scent of flowers wafted around in the pavilion not far away. Pei Jingyu was wearing a light white pearl silk dress, and her long silky hair was styled with utmost care. She was elegantly sitting with her cousin Pei Jingshan. The two of them were sitting beside their Grandpa Pei Zhenyuan and were chatting with his friends while sipping tea.

    Grandpa¡¯s friend was surnamed Xiao. He was in his 60s and was a tycoon of the jewelry business. At that moment, he was looking affectionately at the two young girls. He said, ¡°Jingyu and Jingmei are really getting more and more beautiful. What a pity, my grandson is already engaged. Otherwise, I would really want to marry such vivid girls into my family.¡±

    The two sisters bowed their heads and smiled.

    Pei Zhenyuanughed. ¡°Old Xiao, if you really want to im kinship with my family, it¡¯s the same to just marry Meng Yu over.¡±

    Old Master Xiao alsoughed and said half-jokingly, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ve taken a fancy on your grandnephew Ziheng, would you let him marry her? Out of all the young men, Ziheng is the most outstanding. He¡¯s a young and promising man.¡±

    ¡°Wow, Old Xiao, you have such a wicked eye.¡± Pei Zhenyuan was also half-joking. ¡°Out of my family, Zida and Zijian, which one of them isn¡¯t a talent? Why are you so hung up over Ziheng? The girls who want to marry Ziheng are lined up all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, this boy just can¡¯t get the point and doesn¡¯t put any thought into it. I¡¯m still worrying over it.¡±

    Old Master Xiao smiled. ¡°Young people take their careers seriously, that¡¯s a good thing.¡± His grandson had gotten engagedst year. This time he¡¯de to the flower banquet to find a good family for his granddaughter. Thus, his actual reason foring here to chat with Pei Zhenyuan was not for the twodies in front of him, but Pei Ziheng instead.

    In the young generation of tycoons, Pei Ziheng was recognized as the best.

    Numerous debutante youngdies were all trying to obtain him, and their parents were also eager to matchmake them together.

    It was a pity that Pei Ziheng¡¯s mind was simply not on this. Ever since he¡¯d inherited the family business two years ago, he had note to the flower banquet at all. It was extremely difficult to see him, and he was only able to make a breakthrough by talking to Old Master Pei Zhenyuan.

    How could Pei Zhenyuan not know the intentions of Old Master Xiao? However, he really could not make a decision for his grandnephew. His grandnephew¡¯s temper was extremely crabby, and he probably already had an idea of when and who he wanted to marry. Hence, the opinions of other people were only a reference at best and could not y a decisive role.

    However, his grandnephew¡¯s judgment was not bad.

    Hence, even if he had his own n, Pei Zhenyuan trusted that he would make the most favorable choice for his family.

    Just when he¡¯d thought of this, he heard Pei Jingshan say in shock, ¡°Look, isn¡¯t that Big Cousin?¡± Following her line of sight, they saw Pei Ziheng wearing a finely stitched formal suit and standing in the crowd. He looked gentle and elegant as he talked to people, and holding onto his arm was a beautiful little girl.

    ¡°Big Cousin? Why is he here?¡± Pei Jingyu was also surprised.

    Old Master Xiao looked over. First, he was happy to realize that his granddaughter Meng Yu was also there. Finally, the two children could have a conversation... However, it was followed by doubt. Who was that little girl behind Pei Ziheng? He could see that he was very protective of her. His body would intentionally or unconsciously face toward her in a protective stance.

    He voiced out his doubts.

    Pei Zhenyuan frowned. He had a faint guess in his heart and nced at Pei Jingyu.

    Pei Jingyu understood his meaning and said to the two elderly inpliance, ¡°The girl beside Big Cousin is called Xia Ling. She was adopted by him a few days ago when he went to the orphanage to do charity. Big Cousin is just so kind he couldn¡¯t help but take pity on this poor child.¡± Her voice was tactful, taking on the tone that a noble youngdy should have, but her heart was full of shock and anger¡ªnot long ago, she hadughed at Xia Ling for not having the qualifications toe to the banquet, but now she was here! Wasn¡¯t this pping her in the face directly!

    Pei Zhenyuan knew that Pei Ziheng had adopted a little girl, and had also listened to his granddaughter¡¯s grievances about how arrogant and despotic the girl was that she had even injured her and the other sisters by pouring hot tea on them. Hence, he already had a prejudice against Xia Ling. Now that he was seeing her in reality, his first reaction was not that she was beautiful. But...

    ¡°Where have his rules gone to, how could he bring her to attend this banquet,¡± Pei Zhenyuan said unhappily.

    Once Old Master Xiao found out about her identity, he was relieved and said happily, ¡°As expected, Ziheng is so benevolent. It¡¯s good to bring the little girl out to see the world too.¡± As long as the girl was not ady from another family, and would not fight with his precious granddaughter over her marriage partner, then he did not care about whether or not she was adopted.

    An adopted child had no status. So, Old Master Xiao directly disregarded Xia Ling.

    He said to Pei Zhenyuan and the two youngdies, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Ziheng in a long while, I¡¯ll bring Meng Yu over to say hello. Brother Zhenyuan, I¡¯ll get going first,¡± he said and bid farewell to them before leaving.

    Pei Zhenyuan sent Old Master Xiao away with a smile before his expression turned gloomy. ¡°What a scandal!¡±

    Pei Jingyu knew that he was scolding Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling. She said gently, ¡°Grandpa, calm down. Big Cousin wasn¡¯t like thisst time. But ever since he¡¯s adopted that wild brat, he has changed a lot. He doesn¡¯t care about the rules and even ignores the kinship between brothers and sisters now. Grandpa, it¡¯s all because that wild brat has confused Big Cousin. If you want to me anyone, it¡¯s that wild brat.¡±

    ¡°Humph!¡± Pei Zhenyuan huffed coldly.

    Although he did not say it out loud, he secretly agreed with Pei Jingyu. What was good about a wild brat? At first, when Pei Ziheng had brought her home, he had not put it to heart because he had thought of Xia Ling as an insignificant person. However, this insignificant person had not only bullied his own dear granddaughter but was now making it no secret of trying to attain a higher level by attending this kind of a social event. How could he not be angry?

    Furthermore, there were so many granddaughters in the Pei family that he could only bring out two of three of them every year!

    The invitation to the flower banquet was limited, and this time, they¡¯d given the Pei family three invitations¡ªto Pei Zhenyuan, who was the family¡¯s most important Chairman and elder, to the young patriarch Pei Ziheng, as well as to Pei Jingyu, who had won the title of the banquet¡¯s ¡°Midsummer Lady¡±. Each invitation could only be apanied by apanion. Pei Zhenyuan had gone throughyer byyer of the family to select the best to bring and had finally brought along Pei Jingshan, who had good temperament and appearance and whose parents and brothers were in rather decent positions. He had given her a chance to show her face.

    Pei Jingshan had been ecstatic. The meaning of the flower banquet was extraordinary, and it was in itself a symbol of status in the family to be brought here. If a family wanted to marry ady from the Pei family, then they would be more willing to marry someone who had shown their face at the banquet and had received recognition from the family, rather than a randomdy.

    The Pei family was a huge family with many girls. Hence, such an opportunity was rare toe by.

 Chapter 1019 - Iâ€™m Not Betting

    <h4>Chapter 1019: I¡¯m Not Betting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s invitation letter was used to invite her mother, Madam Ren.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s mother passed early, while he was too young and had yet to marry. Thus, Madam Ren had been taking care of the Pei family¡¯s matters. She could be regarded as the actual matriarch of the family. For events such as the flower ball, a woman of such seniority was needed to carry things out.

    As such, she could only invite her mother and not any other sisters.

    But Pei Ziheng¡¯s circumstances were different¡ªnow that the elders of the Pei family were all present, he could use his invitation to bring another sister along. He could find a suitable match for her sister and form alliances with other families through her marriage.

    But he did not do it.

    Instead, he brought along an orphan who had no ties to the Pei family.

    Who was Xia Ling even? Count on her to form alliances for the Pei family? Ridiculous!

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s face darkened. He turned to Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to apany me anymore, go walk around by yourselves and call Ziheng over.¡±

    The two girls understood his intentions instantly. Grandpa wanted to have a word alone with Big Cousin.

    Pei Jingyu smirked. It must be because of that brat Xia Ling! Grandpa was definitely going to reprimand cousin and get him to kick her out!

    She nodded politely and walked over to Pei Ziheng with her sister.

    Pei Ziheng was in the midst of a conversation with the director of another conglomerate. Xia Ling was standing by his side, holding onto his sleeves and getting distracted by the surroundings. Suddenly, she said softly, ¡°Look, Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan are here.¡±

    Pei Ziheng brought her out today as an outing, but he could see that Xia Ling was getting a little restless from all his socializing. After hearing that they were here, he respectfully apologized and parted ways with the director. He then turned towards the Pei sisters.

    Pei Jingyu was in an elegant gown and gave off a prim and proper aura. ¡°Big Cousin, Grandpa is calling you over. He is at the pavilion over there,¡± she said to Pei Ziheng without even looking at Xia Ling, as if she was non-existent.

    Pei Ziheng looked in the direction of the pavilion and roughly figured out why Pei Zhenyuan was looking for him. He said to Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a moment. You can y around by yourself. If you run into any trouble, just say that you are with me.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± She nodded obediently as he walked away.

    Now that Pei Ziheng was away, Pei Jingyu sneered. ¡°Little beggar, do you even belong here? Stop embarrassing the Pei family and get out of here.¡±

    Xia Ling was not intimidated by her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say I wouldn¡¯t be able to enter? Look at where I am now! Some people like to act all high and mighty. Hmph, isn¡¯t it just a flower ball? What¡¯s so special about that?¡± She had already heard from Nanny Zhou about the ball. ording to Nanny Zhou, Brother Pei skipped the ball for many years as he thought it was too much of a hassle.

    If Brother Pei disliked the ball, it must mean that it was nothing much.

    Pei Jingyu was enraged. This brat knew nothing!

    Pei Jingshan chimed in. ¡°What¡¯s special? No wonder you are a beggar, you know nothing. From what I see, Big Cousin must have brought you here to see you embarrass yourself! No guy will pick you for the ¡®Summer Belle¡¯ contestter. Hahaha, how interesting that would be.¡±

    She smirked as if she found it funny.

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°What Summer Belle contest?¡±

    ¡°You mean you didn¡¯t know?¡± Pei Jingshan exined to her out of pity. ¡°This ball is named the Summer Belle Flower Ball for a reason. Every year, girls from the various families will showcase their talents at the contest. The bachelors will each get a flower to vote for their favorite girl. The girl with the most flowers would be that year¡¯s ¡®Summer Belle¡¯.¡±

    She added, ¡°Last year¡¯s Summer Belle was Sister Jingyu.¡±

    A restrained smirk appeared on Pei Jingyu¡¯s face. The title of Summer Belle was not easy to attain. To rise above the other girls, one had to do well in all aspects¡ªin terms of their family background, etiquette, appearance, and talents. It was not easy to win the votes of the bachelors.

    ¡°How about that, little beggar,¡± Pei Jingyu said proudly and taunted her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that it¡¯s nothing special? How about you try out for it?¡± She was sure that no matter how pretty Xia Ling was, she would not be able to get the title. This was a matchmaking ball for the rich and powerful families. Those flowers in the hands of the bachelors, they were not given out freely. Apart from the bachelors¡¯ personal tastes, the more important factor was the girl¡¯s family background. Giving the flower to the girl meant that the bachelor was interested in marriage and forming an alliance with the family.

    Xia Ling¡¯s family background was insignificantpared to the other girls. No matter how pretty she was, it would not have helped.

    Inst year¡¯s contest, Pei Jingyu was honestly not the one with the best talent. However, she was best after her family background and other aspects were taken into consideration. Only then she was able to win the votes of the bachelors.

    Xia Ling did not know these unspoken rules about the contest. The arrogance of the two sisters enraged her and she said stubbornly, ¡°It¡¯s just the Summer Belle Contest, I will be able to win it easily.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Pei Jingshan burst outughing.

    Guests from the neighboring tables heard themotion and looked over.

    Realizing the unwanted attention on them, Pei Jingyu cautioned. ¡°Jingshan, watch your demeanor.¡±

    Pei Jingshan came to a sudden realization. She reverted to the posture that Teacher Gao had taught them and gracefully stopped herughter. However, she was still looking at Xia Ling with despise.

    Pei Jingyu said, ¡°You want to be the Summer Belle? That¡¯s great, very ambitious. Why don¡¯t we have a bet? If you cannot win the contest, leave the Pei family.¡¯

    The stakes were high, Xia Ling did not let her anger take over. ¡°I¡¯m not betting.¡±

    ¡°Why, are you afraid?¡± Pei Jingyu sneered. ¡°You are indeed an orphan, all you do is embarrass yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling retaliated. ¡°You are the embarrassing one!!¡±

    ¡°Then why do you not dare to bet with me?¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and did not reply. If the bet only involved her, she would have taken it. However, her sister Xia Yu was still hospitalized. If she left the Pei family, Xia Yu would be forced to leave too.

    ¡°I refuse to bet!¡± She said.

    ¡°Coward.¡± Pei Jingyu said.

    ¡°In my opinion, she is leeching on Brother Ziheng.¡± Pei Jingshan mocked. ¡°Little beggar, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t dare to bet with us. Leave the ball now and we will not bother you. Otherwise, I will tell everyone that there is a beggar here fantasizing about bing the Summer Belle!¡±

 Chapter 1020 - The Young Man by the Lily Lake

    <h4>Chapter 1020: The Young Man by the Lily Lake</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I am not a beggar!¡± Xia Ling red at them angrily.

    ¡°Forget it, she¡¯s not leaving,¡± Pei Jingyu said with an evil grin. ¡°Let¡¯s go and tell Meng Yu, An Ning and the rest that there is a beggar here who thinks she¡¯s better than all of us.¡± As the heiresses of big families, they had a reputation to uphold. Even though they had topete amongst each other, they would never allow a beggar from nowhere to challenge their status.

    The news that the orphan Pei Ziheng brought wanted topete for the ¡°Midsummer Lady¡± title soon spread.

    All the other girls felt that she was too full of herself and treated her like a joke. Originally, some of them wanted to be ¡°friends¡± with her in order to get closer to Pei Ziheng. However, Pei Jingyu said, ¡°You think that my Big Cousin really adores her? No way! He was just doing a little extra for her as a charity, but who knew this brat is so immature? Big Cousin already had enough of her. He brought her here for her to see the difference between us and her, just so she knows her ce! Look, Big Cousin isn¡¯t even by her side now. If he really doted on her, he wouldn¡¯t her left her alone!¡±

    The girls all thought that Pei Jingyu made sense.

    Those who wanted to use Xia Ling to get closer to Pei Ziheng decided against it. They did not want Pei Ziheng to dislike them for being friends with someone he hated.

    In that instant, all the other girls began to iste Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling noticed their hostility. She knew that Pei Jingyu was telling tales about her, but she refused to exin herself. The girls could hate her all they wanted, she could do well without them.

    Angrily, she walked along the garden and sat down by a lilyke.

    ¡°Miss Xia?¡± A warm voice echoed through the wind.

    Xia Ling turned around and saw a youngster in white standing by the lilyke. He looked to be around 15 years old. His soft short hair ruffled in the wind as he smiled at her respectfully.

    ¡°You are...?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I am Xun An. Legend has it that my family were descendants of Xun Yu from the Three Kingdoms times.¡± He walked towards her and asked, ¡°May I sit here?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and shifted over to make space.

    Xun An sat beside her and watched the lotuses and lilies with her. ¡°You don¡¯t really act like an heiress of a rich family.¡±

    ¡°I am not,¡± she said sulkily.

    Xun An chuckled. ¡°Unhappy? I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to offend you.¡±

    His voice was gentle and soft, causing her to look up and stare. ¡°Why are you talking to me? They don¡¯t seem to like me.¡±

    ¡°You mean those girls? They are jealous of your good looks. Look around, many of the guys are stealing nces at you.¡±

    Xia Ling was amused by hisments. She nced around and found one of the bachelors staring at her. The moment their eyes met, the bachelor blushed and looked away.

    Instantly, her mood was lifted.

    ¡°See, I wasn¡¯t lying.¡± Xun An said, ¡°Men lust for pretty girls. Xiao Ling¡ªcan I call you that? You are more charming than you think.¡±

    She asked, ¡°Why are you telling me all these?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hitting on you, can¡¯t you tell?¡± Xun An said with a light-hearted chuckle. ¡°My family is in the theater business and always wanted to coborate with Director Pei. Before I came here, my father reminded me to bring a Pei family girl home. I¡¯m still underage and he¡¯s already trying to sell me out. Well, I¡¯m not gonna sell myself out.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. This boy was interesting.

    ¡°Why me? Everyone here knows that I was adopted and have no blood rtions with Brother Pei. Even if you marry me, it wouldn¡¯t help you,¡± she asked.

    ¡°You are happier than them. Look at them, on the outside, they look so morous. But actually, they have no say in the major things in their lives, such as their marriage. Even for the guys, we don¡¯t have a choice on who we marry. But you¡¯re different, you¡¯re free to choose,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling did not really understand. ¡°You are so rich, how could you be less free than usmoners?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a really philosophical question.¡± Xun Anughed. ¡°Yes, there is no point in me marrying you, but that isn¡¯t my intention anyway. I only want to know Director Pei through you. My family would be proud of me if I could do that.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. This guy was so direct with his intentions.

    ¡°They are saying Brother Pei dislikes me.¡± Xia Ling had heard the rumors going around. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that Brother Pei would despise you for being close to me?¡±

    Xun An sneered at thement. He took a lotus leaf and yed with it. ¡°They must be blind to think that. Didn¡¯t they see Director Pei holding your hand? He had you standing on the inner side to protect you. I have no talent, but I am adept at observation. Director Pei is fond of you, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    His words pleased her. ¡°Yup, he is quite nice to me.¡±

    ¡°I knew it. How about we make a deal? I¡¯ll tell you the rules around the ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯ and rally for you. In return you put in good words for me to Director Pei,¡± the boy said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t sway his decisions, nor will I lie to him. I can tell him that you were nice to me, but I can¡¯t tell him that you are very capable. I don¡¯t know if you truly are,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Xun Anughed. ¡°Alright, he was right to dote on you. Telling him that I was nice to you would be enough. Brother Pei protects his lovers very well. If you tell him I was good to you, he will be nice to me as well.¡± With that, he started whistling casually.

    They started to chat about all kinds of things. Xun An told her, for the ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯, the girls got to choose which talents they wanted to showcase. Some would dance, and others would y the piano. As long as they informed the organizers beforehand, they would prepare the stage and necessary equipment.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Well, I can sing and dance.¡±

 Chapter 1021 - An Old Song

    <h4>Chapter 1021: An Old Song</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xun An suggested. ¡°Just stick with singing. All thedies here who do ssical dance and ballet have started learning since they were three or four. They are world-renowned, you won¡¯t be able to beat them.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little unconvinced. ¡°What if I could beat them?¡±

    He found her adorable and couldn¡¯t help but reach out to ruffle her hair.

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you belittle me!¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright, I won¡¯t belittle you.¡± Xun An stifled hisughter. ¡°But I want to hear you sing. Your voice is beautiful even when you talk, I believe your singing would sound wonderful.¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡± She grinned and tipped her chin a little higher with pride. ¡°I can sing lots of songs. Back when I was in the orphanage, everyone used toe around to listen whenever I sang.¡±

    Xun An smiled. ¡°What songs can you sing?¡±

    She named a few before adding, ¡°I evenpose my own tunes.¡±

    He asked, ¡°Really? Let me listen to one.¡±

    Ever since Pei Ziheng adopted her, her living environment had changed drastically and she had had fewer opportunities to sing. Seeing that Xun An was interested in it now, she excitedly thought aboutposing a good one for him. What should she sing? Seeing the lily pads afloat on theke before her, and the fragrance from the flowers, an idea came to mind.

    ¡°The Southern River and its water lilies, the lily pads in Hotan...¡±

    She sang this ssical folk song easily. The teachers in the orphanage had taught them this poem, but she had turned it into a song with a melody on the spot.

    Xun An¡¯s jaw dropped as he listened to her.

    He had known that she sang well, but he never knew she was this good at it. The girl before him was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees as she kept her eyes on theke of water lilies. The breeze carried her melodious voice with it, and she looked like a sweet country girl despite and all the more because of the dirt that got onto her little gown as she sat on the floor. Xun An had never met another girl who could pull off such an elegant look so casually and so uniquely.

    Before he knew it, his focus had drifted as he looked dazedly at her.

    When she was done singing, she turned around and asked smilingly, ¡°Did I sing well?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Yes!¡± Only then did he snap back to his senses and nodded his head. She didn¡¯t just sing well, she sang better than anyone he had known before! This scendscape, coupled with this gift of a voice, was simply perfect.

    Xun An said to Xia Ling, ¡°You were wonderful! If you go for the talent contest with that piece, you¡¯d definitely be the most outstanding girl around!¡± So what if the other rich girls could dance and y their instruments well? Was any of them as natural and moving as she was? Moreover, these girls had been taking part in the talent contest year after year, and the judges were more or less tired of simr performances. It would be different for her, though, if she could awe them on her first appearance.

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°Really? But, this isn¡¯t the only criterion for being the Summer Belle.¡± Xun An had gone through the rules and regtions with her earlier, and she realized just how embarrassing her words to Pei Jingyu and the rest were. Given her background, it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if she came inst!

    Xun An shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re out to embarrass you. Even if you decide not to take part anymore, they¡¯d still find a way to get you on stage. Xiao Ling, show them what you¡¯re made of and let them know who¡¯s the better one! Even if you don¡¯t end up as the Summer Belle, don¡¯t do too badly. You need to shove it in their faces!¡±

    Xia Ling giggled. ¡°Why are you getting even more agitated than me?¡±

    Xun An threw some air punches as his eyes lit up, ¡°Of course I am! I¡¯ve decided to help you as much as I can! As long as I do my best to help you out, Chairman Pei would definitely see me in a different light! Then, my status in this household would be raised!¡±

    Xia Lingughed again. She did not know whether he was genuinely innocent or too shrewd a person, to actually have spelled things out to her so clearly. But,pared to all the hypocritical and scheming rich misses, she¡¯d very much rather hang out with this person. Whatever his agenda, he was, at least, being nice to her.

    ¡°How do you intend to help me?¡± She was curious.

    ¡°Come,e, I¡¯ll speak into your ear...¡±

    They whispered for a long while and Xia Ling was getting amused by the things he said. In the breeze by theke, the young man and the little girl¡¯sughter went a long way.

    Pei Ziheng and Pei Zhenyuan were sitting in the pavilion.

    Pei Zhenyuan was chiding him. ¡°It was bad enough that you adopted a feral child, but you could¡¯ve just dumped her after ying with her for a few days. Why did you bring her to the banquet? Do you know what a banquet is about!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was distracted as his eyes were locked on the two of them in the distance. Xiao Ling was happily talking to a young and pleasant young man, and he actually dared ruffle her hair! Pei Ziheng was busy thinking of how to deal with this young man!

    ¡°Are you listening!¡± Pei Zhenyuan snapped in anger.

    ¡°I am.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low and calm as usual. He looked away from theke and said, ¡°Granduncle, it¡¯s my business to adopt Xiao Ling, and also my choice to bring whoever I want to attend events. You just have to manage the matters of the organization. As for my personal matters, you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±

    With that, he got up. ¡°I¡¯m busy, I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Zhenyuan was fuming mad. This child was getting out of hand!

    Seeing Pei Ziheng¡¯s back view as he left, Pei Zhenyuan once again felt that this grandnephew was getting increasingly hard to handle... was this a good or a bad thing? He remembered how his nephew had grabbed his hand and said to him on his deathbed, ¡°Second Uncle... Ziheng is a driven man, and he¡¯s very capable. But sometimes he¡¯s just too headstrong, and simply too young... please help him along the way and guide him towards managing Imperial, and...¡±

    Before he finished what he had to say, his eyes had shut for good.

    But Pei Zhenyuan knew what he had wanted to say¡ªto watch over him and make sure he did not go astray.

    What was considered astray? Anything besides managing the family business, getting a good wife and starting a family would be going astray!

    Pei Zhenyuan gave a long sigh. He thought about the times when Pei Ziheng had just taken over the family business. Back then, he still took his opinions and advice into consideration, but as Imperial got more powerful over the past few years, some things began to change. It was good for a young man like him to have his own point of view, but it wasn¡¯t good to be too obstinate!

    Pei Zhenyuan decided to use this incident regarding Xia Ling to knock Pei Ziheng to his senses. He needed to know what the Pei family tradition was and what it meant to put family first!

    While the old man was still shaking his head in anger, Pei Ziheng had already walked to the lilyke.

 Chapter 1022 - Donâ€™t Want to Be a Profligate Second Generation

    <h4>Chapter 1022: Don¡¯t Want to Be a Profligate Second Generation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the evening breeze, he heard the chatter of two children¡ª

    ¡°What do you think of this pitch? How about this?¡±

    The girl wasughing and singing segments intermittently. It was a beautiful melody, one that Pei Ziheng had never heard before.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face darkened.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He called out to the girl.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Ling got startled. But she was delighted when she turned around and saw that it was him. ¡°Brother Pei!¡±

    She held her dress up and walked up to him, not bothering about the soil that got onto her clothes. ¡°You¡¯re back. I justposed a tune and Xun An says it¡¯s nice. Oh right, this is Xun An, a new friend I made!¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes were big and bright.

    Pei Ziheng bent his knees slightly to brush the soil off her, chiding affectionately. ¡°How could you just sit around on the ground anyhow, what if you catch a cold?¡±

    She smiled. ¡°I won¡¯t, Xun An is blocking off the breeze for me.¡±

    Only then did Pei Ziheng see the young man by theke. Seeing that he was approaching, the young man stood up, right at the spot where there was a draught. Indeed, he had blocked off quite a bit of wind from Xia Ling.

    Pei Ziheng was a little less annoyed by him, but still notpletely appeased. ¡°From the Xun family?¡±

    His deep voice sent a chill down Xun An¡¯s spine. Gosh, he really was a scary man. Word about how cold and ruthless Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei was had gotten around. Now that he had seen him, he realized that...

    He looked ruthless indeed!

    Xun An¡¯s heart pounded. He could not understand how the innocent little girl beside him could have said that ¡°Brother Pei is the gentlest person in the whole wide world¡±. Was his judgment impaired, or was hers? He looked at Pei Ziheng and forced a smile. ¡°Chairman Pei, I¡¯m Xun Zhengxuan¡¯s son.¡±

    Xun Zhengxuan? Wasn¡¯t that Flying Eagle Theatre¡¯s current Chairman, the one who had just closed a huge deal with the Pei family a few days ago? No one ever mentioned that his son was so... so detestable.

    Pei Ziheng sized this brat up and still did not like him.

    Xun An¡¯s hair was standing from the way Pei Ziheng looked at him. That was strange, Pei Ziheng seemed to love and pamper Xia Ling a lot, and since Xia Ling had a good impression of him, Chairman Pei should like him too. Why did it look like he was ring at his enemy?

    The young man was stressed out.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling waspletely oblivious to all of it. She grabbed Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Brother Pei, Xun An is really nice to me, he taught me how to shine at the Summer Belle talent segment. He said that he hoped I¡¯ll rmend him to you. He thinks that he¡¯s capable and wants to seal a deal with you for his family!¡±

    Pei Ziheng realized something was wrong and frowned.

    He reached out to ruffle her hair as if trying to get rid of any trace Xun An had left on her when he did the same. He gently said, ¡°Go somewhere and y on your own for a while, I have a few things to say to Xun An beforeing over.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Xia Ling skipped away.

    Only then did Pei Ziheng look down at Xun An as his smiling expression was reced by a gloomy one.

    Xun An was practically shrinking his head back. Was something wrong now?

    ¡°The thing I hate the most all my life is for someone to get close to Xiao Ling with an agenda,¡± he said very solemnly.

    Xun An was almost rolling his eyes from the absurdity. He had only adopted her for days, and this had be something he ¡°hated most all his life¡±? But at least he figured out why Pei Ziheng was upset at him, and hurriedly made up for it by smiling. ¡°It¡¯s a misunderstanding, I just happen to click well with Xiao Ling, and at the same time...¡± He peeked at Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression and decided to change his statement. ¡°Alright, I was trying to get close to you, and at the same time I happened to click with Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Is Xiao Ling a name you should call?¡±

    ¡°... Miss Xia, Miss Xia.¡± Xun An couldn¡¯t believe how unlucky he was. He had calcted everything properly but just did not expect this man to be so protective. He didn¡¯t look like someone who was taking care of his adoptive sister, but rather a lover fending off other rivals!

    How extreme...

    Xun An continued ridiculing Pei Ziheng in his head while putting up a smile to curry favor. ¡°Chairman Pei, Brother Pei, as they say¡ªone who does not know is not guilty. Would you let me off? I¡¯ve admired you since I was a child, really! I¡¯ve got lots of posters of you at home, this big, and this tall...¡±

    The young man gestured to show him the poster dimensions.

    Pei Ziheng was speechless. Why hadn¡¯t he ever heard about such a weirdo from the Xun family?

    Xun An beat about the bush before going back to Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, wait no, Miss Xia... is in a foreign ce and she¡¯s trying to win the Summer Belle title. There¡¯s no way she could achieve it with just your vote alone, right? But it¡¯s different if I help out, every vote counts! If you agree to help me with my family¡¯s business, and get my father to let me take charge of it, I promise I¡¯ll do my best for this!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was speechless. He wasn¡¯t sure he could simply entrust such a huge deal to such an incoherentd!

    The young man blinked in anticipation.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°You really want that deal?¡±

    The young man nodded vehemently. His family¡¯s situation was slightly different from other rich and powerful ones¡ª

    He used to have an older brother who was groomed to be the heir since he was a child. However, he had passed away a few years back due to over-exhaustion. As the younger son, Xun An had been pampered all this while. Although he did have the heart to take over the heavy responsibility of managing the business in the future, his parents were not in favor. They¡¯d rather have him live healthily and happily, than risk him getting fatigued and potentially running into health problems as his brother did. As such, they had been trying to discourage him from getting too involved.

    Xun An was upset; he did not want to be nothing more than a rich and profligate second generation.

    He blinked again, trying to appear as pitiful as possible. ¡°Brother Pei, Brother Pei, please agree to it! On the ount that I and Xiao Ling, oh no, Miss Xia, get along so well? Help her good friend, please...¡±

    Good... friend...

    Pei Ziheng felt his eye twitch a little as he felt bad for Chairman Xun. Everyone talked about how dependable and outstanding the First Young Master was, but why was this Second Young Master so different!

    He did not wish to continue this conversation and decided to get it done and over with. ¡°I can let you have this business deal. But you have to publicize our agreement¡ªyou vote for Xiao Ling, I¡¯ll give you that opportunity. Let as many people know about this as possible.¡±

    Xun An immediately got what he meant, and was shocked at how much this man was willing to give up just for this girl. It wasn¡¯t difficult to imagine what the people who wanted to favor Pei Ziheng would do once they got news of this...

 Chapter 1023 - Astonishing Music Sense

    <h4>Chapter 1023: Astonishing Music Sense</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He was pondering over it when he heard Pei Ziheng instruct, ¡°Don¡¯t tell Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xun An was shocked, but he nodded quickly. He realized that the man¡¯s affection towards the girl was bone-deep. He had done so much for her but still hid it from her.

    How blessed was that girl?

    The evening wind of the midsummer was very cooling, and the lights in the elegant courtyard lit up.

    The banquet host announced the annual ¡°Midsummer Lady¡± talent show was starting. The first on stage was Pei Jingyu, who had won the titlest year. Pei Jingyu wore a light white pearl silk dress and walked up elegantly. She looked around first before revealing a gentle and refined smile. She said, ¡°I¡¯m indebted to all your affection. I won the titlest year, so I¡¯ll be presenting a song for everyone. Please give me your valued opinions.¡±

    She was very good at ying the piano and had won the title with her exceptional skill in ying it. This year, she still chose to perform the talent she was best at. The sweet-sounding piano sound was like moving clouds and flowing water. It tinkled in the ears of the guests and made them feel as though they were high in the clouds.

    Ady turned and whispered to her son in a low voice, ¡°This girl from the Pei family is not bad, she¡¯s dignified and generous, beautiful and wise. Listen to the sound of her piano, it¡¯s so calming and high-ss. Listening to a piano is like looking at a person, this kind of girl is matriarch material.¡±

    Her son smiled and nodded.

    Many of the tycoons here were like the pair of mother and son. They were all silently observing the talents and natural dispositions of the girls and werebining this with their family background to calcte, estimate and choose the marriage partner that suited them best.

    Once Pei Jingyu¡¯s tune ended, the crowd erupted in a round of apuse.

    She swept the crowd with watery eyes and smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then, she got off the stage.

    At the side of the Pei family¡¯s seat, Pei Jingshan stood up and greeted her with praise. ¡°Sister Jingyu, you¡¯re so good. This year¡¯s Midsummer Lady must be you again.¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled modestly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m the first to y and there¡¯s still lots of talented and beautiful girls behind,¡± she said while ncing at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was sitting next to Pei Ziheng at the Pei family¡¯s seats.

    There was no choice, all the banquet seats were based on family. Since Pei Ziheng and Pei Zhenyuan were from the same family, they were naturally arranged to sit together. If they were separated forcefully, then outsiders would think that there was some irreconcble contradiction within the family. That would be an ugly sight.

    At the moment, Xia Ling was feeling very ufortable under Pei Jingyu¡¯s re. She snorted gently and turned her head away.

    Pei Zhenyuan frowned. This wild brat, it was already her privilege to be able to sit here. If not for the public banquet, he would have long driven this wild brat out. Why was she so courageous to even dare give a ck face to a distinguisheddy like Pei Jingyu?

    Pei Jingshan could see that Great Uncle was unhappy, so she jumped forward, eager to perform. ¡°What are you snorting at, are you dissatisfied with Sister Jingyu?¡±

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°It¡¯s my business, what¡¯s it to you.¡± She was very stubborn.

    Pei Jingyu smoothed things over in a gentle and dignified manner. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Jingshan. Xiao Ling has juste out of the orphanage and isn¡¯t sensible, why are you being like that too? Don¡¯t be so petty, prepare well for your performance and bring glory to the Pei family.¡±

    Pei Jingshan said hurriedly, ¡°Yes.¡± Although her father had a bit of status in the family, her backing was not as good as Pei Jingyu¡¯s. Pei Jingyu¡¯s Grandpa was the secondrgest shareholder next to Pei Ziheng and also had high seniority. He could even im equal grounds and rival against Pei Ziheng. However, what about Pei Jingshan herself? She was simply not enough in front of Pei Jingyu. All these years, she had fawned on Pei Jingyu to curry favor with her, which allowed her to gain her own standing.

    Xia Ling stared at Pei Jingyu with a pair of beautiful eyes. Then, she looked at Pei Jingshan and snorted.

    Although she was simple-minded, some things were still observed by her. Both girls were pointing at the mulberry tree and cursing the locust tree when they were simply scolding her and looking down on her! In all honesty, she had also listened to the piano song yed by Pei Jingyu and had genuinely thought nothing was amazing about it. Even though she had never learned how to y the piano before, her music sense was astonishing, and intuitively, she found that although Pei Jingyu¡¯s piano tune was beautiful, it held a strong sense of craftsmanship. In simpler words, she was simply striking the keys with no soul behind it.

    This kind of piano sound might be first-ss, but it would never be top-notch.

    The child was unable to hide her thoughts and she couldn¡¯t help but pull on Pei Ziheng¡¯s sleeves.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and asked in a gentle voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Since there was no outsider here, Xia Ling was not afraid to throw the Pei family¡¯s face, so she asked directly in a soft voice, ¡°Why do they think that Sister Jingyu¡¯s piano sounds good? Have they never heard real music before?¡±

    Before Pei Ziheng could respond, Pei Jingyu was already so angry she almost smashed her ss cup. What did this little beggar mean?! How dare she tarnish her piano reputation in front of Grandpa and all her sisters!

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± This time, even Pei Zhenyuan couldn¡¯t help but reprimand. ¡°Ziheng, manage this little brat!¡± This little brat, what qualifications did she have to evaluate a distinguisheddy the Pei family had spent lots of money to cultivate! This brat did not even have the least bit of respect!

    Xia Ling was shocked by Zhenyuan¡¯s words. She shrunk her body and did not dare to speak.

    When she had been taken in by Pei Ziheng, she had heard him introduce this Grandpa who had been scowling fiercely. She knew that he was Pei Jingyu¡¯s Grandpa, and he did not seem to like her... However, she had a natural love for music and could not hide any questions regarding it. At the moment, she had forgotten about how scary this Old Grandpa was. She directly asked the doubts in her heart.

    Pei Ziheng stared at Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Great Uncle, don¡¯t scare her.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan said, ¡°Even if you want to defend the little brat, you must have a limit!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression turned gloomy. ¡°Xiao Ling is not a little brat.¡±

    The atmosphere suddenly became tense. The two men, one young and one old, were confronting each other silently, and a dispute looked about to happen. Xia Ling¡¯s heart jumped in her throat. She only realized that she seemed to have done something wrong? She became apprehensive and said in a small voice, ¡°Brother Pei...¡±

    Pei Ziheng removed his confronting stare from his Great Uncle and gently took her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll change seats.¡±

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡±

    ¡°Big Cousin!¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan and the two youngdies whispered. They had underestimated Xia Ling¡¯s importance to him. He was even going to change seats just because of a dispute with her! The seats here were all arranged ording to family. If he were to change seats so suddenly, it was obviously telling others that the Pei family had internal disputes and no harmony. Besides losing face, there would probably be countless versions of rumors flying out. This might even cause the stock of the Pei family to fall the next day!

 Chapter 1024 - How to Convince the Public

    <h4>Chapter 1024: How to Convince the Public</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Pei Ziheng, sit down! You¡¯re not allowed to go anywhere!¡± Pei Zhenyuan was so angry his whole body trembled. He suppressed his volume and rebuked.

    Pei Ziheng was expressionless. ¡°Xiao Ling feels wronged here, so of course I¡¯ll have to bring her to another seat.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan was furious. ¡°What on earth do you want!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve said it before, I don¡¯t want Xiao Ling to be wronged.¡±

    ¡°Okay... very good,¡± Pei Zhenyuan said. Even though he was very angry, he had to consider the big picture. Hence, he had no choice but to swallow this anger. He stared resentfully at his grandnephew who had failed to meet his expectations. People had often said that trifling destroys one¡¯s will. Sure enough, the grandnephew he had once thought was so promising had lost his will ever since he adopted this wild brat! ¡°I take back my words. Xia Ling is not a brat,¡± Pei Zhenyuan swallowed his anger and said.

    Pei Jingyu saw how sullen Grandpa was and felt anger bubble up in her too. Who was this brat to make Grandpa lower his head in front of her?! However, so what if she was unhappy? They couldn¡¯t let Big Cousin leave the seat!

    In fact, besides her talent surpassing that of others, another reason why she was able to be the Midsummer Lady was that she was Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s granddaughter by blood, and the outside world had already spread rumors that Pei Ziheng doted on this cousin.

    Who was Pei Ziheng, he was the patriarch of the Pei family!

    If ady from the Pei family was not liked by him, then no matter how good her conditions were, people would still think twice about marrying her! Pei Jingyu must never let anyone think that she was not doted on by Pei Ziheng as that would affect her marriage!

    Pei Jingyu suppressed her unhappiness andforted softly. ¡°Grandpa, Big Cousin, we are all one family, what¡¯s there we can¡¯t talk over? Sister Xiao Ling didn¡¯t mean ill, Grandpa, you can just be it go. Big Cousin, don¡¯t be angry at Grandpa too. Grandpa is just looking out for our family.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stared expressionlessly at Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Great Uncle, although Xiao Ling was adopted by me, she is a part of the Pei family once she steps through our doors. She is now a distinguisheddy of the Pei family and is not beneath Pei Jingshan and the otherdies, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    This!

    Pei Zhenyuan was furious. This rascal was too overboard and insatiable to force him to admit the status of Xia Ling!

    However, how could he not admit it? Circumstances were as such, and he was afraid that if he said no, Pei Ziheng would immediately bring Xia Ling to another seat! This rascal was going against him!

    In the past six months, while following Pei Ziheng to stabilize their business in the business world, he had graduallye to a realization that it was getting more and more difficult to control his grand nephew. This grand nephew had his own ideas on too many matters and was not as obedient as before. Even though Pei Zhenyuan understood that once an eagle¡¯s wings had be full-fledged they were bound to fly alone, but Pei Ziheng was too young. It was too early to escape from the controls of the elders!

    How could a young man manage the whole of the Pei family?

    Regarding today¡¯s dispute, on the surface, it seemed as though it was a problem of Xia Ling¡¯s status, but was it not just a contest between the two men? Since things had reached this stage, they werepeting to see whose will was greater, and whose authority was stronger!

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s re deepened. He saw how his grandnephew was refusing to take a step back, so he turned to face Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, the Pei family has already given you clothes to wear and food to eat, you should be contented. Don¡¯tpare yourself to Jingyu and the otherdies. They were born to be distinguisheddies that are nobler than most people. This is their life. As for you, you¡¯re an orphan, and although you¡¯re much luckier than the other orphans, you¡¯re still not a distinguished nobledy, am I right?¡±

    Xia Ling felt a little dizzy from listening to his words. Her expression was one of confusion.

    Pei Jingyu understood Grandpa¡¯s meaning. Grandpa was preparing to let this brat give in first, then he¡¯d use this to pull the carpet out from Pei Ziheng¡¯s feet! She smiled and helped him. ¡°Our Pei family has been good to you. Don¡¯t think of getting more from us, you have to be contented. Why would you fight so hard for the status of ady? You¡¯ll be mocked by people.¡±

    What did she mean by fighting for the status of ady?

    Xia Ling could not understand what they were saying at all. She looked to Pei Ziheng for help.

    Pei Ziheng said gently but firmly, ¡°You are ady.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The little girl nodded and then said seriously to Pei Jingyu and Pei Zhenyuan, ¡°I am a distinguisheddy.¡± Even though she didn¡¯t understand what they were saying, but whatever Brother Pei said must be right. Since Brother Pei said that she was ady, then she must be one.

    Pei Zhenyuan was so angry he almost vomited blood...

    What kind of person had this grandnephew of his adopted?! Did this girl even have brains? In this kind of situation, shouldn¡¯t she be persuading Pei Ziheng to listen to the elder and not have disputes with the family over her?

    Pei Jingyu almost vomited blood as well. This little beggar was so shameless!

    Only Pei Ziheng smiled in satisfaction. He knew that it had been the right choice to adopt this girl.

    ¡°So, Great Uncle,¡± heced his fingers together and said while looking calmly at Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Xiao Ling is our family¡¯sdy. She was adopted by me¡ªthe onlydy in our extended family.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan snorted inwardly.

    This grandnephew is getting too much!

    He had only been fighting for the title of ¡°Pei family¡¯sdy¡± for Xia Ling just now, and now, he¡¯d changed it to ¡°Lady of the extended family¡±! Extended family! What did this imply? It implied that all the other girls in the Pei family were not as distinguished as she was, and not as important as her! All the other girls were to follow her blindly!

    How could he bear this?

    Pei Zhenyuan mmed the table in anger. Immediately, a few people sitting on the tables nearby turned to look.

    Pei Ziheng remained expressionless. He looked calmly at his flustered and exasperated Great Uncle.

    ¡°Good... you¡¯re really good... you¡¯ve climbed all over my head!¡± Pei Zhenyuan was furious. He suppressed his volume and reprimanded. ¡°Lady of the extended family, right? You think that¡¯s so easy? What virtue and ability does she have to convince the masses?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said with a gentle voice, ¡°She is my person. That itself is enough to convince the masses.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan sneered in anger. ¡°Nonsense!¡±

    Pei Jingyu persuaded hypocritically. ¡°Yes, Big Cousin. If everyone in the family isn¡¯t convinced with you pushing Xiao Ling to such a high position, wouldn¡¯t it be putting her on the fire to roast? In my opinion, why doesn¡¯t everyone take a step back and not harm our rtionship¡ªif this time Xiao Ling can win the title of ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯, then me and my other sisters will acknowledge her as ourdy. But if she can¡¯t...¡± Pei Jingyu smiled and said faintly, ¡°How can thedy of the extended family be iparable to us four-roomdies?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s anger subsided. He thought that Pei Jingyu¡¯s suggestion wasn¡¯t bad and could let his grandnephew and the brat retreat to avoid defeat. He said slowly, ¡°Pei Jingyu¡¯s suggestion is good. How could our Pei family¡¯sdy of the extended family not have any talent? If she¡¯s not able to obtain the ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯ title, then we won¡¯t mention this anymore, else other people mock us!¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    His direct and efficient reply made Pei Jingyu and the others shocked. Why, was it that he was confident that this brat could obtain the ¡°Midsummer Lady¡± title? That didn¡¯t make any sense, they all knew the selection mechanism for the title. No matter how beautiful this brat was or how talented she was, her birth was her obstacle!

 Chapter 1025 - Iâ€™ll Sing a Song for Everyone

    <h4>Chapter 1025: I¡¯ll Sing a Song for Everyone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    How could any young master possibly vote for her?

    Pei Zhenyuan only thought that Pei Ziheng was being stubborn. He agreed on the spot. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s settled then!¡±

    Even Xia Ling herself was not very confident. She nced weakly at Pei Ziheng. The gamble between the two men had put her in an ufortable spot. Even though she didn¡¯t understand what they were fighting for, but instinctively, she knew that she could not throw Brother Pei¡¯s face. Since things hade to this, she had no choice but to bring out her best performance. Even if she had to break the cauldrons and sink the boats, she had to fight!

    Pei Ziheng noticed her uneasiness and gently held her hand. ¡°Afraid?¡±

    She nodded and nced at Pei Jingyu and the rest before shaking her head.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes held a hint of a smile and his voice was gentle as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just perform however you want to. My Xiao Ling will always be the best.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t very confident but nodded seriously.

    Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan exchanged nces. They saw schadenfreude in each other¡¯s eyes. They didn¡¯t feel Xia Ling had any hope of getting the Midsummer Lady title. If she failed, perhaps Big Cousin would take his anger out on her. When she fell out of his favor and was driven out of the house, it would be such a perfect ending.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay even if you don¡¯t obtain the title. After all, your natural talent is weaker than ours.¡± Pei Jingyu smiled in fake magnanimity. ¡°As long as you get a medium grade and not throw the Pei family¡¯s face, then we won¡¯t me you.¡±

    ¡°I will get first ce,¡± Xia Ling said in determination.

    ¡°Haha.¡± Pei Jingshan burst out inughter.

    Xia Ling red at them unhappily. ¡°If thepetition for the title of ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯st year was the same level as Sister Jingyu, then this year¡¯s title will definitely belong to me!¡±

    ¡°Little beggar, you don¡¯t know how to appreciate talent!¡± Since Pei Jingyu had to take care of her distinguished image in front of others and could not scold people as she liked, Pei Jingshan took charge of her instead. ¡°Sister Jingyu¡¯s piano is high-ss! She has managed to achieve this after learning from the most famous masters for many years! Unlike you, have you even touched a piano before, how dare you talk blindly?!¡±

    Xia Ling had indeed never touched a piano before.

    However, not knowing how to y the piano didn¡¯t mean she didn¡¯t have music sense! She looked up at Pei Ziheng, her beautiful eyes full of doubt. Did they really think that Pei Jingyu yed the piano well?

    There was a hint of a smile in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes again. Ever since he had adopted this little girl, his mood had been better. He caressed her soft long hair and said gently, ¡°Jingyu¡¯s piano was indeed learned from the most famous masters, but the family doesn¡¯t expect her to be a famous pianist. I think that the master is not as demanding towards her as he is to the professional pianists. Her piano skill is the best among the nobledies, but from a purely artistic point of view, she is stillcking.¡± Actually, all Pei Ziheng ever did was business, so how could he distinguish the sound of the piano? However, he had a lot of capable people under him, and one of them was a young music producer called Feng Kun. Feng Kun had bluntly pointed out the gap between the skill of the nobledies and the real artistes.

    Xia Ling smiled.

    His answer had made her realize that her judgment was correct.

    However, Pei Jingyu thought that she was mocking her. Her expression darkened.

    ¡°Girls should know a little about music and that¡¯s enough. They shouldn¡¯t rely on this as their career. They¡¯ll just be mocked if they are too engrossed in learning this.¡± Even Pei Zhenyuan could not stand it, so he defended his granddaughter calmly.

    Xia Ling said softly, ¡°To turn something ordinary to high-ss is what makes peopleugh.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Who let you talk back when an elder is speaking?¡±

    Xia Ling did not manage to retort before Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xiao Ling is my person. Nobody else can reprimand her.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s eyes carried his anger. He stared at his grandnephew. ¡°I am your Great Uncle!¡±

    Pei Ziheng remained expressionless. ¡°Who¡¯s the Chairman of Imperial Entertainment, who¡¯s the patriarch of the Pei family. This is a rule passed down from generations. Great Uncle, please respect my people.¡±

    ¡°Good, very good...¡± Pei Zhenyuan was furious. ¡°You¡¯ve climbed all over my head!¡±

    Xia Ling stared at the two of them uneasily. Why were these two people fighting over just a few sentences? She clung onto Pei Ziheng¡¯s sleeves lightly and felt as though she had caused him lots of trouble.

    Pei Ziheng sensed that she was feeling uneasy. He ignored Pei Zhenyuan and focused on cutting her steak for her.

    In front of all the guests in the banquet, Pei Zhenyuan could not lose his temper. So he just red at Pei Ziheng in anger and sulked silently. Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan looked at each other in dismay. They had not thought that Pei Ziheng would be so stubborn for a wild brat from the orphanage.

    They ate their meal in silence, each having individual thoughts running in their minds.

    At the banquet, the talent show of the nobledies was still ongoing. The flowers and breeze were blowing gently, setting off thedies¡¯ delicate silhouette. They were all nobledies who had lived a whole life of luxury. They were good at piano, zither, some of them could do beautiful ssic dance, and some of them would paint on the spot...

    Each of them showcased their best talent.

    They all understood that thispetition was not just about themselves, but it was also apetition of skills between the families. How much did it cost to cultivate an amazing dancer from a young age? How big of authority did you need to have to hire the best master? And the amount of leisure time thedies had to spend on this symbolized how rich and leisurely their lives were and how they had nothing to worry about in their lives.

    They were the faces of their families.

    They could not throw their families¡¯ faces away, nor could they throw their own faces.

    Even Pei Jingshan was the same. Even though she had always self-deprecated herself by saying she was pletely inferior to Sister Jingyu¡±, but her archery skill was still extremely impressive. Archery had already evolved into a game of rich people today. Pei Jingshan showcasing this talent of hers imperceptibly revealed her extraordinary identity and proved that she was noble andposed.

    As a result, when Xia Ling went on stage and said she was going to sing, disdain shed in many of the guests¡¯ faces.

    Sing?

    What a joke. In thepetition for the ¡°Midsummer Lady¡± in all these years, almost nobody had ever sung before¡ªthere was no other reason except that singing was too unappealing. Anyone on the roadside would be able to sing, and it couldn¡¯t reflect the financial strength of the family in hiring famous teachers. Most importantly, they would appear like just entertainers...

    ¡°An orphan is an orphan.¡± A few of the guests shook their heads and whispered.

    ¡°Perhaps she is singing bel canto? ssical Opera is not something that everyone knows.¡± Another guest said with a look of hope, ¡°How could Pei Ziheng¡¯s adopted girl throw his face.¡±

    Unexpectedly, once the guest finished talking, Xia Ling¡¯s clear and sweet voice could be heard saying, ¡°I¡¯m going to sing <Lotus in the Yangtze Valley>. It is a folk song I have just rearranged, and it¡¯s said to be very nice.¡±

    The guests were all shocked. The guest who had expected her to sing bel canto was so shocked she forgot her dining etiquette. Her fork directly touched her te. No, no way? She was going to sing a selfposed song? What bel canto, it was a folk song!

 Chapter 1026 - First Cry of a Young Talent

    <h4>Chapter 1026: First Cry of a Young Talent</h4>

    Pei Zhenyuan felt ashamed too. Although this girl was an orphan, she was still representing the Pei family on stage!

    Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan exchanged nces. Their expression revealed subtle joy¡ªthe more this little beggar threw her face, the happier they were. It was best if she was put on the spot and thus chased out by Big Cousin!

    In the weird atmosphere, only Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was at ease.

    At the moment, he did not know yet how well she could sing. Looking at the big picture, even if her voice was offbeat and awful, he would still be able to let her sessfully win the title of the ¡°Midsummer Lady¡±. Wasn¡¯t it just money? Even in the entire business world, the scale of Imperial Entertainment was second to none, and many people were rushing like ducks to curry favor with him.

    Pei Ziheng sat with his ten fingers inteced together. He assumed afortable position and intended to appreciate her singing.

    Xia Ling stood by the water pavilion, her beautiful eyes sweeping past the gentry of big shots that were sitting in absolute silence. She was a little nervous. She was worried that she would not sing well and would thus throw Brother Pei¡¯s face. She took a deep breath and was about to sing when she heard a young man say, ¡°Wait!¡±

    Everyone turned around and saw that Xun An had taken his flute and was waving it to Xia Ling with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s too lonely if Sister Xiao Ling sings by herself. I happen to y the flute, I¡¯ll give you an apaniment.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little surprised. ¡°You really know how to y?¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± Xun An rolled his eyes at her. However, every discerning person would be able to tell that this was a form of mocking that could only be between familiar and intimate friends. He said casually to her, ¡°I¡¯ve told you just now that I¡¯ll y an apaniment for you. Do you think I¡¯m kidding? Don¡¯t belittle me, everyone has said I¡¯m good after hearing me y the flute.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. The original tension in her heart dissipated a little and she nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    There was a bustling offstage.

    Even when ced inside the banquet where prestigious families came together, the Xun family was not a small family. Ever since the death of the Xun family¡¯s Young Master, this Second Young Master was the final heir to the crown. With such a distinguished identity, he was actually volunteering to y apaniment for an orphan who was a nobody?

    ¡°Isn¡¯t his sucking up too obvious?¡± Someone shook his head and said to hispanion beside him, ¡°Even if that girl was adopted by Pei Ziheng, his currying favor is too obvious.¡±

    However, hispanion said, ¡°Don¡¯t you know? I¡¯ve heard that the Xun family had always wanted to carry out in-depth exclusive cooperation with Imperial Entertainment. Once they have seeded, they would have the monopoly of arge number of film sources. Pei Ziheng had never agreed and the two sides were in discussion for a long time. Who would expect by just now... because Xun An and the littledy seems to be on a close rtionship, Pei Ziheng actually said yes! The Xun family has already sent someone to get the contract. Once the banquet is over, the two families will sign the contract!¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡± The person was shocked. ¡°No wonder Xun An is protecting that little girl. If there was such a good thing, I would protect her too!¡± Besides him, several other people also had the same thoughts.

    ¡°Rumor has it that Pei Ziheng adores that little girl,¡± an insider said. ¡°Did you think that he would casually adopt someone? I¡¯ve heard that when he was in the orphanage, he¡¯d seen her talents and is now preparing to transform her into Imperial Entertainment¡¯s next-generation female-in-charge! If that¡¯s really the case, then it¡¯s understandable why he¡¯d brought this little girl here to attend the flower banquet. If she can win the title of ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯ in one shot, this would be a good antic for her future debut.¡±

    ¡°I see...¡± Many people were thoughtful.

    At first, when they¡¯d heard the rumors that Pei Jingyu had spread, they¡¯d thought that Pei Ziheng had brought Xia Ling here on purpose to disgrace her, but their thoughts on the situation had changed after seeing what had happened with Xun An. Pei Ziheng was so obviously doting on Xia Ling? Since he doted on her so much, why would he bring her here to the flower banquet to suffer grievances?

    Unless it was really like what that insider had said. This girl was heading for the title of ¡°Midsummer Lady¡±!

    Was she crazy?

    At first nce, it seemed crazy, but upon closer inspection, everything clicked into ce and made sense. With the status and power of Pei Ziheng, if he wanted to make someone famous, need he fear failure? Just like just now, he slightly agreed to the Xun family and immediately, the Xun family¡¯s heir was already naturally trying his best to help protect the little girl.

    All the other families were the same.

    Many people were contemting it. How could their family possibly benefit from this matter?

    ¡°Vote for Xia Ling,¡± many parents of the big prestigious families were already telling their children and grandchildren. ¡°The Midsummer Ladypetition urs every year, but the chance to win the favor of Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯te by often.¡±

    Everyone in the crowd was full of wits. Soon, many people had made their decision.

    Xun An¡¯s melodious flute sounded. He did have a good skill. He had listened to Xia Ling¡¯s arrangement and had practiced twice in private just now. Thus, his apaniment was familiar and extremely pleasant.

    Xia Ling followed his flute and sang softly¡ª

    ¡°Time to gather lotus in the Yangtze Valley, as lotus leaves are fair and lusty...¡±

    ¡°Fish frolic amidst the lotus leaves, fish frolic to the east of the lotus leaves...¡±

    ¡°Fish frolic to the west of the lotus leaves, fish frolic to the south of the lotus leaves...¡±

    ¡°Fish frolic in the north of the lotus leaves...¡±

    The short Han Chinese tune was a clean and simple folk song in olden times, and under Xia Ling¡¯s inference, the freshness doubled, as if a melodious wind of ancient times had brushed past.

    The song ended, leaving a pleasant lingering effect on the audience, immersing them in her voice for a long time before they were able to snap out of their daze.

    Usually, they had been ustomed to various kinds of grand and solemn songs and it was their first time hearing such a fresh and touching folk song. Furthermore, the song used only a simple flute apaniment and it was simr to singing opera music. It made everyone feel as though they had a breath of fresh air. It was a very mysterious feeling. It caught people off guard and a kind of sweet clearness prated deeply into their hearts.

    People could not help but ponder over it and linger on it.

    ¡°It¡¯s too nice...¡± A long time passed before someone muttered.

    Someone took the lead to p and in a sh, thunderous apuse sounded.

    Xia Ling wore a light-colored evening gown and was standing near the water pavilion amidst the cool breeze. She was like a lotus flower blooming. She hadn¡¯t felt nervous at all when she was singing, but once she¡¯d ended her song she felt a little embarrassed. She finally smiled upon hearing the thunderous apuse of the audience. Her smile was sweet as a flower, making many of the audience stunned on the spot.

    ¡°Her song is beautiful, even she is beautiful too.¡± Some Young Masters couldn¡¯t help but exim.

    ¡°Go, give my flower and vote for Xia Ling,¡± said a young master to the waiter nearby. ¡°Such a beautiful sweet song deserves a flower vote.¡±

    At this time, many young masters were casting flowers to Xia Ling as votes, not because of Pei Ziheng, but because Xia Ling¡¯s voice had genuinely touched them. After listening to the gorgeous skills of many nobledies, only her singing voice was like a clear spring, flowing into the hearts of people and evoking lingering sentiments.

    She was worthy of their votes.

    Every year in the Midsummer Lady¡¯s Flower Banquet, besides the firstdy on stage being the previous season¡¯s ¡°Midsummer Lady¡±, the rest of thedies¡¯ performance order was subjected to a lottery, which made sure it was fair. However, this time there was an exception, which was Xia Ling¡ªthe organizer had arranged Xia Ling¡¯s performance to the end since her identity was beneath that of others.

    Hence, when Xia Ling had finished singing, it was already time for voting.

 Chapter 1027 - A Complacent Kitten

    <h4>Chapter 1027: A Comcent Kitten</h4>

    Many waiters were already carrying flowers and heading toward the Pei family¡¯s seats.

    Pei Jingshan smiled and said to Pei Jingyu, ¡°Sister Jingyu, it looks like this year¡¯s Midsummer Lady is none other than you. So many people are heading towards our seat, more thanst year.¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled and pretended to be modest. ¡°Nonsense, there are three girls at our seats this year, it could be either you or Xiao Ling.¡± Even though she said that outwardly, she still looked verycent.

    Pei Jingshan ttered her. ¡°How could Ipare to Sister Jingyu? Xia Ling? That¡¯s even more... hehe.¡±

    Xia Ling red at her. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re not as good as Sister Jingyu, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re self-aware. However, don¡¯t drag me into this just because your skills are not as good. I don¡¯t think my singing is beneath Sister Jingyu¡¯s piano skills.¡±

    Pei Jingshan furrowed her brows and looked as though she was about to explode.

    At this moment, the first waiter had already reached the Pei family¡¯s seat while carrying a stalk of perfume lily. He bent over and handed it to Pei Jingyu respectfully. ¡°Miss Pei Jingyu, this is from the Zhou family¡¯s Young Master Shike.¡±

    A few of thedies tactfully stayed quiet and protected their image in front of outsiders.

    Pei Jingyu smiled generously and took the flower. ¡°Help me thank Young Master Zhou.¡±

    The waiter nodded and left politely.

    The perfume lily blossomed fully in the sunset glow, revealing spotlessly white petals that sparkled perfectly like translucent snow. Pei Jingyu smelled the flowers lightly and nced at Xia Ling, her beautiful pair of eyes showing her force. This stupid brat actually thought she could be the Midsummer Lady? Even if the song she had sung just now was not all that bad, was the Midsummer Lady title that easy to win?

    Xia Ling stared at the stalk of perfume lily too. Although she had talked back to Pei Jingshan, her heart was still jumping in her throat in anxiety. Wouldn¡¯t it be extremely shameful if she were to fail to win the Midsummer Lady title? She looked down slightly and did not allow anyone to witness her insecure look.

    Pei Ziheng was indifferent. He cut a small steak for her. ¡°Eat more, then you¡¯ll have the energy to dance.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She looked at him nkly.

    However, he did not exin and focused instead on carefully sprinkling pepper on the piece of steak he had cut for her.

    Pei Jingyu secretly clenched her fists. Even though Xia Ling had not understood those words, she understood it very well! Every year, the Midsummer Lady would start off the dance at the ball after the dinner. Pei Ziheng had meant that Xia Ling was to start off the dance! He... how was he so sure that the title would be won by that girl?

    No, she was the best!

    The second waiter took the flower to the table. This time, it was for Pei Jingyu again. ¡°Miss Pei Jingyu, this ca lily is from the Ouyang family¡¯s Second Young Master. He has said that he couldn¡¯t forget about you after thest banquet, and hopes that he would have the honor to start off the dance with you again tonight.¡±

    This was the person who had started off the first dance with herst year, the jewelry tycoon, Ouyang family¡¯s Second Young Master.

    Pei Jingyu smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She nced at Xia Ling again in a show of power. Xia Ling was so angry that she bit down harshly onto her steak.

    The third waiter headed towards the table. This time, it was a bouquet of rare blue roses. Pei Jingshan covered her mouth and chuckled. ¡°Such beautiful flowers must be for Sister Jingyu.¡± Although she was jealous of Pei Jingyu and was a little anxious at not having received any flowers yet, she still did not forget to suck up to her.

    Pei Jingyu smiled reservedly. ¡°I¡¯ve said that I like blue roses during the flower banquetst year. I wonder who has specially sent this over with such sincerity.¡±

    The waiter walked to the front.

    Pei Jingyu elegantly reached her hand out.

    The waiter directly ignored her. He bent down and reverently handed the bouquet of blue roses to Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Xia Ling, this is from Ouyang family¡¯s Big Master. He said that he likes your song very much and hopes to have the honor to dance with you tonight.¡±

    The Big Master of the Ouyang family was the true heir to the business.

    Compared to him, the Second Young Master was extremely weak.

    Xia Ling was surprised. She batted her eyshes a few times before asking in disbelief, ¡°It¡¯s for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The waiter smiled, his back still bent. ¡°Look, there¡¯s a small card on the bouquet. The Young Masters have all individually marked out who the flowers are for and who it is from.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling notice the small card in the bouquet. Indeed, the words ¡°To Miss Xia Ling¡± were written on the card, and it was marked by Ouyang Yunlong. It was a name she had never heard before.

    ¡°Thank the Young Master of Ouyang family for me,¡± Pei Ziheng said. He looked down at Xia Ling. ¡°Aren¡¯t you receiving it?¡±

    Xia Ling reached out to receive the flowers. She hugged the bouquet of blue roses in her arms, its hidden fragrance charming. ¡°They are so beautiful.¡± She was ecstatic and raised her head at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Brother Pei, someone has sent me flowers!¡±

    Pei Ziheng caressed her head gently. ¡°You like blue roses? I¡¯ll send it to you every day.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± She smiled happily, her eyes curving into the shape of a moon. She felt as though she was the happiest girl in the world.

    At the side, Pei Jingyu¡¯s face turned pale. While nobody was paying attention, she secretly retracted her hand. She felt too ashamed. She had reached her hand out to receive the flowers, but they¡¯d been meant for that little beggar? This Big Young Master of the Ouyang family was too much, was he blind? Why would he send flowers to curry favor with that little beggar and not her?! Did he think that marrying that little beggar would bring any benefits to his family?!

    Pei Jingyu took one deep breath after another before finally concealing her look of resentment.

    Pei Jingshan, however, still touched on her sore spot. ¡°My goodness, Sister Jingyu has already said that she likes blue rosesst year. Ouyang Yunlong was present at that time too, how could he not remember to send it to Sister Jingyu?!¡±

    ¡°Jingshan!¡± Pei Jingyu red fiercely at her.

    Pei Jingshan realized that she had said the wrong thing and quickly shut her mouth in a panic.

    However, Xia Ling¡¯s hearing ability was fantastic and she heard their conversation word by word. The beautiful girl hugged her bouquet of blue roses and smiled. ¡°You like blue roses? Hahaha, it¡¯s a pity nobody has sent them to you. Sister Jingyu, if you don¡¯t mind, I can give you my bouquet.¡± She boasted to Pei Jingyu incency.

    The fact that the roses that Pei Jingyu had desired were given to her instead made Xia Ling so happy she was almost humming. Pei Ziheng looked at her indulgently. This little girl, she had only just taken a little bit of advantage and was already holding her tail up high incency. She was like an arrogantcent kitten, so adorable.

    He was in a good mood, so he cut a few more pieces of meat for her.

    Pei Jingyu snorted. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a bunch of blue roses? I just randomly talked about itst year. I don¡¯t like them anymore. What good does this flower bring, what kind of wealth does it even bring?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, what kind of good does this flower even bring.¡± Xia Ling was still proud. ¡°Some people justin that the grapes are sour when they can¡¯t eat them. Only those who have received flowers have the qualifications to say these words, no?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Even with Pei Jingyu¡¯s good cultivation, she could not be restrained anymore.

 Chapter 1028 - The Midsummer Lady Title

    <h4>Chapter 1028: The Midsummer Lady Title</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°What?¡± The angrier she was, the happier Xia Ling became. ¡°Am I wrong?¡± She was so happy she was almost humming. She hugged onto the bouquet of blue roses and looked around her, fondling it admiringly.

    Another waiter came to give a flower. This time, it was for Pei Jingshan.

    Pei Jingyu took this moment to calm down. She looked at her two bouquets of flowers and then at Xia Ling¡¯s only one. Her heart felt more at ease. So what if her flowers were blue roses? Wasn¡¯t that just but one rose given by the Ouyang family¡¯s Big Young Master? She wanted to fight for the Midsummer Lady title based just on this? What a joke.

    Her thoughts were interrupted when a waiter gave her another flower bouquet.

    Pei Jingshan was even more eager to curry favor with her again after messing up just now. She said hurriedly, ¡°Sister Jingyu is so outstanding. This is already her third bouquet of flowers. Unlike someone, only getting one out of pity.¡±

    Xia Ling hummed lightly. ¡°Is somebody scolding herself?¡±

    Pei Jingshan red at her. The two of them only had one bouquet each. She¡¯d forgotten that.

    Xia Ling ignored her and used her white teeth to tear apart her steak as if dealing with her enemies.

    The waiters did not stoping, and the next three flowers were all for Xia Ling. Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan were shocked. How could it be? Were those Young Masters all crazy? Why would they give flowers to this wild brat?! They exchanged uncertain nces with each other.

    ¡°That¡¯s four bouquets.¡± Xia Ling was excited. Although she did not know why she had received so many flowers, this did not hinder her from boasting. ¡°Lla, Sister Jingyu, how many do you have?¡± She asked deliberately.

    Pei Jingyu was so angry she almost folded her fork in half. ¡°Impossible, they must have made a mistake!¡±

    ¡°Haha, how could it be a mistake?¡± Xia Ling was ecstatic. She pointed to the cards between the flowers with her fair white fingers and said, ¡°Look, the cards write who the flowers are for.¡±

    Pei Jingyu¡¯s face darkened and she couldn¡¯t say anything.

    At the side, Pei Zhenyuan was observing everything. Now, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Ziheng, what have you done?¡± At this point, if he were to say that he did not know Pei Ziheng had tempted them with something, he would have wasted his years being the patriarch of Imperial Entertainment.

    Pei Ziheng remained expressionless. ¡°That child Xun An has good insights. He could tell that Xiao Ling is good, I appreciate him.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s heart leaped in anger. ¡°How have you shown your appreciation?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve dyed signing the contract with Flying Eager Entertainment because there wasn¡¯t any suitable leader then. Now, I see that Xun An is not bad.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve agreed to sign the contract with the Xun family?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll sign it right after the banquet.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan finally understood why the Young Masters were trying to outdo one another and striving to give flowers to Xia Ling first. The reason was simple. As long as they were good to Xia Ling, Pei Ziheng would ord them with appropriate returns!

    They could receive such good rewards by simply giving a flower, which idiot wouldn¡¯t do that!

    Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s whole body trembled with anger. ¡°How could you abuse the Pei family¡¯s business!¡±

    ¡°How am I abusing it?¡± Pei Ziheng did not even move an eyebrow. ¡°Grand Uncle, I¡¯ve evaluated that the business doesn¡¯t have any business risk and the conditions are all beneficial to the Pei family. Don¡¯t you agree?¡± Regarding the contract with the Xun family, he and the other directors had actually discussed beforehand and hade to a resolution to sign it. They had only dyed it to make the Xun family anxious so that they would give more benefits to Imperial Entertainment. The appropriate behavior had already beenpletely controlled by Pei Ziheng.

    After hearing what Pei Ziheng said, Pei Zhenyuan was absolutely speechless.

    He already knew that Pei Ziheng was messing around, but he really couldn¡¯t speak logic!

    Pei Zhenyuan red at him. He began to feel more and more that this Grand Nephew of his was getting out of control...

    Xia Ling listened to their conversation and could only understand half of it. She asked Pei Ziheng apprehensively, ¡°Brother Pei, have you put in a lot of effort to help me win the flowers?¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled warmly. He said to her in a tone that he never used on anyone else, ¡°That¡¯s not true. The Young Masters only gave you the flowers because they liked your song.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± She was doubtful.

    He caressed her head and spoke no more of this matter.

    His affection towards her could be seen in the eyes of the Pei family. Pei Jingyu both admired and hated her. Since when had they seen Big Cousin being so good to the other sisters? It turns out that it was not that he didn¡¯t know how to be good to people, he was just not good to them! Xia Ling... was really detestable!

    What happened next made her even more detestable.

    Along with the increase in the number of waitersing her, Xia Ling¡¯s flowers also increased.

    However, Pei Jingyu¡¯s and Pei Jingshan¡¯s flowers did not increase and were even fewer than some of the other nobledies. This wasn¡¯t strange at all. The whole banquet already knew that if they wanted to curry favor with the Pei family, they simply had to give flowers to Xia Ling. Those who wanted to worm their way into being friends with them also naturally knew what to do.

    This caused Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan¡¯s harvest to fall short ofst year¡¯s.

    The expression on the twodies¡¯ faces was not good.

    If not for the fact that they were concerned about their images as distinguisheddies, they would have already flipped the table.

    The flower-giving segment ended and the organizer came forward to count the number of bouquets eachdy had received. The total number of bouquets stunned everyone¡ªunexpectedly, it was really Xia Ling! Her total number of bouquets far exceeded that of the second ce!

    ¡°This year¡¯s Midsummer Lady is a new face...¡± The organizer was both shocked and congrattory. ¡°She is Miss Xia Ling from the Pei family. Congrattions!¡±

    All the guests looked over to the Pei family¡¯s tables. Regardless of whether it was hypocrisy, they all pped their hands politely and congratted Xia Ling on winning the title. The music sounded and a group of waiters came in carrying a te of delicate tray. On the tray were various fresh flowers that had been weaved into flower crowns. They walked towards Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling¡¯s beautiful eyes shone with joy. She stared in disbelief at Pei Ziheng. ¡°It¡¯s really me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her warmly. ¡°It¡¯s you.¡±

    Her two pupils shone brightly like dazzling stars lighting up the whole sky. Great, she had finally won the title of Midsummer Lady and had not thrown Brother Pei¡¯s face! Under the stares of the guests, she sat with a graceful stance and let the waiter put the flower crown on her head.

    She was already naturally beautiful, but she became even more enchantingly gorgeous with the flower crown on her head. At that moment, many of the guests were unable to avert their eyes from her¡ªthis girl was simply too beautiful. She was like a beautiful shooting star in the twilight, the most resplendent star, making people want to look close-up.

    ¡°I really want to dance with her now...¡± The Ouyang family¡¯s Big Young Master Ouyang Yunlong said. The words that he had told the waiter to say when giving the blue roses had only been out of courtesy, but at the moment as he stared at Xia Ling who was more beautiful than all the otherdiesbined together, he really¡ª

    His heart palpitated with eagerness.

    While all the other Young Masters¡¯ hearts were palpitating with eagerness, all the otherdies were all feeling ufortable. How could this wild brat have won the title?! Where would they put their faces now?!

 Chapter 1029 - The First Dance

    <h4>Chapter 1029: The First Dance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Especially Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan. They sat on their seats as if sitting on pins and needles.

    The whole audience was focusing their attention on them as if mocking them for their failure. Forget about the other nobledies, they could just excuse their failure as ¡°their family not being as powerful as the Pei family¡±. But what about the two sisters from the Pei family? They were under the same family and had the original Pei family blood running in their veins. Yet they lost to that adopted brat!

    How shameful was that?

    Even Pei Jingyu, who was widely known for always keeping a dignified and grandeur disposition, could hardly hide the anger in her face.

    However, she had no other choice but to gather up all her energy and sit with her back straight. She even had to put on a generous smile on her face to prove that she was not jealous of her sister.

    Pei Jingshan, on the other hand, did not have the same cultivation. She said with hatred, ¡°What¡¯s so impressive about her?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan immediately turned to re fiercely at her. He almost made mincemeat of her¡ªno matter what kind of internal conflicts the Pei family had, they had to be seen as one to the outside world! Why was Pei Jingshan this brat not sensible and putting on such a foul face in front of all the guests!

    Pei Jingshan was shocked by Pei Zhenyuan and immediately shut her mouth.

    Pei Jingyu was also fuming with rage. This sister of hers was too embarrassing! She had always regarded herself as the most respectabledy in the Pei family. Under this kind of situation, she naturally had to represent the family to redeem thedies¡¯ pride. She swallowed her anger and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling. I¡¯m happy for you for winning the title of the Midsummer Lady.¡±

    Xia Ling was surprised. Since when was this arrogantdy so magnanimous?

    However, it was always a good thing to be congratted by others. She smiled brightly and thanked Pei Jingyu.

    Pei Jingyu nced lightly at Pei Jingshan. ¡°Jingshan, aren¡¯t you going to congratte Sister Xiao Ling?¡± She said in a dignified and gentle demeanor representing that of a head sister.

    Pei Jingshan was not reconciled to it. But she did not dare defy under the strict eyes of Pei Jingyu. She bit onto her lips and pondered over it for a while before saying reluctantly, ¡°Congrattions, Xiao Ling.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s smile widened. Her smile was like the night lights in the small garden intertwining together, as beautiful as a dreamy fairy. ¡°Thank you, Jingshan. It¡¯s all thanks to you guys for giving way to me. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have gotten the Midsummer Lady title so sessfully.¡±

    In all honesty, she was not trying to infuriate the twodies on purpose. It was just that she had not been to many events and only had these few words of thanks. Giving way? Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan were so angry they almost vomited blood. Was this brat mocking them? She was intolerable!

    Pei Jingshan could not control her expression anymore. She said stiffly, ¡°I¡¯m going to thedies¡¯.¡±

    She got up and left.

    This scene was all caught in the eyes of the audience. They shook their heads secretly. This Miss Jingshan from the Pei family stillcked in self-restraint. She could not control her expression even with just a tiny bit of disappointment. It seems like she was not a good match for marriage.

    A few families who had considered marriage with the Pei family secretly scratched ¡°Pei Jingshan¡± off the list of potential candidates.

    Xia Ling had already worn the flower crown. The organizer smiled at her and said, ¡°Congrattions, Miss Ling. Now, as per our rules, you will decide who is the male guest that will have the first dance with you. Who have you decided on?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± Xia Ling batted her eyshes and was confused.

    She had never learned how to dance before. Oh no, she had learned before, but it was all self-learned and performance-based. She had never learned the double social dance! She stared at the organizer a little helplessly and then at Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng got up and pulled on her arm elegantly. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The whole crowd was agitated. What, Chairman Pei had volunteered to dance with her?! Although the Midsummer Ladies thus far had all had the first dance with their fathers and brothers, but... but for such a grave and expressionless man like Pei Ziheng to dance was such a rare thing, much less him starting the dance!

    What kind of a miracle was this?

    How adored was this little girl to be able to start the dance with such a respected deity!

    Under the various nces of the audience, Xia Ling was surprised as well. But she was more apprehensive. ¡°Brother Pei,¡± she called softly as they walked along the little garden towards the dance floor.

    Pei Ziheng stopped and looked down at her. ¡°Yes?¡±

    She moved her lips lightly and nced in concern at her surroundings, unable to speak.

    The tall powerful man bent his back and lowered his head to stick his face near hers.

    Xia Ling tip-toed slightly and lent close to his ears and said lightly, ¡°I, I don¡¯t know how to dance.¡±

    A smile shed across Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. He reached out and caressed her head affectionately. Without any exnation, he held her hand and continued walking. She was even more apprehensive but decided to trust in him firmly. He would not harm her.

    ¡°What are they saying?¡± The other guests were whispering to each other in the little garden. ¡°Have you realized, Chairman Pei and that little girl look so beautiful today, like a painting.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± another guest said. ¡°It¡¯s notmon to be able to stand beside Chairman Pei and not have her radiance concealed. Don¡¯t even mention us, even the Pei family¡¯s Old Master Pei Zhenyuan, the Wang family¡¯s Old Master, all the bigshots and the nobledies... they would appear dull standing beside him. But this girl has the ability. She looks shy at first, but once she¡¯s standing beside him, her presence isn¡¯t weak at all.¡±

    ¡°No wonder Chairman Pei is cultivating her to be the next female-in-charge of Imperial Entertainment.¡± This thought dawned on a few people.

    The others thought they made sense and nodded in agreement. They waited eagerly for their dance to start.

    Pei Ziheng held onto Xia Ling¡¯s hand and walked to the outdoor dance floor that had lcs and mimosas in full blossom. Under the starry sky, he held her waist gently and said in a low voice, ¡°Rx, just follow my steps.¡±

    So what if she didn¡¯t know how to dance?

    He had been strictly trained since young to dance. As a gentleman, it was a basic skill to lead others.

    As expected, once the music sounded, he adeptly guided her across the dance floor. The resplendent starlight draped over the two of them. At first, she was a little nervous and stepped on his feet, but he pretended nothing happened and continued guiding her patiently.

    ¡°Ha, a wild brat is a wild brat.¡± Pei Jingshan had returned to her seat from the washroom. She looked at Xia Ling in disdain. ¡°Big Cousin¡¯s dance is so beautiful and perfect. It¡¯s such a waste that he has to lead this trash!¡±

    Pei Jingyu had finally found a chance to enumerate Xia Ling¡¯s shorings. ¡°How could she start off the dance with this kind of skill? She¡¯s really throwing our Pei family¡¯s face.¡±

    Her words appeared to be right. Far and near, a few of thedies were covering their mouths andughing. ¡°Look at that Xia Ling, she couldn¡¯t have learned dancing, right? She¡¯s already stepped on Chairman Pei¡¯s feet so many times. It¡¯s only because Chairman Pei has good self-restraint that he¡¯s not fussing over it with her. Otherwise, she¡¯ll lose face!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t know what Chairman Pei is even thinking. Why would he start the dance with this wild brat?¡±

 Chapter 1030 - Perfume and Scarf

    <h4>Chapter 1030: Perfume and Scarf</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was already feeling frustrated. Her frustration only increased as she listened to the whispers of the guests. She identally stepped on Pei Ziheng¡¯s feet a few more times. Pei Ziheng could sense that she was nervous and whispered to her softly so nobody else could hear, ¡°Ignore them.¡±

    She took a deep breath and nodded.

    Xia Ling warned herself to focus all her attention on the dance. She couldn¡¯t let those people belittle her!

    She held her breath and invoked her entire talent. With her heart and soul and with every cell of her body, she felt the music in the air along with Pei Ziheng¡¯s dance steps. Soon, the whispers around her seemed to fade. The only thing in her world now was the beautiful apaniment and his gentle gaze.

    She was born with great music sense. Once she was immersed, she learned to dance extremely fast.

    At an almost miraculous speed, her dance steps became synced with that of Pei Ziheng. Her skirt flew under the starry sky. It spun and shone, like a fairy partying to its heart¡¯s content.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes were once again stained with a slight smile.

    He knew she could do it. And she did do it.

    She was a child he had brought back and wouldn¡¯t give him shame. While the otherdies took a long time to learn the double waltz, she had only used half the effort and time to be able to learn the steps from nothing.

    He moved in sync with her and spun her. Their movements were getting more and more smooth, and they were cooperating perfectly like moving clouds and flowing water.

    ¡°God...¡± At the side of the dance floor, many guests were shocked. What had they seen? The girl who had stepped carelessly on the toes of her dance partner had be a master with just the short time of half a song!

    Now, how could one possibly tell she was a beginner?

    She leaned her back slightly and half-closed her eyes. She faced the starry sky and the night wind as if she was about to spread her wings and fly off.

    Even...

    Even thosedies who had practiced for many years did not dance as well as her!

    The voices of ridicule had stopped all of a sudden. The whole audience was silent, staring at this little miracle incredulously. If it was said that the previous Midsummer Ladies were all rituals that everyone had already been familiar with, then this year¡¯s Midsummer Lady was full of astonishment.

    Yes, it was astonishment, not surprise.

    Perhaps it was a surprise for some people, but for most of thedies at the scene, it was not a pleasant thing to be pped fiercely by a lowly servant girl who had just appeared out of thin air. The youngdies exchanged nces with one another and saw unwillingness and resentment in their respective eyes.

    It required just a banquet and a dance to make so many people feel resentment for her. Xia Ling was really the one and only.

    Under the gaze of everyone, Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng finished their first dance. He took her hand and thanked everyone before bringing her back to their seats.

    The second dance music sounded and the other guests brought along their partners to the dance floor in session.

    Pei Ziheng handed a ss of lemonade to Xia Ling. ¡°It¡¯s tiring, right?¡±

    She took the ss and said with her eyes shining brightly, ¡°I¡¯m not tired. It¡¯s fun to dance the waltz.¡±

    ¡°You like it?¡± he asked. ¡°I can dance with you again.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± She rejoiced and said in a rush. ¡°Brother Pei is the best!¡± He was a gentleman and an excellent dance partner. Dancing with him made people feel rxed and happy. Every move he made urately took consideration of the female partner.

    Pei Ziheng took her hand and entered the dance floor again.

    Tonight, they were the most eye-catching pair on the dance floor. Even though everyone present was dancing well, they were still the most elegant and beautiful and made it difficult for people to avert their eyes from them.

    Under his guidance, she became the most dazzling girl in the whole ce. Fame follows merit. Xia Ling deserved the title of Midsummer Lady. This banquet ended veryte. When they were leaving, everyone remembered one name¡ªXia Ling.

    She was the starlight in the night sky, the rose that would not wither.

    This banquet was very tiring. Once it ended, she fell asleep upon hitting the pillow in their bedroom.

    Pei Ziheng was in good spirits. He reached home at one o¡¯clock in the early morning and first took care of her to sleep, then went to the study room to handle his official duties. He took a rest at two o¡¯clock at the break of dawn to bathe and change into a clean suit before going to thepany in high spirits. The scale of influence of Imperial Entertainment was too big. Topletely wield power over such arge alligator in the business world, even an old senior who had gathered plenty of experience would find it difficult, let alone he, a Young Master who had only officially taken over thepany for two or three years.

    A country doubts a young King. Hence, his days were not easy.

    In addition to dealing with intricate daily affairs, it was also necessary to rack his brains and spend time to cope with the crafty plots of all kinds of people with ulterior motives.

    He met Chu Chen in thepany.

    The first sentence from the able assistant who had been overseas in Paris for half a month was, ¡°Boss, you¡¯ve gotten thinner.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at him. ¡°Is it that obvious?¡±

    Chu Chen smiled and said, ¡°My mother said that she will make Red Ginseng and ck-boned Chicken Stew tonight. I¡¯ll send some over to youter. And this time I went to Paris, I¡¯ve brought back a few gadgets, perfumes and scarves. They are all rather rare on the market. You can send them as gifts.¡± He was his confidant, and even though he was not the locust in his stomach, his ability to figure out his thoughts was rather impressive. The small things that he had brought back were all things that little girls would like. It was obvious who he could give them to.

    Pei Ziheng understood his intention but did not me him. ¡°So many people in the Imperial Entertainment and only you¡¯re daring enough.¡±

    Chu Chen smiled. ¡°They¡¯re all afraid of you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Chu Chenughed again. He was polite and modest, but neither too fast nor too slow. ¡°Of course I am, I¡¯m afraid that I won¡¯t do my job well and would have failed to live up to your kindness.¡±

    Pei Ziheng gestured for him to leave.

    At night, he brought the silk scarf home. Seeing that she was already fast asleep on the bed, he put the silk scarf on her pillow. He then went to bathe and put on a bathrobe. When he came out, he saw that she had woken up and was fiddling with the scarf in curiosity. He stared at her a few steps away. She was so beautiful. Her ivory white skin seemed to shine under the light and her soft long hair draping over her bare shoulders were extremely alluring.

    She was still a child, but for some reason, she looked more attractive than many other girls.

    Pei Ziheng was shocked by his own thoughts. What had happened to him? He frowned and got rid of his thoughts before coughing lightly.

    She turned and, like every single time she saw him, screaming with delight, ¡°Brother Pei!¡± She grabbed the soft silk scarf and got off her bed to run towards him. ¡°Did you put this on my bed?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s for you,¡± he said. He reached out to gather her pajamas and rehang the sleeves of the silk blouse that had fallen off back onto her shoulders. His fingertips inadvertently touched her round shoulders. It felt milky soft and pleasant to the touch.

    She did not think much of it. She simply smiled and asked, ¡°Wow, is this really from you? It¡¯s so beautiful!¡±

    Looking at her happy expression, his mood got better too. These days, no matter how tired he was in thepany, all his exhaustion would dissipate once he returned home and saw her smile. ¡°Chu Chen brought this back for me from his business trip to Paris. He brought back a bottle of perfume too,¡± he said. ¡°The scarf suits you.¡±

 Chapter 1031 - The Attention of the Public

    <h4>Chapter 1031: The Attention of the Public</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Wow, there¡¯s perfume too?¡± Her eyes shone brightly and she looked at him expectantly.

    Pei Ziheng lost his smile. ¡°What are you thinking? You¡¯re only twelve, it¡¯s too early to use perfume.¡± He liked the fresh, natural scent of her body, with the shower gel fragrance of flowers and fruit. It was a unique, sweet scent.

    Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°But Pei Jingshan is also twelve and she uses perfume.¡±

    Pei Ziheng tapped on her little nose. ¡°Not allowed.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, Brother Pei is a bad guy.¡± She blinked her teary eyes in grievance.

    Heughed again. ¡°It¡¯s useless to cry.¡±

    ¡°Fine...¡± Seeing as he was refusing to back down, she reluctantly got rid of her desire for the perfume. She turned and looked over the silk scarf in her hands. ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful,¡± she said while running to the mirror and posing in front of it. He turned to ask him, ¡°Does it look good?¡±

    The child¡¯s mood changed so fast. She had been close to crying just a second ago, and now she was smiling like the entire world¡¯s sunlight was in her possession. Pei Ziheng looked at her warmly and said in a gentle tone, ¡°You look good no matter what.¡±

    She was even happier and turned back to pose a few more times.

    She continued posing and was suddenly unhappy. ¡°Brother Pei...¡± she said. ¡°I want to go to the hospital to see Xiao Yu and tell her the good news of me winning the title of Midsummer Lady. I want to bring her a gift, but there¡¯s only one of this beautiful scarf...¡± She looked down reluctantly at the silk scarf for a long time.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze deepened. ¡°You want to give her my gift to you?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Hearing the dissatisfaction in his words, she quickly said, ¡°If you don¡¯t like it, then I won¡¯t give the silk scarf to Xiao Yu. But, but... Xiao Yu is staying in the hospital alone and is so pitiful. Wouldn¡¯t she be ted to receive a present?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze softened.

    He looked at the girl who was in a dilemma and said, ¡°Take the bottle of perfume.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That bottle of perfume was produced by a handicraft workshop in Paris. It is a pure natural nt extract that contains no chemical additives and has a special smell. Girls will like it.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Xia Ling looked up and asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I was too young to use perfume? Xiao Yu is younger than me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°She is she, you are you.¡± What did it matter to him if other people used perfume? Only his baby couldn¡¯t use it. He liked the sweet and natural scent of her body. It was good enough already and did not need any perfume to add to it.

    Xia Ling was speechless. She couldn¡¯t understand Brother Pei¡¯s logic with her little head. However, since Brother Pei had said that Xiao Yu could use it, then she¡¯d give it to her. Xiao Yu would surely be very happy to receive a bottle of perfume from Paris. The second day, she happily tied on the scarf to her neck and brought along the perfume to see Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu¡¯s condition had improved and she was enjoying the sun in the garden.

    She was surrounded by two patients with the same heart disease as well as their parents.

    When Xia Ling walked over, she could hear one of the parentsplimenting Xia Yu. ¡°Miss Xia is really lucky. You can go abroad for surgery soon. That Chairman Pei is so good to you, letting you receive the best treatment. Sigh, unlike our family¡¯s Shao Hong. He leads a pitiful life and our family doesn¡¯t have the money to cure him. This disease is just dragging day by day.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± another parent said. ¡°Miss Xia¡¯s nutrition is good too. She eats all the specially provided food. She even has nannies changing shifts to take care of her 24 hours a day. Unlike our family, my child¡¯s father has to work and we can barely take care of our child even when taking turns to take leave.¡±

    Xia Yu smiled quietly amidst the envy and praise. ¡°Brother Pei is very good to me. He even sent someone toe see me a few days ago. He told me to tell him if Ick anything.¡±

    Gasps of admiration sounded all around.

    Xia Ling walked over and greeted her with a smile. ¡°Xiao Yu, I¡¯m here to see you.¡± She was followed by a driver and a bodyguard who was helping her hold the perfume. They looked tall and muscr and seemed to be more powerful than the nannies that took care of Xia Yu in the hospital.

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression changed subtlely, but she managed to conceal it quickly. She smiled softly and weakly and said, ¡°You¡¯re here, sister.¡± However, her tone was not passionate.

    Xia Ling had long been ustomed to her way of speaking. She thought it was only because she was weak and did not put it to heart. She walked over to Xia Yu and looked carefully at her before nodding in ease. ¡°Yes, you look much better.¡±

    ¡°This is Miss Xia Ling? You really care for your Sister.¡± A parent smiled.

    Another parent said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this Miss Xia Ling? Miss Xia Ling, do you remember me? We met thest time when you were here to see Miss Xia Yu. I even asked whose beautiful daughter it was. I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll be even more beautiful than that day under the sunlight now.¡±

    ¡°This is the most beautiful sister I¡¯ve ever seen!¡± Xia Yu¡¯s friend, a seven-year-old girl said.

    Several other people nodded.

    There was no choice, Xia Ling was just too naturally beautiful that anyone would be impressed.

    However, Xia Ling herself had long been ustomed to such praise. With the etiquette that Ms. Sofia had taught her, she smiled politely and looked very elegant.

    ¡°This is the real Missy, she¡¯s different from us ordinary people,¡± a parent said enviously as she looked at Xia Ling. She could not pinpoint which part of Xia Ling was different from them, but just from her natural disposition, she could tell that she was honorable.

    It was a kind of honorable temperament that was not seen in Xia Yu.

    It was no wonder since Xia Yu had been in the hospital and had not attended any etiquette ss.

    Under the praise of everyone, Xia Ling¡¯s eyebrows bent and she exchanged conventional greetings for a while before she said to Xia Yu, ¡°Xiao Yu, I¡¯m sorry, I was busy preparing for the Midsummer Lady¡¯s flower banquet a few days ago and did not have time to see you. But now that the banquet is over, I¡¯ve rushed over.¡±

    Xia Yu felt very ufortable. Originally she had been the center of everyone¡¯s attention, but now that Xia Ling was here, why had all her friends and their parents¡¯ attention turned to revolve around her?! Listening to them praise that Xia Ling was beautiful, Xia Yu wanted desperately to tear off her face. What did they mean? They had never praised her for being beautiful before, did they think she was ugly!

    Moreover, they even asked what the Midsummer Lady flower banquet was. She didn¡¯t want to hear Xia Ling boast and show off at all!

    Xia Ling was already exining to everyone with a smile. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s nothing much. It¡¯s just a banquet among the upper ss to choose the most poprdy, called the Midsummer Lady. Oh, this year¡¯s Midsummer Lady is me. I was fortunate, really fortunate...¡±

    Herughter was like silver bells tinkling.

    However, in Xia Yu¡¯s ears, it was ear-piercing. What, this stupid and naive sister was so lucky to be chosen as the Midsummer Lady? It was... ridiculous!

    Xia Yu frowned and deliberately covered her mouth with her hands and said weakly, ¡°Sister... sister... push me to my room quickly. I, I¡¯m so miserable...¡±

 Chapter 1032 - A Gift for Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 1032: A Gift for Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling got a shock and hurriedly wheeled Xia Yu back to her ward.

    The ward was bright and spacious. It was the solitary VIP ward on the highest floor, with abundant sunlight pouring onto the parquet flooring through full-length window panes. In the corner of the room was a vase of red roses.

    Xia Ling helped her onto the bed and got the nanny to call the doctor.

    Xia Yu grabbed her hand and smiled weakly. ¡°Sister, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m alright.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You¡¯re a patient, you can¡¯t be wilful. It¡¯s better if we get the doctor to check on you.¡±

    Xia Yu looked away as she tried to conceal her anger. It was always the case, she had to follow her sister¡¯s wishes like a puppet with no soul! She hated this life, if only... Sister didn¡¯t exist anymore!

    A few rose petals fell off.

    Xia Ling apanied her for a while as they waited for the doctor to arrive with his stethoscope and some other apparatuses. After doing a few simple checks, he said, ¡°Miss Xia Yu is alright. She¡¯s probably been too fatigued, that¡¯s all. She¡¯ll be fine after some rest.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and thanked the doctor before seeing him to the door.

    She¡¯d always been a spoilt child who did not bother much about respecting others. But when it came to the people who treated and took care of Xia Yu, she was extremely polite and courteous¡ªeach time she came, she¡¯d bring along some flowers or fruits for them, and make sure to greet them as they arrive or leave, in hopes that they would provide the best possible care to her sister.

    But in Xia Yu¡¯s eyes, she was just being pretentious.

    Xia Yu remembered the day she overheard the conversation of two nurses. ¡°Did you know that the little girl Xia Ling is really nice to her sister? After visiting her sister, she still makes the effort to speak to the doctor at length about her condition, how sensible.¡±

    ¡°Yup, she¡¯s beautiful and has such a good character. Xia Yu is so lucky to have her as an older sister.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, but too bad Xia Yu¡¯s condition is so serious, she looks so much worse than her sister...¡±

    The two nurses chatted andughed as they walked down the hallway.

    Leaving Xia Yu behind, fuming in anger.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu?¡± She heard Xia Ling call her all of a sudden.

    She snapped back to her senses. ¡°Yes, Sister?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear me?¡± Xia Ling looked at her with concern. ¡°Am I interrupting your rest? Have a good rest first if you¡¯re tired, I¡¯lle back another day to talk to you about the Summer Belle.¡±

    Xia Yu wanted some much to scream at her to leave. Who cared about whatever this Summer Belle was?!

    She did not want to hear a single word of her sister showing off, not a word at all!

    But it wasn¡¯t her choice. She knew full well that the top-ss medical care she was receiving now was only possible because Brother Pei liked Sister! If... if she could make Brother Pei like her instead, would she no longer be at her sister¡¯s mercy? Xia Yu began thinking.

    Right then, Xia Ling said, ¡°Oh right, Brother Pei got me to hand you a gift.¡±

    She took a bottle of perfume out from her bag. ¡°It¡¯s handmade in Paris.¡±

    ¡°For me?¡± Xia Yu¡¯s eyes sparkled in delight.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°There¡¯s only one such bottle, even I didn¡¯t manage to get some. Xiao Yu, hurry and open it up. The scent must be great!¡±

    Hearing that Xia Ling did not manage to get any of it, Xia Yu excitedly unwrapped the packaging. The beautiful clear ss bottle glistened in the sunlight. The two sisters analyzed the bottle and fiddled with it for a long while before learning how to spray it. Once they did, they cautiously pressed the spray lightly.

    The particles dissipated in the air evenly.

    Xia Ling was pleasantly surprised as she reached out to touch it. ¡°It smells so good.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Yu did the same and felt the moisture on her hand as her spirits lifted tremendously. This little bottle must be pretty expensive. Who knew that Brother Pei would be so good to her, giving her something that Sister wanted. She couldn¡¯t help but side-eye Sister proudly. ¡°Brother Pei gave this to me only? Sister, are you angry or upset?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Xia Ling did not notice Xia Yu¡¯s expression as she was caught up with the scent. ¡°Brother Pei gave me a silk headscarf, it was also the only one to be made. Look,¡± She turned around and showed her sister the soft silk on her hair. ¡°Isn¡¯t it pretty? Brother Pei said it suits me.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s mood sank drastically.

    She paused for a while before murmuring, ¡°Why would Brother Pei give you a headscarf, and give me perfume?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure why either.¡± Xia Ling was a little bothered on this note. ¡°Actually, I wanted both of them, but Brother Pei refused to give me the perfume because he said I was too young. What a liar, you¡¯re younger than me. But that¡¯s fine, the headscarf looks nice too. I like it.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart sank even more. She was sick and weak, but her mind was still sharp. She quietly asked, ¡°Did Brother Pei especially bring these two items back for us from Paris? Did he refuse to give you the perfume, and decide to give me instead, because he had already thought about giving you the headscarf when he bought it?¡±

    Xia Ling shrugged. ¡°Nope. It was Chu Chen who went to Paris for work and brought these back. He felt that the headscarf suited me, so he gave me that. After that, I said I wasing to visit you at the hospital but hadn¡¯t prepared a gift yet, so he got me to bring this perfume for you.¡± She was a simple girl who did not think too much about it, unlike Xia Yu who had aplex thought process. Xia Ling¡¯s honesty and matter-of-fact answers turned Xia Yu¡¯s heart colder by the minute.

    So, ¡°getting the perfume for her¡± was all a lie!

    It was all just out of convenience!

    At least Sister¡¯s headscarf was gifted to her after it caught Brother Pei¡¯s eyes, but what about the perfume? It was simply a convenient gift because she had nothing prepared!

    Xia Yu was heaving with unhappiness and about to burst into tears. Why was life so unfair? Sister always got the best of everything, leaving her only things that no one wanted!

    She couldn¡¯t take it lying down!

    ¡°Xiao Yu, are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡± Xia Ling only just realized that her expression was a little odd. She said concernedly, ¡°Hurry and lie down first. Listen to the doctor and get some rest, I¡¯lle and visit you another day.¡±

    At this point, Xia Yu was in no mood to respond to her. She simply nodded her head and said goodbye.

    Xia Ling urged her to rest some more as she headed for the door.

    ¡°Sister, wait.¡± She heard Xia Yu say suddenly.

    Xia Ling stopped in her tracks and turned around. ¡°What is it, Xiao Yu?¡±

    ¡°Could you... help me bring Brother Pei a gift?¡± Xia Yu quietly said, ¡°He gave me such a nice perfume and I¡¯m really grateful. I want to give him something in return to thank him.¡±

 Chapter 1033 - To Go to Imperial or Not

    <h4>Chapter 1033: To Go to Imperial or Not</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. She¡¯d never thought of getting Pei Ziheng a gift, unlike thoughtful Sister.

    She looked at her sister in admiration. ¡°You¡¯re so thoughtful. But Brother Pei provides for our food, amodation, and everything. Even if we get him a gift, we¡¯ll be spending his money. That wouldn¡¯t be very nice... What do you intend to get him?¡±

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°How could we use his money to get him a gift? That¡¯s too insincere. Sister, I¡¯ve been feeling a little bored in the hospital these few days, and I got a friend here to teach me how to make dried flower bookmarks. Didn¡¯t you say that Brother Pei often reads his documents and such in the study tillte? If he ces a dried flower bookmark between his documents, that¡¯d probably lift his spirits.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, why didn¡¯t I think of that? I¡¯ll make it with you.¡±

    But Xia Yu shook her head and declined tactfully. ¡°Sister, if you want to make it, I¡¯ll do it with you another time. This time, let me make it on my own for Brother Pei, alright? He¡¯s spent so much money and resources to treat my illness, I should thank him properly.¡± She regretted mentioning the gift to Xia Ling. She should¡¯ve just found time to make it while Xia Ling was not around, and got the housemaid to hand it to Pei Ziheng instead!

    This sister fought with her over everything. This time, she couldn¡¯t let it happen again¡ªshe had to be the one to make a gift for Brother Pei first! Maybe after this, Brother Pei woulde to realize that she was kinder and more thoughtful than her sister, and would gradually favor her more...

    With this in mind, Xia Yu looked up at her sister pleadingly. ¡°Please.¡±

    Xia Ling could never reject her sister when she gave such an expression. So, she simply smiled and said, ¡°Alright, you can do it on your own this time. But don¡¯t get yourself too tired out, you¡¯ve got to have your rest too. I¡¯lle over in a few days to help you hand it to him.¡±

    Xia Yu thanked her sister and watched her leave.

    A few dayster, Xia Yupleted the bookmark and handed it to Xia Ling.

    It was a beautiful tuberose bookmark, white in color with a faint hint of red on some petals, making it more unique than the typical sort. Xia Ling kept looking at it from all angles. ¡°This is so beautiful. Xiao Yu, you¡¯re amazing, I wouldn¡¯t be able to make something this pretty. Eh? What¡¯s the red color here? I don¡¯t remember tuberosesing in such a color?¡±

    Xia Yu lowered her head in embarrassment. ¡°I was too careless. When I was making the bookmark, I¡¯d identally hurt myself and bled a little, and it got onto the bookmark. I wanted to make a new one, but I couldn¡¯t find another tuberose that was this pretty...¡± She bit her lower lip lightly. ¡°Or maybe, I¡¯ll just try and look again.¡±

    Xia Ling put the bookmark aside and tended to her hand. ¡°Why were you so careless? Ah, you¡¯re really hurt.¡± Seeing the ster on Xia Yu¡¯s finger, Xia Ling¡¯s heart ached. ¡°Don¡¯t make bookmarks anymore in future. You can just give this to Brother Pei, I¡¯ll exin to him and he surely wouldn¡¯t mind.¡±

    Xia Yu smiled sweetly. ¡°Sister¡¯s the best to me.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re my little sister,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Meanwhile, Xia Yu was smiling on the inside. She knew that this dumb sister would stop her from making bookmarks and that she would nervously exin the bloodstain to Pei Ziheng. With that, she had achieved her goals¡ªshe had purposely cut herself to leave a bloodstain on the flower, in order to let Pei Ziheng know how much hard work it took to make the bookmark, and how much he meant to her.

    In the future, he would probably think of her each time he saw the bookmark. With her continuous efforts to get closer to him over time, he would eventually favor her over her sister!

    Xia Yu was busy fantasizing, but she did not forget to remind her sister, ¡°Don¡¯t let Brother Pei know that I got hurt. I don¡¯t want him to worry.¡±

    As she expected, Xia Ling said, ¡°No way! You¡¯re so ill, but you still put in so much time and effort to make this for him. I have to let him know about this. He¡¯ll be so touched.¡±

    ¡°Sister!¡± Xia Yu deliberately put on a bashful act.

    ¡°Alright, alright.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°I know what to do, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± She waved her goodbye and left the ward, not allowing Xia Yu to continue dissuading her.

    Xia Yu smirked the moment Xia Ling left.

    Outside the hospital, the sun was shining warmly.

    Xia Ling looked up at the blue sky and her spirits were lifted. She carefully held onto her sister¡¯s bookmark and hummed a tune as she walked towards the Rolls-Royce waiting outside. She said to the chauffeur, ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡±

    The chauffeur started the car and headed back to Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi.

    Xia Ling looked out the car window and watched the passing cars outside. Turning around, she asked the chauffeur, ¡°What time do you think Brother Pei will be back today?¡±

    He was busy at work all the time and often returnedte at night.

    The chauffeur wasn¡¯t sure either. ¡°How about, I give Mister¡¯s secretary a call and ask?¡±

    Xia Ling happily nodded her head, and on second thought, she added, ¡°But don¡¯t let him know I¡¯m looking for him, I want to give him a surprise.¡±

    The chauffeur gave Pei Ziheng¡¯s secretary a call and told Xia Ling, ¡°Mister has a transnational meeting today in Imperial, and he¡¯ll be working tillte. Secretary Zhou suggests that you sleep first instead of waiting up for him.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you not to mention me!¡±

    The chauffeur stifled hisughter. ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to be Mister¡¯s main secretary. Secretary Zhou is smart enough to guess it was you.¡±

    ¡°In that case...¡± She sighed heavily. ¡°But I still want to give him a surprise...¡±

    The chauffeur still kept hisughter to himself and gently said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss. Secretary Zhou promised that Mister wouldn¡¯t hear anything about the phone call.¡±

    She got all excited again and thanked the chauffeur.

    The chauffeur was tickled by her. Ever since Mister adopted this girl, their days had be brighter too. In the past, Mister was always so stern and serious, even in the car. But now that there was Miss around, driving was a lot less stressful and felt a lot nicer.

    Xia Ling looked out the window again and asked, ¡°What do you think about me going to Brother Pei¡¯s office to give him the bookmark?¡±

    The chauffeur got a shock. ¡°Mister is so busy, will he get angry?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either...¡± She had never done something like this and wasn¡¯t sure what to think of it. ¡°Why don¡¯t you call Secretary Zhou again and ask?¡±

    ¡°This is a major decision, Secretary Zhou won¡¯t be able to decide this.¡± The chauffeur gave a helpless smile. ¡°She¡¯d definitely have to consult Mister about this, and Mister would then know it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°How troublesome...¡± She gave another long sigh.

 Chapter 1034 - The First Visit to Imperial Entertainment

    <h4>Chapter 1034: The First Visit to Imperial Entertainment</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her pouty look was so adorable, the chauffeur couldn¡¯t bring himself to reject her. ¡°How about, I give it a shot?¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay!¡± She was excited again. On second thought, she said, ¡°It¡¯s alright if it doesn¡¯t work. In any case, just don¡¯t let Brother Pei know that I¡¯m about to give him a gift.¡±

    The chauffeur smiled and gave Secretary Zhou another call.

    Secretary Zhou was indeed caught in a fix. ¡°This is unprecedented, let me ask him.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± The chauffeur hurriedly stopped her. ¡°Miss has already said that she doesn¡¯t want Mister to find out. If she can¡¯t go over, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    Secretary Zhou rolled her eyes in the empty office. ¡°Let me think of a way before I return your call.¡± She then hung up. It wasn¡¯t by chance that she beat all the other elite employees in Imperial Entertainment and emerged as the chief secretary of Pei Ziheng; she certainly did not take the easy way out. Secretary Zhou¡¯s principle was to do her best in everything. Take Xia Ling¡¯s case for instance¡ªshe could have pretended that this call never happened, like what the chauffeur was suggesting. But wouldn¡¯t that make her no different from all the other mediocre secretaries?

    This was not something an elite like her would do.

    She paced about in her office for a while before deciding to look for Chu Chen.

    She had heard that Chu Chen was with Boss when he adopted Xia Ling at the orphanage. He was even in charge of most administration matters before and after the adoption; he should be clear about whether Xia Ling could be let into Imperial.

    Luckily for her, Chu Chen was in his office.

    After hearing what she said, Chu Chen smiled. ¡°You owe me a huge favor.¡±

    Secretary Zhou teased him in return, since they had known each other well enough after working together for so long. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, Manager Chu. If you manage to make the right decision for me, I¡¯ll definitely remember this help in the future. But don¡¯t you dare get me in trouble. You know Boss¡¯s temper. If this isn¡¯t handled well, he¡¯s definitely firing me.¡±

    Chu Chen scoffed. ¡°You think I¡¯ll be able to get you fired?¡± The fact was that they were both equally important to Pei Ziheng, and either one of them getting into trouble would not be good for the other. If Secretary Zhou got into trouble and they hired a new secretary, it would take a long while to get to know each other. Who knew whether a new person would be able to be as close a work partner as Secretary Zhou?

    Secretary Zhou understood that too and smiled. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t keep me in suspense. Just tell me whether I should let Miss Xia in.¡±

    ¡°You should.¡± Chu Chen was decisive. ¡°Letting her in could get you a raise, believe me or not.¡±

    ¡°For real?¡± Secretary Zhou was taken aback. ¡°But you know that Boss doesn¡¯t like being interrupted when he¡¯s at work, and he hates bringing his personal life into the office. Don¡¯t you remember how Manager Li of the Finance department was firedst year? It was just because his wife came to the office and made a scene about their divorce.¡±

    Chu Chen looked at her. ¡°You¡¯reparing Xia Ling to Li Wei?¡±

    Secretary Zhou was speechless.

    Her cellphone rang again. It seemed like the chauffeur and Xia Ling couldn¡¯t wait any longer for her reply.

    Secretary Zhou looked at Chu Chen calmly, and then at her cellphone. She picked up and said, ¡°Hey, Brother Li, I¡¯ve checked Boss¡¯ schedule today. He¡¯ll be in his office from about half past two till three o¡¯clock today, settling some documents. There isn¡¯t a meeting with anyone during this period. If Miss Xia wants toe, this would be a preferred timing.¡±

    ¡°So, she cane?¡± The chauffeur was half doubtful. ¡°Please tell me you didn¡¯t actually let Mister know about it.¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡± Secretary Zhou smiled. ¡°How could I not abide by Miss Xia¡¯s orders? Just tell her toe. It seems like Boss is in a good mood today, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    The chauffeur said, ¡°We¡¯reing, then.¡±

    ¡°Come,e.¡± Secretary Zhou nced at Chu Chen. ¡°But let me make this clear first. If Boss is very happy to see Miss Xiater on, don¡¯t mention me. Don¡¯t let Boss know that it¡¯s my idea.¡± The most important thing to note about being an employee was knowing where to draw the line¡ªit was bad not to know what the Boss thought, but it was taboo to know the Boss too well. Secretary Zhou did not want to give Boss the impression that she ¡°knew him too well¡±¡ªit¡¯d threaten her position.

    The chauffeur had fought his way up in his field too and knew what Secretary Zhou was concerned about. He chuckled. ¡°Of course, of course... but if Mister needs to me someone, I¡¯m definitely throwing you under the bus. We can¡¯t have Boss think that Miss Xia made the call to go to Imperial on her own.¡±

    Secretary Zhou was loyal enough. ¡°If anything happens, I¡¯ll be there to take it!¡±

    Both of them hung up amicably.

    Chu Chen looked at her, about to break into a smile. ¡°How smart.¡± Secretary Zhou was bing more and more emotionally intelligent.

    Secretary Zhou smiled insincerely. ¡°Same to you.¡± She wasn¡¯t afraid that Chu Chen would blurt anything out in front of Boss. After all, he had a part to y in this decision.

    Chu Chen got up from his seat and stretched. ¡°Don¡¯t you say I didn¡¯t remind you. This little one can get very aggressive, she managed to make Pei Jingyu so helplessly angry. If you have any good friends around, get them to beware this afternoon. My advice is¡ªdon¡¯t get in her way.¡±

    With that, he packed up his office bag and left for a task.

    Secretary Zhou was so touched by this ally, he was so nice! It seemed like Chu Chen did not just resort to dirty and ruthless means to attain and maintain his position today, he was also a very nice person when he wanted to be one! This simple reminder could get so many people out of trouble.

    Secretary Zhou thought for a while and picked up the receiver¡ª

    She did not announce that Xia Ling would be arriving at Imperial, but that did not mean that she couldn¡¯t call for a secretaries¡¯ meeting! As long as they didn¡¯t get in her way during that time, all would be well.

    Once this went out, she continued thinking about what she could do. Besides protecting the people who mattered, she could also make use of this to attack those whom she didn¡¯t like! ¡°Hey, Li Bingyu, aren¡¯t you daring and confident against everyone and anyone? Let¡¯s see who¡¯s more valued then¡ªyou, the superstar, or Boss¡¯ newly adopted little girl!¡± she murmured to herself.

    In the Rolls-Royce, Xia Ling was overjoyed after hearing the response from Secretary Zhou. She especially changed into a set of beautiful new clothes at home and brought the bookmark along as she headed for Imperial in time.

    The chauffeur parked the car in the basement carpark before taking Xia Ling to the elevator.

    The elevator did not respond even after pressing the button a few times.

    ¡°Chauffeur Li, are you going to look for Chairman like that?¡± The security guard in the carpark recognized Pei Ziheng¡¯s chauffeur. He smiled. ¡°Our apologies, but someone wasining about a strange odor in the elevator a while ago. We got the logistics department to lock the elevators while they get it cleaned.¡±

    ¡°How coincidental.¡± The chauffeur nced at Xia Ling. ¡°We got to take another route, then.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°In that case, we can take the chance to take a look around Imperial. I¡¯ve never seen such a hugepany before, it¡¯s so majestic.¡±

    The chauffeur smiled. ¡°If Mister heard you say that, he¡¯d be so happy.¡±

 Chapter 1035 - Elevator Disturbance

    <h4>Chapter 1035: Elevator Disturbance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He took her up the sidedder from the garage, crossed the first-floor lobby and went into the elevator on the other side.

    The other side was very close to the management center and the performing arts center. Many stars and managers wereing and going. It was Xia Ling¡¯s first time seeing such big stars in real life and she was extremely curious. She tugged on her driver¡¯s sleeves and said, ¡°Uncle Li, Uncle Li, look, that Long Dapeng over there, many of the little children in my orphanage loved watching his shows! And her! Her! Sister Jasmine! I love hearing her sing!¡±

    She ran towards the female star and looked up to her with a tiny face as delicate as a flower. ¡°Sister Jasmine, Sister Jasmine! Can you give me an autograph?¡±¡®

    ¡°Whose child is this?¡± The female star called Jasmine was unprepared to have someone suddenly stop her for an autograph in her ownpany. She was a little surprised. ¡°Little sister, why are you here? Where¡¯s your family?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to look for someone!¡± Xia Ling smiled sweetly. She thought of how she was here to give a surprise to Brother Pei but did not say who she was looking for. ¡°Sister Jasmine, I love listening to your songs. Your song <Sunflower¡¯s Secret Diary> is really good. Especially that line, ¡®Do you still remember / That promise that bloomed in our golden memories¡¯. It¡¯s so beautiful, I know how to sing it too!¡± she said while humming a few sentences.

    ¡°Wow, little sister, you sing well.¡± Jasmine was very surprised and smiled. ¡°With this standard, you won¡¯t have a problem being a singer in the future. Hey, are you interested in entering the Imperial Entertaining Training Camp?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the Training Camp?¡± Xia Ling batted her eyshes.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what¡¯s the training camp?¡± Jasmineughed again and exchanged nces with her manager. Who on earth was this child? She must have a special identity to be able to break through theyers of strict guards of Imperial Entertainment and go deep into the building. However, how could she not even know what the Training Camp was? It was incredible.

    The manager had already taken out a pen and a piece of paper. He smiled. ¡°Jasmine, quickly sign your name for your little fan. We have a schedulete, don¡¯t let Reporter Li of <Star Entertainment Weekly> wait.¡±

    Jasmine took the pen and paper and signed it for Xia Ling. She smiled and waved to her. ¡°Little girl, goodbye.¡± She then turned around and followed after her manager with a distinguished air of elegance.

    ¡°Sister Jasmine is so kind...¡± Xia Ling hugged onto the piece of autographed paper preciously and smiled happily.

    The driver caught up with her while panting hard. ¡°Miss, please don¡¯t run around. Imperial Entertainment is so big, what if you fall or lose your way?¡± If anything was to happen to her, his job would be lost.

    Xia Ling did not care. She raised the piece of autographed paper for the driver to see. ¡°Uncle Li, look, Sister Jasmine signed an autograph for me. It turns out she¡¯s an artiste under Brother Pei¡¯spany. Can Ie to see her often from now on?¡±

    The driver smiled painfully. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask Sir.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry and find Brother Pei! Oh yes...¡± She carefully folded Jasmine¡¯s signature and handed it over to the driver. ¡°Keep it for me and return it back to me at night when we¡¯ve reached home.¡±

    Her hand was still holding the bookmark she wanted to give Brother Pei and it was inconvenient for her to hold onto the signature.

    The driver kept the paper for her.

    She was in a good mood and jumped forward to the elevator before turning to ask the driver, ¡°Uncle Li, Uncle Li, what floor is Brother Pei at?¡±

    With the driver¡¯s old arms and legs, he could not outrun her. He panted and said, ¡°Go to the 26th floor first...¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s office was on the top floor of the main building on the 28th floor, but the direct elevator on the garage side was under maintenance. The elevator on the management center side could not directly reach Pei Ziheng¡¯s office level, so they had to go to the 26th floor first before climbing up the stairs.

    Xia Ling found the 26th-floor button and pressed it lightly.

    Several Imperial Entertainment employees gathered continuously and waited with her.

    The little girl was so beautiful and was dressed like a little princess. All of the employees couldn¡¯t help but give her a few more nces. ¡°Who is this?¡± Someone couldn¡¯t resist asking herpanion. ¡°She¡¯s so beautiful. Is she a new child star?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Her colleague shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s really beautiful.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s hearing was good. She could hear them talking about her and she raised her head to smile brightly at them.

    ¡°Wow, look, look, she¡¯s smiling at us!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s so cute!¡± The bunch of staff started amotion.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood was extremely good. She has started to fall in love with Imperial Entertainment. The uncles, aunties, brothers, and sisters here were all so good. ¡°Ding!¡± The elevator arrived and Xia Ling carefully protected the dried flower bookmark in her hands and got onto the elevator.

    The other employees also got on.

    Suddenly, there was a voiceing from outside the elevator¡ª¡±Wait!¡± Along with the voice, a hand stretched out diagonally to stop the elevator door. ¡°You, you alle out,e out! Miss Li Bingyu is here!¡±

    ¡°What, she¡¯s here?¡±

    ¡°Miss Li Bingyu...¡±

    There was some unwillingness in their voices, but they still swallowed their reluctance and got off the elevator.

    Xia Ling stood still and did not move. She nced outside curiously and saw from a corridor not far away, a woman dressed extremely elegantly and gracefully walk towards them. A few staff members revolved around her. The woman had on light, delicate makeup and looked wless. Her high heels click-cked on the ground without a hurry.

    Xia Ling had seen her on television before. ¡°It really is Miss Li Bingyu. She¡¯s even more beautiful in real life.¡±

    The little girl was surprised and amazed.

    Outside the elevator, a staff member who had just got off reminded her quickly. ¡°Little girl, get off quickly. Miss Li Bingyu doesn¡¯t like sharing the elevator with others.¡±

    Xia Ling was surprised again. She widened her eyes. ¡°Really? Then she can just take the next elevator.¡±

    The voice of the little girl was as clear as a silver bell. Li Bingyu also heard her words. She frowned and walked quickly towards the elevator. The crowd watched anxiously. Little girl, who did you think Miss Li Bingyu is. She is Imperial Entertainment¡¯s most popr female star as of now, a Queen! Only others gave way to her, how could she give way to others?

    ¡°Little girl, get off quickly!¡± The staff members persuaded anxiously. They were very fond of this beautiful and lively girl and could not bear to see her offending Miss Li Bingyu.

    The person who had stopped the elevator just now red at Xia Ling. ¡°Who are you? Get off, get off, quickly! Don¡¯t dy Miss Li Bingyu¡¯s schedule. Can you afford to take responsibility?¡± He was Li Bingyu¡¯s manager, and would often use his connections to intimidate people and pretend he was high-ss. Thus, he did not put the little girl in his eye.

    Xia ling was unhappy. She said stubbornly, ¡°No!¡± She had always had such a temper and did not listen. When someone bullied her, she simply could not endure it.

    The manager was also unhappy. He red at the driver beside her. ¡°Who are you, is this your child? Bring her away quickly, don¡¯t get in the way. Seriously.¡±

    He had mistaken the driver for a regr employee of Imperial Entertainment.

 Chapter 1036 - The Bookmarkâ€™s Death

    <strong>Chapter 1036: The Bookmark¡¯s Death</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    The driver¡¯s face sank. ¡°This is Xia...¡±

    ¡°Uncle Li!¡± Xia Ling pulled on his sleeves. She didn¡¯t want anyone to find out about her identity. If Brother Pei were to find out she was here, how could she surprise him?

    The driver endured and did not speak.

    He was not worried that Li Bingyu and her entourage would do anything to Xia Ling. They couldn¡¯t possibly fight with her, right? With Xia Ling¡¯s identity, why should she be afraid of threats and coercion? What¡¯s more, he was there to guard her. If anything was to happen to her, he would be there to stop it.

    The assistant saw that he was not speaking and thought that he was afraid. He waved his hand impatiently. ¡°Get lost, get lost quickly.¡±

    The driver stood next to Xia Ling and did not move. Not to mention that he had to guard Xia Ling, even if he was alone, he wouldn¡¯t take orders from the opponent¡¯s little assistant telling him to get out of the elevator! Who was he, he was Pei Ziheng¡¯s loyal driver. He could throw his own face, but he couldn¡¯t throw Pei Ziheng¡¯s face!

    Seeing that he wasn¡¯t moving, Xia Ling was even more confident. She looked up at the assistant provocatively. ¡°Get lost? We won¡¯t. Why don¡¯t you get lost first to show us?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The assistant was furious. Who on earth was this girl that owed a whipping?!

    With those few words exchanged, Li Bingyu had already walked to the elevator. She looked down at Xia Ling inside the elevator and said arrogantly, ¡°What qualification do you have to snatch the elevator from me?¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly felt that this Sister Li Bingyu did not have the beauty and elegance on TV at all. She looked up and red unhappily at her. ¡°Didn¡¯t your former teachers not teach you what ¡®First Come First Serve¡¯ is?¡±

    Some people in the crowd couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    This Li Bingyu had been arrogant in Imperial Entertainment for a really long time. Many people had already found her unpleasant but did not dare to speak out. Thus, Xia Ling¡¯s words were now helping them vent their anger and bending the corner to scold Li Bingyu for having no manners!

    Ever since Li Bingyu rose to fame, she had not been humiliated in public before. Now, she stared coldly and fiercely at her assistant and manager. The two took the hint and were about to reach out to pull Xia Ling. However, Xia Ling was small and had a fast reaction. Coupled with the driver¡¯s deliberate protection, she avoided the two adults easily and hid behind the driver.

    Unfortunately, while she was dodging them, the dried flower bookmark that she had held in her hands identally fell and flew outside the elevator door.

    ¡°Oh no! My bookmark!¡± Xia Ling said anxiously and was about to run out of the elevator to fetch it.

    Li Bingyu saw that she wasing out. She snorted lightly and used her high heels to step on the bookmark without any care. The fine high-heeled shoe crushed onto the dried flower bookmark, breaking it into pieces. She stepped over the broken pieces of dried flowers and entered the elevator.

    ¡°You¡¯re too much!¡± Xia Ling squatted beside the bookmark distressedly. She picked up the pieces of dried flowers and could not put them together no matter how hard she tried. She red angrily at Li Bingyu. ¡°You did it deliberately!¡±

    Indeed, Li Bingyu had done it deliberately. She had long found this little girl unpleasant to the eye. Thus, she had stepped fiercely on the bookmark and ground it even though she could have avoided it. Her delicate face revealed an arrogant smile. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it have been fine if you¡¯de out of the elevator earlier?¡±

    Beside her, the assistant held open the elevator door and let her staff members enter one after the other.

    And Uncle Li? He had long run out after Xia Ling. He didn¡¯t care whether the elevator would be snatched by Li Bingyu, all he cared about was that Xia Ling would remain well.

    ¡°Miss, are you alright?¡± The driver asked anxiously.

    Xia Ling ignored him and rushed towards the elevator. ¡°Pay for my flower!¡±

    She was pushed aside by Li Bingyu¡¯s assistant. He scolded. ¡°You ill-bred brat, where have youe from! It¡¯s just a flower isn¡¯t it, go ask for it from your mother!¡±

    Xia Ling was still too young and her body had yet to blossom. With his push, she staggered a few steps back. If not for the driver being there to catch her quickly, she would have fallen onto the ground.

    Li Bingyu red at her indifferently and ordered her assistant. ¡°Close the door.¡±

    The assistant pressed the close button, but Driver Li stuck it open with a step forward. ¡°You can¡¯t go!¡± His voice was heavy and his eyes were dignified. If they hadn¡¯t pushed Xia Ling, it would have been fine. But now that they had pushed her, then things couldn¡¯t be so easygoing anymore! Who dared to bully the girl Pei Ziheng had adopted?!

    Driver Li looked at the people in the elevator. ¡°Do you know who this girl is?!¡±

    ¡°Who cares? Is she a Queen too? Hahaha!¡± Li Bingyu¡¯s assistant seemed to have heard a joke and startedughing at them. The staff members in the elevator alsoughed.

    Li Bingyu frowned slightly, feeling as though something was wrong.

    She was the Queen and had a recognizable face. Since this man could appear in the main building of Imperial Entertainment, he couldn¡¯t possibly not recognize her. In this case, he still dared to stop her? He was either crazy or had something to rely on! She didn¡¯t want to cause trouble, so she said arrogantly, ¡°It¡¯s just a confused little girl. Since she has gotten off already, I won¡¯t be petty about it. Ah Cheng, close the door, I¡¯m rushing.¡±

    She did not want to listen to the identity of the little girl. If she was really a big person, then it would be difficult to get off the hook.

    However, Xia Ling was unrelenting. She shouted, ¡°Pay me for my bookmark!¡±

    She learned from the driver and stopped the elevator door with her hands. The door closed on her hands and she yelped and teared in pain.

    ¡°Miss!¡± The driver was shocked and quickly hugged her away.

    ¡°Did you hurt your hand?¡± Outside the elevator, many of the onlookers were worried. Such a beautiful girl should not be hurt over this kind of thing.

    On the other hand, the elevator door automatically opened again after being blocked by Xia Ling. Li Bingyu was furious. Why was this girl so troublesome?! ¡°Go!¡± She scorned her assistant.

    ¡°Pay me for my bookmark!¡± Xia Ling cried, not knowing whether it was out of pain or heartache over the damaged bookmark.

    Li Bingyu and her team ignored her and pressed the elevator. However, the elevator did not respond this time. ¡°Is it spoilt?¡± The assistant pressed a few more times and got violent. ¡°What bad luck!¡±

    ¡°It must be spoilt by that little girl,¡± a staff member said.

    ¡°What a bearer of bad luck.¡± The assistant pointed at her nose and scolded her. ¡°How much is your bookmark even worth? Even your whole family¡¯s assets won¡¯t be able to pay for damaging the elevator!¡±

    Xia Ling was still crying. She held onto the broken bookmark and looked extremely pitiful.

    That bookmark was made with great effort by her sister, but it was broken just like that. Her sister must be really upset, right? At this thought, Xia Ling cried even harder and sat on the ground shedding pitiful tears.

    Li Bingyu saw that the elevator could not be used and was toozy to deal with this little girl. She brought her people along with her and walked towards an elevator not far away. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks.

    ¡°Chairman!¡± Her surprised voice brought a hint of ttery.

 Chapter 1037 - Pampering

    <strong>Chapter 1037: Pampering</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling looked up too, tears running down her beautiful little face.

    She saw Pei Ziheng wearing a finely crafted suit and bringing along a person who appeared to be his secretary. The secretary looked hurriedly towards them, her expression fearful. Xia Ling seemed to have seen a close rtive and shouted, ¡°Brother Pei!¡±

    Many people looked at her in horror. What had this crying little girl just called Pei Ziheng?

    Even more shocking was what happened next. Pei Ziheng stepped forward and knelt down directly in front of the little girl. He looked at her carefully and asked in a gentle voice that had never been heard from him before, ¡°Are you hurt?¡±

    She cried and reached out her arm to show him. Then sheined in a rush. ¡°That Sister Li has broken the dried flower bookmark I¡¯d brought. I wanted her to pay for it and she hurt my hand!¡±

    Li Bingyu¡¯s expression changed. Although she had guessed that this little girl¡¯s background was special, she had not expected her background to be Pei Ziheng! Under the heavens, how many people could whine andin to Pei Ziheng? She was probably the only one on this earth! Looking at the gentle and patient look on Pei Ziheng¡¯s face, Li Bingyu felt that this time, things had gotten out of hand. The other onlookers¡¯ expression also worsened. On the one hand, they were shocked by the familiar rtionship between Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng. On the other hand, they still had to wipe away their cold sweat¡ª

    This little girl was really smooth atining! Thank God they hadn¡¯t offended her!

    The onlookers secretly rejoiced and looked at Li Bingyu with sympathy.

    Pei Ziheng carefully picked up Xia Ling¡¯s hand and saw that her small white hand was now red and swollen. He couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°Let Secretary Zhou put some medicine on your handter,¡± he said. ¡°Why have youe here without even telling me. I could have gotten someone to pick you up.¡±

    Xia Ling was still crying incessantly. ¡°I wanted to give you a surprise, look.¡± She opened the hand that had been bunched into fists. In her palm was the dried flower bookmark that was now broken into pieces. ¡°This was made painstakingly by Xiao Yu. She told me to bring it to you, but, but, that Sister Li stepped on it deliberately...¡±

    She cried loudly again. This time, she simply threw herself into Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms.

    Pei Ziheng hugged onto her, his palm lightly patting her thin back. He said in a gentle voice, ¡°Okay, it¡¯s alright. Brother Pei will help you.¡±

    This time, even the secretary who hade with him had to wipe her cold sweat. No wonder Chu Chen had said that this little girl had a strong fighting ability. When she hadined about Li Bingyu stepping on her bookmark, she had intentionally added the word ¡°deliberately¡±. Most importantly, Pei Ziheng had said he was going to help her right her wrongs!

    Secretary Zhou had been with him for so many years. When had she seen Pei Ziheng righting someone¡¯s grievances?

    Imperial Entertainment and the whole Pei family believed in thew of the weak falling prey to the strong. Not to mention the general staff, even the high-level staff like Chu Chen, or distinguished cousins like Pei Jingyu, had never had Pei Ziheng stepping out to help them before. This little girl... what was so special about her?

    Secretary Zhou looked at Xia Ling differently now.

    She quietly stepped back and took out her mobile phone to call her subordinate at the secretary department. ¡°Hurry up and find a doctor, the best there is. There¡¯s a little girl here whose hand has been caught by the elevator door. And bring disinfectant and red syrup, snacks, and candy... I don¡¯t know what she likes, so just buy one of everything. Hurry.¡±

    She was no doubt quick-witted to be able to be in such a high position. From the attitude of Pei Ziheng towards Xia Ling, Secretary Zhou had already done a proper job of the follow-up work.

    Over there, Xia Ling cried and said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Tell her to pay me for my bookmark!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Pei Ziheng responded simply. He caressed her soft hair gently, then stood up and looked at Li Bingyu.

    Li Bingyu felt her blood run cold under his gaze. She put up a bold face and said, ¡°Chairman.¡± She was extremely regretful now. If she had known about this sooner, why would she have offended her? If she wanted to use the elevator first, then let her. Even if she was the Queen, how was she topete with the precious darling of Pei Ziheng?

    However, this little girl was really hateful...

    Li Bingyu was extremely angry. She didn¡¯t even say that she had such a big background, was she trying to harm her deliberately!

    She really wanted to cut Xia Ling into pieces.

    Fortunately, she had not wasted her years in the entertainment industry. She resisted her grievances and anger in her heart and said docilely to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Chairman, this time it¡¯s my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have stepped on thedy¡¯s bookmark ¡®identally¡¯. I¡¯m really sorry, I¡¯ll remedy it.¡±

    She deliberately added an ent on the word ¡°identally¡±.

    That bad brat, what did she mean she had done it deliberately? She wanted to tear her mouth apart!

    Even if she had indeed done it deliberately, at this time, she could not say anything except that it had been idental! She didn¡¯t want to ruin the acting career she had built up with painstaking efforts just over this matter!

    Who knew that the sobbing and sniffling girl would wipe her tears and interject. ¡°You did it on purpose! You did!¡±

    Li Bingyu¡¯s face turned ck. What was this brat saying? On the surface, however, she couldn¡¯t do anything but ster a smile on her face and say, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Miss. It¡¯s all a misunderstanding. How could I have deliberately stepped on your bookmark? I was too anxious and did not notice it. I¡¯ll pay you with many more beautiful bookmarks, okay?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling cried again. ¡°You did it deliberately! You did! That bookmark was made personally by Xiao Yu. Even if you gave me a hundred and ten thousand it wouldn¡¯t matter! You can¡¯t afford it! Boohoo...¡±

    She was crying so heartbrokenly that Pei Ziheng felt his heart ache. He said gently, ¡°Okay, Brother Pei knows that she did it on purpose. Brother Pei will give you justice. Don¡¯t cry anymore, you¡¯ve be a small kitten already.¡±

    He got someone to bring tissues over and bent down to wipe the tears on her face.

    The onlookers had never seen Pei Ziheng pacify a child before. They were all collectively shocked.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t an illusion, right...¡± An onlooker whispered to her colleague. ¡°Quickly pinch me, how could the Chairman be so gentle?! He knows how to pacify a child?!¡±

    His colleagues on the side also said as if in a trance, ¡°I want you to pinch me...¡±

    The onlookers were all watching the show as if drunk and stupefied. Only Li Bingyu¡¯s heart was tormented, and she was as anxious as ants on a hot pot. Since things hade to this, she could only try to save herself. ¡°Chairman, I really didn¡¯t do it deliberately! This littledy has really misunderstood me! So many people have witnessed what had happened, where¡¯s the evidence that it was on purpose?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said sternly, ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s word itself is evidence.¡±

    Li Bingyu: ¡°...¡±

    Secretary Zhou: ¡°...¡±

    The crowd: ¡°...¡±

    Could he be any more unreasonable?!

    They had finally seen the extent to which the Chairman would go to pamper a child!

 Chapter 1038 - Too Shameful

    Chapter 1038: Too Shameful

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°Secretary Zhou,¡± Pei Ziheng instructed his secretary. ¡°Let Yun Yan go for this time¡¯s City-Themed Commercial Show.¡±

    ¡°Chairman!¡± Li Bingyu was so anxious her expression changed. ¡°I really know my wrong! I¡¯ve prepared for this time¡¯s themedmercial show, please let me go!¡± This was arge-scalemercial show held by S City to promote its image on the international stage. It held the close attention of the entire poption. It was not only a matter of money to be able to join this show. Most importantly, it affirmed her ss amongst the other celebrities! On the same stage stood only the Kings and Queens of the entertainment industry as well as cultural celebrities!

    The people around were all silent. They all knew the importance of thismercial show. In the end, it was going to change ownership so quickly? Yun Yan and Li Bingyu had always been in apetitive rtionship and had secretlypeted for the title of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Sister. Originally, Yun Yan had been full of regret and hatred to have lost the fight for the city¡¯smercial show, but who was to know that things would take a new turn and Pei Ziheng would actually give her the opportunity now so casually? Some people who were enjoying the show now had already sent messages on WeChat to congratte Yun Yan.

    Li Bingyu looked at Pei Ziheng pleadingly, hoping that he would take back his order.

    Ever since she debuted, she had always had the image of a high-profile, out-of-reach iceberg beauty. However, in order to obtain hermercial show, she had no choice but to bow her head down. ¡°Chairman, there¡¯s not much time left till themercial show. Yun Yan won¡¯t be ready enough and will damage Imperial Entertainment¡¯s name! Just let me go!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her.

    He had always been indifferent towards anger and joy, but the big stars who had been in the entertainment industry for a long time had long been used to trying to figure out his mind from his subtle expressions. Hence, from his expression now, Li Bingyu¡¯s heart leaped in her throat¡ªshe had discovered that Pei Ziheng was already extremely impatient.

    It¡¯s over.

    Li Bingyu¡¯s expression was decrepit. She knew that she could not be redeemed.

    Many people in the crowd took joy in her cmity. Li Bingyu had often used her big name to bully and oppress other people. At this moment, those people felt as if they had managed to blow off steam. Haha, Li Bingyu, you have your doomsday too?! Some who couldn¡¯t suppress their joy was already covering their mouths andughing.

    Li Bingyu saw the reactions of the crowd from the corners of her eye. She felt her face burn with embarrassment and wanted badly to find a hole to climb into. How long had it been since she had been humiliated? Her whole body trembled slightly and she told herself to endure. Endure...

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head to look at Xia Ling and said gently, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Brother Pei will treat your injury.¡±

    The girl looked at him in confusion and cried again. ¡°Aren¡¯t you punishing that Sister Li?¡±

    The crowd was speechless. Little girl, didn¡¯t you see that a big punishment was justid down?

    Pei Ziheng still had good temper and caressed her soft hair gently. ¡°I¡¯ve already punished her. I removed her from a program, she¡¯ll feel sad for a really long time.¡±

    The little girl seemed to understand a little but was still confused. She still did not yet understand the importance of a program. She looked at Li Bingyu suspiciously. Although the arrogant Queen was both furious and sorrowful, she still maintained her elegance in front of Pei Ziheng and gave him her best smile.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I don¡¯t think she looks sad.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± A few staff members couldn¡¯t help butugh out, feeling sorry for Li Bingyu.

    Pei Ziheng smiled too. ¡°Then tell me, how would she look sad?¡±

    The little girl racked her brains. ¡°She must at least be like me, so sad that she¡¯s crying.¡± In her knowledge, how could it be painful if she wasn¡¯t crying?

    Li Bingyu felt her head spin. She was obviously so grief-stricken, but this little brat still didn¡¯t want to let her go! ¡°Miss, I¡¯m really very sad. I¡¯m very sorry.¡± She tried to reason with Xia Ling. ¡°I¡¯m so sad that I can¡¯t even cry. You don¡¯t always have to cry when your heart aches.¡±

    Xia Ling did not believe her. ¡°I don¡¯t care! You¡¯re not sad unless you cry!¡±

    ¡°Then you will cry,¡± said Pei Ziheng. He looked at Li Bingyu coldly. ¡°Cry until Xiao Ling is satisfied.¡±

    ¡°I!¡± Li Bingyu stared at her boss incredulously. There was a limit to favoritism! How was she to cry in front of everyone at thepany? It was better to just kill her directly!

    ¡°I... I can¡¯t cry,¡± she said stiffly.

    ¡°You obviously don¡¯t feel sad!¡± Seeing that she wasn¡¯t crying, Xia Ling was about to cry again. Her little mouth pouted at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Boohoo, Brother Pei, give her another punishment, make her cry!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll cry! I¡¯ll cry!¡± Li Bingyu was scared senseless. This little girl was sent from God to fight against her deliberately! Pei Ziheng had just casually opened his mouth and she had already lost a program, if he were to give her another punishment, God knows how heavy the losses would be! She couldn¡¯t afford to care much anymore, so she said, ¡°I¡¯ll cry for you to see!¡±

    Xia Ling slowly took over her emotions and whispered, ¡°You should have just cried earlier.¡±

    This little girl already took advantage of her but was still ying obedience!

    The onlookers didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. Really, this time, Li Bingyu was kicked onto the iron te for grilling!

    It was Secretary Zhou who felt afraid. God, what Chu Chen had said about her being a little devil was true. The method she used to torment someone was really unimaginable. If anyone was to offend her, they could only wait to be abused. Luckily, she had gotten a reminder from Chu Chen ahead of time not to do anything to Xia Ling, fortunately...

    Secretary Zhou looked at the hard-pressed Li Bingyu and the corners of her lips curled into a smile.

    She had known that Xia Ling wasing in advance. She¡¯d specifically instructed people to clean the elevator that led directly to the Chairman¡¯s office during that time so that Xia Ling would have to detour. However, even if she detoured, she would not have necessarily met Li Bingyu. Even if she had, the two would have just passed by each other and might not have a conflict. It was Li Bingyu¡¯s bad luck to have met her with such coincidence and develop such a big conflict with Xia Ling.

    Secretary Zhou was secretly happy. This was the Li Bingyu who always used her big name and didn¡¯t put her, the Chairman¡¯s Secretary, in her eyes!

    Beside the elevator, Xia Ling urged Li Bingyu. ¡°Quick, cry.¡±

    How could Li Bingyu cry?

    Adults were not like children who could release tears as and when. Adults had long learned to astringe their emotions. To cry now and in front of so many people was really being too difficult on Li Bingyu. Fortunately, she was an actress, and she managed to squeeze out a few tears with much difficulty. She endured the humiliation in front of everyone and said softly in tears, ¡°Miss, I¡¯m sorry, I failed to recognize your importance and shouldn¡¯t have broken your bookmark...¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her cry for a long time. She frowned and said unhappily, ¡°Why are you crying so quietly? I already said you¡¯re not sad, Brother Pei just doesn¡¯t believe me. Boohoo, Brother Pei...¡±

    She turned her head and said in tears to Pei Ziheng.

    Li Bingyu was so scared she almost cried for real. She immediately increased her volume. ¡°Boohoo, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m really sorry!¡± She covered her face and wept.

    Xia Ling was still not satisfied. ¡°You have to cry louder than me. It was you who broke my bookmark, how could you not be more upset than me?¡±

    Li Bingyu gritted her teeth in anger. However, she did not dare to ignore her orders and started crying even harder.

 Chapter 1039 - Iris Bookmark

    <strong>Chapter 1039: Iris Bookmark</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling watched her cry without even batting an eysh.

    The onlookers looked at the two of them, oh, and also Pei Ziheng.

    A rare urrence had happened today. Li Bingyu, who had always been so arrogant, had been forced to this level by someone today. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s culture had always been for the weak to be preyed on by the strong. For Li Bingyu, who stood on the top of the actress¡¯ food chain, bullying others was amon thing. But to be bullied by others? Everyone had thought that would have to wait until the day she was no longer popr.

    Li Bingyu cried even harder and was out of breath.

    At the moment, she couldn¡¯t care about being ashamed anymore. She only knew that she had to satisfy this little devil with her crying, or Pei Ziheng might punish her even more! That punishment just now had already pained her so much she wanted to die. If Pei Ziheng was to give her resources to Yun Yan, then she wouldn¡¯t need to even fight for the Big Sister title of Imperial Entertainment anymore, she would be simply handing it to Yun Yan! Li Bingyu pondered over it and cried genuinely as if her liver and guts were cut to pieces.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at Xia Ling. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll bring you to treat your hand.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked. ¡°She¡¯s not done crying.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her affectionately. This little girl was really stubborn, was crying such a good thing to watch? ¡°Let her continue to cry here until night and make sure that she¡¯s crying more miserably than you,¡± he said gently to the child. ¡°Your hand needs to be treated immediately. What if it leaves a scar?¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Xia Ling dilly-dallied and followed after Pei Ziheng.

    Secretary Zhou and the driver also followed quickly.

    The crowd watched them leave and heaved a sigh of relief. Oh my God, that was too scary. Everyone remember, never provoke this little devil! Even a huge star like Li Bingyu was severely punished just because she stepped on a worthless bookmark. They didn¡¯t feel they were more strong-willed than Li Bingyu!

    Li Bingyu still stood in the hallway and cried harshly.

    She had heard the words that Pei Ziheng had said. Since he had told her to cry till night, she had to cry till night. Unless she didn¡¯t want to be in Imperial Entertainment anymore. Fortunately, her assistant and manager were tactful. Once Pei Ziheng was gone, they began to drive the nearby people away. ¡°What are you looking at? Do what you have to do.¡±

    The crowd began to disperse unwillingly.

    Even if Li Bingyu had been made miserable by the little girl, she was still the most popr actress of Imperial Entertainment and it was easy to take her anger out on others. The onlookers didn¡¯t want to be the unlucky ones.

    They walked to the other elevator in twos and threes and gossiped while walking. ¡°Who was that little girl, I¡¯ve never heard of any girl that¡¯s so pampered by the Chairman?¡±

    ¡°Tsk, how much do you even know about the Chairman¡¯s private life? Maybe he is a lolicon.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, what do you know? There are thousands of lolicons in the world, we have a few in our Training Camo as well. When have you seen Chairman having any sexual thoughts on them? I think this little girl isn¡¯t that simple.¡±

    ¡°Your news are all lousy,¡± someone said proudly. ¡°I just found out that that little girl was newly adopted by the Chairman. He really pampers her and gives her anything she wants.¡±

    ¡°No way?¡±

    ¡°Wow, really?¡±

    ¡°The Chairman has this sort of preference? He adopted such a little girl?!¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey, be careful what you say, don¡¯t think groundlessly. I heard the people from the management center say that their Boss Chu went to the orphanage with Chairman to do charity work. They saw how pitiful this little girl was, so they adopted her. It¡¯s said that she sings very well and the Chairman wants to cultivate her.¡±

    ¡°Oh, cultivate...¡± someone said while dragging his tone.

    ¡°What kind of cultivation? If you have the ability, say it in front of the Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t, I was wrong. Anyways, this little girl is really arrogant. Didn¡¯t Li Bingyu just step on her bookmark? She was too much to be so unyielding.¡±

    ¡°Li Bingyu isn¡¯t a good person either.¡±

    ¡°Li Bingyu has power! The King goes to the stronger one, what does that little girl have? She only took advantage of the Chairman¡¯s favor and messed around. She¡¯s so beautiful, but her personality is so evil.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right...¡±

    The group of people talked and walked away.

    In just one afternoon, the news of ¡°Chairman adopted a very bad little girl¡± was spread in Imperial Entertainment. However, Xia Ling still did not know anything about it. She was brought to Pei Ziheng¡¯s office and stuck out her little hand obediently to let the doctor handle her wound.

    The doctor cleaned her wound and applied ointment for her. Then, he said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s not a serious injury. There¡¯s just some swelling. You just have to rest a few days. Next time be careful and don¡¯t use your hand to block the elevator.¡±

    Pei Ziheng thanked the doctor and let Secretary Zhou send him off.

    He looked at Xia Ling and said to her sternly, ¡°Did you hear that? You¡¯re not allowed to use your hand to block the elevator.¡±

    Xia Ling felt wronged and was about to cry again. ¡°I, I was just anxious. She destroyed Xiao Yu¡¯s bookmark.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stared at her weeping appearance and felt his heart ache. ¡°Tell me, howe you¡¯ve suddenlye to thepany? And what¡¯s with the bookmark?¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling told him everything about how Xia Yu had personally made the bookmark and had entrusted her to bring it over. She omitted the contact with Secretary Zhou. Pei Ziheng listened in amusement. Wasn¡¯t it just a bookmark? It wasn¡¯t even made by herself, why was she crying like this?

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Heforted. ¡°I¡¯ve received Xiao Yu¡¯s intentions. It doesn¡¯t matter that the bookmark isn¡¯t here. If you really feel so apologetic, then make one personally for me.¡±

    ¡°Why am I the one making it?¡± She batted her eyshes and asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that Xiao Yu¡¯s body is ufortable and she¡¯s tired?¡± Pei Ziheng said matter-of-factly. ¡°Since the bookmark was broken in your hands, then, of course, you have to make one for me.¡± Actually, he didn¡¯t care about Xia Yu. He just suddenly wanted a bookmark made personally by Xia Ling. ¡°I like iris flower.¡±

    She was a little shocked. ¡°Brother Pei likes iris flower too?¡±

    He touched her head gently with a warm expression. Usually, he would be extremely busy. When would he have time to appreciate flowers? At first, he couldn¡¯t even tell what an iris was, but every time he went to the orphanage and saw her standing under the bunch of flowers, he had suddenly felt that it was the most beautiful flower in the world.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll make you an iris bookmark.¡±

    Pei Ziheng agreed gently.

    However, Xia Ling was still not very happy. She said sullenly, ¡°It¡¯s all because of Sister Li Bingyu. She stepped on my bookmark and broke it without any reason. She just saw that I was young, tsk, so she bullied me. One day, I want to be more powerful than her!¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°You want to be more powerful than her?¡±

    ¡°Yes, then she won¡¯t be able to bully me!¡± Xia Ling raised her head with sparkling eyes. ¡°Brother Pei, tell me, how can I be powerful?¡±

 Chapter 1040 - Beautiful Allure

    <strong>Chapter 1040: Beautiful Allure</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Pei Ziheng did not speak.

    The girl in front of him was so beautiful, with a singing voice so sweet it was like the sound of nature. It was extremely easy for her to be more powerful than Li Bingyu. However, that meant...

    ¡°Brother Pei, why aren¡¯t you talking?¡± Xia Ling looked at him cautiously. ¡°Am I too stupid to be more powerful than Sister Li Bingyu?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Pei Ziheng returned to his senses andforted her. ¡°Brother Pei will help you be more and more powerful. Don¡¯t think too much over it and just listen to my arrangements.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The little girl felt reassured and nodded.

    Pei Ziheng fell into deep thought.

    For a few days, he was ill at ease and made a few mistakes when thepany conveyed instructions. This was something that had never happened before. His confidant Chu Chen looked at him cautiously. ¡°Boss, do you have something on your mind?¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned slightly and rubbed his temples. He was silent for a long while before saying, ¡°Xiao Ling wants to be powerful.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡± Chu Chen could not understand. ¡°When you first picked her up, didn¡¯t you already want to cultivate her into the next head of Imperial Entertainment? Now that she¡¯s self-motivated, you¡¯re getting twice the effect with half the work.¡±

    Pei Ziheng felt frustrated but did not know where this kind of irritability wasing from. He used his long-standing self-control to calm himself and said, ¡°If she wants to be stronger, she has to attend the training camp. The training camp is a boarding system.¡±

    Chu Chen finally knew where the crux of the issue was. Pei Ziheng did not want Xia Ling to leave his side?

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    ¡°What are youughing at?¡± Pei Ziheng was unhappy.

    Chu Chen controlled hisughter. ¡°Haha, Boss, you¡¯re really...¡± He thought of how to phrase his thoughts. ¡°This is probably the mood of a worried parent to a child? I heard my mother say that when she sent me to boarding kindergarten, she had cried secretly a few times.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stopped rubbing his temples. Could it be that he had be an effeminate woman like Chu Chen¡¯s mother? How long had it been since Xiao Ling had been fetched from the orphanage? However, at the thought of her leaving his side¡ªeven if just to stay at a boarding house, the reluctance in his heart was still unable to dissolve.

    ¡°You are the Chairman. You have the final say.¡± Chu Chen stoppedughing at him and gave him a suggestion seriously. ¡°You can let Miss Xia attend a day school. The training camp side wouldn¡¯t object.¡±

    Wasn¡¯t it just using his privileges, it wasn¡¯t anything big.

    Pei Ziheng had been in a state of confusion over the matter, but Chu Chen saw through the problem and his suggestion was like a sudden sh of insight to him. ¡°Yes, I can let Xiao Ling attend day school!¡± His gloomy expression dissipated. He stood up and strode away with big steps.

    Back at home, Xia Ling wore a cotton bear pajamas and greeted him. ¡°Brother Pei, Brother Pei! You¡¯re back!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her gently. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I learned etiquette from Ms. Sofia in the afternoon. She praised me for learning well! She rewarded me by letting me take a rest in the afternoon, so I went outside to pick a lot of wildflowers. Then I took a shower and was about to take an afternoon nap when I heard Nanny Zhou opening the door for you before I fell asleep. So I came down!¡±

    ¡°Disobedient.¡± He caressed her soft long hair, his voice full of affection. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Brother Pei will apany you for your afternoon nap.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± The little girl was very happy. She tugged onto his sleeves and went upstairs.

    He said to apany her for her afternoon nap, but actually... he was really apanying her for her afternoon nap. Xia Ling climbed onto her bed and covered herself with her nket obediently while Pei Ziheng set up his stuff on a desk beside her bed to handle official duties.

    Xia Ling stared at him and called softly, ¡°Brother Pei.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± He averted his gaze from the official documents and asked.

    ¡°The thing I told youst time...¡± She was a little apprehensive. ¡°What method do you have to make me more powerful?¡±

    Pei Ziheng hade back home early today because he had set a decision on this matter. At the moment, his eyes brought a hint of a smile, but he wanted to tease her. ¡°Guess?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t guess it.¡± The little girl simply couldn¡¯t fall asleep. She got up from the bed. ¡°Anyways, I want to be very powerful. I want to sing well, dance well, have lots and lots of fans, I want to be better than Sister Li Bingyu in everything! Yes, I want to be a big star!¡±

    The little girl was finally clear on her dream.

    ¡°Yes, then be a big star,¡± Pei Ziheng said gently. He told Xia Ling about Imperial Entertainment having a training camp that was specially designed to cultivate and train the future big stars. He told her she could go inside and learn how to be a big star.

    Xia Ling cheered. ¡°I knew Brother Pei would have a way!¡± Then, she asked, ¡°What do I have to do to get into Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯ll inform the training camp side. In a few days, you will join the freshmen of the year.¡±

    ¡°The freshmen?¡± Xia Ling was very curious. ¡°Are there a lot of people?¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of people every year,¡± Pei Ziheng exined patiently to her. ¡°Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp is the best training camp in the entire entertainment industry. It¡¯s a holy ce for all the children who want to be big stars. Every year¡¯s examinations are very strict. We screen through themyer byyer and only those who pass the screening can enter the training camp. But even so, there are many people.¡±

    ¡°Screening? Do I have to go through it too?¡±

    ¡°You? You don¡¯t have to,¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°You¡¯re my person.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Xia Ling hugged her pillow and rolled over on the bed for a while before she raised her head and looked at Pei Ziheng with sparkling eyes. ¡°Brother Pei, I want to enter the screening.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Brother Pei frowned slightly. If it was any other child who heard that she would enter Imperial Entertainment without screening, she would be over the moon, so how could she want to be part of the screening? ¡°The screening has very fiercepetition.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling bit her lip. ¡°I just want to see if I¡¯m actually good. You all say that I sing well, but I¡¯ve yet to properlypete with others.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you win in thest ¡®Midsummer Lady¡¯petition?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because of you,¡± Xia Ling said. In the flower banquet, even though Pei Ziheng had told all the Young Masters to hide the truth about voting for her from her, she couldn¡¯t stop her enemies from telling her!¡ªPei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan couldn¡¯t wait to tell her after finding out the truth. They had even scolded her for being shameless.

    ¡°I want a fairpetition based on my own strength.¡± She looked pleadingly at Pei Ziheng. ¡°I don¡¯t want others to scold me for relying on you.¡±

    ¡°Who scolded you?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s tone was a little heavy.

    ¡°Sister Jingyu and Jingshan they all.¡± Xia Ling bit her lip again.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Pei Ziheng did not say much, he simply told her, ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to help you with the registration procedures for the training camp. You just prepare well for thepetition.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± The little girl cheered. ¡°Thank you, Brother Pei! Brother Pei, you¡¯re the best person in the world!¡± She smiled. Her bright smile seemed to be able to dissipate all the dark clouds in the world.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her with some disappointment. The longer he stayed with her, the more he felt that...

    His little girl was really beautifully alluring.

 Chapter 1041 - Differential Treatment

    <strong>Chapter 1041: Differential Treatment</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan were out of luck.

    Their fathers were arranged to go to a small, remote country where conditions were arduous for an on-the-spot investigation. There was even a danger of war. The two men went home and scolded their daughters fiercely. They not only forbade them to go out and punished them to copy down a whole book, but they also warned them not to provoke Xia Ling again.

    Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan felt aggrieved but still epted their punishments. They hated Xia Ling down to their bones.

    Xia Ling did not have the slightest inkling about this. She prepared diligently for her trainee selection test. The exam was divided into several parts. It included an attractiveness index, a temperament assessment, an answering portion, and a talent examination where one could choose any one of the various forms of performing arts. Xia Ling chose to sing. She liked to sing and hoped to be a singer in the future.

    On the day, the driver drove her to the ce with a Rolls Royce.

    A block away, she called for the driver to stop the car. ¡°Let¡¯s get off here, Uncle Li. I don¡¯t want people to discover that I was adopted by Brother Pei.¡± The little girl was bent on seeking fairness and wanted to rely only on her own strength to impress people. However, Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls Royce was just too eye-catching.

    The driver had long been instructed by Pei Ziheng to listen to everything she said. So, he parked the car by the side.

    Xia Ling went to the examination room with him. There was a huge crowd in the room and it was full of well-dressed candidates and nervous parents. Xia Ling, however, was wearing a homely dress of a very soft andfortable material. It was Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite blue-gray color. She hoped that wearing his favorite color could bring her good luck.

    But such a skirt looked too in when ced among a crowd of people.

    ¡°Miss, do you want to change clothes?¡± The driver asked. In the trunk of the car, there were a lot of clothes that Pei Ziheng had ordered him to prepare in advance. He had appeared to let her go to the test by herself, but in actual fact, he was very concerned about it.

    Xia Ling looked at the crowd full of ssy people who were as proud as peacocks. She hesitated, but in the end still shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll just wear this.¡± She looked up and smiled sweetly at the driver. ¡°I must wear Brother Pei¡¯s favorite color dress to be able to enter the training camp!¡± Unconsciously, his weight in her heart had be so heavy.

    The driver stopped persuading her.

    He knew that even if she couldn¡¯t pass the exam, Pei Ziheng would still order people to change the scores until she could pass. Although in her opinion, this exam was a battle, she did not understand that the result had already been set. Pei Ziheng was only conniving her and ying an innocuous game with her.

    The little girl was extremely excited. She dragged the driver and reached the examination room quickly.

    At the entrance, security guards blocked the way. ¡°Sorry, parents have to stop here.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling waved to the driver and said with a loud voice, ¡°Goodbye Uncle Li, wait for my good news!¡±

    The driver smiled and waved at her. In order to conceal his identity, he had not worn the usual ck suit and white gloves that he would wear when driving for Pei Ziheng. Instead, he wore a casual shirt and looked to be an amicable, simple neighborhood uncle.

    Xia Ling¡¯sughter was too clear. Many candidates in the examination room turned to look at them.

    ¡°Noisy,¡± a candidate who had been reviewing his score said impatiently.

    The candidate next to her looked at Xia Ling and the driver outside with a scornful look. She chuckled. ¡°Really, all kinds of poor weirdos are entering the examination this year. Does she not feel shameful toe here wearing that?¡±

    Another candidate had good eyes. She could see that although the dress on Xia Ling was very low-key, it was made of first-ss materials that only rich people could afford. However, it didn¡¯t matter and she was toozy to point it out to the others. She let the other candidates belittle Xia Ling¡ªit was even better if the two started fighting and were all ousted.

    The whole room of candidates were full of different thoughts.

    Xia Ling heard the people¡¯s discussion and was a little unhappy. But she hade to take the exam today and did not want to argue with anyone. She only red at them and nned on finding a seat to wait for her turn.

    However, who knew that the person had a bad temper. ¡°What are you ring at?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°You provoked me first.¡±

    ¡°Ha, how did I provoke you?¡± The girl stood up suddenly. She looked to be about fourteen to fifteen, and was a head taller than Xia Ling. She looked down at her condescendingly. ¡°Do you believe I¡¯ll hit you? Little devil.¡±

    If it was any other girl, they would have been extremely frightened. But who was Xia Ling? She had fought often at the orphanage. She red at the girl without hesitation. ¡°It¡¯s not certain yet who¡¯ll hit who. Come on.¡± She looked at the girl provocatively. Even though she hadn¡¯t wanted to cause trouble, she couldn¡¯t simply ignore it when someone found trouble with her.

    The big girl was about to push her, but Xia Ling was very flexible and managed to avoid it quickly. The big girl pushed the girl behind Xia Ling. That girl screamed and fell back and suddenly knocked down several other girls. ¡°My clothes!¡± ¡°My skirt!¡± ...

    The examination room was full of chaos all of a sudden.

    ¡°What is the noise?¡± The teacher who maintained the order rushed in and scanned all the candidates. ¡°Quiet down! Today is the final exam, we¡¯re choosing only thirty out of a hundred! Whoever wants to leave early can continue to be noisy. You¡¯ll be directly disqualified!¡±

    Her words caused the whole room to be dead silent.

    Only Xia Ling widened her eyes in surprise¡ªWhat, today was the final exam?

    Today was her first timeing to the selection test. Had she gone into the wrong room?

    She was feeling apprehensive and was about to ask questions when she heard a calm girl¡¯s voice¡ª¡±Teacher Chen, what happened for you to be so angry? Am Ite?¡±

    Teacher Chen¡¯s expression changed. She ignored the candidates and turned to greet the girl with a huge smile. ¡°Miss Li Bingman? You¡¯re finally here, I¡¯ve waited so long for you! Come,e,e sit here, I¡¯ve specially left the best seat and prepared red tea for you!¡±

    ¡°Teacher Chen, you¡¯re too kind. Thank you for your troubles.¡± The girl¡¯s voice was calm and she walked into the examination room slowly. The crowd then saw her true face¡ªshe was an extremely beautiful girl, and although her beauty was a level lower to Xia Ling¡¯, in this whole examination room, no third person couldpete with her.

    Her temperament was arrogant and elegant, and she looked at people from above as though she was a regal princess.

    Teacher Chen diligently led her to the best seat in the examination room, which was by the window. There was the only table in the entire room in that area, and on the table was a hot cup of tea. Earlier, there had been a cordon to prevent other candidates from entering and the other candidates had all thought it was the seat for the examiner.

    Li Bingman walked over elegantly and gracefully sat down.

    She was not old, looking to be about twelve or thirteen. However, she was much more attractive than the older girls.

    ¡°So she¡¯s Li Bingman...¡± A candidate next to Xia Ling regained her thoughts and said in admiration, ¡°I heard that she¡¯s the Queen Li Bingyu¡¯s sister. No wonder she¡¯s being treated differently.¡±

 Chapter 1042 - Test Exemption

    <strong>Chapter 1042: Test Exemption</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Another candidate said, ¡°It¡¯s her. Her family is good, her face is beautiful, I even heard that she sings as well as Li Bingyu. With her talent, she¡¯ll have no problem passing the selection test.¡±

    ¡°She won¡¯t just pass it easily,¡± another candidate said. ¡°I think this year¡¯s chief is none other than her.¡±

    ¡°Chief?¡± Xia Ling asked curiously.

    The candidates looked at each other and wondered where this awkward and unsophisticated girl hade from. How could she not have any knowledge when she was here for the test?

    ¡°You won¡¯t understand even if I tell you.¡± They ignored Xia Ling. This little girl was so beautiful that they felt deeply threatened, yet her ¡°simple¡± dressing made them look down on her with disdain. They didn¡¯t want to be associated with her.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I understand?¡± Xia Ling was anxious. She red at them. ¡°Don¡¯t belittle me!¡±

    Her voice was a little loud, and Teacher Chen¡¯s annoyed gaze swept over to her.

    A few of the children fell silent.

    ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Once Teacher Chen¡¯s gaze moved away, a girl red at Xia Ling fiercely and said in a low voice reluctantly, ¡°But you have to promise us not to raise your voice again, or everyone will be disqualified. We¡¯ll get revenge on you!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± Several other candidates echoed.

    Xia Ling remembered the severity of the situation and said quickly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I won¡¯t raise my voice again.¡±

    The candidates were satisfied and exined to her half-heartedly, ¡°In the Imperial Entertainment Training Camp, there¡¯s a head chief every year who is the face of the entire batch. Every school year¡¯s chief is the best candidate for the final exam. And for the first-years that just entered, the chief is selected from the first-ce trainee among the candidates.¡±

    ¡°You think Li Bingman will be first?¡± Xia Ling understood.

    ¡°Of course. Who else could it be besides her? She¡¯s Li Bingyu¡¯s sister!¡± Someone signed in disappointment. ¡°It really is so unlucky to be in the same batch as her. Otherwise, everyone in this year could fight for the chief position.¡±

    The others agreed.

    It was said that the Imperial Entertainment Training Camp always emphasized on cultivating the chief. From the first grade, they would get various resources to develop her. Several Queens from the Training Camp had been the chiefs of their year. Thepetition in the entertainment industry was very cruel. Even before these children stepped into the training camp, they had already begun fighting for life and death.

    Xia Ling only thought that being the chief was just an honor. She didn¡¯t understand theplexity of things. Of course, there was nobody to remind her either. Who would be so kind as to give intel to apetitor?

    Everyone rested and waited for their turn.

    ¡°Come and verify your numbers.¡± Teacher Chen took a pen and paper and started checking the candidates¡¯ information. ¡°A3695, Wang Guizhi, give me your ID card.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± A girl immediately came forward and handed her identity card over respectfully.

    Teacher Chen took the ID card and verified the picture with the picture on her admission ticket and the real-life girl. She let her go and called for the next girl. ¡°D9607, Qiu Yunli...¡±

    The candidates went up to be verified one by one.

    Teacher Chen continued to call, ¡°S0001, Li Bingman.¡±

    ¡°S0001!¡± There was amotion in the examination room. Many people looked at Li Bingman in surprise and admiration as she got up from her seat. ¡°She¡¯s exempted from the first few rounds! She¡¯ll go straight to the finals!¡±

    ¡°Exempted from the first few rounds?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s curiosity was piqued again. Having been interrupted by people just now, she had almost forgotten that she¡¯d suspected herself of entering the wrong room. She¡¯d thought how strange it was that she was in the finals room. Could it be that she was exempted just like Li Bingman?

    The candidate next to her looked at her like she was a country bumpkin and said to her proudly, ¡°You don¡¯t know what it is again, right. For the Imperial Entertainment Training Camp¡¯s various trials, there are exemption ces. As long as you are good enough, you won¡¯t have to go through the preliminary rounds and can go straight to the finals!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling blinked and digested the new information. Was it that in Brother Pei¡¯s eyes, she was good enough? But, but, she¡¯d already told Brother Pei that she wanted to take the exam with her own strength. Brother Pei still exempted her from the preliminary rounds, boohoo...

    She looked a little dejected.

    The candidate next to her saw that she was not happy and thought she was ashamed. She couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Get over it, this ce is very difficult to get, and thest batch did not even get it. Of course, there¡¯s only Li Bingman here in this batch. Ordinary candidates like us shouldn¡¯t beparing ourselves with the Queen¡¯s sister.¡±

    While they were talking, Li Bingman had walked past them with an air of elegance. She brought a faint scent.

    The candidate who had been speaking to Xia Ling hurriedly took two steps back to give way to Li Bingman. She even pulled Xia Ling, afraid that she would collide with Li Bingman. She was also afraid that she would fall into her bad side.

    Li Bingyu was very satisfied with the humility of this candidate. Her lips curled into a smile.

    However, Xia Ling was still ignorant and continued to say, ¡°But I¡¯ve not passed the preliminary test either.¡± In all honesty, she was really not trying to show off. She just hasn¡¯t figured out whether she had been exempted or if she¡¯d walked into the wrong room. If she¡¯d gone to the wrong venue, she had to quickly find the correct examination room.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Her words were heard by Li Bingman, who couldn¡¯t help but stop and look at Xia Ling. ¡°Interesting. Who are you?¡± Her condescending gaze was very uforting.

    Before Xia Ling had known that she was Li Bingyu¡¯s sister, she had already felt dislike towards her. After hearing her speak in the same arrogant tone as her sister, she was even more disgusted. She retorted. ¡°I won¡¯t tell you.¡±

    The people beside her were all scared senseless. They quickly stepped back and set up a boundary away from Xia Ling. This brat wanted to look for death and offend Li Bingman, then she shouldn¡¯t implicate others.

    ¡°How could you talk like that to Miss Li Bingman!¡± A trainee reprimanded Xia Ling quickly, wanting to get on Li Bingman¡¯s good books.

    At this loud shouting, the whole room of candidates looked over.

    Xia Ling was even more unhappy. ¡°I talk like this, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Bingman looked at her. ¡°You said you were exempted too?¡± Didn¡¯t Sister tell her that she was the only one who had been exempted? This exemption took a lot of effort for her to get it! Impossible, this girl must only be talking shamelessly and lying. What qualifications did she even have to be exempted?

    Xia Ling felt a little guilty. She still suspected that she had gone to the wrong examination room. But no matter what, she could not lose and refused to admit her mistake. ¡°I¡¯ve not passed the first two exams.¡±

    Li Bingman frowned slightly but still maintained a good manner. ¡°What¡¯s your admission number?¡±

    ¡°Why should I tell you?¡± Xia Ling was heavily guarded against her.

    Someone next to her interrupted. ¡°Ha, guilty? The first letter of the admission number represents your test area. Only the exempted students have the first number S. We¡¯ll know if you¡¯ve been exempted just by seeing your admission number!¡±

 Chapter 1043 - Before the Finals

    <strong>Chapter 1043: Before the Finals</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling had not spoken, but Teacher Chen had already reached her name on the candidate list.

    Although Teacher Chen did not know who Xia Ling was, this girl here was simply too gorgeous. She looked just like the picture on the registration sheet, it would¡¯ve been impossible not to recognize her. ¡°She¡¯s Xia Ling,¡± Teacher Chen said to Li Bingman. ¡°Her entry proof number is H1119.¡±

    H1119!

    A lot of people beganughing. ¡°Haha, who does she think she is? Her entry proof number starts with an H and she has the audacity to say that she need not take the examination? Xia Ling, you should at least do your sums before boasting. Haha, what a joke...¡±

    Xia Ling could not care less about the peopleughing at her. She asked Teacher Chen, ¡°This is my examination venue, am I right?¡±

    She still remembered the time she walked into the wrong examination venue.

    Teacher Chen smiled insincerely. ¡°This is the final examination slot for Imperial¡¯s training camp and you have your entry proof, how could you possibly be in the wrong ce? Don¡¯t put on an act. You haven¡¯t even made a debut yet and you¡¯re already telling lies, who knows what would be of you in future? So what if you¡¯re pretty? In the training camp, lying is taboo!¡±

    She was simply too beautiful. Teacher Chen had been involved in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp for so many years, but she¡¯d never seen a girl who looked better than Xia Ling. Judging by her appearance alone, Teacher Chen knew that her chances of getting selected for the camp were pretty high¡ªeven if she couldn¡¯t sing or dance, she could be an advertising model!¡±

    Hence, Teacher Chen wasn¡¯t mocking her, but rather, giving her a lesson.

    Xia Ling felt wronged. ¡°I didn¡¯t lie.¡±

    ¡°Did you not?¡± Li Bingman sneered. ¡°You¡¯re so materialistic, even iming you were exempted. Tell me, what right do you have to be exempted from this?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± A few other candidates chorused. ¡°Li Bingman sings well, and her bearing and family background are good. But what about you?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling had not said that her bearing was not too bad too. After all, she had been trained under Ms. Sophia for a period of time, and she, who had trained princesses from all over the world, even said that she was a charismatic girl. But seeing all the annoyed faces around her, she decided she didn¡¯t want to exin herself any further.

    ¡°I¡¯m just better than you, how¡¯s that.¡± She red at Li Bingman. What a joke, she could even make Li Bingman¡¯s older sister cry, much less Li Bingman herself. ¡°If I hadn¡¯te for the examination on my own ount, I would¡¯ve made it to the training camp even without going through the final round!¡± She was a little girl, after all. She almost couldn¡¯t keep the bragging inside her. She was so close to telling them about Pei Ziheng¡¯s initial n, but herst bit of rationalism stopped her from mentioning his name.

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± This time, even Teacher Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    The other candidates looked at her like she was insane. ¡°Are you sick in the mind? Don¡¯t you know that candidates can only be exempted from the first and intermediate rounds of the selection for Imperial¡¯s training camp! No one has ever been able to get selected without having a go at the final round! Who do you think you are? The princess?!¡±

    ¡°I just can,¡± she whispered.

    Teacher Chen frowned. This girl had such a pretty face, but why was her EQ so low? Didn¡¯t she even think of finding things out before telling a lie? This was too absurd to be the truth!

    ¡°Your number starts with an H.¡± Teacher Chen decided to teach her a lesson and thumb her down. ¡°The prefix H means that youe from the Shabei district, and candidates from that district are known to be of inferior standard. It¡¯s been three years since anyone from that district got through the intermediate round. Since you were lucky enough to get through it, then cherish this opportunity and do well, instead of fantasizing about some privilege!¡±

    With that, she nced at Li Bingman with admiration. ¡°Even those with the privilege aren¡¯t as arrogant as you.¡±

    Xia Ling was even more unhappy now. ¡°I didn¡¯t get here by luck.¡± And also, why did they ssify her as someone from Shabei district? Brother Pei hadn¡¯t even told her about it beforehand, what even was that ce?

    With her very littlemon knowledge, she had no idea where that ce was or what it was like.

    Teacher Chen sneered. ¡°That damned ce... nobody there can sing or dance.¡± Her hopes for Xia Ling to go into acting were shattered as well. Seeing the way Xia Ling lied, she likely had no ir for acting.

    Xia Ling said very seriously, ¡°I can sing and dance.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha...¡± A group of them burst intoughter.

    The rest of the candidates were relieved when they found out that Xia Ling was from the Shabei district¡ªthat area was known to be poor, and no one inside was truly well-exposed, so how good could they be? Initially, Xia Ling¡¯s stunning beauty had got the other female candidates worried. But since she didn¡¯t have the ability, she wasn¡¯t much of a threat anymore.

    They continued mocking her, ¡°What spiritual dance do you do, or do you sing some folk song?¡±

    ¡°You people are too much!¡± Xia Ling was fuming mad. Why are these people so detestable and annoying? ¡°You are the people doing those spiritual dances and singing those spiritual songs, I sing better than any of you!¡± From her peripheral vision, she could see Li Bingman suppressing herughter elegantly. She turned and snapped at her too. ¡°Better than you too!¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± Li Bingman did not expect her to be personally attacked. She sneered. ¡°Frog in a well.¡±

    She side-eyed her condescendingly.

    Xia Ling was angered further and decided she was going to put up a good show for them! ¡°Just you wait! I¡¯lle in first! I¡¯ll get that... that Best Student of the Year title!¡±

    The rest erupted inughter once again.

    The little girl suppressed her anger as she waited for the final round to start.

    The rules for the final round were unique. Six examiners would sit behind a long desk, while 100 candidates would sit around them in a semicircle. There was no sequence for anyone to perform first, and it waspletely up to the candidates themselves. If nobody made a move to go next, the examiners¡¯ solution was straightforward but harsh¡ª

    They would randomly eliminate a candidate.

    The candidate would have no chance to be selected at all.

    Many of them said that this was an unfair practice, but the management had their justification: that luck yed a part in their ability too. If they did not have the luck, then they probably were not suited to be in the entertainment circle.

    The final round hadmenced, and everyone went quiet.

    Many of them shifted their line of sight to Xia Ling, wondering whether this boastful girl would volunteer to go first.

    But Xia Ling sat quietly without even flinching.

    The few examiners exchanged nces and Teacher Chen said, ¡°If nobody makes a move, we¡¯re going to randomly eliminate someone now.¡±

    Many of them gloatingly looked towards Xia Ling. Since she had offended Teacher Chen so badly, the first to be eliminated was definitely none other than her.

 Chapter 1044 - Examiner Feng Kun

    <strong>Chapter 1044: Examiner Feng Kun</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    One lesspetitor would always be good news.

    Many remained motionless and were waiting for Xia Ling to be eliminated.

    Even if there were several male candidates whose hearts ached for this beautiful youngdy to be undergoing such distress, they did not dare to gamble away their future. In almost everypetition, the first to go would most often be the one losing out. This wasmon sense.

    Teacher Chen and the other examiners exchanged nces.

    ¡°Zhou Keke, eliminated.¡± She casually flipped through the name lists and called out a name.

    ¡°What?!¡± The one whose name was Zhou Keke was in disbelief and blurted out, ¡°The one who should be eliminated is Xia Ling! This isn¡¯t fair!¡±

    ¡°Luck is also included when we consider one¡¯s capabilities. There¡¯s nothing unfair about depending upon your capabilities.¡± Teacher Chen stated a famous saying from Imperial¡¯s training guide.

    Zhou Keke shook her head, unable to ept the oue. ¡°Why isn¡¯t it Xia Ling? She clearly had a contradictory standpoint from you and is at odds with Miss Li Bingman!¡± A few minutes ago, she was still secretly mocking Xia Ling for being a dirt bun who wouldn¡¯t know any better and would definitely be knocked out. Who knew that the first to be eliminated would be she herself!

    Teacher Chen waved her hand impatiently. Immediately, two bodyguards appeared in front of her and courteously but firmly escorted Zhou Keke out. The entire ssroom was submerged in silence, and nobody made a noise. It was then that they realized what it felt like to be at Imperial¡¯s examination hall; thepetition was too brutal, and each man lived for himself only.

    Zhou Keke¡¯s wails faded into the distance.

    The main doors to the ssroom were sealed up by the guards. Teacher Chen scanned the room and calmly said, ¡°Do you think I would eliminate Xia Ling? My apologies. I will tell you upfront that in this round ofpetition, the only two who will not be eliminated due to chance are Li Bingman and Xia Ling!¡±

    A sound of surprise rang across the ssroom, as a slightmotion began.

    ¡°Why is this so?!¡± Some candidates were dissatisfied and burst out saying, ¡°Li Bingman is the Diva¡¯s sister, so we can understand why she is being protected. But why does Xia Ling enjoy the same privilege?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, why is that so?¡± The candidates asked one after another.

    ¡°Because you all aren¡¯t as pretty as her.¡± Another male examiner spoke up. He was young and had a calm, graceful expression. He was the kind of person whom people feltfortable being around. However, the words that left his mouth were brutally cold and harsh. ¡°Have you heard of this line? Justice serves looks. For a beautiful girl like Xia Ling, her face is her ticket forward.¡±

    The candidates descended into a state of silence once again, with many of them staring at her withplicated emotions. Regardless of how jealous they may be, they could not deny that this girl was indeed beautiful. She had the kind of beauty that stunned people, that nobody could resist.

    ¡°Even if she didn¡¯t have strengths, she can live purely because of her looks. Can you?¡± The same male examiner stated the facts.

    ¡°I¡¯m not someone without strengths.¡± Despite the fact that he was standing up for her, Xia Ling was not pleased. She was clearly good at singing.

    ¡°For goodness sake, is this girl crazy?¡± Amotion stirred up within the crowd of candidates.

    Sitting right in the center of the panel of examiners was Feng Kun. At a young age, he was already deemed to be Imperial¡¯s best musicposer. Any piece of music that heposed always made it big.

    Oh, Feng Kun!

    The idol of many children who dreamed of being celebrities!

    And today, this brat from the countryside actually dared to oppose him?

    Of course, a feral child was a feral child indeed, one who had no exposure!

    A bunch of candidates wasining like crazy in their minds. Who could have guessed that Feng Kun would only look at Xia Ling, chuckling warmly without a word? Even Teacher Chen threw a rude re in Xia Ling¡¯s direction. ¡°Don¡¯t take advantage of the fact that you¡¯re pretty. Good looks are only the first stepping stone into the entertainment world. Having nobody supporting you will bring about disastrous oues!¡±

    After speaking, a cold expression fell across her face as she turned to face the candidates. ¡°Whose turn is it to perform?¡±

    Candidates turned to look at each other. At this point in time, they no longer held hopes for the possibility of Xia Ling being eliminated by chance. In order to prevent himself from being the next unfortunate victim of random elimination, a male candidate quickly stood up, announcing, ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±

    For the first examination, even though there were several disadvantages, there were also benefits, such as leaving the strongest impression in the minds of the examiners.

    This male candidate held much confidence in his abilities. Thus, he took that step of courage.

    He excitedly performed a short piece, and his skills were indeed remarkable.

    Several examiners individually gave him scores. Excluding the highest and lowest score, the remaining four scores were averaged and that made up the final score for this candidate: 7.6 marks.

    ¡°Full marks being 10, getting a 7.6 is pretty good.¡± Candidates sitting among the audience started whispering, discussing how the selection baseline for the previous year was 7.6. If it remained the same this year, he would definitely be selected!

    That particr candidate was rather satisfied with his own mark, yet also felt slightly uneasy. What if the selection baseline this year was higher than the previous year¡¯s? He gave a polite bow to the examiners, before retreating to his seat to watch the rest of the performances, while waiting for the overall oue of results.

    With him kickstarting the process, the other candidates began taking their turn to go on stage.

    There were high and low scores, with cheers andughter and also disappointment.

    ¡°The examination this year seems really strict. Zhao Tian danced so well just now, but only got a score of 8.1. They¡¯re making it so hard!¡± Some candidates were heard saying this.

    ¡°Who says this isn¡¯t strict. Over 60 candidates have gone, but the highest score is only 8.4 when the highestst year was 9.2!¡± Another candidate mentioned.

    ¡°9.2? There¡¯s no hope left for us. Let¡¯s see if Li Bingman can break the record this year. Just look at her, sitting there so calm andposed, looking full of confidence.¡±

    Sitting at a corner of the ssroom, Li Bingman was sipping tea in ady-like manner while looking towards the stage.

    Her steady, unwavering demeanor was disconcerting for many. Thinking about it, no wonder she was the Diva¡¯s sister. Probably due to gics, she possessed the demeanor of a celebrity.

    On the contrary, Xia Ling just couldn¡¯t sit still and impatiently shifted around.

    Even though she had also learned etiquette, Ms. Sophia¡¯s etiquette ss was never about teaching her how to be ady who followed the rules but about designing a set of unique etiquette rules to suit her lively character, causing her to alsoe off as beautifully alluring even as she fidgeted.

    This was one area in which Ms. Sophia was wiser and smarter than other etiquette teachers.

    Beauty was never about following a particr set of rules, but about each individual revealing their own unique radiance.

    But to the many who sat in the audience, even if they felt that the way this girl¡¯s fidgeting was exceptionally pleasant to look at, they still saw her as a disobedient child, and it was a strange sight. ¡°Just look at her,¡± someone said while pointing at Xia Ling. ¡°Not even sitting in an appropriate way. And she thinks she canpete with Li Bingman. What a joke.¡±

 Chapter 1045 - Sing Any Song You Want

    <strong>Chapter 1045: Sing Any Song You Want</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling heard it and turned around to re at them.

    She refused to go first and simplyid back in her seat, waiting. The other candidates went up one by one to perform, but she did not enjoy it at all. She even began wondering whether there was something wrong with her judgment¡ªwhy was it that the items that everyone pped for and admired not awe her at all? How boring...

    A whileter, she dozed off in her seat.

    At the examiners¡¯ panel, Feng Kun was observing her while watching the performances. From the very first time he saw her, he had sensed an aura exuding from all over her... it was a unique feeling, one that was hard to describe. But what he knew was that every single one of the people whom he saw possessed such a charm had turned out to be megastars.

    He looked forward to her performance.

    But even after half of the candidates had had their turn, she was still lying back in her seat and shaking her leg, evidently very bored by this. And this was the selection for Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp! The selection for the cream of the crop! Every other candidate was getting nervous, and somehow she was acting so differently?

    Those who did not know the situation would think she was waiting for a train.

    Xia Ling had a pretty good sleep. She dreamt that she got selected for the training camp and that she made her debut as a celebrity. She was on stage to receive the Best Female Singer award, and it was Pei Ziheng who presented it to her...

    ¡°Xia Ling? Xia Ling!¡± Someone called her.

    She jerked awake and rubbed her eyes before realizing that every candidate and examiner in the room was looking at her, speechless. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She asked groggily, looking all innocent.

    They really had no words for this girl!

    Feng Kun stifled hisughter and kindly said to her, ¡°Every other candidate has had their turn. Only you and Li Bingman are left, which one of you wants to go first?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s fast,¡± Xia Ling murmured to herself. She was so upset. In her dream, Brother Pei was just about to hand her the trophy! She had not even received it, but someone had already woken her up.

    How was this considered fast? Everyone else was getting tired from the long period of watching item after item presented by one another. The examiners couldn¡¯t wait to be done with their jobs, while the candidates couldn¡¯t wait for the results to be announced. Feng Kun asked again gently, ¡°So, have you decided whether you are going first, or Li Bingman?¡±

    ¡°She first!¡± Both girls said at the exact same moment.

    On that note, both of them looked at each other with the eye of an enemy.

    Li Bingman wanted to be the final performer, the ¡°grandest¡± of them all. She solemnly said to Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯m letting you go first.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Why do I need you to let me go first? You sing any song you want, then I will sing the same song as you right after. I¡¯ll definitely do a better job.¡± This was the only reason she wanted Li Bingman to go first. Since everyone looked down on her, she was going to prove herself to them! When it came to singing, she had never lost to anyone.

    The moment she said that everyone gasped¡ªhow arrogant!

    They had witnessed confidence in others, but not in this way! Moreover, this was in front of the examiners! ¡°Is she mad?¡± Everyone looked at one another. ¡°It¡¯s bad enough if she¡¯s iming to beat anyone else, but Li Bingman? Does this country bumpkin know who Li Bingman is?¡±

    ¡°I think she must be too uptight,¡± a few of the candidates said.

    Li Bingman¡¯s expression was getting pretty interesting. Someone actually told her to ¡°sing any song she wants¡±, and then intended to beat her with the same song! This was akin to having a weakling challenge a martial arts master, while saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you three moves worth of headstart.¡± This was an utter insult to the master!

    Li Bingman was about to explode from anger. She was smiling irrationally now. ¡°You really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re made of.¡±

    Xia Ling proudly raised her chin. ¡°Who¡¯s the one who doesn¡¯t know what she¡¯s made of? Just tell me whether you dare to take on the challenge or not.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Li Bingman sneered. ¡°But I don¡¯t think you¡¯re in the position to challenge me! Xia Ling, you go first!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna! I refuse!¡±

    Both of them red at each other without giving an inch.

    The examiners rubbed their foreheads. This was the first time in all of Imperial¡¯s training camp history that they were in such a situation. It was seriously... too strange. They continued exchanging nces, urging the other to go first.

    Atst, Feng Kun broke the silence. ¡°Both of you want to singst? How about this, whoever sings first gets to choose the song, and whoever goes after that will have to sing the same song. Xia Ling, are you okay with that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Xia Ling responded quickly. This was her n, to begin with.

    ¡°Li Bingman, are you okay with that?¡± Feng Kun asked her this time.

    ¡°I...¡± Li Bingman hesitated. This was putting her in a fix! She didn¡¯t have the confidence, and even if her sister Li Bingyu was here, she probably wouldn¡¯t have it too. There were too many songs in this world, who knew what the other would pick? What if she didn¡¯t know the song?¡±

    ¡°Examiner, Xia Ling is being unreasonable!¡± Li Bingman said, ¡°She...¡±

    Before she could finish her sentence, Feng Kun cut her off. ¡°Very well, you¡¯ll go first then.¡±

    ¡°I!¡± Li Bingman was anxious now. How could Feng Kun have made the decision so quickly?

    ¡°You may begin.¡± Feng Kun couldn¡¯t care less about her exnation. He was the gem of Imperial Entertainment, the most sought after musicposer, one whom even Li Bingyu dared not offend. The other examiners dared not go against him and naturally took his words as the final say.

    Li Bingman felt aggrieved. Beforeing for this selection, her sister had told her time and again that she had to performst to leave the best impression. She¡¯d finally waited it out and now, that feral child had stolen the limelight!

    But she dared not go against Feng Kun in any way and had no choice but to slowly make her way to the stage.

    ¡°I¡¯ll sing...¡± She thought for a while. ¡°I¡¯ll sing a Russian song, ¡®Shooting Star and Fireworks¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Russian song!¡± Everyone was shocked by that. So far, anyone who¡¯d chosen to sing a song in a foreignnguage other than English hadn¡¯t managed to go far. Firstly, the examiners were unable to judge theirpetency in singing Chinese songs. Secondly, they might not be able to understand what they were singing. Thirdly, singing songs in othernguages did not help in developing one¡¯s career locally. Lastly, it was difficult to pronounce it urately, with the right ents and intonations.

    For these reasons, most of the people who chose to sing songs in foreignnguages ended up pretty badly.

    The fact that Li Bingman chose to sing a Russian song just proved how confident she was!

    The examiners looked at each other. Teacher Chen said, ¡°You¡¯d better be sure of your choice. Russian songs are very challenging¡ªif you sing it well, it¡¯d be magnificent. But if you mess it up, you probably won¡¯t get another chance.¡±

    ¡°Russian is my thirdnguage,¡± Li Bingman said confidently. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Teacher Zhou. I¡¯ll do just fine.¡± She had initially prepared a Chinese song for the selection, but because of Xia Ling¡¯s challenge, she changed her mind at thest minute to teach that feral child a lesson!

 Chapter 1046 - What to Outperform Her with

    <h4>Chapter 1046: What to Outperform Her with</h4>

    Many other candidates shared that sentiment and looked at Xia Ling gloatingly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s brows furrowed slightly. Never would she have expected that Li Bingman would know a song in a foreignnguage; the concept she had of singing was just... Chinese songs. But since she was the one issuing the challenge, there was no way she could back out now. She calmly and proudly raised her head high.

    Ha. Li Bingman was sneering on the inside. Little feral girl, let¡¯s see how long you can keep up this pretense.

    She lifted her long skirt and elegantly walked towards the stage. Behind her, a five-man band took their seats.

    ¡°Wow, the Diva¡¯s sister is the Diva¡¯s sister indeed, she even brought her own band to the selection,¡± one of the candidates said in envy. The rest of them had just brought their music recording instead.

    Li Bingman could not help but grin upon hearing that.

    For this selection, she had specially hired this band and practiced hard with them. After day and night of rehearsing together, they had only perfected no more than three songs. Most of the time, those who got into the final round of selection would prepare two to three songs, just in case anything cropped up at thest minute¡ªsuch as someone else singing the same song, or someone else managing to perform a simr genre better and so on.

    As for Li Bingman, this Russian song was her backup.

    Although it was in a foreignnguage, the pitch range of this song was wide and extremelyplex in itsyers. It tested the fundamental skills of a singer, and it suited Li Bingman¡¯s disposition very well.

    Offstage, a few candidates understood what was going on. ¡°Li Bingman must have practiced hard with this band. Xia Ling is really going down this time.¡±

    ¡°Haha, that country bumpkin deserves a lesson.¡±

    ¡°Li Bingman, go for it!¡± Someone cheered her on.

    ¡°Go for it!¡± More people chorused.

    Li Bingman¡¯s lips curled up. As she had thought, she was indeed the star of the show, the one everyone admired. She got to the center of the stage, bowed gracefully to the examiners and began singing with the apaniment of the band.

    It was a beautiful andplex Russian song indeed.

    Li Bingman managed to execute it extremely well. On some notes, it felt deep as the ocean, and in other verses, one could practically visualize the shooting stars and fireworks lighting up the night sky. With her careful management of each and every lyric, she managed to bring her audience into an alternate virtual world.

    ¡°Amazing...¡± The others apuded once she was done singing.

    Li Bingman lived up to the status of being the Diva¡¯s sister. Her voice was clear and melodious, and she managed to disy her plethora of singing techniques. The few examiners exchanged nces and felt that she had the potential to be a Diva in the future as well.

    ¡°9.3!¡± Her final score was 9.3.

    Amotion was sparked among the candidates. The highest score in the previous year was 9.2, but Li Bingman had surpassed it!

    ¡°Just look at how good Li Bingman is. Ha, and someone is still silly enough to challenge her.¡± After the score was announced, the other candidates could not wait to watch how Xia Ling would embarrass herself. This was the highest score of this cohort, and she was thinking of beating it? Haha, feral child, just you wait.

    Li Bingman looked at Xia Ling haughtily, as if saying: Feral child, afraid now?

    At this point, however, Xia Ling was no longer nervous at all. She knew that she couldn¡¯t speak Russian. Hence, she put in all her effort to listen closely when Li Bingman was singing. When it came to music, she had an astounding talent¡ªfor any song that she put her heart to listen to, she was able to remember almost every part of it. Although it was in Russian this time, she had managed to secure the majority of the details of the song. She had Li Bingman to thank for singing it so well. Every beautiful song had a sort of cadence, whether in its pitch, tone or otherwise, and it made people feelfortable when they listened to it.

    As for Xia Ling, she was very sensitive to such a feeling.

    She did not understand what the lyrics meant, nor did she bother to. But the title of the song itself, its melody and the emotions that Li Bingman poured into performing it gave Xia Ling a good enough understanding of the song¡¯s essence. Visual imagery of the song shed in her mind like a movie of its own. With her stunning gift for music, she felt that she could give it a shot.

    ¡°Xia Ling, if you can¡¯t do it, just admit it.¡± Teacher Chen urged her. ¡°What matters in the camp is your actual level ofpetence, you can pick a song that you are confident of. Of course, you¡¯ll also have to apologize to Li Bingman.¡±

    Xia Ling made her way to the stage as if she had not heard what Teacher Chen just said.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling!¡±

    Teacher Chen and a few others began yelling at her, wondering if she was in the right frame of mind. At this point, was she still trying to fight her way through? Teacher Chen called out, ¡°Xia Ling, are you deaf?!¡±

    Xia Ling walked to the center of the stage, not bothering about the rest of them. She closed her eyes.

    She had no other distractions as she went through the song over and over again in her mind, each time making adjustments to improve it. She did not have the heart to bother about Teacher Chen now. She needed to focus on this song, this inspiration that she was getting. As it involved a foreign song that she had never heard before this, such a distraction could be ¡°fatal¡±.

    Light poured in through the windows and onto her as if it was a spotlight.

    Many of them suddenly realized that this girl in an ordinary blue dress was so... so beautiful and pure when quiet. Gradually, the whole room quietened down.

    Teacher Chen was about to say something more, but Feng Kun grabbed her arm and shook his head.

    Everyone was waiting for Xia Ling. A whileter, she opened her eyes.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Feng Kun asked with a smile. When Li Bingman was performing earlier, he had observed this girl for a long while. He noticed that the way she was so focused on listening to the song, almost as if she¡¯d poured all her heart and soul into it. The fact that she was still able to do this even under so much pressure proved that her psychological quality far surpassed most other candidates. This was a quality that would serve artistes well during live performances in the entertainment industry.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Feng Kun nced at Li Bingman¡¯s apanying band and said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to trouble you to y it one more time.¡±

    The band members had no objection and were ready once again.

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°Wait, can the apaniment be adjusted?¡±

    The band looked up at her and Feng Kun was taken aback as well. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to raise the whole song by one tone,¡± she said.

    Everyone gasped when she said that¡ªthey¡¯d already thought of her as a madwoman, but even more so now! Li Bingman was already singing in a very high tone and struggled a little to reach the highest notes of the song. The other candidates figured that they wouldn¡¯t have been able to reach itfortably either, but Xia Ling was thinking of raising it even further!

    This difference of one tone was crucial.

    At such a high pitch, even a semitone could make all the difference!

    Even Feng Kun was shocked. ¡°You¡¯ve thought it through clearly?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. Although she¡¯d memorized the Russian song, she did not know the meaning behind the lyrics, after all. Hence, her expression and enunciation would not be as good as Li Bingman.

    The only thing she could beat her in was her pitch.

 Chapter 1047 - She Can Sing Falsetto

    <h4>Chapter 1047: She Can Sing Falsetto</h4>

    Li Bingman had some difficulty reaching the high notes, and Xia Ling managed to detect it. Back then she¡¯d thought to herself, if she was the one performing it, she¡¯d be able tofortably sing those notes even if they were one tone higher.

    But some people mocked her quietly. ¡°Oh, how she overestimates herself.¡±

    The band leader looked at Xia Ling and the examiners. ¡°One tone higher would mean we¡¯re ying in C7.¡± C7 was already in the range of the falsetto, and not many even in the world were able to sing falsetto.

    The band leader looked at Xia Ling and the examiners, ¡°One tone higher would mean we¡¯re ying in C7.¡± C7 was already in the range of the falsetto, and not many even in the world were able to sing falsetto.

    The few examiners exchanged nces, unsure of how they should proceed.

    What were the chances that a candidate would be able to sing falsetto? It was close to impossible!

    If the candidate really could sing falsetto and had the interest to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, he or she would long have been taken away by those star searchers for grooming instead of trying out for a selection here. The statement ¡°I can sing falsetto¡± would have gotten countlesspanies fighting over this talent! One of the examiners looked at Xia Ling in disbelief. ¡°Little girl, you can sing in C7?¡±

    Xia Ling had never heard of such a term. ¡°What¡¯s C7?¡± All her singing had been self-learned. Hence, she did not know the technical aspects of music, much less a term like C7.

    The examiners were speechless. It seemed like they had all thought wrong. This was just a girl who knew nothing about her own ability. She was simply trying to resort to any means that could help her beat Li Bingman. Teacher Chen scolded her. ¡°Are you messing with us now!¡±

    Xia Ling repeatedly stubbornly, ¡°I want to raise it by a tone.¡± She looked at Feng Kun with her bright, clear eyes, believing that this kind and gentle examiner would speak up for her.

    As she¡¯d guessed, Feng Kun smiled once again.

    ¡°Up a tone,¡± he said to the band.

    ¡°How can this be allowed?¡± Teacher Chen was disapproving.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this absurd?¡± Another examiner voiced his disbelief.

    Feng Kun said to them, ¡°Let her give it a shot.¡± Although he was young, his status among them was high and respected. With his words, the rest of them had no further objection. Alright then, they¡¯d let her give it a shot, but just so that she¡¯d know the consequences of spewing nonsense. So what if she had a pretty face, it wasn¡¯t invincible!

    All the other candidates kept quiet as they anticipated mocking Xia Ling.

    Even Li Bingman was sneering. Wretched girl, do you really think it¡¯s so easy for me to reach those high notes? It might sound effortless, but it takes a lot of work for me to achieve it! Li Bingman felt that this was a challenging song, and thought that Xia Ling was only boasting because she couldn¡¯t even tell theplexities of the song.

    She¡¯d already thought of how to insult Xia Ling when she embarrassed herselfter.

    Xia Ling regted her breathing and signaled for the band to start. The instrumentalsmenced, and they were a whole tone higher than before. Xia Ling tipped her head up slightly and closed her eyes as she entered her dreamscape. In that world, she was the princess, the queen, the creator, and all of the notes were under hermand.

    In her unique style, she sang the first line of the Russian song.

    Just one line was enough to awe everyone present.

    It sounded a little like Li Bingman, and yet at the same time, not quite.

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was more hollow and lighter, almost like a little bird that wouldn¡¯t leave a single trace in the skies it had conquered. Everyone was waiting for the next line that she¡¯d deliver. At this point, nobody was thinking of her enunciation anymore¡ªmusic was universal and traversed boundaries, the sort of feeling one could evoke was far more important than thenguage inhibitions.

    And Xia Ling was the sort of person who could evoke such strong emotions.

    In the second line, she fluently performed a slight twist in the rhythm, and it reminded them of a feather drifting slowly in the wind. Many of them were holding their breaths, afraid that they would disturb this beautiful dreamscape.

    The third line, then the fourth...

    They realized to their surprise that Xia Ling¡¯s voice was in no way inferior to Li Bingman¡¯s, and that its effects were even more powerful and infectious than Li Bingman¡¯s. Li Bingman¡¯s singing would get herments such as ¡°that¡¯s a good voice¡±, but Xia Ling¡¯s singing practically took them into another world, so much so that they¡¯d forget this was just a song...

    Only the minority of examiners were still fully conscious and focused.

    Feng Kun¡¯s eyes lit up. He¡¯d always looked forward to this little girl¡¯s performance, and she ended up exceeding his expectations. He was now leaning forward and resting his chin on both hands as he focused on her.

    ¡°It¡¯sing, it¡¯sing,¡± a few examiners said all of a sudden.

    While being immersed in Xia Ling¡¯s voice, they had not forgotten that this whole song had been raised a tone. This meant that the higher notes would reach C7 and above into the falsetto range. Such a singing style required talent more than anything¡ªthose who could sing falsetto would naturally be able to conquer those notes and execute them wonderfully, while ordinary singers would never be able to achieve such a level even if they worked on it their whole lives.

    Could Xia Ling sing falsetto or not?

    If ordinary singers were seen as sand on the beach, then one who could sing a falsetto would be a precious stone in the sand! That was how precious they were!

    All the examiners sat up instinctively.

    Xia Ling sang a light-hearted tune, the first part of the high notes in the song. She reached the C7 note wlessly and effortlessly.

    ¡°Gosh...¡± All the examiners were in utter shock. This girl really could do it!

    She was just like a bird soaring through the air, achieving greater heights with minimal effort... This was a three-segment melody of high notes, with each subsequent one higher than thest. The highest of them all was considered rare even among other songs with falsetto parts. But for her, it didn¡¯t seem much different at all. She raised her pitch perfectly for each segment that came and managed to have the three segments flow beautifully. At the end of this high-pitch verse, her melodious voice was still suspended in the air. She went on and lowered her voice for the following parts, perfectly performing the mid- and low-pitch segments as well.

    ... Simply wless!

    Everyone was too shocked to speak as theypletely immersed in her gift of voice.

    Finally, when Xia Ling was done with the song, she bowed before the examiners.

    Not a single sound was heard offstage.

    A secondter, Feng Kun began apuding before the rest finally snapped out of their daze and went along.

    Xia Ling smiled at the examiners. ¡°Did I sing well?¡±

    The examiners acknowledged her statement with silence. They were simply speechless when it came to this girl¡¯s character¡ªall the other candidates were polite and fearful, and every one of them acted humble even if they knew they did well. But what about her? She was actively fishing forpliments.

    ¡°Modesty!¡± Teacher Chen felt a need to teach this girl some manners.

    Xia Ling ignored her and looked toward Feng Kun. She¡¯d realized by now that Feng Kun was the nicest examiner around here, and all that mattered to her were hisments.

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°You sang very well. You¡¯re in.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± She gasped. ¡°But the score isn¡¯t out yet.¡±

    ¡°No need for that. You¡¯re first,¡± Feng Kun said. Well, who¡¯d object to a girl who could sing a falsettoing first in the finals?

 Chapter 1048 - Record Breaker

    <h4>Chapter 1048: Record Breaker</h4>

    But some of them were not convinced.

    Li Bingman argued. ¡°On what grounds? Her enunciation isn¡¯t even right!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her with a grin. ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m still better than you, hmph!¡±

    Teacher Chen cleared her throat and looked at Xia Ling sternly. ¡°You should be humble, knowing that you didn¡¯t enunciate the words correctly. And is this the way to treat your ssmates?¡± It was practically set in stone that Xia Ling and Li Bingman were both going to be selected. Hence, it wasn¡¯t wrong to call them ssmates in advance.

    Xia Ling kept quiet, but the look on her face spelled disapproval.

    Teacher Chen was fuming on the inside. This girl did not even know basic manners!

    Li Bingman looked toward Teacher Chen with a pout. ¡°She can sing falsetto, but does that necessarily make her better than me? This is unfair. Her Russian enunciation is inurate, and she sang wrongly in some parts. How could shee in first?¡±

    Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°What¡¯s the big deal.¡± She had never learned Russian before, and it was already marvelous that she could perform it at this standard. Li Bingman was obviously finding fault for the sake of it just because she had the advantage of knowing thenguage.

    But Teacher Chen felt that Li Bingman made sense. ¡°Teacher Feng and examiners, for fairness¡¯ sake, we should give Xia Ling a score too. Xia Ling sings well, but her imperfect enunciation is a huge issue in this song. Moreover, Li Bingman¡¯s more graceful in her performance... To determine who shoulde in first, let¡¯s give her a score.¡±

    Teacher Chen was evidently biased against Xia Ling.

    Feng Kun asked Teacher Chen, ¡°You said her enunciation is inurate?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Teacher Chen was insistent.

    ¡°For which words?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± The cat got Teacher Chen¡¯s tongue. How was she to know? She didn¡¯t speak Russian!

    Feng Kun smiled and looked around. ¡°Who else thinks that Xia Ling¡¯s enunciation is inurate?¡±

    The other examiners and candidates exchanged looks but kept silent. While it was evident that Teacher Chen was biased towards Li Bingman, it wasn¡¯t any less obvious that Feng Kun favored Xia Ling! The current situation was extremely delicate and sensitive.

    Li Bingman tried her luck. ¡°The first word of the first line! And the third and fifth words of the second line! At the back, she mispronounced ¡®star¡¯ too... We can forget about those minor ones, but Teacher, you¡¯ve got to believe me! You can check Xia Ling¡¯s version against mine.¡± She knew that Feng Kun wasn¡¯t all that easy to convince, but for the sake of the ¡°Best Student of the Year¡± title, she had to give it a shot.

    Feng Kun did not get angry. Instead, he said to her nicely, ¡°Enunciation is only oneponent of a song, it¡¯s not a determinant of one¡¯s singing ability. In fact, I¡¯m in favor of forsaking the nitty-gritty of enunciation for the greater effect of making the ambiance of the performance more infectious and enjoyable. But everyone has a different mindset and style, and you can maintain your own stand on this.¡±

    This got many of the other candidates to think carefully about it.

    It was already a privilege to be able to receive judgment and critique from such an outstandingposer. In fact, for many of the candidates, this would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity. But this particr statement of his was even more powerful and meaningful, and many of them found themselves nodding in agreement.

    But Li Bingman felt that Feng Kun was simply shielding Xia Ling. She did not believe that the influence and power of one¡¯s singing could be achieved without technical precision. Even if it was possible, it wasn¡¯t a level that the country bumpkin Xia Ling could attain! ¡°I want it to be scored,¡± she said stubbornly. ¡°Teacher Feng, please give me a fair fighting chance.¡±

    Feng Kun nced at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t mind it. ¡°So be it.¡± She was happy that Feng Kun made her first without scoring her, but if she really wanted to take the easy way out, she wouldn¡¯t have needed toe for the selection at all. Since she had chosen to be here, she had no fear of fairpetition. She looked up and smiled at Li Bingman. ¡°Even with the score, you¡¯d still lose.¡±

    She knew exactly how well she performed.

    Besides the enunciation, she had beaten her opponent in all other aspects.

    If Li Bingman still came in first despite this, then something was really wrong.

    Feng Kun spun his fountain pen casually. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s give a score.¡±

    After the highest and lowest scores were removed, the final result was¡ª

    ¡°9.6!¡± Everybody was utterly surprised at the score. This was a record-breaker! It did not just surpass the highest score of the previous year, it was also a first in all of Imperial¡¯s training camp history! Before Xia Ling, the highest ever was just 9.4!

    ¡°Gosh, what sort of monster is she?¡± The candidates were chattering again.

    Li Bingman¡¯s face went pale. No, how could this be? How could this feral child¡¯s score be so absurdly high? She didn¡¯t believe it... she wouldn¡¯t!

    ¡°Li Bingman, what do you have to say now? You¡¯re a full 0.3 points lower than me! 0.3! You didn¡¯t even break the record, haha.¡± Xia Ling went on to agitate her.

    Li Bingman took a few deep breaths topose herself. She looked towards her coldly and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it just your falsetto? This only shows that you¡¯re talented, it doesn¡¯t mean that your singing is better than mine!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, I¡¯m simply more talented than you, so what?¡± Li Bingman had gotten on her nerves time and again, boasting about her singing. This was payback time.

    Li Bingman was almost losing it. This feral child was really... really too much!

    ¡°Anyone has a problem with this result?¡± Feng Kun asked.

    This time, no one said anything, not even Teacher Chen. She was the one who gave the lowest score, the one that was not taken into consideration. Well, she tried her best, but still could not stop Xia Ling froming in first. Li Bingman still couldn¡¯t take it lying down, but she knew that if she went on about it, it would only look bad on her. Hence, she kept quiet and put on an expression that suggested: ¡°I won¡¯t stoop to Xia Ling¡¯s level¡±.

    Xia Ling hummed a merry tune and added, ¡°You guys were really creating trouble. Teacher Feng already said we didn¡¯t need scoring, that would¡¯ve saved us time. But you insisted on it. And look, aren¡¯t we back to square one?¡±

    Feng Kun smiled, realizing that he liked this proud little girl pretty much. Candid people like her were few and far between in the entertainment circle. He was already looking forward to seeing what this little girl would grow up to be like.

    Havinge in first, Xia Ling happily went home with the chauffeur.

    At dinner, she told Pei Ziheng about everything that happened that day. At the very end, she concluded. ¡°That Teacher Feng Kun had the best judgment! Teacher Chen is a fool! Li Bingman is a meanie!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was cutting her steak for her. ¡°You like Feng Kun?¡±

    ¡°He sounded pretty cool when he said those stuff,¡± she muttered a little inaudibly with her mouth full of steak. ¡°He really likes my singing.¡±

 Chapter 1049 - This Car Is Borrowed

    <h4>Chapter 1049: This Car Is Borrowed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng did not say anything more as he thought about the selection list¡ªwhen she debuted in the future, she¡¯d need an outstanding musicposer, and maybe Feng Kun would be a good choice. But he needed to observe a little further first.

    As for Li Bingman and Teacher Chen?

    Very well, he¡¯d remember them.

    Xia Ling rested at home for a few days, learning about etiquette and meddling in the garden. When the official letter of selection came, she happily got Nanny Zhou to pack the luggage for her as she mentally prepared herself for the reporting. Nanny Zhou looked at the long packing list including a toothbrush, towel, slippers and so on as she hesitated to get packing. She decided to go to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Mister, didn¡¯t you say that Miss need not live in the dorm?¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at the packing list. ¡°Pack the luggage for her first. I¡¯ve told the training school about it. When they¡¯re done with the allocation of students into their dorms we¡¯ll tell her that there aren¡¯t enough beds. She¡¯ll not be living in the dorm.¡± Through their interaction, he had realized that this little girl did not enjoy having privileges. As such, he would simply not let her know that she was enjoying privileges in the first ce. Moreover... it was pretty embarrassing to admit that he could not bear to have her live on campus.

    Nanny Zhou nodded and went to pack Xia Ling¡¯s luggage.

    Xia Ling was overjoyed. She wrapped her arms around Nanny Zhou¡¯s neck and nted a kiss on her. ¡°Nanny Zhou is the best!¡±

    Seeing this little girl¡¯s bright smile lifted Nanny Zhou¡¯s spirits. She stood at the entrance of the vi as she saw her off. As the car set off, she felt a strange sense of longing and missing her... maybe Mister felt the same too, having formed such an attachment with Miss over time.

    Arriving at the training camp.

    The sky was bright and the sun glowed.

    All sorts of luxury cars were parked at the entrance of the training camp¡ªBMW, Audi, Lamborghini... almost as if this was a branded car exhibition. Most people who could afford to send their children to such a camp were pretty wealthy. In order to conceal her identity, Xia Ling arrived in a BMW of an ordinary model and did not appear outstanding at all in the midst of the others.

    But a few girls in the final round were a little surprised¡ªwasn¡¯t Xia Ling a country bumpkin? They were still mocking her for being a candidate from the Shabei district, and how she probably needed to apply for financial aid. Who would have guessed that she could afford to sit in a BMW!

    ¡°Pfft, she¡¯s just trying to show off,¡± someonemented.

    Although Xia Ling¡¯s performance in the final round was extraordinary, and she had been awarded the Best Student of the Year, many still felt that she was simply a little more gifted than others. In terms of overall skill and performance, they still admired Li Bingman more. After all, Li Bingman¡¯s family was renowned! She was the Diva¡¯s sister! Would she even have any worry when she made her debut in the future?

    Many of the trainees had already decided that they would suck up to Li Bingman, and naturally, that meant ostracizing Xia Ling.

    One of the girls who arrived in a mboyant outfit had her car parked beside Xia Ling¡¯s, and both their BMWs were exactly the same model. She peered at Xia Ling who was a distance away and said to her father, ¡°Dad, that girl is from Shabei, how could her family own such an expensive car? Our car cost a million yuan. Why don¡¯t you go ask her if that¡¯s really hers?¡±

    Her father looked toward Xia Ling as well but said, ¡°This is your first day here, there¡¯s no point kicking a fuss over this. You¡¯re all going to be ssmates and you¡¯ll find out eventually.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, who¡¯s ssmates with her?¡± The girl responded, ¡°Dad, I already told you that I¡¯m going to be on Li Bingman¡¯s side during the training camp. Her sister is a Diva. If I¡¯m her friend, I¡¯ll stand to gain too when I make my debut. I¡¯d better find more things to talk about with Li Bingman. That girl is Li Bingman¡¯s nemesis. If I find out more about her, Li Bingman will definitely have a better impression of me.¡±

    Her father wasn¡¯t very willing to do as she said, but for his daughter¡¯s future, he went ahead.

    The chauffeur was busy helping Xia Ling with her luggage. As no parent or guardian was allowed to enter the premises, he had simply watched her disappear into the camp with her belongings.

    ¡°Hey buddy, sending your child?¡± The father walked over and offered the chauffeur a cigarette.

    ¡°I don¡¯t smoke.¡± The chauffeur politely declined. ¡°Mi... Xiao Ling isn¡¯t my child.¡± He was about to address her ¡°Miss¡±, but remembered how Xia Ling repeated time and again that she did not want her identity exposed.

    ¡°Xiao Ling? What a nice name.¡± The father smiled. ¡°I sent my daughter here. She¡¯s Jiajia, they¡¯ll all be ssmates in the future. Oh right, what¡¯s your rtionship with her? Where are her parents? Why didn¡¯t they bring her here on their own?¡±

    The chauffeur was well-trained for this and would never disclose the Pei family¡¯s secrets to outsiders. He simply smiled and kept quiet.

    The father was not content. He tried asking again, ¡°This car is maintained pretty well. Buddy, did you get this yourself? It¡¯s the same model as mine over there. I got a little dent on minest year and spent quite a bit on the maintenance.¡±

    Like other men, it was hard not to be invested when talking about one¡¯s beloved car.

    The chauffeur smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a million yuan, how could I afford it? I borrowed it at thest minute. My own car is a little tattered, it isn¡¯t suitable for sending Mi... Xiao Ling to camp.¡± He usually drove Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce, while his own car was just an ordinary family model, and both were not suitable for such an event¡ªthe former was too expensive, thetter too cheap. Hence, they borrowed this BMW at thest minute from Secretary Zhou.

    A hint of despise shed past the father¡¯s eyes.

    He exchanged a few more words with the chauffeur before returning to his daughter. ¡°You¡¯re right, that girl from Shabei is a poor brat. This car was borrowed from elsewhere just to send her to camp today.¡±

    His daughter scoffed. ¡°A Shabei bumpkin is a Shabei bumpkin, indeed.¡±

    With that, she got her luggage and walked into the camp premises with the crowd, satisfied with her find.

    The head of the logistics department was Jiang Qin, a 30-odd-year-olddy. She was not in a good mood today and appeared in the office with a long face as she mmed the students¡¯ particrs on the office desk.

    ¡°What¡¯s with that temper? Who offended you?¡± Bao Xiuli, who was her friend and also the head of the performance department for this camp, asked with a smile.

    Jiang Qin said, ¡°Students nowadays are getting out of hand! I¡¯ve no idea what reputation this person has that he could go to Principal Sha and request for the student to study off-campus!¡±

    ¡°Off-campus?¡± Bao Xiuli was surprised. ¡°But no student in the history of this camp has ever been able to get away with staying on campus for training. Boss Mei¡¯s daughter has asked for the samest year, but the Principal simply chuckled and rejected it. This student definitely isn¡¯t going to get his or her way, what are you so angry about?¡±

    Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp had always required students to live in the dorm for the designated period, so as to facilitate management.

    Living off-campus? They could only dream.

    But Jiang Qin said, ¡°This time is different. I don¡¯t know what that student fed Principal Sha with, but he actually agreed to let her live off-campus! In fact, he didn¡¯t just agree, he even reminded me time and again that I have to hide it from the girl herself. We are to tell her that there aren¡¯t enough bed vacancies for her, so she has no choice but to live off-campus!¡±

    ¡°For real?¡± Bao Xiuli found it odd as well. ¡°Did the Principal get drugged? Or is the girl his rtive?¡±

 Chapter 1050 - Mysterious Origins

    <h4>Chapter 1050: Mysterious Origins</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Heaven knows what the girl¡¯s origin is!¡± The logistics director Jiang Qin was still extremely angry. ¡°There¡¯s no bed left in the Training Camp? How could there be no bed in the Training Camp, there are more than ten beds avable! Isn¡¯t this just spoiling the logistics department¡¯s reputation? When it¡¯s the year-end evaluation, I¡¯ll still have to have points deducted for ¡®having no beds¡¯!¡±

    ¡°An La, since it was Principal Sha who instructed you, he must be making up for some of your other deducted points with this. However, you really don¡¯t know that girl¡¯s origin?¡± Bao Xiuli was extremely curious.

    Jiang Qin rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know her origins! Principle Sha has never mentioned it.¡± She had been going through arduous training in the workce for so many years and was definitely not stupid. She knew that she should not ask about some things. However, she did have a guess in her heart. ¡°You know this year¡¯s chief isn¡¯t Li Bingman, it¡¯s a little girl called Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that. It made a lot of noise. Many people secretlyughed at Li Bingman for losing to a little girl who isn¡¯t even known. Furthermore, isn¡¯t that girl from Shabei?¡± Bao Xiuli was full of enthusiasm. Women were always keen in the face of gossip. ¡°But she¡¯ll probably be very miserable in the future. She offended Li Bingman so badly the moment she entered school.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s the one who wants to attend day school,¡± Jiang Qin said. ¡°She¡¯s this year¡¯s chief, so she can enjoy the chief privileges and stay in a single dormitory and need not crowd with other students. However, this also means that Li Bingman has to crowd with all the others. I¡¯ve heard that Li Bingman and her sister¡¯s temper are quite simr and they are both arrogant. I think she won¡¯t be able to hold it in and will think of ways to chase Xia Ling away.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense...¡± Bao Xiuli was thoughtful. ¡°But even if Li Bingman uses her rtionship with her sister, can she really make the Training Camp get rid of the precedence of attending day school? I still think it¡¯s quite far-fetched.¡±

    ¡°Who knows, there¡¯s no other reasonable exnation,¡± Jiang Qin said. ¡°That little girl certainly doesn¡¯t know that she¡¯s being made to attend day school. I just bumped into her in the hallway and she was dragging her luggage excitedly. It can¡¯t be her family mediating it. Otherwise, she¡¯d know. Principal Sha wouldn¡¯t want me to lie to her too.¡±

    ¡°I never thought that Li Bingman was this vicious? She¡¯s really pulling the carpet from under her, tsk.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better to have more considerations in the future when mixing in the entertainment industry.¡± Jiang Qin could get over it, but her next sentence was unhappy. ¡°It¡¯s so annoying that the logistics department has to take the me.¡±

    The two were heated in discussion when the door to the logistics office was suddenly pushed open. Another female teacher came in and smiled at them. ¡°Hey, we¡¯re already very busy outside, what are you two hiding here and whispering to each other about? Come, eat some grapes.¡± The woman was Ouyang Xue, the assistant in the principal¡¯s office. Her rtionship with Jiang Qin and them was good.

    Jiang Qin and Bao Xiuliughed too. ¡°You¡¯re cking off to eat grapes?¡± Today was the day the new students reported and everyone was very busy. They were cking off amidst the bustle.

    Ouyang Xue distributed the grapes and said, ¡°Sister Qin, I heard you say something about taking the me. Who bullied you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your principal!¡± Jiang Qinined to her again.

    Unexpectedly, Ouyang Xue¡¯s expression was a little weird. ¡°You mean... Xia Ling?¡±

    ¡°Yes, who else but her? She¡¯s offended Li Bingman and is dragging our feet down too.¡±

    Ouyang Xue¡¯s face became even more entric. ¡°Sister Qin... I¡¯m only telling you this because we¡¯re close, you two just listen to it now and make sure you don¡¯t spread it around. I¡¯m advising you, don¡¯t provoke Xia Ling.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± The two women exchanged nces, smelling something fishy.

    Ouyang Xue went back to the door and made sure it was closed tightly before saying mysteriously, ¡°I saw Xia Ling just now when I was entering through the school gates. You guys guess, what car did she get off from?¡±

    ¡°Ferrari? Lamborghini? Maybach?¡± Jiang Qin guessed with ack of interest. The family backgrounds of the candidates were all not bad and, although these branded cars weren¡¯t toomon, it wasn¡¯t unusual for the parents to drive them to pick up the candidates.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a BMW,¡± Bao Xiuli said. ¡°Xue, what happened to you today, a BMW that costs less than a million yuan surprised you so much. And haven¡¯t you heard the rumors all the students have been spreading? Xia Ling¡¯s family simply can¡¯t afford such a car, that car is borrowed!¡±

    ¡°Sure enough it was borrowed...¡± Ouyang Xue¡¯s expression was even more imposing.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Bao Xiuli and Jiang Qin were puzzled. ¡°We can¡¯t possibly have to be careful not to offend such a poor student, right?¡±

    ¡°Whose car do you think she borrowed?¡±

    ¡°Whose?¡±

    Ouyang Xue said, ¡°I recognized the license te, S00086. It¡¯s especially easy to remember. It¡¯s the license te of Pei Ziheng¡¯s Secretary Zhou!¡± Thest time she¡¯d apanied Principal Sha to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s headquarters, she had seen Secretary Zhou wearing a ck elegant dress and sitting inside that car. She had looked so picturesque and her manner had been so impressive that it left an impression on her.

    Jiang Qin and Bao Xiuli both took a breath¡ª

    God, Secretary Zhou¡¯s car!

    That was a person who could see the Chairman every day! She was the Chairman¡¯s confidant!

    Even though she was just a secretary, but where was she not respected and ttered by people? It was no exaggeration to say that she was the core figure of Imperial Entertainment! That little girl from Shabei unexpectedly had Secretary Zhou supporting her!

    ¡°She, she, she,¡± Bao Xiuli stuttered. ¡°She¡¯s Secretary Zhou¡¯s rtive?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard that Secretary Zhou had a rtive in Shabei. Isn¡¯t she a returning student from abroad?¡±

    Ouyang Xue was very satisfied with the bomb effect brought by her news. She took a deep breath and sted more information. ¡°I was so shocked after seeing the license te that I specially checked on Xia Ling¡¯s information. Her candidate number is indeed from Shabei, but no one in Shabei has passed the test! The person-in-charge of Shabei has also said he¡¯d never seen Xia Ling!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying, her, her admission number... was forged?¡±

    Ouyang Xue nodded. ¡°I turned over all the information from all the examination areas. I can confirm this¡ªthis Xia Ling is the same as Li Bingman, they were both exempted from the first retest! Somebody deliberately forged her number!¡±

    This was too horrifying. There was only one student exempted from the retest every few years, but this batch actually had two?

    Jiang Qin and Bao Xiuli were shocked by the news and could not return to their senses after a long time. Finally, Bao Xiuli swallowed her saliva. ¡°You¡¯re saying that this Xia Ling is no less than Li Bingman?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so,¡± Ouyang Xue said. ¡°However, since she forged her number, she probably doesn¡¯t want to be as high-profile as Li Bingman. It¡¯s enough that you guys know it, don¡¯t spread it around or you¡¯ll die.¡± What a joke, they simply couldn¡¯t afford to offend such a big figure like Secretary Zhou!

    Jiang Qin and Bao Xueli nodded. They knew the importance of the matter.

    ¡°It¡¯s too incredible... it¡¯s like I¡¯m dreaming...¡± Jiang Qin muttered. ¡°Then, then the Principal knows it too? Isn¡¯t he offending Secretary Zhou by ordering her to attend day school?¡±

 Chapter 1051 - Independent Dormitory

    <strong><i>Chapter 1051</i>: Independent Dormitory</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    ¡°The principal should know,¡± Ouyang Xue said. ¡°How could I not tell him about such big news? He didn¡¯t say anything after listening to it. So I¡¯m suspecting... the matter that you were discussing earlier was probably not done by Li Bingman, but was Secretary Zhou¡¯s request.¡±

    ¡°Such a strange request?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Xia Ling even knows it?¡±

    Ouyang Xue shrugged. ¡°Who can understand the thoughts of the big people? Let me tell you...¡± She lowered her voice. ¡°If this little girl¡¯s backing is Secretary Zhou, it¡¯s a good thing. But we all know who Secretary Zhou¡¯s big boss is. If... if it¡¯s him...¡±

    Jiang Qin and Bao Xiuli looked at each other and suddenly thought of a possibility¡ª

    If the little girl¡¯s backing was really Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Pei Ziheng and she was using Secretary Zhou to go through the motions, then, then whoever offended Xia Ling was dead!

    ¡°We promise not to leak this matter!¡± They shut their mouths tightly. Their lives were at stake!

    Xia Ling dragged herrge suitcase and lined up to im her dormitory number. Many people from both behind and in front of her were secretly ncing over at her. Who told her to be the topic of discussiontely? Xia Ling could sense that she was being watched and did not seem to mind. Along with her outstanding beauty, she had long been used to being stared at by all kinds of people.

    She hummed lightly to herself and waited for the queue to move patiently.

    ¡°You sing really well,¡± a little girl said behind her. ¡°Hello, ssmate Xia Ling. I heard you sing during the finals and it was so wonderful that I couldn¡¯t forget it.¡±

    Xia Ling turned and saw the girl standing behind her. She was about the same age as her, and she was looking at her with a shy smile. ¡°Who are you?¡± she said to the girl. ¡°Thank you for praising my singing.¡±

    The girl was one of the minority who did not like to follow Li Bingman. She said to Xia Ling, ¡°My name is Xiao Hua. Xia Ling, you¡¯re very good at singing. It¡¯s very infectious and I think you¡¯ll definitely debut in the future!¡±

    ¡°Yes! I think so too!¡± Xia Ling loved to be praised. Her eyes shone brightly upon hearing thepliments. ¡°Xiao Hua, you have good eyesight. Let me tell you, the appeal of music is actually very intriguing...¡±

    The two girls started chatting in the queue.

    The queue moved forward in an orderly manner and many freshmen who got their dormitory number checked against each other to see if they were in the same bedroom. Xiao Hua looked at them and said to Xia Ling, ¡°I heard that this is a dormitory for six people. I don¡¯t know who I¡¯ll live with, but I hope I can meet a good roommate.¡±

    Xia Ling was also looking forward to it. ¡°It¡¯ll be great if we could live together.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Xiao Hua looked at her strangely.

    ¡°Know what?¡± Xia Ling asked nkly.

    Xiao Hua said, ¡°You¡¯re the chief of this school year. The chiefs of the previous school years all had a single room and definitely won¡¯t squeeze with me. I really envy you, there¡¯s so much freedom in a single room.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Oh? I really didn¡¯t know.¡± After she had won first ce in the finals, she hadn¡¯t cared much about the follow-up matters. During this time, apart from studying etiquette and decorating Pei Ziheng¡¯s house, she had pondered over how she could make a unique iris bookmark for Brother Pei. Now that she heard she could live in a single room, she was very happy. ¡°Yes, then I won¡¯t bother others when I¡¯m practicing singing and dancing.¡±

    In the orphanagest time, many children had squeezed in a single dormitory. Xia Ling had to find another ce to practice singing and dancing all the time. However, the orphanage didn¡¯t have any rooms specifically used for music and she could only practice in the garden and the yground. She was often chased out by people... Back then her dream had been to live in an independent dormitory.

    It had finallye true.

    She dragged the luggage until it was finally her turn. The logistics teacher checked her student ID number and looked at her weirdly. ¡°You¡¯re Xia Ling? This year¡¯s chief? The rooms in the Training Camp are full already and we can¡¯t make a room for the new chief. You can attend day school.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Not only Xia Ling was shocked, but many new students who had not heard of such a thing before were also very stunned. Were they mistaking something? Attend day school? Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp was clearly a boarding system, since when have they allowed day school?

    As if to answer their doubts, the logistics teacher said, ¡°The rules say that our Training Camp doesn¡¯t allow day school, but since you are the chief, in the absence of a separate single room, you can only be an exception.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at Xiao Hua beside and thought about it before saying, ¡°It¡¯s okay, teacher, I can just squeeze with the other students. Let me live in an ordinary dormitory with Xiao Hua.¡±

    ¡°How could I do that?¡± The logistics teacher said. ¡°You are the chief. How could the chief and the other students be mixed together? That¡¯ll spoil the rules! What is the chief, the chief is a special case, a role model! Someone unique! Don¡¯t say anything more, just go prepare for day school obediently. Day school isn¡¯t wronging you, it¡¯s a symbol of glory, understand?¡±

    ¡°Ah...?¡± Xia Ling was shocked and could not react in time.

    Xiao Hua, on the other hand, was extremely envious. She whispered to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, don¡¯t you know? There¡¯s no precedence for day school in the whole history of the Training Camp. You¡¯re really under special care to be allowed to attend day school. You¡¯re so blessed to be able to avoid the unified military management. If this matter spreads, many people will be envious of you.¡±

    Xia Ling seemed to understand a little. ¡°Then let me go back and ask my parents.¡± She couldn¡¯t make her own decision on such a big matter. Also, she didn¡¯t really like attending day school. Although the vi wasn¡¯t far from there, it still took an hour to go back and forth. If she was to waste one hour every day on the road, how many hours would she waste in a year? She had promised Brother Pei to be an exceptional artiste. If she could use the wasted time to practice, it¡¯d be so much better.

    She decided to go back and ask Brother Pei if he could get her to live on campus.

    Seeing that she wanted to go back to ask her parents, the logistics teacher said with a stern face, ¡°I hope you canmunicate well with your parents and not hinder the decision of the Training Camp.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t like people talking to her like that. She felt a little difort but didn¡¯t want to cause a scene, so she endured it. She had originally been happy to report to school, but in the end, things became like this. She left the ce listlessly while dragging her luggage and went alone to handle the procedures for receiving her textbooks.

    Her heart was heavy with troubles and she walked and walked until she was lost.

    By the time she returned to her senses, she found that she was already in the female dormitory area and the new arrivals were all carrying their luggage and moving in. Not far away, a few gorgeously dressed girls were surrounding Li Bingman and chatting away. ¡°Sister Bingman, which room is your dormitory? We can help you move your stuff.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Li Bingman said with an elegant and reserved smile. ¡°It¡¯s on the third floor, A001.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Suddenly, a girl eximed in shock. ¡°A001? I heard the dormitory auntie say that that is an independent room reserved for the freshman chief?!¡±

 Chapter 1052 - I Have Caused You Grievance

    <strong>Chapter 1052: I Have Caused You Grievance</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling stood still. The independent room left to the new chief? Wasn¡¯t that her room?

    Why had the logistics teacher told her that she had no more independent room?

    She heard another girl say, ¡°Tsk, the new chief? The naming of this year¡¯s new chief does not reflect reality. Only Sister Bingman can be the real chief! Sister Bingman living here shows that fame follows merit!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true...¡± said the other girls.

    Li Bingman smiled. Her mood was very good because she hadn¡¯t expected to be able to get this room. It must be because the logistics teachers were afraid of offending her sister. So they¡¯d sent away that country bumpkin and left the room for her. Tsk, that unsophisticated girl was indeed unsophisticated. Did she think she was all that with just a little talent? The Training Camp was just a small part of the entertainment industry and not everything could be obtained by having talent! Many times, background and strength were more important than talent!

    ¡°Help me move this pot of Mno up.¡± Li Bingman instructed the girls around her. ¡°Be careful not to break it. And this set of teacups, it was brought back by my sister when she went to France to attend an event. These handmade souvenirs sent by the organizer are the world¡¯s one and only, so be careful when you move them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sister Bingman!¡± Several girls responded and helped to move the things while eximing in admiration.

    Li Bingman gave them an elegant and aloof smile and walked up the stairs with empty hands. Unexpectedly, she stopped after taking a few steps. She saw Xia Ling standing in the center of the entrance, ring at her fiercely.

    ¡°Make way,¡± Li Bingman said aloofly.

    Xia Ling did not move. The girl who had yet to hit puberty seemed to be even shorter beside her big luggage. ¡°The independent single room is mine!¡± She red at Li Bingman and said word by word.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Many of the girlsughed. ¡°It¡¯s yours? Then go and find the Principal, why are you clinging to Sister Bingman? Country bumpkin, the examiners only pitied you and gave you the position of the chief, did you really think that you deserved it? Get lost, good dogs don¡¯t block the way!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the dog!¡± Xia Ling was so angry she almost cried. These people were too much!

    Not only were her ssmates bullying her, but even the Training Camp was also bullying her! Forget about them not allocating a room for her, they had even deceived her into attending day school and had given the room that should have been hers to Li Bingman! How was she to swallow this unfairness!

    ¡°The room is mine!¡± She looked truculently at Li Bingman. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to live there!¡±

    Li Bingman chuckled. ¡°The teacher arranged it for me. If you have the ability, then go find the teacher.¡±

    Then she walked forward, by-passed her lightly and brought the other people upstairs. The girls carried the big and small luggage and passed her whileughing. Nobody took her seriously. They even looked at her like she was a joke. Thest girl even stopped and said mockingly, ¡°Let me give you a lesson, country bumpkin. You can offend anyone in the Training Camp except for Sister Bingman, understand? If you know your wrongs, then hurry and apologize to Sister Bingman. Thenpete with her again and lose to her. Maybe then she¡¯ll take pity on you and forgive you!¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Xia Ling scolded. ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    The girl¡¯s expression changed. ¡°You can¡¯t tell good from bad!¡± Humph, she deserved to be pushed aside by Li Bingman!

    The girl turned her head and walked away.

    Xia Ling was left standing alone on the steps. The students walking past her all pointed at her and gossiped.

    She stared at the golden sunshine in thete summer and raised her head high. She wasn¡¯t going to let other peopleugh at her. She put on her proudest expression and dragged her big suitcase all the way to the logistics office.

    ¡°Teacher!¡± She panted and stood at the door before asking angrily, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say there was no more room? Why is Li Bingman staying in the single room while I have to attend day school? It¡¯s not fair!¡±

    The entire logistics office heard her raising her voice and all turned to look at her.

    The teacher who had previously assigned the dormitory massaged her forehead in frustration. She felt that this girl was really troublesome. ¡°How did you know that Li Bingman is staying in the single room?¡± Since she was attending day school, then there was a single room avable. When the teachers had been chatting, they had brought up this matter unintentionally, so Teacher Chen had suggested that this single room be arranged for Li Bingman.

    The teacher had thought over it and found it was fine. Since Li Bingman was Li Bingyu¡¯s sister, it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to curry favor with her.

    Neither of them knew the origin of Xia Ling. Like all the other ordinary people, they also thought that it was because the Li family¡¯s sisters were dissatisfied with Xia Ling and had thus used their authority to chase her away. Then, it was logical to give Li Bingman the single room.

    But which big-mouthed gossip had passed on this information to Xia Ling?

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I saw it with my own eyes! I don¡¯t care, that single room should be mine, I want to live in the single room!¡±

    ¡°The rooms have been allocated, what are you causing a scene for!¡± The logistics teacher reprimanded her. ¡°We¡¯re regarding you with importance by allowing you to attend day school! Go back early once you¡¯ve retrieved your workbooks. You still have toe to ss tomorrow!¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you regard Li Bingman with importance? You are just bullying me!¡± The little girl was not afraid of her. Humph, what did she mean by regarding her with importance? Attending day school meant wasting an hour on the road every day and she would obviously have one hour less of practice time aspared to the others! She even suspected that it was Li Bingman who deliberately made things difficult for her and set her up to attend day school!

    The logistics teacher was furious. ¡°You¡¯re acting willfully!¡±

    She was scolding her when the office door opened. It was the logistics head, Jiang Qin. She had heard the noise and hade out to see what was going on. The sight in front of her scared her senseless. This notorious ¡°Little Princess¡± who had the backing of Secretary Zhou was actually being scolded by one of her subordinates?!

    ¡°What happened?¡± She scolded her subordinate scornfully with a sullen face. ¡°What are you making noise in the office about? Is this your attitude towards your students?!¡±

    The teacher was shocked to be scolded by her. Normally, Jiang Qin, though not exceptionally good to her subordinates, still did not reprimand them without reason. But what was with her today? Was her period here? ¡°I...¡± She regained her senses and said to Jiang Qin, ¡°Director, I didn¡¯t want to scold her, but this little girl is just too ignorant. She wants to fight over Li Bingman¡¯s room!¡±

    She emphasized the words ¡°Li Bingman¡± and suggested which side Jiang Qin should help with.

    However, Jiang Qin was furious with her. It had been a settled matter and Xia Ling had already agreed to attend day school. The matter had already passed by without a storm! This idiot, why had she given Xia Ling¡¯s room to Li Bingman? This was obviously pitching the two against each other! These two people both came from big backgrounds and it was not good to offend either of them. This stupid subordinate was really finding trouble for the logistics department! ¡°Who let you act on your own ord and give the single room to Li Bingman!¡± Jiang Qin said angrily.

    The other people in the office watching the scene unfold looked at each other in dismay. Had the logistics director eaten gun powder today? She wasn¡¯t even helping to keep the faces of the Li sisters.

    The teacher felt very wronged. She didn¡¯t know where her fault was.

    Jiang Qin was extremely angry, but she still had to help her stupid subordinate deal with the aftermath. She quickly racked her brains and thought of a way to round the matter. She said to Xia Ling, ¡°It¡¯s our logistics department¡¯s fault. We¡¯ve made a mistake and have caused you a grievance.¡±

 Chapter 1053 - Tears

    <h4>Chapter 1053: Tears</h4>

    Everyone was stunned. Had Director Jiang time-travelled today? Why was she so polite to a student, even if that student was the new chief, but she had offended Li Bingman! The chief was just a title, but Li Bingman¡¯s family history was real. Director Jiang should be clear on which side to help.

    They exchanged nces and all looked nk.

    Xia Ling was still angry. ¡°I don¡¯t care, that single room is mine!¡±

    Jiang Qin had already scolded her stupid subordinate multiple times in her heart. She was really causing trouble! She had finally coaxed this little devil to attend day school as per the Principal¡¯s instructions, but now they were fighting over it again! ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Jiang Qin put on her most gentle and amiable smile and said patiently, ¡°Teacher knows that you feel wronged. Nobody would be happy to experience such a thing. But the logistics department really didn¡¯t do it on purpose¡ªthis morning when you reported, there was really no more room, so we asked you to attend day school. Who knew that there was one room at thest moment. Since you weren¡¯t there, we arranged it for Li Bingman.¡±

    ¡°What qualifications does she have to live in a single room? Only the Chief can live in one!¡± Xia Ling was indignant.

    The teacher beside Jiang Qin really wanted to tell her: Because she¡¯s Li Bingyu¡¯s sister! However, she nced at the seemingly abnormal Jiang Qin and finally resisted from speaking.

    Jiang Qin smiled bitterly and searched her guts and belly to appease Xia Ling. ¡°This is the school¡¯s mistake and we shouldn¡¯t let the student take responsibility. Xiao Ling, you see, the room has already been assigned to Li Bingman. If we were to drive her out, we would hurt her pride. We can¡¯t hurt her because of our own mistakes, so we can only let her continue to live there.¡±

    Xia Ling did understand that logic. If it was someone she didn¡¯t have any enmity towards, she would have let the matter go.

    But she had lots of enmity with Li Bingman!

    ¡°Why should I care if her self-esteem is hurt?!¡± In fact, Xia Ling wanted her self-esteem to be hurt. ¡°As the new Chief, I¡¯ve been robbed of my room. Who is responsible for my self-esteem?!¡±

    Staring at the forceful little girl, Jiang Qin had a terrible headache.

    She didn¡¯t dare to drive Li Bingman out of the single room. Wasn¡¯t that just offending her badly? But she couldn¡¯t afford to offend the little girl in front of her either. She could only pacify her patiently. ¡°Of course you¡¯re the new chief. Even if Li Bingman is living in the single room, it doesn¡¯t mean anything. Okay, how about the school send you a special car every day to pick you up to and from school. You¡¯ll be the first one to enjoy this special treatment ever since the Training Camp was created.¡±

    Xia Ling snorted. ¡°Who wants your lousy car!¡±

    She was furious and couldn¡¯t care to respect the teacher. If she was willing to attend day school, why would she need a car sent by the school to pick her up? Brother Pei had already sent her a Rolls Royce!

    She just wanted to seek justice for herself!

    Jiang Qin¡¯s expression changed from being scolded in front of all her subordinates. Even though she understood in her heart that the origin of this little girl wasn¡¯t small, she still couldn¡¯t hide her disdain for her. She suppressed her temper and said, ¡°In short, it¡¯s impossible to make Li Bingman move out. The school will make it up to you in another way. Xia Ling, it¡¯s not early anymore, you should go back and discuss with the grown-ups at home. I believe they will be reasonable.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m not being reasonable?¡± The little girl was about to blow up with rage.

    ¡°I...¡± Jiang Qin simply wanted to hit this devil child. How was she so good at catching her hidden meaning? She took a deep breath and told herself to be calm. She said, ¡°Anyway, just go back first. If you have any opinions, let your parents talk to me.¡±

    ¡°Who are you to see my parents?¡± Seeing that Jiang Qin was trying to chase her away, Xia Ling was so angry she was speaking incoherently. Brother Pei was so busy every day, how could she trouble him over such a little thing? She was really so stupid and couldn¡¯t even handle such a tiny problem. She had caused so much trouble on the first day of reporting to school...

    The little girl thought of this and wanted to cry.

    Contrarily, the teacher beside Jiang Qin still lectured her. ¡°My goodness, who do you think you are. Just based on your parents who can¡¯t even afford a BMW, what are you being cocky about?! Quickly apologize to Director Jiang!¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Jiang Qin red sternly at the teacher. How stupid was this person, had she not offended Xia Ling enough! She would have to give her the lowest level on this year¡¯s job rating! It was necessary!

    The teacher realized that she had rubbed her the wrong way and quickly covered her mouth.

    The other onlookers thought that Jiang Qin was flying into a rage out of being humiliated by this little girl in public. The thought of the little girl having a ¡°background¡± didn¡¯t even ur to them. Hence, they bowed their heads and pretended to do their own things, but in actual fact, they were listening attentively to everything.

    Jiang Qin¡¯s face turned pale. She really wanted to teach this girl a lesson, but considering that this person hade out of Secretary Zhou¡¯s car, she couldn¡¯t afford to lecture her. The phrase ¡°who are you to see my parents¡± was really frightening. However, if she did not give her a lecture, wouldn¡¯t she be thoroughly discredited in the face of so many subordinates?

    Jiang Qin powered silently for a few seconds before she said bluntly, ¡°Just go back first.¡±

    ¡°I refuse!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no use standing here either. If you don¡¯t go, I¡¯ll have to call your parents.¡± The enrollment form had a phone number for emergency contacts which could be found by checking.

    To conceal her identity, Xia Ling had filled in the contact information with the butler¡¯s number, but she understood that if the school really called the butler, he would tell the truth to Pei Ziheng.

    She didn¡¯t want to cause trouble for Brother Pei over such a small matter. Brother Pei would probably think she was too weak.

    The little girl¡¯s nose begun to get sour again.

    She held back her tears and looked fiercely at Jiang Qin before turning and dragging her big suitcase away.

    Jiang Qin had originally wanted to ask someone to help her move the luggage, but she had just lost face in front of so many subordinates. If she were to say that, where would her dignity be? Hence, she snorted coldly and went back to her office.

    Xia Ling dragged the suitcase and headed out of the school gate. At the entrance, all kinds of luxury cars that were sent to the new students were now gone, making it seem a little deste. Only the Pei family¡¯s driver was still leaning against the BMW. He stood there looking quietly at the scenery.

    ¡°Miss, why have youe out?¡± He saw Xia Ling and immediately came forward to pick up her big luggage. ¡°Let me carry it, this luggage is so heavy, you¡¯ll be tired.¡±

    The little girl¡¯s nose was still a little red and her voice was low-spirited. ¡°Uncle Li, why haven¡¯t you gone yet?¡±

    Driver Li had long been told that she was going to attend day school, so of course he¡¯d stayed here waiting for her. However, he couldn¡¯t possibly tell her that, so heughed and said, ¡°After sending you, I ate a meal nearby and took a break. I was about to head back when you came out coincidentally. Miss, why aren¡¯t you living in the dormitories?¡±

    Xia Ling was listless. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you at home.¡±

    Without waiting for the driver to open the door for her, she opened the door to the back seat and got into the car. Unexpectedly, her forehead hit the frame and instantly swelled like a big bag. ¡°Ouch!¡± She screamed painfully, tears streaming down her cheeks.

 Chapter 1054 - Strawberry Ice Cream

    <h4>Chapter 1054: Strawberry Ice Cream</h4>

    The driver was putting the luggage in the trunk and heard a sound. He turned his head in shock. ¡°Miss, are you alright?¡±

    He hurriedly closed the trunk and came over. He was about to examine the injury on her forehead when she shook her head with tears in her eyes. She pushed the driver¡¯s hand away and got into the car by herself.

    The driver had no choice but to drive the car.

    The car traveled along the bustling streets and passed by high-rise buildings and pedestrians. Xia Ling curled up and covered her forehead, quietly letting her tears flow freely. The grievances from entering the Training Camp rose to the surface of her mind. Was she too naive? In this world, was it difficult to move a single step if she did not have background nor power?

    Had she been wrong to insist on entering the Training Camp on her own strength?

    She cried for a long time like a wounded little beast. Unconsciously, she heard the driver say, ¡°Miss, we¡¯re home.¡±

    She opened the door without saying a word and entered the house.

    It was only two or three o¡¯clock in the afternoon and Pei Ziheng was not yet home. Nanny Zhou, who had been cleaning the house, came up and saw her red eyes. She was startled. ¡°Miss, what happened?¡±

    She still said nothing, went upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom.

    Nanny Zhou looked at her leave in concern, then she looked curiously at the driver. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± the driver said. ¡°She cried when she identally bumped against the car just now, but I think Miss has something on her heart.¡±

    Nanny Zhou nodded and turned to prepare Xia Ling¡¯s favorite strawberry ice cream. She took the crystal clear crystal bowl and knocked on Xia Ling¡¯s door. ¡°Miss, please open the door.¡±

    There was no movement.

    Nanny Zhou knocked again. ¡°Miss, Miss?¡±

    There was a muffled voice inside. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Today¡¯s strawberries are particrly good.¡± Nanny Zhou paused for a while and said, ¡°I mentioned it to Sir in the morning and he said that you like strawberry ice cream the most. He asked me to pick the biggest and sweetest one for you. Should I bring it in?¡±

    The door opened and Xia Ling stood at the door with her red, swollen eyes. Her voice was a little hoarse. ¡°I was going to live in the Training Camp today, why did Brother Pei ask you to prepare ice cream for me at home?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was stuck for a bit and secretly scolded herself for being muddled. She had quickly made up a lie and had almost spilled the beans. This ice cream wasn¡¯t ordered by Pei Ziheng at all, she had made it tofort Xia Ling after seeing that she was in a bad mood. She smiled and rounded the matter as though nothing happened. ¡°Sir told me to send it to you at night.¡±

    Xia Ling nced at the crystal bowl. The beautiful pink ice cream was dotted with mint and strawberries. The thick milky aroma and the sweet fragrance of the frosting were very tempting. She reached out and took it. ¡°Thank you, Nanny Zhou.¡± She stopped crying and carried the ice cream to the sofa. She sat cross-legged and dug into it with a small spoon.

    Nanny Zhou seized the opportunity to walk over and sat down next to her. ¡°Miss, is there something on your mind? Who bullied you?¡±

    She ate the ice cream bit by bit and said after a long time, ¡°Nothing.¡± After a while, she said again, ¡°The teacher said there weren¡¯t enough rooms so I can¡¯t live on campus. Tell me, would Brother Pei be angry if he knew?¡±

    So she was worried about this? Nanny Zhou heaved a sigh of relief and felt her heart ache slightly. Miss didn¡¯t even know that all this was part of Sir¡¯s ns and had cried in vain. Looking at her really made her feel bad.

    She couldn¡¯t help buty out the logic for Xia Ling. ¡°Sir is so good to you, why would he be angry over such a little thing? If you were to live back here he would be over the moon. He wants to be with you so badly.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t even be angry!¡± Xia Ling was about to cry again. ¡°The Training Camp people are all so bad!¡±

    ¡°He will be angry, he will,¡± Nanny Zhou said hurriedly in fright. She didn¡¯t dare to make this little devil cry again. She paused again before asking apprehensively, ¡°Did the Training Camp people upset you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling dug into a little strawberry with her little spoon but did not eat it. ¡°They all pushed me aside.¡±

    Nanny Zhou looked at the girl in front of her with pity. It must feel miserable to be pushed aside by others? She had heard that back in the orphanage Miss had been excluded by other children because she was too beautiful and had been liked by many adoptive families. Later, when she entered the Pei family, the Pei family girls had also regarded her as a different species. She didn¡¯t expect that now in the Training Camp, the same thing happened...

    Sometimes being beautiful was a good thing, but if she was overly beautiful and yetcked a good family background, it was hard to tell if it was a blessing or a cmity. Nanny Zhou said with sympathy, ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. They just don¡¯t understand how good you are.¡±

    Under her gentle words, the little girl¡¯s heart was soothed.

    Xia Ling blew her nose and said as if talking to herself, ¡°Yes, they¡¯re the ones at fault, I didn¡¯t do anything wrong.¡± She looked up at Nanny Zhou. ¡°Nanny Zhou, don¡¯t tell Brother Pei that I cried, okay?¡±

    It was so embarrassing and she didn¡¯t want Pei Ziheng to worry over her.

    Nanny Zhou smiled. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get you an ice towel. You cany it on your eyes and rest, or your eyes will be red and Sir will be able to tell at first nce.¡± She went to get an ice towel.

    Xia Ling put it on obediently and fell asleep unknowingly.

    She dreamt that she was surrounded by a group of people. There were the big children from the orphanage, Pei Jingyu and the others, as well as Li Bingman and her followers... They degraded her, mocked her, and threw stinky eggs and stones at her...

    ¡°I, I¡¯m not a little beggar that nobody wants...!¡± In her dream, she shouted softly.

    She opened her eyes and found that Pei Ziheng was close to her. Her head was resting on hisp and her body was covered with his suit coat. Under the dim lights, he was leaning on the sofa reading a financial report. His brows were slightly wrinkled and his expression was a little cold. ¡°Brother Pei...¡± She rubbed her eyes and sat up. ¡°Why am I...¡±

    Why was she sleeping on hisp?

    Pei Ziheng looked down and saw that she was awake. His wrinkled brows stretched out. ¡°Are you hungry?¡±

    When he said this, she turned her head and looked at the window to discover it was already dark. ¡°I¡¯m not hungry,¡± she said softly. Her voice still sounded groggy since she just woke up. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been back for a while,¡± he said gently, putting the suit coat that had slipped from her shoulders back on her body. ¡°You cried?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± She was a little shocked. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Didn¡¯t she already put ice on her eyes?

    Pei Ziheng said warmly, ¡°How could I not know?¡± Even if Nanny Zhou had let her put ice on her eyes, this child was too obvious when she was upset. She had been crying in her sleep. At the moment, her eyes were as red as that of a rabbit.

    Xia Ling felt wronged. ¡°You don¡¯t know so many things.¡±

    She wanted to cry again.

    ¡°What don¡¯t I know? Tell me.¡± He threw away the financial report in his hand and extended his arm to bring her into his embrace. His chin rested on the crown of her head, giving him a soft touch. These days, the two had lived in the same bedroom and he had often helped cover her with her nket and wear her jacket. There had even been physical contact sometimes and she hadn¡¯t rejected it.

    Xia Ling found afortable posture in his arms and began to tell him what happened in the Training Camp while feeling aggrieved.

 Chapter 1055 - Domestication and Dispute

    <strong>Chapter 1055: Domestication and Dispute</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened as he listened.

    He had instructed the Training Camp to persuade her into taking day school, but it didn¡¯t mean that they could indulge in bullying her! He lowered his head and looked at the little girl in his arms. ¡°Li Bingman and the teachers will learn their lesson.¡±

    She looked up from his arms. ¡°Yes! I want to snatch the single room back! I¡¯ll make them apologize to them!¡±

    Under the warm yellow light, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was unpredictable. ¡°Isn¡¯t attending day school good?¡±

    Xia Ling was angry at this. ¡°Attending day school is the teachers¡¯ way of bullying me! I¡¯ll have to spend an extra hour on the road every day, which means I¡¯ll have one hour less to practice. Brother Pei, I¡¯ve promised you to hit it big time, so how could I practice one hour less every day?¡± The little girl said seriously. She was filled with indignance. ¡°Li Bingman must have feared that I would surpass her!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was speechless.

    He had never thought of this problem. In his opinion, what did it matter to practice one hour more or less? It was more important to be able to spend more time with him at home. However, staring at the little girl¡¯s flushed face, Pei Ziheng decided not to add fuel to the fire. He said simply, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to be too tired. It¡¯s alright even if you practice a shorter time every day.¡±

    She shook her head stubbornly. ¡°I want to be the best. I don¡¯t want to embarrass you.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Silly girl, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    She reluctantly clenched her small fist. ¡°It matters, it matters too much! Anyways, I want to live on campus and drive Li Bingman out of the single room. If I lose in the first battle, how would I win in the future? Xiao Hua has told me that it¡¯ll be even moreplicated once I enter the entertainment industry. I must learn how to fight!¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Xiao Hua?¡±

    ¡°My new friend.¡± Her eyes flickered. ¡°She said that living on campus is fun.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was still very gentle. ¡°You said before that you didn¡¯t want to use your privilege and want to do everything based on your own strength. If that¡¯s the case, the Training Camp will definitely not agree to your residence.¡±

    Xia Ling had not thought of this problem before. She was at a loss for a moment but decided not to give up. ¡°The teacher told me toe back and ask my parents. They still won¡¯t agree even if my parents say no?¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°If I was an ordinary parent and went to argue with them over this matter, the final result would be you being ordered to drop out. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp has always been powerful, they say one and mean just that.¡±

    ¡°Oh...?¡± Xia Ling fell into deep sorrow.

    Although she wanted to live on campus, she didn¡¯t want to drop out. If she was dropped out of school, how could she be powerful?

    The little girl was at a loss.

    Pei Ziheng smiled again. Since it was his own Training Camp, he knew the truth about it. Actually, how could the situation be as severe as he had made it sound? If it was an ordinary student, she may have been ordered to drop out of school. However, this girl little had an amazing musical talent in her¡ªhow could they make a good student who could sing the falsetto drop out? The Principal would be dismissed!

    It was a pity that Xia Ling did not understand all these trickeries. She was at a loss and eventually asked weakly, ¡°Brother Pei, could you... could you use your privilege to get me back to the Training Camp? You don¡¯t have to chase Li Bingman out, just get me back to the Training Camp to live on campus. I want to drive Li Bingman out myself!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Not good.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± She hadn¡¯t expected this to be his answer. She looked up in shock. Ever since she had been adopted, Pei Ziheng had always given in to all her requests, but what happened this time?

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you either have to rely entirely on yourself to attend day school or rely on me to arrange it for you¡ªI¡¯ll announce your identity and drive Li Bingman out openly. I¡¯ll even make her kneel down in front of you and beg for forgiveness. Everyone will treat you like a princess and you¡¯ll get things grander than Li Bingman. Nobody will speak ill of you again, everyone will smile at you in greeting and will do whatever you tell them to.¡±

    ¡°But, I just want to live on campus,¡± she whispered grievously.

    She had heard enough rumors and nders about her and she didn¡¯t want others to point out that she was undisciplined because of Pei Ziheng¡¯s backing.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xiao Ling, this is power. You either acknowledge it and enjoy it, or you stop concerning yourself with the benefits it brings. I don¡¯t like you hiding and concealing it.¡± Actually, all these weren¡¯t the real reasons. The real reason was that he couldn¡¯t bear to let her live on campus, so he was dishing out so many reasons seriously.

    Xia Ling felt even more aggrieved. ¡°Even you are bullying me.¡±

    Her eyes were red, like a child who can¡¯t get candy.

    Pei Ziheng coaxed her. ¡°Be good.¡±

    He reached out and wanted to pull her back into his embrace, but she avoided him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling.¡± He added more emphasis to his tone.

    Her mood was very bad. She had suffered too much today at the Training Camp. Back then, at the logistics department, the only faith in her that had allowed her to raise her head high and walk out dismissively was Pei Ziheng. She had thought that after she was home, Pei Ziheng wouldfort her properly. Who knew that he would not agree to help her!

    In her heart, he was the closest person to her besides Xia Yu.

    Hisck of support made her more ufortable than the bullying of Li Bingman and the others.

    She wanted to cry again. Fearing that tears would really flow out, she turned her head and stopped looking at him. She jumped off the sofa, went back to her little bed and lied on it with her back facing him.

    Pei Ziheng sat on the sofa without moving.

    Separated by the faint gauze screen, he stared at her slightly frail figure. After a while, he took the financial report and continued to concentrate on it.

    Xia Ling lied with her back facing him for a long time, hoping that he woulde to coax her.

    However, a long time passed and he still did not move. She leaned her ears and listened carefully. She could only hear the rustling of the paper and guessed that he was looking at the boring record papers again. Outside the window, a half-moon hung in the night sky. She stared at it, boundless loneliness suddenly washing over her. She remembered how lonely she had been wandering all these years by herself and finally could not hold herself back from quietly shedding tears.

    Xia Ling fell sick.

    The second day when she got up, her face was pale. She measured her body temperature and found she had a low fever.

    Nanny Zhou looked at her in concern. ¡°Miss, why don¡¯t you rest and take a day off from the Training Camp?¡±

    Xia Ling held onto the fork weakly and sat on the high chair. She looked sideways towards Pei Ziheng, who was reading the newspaper while eating toast. ¡°No,¡± she said softly to Nanny Zhou. ¡°I want to go to ss.¡±

    She wouldn¡¯t rely on him then, what was the problem?

    Pei Ziheng looked up from his newspaper and nced at her. ¡°Have a good rest at home.¡±

    ¡°The teachers at the Training Camp already dislike me. If I were to rest, they¡¯ll just hate me more,¡± she said weakly in a huff.

    Pei Ziheng knew that she was still angry over what happened yesterday night, but he didn¡¯t want to indulge her temper¡ªshe could behave as unscrupulously as she wanted, but the only thing was, she couldn¡¯t defy him. He wanted to teach her to listen. ¡°Nanny Zhou,¡± he instructed his maid. ¡°Tell the driver that he need not send Miss today. And get the doctor toe.¡±

    Nanny Zhou responded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Ling put down her fork heavily and suddenly couldn¡¯t control her temper. She shouted at Pei Ziheng, ¡°I want to go to ss! You were the one who said I can¡¯t use my privileges! Why are you keeping me at home now?!¡±

 Chapter 1056 - Run Away from Home

    <strong>Chapter 1056: Run Away from Home</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s tone was gentle but firm. ¡°It¡¯s human nature to rest when sick. It¡¯s not a privilege.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°I¡¯m going to ss!¡± She did not know why she was being so stubborn. It was probably because he had been bad to her yesterday, so she didn¡¯t want to obey him today. Her cheeks were flushed red due to her emotions and sickness, making her look beautiful under the rays of morning light.

    Pei Ziheng felt something in his heart stir slightly.

    But he still did not give in. ¡°Today Driver Li is on holiday.¡±

    Xia Ling was angry. ¡°If you don¡¯t let him send me, then I¡¯ll go myself!¡± She didn¡¯t know where her sudden strength came from, but she put mmed her fork heavily and rushed out of the house.

    ¡°Miss!¡± Nanny Zhou yelled behind her in worry, chasing her a few steps before looking back at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Sir!¡±

    Pei Ziheng sat in the same ce and didn¡¯t move. ¡°Let her go.¡±

    Nanny Zhou was so anxious she wanted to stamp her feet. ¡°Miss is still so young and unfamiliar with the surroundings. She¡¯s even sick now. What if she meets with an ident? Sir, you can¡¯t do this!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Get someone to follow her and don¡¯t let her find out.¡± He just wanted to simmer her temper and let her know how difficult it would be for her if she left him. Then, she¡¯d listen and obey him in the future.

    Nanny Zhou knew his temper and understood that she could not persuade him. She rushed to find the butler.

    Xia Ling had run a long way by herself to the periphery of the Pei family¡¯s vi. She stood at the crossroads and came to her senses as the wind blew against her. She hade out urgently and was wearing only a sleeveless dress. She felt a little cold standing in thete summer and early autumn wind. Which direction was the Training Camp? She did not know. She had only reported there once yesterday and couldn¡¯t possibly remember which way it was. However, she could not give up. Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t let her go, right? Then she would go!

    She didn¡¯t have any money with her...

    Ever since she was adopted, she lived in luxury and, although she did not have any use for money, Pei Ziheng had given her a bank card since she was going to the Training Camp to ¡°live on campus¡±. However, she had put the bank card in her luggage and had not brought it out. She searched her whole body and could only find her mobile phone.

    She used the phone to turn on the GPS navigation and walked in the direction of the Training Camp.

    It would take half an hour to even drive there, so it definitely wasn¡¯t close. With the girl¡¯s speed plus her fever, it would be normal for her to walk the whole day. But she was so stubborn that she walked on unrelentingly.

    Not far behind where she could not see, the butler was following her.

    From time to time, the butler would pass on the message to Nanny Zhou, who would then pass it to Pei Ziheng¡ª

    ¡°Miss has crossed the crossroads.¡±

    ¡°Miss has turned left into Zhongyi Street.¡±

    ¡°Miss seems to be going to the Training Camp. She¡¯s asking for directions. The steamed bun store¡¯s aunt told her she can take the bus.¡±

    ¡°Miss didn¡¯t take the bus. She probably doesn¡¯t have any money on her. She¡¯s walking along Ziwei Road very slowly. She stopped a few times to rest and her face doesn¡¯t look too good.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s face didn¡¯t look good either. She was sick, so what was she being so headstrong for?! She was clearly carrying her mobile phone, did she not know to call him and give in?! ¡°Follow her,¡± he said, a little angry. ¡°I want to see how long she can persist for.¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± Nanny Zhou was anxious. ¡°Miss¡¯ body can¡¯t hold on!¡±

    Pei Ziheng still did not move.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know how long she had walked. Her body and face were gradually bing sweaty. She didn¡¯t even know if it was due to the heat or because her illness was getting worse. She only felt a little dizzy and almost couldn¡¯t hold on anymore. She looked down at her phone countless times and wished that she would hear the familiar ringing sound. Could Brother Pei just call her and ask where she was and if she was okay? Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t happen. No matter how many times she checked her phone, she was only disappointed.

    She didn¡¯t know that someone was following behind her, and thought that Brother Pei really didn¡¯t want her anymore. Her whole body trembled and she was getting weaker as she walked on. She squatted down next to a green belt of trees next to the road. She was so tired and thirsty... Her lips were chapped and she wanted to drink water. She looked longingly at the store stelling soy milk not far away, but she didn¡¯t have a penny on her.

    She missed the breakfast that she hadn¡¯t finished at home, the muffin cake and mixed fruit juice that Nanny Zhou had made for her. Brother Pei liked to drink clear coffee and would put the cut smoked chicken and ham into her te affectionately...

    No, why had she thought of him again?

    She didn¡¯t want to think of that bad guy!

    Xia Ling hugged her knees and wanted to cry. She had already run away from home and yet he wasn¡¯t evening to find her! She looked down and saw the silver bracelet on her wrist that Pei Ziheng had given her a few months ago. Without touching it, she would clearly remember that the inside of the bracelet was engraved with their initials and four words¡ªNever Leave Each Other.

    It was all lies.

    What did he mean to never leave each other?

    How long had it been and he was already being fierce and uncaring to her.

    ¡°Liar...¡± She murmured and suddenly felt angry. She took off the silver bracelet on her wrist and threw it far away. The bracelet was thrown into the distance. It rolled into a stinking ditch and disappeared.

    Xia Ling looked in that direction. A few secondster, she staggered and stood up.

    Under the clear sunshine of the early autumn, a little girl in a thin dress walked over to the stray ditch on the side of the road and leaned over to find something. A long-time passed and she finally fished up a silver bracelet from the ditch regardless of the dirty smell.

    She was dirty all over, her face was covered with ck mud and her pair of originally white and fair hands had lost its original color. However, when she fished up the bracelet, she momentarily smiled, making many people shocked senseless.

    She held onto the dirty silver bracelet, looking at it from the left, then from the right, before walking to the fountain in a big shopping mall not far away. She carefully washed the bracelet with the water and carefully wiped it on her skirt. After that, she washed her hands and put the bracelet back on her wrist.

    The butler had followed her and was watching this scene with an ache in his heart. He told Nanny Zhou what happened.

    Nanny Zhou passed it on to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Miss threw away your bracelet in a fit and it identally fell into a stinking ditch. She regretted it and fished for a long time before finally fishing it out. Her body ispletely dirty now, but her first thought was to clean the bracelet.¡±

    Something seemed to pinch Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart, making him somewhat agitated and somewhat ufortable.

    ¡°How is she now?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Her dress ispletely dirty. She¡¯s sitting on the edge of the fountain in Robin Square and seems unable to move.¡± Nanny Zhou looked apprehensively at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Sir, Miss has not eaten anything today. She¡¯s even wearing slippers and has walked a long distance. The butler said that she has blisters on her feet now. Don¡¯t squabble with her anymore, please. Just bring her home.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was silent for a while before asking, ¡°Is her mobile phone still here?¡±

    ¡°... It¡¯s always been in her hands.¡±

    In other words, she clearly could contact him, but was just unwilling to!

    Pei Ziheng was angry again. His voice was low as he said, ¡°Let the butler continue following her.¡±

 Chapter 1057 - The Little Girl Has Grown Up

    <strong>Chapter 1057: The Little Girl Has Grown Up</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Nanny Zhou still wanted to persuade him, but she knew it was useless, so she sighed and walked away.

    Many people came and went in the big square in front of the mall, and the uniformed security guard chased Xia Ling away. ¡°Little girl, you can¡¯t wash things in this fountain. Where¡¯s your family? Go to the side and wait for them.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and staggered away.

    She had just touched cold water and her body was getting more and more ufortable. Her head was groggy and the blinding sunlight was making her dizzy. Walking in the crowd, the people around her were white-cor workers who were rushing around. asionally, a few children passing by with their parents whileughing happily would stop and look at her curiously.

    She was all alone, her dress was stained with ck marks, and she looked even more fragile after washing it in the fountain hastily. She lowered her head and walked down a quiet, empty alley. She stopped at a red brick mottled wall and couldn¡¯t walk anymore, so she sat down and leaned against the wall to take a break. She was walking and stopping, heading in the direction of the Training Camp.

    She walked from morning to noon, from noon to evening.

    The blisters on her feet worn out. Blood flowed out and she was in great pain.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know why she was being so stubborn. With her speed, school would have ended by the time she reached the Training Camp. But she just didn¡¯t want to give up, or more urately, she didn¡¯t know where to go once she gave up... She lowered her head and saw that her small mobile phone in her palm was still quiet. Pei Ziheng hadn¡¯t given her a call at all, not one call.

    Did he really... not want her anymore?

    Tears of grievances gathered gradually in the eyes of Xia Ling. She sucked her nose hard and held back.

    Her feet were already in great pain and were weak and sore. Suddenly, she slipped identally and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± She yelped softly before getting up with much difficulty and moving to sit beside a big tree on the road. Her elbows and knees were worn out, and spots of red blood oozed out. She resisted her tears and bowed her head, licking her wounds like a tiny injured animal. She was at a loss. This fall seemed to take all her strength and she could no longer walk. She sat under the big tree for a long time and did not return to her senses.

    Pei Ziheng was in his study room, his heart flighty and impatient.

    Today, he had canceled all his itineraries to keep an eye on her news.

    He warned himself that he couldn¡¯t be in deep distress over her, but the financial reports and project ns that he could understand at one nce in the past became characters he couldn¡¯t recognize. No matter how hard he tried, he could not calm his heart.

    ¡°Sir.¡± Nanny Zhou knocked on the door to bring him the news of Xia Ling. ¡°Miss has fallen down in the alley at the end of Jinhua Street. Her hands and feet are wounded and bleeding and she doesn¡¯t have the energy to walk anymore.¡±

    Pei Ziheng threw the documents in his hands onto the table.

    She hasn¡¯t eaten anything in a day and hasn¡¯t had a sip of water. This child is just so stubborn!

    ¡°Sir, don¡¯t squabble with Miss anymore.¡± Nanny Zhou persuaded earnestly. ¡°She¡¯s just a child, what does she know? You¡¯ve seen the big world and are older than her. You¡¯re a man too, just yield to her.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°It¡¯s not your business.¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± Nanny Zhou was anxious. ¡°Miss is still sick!¡±

    ¡°Go out.¡± Pei Ziheng picked up his documents again.

    Nanny Zhou reluctantly retreated for the umpteenth time and closed the door. Pei Ziheng couldn¡¯t process the documents at all. He put them down and looked out at the setting sun outside the window.

    What if she still refuses toe back even at night?

    Suddenly, he felt an uneasiness in his heart. It was an empty feeling that he couldn¡¯t exin...

    ¡°As long as she admits her mistake,¡± he whispered to himself.

    The setting sun was bing more and more gorgeous. The whole city was shrouded in the radiance of the evening glow. Half an hour passed and she still didn¡¯t call. Pei Ziheng looked down at his mobile phone. This time, he said to himself, ¡°Xiao Ling,e back.¡±

    There was no need for her to admit her mistake anymore.

    As long as she dialed the phone and called ¡°Brother Pei¡±, then he would definitely pick her up immediately, bring her home and take care of her with his utmost effort.

    But the phone never sounded.

    Xia Ling sat under the tree for a long time, watching the sky darkening and the sunset glowing. She realized she could not continue to stay there for long. She held onto the tree trunk and got up groggily. She looked down inadvertently and was shocked by her sight¡ªon the ground, where she had just sat, was a pool of blood she hadn¡¯t noticed.

    She... was injured?

    She reached out to touch her bottom. With just one touch, she could feel her whole lower body was wet and her hand was filled with blood.

    She stared at the blood on her hand and was scared. What happened to her? She was losing so much blood all of a sudden, had her fever turned worse? Did she have other diseases? She... she wouldn¡¯t die, right?

    In the sunset, the little girl was pale and stood on the spot at a loss.

    Nanny Zhou pushed open the door to Pei Ziheng¡¯s study again. ¡°Sir! Something bad happened! Miss, she, she....¡± She panted heavily and reported incoherently.

    Pei Ziheng stood up and grabbed ahold of Nanny Zhou. ¡°Say it clearly! What happened to Xiao Ling?!¡±

    Nanny Zhou was grabbed too tightly by him, but she was happy. Humph, she knew Sir wouldn¡¯t put down his pride to care for Miss unless she scared him. She pretended to be very anxious on the surface. ¡°I don¡¯t know where Miss was hurt, but she has lost a lot of blood. The sky is too dark and the butler is too far away to see her injury, but he said Miss was so shocked her face turned pale.¡±

    Before Nanny Zhou finished speaking, Pei Ziheng had already rushed out.

    Nanny Zhou looked at his back and smiled slowly. She called the butler, ¡°He conceded. Sir is rushing towards you now. You just look after Miss. Miss has never learned about women having menstruation before, which was the reason why she¡¯s so scared. The little girl has grown up and has hit her menarche. It¡¯s no big deal.¡±

    Nanny Zhou put down the phone and cleaned the house in a good mood.

    The setting sun sprinkled through the treetops onto Xia Ling¡¯s body as well as the little pool of blood on the ground. Xia Ling stared at the blood and her face grew paler. In a short period of time, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind¡ªwhat should she do if she was seriously ill and couldn¡¯t be a big star and live up to Brother Pei¡¯s expectations? What about Xiao Yu? The cold wind blew on her body and she shivered. She was on the verge of copse and was grief-stricken.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s car stopped across the road. Through the window, the first thing he saw was the fragile and desperate look on the little girl¡¯s face under the tree. He didn¡¯t have time to close the door and rushed through the red light to her side, grabbing onto her weak arm at once. ¡°How are you? Where are you hurt?¡±

    The familiar voice made Xia Ling¡¯s heart skip a beat.

    She looked up and saw the young man standing in front of her, his tall figure like a God against the light. She cried out at once, ¡°Brother Pei!¡± She flung herself into his embrace and buried her head in his arms.

 Chapter 1058 - Reconcile

    <strong>Chapter 1058: Reconcile</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    She thought she was going to die, and the moment she saw him was like seeing her savior. His familiar scent made her feel at peace. She clutched tightly onto his clothes and didn¡¯t let go.

    Pei Ziheng squatted down and checked her up and down. ¡°Where is the injury, you¡¯re bleeding?¡±

    Xia Ling was uneasy and confused. ¡°I, I don¡¯t know.¡± There was no more anger in her tone.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her carefully again and found that there was a lot of dirt near her thigh behind her skirt. He asked, ¡°How do you feel near where you¡¯re bleeding? Does it hurt?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I was just sitting here and when I got up, there was a lot of blood, but it doesn¡¯t hurt.¡± She thought for a while before saying softly, ¡°It seems like, seems like my stomach hurts a little. Brother Pei, am I... going to die?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous,¡± he said in a low tone and seemed to understand what was going on. Although he was a man, he was not without the facts of life, and he had some rough understanding of a woman¡¯s private matters. Arge stone seemed to fall to the ground from his heart. It was good as long as she wasn¡¯t injured. Gently, heforted her. ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s just a little bit of a problem. I¡¯ll bring you home and let Nanny Zhou handle it.¡±

    ¡°Nanny Zhou?¡± she asked in confusion. She had lost so much blood, didn¡¯t she need a doctor?

    ¡°Yes, Nanny Zhou.¡± Pei Ziheng was still very gentle. ¡°I already said it¡¯s alright, there¡¯s no need for a doctor. Nanny Zhou will take good care of you. Then, you¡¯ll go to bed obediently and I¡¯ll get the doctor to look at your fever.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Hearing this, she was suddenly not so scared anymore. She held onto his hand and got into the car.

    At the back seat of thefortable car, Pei Ziheng reached out and wanted to pull her into his arms.

    She whispered, ¡°I¡¯m dirty.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± He carefully pulled her in and put a nket over her body.

    The two of them didn¡¯t mention the quarrel they had during the day and she fell asleep groggily in his arms. When they arrived at the vi, he woke her up and handed her to Nanny Zhou. Nanny Zhou had already prepared the toiletries. She helped her take a shower and kindly told her what was going on during her menstruation.

    Xia Ling understood that every girl would go through this process.

    Thinking back of how she had thrown herself into Pei Ziheng¡¯s arms out of fright, she felt her face burn red.

    It was so embarrassing... she simply didn¡¯t have the face to see him.

    She went back toy on her bed in embarrassment and the family doctor came to take her temperature and prescribe medicine for her. She took the medicine and fell asleep for a day and night. She only woke up several times to drink a little porridge.

    On the third day at sunset, she waspletely awake.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Brother Pei?¡± She regained some of her spirits and asked Nanny Zhou while drinking medicine on her bed.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Sir has gone to thepany to handle business. Sir was very worried when you ran out in anger and has dyed many of his original schedules. So he¡¯d been exceptionally busy these two days.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°He dyed his schedule?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Miss, Sir was so worried about you, he sent the butler to follow behind you. Why else do you think he could have found you so soon?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling didn¡¯t know what to say. That day, she had felt so wronged and so angry. She¡¯d thought he didn¡¯t care about her anymore. Who would have expected that he actually did care about her? Warmth spread in her heart and she felt a little guilty. How much trouble did she add to him?

    She heard Nanny Zhou say, ¡°Miss, Sir has never been close to his brothers and sisters. He¡¯s used to being alone and doesn¡¯t know how to interact with others. In fact, he¡¯s very good to you. You have to be more considerate of him and don¡¯t squabble with him, or he¡¯ll be very sad.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and felt even more guilty.

    At night, sheid on her own small bed and didn¡¯t sleep. She waited until one o¡¯clock for Pei Ziheng toe back home, exhausted. Separated by the screen, she noticed the soft bedroom lights lit up and heard the rustling sound of his undressing and the opening of the bathroom door. Finally, he came out of the bathroom and was ready to go to bed.

    She got up from her little bed and walked out of the screen.

    ¡°Brother Pei,¡± she said softly.

    Pei Ziheng turned round to look at her and was a little shocked. ¡°Xiao Ling, why haven¡¯t you slept yet?¡± He was wearing a ck satin gown casually, and beads of water flowed down his exposed chest. He looked sexy and physically beautiful.

    Xia Ling had never noticed this before, but tonight for some reason, she blushed slightly.

    ¡°I, I...¡± She paused and unnaturally averted her gaze. ¡°I¡¯vee to apologize to you. I shouldn¡¯t have thrown a temper that day and caused you to worry.¡±

    So it turns out to be for this matter.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°You know your wrong?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She still didn¡¯t dare to look at him.

    Pei Ziheng only thought she was feeling unwell, so he stepped forward and pulled her head to measure her temperature with the palm of his hand. ¡°Your fever has gone down,¡± he said. ¡°But why is your face still so red?¡±

    Her face turned even redder and she turned and ran away.

    Pei Ziheng was stunned. He thought about it and figured that it was probably because the little girl had just apologized to him and was feeling shy, so he didn¡¯t put it to heart. He was in a good mood. He went to his bed and soon fell asleep.

    Xia Ling tossed and turned and could not sleep well the whole night.

    The second day, she said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Brother Pei, I¡¯ll listen to you and attend day school.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯vee round?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯vee round,¡± Xia Ling said, but her mood was still somewhat low. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have let you worry about me when you¡¯re already so good to me.¡± For every hour that was wasted on the road, she wouldpensate for it by sleeping one hour less.

    Pei Ziheng seemed to see through her mind. ¡°You prefer to live on campus, right?¡±

    She hesitated and nodded.

    Pei Ziheng poured a ss of milk for her and watched as she drank it little by little. Although the little girl was willful, she would me herself over him, and this made Pei Ziheng feel an inexplicable satisfaction in his heart. As a form of reward, he said, ¡°Then live on campus.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling raised her head in shock.

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to the people from the Training Camp and make them chase Li Bingman out of the independent dormitory,¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Actually, deep down, he still didn¡¯t want her to live on campus. But the day she had a fever, the family doctor had said that the body of Miss was not good and her physique was weak. If she were to have high-intensity training for a long time and then go back and forth to school and home, all this running around would cause her to get sick easily.

    After listening to all these, Pei Ziheng had started to consider letting her live on campus. The reason why he had waited until today to tell her was that he was still reluctant. More importantly, she had bowed her head to him yesterday. This meant that she was willing to give up her insistence for him, which was a good sign.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was not asplicated as his, so she only felt moved. ¡°Brother Pei, you¡¯re so good.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said warmly, ¡°Let Nanny Zhou pack your luggage, then go to school and find Principal Sha first. He will apany you to drive out Li Bingman.¡± If his little girl was to go back, she would go back gloriously. Who cared about Li Bingman? If she had offended Xia Ling, then she had to pay the price.

 Chapter 1059 - Returning to Training Camp

    <h4>Chapter 1059: Returning to Training Camp</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling rested at home for a few more days and got well before returning to school.

    This time, she did not drag her suitcase along with her. She simply went directly to the Principal¡¯s office. When passing through the corridor, she met two girls in the same batch who pointed at her and whispered, ¡°Look, isn¡¯t that Xia Ling? A chief who can¡¯t even stay in a dormitory, so shameful. We first graders don¡¯t need such a chief.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. The chief should be given to Li Bingman quickly, so the rest of us don¡¯t have to feel shameful too.¡±

    Xia Ling suddenly turned round and red fiercely at them.

    The two girls were shocked by her expression and immediately shut up and stopped talking.

    Xia Ling continued to walk forward. Behind her, the whispers of the two girls continued, ¡°What¡¯s so great about her? A country bumpkin has even learned how to re at others? She can¡¯t even see what kind of trash she is. Li Bingman snatched her dormitory and she actually hid at home for a whole week and didn¡¯te out at all, what a coward.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s hearing was very good. The two thought they were very quiet, but she could still hear everything they said. This time, she directly exploded. She turned back to the two girls and pushed one of them down onto the ground. ¡°So you guys are great? If you have anything to say about me, say it to my face! What ability do you guys have talking behind my back?! Come on!¡±

    Her fierce appearance scared the two. The girl she had pushed took a while to react. She screamed, ¡°You, you dare to push me!¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯re dead meat. The Training Camp forbids fighting, didn¡¯t you know?!¡± The other girl also screamed, ¡°We¡¯ll tell the disciplinarymittee! You wait!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her sideways. This time, she flew and kicked her to the ground.

    The girl was caught off guard and mmed into herpanion with an ¡°Ouch!¡± When shended, she crashed down on herpanion¡¯s foot, making her cry out in pain.

    ¡°It hurts!¡±

    ¡°Get up!¡±

    The two girls huddled together and were shocked. They had already warned that they were going to tell on Xia Ling to the disciplinarymittee, but she still dared to hit them?! But they didn¡¯t know that this was Xia Ling¡¯s thought¡ªsince they were already going toin about her, then she might as well kick them a few more times.

    With this thought in her mind, she kicked again. ¡°Shut your mouths!¡±

    ¡°Stop! Feral girl!¡± Suddenly, a voice shouted.

    Xia Ling and the two girls on the floor turned around and saw that Li Bingman had brought along a few people and were rushing over. At this time, they were standing only a few steps away, looking down at Xia Ling unkindly.

    ¡°Sister Bingman!¡±

    ¡°Discipline members!¡±

    The two girls shouted in unison, ¡°Quicklye and handle Xia Ling, she¡¯s reallywless!¡±

    Li Bingman had on exquisite light makeup on her beautiful face and looked to be more mature than her actual age, just like an adult woman. She looked imposingly at Xia Ling. ¡°Were you the one who caused trouble?¡±

    ¡°Yes, so what?¡± Xia Ling held her head high. She wasn¡¯t afraid of her. Brother Pei had already said she could chase her out of the single room dormitory, but poor Li Bingman just didn¡¯t know that doom was upon her. At this thought, Xia Ling was extremely happy again and couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°You¡¯re managing such a wide spread, why don¡¯t you manage yourself properly first?¡±

    ¡°Impudent!¡± This time, a boy next to Li Bingman lectured her with a ck face. ¡°Do you know who you¡¯re talking to? Bingman is the ss Monitor of our batch! Is this your attitude towards a ss Monitor?!¡±

    What? ss Monitor?

    Xia Ling blinked and was stunned.

    She had remembered Xiao Hua telling her that only the Chief of each batch was qualified to be the ss Monitor? She put the doubts in her heart and sneered at them. ¡°What qualifications does Li Bingman have to be ss Monitor?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Li Bingman also sneered, but her beautiful and proud face didn¡¯t look a tiny bit sorry. ¡°Originally, only the Chief of every batch can be the ss Monitor. But who told you to not be able to live up to your reputation of Chief? School just started and you¡¯ve already been missing for one week, what about the other students? I¡¯ll just have to endure some hardships and be the ss Monitor.¡±

    She was the one who was snatching Xia Ling¡¯s position outrightly, yet she had said it as if she were helping her clean up her mess.

    Xia Ling did not allow her to push her around, so she lifted her chin and said, ¡°Really? Since I¡¯m back now, you can return the position to me. Speaking of it, it must have been tiring for you to help me be the ss Monitor for so long. You cane and find me for ten yuanter as a form of reward.¡±

    This brat...!

    Li Bingman was so angry she was about to explode. What was with this brat¡¯s arrogant tone?! What reward? As if she was her subordinate! Also, it was only ten yuan! Was she bestowing a beggar!

    Even an idiot could hear that Xia Ling was deliberately humiliating Li Bingman!

    Li Bingman looked fiercely at the disciplinarymittee member next to her. This member had been currying favor with Li Bingman ever since the start of school and had followed her everyone, which allowed her to take up this position. He looked at Li Bingman¡¯s expression and immediately understood her meaning. He stepped forward to rebuke Xia Ling. ¡°Stupid brat, you still want to be ss Monitor? You¡¯ll have to ask our ssmittee and the other students if they agree! Don¡¯t be hrious. If you keep pestering endlessly you¡¯ll only be seen as a joke!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not certain who¡¯s the joke!¡± Xia Ling narrowed her eyes at him.

    The disciplinemittee member sneered coldly. ¡°You don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you! Xia Ling, you just hit two ssmates and have already vited the school rules. Now, I punish you to go to the field and run a hundredps, and you¡¯re not allowed to eat or go to ss until you¡¯re done! Go!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Xia Ling ignored him.

    The disciplinemittee member exchanged a nce with Li Bingman and could see the rejoice in each other¡¯s eyes over Xia Ling¡¯s cmity. ¡°Xia Ling, I advise you to run obediently now. You might be able to go home before the sky turns dark. If you can¡¯t finish your runs... Haha, you¡¯ll just have to spend the whole night at the field with the cold wind.¡±

    This brat, did she think she would just refuse to run?

    In the Training Camp, the power of the ssmittee was great. If the ssmittee were to set a punishment for a student, even the teacher would support it. For example, now this disciplinarymittee member didn¡¯t allow Xia Ling to attend sses, so if she were to attend lessons before she finished her hundred rounds, she¡¯d still be chased out by the teacher.

    The entertainment industry was a very strict ce. The Training Camp was such a small entertainment industry.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know all these rules and did not care to know. She only knew that she was Brother Pei¡¯s person, and Brother Pei had already told Principal Sha to bring justice to her. Since Li Bingman had snatched not only the independent room that originally belonged to the Chief and the ss Monitor position just because of her rtionship with her sister, then it was only natural for her to snatch back what was originally hers through her tougher rtionship!

    ¡°Ding!¡± The bell rang.

    Xia Ling looked at them and snorted. She turned to continue in the direction of the Principal¡¯s office.

    ¡°The field is over there!¡± Someone mocked her loudly. ¡°Country bumpkin, just now you were speaking so arrogantly, why are you so timid now? You don¡¯t even dare to enter the ssrooms, just go run quickly, hahaha.¡±

 Chapter 1060 - Principal Sha

    <h4>Chapter 1060: Principal Sha</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had originally wanted to go to Principal Sha¡¯s office first. But now she was agitated by them and didn¡¯t want to go.

    Were they mocking her for being afraid to enter the ssroom? Okay, then she would show them! She held her head high and, amidst the gazes of the crowd, followed the surging crowd into the ssroom.

    It was dance ss now and everyone was standing neatly in formation on the wooden floor, waiting for the arrival of the teacher. The dance teacher was a thirty-something-year-old female teacher called Hatina. When she stepped into the ssroom, she keenly felt that the atmosphere was somewhat unusual.

    She nced past the students and her eyes fell on Xia Ling. ¡°You¡¯re new?¡±

    ¡°Yes teacher, my name is Xia Ling.¡± The girl¡¯s sweet and clear voice was very pleasant. ¡°I¡¯m this year¡¯s Chief. I took a week of sick leave because of physical difortst week.¡±

    She seemed to understand quite well in her heart. She had long heard that this year¡¯s students were not ordinary. Li Bingyu¡¯s sister Li Bingman and a country girl who had appeared out of nowhere were fighting for life and death. It seems this girl was Xia Ling. But this girl was different from the rumors, she looked to have a good figure, her face was beautiful and she was a good budding young girl.

    She nodded slightly. ¡°Let¡¯s start ss.¡±

    She was not this year¡¯s teacher-in-charge and couldn¡¯t care about the inner fights between the students. She only had to do her work well.

    Unexpectedly, the disciplinemittee member spoke up. ¡°Teacher, wait! This Xia Ling has vited the school rules and I¡¯ve punished her to run a hundred rounds in the field. She hasn¡¯t run yet. ording to the rules, you must drive her out of the ssroom!¡±

    Teacher Hatina frowned. She didn¡¯t want to manage these things and hadn¡¯t expected trouble toe find her. ¡°Then go and run,¡± she said to Xia Ling. ¡°The rules of the Training Camp are like this. Anyways, you have already missed a week of sses and this day doesn¡¯t matter either. Since you¡¯re here, you have to follow the rules.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the school year¡¯s Chief and I should be this batch¡¯s ss Monitor.¡± Xia Ling had already sorted out her thoughts and looked fearlessly at Hatina. ¡°Li Bingman is not qualified to be the ss Monitor. Her orders as the disciplinemittee have no qualifications. I am the ss Monitor, so why should I listen to their orders?¡±

    Hatina was speechless. She apuded this girl internally for being so courageous and insightful!

    But this was not a matter she as a teacher could decide on herself. She said, ¡°This is a matter within your freshmen and it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me. Li Bingman is the ss Monitor on the list published by the school, and Chen Bai is a member of the disciplinemittee. I will have to adhere to the regtions. If you have any opinions, you can go to the school toin, but now I must take you out of ss.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to go. ¡°No!¡±

    Hatina had a good impression of the little girl and couldn¡¯t bear to see her getting bullied. So she said, ¡°Go quickly, if you don¡¯t go, the ssmittee will have the power to take you out.¡±

    ¡°Who dares!¡± Xia Ling surveyed her surroundings with a cold icy re that made people¡¯s heart leap in their throats. She then turned her head and continued to say to Hatina, ¡°Teacher, I was going to deal with this matter today and was on my way to find Principal Sha, but they came to find trouble with me unreasonably, so I came to ss first! Please help me tell Principal Sha that I¡¯ming and let hime here to settle the matters and give me back my justice!¡±

    This girl had such a big tone!

    This time, not to mention the other trainees, even Hatina sucked in an icy breath. It was a good thing for a little girl to have courage, but bravery could be recklessness when done overboard too! Who did she think Principal Sha was, her family¡¯s Shar-pei dog? Someone whoes whenever she calls? ¡°Principal Sha is extremely busy, how would he have time to handle your tiny business.¡± This time, even Hatina was a little unhappy. ¡°Don¡¯t disregard what¡¯s good for you.¡±

    Xia Ling was even angrier. Even this teacher was saying she didn¡¯t know what was good for her!

    The one being bullied was obviously her, it was those bad students that didn¡¯t know what was good for them!

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll find Principal Sha!¡±

    She turned her head and walked outside. She was walking too hastily and almost bumped against a middle-aged man. That man had a big belly and a friendly, kind face. He held onto Xia Ling and said with a smile, ¡°Little girl, where are you going? You¡¯re walking so urgently, be careful not to fall.¡±

    ¡°Move aside.¡± Xia Ling was in a terrible mood now. ¡°I want to find Principal Sha!¡±

    ¡°This is Principal Sha.¡± Hatina couldn¡¯t help but speak out in the ssroom. She simply wanted to rub her forehead in despair. She had been faintly skeptical about whether the girl had anything to do with Principal Sha, but now, at first nce, the girl didn¡¯t even recognize Principal Sha! Out of pity, Hatina began to worry for the girl again¡ªdon¡¯t be deceived by the kind appearance of Principal Sha; in actuality, people called him a ¡°man with a big smile with evil intentions¡± behind his back. To be able to stay in the fiercelypetitive andplicated Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp stably for six or seven years as the Principal and go through the changing of power from Old Chairman to Pei Ziheng while still staying as solid as a rock, how could he be a simple person?

    Xia Ling looked up at the middle-aged man. ¡°You¡¯re Principal Sha?¡±

    Before Principal Sha could answer, Li Bingman had already sneered out. ¡°You don¡¯t even know Principal Sha? You still thought you could use these little things to trouble him, you overestimate yourself!¡± she said that with an air of superiority arising involuntarily. When she hade to the Training Camp, her sister Li Bingyu had especially taken her to visit Principal Sha. Then, Principal Sha had given his seat to sister and had even gotten his secretary to make her the best biluochun tea.

    The other students saw that Li Bingman had talked and they chipped in to ridicule Xia Ling. ¡°You really think you¡¯re all that!¡±

    Those who were more courageous said, ¡°Principal Sha, just ignore her, she¡¯s a silly girl who¡¯s just unreasonable. She¡¯s always finding trouble for Sister Bingman and has brought Sister Bingman lots of grievances!¡±

    Who on earth was wronging who?

    Xia Ling was furious and wanted to refute, but Principal Sha was already saying joyously to her, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Principal Sha. Little girl, what¡¯s your name? Are they bullying you?¡±

    Everyone was stunned. What had happened to Principal Sha today? Why was he helping this wild brat that he didn¡¯t even know without finding out the truth? Yet, they didn¡¯t know that Principal Sha already knew that her name was Xia Ling. A few days ago, Secretary Zhou had personallye to greet him and told him to take care of Xia Ling. She had even said seriously that this girl was not to be offended.

    How long had Principal Sha been in this business? How could he not hear the meaning in Secretary Zhou¡¯s words?

    There were only so few people even she couldn¡¯t afford to offend. There was no one other than Pei Ziheng!

    At the thought of Xia Ling¡¯s background, Principal Sha¡¯s scalp went numb. He simply did not want this little devil to have any idents in the Training Camp, or he might not even be able to guarantee his position as the Principal, much less anticipate a sry increase! Once he had sent Secretary Zhou off, he had quickly checked the information on Xia Ling. This little girl was too beautiful, so her face left an impression on him. He could recognize the girl in front of him right away.

 Chapter 1061 - Teach Them a Good Lesson

    <strong>Chapter 1061: Teach Them a Good Lesson</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    True enough, the girl said, ¡°I¡¯m Xia Ling.¡±

    Principal Sha looked even kinder now. ¡°So you¡¯re Xia Ling. A few of the examiners have told me about your outstanding performance in the final round. It¡¯s really our honor to be having you here in our camp.¡±

    Deep inside, however, he was sweating buckets.

    This girl really was Xia Ling! She really did act like someone from a known backgroundpletely unafraid to offend anyone, full of confidence, and already stirring trouble within half a day!

    The previous day, he had received a call from Secretary Zhou, saying that Xia Ling would look for him at his office today. He rescheduled all other matters at hand and waited in the office for her. Initially, he had nned to personally fetch her at the gate, but Secretary Zhou said that this little girl did not like attention. Hence, Principal Sha simply waited in his office for her.

    He waited a long while before he got news from the guard post that she had entered the camp.

    But twenty minutes had passed and she still had not arrived at the principal¡¯s office.

    Principal Sha got worried, could something have happened to her? He traced the path and fortunately arrived on time. Otherwise, the consequences could have been dire... Principal Sha was praying in his heart as he said to Xia Ling, ¡°You¡¯ve had to suffer grievances because of some errors made by the camp, we¡¯re really sorry.¡±

    Everybody was shocked. What was going on, Principal Sha had actually apologized to Xia Ling?

    Was the sun rising in the West this time?!

    Xia Ling gave a soft ¡°hmph¡± before saying, ¡°This isn¡¯t something that can be concluded with just an apology.¡±

    Principal Sha said, ¡°Yes, yes, I will definitely give you a satisfactory exnation.¡±

    Li Bingman was shocked. Why was Principal Sha being so polite to this unknown girl? Just because she could sing falsetto?! How could that beparable to her status as the Diva¡¯s sister?!

    Principal Sha should know better than this!

    Unless... Principal Sha did not know that she had conflicts with Xia Ling?

    But the other ssmates had already mentioned it to him! ¡°Principal Sha,¡± she had no choice but to speak up now. ¡°Xia Ling is too much. She missed lessons for no good reason, and she¡¯s eyeing my ss monitor position the moment she¡¯s back. Although this position doesn¡¯t mean much to me, she doesn¡¯t deserve this position. Who in ss is willing to be led by her? She¡¯s being unreasonable!¡±

    ¡°Bingman, we shouldn¡¯t be too calcting with one another.¡± Principal Sha had his smiling mask back on as usual. He was teaching Li Bingman a lesson now¡ªalthough he sounded nice and kind, each word was a stab to her heart. ¡°The ss monitor position is meant to go to the Best Student of the Year. Xia Ling was on leave for a while, which was why we let you take over temporarily as the acting monitor. Now that she¡¯s back, it¡¯s only fair that you let her have the position. I¡¯ll get the administrative department to change the names of the ssmitteeter on.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± Li Bingman was in disbelief. ¡°No!¡±

    She went to great pains to get this position. If she was robbed of it, that¡¯d be more embarrassing than if she never got it to begin with! She didn¡¯t want such an embarrassment! ¡°Principal Sha, my sister is Li Bingyu!¡± She reminded Principal Sha in a moment of panic.

    But Principal Sha was unimpressed. This insensible girl was actually using her sister to threaten him?

    So what if her sister was Li Bingyu, Xia Ling¡¯s backing was Pei Ziheng! Look at Xia Ling, keeping quiet about her astounding pir of support. As for Li Bingman? She couldn¡¯t wait to let the whole world know her status! What ignorance!

    Principal Sha¡¯s expression was more solemn now. ¡°And so what if your sister is Li Bingyu? In Imperial¡¯s training camp, everything depends on your ability. Since you¡¯ve lost to Xia Ling during the selection, don¡¯te up with excuses to ask for things that aren¡¯t even yours.¡±

    ¡°I...!¡± Li Bingman waspletely confused, this wasn¡¯t how Principal Sha acted when her sister asked him to ¡°take good care of my sister¡±! What exactly was going on?! Shocked as she was, she knew better than to question Principal Sha. Her sister was a Diva no less, but Principal Sha¡¯s ce in the camp was well-respected and in no way inferior to her sister. In fact, Sister had to be polite to him as well when they met, before he turned to the media with unfavorable words about her. If headlines such as ¡°Li Bingyu is rude to her elders¡± or ¡°Li Bingyu¡¯s results at the training camp were not good¡± came up... things would be bad for her reputation!

    Li Bingman had no choice but to swallow this.

    Xia Ling was very satisfied with the way Principal Sha handled the situation. ¡°Hmph, Li Bingman, you actually find yourself capable to be a monitor? You¡¯re just a thief, shameless!¡±

    Every word that came from her made Li Bingman¡¯s expression more awful.

    The student in-charge of conduct stepped up. ¡°Xia Ling, are you supposed to speak like this? You...¡± Although Li Bingman had ¡°fallen¡±, he still wanted to defend her. After all, she was the Diva¡¯s sister and had the capability to help him in his future career. The student in-charge of conduct decided that this was the best time to offer his help to Li Bingman. As long as he tried his best to defend her, she¡¯d definitely be touched and grateful towards him.

    If she could repay him with her body...

    He was fantasizing too much now.

    Who would¡¯ve expected that reality hit him like a ssh of cold water?

    Principal Sha smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, now that you¡¯re the ss monitor, you can pick your own ssmittee members. Those whom Li Bingman had picked previously are no longer counted, you can start themittee afresh.¡±

    This was exactly what Xia Ling wanted.

    She¡¯d long been annoyed at this student in-charge of conduct, also known as Li Bingman¡¯sckey. She sneered and looked at him. ¡°You, out of themittee! Didn¡¯t you want to punish me by making me run 100ps on the field? Very well, you can run that 100ps now! You¡¯re not allowed to go to ss, eat, or sleep until you¡¯re done!¡±

    Xia Ling felt great to give him a taste of his own medicine.

    The student in-charge of conduct¡¯s expression turned awful. 100ps! The field at the training camp was huge, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to finish it by nightfall! The usual punishment at the camp was just 50ps of running. He had told Xia Ling to run 100ps just to embarrass her, but who knew his retribution woulde so soon!

    ¡°Why, you¡¯re not satisfied?¡± Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s make it 300ps then.¡±

    ¡°What, 300ps?¡± The student in-charge of conduct was fuming. ¡°Don¡¯t you go too far, Xia Ling! So what if you¡¯re the ss monitor? 300ps are physically impossible for anyone. Principal, I want to report her for abusing her right! I refuse!¡±

    This poor in-charge still had not figured out the situation.

    Principal Sha¡¯s smile was still so kind. ¡°Little student, don¡¯t get so agitated. 300ps are indeed way past a normal human¡¯s limit, the school management will not allow anyone to be at risk here.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± The in-charge got all self-righteous the moment he heard what Principal Sha said. ¡°Xia Ling is abusing her power! I want her out! Make Li Bingman the monitor again!¡±

 Chapter 1062 - Xia Lingâ€™s Counterattack

    <strong>Chapter 1062: Xia Ling¡¯s Counterattack</strong>

    Trantor: As Studios Editor: As Studios

    Xia Ling smirked. ¡°Dream on!¡±

    The conduct in-charge said, ¡°You aren¡¯t qualified to be the ss monitor, stop overestimating yourself!¡±

    Xia Lingughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m overestimating myself, but what I do know is that you¡¯ll be running rounds soon!¡±

    The atmosphere was tense. Principal Sha tried to cool them down. ¡°Okay, enough, all of you. Isn¡¯t it just 300 rounds? Let¡¯s not damage the bond between you just because of this small issue. Xiao Ling, 300 rounds at one go will kill him. How about you give him a chance and let him run 100 rounds first. He can take a three-day rest, then run another 100 rounds... it¡¯ll take him just three gos to finish the 300 rounds. This way, he can be punished without risking his life.¡±

    Everyone was shocked. Principal Sha was really cold-blooded!

    Principal Sha truly lived up to his nickname of ¡°Smiling Tiger¡±. Everyone thought he was on the conduct in-charge¡¯s side, but he was in fact siding with Xia Ling. Even if 300 rounds were to be split into three separate sessions, the interval between each of the 100 rounds was a mere few days. For an ordinary person, 100 rounds might not kill, but it would definitely leave a toll on their body. You could foresee that for the next two weeks, the conduct in-charge, Li Hua, would be close to crippled. His daily routine would be just run¡ªrest¡ªrun¡ªrest.

    The ss schedule for the training camp was tight, if he missed this half a month of sses, it would be hard for him to catch up again.

    It might even affect his examination results or debut.

    The conduct in-charge, Li Hua, was upset. ¡°Principal, you can¡¯t do this!¡±

    Principal Sha chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m only giving Xiao Ling a suggestion. Whether she wants to take it is up to her. You must understand that for some matters, the school administration cannot interfere.¡±

    Everyone was appalled by hisment. He was siding with Xia Ling so obviously, and he still dared to say he could not interfere? But they had conveniently forgotten all the times when the teachers sided with Li Bingman and bullied Xia Ling, and how they saw no fault with it.

    Xia Ling epted Principal Sha¡¯s suggestions readily. ¡°Okay, since he will be given time to rest, let¡¯s up a few more rounds. How about 400? More training and less spouting nonsense for him.¡±

    ¡°What¡ª?¡± They were shocked again. 300 rounds were already crazy, and now she was asking for 400! ¡°Are you kidding me?!¡± Li Bingman spoke up. Her underlings were being bullied to a ridiculous extent. If she did not defend then, she would lose the support of her other underlings. ¡°I do not agree, 400 rounds is too much,¡± she said.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t agree.¡± Xia Ling said cheekily, ¡°Li Bingman, do you think you are still the ss monitor? It¡¯s about time we settled our old feud. How about we start with you joining him for the 400 rounds.¡±

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Li Bingman could not believe it. This wretched girl thought that being a ss monitor gave her absolute authority, even to the point of offending the Diva¡¯s sister!

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of anything.¡± Xia Ling grinned wickedly. ¡°You, and all your underlings. All of you will run your rounds, this problem of despising others has to be corrected.¡±

    All of you will run your rounds?

    They looked at each other in disbelief, no way this was happening?!

    Xia Ling shouted, ¡°Xiao Hua,e over and stand beside me.¡±

    A gentle girl walked out from the crowd and stood cautiously beside Xia Ling. She was Xiao Hua, the friend that Xia Ling made on her first day in the training camp. Originally, Xiao Hua was worried when Xia Ling and Li Bingman¡¯s gang were arguing. She did not expect the tides to turn towards Xia Ling.

    Now that Xia Ling summoned her, she did not think much and walked over.

    Xia Ling looked around and said, ¡°Xiao Hua is a nice person, she didn¡¯t bully others like you did, so she won¡¯t have to run rounds.¡±

    Li Bingman stared at Xiao Hua like a wolf and threatened, ¡°Think carefully, are you sure you want to side with Xia Ling?¡±

    Xiao Hua shuddered, but still stood bravely by Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling met Li Bingman¡¯s gaze and said, ¡°Don¡¯t bully her like a coward. if you have the balls, go against me. Don¡¯t you have your gang? Well, too bad, they are all going down with you.¡±

    Before Li Bingman could react, Xia Ling bellowed out to the trainees, ¡°All of you, line up properly and say a few words to me so that I can hear your voices. If you¡¯ve insulted me before, or are part of Li Bingman¡¯s gang, go run your rounds. If you are not any of them, stand beside Xiao Hua.¡±

    The trainees looked at each other and did not dare to move.

    Xia Ling was unhappy. It seemed like even with the support of Principal Sha, her reputation was not enough tomand over them.

    She smirked. ¡°Seems like there is no one, then all of you will go for the run!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± A thin guy stood out, stammering. He said, ¡°X-Xia Ling, I have never insulted you and I have nothing to do with Li Bingman and her gang.¡± He knew his physique was not strong enough for the run, he would be risking his life for it.

    Xia Ling had a good memory of sounds and voices. She knew immediately after hearing his voice, ¡°I recognize your voice, you are the one who said ¡®the serial number of the caps on the thermal sks are wrong¡¯. I don¡¯t remember you insulting me, so stand beside Xiao Hua.¡±

    The guy heaved a sigh of relief and stood beside Xiao Hua.

    With his example, more people began to move over to Xiao Hua. They were the ones who never insulted Xia Ling, but it was only a handful of them. Originally, there were a few who wanted to appease Li Bingman, but now that the tides had turned, they tried to save themselves instead. One of them stood out and said to Xia Ling¡ª

    ¡°Xia Ling, from the very first day I saw you, I thought that you were very pretty, for real.¡±

    After his sentence, he tried to move over to Xiao Hua¡¯s side.

    ¡°Wu Lanhai!¡± someone shouted from the crowd. ¡°You coward! You were with us when we talked bad about Xia Ling, and you even added to it. How can you pretend you didn¡¯t! Coward!¡±

    ¡°I did not!¡± Wu Lanhai tried to exin. ¡°Xia Ling, please hear me out. They are spreading lies because they despise me. I have never insulted you! Believe me!¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Get lost and join the run.¡± Xia Ling said, ¡°You insulted me, saying that I was poor and wasn¡¯t even fit to hold Li Bingman¡¯s shoes for her. Have you forgotten the words you just said? 500 rounds for you.¡± She despised those who followed Li Bingman, but she despised these bootlickers more.

    ¡°Xia Ling!¡± Wu Lanhai was anxious. He did not expect 100 more rounds for him.

    Before he could say anything else, Principal Sha coughed and interjected. ¡°Student Wu, please do not disrupt the ss. If you continue to do so, we will deduct your academic points.¡±

    Wu Lanhai kept quiet immediately. Academic points were notoriously hard to earn in Imperial Entertainment, and they¡¯d already realized this as new students. He did not want his hard-earned points gone because of this.

    Defeated, he stepped out of the ssroom.

    After Wu Lanhai, no one dared to try and fake their innocence. Everyone stood in their ces. A clear split could be seen between Li Bingman¡¯s gang and Xia Ling¡¯s. The ssroom was engulfed in a deafening silence.

 Chapter 1063 - Who Else?

    <h4>Chapter 1063: Who Else?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stood in the middle of the ssroom, her dress swaying in the breeze. The sunlight that was cast onto her from outside made her appear a little magical and fantastical. She tipped her chin up slightly like a triumphant goddess as her beautiful voice echoed through the air. ¡°Who else?¡±

    Nobody said a thing nor moved.

    ¡°In that case, that¡¯s it.¡± She ended off with a one-liner before taking her leave.

    Everyone else in the ssroom looked at each other.

    ¡°End the ss for now,¡± Principal Sha said to Teacher Hatina[a] as he took a look at the time. ¡°We¡¯ll have a make-up session for this lesson another time. The few of you¡ª¡± he pointed at Xiao Hua and a few others, ¡°help Xia Ling with her luggage.¡±

    Xiao Hua and the rest were more than happy to do it.

    Hierarchy was highly regarded at Imperial¡¯s training camp¡ªthe Best Student of the Year was allowed to instruct any other student in the same cohort to do things for them. It was almost a given for Xiao Hua and the rest to move Xia Ling¡¯s luggage for her. What¡¯s more, Xia Ling had only just been appointed as the ss monitor and the rest of themittee had not been decided yet. If they worked harder to curry favor, they might just be able to make it into themittee. Although themittee members were not at an equivalent status to the ss monitor, they were still considered to be on the higher levels of the pyramid and had the right to get other ssmates of lower levels to help them out as they wished.

    A few of them hurried to get it done.

    ¡°How about us?¡± The conduct in-charge¡ªno, the previous conduct in-charge, Li Hua, asked.

    ¡°You people? Didn¡¯t Xia Ling ask you to run around the field? Hurry and go now. If you can¡¯t finish your 400ps, or 500,¡± Principal Sha looked sympathetically at the poor child, ¡°don¡¯te back to ss. Ten-odd days of sses can pull your standard apart from your other ssmates... by quite a bit.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t fair!¡± Li Bingman felt that it waspletely unjustified.

    Principal Sha raised his hand and signaled that there was nothing he could do. ¡°Even I am unable to go against the rules that Imperial Entertainment hasid since its establishment. Bingman, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t wish to help you, but I simply can¡¯t.¡±

    With that, he deliberately gave a long sigh before walking off.

    He left Li Bingman and a row of students standing awkwardly in the ssroom.

    ¡°Sister Bingman, now what?¡± Someone finally asked.

    Li Bingman red at that person. ¡°What do you mean what now? Just run!¡± The sooner they were done with theps, the sooner they could get back to ss! She was going to be a megastar, and every moment mattered! She couldn¡¯t afford to waste a day of sses!

    The person who got red at hung his head low, fuming on the inside but not daring to speak.

    She was the one who had a conflict with Xia Ling, and she had the audacity to vent her anger on everyone else after losing the battle? She made it seem as if they offended her! This Li Bingman was the sister of a Diva and yet she couldn¡¯t even pit herself against a little girl? How weak! Moreover, those who were on Xia Ling¡¯s side not only managed to evade the run, they even stood the chance to be in the ssmittee!

    A few of them were already thinking about whether they had followed the wrong leader as they did theirps...

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling was unaware of this situation as she took Xiao Hua and the rest to the dorm. She opened the door to A301, the room that belonged to the Best Student of the Year, and mercilessly tossed all of Li Bingman¡¯s belongings out. In an attempt to prove their loyalty to Xia Ling, the rest of them treated Li Bingman¡¯s stuff with as little kindness as possible too¡ªher pillows were ripped, her flowerpot shattered, and even the tea set souvenir that her sister had bought from abroad waspletely damaged. The pile of stuffy around in the hallway like trash as passersby nced at it.

    There were other students in this dorm building as well. When they heard that the Best Student of the Year did not even have a room to herself because Li Bingman upied it, they despised Xia Ling quite a bit¡ªif the Best Student couldn¡¯t even keep her own room, what right did she have to take that title? She was just embarrassing the Best Students of other cohorts.

    Some students in the other cohorts had taken this opportunity to mock the Best Student of their year as well.

    Hence, although the other Best Students of their respective years despised Xia Ling, they did not have a good impression of Li Bingman either¡ªas someone who broke the rules, Li Bingman was definitely not considered to be on the same team as the Best Students.

    Now that they saw Li Bingman¡¯s belongings being tossed out, they felt some thrill as well.

    ¡°Seems like the new Best Student isn¡¯t as weak as we thought.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, how could she be a Best Student if she was weak? I¡¯d long guessed that she¡¯d retaliate.¡±

    ¡°Well done, Li Bingman has been on my nerves for a while now. She doesn¡¯t even give way to the seniors in the hallway. How rude!¡±

    News spread fast and before long, many of them were deliberately passing by the A301 room to mock Li Bingman.

    At the same time, they could take a look at how the new Best Student looked like.

    Xia Ling proudly got her ssmates to help move her own belongings into the room. Seeing that some others were gathered at the door, she invited them in. ¡°I¡¯ve only just arrived and have no idea how I should decorate this ce. It¡¯d be nice if you could help me take a look and give somements. Oh right, I brought lots of sweets. Here, have some.¡±

    She took a huge handful of gummies from her LV travel bag and distributed them.

    Those who had a good eye would know that this was an expensive brand of candy. It was organic and had no unnatural additives or preservatives. In fact, thepany even allowed customers to customize their candy orders ording to their needs. One would need to pre-order it in advance and wait for its shipping.

    Even though the girls at the training camp came from rather well-to-do families, they¡¯d only get a few of these candies asionally and unt them online.

    But look at this girl here, she had so many of them!

    And she was giving them out so generously!

    Did she think this was a sale?

    Two of the senior girls exchanged nces as they ate the gummies.

    Girl A asked, ¡°This can¡¯t be an imitation brand, right?¡±

    Girl B said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. My dad bought me somest year. It tastes just like this.¡±

    They looked at Xia Ling¡¯s dressing¡ªit wasn¡¯t a branded good but the quality was top-notch. A few of them even tried to have a touch of it when they helped her move her items. The dress was so soft and fluffy, it made people fuzzy on the inside. Her luggage by the side was a Rimowa, and the scarf she wore on her head casually was actually a Hermes. The other misceneous ornaments she ced on the tables, as well as her toiletries, were all of well-established brands as well.

    A few of the girls were stunned by these items¡ªthey didn¡¯t look fake at all!

    Those who had spread rumors about how poor she was and how she had to borrow the BMW that she arrived in on the first day were simply... ignorant!

    One of the girls cleared her throat and tried her best to ask casually, ¡°Xiao Ling, your scarf is so pretty. Did you buy it yourself?¡±

    [a]Was TLed as Hatina by udine

 Chapter 1064 - Little Bit of Flaunting

    <h4>Chapter 1064: Little Bit of unting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Right?¡± Xia Ling had originally been studying the location of the potted hydroponic nt, but after hearing that, she turned and gave a brilliant smile. ¡°Right, you think it looks good too, right? Originally, the stylist at home had given me a small diamonds hair clip, but I thought it was too heavy and didn¡¯t like it, so I just randomly took this scarf. Pei... Er, I mean my Brother, has given me a dozen. If you like them, I¡¯ll bring another one for you the next time I go back home.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The girl was very surprised, yet at a loss. ¡°How could I ask that of you?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to feel sorry about? It¡¯s only a scarf,¡± Xia Ling said with a smile. She did not know the value of this silk scarf and Pei Ziheng had never told her either. But whatever she liked and thought looked good, he would prepare an abundance of it for her no matter how expensive and rare it was. In Xia Ling¡¯s eyes, this silk scarf was no different from the ones sold in the mall.

    The girl hesitated and thanked her.

    Some girls around them were extremely envious, and at the same time they were certain of one thing¡ªXia Ling was really rich, even richer than they had imagined! They couldn¡¯t resist their curiosity and asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, I heard that the day you came to report, the BMW you rode was borrowed? Why didn¡¯t you take your family¡¯s car?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Why are you asking that?¡±

    A few girls looked at each other and one of them said, ¡°Don¡¯t me us for gossiping, butst time, Li Bingman said that you can¡¯t afford to stay in Training Camp and ndered you by saying your family didn¡¯t even have a decent car.¡±

    Xia Ling heard this for the first time and felt very angry. ¡°Humph, she¡¯s the poor one! My family is richer than hers!¡± Unconsciously, she had already regarded Pei Ziheng as her family. His house was her house. However, once the words were out of her mouth, she suddenly realized it was wrong¡ªdidn¡¯t she say she was going to be low-key?

    Boohoo, what kind of family background did Li Bingman have, she was the Diva¡¯s younger sister and even though the family wasn¡¯t some super-rich and powerful one, they didn¡¯tck money in the least. Ifpared to the Pei family, of course, the Li family wascking, but when the Li family was put within the circle of trainees here? The families that were able to send their children here all had a little bit of money but were not super-rich. Li Bingman was already considered an outstanding richdy. If she said she was richer than Li Bingman, wasn¡¯t she exposing herself?

    Sure enough, Xiao Hua eximed softly, ¡°Xiao Ling, I knew you weren¡¯t an ordinary person.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to cry. Boohoo, wasn¡¯t she supposed to be low-key? ¡°Actually, actually my family is also ordinary,¡± she whispered, trying to make up for it.

    A girl wearing an emerald ring chuckled. ¡°Forget it, Xiao Ling. You can stop pretending. You have all these Swiss candies, these bags, and Hermes, we can¡¯t even afford a full set. Who would believe you when you say your family is ordinary?¡±

    Xia Ling widened her eyes slightly. ¡°Are these things that expensive?¡±

    ¡°If you overdo it, it¡¯s arrogance,¡± a senior middle school Chief said jokingly. ¡°If you have money, you should admit it, it¡¯s not even a shameful thing. You can even use it to provoke those who look down on you! You don¡¯t wish for those people to mess around outside by smearing your name and bad-mouthing you, right?¡±

    That was true...

    At the thought of Li Bingman¡¯s scornful face, Xia Ling could not suppress her anger.

    Looking at the table full of bags, essories, and candies, Xia Ling decided to be a little more high-profile and reveal a little bit of herself. ¡°Well, the car that sent me here that day was borrowed. My brother¡¯s car is too eye-catching and isn¡¯t suitable.¡±

    The girls made another small exmation.

    ¡°What car?¡± they asked curiously.

    Xia Ling smiled a little and didn¡¯t say anything. She didn¡¯t want to expose Pei Ziheng¡¯s Rolls-Royce. The driver had told her that there weren¡¯t many Rolls-Royce in the entire S City. If she were to expose that and it was checked by someone, they might be able to identify her. ¡°Eat the candies.¡± She grabbed a bunch of candies for everyone.

    Several girlsughed and changed the topic with interest.

    Ever since they discovered Xia Ling was actually super rich, she started to have a different status in their hearts¡ªshe used to be a freshman who had an average history and was a new Chief they shouldn¡¯t really get too close to, but now she had be a rich ¡°Miss Perfect¡± that was worthy of being friends with. Who wouldn¡¯t want to have more wealthy friends?

    Those who were more calctive thought even deeper¡ª

    Li Bingman¡¯s background was so tough, how could she be ousted so arrogantly by this little girl?

    Unless the background of this little girl was tougher!

    The group of people each held different thoughts as they apanied Xia Ling for the entire afternoon.

    On the field, Li Bingman and the bunch of trainees were perspiring profusely as they ran. It was soon nightfall and they had still yet to finish their designated hundredps. Li Bingman only felt that her legs were as heavy as lead, and the sweat stuck to her body, making her feel extremely ufortable. What made her feel even worse was the many people gathered around the field, pointing at her from time to time and covering their mouths tough at her. It made her very angry but helpless.

    Xia Ling!

    She remembered this name. She must dismember this lowly girl!

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t.¡± A girl running beside Li Bingman stopped in despair. ¡°I, I can¡¯t run anymore, I¡¯ll take a break.¡± Then she sat down on the ground.

    Li Bingman ignored her and ran by herself.

    Resting for an hour more was wasting an hour of lessons. She couldn¡¯t afford to waste that time. No matter how difficult it was, she must finish theps! One after another, many people left the team and gave up, nning to take a break and rest before continuing¡ªXia Ling had only ordered them to run a hundredps within a day but had not restricted them from taking breaks in the middle, so they were making use of this loophole to ck off.

    Li Bingman looked down on them. Didn¡¯t they know they would be more tired the more they rested for this kind of long-distance marathon?

    She gritted her teeth and ran forward, her ears humming and her sight gradually blurred by sweat. Suddenly, she heard a panicked voicee from somewhere far away. ¡°Sister Bingman, it¡¯s, it¡¯s not good!¡±

    She was too busy to pay attention to it and continued to run mechanically.

    The voice was getting closer and a few people followed her and said next to her, ¡°Sister Bingman, go and see quickly! Xia Ling has brought a bunch of people and have thrown all your stuff out of the dormitory! Your favorite tea set was also broken by them!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Li Bingman was caught off guard and stopped in her tracks. ¡°How dare she?!¡± Anger rushed up and Li Bingman finally refused to run. She shoved the people beside her violently and ran in the direction of the dormitory. A few of her followers quickly kept up with her pace.

    Near the field, the onlookers saw that the scene was getting exciting, and they exchanged nces. ¡°Look, Li Bingman is going to find Xia Ling for revenge! Let¡¯s go and see quickly, we have a show to watch!¡±

    Therge group of people followed Li Bingman towards the direction of the dormitory.

    As Li Bingman rushed up to the third-floor corridor, the first thing she saw was the mess on the ground.

 Chapter 1065 - Your Loss, My Gain

    <h4>Chapter 1065: Your Loss, My Gain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her things were all thrown in the hallway.

    Her bolster was broken and the feathers were all scattered. Her porcin was also shattered, and it was scattered about like a joke.

    Li Bingman had never imagined that anyone would dare do this to her. She was so mad her feet turned cold and she was at a loss as to how to react. Sounds ofughter came from the room at the end of the corridor. It sounded so ear-piercing to her.

    Li Bingman finally came to her senses and charged into the room quickly. She shouted loudly, ¡°Xia Ling!¡±

    The room went silent at once. Seven or eight girls turned to look at her, their faces full of surprise and looks of ¡°you¡¯re not weed¡±. In a ce surrounded by people, Xia Ling was sitting on the edge of a wooden table, a translucent ice-cracked ss vase beside her. It was filled with clear water and an evergreen nt. The sun shone through the leaves of the nt onto the delicate and small face of the girl, making her look like a fairy who had mistakenly entered the human world.

    How could she be so leisurely, how could she be so beautiful?!

    ¡°Get down!¡± Li Bingman couldn¡¯t help but say. At this moment, she waspletely without bearing. ¡°This room is clearly mine, if you don¡¯t get lost now, you¡¯ll get it from me!¡±

    ¡°What can you even do to me?¡± Xia Ling smiled softly. She put her hands on the table and swung her white calves. ¡°Drag me out? Comin to the Principal or your sister? I¡¯m very curious.¡±

    Li Bingman was furious, but hearing Xia Ling¡¯s questions, she really couldn¡¯te up with an answer.

    Drag Xia Ling out? It was impossible for her to do that along with the few people around her. They had all just finished running and their physical strengths were almost at the limit, but what about Xia Ling¡¯s side? There were a lot of people, and they were all waiting at their ease for the exhausted enemy.

    Comin to the Principal? Don¡¯t be silly, Principal Sha was clearly biased towards Xia Ling!

    Li Bingman had still not figured out why he was so biased towards Xia Ling. Perhaps it was to maintain the school¡¯s traditions and rules. After all, Xia Ling was the righteous Chief. However, this Principal Sha was too old-fashioned, how could a simple new Chiefpete with the younger sister of a Diva?

    What¡¯s more, the Chief of the Training Camp changed every year ording to the test scores. It was still unknown whether Xia Ling would be able to preserve her Chief position in the next semester!

    Li Bingman felt that this Principal Sha really didn¡¯t know how to y the game.

    When she became famous, she was sure to rectify this Principal!

    But that was all in the future. Now, she held her hands bound in the face of his decisions.

    As for looking for her sister? It was unrealistic. It wasn¡¯t that easy to be the Diva. Although it seemed morous on the surface, in private, she had to endure more difficulties and invest more time than ordinary people. Sister was extremely busy every day. If she were to bother her with this little matter, Sister was sure to be furious. She didn¡¯t dare to provoke her Sister.

    Li Bingman looked at Xia Ling and realized she couldn¡¯t do anything to her.

    In desperation, she surveyed the people around Xia Ling. ¡°You are all following her? Don¡¯t regret it!¡±

    ¡°Is this the way you talk to a senior?¡± A senior Chief was dissatisfied and reprimanded Li Bingman from high-above. ¡°I don¡¯t care what your background is, but since you¡¯re in the Training Camp, you must follow its rules, understand?¡±

    She had originally been apprehensive towards Li Bingman, but after Xia Ling had taken out so many Swiss sweets, branded bags, and scarves, this senior Chief had found out that Xia Ling might be even bigger than Li Bingman. Even Principal Sha was standing on the side of Xia Ling, then she must be right to decide on this.

    Li Bingman was furious. ¡°Don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    ¡°I advise you not to be a disgrace here.¡± Xia Ling finished eating candy and licked her fingers. ¡°Hurry up and find a ce you can stay while the sky has yet to turn dark. Otherwise, it¡¯s not my business if the cleaner treats the things in the corridor as garbage and throws them away.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Now that she was talking about this, Li Bingman suddenly remembered. ¡°You spoiled so many of my things, do you know how valuable they are? What can you use to pay for them?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m really sorry.¡± Although Xia Ling was saying sorry, there wasn¡¯t a hint of apology in her tone. ¡°Those things were valuable? Why didn¡¯t I think so? For example, that set of teacups, the pattern is so ugly, what kind of aesthetic taste must someone have to endure using it?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Many girls in the roomughed.

    A follower of Li Bingman said, ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re ignorant. That teacup set is from Bingman¡¯s Sister, that is, a handcrafted set that Li Bingyu brought back from abroad. There¡¯s only one set in the whole world and it¡¯s super precious! Xia Ling, you won¡¯t be able to afford it even if you use your entire family¡¯s fortune!¡±

    ¡°Who are you kidding?¡± Xia Ling snorted. She picked up a candy casually and tossed it up and down absent-mindedly. ¡°Handcrafted? The only set in the world? Go find random pottery when you¡¯re out and get Xiao Hua and the rest to burn a set. That, too, would be handmade and the only one in the world.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xiao Hua suppressed herughter and said. ¡°It¡¯s so precious.¡±

    Li Bingman was about to explode with anger. ¡°You have to pay me for the things you broke!¡±

    Xia Ling said calmly, ¡°Why would your things be broken if you hadn¡¯t put them in my room in the first ce? When I see something that doesn¡¯t belong to me, it¡¯s only natural that I treat them like garbage.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re shameless!¡± Li Bingman couldn¡¯t help but scream.

    ¡°Haha.¡± Xia Ling was toozy to pay attention to her. She reached out and covered her mouth and yawned. ¡°I¡¯m tired, quickly get out of here and take your pile of rubbish too. Or else, I¡¯ll call the cleaner to put them together with the trashter.¡±

    Li Bingman red at her furiously with red eyes. She desperately wanted to tear her fearless face, but a wise man doesn¡¯t fight against impossible odds. She endured it and suppressed her anger forcefully, then turned to walk out. The fewckeys that followed Li Bingman looked at each other in dismay. No way, they had rushed here fiercely to send punitive forces against Xia Ling, but in the end, they didn¡¯t get any advantage and were instead chased out by her? Was it really the right decision to follow Li Bingman?

    What made them even more jealous and angry was what followed behind.

    After a few days, news spread in the Training Camp. This newly-born Chief had just brought in several Hermes scarves from home and had given one to each of the girls who hade to help and be guests on the day she moved.

    It turns out she was not a poor girl at all, she was a hidden ¡°Miss Perfect¡±!

    And following her would bring advantages!

    Many people who had followed Li Bingman was still struggling to run in the field. They had not gotten any benefits, and also had to endure the cold face of Li Bingman every day. In contrast, the bliss at Xia Ling¡¯s side was like paradise.

    One after another, people betrayed Li Bingman and expressed their intention of being loyal to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was of course very happy. She did not have much desire for power, but she was happy with anything that could make Li Bingman unhappy. She smiled and epted all the people who had defected over to her and gave them gifts of considerable value as well.

 Chapter 1066 - Great Fanfare

    <h4>Chapter 1066: Great Fanfare</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gradually, the political climate of the first-year freshmen stabilized.

    It was no longer the struggle between the two tigers, but the sole independence of Xia Ling. There were fewer and fewer people supporting Li Bingman. Of those still supporting her, they were either still holding onto the dream of supporting the ¡°Queen¡¯s sister¡± or were unable to integrate into Xia Ling¡¯s group as they¡¯d offended her too badly. They gathered together every day to badmouth Xia Ling, but it only stopped there. They had no more means to threaten her. Who told Xia Ling to be so much more outstanding than Li Bingman in terms of appearance, status, and academics?

    Comparisons were odious.

    Xia Ling proudly called Pei Ziheng to show off her recent results. ¡°Brother Pei, I¡¯m very popr at the Training Camp. I¡¯m powerful, right?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked out at the pale blue sky outside the window, a soft smile in the depths of his eyes. Actually, he knew everything that happened to her at the Training Camp. He also knew about how she had bribed people by giving away numerous expensive jewelry and candies. However, it didn¡¯t matter as long as she was happy.

    ¡°What do you want to eat on the weekend?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯ll let Nanny Zhou cook for you.¡±

    ¡°I want to eat grilled salmon,¡± she said happily. ¡°Xiao Hua said that this season¡¯s salmon is delicious.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Okay.¡± He chatted a little more with her then hung up.

    Nowadays, the two could only meet every weekend when there was a holiday from school. The time they spent together was short but precious, and they cherished it deeply. Xia Ling hummed a song lightly and took out things from the closet. She gestured in front of the floor mirror, trying to decide what to wear to see Brother Pei on the weekend.

    Friday afternoon was dance ss.

    Xia Ling brought her favorite set of white clothing to the dressing room behind the dance ssroom. She carefully put them aside and changed into her training clothes. While changing, she wondered if Brother Pei would like the white dress she chose. She had yet to wear it in front of him...

    She was slightly distracted.

    Her bright and clean tiny foot stepped into the dance shoes.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± She suddenly screamed, feeling her foot prated by something. It was so painful.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Several students who had been practicing came over and asked with concern. ¡°Xiao Ling, are you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned and endured the pain while taking her feet out of the shoes. She looked down and saw blood flowing profusely. On top was a rusty iron nail prated into it.

    ¡°This!¡± Everyone was so scared their expressions changed. ¡°Who is so wicked to put nails into the shoes?¡±

    ¡°Call the teacher quickly and send Xiao Ling to the hospital!¡± A calm student said. ¡°There¡¯s lots of rust on the nails. It would be troublesome if her foot bes infected and she gets tetanus!¡±

    Everyone felt that was reasonable. They helped Xia Ling outside and went to find the teacher.

    In the midst of confusion, Xia Ling looked up with a pale face and saw Li Bingman standing not far away near a few rows of wardrobes. She was looking over with a hint of a smile on her lips. The two met eyes and Li Bingman¡¯s smile deepened calmly.

    ... It was her!

    Perhaps it was her intuition as a woman, but Xia Ling was able to recognize the culprit at one nce.

    She was sent to the hospital. They cleaned and bandaged her foot and she was in pain for a long time.

    Pei Ziheng rushed to see her. He held her hand in worry and asked, ¡°How could you be so careless?¡±

    Sheined weakly to him, feeling wronged. ¡°That Li Bingman is too vicious! She even put nails in my shoes! I don¡¯t care, I want to p her back! It¡¯s so painful, boohoo.¡±

    Pei Zihengforted her and hugged her head into his arms.

    The originally happy weekend had be unpleasant due to her foot injury. Pei Ziheng raised the same old topic. ¡°Do you want to attend day school?¡±

    Xia Ling pouted. ¡°She put nails in my dance shoes, not a snake in my nket. It doesn¡¯t have anything to do with attending day school.¡±

    ¡°If she puts a snake in your nket, would you be willing to attend day school?¡±

    ¡°Humph, no way. I¡¯ll catch ten snakes and put them back!¡±

    Pei Ziheng silently imaged the scene of having ten snakes in his nket and quickly stopped this topic.

    On Monday, Xia Ling returned to the Training Camp.

    There was a crowd of people surrounding a notice at the entrance of the school. It said: First-yeat freshman Li Bingman misbehaved and has been ordered to drop out.

    Drop out!

    Xia Ling was shocked. She dragged a ssmate next to her. ¡°Li Bingman was really dropped out of school?¡± God, was it because she put nails in her shoes on Friday?

    The ssmate also looked like she had seen a ghost. ¡°No way, school just started and Li Bingman is dropping out? She¡¯s Li Bingyu¡¯s sister!¡±

    ¡°I heard that the first-year¡¯s Chief is particrly arrogant and despotic,¡± a senior student who didn¡¯t know Xia Ling said. ¡°She keeps finding trouble with Li Bingman. Could it be she framed Li Bingman and made her drop out?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°... I am the first-year Chief who¡¯s particrly arrogant and despotic.¡±

    The senior student: ¡°!!¡±

    Within three feet on her side, the people all ran away from her¡ªwhat a joke, what kind of fuel-efficientmp could easily make students like Li Bingman drop out of school? They didn¡¯t want to touch the stroke of bad luck!

    Xia Ling felt wronged. ¡°She was the one who injured my foot first.¡±

    Unfortunately, her voice was too soft and many people could not hear.

    She carried the daily necessities she had brought from home and pushed past the people to her dormitory room. Along the way, many trainees paid attention to her. ¡°Look, this is the new Chief. I don¡¯t know what origin she has, she has even messed with Li Bingman.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to stay away from her in the future.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for certain. I heard that it was Li Bingman who first provoked her. She brought about her own destruction.¡±

    ¡°Also, it might not be because of her origins. I heard Li Bingman put nails in her shoes in the first ce, how could the school tolerate such a bloody business?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,st year¡¯s third-grader Zhou Fang also hit Liu Anan till she bled. There was only a warning given, so how could the school be so strict on Li Bingman? There must be some inside story.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps Li Bingman was expelled for other reasons?¡±

    ...

    Different opinions were discussed.

    Xia Ling returned to her room and put down her things. In a short period of time, several people came to look for her and asked directly or indirectly about Li Bingman¡¯s expulsion. Xia Ling was toozy to reply. She didn¡¯t know more than them, but it was probably Brother Pei¡¯s decision to help her vent her anger. However, she had yet to ask Brother Pei.

    She simply hung a small wooden signboard telling people not to disturb her. She locked herself in her room and called Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Did you do it?¡± she asked Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng knew immediately what she was asking. ¡°This is my surprise for you. Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s heart swelled. She was moved and ttered. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to give me such great fanfare.¡±

 Chapter 1067 - Kind to Expel You

    <h4>Chapter 1067: Kind to Expel You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°No one can bully you.¡±

    He promised her the best, and that was what he would deliver¡ªno less.

    Hearing his maic and assuring voice over the phone, Xia Ling¡¯s eyes swept across the candy on the table that he had given her. Ever since she had been adopted by him, she had felt pampered and loved every single moment. This feeling made her feel safer and more secure by the day, and she was no longer worried about getting abandoned, ever.

    She couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    She hung up and took a nice shower before going to the music room for singing practice.

    It was fall and the temperature was falling. She put on a pastel-colored dress and did her hair nicely before walking towards the ssroom building from her dorm. On her way, many of the people around turned to take a second look at her. Some were impressed by her beauty while others were discussing her involvement in Li Bingman¡¯s expulsion.

    She put all of those aside, unwilling to pay attention to them.

    At the school building, someone stopped her. She looked up and saw that it was Li Bingman.

    ¡°A good dog doesn¡¯t get in the way.¡± Xia Ling couldn¡¯t care less to be nice to Li Bingman. She said it a bit too loud and a few people nearby turned around.

    Li Bingman tried her best to suppress her anger. ¡°Xia Ling, I have something to say to you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Xia Ling asked impatiently. She had a ss to go to!

    Li Bingman felt disturbed by the looks they were getting from the people around them. She quietly said, ¡°I¡¯ll treat you to some coffee. I know of a cafe nearby that¡¯s pretty good, shall we talk there instead?¡±

    Xia Ling was still annoyed. ¡°I don¡¯t drink coffee. Tell me anything you wish to say right here.¡±

    Li Bingman felt even more awkward now. There were so many other students around, how could she say this here? Nheless, she had no choice but to maintain herposure and be nice. ¡°You don¡¯t drink coffee? I can treat you to a meal. What do you like to eat? I can order it now.¡±

    She wouldn¡¯t believe that Xia Ling didn¡¯t eat as well.

    As much as Xia Ling liked eating, she knew she wouldn¡¯t enjoy food with her. ¡°Enough. I won¡¯t be able to swallow anything with you around. Li Bingman, don¡¯t you feel great about yourself? Taking all my things away from me, and even putting a nail in my dance shoes? You deserved to be expelled, don¡¯te to me pretending to be nice and asking for a favor now!¡± She had guessed what Li Bingman was here for. Given how they were each other¡¯s nemesis, the only reason Li Bingman would be nice to her was to change things about her expulsion.

    As she guessed, Li Bingman said reluctantly, ¡°I was wrong.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you know.¡± Xia Ling looked at her. ¡°Now go home and reflect on yourself, don¡¯t get in my way!¡± She got past Li Bingman as she walked towards the ssroom building.

    ¡°Xia Ling!¡± Li Bingman grabbed her arm in a moment of panic.

    ¡°Let go!¡± Xia Ling shook her off but did not expect that Li Bingman would lose her bnce and fall down the stairs. Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t a long flight, just about five to six steps from the bottom to the top. She wasn¡¯t badly injured, but there was a little abrasion on her forehead and she looked utterly pathetic.

    Xia Ling was in shock, but seeing that she was alright, she yelled, ¡°Why the tugging? If I got injured, I¡¯d still need you to pay for my medical bills!¡± She was really fuming now, why was Li Bingman like this?!

    Those who saw what had just happened were wiping cold sweat off their foreheads¡ªthis first-year Best Student was so fierce. Well, Li Bingman was in the wrong first, but she was already lying on the floor, and she still yelled at her. How much hatred for Li Bingman must she be holding inside her...

    On the other side, Li Bingman pathetically crawled to her feet.

    ¡°Xia Ling, I...¡± She hesitated for a while, but seeing that Xia Ling was about to leave, she set her mind to it. Ignoring all the other eyes on her, she raised her voice. ¡°Look!¡±

    Xia Ling was already entering the building, but she turned around upon hearing her.

    Li Bingman had taken off her own shoes, revealing her bandaged feet. There were bloodstains on the bandage and it looked rather horrifying.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The crowd began discussing. ¡°What happened to Li Bingman¡¯s feet?¡±

    Xia Ling frowned as well. ¡°What¡¯s the point of showing me this?¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling, it was my fault in the past. I didn¡¯t respect you.¡± Li Bingman could not care to save her face anymore. She apologized to Xia Ling. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have found trouble with you or hurt you. In order to show you my sincerity, I pricked my own feet. Please forgive me, I¡¯ll do anything! Please!¡±

    Xia Ling was in disbelief. ¡°You pricked yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Li Bingman said. ¡°I¡¯m asking for forgiveness.¡±

    Xia Ling shivered in the fall breeze. At that moment, she thought that the scariest thing wasn¡¯t that someone could use a nail to prick another person, it was that someone could do this to themselves.

    ¡°You can always go to another training camp other than Imperial. Is it worth it to do this just for my forgiveness?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°Moreover, it was the management¡¯s choice to expel you, I might not be able to change things.¡±

    But Li Bingman said, ¡°I know who you are. Xia Ling, no, Miss Xia, my sister has already told me who you are. I was too silly to think of pitting myself against you.¡±

    After getting the notice of expulsion from the school, Li Bingman stormed to the office to demand an exnation. However, the management had chased her away like she was a virus.

    Enraged, Li Bingman told her sister all about it when she went home.

    She said to Li Bingyu, ¡°Who does Xia Ling think she is anyway, trying to get onto my nerves. Sister, go to the school management and get them to expel Xia Ling instead and reinstate my cing! Otherwise, how am I supposed to keep my image? They offending me is akin to offending you! Principal Sha is getting more and more disrespectful towards you!¡±

    But Li Bingyu was shocked. ¡°What¡¯s that girl¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling¡ªXia as in the word for summer, Ling as in meandering. Honestly, no one in this country has ever heard of a powerful family by the surname Xia, how dare shee at me?¡± Li Bingman heard that Xia Ling was decked only in top-quality goods and that the gifts she got for others were either Hermes goods or handmade Swiss candies. She was sure that Xia Ling was just trying to show off to get into others¡¯ good books.

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Li Bingyu was horrified. She yelled furiously, ¡°You went to offend Xia Ling, of all people?! Do you know who she is, she¡¯s Director Pei Ziheng¡¯s adopted child!¡±

    ¡°W-What?¡± Li Bingman was stunned.

    Li Bingyu took a deep breath topose herself. ¡°They were being kind to just expel you! You¡¯d better apologize to her as soon as possible. She¡¯s one who keeps score of her enemies. If you get into her bad books, you¡¯re doomed!¡± Given the situation now, even Li Bingyu herself could be dragged into it.

 Chapter 1068 - Chu Chenâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 1068: Chu Chen¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    No wonder Li Bingyu was so anxious.

    Li Bingman trailed off. ¡°How, how could this be...¡± How could this young girl have such an impressive background, this was too much like a fairytale movie! She shook her head. ¡°Sister, could there be a mistake? If she really had such a distinguished background, wouldn¡¯t she have revealed it much earlier, rather than keep it hidden?¡±

    Li Bingyu gritted her teeth, filled with hatred and fury. That sly girl loved to keep her identity hidden, which exined that one time at Imperial¡¯s office that put her in a bad position. Back then, Li Bingyu had spent an entire afternoon crying her eyes out at the lift doors and was only let off when she cried till both her eyes swelled to the size of peaches. That very afternoon, what a joke she was to the eyes of many people!

    Till today, her arch-enemies still used this incident to mock her!

    However, this incident was too embarrassing, and she never told Li Bingman about it.

    If she knew beforehand that this sly woman would be trying out for the training camp, she would have warned Li Bingman! ¡°What conflict arose between the two of you? Tell me everything from start to end.¡± Li Bingyu demanded of her sister.

    Therefore, Li Bingman told her about their encounter at the selection, the feud that started between them, up till whatever just happened.

    Li Bingyu¡¯s blood ran cold and she chided her sister. ¡°How could you not have told me about this earlier?!¡±

    Li Bingman also felt ufortable. The Li sisters both had a lot of pride. Just like how Li Bingyu would never reveal to her sister about the time she spent an entire afternoon crying at the elevator, Li Bingman would never confide in her about her losing the title of first ce.

    It was just too embarrassing.

    Whatever she said now, it was toote anyway. Li Bingman asked her sister pitifully, ¡°What am I supposed to do now?¡±

    Li Bingyu clenched her teeth. ¡°What more is there to do? Admit your mistake! Regardless of the price to pay, you have to get her to forgive you!¡± From what happened thest time at the Imperial¡¯s office elevator, it was very clear that Pei Ziheng pampered Xia Ling. If they were to be remembered for what they did, it would be a threat to the sisters¡¯ journey to fame.

    Li Bingman could only nod her head.

    As both sisters nned how they were to go about doing it, the doorbell rang.

    The sisters shared a nce. Li Bingyu went to open the door. ¡°Manager Chu?!¡± she called out in shock. Chu Chen was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s General Manager, and also the manager for Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Zhou Jingzhi, who won the Best Male Actor award, and Luo Xuan, known as the King of Singers. He wasn¡¯t someone whom she frequently interacted with, and they weren¡¯t very familiar with each other too. Why would hee to her ce?

    Chu Chen wore a body-fitting tuxedo suit, emitting an aura of grace and elegance. ¡°Sorry to bother you, is it convenient for me toe in?¡±

    ¡°You are a guest who is tough to even invite. Pleasee in!¡± Li Bingyu smiled. The nature of the rtionship between an artiste and their manager was usually one party being dominant over the other. It either swung in favour of the artiste or the manager.

    In the case of Imperial, a highly reputable entertainmentpany where many artistes flocked to, which was known for being powerful in bringing artistes to immense fame, holding the title of General Manager shot Chu Chen high up the hierarchydder.

    Chu Chen entered the house unhurriedly and took a seat. ¡°Is this Miss Li Bingman?¡±

    He looked towards Li Bingman.

    Li Bingman was ttered. She had heard from her sister about how things were like in Imperial and she was constantly keeping up-to-date on what went on in the entertainment scene. She was well aware of how powerful this man was. ¡°Yes, I am. I¡¯m honored to meet you.¡±

    She fought to tamp down the overwhelming joy in her heart and struggled to sit with a dignified posture in order to give Chu Chen a good impression of her.

    Her sister recentlyined about how her current manager wasn¡¯t up to standard. If her manager were to be changed to Chu Chen, it would send all herpetitors way behind her. However, unless there was a special reason, managers were rarely changed in Imperial, so her sister stood no chance. But what about herself? She had many days ahead of her. She would be very fortunate to be able to fall under the care of Chu Chen if she managed to get him as her manager when she debuted. The more Li Bingman thought about this possibility, the more excited she got. She stared at the man in front of her with a gleam in her eyes.

    As usual, Chu Chen was well-mannered as he spoke. ¡°Miss Li Bingman, I came here to find you.¡±

    ¡°To... to find me?¡± Li Bingman was stunned, and a wave of pure tion immediately consumed her. To be sought out by a person like Chu Chen, it was a blessing! Could it be that she had caught Chu Chen¡¯s attention, and he had the intention to take care of her? There had been cases in the past where the trainee had not graduated but entered into the industry prematurely because they were scouted. Every single one of them was a specially picked talent.

    Li Bingyu¡¯s heart sank. She knew better than her sister regarding what kind of person Chu Chen was. Even though her sister did possess some talent, it was definitely not up to Chu Chen¡¯s standards. If that was the case, then why would hey his eyes on this girl? There could only be one possibility...

    ¡°Manager Chu...¡± Li Bingyu hated the fact that her sister got into trouble, but she could not refrain from seeking forgiveness for her. ¡°If you have anything to say, say it to me. Bingman is still young and naive, please do forgive her for any offenses she may havemitted.¡±

    Li Bingman got upset. What did her sister mean by this? Was she not giving her a chance?

    Could it be that her sister was jealous of her?

    ¡°Manager Chu, my sister was just being polite.¡± Li Bingman immediately chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not young anymore, how could I still be depending on my sister? If you have anything to say to me, just tell it to me straight.¡±

    ¡°Bingman!¡± Li Bingyu was beyond anxious.

    Chu Chenughed. ¡°Sisterhood really is strong indeed.¡±

    Li Bingman smiled, feeling ttered. ¡°Thank you for the praise, Manager Chu.¡±

    ¡°Since this is the case.¡± Chu Chen slowly opened the briefcase he brought with him, retrieving an object wrapped in a white paper. ¡°Miss Li Bingman, you yourself shall settle this matter. Director has heard of how you ced nails inside Miss Xia Ling¡¯s dancing shoes. He is furious, and therefore, decided to give you a small punishment.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Li Bingman was stunned.

    Li Bingyu had already guessed this was going to happen, and her heart sank even further. She suppressed the rising uneasiness inside her and forced out augh. ¡°Manager Chu, Bingman was naive and failed to understand the consequences of offending Miss Xia. I was just disciplining her about this, and she didn¡¯t mean to do it. She has admitted to her mistake.¡±

    Chu Chen spoke slowly and methodically, ¡°Why, you¡¯re not willing to ept the Director¡¯s punishment?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing, I am!¡± Li Bingyu was in cold sweat. Standing in front of this man made her feel bare and vulnerable as if she were facing a mysterious yet dangerous monster.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking you,¡± Chu Chen said gently.

    ¡°I...¡± Li Bingman was also feeling so anxious that a sheen of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. She didn¡¯t expect this to be the reason why Chu Chen came over! Whatever hopes of climbing the socialdder, of beautifully charming ideas she had envisioned, were all dashed at that very moment. She only bore hatred within her heart¡ªhate for herself, for the fact that of all people, she offended Pei Ziheng; hatred for Xia Ling, that sly woman who hid her true identity!

    Chu Chen slowly tore open the paper-wrapped package. Under the lights in the living room, she could see two rusty nails quietly lying side by side in the package. At that moment, Li Bingman could guess what he was going to do, and fear gripped her so hard her face turned pale.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t want to!¡± she cried out.

 Chapter 1069 - Obedient Little Lamb

    <h4>Chapter 1069: Obedient Little Lamb</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Bingyu went pale from shock as well. ¡°Boss Chu, what do you mean by this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not me, it¡¯s the Director¡¯s wishes.¡± Chu Chen said calmly, ¡°Director saw Miss Xia Ling¡¯s injury and was extremely hurt by it. He said for whoever did this to Miss Xia Ling to pay for their sins a few times over. Li Bingyu, you should be d that your sister only pricked Xia Ling a little. Otherwise... haha.¡±

    Li Bingyu dared not ask for mercy again.

    After so many years in Imperial Entertainment, she knew Pei Ziheng¡¯s character pretty well. There was no room for negotiation once he set his mind to something. These two nails presented to them were self-exnatory¡ªhe wanted a tit for tat, for Li Bingman to prick herself on her feet. If Li Bingman obeyed, this incident would then be taken to be history.

    And if she didn¡¯t?

    That thought sent a chill down Li Bingyu¡¯s spine. She¡¯d already offended Xia Ling once. If her sister did it again, would there still be a ce for both of them in Imperial Entertainment? There were still eight more years to go before her contract with Imperial ended. If Imperial chose not to groom or promote her over the next eight years, her prime years would be gone by the time she could escape them...

    This was too big a risk to take.

    ¡°Bingman, take off your shoes.¡± She ordered.

    Li Bingman winced at the two nails and turned to look at Chu Chen and Sister. She knew what they were getting at. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this.¡± She was about to burst into tears. ¡°I know my mistake now, I really do. How about this, I can get a present for Xia Ling as an apology? Sister, don¡¯t make me do this, don¡¯t...¡±

    Seeing her sister¡¯s pleas, how could Li Bingyu bear it?

    Even so, she knew that if these nails did not get into her sister¡¯s feet today, it would truly be Doomsday for them!

    ¡°Stick your legs out!¡± Li Bingyu said sternly, ¡°Don¡¯t make me do it for you.¡±

    Chu Chen was smiling by the side. ¡°If you¡¯re afraid, I can get someone to help you out.¡±

    ¡°No need!¡± Li Bingyu hurriedly stopped him and forced a smile. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just pricking with two nails? Bingman can do it herself, really.¡± Who knew how badly things would escte if Chu Chen got someone to ¡°help out¡±?

    Tears welled up in Li Bingman¡¯s eyes. ¡°These nails are rusty, I¡¯ll get an infection.¡±

    ¡°The nail you ced in Miss Xia Ling¡¯s shoe was rusty too,¡± Chu Chen said. ¡°Weren¡¯t you worried that Miss Xia Ling would get an infection?¡± He nced at his expensive watch. ¡°It¡¯s runningte, Miss Li Bingman. Please hurry up, I have other matters to attend to.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Li Bingman looked at the nails, horrified. How could she possibly stick her feet out?

    Chu Chen got up slowly and grabbed his office bag. ¡°Looks like we won¡¯t be getting this done today. I shall leave first and report it to Director. See you.¡±

    ¡°Boss Chu, please wait!¡± Li Bingyu called out. She turned around and red at her sister. ¡°Prick yourself, hurry!¡± If Chu Chen returned with this mission unaplished, it¡¯d be hard to guess what scarier punishment could await them the next day!

    But Li Bingman still dared not get to it. She looked at her sister pitifully. ¡°Boss Chu already said he¡¯ll report this. Maybe the Director will change his mind and retract this tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Naive!¡± Li Bingyu simply couldn¡¯t understand how her sister was still stuck in her own fantasy at this point. She bent over and ced the two nails on the floor pointing upwards as she yelled at Li Bingman, ¡°Take your shoes off and step on them! If you don¡¯t do it, we¡¯re no longer sisters!¡±

    ¡°Sister!¡±

    ¡°I can never have a sister who disrespects the Director!¡± Li Bingyu was really desperate now. She¡¯d made up her mind¡ªif her sister refused to step on them, she¡¯d rather sever ties with her! There was no way she would let her sister drag her down!

    Li Bingman stared at her sister nkly for a while. She would never have expected her to be this heartless.

    ¡°No, Sister, don¡¯t...¡± She begged weakly. The Li parents used to be owners of a small stall. It was only after Li Bingyu rose to fame did she insist that they open a cafe instead, so as to appear ¡°ssier¡±. However, the fact was that they barely made a profit each month, and it wasn¡¯t even enough to cover Li Bingman¡¯s school fees.

    If Li Bingyu severed ties with her, how was she going to continue having a good life?

    ¡°Hurry!¡± Li Bingyu red at her. ¡°Are you trying to drag the whole family down with you!¡±

    Her ferocious demeanor scared Li Bingman so much that she began taking off her shoes slowly with shaking hands. Her foot was suspended above the nail but she couldn¡¯t bring herself to put it down. She had been wrong, so wrong, to have offended Xia Ling!

    Chu Chen took a look at his watch again.

    Li Bingyu couldn¡¯t afford to wait much longer. She dashed towards her sister and forced her down. ¡°Ah¡ª!¡± An agonizing cry resounded as Li Bingman fell to the ground and grabbed her bleeding foot.

    ¡°Bingman!¡± Li Bingyu¡¯s heart hurt to see her sister in this state.

    Chu Chen quietly said, ¡°One more foot.¡±

    Li Bingyu¡¯s body stiffened as something came to mind.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to! Sister, I don¡¯t!¡± Li Bingman screamed like an animal about to be ughtered as she hurriedly pulled her other leg inwards to hide her unscathed foot.

    In a split second, Li Bingyu clenched her jaw and sent the other nail into her sister¡¯s foot! It was another painful cry and by then, Li Bingman did not even have the energy to roll about in pain.

    Chu Chen smiled in satisfaction and took his leave.

    Li Bingyu sent her sister to the hospital immediately as she went through a series of treatments¡ªmedication, disinfection, bandaging¡ªfor a whole night. ¡°You can¡¯t rest now,¡± Li Bingyu said to her sister after the wound was dressed. ¡°It¡¯s Monday tomorrow, you have to go to the training camp and apologize to her as soon as you can. Ask that wretched Xia Ling for forgiveness. If she doesn¡¯t forgive you, you won¡¯t ever stand a chance to go back to school.¡±

    ¡°Sister, I don¡¯t want to.¡± Li Bingman¡¯s feet were still pulsing with pain and her eyes were filled with hatred. ¡°I hate that wretch to the core. Expulsion it is! I can always go to another camp, and I can be the Best Student of the Year there!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Li Bingyu chided. ¡°If you do that, you¡¯ll carry the reputation of being ¡®expelled by Imperial¡¯ your whole life. Even if you make your debut in the future, others are going to say that you¡¯re inferior to Xia Ling from Imperial! This isn¡¯t all, the most important thing is¡ªwhat if Xia Ling still holds it against you? She¡¯s so petty, she¡¯ll definitely find trouble with you next time. Even if I help you out and support you, we are pitting ourselves against Xia Ling and the whole of Imperial Entertainment as her backing! And anypany you end up in will likely not be able to take Imperial down! Are you telling me that you don¡¯t want to be in this industry anymore?¡±

    Li Bingman had no words.

    The following day, she reluctantly went to look for Xia Ling.

    Now that she was standing before Xia Ling, she was acting just like an obedientmb. ¡°Xia Ling, please be magnanimous and kind and allow me toe back to school. I¡¯m willing to tread behind you and be at your service anytime.¡±

 Chapter 1070 - Subduing Li Bingman

    <h4>Chapter 1070: Subduing Li Bingman</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was a little surprised that Li Bingman was not as arrogant as she had imagined.

    She couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°You still want to fight with me at this point?¡±

    Li Bingman lowered her head slightly and endured the humiliation. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Ling frowned. If she had only hated Li Bingman previously, now she looked down slightly on her. When she had been trampled under the feet of her group, she could still hold her head high and walk off, but what about Li Bingman? She waspletely terrified at the taste of defeat. ¡°Is it really that important to be able to attend the Training Camp?¡± She couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Is it more important than your pride and self-esteem?¡±

    Li Bingman felt terrible as if a needle had pierced her heart. If she could, why would she be willing to bow down?

    However, being able to attend the Training Camp was indeed more important than her pride and self-respect. This concerned her fame and wealth in the future, so how could she destroy it over just her pride? In the face of absolute strength, pride was something ridiculous and extravagant. Li Bingman gritted her teeth and said in a more respectful voice, ¡°Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp is my dream, Miss Xia Ling. I¡¯m willing to put down my pride in the face of my dreams.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡± Xia Ling was impatient again. This Li Bingman was really hateful. What did she mean by putting down her pride in the face of her dream? She was saying it as if she was obstructing her dream!

    Li Bingman heard the dissatisfaction in her voice and quivered softly.

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, please be generous to me. I¡¯m really willing to work like an ox and a horse for you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need that.¡± Xia Ling was still very unhappy. She did notck an effective person who would be there at her beck and call, so why should she endure this hateful Li Bingman hovering in front of her? Furthermore... ¡°How do you know I¡¯m able to let you return to school? The decision to expel you is what the school has decided, not me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, it was decided by the school.¡± Li Bingman thought she wanted to shed responsibility and nodded like a woodpecker. ¡°I know you¡¯re kindhearted and generous. You can¡¯t possibly be the one who made such a cruel decision.¡±

    On the side, onlookers were questioning each other softly. ¡°What did that Li Bingman say? She said it as if it is Xia Ling who can decide whether or not to expel her. Is Xia Ling¡¯s background really that powerful?¡±

    Xia Ling heard it and was even more unhappy. She had been carefully hiding her secret identity, it couldn¡¯t be exposed by Li Bingman¡¯s business! ¡°I¡¯m just an ordinary trainee, I can¡¯t interfere with the school¡¯s decision,¡± she said unhappily. ¡°If you want to plead, go plead with the school!¡±

    She emphasized the words ¡°can¡¯t interfere¡± and made Li Bingman quiver in fear again.

    How had she forgotten that Chu Chen had instructed her yesterday¡ªMiss Xia Ling doesn¡¯t like other people knowing her identity. If she were to leak her identity...

    The menace that was toe would go without saying.

    Li Bingman quickly changed her wording. ¡°Okay, Miss Xia, then I¡¯ll go plead to the school. You¡¯re so kind, can I tell the school that you¡¯ve forgiven me already? If I can¡¯t get your forgiveness, based on the principle of harmony and unity between the students, the school will not restore my student status.¡±

    Xia Ling was impatient and waved her hand. ¡°Do as you wish.¡±

    She turned and walked away.

    She really didn¡¯t want to see Li Bingman so dejected and depressed, as if her two feet were tied with bloody gs. Since she had already submitted to the humiliation and hade to plead with her, and had even injured her two feet to apologize to her, half of the anger in her heart had disappeared already. To be honest, she didn¡¯t care whether Li Bingman was expelled from school. What she cared more about was not continuing to be in a tangle with Li Bingman so that her identity wouldn¡¯t be exposed.

    Yet...

    She suddenly stopped in her tracks. How did Li Bingman know it was useful to plead with her?

    ¡°Hey!¡± she called Li Bingman.

    They were distanced by a few meters and Li Bingman was walking in the direction of the principal¡¯s room. She heard her cry and immediately ran over with a charming smile on her face. ¡°Miss Xia, you called me?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Ling frowned and looked at her. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡±

    Li Bingman was smart and guessed her meaning. She said carefully, ¡°My sister once saw you at Imperial Entertainment¡¯s headquarters. She heard that I¡¯d offended you and scolded me fiercely. She told me who you are.¡± She only dared to tell Xia Ling this much as she dared not expose Chu Chen. Chu Chen had said that Xia Ling must not know about himing to find her.

    ¡°Li Bingyu.¡± Xia Ling snorted. ¡°You sisters have the same conduct.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, we won¡¯t dare any more in the future.¡±

    Xia Ling waved her hand in boredom. ¡°Go.¡±

    Li Bingman left as if she was given a pardon.

    With Xia Ling¡¯s ¡°understanding¡±, the school no longer had reason to continue making things difficult for Li Bingman. Soon, theypleted the procedures to allow her to return to school. And if Li Bingman kept to her promises, she would have to follow behind Xia Ling in the future and be herckey. Many people secretlyughed at Li Bingman and pointed at her. The once grandiose and high-ss student, the Diva¡¯s sister, had turned into such a state, and many people were rejoicing in her misfortune.

    Li Bingman was ashamed and sorrowful. But for the sake of her future prospects, she could only lower her head. In her heart, she hated Xia Ling to the core.

    Xia Ling did not like her. The only ones who could be close to Xia Ling were Xiao Hua and those trusted aides who had not been malicious to her from the beginning. They were the ones who fetched her bag, entertained her and helped her get her coat. And what did Li Bingman do? She could only do some odd jobs on the sidedle rice at the dining hall, save seats in ss and stop cars outside.

    All these things were very hard on a delicate girl like her.

    Not all of the people in the Training Camp appreciated Xia Ling. Many seniors thought she was overly arrogant and was even more insolent than all the other Chiefs added together. Amongst them, a few guys approached Li Bingman intentionally based on her family background and beauty and helped herdle rice and saved seats for her. Li Bingman enjoyed this kind of approach. To her, this was the only bright light in her humiliating and dull Training Camp life.

    On this day, she was lining up with Xia Ling¡¯s lunchbox.

    Next to her, a senior boy wearing a white shirt with a slender figure looked at her with a polite smile. ¡°You¡¯re a first-year student, right? I saw you when I reported to school. Why are you getting food here alone? The queue is so long, you¡¯ll have to queue for a long time.¡±

    Li Bingman lowered her head slightly and revealed a small section of her beautiful neck. In a sh, she looked up and smiled bitterly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m alone. I¡¯m helping my year¡¯s Chief get food. I hope the queue will hurry up, or I¡¯ll be backte and she¡¯ll be angry.¡± Her voice was soft, like a mistress who had resigned herself to adversity.

    The boy¡¯s sense of justice came out instantly. ¡°The queue has turned two corners already, how could it hurry up? Your school year¡¯s Chief is Xiao Ling, right? How could she be so unreasonable?¡±

    Li Bingman continued to smile bitterly. ¡°Well, she¡¯s the Chief.¡±

 Chapter 1071 - Disparity in Acting Class

    <h4>Chapter 1071: Disparity in Acting ss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The boy said, ¡°How could the Chief abuse people like that?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know Xia Ling¡¯s background and didn¡¯t like that kind of arrogant and despotic girl. Instead, Li Bingman¡¯s quiet disposition was pleasant to him. He thought about it and said, ¡°How about this, you can give me the lunchbox. I¡¯ll cut the queue and help you get food, then you can deliver it to your Chief. After that, how about we eat lunch together?¡±

    Li Bingman¡¯s eyes shed with a glimmer of joy. ¡°Really? How could I ask that of you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing to worry about,¡± said the boy. ¡°Come, give it to me.¡± He was a fourth-grade student with good talent. He could probably debut in half a year. In the entertainment industry, he did not have anyone to rely on. If he could im connections with the Li family¡¯s sisters at this critical juncture, his road to debut would be much smoother.

    He was bent on taking care of Li Bingman and took the lunchbox diligently.

    Li Bingman instructed him. ¡°The porcin bowl with a light green pattern is to be filled with rice. Thepartment of the same color with the white bottom is to be filled with soup. Xia Ling likes her soup to be thicker and doesn¡¯t like minced meat. You have to remember to say that to the servingdy. The tworger bowls have to be filled with vegetables and meat. You have to arrange them properly or she won¡¯t eat it.¡±

    The boy was stunned for a while. ¡°... she is so particr about her food?¡±

    Li Bingman revealed another bitter smile. ¡°She¡¯s the Chief.¡±

    ¡°The other Chiefs aren¡¯t like her.¡± The boy fought for Li Bingman¡¯s justice. ¡°Where¡¯s your lunchbox? I¡¯ll help you fill it.¡±

    Li Bingman shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t bring it.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s lunchbox was a whole set and was carried in a beautiful wooden box. Although not scattered, it was very heavy, and she was unable to bring anything else along with this set of tableware.

    The boy frowned. ¡°She¡¯s so domineering. Forget it, I¡¯ll bring you out to eat.¡±

    He finished talking and turned to help Li Bingman cut the queue.

    Li Bingman stared at his back and her lips curled into a slight smile. That¡¯s right, even if she was under Xia Ling, that was only temporary. In the future, it was still uncertain who would be more powerful. She wanted to quietly pass on Xia Ling¡¯s despotic reputation. On one hand, she could take revenge on the stupid Xia Ling, and on the other, she could set off her own cultivation and temperament. She was killing two birds with one stone, so why shouldn¡¯t she be happy?

    The boy carried Xia Ling¡¯s lunchbox and cut the queue to the front.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t cut the queue!¡± Behind him, several students waiting in line shouted. ¡°Get out, get out.¡±

    The boy shook the utensils in his hands. ¡°Are you blind, I¡¯m getting food for the first-year Chief.¡±

    Suddenly, the students dare not stop him anymore. The Chief had such a privilege. So what if they bullied people? There was nothing they could do about it. But this first-grade Chief was really arrogant...

    Even when the other Chiefs had the privilege to cut queues, they had never used it before. After all, since there were so many people who were willing to get food for them, why should they cut the queue and umte public anger? It was only Xia Ling who was thrown into the pit by Li Bingman and the boy. They were the ones who cut the queue, but the hatred fell on Xia Ling instead.

    ¡°No wonder other people said the new Chief Xia Ling is overly arrogant,¡± whispered someone behind the queue.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± someone whispered. ¡°What¡¯s so great about her, who knows if she can still be the Chief next semester.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll be miserable if she can¡¯t be the Chief again next year. She¡¯s offended so many people, they¡¯ll definitely want revenge on her.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Ling was unaware of all these discussions about her. She was satisfied with having her daily meals sent on time and being waited on and ttered by the people around her. She did not bother to think aboutplicated things at all. The days passed and the people around her all weed her with smiling faces. When she encountered a few untactful people asionally, she didn¡¯t even need to do anything. Naturally, there were those who wanted to curry favor with her who would help her send them away... she was having a great time.

    The only thing that made her ufortable was the Acting ss.

    Her singing and dancing were very good and she could obtain an A even with her eyes closed. She was the object of the teachers¡¯ praise for a long period of time and was the model example. The singing and dancing teachers would smile at her every time they saw her. But as for acting ss? It was directly the opposite. As amazing as her singing and dancing performances were, that was how bad her acting was.

    ording to the teacher of acting ss: ¡°Xia Ling, your acting can¡¯t evenpare to an amateur in the film industry! You still have wishful thinking of debuting like this? Don¡¯t tell people I was your teacher in the future!¡±

    Xia Ling hung her head dispiritedly and was depressed.

    She didn¡¯t know why her acting skills just couldn¡¯t improve. No matter how much time she practiced she was still unconvincing and couldn¡¯t immerse herself in the role. Xiao Huaforted her and said that the reason why she couldn¡¯t act well was that her mind was too pure and she was unable to fathom theplicated human nature. However, she did not feelforted.

    That day, she was reprimanded by the teacher again.

    ¡°Xia Ling, go stand in the corner and take a good look at how others act. If this goes on, I can only assign you a minor character in the final performance.¡± The teacher had a face of dislike. ¡°Look at Li Bingman, she entered school the same time as you and had zero basics in acting. But now? The heroine of the final performance is counting on her. Come, Li Bingman¡ª¡± She turned her head and said in a much warmer tone, ¡°Stand up and act this part for everyone. Act slowly to help Xia Ling understand.¡±

    Li Bingman looked at Xia Ling apprehensively.

    The acting teacher frowned. ¡°What are you looking at?! Sure, she¡¯s your Chief, but in this lesson, she¡¯s just a scum! Li Bingman, don¡¯t be afraid, act as you should. With her acting results, she won¡¯t be able to guarantee her Chief position in the next semester.¡± Imperial Entertainment¡¯s teachers had always been strict and unrelenting.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned a shade of white. She endured her anger with much difficulty.

    Li Bingman still looked at her and said in hesitation, ¡°Miss Xia Ling, I...¡±

    ¡°Go act,¡± Xia Ling said stiffly.

    Li Bingman went over and, in an angle invisible to Xia Ling, her lips curled up into a smug smile. <i>Humph, Xia Ling, so what if you have Pei Ziheng supporting you? Mud on the wall is still worthless. When the owner of the Chief position changes next semester, let¡¯s see how arrogant you can be!</i> She was in a good mood and disyed her acting skills fully and perfectly interpreted the teacher¡¯s instructions. Gasps of exmation sounded from below the stage.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was in aplete mess and she was a little angry. She could not absorb Li Bingman¡¯s performance on stage no matter what. But she couldn¡¯t me Li Bingman, who told her to have acting skills that couldn¡¯tpare? She had won over her upright and had not yed any tricks this time. The scolding by the teacher was also well-deserved...

    She became even more depressed as she thought of this.

    After the ss, she could not focus on anything the teacher was saying. The teacher¡¯s words echoed repeatedly in her ear¡ªact slowly to help Xia Ling¡¯s understanding.

    Had the gap between her and her ssmates been widened to this extent?

 Chapter 1072 - The First Snow

    <h4>Chapter 1072: The First Snow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The bell rang.

    The students in the ssroom quickly scattered. Soon, sounds ofughter sounded in the corridor.

    Xiao Hua took Xia Ling¡¯s backpack and walked up to her. She reached out to hold her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Xiao Ling. It¡¯s snowing outside! It¡¯s this year¡¯s first now, it¡¯s really beautiful,e watch with me!¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t in the mood. She shook her hand off. ¡°You can go by yourself.¡±

    ¡°Huh, aren¡¯t you watching? I...¡± She said halfway and looked at Xia Ling¡¯s expression. She tactfully changed her words. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go first. If you need anything, just call me. Your bad acting results are only temporary...¡±

    She did not finish her words before Xia Ling red at her.

    Xiao Hua was frightened. Even though they were friends, ever since Xiao Ling had be the new Chief, she seemed to be getting more and more fierce. Forget it, since she was in a bad mood, it was better not to bother her.

    Xiao Hua walked away quietly. Sometimes she felt that she was very far away from Xia Ling, and she was unable to say her thoughts... perhaps it was because the level between the two was too different? Xia Ling was so beautiful, was good at singing and dancing, and even had a good family background. Everyone said that she would be a good singer in the future.

    On the other hand, what about Xiao Hua?

    It was uncertain if she could even debut.

    <i>Forget it, I¡¯ll find Qiqi to y with,</i> Xiao Hua thought to herself while walking. Qiqi was simr to her. They were both working hard for debut and had small dreams. They would encourage each other, support andfort each other, and most importantly, Qiqi wouldn¡¯t re at her like Xia Ling.

    Xiao Ling...

    Although Xiao Ling was a good person, sometimes she was a little too arrogant.

    Those belonging on different levels were probably not destined to be intimate bosom friends.

    ¡°Qiqi, wait for me!¡± In the corridor, Xiao Hua rushed up to Qiqi in a few steps. The two walked off while cracking jokes.

    Xia Ling stayed in the ssroom for a while and waited for everyone to scatter before returning to the small open space where the teacher had held her lesson just now. She mimicked the action of Li Bingman in her memory and stretched her hand out. ¡°Don¡¯t leave, don¡¯t leave me,¡± she recited her lines. ¡°If you dare to step out of this door, I¡¯ll detonate the bomb and we¡¯ll die together!¡±

    She was still very stiff.

    Even without the guidance of someone next to her, she knew she did not act well at all. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn¡¯t immerse herself and couldn¡¯t find the feeling an actor should possess.

    She fought with herself for energy and practiced for a long time.

    Her phone rang.

    She picked up. ¡°Hello?¡±

    On the other end, Pei Ziheng¡¯s warm voice said, ¡°Xiao Ling, what are you doing, it¡¯s snowing.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose suddenly soured and for some reason, she wanted to cry so badly after hearing the man¡¯s voice. ¡°Brother Pei...¡± she called softly, her voice full of grievances.

    Pei Ziheng stood in front of the french window in the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman office. Outside, snowkes fell endlessly. He listened to the voice of the little girl crying on the phone and frowned unconsciously. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, did someone bully you?¡± Whoever dared to bully his baby would get it from him!

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Ling sniffed and held back her tears. At the beginning of school when she had been robbed of her dormitory room, the position of ss Monitor, and when nails had been put in her dance shoes, she hadined to Pei Ziheng unscrupulously and had announced angrily that she would retaliate back. But this time? It was her own acting skill that was beneath others, so who could she retaliate against?

    At the thought of the teacher¡¯s sneering and mockery every acting ss, as well as the strange expression of the students, she simply wanted to cry. Why couldn¡¯t she act well regardless of her efforts?

    ¡°No, you¡¯re hiding something from me.¡± Pei Ziheng strode out and paused at the secretary¡¯s desk, motioning for her to prepare his car. ¡°Tell me what happened.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. It was too shameful and she didn¡¯t want to tell him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± Pei Ziheng said with emphasis.

    Xia Ling wanted to cry again. ¡°I, am I stupid? I can¡¯t do anything well.¡± She couldn¡¯t endure it anymore and finally told him what happened in the recent acting ss. ¡°Brother Pei, I¡¯m so scared, what if I can¡¯t learn how to act well forever? Will you be very disappointed?¡±

    This was what she was most afraid of. So, she was afraid he would stop liking her.

    Pei Ziheng sighed in relief, however. So it turned out to be such a trivial matter. This silly girl, why was she crying over everything? Hearing that she was not bullied, he felt relieved. He walked to the garage with his secretary. While walking, heforted her. ¡°Why would I be disappointed? It¡¯s alright even if you can¡¯t learn it well. The teacher must be too harsh on you. I¡¯ll ask the Principal to fire her.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Xia Ling said quickly. ¡°The teacher teaches well, it¡¯s just that I¡¯m too stupid.¡±

    She wanted to cry again.

    Pei Ziheng felt his heart ache when she cried. He quickly coaxed her. ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t fire her. Don¡¯t cry, it¡¯s nothing big.¡± He stopped in front of his Rolls-Royce that was parked in the underground garage and gestured to the driver waiting on the side, telling him to go to the Training Camp. While driving there, he calmlyforted the little girl.

    Xia Ling stood alone in the ssroom. The sky was getting darker and she didn¡¯t turn on the light, but she saw the street lights outside the window reflecting the snow. It was so beautiful it was like a dreand. She heard Pei Ziheng¡¯s gentle words in her ear, and the familiar slightly low-pitched voice made her feel at peace. Unconsciously, her mood seemed to improve.

    ¡°Have you eaten?¡± Pei Ziheng asked her on the phone.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I stayed behind in the ssroom for a while more. The food is probably cold.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t eat at the cafeteria.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was low and warm. ¡°What do you want to eat?¡±

    Xia Ling was teased by him andughed. ¡°You can transform whatever I want to eat? Brother Pei, where are you now, what did you eat for dinner?¡±

    ¡°Guess.¡±

    ¡°How could I guess correctly?¡±

    ¡°Turn around.¡±

    ¡°What would happen if I turn around? Can you do magic? You...¡± Xia Ling¡¯s words were stuck in her throat. She turned around and was stunned for a moment. She saw Pei Ziheng¡¯s tall and broad figure standing at the door of the ssroom, holding a mobile phone in one hand against the light and staring deeply at her. Behind him, the dimly lit street lights and snowkes made him look like a God, so mysterious and powerful.

    After a long while, she muttered, ¡°Brother Pei...¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten either.¡± Hanging up, he walked to her side with a few steps. Then, he lowered his head and took her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go eat barbecue in this cold weather. I heard there¡¯s a nice barbecue club in the north of the city where you can see the beautiful snow scenery in the half-open garden.¡±

    Her nose soured and she couldn¡¯t speak. Instead, she nodded hard.

    He took her hand and walked out step by step along the half-lit corridor. From time to time, the snow and ice blew in and fell on their faces and bodies. Along the way, both of them were silent and didn¡¯t say anything. As long as he was by her side, she was not afraid of anything.

 Chapter 1073 - Barbecue in the Snow

    <h4>Chapter 1073: Barbecue in the Snow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The barbeque club wasn¡¯t far from the Training Camp, only a ten-minute drive away.

    The driver got off first and opened a big ck umbre before pulling open the rear door. Pei Ziheng got off and helped Xia Ling into the club. The private room they had booked in advance was on the first floor. It was the quietest and mostfortable part of the whole barbecue club. The semi-open environment allowed them to see the beautiful snow falling down and the wooden fences on the left and right preventing the snow from flying in.

    The charcoal fire burned bright red in the barbecue grill.

    The two ordered a lot of food and Pei Ziheng slowly roasted the meat for her.

    He was unfamiliar with the technique and the meat was unevenly cooked. He took a bite first and frowned.

    ¡°Is it not good?¡± Xia Ling looked up at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit half-cooked,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll call the waiter to do it for us.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± She stopped him. ¡°It¡¯s nice like this, don¡¯t let other people bother us.¡±

    A little surprised, his eyes became even more gentle. ¡°Okay.¡± He lowered his head and focused on turning the barbecue more carefully. He copied the movements of the waiters in his memory of eating barbecue previously and sprinkled pepper and salt.

    She had not roasted meat before and gradually developed an interest to help.

    After much difficulty, they finally roasted one stick of meat. This time, it wasn¡¯t half-cooked, and one side was a little burnt.

    Xia Ling bit onto it and yelped as it burned her tongue. She said incoherently, ¡°It¡¯s delicious.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± He smiled. He wasn¡¯t confident in his cooking. He took the stick of meat from her hand and carefully cut the burnt portion with a knife. ¡°Don¡¯t eat the burnt parts, it¡¯s not good for the body.¡±

    ¡°Everything you roast tastes good.¡± She grinned.

    He was in a good mood and roasted another stick of meat and chicken heart for her. He gradually mastered the heat, the aroma from the oily meat passing through and dispersing onto the snow.

    She fed him while eating. Before long, the two of them were full.

    He asked for a cup of fruit vinegar for her. She drank with tiny sips and leaned against his shoulder to digest. Her pair of bright eyes brought a bit of tiredness after the meal and she looked at the snow fluttering in the small garden, her long eyshes moving like a butterfly.

    He whispered, ¡°Are you sleepy?¡±

    ¡°A little.¡± Her voice was light and she rubbed her face against his shoulder.

    He reached over her shoulder and held her in his arms. He breathed in the scent of her natural fragrance that was mixed with the barbecue scent. It was simply enchanting. ¡°Go home to sleep tonight, the driver will send you to the Training Camp in the morning.¡±

    She shook her head, her voice a little groggy. ¡°No, it¡¯s easy for others to find out I sneaked out.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to be afraid of with me around?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want others to find out I was adopted by you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t speak anymore. He reached out to caress her smooth hair and picked away the bits of snowkes on her head. After a long time, he said, ¡°Apply for exemption of art ss.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She raised her head to look at him, a little stunned.

    ¡°I have never asked you to be perfect at everything. It¡¯s enough for you to sing so well. As for whether or not you have any acting skills, it doesn¡¯t matter if you advance only in the singing field.¡±

    She remembered her poor performance in the ssroom and blushed slightly. ¡°I...¡± she said, ¡°Is it really good to stop learning acting now? I¡¯ve inquired about the exemption matter before, and it¡¯s generally only applied for by the second-graders.¡± The teaching system of Imperial Entertainment was very mature and the first-grade was the time to build the foundation. In principle, Imperial didn¡¯t allow students to apply for exemption and they must attend every ss. Once the students were in second-grade and understood their own direction, they could then apply for an exemption.

    The conditions for applying for exemption were also very demanding.

    For example, the total score of ten courses had to be a thousand points. They could only be promoted to the next grade when the total score reached six hundred. Otherwise, they would have to drop out. After one of the courses was exempted, it would be nine courses. The total score would be nine hundred and the score to pass would still remain as six hundred. Hence, the difficulty was improved invisibly.

    Xia Ling¡¯s performance in singing and dancing was excellent, while her physical fitness and other courses were only in the middle. Her cultural ss was even more tragic and she even had to cram for it. In this kind of situation, the burden of exempting the acting ss was still quiterge.

    Pei Ziheng also had a general understanding of the status of the Training Camp. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, you have the falsetto. You can apply for an exemption and spend more time on singing. The others won¡¯t be able to say anything. As for the total score, I believe you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Wasn¡¯t it just six hundred points? Even if she couldn¡¯t do it, he could easily do it for her.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t tell her this.

    Xia Ling hesitated. ¡°Let me think about it.¡± She was still worried that her privilege would reveal her identity.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and helped her roast another stick of meat. The two enjoyed the snow while eating. Night fell and the snow stopped. The night sky showed some stars and they got up to leave.

    Pei Ziheng sent her back to the Training Camp.

    The ck Rolls-Royce was parked at the door of the deserted Training Camp as if blending in with the night.

    ¡°I¡¯m going in, Brother Pei.¡± Xia Ling got off the car and turned back to wave at Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng sent her step by step towards the gate with his eyes. Suddenly, he called her, ¡°Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She turned her head back gently.

    In the curtain of the night under the stars, the door to the ck Rolls-Royce opened and the tall man got out. He held a long scarf in his hand and walked up to her. ¡°I just told the butler to send it over and almost forgot about it.¡± He wrapped the scarf around her neck. ¡°It¡¯s cold, don¡¯t catch a cold.¡±

    She stood still and let him put it around her.

    The two were standing very close. She could smell the faint scent that belonged to males off him. She felt the delicate cashmere scarf rubbing softly on her cheek, like a feather gently sliding across her heart, making her itchy.

    Suddenly, she was a little ufortable. She didn¡¯t know why, but her face blushed slightly.

    She lowered her head and didn¡¯t dare to look at him. When he finished tying the scarf around her, she quickly turned around and ran away.

    Pei Ziheng stood in the same ce and watched for a long time as her figure disappeared into the depths of the Training Camp.

    Snow fell bit by bit.

    A ck umbre was silently moved over the top of Pei Ziheng¡¯s head, helping him block the snow for him.

    ¡°Is everything done?¡± Pei Ziheng did not look back and asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s all done.¡± It was Driver Li¡¯s voice. ¡°Chief Chu has already transferred a credible paparazzi over to take pictures of you and Miss secretly. Tomorrow, the news will be covered with news of your rtionship with her.¡±

    Pei Ziheng turned around and got in the car.

    So what if she wanted to hide her identity? She was his possession and he couldn¡¯t bear seeing other people trample on her like mud. Only when he told the world, there wouldn¡¯t be anyone who would dare reprimand her as they wished.

    In the night, the Rolls-Royce was like a silent ghost driving silently into the distance.

    Xia Ling had a good night¡¯s sleep in the dormitory room. She was probably too sleepy and missed the rm clock. When she woke, it was already ten in the morning. ¡°Oh no!¡± she shouted in shock. Acting ss had already begun and she waste!

 Chapter 1074 - The Paparazziâ€™s Photo

    <h4>Chapter 1074: The Paparazzi¡¯s Photo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She jumped off her bed, brushed her teeth and changed as quickly as she could. Then, she ran in the direction of the acting ss.

    The girl¡¯s rushing figure shed across the campus and her flying hair and skirt was like a rush of wind that faced the sunlight. Along the way, a lot of people turned to look at her withplicated expressions as they made way for her.

    A senior riding a bicycle passed by, stopped in front of her and asked, ¡°You¡¯re the first-grade Chief Xia Ling, right? Little junior, where are you rushing to so urgently? Come, let me give you a ride.¡±

    Xia Ling secretly thanked her luck and jumped into the back seat. ¡°The second teaching building¡¯s acting ssroom. Thank you, senior.¡±

    The handsome senior got on the bicycle and rode in the direction of the second teaching building. He quickly reached and used his foot to brake the bicycle, then he picked up her backpack with one hand and said, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll send you up.¡±

    The two ran quickly and soon arrived at the door of the acting ssroom.

    The senior returned the backpack to Xia Ling. ¡°My name is Chen Peng, I¡¯m in the third grade. If you want to thank me, then treat me tonight for dinner,¡± he said and batted his eyshes at her handsomely.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Okay.¡± She took the backpack.

    She was a little surprised. The Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp was fiercelypetitive and most people were too busy protecting themselves. How could they have time to poke about other people¡¯s business and help them? Even if she was the new Chief and was seen as a revered leader by the same graders, she had never encountered a high-ranking student who she was not familiar with acting as a selfless model citizen.

    Was her luck really exploding today?

    She hoped that such good luck could continue as she took a deep breath and pushed the door to the acting ssroom open. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯mte.¡± The acting ss had always been her weakness and the teacher did not like her. She was really worried that the teacher would cut off her flesh as punishment now that she was ten minuteste.

    In the acting ss, the teacher had originally been exining the main points of improvisation. The trainees promptly asked questions and the atmosphere was extremely enthusiastic. But as soon as she opened the door, the entire ssroom was silent and everyone¡¯s eyes looked at her.

    Xia Ling was ufortable under everyone¡¯s stare. Why, was there something on her face?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said again.

    The acting teacher was quiet for a moment, then she immediately smiled. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. There¡¯s nothing to be sorry about, Xia Ling. It¡¯s good now that you¡¯re here. Just go there and sit, I¡¯ll repeat what I just said.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. Why was the acting teacher so polite?

    Normally, if such a ¡°poor student¡± like her waste for so long, she would have to be skinned alive.

    She hesitantly walked into the ssroom and heard a girl she was not familiar with greet her. ¡°Xiao Ling,e sit over here, there¡¯s the window here and the air is good.¡±

    ¡°Sit here, I¡¯m in the middle, I can see what the teacher is saying most clearly.¡±

    ¡°Sit with me, over here!¡±

    ...

    All of a sudden, many students were asking her to sit with them.

    Xia Ling was even more shocked. What was wrong with them? Finally, she still sat down in the seat that Xiao Hua and the rest had saved for her.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, drink tea.¡± Xiao Hua handed her a cup of warm tea.

    Xia Ling whispered, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with everyone?¡±

    Xiao Hua said, ¡°It turns out you¡¯re so powerful, we only found out just now.¡±

    Xia Ling was bewildered and wanted to ask more, but the teacher had already started the lesson. She could only hold back her doubts and listen attentively. Today, the teacher seemed to take extra care of her. She repeated everything she had exined to the other students from beginning to end at a slow speed, for fear that she would not understand.

    Originally, she could exin five points in the ss, but today, she only managed to exin two points.

    The strange thing was that the other trainees had noints. After ss, many people did not leave and surrounded Xia Ling to talk to her instead, trying to worm their way into being friends with her.

    Xia Ling felt as if she had not woken yet?

    Finally, she couldn¡¯t stand the strange atmosphere anymore. She dragged Xiao Hua by the hand outside to a secluded corner and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with everyone? Why do I feel like something¡¯s weird?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know yet?¡± Xiao Hua¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Xiao Ling, aren¡¯t you the girl adopted by the Chairman? The news has spread all over and your photos are there! That¡¯s why everyone is treating you like that.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling was shocked and blurted out. ¡°I asked Brother Pei not to reveal it!¡±

    ¡°It really was you...¡± Xiao Hua understood now. No wonder this girl was so reluctant to reveal her identity. No wonder she was so arrogant and self-centered and often did not put the feelings of others in her eyes. That¡¯s because she was on a different level from everyone else, she was the real grand richdy!

    Xiao Hua¡¯s mood was a bitplicated.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the news? Let me see,¡± Xia Ling said anxiously.

    Xiao Hua opened her mobile phone and showed her the online news and pictures.

    Xia Ling grabbed the mobile phone and the more she saw it, the more shocked she was¡ªin the photo, it was clearly when she was eating barbecue with Pei Zihengst night. There was also a picture of him standing at the school gate holding her hand. On the return journey, he had wrapped a scarf around her under the starry sky. The man was tall and broad like a respectful God, and the woman¡¯s appearance was gorgeous. They were a harmonious match in the photo, like a pair of heavenly creations. Although it was a sneak shot, both their faces were very clear.

    There was even a text next to the photo which roughly introduced her rtionship with Pei Ziheng. It imed that she was Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite girl and that this man loved and pampered her far more than he did his own cousins.

    ¡°Oh my God...¡± she held the phone and murmured. ¡°The paparazzi are really so annoying.¡±

    Great, now that she was exposed, how was she going to live a peaceful life in the Training Camp? She abandoned Xiao Hua and called Pei Ziheng. ¡°Hello, Brother Pei, a picture of our dinnerst night was taken by the paparazzi!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± The voice on the phone was steady. ¡°I¡¯ll punish the paparazzi.¡±

    ¡°But what should I do?¡± She was very anxious. She was more concerned about the exposure of her identity than the punishing of the paparazzi. ¡°I was wondering why everyone suddenly became so good to me. Turns out they all know who I am!¡±

    There was a faint smile in the eyes of Pei Ziheng, but his voice was low and a little heavy. ¡°I was also surprised by this urrence. However, since so many people already know it, there¡¯s no way to hide it anymore. Xiao Ling, just ept reality. If you really feel troubled, then just attend day school.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to attend day school...¡± She was depressed and hung up.

    What... she had tried for so long, but in the end, it was all for nothing. The paparazzi were really annoying!

    She was very unhappy but also helpless. Just like Brother Pei said, so many people already knew, so what could she do to change their thinking? She could only adapt to this life now.

    In the days that followed, she indeed managed to adapt to this life where everyone focused their attention on her.

    The identity of ¡°the most favored little girl adopted by Pei Ziheng¡± was much better than the Chief of the school year. Not only did many peoplee forward to curry favor with her, but even in the lessons, the teachers¡¯ attitudes toward her had a hundred and eighty degrees turn.

 Chapter 1075 - Paris, Paris

    <h4>Chapter 1075: Paris, Paris</h4>

    Her acting teacher, who didn¡¯t look pleasantly at her before, was now very caring towards her.

    In ss, the teacher would open up the points and exin it fully lest she didn¡¯t understand. When Xia Ling¡¯s acting was too appalling, she never criticized her and would only encourage her, telling her she had ¡°improved¡± and was ¡°much better thanst time¡±. She waspletely like a kind loving mother. However, what followed was the progress of the whole ss being dragged down by her alone.

    When Xia Ling passed by the locker room, she heard two traineesining softly. ¡°Xia Ling? Who is she, she¡¯s just relying on the Chairman to support her. What does it matter if she can¡¯t act well, she¡¯ll still have the Chairman to raise her, but what about us? Our progress has been dragged down by her. If this goes on, when we will be able to debut?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. How are those of us going to the acting industry supposed to live?¡±

    There were manyints that followed and Xia Ling couldn¡¯t bear listening to them.

    She felt very guilty. She had never noticed before that she was dragging down the whole ss. The students all showed great generosity and understanding in front of her, and this was the first time she discovered that they had a lot of opinions behind her back.

    She didn¡¯t want to go on like this.

    On the same day, she went to the Academic Affairs Office and told the school that she was applying for exemption from acting ss.

    Her performance in acting ss was really bad. Although the teacher didn¡¯t dare to directly tell her she wasn¡¯t acting material, she felt it herself¡ªshe could never be an actress no matter how hard she worked. Since Pei Ziheng also hoped she would concentrate on being a singer, then she would have to give up acting sooner ofter.

    Even though she was only in the first grade and was not in the scope of the exemption, her background was well known and the Academic Affairs Office certainly didn¡¯t dare to make things difficult for her. Thus, they quicklypleted her exemption procedures. She also became the first person in the history of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp to receive an exemption in first grade.

    Since then, she put on an enormous amount of energy in singing and dancing.

    Her singing talent was amazing, and every song she sang was stunning. She also minored in instrumental sses, creative sses, etc. Soon, she became the most outstanding singer in the entire Training Camp.

    She could be famous.

    This was the consensus of everyone.

    Days went by and years seemed to flow like water.

    She changed from a twelve-year-old girl who first entered the Training Camp into a sixteen-year-old. She was amorous and grew up with hundreds of charm. Now, the Training Camp was her world. She was like a fish in water under the praises of the teachers and the admiration of the students. Even the reporters who came to visit the camp also reported repeatedly¡ªonce she debuts, it was sure to be a blockbuster.

    She also didn¡¯t know when she would debut.

    Everything would go along with the arrangements of Pei Ziheng.

    In the past few years, Pei Ziheng became more and more busy. Sometimes, she wouldn¡¯t be able to see him for one or two months and would have to hear his news through newspapers and magazines. His authority was heavier and people became more and more revering when hearing his name. Only she continued to regard him as the gentle brother who would give her a scarf on a snowy night, and she got closer and closer to him.

    She went home during the summer vacation.

    Pei Ziheng was not at home. The butler and Nanny Zhou weed her home.

    Nanny Zhou helped her carry her luggage to the room and prepared a delicious strawberry ice cream for her. ¡°Sir has gone to Paris to discuss a project. He said he would try toe back next week. Miss, you should take a rest first. Sir has instructed me to change your bedding for you. It¡¯s the white goose down sent by his partnerst time, I heard it¡¯s very good.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and agreed.

    She asked, ¡°What about Xiao Yu? How¡¯s her situation?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Yu¡¯s surgery was very sessful. She¡¯ll return to China after a good rest. She said she misses you a lot and will bring you gifts when she returns to China.¡± Nanny Zhou thought for a while and told her, ¡°Miss Xia Yu was very stuffy and bored in the hospital. She¡¯s very close to Paris and, since Sir is in Paris now, she¡¯s rushing to see him.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling¡¯s hand paused midair. ¡°Why didn¡¯t she tell me?¡±

    ¡°She probably didn¡¯t want you to worry, since you¡¯re so busy with work.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s so willful.¡± Xia Ling was a little unhappy. She put down her silvery-white spoon. ¡°She just had surgery two months ago and now is in the observation and recuperation stage, how could she run around like this? Nanny Zhou, bring the phone over, I want to tell her to go back to rest in the hospital. Gosh, she could just see Brother Pei another time.¡±

    Nanny Zhou smiled bitterly. She was afraid this was the reason why Miss Xia Yu wasn¡¯t willing to tell her.

    All these years, Miss Xia Ling did not notice it, but Nanny Zhou faintly felt that the twodies were getting alienated. She advised Xia Ling. ¡°Miss, aren¡¯t you exposing me like that? Miss Xia Yu instructed me not to tell you, could you just pretend you don¡¯t know about this?¡±

    Xia Ling was still very unhappy. She waited a long time before she snorted and put down her ice cream.

    ¡°I¡¯m not eating anymore, I lost appetite.¡±

    After a while, she asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Xiao Yu already saw Brother Pei in Paris? What have they been doing these days? Has Brother Pei brought her shopping? She¡¯s in poor health and can¡¯t stand it.¡±

    Nanny Zhou smiled and said, ¡°Why would he? Sir already knows you care for Miss Xia Yu, so why would he take her to run around? He¡¯s usually so busy at work, and most of the time he just lets his servant apany him. At most, he himself would only eat dinner together with Miss Xia Yu.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little more reassured.

    She was unhappy again. ¡°Gosh, this Xiao Yu is really too much. Why can¡¯t she just lie obediently in the hospital?¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°She¡¯s a young girl, I¡¯m afraid she¡¯s bored of lying in the hospital for so many years.¡±

    Xia Ling gently red at Nanny Zhou. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t she be bored to death in Paris since nobody is ying with her either?¡± She pondered over it for a while, then got up from her sofa. ¡°I¡¯ll give Brother Pei a call and go to Paris to find him. Anyways, I¡¯m on vacation, and I can apany Xiao Yu too. Nanny Zhou, help me pack my bags.¡±

    The next evening, she appeared at the hotel in Paris where Pei Ziheng and his colleagues were staying.

    Xia Yu saw her and said with a hint of sickness in her smile, ¡°Sister, why are you here? I haven¡¯t seen you for a long time, I¡¯m so happy.¡±

    Xia Ling was very happy to see her but still reprimanded her. ¡°I should be the one asking you, why are you here? If your body is still weak you shouldn¡¯t be running around. What if something happens to you?¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She lowered her head and appeared to be weak and pitiful as if she had endured a huge amount of grievances.

    At the side, Chu Chen waited for them to finish speaking. ¡°Xiao Yu was bored to death, Xiao Ling, then she heard you wereing yesterday and became very happy. She watched the weather forecast several times and was afraid it would rain. When the driver went to pick you up just now, she even told the driver to bring another coat because she was afraid you would be cold.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression improved.

    Chu Chen smiled again. ¡°Come with me, Boss has arranged a room for you beside him. It has a big bathtub and a French ss window.¡± That room was originally Xia Yu¡¯s room, but once he had heard she wasing, Pei Ziheng had arranged for Xia Yu to stay somewhere else and had given the room closest to him to Xia Ling.

 Chapter 1076 - The Perfect Color

    <h4>Chapter 1076: The Perfect Color</h4>

    The room was indeed big. The quiet space was filled with faint incense and her feet stepped on the soft carpet and seemed to sink into itfortably. Xia Ling moved aside a string of beads on the curtains and ced her luggage on the side before changing into a clean shirt. The season¡¯stest edition white shirt with dark patterns looked even more exquisite on her body. Her jade-like fair neck and slim waistline were breathtaking under the blurred crystal light.

    The door was pushed open silently.

    Xia Yu looked jealously at her sister for a long time. She had be even more beautiful and had lost the youth of a little girl. Instead, it was reced with a bloomed charm that had been sculpted over the years. It was a sort of magnificence that made countless people admire greatly.

    How could it be like this?!

    A hundred ants seemed to bite Xia Yu¡¯s heart, causing her to be in so much pain with every breath she took. Ever since infancy, because she was tormented by her illness, her face had always been swollen and ugly. Every time the people aroundplimented her Sister for being beautiful, they would look at her pitifully. She wanted desperately to cover her ears, dig out their eyes and tear off her Sister¡¯s face! She had been working so hard to cope with the treatment and had finally ben cured. The edema on her face had finally subsided and her appearance had bloomed. However,pared to her Sister, she was still like mud beside a cloud!

    She... could not ept it!

    Looking at the figure under the crystalmp, Xia Yu¡¯s eyes got more and more gloomy.

    Xia Ling hummed a song lightly and went to the dressing table to pick up ab tob her long hair. Suddenly, she saw someone standing behind her in the reflection of the mirror. ¡°Oh!¡± She was shocked and turned around.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, you scared me to death!¡± She saw the person behind her and couldn¡¯t help but exim.

    In just a short moment, Xia Yu had already wiped away the vicious look on her face and had reced it with an apologetic smile. ¡°Sorry, Sister. I forgot to knock on the door and I didn¡¯t expect to scare you. Did your trip from home go smoothly?¡±

    She said while walking naturally towards Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling rxed andughed. ¡°It went smoothly. Brother Pei heard I wasing and specially asked the butler to send me off. He¡¯s just like that, he wants to control everything. I originally told him I was already so big, I could just sit on the ne and fly by myself, but he simply refused to listen. He even said he wouldn¡¯t allow me toe if I didn¡¯t listen to him, so annoying.¡±

    Although she wasining, her eyes revealed a hint of sweetness that couldn¡¯t be hidden.

    Xia Yu took it to heart and the ants in her heart seemed to bite even harder. She whispered, ¡°He always does this, he¡¯s good to everyone. When I came, he also sent someone special to escort me. He even arranged a doctor and a dietitian for me.¡±

    She intentionally pointed out that there were more people arranged for her than her Sister. She wanted to make her Sister jealous, but unexpectedly, Xia Ling didn¡¯t even catch the meaning behind her words. She smiled simple-mindedly. ¡°Right? I¡¯m relieved that he takes such good care of you, Xiao Yu. You just had an operation and your body is most important, so remember to rest well, okay?¡±

    Xia Yu slightly drooped her eyes and said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    The two sisters talked in the room for most of the day. At seven or eight o¡¯clock, Chu Chen came to knock on the door. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Yu, Boss is here in the lobby. He asked the two of you to change clothes and go out to eat together.¡±

    ¡°Okay,ing!¡± Xia Ling was happy that there was food and dragged Xia Yu downstairs.

    In the lobby, Pei Ziheng was waiting for them on the sofa in the rest area. He was calling someone while waiting and bits of his conversation could be heard. ¡°Activation time limit... no... arrange another meeting...¡±

    Xia Ling shouted happily, ¡°Brother Pei!¡±

    Pei Ziheng hung up the phone and looked up at her. His frown stretched out and he revealed a very gentle expression. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here. Was the journey good?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She went over to sit next to him naturally. ¡°It would have been better if you hadn¡¯t sent someone to manage me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled lightly. ¡°The butler said you finished a whole jar of sugar. Your teeth will rot if you do this.¡±

    ¡°I knew he would tell on me.¡± Xia Ling wrinkled her little nose in dissatisfaction. Even though it was such an action, she still looked so cute doing it.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng.¡± Xia Yu interrupted and called weakly and softly. All these years, unconsciously, she no longer followed her sister to call him ¡°Brother Pei¡±, but had changed to a more intimate ¡°Brother Ziheng¡±. However, Xia Ling did not notice such a subtle change.

    Pei Ziheng looked up at her. ¡°How¡¯s your body today?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,, Thank you, Brother Ziheng, for your concern,¡± Xia Yu said shyly.

    Pei Ziheng nodded. His concern for Xia Yu was more like a routine business sort of thing. After receiving the expected reply, he turned to Xia Ling again. ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat, what do you want to eat for dinner?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Anything is fine. Xiao Yu, what do you want to eat?¡±

    Xia Yu still said softly and weakly, ¡°I want to eat truffles and foie gras.¡± She knew there was a French restaurant nearby with a good atmosphere. It was very suitable for tasting wine and delicious good whileughing and chatting. She had nned to go with Pei Ziheng before her Sister came. However, the appearance of her Sister obstructed her.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go eat truffles and foie gras,¡± Xia Ling said with a smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s change.¡± This time, Pei Ziheng said.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling looked at him in confusion. ¡°Why?¡±

    Xia Yu was also puzzled.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head and looked at Xia Ling affectionately. ¡°Did you forget how you said foie gras was the most unptable food in the whole world thest time you ate it?¡±

    Xia Ling did remember she hadn¡¯t liked the taste of foie gras, but she said, ¡°Xia Yu wants to eat it.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s eat Chinese food.¡± Pei Ziheng made a decision. ¡°You just got off the ne, let¡¯s eat Chinese food since you¡¯re not limatized.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling blinked. ¡°But Xiao Yu...¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at Xia Yu.

    Xia Yu felt ufortable and smiled forcefully on the surface. ¡°It¡¯s okay with me, I¡¯ve never eaten Chinese food in France before, it¡¯ll be good to try it. Sister, let¡¯s go eat Chinese food.¡±

    Xia Ling was no longer entangled. The group of three went to a nearby Chinese restaurant.

    The business of the Chinese restaurant was very good. When they walked in, there were many guests already sitting there. Many of them were Chinese and they were allughing. The atmosphere was extremely lively. ¡°Look, that little girl is so beautiful.¡± In the diner, someone noticed Pei Ziheng and hispanions and said to his friend beside him.

    ¡°Yes, she¡¯s quite pretty, but you don¡¯t have to be this excited,¡± another diner said.

    ¡°Tsk, who asked you to look at the short one? Look at the tall one, the one facing us with her back, quick! She just turned her head! Isn¡¯t she very beautiful? She¡¯s probably not an adult yet, but she¡¯ll definitely be a stunning beauty in the future!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right... a stunning beauty...¡±

 Chapter 1077 - Different Treatment of the Two Sisters

    <h4>Chapter 1077: Different Treatment of the Two Sisters</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Continuous exims of admiration faintly sounded.

    Xia Ling had long been ustomed to such admiration. She smiled and sat down with Pei Ziheng and pulled Xia Yu to sit beside her. ¡°We three rarely eat together, I¡¯m really happy.¡±

    Pei Ziheng spread the dining cloth for her affectionately.

    Xia Yu spread her own dining cloth and looked at them in jealousy. Her misty eyes swept towards the empty seat beside Pei Ziheng on the other side and her pale lips moved a little, but she still dared not propose a change of seating. Sitting next to Xia Ling, she could feel the various eyes around her fixated on her Sister. She herself was like an invisible person next to her Sister, and she had no sense of existence at all.

    She was fed up with this kind of life.

    Xia Ling smiled and told her to order, pushing a thick delicate menu to her.

    She absent-mindedly scanned the pictures on the menu but could not read half of the words. She kept thinking about what had happened these days¡ªwhen her heart disease was finally cured and the edema on her face had faded, she restored her health and beautiful appearance. No matter where she went she could hear peopleplimenting¡ª¡±That little girl is so beautiful.¡±

    However, once her sister was with her, the nightmare of the past was back.

    Nobody paid attention to her anymore, as if the beauty that she was so proud of was just a firefly that copsed at the first blow. It was just not enough topete for splendor with the sun and the moon. She... was full of hatred! Why did Xia Linge to Paris?

    She just couldn¡¯t bear to see her live a peaceful life, could she!

    She reached out and ordered a few dishes randomly, her heart in a mess.

    Xia Ling saw that she was in low spirits and thought she was just sick and her spirits low. She didn¡¯t think too much about it and said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Brother Pei, let¡¯s eat quickly, Xiao Yu is a little tired already. Let¡¯s eat quickly and hurry back to rest.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said gently, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Xia Yu¡¯s heart thumped loudly as she listened to this¡ªhad Xia Linge here specifically to disrupt things? She finally had the opportunity to eat with Pei Ziheng, but Xia Ling disturbed it with just a few words! It wasn¡¯t enough that she was a lightbulb here, but she was even speeding up the meal! ¡°I...¡± Xia Yu wanted to say something, but stopped herself and smiled softly. ¡°Sister really cares for me.¡± <i>What¡¯s the point of protesting now? Brother Ziheng is so obedient to Sister and won¡¯t listen to me at all. I should look for another opportunity to spend time alone with him.</i>

    Xia Yu calcted and ate obediently.

    Xia Ling smiled and caressed her head. ¡°Eat more and grow taller.¡±

    She herself was sitting on the chair, swaying her calves and happily peeling the lobster.

    Pei Ziheng reached out to take it and carefully helped her peel it. ¡°Talk about yourself, you¡¯re so short.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still growing!¡± She refused to admit it and protested quietly.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes were filled with a smile. He put the stripped lobster meat into her bowl. ¡°You¡¯re sixteen, next year you¡¯ll be seventeen. How could you still be growing? Last time I went to the Training Camp to see you and saw that all the other students in your ss were taller than you. If this carries on, you won¡¯t even be able to find a perfect partner with little height difference.¡±

    ¡°Humph.¡± She refused to ept it and bit into the lobster angrily. After a while, she said, ¡°They¡¯re all rushing to partner up with me and are willing to be misced. This is my charm, it¡¯s a charm.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled warmly and continued to peel her lobster.

    ¡°I¡¯ll still grow.¡± She bit her lobster meat. ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°You want to grow taller that badly?¡±

    ¡°Because...¡± She suddenly turned her head and looked up with shiny eyes at him. ¡°Because Brother Pei, you¡¯re very, very tall. If I can match your height and be a perfect match with you on stage, attention will definitely be on us when we go out.¡±

    <i>Tink!</i> Xia Yu¡¯s spoon identally touched the edge of the cup.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes darkened. He looked at the girl beside him and did not speak for a while. Did she know what she was talking about? She wanted to be a perfect match with him with a perfect stage height difference, was it just out of a whim, or...

    ¡°Sister is joking again,¡± said Xia Yu. Her expression was a little pale and she said with a forced smile, ¡°The height difference on stage is for the audience to see when on stage. Brother Pei¡¯s not an artiste, he¡¯s a businessman. Sister, how could you use an artiste¡¯s criteria to shape your expectations of Brother Pei? Furthermore, your growth is more or less finalized at sixteen, you won¡¯t be able to be that tall.¡± Her voice faintly floated in the air.

    Xia Ling was a little depressed, but she was more insistent. ¡°I will grow that tall!¡±

    She clenched her fists and looked at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Brother Pei, am I right?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    ¡°What?¡± She blinked.

    ¡°Why do you want to have a perfect height difference with me?¡±

    ¡°I like being with you.¡± Xia Ling smiled from ear to ear without a hint of embarrassment. ¡°Since we have to walk together, then we must use the best look and coordinate our height, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    Was that all?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart was a little empty and steadfast. An emotion even he didn¡¯t understand rose up in him, gently scratching his heart like a feather. Over the years, this kind of feather-like emotions had appeared numerous times. He did not know what it was, which made him a little frustrated.

    He lowered his head and continued to peel the lobster for her. He was absent-minded and identally cut his hand on the lobster shell.

    Xia Ling made a big fuss and called the waiter to get a band-aid and wanted to paste it on him. He silently watched as she clumsily wrapped the band-aid on his finger. The tiny ¡°patch¡± looked very funny.

    ¡°Done.¡± She was full of aplishment and pped her hands. ¡°This way, the wound will get better soon. Brother Pei, don¡¯t peel the lobster for me anymore, I¡¯m full. Let¡¯s eat fruits.¡±

    Her clear voice echoed in the restaurant.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her smile under the light and his heartbeat started thumping irregrly.

    Xia Yu looked at Pei Ziheng. Her expression became even paler and she became very unhappy.

    ¡°What¡¯s so delicious about fruits,¡± he said, holding Xia Ling¡¯s hand. ¡°Xiao Yu is tired, I¡¯ll let the driver send her back to the hotel, then I¡¯ll take you to an ice cream shop next to the Seine River. The ice cream there is delicious.¡±

    ¡°Wow, really?¡± Xia Ling loved ice cream the most. Hearing that, her eyes lit up.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°Of course.¡± After hearing that she wasing, he had long called Chu Chen earlier on to inquire about what was delicious and fun in Paris, especially her favorite yground and ice cream shop, he knew it like the back of his hand.

    Xia Yu felt as though a knife was twisting itself in her heart. She remembered that when she had first arrived in Paris, although Pei Ziheng had arranged for his subordinates to take thorough care of her, he hadn¡¯t asked her what she liked to eat, and didn¡¯t take her anywhere either.

    This was differential treatment.

    ¡°I¡¯m not tired yet...¡± she said pitifully, hoping to go with them to eat ice cream. At the thought of her Sister being alone with Pei Ziheng, the jealousy in her heart burned so fiercely it could burn people into ashes.

 Chapter 1078 - Mermaid Under the Moonlight

    <h4>Chapter 1078: Mermaid Under the Moonlight</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng also said, ¡°You¡¯re tired.¡±

    He told a subordinate to send Xia Yu back to the hotel and brought Xia Ling to the ice cream shop himself.

    The breeze on the banks of the Seine River was cool. The candlelight and the night scene blended into a dreamlike setting.

    Xia Ling was extremely excited. She ordered so many vors of ice cream that they filled up the table. Pei Ziheng was afraid she would get an upset stomach eating like this and only allowed her to eat a little bit. However, when she ate eight or nine different kinds of wine-vored ice cream, she seemed to be ovee with slight drunkenness and looked at the man in front with a blurred vision.

    ¡°Brother Pei...¡± she called incoherently. ¡°I still want...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re drunk, you¡¯re not allowed to eat anymore,¡± he said in a low-pitched tone. He called the waiter to check out and half-carried her to the car. The car drove smoothly to the hotel and he then carried her down effortlessly. He held her hand and walked through the lobby to the elevator, then arriving on the floor they were staying at.

    The floor was very quiet and there were only two of them. The branch-shaped wallmp adorned the sparkling beautiful corridor.

    Xia Ling was still a little drunk. He shook off Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand. ¡°I can walk...¡± She staggered and walked along the patterned carpet. She seemed to have a lot of fun and jumped a few times.

    Pei Ziheng wanted to support her. This little girl¡¯s capacity for liquor was really horrible. She was so intoxicated it caught him off guard.

    Unexpectedly, his mobile phone rung without any warning. Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks and picked up. It was Chu Chen calling for business matters. The big project they had been negotiating had new progress and the situation was somewhatplicated. Chu Chen suggested he immediately meet with the leaders and develop a new policy.

    He said, ¡°Okay. Prepare the information first, I¡¯ll head over now.¡±

    While talking, his eyes were still focused on the rickety girl not far away.

    The girl jumped a few steps along the patterned carpet. Then, she turned back, saw that he was not following, and walked back with swaying steps, grabbing onto his clothes with dissatisfaction. ¡°Brother Pei, let¡¯s y together,¡± she said childishly.

    Pei Ziheng smiled and touched her soft long hair gently. ¡°Brother Pei has to attend a meeting now. Be good and go back to sleep in your room, we¡¯ll y together tomorrow, okay?¡±

    She tilted her head and was dissatisfied. ¡°Let¡¯s y.¡±

    ¡°Be good.¡± He gently pulled her hand away from his coat.

    Xia Ling was unhappy and huffed. ¡°Brother Pei is so annoying.¡± She turned and walked forward a little angrily. She took a few steps and turned around again. ¡°Room, give me the room card.¡±

    The two people¡¯s room cards were with Pei Ziheng. Before Pei Ziheng even responded, Xia Ling swayed up and fished around in his pocket before pulling out the two cards. ¡°I won¡¯t give it to you.¡± She grinned astutely. Her delicate jade-like cheeks were still wearing a blush. Drunk, she waved the card in her hand. She turned around proudly and hummed a song while jumping and walking away.

    Pei Ziheng couldn¡¯t help butugh. Forget it, he went in with her. He would get a new card from the help desk at night.

    Chu Chen called him several times on the phone. ¡°Boss, Boss? Jason is very anxious and has already sorted out several possible solutions. He¡¯s waiting for you to decide whether n A or n C is more appropriate?¡±

    This was a business that involved a huge sum of money. Pei Ziheng removed his gaze from the girl and turned around. He talked to Chu Chen on the phone and pressed the elevator button to go downstairs.

    Xia Ling held the two cards and swayed to the room¡¯s door.

    She brushed one first and it didn¡¯t work. She then brushed the other and the door opened.

    ¡°I¡¯m exhausted...¡± She swayed into the room and tried to insert the room card into the slot. In her haze, the two cards weren¡¯t inserted and fell to the ground instead. ¡°It¡¯s so dark.¡± She groaned and pressed the light switch a few times. It didn¡¯t switch on and she could no longer care about it.

    The curtain was closed in the room and there was no light at all.

    A hazy radiance came only in the direction of the bathroom¡ªthis was a five-star luxury hotel. In the twenty-four-story presidential suite, even the bathroom used a French window for the two walls. It was inserted adjacent to the bathtub, and the silver moonlight shone through the one-way ss like a beautiful dream.

    Xia Ling walked in unsteadily and realized she was still not sober. She instinctively turned on the water for the bathtub and took off her clothes, climbing into it on all fours. The warm water rushed out and surrounded her slowly. The girl¡¯s white and delicate body stretched gently under the moonlight, her neck raised slightly like a beautiful swan, her small and exquisite hills more beautiful than imagined.

    Compared to when she¡¯d first came to the Pei family four years ago, she was now more like a perfect fairy.

    She rxed in this gentle water and gradually closed her eyes and slept.

    She didn¡¯t know when she woke up.

    She distinctly heard the sound of a door opening outside and then a swishing sound.

    <i>So annoying... why is there someone...?</i> She thought in confusion, her eyelids moving gently but too heavy to open. <i>Who... who ising...?</i>

    Her whole body waszy and she didn¡¯t have any strength.

    There was another sound. This time, it was getting closer and it seemed to be the sound of the bathroom door opening. After a few seconds, the light lit up. The soft orange light hit her thin eyelids and made her a little ufortable. She moved and muttered softly, ¡°Who... turn it off...¡±

    The lights were still on.

    Silence fell again.

    Xia Ling started to feel more and more ufortable. She shielded her eyes with her hands and stretched out her white limbs like a beautiful mermaid. With her movements came the soft water sounds. She leaned sideways and her consciousness cleared a little. She muttered in annoyance again, ¡°Who is this, turn off the light...¡±

    Her voice fell and she suddenly remembered something¡ª

    Wasn¡¯t she taking a shower in the bathroom? Could someone have broken in?!

    Xia Ling quivered and was shocked awake. She opened her eyes immediately and sat up halfway from the bathtub.

    Turning around, she saw the man standing at the door. He was tall and handsome, with a familiar figure. He stood there looking at her. His gaze was intense and his eyes fell heavily on her, hiding some emotions she couldn¡¯t understand. It was so strong and thick it made her instinctively afraid.

    She was shocked and forgot to react. She even forgot the fact that she was standing in front of him naked. She looked at him like that, stiff and motionless.

    Pei Ziheng also looked at her.

    He knew he shouldn¡¯t be looking at her like this. At this time, he should immediately turn around and close the door for her like a gentleman. But he couldn¡¯t do it. He couldn¡¯t even avert his eyes. When he had entered, he¡¯d been caught off guard with how she looked, like a mermaid half-submerged in the clear water of the bathtub. She looked so mysteriously beautiful, and that was really...

    Shocking.

    His breathing tightened and he felt a fiery heat rise in him, spreading uncontrobly through his entire body.

 Chapter 1079 - Fairy

    <h4>Chapter 1079: Fairy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Silence.

    The two of them looked quietly at each other. It seemed as if only a short period of time had passed, yet it also seemed as if a long time had passed.

    Pei Ziheng walked towards her step by step as if he was shackled down. He bent over and reached out to touch her cheek gently.

    His slightly coarse fingertips touched her smooth skin and she twitched slightly, her heart in her throat. She did not dare to move. The soft bathroom lighting reflected her delicate face and her butterfly-like eyshes fluttered slightly, somewhat frail and somewhat afraid.

    He could see his own shadow reflected inside her sparkling pupils.

    His finger traced the side of her cheek and, as if enchanted, he lifted her chin and lowered his head to cover her two petal-like soft lips. She widened her eyes at once and her mind was aplete nk. All the sounds and light and shadow seemed to distance from her. Only the touch on her lips was so realistic, so real...

    It overwhelmed her.

    She was sixteen this year and it was the age of the first awakening of love. She had seen the couples in the Training Camp and there were also many who wanted to chase her. Hence, she knew what was going on. But she had never been touched like this by anyone before. All her knowledge was only in theory. When he had attacked her mouth with an invasive attitude, that strange and thrilling feeling had almost stopped her heart.

    She didn¡¯t know when it was over, but when they separated, he pressed his forehead against hers. It took her a long time to find she was panting. Her whole body was soft in the bathtub and, if not for his solid arm supporting the back of her head, she was afraid she would have slipped into the pool of clear water already.

    She continued to look at him with wide eyes and found her reflection in his pupils. It was a pale and flustered girl with slightly swollen rose-like tender lips. There was a burning me behind his eyes, reminding her of the beasts hunting in the jungle she had seen on television before.

    She felt something was wrong and instinctively shrank back.

    His big hand grabbed the hair behind her head and, as if punishing her, dragged her forward so she could not shrink back into the pool.

    She screamed out softly in pain and extended a hand to push him.

    Unexpectedly, this move seemed to agitate him. He pushed her body deep into the bathtub and with a ssh, he squeezed himself into the narrow bathtub as well, pressing his heavy body onto hers.

    ¡°Go away!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but scream. This was the most primitive fear of the male invaders inscribed in her female gene. She felt his strong and powerful legs clinging to her waist. She felt something hard beneath his clothes pressing against the most private part of her body, scaring her so much she wanted to scream.

    He didn¡¯t move away. Instead, he grabbed her struggling hands and ced it above her head with heavy pressure. His other hand stroked down her neck unceasingly. He grabbed her leg and pulled it in his direction, tightening the gap between their bodies.

    She was so beautiful, just like a mermaid in a dream. It made one feel the urge to continue.

    At this moment, Pei Ziheng had long forgotten where he was. He could only see her beautiful, smooth, jade-like skin, and his nose lingered around her seductive fragrance. Even her thin pleading sound was like a distant chanting that made him fascinated and enchanted.

    He wanted her.

    This was the only thing his body and brain could determine.

    He pressed her against the wall. The bathtub was too small and she had nowhere to escape.

    Her eyes were full of boundless fear. She was at a loss and overwhelmed. She couldn¡¯t understand why her gentle brother had be so crazy all of a sudden. She was in pain, his strong solid legs were suppressing her legs, her lower body was pressing hard against the bathtub wall, and his invincible body was pressing on her. She cried, her delicate skin rubbing against the cold metal buckle of his suit and drawing blood.

    She struggled weakly with her long wet hair stuck to her face like a dying fish, desperate and sad. The sshing water in the bathtub drenched his finely crafted suit.

    He was annoyed that the suit was in the way, so he violently pulled it down and the metal buttons fell, scattering onto the cold and smooth tiles. She finally found a chance to push him aside and not even caring that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything, climbed out of the bathtub in a frenzy and staggered towards the door.

    He grabbed her wrist and restrained her strongly, dragging her back and pressing her against the bathtub again.

    Her waist was pressed against the edge of the bathtub, and it hurt so bad she felt it was going to break. With one hand in the water and another pushing him frantically, she screamed, ¡°Let me go!¡± She cried tearfully, ¡°Brother Pei, let me go...¡±

    He turned a deaf ear to her pleas, or rather, the moment he opened the bathroom door, he could no longer hear anything she said. In his eyes, there was only a fairy that belonged to him.

    Fairy.

    He had been bewitched.

    He dragged her back with no effort at all and kissed her again. The smell of blood drifted faintly between their lips and teeth, and it was unsure who had bitten the other.

    Her mind was in a mess and she had screamed a thousand ¡°No¡± and ¡°You can¡¯t¡±. She didn¡¯t want to surrender like this. She took advantage of the moment when their lips were separated and pped him fiercely.

    A crisp sound sounded.

    For a moment, both of them were stunned.

    His expression restored a moment of rity as if he only now realized who he was pressing himself against and what he was doing. Through the thinyer of clothes, he could feel her shaking all over. The fairy-like girl looked palely at him, her face tear-stricken. Her petal-like tender lips were mottled with blood.

    She trembled and stared at him for a short while before jumping up like a frightened rabbit and running out of the bathroom.

    Gosh...

    What had he done?

    Pei Ziheng slowly sat up from the edge of the bathtub. He stretched his hands out and covered his face.

    A loud noise came from outside the bathroom door.

    Pei Ziheng suddenly stood up and mmed the bathroom door open, not caring that he was in a mess. He saw Xia Ling¡¯s naked body crumpled near the entrance. She looked to be in great pain and couldn¡¯t get up for a long time.

    She was still so beautiful. Her body carried traces left by him, making his pupils dte again.

    He forced himself not to think about what he should not think of. He took two steps forward and reached out to help her up.

    ¡°Don¡¯te near me!¡± She was so frightened her voice had changed. She suddenly shrank back and mmed into the door of the entrance with a loud bang.

    He looked down at her and stopped moving.

    She was terrified and didn¡¯t dare to move. She curled up her body and covered her private area with her soft limbs. The light of the bathroom flooded over softly, and the hazy lighting fell on her curled up figure at the corner of the entrance. She looked like a fragile little beast, helpless and confused.

 Chapter 1080 - Still in Shock

    <h4>Chapter 1080: Still in Shock</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Zheng felt a surge of heat down his body again.

    He turned away from her but walked back to the bathroom to hand her a towel.

    The white and slightly coarse towelnded on her, shocking her. She looked up, only to see his back view as he strode and disappeared into the darkness of the suite.

    She was stunned for two full seconds before hurriedly wrapping herself in the towel and tiptoeing out of the room like a fugitive.

    It waste at night and the hallway was empty and silent.

    Only then did Xia Ling realize that it was she who walked into the wrong room. Her room was the adjacent one, but she had taken Pei Ziheng¡¯s room card after having had a drop too much. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she went ahead to push her room door open¡ªonly to recall then that her room card was left with Pei Ziheng.

    Now what?

    Return to get it?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s lust-filled face shed in her mind, sending a chill down her spine. She dared not even entertain the thought of going back.

    How about going to the reception for help?

    She looked down at herself¡ªtowel around her body and still dripping wet. There was no way she could brace herself for the long walk to the elevator and the trip down, and then having to exin herself.

    Xiao Yu...

    In her lonely desperation, she suddenly thought of her sister. Xiao Yu¡¯s room was in the same hallway, maybe she could just stay the night and borrow some clothes for the time being. She hurriedly went over to Xia Yu¡¯s room and knocked on her door for a long time before Xia Yu answered the door while rubbing her eyes sleepily.

    She got a shock seeing Xia Ling in that state. ¡°Sister? How did you end up like this?¡±

    Xia Ling had no idea how to exin herself. She entered the room and curled up on the couch. Xia Yu scanned her and saw that there were bruises on her fair and bare skin, and also... Xia Yu narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

    She poured a ss of warm water for Xia Ling. ¡°Have some water.¡±

    Xia Ling took a sip and felt the warmth of the water go down her throat, slowly reaching her extremities. Now that she was more rxed, she stopped hugging her knees tightly as before. ¡°Do you have clean clothes?¡± She asked.

    Xia Yu handed her a suspender dress. The sisters were 16 and 13 years of age, but because it was her period of growth spurt, Xia Ling was significantly taller and would not fit into any other of her clothes. She watched as her sister removed the towel, revealing her fair skin filled with terrifying bruises.

    A thought shed in Xia Yu¡¯s mind.

    Xia Ling changed into the suspender dress and found it a bit short, but there was no better option.

    She said to her sister, ¡°Xiao Yu, can I sleep in your room tonight?¡±

    Xia Yu smiled. ¡°Sister, since when did we be so civil with each other? What¡¯s the difference between sleeping in my room and your own? You can sleep here for ten nights and it wouldn¡¯t be an issue, much less just for tonight.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling said, ¡°Thankfully, I have you.¡±

    Xia Yu took an extra pillow and nket from the wardrobe and ced them on one side of the huge bed. She asked, ¡°What exactly happened? Tell me, Sister. Otherwise, I¡¯ll be worried.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling stopped mid-sentence. She couldn¡¯t help but tremble a little as she thought about it.

    ¡°Is it very scary?¡± Xia Yu was now sitting by her side and asking gently.

    Xia Ling lowered her head for a long while before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t know, either.¡± It was pretty terrifying when it happened, and even though she was safe now, her mind was still in a mess. The way Pei Ziheng looked at her was still fresh in her head, and the feeling of his lips on hers, and his hands all over her skin...

    She did not know what was going on with herself. Her face was heating up¡ªno, her whole body, in fact.

    ¡°Sister, you¡¯re ill?¡± Xia Yu reached out and touched her forehead.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m not.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s turned away a little too frantically.

    ¡°What is it, then?¡± Xia Yu looked at her patiently and concernedly. ¡°Sister, you¡¯ve never been like this before, you¡¯re making me really worried. We¡¯ve always depended on each other since we were kids. If anything were to happen to you, what am I to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Xia Ling forced a smile to reassure her sister.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± Xia Yu looked as if she was about to tear up. ¡°How can I be at ease, looking at the state you¡¯re in now? Sister, you used to tell me everything and anything. Do you find me a nuisance now? Is that why you¡¯re not sharing things with me anymore?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like this.¡± Xia Ling felt bad. ¡°Xiao Yu, don¡¯t let your thoughts run wild, it¡¯s not what you think.¡±

    ¡°Then what is it?¡± Xia Yu pressed on.

    Xia Ling bit her lip and stayed silent again.

    Xia Yu grabbed her hand and said very seriously, ¡°Sister, you¡¯ve taken care of me all these years, I don¡¯t want to just be receiving from you all the time. I want to share your burden too. Tell me about your problems, it¡¯ll be good if we can discuss them together. I coulde up with some ideas for you.¡±

    Her tender words touched Xia Ling enough. Xia Ling heaved a long sigh and hesitated for a while, before stammering about what had happened in Pei Ziheng¡¯s room.

    Her face got increasingly red as she spoke. ¡°S-So, I ran out here.¡±

    Her voice was soft as a whisper.

    Xia Yu waspletely shocked by the story. As good as her imagination might be, it was very unlikely for a 13-year-old to think of something like this. However, girls in this day and age weren¡¯t all that ignorant about such concepts either.

    A strange feeling rose inside her. It pricked her and made her ufortable.

    So, Brother Ziheng was attracted by Sister?

    In the future, would they...

    No, impossible, she could never let such a thing happen!

    Brother Ziheng couldn¡¯t like Sister more than he liked her. He just couldn¡¯t do this!

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression darkened a few shades as she processed it, but when she looked up again, she had recovered her look of an innocent and kind sister. She sighed. ¡°Who knew that Brother Ziheng was such a person. Sister, you¡¯d better keep a distance from him. Now that you¡¯re older, it¡¯s better to take note of the opposite sex.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°I was too foolish to walk into the wrong room...¡±

    She blushed again. How would Brother Pei see her now? Would he think she did it on purpose? On that thought, she felt embarrassed and ashamed all at once.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Are you still living with Brother Pei in the vi? You should take this opportunity to move out once you are back. Otherwise, things might happen again.¡± She had always been envious of her sister for being so close to Pei Ziheng and had been nning on tearing them apart for a while now. This was simply an opportunity presented to her on a tter.

 Chapter 1081 - Do You Like Him?

    <h4>Chapter 1081: Do You Like Him?</h4>

    ¡°Is that nice?¡± Xia Ling was a little concerned. ¡°Won¡¯t he get angry?¡±

    Xia Yu said tenderly, ¡°Brother Pei will understand.¡± She looked closely at her sister before asking suggestively, ¡°Are you... too attached to him to move out?¡±

    ¡°Why would I be?¡± Xia Ling refuted the im immediately and went quiet. She¡¯d spent most of her time living in school over the past few years, and Pei Ziheng was caught up in his work matters as well, so the two of them spent fairly little time together. But each time she slept by his side¡ªalbeit with a screen in between them¡ªshe¡¯d be ovee with a sense of security, almost as if nothing in the world could scare her.

    But after what had happened, would she still be able to sleep by his side in peace?

    Her body began warming up again as she struggled to wipe that memory clean, but the scenes in the bathroom continued to sh before her eyes. She trembled a little, possibly from the trauma.

    Xia Yu¡¯s voice got deeper as she asked gently, ¡°Sister, do you like him?¡±

    ¡°Like?¡± Xia Ling was a bit caught off guard.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xia Yu continued. ¡°What sort of feelings do you have towards him? I heard that many guys are chasing you in the training camp, is this the sort of feeling you have for Brother Ziheng too?¡±

    ¡°Is that... love?¡± Xia Ling mumbled to herself in a daze. She¡¯d never really thought about the question. From the day he brought her home, the feelings she had for him were of admiration, respect, reliance... and these feelings had only gotten deeper over the years. She didn¡¯t even know exactly what she was feeling for him now.

    ¡°Why would I fall for him?¡± Subconsciously, she began fiddling with the bangle on her left hand. It was an exquisite silver bangle, a gift he¡¯d given her the year he brought her home. On the inside circle of the bangle were the words ¡°Standing By You¡± engraved, and now it seemed somewhat like a lover¡¯s promise. On that thought, she blushed yet again.

    Xia Yu clenched her jaw a little and hurriedly disrupted her train of thought. ¡°That¡¯s right, how could you possibly fall for him? What you have towards him is gratitude, the love that you feel is just a false sense. Sister, Brother Ziheng is our benefactor, our guardian, it¡¯d be wrong for you to be with him. Try out a rtionship instead and forget about tonight, it was all just an ident.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated before nodding her head.

    Xia Yu was right, it was just an ident, she shouldn¡¯t be thinking too much.

    But how was it possible not to think of it? Shey beside her sister on the soft andfy bed, appreciating the freshness of the sheets. But the moment she closed her eyes, scenes from the bathroom filled her mind again. He was so fierce, he didn¡¯t even care if she was hurting. And at the same time, he was so gentle, draping a towel over her after she had fallen... his eyes, his lips, his deeply concealed desire...

    She warmed up in her cheeks again. After a night of tossing and turning and attempts at counting sheep, she still didn¡¯t sleep a wink.

    The following day, she got off the bed groggily and got ready to wash up.

    Xia Yu grabbed her arm softly. ¡°Sister, sleep in for a bit. Just rest well in my room today. I¡¯ll get breakfast for you from downstairs so you won¡¯t have to run the risk of bumping into Brother Ziheng and feeling awkward.¡±

    Xia Ling blushed again and bit her lower lip. ¡°Alright.¡±

    Indeed, she really did not want to see him right now. She had no idea how to face him when there were conflicting voices in her head¡ªone telling her to hate him, the other getting her to miss him...

    She was so confused now. With a pillow over her head, she forced herself to sleep.

    Xia Yu specially picked her best outfit and dressed up conscientiously before heading down.

    At the buffet restaurant downstairs, Pei Ziheng was already seated alone at a table by the window. Xia Yu brought her tray of food over and sat opposite him with a smile. ¡°Brother Ziheng.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nced at her and appeared a little unhappy that she was taking that seat. But he remained silent.

    ¡°Brother Ziheng is up really early,¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°Are you very busy today too?¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Where¡¯s your sister?¡±

    Xia Yu was slightly taken aback.

    ¡°She slept over in your roomst night. Why are you down for breakfast without her?¡±

    Xia Yu was even more stunned now. ¡°You knew that she slept over in my roomst night?¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not respond. He had lost controlst night and did it on her. He was worried about her when she left the room on her own and got Chu Chen to follow up on her situation. Only after Chu Chen confirmed that she had gone into Xia Yu¡¯s room did he feel relieved.

    Xia Yu felt pressured by his stare and quietly said, ¡°Umm, Sister did sleep over in my roomst night. She cried a lot and didn¡¯t get a good night¡¯s sleep, so she¡¯s not awake yet.¡±

    ¡°She cried?¡± Pei Ziheng frowned slightly.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Xia Yu lowered her head and fiddled with the food on her te. ¡°I don¡¯t know what went on, and she refused to tell me. She just held me and sobbed. I¡¯ve never seen her this upset before.¡±

    His eyes darkened.

    So, she hated him this much? After taking her leave, she even sobbed so hard?

    His mind was in a mess as he asked, ¡°She really didn¡¯t say anything?¡±

    Xia Yu shook her head and thought for a while before saying, ¡°I wanted to help her back to her room. After all, it was more spacious andfortable for resting, but she refused. She said something about being afraid and hating it, and feeling disgusted... I didn¡¯t quite get her¡ªah!¡±

    Before she even finished what she had to say, Pei Ziheng had mmed his ss onto the table loudly.

    Xia Yu went pale as she watched him leave, but a whileter, a devious grin crept up at the corners of her lips. She took some snacks and pastries up to the room for Xia Ling and said, ¡°Brother Ziheng still seems angry aboutst night. Sister, I think you¡¯d better avoid him for a while.¡±

    Xia Ling was apprehensive. ¡°Will he hate me?¡±

    Xia Yu shook her head solemnly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. When I was hospitalized, I heard some people saying that rich people like Brother Ziheng have so many girls going after them. They¡¯d use means and ways, like luring them... ah, Sister, I didn¡¯t mean you...¡± Xia Yu looked at Xia Ling apologetically, like she had been too carried away by her thoughts. ¡°Brother Ziheng and the rest have seen enough of such people, they¡¯re pretty averse towards them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not like that!¡± Xia Ling got anxious.

    ¡°I know, but Brother Ziheng doesn¡¯t.¡± Xia Ling advised her kindly. ¡°Which is why you have to prove your innocence to him. Over the next few days, keep your distance and boundary from Brother Ziheng and don¡¯t appear before him. Only then will he believe that it was all an ident.¡±

 Chapter 1082 - Little Model

    <h4>Chapter 1082: Little Model</h4>

    Xia Ling really hid from Pei Ziheng.

    For a few days, she never stepped out of Xia Yu¡¯s guest room. For her meals, she resorted to room service to avoid any chance of meeting Pei Ziheng. When she really could not tolerate the boredom, she would wait till he was out for work to sneak out for a walk. She even went so far as to n her routes in the opposite direction of his.

    Pei Ziheng became frustrated at not seeing her.

    He did not actively look for her, but he was upset about it. His subordinates were engulfed in the depressing environment because of his emotions. They were very cautious of their actions, afraid that they would annoy their Big Boss identally.

    Only Chu Chen could roughly guess why he was so unhappy.

    That night, he was ordered to look after Xia Ling. She was only covered with a towel. Her hair still dripping with water and her body was filled with bruises. Chu Chen was already an adult and had been to brothels before. Her scarred body, coupled with the setting of the hotel and the fact that they were overseas was enough for one to associate her to ¡°it¡±.

    First time? Seemed like it wasn¡¯t so smooth going.

    Chu Chen was surprised that his boss would screw up so badly. However, he also understood how confident his boss was on his prey¡ªfor the past few years, he had already realized there was something different with the way his boss looked at Xia Ling. It wasn¡¯t like a big brother looking at his sister. It was more of a predator staring down at its prey, God looking at his creation, or men lusting at women.

    Something was bound to go wrong.

    Chu Chen felt that it was a pity. A beautiful girl like Xia Ling wasn¡¯t going to be able to escape the lusting eyes of men if she did not have a strong family background to protect her.

    She seemed to still be oblivious to this.

    He knew not to meddle in this matter and kept his mouth shut. Every day, he did his duties as ordered and reported Xia Ling¡¯s schedule and whereabouts to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Today, she went to the shopping district and picked two dresses. Her mood was not good and she came back very early. She is still not staying in the room beside yours. The front desk said that she was discussing with Xiao Yu about switching rooms.¡±

    Pei Ziheng sat on the back seat of his Rolls Royce. He closed his eyes to rest while listening to Chu Chen¡¯s report.

    His mood was terrible. As he listened to the report, he bit his lips and let out an angry humph.

    ¡°Yes, Boss?¡± Chu Chen asked.

    ¡°Inform the front desk, do not let them switch rooms,¡± said Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Make sure she returns to the room tonight. If she doesn¡¯t like it, then tell her to stay in my room.¡±

    Chu Chen looked down and answered, ¡°Yes, Boss.¡±

    Pei Ziheng closed his eyes again. It was silent in the Rolls Royce and the smooth driving calmed his emotions. He recalled that night, the mystical mermaid under the silvery moonlight. Or you could call it the witch that stole his soul away.

    He never knew that a girl could reach such a level of beauty.

    He wanted her. These thoughts caused his body to heat up.

    ¡°Stop the car.¡± Without any warning, he ordered.

    The car stopped by the roadside. Chu Chen looked at him quizzingly and asked, ¡°Boss?¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned. The self-control that he had been so proud of had nowpletely crumbled. Since he was young, he had been taught to not indulge in alcohol and women. All these years, he was able to keep himself from them and put most of his time and energy into work, allowing him to build his empire.

    But what was with him these few days?

    Every time he thought of her, he felt distracted. The scene in the bathroom could not escape his mind. It was making him aroused like a teenage boy.

    Even though he controlled his urges, he still had his fair share of girls. This didn¡¯t feel right.

    He frowned and looked at the endless stream of people outside. It was an autumn afternoon on the streets of Paris. A few pretty girls walked by and some smiled at his Rolls Royce.

    However, none of them could match up to his Xiao Ling.

    Chu Chen misunderstood his intentions. He saw Pei Ziheng looking at the pretty girls outside and thought that he was interested. He said, ¡°Jason has gotten a few new models. They have just entered the industry and are very ¡®clean¡¯. He just told me that he wanted to organize a party for you but didn¡¯t know your taste. Boss, since our business with him is already at the final stage, why not show him some face?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at him and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you thoughtful.¡±

    His acute senses told him that Pei Ziheng was not scolding him, so he grew bolder. ¡°There are two Asians, and a few are of mixed heritage. Jason¡¯s models know the rules, they won¡¯t add trouble for you.¡±

    He was familiar with Pei Ziheng¡¯s temperament after serving him all these years.

    Pei Ziheng never touched girls that he had mary interest with, such as actresses from thepany or those white-cor workers who wanted to marry into powerful families, or those daughters of the powerful families. He did not like these troublesome rtionships. He only wanted short-term transactions.

    Given his principles, Chu Chen was surprised by this incident¡ª

    Because Xia Ling was an exception.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go to Jason¡¯s tonight,¡± Pei Ziheng said and slumped onto the backseat.

    Jason¡¯s girls did not disappoint. They were all top ss and were taught very well. They asked the right questions and avoided offending them. Pei Ziheng randomly picked a girl. She was Asian and had long curly hair with sexy lips and a very mature body.

    ¡°I see, Chairman Pei likes this type,¡± Jason said with his arms around two other girls,ughing. ¡°You made a good choice.¡±

    Pei Ziheng brought the girl back to his hotel. As he cuddled her, he was still thinking of that witch under the moonlight. After a long session, the girl pleaded for mercy and fell asleep from the tiredness. Pei Ziheng stood up and lit a stick of cigarette, then coughed heavily as he choked on the smoke.

    It still didn¡¯t feel right.

    Perhaps he should find one like her, small and petite like a budding rose.

    He did not dare to continue his thoughts. He had already ejacted many times but was getting shivers from the urges again. He wanted to break open the door to her room, bring her over and punish her...

    Did he have... a weird fetish...?

    Pei Ziheng was frightened by his own thoughts and extinguished the cigarette.

 Chapter 1083 - Lonely Coffee Bar

    <h4>Chapter 1083: Lonely Coffee Bar</h4>

    In the early morning, the woman on the luxurious big bed woke up.

    Her whole body was sore, and she arranged her big and wavy long curly hair while throwing a coy, coquettish smile at the man on the sofa next to the bed. She pouted yfully and said he was so forcefulst night, before stretching like a Persian cat. She got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. While the day was still not bright, she wore her own clothes and got out alluringly.

    When she was out, she saw a girling out of the next room.

    It was a very beautiful girl, and even though Susan was used to all kinds ofpetitors in the pleasure field, she had to admit that the beauty of this girl was the real depiction of devastatingly beautiful and femme fatale. She whistled in her heart, probably becausest night she had been moist and was in a good mood. She smiled and waved to the girl. ¡°Good morning, little girl.¡±

    The girl was in clothing of supreme quality that had been meticulously tailored and ingeniously embellished to make her look like a fairy princess. Her face brought a kind of clean and pure expression, like one that hadn¡¯t gone through sexual affairs. Her sparkling pupils were limpid, like the crystal blossoming under the moonlight. At a nce, Susan knew she was a gooddy of a good family, not a special worker like herself. She was envious and a little jealous. What a good life she had.

    The girl squinted slightly at her. ¡°Why were you in Brother Pei¡¯s room?¡±

    Susan was shocked, then she smiled. ¡°Are you Chairman Pei¡¯s sister? The genes sure are good, you¡¯re beautiful. Little girl, how old are you, I came out from your brother¡¯s room early in the morning, what could have happened between a lonely man and a woman? A good girl shouldn¡¯t ask.¡± She put one finger that was painted bright red on her lips in a ¡°shush¡± gesture and walked away whileughing.

    Xia Ling was not stupid. At the age of sixteen, she had long understood what she should know, she just wasn¡¯t willing to think in that direction.

    However, the woman¡¯s alluring back gave her no choice but to think about it. Brother Pei... did he spend the night with this woman? What happened between them? Did he kiss the woman¡¯s lips as he did to her, did he press the woman under him...?

    She was too embarrassed to think further. Her face was blushing like fire and her heart was ufortable as if she¡¯d been pierced by a needle.

    She stood rooted to the spot for a long time in a daze, not knowing what was wrong with herself. Yesterday she had asked to change rooms with Xiao Yu, but Chu Chen said Brother Pei was angry and asked her to move back. Thus, she had moved back next to him with great apprehension and grievance. She had been anticipating... she didn¡¯t know what she had been anticipating, but it was definitely not this.

    Shame, anger, and a kind of betrayed sadness, all sorts of emotions flooded her.

    She didn¡¯t know how long she stood there for until the door next door opened again and Pei Ziheng came out. His tall body was dressed in a high-grade custom-made suit and his grave and stern features were God-like under the first rays of the morning sun.

    ¡°Xiao Ling?¡± He called softly.

    He hadn¡¯t expected to see her here and frowned undetectably.

    However, she still found his unhappiness. ¡°Weren¡¯t you avoiding me?¡± She didn¡¯t know why, but the grievances and anger in her heart could no longer be controlled. She looked up at him and shouted, ¡°I spent so long avoiding you, why did you make me move back?! You, you wanted me to move back just to show me this?!¡±

    She shouted with tears in her eyes. She seemed to be crying very often these days.

    Not wanting him to see her fragile state, she turned and ran away down the corridor.

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t chase her. She was so beautiful in the morning glory, and even her grievous and angry expression made people feel pity. He stood on the spot, his fingers clenching into fists, controlling himself. Just before pushing the door open, he was still thinking about the scene of that night, her naked fairy-like seductive body spread in front of his eyes. When he opened the door and suddenly saw her, his heartbeat almost stopped. He feared he couldn¡¯t control himself and would drag her in to tear her into pieces.

    He felt he was really insane. His yearning for her was like the crazy growth of weeds and he couldn¡¯t restrain himself no matter what.

    Xia Ling ran for a long time, from the twenty-fourth floor all the way to the first floor. Then, she turned back and saw that no one was chasing her.

    She reached out and wiped her eyes. She wiped away a little bit of crystal on the corners of her eyes and sucked her nose.

    Don¡¯t cry for such a cold and cruel man like him, it isn¡¯t worth it.

    She repeated this to herself over and over again, but she couldn¡¯t help but feel sad. It turned out he wasn¡¯t even willing to spend time chasing her down and pacifying her. Ever since that night, it seemed many things had changed. She didn¡¯t know if she had be too strange and petty or if he had gone bad.

    She was so upset that she wanted to go back to the past.

    In the hotel room, Xia Yu received a call from Pei Ziheng. ¡°Hello, Brother Ziheng? What, my Sister ran down while crying? Okay... okay, I¡¯ll go find her now, you can rest assured. I¡¯ll take good care of her.¡±

    Xia Yu hung up the phone and climbed down from her bed. What happened to this troublesome Sister?

    She found Xia Ling in a corner of the coffee bar on the first floor. The slightly frail girl held a cup of hot drink in her hand and was curled up alone in the corner of the sofa. The music was gentle and she looked so lonely.

    Xia Yu walked over and called softly, ¡°Sister.¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head and didn¡¯t move nor say anything.

    Xia Yu sat down beside her and grabbed her shoulder with a smile. ¡°Why are you here in the early morning? I just went to your room to find you for breakfast, but you weren¡¯t there, so I came down myself.¡±

    Xia Ling was even more upset. Even Xiao Yu knew to find her for breakfast, but he didn¡¯t know how to pacify her?

    ¡°My... is my expectation too high?¡± She whispered as if talking to herself.

    ¡°Sister, what are you saying? I don¡¯t understand,¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°What happened?¡±

    Xia Ling said sullenly, ¡°I quarreled with Brother Pei again. He didn¡¯t even chase after me.¡± Her eyes were red and she wanted to cry again.

    A hint of a smile yed on Xia Yu¡¯s lips, but her voice was mncholic and heavy. ¡°Oh? Sister, no matter how good he is to you, to be honest, we¡¯re just lodging under his roof... his work is so busy, where would he have time to pacify you? Maybe he¡¯ll even forget about this matter after a few meetings.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was gloomy. She thought back to her rough history and was overwhelmed with sorrow.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°Only us Sisters can depend on each other. Sister, I¡¯ve told you before to stay away from Brother Pei for this period. Look, you¡¯ve quarreled again.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I feel ufortable in my heart.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°What happened this time? I¡¯ll help you analyze it.¡±

    Xia Ling felt it was difficult to talk about it, but under her Sister¡¯s tempting, she told her about the morous model at the door in the morning.

    Xia Yu¡¯s expression was not good. After a long time, she said, ¡°Brother Pei is just too much. He did this kind of thing and even made you live next door. Tell me, did he want to tell you that this was the type of girl he liked? Hinting for you not to like him one-sidedly?... Oh, Sister, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it.¡±

 Chapter 1084 - Fake Innocence

    <h4>Chapter 1084: Fake Innocence</h4>

    Her words made Xia Ling¡¯s mood even worse.

    She returned to her room unhappily. Xia Ling locked herself up and wasn¡¯t willing to see anyone.

    Xia Yu went to find Pei Ziheng. ¡°Brother Ziheng, Sister was persuaded by me for a while and feels much better now. You don¡¯t have to worry. She¡¯s a little tired and has gone back to sleep.¡±

    Pei Ziheng heaved a sigh of relief. There was a knock on the door.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Come in.¡±

    Chu Chen walked in wearing a dark ck suit with his hairbed back meticulously. He lowered his head slightly in front of Pei Ziheng and said respectfully, ¡°Boss, the car is ready, you can depart anytime.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said to Xia Yu, ¡°Take good care of your sister. I¡¯lle back to see her at night.¡±

    Chu Chen raised his head after hearing this and interrupted. ¡°Boss, didn¡¯t you just ask me to set a date with Jason? He told me there¡¯s no problem and asked for you to please meet him at the club in the evening.¡±

    Pei Ziheng paused and said to Xia Yu, ¡°I¡¯lle back tomorrow. Call me if anything happens.¡±

    Xia Yu obediently said yes and watched as the two men walked out. When they were far away, she slowly walked down and inadvertently walked to the coffee bar on the first floor and chatted with a few subordinates who Pei Ziheng had brought along on the business trip. ¡°Brother Ziheng went out early in the morning, don¡¯t you have to follow him?¡±

    Several subordinates looked at each other and smiled kindly. ¡°Miss Xia Yu,e sit here. How do you feel today, is your body still okay? Chairman has Chief Chu to apany him these days and it doesn¡¯t involve us. We¡¯ve almost finished the project on our side, we¡¯re only doing some finishing work at the hotel.¡±

    They all knew Xia Yu was a girl adopted by Pei Ziheng and were all very polite to her.

    Xia Yu slowly stirred the drink in front of her with a spoon and revealed a confused look. ¡°Is it already in the final stage? Why do I feel like Brother Ziheng has been even busier these days. He only came back at night yesterday and even brought a very beautiful big sister. Was that big sister here for work too?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Someone couldn¡¯t help butugh out, then felt a little awkward. How could this kind of thing be casually talked about?

    However, Pei Ziheng was usually extremely self-disciplined, and it was rare to hear that he actually brought a woman back to his hotel, so the group of subordinates¡¯ gossiping souls burned with curiosity. They couldn¡¯t help but inquire. ¡°What kind of woman was it? How did her rtionship with Chairman look like?¡± They had long been guessing what type of woman Pei Ziheng liked. It was always a good thing to know more about the preferences of their own Boss, as it coulde in handy someday.

    Xia Yu did not hide it from them and described the news she heard from Xia Ling.

    Several subordinates were thoughtful. Could it be that Chairman liked this kind of woman?

    Xia Yu revealed the innocent demeanor of a little girl. ¡°I¡¯ve told you so much, you should also tell me, what has Brother Ziheng and Brother Chu gone out to do? Brother Ziheng said he was meeting someone tonight at the club called Jason or something and won¡¯t being back tonight.¡±

    Several subordinates looked at each other again. One of them asked, ¡°The Blue Dream club?¡±

    The other said, ¡°It probably is. Jason has a half stake in the Blue Dream Club and often entertains guests there.¡±

    Xia Yu asked curiously, ¡°What¡¯s the Blue Dream Club?¡±

    Several people did not answer her, but a woman in her thirties gently smoothed Xia Yu¡¯s hair and said, ¡°Be good, it¡¯s not something a littledy like you should know. If we tell you, the Chairman would scold us.¡±

    Xia Yu showed a disappointed expression and continued to ask further, but could not obtain any more information.

    She sighed heavily inside. Who told her to appear as a virtuousdy in front of these Imperial Entertainment¡¯s employees? She couldn¡¯t even lose her temper and whine. Sigh, it was helpless, she could only walk away slowly.

    The Imperial Entertainment¡¯s employees were long restraining their bellyful of gossip. They saw that Xia Yu was gone and quickly discussed. ¡°This Jason really has a way, no wonder people said he knows how to toad for personal gain. Chairman sees so many partners every year and beautiful women line up from one street to the other and yet, Chairman has never taken an interest in any of them. But this Jason, he not only sent one, but he¡¯s even seeded in sending for two sessive nights. He¡¯s really good.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly.¡± Several others nodded and agreed.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think the Chairman would like those hot women with big breasts.¡± Some mused.

    ¡°Not necessarily,¡± another person said mysteriously. ¡°I met Chu Chen in the lobby this morning and saw him on the phone saying he wanted someone with smaller breasts, a shorter height, skinnier, younger, with more innocent eyes... maybe Chairman was not satisfied yesterday and has thus changed his taste today.¡±

    They discussed with great interest.

    Xia Yu stood behind the narrow partition wall. The more she listened, the darker her expression became.

    Smaller chest, shorter, thinner, younger, with innocent eyes...

    Every item was in line with Xia Ling.

    Xia Yu was shocked by this idea. What should she do, what should she do? It turned out Xia Ling had snatched away so much love from Brother Ziheng. If the two of them were in love, how could she still have her foothold in the Pei family?!

    No, she must not let that happen!

    On the other side of the wall, several employees were still discussing. ¡°Well, it¡¯s all because of the Chairman himself. There are so many women throwing themselves at him and he hasn¡¯t even touched any of them. He doesn¡¯t even have a fixed mistress with a long-term rtionship, intellect and sober.¡±

    ¡°Right? But I heard he¡¯s also picky and likes clean women. I eavesdropped on Chu Chen¡¯s phone call this morning and he said to prepare a virgin, the purer the better.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, it couldn¡¯t be that he doesn¡¯t touch the female stars because he finds them dirty, right?¡±

    ¡°No way, the womanst night was probably experienced in the night industry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s not satisfied and has changed it to pure today.¡± An employee summed up confidently. ¡°Men are all the same. I think our Chairman also has a virginplex.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very much possible, he has the capital...¡±

    The group of people discussed heatedly and Xia Yu no longer heard what followed after.

    A glimmer of light shed across her mind and she retreated quietly.

    She went back to her room and locked the doors and windows. She paced around with a heavy expression and finally decided to go out after a long time. While nobody was noticing her, she walked quickly five to six streets away and called a cab to bring her to an inte cafe far away. She researched on some information and maps for a long time, then took out a pen and paper to draw on before leaving.

    She entered a discount mall and bought cheap clothing that was not aesthetically pleasing. She then took off her expensive dress and ced it inside the cab and walked out wearing cheap clothes.

    She poked a few holes in the clothes and made a few rolls in the green belt. She put mud on her face and looked almost like a beggar wandering the streets. She was dirty and ugly. She found a river to look at her reflection and was satisfied. She was finally satisfied. She took out the map she drew and walked in the direction of the red light district.

 Chapter 1085 - Dating Back in the Country

    <h4>Chapter 1085: Dating Back in the Country</h4>

    Xia Ling was bored in her room and her heart was in a mess.

    The scene in the bathroom that night, as well as the scene of Pei Ziheng and the woman in the morning, lingered in front of her as if her eyes had been cursed and she had no choice but to face it.

    What happened to her?

    She remembered the woman¡¯s charming eyes and her fingers that were painted red as she smiled and said to her, ¡°A good girl shouldn¡¯t ask.¡± But she didn¡¯t want to be a good girl, she only wanted...

    What did she want? She didn¡¯t know either.

    Feeling even more confused, she fell asleep in the luxurious bed of the presidential suite and dreamed. In her dream, she became the woman, wearing a silky nightdress that revealed her curves. With him, they...

    She screamed and woke up. She was scared by herself and looked up at the mirror with a flustered face.

    She didn¡¯t dare sleep anymore. How could she have such a shameless dream? Over the years, Brother Pei had been the one who raised them and cured her Sister¡¯s illness. He was their benefactor, the person she was most grateful to and respected most. She shouldn¡¯t use such a dirty mind to yearn for him, she couldn¡¯t even think of it.

    She pped her face fiercely as if pushing out all the thoughts she shouldn¡¯t have.

    She took out the scores from the Training Camp and forced herself to concentrate on practicing the songs. But the songs about love made her feel like there were ants in her pants. She was capricious and halfway through her practicing, she threw away the score.

    There was a knock on the door.

    She held her breath at once and her heart thumped uncontrobly. Who would be here? Could it be him? After all these days of chaos, was he finally willing to find her and pacify her? She opened her mouth with difficulty and heard her own dry voice asking, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    A soft female voice came from outside. ¡°It¡¯s me, Sister.¡±

    Her heartbeat returned to normal but felt empty. She then walked over to open the door absent-mindedly.

    Outside the entrance, Xia Yu looked at her in shock. ¡°What happened, Sister? Why¡¯s your expression so bad?¡±

    She didn¡¯t have the strength to exin and just said, ¡°Is there something, Xiao Yu?¡±

    Xia Yu shook the takeaway in her hand and smiled at her intimately. ¡°I sneaked out today and bought you delicious food. Sister, you must keep it a secret for me and don¡¯t tell others,¡± she said and quietly squeezed in through the door. She closed it and opened the takeaway in the small meeting area inside the suite.

    Xia Ling walked over and sat down too. She was still very happy to have someone to talk to and distract her. ¡°Why did you suddenly think of sneaking out?¡± She helped Xia Yu open the takeaway and the aroma of the dessert wafted out.

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Yu hesitated before saying, ¡°Sister, don¡¯t be angry.¡±

    ¡°Why would I be angry?¡±

    ¡°I, I went to follow Brother Ziheng,¡± Xia Yu said and looked at her apprehensively. ¡°I saw that you were so upset this morning and went to find Brother Ziheng to ask him to pacify you. But he said he didn¡¯t have time and also wouldn¡¯t being back tonight. I heard him say to Chu Chen that he¡¯s going to some Blue Dream Club tonight. I was curious about what kind of ce it was and sneaked out.¡±

    Xia Ling widened her eyes. ¡°You sneaked out alone? It¡¯s dangerous outside!¡±

    ¡°Sister, I¡¯m so big already, it¡¯s okay,¡± Xia Yu said. ¡°I was just angry. What else is more important than you? He obviously knew that you were upset, but he still left you alone in the hotel!¡±

    ¡°There are so many things that are more important than me.¡± Xia Ling smiled a little bleakly and her butterfly-like eyshes drooped down. ¡°He¡¯s very busy at work and doesn¡¯t have time to take care of me. I... I don¡¯t want to cause trouble for him. Xiao Yu, don¡¯t run around in the future anymore. I only have you, what would I do if something happens to you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really fine. I heard Paris is very safe, really.¡± Xia Yu held her hand in reassurance and was a little indignant. ¡°Tsk, Sister, Brother Ziheng isn¡¯t even busy with work. I saw it with my own eyes, Brother Ziheng embraced a very beautiful girl and entered. He even kissed her!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart jumped wildly and uncontrobly, the blood draining from her face. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true!¡± Xia Yu looked at her seriously. ¡°But, Sister, you mustn¡¯t tell anyone what I told you. Whether it¡¯s to Brother Ziheng or to anyone else, you mustn¡¯t say even a single word! If Brother Ziheng finds out I followed him, I¡¯ll definitely die very badly!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I definitely won¡¯t say it.¡±

    ¡°You swear?¡±

    ¡°I swear, how could I harm you?¡± Xia Ling said, her expression still bad. ¡°So, he clearly knew that I was very sad, but would rather go embrace another girl than toe back and pacify me?¡±

    Xia Yu gently held her shoulder and said quietly, ¡°After all, you¡¯re only his sister. He still has his own life. After he marries a wife, he would probably forget all about you. Sister, you shouldn¡¯t rely so much on him like when you were young. Don¡¯t think of letting him pacify you over everything, you must learn to be independent, understand?¡±

    Xia Ling was very upset. A long time passed before she nodded.

    Xia Yu¡¯s face showed a smile of satisfaction. ¡°Go back to China.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said, go back to China.¡± Xia Yu looked at her seriously. ¡°I¡¯m very happy you came to Paris to apany me, but I¡¯m also very upset to see you in this state. Sister, I know you don¡¯t have the mood to y now, and you¡¯ll only be more and more unhappy the longer you stay here. Why don¡¯t you go back to China and leave Brother Ziheng for a while? You can calm down and think about how to get along with him in the future. Perhaps...¡±

    Suddenly showing a yful smile, she continued, ¡°Now that it¡¯s summer vacation, you may even find a good rtionship when you¡¯re back in China. There are so many boys chasing you in the Training Camp, it¡¯ll be good to date someone of the same age.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to date,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful and you¡¯re already sixteen. Isn¡¯t it normal to fall in love? And how could it be easy to debut? Just give it a try, I heard that love can make people forget a lot of troubles.¡±

    Xia Ling was moved by her words. She could forget her troubles?

    Could she forget him...

    Unexpectedly, his God-like, handsome face appeared in her mind.

    Her heart began to hurt again, and she forced herself not to think about it. She said to her sister, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go back to China.¡±

    Xia Yu said, ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll help you n it well. You¡¯ll go back secretly.¡±

    ¡°Secretly?¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Why? I could just tell Brother Pei directly that I want to go back to China and get him to send me back.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯ll agree to it?¡± Xia Yu said quietly. ¡°Thest time you wanted to change rooms with me, he still forced you to live next to him. If you tell him, you might not be able to get away. You might even be punished by him, Sister. Are you willing to do that?¡±

 Chapter 1086 - Abandoned Garage

    <h4>Chapter 1086: Abandoned Garage</h4>

    Xia Ling shook her head in reflex.

    Xia Yu said, ¡°So you should sneak back. Rest assured, count on me, I have stayed in Paris for quite a long time and I know how to book a ne ticket and a taxi to the airport. You just have to listen to my arrangements.¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling really listened to her arrangements.

    On a day when the first glimmer of light appeared at dawn, she sneaked out from the back door of the hotel and walked through a few crooked alleys under the guidance of Xia Yu to a taxi outside.

    ¡°Go in.¡± Xia Yu opened the back door and let her get in the car. ¡°I told the driver uncle to send you to the airport. Sister, you have to be careful on the way. Also, this is for you¡ª¡± She took a ne from her neck and put it on Xia Ling¡¯s neck. ¡°When you think of me, just touch this diamond ne. It¡¯ll be like I¡¯m with you and you won¡¯t be so lonely.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Xiao Yu, you be careful too,¡± Xia Ling said. She did not notice that the driver¡¯s eyes lit up with greed upon seeing the diamond ne from the rearview mirror.

    The taxi started and they drove off into a more and more remote ce under the gray sky.

    Looking at the increasingly scarce vehicles and pedestrians and the increasingly destitute buildings on the streets, Xia Ling felt distinctly uneasy. She asked in English, ¡°Is this the direction to the airport?¡±

    The driver returned a French sentence.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t understand French and asked in English again, ¡°Is this the direction of the airport? Driver uncle, I want to go to the airport!¡±

    The driver ignored her and sped up. In a short while, they arrived at an abandoned warehouse. The car stopped and the tall and strong driver got out of the car, opened the rear door and got in.

    At this time, Xia Ling finally realized something was wrong and desperately shrank her body back. ¡°What are you doing!¡±

    The driver sneered, showing yellow teeth, and said something in French loudly, but she could not understand it. Although she couldn¡¯t understand it, her instinct for danger made her hair stand up. She desperately kicked the driver but was quickly restrained by him.

    The driver pressed her into a small space and grabbed her long hair in one hand and mmed it to the side.

    She couldn¡¯t help but raise her neck in pain. The driver¡¯s other hand grabbed her diamond pendant and pulled it hard. The pendant was not torn, but she screamed in pain instead. The driver was very annoyed and pulled the pendant forcefully again. The position of the pendant was a bit low, exactly in the middle of her chest. Under his violent pulling, his thick nails and the hard edges of the diamond scratched her skin, leaving a few traces of shocking blood marks on her snowy-white skin. The pendant finally broke, and herpel was also pulled apart.

    The driver looked at her chest and his eyes became greedier.

    Xia Ling was scared senseless. Instinctively, she knew that something was bad. Not long ago, she had also been stared at like that by Pei Ziheng, but when Pei Ziheng had looked at her, she had felt bursts of shuddering. When this dirty driver stared at her, she only felt sick and disgusted.

    The driver reached out his hand and grabbed her.

    She was in so much pain and was so scared that she couldn¡¯t help but push him. However, the slim girl couldn¡¯t push past the strong and powerful driver. She watched as the driver ripped her dress and exposed her skin to the air. Her skin was a thrilling snow-white color. The driver chuckled and said something in French and untied his belt.

    The beltnded, jingling, and his ugly object was exposed to her without any cover.

    Xia Ling screamed hysterically, her body desperately shrinking back, trying to avoid his touch. But it was in vain. Her screams angered the driver and his expression suddenly changed. He pressed harder against her and gave her two heavy ps on both sides of her face, until she was dizzy, tinnitus, and bleeding from the corners of her mouth.

    Xia Ling had no time to react. She only felt a big hand covered with dirt blocking her nose and mouth, and her screams stopped. She felt that she was about to suffocate. She could only see the magnified sinister smile of the driver. He was so ugly and vicious that she shuddered.

    Her line of sight was blurred due tock of oxygen...

    When she was about to lose consciousness, she heard the driver say something in awkward English, ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t like doing it with corpses. I will kill you when I have finished enjoying you.¡±

    The big hand that blocked her nose and mouth was released, and she gasped, taking deep breaths and struggling hard. Her four limbs were restrained, and she had no room for escape in the back seat of the narrow car. She felt a dirty big hand sneak into her thin bottom underwear, violently digging in her hidden ce. She was in so much pain her face turned deathly pale.

    What was even more terrifying was that the thin underwear was quickly torn off. The driver chuckled and spread her legs easily. He used his own exposed ugly object to press against her as if deliberately showing it off. He was in no hurry to enter her hidden entrance.

    ¡°I will make you veryfortable,¡± he said in broken English. His bad breath sprayed on her face and she wanted to spit it out. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy it before you die, little girl, hahaha.¡±

    He stopped talking and was about to enter her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s brain was nk and stiff. She wanted to just die right there and then so she wouldn¡¯t have to face this hell. Who... who was going to save her...

    Who would kill her...

    Kill her...

    Suddenly, the weight was removed from her body and the dirty and sturdy driver was thrown out like a sack of potatoes. He let out a heavy muffled sound as he hit the ground. For a moment, Xia Ling did not respond to what happened. Was she already dead? That was why what she saw was an illusion? She... she actually saw her Brother Pei.

    She saw the tall figure of Brother Pei standing at the door of the car. He lowered his head and looked at her sullenly. In that mess, only his shadowed figure looked so extraordinary, just like a respectful monarch.

    She was suddenly not so scared.

    Outside, messy footsteps could be heard.

    Someone was approaching.

    She heard Pei Ziheng shout, ¡°Get out!¡±

    His voice was like a p of thunder, so loud andmanding it hurt the eardrum. She had never seen him so angry before.

    The messy footsteps stopped, and instead of continuing to lean over, he bowed his head and squeezed into the small space inside the car. He leaned over and lifted her chin harshly. ¡°You are looking for death.¡± This was the first sentence he said to her. It burst out of the gap between his teeth, sounding so cruel and blood-thirsty as if it came from hell.

    She burst into tears and wrapped her hands around his neck. She forgot that her body was not covered. She hugged him tightly and shivered. ¡°Brother Pei, you came... Boohoo... I¡¯m so scared, so scared...¡±

    For a long time, he didn¡¯t talk. Finally, he reached out and hugged her tightly, as if he was trying to knead her into his body. The girl in his arms trembled so badly in fright and even her crying was low and weak. The two faintly discernible bones on her frail back shook under his palm and he tightened his grip on her even more.

 Chapter 1087 - Out-Of-Control Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 1087:</h4>

    <h4>Out-Of-Control Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She cried until her liver and guts were cut to pieces and heard him ask, ¡°Did he hurt you?¡±

    She was still crying, and her mind was in a haze. She didn¡¯t know what to say. Her body was pulled away from him and he forced her to face him, his hands gripping tightly onto her shoulders. ¡°Did, he, hurt, you.¡±

    His malicious eyes scared her.

    She was shocked and said, ¡°I, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Yes, maybe...¡± She remembered something. When he had been up-close talking incoherently to her, his hand had touched the wound on her chest. The blood marks that had been abraded by the diamond ne were still faint and painful.

    He suddenly threw her into the back seat of the car and roared. ¡°I asked if he raped you!¡±

    She was scared senseless. She looked at his red eyes and couldn¡¯t speak. A boundless fear hit her heart. His abnormal reaction was making her feel at a loss. Rape... what was rape...?

    She was still thinking about it when he violently separated her legs.

    ¡°Ah!¡± She cried out, shy, angry, and a lot of unclear emotions rushing into her heart. She tried in vain to close her legs and reached out to push him hard.

    He was annoyed. He picked up the torn dress on the ground, tore it into two or three strips and used it to tie her hands together.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± She screaming, crying, ¡°Let me go! Don¡¯t touch me!¡±

    He simply ignored her. He lowered his head and looked at her carefully, his rough palms pressing down forcefully onto her, making her shrink in pain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t...¡± She pleaded tearfully. His actions made her ashamed and she wanted to die. Her hands struggled, but she couldn¡¯t break out from the shackles of cloth. Soon, her wrists were swollen red.

    He turned a deaf ear to her crying and supported her with his palm. He lifted her easily and carefully examined the cushion under her body.

    Fortunately, there was no blood on her belly nor the cushion.

    He was half relieved.

    But no bloodstains didn¡¯t meanplete insurance. She heard that some girls would not bleed during their first time, what if she was one of them? Pei Ziheng put her down and pinched her chin again, forcing her to face him despite her struggles. ¡°Did that offal enter you?¡±

    Under his low tone and his previous inspection, she suddenly understood what he meant. She looked at him with tears of disbelief, her face red and pale. This kind of question was simply too embarrassing to answer. Furthermore, it was just too confusing now. Her mind was in aplete nk at the moment and she couldn¡¯t remember anything.

    She was trembling all over and didn¡¯t want to think about it. She only wished that this nightmare would end quickly.

    Her voice hoarse, she begged him. ¡°Let me go home... I want to go home...¡±

    He sneered. ¡°Go home?¡± He lowered his body and took unfair advantage to get closer to her. ¡°You don¡¯t want to tell me? It¡¯s okay, I have lots of ways to find out.¡± He used one hand to untie the belt around his waist. The expensive heavy belt buckle fell onto the car floor with a cold and hard sound and Pei Ziheng ruthlessly pounded into her.

    Xia Ling screamed out in pain.

    It was too painful, an acute pain thatpletely caught her off guard. She only realized what was happening after a few seconds. Her face was as pale as paper and she was trembling uncontrobly.

    Pain, it was too painful...

    There was only this endless pain left in the whole world...

    She heard him ask in her ear, ¡°Tell me, did that offal do this to you?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t say anything. She could only plead weakly with her eyes, begging him to let her go.

    Pei Ziheng asked fiercely, ¡°Tell me! Did he!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± She finally cried again, her voice hoarse and almost inaudible. ¡°No...¡±

    Even the driver was not as cruel as him! How could he do this to her? ¡°It hurts...¡± She tried her best to tell him. ¡°It hurts, Brother Pei...¡±

    Having forced the answer out of her, he kissed her eyes gently. ¡°Does it hurt?¡±

    She did not have any strength left to talk. She choked on her tears and looked at him pleadingly.

    He slowly wiped away the tear from her eyes and said with an even gentle voice, ¡°This is punishment, Xiao Ling. You asked for it. Who told you to sneak out without my permission? Did you know...¡± Did she know that he had to exert a lot of perseverance to restrain the urge to take her? However, all his rationality copsed after seeing her under the body of another man. At that moment, his mind was full with only one thought, and that was¡ªto possess her! He desperately wanted to possess her!

    Without any sense of tenderness or pity, he carried out his next round of assault.

    Xia Ling did not even have the strength left to cry. Her sight gradually ckened, like a small boat in a storm, letting the gale gigantic wave toss her around and drop her with all hope lost... until dark...

    Pei Ziheng did not notice she fainted.

    After everything was over, he looked down and saw she was in a mess. She was injured and even his naked eyes could see the vestiges ofceration on her. Was the blood from her injury or because it was her first time...?

    The feeling of uncertainty irritated him. For a moment, he almost couldn¡¯t control himself and wanted to punish her fiercely again. If she had not run away without his permission, why would this happen? Did that offal driver seed? Even if he had checked, even if she had cried and said ¡°No¡±, even when after he interrogated the driverter and the same conclusion was reached, but, the shadow in his heart was still like a ghost. It was impossible to get rid of.

    He understood that he was out of control.

    He shouldn¡¯t be so cruel to her. In fact, he had never treated a woman so roughly before. Furthermore, this was her first time.

    But he couldn¡¯t control himself. At the thought of the driver, he lost all reason.

    He wanted to confirm that every inch of her skin, every hair on her was his. There was a kind of overflowing anger in him. He wanted her to know that everything had been brought on by herself.

    If she had just listened obediently to him and had stayed by his side, she wouldn¡¯t have to suffer all these.

 Chapter 1088 - Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 1088: Awakening</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng stared at her for a while, then he took off his suit jacket and covered her body with it.

    He was tall, and the tailored suit jacket made her seem petite and curled up when ced over her body. He embraced her with the clothes between them. The iron-gray suit jacket slipped slightly and revealed half of her white glistening shoulder as well as her sleek, curvy legs. Her little head was leaning against his embrace, her butterfly-winged eyshes trembled slightly and her delicate face was covered with tears.

    She was so light.

    Her body carried the unique fragrance of a girl as well as the scent he had left after making love.

    Pei Ziheng unexpectedly recalled the many years he had known her. As if only at this moment, shepletely belonged to him, thoroughly and undoubtedly, without any form of reservation. Any traces of guilt in his heart vanishedpleted and he lowered his head to kiss her soft, petal-like lips before striding out of the car.

    The abandoned warehouse was silent and the morning light filtered through the clouds.

    Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling a few meters and turned a corner. He saw Chu Chen leaning against the door of his Rolls-Royce, smoking with his back to them.

    Hearing the noise, he turned to smother the me and bowed respectfully. ¡°Boss.¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the rest?¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°I told them to keep watch nearby. Do you want them toe back?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°No, you drive, let¡¯s go back to the hotel.¡±

    Chu Chen was very perceptive. Although he had long noticed the unconscious girl in his arms, he was tactful and didn¡¯t ask him anything. He pulled open the door to the rear seat and let his Boss get in with the girl, then he went over to the driver¡¯s seat.

    The car started and they drove all the way back to the hotel.

    Pei Ziheng had the time to sort out his thoughts. He asked Chu Chen, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Chu Chen obviously knew what he was asking, so he answered methodically while driving, ¡°Our people have interrogated the driver and have gathered information from him. It probably went like this¡ªXia Ling has quarreled with you these days and was in a bad mood, so she nned to return to China. Xia Yu helped her find a taxi, but did not expect to meet a ruthless driver.¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned and looked down at the girl in his arms. She couldn¡¯t wait to avoid him?¡±ess Read.live if you like watching mangaics.

    She even ignored the dangers of the world outside?

    ¡°You asked for it,¡± he whispered. He stuck out his thumb and rubbed her petal-like lips, pressing harshly on the ce where her lips had been bitten. She snorted sorely in her sleep, a drop of a tear falling from her eyes.

    The car sped along the bustling city and passed by a hospital. Chu Chen slowed down the speed. ¡°Boss, do you want to bring Xia Ling to the doctor?¡± Although he had only caught a glimpse, he could see that the woman in Pei Ziheng¡¯s embrace was in a terrible condition. Her face was deathly pale and drained of blood, like a rag doll that had been torn.

    ¡°Busybody,¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Chu Chen did not speak anymore. He continued to drive forward and the car fell into a dead silence.

    Suddenly, he heard Pei Ziheng ask, ¡°What else did you ask?¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°He¡¯s a local rogue, a gangster. A few days ago he saw Xia Yu looking for a taxi near the red light district and disguised as a taxi driver. He defrauded her trust and went to pick up Xia Ling.¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°She went all the way to the red light district to find a car?¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Maybe she was afraid to be noticed by you in the vicinity. Although the red light district is chaotic, she¡¯s just a little girl and doesn¡¯t understand anything. She probably thought it was safer the busier it was.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s gaze hardened. Xia Yu had to be handled well.

    Chu Chen went on to say, ¡°Our people asked that driver why he chose to prey on Xia Yu when there were hundreds of pedestrians on the street. The driver said that even though Xia Yu had disguised herself by wearing ordinary clothes, the diamond ne on her neck was still exposed and showed off her wealth. He had originally wanted to snatch the diamond ne and go, but after hearing that her sister had to go to the airport, he changed his mind and decided to catch a big ticket. To be in a car alone with a rich youngdy was much more worthy than snatching a diamond ne.¡±

    ¡°Bring Xia Yu back to the hospital and lock her in,¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°Punish her for half a year first and remove all her servants. She¡¯s not allowed to go out. No pocket money will be given, either. She¡¯s forbidden to have any contact with the outside world, especially with Xiao Ling.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Tell her that if she dares to instigate Xiao Ling ever again, I have ways to make sure the two sisters never meet again.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice echoed around the car.

    ¡°... Yes.¡± Chu Chen silently mourned for Xia Yu in his heart. Some people were still pampered and indulged in even aftermitting a huge crime, but other people would still draw rage even when they had not made an intentional mistake.

    This was life.

    The car reached the hotel and Pei Ziheng carried Xia Ling upstairs. Several Imperial Entertainment¡¯s employees identally bumped into him and watched with shock as their Big Boss entered the suite on the twenty-fourth floor with a gloomy face and a murderous expression.

    The girl slept for a long time in the luxurious big bed and woke up in the evening.

    Her butterfly-like eyshes gently fluttered and she opened her eyes to see the familiar and yet strange hotel suite. The familiarity was that the pattern here was exactly the same as her room, but the strange thing was the man¡¯s suit hanging on the clothes hanger at the corner. The coffee table at her bedside and the small sofa were strewn with a kraft paper document bag.

    She thought for a few seconds and then realized she was in Pei Ziheng¡¯s room.

    The scene before hera came back into her mind. She remembered she had been robbed and her clothes had been torn off. At the moment when she almost suffered terribly, Pei Ziheng hade to rescue her, and then...

    And then?

    Her body started to shake violently¡ªno, he did not save her at all! He had so cruelly, so cruelly done the same thing as the driver! What the driver had wanted to do to her...

    Her body ached so badly, the kind of tearing feelinging from the depths of her most secluded ce, it felt like knives were cutting into her. She would much rather die immediately than to suffer from this. If only this was all a dream, how good would that be? She suddenly closed her eyes and opened it after a long time, but the scene in front of her was still the same. The aching of her body was still so real and distinct that she had nowhere to hide from it.

    She lowered her head and saw a scar on her wrist.

    It was the trace left when she had been tied up and the soft cloth had broken through her delicate skin and drawn blood ruthlessly. Recalling everything at that moment, she was almost suffocated by the indescribable shame, fear, and pain that drowned her like a wave.

    She didn¡¯t want to stay in this room, she wanted to escape!

    She could barely support her body as she got off the bed. The severe pain in her body almost tore her apart, and her sore feet made her stagger. She fell onto the thick carpet. Her forehead hit the hanger and tears flowed out as she cried out in pain. She then got up with difficulty and slowly and, little by little, held onto the hanger for support and got up, panting heavily. Her body was drenched with sweat and her eyesight was blurry. She then looked up by ident and saw herself in the mirror.

 Chapter 1089 - Whereâ€™s the Difference?

    <h4>Chapter 1089: Where¡¯s the Difference?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    God, was that still her?

    Her body was now covered with traces of green and purple vestiges. On her originally white skin were several distinct toothmarks that were oozing blood, so deeply bitten that her skin and flesh were somewhat rolled inwards. Between her slightly trembling legs, the traces of dried blood and unidentified liquid were so ring that she looked away immediately and did not dare look again.

    After panting for a long time, she struggled back to the bed and pulled the nket over to cover herself.

    Step by step, she moved with difficulty in the direction of the door. With every step she took, her bottom half ached terribly, as if she were walking on a mountain of daggers and sea of mes. The pain that felt like a wound that had just healed was torn open again was simply unbearable.

    She didn¡¯t know how much time she spent before she reached the door with difficulty.

    This was the five-star hotel¡¯s most exclusive presidential suite, and outside the bedroom was an equally spacious and luxurious living room. Xia Ling held onto the living room wall and continued to shift towards the door. Suddenly, she saw a man sitting on the sofa not far away. It was a familiar, cold and majestic man.

    He used to be her God, but now, he was her nightmare.

    She suddenly froze and her body trembled uncontrobly. She did not dare move a single inch under his gaze. He wore an iron-gray suit with a dark, fine-grain shirt underneath, exactly the same as when he had vited her. It felt like he would stand up and pounce on her at any moment.

    She wanted to go back, but her feet were so weak. It was a miracle that she was able to support herself without falling.

    He sat silently on the sofa and looked at her with his fingers inteced. ¡°You want to leave?¡± His low voice echoed in the quiet space, just like a devil¡¯s whisper.

    She didn¡¯t know what to say. There was chaos in her mind, and the only thought she could capture from amongst them was¡ªshe had been struggling in the bedroom for so long, shifted around for so long, and had even fallen a few times and knocked over many things, it was impossible that he hadn¡¯t heard it... he must have known she was awake!

    But he had been waiting idly for her while sitting there. His patience made her afraid.

    Her crystal clear eyes looked at him and even her voice shook as she said, ¡°Let me go...¡±

    ¡°Go where?¡± He still sat in the same space, looking at her gently, as if watching an ignorant girl. ¡°To the suite next door? Or back to the vi? Training Camp? Where else could you go?¡±

    She was speechless. That¡¯s right, where could she go?

    It was he who adopted her, and she was his, she could not escape his palm no matter where she fled!

    For a moment, huge sorrow engulfed her and she was filled with anger and grievances. She couldn¡¯t control her tears and she screamed at him hoarsely, ¡°Are you deliberately bullying me?! Do I deserve to be bullied by you just because I¡¯m parentless! You, how could you do this to me? How could you...¡±

    Her voice gradually got smaller and smaller and she started choking.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s fingers tightened and he looked at the unstable girl standing next to the door. His dark expression changed unnoticeably. ¡°Come here,¡± he said quietly.

    She looked at him through her tears, full of hatred. She stood in the same ce and dared not move.

    He got up and walked towards her step by step. His tall figure was full of oppression, making the originally spacious space appear narrow and small. She began to tremble again and became more and more afraid. She couldn¡¯t help but shrink and retreat backward, but her back hit the hard wall and she could no longer back off. She stared at him as he approached her until he was in front of her. He then bent forward and ced his hands on the wall on both sides of her, effortlessly trapping her in the narrow gap between the walls.

    He was so so close that she could smell the scent from his body, just like when he had vited her.

    Her legs were too soft to stand and she dared not look at him. He lifted her chin with one hand and forced her to lock eyes with him. ¡°I¡¯ve never thought about bullying you, I only want to pamper you properly. But Xiao Ling, you have to be punished if you don¡¯t obey. Do you understand? Why did you sneak to the airport without my permission? Do you know how dangerous the outside world is? Have you thought about what would have happened if I¡¯d been a minuteter?¡±

    ¡°What would have happened?¡± Her tears flowed down her delicate cheeks and her voice was hoarse from crying for a long time. ¡°What would have happened! You, you bully me like that, what¡¯s the difference between you and the driver!¡±

    He was stunned. He didn¡¯t expect her to say such a thing and was more aggravated subconsciously. ¡°I¡¯m no different from that driver?¡± His stern voice was like from Hell.

    She trembled and dared not speak.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her calmly and suddenly remembered what Xia Yu had said to him a few days ago. [Sister hugged me and cried badly, she said something about hating something and feeling disgusted...]

    Was it true that his touch was the same as other people¡¯s touch to her?

    It was all the same... unbearable?!

    ¡°I should have...¡± His fingers tightened more and more, hurting her so much her face turned pale. ¡°I should have thrown you to the driver, or to whoever. When that happens, Xia Ling, don¡¯t you dare cry to me for help!¡±

    His distorted look put her in fear, and she was afraid he would really throw her to anyone the next moment. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t. He pulled her back to the big bed and pressed onto her body. ¡°Let me tell you what¡¯s the difference!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± She screamed and cried, ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t! I¡¯m wrong, I¡¯m wrong! I shouldn¡¯t have sneaked out and not listened to you! Please don¡¯t hurt me... Please...¡± She cried, heartbroken. Her tears and mucus were muddled on her face and she looked up at him pleadingly. She didn¡¯t want to suffer the same purgatory again.

    His gaze softened and he gently touched her pale and frail cheeks with his fingers, as if caressing a disobedient kitten. He asked softly, ¡°Do you know your wrong now?¡±

    ¡°I know, I know!¡± She couldn¡¯t stop crying and curled up under him while shivering. ¡°I won¡¯t ever run away and be disobedient again. I won¡¯t ever throw a temper with you again. I¡¯ll be very good and obedient, I swear.¡±

    He asked, ¡°What else?¡±

    What else? She widened her eyes slightly, looking at him in confusion and fear. She didn¡¯t understand what he meant.

    Pei Ziheng guided her patiently. ¡°It seems you haven¡¯t understood the difference between me and the driver.¡±

    She was so scared her heartbeat almost stopped. ¡°I... I understand. You... You¡¯re different.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s our difference?¡± He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

    She couldn¡¯t answer his question, and big drops of tears flowed down her cheeks. She was so afraid he would tear her into pieces in the next second.

    He looked at her with pity and suddenly chuckled. ¡°Why are you crying again? People who don¡¯t know will think I¡¯m bullying you. I¡¯ve told you before, I only hurt you as a form of punishment. As long as you¡¯re obedient, I¡¯ll promise never to hurt you again. Have a good rest. When you¡¯ve recovered, I¡¯ll tell you where¡¯s the difference.¡±

    Thest sentence was like a whisper between lovers.

 Chapter 1090 - Why Are You Crying Again

    <h4>Chapter 1090: Why Are You Crying Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng got up and left.

    Xia Ling wrapped herself in her nket and clutched the horns tightly. She didn¡¯t know how long she cried for before falling asleep drowsily. Her dream was chaotic, but she couldn¡¯t remember anything when she woke up. She could only see therge wet patch of her tears on the pillow.

    She was barely able to support her body as she got up and found she wasn¡¯t wearing anything. The rug that had been beside her was removed by someone. She lowered her head and was still shocked by the bruises on her white skin. Some had left behind scars while some were still bleeding. Her white body was now scattered with red and green marks, like dazzling paint spreading across a canvas.

    She looked at the bite mark left behind by him on her soft tender arm and waspletely helpless.

    Pei Ziheng pushed the door open, carrying a tray in his hands. ¡°It¡¯s time to eat. You haven¡¯t eaten in a few days already, so I told the kitchen to make you some bird¡¯s nest porridge. It¡¯s very nutritious.¡±

    His gaze deepened as it fell on the bite mark on her arm.

    She was shocked. Remembering how she was not yet dressed, she quickly retracted back into her nket, showing only half of her head. She stared at him with some vignce. The depth of his gaze faded and he looked amused. ¡°What are you looking at, could I eat you?¡± He put the tray at the side of the bed, turned back to retrieve a shirt from the closet and threw it to her.

    ¡°You, you turn around,¡± she grabbed the shirt and whispered.

    He really turned around and stopped looking at her.

    She found it unbelievable. When did he be so obedient to her? It was like the gentle and totally submissive Brother Pei had returned to her and wasn¡¯t the demon from that day.

    She stared at his back for a long time and did not move.

    ¡°Are you done?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    ¡°No, no yet,¡± she was shocked and quickly replied while stuttering. She grabbed the shirt in a hurry and put it on messily. His shirt was very wide on her body. The minimalist style and the button being buttoned until the top should have helped suppress desire, but it appeared to be very enticing instead.

    He turned around and frowned upon looking at her, before throwing a thin nket to her. ¡°Put it on.¡±

    She did not dare ask and put it on obediently.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was good to her, but Chu Chen had told him that he had to take it slow when chasing girls. If he wanted to make her hell-bent on him, he shouldn¡¯t suppress her with his high-pressure power but should make her realize how good and caring he was. Only that way would she be more reliant on him and thus inseparable. Yes, he wanted to chase her and be together with her.

    That day when he went to Blue Dream Club, he had slept with a girl who was simr in shape to her. She was even younger, only fifteen. Forget about it being immoral, the world was like this, where the strong preyed on the weak and became King. The girl was also very happy and was even grateful. At this age, she had no choice but toe out and entertain guests, but to her, being able to fall into the hands of such a wealthy and handsome man like him on her first night was a lucky gift.

    But he was not happy.

    That night made him certain that he wasn¡¯t a pedophile, nor did he like the slim body that didn¡¯t have much meat in the appropriate ces. He only liked one person, and that person was Xia Ling.

    So when he learned that she was in danger, he had been furious.

    Her body and soul belonged to him, and she was never to escape.

    Pei Ziheng took the spoon and fed her porridge bit by bit. She was probably very hungry and quickly drank all the porridge. He wiped her mouth with a paper towel and looked at the mottled tears on her small face. Frowning slightly, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you fill the bathtub.¡±

    She shuddered and said, ¡°I, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±

    Since he had vited her that day, she hadn¡¯t taken a proper shower yet, so there were still traces of him on her body. Now that she remembered this, her face turned red.

    Pei Ziheng was unhappy. But when he saw her fearful look, he slowly suppressed the unnamed fire in his heart.

    He said, ¡°How are you going to get off the bed like this? I¡¯ll go fill the tub.¡±

    After he said that, he carried her into the bathroom. She seemed to be even lighter than she had been a few days ago, like a fragile bird trembling slightly with thin bones gathered in his embrace. His heart ached as he put her into the bathtub and kissed her forehead. ¡°I told you before that you don¡¯t have to be afraid. As long as you listen to me, I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    She did not dare to speak and watched nervously as he left and locked the door.

    She slowly washed her body, her fingers touching the traces of shame left on her lower body. Her face burned red like fire and the bits and pieces of memories in the car came to her like waves, causing her pain and... rejoice.

    Yes, rejoice.

    There was a tiny voice in her heart saying, <i>Xiao Ling, you should be rejoicing. Fortunately, the person who took you in the end was him, not that dirty driver. He... Brother Pei, is different from everyone else.</i>

    Even if he was bad to her, he was still different.

    She couldn¡¯t pinpoint where exactly he was different, but he just was.

    After the shower, she put on a soft white coral fleece bathrobe. She wrapped herself up tightly in it like a little bear cup and staggered out.

    Pei Ziheng was tearing open a pack of medicine on the side of the coffee table and there was a cup of warm water that had just been poured beside it.

    He saw her walk out and handed her a white pill and the warm water. ¡°Eat it.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Morning-after pill,¡± he said.

    ¡°What?¡± She didn¡¯t understand, or more likely, she didn¡¯t know what a morning-after pill was.

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°You won¡¯t get pregnant after you eat it.¡±

    She understood this sentence and in an instant, her face was as red as a drop of blood.

    Pregnancy? These two days had been so chaotic and confusing that she¡¯d not thought of this problem. But he had actually thought of everything and had even prepared a morning-after pill for her. The calm mood that she had just regained forcefully became chaotic again and she heard herself ask, ¡°You, you don¡¯t want children?¡±

    He nced at her questioningly. ¡°You want to give birth to my babies?¡±

    She wanted to bite off her own tongue. How could she have asked such a shameless question?!

    ¡°I, I...¡± She wanted to say she wouldn¡¯t want to give birth to his baby, but the words got stuck in her throat as she looked at his profound expression. She turned her head and didn¡¯t dare to look at him.

    Pei Ziheng smiled again and helped herb her hair. ¡°You¡¯re still a child yourself.¡±

    Her nose was a little sour and she whispered, ¡°You¡¯re bullying me.¡±

    He said, ¡°Be good, take the medicine and I¡¯ll take you to a good ce in a few days.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°We will have children, but not now.¡±

    She was shocked and stared at him with wide eyes. He said that they would have children?! Did that mean that he simply did not intend to let her go and would bully her like in the car again?

    Her eyes were suddenly red.

    Pei Ziheng frowned slightly. ¡°Why are you crying again?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Her voice was very low and she was afraid of angering him. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do that, it... it hurts.¡± It not only hurt, but there was a kind of disgrace and embarrassment from being treated as an object that satisfied lust. But she was too young and could not distinguish much of her feelings. She only knew that it was unbearably painful.

 Chapter 1091 - Not Allowed to Go Out

    <h4>Chapter 1091: Not Allowed to Go Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He was shocked and took a while to react to what she said.

    It seemed the incident really made her very afraid. He said to her warmly, ¡°It won¡¯t hurt so much in the future. You¡¯ll like it very much, I promise.¡±

    She blushed red again. How could she like this kind of thing?

    However, she nced carefully at his expression and tactfully decided to stop saying no.

    She would just decide on the way and avoid him carefully next time. He had said that as long as she was obedient, he wouldn¡¯t bully her. Moreover... unexpectedly, she remembered the morous woman she saw at the door of the presidential suite that day as well as what happened in Blue Dream Club as ryed by Xia Yu. He did notck women around him and might not want her for certain.

    At this thought, her heart was filled with a hint of sourness.

    Pei Ziheng saw her uncertain expression and asked, ¡°Why, don¡¯t you believe me?¡±

    She shook her head in a panic and did not dare continue discussing this topic. She went back to rest with a red face.

    Pei Ziheng stared at her retreating back, his eyes unconsciously filled with a soft smile. The biggest gain of this trip to Paris was not the big single project, but that he possessed her¡ªhe possessed herpletely. He let her rest. He had been busy these days and, although the project had reached the end stage, it was stillplicated. Due to her ident, the progress had been dyed a little. He had to quickly deal with it.

    Xia Ling was bored in her room for several days. She felt too embarrassed to see anyone and stayed at home.

    asionally, when she called room service, she would feel guilty and shameful because she thought that the waiter was looking at her strangely. Even though she knew it was an illusion, she couldn¡¯t restrain her thoughts.

    The injury on her body was getting better.

    She called Xia Yu and wanted her to apany her, but the call didn¡¯t get through.

    She took the courage to step out of the suite and walked down the corridor to knock on Xia Yu¡¯s door. She knocked for a long time but the door still didn¡¯t open.

    Instead, the other door next to it opened. It was Chu Chen. ¡°Xiao Ling? Are you looking for Xiao Yu?¡±

    She turned to look at the well-groomed man in a suit. She unconsciously spected that he knew much of what had happened between her and Pei Ziheng. She was uneasy at this thought and desperately wanted to run away.

    Obviously, Chu Chen knew much more than she imagined.

    He deliberately turned a blind eye to the girl¡¯s shyness and said in a warm voice, ¡°Boss has already sent Xiao Yu out of Paris and back to the hospital. Why are you looking for her?¡±

    ¡°Why is she going back to the hospital so suddenly?¡± Xia Ling asked. ¡°Is she feeling unwell?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Chu Chen said. ¡°Boss was very angry on the day you met with an ident in the taxi. He found out it was Xiao Yu who instigated you to return to China and even got the car for you, so he had her locked up. You won¡¯t be able to see her in the next six months, and won¡¯t be able to contact her either. But don¡¯t worry, she¡¯s alright, healthy, and is being cared for.¡±

    Xia Ling understood what was going on.

    ¡°It¡¯s all my fault,¡± she looked at Chu Chen and said in a hurry. ¡°I was the one who wanted to go back to China, it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with Xiao Yu. Don¡¯t lock her up, okay?¡±

    Chu Chen revealed a sympathetic smile. ¡°You know, this is not something I can decide.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent. She had been confused for a moment after hearing about Xia Yu. But actually, she also understood that only Pei Ziheng was able to make the decision and nobody would be able to shake it. ¡°How could Brother Pei do this,¡± she whispered and felt wronged again. ¡°He¡¯s bullying her and being too unreasonable.¡±

    Chu Chen dared not share his opinion on this matter. He said in gentle appeasement, ¡°Boss is doing it for you.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not doing it for me.¡± She retorted stubbornly, her mood low.

    Chu Chen knew that she was throwing a child¡¯s tantrum and smiled slightly. He did not put it to heart. ¡°The weather is good today, do you want to go out and walk? But don¡¯t walk too far, Boss has imposed martialw on the whole hotel. You won¡¯t be able to go out.¡±

    ¡°He locked me up too?¡±

    ¡°Boss is doing this for your safety.¡±

    ¡°Humph.¡± Xia Ling was even more upset and turned around in frustration.

    Chu Chen watched indifferently as she left before heading to the hotel¡¯s conference room. Pei Ziheng and several of his subordinates just ended their meeting, and the group of people was packing up and preparing to leave. Under the thick and wide ss window, the man¡¯s tall figure was like a calm mountain, majestic and cold, making people feel awe.

    The conference room was silent, and all the subordinates did not dare chat orugh in front of him. They retired in silence in an orderly manner. Seeing Chu Chene in, Pei Ziheng handed him a report. ¡°You¡¯vee at the right time. Fax this to Secretary Zhou and let her handle it quickly.¡±

    Chu Chen said calmly, ¡°Yes.¡±

    After seeing thest subordinate exit the conference room from the corner of his eye, he said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Xiao Ling finally went out of her room today. She went to find Xia Yu, and I told her that Xia Yu has been confined.¡±

    Pei Ziheng walked out and asked Chu Chen, ¡°How¡¯s her mood?¡±

    Chu Chen followed him out and helped him press the elevator button. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem too good. But she didn¡¯t have any excessive reaction, she just looked very wronged.¡±

    With a ¡°ding¡±, the two entered the elevator.

    ¡°First floor. Wronged?¡±

    Chu Chen helped him pressed the first-floor button. The elevator decorated with luxurious mirrors went down smoothly and quickly. ¡°She looked about to cry. Boss, do you want to pacify her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s full of shorings from my indulgence.¡± He paused and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I ask you to ask Jason where the best tailor shop in Paris is? You even took her size and photos, are the clothes done?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already done, but the tailors are not willing to deliver it. They said they didn¡¯t have such an established standard in their store. How could they deliver it directly without letting the person try it? If the clothes don¡¯t fit well, it¡¯ll harm their reputation.¡± This small tailor shop on the streets of Paris was not very famous but had a long history and made clothes for genuinely selective and tasteful people. To make a set of clothes, the person would have to try it on at least three times, but Xia Ling had not even tried it on once.

    Pei Ziheng snorted. ¡°Try it on? Then what kind of surprise would it be.¡±

    The elevator arrived on the first floor and the door opened. Pei Ziheng strode out with big strides and instructed Chu Chen. ¡°Tell them to quit being so pesky. I want to see the clothes tomorrow morning. Also, set up a meeting with Wilson. Tell him it¡¯s been brought forward and I want him to prepare the things properly. I¡¯ll go there tomorrow.¡±

    At the entrance of the lobby on the first floor, two doormen in bow ties bowed slightly and opened the door for him.

    A ck Rolls-Royce stopped in front of them. The driver got out of the car and opened the door. Pei Ziheng bent down and got into the car, which quickly started and drove away.

    Chu Chen stood by the door and watched him leave. He followed his instructions and called Wilson.

    Xia Ling strolled aimlessly in the hotel¡¯s garden. When she wanted to go out, she was stopped by a guard at the door. The guard was polite but said to her with a strong tone, ¡°Beautifuldy, your guardian has told me that you are not allowed to go outside. Please don¡¯t make things difficult for us.¡±

    Xia Ling was given the cold shoulder and went back to her room unhappily. She was even angrier now.

 Chapter 1092 - Gift

    <h4>Chapter 1092: Gift</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was originally a lively and active girl, and with the big changes in the past few days making her uneasy, she couldn¡¯t endure staying by herself in the hotel suite even more. The stifling feeling of suffocation was like a shadow following after her, driving her insane.

    The next day, she went to the presidential suite next door to find Pei Ziheng. ¡°I want to go back to China!¡±

    In the hallway, the first rays of the morning sun were insipid and quiet beside the thick mahogany door. The girl was delicate as a flower as she looked up at him, her white face full of anger. He did not know why, but it made him feel moved.

    He said gently, ¡°Go back to China?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± She screamed at him with impatience, afraid that she would lose her courage in the next second. ¡°You locked up Xiao Yu and even locked me here and refuses to let me go out, is it very entertaining for you? I don¡¯t care, I want to go back to China!¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to go back home?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t throw a tantrum,¡± Pei Ziheng said and turned. ¡°Come in.¡±

    Looking at him walk step by step into the depths of the suite, Xia Ling stood awkwardly at the door, not moving. She still remembered what happened a few days ago and dared not step into his territory for fear of encountering some embarrassing things.

    Pei Ziheng took a few steps and turned around. ¡°Why, are you afraid? Who was the one who was howling fiercely at me just now?¡± She was like a hesitant little beast at the door, making him feel pity yet also amused. Did she know nobody had dared to yell at him for so many years? Did she know what would happen to those who dared yell at him? This girl really had big guts, but when she became timid, she was worse than a timid person. Her expression was like she had seen an enemy, who could eat her up with just a few steps.

    Unexpectedly, he remembered what she was like under him.

    With her tearful face, her white and delicate skin...

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s body heated up, and he took a deep breath without batting an eyelid, suppressing the strange feeling inside him.

    She still stood by the door and did not dare toe in.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Do you still want to go back to China?¡±

    She was uncertain. ¡°You¡¯ll let me go back if Ie in?¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you back if youe in.¡± The business in Paris was almost done and there was no point in staying. There was still a bunch of matters waiting for him to settle in China and he had originally nned to head back in the past few days. Although Pei Ziheng was the Chairman, he was different from the other directors of other big groups who liked to wash their hands off business matters. He liked to do everything by himself, thus by wielding power over a huge monster like Imperial Entertainment, it was no wonder he was so busy.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t catch the difference between ¡°let¡± and ¡°bring¡± and stepped into the room carefully.

    ¡°Close the door,¡± he said.

    Her face was slightly nervous and her hands and feet were stiff.

    He strode forward and held her small shoulder in one hand, using the other hand to close the door. The heavy mahogany door gave a dull, low thud and she shuddered a little, not daring to even breathe.

    He looked down at her in amusement. ¡°Where¡¯s your guts?¡±

    His breath lightly brushed at her ears, making her lower face red, as if she was having a high fever.

    He bent over and kissed her forehead. The girl¡¯s skin was clean to the touch and her faint and sweet body fragrance drifted to his nose, making him linger in it. She was frightened and jumped away immediately, staggering a few steps back and bumping into a wine cab behind her.

    The open wine cer filled with a dazzling array of wine bottles swayed and Pei Ziheng quickly pulled her into his arms and used one hand to stabilize it, not letting a bottle of Latour¡¯s Carbe Sauvignon smash onto her head.

    She was shocked senseless and was paralyzed in his arms.

    He couldn¡¯t help but kiss her gently. This time, he whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    She didn¡¯t dare to move. Her body was surrounded by him, and his breath was all over her. It was a very strange feeling, familiar and safe, yet dangerous and mysterious. It was hard to imagine that these two different kinds of feelings could be mixed on one person, but the feeling that Pei Ziheng gave her was exactly like that. It was as if her soul was torn into two halves, one half screaming at her to push him away, and the other half letting her stay in his arms and not move.

    His kiss was detailed and long, and he followed along her forehead and slid towards her eyes, nose, and lips.

    She had never been kissed with such single-hearted devotion before, or rather, she had never been kissed by anyone other than him before. Her hands and legs weakened and she gradually rxed under his intimate touch. When his good-looking thin lips left her, she felt a sense of reluctance.

    He stared at her misty eyes and chuckled again. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    Her cheeks were red and she couldn¡¯t speak.

    He was in an extremely good mood and no longer teased her. He put her on the sofa by the window and took a gift from the shelf. ¡°Open it.¡±

    She opened it obediently for a long time, and the dark blue kraft paper andyer of ribbon unfolded to reveal a dress lying quietly in the box. The dress was faintly lustrous in the soft morning light. She didn¡¯t know what material it was made from, but it was soft and slippery to the touch as if it was the gentlest river.

    She gasped softly.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± He asked again.

    This time, she hesitated and nodded.

    ¡°Change into it for me,¡± he said.

    She changed into it as per his words. When she came out with bare feet, she was as beautiful as a princess. The delicate and smooth fabric fit perfectly onto her body, outlining her faintly discernible corbone and curvy waistline. At her slightest movement, the dress would ripple slightly like waves, and the little bit of luster illuminated her snowy-white skin. She was so beautiful it made people hold their breath with rapt attention at her otherworldliness.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s breathing became somewhat unstable.

    When choosing the materials, the tailor had said this was a piece of clothing known as the ¡°Scandinavian Raw Silk¡±, which not everyone could wear. If it was worn by ordinary girls, the soft and bright texture would make them appear darker and ugly. The perfect cloth would magnify any small imperfection.

    The tailor said that manydies and gentlemen could only give up reluctantly after trying on this fabric.

    But he had still chosen this fabric because he had confidence in her. His Xiao Ling was the most beautiful girl in the world. If she couldn¡¯t handle this fabric, then no one in the world would be able to.

    Sure enough, the fabric seemed to be made for her.

    She stood on the spot and spun in circles, looking up at him in delight. ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful, so beautiful, Brother Pei. Thank you for giving me such a pretty dress.¡±

    He sat on the sofa, half of his face hidden in the morning sun. ¡°Two months isn¡¯t that long.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± She was confused.

    ¡°This was your measurements two months ago, I let the tailor make it ordingly. Now that you¡¯re wearing it, it¡¯s just right and nothing has changed.¡± His low voice came slowly and his eyes fell on her chest and waist.

    Her face turned red. ¡°I, I¡¯ll change it.¡±

    ¡°Just wear this.¡± He stopped her. ¡°I said I¡¯d bring you to a good ce. Let¡¯s go today before we leave for China.¡±

 Chapter 1093 - Rare Diamond

    <h4>Chapter 1093: Rare Diamond</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was a little uneasy, but her curiosity won. She followed him into a small shop.

    The shop was serene and well hidden. The first floor was covered with ivy and various green nts. The steep and narrow woodendders led to the second floor. He took her hand and sat down on the soft suede sofa.

    A grey-haired old man with gold-rimmed sses came out from the inside and his wrinkled lips revealed a graceful smile. ¡°Is this Mr. Pei? And the prettydy Mr. Chu talked about,¡± he said and nodded kindly to Xia Ling before his eyes returned to Pei Ziheng. ¡°Wee. What do you want to drink? Tea, or coffee?¡±

    ¡°Tea,¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°Give her a ss of lemonade.¡±

    The old man turned and left. Soon, he carried two drinks out and ced the tea at Pei Ziheng¡¯s side and the lemonade at Xia Ling¡¯s side. ¡°Mr. Chu told me you like to eat sugar,¡± the old man said with a smile to Xia Ling. ¡°I prepared some sugar at first, but Mr. Pei said it¡¯s not good for your teeth and didn¡¯t let me offer it to you.¡±

    Xia Ling gave Pei Ziheng a resentful look.

    Pei Ziheng said gently, ¡°You¡¯ve eaten so much sugar these past few years and already have tooth cavities. You cried in pain thest time I brought you to the dentist, but you still want to eat? If it hurts again I won¡¯t help you find a doctor at night.¡±

    A few years ago, he was younger and had just adopted her, so he had wanted to give her all the good things in the world. When he had seen how much she liked sugar, he had let her eat it indiscriminately until she came crying to him in the middle of the night, holding her cheeks in pain and crying about how painful her teeth were.

    He had brought her to the dentist in his pajamas and had spent a whole night there. He even had to follow up for a year.

    Thus, he was still worried.

    Xia Ling said in grievance, ¡°Big bad guy.¡± Her voice was very low and he didn¡¯t hear it.

    The grey-haired old man sat down across the sofa and spread a tray across the table. The bottom of the table was covered with a thickyer of velvet mat which had diamonds on them. It sparkled in splendor and dazzled brightly, like stars lighting up the whole sky, bewitching people.

    ¡°Wow...¡± Xia Ling eximed softly.

    ¡°Which one do you like?¡± Pei Ziheng asked. ¡°Choose one for yourself, I¡¯ll make you a ring.¡±

    ¡°Make me a ring?¡± Xia Ling was slightly stunned. Her heart skipped half a beat and she couldn¡¯t help but let her imaginations run wild. Why did he want to make her a ring? This ring... what did it mean?

    She looked at him with a beautiful pair of eyes unblinkingly.

    ¡°What are you looking at, there¡¯s no ring on my face,¡± he said.

    ¡°You, why,¡± she swallowed and asked with difficulty. ¡°Give me a ring?¡±

    ¡°I want to see you wear it,¡± he said, his eyes lingering at her slightly exposed chest for a moment. The scars left by the robbed diamond ne on her white skin was faint now. ¡°Even Xiao Yu knows how to buy what she likes. I give you so much pocket money, so why aren¡¯t you buying anything?¡±

    She followed his line of sight and thought of the ne uneasily. ¡°I, I brought a lot of things.¡±

    ¡°The small hairpin on the roadside, ice cream, candies behind my back, and the slot machines you sent so many coins on when you and your friends went to the amusement park...¡± He was a little resentful towards her for failing to meet his expectations. ¡°Why are you randomly buying things when even Xiao Yu knows how to buy expensive and valuable things?¡±

    She felt a little guilty. ¡°How do you know everything?¡± She had clearly been careful not to tell him about her secretly buying candies and going to the amusement park to y.

    He said with a smile in his eyes. ¡°What do I not know about you?¡±

    She lowered her head and bit her lip gently. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s not fair?¡± he asked.

    She nced at him and said with courage, ¡°You know everything about me, but I don¡¯t know so many things about you.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I...¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked warmly at her. ¡°Seeing as how obedient you¡¯ve been today, I¡¯ll let you know anything.¡±

    She steeled herself and clenched her teeth before finally asking, ¡°Have you given a ring to other women? For example, the sister I met that day, and...¡± And the woman at the Blue Dream Club. She remembered Xia Yu had warned her numerous times not to leak the information she had obtained from following Pei Ziheng and held back thetter half of her words.

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And...¡± She was frustrated and didn¡¯t dare look at him. She averted her eyes and made a lie quickly. ¡°Do you have a lot of women outside? They all say many women are willing to be with you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was slightly stunned. His voice brought a smile as he asked, ¡°Are you jealous?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡±

    ¡°Do you mind if I have a lot of women?¡±

    ¡°Why would I! What does this have to do with me?!¡± She denied it, flustered, and got up, wanting to escape.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her hand immediately. Her hand was soft and delicate, and the palm of his hand was a little cold like a small piece of moist jade. He slowly pulled her back to her seat and looked into her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re jealous.¡±

    His tone was without a single doubt.

    She tried hard to pull her hand away but failed. Thus, she said angrily, ¡°Do you care if I¡¯m jealous? What qualifications do I have to be jealous? I was only adopted by you, and I¡¯m not even your girlfriend. What does it have to do with me how many girlfriends you have? Why are you giving me a ring, just give it to them!¡±

    He stared at her and didn¡¯t speak.

    Her chest heaved up and down and she spoke as if she were pouring all the thoughts she had been suppressing in her mind these few days. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what on earth do you think I am? Your sister? Then why are you doing this to me?! Your girlfriend? You¡¯ve never even confessed to me! You even have so many women outside! What on earth are we?!¡±

    What were they?

    This was the most uneasy part of her heart, and she didn¡¯t know where to put him.

    Still silent, he slowly pulled her hand over and spread her slender and beautiful fingers on the table. The crystal clear light reflected against her soft and delicate skin, which looked as good as jade. He used a pair of tweezers to pick up a few diamonds andpared it to her left middle finger before finally choosing a brilliant pink diamond.

    ¡°This one,¡± he said. ¡°Pink suits you.¡±

    She choked for a moment and red fiercely at him. Had he not heard all her questions?! Her heart was sour and astringent and tears rose inadvertently. After all the things that had happened, she seemed to love crying more and more.

    Pei Ziheng put the selected diamonds in a separate small tray and gestured to the grey-haired old man.

    ¡°FancyVivid.¡± The old man smiled and praised in English. ¡°Mr. Pei has such good taste. This Type diamond you¡¯ve selected is quite rare even in the pink diamonds series. I won¡¯t hide it from you, there¡¯s only thisst one left in the entire Paris. It¡¯s a rare treasure.¡±

 Chapter 1094 - The Choice in the Dark

    <h4>Chapter 1094: The Choice in the Dark</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After setting the style and the pickup time, he took her out of the shop.

    The Parisian streets were very quiet in summer, and the air brought the fragrance of unknown flowers.

    A Rolls-Royce stopped at the street not far ahead and Pei Ziheng said, ¡°The car is here.¡± He reached out and took her hand, but she pushed him away forcefully. He looked down at her, his expression darkening.

    She stepped back and said stubbornly, ¡°Don¡¯t hold my hand!¡±

    He said in a deep voice, ¡°What are you throwing a tantrum again for?¡±

    Tears swirled in her eyes. ¡°What do you mean by this, you think I¡¯ll forgive you for bullying me just because you bought me a ring? You clearly said I could ask you anything I wanted to know, but you didn¡¯t even answer my questions! Pei Ziheng, am I just like all the other girls and you can do whatever you please with me?!¡±

    ¡°Are you sad?¡± he asked.

    She turned her head away and didn¡¯t speak.

    His slightly rough hand gently pinched her skin, turning her face gently, yet not losing strength. She couldn¡¯t escape and stared at him fiercely. He had never seen her look so fierce.

    ¡°The big diamond ring can¡¯t even shut you up.¡± His voice was low and maic and brought a hint of a smile. ¡°Did you think I could spend as I wish just because I¡¯m rich? I don¡¯t have such a good heart to give just any random person a ring that costs hundreds of millions.¡±

    She seemed to understand only a little and looked at him in uncertainty.

    ¡°Little fool.¡± In a good mood, he smiled, stroking his fingertips gently across her petal-like lips. ¡°I¡¯ve only given a ring to you in my entire life. Are you satisfied?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± She really understood this time and her heart skipped a beat, then started jumping fast. She still wanted to ask something but didn¡¯t know where to start. Under his gentle gaze, she seemed to lose all her courage and a faint blush crept onto her white face.

    He took her hand.

    This time, she didn¡¯t resist and followed him back to the hotel obediently.

    A few dayster, the two returned to China. The Training Camp was still on summer vacation and Xia Ling didn¡¯t go back to school. She stayed in Pei Ziheng¡¯s vi instead. Her cot was still in his bedroom, separated by a screen, and his bed was still within her reach. She had lived on this bed for several years, but this time, she only felt awkward.

    She changed into her pajamas and walked around the screen. She just didn¡¯t want to go to bed.

    Pei Ziheng came out of the bathroom, dressed in a ck silk bathrobe, water dripping on his tight chest muscles. He rubbed his hair and nced at her. ¡°Why are you not sleeping?¡±

    ¡°I, I...¡± She blushed and turned away, not daring to look at him. ¡°I want to move out.¡±

    He frowned. ¡°Move out?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just changing a bedroom,¡± she whispered ufortably.

    He stopped wiping his hair and threw the towel on the table before walking up to her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong again?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve grown up.¡± She looked down and leaned her back against the screen, feeling his breath still close at hand. ¡°Living with you, it¡¯s, it¡¯s not appropriate.¡± She remembered how Nanny Zhou had been so against her moving into his bedroom. Sure enough, the older maid had better foresight.

    He didn¡¯t reply for a long time.

    She couldn¡¯t help but look up, only to find that he was also looking at her under the dark branches of the wallmp.

    She was so nervous she could not breathe.

    A long time passed before he spoke in a calm voice, his emotions undetectable. ¡°I¡¯ve already slept with you, what does it matter if you move out?¡± It was clearly a low and maic tone, but it seemed to have a heavyweight bomb embedded in it.

    She shuddered and remembered the scene in the car that day. The pain and fear she had felt rushed over her like waves again, and she almost ran away from him.

    He lifted her chin like a beast examining his prey. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be with me, then why are you jealous? Why do you care how many women I have, who I¡¯ve slept with and whether or not I¡¯ve given them gifts?¡±

    She looked at him in confusion and shivered.

    Pei Ziheng suddenly let go of her. He turned around and switched off the lights and went to bed. ¡°Suits you. I won¡¯t stop you if you step out of this door today, but don¡¯t care about which woman I¡¯m with next time. If you¡¯ve figured it out,e sleep on my bed. I promise I¡¯ll only love you in the future and won¡¯t touch other women.¡±

    She didn¡¯t expect this to be the result. In the dark, her heart beat like a drum.

    Should she leave or stay?

    Originally, she had made up her mind to move out, but now she was uncertain. He was too much, how could he give her such a difficult multiple-choice question? At the thought of sleeping on his bed, her blood rushed upstream and she knew she was blushing without even looking at a mirror. She felt shy, fearful, and there was an unclear feeling surging in her heart...

    She was so scared.

    But she was more afraid that he wouldn¡¯t want her anymore and would find other women.

    When she thought of him doing to other women what he did to her, she...

    She...

    She couldn¡¯t stand it.

    The delicate girl stood in the dark at a loss for a long time.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s low voice sounded slow, ¡°Have you thought it through?¡±

    She didn¡¯t dare to speak.

    Pei Ziheng smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you intend to stand here for the whole night? What about tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, you¡¯re not going to sleep forever?¡±

    She said with a cry, ¡°You¡¯re too much.¡±

    In the darkness, shuffling noises came in the direction of the luxurious big bed. She heard the sound of footsteps approaching her and it stopped in front of her. The man¡¯s body encircled her into his arms.

    She used her strength to struggle against him but could not break apart. She cried and hit him. ¡°You¡¯re too much!¡±

    Her body was restrained immediately. His strength was like iron and she was not allowed to move. Her petal-like soft lips were locked by his lips. It lingered and twirled deeper, making her want to struggle but was too weak to do so. She remained in his arms. One of his big hands held onto her waist and he whispered in her ear softly, ¡°I¡¯ll be very gentle with you, Xiao Ling. Hand yourself to me.¡±

    She cried, ¡°I hate you!¡±

    He kissed her again on her tear-stained cheeks. He fondled up her body with his warm, dry hands, causing her body to tremble. ¡°Xiao Ling,¡± he said hoarsely. ¡°You still have the chance to leave the room. If you don¡¯t go... I¡¯ll take it as you agreeing.¡±

    Her mind was in aplete nk. She wanted to go, but her legs were so soft she couldn¡¯t move.

    He waited for a few seconds and chuckled softly. Then, he carried her and put her on his big bed.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng!¡± She shivered and cried.

    His fingers stroked her cheeks gently, moving down and unbuttoning her pajamas. Her delicate skin slowly unfolded in the darkness and he caressed her a little as if caressing a rare treasure.

    She trembled badly, and the heartbreaking pain of her first time rose in her memories. She couldn¡¯t help but want to scream and stammered. ¡°Pei Ziheng... Brother Pei...¡±

    Even her teeth were ttering.

    ¡°Do you like me?¡± He kissed her and asked.

 Chapter 1095 - Red Dates and Birdâ€™s Nest

    <h4>Chapter 1095: Red Dates and Bird¡¯s Nest</h4>

    Her mind was a blur as she grabbed onto his pajamas as if it was the only floating nk for survival as she drowned. She grabbed it so hard that he could feel her tense fingers and pointed nails through the fabric.

    He kissed her again and pressed on with the question, ¡°Do you like me, hmm?¡±

    His low nasal voice was so suggestive in that quiet darkness, and she couldn¡¯t help but shiver.

    His fingers wandered about her body, igniting her at each spot. She felt like crying again, her body felt so strange, a pulsing numbness she could not adapt to. She subconsciously grabbed him even tighter and said in a trembling voice, ¡°I-I hate you.¡±

    He chuckled and nibbled her ear. ¡°Do you love me?¡±

    ¡°N-no way...¡± She was heaving.

    ¡°Little liar.¡± He reached into her private zone and quietly ordered. ¡°Rx.¡±

    She shuddered as memories of the agony she was put through at the back of the car the other day flooded her mind. She did not want to go through that pain all over again. In the face of potential danger, she instinctively curled up. ¡°Don¡¯t...¡±

    He coaxed her. ¡°It won¡¯t hurt this time, trust me.¡±

    She cried. ¡°Liar, I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    He kissed her affectionately, not wanting to leave a scar etched in her mind. With her body pinned into position under him, he reached for the drawer by the bedside and got a bottle of lubricant. After applying some onto his hand, he went for her private zone again. As the cooling lubricant touched her warm skin, her eyes widened in confusion and she trembled. ¡°W-What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°With this, it won¡¯t hurt anymore.¡± He nibbled at her ear lobe again. ¡°Open your legs a little wider.¡±

    She was blushing now and her body went soft, there was no way she could move her legs. Pei Ziheng effortlessly parted her legs and reached into her, applying the lubricant where it should be. She dared not move an inch the whole time. When he first put his finger into her, it had hurt a little, but it soon became a pulsing numbness before she felt herself go warm again.

    She couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft moan. The moment she caught herself doing it, she shut herself up in embarrassment.

    He said gently by her ear, ¡°Like I said, it¡¯ll feel good.¡± He had gotten the butler to prepare this bottle of lubricant, knowing that she might be in pain in the process. What he really wanted was for her to savor the moment as much as he did, with him. Thest time was an ident, and he did not wish for her to live with such a scarring memory for the rest of her life. He truly wanted her to love him and depend on him forever.

    Xia Ling was so embarrassed she went quiet. She was all curled up in his embrace, wishing she could curl up into a ball.

    She groaned softly. It was still immensely ufortable and soon, tears were streaming down her face. ¡°B-Big liar, you said it wouldn¡¯t hurt... Ah!¡± Before she finished her sentence, he started at it. His intense rocking and rhythm left her with no time or way to react to it. She instinctively held onto him tightly like he was a little boat in the storm.

    Gradually, it really stopped hurting.

    A strange magical feeling surged inside her, making her yearn for more.

    Her mind was a blur, it was as if she thought about too much, and yet nothing, all at once. She didn¡¯t know how long it was that he went at it, but eventually, both of them fell asleep,pletely drained.

    When she woke up the following day, he was no longer by her side.

    The bedroom was empty, making her heart feel equally empty. Some residual joy from their love-making was still suspended in the air, and the messy sheets were proof and reminder of their doingsst night. Xia Ling blushed again as the scenes shed before her eyes.

    Gosh... how could she get together with Brother Pei just like that?

    S-she even... made those shameless noises? A-and did not let him leave?

    She curled up in bed, not wanting to see anyone.

    Out of the blue, someone knocked at the door.

    She was startled like a little prey, and her heart beat wildly as she kept quiet in fear.

    The knocking went on for a while and then stopped. Then, Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice was heard through the door. ¡°Miss, are you up yet? Mister told me to brew some red dates with bird¡¯s nest for you. It helps with strengthening your body, you should have it warm.¡±

    ¡°I-I¡¯ming,¡± Xia Ling frantically responded.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll ce it on the dining table for you. You cane down once you¡¯re done washing up.¡± Nanny Zhou¡¯s voice faded into the distance.

    Xia Ling rubbed her face as if there was a redness that she could wipe away. She hopped off the bed as she usually would, but today, shended on the floor with an ¡°ouch¡±. Her legs were numb, and her back was aching; she could barely garner any strength. As she recalled the previous night again, the redness in her cheeks came surging back.

    She took a quick shower and changed into clean clothing before making her way down groggily.

    Nanny Zhou was waiting at the dining table as she expected. The dining room was quiet and the sunlight that spilled all over the sturdy wooden table highlighted its intricate details. On the table was a hand-crafted porcin bowl filled with red dates and bird¡¯s nest, and a few small dishes. The presentation was lovely and made everything look appetizing.

    Xia Ling tried to suppress her shame and guilt as she took a seat at her usual ce as calmly as possible. She asked Nanny Zhou, ¡°Where¡¯s... Brother Pei?¡±

    ¡°Mister went to the office early this morning,¡± Nanny Zhou said. ¡°He wanted me to let you know that he¡¯ll be back to apany you at night.¡±

    Xia Ling blushed again. She carefully eyed Nanny Zhou, and only felt a little more relieved when she saw that Nanny Zhou was smiling and acting as per normal. ¡°Who needs hispany,¡± she muttered softly as she scooped some bird¡¯s nest.

    Nanny Zhou was used to her asional wilfulness and did not mind her. She simply smiled and said, ¡°Did you and Mister bicker again? He¡¯s a big man with lots of matters to handle. Even if he did do something wrong, Miss, be more epting of him. Mister loves you more than anyone else.¡±

    Xia Ling felt even more conscious now and kept quiet, for fear that Nanny Zhou would see through her.

    Only then did Nanny Zhou find her behavior a little unusual. She asked concernedly, ¡°Are you unwell?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xia Ling was so startled she almost knocked the bowl over. ¡°I-I¡¯m fine,¡± she said to Nanny Zhou in a fumble. ¡°Nanny Zhou, I can just eat here on my own. You can just do your stuff, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Nanny Zhou eyed her skeptically. ¡°You¡¯re really fine?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°Go on.¡±

    With that, Nanny Zhou took her leave.

    Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief and felt as if she was going mad. She ate her breakfast distractedly, and suddenly, at the corner of her eye, she saw Nanny Zhou carrying a pile of sheets and duvet down the stairs.

 Chapter 1096 - She Doesnâ€™t Have a Maiden Family

    <h4>Chapter 1096: She Doesn¡¯t Have a Maiden Family</h4>

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind went buzzing and she felt light-headed all of a sudden.

    She remembered the stains left on the bed sheets; anyone who saw that would probably know what went on.

    She felt so ashamed of herself, she left the table without finishing her breakfast. While Nanny Zhou wasn¡¯t looking, she snuck her way up the stairs, hoping to avoid any contact with her. But s, she bumped into Nanny Zhou in a fluster.

    ¡°Miss?¡± Nanny Zhou was stunned for a while, and finally understood why she was acting so odd today. ¡°Watch your steps, lest you fall and hurt yourself.¡±

    She dashed up to the room without saying a word.

    Nanny Zhou watched her back view disappear into the distance, and then looked down at the pile of dirty sheets and sighed. When she went to tidy up their bedroom earlier, the strange scent had already bothered her slightly. After tossing the sheets and seeing the mess in it, she realized that what she¡¯d been worrying about had really happened. Miss was innocent and unaware, but was Mister insensible too?

    She got the sheets washed before bringing a cup of tea to Xia Ling.

    On the second floor parapet was that beautiful girl, sitting on a cane chair in her white dress, gazing into the distance. The sunlight that reflected off her highlighted her beautifulshes and lush hair. She looked so troubled, like a confused little genie.

    Nanny Zhou sighed softly before cing the cup of tea on the stool beside her. ¡°Miss, have some tea.¡±

    She was startled from her daze. Upon seeing Nanny Zhou, she couldn¡¯t help but feel a little awkward. ¡°Oh, alright,¡± she said frantically and hurriedly lifted the cup, identally scalding herself.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Be careful.¡± She then took a seat beside her and said in a gentle and calming tone, ¡°I¡¯ve washed the sheets. Miss, will you be sleeping with Mister in the future? I remember you like some little teddy and pastel-colored flower prints. Mister¡¯s bed sets are all too simple and dull, would you like me to get some new ones?¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect her to bring this up and immediately blushed.

    Nanny Zhou smiled. ¡°Are you shy now? Well, alldies have to go through this process. Since it¡¯s already happened, don¡¯t think too much about it.¡± After looking at Xia Ling¡¯s expression closely, she asked, ¡°Miss, it was... consensual, right?¡±

    ¡°I... I...¡± her face was getting even redder now. She hung her head low and drank her tea, not saying anything more.

    Nanny Zhou was experienced enough to know what was going on¡ªthankfully, the girl before her simply appeared shy, but did not show any signs of hurt or anger. It seemed like this was consensual. What she was worried about was that Pei Ziheng had forced her into it. If that were the case, the consequences could be dire and it¡¯d be a tough mess to clean up. Fortunately, this wasn¡¯t the worst-case scenario.

    She kindly said, ¡°Miss, you were adopted into this family since you were a child, and Mister¡¯s mother passed on very young, so there aren¡¯t really any maternal figures in your lives. But for some matters, it is important for an experienced elder to walk you through it. If you¡¯re alright with it, hear me out for a bit. I¡¯ll tell you a little more about women and such matters.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s cheeks flushed yet again as she said, almost inaudibly, ¡°Okay.¡± When she first came to live in the Pei family, her menstruation had not even started yet, and she was still a young and innocent child. When it came, it was this olderdy here who had taken care of her and taught her how to care for herself as well. The training camp did not have any sexuality education lessons, and Pei Ziheng had never discussed this with her either. Hence, although she had already ¡°done it¡± with him, she was stillrgely unaware of such knowledge.

    Hence Nanny Zhou asked, ¡°Did you take precautions?¡± This was her main concern¡ªMiss was still so young and did not have an official status or title, if she did get pregnant, things would be bad.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t expecting this question. She wanted so much to hide in a pit.

    Nanny Zhou was even more tender now. ¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? Back when I first got married, I didn¡¯t take the necessary precautions and ended up having to go through two abortions. You don¡¯t know how painful that was... as women, we should protect ourselves first. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be the ones to lose out eventually. Do you think we can depend on those men? Cheh.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling quietly say, ¡°I took morning after pills thest time, but t-this time, I didn¡¯t.¡±

    Nanny Zhou got a shock. So this wasn¡¯t the first time they did it? She got a little more serious. ¡°When was thest time? You can only have the morning after pills after the intercourse. If you do it again on the same day after eating it, it¡¯ll be ineffective. Miss, both of you did not take any precaution at allst night?¡±

    Xia Ling was a little frightened. ¡°I-I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did you use a condom?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head, not daring to look Nanny Zhou in the eye. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Then, did he shoot it inside?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling blurted intuitively. When she understood what Nanny Zhou meant, her face warmed up again. ¡°M-Maybe...¡±

    ¡°What do you mean maybe, these are things you need to start taking note of.¡± Nanny Zhou sighed and did some calctions¡ªthese few days should be Miss¡¯s ¡°safe period¡±, so it should be alright, but taking the pill would still be a safer option. But... she already had it thest time, it wasn¡¯t good to have too much of it.

    Mister was really too much. He was so insensible, not even caring about Miss¡¯ health.

    Nanny Zhou was unhappy about it. She felt almost like this was amon animosity that women had against men in general. If the man in the picture now wasn¡¯t her employer, Nanny Zhou would¡¯ve called him a jerk. And if it was her biological daughter who was being treated this way now, she wouldn¡¯t let the man off either. In any case, Miss was a pitiful girl, she didn¡¯t even have a maiden family to back her up.

    As a housemaid, there was only so much she could do.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get you some condoms when I¡¯m outter,¡± Nanny Zhou said. ¡°Even if Mister isn¡¯t willing to put it on, you have to make him do it. You¡¯re still young and it¡¯s too early to have a child. Taking those pills on a regr basis or going for abortions is very harmful to your body; you might even have problems bearing a child in the future.¡±

    She made things sound more serious to ensure Xia Ling took note of it.

    As she guessed, Xia Ling was slightly shaken. She nodded her head as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

    Only then did Nanny Zhou leave, knowing that she had taught Xia Ling some important things and that she had internalized it.

    Pei Ziheng came home earlier that day and even bought a bouquet of roses.

    He wouldn¡¯t have guessed that the elderly housemaid was waiting for him the moment he got off the Rolls Royce.

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Mister, can I speak with you?¡±

    Pei Ziheng had already guessed what she was about to say. The mess that he left in the bedroom this morning made things obvious enough, and Nanny Zhou was sure to pick it up. He waved the chauffeur away and walked towards a corner in the garden before saying, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about Miss.¡± Nanny Zhou gathered her thoughts for a while. ¡°You know how dependent she is on you. She¡¯s only 16. For all you know, she thinks that her first love would be for life. But you know that you can never marry her. How devastated would she be when she finds out?¡±

 Chapter 1097 - New Term

    <h4>Chapter 1097: New Term</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The trees in the garden swayed gently, bringing about a cooling breeze.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was heavy. ¡°That¡¯s a long timeter.¡±

    Nanny Zhou was anxious. ¡°How longter could it be? Five years or ten years? Sir, that¡¯s the best time for a girl. If you can¡¯t promise her, then don¡¯t hurt her.¡±

    ¡°Hurt?¡± Pei Ziheng sneered coldly. ¡°Nanny Zhou, what do you mean by hurt? If I walk in now and tell her to break up, wouldn¡¯t it be hurting her?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was silent. Things had already happened, and it was difficult to retrieve spilled milk.

    Pei Ziheng said again, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her following me? I can give her the best material security. I can love her for a lifetime and let her have children at the right time. Besides status, she can have everything.¡±

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s heart trembled and she whispered, ¡°A lifetime?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°A lifetime.¡±

    The two looked silently at each other in the garden in thete morning night. Nanny Zhou suddenly found that the man in front of her was scarier than she had thought. He did not only want to possess the girl, but he never intended to let her go either. Perhaps, from the first day he¡¯d brought the girl home, it¡¯d been doomed to end like this. All the doting and cherishing were built on the thin ice surface of a mirage. Once broken, it would fall into the abyss immediately and be consigned to eternal damnation.

    But the girl knew nothing about it.

    And so what if she knew? She would only be condemned to eternal damnation sooner.

    Nanny Zhou was rmed and said in a tight voice, ¡°You¡¯re being unfair to Miss.¡± She was still young and didn¡¯t have the chance to make her own decision and yet had to ept the trajectory of fate under his terrible possessiveness instead.

    Pei Ziheng chuckled lowly. ¡°Fair? Only the weak talk about fairness.¡± In his dictionary, there was never the word ¡°fair¡±. There was only obtain and fail to obtain, want and not want. ¡°Nanny Zhou, don¡¯t worry about these things that don¡¯t need worrying over.¡± He warned his servant. ¡°Take care of her, I want her to live forever without worries.¡±

    The man¡¯s figure disappeared step by step in the summer night wind.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s hands and feet were cold, and she couldn¡¯t imagine the sadness and despair in Miss when she learned of this day.

    Pei Ziheng slowly passed through the porch and went upstairs. In the small music room on the second floor, the girl was holding a piece of musical score and practicing. She had always worked hard on her singing. When she debuted, she would be a hit.

    Pei Ziheng stood at the door for a very long time.

    Xia Ling turned her head inadvertently and was taken aback. ¡°Brother Pei!¡± She immediately burst into a smile, putting down the musical score and running over to him. ¡°When did you arrive? You scared me by standing here.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was gentle. ¡°Am I disturbing you?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said, smiling brightly. ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing for the whole afternoon and was just preparing to end.¡±

    He looked at her carefully and saw a faint blush on her cheeks. ¡°Is your body better? Does it still hurt?¡±

    She blinked and reacted to what he was asking, the originally healthy blush on her cheeks turning into a deep red. ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t hurt,¡± she whispered, not daring to look up at him.

    He chuckled and stretched out his fingers tob her soft long hair. ¡°Nanny Zhou came to find you today?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± She was surprised. ¡°How did you know?¡± Her face grew even redder and she was about to run away.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. ¡°What did she say to you?¡±

    Her slender wrist was held tightly by one of his arms and she couldn¡¯t break free. Her whole body fell into his embrace and she didn¡¯t dare to move. ¡°No, nothing...¡± She studied his expression apprehensively before stuttering. ¡°She just asked, asked me about some contraception. And she even bought for me, bought me a condom.¡±

    Under the faint light, her expression was bashful and charming.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart throbbed and he wanted to take her back to bed immediately. He endured the urge and said, ¡°Condom?¡±

    She was too shy to speak and bowed her head to avoid meeting his gaze.

    ¡°Nanny Zhou is really considerate.¡± His voice was emotionless.

    Xia Ling plucked up the courage to ask, ¡°Will you use it? Nanny Zhou said it¡¯s not good for the body to eat medicine for a long time. I might not be able to bear children in the future.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to use it?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She was speechless again. It was really annoying, how was she going to answer this kind of question?

    He reached up and raised her face. ¡°I¡¯ve never used it before.¡± His low, ambiguous tone was like silk fluttering beside her ear. In the past, he had never used it even when doing it with prostitutes. There had always been professionals watching the women take the medicine. There had only been a slip-up once, where a woman who didn¡¯t know what was good for her had to be sent forcefully to the hospital for abortion and suffered a miserable end.

    This little girl actually wanted him to use it?

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes were watery and she felt so wronged she was about to cry. Nanny Zhou had said that was the best contraceptive measure. The other measures were either uninsured or carried great physical damage to her body. Did... did he not care?

    Pei Ziheng stared at the sobbing little girl and said gently, ¡°I¡¯ll break precedence for you.¡±

    She was surprised and instantly burst intoughter. ¡°I knew Brother Pei was the best.¡± Her smile was like the sun breaking through the dark clouds and lighting up the whole world.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her smile and lost his senses for a moment.

    The two went downstairs for dinner. At night, he was exceptionally gentle with her. He didn¡¯t want to hurt her, and most importantly, she was different from any other woman. Later, when he married a proper wife from a prestigious family and gave birth to future heirs, she would also give birth to children for him. He would protect her body and make sure no ident happened to her.

    The summer vacation passed by quickly and it was the day of a new term at the Training Camp.

    Xia Ling was reluctant. ¡°Brother Pei, I can only see you once in a while from now on.¡±

    Pei Ziheng dressed her andbed her long hair with the hornb. ¡°You refused when I told you to attend day school. If you miss me, you cane find me at Imperial Entertainment anytime. Anyway, they recognize you and nobody would dare stop you.¡± Over the years, Xia Ling had gone to Imperial Entertainment many times and everyone already knew that this stunningly beautiful girl was adopted by the Chairman and was not to be picked on.

    An event simr to the Li Bingyu matter a few years ago would never ur again.

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Then you have to remember to think about me.¡±

    Heughed. ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°And...¡± The beautiful girl turned her head. She stopped talking and pondered over it for a long time before finally saying, ¡°You promised me that you wouldn¡¯t be with other women. You have to keep your promise.¡±

    This girl was unexpectedly concerned about this whole-heartedly.

    Pei Ziheng teased her intentionally. ¡°You¡¯re jealous again?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± She blushed. Ever since she had been together with him, she had gotten more and more shy.

    ¡°No?¡± He said slowly, ¡°Why then...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so annoying!¡± She jumped off the stool and ran downstairs with a red face, not daring to look at him.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes shed with a gentle smile. He put down theb and slowly descended the stairs too. The Rolls-Royce was parked in front of the vi. He got into the back seat and saw that she was already sitting there.

    Seeing hime in, she snorted and turned her head to look at the scenery outside.

 Chapter 1098 - Curry Favor with Her

    <h4>Chapter 1098: Curry Favor with Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng reached out and held her delicate white hand in his palm.

    She struggled and failed to break free, so she could only let him hold her hand. The scenery outside the window flew past and soon, they arrived at the door of the Training Camp. Xia Ling said softly, ¡°Let go, I have to get off.¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not let go. ¡°I promise you.¡±

    She looked at him inexplicably.

    Pei Ziheng smiled a little. ¡°Little vinegar jar, I promise you I won¡¯t touch other women and will wait for you toe home.¡±

    She blushed and nced at the driver in the front seat. The well-trained driver sat on the side and pretended not to hear anything even though he had heard it all. Xia Ling sighed softly. ¡°Who wants you to wait?¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t?¡± Heughed.

    She bit her lip and stretched out her pinky finger. ¡°Pinky promise.¡±

    Her white and delicate little finger inteced with his warm and dry one. They shook their hands as if taking a vow of a lifetime. She jumped out of the car lightly, waved her hands and walked towards the school while humming.

    Along the way, many people secretly looked at her.

    Some trainees dragged theirpanions and whispered, ¡°Did you see, that Rolls-Royce is Chairman Pei¡¯s. He came to send Xia Ling off again.¡±

    ¡°Wow, I wonder if the Chairman is inside.¡±

    ¡°Definitely. She just waved at the window.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s so lucky. She was originally an orphan, butter hit the jackpot and got adopted by the Chairman. She doesn¡¯t have to worry about anything for the rest of her life and can even be famous.¡± The trainees eximed in admiration. Several people put up a life or death struggle and yet still didn¡¯t know when they could debut, but for Xia Ling, it was a star-studded journey instead. It was rumored that the entire Imperial Entertainment¡¯s best resources were being mobilized for her, waiting for her to learn and build her skills for the debut.

    Poor Li Bingman and all those in the same grade as her, they just had to be extruded everywhere.

    Xia Ling knew nothing about these discussions. After returning to the dormitory and arranging her things, she went to her own practice room to practice. The practice room was originally a ssroom for the elite ss, and Xia Ling had found it wonderful when she came herest time. Therge mirror stretched over three walls, and the floor-to-ceiling French windows were beautiful. The French window looked out into a quiet grove, during spring there were flowers blossoming, during summer there was shade, during autumn there was long grass growing, and during winter there was snow floating down. She had said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°It would be such a blessing to be able to practice here. My mood gets good just by walking in here.¡±

    Thus, this practice room was closed to the outside world and transformed into her own exclusive space.

    Xia Ling happily thanked Pei Ziheng, and the whole elite ss was both in envy and hatred. Though they were angry, they did not dare to speak up. They even forced out smiles and congratted Xia Ling on getting such a good practice ce¡ªwho told her to have such a good background?

    Not only this practice room, but several ssrooms and groves in the vicinity were also closed off. Pei Ziheng ordered people toy a gravel trail that led from there all the way to the artificialke. They put a table and a bench on the side of the trail and turned it into a small private garden.

    She progressed rapidly by practicing her singing and dancing here.

    She was in a very good mood. When she saw this beautiful scenery, she remembered how good Brother Pei was to her. She must also work hard and strive to debut earlier and be famous in order to repay Brother Pei¡¯s sincerity.

    Determined, she continued to work even harder.

    She practiced several pronunciations and several movements before noon arrived.

    Li Bingman wore a training suit that she didn¡¯t have time to change out of and rushed into the garden with a lunch box. Sheid the tablecloth on the stone table and set the tableware, then stood outside Xia Ling¡¯s practice room for a few minutes. She saw that her dance came to an end and said softly, ¡°Xiao Ling, it¡¯s time for lunch. Today, the canteen made your favorite smoked salmon, and the dessert is mango pudding.¡±

    Ever since the first graders were conquered by Xia Ling, the task of delivering meals had been on her head for the past years. At the start, Li Bingman was reluctant and felt that this errand was bitter, tiring and shameful. But gradually, this errand became popr, and countless students in the Training Camp rushed to help her.

    Initially, Li Bingman had thought she was very attractive.

    Until one day, her sister Li Bingyu who was aware of this situation scolded her in resentment for failing to meet her expectations. ¡°Are you stupid! Do you know they all rushed to send food to Xia Ling? The news has already spread that the Chairman has long pampered this girl. Last month, because she wanted to experience filming, the Chairman removed the important child protagonist of ¡®The Long Song of Troubled Times¡¯ and let her y the role! Who knew that the bigdy yed for two days and was bored of it, so she quit and was unwilling to continue doing it. Zhang Ziqiang, the big-named director, even had to pull onto her while crying about how he wouldn¡¯t be able to stick to the schedule if he couldn¡¯t find a new actor, and in the end, Xia Ling rmended Xiao Hua randomly! What kind of trash is Xiao Hua, she¡¯s just a little trainee who hasn¡¯t even debuted! But because of Xia Ling¡¯s casual rmendation, she directly became such an important protagonist! She even partnered with a famous male actor! You just wait, in a few years when this movie is released, Xiao Hua is guaranteed to be famous!¡±

    Li Bingman was not convinced. ¡°It¡¯s just a coincidence, what can it prove?¡±

    Li Bingyu was so angry she wanted to hit her. ¡°A coincidence? The Training Camp has so many powerful actresses, why didn¡¯t they ask them to y the role? I¡¯m telling you, how many people were eyeing the role covetously, how many first-ss actresses wanted to snatch the spotlight away! Do you think the director really couldn¡¯t find anyone? He just didn¡¯t want to offend Pei Ziheng! So he had to retain Xia Ling! Later, when Xia Ling rmended Xiao Hua, even though she¡¯s not famous, how could he dare to not use her?¡±

    Li Bingman muttered, ¡°That¡¯s also because of Xiao Hua¡¯s acting skills. She¡¯s the top ten in the elite ss.¡±

    ¡°What about you? You¡¯re the first ce in the elite ss, why isn¡¯t it your turn?!¡± Li Bingyu simply wanted to murder her. ¡°Bingman, oh, Bingman, I already told you to put away your self-esteem. In this circle, the most worthless thing is self-esteem! The most valuable thing in the world is connections and rtionships! It doesn¡¯t matter what method you use as long as you curry favor with Xia Ling. With just a few resources slipping through the cracks of her fingers casually, you will be able to soar!¡±

    Li Bingman was pelted down by her sister¡¯s scolding. Only then was she awakened to the seriousness of the problem. She took great pains to take back the right to ¡°deliver rice to Xia Ling¡±. Every day from then on, she was cautious and diligent inpleting the work she had been reluctant to do.

    But her heart was still indignant. Why did Xia Ling have such a good life?

    Her acting skill was obviously so bad, yet she was able to make the difference between life and death so casually!

    At the moment, as she stood in front of Xia Ling¡¯s exclusive practice room and looked at the girl who gracefully stretched her limbs in the empty room, Li Bingman¡¯s heart was full of hatred.

    Xia Ling heard her voice and turned around. ¡°It¡¯s lunchtime so soon?¡±

    Li Bingman disyed her acting skills and her face turned full of enthusiasm and intimacy. ¡°You practiced too hard, Xiao Ling, and you didn¡¯t even know it was time for lunch. Your health is more important. Come and eat quickly, I¡¯veid out the table for you already.¡±

 Chapter 1099 - Easily Offend

    <h4>Chapter 1099: Easily Offend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling draped a thin jacket over her shoulders and went to eat with her in the small garden.

    This was also the reason why many trainees fought over the opportunity to serve her food. If they could dine together with her, there would be countless opportunities to enhance their rtionship. What if they were to identally be best friends or even lovers? They would have struck the lottery.

    Xia Ling did not know their intentions and thought everyone liked her.

    She also liked to dine together with them. It was lonely to eat alone, especially since she had a lively personality.

    Having not seen her for the whole summer vacation, Li Bingman had prepared lots of topics she was interested in. Now, she said to her, ¡°Do you remember the pigeons on the side of the Qian Gu Lake Farm? I went there once during the holiday and they have just imported several new breeds. They were simply adorable, when would you like me to bring you to take a look?¡±

    Xia Ling was somewhat absent-minded. ¡°We¡¯ll discuss it next time.¡±

    Her mind was filled with thoughts of dancing. During herst spin, her ankle had been slightly unstable. Was it a problem with her power or with her fulcrum?

    She was pondering over it when she heard Li Bingman say, ¡°My sister¡¯s new song was just released. This time, she haspletely surpassed Yun Yan. Have you heard it yet? Everyone said it was good. My sister said she could send you the hardcover version...¡±

    ¡°Stop talking!¡± Xia Ling interrupted her chatter in annoyance.

    Li Bingman suddenly snorted. Not knowing where she had provoked her, she didn¡¯t dare make sudden movements. Li Bingman looked at her carefully and then looked down to scoop up her rice; the movements of her chopsticks were soft and slow for fear that Xia Ling could get angry again.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t pay any attention to her at all. She was still pondering over the dance and she used a few strands of the vegetables on her chopsticks to stimte the distance and the drop point. Li Bingman didn¡¯t know what she was doing at first and wanted to clip the vegetable, but was hit fiercely with a chopstick by Xia Ling.

    Li Bingman simply stopped eating so as not to provoke her again. She watched as she gestured about on the table and gradually realized she was pondering over the movements. ¡°You¡¯re practicing the dance?¡± Li Bingman weighed up her words by observing Xia Ling¡¯s expression and asked, ¡°What problems have you encountered? Do you want to say them out so I can help you?¡±

    ¡°During the spin, I jumped over like this, but mynding...¡± Xia Ling frowned and pulled a few leaves from the vegetable. ¡°No, it¡¯s not right.¡±

    Li Bingman found it unfathomable. ¡°You jumped very well just now, even better than the version the teacher taught that day.¡± On one hand, Xia Ling had indeed jumped well, and on the other hand, Li Bingman was ttering.

    Unexpectedly, this ttering failed.

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°You call this jumping well? You learned to dance for nothing!¡± She felt a little regretful. Why did she tell her problem to Li Bingman? Her teachers and ssmates couldn¡¯t help her anymore. For example, this problem. She would have no choice but to rely on herself to ponder over it because it seemed perfect to outsiders.

    ¡°Forget it.¡± She was more annoyed and put down the chopsticks. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat anymore, I¡¯ll go practice.¡± She had just formed an outline in her mind but was interrupted by Li Bingman, so she was afraid she wouldn¡¯t remember anything after eating.

    Li Bingman was furious inside, but she smiled on the surface and said, ¡°Then quickly go. You dance the best among us, and all of us are counting on you.¡±

    Xia Ling paused after hearing this and frowned. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you thinking of progressing? What do you mean you¡¯re counting on me? Forget about whether or not you can surpass me, but if you don¡¯t even have the heart to want to surpass me, then what are you still here for? Is this your attitude towards basic skills? You, and your sister...¡±

    She continued talking and somehow dragged Li Bingman¡¯s sister in as well. ¡°So what if Li Bingyu asionally has a song that surpasses Yun Yan? I¡¯ve listened to that song, it¡¯s been so autotuned that I can¡¯t even find the original tone anymore. Rather than saying that Li Bingyu has sold it big, it¡¯s better to say that the audioposer has sold it big. Ha.¡± She sneered. ¡°Li Bingman, how could the two of you be so shallow? You¡¯re simply throwing Imperial Entertainment¡¯s face by having such a star performer.¡±

    Her recent thoughts had to be more outstanding so as to live up to Brother Pei¡¯s cultivation.

    Her requirements of the people around her also increased, and she wanted Imperial Entertainment to get better and better and its artistes to be more and more powerful. However, watching Li Bingyu, the current head of thepany, and Li Bingman, the future potential neer, she couldn¡¯t stand it. How could they possibly help Brother Pei develop Imperial Entertainment with these kinds of standards?

    She was intentionally trying to spur on Li Bingman with her words and didn¡¯t think they were too much at all.

    Li Bingman bowed her head and listened to her silently. After she was done talking, she smiled forcefully. ¡°Yes, Xiao Ling, you¡¯re right. My sister and I should improve on ourselves.¡±

    Xia Ling snorted and turned to head back into the practice room, leaving Li Bingman alone with no mood to continue eating. She slowly tidied up the table, her eyes filled with a sinister hatred.

    Xia Ling practiced for an hour and finally solved the problem of the spin. She wiped her sweat and stopped, and felt hungry now. She pushed the door open and was intending to go outside to find food when she met someone standing in the small garden, wearing a linen casual shirt and leaning against an old tree. He held a cup of tea in one hand and smiled at her.

    She recognized the man. ¡°Brother Feng Kun?¡±

    The man under the tree was indeed Feng Kun. He lifted his chin and gestured to somece nearby. ¡°Are you hungry? I brought you a pastry, a rose almond filling. Don¡¯t tell the Chairman, he doesn¡¯t allow us to bring you sweets.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°I know.¡±

    She ran over excitedly and unpacked the box of beautifully wrapped pastries and took a bite. The soft, smooth taste spread out in her mouth and was full of fragrance. She smiled in enjoyment and took a few more bites before turning to talk to Feng Kun. ¡°Brother Feng Kun, what brings you here?¡±

    Feng Kun and Chu Chen were different and usually did not follow Pei Ziheng. They each had their own recording studio to take care of and had very little time to see her. If it were not for Pei Ziheng considering her debut song to be made by Feng Kun, they might not be able to see each other more than two or three times a year.

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°I made a few new scores for you. Why don¡¯t you look at it and choose your favorite? Actually, I came a long time ago and saw you and the little girl eating, so I didn¡¯t interrupt you. Was that Li Bingyu¡¯s sister?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve met in the selection test,¡± Xia Ling answer absent-mindedly, for the pastry was too delicious. She reached out her hand while eating. ¡°Give me the scores.¡±

    ¡°Little workaholic.¡± Feng Kun gave her the scores. ¡°You can look through it slowly, it¡¯s no hurry.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± But she turned over the score on the spot and had no intention of looking at it slowly.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°It¡¯s easy for you to offend people like this.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She looked up nkly.

    Feng Kun pointed to the score in her hand. ¡°You don¡¯t seem to put the words of others in your heart. Li Bingman was the same just now; she almost cried because of you. Aren¡¯t you afraid she¡¯ll bear grudges?¡± Although the two of them were not familiar, he appreciated this girl who was talented and willing to work hard, so he couldn¡¯t help but give her a few words of advice.

 Chapter 1100 - Miracle

    <h4>Chapter 1100: Miracle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    But Xia Ling pouted her lips and quietly said, ¡°I¡¯m speaking the truth.¡±

    This girl was too beautiful. Even if she had some willful behavior, she still appeared pleasant.

    Feng Kun smiled. He suddenly felt that it could well be her natural candidness and minor ws that gave her the ability to be coquettish. And maybe this was what she needed to stand out in the music industry.

    But he still said, ¡°This isn¡¯t an easy industry to thrive in, we shouldn¡¯t be too hard on others.¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t too happy about it. ¡°Well, that depends on the situation. Li Bingyu is getting worse by the year. Two years ago, her song was still bearable to listen to, but she¡¯s getting increasingly reliant on autotune and audio editing; her music is going to be rubbish sooner orter. I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s there to be proud of when she¡¯s relying on these edits to sell her single well. Anymoner on the streets could rece her if we auto-tuned and edited their voices too. Doesn¡¯t she feel threatened at all? She¡¯s even influencing Li Bingman with this mindset of hers!¡±

    Feng Kun smiled again. ¡°I only made one statement, and that managed to get you saying so much.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him slightly. ¡°Brother Pei says you¡¯re the best music producer in Imperial Entertainment. Are you like them? Do you approve of those means they use?¡±

    Feng Kun said, ¡°I don¡¯t, but they have their difficulties.¡±

    After so many years in the entertainment circle, he¡¯d seen how things worked around here. However famous a celebrity might be, there was always a possibility of losing that reputation and glory in a matter of days if a mistake was made. It took more than just their singing and performance to maintain their position in this industry. What mattered more were their connections, luck, family background and appearances. As such, celebrities took just as much effort to hone their skills or gain ground in these areas, as they did in improving their singing and performance.

    Take Li Bingyu for example. She came from an ordinary home without wealth and power to back her up. Hence, her best bet was to groom and manage herself well. She had towork with business partners, reporters, otherpetitors and all the grimy men around her with their own agenda... it was tiring enough to get all these done day after day and year after year, how could she possibly find the time to hone her singing? It was only normal for her voice quality to deteriorate as she got older.

    In fact, it was already admirable that Li Bingyu could maintain her Diva title for this long.

    But Xia Ling didn¡¯t know all these. This girl¡¯s thoughts were way simpler. ¡°No matter the difficulties they have, it is sphemous to treat music this way. It¡¯s an irresponsible act, they¡¯re cheating the fans.¡±

    Seeing her serious expression made Feng Kun feel like teasing her. ¡°The fans can¡¯t tell the difference, anyway. Why else do you think Li Bingyu¡¯s new single sold so well? The fans don¡¯t even realize the difference.¡±

    Xia Ling was tongue-tied now. On second thought, he made sense, and she had no words to rebut.

    ¡°Are you that sort of music producer?¡± She asked after a long pause.

    ¡°What?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m asking you, are you the irresponsible sort of music producer?¡± The girl¡¯s features were stiff and tensed up as she questioned him. ¡°If you are, then don¡¯t produce my songs. I don¡¯t like this attitude.¡±

    Feng Kun eyed her, amused. ¡°Little girl, do you know how many people are dying for me to write a song for them?¡± She was the only one who could reject him so easily, because of the way Pei Ziheng had brought her up.

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°What has that got to do with me?¡±

    Feng Kun narrowed his eyes and said, ¡°Let me ask you a question.¡±

    She furrowed her brows. ¡°What?¡±

    Feng Kun looked at her for a split second and decided. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    Xia Ling knitted her brows together even more stiffly now. Why was this person so strange? ¡°You haven¡¯t answered my question,¡± she said unhappily. ¡°Are you the sort of producer that doesn¡¯t treat music with respect?¡±

    Feng Kun grinned. ¡°Can¡¯t you tell?¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°Little girl, listen to my songs carefully, the answer wille to you.¡± With that, Feng Kun pointed at the pile of music sheets in her hands. ¡°Remember to give me a reply¡ªdo you want to work with me, or someone else instead?¡±

    He slipped his hand into his pocket and walked off in the early spring warmth.

    Leaving Xia Ling behind as she watched him, utterly speechless.

    <i>What a person! Hmph. </i>

    Only yearster when Xia Ling had be a Diva did Feng Kun say this, when they discussed that particr unfinished conversation they had had: ¡°Back then, Pei Ziheng had picked a music producer for you. But I was also picking the singers I wanted to work with¡ªif your performance wasn¡¯t satisfactory, I¡¯d have rejected his proposal, however powerful he might have been.¡±

    ¡°So... I was a satisfactory singer?¡± The beautiful Diva asked him with her chin cupped in her hands.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Yes, you were. That day, I¡¯d wanted to ask you: ¡®If you are left with nothing someday, will you still be as passionate and true to music?¡¯. Honestly, Li Bingyu and the rest were the way they were because they had too little, and yet wanted too much. You¡¯re way luckier than them because you had Pei Ziheng. He¡¯d shielded you from all sorts of troubles, allowing you to pursue your love for music without any fret or worry. I wasn¡¯t sure whether you had the courage to persevere in your beliefs if he left you someday.¡±

    The beautiful Diva blinked her eyes. ¡°So, why didn¡¯t you ask?¡±

    Feng Kun said in a calm, peaceful voice, ¡°There was no need.¡±

    ¡°There was no need?¡± Xia Ling was stunned for a while before breaking into a serene smile. ¡°That¡¯s right, there was no need. He¡¯s so nice to me, how could he possibly leave me? We¡¯ll always, always be together.¡±

    The sun rays bounced off her fair skin and, at that moment, she looked like a fantasy.

    But Feng Kun said, ¡°Xiao Ling, when I say there was no need, I meant that you¡¯d still have the courage and strength to live your life well even if you were to leave him someday. You¡¯ll always be the best.¡±

    Xia Ling casually said, ¡°Well, I already said that I won¡¯t leave him. We¡¯ll be together for the rest of time.¡±

    Feng Kun sighed softly inside. He didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that Old Master Wang had already approached Pei Ziheng¡¯s granduncle with Wang Jingwan. He had heard that the two families were happy with each other and they¡¯d already exchanged Wang Jingwan¡¯s and Pei Ziheng¡¯s Eight Characters for fortune-telling. If all went well, they¡¯d be deciding on a wedding date soon.

    She had been kept in the dark all this while.

    She¡¯d trusted him without any reservation since she was barely a teenager.

    16-year-old Xia Ling stood in the coolness of early fall as she looked through Feng Kun¡¯spositions. Her initially furrowed brows gradually lost their tension as she processed his work¡ªthey were simply wonderful; the melody was lively and each string of notes flowed seamlessly to the next. It tugged at her heartstrings wondrously.

    Feng Kun was right. All she needed to do was to listen to his songs with her heart, and the answers would be right there.

    And that was how she decided that he would be her producer for her debut.

    After a year or so of hard work, she made her debut and stunned everyone.

    Her debut song ¡°Miracle¡± was a hit and everyone was discussing this new single. What made things even better was her stunning beauty.

    Countless media boosted her poprity¡ª

    Imperial Entertainment had groomed a rising star, and the name Xia Ling was now shining high and bright!

 Chapter 1101 - Celebration Party

    <h4>Chapter 1101: Celebration Party</h4>

    Pei Ziheng held a celebration party for her.

    He booked her favoritekeside club and invited the biggest celebrities in Imperial Entertainment. Also invited were the music producers, directors,pany executives and the teachers and students from the training camps. So many stars were gathered at the clubhouse, but she was the star of the day.

    The veil on her custom-made dress engulfed her in ayer of rose-tinted beauty. Her smile was more moving than a rose.

    ¡°There will be catastrophic changes among the female celebrities.¡± Ji Liangping, the famous movie star under Chu Chen, said to his manager as he looked at Xia Ling from afar.

    Chu Chen chuckled. ¡°You are a male celebrity, what is there to be afraid of?¡±

    Chu Chen took a ss of wine from the waiter and enjoyed the show that was unfolding. The artistes were all smiling and congratting Xia Ling, but their expressions changed once they turned away from her. Some of them were clearly showing their displeasure with her.

    Thepany had limited resources. Now that Xia Ling had the lioness¡¯ share, you couldn¡¯t me the other celebrities for their hostility.

    She was pretty and sang well. Moreover, she was doted on by the boss...

    Apart from her, who else could get thepany¡¯s resources? Even Li Bingyu and Yun Yan, the two hottest stars in Imperial Entertainment, could only use whatever was left behind!

    Who could swallow their pride and ept this?

    But so what if they couldn¡¯t? It was a cruel world. Not everyone who put in the effort was guaranteed equal returns. Some girls were destined to have a good life from birth. They did not have to work their way up the socialdder, nor did they need to backstab others. Just a smile and everything thatmoners dreamed of would be within their reach.

    ¡°Even I am jealous of her,¡± Ji Liangping said to Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen warned him. ¡°Don¡¯t you offend her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that stupid.¡± Ji Liangping chuckled. ¡°By the way, does she have a boyfriend?¡±

    Chu Chen looked at him. ¡°And you say you¡¯re not stupid? Let me tell you, duringst year¡¯s training camp, a guy tried to woo her. He pushed her against the wall and forced a kiss on her, like in those Korean dramas. In return, his arms were broken.¡±

    ¡°Broken?¡±

    ¡°Completely broken¡ªhis arm that pressed her against the wall. Even though they treated his arm at the hospital, he could never y the piano as well as before.¡±

    Ji Liangping was shocked. ¡°Who... who did it?¡±

    ¡°You are not stupid enough to think that she broke his arm by herself, right?¡±

    Ji Liangping was speechless. Then, his expressions turned ugly. After a long while, he said, ¡°Big Boss is really heartless.¡±

    Chu Chen had more insider information than he did. He could not bear to see his hard work in developing Ji Liangping to the star he was todaye to naught. He said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s good to have ambitions, and I have always admired your ambition. I won¡¯t bat an eye if you sleep with the likes of Pei Jingyu. However, Xia Ling is taboo. You understand?¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Ji Liangping said.

    ¡°Also, do not let Xia Ling know about the guy¡¯s broken arm,¡± Chu Chen said.

    Ji Liangping answered, ¡°Yes.¡±

    It seemed like she was shrouded in more mysteries than they imagined¡ªshe was more important to the boss than they thought. Ji Liangping was relieved his manager was Chu Chen¡ªhaving a good manager was very important, for there was information and rumors that were exclusive only to someone of Chu Chen¡¯s caliber. Meanwhile, he was wise enough not to cross the line. There were traps everywhere in this industry.

    Xia Ling was having a lot of fun at the dinner. There were many stars, producers, and directors who wanted to talk to her, all of whom had interesting conversations and did not hold back their praises for her. She was ted and before she knew it, she had drunk a good amount of alcohol.

    Chu Chen gave Ji Liangping a pat on the shoulder and left to take care of Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling, you should stop drinking.¡±

    Xia Ling did not have good alcohol tolerance. After a few cocktails, she was in a daze and smiled sheepishly at Chu Chen. ¡°C-Chu Chen, where¡¯s Brother Pei? I want to tell him this joke that I¡¯ve just heard.¡±

    Chu Chen got a cup of tea from the waiter and got her to drink it. ¡°Boss has an urgent call to attend to, he will be back soon. How about I bring you over to Yun Yan and the rest? You can have a chat with them and eat some snacks as well.¡± This brat was hard to take care of. Sometimes, Chu Chen felt that he had already spent his entire life¡¯s worth of patience on her. Every time he remembered that Pei Ziheng was nning to make him her designated agent, he got worried.

    As expected, she started to throw tantrums. ¡°You are lying! He has been on the call for so long. He hasn¡¯t been around since the dance started, what is he doing? There¡¯s so much food, but he¡¯s not eating with me!¡±

    Chu Chen tried to calm her down. ¡°He is really busy.¡±

    Holding on and dragging her, Chu Chen finally brought her to the sofa beside the window. Her intoxicated face was cute and her hair was slightly messy. Her ribbon on her shoulder slid off and showed her glistening white shoulders.

    Chu Chen frantically looked for something to cover her. Suddenly, someone handed him a shawl. It was Yun Yan, one of the hottest celebrities in Imperial Entertainment now. ¡°Use this shawl to keep her warm.¡±

    Chu Chen took it from her and thanked her.

    Yun Yan took the opportunity and sat beside them. ¡°Let me take care of her, Brother Chu. You can go and do what you have to.¡± Many people were looking for an opportunity to get closer to Xia Ling. They could see that she was naive and it was easier to get her liking than that of Pei Ziheng. It was a shortcut to fame.

    Chu Chen could see her true intentions.

    He reminded her. ¡°She is very delicate, and she can¡¯t get too cold or too warm. Don¡¯t let her sleep on the couch for too long. When she wakes up, she will definitely ask for more wine or snacks, but don¡¯t let her have too much of them. Boss banned her from having too much.¡±

    Yun Yan smiled. ¡°I got it.¡±

    Wasn¡¯t it just taking care of a girl? What could be so hard about that? Yun Yan had a niece at home who was just as lively as Xia Ling. Yun Yan assumed she could handle her easily. Hence, she did not take Chu Chen¡¯s words to heart. Who knew that this time, she had misjudged her situation.

    Xia Ling slept for a while and woke up suddenly. She stared at Yun Yan for a long time and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Yun Yan was shocked. ¡°Xiao Ling, I am Sister Yun Yan. You were talking to me just now.¡±

    Xia Ling tried to identify her. After a while, she finally recognized who it was and acknowledged her. But in a matter of moments, she was unhappy again. ¡°Where¡¯s Brother Pei? It has been a whole night, why is he not back yet? He¡¯s actually ditching me for his phone!¡±

 Chapter 1102 - I Like Skyart Entertainment

    <h4>Chapter 1102: I Like Skyart Entertainment</h4>

    Yun Yan smiled and reasoned with her. ¡°You only slept for five minutes, why don¡¯t you wait a while more? Didn¡¯t you just ask me how I filmed the scene in where I jumped off the cliff? I¡¯ll tell you in detail.¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°I wan Brother Pei! I want to eat ice cream.¡±

    Yun Yan now felt that Chu Chen really had good foresight, this beautiful girl was a foodie! Before that, she had secretlyughed at Li Bingyu¡¯s family for being jealous of her, but now even she was a little jealous¡ªshe was still slim even though she loved to eat dessert. This kind of physique would cause public outrage when ced in the entertainment industry where everyone was working hard to diet.

    However, her request to eat ice cream was much easier simpler than to see Pei Ziheng.

    Yun Yan said, ¡°Sit here and I¡¯ll get ice cream for you, okay? But you can¡¯t eat too much, how about you eat just a small portion of half a spoon?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°No.¡±

    Yun Yan wanted to bite off her own tongue and just give it to her, why was she asking her for permission? She sighed and bargained with her. ¡°Half a spoon? That¡¯s the maximum you can eat, or Brother Chu will scold me.¡±

    Xia Ling was unhappy. ¡°Why can¡¯t you scold him back, humph.¡±

    Yun Yan wanted to cry. How could she scold Chu Chen? Who in Imperial Entertainment besides Boss Pei would dare to go against Chu Chen? Even Pei Ziheng never scolded this trusted lieutenant of his! She finally understood why Manager Chu had a subtle relieved expression when she had said she would take care of this little devil.

    This little devil... was a headache!

    However, she was already taking care of her, so it was toote for Yun Yan to regret now. The little princess on the sofa squinted and rubbed her eyes before standing up unstably. ¡°I¡¯ll go and eat it myself if you don¡¯t let me.¡±

    Yun Yan was so scared she quickly pulled her back. ¡°I¡¯ll go, I¡¯ll go! Sit here obediently and don¡¯t run around!¡±

    This child was obviously still drunk. If she were to meet with an ident while running around, Chu Chen and Pei Ziheng would definitely peel her skin off! Forget it... the greater the risk, the greater the return. Since she had said she would take care of Xia Ling, she would have to do it well.

    Yun Yan finally calmed her down and went to buy ice cream in defeat.

    With a delicate tassel shawl over her shoulders, Xia Ling waited impatiently on the sofa. Under the tailored unique rose-color tiny dress, her two white calves swayed about restlessly. After waiting for less than ten seconds, she waved her hand to a waiter passing by. ¡°I want that cocktail.¡±

    The waiter leaned over and handed her a colorful cocktail that was on her tray.

    Xia Ling drank the wine and forgot about Yun Yan who had gone to fetch the ice cream. She could only think about Pei Ziheng and why he wasn¡¯t back yet. She staggered off the sofa and followed along the deep winding corridor of the clubhouse in search of him.

    She searched floor by floor.

    Finally, she was lucky and managed to find Pei Ziheng in a small lounge on the second floor.

    Pei Ziheng was still on the phone. ¡°Do it immediately, I want to see results tomorrow morning. Skyart Entertainment? It¡¯s just a smallpany that doesn¡¯t know it¡¯s worth, destroy it directly.¡± His voice was cold and murderous.

    Xia Ling looked at his back obsessively, as if she couldn¡¯t feel the heavy murderous atmosphere he was giving off. She smiled foolishly and walked up to him like a bear, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. ¡°Liar.¡± She knocked her little head against his tailored suit. ¡°You¡¯re not ying with me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was about to fly into a rage from being hugged by someone, but after finding out it was her, his anger suddenly dissipated. He hung up the phone and turned around to hold her into his embrace. ¡°Why are you here? You¡¯re so drunk you can¡¯t even stand properly.¡± His gentle voice was like a spring breeze, and he was like a different man from when he had answered the phone with a chilly voice.

    She looked up at him with shining eyes. ¡°y with me.¡±

    As she moved, the delicate fringed shawl slipped from her body and revealed a row of her exquisite corbone and white rounded shoulders. Her body had a good fragrance, like a rose in thete summer.

    Pei Ziheng kissed her. ¡°Nobody is ying with you?¡±

    ¡°There is...¡± She seemed to think long and hard about it before saying vaguely, ¡°Sister Yun Yan, and lots of other brothers and sisters, they¡¯re all fighting to y with me... but, they¡¯re not you, you¡¯re a big liar, a big liar...¡± she said and fell on him.

    He held her with a gentle expression. ¡°What do you want to y?¡±

    She pulled his clothes with one hand. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know... Who did you call just now? Why, why was it so long?¡±

    ¡°It was just business,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling looked at him doubtfully. ¡°Liar, liar... I don¡¯t want to believe your words anymore. You said you would be away for a while, boohoo...¡± She thought for a long time again before saying, ¡°Skyart? Skyart Entertainment... I¡¯ve heard it before! Hehehe... it¡¯s a bigpany, I, I like it...¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned and stabilized her. ¡°You¡¯ve heard of Skyart? That¡¯s impossible, it¡¯s just a smallpany that was just established. It doesn¡¯t have any productions and will go bankrupt soon.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and smiled foolishly. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me again. Skyart Entertainment is a really bigpany... I really like it.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her seriously and thought intuitively that something was wrong, but what was it? How could he put the girl¡¯s drunk words to heart, but her words were like a tiny thorn stuck in his heart.

    Skyart Entertainment.

    He was very disgusted with thispany. Very disgusted.

    Ever since he had heard the name of thispany, he had told himself he must eliminate it immediately.

    Why? This was just a smallpany that was not well-known, and there were numerous newly established smallpanies in the entertainment industry every year, so why did he mind thispany so much? It wasn¡¯t right... Something was wrong...

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the cold night, heavy snow fell.

    The ny-two-year-old man turned over in his sleep, the wrinkles in his eyebrows deeply carved.

    Skyart shouldn¡¯t appear, he thought slyly. At least it shouldn¡¯t appear so early. Didn¡¯t Xiao Ling get in touch with thatpany after reincarnating? Why did she say she liked Skyart when she was just a teenager?

    Yes...

    This is a dream...

    Xiao Ling remembered Li Lei in her dream even when she was so small?

    It¡¯s not allowed...

    I do not allow it!

    The snow floated down heavily and the old man sunk into a deeper dream.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the small lounge.

    Pei Ziheng bowed his head and gave Xia Ling a long kiss, biting her lips as a form of punishment.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± She covered her lips andined to him in tears. ¡°You¡¯re bullying me!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear you speak about Skyart Entertainment in front of me.¡± He warned her. ¡°Forget these two words, do you hear me.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± She was still tearful. ¡°You bit me! I won¡¯t!¡±

    He kissed her again, took her to the chaise couch and closed the door of the lounge. He tore her little dress easily within two or three movements, pressed against her uneasy body and took off his clothes.

 Chapter 1103 - Their Home

    <h4>Chapter 1103: Their Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The buttons on his polished and fine suit were somewhat tight, and he was slow in unbuttoning with one hand.

    Xia Ling lied on the rosy red chaise couch and looked up at him while smiling. ¡°I, I¡¯ll help you.¡± She reached out her small hands to help him unbutton his suit. She tried a few times and couldn¡¯t unbutton it, so she started tugging at it in an uncivilized manner.

    Pei Ziheng was not in a hurry, so he held onto one of her hands and put it to his lips before kissing it.

    ¡°Do you like me?¡± His voice was low and husky.

    ¡°I like you.¡± She was still a little drunk andughed foolishly.

    ¡°Do you want me?¡± he asked again.

    This time she didn¡¯t talk and looked at him for a long while instead. ¡°Liar.¡± She reached out and tugged on his clothes until the suit button was pulled open, but she was still somewhat dissatisfied and used her hands and feet to push him. ¡°You¡¯re so heavy, it¡¯s annoying.¡±

    He pressed his entire body on her and looked at her intensely.

    She pressed her hand against his chest and pushed for a while but failed to push him away, so she got angry instead. ¡°You¡¯re dead heavy, get up.¡±

    He said nothing, only turned his body to the side and watched as she tossed and turned. Xia Ling was drunk and confused. This time, she pushed him aside and turned over to press him under her body. She smirked. ¡°I¡¯m not heavy, I¡¯m going easy on you.¡±

    He looked up at the girl on top of him and smiled slowly. ¡°Help me undress.¡±

    At the sound of his flirtatious nasal sound, the girl turned her head and really set about unfastening his shirt. She unfastened it twice and only loosened half of it, then she went to deal with his tie in a mess. She pulled off his iron-gray diagonal striped tie and lifted her small chin in an announcement. ¡°I want to tie you.¡±

    He chuckled and let her tie him up.

    She really grabbed his two wrists and wrapped his tie around them like the way he had dealt with her before. She was so drunk she had no choice but to put in her utmost effort, but still only wrapped one of his hands after a long time. He looked on with interest before asking nicely, ¡°Do you want me to help you?¡± The girl¡¯s beautiful body was pressed against him, and Pei Ziheng knew he couldn¡¯t control himself anymore. But unfortunately, the girl was still struggling with the tie slowly with her brows wrinkled.

    Xia Ling struggled for a long time and kept thinking something was wrong, so she untied him and redid the knot. This time, she still tied only one hand. Pei Ziheng simply retracted one hand and leaned on it while smiling at her. She didn¡¯t notice at all and held onto one of his remaining hand and continued to tie a butterfly knot around it. After half a day, she finally did a good job and announced with satisfaction. ¡°You are my person! My... gift.¡±

    ¡°Gift?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Big liar!¡± She reached out and hit him, but it wasn¡¯t painful. ¡°Brother Chu Chen and Sister Yun Yan all sent me lots of gifts to celebrate my debut, but what about you! You didn¡¯t give me anything! Boohoo.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it enough to hold a celebration party for you?¡± he asked.

    ¡°A celebration feast isn¡¯t a gift!¡± She was very wronged and hit him again. ¡°Big bad guy!¡±

    He chuckled and looked at her, then asked gently, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him nkly for a long time before suddenly reaching out her small hand to grab his shirt and tear it in two. With a ripping sound, the shirt buttons scattered onto the floor; she had actually torn his shirt openpletely. ¡°I want you!¡± She announced proudly and bowed down to kiss his lips. ¡°You are my gift.¡±

    His expression was dark and intense. Suddenly, he turned her over and pressed her down. They spent a night of lingering emotions.

    Pain...

    She hurt all over...

    Xia Ling waspletely nk when she woke, and she had a headache from her hangover. Her body ached painfully, and there was a soreness that made her toss about on the narrow couch in the lounge...

    The memories ofst night came into her mind.

    She turned around and looked at the man sitting near the window, wearing a shirt and a pair of trousers, looking at her silently. Her naked body was draped in his suit jacket.

    ¡°Brother Pei...¡± she called weakly. ¡°It¡¯s so ufortable.¡±

    ¡°I told you not to drink so much yesterday.¡± He sat in the same ce and said with warmth, ¡°You drank so much and still squandered around, serves you right.¡±

    Her face turned red at the thought ofst night¡¯s scene. ¡°Annoying.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re getting more and more daring.¡± Heughed, his eyes sweeping over the iron-gray tie on the floor. ¡°You even dared to tie me up. You would be lucky if you could get up and walk today.¡±

    She reached out and covered her face. How could she be so unscrupulous when she was drunk?

    ¡°Are you satisfied with the gift?¡± He chuckled.

    ¡°You¡¯re so annoying!¡± She still covered her face and said through her fingers, ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯re not satisfied?¡± He chuckled again and teased her. ¡°I wanted to send you another one, but forget it.¡±

    ¡°Who wants you to send...¡± She originally wanted to say who would want to make love with him again, but she suddenly halted and seemed to realize something. She put down her hands and looked at him in surprise. ¡°Brother Pei, you prepared a gift for me?¡±

    It was not poking fun at her likest night, but a real gift!

    He smiled. ¡°Wear your clothes, I¡¯ll take you somewhere.¡±

    Her tiny dressst night was already wrinkled and in a mess, so he had already sent someone to bring clean clothes for her to change into. The guests in the clubhouse all left, leaving only the two of them. He held her hand and got into the car which ran smoothly all the way to a wealthy area in the prime location of the city.

    ¡°The newly opened vi...¡± She looked at the beautiful house in front of her.

    The winding serene alley, the red wall in picturesque disorder, the Japanese roses and ivy nted fully near the wooden fence, bringing a wisp woody sweet scent when the breeze blew past. It was really beautiful here, like a fairy tale world.

    Pei Ziheng took her to the front of the vi in the center and gave her a key.

    ¡°For me?¡± she asked. After a moment of surprise, she was somewhat unhappy. ¡°You gave me another vi again, this is already the fifth one. Humph, Brother Pei, you suck, you don¡¯t have any creativity at all.¡± In this era of soaring housing prices, she was very clear how expensive five vis were, but so what? She wanted to live with him, and it was impossible to move out of the Pei family¡¯s vi, so all these vis were meaningless to her.

    But this time, he said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you always disliked living in the old vi? Once this ce is decorated, we¡¯ll move over. It¡¯s close to Imperial Entertainment and the environment is very good.¡±

    Xia Ling was in disbelief. ¡°Really?¡±

    This was what she dreamt of, she didn¡¯t expect it to be realized!

    Looking at her surprised reaction, he smiled. Over the years, he had been acquiring greater power and had deepened his roots in the ancient and huge Imperial Entertainment. Before, he didn¡¯t move out of the old house because he couldn¡¯t make the decision. But now, he could help her attain a better living space.

    In the future, it would get better and better.

    He took her into the vi. ¡°Look at the room structure, think about what kind of decoration you like. I¡¯ll arrange for the designer and the construction team.¡±

    She said eagerly, ¡°I must decorate it well! This is our home!¡± She turned around and hugged him happily. ¡°Brother Pei, thank you.¡±

 Chapter 1104 - Call Me Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 1104: Call Me Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He lifted her delicate chin. ¡°Call me Ziheng.¡±

    His low, mellow sound scattered in the still space with an unspeakable temptation.

    Xia Ling looked at him motionlessly, her heart skipped half a beat and she almost cried out, ¡°Ziheng.¡± It was the first time he called his name, and it flowed between her lip and teeth a little awkwardly with a strange sweetness.

    Pei Ziheng smiled with satisfaction. ¡°Say it again.¡±

    ¡°Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Again.¡±

    ¡°Ziheng, Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Good girl.¡± He gave her a rewarding kiss. ¡°You have to call me that in the future, understand?¡±

    She blushed slightly. ¡°Can¡¯t I call you Brother Pei anymore?¡± She was used to calling him Brother Pei and was a little reluctant to change it. Although she was also happy... she was still a little reluctant and shy.

    ¡°Silly girl,¡± he said. ¡°Even Xiao Yu knows to call my name, only you¡¯re this stupid.¡± Calling him Ziheng was more intimate than calling his surname, but only she was so stupid she didn¡¯t know to change.

    ¡°You called me silly.¡± She felt wronged.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the silly one!¡± She red at him.

    ¡°Call me Ziheng again.¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Be good.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± ...

    Only a girl like her dared to throw a tantrum in front of him so unscrupulously, like a butterfly flying in front of a tiger and unconsciously showing off its beauty. She took Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand and walked around in and outside the vi, putting forth a lot of ideas for decoration and discussing it with him with great interest.

    Pei Ziheng said affectionately, ¡°You can decide.¡±

    The next day, he found a very good interior designer for her and aplete construction team.

    Xia Ling started to busy herself, giving out notices and decorating the new house. Her dream home became perfect bit by bit. The ivy draped over the red wall, and a cluster of rose flowers bloomed in full swing. Their bedroom faced a small grove and had a view of theke¡ªit was misty in the morning, and at night, theck reflected the stars from the sky. She couldn¡¯t help but stand at the window and think, howfortable they would be once they moved in here formally.

    Furniture, porcin...

    She personally picked them one by one.

    Pei Ziheng liked sandalwood, so she went everywhere to collect fine quality lobr rosewood. To bnce the retro elegance and the agility of everyday life, she even spent a lot of time studying how to design furniture so it looked good. She heard there was a home improvement fair in the city, so she was interested in participating.

    Pei Ziheng was very busy and couldn¡¯t go with her. Xia Yu said she was unwell and also refused.

    Xia Ling wanted to invite Xiao Hua or Yun Yan, but as a new star she was already eye-catching enough in a crowd, if the two popr actresses were to join, it would be useless to even disguise themselves. She sighed and gave herself a low-key makeup, wore normal shirt denim, tied a ponytail, wore sunsses and a cap and went out alone.

    The home improvement fair was crowded with people.

    She looked around and gained a lot of new insights and ideas.

    She stood in front of a tulle screen with a rosewood bone and admired it for a long time. She couldn¡¯t help but take off her sunsses and was quickly recognized by people. ¡°You, you¡¯re Xia Ling, right?¡± The two girls ran over excitedly and surrounded her while suppressing their screams. ¡°Hello, Xiao Ling, we¡¯re your fans. We didn¡¯t expect to meet you here, we¡¯re too excited!¡±

    This was the first time she met a fan, and with some novelty, she said with a smile, ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really Xiao Ling!¡± The girls jumped in excitement. ¡°Can you give us an autograph? And a photo, we want to take a photo!¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± she said in a good mood. She signed with the pen they handed her and also took a photo. Theughter of the girls attracted a group of curious people and some people nearby said, ¡°Look, a star.¡±

    In the precious wood root carving area, two elegantdies were picking things when one of them heard themotion and turned to look. Suddenly, her eyes were fixated. ¡°Sister Jingyu, Sister Jingyu,¡± she screamed in amazement. ¡°Look quickly, isn¡¯t that Xia Ling? Why is she here?¡±

    It was Pei Jingshan who spoke. Very soon, Pei Jingyu also turned to look.

    ¡°Tsk, what an embarrassment.¡± Pei Jingyu was dressed in a high-end, custom-made dress that had a pearl brooch. Her voice was cold and she stared at Xia Ling¡¯s enchanting beauty in jealousy. The crowd increased.

    ¡°Yes, what an embarrassment,¡± Pei Jingshan also said. They had not dealt with Xia Ling since they were young, and now that they had grown up, they were bing more and more grievous. As bigdies born with a golden spoon, what they were most indignant about was that Xia Ling this wretch was obviously from a lowly background, so how could she share everything they possessed?

    The Pei family was rich not to give alms to her!

    ¡°Sister Jingyu, should we go and teach her a lesson?¡± Pei Jingshan had long found Xia Ling unpleasant to the eye. ¡°As a foster daughter of the Pei family, how much of a scandal is it to be surrounded by people in a public ce? Big Cousin is too much, why did he even promote her as a star and revealed her face in a drama, she¡¯s really throwing the face of the Pei family sisters.¡± In fact, Pei Jingshan didn¡¯t even think that the Pei family was managing an entertainmentpany and all their earnings that supported thedies¡¯ food and clothes were earned by their artistes.

    Pei Jingyu agreed with her words and looked at Xia Ling with ayer of frost on her face. An unknown fire started to rise in her heart! However, she held herself with dignity and didn¡¯t want to lower herself to Xia Ling¡¯s level and argue with her, so she slowly yed with the root carving in her hand and said, ¡°Just ignore her.¡±

    The two continued to look at the root carving.

    The crowd around Xia Ling was increasing, and she found it ufortable and quickly put on her sunsses again. She smiled and bid farewell to them before sneaking away to a ce where there were fewer people. In the nearby area, the exhibit of the root carving museum was the most expensive, so there were fewer people there. Xia Ling walked into it quickly and gasped in relief.

    As soon as she looked up, she saw two people she recognized.

    Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan.

    She couldn¡¯t help but frown. She was really unlucky, how could she bump into the sisters on the rare asion she came out to visit a home fair? She hated them just as much as they hated her.

    ¡°What are you looking at,¡± Pei Jingshan chided her from high above. ¡°lowly servant girl.¡±

    Xia Ling exploded. ¡°Who are you scolding!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m scolding whoever just spoke!¡±

    ¡°You are the lowly one!¡± Xia Ling was used to being arrogant and wilful, so how could she possibly swallow this insult? She scolded back on the spot. ¡°What are these two people sneaking around here for? You¡¯re so ugly you don¡¯t dare to go out and see people in case they can¡¯t stand it!¡±

    Pei Jingshan also exploded. ¡°Lowly servant girl, what are you saying. You eat and use all the things from the Pei family, so what are you arrogant about?! You still have the face toe visit the home fair! The root carvings here cost dozens of millions, you still have the face to squander money from our Pei family!¡±

 Chapter 1105 - Do You Think You Can Get Married?

    <h4>Chapter 1105: Do You Think You Can Get Married?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Your Pei family? Your Pei family¡¯s money was still earned by Ziheng! What does it matter to you when Ziheng loves giving me money to spend? I want all the root carvings here!¡±

    Herst sentence was said purely on a whim. She didn¡¯t know how much all the root carvings here even cost, but she since Pei Ziheng had given her a vi and a pink diamond ring worth hundreds of millions without even blinking, what was wrong with buying a few root carvings? Pei Ziheng wouldn¡¯t even have any opinions if she burnt them!

    She held her head high and looked at Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan.

    Pei Jingshan was furious. ¡°You¡¯re shameless!¡±

    The angrier she was, the happier Xia Ling became. She gestured towards the exhibition¡¯s salesperson in front of them on purpose and told him, ¡°Pack all of these root carvings and send them to this address.¡± She casually took a pen and paper from the counter and wrote down her address on it. Then, she took a ck gold credit card from her exquisitembskin bag and handed it to the salesperson.

    The salesperson was shocked senseless. He, was he witnessing youngdies of note fighting for wealth?!

    He was just a small white-cor worker, when else would he have seen such a big scene? He held the ck gold credit card and stuttered. ¡°Miss, Miss, are you sure? These root carvings all add up to a total of sixty-five million yuan.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only sixty-five million yuan.¡± Xia Ling snorted. ¡°Go ahead.¡± Her card was Pei Ziheng¡¯s credit card and she didn¡¯t know how much money was inside, but she thought the sixty-five million was just a drop in the ocean.

    The salesperson suspected he was dreaming and secretly pped his thigh before running to swipe the card.

    Xia Ling and the Pei sisters were left standing in the same ce, ring at each other coldly and not giving way. After a long time, the beautiful lips of Pei Jingyu curled up into a sneer. ¡°Xia Ling, you really think Big Cousin¡¯s money is yours?¡± Her heart was bubbling with rage. It was Grandpa¡¯s birthday soon, and she and Pei Jingyu hade today to choose a gift for him. They had seen the longevity rootless agarwood carving and had yet to buy it when they¡¯d been robbed by Xia Ling halfway.

    Xia Ling sneered too. ¡°Why do you care whose money I use? If you have the ability, then buy it. If you can buy all the root carvings here, I won¡¯t stop you, ha. I¡¯m just afraid you don¡¯t have that much money?¡± She deliberately provoked Pei Jingyu.

    Pei Jingyu was so mad she wanted to vomit blood. She really wanted to strive for vindication and buy all the things there like Xia Ling, but she couldn¡¯t. Her expenditure was all nned¡ªsome were for investment, some for savings, and she didn¡¯t even open a credit card, so how could she possibly have sixty-five million?

    She could only say stiffly, ¡°I¡¯m not a spendthrift like you!¡±

    ¡°I think you just can¡¯t afford it, haha.¡± Xia Ling was unrelenting.

    Pei Jingyu wanted to vomit blood again. She red at Xia Ling with her pair of apricot eyes, her face blue. She desperately wanted to burn a hole in her face, but she still smiled faintly. ¡°Ziheng? You¡¯re calling him so intimately. Is it nice to spend the money you exchanged for with your body? You¡¯re just a sly mistress, how dare you strut around and show off in front of me?¡±

    Xia Ling trembled in anger and was stunned by her. She paused for a few seconds before asking, ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Pei Jingyu looked at her arrogantly. ¡°I said you¡¯re just a slut mistress! Stop pretending, Xia Yu has long leaked your secret to us. Many people in the Pei family know that you have slept with Big Cousin, so you can stop hiding this from other people.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to hide,¡± Xia Ling hurriedly replied. ¡°We¡¯re not as dirty as you think! I¡¯m not his mistress, we really love each other!¡± She did not expect things to be like this. In the beginning, it was Pei Ziheng who had ordered her to not to show off, but now that she wanted to be a big star, it wasn¡¯t convenient to publicize her rtionship, so she had kept it a secret. She had been extremely careful these years and hadn¡¯t expected that the Pei family were already in the know.

    Mistress...

    This word was like a sharp thorn plunging into her heart.

    They must have guessed wrong, she was not a mistress!

    Pei Jingyu sniggered. ¡°You¡¯re still pretending? I¡¯ve seen so many people like you who want to climb up the socialdder shamelessly. Do you know how our Pei family treats people like you? We throw you after we¡¯ve finished sleeping with you. Haha, just wait a few more years when Big Cousin has married a prestigiousdy, he¡¯ll treat you like garbage.¡±

    She saw Xia Ling¡¯s expression change and felt satisfied immediately.

    Xia Ling had never thought about these things. In her heart, it was only natural and reasonable to publicize her rtionship with Pei Ziheng after she was famous. She told herself not to fall into Pei Jingyu¡¯s trap, so she suppressed the panic in her heart and said sternly, ¡°Nonsense! Ziheng won¡¯t marry any prestigiousdy, he will marry me!¡± This was what she had been looking forward to ever since she was sixteen, to be his wife one day.

    Pei Jingyu looked at her pitifully. ¡°Idiot, go look through the Pei family¡¯s history, which high-powered person like Big Cousin has married a wretch from the untouchables? Which Chairman of the Pei family didn¡¯t marry a prestigiousdy? Have you gone crazy wanting to marry into a rich family? Even an ugly toad wishes to eat swan meat!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s body trembled slightly. She didn¡¯t believe any of it, but Pei Jingyu¡¯s words couldn¡¯t be refuted.

    She said dryly, ¡°I won¡¯t listen to your nonsense. I will definitely marry him.¡± She paused, looked at the abominable look on Pei Jingyu¡¯s face and put on her arrogance. ¡°Rather than worrying about me, why don¡¯t you worry about yourself instead. When I be your Big Cousin¡¯s wife, I¡¯ll definitely drive you out. I¡¯ll deduct all your pocket money and marry you off to a poor and ugly man! Humph!¡±

    Her eyes seemed to release crackling fireworks in midair.

    Pei Jingyu sneered. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± She walked away with Pei Jingshan.

    Xia Ling red after them for a while, then sighed like a deted ball, feeling frustrated and discouraged. Were their words real? Pei Ziheng would not marry her? Although she said she didn¡¯t believe it, Xia ling really went to ask Nanny Zhou. ¡°Nanny Zhou, could you tell me about the Pei family?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was washing the clothes. She quickly wiped her hands and let Xia Ling sit down at the lobby. ¡°Theundry room is not a ce where ady like you shoulde to,¡± Nanny Zhou said cordially. ¡°Miss, why are you interested to hear about the Pei family today? Didn¡¯t you dislike being associated with them?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Xia Ling bit her lip, her heart heavy with troubles.

    Nanny Zhou asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Nanny Zhou, didn¡¯t the Pei family produce a lot of Chairmans? Just like Ziheng? What kind of people were their wives, I heard they were all famousdies and none of them was amoner? Is it true?¡± She looked at Nanny Zhou unblinkingly, waiting nervously for a reply.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s brain buzzed and she thought in her heart that it hade.

    Miss had finally realized something was wrong. She was together with Sir in such an unclear rtionship, what would happen in the future? Marriage... that was impossible.

    But if she told her the truth now, would it be too cruel?

 Chapter 1106 - So Good to Her

    <h4>Chapter 1106: So Good to Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Nanny Zhou thought for a while and carefully said while weighing each word, ¡°The Pei family has always been a prestigious house. The previous wives of the Chairmans were all of prestigious family backgrounds and were wealthy and respectable people. You know, since ancient times, marriage has been about family background.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face turned slightly pale and she still asked with a glimmer of hope, ¡°Was there any exception?¡±

    Nanny Zhou sighed and shook her head. Although it was cruel, she didn¡¯t want this girl to have too much hope, for the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. She was worried that when Sir married a wife one day, this girl would be heartbroken.

    Xia Ling murmured, ¡°No, there must be an exception.¡±

    Nanny Zhou held her hand with her own rough, coarse hand. ¡°Miss, I know what you¡¯re thinking. You want to marry Sir, don¡¯t you? But you must know how hard it is. Sir is Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman, and his marriage can only be amercial marriage. Everyone will object to him marrying you.¡±

    Xia Ling whispered, ¡°I don¡¯t believe it.¡±

    The light wind brushed past the corridor, tousling her hair and messing it up just like her mood. She sat in the wind for a long time and said to herself, ¡°Brother Pei won¡¯t abandon me. He said he¡¯ll have children with me and even gave me such a beautiful ring... He¡¯s so good to me, why would he hurt my heart?¡±

    ¡°Miss...¡± Nanny Zhou still wanted to persuade her.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± A low male voice rang turbulently.

    Nanny Zhou turned around in shock. ¡°Sir... Sir, you¡¯re back.¡±

    Xia Ling also turned around to see the man standing on the porch. Today, Pei Ziheng wore a suit, the dark gray texture of the excellent material lined his tall figure perfectly, making him look as perfect as a God. She did not smile and greet him as usual, but looked at him in a daze, not moving nor speaking.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Xiao Ling?¡± He stepped forward to stand beside her.

    He looked so tender and considerate, her nose soured and she wanted to cry. She couldn¡¯t imagine losing him one day, that must be the most tragic and horrible purgatory in the world. She looked up and asked cautiously, ¡°Ziheng, you¡¯ll marry me? You¡¯ll marry me, right?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was dim in the light and he looked quietly at Nanny Zhou. Nanny Zhou knew she had done something wrong. Sir never liked her saying too much to Miss, so she bowed her head uneasily.

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business here,¡± Pei Ziheng said to Nanny Zhou. ¡°You can leave.¡±

    Nanny Zhou quickly retreated.

    Pei Ziheng reached out to caress Xia Ling¡¯s soft cheeks and said in a voice as gentle as a spring breeze, ¡°Why are you thinking about that all of a sudden? Don¡¯t you know in your heart if I¡¯m good to you?¡±

    Xia Ling lowered her head slightly and was sulky. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you thinking about?¡± Pei Ziheng paused, then continued, ¡°What did you buy today? Why aren¡¯t you happy even after buying so many things.¡± The card she had used was his, so there would have been an SMS reminder for therge purchase.

    She said, ¡°I bought a bunch of useless things. I met Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan today and they said you wouldn¡¯t marry me. They even said I was, I was a... mistress.¡± Her expression revealed her pain and bitterness, as well as some confusion and helplessness. She was really afraid that what the Pei sisters had said was true.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression hardened and he asked softly, ¡°Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded.

    ¡°I will lecture them. They¡¯re already so big and still can¡¯t control their mouths,¡± Pei Ziheng said sternly. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re not a mistress. I said before I would make you happy for your whole life. In the future, we will have children and grow old together with our children and grandchildren. Do you believe me or those irrelevant people?¡±

    Grow old together and have offsprings running around.

    She was slightly dazzled by the wonderful future he described, and a soft smile appeared on her beautiful lips. ¡°So, you¡¯ll marry me?¡± Her eyes rekindled with hope. ¡°But Pei Jingyu and Nanny Zhou both said, the wives of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairmans were all from prestigious families, would you marry an orphan?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her gently. ¡°Is it that important?¡±

    She was about to cry. ¡°You won¡¯t marry me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was silent for a while before saying, ¡°You are still young, you should focus on singing. I don¡¯t n to get married anytime soon, and our rtionship should not be made public yet. But one day, I will tell the world that you are my woman, you just have to wait patiently for that day toe.¡± He couldn¡¯t possibly marry her, marriage was a tool formercial interests, and the family¡¯s responsibility was on his shoulders. But he couldn¡¯t tell her the truth, for the girl was too young and wouldn¡¯t be able to ept reality. After a few years when she was a little older, she might be more sensible.

    Besides marriage, he could promise her anything.

    Xia Ling misunderstood his meaning, however, and thought that ¡°tell the world¡± meant he would marry her. She broke into giggles and leaned into his arms. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m so foolish to listen to those hateful people. I knew you wouldn¡¯t abandon me, Ziheng. We must be happy in this life.¡±

    He hugged her in silence.

    After calming down the girl in his arms for a long time and finally watching her fall asleep, he went to find Nanny Zhou. Under the starry night, the man looked cold. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to talk to Xiao Ling about thoseplicated things again.¡±

    Nanny Zhou said, ¡°Sir! Miss will discover the truth one day! She will be hurt!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still young. It will seem like the sky has copsed if I tell her now. After a few years, it¡¯ll get better. She will understand she can be happy without marriage.¡± He would spend many years pampering her and caring for her, and when he married a woman from a prestigious family, she would no longer doubt his love for her.

    Nanny Zhou¡¯s expression was bleak. Which girl would ept this kind of thing?

    However, she could not say anything about Sir¡¯s decision, so she could only answer with a ¡°Yes.¡±

    The happiness that was like walking on thin ice would continue in the precarious situation. Nanny Zhoumented Miss¡¯ fate. She was so beautiful and kind, but just because she didn¡¯t have a good family background, her whole life was ruined...

    After this conversation, she doubled her care for Xia Ling.

    Because she understood better than anyone that Xia Ling¡¯s happiness might onlyst for a short time. One day in the future, she was sure to be torn apart and mourn in despair. Her whole life would be ruined by Pei Ziheng, and even if he didn¡¯t marry her, he would not let her go. This life, they were destined to be entangled.

    Xia Ling did not think as much into it as Nanny Zhou did. Ever since she was pacified by Pei Ziheng, she began to live a carefree life again. Ziheng loved her so much, how could he not marry her? So what if the Pei family¡¯s previous Chairmans all hadmercial marriages? Ziheng wouldn¡¯t... she believed him without reservation.

    The vi was renovated every day and after a year, they moved in.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s uncle was simply furious. He scolded that he had been enchanted by a vixen¡ªwhich Chairman of the Pei family moved out of the old house to live separately?

    But Xia Ling saw it as a proof of love instead.

    Look, he was so good to her and broke so many exceptions for her. One day, he would marry her.

 Chapter 1107 - Engagement News

    <h4>Chapter 1107: Engagement News</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the future, when the ny-two-year-old Pei Ziheng reminisced on his long life, he found that the happiest years of his life were actually when Xia Ling had looked forward to bing his bride.

    If time could be turned back, he would give her a grand weather before all the damages were toote to prevent. If so, would he be able to continue possessing her innocent smile for ten or so more years? However, the promise of a lifetime was destroyed by his own arrogance and conceitedness.

    It had been ordinary at the time.

    The young and distinguished business emperor protecting his own little girl who grew up slowly, from a small trainee to a world-famous singer that had many people adoring her voice. No matter how many shocking achievements she aplished, she would always look to him with such reverence and love.

    He was her God.

    The day the sky copsed, the weather was as normal.

    In the early autumn, Xia Ling went out and saw the first green ginkgo leaf among a bunch of leaves turn golden yellow. She was delighted and carefully plucked the leaf off, wanting to wait until themercial today was filmed to show it to him. Fall came very early this year and it was so beautiful, so it must be a good season for a romantic harvest.

    Chu Chen apanied her to the nanny car.

    There was also an assistant in the car and a makeup artist. The atmosphere was abnormally silent.

    She felt a little strange and smiled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you all? You¡¯re usually so noisy, why aren¡¯t you talking today? Are you nervous because we¡¯re filming a new announcement today?¡±

    The assistant and the makeup artistughed forcefully. ¡°How could we be nervous when Miss Xiao Ling isn¡¯t even nervous.¡±

    She said happily, ¡°Cheer up and lift your spirits. I¡¯ll treat everyone to a good meal once we¡¯re done filming. Oh yes, Chu Chen, when is Ziheng done with his schedule? He just returned from overseas yesterday and must be extremely busy today too. I¡¯ll contact himter and get him toe to eat with us once he¡¯s done.¡±

    Both the assistant and the makeup artist looked at Chu Chen.

    Chu Chen smiled. ¡°Boss is busy today and isn¡¯t avable. In the short period of time he wasn¡¯t in thepany, a lot of things have umted for him to deal with. Xiao Ling, EMP TV Station just called and said the program has changed and they have pushed forward the recording time. You will have to rush to record the announcement in the afternoon. We¡¯ll just eat a light meal for lunch.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Xia Ling was very disappointed. She thought she was free in the afternoon.

    Chu Chen still smiled. ¡°I have good news. This way, your schedule tomorrow would be cleared. Boss¡¯ secretary has asked me for your schedule and said Boss intends to bring you out to y.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± In the blink of an eye, she was no longer disappointed, and her eyes sparkled brightly. ¡°I knew he was the best.¡±

    Chu Chen responded as usual.

    A group of people guarded her into the TV Station building. Today was a personal interview program and mainly invited her to talk about her journey to stardom and some behind the scenes stories. Once she entered the exclusive lounge, the make-up team that Imperial Entertainment set up just for her started doing her makeup, but everyone was strangely silent the whole time.

    Xia Ling looked down at the question and answer form and was not aware.

    Someone knocked on the door. A staff member of the TV Station came in and said to Chu Chen, ¡°Mr. Chu, the interview room has been arranged. Please confirm and make sure there¡¯s no problem.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Ah Cha, go and confirm.¡±

    Ah Cha was Xia Ling¡¯s assistant. He responded that he would go and confirm it, but Xia Ling stopped him. ¡°Wait.¡± She looked up and said to Chu Chen, ¡°You have always been the one going to confirm, why are you asking Ah Cha today? How could she understand my aesthetic style and preferences as well as you do? You go and see, and don¡¯t make any mistakes.¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°You¡¯re getting more and more famous, so we have to train Ah Cha and let her take the responsibility.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I want you to go.¡±

    She was extremely unreasonable when she threw a tantrum, not to mention she was on her period these days, so Chu Chen did not want to make her unhappy over such a small matter and had to give in. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go.¡± Chu Chen nced at Ah Cha meaningfully. ¡°Take care of Xiao Ling and don¡¯t let any of the crowd in, understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Ah Cha solemnly promised.

    Chu Chen quickly stepped out.

    Unexpectedly, the ident still happened.

    A TV Station Staff took the question and answer form and asked, ¡°Is Mr. Chu here? We adjusted a few questions at thest moment and need him to confirm it.¡±

    ¡°Brother Chu isn¡¯t here,¡± Ah Cha said. ¡°You have to go to the studio to find him.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Xia Ling was still looking at the form and heard the questions had changed. ¡°Bring it here for me to confirm directly. The program is recording soon, we won¡¯t make it if you let him confirm before giving it to me.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s not very suitable?¡± Ah Cha suddenly said.

    Xia Ling frowned. ¡°Why are all of you so strange today? Are these questions being answered by me or him? What¡¯s wrong with giving it to me sooner so I can check it?¡±

    She reached out her hand unhappily to the staff. ¡°Bring it here!¡±

    The staff nced at Ah Cha and back at Xia Ling. He hesitated before handing the form over to Xia Ling. Who was he kidding, this arrogant singer was already famous in the industry for being hard to serve, and many people had even lost their jobs after offending her. He didn¡¯t want to lose his job too.

    Ah Cha couldn¡¯t stop it and watched with a horrified expression as Xia Ling took the form.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your expression?¡± Xia Ling was not satisfied. ¡°Why can¡¯t I check the questions? You¡¯re really making a big fuss.¡± Her eyes swept over the list and she suddenly lost her voice.

    On the newly released question and answer form, a few new questions were circled with a red pen. Among them, the most eye-catching one was¡ª[Miss Xia Ling, what do you think about Mr. Pei Ziheng and Ms. Wang Jingwan¡¯s engagement?]

    Pei Ziheng...

    Was engaged?!

    For a moment, she was suspicious of her own eyes, and she stared at the form and stopped breathing. How could Pei Ziheng be engaged? His fiance was... was... a woman she had never heard of?!

    Her face turned pale and the sky seemed to spin. She heard herself asking in a dry voice, ¡°This form, there¡¯s something wrong, right? When was Ziheng engaged to someone, I... why don¡¯t I know.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Mr. Pei tell you?¡± The staff was shocked. ¡°A few days ago, they held an engagement ceremony after booking a whole ind. They even sent a media draft and spread it everywhere.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s breathing went tight. ¡°Impossible.¡±

    Suddenly she turned to Ah Cha and the rest. ¡°He¡¯s engaged? Did you all know?¡±

    They were all scared senseless and didn¡¯t know how to react. They had heard the news about Pei Ziheng¡¯s engagement a few days ago and had even admired the engagement photos for being beautiful. But Chu Chen had told them sternly not to tell Xia Ling. Now that Xia Ling knew the truth, would Chu Chen peel their skin?

 Chapter 1108 - Shattered Crystal Dream

    <h4>Chapter 1108: Shattered Crystal Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at them and suddenly understood what these people¡¯s strange silences these days meant. ¡°You all already knew, right? I was the only one kept from it?¡± Her voice trembled and her gaze swept over her assistant and the makeup artist team. ¡°When was it, he... he wanted you all to hide it from me?¡±

    Assistant Ah Cha opened her mouth. ¡°Miss Xiao Ling...¡±

    She didn¡¯t know how tofort Xia Ling. Even though the rtionship between Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng was kept under wraps, several staff members around them already knew it. No woman would be able to ept her own beloved man being engaged to a fiance that wasn¡¯t her, not to mention how proud Xia Ling was.

    However, the TV Station staff failed to understand her reaction and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Xia, we didn¡¯t know you were not aware. Maybe Sir Pei wants to give you a surprise? I¡¯m really sorry, really sorry...¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head and used all her strength to make sure she didn¡¯t lose self-control.

    She strengthened herself and asked the staff, ¡°Where¡¯s the news? I want to watch the news.¡±

    There was a newspaper in the staff¡¯s hand which had been a prop for the talk show. The headline on the front page was about the engagement of Pei Ziheng. He handed the newspaper over to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling took it with trembling hands. On the full page of colored report, the most striking part was a big and dazzling photo¡ªon the golden dream-like beach that was level to the azure sea, the man she had been in love with for more than ten years wore a white tuxedo and held the hand of a beautiful woman opposite him, putting on a huge diamond ring on her hand.

    With one nce it was obvious that the woman was from a prestigious family. Herplexion was bright and clean and she had a graceful disposition. Her long fishtail dress dragged a few meters along the coastline and the colorful diamonds on the misty gauze were beautiful.

    They were gazing deeply at each other in the photo.

    The perfect match¡ªthis phrase was used to describe the pair of them on the front-page headline.

    Xia Ling scanned over it rapidly and read the news report introducing them. The two were engaged in a beautiful ind somewhere in the South Pacific three days ago and held a low-key ceremony. Only a few friends and rtives and celebrities were invited, but the standards were very high and even the dress on Wang Jingwan¡¯s body was invaluable.

    The newspaper slipped from Xia Ling¡¯s hands.

    She could not ept such a reality, or was it all just a dream?

    ¡°I want to look for him,¡± she murmured. ¡°I¡¯m going to find Ziheng and ask him.¡± She turned and walked out of the dressing room. She staggered along the way and bumped into several people.

    ¡°Sister Xiao Ling!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia! You still have to record the show!¡±

    Behind her, her assistant and the TV Station staff rushed to shout something at her, but she couldn¡¯t hear any of it. Her brain was chaotic and her heart was thumping fast. She wanted to tell herself that it was all a dream, or was it a bad joke that everyone hade together to prank her with? She just wanted to find Pei Ziheng...

    She could ask for rification after finding Pei Ziheng. He would hold her in his arms as always and say gently and lowly, ¡°Silly girl, it¡¯s not true.¡±

    She got on the nanny car and told the driver, ¡°Drive! Go to Imperial Entertainment!¡±

    The driver was surprised. ¡°Weren¡¯t you recording the show? It¡¯s finished so fast?¡±

    In the rearview mirror, she saw her assistant Ah Cha and Chu Chen chasing her, anxiously shouting something while running. Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to see them, these guys were liars who came together to bully her! She screamed urgently at the driver, ¡°Drive quickly! Otherwise, I will dismiss you!¡±

    The driver dared not to disobey her and quickly stepped on the elerator.

    Along the way, she felt chills in her body, and her mind was full of the pictures in the newspaper. Pei Ziheng had been so charming and handsome in the photos, and she had never even seen him in such a nice tuxedo before... that woman, that woman called Wang Jingwan, how could she be worthy of him?! Wang Jingwan was not even as beautiful as Xia Ling herself!

    The car arrived at the door of the main building of Imperial Entertainment and a doorman helped her open the door.

    Xia Ling got down hurriedly and heard the doorman exim in shock. ¡°Miss Xia! Are you not feeling well? Your face is so pale, do you need us to send you to the hospital and call the doctor?¡±

    ¡°Get lost,¡± she said angrily and pushed the doorman away.

    The doorman who had worked at Imperial Entertainment for long was already ustomed to her arrogant temper. Who would have been willing to deal with her if not for her being the most favored girl of the Chairman? He had been scolded to get lost without reason, so the doorman just retreated. Beside him, hispanion snorted in dissatisfaction. ¡°What¡¯s so great about her? The Chairman favors her, but the future wife of the Chairman might not deal with her stinky temper! Let¡¯s see how she treats her once Wang Jingwan marries into the family!¡±

    Xia Ling heard the words groggily and was even more frightened.

    Usually, given her temper, she would have definitely returned to the doorman to swear at him and would have even gone to the personnel department to get them to get their pay and be dismissed. But today, she was not in the mood¡ªsince when had people who watched the door dared to discuss about her like that? Was this because Imperial Entertainment was to have a matriarch soon?

    She walked into Pei Ziheng¡¯s office with a heavy heart.

    The person at the secretary¡¯s desk saw her and was shocked. ¡°Miss Xia! Are you alright?¡±

    Xia Ling used all her strength to ask, ¡°Where¡¯s Pei Ziheng?¡± Her voice was hoarse as if she was seriously ill.

    The secretary said, ¡°The Chairman is in the VIP Conference room on the seventeenth floor. I don¡¯t know when it will end. How about I help you to the lounge and you can wait for him there?¡± Just now, Chu Chen had specially called to exin that Xia Ling might have run to thepany, so he had asked her to take Xia Ling to rest and tell her it was instructed by the Chairman.

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°No, I want to find him.¡±

    The secretary was put on the spot. ¡°But Chairman instructed...¡±

    ¡°I said I want to find him!¡± Xia Ling suddenly red up. Her sharp voice startled the secretary.

    However, the secretary still braced herself and held her back. ¡°Miss Xia, you¡¯re not allowed to go!¡±

    ¡°Let go!¡±

    The secretary would not let go no matter what. The Chairman¡¯s order was thew here, and it was clear that to be a secretary here, she might lose her job if she vited even onew.

    Xia Ling saw she was not letting ho and gathered up her strength.

    The secretary had caught onto the sleeve of her little arm. She was wearing a stage costume the TV Station had prepared for her to record the program, and though it was beautiful, the material was very fragile. Thus, when she pulled away, it suddenly tore. Xia Ling didn¡¯t care about it and turned and ran toward the seventeenth floor.

    The secretary held onto her again.

    Xia Ling was furious and turned to give her a tight p.

    The loud sound echoed in the air and the secretary held onto her face in shock.

    Xia Ling ran to the seventeenth floor without even looking back, leaving only a decisive figure.

    The seventeenth floor.

    The heavy door of the VIP Conference room.

    The beautiful girl was pale and looked extremely fragile with her torn clothes.

    She stood at the door and took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

 Chapter 1109 - Joke

    <h4>Chapter 1109: Joke</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy and the directors wearing dark suits all sat together.

    Among them were many members of the Pei family that Xia Ling knew, and also some strange directors she didn¡¯t recognize.

    Many of them turned their heads and looked up at her with different expressions at the sound of the door opening. Sitting at the front was Pei Ziheng, who did not move and was instead continuing to study a piece of information, the wrinkles between his eyebrows as deep as a knife.

    Xia Ling maintained her position and stood quietly at the door watching him. The man was still as cold and majestic as the Gods, making her worship and love him. At this moment, under the judgemental stares of the people, her heartbeat was like a drum and she wanted to rush up to him to ask him but could not move her feet.

    She was afraid.

    She was afraid she would hear an unbearable answer, afraid that he would tell her personally that he was engaged.

    She stood alone at the door, advancing and retreating back and forth.

    Pei Ziheng flipped the information in his hand. ¡°The Green Jade Media is Wang family¡¯s best business in the entertainment industry, but it can only be regarded as chicken ribs to Imperial Entertainment. After the merger, there would be a lot of redundant trivia to deal with. I will propose this to the Wang family and at the same time strive for better benefits for Imperial Entertainment in the cooperation business.¡±

    Beside him sat his Grand Uncle, Pei Zhenyuan. Pei Zhenyuan had already seen Xia Ling, and he sneered and said, ¡°Ziheng, you know why negotiation is more difficult than what is forecasted. Although the Wang family has promised to give their daughter¡¯s hand to you, they don¡¯t wish for you to put Miss Wang Jingwan in an ufortable spot. You have to at least take good care of your own people.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked up and followed his Grand Uncle¡¯s line of sight. His gaze fell on Xia Ling.

    Even though his affair with Xia Ling was a secret, in the past decade or so, the big directors of Imperial Entertainment were more or less informed. The entire conference room was silent, and people exchanged meaningful nces with each other.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very heavy. ¡°Xiao Ling, go out and wait for me.¡±

    He didn¡¯t ask her why she came, because Chu Chen had already called him and told him that Xia Ling had identally heard about the news of his engagement. Originally, he had intended to take Xia Ling out tomorrow to distract her, then slowly, he would skillfully let her ept the news. But now, it looked like all his ns were all disrupted.

    Xia Ling looked at him with sorrow and her heart sank to the bottom.

    It was needless to ask, the sneer of Pei Zhenyuan had already exined everything, he... was really engaged.

    ¡°Why?¡± she whispered. ¡°Why are you engaged with another woman? You said you would love me for a lifetime, did you... forget?¡±

    Tears blurred her line of sight and he looked even vaguer.

    Pei Ziheng frowned. ¡°Be good, go out and wait for me.¡±

    She didn¡¯t go out to wait for him, instead, she was provoked by him and rushed to his front in a few steps. She grabbed his hand-tailored suit and yelled hoarsely at him, ¡°Don¡¯t use this kind of child¡¯s tone to pacify me! I¡¯m not a little child anymore! Tell me, why did you lie to me? I have been with you for so many years, why did you get engaged with another woman in the end!¡±

    She screamed and red at him with tears in her eyes, her body swaying slightly.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyebrows tightened and he looked at his watch. ¡°The meeting is suspended for ten minutes.¡±

    Then, he grabbed Xia Ling with one hand and forced her out of the meeting room. ¡°What the hell are you trying to do!¡± He threw her against the wall and pressed his hands on her shoulders, exploding in anger. ¡°I told Chu Chen to tell you that I¡¯ll apany you for the whole day tomorrow. We can discuss this problem then! Didn¡¯t you see I was in a meeting?¡±

    ¡°Is your meeting more important than me?!¡± She cried again and shouted. ¡°What am I to you!¡±

    ¡°Stop messing around.¡± Pei Ziheng took a deep breath and suppressed the bubbling anger in his heart. ¡°The merger with the Wang family is at a critical juncture. Be good, wait for me in the lounge and I¡¯lle to find you after I¡¯m done.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± She cried incessantly. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t marry that woman! Don¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a business marriage,¡± said Pei Ziheng. ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t be together if I marry her. Wang Jingwan knows about your existence and can amodate you¡ªthis was also one of the conditions I made before promising to marry her. She knows very clearly what she¡¯s doing. Xiao Ling, you have to be sensible and understand the big picture.¡±

    ¡°To hell with the big picture!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but cry and scream. ¡°I hate you!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked down at her. ¡°I¡¯m going to the meeting now, you go to rest and calm down. We¡¯ll talk againter.¡± He let go of her and turned round to return to the meeting room.

    Suddenly, Xia Ling grabbed onto him and hugged his body from behind, her tears falling like rain. ¡°Ziheng, don¡¯t go. Please don¡¯t go... Don¡¯t marry that woman, okay? I beg you... I beg you...¡±

    It was her first time begging him, her tears fell like rivulets and her heart was broken.

    However, he took her hands off him immediately and walked back into the conference room without looking back.

    She was left alone, kneeling down in the long empty corridor and crying incessantly.

    She cried for as long as the meeting was held for. Gradually, the news spread inside Imperial Entertainment that Queen Xia Ling was crying outside the VIP Conference room on the seventeenth floor. Could it be she had offended Chairman and had finally lost her position? Some people pretended to pass by and peered at her with curiosity, gossiping behind her back, but she didn¡¯t care. She waited till the meeting was over and the well-dressed directors came out in twos and threes.

    The white-haired Pei Zhenyuan passed by her and stopped. ¡°What a scandal.¡±

    He said it with a high, disdainful voice.

    She cried and grabbed his suit trousers. For the first time, she bowed to the old man she had never dealt with once. ¡°Grand Uncle, I beg you to persuade Ziheng, okay? Don¡¯t let him marry that woman, don¡¯t...¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan reprimanded. ¡°Let go! Have you not thrown enough face? If not for the fact that you can sing well and help strengthen Imperial Entertainment, why would the Pei family endure having you around? Don¡¯t call me Grand Uncle, how are you worthy?!¡±

    The cool and smooth texture of his suit trousers slowly slipped through her fingers and Pei Zhenyuan walked far away.

    Xia Ling was dazzled and waited for a long time at the door for Pei Ziheng. However, she waited until everyone else had scattered and he still did note out. It was Chu Chen who came out instead. He gently lifted her and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, don¡¯t wait anymore. Boss will be busy the whole day today. There are several major issues that cannot be dyed.¡±

    ¡°So my business can be dyed?¡± She choked with emotions and whimpered.

    Chu Chen was silent for a long time and said, ¡°Xiao Ling, you have to ept your life.¡±

    ¡°What is life?¡±

    ¡°We are born asmoners, don¡¯t think about fighting with these aristocrats. You can only survive byplying with the rules.¡± Perhaps it was a reminder of his childhood, and Chu Chen said to her sincerely, ¡°Xiao Ling, we are already considered lucky. We have a brocade of garments and jade meals, and thousands of people revere us. We shouldn¡¯t be too greedy.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m being greedy because I want to marry him?¡± She cried again. ¡°You all think I¡¯m in the wrong, right? Over the years, you saw me looking at him longingly of my own wishful thinking, was it like watching a joke?¡±

 Chapter 1110 - Meet with Wang Jingwan

    <h4>Chapter 1110: Meet with Wang Jingwan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chu Chen supported her and sent her home to rest.

    Nanny Zhou saw her expression and panicked. She quickly waited on her to sit down and rest and simmered a hot soup for her.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t have an appetite and couldn¡¯t consume anything. She looked at the bowl of soup and was shocked again, then burst out crying again. Nanny Zhou was very distressed and hugged her while saying, ¡°Miss, my gooddy, this is the life of a woman. Don¡¯t cry and stop being at loggerheads with Sir. When Miss Wang marries into the family, you can just ask Sir to protect you.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s body shook slightly. ¡°What am I? A mistress?¡±

    It turned out Pei Jingyu¡¯s words from ten years ago had been a prophecy. She was a shameful mistress.

    It was ridiculous how she had been full of confidence at that time and had thought he could do everything since Pei Ziheng favored her. But in fact, the Pei family knew themselves best, they were all cold and cruel.

    Nanny Zhou pacified her for a long time, but it had little effect.

    She sat on the sofa in the living room and spent the whole day staring nkly. Her tears dried and she had absolutely no appetite.

    Pei Ziheng came home veryte at night when the stars were scattered over the sky. He stepped into the door and saw the inanimate girl in the living room like a broken doll. He frowned and went over to say, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you sleeping yet?¡±

    She turned her back to him and ignored him.

    Nanny Zhou came over apprehensively and consoled him for fear that they would start arguing. ¡°Sir, there¡¯s soup in the kitchen. Why don¡¯t you eat supper with Miss, she hasn¡¯t eaten anything the whole day. She won¡¯t be able to stand it.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    He took off his coat and handed it to Nanny Zhou, then walked over to Xia Ling. ¡°Are you still angry?¡±

    He turned her around and she tried hard to struggle but failed. Xia Ling looked up at him, her eyes swollen like a walnut, but her tears were already dried up and she couldn¡¯t cry anymore. ¡°I hate you.¡±

    ¡°You cried so much.¡± Pei Ziheng gently rubbed away the mottled tears on her cheeks with his fingers. ¡°Your makeup is all messy. I don¡¯t like to see you cry, give me a smile.¡±

    She flung his hand away in anger.

    Pei Ziheng pulled her into his arms and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. ¡°Xia Ling, I¡¯m going to marry Wang Jingwan whether you like it or not. It seems like I¡¯ve pampered you too much over the years, why aren¡¯t you listening to me? Be good and go wash your face, take care of your body and keep your bad temper. My marriage is scheduled in two months and I¡¯ll be asking you to sing on stage on the day. Bring out your best song to bless us.¡±

    She trembled fiercely and looked at him incredulously. ¡°Sing on stage?¡±

    ¡°For such a prestigiousdy like Wang Jingwan to ept you is giving you and me face. So, of course we have to give her face too,¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°You are Imperial Entertainment¡¯s best singer, who else would sing other than you?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Her heart was broken into tiny pieces and she said weakly, ¡°Why are you so cruel?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m cruel?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Is it cruel to use a song to exchange her kindness to you for the next few decades? She¡¯s from a prestigious family and has learned to be a matriarch since young, so she is able to eliminate love rivals. If she has any thoughts on moving you, I may not be able to protect youpletely in the face of the fighting and scheming among you women. Why don¡¯t you be kinder to yourself? Get along cordially with her, and there will be no harm made to you.¡±

    He was a man that was quick-witted, so why would he care about the trifle inner matters?

    Even if he could protect Xiao Ling from life-threatening issues, her status as a singer, and take care of her money supply, but in terms of all the trivial things and her daily necessities, there were hundreds of means in which the matriarch could make people suffer silently. His Xiao Ling was so innocent, what if she was bullied? He wanted her to be happy and to live as carefree as before.

    But Xia Ling said, ¡°I won¡¯t! Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t think of making me sing on stage! You¡¯re not allowed to marry her, don¡¯t marry her, do you hear? Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng...¡±

    Her voice gradually turned to begging.

    Nanny Zhou brought the soup over. ¡°Sir, advise Miss to eat a little.¡±

    Pei Ziheng took over the small bowl of soup. The golden chicken soup exuded a strong aroma. He lowered his head and brought a small spoon to Xia Ling¡¯s mouth and said gently, ¡°Eat something, be good.¡±

    She pushed him away at once, and the white porcin soup smashed on the ground, sttering the chicken soup everywhere.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression hardened.

    ¡°You think about it.¡± He turned and walked away.

    She was left alone again, her hands growing blisters from the heat of the soup, causing her immense pain.

    Originally, Pei Ziheng was going to take her out to distract her the next day, but her actions angered him and, since he also had business to attend to, he went to Imperial Entertainment as usual.

    Xia Ling was alone at home and didn¡¯t pick up when Chu Chen called. After a while, she heard Nanny Zhou say downstairs, ¡°Mr. Chu, Miss is at home, but she isn¡¯t in a good mood and didn¡¯t eat anything yesterday. If you have time, why don¡¯t you apany her and persuade her... Okay, Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡±

    She didn¡¯t want to see Chu Chen, so she locked the door.

    She stayed at home the whole day locked up in her room.

    When Pei Ziheng returned at night, he ordered her coldly. ¡°Xia Ling, if you don¡¯t eat anything, do you believe I¡¯ll pour it down to you?¡±

    She wanted to cry again. ¡°I¡¯ll eat if you promise me not to marry.¡±

    She had thought she could do anything she wanted as long as she had his favor, but now that things came to this, she finally understood that the only one who could call the wind and summon the rain was him and only him. If he did not allow it, then she would struggle to even achieve anything. The only thing she could do was beg him.

    ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡± She looked at him sadly. ¡°Don¡¯t get married, okay?¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling, will you stop throwing a tantrum?¡± He ignored her and asked Nanny Zhou to bring up a bowl of porridge. He forced her to open her mouth by holding her chin and filling her mouth with the whole bowl of porridge.

    She choked and coughed intensely, her frail back shaking as she gave her final struggle.

    He stared at her coldly, then dragged her onto the bed before throwing her body on it roughly.

    She was his. From body to heart, she must obey andply.

    Xia Ling felt as though she had died. The morning light pierced into her eyes and she lied on the bed for a long time like a dead body. The autumn colors outside the floor-to-ceiling windows were so beautiful, but she already felt the chill of winter.

    She did not want her love to die.

    She struggled to get up and find Wang Jinwan¡¯s phone number. She set up a meeting with the famous prestigiousdy in a high-end cafe in the city.

    Wang Jingwan arrived as scheduled.

    She was an elegant and noblewoman, wearing a tailored delicate suit and carrying a Hermes tinum bag. The engagement diamond ring on her finger shone brightly. She looked at Xia Ling quietly, then smiled awkwardly and took the lead. ¡°Ziheng told me before to take good care of you after I enter the family.¡±

    Her aura exuded the utmost confidence.

 Chapter 1111 - Like an Old Friend

    <h4>Chapter 1111: Like an Old Friend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling held herself at a lower position than ever before. ¡°Miss Wang, Ziheng and I truly love each other, could you please note between us? Don¡¯t get married to him, I¡¯m begging you.¡±

    Wang Jingwan raised her threaded brows. ¡°No wonder Ziheng says you¡¯re naive. Truly love each other? I think you must¡¯ve gotten it wrong. If he truly loved you, would he have married me? Miss Xia, all men are attracted by beauty. He was only momentarily appealed by your appearance, that¡¯s all. I¡¯m his wife and I haven¡¯t even made a scene, who are you to do that?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°No, he really does love me.¡±

    Wang Jingwanughed and looked at her condescendingly. ¡°All of us are aware of what you¡¯re trying to do¡ªyou just want to marry into a rich family, isn¡¯t that it? Let me tell you, Ziheng can never marry you. What right do you have to be his wife?¡±

    Xia Ling refused to ept it. ¡°No, no! Miss Wang, please, I¡¯m asking you not toe between Ziheng and me.¡± She¡¯d been pampered and shielded by Pei Ziheng for so long that this was the first time she was begging someone in years. Her dignity was stepped all over, seemingly unworthy.

    But for him, she was more than willing.

    Wang Jingwan looked at her. ¡°Miss Xia, are you in the right mind? You¡¯re just a lover he has outside, and you think what you share is true love? If you¡¯re wise enough, I may still consider saving you a spot when I marry into the Pei family. But if you aren¡¯t, then just keep in mind that I¡¯ll be thedy in-charge of Imperial Entertainment.¡± Her lips curled into a sly smile.

    They were both women, why would Wang Jingwan be willing to share her man?

    From the first day she saw Pei Ziheng, Wang Jingwan had fallen hard for him. Hence, even though his request to ¡°embrace¡± Xia Ling was an overboard one, she¡¯d swallowed it anyway. She wanted to marry him and take all the time she needed to slowly remove this woman from his heart and his life. Someday, she would be his only woman, his legal wife.

    She envied Xia Ling for being able to be showered in Pei Ziheng¡¯s love.

    The enmity she felt towards Xia Ling was deeper than the other way around.

    But Xia Ling did not know all these. Wang Jingwan had been taught how to thumb her love rivals down since she was a child¡ªsuch education waspulsory for a rich girl like her. At this point, she was all calm and elegant as she faced the naive girl before her.

    Xia Ling ran out crying.

    All of her arrogance and wilfulness hadpletely vanished in the face of love.

    That rtionship meant too much to her, so much so that every setback it faced hurt her immensely. In front of Wang Jingwan, all she could feel was that her heart was being wrenched, hurled to the ground, and stepped all over. It felt unbearable.

    While running out of the room with her head hung low, she knocked into someone by ident. The other party¡¯s body was sturdy as a rock and the impact caused her to fall backward. She sprained her ankle in the midst of it and ended up sobbing aloud as she sat on the floor.

    The man squatted down before her.

    ¡°Here.¡± He handed her a clean piece of tissue. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of crying for a fall like this. Does it hurt a lot?¡±

    His voice sounded very pleasant.

    She received the tissue and cried even louder now.

    ¡°You must be Xia Ling,¡± the man said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you on television before. Everyone says your singing is amazing and that you¡¯re the best female singer around. So, would you considering over and joining Skyart?¡±

    Skyart? This name sounded familiar.

    Xia Ling looked up with her blurry eyes. He was so handsome, in a way that waspletely different from Pei Ziheng¡ªa healthy tan, nicely toned limbs and eyes that were clear as they were deep.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Li Lei.¡± He smiled and reached his hand out.

    Li Lei? She couldn¡¯t remember where she¡¯d heard this name, if she even did before. But hiszy grin was so familiar, almost as if... almost as if they¡¯d met before a long time ago.

    Unconsciously, Xia Ling somehow let her guard down.

    ¡°Hello.¡± She sniffled.

    Li Lei took a look at her foot. ¡°It¡¯s a sprain. Let me get the bone back in ce for you. It¡¯ll hurt a bit, so bear with it.¡±

    She nodded and felt the warmth of his palms on her swollen foot. She wasn¡¯t sure what he did, but a momentter a sharp pain hit her and she let out a cry.

    He released his grip and smiled. ¡°Try if you can move it now?¡±

    She rotated her ankle slowly and gently, and s, it felt fine!

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯s that for, I was the one who bumped into you,¡± Li Lei said. ¡°Although your ankle is back in ce, you can¡¯t exert force on it for the next few days. So, where are you going now? I¡¯ll give you a lift.¡±

    She was about to reject him, but all the drastic changes in her life recently had left her fatigued, and it seemed like his smile was the only thing that could bring her warmth in this cold, harsh world. Before she knew what got over her, she was nodding and telling him, ¡°I live in the fifth unit of the red brick vis. Sorry for the trouble.¡±

    Li Lei helped her up and into his car.

    In the quiet car, she recalled the recent events, and tears came streaming down her face again.

    Li Lei was smiling while he drove. ¡°I only bumped into you once, is it that painful? Why are you crying again?¡±

    She quietly said, ¡°Well, it is.¡±

    ¡°Want toe over to Skyart?¡± He invited again. ¡°You have some grievances over at Imperial? Come over to my side, I promise to treat you well.¡±

    She sobbed her heart out in the car.

    Li Lei looked at her and let out a silent sigh. For some reason, he¡¯d felt that she should belong in Skyart from the very moment he saw her. He felt that they should be close...

    How close?

    It felt like... his heart ached the moment he saw her crying, and he wanted to hold her close.

    And that was exactly what he did.

    The SUV stopped at the entrance of her red-brick vi. He opened the door and helped her out of the car before giving her a long, warm hug. ¡°As a girl, you need to learn to be kinder to yourself.¡± Li Lei¡¯s voice was kind and tender. ¡°If someday you don¡¯t wish to stay in Imperial anymore, juste over and look for me at Skyart. Remember that.¡±

    She waspletely immersed in his embrace. At that moment, she wished she could stay in it for a longer time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that.¡± She nodded and whispered.

    Li Lei smiled and bade her farewell before driving off.

    She gazed in the direction that he left in, and took a while to gather her thoughts and head into the vi.

    But it had only been a few steps when she saw Pei Ziheng standing at the doorway, looking at her solemnly. He was practically expressionless, but his eyes seemed so deep and threatening, in a way that she¡¯d never seen before. In that split second, her blood froze inside her.

 Chapter 1112 - The Day Her Dreams Shattered

    <h4>Chapter 1112: The Day Her Dreams Shattered</h4>

    Both of them exchanged nces silently.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mind was a nk as she stood in his line of sight as if it was a line of fire. It took her a long time toe back to her senses, and that was when she heard a voice at the back of her head: Xia Ling, what are you afraid of? Walk over, you didn¡¯t do anything wrong, he¡¯s the one who¡¯s let you down.

    With that thought, she took a deep breath and walked over with her head up.

    She walked by Pei Ziheng.

    The doorway wasn¡¯t too wide, and she brushed against her shoulder.

    All of a sudden, Pei Ziheng grabbed her. ¡°Xia Ling,¡± he said solemnly, ¡°you owe me an exnation.¡±

    She shuddered slightly, even though she had no idea what she was really afraid of, or where his anger wasing from. She wanted to say no, to resist, to not give any exnation at all. But his terrifying expression made her give in eventually as she murmured, ¡°He¡¯s just a passerby. I bumped into him and hurt my ankle, so he sent me back.¡±

    ¡°Passerby?¡± Pei Ziheng scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re saying that Skyart¡¯s big boss is a passerby? Xia Ling, you¡¯re really getting bolder, seducing anyone and everyone!¡±

    Seducing? That word sent a rush of heat to her head.

    How could he say this about her?!

    Xia Ling looked up at him with fury and her emotions exploded. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what do you treat me as? Your pet?! Why is it that you can get married to some other woman, and I can¡¯t even be sent home because of my injury?! What right do you have to control who I get together with? You¡¯re about to get married! Let me tell you, I¡¯ll never share a husband with Wang Jingwan. Not now, not ever!¡±

    She was yelling at him.

    He stiffened even more now. The person who sent her home wasn¡¯t just any passerby, it was Li Lei! This name was a sting to Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart. He couldn¡¯t pinpoint the reason, but he knew he was against her being with Li Lei, even if it was just an exchange of nces or a few words! The moment he saw Li Lei send her home, it felt as if his whole world went dark. He had no idea why, but... anyone else would¡¯ve been alright, just not Li Lei! He gripped her arm even harder now as if wanting to break it with sheer force.

    Xia Ling bore with the pain and red at him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re a beast, a monster! How long more can you control me? A month? Two months? Once you get married, I can be with anyone I want to be with, and you can¡¯t do anything about it!¡± All these were purely words of anger. Even if he got married, how could she get together with another man? She loved him so much, it ran through her veins and was engraved in her bones. If he had another woman, she could only be devastated.

    She looked up at him, and in those furious eyes was a hint of a plea.

    How she wished that the threat sheid could change his mind about the marriage with Wang Jingwan so that he could return to her.

    But it couldn¡¯t. He hadn¡¯t said a thing.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed hold of her and began dragging her into the house. The sudden impact caused her to trip and a sharp pain rang through her injured ankle. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was sprained again, but at that moment, cold sweat was dotting her forehead. ¡°Pei Ziheng, let go!¡±

    Pei Ziheng refused to release her. He dragged her all the way to the bed and tossed her onto it before pinning her down.

    ¡°Xia Ling,¡± He ripped her clothes apart mercilessly and pinched her chin. ¡°I think you¡¯ve forgotten who you belong to! Don¡¯t you even think about being with another man. Not in this lifetime, or the next, or ever!¡±

    The fury in his eyes seemed to burn like the depths of hell.

    Xia Ling looked at him fearfully. She knew just how scary he could get when angered, and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t!¡±

    He didn¡¯t entertain her words at all as he went ahead to assault her. He was being deliberately rough to hurt her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s tears came gushing. All the memories rted to the first time of terror, all of which had engulfed the sweet moments they shared, were now flooding her head. She seemed to have gone back in time to when she was 16. They were in the cramped little rental car at an abandoned garage in Paris. Back then, he had been so mean too...

    So indifferent to her pleas...

    So all these while, it wasn¡¯t that he had changed, it was simply that she did not know him well enough.

    Xia Ling cried until her voice went hoarse. She didn¡¯t even know if it was because of the pain anymore, or if she just felt so pathetic and distraught. After the turmoil, she waspletely fatigued and fell asleep in his embrace.

    When she woke up, it was alreadyte in the morning and the sun was shining on the bed.

    The sheets were messy and the man was no longer there.

    She looked at the mess on the bed and was out of sorts for a while. When she was finally ready, she struggled to get out of bed and into the bathroom, where she saw her swollen eyes and ruined makeup in the mirror, and bruises all over her body. Deep inside her, she felt a pulsing pain.

    She wrapped her arms around her bare body and slowly slipped to the ground.

    Perhaps, this was all a mistake from the very beginning.

    Since it started off with a bang, very well then, it should end with this too...

    There were no more tears to shed, it felt as if she¡¯d used up several lifetimes of tears recently. Looking at the light streaming through the window panes, she made the biggest decision of her lifetime.

    Leave him.

    Xia Ling, leave him.

    There¡¯s nothing much left in him to love.

    Since you¡¯re unable to get his love in its entirety, since... he never truly cared about you, then leaving him is the best choice you can make.

    Her expression was calmer than ever before.

    She got up, took a thorough shower and began packing her luggage.

    There wasn¡¯t much to bring along. She left the jewelry and title deeds that he had given her behind, and simply packed a few pieces of clean clothing, as well as her credit card that would give her ess to her years of savings as a singer.

    She wheeled the luggage to the first floor. Nanny Zhou wasn¡¯t in; she was probably out to get groceries.

    She turned back and looked longingly at the house she¡¯d lived in for years. The familiar arrangement of the furniture, the coat that she¡¯d hung for him on the rack... everything made her feel like crying again.

    Goodbye, Pei Ziheng.

    She said quietly before turning around and pulling the vi door open.

    The sunlight was blinding, but she could make out the figure of a man at the door, arm raised as if he was just about to push the door open. Seeing her with a piece of luggage, Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened and he gave her a tight p on the face.

    She had no time to react to it, and fell to the ground on impact, like a kite with a broken string.

    She held a hand to her cheek and looked at him in disbelief as if he was the most devious monster in the world. ¡°You hit me?¡± She asked quietly like it was just for her own ears. It had been so many years... not once had he hit her. But this year, on the day that she¡¯d decided to leave, he had shattered her dreams of the years before once again.

 Chapter 1113 - Xia Yuâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 1113: Xia Yu¡¯s Visit</h4>

    She covered her face and looked up at him.

    Suddenly, she found that she didn¡¯t seem to know this man. She had failed to truly know him after all these years.

    In the living room, his expression was gloomy, and the tall figure stood against the light, making people feel chilly. Pei Ziheng stepped forward to grab her thin coat and gave her a backhanded heavy p. He hissed word by word. ¡°You are so daring, how dare you kill someone? Do you know how much trouble killing Wang Jingwan will bring to me?!¡±

    She suddenly opened her eyes and even forgot the pain. What, Wang Jingwan was dead?!

    She looked at him incredulously, her lips twitching before she finally said, ¡°I, I didn¡¯t kill her.¡±

    ¡°You still dare to make excuses?!¡± Pei Ziheng was furious. He mmed her onto the floor. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me when you went to find her yesterday?! You didn¡¯t dare to tell me because you were killing someone! She died in the coffee shop because of a poisoned cup with your fingerprints on it. The coffee shop even has a surveince video of you inside!¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. How could Wang Jingwan have suddenly died there?

    Wang Jingwan had clearly been fine when she¡¯d cried and run out!

    She shook her head and couldn¡¯t speak.

    Pei Ziheng still thought she was trying to deny it, so he continued forcing her. ¡°How did you kill her, tell me in detail! Xia Ling, you have to pay with your life for killing someone. The Wang family is furious and the whole world is looking for you to pay for it!¡±

    Xia Ling murmured, ¡°I didn¡¯t do it.¡±

    In exchange for her words was a vicious p on her face.

    Her face was swollen and blood was oozing out of her lips.

    She looked at him with an empty expression and heard herself ask, ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said coldly, ¡°Believe you? How could I believe you? Yesterday, you went to see her behind my back. Over these years, you have never hidden anything from me before and you purposely didn¡¯t tell me about this. Did you think that by killing her you could stop her from marrying me? I¡¯m telling you, even if Wang Jingwan is dead, there are still thousands of prestigiousdies out there. Are you able to kill all of them? Stupid!¡±

    Her body trembled. It turns out...

    The list of his wife candidates was so long, and there was no ce for her at all.

    Her weight in his heart was far lower than all those women.

    Xia Ling looked sullen and suddenly, she didn¡¯t want to argue anymore.

    He refused to let her go. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking? Did you think you could hide all these stupid things you did? Tell me how you poisoned her and where you bought the poison from. I can help you out of the sin.¡±

    ¡°Offence?¡± She suddenlyughed. ¡°Pei Ziheng, why are you helping me out of my sin? The police have not fixed my sin yet, yet you¡¯re fixing it first! You¡¯re really amazing, even more powerful than the police!¡±

    ¡°Pa!¡± Pei Ziheng gave her a tight p.

    ¡°Don¡¯t challenge my endurance,¡± he said gloomily and softly. He dragged her up with one hand to their bedroom. He tied her to the bed and tore her clothes. ¡°Xia Ling, you¡¯re refusing to tell me, right? Then we¡¯ll do it again likest night.¡± He knew she was scared and was in great pain. Her painful moans and screamsst night still echoed in his ears. All these years she had been spoiled by him, and couldn¡¯t stand even a little bit of pain, not to mention rudeness and ruthless vition.

    Sure enough, Xia Ling shivered and curled herself up, and even her eyes were shaking.

    But to his surprise, she still refused to admit it. She only said, ¡°Pei Ziheng, I hate you. Why didn¡¯t you die with Wang Jingwan? Or let me die like Wang Jingwan.¡±

    Perhaps death was a wonderful thing. At least then, she could live forever in the illusion that he loved her.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was cold and he pinched her chin. ¡°Tell me! Don¡¯t beat about the bush!¡±

    She smiled in sadness andughed intermittently. ¡°Tell you? After saying it... what will happen? Pei Ziheng, do you think you¡¯re my savior? After saving me... you¡¯re letting me, letting me... continue seeing you with other women, and marry a woman called Li Jingwan or Zhang Jingwan? Just let the police shoot me. You¡¯ll be freed, I... would be freed too.¡±

    His hand grabbed her long hair and she screamed in pain.

    ¡°You want to die?¡± He gnashed his teeth. ¡°I¡¯ll fulfill your wish.¡±

    There was tearing pain in her body, and the ce where she was injuredst night was torn again. The wound that had just healed was forced to bear a second injury, which was more painful than thest time.

    She resisted in vain, struggling, praying that it was just a dream...

    However, the nightmare seemed endless.

    Xia Ling did not how many times, but she woke upter and her two wrists that were tied to the bed were worn out and the blood flowed down her white arm. However, no matter what kind of abuse she suffered, she insisted on her words under his interrogation. Since he didn¡¯t believe she didn¡¯t kill anyone, she might as well say it a few more times.

    Her heart was broken, and even if her body was broken, so what?

    Sixteen years ago, he had taken her from the orphanage and given her a new beginning, just like giving her life.

    Now, she would just give it back to him.

    His hugssted as long as a purgatory.

    For the next few days, Pei Ziheng tried to torture her and force her to tell the truth about killing Wang Jingwan. But she either closed her mouth or said, ¡°I didn¡¯t do it, you are the stupid one.¡±

    He found remnants of the poison from her practice room and threw it at her face.

    She coughed and smiled weakly. ¡°You found it in my practice room? Pei Ziheng, I don¡¯t believe you. You¡¯re trying to swindle me? The level of you trying to extort a confession from me is getting lower... Hahaha...¡±

    He beat her again until she fell to the ground. Her forehead hit the corner of the bed and drew a lot of blood.

    She fell into aa. In her unconscious state, she heard many people walking around as well as the sound of cold machines.

    She heard the family doctor say, ¡°Sir, Miss has many internal organs bleeding and has a slight bone fracture. She must be sent to the hospital for treatment immediately. Sir, please don¡¯t treat her like this again or she might die!¡±

    A familiar hand touched her face.

    After a long time, she heard Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice say, ¡°There¡¯s no need to send her to the hospital. Just treat her at home.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but the conditions at home are too rudimentary. It¡¯s very easy to leave behind residual effects...¡±

    ¡°I said, treat her at home.¡± Pei Ziheng interrupted the doctor¡¯s words.

    There was silence.

    When she woke up again, she saw Xia Yu. The beautiful and delicate girl sat by her bed and cried, her tears falling off her face. ¡°Sister, you¡¯re awake?¡± Seeing her open her eyes, Xia Yu¡¯s face was full of surprise. ¡°How do you feel, does it hurt anywhere? Brother Ziheng is too vicious to be so abusive to you!¡±

    She looked at her younger sister and felt the sorrows and grievances umted over the days rise in her heart. She wanted to cry, but could not. She didn¡¯t want her to worry, she had always been the support for her sister all this time. No matter how much she suffered, she was still the older sister and shouldn¡¯t worry her younger sister.

 Chapter 1114 - Thunderstorm

    <h4>Chapter 1114: Thunderstorm</h4>

    She lifted her hand forcefully and held Xia Yu¡¯s hand.

    Her voice was hoarse as if it had been burnt by fire.

    Xia Yu cried even harder. ¡°Sister, stop being so stubborn, just admit you killed someone! Brother Ziheng only hit you because he was anxious. You¡¯ll be alright as long as you admit to killing someone!¡± Her tears fell down her cheeks andnded coldly on Xia Ling¡¯s hand.

    Xia Ling suddenly felt as though her sister was very far away from herself. Why did she believe she had killed someone? ¡°I didn¡¯t kill anyone,¡± she said difficultly to Xia Yu. ¡°Xiao Yu, you have to believe me.¡±

    But Xia Yu cried and said, ¡°Sister, I know you¡¯re afraid since you have to pay with your life for killing someone. But we are sisters and you don¡¯t have to pretend in front of me, just admit you did it! Only when you admit it can me and Brother Ziheng find ways to protect you! Sister!¡±

    Her seemingly caring words stabbed painfully at Xia Ling¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Go, I don¡¯t want to see you,¡± she coughed and said to Xia Yu.

    ¡°Sister, just admit it!¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    Xia Yu looked at her, hurt. She couldn¡¯t imagine that her sister who had always loved her would say that. After a moment, she covered her face and staggered out.

    She ran down the stairs all the way through the second-floor corridor.

    In the living room, Pei Ziheng turned to look at her with a defeated expression.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, why are you back so soon?¡± he asked. ¡°How¡¯s your sister?¡±

    ¡°Brother Ziheng!¡± Xia Yu cried and threw herself into his arms. ¡°Sister, sister still refuses to admit it! She even told me to get lost! Boohoo... do you think, do you think sister has been possessed? She can¡¯t go on like this!¡±

    As she spoke, she heard a loud noise from upstairs.

    Pei Ziheng released Xia Yu and went upstairs in two or three steps. He pushed open the door to see Xia Ling sitting on the luxurious big bed, wearing pajamas that could not be covered, and angrily smashing the hanger that put her on an intravenous drip and sweeping the medical equipment on the bedside cab onto the floor.

    She saw hime in and red at him with red eyes.

    ¡°Xia Ling, are you done throwing a tantrum?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very cold. ¡°You even scolded your sister and smashed medical equipment. Can you see what you have be? How did you be like this.¡±

    Yes... how had she be like this?

    Wasn¡¯t it all thanks to him?!

    Xia Ling suddenly smiled, and at that moment, she was ted. ¡°You all think I killed her?¡± she said softly, as if talking to herself. ¡°Fine, I killed her, are you satisfied?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s heart jumped. It really was her!

    How much pain and desperation was she in for this girl who didn¡¯t even dare kill a rabbit from a young age to actually kill a person?

    She... how much did she love him?

    Pei Ziheng slowly approached her and reached out to hold her face. ¡°If you had admitted early, why would you have had to suffer so much?¡± Her face still carried the bruises and scars from his beating, making her look frail and terrible.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± she murmured. ¡°I¡¯m really stupid. I should have admitted it sooner and get caught by the police earlier, then bang¡ªone gunshot, hehehe,¡± she said while chuckling lowly. ¡°Why would I have had to suffer all this pain?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± His expression darkened.

    She was exhausted. ¡°Pei Ziheng, just take it as I¡¯m crazy. Don¡¯t bother trying to exonerate me. Tell the Wang family and the police that I was the one who killed her. Tell them to shoot me to death. When you get remarried, you wouldn¡¯t need me to go on stage to sing anymore,¡± she said and chuckled again.

    He couldn¡¯t help but p her again.

    The crisp sound echoed in the bedroom.

    Xia Ling did not resist, a long time passed until she said gently, ¡°Pei Ziheng, do you know what I regret most?¡± Without waiting for his reply, she continued saying to herself, ¡°I really regret not running into a car ident on the road to the TV Station that day. If I had been hit directly; if I had just died that day... I would probably be very happy.¡±

    If she had died on that day, she would continue thinking he would love her forever.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her coldly, then he turned and walked out the door.

    ¡°Keep an eye on me,¡± he told Nanny Zhou and the butler. ¡°Let the bodyguards surround the vi and don¡¯t let her run around. Ask people to prepare a helicopter, wait a few days when the police have handled the matter, then take her straight to an ind.¡±

    Nanny Zhou and the butler gave solemn expression. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Pei Ziheng entered the study room and took all the information about her case out to find a solution for her offense. However, looking at it, he kept feeling something was wrong, but what was wrong with it...

    He frowned, taking the pen andbing through the whole manuscript over and over again, until, yes¡ª

    Li Lei!

    His Xiao Ling was so innocent. If she had just killed someone, how could she sit in a strange man¡¯s car as if nothing happened? Could it be that Li Lei was her aplice?! That man was associated with the underworld, and it was easy to get some poison for her. He must have wanted her, thus he had helped her do all these things. It must be!

    At that moment, Pei Ziheng felt all the blood in his body rush to the top of his head.

    How dare she seduce another man behind his back! How dare she?!

    In the study room, the young and tall man¡¯s expression turned darker.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Snow fell on a cold night.

    The ny-two-year-old man slept very unsoundly.

    In his dream, there was always something wrong, what was it...

    He wanted to remind himself in his dream that Li Lei shouldn¡¯t appear at this time, he shouldn¡¯t know Xiao Ling at this time. And Xiao Ling... Xiao Ling didn¡¯t kill anyone at all.

    It wasn¡¯t poison provided by Li Lei at all!

    So why had Li Lei appeared...

    Pei Ziheng, calm down, don¡¯t make the same mistake again. This time, don¡¯t lose her again...

    Tears oozed out of the corners of the old man¡¯s eyes.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the study room, Pei Ziheng frowned and paced around.

    How much does Li Lei know regarding Xia Ling¡¯s use of poison? To what extent has he been involved?

    No, he had to ask the man. He couldn¡¯t let Li Lei¡¯s existence be a variable in the whole case. Any element that threatened Xiao Ling must be eliminated!

    He went to find Li Lei.

    Li Lei was very surprised. ¡°You say Wang Jingwan is dead and the police suspect the murderer to be Xia Ling, the girl I sent home that day? That¡¯s impossible. She looks so innocent, how could she possibly have killed someone and yet not reveal a single w in front of me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at him carefully. ¡°You don¡¯t know about her murder? You¡¯re not her aplice?¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding.¡± Li Leiughedzily. ¡°If I wanted to kill someone, I would have at least one hundred different ways, why would I use such a bad method of poisoning and involve myself in this matter? But you, on the other hand, you have been with her for so many years, why don¡¯t you believe her?¡±

    ¡°She said she hated me and Wang Jingwan,¡± Pei Ziheng said. ¡°She also said she couldn¡¯t wait for us to die.¡±

    Li Leiughed again. ¡°Couldn¡¯t wait for you two to die? Then, why didn¡¯t she... kill you?¡±

    His words were like a strike of thunder in his heart.

 Chapter 1115 - Withered Rose

    <h4>Chapter 1115: Withered Rose</h4>

    Yes, why didn¡¯t she kill him?

    Pei Ziheng knew that the girl named Xia Ling would never do anything to him. Even in her saddest and most desperate moment, there was not a single hint of murderous intention in her broken eyes.

    She admired and loved him so much...

    When she threw a tantrum, she could have just said the words out of a whim, but it didn¡¯t mean she would really take action. But why was he so stupid to actually believe that she had killed someone?!

    Maybe someone was framing her!

    The thunderstorm dissipated the grey clouds in his heart. He didn¡¯t have time to say anything to Li Lei and quickly hurried away.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the snowy night, the ny-two-year-old man¡¯s brows stretched out and in his confused state, he suddenly understood why Li Lei had appeared then¡ªhe had been there to remind him, to warn him, that he would lose her if he obstinately clung to his own course.

    Pei Ziheng had once thought that he was very strong. Until she died as a bright firework in the splendid years of her life, he realized in shock that among them, the powerful one had not been him.

    Xia Ling could drag her suitcase and tell him she was leaving.

    But him? He couldn¡¯t even bear to think of how they would be separated.

    The one that should be begging was him.

    If this was a dream, even if it could only be a dream...

    He still begged God to give him another chance to let him re-own her in his dreams, regardless of the price he had to pay. This time, he never wanted to lose her again.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Pei Ziheng re-examined the truth.

    The result made him angry and happy¡ªthe murderer was Xia Yu.

    It was Xia Yu who had secretly bought drugs and followed Xia Ling to the coffee shop. She had sneaked into the restaurant and taken their order information, then put the poison in the coffee cup. She knew her sister only drank lemonade. Then, the cup of blueberry coffee next to the lemonade was definitely for Wang Jingwan. The poisoning time was right after an hour, just after Xia Ling left.

    Why did Xia Yu do that?

    Pei Ziheng pondered over it, but he could not think of anything. He summoned Chu Chen and let him monitor Xia Yu.

    Chu Chen also heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Boss, congrattions.¡± As long as the murderer was not Xia Ling, then it was a happy event. The revenge of the Wang family would not fall on the head of his most beloved girl. Then, it didn¡¯t matter whose head it casually fell onto. Chu Chen asked again, ¡°How do you n on dealing with Xia Yu?¡±

    ¡°Hand her over to the Wang family to vent their anger or hand her over to the police, both are fine.¡± Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t care about the details. He paused and said, ¡°But before that, she must pay a price for what she did.¡±

    His tone was gloomy and Chu Chen felt a chill.

    ¡°What about Xiao Ling?¡± Chu Chen asked. They both knew how much Xia Ling cared about her sister. Even if it was her sister who had killed someone and framed her, she might not be willing to watch her sister suffer.

    Pei Ziheng said heavily, ¡°I will tell her that she was framed by Xia Yu. I¡¯ll ask her... what happened between the two of them for things to havee to this. As for how we have handled Xia Yu, you don¡¯t have to tell her too much. When things have died down, tell her she¡¯s dead.¡±

    Chu Chen lowered his eyes and obeyed his orders.

    Pei Ziheng went home by car. Halfway on the road, he told the driver, ¡°Go to the No. 3 flower shop.¡±

    The driver detoured and took him to Xia Ling¡¯s favorite flower shop. Pei Ziheng entered and personally picked arge bouquet of red roses, coupled with arge bunch of baby¡¯s breath and packaged it with the most gorgeous packaging, intending to surprise Xia Ling. She had suffered these days, but they would live a good life from now on.

    He got into the car again and the fragrant rose aroma diffused around every corner of the Rolls-Royce.

    Pei Ziheng finally rxed the nerves that had been tight and on-edge for a while. His originally expressionless face now showed slight tiredness and a smile. She was probably frightened, right? And also in pain. So he would apologize to her and take time to spend with her to appease her feelings of having been injured. He still hadn¡¯t told her about the matter of children yet; there had been too many things on his te and he hadn¡¯t had time to tell her. Even if he didn¡¯t marry her, he would still keep to his promise with her and give birth to adorable children with her. He would give their children a lot of wealth, power, and status.

    Their family would be so happy.

    The Rolls-Royce stopped before the vi.

    But he saw Nanny Zhou and the butler greet him in a panic. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s not good! Miss is gone!¡±

    The bouquet in his hand fell to the ground with a bang.

    ¡°What happened?¡± He heard his own calm voice asking. ¡°Find her! How could she suddenly disappear?¡±

    Hence, Nanny Zhou told him that Miss had still been locked in the bedroom in the afternoon, but when she went there half an hourter to bring snacks to her, she realized Miss was gone. The floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor was open and there was a long shred of torn sheets hanging there reaching all the way to the small garden.

    She had escaped.

    Looking at the empty bedroom, Pei Ziheng did not have time to be angry nor even sad. He called the Wang family¡¯s Old Master first and told him, ¡°The murderer is Xia Yu, I¡¯ll get Chu Chen to send you the evidence now. Xia Ling is innocent, if you dare to touch her, I¡¯ll destroy your whole family!¡±

    He hung up the phone and dialed a bunch of other calls. A series of orders were dispatched. He got people to look for her, to monitor the Wang family and the police, and do everything possible to ensure her safety.

    But she seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth and couldn¡¯t be found anywhere.

    Pei Ziheng sat in his bedroom and deeply realized what it meant to have the sky copse.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The ny-two-year-old man was sleeping peacefully.

    If he was destined to lose her once, then he would rather lose her in this way than to be apart from her forever. He had been too overbearing when he was young and had protected her too well, so much so that every time she had tried to escape during the time she had been imprisoned, she had failed.

    Every time she failed to escape, he had been more cruel and abusive to her.

    But this time, he was willing to let her run away. Only when she left could he learn what was concession. Only then could the young emperor who never knew how to make a concession would truly own her for a long time.

    You only know to cherish when you¡¯ve lost it.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Xia Ling ran desperately.

    In the long dark night, she didn¡¯t know how long she ran for until her calf had cramps and she was exhausted.

    She hid for a night in the area¡¯s garbage bin and wheezed for a long time. In the morning, she surveyed her surroundings and suddenly didn¡¯t know what to do. Yesterday, her mind had been full of thoughts of escape. She couldn¡¯t stand being imprisoned and being humiliated by him anymore. But now that she had escaped? What should she do?

    She had followed Pei Ziheng ever since she was twelve and had never faced the outside world alone before. She didn¡¯t even know where to eat when she was hungry and where to stay for the night.

    The neighborhood was getting more and more crowded. The aunts who bought food in the morning and the white-cor workers who rushed into the bus to work passed by her and looked at her with suspicion. ¡°Look, that woman is so strange, she¡¯s wearing sunsses in the early morning and is wrapped up. She has been sneaking around here for a long time, is she a thief?¡± An aunt who was shopping for food murmured.

 Chapter 1116 - Starved on the Streets

    <h4>Chapter 1116: Starved on the Streets</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling pulled on her cor and wrapped herself even tighter.

    She was a well-known big star and it was already inconvenient to walk out on the streets, not to mention during the time of her downfall. Fortunately, it was autumn, and it wasn¡¯t all that surprising to bury half a face and wear sunsses. She walked aimlessly on the street, trying not to be noticed.

    Where should she go?

    She didn¡¯t know, either. The first thing she had to solve was the problem of her lodging at night, but she had no money on her¡ªshe had escaped from the bedroom and her bedroom did not have a penny of cash. It was not convenient to use her two bank cards since she was afraid that with a little movement, Pei Ziheng would be able to track her down immediately.

    She could not stay in a hotel nor even rent a room.

    Maybe she could spend the night in a twenty-four-hour business store?

    She thought slowly, then, what could she eat? She was getting more and more hungry, and her stomach was rumbling. The scent of the food in the shops on the street drifted by, and the roadside stalls that used to be disdainful to her when she passed by with Pei Ziheng now looked like the most delicious food in the world.

    At night, she finally couldn¡¯t resist her hunger anymore.

    She spent a long time in front of a bun shop and swallowed her saliva silently.

    The owner of the store came out and said to her rudely, ¡°Go away, don¡¯t block the door and prevent me from doing business.¡±

    She gathered up her courage and asked, ¡°How much are your buns here?¡±

    ¡°One piece is five cents,¡± the female shopkeeper said nimbly. ¡°Two yuan for meat stuffing, do you want it?¡±

    Xia Ling searched her whole body and then took off one of her earrings. The little diamond earring exuded a radiant glow. ¡°Can I use this to exchange with you?¡± she asked with some guilty conscience.

    The female shopkeeper looked at her strangely. ¡°Are you crazy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Xia Ling was anxious. ¡°I just want to eat the bun!¡±

    ¡°Tsk.¡± The female shop ownerughed disdainfully. ¡°Which stall did you buy that earring from, you want to exchange it for my buns? You still say you¡¯re not crazy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not, it¡¯s a diamond earring.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re exchanging a diamond for buns?¡± The female shopkeeper jeered even louder. ¡°Go away, you¡¯re crazy. Don¡¯t block the door and prevent me from doing my business or I¡¯ll call the police.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and walked away.

    Several nearby people watching the crowd pointed at her and she heard someone say faintly, ¡°I don¡¯t know where this madwoman came from, she¡¯s quite pitiful.¡±

    ¡°Shall we call the police? Let the police find her family for her. Her family must be anxious that she¡¯s running around alone.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked and yelled at them, ¡°I¡¯m not crazy.¡± She walked away hurriedly. She didn¡¯t want them to call the police, what if the police sent her back to Pei Ziheng? She had just managed to escape after many difficulties, she didn¡¯t want to experience those dark days of imprisonment again.

    She huddled under the overpass and slept there for a night in hunger.

    She woke up the next day and her hunger was even worse. Her stomach was burning and pain pumped through her.

    She had to do something to not let herself starve to death. She dragged her tired body along the bustling streets. There was a huge billboard on the street with her advertisement for a famous perfume brand. At that time, she had been so proud and hadughed gleefully, thinking she was devastatingly beautiful as if all the beauty in the world was beneath her. But now? She hadn¡¯t changed her clothes nor taken a bath, and she was ufortable all over. She was so hungry she almost lost her strength to walk.

    The food stalls on the street advertised for recruitment.

    It said: The monthly sry is two thousand yuan, and it includes meals and lodging.

    She looked at the simplistic note and suddenly thought to herself that if she hadn¡¯t met Pei Ziheng when she was twelve, maybe, when she had grown up, left the orphanage and stepped into the society, she would be doing this kind of job. She walked into the store and staggered around in the crowded diner full of customers and busy waiters. She finally found a waiter who seemed a little leisure. She hurriedly asked, ¡°Are you recruiting waiters here?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The diner was too noisy and the waiter couldn¡¯t hear her.

    Xia Ling had to raise her volume. ¡°Are you recruiting waiters here?¡± Several diners who were eating looked at her, a mix of sympathy and a secret superiority in their eyes.

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t care about all these. She endured her hunger and waited for the waiter to reply.

    The waiter looked at her in disbelief. ¡°Are you sure you can do this?¡±

    Even though she had escaped in a frail state and had wandered the streets alone, a person pampered for more than ten years couldn¡¯t deceive people. The girl standing there was obviously a delicately prettydy, slim and weak,pletely different from those who did tough work.

    In other words, at first nce it was obvious she was a different species.

    Xia Ling hurriedly said, ¡°I can do it! I can do it! I can take all kinds of hardship, really!¡±

    The waiter shrugged and pointed her in one direction. ¡°Go to the kitchen and find Sister Cui, she¡¯s responsible for recruiting.¡± Although he didn¡¯t believe she could be left behind, the diner was too busy and he was impatient with her meddling, so he left to do his own thing quickly.

    Xia Ling went to the kitchen. It was full of smells and was hot and smoky.

    She only stepped in and the smoke overwhelmed her. She almost spat it out, but finally managed to hold back. She asked several people before finally finding that Sister Cui. Sister Cui was tall and broad and her face was oily and sweaty. She looked at her critically. ¡°Waiters have to be quick on their feet and able to bear hardships. They must even endure scolding from the customers, can you do it?¡±

    ¡°I can!¡± she said quickly.

    ¡°Then try it,¡± Sister Cui said. ¡°The monthly sry is two thousand yuan, and it includes meals and lodging. If you break any tes, it will be deducted from your sry. You¡¯re on duty today. Take off your sunsses, waiters don¡¯t wear this. You look like a monster.¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°Can¡¯t I wear my sunsses?¡±

    ¡°Why, do you think you¡¯re a big star?¡± Sister Cui snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re a princess if you¡¯re already here.¡±

    Xia Ling stood there for a long time and pondered over it. ¡°Then... forget it.¡± She walked out in disappointment. She was not an ordinary person. If she was, then she would take off her sunsses and serve the customers as a waiter. But if she were to take off her sunsses, she was afraid that she would cause several blocks in the vicinity to have an unprecedented blockage. She only wanted to live quietly and didn¡¯t want to cause any sensational news nor reveal her whereabouts to Pei Ziheng.

    She looked reluctantly at the food in the food stalls, but resisted her hunger and walked away.

    She found a few more recruiting stalls but the results were the same. They either dismissed her for being too weak or asked her to take off her sunsses.

    At sunset, she still did not find a job.

    She hadn¡¯t eaten for two days and her eyes were dizzy. Even her walk was light and groggy.

    No, she must find something to eat no matter what, she couldn¡¯t just starve to death here. How would the news report it? <After running away from home, Queen Xia Ling starved to death on the streets>? She didn¡¯t want to be theughing stock of the world.

 Chapter 1117 - Temporary Accommodation

    <h4>Chapter 1117: Temporary Amodation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was so dizzy her eyes dimmed.

    She followed a child with ice cream and walked into an unfamiliar neighborhood unknowingly.

    The ice cream looked so delicious. The snow-white sweetyers piled up like a pagoda of snow, dotted with crimson lovely cherries, and she thought it would be extremely delicious. She swallowed her saliva and recalled the many high-end ice cream she had eaten over the years and her stomach emitted a grumbling sound.

    The child¡¯s mother watched her alertly and quickly took the child away.

    Xia Ling stood awkwardly at the same spot and was at a loss.

    Where should she go, what should she eat?

    Just then, she heard a call meow, and a wild cat skipped lightly in front of her and padded not far ahead. Not far away was a small open space, and a very old grandmother was bending down, pouring out a bag full of cat food and looking lovingly at the group of wild cats at her feet.

    ¡°Eat, eat.¡± The old grandma smiled pitifully. ¡°You poor little guys, eat more, the weather is getting colder and it¡¯s getting harder to find food. You have to remember toe here every day, grandma will bring you cat food every day.¡± The wild cats meowed and a few of them arched their bodies gently against the grandma.

    The grandmother was very happy. She talked to them for a while, then turned and slowly walked away.

    Xia Ling looked at the cat food on the open space and the feeling of extreme hunger came back. In the past, when she had raised a cat before, she had secretly bitten the cat food and tasted it mischievously. Back then, she had frowned and spit it out, but now, it seemed like a delicacy to her. With uncontrolled movements, she walked to the wild cat¡¯s eating ce and while nobody was noticing, she quickly grabbed a handful of the catnip and stuffed it into her mouth.

    It was a little hard, a bit like a cookie.

    It wasn¡¯t tasty, but the unique aroma filled her mouth and she couldn¡¯t wait to eat more.

    She reached out to grab it, but this action angered the wild cats. The cat closest to her meowed fiercely and used its sharp ws to scratch her. She felt a pain in the back of her hand, and a long blood mark appeared on her soft and delicate skin. ¡°Ah!¡± She screamed softly in pain.

    The catnip on the ground was not a lot.

    But she couldn¡¯t care much. She only knew that if she were to miss this meal, she didn¡¯t know when her next meal would be. She used two hands to grab the catnip and hurriedly pushed it into her mouth.

    More wild cats were irritated and jumped up and scratched at her with their ws. Her cheeks and neck were marked with wounds, and it was so painful she wanted to cry, but she had to endure the pain and continue to grab the catnip that originally belonged to the cats. The wild cats were unrelenting and wanted to tear up this bad woman who dared to snatch their food.

    Xia Ling covered her head with one arm, and a few holes were torn through her coat, making her look extremely fragile.

    She was anxious to eat, and the wild cats attacked her more anxiously and densely. For a moment she had an illusion. Would she be killed by wild cats here today? What a strange way to die...

    She thought bitterly.

    Suddenly, an old voice sounded up. ¡°Don¡¯t fight, don¡¯t fight, go away, go away!¡±

    The wild cats on her body gradually dissipated, and the pain also subsided. Xia Ling looked up a little and saw that the old grandmother who had just fed the cat was back. She looked down pitifully at her.

    ¡°Whose child is this?¡± She knelt down in pity and helped Xia Ling arrange her messy hair. ¡°Why are you fighting for food with the cats? Good child, are you starving?¡±

    Hearing the grandma¡¯s kind tone, her tears fell down her cheeks and she nodded.

    ¡°Where is your family?¡± the old grandma asked in distress.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t have a family,¡± Xia Ling said in tears.

    ¡°Sigh, what a disaster.¡± The grandma thought for a moment. ¡°Girl, it¡¯s toote today. If you don¡¯t mind, why don¡¯t you stay a night at my house? Take a hot bath and grandma will make you a delicious meal.¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect such a good thing to fall upon herself. In the past few days, she had been disheartened from wandering hopelessly and suffering supercilious looks. But now, her spirit was revived and she asked with enthusiasm, ¡°Is it really okay?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± The grandma smiled and led her to her house. ¡°My partner died early, so I live alone. My children onlye to see me when they are on holiday, so I am usually very lonely. I can onlye here and feed the cats every day, and only they can talk to me. It¡¯s great that you¡¯re staying as a guest in my house.¡±

    Xia Ling was relieved and followed the grandma.

    It was a room on the first floor of the residential area. Once inside, a strange smell wafted around.

    Xia Ling instinctively blocked her nose.

    The old grandma smiled apologetically at her. ¡°The house is a little messy, you¡¯ll have to endure it. I have adopted a lot of wandering little guys, so the smell is inevitable. But you can rest assured, they¡¯re all very good and won¡¯t bite you.¡±

    Xia Ling realized now that there were at least a dozen cats in the house¡ªsome were big, some were small. They were either ying catch or cuddled up in a corner of the house asleep. ¡°So many cats,¡± she whispered.

    The grandma said, ¡°These cats are very pitiful. They don¡¯t eat enough outside and climb into the exhaust pipe of the car to get warm in the winter; it¡¯s easy to die. There are always people who abuse cats. I have brought back all the pregnant, old and sick ones, and a few beautiful and tterings one. They have been sterilized and drove the insects away. It is also considered a home for them to have a good-hearted person to adopt them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so good to them,¡± Xia Ling said.

    She had always liked small animals. At the time, she forgot her hunger and squatted down to y with a little cat with a milky coat who was just a few months old. The little cat seemed to like her very much and meowed softly, licking her hand in a friendly manner.

    When the grandma saw she was good to the cats, she gave her a little more goodwill. She cooked a bowl of tomato and egg noodles and gave her a hot steaming meal. ¡°Hurry and eat it while it¡¯s hot, see if it suits your appetite.¡±

    Her cooking was average. If it had been a month ago, she wouldn¡¯t have eaten it. But now, she had endured hunger for a few days and found this bowl of tomato egg noodles to be a rare human delicacy. She ate it all quickly and felt morefortable with food in her stomach. ¡°Thank you.¡± She thanked her sincerely.

    The grandma saw that she loved it and was very happy. She also said, ¡°My family niece liked this bowl of noodles when she was a child too and always ate a big bowl. But sadly, she¡¯s married now and doesn¡¯te back often. Girl, you can sleep in her room tonight. Go take a shower and change into her pajamas.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xia Ling showed a smile.

    This was the first time she has smiled after learning about the engagement news of Pei Ziheng and Wang Jingwan.

    For a long time, she only wanted a home. The crystal cage that Pei Ziheng had given her was broken, and it was only now that she was in the dpidated little house of the grandma did she feel the taste of home.

 Chapter 1118 - This Is Domestic Abuse

    <h4>Chapter 1118: This Is Domestic Abuse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The old grandma turned the water heater on for her and tested it.

    The bathroom was old and narrow and it took themp a few flickers before shining dimly. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t used to such a ce, but she was already counting herself lucky to be able to find a safe ce for now. Without aint, she removed her dirty high-ss clothing, revealing her fair skin beneath.

    She looked in the mirror at herself.

    On the fair canvas were patches of purple and green. Some were the wounds from having been beaten while others were traces of aggression left by Pei Ziheng when he vited her. Seeing them brought back all the horrific memories, making it all too hard to breathe.

    She went pale as a sheet and took some time beforeposing herself and murmuring, ¡°Xia Ling, it¡¯s all over now, you¡¯ve escaped. You¡¯ll never have to go through such torture again.¡± But that didn¡¯t stop her from feeling devastated. She used to admire and respect him so much, but in just a month or so, everything changed.

    She squatted in the bathroom for a long time as she wrapped her arms around herself. A long timeter, she finally turned on the tap and allowed the warm water toe into contact with her battered skin.

    The warmth of the water stung.

    And it felt like this was probably the only way to numb herself from the pain in her heart.

    She washed for a pretty long time before turning the tap off and toweling herself dry.

    The old grandma knocked on the door from the outside. ¡°Miss, are you done showering? I¡¯ll bring you some clothes.¡±

    She pushed the bathroom door open before Xia Ling even responded. With no time to cover herself up, Xia Ling stood there, bare-bodied, in front of the old grandma. The old grandma looked at her in shock, even her hand was shaking. ¡°Oh gosh, Miss, you...¡±

    She touched her own face and remembered that she¡¯d removed her sunsses when she showered. She¡¯d revealed her pretty face, one that was famous enough to be recognized by almost anyone. Slightly ufortable with the current situation, Xia Ling said, ¡°Granny, you recognize me? Don¡¯t let anyone know I¡¯m here...¡±

    But the old grandma simply asked shakily, ¡°Miss, how did all these bruisese about?¡±

    Xia Ling was momentarily stunned.

    The warm water had felt so good, she¡¯d forgotten about the wounds on her body. At this point, she had no idea what to say, and they stood silently looking at each other. But the old grandma reacted first and handed her the clean clothes. ¡°Put these on first, we¡¯ll talk out here instead.¡±

    Xia Ling dressed very slowly.

    The clothes belonged to the old grandma¡¯s daughter. The soft cotton against her skin felt soft and cozy. With thefort of the outfit, her emotions felt a lot more at ease and stable as well. She walked out when she was done and said to the old grandma, ¡°He did this.¡±

    She did not mention who.

    But sometimes, three words were all it took for women to understand each other. The old grandma looked at her with sympathy and love. ¡°What a beast! Is that why you can¡¯t go home?¡±

    Xia Ling quietly said, ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°Poor girl...¡± The old grandma said. ¡°Make a police report. I¡¯ll go to the police station with you and tell them about this domestic abuse. He¡¯ll be punished by them!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point.¡± Xia Ling gave a sad smile. Pei Ziheng was so powerful, it wouldn¡¯t take much for him to free himself from the police. Moreover, making a police report was akin to revealing her whereabouts to him.

    But the old grandma misunderstood her concerns and sighed. ¡°You¡¯re right, there¡¯s only so much the police and authorities can do. They can¡¯t possibly guarantee your safety forever.¡±

    On second thought, she added, ¡°Miss, get a divorce with him.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s voice was even softer now. ¡°We aren¡¯t married.¡±

    It felt like a stab to the chest as the pain spread all over her.

    The old grandma looked at her for a while before saying, ¡°Such a sin... Miss, if you don¡¯t mind my ce, you can put up here for now. You¡¯re still young, you¡¯ll be able to live a good life even without him. You can move out of here when you¡¯ve found a better ce to rest.¡±

    Xia Ling was taken aback by her kindness. ¡°I¡¯m already very grateful that you¡¯re willing to put me up for a night. I¡¯ll be too embarrassed to stay any longer.¡±

    But the old grandma said, ¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? You don¡¯t have a ce to rest now, and you can¡¯t possibly return to that ce! Miss, what¡¯s your job, where are your parents? How could your parents not know that you¡¯ve escaped from that man? What about your rtives or friends, I can help you contact them.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her, slightly shocked. ¡°You don¡¯t know who I am?¡±

    The old grandma was confused. ¡°Should I know who you are?¡±

    Xia Ling paused for a moment before realizing that this old grandma probably hadn¡¯t been updated about the entertainment circle in years. She didn¡¯t even recognize this globally acknowledged Diva! But this was good too, she could now be assured that nobody woulde looking for her in this hiding ce. With that thought, she smiled a little and said to the old grandma, ¡°I¡¯m Xiao Ling. If you don¡¯t mind me as a hindrance, I¡¯ll be here for a while.¡±

    The old grandma couldn¡¯t possibly mind her presence.

    The elderly who lived alone often felt lonely and abandoned, it was really nice to have apanion.

    Every morning, the old grandma would get groceries and prepare a meal while Xia Ling stayed home to apany the cats and clean the house clumsily. After lunch, they would drink some tea and have a chat before the old grandma left to feed the wild cats while she did the dishes at home. She¡¯d never done such chores before and was doing a subpar job, but the old grandma wasn¡¯t unhappy with her in any way. Instead, she smiled and said, ¡°Girls these days don¡¯t have to do much house chores at home. It¡¯s good enough that you have the thought. Miss, take a break, I¡¯ll take over from here.¡±

    But Xia Ling stubbornly continued to help out.

    Since she was already troubling her by staying at her ce, it¡¯d be too much if she simply put up for free.

    The old grandma said, ¡°If you really want to help out, why don¡¯t youe out with me to feed the cats? There are a few spots around here that the wild cats like to visit, it¡¯ll be hard for me to carry all that feed out.¡±

    Xia Ling agreed to it.

    She put on her sunsses and covered herself in the old grandma¡¯s daughter¡¯s old scarf before leaving the house.

    The old grandma looked at her oddly. ¡°It isn¡¯t sunny out today, why the sunsses?¡±

    She was closer to the old grandma now after spending much time together. After some thought, she said, ¡°M-My identity is a little special, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll be recognized by others if I don¡¯t put this on.¡±

    ¡°Special? Are you a princess?¡± The old grandma teased her. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so beautiful, are you really a princess? Which country have youe from?¡±

    Xia Ling smiled upon hearing this.

    As good as their rtionship was, she couldn¡¯t help but feel bad about putting up at her ce without paying for food or rental. That day, she decided to take off her diamond earrings and hand it to the old grandma. ¡°Keep this, just take it as my amodation and meal fees for this period.¡±

    The old grandma got a shock and hurriedly declined. ¡°This isn¡¯t cheap, right? I can¡¯t ept this. Xiao Ling, you¡¯re here as a form ofpany for me too. Although I¡¯m not well-off, I can still afford to feed one more person, it¡¯s not a problem. Keep these earrings for yourself.¡±

 Chapter 1119 - The Shrew Next Door

    <h4>Chapter 1119: The Shrew Next Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    But Xia Ling insisted on giving it to her.

    The old grandma didn¡¯t manage to decline it and hence, kept it. She decided that she was just temporarily safekeeping it for Xia Ling, and would discreetly return it to her when she left. Over the next few days, everything was calm and peaceful and the old grandma brought home a few more cats in need of care. One of them had a broken leg after being run over by a car and required help changing its bandage regrly.

    Xia Ling stayed home to take care of them.

    When the old grandma went out to feed the cats one day, she said to Xia Ling, ¡°Open the windows for venttion while there are few people around. When the neighbors are back, we¡¯ll close them again. There¡¯s a smell in the house from all the cats that live with us, the neighbors won¡¯t like it.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and opened the windows.

    There was indeed a smell in the house¡ªone that was inevitable when many animals congregated. The old grandma was already very conscientious when it came to hygiene in the house; she cleaned up every day and picked appropriate times to ventte the ce, but still could not eradicate the issue. The neighbors weren¡¯t very nice about it, but each time, the old grandma would simply apologize with a sad smile.

    Seeing her open the windows this time, the neighbors voiced their objections again.

    ¡°You people who own cats, don¡¯t you have any consideration for others?¡± Their living room window was diagonally facing the neighbor¡¯s courtyard, where an angry woman was standing in. She was pointing at their window and yelling, ¡°It smells so bad, how are we supposed to live with this? The old woman can barely feed herself, and she has the heart to think of feeding cats and dogs?!¡±

    Her mean words were crystal clear to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t as nice to mess with as the old grandma was. Having lived here for a while, she¡¯d figured out that the neighbor had objections no matter what time of the day they opened the windows. She put on her sunsses and sneered at that woman through the window. ¡°The council has alreadye and said that this smell is alright! It doesn¡¯t affect anyone¡¯s life! What else do you want?! Granny is just too nice to give in to you all the time. If you go on, I¡¯ll open the windows all day to anger you! I¡¯ll put their litter tray on the window ledge! You can smell it for as long as you want!¡±

    Thedy did not expect her to rebut and was now trembling with anger. ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot to say, huh? Where did youe from? Are you that damned olddy¡¯s distant rtive? I bet you don¡¯t even have a house or registered permanent residence in City S, and you think you have the right to talk to me this way!¡± City S was a higher-end and more extravagant city, and a few of the locals here despised foreigners who did not own a house or an official permanent residence. As such, they often subconsciously disyed their sense of superiority when getting into arguments with others.

    Xia Ling was a little taken aback. She was from City S too, but at her status, she¡¯d never heard anyone unting their wealth with property ownership or registered residence before. Who knew that just owning a house called for a big deal? Even so, she could tell that the neighbor was actually being arrogant and condescending.

    Hence, she sneered. ¡°What¡¯s so good about having a house and registered permanent residence, haven¡¯t you ended up in the house beside ours anyway? If you¡¯re so capable, move into a vi instead! Golden Sands Coast, Red Brick Garden or Moonlight Courtyard! Which district can you afford? Oh, sorry, I bet you haven¡¯t even heard of these ces before; do you need me to take you there for some exposure?!¡± She always had a way to trigger others when in a fight.

    As she¡¯d guessed, the homemaker from next door was going hysterical with anger. She didn¡¯t expect that the property and registered residence that she¡¯d been so proud of would be so unworthy in someone else¡¯s eyes. But she wouldn¡¯t back down. ¡°Don¡¯t you think too highly of yourself! Making it sound as if you can afford to live there! If you could, would you be squeezing in that tiny house with a damned olddy and some smelly cats? Do you actually think you¡¯re a princess? What a joke!¡±

    Xia Ling was caught off guard for a moment.

    Oh, how she wanted to shove her title deeds of those vis in that fat woman¡¯s face. But she couldn¡¯t. Since she¡¯d left Pei Ziheng, she had nothing now. All the extravagance and luxury she lived in was a thing of the past.

    There was an ache in her heart.

    The neighbor grinned with delight. ¡°Cat got your tongue? Oh slut, you¡¯re just as dirty and pitiful as those cats, being taken in by the damned olddy. Hurry and close the windows for her!¡± Xia Ling had been living here for a while now, and the old grandma had been telling others that she was a distant rtive settling some matters in City S. As such, the neighbors believed that she really was a poor distant rtive from a foreignnd.

    Xia Ling looked at her quietly, unwilling to expend any more energy yelling at her.

    There was more than just one way to get back at one¡¯s enemy, anyway. She gave a sly smile before getting the cat litter tray and cing it onto the window ledge. She then got an electric fan, put it beside the litter tray and directed it at the neighbor. A strong stench instantly traveled to her courtyard, and the woman almost went insane.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± She red at her

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°Old Granny has been too nice to you. She opens the windows when few people are around, and even hand you fruits and gifts as an apology. Moreover, the smell isn¡¯t even that strong, it doesn¡¯t affect anyone¡¯s lives at all. You¡¯re just bullying her because you think she¡¯s timid! But I¡¯m not the same.¡± Given that the old grandma had helped her at her lowest point, she¡¯d always wanted to speak up for her and put that woman in her ce. As the old grandma and Xia Ling did their cleaning religiously every day, the smell was indeed rather faint¡ªalthough Xia Ling wasn¡¯t used to living in such an environment in the first couple of days, she had gotten used to it by now. She wouldn¡¯t believe that the woman next door had lived a better life than her before.

    But that shrew was still furious. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    ¡°Why, you want to kill someone?¡± Xia Ling burst intoughter.

    ¡°You!¡± The shrew went back in and filled a basin of water to ssh at their window, but Xia Ling was quick-witted and shut the windows just in time. When she was done, Xia Ling opened the windows again and smiled. ¡°Well, you can ssh some more. We¡¯ll see who gets tired first.¡± She stood at the window grinning arrogantly.

    The shrew screamed and cursed but could not do anything about Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling watched her ¡°performance¡± for a while before she went back in. Knowing that she was tired of arguing, Xia Ling took the litter tray down and went back in as well.

    A whileter, the old grandma was back.

    The moment she entered, she sighed at Xia Ling. ¡°Child, why did you end up arguing with Cuiyu next door again? It¡¯ll be alright if we each take a step back. As neighbors, harmony is key.¡±

    Xia Ling went up to her smilingly and helped her to the couch. ¡°Granny, you¡¯re too kind, that¡¯s why she¡¯s been picking on you. But don¡¯t worry, with me around, no one¡¯s allowed to bully you.¡±

 Chapter 1120 - Taekwondo Black Belt

    <h4>Chapter 1120: Taekwondo ck Belt</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The old grandma tried to advise her against it but knew that it was almost impossible to change her mind.

    Xia Ling continued to bicker with that shrew every once in a while. She was quick-witted and always found a way to leave her fuming mad.

    Unable to thumb Xia Ling down, Cuiyu found trouble with the old grandma instead. On one day, the old grandma was carrying a bag of cat food home after feeding them outside when she bumped into Cuiyu. Cuiyu deliberately knocked into the old grandma with force, causing her to fall, and the cat food to spill all over.

    ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going!¡± Cuiyu yelled with arms akimbo. ¡°You¡¯ve dirtied this ce with your cat food! If I find bugs around here in the next few days, I¡¯ll definitelye looking for you! How inconsiderate!¡±

    The old grandma knew that she was simply venting her unhappiness of Xia Ling, and decided to just let it go by apologizing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Cuiyu. I was too careless, I¡¯ll clean this up soon.¡±

    Seeing that she was giving in, Cuiyu became even bolder and began spouting ugly words at the old grandma. Her loud and clear voice got several others to gather out of curiosity. Someone advised her. ¡°Cuiyu, forget it. Granny Zhao has a tough life alone, just let her off.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is it?¡± Cuiyu got angry at that person as well. ¡°This damned olddy is living beside me, not you! You don¡¯t know how dirty her cats are, she¡¯s dirtying every other house on the first floor! Otherwise, where else would the bugs and roaches in my house havee from?!¡±

    She was a renowned shrew in the area and was known to be utterly unreasonable. The neighbors soon gave up trying to offer any advice. But with no one stopping her, she felt all the better going on with her yelling.

    The old grandma did not retaliate. She simply apologized profusely. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Themotion got to Xia Ling and she walked out to have a look. Upon seeing the scene, rage surged inside her. So many people were standing around a frail olddy as she was being yelled at by the shrew Cuiyu, and yet no one went forward to help. The old grandmother was sitting on the floor, evidently distressed.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t think any further before charging through the crowd and getting to the old grandma. Her heart ached as she helped the old grandma up. ¡°Granny, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?¡± She began looking up and down the old grandma, wondering if there were injuries.

    The old grandma struggled to get up. Afraid she¡¯d get worried, she simply said, ¡°I¡¯m fine, Xiao Ling, just help me back into the house.¡±

    Fine? She was barely walking straight.

    Xia Ling was furious and upset. She turned around and shouted at Cuiyu, ¡°Are you blind? Don¡¯t you know how to respect elders? I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re being so righteous after knocking into someone, you really are a shrew!¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a shrew!¡± Cuiyu yelled. She was slightly terrified by how fierce Xia Ling looked, but upon remembering that she was just a poor foreigner, she regained her confidence. ¡°She was the one who knocked onto me! Don¡¯t you spin tales! You¡¯re already in the wrong for rearing cats and being a hindrance to the rest of us!¡±

    Xia Ling snapped back with pointed words. ¡°Don¡¯te ming us for the bugs in your house! We don¡¯t even have them in our own! Just how dirty is your ce? You¡¯re an adult, but you¡¯re dirtier than a cat!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± The neighbors standing around couldn¡¯t help butugh. Where was this girl from? She sure had a way with people! Cuiyu certainly needed to be taught a lesson for all the havoc she caused all the time.

    Hearing theughter, Cuiyu flushed with anger. ¡°Slut, who are you calling names now!¡±

    ¡°Your whole family are sluts! Dirty bugs!¡± Xia Ling wouldn¡¯t back down.

    ¡°You slut, I¡¯ll fight it out with you!¡± Cuiyu was so mad, she charged at Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling was holding onto the old grandma, but seeing that she wasing straight at her, she instinctively shielded the old grandma with her body. Cuiyu scratched her on her face and neck, leaving clear traces of blood. She¡¯d almost knocked her sunsses off too.

    Xia Ling broke out in cold sweat. If she was identified by them, she wouldn¡¯t even be able to live here any longer! But after that moment of panic was intense fury¡ªshe let go of the old grandma and gave Cuiyu a tight p on the face. It was a swift and forceful one, sending Cuiyu spinning for a half-round as her cheek swelled.

    ¡°That¡¯s for hitting me!¡± Xia Ling pointed a finger at her face. ¡°I can punch you to death!¡±

    Cuiyu was in shock. She didn¡¯t expect that a petite little girl would be so strong. She looked at her in disbelief for a split second before snapping back to her senses. ¡°I¡¯ll fight it out with you!¡±

    She went for Xia Ling again. ¡°I, Liu Cuiyu, have never been hit by anyone in my life!¡±

    But Xia Ling wasn¡¯t afraid of her. Seeing how unprepared and clumsy she looked, it didn¡¯t take many moves for Xia Ling to knock her to the ground. ¡°I forgot to tell you, I have a ck belt in taekwondo.¡± Xia Ling eyed Liu Cuiyu condescendingly and coldly as shey on the ground. ¡°If you pull such underhand means again, I¡¯ll hit you each time I see you.¡±

    With that, Xia Ling helped the old grandma back into the house, leaving Liu Cuiyu fuming with hatred.

    The old grandma sat on the couch, slightly shaken. ¡°Xiao Ling, let Granny take a look at the wound on your face. You¡¯re so beautiful, it¡¯ll be bad if it leaves a scar.¡±

    Xia Ling removed her sunsses and looked at herself in the mirror. She then squatted before the old grandma with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Granny. It¡¯s nothing serious, I¡¯ll be fine with some ointment.¡± Her face was indeed worth a lot. If it left a permanent scar, the shrewd Liu Cuiyu wouldn¡¯t be able topensate even with all her assets. Liu Cuiyu should count herself lucky this time.

    The old grandma sighed. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have let her have her way? We¡¯re going to be neighbors for a long time, it won¡¯t be good if our rtionships are strained.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°She isn¡¯t even worried about straining rtionships, so why should we be? Granny, you¡¯ve been too nice for too long, that¡¯s why she¡¯s picking on you.¡± She then added, ¡°Are you hurt anywhere, though? I¡¯ll take you to the hospital tomorrow for a checkup.¡±

    The old grandma said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Anyway, I feel much better knowing that you¡¯ve got good self-defense skills. Xiao Ling, what were you saying about the... ck belt? Does that mean you¡¯re very good?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the taekwondo ck belt.¡± Xia Ling smiled and exined to the old grandma, ¡°That¡¯s right, it means that we can protect ourselves, and Liu Cuiyu isn¡¯t a match for us.¡± Ever since she became Pei Ziheng¡¯s woman, she¡¯d had to learn some self-defense tactics, mainly for precautionary measures in the event of an abduction or the like. In fact, she wasn¡¯t all that good. She was only a red belt holder, not a ck belt one yet, but that was good enough to scare that shrew.

 Chapter 1121 - Poisoned to Death

    <h4>Chapter 1121: Poisoned to Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The old grandma felt more relieved now.

    She was a lone girl going about on her own, it was always good to have some self-defense skills.

    The two of them chatted for a while more before getting busy¡ªdoing chores, cleaning the cat tray, washing the clothes and preparing the next meal. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t able to do the difficult chores, so her main job was to y with the cats, change their food and drink andb their fur. From the way the cats bounced around her, it was evident that they werefortable with her and liked her presence. Her mood was lifted too and she decided to open the windows for some fresh air. This time, there wasn¡¯t any yellinging from Liu Cuiyu¡¯s backyard.

    Xia Ling thought she¡¯d won.

    Who knew that the next day, what followed was revenge.

    In the morning when the old grandma was leaving the house, she let out a shrill cry before falling backward onto the floor in shock.

    Xia Ling rushed out of the bedroom to take a look, and was taken aback by the scene before her¡ªsomeone had hung a decapitated cat before their main door; the organs were hanging out of it as a pool of blood puddled beneath. The cat¡¯s eyes were directly facing them.

    The old grandma trembled with fear and began sobbing.

    Xia Ling was horrified too. She¡¯d never seen such a grotesque scene before and had to hold the wall for support as she puked.

    She hadn¡¯t had breakfast, so all that came out of her was some bile. When she was done, she struggled to straighten up before going to help the old grandma. ¡°Grandma, don¡¯t look, don¡¯t look.¡± Her lips were still quivering when she said this gently and firmly. She then covered the old grandma¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Go in and rest, I¡¯ll handle this.¡±

    She helped the olddy up and walked her to her bedroom.

    She mustered her courage and returned to the scene of the dead cat. Who¡¯d be so immoral and cruel? The cat had died a terrible death, its abdomen was cut open and one of its pupils was missing as well. Xia Ling began tearing up, and she didn¡¯t even know if it was from fright or sadness. She thought about how different things would¡¯ve been if this happened while she was at Pei Ziheng¡¯s ce. All she would¡¯ve needed to do was to scream and run away, and a group of people would definitely help her clean up the mess.

    But this time, she couldn¡¯t do just that.

    There was only her and the old grandma at home now; she had to do it herself.

    She found an old rag to hold the cat as she took it down. It was furry and stiff, and Xia Ling felt extremely disturbed by its texture in her hands. She felt like she needed to puke again.

    She tossed the cat into a bag and then took a mop and a pail of water to remove the bloodstains at the door. Tears streamed down her cheeks silently as she mopped the floor.

    The neighbor¡¯s door opened.

    Liu Cuiyu stood at the door and gave her an odd look. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re mopping the floor so early in the morning? It¡¯s so cold and you¡¯re making the area so wet, that¡¯s not good! Ugh, how did I get so unlucky to have neighbors like you?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s head swiveled towards her and gave her an angry re.

    The fire in her eyes had Liu Cuiyu frightened for a while. But it didn¡¯t take her long to regain herposure and give a smile. ¡°What¡¯s the re about? Aren¡¯t you so capable, why are you mopping the floor and crying so pitifully out here? Did something actually die here? It stinks.¡± She gave a look of disdain and pinched her nose.

    Seeing the hint of joy in her eyes, Xia Ling suddenly understood what was going on. ¡°It was you who hung the dead cat at our door.¡± She threw the mop aside and red at Liu Cuiyu ferociously. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Liu Cuiyu was so afraid, she went back to hiding in her house. With the door as her shield now, she yelled at Xia Ling, ¡°Don¡¯t use me! Whatever cat you¡¯re talking about, I haven¡¯t seen it!¡± She then startedughing. ¡°What¡¯s the point of rearing cats? You¡¯re ruining their lives and yours!¡±

    It was definitely her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s hands and feet went cold. She¡¯d thought that this neighbor was just an unreasonable shrew but never expected her to be this cruel. ¡°The cat didn¡¯t offend you, why did you have to kill it?¡±

    Liu Cuiyu sneered. ¡°Let me tell you, you slut. If you don¡¯t behave appropriately, you¡¯ll continue getting your retribution!¡± She couldn¡¯t fight it out with Xia Ling, but surely the cats were an easy target? Well, it was on the slut for hitting her in front of so many people! It was so embarrassing! In the past, she¡¯d let the cats off on ount of the old grandma giving her fruits and apologizing all the time. But now, with Xia Ling finding trouble with her so often, how could she let them have their way so easily?!

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯ll receive retribution,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Liu Cuiyuughed hysterically behind the door.

    Xia Ling continued mopping the floor and the tears came flowing again. Had she done something wrong? If she¡¯d allowed Liu Cuiyu to have her way screaming about yesterday, would the cat still be alive then? But Liu Cuiyu had gone overboard, she¡¯d only get worse if no one stopped her! The old grandma was already so advanced in age, she couldn¡¯t bear to see her getting bullied by Liu Cuiyu for the rest of time.

    At that moment, Xia Ling¡¯s mind was a mess.

    She didn¡¯t know how long she¡¯d been mopping the floor for when someone patted her on the shoulder lightly. ¡°Xiao Ling, be a good girl, don¡¯t cry.¡± It was the old grandma¡¯s voice. After the blow she had had, she was worried about Xia Ling and had to see how she was doing. ¡°I heard everything you and Liu Cuiyu said just now. I didn¡¯t expect her to be this evil. It¡¯s not your fault, don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    Xia Ling sniffed hard. Afraid that the old grandma would be worried, she responded, ¡°Mm-hmm.¡±

    They were both in low spirits as they cleaned up the ce and looked for a shoebox for the cat. They lined the box with several sheets of cloth and ced the cat into the makeshift coffin. Only after securing it with a ribbon did they ce it into the trash bin. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we couldn¡¯t even find a ce to bury you.¡± Xia Ling looked at the dustbin and choked on her words. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll have a better life.¡±

    COMMENT

    The old grandma was wiping tears as well.

    They took the whole morning to gather their emotions andpose themselves. In the afternoon, they went about their regr business to feed the cats, but found that there was more to uncover¡ªthere were significantly fewer stray cats that hade for food, and among those that came, a number of them sounded weak. What was going on? They didn¡¯t have a good feeling about this.

    One of the cats meowed and tugged at the old grandma¡¯s pants, signaling for her to follow it.

    Both of them followed the cat and found that there were more dead cats in the green areas. Their bodies were all stiff and straight, and some had puked an unknown liquid. The old grandma¡¯s expression darkened instantly. She went forward to take a look, and then said to Xia Ling with a trembling voice, ¡°It¡¯s rat poison, someone left it here to poison the cats to death!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression turned cold too. She and the old grandma shared the same sentiment, they knew exactly who did it¡ª

    Liu Cuiyu.

    That woman was evil!

    ¡°I¡¯ll get more rat poisonter and kill her with it! She¡¯ll be buried with the cats!¡± Xia Ling was shaking with anger. She¡¯d been here for so many days and had formed bonds with the stray cats. Now, so many of them had died in such a short time, and it was all because of her. Why was it that everything that she loved and cherished crumbled in her hands?

    She turned around and headed for Liu Cuiyu¡¯s house furiously.

    The old grandma grabbed her. ¡°Don¡¯t be rash! It¡¯s illegal to kill someone! We can¡¯t do anything even if she killed them!¡±

 Chapter 1122 - Re-encountering Li Lei

    <h4>Chapter 1122: Re-encountering Li Lei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was agitated. ¡°It¡¯s not illegal to kill cats! So only I can avenge them!¡±

    The old grandma pulled her tighter and cried. ¡°Xiao Ling! You must not be impulsive! I¡¯m already sad enough to have so many cats die. If anything happens to you too, what should I do!¡±

    Xia Ling finally calmed down.

    She crouched down and hugged her old grandma¡¯s thin and frail body. The grievances that had umted these days came to her heart and she cried together with her grandma, tears falling like rivulets.

    ¡°The most important thing now,¡± said the grandma as she cried. ¡°is to gather the cats that are still alive and take them to the pet hospital for examination. What if they have identally taken the poison and ites into effectter?¡±

    Xia Ling wiped her tears and went home with her grandma to take a cage and a backpack. She put a few wild cats that didn¡¯t look veryfortable inside and sat on a car to the pet hospital.

    When she arrived at the hospital, she found that the door was closed.

    The guard said to them, ¡°The hospital is closed early today. Go to another hospital.¡±

    Xia Ling was too anxious. ¡°How could you close it early? Our cats have been poisoned by rat poison, and they might die if not treated on time! How could we go to another hospital and save them on time?¡± The kitten she was holding closed its eyes slowly and seemed to be taking shallow breaths and was even twitching a little.

    The guard was very sympathetic. ¡°The nearest Baoyun Pet Hospital is more than an hour away by car. Even if you get there, they might already be off duty. There¡¯s no other choice, this is life. VIPs came to our hospital today and the whole hospital has to amodate them, so even the reception is closed and the emergency department was stopped.¡±

    Pet hospitals were not like people¡¯s hospitals. Even if the emergency department stopped for a day, nobody wouldin.

    The grandma was dizzy with anxiety and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°What should we do...¡±

    Xia Ling was also anxious. She felt the kitten in her arms grow weaker and weaker, and her heart felt like it had been set on fire. But now was not the time to vent her emotions, so she clenched her teeth and acted decisively. ¡°I have to go to Baoyun Hospital to try anyway, otherwise there is no chance.¡±

    She turned around and brought her grandma along, nning to stop at Baoyun Hospital.

    Suddenly, someone behind them called, ¡°Please wait.¡±

    Xia Ling turned back and saw a tall and broad man standing in front. The muscles under his shirt were bulging out and he gave off a huge sense of oppression. The man said to her very politely, ¡°Lady, my young master has seen that you have met into some kind of trouble and has let me ask you if you need any help?¡±

    Xia Ling took two steps back with vignce. ¡°Who is your young master?¡±

    Her heart jumped madly inside, could it be that Pei Ziheng had found her?!

    The strong man smiled. ¡°My family¡¯s young master is Li Lei, he said you must have heard of him before.¡±

    Li Lei! Xia Ling had heard of him before, and her impression of him was very strong¡ªwasn¡¯t he the man who had driven her home the day she went to find Wang Jingwan to negotiate but was humiliated beyond salvation?

    The faint scent of sunlight and leather on his body still lingered on her nose.

    She didn¡¯t know why, he was clearly a stranger, but somehow, he made her heart feel settled in a strange way. She said to the man, ¡°My cats are dying soon and need immediate treatment. Please ask your family¡¯s young master to save them.¡±

    The strong man took the two cats from her as well as the cat cage from the grandma. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    After that, he took big steps and led them inside the hospital.

    The pet hospital had been closed, but it was a special trip for his young master¡ªLi Lei. The guards and security guards all recognized that he was Li Lei¡¯s bodyguard, so they brought them in without obstructing them. The bodyguard led them into the cat department immediately and several doctors jumped into action to treat the cats.

    Xia Ling had not had a breather until now, and she helped the grandma sit down in the corridor outside the clinic and wiped her forehead that was full of sweat. The grandma leaned on her and prattled on. ¡°Today we met a good person. If not for the young master letting us in, we don¡¯t know until when it would be dyed.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little tired and just smiled but didn¡¯t speak.

    Unexpectedly, a young man emerged in her mind¡ªhe had azy smile on his face, and his voice was low and blurry. When he talked, he gave off an unorganized ray of sunshine and a mysterious enticement that was hard to pinpoint.

    He was totally different from Pei Ziheng.

    Just as she was lost in her thoughts, she saw a young maning down the corridor. He stopped in front of her and said with azy smile on his face, ¡°Hi, we meet again.¡±

    Xia Ling looked up and saw Li Lei.

    Today, he was wearing a casual T-shirt, but the seemingly casual shirt was very expensive. He had a hand in his trouser pocket and looked very rxed.

    Xia Ling started admiring the beautiful man unconsciously, and she asked with some vignce, ¡°Do you know who I am?¡±

    In order to prevent being recognized, she had gone out wearing the old clothes left behind by the grandma¡¯s daughter. Now, she was wearing sunsses, a scarf, a coat with the cor perched high, and was fully covered. Nobody would think she would mix in as part of the ordinary people¡¯smunity, and nobody would even think she would throw the garbage personally and raise cats. So, all these days, even though she was a household name, nobody recognized who she really was.

    But how could Li Lei have found out?

    Li Lei smiled radiantly at him, then sat down beside her. ¡°I know who you are. When I was bringing Er Mao into the hospital, I already recognized you at first nce. No matter what, I still have a friendship with you from sending you home from the coffee shop.¡± He didn¡¯t directly expose her identity, perhaps taking note of the grandma beside them.

    But once he talked about the coffee shop, Xia Ling knew he had not mistaken her.

    Xia Ling was silent for a while before she said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much.¡± Li Lei was still smiling. He nodded slightly to the grandma beside her as a way of greeting. ¡°Why are you here, didn¡¯t Pei Ziheng say you were resting at home?¡±

    At the mention of this, Xia Ling¡¯s heart was sour and ufortable.

    She calmed down and whispered, ¡°Could you help me with something?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone I¡¯m here, don¡¯t tell anyone you saw me here, please.¡±

    Li Lei¡¯s eyes showed a hint of surprise, which slowly be understanding. ¡°Your inside story is moreplicated than I thought, right? You escaped.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t deny it.

    Li Lei said, ¡°What are your ns in the future? You can¡¯t hide for a lifetime.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little stunned. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She originally wanted to find a job to support herself, but she was a big star and her face couldn¡¯t be exposed to everyone, so she couldn¡¯t do most of the work in this world. Now, it was already not easy to live with grandma and have a proper meal, so she couldn¡¯t live there forever.

    Her eyes showed a hint of sorrow. ¡°I¡¯ll take each step and think.¡±

 Chapter 1123 - Limited Edition Sunglasses

    <h4>Chapter 1123: Limited Edition Sunsses</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There was silence in the corridor.

    The two were silent for a while, but the grandma sitting on the side broke the silence. ¡°Young master, why don¡¯t you help Xiao Ling? She¡¯s just a girl and it¡¯s not easy, she still has a long future ahead.¡±

    Xia Ling nced gratefully at the old grandma.

    Li Lei said, ¡°I will definitely help her. Xiao Ling, my invitation fromst time still stands. Come to Skyart Entertainment, our treatment would be better than Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Ling hesitated and thought about it, then said softly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to trouble you. Have you heard of Wang Jingwan¡¯s matter? Pei... he¡¯s convinced I was the murderer, and the Wang family is looking for me too.¡±

    Li Lei was a little surprised. ¡°Pei Ziheng came to find me a while ago just to investigate this matter, but I told him it was impossible for you to have done it. Why, he still doubts you?¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. ¡°He came to find you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lei smiled a little ridiculously. ¡°He asked me if I was your aplice. I thought he would wake up a little after that day, and find the real murderer.¡±

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    Li Lei recalled and told her the date.

    Xia Ling was shocked senseless for a while, then she said, ¡°I escaped not long after.¡± Had Pei Ziheng found the real murderer now? Or, was he still convinced she was the murderer and didn¡¯t even bother looking? Her thoughts were chaotic and her heart she thought had died started beating again.

    Li Lei surveyed her expression and said, ¡°I can help you inquire about thetest developments in this matter, and also protect you from his infringement. So, what do you think about Skyart? You are safe enough under my wings.¡±

    Indeed, going to Skyart Entertainment was the best choice.

    She was a big star and couldn¡¯t change her career, and Skyart Entertainment was not a small entertainmentpany. It was the onlypany in the whole entertainment industry that couldpete with Imperial Entertainment. Since she had already fallen out with Pei Ziheng, unless she wanted to hide for a lifetime and be unable to eat a proper meal, she could only choose Skyart Entertainment.

    ¡°Go.¡± The grandma also advised her. ¡°Xiao Ling, I know you¡¯re not an ordinary person. Your skin is so well maintained, and the way you talk and walk is so beautiful, you must have been pampered since young. You and this young master belong to the same world. Don¡¯t shortchange yourself, do what you want to do.¡±

    What she wanted to do?

    Her crystal world had copsed and there was nothing she wanted to do. However, she couldn¡¯t rely on grandma and live in her house forever. She pondered over it for a moment and said to Li Lei, ¡°We have many cats that have been poisoned. I¡¯ll help grandma settle this matter, and once the treatment is finished, I¡¯ll contact you.¡±

    Li Lei smiled slightly and his voice was very soft. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡±

    The cats were still in the treatment room, so Li Lei didn¡¯t leave and continued to sit with them.

    Xia Ling was a bit curious. ¡°Howe you are at a pet hospital? Do you have a pet at home?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Yes, I have a leopard. I took it for a medical examination today. I was afraid of scaring other people and animals, so I sealed the hospital.¡± Then, he chuckled. ¡°Er Mao is actually very obedient.¡±

    A leopard?

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t know much about these things, but she also knew that it wasn¡¯t easy to raise a beast as a pet. Besides having financial resources, there must also be courage and boldness. The man in front was probably not as gentle and harmless as he looked on the surface. However, these were not the things she should care about.

    She was going to Skyart Entertainment to be a good singer and earn money to support herself, so she shouldn¡¯t think about other things.

    After chatting, the doors of the treatment room opened and the veterinarian came out holding the cats and said, ¡°Fortunately you brought them here in time, most of their lives have been saved. You should pay more attention to them these days and don¡¯t let them eat anything randomly.¡± Then, he also exined a lot of precautions.

    Xia Ling and her grandma listened carefully. Then, they bid farewell to Li Lei and took the cats home.

    They had managed to save seven or eight cats and they were not in life-threatening danger anymore and seemed to have regained some spirits. Xia Ling helped the grandma carry them into the house. She stared at the many cats and sighed. ¡°It¡¯s too crowded.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no choice,¡± the grandma said. ¡°It¡¯ll be cold after a few days and it¡¯ll be even more crowded. I have to hold those sick and weak ones together.¡± She busied about cleaning up and finally cleaned up, then straightened her back and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Xiao Ling, you should put some effort to dress up the healthy cats. Comb their fur and help me send some small advertisements out and see if there are any good people who want to adopt them and give them a home.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered being in an orphanage when she was young, how she had waited to be adopted like these lonely cats, so she said softly, ¡°Okay.¡± She carefullybed them, sprayed insecticides and waited for them to find a good master.

    Someone really did adopt the cats.

    The cats were adopted one by one and grandma was ted. ¡°With a home, they don¡¯t have to be hungry and cold anymore. Xiao Ling, wait till we send a few more, then when I can handle them myself, you can go and find the young master.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled and agreed.

    On this day, there was a pair of young man and woman at the door. They wore cheap jackets and had a lot of ear holes in their ears, and their colored hair was particrly eye-catching.

    ¡°Can these cats be adopted?¡± the man asked loudly. ¡°Me and Mei Hui want one each!¡± His eyes swept over the cats as if examining goods.

    Grandma looked at their dressing and was a little uneasy. ¡°Have you raised cats before? Cats are very cute, but they require a lot of patience. Once you raise them you can¡¯t abandon them, can you do that?¡±

    ¡°Stop nagging,¡± the young man said and reached out to take a cat. The cat meowed in shock and jumped out. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a tortoiseshell cat, it¡¯s so ugly yet it doesn¡¯t let me touch it, tsk. Grandma, don¡¯t judge me because I¡¯m wearing this, I actually loved cats since young. If you don¡¯t believe, I can tell you¡ªthat male one there is a tortoiseshell, and the one beside it with the long hair is a calico cat, and the one at the window is a tabby. And that one, it¡¯s sick, right? It¡¯s so dispirited and even the nose isn¡¯t wet enough and the fur isn¡¯t shiny.¡±

    He talked about each of them.

    The old grandma was a little reassured now. She couldn¡¯t judge a book by its cover.

    The girl with the same colorful hair smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t look at Ah Da and me like that just because we¡¯re dressed like this, we actually really love cats and have raised cats for many years. Our cat just died a month ago and we were very upset, so we wanted to adopt a new cat to rece it.¡±

    ¡°Then, why do you want two this time?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    The young girl looked at Xia Ling. Ever since she had entered, she noticed the sunsses worn by Xia Ling. If she wasn¡¯t wrong, it should be a very expensive brand. ¡°Sister, this sunsses is really beautiful,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°DTS, right, it¡¯s limited edition, isn¡¯t it still not sold in China? Where did you buy it, you¡¯re too rich.¡±

 Chapter 1124 - Cat Abuser

    <h4>Chapter 1124: Cat Abuser</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling was shocked. She didn¡¯t expect them to recognize this brand of sunsses.

    After she escaped this time, she could wear the old grandma¡¯s old clothes, but she didn¡¯t have other sunsses and could only wear the one she had originally. But this pair of sunsses cost a few months of living expenses for ordinary people, so how could she afford it with her current status? She thought for a second and smiled. ¡°Really? This is very cheap. I bought it from a small store some time ago. I don¡¯t know about it being limited edition, but it is probably an imitation.¡±

    It turned out to be a fake.

    The girl was a little disappointed, but she didn¡¯t pursue it anymore. The sunsses was too expensive, and Xia Ling¡¯s exnation did indeed seem more reasonable. She turned her head and continued to look at the cat, then she took a white long-haired cat and said, ¡°How about giving us this one to adopt? I quite like it. Then we¡¯ll pick another one¡ªone cat is too lonely, two will make a great partner and they will be happier.¡±

    The grandmother smiled and said, ¡°Okay, Xiao Bai is very docile and can get along with everyone.¡±

    But Xia Ling frowned slightly. She couldn¡¯t tell what was wrong, but she always felt like Xiao Bai was shivering in the girl¡¯s arms. ¡°Is it cold?¡± Xia Ling looked in concern at Xiao Bai. ¡°Is it ill?¡±

    The girl looked down at it and then looked up again with a bright smile. ¡°It¡¯s probably just not used to smelling the perfume on my body? It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯ll bathe when I¡¯m home.¡±

    ¡°You have to treat it well.¡± The old grandma nagged.

    The girl smiled radiantly and agreed, and after the man chose another kitten, they both bade their farewells.

    Xia Ling kept feeling ill at ease, it was a very strange instinctual feeling. She paced around in the room and saw a chew toy at the corner of the room, so she said to the grandma, ¡°They didn¡¯t take Xiao Bai and Ah Huang¡¯s toys when they left just now, right? Cats will feel uneasy in unfamiliar surroundings, and having their old things can help them get acquainted with the environment.¡±

    These were what the grandma had told her.

    The old grandma pped her forehead. ¡°Look at my memory, I was so busy Ipletely forgot. Quickly go catch up with them and see, they probably haven¡¯t gone far.¡±

    Xia Ling immediately ran out.

    At the door of the unit building, she heard the rumbling of a small van. The man and the girl were squeezing the two cats into a cage. Xiao Bai and Ah Huang were struggling desperately and meowing loudly. ¡°Stupid cat! What are you meowing for!¡± The girl suppressed her volume and scolded. She hit Xiao Bai fiercely. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you if you keep meowing!¡±

    Xia Ling was shocked. Didn¡¯t they love cats? Why were they treating the cats like this?

    She couldn¡¯t think too much and went up to grab the girl¡¯s hand angrily. ¡°Stop!¡±

    The girl was caught off guard, and the cat and the cage in her hand were knocked over to the ground. Xiao Bai meowed and ran away as if avoiding some beast. Ah Huang didn¡¯t run, but his body arched in the minivan and he hissed anxiously. Soon, more hissing sounds could be heard in the cages, some sounding mournful and some weak.

    ¡°Ah Huang,e out!¡± Xia Ling was also anxious, fearing that the two people who treated the cats poorly would take them away. She pushed the girl and bent over into the carriage to catch Ah Huang. Suddenly, her whole body froze¡ªin the carriage, several cat cages were piled up in a row, and there were at least a dozen cats in them. Each one was scarred and badly injured, some had broken ws, some were blinded, and some even had their tails cut off...

    The air was filled with the smell of rancid blood, making people feel sick.

    Xia Ling had never seen such a horrible scene before, and her face turned pale in shock. At the side of the car, the girl pulled her back fiercely. ¡°Get out! Who are you to enter my car!¡±

    She regained her senses and reached out to catch Ah Huang, but Ah Huang clung deadly to the cage and refused to let go, looking at her with pleading eyes. She resisted the girl¡¯s pulling and untied the cage with shaking hands. Inside, a cat with a broken tail zoomed out in a craze and disappeared instantly.

    There was also a small milk cat whose eyes were poked by something. In the ce where her eyes should have been were two bloody holes, rotting and full of pus. It curled up and shivered uncontrobly. Xia Ling reached out and picked her up, only to realize that her hind paws were also broken. The white bones poked out and dark red blood stained her snowy-white fur.

    At the same time, the girl and the man worked together to pull Xia Ling out.

    ¡°Give me my cat back!¡± The girl screaming, grabbing the cat from Xia Ling¡¯s arms.

    Xia Ling shunned to the side and said with a trembling voice, ¡°You¡¯re abusing the cats!¡±

    Grandma¡¯s face was also pale, and she twitched her finger at the man and woman. ¡°You two are cat abusers! You especially search for stray cats and then abuse them, right! Leave them all! I will take them to heal!¡±

    Now, the man and woman stopped pretending.

    The man looked at them arrogantly, his long colorful hair hay-like and messy. ¡°We are cat abusers, but so what, it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with you. You¡¯ve already given us the cats, so we can y with them however we want to. Hahaha, get lost and don¡¯t hinder us from having fun!¡±

    Then, he signaled the girl. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Ah Huang was still in the car, and there were still several cat cages in the car. Many cats saw that Xia Ling had opened the cage and were all wing on their cages and meowing desperately, all anxious and awaiting rescue.

    Xia Ling looked at them and couldn¡¯t bear leaving them, so she rushed into the car again. ¡°Leave the cats!¡±

    The man and woman hit her viciously.

    Xia Ling¡¯s arms were still holding onto a wounded little milk cat, and she couldn¡¯t avoid the hit, so she instinctively bowed her head. The sunsses on her face fell down. Her slightly haggard yet gorgeous face was exposed under the sunlight, and the girl suddenly stopped her hand mid-air and looked like she had seen a ghost. ¡°You... you are Xia Ling!¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart jumped. Oh no, she had been recognized.

    But now was not the time to think about this. She looked angrily at the man and woman. ¡°Leave the cats!¡±

    The girl turned and got into the car. ¡°Go, go, go, start the car quickly!¡± She was shocked. Why was the big star Xia Ling here? Didn¡¯t the news report that she was in poor health and was resting at home? She had actually shed with such an unattainable character and fought with her?

    The girl escaped unconditionally.

    The man also got on the van with the girl. ¡°Come on!¡± On the driver¡¯s seat of the minivan, there was a young man dressed very uniquely. He quickly stepped on the gas pedal and the car drove away.

    Xia Ling chased after the van in vain. ¡°Let go of those cats!¡±

    The only thing that answered her was the car exhaust.

    She was too angry and lowered her head to look at the little milk cat in her arms. Its breathing was already shallow, so she quickly handed it over to the grandma¡¯s arms. Then, she picked up the sunsses on the floor and put it on again. Together, they sent the little cat to the pet hospital.

 Chapter 1125 - Sudden Paparazzi

    <h4>Chapter 1125: Sudden Paparazzi</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The little milk cat was properly treated.

    However, the doctor said that its blinded eye and hind leg disability could not be restored for life.

    He suggested to them. ¡°Its internal organs are also damaged. This cat will only suffer if it continues to live, why not give it euthanasia?¡±

    Xia Ling was very upset. She stared at the little cat lying on the white cloth and couldn¡¯t bear for it to leave. ¡°Is there no other way?¡± she asked the doctor unwillingly.

    The doctor shook his head regretfully.

    The old grandma was also very upset, but she regained her senses and agreed to the doctor¡¯s euthanasia.

    Not long after the injection of a tube of medicament, its weak and shallow breathing stopped and its small body stiffened a little. Xia Ling wrapped it in a cloth and made a simple coffin for it. Life was so fragile and it was so easy to die in suffering. She looked at it for a long time and said, ¡°I will avenge you.¡±

    The old grandma was as sad as she was, but when she heard this, she was shocked. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°There is always a way to punish them. I¡¯ll try to call the police first.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡± The old grandma has been raising cats for so many years and had heard many rumors about cat abuse. ¡°Thew is only for humans, they don¡¯t care about animal cruelty. I¡¯ve heard of someone reporting to the police before, but they didn¡¯t care.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent. Did she have to let the two people walk free?

    ¡°They will abuse and kill more cats,¡± Xia Ling said. ¡°I can¡¯t sit back and watch.¡±

    She went home with her grandma and didn¡¯t talk for a whole afternoon. The grandma looked at her worriedly, but couldn¡¯t think of anything reassuring to say. Even when eating dinner, Xia Ling was very quiet.

    The next day, her eyes finally regained spirit. ¡°Grandma, I¡¯ve thought of it. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll find Li Lei and get him to continue my career. Then, once I have money, I¡¯ll hire a private detective to check the background of those people first, then find a way to punish them!¡± If she was just a civilian, she might be helpless, but as long as she restored the glory of her superstar days, she would have money to make the Devil turn millstones and could find a way.

    Grandma saw that she had finally regained her spirits and was very happy. ¡°Okay, you have to be careful.¡±

    The idea was set, and she busied herself helping the grandma to take care of the cats in the house so that things could be well organized when she left tomorrow and the grandma wouldn¡¯t be too busy.

    Suddenly, there was a loudmotion outside the door.

    Xia Ling was afraid of the noise and said, ¡°What is going on outside, why is it so noisy?¡±

    The old grandma rubbed her hands. ¡°I¡¯ll go outside and see.¡±

    She opened the door and hadn¡¯t even responded to what was going on when she heard a loud noise and several people rushed to the outside of the security iron door. ¡°Is this where Xia Ling lives? Hello, is Xia Ling home? What do you think about the news of her abusing cats?¡±

    The grandma was frightened and closed the door in a reflexive manner.

    Outside, the noise was getting louder, and the people¡¯s voices could be heard faintly. ¡°Miss Xia Ling, we know you are inside, open the door, open the door! Why did you abuse the cats? Do you usually have this hobby? Did you join any cat abuse organization? Miss Xia Ling, Xia Ling!¡±

    Xia Ling was also shocked by these voices and her face turned pale. ¡°What happened?¡±

    The old grandma shook her head and returned to the living room. ¡°I don¡¯t know, Xiao Ling. I think they¡¯re here to find you?¡±

    Xia Ling put down the little white cat on her knees and walked to the door and looked out through the blinds. ¡°There¡¯s so many paparazzi, they¡¯re probably here to find me.¡± Ever since she had stayed here, she had found the right time to tell the old grandma her true identity, that she was a famous big star. The old grandma was not in the least bit surprised, and was even more doting on her¡ªto fall from such a high ce, how many people could endure it?

    Now, her face revealed a hint of worry when she heard Xia Ling¡¯s words. ¡°They said you were a cat abuser.¡±

    ¡°How could I be a cat abuser?¡± Xia Ling was surprised. ¡°Where did they hear this rumor from, and how did they know I lived here?¡± She said while borrowing the grandma¡¯s phone to search for ¡°Xia Ling, Cat Abuser¡± keywords. Many news came out as well as a shocking picture.

    In the photo, she stood in front of a minivan, holding a small milk cat with its eyes broken and its legs bloody, staining her hands red. She was looking down at it and her expression was so scary. There was a text next to the photo, saying someone had seen someone abusing a cat unintentionally in the neighborhood and it looked like the superstar Xia Ling, so he had taken a picture in shock and uploaded it for people to recognize her.

    There were a lot of hot discussions on the Inte. Some people didn¡¯t believe it, and some even said it was photoshopped. However, countless people also scolded Xia Ling madly, saying she was snake-hearted, insidious and cruel.

    Xia Ling looked at it in a daze. ¡°I was framed!¡±

    This was the picture of the day she had grabbed the little cat from the cat abusers. How could she be the cat abuser?!

    The grandma also came together and said with anger, ¡°It must have been the group of people who came to adopt the cats. You saved a few of their cats and they wanted to take revenge! They¡¯re really mad!¡±

    Xia Ling was furious. ¡°How dare they!¡±

    Her blood was boiling, and she couldn¡¯t think so much. She rushed over and opened the door. ¡°I¡¯m not a cat abuser!¡± She red angrily at the paparazzi outside.

    In an instant, the shutter sounds and shes lit up.

    ¡°Xia Ling! It¡¯s Xia Ling!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, why did you abuse the cats?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, why are you living here?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, didn¡¯t you say you were sick? What have you been doing?¡±

    A series of questions were shouted and almost engulfed her. The anti-theft iron door gave a mming sound as people crowded against it. If it wasn¡¯t already locked, the paparazzi would have already rushed into the house.

    Xia Ling was a bit stunned. When she had faced so many reporters before, she had always been followed by agents and bodyguards and she had only needed to act cold and arrogant. Chu Chen didn¡¯t even allow the paparazzi to ask such excessive questions to her. But now? The spections were all negative news.

    But she couldn¡¯t back down.

    Xia Ling straightened her back and told the paparazzi, ¡°I said I have never abused cats before. That picture was an ident, the person taking the pictures is the real cat abuser!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, do you have any evidence?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia Ling, can you give us more detail about the incident?¡±

    ¡°But Miss Xia Ling, the person who uploaded the photo said it¡¯s not the first time you abused a cat...¡±

    The questions were overwhelming and Xia Ling¡¯s head was about to explode. She forced herself to calm down and organize her thoughts to answer them. At this moment, a middle-aged woman carrying a stic bag squeezed forcefully through the corridor. ¡°Move aside, move aside, who are you people, can¡¯t you let me go home?¡±

 Chapter 1126 - Finally Found You

    <h4>Chapter 1126: Finally Found You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling looked at her. It was the shrewd woman Liu Cuiyu from next door.

    She probably just returned from the vegetable market, and her stic bag was full of loofah cauliflower.

    Some reporters¡¯ eyes lit up and grabbed her. They asked, ¡°Big sister, are you living next to Xia Ling? As her neighbor, what do you think of her cat abuse, did you know that she abuses cats?¡±

    ¡°Xia Ling? Who is Xia Ling?¡± Liu Cuiyu asked strangely.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know she¡¯s Xia Ling?¡± The paparazzi gestured to the girl at the security door in shock.

    Liu Cuiyu turned her head and suddenly widened her eyes. She was so shocked she dropped the vegetable onto the ground. ¡°You, you...¡± She pointed at Xia Ling and stuttered. ¡°You are Xia Ling? That big star Xia Ling?!¡±

    Usually, when Xia Ling left the house, she always wore her sunsses, so this was the first time she had seen Xia Ling¡¯s true face. The girl behind the anti-theft iron gate had a fairplexion and looked as beautiful as a drawing. She was exactly like the unforgettably beautiful girl she had often seen on television. No way, this kind of character that could only be seen on TV was actually living next door? Liu Cuiyu was shocked senseless and stood in the same ce in a daze.

    The paparazzi reacted first. ¡°Big sister, didn¡¯t you know Xia Ling lived next door to you? How many days has she lived here for, and what did she usually do? Has she been living here?¡±

    Liu Cuiyu regained her senses under their incessant questioning. She had never seen such a bigmotion before and her usual arrogance had long disappeared. She stammered and replied, ¡°I, I didn¡¯t know she was a big star, I thought she was here to rely on someone dying... Pah, no, a distant rtive relying on the old grandma. How could she be a big star, why is a big star living here, and fighting with me over the cats?¡±

    ¡°She fought with you over the cats?¡± A group of paparazzi was excited. ¡°Can you borate?¡±

    Liu Cuiyu swallowed and said, ¡°I, I don¡¯t mean to scold her for not having social morality, but her house really has too many cats. I really want to vomit after smelling them. I, I told them and they simply didn¡¯t listen, so...¡± She smiled awkwardly at Xia Ling and said, ¡°Big, big star, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Some people were just like her, a sheep in wolf¡¯s clothing. Once she saw someone more powerful than herself, she softened up.

    However, Xia Ling wanted to vomit blood at this Liu Cuiyu. How was she answering the paparazzi¡¯s questions? Was she deliberately finding trouble for her? Sure enough, the paparazzi excitedly asked, ¡°There¡¯s a strange smell in the house? What kind of smell, is it the smell of animal rot? I heard injured animals have a heavy smell, were there cats injured?¡±

    They still wanted to continue the cat.

    Xia Ling was angry and anxious, she immediately shouted, ¡°No!¡±

    Liu Cuiyu was scared by her and was so anxious she didn¡¯t know where to put her hands and legs.

    A paparazzi said, ¡°Miss Xia Ling, don¡¯t scare her. Big sister, you can tell us honestly, it¡¯s alright.¡±

    Li Cuiyu stammered and said, ¡°I, I don¡¯t know.¡± She picked up the vegetables on the ground. She didn¡¯t want to be involved in this storm, what if Xia Ling came looking for her for revengeter? She didn¡¯t want to offend the big star!

    The paparazzi misunderstood her meaning. ¡°You don¡¯t know? Do you really not know or is there a hidden message?¡±

    ¡°You live so close to her, how could you not know?¡±

    ¡°Could this be the secret base for Xia Ling to abuse cats?¡±

    Xia Ling said furiously, ¡°No, no!¡±

    Unfortunately, nobody paid attention to her. This group of paparazzi was hyenas in the press world, and wherever there was a bloody smell, they would flock there and turn the world chaotic. ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s abusement of cats¡± was such big news, and could attract countless of views all over the world, so they had to report it.

    As for the truth? The truth wasn¡¯t important at all.

    Xia Ling was so anxious she didn¡¯t know what to do. She wearing cotton pajamas that belonged to the grandma¡¯s daughter¡¯s old clothes. She didn¡¯t have makeup on and didn¡¯t have anything to hide her face. The paparazzi were desperately shotting her, capturing Xia Ling¡¯s rare bare face! So many media would be willing to pay a high price for it!

    And she was so furious her chest heaved up and down and she wanted to m the door down fiercely.

    At this moment, there was amotion at the end of the aisle.

    ¡°Make way, make way.¡± Several tall and broad men squeezed in without any effort and cleared a passage amongst the paparazzi.

    The paparazziined. ¡°What are you squeezing for, who are you?!¡±

    They wanted to get rid of this group of men but were pushed to the side instead. Liu Cuiyu was also crushed in the crowd and was dazed. She had never seen such a squad before. These men were all wearing uniformed ck suits, and they looked on with indifference, seemingly very well trained. Liu Cuiyu looked at them and forgot to close her mouth.

    A Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the residential building.

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression was no better than Liu Cuiyu¡¯s. She looked at the maning down from the car through the anti-theft iron gate¡ªhe wore a fine iron-gray suit, and every line was meticulously sewed on. Even though he was surrounded by a group of murderous bodyguards, he still looked majestic and formidable. His eyebrows were cold and made people look on with respect.

    Pei Ziheng.

    Why did hee?

    Xia Ling¡¯s legs turned to jelly and she looked at him approach step by step. She instinctively wanted to escape.

    She hadn¡¯t seen him for many days, and his expression held many things she couldn¡¯t understand, feeling familiar yet strange.

    He looked down at her through the iron gate. ¡°Have you yed enough? Come home with me.¡±

    Xia Ling woke up from her daze and mmed the door close. The huge closing sound shook her eardrums, and even her hands were trembling. The old grandma behind her asked with concern, ¡°Xiao Ling, what¡¯s wrong? Who is he?¡±

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, but her face was still pale as a sheet of paper.

    She remembered her tragic fate of fleeing the vi, the humiliation of being tied to the bedroom bed, the beatings, the abuses, and the many cruel things that trampled her heart to the soles of her feet...

    The old grandma called, ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Xia Ling used all her strength and exhaled. ¡°He... he is the one who hit me.¡±

    The old grandma¡¯s expression changed. She remembered the wounds on Xia Ling when she first came and was filled with indignation. ¡°So he¡¯s that beast! He still dares toe to find you?! Xiao Ling, you can¡¯t go back with him. Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ll protect you!¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head weakly. She knew that with Pei Ziheng here, grandma wouldn¡¯t be able to protect her at all. She rushed to the window and wanted to see if she could escape through it, but found she had been surrounded by bodyguards. Even Chu Chen was standing outside the window of the bedroom, looking at her through the security window.

 Chapter 1127 - Returning to Pei Ziheng

    <h4>Chapter 1127: Returning to Pei Ziheng</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chu Chen looked at her. ¡°Go back. He¡¯s already here personally, you can¡¯t escape.¡±

    Xia Ling trembled and backed away from the window. She could hear Pei Ziheng¡¯s serious voice from behind the door. ¡°Open the door,e out.¡±

    But she dared not.

    The old grandma¡¯s heart ached, for her as she saw how afraid Xia Ling was. She couldn¡¯t help but yell at Pei Ziheng, ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are, domestic abuse is never right! Leave! Xiao Ling won¡¯t return with you!¡±

    There was amotion outside the door as the paparazzi began discussions. ¡°Chairman Pei, you abused Miss Xia Ling?¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to quiet down again.

    Xia Ling tugged at the old grandma and shook her head sadly. She quietly said, ¡°Grandma, don¡¯t go on anymore.¡± There were so many paparazzi outside, who knew what they¡¯d spread?

    But the old grandma was angered. ¡°He hit you, this should be made known!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not so simple,¡± Xia Ling said.

    Outside, Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was calm and devoid of expression. ¡°You can¡¯t hide in there forever. Xiao Ling, you know what to do. Don¡¯t drag others down with you.¡±

    Xia Ling shivered in fear for a bit.

    The old grandma grabbed her hand. ¡°He¡¯s just scaring you! Remember the Young Master we saw a few days ago at the hospital? He said he could protect you. Xiao Ling, give him a call, get him to help you! I¡¯m not afraid of being dragged into this!¡±

    Xia Ling gave a sad smile. Get Li Lei to help her?

    She wouldn¡¯t know if Li Lei really could rescue her, but even if he could, what was going to happen to the old grandma? It wasn¡¯t as if she hadn¡¯t seen Pei Ziheng¡¯s cruel ways. If she escaped on her own, the old grandma would definitely be tortured by him.

    She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she reopened them, it was with rity. ¡°Grandma, I¡¯ll get going. Take care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± The old grandma was extremely flustered. ¡°What if he hits you again when you return!¡±

    Xia Ling forced a smile. ¡°It won¡¯t happen. He¡¯s been nice to be for so many years, this time was just... an ident.¡± That ident changed everything. So what if she was going to be tortured when she went back? She didn¡¯t have a better alternative. She only had her carelessness to me, for allowing him to find her.

    She opened the door and looked up at him. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    In the dim light, he grabbed her hand and left.

    She struggled for a while but wasn¡¯t sessful¡ªhe held her hand even tighter now. His hand seemed to be a set of iron handcuffs securing her wrist. Behind her, she could hear the old grandma call out, ¡°Xiao Ling!¡±

    It was filled with worry and pain.

    But there was no turning back. She¡¯d chosen this path, and she had to walk it with him.

    Amidst the paparazzi¡¯s camera shes, she followed him to the Rolls Royce and boarded it. The car started and drove out of the old estate. None of them spoke a word during the journey.

    At the red-brick vi, Nanny Zhou hade out to wee her with joy. ¡°Miss, you¡¯re back!¡±

    But Xia Ling was expressionless. She looked at Pei Ziheng and asked, ¡°What do you want now, are you locking me up again? Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t let me find a way to escape. The next time I do, I¡¯m going to the police station to turn myself in.¡±

    Pei Ziheng suppressed the urge to hit her.

    He enunciated every word clearly. ¡°Are you courting death?¡±

    ¡°Do I still have a chance at living?¡± She looked up at him. Her voice was calm and quiet but lined with mockery.

    Nanny Zhou was getting worried and hurriedly came forward. ¡°In any case, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re back, it¡¯s all good. Miss, you don¡¯t know how worried Mister has been all these while, and how hard he¡¯s been trying to find you. He could barely eat, just look at how much weight he¡¯s lost.¡±

    She looked at him. Yes, he had lost weight, his eye bags were more prominent than ever before and his mustache wasn¡¯t shaved. But so what? She was the one who¡¯d been tortured and insulted, what right had he to be hypocritical here? On that thought, she sneered. ¡°You could barely eat? I guess you must be worried about Imperial Entertainment losing a cash cow, or that you wouldn¡¯t be able to produce a murderer to answer to the Wang family?¡±

    The moment she said that Pei Ziheng grabbed her throat and pushed her to the wall. ¡°Xia Ling, I really wish to strangle you to death now, you know that?¡± He tightened his grip and she went pale.

    But she continued ring at him and struggling to scoff. ¡°Just... kill me... you think... I really wanted to...e back?¡±

    His eyes darkened and he began dragging her upstairs.

    Nanny Zhou worriedly screamed, ¡°Mister! Mister!¡± But he wouldn¡¯t give a hoot.

    Xia Ling was dragged by the cor and was choking. She struggled and coughed but he wouldn¡¯t show any mercy. When they reached the room, he tossed her onto the bed and ripped her clothing apart. ¡°Xia Ling,¡± He looked at her coldly. ¡°you asked for this.¡± With that, he straightened up and entered her.

    She wasn¡¯t prepared for the pain that followed.

    She let out a cry and tried to push him away, but to no avail.

    He went on ferociously and she felt like she might die from the pain. But that pain fuelled her aggression as well¡ªshe was not going to cry or beg for mercy, all she¡¯d do was hurl every mean word she could think of at him.

    Until she waspletely fatigued.

    He held her exhausted body in his arms and traced her outline. A long timeter, he quietly said, ¡°Do you know when you¡¯re the most honest?¡±

    She turned her head away, swearing not to speak to him.

    But Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t need an answer from her as he continued stroking her fair skin. As he looked at the red marks he left on her, he finally said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She had a shock and momentarily forgot what she¡¯d sworn to herself. She turned around and looked at him incredulously. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    In the moonlight, his eyes were deep and soulful. ¡°They¡¯ve found the murderer, you¡¯re innocent. The Wang family will stop hounding you, and I won¡¯t continue locking you up.¡±

    She thought she heard him wrongly. ¡°What?¡± She mumbled to herself. She¡¯d suffered so much and felt so wronged, only for him to tell her that they¡¯d found the real murderer?! At that moment, a flurry of emotions surged inside her and her tears beganing.

    Pei Ziheng held her tight and let her cry quietly. They were silent for a long time.

    ¡°I hate you.¡± She choked on those words after she was finally done crying.

    Pei Ziheng said again, softly and seriously, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± This was the second time he¡¯d apologized that day. In the 10-odd years that she¡¯d spent with him, this was the first time she¡¯d seen him apologize so sincerely.

    But so what?

    The hurt had been caused, and it wasn¡¯t something that could simply be written off with an ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡±.

    ¡°I hate you.¡± She repeated between sniffles. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you ever again.¡±

    He leaned over and kissed her forehead despite her struggles. It was a long, sustained one as if he was kissing his greatest treasure. As if... the violence that he¡¯dmitted a while ago hadn¡¯t happened.

 Chapter 1128 - Broken

    <h4>Chapter 1128: Broken</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She gradually went quiet, probably from all the crying, or from feeling utterly hopeless.

    Pei Zihengbed her hair with his fingers as he said in a tender voice, ¡°It¡¯s all in the past now. From now on, we¡¯ll live together blissfully.¡±

    Live together blissfully? Things had turned so sour and so much had fallen apart...

    There was no going back.

    She asked very quietly, ¡°Who¡¯s the murderer?¡±

    Pei Ziheng appeared to have expected this question from her. He said, ¡°They haven¡¯t found out yet. Don¡¯t worry, when they get to the bottom of it, I¡¯ll let you know immediately.¡± The murderer was Xia Yu; there was no doubt about it. He had already broken her limbs and tortured her in the basement for countless days and nights, before sending her to the Wang family who hated her to the core. He did not care about what Xia Yu would be going through over at the Wang¡¯s. In any case, she wasn¡¯ting back alive.

    But he wouldn¡¯t let Xia Ling know this.

    She already bore so much hatred towards him, he couldn¡¯t let it get any worse.

    Thankfully, she was so simple and naive. A lie was all it took to get past her question.

    As he guessed, Xia Ling did not get suspicious or probe further. She pushed him away and got off the bed as she walked towards the door bare-bodied.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her arm swiftly. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    She smiled ironically. ¡°Where else? To shower.¡±

    He pulled her back into his arms. She red into his eyes, ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    He lifted her chin without much force. ¡°I don¡¯t like the way you smiled at me.¡±

    Xia Ling could not suppress the anger inside her. ¡°Pei Ziheng, what right have you to control me?! Do you really think you¡¯re a god?! Just a word of apology and I¡¯m expected to return to you? You really think I¡¯m that foolish? I¡¯ll tell you, I hate you! I¡¯ll never, ever forgive you!¡±

    He looked at her calmly. ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡±

    She was silent.

    What did she want him to do? To break up with her and let her off.

    But she knew him too well. She knew that he¡¯d never let her go.

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t speaking, Pei Ziheng added, ¡°I¡¯ll make it up to you. I¡¯ll pamper you and care for you more than I did before. Xiao Ling, don¡¯t throw a tantrum over this anymore. Haven¡¯t you always wanted a red Ferrari? I¡¯ll give you one tomorrow, how about that?¡± She loved speeding, and her favorite was a Ferrari. She had owned one many years back, but he¡¯d gotten angry when he found out that she was racing with someone else on a cliff. He had it scrapped and never allowed her to engage in such activities again.

    Back then, she threw a tantrum over it for a long time. She had ignored him for almost a half month, and even changed the car logo of his Rolls Royce to a Hello Kitty. As those memories came to mind, Pei Ziheng¡¯s lips curled into a soft smile. ¡°This time, I¡¯ll have no objection even if you want to turn the whole Imperial Entertainment building into a Hello Kitty themed one.¡±

    She recalled those good times too and almost burst into tears.

    But she kept it all in. ¡°I¡¯m no longer a child.¡±

    ¡°With me, you can always be a child.¡±

    ¡°Foolish and ignorant, and under your control? Pei Ziheng, I won¡¯t be so silly anymore.¡±

    ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    ¡°Marriage, can you give me that?¡± Xia Ling looked at him, almost as if she was a soft rose with sharp thorns to protect her fragility. ¡°Marry me, or let me go.¡±

    Pei Ziheng suppressed himself. ¡°Marriage is impossible, and I will not let you go.¡±

    She knew he was going to give such an answer. She turned away, closed her eyes, and shut him out. He kissed her on the back of her neck and went lower, exploring her skin again. She was infuriated by his actions and attempted to push him away. But he grabbed hold of her and tossed her onto the bed once again, pressing her down and entering her, slowly but decisively. None of them made a sound throughout the process. They plunged into darkness and this seemed like a battle to the death¡ªno one gave an inch.

    The sky crumbled.

    She thought, <i>Nothing in this world can get worse than this.</i>

    She no longer talked to him or smiled at him. She even refused to share a table with him during mealtimes, unless and until he carried her to the table with a straight face, held her still and forced food through her clenched teeth.

    Nanny Zhou was worried about this situation.

    ¡°Miss, you can¡¯t go on like this.¡± When Pei Ziheng wasn¡¯t home, she would advise Xia Ling. ¡°Mister has your interests at heart, and he has his difficulties as well. You¡¯ve had your arguments and unhappiness, but the road from here on is still long. You can¡¯t be angry with Mister for life.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re his housemaid, of course you¡¯re speaking up for him.¡± Xia Ling was unmoved.

    Nanny Zhou kept quiet immediately and appeared slightly hurt.

    Xia Ling suddenly smiled at her. ¡°You know what¡¯s my greatest wish now? I wish that he¡¯d quickly marry a rich girl and that the rich girl would throw an air ticket in my face. I¡¯ll take my leave instantly and go to a ce that he¡¯ll never be able to find me.¡±

    ¡°Miss!¡± Nanny Zhou was getting anxious.

    Xia Ling smiled again. ¡°Just kidding. You actually took it for real?¡±

    Ever since she returned, she¡¯d have a few bodyguards with her each time she went out. She had to remain in their field of vision, so there was no way to escape. Given how controlling he was of her, it was unlikely that he¡¯d allow his new wife¡ªif any¡ªto interact with her alone.

    She was in a daze for a while before looking up at Nanny Zhou. ¡°I¡¯m hungry, is there any food?¡±

    Nanny Zhou was slightly stunned. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just eat with Mister?¡±

    ¡°The sight of him makes me lose my appetite.¡±

    Nanny Zhou sighed and went to the kitchen to prepare some food.

    Xia Ling did not have much of an appetite but still forced herself to eat. She couldn¡¯t just sit around and wait for her death. What she needed to do was to conserve enough energy for her next chance at escape.

    But it had been more than 10 days and not a single opportunity had emerged yet.

    She had thought about going to Li Lei for help, but there was too much of a risk that Pei Ziheng would find out and ruin all her future ns for it.

    She thought for a while and someone finally came to mind¡ªXia Yu. So much had happened recently that she¡¯d actually forgotten to contact her sister. How was she doing now? She gave Xia Yu a call but it didn¡¯t get through. Hence, she changed up and went straight to the chauffeur. ¡°I want to go to Xiao Yu¡¯s vi.¡±

 Chapter 1129 - Looking for Xia Ling

    <h4>Chapter 1129: Looking for Xia Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s vi was not far from another high-end residential area nearby.

    Xia Ling went to ring the doorbell, but nobody answered. The whole vi was so vacant and silent it felt a bit strange. Her premonition was not good, so she asked the driver, ¡°Do you know where Xiao Yu went? Why isn¡¯t anyone at home and nobody is answering the phone?¡±

    The driver said respectfully, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Why don¡¯t I help you ask Miss Xia Yu¡¯s driver?¡±

    Xia Ling nodded in agreement, but the result of asking was still the same. It was said that Xia Yu had not used the car for several days. Xia Ling panicked and made another round of phone calls to Feng Kun, Chu Chen, Xiao Hua, etc...

    But none of them had seen Xia Yu recently.

    Imperial Entertainment¡¯s headquarters.

    Chu Chen hung up the phone and knocked on the door of the chairman¡¯s office. ¡°Boss, Xiao Ling just called me to ask for Xia Yu.¡± This was where he was meticulous; he knew the importance of a little phone call. This was the reason why he could stay more than ten years working under the savvy and discerning Pei Ziheng and still keep his status.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Just as he said this, he also received a call from Xia Ling. ¡°Xiao Ling? You said Xia Yu is missing? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll send people to search for her. You just wait at home and wait for my new.¡±

    He hung up the phone and nced at Chu Chen, who was waiting for him respectfully. ¡°Go get a few people to search around and bring together arge group of people with great fanfare. Also, remind the Wang family to lock her up securely.¡±

    Chu Chen bowed silently and retired.

    They all knew, what was the point in having so many people search? Xia Yu was in the Wang family¡¯s hands, and this time, even if she was not tortured half to death, the Wang family would still never let her go.

    Xia Ling came home and waited for Pei Ziheng¡¯s return in worry. Once he was home, she asked, ¡°Have they found her?¡±

    Pei Ziheng handed his coat to Nanny Zhou and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent people to inform the police, and also sent people to find out in the major media business. I also hired private detectives and I¡¯m trying my best to search for her. You can rest assured.¡±

    Xia Ling was still very worried. ¡°She¡¯s not in good health, so how could she just disappear without saying anything? Could it be that something has happened to her... she has been missing for a few days, why didn¡¯t you realize she was missing?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked down at her. ¡°In the time when you were missing, I spent all my energy and time looking for you.¡±

    Xia Ling red at him and was suddenly silent.

    Pei Ziheng said softly, ¡°Do you know how worried I was at that time? Just like how worried you are about her now, so how could I have noticed other things?¡±

    She turned her head in silence, her heart feeling sour and ufortable.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her and smiled silently. He had been anticipating this effect, for her to be moved and guilty, to think that the disappearance of Xia Yu was her own fault... only then would she stop trying to find out the truth behind the incident. Also, she would be hell-bent on him again.

    He helped her onto the sofa in the living room and poured a ss of water for her.

    She held the cup absent-mindedly and heard him ask, ¡°Are you still angry with me?¡±

    She was a little surprised and remembered how much she hated him, but because of the disappearance of Xia Yu, she had lost her senses and had to ask him for help, so she had forgotten about hating him. She bit her lip and said, ¡°If you help me find Xiao Yu, I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll...¡±

    ¡°Just stay with me, okay?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a mistress.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said that I¡¯ve never regarded you as a mistress.¡± He leaned over and kissed her gently, his voice husky. ¡°Xiao Ling, you are the only woman I love. In the past, now, and in the future.¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t reject me.¡± He interrupted her softly. ¡°Xia Yu is still missing.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± She was shocked and angry and suddenly red at him. ¡°You are threatening me!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was still gentle, and his words were still clear and calm. ¡°From the beginning, I only wanted you and you alone. Xiao Ling, you already knew that. When you were in the orphanage, if it was not for you, why would I have adopted Xia Yu?¡±

    She indeed knew about it for a long time, but at this junction, she couldn¡¯t help but feel cold. ¡°You have had Xiao Yu for so many years, even if it was a cat or a dog you would have feelings too. She admires you so much, how could you be so cruel? Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t me her for whatever is between us!¡±

    ¡°Ha.¡± Pei Ziheng chuckled and looked at her. ¡°Xiao Ling, who brought her between us from the beginning? When I wanted to adopt you at that time, what did you say? You wouldn¡¯t leave with me unless I treated Xia Yu¡¯s illness. Now, you¡¯re telling me not to involve her? If it wasn¡¯t for you... she is nothing in my eyes.¡±

    Xiao Ling still didn¡¯t know why Xia Yu wanted to harm her.

    A few days ago, he had sent someone to catch Xia Yu and ask her about her motives for the crime.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Xia Yu to say that she loved him, so she hated Wang Jingwan and her sister and had thought of this n to poison her to death and frame Xia Ling since it was killing two birds with one stone. She was such a vicious woman, how could she be worthy of Xiao Ling¡¯s love? He would tell Xiao Ling the truth and have her keep all the love she had for Xia Yu and love only him.

    However, it was not now.

    Pei Ziheng stepped forward forcefully. ¡°Promise to stay with me and I¡¯ll continue looking for her.¡±

    Xia Ling was trembling with anger. ¡°You are despicable and selfish!¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not move. ¡°Despicable and selfish? Were you not selfish when you used my money to treat Xia Yu¡¯s illness? There¡¯s no such free thing in the world, did you really think I was king enough to just help any random cat and dog?¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him and saw resoluteness and cruelty in his eyes. She shook and whispered, ¡°I beg you to help me continue to find Xiao Yu, I... I¡¯ll give you all my money. I have a few billions, they should be enough topensate for the medical expenses you spent on Xiao Yu.¡±

    Pei Ziheng chuckled, but the smile didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°Is it really enough?¡±

    The money he had spent at the beginning was to buy the life of Xia Yu, so what if Xia Ling had billions now? These billions would not be able to save Xia Yu¡¯s life! Furthermore, it was money earned under his cultivation.

    Xia Ling knew it wasn¡¯t enough. She understood logic too, but she really didn¡¯t want to devote her life to him because of this. She was his mistress, no matter how he tweaked it to sound pleasant, it was an indisputable fact.

    Was her life going to be destroyed like this?

    ¡°Why...¡± she muttered to him. ¡°Why must you force me? Why can¡¯t you start kind and finish kind, and let me have a good memory in my heart? Why do you have to make me hate you.¡±

    His expression changed slightly and he quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s only considered a kind finish if you are by my side.¡±

    ¡°If not?¡±

    ¡°Then both of us can¡¯t coexist.¡±

    The air around them seemed to solidify, and her whole body started shaking even more.

    She listened to Pei Ziheng say, ¡°My patience is limited. Xia Yu has been missing for so long, maybe something happened to her. She has limited time waiting for rescue. Once time passes, there will be no more hope.¡±

 Chapter 1130 - Tearing Xia Yuâ€™s Mask

    <h4>Chapter 1130: Tearing Xia Yu¡¯s Mask</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart sank. It hurt so terribly that it felt numb instead.

    She heard herself whispered, ¡°Okay.¡± So what if she wasn¡¯t okay with it? She couldn¡¯t escape nor hide, and could only be imprisoned in this side of the world to serve him. What was the difference between this and being a mistress? Yes, she wasn¡¯t reconciled. If her sister had been fine, she would fight till the end and would rather be a shard of jade than a whole tile. But now, her sister was missing, and her life and death were still uncertain, so she couldn¡¯t continue to be willful.

    Pei Ziheng looked warmly and gently at her. ¡°Have you thought it through?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t regret?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t regret.¡±

    A hint of a smile appeared in the depth of his eyes, and he leaned back on the sofa and said to her, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then show some sincerity. Take off your clothes.¡±

    Her body trembled and her face turned pale.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Why, are you unwilling?¡±

    Her eyes clearly said she was unwilling, but under his oppressive gaze, she could only say dryly, ¡°Not... not here.¡± This was the vi¡¯s living room on the first floor, and outside the floor-to-ceiling window was the red wild rose garden that was hidden from view. The winter sunshine just happened to shine and render the world limpid and clear.

    What if Nanny Zhou or the butler or the driver bumped into them?

    He didn¡¯t move. ¡°Do it here.¡± He had spoiled her too much, so she didn¡¯t know her limits and even ran away and wanted to marry him? She made such a whimsical request. From today, he would teach her what the rules were, and let him stay with him in peace. This would be good for both of them.

    1Xia Ling lowered her head, and her white jade-like fingers grabbed onto the mother-of-pearl buttons on her cket, shivering slightly. She stole a nce at him, but he was still unmoving, his cold and majestic face like a demon. In the silent confrontation, she couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and took her clothes off bit by bit, exposing her beautiful corbone and her curvy chest and abdomen to the cold winter air. It was like a white offering presenting itself to him.

    She grabbed onto a thin silk coat with her hands and barely covered her back with it. She begged him. ¡°Let me keep at least this.¡± She was really afraid that someone would suddenly break-in. If that happened, this thin silk coat was the only thing that could maintain herst, poor dignity.

    Pei Ziheng declined toment and gestured for her to undress him.

    She squatted and carefully draped in her silk coat, leaned into his arms and took off his excellent material wool vest and shirt. His sturdy chest was brace and there was not a trace of flesh. Her hands trembled slightly as she moved downwards and unbuckled his custom belt at his waist while shivering. The cold belt buckle touched her finger, and the chill shook the bottom of her heart. She didn¡¯t unbuckle it for a long time. His expression turned dark and suddenly impatiently, so he turned over and pressed her under his body.

    She struggled instinctively, but he immediately restrained her. The violent storm-like attack made her feel like a small boat in a storm, carrying a heavy load and involuntarily being touched.

    Her eyes gradually darkened and she fell asleep in his arms.

    After touching her, Pei Ziheng wrapped her in his shirt and kissed her forehead gently.

    She was so beautiful, and it wasn¡¯t enough no matter how many times he demanded it. Only she could make him unable to restrain his emotions and use unscrupulous means to make her stay by his side. Was it cruel? He didn¡¯t think so, because there was no one else in this world that loved her more than he did. Following him was her best home.

    1He helped her tidy up the mess on her.

    His gaze suddenly fell on her wrist¡ªa silver bracelet on the jade-like wrist, seemingly very old, was emitting a faint light in the clear winter sunlight.

    That was the gift he had given her when she was twelve.

    He still remembered that the inner circle of the silver bracelet was engraved with their abbreviation, and there were four words: Never Leave Each Other.

    Thinking of this, he smiled a little and lifted her hand to nt a kiss there. When she had left home a few days ago, he had sent Chu Chen to handle the aftermath¡ªseal the paparazzi¡¯s mouth, and warn the old grandma that had taken her in on what to say and what not to say. The old grandma had taken out a pair of diamond earrings to Chu Chen and said, ¡°This is Xiao Ling¡¯s. She insisted on giving me this as her amodation fee, but how could I keep it? Give it back to her.¡±

    The pair of earrings was brought by herself.

    He remembered that she liked it very much and wore it on many asions.

    However, in a dire state, she would rather take them out and give them away than to give the silver bracelet that was not worth a few dors. In fact, she still had him in her heart, right?

    After what happened in the living room, she was even more silent. Only when she was asking for the progress of Xia Yu did she regain her former spirit. Pei Ziheng helped her ¡°find¡± for a while, and after a while, he thought it was time and told her, ¡°The results from the private detective and the police are out. The real murderer of Wang Jingwan is Xia Yu. She escaped for fear of punishment, so it would probably be hard to find her.¡±

    Xia Ling found it unbelievable. ¡°What did you say? Xiao Yu is the real murderer?¡± How could it be? She was her sister, her only blood-rted rtive in the world, why would she murder Wang Jingwan?

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression turned pale and she took a few steps back.

    Pei Ziheng lowered his head at her. ¡°The police found the diary left by Xia Yu. In fact, she has always been jealous of you. She was jealous that you were more beautiful and doted on than her, so she wanted you to die. She framed you after killing Wang Jingwan.¡±

    His words were like a heavy hammer hitting her heart.

    She groaned in pain. ¡°Impossible... impossible! Xiao Yu is so good to me, how could she be jealous of me? It must be wrong. She doesn¡¯t even dare to kill a cockroach, how could she kill someone?!¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Nothing is impossible. Remember the poison I found in your bag in the practice room? That was sneaked in by Xia Yu, but she didn¡¯t expect me to realize the murderer wasn¡¯t you, and to ask the police to investigate deeper. She was afraid, so she ran away.¡±

    Xia Ling was still in doubt. How could their sisterhood of more than a decade die out because of these few words? She still remembered her sister looking at her weakly, calling her sister softly.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the evidence?¡± she asked, her voice trembling. ¡°I want to see the evidence.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°The evidence is in the hands of the police and kept secret.¡± In fact, there was no diary at all. He only said that to make Xia Ling give up.

    But Xia Ling was still looking for reasons to convince herself. ¡°Impossible... there must be some mistake. I don¡¯t believe she was jealous and resentful of me! Ziheng, she must have suffered some ident, that¡¯s why she¡¯s missing!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her with pity and didn¡¯t speak.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips were white, and she suddenly looked up and said, ¡°I want to go find her. There must be some hidden meaning, I must find her and ask for the truth!¡±

 Chapter 1131 - Pregnant

    <h4>Chapter 1131: Pregnant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She stumbled out.

    Pei Ziheng grabbed her and said lowly, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to go.¡±

    She turned back in anger and tried to shake his hand off. ¡°Let me go! I want to find Xiao Yu! She¡¯s my sister and not yours, so you¡¯re not worried, right?! I don¡¯t believe she would harm me, I don¡¯t believe it!¡± she said while struggling with both hands and feet, but he pulled her into his embrace and made sure she couldn¡¯t escape.

    Pei Ziheng looked into her eyes. ¡°Where can you go to find her? The police, private detectives and the people I sent out all failed to find her, so how could you find her? Xia Ling, face reality and don¡¯t throw a tantrum anymore. If you¡¯re really worried about her, then forget about this matter and don¡¯t let the police find her whereabouts and bring her to justice!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± she cried. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    She pushed him hysterically but couldn¡¯t push him away. Her tears fell like rivulets and she was a crying mess. Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t let go of her no matter how she tossed. Suddenly, he noticed that the body in his arms turned soft like a broken bird, fluttering down into the crook of his arms.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?!¡±

    He looked down at her face and found that her good-looking eyes were shut tightly and her breathing was weak. Pei Ziheng carried her and strode out quickly. He called the driver and drove straight to the hospital.

    The result was amazing.

    The doctor wearing a white coat came out and smiled. He said, ¡°Congrattions, Mr. Pei. Miss Xia Ling is pregnant.¡± This hospital often epted donations from the Pei family and was familiar with them. The doctors had dealt with the family and had known for a long time what should and shouldn¡¯t be asked. Thus, they were not gossipy about the rtionship between Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling.

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t expect this result. The good news came too suddenly and he didn¡¯t have a sense of reality.

    The doctor smiled and called him, ¡°Mr. Pei? Mr. Pei?¡±

    He regained his senses and asked eagerly, ¡°Really? How old is the fetus?¡±

    The doctor said, ¡°Nine weeks of pregnancy. The fetal image is somewhat unstable, so she must rest well.¡±

    Nine weeks...

    Counting it, it happened to be around the time of Wang Jingwan¡¯s ident, the time when they quarreled. When they were together, Pei Ziheng always paid great attention to contraception, and only that time had been too confusing and he had forgotten to take extra measures.

    The child came at a wrong timing, and after Pei Ziheng¡¯s short burst of surprise and joy, he began to consider what to do about the heir. If Xiao Ling gave birth to a daughter, then everything would be blissful, but if it was a son...

    His eyes darkened. How could he have an illegitimate child before his eldest son was born?

    It would be a huge mess in the future for him.

    He asked the doctor, ¡°When can I see the sex of the fetus?¡±

    The doctor said, ¡°You can¡¯t see it now. You can see it when it¡¯s about three months old. It¡¯s most urate in the fourth to fifth month.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said softly, ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard.¡± He walked into the VIP single room and stayed by her bed, looking down at the sleeping girl. Perhaps it was because of the child, but she looked even more beautiful than before. Herplexion seemed to be shrouded in ayer of faint light, and even in her sleep, she made people¡¯s hearts sway gently.

    He reached out and smoothed down her hair, and said in a soft voice, ¡°Xiao Ling, we will have a beautiful daughter.¡±

    Her eyshes twitched and she woke up.

    The sun sprinkled softly on her, and her eyes were still a little groggy. She took a while to see him sitting beside her bed and was immediately awake. She recalled the things that had happened before hera, and she opened her mouth to say something, but her throat seemed to be stuck and she couldn¡¯t make a sound. What could she say? That she would continue whining to find Xia Yu?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s words were right. If Xia Yu really hated her and killed Wang Jingwan and was on the run, then it was the best choice not to look for Xia Yu. Only then could the possibility of Xia Yu escaping from the police and the Wang family increase. Her heart thumped painfully and it hurt so much she had to curl her body up.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You¡¯re awake? Do you want something to eat?¡±

    She shook her head weakly and muttered hoarsely, ¡°Let me be alone.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked down at her. ¡°You have to eat something, the doctor said you¡¯re pregnant.¡±

    She widened her eyes and looked like she didn¡¯t understand what he was saying. She asked subconsciously, ¡°What?¡± She... how could she be pregnant? At this critical juncture of chaos? Her heart was sour and her hand gently covered her lower abdomen, suspecting that she was dreaming.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You don¡¯t seem too happy.¡±

    His words suddenly enraged her. She looked up and sneered. ¡°Happy? Pei Ziheng, would you be happy if you were me? You refuse to marry me, refuse to give the child a name, so why should I give birth to him and make him suffer?!¡± She felt more and more wronged as she spoke and was utterly heartbroken.

    Pei Ziheng held her hand nearest the bedside. ¡°Status is not as important as you think. If you really want it, then wait patiently for a few years. I will give the child a name.¡±

    She trembled. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    He said slowly, ¡°If you really feel bad, then I¡¯ll let her take after my wife¡¯s name. You can raise her yourself, but her clothes and food and the inheritance will still be given no less.¡±

    She pulled her hand away as if she had an electric shock. ¡°You¡¯re shameless!¡±

    ¡°Why am I shameless,¡± he said calmly. ¡°You can raise her however you like, I¡¯m only giving you a choice. I told you I would live with you in the future, and everything except marriage is negotiable.¡±

    She didn¡¯t like him discussing such a cruel topic in this tone, it sounded like he was giving her a gift from God. She red at him fiercely, her chest heaving, and said in determination after a while, ¡°I want to abort the baby.¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°You are crazy.¡±

    ¡°I want to abort it!¡± She yelled at him in agitation. ¡°Since you can¡¯t give your child aplete home, then don¡¯t let him be born into the world to suffer! Pei Ziheng, not everything is up to you, I have the final say on the child! I don¡¯t want him, do you hear, I don¡¯t want him! I don¡¯t want to have a child with you!¡±

    She was extremely fierce but looked like she was crying.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her sternly and said word by word, ¡°I don¡¯t allow it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you allow it!¡±

    ¡°You can try it out, but no hospital will be willing to help you with the abortion surgery.¡± He was very wealthy and there was no ce he couldn¡¯t manage. Furthermore, he could send bodyguards to follow her so that she wouldn¡¯t even be able to find a chance.

    Xia Ling was even more agitated. She grabbed a vase from the bedside table and hurled it at him. ¡°Get out! Get out!¡±

    He dodged the vase and the white porcin fell to the ground, sttering water around. ¡°Since you¡¯re so energetic, why don¡¯t you keep the baby,¡± he said to her calmly. ¡°I want you and the baby to be healthy.¡±

 Chapter 1132 - No One Will Help You

    <h4>Chapter 1132: No One Will Help You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She hurled all the things she could find, then curled up and cried.

    When Pei Ziheng when out, he had to wait for the nurse toe in to check her temperature. She looked up and asked the nurse hoarsely, ¡°Am I pregnant?¡±

    The nurse looked at her tears and was shocked. She thought for a while before answering, ¡°Yes, Miss Xia Ling, you have been pregnant for nine weeks. Don¡¯t cry, it will hurt your body.¡±

    She cried even more fiercely, her feelings hard to suppress.

    The nurse was overwhelmed and hesitated on how tofort her. She listened to her ask, ¡°This child... can it be aborted?¡±

    Aborted?!

    The nurse was taken aback. However, in this VIP ward service, she had seen all kinds of wealthy people and knew what kind of things could happen. Xia Ling was famous. People all over the world knew that she was still not married, and did not even have a boyfriend. The origin of the child was a mystery and would make her awkward.

    She guessed in her heart, <i>Is the child Pei Ziheng¡¯s?</i>

    But Pei Ziheng was just engaged with Wang Jingwan, and then something had happened to Wang Jingwan...

    The nurse suddenly shuddered and didn¡¯t dare to think about it anymore. She replied, ¡°Technically, it is not impossible to kill it. Miss Xia, you have been pregnant for nine weeks. I am afraid that the flow of taking medicine for abortion may not be clean. It is best to do suction surgery. But the suction surgery can only be done before the tenth week, if it is done anyter, you might not be able to be pregnant anymore and might have more and more damage done to your body. If you have really decided to abort the baby, please think clearly as soon as possible.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to say that she had already thought about it, but something prevented her from saying it out. The palm of her hand was unconsciously ced on her lower abdomen. Although it was still t and seemed like there was no movement at all, when she thought of giving birth to a small life, she felt warm and happy.

    This was her child.

    The child of Pei Ziheng she had been looking forward to for many years.

    If it had been two months ago, she would have been delighted with its arrival, but now everything had changed.

    The nurse looked at her expression carefully. ¡°You think about it again.¡± Afterpleting the routine inspection, she left without hesitation, lest she be involved in the troubles of these rich people.

    Xia Ling pondered over it and could not fall asleep. The next morning, she found the attending physician weakly and said, ¡°Give me an abortion.¡±

    The attending doctor did not dare to answer, and asked, ¡°Have you discussed with Mr. Pei?¡±

    She was furious. ¡°This is my own child, why would I discuss with him!¡±

    The attending doctor swallowed and said, ¡°He... he is the father of the child, after all...¡±

    ¡°Who told you that he is the father of the child?!¡± Xia Ling was so angry that she burst out loud. ¡°Have you seen a father who would like his child to be illegitimate? He is not worthy!¡±

    She scolded him, and the attending doctor did not dare to answer. He did not dare provoke her. If anything was to happen to the fetus, all the medical staff here would suffer terrible consequences. The two were deadlocked. Suddenly, the attending doctor saw a figure behind her and said quickly, ¡°Mr. Pei.¡±

    Xia Ling also turned his head and saw that Pei Ziheng was standing behind her, wearing a dark gray suit with a tight seam. Under the dim skylight of the long corridor, his face was half-hidden in the shadows.

    Pei Ziheng said to the attending physician in a low voice, ¡°This is not your business.¡±

    The attending doctor secretly sighed a breath of relief and walked away quickly.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at Xia Ling. ¡°I said that no one would help you with surgery.¡±

    She red at him, and then gradually turned to beg. ¡°Let me get rid of him, or let¡¯s get married. The doctor said that the child is already nine weeks old, and it will be harder to abort in the future.¡±

    Now that she was still young, she was still able to do it and get better early.

    But he was indifferent.

    Looking at his expressionless face, Xia Ling¡¯s heart got colder and colder, as if it had fallen into an ice cave.

    After a few days in the hospital, Pei Ziheng took her home.

    Xia Ling wanted to abort the child, so she refused to eat well and practiced difficult dances all day long in the practice room. She even beat her stomach with her hands... However, she didn¡¯t know if she was too healthy or the child was too tough, but even after persistently tossing for a few days, the child still did not die.

    Pei Ziheng took her to the hospital for review. The doctor smiled and said, ¡°Congrattions to the two of you, the fetus is very healthy. It is probably due to the amount of exercise of the mother that was sufficient enough to maintain adequate blood supply and nutrition.¡±

    Xia Ling was so angry she almost vomited blood.

    Pei Ziheng took her hand steadily and asked, ¡°Can we see the sex of the fetus?¡±

    The doctor looked at the image carefully and said apologetically, ¡°It¡¯s blocked. I can¡¯t see it now. When it grows up and moves around, we will be able to see it in four or five months.¡±

    There was disappointment in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes.

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Do you care a lot about your child¡¯s gender?¡±

    Pei Ziheng bowed his head and gently rubbed her fingertips before saying, ¡°Both son and daughter are good.¡±

    She heard people say that many men like boys, what if she gave birth to a daughter that he was disgusted with? Suddenly, sheughed at herself. She didn¡¯t want to keep it anyway, so what was the difference between it being a boy or girl?

    He seemed to see through her mind and said, ¡°If it is a little princess, it must be as beautiful as you.¡±

    His tone was full of tenderness.

    She was a little embarrassed and whispered, ¡°I hope she is not too beautiful.¡± So what if it was beautiful? If she was as ugly as other people, she would not be seen by him at the orphanage, and there would not be so many twists and turnster. Beautiful women suffered unhappy fates, so it was better to be ordinary.

    Pei Ziheng did not say anything and gently hugged her and went outside.

    This was a good phenomenon. Xiao Ling had begun to ponder what her daughter would grow up to be like. It seemed she was not so firm on abortion. As long as he treated her well and kept a close eye on her, there was always a way to get her to give birth to the child. When the time was over, she would be tied to him in this life.

    Xia Ling did not have such aplicated mind, and she returned home without words.

    It was already deep winter, and the rose flower in the yard had already withered. Only the ivy swayed quietly in the thin mist. Nanny Zhou saw theming back and quickly came up to help her. She said with a smile, ¡°I stewed the hoof soup, sir. You can feed Miss a little, and the two of you can replenish your body with it.¡±

    Xia Ling knew there was no point refusing, so she obediently drank a few spoonfuls. She then pushed the bowl away and gave the excuse of morning sickness. Pei Ziheng looked at her with a frown. ¡°You can¡¯t keep eating so little.¡±

    She said, ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood.¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°How can I make you feel better?¡±

    She sneered. ¡°You know how.¡±

    He was not tempted, and only said calmly, ¡°You also know that it is impossible.¡±

 Chapter 1133 - Small Coffee Bar

    <h4>Chapter 1133: Small Coffee Bar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Marriage was a taboo between them.

    Xia Ling knew that he would not give in, but she was not willing to give in either, so she just said, ¡°I want to take on an advertisement.¡±

    Pei Ziheng also felt that it was good for her to go out and distract herself. At least she would not always think about it. He nodded and answered, ¡°I will let Chu Chen take care of you, remember not to be too tired.¡±

    The next day, she was escorted by the bodyguard to Imperial Entertainment.

    She looked up at the towering buildings of Imperial Entertainment and suddenly felt it was a little unfamiliar after not having seen it for so long. Near the main entrance, Chu Chen had already been waiting for her for a long time. She was the only one besides his Boss who could make the general manager of the management department and the trusted confidant of Pei Ziheng wait for her and serve her.

    In the past, Xia Ling always felt that this honor was taken for granted. Recently, she realized that Chu Chen was not only helping her to take care of her but actually monitoring her?

    He apanied her inside and pressed the elevator for her. ¡°Are you tired? Xiao Ling, you are now in a very special time. Rest in the office and have a cup of milk, then we will confirm the advertisement schedule. ¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him. He indeed knew she was pregnant.

    Her interested waned, and she felt that everything was in the hands of others, and she was not allowed to be free. Without a sense of care, she entered the elevator silently and watched the elevator rise slowly.

    ¡°Help me to press the 8th floor,¡± she said.

    Chu Chen asked, ¡°What are you going to the 8th floor for?¡± Her office, or exclusive lounge, had always been on the 22nd floor. It covered arge area and everything was avable. The 8th floor wa a public area where people came and go.

    Xia Ling¡¯s mood was not good. She yelled at him, ¡°Do I need to report to you where I go?¡±

    Chu Chen knew that her temper was bad. In the past few days, she and Pei Ziheng had been unhappy, and everyone around had to suffer. He pressed the 8th floor and went out with her.

    Xia Ling took a few steps and looked at him in dissatisfaction. ¡°What are you doing with me?¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°You are in a situation...¡±

    ¡°What situation?¡± Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Am I not just pregnant? Pei Ziheng doesn¡¯t even want to give me a name, but is so concerned about it! He even got you to take care of his matters!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Lower your voice!¡± Chu Chen¡¯s expression changed. He nced around, checked that no one was near, then breathed a sigh of relief. Her rtionship with Pei Ziheng was a secret, how could she just say it out so casually? These things were really big news that was absolutely sensational, especially since Wang Jingwan just died for two months!

    Xia Ling stopped being loud, but she still looked at him and sneered. ¡°It¡¯s his child, what are you afraid of?¡±

    Chu Chen felt his temper rising. He felt that every time his life would shorten by this little devil, but he had to endure it. He revealed a bitter smile. ¡°Just take pity on me, if you announce this matter, I will be dismissed tomorrow.¡±

    Although Xia Ling was in a bad mood, after being partners with him for so many years, she decided not to say anything more excessive. She pointed her finger at a small coffee bar at the end of the corridor. ¡°My office is too stuffy, I¡¯ll go there for a while. Don¡¯t follow me, I want to be alone.¡±

    That was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s own small coffee bar, and usually only allowed artists and managers coulde in and out.

    Chu Chen estimated that there would be no danger, so he yelled at her, ¡°Okay, but don¡¯t drink coffee.¡±

    Xia Ling snorted. ¡°Why, are you worried that I will have a miscarriage? Rest assured, this child is very tenacious. Some time ago, I tossed and turned him and yet nothing happened.¡± Seeing Chu Chen¡¯s worried look, she suddenlyughed. ¡°Look at you worrying. Fine, I won¡¯t drink coffee. Since when did I like drinking coffee?¡±

    Chu Chen heaved a sigh of relief.

    He said to her, ¡°Then you go to sit first, I¡¯ll let the assistant send the notice, and then I will find you.¡±

    Xia Ling waved her hand and went straight to the coffee bar.

    The air in the small coffee bar was filled with a bitter aroma. When she entered, there were already several artists chatting over coffee. Seeing her, their expressions were a little weird, and there was an invisible curiosity in their eyes.

    Xia Ling nced at them with a sort of provocative arrogance.

    Some of them bowed their heads, while others frowned, their eyes jealous and disdainful.

    Xia Ling asked for a cup of coffee and walked over to several artists. She said condescendingly, ¡°You were ring at me, right? Li Bingman, Zi Xun, and you, Zheng Chenhao, are you tired of living?¡± She came here to stir up trouble on purpose. Since Pei Ziheng refused to let her have an abortion, she would let the child be ¡°identally¡± aborted.

    Her obedience at home was just an illusion to confuse him.

    Li Bingman and the others did not know the inside story, they only felt that Xia Ling had be even more arrogant in the time they hadn¡¯t seen her.

    Li Bingman was originally holding a small silver fork cake to eat. She tightened her grip on the silver fork in her hand, almost snapping it in two. She looked up at Xia Ling calmly. ¡°It¡¯s really rare, I haven¡¯t seen you for a long time.¡± She was not stupid, and she was still considered sensible. Although she hated Xia Ling since she entered the training camp more than a decade ago, who told her to be more expensive and more prominent than her own poprity? Li Bingman did not want to offend such a troublesome person.

    Xia Ling had undergone tremendous changes recently. Her ability to understand the human heart was stronger than before. She listened to her and could hear the meaning behind her words, so she deliberately revealed an expression of anger. ¡°Why do you care how long I haven¡¯t been here for? So what if Ziheng said the target next year has been changed to you? Don¡¯t be proud!¡±

    Li Bingman¡¯s brows shot up. ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    Xia Ling deliberately red at her. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend! You are really shameless to snatch my resources!¡± Right after saying that, she poured a cup of steaming coffee onto Li Bingman.

    Li Bingman was caught off guard. She screamed and jumped up. However, her white hand-made version of the winter clothing waspletely ruined and miserably soaked in coffee. ¡°Xia Ling!¡± She couldn¡¯t hold back her temper. She forgot all the thoughts of not offending her and said sharply, ¡°Do you have any education?! The chairman gave me the opportunity next year, so you¡¯re just jealous, right?! Serves you right!¡±

    Earlier, there had been some faint rumors saying that the rtionship between Xia Ling and the Chairman was not simple.

    When he got engaged with Wang Jingwan, Xia Ling cried so sullenly outside the conference room and many people had seen it. After Wang Jingwan¡¯s ident, Xia Ling disappeared for a long time¡ªso many people spected that the inside story was not simple. For a female singer, the good news was, maybe, possibly, probably Pei Ziheng had already abandoned Xia Ling.

    Li Bingman also had such an idea. In the past few days, taking advantage of Xia Ling¡¯s absence, she had scattered many rumors about Xia Ling. She also boldly proposed to thepany the willingness to take over an important business performance next year.

    The discerning eye could see that she wanted topete with Xia Ling for the position of the chief female artist.

 Chapter 1134 - Looking for Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 1134: Looking for Trouble</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling did not step out these few days, but she knew what was happening outside.

    In her text message to Xia Ling, Xiao Hua told her, ¡°Xiao Ling! Li Bingman and her gang are getting way overboard! They are spreading rumors that you will be shelved by thepany. They even persuaded a few investors to leave you and invest in them instead!¡±

    In the entertainment industry, what they did would incur the same amount of wrath as killing one¡¯s family and taking one¡¯s wife.

    Since they¡¯d bumped into each other at the cafeteria, it was a good opportunity to get back at Li Bingman.

    Xia Ling looked at Li Bingman scornfully andughed. ¡°You really think you can make it for Gxy Chroniclemercial performance? Your face is stic from all that surgery, look at it in the mirror yourself! Or do you think your singing is exceptional? Stop kidding yourself, your singing lost out to mine umpteen years ago, and now it¡¯s even worse. What rubbish, you aren¡¯t even fit topete with me!¡±

    Li Bingman was flushed with embarrassment and anger. Xia Ling¡¯s words were like daggers to her heart, and she wanted to tear this woman apart. She nced at Zi Xun and Zheng Chenhao, who had now backed off a few steps from them. Evidently, they did not want to be involved.

    Li Bingman got even angrier. Why were all of them so afraid to offend Xia Ling?!

    This woman was clearly past her prime! Even the director said that he would pump resources to groom someone else the following year!

    On that thought, Li Bingman got bolder. She stared angrily at Xia Ling and said, ¡°It is you who are incapable, so don¡¯t me me for taking the spot away from you! The only reason for your poprity all this time is the chairman¡¯s bias towards you, but do you really think he would favor you forever?!¡±

    Xia Ling snapped. She was the one to initiate the attack on Li Bingman, she did not expect to be the one that got hurt instead.

    Do you really think he would favor you forever?!

    The sentence echoed in her ears like a curse. It pierced through the false veil of peace and forced her to face the ugly truth. She recalled the things that had happened recently¡ªhe¡¯d treated her so cruelly to force and humiliate her...

    Instantly, she was ovee by fear and shock.

    Before she knew it, she instinctively took the cup of coffee on the table and sshed it on Li Bingman.

    Li Bingman¡¯s hair and makeup were ruined by the coffee. She could not keep her cool anymore and screamed, ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill you!¡± She pounced towards Xia Ling and pped her.

    Xia Ling could have evaded it, but she did not want to. She moved her head slightly. Li Bingman¡¯s palms grazed her cheeks andnded onto her shoulder. A sharp pain shot up onto her shoulders; Li Bingman did not hold back at all.

    Xia Ling tried to strangle Li Bingman. Soon, they were caught in a tussle.

    Xia Ling was fit and was trained in self-defense. Even though she was pregnant, she still overpowered Li Bingman. Before long, she was seated on top of Li Bingman on the ground. She deliberately picked her spots and punched Li Bingman. Li Bingman was in so much pain that she cried. Feeling humiliated, she used everything she could, her teeth, nails, and legs to hurt Xia Ling. They fought for a long time and knocked over the furniture in the cafeteria.

    Zi Xun and Zheng Chenhao, who were trying to keep themselves safe at the side, realized that things were getting out of hand and made a slight attempt to appear to stop the fight. ¡°Cut this out, we are all from the samepany, let¡¯s talk it out instead.¡±

    Li Bingman could not speak with Xia Ling grasping tightly around her neck. She was getting punched by Xia Ling and was in great pain. She hoped Zi Xun and Zheng Chenhao would pull Xia Ling away, but the two of them did not dare to use too much force. Although there were already rumors that Xia Ling had lost favor with Pei Ziheng, surely there was a chance that those rumors were false?

    Whoever hurt Xia Ling was simply looking for death!

    Both of them seemed to be busy helping, but in reality, they were of no help at all.

    Xia Ling could not even be bothered by them and continued throwing punches on Li Bingman, as if releasing all her anger that had been contained and suppressed over the days. These people looked down on others. All they heard was that she had been crying in the corridor outside the Chairman¡¯s office. Yet, they managed toe up with so many rumors instantly. They even took her acting jobs. No wonder Pei Ziheng treated her like his private pet. Everyone thought of her as Pei Ziheng¡¯s pet! Her value was solely dependent on him.

    This realization caused her to fall into despair.

    She ignored Li Bingman¡¯s resistance and kept on punching.

    Zheng Chenhao and Zi Xun tried to stop her. ¡°Stop, stop, Chu Chen is here!¡±

    A hand grabbed onto Xia Ling steadily and pulled her up from Li Bingman¡¯s body. Xia Ling turned around angrily only to see Chu Chen standing behind her with a solemn expression on his face.

    ¡°Xia Ling, you are overboard,¡± he said.

    She smirked. ¡°Overboard? She was the one who spread rumors about me and even took my acting jobs. Manager Chu, are you siding with her!¡±

    Chu Chen frowned. ¡°You know I didn¡¯t mean that.¡±

    He nced at her abdomen.

    At that moment, Xia Ling understood his intentions. Chu Chen was worried about the child in her womb. She could feel a bit of pain, but it was not too serious. Her thoughts were in a mess. Originally, she fought with Li Bingman with the intention of putting the me of a miscarriage on her. Now that the pain came, she started to panic.

    After all, it was a life...

    She stared nkly for a few seconds. She bit her lip and decided not to care about the pain.

    She stared at Chu Chen. ¡°Let go of my hand!¡± But Chu Chen still held her right hand tightly, stopping her from attacking Li Bingman. Li Bingmany on the floor with her face swollen and her blouse soaked in coffee stains. There were spilled coffee and broken pieces of porcin everywhere. No one would have realized that the one sitting amongst the mess was a television star if they did not look hard enough.

    Chu Chen felt that he was extremely unlucky. It had been less than an hour since Xia Ling arrived at thepany, and she already got into such trouble. He looked at her messy clothing and hair and reprimanded. ¡°Why did you get in trouble again? If you have anything against Li Bingman, you can talk to me or the boss, we will settle it for you.¡±

    Xia Ling stared at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you interfere!¡±

    Chu Chen said,¡± I will let you go if you return to the VIP room on the 22th floor with me.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to say no, or even fight it out with Chu Chen. However, she could not bring herself to do it. The two of them had worked together for 10 years. Even though she was unhappy that he was on Pei Ziheng¡¯s side, it would have been too much to push the miscarriage on him.

    She settled down and slowly drew her hands away.

    Zheng Chenhao and Zi Xun were shocked¡ª

    The rumor was that Xia Ling had lost favor, but why was Chu Chen still so conscientious towards her? Were the rumors false? They would have to beware of their wagging tongues now!

    They looked at Li Bingman, who was crying in pain on the floor. They felt sympathy, but at the same time, were a little happy that she ended up this way.

 Chapter 1135 - The Princess and the Beggar

    <h4>Chapter 1135: The Princess and the Beggar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling felt her abdomen hurting. Something was up with her baby, but she did not know what.

    She hoped that it would just die. But this thought her into further despair as if her heart was gripped tightly by an invisible hand. She bit her lip and forced herself to stand firmly. However, her pale face still exposed her emotions.

    Zheng Chenhao and Zi Xun saw her sadness and couldn¡¯t help but question it¡ª

    You were the one who attacked Li Bingman so aggressively, but why does it seem like you came out of this worse off than her?

    Chu Chen was afraid something would happen to the baby. With apassionate and firm tone, he said, ¡°Xiao Ling, do you feel unwell anywhere? Let me help you back to the office.¡±

    Xia Ling shook off his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll walk by myself.¡±

    As she was walking away, she endured the pain in her abdomen and kicked Li Bingman twice again. ¡°Spread rumors about me! Steal my acting jobs! Don¡¯t let me see you again. If not, I¡¯ll beat you up every time I see you!¡±

    She had always been bad-tempered. Hence, her actions didn¡¯te as a surprise.

    Li Bingman was infuriated. They were already separated by the others and the fight was over, but Xia Ling still added in those kicks. She could not bear this humiliation and shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll fight you to death!¡±

    Without any care, she rushed towards Xia Ling and scratched her face.

    Chu Chen pushed her aside. Li Bingman did not anticipate it and fell to the ground.Update by vip novel

    Chu Chen stared at her with dagger-sharp eyes and said, ¡°Don¡¯t let me catch you disturbing Xiao Ling again. If I see it one more time, I¡¯ll shelve you immediately.¡±

    Shelve immediately!

    Everyone was shocked. They now understood why Chu Cheng still sided with Xia Ling. For a tier-one actress like Li Bingman, even Chu Chen did not have the authority to shelve her. If he could threaten to do this, it either meant that Pei Ziheng had allowed him to do so, or he predicted that Pei Ziheng weighed Li Bingman¡¯s contribution to Imperial Entertainment as being less important than that of Xia Ling¡¯s wellbeing.

    Chu Chen was an important figure to Pei Ziheng and his judgment was generally correct.

    Zheng Chenhao and Zi Xun looked distraught. If this was the case, the rumors about Xia Ling losing favor were all fake? She was still the one person not to offend in Imperial Entertainment; they still had to give up their resources to her and tolerate her ego!

    As for Li Bingman, she shivered in fear when she heard this.

    God have mercy. She only provoked Xia Ling as she thought she had lost favor. If Xia Ling was still Pei Ziheng¡¯s favorite, she... she could not imagine the price she would have to pay for her actions.

    ¡°Xia Ling! Xiao Ling!¡± Anxious, she hugged Xia Ling¡¯s legs. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I should not have fought with you, nor for next year¡¯s top star. But I didn¡¯t spread rumors about you, I swear! Please believe me! Xiao Ling, we trained so many years together in the training camp, can you forgive me this once?¡± She whimpered as tears rolled down her cheeks.

    Zheng Chenhao shot her a look of disdain. Li Bingman was actually stooping so low for survival.

    In the very beginning, she was the one that spread all those rumors about Xia Ling. He knew this very well!

    Xia Ling looked down at the crying woman and said scornfully, ¡°Don¡¯t get your tears and mucus on my leg.¡±

    Li Bingman quickly let go of her legs. She continued crying, ¡°Xiao Ling, please forgive me...¡± Her feud with Xia Ling had a long history. It started when they first entered the training camp and werepeting for the top spot. She had swallowed her pride to be Xia Ling¡¯s underling, and after their debut, she had to watch her sister Li Bingyu leave the industry because of Xia Ling¡¯s dominance...

    She was not content with her fate and tried her best to surpass Xia Ling, but she never seeded.

    It was not easy for an actress in the entertainment industry. Apart from their poprity and acting jobs, it also depended on whether they had strong backing. Clearly, Li Bingman, who was born amoner, did not have this advantage. As she became more popr, she had to attend more dinners and dates. For more resources and backing, she had to rush from one entertaining event to the next. One day she might be with a tycoon and the next day a director... After serving them with her body, she would cry herself to sleep at night.

    Once, she had attended an event together with Xia Ling. In the dressing room, Xia Lingmented casually in front of the many other actors and staff. ¡°Bingman, yourplexion is getting worse. Your skin is loosening, that is a sign of aging. You have to take care of it.¡±

    Her voice was loud and clear, and many actors turned their heads to her.

    Li Bingman was embarrassed. She was barely 20, but in Xia Ling¡¯s words, she became someone with loose skin and aging? However, she knew why her skin looked terrible¡ªthe night before, she was out making love with a tycoon the entire night until her bones felt like copsing. This morning she had to wake up early for this show. It would have been a miracle if her skin stayed perfect.

    As for Xia Ling, her skin was watertight. She casually took some rose essence and spread over the back of her hands. A petal-like glow could be seen faintly on her soft, fair skin. It was so beautiful.

    ¡°Ziheng came over yesterday and told me the magnolia one did not smell nice. He wanted me to change to the rose one.¡± Xia Ling chatted with Li Bingman while applying her skincare products. ¡°I bought a whole set, they are all limited edition. I only used the magnolia one once, it¡¯s a pity to throw it away, how about I give it to you? You need some of it for your skin.¡±

    Li Bingman was infuriated. She felt that Xia Ling was treating her like a beggar. However, she did not dare to reject her, and instead acted like she was pleasantly surprised. ¡°Thank you so much.¡±

    A few actors sneered at the sight.

    Even a tier-one actress had to act like a servant to Xia Ling, it was an eye-opening sight.

    Li Bingman was embarrassed, but she could only swallow it down.

    Xia Ling could not detect her embarrassment. She pped her hands happily. ¡°Alright then, I will get my assistant to pass it to you at night. Where are you staying tonight? Is it still with the old guy Zhao Tianfu? Someone saw the two of you together yesterday. In my opinion, he¡¯s so old he could be your father, you should change a boyfriend.¡±

    Li Bingman wanted to cover her mouth or even tear her to pieces. The sneering from those around her seemed to havee back. Her face was burning with embarrassment. Only Xia Ling would naively think that he was her boyfriend! The rest knew instantly that he was just a rich man looking for fun and did not treat Li Bingman seriously. Calling him her boyfriend was overestimating Li Bingman!

 Chapter 1136 - Carrying Her Through the Crowd

    <h4>Chapter 1136: Carrying Her Through the Crowd</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Bingman was exasperated. She was the butt of the joke because of this woman¡¯s naivety! But there was nothing she could do about it. If there was one rule of thumb that everyone had to follow when interacting with Xia Ling, it was¡ª

    Tolerate everything, no matter how intolerable.

    This was someone she couldn¡¯t afford to offend.

    But having had to bear with such grievances for so many years, Li Bingman had long wanted to skin this woman alive. That was why she lost control of herself and began spreading rumors the moment she thought that Xia Ling had lost favor.

    And yet, it was all back to square one now. She was full of regret and fear now, and she sobbed even more miserably. ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve really never spread rumors about you. Please, please believe me...¡±

    Xia Ling had been in a bad mood recently and could not be bothered to entertain her. She gave a cold ¡°hmph¡± and walked off.

    Chu Chen didn¡¯t have to care about this small fry¡ªyes, inparison to Xia Ling, even a tier-one actress like Li Bingman was no more than a ¡°small fry¡±. He followed Xia Ling out and noticed that she was staggering.

    He whipped his cell phone out and gave Pei Ziheng a call.

    Only after that did he catch up with Xia Ling and followed her to the exclusive lounge upstairs for some rest.

    The lounge was bright and spacious with beautiful decorative nts and a basket full of fruits that gave off a refreshing scent. Xia Ling¡¯s abdomen was getting increasingly painful, but she tookfort in this familiar space. However, she dared not sit, nor make herselffortable. Her intention was to have a miscarriage and this was the best opportunity.

    She turned to Chu Chen. ¡°You can leave, I want to be alone here on my own.¡±

    But Chu Chen did not move. ¡°Xiao Ling, sit down and rest. I¡¯ll go get you some water.¡±

    Xia Ling wanted him to leave so that she could do some strenuous exercise to lose the baby. Seeing that he wasn¡¯t acting ording to her wishes, fury rose inside her. ¡°Did Pei Ziheng send you here to spy on me?!¡±

    Chu Chen paused a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯m your manager, it¡¯s my duty to take care of you.¡±

    Xia Ling wasn¡¯t appeased. ¡°Get out!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too agitated, it¡¯s not good for the baby,¡± Chu Chen spoke to her calmly. ¡°I can¡¯t be at ease leaving you here on your own. Just bear with it for now, once the baby¡¯s born, I¡¯ll let you have your way.¡±

    She red at him and understood that he wasn¡¯t going to give in. ¡°Okay, you want to stay here, don¡¯t you? Do what you like!¡± She turned around and walked away.

    Chu Chen asked her, ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to the bathroom, do you need toe along too?¡±

    The man in a suit kept quiet and stayed where he was.

    Xia Ling raised her chin gleefully¡ªwell, she was witty enough to think of this. As long as she stayed in the bathroom for a while longer, jumping about and hitting her abdomen, it¡¯d be difficult not to lose this baby.

    At this point, however, the door of the lounge was opened from the outside.

    Xia Ling saw Pei Ziheng approaching. He always looked stern, but this time he seemed colder than before. ¡°Does it hurt you not to cause trouble for a day?¡±

    Chu Chen took a few steps back to make way for Pei Ziheng¡¯s entrance.

    Xia Ling felt a chill down her spine as she saw him. Right then, she understood what was going on and yelled at Chu Chen, ¡°You traitor!¡±

    Chu Chen kept his head low and remained quiet.

    Pei Ziheng was now standing before her and looking down at her. ¡°I got him to keep an eye on you. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s at fault now, so don¡¯t me someone else for this.¡± Seeing that she was fighting with someone else while expecting, Chu Chen couldn¡¯t help but worry for her. He hurriedly called Pei Ziheng, who dropped everything and rushed over immediately.

    Thankfully, although she looked a little pale, there didn¡¯t seem to be a major issue.

    Xia Ling was enraged. ¡°Your people are everywhere, I don¡¯t have any freedom at all!¡±

    ¡°As long as you listen to me, you¡¯ll always be free.¡±

    ¡°You tyrant!¡±

    ¡°So what if I¡¯m a tyrant.¡± Pei Ziheng smirked. ¡°I¡¯ve been so nice to you for so many years, but how have you repaid me? Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that you¡¯re trying to kill our child.¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°Go to the hospital with me for a check,¡± Pei Ziheng said.

    Xia Ling red at him and took a step back. ¡°I won¡¯t!¡±

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t even bother to waste more time talking it out with her. He scooped her up and strode out. Meanwhile, Chu Chen hurriedly went to open the door for him.

    Xia Ling screamed, ¡°Pei Ziheng, let me down! You beast!¡± She struggled with all her might, but he held her too tightly. She went hysterical as she hit and bit him, but he didn¡¯t even flinch.

    The elevator descended.

    A whole lot of people were going about their business in the lobby.

    A few of them appeared confused and bewildered as they saw the chairman carry such a beautiful girl in his arms. The girl was screaming and cursing the meanest words at him, but he seemed unbothered by her. He even kindly grabbed her hand, worried that she might hurt herself. Only Xia Ling¡ªand no one else, ever¡ªcould act so insanely in front of him.

    Chu Chen watched as they got into the car, but did not tag along.

    There was some important business that Chu Chen had to attend to on Pei Ziheng¡¯s behalf.

    Thankfully, someone else was in charge of her now. Chu Chen felt that he deserved a drink before attending to the important business. After all, it was more difficult to serve Xia Ling than to negotiate a deal.

    Someone called out behind him, ¡°Chu Chen?¡±

    He turned around and smiled. ¡°Secretary Xie.¡±

    Secretary Xie was a 20-odd-year-old girl. She was in office attire and had on very suitable light makeup. Having been at this job for years, she used to be Pei Ziheng¡¯s second secretary. She was promoted recently to be his main secretary and found it beneficial to be on good terms with someone like Chu Chen.

    She asked with a smile, ¡°Boss carried Miss Xia out?¡±

    Chu Chen wasn¡¯t about to offend Pei Ziheng¡¯s main secretary either. He nodded. ¡°Yes, they just left. By the look of things, he probably won¡¯t be back here anytime today. Secretary Xie, I¡¯ll need you to attend the meeting with meter on.¡±

    Secretary Xie said, ¡°It¡¯s only right of me.¡± She paused before adding, ¡°Boss is really nice to Miss Xia.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Chu Chen smiled. ¡°Have you ever seen anyone else who could shout at him this way?¡±

    Secretary Xie thought for a while before saying, ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen them in such a huge argument.¡±

 Chapter 1137 - Feng Kunâ€™s Scheme

    <h4>Chapter 1137: Feng Kun¡¯s Scheme</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Back when she was working among the other secretaries, she¡¯d already witnessed Xia Ling¡¯s wilfulness. But that wasmon among girls, and it was nothing like how she¡¯d acted this time. And for some reason, the Big Boss who was always so stern and intimidating allowed her to do that, without disying any anger.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°I suggest you find a way to manage the ¡®loudspeakers¡¯ around here.¡± Too many people had seen what had happened. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the people at the front desk were still in a discussion, presumably over the scene, and that wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    Secretary Xie knew what he was getting at and smiled. ¡°I will, thank you.¡±

    She was thanking him for reminding her to act in a way that Boss favored, which would help her secure her position.

    This was one of the rules for survival in the higher tiers of this morouspany¡ªfind allies, help one another and get things done perfectly before the Boss said anything.

    And in Imperial Entertainment, this rule was even simpler¡ª

    Whoever managed to handle Xia Ling¡¯s affairs well would be safe.

    Over on the other side, Pei Ziheng forced Xia Ling to get to the hospital. He allowed her to scream, shout and even get physically aggressive with him, but he handed her to the specialist doctor upon arrival.

    The doctors did the checkups thoroughly and finally heaved a sigh of relief at the end of it all.

    The doctor in-charge said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Miss Xia was showing signs of a miscarriage, but thankfully she got here in time and the situation is now under control. I advise that she remains warded over the next few weeks and not go anywhere. This is for the fetus¡¯ safety.¡±

    Pei Ziheng thanked the doctor and had her checked into the VIP ward.

    At this point, Xia Ling had quietened down and was no longer throwing a fit.

    Since there was no way to escape Pei Ziheng¡¯s clutches, she might as well conserve her energy. If there was anything that disappointed her, it was that the baby was still alive inside her. It was a tough little one, somehow managing to survive the Xia Ling¡¯s fight with someone else. She felt extremely conflicted. Should she be feelingforted or upset that this child just wouldn¡¯t die? Whatever the case, there was nothing she could do about it.

    The worst-case scenario would be giving birth to this bastard child.

    She looked down and rested her hand on her abdomen.

    Pei Ziheng walked towards her and sneered. ¡°Are you very disappointed?¡±

    Xia Ling mocked lightly. ¡°What if I say I am?¡±

    Pei Ziheng turned away and walked out, mming the door. The bang startled Xia Ling and she began feeling even more distraught. How did things between them turn out this way?

    Shey on the bed day after day without wanting to eat anything. She was getting more haggard.

    The doctor in-charge said to her, ¡°Miss Xia, you can¡¯t go on like this, the child is malnourished now. If you remain this way, you¡¯re going to be very weak duringbor, that¡¯ll pose a danger to yourself.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him snidely. ¡°No matter the situation, you¡¯ll find a way to deliver the child, no? As for whether I get out of it dead or alive, it doesn¡¯t matter, anyway...¡± Anyway, her heart had been dead the moment she found out that Pei Ziheng was getting engaged to Wang Jingwan.

    The doctor in-charge did not know how to react. He simply offered her some words offort before taking his leave.

    She was kept in such a small space and was even surrounded by Pei Ziheng¡¯s men when she wanted to take a stroll outside. The assistants and bodyguards made sure the path was always clear for her so that she wouldn¡¯t be in conflict with any passersby around. She found life to be boring and hopeless and began losing her temper every so often.

    But no one dared offend her.

    Everyone simply smiled meekly around her.

    But they¡¯d never give her any freedom. They could neverpromise on the task that Pei Ziheng assigned them.

    As such, she became even more overbearing. She became fiercer to the people around her, started hurling things in the ward and ate less and less.

    As she got even more vulnerable, the doctor had a word with Pei Ziheng again. ¡°Miss Xia can¡¯t go on like this. It¡¯ll be hard for her to sustain until herbor.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I know.¡± He kept quiet for a while before going to look for someone.

    On this day, Xia Ling was hurling things in the ward again.

    The door suddenly opened and a mild-mannered man walked in. It was Feng Kun. Feng Kun caught the pillow that she¡¯d thrown from the bed and smiled. ¡°Why, you¡¯re in a terrible mood?¡±

    Xia Ling did not expect it to be him. She was stunned for a moment before asking, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Feng Kun closed the door and walked to her bedside. Handing the soft pillow back to her, he said, ¡°I heard you¡¯re hospitalized, so I¡¯m here to see you. How are you feeling? Better?¡± He saw that she was indeed a lot more haggard than before. She looked almost like a cracked crystal, one that would shatter into fragments upon touch. For some reason, his heart ached when he saw her this way.

    Xia Ling turned away and said angrily, ¡°Hmph, so you¡¯re the person Pei Ziheng sent to persuade me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t even be allowed in.¡± Feng Kun did not anger her further and instead remained calm and kind. ¡°He wants me to persuade you to have this child properly. But Xiao Ling, I want to know, do you really not intend to keep this child?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Would I be lying?¡± It was such a shame that she couldn¡¯t get what she wanted despite trying so hard for it.

    Feng Kun could tell that she had a lot of grievances with regards to the baby, and asked her again, ¡°Are you sure about this? This is your child with him that we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Xia Ling looked down and stroked her abdomen gently. Her belly was still t, but she knew he was there. Yes, this was her child with him, something she yearned for in the past.

    But what about now?

    He came at the wrong time, at a juncture where she didn¡¯t even know if she could spend her life with Pei Ziheng. She didn¡¯t want him to be a bastard child¡ªwho¡¯d be happy with that?

    ¡°I¡¯m sure about this.¡± She swallowed the lump in her throat.

    Feng Kun then said, ¡°If you really are sure about this, I have an idea.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him in shock. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to persuade me to keep the baby?¡±

    Feng Kun smiled. ¡°I¡¯m your friend.¡±

    He knew her very well. She was a woman of pride, how could she tolerate being a shameful mistress in hiding? She should be soaring high and free¡ªthat was the Xia Ling he knew.

    Xia Ling eyed him closely before finally breaking into a smile. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re my friend. So, what¡¯s your idea?¡± This was how valuable friends were. It wasn¡¯t obvious during the good times, but at one¡¯s lowest, true friends would always be there for them.

    Thankfully, not everyone had abandoned her.

    Feng Kun said, ¡°Xiao Ling, hear this right. There is one person who¡¯d hate for you to have this child.¡±

    Xia Ling intuitively sat up. ¡°Who?¡±

 Chapter 1138 - Dangerous Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 1138: Dangerous Alliance</h4>

    Feng Kun told her, ¡°That would be Pei Ziheng¡¯s granduncle, Pei Zhenyuan. Even Pei Ziheng is afraid of him. If you can contact him and tell him about your pregnancy, he will do everything he can to take you out of here and get you to go for an abortion.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. She could not believe she forgot about the old geezer.

    Perhaps, if the old geezer caught wind that she was pregnant with Pei Ziheng¡¯s child, he would be infuriated and would never allow her to have the baby. She was upset that she had to turn to him for help even though she hated him. Looking down and gently caressing her abdomen, she said, ¡°We will have to let the news out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you,¡± Feng Kun said.

    After they formted the n, Feng Kun left.

    In the ward, Xia Ling lived her life as per normal. She got into the usual rage, threw things around and shouted at people. However, she deliberately controlled the frequency. A few dayster, she became calm.

    Pei Ziheng came to visit her in his free time. He sat by the bed and peeled apples for her.

    He was good at peeling apples. Apple skin of even thickness slid between his fingers. After peeling them, he carefully sliced them into pieces and ted them. Presenting it to Xia Ling, he asked, ¡°You¡¯re not angry anymore?¡±

    Xia Ling received the te, her flutteryshes leaving faint shadows on her face. ¡°What is there to be angry about, since I can¡¯t abort the child anyway. Pei Ziheng, even if I give birth to him, I will hate him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll like him.¡± Pei Ziheng smiled.

    The two of them sat quietly under the warm light, Pei Ziheng apanying her as she slowly ate the apple. They looked just like an old couple. A thought shed across his mind¡ªif only she was his wife. But he killed the thought immediately, knowing that it was not possible. The elders in the family would never agree to it. Also, he needed his wife to have a powerful family background to back him up against the other forces.

    This was the only way for them to be with each other in this life.

    He wanted to make it up to her. ¡°Be more obedient and I¡¯ll take you out. The snow in Xi Cui Hai is beautiful. Get some new clothes and I¡¯ll take you there for a vacation.¡±

    She mocked. ¡°You still have the heart for a vacation? Why aren¡¯t you taking this time to find a wife with a powerful family, get married to her and expand your empire? Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re always telling me to take a step back and to be more obedient. So all my sacrifice is just so that you have the time to enjoy your life? What happened to the ambitions you talked about?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was enraged.

    However, he swallowed this anger and simply said, ¡°You are tired.¡±

    He took the empty te and walked out of the room.

    The door closed silently behind him, and the lights along the corridor were still. Chu Chen was waiting for him by the door. The moment he saw him, he said, ¡°Boss, your schedule for next month has been settled. I have especially emptied three days, so you can go to Xi Cui Hai with Xiao Ling. However, the remaining schedule will be pretty packed. With your long trips to New York and Paris, you might have to sleep on the road.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Xi Cui Hai is canceled.¡±

    Chu Chen was stunned. He guessed that he must have quarreled with Xia Ling again, but did not dare to probe more. He received the te from Pei Ziheng and followed him silently out of the hospital.

    Back in the ward.

    Xia Ling looked as Pei Ziheng walked out. She was frustrated and could not get to sleep.

    The nurse came in to check and smiled at Xia Ling. ¡°Miss Xia, you¡¯re still up? When Mr. Pei left, he even asked his assistant to get your medical report. He is so nice to you.¡±

    Xia Ling replied coldly, ¡°Is he.¡±

    The nurse said enviously, ¡°Why, isn¡¯t he? If someone was this nice to me, I would be willing to marry him.¡± That was when she realized that she had said the wrong thing, and nced at Xia Ling awkwardly to see if she was upset.

    Xia Ling knew what the nurse was thinking. In her days in the ward, everyone could guess that she was carrying Pei Ziheng¡¯s child, and yet they were not married. Talking about marriage was assumed to be a taboo topic for her.

    However, after all that she¡¯d been through, she had long been numb to such statements.

    Giving the excuse that she was tired, she asked for the nurse to leave. Xia Lingy on the bed and stared at the night sky. Suddenly, she could hear noises outside the door. She cautiously sat up and asked, ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡±

    A female voice could be heard, ¡°Miss Xia, I¡¯m here to help you.¡±

    Her heart skipped a beat. Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s men were here already?! She stood up and opened the door for the woman. It was a youngdy in a nurse¡¯s uniform, holding a tray.

    Thedy removed the cloth that was covering the tray to reveal another set of uniforms. Hurriedly, she said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Xia, put this on quickly and follow me. Old Master Pei Zhenyuan has prepared the location for your abortion.¡±

    Xia Ling changed into the nurse¡¯s uniform immediately. Her hands shook as she thought of her impending fate.

    She followed thedy out of the ward. Along the hallway, the guards had all been knocked out. They avoided them and left the hospital in a covert ck sedan, disappearing into the night.

    After a long while, they reached a private clinic.

    Xia Ling followed thedy in and asked, ¡°Where is this?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is a safe ce. Get ready, we will start the procedure immediately.¡±

    Looking at the expressionless faces of the nurses, she started to fear. Ever since she discovered her pregnancy, she had finally arrived at this. She was d, but still felt a tinge of unwillingness.

    She was in a daze until she turned around and saw an old man.

    The old man was in a ck suit, looking stern and energetic. Looking at her, he said, ¡°You are here.¡±

    Xia Ling bit her lip and said, ¡°Granduncle.¡± No matter what, she was still the Pei family¡¯s First Miss. Years ago Pei Ziheng fought hard for her to have the same power and status as the Pei familydies. The other cousins addressed her as Sister, while she had to address Pei Zhenyuan as Granduncle.

    He looked at her coldly. ¡°You still have the cheek to call me Granduncle? How can you do something so despicable? You are a humiliation!¡±

    This was not the first time Pei Zhenyuan had reprimanded her.

    In the past, she thought that true love trumped all and would always rebut Pei Zhenyuan when he told her off¡ªshe had no blood ties with Pei Ziheng, so why couldn¡¯t they be together? But this time, she did not have the mood to talk back to him. She simply said, ¡°Granduncle, start the procedure. After the abortion, send me to somewhere Pei Ziheng will never find me again. This will be good for both of us.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan smirked. ¡°The Pei family put in so much money to raise and groom you not for you to disappear! Your contract with Imperial Entertainment is still valid, but you want to break the contract?¡±

 Chapter 1139 - Heâ€™s Here

    <h4>Chapter 1139: He¡¯s Here</h4>

    Xia Ling was stunned. She did not expect him to say this.

    She had brought in a lot of revenue for Imperial Entertainment all these years. Even though the Pei family despised her background, they valued her money-making abilities. She was a global Diva... Xia Ling mocked at herself. She was just a tool to them.

    A money-making tool, a childbearing tool...

    She mocked. ¡°Granduncle, thanks for thepliment.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Granduncle.¡± Pei Zhenyuan looked at her with disdain. Why was it her of all people? An illicit child always led to the fall of families; he would never allow him to be born!

    Xia Ling ignored him and muttered, ¡°What¡¯s the point of keeping me in Imperial Entertainment? Are you not afraid that I¡¯ll announce our rtionship to the world? You do know how many fans I¡¯ve got, the uproar that I can cause will destroy the Pei family. Why go to this extent? Let me go.¡±

    It was Feng Kun¡¯s idea for her to utter these words. She prayed that it would work.

    Pei Zhenyuan frowned. He did not expect this simple-minded girl to be daring enough to threaten him. Nheless, her words were effective. She did have a very strong global influence¡ªall she had to do was to appeal to her fans and the Pei family would have to pump in an incredible amount of resources to clear this scandal. And if there were otherpetitors that wanted to use this against them...

    It really was troublesome.

    Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°Are you done considering?¡±

    Since he did not like her calling him Granduncle, she was happy not to do so as well. In the past, she respected him only on Pei Ziheng¡¯s ount. Now that they were no longer together, there was no need to keep up this meaningless facade.

    Pei Zhenyuan said calmly, ¡°Time is precious, go for the procedure first. I will consider your suggestions and give you an answer after it.¡±

    Xia Ling thought about it and said, ¡°Will do.¡±

    She had to go through with the abortion, whether or not he would eventually agree to let her go after this. She followed the nurses toplete the pre-operation check-up...

    As she walked past the corridor, she saw a poster on abortion on the wall.

    A tiny fetus was in the womb. A plier inserted was clipping its hands and legs, crushing them into fragments of a bloodied mess like clearing rubbish out of the womb. Her stomach started cramping and her face turned white. Dizziness started to engulf her.

    Was the life in her abdomen going to face the same oue?

    Suddenly, tears started to fill her eyes.

    The apanying nurse said, ¡°Don¡¯t be upset. It would be more painful to go through with the pregnancy. You only have yourself to me for not being careful. If you didn¡¯t want it, why didn¡¯t you use protection?¡±

    After hearing this, more tears started flowing. It was not up to her to use protection.

    Those messy and humiliating days, she had clearly been raped...

    Sad memories reyed in her mind. She wanted so much to question Pei Ziheng, ¡°Why did you treat me like this? You never wanted to marry me anyway!¡± The clinic¡¯s corridor was silent. Only the breeze answered her cries.

    After the check-up, she entered the surgery room.

    The room was rather empty and cold.

    Xia Lingy on the surgical bed and the doctor secured her legs. She felt helpless and scared, but she was already past the stage of regrets¡ªshe had to finish the abortion. She closed her eyes and tried hard not to think about the images she saw along the corridor. She muttered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Baby. Please reincarnate into a better family.¡±

    Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard.

    The room¡¯s door was barged open and Pei Ziheng yelled, ¡°Stop!¡±

    Before she could react, she felt a sharp pain in her left leg¡ªsomeone had removed her legs from the support stand and it hit something.

    She opened her eyes to see Pei Ziheng¡¯s angry face.

    Under the light, he looked massive. His shirt was unbuttoned. She had never seen him like this and thought, Where did he get the news from? This child... is it really so important to him?

    The entire medical crew was in a fluster.

    The nurses shouted, ¡°Who are you? Get out!¡±

    Pei Ziheng stared down at them. ¡°I am Pei Ziheng. Touch my woman again and I¡¯ll show you death¡¯s door!¡± He was like a beast that could tear people apart in a moment¡¯s notice.

    The medical crew backed off.

    Pei Ziheng. It was a name they only saw in the news. Given that Xia Ling was the one going through with the procedure, it was logical for the director of Imperial Entertainment, Pei Ziheng, to be here. The medical crew did not want to be involved with him any further, every one of them stood away from him and gave him space.

    Pei Ziheng wrapped her in the nket and carried her out.

    Xia Ling struggled. ¡°Let go of me!¡±

    Pei Ziheng ignored her cries and walked through the corridor with Chu Chen and his bodyguards.

    At the end of the corridor, Pei Zhenyuan brought a gang of people and stopped them in their tracks. ¡°Idiot!¡± Pei Zhenyuan pointed at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Put her down now!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at his granduncle coldly. ¡°This is the first andst time. Don¡¯t let me see Xiao Ling in trouble again¡ªelse, you will no longer be my granduncle.¡±

    His deadly intent scared even Pei Zhenyuan.

    In the moment of blurred tension, Pei Ziheng had already walked out.

    Pei Zhenyuan regained hisposure and ordered. ¡°Stop him!¡± But it was toote. Pei Ziheng brought enough men to easily break through Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s blockade.

    Back at the hospital, Pei Ziheng got the doctor to do a full body check up on Xia Ling. After confirming that she was fine, he was finally at ease. But Xia Ling was not done venting her anger on him. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you animal! I¡¯m not going to give birth to a child for you! Never!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked solemn as he tied her to the bed and turned around to leave.

    He was afraid he would hit her.

    Xia Ling was still shouting at the top of her lungs. She cried and screamed, but slowly became tired and quietened down.

    The door of the ward was pushed open. Chu Chen stepped in. ¡°Tired? Do you want some water?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him and screamed, ¡°You are all the same!¡±

 Chapter 1140 - A Quiet Transformation

    <h4>Chapter 1140: A Quiet Transformation</h4>

    Chu Chen took his time to pour her some water. ¡°Boss has good intentions, why do you treat him this way? Do you know how dangerous it was for you? Pei Zhenyuan is an old sly fox, and you actually believed him?¡±

    Xia Ling scoffed weakly. ¡°Dangerous? Isn¡¯t he just helping me with the abortion?¡±

    Chu Chen looked at her. ¡°He wanted the doctor to remove your uterus, did you know that?¡±

    Xia Ling was utterly stunned by his statement. She would never have expected such an evil person to exist. He actually thought of removing her uterus without letting her know? Pei Zhenyuan really hated her this much? She was in disbelief. ¡°No, impossible. Chu Chen, don¡¯t lie to me... this must be a lie that you and Pei Ziheng came up with!¡±

    Chu Chen said, ¡°Why would we lie to you?¡±

    Xia Ling replied, ¡°Aren¡¯t you trying to stop me from getting Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s help?¡±

    Chu Chen looked at her a little sympathetically. ¡°Xiao Ling, you¡¯re so foolish. You¡¯d rather believe an outsider than trust Boss and me? Boss hasn¡¯t slept in 24 hours. He was preparing to travel to the US tonight and was taking a rest in the airport lounge. In less than a minute after he received news that you¡¯d been abducted, he dropped everything at once and gathered his men to rescue you. Do you know how much loss he¡¯s making?¡±

    Xia Ling sneered. ¡°Do I care?¡±

    But deep inside, her heart fluttered a little. Why was it that each time she was so sure about hating him to the core, he¡¯de up with new unforeseen ways to tug at her heartstrings again?... It¡¯s all a delusion, she told herself. Xia Ling, it¡¯s all a delusion.

    Chu Chen patiently spoke to her, ¡°Think about it logically, it¡¯s not hard to see why Pei Zhenyuan would want to hurt you this way¡ªhe¡¯s always been against you being with Boss. Since you¡¯ve asked him for a favor now, it¡¯d be foolish of him not to take this opportunity to get rid of potential problems in the future. Pei Zhenyuan is well-known for his cruelty in themercial world. What makes you think that he¡¯d be any nicer to you, the thorn in his flesh?¡±

    Xia Ling kept quiet. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Chu Chen made a lot of sense.

    The words that Pei Zhenyuan said to her before she was wheeled into the operating room still echoed in her mind. That old geezer had not allowed her to leave. He had wanted her to remain in Imperial Entertainment and continue being their cash cow. Under these circumstances, the only way to stop her and Pei Ziheng from doing anything more was to remove her uterus and deem her infertile.

    Xia Ling felt a chill down her spine. She was truly aware of the severity of the matter now¡ªhad Pei Ziheng not made it in time, would she have lost her reproductive abilities by now? It would¡¯ve been toote to change anything.

    Still caught up in her own thoughts, she suddenly heard Chu Chen¡¯s polite address. ¡°Boss.¡±

    Xia Ling looked up and saw that Pei Ziheng had walked in. His tall stature was against the dim light of the night, and his cold, handsome face seemed a little more haggard than before.

    He looked down at Xia Ling before instructing Chu Chen. ¡°Give us some time.¡±

    Chu Chen stood up and bowed slightly before leaving in silence.

    There were only the two of them left in the ward. Pei Ziheng sat by her bedside and said solemnly, ¡°Just what more are you trying to do? Are you going to stop when Pei Zhenyuan removes your uterus?¡±

    She was slightly hurt by his words but maintained her demeanor. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business!¡±

    Pei Ziheng smirked. ¡°None of my business? Xia Ling, believe it or not, if you dare to abort this baby, I¡¯ll have the doctor remove your uterus as well!¡±

    She flinched evidently. After a pause, she said, ¡°How dare you.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Pei Ziheng red at her frail and pale face. ¡°Besides having a child with me, who else will you have a child with? Since you aren¡¯t willing to have my child, what¡¯s the point of having a uterus?¡±

    She was lost for words. That¡¯s right, besides having a child with him, who else would she have a child with?

    In this lifetime, she couldn¡¯t imagine herself falling for another person. Maybe this was her destiny, with him being her only man¡ªshe would live for him and die for him.

    Seeing that she was keeping quiet, Pei Ziheng toned down a notch. He softened his expression and his words. ¡°You still have feelings for me.¡±

    She stubbornly denied. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re deceiving yourself, and me too.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice became even more tender. He reached out and pulled her into an embrace, regardless of her struggles. He caressed her like she was a frightened little pet. ¡°Keep this baby, Xiao Ling. Don¡¯t make things hard for yourself, don¡¯t pit yourself against destiny.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want such a destiny!¡± She cried out like a dying prey.

    Pei Ziheng did not say anything more as he continued stroking her back. He was so gentle with his touch, she felt safe and loved. She cried for a long time, until she was out of breath and fatigued, before falling asleep in his arms. When she woke up in the morning, she realized that he was still holding her. He had fallen asleep beside her, his body bent over on that little hospital bed. The scene was rather amusing, but also a little heartbreaking.

    The rays of dawn spilled into the ward.

    Xia Ling looked at the man beside her in his deep sleep. She thought, Just how long has it been since Ist took a good look at him? It seemed like he really hadn¡¯t slept a wink in more than 20 hours, like what Chu Chen said earlier¡ªthe dull green under his eyes had not faded away, and some stubble was growing out and pricking her face a little.

    It was destined that this man would never be her husband, and yet he was the father of her child.

    Xia Ling¡¯s nose scrunched up and she felt like crying again. What would the future hold? She hadn¡¯t been sure for a while now. Perhaps, all she could do was to take each day as it came. Since there was no way she could abort the baby, then... have him she shall.

    She made up her mind and felt a weight off her shoulders. Although there was some sadness to it, it was a relief too. She stroked her abdomen and, while it might be a delusion, she seemed to be able to feel a slight bump already. The thought of carrying a life inside her now filled her heart with love.

    After all, it was her flesh and blood.

    She struggled to get out of his arms and get off the bed.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Xia Ling turned around and found that he had woken up and was looking straight at her. She did not want to argue with him anymore. It would be a pointless fight, and she was afraid her rage would be bad for the baby. She simply said, ¡°I¡¯m a little hungry, I¡¯ll go look for something to eat.¡±

    He acutely sensed the change in her attitude. This was a good sign. He decided to get up too. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Having squeezed onto a small bed for the night, he felt sore and aching all over. Even so, he still felt recharged and energetic.

    Xia Ling tried you decline his offer. ¡°I can go on my own.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I want to eat too.¡± That was all it took to override all her rebuttal.

 Chapter 1141 - Falling Water

    <h4>Chapter 1141: Falling Water</h4>

    There was a separate small restaurant on the VIP floor, which only served the patients and their families.

    Pei Ziheng cleared the area, leaving only two of them in the elegant space. They ordered their meals and ate slowly. What he ordered for Xia Ling was a bowl of fragrant white porridge, a few dishes of nutritious side dishes, a ss of milk, a few slices of jam-covered bread and fruit. Xia Ling had no appetite and ate very little. Pei Ziheng persuaded her in a gentle voice. ¡°For the child in your stomach, try to eat as much as you can.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent and took the spoon that had been put down.

    Since she had decided to give birth to this child, she shouldn¡¯t be harsh on it. What if it was born unhealthy? She ate the food seriously as if to replenish the nutrients from the previous period.

    Pei Ziheng saw that she was being obedient today, and started talking about the same topic. ¡°I said that I would take you out to y. You rest well for this period of time, then we will go to Xi Cui Lake during the Spring Festival.¡± Yesterday, he had made Chu Chen cancel the trip of Xi Cui Lake in a fit of anger, but such a big thing had happened at night and steered him back to his original intentions.

    Since Xiao Ling had figured it out, then of course he had to reward her.

    Moreover, the old man Pei Zhenyuan was managing too much, did he really think he could pretend nothing happened?

    Xia Ling looked at him doubtfully, her beautiful eyes seemingly misty in confusion. ¡°Spring Festival? Are you not going back to the Pei family during the Spring Festival?¡± The Pei family had an unwritten rule¡ªthe whole family had to celebrate the Spring Festival every year. In the past, Xia Ling was the ¡°headdy¡± and had also attended several times with Pei Ziheng. Later, because she was not on good terms with the Pei family who posed themselves as grandeur and orthodox, she threw a tantrum and stopped going.

    However, although she could not attend, Pei Ziheng must attend every year as the patriarch.

    So many yearster, the two of them spent the Spring Festival separately. He would return to the Pei family for the New Year¡¯s Eve and the first day of the New Year, then return to her on the second day and apany her.

    Thinking of this, Xia Ling felt a bit bleak. It turned out that her weight in his heart was always inferior to that of the Pei family. Unfortunately, she had been blinded by love then and had been so considerate of him until she discovered the cruel truth. Her eyes drooped slightly, covering the trace of sadness in her eyes.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I¡¯ll spend it with you this year.¡±

    He did not exin the reason, and Xia Ling did not ask anymore. She thought maybe it was for the child¡¯s sake.

    She also spent some time in the hospital, and soon, the Spring Festival arrived. Pei Ziheng really brought her and the mighty medical team to Xi Cui Lake. He booked the entireke and the surrounding resorts.

    Xi Cui Lake had beautiful scenery, and it was tranquil and secluded.

    Pei Ziheng gave a red packet to each staff member and told them to take care of Xia Ling. The people who received the red packets all smiled and were diligent in serving the two of them. Xia Ling¡¯s mood gradually improved because of their smiles.

    Theke was a changeable jade color. The wholeke was like a jade mirror in a fairnd, reflecting the light and shadow. After the snow fell, you could see that half of theke was covered with a thinyer of ice. It was crystal clear in the sun, and below it, you could see the colorful fishes. The other half of theke sparkled with a little bit of gold and was breathtakingly beautiful.

    Xia Ling liked to walk along theke. Especially when Pei Ziheng was called suddenly to deal with some business affairs, she walked slowly toward the clear sunshine of winter.

    On this day, she walked to the waterfront pavilion on thekeside. When she was tired, she sat down and rested. Looking at the beautifulke, her thoughts drifted away, and there was an illusion that the years she had spent were quiet and peaceful.

    Unfortunately, this illusion was broken shortly.

    ¡°Xia Ling.¡± Someone called her arrogantly.

    She frowned. Who would dare to talk to her in such an unclean tone? Looking back, it turned out to be the daughter of the Pei family¡ªPei Jingyu. Pei Jingyu stood in front of her, dressed in a white down jacket. Her long curly hair was highlighted with purple streaks and it framed her beautiful face, making people unable to avert their gaze away. Although Xia Ling was a rare beauty herself, Pei Jingyu was also a remarkably beautiful nobledy.

    Of course, she only admired her in her heart.

    On the surface, she looked at Pei Jingyu coldly and asked, ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Pei Jingyu looked at her proudly. ¡°Why do you care? Is Big Cousin here?¡±

    It turned out she was looking for Pei Ziheng. Xia Ling was toozy to take care of their family¡¯s affairs. She lowered her eyes and fiddled with a small fruit on the stone table. ¡°Why are you asking me where¡¯s your Big Cousin? It¡¯s better to call him and ask him.¡±

    Pei Jingyu was angry and couldn¡¯t help but scream. ¡°Vixen!¡±

    Xia Ling was also angry. ¡°Pay attention to your wording, Miss Pei!¡±

    Pei Jingyu looked at her and sneered. ¡°You are not a vixen? What method did you use to attract my Big Cousin to stay here? Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s thest day of the lunar year soon? All the people are waiting for him to lead everyone in worshipping the ancestors! Do you know how angry my uncle is? Call him back quickly!¡±

    Xia Ling thought, If only I was able to influence Pei Ziheng¡¯s actions.

    She was already unable to do anything, so how could she possibly promise Pei Jingyu? But she had mentioned that old man Pei Zhenyuan¡ªHumph, she was furious, how dare he think of making her infertile forever!

    She alsoughed proudly at Pei Jingyu. ¡°Look at what you are doing now, what is the difference between you and a roadside rogue? Anyway, you have never treated me as family. Now, when a problem has arisen in your family, youe to me? Funny.¡±

    Pei Jingyu was furious. ¡°Xia Ling, you don¡¯t know what you are doing! Do you know what Big Cousin is facing by condoning your waywardness? Several elders have said that if he does not go back, he will not be the patriarch of the family! If you say that you love him, don¡¯t drag his hind legs.¡±

    Xia Ling was a little embarrassed. She did not expect him to face such a big pressure by apanying her in the Xi Cui Lake to spend the Spring Festival.

    But so what? Even if he spent a hundred Chinese New Years with her, he still couldn¡¯t make up for the damage caused by the marriage contract. Xia Ling only returned to her senses in a sh and stood up. ¡°I have no time to apany you here to waste your saliva. Look at you now, you¡¯re really shaming your family! Why aren¡¯t you getting lost?¡±

    While talking, she pushed past Pei Jingyu¡¯s shoulder and walked out of the pavilion.

    Pei Jingyu was furious and reached out to pull her. ¡°Don¡¯t go, you vixen!¡±

    Xia Ling dexterously dodged to the side. The white marble on the ground was iced and very slippery, but she turned around in the air with a good sense of bnce, like a light water bird sweeping over the ice. She stood firmly as if it were a dance step. On the other hand, Pei Jingyu was not so lucky. She was unable to keep her bnce and fell into the icy coldke.

    Xia Ling was shocked. She looked at Pei Jingyu struggling in theke and her expression changed. She instinctively shouted to the surrounding, ¡°Help! Help! Someone fell into theke!¡±

 Chapter 1142 - The Little Fox in the Snow

    <h4>Chapter 1142: The Little Fox in the Snow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    While shouting, she looked anxiously around and tried to find tools that could be used.

    However, there was nothing nearby and she didn¡¯t have time to think about it. She immediately took off her long coat, grabbed one end of it, and flung the other end to Pei Jingyu. ¡°Catch it! I¡¯ll drag you up!¡±

    Pei Jingyu was soaked in the coldke and, as she couldn¡¯t swim, she drank a few mouthfuls of water. The feeling of suffocation filled her heart with fear. In desperation, she suddenly saw the jacket that Xia Ling had flung over and grabbed it as if it was thest life-saving straw without any care.

    She grabbed too hard and swayed Xia Ling¡¯s body. Suddenly, Xia Ling couldn¡¯t stand the pull and slipped a half step into theke. Her leg was immersed in theke. The bitter cold bit Xia Ling and her expression changed. She took a breath of cold air and held her ground, clenching her teeth, and encouraging Pei Jingyu. ¡°Keep it up!¡±

    The down jacket on Pei Jingyu was soaked in water and became very heavy. Xia Ling was just a girl and didn¡¯t have much energy, and she was dragged into the water step by step. But she wouldn¡¯t let go of her hand anyway, and she desperately leaned her body back. She pulled onto life-saving clothes, her face pale.

    Pei Jingyu only felt her body getting colder. The sun shone on the water, but she felt the atmosphere of death was close at hand. Her consciousness slightly drifted and her mind was nk. There was only the face of Xia Ling clenching her teeth in her line of sight. Even if she was dragging her down with her, she never let go.

    She was somewhat confused. Was Xia Ling not her enemy? Was she not a wretched entertainer, how could she be trying to save her life with her own? Really... it was too weird...

    Her mind gradually blurred. She didn¡¯t know how long it was, it seemed to only be a second, but it also seemed to be an eternity. She saw several staff members rushing over to them with great horror. They hugged Xia Ling, took over the rope that she had twisted with the coat on her hand, and dragged her to the shore with the strength of a few people.

    Xia Ling fainted in the arms of the staff.

    Pei Jingyu was groggy and staggered around as the staff carried her to the guest room in the resort. Arge group of doctors and nurses gathered around her to inspect her and gave her a drip as well as a lot of medicine. They also made ginger soup for her. She was mechanically numb and let herself be at their mercy. No matter what they asked her, there was no reaction, and the thoughts that were repeated in my mind were actually the figure of Xia Ling. The way she refused to let go, and the encouraging words she gave like ¡°Keep it up.¡±

    The ginger soup in her hand was suddenly knocked over to the ground.

    She looked up and saw Pei Ziheng.

    She had never seen her indifferent Big Cousin so angry that he lost control before. It took a lot of effort for her to hear what he was saying. Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°What the hell happened between you two! Did Pei Zhenyuan send you here to harm Xiao Ling?¡±

    Pei Jingyu shook her head, and she finally regained her senses and asked, ¡°How is she?¡±

    ¡°If anything happens to her and the child in her stomach, I will haunt you even as a ghost!¡± Pei Ziheng threatened her coldly, then turned and walked toward the door. ¡°Keep this woman in check! Without my order, she is not allowed to leave the room one step!¡± The surrounding staff nodded and he left.

    Pei Jingyu was shocked and could not speak¡ª

    What?! She and her child?!

    When did Xia Ling be pregnant?!

    No wonder... No wonder a few days ago when her uncle mentioned Xia Ling, his expression was a bit more gloomy than usual. If the child in Xia Ling¡¯s belly was born, it would be the first child of Pei Ziheng! An illegitimate child!

    Pei Jingyu took a breath of air and didn¡¯t dare to think about it anymore.

    However, strangely, she was somewhat faintly worried about Xia Ling. Was it because she had been saved by her, so she wasn¡¯t thinking clearly? However, there was a small voice in her heart that said that this girl she had always considered an ¡°enemy¡± could not possibly be a bad person if she had used her life to save her.

    In just a few hours, she suddenly felt that she did not know Xia Ling.

    Her mind was full ofplex thoughts as she quietly rested in the room. The next day, her body no longer had any problems and she could move around as usual. She heard that Xia Ling had woken up from hera, so she asked Pei Ziheng to allow her to visit her. Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t allow her to visit her; he didn¡¯t want to make any surprises to happen to Xiao Ling anymore. Who knew what was Pei Jingyu¡¯s purpose?

    Rather, it was Xia Ling who voluntarily asked for Pei Jingyu after waking up. ¡°Was she rescued?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her gloomily. ¡°She is alive, what about you? Have you ever thought about the consequences of being dragged down by her? Even if you did not drown, the cold water could harm our child.¡±

    Xia Ling regained her senses and chuckled. ¡°When you save someone, you don¡¯t get to think so much.¡± She looked up at him again. ¡°Isn¡¯t Pei Jingyu your sister? Could you bear to see her die?¡±

    Pei Ziheng leaned over and reached out to rub her face. Under the warm fire of the firece, she looked so beautiful, delicate like a flower. A long time passed before he slowly said, ¡°Anyone can save her, including me. But you can¡¯t.¡± She was the most precious treasure in the world, simply irreceable.

    Xia Ling smiled again, a tinge of warmth and sadness on her face. ¡°Pei Ziheng, should I be happy or sad?¡± Bowing down, she gently stroked her lower abdomen, where there was a pitiful little life inside. ¡°You would rather die for me instead of giving me a name?¡±

    The hand rubbing her cheeks was taken back. Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You will be happier if you forget that name.¡± The tall figure of the man stepped away and disappeared into the snow in the courtyard.

    Xia Ling curled on the lounge chair, looking at the direction in which he disappeared. The expression in her eyes was a little dim.

    After this ident, her body that just got well became fragile again. The medical staff was so busy every day that they wanted to treat her like a porcin doll, lest there should be a slight bit of loss.

    She left herself at their mercy, thinking that this year¡¯s Spring Festival would not be spent well.

    Soon it was New Year¡¯s Eve and the garden was littered with snow. Xia Ling sat in the rocking chair in the corridor, holding a delicate stove and watching the scenery. Her body was wrapped in a thick white fox coat, and under the soft and dense plush revealed her small face. She looked like a cute little fox.

    Pei Jingyu got permission from Pei Ziheng toe and see her. She stood at the door and saw her silhouette at first sight and suddenly felt that she was not so annoying.

    Xia Ling sat on the rocking chair thinking about something, her small face looking at the snow in the courtyard. She looked very dull and stupid. After a long while, she found that there was someone else in the room and she turned to look at Pei Jingyu with some vignce and surprise. ¡°How are you still at Xi Cui Lake? Have you not returned to your home for the New Year?¡±

 Chapter 1143 - Pei Jingyuâ€™s Apology

    <h4>Chapter 1143: Pei Jingyu¡¯s Apology</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Jingyu clenched her teeth and sneered. ¡°I really want to go home to spend the New Year, but Big Cousin is still attached and refuses to go back. I couldn¡¯t even fulfill my mission, so why should I be rushing back to the family?¡±

    Xia Ling was recently soaked in water and was a little dazed due to her pregnancy. After a long time, she finally understood the meaning of her words. She gave a simple ¡°Oh¡± and turned to continue to see the snow.

    Pei Jingyu was very surprised. She had thought she was going to quarrel with her again.

    She proudly lifted her chin, stepped forward and handed something to Xia Ling. ¡°Take it.¡±

    Xia Ling saw a delicate ne in her hands. It made use of a thin and slender tinum gold chain to surround a piece of glowing tourmaline. The tourmaline quality was very good and at first nce, it was obvious it wasn¡¯t ordinary. It reflected the faint snow in the courtyard and shone resplendently. She secretly admired it in her heart, then looked up at Pei Jingyu inexplicably. ¡°Why are you giving me this?¡±

    Pei Jingyu said proudly, ¡°This is a precious treasure. I managed to obtain it after much difficulty from an auction. It can be used as a talisman. Since you saved me, I will give it to you.¡± She gave a ¡°hurry and thank me for my kindness¡± expression.

    Xia Ling was speechless and asked her, ¡°Are you a Leo?¡±

    ¡°Yes, how did you know?¡±

    ¡°Only Leos could be so arrogant.¡± Xia Ling returned the tourmaline ne to her and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡± Her little face carried a bit of childishness while buried in the snow fox fur.

    Pei Jingyu stopped and stared at her. ¡°You dare to not want it?¡±

    Xia Ling also stared at her. ¡°Why can¡¯t I? I don¡¯tck a ne. The situation was urgent and it was just my instinctive reaction to save you. Even if it was any random cat or dog, I would have gotten into the water too. However, if you gave me time to think about it, I might not have risked my life to save you.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Jingyu was furious. Her chest heaved up and down and she was speechless.

    Xia Ling did not care that she was angry. She said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell, I used to think that you were very stingy. I didn¡¯t expect you to be so generous? Just giving away such a priceless tourmaline.¡±

    Pei Jingyu huffed. ¡°Forget it if you don¡¯t want it. Some people want it but can¡¯t even get it.¡± Grabbing the tourmaline ne, she turned and went outside.

    Xia Ling looked anxious. ¡°Hey, wait!¡±

    Pei Jingyu still had her chin up. ¡°What?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Is this your attitude towards your savior? You haven¡¯t said thank you yet.¡±

    Pei Jingyu gnashed her teeth. ¡°Didn¡¯t you reject the ne?¡±

    ¡°I did not ept the ne, but I want to hear you say thank you.¡± Xia Ling smiled a little hatefully. Pei Jingyu hated her so much her heart itched, and she wanted desperately to degrade her.

    However, she finally endured it and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Xia Ling blinked her eyes. She had originally meant it as a joke, thinking it would not be possible for her to say thank you because her eyes were ced higher than the top of her head. She did not expect that the impossible really happened.

    She looked at Pei Jingyu like she had seen a monster and forgot to react.

    Pei Jingyu looked at her disgustingly. ¡°Are you stupid? Are you too ttered and grateful?¡±

    Xia Ling returned to her senses and stretched out her hand, refusing to appear weak. ¡°Bring it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That tourmaline ne, didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to give it to me? Apologies must be sincere.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you don¡¯t want it?¡± Pei Jingyu narrowed her eyes.

    The Pei family members were all beautiful, a kind of high-spirited and arrogant beauty. Pei Jingyu¡¯s narrowing her eyes was a split replica of when Pei Ziheng was angry, and it was enough to make people shudder. However, who was Xia Ling? She had grown up with Pei Ziheng and had seen the scariest of res, so why should she even care about Pei Jingyu?

    She looked at Pei Jingyu andughed. ¡°I want it now, how could you be so stingy? You gave something to someone and still wants to take it back. To think you¡¯re still a daughter of the Pei family.¡±

    Pei Jingyu thought to herself, <i>Why didn¡¯t I drag this wretch into the water and die with her together?</i> She endured and tolerated, then arrogantly threw the tourmaline ne in her hand to Xia Ling with a look of disgust. ¡°Catch it. This is a priceless treasure, you can¡¯t even buy it with money. Keep it in a pressure box and when you marry, use it as a dowry and grow some face in their family!¡±

    Her words were unintentional, but the listener gave meaning to it. The bright look of Xia Ling dimmed.

    When Pei Jingyu saw that she was not speaking, she realized with a shock that she had said some ill-meaning words¡ªthis stinky girl was still pregnant with Big Cousin¡¯s child. What kind of person could she marry in her life?

    Pei Jingyu didn¡¯t want to care for her, but she couldn¡¯t help but look at her pitifully. ¡°Don¡¯t be so dejected. How many people want to bear my Big Cousin¡¯s children but still can¡¯t bear it? So what if it¡¯s an illegitimate child? There are still people vying, and you¡¯re still living a thousand times better than the average person. You know you don¡¯t have to worry about what to eat and wear in your life, right?¡±

    Xia Ling bowed her head and looked at the brilliance of the ne. The priceless stone was turned over and over in her hand, but it was nothing but a dispensable thing. ¡°I didn¡¯t follow him for food and clothing,¡± she said.

    Pei Jingyu snorted. ¡°Did you really think true love was unrivaled?¡±

    Xia Ling gently bit her lip and did not speak.

    Pei Jingyu looked at her carefully, and her expression gradually became surprised. She said, ¡°Really? We always thought that you followed him to have fame and fortune, and even that¡¯s better? True love? There is no other ending except for sadness for falling in love with such a rich patriarch.¡±

    Xia Ling whispered, ¡°I can¡¯t help it.¡±

    Love was love, a true heart was like water, how could it be collected back? If he didn¡¯t want it, he could only trample it on the ground and crush it. The arrow that had left the bow long ago did not have a path back.

    Pei Jingyu found that she was a little sympathetic to her. It was so funny that she actually sympathized with someone she had hated since childhood. She thought about it and bluntly said, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad.¡±

    Xia Ling took a deep breath and refused to let her see her decadent appearance. Sheughed aloud. ¡°I¡¯m not sad. Are you hungry? I¡¯ll treat you to a meal to save others from saying that I don¡¯t know how to treat guests.¡±

    Pei Jingyu swept over with a pair of beautiful apricot eyes. ¡°Forget it, isn¡¯t it Big Cousin paying for you again?¡±

    ¡°So what if I spend a little of his money when I¡¯m forcing myself to bear him a child?¡± Xia Ling was motivated by anger and grief. She smiled and clenched her teeth. ¡°It¡¯s best to make him poor! So, are you eating?¡±

    ¡°Eat! Why won¡¯t I eat!¡± Pei Jingyu also wanted to make Pei Ziheng this beast poor. She was forced to go to the wilderness in the cold by her grandfather and he still refused to go back with her! How was she going to report back? Pei Jingyu could foresee how sad her future would be, so she must eat! She must eat and make him poor!

    The two girls joined in opposition to the same adversary. They passed through the elegantly decorated courtyards and corridors and went to eat together.

 Chapter 1144 - New Yearâ€™s Eve, a Coupleâ€™s World

    <h4>Chapter 1144: New Year¡¯s Eve, a Couple¡¯s World</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Friendship was a very subtle thing. The two girls had a meal together, and they ridiculed Pei Zhenyuan and Pei Ziheng together, recing wine with tea, and started to sympathize with each other.

    Pei Jingyu looked to Xia Ling and smiled. ¡°I have always hated you. I felt that you were very despicable, what qualifications do you have to be my family¡¯s bigdy? But you saved me this time. If it was Pei Jingshan and the rest standing there, they might not be willing to risk their lives to save me. I was wrong, you are really... noble.¡±

    Xia Ling raised her head arrogantly. ¡°Of course! I have always been the best!¡±

    Pei Jingyu didn¡¯t refute her and just looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re still pregnant, have you never thought that if you were dragged into the water at that time, you might not be able to keep the child?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s expression dimmed. ¡°Didn¡¯t Pei Zhenyuan tell you about it? I asked him for help for an abortionst time. The person who wants this child is not me but Pei Ziheng. I don¡¯t want him to be an illegitimate child.¡±

    Pei Jingyu didn¡¯t expect her to think like this. She paused for a long time before sighing. ¡°What an enmity. If you had known sooner, why would it have toe to this?¡± In fact, it was more troublesome for the child to be born¡ªcar ident, poisoning, disease... anything could take the child¡¯s life, and nobody could prevent it. Pei Zhenyuan wouldn¡¯t let go of this child.

    She pitied the girl in front of her, and she stayed with her for a long time.

    Pei Ziheng was simply not willing to return home for the Chinese New Year, and Pei Jingyu was afraid to go back to get scolded by Grandpa, so she stayed behind and refused to leave. She had a good time with Xia Ling and even Pei Ziheng let them be.

    It was New Year¡¯s Eve night.

    A staff member came to inform them. ¡°Miss Pei, Miss Xia, Mr. Pei has told the people to hold a dinner in the banquet hall, we¡¯re just waiting for you two.¡±

    Pei Jingyu stood up and helped Xia Ling. ¡°Slow down, be careful of the baby in your stomach.¡±

    As she walked slowly to the banquet hall, Xia Ling said, ¡°Why are you so concerned about how my baby is doing. If I lose it, shouldn¡¯t your family be happy?¡±

    Pei Jingyu nced at her. ¡°You saved my life, of course I have to pay back your life and help you protect your baby. We bigdies are destined to have a joint marriage with another family, so why should we care so much about our own family¡¯s matters? Grandpa loves how to fight with Big Cousin, so let them fight. But I must pay for your help.¡±

    Xia Ling was silent. When she almost reached the restaurant door, she suddenly whispered in a self-deprecating manner. ¡°I used to be too stupid, innocent, and delusional. He never thought about treating me as a wife. If the child was lost and left him, maybe everyone will be happier.¡±

    Pei Jingyu looked at her in surprise. ¡°It would have been good if you had understood this two years ago.¡± Now, it was toote. Everyone was in the middle of the game and couldn¡¯t be extricated.

    The door to the banquet hall was close at hand.

    Far away, you could see a tall figure sitting inside, wearing a finely tailored haute couture suit, his face cold and unsmiling. The space in the banquet hall was very spacious, but because of his existence, it was full of oppression, making people feel ufortable breathing.

    Pei Jingyu supported Xia Ling as they stopped at the door and said, ¡°My Big Cousin gets anything he wants, so just ept it. At least he will pamper you.¡±

    Xia Ling only smiled bitterly.

    Walking to the mahogany table with a white napkin, the waiter pulled the cushioned chair on the right-hand side of Pei Ziheng to serve her. Pei Ziheng personally gave her a dish, and his voice was warm. ¡°Look at this grilled venison and see if it¡¯s delicious. I specially hired the star chef, and this is his special dish.¡±

    Xia Ling hated him in her heart and didn¡¯t want to eat it originally. But because of the presence of Pei Jingyu, she didn¡¯t want to throw a tantrum on New Year¡¯s Eve, so she barely took a bite. The venison melted instantly, soft and tender like a cloud on the horizon, and it was sweet and delicious. No wonder it was a dish from a star chef. Unconsciously, she finished eating a piece.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her tenderly. ¡°Do you want more??¡±

    Pei Jingyu saw their love and was very jealous. So, she whined. ¡°Big Cousin, I want one too.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said to the waiter on the side, ¡°Cut one piece for Miss Pei.¡±

    Pei Jingyu: ¡°...¡± Well, she had long known that her Big Cousin favored Xia Ling terribly ever since he adopted her more than a decade ago. She herself had long been not worth mentioning and was simply a speck of dust. When Pei Jingyu realized this, she suddenly had a feeling like she was a light bulb.

    The New Year¡¯s Eve meal was very scrumptious. Everyone was very full and the atmosphere was remarkably harmonious.

    After eating the meal, Pei Jingyu noticed Big Cousin¡¯s expression and didn¡¯t continue being a light bulb there. She casually found an excuse to leave. Pei Ziheng said to Xia Ling, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to see the fireworks.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°I¡¯m a little sleepy.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯ll help you bathe, then sleep.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°... Let¡¯s just go see the fireworks.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled, took her hand and walked out along the long corridor. Outside the corridor was the endless Xi Cui Lake. The night scene was beautiful, the starlight sprinkled on the blueke and in the cold wind, there was the faint sound of the water waves. Xia Ling¡¯s delicate, jade-like hand rested gently in his big hand. At that time, it gave him the illusion that they were back to the past when all the damage had not yet urred.

    The two walked side by side, close together, their breaths audible.

    Xia Ling was also a bit shocked. How many years had they not spent the New Year¡¯s Eve together?

    Too long...

    She couldn¡¯t even remember properly anymore.

    She said, ¡°Pei Ziheng.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stopped and looked down at her very gently. ¡°Yes?¡± His voice just fell when the distant night sky behind him suddenly exploded with the first cluster of fireworks. It was colorful and magnificent, and suddenly reflected his beauty. His side face was like a god, so unrealistic it looked like a dream.

    She looked at him in a daze and forgot what she was going to say.

    Pei Ziheng went to see the fireworks and turned back to smile at her. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be put at this time.¡± ording to the original itinerary, it should be that after they arrived at the pavilion by thekeside. The staff would send some hot tea and indicate to him before putting the fireworks. But somewhere something had gone wrong.

    Xia Ling returned to her senses and shook her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    She was shocked for having stared at him for so long, so she hurriedly looked down.

    Pei Ziheng took off his suit jacket and put it on the wooden bench under the shelter. He said to her, ¡°Come and sit here, watch it from here.¡± It was too far from the pavilion, they would miss it.

    Xia Ling looked at the jacket and looked at him wearing only a shirt vest. ¡°You will catch a cold.¡±

    He bowed his head and kissed her. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to bring clothes.¡± He held her and sat down.

 Chapter 1145 - Like Treasure

    <h4>Chapter 1145: Like Treasure</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling knew she couldn¡¯t argue with him, so she no longer insisted on it and just obeyed his arrangement.

    Pei Ziheng was afraid that she was cold, so he reached out to hold her shoulders, taking her into his arms and protecting her from the cold with his body temperature. The fireworks burned again, and he motioned her to look up. ¡°Your favorite iris.¡±

    And rose, the one he thought resembled her best.

    Numerous fireworks bloomed and died down in the night sky, like a gorgeous feast, making people feel fascinated.

    Xia Ling murmured, ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful.¡± The girl always had a natural yearning for beauty. She reached out and pretended to grab the fireworks in midair, looking at the bright light that extinguished gradually. She suddenly changed the topic. ¡°I really hope that there will be more days like today.¡±

    She felt at a loss the moment the words left her mouth.

    How long could they be together? When he married his wife and had children, he would apany another woman to watch the fireworks on New Year¡¯s Eve, and soon she would be left behind. What should she and her children do then?

    She thought of this and her expression darkened.

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t notice her thoughts and only said, ¡°If you like it, I¡¯ll apany you every year.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled a little bit and said, ¡°I¡¯m tired, let¡¯s go back.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡± Pei Ziheng turned her delicate face and asked.

    Xia Ling said faintly, ¡°What¡¯s there to believe, will we even have a future?¡±

    He suddenly lowered his head and gave her a long kiss. Xia Ling was shocked and pushed him away, only to find that her body was firmly held by him, and she couldn¡¯t push him away. She felt his lip and tongue collide with hers, twitching temptingly, gently attacking her, no longer as cruel as it had always been before.

    The fireworks bloomed behind the two people, reflecting the entire West Lake like a dream.

    Xia Ling was breathless from the kiss. He finally let go of her and said, ¡°I can¡¯t bear to lose you.¡±

    Her heart was sour and she wanted to cry. ¡°What do you have to lose so reluctantly?¡±

    Pei Ziheng gently caressed her delicate rose-like lips and whispered, ¡°Can we give birth to a few more babies? The girl will be like you, the boy like me... No, don¡¯t be like me, he has to give happiness to the person he loves.¡±

    She was shocked, and tears fell without warning. It turned out that he knew she was not happy. ¡°Why?¡± she cried, ¡°Why are you being like this to me? I hate you... I hate you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I love you.¡±

    He had never taken the initiative to talk about love to her, not even when they were most emotionally entangled in bed. But now, on the New Year¡¯s Eve of Xi Cui Lake, under the grand fireworks, he said that he loved her.

    Xia Ling¡¯s tears flowed more fiercely. ¡°Pei Ziheng, don¡¯t lie to me. You will only fall in love with your wife. You two will be in perfect harmony and grow old together, then buried together after a hundred years. But me? I¡¯ll just be a lonely person, and I¡¯ll just find a random barren mountain ridge to bury myself in and no one will care.¡±

    Pei Ziheng stared into her eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t give you a wedding, but I promise that we will be buried together after death. Only the two of us will not be separated.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°How is it possible?¡±

    He raised a hand. ¡°I, Pei Ziheng, swear to Heaven. I will be buried with Xia Ling after death. If I can¡¯t do it, I will be turned to ashes and die without a burial site.¡±

    She suddenly covered his mouth. ¡°You are crazy!¡±

    He looked at her tenderly. ¡°I only have one woman in my heart, but I still have a whole family and much responsibility. Marriage is thest resort, Xiao Ling. It is only for a few decades, I promise to live long years with you after that, and we will never be separated.¡± He never said anything sweet and this was already considered the most moving words.

    Xia Ling felt that she was crazy, and she actually wanted to believe his words.

    Has he not hurt her enough?

    Her inner entanglement caused her to hesitate and she shook her head and said, ¡°Liar, I don¡¯t believe you anymore.¡± Her voice just fell when her lips were suddenly covered, and his long kiss took over her in an overbearing manner again.

    Full of fireworks.

    Xia Ling¡¯s body was weak, and she fell in his arms. She felt that she was really out of breath, and her whole heart was trembling. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, her eyes full of grievances andints, but she could not speak.

    Pei Ziheng stroked her face and softly asked, ¡°Do you want to be buried with me?¡±

    She wanted to say no, but her body seemed uncontroble and she nodded involuntarily.

    He chuckled lowly and seemingly satisfied as he kissed her.

    She closed her eyes to bear his kisses and the gentle caresses, but she thought desperately, <i>Forget it, just let it be...</i> She had to live whether she was happy or not, and since it was such a long time, she might as well live well. She would wait until he had a wife. Who knew what the future would bring? Maybe before that day even came, a meteorite would drop down and destroy the whole world... She thought her idea was funny, but this was already the best ending.

    She let go of her grudge towards him slowly and focused on taking care of her fetus. She anticipated the child¡¯s birth.

    The little guy was already moving, kicking around in her stomach from time to time in a very spirited way. She followed the family doctors¡¯ advice and learned health care as well as some simple exercises. She hoped that children could be healthy. She also wondered what she should call the child, so she asked Pei Ziheng, ¡°What should we call it?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said warmly, ¡°We shall call her Bao Zhu if it¡¯s a girl.¡±

    Xia Ling wrinkled his brows unhappily. ¡°Bao Zhu? That sounds really unpleasant.¡±

    ¡°As precious as treasure, why is it unpleasant? She is our treasure.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Why don¡¯t we call it Ying Luo? It¡¯s also the meaning of jade, and it sounds so much better.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was silent for a moment. He didn¡¯t know why, but this name always made him feel ufortable. It seemed like in a distant and unknown time and space, there was also a baby girl who was called Ying Luo...

    However, that was not his child.

    ¡°We¡¯ll call her Bao Zhu.¡± He decided. ¡°Who dares to say that my daughter¡¯s name is hard to hear?¡±

    ¡°Tyrant.¡± Xia Ling muttered and asked him, ¡°If it¡¯s a son?¡±

    ¡°Son...¡± The faint smile between Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyebrows faded slightly.

    Before he could answer, at the end of the corridor came Pei Jingyu¡¯s voice. ¡°You two only know to hide here and be all lovey-dovey. Do you know that your family is very upset? Big Cousin, the whole family is waiting for you to bring them to bring sacrifices to our ancestors. Today is already the third day and you¡¯re still not back, Grandpa is furious and is smashing things at home!¡±

    Pei Ziheng changed the topic. ¡°Xiao Ling, pack your bags, we¡¯ll go back to the city in the afternoon.¡±

    Ever since Xia Ling found out that Pei Zhenyuan harbored unfathomable motives and tried to sterilize her, her feeling towards the whole family had worsened. She said, ¡°Why do you have to bring me when you and Jingyu are going back to pay respects to your ancestors?¡±

    ¡°I want to send you to a safe ce. I¡¯m not at ease with you here.¡± Pei Ziheng bowed and kissed her. ¡°Be good. When Ie back, I will take you to the hospital for inspection. Then, we¡¯ll know the gender of my child.¡± It had been more than four months.

    Xia Ling just smiled. ¡°Okay.¡±

 Chapter 1146 - Pregnancy Exposed

    <h4>Chapter 1146: Pregnancy Exposed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    A few days after returning to the city, Pei Ziheng kept his promise and took Xia Ling to the hospital for a pregnancy test.

    In the examination room, the doctor smiled and said to them, ¡°Congrattions to the both of you, it is a boy.¡±

    Xia Wei looked at the little guy curled up on the instrument screen, and her face had on a peaceful smile¡ªhe was so cute. After thanking the doctor, she walked out while holding Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand and walked along the corridor. She raised her face and asked him, ¡°Thest time you haven¡¯t told me, what is the name of the boy?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression was a bit pale. ¡°What do you want to call it?¡±

    Xia Ling reached out and gently stroked her lower abdomen. She smiled and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet. I hope that he will be healthy and handsome in the future. I hope his family is harmonious and he will have a sessful career. Am I being too greedy?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°You can call him anything you want.¡±

    Xia Ling leaned into his arms and said, ¡°Ziheng, thank you for making me have him. I used to think that the best way was to knock him off, but when I just saw his appearance on the screen, I really thanked God for giving me such a cute baby.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nodded elegantly and warmly and looked up at the window.

    Outside the window, the winter was still gone, and a cluster of plum blossoms was in full swing.

    He suddenly said to Xia Ling, ¡°Should I take a wintersweet for you? To celebrate.¡±

    She looked at him with an affectionate smile. ¡°Why, is it necessary to celebrate when it¡¯s a son?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I like it whether it¡¯s a girl or a boy. This is to celebrate that you are going to be a mother.¡±

    Xia Lingughed again. ¡°Really?¡±

    She pointed out the window and said, ¡°Then I want that one, the biggest and most red.¡±

    Outside the window, a me-like scented plum was just in bloom, and the branches were covered with a little snow, which made it look even more moving. Pei Ziheng helped her to sit down on the wooden bench at the side of the corridor, then he walked through the corridor to the garden behind the medical building.

    Xia Ling looked at his figure disappear into the forest through the ss. She thought, <i>God is really generous to her. Although there were rough times, my beloved man is with me and our baby.</i> She bowed her head and habitually stroked her lower abdomen and said to herself, ¡°Baby, you must be healthy. Your father and mother are looking forward to your arrival...¡±

    She sat in the hallway with a quiet smile. Suddenly, she saw the attending doctor rush over hurriedly and said to her, ¡°Miss Xia, you have a check indicator that is not very good, you need a shot.¡±

    Xia Ling was worried and asked, ¡°What indicators?¡±

    The attending doctor said, ¡°Your progesterone is not stable, but it is not a big deal. You can rest assured. Just take a shot with us and go home and have a good rest.¡±

    Xia Ling followed him to the injection room.

    She suddenly felt ufortable on the way, so she said to the attending doctor, ¡°I want to go to the bathroom, I wille back soon.¡± The attending doctor seemed to be somewhat reluctant, but still let her go.

    She was not hospitalized this time, so she entered themon restroom in the hospital. When she entered the cubicle and locked the door, she heard footsteps outside. It seemed to be two little nurses. One of them said, ¡°Why are they giving medicine to Xia Ling again? Wasn¡¯t her fetus fine? Director Wang even said it was very healthy.¡±

    Another little nurse lowered her voice. ¡°Be quiet, Xia Ling is now in the injection room. What do you think that needle is? It¡¯s the anesthetic needle that Mr. Pei ordered. Once it¡¯s administered, she¡¯ll move to the surgery room!¡±

    The little nurse was shocked. ¡°What surgery?¡±

    ¡°You are stupid. Of course, an abortion surgery,¡± said the other little nurse.

    Xia Ling stood in the cubicle and even her breathing stagnated. She couldn¡¯t believe her ears. What? Pei Ziheng actually wanted to give her an abortion surgery?! Her face turned white, and even her body trembled. She controlled herself and was careful not to be heard by the two little nurses outside.

    She heard the two little nurses continue to talk, and one asked, ¡°Why? Mr. Pei wanted this child before, didn¡¯t he try all measures to keep it?¡±

    The other said, ¡°Who knows about the rich people? It¡¯s just being really hard on Xia Ling. When she was pregnant for nine weeks, she wanted to get rid of it. At that time, the damage was so small, it would have been ok to do a suction surgery. But now? The formed fetus must be crushed and clipped out, and it might not be done as cleanly. It is much more sinful.¡±

    The first little nurse asked with concern, ¡°I heard Director Wang¡¯s tone just now, this operation seems to be unbeknownst to Xia Ling herself. She first scammed her to take an anesthetic, then when she faints she won¡¯t know anything. By the time she wakes up, the surgery will be over. And even if she cries andins, it will be toote. But... if that¡¯s the case, isn¡¯t our hospital viting the will of the patient? It could be awsuit.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid of taking responsibility?¡± The little nurse snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if the sky falls the tall man will support it. Mr. Pei is so rich and powerful. How could he let Xia Ling file awsuit? Then again, I heard the old man from the Pei family has always disliked her. At that time, Mr. Pei can just casually find an excuse to push things to him, she can make trouble as much as she wants to, and the world would soon be peaceful.¡±

    Xia Ling listened and her heart grew colder, she hadn¡¯t expected that man¡¯s mind was so vicious that he would murder her child quietly. Besides that, he even put on a false and gentle face in front of her, so that even if the child was gone, she couldn¡¯t put the me on him, and might even be grateful for his gentlefort.

    1What kind of animal was he?

    She couldn¡¯t think too much. At this time, Xia Ling had only one thought in her heart¡ª

    To protect this child.

    <i>Peng.</i>

    She pushed the door open and didn¡¯t care about the two nurses¡¯ panicked expression. She ran away quickly, and she didn¡¯t know who she hit along the way, but she heard someone yelling at the back, ¡°Miss Xia, are you not going to get an injection? Come back, don¡¯t fall, beware of the child in your stomach!¡±

    She did not dare to listen to their false care, knowing that as soon as she stopped, she would be anesthetized. Then, everything would be finished. She ran to the exit of the corridor in one go. In the hall on the first floor, people came and went. Someone soon saw her and screamed, ¡°Look! That¡¯s Xia Ling!¡±

    This was the inconvenience of being a star, everyone would notice her wherever they went.

    Xia Ling was pale and ran left and right in the crowd, but she was quickly surrounded by excited people. ¡°Don¡¯t squeeze! Don¡¯t squeeze!¡± She was afraid and lowered both hands to guard her lower abdomen. She retreated to the wall not far away, leaned against the wall and tried to curl her body up. ¡°I am pregnant, I am pregnant.¡±

 Chapter 1147 - Desperate Protection

    <h4>Chapter 1147: Desperate Protection</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The crowd desperately moved forward and, after hearing her say these words, the nearest few people widened their eyes in shock¡ªwhat? The big star Xia Ling was pregnant?!

    Before they returned to their senses, they heard Xia Ling scream again, ¡°Who can take responsibility if anything happens to my child?!¡±

    The few people closest to her suddenly broke out in cold sweat. Oh God, the child of Xia Ling! Just paying for the cost of its nourishment and the damage to its mental health was probably enough to sell them all? They didn¡¯t want to be bankrupt from chasing a star. So, many people quickly retreated, and a few good-hearted people opened their arms and blocked the crowds behind them. They shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t squeeze! Miss Xia Ling is pregnant! Don¡¯t squeeze!¡±

    What? Xia Ling was pregnant?

    Wasn¡¯t she still single?!

    The shocking news spread to the entire hall at a very fast rate, like a drop of cold water sting on the boiling oil. Many people asked, ¡°Really? Who is the father of the child?¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia, who is the child¡¯s father? Who is so irresponsible?!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia, I have never heard of you falling in love, were you cheated!¡±

    ¡°Are you a third party in someone¡¯s rtionship?¡± The voice of a middle-aged aunt sounded. ¡°To think that my daughter likes you so much and treats you as an idol. In the end, you got pregnant before your marriage. Aren¡¯t you being a bad influencer?¡±

    A variety of arguments mored around.

    Xia Ling only felt a buzzing in her head, and she was so dizzy she almost fainted when she stood up unsteadily. She tried to take a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Looking up, she saw a tall figure on the side of the hall hurriedly walking in. However, looking at the hubbub around, the man stopped in his tracks and receded into the shadow of the corridor not far away unnoticeably. She saw Pei Ziheng tilt his head and give instructions to the medical staff on the side.

    Those medical staff struggled to open up the crowd and maintain order. They shouted loudly, ¡°Scatter away, scatter away, what are you doing here? Do not affect others who havee to see the doctor!¡±

    She suddenly understood why Pei Ziheng had hidden in the shadows¡ªthere were too many people here, and he did not want others to discover that he was the child¡¯s biological father.

    The blood rushed to her head.

    At that moment, whatever reason and thinking were left behind.

    Xia Ling raised her hand and pointed her finger in the direction of the standing man. She said fiercely, ¡°It is him! He is the child¡¯s biological father! Pei Ziheng!¡±

    Everyone turned their heads and saw the tall, silent man in the shadow.

    It was him... it turned out to be him! Imperial Entertainment¡¯s chairman, Pei Ziheng! For a time, the crowd was boiling in discussions again, and all kinds of sounds were heard¡ª¡±Mr. Pei, is this child really yours?¡±

    ¡°What is your rtionship with Miss Xia Ling?¡±

    ¡°Do you think this is considered **? Tsk, shameless! You¡¯re a bad influence to my daughter!¡±

    Pei Ziheng originally wanted to retreat, but it was already impossible to do that now. The two¡¯s eyes met, separated by the big hall as if a thousand years had passed between them. Xia Ling still pointed her finger at him, and said with a trembling voice, ¡°Pei Ziheng, you are so cruel.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her unmovingly.

    Her face was pale and her hair was scattered like a little beast pushed into a corner with nowhere to go, thus having no choice but to open her still young and biting teeth. He actually felt distressed.

    He walked out of the shadow and walked towards her.

    The medical staff and the security guards hurried forward and pulled out an istion belt for him to prevent the idlers from colliding with the distinguished big man. The crowd separated like a tide, and he walked up to her step by step, reaching out and gently pressing the hand she pointed at him. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I didn¡¯t get the plum blossom for you.¡±

    Xia Ling remembered the plum blossom in the snow and his earlier sentence¡ª

    ¡°To celebrate.¡±

    She had asked him what they were celebrating? It turned out they were celebrating her abortion. ¡°A tiger even while cruel would still not devour its own cubs,¡± she said with a trembling voice. ¡°You are beneath a beast!¡±

    The crowd was turbulent again. What did Xia Ling mean? What was the inside story?

    The gossipy masses straightened their ears to listen.

    Only Pei Ziheng understood what she was saying. He did not go to get the plum blossoms, he had circled the green garden and immediately called the attending doctor and told him to follow the prescribed n. Therefore, the attending doctor had found Xia Ling and told her that she needed to take the shot.

    Unexpectedly, things had been revealed.

    He didn¡¯t know if the girl was lucky or not, but she had fled to the hall and revealed the identity of the child¡¯s father. This made things a bit tricky.

    Pei Ziheng quickly thought about the possible development direction of the matter in his mind. If he did not recognize the child, that would probably result in her bursting with anger and revealing all the details. As a child, she had always been ignorant and carefree and would reveal everything as if on a life and death struggle. But if he admitted it, things would be difficult, and not to mention that the future marriage would be involved a lot of twists and turns, just like now¡ª

    The Old Master Pei Zhenyuan would definitely be angry, and there would be a big storm inside the family, which would be followed by the great cleaning of the entire Imperial Entertainment. The forces within Imperial were knotty and intertwined. Over the years, he had been trying with all his might to maintain the right bnce. If there was arge-scale conflict, he was not fully prepared. The thoughts rolled in his head, but his expression still remained calm. He said to her, ¡°Don¡¯t throw a tantrum. There are so many people here, be sensible.¡±

    She heard the threat in his words and shrank back.

    However, this was the only opportunity that would keep the child alive. And even if she died, she had to give it a try.

    Xia Ling said loudly to the surrounding people, ¡°The doctor said, it is a baby boy, and it¡¯s very healthy. He will be born safely! If anything happens to it, then it must be an ident, a deliberate murder!¡±

    There was too much information hidden in her words, and people had to think about it. Some experienced women were already thinking, the baby¡¯s gender could be differentiated already? Then it was at least four months old, and the calction of time was exactly the time when Pei Ziheng and Wang Jingwan were engaged, and when that bigdy had passed away?!

    This...

    It was beyond shocking.

    ¡°Mr. Pei!¡± Someone couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°You were engaged with Miss Wang Jingwan, yet you impregnated Miss Xia Ling?¡± This question caused the oil pan to burst again. Who was the third party? People were so excited they had already pulled out their mobile phones, and all kinds of shutter shes were pressed, taking down the expressions of Xia Ling and Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Ziheng had not considered how to end this farce. His best response at this moment was to ignore them. Therefore, he simply ignored the people and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Go back with me.¡±

 Chapter 1148 - Put the Scissors Down

    <h4>Chapter 1148: Put the Scissors Down</h4>

    Xia Ling desperately shrank her body back. ¡°I won¡¯t! I want my child in my life forever! Pei Ziheng, how could you be so cruel, I have just decided to give birth to him!¡± She looked up at him with a little face as big as a palm and stared pitifully at him. She said while choking, ¡°When I said I wanted to abort him, you were so against it. Now that I have liked him and can¡¯t be separated from him, how could you bear to send him to his death?¡±

    In front of the crowd, Pei Ziheng only said lowly, ¡°Abortion? Have you misunderstood something, the doctor was just helping you keep the baby. You have caught a cold in Xi Cui Lake a few days ago, you must take care of your body.¡±

    Xia Ling was very angry andughed. ¡°Pei Ziheng, if I did not see through your conspiracy, the baby would already have died!¡± Her heart was broken into pieces and being trampled on the ground. It turned out that he had done everything he could to make her keep the baby because the gender was not yet determined!

    If...

    If he had known that it was a boy, it might already have been aborted in the first nine weeks!

    Whether she was willing or not.

    He may love her, but he loved his family and power more, and she was just a small piece in his grand n, the victim, and nothing more.

    Her tears fell down her face.

    Pei Ziheng said very gently to Xia Ling, ¡°You¡¯re emotionally unstable, don¡¯t be suspicious, it¡¯s not good for the fetus. Go back with me, I promise that the child will be safe.¡±

    Xia Ling sneered at him. ¡°Do you think I will believe you?¡± If she went back with him, she was afraid she would be brought onto the surgery table! Although she was foolish, she had suffered so many losses and had learned much.

    Pei Ziheng frowned and said, ¡°What do you want?¡± The crowd was gathering further around them and he didn¡¯t want to be watched on like a monkey in a zoo anymore. More importantly, while the situation was still controble, he wanted to draw a conclusion to this scene.

    Xia Ling looked at him seriously. ¡°You swear to ensure the safety of our baby. If anything happens to the baby, do you believe that I will die with him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression sunk. ¡°Don¡¯t be foolish.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled desperately. ¡°You dare not swear, right?¡± she said, looking around in the crowd. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many of you are my fans? If you like me, please help me rush out of here! Because by his side, my child¡¯s safety is not guaranteed!¡±

    With such a beautiful girl asking for help with tears on her face, many people¡¯s hearts were moved. They were all eager to try and wanted to help her escape.

    But Pei Ziheng was always a step ahead of the opponent. He said to the crowd coldly, ¡°You can try it, but you would be making trouble and would have to pay a price for it.¡± He had always been amazing at threatening people. His pair of cold eyes swept past the crowd, and many people were stunned and didn¡¯t dare speak.

    When everyone did not speak, he looked back at Xia Ling. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    At this time, Xia Ling knew how worthless her poprity and authority was. In the face of the strong, she could not look to anyone else but herself for help.

    She looked at him with fear and shook her head.

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Do you want to go by yourself, or should I carry you?¡±

    He was not only tall but also strong, and it was always easy to pick her up. She quickly recognized her defeat and said with a soft voice, her face pale, I¡¯ll go by myself.¡±

    He smiled with satisfaction, then took her step by step out of the crowd and returned to the maternity clinic.

    There were many medical personnel standing in the clinic, the silence, the white wall, and the pungent smell of disinfectant water were almost suffocating. The attending doctor cautiously asked, ¡°Mr. Pei, is the surgery still on?¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not speak. Then, Xia Ling suddenly grabbed a pair of scissors on the table and pointed at her neck. ¡°I want this child to survive,¡± she said. ¡°If you dare to touch him, I will not live.¡±

    The scissors pierced a little bit into her fair skin, and red blood trickled down.

    The doctors and nurses eximed in shock. ¡°Miss Xia, calm down! Put the scissors down first!¡±

    Xia Ling turned a deaf ear to the sounds around her and just looked at Pei Ziheng.

    The two silently challenged each other and each second felt like a thousand years.

    Finally, Xia Ling could not hold it in anymore. She said with a trembling voice to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Just take it as pitying me. If the child is gone, I will really die with it. Xiao Yu has already disappeared, he is my only rtive now. Without him, I can¡¯t live... Ziheng, I beg you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was silent as if weighing the truth of her sentence.

    Instead, the doctor rushed to the front and said to Xia Ling, ¡°Miss Xia, calm down and stop talking, be careful the scissors don¡¯t pierce your neck artery, or you really can¡¯t be saved!¡±

    Xia Ling said with tears, ¡°Do you still think I care about being saved? If the child must die, let me die before him! Don¡¯t let me watch him disappear.¡±

    Her voice was mournful, moving people and making them almost drop tears.

    Pei Ziheng finally said, ¡°Put the scissors down.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at him distrustfully. ¡°I won¡¯t put the scissors down if you don¡¯t promise me to let me give birth to him.¡± She pressed down a little and the wound in her neck got even deeper and the blood flowed even faster. The originally small meander turned into a meandering stream, making people feel shocked.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice also sped up. ¡°Okay, I promise you.¡±

    Xia Wei trembled and asked, ¡°Really?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I can swear.¡±

    Xia Ling confirmed with him. ¡°If the child dies, I will really die, and... I will burn myself so that you can¡¯t even find my ashes, and you will never be buried with me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng frowned and said coldly, ¡°Put the scissors down. You aremitting suicide. You don¡¯t have to wait until I kill the child, you will kill yourself and the child.¡±

    Xia Ling felt the burning pain in her neck and put down the blood-stained scissors.

    The doctor quickly stepped forward to dress up the wound for her, and after a while, Pei Ziheng took her and went home with some bodyguards who had heard the news.

    The vi was as always, quiet and beautiful.

    As Nanny Zhou greeted her, she saw the white gauze wrapped on Xia Ling¡¯s neck and shoulders and was shocked. She asked, ¡°Miss, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Xia Ling did not have the mood to speak and slowly entered the house.

    The expression of Pei Ziheng behind her was not good. He told Nanny Zhou, ¡°Look after her. If there¡¯s anything, go to the study room and find me.¡±

    When Nanny Zhou saw that the atmosphere was wrong, she only obeyed and didn¡¯t dare talk too much.

    Xia Ling was very tired. She slept in bed and dreamed of a long dream. She dreamed that she had aborted her child. She went around looking for it and found only arge piece of flesh and blood, and she woke up in tears.

    The night was quiet and the stars rose above the floor-to-ceiling windows.

    Xia Ling saw a tall figure sitting on the bed. Although she did not turn on the light, she still recognized Pei Ziheng, the man she both loved and hated.

 Chapter 1149 - The Ancestral Hall

    <h4>Chapter 1149: The Ancestral Hall</h4>

    She looked at him cautiously, not saying a word nor daring to move.

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was exceptionally maic against the night scene, ¡°Why, am I a tiger who eats humans?¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°You¡¯re more terrifying than a tiger.¡±

    Pei Ziheng remembered what she said about a tiger never eating its cubs. He sneered. ¡°Are you happy now that everyone knows you¡¯re carrying my baby?¡± He spent the afternoon in the study room thinking about how he should settle this issue. His cell phone almost exploded from iing calls and Pei Zhenyuan had yelled at him to return to the household and issue an exnation to the rest of them. Even Secretary Xie, Chu Chen, and the others were concerned about the situation and keeping their guards up.

    Meanwhile, she, the protagonist, had the heart to be sleeping here.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her wrapped up in the nket and said, ¡°Sometimes I really feel like strangling you to death.¡±

    ¡°Then do it,¡± Xia Ling said slowly.

    They kept quiet for a while before Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was heard again. ¡°Xia Ling, don¡¯t you even think I can¡¯t bear to do it.¡±

    Her heart ached at his statement, but she had to act like she couldn¡¯t be bothered by it. ¡°Oh? Can you bear to?¡± Her love had crumbled long ago, and all that was left was a void. If not for the child, she really might have ended her own life. She looked at the man before her, the man she¡¯d loved so deeply...

    But so what if she loved him deeply?

    There was so much in this world that was more powerful than her. Could she really hope for a change in destiny?

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Don¡¯t show yourself over the next few days. Chu Chen and I will settle it.¡±

    s, it was only her who could be taken care of by him even after creating such a mess. Anyone else would¡¯ve died in his hands a thousand times over.

    Xia Ling was alright with anything as long as he did not get rid of the child. But she was concerned about the situation. ¡°How do you intend to deal with this?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her solemnly with an expression that made her hair stand.

    Suddenly, he said, ¡°Is this the oue you want? I¡¯ve already spoken to the Wang family. We¡¯ll tell the media representatives that my engagement with Wang Jingwan was an ident. The fortune-teller said that Wang Jingwan was about to face a serious life crisis, and needed some ¡®festivity¡¯ in her life to counter the negativity. It happens that my Eight Characters werepatible with hers. Hence, the Wang family looked me up.

    ¡°Miss Wang Jingwan didn¡¯t love me, and I didn¡¯t love her. We were simply friends and this was just a favor I was doing for her. ording to our n, we¡¯d call the marriage off a short while after the engagement, but it was unfortunate that Miss Wang didn¡¯t manage to survive the life crisis anyway.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also let the media representatives know that you and I are truly in love, but we haven¡¯t gotten married yet because of the agreement with the Wang family. Moreover, Wang Jingwan just passed away, and we found that we should postpone the wedding out of respect for her. As such, we¡¯d have no choice but to let you have the baby first before making further ns.¡±

    This was the best oue he could get aftermunicating with various parties.

    As for other matters, they would just have to wait.

    Xia Ling knew that it hadn¡¯t been easy toe to an agreement on this narrative. In fact, it was a pleasant surprise that this would make her identity and status legitimate¡ªthat she was Pei Ziheng¡¯s official lover. A flurry of emotions stirred inside her and she had no idea what to feel.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her and added, ¡°And one more thing, your name will be taken down from the Pei family tree, to prevent more gossips and taunting. In a few days, you¡¯ll follow me to the ancestral hall.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment and felt a little lost.

    Her name would be taken down? Over 10 years back, she¡¯d been so happy to have been adopted by him, anticipating the love and care he¡¯d shower her with for the rest of her life. But what about now? She was only 20-odd years old, not even halfway through life yet, and she was about to be pathetically chased out of the family?

    Yes, chased out.

    Now the supposed scenario had changed¡ªshe was the one who was dying to have this child, not him. She was no longer a Pei family member, no longer a Miss of the Pei¡¯s and would never be a daughter-inw to them. But... even with all the odds stacked against her, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to give this baby up.

    That was their baby.

    Pei Ziheng changed into his pajamas and got into bed. He embraced her from behind and said, ¡°Go to sleep.¡±

    Her back was against his chest. She could feel the warmth of his body and his heartbeat, and this felt like a false sense of being loved. She looked up at the starry night sky behind the window, the flickering of the stars seemed to reflect her fickle-mindedness as well. Just then, a voice reached her from behind. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I only have a little love, but I¡¯ll give it all to you.¡±

    Her heart skipped a beat as she remained silent.

    Pei Ziheng did not say another word as they sank into silence again.

    The Wang family coordinated with Imperial Entertainment and held a press conference. They aligned their statements and expressed that it was all for ¡°countering Wang Jingwan¡¯s life crisis¡±. That was all that the Wang family could say, otherwise Pei Ziheng would only make nastierments about Wang Jingwan. With the help of several parties, Pei Ziheng¡¯s and Xia Ling¡¯s story became one of a fantasy romance. A good number of people gave them their blessings and hoped that they¡¯d have a blissful life ahead.

    Pei Zhenyuan was furious. He threw the papers onto the desk and yelled, ¡°Match made in heaven, what nonsense! I think it¡¯s more like shameless adultery!¡±

    Pei Jingyu patted his back to calm him. ¡°Grandpa, things have already gotten to this stage, don¡¯t make things so ugly. The family still has to rely on Big Cousin in the future.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan scolded her as well. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just go for a short trip, how did you get eliminated just like that! Every single one of you is turning against me!¡±

    Pei Jingyu smiled meekly without saying anything more.

    Pei Zhenyuan mmed the table. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure she gets a taste of it at the ancestral hall!¡±

    Soon, that day arrived. With Pei Ziheng by her side, Xia Ling slowly walked into the ancestral hall in a loose-fitting pastel green blouse. She was now five months pregnant and the baby bump was pretty obvious, but she still looked as beautiful as before. Many of the Pei family members couldn¡¯t take their eyes off her.

    She stood steadily before the ancestral tablet and felt all eyes on her. Since she had alreadye to this, there was no longer anything to fear. Whether the Pei family members looked down on her and detested her, they wouldn¡¯t be able to waver her.

    She was having this child and that was that.

    The person in charge of this ritual was a venerable elderly from the household. Before officially striking her name off the family tree, he first had to dere her ¡°sins¡± to the rest of the family present. He read it one by one, all of which were along the lines of being a shameless unwed woman, an ingrate, not having moral righteousness and the like.

 Chapter 1150 - Hitting the Wrong Person

    <h4>Chapter 1150: Hitting the Wrong Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened, but he did not erupt in anger immediately.

    Xia Ling did not say a word either and was, in fact, smirking internally as she listened. She wanted to see just how harsh they could get with their insults.

    The elderly person had been reprimanding her for over 10 minutes and did not appear to be stopping anytime soon. Xia Ling wasn¡¯t afraid of the scolding, but she was worried about the baby inside her if she had to stand through this for an extended period. She intuitively nced at Pei Ziheng, a subtle call for help.

    Pei Ziheng was unhappy about her insistence on having this child, but that was their private matters and no one else should have to give her dirty looks for that. He coldly stopped the elderly person. ¡°Enough.¡±

    He had been pretty enthusiastic while reading aloud those sins and was now unhappy that he was being interrupted. He looked coldly at Pei Ziheng and said, ¡°There should be no racket before the ancestral tablet. Pei Ziheng, you¡¯re the leader of the household, surely you know that rule?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°But you seem to be very happy about reprimanding my woman.¡±

    The atmosphere was filled with tension as if a predator was getting ready for an attack. The elderly person had been in all sorts of sticky situations before, but he still felt a little afraid of this young and imposing leader before him. Everybody looked at one another, some worried about how this was going to end, others anticipating a good show.

    Pei Ziheng strode forward and took the writing brush from him amidst gasps from the rest, and swiftly struck Xia Ling¡¯s name off. She was adopted by him and hence, her name was written in small font beside his. He felt a pinch in his heart when he lifted the brush, but regained hisposure quickly.

    Once he was done, he sneered and threw the brush away, before taking Xia Ling¡¯s hand and walking out the hall.

    Xia Ling felt her hand in his warm, coarse one. She felt so safe and secure as if he¡¯d never let go of her. As they left the ancestral hall, the feelings of dread and coldness were left behind and everything felt a little brighter.

    Behind them, they could hear Pei Zhenyuan¡¯s thundering voice.

    He¡¯d got the elderly person to prepare a full hour of lecture to disgrace her, but it¡¯d been just over 10 minutes when Pei Ziheng cut him off. Where was his authority?!

    What disturbed him even more was that Pei Ziheng was getting out of hand; he actually dared to mess things up inside the ancestral hall! Even so, nobody could do anything about it. It was starting to seem like the whole of Imperial Entertainment was solely under Pei Ziheng. Perhaps, it wouldn¡¯t be long before every other voice was shut out of Imperial.

    This scared Pei Zhenyuan.

    Pei Zhenyuan had been entrusted by the previous Chairman on his deathbed, and he¡¯d always seen Pei Ziheng as no more than a younger generation member of the family. Even if he was capable, it was practically impossible that he¡¯d be able to wield so much power that no one could defy him. But s, the hard truth came as a p to his face. Pei Zhenyuan was now harshly awoken from his dreams as he realized that this household was in for a major change.

    He would not allow things to go on this way.

    It wasn¡¯t just for the sake of the whole Pei family that he had to stop Xia Ling from having the child. It was also a fight between him and Pei Ziheng. He called one of his most trusted subordinates over and gave him some instructions.

    The subordinate got to it immediately.

    Pei Ziheng held Xia Ling¡¯s hand as they weaved their way through a narrow path in the forested area. This was all the Pei family¡¯s property, its surroundings serene and built with an air of ssic elegance. Their Rolls Royce was parked at the other side of a two-way road.

    Pei Ziheng gently said to Xia Ling, ¡°Hang in there for a bit more, you can rest once we get home.¡±

    He crossed the road with her.

    Out of the blue, a sports car came charging towards Xia Ling!

    Xia Ling¡¯s eyes widened in fear. She wanted to run away from it, but her feet were rooted to the ground, unable to move an inch. Her mind was a nk as she thought she was going to die right there. At that moment, someone pushed her hard on the back, and then a loud bang followed. The car screeched and made a turn.

    It went for her once again!

    Standing under a tree, she ran for her life towards the green area. After knocking into a few trees, the driver probably realized that it was impossible to go further in and hence, turned back.

    Xia Ling was still in a fluster when she noticed that Pei Ziheng was lying motionlessly on the road. He was bleeding profusely, and the scene scared her.

    Her heart pumped faster and faster as she yelled at the top of her lungs, ¡°Ziheng!¡±

    She staggered back towards him and squatted beside him to check his injuries. He seemed seriously injured¡ªhis face was pale as a sheet, his eyes closed as he lost all consciousness. The chauffeur in the Rolls Royce had got out of the car too and was now making a call with trembling hands. It didn¡¯t take long before some Pei family members came rushing with a stretcher. They lifted him into the car and rushed him to the hospital.

    Seeing the mass of flesh and blood that he was, the emergency doctor hurriedly arranged for an operation.

    The doors to the operating room were shut, the red light turned as Xia Ling and a line of worried people waited outside.

    She looked at the tightly shut doors. Never in her life had she felt such grappling fear; even when she had been worried about Xia Yu¡¯s survival back in the orphanage, it had never been this terrifying. Ever since she knew Pei Ziheng, she¡¯d never thought about what life could be like if she were to lose him one day. Even if they quarreled, or even broke up, he¡¯d still be well and alive in this world; he¡¯d be there whenever she wanted to see him...

    But this time, he could be gone for good.

    This farewell had nevere to her mind before, she wasn¡¯t ready for this.

    Xia Ling intertwined her hands before her chest and prayed silently... until someone yelled at her.

    ¡°Slut! Vixen! You¡¯re shameless enough to be standing here? If not for you, Ziheng wouldn¡¯t be in such danger!¡±

    She turned around and saw that it wasing from Pei Zhenyuan.

    Although Old Master Pei Zhenyuan wasn¡¯t very happy with the way Pei Ziheng handled some situations, he was a Pei and his biological grandnephew, after all. When he heard that the car he¡¯d gotten to hit Xia Ling had hit Pei Ziheng instead, his mind went nk. If anything untoward happened to Pei Ziheng, how was he going to answer to histe brother and nephew?

    Xia Ling had always been curt with her words, but this time, she did not bother rebutting.

    She was filled with self-remorse. He was right, if not for her, Ziheng wouldn¡¯t be in trouble now. The car was obviously headed for her. If Pei Ziheng had not pushed her out of the way to save her, he wouldn¡¯t have been hit! It was she who should be lying in the operating room...

    Although she remained silent, Chu Chen, who had been listening from the side, couldn¡¯t take it lying down.

    While he was here to see his Boss, he was also apanying Xia Ling¡ª

    When Boss wasn¡¯t around, his wife and child surely needed a loyal subordinate to take care of them for him.

    He couldn¡¯t care less that they were the Pei family. He took a step forward, pulled Xia Ling behind him, and said to Pei Zhenyuan, ¡°Old Master, it¡¯s wrong for you to put it this way.¡±

 Chapter 1151 - Letâ€™s Get Married

    <h4>Chapter 1151: Let¡¯s Get Married</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Zhenyuan looked at him furiously.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°How could there be a car rampage on the site of the Pei family? Could it be that someone finds Xiao Ling and the baby in her unpleasant to the eye and deliberately tried to murder them? You didn¡¯t go to find the murderer but came to the operating room door to me Xiao Ling for unwarranted charges. What¡¯s your reason?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan certainly knew that this was a deliberate murder, but the wrong person had been knocked down.

    He coldly warned Chu Chen. ¡°Be careful of what you say, it¡¯s not your turn to talk about the Pei family¡¯s matters.¡±

    Chu Chan was not willing to show weakness. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I heard that Xiao Ling has just been removed from the genealogy and is not considered a Pei family member. What qualification do you have to reprimand her as a Pei family elder?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan was so angry that he almost burst in rage and red at him.

    Chu Chen didn¡¯t even look at him. He helped Xia Ling sit down on the bench in the corridor and whispered infort. ¡°You can rest assured, Boss is very blessed and will not have anything happen to him.¡±

    Xia Ling hoped that he would be safe and sound. However, the pictures of the ident overwhelmed her; it was bloody and lingering. She had thought that he was selfish and cruel, that he would do anything for his own ambitions. However, after this incident, she realized that for her, he could actually sacrifice his life.

    Unexpectedly, she remembered the sentence he had said that night¡ª

    ¡°Sorry, my love is only this little, but I gave all of it to you.¡±

    She suddenly forgave him.

    Nothing was unforgivable, including his marriage, his self-righteous hardships, and the shackles and his crafty plots. Life was so short. To be able to meet someone who was willing to die for her, what more could she ask for? If she was too greedy, she¡¯d be struck by lightning.

    She breathed a long sigh of relief. If it came to it, they could just die on the same day and be buried together. When she thought about it, she felt like this life hadn¡¯t been that torturous and painful.

    The lights in the operating room were on for a long time.

    Pei Zhenyuan was old and unable to support himself and was persuaded to rest, but she still stubbornly waited. She sleepilyid down on the bench. Chu Chen had no other choice, he found her a thick nket and bedding. She was a superstar, yet looked like a family member of a patient, curled up on the bench while looking frail and dejected.

    She didn¡¯t care.

    Chu Chen advised her. ¡°I have booked a hotel for you opposite the hospital. You can go there to rest. Even if you don¡¯t think about yourself, you should think about the child in your stomach.¡±

    She bowed her head and gently stroked her lower abdomen. She said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go. Ziheng needs me. Even if the baby knows, he will understand his father and mother.¡± Their baby was so strong and had experienced several conspiracies and idents and was still all safe and sound, so she believed that he would be born safely.

    ¡°Baby,¡± she looked at her slightly raised belly and whispered. ¡°bless your father.¡±

    The door of the operating room opened and a tired doctor came out.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t care that the nket slipped down and hurriedly greeted him. ¡°Doctor, how is he?¡±

    The doctor took off his mask and said, ¡°Fortunately, the patient¡¯s condition has stabilized. The damaged internal organs have been sutured, and the broken bones have been repaired. As long as he is well-fed, there will be no seque.¡±

    She listened to his words and felt reassured. As her body turned soft, she let go of the whole day¡¯s exhaustion and almost fainted.

    Chu Chen quickly helped her and said, ¡°Go, go to the hotel suite.¡±

    She stopped him. ¡°No, bring me to his ward. I will guard him.¡±

    At this time, several medical staff pushed Ziheng out. Xia Ling wanted to rush forward to see him, but a little nurse stopped her and said politely, ¡°Sorry, Miss Xia, please stay away from the patient to prevent infection. We are going to send him to the sterile intensive care unit for three days. Three dayster, he will be switched to the general ward.¡±

    Xia Ling stopped in disappointment and watched the medical staff push him into the elevator.

    Turning around, she said to Chu Chen, ¡°Where is the sterile ward? I will stay outside the sterile ward.¡±

    Chu Chen seriously thought about whether it was illegal to make her pass out. He finally sighed and cleared the family members that were outside the sterile ward, and settled her alone in the corridor.

    She was guarding the corridor. When she was awake, she looked in through the one-way ss. Sometimes she could see half of his face, sometimes she couldn¡¯t see anything, but she felt satisfied that she was close to him.

    When she was tired, she slept in the camp bed prepared by Chu Chen.

    Three days passed longer than she thought, and it was hard to wait until he was pushed out, but he was still in aa and closed his eyes tightly. She asked the doctor with concern, ¡°How is he, will there be a problem?¡±

    The doctor said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Xia, the patient¡¯s signs are very stable and he will soon wake up.¡±

    She heaved a sigh of relief and trotted along the bed as it was pushed, reaching for his hand. ¡°Ziheng, you have to hold on.¡± She cheered him up. ¡°I am here.¡±

    They entered the VIP single room.

    Three dayster, Pei Ziheng woke up and saw Xia Ling at the bedside at first sight. His body was still weak, but his words were clear, and his voice was low and hoarse. ¡°I heard your voice in my dreams.¡±

    His simple words were enough to make her cry.

    She suddenly got angry and cried and yelled at him, ¡°Why are you so stupid? Why did you want to save me regardless of your life? If you die, what¡¯s the point of me living?! I, I will definitely die with you...¡± She choked, crying more and more sadly.

    There was a slight smile in Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t cry, you¡¯ve be a crying kitten.¡±

    ¡°Why do you care!¡± She cried.

    Pei Ziheng said weakly, ¡°You still have our child.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned. She looked up at him and saw still tears in his eyes. ¡°You... didn¡¯t you always not want me to give birth to this child? Why do you suddenly care about him?¡±

    ¡°I regret it,¡± he said.

    She didn¡¯t quite understand what he meant, and still looked at him in confusion.

    He smiled weakly and whispered, ¡°When the car crashed into you, I regretted it.¡± At that moment, he had no time to react. His instinct was to protect her and her child, and he would rather sacrifice his life than watch them die. What family, what power? Those may be important...

    But they were not the most important.

    Only this pair of mother and son was his whole world.

    Her crying gradually died down, but her tears flowed even more fiercely. She knelt down halfway at the edge of his bed and leaned her small head against his bed.

    He reached out and stroked her soft hair and suddenly said, ¡°Let¡¯s get married.¡±

    She was so shocked that she didn¡¯t know how to react and looked up at him, speechless.

 Chapter 1152 - The Biggest Winner

    <h4>Chapter 1152: The Biggest Winner</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°We will register it when I¡¯m well. In the future, this child will be my eldest son, the future heir of Imperial Entertainment.¡± His look was very light and his voice was steady¡ªas if he was saying something really normal¡ªinstead of a major decision that was made suddenly that was rted to the entire family and even the lifeblood of the business world.

    How many stormy waves, hurricanes and bloody rains were concealed in this understated decision.

    Xia Ling finally found her voice. ¡°Why did you suddenly change your mind?¡±

    He looked at her. ¡°Are you not happy?¡±

    ¡°No, of course I am happy...¡± she said. ¡°Just, it¡¯s just too sudden. I feel like I¡¯m dreaming and it doesn¡¯t feel real.¡± Not long ago, he had forced her to be a mistress for a lifetime. She didn¡¯t expect that the peaks and turns would happen so fast, and everything would be so different.

    She carefully extended a hand and touched the hand that he stroked her long hair with. She wanted to see if the man who said this sentence actually existed.

    He smiled affectionately. ¡°Stupid girl.¡±

    She closed her eyes, docilely enjoyed his caress and muttered, ¡°I am afraid.¡±

    He knew what she was afraid of. Happiness came too suddenly, and she was afraid that everything was illusory. After a moment, he told her, ¡°Things have already reached this point. No matter how much I give in, my Great Uncle will harm you. I mustpletely remove his power to ensure the safety of you mother and son. In such a short time, it¡¯s impossible to find a suitable marriage partner, and when Ipletely control Imperial Entertainment, the union will be less important¡ªat least, not as important as it is now. So, Xiao Ling, let¡¯s get married.¡±

    He paused gently, as if to say to Xia Ling, but also to himself. ¡°If I can¡¯t protect even my beloved woman, who would follow me in the future?¡±

    Was that the case?

    It turned out that Pei Zhenyuan had made a fool of himself and forced him to take on this path. Then, she should thank Pei Zhenyuan. Imagining the look of impatience on the old man¡¯s face, Xia Ling¡¯s lips widened into a smile and she said, ¡°You must defeat him. He¡¯s too bad, how could he knock into you like that.¡±

    As she said this, her eyes became even redder.

    ¡°You love to cry.¡± He smiled and pinched her face. ¡°You are bearing a boy, my eldest son, what if he loves to cry like his mother?¡±

    She was shy and opened her mouth to bite his hand. Tsk, how could heugh at her?

    Pei Ziheng did not evade and let her use her white teeth to bite him. He felt tenderness rise up in his heart. He remembered the story of the little prince and the fox that everyone knew. The fox said that if you domesticated it, your life would be full of sunshine.

    Between the two of them, who had been domesticated?

    From that day on, Pei Ziheng honed his strength for the big push and reinforced his body. During his recovery, he also painstakingly nned a set of strategies on how to deal with Pei Zhenyuan and exclude the dissidents. When he was discharged from the hospital, he ryed orders and all his subordinates acted immediately as if spreading argework.

    He himself apanied Xia Ling to a press conference and told everyone, ¡°We have decided to get married.¡±

    At the press conference, he was well-dressed, wearing a Seiko¡¯s sewed suit that was decorated with ruby ??tie clips and cufflinks, whichplemented Xia Ling¡¯s jewelry. The two of them looked gorgeous.

    Her hands were interlocked with his and she smiled really sweetly, full of bliss.

    Some reporters made a difficult attack and asked aggressively, ¡°Mr. Pei, Miss Xia, excuse me, even if you don¡¯t like Miss Wang Jingwei, but Miss Wang has just passed away, is it not inappropriate to marry a new person now?¡±

    Pei Ziheng had expected such a question, and he was calm and justified in answering. ¡°In fact, this was also the wish of Uncle Wang. Uncle Wang learned that Xiao Ling is pregnant and did not want to dy the child¡¯s name because of Wang Jingwan¡¯s death. Uncle Wang said that if the child is born with the name of an illegitimate child, it¡¯ll be too pitiful, so he urged us to get married soon. He also said that Wang Jingwan would not want to see the happiness of others dyed because of her.¡±

    He had always been calm and steady, and he said this in a low and stable voice, making it sound extremely convincing. In fact, how was this the meaning of the Wang family? The Wang family was only forced by his deterrence and had to promise to cooperate with him.

    The reporters did not know the truth, and they all appreciated that the Wang family was so open-minded. Seeing that there was no material to be discovered, all of them had a positive report and gave their blessings.

    Pei Zhenyuan learned the news of their engagement through the news.

    At this time, he was eating lunch. He saw the afternoon newspaper and smashed his te in anger. ¡°Ridiculous! They will be the death of me!¡± the Old Master said furiously. ¡°This obstacle... this obstacle!¡±

    All subordinates and servants shivered in fear.

    The old man asked furiously, ¡°Where is Pei Ziheng? I want to see him!¡±

    He brought people with him and barged into the Chairman¡¯s office and yelled at Pei Ziheng, ¡°What boldness! You dare to dere that you are marrying a woman who got pregnant before marriage, a shameless woman!¡±

    Pei Ziheng wasbing Xia Ling¡¯s long hair on the sofa on the side of the floor-to-ceiling window. The girl was cuddled upzily in his arms and was sleeping soundly after spending a tiring day at the conference meeting.

    He nced at Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Get out.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ¡°I told you to get out,¡± Pei Ziheng told him coldly and clearly. ¡°Don¡¯t hinder Xiao Ling¡¯s rest.¡±

    ¡°You... you are overboard!¡± Pei Zhenyuan still wanted to say something, but Pei Ziheng had already alerted the secretary and bodyguards. They came in and dragged the old man out halfway.

    Xia Ling looked at this scene silently. When the people in the office were cleared, she asked him, ¡°Is this really good? Aren¡¯t you afraid the Old Master will take your position by forcing him?¡±

    ¡°Since I dare to provoke him, I am naturally prepared.¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was still very stable as he continued tob her hair. The marriage announcement in the morning was actually part of his strategy. It meant that the two new big bosses of Imperial Entertainment had officially dered war, and they were betting their lives on bing King. They would not stop until there was a winner.

    Soon, the news about Imperial Entertainment flew everywhere. Every title was very extreme, talking about powerful people fighting for power, the empire changing rule, the grandparents and grandchildren turning against each other, and misfortune over a beautiful woman... All the media were eager to gossip about this incident and give their guesses in this war. Between the two, who would be thest winner?

    However, no matter who was the winner, one thing was undeniable¡ª

    Xia Ling was the biggest winner.

    The helpless orphan had finally gotten her wish and was getting married into a rich family. She was even pregnant with the eldest son of Pei Ziheng, thus achieving a perfect leap from the bottom to the upper ss.

 Chapter 1153 - Finally Married to You

    <h4>Chapter 1153: Finally Married to You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She was envied by many people. Young and pretty, with a powerful man who loved her so much he was willing to go against his entire family for her.

    Fitting for the legendary Diva Xia Ling.

    Her life was filled with the brightest colors of the world. Many people would dly give up their lives to have a day of hers.

    Many fans sent her presents and cards. ¡°Xiao Ling, we support you!¡±

    Her social media feed was filled with blessings. Even when some people were jealous and left nastyments, Xia Ling¡¯s fans would attack them.

    Xia Ling prepared for her marriage amidst all the buzz.

    Pei Ziheng mentioned that he wanted her to be the happiest bride in the world, and she did not want to let him down.

    While Pei Ziheng was busy dealing with his business, sheposed a song. She wanted to hold a concert. However, considering her current state of health, she decided to just hold a live broadcast online.

    In the live broadcast, she wore a loose white dress that showed off her shoulders and applied some light make up before smiling calmly into the camera. She said into the microphone, ¡°All of you know that I¡¯m pregnant and will be marrying my most beloved man. I haveposed a song named ¡®Finally Married to You¡¯, and I would like to dedicate it to Ziheng.¡±

    She sang softly into the microphone¡ª

    ¡°How long is this life?¡±

    ¡°Time passed by me...¡±

    ¡°How many roads I have walked to be beside you.¡±

    ¡°I climbed mountains and crossed seas for you.¡±

    ¡°I opened my wings and soared for you...¡±

    ¡°My songs were sung for you, my guitar yed for you...¡±

    ¡°Finally married to you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m married to you.¡±

    ¡°Afraid this dream would shatter, afraid that I would wake.¡±

    ¡°Afraid this life wouldn¡¯t be long enough for my dream to reachpletion...¡±

    ¡°My dream, of spending time with you...¡±

    Her beautiful voice danced in the air. Even those who didn¡¯t understand music could feel her happiness that oozed out from the bottom of her heart. Many viewers were so moved they teared.

    Her fansmented: [Xiao Ling, you will definitely be happy with him!]

    The stage of the live broadcast room was misty, making her look like an angel.

    She ced her hands on her abdomen and smiled candidly to the camera. ¡°I saw thements. Thank you so much. It is the happiest thing in my life to be married to him.¡±

    ¡°There are many wild spections and rumors, but Ziheng and I truly love each other. In the past, I did not believe that ¡®true love trumps all¡¯ until he proposed to me. I realized that all those love stories were true.¡±

    Her words put smiles on her viewers¡¯ faces.

    Someone asked, ¡°Xiao Ling, can you tell us how he proposed to you?¡±

    A fairy-like smile appeared on her face. She recalled the words he said in the ward. She relived the moment and only answered the fan after a while of savoring the moment. ¡°He is the most romantic person in the world.¡±

    This surprised the fans. No way! Pei Ziheng was the most romantic person in the world?

    From the outside, Pei Ziheng was always cold, stern and serious. No matter how you looked at him, he just seemed like a boring person! Xiao Ling, you actually said that he was romantic, are you alright?

    ¡°How does he show his romantic side?¡± Someone asked.

    Xia Ling was still smiling sheepishly. ¡°Everything he does is romantic.¡±

    The fans were speechless. Was this a case of ¡°there can be no wrong in a lover¡¯s eyes¡±? For a super Diva like Xiao Ling, romantic scenes weremon. How did Boss Pei, a famously serious person, manage to woo her so easily? Seems like real romance...

    Was about meeting the right one.

    Her smile was even sweeter. ¡°Do you guys not believe it?¡±

    She showed her right hand, on which her ring finger was a dazzling pink diamond ring. The high purity of it caused it to shine brilliantly under the light, showing its otherworldliness.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°He gave me this ring when I was 16. I knew back then he would propose to me in the future. And I was definitely going to marry him.¡± As she said this, she lifted her chin slightly, her eyes even brighter, and she looked even prettier.

    In Imperial Entertainment Chairman¡¯s office.

    Pei Ziheng just finished his conference and was watching the live broadcast. Hearing her words, he couldn¡¯t help but soften his default stiff expression. But why was she so sure he would marry her? Previously, he only wanted her to be his mistress forever.

    Someone asked this in his stead, ¡°Miss Xia Ling, no offense to you, but you know that you were not born with a powerful family background. The boss of Imperial Entertainment has always had to marry someone of the same social ss. May I ask where did you get this confidence that Pei Ziheng will marry you?¡±

    Xia Ling pressed her hands onto her chest. ¡°My heart knows.¡± She smiled at the camera. ¡°He is my destiny, I am his destiny too.¡±

    Her clear and soothing voice echoed throughout the world through the video.

    Pei Ziheng was surprised. He could feel tears in his eyes.

    Yes... destiny. They were each other¡¯s destiny, but he realized it toote.

    Looking at her in the video, Pei Ziheng called Chu Chen, ¡°Contact the best jewelry designer and cutter for me. I want to customize a pair of wedding rings. The name will be¡ªDestiny.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the silent snowy night, the old Pei Zihengy on the bed and breathed deeply.

    A delicate box was ced in the drawer beside his bed. Inside was an exquisite pair of rings. It was the one he made for her, ¡°Destiny¡±. However, he never got a chance to give it to her.

    The old man was deep in thought. He only realized it toote. Only after many years did he realize what he had missed. She... had always been a part of his life. Since she left decades ago, his life was always missing something.

    He always thought he was smart, and yet he lost the most important thing.

    He wanted to hold the grandest wedding, to announce to the world that she belonged to him and that they would never part.

    He wanted to put ¡°Destiny¡± on her finger.

    But, even as he spent so many years in preparation and anticipation, there was no way for her to wear it, not in this lifetime. He could only bring them with him into his grave. Maybe in the next lifetime, they could meet again...

    Destiny...

    It was the cruelest thing in the world.

 Chapter 1154 - Return to the Ancestral Hall

    <h4>Chapter 1154: Return to the Ancestral Hall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Humans became stronger because there were things that they had to protect.

    To give Xia Ling the wedding he promised, Pei Ziheng fought day and night with his business rivals. After all the bloody battles, he finally won everything.

    The current him was the true king of Imperial Entertainment.

    There were no more restrictions, no one would oppose him no matter who he decided to marry.

    Xia Ling returned home to see him waiting on the couch.

    Now that her body was heavier, she had trouble walking. She walked shakily in her ts towards him and reached out for a hug. ¡°I¡¯m so tired.¡±

    Pei Ziheng carried her. ¡°Tired? Why go out? You should rest at home.¡±

    She gave him a light peck on his lips. ¡°It¡¯s so boring at home.¡± She looked down and ced his hands onto her abdomen. ¡°The little brat kicked me again today. So naughty.¡±

    Pei Ziheng put his head on hers and kissed her pearly white earlobes. Hand in hand, they felt the baby move. Their precious little life was nurturing and growing. The fulfillment he got was more than that of buying anypany or winning anymercial battle.

    He gently said, ¡°You are due soon. We should take this time when you can still work to get the certificate.¡±

    She asked, ¡°The certificate of marriage?¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled. ¡°Yes, because you are due, let¡¯s have the wedding after you give birth. But we have to get the certificate. I don¡¯t want him to be an illicit child, not even for a day. In the future, he has to inherit Imperial Entertainment.¡±

    Xia Ling felt touched but wanted to tease him. ¡°Who was the one who initially wanted to have him as an illicit child?¡±

    Pei Ziheng kissed her ears lightly again and said, ¡°How long are you going to hold grudges for? Can I appease you with a wedding?¡±

    Xia Ling joked. ¡°I hate you.¡±

    ¡°I love you,¡± he said.

    Xia Ling smiled as she ced her head onto his chest. Her face was filled with bliss.

    ¡°You are not to bully our child.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You are not to make me unhappy.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t look at other women.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Their words of love drifted away in the breeze. Nanny Zhou came in with her cloth. After she saw the loving couple, she retreated from the room with a smile on her face. <i>How blissful... Mister and Miss are finally happily together, I shall not disturb them.</i>

    Not long after, the two of them went to get their certificate of marriage.

    Right after they got their certificate, they went to the Pei Family¡¯s ancestral hall, intending to put Xia Ling¡¯s name back into the family record.

    Pei Ziheng held Xia Ling¡¯s hands as she stepped down from the ck Rolls Royce. He asked her, ¡°Afraid?¡±

    Xia Ling was dressed in a loose white dress today. Her face radiated with happiness. Xia Ling lifted her head and chuckled. ¡°I have nothing to be afraid of. The ones that should be afraid are those that offended me before. I am the matriarch of the Pei family now. I call the shots.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her dotingly. ¡°Yes, you call the shots.¡±

    As they walked past the group of luxurious mansions, Pei Jingyu came over.

    Pei Jingyu looked at them and said, ¡°Big Cousin, Xia... No, Big Cousin-inw.¡±

    She changed her words cleverly and smiled sweetly at them. ¡°Where¡¯s my red packet.¡±

    Xia Ling chuckled. ¡°Little brat. You run so quickly to ask for red packets? How did you know we would collect our certificate today?¡±

    ¡°The entire family knows,¡± Pei Jingyu said nonchntly. ¡°Grandpa sent someone to follow you. When you stepped into the ministry, he was so angry he nearly fainted from his high blood pressure.¡±

    Nearly fainted from high blood pressure?

    Xia Ling was a little worried and looked at Pei Ziheng. No matter what, Pei Zhenyuan was an elder in the Pei family. Moreover, he contributed a lot to the Pei family¡¯s sess.

    Pei Ziheng seemed not to care. ¡°That means he¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Big Cousin, you are so heartless,¡± Pei Jingyu said it with a condemning tone, but she looked rxed. She winked at Xia Ling and said, ¡°My grandpa always feigns diseases to control us. He probably knew that even if he really fainted from his high blood pressure, it would not affect the oue. Hence, he gave up on it.¡±

    Xia Lingughed. Ever since her rtionship with Pei Jingyu eased, she realized that she was not that despicable. She was actually quite cute.

    ¡°So Grandpa knows why we are back here today for?¡± Pei Ziheng asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it to register Xiao Ling in the family record?¡± After they started talking, Pei Jingyu realized that it sounded too formal to address Xia Ling as Big cousin-inw and hence, changed it to Xiao Ling instead. She continued mysteriously, ¡°Let me tell you, Grandpa is personally guarding the ancestral hall. It might be difficult for you to get past him.¡±

    Pei Ziheng assured Xia Ling. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here.¡±

    Xia Lingughed again and said, ¡°What am I afraid of? The Pei family¡¯s great-grandson is in my belly.¡± She proudly showed off her bump. ¡°We should register his name in the book as well.¡±

    Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°Have you thought of his name?¡±

    Xia Ling red at him. ¡°Weren¡¯t you supposed to think of it? I thought you had it ready.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I have a name in my mind, but registering him today might be inappropriate.¡± He did not tell her the reason why. The unspoken rule within the family was that any child below the age of three could not be registered in the family books, because they were afraid the child might die early. However, he did not want to reveal these unsettling reasons to Xia Ling.

    Xia Ling asked excitedly, ¡°What is the name?¡±

    Pei Jingyu anxiously stomped her feet. ¡°Look at the time, how can you both still be discussing this problem?¡±

    Xia Ling calmed her down. ¡°Rx, rx. Isn¡¯t it just Granduncle? We already collected the certificate of marriage. Things can¡¯t be changed anymore, what else can he do to me?¡±

    She was unexpectedly alright with it.

    Pei Jingyu rolled her eyes and followed them into the hall.

    The important people in the family were already gathered in the hall. Most of them were Pei Ziheng¡¯s men, and a small portion was Pei Zhenyuan and a few other old geezers.

    In the middle, Pei Zhenyuan held the family record tightly in his hands and stared angrily at them. ¡°As long as I¡¯m here today, no one is allowed to register Xia Ling¡¯s name on it.¡±

    Xia Ling called out, ¡°Granduncle, we already collected the certificate. Doesn¡¯t matter if you approve or not. I am a daughter-inw of the Pei family. Hmph.¡±

 Chapter 1155 - Daughter-In-Law Xia Ling

    <h4>Chapter 1155: Daughter-In-Law Xia Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her arrogant little appearance made people angry.

    Pei Zhenyuan was so furious his voice shook. ¡°Look at yourself! How are you the head daughter-inw? Get lost, get out of here!¡± He surveyed his surroundings. ¡°Are you all dead? Get rid of her!¡±

    Xia Ling sneered a little. She looked down and yed with her fingers.

    Pei Ziheng was standing by her side, with him there, who would dare to move her? Sure enough, none of the surrounding family members dared to move. Whether they admitted it or not, she was the wife of the patriarch, and was pregnant with the eldest son of their patriarch, so who would dare risk their lives and touch her?

    Pei Zhenyuan was absolutely furious, but there was nothing he could do. He knew that his authority was long gone, he had been defeated in the bloody battle with Pei Ziheng not long ago. The cronies around him had been cleaned and gotten rid of, and he had be an unmanned and uselessmander. How could he possibly touch Pei Ziheng?

    And not to mention Pei Ziheng...

    He couldn¡¯t even move Xia Ling this little woman!

    Pei Zhenyuan red resentfully at Xia Ling, still unwilling to let her do as she wished. He held the genealogy record and refused to let go. He said to Pei Ziheng, ¡°I will never let her board the genealogy!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression darkened. He took three incense sticks from a few cases of sandalwood on the side and lit it with candlelight. He carefully bowed at the ancestral tablets a few times before sticking the incense in the case. ¡°Whether you like it or not,¡± He turned and looked at Pei Zhenyuan, his voice slow. ¡°Xiao Ling is the daughter-inw of the Pei family now. This is an unchangeable fact.¡±

    This time, Pei Zhenyuan was so angry he was going to have high blood pressure. He shook his head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t agree! The genealogy is here with me, what can you do? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to snatch it away from me!¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyebrows sank and he steadily walked over. It seemed that he really intended to snatch the book.

    ¡°Ziheng!¡± Xia Ling quickly stopped him. After all, he was still family. She didn¡¯t want to make the rtionship too stiff. If Pei Ziheng really snatched it from him, the scene would be awkward and embarrassing. She turned her head and looked at Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Great Uncle, since your power is already gone, just stop struggling. What¡¯s wrong with letting me on the genealogical record? I¡¯m so beautiful and will be able to give the Pei family a few beautiful sons and daughters in the future. It¡¯ll be so useful for our family.¡±

    Pei Ziheng: ¡°...¡± What was this little girl thinking in her head?

    In the ancestral hall, Pei Jingyu and the onlookers were speechless. This girl was really, how were her words anything like that of a matriarch? It was clear that she had not been through any relevant teaching.

    Look, Pei Zhenyuan was going to explode in anger.

    Pei Zhenyuan was really mad. ¡°You are a vixen! A scum! A bearer of ill luck!¡±

    Xia Ling was not happy. She had tried to reason with him, but why was he scolding her instead? She had never been a good-tempered child, and at this time, she couldn¡¯t help herself and said proudly, ¡°Look, this is life. It¡¯s my life to marry into the Pei family. It is also your life to ept me. I am the matriarch, the wife of the patriarch!¡±

    She was born with a beauty that could enchant people just like that. But with her many years of poprity in the entertainment industry as the biggest superstar, she was still charismatic when she got angry. In heaven and in the realm, she held supremacy. Standing behind Pei Ziheng, her charisma was not weaker than the majestic man.

    They werepatible.

    The minds of many members of the Pei family wereplicated. Suddenly, they thought that this young matriarch might not be as bad as they had originally thought. Many women could not stand on equal grounds with Pei Ziheng. Maybe... maybe she could really bear the burdens of being the matriarch?

    But Pei Zhenyuan didn¡¯t think so. He had already lost his logic out of madness. He hollered. ¡°You don¡¯t deserve it!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the final say about whether or not I deserve it!¡± Xia Ling red at him. How could this old man be so stubborn!

    ¡°You just don¡¯t deserve it!¡±

    ¡°I deserve it!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t deserve it!¡±

    ¡°I deserve it!¡±

    The unhealthy dialogue was so overwhelming that the onlookers broke into a cold sweat and looked between the unhappy old and young. Many people thought in their hearts, the genealogy was such a serious matter, how could they turn it into such a scene? Everyone exchanged nces and also looked secretly at Pei Ziheng. They pondered over whether they should step up and persuade them to stop arguing.

    In fact, for many of them, even if they didn¡¯t want Xia Ling to be their matriarch due to her ordinary background, but since the patriarch liked her and wanted to marry her into the family, they could only ept it. Anyway, as Xia Ling had said, at least she was beautiful. In the future, she¡¯d give birth to handsome boys and beautiful girls. Whether it was to lead Imperial Entertainment to serve the public or to marry someone as a joint marriage, it wouldn¡¯t be too bad.

    Only the old stubborn Pei Zhenyuan purposely rebelled even though he knew perfectly well that he shouldn¡¯t.

    Pei Ziheng looked at Xia Ling gently. He didn¡¯t know where this girl got the spirit from to quarrel so energetically with someone. She was almost ready to give birth, but she was still jumping around and full of energy. The child was sure to be very healthy when he was born.

    He was distracted by his thoughts when suddenly, he saw Xia Ling clutch her stomach with an ¡°Ouch!¡±

    Shocked, he hurriedly came forward to help her. ¡°Xiao Ling, what happened to you?¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s face was pale, and her previous splendor was gone. She stammered. ¡°I... I think it¡¯s time...¡± Calcting the expected date of birth, there was still half a month, could it be that it hade in advance because she had been too emotional?

    She regretted her decision. If she had known earlier, she wouldn¡¯t have fought with Pei Zhenyuan. It was so painful...

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s expression changed and he helped her out. ¡°I¡¯ll send you to the hospital.¡±

    Xia Ling said, ¡°Wait!¡± She reluctantly pointed out Pei Zhenyuan. ¡°Give me the genealogy, I want to be on the genealogy!¡±

    The people watching the scene all exchanged nces. She was facing an emergency and yet still cared about that? Even Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t know what to say. This silly girl usually wasn¡¯t calctive, but when she was, she really bet her life on it.

    He appeased her. ¡°Go to the hospital first.¡±

    Xia Ling clung onto his sleeves and refused to go. ¡°I want to be on the genealogy first!... Ouch, it hurts!¡±

    Her forehead broke out in a sweat and she twisted about in pain. She looked at Pei Zhenyuan in a daze, as if she had murderous intentions towards him. Pei Zhenyuan was shocked. He didn¡¯t expect this girl to be so indomitable. If he didn¡¯t give the genealogy to her today, would she really give birth to the child in the temple?

    But he still instinctively held onto the genealogy. ¡°You wish!¡±

    Xia Ling endured her stomachache and cried on the sleeve of Pei Ziheng. ¡°Tell him to give it to me!¡±

    Pei Ziheng was at a loss and knew he couldn¡¯t get rid of her for a while, so he could only say to Pei Zhenyuan, ¡°Great Uncle, bring the genealogy. I¡¯m the patriarch, this is an order.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to give me an order!¡± Pei Zhenyuan red at him.

    ¡°Are you resisting my order?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan didn¡¯t speak. Even if he had a thousand reasons, as long as he defied the patriarch¡¯s orders, he would be in the wrong. Did he really have to hand over the genealogy? He didn¡¯t want to!

    How could this generation¡¯s head daughter-inw be an orphan from such a lowly background?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was gentle, but it held a hidden suppression. ¡°Xiao Ling is pregnant with the Pei family¡¯s great-grandson. If she¡¯s mad at you and anything happens to the baby, you won¡¯t be able to exin yourself to the ancestors when you die. Furthermore, you wouldn¡¯t want anything to happen to your great-grandson, would you?¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan hesitated.

    To tell the truth, even if he found Xia Ling unpleasant to the eye, and had even sent someone to murder the child in her stomach, now that things had reached this point, it was impossible to say that he was not anticipating the birth of the child. Looking at Xia Ling, who was in so much pain she could barely stand still, and Pei Ziheng¡¯s determined expression, Pei Zhenyuan knew that his authority was gone and threw the genealogy on the table fiercely. ¡°Take it!¡±

    Pei Ziheng opened the genealogy, picked up the brush and added Xia Ling¡¯s name.

    The words ¡°The 67th Generation of the Pei Family¡¯s Wife is Xia Ling¡± were on the book beside his name, and the calligraphy was beautiful, faintly telling the story of a pair of heavenly creations.

 Chapter 1156 - To-Be-Born Child

    <h4>Chapter 1156: To-Be-Born Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Ziheng looked at their names a few times before putting down the brush with satisfaction.

    Looking up, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°Done.¡± He wanted to go over to support her.

    Unexpectedly, Xia Ling was still unyielding. ¡°It¡¯s not done yet! There¡¯s still my son!¡±

    Pei Ziheng: ¡°... we will add our son to the genealogy after he is born. Be good.¡±

    Pei Zhenyuan saw that she still made her way onto the genealogy and felt ufortable. He saw Pei Ziheng being so indirect in his words and couldn¡¯t help but reply to her, ¡°How could such a young child be on the genealogy? Ridiculous! Who knows if your son can live to three years old? ording to our family regtions, children must be over three years old to get on the genealogy!¡±

    Early children did not enter the genealogy, this was the rule of many great families.

    Xia Ling was angry. ¡°You are the one who can¡¯t live past three years old! Your whole family... No, your household... No, you just can¡¯t live past three years old!¡± She almost insulted the whole family.

    The Pei family around them were all unable to look straight. This old man and young woman¡¯s quarrel was really an eye-opener. What was the difference between this and a child¡¯s y?

    Pei Ziheng looked at her while she held her belly and argued with others. He was also annoyed that Pei Zhenyuan had said that his son could not live past three years old. He raised his hand and lifted up the ink brush before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll make an exception.¡± With swift movements, the name of his child was added too.

    Pei Zhenyuan was so furious he was spitting fire. ¡°Pei Ziheng, how dare you! You¡¯re breaking the rules!¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at him with an implied pressure in his eyes. ¡°Great Uncle, how old do you think my son can live?¡±

    This was a very difficult question to answer, and Pei Zhenyuan could not curse the child in front of the ancestors. Otherwise, he had to be struck by lightning. However, he was not willing to see Pei Ziheng break the rules. He was so angry he didn¡¯t know what to do.

    Xia Ling just sneered andughed at him. ¡°My son must live longer than you!... Ouch!¡±

    She screamed in pain again.

    This time, Pei Ziheng refused to let her continue to quarrel here. He picked her up and carried her onto the car that had been waiting outside the aisle and they went straight to the hospital.

    The whole process of giving birth was chaotic, and Xia Ling felt as if she was going to die. She only knew how to inhale and exhale, and use force ording to the instructions of the doctors and nurses... It seemed like ten thousand years had passed before finally, loud baby cries could be heard, then the nurse¡¯s delighted voice sounded. ¡°Congrattions, Mrs. Pei, it¡¯s a healthy boy!¡±

    She finally breathed a sigh of relief. Exhausted, she fainted.

    When she woke up, Pei Ziheng was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her hand in one hand with a gentle look.

    She looked at him for a few seconds, and her line of sight gradually became more focused. If it wasn¡¯t for her aching body, she would be doubtful that everything she had just experienced before was a dream. She asked him weakly, ¡°How is the baby?¡±

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes held a smile. ¡°The baby is very good. The nurse gave him a shower and is taking care of him in the special baby room. I¡¯ll let someone bring him over for you to see.¡±

    He then called someone to bring the baby.

    Xia Ling looked at him. ¡°Why don¡¯t you apany the baby?¡±

    Before, Nanny Zhou had told her many things about a child. Among them, she had said that many newborn fathers would be too happy and would find the baby novel, so the time used for teasing the baby would be far longer than the time of apanying the wife.

    Nanny Zhou was just kind and was afraid that she would be left out after giving birth to the child. She was afraid she would not be psychologically prepared and would be prone to depression.

    Now, it seemed that worry was superfluous.

    Sure enough, Pei Ziheng said warmly, ¡°I¡¯ll apany you.¡±

    A thousand words were in those three words.

    Xia Ling¡¯s lips curled up slightly, and suddenly she heard him say, ¡°Why are you crying?¡± He reached out to wipe away her tears. ¡°I heard the older generation¡¯s people say that you can¡¯t cry after giving birth to a child or it¡¯ll hurt the body.¡±

    She only realized she was crying now and blushed slightly.

    She was moved. She had followed him from the age of twelve and had walked through the stormy waves to this day. Finally, there was a positive result... Even after giving birth to a child, he was still spoiling her. There was nothing to regret about this life.

    Just as she was thinking about this, she saw the room door open.

    A young nurse in a pink nurse¡¯s uniform came in, holding a small baby in her arms. She smiled and walked over to them, saying, ¡°The baby is here.¡±

    Xia Ling looked at the little guy sideways. She saw that he was wrinkly, his pair of small eyes were still closed, and shallow flesh was on his small fists. He was very cute. He slept peacefully in the nket, neither crying nor making trouble.

    The nurse said, ¡°The baby is very obedient. He must be very blessed.¡±

    Xia Ling was very happy. She smiled sweetly and said, ¡°I want to hug him.¡±

    The nurse carefully bent down and put the child in her arms, pointing out what she should hold.

    Xia Ling was a bit timid at first; the little guy was so delicate, she was afraid of breaking him. While holding the baby, tenderness flowed into her naturally, and as if women had the natural talent of being a mother, she could adjust the baby¡¯s position properly to make the baby morefortable without the nurse¡¯s guidance. The little guy felt his mother¡¯s heartbeat and began humming.

    The nurse said, ¡°He likes his mom very much.¡±

    Xia Ling¡¯s smile turned even sweeter and she turned to look at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Tell me, does he look like you or like me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng also leaned over and looked at him. His expression was a bit serious, then he finally said after a long time, ¡°It¡¯s a boy, so of course it looks like me.¡±

    The nurse grinned on the side. In fact, how could they tell who a baby born just a few hours ago look like? They all looked the same, like ugly monkeys. But Mr. Pei really loved children, he was totally absorbed in looking.

    Ever since Xia Ling became a mother, she seemed to be a lot more feminine. She was no longer as arrogant as before, but gentle and quiet. She asked Pei Ziheng, ¡°Do you want to hug him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng was still serious. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    The nurseughed again on the side. Even though Mr. Pei looked so serious, he actually wanted to hug the child, right? In an angle where Mrs. Pei couldn¡¯t see, his hands were actually shaking nervously.

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t realize he was nervous. She held onto the child and didn¡¯t let go, ying with him before looking up and saying to Pei Ziheng, ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you touch him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng hesitated and carefully reached out. The usually big and powerful man was so overwhelmed at the moment that he returned to being a helpless young boy who didn¡¯t know what to do. His rough fingers touched the baby¡¯s soft skin, and he was so shocked he retracted back and forth, stopping for a few seconds before he tentatively touched it again.

    The baby¡¯s skin was as delicate as a flower, and it was as lingering as Xiao Ling.

    He felt the delicate touch, how amazing life was, how wonderful it was to be a father.

    The little nurse in the pink nurse¡¯s uniform smiled and went out.

    Xia Ling turned and leaned into his arms. They yed with the baby together and then she suddenly asked, ¡°What name did you give your child on the genealogy?¡±

    ¡°Pei Zhaoye,¡± Pei Ziheng said without thinking.

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Ling red at him unhappily. ¡°You actually gave our baby such a bad name?¡±

    ¡°Why is it bad?¡± Pei Ziheng was not happy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, it¡¯s bad!¡± Her fussy temper was back, and she bantered with him.

    Pei Ziheng smiled and said, ¡°You just had to make trouble with the genealogy. How could I change it now? I told you to do itter, but you refused to listen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ming me now?!¡± Xia Ling was so frustrated and angry that she wanted to bite him.

    He smiled and kissed her.

    She was still angry, so she turned over with the child in her arms. ¡°Tsk, don¡¯t kiss me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng hugged her from behind and smelled the faint milk fragrance on her body. He said soothingly, ¡°Why, it¡¯s not that bad. Zhaoye means to inherit the family¡¯s business. We¡¯ll always be urging him to make progress and to always be alert. We¡¯re reminding others about his identity, asking them to respect him and serve him with their lives and not to betray him.¡±

 Chapter 1157 - Fate

    <h4>Chapter 1157: Fate</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    He always had such a principle.

    Xia Ling was still not happy, so she snorted lightly.

    The little baby cried in her arms, so Pei Ziheng said, ¡°Stop whining, the baby isughing at you.¡±

    Too busy to bicker with him, she rushed hurriedly, trying to pacify the baby clumsily. She fed him in a very awkward manner. He helped out at the side, helping her untie her clothes and using a baby-specific cloth towel to wipe the baby¡¯s mouth.

    They looked like an unusual couple.

    Xia Ling blushed slightly and nced secretly at him. Their eyes met and she hurriedly turned her face away.

    He chuckled lowly, his mood bing very good¡ªIn this life, he finally had something to protect. It was not the family¡¯s matter that he had been coerced into taking responsibility for since young, but his own choice, his own precious wife.

    If that was true, how good would life be.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the cold night, the old man was asleep. He told himself, give her a wedding, one that belonged to him and her only, the most magnificent wedding. With her favorite irises and roses, with chocte towers piled on the beach...

    If he could satisfy her every dream, would she never leave?

    1¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the dream, he took her home and took very good care of her.

    She became a little more bloated than before, her skin moist and tender, as beautiful as a blooming rose.

    She put the dress she had worn before she was pregnant in front of the mirror and said with dissatisfaction, ¡°I can¡¯t wear it.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said gently, ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a new one.¡±

    She red at him fiercely. ¡°You still dare to talk! If it wasn¡¯t for giving you a son! Boohoo.¡± She cried fakely in sorrow for a while, then, seeing how he still looked very amused, she grew even more unhappy. ¡°What are youughing at!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯tugh.¡± He naturally converged his expression, but his eyebrows still showed joy¡ªit was great to see her healthy. Although she was rounder than before, she was more beautiful than before and felt better to the touch.

    He walked slowly to her and embraced her. ¡°Xiao Ling, let¡¯s have more children.¡±

    Her face turned red and she whispered, ¡°Beast.¡±

    He bowed his head and kissed her before reluctantly letting go of her lips, lingering in it for a while before saying, ¡°I will give you the grandest wedding, and you¡¯ll give me another baby, how¡¯s that?¡±

    Her eyes lit up. ¡°Wedding? It must be the most luxurious wedding, more luxurious than the one you had with Wang Jingwan! Tsk! She dared to say that I don¡¯t deserve such a good wedding!¡± When she had begged with Wang Jingwan not to take away her beloved man, Wang Jingwan had arrogantly humiliated her, and even till now Xia Ling was still vengeful.

    Pei Ziheng said affectionately, ¡°Okay.¡±

    During his time where he was getting better, he had been working overtime to handle his official duties. Now that business was stable, after half a year, he sent out letters of invitation and gave her a dreamy ind wedding.

    He let her appear in the wedding dress designed by the world¡¯s top designer and decorated with gorgeous beads and appear on the jade beach. Both the guests on the spot and the audience watching the live broadcast in front of the screen held their breaths.

    She was beautiful.

    Although she had always been beautiful, today, she was even more gorgeous. She was as gorgeous and dazzling as a star, and it shook people to their cores.

    The former Wang Jingwan could not bepared to her. So what if she was a prestigiousdy? Even the most expensivedies couldn¡¯tpete with Xia Ling¡¯s one finger!

    Xia Ling was supported by Feng Kun as they walked along the long nket of the beach, taking each step towards Pei Ziheng.

    She was an orphan and had no father or brother, so her close friend Feng Kun had temporarily taken over the role of handing her over to the groom. Originally, Chu Chen had wanted to fight for this position, but Xia Ling had said, ¡°You have a good rtionship with Ziheng, you are going to be the best man.¡±

    Her simple words were enough to make Chu Chen speechless.

    It was not that she had seen how differently he and Feng Kun had treated her, they were simply arranged ording to their rtionship with Pei Ziheng. However, even though being the best man was good, Pei Ziheng had a group of ten best men, so how could itpare with holding her hand and walking down the carpet to personally hand her over to Pei Ziheng with pride?

    Feng Kun saw through his unwillingness, but he just smiled and didn¡¯t expose him.

    He didn¡¯t care about his pride as much as Chu Chen did, but he knew how ¡°good¡± Chu Chen was to her. In any case, he didn¡¯t want the person who calcted his every treatment towards her to take over the role of her father.

    Feng Kun took Xia Ling¡¯s hand and stood in front of the carefully arranged altar. He carefully handed her to Pei Ziheng.

    The shutters of the media¡¯s cameras clicked repeatedly, and the eyes of the whole world today were attracted to this moment. Today, Pei Ziheng was wearing a white groom¡¯s suit. He was wearing this color for the first time and looked more handsome than usual. His handsome face was like a God¡¯s, weing the sunshine and glimmering in glory, his charisma blinding countless girls.

    His hand held onto her hand as if he was holding a precious treasure.

    The ring was taken from the best man¡¯s hand, and the radiant light it exuded was like the most dazzling star in the sky. Theplicated and intricate design of the wedding ring immediately caught everyone¡¯s attention. It was their ¡°destiny.¡±

    Destiny...

    This was the first time she saw the wedding ring, and her first expression was surprise, then bliss and joy.

    ¡°Does it look good?¡± he asked her.

    She said with amazement, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you say ¡®I love you¡¯ at this time?¡±

    A lot of the guestsughed at her words. Pei Ziheng was usually such a cold and stern and expressionless person that even his most gentle appearance was slightly frightening. Only she could be so delicate and yful in front of him.

    Pei Ziheng also smiled and said as she wished, ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°I love you too.¡± She looked at him, her eyes full of affection. Then, she tip-toed and kissed him. The white wedding dress was long and flowed behind her, the sea breeze blowing and the sun shining against it, giving it a light golden color as if it was coated with ayer of enamel.

    He embraced her and gave her a long, gentle kiss. It was so beautiful everyone held their breaths.

    This wedding was called the most romantic wedding when it was reported by the media. At that time, the two people who kissed each other firmly believed that this life and every day would be so romantic.

    At night, he walked into the wedding room, carefully removed makeup for her, and took off the dress that was soft and dreamlike.

    She looked out the window at the moonlight, then suddenly said, ¡°Ziheng.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± He kissed her slender and beautiful neck and shoulders from behind, giving a low nasal sound.

    Her expression was a bit stunned, and it seemed a bit confused. ¡°I¡¯m too happy, could this be... a dream?¡±

    His hand moving up her smooth skin stopped slightly. ¡°Why are you asking this?¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know... but I always feel... I feel like I shouldn¡¯t be here, as if... there¡¯s something very important... but I have forgotten it.¡±

    The sea breeze blew, and a small card on the table in the bedroom was blown down. It silently fell at the feet of the two. Xia Ling pushed away Pei Ziheng¡¯s hand and bent down to pick it up. She saw the handwritten words on the card. ¡°Congrattions to Mr. Pei and Miss Xia Ling for your marriage.¡± It was from Li Lei.

    Pei Ziheng took the card from her hand and gently tossed it. The card flew out of the terrace into the night wind and disappeared. He continued to lower his head and kissed her, picking her up and cing her on the bed covered with rose petals. ¡°How could it be a dream? Xiao Ling, you have not forgotten anything important. Nothing else is more important than us being together.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t think properly with his kisses, and she left the sh of thought behind her mind and responded intently.

    Yes, there was nothing more important than being together. In this life, he and she would definitely grow old.

    Never to be separated.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the cold night, the snow got heavier.

    The ny-two-year-old Pei Ziheng was lying on the bed, his face smiling.

    In the early morning, the servant who took care of him opened the door of his bedroom as usual and found that the old man who had lived a legendary life in the business world had his eyes closed quietly and his body was already cold. On the low cab next to the bed, there was a pair of wedding rings in the open velvet box. It was the one that had been sensational decades ago. It was said that it was the only ring that wasparable with the beautiful treasure that was revealed when Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Li Lei and the superstar Queen Ye Xingling had gotten married.

    No one knew who the buyer of the ring was.

    It turned out that it was actually him.

 Chapter 1158 - No Night Palace (Extras of Xia Yingluo)

    <h4>Chapter 1158: No Night Pce (Extras of Xia Yingluo)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The night scene was like a rainbow.

    A crimson taxi stopped at the entrance of the biggest casino in A City¡¯s No Night Pce. Before the uniformed doorman could help pull the door open, a girl hurriedly got out of the car by herself.

    She was born beautiful, with a small palm-sized face that reflected the lights of the No Night Pce, like a fairy who fell into the mortal world. It was just that her long hair was messy and she was wearing a cheap T-shirt on her thin body. One of her feet wore a slipper, the other white dainty foot bare and looking out of ce in the beautiful and extravagant atmosphere of No Night Pce.

    Anxious, she ignored the doorman trying to block her from entering the casino and looked around as if searching for someone.

    She quickly located her target and hurriedly ran to a huge gaming table and called out, ¡°Zhao Yixuan!¡±

    At the gambling table, a handsome man dressed in a handwork high-grade shirt turned around and saw her. He was very surprised and frowned subtlely. ¡°Yingluo, why are you here?¡±

    The girl named Yingluo was angry and wronged. She red at him with slightly red eyes and pointed her finger at the woman beside him. ¡°Howe you are with her? Didn¡¯t you say you would love me forever, why has your heart changed so quickly?!¡±

    Her voice was clear and sad. At that moment, the gamblers at the entire table looked over.

    Zhao Yixuan felt his shame turned to anger at their scrutiny. He said sternly to Yingluo, ¡°Don¡¯t make a fuss!¡±

    ¡°How am I making a fuss?¡± She wanted to cry, but she still forced him to admit his wrongdoings fiercely. She took out her cell phone and threw it onto the table. ¡°Look at it yourself! Isn¡¯t this a picture of you and Pei Yan? You, how could you two do this to me behind my back!¡±

    On the screen of the mobile phone was a figure of a man and a woman entangled in a luxurious big bed. Although it had been photoshopped with great skill, it was still obvious that the two were naked and erotically intertwined. Their faces were also very clear. It was Zhao Yixuan and the femalepanion beside him.

    Zhao Yixuan was shocked by the photo. How could she have this?

    She heard his femalepanion sneer and nce arrogantly at Yingluo. ¡°Xia Yingluo, I was the one who sent you this picture, do you like my big gift to you? Right, I forgot to tell you. I¡¯m getting engaged to Yixuan soon, remember toe and drink with us then.¡± While she talked, she wrapped her arms around Zhao Yixuan¡¯s body affectionately and blew into his ear, ncing at Xia Yingluo provocatively.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned pale. Really... it was all true!

    It had long been rumored that Zhao Yixuan had hooked up with Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Yan, but she had always refused to believe it, insisting that their pledge of undying love was eternal. But who knew that his heart had changedpletely in less than a year!

    ¡°Why...¡± She looked sadly at Zhao Yixuan and asked incredulously.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡± The answer came from Pei Yan, who was wearing a delicate and elegant silk evening dress, her entire enchanting body entwined around Zhao Yixuan like a snake. However, Zhao Yixuan did not push her away. She looked at Xia Yingluo yfully. ¡°Because I am more honorable than you, my family is good, I am educated, and I can give my support to Yixuan¡¯s career. What about you? You have nothing but your face, what do you have to fight with me?¡±

    So, Zhao Yixuan had chosen Pei Yan and not her?

    Her chest felt tight and sullen, and she asked Zhao Yixuan in a trembling voice, ¡°Yixuan, is what she said true?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression was a little awkward as he quickly said, ¡°Yingluo, I have never said that we were together, so please stop clinging to me. This is not where you should be, just go.¡±

    She felt as though her heart had been badly hit, suffocating her and giving her great pain.

    It turned out that her love was so fragile. Her boyfriend not only abandoned her for money and power but also denied that he had ever been together with her! Then, what was all the hard work and joy she had felt for that one year...

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s nose was sore and she almost couldn¡¯t help but shed tears. She endured it and said chokingly, ¡°Yixuan, you were the one who told us to keep our rtionship a secret because you were afraid it would affect me when I debut, and you even told me you love me, how could you deny it? You still remember... do you still remember when we first met nine months ago, and you said that you wanted to be good to me? I only went to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp to be your girlfriend!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan frowned and looked around him, aware of the curious eyes of all the other gamblers and Pei Yan. He couldn¡¯t help but be angry and interrupted Xia Yingluo¡¯s words. ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense! You¡¯re just a poor nobody who got into Imperial Entertainment with all kinds of methods, but you¡¯re still under the delusion that I would fall in love with you? I think it¡¯s more likely that you saw I¡¯m Imperial Entertainment¡¯s best manager now, so you wanted to cling onto me!¡±

    His words were heart-wrenching, and she was in so much pain that she couldn¡¯t stand stably.

    ¡°Hah, cling...¡± Her voice became hoarse, and she couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    Zhao Yixuan, he thought he was all that just because he was a manager?

    Did he know who she was!

    Her, Xia Yingluo, was the only beloved daughter of the world¡¯srgest underground power¡¯s leader, Li Lei. The only biological daughter of the national master that everyone revered and admired, the only phoenix in the world, the pearl in the palm of the legendary Queen Xia Ling! Ever since young, she had been adored by countless wealthy and powerful elders, pampered by them as if she was a precious treasure. She could get anything she wanted, so which girl in this world was more expensive than her?

    With her identity, was it being hard on him, a mere manager in the entertainment industry for her to like him?

    She looked at him with sorrow and sarcasm. ¡°Zhao Yixuan...¡±

    She didn¡¯t tell him that she had left home alone this time toplete the family trials¡ªevery child of the Li family had to hide their identity for two years before they became an adult, so that he could understand how difficult it was to survive, as well as how big of a shelter the family provided for them.

    Sure enough, after losing her identity of being ¡°the Li family¡¯s Big Lady¡±, even the people she liked has abandoned her so readily.

    ¡°Did you know...¡± She was in so much pain that she couldn¡¯t breathe, and she finally said, ¡°I nned to bring you back to see my parents after a year.¡± At that time, he could get anything he wanted, and could even set up his own entertainmentpany like her father that couldpete against Imperial Entertainment. Why would he need to bother sucking up to the Pei family¡¯sdy?

    She heard that Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei Ziheng was at his prime and still had not decided who was to be the next heir!

    How big of a future did he think he could have by marrying Pei Yan?

    It would definitely be far less than what she could bring to him!

    It was a pity, it was already toote to say anything. He had made his choice before she could reveal her true identity.

    She was broken-hearted, but Zhao Yixuan didn¡¯t know her thoughts and only looked at her disdainfully. ¡°See your parents? You are really whimsical. What qualifications do your parents living poorly in the mountains have to see me?¡±

    That was the fake identity the family had given her when she hade out to experience the trial, but he had taken it for real.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want to say anything. At this moment, she suddenly saw his true face. He was so ungrateful and heartless, and didn¡¯t even have a little bit of respect for others. Was she blind to have fallen for such a person?

    Sheughed at herself and turned to leave. ¡°Well, I wish you happiness then.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Pei Yan said. She didn¡¯t intend to let her go just like this. She swept her eyes over the doorman and the bodyguards who hade running in. She smiled, harboring malicious intentions, and asked the security guards, ¡°I remember the rules of the casino. If you run in on your own and disturb the other guests, don¡¯t they have to suffer a punishment?¡±

 Chapter 1159 - Worse Than a Striptease

    <h4>Chapter 1159: Worse Than a Striptease</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The bodyguard said, ¡°Yes, ording to the regtions, a penalty of ten times of a VIP card is required.¡±

    They had just chased after Xia Yingluo and had entered to see the people arguing. This kind of thing happened frequently in the casino. It was always some big show of a woman catching a third party, or someone getting abandoned by their partner. Xia Yingluo was beautiful and petite, and her look of desperation made people feel very distressed. Several security guards and doormen had already reached a tacit understanding between each other and did not intend to punish her. Looking at her state, how could she possibly have the money? However, now that the female gambler had asked, they could only do things ording to the rules.

    Pei Yan smiled smugly. ¡°Very good. Ten times is fine. Xia Yingluo, take it out.¡±

    Where would she have so much money? When the Li family threw the children out to experience the trial, they were not allowed to bring out even a penny. Even though her mother Xia Ling had felt distressed and had secretly stuffed her with a few thousand yuan, she had already used them up. In the past few months, she had lived in the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp on a student bonus. The bonus of a few hundred yuan per month was not even enough to buy a ss of wine in this magnificent casino.

    She looked coldly at Pei Yan. ¡°This is my business with the casino. What has it got to do with you?¡±

    Turning around, she said to the doormen and security guards, ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go to the security room to deal with this problem.¡±

    Speaking of it, the casino was opened by an uncle she knew. The uncle had a good rtionship with her father. If he knew that she was in trouble here, everyone who had provoked her would have to suffer consequences.

    However, this was her trial period...

    At the thought of this, Xia Yingluo wanted to cry without tears. ording to the rules of the family, within two years, they were not allowed to reveal their identity, neither were they allowed to contact any people they had known before. Otherwise, it would be a failure. So many girls in the family had sessfullypleted the experience, and she was the only daughter of the family¡¯s patriarch, so how could she bring shame to her father?

    She had decided to go to the security room and talk logic to the security guards. If need be, she could just stay behind to wash the tes.

    Although ording to her knowledge of the casino, there was a very slim chance that such a beautiful girl like her would be sent to wash the tes. Most of the time she would have to encounter some dark and ruthless things, like forcing her into prostitution, but she could only take each step and see. There had to be a way out.

    She made up her mind and her expression was calm.

    The more Pei Yan looked at her beautiful, exquisite face, the more annoyed she got, so she couldn¡¯t help but pick on her further. ¡°You think you can go as and when you want? You not only rushed in but also bumped me, making me very unhappy. How do I know you won¡¯t somehow weasel out with your words once you¡¯re in the security room? No, you must be punished in front of me.¡±

    She said, her pair of gorgeous eyes sweeping past the security guards.

    Although the security guards sympathized with the girl, the rules of the casino were based on the wishes of the guests. They had no choice but to say, ¡°Miss, please pay the fines now. If you can¡¯t pay it...¡±

    ¡°If you can¡¯t pay, go to Yin Chun Lane and work for a few days.¡± Pei Yan interrupted the security guard and smiled maliciously. ¡°I remember that your business in Yin Chun Lane is very good. I was just telling Yixuan that we would go there to see some striptease. If such a beautiful Miss like Yingluo could perform on stage, it would definitely be worth the price... I¡¯ll book the whole venue, and I am weing everyone ording to the highest specifications, ha.¡±

    The security guards took a breath of cold air. Booking the Yin Chun Lane with the highest specifications was arge sum of money!

    You must know that the overnight booking fee could make amon wealthy family go bankrupt!

    They looked at Pei Yan suspiciously, wondering if she was just boasting.

    Pei Yan covered her mouth andughed. ¡°Why, you don¡¯t believe me? Do you know who I am? Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Chengyou is my brother.¡±

    It turned out that she was Pei Chengyou¡¯s sister!

    The security guards and the gamblers around them all moved and made amotion. How deeply rooted was the Pei family¡¯s connection, how much money did they have? It was not an exaggeration to say that they had wealth equivalent to that of an entire nation! And Pei Chengyou was rumored to be one of the next sessors of Chairman Pei Ziheng and could do whatever he wanted in Imperial Entertainment. His sister could not only book the Yin Chun Lane for the entire night, but she could also even book it for ten nights!

    They looked at Zhao Yixuan at the side, who stood still and was speechless. No wonder this man abandoned such a beautiful little girlfriend to suck up to Pei Yan. He was just a manager, but once he married Pei Yan, he could change his future and have some of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s shares. Who couldn¡¯t calcte this benefit?

    They could only pity the girl, she was not only abandoned but also picked on.

    The security guards exchanged nces.

    They had already nned that if Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t pay the money, they would let her go to the SVIP area as a waiter. The big guys there liked beautiful girls like her, who were all clean and didn¡¯t have a speck of impurity. Letting her go there was the principle of maximizing the benefits of the casino, and it was a good thing for her too¡ªeven if she was in danger of being bullied and humiliated, why shouldn¡¯t she take the chance to turn her fate around?

    It was a pity that Pei Yan wanted to make her a strip dancer in the Yin Chun Lane. The money that Pei Yan was offering was too much for the few security guards to reject. They must obey the principle of maximizing the interests of the casino. Otherwise, they would be held ountable! They could only me the little girl for being too unlucky, and for provoking such a vicious female guest.

    The security guards made a decision and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Come to the Yin Chun Lane with us.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at them coldly. ¡°You dare!¡± Her family was mixed with the underground, so she knew very well that the ce must be strictly guarded, and there was no chance of escaping under their strict scrutiny. Once inside, there was really no chance to escape, and she would be finished.

    Her small face was tight, and while confronting the security guards, she struggled to think about her escape.

    This Pei Yan was really vicious!

    Once one more year had passed and she returned to the Li family, she would be sure to punish Pei Yan!

    Xia Yingluo cursed and swore in her heart, and she heard Zhou Yixuan say, ¡°Pei Yan, forget it, you have to spare people as the bigger person.¡±

    Although he had decided to get rid of Xia Yingluo, thest of his conscience still existed, and he really couldn¡¯t bear to see the girl he liked suffer from such a vicious hand¡ªyou had to know that in all these months being together with her, he had not even touched her, so how could he give her up to the guests in Yin Chun Lane, how could he be willing to do that?

    Pei Yan looked at her boyfriend and sneered. ¡°Why, do you feel bad for her?¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡± Zhao Yixuan looked at her tenderly. ¡°I just think she¡¯s pitiful. You have such a noble status, why bother with a poor worm like her? Let her go, and everyone will say that you are very generous.¡±

    Pei Yan looked at him deeply, and she smiled in an enchantingly dangerous way. ¡°You are a good person, so why don¡¯t you pay her fine for her?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s heart jumped. He didn¡¯t believe that she was so kind and generous that she would let her own man help her enemy out! But what was her purpose in saying this?

 Chapter 1160 - Mysterious Dangerous Man

    <h4>Chapter 1160: Mysterious Dangerous Man</h4>

    Zhao Yixuan racked his brains and suddenly understood it, so he smiled forcefully. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll pay.¡± He took out his gold card and handed it to the security guard. ¡°Deduct ten times fine from here.¡±

    A bad feeling rose in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart and she immediately stopped him. ¡°I don¡¯t want him to help me out!¡±

    The security guard said, ¡°Little girl, don¡¯t be stubborn. Do you really want to be striptease?¡±

    They directly took Zhao Yixuan¡¯s card to pay the money, then they handed the card over to him and took their leave.

    Pei Yan looked coldly at all these, a cold smile on her face. She didn¡¯t stop them.

    Zhao Yixuan secretly took a deep breath and understood that it was time to test him, so he must perform well in front of her and personally hurt Xia Yingluo so that Pei Yan could rest assured!

    ¡°I have paid for you, so you are mine now,¡± he said coldly to Xia Yingluo. ¡°It¡¯s only natural for you to pay off your debts. You can use your body to pay it!¡± He turned around and announced loudly to the surrounding gamblers. ¡°This girl is my bet now! Who will gamble with me? If you win, you can take her directly and do whatever you want with her!¡±

    Anything they wanted to do?!

    At that moment, the crowd was turbulent, and countless greedy eyes looked up and down Xia Yingluo¡¯s body.

    She was so beautiful, and her sixteen-year-old body was like an innocent flower waiting to be released. Her white skin emitted a charming luster under the dim light of the casino. Unlike a woman who had been immersed in the field for a long time, she was so clean and tender, and when people looked at her, a me burned in their lower abdomen.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bet with you!¡±

    ¡°Me!¡±

    ¡°Me!¡±

    Many gamblers screamed out.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Zhou Yixuan. She didn¡¯t expect a person to be shameless to this point. He had not only abandoned her but had alsoe up with such a way to hurt her! However, her heart was dead and she would not be hurt by him again.

    Xia Yingluoughed.

    Zhao Yixuan was furious and angry. ¡°What are youughing at?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯mughing at you for being so stupid.¡± Since things had gotten to this point, she didn¡¯t want to be polite with him. After saying this, she turned her head and said to all the gamblers in the casino, ¡°Do you want to win me? Fine! But I have a condition. I want to gamble with him personally. If any of you agree, you can do anything you want with me.¡±

    When she said this, many gamblers flinched.

    Let her bet with Zhao Yixuan? Could this be a new type of deception? Who knew if they were actually in cahoots, was it a real argument or a fake one? What if the person not only lost but also lost all their money?

    ¡°I¡¯m not, I¡¯m out! It¡¯s really boring!¡± Someone said, ¡°This kind of trick can only fool the devil!¡±

    Seeing that the crowd was going to scatter, Zhao Yixuan was anxious. ¡°Don¡¯t leave! Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let her take the ce of you, she is just a bet! What she said is not counted!¡±

    ¡°Are you for real?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this scam going a bit too deep?¡±

    ¡°Are you just ying us?¡±

    Many gamblers expressed their doubts. However, many people were still eager to try.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bet ten gray chips!¡±

    ¡°Get lost, you poor guy. I have 30 gray chips!¡±

    ¡°Fifty!¡±

    ¡°I have ten green chips!¡±

    The bids were getting higher and higher. In front of a beauty, the gamblers were all scrambling to be first, and some even asked lecherously, ¡°Mr. Zhao, is this little girl a virgin? There is a huge difference in price between a virgin and a non-virgin, you can¡¯t lie to us.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart burned in rage and she couldn¡¯t wait to find whoever it was who had spoken to burn them to ashes.

    So many people¡¯s eyes lingered on her. It was so disgusting that she wanted to vomit.

    She stood coldly and didn¡¯t talk nor move. She onlymitted to memory each of these pigs in her mind. When she was back to the Li family, she must take revenge on them! Now, she just had to get through this night...

    She didn¡¯t mind bing a bet and being taken away, she would just have to wait till the lecher brings her into a hotel room. With her skills, it would be effortless to knock out the person. At that time, she could then easily change into high-end clothing, and sway out of the hotel room and escape sessfully.

    In fact, she was quite eager to be won soon.

    The gamblers were all vying for the price, and they had already risen to eight blue crystal chips¡ªyou have to know, the lowest priced gray crystal chips were worth ten thousand each, ten gray crystal chips exchanged for a green crystal chip, and ten green crystals were reced by a blue crystal chip. Now, her price had risen to eighty million!

    Zhao Yixuan trembled excitedly. Eighty million! Here, a VIP card was only one million, and he would get eight times the amount he had just paid! When he had originally paid the ten million, he had felt so reluctant. That was his savings for many years! But now he found that this sale was really cost-effective, so hisst piece of guilt towards Xia Yingluo disappeared quickly.

    ¡°This gentleman, pleasee to gamble!¡± He excitedly motioned for the eighty million gambler. ¡°If you win, Xia Yingluo is yours! But if you lose, don¡¯t regret giving me your ten blue crystal chips!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, do I look like a person who would repent?¡± The gambler was a middle-aged bald man. He stepped out from amongst the crowd with a big belly. It was the man who had asked if Xia Yingluo was a virgin. He looked at Xia Yingluo with satisfaction and smiled smugly. ¡°Little beauty, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll open your flowerter!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s smile was cold. ¡°Well, as long as you have the skill.¡±

    If it was someone who was familiar with her, they would know that she was furious now and would soon blow up.

    But the big-bellied gambler didn¡¯t know the danger at all, he justughed and sat down at the gambling table.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Suddenly, someone stopped him.

    The voice was very quiet, like a gentle wind blowing across the snow in. It didn¡¯t ring, but strangely, it could be heard by everyone in the room.

    They turned their heads and saw a young man sitting in a corner not far from the gambling table, wearing a Seiko-stitched shirt, his face half-hidden in the dark light, like a dangerous beat in the dark.

    Xia Yingluo only felt as though her heart had been caught by an invisible giant hand, and her breathing suddenly stagnated.

    She had a keen instinct for danger. This man... was not easy.

    As if aware that her eyes were on him, his gaze also fell onto her. ¡°I want you.¡±

    The short three words made her feel an unfathomable pressure. The overwhelming feeling of suffocation washed over her and she had to try her best to control it so that she wouldn¡¯t walk backward.

    She didn¡¯t know what happened to her?

    This terrible feeling... It was as though she was at an abyss and walking on thin ice. She had only felt this from her uncle Xia Moyan, but uncle was the world¡¯s greatest Preceptor. What about the man in front? Who was he?

 Chapter 1161 - Supreme Black Gold Chip

    <h4>Chapter 1161: Supreme ck Gold Chip</h4>

    How could he beparable with her uncle?

    An illusion... it must be an illusion.

    Xia Yingluo forced herself to calm down. She raised her head and steadily met his eyes.

    The young man¡¯s beautifully shaped thin lips curled slightly upwards, as if pulling aughing arc, but it looked even more chilly and cold in her eyes. He turned his eyes slightly and looked at Zhao Yixuan on the side. ¡°I¡¯ll bet with you.¡±

    The cold and maic voice made Zhao Yixuan swallow his saliva.

    This man eluded a scary feeling that made people¡¯s scalp numb, and it wasn¡¯t only Xia Yingluo that felt that.

    Zhao Yixuan did not dare to refuse him and stuttered. ¡°Okay... Okay.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°It¡¯s not okay!¡± She reached out and pointed to the middle-aged man who was full of fat. ¡°Zhao Yixuan, you have promised to gamble with this person. You can¡¯t go back on your words!¡± Although she didn¡¯t know what the mysterious man in the dark did, his parents and brothers had warned her before that it was best to avoid unpredictable things. Obviously, when they got to the hotel room, it would be much easier to deal with the middle-aged big-bellied man than with the dangerous unfathomable man.

    The man sitting in the darkughed again, or it was more a kind of arc simr toughter, but the feeling it gave others was scarier than when he didn¡¯tugh. He stared at Xia Yingluo as though he were calcting something interesting.

    All of Xia Yingluo¡¯s body hair stood. She put on a bold face and said, ¡°Sir, you have to follow the order of arrival.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Order of arrival?¡± He didn¡¯t say much, but his voice was still like a breeze blowing through the snowy ice in.

    Xia Yingluo had yet to speak when the middle-aged man on the side couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. He wiped the oily sweat on his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m not gambling, I¡¯m not gambling! This gentleman, do as you wish, do as you wish.¡± While talking, heughed, gathered his chips and retreated into the crowd. What a joke. Even though he was facing a beauty, he still wanted his life. The man was obviously a sly character, and he didn¡¯t want to offend him.

    The voice of the man was light and breezy. ¡°Who else wants to gamble?¡±

    His line of sight swept past all the surrounding gamblers, and everyone who met his eyes took a few unconscious steps back and lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes. The dangerous atmosphere he exuded was too strong, so strong that everyone felt in danger and didn¡¯t dare to speak.

    The man was satisfied. Then, he looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Now you can only gamble with me.¡±

    ¡°You are despicable!¡± Xia Yingluo was angry. Who was this, he really thought she was easy to bully?

    ¡°Fine!¡± Anyway, she was already in such a state and would lose out either way, so she might as well bet with him. Who knows, there might even be a way out. She arrogantly lifted her chin, her delicate little face full of provocation. ¡°Do you want me? Then let¡¯s see if you have the ability! I¡¯ll gamble with you personally, do you dare?¡±

    Her gambling skills had been passed down from generation to generation.

    One year she had been dragged out by her second brother Li Rui, and the two had gambled around the world¡¯s big and small casinos. Every family had begged them to leave in tears as if sending off Bodhisattva and had begged them not to stay there sucking their wealth dry.

    Recalling the past, her heart was a little more emboldened, and her eyes lit up brighter.

    The man said, ¡°You? Sure.¡±

    He didn¡¯t seem to care much about who he was betting with. He had a slender hand on the expensive sofa chair and a hand ying with something. At this time, he opened his hand and everyone could see clearly what was inside: a chip. ¡°I¡¯ll gamble with you with this. If you win, it¡¯s yours.¡± He said casually, ¡°But you¡¯re not worth all that money, let the two people bet their chips too.¡±

    The chips in his hand were all ck, like a starry sky, speckled with a little bit of gold.

    A person who knew the goods eximed, ¡°Supreme ck Gold! This is the Supreme ck Gold chip!¡±

    The chips in the casino were divided into several categories, and the most upscale was the Supreme ck Gold. It was said that there were only three in the whole casino. Not to mention owning them, even those who were qualified to see it were few.

    Many people had been betting here for several years and had never even seen it once.

    The Supreme ck Gold chip had a demon-like luster in the hands of the mysterious man, and looked fascinating under the lights. The man yed with it as if ying with an inconspicuous marble. He said to the two people behind Xia Yingluo, ¡°One billion, are you betting or not?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s eyes were nk. He didn¡¯t expect such a good thing to happen to him.

    The sum of his and Pei Yan¡¯s chips amounted to only a few tens of thousands. If they won, they could earn a huge profit!

    Pei Yan also had the same thought. This was equivalent to earning from nothing, and they would be stupid not to do it! Furthermore, Xia Yingluo wouldn¡¯t dare lose on purpose. If they lost, they would only lose money, but she would lose her own body.

    The two looked at each other and Zhou Yixuan said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll bet!¡±

    He turned his head and warned Xia Yingluo fiercely. ¡°Bet well. If you lose, who knows if he¡¯ll cut you up and sell your organs, or ship you off to some dark ce! You can¡¯t y tricks!¡± Worried that Xia Yingluo would deliberately lose and afraid that her losing her body wasn¡¯t enough to scare her, he decided to scare her first.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. For a moment, she really wanted to deliberately lose, so that she could see the tearful expressions on Zhou Yixuan¡¯s and Pei Yan¡¯s faces. However, were they worthy? She was the only bigdy of the Li family. Her little finger was more expensive than the two of their lives, and she didn¡¯t want to doom herself out of anger towards them.

    Ignoring the two of them, she looked directly into the eyes of the mysterious man. ¡°What are we ying?¡±

    The man said, ¡°You choose.¡±

    It was a confident expression.

    Xia Yingluo felt determined inside. She must win him and let him pay for his own arrogance and shamelessness! ¡°Then we¡¯ll y big or small, it¡¯s the easiest.¡± She had a sly smile on her face and decided to y her signature game.

    The man had no opinion. Sitting in the shadow of the dark light, he made a ¡°please¡± gesture to her.

    The gamblers around had long since made space, and the gambling table had been cleaned up by the dealers, leaving only one bowl and three dices.

    Xia Yingluo put the dice in her palms and turned it around. No problem, she casually threw it into the bowl and it spun. Her technique was adept, like moving clouds and flowing water, making it delightful to people¡¯s eyes, and they watched as her white delicate hand danced elegantly like a butterfly under the lights.

    Many gamblers revealed surprised expressions. They couldn¡¯t tell that this girl was actually a master?

    Xia Yingluo did not look into her bowl from beginning to end. She looking straight at the man, showing a cold and provocative smile. Shaking the dice was a game she had yed since young, and she was more than familiar with it. Even with her eyes closed, she could shake out three sixes.

 Chapter 1162 - Winner

    <h4>Chapter 1162: Winner</h4>

    That was the biggest point, how was this man going to win?

    ¡°Pa¡±, she mmed her bowl on the table and the die settled.

    When she opened it, everyone was amazed. ¡°Not bad, there are actually two sixes and one five.¡±

    What?! Two sixes one five?!

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression was strange. She had shaken so many dies before and had never lost her hand, how could she lose her hand for the first time at such an important juncture? ¡°These dies... have a problem,¡± she said.

    The dealer looked at her politely. ¡°Miss, it has been personally checked by you. You know best if there¡¯s any problem. Looking at your technique, you should know that getting three sixes is a difficult thing, right? Don¡¯t be too greedy.¡±

    Xia Yingluo still shook her head. Maybe it was difficult to obtain for other people, but for her, it was really obtainable every shake! Her technique was amazing and furthermore, uncle had said that since she was a daughter of the Phoenix, so she had been blessed since she was born and could obtain whatever she wanted more easily than others. When this kind of entitlement was reflected in the casino, she could really sweep everything...

    Why did she make a mistake today?

    She stared at the bowl, wanting to tear it apart to investigate, but she knew in her heart that the broker was right. She had checked it personally just now, and with her sharp eyes, she hadn¡¯t seen any problem. These dies were all clean!

    Her face was slightly white and she looked like she had seen a ghost.

    An old gambler next to herforted her. ¡°Little beauty, it¡¯s fine, you have already got a lot of points that other people can rarely even get. Unless the other party can shake out three sixes, you will win!¡±

    Xia Yingluo took a deep breath and could onlyfort herself too.

    It wouldn¡¯t be toote to think about what had happened to her techniqueter, but it was more imperative to see what the mysterious man in front could shake out.

    She looked up and said as if nothing had happened, ¡°Your turn.¡±

    The mysterious man stood up from the dark sofa and walked towards the gambling table step by step. His pace was elegant and self-contained, his slender figure twisted and distorted by the dark lights. It created an illusion, like a top predator approaching his prey step by step. In the corner, a dozing Persian cat shrouded in his shadow suddenly woke up. ¡°Meow¡±, its hairs stood on end, and it ran away hurriedly.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s breathing was also a little tight. She didn¡¯t know where this man came from, but he was really scary.

    Could she really escape from his hands?

    At this moment, she suddenly became uncertain.

    The mysterious man¡¯s gaze was locked on her as if observing her uneasiness. The corners of his lips curled into a smile, but the smile hid countless cruelty in it, making people shudder.

    He walked to the table, his bony fingers grabbing the bowl.

    He shook twice casually and threw it onto the table.

    Everyone could not help but take in a sharp breath of air¡ªit turned out to be the perfect three sixes!

    Xia Yingluo also took a breath of air, how was it possible?

    How could it be such a coincidence? Just when she lost her hand for the first time in a thousand years, her opponent opened a perfect number!

    She looked up at him. ¡°You cheated!¡±

    He did not speak, just looked at her, the smile on his lips intriguing.

    The dealer on the side said loudly, ¡°Miss, don¡¯t try to push me. This gentleman did not cheat, I can see clearly.¡±

    Other old gamblers also said, ¡°Little beauty, you have to have evidence to say someone cheated. We were all staring at him and can only say that this gentleman was lucky and fortunately won over you. You should just sumb to your fate.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very angry. It wasn¡¯t them that had lost, so of course, they could talk about losing like it was nothing.

    But the situation¡¯s authority was stronger than the words of a person. Even if she suspected that he had cheated, there was no evidence, and she couldn¡¯t leave from the guarded casino.

    For the sake of the present, she would have to take each step and decide.

    The only thing that was gratifying was that since she had lost, the pair of dogs Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan had lost as well. She turned her head and deliberately smiled at them. ¡°You two should sumb to your fate too and hand over all your chips.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression was dark. It was Pei Yan who had suggesteding out to y, but to attract this hard-to-get richdy, the majority of the chips here had been from him and he had even sold two suite rooms for this! This round had cost him to lose almost all his fortune! The muscles on his face twitched painfully and he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Wait!¡±

    ¡°What else do you want to say?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled very freely. Hadn¡¯t he wanted to plot against her? Now, he had dragged his own feet in!

    Zhao Yixuan broke out in cold sweat. He saw the dealer put all the chips on the table in front of the man and desperately wanted to snatch them all back. However, he saw the people around taking joy in cmity and carrying contemptuous eyes, so he knew he could not. If he really rushed forward to snatch the chips, he would really lose his face! He was afraid that even Pei Yan would feel too shameful and would break up with him!

    He managed to control himself, and he said with a trembling voice, ¡°Xia Yingluo, good for you, very good!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stillughing. ¡°I am very good. Better than you think, Zhao Yixuan. One day you wille to me, asking me to forgive you for everything you have done today, do you believe me? By then, you will realize you¡¯re not even worthy to lick my shoes.¡±

    She turned towards the mysterious man. ¡°You want me? Let¡¯s go to a hotel room.¡±

    The man looked at her with a smile and took her.

    ¡°Wait, Sir!¡± the dealer hurriedly called, ¡°Your chips!¡± All the chips he had won, along with the mysterious shining Supreme ck Gold chips, were ced on the table, like a small pile of treasures.

    The man did not return, and only said with a voice spread thin like ice, ¡°Use it to treat everyone to drinks.¡±

    He left.

    Leaving a bunch of stunned people deeply shocked by his big hand.

    Xia Yingluo, who left with him, was also shocked. She secretly wondered what identity the man had. In her impression, in addition to her own defeated mother, there was really no one who could easily throw away a billion just because he waszy to take it.

    His identity... It couldn¡¯t be above her, right? She was shocked by her own thoughts. How was it possible? There were only a handful of families in the world who couldpete with the Li family, but she had never heard of this person?

    While thinking this, she was led into the hotel room. It was an extremely luxurious presidential suite, the best room in the entire casino.

    The one-way floor-to-ceiling windows on the three walls offered a panoramic view of the entire casino. In the middle was arge bed covered with burgundy silk satin and on the side a table with red wine and champagne and some sex toys that made her blush heavily.

 Chapter 1163 - You Need a Lesson

    <h4>Chapter 1163: You Need a Lesson</h4>

    The man pulled the belt around his waist and threw it on the bed, watching Xia Yingluo. ¡°Do you want to take it off yourself, or should I help you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little panicked. In her n, this time she should have already hit him unconscious while he was unprepared, but in the face of such a dangerous and certain man, she was not confident for the first time in her life. ¡°I...¡± Sheughed dryly, trying to drag the time with small talk. ¡°I haven¡¯t asked your name yet?¡±

    The man looked at her yfully. ¡°Do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°I, I have to know who I am doing it with for the first time.¡± She raised her small face, which was obviously pure, but the words that emerged made people want to vomit blood. She was the greatdy of the Li family, and was not as innocent as she looked. Although some things she had not experienced personally before, she had heard and seen a lot and had grown some wisdom to these things.

    The man whispered something.

    Xia Yingluo felt dizzy as if everything around her had be blurred, and even his voice was not clear. Vaguely, she only felt that he had made a very strange sound that was unlike the humannguage. On the contrary, it was like a resonant low-pitched sound simr to unknown creatures gathering together.

    She was suspicious that she had heard wrongly.

    It was hard to stop the dizziness, and she heard him ask her, ¡°Do you remember it?¡±

    She was a little embarrassed and said carefully, ¡°I, I just felt very dizzy... could you say it again?¡±

    He stood under the dim light and looked down at her.

    She discovered that the color of his eyelid was very strange. It was simr to the inorganic texture of some kind of beast, his pupil was cold, without a trace of emotion, making her feel an unknown fear. She breathed shallowly and carefully stepped back.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan,¡± he suddenly said.

    She was shocked and looked at him inexplicably.

    ¡°My name is Wei Lingnan.¡± The man approached her step by step. He pushed her to a corner and leaned over to lift her chin. ¡°Remember it, Xia Yingluo. If you forget it again, I¡¯ll be very angry... very angry.¡±

    His soft tone was like thin ice, and the chill infiltrated into her heart.

    She stared at him with wide eyes, not understanding what he meant by ¡°again¡±. Could it be that she knew him before and had forgotten him? But it was impossible. If such a big and dangerous man who made her shudder had appeared in her life before, she would remember it! He... did he made a mistake? He must be mistaken!

    ¡°Mr. Wei, have you mistaken me for someone?¡± she said cautiously.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s pair of smooth and cold beast-like eyes still looked at her, until her hair stood on end. After a long time, he smirked. ¡°Mistaken? Maybe your body... will remember.¡±

    His soft words were like a whisper, disappearing into the air.

    His cold, slender fingers moved down her cheeks, stopping at her graceful slender neck, then going all the way, holding her slender waist above her clothes, the other hand releasing the button in front of her chest.

    She immediately protected her chest. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Was this person crazy? What did he mean her body might remember? She, Xia Yingluo, had never been touched by any man before and was a clean woman. He must have mistaken her!

    She struggled and her breathing became so fast as she tried to escape from his imprisonment.

    He stopped trying to unbutton her shirt but did not let her go, as if he was a cat who was teasing the mice under its ws. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you¡¯ve lost yourself to me, don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know what happens after you enter the hotel room?¡±

    Her cheeks burned red, and she felt his breath lingering in her ears, her heart beating fast.

    ¡°I, of course I know.¡± She reluctantly calmed herself and said, ¡°I, it¡¯s my first time, so I¡¯m a little nervous... Wei Lingnan, could you be gentler?¡± She plucked up her courage and looked at him pitifully.

    He seems to find it very interesting. ¡°Gentle?¡±

    She was nervous and shivering but pretended it was nothing. She put one hand on his chest and said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    He was undecided and looked at her like that.

    She plucked up her courage and gently touched his body as she had seen in movies before. She felt his body temperature and firm muscles through his thin shirt cloth. It was a very strange touch, like slowly taming a beast under her hand. She was cautious at first but soon became obsessed with this feeling. She hooked her other hand around his neck and looked into his eyes, her breath unstable. ¡°Are you satisfied?¡±

    He still looked at her, his ice-like eyes unpredictable.

    Xia Yingluo slowly wrapped both hands around his neck and made a strangling posture behind his head¡ªher father had once taught her where she could twist the neck and misce a human¡¯s bones so that he would die effortlessly.

    She would be very careful, very careful.

    It wouldn¡¯t kill him, she only wanted to make him lose his mobility.

    Her fingers climbed up to his acupoints, and she was about to use force when suddenly, she was held down by one of his hands.

    ¡°I am a little angry now.¡± Wei Lingnan looked down at her eyes. He gripped her hands, slowly pulling them up and fixing them to the wall above her head. ¡°It seems that you need a little lesson.¡±

    She looked at him in horror. How did this man know what she was going to do?!

    Although the self-defense her father had taught her was no deep mystery, she had hidden her intentions really well and there were not many people in the world who could see through her attempts. This man... was terrifying!

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°I advise you not to y tricks, so you won¡¯t suffer as much.¡±

    With a quick movement, he tore open her clothes! The sturdy blend of long T-shirt was torn open with one hand like a torn cloth. The next second, Xia Yingluo only felt a whirlwind, and when she came back to her senses, she was thrown onto the big luxurious bed in the center of the room. Her bones were almost broken apart by the impact.

    Her hair was messy and she struggled to get up, but she was immediately pinned down by him.

    Xia Yingluo only felt like her thigh bones were going to be crushed by him. She eximed in pain and saw him tearing open the shirt on his body. Xia Yingluo suddenly opened her eyes in horror¡ªunder the ray of the chandelier, his slender body was crisscrossed with various scars. Each was deep and long, twisted and terrible, and it was indistinguishable what attack had caused it.

    Especially his left chest, there was a scar running from the top down, as if tearing open his entire heart.

    It was definitely a miracle that he was still alive!

 Chapter 1164 - His Ah Luo

    <h4>Chapter 1164: His Ah Luo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The shock in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was beyond words, and she stared at him, forgetting that she was pressed against his body. Wei Lingnan noticed her line of sight and smiled coldly. ¡°Do these scars look good?¡±

    Then, despite her resistance, he forcibly held her hand to touch the old scar on his chest.

    The twisted pothole scars rolled under her finger, and it burned as if they were alive. She was so frightened that she wanted to retract her hand, but she couldn¡¯t no matter how hard she tried. She screamed at him, ¡°You perverted crazy man!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± His eyes suddenly sank, and he leaned forward without warning, intruding her body.

    She screamed in pain and her mind was nk. It took her several seconds to reflect what had happened... She, she had been humiliated by him! Pain, fear, shame... lots of feelings were intertwined inside her, and she resisted like crazy, but was brutally suppressed by him. His attack on her was fierce and powerful, as though he were treating an enemy instead of a woman, anxious to destroy everything.

    She cried, swore, and cursed him with all the dirty words she knew.

    But he refused to let go of her, until she was exhausted.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡± She breathed shallowly on the big bed, her naked body covered with blue-green bruises, her vision blurry. With all her strength, she said weakly and hoarsely, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you...¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± His voice was faint, and he watched her coldly as she fell unconscious.

    The room was silent.

    Wei Lingnan sat up from the bed. He took out a cigarette and lit it.

    The smoke ring simmered slowly in the air, he took a few puffs and turned his head to look at the girl beside him. The girl¡¯s petite body was curled up like thin petals, and the bruises on her skin were shocking. Quiet and drowsy, she was like a rag doll that had been damaged by someone, fragile and helpless.

    If only she could be like this forever.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡± Wei Lingnan suddenly stretched out his hand and gently tucked the messy hair on her cheek away, his voice seemingly containing infinite sadness. ¡°You don¡¯t remember me, do you? For years, I was actually... ¡±

    Lonely.

    After a long time, the girl on the bed moved slightly and opened her eyes.

    She smelled the scent of smoke in the air, and saw a man sitting next to the bed with half a cigarette between his fingers. The carpet under the bed had already umted soot, and it was a miracle that it didn¡¯t burn. She coughed and sat up, hugging herself in the wine-red silk satin bedding. Her whole body felt sore, as if she had been run over by a thousand heavy lorries. What happenedst night came back to her mind, and she looked at the man in front of her with hate and disgust and cursed coldly. ¡°Beast.¡±

    Wei Lingnan frowned. ¡°Looks like you haven¡¯t had enough lessonsst night.¡±

    She flinched and stopped talking. Even the most powerful girl would feel hurt and scared in front of this kind of thing, not to mention she had been a young respecteddy that had been treated extremely well. Even in this half-year when she had been out for the trials, she had stayed in the Imperial Entertainment Training Camp every day and had not been hurt. The excruciating pain from the most private part of her body drove her to tears. She finally managed to hold the tears back and got off the bed with much difficulty, pretending that nothing was wrong.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Wei Lingnan asked.

    She resisted the pain and squatted down a little to find her clothes that had been scattered on the ground, not answering him.

    However, before she could reach for the broken T-shirt, it was stepped on.

    She looked up and saw Wei Lingnan staring down at her, twisting a cigarette between his fingers. His voice was cold. ¡°Have I said you could go?¡±

    ¡°What on earth do you want?!¡± She yelled at him in anger. ¡°I already paid off the betst night. I didn¡¯t ask you to settle the bill further and I just treated it as being bitten by a dog, yet you want to go overboard?! Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    ¡°Bitten by a dog?¡± His voice became soft and dangerous, and he knelt down to look at her. ¡°Xia Yingluo... you¡¯re looking for death.¡±

    He reached for her neck and pressed both hands against it, and with a slight push, she fell to the ground unexpectedly. The wine-red silk satin bedding fell from her body, revealing her beautiful, delicate, flower-like body. She struggled, suffocated by him, and used both hands to pull his hand, but his hand was like a bronze cast iron and couldn¡¯t be moved at all.

    Her lips were turning pale, but she still stared weakly and fiercely at him, refusing to show weakness.

    He looked at her re, and the murderous intention in his heart rose sharply. He twirled the cigarette in his right fingers and wanted to burn her eyes with it. If he really did it, she would be a blind woman from now on.

    His hand hung above her eyes.

    ¡°Beg me, and I¡¯ll let you go.¡±

    ¡°You wish.¡± She sneered. It was impossible to say that she wasn¡¯t afraid, but there was a voice deep in her heart that made it impossible for her to drop her self-esteem and beg the man in front of her.

    The cigarette advanced towards her eyes little by little.

    She red at him at first, but then she couldn¡¯t bear the fear in her heart and closed her eyes tightly.

    There was a slight heat on her eyelids, and she knew that the cigarette butt was very close to herself. A little faint red light was looming through her thin eyelids, lingering there as if teasing her.

    He chuckled lowly. ¡°Aren¡¯t you brave?¡±

    Xia Yingluo resisted her fear and tried to exin to him. ¡°What good is it to you to burn me and turn me into a blind girl? Isn¡¯t it good to umte goodwill?¡±

    ¡°umte goodwill?¡± He chuckled lightly. ¡°Do you know, the algorithm on goodwill on Earth is very interesting. As long as I do enough charity and control the harmful things I do to a certain extent... nobody can do anything to me. Unfortunately, my charitable merits are so rich now. Not to mention crippling you, even if I kill you, I still won¡¯t be struck by lightning.¡±

    She shuddered unconsciously. He talked about life as if it were a trivial termite.

    The feeling of fear deepened, biting into her bone marrow. She said, ¡°If something happens to me, someone will take revenge on you.¡±

    He said, ¡°Revenge? No one on this earth has the ability to avenge me.¡±

    She wanted tough at him for being a frog at the bottom of the well, and wanted to ask if he hadn¡¯t heard of the Li family in the ck undergrounds and the hermit Xia family? However, she understood that if this sentence came out, it meant that her identity was exposed and her trial failed, so she would be the firstdy in the family history to fail.

    She thought over it in her mind and still decided to keep her mouth shut.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was low. ¡°Is it that difficult to beg me?¡±

 Chapter 1165 - Iron Cinnabar

    <h4>Chapter 1165: Iron Cinnabar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She simply said, ¡°Hurry up and burn me if that¡¯s what you want, don¡¯t dilly-dally.¡± She had made up her mind. Once the cigarette butt burned her, she would fight with one eye and end his life!

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you begging me?¡± The cigarette butt seemed closer, and so was his voice.

    Xia Yingluo was tense all over, but her voice was cold. ¡°I never begged anyone.¡± She was the daughter of the Phoenix, and would rather die than beg someone. Her pride seemed to be innate, imprinted in her soul and absolutely unchangeable.

    Wei Lingnan stared down at her. ¡°Really...?¡±

    He suddenlyughed. ¡°I can¡¯t bear to burn such beautiful eyes.¡±

    The burning sensation on her eyelids disappeared, and before she could heave a sigh of relief, she suddenly felt a burning pain in her heart, which took her breath away. Opening her eyes, she saw the cigarette butt being twisted between his fingers mercilessly on her left chest, the ce closest to her heart. Like a red soldering iron, it soon left a vulnerable scar.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± She was in pain and angry, so she reached out to push him.

    He grabbed her by the hand and said, ¡°This is interest, Ah Luo.¡±

    What interest? She didn¡¯t understand what he was talking about and just screamed. ¡°Are you crazy! Who is your Ah Luo?¡±

    He smiled and leaned down to kiss her. ¡°Have you forgotten? You pierced my chest with your ws then and almost dug out my heart. You said I could never get you... but now I have you, Ah Luo. I can¡¯t bear to dig out your heart,¡± he said, stroking the cigarette burn on her chest, like a cinnabar mark left on a lover¡¯s heart, ¡°Only then will you remember me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve mistaken me for someone else!¡± Xia Yingluo was going crazy. How could she be so unlucky to have provoked this self-talking crazy man? She knew herself that she had never killed anyone in her life, and even when she had secretly joined her Second Brother in battles, it had just been to watch the crowd, how could she have dug someone¡¯s heart out with a w? Did he think she was a demon?!

    The person in front must be a neuropathy!

    As soon as she thought that she had been given her first time to a crazy man, she wanted to cry...

    The madman was still stroking her. His breathing gradually got heavier and he separated her fair and slender legs, about to assault her again. She was frightened and scolded loudly as she struggled. ¡°You¡¯re crazy! Stop!¡±

    He ignored her and left long and overbearing kisses all over her.

    Xia Yingluo panicked, full of anger and humiliation. The painful memories ofst night came to her mind again. No... she wouldn¡¯t encounter it again!

    It was toote to think, and she desperately searched for something that could use within her sight. She reached out and overturned the wine rack, and the expensive red wine fell down andnded on the two of them.

    The bright red wine flowed on them, and the broken ss on the ground cut through her skin.

    She didn¡¯t care about the pain. She grabbed half of the broken wine bottle and stabbed him severely. He did not escape and was stabbed straight. The sharp ss shards deeply prated into his body and blood flowed instantly, dying half of his body crimson.

    He stopped encroaching on her and met her eyes with his. No emotion was reflected in his cold pupils.

    She was frightened by his appearance and shrank back with her hands and feet, her mind full of incoherent thoughts. Would he die? Taking a closer look at the wound, she saw it was on her shoulder and shouldn¡¯t be life-threatening, so he wouldn¡¯t die, right?

    She was somehow relieved at this thought.

    However, she suddenly wondered if he had lost his mobility? If she ran like this, could she escape? While thinking quickly, she instinctively grabbed a half-broken wine bottle again and looked at him vigntly with a pair of crystal eyes. If he tried anything, she would be ready to hit him fiercely again.

    He looked at her and smiled slowly.

    She was so nervous. ¡°What are youughing at?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯mughing at you...¡± His low maic voice was like a mysterious ice field, and while talking, he pulled out the broken wine bottle that had been deeply inserted into his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re so naive. Did you think you could hurt me?¡±

    Xia YIngluo¡¯s eyes widened in shock¡ª

    She saw the wound on his shoulder pierced by her heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. The flesh rolled, the deep blood caves disappeared within a few seconds, and his muscle essence was as good as ever. If not for his body still being covered with blood traces, she would have suspected she was dreaming.

    Monster...

    He was a monster!

    Such cognition suddenly broke into Xia Yingluo¡¯s brain. No normal person in this world could recover from the wound at such a terrible speed! She was frightened, so she grabbed the burgundy bedding, covered herself, and ran outside, barefooted, nearly tripping several times in the middle. She escaped without looking back.

    The service staff in the hallway looked at her strangely. A naked girl with loose hair running out of a room in a panic was too ridiculous. But she couldn¡¯t care so much, she didn¡¯t know how long she ran, how many people she bumped into, but when she stopped, she found she had entered apartment in the women¡¯s bathroom and was leaning back against the partition, gasping for breath.

    Her surroundings were quiet. It seemed he hadn¡¯te chasing after her.

    Xia Yingluo was shocked senseless. She recalled everything that had just happened and felt as though she was messed up. She even fell into deep self-doubt, did she really stab him just now? Did she really see his wound heal that quickly? Could it be her own dazzle, or an illusion out of panic? How could there be such a person in this world... how could there be such a monster?

    She gasped for a long time before calming herself down.

    <i>No, don¡¯t think about him.</i> She hoped they would never bump into each other ever again in their lives. Everythingst night was regarded as a nightmare.

    Her top priority was to leave the casino and leave all these messy and unreasonable things behind.

    Xia Yingluo took a deep breath. Her hands still shaking, she grabbed the wine red silk satin quilt and tore it apart. She pulled out the inner down and wrapped the outer silk satin carefully on her body, making a homemade long dress.

    She had always loved beautiful things since she was a child, and she had a good taste for fashion. The wine red silk satin was made perfect by her clever hands, and it was not inferior to the new big-name dresses of the season. After dressing herself up, she went out of the cubicle, sorted out her messy long hair in the bathroom mirror, and went out with a pair of thin, white feet.

    The rooms in the casino were built like a maze. She didn¡¯t know how long she had walked until she met a waiter.

    In front of the other person who was looking at her bare feet weirdly, she smiled and said, ¡°I came out in a rush and forgot to wear shoes. Handsome guy, would you help me get a pair of shoes?¡±

 Chapter 1166 - A Good Dog Doesnâ€™t Stand in the Way

    <h4>Chapter 1166: A Good Dog Doesn¡¯t Stand in the Way</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The waitress was enchanted by her beauty and pleasant voice and was a little stunned. He returned to his senses after a few moments and blushed slightly. He said, ¡°Of course, beautifuldy, please wait a moment.¡±

    This casino was veryrge, and not only was the price of VIP cards and chips expensive, but it also meant that the service was excellent. It was not a problem to provide guests with some seasonal small items for free. Xia Yingluo waited for a while, and the waiter hurried back, not only bringing her a pair of red high heels, but also a hook-scarf shawl and a cosmetic bag.

    ¡°You dide out in a hurry,¡± said the waiter, still blushing. He said politely, ¡°I hope these will help you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. She looked down only to find that her naked shoulders and arms were full of red and purple marks, and there were still a few bloody teeth marks, which was enough to let people¡¯s imagination run wild. There was no need to ask to know that it had been done by Wei Lingnan yesterday night.

    She scolded Wei Lingnan¡¯s ancestors in her heart and thanked the waiter awkwardly.

    She re-entered the bathroom to put on makeup and the shawl.

    She had wanted to cover the ugly traces, but unexpectedly, the red and purple bruises were still faintly discernible under the silk floral scrawl on her shoulders. She looked in the mirror in anguish and tried to cover it for a long time, but when she just couldn¡¯t hide it, she simply gave up. She set her heart on it and was ready to face death. Thus, she walked out of the toilet.

    She went all the way downstairs.

    The casino was open 24 hours a day and was lively at any time. When she walked through the crowded hall, lots of attention fell on her¡ªsuch a rare beauty in the city, yet filled with ambiguous bruises on her body. She had a delicate little face but still walked with such arrogance. Her unselfconscious manner aroused several men, and they were subdued by her.

    ¡°Hello, beautifuldy, let me treat you to a ss of wine?¡± A man stepped forward to chat.

    Xia Yingluo had followed her Second Brother to the night scenes since young and had dealt with scenes like this numerous times. She smiled gently and seemed to inadvertently remove the man¡¯s hand on her shoulder, but she secretly put force and did an iron-like twist that almost dislocated the man¡¯s shoulder.

    The man¡¯s face was white with pain. He broke out in cold sweat and couldn¡¯t help but yelp in pain.

    Xia Yingluo let go of him and said with a hint of arrogance, ¡°I don¡¯t drink with rubbish.¡±

    Her voice was clear and calm, and many nearby heard it. Those gamblers who had wanted to advance on her couldn¡¯t help but dispel the thought. A rose, while beautiful, was prickly. If they couldn¡¯t take her and yet ended up in a sad state, it would truly throw their face.

    Xia Yingluo saw their interest. She sneered softly and passed through the crowd elegantly like a swimming fish.

    She was almost at the exit when she was stopped. She looked up and saw her enemies¡ªZhao Yixuan and Pei Yan.

    ¡°Good dogs don¡¯t stand in the way,¡± she said coldly. She had lived for more than ten years in her life, and besides the frightful Wei Lingnan, she hated the pair of dogs in front of her now. If it hadn¡¯t been for them, how could she have somehow lost to Wei Lingnan and suffered so much humiliation? This feud was simply irreconcble, and one day, she would pay it back double.

    Pei Yan held Zhao Yixuan with one hand, the two looking very intimate. Her eyes could not help but linger on Xia Yingluo and she sneered haughtily. ¡°It seems that Miss Xia had a good timest night? Your whole body is full of bruises... tsk tsk.¡±

    Thanks to Xia Yingluo, she and Zhao Yixuan had lost all their chipsst night. How could they forget it?

    She couldn¡¯t help but ridicule her at the sight of Xia Yingluo¡¯s fragility.

    Xia Yingluo was furious, but she didn¡¯t want to satisfy Pei Yan, so she sneered back and said sarcastically, ¡°Miss Pei, why don¡¯t you take care of your own business first? You lost all your money yesterday night, so why are you still hogging in the casino? Are you waiting for the casino to give you leftovers or you¡¯ve lost too much and you can¡¯t wait to regain it back? What a pity, don¡¯t you know the phrase ten bets nine losses? Furthermore, you¡¯ve offended me. The people who have offended me are always unlucky.¡± She wasn¡¯t deceiving them, those who offended the Phoenix bloodline were always doomed to bad luck.

    But these two people just didn¡¯t know what was good for them. They had to immediately gamble their luck after offending her.

    Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression turned sour.

    She was right.

    Last night, the amount that Zhao Yixuan had lost was almost all the property that he had saved up for all these years. He was not reconciled and borrowed money from Pei Yan, wanting to earn it all back. And, although Pei Yan had not bet as much as Zhao Yixuan, she still lost a lot of money that couldn¡¯t be ignored. Thus, she simply transferred arge amount of money from her ount and bought lots of chips, wanting to make aeback. They gambled for the whole night and continued losing, and all their remaining chips had been lost.

    Zhao Yixuan wanted to cry but had no tears. At this time, he was not only bankrupt but was in lots of debt as well. He had never been so annoyed in his whole life.

    And all this was Xia Yingluo¡¯s fault!

    Zhao Yixuan felt anger rising in him as he thought of this, so he purposely mocked Xia Yingluo too. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be such a woman, so shameless and fickle. It seems any man can sleep with you, are you shameless?¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not expect such words toe out from his mouth and felt pain in her heart.

    Shouldn¡¯t he know more than anyone else that she had run all the way here alone for him?

    He was the one who had broken up with her and flung her into the fire pit of selling her body, but in the end, he still dared to put on a dignified face and criticize her for being fickle?

    She simply wanted tough, the sadness and absurdity in her heart were mixed together, and she couldn¡¯t tell what feeling it was. The only clear thing was that she would never feel anything for this man anymore. This man made her sick.

    ¡°Get away,¡± she said. ¡°Trash is not worth talking to me.¡±

    ¡°Who are you scolding!¡± Zhao Yixuan was furious.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying you¡¯re rubbish.¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t back down and red directly into his eye.

    ¡°You! You... you are good.¡± Zhao Yixuan was scolded in front of so many people, and his voice trembled with anger. ¡°Xia Yingluo, look at your current state, what are you! What¡¯s the difference between you and a wild prostitute? Anyone can sleep with you casually as long as they have money, as easily as going to a public toilet! Who are you to put on airs!¡±

    His anger was real and distressful.

    She looked so beautiful as if she had changed from a pure and tender little girl into a woman with a scent of roses overnight. He was jealous of the man who had won herst night. At the thought of her willingness and joy underneath the man, he was so resentful it felt as if a fire was burning in his heart¡ªhow could she let other men touch her, how dare she?!

 Chapter 1167 - 10 Billion Yuan to Get Them Out

    <h4>Chapter 1167: 10 Billion Yuan to Get Them Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Why was he not the one to take her virginity?

    In the heat of anger, Zhao Yixuan forgot that he was the one who pushed her to others. He only remembered his hate for her, hate for her sluttiness!

    His words got even uglier. Suddenly, he heard a loud ¡°bam¡± and felt his face stinging. He had been pped.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him coldly and slowly shook her hand that she¡¯d hit him with. She said coldly, ¡°One more insult from you, I¡¯ll p you so hard your teeth will fall out.¡± She exuded beauty even in violence, like a cruel witch stretching her ws.

    The gamblers nearby were all stunned, by her beauty and her cruelty.

    Zhao Yixuan was so scared he did not dare to utter a word. He knew how much force went into that p. He could taste blood in his mouth and he felt two of his teeth loosening... No doubt, if Xia Yingluo pped him again, his teeth really would fall out.

    This girl, when did she have so much power?

    Pei Yan, who was standing by the side, was also shocked. She looked at Xia Yingluo as if she was a freak.

    She did not expect a poor student from the training camp to have the balls to challenge thepany¡¯s top manager as well as the Miss of thepany. Was she out of her mind?

    The entire ce went silent from the p.

    Xia Yingluo lifted her chin proudly. She looked strong, but deep down, she wanted to cry.

    Since her birth, this was the first time she was insulted as a prostitute and a public toilet. This was a too huge an embarrassment for her to take. Zhao Yixuan¡¯s words were daggers to her heart. Even though he stopped, she knew that he, Pei Yan and the rest of the gamblers thought of her as a prostitute that anyone could sleep with.

    Tears welled up in her eyes. However, beneath her makeup, no one could see it.

    ¡°It seems to be very lively here?¡± A man¡¯s voice could be heard.

    Xia Yingluo felt a chill down her spine as she turned around¡ªit was him, Wei Lingnan!

    He walked down from the second floor, giving off a mysterious and dangerous vibe. The crowd automatically made way for him as he walked through them.

    He came to Xia Yingluo and held her by her waist. Lovingly, he asked, ¡°Why did youe out by yourself?¡±

    Her waist tightened. She recalled how she had stabbed him with the broken ss bottle, and how his wound had recovered instantly. She was shocked¡ªwho was this monster?

    Noticing her nervousness, he chuckled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so agitated to see me.¡±

    He turned around to Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan. ¡°The two of you disturbed my woman. This is causing me to have a bad mood, so get out.¡± He said this calmly, as if it was a usual thing for him.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him perplexed. What did he mean by his woman?

    She did not want to be rted to him!

    Seeing that he wasn¡¯t in a good mood, she chose to keep silent.

    Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan were unhappy with his statement. Even though they could sense that this man was dangerous, they had to take a stand for themselves after being humiliated time and again. Mustering up the courage, Pei Yan said, ¡°Mister, you are being too arrogant. This casino is free for anyone to be in. What right do you have to tell us to get out?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her calmly, like a predator looking at its prey. Pei Yan felt uneasy under his gaze.

    Suddenly, heughed out loud and called over the attendant nearby. ¡°Get them to leave.¡±

    The attendant could see that this was the Mr. Wei who threw out a Supreme ck Gold chip at the gambling table so casually. He knew not to offend this man, but still had to say, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mr. Wei, under our casino¡¯s rules, we can¡¯t kick our customers out.¡±

    Pei Yan saw that she had the backing of the casino and smirked. ¡°You hear that?¡±

    Wei Lingnan smirked as well. ¡°Oh, is it?¡±

    He took out another Supreme ck Gold chip and said to the attendant, ¡°Is this enough to get them out?¡±

    The attendant was stunned. No way! There were only three Supreme ck Gold chips in their casino, and one had to have both the riches and status to own it. Having one already meant that he was a big shot. Who was this Mr. Wei, how did he own two of them?!

    Wei Lingnan added, ¡°It¡¯s for everyone to have a drink too.¡±

    The attendant was even more surprised. He was treating them to drinks with it?!

    Each of these chips was worth 10 billion yuan¡ªincluding the one yesterday, he just threw 20 billion yuan away!

    The attendant was afraid he heard wrong and asked, stuttering, ¡°F-for everyone¡¯s drinks?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Now, can I have these two scraps thrown out?¡± Wei Lingnan smiled.

    ¡°Sure, no problem!¡± The attendant said hurriedly. The casino did have rules not to chase away its customers. However, it could be changed as long as a high enough stake was involved. And what was a high enough stake? To appease a big shot like Wei Lingnan, and the 20 billion yuan, that was a high stake! The attendant came up towards Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan. Firmly and politely, he asked, ¡°The two of you, I¡¯m sorry, but please.¡±

    ¡°You are not going by the rules!¡± Pei Yan screamed in protest.

    ¡°Rules can be bent.¡± The attendant said politely, ¡°Please don¡¯t make this difficult. If you still refuse to leave, I¡¯ll have to call the security.¡±

    They were on the losing end. No matter how unhappy they were, they had to leave.

    Leaving by themselves would be better than being dragged out by security.

    Behind them, they could hear Wei Lingnan¡¯s satisfied voice, ¡°Well done, have this too, donate it to charity under Xia Yingluo¡¯s name.¡± They turned around to see Wei Lingnan handing another Supreme ck Gold chip to the attendant.

    Three!

    He held three Supreme ck Gold chips!

    That meant that all of the casino¡¯s Supreme ck Gold chips were with him!

    Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan were so stunned they forgot to move. Everyone, including the other gamblers, was stunned as well. Who was this man? How did he gather all three of the casino¡¯s Supreme ck Gold chips?

    Xia Yingluo was shocked, but at something else. ¡°You want to donate 10 billion yuan in my name?¡±

    ¡°Yes, for karma,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

 Chapter 1168 - A Confusing Dream

    <h4>Chapter 1168: A Confusing Dream</h4>

    Xia Yingluo recalled what had happened earlier in the room when she advised him to gather more good karma for himself. Was he mocking her now?

    She said a little stiffly, ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡±

    ¡°No, you do,¡± he said.

    She was fuming. ¡°So you know what I need, huh? What I need is¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll send you back.¡± He smiled as he cut her off mid-sentence.

    She was a little stunned. Upon following his gaze, she saw that he was looking at Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan, who had turned around and was looking at them, puzzled. That was when she understood what was going on¡ªwell, how could this ephemeral lover that she met by chance donate this huge sum just for the sake of her karma?

    Seeing their looks of disbelief, she felt like frustrating them further.

    She smiled haughtily and stopped trying to reject Wei Lingnan. She simply said, ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s just donate it. It¡¯s always good to gather some good karma, unlike some people who¡¯ve used up all their ancestors¡¯, and can only be reincarnated into a beast!¡±

    Her words were vile, and Pei Yan could not take it lying down. ¡°Who are you insulting!¡±

    ¡°Whichever beast responds to me!¡± Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t the least bit afraid of her.

    ¡°Fine... you¡¯re good!¡± Pei Yan pointed at her with a shaking finger. ¡°Xia Lingluo, you¡¯re just a poor trainee at my family¡¯s training camp, how smug can you get? Believe it or not, I¡¯ll chase you out and make you sleep on the streets!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about where I sleep.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Worry about yourself first. You¡¯re a Pei family Miss, and you¡¯ve just been chased out of here after losing all your money, hahaha. If word gets out, what would your brother and uncle think of you as an embarrassment?¡± It was important for Misses of the high society to keep a good reputation. Evidently, Pei Yan had majorly embarrassed herself this time.

    Pei Yan was so mad she couldn¡¯t say another word. She red at her with bloodshot eyes.

    Wei Lingnan was getting annoyed. He swept a nce towards the attendant. ¡°Why are those misceneous things still around?¡±

    Afraid of offending this big shot with three ck gold chips, the attendant hurriedly got the security officers over to chase them out. Poor Pei Yan, a Miss of the reputable Pei family, and Zhao Yixuan, a renowned manager in this field¡ªthey were chased away under the disdainful gazes of everyone else.

    Only then did Xia Yingluo feel more appeased. Then again, the man beside her was still annoying, why wouldn¡¯t he leave?

    As if reading her mind, Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°You just epted 20 billion yuan of mine, are you thinking of cutting all ties with me right now?¡±

    Xia Yingluo scoffed. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®epting 20 billion yuan of yours¡¯? 10 billion yuan went to the casino as a reward, and the other 10 billion yuan was donated to a charity organization at your own will. I didn¡¯t take a single cent from you, don¡¯t put it on me.¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled, not bothering to argue with her about the specifics. ¡°I¡¯ll send you back.¡±

    His arm was still casually wrapped around her waist. With only the thin fabric of her dress between them, he could feel how tense she was and figured that she was terrified of him. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so afraid of me.¡±

    She said, ¡°Who¡¯s afraid of you?¡±

    She lifted her chin, looked right past him and strode towards the door.

    Wei Lingnan watched her from the back and his expression darkened a little. He caught up from behind without saying a thing.

    Only when he left was the nket of repression finally lifted in the casino. All the other gamblers heaved a sigh of relief, while some even pat themselves on the chest. ¡°What a scare... who exactly is this man? I¡¯ve never seen someone so intimidating in my life.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. That girl¡¯s so pretty, who knows if it¡¯s a blessing or a curse that she ended up in his hands.¡±

    ¡°Huh? How could it be a curse? If someone was willing to donate 10 billion yuan for me, I¡¯d change my gender right now!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha forget it, Old Liu. No one would want you even if you changed your gender!¡±

    The group of people began chatting cheerily as they started a new round.

    Xia Yingluo walked out the door and saw a jet ck sports car parked right outside. She couldn¡¯t figure out the brand, but it seemed like a modified model. It felt almost like a sci-fi invention, mechanical, sleek and yet elegant. It was one of a kind.

    ¡°Like it?¡± The man behind her asked.

    ¡°Your car?¡± She turned around.

    He didn¡¯t respond, but his expression said it all.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± She was in awe on the inside but wasn¡¯t willing to show him how much it amazed her. The hurt from the previous night had not dissipated and she was still sore all over. If she could kill him, she would, without hesitation.

    The bellboy had opened the car door for them.

    Xia Yingluo weighed her chances of escape before getting into the passenger seat with resignation.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips curled into a smile as he got into the driver¡¯s seat.

    He started the car and drove her to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp.

    Xia Yingluo looked out the window. ¡°How do you know where I live?¡±

    Wei Lingnan kept his eyes on the road. ¡°Isn¡¯t it easy to check that out?¡±

    ¡°Huh, is it.¡± Xia Yingluo scoffed as she thought about how he¡¯d probably be begging her for mercy if she didn¡¯t have to hide her identity during this period. She entertained herself with imagined scenes of Wei Lingnan kneeling before her and crying for forgiveness, but found it boring after a while. With the steady murmur from the car, she began to feel a little drowsy.

    Eventually, she really did fall asleep.

    And even had a strange dream.

    In her dream, she was running for her life amidst a foggy darkness...

    And somehow, there was no way out of it.

    She woke up with a cry, only to realize that the car had already been parked outside the Imperial training camp. Wei Lingnan¡¯s slender fingers were still on the steering wheel as he looked at her. ¡°Had a nightmare?¡±

    Her face was pale and she was shivering ever so slightly. But still, she had to put on a false front. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t be bothered to bicker with her. ¡°What did you dream about?¡±

    She went quiet in that instant. What did she dream about?

    She had no idea, either. She¡¯d been having the same dream ever since she was a child¡ªrunning amidst a foggy darkness as if something was chasing her from behind. And yet, she never really knew what was in the fog; all she knew was that she was always gripped with fear, so much so that every cell would be screaming in terror. She curled up slightly.

    She felt warm and fuzzy all of a sudden. Wei Lingnan had pulled her into his arms and was kissing her earlobe while tempting her. ¡°Tell me about it.¡±

 Chapter 1169 - Roommate Jin Lingâ€™er

    Chapter 1169: Roommate Jin Ling¡¯er

    His embrace was firm andforting, and she felt a little less afraid. After a long while, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡±

    When she had this dream as a child, she¡¯d always go crying to Mom. Mom had always been worried for her but had no idea how to help, and had taken her to Uncle and Grandpa a few times, but they couldn¡¯t do anything about it either. Once, she had overheard Uncle tell Mom, Xiao Ling, this is Yingluo¡¯s destiny. Her life might be ratherplicated and she¡¯ll have to go through some unfathomable events.

    Mom had said, I want to protect her.

    But Uncle had sighed instead. There is too much that is out of our control.

    She hadn¡¯t understood what they were talking about, but ever since then, she¡¯d stopped bringing up the dream to Mom for fear that she¡¯d get too worried. When Mom asked about it asionally, she¡¯d just say, ¡°What dream? I don¡¯t remember it anymore.¡±

    Hence, that simple-minded mother of hers had believed her words just like that, thinking that she¡¯d outgrown it.

    Only she knew that this nightmare had been disturbing her all this time. So many nights had been spent running away, and she didn¡¯t even know what from.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lusty voice was heard again. ¡°You don¡¯t know? How could you possibly not know?¡±

    She was even more confused now. Should she know? What should she know? She looked up at the man before her, whose eyes seemed like the universe.

    Who was this man?

    Why was he using such a tone to get a secret out of her?

    Out of the blue, a thought shed through her head, so quickly that she couldn¡¯t capture it in time.

    She recalled this man¡¯s strange characteristics¡ªthe intersecting scars and terrifyingly fast recovery rate¡ªand felt a chill that ran through her veins. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are,¡± she said guardedly. ¡°Stay away from me, I don¡¯t wish to see you again.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled and kissed her on the lips, savoring every moment of it.

    Shocked, she tried to push him away as hard as she could, but he just wouldn¡¯t budge.

    His weight pressed on her, his torrential desires robbing her of her young sweetness. Only after he¡¯d had enough of the kiss did he let go of her, who¡¯d been struggling in his embrace and panting hard. ¡°You¡¯re mine,¡± he said. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you¡¯ll be mine only. As long as I want to¡ª¡± he shed a devilish smile as he scanned the red marks he¡¯d left on her, ¡°I¡¯ll look for you anytime.¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± She said fiercely and yet pathetically. She hurriedly opened the car door and wriggled out of the car, not even bothering about the shawl that had slipped off her shoulders. It was as if she¡¯d just escaped from hell as she ran towards the training camp.

    Meanwhile, he sat in the car, silently watching her.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡± He uttered wistfully.

    Xia Yingluo ran without turning back at all as thendscape of the training camp fell behind her.

    She felt as if she¡¯d run straight into that nightmare, where she was now surrounded by thick fog, in whichy a treacherous creature observing her.

    Her heart pounded rapidly. She¡¯d run past countless teachers and ssmates but hadn¡¯t stopped at all. Under their confused gaze, she ran straight for her dorm, before finally stopping and panting for air.

    She looked up at herself in the full-length mirror.

    She was in a wine-red dress that showed off her perfect figure, and her fair skin was nted with red and purple marks that spoke of sensuality. Her hair was messy and her lipstick had been smudged by the violent kiss previously. She looked pathetic, and like she¡¯d just escaped from somewhere.

    Was it not an escape?

    She mocked herself. Everything from the time she stepped into the room the previous night felt like a dream. So much had changed in just one night¡ªshe was no longer the simple and carefree girl anymore, she was now someone who¡¯d been betrayed, hurt, and who¡¯d lost her virginity to a mysterious and terrifying stranger. Who was she now?

    Sheughed bitterly as she thought of these.

    Her body hurt so bad she could barely stand.

    She recalled the times at home. Second Brother Li Rui loved being involved in such activity and she always wondered how interesting things were. Never would she have expected it to be filled with pain.

    She frowned and bent over in pain, letting out a painful moan.

    The door opened and a girl walked in. The girl was shocked to see her in this state. ¡°Yingluo?! You¡¯re back? How did you end up like this?!¡± She hurriedly went over to help her to the bed.

    ¡°What exactly happened to you?¡± The girl asked, ¡°When they checked our roomsst night and found that you weren¡¯t in, they almost flipped the entire camp outside down to look for you. And today you actuallye back looking like this? Someone said that she saw you running in like a mistress, and I didn¡¯t believe her, but now I think that¡¯s an understatement!¡±

    The girl was Jin Ling¡¯er. She had short titanium-colored hair in a fashionable cut and didn¡¯t dress up very much even though she looked ordinary.

    She and Xia Yingluo shared a dorm and were close to each other, and they didn¡¯t hide things from each other or beat about the bush.

    Xia Yingluo was sweating from the pain but still snapped back at her. ¡°You¡¯re the mistress, your whole family...¡± She couldn¡¯t even finish her sentence. It hurt so much, Wei Lingnan must¡¯ve meant for it to be this tormenting for her.

    Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t be bothered to bicker with her any longer. She looked at her worriedly and said, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    She got up and poured a ss of warm water for her.

    Xia Yingluo sipped some hot water and settled down. She leaned against the bed frame exhaustedly and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°I¡¯m dying. Remember to get me buried, I want a gravestone that says ¡®Zhao Yixuan is a jerk¡¯.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You really went to a room with Zhao Yixuan? Didn¡¯t he say that he wouldn¡¯t touch you until you¡¯re famous?¡± Her love story with Zhao Yixuan wasn¡¯t quite a secret. In fact, her roommates were envious of how much Zhao Yixuan pampered her, and how he was willing to control his desires for the sake of her career.

    Who would¡¯ve known that he couldn¡¯t even make it past a few months?

    ¡°Him?¡± Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°Is he even fit?¡± She was beginning to regret falling for that jerk. No wonder Second Brother said that she was as foolish as Mom... no, she wasn¡¯t that foolish!

    Xia Yingluo was getting a little disoriented from the pain.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her, horrified. ¡°It¡¯s not Zhao Yixuan? Then, did you have an argument? All of these... what happened, did someone bully you?¡± The more she asked, the more worried she got.

 Chapter 1170 - Conflict in the Dance Studio

    <h4>Chapter 1170: Conflict in the Dance Studio</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo kept quiet.

    She recalled Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyesst night. They were glowing with a weird passion. He was brutal in bed, assaulting her as if he was eating her up. No matter how much she struggled, she was only faced with harder intrusions.

    This man was a demon.

    She felt a chill down her spine and tried to remove him from her mind.

    Jin Ling¡¯er got anxious. ¡°Say something, Yingluo! What¡¯s wrong? I can help you find a solution, that¡¯s better than you keeping it to yourself! Do you know that the training camp is exploding with news that you were raped!¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not expect the rumors to spread so quickly. However, looking back at her embarrassing look when she ran back, she could only smile bitterly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er got even angrier and ced her finger on Xia Yingluo¡¯s forehead. ¡°You can stillugh about this! Laugh all you can! Expect zero marks for your moral sses this semester! What did Zheng Qiuhong say?¡± She cleared her throat and imitated¡ª¡±If you want to find backing and support from the rich, it is up to your own abilities. But never let the rumors get too ugly. Else, it¡¯ll backfire on you and punishment will await you. Your debut will be a mess because whoever has a bad reputation will fail miserably.¡±

    Xia Yingluo saw her life-like imitation of the teacher and couldn¡¯t hold herughter.

    Jin Ling¡¯erughed as well. After fooling around for a bit, she turned serious and asked, ¡°What exactly happened? Someone saw you stepping out of a ck sports car. He imed that the car looked very expensive. Did you really manage to find backing from the rich?¡±

    ¡°Yea, he spent 30 billion yuan on me in one night trying to make me happy. From now on we will be an item. Does this answer satisfy you?¡± Xia Yingluo made up an answer.

    Jin Ling¡¯er rolled her eyes. ¡°30 billion yuan? Do you think I¡¯m stupid? With 30 billion, I could find a hundred girls like you and still be left with change.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stared at her unhappily. ¡°I am this worthless to you?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er snorted. ¡°How many girls in this world can im that they are worth 30 billion? You think you are Xia Ling?¡± The super Diva Xia Ling had be a legend, a figure that many girls idolized. All of them wished that their lives would be as luxurious.

    ¡°She is my... Never mind. I¡¯m in pain, my entire body is aching. I want to sleep, stop fooling around.¡± Xia Yingluo retracted her words before she could say ¡°my mom¡±. She covered her face with her nket and wanted to fall asleep right away.

    Jin Ling¡¯er poked her. ¡°Get up and shower, look at how dirty you are.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to,¡± she said tiredly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er pinched her nose. ¡°Hurry up and shower! Did you forget that we are using the dance studio this afternoon? The monthly test ising up. If you lose to Jiang Bilian again, she will be a proud peacock.¡±

    She sneered and recalled the issue about the dance studio.

    Imperial Entertainment had a limited number of dance studios. During after-school hours, the students took turns to use them for practice. ording to the schedule, if they missed today¡¯s practice, they would have to wait until a weekter. With the monthly test in sight, everyone was frantically practicing, no one could afford the extra week¡¯s wait.

    Xia Yingluo climbed out of bed but fell back with an ¡°ouch¡±. She said, ¡°It¡¯s so painful.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her suspiciously. ¡°Did you engage in some BDSMst night?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nearly choked on her own saliva. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°There¡¯s no other reason why you are in so much pain, right? I have been through this too. Even if it is your first time, it is abnormal for you to be in so much pain.¡± She reached out to take off her clothes. ¡°Let me have a look.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, pervert!¡± Xia Yingluo moved away from her hands.

    Jin Ling¡¯erughed. ¡°Now you are energetic.¡±

    Xia Yingluo rolled around on the bed and said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel like practicing.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er shrugged. ¡°Whatever. I won¡¯t be the one being looked down on by Jiang Bilian.¡±

    Xia Yingluo and Jiang Bilian were of the same age. One was petite like a fairy, and the other was calm like jade. They were equally gifted in dance and were alwayspared against by the teacher and ssmates. Jiang Bilian did not get along with Xia Yingluo. During the previous monthly test, Xia Yingluo lost out to her by just one point. She wasughed at by Jiang Bilian and her group of friends for a long time. Thus, whenever she heard Jiang Bilian¡¯s name, Xia Yingluo would get angered. ¡°I¡¯m going all out! This time, I¡¯ll definitely score higher! Hmph.¡± She groaned in pain and crawled out of bed, huffing and puffing while holding on to the handrails. She said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°You can start the practice first, I¡¯ll join you after I shower.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er pped her hands. ¡°Good job.¡±

    After praising her, she went ahead to the dance studio.

    Xia Yingluo took a hot water bath. In front of the mirror, the bruises on her body stood out strikingly. She was unable to hide them and was frustrated. It was summer, how would she face others like this? She frantically searched and found a long-sleeved top and long pants and changed into them. It was weird to be wearing them in summer, but it was better than exposing those bruises to the world.

    Her body was still in pain. She thought of everything Wei Lingnan had done to her and felt her body warm up.

    After taking deep breaths, she managed to calm down and went to the dance studio.

    The dance studio was located deep within the ssroom block. It was noon, and the corridor was empty. The door to the ssroom was ajar and a discussion could be heard.

    No, more like an argument.

    A girl could be heard saying, ¡°If Xia Yingluo dared to do it, she should not be ashamed of these rumors. So many people saw her alighting from the car. Clearly, she sold her body like a prostitute. She still wants to pretend to be pure? Jin Ling¡¯er, you are her good friend, maybe you are also a prostitute?¡±

    ¡°Keep your mouth clean!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s angry voice rattled.

    The girl chuckled. ¡°Haha, keep up your facade. The dirty ones are you and Xia Yingluo. How could the school management schedule our practice together, what if I get sexual diseases from you girls?¡±

    ¡°Zhu Zhu, stop.¡± This time, a soothing voice could be heard, as if one was trying to ease the situation. ¡°Xia Yingluo is a poor student, you should know that too. She lives thriftily, she had no choice but to be a prostitute, sigh...¡±

    The ¡°sigh¡± seemed to be filled with pity.

    Xia Yingluo was angered. That was Jiang Bilian and herckey, Zhu Zhu! Look at the two of them, spreading rumors about her being a prostitute and even finding reasons for her.

 Chapter 1171 - Escalated Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 1171: Escted Conflict</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    If these rumors were to spread, those who did not believe it in the first ce would be convinced by her, and even praise Jiang Bilian¡¯s kindness for not looking down on those ssmates who were forced to sell their bodies!

    She was really... evil!

    Before Xia Yingluo could rush in, Jin Ling¡¯er burst into rage. She shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll rip your mouth off!¡±

    She rushed forward to hit Jiang Bilian.

    Jiang Bilian screamed in shock and hid behind a guy nearby. The guy was fond of her and wanted to impress her. Thus, he pushed Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°How can you hit your ssmate? Where are your manners?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er nearly fell. She was shocked and angered. ¡°Zhang Qiang, don¡¯t be a busybody!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by busybody?¡± Zhang Qiang gave her another shove and she fell straight to the ground. ¡°I knew it from the start, you are the same kind as Xia Yingluo, selling your body for material gains. She wouldn¡¯t have gotten the bursary without her beauty. How shameless!¡± He came from a poor family and had applied for the bursary as well. However, the school did not approve his application, and only approved Xia Yingluo¡¯s. For that, he hated her and thought she used underhanded methods.

    Xia Yingluo rushed to the door and saw this scene.

    Her good friend Jin Ling¡¯er was on the ground, the skin on her elbow scraped.

    By the side, a few students were enjoying the show, while Zhang Qiang was protecting the damsel in distress, Jiang Bilian.

    She could feel her blood boil as she walked up and pushed Zhang Qiang aside. ¡°You are a man, how could you hurt a woman? You call yourself a hero?! If you are unhappy with me, you can take it out on me. Why confront Ling¡¯er?¡±

    She gave Zhang Qiang a hard shove. Zhang Qiang took a few steps back and nearly fell onto the floor. Jiang Bilian was not so lucky. She lost her footing and fell backwards in a manner uglier than Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er burst outughing.

    Xia Yingluo ignored Jiang Bilian and continued shoving Zhang Qiang. ¡°What do you mean by shameless? Exin to me! Both your parents are retired. No matter how tough, your family still receives two pensions. What about me? I have no source of ie! And yet you want topete for the bursary with me, and even malign me! You say that Ling¡¯er has no manners? I think you are the one with no manners! Useless! Trash!¡±

    Her ferocity scared Zhang Qiang as he retreated to the wall until he could not back off anymore.

    Everyone was shocked. They did not expect Xia Yingluo to be so scary when she was angry. Usually, she looked so sweet. Who knew she had so much strength in her, so much that even Zhang Qiang, a tall man, could not match her.

    A cry broke the silence. Jiang Bilian cried out, ¡°My leg... So painful. Is it broken...¡±

    Her weak cries drew sympathy from the crowd. Immediately, a guy went up to help her up. ¡°Bilian, are you alright?¡±

    Jiang Bilian shook her head and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine... I think. I can¡¯t walk... Xia Yingluo pushed Zhang Qiang so hard, I did not have time to dodge and was hit by him...¡±

    She bit her lip and looked down.

    Xia Yingluo snorted. ¡°It¡¯s because you are too dumb to even dodge it.¡±

    She hated those who enjoyed disying self pity. Since young, her father had taught her two brothers to be careful of bitches who yed the pity card. She was influenced by this and despised this type of woman.

    Jiang Bilian happened to be of this type.

    Jiang Bilian got scolded by her, and tears started rolling down.

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s follower, Zhu Zhu, could not stand it anymore and said, ¡°Apologize to Bilian!¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± Xia Yingluo smirked. She walked towards Jin Ling¡¯er and helped her up. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er bore with the pain and started to mock Jiang Bilian as well. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a scrape? Why are you acting like it¡¯s such a big deal?¡±

    Jiang Bilian cried out, ¡°My leg hurts, I think the bone is broken. I¡¯m not allowed to cry? Don¡¯t be too overboard!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smirked. ¡°Oh, your leg is broken? That¡¯s great, it takes a hundred days for bones to recover. How about you don¡¯t participate in the monthly test?¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression changed. The monthly test was imminent. If she did not attend it, it would affect her total score for the year. Her resources next semester would be heavily affected. She did not want to lose so much from a dispute.¡±

    As if she was wronged, she said softly, ¡°I... I need to check it at the school hospital.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not want to continue seeing her act and pulled Jin Ling¡¯er aside. ¡°Let them be, let¡¯s practice, the test ising soon.¡±

    She turned around, found an empty space and started warming up.

    Her slender body stretched beautifully like a graceful swan. Jiang Bilian was jealous. How could a girl be so pretty? The guys standing at the side could not take their eyes away from her. If someone asked who the most beautiful girl in the camp was, it had to be Xia Yingluo...

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s rumours about Xia Yingluo had made her the bitch who ¡°prostituted herself for money¡±, and herplicated rtionship with Zhao Yixuan and that mysterious ck sports car further fed this rumor. Nheless, the guys still longed for her. They despised her character, yet wanted to be the one holding her in their arms.

    Even the guy who helped Jiang Bilian up was stunned by Xia Yingluo¡¯s beauty.

    Jiang Bilian sensed this and was unhappy. She hinted at Zhu Zhu.

    Zhu Zhu understood her intentions. She pretended to walk towards Xia Yingluo unknowingly. Suddenly, she bumped into her. ¡°Oops!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was practicing a dance move where she stood with one leg. The bump caused her to fall heavily on the floor. Her ankle seemed to be injured and the pain was so intense, she broke out in cold sweat.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Zhuzhu said sarcastically. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you dodge it, are you too stupid to do so?¡±

    She returned Xia Yingluo¡¯s snide remarks to her.

    Xia Yingluo did not have the time to argue with her. She could feel her body in pain. The pain she was suppressing earlier came back and she was unable to stop it...

    If not for the sudden jolt of pain, she would definitely have dodged Zhu Zhu¡¯s bump.

    Xia Yingluo could not utter a word due to the pain. She was anxious. What was happening to her? How could just one night of BDSM bring so much pain? If Jin Ling¡¯er was right, even if it was her first time, it should not be so painful!

 Chapter 1172 - Sports Car Owner

    Chapter 1172: Sports Car Owner

    What on earth was wrong...

    She curled on the ground in pain, her body shrinking into a small ball.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was the first to discover something wrong with her. She was so shocked she hurried over to help her. ¡°Yingluo, what¡¯s wrong with you? I¡¯ll take you to the infirmary, okay?¡±

    She was in so much pain she couldn¡¯t say anything. She simply held onto Jin Ling¡¯er with all her strength, trying to use her strength to stand up, but failing to do so even after several tries.

    Seeing her look like this, Zhu Zhu was frightened. She thought she had caused her to act like this after pushing her, and she looked anxiously as Jiang Bilian. However, Jiang Bilian only said calmly, ¡°Xia Yingluo, don¡¯t pretend. How powerful can Zhu Zhu be? She just identally hit you, and it wasn¡¯t even as strong as when you hit me and Zhang Qiang. I could stand up back then, so how could you be in so much pain?¡±

    After hearing what she said, everyone else felt that Xia Yingluo was pretending.

    Jin Ling¡¯er jumped anxiously. ¡°Yingluo is really ufortable! Who can help me to support her and bring her to the infirmary!¡±

    Zhang Qiang, who had just been pushed by Xia Yingluo several times, said with a sneer, ¡°Come on, she just pushed me with a force more powerful than boys. How could she be ufortable now? What a lie. Everyone, go do what you were doing just now, go practice. The monthly exam ising soon. In Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp, if you lose, you¡¯ll never get aeback. We wouldn¡¯t want to dy our future for an unrted person, right?¡±

    He was a studymittee member, and what he said was very important. Furthermore, it also made sense, so several boys who had originally wanted to help Xia Yingluo now hesitated. Zhu Zhu grinned fiercely, and added on, ¡°Isn¡¯t she good? She has hooked up with so many men outside, let her find her good friends, don¡¯t let her snatch our resources when she doesn¡¯t need us, yet pretend to be innocent when she does!¡±

    As soon as this sentence came out, no one was willing to help Xia Yingluo.

    Yeah, what good was this girl even if she was beautiful? They could still hope to chase girls like Jiang Bilian, but as for her? ording to legend, Xia Yingluo had high standards and only associated herself with managers from the business world or wealthy sports car owners. She had nothing to do with these poor boys still working hard in the Training Camp. It was possible he even looked down on them.

    ¡°I heard Xia Yingluo scolded us behind our backs,¡± a boy said.

    Another boy said, ¡°I also heard that. This kind of woman can just die in pain, why should we help her?¡±

    The boys were reluctant to move, and the girls were even more immobile. For a moment, everyone looked coldly at her pain, and none of them helped. Jin Ling¡¯er was angry and anxious. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just pretending,¡± Zhu Zhu said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ll see how long she can pretend for.¡±

    ¡°Stop... Ling¡¯er.¡± Xia Yingluo was in so much pain she wanted to die, but she didn¡¯t want to plead with these people either. She said to Jin Ling¡¯er intermittently, ¡°You, please call the school doctor.¡± She couldn¡¯t walk and could only call the doctor here.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her uneasily. ¡°But what about you?¡±

    None of the trainees around had good feelings toward Xia Yingluo. If she walked away, wouldn¡¯t they bully her?

    ¡°Just go.¡± Xia Yingluo was almost speechless from the pain. She could tell that this situation was abnormal even though she had no experience¡ªa girl experienced severe pain on her first night, but this excruciating pain she was feeling now was definitely abnormal.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at the people around them, then at her again. She knew she couldn¡¯t dy it anymore and quickly went to find the doctor.

    Xia Yingluo curled up on the wooden floor, like a dying butterfly.

    Zhu Zhu stepped forward and kicked her. ¡°You¡¯re really good at pretending.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had no energy to care for her anymore. She was in so much pain her face was pale and a cold sweat broke out.

    Someone saw the situation was strange and hesitantly said, ¡°She seems really ufortable... Isn¡¯t she ill? Maybe she has something we all don¡¯t know about? Didn¡¯t someone die inst year¡¯s Training Camp?¡±

    With a few words, everyone started feeling anxious.

    What if Xia Yingluo was really sick and suddenly died? Wouldn¡¯t they all have to take responsibility for their presence?

    Jiang Bilian looked down at Xia Yingluo on the ground, and her beautiful thick eyebrows frowned slightly. She said to Zhu Zhu, ¡°I suddenly remembered that there was a very important thing to deal with. Zhu Zhu,e with me.¡±

    With that said, she walked towards the door.

    Everyone reacted immediately. It didn¡¯t matter if Xia Yingluo was only pretending to be sick. As long as they weren¡¯t here, it wouldn¡¯t have anything to do with them!

    All of a sudden, everyone made excuses and walked towards the door with coordination.

    However, within a few steps, they found a man standing at the door, watching them coldly.

    It was a young-looking man in his early twenties, wearing a tailor-made shirt of good quality. One piece of his clothing was worth more than all of their clothing. The man¡¯s facial lines were deep as if carved out by a famous craftsman, and his eyes were like a frost-coveredke, calm and quiet, but faintly chilling.

    He spoke, and his voice was soft. ¡°Why do you want to leave?¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± someone asked boldly.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t answer his question, but just said lightly, ¡°You didn¡¯t see her in pain?¡±

    Following his line of sight, they all saw Xia Yingluo, who was still aching on the ground. So he was her helper?

    ¡°Are you her paramour?¡± Someone immediately thought of today¡¯s rumors. ¡°The one driving a ck sports car? I advise you, this woman¡¯s private life is extremely messy, and she¡¯s even involved with one of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s managers. You should take the chance to break up with her.¡±

    Wei Lingnan closed the door and walked step by step towards this talkative boy.

    The boy felt the advancing danger and backtracked. ¡°You, what are you doing?¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t speak. He gently grasped the boy¡¯s hand with a slight stretch of his hand and twisted it gently, causing the boy to scream like a pig. His whole arm was twisted from the shoulder joint andpletely dislocated.

    The boy fell to the ground holding his shoulders and rolled in pain.

    The trainees around were all scared and stunned. Zhang Qiang stuttered, ¡°You, why are you hurting people?¡±

    ¡°My woman is very ufortable.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was unhurried as he stepped towards Zhang Qiang. ¡°I don¡¯t like it that you all are looking at her suffer. So, I have to make you all suffer with her.¡± His words just fell and his fingers had already clutched onto Zhang Qiang¡¯s arm. No matter how Zhang Qiang struggled, his movements were like flowing clouds and moving water, and Zhang Qiang¡¯s arm was dislocated with a ¡°snap¡±.

    Zhang Qiang also screamed and rolled down like thest boy.

    ¡°Next.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled and casually walked towards the person closest to him. It was Zhu Zhu.

 Chapter 1173 - Evil Malefic Man

    Chapter 1173: Evil Malefic Man

    Zhu Zhu witnessed the tragic situation of the two boys and was so frightened that, when she saw Wei Lingnaning over, she hurried to the door of the dance studio in horror and twisted the doorknob forcefully. However, the door seemed to have been welded shut and would not move.

    Zhu Zhu panicked. Seeing him approach her, she couldn¡¯t help but beg. ¡°Please, don¡¯t hurt me!¡±

    ¡°I saw it.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips were still curled in a smile, and his voice was thin. ¡°You just kicked Ah Luo, was it your right or left foot?... yes, right.¡± He said, and with swift and light motion, he casually dislocated one of Zhu Zhu¡¯s arm and threw her onto the ground. Then, he looked at her feet that were wearing high-end calfskin shoes and stepped on Zhu Zhu¡¯s right ankle with a little force¡ª

    A chilling bone fracture sound was heard. After half a second, Zhu Zhu¡¯s heartwrenching scream could be heard, breaking the eardrums of everyone present.

    However, the originator stillughed unfeelingly, as if it wasn¡¯t him who had just stepped on a human bone. He walked calmly to the next person.

    The man was scared out of his wits and was unable to endure the extreme fright. ¡°I, I¡¯ll fight you!¡±

    He said and rushed towards Wei Lingnan with fighting gestures, wanting to fight with him.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t even change the slightest bit. He still moved effortlessly and disjointed one of his arm joints then threw him to the ground like a rag.

    Next, next...

    Both men and women, those who resisted or did not resist, were dealt with by his one move. They all fell to the ground and wept.

    The whole dance ssroom was full of sorrows, and he was the only person standing still.

    ¡°So noisy.¡± He looked at the disabled people on the ground. Though his volume was not high, his voice still passed into everyone¡¯s ears clearly and calmly. ¡°If you make more noise I¡¯ll dislocate your other arm and your two legs too.¡±

    The wailing sound suddenly went down and everyone covered their mouths in horror, for fear of angering the evil malefic man.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes then fell on the girl at the end of the dance ssroom.

    The girl¡¯s thin body was still curled up. She was unmoving, and it wasn¡¯t known if she was dead or alive. Her elegant dance dress spread out behind her like a flower, looking frail and beautiful.

    He walked over and squatted down in front of her. ¡°Are you in pain?¡±

    She had long noticed the movement at the other end of the ssroom and had seen firsthand how he had hurt everyone. He had even said that she was ¡°his woman¡±. She was resentful in her heart, so she sneered and said, ¡°I¡¯m not dead yet.¡±

    He said, ¡°You have to answer me properly when I ask you something.¡±

    She still sneered. ¡°What if I say no? Are you... are you going to break my arms and legs too?¡±

    He looked down, then reached out and carried her. Her body was so light, like a soft feather, almost weightless.

    She struggled. ¡°Let me down.¡±

    Wei Lingnan held her and walked out. ¡°You are going to die soon, do you know that? Do you think the school doctor can save you? Whimsical.¡±

    She froze and even forgot the intense pain overwhelming her. ¡°You know what¡¯s going on?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer, he just gently pushed the door of the dance ssroom. The door that Zhu Zhu couldn¡¯t open with all her strength was easily opened by him. He walked out while holding her, moving through the exquisite and gorgeous training camp that looked like a pce castle, and came to a small secluded garden.

    He put her under an old banyan tree.

    She was still in pain and could hardly stand. She leaned against the old banyan tree, panting thinly.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her. The ray of sunshine from the summer sky shone down through the treetops, falling on the corners of her eyes and brows, making her look so beautiful and moving. If there were fairies in this world, they might not look better than her.

    However, she only felt vexed and angry at his intense gaze. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    He said, ¡°If you want to live, just be good.¡±

    She snapped. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°It literally means that,¡± he said. ¡°You have been touched by me, and your body is reacting with rejection. You will die if you¡¯re not treated in time.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was startled and red at him inconceivably. ¡°You were the one who caused me to suffer so much pain? You... you have an illness?¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled lowly. ¡°You should know best if I have an illness. Do you want to try again?¡±

    She reacted to what he meant and blushed scarlet. ¡°Shameless!¡±

    He didn¡¯t think she was being disobedient, and he reached out to remove the leaves from her hair for her, the gentle movement like caressing a cat.

    Her body stiffened and she wanted to avoid him, but her whole body was trapped by him and she couldn¡¯t move. Her pair of crystal clear pupils stared at him, reflecting his elegant and slender figure. He looked so gentle in his clothes. It was really hard to imagine that the body under the delicately crafted shirt would be full of scary scars.

    Her thoughts drifted a bit. In the suite in the casino that day, she had seen with her own eyes how quickly the wound he had gotten from the wine bottle healed without any traces. If even those deep and bloody wounds were unable to leave scars on his body, then what terrible experience turned his body like that? There wasn¡¯t even a piece of intact skin?

    She was so preupied that she heard him ask suddenly, ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡±

    She was startled. She regained her senses and looked over.

    Wei Lingnan raised her jaw with strong fingers. ¡°I don¡¯t like it when you look at me like that.¡±

    She red at him again. ¡°What look? You are inexplicable.¡±

    Wei Lingnan: ¡°...¡± He didn¡¯t know what she had been thinking of so intensely, but she had looked at him with eyes full of pity as if in front of her, he would forever only be a weak person...

    That feeling was too unbearable.

    He lowered his head and covered her two beautiful lips.

    She was frightened, her body trembled, and she instinctively reached out to push him away.

    Without much effort, he locked her wrists with one hand and twisted them behind her. She groaned in pain, but he attacked her sweet and luscious lips more aggressively as if willfully trampling on a budding flower. A faint stream of light quietly transitioned from his lips to her lips, and it disappeared as soon as it hade, without her noticing it.

    He lingered there, nostalgically, tossing and turning, until her whole body was slumped in his arms, unable to breathe.

    Then he slowly released her.

    Xia Yingluo was about to p him when he raised his hand and caught his hand easily. ¡°Don¡¯t look for death.¡±

    ¡°Why, are you going to kill me?¡± She was extremely angry. ¡°It¡¯s a great skill to kill someone, Mr. Wei! Believe me or not, I will haunt you even as a ghost! ¡±

    She had thought he would be angry, but he just looked at her deeply. After a long time, he smiled. ¡°I believe you.¡±

    His voice sounded like a sigh.

    She was shocked, however, as if she had hit a marshmallow that was so soft that her anger had nowhere to turn to.

 Chapter 1174 - Skatana Flower

    <h4>Chapter 1174: Skatana Flower</h4>

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head again and kissed her forehead and eyes in spite of her avoidance. The smell of sunlight mixed with the fragrance of the old leaves of the old banyan tree that lingered between the two. Along with the faint shower gel on her body and his temperature, they formed a small world that was isted from the rest of the world, and ambiguous feelings flowed even more ambiguously. She was quiet, and couldn¡¯t avoid it anyway, so she bit her lip and didn¡¯t speak.

    He kissed her again and said lowly, ¡°Ah Luo, you are always so proud and daring, but I like you because of that, so what choice do I have?¡± The wound in his heart started aching again. He really believed that whether she remembered him or not, she was extremely eager to dismember him into pieces and turn him to bones and dust. Thinking about it was just masochistic, wasn¡¯t it good to fall in love? But he just had to fall in love with her.

    Xia Yingluo put a hand on his chest, trying not to let him get too close, and snorted coldly. ¡°Neuropathy.¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Just think I¡¯m neurotic, you can¡¯t escape anyway.¡±

    His words were like an ominous curse that made her tremble. Xia Yingluo remembered something and looked up at him. ¡°Are you sick? If not, why would my body have a reaction after... you and I did that?¡±

    ¡°What did you do with me, eh?¡± He chuckled again.

    She blushed and said angrily, ¡°You are shameless!¡±

    Wei Lingnan stroked her long hair with a slender hand, and suddenly asked softly, ¡°Are you better?¡±

    After he asked, she then realized that her body was not in pain anymore. If he hadn¡¯t mentioned it, she would have forgotten the difort.

    She stood up straight a little doubtfully, then pushed him away. This time, he didn¡¯t stop her. After walking a few steps away from the sun, she tried to move her hands and feet. Her limbs were light and soft, just like a dancing fairy.

    Wei Lingnan stood under the tree and looked at her, a sort of gentleness hidden in the depths of his eyes.

    Xia Yingluo moved around for a long time, before stopping and asking him curiously, ¡°It really doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. What happened?¡±

    He grinned. ¡°As long as you¡¯re kissed by me often, it won¡¯t hurt.¡±

    She didn¡¯t expect it to be this answer and was very angry. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re so rich and don¡¯t seem tock women, so why are you clinging onto me and refusing to let go? Just take it as I was unlucky at the casino yesterday, please stop clinging onto me and get lost!¡±

    He still stood under the old banyan tree without changing his posture. ¡°Don¡¯t say that too soon, do you really think one kiss is enough? The rejection reaction is too serious, and sooner orter you will be in pain and crying for me to kiss you.¡±

    She sneered. ¡°I will never beg you!¡±

    He remained expressionless. ¡°It¡¯s not up to you.¡±

    She was so angry that she was speechless. Since young, she had never met a man like him. He couldn¡¯t be beaten, couldn¡¯t be shaken off, and she couldn¡¯t even argue over him. He was really hateful! ¡°Wei Lingnan!¡± She almost shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t think that I will believe your stupid words. What rejection, what kissing, they are all nonsense! How can there be such an outrageous thing in this world? Stop lying!¡±

    She turned and wanted to leave.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her hand.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± She was so angry that she red at him.

    ¡°Here, here you are.¡± He was calm, and between his clear and slender bony fingers were a flower. It was a white flower blooming with a little dew between the petals, giving off a distinct scent, looking intoxicating.

    She looked at the flower and somehow calmed down.

    That flower was so beautiful, and there was an inexplicable familiarity that lingered in her heart, like...

    Like she had seen it somewhere before.

    ¡°What is this?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Skartana flowers,¡± he said. ¡°Try it.¡±

    ¡°Skartana flowers?¡± She racked her brain but couldn¡¯t remember what flowers in this world had this name. When she was a child, she had learned to survive in the wild with her father Li Lei. Hence, she recognized many nts, but not this flower.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°This flower can relieve your pain.¡±

    She looked up at him. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me again. I didn¡¯t see you use it just now.¡±

    He only said, ¡°Try it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo took a suspicious bite of the white flower. The middle of the flower secreted sweet and fragrant honey, which pervaded her lips a little. It was an indescribable taste that made people rx physically and mentally, like walking in the clouds.

    ¡°Is it delicious?¡± He asked her.

    She had intended on ignoring him, but the little white flower tasted so beautiful that she nodded despite herself.

    He smiled slightly.

    Xia Yingluo looked down and said, ¡°I¡¯m leaving, don¡¯te to me in the future.¡± Although she was soft-mouthed, she could notpromise her principles. The incidentst night was just an ident, and she hoped that their lives would not intertwine ever again.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°You hate me that much?¡±

    A spark of me was reignited by him. ¡°You can try liking a rapist?!¡±

    ¡°Really.¡± He smiled meaningfully. ¡°I don¡¯t think you didn¡¯t enjoy itst night.¡±

    She was annoyed. Last night had been so confusing that she didn¡¯t even remember what she had done, but... enjoy? How was it possible! She red at him fiercely. ¡°You will pay for your actions.¡±

    She turned back and left without looking back.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t stop her, he just stood under the ancient banyan tree, watching her leave. The summer sunshine shrouded his slender figure, looking like ayer of mysterious gold. The breeze blew over the treetops, the leaves fell, and his long shadow seemed a little lonely.

    Xia Yingluo walked out of the small garden angrily.

    She didn¡¯t know why she had encountered such a perverted monster? From those horrible scars to the weird and fast-healing body, to some kind of rejection reaction... it was all too weird. It was better to stay away from such a person. She had been so happy since she was a child... she had a perfect family background and looks, her father and brother loved her, and her future was bright. She couldn¡¯t entangle herself with such a monster, lest she be involved in danger.

    Unlike her father and elder brother, who had big ambitions and wanted to win the world.

    She just wanted to live her little life and eatfortably and wait for death. That was enough for this life.

    She made up her mind to forget Wei Lingnan and felt a lot better. When she passed the school hospital, her footsteps stopped slightly. After thinking about it, she went in to ask the school doctor to check her.

    The school doctor was a middle-aged woman who looked at her with dislike. ¡°You young girls just don¡¯t know how to treasure your body. How old are you even? To fool around outside! Now you know the pain? It¡¯s going easy on you even if you die in pain! Remember to take the morning-after pill, don¡¯t bet your life on it. It¡¯s a small thing to be kicked out by the Training Camp, but it¡¯s a lifetime thing to abort a baby and hurt your body!¡±

 Chapter 1175 - The School Doctor Says She Is Not Sick

    <h4>Chapter 1175: The School Doctor Says She Is Not Sick</h4>

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s stomach was full of fiery anger, but she had nowhere to vent, so she endured her anger and asked, ¡°Is there nothing wrong with my body?¡±

    ¡°Something wrong? You¡¯re very healthy! You say you were in excruciating pain, but although this kind of case is rare, it¡¯s not entirely new. It¡¯ll be fine after the first time, it¡¯s not an illness at all.¡± The school doctorpletely disregarded her.

    Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth. Then Wei Lingnan really lied to her? What rejection reaction, what kissing and eating flowers could alleviate the pain, they were all nonsense. She couldn¡¯t help but say hatefully, ¡°Don¡¯t let him run into me!¡± Otherwise, she was sure to take revenge!

    The school doctor squinted at her. ¡°If your brain is as good as your body, how much better would it be? You¡¯re the girl in the photo uploaded earlier this morning, the girl who just got off the ck sports car, right? You dare to sleep with people in society? Who knows if you have any illness!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. Although the doctor in this school had a poisonous mouth, one sentence was true¡ª

    Who the hell would know if Wei Lingnan was sick!

    When she walked out of the infirmary, she simply wanted to throw a fit¡ªWei Lingnan, I have remembered you! I will take revenge on you one day!

    She returned to the dormitory weakly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was anxious in the dorm, and when she saw her, she rushed forward and checked her up and down. ¡°Yingluo, where have you been? Are you all right? Do you know how worried I was! In the afternoon, I took the school doctor to the dance ssroom to find you, but only saw people who had their arms dislocated. They said that you were taken away by a man. I was so terrified!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood finally got better at the sight of her close friend, and she smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t die.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er checked her up and down again, then she closed the door and dragged her to the dormitory bed to sit down. ¡°Exin to me honestly, who was that man? I heard that he beat Zhang Qiang and the rest all by himself, he¡¯s simply too powerful! Wow, what a hero!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s smile turned fierce. ¡°Can you not mention that perverted beast?¡±

    ¡°Perverted beast?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her, and her eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°I see! He is the owner of the ck sports car, right? Haha, I was wondering why you suddenly disappeared, it turns out you dared to go on a private date!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really not...¡± Xia Yingluo was almost crying.

    Jin Ling¡¯er still wanted to gossip. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell. It has only been one night, how did the situation change so suddenly? I remember yesterday you were like a little bird relying helplessly on me, thinking about what birthday gift to buy for Zhao Yixuan. The speed at which you change your boyfriends is the same as changing clothes?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not my boyfriend! The perverted king bastard!¡± Xia Yingluo mourned. She fell on the bed and covered her face with a quilt, feeling as though she could never wash herself clean of this nder.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s a short-lived rtionship? A one night stand?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was so excited that she rushed to the bed and pulled on her quilt. ¡°Quickly, tell me honestly. Don¡¯t let a handsome man like this who can fight and have enough money go. Even if it¡¯s a one-night stand, you also have to develop him into a long-term meal ticket! Do you understand?¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t bear it. She got up from the bed suddenly and flung towards Jin Ling¡¯er fiercely. ¡°What long-term meal ticket? What are you thinking about? Who the hell are you helping? I was bullied so miserably by them and yet you¡¯re still speaking for him! See if I won¡¯t kill you, I¡¯ll kill you!¡± While speaking, she tickled her in a craze.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was so itchy she couldn¡¯t help butugh and said breathlessly, ¡°Oh, oh! I can¡¯t! Good sister, let me go! Oh... Sister Yingluo! Hahaha...¡± She cried and exined intermittently, ¡°I, I¡¯m just doing it for your good... haha, he can defend you, it¡¯s hard to buy a loving man like that, don¡¯t you know? Hahaha... Good sister, stop tickling me, I, I think he¡¯s better than Zhao Yixuan! Ahahaha...¡±

    Xia Yingluo went crazy and tickled her harder. ¡°You still dare to talk! How is he stronger than Zhao Yixuan?!¡±

    ¡°I, I have long found Zhao Yixuan unpleasant... hahaha...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was out of breath. ¡°Hold up, stop, hahahaha ... Zhao, Zhao Yixuan only likes to put on airs, but what has he actually done for you? He didn¡¯t even want to publicize your rtionship! Ahahaha Yingluo, stop tickling me... hahaha, I know my wrong... Anyway, Zhao Yixuan is a bastard!¡±

    Xia Yingluo suddenly lost interest and stopped.

    Jin Ling¡¯er quickly shrank to the other side of the bed, the farthest corner from her, and carefully watched her for a long time. ¡°You¡¯re not going to tickle me anymore?¡±

    Xia Yingluoid back on the quilt and looked at the ceiling quietly. ¡°You¡¯re right, Zhao Yixuan is a bastard.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er froze, then she carefully crawled over to her. ¡°You, really broke up with Zhao Yixuan?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s with Pei Yan.¡± Xia Yingluo said, her tone indifferent as if she was talking about something unrted to herself.

    Jin Ling¡¯er understood. This was probably a scene of abandonment. ¡°Well, I...¡± She wanted tofort Xia Yingluo, but she didn¡¯t know what to say. After a long time, she finally said, ¡°It¡¯s good to break up with that bastard! He doesn¡¯t deserve you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her friend, and a warm current flowed in her heart.

    Only a good girlfriend like Jin Ling¡¯er would stand on her side regardless without questioning her. Only she would believe strongly that Zhao Yixuan didn¡¯t deserve her. In the eyes of others, it was clear that this little trainee did not deserve Zhao Yixuan, who was a big manager in the entertainment world.

    She turned and pinched Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face. ¡°I didn¡¯t dote on you for nothing, my little sister.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er patted her hand angrily. ¡°You really think you¡¯re my older sister? I¡¯m obviously older than you by one year!¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed and caressed her rusty short golden hair. ¡°Yes, he really doesn¡¯t deserve me. From today onwards, I will cheer up, change my face, and live differently!¡± Once the trial period was over, she would return to her family and live a happy life.

    So, she lived on as if nothing had happened and continued to attend sses as usual.

    The only annoyance was that Wei Lingnan had wounded so many peoplest time and had rescued her in public, so the Dean came to her and tried intimidating and tempting her into telling him honestly about her rtionship with Wei Lingnan. Xia Yingluo was very upset. The man had just left after beating everyone up, leaving her here to deal with the school¡¯s punishment. He was indeed a shameless viin.

    But even though she was upset, she didn¡¯t reveal a single thing.

    No matter what the Dean asked, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±, ¡°I don¡¯t know him¡±, ¡°What does it have to do with me¡±, and made the Dean very frustrated and angry. Finally, the Dean pointed at her and asked, ¡°Xia Yingluo! Don¡¯t repudiate! How could that mane to your rescue if you don¡¯t matter to him? Someone saw youing down from a ck sports car, so tell me! Was it his car!¡±

 Chapter 1176 - Beautiful and Expensive Flowers

    <h4>Chapter 1176: Beautiful and Expensive Flowers</h4>

    Xia Yingluo said calmly, ¡°How would I know why he came to save me? Maybe he saw that I was getting bullied and hence, stepped up to do a good deed? Zhang Qiang and Jiang Bilian, they all are too arrogant, so it¡¯s only normal that some people can¡¯t take it. As for the ck sports car? Sorry, Dean, I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about. Those people must have mistaken someone for me.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The Dean shook with anger. ¡°Where have you learned to lie so well at such a young age?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly. ¡°Is that right?¡± She had followed her father and brother to the north and south, visited the bottom three slums, and also went to the most prosperous and famous feasts. She had be so adept at talking, so this mere Dean was simply not up to her match. She covered her mouth and yawned in boredom, her attitude as graceful as a princess. ¡°If it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll go back to ss first. The monthly exam ising, Dean. If my schoolwork is dyed because I¡¯ve been called here, it seems I¡¯m able toin, right?¡±

    Dean: ¡°...¡±

    Imperial Entertainment indeed had such a rule. No matter how big of a matter, it had to make a concession for schoolwork. Not to mention that he was the dean of academic affairs, even the principal did not dare to dy students from going to ss. However, he was not reconciled. Among those who had been beaten that day, Jiang Bilian had a little background and came from a pretty big family from the city. He had even secretly received several gifts from her family before. If he couldn¡¯t help Jiang Bilian vent her anger, his future might not be asfortable anymore.

    But Xia Yingluo was so cunning that he couldn¡¯t use anything against her.

    The Dean watched her go out with a headache.

    The girl walked back to the ssroom eagerly, her lips curled up in a smile. Tsk, he dared to fight with her? She was happier the more flustered and exasperated her enemy was.

    She stepped into the ssroom and saw that Jiang Bilian was also there, surrounded by a group of people. They were all admiring the beautiful blue rose in her hands. Xia Yingluo nced at it casually; the blue rose¡¯s color was indeed gorgeous, but the flower shape was a little inferior and it wasn¡¯t of a top grade. If this kind of flower appeared in her house, she wouldn¡¯t mind, but her spoiled and picky mother would definitely be disgusted.

    Thinking about this, she went over to her own seat.

    ¡°Hey, look at how arrogant they are,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er came over and said to her with a low voice. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a blue rose? What¡¯s so great, they said it was raised by a new flower shop that opened in the city. It must be reserved. Otherwise, it can¡¯t be bought with money. I don¡¯t know which stupid person sent it to her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Someone is chasing her?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°It seems that some time ago, she followed the Training Camp to participate in amercial show and gained a few fans. I don¡¯t know which braindead fan sent her this, but she ims it¡¯s her secret admirer. Tsk, how could a person like her even have fans?¡± She paused for a moment before continuing, ¡°I heard that the flower is a specially cultivated limited-edition one, but I see no difference between that and a normal blue rose.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed out loudly. ¡°There is no difference.¡±

    This ss was the culture ss, and she took out her books from her table.

    Suddenly, she heard someone say from a nearby table, ¡°Sister Bilian, only you can deserve such a beautiful and expensive flower. Unlike some people who are too poor to pay the tuition fees and still live on the schrship.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly. She turned her head and saw that the speaker was Zhu Zhu. She was standing next to Jiang Bilian and looking at her proudly.

    As soon as Zhu Zhu¡¯s said this, many people started gossiping. ¡°Hehe, isn¡¯t it? A lot of the schrship bonuses were donated by the Jiang family, but unfortunately, some people have received the Jiang family¡¯s favor and yet still don¡¯t know to be grateful.¡±

    They all sung the same note and were very lively.

    Jin Ling¡¯er shot up and said, ¡°Who are you talking about!¡±

    ¡°You know who!¡± Zhu Zhu retorted with a malicious smile. Many people around her alsoughed.

    From the side came Jiang Bilian¡¯s gentle voice. ¡°Zhu Zhu, forget it, my family donated the schrships without any anticipation for reciprocation. My dad said that the recipients are poor people who can¡¯t afford to eat, so we should help them and not let them be kicked out of the school to be beggars. This is the Jiang family¡¯s merit, how could we expect these poor people to reciprocate?¡±

    ¡°How dare you say Yingluo is a beggar!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s lungs exploded.

    Jiang Bilian pretended to be guilty of blundering and elegantly covered her mouth before saying, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean that. My family has always taught me not to look down on the poor. I was really just judging the matter as it stands, Ling¡¯er, Yingluo, so don¡¯t think too much.¡±

    ¡°Who will listen to you making oblique usations!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er persisted.

    Xia Yingluo sighed in her heart. This Ling¡¯er¡¯s temper was really explosive and was so easily trapped by other people. She pulled Jin Ling¡¯er and smiled insincerely at Jiang Bilian. ¡°Why should we be angry. Even if we want to bicker, we must find someone who is really rich and has a good taste to bicker with. Why should we bicker with someone treating a defective blue rose as a treasure?¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Xia Yingluo, how could you say that to me?¡±

    Zhu Zhu said on the side, ¡°Sister Bilian, you can¡¯t be angry with these two poor ghosts. Do they think this is a blue rose that was sold by some roadside shop? They don¡¯t understand how expensive an authentic blue rose with real blue petals is.¡±

    The people surrounding Jiang Bilian also mocked Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ignorant country bumpkin.¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s anger was appeased and her face eased again.

    She heard Xia Yingluo sneer. ¡°Ignorant? The stem of this flower isn¡¯t straight enough, and the petals are not arranged in the most optimum stance. More importantly, hehe, yes, although it wasn¡¯t a sprayed-on blue rose, it is just a white rose that had been gradually dyed during its growth process. In the end, it¡¯s artificially colored, so why isn¡¯t it a defective product? You all have never seen a real naturally grown blue rose, have you? A bunch of ignorant country bumpkins.¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s chest tightened. She didn¡¯t know about flowers, she only knew that the flower shop was very expensive, so she was utterly speechless at Xia Yingluo¡¯s refute. This flower was really artificially dyed? She didn¡¯t believe Xia Yingluo¡¯s cheap words!

    Jiang Bilian said, ¡°You are really good at joking, how did you know this is an artificially dyed flower? Nightingale Flower Shop has such a good reputation, how could it sell defective flowers? It must be a naturally grown blue rose.¡± Regardless of whether the flower had grown naturally, she had to suppress Xia Yingluo¡¯s arrogance. She couldn¡¯t prove the flower¡¯s authenticity anyways.

    Xia Yingluo only looked at her pitifully like she was an idiot.

    Zhu Zhu was very angry. ¡°Old country bumpkin, what¡¯s with your expression?¡±

 Chapter 1177 - Starry Flower Shop

    <h4>Chapter 1177: Starry Flower Shop</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly as if there was soft sunlight blooming on her cheek. She smiled sideways at Jin Ling¡¯er and said, ¡°See, Ling¡¯er, you mustn¡¯t learn from them. It¡¯s okay to be ignorant, but it¡¯s even worse to pretend to know something you don¡¯t.¡±

    Although Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t understand what she was talking about, of course she had to support her good sister, so sheughed and said, ¡°Hahaha, it really is aughing stock. They¡¯re holding a defective product and still treating it as a treasure and even showing it off as if their lives depended on it. They¡¯re not even afraid of losing their heads from humiliation, hahahahaha.¡±

    Jiang Bilian desperately wanted to tear them into pieces, but she suppressed her anger and said, ¡°Is that right? I¡¯d like to hear your opinions. However, don¡¯t make up a string of ghost words to coax us.¡± After all, she still didn¡¯t believe that these two poor country bumpkins could actually have much knowledge.

    Zhu Zhu and the others also said, ¡°Yes, yes. If you can¡¯t give a good reason, you¡¯re an uneducated beggar!¡±

    The hustle and bustle here were so loud that it attracted other trainees into the ssroom.

    In the face of so many people, Xia Yingluo did not panic. ¡°Jiang Bilian, you guys don¡¯t even recognize how ignorant you are. Do you know how rare and precious blue roses that really grow naturally are in the world? You think you can buy it as and when you want to with money? Sorry, I¡¯m afraid you can¡¯t even see it, this ismon sense in the flower industry. If you think I¡¯m lying, you can find any random professional and ask them.¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression changed. She really wanted to p her face.

    If what Xia Yingluo said wasmon sense, wouldn¡¯t she seem ignorant and ridiculous?

    At the same time, some trainees really took out their mobile phones and started searching the inte. They said aloud, ¡°Xia Yingluo is right. Natural blue roses are really umon. I also went to the Nightingale Flower Shop¡¯s official website and checked, and the customer service said that their blue roses are dyed from white roses after absorbing blue dye, and it is not a true natural breed.¡±

    A group of people over at Zhu Zhu¡¯s side fell silent and exchanged nces.

    They did not think that things woulde to this. They had originally wanted tough at Xia Yingluo for being ignorant, but how had they suddenly be ignorant and humiliated instead? Jiang Bilian was angry and awkward, her face was stiff and she looked extremely strange.

    Xia Yingluo smiled lightly and continued to pick on them. ¡°That¡¯s why I said that you shouldn¡¯t talk if you¡¯re ignorant, so you won¡¯t humiliate yourself.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er backed her up. ¡°Whatdy of the Jiang family, I heard that you only got into this Training Camp because you couldn¡¯t get into an ordinary high school. No wonder you¡¯re so uncultured. Go get more tuitions and stop throwing your family¡¯s face.¡±

    Jiang Bilian couldn¡¯t bear being ridiculed by them. She saw that the trainees around were all taking joy in her cmity and had no choice but to suppress her anger. She said as calmly as possible, ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er, you¡¯re wrong. It¡¯s not a must to know about flowers, what does it have to do with culture ss? I¡¯m usually busy practicing, how could I spend my energy elsewhere. But you... I urge you not to use your brain on these misceneous things. Xia Yingluo, if you spend more time on your sses, you might just win me in the monthly exam.¡±

    At her words, many people remembered that Xia Yingluo had lost to Jiang Bilian by one point in thest monthly exam.

    Zhu Zhu was injected with blood in an instant and she looked at Xia Yingluo proudly. ¡°Exactly, our sister Bilian is a realdylike girl who spends her mind on the right things. Unlike some people, studying random things every day, and what for?¡±

    ¡°Haha, what else could it be for? Isn¡¯t it for finding a sugar daddy?¡± A girl behind Zhu Zhuughed.

    Another girlughed and said, ¡°Do you think it would be useful to have more gentry knowledge? Let me tell you. Don¡¯t be so naive, the tycoons simply won¡¯t fall for someone like you. What do you have topare with Sister Bilian? A peasant will forever be a peasant, so don¡¯t delude yourself into thinking you can fly up onto a branch and be a Phoenix!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression turned cold. These people were really good at dragging her down. They could even drag down her private life from the topic of blue roses. She knew it was because they had been injured by Wei Lingnan that day and were venting their anger on her, but she wasn¡¯t so easy to bully!

    She was about to explode when suddenly, someone cleared his throat at the door¡ª

    ¡°Is Miss Xia Yingluo here? Who is Miss Xia Yingluo?¡±

    Everyone turned around and saw a courier standing in front of the door, holding a box and looking around.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I am.¡±

    The courier came in holding the box and said politely, ¡°Ms. Xia, this is the courier from Starry Flower Shop. Please sign here.¡±

    Starry Flower Shop!

    For a moment, the entire ssroom stirred in excitement and several doubtful eyes passed from Xia Yingluo to the box. It was not a big flower shop, and in terms of business volume alone, a whole year of their sales could not evenpare with a day of Nightingale Flower Shop¡¯s sales. But the Starry Flower Shop was one of the most distinguished and luxurious shops recognized in this city, and even in the world. There was no other reason except that this shop only sold new products not seen in the market¡ªin other words, every one of their flowers were unique products bred and developed by themselves.

    It was said that when the superstar Queen Ye Xingling and the big boss of Skyart Entertainment Li Lei got married, theyvishly decorated the entire wedding auditorium with the bouquets from Starry Flower Shop. It still remained a romantic anecdote since then. Last year, the mayor¡¯s daughter got married and also used Starry Flower Shop¡¯s flowers to make their bride¡¯s bouquet. The bunch of unique white roses had caused a sensation at that time.

    Several more examples made this flower shop stand out in the ordinary people¡¯s eyes.

    However, it was said that the flower shop closed its doors all year round and the real business was never negotiated in the store.

    Many rich and powerful people hade specifically with name cards out to admire, but they did not even get to meet the person in charge.

    But who would have expected that this mysterious and cold flower shop would actually send Xia Yingluo flowers?!

    ¡°It¡¯s not a lie, right...¡± Someone rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

    Xia Yingluo was also a little hesitant. ¡°It¡¯s for me?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± The courier smiled. ¡°Ms. Xia Yingluo from Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp, mobile phone number 170184321X, right?¡±

    It was really for her. Xia Yingluo grabbed the list and signed it, thanking the courier.

    Jin Ling¡¯er and a group of people gathered around and looked at her box curiously. ¡°Is it really from Starry Flower Shop? Yingluo, who sent it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She had only spent a year in the Training Camp with her concealed identity and did not have any friends in the society at all. Could it be from Zhao Yixuan? No... with his ss, he might not even be able to see the shop¡¯s affairs.

 Chapter 1178 - Divide These Flowers

    <h4>Chapter 1178: Divide These Flowers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jiang Bilian on the side looked at her unpleasantly and said quietly, ¡°Could it be a prank?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡± Several trainees nodded one after another. After all, Xia Yingluo was just a poor student. Even though there had been many rumors about her having a sugar daddy recently, but even if they were rich and big, they still couldn¡¯t bear to buy flowers from Starry Flower Shop.

    The more they thought about it, the more the possibility of it being a prank was possible. Zhu Zhu covered her mouth and mocked. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you offended too many people and they sent you a bomb?¡±

    What, a bomb?!

    Everyone around stepped back alertly.

    Xia Yingluo simply ignored them. She reached out a white hand and gently poked it, then knew immediately¡ªwhatever it was, it was definitely not a dangerous item such as a bomb or a firearm. From an early age, she had followed her father and brother around the world, to the primitive jungle, to the battlefield at the line of fire, to the Golden Triangle Drug Dealing Base... Thus, she had acquired the ability to distinguish a dangerous item with just one poke.

    She met Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s worried eyes and smiled calmly. ¡°It¡¯s all right.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er signed a breath of relief, then she heard Zhu Zhu say, ¡°Tsk, it really does look like it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er red at her. ¡°Aren¡¯t you just jealous of Yingluo?¡± She turned to Xia Yingluo again and said, ¡°Yingluo, open it up and see what¡¯s inside. Maybe Starry Flower Shop really sent you a flower, and it¡¯s more expensive than that Nightingale Flower Shop, tsk.¡±

    ¡°You still think you can receive flowers from Starry Flower Shop? Hahaha, it¡¯s really¡ª¡± Zhu Zhu mocked, and before the word ¡°funny¡± coulde out from her mouth, she stopped, as though someone had choked her throat. She widened her eyes in surprise as she saw Xia Yingluo open the box little by little. There were three small ss balls neatly ced in the box. She didn¡¯t know how they had been sealed, but the round crystal ss balls had absolutely no vestiges on it.

    Inside each ss ball was a white, unknown flower.

    Theyers of petals were half-opened, stretching lightly under the refraction of the clear light. Its spotlessly white and exquisite vein lines were detailed, and just looking at it felt like countless years had passed, making people exim in amazement.

    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful...¡± someone eximed.

    Nobody here doubted the origins of these flowers, they must belong to the Starry Florist without a doubt¡ªthere was no such unique and fascinating flowers in the world except there, and these white flowers in front of their eyes were even more beautiful and exquisite than the flowers in the mayor daughter¡¯s wedding ceremony and Li Lei and Ye Xingling¡¯s wedding.

    Xia Yingluo stared at them and suddenly realized¡ª

    It turned out that the sender was him.

    Wei Lingnan.

    She remembered the afternoon before. In a secret little garden deep in the Training Camp, Wei Lingnan had put a white flower in her palm and said, ¡°Taste it.¡± Wasn¡¯t it the same type of flower?

    But she didn¡¯t know why he had sent these to her, could it be that he had really fallen in love with her?

    Xia Yingluoughed secretly, throwing away the absurd thoughts in her head.

    Jin Ling¡¯er came back to her senses. She nced at Jiang Bilian and smiled proudly. ¡°Who just said that it was a prank? Why don¡¯t you guys try doing a prank with Starry Flower Shop? Hahaha! Some country bumpkins can only deserve flowers from Nightingale Flower Shop and can¡¯t even touch the threshold of Starry Flower Shop? Unlike our Yingluo, she¡¯s the real beauty fit for a famous flower!¡±

    Jiang Bilian was so furious she clenched her fists together. ¡°The two of you, don¡¯t go too far.¡±

    ¡°How are we going too far?¡± Jin Ling¡¯erughed wildly. ¡°Jiang Bilian, look at you. You¡¯re not even as beautiful as our Yingluo, and even your fans are not as good as hers. They don¡¯t have as good a taste, right, Yingluo?¡±

    The other girl next to her usually had a good rtionship with Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er, so she asked, ¡°Who sent her this flower?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was specting Wei Lingnan¡¯s intentions in her heart. Did he think she was easy to bully? He had taken her so overbearingly the first night, and had even kissed her forcefully the second day. Was he giving her a present after the punishments, so he had sent these flowers? If it was such a flower, it was really a shame... His efforts had been wasted. She was not such a casual girl, and she didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with him anymore.

    She pushed the ss ball away and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Split it amongst yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er cheered, and the other two girls who had a good rtionship with her also cheered. They forgot about quarreling with Jiang Bilian and the others and happily split the flowers. The beautiful flowers attracted everyone¡¯s attention. The other trainees around them either eximed in admiration or were jealous, all saying how Xia Yingluo was so lucky to get such beautiful flowers.

    Only Jiang Bilian and her party lost their countenance and their expressions got even worse.

    Zhu Zhu saw that a few girls with ordinary grades and faces below hers got the flowers and felt sour. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a few flowers? What¡¯s so great, who knows where they came from, are they clean?¡±

    Her words were like a basin of cold water that extinguished the harmonious atmosphere.

    A few onlookers exchanged nces and suddenly felt that Zhu Zhu made sense. ording to Xia Yingluo¡¯s poor status, she definitely could never afford such flowers, and she had never attended anymercial activities either, so it was impossible for her to have received it from fans like Jiang Bilian. The only other possible reason was that it was from one of her sugar daddies like in the rumors...

    If that was the case, then these flowers were indeed dirty.

    The two girls holding the flowers were now a little awkward. They were both girls and still had to uphold a reputation. At the moment, they held the crystal clear ss balls in their hands and didn¡¯t know whether to put it down.

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t care so much, she clutched tightly onto the ss balls and red at Zhu Zhu uncourteously. ¡°You¡¯re just putting on airs, but why is your tongue so filthy like that of a busybody? You are the dirty one!¡±

    Zhu Zhu was also not polite to her and wanted to get back her pride. ¡°Why, Xia Yingluo could do it but is afraid of being found out? That man came to school that day and we all saw that she was being raised by him, don¡¯t deny it!¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er defended her friend angrily.

    Zhu Zhu smiled coldly. ¡°I¡¯m not speaking nonsense. Xia Yingluo, this cheap girl knows the truth!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was already annoyed about Wei Lingnan¡¯s affairs. At this moment, when she heard Zhu Zhu¡¯s scolding, she exploded and mmed the table as she stood up. She pointed one long, white finger at her and said, ¡°What are you saying? If you have the guts, say it again!¡±

    Her anger was terrifying, and her pair of simmering eyes made their hearts shiver in fright. Zhu Zhu couldn¡¯t help but take a step backward carefully, and then she said sternly, ¡°So what if I say it again? Aren¡¯t you just a shameless slut?¡±

    As soon as her voice fell, she felt as if she was in a whirlpool.

 Chapter 1179 - Do You Want to Be a Star

    <h4>Chapter 1179: Do You Want to Be a Star</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It turned out that Xia Yingluo had stood up and pushed her forcefully. Her whole body was flung out.

    Zhu Zhu¡¯s body hit against the wall with a bang, causing arge piece of paint on the wall to fall off. She fell softly like a rag onto the ground, bleeding from her mouth and nose, her head dizzy.

    The trainees around were stunned. They looked at her breathing shallowly and didn¡¯t regain their senses until after a long time.

    ¡°You guys, go and check on her quickly!¡± It was Jiang Bilian who spoke first, and she asked her ssmates to check on Zhu Zhu¡¯s condition, looking at Xia Yingluo with a pale face. She did not expect this woman to be so cruel. Without a word, she had yed such a heavy hand.

    In fact, Xia Yingluo was also stunned. She had practiced self-defense since she was a child, andbined with her actualbat experience, her grasp of strength was pretty much urate, so she had only wanted to throw Zhu Zhu out and make her trip and bruise her face. But she hadn¡¯t expected her to m her against the wall like that. Looking at her posture, she might even have broken some bones...

    When did she have such great strength?

    While she was still stunned, Jiang Bilian instructed a few people to call the school doctor and the teacher.

    The school doctor hurried to check on Zhu Zhu¡¯s injuries and said to the trainees on the side, ¡°Go to my office to find the assistant and let her arrange a stretcher and an ambnce. I¡¯m afraid that several of the girl¡¯s bones have broken. The Training Camp has insufficient equipment and she must be sent to a big hospital immediately.¡±

    When the surrounding trainees heard these words, they couldn¡¯t help but look at Xia Yingluo in shock. This girl was so powerful?

    Xia Yingluo was also stunned. Multiple fractures throughout her body? How could she be pushed to this extent? Was she... ¡°Is she osteoporotic?¡±

    The school doctor turned her head and red at her. ¡°Xia Yingluo! Do you have any conscience, you pushed your friend to this state and you still dare to say she¡¯s osteoporotic? You just wait to be punished! Such a cruel method and your lifestyle is even worse, I suggest you drop out of school!¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered and frowned. ¡°Which eye did you see that my lifestyle is bad? Be careful I don¡¯t sue you for nder!¡±

    She admitted to hurting her ssmate, but it wasn¡¯t that easy to pour other dirty water on her!

    The school doctor had no time to argue with her and hurriedly carried Zhu Zhu away.

    A group of trainees was left looking at each other.

    ¡°What should we do, Yingluo.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her anxiously. ¡°The Dean has been finding trouble with you recently and was musing over not having anything to hold against you, but you just sent yourself to death¡¯s doorsteps. Will the school dismiss you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was also a little worried. If she was fired, where could she go for more than a year and wait until it was time to return to her family? She forced herself to be optimistic again and patted Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s shoulder with a smile. ¡°What are you worried about, I can go to another training camp.¡± Mother once said that the Skyart Training Camp was particrly good and much easier than that of Imperial Entertainment¡¯s. She now regretted not going to Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp from the start.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her carefree attitude and was anxious. ¡°Why can¡¯t you be more worried? Even if you go to another training camp, how good would your reputation be for being dismissed from Imperial Entertainment? After debuting, this will taint your reputation for your whole life.¡±

    ¡°Calm down,¡± Xia Yingluo said indifferently.

    She didn¡¯t care about her debut. Her goal was toplete the trial safely and return to her family two yearster to eat well and die peacefully. What a magnificent picture it was, and it was much easier andfortable than working in the entertainment industry.

    She smiled brightly at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°It¡¯s all right, don¡¯t worry about me.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er wanted to say something more but realized that nothing would help, so she just sighed.

    Xia Yingluo was worried about another thing. How had her strength suddenly be so amazing? After thinking about it, she picked up an object from the table and threw it towards the wall. With little effort, she managed to smash the object into pieces.

    She was stunned.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also stunned. It took her a long time to return to her senses, and she screamed, ¡°My flower!¡±

    Xia Yingluo realized that what she had just thrown out was the ss ball with the mysterious white Starkana flower inside.

    Now, the flower had broken into pieces under the impact, and the petals disintegrated and dissipated with the wind.

    She froze andughed dryly. ¡°It¡¯s an ident, haha, an ident.¡±

    The other two girls looked at her with vignce and hid the flowers they had gotten behind them silently.

    ¡°Ying, Yingluo, I can¡¯t believe your strength is so big, haha,¡± one of the girls said with a dryugh.

    Xia Yingluo alsoughed. She didn¡¯t know why her strength had increased, so she casually lied. ¡°In the past, my family was poor, and I often went uphill to cut firewood, haha.¡±

    The crowd looked at her with worship and sympathy.

    She felt that she could not stay in the ssroom anymore, so she casually found a reason and left in a daunting manner.

    The consequences of injuring someone was severe.

    The Dean finally found an excuse to punish her severely this time, and he added the past punishment together. ¡°Run thirtyps around the back mountain, thene back and get your notice of withdrawal!¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°Why do I have to runps? Just give me the notice of withdrawal.¡±

    The Dean also sneered. ¡°Why, did you think you¡¯re all that after bing close to wealthy people? You want to drop out of school and live a canary life? Let me tell you, there¡¯s no way! If you don¡¯t finish these thirtyps, then just stay in the training camp. You¡¯re not allowed to eat, go to ss nor visit anyone! Let¡¯s see how your wealthy friends can rescue you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned. This was a little troublesome. She couldn¡¯t spend her whole time in school.

    She looked at the Dean and smiled slightly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll run. You better not be giving me such a severe punishment just because you¡¯re trying to vent anger for somebody. Otherwise... haha.¡± She smiled meaningfully and even made the Dean a little frightened.

    The Dean thought he was simply crazy. Why was he scared of a poor student?

    With a stern face, he said to Xia Yingluo solemnly, ¡°Don¡¯t think of me as despicable as you. There are no unwritten rules here, go run yourps!¡±

    Snorting softly, she turned and went to the back hill to run herps. She had already made up her mind. She would quickly finish herps and get the notice of withdrawal. In fact, ording to her n to leave home and experience the trials, she should have gone to Skyart Entertainment instead of Imperial Entertainment.

    As for why she hade to Imperial Entertainment? It was entirely a freakbination of factors.

    She still remembered the day when she first arrived in S City. The weather was good, and she suddenly became interested and wanted to see the ce that had really cultivated her mother but which her father detested. It was in front of the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp that she met Zhao Yixuan, who took fancy to her at first nce and smiled at her. ¡°Little girl, do you want to be a big star? I can cultivate you.¡±

 Chapter 1180 - Atrocities in the Back Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 1180: Atrocities in the Back Mountain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She had looked up and stared at the confident man, and she didn¡¯t know why, but she had been fascinated by him. Since it didn¡¯t really make much of a difference whether it was Imperial Entertainment or Skyart Entertainment¡¯s training camp, Xia Yingluo simply smiled and nodded. ¡°Okay, you have to keep your promise.¡±

    In this way, she became Zhao Yixuan¡¯s little girlfriend.

    Zhao Yixuan arranged her to get into the training camp and applied for a student bonus for her, promising to make her debut. She admired him for almost a year until the dream was broken and it was now time to leave.

    Facing the slightly breezy wind in the back mountain, she started to runps.

    Thirtyps may be difficult for other trainees, but it was not too difficult for her¡ªshe had been in good physique ever since young and was not inferior to manybatants in her family due to the special training of her father. Thus, this punishment was only a walk in the park.

    The sky was clear in the summer, and everywhere the fragrance of the nts and trees could be smelled. She ran and didn¡¯t feel anything at first, but gradually her body became heavier and she felt something wasn¡¯t right. A faint sensation of pain crept up on her, tearing and pulling secretly inside her body, like the feeling that had lingered after that night. It engulfed her, getting stronger and stronger.

    Xia Yingluo was a little panicked. What happened?

    Didn¡¯t the school doctor say she was healthy and okay?

    She wanted to go back down the mountain and go to the school hospital for a detailed examination, but she was perspiring heavily in pain and couldn¡¯t move.

    She gritted her teeth and barely took a few more steps when she hit against a strong, solid body.

    She looked up and found that it was Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan wore a tailored shirt and trousers. It was obviously hot weather, but she could not see the slightest sweat on his handsome ice-sculpture-like face. His long figure shrouded against the sun and cast a circle of light and shadow.

    Suffering from the severe pain in her body, she stared at him dully, as if looking at a mirage.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her and said with a light tone, ¡°I told you before that you¡¯ll be in pain again and wille crying to me for help.¡±

    Hearing this arrogant and annoying remark, she finally concluded that this was not her hallucination. She gritted her teeth and said, ¡°You wish.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll just die of pain.¡± He really stood still and watched her stiffly as she tossed about in pain. She fell down slowly, paralyzed on the ground and unable to stand, moaning in excruciating pain, the groans overflowing from the corners of her lips.

    She gritted her teeth and made up her mind not to beg him. The pain pulsated and sweat flowed down her forehead, blurring her vision until gradually, she couldn¡¯t see anything. She only stared at a small ce in front of her at the corners of her eyes, where there was a pair of finely crafted calfskin shoes that weren¡¯t moving. It belonged to him.

    Her knuckles were pale, and she clutched onto his shoes tightly, but she was too weak to leave any traces.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡± She gasped heavily. ¡°I will never, ever, spare you...¡±

    There was a sneer above her head, and she was caught by her messy long hair. Her body was dragged backward carelessly all the way to the shade of the woods. Then, his long figure shrouded her and he covered her lips with his cold thin lips.

    She shook her head weakly, trying to avoid him, but she couldn¡¯t.

    Dizziness swept through like a violent storm, and her consciousness seemed to sink into a deep sea. Her vision was bing more and more blurred, and her whole body¡¯s nerves were so sharp that she could clearly feel him ripping off her clothes and caressing her impudently.

    Every touch provoked even her tiniest nerves.

    He turned her over without much effort, held her head, and entered from behind.

    She was in so much pain she wanted to scream, but her throat was hoarse and she couldn¡¯t make a single sound.

    When everything was over, he got up and just tossed her a broken coat. ¡°Let me teach you two things. First, you have to be punished for doing what you wanted with the flowers I gave you. Second, you will suffer anytime as long as I want you to.¡±

    Her face was pale and she had never been so angry and helpless before. A fire seemed to be burning in her heart, and she was full of hidden despair, like a sea filling up with cold water. If she had a knife beside her now, she would have killed him without hesitation, she was sure of it!

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s footsteps went away.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t see it, but his white knuckles were faintly stained with white shards, which were broken Skatana petals that slowly dissipated in the air. He had taken such a long time, devoting all his efforts to cultivate the four flowers. When the flowers bloomed and she had grown up, he had carefully brought them all in front of her, but she had abandoned them and treated them so carelessly.

    He was right, this flower could cure her rejection reaction, but she didn¡¯t believe it.

    A bird flew across the sky.

    She stumbled in the mud like a bird with a broken wing.

    She didn¡¯t have energy and went motionless. After a long time, the sky suddenly started pouring heavy rain. Lightning shed and it poured heavily.

    The heat of her body quickly dissipated in the rain. She couldn¡¯t go on like this. The most feared thing in the wild would be losing body heat. Xia Yingluo struggled and exhausted herst strength to climb up the old banyan tree, enduring the tearing pain in her body and stumbling down the mountain.

    At this moment, she was extremely grateful that her father was Li Lei, who had taught her so much survival knowledge in the wild.

    Relying on the survival instincts she had umted over the years, she fumbled down the mountain and opened the door of the school¡¯s medical office in the dark stormy night. The school doctor was leisurely leaning on a lounger by the table and reading a book. The milk coffee in her white porcin cup was steaming hot. The school doctor was startled after seeing her frail appearance as she quickly put down her book to greet her. ¡°Xia Yingluo, why is it you again?¡±

    Her lips were dark purple and she couldn¡¯t talk.

    The school doctor quickly handed the milk coffee to her. ¡°You must be frozen cold, drink something hot.¡± She turned on the heater again and found a dry towel as well as a hospital gown. ¡°Hurry up and change your clothes, or you¡¯ll fall sick.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also knew that she was in bad condition. She trembled and changed into the clothes slowly, the pain in her body tearing her in half. She was almost done changing when she fell down without warning and curled her body up in pain.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo!¡± The school doctor quickly leaned over to help her. ¡°What the hell is wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± she said intermittently with much difficulty. ¡°I¡¯m in pain, the same pain like the one I told you before... that pain.¡±

    The school doctor¡¯s face was dark. She only realized her body was full of red and purple bruises, and there were also a few ambiguous tooth marks. Needless to say, she already knew what had happened. ¡°You!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but scold. ¡°Why don¡¯t you know how to love yourself more at such a young age! Why are you messing around with a man in this weather?! That man is also a bastard, how could he let youe here alone?¡±

 Chapter 1181 - Metabolism Is Too Fast

    <h4>Chapter 1181: Metabolism Is Too Fast</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t say anything, she could only stutter, ¡°It hurts...¡±

    The school doctor checked her. ¡°It¡¯s impossible, it¡¯s not your first time, why is it still so painful?¡± After checking, she realized there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with her, so she just gave her a painkiller. ¡°Eat it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo took the medicine with the help of the school doctor, but more than half an hour passed and she was still in excruciating pain, and it just didn¡¯t seem to get better.

    The school doctor reached out and rolled her eyelids. Seeing that her pupils were a little shaky, she knew that things were not good, so she contacted the ambnce to take her to the big hospital. After entering the emergency room, the doctors used various means to rescue her, but her condition did not improve in the slightest, and they couldn¡¯t even find out the cause. They helplessly watched her fall into aa in pain. She had a high fever and started mumbling nonsensical words.

    ¡°She can¡¯t go on like that,¡± said one of the doctors. ¡°It¡¯s going to be fatal.¡±

    ¡°But the cause can¡¯t be found,¡± said another doctor. ¡°We are already the best hospital in this city. Even in the country, there are few medical standards higher than ours. She¡¯ll be hopeless anywhere else.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t just watch her die, right?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no choice...¡± The attending doctor groaned. He sighed and said to the school doctor who had brought her, ¡°Contact her family and get a notice of illness.¡±

    The school doctor was stunned. What strange disease was this? A perfectly healthy and fine person had to suddenly get a notice of illness! She froze for a few seconds before saying, ¡°Oh... okay.¡± She turned around, frightened out of her mind, and nned to call back to the training camp to let colleagues in the training camp find out the contact information of Xia Yingluo¡¯s family.

    After walking a few steps, she bumped into someone.

    It was a man of long build, wearing a delicate shirt and a pair of trousers. His features were like ice sculptures and were even colder under the pale lights of the hospital corridor. Lightning shed and rain showered outside, and the light shone on him, pulling his originally thin shadow on the ground for a long time, twisting and deforming it until he looked like some kind of mysterious and dangerous creature.

    The school doctor¡¯s breath was taken away.

    The man said, ¡°Where is Xia Yingluo?¡±

    The school doctor stammered. ¡°You, who are you to her?¡±

    The man smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach his eyes. ¡°I am her... creditor.¡±

    Then, he strode into the emergency rescue room in long strides.

    The medical staff in the emergency rescue room saw him and scolded. ¡°Who are you? Get out! This is not somewhere you cane into!¡±

    He only swept his eyes past them with a pair of cold and narrow eyes, and everyone suddenly lost their voices¡ªhis stare was terrifying. For a moment, it gave them the illusion of being looked at by an unknown beast, and they didn¡¯t dare to make a single move in case they alerted him.

    Wei Lingnan ignored them and walked to Xia Yingluo¡¯s bed and bent down.

    ¡°Ah Luo,¡± he whispered, stroking her cheek gently with his bony fingers. Her temperature was abnormally high, her cheeks flushed, and her lips pale.

    He leaned down and dropped a kiss on her lips.

    There was a gloomy flickering of lights between his thin lips and teeth, which soon disappeared into her lips and vanishedpletely.

    He straightened up and watched as her breathing calmed down and the flushing on her cheeks faded away.

    ¡°Stable... the patient¡¯s condition is stable!¡± A doctor stared at the data on the medical device and suddenly shouted in joy. The other medical staff also turned around and saw that the red letter that had been shing critically had been reced by the green character jumping steadily.

    They couldn¡¯t help but cheer and hug each other.

    The doctors harbored the hearts of a parent towards his patient, and they were all ecstatic to be able to pull her back from the death line.

    In the midst of cheers, someone then thought of Wei Lingnan and came to him, asking, ¡°This gentleman, who are you? Why did she get okay once you got here?¡±

    As soon as this remark was made, everyone looked toward Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips curled up and he walked out as quietly as he hade, burying himself deep in the dark storm.

    All the medical staff looked at each other.

    ¡°What a weirdo.¡± After a while, someone said.

    The attending doctor directed the crowd. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry about it so much and quickly check the patient¡¯s physical signs and take good care of her. Don¡¯t let her have a fever again. That person is probably the patient¡¯s family. He kissed her and gave the patient spiritual support, which strengthened the patient¡¯s willpower to resist death and survive.¡±

    This was indeed the most reasonable exnation they could think of.

    Someone went to the school doctor and said, ¡°Is that man the patient¡¯s boyfriend? Let him see her more, maybe she will be better soon.¡±

    The school doctor smiled bitterly and wanted to say where on earth Xia Yingluo could find a boyfriend from? ording to the rumors, she had several sugar daddies. However, because this was a bad reputation for the training camp, she stayed silent and let it pass.

    She stayed by Xia Yingluo¡¯s bed and guarded her the whole night.

    The next day, Xia Yingluo opened her eyes and saw the school doctor¡¯s awkward face.

    ¡°Doctor Zhou,¡± she said faintly. ¡°Where is this, what happened to me?¡±

    Doctor Zhou saw her waking up, and her eyes began to show joy, but it soon turned to anger quickly. ¡°You still have the face to ask? Do you know that you almost diedst night? Xia Yingluo, did you conceal some medical history when you entered school. If so, tell me honestly as soon as possible, or your life will be in danger!¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought of what had happened yesterday and smiled bitterly. ¡°How could I have a medical history?¡±

    Obviously, everything happened after meeting Wei Lingnan. If she was sick, it would be because Wei Lingnan had an illness. Who knew what weird disease he had transmitted to her? She thought of this and remembered how on the night at the casino, she had seen his bleeding wound heal at an incredible rate. What if that was a kind of disease?

    ¡°Doctor Zhou, do you know what illness...¡± Xia Yingluo said carefully, ¡°Can make people¡¯s wound heal immediately?¡±

    Doctor Zhou froze and sneered. ¡°How could there be such a good disease in this world? If there was, everyone would be fighting to get it!¡±

    ¡°But I really met such a person...¡±

    ¡°Have you got a fever? It¡¯s easy for your brain to be damaged if you have a high fever above thirty-eight degrees. You were forty degreesst night, have you gone stupid?¡±

    Xia Yingluo: ¡°...¡±

    Doctor Zhou suddenly felt she shouldn¡¯t be so aggressive towards a patient who had just escaped from death. Thus, she changed her perspective and said, ¡°You are hallucinating... oh no, the kind of phenomenon you are talking about, it may be because a certain degree of biological cells are hyperactive and elerating the metabolism. I guess you could call it a disease. Because usually, the organisms that have too fast a metabolism live shortly.¡±

 Chapter 1182 - He Saved You

    <h4>Chapter 1182: He Saved You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Ah, he can¡¯t live for long?¡± Xia Yingluo was startled.

    Doctor Zhou rolled her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the fuss about? Look at those long-lived species on the earth, turtles, jellyfish, which one of them is not metabolically slow? It¡¯s easy to die early if it¡¯s fast, it¡¯s said to be so in the scientificmunity.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was silent. The strange disease that Wei Lingnan had transmitted to her was early death?

    If so, where should she go to cry her eyes out?

    Boohoo, she was still so young. She was only a sixteen-year-old beautiful flower with a tender face, her parents also loved her, and she could enjoy endless glory and wealth. A huge amount of good times still awaited for her, so how could she die without enjoying it all?

    Wei Lingnan, that abnormal neuropathy!

    Where had she offended him, why did he want her to die?

    Xia Yingluo cried without tears. ¡°Doctor Zhou, I think I¡¯m going to die soon.¡±

    Doctor Zhou looked at her angrily. ¡°If you don¡¯t care about your body again, you¡¯ll really be close to death! Look at some of the people in the training camp that are like you, they fight and fool around with people in the society and don¡¯t learn properly! Furthermore, your family is also poor, what can you do in the future? You can¡¯t really live your life relying on sugar daddies! The best time for a woman is only a few years. When you¡¯re old, you¡¯ll have nothing to support yourself with and will only starve on the streets!¡± She said angrily. If she was Xia Yingluo¡¯s mother, she would have hit her already.

    Xia Yingluo felt she couldn¡¯t wash clean of these usations no matter what. What fighting and fooling around in the society, how had this be her reputation unbeknownst to her?

    She drooped her head and listened to the doctor¡¯s scolding, but her mind was more preupied over her body. If even the best hospital in the city couldn¡¯t find out what was wrong with her, then did she really have to lower her head to beg Wei Lingnan? Or was there another way? She could go home in advance to ask her parents and uncle for help. Maybe the elders would be able to find out what happened to her.

    However, this would mean that she had failed her trial.

    She was extremely tangled up. Why did she have to be stuck with this thing during her trial?

    Was her life or the trial more important?

    It was really such a difficult choice...

    Xia Yingluo was so lost in her worries she didn¡¯t even hear thest words of Doctor Zhou¡¯s nagging. Finally, Doctor Zhou concluded. ¡°Stay in the hospital for a few days and reflect on yourself. Once you¡¯re well, you¡¯ll leave the hospital. I¡¯ll give you a sick leave note so that you don¡¯t have to run yourps anymore. Also, take whatever medicine you can before you leave the hospital, it can all be reimbursed in the trainee welfare, okay?¡±

    Xia Wei was a little surprised and moved.

    She understood Doctor Zhou¡¯s intention¡ªshe was about to be expelled. Once she was formally removed from the training camp, she would have to pay for her own medical treatment afterward. Doctor Zhou was afraid she couldn¡¯t afford it, so she reminded her to quickly get well while she could be reimbursed.

    She thanked Doctor Zhou for her kindness.

    Doctor Zhou snorted coldly. ¡°Do your best.¡±

    She got up and left the ward.

    Xia Yingluo rolled the nket over her. Her thoughts wereplicated and she racked her brains thinking it over.

    What if she was really dying? Should she leave a will and tell her parents to take revenge on Wei Lingnan for her?

    Just as she was thinking about this, the door opened. A tall, slender man walked in calmly, his face handsome, and his thin ice-like lips were curled upwards in a smirk. It made people feel strangely chilled to the bones.

    Wei Lingnan.

    Why did hee?

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s body was tense. She sat up alertly and looked at him.

    Wei Lingnan walked to the bed and looked down at her from above. ¡°Are you better?¡± He put down the things he had brought.

    This man always seemed to be in control of the situation. It was really... extremely hateful. Xia Yingluo looked at him for a long while and said, ¡°Come, sit here.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at her and really sat down beside her bed.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Sit closer.¡±

    Wei Lingnan moved the chair towards her.

    Xia Yingluo: ¡°Closer.¡±

    As soon as Wei Lingnan moved the chair again, Xia Yingluo picked up a fruit knife on the bedside table and stabbed him quickly and ruthlessly. She stabbed him in the shoulder with the knife.

    A lot of blood poured out instantly.

    It dyed his shirt, her hands, and the mattress.

    He didn¡¯t even frown. He stared at her with a pair of smooth pupils that were rid of any emotion.

    As she slowly withdrew the fruit knife, the de scratched his bone, making a screeching sound that caused goosebumps. Neither of them spoke. They let the sound continue until atst, she lightly pulled out the knife and threw it to the ground.

    Blood spewed out like a spring.

    However, soon, the wound on Wei Lingnan¡¯s shoulder healed immediately under the naked eye. The blood flow stopped, leaving only dry marks. Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t even change his expression or posture throughout the process. He asked gently, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°You made me feel pain, so I¡¯m giving you pain back.¡±

    He looked into her eyes and smiled slowly. ¡°This is my Ah Luo.¡±

    She was furious at his words. ¡°Who is your Ah Luo? What qualifications do you have to call me that? Do you believe¡ª¡± She pointed at the fruit knife on the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll cut your throat with that? What¡¯s the point of you healing, then?¡±

    ¡°Will you cut my throat?¡± He asked calmly.

    Xia Yingluo choked. No matter how much she hated him, she had never really hurt anyone before, and she didn¡¯t want to now either.

    She snorted and turned her head.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her, the faint sunshine shining on the side of her face so beautifully. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, but she quickly avoided his touch.

    ¡°Get lost,¡± she said.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Why are you so heartless? Do you know who saved you when you had a high fever anda?¡±

    She said coldly, ¡°It definitely won¡¯t be you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Unfortunately, it was me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression changed. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you. There is so many medical staff here, why would they need you to interfere?¡±

    ¡°They are all idiots,¡± Wei Lingnan said indifferently as if he wasn¡¯t just talking about the city¡¯s best medical staff but rather a group of ants. ¡°They couldn¡¯t even find the cause of your illness, the only thing they could do was give you the critical illness notice. I kissed you and helped your blood pressure, heartbeat and temperature return to normal. Many people present at the time saw it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him and shook her head. ¡°This is ridiculous. The doctor can¡¯t possibly believe that a kiss saved my life.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°Of course they don¡¯t believe it. They think I¡¯m your beloved person, and it was because of my kiss that rekindled your will to survive and helped you wake up automatically. What a fairytale, right?¡±

 Chapter 1183 - Jiang Bilianâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 1183: Jiang Bilian¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    No matter how unwilling Xia Yingluo was, she had to agree that this exnation was more nonsensical.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± She asked, ¡°What kind of illness was transmitted to me?¡±

    ¡°This is not a disease,¡± Wei Lingnan said slowly. ¡°The rejection reaction is only temporary. As long as I am with you to take care of you, you will get through it safely. As for who I am, one day you will remember, Ah Luo. ¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very irritated. ¡°I said that you have mistaken me for someone else. I don¡¯t know you.¡±

    His eyes lit up. ¡°Maybe I should remind your body again now.¡±

    She flinched, remembering his previous ¡°reminder¡±, and quickly shut up.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression eased a little and he said, ¡°Come, drink the porridge.¡± He picked up the thing on the bedside table he had put down earlier. It was a thermos bowl, which contained white rice porridge. The sweet scent permeated the air.

    She cocked her head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I have no patience.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°Really? I¡¯m not easily threatened,¡±

    Wei Lingnan bowed his head and dug the porridge little by little with a silver spoon. ¡°Humans will die if they don¡¯t eat. If you die, your parents and friends would be sad.¡±

    She didn¡¯t say a word. She remembered her parents and brothers who were far away abroad and felt her heart turn sour. If they knew she was bullied into something like this, they would be distressed, right? She had really failed to live up to expectations. They had raised her up well, but she was only capable of worrying them. ¡°Am I dying?¡± she asked him. ¡°Doctor Zhou said that if a person¡¯s metabolism gets faster, her life will be shorter.¡±

    Wei Lingnan mocked. ¡°Rest assured, you have a very long life. You¡¯re not allowed to die before me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him. ¡°ording to the scientific calctions of metabolism, you won¡¯t live long either.¡±

    The mockery in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes got stronger. ¡°Stupid human.¡±

    He reached out and handed the little spoon with porridge in it to her mouth. ¡°Eat.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to feed me, I¡¯ll eat it myself,¡± she said.

    ¡°Do you believe I¡¯ll tie you to the bed?¡±

    Xia Yingluo: ¡°...¡± She opened her mouth silently and bit the spoon fiercely as if wanting to bite his neck off.

    Wei Lingnan smiled slightly again, this time victoriously.

    Xia Yingluo rested in the hospital for a few days and her condition gradually improved. Strangely, the heartwrenching pain never happened in the few days where he was there with her. When it was finally time to leave the hospital, he sent her back to the training camp. She got down from his shy ck sports car and apanied her into the girl¡¯s dormitory all the way, attracting the attention of many people.

    ¡°Look,¡± someone said, pulling at hispanion. ¡°that¡¯s Xia Yingluo¡¯s sugar daddy in the rumors? He¡¯s so handsome.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so unexpected. I thought it would be a middle-aged bald man. Xia Yingluo has really struck the lottery.¡±

    ¡°Seriously, he¡¯s more handsome than Zhao Yixuan. No wonder she wanted to dump Zhao Yixuan for a taller branch.¡±

    ¡°I heard Zhao Yixuan dumped her.¡±

    Whispers and gossips were exchanged all around.

    Xia Yingluo was expressionless. She pretended not to hear and went straight into the dormitory. The dormitory was a six-person room. Four of them were about to make their debut and had been pulled out of the training and had not yet returned, so only Jin Ling¡¯er was there.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er saw her, she stepped forward and gave her a big hug. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re finally back! I missed you to death!¡±

    Xia Yingluo plucked her off her as if she were a ko. She said coldly, ¡°Close the door.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er saw that her expression was weird, so she went to close the door, but a bony hand blocked it. A tall and slender man walked in with a few items in his hand.

    Jin Ling¡¯er froze. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Wei Lingnan shook the items he was carrying. ¡°Which is Ah Luo¡¯s desk? I helped her bring her personal supplies back.¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er responded. ¡°You mean Yingluo? Her desk is there. Are you... her boyfriend?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    The two of them replied at the same time.

    Xia Yingluo red at Wei Lingnan fiercely. ¡°I have nothing to do with you!¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips curled into a smile and he said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°She¡¯s not very well now, so her temper is bad. Please help me take care of her.¡±

    With a pair of bright eyes, Jin Ling¡¯er looked from one to the other and then giggled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, handsome guy. Yingluo is my good sister, so I¡¯ll take good care of her. You shoulde and visit her often, she likes to eat fish and food preserved in honey.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips curled up again. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so angry she threw a pillow at him. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t enough, so she threw another pillow at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°You get lost too!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er shrugged and exchanged a look with Wei Lingnan. ¡°Look, she really has a bad temper.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said goodbye and left. Jin Ling¡¯er rushed to Xia Yingluo shamelessly. ¡°Hurry up and tell me honestly, what¡¯s the name of the handsome guy? Was he the guy who did that to you that night?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so angry she mmed a pillow at her. ¡°You are the one who likes to eat fish and preserved sweets. Don¡¯t use my name to make people send them over! Also, which eye did you look at him for him to be handsome? What is your aesthetic? He¡¯s a viin!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er sneered. ¡°You have to keep him for my little preserved snacks.¡±

    ¡°Eat and eat, you only know how to eat!¡± Xia Yingluo was furious with her. What kind of a bad friend was she? She chased her with a pillow and hit her. ¡°You sold your soul for personal gain! You valued sex over friendship! Stop running, stand still if you have the guts!¡±

    The two girls were messing around when they suddenly heard an ¡°Ouch!¡±.

    It turned out that the pillow had smashed into the door and had hit someone¡¯s face.

    They turned around and saw Jiang Bilian and her follower Zhu Zhu.

    Jin Ling¡¯er took the lead in responding. She walked over to pick up the pillow and closed the door.

    Zhu Zhu quickly blocked the door with her hands and said arrogantly, ¡°This is how you treat your guests?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er sneered. ¡°Don¡¯t act close with us. You don¡¯t deserve to be called a guest here. Go go go, get lost.¡±

    Jiang Bilian frowned slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t speak so rudely.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er squinted at her and said, ¡°Do you think I¡¯m rude? Then hurry up and get lost.¡±

    Jiang Bilian showed a gentle smile. She looked past Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s shoulder at Xia Yingluo and said in a soft and gentle voice, ¡°Yingluo, I heard that you have been discharged from the hospital and I¡¯m here to visit you. Is your body okay? Is there anything I can do to help?¡±

    There was nothing wrong with courting her favor. She was craftily trying to steal information.

    Xia Yingluo knew that Jiang Bilian had no good intentions and said coldly, ¡°Our friendship is not so good yet. Don¡¯t worry about me, everything is fine.¡±

 Chapter 1184 - A Little Request

    <h4>Chapter 1184: A Little Request</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jiang Bilian said, ¡°You can¡¯t say that. The school has already announced that they are chasing you out of school. I was thinking, you¡¯re just a poor student without help, what could you do to survive once you¡¯re kicked out? How about I give you some money. Anyway, we¡¯re ssmates, so I should help.¡±

    It turned out that this was her real purpose, to mock Xia Yingluo.

    Was Xia Yingluo a beggar? She changed her expression and smiled. ¡°Sister Bilian, I didn¡¯t think you were so kind, it seems that I was mistaken to think you were pretentious and hypocritical. I was just thinking I have nowhere to go after being kicked out from the training camp.¡±

    Jiang Bilian twitched at her words. What did she mean by she was pretentious and hypocritical?

    However, at least Xia Yingluo knew to admit defeat, her ttering smile the evidence. She must have found that she had no means of survival after she left the training camp, so she was trying to curry favor with her to dig out some benefits.

    Thinking of this, Jiang Bilian smiled proudly and said stubbornly, ¡°Look at how you¡¯re talking. You¡¯re about to be expelled and you¡¯re just a poor soul, why would I fuss over minor matters with you?¡± She said with an air of arrogance that could onlye from a winner.

    Xia Yingluo said concisely, ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked awkward beside her, and she said loudly, ¡°Yingluo, why are you so polite to her?!¡±

    Zhu Zhu sneered and shouted loudly as well, ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er, you are so rude. Our sister Bilian is kind to care about Xia Yingluo, but you really don¡¯t know to appreciate her kindness! Sister Bilian has originally prepared some money to help out Xia Yingluo and help her live a good life after getting expelled, what can you do to help your friend besides shouting all over the ce?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was angered and was about to say something when Xia Yingluo stopped her. ¡°Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Looking at her shaking her head, Jin Ling¡¯er was so angry that she said nothing. Yes, she could not help Xia Yingluo out materialistically, how was she to live after leaving the training camp? Maybe Yingluo had also thought of this problem, which would exin why she was being so polite to Jiang Bilian.

    However, didn¡¯t Yingluo have a powerful boyfriend? Why couldn¡¯t she just ask her boyfriend for help?

    Her heart was messy and full of doubts.

    Over there, in the hallway of the dormitory building, their loud noises had attracted arge number of people. They all came to watch the liveliness, pointing and gossiping. Zhu Zhu was very proud. She had intended such a reaction. She had intensively publicized to the crowd just how kind her sister Bilian was, sending help over as soon as she heard Xia Yingluo was getting expelled.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo, as long as you apologize to Sister Bilian, Sister Bilian will give you a lot of money so that you can live a good life after getting expelled,¡± Zhu Zhu said loudly. This was the reason why they hade today. They wanted to give alms to their former adversary Xia Yingluo and portray her as a beggar in front of everyone, to vent their anger and let everyone know Jiang Bilian¡¯s gentleness and nobility.

    ¡°Worry-less life?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled meaningfully.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Bilian said. ¡°It¡¯s not easy for a girl to go out to society. The men won¡¯t give you money either, right? Otherwise, your life won¡¯t be so miserable,¡± she said, looking Xia Yingluo up and down. Xia Yingluo wore a discounted shirt and skirt she had bought from a store at the school gate. Her face showing a hint of disdain, she said, ¡°Take the money to help yourself live better and stop tangling with the men who are just ying with you. Sugar daddies are not so easily tied down, don¡¯t lose your body and gain nothing from it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Then I really want to thank Sister Bilian. I don¡¯t really have high requirements for a good life. I want nothing more than a single vi in a prime location, surrounded by trees. When I leave the house, there¡¯ll be a private driver, and two famous chefs and a nanny. Oh, and of course, a gardener and a bodyguard, that¡¯s all. Sister Bilian is really generous to help me get all these together. ¡±

    Jiang Bilian didn¡¯t expect her to bite off more than she could chew. She was stunned for a moment and realized that Xia Yingluo was only ying with her.

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled and said, ¡°Yes, yes, our Yingluo¡¯s requirements are not high. It¡¯s just a little higher than the highest standard of life of Miss Jiang. I heard that your family has been without a bodyguard so far? And the chef also cooks horribly? Hahaha!¡±

    The onlookers alsoughed. A few smart people had already seen through it. This Jiang Bilian was deliberately showing off her wealth in front of Xia Yingluo but was severely pped in the face by her instead. She had opened a condition she could not afford and was going to be very awkward.

    Jiang Bilian was annoyed. ¡°Xia Yingluo, I¡¯m helping you out of kindness!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Xia Yingluo blinked innocently. ¡°I also sincerely made a little request, Sister Bilian. It can¡¯t be that you can¡¯t even do this little thing? I, I have already removed the conditions of a private helicopter, an English butler, and a personal garden. If you¡¯re not able to fulfill them, how about I remove the bodyguard as well?¡± She gave an ¡°I¡¯m being very amodating and wronged¡± expression.

    Jiang Bilian was so angry that she was about to explode. Why would she mention the bodyguard here?!

    Although many top and wealthy people were apanied by bodyguards, her family was not one of them! Even the bodyguards had to be temporarily employed when the family held a party. Wasn¡¯t Xia Yingluoughing at her for not being a real aristocrat? You had to know, this had always been a pain in her heart. She regretted that her family history was not good enough, and she had to lower her head to the bigger people such as Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family!

    ¡°Xia Yingluo.¡± Jiang Bilian gritted her teeth. ¡°Do you really think the lives of rich people are really like that after watching idol dramas? Our Jiang family is very low-key. As for you, you should learn to be low-key. Since you were born to be poor, don¡¯t think too much about living the life of a rich person. You can¡¯t even afford a rental house, yet you still want a helicopter and a chef? Are these something you are qualified to ask for?¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. She actually was able to ask for them.

    How many private inds and servants did she have? Too many that she didn¡¯t even bother to remember!

    In other families, the son was always the most fawned upon. But in her family? Counting up three generations, the Li family didn¡¯t have a daughter, so after giving birth to her after a long time, the whole family treated her like a treasure. And the situation in the Xia family was also simr. Her mother Xia Ling had explored the outside world since young and didn¡¯t let her uncle and grandfather enjoy much of being with a daughter, so naturally, they all wanted to find the joy from her and doted on her terribly. They would even pluck the stars from the sky for her if they could. In such circumstances, what did she not have?

    Her conditions were really not enough!

    Jiang Bilian didn¡¯t seem to think so. She looked at the ring smile on Xia Yingluo¡¯s face and said, ¡°Since you are so confident, it seems you don¡¯t need my help at all. Then I wish you won¡¯t be a beggar after getting kicked out of the training camp, and...¡±

 Chapter 1185 - Prostitution for Money

    <h4>Chapter 1185: Prostitution for Money</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her smile shed, and her expression became even more vicious. ¡°Our Jiang family only offers schrships for outstanding students. Since you can¡¯t be a model student for the other trainees and have ruined the atmosphere instead, remember to return our sponsorship. Our Jiang family is generous and won¡¯t count interest with you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er took a deep breath. ¡°Jiang Bilian, don¡¯t go too far! Aren¡¯t you forcing her to a dead end?¡±

    Jiang Bilian smiled gently. ¡°I gave her a chance.¡±

    What else could Jin Ling¡¯er say? Xia Yingluo had already stopped her and looked directly into Jiang Bilian¡¯s eyes. ¡°Okay, isn¡¯t it just a small sum of money. I¡¯ll return it to you.¡± She had already calcted it out. After leaving Imperial and joining Skyart, with her standards, she would be able to admitted sessfully into the training camp and obtain student bonuses and even some loans. She just had to deal with the problem here and return to her family one yearter. Her own family was at Skyart Entertainment, so it didn¡¯t really matter if she had to return the money or write it off.

    Jiang Bilian suddenly thought of something. ¡°You¡¯re not going to sell your body to pay the debts, are you?¡± She revealed a despicable look.

    Zhu Zhu sang the same tune andughed viciously. ¡°Prostitute yourself to pay off your debt? Haha, Xia Yingluo, no wonder you are so assertive, you have already thought of such a way! We wouldn¡¯t be able to do that if we were you. However, you¡¯ve sold your body for so long and have yet to even get anything. You¡¯re still a poor student, could it be that you were so stupid you got fooled?¡±

    Her words made several trainees burst outughing.

    Sometimes the jealousy among girls was really so terrible.

    Unexpectedly, a man¡¯s voice sounded, as cold as an icy wastnd. ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    Everyone turned back and saw a slender young man walking into the dormitory unhurriedly, looking at the girls. His face was as handsome as an ice sculpture, with an indescribable indifferent look between his brows and eyes, seemingly faintly dangerous.

    ¡°Who is he?¡± Someone whispered.

    Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu¡¯s expressions changed. They recognized this man as the one who injured them in the dance ssroom that day!

    Wei Lingnan looked down at Jiang Bilian and said in an emotionless voice, ¡°It¡¯s you again. Wasn¡¯t thest lesson enough?¡±

    Jiang Bilian resisted the fear in her heart. ¡°This is the girl¡¯s dormitory. How did you get in?¡±

    The corners of his lips twitched slightly as if she had asked a ridiculous question, and he turned his head slightly to look at Xia Yingluo. ¡°The people in this training camp are really not likable. I did something on my own ord and made the school withdraw your dismissal. You wouldn¡¯t me me, would you?¡±

    What?!

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in surprise. Imperial Entertainment Training Camp¡¯s rules were notoriously strict. After a punishment was issued, it wouldn¡¯t be revoked easily. Such a thing could not be done if they had a family background like that of Jiang Bilian¡¯s. What background did this man have?

    If his surname wasn¡¯t Wei, she would have doubted that his surname was Pei!

    Jiang Bilian and the group of trainees were also surprised and couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who I am,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°You just need to know that Xia Yingluo is my woman. That¡¯s all.¡±

    The words that came out of his beautifully thin lips made many people take a sharp breath. Sure enough, the rumor of Xia Yingluo having a man outside the school was true! This man was so handsome and authoritative that it made people... jealous. Xia Yingluo¡¯s palm-sized face was full of anger, and she red at him with fiery eyes. ¡°Wei Lingnan! Who is your woman? Nonsense!¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled slowly, and, as if he didn¡¯t take her growl to heart, he looked at her affectionately, like he was looking at a grumpy kitten. ¡°You want a private vi? A famous chef? Ok, I¡¯ll send them to you. If you want to buy the Jiang Enterprise and y with it, it¡¯s possible too.¡±

    Everyone breathed a breath of cold air. It was a huge sum of money!

    Was what he said true or false? Besides the vi and bodyguards, he could even give a big enterprise like the Jiang Enterprise as a present?

    ¡°You, stop joking around.¡± Jiang Bilian felt humiliated and said angrily, ¡°What an exaggeration! You can even buy our Jiang Enterprise? You¡¯re not afraid of being exposed of your boasts and be a disgrace?¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at her lightly. ¡°Would you like to try?¡±

    There seemed to be infinite coercion in his eyes, which frightened Jiang Bilian so much her legs went jelly.

    This man... was terrifying!

    For a moment, she didn¡¯t dare to doubt Wei Lingnan¡¯s power. Whether he could afford Jiang Enterprise or not, he was someone she couldn¡¯t offend. Besides, she was not stupid. The fact that he could get the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp to withdraw Xia Yingluo¡¯s punishment already illustrated the problem¡ªher Jiang family couldn¡¯t do such a thing. Jiang Bilian lowered her head and stopped talking.

    Wei Lingnan looked at Xia Yingluo again. ¡°Shall we buy a vi at Nanning¡¯s Southern Park? You can see very beautiful stars there. This week, you can bring your friends to a party and have a barbeque. I¡¯ll prepare a famous chef and maids for you.¡±

    His voice seemed to be full of tenderness, and the trainees around him were all very envious. They had originally looked down on Xia Yingluo¡¯s arrogant behavior and her ways of finding a sugar daddy, but at this moment, they couldn¡¯t help but want to rush in front and say: Let go of this wealthy man, give him to me!

    Xia Yingluo, however, was unhappy. ¡°Who told you to make your own im? Did I say I wanted your vi?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not discussing with you.¡± His voice was still soft, but there was a conviction in it. ¡°Three dayster, I will go get the keys for the vi and report my name.¡± His body longed for her, and his soul missed her. Every single cell up and down his body wanted to get her desperately. He couldn¡¯te to the dormitory every time to meet her, or in the wild, it would be too inconvenient.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to refuse, but when she looked at the jealous and resentful eyes of Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu next to her, she changed her mind and smiled. ¡°Okay.¡± Then she said, ¡°Thank you for letting the training camp take back my punishment. I¡¯m afraid some people are very disappointed.¡±

    After hearing what she said, Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu¡¯s faces became darker again.

    Jiang Bilian couldn¡¯t stay any longer and she said to Zhu Zhu, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She hade with great fanfare but had to return in low spirits following a defeat. It was too embarrassing!

    Seeing them leave, Jin Ling¡¯er mmed the door of the dormitory shut, blocking those nces from outside.

    Xia Yingluo then attacked Wei Lingnan. ¡°Why are you here again?¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Is this the attitude of the person who just epted my vi?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You know I only did that to anger Jiang Bilian! Who wants your vi, I¡¯m not going to really take it!¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Really? If you don¡¯t ept it, why did you invite your friends to a party? They will use this information against you for quite a while.¡±

    Xia Yingluo went silent and red at him even more angrily.

 Chapter 1186 - Monthly Examination List

    <h4>Chapter 1186: Monthly Examination List</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    What did he mean holding a party, wasn¡¯t it a stupid idea he hade up with? He had said that intentionally in front of everyone! Just because he knew she didn¡¯t want to be ashamed and couldn¡¯t refuse the vi!

    ¡°Okay, I ept.¡± Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth. ¡°I want thergest and best building in Nanning. The decoration has to be more gorgeous than that of the pce. I want French famous chefs, English housekeepers, a cloakroom full of the season¡¯s new branded clothes, an independent video room, an outdoor swimming pool, a garden bar, and several precious antiques!¡±

    Wei Lingnan had yet to speak when Jin Ling¡¯er sighed. Was this girl trying to rob him?!

    But since she considered her to be family, she managed to prevent the words ¡°bloody hell¡± froming out.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression remained the same. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Okay?!

    Was it over with one okay?!

    He agreed to it so easily?!

    Xia Yingluo was extremely unhappy now. She had reported such a long list in one breath, but why didn¡¯t he even react with a little pain? ¡°I think you don¡¯t look too young.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but scorn Wei Lingnan. The man in front of her looked like he was only in his twenties. ¡°What does your family do? Why are you spending your family¡¯s money like that? Be careful your family doesn¡¯t catch you and drag you back home!¡±

    There was a hint of a smile in his starry eyes. ¡°You¡¯re worried about me?¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was frightened and was afraid Wei Lingnan would turn their back against them, so she quickly came forward to round up the situation. ¡°Hey, Yingluo, what kind of attitude is this? He already gave you so many things, the least you can do is thank him,¡± she said while furiously winking at her.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. Why was this girl siding with the other side? Whose friend was she?

    She snorted arrogantly and refused to turn her head over.

    ¡°Erm.¡± Jin Ling¡¯erughed dryly and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Thank you. Yingluo is still young and unreasonable, so please don¡¯t lower yourself to her level. And also, thank you for making the training camp retract her expulsion.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said lightly, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    He had made Xia Yingluo stay in the training camp, not for her own good.

    He was very clear about Xia Yingluo¡¯s identity. He had long guessed that she wanted to go to Skyart Training Camp, but how could he let her seed?

    In Imperial Entertainment, the Li family and Xia family¡¯s power was beyond one¡¯s influence. Once she moved to Skyart Entertainment, it wouldn¡¯t be convenient to touch her.

    He had done it purely out of selfishness and asked the school to notify her as soon as the punishment was revoked, but he just had to encounter the scene of Jiang Bilian bullying her. Thus, he had taken advantage of the situation to give her a vi. A girl living alone outside couldn¡¯t really rely on a bursary. Furthermore, she had been spoiled since young and her body wasn¡¯t in good condition now, so how could she stand living so miserably?

    He thought of this and handed a card to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°She refuses to ept anything from me. I¡¯m really distressed to see her so miserable. I¡¯ve already helped her withdraw the bursary, and she no longer owes the Jiang family anything. You are her roommate, so help her ept this card. Her tuition fees and daily expenses can be covered with this card.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes lit up and she quickly took it, praising him as a good man.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. ¡°Don¡¯t ept it!¡±

    Wei Lingnan had already turned and left the dormitory.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. She pointed a trembling finger at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°You are a money-grubber! A traitor!¡±

    ¡°Hehehe, you¡¯re with him anyway. I¡¯ll be wasting it if I don¡¯t ept it.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was extremely open about this as she looked the card over. ¡°How much money is in it? Yingluo, he¡¯s quite good to you, why are you always refusing his help?¡±

    ¡°Humph, he¡¯s good?¡± Xia Yingluo was so angry she wanted to hit her.

    She recalled his brutalness in the casino suite the first day and the atrocities he had done to her that day in the backwoods...

    What kind of a normal boyfriend, or even a sugar daddy, would do things like this?

    <i>He is a pervert!</i>

    However, these things were too private, even in the presence of a good girlfriend.

    She looked at Jin Ling¡¯er and the card, then sighed heavily. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    ¡°Good girl.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er smiled, touching her little head. ¡°Our family¡¯s Yingluo is going to be living in a vi like other people too. After we receive the vi we¡¯ll invite everyone over and annoy the hell out of Jiang Bilian and the rest! I have never even entered a high-end vi with a garden pool before. Yingluo, thanks to you, I¡¯ll be able to gain some insights, hahaha.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was weak. She wanted to just give the vi to her and shut her up.

    She had a super-rich boyfriend. No, the news of her having a sugar daddy behind the scenes spread quickly in the training camp. No matter where she went, more and more people were pointing at her. Xia Yingluo put on a cold face and ignored the rumors. She devoted herself to training and preparation for the uing monthly exam. She must defeat Jiang Bilian in the monthly exam!

    She must vent her anger.

    The monthly exam approached.

    Culture ss, talent ss, etiquette ss...

    She achieved the highest score in each course, crushing Jiang Bilian with a great score advantage, bing the first in the school.

    And Jiang Bilian fell far behind her as second ce.

    ¡°This... how is this possible?!¡± When the results were released, everyone was horrified. ¡°How did Xia Yingluo get full marks in every course? Did she cheat? Is there some shady business?¡±

    Some people also sneered. ¡°Shady business? Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp has been here for so many years, when have you seen shady business going on? Even when Xia Ling and Chairman Pei were so intimatest time, her test results were all real and not in the least bit altered. Xia Yingluo¡¯s results must be real. I saw her dance during the dance exam that day. She was fascinating!¡±

    As he said, many people echoed the same thought. ¡°Yes, Xia Yingluo has really made rapid progress recently. On the day of the performance test, Ji Nian¡¯an and Shen Qiuyu yed with her and were both overwhelmed by her presence. They were simply not on the same level!¡±

    In the debate, the suspicion about her cheating gradually diminished, and it was reced by admiration instead.

    Outside the crowd, Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression slowly changed, but she still had to maintain her manners. Zhu Zhuforted her beside her. ¡°Sister Bilian, isn¡¯t it just that Xia Yingluo¡¯s good luck this time? She will definitely lose to you next month.¡±

    As soon as her words fell, she heard another argument from the crowd. ¡°Speaking of which, the singing test was too difficult. Even Jiang Bilian only got 54 points. It¡¯s the first time she hasn¡¯t passed! I couldn¡¯t tell how great the gap between her and Xia Yingluo was in terms of singing. After listening to Xia Yingluo¡¯s version and then hers, hers was literally like garbage.¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s face instantly darkened.

    Zhu Zhu looked down awkwardly and didn¡¯t dare speak.

    The crowd had yet to discover them and were still busy discussing it. ¡°Exactly. The examiners chose the repertoire for the selected songs, and they actually chose Xia Ling¡¯s <Butterfly in the Cage>, are they crazy and trying to kill us intentionally?¡±

 Chapter 1187 - Overall First

    <h4>Chapter 1187: Overall First</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I got the lowest score in history for my singing test... I can¡¯t live with this...¡± Someone moped.

    Another said, ¡°Teacher Cui already mentioned that this was a test of our understanding and grasp of the beat andyers of this song. Xia Ling¡¯s ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ isplex in terms of its emotions and technique, and really brings apart the scores of the good and the inferior candidates. Xiao Yin, you scored a 49 for this, but Xia Yingluo scored a full 100 marks!¡±

    ¡°She isn¡¯t human!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a pervert!¡±

    ¡°Besides Xia Ling herself, who else can score 100!¡±

    Grievances were being voiced all around, but no one actually said that Xia Yingluo had cheated. The version of ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡± that she sang for the test was put on the school¡¯s intr and was avable for everyone to download and voice their unhappiness if they felt the score was unjustified.

    On the other side, Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er were going to the scoreboard to have a look at their scores.

    To stimte thepetitiveness among candidates, Imperial made it a point to publicly release the scores for every major test or examination, instead of releasing it in ss or individually online.

    They happened to hear about the discussion regarding ¡°The Caged Butterfly¡±.

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°Yingluo, I knew you¡¯d be able to get the full marks when I heard you sing the other day! See, I was right!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled as well as counted her blessings. Although she really did not cheat, she did have some advantage over the rest when it came to singing this song¡ªshe¡¯d heard her mother Xia Ling talk about young girls and their puppy love stories and roughly knew what a conflicting love-hate rtionship was like. Coupled with her mother personally giving her advice during her free time with regard to this song, there was no way she wouldn¡¯t do well.

    Jin Ling¡¯er held her hand as they pushed through the crowd. ¡°Overall first! Yingluo, you¡¯re the first! Who¡¯s second?... Jiang Bilian? She¡¯s 127 marks lower than you! Hahaha, she¡¯s going to be so embarrassed!¡±

    Her voice was bright and clear, and everyone around heard her words.

    Someone said, ¡°Jiang Bilian is here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw that Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu standing right there.

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression was awful as she said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Count yourself lucky this time. I¡¯ll beat you again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so sure just yet.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve got to get a passing mark for ¡®The Caged Butterfly¡¯ first.¡±

    That was all it took to give Jiang Bilian a p to the face.

    Jiang Bilian clenched her fists and knew that she¡¯d just be an embarrassment if she stayed any longer. She grabbed Zhu Zhu and left the scene.

    Xia Yingluo was in a fantastic mood. She¡¯d tolerated all these people for way too long and could finally stand up for herself today. Hmph, why did it matter that she was the center of gossips? She had the substance, that¡¯s all that mattered! ¡°I¡¯ll treat you guys to a good meal in a few days.¡± She addressed the people around them. ¡°Once my vi is done renovating, I¡¯ll invite all of you there for a celebration!¡±

    ¡°Sure. With Yingluo treating us, I¡¯ll definitely get a good meal out of it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going too!¡±

    ¡°Count me in!¡±

    The other trainees were excited.

    That was human nature. As much as they spoke behind her back, they¡¯de to realize that she wasn¡¯t someone they could afford to offend, now that they knew how good she was¡ªshe had the looks and substance, and even though she came from an ordinary family, she could have boundless potential after being groomed for her debut. For all they knew, they might need her help in the future! It was about time they got into her good books while they could.

    Amidst all the congrattions, Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er left like idols being worshipped.

    After they¡¯d walked a distance away, Jin Ling¡¯er beganughing. ¡°Hahaha, Yingluo, did you see Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression? So funny. Didn¡¯t she think she¡¯s very good? Well, she failed the singing test! And her total score was so much worse than yours! Hahaha... I really wish I could capture that moment and put it up on the intr for future reference.¡±

    ¡°Say all you like.¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s lips curled up. ¡°Let¡¯s have something to eat.¡±

    ¡°Eat?¡±

    ¡°Yup, aren¡¯t you going to have lunch anymore?¡± said Xia Yingluo as she walked out the school gate. ¡°Is that beast¡¯s card with you? Let¡¯s go, Sister will take you to have some good food. It¡¯d be a waste not to use that beast¡¯s card.¡±

    ¡°Beast?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned for a while. ¡°Are you referring to Handsome Wei? You¡¯ve finally thought it through to use his card?¡±

    ¡°So what if I haven¡¯t?¡± Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth, wishing she could chew off a chunk of his flesh. ¡°Since the only thing I can do is bleed him dry, then why not?¡± Why did she have to make things difficult for herself?

    ¡°Right! Bleed him dry!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was all happy now. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Delicacy Lounge. I heard they have really good wild quails, and bird¡¯s nest, and abalone. I¡¯ve never had any of them. Oh right... I forgot to tell you, I think you¡¯ll never bleed him dry.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly got all secretive. ¡°You know what? I looked up Wei Lingnan on the web the other day, and someone has this spection about his identity...¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Xia Yingluo stopped her. ¡°I don¡¯t want to know who he is. Can we just have a good meal?¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright.¡± Whoever forked out the money had the final say. Jin Ling¡¯er knew her ce and kept quiet as they happily walked into Delicacy Lounge.

    As they did not have a prior reservation and happened to arrive during the dinner peak hour, there were no private rooms avable for them. They took their seats in the main area and, without even looking at the menu, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Waiter, please give us a serving of every dish you have on the luxury menu.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± The waiter looked at their demeanor and appearance and hesitated.

    ¡°What, afraid we can¡¯t pay up?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er confidently ced Wei Lingnan¡¯s card on the table. ¡°Take it!¡±

    The waiter took the card skeptically and returned with a smile after a while. ¡°Ladies, the bird¡¯s nest, abalone, shark¡¯s fin, ginseng, fungus and everything else will cost 36,800 yuan in total. If you could just confirm the order, I¡¯ll get the kitchen to get the dishes ready.¡±

    Xia Yingluo signed her name without hesitation.

    A whileter, all sorts of mouthwatering dishes were served one after the other.

    The two girls dug in without a care about their demeanor, which had the other customers turn around in disdain.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was speaking almost inaudibly with a stuffed mouth. ¡°This is good, it¡¯s really so good. I finally understand why all the rich people nearby likeing here, this chef is really so good!¡±

    Xia Yingluo said while snatching the crab, ¡°The dishes are just alright. Look at the way you¡¯re eating, don¡¯t steal my crab!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er rolled her eyes. ¡°Who¡¯s the one snatching food from me while saying that the food is ¡®just alright¡¯? The crab is mine!¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed and grabbed half of it from her hands. Honestly speaking, didn¡¯t she get everything she wanted back at home? When she said that the food here was ¡°just alright¡±, she really meant it.

 Chapter 1188 - Lecture Pei Yan

    <h4>Chapter 1188: Lecture Pei Yan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    However, in this year she had been out, she had been living a life of saving of clothing and food, and had only eaten food from the cafeteria, so it had indeed been a long time since she had eaten delicious food.

    Coupled with her test results that had absolutely crushed Jiang Bilian¡¯s today, she was extremely happy and couldn¡¯t wait to start snatching with her good friend.

    The two of them started snatching wildly, and a crab leg flew horizontally. Impartially, it hit a woman who was passing by. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er apologized immediately. She got up and ran over. ¡°Are you alright? Do you need me to wipe it away for you with a napkin?¡±

    The woman hit by her wore an elegant and modified embroidered cheongsam. She was elegant and supple and had a distinguished temperament.

    She nced at Jin Ling¡¯er with disdain. ¡°No, don¡¯t soil my clothes.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er froze for a while, then realized that this woman was saying she was dirty and was not fit to wipe her clothes with a napkin. She felt a rush of fire rising in her unconsciously, but she kept quiet since she knew she was in the wrong first.

    The woman snorted softly. ¡°Bad luck.¡± She looked up and saw Xia Yingluo not far away. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in a few days, Xia Yingluo, but you do seem to be doing well. You¡¯ve found a new meal ticket so soon? You¡¯re just a small poor student, how could you possibly afford toe to such a luxurious restaurant?¡± She didn¡¯t lower her volume deliberately, and the waiters and diners nearby could hear her words clearly.

    For a while, everybody began judging Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er¡ª

    When they had seen the two girls wolfing down their food so ravenously, they had already thought they were like bandits, so after hearing what the woman said, someone immediately whispered, ¡°Turns out they¡¯re poor students, no wonder they¡¯re so ill-mannered.¡±

    ¡°How do these poor students have money toe here?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what thatdy said? They probably found a sugar daddy.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, students nowadays are more and more shameless.¡±

    A group of people shook their heads and sighed, looking at Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er with eyes full of contempt and pity.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart burst into anger. She had been engulfed in various kinds of bad rumors recently, and now Jin Ling¡¯er had to be seen like that sort of woman as well! Her face sank, and she patted the table and stood up. ¡°Pei Yan, keep your mouth clean!¡±

    Yes, the woman was Pei Yan, the one who had robbed her of her boyfriend and sent her a photo of them on the bed not long ago.

    Even though she didn¡¯t care about Zhao Yixuan that scumbag since long ago, but she had never suffered such great humiliation and shame before. At that moment, new hatred and old hatred came to her heart, and she red at Pei Yan fiercely, almost shootingsers from her eyes.

    Pei Yan was very proud. ¡°If you don¡¯t want anyone to know it, then don¡¯t it. Do you dare to say that your money is clean?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was really in the wrong. Her rtionship with Wei Lingnan was already very unclear, so the money was dirty in the first ce. She knew that if she quarreled with her on this topic, she would definitely lose. Even if she brought up old ounts and used Pei Yan of robbing her boyfriend, so what? The other diners would simply find them aughing stock! Her father and brother had taught her that when she couldn¡¯t make sense with her mouth, she would have to use her fists.

    Well, she decided to do it herself and turned over the table in one swoop. A bowl of bird¡¯s nest was sshed onto Pei Yan.

    Pei Yan didn¡¯t expect that she would dare to do that. The soup sshed onto and dripped down her delicate hairstyle and face. Combined with her look of anger and shock, she looked absolutely ridiculous.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also stunned, but she supported what her friend did no matter what, so she pped her hands andughed. ¡°Haha, who told you to be arrogant!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Yan was so angry that she wanted to rush up and torture the two of them, but she was afraid of hitting them. She quickly scolded the waiter nearby. ¡°What are you doing! Call the police! Arrest the two little bitches and sue them for picking a fight and deliberately injuring me!¡±

    ¡°She was the one trying to cause trouble!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er spoke up.

    The waiter was at a loss and simply wanted to keep the peace. ¡°Miss, why don¡¯t you just let it be...¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and call the police! If I don¡¯t ruin these two I won¡¯t be called a Pei! Do you still want to open this restaurant? Why aren¡¯t you calling now?!¡± Pei Yan was so angry, and the surname ¡°Pei¡± made all the other people nce at each other. They started to surround Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Who didn¡¯t know that the Pei family was a big family in the city?

    Seeing how thisdy was dressed so exquisitely, she might be part of the Pei family and couldn¡¯t be offended.

    Xia Yingluo looked at the situation and guessed that she could probably charge out with her own agility, but she wouldn¡¯t be able to bring Jin Ling¡¯er along. She had to stick to one thing, so even if she had to go to the police station, she would drag Pei Yan into the water as well. She grabbed Pei Yan¡¯s wet hair with one swift motion and without any care, dragged her over.

    Pei Yan screamed in shock, feeling like her scalp was going to be torn off. ¡°Little bitch! What are you doing!¡±

    The waiters around were also shocked. ¡°Miss, what are you doing? Hurry up and let go.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you daree near me,¡± said Xia Yingluo as she picked up a cup of hot tea next to the table. ¡°Whoever dares to make a move, do you believe I¡¯ll pour the cup down?¡± She lowered her head and smiled viciously at Pei Yan. ¡°You said I was trying to hurt you intentionally? Do you want to try what that really means? If I pour this cup of hot tea down, can you guess whether or not you¡¯ll be disfigured?¡±

    Pei Yan was scared senseless and she said with a tremor, ¡°Don¡¯t mess around.¡±

    ¡°I have no time to mess around with you.¡± Xia Yingluo held the teacup in one hand and her hair in the other. She said, ¡°Apologize to us and shout ¡®Bigdies, I was wrong¡¯ three times, then let them revoke the call to the police. Then I¡¯ll spare you.¡±

    COMMENT

    Pei Yan was afraid that she would really be burned and disfigured. Who knew if stic surgery could save her?

    Recognizing the urgency of the situation, she quickly yelled, ¡°Bigdies, I was wrong! Bigdies, I was wrong! Bigdies, I was wrong!¡± With every word, she hated Xia Yingluo to the core and simply wanted to tear her to pieces.

    Xia Yingluo smiled with satisfaction. ¡°Good girl, what else?¡±

    Even if she was not willing anymore, Pei Yan had to order the waiter. ¡°Don¡¯t call the police! Cancel, quickly cancel!¡±

    The waiter was d he didn¡¯t have to call the police. They opened the door to do business and it wouldn¡¯t do them any good to have the police around. They quickly called 110 to cancel the call, but before they could cancel it, a police officer already rushed in from outside. ¡°Who¡¯s making trouble?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also stunned.

    She murmured, ¡°Policeman... you¡¯re really efficient.¡±

    The waiter cried, ¡°The police station is just across the road.¡±

    Xia Yingluo simply wanted to cry.

    Only Pei Yan was happy to see the policeman as if she had seen her rtive. She shouted, ¡°Help! Save me! This bitch will hurt me!¡±

 Chapter 1189 - She Bullied Me

    <h4>Chapter 1189: She Bullied Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo frowned and looked down at the dishonest woman, who suddenly smiled. Her beautiful face was bright like a star under the crystal light. Pei Yan felt a little thud in her heart, and she saw Xia Yingluo loosen her hand a little and the whole cup of hot tea was poured down onto her face!

    It¡¯s over, she was going to be disfigured!

    Pei Yan was terrified and she screamed like a pig, the sound ringing through the sky. However, the anticipated scalding did not arrive. She was just sshed with warm tea, and the liquid poured into her nose, causing her to cough terribly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my hand slipped.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled on purpose, with not a single ounce of regret.

    Pei Yan looked at the mischief on her face and finally realized that the cup of tea was not hot at all, it was just a cup of warm ordinary tea! She had deliberately threatened her to scare her into apologizing to them!

    The anger and humiliation from being deceived surged up and Pei Yam was mad. ¡°I want to kill you!¡±

    She stretched out her sharp nails and rushed forward to scratch Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Xia Yingluo eximed softly all of a sudden. ¡°My hand!¡± She let go of her and hid behind the police officer while holding her hand. ¡°Police uncle, she hit me!¡±

    Policemen: ¡°...¡±

    The waiter, onlookers, and Jin Ling¡¯er: ¡°...¡±

    Thisdy, you just bullied thedy Pei Yan and you still dare to say that she hit you, is that good?

    Xia Yingluo reached out her hand, and there was indeed a nail scratch on the back of her fair hand. ¡°She, she really hit me! It hurt me, it¡¯s bleeding, boohoo.¡± She really wiped away tears while saying that.

    She was a beautiful girl of sixteen or seventeen years old, and even as she fake-cried, she still looked so moving.

    Pei Yan looked anxious and yelled at her, ¡°You hit me first!¡± She couldn¡¯t be clearer that Xia Yingluo¡¯s hands were originally not in that position. She had intentionally bumped her hand forward!

    Xia Yingluo ¡°cried¡± even more vigorously. ¡°She¡¯s still yelling at me!¡±

    The policeman had a headache and simply gave amand. ¡°Catch them all!¡±

    They brought Xia Yingluo, Pei Yan, Jin Ling¡¯er and a few of the waiters to the police station across the road.

    In the mediation room, the policeman held a pen and paper. ¡°Tell me, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°She hit me!¡± Xia Yingluoined first. ¡°Boohoo, uncle police, look at my hand, it¡¯s bleeding!¡±

    Pei Yan was furious. ¡°You pulled my hair first!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t pull your hair, I was wiping away the soup on your hair¡±

    At the mention of the soup on her hair and body, Pei Yan was about to explode. She jumped up with her hair still dripping. ¡°You little bitch! You sshed the soup on me intentionally!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do it on purpose!¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I was having fun with Ling¡¯er when my hand slipped and you were the one who identally got sshed on!¡±

    Her hand was slippery, it was that excuse again!

    Pei Yan was furious. She pointed at her and cursed at her with all kinds ofnguage. A bitch, a bastard, a poor piece of garbage, these words all came out, asionally mixed with a few words from Xia Yingluo. ¡°You are the bitch¡±, ¡°You are the bastard¡±, ¡°You are the garbage¡±, ¡°You¡¯re shameless¡±...

    Jin Ling¡¯er also chimed in. The whole interrogation room was as noisy as a market.

    The police officer responsible for recording the confession was intolerable, and he almost broke the pen in his hand. He patted the table and shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±

    In an instant, everyone was quiet.

    Pei Yan looked dissatisfied, while Xia Yingluo¡¯s face was full of grievances. She looked at the police pitifully, her small appearance almost melting his hearts. The policeman was very knowledgeable, and of course knew that she was just posing, but this girl was so cute and pitiful it was really unbearable. On the other hand, the woman drenched in soup had an arrogant expression and also swore like a vixen, thus she appeared simply too uneducated and ill-mannered.

    The policeman ignored them and pointed to a waiter. ¡°You tell me!¡±

    ¡°Ah?! Ok, ok.¡± The waiter stammered and started to talk. ¡°These two girls identally made a crab leg fly, and it hit onto thisdy, Ms. Pei. Ms. Pei cursed at them and conflict immediately happened...¡±

    ¡°We already apologized! She still scolded us!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er added.

    The waiter wiped his sweat. He was afraid of Pei Yan, who was so obviously rich. He had purposely missed Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s apology and did not expect to be pointed out by Jin Ling¡¯er on the spot.

    ¡°Did they apologize?¡± The policeman asked sternly. ¡°You have to be honest! You have to take responsibility for perjury!¡±

    The waiter was scared and quickly said, ¡°They did apologize, they did! This little blonde-haired girl apologized before she was scolded.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er showed a satisfied expression. ¡°See, this Pei woman was the one causing trouble.¡±

    Seeing that the situation wasn¡¯t going in her favor, Pei Yan immediately said, ¡°But I didn¡¯t do anything. It was Xia Yingluo who stood up and sshed me with the soup!¡±

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t going to lose out. ¡°I didn¡¯t ssh her, I already said my hand slipped! She scolded my friend, and when I stood up in anger, I identally turned the table over and forgot that I still had soup in my hand...¡±

    The people present at the scene couldn¡¯t bear looking at her. Fake, continue faking, could she be even faker?

    Pei Yan was the angriest. ¡°You did it intentionally!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°You did!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± The policeman patted the table unbearably again. ¡°No one will be allowed to speak from now on! Only the designated person will answer my questions, do you hear me!¡±

    The mediation room was quiet again.

    The policeman pieced together the situation from their messy confession and was at a huge loss. They swore in her hearts: This was just a small thing, why did they dial 110 and waste the time of the police force? He put down the confession record and decided to leave things alone. ¡°Okay, okay, it¡¯s not a big thing, you all just go back. Next time, just be more patient and have fewer conflicts with people.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s over just like this?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes widened and she felt very wronged. ¡°She hurt me and made me bleed!¡±

    Policeman: ¡°... Little girl, don¡¯t take it too far.¡± He had understood the messy confession from just now and knew it was indeed this little girl who had made the first move. Now she was the biggest beneficiary of this disposition, but she was still not satisfied?

    Xia Yingluo shrank back with a guilty conscience and stopped talking.

    Pei Yan was not satisfied and said sharply, ¡°She hit me, and you¡¯re forgetting it just like this?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hit you, my hand just slipped.¡± Xia Yingluo shamelessly denied.

    Pei Yan¡¯s eyes were almost spitting fire. ¡°Is that right? Then my hand will slip too!¡± Then, she grabbed the pen in the mediation room and threw it at her.

    ¡°Uncle police, she¡¯s bullying me!¡± Xia Yingluo avoided the pen smartly, hiding behind the policeman.

    The pen flew and was quickly caught by the policeman.

 Chapter 1190 - Choosing Dancers

    <h4>Chapter 1190: Choosing Dancers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The policeman warned Pei Yan with a stern face. ¡°Are you done yet? If you continue making trouble, I¡¯ll arrest you for assaulting a police officer! You were the one who cursed the two girls first, so who are you to find trouble with them? She¡¯s not even an adult yet, if I were to really count it, you would have to take more responsibility for making her bleed since you¡¯re an adult! Do you really want me to count it?¡±

    Pei Yan gritted her teeth. Even if she had caused Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand to bleed, that was also Xia Yingluo¡¯s deliberate calction to avoid taking responsibility! On top of that, there was only a little scratch on her hand, how could it bepared to the embarrassment she had faced when she had been sshed with soup in public? And what about when she was forced to apologize while her hair was pulled? However, she didn¡¯t dare say any more in this situation. No matter how ostentatious she was, she didn¡¯t dare challenge the police.

    Xia Yingluo groaned and kept praising the policeman. ¡°Uncle Police is the most powerful, Uncle Police is the most reasonable!¡±

    Pei Yan was so angry she was speechless.

    The policeman lectured her with a stern face. ¡°Okay, no need to tter me, you have to study well at such a young age and stop making trouble in society!¡±

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t afraid. She responded obediently and bounced out of the police station while holding Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s hand.

    At the gate of the police station, Pei Yan looked at them with hate. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you wait for me!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly. Under the stars, she was as beautiful as a little fairy. ¡°Wait? Wait for what? Can you kill me or curse me to death? Haha, Pei Yan, do you believe I¡¯ll lecture you every time I see you?¡±

    Pei Yan red at her coldly, then she turned around and walked into the darkness with her hair still drenched in soup.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her retreating back and smiled happily.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also very happy. ¡°I¡¯m so happy today! By the way, Yingluo, what kind of enmity do you have with this woman?¡±

    Xia Yingluo then remembered that she had yet to introduce Pei Yan, so she said with a smile, ¡°Why, you don¡¯t even know her origins, yet you still dare help me to deal with her. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll scare you if I tell you.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, who am I? Afraid of her? Come on!¡±

    ¡°She is an Imperial Entertainment¡¯sdy, and her brother is one of the heirs that Chairman Pei Ziheng is optimistic about.¡± Xia Yingluo held her hand and walked into the training camp. ¡°Why, are you afraid now?¡±

    ¡°Afraid of what? Even if God bullies you, I will not hesitate to defend you.¡±

    ¡°She...¡± Xia Yingluo calmed down before she said, ¡°She is the woman who stole Zhao Yixuan.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned. She didn¡¯t expect things to be like this. ¡°She¡¯s the shameless bitch?! If I had known, I wouldn¡¯t have let her go so easily! I would have made her regret! Yingluo, why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to tell you,¡± Xia Yingluo said. Then added after a while, ¡°But don¡¯t worry. Who am I? How could I possibly be on the losing end? I¡¯ve already arranged things when the policeman dragged us out of the restaurant. I quietly asked a waiter to take a picture with a mobile phone. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll take the photo and paste it at the door of Imperial Entertainment. Once everyone sees how she was arrested by the police, I¡¯ll see if she can still lift her head up!¡±

    In a few words, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re so vicious! I love it! That Zhao Yixuan didn¡¯t like you even though you¡¯re so smart, beautiful, and witty, and he went for that stupid bitch Pei Yan instead. Is he out of his mind?¡±

    ¡°He does have a bad brain.¡± Xia Yingluo snorted proudly. When she returned to the Li family one day, he would discover that she was from the world¡¯s top giants. Wouldn¡¯t the man regret it to death then?

    The two girls walked away whileughing.

    The next day, they got the photo from the waiter and spent money going into the city to print the photo into a veryrge poster. Then, they pasted it on the streets of S city while it was dark. They pasted it numerous times at the entrance of Imperial Entertainment¡¯spany until it looked like a newyer of wallpaper from a distance. In the photo, Pei Yan was taken by the police station. Her face and hair were drenched in soup and her makeup was messy, making her look extremely embarrassing.

    As for Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er? They weren¡¯t in the picture at all.

    The whole city woke up in the morning light and countless people saw the photo, as well as the headline above¡ªImperial Entertainment¡¯s Lady Pei Yan, is arrested after a fight. She has disgraced the upbringing of the giants!

    Many reporters even gathered at the door of Imperial Entertainment to take pictures and report on it.

    Pei Yan became famous, or rather, notorious.

    Many tycoons secretlyughed at the Pei family¡¯s daughter for being uneducated, especially somepetitors, who scorned them on various asions and made the whole of Imperial Entertainment feel especially shameful. Inside thepany, someone attacked Pei Yan¡¯s elder brother Pei Chengyou through this incident, saying that he couldn¡¯t even control his sister, how could he take responsibility for thepany? They bit off a portion of his power just like that.

    Pei Chengyou suffered an ill-fated disaster, and when he went home, he pped his sister in the face. ¡°You achieved nothing, yet you¡¯re spoiling everything!¡±

    Pei Yan was hit so hard her nose bled. She covered her face and said, ¡°It¡¯s not my fault, it¡¯s Xia Yingluo that bitch!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not wrong to be vicious, but it is to be stupid,¡± said Pei Chengyou coldly. ¡°You can¡¯t even win over a little bitch, how do you still have the face to be a Pei family¡¯sdy?¡± He paused and said, ¡°What¡¯s with that little bitch? She has agitated me, so I can¡¯t possibly let her live a good life.¡±

    Pei Yan knew that to be selected by Pei Ziheng to be a candidate of thepany¡¯s heir, her brother¡¯s ability must be impressive, so why should she hold back? Her spirit was reignited and she quickly told Pei Chengyou everything that had happened with Xia Yingluo.

    Pei Chengyou sneered slightly. ¡°She¡¯s just a little trainee, how dare she be so arrogant.¡±

    Wait, he would definitely teach her a lesson.

    Pei Yan¡¯s bad news was finally suppressed afterrge efforts by Pei Chengyou. What followed was news of her engagement.

    Pei Chengyou was having a hard time in Imperial Entertainment. There were several candidates to the heir and thepetition was fierce. He was anxious to win over all thepetitors, and it was a good choice to marry his sister to the managing agency¡¯s important minister, Zhao Yixuan. He could also turn him into hisckey and have him charge at the forefront to break through enemy lines. At the same time, he could take advantage of the opportunity to take revenge on the girl called Xia Yingluo...

    In Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp.

    In the ss, the teacher suddenly called Xia Yingluo and announced something. ¡°Ms. Pei Yan and Mr. Zhao Yixuan recently got engaged, and they hope to have a few trainees from the training camp dance on the spot to celebrate. Xia Yingluo and Jiang Bilian, you are the best students in the camp, so you two have been selected. Zhu Zhu, Zhang Qiang and Zhou Wu will go too.¡±

    Xia Yingluo blinked. ¡°Me?¡±

    What the hell, they were asking her to celebrate her ex-boyfriend¡¯s marriage with her enemy?

    ¡°It¡¯s you, that¡¯s right.¡± The teacher¡¯s tone was beyond doubt.

 Chapter 1191 - Insatiable

    <h4>Chapter 1191: Insatiable</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The other trainees all looked at Xia Yingluo with different expressions. Some were sympathetic, some took joy over her cmity¡ªwasn¡¯t it too awkward? Everyone knew that Zhao Yixuan had an unclear rtionship with Xia Yingluo before, and now they were asking her to perform at his wedding? Wasn¡¯t it humiliating for her?

    ¡°I won¡¯t go,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    The teacher said, ¡°It¡¯s not up to you. All your final grades will be void if you don¡¯t obey the training camp¡¯s arrangement.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°You can expel me if you have the ability.¡±

    The teacher frowned. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you have no reason to make trouble!¡±

    Who was making trouble out of nowhere? Xia Yingluo still wanted to argue, when suddenly, severe pain broke out in her body. She bent down immediately in pain.

    ¡°Yingluo! What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er quickly hugged her and asked with concern.

    She was speechless, and cold sweat formed on her forehead.

    The teacher said, ¡°It¡¯s useless to pretend to be sick. It¡¯s settled. Prepare well and don¡¯t throw our training camp¡¯s face.¡±

    It was settled like this. Xia Yingluo was in pain and anger and originally did not intend to go no matter what, but she suddenly had an idea and smiled¡ªdidn¡¯t they want to humiliate her? Very well, when it was the engagement party¡¯s banquet, they¡¯d see who would be the humiliated one!

    So she stopped talking and followed Jiang Bilian and the others to prepare for the dance.

    They prepared a group dance. Zhu Zhu, Zhang Qiang and the rest were all Jiang Bilian¡¯s friends, so they naturally rmended Jiang Bilian as the lead dancer. She could only be pushed to the corner dance position and was not conspicuous at all.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t argue with them and just practiced peacefully.

    Jiang Bilian and the others thought she was afraid and became very proud. They didn¡¯t try to make things more difficult for her.

    Because they were very clear that dancing at the Pei family¡¯s engagement banquet was an opportunity to show their faces. There would be a lot of big names there, and maybe someone would fancy them. The help they could provide for their future was inestimable. They all cherished this opportunity and didn¡¯t want to ruin it out of their anger toward Xia Yingluo, so they only warned her sternly. ¡°Dance properly! Don¡¯t throw our faces!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. Rest assured, she would dance ¡°well¡±.

    Her physical condition was good and bad interchangeably, and sometimes she would suddenly be in terrible pain and almost fall down in the practice room.

    After interrupting several dance practices due to her physical condition, Jiang Bilian and the others were very upset and went toin. ¡°Rece Xia Yingluo, how can she go on stage to perform like this? What if she ruins it and throws our faces?¡±

    The teacher sneered. ¡°If she doesn¡¯t go, you don¡¯t have to go either.¡±

    What a joke, did they actually think they had been selected out of their excellence? From beginning to end, Ms. Pei only wanted Xia Yingluo! The rest of them were only signboard! Ruin it? It was even better if it was ruined, then Ms. Pei would have a justified reason to humiliate Xia Yingluo, wouldn¡¯t she?

    Jiang Bilian and the others were unable to change anything and came back with a bad mood.

    Xia Yingluo was also worried about her body. She didn¡¯t want to faint while dancing at the wedding banquet. Then, wouldn¡¯t she embarrass herself and fulfill the wishes of Pei Yan and that man? She must find a way to stop this pain. At present, she could only turn to Wei Lingnan.

    Then she remembered that she didn¡¯t have his contact information.

    Xia Yingluo was furious and decided to go to the back mountain to try her luck¡ªthat was where she had run into him that day, so maybe she could run into him there again? She picked a windy and sunny day, put on a light dress, and took a knife to defend herself, then went up the mountain alone.

    In the mountains, the trees provided shade, the golden light of the afternoon was overwhelming, and the birds were chirping cheerfully.

    Taking a deep breath, she shouted, ¡°Wei Lingnan¡ªWei Lingnan¡ª¡±

    Her loud shouting startled countless birds.

    She shouted for a long time but still didn¡¯t see a figure.

    Just when she was desperate, she turned around and saw the tall figure of a man behind her. He still wore a finely crafted in shirt with his short ck hair slightly covering his narrow eyes. He stood erectly under a cluster of violet flowers, looking cool and elegant in the hot summer sun.

    She was somewhat frightened.

    She red at him. ¡°Why are you standing behind me without a word? Do you know I¡¯ll have a heart attack?¡±

    He looked at her. ¡°Did I scare you?¡±

    ¡°Humph, no way.¡± She pursed her lips.

    He smiled slightly. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    She red at him angrily. ¡°I said I wasn¡¯t scared!¡±

    The smile in his eyes deepened and he took a step forward. ¡°Why are you looking for me?¡±

    Hearing this, she didn¡¯t know what to say. The man in front of her was tall, and a strong sense of oppression came from him as he approached step by step. She had to exert great efforts to restrain her urge to step back. He walked in front of her, with a faint, unknown bitter scent on his body. She didn¡¯t know where it came from, but it smelled like medicine and some sort of chemical mixture.

    She looked up at him, her thoughts a little messy.

    She couldn¡¯t just say it to him directly, Hey, I have another rejection reaction, would you kiss me?

    A thousand thoughts turned in her heart, and his face was getting bigger and bigger in front of her eyes. She felt her lips covered with something soft and cool and it took a while to realize that he was kissing her.

    A lingering kiss.

    It felt like it was taking care of some kind of treasure, so gentle and precious.

    Her brain was nk, and she didn¡¯t know whether she was shocked or confused. She had yet to even say anything, how had he realized her wish so fast? So what were her psychological construction and her fear of facing death on the way here?!

    She was stunned.

    She didn¡¯t even know when his lips left her.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at the girl in his arms and was a little amused. ¡°Why, did you enjoy it so much you went speechless?¡±

    Xia Yingluo came back to her senses, her cheeks blushing red. ¡°You were the one enjoying it!¡±

    ¡°I did enjoy it,¡± he said with a grin, looking at her intensely. ¡°It¡¯s insatiable.¡±

    She blushed even more and pushed him away as if pushing something hot. After taking a lot of steps backward, she reluctantly calmed her mind. ¡°You, don¡¯te over.¡±

    He really stood still. ¡°Why, didn¡¯t you want me to kiss you after spending so much effort to find me?¡± He could guess why she was looking for him. It must be that she had a reaction again and had no choice but to find him.

    Xia Yingluo was embarrassed that he had read her mind. ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°You, what do you want?¡± Xia Yingluo managed to sort out her thoughts and said, ¡°Yes, I came to you because of the reaction, but I didn¡¯t want you to kiss me!¡±

 Chapter 1192 - Modifying the Dance Costume

    <h4>Chapter 1192: Modifying the Dance Costume</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°We¡¯re just total strangers that came together by chance, is there a need for us to be bound together for a lifetime? Wei Lingnan, you must know other ways to treat the rejection, right? Tell me, I will give you a lot of benefits.¡±

    ¡°What benefits?¡± He remained calm.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Wealth, glory, status! You can have anything! Just wait for me for a year, and I will fulfill your wishes!¡± When she returned to her family, what could she not have?

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes and looked at her. It seemed that the girl was so well-protected that she didn¡¯t even know who he was. Her parents and uncle knew quite a lot of details about him but had yet to reveal anything to her. Had they failed to notice her abnormality since young, or...

    They harbored hopes of it being a fluke, and thought she wasn¡¯t the one he was looking for?

    It¡¯s a pity that she was that person.

    He had passed through millions and millions of years, trudged through endless light-years,ing from numerous ces outside the gxy after defying untold dangers and difficulties, just to be able to see the revival of his beloved girl, to see her smile once again.

    This time, he would never let her go.

    ¡°Wealth, power, fame and fortune mean nothing to me,¡± he said indifferently. ¡°I only want you, Xia Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was about to go crazy. Even if she was beautiful and loveable, how could she have provoked such a neurotic man? She definitely didn¡¯t read the yellow calendar when she entered the casino that day! ¡°You can lead a horse to water, but you can¡¯t force it to drink,¡± she said to him irritably, because she had no other way to deal with him except with logic. ¡°Even if you want me, I should have good feelings, right? Otherwise, if I¡¯m not happy being with you, you wouldn¡¯t be either, right? If you tell me the other ways to treat the reaction, I may develop a little bit of affection for you.¡±

    ¡°A little bit?¡±

    ¡°... Okay, some... a lot... a lot, a lot of good feelings. Are you satisfied?¡± She already wanted to kill this asshole.

    Wei Lingnan admired her annoyed look. ¡°One week.¡±

    She snapped. ¡°What one week?¡±

    ¡°Date me once a week in the future, and I will give you another way to treat the rejection.¡±

    There really was another way! Xia Yingluo was surprised and agreed in a hurry. ¡°Okay!¡± She also remembered this incident to heart. He had another way but still took advantage of her for so long? He was indeed a shameless man! She still remembered how he had vited her that night in the casino and at the back mountain. She just had to endure one more year, just one more year... she would surely return and take revenge!

    She didn¡¯t know if Wei Lingnan knew what she was thinking, he only said, ¡°After a week,e find me at Nanning.¡±

    She nodded, then suddenly remembered something, so she said vigntly, ¡°Promise me first, you¡¯re not allowed to take advantage of me when we¡¯re dating. You¡¯re not allowed to kiss me, and... you¡¯re not allowed to do that to me again.¡±

    He looked down at her as if arge beast was looking at a small animal baring its teeth and ws.

    She could feel her hair stand straight, but she straightened her back stubbornly and refused to back down.

    He stared at her for a long time, then turned and walked away.

    She froze and shouted, ¡°Hey! Hey¡ª!¡± He had yet to promise her, why was this man like that!

    She went back to the dormitory, dejected.

    Jin Ling¡¯er got up from the bed and said, ¡°Yingluo, where did you go? Just now Zhu Zhu brought you the dance costume and said it was to be worn at Pei Yan¡¯s engagement banquet. Who are they kidding, they must have picked thest one for you! Take a look, it¡¯s ugly as hell!¡±

    Xia Yingluo took the dance costume and looked at it. It was really ugly as hell.

    To put it in better words, the costume was a white and grey gradient, but to put it in worse words, the grey shade made it look very dirty. It was clearly new, but it was also an ability to be able to make it look like it had been worn for ten years. The corners were adorned with a few transparent ss beads which looked extremely cheap, no different from the ornaments sold at a market stand.

    ¡°They did it on purpose,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was very sad. ¡°Zhu Zhu said that the levels of the group dance have been arranged. For the overall effect of the performance, you cannot change the dance clothes without authorization. Otherwise, if the inconsistency messes up, the responsibility will be yours.¡± Although it was clear that some people were purposely making things difficult for Xia Yingluo, the engagement party was full of big names. Also, the Pei family was a famous entertainment industry and there would be a lot of celebrity directors, producers, and big stars with vicious eyes. As long as Xia Yingluo dared to destroy the overall effect of the stage, they could give her the impression of ¡°unorganized, undisciplined, disobedient to the arrangement¡± in their hearts. Even if she was beautifully dressed, she would be cklisted.

    Xia Yingluo was not very worried. ¡°I have a way.¡±

    She didn¡¯t care if she would be cklisted by the directors and producers. She was only ying around in the training camp anyways. Afterpleting two years of the trial, she would return back to her family peacefully and lead her wonderful,fortabledy life until she died. Right now, her only concern was whether she could make a wonderful debut on the wedding stage and p the faces of that dog couple and Jiang Bilian and herckeys.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and alter it.¡± She pulled Jin Ling¡¯er out of the dormitory.

    Jiang Bilian and the rest were very calctive. Tomorrow was the engagement party, yet they only sent her the costume in the afternoon. They were probably afraid she would do something to the dress in desperation. For a dance dress to be altered beautifully, a long period of time was needed for it to be designed and then crafted, so how could it possibly be done overnight? In particr, those well-known and well-made tailor shops¡¯ schedules were already packed for the next few months. So, even if it was urgent, it would take at least two or three days, which would be toote.

    They had calcted that she would only be able to wear this gray dance dress tomorrow and be an undervalued clown.

    But how was Xia Yingluo willing to admit defeat?

    She and Jin Ling¡¯er took a taxi to the city¡¯s famous cloth market, where many small tailor shops altered trouser legs and altered simple clothes. After looking for a business that was deserted, she dropped her dance dress on the counter. ¡°Master, I want to modify this dance dress and make a big change.¡±

    The master raised his head and looked at the dance clothes, startled. ¡°Little girl, I can¡¯t do this job. I only take simple work such as shortening the pants and adding a zipper to the jacket. Is this the costume for a show? I¡¯ve never altered one before. ¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very simple.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled and put a stack of cash in front of the master. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you how to change it. You just need to remove the thread and re-cut the suture. It won¡¯t matter if you make a mistake, I won¡¯t me you.¡±

    The master saw the pile of cash on the table and his eyes lit up. There were probably a few thousand yuan, right?

    After listening to the little girl saying that she wouldn¡¯t me him for making a mistake, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll try.¡±

 Chapter 1193 - Fragrance in the Fog

    <h4>Chapter 1193: Fragrance in the Fog</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly and really pointed him step by step. ¡°Remove the threat here, tighten this area, rece the white ss beads here with red crystals, and cut 4cm here...¡± There was no need for the tailor to worry at all, he just had to alter ordingly. The tailor didn¡¯t know what the overall effect of the dance dress would be, but he dismantled and stitched the dress up very obediently. His basic skills were solid, so the stitches were fine and t and satisfactory.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was not idle. She bought small essories like crystal beads for her and reced all the cheap ones.

    They were busy all night. When dawn came, the dance dress was finally done.

    The cuffs and sleeves that were originally cumbersome were shortened and light as wind. The waistline was lifted, the back was hollowed out, and a thin tie was wrapped around it, giving off a kind of dangerous allure. She put on the dance clothes and looked like a silver-gray fairy walking out of the morning light, elegant and beautiful. Her straight back and corbones were extremely seductive.

    ¡°Beautiful...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er stared in a daze.

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly and stood in front of the floor-length dressing mirror to adjust the costume.

    Her fashion taste had been cultivated by a master since she was a child, and she also had a picky mother, so she was very outstanding and could modify a dress no less than that of a master. The original dirty gray and white gradient was turned lively by her, and the ruby crystals between her wrists were more charming.

    ¡°Fairy...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said.

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly and raised her delicate little chin proudly. ¡°Humph, I¡¯ll kill everyone with this!¡±

    They thanked the tailor and left, but she and Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t go back to the dormitory. They stopped by a nearby hotel instead.

    After a long night without sleep, she copsed onto the soft big bed and soon fell asleep. Maybe she was too tired, but her dreams were chaotic and she didn¡¯t even know what she dreamt of. She only knew that she felt very uneasy, and there was a lot of misty fog in her dream.

    It seemed like something was peeking at her in the mist.

    What...

    What was it...

    She widened her eyes and tried to look at it clearly. The scent of Skatana flowers wafted from the mist, as well as...

    A pair of eyes.

    A pair of amber, inanimate, monster eyes.

    She woke up with a scream, her heart beating like a drum, her body soaked in cold sweat.

    Jin Ling¡¯er rushed in from outside, her face nervous. ¡°Yingluo, what¡¯s wrong with you?!¡±

    She panted for a long time, feeling cold all over in the midsummer weather. Finally, she managed to calm down and said intermittently, ¡°Monster... I dreamed of a monster... standing by the bed, looking down at me.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was relieved. ¡°I thought something bad happened. Isn¡¯t it just a monster? Little girl, how old are you to still be scared over a dream?¡± She stretched out and tousled her hair.

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡±

    If it had been an ordinary nightmare, she wouldn¡¯t have been this scared. But this dream about the mist had troubled her since she was a child. This was the first time she was able to smell the flowers and see the eyes of the monster.

    The cold, amber, mirror-like eyes.

    As if it was... Wei Lingnan.

    Was all this rted to Wei Lingnan? Ever since he appeared in her life, it seemed like everything had changed.

    ¡°How could there be monsters in this world?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said with a grin, ¡°Even if there is, I¡¯ll strangle them for you.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed dryly. Jin Ling¡¯er had never seen Wei Lingnan¡¯s perverted horrifying healing power and her unexinable reaction, so she could easily say such words.

    Maybe Wei Lingnan was a monster.

    She was suddenly taken aback by her thoughts.

    She absent-mindedly persuaded Jin Ling¡¯er to leave, then she crawled down from the soft big bed, turned on theputer in the hotel, and began searching for a series of rted information about monsters, superpowers, and unnatural phenomena. She found the results both funny and extremely embarrassing. It was all deceptive fake news of ET aliens that looked like Avatars.

    Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t possibly be an alien, right?

    A bunch of nonsense.

    Xia Yingluo groaned at not having found any useful information, then went back to copse onto the bed.

    She fell asleep again, but she didn¡¯t dare to sleep too deeply. She didn¡¯t dream of a monster this time. She only dreamed of the floral fragrance in the wind behind the mountains, as well as the soft and sweet kiss of Wei Lingnan. It made her heart messy, turning to a ball of feelings.

    Jin Ling¡¯er told her it was almost time for the engagement party.

    The two said goodbye. Xia Yingluo hailed down a car and headed to the engagement banquet.

    Soon, she took the performance certificate and walked in through the back door passage dedicated to the staff.

    Soon, she found the backstage. The team leader and Jiang Bilian were furious, especially the team leader. When she saw her, she rushed forward as if she had seen her rtive. ¡°My little devil! Why are you here at this time? What time is it already! You¡¯re on in five minutes!¡±

    Jiang Bilian said coolly, ¡°Could it be stage fright?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you have stage fright alone, but don¡¯t you dare throw the training camp¡¯s face,¡± Zhu Zhu said in dissatisfaction. ¡°Do you have any discipline at all? This morning I knocked on the door of your dormitory for half a day, only to find that you didn¡¯t go home at night! Don¡¯t tell me you went to find those dubious men to bawl your eyes out and beg for help? It¡¯s no use, you have to go on stage no matter what!¡±

    ¡°Who said I didn¡¯t want to be on the stage?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly.

    Zhu Zhu was scared by her smile. Could this brat be harboring bad intentions again?

    The leading teacher pushed Xia Yingluo. ¡°Go and change your clothes! Where¡¯s your dance costume? Hurry! It¡¯s toote!¡±

    Xia Yingluo took off the thin coat on her body, exposing the delicate and beautiful dance costume she was wearing. ¡°I changed into it already.¡± Even her makeup waspleted, and her long, ck hair had been done up delicately. Combined with her beautiful costume, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

    The lead teacher froze. This girl... was so beautiful after doing herself up for a performance!

    Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu were also stunned, but what they stunned by was... when did this bitch alter her dance clothes?!

    ¡°You broke the rules.¡± Jiang Bilian took the lead in responding, staring at Xia Yingluo. ¡°You altered the dance costume without permission? This is a disruption to the entire dance formation! It¡¯s going to be a mess!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Zhu Zhu also responded and rebuked. ¡°You¡¯re just a little dance performer, how dare you!¡±

    Originally, she had given Xia Yingluo the ugliest costume, but now that Xia Yingluo had altered her dress into such a beautiful one. Wouldn¡¯t the ugliest person be her now? Zhu Zhu was so anxious she was going crazy.

 Chapter 1194 - Xia Yingluo, the Lead Dancer

    <h4>Chapter 1194: Xia Yingluo, the Lead Dancer</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled and looked at them calmly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you notify me when you ordered the dance costumes? I didn¡¯t get to tell the tailor my measurements, so the costume didn¡¯t fit me and I couldn¡¯t wear it at all. I had no choice, I could only go and find a toilet at night. Who knew that the tailor dozed off and cut the dress with a pair of scissors until it had a few holes, so it could only be altered to this.¡±

    She was lying... with her eyes wide open!

    Everyone knew that she was telling a lie, it was just too fake! Could it be any faker?

    However, it was impossible to refute, because every word she said was logically intricate!

    ¡°You!¡± Zhu Zhu was angry. ¡°The dance clothes I sent you obviously fit!¡± With Xia Yingluo¡¯s petite figure, it was fine as long as it was an S size, and at most, it just wouldn¡¯t fit perfectly at her slender waist, or the sleeves would be a bit longer, but it wouldn¡¯t be much of a trouble at all.

    Xia Yingluo said lightly, ¡°Would it fit well just because you say so? I¡¯ve never even tried it.¡±

    Zhu Zhu almost vomited blood.

    The leading teacher on the side frowned and said, ¡°Enough! Xia Yingluo, you have no discipline, we¡¯ll settle this with youter! For now, just go on stage and perform well. If the nobles at the wedding reception are upset, I¡¯ll be sure to punish you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°Yes, I will perform ¡®well¡¯.¡±

    The MC had begun the show.

    Seeing that it was toote for Xia Yingluo to change her clothes, Jiang Bilian had no choice but to lead everyone on stage.

    Several pairs of feet in silk satin dance shoes stepped onto the wooden stage.

    Xia Yingluo looked up, facing the lights on the stage, feeling the hot and dry feather-like light on her face.

    Was this... the stage?

    The domain that her mother Xia Ling had treasured for two lifetimes...

    She had learned to dance from her mother from an early age, but it had just been to keep fit, and the family didn¡¯t want to put her in the public eye. Mother Xia Ling had once said, ¡°There are enough public figures in your family, your dad, me, and your elder brother. Every move we make is on the news day and night and has attracted worldwide attention, so much so that it¡¯s not even convenient to go out shopping. I want you to be safe and enjoy everything a little girl should have.¡±

    She felt the same. When she was a child, she had seen her mother besieged by a group of crazy fans several times, and the scene had been really scary.

    As a result, she had obeyed the arrangements at home obediently and had kept a low profile, never showing her face in the media nor performing anything striking that would capture the attention of people. This time, she had made an exception, but fortunately, nobody knew who she was.

    The music was beautiful and elegant.

    Jiang Bilian had picked this song deliberately. The title of the song had the same character as her name ¡°Lian¡±. She wanted to rise to fame with this one dance and be remembered by the great people present. This way, she could have extra insurance when she debuted in the future and it would all go smoothly. Zhu Zhu, Zhang Qiang, and the others were herckeys, so they supported her naturally, and didn¡¯t try to upstage her in terms of the dance moves and makeup. They were simple and elegant and in contrast, Jiang Bilian was like a lotus flower breaking the surface.

    Unfortunately, the originally perfect scene was destroyed by Xia Yingluo.

    In the middle of the dance floor, Jiang Bilian straightened her body upright with the music, and the jadeite stones around her wrists flickered. Suddenly, in the smog of dry ice spreading slowly over the inconspicuous corner, a fairy-like girl came spinning. Her waist was soft, her body was light and her face had on a smile. The lights intertwined like a small budding hibiscus, and the red crystals on her wrists shone limpidly.

    It was... so beautiful.

    In an instant, Jiang Bilian was upstaged.

    Jiang Bilian was also unlucky. Her dancing posture had always been known for its soothing elegance. This was usually pleasing to the eye, but whenpared with Xia Yingluo¡¯s ethereal fairy-like charm, it was almost worthless. Xia Yingluo danced around her deliberately, showing her beauty in three-hundred-sixty degrees, covering Jiang Bilian purposely and making sure several of her important poses could not be seen.

    Jiang Bilian was so angry that she wanted to vomit blood. She wanted to argue with Xia Yingluo loudly and ask her why she didn¡¯t follow the rehearsal.

    But she couldn¡¯t, if she questioned her now, it would disrupt the stage and would be considered a major ident. It wasn¡¯t a quality a qualified artist should have.

    But as for Xia Yingluo? In fact, she was dancing randomly, but she did it cleverly and was on the beat to the music melody. She even took care of the dance formation and made it seem like the entire formation had been carefully arranged and nothing was wrong.

    The trainees were also extremely furious, but like Jiang Bilian, they didn¡¯t dare to stop dancing immediately to question Xia Yingluo. They had no choice but to continue to perform with patience. They were obviously dancing for Jiang Bilian to stand out, but seemed to be for Xia Yingluo instead...

    Xia Yingluo flew gracefully around the stage, her posture beautiful and elegant, enchanting the guests.

    At the banquet table, many guests couldn¡¯t help but put down their knives and forks. They stopped talking and watched her dance.

    Her dancing was so beautiful and she was impable from technique to charm. Several directors and producers were already asking, ¡°Who is this girl? Is she Imperial Entertainment¡¯s trainee, when is she going to debut and ept projects?¡±

    Amidst the whispers, Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expressions turned ugly.

    What happened? Didn¡¯t everyone at the training camp already say that Xia Yingluo had been arranged to the most corner of the group dance and wasn¡¯t attention-grabbing at all? Why was it that once she was on stage, she was dancing at such an important position! She was the lead dancer!

    Yes, in their opinion, Xia Yingluo was the lead dancer.

    Jiang Bilian, who was supposed to lead the dance, waspletely overshadowed by her and became the second dancer. Although Jiang Bilian had worked very hard and tried several times to regain her dominance from Xia Yingluo, she was not as good and didn¡¯t seed.

    She didn¡¯t dare to do anything extraordinary from her established dance position.

    Because she didn¡¯t have the ability to choreograph as powerfully as Xia Yingluo on-the-spot. Once she broke away from the original dance steps, she was full of mistakes.

    On the other hand, Xia Yingluo could improvise her choreography and was also very skillful at it¡ªwho told her to have a good mother? Xia Ling had taught her how to get in position to grab the camera quietly. Although she didn¡¯t have anywhere to use this on, the mother and daughter were very simr in their desire to win, so Xia Yingluo had learned it earnestly.

    Today¡¯s stage was just a master hand¡¯s first small disy.

    ¡°Why is she so showy?¡± Pei Yan was unhappy and asked Zhao Yixuan in a low voice. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that everything was arranged?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was also baffled. The trainer had told him clearly that Xia Yingluo was not the lead dancer? He was still stunned, and Pei Yan red at him sternly, then turned to find her brother, Pei Chengyou.

    ¡°Brother,¡± Pei Yan lowered her voice and said to Pei Chengyou. ¡°It¡¯s the lead dancer, she¡¯s that brat. You have to teach her a lesson!¡±

 Chapter 1195 - Hundred Lotuses Combined

    <h4>Chapter 1195: Hundred Lotuses Combined</h4>

    ¡°Rest assured, I have arranged everything.¡± Pei Chengyou wore an expensive hand-sewn suit and held a ss of red wine in his hands. He lowered his voice to speak to Pei Yan, but his eyes lingered on Xia Yingluo, reluctant to leave.

    His sister had only said she was a cheap girl, but she didn¡¯t say she was so beautiful!

    Pei Chengyou¡¯s eyes darkened a little, and he smiled slyly. ¡°Rest assured... I¡¯ll teach her a very memorable lesson...¡±

    Pei Yan didn¡¯t notice his abnormality and said angrily, ¡°Make her regret provoking me!¡±

    Pei Chengyou reluctantly withdrew his sight from the stage. ¡°Okay, I know, you go toast, as usual. Don¡¯t dilly-dally ande back to the table soon. Didn¡¯t you see how many people have surrounded brother-inw? We rarely have a chance to talk to him. Come on, don¡¯t waste it.¡±

    Pei Yan quickly hurried away.

    Pei Chengyou also tidied his suit and walked towards the main table, nning to give a toast.

    In the middle of the main table, under several Imperial Entertainment¡¯s executives and business leaders carefully escort, a calm and majestic middle-aged man sat with a cold and solemn face. He was wearing a finely crafted dark gray suit, and his tall figure was motionless. His deep eyes stared at the fairy-like girl on the stage¡ªthe dancing Xia Yingluo.

    Some junior tried toe forward to toast him, but his admiring eyes never left the girl.

    Pei Chengyou paused before he walked forward. Brother-inw... has taken a fancy to Xia Yingluo?

    On the stage, the song <Hundred Lotuses Combined> came to an end.

    Xia Yingluo spun in a beautiful arc in the air and bowed elegantly like a fairy princess.

    The room broke out in apuse.

    Pei Yan returned to the main table from giving toasts in a hurry and said with a loudugh, ¡°Our children in the training camp really danced very well. Today is a day of joy and the children have worked hard. Take the little gifts home and make the guests here happy.¡±

    Jiang Bilian, Zhu Zhu, Zhang Qiang, and the others were so happy that they saluted quickly.

    Xia Yingluo was still standing motionlessly. She knew that if this woman had any tricks up her sleeves, it was time she showcased them.

    Sure enough, someone beside Pei Yan said, ¡°The girl in the middle, you... yes, you! Why aren¡¯t you bowing and thanking Ms. Pei? Do you not know the rules?¡± There was a microphone on his jacket and his voice sounded loudly across the whole room. Everyone in the venue heard it and turned over to look.

    Xia Yingluo stood motionless under all the attention, a slight smirk on her face.

    She took a few steps to the side of the stage, held the host¡¯s microphone, and spoke with a clear voice that spread through the audience like water. ¡°The first salute is curtain etiquette and is the rule. The second time is for me to thank Pei Yan for her rewards? I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t ept it. She is not eligible to reward me.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Yan didn¡¯t expect her to be so arrogant in front of the guests. Her whole body shook with anger. She had originally nned out everything, intending to take advantage of this opportunity to reward all trainees¡ªexcept Xia Yingluo. Xia Yingluo would definitely be angry and wouldin, then she would fuss over hercking dance, criticizing her until she was totally refuted and her face was lost. She would be able to vent her anger that way.

    But who knew that Xia Yingluo was not only perceptive and didn¡¯t give her the opportunity to humiliate her, but even checkmated her?!

    Under the attention of everyone in the banquet hall, Xia Yingluo stood on the stage in a state of steadiness. Her beautiful eyes were limpid and translucent as if she could see through the hearts of the audience. The corner of her lips was curled up in a smirk as if teasing Pei Yan for overestimating her capabilities.

    In the middle of the main table, the calm and majestic middle-aged man inteced his fingers slightly. This was a small subconscious movement he made when his heart was moved.

    Pei Yan¡¯s man rebuked Xia Yingluo. ¡°What is Ms. Pei¡¯s identity? Who are you to be disrespectful to her, apologize to her quickly!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. She walked to the projector next to the stage with the microphone and said, ¡°Make way.¡± The person-in-charge of the projector didn¡¯t know what she was going to do, but was deterred by her momentum and subconsciously let go.

    Xia Yingluo took out the small and thin mobile phone that was ced close to her¡ªGod knew where she hid it when she was dancing and connected it to the projector easily. Then, an unsightly photo appeared on the big screen in the banquet hall. A man and woman with their bodies intertwined together... it was the bed photo of Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan that had been sent to her!

    This...

    It was too out of ce!

    There was a scream in the banquet hall, and many female guests turned their heads and did not dare to look at it again.

    The male guests had different expressions. They nced between Pei Yan, Zhao Yixuan and Xia Yingluo on the stage, guessing the situation.

    A beautiful smile bloomed on Xia Yingluo¡¯s delicate face, but she looked more like a devil to Pei Yan. ¡°Pei Yan, you robbed my boyfriend, and you showed me this kind of shameless photo. Not only that, you put pressure on the training camp with your Pei identity and forced me to dance to celebrate your engagement party with my ex-boyfriend. What qualification do you, a shameless woman, have to reward me?¡±

    The guests in the hall finally figured out their rtionship. It turned out to be a love-triangle story.

    This Pei Yan was really petty. Forget about snatching this little trainee¡¯s boyfriend, she even forced her to dance here, wasn¡¯t it deliberately sprinkling salt on her wounds? She was really too vicious. At that moment, many guests shook their heads at Pei Yan¡¯s character.

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression turned gray. She had thought that by putting pressure on the training camp, Xia Yingluo would have to be bullied obediently, but she didn¡¯t expect her to stake it all out and expose that shameful photo so crazily. ¡°Delete the picture!¡± Her voice changed.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. She saw two staff membersing up, and before they could reach her, she threw the mobile phone on the ground casually.

    The projector¡¯s light flickered a little, and the big screen went dark. Therge indecent photo covering the entire wall disappeared. However, its purpose had been achieved. Although the photo was not on the screen anymore, it had been firmly engraved in the hearts of every guest. Before attending the engagement banquet, she had already made up her mind. Since Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan were determined to make things difficult for her, she wouldn¡¯t let them go so easily either. She was determined to turn the sky and earth upside down. And this photo was, of course, the best weapon that could make this dog couple suffer a loss to their face.

    At this moment, looking at Pei Yan¡¯s embarrassed expression and Zhao Yixuan¡¯s equally embarrassed face, Xia Yingluo was very happy. ¡°Do you like my gift?¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I haven¡¯t congratted you on your engagement, hehe.¡±

    ¡°Throw her out... Throw her out for me!¡± Pei Yan yelled madly.

    The staff members who maintained order at the scene looked at each other. Since things hade to this, it was really the best choice to throw Xia Yingluo out.

 Chapter 1196 - Imperialâ€™s Chairman Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 1196: Imperial¡¯s Chairman Arrives</h4>

    No amount of dirty privacy in the giants was an issue. It only mattered if it was exposed, and Xia Yingluo just had to be untactful and be the one to expose the shameful matter. The staff members walked toward her.

    A twisted smile bloomed on Pei Yan¡¯s face. Humph, Xia Yingluo, who asked you to be so arrogant! I want you to get out of here even more embarrassingly than me!

    Many of the guests at present shook their heads and sighed. This little girl had been too impulsive, what a pity. Even if she had suffered tremendous grievances, she still shouldn¡¯t challenge the Pei family in public. Offending the Pei family meant offending almost half of the entertainment circle. She was still a little trainee yet to debut, so her future might be ruined.

    But Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care. Humph, so what if it was half of the entertainment circle?

    The other half was in her family, Skyart¡¯s hands!

    She wasn¡¯t afraid that Imperial Entertainment would fire her or even ban her. It wasn¡¯t as if she didn¡¯t have a second choice. The most important thing was not to suffer any grievances.

    Thus, she raised her head high now. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me, I¡¯ll go by myself.¡± Then, she jumped off the stage with a slight jump and walked towards the exit arrogantly, looking like a triumphant queen in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    In the confusion, someone shouted, ¡°Wait.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw that a man had stood up at the main table. He smiled and said to her, ¡°This young girl, you sure have a big temperament. Since you¡¯re already here as a guest, how could you leave after a few words? Stay and eat something, or how about a ss of wine?¡±

    When the man spoke, Pei Yan¡¯s face turned ugly, but she said nothing.

    Xia Yingluo asked curiously, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Chu Chen.¡± The gentleman smiled softly.

    Xia Yingluo suddenly realized why Pei Yan couldn¡¯t re up even though she was unhappy. It turned out that he was Chu Chen, the trusty man beside Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman, Pei Ziheng. His words were more useful than that of many of the Pei family members. ¡°Then...¡± Her beautiful clear eyes followed Chu Chen and fell onto the calm and majestic middle-aged man in the middle of the main table. ¡°You are Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Everyone sucked in their breaths¡ª

    How dare she call the Chairman¡¯s name!

    She was so bold!

    Unexpectedly, Pei Ziheng was not angry at all. He said to Xia Yingluo cheerfully, ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him carefully. Since she was a child, she knew that her father Li Lei had found a person particrly unpleasant to the eye. He didn¡¯t even allow them to mention the person¡¯s name at home¡ªPei Ziheng. She also knew that he was her mother¡¯s lover in her past life, thus Xia Yingluo had always been curious about what kind of man was cinnabar in her mother¡¯s heart and a thorn in her father¡¯s side.

    At this time, looking at Pei Ziheng, she nodded and said, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re not bad.¡±

    He was indeed worth remembering for two lives, but of course, he wasn¡¯t as good as her father. Her father Li Lei was the best.

    The crowd was going crazy. She was just a little trainee, how dare she judge Chairman Pei in such an arrogant tone? Everyone secretly nced at Pei Ziheng¡¯s face, feeling like this little girl was going to be unlucky soon.

    But Pei Ziheng was still cheerful. ¡°Come sit with me.¡±

    His words astounded everyone. Had the Chairman taken the wrong medicine today?

    Even the protagonists of today¡¯s engagement banquet, Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan, didn¡¯t have the privilege to sit beside him!

    And the little girl just tilted her head slightly. ¡°Why?¡±

    She stood in the crowd with such innocence and perfection that it provoked tender affection for her. Many celebrities and nobles couldn¡¯t help but want to say to her, ¡°Just go if he asks you to. How could you possibly disobey Chairman Pei?¡± But they didn¡¯t dare to. Pei Ziheng had umted power over many years and everyone knew that it was a taboo to intervene when he was talking. Even Chu Chen was quiet.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her and said with a soft voice, ¡°I¡¯m inviting you to eat with me, will you eat?¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt her stomach growl at his words. She looked at the table full of delicacies and felt it wasn¡¯t worth it toe all the way here due to Pei Yan¡¯s evil intentions and yet return with an empty stomach. So, she walked over and said, ¡°Sure.¡±

    Pei Ziheng smiled.

    Chu Chen very eagerly gave up his position. He called the waiter to remove the tableware and rece them with a new one.

    Everyone was breaking out in cold sweat. Little girl, how could you sit at Chu Chen¡¯s seat so carelessly? Don¡¯t you know who he is? He¡¯s second only to Chairman in Imperial, and he can decide your life with a single word!

    But the little girl, Xia Yingluo, seemed unaware. She sat down very naturally and picked up the chopsticks.

    She was tired from dancing and it had been very draining to challenge Pei Yan. She drank two bowls of bird¡¯s nest without restrain and ordered several rare dishes like bud tips and truffles to eat. Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t move his chopsticks and just watched as she swallowed her food ravenously. ¡°Didn¡¯t your parents feeding you anything at home?¡±

    She nced at him with a vignt look and smiled very naturally. ¡°I¡¯m a poor student, how could I afford such an expensive thing? I have nobody toment to. Otherwise, how could Ms. Pei Yan bully me?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Pei Yan felt anger bubbling and almost hit her table.

    Xia Yingluo smiled lightly and gave her a provocative nce.

    Pei Yan suppressed herself with much difficulty. Just now when Pei Ziheng made her stay deliberately, it was obviously pping her in the face, but she didn¡¯t know what she had done to upset her brother-inw. It was clear she had to tolerate the little bitch in front of him or she would be looking for her own death.

    Xia Yingluo was stuffing herself, and even advised while eating. ¡°Your white tea sprouts were not fried well and are a little old. It¡¯s a bit tough to chew, like grass. The bird¡¯s nest soup is a little lean and doesn¡¯t melt in the mouth. And that carp soup over there? It¡¯s the most unpleasant carp I¡¯ve ever had. Ms. Pei Yan, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m deliberately going against you, but it¡¯s rare to hold an engagement party, so don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being too stingy to serve these kinds of dishes?¡±

    In front of a table full of guests, Pei Yan was so angry that she almost vomited blood. In fact, what was so bad about these dishes? All the invited chefs were usually used in feasts for wealthy families and were all first-ss. Only the little bitch Xia Yingluo could pick out so many problems! ¡°What are you talking about?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Don¡¯t spew nonsense if you¡¯ve never eaten good stuff before!¡±

    As soon as her words fell, she heard Pei Ziheng say to Xia Yingluo indulgently. ¡°It¡¯s really not delicious, poor you.¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s next series of scolding was stuck in her throat and she couldn¡¯t say anything.

    The faces of the guests at the tables were also surprised. They could say that the little girl had not eaten good things and was ignorant, but how could they dare say that of Pei Ziheng as well?

 Chapter 1197 - Favorite Little Girl

    <h4>Chapter 1197: Favorite Little Girl</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Chairman Pei was obviously supporting the little girl! Why was he being indulgent towards her?

    Everyone was tactful and just looked down and didn¡¯t speak.

    Some daring people daringly tried to curry favor with her. ¡°The dishes here don¡¯t match your taste? Why don¡¯t youe to y at my family¡¯s gold club another day? Our chefs are very special and the dishes they make are not easily eaten outside. Chairman Pei, why don¡¯t youe along? I heard that your golf is amazing, how about giving us face and pointing us out?¡±

    The person who said this could see clearly how different Pei Ziheng¡¯s attitude was to this little girl. He might even have taken a liking towards her. It was better to be quick-witted and act as a middleman for them. Most importantly, he could tighten his rtionship with Chairman Pei.

    Many people also realized the same thing and secretly hated this man for taking the opportunity to invite the two of them to his golf club.

    Xia Yingluo was busy eating and replied without even raising her head, ¡°I won¡¯t go.¡±

    The man didn¡¯t expect her to not give him face and his expression changed slightly. The other people were also extremely shocked. Was this little girl stupid? Now that Pei Ziheng had taken a fancy to her, didn¡¯t she know how to create more opportunities to get closer to Pei Ziheng? Once she was on his golden thigh, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry for the rest of her life! But she was incredible, she didn¡¯t just push away his golden thighs, she also conveniently offended the big boss of this gold club. She was really...

    Really...

    She didn¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth!

    A group of people was still silently criticizing her when they saw Pei Ziheng add food to her bowl personally. He said in a warm voice, ¡°You¡¯re called Xia Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She picked up the dish he had just taken for her. ¡°I don¡¯t want goose paws, it¡¯s not delicious.¡±

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t even get angry. ¡°What about steamed eggs with ms?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± She took a big bite of the steamed egg he handed over, without any consciousness that she had just been served by the biggest big boss of Imperial Entertainment.

    The guests at the table felt like they were dreaming.

    They had heard how Chairman Pei had doted on Xia Ling without regard for natural morality, but after the death of the legendary queen, he had never pampered any girl that way again. Many juniors in the business world even thought that his love story with Xia Ling was just a legend that people beautified and exaggerated on throughout time.

    But now, after seeing how he was treating Xia Yingluo, they were all in disarray.

    It turned out that he really could treat women well?

    This Xia Yingluo, what good deed had she done in the past to be able to attract the attention of Chairman Pei?

    Pei Ziheng asked her slowly, ¡°What do your parents do, and who else is in the family?¡±

    Xia Yingluo told him details ording to the fake materials that her family had made for her. She was full and felt that the man wasn¡¯t very easy to deal with, so she said, ¡°I¡¯m leaving, I¡¯m going back to practice at the training camp. Uncle Pei, thank you for the meal.¡±

    The guests were all bewildered. Uncle... Pei?! Little girl, as a humble trainee, what qualifications do you have to call him uncle, you should just call him ¡°Chairman¡± like how everyone else does! What¡¯s more, even if she wanted to get closer to him, she shouldn¡¯t call him uncle! He has already made it clear he was interested in you, was it really okay to use such an old term to call him?

    Pei Ziheng¡¯s eyes darkened slightly and he said slowly, ¡°Today is a holiday for the training camp. You stay here and have fun.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was not sure what he meant. Has he really taken a liking to her? She looked at his expression and didn¡¯t think it was that of a man looking at a woman, but rather... an elder looking at a junior he hadn¡¯t met for a long time.

    Could her identity have been revealed?

    She nced suspiciously at Pei Ziheng, hesitated, then nodded and promised to stay.

    It was best if her identity wasn¡¯t revealed. If it was, she didn¡¯t know if Pei Ziheng would look after her for the sake of her mother, or make things difficult for her because of her father. But in any case, it wasn¡¯t a good thing. If Pei Ziheng looked after her because she was ¡°Xia Ling¡¯s daughter¡±, her trial would fail and she would be considered cheating. If Pei Ziheng made things difficult for her, it would be very troublesome as well. He was an extremely difficult character just like her own father Li Lei...

    Xia Yingluo weighed her options carefully a thousand times. In the end, she felt she had to find out more about Pei Ziheng¡¯s intentions.

    Staying at the banquet was the best option. If Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t look for her, it would mean that everything was fine. If he looked for her, she could further observe if he had taken a fancy to her or if he had discovered her identity. Then, she could respond in time.

    The meal slowly dispersed from everyone¡¯s mind.

    Xia Yingluo took a walk in the garden to aid digestion, bored stiff.

    The teacher from the training camp, Jiang Bilian, and the others hurried to find her. While she looked leisurely, the others all had on bad expressions

    The teacher said, ¡°Xia Yingluo, do you know that you almost caused a big disaster today? Why didn¡¯t you follow the routine during the dance? And you even embarrassed Pei Yan in public, it¡¯s ridiculous!¡±

    Xia Yingluo knew that her teacher would criticize her violently. She paid little attention to her and saidzily, ¡°Everything has happened already. We can¡¯t go back to the past even if you scold me, teacher, so save your energy.¡± She yawned a little, her stomach bloated.

    Her attitude made the teacher furious. ¡°Do you really think that the training camp dare not expel you?!¡±

    ¡°Expel me, then.¡± She was really a little bloated. She grabbed a few fruits from the waiter¡¯s tray to digest a little.

    She could see the teacher¡¯s veins on her forehead jumping, and Jiang Bilian and the others also looked very angry. They had all entered the banquet as staff members and weren¡¯t entitled to enjoy the various foods and drinks there. They even had to eat a takeaway box for their lunch in the crowded work area. But Xia Yingluo? She was even personally invited by Imperial Entertainment¡¯s big boss Pei Ziheng to go to the main table and feast on all the good food!

    At the thought of Pei Ziheng, the teacher¡¯s senses came back.

    Chairman Pei liked her so much, maybe she was really going to flourish! It wasn¡¯t suitable to lecture her like before anymore.

    So, the teacher took a deep breath and put on a cheerful expression. ¡°I¡¯ll bring Jiang Bilian and the rest back to the training camp. Since Chairman Pei wants you to stay, you can y here. Just send me a message on whether you¡¯ll be returning to the training camp tonight so I won¡¯t worry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly. What did she mean by not returning to the training camp at night? Who did they think she was?

    So she said a little grumpily, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, teacher, I know my limits.¡±

    She walked away.

    Leaving behind the awkward teacher, and the rest of them who looked down on her but were also jealous of her.

    ¡°Humph, what is she so arrogant for,¡± Zhu Zhu said indignantly beside Jiang Bilian. ¡°Chairman Pei only took pity on her and gave her food, but look at how arrogant she is! I¡¯m afraid that Chairman Pei has already forgotten who she is!¡±

 Chapter 1198 - Really Considerate

    <h4>Chapter 1198: Really Considerate</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jiang Bilian bit her lip and didn¡¯t speak.

    She had expected the training camp to help her get back justice for having lost her lead dancer position, but looking at the situation now, it would be good if Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t achieve meteoric sess and fly over her head! Although she was jealous of Xia Yingluo and hated her to the core, she also knew how to judge the situation and understood that it was not toote for a gentleman to take revenge ten yearster. Hence, she said to Zhu Zhu, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Zhu Zhu ttered her. ¡°Only our Sister Bilian is so mature!¡±

    Jiang Bilian smiled reluctantly. The dance she had carefully choreographed had been ruined by Xia Yingluo, and none of the nobles had even paid attention to her, let alone inquire about her and talk to her. How could she not be angry to have entered a treasure cave and yete out empty-handed? But so what if she was not reconciled, she couldn¡¯t rush forward and hold on to a nobleman and ask them to give her another chance, could she?

    She could only wait for the second chance...

    But who knew how long it would take for the second chance toe?

    Jiang Bilian felt her heart boiling in rage. She was extremely angry and remembered this debt that Xia Yingluo would have to pay for.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Yingluo stealing away her limelight¡ª

    Chairman Pei would have taken a liking to her, Jiang Bilian!

    It was midsummer.

    The garden was lined with trees and flowers.

    Xia Yingluo was curled up on an old rattan chair while ying with a cat and thinking.

    Pei Ziheng had yet toe and find her. Maybe he wasn¡¯ting. Then, what had happened at the lunch table was just an ident. Her identity hadn¡¯t been revealed and he hadn¡¯t taken a liking to her. That was good. Moreover, with his interest in her, the training camp wouldn¡¯t dare expel her from the school anymore. Who knew whether Chairman Pei woulde to visit and ask specifically to see her?

    It was all unpredictable.

    It also meant that she could live afortable life from now on. She could cause trouble and not have to worry about being expelled. Otherwise, even though she could enter Skyart¡¯s training camp after being expelled, it was still troublesome to change schools.

    Xia Yingluo was in a good mood. She saw a waiter walking with a tray nearby and motioned for him toe over. ¡°Come here.¡±

    The waiter came over with a tray full of a variety of snacks, drinks, and preserved fruits. Xia Yingluo picked a piece of mint cake excitedly, then curled up in the old rattan chair to enjoy itfortably.

    The sun was warm.

    The ivy hid quietly behind the ss wall.

    Xia Yingluozed in the sun for a while, then fell asleep groggily. Gradually, she began to feel as though something was wrong with her body... A tingling sensation came from her private ce, like an electric current spreading quickly through her body and making her tremble. She gasped, and having already had her first time, her body immediately reacted to the sensation and she widened her eyes in shock and anger¡ª

    There was a problem with the piece of cake she just ate!

    Arge dose of aphrodisiac had been added to the cake. It wasing into effect and made it very difficult for her to even walk.

    Her heart and mind were on full alert. She didn¡¯t know who was dealing with her in this way, but she knew that the person must have a powerful background. She managed to support her body and stumble toward the gate.

    She had to leave...

    She¡¯d be fine once she left.

    She sucked in a deep breath and stumbled on. She has yet to go far when a few waiters rushed out and blocked her path. ¡°Ms. Xia, what happened? We¡¯ll help you to rest in the guest room.¡±

    Indiscriminately, they half-supported and half-dragged her into the building.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to struggle but was surprised to find that she couldn¡¯t fight. The aphrodisiac medicine she had eaten was probably mixed with some other ingredients that made her four limbs weak. She couldn¡¯t use any of her self-defense skills. These people... had really considered everything about her!

    With all her strength, she fell back and refused to follow them. ¡°Who sent you? Where are you taking me?¡±

    One of the waiters said politely, ¡°Ms. Xia, we don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about, and you are not feeling well. We¡¯re just helping you to rest. This is a banquet hall and we¡¯ll have to take responsibility if anything happens to you, so of course, we have to take care of you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo saidboriously, ¡°I, I don¡¯t need you to take care of... let me go, or take me to the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Xia, let¡¯s take a break in the guest room first,¡± said the waiters. They dragged her into a dark and silent room and mmed the door shut. ¡°We¡¯ll find a doctor for you.¡±

    There was a stale moldy smell in the air.

    The curtains were tightly pulled, it was dark, and no fingers were visible.

    Xia Yingluo knew she must have fallen into somebody¡¯s trap, but she didn¡¯t know if that person was Pei Yan or Zhao Yixuan? Her instinct to danger had been cultivated for a long time, and it made her slow down her breathing immediately. She bit her lips tightly so that not a silent sound would leak out. Then, she climbed backward a few steps forcefully and carefully hid herself in the dark.

    The gentle movement almost exhausted all her strength.

    The hotness in the body was getting more intense. It engulfed her and caused fine cold sweat to ooze on her forehead.

    She bit her lip tightly, smelling the faint scent of blood.

    Deep in the room came clumsy footsteps, then a man¡¯s wretchedughter. ¡°Little beauty, are you finally here? Hurry up and make me happy...¡± Then came theughter of several other men.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression changed. The person who harmed her was really vicious to throw her into a pile of men! She could imagine the consequences if they were sessful. They might even take a video of her or something and ruin her reputation forever!

    She didn¡¯t even dare to make a sound, and her white teeth clenched harshly on her cellphone until blood leaked out.

    She was dizzy and barely kept awake while relying on her pain between her fingers. She had difficulty breathing and felt like she might pass out at any time.

    Messy footsteps rushed to the ce where she had been thrown in before, followed by a curse. ¡°Shit! That bitch dared to trick us! Where¡¯s she?¡± Then came the sound of chairs being dragged and pushed. Those people were indeed furious and were looking for her.

    Xia Yingluo carefully moved towards the door under the cover of these noises.

    The room was too dark, and she couldn¡¯t see anything. Fortunately, her memory and sense of direction were pretty good, and she soon touched the door.

    She felt a joyous thump in her heart, but at the same time, a man said, ¡°What the hell, it¡¯s so dark! Ah Si, go turn on the lights and see where that bitch is hiding!¡± Then there was the sound of tables and chairs being knocked over as if the man called Ah Si was moving around.

    Xia Yingluo estimated that there were no fewer than five or six men in the room. Moreover, with the sound their movements were making, their strengths were probably big. It might not have been a problem if her body was fine, but at the moment, she was drugged and could barely even stand. Hence, there was no way she could fight with these people.

 Chapter 1199 - Wei Lingnan at the Window Sill

    <h4>Chapter 1199: Wei Lingnan at the Window Sill</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Forget about the five or six of them, she might not even be able to defeat them one-on-one.

    She couldn¡¯t let them turn on the lights!

    If they turned on the lights, she would be exposed and would have no other way to escape!

    Xia Yingluo touched the doorknob as fast as she could, but before she could touch it, Ah Si had already found his way there. She shrank back, trying to widen her eyes. After adapting to the darkness, she could vaguely see a tall figure close to her. She gave a kick relying on her feeling and luck¡ªindeed, her luck was good. The man covered his crotch and screamed in pain, rolling onto the ground.

    ¡°Ah Si! What¡¯s wrong?!¡± Several other men cried.

    ¡°That bitch, she hit me!¡± Ah Si screamed.

    Xia Yingluo took advantage of the opportunity to touch the door from one side to the other and finally touched the door handle. She twisted it forcefully but it didn¡¯t move. It must have been locked by someone from outside. She screamed secretly and heard a lot of chaotic footstepsing in her direction. She didn¡¯t want to stay for a long time and quickly retreated back into the darkness.

    ¡°Ah Si, are you okay?!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that bitch?!¡±

    ¡°Ouch¡ªthat bitch, that bitch almost kicked off my crotch!¡± Ah Si cursed. ¡°Hurry up and find her, I¡¯m going to pull out her tendons, peel her skin and rape her corpse! I¡¯ll let her know I¡¯m not easy to bully!¡±

    ¡°Where can we find her in this darkness?¡± Someoneined. ¡°I¡¯m going to¡ªouch!¡± Another man tripped onto something that had been sticking out and fell heavily onto the ground.

    ¡°The bitch is there!¡± Someone called out.

    Several strong men rushed to the direction where the man was tripped, but Xia Yingluo had already quietly left and walked behind them. She picked up a few unknown bits and pieces in a hurry, then came forward to smash the things at the men. While the men were in a mess, she quietly touched the window and ducked behind the curtain.

    The thick ckout curtains blocked all the light, but the sunlight outside the window was just right, and it was bright in the midsummer afternoon.

    The sudden sunlight was a little dazzling and Xia Yingluo had to resist the difort of her body. She narrowed her eyes and pushed a little and the window really opened. The breeze and the scent of flowers all poured in at once. She took a deep breath, and her vertigo was lightened.

    In the room, several men finally turned on the lights and looked around, but did not find Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Where did the bitch go?¡± Someone roared.

    ¡°Surely she¡¯s still in the room, she can¡¯t possibly have run away! Find her!¡±

    Several men started looking around and soon found the abnormal shape near the window. As soon as they opened the curtains, they saw a petite girl standing on the window sill with one foot, half of her body looking out. The sun shone on her body like a touch of gold, and she looked as beautiful as a fairy.

    ¡°The goods our Boss gave us this time isn¡¯t bad...¡± Someone drooled.

    They stared at the girl on the window sill, full of lust.

    Xia Yingluo was anxious. There were more people than she had thought. There were seven men! And she was now on the second-floor window sill. However, don¡¯t underestimate the second-floor of this high-end building. The high jump was much more luxurious than ordinary buildings. The ground she was standing on was almost the third floor of an ordinary building. Although the ground was awn, still... if she jumped regardlessly, she could easily break her legs!

    Once she broke her leg, she simply couldn¡¯t escape and would only be dragged back to be at their mercy!

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned pale and cold sweat broke on her neck. She couldn¡¯t retreat nor advance, what could she do?

    ¡°Little beauty, hehe...¡± The few men saw that her face wasn¡¯t right and thought she was afraid, so they became even cockier. ¡°Be obedient and let us enjoy you. Don¡¯t be stubborn, your hands and feet are already shaking. We will treat you well, hahahahaha...¡±

    ¡°You, why are you all here?¡± Xia Yingluo was thinking about her escape n and dyed for time. ¡°Who sent you to harm me?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know that? What good oue could you have from offending people? Hehehe. Little beauty, just ept defeat. We are all so professional, how could we possibly tell you the name of the master behind the scenes? If you want to me anyone, me it on your bad luck...¡±

    They said and walked closer and closer to the window.

    Xia Yingluo was anxious. Did she really have to jump?

    But it would really be a dead-end if she were to jump! She was utterly helpless!

    Just when she was panicking, all of a sudden, she saw a personing out of the shade downstairs. He wore a light white shirt with fine workmanship, and his side profile looked like an ice sculpture. He looked up at her frail self on the windowsill.

    ¡°Wei Lingan!¡± She wanted to call out to him loudly as if she had seen her savior, but it came out weak and frail instead.

    He seemed to hear it, and a slight smile curled on his face. He opened up his arms for her. ¡°Jump down.¡± His voice was not high, but it echoed in her ears. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you are Superman?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s body was extremely ufortable and she was almost about to slip off the window sill, but she still taunted him. ¡°If I crash down like this, your arm will break and you¡¯ll break bones together with me!¡±

    She didn¡¯t know if Wei Lingnan had heard her, but he still maintained the original posture.

    In the room, the men were getting closer and closer, their wretched and lewd faces getting closer as well.

    Her body was soft and hot for a while, and she knew it couldn¡¯t go on like this. She stopped hesitating. She gritted her teeth and jumped out of the window sill, but instead of jumping off at Wei Lingnan¡¯s side, she chose to jump off the other side.

    Even if she had to break her arms and feet, she didn¡¯t want to drag him down too.

    After closing her eyes, she was ready to bear the severe pain of the fracture. However, the pain in her imagination did note. She fell into a solid and warm embrace. Looking up, Wei Lingnan¡¯s indifferent and handsome face looming over her.

    She was stunned.

    She... didn¡¯t she jump to the other side?!

    Wei Lingnan seemed to read her mind, and he said in a soft voice, ¡°Why, you don¡¯t want me to catch you that badly?¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± she said incoherently, then angrily. ¡°Are you stupid! What if you were smashed dead by me?! I don¡¯t want to collect your corpse! Are you okay?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Do you look like I¡¯m not okay?¡±

    He seemed to be in a good mood. ¡°It turns out you care about me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned red, and she turned her head to the side. ¡°Who cares about you, I was just worried that you were be crashed by me. No, even if I crash you and you¡¯re only heavily injured, those men would rush down quickly, then how would we escape?¡±

    So, that was the reason why she cared for him?

 Chapter 1200 - The Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 1200: The Rescue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Lingnan hung his head low and hid his expression.

    Xia Yingluoy in his embrace, her petite formpletely exhausted. She felt the strange warmth and numbness picking up inside her again, like a thousand ants crawling about in her body. She let out a soft moan in agony.

    Instantly, she began blushing and hurriedly bit her lip to stop herself.

    Wei Lingnan noticed it and tipped her chin upwards with his slender finger.

    Her beautiful face was even sweeter in the natural light, and her eyes were gazing into his directly. She could see the coldness in those eyes, like that of a predator, and she felt a mysterious aura lying beneath it.

    She curled up slightly.

    ¡°Afraid?¡± His voice was low and hoarse.

    She was a little caught off-guard, like a strange creature was speaking to her from amidst the fog.

    She closed her eyes and tried to shake that thought away. ¡°Let me go.¡± While that was what she said, her entire being was paralyzed and lying like a dead weight in his arms. She had not an ounce of energy left, and he was literally holding her up.

    He bent lower and nted a kiss on her lips.

    She felt a strange shock reverberating through her body and weakly said, ¡°Wei Lingnan... don¡¯t be like this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, huh?¡± He said suggestively, causing her to shiver a little.

    ¡°Don¡¯t...¡± Her eyes were all watery, and she wanted to say this while she still could. ¡°Don¡¯t do... things that... we¡¯d both regret. Send me to the hospital, please...¡±

    He stopped whatever he was doing and looked at her quietly.

    Out of the blue, he recalled how she¡¯d once said that ¡°nothing achieved by force will be sweet¡±. Slowly, he pulled his lips away from hers.

    Her heart rate stabilized slightly, but the difort was still very much present. Xia Yingluo bit her lip and used all her might to withstand wave after wave of that strange numbing burn.

    Wei Lingnan took a small bottle out from his pocket and handed it to her. ¡°Drink it up.¡±

    The bottle held a few drops of a transparent liquid that gleamed menacingly in the sunlight.

    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Poison for your guts.¡± He smiled a little devilishly.

    Xia Yingluo was speechless.

    ¡°I won¡¯t take you to the hospital,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s up to you to drink this.¡±

    ... Could this be an antidote? Xia Yingluo used thest bit of rationality in her¡ªif Wei Lingnan was out to harm her, he didn¡¯t need to go to such trouble. He could kill her with a little pinch like she was an ant. So, this might just be an antidote instead?

    She opened the bottle and finished it.

    Wei Lingnan watched as she finished everyst drop of it. It didn¡¯t take long before her abnormally high body temperature went down, and the flush in her face faded. Her breathing was regted and she was back to the Xia Yingluo she always had been.

    Xia Yingluo sensed the difference too and looked up at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He was very tall, and even with her looking up at him, she was only at his chin. Looking at the abundant sunlight that highlighted the features on her face, his heart softened a little. ¡°Just a thank you?¡± He pressed.

    Xia Yingluo was a little unhappy now, just what more did he want?

    She turned away and said, ¡°Well, what more? You¡¯ve done so many insane things to me, I haven¡¯t even held you ountable for that.¡± She looked adorable when she threw a tantrum, just like a grudging kitten.

    Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t hold himself back from teasing her further. ¡°I wee you to hold me ountable anytime. I¡¯ve slept with you twice, you can sleep with me twice too, or with unlimited interest as well.¡±

    She went red and red at him.

    He sighed. ¡°In any case, you won¡¯t be disadvantaged.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said coldly, ¡°You and I are impossible, we never could be together from the start. Wei Lingnan, stop fantasizing. We should stop this while we can and go our separate ways.¡±

    Her words ¡°never could be together from the start¡± had him darken his eyes.

    She was a little intimidated, but still mustered the courage to hold her re.

    During their stare-off, two men and a woman approached them¡ªthe woman was Pei Yan, who had since changed into a short gown and now had her hair up in an elegant fashion. She had her arm hooked on Zhao Yixuan¡¯s. The other man with them was someone Xia Yingluo did not recognize, but she saw some resemnce between him and Pei Yan. He was dressed in a tailor-made suit and appeared prim.

    Pei Yan spoke up first, ¡°Xia Yingluo, what are you doing here?¡±

    She then looked at Wei Lingnan in shock. ¡°I recognize you, aren¡¯t you the one who won Xia Yingluo over at the casino? Why are you here, I don¡¯t remember inviting you to my engagement party!¡± She had a vivid impression of Wei Lingnan; anyone who had lost everything to a person and was chased out in shame would have such an impression.

    Wei Lingnan gazed at her and smiled.

    Pei Yan¡¯s hair stood on end when she saw his smile, and she backed away slightly behind Zhao Yixuan. She did not know why, but this man looked just like a predator eyeing his prey whenever he narrowed his eyes.

    Zhao Yixuan sensed his fiancee¡¯s difort and frowned at them. ¡°Yingluo, I¡¯m so disappointed in you. Even though I don¡¯t want you anymore, you shouldn¡¯t be treating yourself with so little self-respect and self-love. Look at yourself now, how could you?¡±

    At this point, Xia Yingluo¡¯s clothes were in a mess, her hair was untidy, and she was being held in Wei Lingnan¡¯s arms¡ªit was a rather suggestive scene.

    She sneered upon hearing his words. He thought too highly of himself! What did he mean by her not respecting herself because he didn¡¯t want her anymore?! This jerk was too narcissistic! ¡°Excuse me, Mr. Zhao. I¡¯m doing very well.¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s tone was cold and distant. ¡°Our Lingnan doesn¡¯t have much, but he¡¯s just a little richer than Mr. Zhao, a little more handsome, a little stronger, and a little more thoughtful todies.¡± Of course, the final use waspletely fictional, she had just wanted to rip him up a moment ago. But with her ex standing just before her, it was only necessary to exaggerate a little.

    Hearing the words ¡°our Lingnan¡±, Wei Lingnan smiled.

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression darkened. He had not expected Xia Yingluo to be so curt and harsh, sending ps to his face. In his memory, she was still a naive and romantic young girl from the training camp, one whose smile was sweet and eyes were clear¡ªwhen had she be like this?

 Chapter 1201 - Wei Lingnanâ€™s Defense

    <h4>Chapter 1201: Wei Lingnan¡¯s Defense</h4>

    ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯ve changed...¡± Zhao Yixuan sounded pained.

    Xia Yingluo scoffed. She hadn¡¯t changed, he simply did not know her well enough.

    Back then, she¡¯d been so nice to him. Like every other girl who¡¯d just fallen in love, she had been unwilling to reveal even the smallest of ws to him, as all she had wanted was for him to see her as perfect. She used to smile at him, speaking tenderly the sweetest of words and always putting up her best, most loveable front.

    Maybe, this was what gave him the wrong impression?

    ¡°Zhao Yixuan, are you missing the good old times?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled deviously. ¡°You sound as if you¡¯ve got some regrets. Why, did you realize that Miss Pei is inferior to me after being engaged with her? Haha.¡±

    She giggled as Zhao Yixuan get flustered. He turned around and saw Pei Yan¡¯s thunderous expression, and hurriedly said, ¡°Yan Yan is the best, how could you possibly match up to her?¡± But everyone could sense theck of conviction in those words.

    Pei Yan swelled with hate on the inside. She had known all this while that Zhao Yixuan still had feelings for Xia Yingluo, and was only going after herself because of her status and power. But she couldn¡¯t help it, she just liked him. She couldn¡¯t keep her emotions in check from the moment she saw him¡ªhis chivalry, his gentleness, and thoughtfulness had swooned her beyond her control.

    All she could do was hold onto him tightly and chase the slut Xia Yingluo out of his life.

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely the best, that¡¯s why Yixuan chose me.¡± Pei Yan looked at Xia Yingluo haughtily.

    Xia Yingluo found this argument pointless. Back then, she must¡¯ve been blind to have fallen for Zhao Yixuan; it was thanks to Pei Yan and the photo in bed she sent, that she could get out of this rtionship soon enough.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± She turned around and said to Wei Lingnan.

    ¡°Hold up.¡± The man beside Pei Yan spoke up for the first time. ¡°This is the Pei family¡¯s home, do you think you cane and go as you wish? Both of you need to exin why you¡¯ve ended up in the guest room. Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s private property?¡±

    With Xia Yingluo in his arm, Wei Lingnan sized that man up with narrowed eyes.

    The man¡¯s hair stood as well, how could anyone¡¯s eyes look this menacing?

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s deep voice rang out, ¡°Who gave you the guts to speak to me this way?¡±

    It was a simple and sinct sentence, but it sounded threatening and oppressive.

    The man was intimidated, but he pushed through. ¡°And who gave you the guts to speak to a Pei family member this way? Haven¡¯t you heard of my name, Pei Chengyou? Whoever offends me will be repaid in kind tenfold.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re Pei Chengyou.¡± Wei Lingnan chuckled.

    The man was Pei Yan¡¯s biological elder brother, one of the candidates Pei Ziheng considered to be the next heir. At this point, Wei Lingnan¡¯sugh was making him disturbed. ¡°What are youughing at?¡± He asked coldly.

    ¡°I¡¯mughing at you, you don¡¯t even know you¡¯re in deep trouble.¡± Wei Lingnan said slowly, ¡°I heard you¡¯re one of the potential candidates considered for an heir? Well then, didn¡¯t Pei Ziheng tell you who I am? Seems like... you aren¡¯t all that important to him.¡±

    That statement seemed to strike Pei Chengyou in the heart.

    Who exactly was this man and why was he saying such things?! Was he some VIP that First Uncle Pei Ziheng invited personally? Someone so important that no one besides those directly involved should know?

    Countless thoughts popped up in Pei Chengyou¡¯s mind as he looked at Wei Lingnan uncertainly.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Wei Lingnan a little skeptically. She¡¯d never asked who he really was, but this time, she was really curious. ¡°Who exactly are you?¡± She tugged at his sleeve.

    He caressed her hair as if he was stroking an anxious kitten. Without answering the question, he looked towards Pei Chengyou. ¡°Whatever you¡¯ve done to Yingluo, aren¡¯t you afraid Pei Ziheng would find out about it? His eyes were on Yingluo every so often during the banquet just now. And still, you tried finding trouble with her, are you pitting yourself against Pei Ziheng?¡±

    Pei Chengyou was frightened now. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°No, you do know.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Take a guess, who do you think Pei Ziheng would believe when ites to this?¡±

    Pei Chengyou was really in cold sweat at this point. He had no idea how much of Wei Lingnan¡¯s words were true or false anymore. It was he who drugged Xia Yingluo, and also he who got people to find trouble with her¡ªall of these were nned before the engagement party itself. It was just a smokescreen when Pei Yan made things difficult for Xia Yingluo on stage. They had wanted her to let her guard down and believe that that was all to the Pei family¡¯s revenge on her. The truth was that what was to follow was the real thing¡ªseven strong men were to keep her under control and take their turns with her, before capturing videos of her after she¡¯d been utterly insulted and degraded.

    Pei Chengyou had deliberated about canceling this part of the n.

    Not because of his conscience, but because of Pei Ziheng¡¯s sudden interest on her at the engagement party.

    He actually daredy a finger on somebody that First Uncle looked out for? Was he mad?!

    Pei Chengyou had been a little uncertain, and especially got someone to test the waters on First Uncle¡¯s end, to see if they should just send her to his bed in an unconscious state. But Pei Ziheng had not stayed long after the engagement party. Hence, they decided to carry on as originally nned. From his expression, it seemed as if he never even heard of Xia Yingluo.

    Pei Chengyou daringly assumed that First Uncle probably just found her a pretty little thing, but didn¡¯t think very much of this girl.

    As such, Pei Chengyou took the risk and carried on.

    On one hand, he wanted to stand up for his sister. On the other, what if Pei Ziheng wanted to keep her as his woman someday? Given the conflicts between this wretched girl and Pei Yan, who knew what she might say against them in future!

    He couldn¡¯t give her such an opportunity!

    In that case, the best solution was to ensure that Pei Ziheng would never take an interest in her...

    As a Pei family¡¯s descendant, especially one that was a potential heir candidate, it was necessary to study Pei Ziheng¡¯s likes and dislikes. Pei Chengyou knew very well that First Uncle had strong self-discipline. It was most likely that he had not touched many women over the years, and that those he touched were pure, without much dirty past experiences on the bed. If Xia Yingluo were to be ¡°used¡±... First Uncle wouldn¡¯t ever want to touch her, right?

    Then she¡¯d never have a chance to speak ill of them in front of First Uncle!

    To y it safe, Pei Chengyou even modified the original n¡ªhe removed two of the healthy men among the group of seven and reced them with two others who had sexually-transmitted diseases. Once Xia Yingluo was infected, she¡¯d spend her life seeking treatment at those unsightly and shameless little clinics!

 Chapter 1202 - The Rich Belle Gu Jinxiu

    <h4>Chapter 1202: The Rich Belle Gu Jinxiu</h4>

    His n was so wless, he could barely contain how impressed he was of himself.

    But never would he have expected that the seven good-for-nothings wouldn¡¯t be able to get hold of a drugged and vulnerable girl. When he heard that she¡¯d escaped through a window, he¡¯d brought his men over, all ready to capture her once again, but s, he¡¯d bumped into Wei Lingnan!

    This man... was not to be offended.

    Pei Chengyou had made a quick judgment¡ªbe it his menacing aura or his threatening words, this man was an intimidating figure. First Uncle Pei Ziheng was shrewd and deep, and people like him absolutely hated it when others attempted to outsmart or control them. Whether he liked Xia Yingluo or not, he wouldn¡¯t want anyone else to decide on his behalf if he was going toy his hands on her. Meanwhile, Pei Chengyou took things in his own hands and did just what was considered taboo¡ªto have someone else impurify Xia Yingluo beforehand. If Pei Ziheng were to find out about this, he was in deep trouble.

    Seeing Wei Lingnan standing before him now, Pei Chengyou wondered, was he really so powerful?

    Did his words really mean something to Pei Ziheng?

    Well, it was better to be safe than sorry, there was no good in wasting years of effort on this n involving a wretched girl. With this thought, he said to Wei Lingnan politely, ¡°Mr. Wei, I didn¡¯t have a better choice. I believe you understand why I had to do this. I¡¯m to me for not being observant enough. If I had known that Miss Xia was your woman, I definitely wouldn¡¯t have thought about getting to her. You¡¯re magnanimous enough not to stoop to my level, right? I¡¯ll find a day to pay a visit and personally apologize to the both of you, how¡¯s that?¡±

    The change in his attitude had everyone taken aback.

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but mock him. ¡°Pei Chengyou, it¡¯s such a pity that you didn¡¯t be a movie star.¡±

    Pei Chengyou was annoyed by her remark but decided it was wiser not to rebut, given that he wasn¡¯t sure of Wei Lingnan¡¯s power.

    But Pei Yan couldn¡¯t take it lying down. ¡°Brother, why do you have to be so polite to this wretched girl?!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Pei Chengyou shot his sister a death re. She really was a greater hindrance than a help! Even if Xia Yingluo was just a wretched girl, was it not obvious that Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t an ordinary man? He¡¯d heard what his sister said the other time, about how Wei Lingnan could toss out three Supreme ck Gold chips like it was water. Even he couldn¡¯t do it!

    Hence, he really believed that Wei Lingnan was powerful enough to bring this up to First Uncle!

    How could this man be offended?

    While Pei Yan was foolish, she could see that Brother was genuinely angry. She dared not say anymore but continued ring at Xia Yingluo.

    Wei Lingnan gently pulled Xia Yingluo closer and gave a wry smile. ¡°You¡¯re pretty smart, huh.¡±

    Pei Chengyou was already sweating from the tension. ¡°Mr. Wei, please be kind and let us off.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at Xia Yingluo and affectionately asked, ¡°What do you say? Do we let them off?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so close to rolling her eyes. What was he doing now, portraying himself as a loving saint? Unwilling to give him a chance, she tried to turn outwards, but his grip on her waist tightened, leaving her with no means of escape. She clenched her jaw and sneered. ¡°Mr. Wei, you¡¯re so impressive, look how scared the Peis look now. But what has your letting them off have anything to do with me? I¡¯m tired, I want to return to the dorm.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said in an endearing tone, ¡°Sure.¡±

    He looked up at Pei Chengyou. ¡°Take that adulterous couple with you and leave.¡± He did not mention anything about letting them off, or not.

    Pei Chengyou said, ¡°Regarding the issue earlier...¡±

    Wei Lingnan swept him a cold nce. His eyes were like that of a mysterious creature, sending chills down Pei Chengyou¡¯s spine. This sort of repression was silent and intangible, but powerful all the same. Pei Chengyou was afraid to say anything more as he led Pei Yan and the rest away hurriedly.

    It was peaceful and quiet again.

    Only then did Xia Yingluo push his arm away. ¡°Let go of me.¡±

    ¡°This is the sort of attitude you have towards your benefactor?¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was soft like the breeze.

    Xia Yingluo red at him. ¡°These are separate matters. Continue holding me this way and I¡¯ll punch you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a while before it hit her just how unconvincing her words were¡ªif there was anyone in this world who wasn¡¯t afraid of being attacked, it had to be him. All her self-defense tactics were surely useless against him.

    She was fuming with shame. ¡°You really think I don¡¯t have a way against you?!¡±

    He gently flicked the leaf that had fallen on her hair. ¡°I believe you do. Ah Luo, I¡¯ve been waiting for the day you find a way against me.¡±

    She was taken aback.

    She felt that beneath his calm demeanor was boundless pain, and that made her... sad.

    Why was it the case? Why would she feel sad for a man who¡¯d vited her twice? Given her usual temper, she probably would¡¯ve sent him to his grave by now. But he was still well and fine, and his shameless words actually made her feel upset.

    Who... was he?

    She looked a little lost, but she could feel him wrapping his arm around her waist a little tighter now. A breeze swept across and leaves fell around them, that was when she saw a strange familiarity in the corner of his eyes. It seemed like there was a soft calling from the bottom of her heart, softly going, Nan, take me home...

    Out of the blue, a voice stopped her train of thoughts. ¡°Lingnan.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw a beautifuldy walking towards them. She was holding a ss of wine in her smooth, fair hand, and was in a new-edition gown of high-quality texture that shimmered alluringly under the light.

    As she got closer, she smiled at them. ¡°Lingnan, so you¡¯re here. Thisdy is...?¡±

    Xia Yingluo seized the chance to shake him off and stand on her own. ¡°Hello, I am Xia Yingluo.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Miss Xia.¡± The beautifuldy smiled kindly. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard Lingnan mention you before. Lingnan, where did you find such a beautiful girl, why haven¡¯t you told me about her?¡± She sounded endearing.

    Xia Yingluo spected their rtionship as she heard Wei Lingnan say, ¡°Why are you out here? Is the banquet not fun?¡±

    ¡°How could it be fun when you¡¯re not around?¡± Thatdy handed him her half-drunk wine. Her action was elegant and fluent as if it was just what she was supposed to be doing. Wei Lingnan, as expected, received the ss of wine. She used her now-free hand to reach out to Xia Ling. ¡°Pleasure to meet you, I am Gu Jinxiu, Lingnan¡¯s fiancee, and also the second-in-ce to take over the Gu Family Magnate. Miss Xia, you¡¯re so beautiful, when would you be free toe over? I¡¯ll give you two bottles of newly-developed perfume, they¡¯re not for sale outside.¡±

    With that, she gave a smile that revealed her two dimples.

    Xia Yingluo felt as if someone was showing off to her.

    Although she¡¯d never been in such a situation, Big Brother and Second Brother were always involved in such business that she was no stranger to it.

 Chapter 1203 - Madness on the Cliff

    <h4>Chapter 1203: Madness on the Cliff</h4>

    It was different from that time when Pei Yan sent out photos in bed as a show of her prowess. This time, Gu Jinxiu did so without using any underhanded methods. She dered her status as the rightful fianc¨¦e, intending for the mistress to back off.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Wei Lingnan. She really had not expected him to have a fianc¨¦e, no less an elegant belle.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her expressionless and did not exin himself.

    Xia Yingluo did not understand why, but she could feel frustration gripping her heart. Whether he had a fianc¨¦e was no business of hers. He was not rted to her in any way, the sooner he was taken, the better it was!

    She raised her head and smiled at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Thank you, Miss Gu. I¡¯ll make my way off first, you both can continue.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was satisfied with her attitude. When she saw Xia Yingluo in Wei Lingnan¡¯s arms, the mes of jealousy had engulfed her heart. She was only able to keep her cool thanks to herposure.

    Xia Yingluo turned around and was about to leave. However, Wei Lingnan pulled her back. ¡°Did I allow you to go?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was furious. ¡°What are you doing! Are you not going to apany your fianc¨¦e? Our meeting was a coincidence. We have our own matters to attend to and should not be wasting each other¡¯s time. Mr. Wei, please let go.¡±

    This girl, minutes ago she was showing him off as ¡°Our Lingnan¡±, but in the blink of an eye, he became ¡°Mr. Wei¡±.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Unfortunately, I have a lot of time to waste.¡±

    He passed his wine ss to Gu Jinxiu and said, ¡°Go have fun, I¡¯ll send Yingluo back.¡±

    Ignoring her struggle, he wrapped his arm around her waist and walked swiftly towards the garage.

    Gu Jinxiu was left alone. She held onto the half-empty ss of wine with a puzzled look on her face.

    ¡°Hey... Hey!¡± Xia Yingluo continued to struggle. However, she could not free herself from his grip and was forced into the garage. She was brought into his ck sports car. ¡°What do you want?!¡± She shouted as he locked her into the passenger seat. ¡°You have a fianc¨¦e already! Why are you stilling after me?!¡±

    He did not start the car. Staring at her, he said, ¡°Does it bother you?¡±

    She was shocked. Did it bother her?

    What exactly was it that bothered her?

    She turned her head away and said nonchntly, ¡°Why would I be. Even if you have a hundred fianc¨¦es, it¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    His eyes darkened. That¡¯s right, after knowing he had a fianc¨¦e, her first reaction was not anger nor shock, it was a sense of relief for her to escape. Did she really hate him so much?

    Suddenly, he stepped hard on the elerator and the car raced out.

    Xia Yingluo was caught by surprise and screamed. ¡°Are you nuts?¡±

    He did not reply and instead stepped harder on the pedal. Xia Yingluo could feel the scenery shing by as if she was in a Fast and Furious movie. No, it was scarier¡ªhis car was so fast, everything was a blur!

    ¡°Let me out!¡± She was terrified. She recalled his weird antics and thought, what if he really was crazy and wanted to die with her... No way! She was still young! ¡°Wei Lingnan, do you hear me, let me out!¡± She screamed but did not dare to grab the wheel. The car had nearly reached 200mph. She was afraid that if there was any error, they would end up in a pile of broken bones.

    ¡°This is the town area!!!¡± She was going insane.

    Wei Lingnan kept his cold expression and did not listen to her. The ck sports car maneuvered through the traffic like a phantom, drifting and screeching about. Soon, they were out of the town area and onto the winding mountain roads. He did not decrease his speed and nearly skidded off the mountain a few times. Somehow, he always managed to pull the car back in time. Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart nearly stopped.

    In the blink of an eye, they reached the top of the mountain, the end of the road.

    The cliff was right before them, but he kept on going. Xia Yingluo was in so much fear, she forgot to scream. Her mind went nk and she tried to reach for the steering wheel to gain control. However, her efforts were futile as he gripped tightly onto it. The car moved towards the cliff at hismand.

    It¡¯s over.

    Xia Yingluo thought she was dead. She was going to die with this crazy monster in such a pathetic way, falling off a cliff.

    The falling sensation she anticipated never arrived. Right as half of the car¡¯s body went past the cliff, Wei Lingnan stepped hard on the brakes. The car stopped, with half its body hanging out. Time seemed to have stopped at this moment.

    The ground below the car could not possibly take the impact. They were already hearing the sounds of stones and rocks breaking off.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a moment before she finally realized that she was still alive. She burst out in tears and cursed at Wei Lingnan. ¡°You are crazy! Bastard! Idiot!¡± She shook as tears messed up her makeup. She sobbed and cowered into his arms.

    He looked down and watched her cry. After a while, he started to run his fingers through her hair, likeforting a terrified kitten. She wanted to push his hands away, but she had no strength left in her. Sobbing, she said, ¡°Wei Lingnan... Wei Lingnan, you crazy idiot, bastard...¡±

    ¡°I am a crazy idiot.¡± His voice was calm as hebed her hair again. ¡°Isn¡¯t this what you wished for, Ah Luo? Why is it that if things don¡¯t go your way, you turn around and leave? Even if another woman lusts for me, you are not even going to put up a fight and only think to surrender?¡±

    As she was crying uncontrobly, she did not understand what he was saying. Her petite body shook to her cries.

    Wei Lingnan continuedforting her. Beyond the cliff was an endless sea of clouds, the sun setting slowly into the horizon.

    She was finally done crying. Lifting her messed up face, she swept his hands away and tried to open the door. Even though she tried with all her might, the door was locked shut.

    She shouted at him, ¡°Let me out!¡±

    ¡°You are still on the cliff,¡± he said emotionlessly.

    Xia Yingluo finally recalled the exhrating ride and saw the clouds around her. She went pale instantly. Who knew how long this car couldst on the cliff? It was scary to think that she was even crying and fighting with him in the car when it was hanging like this!

 Chapter 1204 - Guardian

    <h4>Chapter 1204: Guardian</h4>

    ¡°How should we get down?¡± She forced herself to calm down as she scanned the contacts on her phone. ¡°Let¡¯s call the police.¡±

    ¡°No signal here.¡± His three words destroyed all of her hope.

    She widened her eyes, not daring to believe it. She tried calling on her phone and realized that, as he said, there wasn¡¯t a number she could get through.

    ¡°Is this your plot?!¡± She was fuming.

    He smiled. ¡°You think too highly of me.¡±

    That was when Xia Yingluo realized that she wasn¡¯t quite making sense. Powerful and capable as he was, wasn¡¯t blocking signal off her phone a little far-fetched? She¡¯d probably been through too many strange events recently, all of which had messed with her mind.

    She tossed her phone aside in disappointment.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t seem the least bit anxious. ¡°You¡¯ve never watched a sunset with me.¡±

    She was about to puke blood upon hearing his words. This wasn¡¯t a good time to be thinking about enjoying the sunset! ¡°If we don¡¯t get out, this car is going to fall off the cliff sooner orter. We are going to be corpses watching the sunsets here for the rest of time,¡± she said coldly.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Would you like that? It sounds pretty nice.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so close to just pushing him off the cliff.

    Wei Lingnan looked out the window at the sunset, his eyes tinted with a faint shade of red and orange. He looked slightly devilish this way, but at the same time, appeared gentler than usual. ¡°Ah Luo, do you remember? The first time I went out forbat, you were so afraid I wouldn¡¯t return, that you¡¯d climb to the mountaintop every day to wait for me. Then, a huge explosion urred in the war zone. It was... red and enormous like this... and you thought I¡¯d died. You cried for a long time and they were about to find you another guardian, but you simply refused. You ran to the war zone to look for me on your own. At that time, you were... so young. You emerged from the horizon, as if... as if covered in a gold shawl.¡± He sounded more and more gentle as he spoke on. Going back deep into his memory, he smiled. ¡°I was so afraid, you know? That was when I swore to myself...¡±

    He did not go on from there as he gazed at the bright red sun before him.

    Xia Yingluo was immersed in his story. ¡°What did you swear?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± The annoying Wei Lingnan was back. ¡°Ah Luo, you¡¯re getting less adorable as you get older. Do you know how many times I¡¯ve felt like strangling you to death? You¡¯ve got my magnanimity to thank for living each day.¡±

    She scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡±

    But deep inside, she kept reying the words he¡¯d said. Based on his story, it seemed like he¡¯d mistaken her for someone else when he was younger? She¡¯d followed her father and brothers to so many war zones as a child, who knew which one he was referring to? What she knew for sure, however, was that she had not cried incessantly and waited for somebody on a mountain, not to mention risk her life by running to some war zone to find him. ¡°That little girl is such a poor thing, having to worry about you at such a young age.¡± Xia Yingluo mocked him. ¡°Don¡¯t you know that a good man never makes a girl troubled?¡±

    He smiled a little slyly. ¡°Funny how it¡¯sing from you.¡±

    She shot him a re.

    He leaned against the driver¡¯s seat, seeming like he wasn¡¯t the least bit afraid that the car would tip over and fall off the cliff. Just like that, he watched the sunset quietly.

    She couldn¡¯t keep her curiosity inside her. ¡°What did you say about a guardian? What¡¯s a guardian?¡±

    He kept quiet for a while. Just as she thought he wasn¡¯t going to answer her, he said, ¡°A guardian is a sort of creature, a strange species, a suicide squad. Only the most foolish little girl would cry for a guardian.¡±

    His tone was still somewhat mocking, but for some reason, she felt a little sad.

    ¡°You...¡± She thought for a long time before cautiously posing the question. ¡°You really like that little girl?¡±

    He turned around and looked at her. At that moment, all the tenderness in his eyes faded away with the red tint as he regained his usual cold demeanor. ¡°No, I hate that little girl.¡± He bared his teeth like a prey threatening its predator. ¡°All these years, I¡¯ve been thinking of finding her, ripping her apart and swallowing her. Ah Luo, someday you¡¯ll be kneeling before me, begging me to forgive all that you¡¯ve done, begging me to love you.¡±

    Lunatic... he really was a lunatic!

    Curiosity killed the cat indeed. Xia Yingluo regretted asking the question. She had no idea what went on in this man¡¯s head, but evidently, he had already mistaken her for that poor little girl. No way was she going to be ripped apart by him! Not to mention kneel before him and begging for mercy! She felt a need to make things clear¡ª

    ¡°I¡¯m not that little girl,¡± she said under his terrifying gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t remember ever knowing a Guardian, and I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve been saying. You¡¯ve got the wrong person, stop wasting time on me and look for her instead.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll recall it someday.¡±

    ¡°I already said I¡¯m not!¡± Xia Yingluo was losing her patience.

    He kept quiet.

    Xia Yingluo tried something else. ¡°Why are you so sure it¡¯s me?¡±

    He still didn¡¯t say a word.

    ¡°In fact, you¡¯re not even sure, right?¡± She made a bold guess. ¡°You must¡¯ve been apart for many years, that¡¯s why you mistook me for her. Did she leave anything behind for you? A memento or a special mark for you to recognize her? Look at me, I¡¯ve got nothing, how could I be her?¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± His voice seemed to havee from the depths of hell.

    Xia Yingluo got frightened by him and stopped talking.

    Perhaps that little girl was too important to him, so important that he wouldn¡¯t ept mistaking someone else? And had no choice but to see her as the same little girl? If that was the case, wasn¡¯t she way too unlucky? Not only did she bump into a lunatic, but she was also even being a substitute in his eyes.

    She gazed at the dimming sky, what was she to do?

    A long timeter, Wei Lingnan asked her, ¡°Why have you stopped talking?¡±

    She snapped. ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me to shut up?

    ¡°When have you be so obedient?¡±

    She red at him. ¡°Let me out of here. I¡¯m hungry, I want to get something to eat.¡± Seeing that his emotions were fluctuating, it was safer for her to leave as soon as she could, lest he decides to drive the car off the cliff in a moment of impulse.

    Wei Lingnan did not argue with her this time. He quietly reversed the car onto the road.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in disbelief. ¡°Y-You just reversed the car like that?!¡± This was illogical, impossible!

    Wei Lingnan acted like nothing strange had happened. ¡°What¡¯s there to be surprised about, you can do it too.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± Maybe no one else in this world could! Xia Yingluo was on the verge of going mad. Too many incredible things had happened with this man, and she was beginning to doubt what she knew as fact.

 Chapter 1205 - She Is Not My Fiancee

    <h4>Chapter 1205: She Is Not My Fiancee</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She had boasted that her ability to ept new things wasn¡¯t weak, but, but this was too incredible! Even her uncle Xia Moyan, the legendary National Preceptor, didn¡¯t have these incredible supernatural skills.

    ¡°Are you an alien?¡± She asked unbearably.

    Wei Lingnan nced sideways at her. ¡°Do you believe there are aliens in this world?¡±

    ¡°I do, why won¡¯t I believe it.¡± Xia Yingluo snorted lightly. ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t believe it, I¡¯ll believe everything after seeing you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m an alien.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re taking my words seriously.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at him dismissively. ¡°Are you lying to a three-year-old?¡±

    Wei Lingnan: ¡°...¡±

    She bowed her head, yed with her cell phone for a while, and, after leaving the top of the mountain, she was able to connect to the outside signals. She searched for a long time before announcing proudly: ¡°I knew it, how could you be an alien? Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re the Chairman of Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group, right? I found your information, and the report said that your family¡¯s medicine has always been at the forefront of the world, which is probably why your wound can heal quickly?¡±

    As for reversing the car at the overhanging cliff, it was probably that he was gifted after taking the medicine and his skills became of extreme proficiency.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was settled down now that she had found a reasonable exnation.

    Wei Lingnan kept his car steady. On the return journey, his speed was normal, he obeyed the traffic rules, and he was as slow as a turtle. He asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°What else did you search for?¡±

    ¡°You and Gu Jinxiu¡¯s report.¡± Xia Yingluo looked down at the phone and said in a depressed tone she didn¡¯t even notice herself.

    ¡°Do you mind?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said, do you mind the things between me and Gu Jinxiu,¡± Wei Lingnan said lightly. ¡°If you want to ask, just ask directly, don¡¯t be ashamed.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind!¡± She was angry again and red at him. She realized she had only scratched the surface and slumped like a deted ball. After twisting uneasily on the passenger¡¯s seat, she finally couldn¡¯t resist the burning fire of curiosity in her heart and asked, ¡°Since you can¡¯t forget the little girl you were separated from so many years ago, why did you get engaged with Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Why should I tell you?¡±

    She almost exploded in rage. ¡°You asked me to ask if I wanted!¡±

    His voice was still smooth and calm. ¡°But I never said I would answer you.¡±

    ¡°Open the door! I want to get off the car!¡± Xia Yingluo was so annoyed she almost had an out-of-body experience. How could there be such a hateful person in this world? Since young, she had been the one being calctive with others, but now the tables had turned and she was on the losing side every time!

    Wei Lingnan was an asshole!

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t stop at all and looked at the road ahead. ¡°If you admit that you mind, so I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± <i>I don¡¯t mind!</i>

    Xia Yingluo wanted to yell this sentence out, but for some reason, she couldn¡¯t.

    Why on earth? Actually... she really did mind, didn¡¯t she...?

    The pretty girl stared at the sunset scenery outside the car window for a while and suddenly said, ¡°Yes, I mind. Thest time when I promised you that I would date you once a week, I didn¡¯t know that you had a fiance. But since you have a fiance, how could we date? The most disgusting thing in this world is cheating on someone.¡±

    She told Wei Lingnan the reason, and it was as if she had found the reason for herself too.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Is that the only reason?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡± Xia Yingluo leaned on the soft leather of the passenger seat and was suddenly interested. ¡°Wei Lingnan, in fact, you don¡¯t like me at all, right? You know very well that I am not your little girl, you¡¯re only pretending I¡¯m her so you can look after her. But one day when you¡¯re tired of this stunt-double game, you¡¯re going to kick me away and go live happily with your fiance.¡±

    There was a weird silence in the car.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t speak, and Xia Yingluo was toozy to speak. She felt very sad. Whether it was Zhao Yixuan or Wei Lingnan, they had all kinds of reasons to seduce her and then abandon her. No man really loved her sincerely, but they had forced her to give them her love.

    Once, she had longed for her mother Xia Ling¡¯s love history so badly, but now, she felt that unwavering, calm love was the best happiness.

    The ck sports car stopped at the gate of the training camp.

    As Xia Yingluo opened the door and got out of the car, she suddenly heard Wei Lingnan say from behind her, ¡°She is not my fiancee.¡±

    She froze and looked back at him in surprise.

    ¡°Gu Jinxiu is not my fiance,¡± said Wei Lingnan. ¡°Her family and my family have a rtionship. When she first fell for me, she met me several times and got closer to me, so she dered herself to be my fiance. It was originally a little girl¡¯s joke, but she¡¯s a nobledy and her reputation cannot be damaged. The Gu family was also d to see it happen, so they also agreed on our marriage. It¡¯s been so many years, so the outside world started to really believe it.¡±

    Xia Xingluo didn¡¯t expect this to be the case. She couldn¡¯t tell. Ms. Gu was so dignified and generous, but she was such a bold girl in reality. ¡°Then why don¡¯t you rify the misunderstanding?¡± Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Do you like her?¡±

    ¡°If my little girl doesn¡¯te back, I¡¯ll marry her.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was rarely hoarse.

    There was a dull pain in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart, and she couldn¡¯t exin why. ¡°I¡¯m not your little girl,¡± she said coldly and turned to walk into the training camp. ¡°Whoever you marry doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡±

    His heart really did not have space for her. There were already two people inside; the little girl and Gu Jinxiu.

    What was she, Xia Yingluo?

    However, it was good like this too. She didn¡¯t love him at all, and when the stupid rejection was resolved, she would leave him.

    Xia Yingluo returned to the dorm listlessly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was walking around in the dormitory. When she saw her, she was suddenly full of energy and immediately came rushing forward. ¡°Yingluo, Yingluo! You finally came back. How was today¡¯s banquet? I heard that you killed everyone, and embarrassed both Jiang Bilian and Pei Yan? Come,e,e and tell me the specific details and help me relieve my anger!¡±

    Seeing this girlfriend, Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood improved a little. She said weakly, ¡°I¡¯m so hungry I¡¯m going to die. Go and make me a bowl of noodles, then I¡¯ll tell you the story when I¡¯m full.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er went quickly.

    Not long after, the instant noodles was served and, while watching Xia Yingluo eat the noodles ravenously, she asked skeptically, ¡°Did you really kill everyone at the engagement banquet today? You¡¯re so hungry, it looks more like you were mistreated and abused.¡±

    ¡°Talk about yourself,¡± Xia Yingluo said. Although she was still eating, her voice was clear. She told her what happened at the banquet and exaggerated a few details, omitting the period when Pei Ziheng and herself were almost... Lin Jing¡¯er was extremely engrossed in the story.

 Chapter 1206 - Secret Visitors

    <h4>Chapter 1206: Secret Visitors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yes! Jiang Bilian really deserves it! That¡¯s the way! Hahaha.¡± Jin Ling¡¯erughed cheerfully. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re incredible, that¡¯s the way to go so you won¡¯t suffer! Whoever dares to exclude you, you¡¯ll have to snatch her limelight!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. This good friend had such a bad temper that she could be very close to her mother Xia Ling.

    She ate and slept.

    The next day, the training camp was calm and quiet. It was probably because Jiang Bilian and the others all had their lips sealed. They didn¡¯t even say anything malicious about Xia Yingluo and made her life very tranquil.

    She went to ss as usual to practice. In the afternoon, the Dean came to find her with a strange expression. ¡°Xia Yingluo, someone¡¯s here to see you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a little strange. She had left home alone to practice and did not know anyone outside the training camp. She only knew Zhao Yixuan, Pei Yan and Wei Lingnan. But none of these three woulde to her through the official training camp. She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Who is looking for me?¡±

    The Dean¡¯s face got even weirder. ¡°You¡¯ll know when you follow me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo followed him with doubts and went out, through the beautiful and luxurious teaching buildings, to the VIP living room on the top floor of the administrative building. The thick mahogany door was pushed open, and a faint aroma could be smelled. A set of ck leather sofas were ced in a spacious and quiet space. A familiar man was sitting on the sofa, wearing a well-cut dark gray suit, with a calm and solemn majesty looming between his eyebrows. It was Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned.

    Pei Ziheng looked at her, like a peaceful elder. ¡°Why, are you surprised to see me?¡±

    She blinked and nodded.

    The door closed silently behind him, and the Dean retreated.

    Pei Ziheng said to her, ¡°Come and sit.¡±

    Since he had alreadye, she should just befortable. Xia Yingluo went to sit down on the leather sofa opposite him. She slightly lifted her skirt, straightened her waist and put her legs together neatly like a very elegantdy.

    Pei Ziheng noticed. ¡°Your family has taught you very well.¡±

    His tone was calm and unpredictable, and Xia Yingluo only smiled politely.

    Pei Ziheng seemed to be gossiping with her and said, ¡°Are you ustomed to staying in the training camp?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± She wondered in her heart, what was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss looking for her for? Could it be that he was trying to find out about her family? He... had he seen through her identity?

    She was thinking about this when Pei Ziheng suddenly asked, ¡°Is your mother okay?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart jumped a little. Sure enough, this was the main point. Now that this question had been asked, it seemed that Pei Ziheng had indeed seen through her identity, so Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t bother hiding anymore. She said, ¡°She¡¯s rather good.¡±

    Xia Yingluo only knew vaguely about his rtionship with her mother Xia Ling and was not too detailed on it.

    Pei Ziheng looked down at a cup of tea on the table and was silent.

    He didn¡¯t speak, and Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t dare to move. She sat orderly and stared into space with him.

    After a while, Pei Ziheng smiled a little. It was a very light smile that made her inexplicably sad. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her for many years, I don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s fat or skinny.¡± His voice was warm as if he was retrieving some distant memory and was talking to himself. After a long time, he raised his eyes and asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°Why did you take her surname and not your father¡¯s?¡±

    At this time, Xia Yingluo restored the nature of a little girl and pouted slightly. ¡°My uncle said the surname Li is too horrible, and ady should be called Xia. My dad said he had a selfish mind and wanted to abduct his daughter to the Xia family. They quarreled for several years, and then my ount registration couldn¡¯t be held back anymore, so they had topromise¡ªthey usually call me Xia Yingluo, but in the household registration and genealogy, I¡¯m Li Yingluo.¡±

    In this matter, she had also been convinced by her strange parents, grandpa, and uncle.

    Pei Ziheng also listened for a while, and then he said, ¡°You have suffered.¡±

    Atst, Xia Yingluo had found someone she couldin to, so her words flowed out in a rush. ¡°Isn¡¯t it? Uncle Pei, let me tell you, why are these people¡¯s thoughts on family status so heavy? My grandfather taught me all day and night that the four generations have all been boys and it wasn¡¯t easy to have me, so I must make sure to turn towards my home and not put my elbow in some other house¡ªhe was mostly telling me not to lean to the Xia family. But my grandmother cried every time I went, holding my hand and telling me that when my mother was the Phoenix, she couldn¡¯t stay with them and give them the joy of raising a daughter. So now that my mother has given birth to a daughter, I must apany them more often in ce of my mother...¡±

    Xia Yingluo sighed as she said, ¡°Everything good is stuffed to me, why doesn¡¯t my brother get the same treatment?¡±

    Pei Zihengughed. ¡°Why are you stillining?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was seriously distressed. ¡°It¡¯s really annoying to be always surrounded by a group of people asking for warmth.¡±

    She talked with Pei Ziheng for a while about various things. Although this man was her father¡¯s rival, he was also a good chat partner. He patiently listened to her talk about her young girl¡¯s thoughts and even reciprocated a few times.

    She talked for a long time and was a little tired. She took a teacup and drank water.

    Pei Ziheng asked her, ¡°Your mom and your dad... are they okay?¡±

    He asked very briefly, but she understood, and said very simply, ¡°They¡¯re very good. Uncle Pei, your tea here is really delicious.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her. ¡°Why, you¡¯re not willing to tell me more about your mother?¡±

    Seeing that she couldn¡¯t avoid it anymore, Xia Yingluo frowned and said, ¡°If my father knows, he¡¯ll hit me.¡±

    Pei Ziheng was a little stunned, then heughed. His smile this time was a little mncholic and bitter.

    He didn¡¯t ask again and only drank tea slowly.

    Seeing that the atmosphere was a little stiff, Xia Yingluo took the initiative to talk about other topics. ¡°Uncle Pei, how did you recognize me?¡±

    Pei Ziheng said, ¡°I knew she had a daughter named Xia Yingluo, and I also know the rules of the Li family¡¯s trials. I saw you that day and saw how simr you are to her and how your age would fit into it too. I had someone check on your resume. That fake resume did a good job, it was almost seamless. if I hadn¡¯t guessed about you in my heart, I wouldn¡¯t have found out.¡±

    He seemed to be telling something very normal.

    Xia Yingluo, however, knew how extraordinary it was to be able to see through the resume made by the Li family.

    ¡°Uncle Pei, can you promise me something?¡± She begged.

    Pei Ziheng: ¡°Tell me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You know, I came out to go through my trial today. If my identity is exposed, it will be counted as a failure. Can you help me keep it secret? Don¡¯t use your privileges to do anything for me, and just pretend you¡¯ve never seen me.¡±

    This was not difficult. Pei Ziheng nodded and agreed.

 Chapter 1207 - Unexpected Movie Part

    <h4>Chapter 1207: Unexpected Movie Part</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled at having gotten what she wanted. Then, she got up and said her goodbye.

    Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t ask her to stay. He had originally looked for her to hear about Xia Ling, but since she didn¡¯t want to say more, what was the use of staying? However, when she was at the door, Pei Ziheng asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on with you and Wei Lingnan?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned.

    ¡°He and I...¡± It was too difficult to exin in a few words, and Xia Yingluo turned to look at Pei Ziheng. ¡°Uncle Pei, do you know him?¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked at her lightly. ¡°Why, you don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of this person before,¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Who is he?¡±

    ¡°It seems that your parents have protected you very well.¡± Pei Ziheng didn¡¯t want to say more. He only knew odd bits and pieces about Wei Lingnan. He had heard about the mysterious history of the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group. This man called Wei Lingnan was so exceptionally adept in trickery that even that Preceptor Xia had to be wary of him. But the Xia and Li families didn¡¯t even reveal anything about this man whom the Preceptor Xia feared, so why should he take on the role?

    He waved his hand and signaled that Xia Yingluo could go.

    Xia Yingluo was a little sullen. She knew from his expression that he seemed to know something, but wasn¡¯t willing to tell her. Judging from his words, did her parents know Wei Lingnan? Why hadn¡¯t they ever told her about him... he was probably just an ordinary character not worth making a fuss about?

    She left in confusion.

    The weather outside the administrative building was clear, and the green shade of the midsummer covered the sky.

    The Dean was waiting for her on the steps at the door. He saw her and said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re out, Yingluo?¡± It was probably because he knew the reason why Pei Ziheng had called her, his expression towards her was much more friendly than before.

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Dean, is there anything else?¡±

    The Dean wanted to ask her what Pei Ziheng had said to her, but judging from her expression, he decided not to try. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± He still had a smile on his face. ¡°I have good news to tell you. That day when you performed at the engagement banquet of Miss Pei Yan, a producer took a fancy to you. He has found the training camp and has invited you to act in a movie. It¡¯s a good thing, so the training camp has already agreed on your behalf.¡±

    This was indeed a good thing¡ªfor ordinary trainees, this opportunity was too rare.

    But Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t really want to be famous, she just wanted to hang around in the training camp. She sighed with ack of enthusiasm. ¡°Thank you, Dean, but can I reject it?¡±

    ¡°Reject it?¡± The Dean looked at her like she was a monster. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Xia Yingluo sighed again. ¡°Can¡¯t I?¡± She knew that each training camp had strict rules, and trainees must obey the camp¡¯s arrangements. No matter what the arrangement was, they were not qualified to pick and choose.

    Sure enough, the Dean said, ¡°No. Unless you ask Chairman Pei to help you out.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nced at the Dean and saw his ambiguous look. Did he have some sort of misunderstanding about them? This was really annoying, and in order to make it even messier, she could only say, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go.¡±

    The Dean smiled again. ¡°Yes, this is a good thing.¡±

    After a few days, Xia Yingluo reported to the crew ording to the information given by the Dean.

    The ce to report was in the film and television city. Xia Yingluo arrived only to know that the actor who originally yed the lead role was suddenly ill, so they had urgently found someone to rece her. An assistant director greeted her and said, ¡°You¡¯re Xia Yingluo, right? Zhang Produce introduced me to you after seeing you at the banquet. He thought your image and temperament fit the role well. The moment you walked over, I thought he was right. There¡¯s no time, go through the script once and we¡¯ll start filming.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was shocked. ¡°Official shooting?¡±

    The director said, ¡°Yeah, I know that the preparation time isn¡¯t enough, but there¡¯s no choice, we have to rush. You¡¯ll have to work hard. Anyways, you only have a few lines, so just act with your attitude.¡±

    It didn¡¯t sound difficult.

    Xia Yingluo nced down at the script. ¡°Ok.¡±

    The director smiled and encouraged her with a few words, then he turned and went to do something else.

    She sat alone in the corner, flipping through the script. She was ying a supporting role, a female junior high school student in the Republic of China who walked into an alley and had her money snatched by several robbers. She only had to turn around and scream and struggle all the way, so it wasn¡¯t really difficult. ¡°Do I look like someone who is robbed easily?¡± Xia Yingluo mumbled to herself. She turned over the script and started brooding over what the director had meant by ¡°your image and temperament fits¡±.

    It didn¡¯t take long to start shooting.

    Xia Yingluo was talented and intelligent and was a top student in the training camp. Although it was her first serious filming, when the camera crew pointed at her, she naturally entered the character¡¯s state.

    It was drizzling in the alley and apricot was blossoming.

    She wore a light blue student outfit and walked in it with graceful manners. Just her back view was enough to attract attention.

    The cameramen chased her, and couldn¡¯t bear to miss any second of her beauty. She wandered freely in the focal point, without the awkwardness that a neer should have.

    The director narrowed his eyes slightly. This girl has a good camera feel and will be a big thing next time.

    But it was such a pity.

    Who told her to offend people?

    The director motioned at the few male actors on the side. Dressed as hooligans, they entered the shot and followed after her.

    Xia Yingluo was walking in front, always keeping an eye on the movement behind her and carefully refraining from fighting back against the uing attack¡ªshe was taught very well by her father and brother since she was a child, and her self-defense technique was first-rate. If a real fight was to break out here, these people might not be her opponent.

    There was a wind behind her head.

    She felt her grip on her shoulders, so she restrained the urge to throw the other person over her shoulders and screamed in acting. Turning her head, her hair fluttered in the drizzle, and her delicate little face showed a horrified look. Her eyes widened when she saw the men who were attacking her¡ªher posture was so beautiful. She was so good and so fully equipped.

    Many staff at the scene were holding their breath. This girl was really touching.

    Even the actor who had seized her was fascinated by her beauty.

    ¡°Little girl, why are you walking alone? Come on and give up the money on you...¡± Another clumsily-dressed actor spoke and used his pair of restless hands to touch her chest.

    Xia Yingluo was instinctively surprised and she avoided his touch without thinking.

    The other person froze for a moment, seemingly surprised that she was able to avoid him. Xia Yingluo also froze for a moment. She didn¡¯t expect the other party to really grope her chest. The scene was hurriedly shot and the actors didn¡¯t prepare in advance. She had no mental preparation for their actions. She red at them a few times and warned them silently not to mess around.

 Chapter 1208 - Who Did You Offend

    <h4>Chapter 1208: Who Did You Offend</h4>

    The actors appeared to have not noticed her warning expression. They surrounded her and smiled obscenely. ¡°Little girl, are you shy? Don¡¯t waste your effort to resist, take off your clothes obediently and let your brothers search for themselves. We will make you veryfortable...¡±

    Theyughed nastily.

    While acting, Xia Yingluo panicked. She cleverly guarded her vital parts and retreated to the corner like a weak girl suffering from bullying. She stuttered. ¡°You, don¡¯te over.¡±

    She nced at the director out of the corners of her eyes.

    Something was wrong. The actors weren¡¯t following the lines in the script. Although in the actual filming process, many actors would y ording to their own understanding of the role, but in such sensitive scenes that required the actress to make some sexual sacrifices, they usually confirmed with the actress first tomunicate well.

    But they weren¡¯tmunicating at all. Normally, the director should shout ¡°Cut!¡±.

    But he didn¡¯t.

    As long as the director didn¡¯t shout, the camera lens continued to run. Xia Yingluo was an actor, and her professionalism forced her to have no choice but to keep acting. What to do? She saw the few male actors rush up again, as if they weren¡¯t going to back off until they took advantage of her. Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help getting angry. They were ganging up to bully her?!

    Fine, they wanted to be impromptu in their acting, then she¡¯d join them too!

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s anger rose in her chest. She pretended to struggle and cried destely. Her body fell sideways, but with one foot, she kicked fiercely at the crotch of the most obscene actor. The actor wailed miserably all of a sudden and copsed onto the floor.

    The sudden change in the scene shocked everyone.

    Xia Yingluo curled up in the corner and was surrounded by the remaining actors. She flinched and was about to cry. However, while they were blocking the camera, she said in a low voice, ¡°Whoever dares touch me will have their bloodline cut off.¡±

    The murderous intention in her words frightened the actors.

    They exchanged nces with each other. Didn¡¯t the director say this little girl was easy to deal with? As long as they surrounded her, took off her clothes and did it in public, they could tell her that it was out of ¡°dedication to art¡± at the end. What else could she do then? She could only cry and count herself unlucky! Unexpectedly, before even doing anything to her, one of theirpanions had already fallen!

    Cut off their bloodline?

    Thepanion fell onto the ground and groaned loudly in pain. They were really afraid of having their bloodline cut off.

    For a while, a few male actors withdrew their hands and feet and really didn¡¯t dare to go near Xia Yingluo. The scene in the camera lens became weird. The girl who had been forced to the corner was still cowering and frightened. However, all the ¡°robbers¡± who should have been like wolves and tigers were all weak and dared not go forward.

    The director finally shouted angrily, ¡°Cut!¡±

    Xia Yingluo heaved a sigh of relief. She pushed them away and yelled fiercely, ¡°Get away from me!¡± Without waiting for them to say anything, she stomped aggressively to the director and questioned him, ¡°Director, this isn¡¯t in the script! Why did they try to touch me, why didn¡¯t you stop them?!¡±

    The director really gave the excuse of it being an ¡°impromptu acting¡±. He rebuked. ¡°This little girl, why aren¡¯t you professional? How many actresses have not been touched before, why are you the only noble one? Why did you kick the actor, you¡¯re just a little actress, how dare you act out of line. Be careful your reputation of unprofessionalism doesn¡¯t spread, and no one would dare use you in the future!¡±

    His words brought intimidation and threats and forced Xia Yingluo to submit.

    If she had been a fledgling actress, she might have really been frightened. She would let them touch her and exploit her for fear of ruining her future. But who was Xia Yingluo? How could a youngdy who had been spoiled since young endure the casual touch and exploitation of those wretched men?

    She gritted her teeth and said, ¡°Director, you are too double-standard. Why, you call it impromptu acting when they¡¯re taking advantage of me, but when I resist, it¡¯s called unprofessionalism? The script says that I have to scream and struggle, so what¡¯s wrong with me struggling a little? I¡¯ve only made the plot more intense, isn¡¯t that good? Director, do you even know how to direct?¡±

    The director was so stunned that he cursed. ¡°Ridiculous! Do you still want to act!¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered coldly. ¡°I actually don¡¯t want to shoot anymore! Go and find whoever, I¡¯m not doing it anymore!¡± She reached out and pushed away a few of the staff members, heading out.

    ¡°Stop there!¡± The director was furious. ¡°You¡¯re not filming anymore? You¡¯re breaking the contract! Do you believe I¡¯ll make sure you won¡¯t be able to stay in this industry!¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned and gave him a middle finger. Then, she turned and left without looking back.

    Back in the training camp, she was still furious and went straight to the administration building to find the Dean. The Dean saw her and was surprised. ¡°Xia Yingluo, didn¡¯t you go to shoot a movie today, why haven¡¯t you left?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was furious. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, I just came back. Dean, what kind of a lousy crew is that? They were intent on bullying me. A few men even tried to take advantage of me and the director didn¡¯t even let them!¡±

    After hearing what she said, the Dean¡¯s face also changed.

    He had been in the industry for a long time, so he had heard several unseeable things¡ªonce, an actress was deceived to shoot porn without her knowledge. Even when she realized something was wrong and kept crying and struggling, people only thought she was deep in the scene and forcibly finished the shoot. By then, the injury had already been caused and it was irreparable.

    Xia Yingluo was a top student at Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp and had a bright future.

    Even if the school was stupid, it wouldn¡¯t let the new stars who may be future pirs sell their bodies for their first shoot. There must be something wrong.

    The Dean said, ¡°You calm down, I¡¯ll ask the crew to understand the situation.¡±

    He immediately called the crew and negotiated the matter seriously. Then, he put down the phone and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°The other party said it was a misunderstanding. If you don¡¯t want to shoot anymore, then don¡¯t, they¡¯ll settle it peacefully.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was still mad. ¡°Peaceful? Who knows what would have happened if I hadn¡¯t been clever.¡±

    The Dean has no other choice. ¡°That¡¯s what the outside crew is like. The peaceful termination of the contract is a very good result. Oh yes, Yingluo, have you offended anyone recently? Judging by their words, I think someone purposely instructed them to take revenge on you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. Offended someone? ¡°Does Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan count?¡±

    The Dean said, ¡°It¡¯s unlikely to be them.¡± Xia Yingluo was fancied by Pei Ziheng. Even if outsiders didn¡¯t know it, it had happened at the engagement banquet scene, so Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan obviously knew it. If she still came to provoke Xia Yingluo so tantly, then she was throwing away her brother¡¯s chances of being the next heir.

 Chapter 1209 - Excessive Shots

    <h4>Chapter 1209: Excessive Shots</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo also wanted to understand the power of the one behind it. She groaned and said hesitantly, ¡°Jiang Bilian?¡± But Jiang Bilian was not a person with that much power, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to get a crew to go against her.

    Sure enough, the Dean said, ¡°Probably not. Anyways, you should be careful. Pay attention to who has taken an interest in you, and if you can¡¯t handle it, tell me, I will help you.¡± She was a first-ss student in the training camp and was fancied by Pei Ziheng, so he couldn¡¯t just sit idly and not care about her matters.

    Xia Yingluo really couldn¡¯t think of anyone who she had offended. Sighing heavily, she thanked the Dean and left.

    After a few days, something went wrong.

    The film shot by the crew was finalized, and publicity for it began to spread. Arge part of the scene was of the drizzling alley, with the apricot flowers. The silhouette of a naked young girl was poignant beyondpare amongst a bunch of bandits. She looked up bleakly and looked up in the dim light and there was a close-up. It was actually Xia Yingluo¡¯s face.

    It was a niche literary film with beautiful light and shadow effects. Although the promotion scenes were erotic, it gained a good reputation among the audience. Countless people inquired who the young naked girl in the shot was, she was so beautiful. Her face was mixed with innocence and enchantment, and in her bleakness was a sort of fierceness that attracted people¡¯s souls.

    Imperial Entertainment was full of buzz.

    The outside world didn¡¯t know, but they knew¡ªthe girl was Xia Yingluo.

    The film was posted on the campuswork, and many people left messages. ¡°I couldn¡¯t have guessed. Xia Yingluo usually looks so noble and virtuous and cannot be sphemed, but it turns out she epted such a movie.¡±

    ¡°What can¡¯t be done when you want to be famous?¡±

    ¡°What virtuous, she has already been raised by so many men, didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s unfortunate. Her results are so good, why did she degenerate to selling her body.¡±

    The post immediately had manyments.

    After seeing these posts, Jin Ling¡¯er was shocked and angry. She came to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, did you really go and film naked? You, do you know that this will ruin you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo had been troubled recently. She thought that she must have really offended someone, and she didn¡¯t know which damn person had published her mobile phone number, but she had been receiving calls from wretched men. They invited her to dinner parties and asked her how much she charged for one night...

    ¡°I changed my number.¡± She gave Jin Ling¡¯er the new number. ¡°If I said that it wasn¡¯t me who appeared in the photo, and they mixed my shots with someone else¡¯s body, would you believe me?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er gave a sigh of relief. She said with a reassuring smile, ¡°Great! I knew you wouldn¡¯t do that! Yingluo, I was so shocked! I will go to the forum and refute them and tell everyone that it¡¯s not you!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er froze.

    ¡°I said it¡¯s useless.¡± Xia Yingluo sighed and told her the Dean¡¯s spection about her offending someone. ¡°That person won¡¯t let me clear my name so easily. Also, those people just like to watch the crowd and can¡¯t wait for me to be even more unfortunate, so how many people would listen to your exnation?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er knew she was telling the truth and was disheartened. ¡°But, are we letting it go just like this? You shouldn¡¯t carry this stigma! With such a reputation, what would you do when you debut?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was not worried about her debut, but she really didn¡¯t want to carry such a stigma. Why should an innocent person carry a dirty stigma? ¡°I¡¯ve hired a private detective to investigate,¡± Xia Yingluo saidfortingly. ¡°When I find out the truth, I will definitely take revenge on that person.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er wondered. ¡°Can you find out who that person is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure I can.¡± Xia Yingluo patted her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The private detective she had hired was the best in the city, and the price was quite high. Fortunately, she had the card from Wei Lingnan and had used it out of urgency. If she thought about it this way, Wei Lingnan was notpletely useless. At least he could be an ATM.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat.¡± She felt better and called Jin Ling¡¯er out.

    The two arrived at the canteen at the training camp. It was peak dinner time and there were people everywhere.

    Xia Yingluo held Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s hand and pushed through the crowd to buy food. On the way, several people stared at her secretly, using all kinds of judgemental looks that made her ufortable.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said fiercely to those people, ¡°What are you looking for, haven¡¯t you seen a beauty before!¡±

    She pulled Xia Yingluo to an empty chair and sat down.

    There was a sneer on the side. ¡°We have seen many beautiful women, but we have never seen a beauty who shot those restricted scenes. Xia Yingluo, I didn¡¯t expect your figure to be so good. You¡¯re pretty full when your clothes are off, hahaha.¡±

    A few boys around alsoughed in harmony.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head and saw Zhang Qiang and his roommates, as well as Zhu Zhu and Jiang Bilian.

    She cursed under her breath. Why did she have to meet her enemies here?

    ¡°What are you talking about!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was about to explode.

    ¡°We¡¯ll call out whoever did something dirty, haha, why, can¡¯t we talk about it?¡± Zhu Zhu also sniggered. The anger she had felt towards Xia Yingluo for stealing the spotlight at the banquet dance was finally relieved.

    Jiang Bilian looked at her with pity. ¡°Xia Yingluo, even if you are poor, you shouldn¡¯t do anything for money.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down and yed with the bowl of vegetable soup in her hand. ¡°If you keep annoying me, do you believe I¡¯ll pour this on you?¡±

    The distance between their two tables was very close. Jiang Bilian looked at her murderous look and was really afraid she would pour the soup on her. Anyway, Xia Yingluo¡¯s reputation was ruined, and she didn¡¯t want to continue arguing with her, so she surrendered. Jiang Bilianforted herself and stood up gracefully. She said to her group ofckeys, ¡°Let¡¯s change ces.¡±

    The group of them made their disdain for Xia Yingluo clear.

    ¡°Humph, who do they think they are!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was so angry that she almost broke her chopsticks.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Don¡¯t get upset, just eat.¡± Before the truth was found out, it was worthless no matter how angry she was. It would only let peopleugh at her. It wouldn¡¯t be toote to wait until the private detective found out who had actually harmed her.

    The cell phone rang.

    Xia Yingluo picked up. It was Wei Lingnan.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you changed your number?¡± This was Wei Lingnan¡¯s first sentence.

    Xia Yingluo then remembered that she had forgotten to tell him. ¡°Who are you to me, why should I?¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled over the phone. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, you¡¯re in a bad mood?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Wei Lingnan was calm. ¡°I heard what happened in the past few days. The video clip was handled well, it¡¯s normal for you to be angry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a moment. ¡°You believe that it¡¯s not me?¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled again. ¡°Of course.¡± Not to mention that she was not such a person, but when he had looked at the woman¡¯s chest in the scene, he knew¡ªXia Yingluo¡¯s chest had a scar personally burnt by him.

 Chapter 1210 - Date

    <h4>Chapter 1210: Date</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t think that much. She only heard him say ¡°of course¡±, and her mood immediately improved for some reason.

    Among all the people around her, besides Jin Ling¡¯er, only he was willing to trust her. It made her feel so warm.

    At the other end of the phone, his voice was very soft. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you for a few days. What happened to having a date once a week? I¡¯m at Cafe No. 8 now. I¡¯m giving you a time limit of half an hour to get here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood turned bad again at hismanding tone.

    She wanted to curse him, but since she had already promised him before, and for fear that the rejection would happen again, she had to reluctantly indicate that she would quickly rush over. She hung up the phone and without even eating a bite of food, she bid farewell to Jin Ling¡¯er and went out. She called a car and went straight to Cafe No. 8 with the address he had sent.

    Cafe No. 8 was located in the downtown area of ??the city and was a very high-end cafe. The decoration was in Nordic style, giving off an exotic and romantic atmosphere. The waiter opened the door for her, and she went in and saw Wei Lingnan sitting in a semi-closed seat near the window. He wore a light-colored shirt, with his long legs crossed and a cup of coffee in his hand. He lookedpletely leisure. While looking at him, she thought to herself how some people were really born hangers and were so pleasing to the eye.

    In the presence of his beauty, the resentment in her heart dissipated and she sat opposite him.

    Wei Lingnan called the waiter. ¡°Give thisdy a cappino.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in dissatisfaction. ¡°Only children drink cappino.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°In my eyes, you will always be a child.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was almost angered half to death by his words. After the waiter left with a smile, she responded, ¡°I¡¯m already sixteen! No, no, I¡¯m seventeen in a few months!¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her. ¡°Do you know how old I am?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him doubtfully. The man looked very young, probably only in his early twenties. He could even be younger than her two brothers? ¡°How old can you be.¡± She snorted softly. ¡°Twenty-one? Twenty-two? Don¡¯t pretend to be old in front of me, I won¡¯t fall for it.¡±

    ¡°I am older than you think,¡± he said calmly.

    Xia Yingluo shrugged. ¡°Fairy? Monster? Vampire? Mr. Wei, stop messing around, put away your silly tricks that can only deceive a child. Aren¡¯t you just six or seven years older than me, what¡¯s so great?¡±

    While talking, the cappino was served.

    The sweet coffee aroma permeated the air.

    Xia Yingluo stirred it with a small spoon, then picked it up and took a sip. This cafe¡¯s cappino was so delicious. Every taste bud on the tip of her tongue felt as if a flower had bloomed on it and was floating in the clouds.

    ¡°The taste is nice, isn¡¯t it?¡± he smiled.

    She was about to nod but turned her head arrogantly instead. ¡°Humph, it¡¯s for kids.¡±

    ¡°Earth is a terrible.¡± Wei Lingnan also picked up his coffee and enjoyed the bitter aroma. ¡°Human beings are also a terrible race. Fortunately, the coffee they make is delicious, which has saved all kinds of dissonance.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°Don¡¯t say it as if you¡¯re not human.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t originally.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at him, trying to distinguish the truth from his words. Then, sheughed softly. ¡°Mr. Wei, why don¡¯t you go act? What you said sounded like the real thing and I almost believed it just now. Even if you¡¯re suffering from a strange disease and transmitted that rejection to me, you shouldn¡¯t lie, right?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said lightly, ¡°Is being a human so good?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re helping humans.¡±

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s because I am a human,¡± Xia Yingluo said, taking another big mouthful of cappino.

    Wei Lingnan squinted his eyes slightly to look at her. The golden, clear sunlight reflected in his eyes in the afternoon, refracting the dim light. It made his expression unpredictable.

    Xia Yingluo was drinking coffee very quickly, and soon a small cup of cappino was finished. She put down the delicately-printed porcin cup and reached out to the man in front of her. ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Wei Lingnan asked.

    ¡°The cure for rejection.¡± Otherwise, why would she waste her time drinking coffee with him?

    ¡°You drank it,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes widened inconceivably.

    ¡°The antidote is in the coffee,¡± Wei Lingnan said lightly. Many years ago, he had considered the possibility of her rejection when he touched her. Thus, he had devoted himself to growing a few Skatana flowers. After eating all of them, it could remove all rejection in her body. But what a pity, she had ruined all of it.

    The medicine he had put in the coffee today was only the remaining defective product. It couldn¡¯t directly detoxify her rejection and could only be taken slowly.

    Xia Yingluo was confused. No way, she had thought it would at least be a pill or a capsule, how could she have drunk it so easily? ¡°How do I know if what you said is true or false? What if you¡¯re lying to me?¡±

    As if seeing through her mind, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Do I have to give you a pill for you to determine it¡¯s real?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless. He made sense.

    ¡°Fine, the antidote was drunk by me as coffee.¡± She scratched her hair in distress. ¡°Wei Lingnan, will I have to apany you out for coffee often? When will it end?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°The role of the antidote is simple. It helps you build your own immune system. When your immune system is strong enough to resolve the rejection on your own, you won¡¯t need the antidote anymore.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was confused. ¡°My immune system has always been very strong, and my physical examination is healthy every year.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled slightly, but the smile didn¡¯t reach the bottom of his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not your immune system as a ¡®human¡¯.¡±

    His soft tone made Xia Yingluo as though a cold wind had blown behind her. ¡°Why... what do you mean?¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t speak anymore. His Ah Luo was obviously the only one of the same kind in the whole universe, but she regarded herself as a human being. Maybe even Earth regarded her as a human? Therefore, when he had invaded and possessed her, her body had a rejection¡ªthis was Earth¡¯s unwillingness tobine its own people with other races, for fear that their offspring would defile the purity of the indigenous people on Earth.

    What a... stupid.

    Wei Lingnan lowered his eyes and drank his coffee. Then, he changed the topic. ¡°Are you looking for a private detective to investigate behind the scenes?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a moment before she followed his train of thought. After all, this was also her concern, so she quickly put away the rejection and questions of not being human to the back of her mind. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°What don¡¯t I know about you?¡±

 Chapter 1211 - The Mastermind Is Gu Jinxiu

    <h4>Chapter 1211: The Mastermind Is Gu Jinxiu</h4>

    ¡°Hmph, there are lots.¡± Xia Yingluo thought when she returned to the family one year from now and revealed her identity, he¡¯d definitely get a shock. But for now, it was more important to settle the matter at hand. ¡°I don¡¯t know which jerk was out to frame me, but if I find out who it is, I¡¯ll definitely skin him alive!¡±

    Her look of anger was simply adorable.

    Wei Lingnan gently said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll help you with that.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded vehemently. All of a sudden, she turned to look at him. ¡°You¡¯re so smart, do you know who was the one behind this?¡± She was just asking casually, but he turned out to really have the answer¡ª

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± She was shocked.

    ¡°You can get rid of your private investigator now,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°The one behind it is Gu Jinxiu.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu.

    She was taken aback by his answer. Wasn¡¯t that his so-called fianc¨¦e?

    She finally understood why someone was framing her¡ªthe other day at the engagement party, Gu Jinxiu had seen just how intimately she and Wei Lingnan were acting; no woman could possibly tolerate it. But she wouldn¡¯t have expected that a respectable and primdy like Miss Gu would do something so dirty when taking revenge.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Why did you fall for such an evil woman?¡±

    Wei Lingnan calmly said, ¡°Evil? Ah Luo, you¡¯re a hundred times more evil than her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo went quiet. It was easy for him to say anything since he wasn¡¯t the one being attacked. But why would he tell her that Gu Jinxiu was the one against her, did he just want to watch her get angry?

    Seeing how confused she looked, Wei Lingnan said kindly, ¡°You¡¯d better stay guarded against her.¡±

    He was worried that she¡¯d get into some sort of trouble. Although he knew that she was intelligent and was good at self-defense, there was always a risk.

    Xia Yingluo sensed the thoughtfulness in his voice and nodded as her anger subsided. Wei Lingnan smiled and, from across the table, pulled her hand to his lips for a kiss.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± She was upset again.

    ¡°Just wait and see, someday I¡¯ll stand up for you,¡± he said.

    ¡°Stand up for me, against your fianc¨¦e?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve said this before, Gu Jinxiu is not my fianc¨¦e.¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°I¡¯ll fulfill your wishes and skin her alive.¡± He had his own reason for keeping Gu Jinxiu with him. In any case, she wasn¡¯t going to end up well.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t take him seriously. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m not so foolish as to believe you.¡±

    She pushed her coffee aside and stood up to leave.

    Wei Lingnan remained in his seat, legs crossed, as he watched her leave. Mncholic jazz music yed in the background.

    Xia Yingluo returned to the training camp.

    She¡¯d just had her dinner and was done showering when she heard Jin Ling¡¯er yell, ¡°Yingluo, Yingluo, something¡¯s happened! Come and look! Remember when you were the icon of the intr, they changed it! It¡¯s Jiang Bilian now! Oh my gosh, this editing is perfect.¡±

    Xia Yingluo hurriedly went to take a look at it with Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Indeed, her video had been reced by Jiang Bilian¡¯s. Her face was superimposed onto a nude figure background, and a hacker had even left ament on it: Don¡¯t you even know this video editing skill? Xia Yingluo¡¯s video had at least eighteen loopholes throughout and was obviously done up by someone, only you fools would believe that she was really a part of the video. I casually did some work and reced it, I believe this is a better one than the previous. Do you believe this one?

    In the forum page, this hacker had even pointed out the loopholes in Xia Yingluo¡¯s version.

    With the evidence presented to them, many finally came to the realization and acknowledged that Xia Yingluo had been wrongly used. Meanwhile, it was Jiang Bilian who was in trouble now. Some anonymous hacker had uploaded hers as an ¡°improved version¡±, one that was more seamless in transition and editing. In just a few hours, the viewer count had skyrocketed.

    ¡°Hahaha, Jiang Bilian is going to be so angry!¡± Jin Ling¡¯erughed as she pounded the table. ¡°It was her fault forughing at you! This video is so well edited, let¡¯s see how Jiang Bilian is going to deal with it!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was impressed too. The only thing that could¡¯ve been better was if Gu Jinxiu was the one being targeted.

    She wondered which righteous person did this. Could it be... Wei Lingnan?

    Just as she was in a daze, Jin Ling¡¯er grabbed her. ¡°Hahaha, Yingluo, let¡¯s give it back to Jiang Bilian and her people in ss tomorrow! It¡¯s about time we vented all our unhappiness!¡±

    This was just what Xia Yingluo would like to do. ¡°Sure!¡±

    They hadn¡¯t even had the chance to mock her the next day, as Jiang Bilian had gone into hiding¡ªnot only was she on the school intr, her video had been uploaded on the nation¡¯s onlinework system. Everyone who went online got to see how slutty she looked in that video.

    Jiang Bilian cried in anger in the dorm and called her parents, asking them to find a way to settle it.

    However hard the Jiang family tried, things were irreversible¡ªthe production crew of the original film had no idea how things had gone awry, but they said that it was impossible to make changes to an existing video once this version was uploaded. As forpensation fees? They could forget about it, and be grateful that this helped their daughter with publicity!

    The Jiang parents were enraged and threatened to sue the production crew.

    But with Gu Jinxiu as their backing, the director and producer weren¡¯t afraid at all. ¡°Go ahead and sue us. Do it all you want. But when Jiang Bilian¡¯s name is tarnished in this industry, let¡¯s see who would still want to hire her in the future!¡±

    With this retort, the Jiang parents dared not go ahead with it. Their daughter needed this career!

    After thumbing them down, the production crew offered a little something as assurance. ¡°Think on the bright side, this is good publicity, isn¡¯t it? In the past, who even knew who Jiang Bilian was? Now that such shows are in demand, the viewers all have an impression of her, and it¡¯ll help with her poprity. Anyway, everyone knows that it¡¯s superimposed and not her nudes. What¡¯s the issue?¡±

    The Jiang family did not know what more to say. Entertainment news were usually contained in the entertainment circle, but a film like this was essed by everyone and anyone. Back then, when the production crew was trying to bring Xia Yingluo down, they had not mentioned that it was just a superimposed film. Everyone outside of the entertainment circle would have thought that it was her willingness to reveal all of herself.

 Chapter 1212 - Contemporary Sci-Fi Theme

    <h4>Chapter 1212: Contemporary Sci-Fi Theme</h4>

    She couldn¡¯t possibly exin herself to everyone, right?

    After suffering such a grievance, Jiang Bilian cooped herself up in her dorm and cried incessantly. She med it all on Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s name had been smeared so badly previously, but now that the truth had been found, a good number of people ended up sympathizing with her. A portion of them even said that the scene in which she walked in the rain was emotional and unforgettable. In some sense, she¡¯d gathered a few fans because of this, who in turn set up a forum page focused on her.

    Jin Ling¡¯er teasingly said that she¡¯d actually benefited from this misfortune.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood was better now too. In the blink of an eye, the day of going out with Wei Lingnan hade again. She dolled herself up and headed out for their date. This time, the date venue was Nanning Southern Park¡¯s vi. Wei Lingnan had already settled the paperwork for the vi he¡¯d promised her, and it was now officially under her name. He invited her over to ¡°receive¡± this gift, and at the same time, share a drink as they looked at the stars.

    The vi was beautiful.

    She could tell that a lot of effort had been put into this ce, given the wonderful work done for this futuristic theme. The entire structure of the building was painted a perfect silver, one that hinted at the future in a satisfying sight. On the walls of the living room, in the corner of the dining room, by the bed frame, and at odd corners and spaces were several decorative ornaments and items. Some of them looked like nts while others just looked... strange.

    ¡°This vi is for you,¡± Wei Lingnan said as he handed her a cocktail he¡¯d just mixed at the bar.

    She took a sip¡ªit was pretty good.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. Although she was the First Miss of the Li family, and it wasn¡¯t difficult for her to buy an expensive vi like this, she could tell that there was something special about this one. The details and effort in the structure made it different from the rest.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Cheers.¡±

    As they each finished a cocktail, afortable dizziness began creeping up inside Xia Yingluo¡¯s head. Strange, her alcohol tolerance had always been good since she was young, but why did she get drunk so easily when drinking with Wei Lingnan?

    He took her to view the rest of the vi in her grogginess.

    As they arrived at the long hallway on the second floor, Xia Yingluo turned and saw a huge painting on the wall.

    It was a huge battlefield, with blood-red clouds rolling above. There was a massive empire of worms¡ªyes worms, that was the only way Xia Yingluo could describe them, they seemed like alien worms out of a sci-fi film¡ªsurrounding a small group of...

    A small group of... what were those?

    They were fictional and abstract too, a species that was hard to describe.

    Some of them looked like humans, but only partially, as the lower half of their body was in an animal form. Others simply looked weird, with sharp teeth and huge pupils that scared the soul out of her. They were bleeding profusely as they fought against the never-ending army of worms. The battlefield was sprawled with many corpses of the worms, but only a small number of those creatures¡¯ corpses¡ªit was evident that while outnumbered, this strange species definitely wasn¡¯t on the losing end.

    The scene was rather stunning, and Xia Yingluo could barely take her eyes off it.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her expression. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t say a word. Some aspect of this artwork had struck her in the heart, leaving her dizzy as blood gushed through her veins, as if... as if she couldn¡¯t wait to dash on that battlefield, to stand with the strange creatures and fight alongside them. This was an unprecedented feeling, one that came too quickly for her to rationalize.

    Wei Lingnan reached out and slowly pointed out to her. ¡°These... are the Skatana species.¡±

    He was pointing at the group of creatures battling the worms.

    So, they had a name?

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s head spun even more now, and she struggled to stand upright. ¡°Ska... tana species?¡±

    It sounded a little awkward when she said it. Wei Lingnan looked into her eyes and she felt something buzzing at her ear, but then again, it felt like nothing at all. The inexplicable feeling¡ªlike resonance between metals¡ªcame back to her again. It felt like a fantasy, a hallucination, and it left her feeling weak.

    It seemed tost a thousand years, or maybe, it had just been a split second, before the sound faded into nothingness.

    Xia Yingluo went pale and looked up at Wei Lingnan. ¡°What... just happened to me?¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not respond, nor could he respond. His little girl... couldn¡¯t even remember their ent?

    Oh, how he wished she could understand that strange resonance and respond ordingly in that form. At this point, however, it seemed like a faraway dream. He did not dare to use too much of their ent on her, for this sound wave that came from the most superior species in the universe might have an adverse effect on her health, or might even result in death.

    He turned back to the artwork and continued pointing things out to her. ¡°These soldiers are all men, or I should say, males. In the Skatana species, the females are extremely cherished.¡±

    She looked at him, confused. There was something abnormal about him tonight.

    Not needing a response from her, he went on, ¡°The males fight to protect the females; I am a guardian, I fight for Ah Luo.¡± A rather lonely voice was suspended in the air. If he lost her, he¡¯d probably lose all meaning in life.

    Xia Yingluo finally understood what was so strange about all of this. This man before her was narrating the fictional battle story to her as if it was real! How... was this possible? How could there be a Skatana species, or aliens?

    Xia Yingluo thought she might be drunk and hallucinating all of these. Otherwise, it could be that he was drunk and spouting nonsense.

    She looked at Wei Lingnan as if he was a ghost. She really wanted to ask him if he was drunk, but seeing how sober and quiet he looked, she began suspecting that he was mentally ill¡ªcould he have been missing Ah Luo too much, that he was bing confused? Or, was Ah Luo non-existent in the first ce, and simply a fragment of his imagination? That would exin why he¡¯d been clinging onto her. Perhaps, he¡¯d just been wanting to find a physical embodiment of Ah Luo in the real world.

    And she happened to be the unlucky one.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡± She sighed before saying cautiously, ¡°You think you¡¯re a Skatana person?¡±

    ¡°Not a Skatana person, it¡¯s a Skatana species.¡± Wei Lingnan corrected her. ¡°Person? That¡¯s just a very narrow definition that humans came up with. The universe is full of different species, way more than the human race can imagine.¡±

    ... Alright, he was ill, pretty seriously ill.

    ¡°I know a psychiatrist...¡± She mumbled. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to him someday.¡±

    He looked down at her with an unreadable expression.

    She felt a little self-conscious under his gaze. In the dim light, his shadow on the wall was stretched vertically and he appeared sonky, like the strange creature in the artwork. At that moment, she had an illusion, that the Skatana really did exist, and that he really did protect this particr little girl for many, many years.

 Chapter 1213 - Audition

    <h4>Chapter 1213: Audition</h4>

    It was quiet all around.

    A shooting star streaked across the skylight and dragged out a long rhyme.

    Atst, Xia Yingluo thought of an excuse to alleviate the awkwardness. She said, ¡°Shall we go out and watch the stars? Didn¡¯t you say that there was some Skatana star? Can you show me where it is?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression eased a little. He brought her onto the second-floor terrace.

    The summer breeze blew on the terrace.

    He opened another bottle and poured half a ss for her and half a ss for himself.

    The two sat on deckchairs while drinking, and he looked up at the starry sky, pointing to a ce in the brilliant night sky. ¡°There it is. The Skatana star is ten timesrger than Earth, ten times more deste, and on it lives the mostbative race in the universe. All other ethnic groups are frightened. It is a deep purple that¡¯s very beautiful.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked hard for a long time. ¡°Liar, I can¡¯t see anything.¡±

    There was only a hole in the ce where he was pointing.

    Wei Lingnan lowered his eyes and took a sip of wine slowly. ¡°It exploded.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t expect such an answer. After hesitating, she humped again. ¡°Liar, you can continue lying.¡±

    He drank a lot of wine and didn¡¯t speak.

    Xia Yingluo also drank slowly. Her petite body curled upfortably on the chair and she looked up at the ck hole he had just pointed to. Somehow, the ck hole seemed to have magical powers that attracted her deeply. It fascinated and confused her. ¡°How did it explode?¡± She asked after a long time.

    ¡°Do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡±

    ¡°Remember it yourself.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t pretend to be stupid. You know the reason why it exploded. Don¡¯t try to pretend you¡¯re innocent and that it has nothing to do with you.¡± Suddenly displeased, he put down his wine ss and turned over to look at her. ¡°Back then, you were the one who chose me as your guardian. You brought me out of the barren teau. You wanted me to follow you forever... Now, how could you forget everything and let me bear so many memories alone? Ah Luo, don¡¯t be too cruel.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t understand what he was talking about. Frightened by his appearance, her body stiffened slightly.

    Wei Lingnan looked like a beast staring at its prey, wanting to swallow her alive.

    Her mouth was dry. ¡°I, I¡¯m not...¡±

    ¡°You are!¡± Wei Lingnan interrupted her. ¡°You are Ah Luo! I became your guardian and watched as you grew up little by little from a stumbling little girl. I watched as you were bullied by your sisters. I desperately be strong so that I could help you fight. Every time I got hurt, you would cry and treat my wounds with the energy that you had gathered with much difficulty. They all said you were silly, why were you so good towards your guardian, a lowly creature? You would then scold them and tell me that one day, you¡¯ll climb up to the highest position so that nobody would dare mock me. Ah Luo, have you forgotten all these?¡±

    She looked at him for a moment, wondering if it was because of the alcohol that was making her head buzz.

    After a long time, she saidboriously, ¡°What highest position? That¡¯s some... the thing I want to do most in my life is to eat and wait for death. Whoever believes that I want to climb to the highest position, is a... fool.¡±

    He looked down at her. She was very different now than she was then, but her heartlessness had not changed.

    His eyes narrowed dangerously and he wanted to lecture her, but she had already closed her eyes. Her long curly eyshes cast a faint shadow under the starlight and she fell asleep peacefully. Looking at her unsuspecting sleeping face, his expression softened gradually. He carried her into the bedroom and kissed her gently before covering her with the nket.

    The next day, she woke up with a splitting headache.

    When she remembered what had happenedst night, she only felt like it was a dream.

    What Skatana? Guardian? explosion? Her dreams were bing more and more bizarre.

    Pushing open the door, she saw that the huge painting was still iid in the corridor on the second floor. She stared at it for a long time until atst, she attributed the illusion to looking at the painting while drunk.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t show up.

    He had probably already left.

    Xia Yingluo washed and changed her clothes before returning to the training camp alone. Then, she devoted herself to intense training.

    The Dean came to her and told her that in order to make up for the mishap in thest movie incident, the school had fought for a very good audition opportunity for her¡ªshe was to audition in arge-scale film as a female killer. There were many fighting shots suitable for a girl like her who was charismatic and had solid basic skills.

    Xia Yingluo hesitated for a long time.

    The Dean red at her. ¡°You still dare to be pretentious? It was so hard to get an audition opportunity for you. Do you know how many people want this role? You¡¯re not going? If you don¡¯t go, don¡¯t ever think of debuting from our training camp!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s head throbbed painfully. She couldn¡¯t help but curse Imperial¡¯s training camp for being oppressive and perverted. Serves Pei Ziheng right for not being able to marry...

    Sigh, that was a little too much.

    However, since she had already entered this perverted training camp, then she could only obey its rules. Wasn¡¯t it just an audition, the crew didn¡¯t even say that they wanted her. She could just ruin the audition on purpose and retire easily and happily.

    After making up her mind, Xia Yingluo went to the audition without any mental pressure.

    The audition took ce in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Film industry building. It turned out to be a film made by Imperial. It was a big production with a big director. From the male and female lead roles to the supporting roles, various stars had already been selected. There were still a few less important roles such as the killer left. They opened an audition and recruited people in the industry. More than a dozen people had received an invitation for the audition.

    Xia Yingluo walked into the lounge outside the audition room and saw that many people had already arrived.

    Several actors awaiting the audition raised their heads and nced at her, then lowered their heads.

    Xia Yingluo had no ns to pass today. She only had on light makeup with her long hair tied into a ponytail. She wore half-old and cheap casual clothes and was not in the least bit attention-grabbing in the group of beautiful actresses. Those who knew her knew she was here for the audition, but those who didn¡¯t thought that she was some actor¡¯s assistant.

    She sat down in a humble corner, took out her mobile phone and started ying games.

    A young actress was sitting next to her. Her exquisite face looked a little familiar, and she had probably appeared on the screen a few times. The actress nced at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Yu Fei, did youe to audition?¡±

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Xia Yingluo.¡± Xia Yingluo had no choice but to put away her cell phone. She smiled back at her. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s so lively here, I don¡¯t know when I have to wait until.¡±

    Yu Fei also smiled. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you before, whichpany are you from?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t made my debut yet,¡± Xia Yingluo said without hesitation. ¡°I¡¯m in Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp. Our Dean is extremely fierce and forced me toe audition. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to graduate. Actually, I don¡¯t really like acting.¡±

 Chapter 1214 - Outstanding Student in the Training Camp

    <h4>Chapter 1214: Outstanding Student in the Training Camp</h4>

    Yu Fei was relieved when she heard that she was still a trainee. ¡°I heard that that¡¯s the tradition and benefit of being in Imperial¡¯s training camp.¡± She exined to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Every movie of Imperial¡¯s would leave two ces for the training camp¡¯s students in the open audition. Us outside actors really envy that.¡±

    This was nothing more than polite words. How could trainees who had yet to debutpete with official actors? Over the years, there was only a small probability of stealing a role from an official actor, and such a probability could be ignored.

    ¡°You¡¯re still young, so you¡¯ll have more opportunities in the future.¡± Yu Fei directly regarded Xia Yingluo as having failed the audition and reassured her pretentiously. ¡°All those who can be rmended by the training camp are top students. You are still very good.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Xia Yingluo also smiled fakely. ¡°I¡¯m only doing this as a formality. You can prepare, I¡¯m going to y games.¡±

    Then, she took out her phone again.

    She yed for a while and heard Yu Fei ask, ¡°Who are those over there? They seem to be talking about the Imperial Training Camp? Could they be your ssmates? But each audition only has two students from the training camp, why are there so many?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nced up.

    When the Dean had told her toe, he hadn¡¯t mentioned that other trainees wereing as well, so she was a little curious too. But who knew that who she saw was her enemy instead¡ªJiang Bilian.

    Jiang Bilian was very well-dressed today. She had taken good care of everything from hairstyle to clothing. She paired a tight low-waisted hot pants with a navel top and looked somewhat charismatic and charming. It was usually hard to see her wearing such a style, and it was probably to fit into the killer theme. Beside her, Zhu Zhu and Zheng Qiang stood like her manager and assistant, looking very imposing.

    Jiang Bilian also saw Xia Yingluo. She came over and greeted condescendingly. ¡°What a coincidence.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was toozy to care for her. She continued ying her game.

    Jiang Bilian had been very unhappy with her ever since suffering losses under her hand, so she was very annoyed with her. She said loudly, ¡°I was wondering who was so capable to have removed Zhu Zhu¡¯s name form the audition. It turns out to be you. Well, I¡¯m not surprised, since you have people to support you outside. Our Zhu Zhu hasn¡¯t even had a boyfriend yet, so she obviously can¡¯tpete with you.¡±

    The implication of these remarks was obvious. Several people nearby were already ncing over, looking strangely at Xia Yingluo. Unexpectedly, this simply-dressed girl turned out to be a gold digger? Was it real or fake? At that moment, everyone looked at her with a little contempt and interest.

    Jiang Bilian was very satisfied with the effect of her remarks. For almost a year in the training camp, she had been tarnishing Xia Yingluo¡¯s reputation by silently badmouthing her. Otherwise, since her beauty was beneath hers and her singing and dancing skills were also not as good as hers, how could she have be the most sought-after girl in the training camp?

    In the past, Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care about her because she didn¡¯t want those boys to bother her. Besides, she had been in love with Zhao Yixuan and was content and tolerant. But now it was different. Ever since Zhao Yixuan had broken up with her in order to marry a richdy, and she had been entangled with the neurotic Wei Lingnan, her temper had be very irritable.

    She looked up at Jiang Bilian and refused to back down. ¡°Remove? Which gossip did you hear this rumor from? It was the Dean who came to ask me directly, and he didn¡¯t tell me anything about Zhu Zhu. I was thinking it was strange, I got first ce during thest monthly exam and you¡¯re far behind me in second ce. In this one year, besides the one time I was sick and got second ce, I¡¯ve gotten first every other time. If I¡¯m not qualified to be rmended based on my strength, who else is eligible? Could it be Zhu Zhu? Jiang Bilian, are you helping her or insulting her?¡±

    Jiang Bilian was stunned. She didn¡¯t expect that she could draw so many words from Xia Yingluo with her one sentence. Her expression immediately turned bad.

    Seeing this, Zhang Qiang quickly stood up for her. He frowned. ¡°Xia Yingluo, why are you so aggressive? There isn¡¯t a girl¡¯s gentle restraint in you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°I¡¯m discussing the problem with Jiang Bilian. Why is it called aggressive? I just didn¡¯t understand why a trainee with the highest total score had to go through the back door to get an audition¡ªwho would actually believe such a rumor?

    Several actors on the side couldn¡¯t helpughing, praising the little girl for her sharp mouth.

    Originally, they didn¡¯t know that Xia Yingluo had such strength. Now that they knew that she was the first in Imperial¡¯s training camp, they couldn¡¯t help but look at her differently¡ªImperial training camp was the best in the industry and cultivated the best actors. Getting first in the training camp meant she was the chief, and none of them had not be popr after debuting. She was also sure to be a big thing in time.

    Apart from their admiration, they were a little bit frightened of Xia Yingluo. She could be their rival in this audition.

    Zhang Qiang still unknowingly said, ¡°What are you proud of, who doesn¡¯t know that the best girl in our training camp is Bilian. You just had good luck. If you don¡¯t believe it, wait and see, this time you will fail the audition and they definitely won¡¯t choose you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very unhappy. Why was it that her getting first ce was due to good luck?

    ¡°I might not be selected, but Jiang Bilian will definitely not be selected.¡± She smiled, exposing her small white teeth. She said meanly, ¡°Because she¡¯s not only weak, she¡¯s also unlucky.¡±

    ¡°How could you curse people like this? We still belong to the same training camp.¡± Jiang Bilian couldn¡¯t help but say.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m a candid person,¡± Xia Yingluo said indifferently. Anyway, Jiang Bilian had already ndered her to being a gold digger in public, so what if she stabbed her slightly with her words?

    ¡°Bilian, don¡¯t argue with her,¡± Zhu Zhu said. ¡°Let her be proud for a while. When the audition results are out, she will cry.¡± Although Xia Yingluo had justified that she didn¡¯t snatch her name, Zhu Zhu still believed that her ce had been snatched by Xia Yingluo. During this audition, Jiang Bilian had promised Zhu Zhu that she would fight for it for her, and the Dean had also agreed to consider it, but in the end, the ce was given to Xia Yingluo.

    How could Zhu Zhu not be resentful?

    ¡°Our sister Bilian is the best,¡± Zhu Zhu said loudly to Xia Yingluo. ¡°She will definitely perform better than you this time.¡±

    The audition was behind doors and only the directors could see it, the other candidates wouldn¡¯t be able to see it, so who would be able to determine who was best when the audition was over? Unless one of them got the role, then it was indisputable. But could Xia Yingluo get the role?

 Chapter 1215 - Bursting Good Luck

    <h4>Chapter 1215: Bursting Good Luck</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    It was too baseless.

    After all, even the best trainees were only trainees and had many inherent disadvantagespared to official actors.

    That¡¯s why Zhu Zhu dared to say these words so recklessly.

    Xia Yingluo was agitated by her words. She had not intended topete for this role, but after being agitated by them, she was starting to feelpetitive. This was a gangster movie, and she could be said to have grown in the ck world. Was it not easy to y a female killer? She even had a few female killer sisters. She could just pick out a few points from them and be fully equipped. Herpetitive spirit was struck, and Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Then I¡¯ll get the role and let you guys see, so you can know just how far apart we are.¡±

    Jiang Bilian alsoughed disdainfully. ¡°Get the role? What a boast, you¡¯re putting down so many seniors?¡±

    Sure enough, a few actors looked at Xia Yingluo criticizingly. This little girl clearly did not put them in her eyes! Even if she was Imperial¡¯s future star, that was still in the future. She shouldn¡¯t be too arrogant now!

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care. She said, ¡°A soldier who doesn¡¯t want to be a general is not a good soldier. Everyone is here for the role, so don¡¯t pretend to be above others. If you don¡¯t feel like you have the chance then just back off. Why bother taking part in the audition and not fighting for the role?¡±

    Her words did make sense.

    Yu Fei beside her was speechless. Hey, little girl, who said she was here for experience only?

    A group of people waited for the audition in a tense atmosphere.

    One after another, actors went in and out.

    Some people stayed in the audition room for a long time, some very short. They all looked different when they came out, some were calm while some dispirited. There were even some trying to conceal their excitement but failing to...

    About seven or eight people were called before Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo walked in and saw a very empty room. Three people were sitting on the long table in the middle, two men and one woman. They were probably in charge of the casting. She quickly nced at their nametes. One of the middle-aged men was actor associate director Jiang Jianwen, the 30-year-old woman was the production representative Zhou Lingli, and the young man was the screenwriter Liu Kai.

    Seeing here in, one of the actor¡¯s deputy director Jiang Jianwen showed a satisfied look. The girl was very beautiful, and her beauty was the impressive kind. If she could act well, the character would be very attractive.

    Zhou Lingli and Liu Kai were not very satisfied. She was too simply-dressed. What could this trainee that couldn¡¯t even style herself well do? She might not even be able to touch the threshold of the entertainment circle.

    ¡°Why are you dressed so casually?¡± Production representative Zhou Lingli took the lead to ask.

    An ordinary audition actor would be a little nervous when the cast was not satisfied, but Xia Yingluo smiled and thought with the blink of an eye. ¡°I¡¯m here to y a killer, not a vase. In my understanding, this role doesn¡¯t need to rely on shy clothes to attract attention. It needs aura and acting skills, so I thought it was more appropriate to dress like this.¡±

    Deputy director Jiang Jianwen nodded secretly.

    Screenwriter Liu Kai continued to make things difficult. ¡°Just now, several candidates also had the same understanding as you, but they still knew how to dress themselves up well to look pretty and neat. But you? With your dress, what¡¯s the difference between you and an aunt buying food in the market?¡±

    Xia Yingluo really wanted to vomit. <i>Big brother, you still want to make a movie about female killers with your level? Could you stray more from that path?</i>

    Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she patiently asked Liu Kai, ¡°A pretty girl and an aunt in the grocery market are standing in front of you. Who would you be more wary of?¡±

    Several people realized what she meant.

    Jiang Jianwen said first, ¡°Yes, of course, I will be more wary of the pretty girl, and the killer would strike when the target is unprepared, so it¡¯s better the more inconspicuous she is. Little girl, you¡¯re very good at analyzing your role.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. Why would she need to analyze it?

    Her family¡¯s killers had told her during teatime when she was still in the family.

    They signaled for her to improvise the form of a killer. The so-called improvisation was when there was no script and no position. There was nothing, and the actor would have toe up with something on the spot.

    Xia Yingluo closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened it again, she was already immersed in the character.

    At this time, she didn¡¯t seem to be any different from the people who had already auditioned in the room. She was so ordinary, just like any schoolgirl passing by on the street every Monday morning. However, just when everyone was unprepared, she quickly shot like lightning as if the target was hidden in the passing air¡ª

    She pulled the knife and struck once. Neat and tidy.

    The air seemed to freeze at this moment, and everyone held their breath.

    Although she didn¡¯t hold anything in her hands, everyone in the room at that moment felt the suffocation of the sharp de across their necks. They seemed to see a ghost in the morning mist fusing together with the bustling crowd. After that split second of killing, everything was calm again, and there were no traces left.

    The ordinary-dressed girl put her hand in her trouser pocket and slowly backtracked.

    In the room, the shock lingered on the directors. It wasn¡¯t until Xia Yingluo said ¡°I¡¯m done¡± that they exhaled, recovering from that choking feeling and returning to their senses.

    It was... wonderful!

    Her performance was like an ancient mime. It could make people immersive without using any props and lines. They forgot she was an actor. At that moment, everyone regarded her as a real killer. ¡°If we didn¡¯t know who you are...¡± the producer Zhou Lingli looked at her and sighed in amazement. ¡°I would almost think you were a real killer.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for thepliment.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled.

    In fact, although her acting skill was good, she was still not that incredible, and she could perform so amazingly thanks to the knowledge she had acquired from her family¡ªhow many in this world could mix together with the world¡¯s best assassination experts and listen to their bragging and stories every day? She was the daughter of the Phoenix, and she was so lucky to have met such a suitable role the moment she came out for a casual audition.

    The producer and director and screenwriter looked at each other.

    The director cleared his throat and made a speech. ¡°Come to me tomorrow to get the script and start shooting in four days. Is there any problem?¡±

    She smiled again, thanked the director again, and left the audition room.

    Her audition didn¡¯tst long, and only five or six minutes had passed. The actors waiting outside looked up and tried to find clues about sess or failure from her face.

    Zhu Zhu ridiculed her. ¡°Failed? You still thought you could get the role like this?¡±

 Chapter 1216 - Make a Big Scene

    <h4>Chapter 1216: Make a Big Scene</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yes,¡± said another of Jiang Bilian¡¯sckey. ¡°Don¡¯t run back to the dormitory and cry in secret!¡±

    A smirk formed on Xia Yingluo¡¯s lips. ¡°Failed? Sorry, I don¡¯t even know how to write the word. In fact, the director wanted to tell you all to just leave directly but thought it was not polite, so he let you continue to audition.¡±

    Her words made everyone shocked.

    What? The director wanted to tell them to leave? So, were they satisfied with Xia Yingluo¡¯s audition?

    No one else had a chance?

    All kinds of surprised eyes fell on Xia Yingluo¡¯s face.

    Jiang Bilian was also startled. No way, did this stupid girl actually get the role? No... no, it was impossible. She must be lying to them. She was doing this to let them give up hope and not audition properly to reducepetitiveness! ¡°I won¡¯t be fooled by you,¡± Jiang Bilian said calmly. ¡°Xia Yingluo, don¡¯t say too much, beware of being beaten after the casting results!¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave her a mocking look and went out.

    She was very confident about the casting result, but when she went to the director to get the script the next day, the director said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Xia, there is a change in the role of this character, so you¡¯vee here for nothing.¡±

    She felt a little stunned before reacting to the role being given to someone else.

    She couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed. After all, she had performed so well in the audition. Could it be that someone else was better than her? ¡°Can you tell me who was finalized?¡± She said, ¡°So that I can be convinced of my loss.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Bilian,¡± said the director.

    Xia Yingluo was surprised. Although Jiang Bilian was also a top student in the training camp, her style was softer and she might not be suitable for the fierce acting that a female killer must have. Furthermore, she was definitely not better than her who had been influenced by killers since young.

    Could there be some shady business?

    She looked at the director. ¡°I know Jiang Bilian¡¯s level. Why did you use her? I don¡¯t agree with this result.¡±

    The director frowned. ¡°Ms. Xia, this is a two-way choice. It is my decision who to use. I don¡¯t think I need to exin my decision to you? It¡¯s normal to fail an audition, please set your mind right and go back.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very angry. The director¡¯s answer was obviously perfunctory. What on earth happened?

    She returned to the training camp glumly, and when she entered the school gate, she was confronted by Jiang Bilian, who was just about to head out.

    When she saw her, a victorious smile bloomed on Jiang Bilian¡¯s face. ¡°Xia Yingluo, what a coincidence.¡±

    She was unkind.

    Xia Yingluo looked cold and didn¡¯t want to talk to her. She walked further into the school.

    Jiang Bilian raised her voice and said, ¡°I got the killer character, and I¡¯m going out to celebrate with Zhu Zhu. Have you eaten lunch yet? Would you like to join us?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned back. ¡°How morous is it to show off winning a character through shady business?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Zhu Zhu took the lead and defended Jiang Bilian. ¡°Our sister Bilian got the role by her own strength, aren¡¯t you just jealous? If you¡¯re not convinced, you can get one too. Haha, what did you say yesterday, that you will get this character and show us? What a joke.¡±

    Several of Jiang Bilian¡¯sckeys also looked at her with a smirk.

    Xia Yingluo was even more sullen, but the character was already hers. At this time, there was no point in arguing and she would only be looking for shame. She turned and walked straight into the school.

    Looking at her back, Jiang Bilian felt soothed. The anger that had been in her heart for a long time suddenly dissipated. In fact, she was also surprised that this killer role would fall on her¡ªshe knew very well that her audition had not been outstanding. Why did the crew choose her instead of others?

    Regarding this issue, she was afraid to ask the director, for fear of getting an unpleasant response.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat.¡± Jiang Bilian stopped thinking about this issue. Since things had alreadye to this, she should embrace the reality of getting the role. She showed a dignified smile and called herckeys.

    She didn¡¯t realize a low-key luxury car parked not far from the school gate. A well-dressed woman sat in the back seat of the car.

    ¡°That¡¯s Jiang Bilian?¡± The woman looked out of the car window. Her voice was beautiful, and she was implicitly reserved.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the driver wearing white gloves. ¡°Miss Jinxiu, ording to the investigation, the rtionship between Jiang Bilian and Xia Yingluo is very bad. If you want to deal with Xia Yingluo, you can use Jiang Bilian.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu reached out her hand gracefully to rub her forehead. She said, ¡°Ok, start driving and go to the beauty salon early to do today¡¯s treatment. These messy things are giving me a headache.¡± What outsiders didn¡¯t know was that she was the one who had secretly instructed the crew to remove Xia Yingluo¡¯s name and rece it with Jiang Bilian. She held information against the director in her hands, and the director simply couldn¡¯t afford to fight with the Gu family¡¯sdy over a small role, so he had just followed her orders.

    As for Xia Yingluo?

    Ha, why care about the feeling of a little trainee?

    Xia Yingluo had still been thanking her luck yesterday. Today, she felt particrly unlucky. The aura of being the Phoenix¡¯s daughter seemed to be fading. Ever since she entered the training camp, no, ever since the night at the casino, she had somehow started to have bad luck.

    Was it because she was out for too long and God had forgotten whose daughter she was?

    She returned sadly to the dormitory, rolling around on the bed under the covers.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er came in, she saw that she was wrapped like a cicada. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?¡± She went to pick up the quilt in annoyance. ¡°It¡¯s spread all over the training camp. The person who got the audition role this time is Jiang Bilian. Her band of running dogs said she¡¯s the real chief, and even mocked you, saying what use is it to score first in the monthly exam when being able to mix outside showed real strength! You seem rather good, you¡¯re actually hiding here to sleep?!¡±

    ¡°What else can I do besides sleep?¡± Xia Yingluo said shallowly. She was very unmotivated. ¡°Go quarrel with them? That wouldn¡¯t restore the big picture, it¡¯ll just make me look stingy.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was not reconciled. ¡°Then that¡¯s it? I don¡¯t believe she managed to steal the role from you with her own strengths!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it, either.¡± Xia Yingluo rolled a few more times on the bed. ¡°I¡¯m so sad, boohoo, I want to sleep.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her resentfully for failing to meet her expectation. ¡°You might as well sleep to death!¡±

    She couldn¡¯t just sit back and ignore it when her good friend was unmotivated. Jin Ling¡¯er rushed around for a few days and decided to use the most stupid method to fight for wrong¡ªmake a big scene.

    The filming set was located in the famous film city on the outskirts of the city. Jin Ling¡¯er was fashionable and, since she was a trainee, she naturally exuded an aura of people in the entertainment circle. She mixed in without any effort and watched the startup ceremony in the crowd.

 Chapter 1217 - Great Prestige

    <h4>Chapter 1217: Great Prestige</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    There were some unwritten rules in the entertainment circle. Before the start of each scene, they had to worship the Gods and pray for peaceful filming.

    The producers and directors were preparing to worship when they suddenly heard a girl¡¯s voice. ¡°Wait.¡±

    It was bad luck to disrupt the ceremony, and everyone looked unhappily at the source of the voice. They saw Jin Ling¡¯er standing alone a few steps away from the crowd, sneering. ¡°You¡¯re worshipping? Are you all guilty? Someone used some underhand methods and improper means to get her role, and you still hope for this movie to be sessful? Tsk!¡±

    This statement was even more of bad luck.

    Nowadays, which drama didn¡¯t use rtions? It was a hidden rule in the industry, who knew someone would be so undiscriminating and actuallye up here to criticize, wasn¡¯t she obviously picking a fight?

    ¡°Who are you?¡± An assistant director couldn¡¯t help but say. ¡°Security!¡±

    Soon a security guard came and dragged Jin Ling¡¯er out.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s arm was pulled, but she struggled and refused to leave, shouting in disapproval. ¡°You will have bad luck! This show will fail! me Jiang Bilian for snatching her role, she brought the bad luck!¡±

    Among a group of actors, Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression was bad.

    As soon as Jin Ling¡¯er had appeared, she knew that something bad was going on. Thus, she had shrunk into the crowd, pretending not to know Jin Ling¡¯er. Unexpectedly, Jin Ling¡¯er still implicated her. Although the disruption of the ceremony had nothing to do with her, she knew how superstitious the people in the crew were¡ªit was hard to guarantee that those producers, directors and sale celebrities wouldn¡¯t me these twists and turns on her.

    Sure enough, there were already some people ring at her unkindly.

    The starring actress of this movie had taken part in this after thest Neb Film Festival. She was of a high grade and her career was in full swing now, so this movie was especially valuable. Now that the ceremony had such bad luck, how could she feelfortable inside? ¡°It¡¯s just a small character, why did you incur such trouble? You really think highly of yourself.¡± She mocked quietly. It wasn¡¯t clear who she was scolding, but several people heard it and also smirked.

    ¡°Calm down, Sister Qi, you are in good fortune, why do you need to worry about the little evil? It¡¯s just a farce of a few little people, you shouldn¡¯t anger yourself over them. Your skin is so well-maintained and it¡¯s much more expensive than all of them added together. If you get angry, you¡¯ll grow fine lines easily. It¡¯s not worth it.¡± After coaxing repeatedly, Sister Qi¡¯s expression got better.

    Jiang Bilian was uneasy and whispered an apology to her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sister Qi.¡±

    Sister Qi stood away a bit disgustingly without even looking at Jiang Bilian. She said to her assistant, ¡°Stand there a little bit and help me block the bad luck.¡± She was treating Jiang Bilian as the beast of a flood.

    Jiang Bilian was both humiliated and aggrieved. She felt that she had never been so ashamed in her life. Seeing the gloating eyes around her, she desperately wanted to dig a hole and dive into it. Jin Ling¡¯er... she would remember this and take revenge on her!

    Jin Ling¡¯er was dragged out by two strong security guards. While struggling, she continued to yell, ¡°Your drama has bad luck! What¡¯s the matter, you¡¯re not letting me say it? I wish you a bad reputation and a falling attendance rate!¡± She knew she had no power nor authority, and it was impossible to help Xia Yingluo get back the role all by herself, so she hade here simply to make a scene. She wanted to embarrass her and help her sister vent anger.

    The security guard dropped her on the ground. ¡°Go away!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er stumbled a few meters away, everything in her carry bag was scattered, and even her bones were weak. She fell to the ground for a long time and couldn¡¯t get up, but she didn¡¯t forget to yell, ¡°The stupid crew has under-the-table maniption! I¡¯ll send my greetings to your whole family!¡± When she was done scolding them, she held her waist and got up with difficulty. ¡°Ouch, my old waist, they¡¯re really vicious. If my waist is broken, just wait and see! Ouch... it hurts...¡±

    She got up slowly in pain and almost hit onto an expressionless face. The face was close to her, so close that the tip of her nose almost touched his. She was stunned and yelped in shock before falling back to the ground.

    This time, it was so painful that tears came out.

    ¡°Who are you! Damn bastard!¡± She scolded aggrievedly. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see me on the ground! How did you even walk to have knocked into me directly?! Huh?! It hurts so bad!¡±

    The other party did not speak.

    Jin Ling¡¯er scolded for a long time before feeling abnormal. She looked up and saw that the other party was still standing there, staring at her expressionlessly. It was a man in a suit, he was tall and slender and looked about thirty-years-old. He had a somber look on his handsome cold face, and when he looked down at her, there was a sense of oppression.

    Somehow, Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly felt guilty.

    However, she was not afraid of anything and quickly suppressed her guilty conscience. She staring fiercely at the man. ¡°What do you looking at? Don¡¯t you know how to help me? Do you know you hit me!¡±

    Beside the man, the apanying assistant could not help but scold her. ¡°How are you talking to President Du!¡±

    The man raised his hand slightly to stop the assistant¡¯s scolding.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at them with a sneer. ¡°What President Du? I haven¡¯t heard of it, it¡¯s so powerful!¡± She forgot that she was still on the ground in a fragile state and her head of rusty golden hair was messy. She looked like a bad girl.

    The man stood still and reached out his hand.

    She froze for a moment, then realized that the other party was about to pull her up, so she took his hand politely. His hands were dry and strong, and thin calluses were on his knuckles, which made her heart beat strangely. She quickly pressed down the strangeness, stabilized her body, and stared at him fiercely.

    ¡°President Du, Sister Qi is sending a message asking if you have arrived. Let¡¯s go in,¡± said the assistant beside him.

    The man left Jin Ling¡¯er and walked in.

    ¡°Hey, stand still!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t help but call.

    The man really stood still. He nced at her, calm and not surprised.

    Suddenly, Jin Ling¡¯er felt irritable and didn¡¯t know why she wanted to stop him. It was probably his uncaring attitude that irritated her. For the past few days, she had done things for her good sister Xia Yingluo and had already umted all kinds of anger. ¡°What are you looking at, have you never seen a beauty!¡± She scolded.

    The assistant next to the man was unhappy. ¡°What¡¯s your problem? Our President Du has seen lots of beauties, but never one like you who is full of mud! Why don¡¯t you take a look in the mirror!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was so annoyed that all her grievances rose and she red at him. ¡°Rich people are bastards, but even the rich people¡¯s running dogs are bastards! You are all lousy!¡±

 Chapter 1218 - Xiao Yingluo, Someone I Had Not Seen in Years

    <h4>Chapter 1218: Xiao Yingluo, Someone I Had Not Seen in Years</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The tall and well-built man finally spoke. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was taken aback by his question. What did he mean what¡¯s wrong with her?

    The man only looked at her quietly.

    His assistant, who was ustomed to his boss¡¯ speaking style, quickly interpreted what he meant. ¡°Chairman Du meant to ask what happened to you. He saw you being thrown out and scolded for a long time. Did Sister Qi and the group bully you?¡± Just now when he got out of the car with Chairman Du, he saw his own crew throw her out with his own eyes.

    Only then did Jin Ling¡¯er react. ¡°Sister Qi and her crew? Does this mean that you are rted to that group of people? No wonder. Who are you?¡± Herst question was directed to Chairman Du.

    ¡°I am Du Zheng,¡± the man said simply.

    Du Zheng? Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly realized who he was and widened her eyes. ¡°You are Du Zheng?! Chairman Du Zheng of the Du Family Cultural Corporation?!¡± Like a typical girl of her age, she loved gossip, especially gossip rted to the majorpanies in the entertainment industry. Although the Du Family Corporation was not asrge as Imperial Entertainment or Skyart Entertainment, it was not small in size either and ranked highly in the list of entertainmentpanies. Most importantly, the group she had some conflict with had shares in the Du Company.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Du Zheng said. ¡°Now, can you tell me what happened?¡±

    Imperial Entertainment rarely coborated with the Du Family Corporation. This time, Imperial Entertainment wanted to borrow the star of Du Family Corporation, Yang Mengqi, to act in a new show. Yang Mengqi had an amicable personal rtionship with Du Zheng. After hearing that Du Zheng would have a business discussion nearby, she invited him to visit her. Unexpectedly, once Du Zheng got out of his car, he saw this girl viciously thrown out by her.

    Looking at her indignation, could it be that she was bullied by her crew?

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at him suspiciously. Now, she had a very bad impression of these powerful people. However, things were already so bad that they could not be worse. Making a Hail Mary effect, she recklessly challenged. ¡°Chairman Du, do you know that there¡¯s an insider story about your crew? That Jiang Bilian is so immoral! She actually reced Yingluo who was so outstanding during the audition and shamelessly stole her role! How can a good show be filmed like that?¡±

    No wonder she said that this film would suffer a disastrous defeat at the box office.

    However, Du Zheng was more concerned about the name she mentioned. ¡°Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Xia Yingluo.¡± Since he asked, Jin Ling¡¯er decided to introduce and promote her good friend to him. ¡°Our Yingluo is extremely talented and the best trainee at Imperial Entertainment! She is always ranked first in the examinations every year! Her acting skills are killer, and it was said that everyone at the audition, even the director, was impressed by her. Chairman Du, give her a chance. I beg you. If you let her be in the film, it will definitely be a hit!¡±

    His assistant convulsed in rage. Miss, isn¡¯t this quite outrageous? The female lead of this film was obviously Sister Qi. What was she doing trying to promote the name of a small actress?

    However, Du Zheng seemed to be very interested. ¡°Do you have Xia Yingluo¡¯s photo? Let me see it.¡±

    ¡°What? Oh! Yes, I do!¡± Seeing that there might be hope, Jin Ling¡¯er was ecstatic. She quickly retrieved her phone from the mess of items on the floor and showed him a photo of Xia Yingluo and her. ¡°Look, this is Xia Yingluo. She looks really pretty in the photo and is even prettier in real life! In the future, she can definitely be a famous celebrity!¡±

    The two girls smiled brightly in the photo.

    Xia Yingluo, who was wearing a hoodie, wrapped her arms around the girl in front of her like a bear. ¡°Wee to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Training Camp, New Students¡± was written on the bulletin board behind them and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

    He was slightly immersed in the photo.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at him pleadingly. ¡°Chairman Du, can you support her?¡±

    He looked away from the photo and turned to Jin Ling¡¯er. The girl in front of him looked anxious and her face was stained with dirt. However, in his eyes, she looked more beautiful than in the perfectly taken photo. How many genuine friendships were there in the world? Did Xia Yingluo know that her friend spared no effort helping her?

    ¡°Go back and wait for news.¡± He turned around and left.

    ¡°Chairman Du? Chairman Du? Hello?!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er did not understand what he meant, but when she called him again, he did not stop and disappeared into the distance.

    ¡°Seriously, what sort of person is he?¡± She muttered with a mix of disappointment and hope. Would he really seek justice for her? It would be great if Yingluo could take part in that film.

    In the film setting.

    Summer sunlight sprinkled on the vintage street set-up.

    Du Zheng¡¯s well-built figure walked past it step by step.

    Beside him, his puzzled assistant asked him, ¡°Chairman Du, are you really going to help that girl?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°Yes. Send someone to investigate what happened. Get rid of that Jiang Bilian and give the role to Xia Yingluo. Remember to do it discreetly and not let others find out that I was responsible for it.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± his assistant respectfully said. However, he could not help but have misgivings. Could it be that his boss, who was usually unpassionate, was interested in Xia Yingluo? Or perhaps Jin Ling¡¯er?

    However, he could not ask a question like that and kept it buried in his heart.

    However, he did not know that when he first saw the photo, Du Zheng immediately recognized who Xia Yingluo was¡ª

    His good friend and business partner Li Shaohui¡¯s sister, Xiao Yingluo, whom he had not seen in years.

    Thest time he saw her, she was only about eleven or twelve years old and was wearing a white princess dress. She covered his eyes from behind him andughed like a silver bell as she asked him to guess who she was. The children in the Li Family were very yful and, as someone very used to rules, he was unustomed to her. Shaohui reprimanded her for being rude, but she just squinted her beautiful eyes and made a face.

    In a blink of an eye, she had grown up.

    The little princess had reached the age of leaving home, but he did not expect her toe to China.

    Du Zheng generally knew the rules of the Li Family. They were not allowed to reveal their identities and contact rtives and friends. However, this was done mainly for the sake of protecting Shaohui¡¯s heir or future children. As for princess Yingluo? If he remembered correctly, her wish since young was to live a peaceful life. What was there to protect?

    Even if he wanted to secretly help her cheat, no one would get hurt.

    Du Zheng¡¯s expression softened slightly. Although Yingluo and he were like brother and sister, their age difference was toorge and there were many differences between them. To him, Yingluo was more like someone of the next generation whom he saw grow up, so he could not treat her badly.

    His assistant went to get the job done.

    Xia Yingluo was unaware of this and she did not even know that Jin Ling¡¯er had visited the crew.

    These days, she was depressed. Why was everything always turning out wrong? She seriously considered if she should burn a joss stick to pray to the deities or do a good deed like helping an olddy cross the road.

    Before Xia Yingluo could act, her luck changed and she encountered an unexpectedly good situation.

 Chapter 1219 - Self-Satisfaction

    <h4>Chapter 1219: Self-Satisfaction</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    News spread that Jiang Bilian offended the female lead Yang Mengqi and was kicked off the set. As such, the crew hoped that Xia Yingluo would rece her because they said that she was more professional and better at acting.

    Xia Yingluo grinned in satisfaction. This was the most desirable oue!

    A few days ago, whether she was in ss or eating at the cafeteria, she was always fed up with the ridicule of Jiang Bilian¡¯s supporters, so how could she be happy? ¡°Hahaha, this is called karma!¡± On the way to the cafeteria, sheughed as she spoke to Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also very happy. ¡°Serves them right!¡± She did not know if this was a coincidence or if her pleading with Du Zheng actually worked. However, this was not important. The important thing was that her good friend finally achieved her wish, gave herpetitor a harsh p on the face and regained what should have been hers from the start.

    As for Du Zheng? They never exchanged contact information in the past, so regardless of whether he interfered, she had no way of thanking him. At most, she could pray for his safety the next time she went to the temple.

    As such, she had a good impression of Chairman Du, who was the dream man of thousands of young women.

    Xia Yingluo linked arms with her. As they walked, she expressed her doubt. ¡°It¡¯s really strange. Jiang Bilian is not a crude person. Why did she offend the female lead for no good reason?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er gloated at her misfortune. ¡°Haha, Yingluo, do you even have to say it? Jiang Bilian deserves this misfortune. She identally sat on the female lead Yang Mengqi¡¯s chair. You know that there¡¯s a hierarchy in the cast, and it is a taboo to sit on the chairs of those who are more important. Yang Mengqi exploded in anger and immediately wanted her reced. We all know how important Yang Mengqi and how difficult she is to please. The crew definitely had to take care of her and could only chase Jiang Bilian away. Hahaha.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also thought it was humorous. ¡°Over this small pathetic matter?¡±

    Her beautifully crafted lips curved upwards. Wicked people were bound to be harassed by the same kind of people.

    The two of themughed happily. Before they reached the entrance of the cafeteria, suddenly, someone called out from behind them. ¡°Xia Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er spun around and saw the head teacher rush towards them.

    ¡°This is the script of the film.¡± He handed a stack of bound paper to Xia Yingluo. ¡°You should take a good look at the female assassin¡¯s part and start with the crew tomorrow.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not ept it. ¡°I am not filming it.¡±

    ¡°What? You¡¯re not filming it?¡±

    ¡°What? You¡¯re really not filming it?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er and the head teacher eximed in unison.

    Xia Yingluo raised her chin proudly. ¡°Who does the crew think I am? They think they can use me as they please, kick me aside when they don¡¯t want me and think they can get me back once they regret their decision? I refuse to serve them as they please!¡±

    The head teacher was so mad that he was hurting internally. This girl had not debuted yet but had a bigger temper than many big stars! ¡°How can you not shoot it? Do you know what a good opportunity this is? I know that you¡¯ve been wronged for some time, but in the entertainment industry, it is normal for people to feel aggrieved sometimes. If you can¡¯t even deal with this, how can you survive once you¡¯ve debuted?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± Xia Yingluo stubbornly said. ¡°No matter what, I am not epting this role. If they disturb me again, I might even really hire a killer to shut them up!¡±

    ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± The head teacher expected better from her. ¡°If you really refuse to shoot this, in the future when another opportunity like this arises, the camp won¡¯t even give it to you. The way you¡¯re acting now would cause you to be cklisted and marks will be deducted from your final exam. After that, you will have a lower priority rating for the use of our resources. Are you willing to ept these consequences?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ept it.¡± Xia Yingluo was unhappy. As long as she had food to eat and a ce to sleep, she did not care about making her debut, bing famous or getting first ce in the exam.

    However, Jin Ling¡¯er was extremely anxious and quickly said, ¡°Head teacher, don¡¯t be angry! Yingluo is just insensible. I will persuade her again. Don¡¯t turn down the crew yet. After Yingluo thinks about it again, she will definitely shoot her role!¡±

    The head teacher red at them. ¡°Do you think this a game for kids? This is urgent. If Xia Yingluo refuses to shoot, I will reject them now and not dy their progress!¡±

    After that, he turned around and left.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was furious and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Yingluo! What sort of temper was that? It wasn¡¯t easy for an opportunity like this toe! How could you reject it?! You... you really are the death of me!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Troublesome.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er stomped her foot and tried to persuade her till her mouth was dry. However, she was not able to move her at all.

    ¡°Forget it, I don¡¯t care about you anymore!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was fed up. ¡°In the future, it¡¯s your business if you can¡¯t make money or be famous!¡±

    Seeing that she was really angry, Xia Yingluoughed and said, ¡°Ok, calm down. You know that I haven¡¯t been in good health recently and often feel pain at random times. Do you think that I really don¡¯t want to film? I am not well, and I can¡¯t be honest with the head teacher. What if he wants me to quit school? You know that there is a precedent for unhealthy people to drop out of school. I can only spin a reason to lie to him.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er asked half-doubtfully.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yingluo earnestly nodded.

    Jin Ling¡¯er became worried. ¡°Yingluo, are you ok? You scared me to death when you were in pain thest time. I thought that you were fine because you haven¡¯t been acting up recently, but it seems that you are still hurting?¡±

    ¡°When I am tired, it hurts. When I am not tired, I feel fine.¡± Xia Yingluo brushed her question aside. Besides, the main gist was that she would be fine if she did not film the scene.

    Only then was Jin Ling¡¯er relieved and stopped persuading her to shoot the scene.

    At night, she received a phone call from a stranger.

    As Jin Ling¡¯er had a mask on her face and was wearing her pajamas, she answered it unwillingly. ¡°Who is this?¡± She muttered quietly, ¡°Who is calling in the middle of the night?¡± She nced sideways at the direction of the bathroom door. Xia Yingluo was currently taking a shower and the sound of rushing water could be heard. Thus, she went to the balcony with her phone.

    ¡°Hello?¡± She said.

    ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er?¡± On the other end of the phone, a strange man¡¯s voice was heard.

    Jin Ling¡¯er frowned. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Du Zheng,¡± the man said.

    Jin Ling¡¯er froze for a moment. It was the well-built man that she encountered outside the film set that day. How did he get her number? She blurted out the first question she had in mind.

    ¡°It was easy to find.¡± The man did not say much and only asked, ¡°The director told me that Xia Yingluo was unwilling to ept the role. Why?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little muddleheaded. Could it be that the sudden role recement was due to him?

 Chapter 1220 - Wei Lingnanâ€™s Cocktail

    <h4>Chapter 1220: Wei Lingnan¡¯s Cocktail</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She carefully asked him, ¡°Chairman Du, were you the one who crafted a n to kick Jiang Bilian out?¡±

    On the other end, Du Zheng did not directly answer her. He only said, ¡°Jiang Bilian did not respect the rules and made Mengqi really angry, so it affected the shooting schedule and progress. I am really unhappy about this and told the director to follow the rules and get rid of those who got in inappropriately and rece them with people who were actually selected in the audition.¡±

    That was why the director sincerely invited Xia Yingluo back.

    Unexpectedly, she rejected him.

    ¡°So that was what happened.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er sighed. ¡°Yingluo said that no matter what, she was unwilling to ept this role.¡±

    Du Zheng asked, ¡°Is she throwing a tantrum?¡± He knew that this girl had arge temper and when she was stubborn, she did not care about anything.

    However, Jin Ling¡¯er misunderstood him. In fear, she said, ¡°Chairman Du, don¡¯t be angry. Yingluo doesn¡¯t know that you put in some effort to help her. If not, regardless of how brave she is, she wouldn¡¯t dare to reject you.¡±

    ¡°Well then, is there room for negotiation?¡± Du Zheng asked.

    Ever since Yingluo left home, Shaohui and the rest really missed her, but they were unable to contact her because of the rules. If they were able to see her in a film that the Du Family Corporation was involved in, Du Zheng could secretly take care of her and ease her brother¡¯s mind.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was even more fearful. ¡°Chairman Du, Yingluo is really unable to partake in the filming. I... I¡¯ll let you in on something, but you have to promise me not to tell anymore.¡± After getting Du Zheng¡¯s reassurance, she finally said, ¡°Recently, Yingluo hasn¡¯t been feeling well. When she feels tired, her entire body will ache and she needs a lot of rest. That¡¯s why she isn¡¯t able to film. It¡¯s not because she has something against the crew.¡±

    In a few words, Du Zheng was shocked. ¡°Is she sick?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what strange disease it is.¡± Jin Linger frowned slightly. ¡°Even the doctors can¡¯t find the cause. Once, she was in so much pain that she almost fainted. Chairman Du, you really can¡¯t tell anyone about this! If it spreads, the training camp may look down on her because she¡¯s sick and kick her out. What is she going to do then?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t tell,¡± Du Zheng said, frowning. That girl was always healthy, so why did she suddenly fall sick? It can¡¯t be that she¡¯s lying, right? However, it was possible that Xia Yingluo might do something like that.

    What if it was a real sickness?

    A strange illness that even the doctors could not identify.

    No way. He could not be an observer.

    In a sh, Du Zheng made up his mind. He said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Since she can¡¯t film that role and it¡¯s hard to find a suitable actress in a short time frame, how about you rece her?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Me?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er felt dizzy as a role seemed to fall into herp. ¡°I... I... Can I do it?¡± She was not outstanding and only an average student in her acting ss. Even if she attended an audition, she would not be able to stand out. ¡°Chairman Du, why don¡¯t you choose someone else from the audition?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°The rest of them have some shes in the schedule.¡± In reality, that female assassin role was very small and those who auditioned were not famous. Only a few days of work was required for the filming of the role, and it was not possible that the schedules of those actresses were filled up so quickly. He only used that as an excuse to get Jin Ling¡¯er on board.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was ted by this huge surprise and believed him without thinking much about it. ¡°Sure. As long as you don¡¯t look down on me, Chairman Du, I will definitely shoot. Thank you!¡± At this time, she felt that Du Zheng was really a good person andpletely forgot about the conflict she had with him outside the film set.

    She happily hung up the phone, rushed to the dormitory and told Xia Yingluo the good news.

    Xia Yingluo just came out from the bathroom after taking a shower and a light cherry-colored bath towel was wrapped around her soft body. Water dripped from her long ck hair and fell on her white skin. She looked enchanting.

    She was really happy for Jin Ling¡¯er. As she dried her hair, she smiled. ¡°Good luck. Make sure you act well.¡±

    However, she had her doubts. ¡°Why did the crew look for you?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er could not hide it any longer and told her about how she went to the film set toin about the unfairness of the situation and met Du Zheng.

    After hearing Du Zheng¡¯s name, Xia Yingluo paused in her movements. ¡°Du Zheng from the Du Family Corporation? You told him that I was called Xia Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I even showed him your photo.¡±

    Oh no, she was recognized. No wonder the attitude of the crew towards herpletely changed. It was definitely due to something Du Zheng did. She would definitely reject this role, but since it was given to Jin Ling¡¯er, she could not obstruct her good friend¡¯s career progression due to the rules in the Li Family.

    She could only turn a blind eye.

    Since Du Zheng pretended that he did not do this for her, she also pretended that she did not know about this.

    She encouraged Jin Ling¡¯er a few more times before crawling into bed to sleep.

    The next day, Jin Ling¡¯er packed her things and joined the crew, leaving her alone in the huge dormitory.

    Xia Yingluo had few friends in the training camp. Now that Jin Ling¡¯er was not here and Jiang Bilian¡¯s group regarded her as a thorn in the side, she actually felt quite lonely.

    She received Wei Lingnan¡¯s call and was reminded that it was time for their weekly meeting.

    This time, the ce she went to was a vi that he gave her. The tall man stood in a building that had a surreal science fiction style to it, and he was unexpectedly coordinated with it. He was making a cocktail at the silver-grey bar, and the way he skillfully poured the different kinds of alcohol was a sight to behold.

    Xia Yingluo put her chin in her hand as she looked at him.

    ¡°Do I look good?¡± He asked as he pushed a cocktail ss in front of her.

    ¡°Yes.¡± She took it and shook the crystal ss. The man in front of her was clearly a dangerous person, but somehow, she was slowly used to having him around.

    She took a sip of the cocktail.

    The bitterness was mixed with sweetness. It was a strangebination.

    ¡°What kind of alcohol is this?¡± she asked.

    ¡°A celebratory cocktail,¡± he said. ¡°I only have the recipe. Many ingredients could not be found, so I could only try some alternatives. I even dissolved the antidote in it for you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not know what the original cocktail tasted like, but she thought that the one he made was good and she took another sip.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Why are you congratting me?¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on sessfully defeating Jiang Bilian and stealing the role from her.¡±

    ¡°You know about this?¡±

    ¡°I know everything about you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him. ¡°Firstly, I didn¡¯t make Jiang Bilian¡¯s role disappear. She was the one responsible for her demise because she offended Yang Mengqi. Secondly, are you monitoring me? Why can¡¯t you let me off the hook with this small matter?¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his gaze and made another cocktail for himself. ¡°I am always concerned about you.¡±

 Chapter 1221 - French Dress

    Chapter 1221: French Dress

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your concern.¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s tone was a little cold. The feeling of always being spied on felt awful.

    Wei Lingnan did not want to argue with her and changed the topic. ¡°Do you know? The wine used is from my hometown.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was slightly startled. She looked down at the ss in her hand. The liquid gently rippled in the ss like a dream. Hometown? It was such a distant term, so distant that she felt a chill.

    It was so strange. Why was there a sour feeling in her heart?

    Her hometown was a beautiful ind where the Li Family¡¯s overseas headquarters was at. Her family was one of the strongest forces in the world. She was proud of her heritage, but she was not homesick. The feeling in her heart seemed to tell her that there was another ce that she had left for a long time. She left it such a long time that she could not even remember it, but she still missed her... hometown.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s low voice was heard. ¡°It is very beautiful. Although it is barren, it is the birthce of the most powerful race in the world. It is an endless wastnd with deep cracks in the purple ground. asionally, small flowers would grow on the cliff. White Skatana flowers. Soldiers used them to make wine and heal wounds.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little enchanted by what he said. ¡°Does a ce like this really exists?¡±

    Wei Lingnan lifted his cocktail ss and clinked it with hers. ¡°The Skatana can fly. It does not follow a fixed trajectory like Earth and the others. The movement of Skatana is unpredictable and fascinating. Even the people that live on it do not know which direction it will head next, and the only one who knows its secret is the Queen.¡±

    ¡°Queen?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    ¡°The Queen can intuitively predict the will of the and is the noblest existence on the entire.¡± Wei Lingnan said, ¡°All the people on Skatana live and die for the Queen.¡± As he spoke, his lips curled into a strange smile. ¡°Only I am different. I was born because of Ah Luo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo drank too much wine and her head was a little dizzy.

    She wanted to tell him that aliens did not exist. Skatana and the Queen of Skatana did not exist. Instead, she said, ¡°This story is so interesting. Why don¡¯t you make a script and tell me more about your and the Queen?¡±

    However, he stopped talking.

    She was drunk and her mind started to slow down. Finally, she could not control her movements anymore. Sheid down softly on the silver-gray bar. When she closed her eyelids, a soft sigh rang in her ear. ¡°She¡¯s really beautiful.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had a long dream.

    In her dream, she arrived at a purple that was a wastnd. There were half-human half-monster soldiers and small white flowers sporadically blooming in the orange-violet mes. She saw a figure of a little girl who vanished in a sh. For some reason, she could not help but look for it. Suddenly, a thick fog struck and the flowers scattered.

    When she awoke, it was morning.

    She had a hangover and a splitting headache.

    There was a man sleeping on the other side of the bed with his arms wrapped firmly around her waist.

    She struggled for a bit but could not break free, so she became a little annoyed. ¡°Wei Lingnan, get up!¡± Why was he sleeping beside her? Fortunately, both of them were fully clothed and nothing bad happened.

    Slowly, Wei Lingnan opened his eyes to look at her. ¡°Did you sleep wellst night?¡±

    She was furious. ¡°Who allowed you to sleep beside me?!¡±

    However, he acted like he did not hear her. ¡°Did you have a dream?¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him. ¡°None of your business.¡± She angrily pushed his arms away, jumped out of bed and changed.

    Wei Lingnanid on his side and watched as she left for a long time.

    Xia Yingluo went back to the training camp and told herself to forget the story and dream she hadst night. Wei Lingnan was strange and crazy. He was probably drunk and came up with a random story. A that could fly? A Queen? Did he think this was Aliens vs Avatar?

    She went to ss and practiced as usual.

    At noon, an ecstatic Jin Ling¡¯er rushed back. ¡°Yingluo! Yingluo! Did you miss me during these few days?¡± As she spoke, she gave her a big hug.

    Xia Yingluo also hugged her and smiled. ¡°Are you done filming?¡±

    She pushed all the strange things that happenedst night to the back of her mind.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°The entire film is not finished, but my part is done. The director also praised me for doing a good job! I¡¯m so happy I could die. Hahaha, Sister Qi also likes me very much and said that we could coborate again next time if there¡¯s a chance! Wow. Sister Qi is such a famous celebrity and she actually said that she wanted to continue working with me. It¡¯s just like a dream!¡± She bounced around in glee. As a little-known trainee, gaining the favor of a famous celebrity was a very exciting thing.

    Xia Yingluo was also happy for her. ¡°It¡¯s really worth celebrating.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er pulled her. ¡°Let¡¯s go shopping and celebrate together!¡±

    The way females celebrated good news was usually very simple. They either went out for a meal or did some shopping. Xia Yingluo did not protest and was pulled out of the training camp into one of the busiest shopping malls in the city.

    The two girls picked out a few clothes at an ordinary specialty store. Jin Ling¡¯er pulled Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, shall we go upstairs? I have never been to those high-end specialty stores before. I saw Sister Qi wearing a watch that looks very good, and I heard that she bought it on the seventh floor of this mall.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not mind. She waved the card that Wei Lingnan gave her and said, ¡°If you see anything you like, I¡¯ll buy it for you.¡±

    ¡°Really? Wow! Yingluo you really are the best!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er hugged her and gave her a kiss.

    Xia Yingluo viciously smiled. ¡°Just swipe as you like!¡± In fact, she did not mind if she swiped the card to buy the entire mall until Wei Lingnan turned poor. How dare he sleep on the same bed as her when she was drunk?!

    Jin Ling¡¯er did not hesitate and dragged her into many high-end stores.

    When she walked into the boutique, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes brightened. ¡°Yingluo, quicklye over! This dress really suits you!¡± As she spoke, she pointed at a pearl-white silk dress. The color and the style were very specific, and it seemed that only someone with white skin and an S shape body would be able to wear it.

    The shop assistant smiled and greeted them. ¡°Both of you have good taste. This is part of the new collection of this season and was designed by a famous French designer.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er encouraged Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, how about you try it on? You¡¯re so beautiful, I¡¯m sure that you will look good wearing it. Don¡¯t always wear discounted items from the small shop at the school entrance. I feel bad seeing you wear them.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also felt that this dress was quite stylish. Just as she was about to agree to try it on, she heard the familiar sounds of two girlsughing behind her. Enemies were really bound to meet on a narrow path. Turning around, she actually saw Pei Yan and Gu Jinxiu walking in. They looked really close to each other. Could it be that they were friends?

 Chapter 1222 - Unsuitable Measurements

    Chapter 1222: Unsuitable Measurements

    At this moment, the two also saw her.

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression sank and she said disgustedly, ¡°Xia Yingluo? Why are you here?¡±

    Today, she wore a bright red hip dress that outlined her plump and hot figure. She was condescending and imposing. In contrast, Xia Yingluo looked shameful in her student outfit.

    However, as soon as Xia Yingluo spoke, she was also imposing. ¡°Why, you cane and yet I can¡¯t?¡±

    She and Pei Yan were enemies due to their cheating man. Although she had long gotten over it and thought it wasn¡¯t worth being sad over a scumbag, this didn¡¯t mean that she had forgiven the bitch that had pried a chip from her wall.

    Seeing her attitude, Pei Yan was even more ufortable, and couldn¡¯t help but ridicule her. ¡°Ha, is this a ce you can afford? People like you who depend on my family¡¯s training camp for your expenses, how could you have money to visit boutiques? Don¡¯t pretend to be someone you¡¯re not, I¡¯ve seen lots of people like you who can¡¯t afford things and yet stille for an eye-opener.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stretched out her two long fingers with a gold card between them and shook it in front of Pei Yan¡¯s eyes. ¡°Open your dog eyes, see what this is? Do you really think you¡¯re the only rich person in this world? Sorry, you¡¯re stillcking in my eyes.¡±

    Her father, brother, maternal uncle and even brother Du Zheng, which one of them wasn¡¯t richer than Pei Yan?

    She really didn¡¯t know why a sidedy like Pei Yan could be so cocky?

    Pei Yan didn¡¯t know what she was thinking, she was only taken aback after seeing the gold card in her hand¡ªhow could this cheap girl have a gold card? Was she really here to shop around and buy things?

    Then, she thought something was amiss. How could she have so much money?

    Pei Yan looked at her with disdain. ¡°Some women just don¡¯t know how to restrain themselves. They feel very glorious for selling their bodies for money and shamelessly show off.¡± She remembered how during the engagement banquetst time, a man named Wei Lingnan had been very protective of her. Wei Lingnan was so rich, he was probably her sugar daddy.

    ¡°Hey! Who are you talking about?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er, who stood beside Xia Yingluo, was furious.

    Pei Yan recognized that this was the girl who had caused the crab legs to fly onto herself in the restaurantst time and was good friends with Xia Yingluo. At that moment, humiliation and anger surged up inside her, and she ridiculed Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Birds of a feather flock together. Seeing as how you¡¯re so agitated, could it be that you sell your body too? You can¡¯t even sell it for a good price, just look at your ugly get up!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er just returned from the filming crew this morning and was wearing a stain-resistant dark T-shirt and jeans. The items on her whole body weren¡¯t worth a lot of money, and it made Pei Yan look on scornfully.

    The anger in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was also stirred up. This Pei Yan, it was fine to scold her, but to scold her friend? ¡°On the ability to seduce a man, we obviously can¡¯tpare with you, Ms. Pei.¡± She sneered at Pei Yan. ¡°Zhao Yixuan is a second-hand good that I don¡¯t even want, yet you treat him as a treasure. Why, I still have that picture of you two on the bed, do you need me to take it out and remind you?¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression changed and she was anxious. ¡°I dare you!¡±

    One of her most unwise moves was in order to agitate Xia Yingluo, she had even revealed her own bed photos. She had thought this girl was weak and hadn¡¯t seen the real world yet and would be sure to cry heartbreakingly, but who knew that she was so strong? She not only didn¡¯t cry but also saved the photo and brought it up time and time again to p her in the face¡ªthe incident at her engagement banquet had made her lose her face and until now, she was still being pointed fingers at behind her back.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare, I might even release it online for everyone to appreciate if I want to.¡±

    ¡°Haha, okay, okay.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er pped her hands andughed. She sang the same tune as her. ¡°Yingluo, your idea is really good. You must share such an interesting photo with everyone, I can¡¯t wait.¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s voice tightened. ¡°If you do that, I will let my team ofwyers put you behind bars!¡±

    Lawyers? Who was afraid?

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care. There might be some people who could make her sit in prison, but it was definitely not Pei Yan. ¡°I have a big backer, just with your abilities you want to send me to jail? Even your stupid brother also won¡¯t do it,¡± she said.

    Pei Yan still wanted to say something, but Gu Jinxiu, who didn¡¯t say anything from beginning to end, suddenly said, ¡°Forget it, Pei Yan, don¡¯t be angry with them. You are the Pei family¡¯sdy, why should you lower yourself to their lowly levels?¡±

    She said this very gently, but the taunting meaning was more than that of Pei Yan¡¯s. She evidently belittled Xia Yingluo¡¯s identity and had said they were lowlypared to Pei Yan. Gu Jinxiu was responsive, even more so than Pei Yan, and she also had a sense of crisis¡ªPei Yan¡¯s fiance no longer had a rtionship with Xia Yingluo, but what about her husband?

    She remembered the scene she had seen at the engagement banquet before, where Wei Lingnan had held the shabby Xia Yingluo in his arms like she was a rare treasure. She had known that man for so many years and had admired him since she was a girl, but she had never seen him look at anyone with those eyes. It made Gu Jinxiu have a deep sense of crisis.

    After hearing what she said, Pei Yan also reacted and said arrogantly, ¡°Yes, Jinxiu, we shouldn¡¯t argue with sluts. Let¡¯s not affect our shopping mood, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to buy the new dress? Let¡¯s see if there¡¯s still stock.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu smiled and ignored Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er. She asked the store assistant, ¡°It¡¯s the A230 in your new handbook of the season. When I askedst week, you said it was not yet avable. How about now?¡±

    The assistant who had been watching the show just now regained his senses and said, ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±

    It was actually the one that Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er had liked previously.

    Gu Jinxiu said graciously, ¡°Could you bring it here for me to try it on.¡±

    The assistant responded and reached for the dress on the disy stand.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was upset and grabbed the dress. ¡°We obviously fancied it first!¡±

    The assistant was a little awkward. He said while trying to smooth the situation, ¡°The two of you have yet to decide to buy it...¡±

    ¡°But we didn¡¯t decide not to try it.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. She originally didn¡¯t care about buying this dress, but she didn¡¯t want to give up in front of Gu Jinxiu and Pei Yan. ¡°Ms. Gu also said she wanted to try it, not that she wanted to buy it. Firste first serve, we should try it on first.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu red at them lightly.

    She was born elegant, with a sense of nobleness, and in her eyes, there was looming aloofness and magnificence. Before Xia Yingluo could do anything, the assistant couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and said to Xia Yingluo with a smile, ¡°Miss, this dress would be too big on you and the measurements are not suitable. Why don¡¯t you try again when the next batch arrives?¡±

 Chapter 1223 - Family Flower, Wild Flower

    <h4>Chapter 1223: Family Flower, Wild Flower</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Oh? It¡¯s too big,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± The assistant nodded, trying to resolve the dispute. ¡°It would be just right on Ms. Gu.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed softly. She turned her head and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°It seems that being fat is good. You can cut in a line when you buy clothes.¡± She looked so enchanting with her sharp teeth and pair of beautiful, glowing eyes, and also... so annoying.

    If Gu Jinxiu hadn¡¯t taken into ount her prestigious identity, she would have really hit her.

    How was she fat? She was just taller, more nutritionally bnced and had the right weight. She was only a sizerger than Xia Yingluo. On the other hand, Xia Yingluo did appear slender and thin.

    The assistant had said it out of kindness, but Xia Yingluo¡¯s words were harsh and made his words sound awkward.

    Pei Yan also recognized her meaning. She was also born tall and was a sizerger than Gu Jinxiu. At this time, she was about to explode with anger. She said viciously to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Little bitch, we were still giving you face!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly. ¡°Why are you so agitated? Your size isn¡¯t avable.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er giggled.

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression turned pale and she said sharply, ¡°Do you believe I¡¯ll chase you out of Imperial¡¯s training camp?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave tit-for-tat. ¡°Ms. Pei is so powerful, haha, you¡¯re just a bystander who can¡¯t even afford to be a formal heir, since when were you qualified to order the training camp? Be careful you don¡¯t fall into the bad books of Chairman Pei and cause your brother to be thrown into the cold pce!¡± She also came from a rich family background. Although she grew up like a wild girl, she was born into a prestigious family and no matter how carelessly she lived, she was naturally shrewd¡ªshe could see through the happenings in a rich family. Imperial¡¯s training camp was the foundation of thepany, and it continuously sent talents into the singing industry, acting industry and various other industries that also included modeling. Forget about an ordinary trainee, an exceptional trainee like herself was sure to be protected and, unless the Chairman or someone with authority personally gave orders, moving her would be an attempt to disturb thepany¡¯s foothold, and the consequences would be unbearable even for the pair of siblings.

    After being ridiculed by her, Pei Yan also reacted and her face became even more spectacr.

    But Gu Jinxiu gave one more nce to Xia Yingluo. The words that this girl said were always on the dot, and she didn¡¯t seem like she had small insights that one from a small family should? Could it be that Wei Lingnan was really so good to her to even teach her all these powerful logic of the rich families?

    In Gu Jinxiu¡¯s thoughts, if Xia Yingluo understood something, it was naturally taught by Wei Lingnan.

    Besides that, how could Xia Yingluo possibly interact with a prestigious family?

    How high was the Wei family¡¯s door?

    Gu Jinxiu sighed in her heart. In recent years, she had been chasing Wei Lingnan hard, but she always felt that she still couldn¡¯t spy on and understand the Wei Family¡¯spany. In the eyes of ordinary people, Wei Family Biopharmaceutical was just a little-known smallpany, but Gu Jinxiu knew that the world¡¯srgestpanies and powerful countries all had secret dealings with the Wei family¡¯spany. Nobody knew how deep the Wei Family¡¯s connections and power was. This was also one of the reasons why she was so intent on marrying Wei Lingnan. The Gu family had gradually gone downhill in recent years and it would be more than wonderful to obtain such a powerful ally.

    Of course, she did love him deeply.

    In any case, she would not give up Wei Lingnan.

    Gu Jinxiu looked up and said to Pei Yan, ¡°Pei Yan, I told you not to argue with people like this. It¡¯s not like we haven¡¯t seen this kind of clothes before. Let¡¯s go before this turns ugly.¡± She had already thought about it. She would give the clothes to Xia Yingluo and then go back andin about her to Wei Lingnan. She¡¯d let him know just how arrogant and humiliating Xia Yingluo was and thoroughly insult her.

    In the prestigious families, there were many men with mistresses outside, but the wealthy men also understood that family flowers were family flowers, and wild flowers were wild flowers. In front of others, they still had to give face to their official wives.

    Gu Jinxiu felt that since Wei Lingnan had not denied her fianc¨¦e¡¯s identity for so many years, he must care for her.

    After listening to her words, Pei Yan was stunned. Then, sheughed. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go. Xia Yingluo, you can snatch the clothes with your poor friend here. Tsk, you haven¡¯t worn good clothes in forever, so your taste is so shallow!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er also wanted to explode. ¡°Who is shallow-eyed! You bitch!¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned her eyes slightly and met Gu Jinxiu¡¯s gaze. The two exchanged an unfriendly look and undercurrent surged up violently in the atmosphere. After a while, Xia Yingluoughed and pulled Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Forget it, Ling¡¯er, it¡¯s only right for them to be angry if they can¡¯t buy clothes that fit them, but what are you angry for? Who said I was going to wear t? If the measurements don¡¯t fit, then I¡¯ll just use it as a towel to rub my feet. We¡¯ll share it. You already took someone¡¯s cherished clothes to use it as a towel for your feet, what aren¡¯t you satisfied with? Just let those failed dogs bark a few more times, it won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er felt that every time she fought side-by-side with Xia Yingluo she was able to relieve her anger. She could think of such a detrimental trick¡ªto use the beautiful clothes that they wanted so much as a towel for their feet? Hahaha, she really bowed down to her!

    Sheughed again. ¡°Who on earth is shallow-eyed?¡±

    Pei Yan really wanted to hit her.

    Gu Jinxiu said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Turning around, she walked outside first.

    The shop assistants finally heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, one of them left. They were really afraid that the two groups of rich young misses would fight in the shop. At the same time, they secretly praised Ms. Gu, who had just gone out, for being really noble and dignified. Her prestigious background was well-deserved.

    Xia Yingluo pulled Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Let¡¯s go too.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly said, ¡°You don¡¯t want the clothes?¡±

    ¡°The clerk said that the clothes are one size bigger. Why should I buy it? You can¡¯t wear it, nor can I wear it. It can¡¯t really be a feet wipe, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll befortable,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s catch up to them.¡±

    As soon as she heard that she was going to catch up to them, Jin Ling¡¯er knew that a good show wasing. Hence, she put the piece of clothing they had argued for to the back of her mind and followed Xia Yingluo out of the shop excitedly, leaving a bunch of the assistants looking at each other and wanting to cry. The fourdies fought over the new dress, but in the blink of an eye, none of them cared about it anymore.

    Boohoo, their bonuses.

    Xia Yingluo easily followed Pei Yan and Gu Jinxiu.

    After taking a few steps, Pei Yan noticed them and turned around. She said fiercely, ¡°What are you doing following us?¡±

    ¡°Who is following you?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled beautifully and scoundrelly. ¡°The road is here for everyone. If you can walk on it, so can we.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Since meeting Xia Yingluo, Pei Yan¡¯s temper had really exploded geometrically. The two little bitches were clearly following them!

    ¡°Forget it, Yan Yan,¡± Gu Jinxiu said again. This woman was always so calm, but she coulde up with a better strategy than Pei Yan. ¡°There is a dessert shop on the top floor, let¡¯s go up there.¡±

 Chapter 1224 - Dessert Shop Opened by Her

    <h4>Chapter 1224: Dessert Shop Opened by Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Pei Yan immediately understood what she meant. The top floor was a membership-based dessert shop. It was low-key and mysterious. She didn¡¯t know what the shop owner was thinking, but the conditions for issuing membership cards were very strict. If there was no membership card, she would not be let in no matter how much money she had. Thedies in this city were proud to have a membership card for this store, and even Pei Yan hadn¡¯t gotten it. Gu Jinxiu was one of the few people who were qualified to enter the store, and it was expected that those two country bumpkins would not have the card.

    ¡°Haha, let¡¯s go.¡± Pei Yan smiled smugly. She¡¯d let the two girls follow, and when they reached the dessert shop door, they would be stopped and humiliated... That scene was really exciting.

    Gu Jinxiu smiled and walked upstairs with Pei Yan.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er saw them smiling with ill intentions, she pulled on Xia Yingluo¡¯s sleeve doubtfully. ¡°Yingluo, why do I think they¡¯re nning something bad?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I¡¯m here, what are you afraid of? Just follow me.¡±

    The two kept up.

    On the top floor, deep in the beautiful sky garden, was a chic dessert shop. The thick sweet fragrance floated in the air, making people feel refreshed and even improving their mood. At the door stood two waiters in white uniforms and bow ties. After verifying Gu Jinxiu¡¯s membership card, he politely invited her and her peer Pei Yan inside.

    After the two entered the door, they did not go far. They stood at the door and smiled at the Xia Yingluo outside the door.

    Pei Yan challenged her. ¡°Come in if you have the ability.¡±

    ¡°Humph, it¡¯s just going in, what¡¯s so great about it.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was about to walk in.

    But she was stopped by the waiter at the door. ¡°Sorry,dy, please show me your membership card.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er then realized why Pei Yan smiled so proudly, but she was not afraid and said to the waiter, ¡°We don¡¯t have a membership card, what should we do? We will do it now.¡±

    Wasn¡¯t it just money? Yingluo had a card in her hand and was rich now.

    Unexpectedly, the waiter said, ¡°Sorry, this card is open for new members to apply for a limited time. There is no open application channel now. You can leave your contact information and we will contact you when the new member application is opened.¡±

    So troublesome?

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face copsed.

    Pei Yan covered her mouth and smiled. ¡°Country bumpkin.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu also chuckled. Although she was dignified and temperamental, she still had a bit of temper. The scene of Wei Lingnan embracing Xia Yingluo at the engagement banquetst time still lingered in her mind. She also knew with her toes that the card Xia Yingluo had used was her fiancee¡¯s. If she didn¡¯t ruin Xia Yingluo¡¯s reputation today, she wouldn¡¯t be surnamed Gu. She was picking on her today? It was just a trivial thing.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was angry and helpless. She turned to look at Xia Yingluo.

    Did they have to leave just like this? She was not reconciled!

    Xia Yingluo naturally understood the mind of her friend. She also smiled like Gu Jinxiu and Pei Yan and said calmly to the waiter, ¡°I understand the rules, but I also remember there¡¯s one more rule. If anyone gives suggestions for improvements for your desserts, ore up with a new dessert recipe, they can also get the membership card, right?¡±

    The two waiters looked at each other. It was true that there was such a rule in the store, but because a form was too fussy, no one had tried it in recent years. No one in their branch had used a form to exchange for a membership card yet.

    ¡°There is such a rule,¡± said one of the waiters.

    Gu Jinxiu was surprised. What? Was there such a rule?

    How did Xia Yingluo know about something even she didn¡¯t know?

    She heard Xia Yingluough lightly. ¡°What a coincidence, I just happen to have a good recipe with me.¡±

    In fact, when she followed Gu Jinxiu to the top floor and saw them walk into this dessert shop, she was ted¡ªwasn¡¯t this shop opened by her dear mother? Her mother, Xia Ling, was so sweet that she believed that sweets were the best food in the world and wanted to share them with others, so she had selected several shops around the world to open dessert shops.

    The sweetness here was very high. It was a recipe specially developed by her father to pamper his wife. It was so delicious that she usually had to snatch it from her brothers when she was at home like several little leopards fighting over it.

    As for her mother?

    Who dared to snatch the one that Father had made for Mother?

    With a bit of nostalgia for her family, Xia Yingluo¡¯s smile softened. ¡°I will give you an exclusive recipe.¡± Among the siblings, her elder brother Li Shaohui wanted to inherit the family business, and the second brother Li Rui was determined to be a puppet. She was the only one who her father passed down his cooking skills to, especially the desserts he made.

    The waiter did not know this and said politely to her, ¡°Miss, you are weed to exchange your recipe for a card, but we have high requirements on the recipe. You must be mentally prepared.¡±

    After listening, Pei Yanughed. ¡°Oh, Xia Yingluo, what kind of shop did you think this was? A shop selling fried twisted doughnuts in your vige? Who gave you the face to dare toe here to sell your craftsmanship? If you have a recipe that wasparable to this shop¡¯s desserts, do you know how many Michelin restaurants in the world would be eager to hire you? Would you still have to depend on men for a living?¡±

    ¡°Why do you care what I rely on for a living?¡± Xia Yingluo said mockingly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said to the waiter, ¡°Let Yingluo try it.¡± In fact, her heart was thumping fiercely. This shop was quite high-end at first nce. Yingluo was just an ordinary girl, how could she possibly have a dessert recipe? But no matter what, she saw how calm Xia Yingluo was and knew she had to stand up for her good friend.

    The two waiters looked at each other again, and one of them said to them, ¡°Please follow me.¡±

    The two were led into the back kitchen.

    Pei Yan originally wanted to watch the show, but another waiter stopped her and said, ¡°The chef is very serious, please don¡¯t enter at will. Miss, please sit there for a while and have some dessert.¡±

    Pei Yan had to follow Gu Jinxiu in a trance.

    The two wanted to see Xia Yingluo embarrass herself, so they specially picked a seat where they could see the door. The music in the store was soft. Before long, their desserts were brought up, and the creamy ice cream in the crystal tray was dotted with chocte almonds and mango kes. It was colorful and made people excited to dig in.

    The two elegantly picked up the small silver spoons and enjoyed them bit by bit.

    Pei Yan was here for the first time and ate the first bite of ice cream. She was deeply shocked by the deliciousness. ¡°It is so delicious, Jinxiu. This dessert is the city¡¯s, no, the best in the world!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled, and calmly enjoyed her share. ¡°Wait and see, Xia Yingluo will be kicked out.¡±

 Chapter 1225 - Youâ€™re Dreaming, Avatar

    <h4>Chapter 1225: You¡¯re Dreaming, Avatar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    As soon as her words fell, the door of the back kitchen opened, and Xia Yingluo, Jin Ling¡¯er, and several staff members came out.

    Gu Jinxiu and Pei Yan turned their heads, wanting to watch Xia Yingluo embarrass herself.

    ¡°You¡¯ve embarrassed yourself, right? Country bumpkins,¡± Pei Yan said proudly to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Don¡¯t use the twisted doughnuts sold at your vige here, it¡¯s so shameful. Any of the chefs here have more skills than you with their fingers!¡±

    Unexpectedly, the people behind Xia Yingluo looked at Pei Yan awkwardly with strange expressions.

    Pei Yan was slightly stunned. A bad feeling rose in her heart.

    She saw one of the chefs say to Xia Yingluo very kindly, ¡°Ms. Xia, I thank you again for sending us such a precious recipe. This recipe isparable to the desserts in our shop. Since you refuse to ept money, then in addition to the membership card, I¡¯ll give you another privilege on behalf of the store¡ªno matter which branch you go to in the whole world, you and yourpanions will enjoy a lifetime free bill.¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly.

    It was already her family¡¯s business, so giving her a free bill was more or less the same thing for her. But seeing how Pei Yan and Gu Jinxiu looked like they had just seen ghosts, she felt extremely relieved.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and find a seat.¡± She took Jin Ling¡¯er and sat down by the window not far from Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°This... this is impossible!¡± Pei Yan was the first to lose her temper. She red at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Howe you have such a high-end dessert recipe? Where¡¯s the source?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled innocently and naively. ¡°If I say that I formted it when I was bored, would you believe it? I¡¯m unlike someone, who goes to casinos all day and take bed photos, and even snatch other people¡¯s boyfriends, so they have no skills. Haha.¡±

    Pei Yan gritted her teeth. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s cold fingers pressed gently on her hand, begging her to be a little calm.

    Now that both of them had obtained the membership card, it wouldn¡¯t help to scold them and might even make them satisfied. However, she was really curious about how Xia Yingluo knew how to make desserts, and world-ss desserts at that. This technique was not like what a girl from a poor vige should have.

    She asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°Ms. Xia, I couldn¡¯t tell that you had such a skill. Where did you learn it from?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said politely, ¡°Why should I tell you?¡±

    Her words left Gu Jinxiu speechless.

    Gu Jinxiu was a prestigiousdy and the people she hung out with always spoke euphemistically. Even an arrogant person like Pei Yan wouldn¡¯t be so arrogant in front of her, so she was really at a loss for a while.

    Pei Yan sneered. ¡°No manners.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also sneered. ¡°Your bed photo is still in my hand.¡±

    So Pei Yan didn¡¯t dare to say anything and stared angrily at her.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care. It wouldn¡¯t cost her anything to be red at. And as for manners? Haha, so sorry, but she was different from other prestigious families. Her family was mixed with both the dark and light at the same time and was as wonderful and exciting as walking on a de. If she still cared about etiquette and grace every day like an ordinarydy, she would have died many times.

    Her parents had said to her that the real upbringing was not about how to talk, how to eat and drink tea, but about what they did and how they behaved. In her opinion, her good friend Jin Ling¡¯er was more well-mannered than Pei Yan and Gu Jinxiubined.

    The two sides found each other unpleasant and didn¡¯t speak. They ignored each other.

    Not long after, Xia Yingluo¡¯s dessert was served. It was on a red crystal gradient te, filled with soft cakes made of cream and chocte, poured with an unknown sauce, and made into a beautiful shape. Just looking at it made people happy.

    ¡°It looks great, Yingluo. Is this your recipe?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes glowed.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Try it.¡± The thousand mountain of snowfall was an inspiration she identally got from a dance some time ago. She was suffering from the humble dormitory of the training camp and had no materials to make it, but today, she could try it out for herself.

    Jin Ling¡¯er dug a piece with a small spoon. The fluffy cream melted at the entrance and mixed with the richyering of the cake, it made her squint her eyes in enjoyment. ¡°It¡¯s so delicious... Yingluo, let¡¯se often and eat it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Okay.¡± She also tasted it. It was indeed very good.

    After a while, the chef came with two assistants and asked them how it tasted.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Very good. Theyers change delicately and richly and are smooth and thick without losing its sweetness. It¡¯s like walking in a ck forest in winter, with the breath of arch tree, soil, and ake. You have quite a good grasp of the heat. It would be more perfect if you increase the richness of the chocte just a little bit.¡±

    The head chef looked at her with respect. ¡°Ms. Xia is really an expert. We felt the same way after we tried it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled lightly. ¡°But remember not to make it too bitter.¡± Her mother did not like things that were too bitter.

    The chef took down notes and thanked her again for giving them such a wonderful recipe. He also gave them a specially prepared summer ice drink. He then bowed and turned to walk away and let them enjoy the desserts.

    At the other table, Gu Jinxiu saw all this and frowned slightly. Even though she had been to this store many times, she had never enjoyed such a high level of hospitality. Her mood was horrible now after seeing the thorn in her eyes being treated so well. She had no more appetite, and was about to tell Pei Yan to leave when suddenly, she heard Jin Ling¡¯er ask¡ª

    ¡°Yingluo, why didn¡¯t you go back to the dormst night? I called and nobody answered.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not returnst night?

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s alertness was triggered. This little trainee, where could she have gone?

    Suppressing the urge to get up and leave, she was attracted to the conversation over there and listened intently.

    Xia Yingluo dug into the cake with a small spoon, and the rich sweetness made her thoughts a little hazy. She thought about what had happenedst night and felt like she could hardly discern which words of Wei Lingnan¡¯s were true and which were false. ¡°I was at Shanglin¡¯s Nanyuan,¡± she told Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Wei Lingnan mixed a kind of wine for me, and I suspect it has... hallucinogenic effects.¡±

    ¡°Ah? Hallucinogenic effects?!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was startled.

    ¡°How do I say it...¡± Xia Yingluo was a little bit distressed. Her beautiful lips gently bit onto the little spoon. ¡°I had a dream of a ce I have never been to, but it felt familiar there.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er asked, ¡°Where?¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly. ¡°It¡¯s not a real ce, it¡¯s probably... Avatar.¡± She really didn¡¯t know how to exin the matter of Skatana with Jin Ling¡¯er, and instinctively, she didn¡¯t seem to want to reveal too much to anyone. That was like a secret existence, and it only had to exist in the world of her and Wei Lingnan.

 Chapter 1226 - Biased Wei Lingnan

    <h4>Chapter 1226: Biased Wei Lingnan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Subconsciously, she didn¡¯t want to leave too many traces of that in this world.

    She didn¡¯t even understand why herself.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her in confusion. She reached out and probed her forehead before saying, ¡°Yingluo, are you sick? What avatar, don¡¯t tell me you became an avatar in your dream?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. ¡°Thus the hallucinating. Tell me, do you think Wei Lingnan takes drugs? I look at him sometimes and think he does.¡± Otherwise, how could he have so much nonsense in him?

    Jin Ling¡¯er became nervous. ¡°It¡¯s really hard for you to say this. I heard that many rich people take drugs. Maybe he¡¯s really a drug addict? Marijuana, heroin, cocaine, there are all sorts of drugs... Oh my gosh, Yingluo, nothing can happen to you. How about you go to the hospital for a drug test?¡±

    Xia Yingluo reassured her. ¡°It¡¯s not those.¡±

    Although her family did not touch the drug business, many of the families she knew dealt with drugs. Since young, her father Li Lei had taught her and her two brothers to identify all kinds of drugs in case someone were to try to harm them in the future.

    Xia Yingluo was sure, even if Wei Lingnan used hallucinogens, it wasn¡¯t a regr type.

    Otherwise, she won¡¯t be ignorant.

    Was it really useful to go to the hospital? She wasn¡¯t sure, but she nodded to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°I¡¯ll go to the hospital in the afternoon.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said eagerly, ¡°What are you waiting for? Don¡¯t eat the cake anymore, we¡¯ll go now!¡±

    She got up.

    Xia Yingluo smiled helplessly and had no choice but to follow her.

    The two walked out of the dessert shop one after the other and didn¡¯t notice that Pei Yan and Gu Jinxiu at the next table had strange expressions.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo takes drugs?¡± After a brief moment of shock, Pei Yan first responded and said to Gu Jinxiu, ¡°You have information against her now, Jinxiu. We can send someone to follow her and take the results of her drug test to the training camp. Then we¡¯ll let the training camp expel her!¡±

    Gu Jinxiu said nothing.

    She was thinking about another thing¡ªWei Lingnan takes drugs?

    In any case, she didn¡¯t believe it. Although she didn¡¯t dare to say that she knew the man a hundred percent, she also knew how calm he was and how much self-control he had. How could such a person do drugs? But he had such a cutting-edge biopharmaceuticalpany, could he have developed any new drugs? Taken it himself as an experiment?

    She was restless and said to Pei Yan, ¡°I¡¯m tired, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Pei Yan was a little disappointed. ¡°I originally wanted to ask you toe along and understand what happened to Xia Yingluo.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu reluctantly gave a smile. ¡°Go ahead and tell me the results.¡± She also wanted to figure out what was going on with Xia Yingluo. But the most important thing was¡ªwhat happened between her and Wei Lingnan?

    Why did Wei Lingnan give her hallucinogens?

    Gu Jinxiu picked up her limited editionmbskin bag and walked out of the dessert shop.

    A luxury car and the Gu driver waited at the mall door.

    ¡°Miss, where are you going?¡± he asked after Gu Jinxiu got into the car.

    ¡°The Wei Corporation,¡± Gu Jinxiu said.

    Over the years, Gu Jinxiu went to Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Company to find Wei Lingnan almost every month. The driver was already familiar with the road, and as soon as he stepped on the elerator, he went to Wei Corporation. The scenery regressed along the way, gradually changing from the bustling city center to the suburban industrial junction. The car stopped in front of a semi-old building, with a que in front of the building written with the words: Wei Corporation Biopharmaceutical.

    The driver didn¡¯t understand. Why did thedy fall for a person in charge of a second-ss enterprise that was far from being significant?

    Gu Jinxiu got off the car gracefully and entered the building.

    The decoration in the building looked better than its appearance, but it was still unusual. She pressed the elevator and went all the way to the chairman¡¯s office on the top floor. The secretary at the entrance of the office recognized her and quickly connected her to Wei Lingnan¡¯s special line.

    After a few minutes, the door opened.

    She walked in and saw Wei Lingnan waiting for her on the sofa in the office.

    The summer sky sprinkled in through the gridded windows and fell on him, making him look beautiful. His slender figure with his legs ovepped randomly made him look like some sort of dangerous beast.

    ¡°You¡¯re here,¡± he said as he looked at Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu smiled. ¡°I was shopping and found a tie clip that suited you, so I came to drop it by.¡± She scanned the office and found that it hadn¡¯t changed much since thest time she was here. Even the purple teapot on the table didn¡¯t change the angle.

    Sometimes she wondered, <i>Does Wei Lingnan usually not work here?</i>

    Apart from being clean and dust-free, it didn¡¯t have any traces of activity.

    And it seemed Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t mind her discovering and doubting this.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her and said, ¡°Tie clips? You¡¯re thoughtful.¡±

    He was always so indifferent to her, so polite as if she was an outsider. Gu Jinxiu unexpectedly remembered how he had held Xia Yingluo in his arms that day. Wei Lingnan was different at that time. At that time, he was... emotional.

    A sour feeling arose in her heart, and the astringent feeling made her feel a sense of crisis.

    She smiled reluctantly and took out the tie clip that she had carefully selected for him in the morning. ¡°See if it suits you.¡±

    ¡°Everything you buy suits.¡± He didn¡¯t try it, didn¡¯t even look at it. He just put it aside.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart was sour. For many years, this man had been so indifferent to her, but who told her to like him and need him? She had ignored so many of her wealthy suitors and hade to him with tenderness, only to be treated so indifferently. Before, when Xia Yingluo had not appeared, she had thought that he was born cold and it hadn¡¯t mattered much.

    But now there was Xia Yingluo.

    His attitude towards Xia Yingluo turned out to bepletely different from how he treated her.

    This recognition made Gu Jinxiu startled.

    She hesitated, and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°I met Xia Yingluo today.¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t speak, just looked at her.

    Gu Jinxiu was numb under his intense nce. She took a breath secretly and gathered up courage before saying, ¡°We fancied a dress. It wasn¡¯t her size, but was still snatched by her.¡± She gave a wronged expression.

    Wei Lingnan actually smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just a small matter, why are you fussing over it with a little girl?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s breath was stuck in her heart and couldn¡¯t get out. On the way, she thought that Wei Lingnan might be partial, but she did not expect his heart to be so biased. Who was the fiancee between the two of them?

    But she dared not question him, not even showing a little unhappy expression.

    Because she couldn¡¯t imagine what it would be like to lose him. She couldn¡¯t afford to lose him.

 Chapter 1227 - Planetary Will

    Chapter 1227:ary Will

    After testing the waters, she said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Xia Yingluo said that she had a dreamst night and suspected that she had been given a hallucinogen.¡± She was very clear with whom Xia Yingluo had been withst night. In order to corrupt Xia Yingluo¡¯s image in Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart, she must let Wei Lingnan know that Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t like him, and even suspected and guarded herself against him.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°She dreamt?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Gu Jinxiu said carefully. ¡°She said she dreamt of some avatar and said she was going to the hospital for a drug test.¡±

    Avatar?

    Wei Lingnan frowned. How could it be?

    In his n, his little girl should recall her previous life, the Skatana. The deste Skatana was sopletely different from the beautiful and delicate Avatar in human movies.

    What went wrong?

    ¡°What else did she say?¡± he asked Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu said, ¡°Nothing else. She should have gone to the hospital for a drug test now. She seemed to dislike people giving her drugs and even told her friend that that man was despicable and shameless.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at her, a cold light shed in his eyes.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart jumped and she shut her mouth unconsciously.

    ¡°You go back first,¡± Wei Lingnan said to her. ¡°I still have something on tonight, let Xiao Zhang send you home.¡±

    Xiao Zhang was his assistant.

    Gu Jinxiu bit her lip gently, feeling a little unsatisfied. ¡°Lingnan, we haven¡¯t had dinner together for a long time...¡±

    ¡°Go back.¡± His voice didn¡¯t fluctuate.

    She was so scared that she didn¡¯t dare to make a second attempt and left quickly.

    Wei Lingnan was left alone in therge office. He pondered for a long time before getting up and going out.

    Xia Yingluo had returned from the hospital. All the indicators were normal and nothing happened. But she didn¡¯t think it was right. If it wasn¡¯t for hallucinations, was what happenedst night real? She really dreamed of that Skatana star under his guidance, and felt as though that ce really existed in her dreams?

    Could she be crazy like him...

    She restlessly returned to the training camp and had no appetite for dinner at night. She went alone to a grove on the campus and sat under a big tree in a daze. It was getting dark, and the stars lit up a little. Xia Yingluo looked up at the starry sky, and her eyes unknowingly stayed on the hole that was once the legendary Skatana.

    The mysterious void was like a whirlpool that sucked people in.

    She looked for a long time, turning over some memories of her dream. She saw the barren crackednd, and there was some light in the mysterious deep purple cracks. She was attracted by the light and wanted to go further, but she couldn¡¯t remember the scene in her dream. Her head was aching, and she supported her temples with her hands, trying to curb the ufortable feeling.

    Beside her came a breeze.

    The keen alertness long trained by her father and brother made her immediately turn her head. She saw a personing out of the dark woods. The starlight shed on him, reflecting the sparklingke water, making him look he had on ayer of purple mystery. His slender body was elegant and poised like a beast crouching out of an abyss.

    She was a little nervous.

    He came to her and looked down at her sitting under the tree.

    Xia Yingluo settled himself, and then asked, ¡°Wei Lingnan, why are you here?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice seemed toe from a distant time and space. ¡°Did you dreamst night?¡±

    She froze slightly. She didn¡¯t expect her to ask her this straight away and was a little upset. ¡°I already told you it¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    ¡°But you went to the hospital for a drug test.¡± Wei Lingnan pointed out the fact relentlessly. ¡°What did you dream of?¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned. ¡°It has nothing to do with you.¡± She didn¡¯t like Wei Lingnan speaking to her with such an attitude, as if he was spying on her life and breaking into her hidden world. She stood up and turned to leave.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her, and before she could respond, he pressed her against the trunk behind her and kissed her.

    Xia Yingluo was caught off guard. When she came to her senses, she felt his cold lips touching her, and the tip of his tongue prying open her mouth, invading it like a storm. She was anxious and reached out and pushed him hard. Although she was strong and outstanding in front of the girls, she was as weak as a sick and weak woman in front of him.

    He twisted her hands behind her easily, doing whatever he wanted as if he wanted to eat her whole.

    Xia Yingluo struggled like crazy. She bit him and he bit back even more fiercely. The bloody smell permeated between the lips and teeth of the two, and she couldn¡¯t tell who it belonged to.

    A long time passed.

    He released her briefly, raised her chin and said in a soft and dangerous voice, ¡°What the hell did you dream of?¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± She red at him.

    He sneered and didn¡¯t spew nonsense anymore. He tore up her thin summer shirt with the raise of a hand. Under the stars, her delicate skin exuded a touching luster. She eximed again, covering her chest instinctively with both hands, but he didn¡¯t care at all. He turned her over directly and took possession from behind.

    She was in so much pain she was speechless, but she was imprisoned between his body and the trunk. She cked out for a while as if the stars were leaving her. Her brain was nk and only raging emotions swept through¡ªanger, fear, helplessness... She felt his teeth biting her ears, and he said in her ear, ¡°Ah Luo, I don¡¯t care what you dream of. I don¡¯t care at all. As long as your body remembers me... it will always remember me.¡±

    She grasped the rough tree bark weakly, in so much pain she felt she was going to die.

    In her daze, fragments of images shed across her eyes and she couldn¡¯t tell whether it was real or illusive¡ªa purple barren, an endless mist, and two half-human, half-beast monsters tumbling in the mist, as if in a life or death battle, or like they were... mating. One bit the other and removed a big chunk of meat. Blood burst like rain.

    Xia Yingluo passed out.

    Wei Lingnan stopped and stood just like that, holding her unconscious in his arms.

    Her body was covered with bruises, some left by him, and some injuries caused by rubbing against the old trunk. His teeth marks were on her lips, as well as fine bloodstains. The stains were a ghastly sight.

    He raised his hand and stroked her lips gently.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Ah Luo,¡± he murmured. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to be so anxious, but we don¡¯t have much time left for us.¡± This was Earth, not their hometown. Each had its ownary will, which was a huge and ancient consciousness that it had to defend its territory and prevent aliens from invading.

    He and Ah Luo were both invaders on Earth and would be obliterated by the will of the if they were not careful.

 Chapter 1228 - The Last Material

    Chapter 1228: The Last Material

    He was very strong. He was a warrior of the highest ss of the Skatana race in the universe. Although he was attacked when hended on Earth hundreds of years ago, when the will of Earth had found that he would be able to drag the entire Earth together and bury it with him, it could onlypromise reluctantly. Since then, he had been Earth¡¯s Guardian and the main target of surveince by the hidden Xia family. As long as he was on the Earth in peace and didn¡¯t do anything out of line, then Earth would tolerate him.

    But now it wouldn¡¯t work anymore.

    He had revived Ah Luo.

    He had even borrowed the family n that the protected and used the nirvana Phoenix physique to resurrect his Ah Luo.

    He was male and Ah Luo was female. Together, they could thrive and disturb the species on Earth. Each had its own specific species evolutionw, and it was a perfect and exquisite system. Once invaded by alien species, unpredictable things would happen, especially the powerful genes of the Skatana tribe. It might even exterminate the species on Earth.

    Earth would not allow them to do that.

    When Ah Luo experienced intermittent pain, she was attacked by the will of the. The refused to let her awaken the alien genes in her body. Otherwise, she would be wiped out. She was still very young, only in her teens, but once the was willing to act against her, she would be unable to resist. He had to wake her up as fast as he could and make her strong.

    He hurriedly gave her the Skatana energy from his body.

    And entangling their bodies together was the best way to exchange energy.

    Wei Lingnan carried her and his figure disappeared into the dark just as quickly as it hade.

    Back at the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical building on the outskirts of the city, he walked in through the hidden side door. In the dimly lit corridor on the first floor, there was no one. He carried her into an ordinary van and pressed a red button with a fingerprint lock. The elevator went down silently. After about ten minutes and a few hundred meters underground, the elevator finally stopped.

    This was the real Wei Family biopharmaceutical base.

    The old building on the ground was just a front. The most important information of the Wei Corporate¡¯s was in this magnificent and underground city¡ªoutside the elevator exit was arge square of silver-gray metal texture. The square was suspended in the middle of a quiet void. Looking up, there was an artificial sky so high the top couldn¡¯t be seen, and the starry sky shone brightly; looking down, it was an abyss so dark the end couldn¡¯t be seen. Dozens of metal channels extended radially outward from the edge of the square, some upwards and some downwards, linking with other uncountable overhanging channels like tentacles and forming an intricatework of roads.

    On the side of the aisle, operating tforms andboratories with translucent spheres glistened in the dark night like stars. But upon closer inspection, in fact, there were no stars in the artificial sky above. They were mistaken as stars, but they were actually all experimental spaces. Many researchers in white coats were busy inside, and sometimes a team of security personnel escorted various items to them.

    No words could be found to describe its beauty.

    This was the Wei Corporation¡¯s true biopharmaceutical base.

    Wei Lingnan carried Xia Yingluo up a passage and said to the void, ¡°Laboratory SSS000.¡± Under his feet, the silver-gray metal conveyor belt ran automatically and bridged with several other transmission passages in the vast void space. They were soon sent to a mysterious darkness. The magnificent ¡°starry sky¡± was gradually obscured by the dark fog and turned into a distant background. Laboratory SSS000 was located in the deepest part of the entire underground city, where it was the only ¡°star¡± that hung in the darkness.

    It was dark purple and faintly shed like it was breathing.

    He carried her in.

    There was an old man in a white coat in theboratory. He wasn¡¯t surprised to see him. ¡°Sir, you¡¯re back.¡± The old man was an outstanding scientific researcher who hade to this underground city since he was a boy. He was crazy about the unknown, and this obsession made him dedicate his life to the Wei Corporation. He was one of the few people who knew the secrets of Wei Lingnan. From the first time he saw Wei Lingnan in his childhood to the old man in his seventies now, the man known as Wei Lingnan had not aged and did not even have a single silver hair.

    The old man knew very well that Wei Lingnan was probably not human.

    But so what? The unknown world was the most fascinating. As long as he could do research, he didn¡¯t care for the reason behind it.

    Wei Lingnan gently put Xia Yingluo on the metal bed in the center of the room, like he was taking care of a rare treasure. ¡°I brought her back,¡± he said, ¡°give her a full body checkup.¡±

    The old man assented and didn¡¯t ask who Xia Yingluo was.

    In fact, he knew exactly what Wei Lingnan¡¯s experiments were doing over the years¡ªafter all, he was one of the top core yers. Now, the girl in the resurrection n had appeared.

    He skillfully manipted a virtual light screen suspended in mid-air and issued a series of instructions. Soon, a huge ss cover fell from the ceiling, covering Xia Yingluo and the entire metal bed. Then, a fluorescent blue liquid was poured into it. It gradually surrounded and drowned Xia Yingluo.

    In the tranquil water ripples, her disheveled hair was alight and she was as beautiful as a sleeping princess.

    Wei Lingnan stood outside the ss cover and looked at her quietly.

    The virtual screen in front of the old man flickered for a while, and the data report was analyzed. ¡°Signs of test subject S98573 are reported as follows: heart rate¡ªnormal; brain waves¡ªnormal; gic makeup¡ªnormal... All values are within the normal human range, no mutation found. Analysis of future mutation possibility: 0.3174%.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he looked up at Wei Lingnan.

    The value of this experimental body was incredibly low. It was the closest to normal humans among all their experimental bodies. This was not a good sign, it meant that the ¡°Skatana female¡± that Mr. Wei wanted had still failed to appear.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°She is not a test subject.¡±

    The old man was stunned. In the beginning, the test materials had been numbered by Wei Lingnan personally and sent out as a solution.

    That was thest test material they had.

    ¡°She¡¯s not.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was very low, and he sounded a little tired. ¡°She¡¯s her.¡±

    Maybe no one in the world understood Wei Lingnan¡¯s meaning, but only the old man understood it. Because she was created with thest test material, Mr. Wei couldn¡¯t afford to fail.

    That was hisst hope.

    The old man looked at Xia Yingluo in the translucent blue liquid and thought, since she wasn¡¯t a test subject, then she could only be the person he had been waiting for so many years for?

 Chapter 1229 - Test

    <h4>Chapter 1229: Test</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    How sad.

    The old man lowered his eyes and stopped talking.

    Wei Lingnan lit a cigarette. He was smoking in theboratory for the first time. He slowly breathed out a cigarette ring, and asked the old man, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking? Do you think I¡¯ll fail again?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t dare to,¡± said the old man carefully. ¡°You will seed.¡±

    Mr. Wei was a very generous employer who took very good care of the old man¡¯s wives and children. In fact, every employee working here and their families all had a good life, far better than anyone outside. Mr. Wei was only sensitive and moody towards experimental issues. Those who had offended him disappeared silently and no one saw them again.

    Wei Lingnan looked at Xia Yingluo for a long time across the ss cover.

    ¡°She dreamt,¡± he said to the old man.

    The old man was stunned. ¡°What did she dream of?¡± All the subjects rarely dreamed, but even if they had dreams, they never found anything special. He didn¡¯t know why Wei Lingnan specifically raised this issue.

    What did she dream of?

    Wei Lingnan shook his head, looking at the girl in the fluorescent blue liquid with a gloomy nce. ¡°It¡¯s always good to be able to dream.¡± Although all she dreamed of were insignificant things, maybe this was the first step to remembering the past? At least the passage of dreams was opened, and it was okay even if it was about the avatar.

    The old man looked at him and sighed in his heart.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know how long she was asleep. When she woke up, she found there was silence around her. She was wrapped in a gentle fluorescent blue liquid, and the water wave swayed slightly, making her a little bit stunned.

    Where was this?

    What happened to her?

    She swam in the turquoise blue liquid and reached the edge of the huge ss ball, and then she gradually saw the scene outside¡ªthe emptyboratory was full of equipment that she couldn¡¯t understand. A man stood silently beside the ss and was staring at her through the blue liquid. Wei Lingnan.

    Her eyes met his and she was suddenly angry, it must be him... it must be him!

    It was he who captured her here, using some unknown method to turn her into this state. What was he going to do?! Xia Yingluo reached out and patted the ss ball¡¯s transparent wall vigorously. She opened her mouth and asked him to let her out, but she couldn¡¯t make a sound.

    The man outside the giant ss globe looked at her.

    She was getting tired of calling and patting the ss. She stared at him even more angrily.

    Wei Lingnan smoked outside, one cigarette after another.

    After a long time, he walked to the edge of the ss ball, and his long fingers seemed to wave randomly in the void. The fluorescent blue liquid level in the ss ball gradually subsided and finally disappearedpletely. Then, the ss ball disappeared, and she stood directly in front of him without hindrance. She was disheveled, her body and hair were dripping wet with water and only her pair of eyes was bright and burning with mes, anxious to swallow him alive.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?!¡± she asked him, ¡°Where is this? Let me go!¡±

    Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t angry at her attitude. ¡°This is the Wei Family biopharmaceutical base.¡±

    ¡°What did you bring me here for?¡± Could it be that she was going to be chopped up and turned into medicine?

    In the empty room, Wei Lingnan smiled a little, his smile a little indifferent. ¡°I want you.¡±

    She didn¡¯t understand what he meant.

    He had already stepped forward, and with a strong arm, he easily took her in. He bowed his head and gave her a possessive kiss.

    His long kiss caused her to be unable to kiss, and she pushed against him instinctively but failed to. She felt his heavy body press against her, pressing her down onto the iron bed in the middle of theboratory. Her originally disheveled shirt waspletely torn off and he invaded her again unscrupulously...

    She opened her eyes wide and couldn¡¯t believe it. Was this person a beast?

    Why, why, she had to experience such an attack once again when she had just fainted and woken up from it?

    She struggled desperately, using all her strength to fight, kick and bite him, but to no avail. Xia Yingluo realized in horror that there were still people in the world who could suppress her so thoroughly. With her skills, even the world¡¯s top special forces and killers would have to spend some effort to subdue her. But what about the man in front of her? He was overwhelmingly sessful.

    She was confused and frightened and felt as if his shoulder was being torn by her. Fresh blood flowed out and then healed at an incredible speed...

    It was not so much an entanglement as it was a war.

    Neither of them let go. They were so desperate and tried their best.

    When the vition ended, Wei Lingnan released her.

    She curled her body up, and it was covered with dappled marks. Before she could catch her breath, she saw Wei Lingnan take a few steps back. He waved his hands in the void and the ss cover was covered again.

    Xia Yingluo was startled. She struggled to stand up, but once her bare feet touched the ground, she felt the glowing blue liquid flow, and soon it drowned her body. She floated weakly in that liquid and red weakly at Wei Lingnan across the swaying light and shadow of the waves.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t even look at her. A screen of light emerged from the void, showing all the strange data. His expression gradually changed from concentration to disappointment¡ªthe old man was right, Xia Yingluo¡¯s data was much lower than any previous test. It was almost close to a normal human. Even after doing so many energy exchanges with her, there was still almost no growth and was still far behind the previous experimental bodies that had yet to undergo energy exchanges.

    No, he would not give up.

    She was made from thest test material, and he couldn¡¯t imagine what he would do if he lost her.

    He imprisoned her in the ss cover and turned to leave.

    Xia Yingluo looked at his back, and she was about to explode in anger. Who was this man to do whatever he wanted with her? She never wanted to kill anyone in her life before, but now she really wanted to kill him!

    The bluish liquid had disappeared, and the ss cover was clean.

    There was no silk thread on her body, and her dress had already been torn by him and couldn¡¯t be worn. So shey on the iron bed in the ss cover, hugging herself tightly. She told herself, <i>Yingluo, don¡¯t worry, there must be a way. You must find a way out of here and then... you¡¯ll let him pay for what he did today!</i>

    She was imprisoned by him.

    He brought her meals every day, taking care of her three meals. But he possessed her thoroughly andpletely every day, regardless of her resistance, remaining unmoving even under all her curses.

    The fluorescent blue liquid, ss cover, mysterious light screen and him...

    These were all that made up her nights.

 Chapter 1230 - I Know Who You Are

    <h4>Chapter 1230: I Know Who You Are</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She refused to speak to Wei Lingnan again.

    No conversations existed. No matter what he said to her or how he forced her to speak, she just sneered and said nothing. What could they say to each other? He wasn¡¯t going to let her go anyway, or give her even one night of mercy. Every time he came, he only did two things,pletely suppress and vite her, then read the strange data on the virtual screen. His interrogation of her dreams also ceased¡ªsince she wouldn¡¯t answer, he would no longer waste time.

    Xia Yingluo was considering how to escape.

    She had been imprisoned here for about a dozen days, a conclusion based on how often he delivered meals every day. The training camp should have already realized she was missing and would have probably sent people to find her. Jin Ling¡¯er was probably going crazy with worry...

    ording tomon sense, they would have contacted her family.

    But the family on her enrollment information was fake.

    If the camp actually looked for the address she filled in, who knew what they would find? Was there really a poor couple called her ¡°parents¡± in that remote poor ravine? Or was it empty?

    She didn¡¯t know.

    Even if she really had her ¡°parents¡±, were they just aboriginal people who had no knowledge of everything, or actors sent by the Li Family? What was the probability that her disappearance was passed on to her father Li Lei and her mother Xia Ling?

    When she first met Wei Lingnan in the gambling city, she had opened a room with him on her own. If she knew what would happenter, she would rather show her identity at that time. Even if she were to fail the trials, it was better than being trapped here, perhaps even better than betting her own life on it! Who knew what the crazy Wei Lingnan wanted to do?

    The pain happened several times, more severe than ever, making her worse off.

    Wei Lingnan gave her medicine more often, but it was like a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.

    Once again, after he broke into the ss cover that imprisoned her and invaded her with blood, she curled up in pain and cold sweat, and couldn¡¯t help but speak to him. ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡±

    Wei Lingnan paused to get dressed. He turned around and looked down at her. ¡°I thought you would never speak to me.¡±

    She ignored the subtle taunting in his tone and weakly told him. ¡°I¡¯m not an ordinary trainee from a poor mountain area... I, I¡¯m a Li family member, my father is Li Lei.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Li Lei.¡± Wei Lingnan was not surprised.

    Xia Yingluo looked up at him difficulty, and cold sweat fell along her eyshes into her eyes. She took a few breaths before regaining her strength. ¡°Don¡¯t you know Li Lei... You can go and check it, he, he¡¯s not someone you can provoke. Let me go, I can forget everything. If, if you do this again... when my father finds you...¡±

    ¡°Why, will he kill me and destroy my base?¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s smile was even more ironic. ¡°Ah Luo, I didn¡¯t expect you to threaten me with Li Lei. Is it because your IQ is now low to the level of stupid humans, or that you look down on me? Why don¡¯t you tell me directly that your mother is Xia Ling from the hermit Xia family? You must know that your uncle Xia Moyan is much more threatening to me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes widened in terror.

    It turned out... from the beginning, he knew who she was!

    He wasn¡¯t treating her so carelessly because he thought she was an ordinary person, he was so unbridled even after knowing her noble identity! Listening to what he said, he didn¡¯t care about her father at all, and even her uncle might not pose as much of a threat to him! He... who was he?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Seeing her terror, Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Your man is the strongest. No one in this world can take you away from me. Even your father, brother, and the Xia family, none of them can.¡±

    ¡°No... it¡¯s impossible!¡± Xia Yingluo was shocked and agitated. She coughed weakly. ¡°This, no one in this world is more powerful than my uncle!¡±

    ¡°I think I should correct you, Ah Luo.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°It should be, no one on this Earth is more powerful than your uncle. But I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not an Earth person. I¡¯ve told you long ago. I¡¯m from the Skatana. Why don¡¯t you believe it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was silent. Skatana? She had always thought it was just nonsense!

    Could there really be aliens in this world?

    But why hadn¡¯t she heard it from her uncle before?

    If Wei Lingnan was not an alien, then how was she going to exin all these? No matter how deranged a person was, they couldn¡¯t possibly contempt the authority of the Xia family. To dare to offend her even after knowing the existence of the Xia family, that was... looking for death!

    ¡°The Guardian of the is strong,¡± Wei Lingnan said lightly. ¡± But I am stronger.¡±

    Xia Yingluo flinched slightly and found that her situation was far more difficult than expected.

    Originally in her n, as long as she told him her true identity, he would be afraid of it and would back down even if he didn¡¯t let her go immediately. But his reaction was beyond her expectation. If he wasn¡¯t even in awe of the Xia family, what else could scare him in this world?

    How could she escape?

    ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked Wei Lingnan tiredly. ¡°Even if you are really an alien, what does it have to do with me? You want to hold me and threaten my uncle to find a spaceship for you? Did yound here after your spaceship had an ident? Or do you want to rule Earth? Even if you want to find that little girl, it¡¯s not me. The first time you met me was in the casino, and it was a coincidence. You know that very well.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°No, that was no ident.¡±

    She raised her eyes and looked at him in confusion.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s figure was stretched a little under the pale light of theboratory. It was slightly twisted as if it was going to be dissolved in the air. The strange light and shadow reminded her of the night at the casino, where he had sat in dim light, like some kind of mysterious beast dormant in the middle of the night.

    ¡°I have been waiting for you for a long time, Ah Luo. I have been waiting for you since you were born.¡± Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I know you are my Ah Luo, but although I am not afraid of your father and brother, it¡¯s still a troublesome thing to be involved with them. And you were too young, so I didn¡¯t look for you. Until you left home to experience your trial. From the first day you left home, I was watching you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a shiver run down her spine.

    Wei Lingnan went on to say, ¡°I watched you and Zhao Yixuan meet, watched as you joyfully looked forward to being with him.¡± So he had made a little trick and let that selfish man have something to do with Pei Yan. He didn¡¯t even need to do anything himself, Ah Luo was naturally abandoned and finally saw the man¡¯s true face.

 Chapter 1231 - Out of the Lab

    <h4>Chapter 1231: Out of the Lab</h4>

    That day, he had made a special trip to the casino to find her.

    Originally, he had only been worried something would happen to her. However, seeing how she had been heartbroken for another man, he couldn¡¯t help but want to possess her entirely and tell her that he was the one who really deserved her. She was only sixteen years old and she was still very weak, so it was dangerous to meet with someone of alien blood, but Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t wait that long. He didn¡¯t want to wait a few more years to possess her. The jealousy and longing in him would drive him crazy.

    He loved her.

    It was needless to say.

    Xia Yingluo only felt frightened. What was even more terrible than identally being stared at by a lunatic, was being deliberately focused on by a lunatic. She didn¡¯t want to be with him, not for a minute or a second more. His touch only made her feel humiliated. She forced herself to calm down, and her thoughts turned quickly. She tried to negotiate with him. ¡°Wei Lingnan, if you really love me, don¡¯t do this to me. You don¡¯t want me to hate you more and more, right? How about a deal? If you stop forcing me onto the bed... to do that kind of thing, I¡¯ll tell you what I dreamt of, okay? Didn¡¯t you always wanted to know what I dreamt about?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s pair of smooth eyes did not change, but the air seemed to freeze.

    After a while, he said softly, ¡°So you really dreamt?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said with courage. ¡°I didn¡¯t dream about what Avatar, I dreamt of Skatana. Don¡¯t do overboard things with me if you want to know the details. Then, I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her. ¡°Ah Luo, you¡¯re wrong. From beginning to the end, you weren¡¯t in your dream, it was you¡ªthe dream is only incidental. Don¡¯t put the cart before the horse.¡±

    She choked, feeling slight suffocation in her chest.

    Suddenly, Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t hurt to listen. How about a night¡¯s rest in exchange for a dream?¡±

    ¡°Two nights.¡±

    ¡°Two dreams for three nights. If you agree, you agree. I don¡¯t care if you don¡¯t,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth. ¡°... Deal.¡± She knew that she had fallen into enemy hands and wasn¡¯t qualified to talk to him about conditions. Two dreams in three nights might have been the best exchange.

    Wei Lingnanughed again. ¡°Good girl. Then,e and tell me what you dreamt of?¡±

    ¡°The first time, it was a mysterious purple with a cracked ground.¡± Xia Yingluo rationalized her thoughts and said, ¡°It was in Shanglin Nanyuan that I dreamt after drinking your cocktail. I guess I was affected by your story.¡±

    ¡°Is there nothing else in the dream?¡±

    ¡°There were white flowers and monsters, the things you mentioned.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was a little disappointed. He wasn¡¯t sure if she had dreamt of her memories, or if she had just been bewitched by his story. Quietly, he asked her, ¡°Have you ever dreamt of other things?¡±

    ¡°In the grove of the training camp, when I passed out, I dreamed of two monsters in the dense fog, or maybe they were the Skatana n, and they were fighting.¡± She didn¡¯t want to tell him that the two monsters might be mating since she wasn¡¯t sure.

    His eyes lightened slightly. ¡°You dreamt of them fighting?¡±

    Neither in his story nor the fresco in the Shanglin Nanyuan vi was mentioned that the Skatana family would fight and kill each other. If she dreamt of it, did it mean that her memory was being restored step by step? Unfortunately, the next few dreams disappointed him. They were all fog and purple cracks, nothing special.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mouth was dry.

    He kept asking, ¡°Did you dream of other things?¡±

    She said, ¡°One more, I dreamt I was trying to go down into the deep purple crack.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression was tense. ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought about it. ¡°Nothing special, there was a kind of... red flower?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s tight look slowly dissipated, and it was reced by squinting eyes and a threatening voice. ¡°Ah Luo, I allowed you to exchange nights with dreams, but if you lie to me, you will suffer and be punished.¡±

    She was surprised. ¡°How did you know that I lied to you?¡± She had made up the little red flower. She just wanted to invent more stories and win more peaceful nights for herself.

    ¡°There¡¯s no such flower in the Skatana,¡± Wei Lingnan said briefly.

    So, he was judging based on whether there was such a thing on the Skatana? Xia Yingluo only felt it was ridiculous and frightening. Did that mean the really existed? What alien... she was actually gradually starting to believe it.

    Looking at him with inexplicably, the man in front clearly looked no different from humans on Earth?

    What kind of mythomania was this... or perhaps, her brainwaves were being controlled?

    Xia Yingluo was confused.

    As if seeing through her confusion, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t believe it, I¡¯ll make you believe it. Ah Luo, do you want to see the Skatana? I re-developed it.¡±

    As long as he did not force her onto the bed, she was willing to do anything.

    So, she said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    She obediently followed him and walked out of theboratory.

    This was the first time she had left theboratory in many days, and she was shocked beyond words when she saw the endless darkness outside. Thisboratory was like a star hanging in the universe. It was dark purple, with a soft light shing. Above and below it, front and back, left and right, there was nothing.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± He asked her, standing on the tform outside theboratory.

    She turned back and shook her head. No, not afraid, she was just shocked. It was so magnificent and beautiful.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°This is my Ah Luo. The Skatana people are never afraid of darkness.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned to look at him and wanted to bite her tongue off in regret. If she had known that Ah Luo wasn¡¯t afraid of darkness, she would have cried and told him she was afraid! In that case, maybe he would lose interest in her earlier and let her go. But now, it was toote to say anything.

    Wei Lingnan wore a white shirt and stood on the edge of the corridor high up on the sky. ck mist filled his shirt, making him look mysterious and unpredictable. He raised his hand and touched some mechanism, and there was a touch of metallic color in the distant darkness. Only then did Xia Yingluo discover that it was a metal conveyor belt. It was winded out hundreds of meters without any help.

    The metal belt stopped at their feet.

    Wei Lingnan took the lead and stepped out to help her. ¡°Come up.¡±

    She was a little scared. Such a slender conveyor belt seemed it would break when she stepped on it, but she didn¡¯t want to be underestimated by him, so she gathered up the courage to step on it¡ªwithout letting him help.

    Wei Lingnan retracted his hand, looking at her deeply.

    His Ah Luo was also strong and independent.

 Chapter 1232 - Billions of Years Old

    <h4>Chapter 1232: Billions of Years Old</h4>

    The conveyor belt ran in the darkness silently.

    Xia Yingluo restrained herself from looking down as much as possible. The boundless void seemed to be still.

    Later, she saw a purple star flickering in the distant ce, and it gradually grew bigger and bigger¡ªshe heard Wei Lingnan mumble at her ear, ¡°Skatana.¡±

    His voice suddenly caught her heartstrings.

    She had never seen such a beautiful. It was as if something was attracting her, making her anticipate stepping on it. Gradually, the wind rose, and in it, there seemed to be countless echoes, singing the samenguage of high and low tones¡ªthenguage that Wei Lingnan had spoken to her before, the one that had made her dizzy.

    The floating channel stopped before the stars.

    She had just lifted her feet to step on it, but she suddenly felt dizzy. She was caught off guard, her body teetered and she was about to fall off the narrow, lonely esctor.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s was quick and immediately held onto her. ¡°Ah Luo?!¡±

    Her face was as thin as gold paper, and her dizziness made her almost go unconscious. A tearing pain tore deep in her body, more severe than it had been the previous times. It left her at a loss.

    ¡°Ah Luo, Ah Luo?!¡± Who was calling far away in her ear...

    She had a long dream. In her dream, she was in burning hell.

    She was burned by fire, and there seemed to be a voice talking to her in the void: Don¡¯t step into that restricted area, don¡¯t be a sinner.

    Sinner...?

    She opened her eyes with difficulty.

    What she saw was theboratory where she had been imprisoned for more than ten days. She was immersed in the fluorescent blue liquid, which made her feel warm andfortable. Gradually, she rxed.

    Wei Lingnan was standing outside the ss cover of fluorescent blue liquid in a white shirt. His slender figure was dragged and lengthened by the disastrous light. His bony fingers pointed at the virtual screen in the air, his expression dignified, and he seemed to be adjusting something.

    The shimmering blue liquid swayed slightly and surrounded her more gently.

    She slept slowly again.

    This time, she didn¡¯t know how long she slept.

    When she woke up again, the turquoise blue liquid had been withdrawn, and the metal bed quilt under her was covered with a thick and fine duvet, warm andfortable. She opened her mouth and spoke with difficulty. ¡°I... what happened to me?¡±

    Her voice was unimaginably hoarse.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her. ¡°Speak less and save your strength. You were attacked by the will of the Earth; it doesn¡¯t want you to approach the Skatana. Even if it was fake, it was afraid you would remember everything.¡±

    It took Xia Yingluo a while to understand what he meant. Looking at Wei Lingnan in puzzlement, she said, ¡°How can I remember anything? I¡¯m originally a human from Earth, I was born here and will die here too.¡± Even if she had dreamt of something strange recently, it was only because she had been disturbed by Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°You are not human.¡±

    She frowned slightly, thinking he was spewing nonsense.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her with smooth and undting eyes. ¡°You think I¡¯m out of my mind? Ah Luo, do you know how you were born? When the Phoenix in the Xia family lost fertility in the early days, it was my medicine containing your gene fragments that caused her to be able to get pregnant again. Our Skatana genes are very strong. I only had to slightly modify some fertility conditions, and your genes would find opportunities to transform your mother¡¯s physical environment and imnt yourself there smoothly. Otherwise, why do you think Xia Ling can¡¯t get pregnant after giving birth to you? The physical environment of her body is no longer suitable for the birth of ordinary human beings.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was shocked. ¡°This is impossible...¡±

    ¡°Nothing is impossible,¡± Wei Lingnan said faintly. ¡°I have done this test many times. Whether it is test-tube babies or human bodies, there are various other ways... I know very well how it works.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me. I¡¯m the child of my parents, I can¡¯t be anything else!¡±

    ¡°ept reality, Ah Luo.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you!¡±

    Wei Lingnan stopped arguing with her. He looked down and brought a drink to her. ¡°It¡¯s time to take medicine to suppress your rejection.¡±

    Xia Yingluo remembered the sudden pain in her body. She didn¡¯t dare to neglect it and took the medicine with his help.

    The warmth spread from her stomach to her limbs, and she calmed down slightly. But everything that Wei Lingnan told her still subverted her beliefs. Suddenly, she thought of something and asked, ¡°Wei Lingnan, are you in your twenties? How old were you when my mother was pregnant with me? How could you possibly have given her the medicine? You¡¯re making it up, right?¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°You¡¯re still not giving up? You might as well go back and ask Xia Ling. It was me who handed the medicine to her. By the way, I don¡¯t remember how old I am. It¡¯s been about a billion years since the explosion.¡± His expression also became rarely absent-minded, as if he was thinking of the endless years.

    The impact of this conversation was too much, and Xia Yingluo was a little numb. ¡°You¡¯re saying that you are billions of years old?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t speak nonsense.¡± How could she believe it? This person, he was getting more and more ridiculous!

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t expect her to believe him immediately. On this primitive and obscure, human beings were still unsure about the existence of aliens. In this case, telling Ah Luo so much was indeed a subversive view. He reached for her empty ss and left theboratory.

    Xia Yingluo sat on the bed, staring nkly at the void, trying to organize her thoughts.

    First, she was caught by an alien who imed to be billions of years old.

    Secondly, the alien identified her as his sweetheart who had been dead for many years, and with his unremitting efforts, he had resurrected her with the help of a human¡¯s body. And he stubbornly thought that she would remember her past life...

    It was nonsense!

    Xia Yingluo fell onto the bed with a wailing cry and was about to copse.

    After rolling about a few times, she suddenly rushed to theboratory door and mmed the clear ss door. ¡°Wei Lingnan! Wei Lingnan!¡±

    After a while, the door opened, and Wei Lingnan¡¯s figure appeared in front of her. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easy for me to believe you. You can send me home, and I¡¯ll ask my mother if she ate the medicine you sent her!¡± Xia Yingluo looked at him anxiously.

    Wei Lingnan bowed his head. ¡°Ah Luo, you are always so clever. You thought I would let you go so easily? Don¡¯t be too naive. As soon as you get home, your parents will protect you. They don¡¯t like you contacting me. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have kept you in the dark for so many years.¡±

    Xia Yingluo originally wanted to ask why they didn¡¯t like her having contact with him. But at the thought of it, of course, no parent would want their child to experience dementia and go crazy.

    Xia Yingluo was very sad. She had originally wanted to take this opportunity to coax him into letting her go.

 Chapter 1233 - Genetic Code

    <h4>Chapter 1233: Gic Code</h4>

    She wanted to cry but was without tears, and all kinds of sadness sprouted in her heart.

    Ever since she woke up from hera, Wei Lingnan hadn¡¯t forced her too tightly. He brought tea to her and took good care of her every day.

    Xia Yingluo turned her grief into appetite and vowed to strengthen her body as soon as possible. As the old saying goes, her body was the capital of revolution. She didn¡¯t know if Wei Lingnan saw through her thoughts, but he didn¡¯t refuse any request for food. Even when she said that she was bored and wanted to go for a walk in nature, he really took her from the coldboratory and moved her to a beautiful little bungalow.

    There were a sparklingke, blue sky, and white clouds, and the surrounding was full of trees.

    She could even smell the flowers and hear the birds talking.

    Xia Yingluo looked at the beautifulke and clouds and was so speechless that she only asked after a long time. ¡°Where is this? Have you taken me out of the underground base? I don¡¯t remember this near S City.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her, and the fine golden-green sunlight of the tree line gently brushed her cheeks, and even nearer, her face was still perfect and wless. It was as if it was carved out of nephrite, so delicate and warm.

    Wei Lingnan restrained the urge to kiss her and said to her, ¡°This is still an underground base. The staff has to work underground for many years. In order to prevent them from suffering from psychological problems such as ustrophobia, I set up many artificial things¡ªlook at the sky, the clouds, it¡¯s enough to make it seem real, right?¡±

    He said, smiling slightly, ¡°I¡¯m d you like it too.¡±

    Humans were different from the Skatana people. The Skatana people could survive for a long time under extremely harsh natural conditions, but even if humans had food and drink, they would be susceptible to illness and death after leaving a pleasing environment. His Ah Luo was now resurrected as a human body and had probably been infected by many human habits. He didn¡¯t want her to be ufortable.

    Xia Yingluo looked up and took a deep breath of the oxygen-rich air in the shade.

    The depression of imprisonment these days was immediately swept away. Nature always had such a magical healing effect. ¡°Have I been living here ever since?¡± she asked. ¡°Can I just walk around and talk to people... over there?¡±

    She pointed to a few humans picking on thewn not far away.

    Wei Lingnan said softly, ¡°Yes. As long as you don¡¯t leave the residential area, you can do anything. I made a new identity for you. If anyone asks, tell them your husband works here.¡±

    ¡°My... husband?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little surprised. Suddenly she realized that Wei Lingnan was talking about himself, and she couldn¡¯t help but get angry. ¡°You¡¯re despicable!¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was faint. ¡°Don¡¯t make me angry, you know the consequences.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him angrily, but she had no choice. He had so many ways to punish her, she didn¡¯t want to be humiliated again because of her quick mouth. Turning her head, she ignored him and entered her own bungalow. The small bungalow was built near the water. At the main entrance, there was a small courtyard nted with small white flowers. There was a hydrophilic tform near the side door corridor and the gentle breeze blew, making her feel joyful.

    Wei Lingnan was still looking at her. She was so beautiful, her skirt fluttered against the wind, and there was a touch of tranquility in her bright eyes.

    How long had it been since he had seen her being so carefree?

    Billions of years ago...

    No, no. At that time, she was always busy killing, conquering foreign enemies, and conquering all the unconvinced forces within the ethnic group. The bloody battles defined that time, until one day, all the people surrendered and fell under her feet.

    And what about him? He had just been a pawn to help her reach her peak of strength.

    He had been insignificant and sad.

    Xia Yingluo was a bit tired. She sat down on the small chair beside the hydrophilic tform, then turned to look at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Why are you always looking at me?¡± she asked. ¡°Have you never seen a beauty?¡±

    ¡°Beautiful women dry up to bones. There¡¯s no beauty in my eyes.¡± He was d she took the initiative to chat, but his expression was still faint.

    Xia Yingluo humped in sarcasm. ¡°Yeah, you are part of the Skatana tribe, the kind of monster in the Shanglin Nanyuan vi? In your monster standards, humans all look about the same?¡±

    ¡°The Skatana tribe is a highly evolved polymorph.¡± Wei Lingnan corrected her. ¡°We¡¯re not monsters as you think. We can also transform into humanoid form, but the Skatana tribe is often fighting. The monster form is the most convenient form for fighting and killing, so we usually take on the monster form.¡±

    ¡°It sounds dangerous.¡± She was still taunting him, not believing a single word.

    Had Wei Lingnan watched movies like <Alien vs. Predator> too often?

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyebrows narrowed. ¡°Do you know? You look a lot like your humanoid form.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. The ironic smile was frozen on her face.

    Wei Lingnan looked at the longke, and then said, ¡°Did you ever wonder why you were neither like your father nor your mother and not even simr to your uncle¡¯s side? Because you carry the Skatana¡¯s gic code in your genes. The inferior sumb to the superior, and the lower to the higher, so it¡¯s not surprising that the characteristics of the Skatana appear in your face.¡±

    Xia Yingluo opened her mouth and refuted after a long time. ¡°Bullshit, don¡¯t try to lie to me. Although I don¡¯t look like my parents, we¡¯re still slightly simr. It¡¯s normal for children to only be slightly simr to their parents.¡±

    Wei Lingnan downyed it. ¡°Really? Since you always consider yourself a human, I will exin it to you using human science. Ah Luo, your pupil color, lip shape, and other appearance details... ording to the gicw, your father and mother¡¯s genebination would not show such characteristics at all. If you don¡¯t believe it, you can find a gics expert and ask him.¡±

    Xia Yingluo still shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me...¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°With your pupil, there¡¯s only one possibility¡ªyou were mixed up at birth and you¡¯re not your parent¡¯s daughter at all. But unfortunately, your DNA will tell you that you are indeed biologically rted, but that certain genes have been mutated. Believe me, gicists will be very interested in you.¡±

    He looked at her with a smile, like a confident demon.

    Xia Yingluo refused to believe it. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you lie to me? How could I possibly expose your lies? Wei Lingnan, even if I¡¯m going to find a gicist to verify everything you say, it will have to wait until Ipletely escape from this ghost ce. Will you let me go? Since you won¡¯t let me go, how can I possibly verify the truth of your words? Naturally, you can lie to me if you want to!¡±

 Chapter 1234 - Meeting a Researcher

    <h4>Chapter 1234: Meeting a Researcher</h4>

    Wei Lingnan simply looked at her. ¡°You know, I can¡¯t possibly let you go.¡±

    The genes of the Skatana species had already been activated inside her, and they were now at war with the human genes for control. The outside world was too dangerous for her now, and any slip up could cost her her life. Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t take such a risk.

    Xia Yingluo looked down and attempted to conceal her disappointment.

    He did all he could to brainwash her, getting her to believe everything about the Skatana, and yet he wouldn¡¯t even give her a chance to verify it. Yes, this underground base was very high-tech, more so than any sophisticated technology she¡¯d witnessed before. But technology was technology at best, it was something achievable by the human race. She was still inclined to believe that he was a genius¡ªit was only a fine line between a genius and a lunatic, and maybe he¡¯d suffered a blow before, causing him to hallucinate these non-existent beings.

    The breeze swept by theke.

    She was slouched in the soft chair, looking towards theke. ¡°The Skatana species are strange creatures, are you able to transform? Into that sort of physical appearance?¡±

    He asked, ¡°Do you wish to see?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned away, but her eyes had clearly said: ¡°show me¡±.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t go too far, Ah Luo. Earth isn¡¯t our hometown, every day we spend here is an expense of our energy, we can¡¯t replenish it here. It¡¯s too much of a waste to turn into our form, and it¡¯ll pose danger to both of us.¡±

    Well, that probably means he can¡¯t transform, Xia Yingluo thought.

    Loopholes began emerging the moment it concerned realistic issues.

    But she did not expose him. ¡°I¡¯m tired, I want to be alone for a while. Wei Lingnan, whatever you¡¯ve told me is simply incredible and unbelievable, I need some time to process it, alright?¡± She did not want to put herself against him. If she still wanted a chance to escape this cell, she¡¯d need him to let his guard down. As such, it was a better idea to be nicer to him.

    Wei Lingnan smiled tenderly. ¡°Alright.¡±

    He brought her hand to his lips for a kiss before taking his leave.

    As he walked off into the distance, Xia Yingluo finally heaved a huge sigh of relief. She had to plot this very very carefully if she wanted to get out as soon as possible.

    She still had a dream that night.

    The mysterious purple appeared intermittently, as with the vast, dry battleground and the bleeding creatures. She was suspended midair, like a spectator witnessing a spectacr show. In the silence, the tragedy and violence appeared all too fictional, and she appeared all too detached from the scene.

    Wei Lingnan still asked her about her dreams very often.

    Each time, she¡¯d tell him that they were just repetitive scenes and this disappointed him.

    Xia Yingluo did not care that he was disappointed. She enjoyed applying exquisite makeup and wearing beautiful long dresses as she strolled by theke.

    It didn¡¯t take long for someone to notice her.

    ¡°Hi.¡± Someone called out to her as she was taking her walk.

    She turned around and saw a man in a researcher¡¯s uniform standing under a tree, smiling at her. ¡°Hello,¡± she responded with a smile. Her etiquette training at home and in school was put to good use now, as her smile appeared elegant and harmless.

    Seeing her friendly response, his smile was all the more pleasant now. ¡°Hello, I am Ouyang Ziyu, a researcher of Zone J208. How about you? I¡¯ve never seen you around before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a family member of a new employee here, you can call me Xia Yingluo.¡±

    ¡°Family member of an employee?¡± Ouyang Ziyu repeated after her. Very naturally, he walked alongside her and they began strolling together by theke. ¡°Does your father work here? It makes sense. I mean, you¡¯re too beautiful to be an employee here yourself.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°No, it¡¯s my husband.¡±

    This was her background that Wei Lingnan had established. As much as she hated it, she had to ept this arrangement. This was the very least she could do to gain his trust.

    Ouyang Ziyu was evidently disappointed by what she¡¯d just said.

    Xia Yingluo smiled indifferently. ¡°Why, you don¡¯t seem too happy?¡±

    ¡°Seeing such a beautifuldy and finding out that she already has someone else... how could I be happy?¡± Ouyang Ziyu felt that it was such a pity. ¡°The Heavens aren¡¯t fair at all. They sent me to work at this base, and I haven¡¯t even found a girlfriend yet. In the future, I guess I can only have a rtionship with a female researcher here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You don¡¯t seem to like female researchers?¡±

    ¡°Female researchers are all about the same, they¡¯re so boring, I can¡¯t take it.¡± Ouyang Ziyu ced his hands in his pockets and said nonchntly. He looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Has anyone ever told you you¡¯re beautiful? Yingluo¡ªcan I call you Yingluo? You seem so young, people might even think you¡¯re still a minor. Why are you married so early?¡±

    You¡¯re right, I am a minor.

    Xia Yingluo sighed in her heart. Only a pervert like Wei Lingnan would force a 16-year-old to im she¡¯s married. But she had to maintain the story he¡¯d established. ¡°I seem younger than I am.¡±

    ¡°Well, like all beauties.¡± Ouyang Ziyu smiled.

    The two of them had a good talk and, as they finished walking one round around theke, they set another date to meet for a stroll.

    Xia Yingluo was satisfied with what she¡¯d got that day. From the conversation, she managed to gather quite a bit of information, like how Ouyang Ziyu was an experienced employee here who knew the base very well, and how family members of the employees here had a window period every year to travel out of the ce. Also, she found out that he was pretty fond of her, maybe this was something she could make good use of.

    Hence, she walked by theke every day from then on.

    Gradually, this became a set activity for her and Ouyang Ziyu.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen your husband,¡± Ouyang Ziyu said to her. ¡°What¡¯s he in charge of, is he very busy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Xia Yingluo said a little shyly. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about his job, and never found out. He often eats and sleeps in theboratory, and hardlyes back.¡± In fact, Wei Lingnan went back every night, but it was always through a secret passage that led straight to their little bungalow. He had mentioned that he was the Big Boss around here, and his identity was too unique. It might cause amotion if he showed his face, and that would be detrimental to her.

    Ouyang Ziyu seemed to be full of respect. ¡°Then he must be in a rather high post. I heard that they¡¯re way busier than the ordinary employees like us and that their scope of work has to be kept confidential.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and yed along.

    She felt the need for confidentiality as well. After all, she wanted to live in peace, or rtive peace, at least.

 Chapter 1235 - All Little Animals Loved Her

    <h4>Chapter 1235: All Little Animals Loved Her</h4>

    Ouyang Ziyu said with respect, ¡°Your husband is likely to be a high-position researcher. I heard that they¡¯re way busier than the ordinary employees like us and that their scope of work has to be kept confidential.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled, but deep inside, she thought¡ª

    High-post researcher? He¡¯s just the evil and perverted Big Boss of this ce, with weird fantasies and strange ideas. Did these employees know what their Big Boss is actually like?

    It was such a tragedy.

    She changed the topic. ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me more about your work? What are you busy with every day?¡±

    Ouyang Ziyu smiled. ¡°Haven¡¯t your husband mentioned to you before? We have a confidentiality policy, we can¡¯t tell outsiders too much about our work.¡± Seeing how disappointed she looked, he added, ¡°But there are some things that we can disclose. Let me tell you about theb rat in my researchboratory. It has a really strong will and is the only one still surviving among the tenb rats that were brought in at the same time. What a shame, though, it¡¯ll be dying in a few days.¡±

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Howe?¡±

    Even if it wasn¡¯t anything important, she was interested to find out. Perhaps, there would be some information she could pick out.

    ¡°Tell me more about it.¡± Xia Yingluo pleaded in a tender voice. ¡°I love animals.¡±

    Hence Ouyang Ziyu went on, ¡°It¡¯s a test subject, used for testing our drugs. If the experiment is sessful, then its job is done, and it has to be destroyed ording to the rules.¡±

    He used the word ¡°destroyed¡± as if the little rat wasn¡¯t a life.

    Xia Yingluo frowned. This had nothing to do with her escape, she simply did not like watching a lifee to its end this way. She asked Ouyang Ziyu, ¡°Since the experiment was a sess, why can¡¯t you let it live?¡±

    Ouyang Ziyu said, ¡°Rules are rules. It went through so many rounds of experiments, who knows whether its body will undergo any changes? We can¡¯t keep something with unknown risks. Destroying it is the fastest and most convenient choice.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too cruel,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Ouyang Ziyu nced at her. ¡°Your husband is a high-post researcher, the nature of his job might be way crueler than mine is.¡± He felt bad the moment those words left his mouth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sighed. ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t like to hear him talk about work.¡±

    Of course, Wei Lingnan hadn¡¯t been telling her about his work at all. All he shared was about the Skatana and those merciless killing, which she didn¡¯t enjoy listening to either because of how depressing it was.

    Ouyang Ziyu was thoughtful. ¡°It¡¯s normal for a sweet and gentle girl like you to dislike hearing about such things. Let¡¯s talk about something else.¡±

    But Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Can you help me get thatb rat out of theboratory?¡±

    This time, it was Ouyang Ziyu who was stunned. ¡°What are you thinking of doing?¡±

    ¡°I wish to save its life,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°This little rat is such a poor thing, I don¡¯t want to watch it die. Can you help me sneak it out, so I can rear it? I¡¯ll take good care of it.¡±

    Ouyang Ziyu said, ¡°No, this is against the rules.¡±

    Xia Yingluo hung her head low and her eyes filled with tears.

    With this beauty before him crying, Ouyang Ziyu was at a loss of what to do. ¡°Don¡¯t cry.¡±

    But Xia Yingluo was crying even harder now. Her tears glistened in the sunlight, and his heart couldn¡¯t help but soften for her.

    ¡°But,¡± Ouyang Ziyu was still caught in the middle. ¡°The rules really don¡¯t allow this.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said pitifully, ¡°It¡¯d have been alright if you hadn¡¯t told me the story. But since you have, I can¡¯t possibly do nothing about it. I¡¯ll regret it for life. Ouyang Ziyu, why did you have to tell me about it? You¡¯re cruel.¡±

    Pretending to appear pitiful wasn¡¯t her forte, but her Big Brother was really good at it, and she¡¯d picked up a few tips while growing up with him. Coupled with the acting techniques she¡¯d learned in the training camp, she was doing a pretty good job at winning him over.

    Ouyang Ziyu was just an ordinary researcher and had never been in such a situation.

    He was so flustered, he was losing coherence. ¡°Don¡¯t... please don¡¯t be like this. Yingluo, I¡¯ll do it, alright?¡±

    He might as well push through it and go against the rules for this beauty. It wasn¡¯t a major issue anyway, there was a good chance no one would discover it. ¡°When I get it out, you¡¯ve got to hide it well. If anyone finds out, not only would it be destroyed, you and I would also have to bear the consequences.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled through her tears. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, no one will find it.¡±

    Hence, a few dayster, Ouyang Ziyu¡ªthe researcher who¡¯d beenpletely smitten by her¡ªbrought her the little rat. He took it out from his pocket and cupped it in his palms. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, this is the little rat.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had seen a lot as a child when she followed her father and brothers around, this was nothing. She wouldn¡¯t be like other ordinary girls, afraid of a little rat. She stuck her index finger out and touched it cautiously. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? Why isn¡¯t it moving?¡±

    ¡°I administered anesthesia on it, so it¡¯s in a semi-conscious state now. I had to do it this way to bring it out.¡± Ouyang said, ¡°Prepare a cage for it when you get back, I¡¯ll hand you a recipe for its meals, so you can prepare its food ordingly. When you travel out of the base during the window period, remember to bring some rat food back for it.¡±

    The food in theboratory was regrly tracked and ounted for, it¡¯d be unwise to smuggle some out.

    Xia Yingluo nodded, thanked him, hid the rat cautiously and brought it back to the bungalow.

    Thete afternoon sun was out.

    Wei Lingnan usually came back at dinnertime, so Xia Yingluo had enough time now to check on the little rat. She shut the windows and door, ced the rat on the soft carpet and stroke its fur gently. A whileter, the rat moved its ears and woke.

    A pair of beady eyes looked straight at Xia Yingluo silently, and it let out a tentative squeak.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and greeted it. ¡°Hello, you¡¯re safe here now.¡±

    The little rat tilted its head sideways for a while before letting out another squeak.

    Xia Yingluo put her hand out and allowed the rat to climb onto her palm. She smiled even more widely now. This was the gift of the Phoenix¡¯s descendant, she just had the power to connect with all life in this world. In short, all little animals loved her.

 Chapter 1236 - A Beautiful Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 1236: A Beautiful Encounter</h4>

    Her brother, Li Shaohui, had this gift too.

    She lifted her hand such that the rat was at her eye level. ¡°Help me out, will you?¡±

    The afternoon sun spilled diagonally onto the surface of theke.

    Meanwhile, Xia Yingluo sipped some floral tea while sitting in her cane chair.

    As dusk approached, the sunset slowly unveiled its splendid colors.

    A man appeared behind her quietly; it was Wei Lingnan. ¡°You seem to be in a pretty good mood today, did something happen?¡± He bent over and hugged her from behind.

    Xia Yingluo did not look back at him, but there was a pleasantness in her voice. ¡°I think I¡¯ve fallen for the sunsets here. It¡¯s so beautiful, and the breeze isforting. I don¡¯t know if this is an illusion, but the air here seems fresher than out there.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°The man-made scenery here is more perfect than that of the natural world. If you like it, stay a little longer.¡± He bit her ear gently.

    Xia Yingluo felt a momentary numbness in her earlobe and wanted to evade him, but tolerated it anyway.

    She sighed. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you can¡¯t possibly keep me in here forever.¡±

    He held her chin and turned her face towards himself. ¡°Once you fall in love with this ce, it wouldn¡¯t be the case of me keeping you here.¡± By then, she wouldn¡¯t leave even if he chased her away.

    ¡°Would this daye?¡± She seemed a little dazed.

    He nted a soft kiss on her lips.

    It was a quiet and peaceful night. Her obedient and docile behavior had satisfied him, and he did not do anything to her that night. They held each other andy in bed gazing at the man-made night sky.

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± He quietly called her.

    ¡°Yes?¡± She replied softly.

    He held her gently for a long time before saying, ¡°Back then, when you were chosen, I never would¡¯ve thought of this day.¡± He was able to hold her so peacefully and safely, as if they¡¯d never part for their lifetime.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Tell me about the past.¡± She wasn¡¯t really interested, but she was trying to make him happy, to earn herself a better chance at escape.

    Wei Lingnan did not figure out her ploy. He started telling the story. ¡°You were a princess.¡±

    ¡°Princess?¡± She¡¯d never expected to be so respectable in his hallucination.

    But he spoke of it as if it was the only logical thing. ¡°The Skatana species is a matriarchal society. The Queen would birth to a World Tree, and the tree would be full of fruits¡ªthere¡¯d be hundreds of dark-colored fruits¡ªthose were the male soldiers¡ªand very few light-colored ones¡ªthe females, or princesses. The princesses would fight each other to the death, and thest one standing would be the next Queen.¡±

    ¡°It seems like there isn¡¯t much good in being a princess?¡± Xia Yingluomented. ¡°It¡¯s nowhere as good as being a rich girl on Earth, where you¡¯d get everything you want without having to work for it.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°You used to be like this too.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Without a care about all of those fights, all you wanted was to live well,¡± he said. ¡°Back then, you¡¯d shed tears even when the most negligible of soldiers got injured. You didn¡¯t act like a princess at all. Everyone said that you¡¯d be the first of the six princesses to die and be eliminated.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that weak!¡± She rebuked softly. She knew that it was all just a story, but still wanted to defend her image.

    Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°Indeed, you weren¡¯t that weak. They had been too wrong.¡±

    ¡°So I survived?¡± She turned around and looked up at him.

    Seeing those pretty eyes, his voice became even more tender. ¡°All the princesses were still young at that time, and they had to go into the Wilderness to pick their guardians. That was the most dangerous area of the Skatana, there were lots of strange creatures there¡ªstrange even to the Skatana species.¡±

    ¡°Why were the guardians in such a dangerous ce?¡±

    ¡°The guardians are the abandoned fruits of the tree.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was calm andposed. ¡°Some of the fruits would fall off their branches before they were fully ripe, and would roll on the ground into the Wilderness, others would be food for the wild animals, and yet others would die from insufficient nutrients. Generation after generation of the World Tree, generation after generation of abandoned fruits, only the best of the best could survive.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a little upset. Was this how he fought to survive?

    She found it funny when she caught herself in that thought. He was obviously making all this up, why did she have to feel so much for him?

    ¡°Then what happened?¡± She asked.

    ¡°There were thousands of abandoned fruits in the Wilderness. The year that the princesses went to pick their guardians, there were just over ten still alive. I was one of them, the smallest and weakest one.¡± Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I was hiding deep in the soil, avoiding the wild creatures. That day, I happened to see Ah Luo all dirty and untidy, hiding behind a rock¡ªshe was crying.¡±

    Wei Lingnan seemed to have transported himself into the past. He was reliving a fond memory.

    Xia Yingluo got engrossed in the story. Even if this was all fantasy, it was pretty interesting.

    She listened as Wei Lingnan continued, ¡°The Wilderness was too dangerous, she was so small, any wild creature could kill her. If she did not manage to get a guardian by the time she left the Wilderness, chances were that she¡¯d be attacked by the other princesses with guardians the moment she left, and death was certain.

    ¡°She was hungry and afraid and crying very hard.

    ¡°At that time, I had just escaped from a wild creature; I was badly injured and probably dying. Seeing Ah Luo, I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡®What are you crying about? I wouldn¡¯t have expected a princess to be by my side as I approach death.¡¯ Ah Luo turned around and looked at me in shock.

    ¡°¡®What are you?¡¯ She asked.

    ¡°¡®I¡¯m a guardian that you princesses have been looking for. Why, don¡¯t you even know how a guardian looks like?¡¯ I was a dying fruit then, and my impending doom put me in a bad mood, which was why I mocked her. She scrutinized me and, with tear stains on her face, she told me she wanted to save me.

    ¡°This time, I was the one in shock. ¡®Save me? Do you know how much energy it¡¯d take for you to do that? I¡¯m seriously injured now, you might not even be able to save me from death. If you expend all your energy on me for nothing, you wouldn¡¯t be able to go further into the Wilderness to find a strong guardian.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Aren¡¯t you a guardian?¡¯ Ah Luo asked me.

    ¡°¡®But I¡¯m dying,¡¯ I said. ¡®And you¡¯re too weak. Even if you save me, I won¡¯t be your guardian. Staying by your side would simply be courting death, isn¡¯t it?¡¯

    ¡°She sniffled and was about to cry again.¡±

 Chapter 1237 - The Guardianship Contract

    <h4>Chapter 1237: The Guardianship Contract</h4>

    Wei Lingnan said to Xia Yingluo slowly, ¡°The wind in the Wilderness was very cold and I got weaker and weaker. At some point, she¡¯d stopped crying and reached her little hand out to touch my damaged flesh, using the little energy she had to heal me. This little energy saved my life¡ªa guardian¡¯s life was the least valuable, but also the most tenacious; we live on any energy we find. Fortunately, I survived.

    ¡°But she was extremely weak from expending all her energy.

    ¡°There were already wild creaturesing closer as they sensed the change in her energy levels.

    ¡°I had thought of leaving her behind, as that was the best choice. Having just made a trip to the gates of Hell, I was still recovering, and not strong enough to defend her from those ferocious creatures. If I stayed with her, it was certain death for us both.

    ¡°The growls from those creatures could be heard.

    ¡°She was obviously about to pass out, but she still looked at me and said, ¡®Quick, leave.¡¯

    ¡°I was surprised, she wasn¡¯t acting like one of the Skatana species at all. Every person, even if it was a female, would never have an ounce of sympathy for any life. There was only one goal, which was to survive at all costs.

    ¡°But she gave up her chance of survival for me.

    ¡°I mocked her on the inside for being so silly and decided to leave the scene. But behind me, I heard her sing. Maybe it was because she was dying, her voice sounded so calm, so peaceful... that was the most moving sound I¡¯ve heard in the Wilderness.

    ¡°I told myself, don¡¯t be foolish, don¡¯t turn back.

    ¡°But my feet were rooted to the ground and I couldn¡¯t go further.

    ¡°Eventually, I turned back. I told her coldly, ¡®You¡¯ve won,e and conclude the contract.¡¯

    ¡°She looked at me in shock, ¡®The Guardianship Contract? You want to be my guardian?¡¯

    ¡°I thought I must¡¯ve been crazy to have agreed to be the guardian of such a weak princess. Chances were that she¡¯d be killed by the other sisters in no time, and as her guardian, I¡¯d die with her. If I did not conclude the contract with her, I¡¯d likely live for a much longer time.

    ¡°But at that point, I had already bitten her wrist and ruptured her blood vessel. Her blood was already all over my injured flesh, and changes were taking ce. I was no longer an insignificant fruit, I had be a golden creature, and I felt more powerful than ever before¡ªthe power of the contract.

    ¡°But this sort of power was still rather minutepared to others of the Skatana species.

    ¡°And yet, we were lucky that day. The creature that came to us following the changes in energy wasn¡¯t too strong and ferocious, and I managed to kill it. Ah Luo cried as she treated my wounds, and after that, we hid here and there before finding a way to escape the Wilderness.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was very soft, sounding as if he was telling someone else¡¯s story.

    Xia Yingluo was invested in the story and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Then what happened?¡±

    ¡°After that?¡± Wei Lingnan smiled and kissed her eyes. ¡°As I¡¯d expected, my Ah Luo was the weakest, least valued among the princesses. Because of that, she¡¯d earned a fighting chance. While others were out attacking one another, no one would think of eliminating this girl first, since she was the least threatening. As such, I took those opportunities to hone my skills and improve myself.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t be misunderstood. I wasn¡¯t doing that to protect you, Ah Luo.

    ¡°Initially, I did it all for self-protection. After all, our lives were bound to each other, and her death would mean the end of my life too. Weid low and never issued any challenges, but they still found a way to send us to battles. They gave us the toughest of missions, in which the chances of sess were low.

    ¡°But we survived.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Ah Luo, they were wrong about us. They¡¯d underestimated my will to be stronger, and your... foolishness. Each time I got seriously injured, you¡¯d heal me at all costs, doing way more than any princess should do for a guardian. I survived time and again, and as for you, with each time you approached the limit, your intuitions improved. Your eyesight became better, and so did your hearing, and your ws were sharper than before...

    ¡°But you still hated to attack or kill, you were unwilling to embrace this huge power within you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Which girl enjoys such violence? All they¡¯d like to do is to have some sweets, look for nice clothes and all that.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°The Skatana species don¡¯t have such fortune. But it¡¯s good that we¡¯re on this tiny now, we can fulfill your wishes. Do you know why I imnted some of your gic material into Xia Ling¡¯s body? It¡¯s not only because she¡¯s the Phoenix of the Xia family, but also because... I want to fulfill your dreams.¡±

    ¡°What dreams?¡±

    ¡°To be an actual princess, to have no qualms or worries, to be loved and pampered your whole life.¡±

    Well, she really was carefree without worries. Her life had been smooth-sailing and wonderful before Wei Lingnan appeared, but he changed everything, and he had the gall to tell her about this?

    After thinking for a while, she smiled dryly, realizing that it was better not to offend him.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°You don¡¯t believe it?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Xia Yingluo said without much sincerity. She yawned. ¡°I¡¯m tired, I want to sleep.¡±

    Wei Lingnan watched as this beautiful girl lied in his embrace and fell asleep. Meanwhile, he stayed up the whole night.

    Xia Yingluo had a very good sleep. She realized that Wei Lingnan¡¯s story was actually a pretty good luby.

    In the following days, she spent a lot of time listening to him tell his stories about the guardian and the little princess. She knew that the guardian in the story slowly fell in love with the princess, but the princess only saw him as a partner, a buddy, and that was it.

    Xia Yingluo acted as a good listener, expressing sympathy asionally.

    But he was a little temperamental sometimes. One night, he forced himself on her although she didn¡¯t give consent.

    She swore at him a hundred times over on the inside and wished he¡¯d be punished for all his deeds. She cursed for him to never find his princess, for him to be lonely for life.

    The desire to escape was getting even more urgent.

    The chance finally came.

    As they strolled by theke one day, Ouyang Ziyu told her that he¡¯d be going up to ground level soon for the holidays.

    She said enviously, ¡°How nice, I can only stay home and wait for my husband to be done with his work. Do you have a lot of luggage? I could send you off on that day.¡±

    Ouyang Ziyu looked at her. ¡°Do you know the rules here? If you don¡¯t get the admission ticket to the passageway, you won¡¯t be able to send me to ground level. In fact, you won¡¯t even be able to get out of the family members zone.¡±

 Chapter 1238 - Sudden Wei Shaoyin

    <h4>Chapter 1238: Sudden Wei Shaoyin</h4>

    This family area was located in a separate area of the base. To prevent family members from entering the work area by mistake, the pass was not universal.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll take you to the door of the family area.¡±

    Ouyang Ziyuughed. ¡°Okay. It¡¯s difficult to be kind, so thank you for the trouble.¡±

    She picked a time where there were nobody around and quietly went into Ouyang Ziyu¡¯s bungalow. She was very good, no less than a world-ss agent, and it wasn¡¯t difficult to dive into the otaku¡¯s room. She found his half-packed baggage, put the white mouse he had sent her in, and covered it with clothing. ¡°Xiao Bai, please, you must send my distress signal, okay? I¡¯ve let my mother bless you and turn you into a human in your next life.¡±

    The white mouse ¡°squeaked¡± slightly.

    A small leather cord was hanging on its furry neck, and a piece of paper was wrapped around the leather cord. As soon as anyone found it, it would be opened.

    Xia Yingluo prayed that it could run farther and fall into the hands of someone who could help.

    ¡°Find the police uncle, okay?¡± This was probably the best result.

    The mouse ¡°squeaked¡± twice.

    Xia Yingluo reluctantly hid it and left.

    The next day, she gently sent Ouyang Ziyu to the door of the family area and instructed. ¡°Be careful.¡±

    Ouyang Ziyuughed in a good mood. ¡°Rx, wait for me to bring you a gift back.¡±

    There was a small soft bulge on the side of the luggage, which he didn¡¯t notice.

    Xia Yingluo waited uneasily for the result. Unexpectedly, an acquaintance came.

    That day, the afternoon sun was just right and theke was sparkling. She sat under a big tree in boredom, flipping through a book. Suddenly, someone stood in front of her and blocked the sun.

    She looked up and saw a clean face.

    It was a tall man wearing a white shirt. Unlike Wei Lingnan, his dressing style looked extremely clean and self-restrained. Not a strand of hair was out of ce, and his buttons were meticulously buttoned to his neck. He looked impatient and picky. ¡°Xia Yingluo?¡± he asked.

    She looked at him for a long time and suddenly thought of someone. ¡°Wei... Uncle Wei?!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin looked down at the girl sitting under the tree impatiently. ¡°Your mother is stupid, but you¡¯re even stupider than your mother. You can¡¯t even pass a simple family trial and was captured here?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him, unable to return to her senses after a long time.

    She had imagined many possibilities. The person who came to rescue her might be the police, or her father¡¯s people, the Xia family¡¯s or even Imperial¡¯s people. The only thing she didn¡¯t expect was for the person to be Wei Shaoyin, the music producer who had partnered with her mother many years ago and was also her mother Xia Ling¡¯s best friend.

    Thest time she saw Wei Shaoyin, she was still a little girl.

    ¡°You...¡± Xia Yingluo organized her thoughts and finally said, ¡°How could it be you?¡±

    ¡°I also want to ask why it¡¯s me, should I be so unlucky?¡± Wei Shaoyin was unhappy. ¡°You mother and daughter are really worrying. I just grabbed a little mouse in my building and somehow managed to find your distress note. How on earth did you provoke my little uncle? He¡¯s a pervert, don¡¯t you know?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was in tears. Finally, someone understood her and knew that Wei Lingnan was a pervert.

    She wanted to hold Wei Shaoyin¡¯s hand and call her a loved one.

    In the chaos, she still managed to capture the main point in his words. ¡°You said Wei Lingnan is your little uncle?¡±

    No wonder the little white mouse she let out had been received by him. But she had known Wei Shaoyin for so many years, how did she not know about his family background?

    Wei Shaoyin looked disgusted. ¡°My surname is Wei, and he is also Wei, can¡¯t you connect the dots?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless. It wasn¡¯t as if everyone with the surname Wei belonged to the same family, did it?

    ¡°Anyway, get me out of here.¡± Xia Yingluo got up from under the tree and pulled him eagerly. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to spend more time with that pervert. Who knows what craze he¡¯s on, he ims to be an alien! He captured me and says I¡¯m his girlfriend in my past life!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s eyes changed slightly. ¡°He¡¯s an alien?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you really believe it?¡± This time, Xia Yingluo was the one staring in contempt at him. ¡°It¡¯s a fantasy story.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin stopped talking and ended up saying nothing.

    Although he was born in the Wei family and grew up in the Wei family, he gradually found out that there was something wrong with his uncle over the years¡ªafter so many years, his uncle¡¯s face hadn¡¯t changed at all. What was even scarier was that there were so many people in the family, but only he noticed this. In other people¡¯s memories, Wei Lingnan had grown up from a child more than twenty years ago and had only inherited the family business after the death of the old chairman.

    At one point, Wei Shaoyin suspected that he was insane, and sought medical advice everywhere. It almost drove him crazy. In the end, Xia Ling had told him the truth. ¡°Stop racking your brains over it. The abnormal one is your little uncle, not you. Everyone else¡¯s memories were changed by him with some strange method, except for you. Since you¡¯re my friend, I didn¡¯t want him to deal with you so disrespectfully. So I used my brother¡¯s strength to negotiate with him and retain your true memory.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin had been stunned. He asked Xiao Ling, ¡°What the hell is going on with my uncle?¡±

    Xia Ling had said lightly, ¡°It¡¯s a long story, I¡¯m toozy to exin it, he won¡¯t hurt you anyway¡ªprobably.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was frightened by her. The mystery in his heart had existed for so many years and only now did he know through Xia Yingluo¡¯s mouth that his little uncle turned out to be an alien? This entire world was probably crazy!

    Seeing his quiet expression, Xia Yingluo looked at him in worry. ¡°Uncle Wei, are you okay?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin came back to his senses. ¡°What could happen to me? This is for you, change into it quickly and I¡¯ll take you out of the base.¡± Yesterday when he had returned to hispany, he had found a scrambling little white mouse. Due to his obsession with cleanliness, he had scrambled around trying to catch the little white mouse and had been ready to throw it out when he saw a note attached to its neck. He had opened it out of curiosity and found that it was actually a distress note. On it, there was Li Lei¡¯s contact number and was inscribed with Xia Yingluo¡¯s name.

    Wasn¡¯t that Xiao Ling¡¯s daughter?

    She was trapped in his little uncle¡¯s base?

    Wei Shaoyin immediately sent a message to Li Lei. He was very worried about Xia Yingluo and had thus came quickly to rescue her. Now, he could finally heave a sigh of relief after seeing Xia Yingluo jump around energetically. Her body was fine and she didn¡¯t look to have suffered.

    Xia Yingluo had long hoped to be rescued. She put on the clothes he handed over on the spot¡ªa white researcher gown, matching masks, sses, and hats. No one could recognize them.

 Chapter 1239 - Lightning and Thunder Rolls

    <h4>Chapter 1239: Lightning and Thunder Rolls</h4>

    Wei Shaoyin looked at her and nodded with satisfaction. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She watched him strut out, leaving the family area and crossing through the peripheral work area. Under Wei Shaoyin¡¯s identity card, the two of them were unimpeded. The box elevator slowly rose, returning to the ground floor. Standing in the corridor of the old building, Xia Yingluo had the illusion of being in a previous generation.

    The sun had shone brightly on the underground artificialndscape, but in the real world, it was alreadyte at night and a violent storm was blowing.

    Thunderbolts exploded one after another.

    Wei Shaoyin frowned as he watched the corridor outside. ¡°The weather is bad, you¡¯ll have to put up with it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled rxedly. ¡°This is the best weather for an escape.¡±

    As soon as her words fell, a harsh rm sounded suddenly in the building.

    Wei Shaoyin said, ¡°Shit, we¡¯ve been found out.¡± He med her again. ¡°What escape? Don¡¯t you know how to say something nice, crow¡¯s mouth!¡±

    Xia Yingluo also wanted to beat herself up. ¡°Let¡¯s go quickly.¡±

    The two trotted along the corridor, and when they reached the exit of the ss revolving door, Wei Shaoyin swiped his card, but he couldn¡¯t get permission. His expression turned ugly. ¡°Permission was frozen. That rm was indeed for us.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression also turned bad. She looked around, took a fire extinguisher in the hall, and smashed the ss door with all her strength. The harsh rm sounded continuously, and the electronic synthesis sound that didn¡¯t match the old sense of the building came. ¡°The target is found, at the main entrance of the main building. The target is found, at the main entrance of the main building...¡±

    The sound of footsteps sounded far away, and it seemed many people were rushing towards this side.

    Wei Shaoyin jumped anxiously. ¡°Hurry up! They¡¯reing!¡±

    Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth. ¡°I want to hurry up too! What stupid ss in your house is so strong!¡±

    ¡°My family uses the most advanced high-tech materials in my household, didn¡¯t you know?¡± Wei Shaoyin screamed. ¡°If I¡¯m caught by my little uncle, he¡¯ll cut me into pieces for research! Ahhhh! They¡¯re rushing here! It¡¯s toote! Stop smashing, stop smashing! Let¡¯s run away in a different direction¡ª!¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t have time to argue with him. She smashed the ss door forcefully, and remembered how when she had been fighting with people in Imperial¡¯s training camp some time ago, she had managed to break someone¡¯s bones with a slight push. Maybe this miracle might happen again. After all, her strength had recently increased dramatically.

    The ss made a huge echo and teetered under her fierce attack. Xia Yingluo mmed and prayed: Heavens and demons, or any messyary will, no matter what you are, but if you really exist, you have to bless me to be able to get out of here smoothly. I don¡¯t want to be an alien!

    Maybe theary will really heard her prayers. A bang sounded and the high-strength explosion-proof ss shattered. Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t even have time to cheer, she dropped the fire extinguisher and ran out with Wei Shaoyin. Outside the building, heavy rain poured down and thunder mmed.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo!¡± someone shouted angrily behind her.

    She turned back and saw a figure at the end of the ancient corridor of the ancient building. It was rushing towards her at an incredible rate. It was Wei Lingnan. The man¡¯s slender shadow appeared a bit distorted in the dim light, and a pair of light, smooth, mirror-like eyes stared at her through the storm, as if about to stare a hole into her.

    Xia Yingluo shuddered.

    ¡°Go!¡± Wei Shaoyin shouted beside her.

    Xia Yingluo returned to her senses and hurried towards the stormy sky.

    Beads of raindrops hit her frantically, covering her whole face. She wallowed about, not knowing where she was stepping on. She was thoroughly soaked and numb with cold.

    Hurry up, hurry up...

    There was only this thought in her mind. She didn¡¯t dare to look back, didn¡¯t dare to see if the man was catching up. The pouring rain blurred her vision, and there was an endlessndscape in front of her. asionally, a bolt of lightning shed, and everything around looked like the shadow of ghosts. She ran mechanically, not knowing how far she had run.

    Suddenly, a p of thunder exploded in her ears, and the sharp lightning split off like a sharp de, making sight blind for a moment. Her heart jumped inexplicably, and she turned back subconsciously. There was only the sound of wind and rain in the darkness. The old building seemed to be standing far away, like a swaying lighthouse on the stormy sea.

    She slowed down her footsteps unconsciously.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you running?!¡± Wei Shaoyin screamed beside her. ¡°Quick!¡±

    She stopped. ¡°I want to go back and see.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Wei Shaoyin didn¡¯t care about his cleanliness anymore and reached out to pull her. ¡°Do you know how terrible Wei Lingnan is? He can catch up a few hundred meters in a few seconds!¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head and really went back.

    She had clearly heard the thunder just now and it had been too close. Was he okay? Unexpectedly, she remembered his remarks about the will of the. If the will of the really existed and helped her to open the ss door of the building with a fire extinguisher, was the thunderbolt to stop Wei Lingnan from catching up to her? Had it hit him with lightning?

    Although she knew her idea was ridiculous, she couldn¡¯t help thinking about it.

    How could there be aliens in this world?

    Were aliens afraid of being hit by lightning?

    Her mind was chaotic, but her legs backtracked uncontrobly.

    The sound of violent winds and showers raged in her ear, and Wei Shaoyin¡¯s hands sped her arms, but he couldn¡¯t hold her back. She didn¡¯t want him to slow her down, so she impatiently shook off his arm and sped up.

    The old building was still lit in front, the wind howling and raining torrentially.

    She searched eagerly and soon saw him under the faint streetmp in front of the door. He had fallen into a puddle and his face was down. His clothes had been scorched by lightning and he was motionless. She didn¡¯t know if he was even alive or dead.

    The thunder and lightning had hit him just now.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was all tight. She didn¡¯t understand why she felt this way. In the nights of being vited and imprisoned by him, she had hated him countless times and wanted him to die. She even wanted to just kill him, but now that he had really fallen in front of her in such an uncertain state, she didn¡¯t even daree forward, afraid of facing unbearable results.

    Taking a deep breath, she put her trembling hand on his body.

    His body glowed with high heat. It was burning hot to the touch and she hissed in pain, retracting her hand immediately. In the storm, under the dim street light, she saw her hand bleeding hot with white smoke radiating from the palm.

    Her heart sank.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s body was not a high temperature that normal humans should have. Could it have been prated by lightning from the inside out? Humans simply couldn¡¯t survive such attacks.

 Chapter 1240 - Li Leiâ€™s Return

    <h4>Chapter 1240: Li Lei¡¯s Return</h4>

    Her body trembled, and her heart was in so much pain it was like a piece of it had been dug out.

    She trembled again and carefully touched his body. Then, she called weakly, ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡±

    The man who had fallen in the puddle remained motionless as if he was dead.

    She knelt down in the storm, not caring that her legs were immersed in the puddle. Trying hard, she carefully turned him over. She tried a few times without sess. As she endured the burning pain and was about to flip him again, her wrist was suddenly caught.

    She was startled and eximed. In a split second, she was already pressed on the ground covered with water in the storm, and Wei Lingnan was holding her wrist and pressing on her body.

    She looked at him with beautiful eyes, her heart beating fiercely.

    He... he wasn¡¯t dead yet?!

    How could it be?!

    But he was alive in front of her like this, and his temperature was still high, which made her suspect that her skin in contact with his had been burned. Her sight was blurry and only a small street light above them emitted a dim halo. The rapid impact of the waterfall covered his face, and Wei Lingnan was against the light, stroking her face with one hand, looking at her with dim eyes.

    Neither of them spoke.

    Her heart was beating so fast it was about to explode.

    Suddenly, there was another sh of lightning. This time, she really saw the dazzling white light that almost blinded her eyes momentarily hitting on his spine. Blue-violet current crackled across his body. His shirt waspletely burned, revealing his ck, scarred muscles. She suspected she had mistaken what she saw when his slender and lean body changed at that moment, turning into some kind of monster, like, like...

    She was so horrified that her brain went nk, and she heard herself scream.

    He seemed to notice something. He lowered his head and saw his originally slender and bony fingers had turned into sharp ws, and his sharp fingertips cut through her cheek, leaving a long blood mark.

    He let go of the ws holding her cheek.

    Without warning, he kissed her.

    It was a rough, predatory kiss as if dering possession, or refusal to back down till he died.

    She waspletely shocked and didn¡¯t know how to react. Her body was numb, and she just let him kiss her. The rain distorted her vision and distorted his half-human and half-beast appearance. She felt that all this was an unreal dream, in which there were monsters...

    Before long, she passed out.

    When she woke up, she was in the bungalow in the family area of the underground base.

    She was sleeping on the bed where she used to sleep, and the soft down was reassuring.

    The sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling window was bright, theke was sparkling, and the fragrance of flowers and fruits exuded in the air.

    Thinking back to everything before thea, she wondered if she had a dream. In fact, she didn¡¯t follow Wei Shaoyin to escape at all, and everything was just her imagination?

    Burning pain came from the palm of her hand.

    Xia Yingluo raised her hand to see burn marks on her fair skin, as she remembered.

    Her breath tightened and her body trembled again.

    The bedroom door was pushed open and Wei Lingnan came in.

    The man was still wearing the white shirt he liked, and his long figure seemed so elegant under the pull of the sun. He walked towards her step by step as if some kind of top predator approaching his prey.

    Her body receded unknowingly.

    Wei Lingnan stopped by her bed. ¡°You¡¯re awake.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell are you? Or what are you?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice trembled, and she looked at him fearfully.

    ¡°You already knew, didn¡¯t you?¡± His tone was calm.

    ¡°Skartana really exists in this world? Are you really an alien? Last night... everything I sawst night wasn¡¯t a dream?¡± Xia Yingluo looked pale and her eyes were wide.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Yes, you weren¡¯t dreaming. What you saw was my original body, that is, the monster that you wanted me to show you. The original body is very energy-consuming, but it¡¯s powerful in defense and could protect you from the lightning.¡± Theary will had deliberately tried to stop him by dropping lightning on him and injuring him, but that injury was nothing to him. It only made him lose his mobility temporarily, but he was alright.

    But she hade back.

    When the second lightning fell, she was under him.

    He was afraid that lightning would prate her own human figure and chop her to death, so he had turned into his original body. The original body of the Skatana tribe had the strongestbat power in the universe, including the strongest defense.

    But it had consumed too much of his energy.

    Xia Yingluo realized his face was pale. There wasn¡¯t a hint of blood flowing in his face, and he looked even weaker than her. She asked, ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Are you stupid?¡±

    She suddenly understood the meaning of his words. If it hadn¡¯t been for her, he wouldn¡¯t havemitted such arge amount of energy. She felt that the stupidest was indeed herself. Why did she run back to see him? He was okay, after all, and by going back, she had fallen back into his ws again.

    ¡°Let me go,¡± she said. ¡°I care about you, yet you treat me like this?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her with a sneer. ¡°You have consumed so much of my energy, how about paying back some interest?¡±

    She red at him. ¡°You¡¯re shameless!¡±

    He looked at her quietly and said, ¡°Have a good rest.¡±

    Looking down, a gentle kiss was ced on her forehead. In that stormy night, the moment the thunder and lightning broke down, Wei Lingnan was desperate and felt that he could never chase her back. He watched her back get farther and farther in the dark night and had felt something deep inside tearing apart. His persistence for the billions of years had seemed so ridiculous. From beginning to end, he was the only one who never forgot this rtionship, and she simply didn¡¯t care at all.

    His heart had been colder than the pouring storm.

    But what surprised him was that Xia Yingluo hade back.

    She had been drenched in rain and panic-stricken.

    The moment her fingertips touched his body, Wei Lingnan¡¯s whole heart trembled, and unspeakable joy exploded in his heart. For the first time in hundreds of millions of years, happiness was within reach.

    This time, he would never let her go.

    The storm in midsummer in S City continued. A small aircraft in a suburban manornded in the thunderous thunder. Once itnded, a few people walked off it, led by a handsome and extraordinary man. He had healthy wheat-colored skin and the contours of his facial features were as deep as carvings. Beside him, there was a beautiful and elegant woman, wearing high-end tailor-made clothing. She had on light makeup and was extremely pleasing to the eye.

 Chapter 1241 - Freedom and Contract

    <h4>Chapter 1241: Freedom and Contract</h4>

    Behind the two was a young man with wheat-colored skin and mixed-race traits.

    Then, more people appeared behind them.

    At the exit, Wei Shaoyin was already impatiently waiting for them. ¡°Xiao Ling, Li Lei, why are you sote? Yingluo that silly girl has been caught by my little uncle again.¡±

    The person who came out was Li Lei, the current patriarch of the Li family, as well as his wife, Xia Ling, a super queen. The young man behind him was Li Rui, the second son of the Li family. Xia Ling opened her mouth first. She didn¡¯t care about the rain on her body and asked, ¡°What do you mean by again? Wei Lingnan caught her twice?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin simply wanted to curse. ¡°Is your daughter stupid? She ran out and then went back again, was she looking for death?¡± He told them what happened on the stormy night in a nutshell.

    Xia Ling listened with anxiety and exchanged a nce with Li Lei.

    Li Lei¡¯s expression was not very good. Did she have an affection for that mysterious man? This was the result they least wanted to see.

    Li Lei¡¯s voice seemed very decisive in the storm. ¡°The rescue expert team has been contacted and the intelligence personnel is already in ce. We will immediately call everyone to concentrate on the secret meeting room. We¡¯ll now formte a rescue n.¡± He turned and calmed his wife down. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Yingluo will be fine.¡±

    His words calmed Xia Ling¡¯s heart down more or less.

    No matter what happened, this man would always be her backbone.

    Li Lei strode out of the exit, and she, Li Rui and Wei Shaoyin closely followed.

    Wei Family Biopharmaceutical underground base.

    Xia Yingluo knew nothing about what was happening on the ground. Under the strict supervision of Wei Lingnan, she couldn¡¯t even go out of the small bungalow. She was sullen and even ignored Wei Lingnan, but Wei Lingnan was surprisingly good to her. No matter how sullen she was, he wasn¡¯t angry. He was gentle and patient and pampered her with food and clothing.

    Xia Yingluo felt like she was punching on a marshmallow. She couldn¡¯t find a focus point to injure.

    She dreamt at night again.

    She dreamt of the night in the thunderstorm. Some ferocious beast lying in the darkness pressed her down, and she turned into a ferocious beast herself. The dream was chaotic and suddenly changed to the Skatana. She saw the deep and shallow purple cracked earth, a bloody beast was guarding a little girl, and in all directions were countless monsters and zerg.

    The beast was fighting with his life, and the little girl was crying and telling him to leave¡ª

    [Nan, run away, run away, leave me alone and don¡¯t die here with me. I don¡¯t want you anymore, I don¡¯t want you to be my guardian, run far away, do you hear? I will release you, run away! ]

    The beast ignored her words. His body was bitten off by the Zerg, and he still stood guard in front of the little girl.

    A sky of blood appeared in front of her eyes.

    The little girl¡¯s tears blurred her eyes, and she lowered her head to bite her wrist, and blood ran out. [I release you, I release you!] She cried out, [Go! go!] The guardian contract was a blood deed. If the princess voluntarily drained her whole body¡¯s blood, she could use her life to free the guardian. From ancient times to the present, she was the first princess to do so.

    The fierce beast in the fierce battle turned back abruptly, disregarding the attack behind him, and issued a sad long cry.

    The sorrow echoed in the dark purple suppressed world, moving anyone who heard it.

    The girl cried, [We¡¯ll all die if you don¡¯t leave. Weren¡¯t you unwilling to be my guardian from the beginning? Now you¡¯re free. Just go, Nan...] she said this with her mouth, but her eyes were still full of longing.

    She closed her eyes, unwilling to see the back of his departure.

    But the beast did not leave.

    The little girl felt a little warmness and a little stinging on her wrist. He was using his barbed tongue to lick her gently, trying in vain to stop the blood from leaving her.

    Her eyes reopened in surprise. Why didn¡¯t it go?

    Then she saw his body sway. A Zerg had bitten his back fiercely, and warm blood spilled on her face like a waterfall. Her heart seemed to stop beating, and after a moment, she cried in a heartbreaking sound, [Nan!] Then she pressed her wound in a hurry. [Don¡¯t worry about me, you go and fight! You have to live, you have to live, we¡¯ll leave here together!]

    Since it was unwilling to leave, she couldn¡¯t cancel the contract. That would reduce itsbat effectiveness, and the two could only be trapped here. Live... they had to live together...

    This had been their only wish in the bloody years.

    In her dream, Xia Yingluo was full of tears.

    She wanted to reach out and touch the scarred beast, but she had no substance in her dream.

    When she woke up, the thin morning light broke through the clouds and sprinkled in. It was another day.

    She put on her clothes and stood up. Then, she walked out of the bedroom after washing. In the small flower hall full of sunshine, the lone figure of Wei Lingnan stood beside a galvanized ironstone vessel. His figure intertwined with light and shadow, and his ice-sculpted side face was breathtaking.

    Noticing her, he turned. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    Wasn¡¯t that a given? Xia Yingluo was unhappy because of her nightmarest night and she didn¡¯t have a good expression.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t care. ¡°Wei Shaoyin is here and wants to see you.¡±

    She looked up in surprise. Wei Shaoyin? ¡°You didn¡¯t lock him up and torture him?¡± She had thought that since Wei Shaoyin had helped her escape, Wei Lingnan would never let him go.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°What kind of person do you think of me?¡±

    A pervert.

    Xia Yingluo replied silently in her heart. She suppressed the urge and finally didn¡¯t say it out loud.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was faint. ¡°Your parents want to rescue you, they¡¯re talking to me about the conditions and he¡¯s just a messenger.¡± If it was not for this special rtionship, he would have taken revenge on Wei Shaoyin. ¡°However, if it happens a second time, I promise you he¡¯ll suffer.¡±

    Xia Yingluo ignored the threat in the second half of his sentence and asked in surprise, ¡°My parents are talking to you about the conditions?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to see them?¡± Wei Lingnan asked.

    Xia Yingluo nodded desperately, her pair of beautiful eyes flickering.

    ¡°Dream on,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    As a result, Xia Yingluo¡¯s face copsed. This man was too much. Why did he make her want to punch him so badly? However, it was still good news to be able to see Wei Shaoyin. Xia Yingluo quickly changed into her coat and went to the meeting room to meet him. She saw Wei Shaoyin sitting on the sofa by the window in the reception room, holding a cup of coffee in his hand which he didn¡¯t drink.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± This was his first words when he saw Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo nodded.

    ¡°Did that pervert punish you or bully you?¡± This was the problem he was most worried about, as well as the problem that Li Lei and Xia Ling were most worried about. They had asked him to meet her and make sure she was alright.

 Chapter 1242 - Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 1242: Rescue</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°I was stupid to run back to see him. This time, his attitude towards me is much milder.¡± Maybe she thought a fool didn¡¯t deserve to be too picky, and Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was already bursting into tears.

    Wei Shaoyin was disdainful. ¡°Sooner orter, you¡¯ll kill yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± She reflected deeply.

    ¡°Do you know your wrong?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to go out?¡±

    ¡°I want to!¡± She looked up, her eyes full of hope. ¡°Uncle Wei, save me!¡±

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s face showed even more scorn. ¡°Grow up. I don¡¯t want to go to you with the power of nine cows and two tigers only for you to throw yourself into the. Is it very fun?¡±

    Swallowing the bitter fruit she had nted herself, Xia Yingluo deeply reflected and apologized repeatedly. Finally, she managed to sooth this picky uncle.

    Wei Shaoyin¡¯s anger alleviated a little. ¡°Just stay here and don¡¯t do anything. Wait for the oue of the negotiations between your parents and Wei Lingnan. Also, after meeting with your parents, I came to understand the truth behind my perverted uncle¡¯s identity. Your parents told me to tell you to prepare yourself mentally.¡±

    ¡°What identity?¡± Her heart jumped wildly and uncontrobly.

    ¡°He¡¯s an alien.¡±

    ¡°What... what?!¡± Xia Yingluo was beyond shocked. Was this whole world crazy? ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not teasing me? Uncle Wei, how could there be aliens in this world?¡±

    ¡°The night of the storm when you turned back and the lightning split down...¡± Wei Shaoyin¡¯s expression was heavy and reluctant. ¡°I saw the lightning split on a monster.¡± That scene had made him extremely horrified and he had even forgotten how to react. After seeing Li Lei and Xia Ling, he had told them about it, but unexpectedly, Xia Ling had told him something even more incredible.

    Xia Yingluo was having trouble breathing. It turned out that the monster she saw that day was not an illusion?

    Even Wei Shaoyin saw it!

    From the first time she had met Wei Lingnan, all kinds of incredible scenes shed across her heart. His fast-healing wounds, his extremely high speed on the cliffs that defied all principles of gravity, the rejection, her dreams, and the monster under the stormy night street lights... there were too many doubts that prevented her from deceiving herself.

    Her expression slowly turned pale.

    Wei Shaoyin just had to give her another fatal blow. ¡°Your uncle is also in S City. He told you not to be afraid, Even though Wei Lingnan isn¡¯t human, he won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    Her uncle was the most mysterious Preceptor in the world.

    Since he said Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t human, Wei Lingnan was definitely not human.

    Xia Yingluo turned around and felt that her understanding of the world in the past ten years had beenpletely subverted. So everything Wei Lingnan had told her about was true? Everything about the Skatana, the Guardian and Little Princess...

    She remembered the dream she hadst night. It had been so tragic.

    She held onto the table subconsciously, trying hard to calm herself.

    Wei Shaoyin understood her mood very well. When he just learned the truth, his beliefs had also beenpletely destroyed. He had to digest the huge shock for several days before he managed to calm down. Just now, he had also specifically asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°Little uncle, are you an alien?¡±

    Wei Lingnan had smiled mysteriously. ¡°It¡¯s not good to know too much.¡±

    The reception room was very quiet, and Wei Shaoyin looked at Xia Yingluo sympathetically. ¡°Thinking about it, being abducted by aliens is also a unique experience.¡±

    ¡°Who wants this kind of experience!¡± Xia Yingluo was going crazy.

    She didn¡¯t know how she had sent away Wei Shaoyin, but she was soon walking towards the small bungalow with a dazed expression. On the first floor, near the waterside, the lone figure of a man leaned against the uneven brick wall, a cigarette twisted between his bony fingers. He looked slightly lonely.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s footsteps stopped.

    She looked seriously at him for the first time.

    Was he really an alien? He looked so handsome, his handsome face no different from the top super male models on the. He had a thin nose and thin lips and was extremely wealthy. He was exactly the dream man of many girls. No one would have imagined that such a perfect man would transform into a monster in the storm that night. The difference between his original body and his human form was so great.

    Wei Lingnan turned his head and saw her.

    For a moment, neither of them spoke.

    After a moment, she approached him step by step, reached out, and took the cigarette out of his hand very naturally. ¡°Smoking is bad for your health.¡±

    He didn¡¯t resist and let her take the cigarette away.

    Looking down at her, his voice was a little ambiguous and low. ¡°You care for my body?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an alien and not limatized, so you should pay more attention to your health than humans should,¡± she said.

    He smiled slightly and corrected her. ¡°Skatana.¡±

    She looked up at him, her beautiful eyshes were curled like stamens, and her crystal eyes bright like stars. She remembered her dreamst night. In the dream, he was bathed in blood, vowing to guard the weak girl. He must have loved that girl so much that he never forgot her even after so many years.

    Slowly, as if in a trance, she reached out and stroked his cheek.

    In the dream, she had wanted to touch him like that.

    His skin was slightly cold, and he felt as chilly as snow, but his eyes were soft. He looked at her intensely, then reached out and caught her hand. He kissed it gently.

    ¡°I¡¯m d you know of my identity,¡± he said.

    ¡°I hope you find her soon,¡± she said.

    ¡°You are her.¡±

    The breeze blew slowly across theke, and the clothes of the two were tangled together as if they would never be separated.

    However, it was just an illusion, after all.

    They were guarded against each other. Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t rx his guard, and her thoughts of escaping never died. Trapped in the small bungalow, she drank tea and sun in the garden and waterside every day. A day dragged past like a year, and she counted in her heart exactly when she would be rescued.

    The opportunity finally came.

    On this day, she was drinking tea under an old tree, when she suddenly felt a breeze on her side. When she looked up, she saw a person beside her, wearing a white professional dress. His long hair scattered beautifully like a quietly blooming flower. She looked at the man, stunned for a few seconds. ¡°Uncle... Uncle...¡±

    The person standing there was Xia Moyan, the mysterious and unpredictable Preceptor Xia.

    At this time, he was unexpectedly coordinated in a woman¡¯s dress.

    ¡°You, why are you dressed like this?¡± Xia Yingluo was shocked.

    Xia Moyan said indifferently, ¡°Time is tight. Put on my clothes, then go out and join the rescue team ording to this map. Remember, your identity is the product director of the national blue shark pharmaceutical F Group, and you followed thepany¡¯s negotiation team this time to discuss the development of new anti-cancer drugs.¡±

 Chapter 1243 - See the Light Again

    <h4>Chapter 1243: See the Light Again</h4>

    Xia Yingluo suddenly understood that her uncle had brought people to save her.

    After a moment of rejoicing, she asked, ¡°Uncle, then what about you?¡± If she dressed up as him and went out, wouldn¡¯t he be trapped in this abnormal underground base?

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Wei Lingan won¡¯t dare to touch me.¡±

    For hundreds of years, the Xia family had maintained a delicate bnce with Wei Lingnan. Even if Wei Lingnan was bold enough, he wouldn¡¯t dare do anything to the Xia family Preceptor unless he wanted a life and death struggle. What¡¯s more, that man loved Xia Yingluo deeply and wouldn¡¯t really kill her loved ones and make her resent him forever.

    Xia Yingluo nodded. She understood that now was not the time to dillydally, and quickly changed into Xia Moyan¡¯s clothing.

    She also received a small map. The route was marked with a green line, and red lines marked out the danger zones. She had seen these marks when she received the family survival training and hence, knew what it meant at first nce. ¡°Take care, uncle.¡±

    She turned and entered the vastplex.

    The map her uncle gave was really easy to use. Along the way, she escaped several obstacles and patrols without any risk. Other obstacles were also solved by the skills she had learned in the family over the years. After walking around for about half an hour, she came to the hall marked on the map. There were about twenty or thirty people in the hall, listening to what a researcher-like person was exining. She entered silently, not wanting to attract any attention.

    Beside her, a man in a suit and leather shoes smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re back, Ms. Moyan.¡±

    As soon as she heard it, she understood that he was the person who hade to rescue her.

    She smiled in response.

    The rescue n went smoothly, and the group didn¡¯t stay too long. They left after hearing the exnation.

    Xia Yingluo walked out of the base while mixed in the crowd, and when she stepped out of the door of the old building, she couldn¡¯t believe that she was out like this. She turned back and looked at the building withplexed feelings. Under the bright sun, that building looked so unusual. Who knew that there were so many perilous situations hidden deep in the ground?

    ¡°Miss, let¡¯s go.¡± The responder lowered his voice to remind her.

    Xia Yingluo got in the car.

    She went home in the car¡ªher parents lived in City S.

    She got out of the car and saw her family standing at the door to meet her¡ªLi Lei was wearing an ordinary T-shirt, Xia Ling in a light silk dress, and Li Rui was standing not far from them.

    ¡°Dad, mom!¡± She rushed to hug them.

    Xia Ling and Li Lei hugged her tightly too, anxiously embracing her. ¡°You¡¯re finally back.¡± Xia Ling¡¯s voice shook with excitement. ¡°Yingluo, do you know how worried your father and I have been during this time?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was also very happy and guilty. ¡°I¡¯m fine, Mom. Sorry for worrying you.¡±

    ¡°All that matters is that you¡¯re alright.¡± Xia Ling looked at her from head to toe and saw that her skin was radiant, her eyes clear, herplexion good, and she didn¡¯t look like something had happened, so she heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Your two older brothers are also worried about you,¡± she said to Xia Yingluo. ¡°With so many children at home, you are the most worrying.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled coquettishly. ¡°That¡¯s because you, father and my brothers all care for me.¡±

    She turned around and gave Li Rui a big hug. ¡°Second Brother.¡±

    Li Rui raised his eyebrows lightly. ¡°You¡¯ve spent eleven months away from home, did you go crazy ying outside? You¡¯re even calling me second brother so fakely.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. ¡°No, I have always missed you.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to give you pocket money? Or take you to y?¡± Li Ruiughed. ¡°Or did you just think about asking me to save you? If you miss me, it¡¯s bound to be nothing good.¡±

    ¡°Hehe, hehe.¡± Xia Yingluo was unable to refute.

    The two brothers in the family had a good rtionship with her. However, the older brother Li Shaohui learned how to be an excellent heir from an early age and was rarely free ever since she could remember. However, her second brother, Li Rui, was as yful as her and brought her out to go down the river to touch the fishes, climb up the tree to dig out the birds, and sometimes, they would even go to the casino or the red light district to gain more experiences...

    Because of this, they were often in trouble, but the two siblings had forged a deep ¡°revolutionary friendship.¡±

    After teasing her second brother, she asked, ¡°What about big brother?¡±

    ¡°Li Shaohui had to be in the headquarters and couldn¡¯t walk away.¡± Unlike Xia Yingluo who called ¡°Big brother¡± and ¡°Second brother¡± by the rules, Li Rui had always called Li Shaohui by his first name. The two had fought several times over this when they were young, but Li Rui refused to change his habits and Shaohui had no choice but to give in.

    Xia Yingluo nodded and understood.

    It was said that her unreliable father had wanted to retire from many years ago, leaving the burden of the family to others, so that he could swim and explore the world with her mother...

    That was why Shaohui had been cultivated so desperately since young. Everything that Shaohui could do, Li Rui wouldn¡¯t do himself.

    She silently pitied her elder brother and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll call him and report my safety.¡±

    The family got together and talked again. Xia Ling was afraid that Xia Yingluo was tired, so she let her rest. Xia Yingluo bid farewell to them, returned to her room and fell asleep on the bed.

    After seeing her leave, Xia Ling¡¯s expression was a little stunned, and she sighed softly.

    Li Lei, who was standing beside her, consoled her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everything will be fine.¡± He understood why his wife had sighed. Yingluo this child had had terrible dreams since she was young, and this was extremely unusual for a child blessed as the Phoenix¡¯s daughter. At that time, Xia Moyan had warned them that Xia Ling had only been pregnant with the child after taking the medicine given to them by Wei Lingnan, and there might be some special things. Over the years, they carefully took care of and protected Yingluo. For years, nothing happened, making them think that Xia Moyan¡¯s warning was just a false rm.

    Unexpectedly, there was no way to stop what was toe.

    From all the clues, they analyzed that perhaps Yingluo was the reason why Wei Lingnan insisted on staying on Earth. Wei Lingnan wouldn¡¯t give up so easily. Xia Ling was extremely worried, but under thefort of her husband, she smiled. ¡°Yingluo has been lucky since young, nothing will happen.¡±

    Li Lei hugged her gently.

    The two looked at thendscape in the vi¡¯s garden together.

    Xia Ling was born petite and was clearly the mother of two children, but she still looked the same as when she was a girl. Her face was as beautiful as ever. It was a blessing only for those who were especially lucky to get the care of time.

    She was a very blessed person.

    Her children would certainly be fine.

    Xia Yingluo was asleep for a long time. When she woke up, she put on a coat and saw her parents sipping a pot of tea in the small garden. The gentle sunshine shone on their bodies, and their hazy figures made her feel peaceful.

    She felt envious unconsciously.

    For a long time, her parents had been a model of love-telling among the people. Just a year ago, she was full of hope that she would also find a happy marriage like her parents, but Zhao Yixuan and Wei Lingnan... Why couldn¡¯t there be a gentle person?

 Chapter 1244 - Little Leopard Cub

    <h4>Chapter 1244: Little Leopard Cub</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Li Lei and Xia Ling saw her too. Xia Ling turned around and smiled at her. ¡°Yingluo,e over.¡±

    She walked towards her parents and sat down. ¡°Dad, Mom, sorry to have worried you.¡±

    Xia Ling had a gentle expression on her face. ¡°What¡¯s most important is that you¡¯re alright. Yingluo, tell us about what¡¯s happened this past year. How did Wei Lingnan find you?¡± In fact, they¡¯d conducted their investigations after Wei Shaoyin alerted them about it, and were informed about the general situation. But they still hoped to hear it from Xia Yingluo herself. After all, her version was still going to be a little different from the reports.

    Xia Yingluo shared everything from start to finish and sighed. ¡°It¡¯s all that pervert¡¯s fault that I failed at my independent experience.¡± Since her family was involved now, it was definitely considered a failure.

    Xia Lingforted her. ¡°If anyone dares tough at you when you get back, I¡¯ll help you deal with them!¡±

    ¡°Yup!¡± Xia Yingluo nodded. It was always nice to have Mom around. But she had her worries as well. ¡°Mom, if I really have something to do with that alien, I mean, if I¡¯m the alien girl he¡¯s been looking for, I-I...¡±

    She had no idea how to go on.

    Xia Ling hugged her daughter and stroked her hair. ¡°You¡¯re the daughter I carried for nine months, the daughter I gave birth to, not some alien. Even if you are an alien, you¡¯ll always be my daughter. Yingluo, your father and I will always love you.¡± Her sweet voice had the power to assure others, and Xia Yingluo felt calmer now.

    Li Lei said, ¡°Yingluo, follow us back to the headquarters, we will provide you with the best protection possible.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°Yup, but I want to make a trip to the training camp first, to bid my friends farewell.¡±

    This made Li Lei a little unhappy. ¡°Why¡¯d you go to Imperial¡¯s training camp for, isn¡¯t Skyart good? And you actually fell for someone like Zhao Yixuan? You should learn from your mom, she had such good judgment, as you can tell by your father¡¯s thoughtfulness and handsomeness.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless.

    <i>Dad, you¡¯re obviously jealous now. We know you don¡¯t like Imperial Entertainment. </i>

    Xia Yingluo thought to herself while ncing at her mother. Her mother was smiling so sweetly, like a little girl who¡¯d just fallen in love, looking at her lover.

    Oh well, she had the most loving parents in the world alright.

    They showed off to her every day.

    Xia Yingluo, who was still single, did not want to watch on. She got up and was ready to leave. ¡°Dad, Mom, I¡¯ll be going back to my room to prepare some things. I¡¯m going to the camp tomorrow to bid my friends farewell.¡±

    Only then did Xia Ling snap out of her endearing gaze at Li Lei. ¡°Let Second Brother follow you there.¡±

    ¡°Second Brother?¡±

    ¡°He has plenty of time to spare, anyway. Rather than spending it all on drinking and whiling away time, he might as well follow you to the training camp, and your friends will get to see how handsome your brother is.¡± To be fair, Li Rui was pretty good-looking, having inherited Su Tang¡¯s delicate features and a mixed-blood father¡¯s unique charisma. Moreover, he was always up to date with thetest fashion trends and knew how to dress himself to appeal to the young girls.

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°I¡¯m afraid he¡¯ll be stopped in the camp and asked to be an instructor there.¡±

    Li Lei wasn¡¯t too happy. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t dare.¡±

    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Azy voice was heard. ¡°I think I heard my name?¡±

    They turned around and saw that Li Rui hade. He was wearing a bright pink shirt with crystal buttons¡ªof which only one was done¡ªrevealing his well-toned chest. In his hand was a flower from somewhere, and on his shoulder was a baby leopard gripping tight onto his shirt.

    Xia Yingluo greeted him first. ¡°Second Bro.¡± She thenughed. ¡°Dad said that if you sign a contract to work at Imperial¡¯s training camp, he¡¯d break your legs.¡±

    Li Rui walked closer to them andughed. ¡°You horrid girl, stoping between Dad and me. If he really wanted to break my legs, he would¡¯ve done so when I took you to have a look at the red-light district. So what have you been talking about me?¡± He looked at Li Lei and Xia Ling and greeted them. ¡°Dad, Mom.¡±

    For as long as he could remember, he¡¯d known that he wasn¡¯t Xia Ling¡¯s biological child. But the image of his biological mother Su Tang almost hitting him to death had been etched in his mind; it had caused him so much trauma, he eventually opened up to his kind and gentle stepmother. When he was a little older, he found out that he wasn¡¯t Li Lei¡¯s biological child either. That meant that technically, he didn¡¯t deserve to enjoy the perks and privileges as Young Master Li. But Xia Ling and Li Lei never breathed a word about it, and simply treated him as their own throughout.

    In fact, they hadn¡¯t even told Xia Yingluo that he wasn¡¯t her biological brother.

    Li Rui would never forget all that they¡¯d done for him.

    Now that the whole family was close-knitted and living in harmony, he genuinely treated them as his kin too.

    Xia Ling looked at Li Rui. ¡°Where did you go to pick up girls again? In this outfit?¡±

    Li Rui gave a smile. ¡°I¡¯m hardly back in the country, so of course I have to pay some visits to my close female friends. In the morning I remembered that it was time to send my little leopard back here, so here I am.¡± He stroked the little cub on his shoulder.

    The leopard cub licked his hand affectionately.

    Xia Yingluo reached out to y with it too. ¡°It¡¯s so cute, did Hairball give birth to it? How many did she have?¡±

    Hairball was a mother leopard that they kept at home, and she was Er Mao¡¯s daughter. When she was away for her individual experience, she¡¯d heard that Hairball was due soon, but didn¡¯t expect to see the little cub the next time she met her family.

    Li Rui ced the leopard cub on the table for Xia Yingluo to entertain herself with. ¡°She has two cubs, this one is called Rong Rong, Shaohui¡¯s is called Mao Mao.¡±

    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t have one...¡± Xia Yingluo was upset.

    Li Rui grinned at her. ¡°Well, you were absent.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was devastated, she¡¯d always wanted a little leopard cub to y with. Back when Er Mao had little Hairball, she was still young. She grew up with Hairball and waited in anticipation for her to have a cub, but now that she had two, she wasn¡¯t entitled to owning any.

    Li Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re a girl, why rear a leopard? I¡¯ll find you a pet another day.¡± Two little leopards, just right for the two brothers to have one each as battle partners. For a girl, it was a little too much to be rearing such an animal.

    ¡°Who says a girl can¡¯t rear a leopard?¡± Xia Yingluo pouted and asked Xia Ling for a hug, ¡°Mom, they¡¯re all being mean...¡±

 Chapter 1245 - Energy for Rebirth

    <h4>Chapter 1245: Energy for Rebirth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling stroked her daughter¡¯s hair and smiled. ¡°Be good.¡±

    Li Rui asked, ¡°So... do you want me to follow you to the training camp?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, no.¡± She turned away in a tantrum.

    Xia Ling stroked her hair again. ¡°Be good, let your Second Brother apany you.¡± It wasn¡¯t just about letting him y it cool in front of the girls, but rather, with Wei Lingnan having his eyes on her, who was to say what could happen? They were more at ease knowing that Li Rui was with her.

    Xia Yingluo understood this as well. After being held by her mother for a long while, she finally nodded reluctantly.

    This time, Li Rui was the one making things difficult. ¡°Who says I have to go with you just because you want me to? Let me hear you call me Second Bro.¡±

    ¡°Bad Second Bro.¡±

    ¡°Nope, not going with you.¡±

    ¡°... Nice Second Bro.¡± Xia Yingluo gave in.

    Only then did Li Rui grin. ¡°That¡¯s a good girl.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was just like a time bomb in everyone¡¯s heart, causing panic and uneasiness.

    Back in the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group underground base, the family members¡¯ bungalow.

    In the garden, Wei Lingnan looked coldly at Xia Moyan, who was dressed in a female outfit and sipping tea. ¡°Who allowed you to wear her clothes?¡±

    Xia Moyan calmly responded, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you ask where she¡¯s gone first?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s tone became even colder. ¡°Need I ask? Since you¡¯re here, you¡¯ve definitely swapped her out. There must be something wrong with today¡¯s guest-checking department.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°So you¡¯re not stupid.¡±

    Wei Lingnan shot him an unpleasant look. ¡°You will pay for your doings.¡± He had been too careless as to underestimate the coborative power of the Li¡¯s and Xia¡¯s. They actually managed to swap Xia Yingluo out in his territory. He was enraged. All the security officers on duty must be punished, but even that would not bring Xia Yingluo back¡ªher family already knew what he was, they were sure to protect her well.

    Xia Moyan wasn¡¯t the least bit bothered by his threats. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you here.¡±

    ¡°Waiting for me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been hundreds of years, and still the Xia family isn¡¯t too sure about your history. All we know is that you didn¡¯te from this originally. Wei Lingnan, since you¡¯veid your hands on my sister and gotten the Xia family involved in your n, shouldn¡¯t you be telling me a little more about yourself?¡±

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Why should I?¡±

    ¡°You need my help.¡± Xia Moyan was sure. ¡°We found problems with Yingluo¡¯s body after she¡¯s been in contact with you, problems that current medical technology cannot exin. You, too, are unable to manage her problems on your own. Otherwise, these pains wouldn¡¯t have acted up time and time again.¡±

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes a little. ¡°You¡¯re smart.¡±

    Xia Moyan was as poker-faced as usual. ¡°So, can you tell me now?¡± He actually had no idea whether Wei Lingnan needed his help, but there was a 50% chance. As it turned out, he was right. But he wasn¡¯t sure if it was a fortune or misfortune.

    Wei Lingnan turned around. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Wearing the female outfit, Xia Moyan¡¯s elegant strides made him look like a mature and refineddy. He followed Wei Lingnan through the family members¡¯ zone and into an area of boundless darkness. That was when he saw a purple slowly emerge before him against the dark background; it appeared so mysterious.

    This was the that Wei Lingnan had attempted to show Xia Yingluo, but she¡¯d fallen unconscious.

    ¡°The Skatana,¡± Wei Lingnan told Xia Moyan. ¡°This is my homnd, and Ah Luo¡¯s as well.¡±

    Xia Moyan followed him as they set foot on that. There were strange creatures all around, and faraway cries, as well as the smell of blood, traveled to them. Xia Moyan¡¯s constantly poker face flinched a little.

    ¡°These are?¡± He pointed towards those weird creatures.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°The Skatana species, the original form of me and Ah Luo. Don¡¯t ask me to transform before your eyes, it¡¯s too much of a waste of energy. But I¡¯ve transformed in front of Ah Luo before, you can always ask her when you get back if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    Xia Moyan didn¡¯t think of not believing him.

    At this stage, Wei Lingnan had no reason to lie to him.

    As The Preceptor, he¡¯d heard about Wei Lingnan¡¯s existence from his father and elders since he was a child, and was inclined to believe in aliens and other beings. What worried him was how Xia Yingluo was involved in this. ¡°By Ah Luo, you mean my niece, Xia Yingluo? How can she be of your species? She¡¯s a human that Xiao Ling birthed after carrying her for nine whole months.¡±

    ¡°The Skatana has been destroyed...¡± Wei Lingnan said with a hint of sadness in his voice. ¡°I reached out to grab her, but I only managed to grab a tiny bone fragment of hers, that tiny finger bone fragment was thest remaining part of her after she was liquefied at high temperatures. I wanted to revive her, so I brought it along with me as I floated around the universe for god knows how long, looking after for signs of life and energy changes... until I found this ce, Earth.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything special about Earth?¡± Xia Moyan felt that the answer wasing.

    ¡°Of course, Earth is very special.¡± Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I felt energy fluctuation that allowed for rebirth.¡±

    ¡°Energy fluctuation for rebirth?¡± Xia Moyan had never heard of something like this. He was attentive. ¡°Tell me more about it.¡±

    A sh of pride could be seen in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes. ¡°Among the countlesss in the universe that show signs of life, energy for rebirth is mysterious and rare. As the strongest species in the universe, I have explored variouss and got to hear of the different sayings about rebirth. That¡¯s why I haven¡¯t given up looking for it after tens of millions of years and managed to capture it the moment Earth released even the weakest form of that energy. The way that energy fluctuated was exactly like in the rumors, and I knew right away that this was it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by the way the energy fluctuated?¡± Xia Moyan asked.

    Wei Lingnan looked at him. ¡°Humans are a weak race. Even you, protector of your, are unable to sense it.¡±

    Xia Moyan was unhappy. ¡°Humans are a weak race? We have that rare form of energy you were talking about.¡±

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Maybe humans have their uniqueness and possibly limitless potential, but I have to say this¡ªyou people are fortunate that Earth lies in the far end of the universe, otherwise you¡¯d have been destroyed by the intelligent civilizations a long time back.¡±

    Xia Moyan frowned but did not rebuke.

    It was a fact that they knew very little¡ªor rather, nothing at all¡ªabout other civilizations in the universe.

    And this situation didn¡¯t seem very promising.

    ¡°Go on, when did you start sensing the energy for rebirth? When the Xia ancestors saw you for the first time hundreds of years back?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°Back then, I¡¯d just arrived on Earth after being guided by the energy fluctuations. That was when I knew that Ah Luo could be saved.¡± He broke into a distorted grin.

 Chapter 1246 - Returning to the Training Camp

    <h4>Chapter 1246: Returning to the Training Camp</h4>

    Xia Moyan roughly knew what was going on now.

    Hundreds of years back when the Xia ancestors first met Wei Lingnan, it was the time when the previous Phoenix was attaining nirvana. That was why energy fluctuations for rebirth were released, and in very small magnitudes¡ªthe previous Phoenix eventually wasn¡¯t sessful in attaining nirvana.

    Wei Lingnan went on, ¡°The energy fluctuation vanished very quickly and I was unable to determine its precise location. All I knew was that it was in the China region, and hence, I came here, built an underground base, and began researching on energy on Earth while waiting for the next fluctuation. The waitsted a few hundred years; in this time, I¡¯d done arge amount of research and had attempted to replicate the energy for rebirth to revive Ah Luo. But all my attempts failed.¡±

    He was beginning to sound distant as if he was telling a story from a third party¡¯s perspective.

    Xia Moyan asked, ¡°What do you mean they failed?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I did many experiments, but none of it produced a physical life form. When it finally did, there were problems too¡ªeither a limb was missing or mutations were present, the form would look neither like a human nor a Skatana species, a truly weird creature.¡±

    Xia Moyan furrowed his brows. No one could listen to such a story and not feel disturbed.

    ¡°So, you never managed to produce a human?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    Xia Moyan looked at him. ¡°So, when you made my sister drink the drug, you actually weren¡¯t sure whether she¡¯d give birth to a human?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Xia Ling is different from other mother figures. Hundreds of years after I arrived here, I sensed an energy fluctuation again, one that was way stronger than the first andsted longer time too. I followed it and found your sister, and watched her meet and get married to the parasol tree your family talks about. The both of them are good and very loving; if there really was a chance to revive Ah Luo on Earth, they were the best bet, and Ah Luo would like such parents too.¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I don¡¯t like how you¡¯re talking about my sister and niece.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be like that, we¡¯ll be family eventually. I drifted for millions of years with Ah Luo¡¯s finger bone and her genes were getting weaker with each experiment. So, we needed humans¡¯ physical form to activate her genes¡ªXia Ling and Li Lei are her biological parents, and that makes them my parents-inw. Technically, I should be calling you Uncle too.¡±

    That was what he said, but there wasn¡¯t much respect in his tone.

    Xia Moyan found this a pretty strange and sticky situation. At that moment, he finally understood Xia Yingluo¡¯s feelings a little¡ªwho would want to be rted to this weird perverted creature?

    ¡°Creating humans through unnatural means is against the universal rule.¡±

    ¡°What Earth ims as the universal rule doesn¡¯t apply to me.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Did you really think my hundreds of years spent researching were all for nothing? I¡¯d long done a thorough study on Earth¡¯s energy¡ªincluding what you people say about retribution and cause-and-effect. I¡¯ve done a lot of environmental protection and charity work, and even secretly pushed forth human¡¯s exploration of the universe, giving this more survival and conservation knowledge. The reward and punishment I deserve have canceled each other out¡ªas long as I don¡¯t do anything invasive, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°What would be considered invasive?¡±

    ¡°For instance, waking my Ah Luo up, or getting her to reproduce.¡± This was a terrifying species that would definitely overpower the original residents of this Earth.

    Xia Moyan frowned subconsciously. ¡°Isn¡¯t that exactly what you¡¯re trying to do now?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°That¡¯s why I need your help. To be honest, Earth is too small and weak, there¡¯s no challenge at all for the Skatana species and our desire to invade and conquer. I¡¯m not the least bit interested in conquering this, but I want Ah Luo to live a good life. Unfortunately, you humans don¡¯t think this way. As the Skatana genes in Ah Luo¡¯s body slowly awaken, Earth¡¯s repression on her will be stronger as well. I¡¯m afraid she¡¯ll get hurt this way.¡±

    ¡°Then let it never awaken.¡±

    ¡°The awakening has begun, there¡¯s no turning back.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at him, trying to tell whether he meant every word he said. A whileter, he said more solemnly, ¡°Back when you chose Xiao Ling as the mother figure, were you already certain that the Xia family wouldn¡¯t just sit back and do nothing about it?¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not respond. He simply smiled.

    The following day.

    Xia Yingluo dolled herself up and happily dragged her brother to Imperial¡¯s training camp.

    It wasn¡¯t long after she entered the camp that many of them turned to look at her. ¡°Look, isn¡¯t that Xia Yingluo? I heard that she¡¯d gone missing, why did she suddenly appear again?¡±

    ¡°Yup, that really is Xia Yingluo! She¡¯d been missing for so many days, the school had even sent people to the mountains to contact her parents. Strange, where did shee back from?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s dressed pretty well, doesn¡¯t seem like she suffered.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s the handsomed beside her? They look pretty close.¡±

    ¡°Could she have found another guy already? No wonder she doesn¡¯t want toe to school. To think the school went to so much trouble over her, it¡¯s said that Imperial Entertainment¡¯s office was informed and involved too.¡± She was a top-grade student, it was no surprise that thepany was involved.

    Xia Yingluo went her way as she hummed her tune, as if oblivious to all the talks about her.

    Li Ruiughed. ¡°Seems like you¡¯re rather popr here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned around and looked at him. ¡°Justugh at me if you want to, they just aren¡¯t happy that I¡¯m doing so well, hmph.¡±

    ¡°Do you need Second Bro to stand up for you?¡±

    ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m leaving school anyway, we don¡¯t need more trouble.¡± Dad had already gotten someone to settle her withdrawal from the school, and it would likely be done in just a few days. She was back today just to bid Jin Ling¡¯er farewell.

    At this time, Jin Ling¡¯er should be in the performance ss.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to surprise her and hence, did not tell her in advance that she wasing. She found her way to the practice room easily.

    As she¡¯d expected, the room was full of familiar faces.

    Teacher Qian was standing on stage with a cane in her hand, and she gave Jin Ling¡¯er, who was also onstage, a stroke of the cane. ¡°I told you to stand straight! You¡¯re acting as a ballerina, you need to have the right posture! Look at how unsteadily you¡¯re standing, you aren¡¯t even convincing!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er kept quiet and tried to standpletely upright, but she still swayed a little.

    Teacher Qian scolded her again. ¡°Did you not eat? Look at how well Jiang Bilian is doing it, you¡¯re from the same ss, why are your standards so different?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er bit her lip and still did not make a sound.

    Teacher Qian turned around and said to Jiang Bilian politely, ¡°Act it out once more for her to see, she needs to learn more from you.¡±

    Jiang Bilian smiled and nodded before gracefully making her way to the stage.

 Chapter 1247 - The Chief Has Been Substituted

    <h4>Chapter 1247: The Chief Has Been Substituted</h4>

    She walked nimbly with her back straight, like a real ballerina. Her eyes flickered with a smile, and she said gently to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°It¡¯s necessary for the teaching, I¡¯m sorry.¡± As soon as her voice fell, she changed her gentle attitude and gave Jin Ling¡¯er a p!

    With a crackling sound, Jin Ling¡¯er staggered a few steps and fell onto the floor.

    ¡°Ling¡¯er!¡± Xia Yingluo was stunned. She rushed in from the door to help Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She looked up at Jiang Bilian angrily. ¡°How could you hit her?!¡±

    Her presence stunned everyone.

    Jiang Bilian looked at her like she had seen a ghost. ¡°You, you, you... didn¡¯t you go to the bar to drink, and then got sold to a foreign red light district?!¡± This was one of the most popr versions of the rumors she had spread about Xia Yingluo¡¯s disappearance.

    Xia Yingluo was annoyed. ¡°You¡¯re the one sold to the Red Light District!¡±

    Nonsense, even if she was willing to go, which red-light district would dare to ept her?

    Weren¡¯t they afraid that her father and brother would kill them and destroy their families?!

    Jin Ling¡¯er also looked at her in surprise. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re back?!¡± She hugged her tightly and cried. ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great! I thought something bad happened to you and I went around trying to find you, do you know?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was warm and she also hugged Jin Ling¡¯er tightly. ¡°I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Where have you been?!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er took her face and looked carefully. ¡°You lost so much weight, was it very tough?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± It was really difficult to tell the story of Wei Lingnan. Instead, Xia Yingluo looked at Jin Ling¡¯er carefully and saw that her cheeks were swollen, with a clear fingerprint mark on it. She couldn¡¯t help but feel anger bubbling in her. ¡°What happened, why did the bitch do that to you?¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡± Jiang Bilian was displeased.

    ¡°So what if I¡¯m talking about you?¡± Xia Yingluo mocked coldly. ¡°The bitch admits it fast! I only left the training camp for a few days and you bullied my friend! Ling¡¯er, don¡¯t be afraid, say everything, I¡¯ll take revenge for you.¡±

    Now that Jin Ling¡¯er was reunited with her, it was like regaining her backbone, and she said resentfully, ¡°Ms. Qian asked me and Jiang Bilian to perform a paragraph in the homemade drama <Blue Angel¡¯s Rose> and said she would give me a chance and let me act as the heroine and Jiang Bilian as the supporting actress.¡± She sneered slightly. ¡°It has begun a few days ago and we only acted the scene of the heroine being bullied again and again. She pulled my hair, sshed tea on me and insulted me... Yingluo, you don¡¯t know, but in your absence, I¡¯ve tried a lot of scenes and the training camp probably wants to train me on the path of suffering.¡±

    She spoke sarcastically, and Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart burned after hearing it.

    Xia Yingluo turned to look at Teacher Qian. ¡°Teacher, you are too much.¡±

    She was beautiful, and when she was angry, she had a majestic presence and was even more intimidating. Teacher Qian was inexplicably guilty and subconsciously justified herself. ¡°It was Jiang Bilian who proposed to y <Blue Angel¡¯s Rose>. She¡¯s the chief of the school year and has the power to decide.¡±

    Chief of the school year?

    Xia Yingluo raised an eyebrow. ¡°I wasn¡¯t in school for only a few days and the head of the school year has changed?¡± Imperial Entertainment¡¯s head of the school year had always been the best student of the year. This year, it had always been Xia Yingluo.

    After hearing her, Jiang Bilian said, ¡°Xia Yingluo, what kind of leader disappears for such a long time and doesn¡¯t even say anything? I was appointed to the post urgently and had no other choice but to be elected as the Chief. I was so tired these few days that I couldn¡¯t even sleep, it¡¯s too tiring.¡±

    In the ssroom, Zhu Zhu and the others also helped her. ¡°Yes, Xia Yingluo, Sister Bilian has done so much for you. You are not only not grateful, but also aggressive, how could you? Stop making trouble here!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xia Yingluo ignored the others and stared at Jiang Bilian. ¡°Now that I¡¯m back, please step down.¡±

    ¡°The chief of the school year is not a child¡¯s y. How could anyone take and leave office as and when?¡± Teacher Qian intervened. Jiang Bilian had a good family and knew how to honor her, and she naturally wanted to maintain it. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you vited the school rules and didn¡¯t return to the dorm. What qualifications do you have to be Chief?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember being a chief meant not viting school regtions.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pestering endlessly!¡±

    ¡°Teacher Qian, it seems like you intend to protect Jiang Bilian till the end?¡± Xia Yingluo asked coldly.

    Teacher Qian was a little intimidated by her but remembered those things that Jiang Bilian had honored her with from time to time, so she insisted. ¡°Don¡¯t make trouble here, Xia Yingluo. Quickly go to the Academic Affairs Office and exin clearly what happened. We¡¯ll see what punishment the school gives you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt anger in her heart. She had to get justice for Jin Ling¡¯er today!

    It was, of course, useless to justify with reasoning here. In a world where the strong feeds on the weak, the person with the biggest authority held the final say.

    The simplest way was¡ª

    ¡°What are you still doing by the door? Didn¡¯t you see me being bullied?¡± She turned her head and said in dissatisfaction to Li Rui, who was standing by the door of the ssroom and watching the good show. This kind of bullying was her second brother¡¯s expertise, and it was time for him to exert his skills.

    Li Rui had been watching the show energetically and hadn¡¯t expected the mes of war to burn on him, so he walked inzily.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up. This handsome guy who was at least 1.8 meters in height seemed to wear a halo on his head by nature. His somewhat evil charm andzy temperament attracted people unknowingly. The clothes he wore were expensive at first nce, a mboyant silk shirt, a pair of diamond earrings and a branded watch. His eyes were squinted as if he were smiling.

    At first nce, they could tell he was rich.

    At second nce, they could tell he was very rich.

    That was a temperament that was typical of the rich people.

    Li Rui stepped into the ssroom and rubbed Xia Yingluo¡¯s hair affectionately. His eyes that held an evil charm swept past all the trainee¡¯s faces and he pointed at them with a smooth finger. ¡°You, you... and you, I¡¯ve remembered all of you. You offended my family¡¯s Yingluo, I¡¯ll make sure you suffer in return.¡± He smiled meaningfully.

    His smile gave them shivers.

    Jiang Bilian was also a little afraid of this man.

    But it wasn¡¯t as though she had never seen a rich person before. She was also considered a rich person, so she plucked up her courage and said to Li Rui, ¡°This is a ssroom and random people shouldn¡¯t enter so casually. This gentleman, please go out and don¡¯t disturb the order of this ssroom.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave Jiang Bilian likes in her heart.

    Since young, there might have been people who dared to offend her elder brother, but not many dared to offend her second brother.

    Should she call her ignorant, fearless, or courageous?

    She heard Li Rui ask, ¡°Who are you? Are you qualified to tell me to go out?¡±

    Jiang Bilian said, ¡°I am the head of the school year here, that is my qualification.¡±

 Chapter 1248 - Chu Chenâ€™s Appearance

    <h4>Chapter 1248: Chu Chen¡¯s Appearance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She despised Xia Yingluo even more now. After disappearing for so many years, could it be that she had found a new sugar daddy? This Li Rui was clearly a hedonistic son of rich parents who trifled without respect. Since he was so close to Xia Yingluo, she could figure out what kind of rtionship they had even with her toes. But Xia Yingluo was so shameless that she even brought him into the ssroom. She really thought it was so great to have a sugar daddy?

    Her eyes looked on scornfully.

    Li Rui looked at her with interest. ¡°The official school chief Xia Yingluo is here, and yet you dare to say that.¡±

    ¡°Sister Bilian is the chief of the school year.¡± Zhu Zhu boldly supported Jiang Bilian.

    ¡°Yeah, Bilian is.¡± Many boys also gave Jiang Bilian support. Jiang Bilian was their goddess. She was gentle and graceful, while Xia Yingluo was too fickle. She had even changed her sugar daddy one after another ever since she entered school. The point was that each of them was richer, more powerful and handsome than them, which made them extremely jealous and resentful.

    Li Rui¡¯s gaze swept around the ssroom again and he grinned. ¡°I remember all of you.¡±

    He turned his fingertips slightly and took out his cell phone to make a call. ¡°Tell Imperial¡¯s training camp¡¯s Principal to roll in front of me within three minutes.¡±

    This sentence made everyone in the ssroom except Xia Yingluo feel as though it was just an illusion. What, let the principal roll in front of him within three minutes? Who did he think he was! The Emperor?!

    Even Jin Ling¡¯er uneasily pulled on Xia Yingluo¡¯s sleeves. ¡°Yingluo...¡±

    Xia Yingluo knew what she was worried about. She smiled reassuringly and said lowly, ¡°Rx, he¡¯s terrific.¡±

    How powerful could he be? How could he direct the Imperial¡¯s training camp¡¯s principal?

    The authority of the training camp¡¯s principal in this city even exceeded many small giants!

    Jiang Bilian was also stunned and nced at Teacher Qian inquiringly.

    Teacher Qian was trying to guess what kind of background the man in front of her had. She had never heard of such a hedonistic son of the Pei family. If he didn¡¯t belong to the Pei family, it wasn¡¯t possible for him tomand the training camp¡¯s principal, so could he just be putting on a bluff? ¡°Excuse me, who are you?¡± With doubts in her mind, Teacher Qian was even polite.

    Li Rui simply ignored her.

    If it wasn¡¯t for her younger sister, he wouldn¡¯t even have bothered with these people.

    The atmosphere turned heavy with the silent awkwardness.

    However, three minutes passed and the principal didn¡¯t show up.

    Teacher Qian¡¯s face gradually changed from nervousness to rxation. ¡°Sir, if you don¡¯t tell me your identity, I¡¯ll call the security guard.¡± In her opinion, Li Rui was obviously bluffing and had failed.

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s eyes also showed disdain, and she looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Xia Yingluo, since we¡¯re ssmates, don¡¯t me me for not reminding you, but you shouldn¡¯t have too bad a taste when looking for a ¡®boyfriend¡¯. You stayed out all night and even broke into the ssroom forcefully, but you still have to be kicked out by the bodyguard. Why go through all the trouble?¡±

    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s so funny.¡± Zhu Zhu and the restughed.

    Xia Yingluo raised her chin slightly. ¡°Not everyone is as despicable as you think.¡± The man in front of her was her brother and not some messy sugar daddy. But she just didn¡¯t bother to exin too much to them, did they deserve that?

    Teacher Qian really instructed some people to call the security.

    Li Rui stood still. He guarded Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er and confronted the rest.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was worried and whispered to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s not quarrel with them. It¡¯ll be such an ugly scene to be chased out.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also whispered, ¡°Have some guts, watch how we kill them.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was speechless, and while waiting uneasily, the ssroom door finally opened.

    Everyone turned to look. Jiang Bilian smiled and said, ¡°Since you¡¯re not willing to leave, don¡¯t me the security guards¡ª¡± Before she could finish, her words came to an end and she watched in astonishment as a man came in, step by step.

    The man wore a dark suit with a delicate and shiny crocodile leather briefcase in his hand. He was well-dressed and politely entered the ssroom. ¡°It¡¯s lively here.¡±

    Li Rui put his hands in his trouser pockets. ¡°Isn¡¯t it very lively? Who are you?¡±

    Before the man could answer, Teacher Qian said aloud in a trembling voice, ¡°Chu, President Chu?¡± How could she not have thought that the person who came in would be the most trusted confidant around the Chairman Pei Ziheng, the man who could cover the sky with his hand, Chu Chen? What was he doing here? Was it coincidental or purposely? If it was intentional...

    Teacher Qian had an ominous premonition in her heart. How could this man make Chu Chene to him?

    Chu Chen didn¡¯t pay attention to Teacher Qian. He first nced at Xia Yingluo and smiled. ¡°We meet again.¡±

    His kind attitude towards Xia Yingluo shocked many people. Oh my god, what was going on? How could Chu Chen, Imperial¡¯s real power, be so polite to a little trainee? Only Jiang Bilian knew the inside story. At the engagement banquet of Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan, Pei Ziheng had taken a fancy to Xia Yingluo. After returning, she had concealed the information from the others and hence, they didn¡¯t know much.

    Xia Yingluo smiled when she saw him. ¡°Uncle Chu, ask after Uncle Pei on my behalf.¡±

    Chu Chen nodded calmly. ¡°He¡¯s fine.¡±

    Everyone at the scene was shocked. What did Xia Yingluo call Pei Ziheng?! Uncle Pei?!

    When did she get close to Imperial¡¯s highest power?!

    For a moment, many uncertain eyes moved between the two.

    Li Rui coughed and lectured Xia Yingluo unhappily. ¡°Why are you asking after him? Be careful I don¡¯t lecture youter.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shrank her neck in guilty conscience and whispered, ¡°You only know how to scare me.¡± It was well known that her father hated Pei Ziheng. If he knew that she was so polite to Pei Ziheng, she might really be beaten.

    Li Rui grinned at her.

    Chu Chen turned to look at him, his eyes calm and deep. ¡°Don¡¯t forget whosend you¡¯re on now, Second Young Master Li.¡±

    Everyone in the ssroom suddenly realized that this young man who had kept protecting Xia Yingluo was Second Young Master Li, but who was that? In the end, it was Teacher Qian who was well-informed. At the mention of the surname Li, the first thing that came to mind was Skyart¡¯s Li Family. ¡°You, you are the second son of Skyart, Li Rui!¡± She eximed, remembering that she had seen Li Rui on the news before. He looked exactly the same!

    Li Rui looked at her mockingly. ¡°You remember? Sadly, it¡¯s toote.¡± The thief cries thief first, and he said to Chu Chen, ¡°Imperial¡¯s employee¡¯s discipline is getting more and morex. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be long before it merges with Skyart if this goes on. Mr. Chu, why have youe today?¡±

    Chu Chen really wanted to throw him out.

    He had been working nearby today, and remembered that Xia Ling¡¯s daughter had been missing for several days. He didn¡¯t know how it was going, so he hade to the training camp to find the principal.

 Chapter 1249 - Compare Acting Skills

    <h4>Chapter 1249: Compare Acting Skills</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    When the principal called to him while crying that they couldn¡¯t find the little devil no matter how much manpower and resources they used, he had received a call from Skyart¡¯s employee telling him that the Second Young Master Li was in the training camp asking the principal to rush there to receive him.

    Of course, asking the principal to receive him was just a domineering statement of Skyart¡¯s. Imperial Entertainment wouldn¡¯t really hold the Li family so highly.

    However, the second son was famously hedonistic. Who knew what he would do?

    Maybe he was here for the missing Xia Yingluo.

    At the thought of the incident involving Xia Ling¡¯s children, Chu Chen suppressed the principal and came to see the situation personally.

    Unexpectedly, he saw Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°When were you back?¡± he asked Xia Yingluo. ¡°The training camp has been looking for you for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Just now,¡± Xia Yingluo said with dissatisfaction. ¡°I found that they were bullying my friend as soon as I came back. If I came back a few dayster, would they bully my friend to death?¡± While talking, she pushed Jin Ling¡¯er over to show him. ¡°Look, a little girl¡¯s face was beaten like this, how do you expect her to walk around? I don¡¯t care, I want to fight back!¡± That was her purpose.

    Fight back?

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression was ugly and she couldn¡¯t help but feel unjust. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it on purpose, I just needed to practice the scene...¡±

    Chu Chen¡¯s nced at her slightly. He was of a high position and his eyes seemed to contain silent coercion. It made Jiang Bilian shut up immediately.

    Chu Chen then continued to speak to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Where have you been, what happened, was it dangerous?¡± Did she want him to help her vent her anger? She had to give him some inside information and let him go back to report to Pei Ziheng.

    Xia Yingluo naturally understood what he meant, so she said, ¡°Wei Lingnan that stupid pervert has taken a fancy to me and wants me to be his girlfriend no matter what. If I don¡¯t agree, he won¡¯t let me go. I was finally rescued after much difficulty.¡±

    Li Rui scolded her on the side. ¡°Stupid you, don¡¯t you know to stay away from the pervert? Next time if you¡¯re so stupid again, no one wille and save you.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed and held her brother¡¯s hand affectionately.

    Chu Chen had followed Pei Ziheng for a long time and knew that Wei Lingnan was a mysterious and dangerous character. Hearing that he liked Xia Yingluo, he was surprised. However, it was no wonder that the informant had said that Li Lei and Xia Yingluo had returned to China. They probably rushed back when they found that Xia Yingluo had fallen into Wei Lingnan¡¯s hands. He still had many questions he wanted to ask, such as how her mother was? Or what that pervert saw in her? ...

    But he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to get any substantive content, so he just gave up.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him with clear eyes. ¡°Uncle Chu, you are Imperial¡¯s executive, have you heard of such rules in the training camp? Can a random person just take the Chief position when the Chief is gone for a short while only?¡±

    This was obviously to attack Jiang Bilian.

    Chu Chen said in cooperation, ¡°Our training camp doesn¡¯t have such rules.¡±

    Here, whoever had the most power was the king, and what he said was thew. Today¡¯s king was undoubtedly Chu Chen.

    Jiang Bilian panicked. ¡°Executive Chu, I¡¯m really innocent! Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t say goodbye and disappeared for many days. In vition of the training camp rules, everyone rmended me as the chief. We all didn¡¯t know when she would return and couldn¡¯t just leave the Chief position empty. Many daily teachings are inseparable from the chief assignment and co-ordination. I, I was forced to take on this burden.¡±

    Chu Chen didn¡¯t want to reason with her. ¡°From today, the chief is still Xia Yingluo. Jiang Bilian, you will go to the Academic Affairs Office to receive a penalty.¡±

    Jiang Bilian was pale and wanted to say something. But after seeing Chu Chen¡¯s impatient look, she finally managed to endure and not invite a snub for herself. On the opposite side of her, Xia Yingluo¡¯s delicate face was all about to bloom inughter. She looked at Jiang Bilian proudly, full of provocation.

    Chu Chen always thought about everything. At this time, he yed the good guy to the end and said to Teacher Qian, ¡°You ignored the normal process of appointing and removing the Chief of the training camp and supported Jiang Bilian, who wasn¡¯t qualified to be elected. You will also go to the Academic Office to receive a penalty.¡±

    Teacher Qian didn¡¯t dare to yell at him and, having been beaten in the presence of so many students, she only felt embarrassed. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. This Uncle Chu was indeed very good, no wonder he was Imperial¡¯s fastest-rising and most stable executive.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was relieved. Although she was still a little confused about what was going on, she was still very clear that the odds were in their favor. Sheughed. ¡°So, some people shouldn¡¯t get too proud. The good will prevail over the evil in the end. It isn¡¯t that evil has prevailed, it¡¯s just that good took time to prevail!¡± She didn¡¯t know how much hardship she had suffered during this time. Since Xia Yingluo had disappeared, Jiang Bilian and the others found various reasons to bully her. Ordinary students couldn¡¯t resist the chief and the teacher, so she had no other choice but to endure it. Otherwise, she would have vited the school rules and would have her points deducted. She might have even be expelled.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s heart had already been full of anger.

    She smiled happily, but Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu couldn¡¯t smile, and many people were secretly shocked. When did Xia Yingluo seduce the Li family¡¯s second young master? If she was protected by the Li family¡¯s second young master and also by Executive Chu and even Chairman Pei, then the girl¡¯s background was really too deep and unpredictable. Who would dare to move her? Many of them were already regretting ever offending her.

    Xia Yingluo looked at them with a pair of crystal clear eyes. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m the chief now. Let¡¯s continue the ss.¡±

    Continue ss?

    For a while, everyone couldn¡¯t react.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°What are you still doing? I saw how happy you were practicing <Blue Angel¡¯s Rose>. In order to analyze everyone¡¯s acting skills from all angles, the roles will be exchanged. Jiang Bilian, you y the beaten heroine. Ling¡¯er, you¡¯ll hit her. ¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was about tough out loud. Xia Yingluo¡¯s move was really wonderful.

    ¡°Okay.¡± She was eager to try. She immediately moved her wrist and provocatively told Jiang Bilian, ¡°Get ready.¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s face changed slightly. ¡°You¡¯re taking revenge.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Yingluo smiled badly. ¡°Jing¡¯er is justparing acting skills with you. She¡¯ll act however you acted with her just now, so how is this revenge? Or... do you think that what you did to Ling¡¯er just now was too much, too shameless and too cheap? Something only the most vicious and cheap people could do?¡±

    This sentence was simply set up to trap Jiang Bilian. Jiang Bilian could neither enter nor retreat and was extremely nervous.

    She looked to Teacher Qian for help and hoped that Teacher Qian could help her talk, but Teacher Qian guiltily looked away and pretended not to see.

    No one wanted to offend Chu Chen and Li Rui.

    Jiang Bilian was desperate.

    Jin Ling¡¯er shook her hand and pped her with all her strength. The crisp pping sound echoed in the ssroom, and soon, several red marks appeared on Jiang Bilian¡¯s face.

 Chapter 1250 - Return All the Slaps

    <h4>Chapter 1250: Return All the ps</h4>

    Jiang Bilian covered her face unconsciously, her eyes full of grief.

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Very good, good p. Ling¡¯er, this p was really valiant and impressive. I like it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er sang the same tune as her. ¡°Thank you, Chief, for thepliment. It¡¯s just that my partner¡¯s skin is a little too thick and my hand hurts.¡± She even exaggerated by rubbing her hands a few times. She resented Jiang Bilian to the core and wanted to take revenge on her. Previously, Jiang Bilian had pped her so many times in public. Now, she was going easy on her by pping her once only.

    Xia Yingluo seemed to see through her thoughts and said seriously, ¡°It hurts? How could you be afraid of pain and suffering when you¡¯re acting? Endure it even if it hurts. You have to be a good role model for the rest of the students¡ªeven though your acting just now was very impressive, your partner¡¯s acting was horrible. I really couldn¡¯t watch it. You just have to endure a little bit and practice more rounds with her. It¡¯s also a way of helping your peer improve.¡±

    She was bullying Jiang Bilian while talking in such a righteous tone.

    Li Rui simply wanted tough out, but all the other students only felt a cold wind blow behind their backs. Such horrible consequences came from offending Xia Yingluo.

    When had Jiang Bilian ever been pped by someone since young? She was unable to endure that one p already, and at the talk of having to endure more ps, she said anxiously in hopes of saving her life, ¡°I¡¯m feeling ufortable and dizzy, I can¡¯t act.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not feeling well?¡± Xia Yingluo frowned slightly, as if things were difficult on her.

    Jiang Bilian nodded quickly, praying in her heart that this little bitch would let her go just this once.

    However, Xia Yingluoughed and turned over to Chu Chen. ¡°Uncle Chu, I remember that the teacher has always taught us that we need to have stamina as an artiste. How could we be artistes if we don¡¯t have good stamina? Why don¡¯t you let Jiang Bilian retire and go back home to rest.¡±

    Chu Chen cooperated. ¡°Your suggestion is worth considering.¡±

    He might not really intend to move Jiang Bilian since Jiang Bilian was still an Imperial training camp¡¯s outstanding student and it wouldn¡¯t be too suitable for her to retire without any reason. However, he was witty and knew that Xia Yingluo needed his support for her words. He simply had to say a few ambiguous words and it was enough to scare Jiang Bilian senseless.

    As expected, Jiang Bilian was shocked.

    She was just a trainee who had yet to step into society, so how could she possiblypete with Chu Chen, who had been in the society for so long? She had no choice but to back down. ¡°I don¡¯t want to retire.¡±

    ¡°Then practice.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled schemingly. ¡°Ling¡¯er, continue.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er responded happily and gave another p. The crisp sound rang in the air.

    They did the scene repeatedly. Jin Ling¡¯er counted in her heart, and finally stopped when she had pped Jiang Bilian a total of seven times. She said, ¡°Jiang Bilian, you hit me six times, I¡¯ll return seven to you¡ªthe extra p is to teach you how to behave!¡±

    Jiang Bilian¡¯s face was swollen red. She was angry and awkward and couldn¡¯t say a single thing.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s anger had also dissipated. Jiang Bilian deserved it, who told her to bully her friend first? She asked Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Other than Jiang Bilian, who else bullied you when I wasn¡¯t here?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s gaze swept past the crowd. Everyone she looked at all shrunk their backs and felt a chill run down their spine.

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er turned and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°The rest of them are all just aplices. I¡¯ll just keep them in mind first, and I¡¯ll forget it if they don¡¯t ever make trouble for me again. But if they make trouble for me again, then I¡¯ll double the revenge.¡± Those aplices were only Jiang Bilian¡¯s supporters andckeys and had only been causing trouble by following her blindly, so she found it worthless to be picky with them too.

    Xia Yingluo nodded. She really liked Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s logic.

    ¡°Uncle Chu, thank you,¡± she said, smiling sweetly at Chu Chen. Honestly, she was able to vent her anger so smoothly today all thanks to Chu Chen¡¯s presence. Otherwise, although her second brother¡¯s identity was also prestigious, he was still in the rival¡¯spany and could hardly settle the scores on the students and teacher here.

    Chu Chen said, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    He didn¡¯t instruct Xia Yingluo to do anything, didn¡¯t im credit for himself, nor take the opportunity to ask for something. Xia Ling¡¯s children and Imperial Entertainment had a strange rtionship, and sometimes, even he could not figure out what Pei Ziheng was thinking, so it wasn¡¯t good to make his own decisions.

    Xia Yingluo pulled on her Second Brother¡¯s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Li Rui was not satisfied. He was not as magnanimous as them and pointed to a few trainees to Chu Chen and said, ¡°This, this, and this... These few people were disrespectful to Yingluo and made me feel very ufortable. I hope the training camp will take care of them.¡±

    The people he pointed out all looked ashen. Who knew this young master would hold such a grudge?

    ¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t punish us, we know our wrongs!¡± They were almost crying, afraid that they would be expelled or pped.

    However, Chu Chen said, ¡°You all offended the school year¡¯s Chief and have indeed broken the training camp¡¯s rule. Later, go receive your punishment. It¡¯ll be doubled.¡±

    The school had rules regarding offending the school year¡¯s Chief, and they were either runningps, cleaning the toilet, or write self-reflections, etc. Even if the punishment was doubled, it was still better than being beaten in public or getting expelled. The few trainees were extremely grateful and thanked Chu Chen.

    Chu Chenughed. ¡°Why are you thanking me? I only lightened your punishments because of the guests. Why aren¡¯t you thanking Xia Yingluo and Second Young Master Li?¡±

    The crowd only now came to the realization and quickly thanked them. These two people were the King of Hell, if they offended them carelessly, who knew what kind of method they would use to deal with them?

    Xia Yingluo had seized total victory. She linked arms with her second brother and Jin Ling¡¯er, then walked out of the ssroom.

    ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯ve really vented my anger today!¡± They didn¡¯t walk for long before Jin Ling¡¯erughed out loud. ¡°Yingluo, do you know, this day is simply my most soothing day! I¡¯m so happy after seeing those hateful people get their revenge! Hahahaha!¡±

    Xia Yingluo alsoughed with her. ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll always have your back! Nobody will dare to bully you!¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er originally wanted to express her doubts, but at the thought of how Xia Yingluo had totally seizedplete victory today, she suddenly remembered another incident. ¡°Oh yes, why are you together with the Li family¡¯s second young master? Second Young Master Li...¡± She suddenly realized that Li Rui was standing right beside her. His long, slender body leaned on the corridor¡¯s ckboard and he was alreadyughing at the two of them. Hence, Jin Ling¡¯er said politely, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m really d to meet you. Our Yingluo didn¡¯t give you too much trouble, did she? She¡¯s a really good person, really.¡±

    Li Rui smirked. ¡°She¡¯s a good person? Are you sure?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was anxious. ¡°Yingluo is really good! I can guarantee that she¡¯s beautiful and kind! Second Young Master Li, please don¡¯t bully her!¡± She was worried that her good friend would suffer at the hands of the rich young master and quickly came up topliment her.

 Chapter 1251 - Magnanimous Li Rui

    <h4>Chapter 1251: Magnanimous Li Rui</h4>

    Li Rui enjoyed watching her jump in anxiety.

    Xia Yingluo simply couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. She pinched Li Rui¡¯s handsome cheeks and said fiercely, ¡°Continue acting.¡± Then she turned and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Why are you afraid of him? He¡¯s just an evil devil! Don¡¯t call him young master, call him brother.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Brother?

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little stunned.

    ¡°I¡¯m Xia Yingluo¡¯s brother, Xia Yingluo is my sister.¡± Li Rui smacked Xia Yingluo¡¯s naughty hands away andughed mischievously. ¡°We¡¯re blood siblings with the same parents. Don¡¯t misunderstand us. Jin Ling¡¯er, right? You¡¯re really beautiful, are you interested in drinking with me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hit on my friend!¡± Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t stand him and reached out to pinch his cheeks again. ¡°Or I¡¯ll fight it out with you!¡±

    Li Rui was still smiling and ncing at Jin Ling¡¯er with a pair of flirtatious eyes. The training camp indeed had many beauties. They were both beautiful and fresh, causing him to be truly astonished.

    At the side, Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned. What, he was her blood brother with the same parents?! Second Young Master Li¡¯s father was the world¡¯s renowned big shot Li Lei, and his mother was the reincarnated Queen Xia Ling who was even the Queen Ye Xingling now. That also meant that Xia Yingluo was the daughter of such powerful people?!

    Jin Ling¡¯er felt her brain go numb and she grabbed Xia Yingluo. ¡°I¡¯m not dreaming, am I? Yingluo, give me a pinch.¡±

    Xia Yingluo really reached out to pinch her cheeks. ¡°What dreaming? Your best friend is the legendary super ¡®Ms. Perfect¡¯, hahaha. Next time you can follow me and rule as a despot, live and eat well, and have whatever you wish for!¡±

    ¡°Really¡ª?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er blinked and tilted her head slightly to look at Li Rui. Li Rui nodded and smiled. She finally epted reality and gave a loud cheer. ¡°Wow! That¡¯s amazing! Yingluo, it turns out you¡¯re so amazing! That¡¯s great!¡±

    While shouting, she slung her arms around Xia Yingluo. ¡°I¡¯ll follow you and live well and eat well together! Hahaha!¡±

    Actually, she was happier about another matter¡ªYingluo was too beautiful and yet had a stiff temper, so she easily offended people. But if she had a good family background, nobody would dare to bully her in the future! However, at this thought, she was a little doubtful. ¡°Yingluo, since you¡¯re the Li family¡¯sdy, why is your surname Xia? Why did you run to Imperial¡¯s training camp and hide your identity? I remember the information on your family details said you were from a poor vige, what on earth happened?¡±

    She was asking too many questions, so Xia Yingluo first answered one. ¡°I followed my mother¡¯s surname.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t your mother¡¯s surname Ye? Ye Xingling.¡±

    ¡°It was already rumored that she¡¯s the reincarnation of Xia Ling, and she has already left the Ye family and returned to the Xia family. This news was releasedst year, have you forgotten about it?¡±

    Now that she mentioned it, Jin Ling¡¯er remembered how back when they were learning about the history of the entertainment circle, the rumors of Ye Xingling acknowledging her roots and ancestors and returning to the Xia family had caused a huge stir. Although she continued to use the name ¡°Ye Xingling¡±, that was only to differentiate between her past-life Xia Ling and was just a celebrity name. Her real name on her registration record had already been changed to Xia Ling.

    Then, it was only natural for Xia Ling¡¯s daughter to be surnamed Xia.

    Jin Ling¡¯er stuck her tongue out andughed. ¡°I just didn¡¯t think of it. Who knew that the legend I learned about during history ss would walk into my life like that? Yingluo, looking at you counts as having witnessed a piece of history, it¡¯s worth it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo then answered her remaining questions. ¡°The Li family requires every child to leave the house and experience a trial. I came out on the trial while hiding my identity. Now that my identity has been exposed, it counts as having failed my trial. I...¡±

    She suddenly stopped.

    Jin Ling¡¯er asked, ¡°Why? What consequences are there to failing the trial?¡±

    Seeing her worried expression, Xia Yingluo forced a smile. ¡°There¡¯s no consequence. Don¡¯t worry, my parents dote on me.¡± She originally wanted to tell Jin Ling¡¯er she was going to retire, but now that the time hade, she couldn¡¯t bear to say it out loud. Over the year, although life had been messy and gloomy, she had gained such a beautiful friendship. She had thought farewell would be easy, but now, it was extremely difficult.

    Li Rui was listening to them talk on the side and interrupted at this point. ¡°You two have been standing here for so long, aren¡¯t you tired? Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll bring you two shopping. At night, we¡¯ll drink wine. We just won a huge battle, so we must celebrate a little.¡±

    Xia Yingluo raised her head to look at Li Rui, who was smiling meaningfully.

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t sense that anything was wrong. She cheered. ¡°Okay, pretty clothes!¡±

    While cheering, she skipped ahead and led the way.

    Xia Yingluo was a few steps behind. She walked alongside Li Rui. ¡°Brother...¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s long legs strolled leisurely. ¡°Since you have yet to think through matters, you don¡¯t have to make a decision now. Since you also lie around eating well and waiting for death like me, and you don¡¯t have to go out and work, what¡¯s wrong with staying anywhere you want to?¡±

    He was right, but...

    ¡°This is Imperial Entertainment.¡± Xia Yingluo sighed. ¡°Father won¡¯t be happy.¡±

    Li Rui mocked her. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you think that Father would be unhappy when you first chose to enter Imperial¡¯s training camp?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless. She had been so enchanted and obsessed with Zhao Yixuan, how could she have cared about that? Thinking back now, she was really blind back then, how could she have fallen for such a bastard? ¡°And Wei Lingnan.¡± She changed the topic. ¡°Father thinks the headquarters is safer.¡±

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t give up on you for eternity, are you nning to stay in the headquarters for eternity too?¡± Li Rui wrinkled his nose and snorted. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem like you.¡± It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t worried about his sister, but to him, what was the difference between being alive and being dead if she was living unhappily just to avoid danger? Wei Lingnan only wanted to chase her, not to kill her. Li Rui didn¡¯t think this was much of a severe problem.

    Xia Yingluo said lowly, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    Li Rui patted her head then walked ahead while humming.

    They came to a high-end shopping mall near the training camp. Li Rui bought piece after piece of clothing for the two girls as if it didn¡¯t cost money. He hadn¡¯t seen his sister for a long time and simply wanted topensate for the whole year, so he picked the most expensive items for her and didn¡¯t even blink while swiping his cards.

    Xia Yingluo was extremely happy. Her second brother¡¯s fashion sense was good and he was also very generous. She was ted to be out shopping with him.

    But Jin Ling¡¯er was a little hesitant. Ultimately, no matter how rich he was, he was still Xia Yingluo¡¯s brother and didn¡¯t have a single rtion with her. Seeing how a single piece of clothing here cost enough to pay for one semester of her school fees, she couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°I¡¯ll just not buy it...¡±

    ¡°What are you afraid of? My second brother is willing to pay, it¡¯ll be a waste not to buy.¡± Xia Yingluo reasoned with Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°The money won¡¯t be saved even if you don¡¯t use it. Who knows which little hooey he will spend it on?¡±

 Chapter 1252 - Who Is This Scumbag

    <h4>Chapter 1252: Who Is This Scumbag</h4>

    Xia Yingluomented and raised an example. ¡°Last time, on my birthday, he found his conscience and wanted to buy me a Maserati with pink stars sprayed onto it, but when we were on our way back, he wanted to unt his wealth and gave the car to a random woman we don¡¯t even know! I was so furious... Humph, anyways, it¡¯ll be a waste not to use my second brother¡¯s money!¡±

    Li Rui was walking in front of them and heard herins. He turned around and knocked her head with a smile. ¡°Keep badmouthing me, you didn¡¯t even mention that I gave you a yacht aspensation.¡±

    Xia Yingluo avoided his hand nimbly and nudged Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Buy, buy, buy!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was still hesitant.

    Xia Yingluo was gloomy. ¡°Why weren¡¯t you this hesitant when we were using Wei Lingnan¡¯s card?¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan is your enemy, enemy! Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to make him poor? I was just fighting for justice, helping you!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said matter-of-factly.

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°Then help me another time.¡±

    Li Rui also reassured her. ¡°If you really feel bad, just take good care of Yingluo. She¡¯s our family¡¯s treasure. As long as she¡¯s okay, don¡¯t even mention a few clothes, you deserve even silver and gold mountains.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°It¡¯s natural for me to treat my friend well. Yingluo also takes very good care of me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was impatient. ¡°Why is there so much logic? Ling¡¯er, just take it. I¡¯ll be unhappy if you don¡¯t.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er saw that she was about to throw a tantrum and sighed, then smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen people pressing for payment of a debt, but I¡¯ve never seen anyone pressing me to ept such beautiful clothes. You are the only one.¡±

    Xia Yingluo giggled unyieldingly. ¡°I¡¯m happy to.¡±

    She randomly pointed to another dress and said to the sales assistant, ¡°Give me a white one and a pink one, we want to have twin dresses.¡±

    Li Rui sniggered at her. ¡°Twin dresses? Did youck love since young and gone crazy wanting sisters?¡± He then turned and exined to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Our family only has three of us. She was extremely jealous after seeing me and elder brother, so she has always wanted a sister, but sadly it never happened, hahaha.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at Xia Yingluo happily choosing twin dresses and swallowed her words of rejection.

    The three of them shopped for a long time. They didn¡¯t just buy many dresses, they also bought many beautiful shoes, socks, and essories.

    After that, Li Rui brought them to a nearby bungalow and ordered a luxurious take-out banquet. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s rest here and eat dinner. Tonight, I¡¯ll bring you two to Cateye Bar to look around. There are many handsome guys there dancing, hehe. It¡¯ll be a rare sight.¡±

    ¡°Do they dance naked?¡± Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t very confident in her second brother¡¯s taste.

    Li Rui grinned. ¡°Would I bring you to watch such dances? They only take off a few pieces of clothing, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave an ¡°I knew it¡± expression. On her fourteenth birthday, during her first awakening of love, she had had a crush on a little boy she had met during her trip to France. Her cheeks would turn red just at the sight of him, and this unreliable brother somehow managed to figure out her crush and teased that he would bring her to see the world next time when she was older. Hence, he had brought her to an erotic bar...

    She didn¡¯t need to mention what happened there. Anyways, in the end, this unreliable second brother was punished by Father for several months.

    ¡°If you bring me to that kind of ce again, Father is sure to punish you again,¡± she said.

    Li Rui didn¡¯t care. ¡°You¡¯re so old already. If he hits me again, I¡¯ll tell Mom about how he mixed around with those gang of rogues when he was about your age, hehe.¡± Their handsome father had been the real winner of life back then and had captured the hearts of many girls. ¡°Also, how is it unsafe for me to bring you to the bar? Don¡¯t you want to see handsome guys dancing?¡±

    ¡°I want to!¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    She had been brought wild by her second brother since young, so why wouldn¡¯t she want to do some exciting and thrilling things? Furthermore, her second brother was right. Of all the ces he had brought her to, she was never out of his protection and he had never let her suffer any danger.

    She turned to look at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Are you going? My second brother has good taste, the handsome guys are sure to be handsome!¡±

    ¡°Who doesn¡¯t want to see handsome guys, it¡¯ll be a waste not to!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was even more excited and cheered.

    Hence, their schedule was set.

    The three of them stayed in the bungalow eating their luxurious takeaway feast and then started dressing up. Xia Yingluo picked out a shiny ck little dress from the clothes she had bought today and carefully did her hair. She put on a little smokey eye makeup and looked extremely alluring and attractive. Jin Ling¡¯er picked a sexy outfit that revealed her navel andplimented her golden short hair. Her big alluring eyes were almost sending out electricity.

    Li Rui, as usual, dressed up as a hedonistic son. His silk blouse was slightly opened at his chest and his perfect figure made countless women swoon.

    The night scene was alluring.

    Li Rui brought them onto an open-roof sports car. They admired the night view and arrived at Cateye Bar.

    He got off the car first, then helped the two girls down. Then, he threw the car keys to the bellboy and brought them inside.

    The three of them were extremely eye-catching and even in the bar, people couldn¡¯t keep their eyes off them. Wherever they went, people couldn¡¯t help but turn and look at them.

    The lights were fascinating.

    Li Rui brought them to a table and ordered wine. While drinking, they admired the dancers twisting and turning on the dance floor. ¡°I told you they were handsome and beautiful. I wasn¡¯t lying, right?¡± Li Rui said while drinking.

    ¡°The main thing is the beauties.¡± Xia Yingluo understood now. When this fellow had brought them out to y, he didn¡¯t forget to seek some benefits for himself. The handsome guys here were indeed handsome, but there were more beautiful girls!

    Li Rui chuckled.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t fuss over it with him. She taught Jin Ling¡¯er how to y dice.

    The two of them were ying when they suddenly heard a voice. ¡°Wow, this ce is so lively.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned and looked up.

    The road to enemies was really narrow. She saw Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan standing at the seat beside theirs, looking at them as if looking down on them. Zhao Yixuan had a sad and distressed expression. ¡°Yingluo, why did you be like this?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°What have I be?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was even more distressed. ¡°Look at you, what a scandal have you be?¡± Today, Pei Yan had wanted toe to this bar to drink, so Zhao Yixuan had apanied her. He didn¡¯t like to drink at this kind of ce usually as he thought it was for unrestrained men and women looking for stimtion. Unexpectedly, he had bumped into Xia Yingluo here. And to think just how much he had cherished and protected her back then that he didn¡¯t even bear to touch her so that she could be sold for a good price after debut. However, now that she had left him, she had be so depraved and changed her men like clothes!

 Chapter 1253 - Making a Mountain of a Molehill

    <h4>Chapter 1253: Making a Mountain of a Molehill</h4>

    Only now did Xia Yingluo understand what he was saying. She sneered. ¡°Mr. Zhao, you¡¯re minding too much.¡±

    Li Rui was helping two girls peel their grapes; he was pretty thoughtful when he took care of others. At this point, he looked up at the two of them and asked Xia Yingluo with a smile, ¡°Yingluo, who¡¯s this nobody?¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a nobody!¡± Pei Yan couldn¡¯t tolerate that someone was insulting her fiancee.

    But Li Rui didn¡¯t give a hoot.

    Xia Yingluo was in a better mood now and responded to her brother, ¡°This is Zhao Yixuan.¡±

    Hearing this name, Li Rui figured what exactly was going on. Since she was a child, his precious little sister had only dumped others, but no one had ever dumped her. Until she met this man. He¡¯d hurt her so deeply and abandoned her so openly, turning her into the butt of a joke.

    This Zhao Yixuan was really courting death.

    ¡°Zhao Yixuan?¡± He ignored the two other people and chided his sister. ¡°I was wondering who it was. How did you fall for somebody so... underachieving? He has no looks, no substance, no good family background, even a pig has better judgment than you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯m a pig.¡± Xia Yingluo did some self-reflection.

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression was awfully distorted. What did it mean to say that even a pig wouldn¡¯t fall for Zhao Yixuan? They obviously implied that a rich Miss from the Pei family was inferior to a pig! Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t any better, he hadn¡¯t expected to be shamed so harshly!

    He looked at Xia Yingluo, seemingly hurt. ¡°Yingluo, I know that I have caused you a lot of hurt by choosing to be with Yan Yan, but you can¡¯t degrade yourself this way either. Is it any good for two girls to apany a man? Even if you¡¯re out to anger me, you shouldn¡¯t be treating yourself with so little respect.¡±

    Out to anger him?

    Xia Yingluo had not nned to bother about him, but he was going far overboard. Zhao Yixuan really thought too highly of himself.

    She was about to say something when Li Rui stopped her.

    With him around, how could he possibly allow a girl he brought out to be insulted by a jerk like this? He got up with a grin. ¡°Mr. Zhao, am I right? Come a little closer.¡± He had a tall and imposing physique, and having been involved in theplexities of the secret societies for so many years, he was able to assert dominance just by standing up. He was an intimidating figure alright.

    Zhao Yixuan was guarded. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Li Rui was still smiling. ¡°And you think you¡¯re fit to ask?¡± The very next moment, he sent the cocktail he was holding onto Zhao Yixuan¡¯s face!

    ¡°Ah!¡± Pei Yan screamed first. She tried to evade it, but it was toote¡ªsome of it spilled onto her body, dress, and her arms.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you go too¡ª!¡± He yelled. But before he was done, he felt his world spin, his feet leave the ground, and his body crash heavily onto the table opposite. The table flipped and the ss shattered all over the ground. People began backing off and screams could be heard. Zhao Yixuan felt a burning sting in his back. He wasn¡¯t sure if there were ss shards lodged in his back, but he was having difficulty getting up.

    Pei Yan took a while to react to the situation. She screamed, ¡°Who are you to hurt someone else?! Security! Security!¡±

    ¡°This was for the two girls you disrespected.¡± Even in this chaos, the smile on Li Rui¡¯s face was still intact. He took a few steps towards Pei Yan, forcing her to back off in a panic. ¡°I forgot to say, I don¡¯t have a habit of not hitting women. This p¡ª¡± With that, he gave Pei Yan a tight p to the face. ¡°is to teach you, the third party, a lesson for snatching Yingluo¡¯s boyfriend. Although this silly girl has a horrible judgment for picking such a man, you don¡¯t have the right to covet anything of hers, even her trash.¡±

    Pei Yan had fallen to the ground from the impact and was now lying beside Zhao Yixuan. Her arms had been scratched by the ss shards on the floor, and she looked both pathetic and hrious. ¡°You actually hit me?!¡± She screamed and staggered to her feet, as if ready to fight Li Rui. ¡°Do you know who I am?! I can make your family bankrupt!¡±

    That was when the security officers arrived and held her back. ¡°Everyone, stop moving! What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Li Rui was unfazed as he took a few steps back while shielding the two girls.

    Pei Yan never really dared to fight Li Rui at all, actually. From his beatings, she could tell that he wasn¡¯t anyone to offend, and she¡¯d regretted it the moment she charged towards him. Fortunately, the security officers had arrived in time and given her a good reason to retreat. ¡°He started the violence!¡± Pei Yan pointed at Li Rui. ¡°Quick, arrest him and teach him a lesson!¡±

    Security officers in the nightclubs and bars were all well-trained to size people up, and one look was all it took for them to know that Li Rui wasn¡¯t one to offend. They asked politely, ¡°Mister, how should we address you?¡±

    Li Rui could tell that they were trying to figure out his background and status by asking that question, and hence, gave a casual smile. ¡°I guess your bar over here is closing down soon? Why, I haven¡¯t been here in just a few years and you don¡¯t recognize me anymore? Where¡¯s Scabby Qiang? Tell him his ancestor is back!¡±

    The few security officers exchanged nces.

    Scabby Qiang was the boss of this bar, and this was a nickname that his gang leader had given him when he was still a runner. But now that his business was this sessful, no one dared to call him by his nickname anymore¡ªeveryone addressed him as Brother Qiang now. But this man actually knew him by his nickname ¡°Scabby Qiang¡±, and addressed him by that; it showed just how powerful he must be.

    They cautiously said to Li Rui, ¡°Brother Qiang isn¡¯t in tonight. Mister, could leave your name¡ª¡±

    Before the security officers were even done talking, Pei Yan was already screaming, ¡°Why are you being so polite to him?! Hurry and chase him out! If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll lodge aint! Let¡¯s see if your bar is stronger, or if Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family is more powerful!¡±

    Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family!

    The few security officers were slightly skeptical. Everyone in City S knew of Imperial Entertainment and the Pei family. If this woman really was one of them, things were going to getplicated.

    One of the security officers tried to weigh the situation before smiling at Li Rui in exasperation. ¡°Mister, how about this, let¡¯s all take a step back?¡±

    Although Li Rui was able to name Scabby Qiang, his unwillingness to dere his identity made it all a little suspicious; who knew if he was just exaggerating things? The best they could hope for was for the parties involved to settle this and part ways amicably.

    But Li Rui wasn¡¯t going to let things go just yet. He sneered. ¡°I brought an important person out with me today, but this adulterous pair ruined everything. If word goes out, it¡¯s an embarrassment to me!¡±

 Chapter 1254 - Get Me Your Boss

    <h4>Chapter 1254: Get Me Your Boss</h4>

    ¡°Tell Scabby Qiang to get his ass here right now, else¡ª¡± He smiled, showing his freakishly white teeth. ¡°Believe it or not, by tomorrow morning, I will make sure he can no longer live peacefully in City S anymore.¡±

    His ghastly intentions sent a chill down their spines.

    Pei Yan rebutted. ¡°Nonsense! Spouting such nonsense when no one here even knows who you are!¡± The Cat Eyes Bar was held with high regard within the bar scene in City S, akin to Imperial Entertainment¡¯s status in the entertainment industry. No one could easily threaten it. She guessed that Li Rui was bluffing and instructed the security officers. ¡°What are you waiting for, get him out of here.¡±

    Li Rui smirked at them. He was strangely at ease despite the circumstances.

    The head security guard gave his underling a look. He understood immediately and went to look for Brother Qiang.

    Li Rui chuckled at their antics. He called over the two girls behind him and said, ¡°Have some fruits, the grapes here are delicious. I peeled the skin for you, it will be a waste if you don¡¯t eat them.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and sat down to enjoy the fruits.

    Jin Ling¡¯er followed suit. With Li Rui¡¯s status, they were not afraid of anyone. Soon, they would see Pei Yan make a fool of herself. It was the first time Jin Ling¡¯er saw something so exciting and she was prepared to enjoy the great show ahead. She asked the waiter, ¡°Do you have popcorn?¡±

    The waiter was caught by surprise. Miss, do you not see the tense atmosphere building up?

    And yet you asked for popcorn?!

    ¡°And two sodas, no ice,¡± Xia Yingluo added.

    The waiter was speechless. These two girls were out of their minds!

    However, in the spirit of his duty, he adhered to their requests.

    At the other end, Pei Yan was busy helping Zhao Yixuan up. Zhao Yixuan was in a mess as ss shards left gashes on his back. His blood¡ªnow mixed with alcohol¡ªwas dripping. His pathetic state made Pei Yan¡¯s heart ache, but at the same time, she cursed him silently for his ipetence. How could he lose to a yboy? She scolded. ¡°Look at your embarrassing self!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan felt wronged. How could amoner like him match Li Rui? Anyone with a brain would know from Li Rui¡¯s looks that he was well-trained. Everything was because of this dumb woman. She could have just said hi to Xia Yingluo in the bar and kept it at that, but instead, she chose toe over and taunt them. If not for her, things wouldn¡¯t have turned out this way. He had conveniently forgotten that when Pei Yan came over, he did not stop her.

    They thought that Xia Yingluo was dejected and was about to ridicule her. Who would¡¯ve expected things to end up like this?

    Zhao Yixuan did not dare to take his anger out on Pei Yan; he suppressed his anger and tried to ignore the pain. At the end of the day, Pei Yan was his fiancee. He had put in tons of effort to attain her liking and did not want all this to be in vain by offending her. Even if he did not love her, her rich family background was enough for him to swallow his pride.

    If he had to me someone, it would have been Xia Yingluo for being too poor! If not for her, he would not have left her and instead went for the rich girl in Pei Yan.

    Zhao Yixuan turned around and looked at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo was wearing a dark-colored dress, and the tiny sparkles on her dress dazzled under the light. Her glossy long hair fell carelessly onto her shoulders, showing off a good portion of her neck. She rested on the burgundy couch and ate her grapes slowly, holding them at her fingertips. Zhang Yixuan would even turn into the grapes to get closer to her.

    Noticing his gaze, Xia Yingluo smiled.

    She whispered something into the Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s ears. Jin Ling¡¯er smiled as well and looked at Zhao Yixuan with despise. No matter how foolish Zhao Yixuan was, he understood that Xia Yingluo was badmouthing him.

    There was no avenue for him to vent his frustration, he could only stare at them with dagger eyes and turn away.

    He thought, When the owner of the bar, Brother Qiang, is here, let¡¯s see who will have thestugh!

    No matter how influential Brother Qiang was, he had to give the Pei Family some face!

    A bald man hurriedly ran over. He was clearly unhappy, but the moment he realized who was causing themotion, his expression changed. Now smiling, he quickened his steps and came over.

    Pei Yan showed her satisfaction with a controlled smile. Hmph, he¡¯s lucky that he knows the rules well!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was you, my apologies.¡± Brother Qiang reached his hands out.

    Pei Yan reached her hands out elegantly, intending to shake Brother Qiang¡¯s hands.

    However, Brother Qiangpletely ignored her and instead held onto Li Rui¡¯s hands passionately. ¡°You should have informed me beforeing. I¡¯m so sorry for theck of manners on my part, it¡¯s all my fault!¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s smile froze, her hands hanging in mid-air awkwardly.

    A few people startedughing at her.

    Extremely embarrassed, Pei Yan shouted at Brother Qiang, ¡°Big Boss Lu, you are way overboard. Are you trying to offend the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei Family?¡±

    Brother Qiang seemed to have just noticed her and asked, ¡°Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family? I¡¯m sorry Miss. Regarding the Pei family, I only know Chairman Pei Ziheng, President Pei Cheng¡¯an and Pei Chengyou. The Pei family is too big, may I ask who you are?¡±

    His words invokedughter from the crowd. Jin Ling¡¯er and Xia Yingluo chuckled along as well.

    This Brother Qiang was really clever!

    His words ¡°the Pei family is too big¡± killed two birds with one stone by both ttering the Pei family while also implicitly pointing out that Pei Yan was just a small fry using the Pei family name to scare others.

    Pei Yan was so angry, her face went pale. She shouted, ¡°Pei Chengyou is my brother!¡±

    ¡°I see, you are Mr. Pei Chengyou¡¯s sister. My apologies for the rudeness.¡± His actions inferred otherwise as he did not show any respect to Pei Yan. Actually, the moment he saw Li Rui, he knew which side he was going to be on¡ªundoubtedly Li Rui! Who cared whether she was from any royal family. Everyone knew that the Li family was the king of the city¡¯s underground entertainment. Every club, casino, spa and the like was under the protection and supervision of the Li family! Offending the Second Young Master of the Li family was asking for death!

    Brother Qiang turned around and looked at Li Rui earnestly. ¡°Second Young Master, I am at your service.¡±

    ¡°Second Young Master¡± caught Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan by surprise. So it seemed like they already knew each other?

    No wonder he did not give a damn about the Pei family¡¯s name at all.

    Pei Yan could not suppress her anger and her voice went even higher. ¡°Brother Qiang, exin to me, who is this person and what is his background? How can you be answering to him like a servant?! I, a rich belle from the Pei family, am getting bullied, and you choose to ignore it?!¡±

 Chapter 1255 - Whoâ€™s Here to Dance

    <h4>Chapter 1255: Who¡¯s Here to Dance</h4>

    Li Rui sneered at her. ¡°Miss Pei, you call this bullying? You are too naive.¡±

    At the other end, the waiters served popcorn to Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Adding fuel to the me, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Yea, show them some colors! We are here today to watch strip dance, the mood ispletely ruined by these two bastards. They will have to pay for it! How about this, let them do the dance to make up for our losses instead.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Pei Yan¡¯s expression changed. She did not expect this little slut Xia Yingluo toe up with this idea.

    A piece of popcorn in her left hand and grapes in her right, Xia Yingluoughed at Pei Yan while enjoying her food. ¡°You are allowed to offer me as a bargaining chip in the casino, yet you don¡¯t allow me to make you dance?¡± She looked at Li Rui and said, ¡°It¡¯s her! If not for my cleverness, they would have sold me to the old bastard! Take my revenge for me!¡±

    Li Rui was smart, he understood what it meant to use girls as bargaining chips.

    He did not expect the two of them to trample on his sister. Thus, he decided not to hold back. He instructed Brother Qiang. ¡°Do as she says.¡±

    Brother Qiang knew Li Rui. Out of the two young masters in the Li family, he interacted more with Li Rui. Both of them loved to eat, drink and have fun. Every time they returned, they would spend a good amount of time at clubs and bars. He knew the Second Young Master¡¯s character well, and that he was stubborn with his decisions. He simply answered yes and sent someone to drag Pei Yan here.

    ¡°Let go of me!¡± Pei Yan screamed. This time, she was truly afraid. How could she, a belle, be going up to strip dance? It would be a disaster for her reputation! She couldn¡¯t just throw her face away! ¡°Mr. Lu, my brother will kill you!¡±

    Brother Qiang smiled calmly. ¡°My apologies, Miss Pei. I¡¯m left with no choice. It is your own fault for offending the Li Family¡¯s Second Young Master.¡±

    The Li Family¡¯s Second Young Master!

    All of them came to a sudden realization as they finally knew Li Rui¡¯s true identity.

    Zhao Yixuan looked at him as if he had just met a ghost. ¡°Y-You are the Second Young Master Li Rui from Skyart Entertainment?!¡± He finally understood why Brother Qiang did not side with Pei Yan. Li Rui¡¯s status within the Li family was simr to the status of Pei Ziheng¡¯s juniors in the Pei Family, or some might even say higher. Under these circumstances, why would Brother Qiang side with Pei Yan?

    Li Rui smirked at him. ¡°Did you just understand the situation? It¡¯s slightly toote.¡± He suddenly remembered something and chuckled. ¡°I see that you are infatuated with Yingluo? There¡¯s something... Never mind, I shouldn¡¯t tell you first, in case you get too agitated and faint.¡± Li Rui grew up in these pubs and clubs environment, and he¡¯d seen too many men like Zhao Yixuan; he knew exactly why he took a liking on Pei Yan. Knowing what Zhao Yixuan was losing out on, Li Rui nearlyughed out loud. Hahaha, some people had no eyes for the real prize!

    Zhao Yixuan could not understand what he said and pleaded. ¡°Second Young Master Li, please let go of Yan Yan. I will not fight with you for Xia Yingluo, but Yan Yan is innocent! She is different from Xia Yingluo, she is a girl from a good family, how can you let her go on stage and strip dance?¡±

    Right as he finished his sentence, Li Rui booted him away.

    Zhao Yixuan fell onto another table,nding right onto a piece of ss. His legs were in sharp pain from the kick and he did not know if his bones were broken from it.

    ¡°The slut Pei Yan is indeed different from Yingluo, she ain¡¯t even fit to carry Yingluo¡¯s shoes,¡± he said coldly.

    He was her brother, there was no way he could stand others insulting his sister like this!

    He stepped forward and parked his boots right before Zhao Yixuan. ¡°Understood?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan coughed. The man standing in front of him was causing him to shiver in fear, as if he was facing doom itself. He could not utter a reply. The man lifted his leg again and this time, Zhao Yixuan finally found his voice and cried out, ¡°Understood! Understood!¡±

    Li Rui ced his feet down slowly.

    He signaled to Brother Qiang¡¯s men to drag Pei Yan up the stage.

    Pei Yan was held by a few thugs and she cried out, ¡°You can¡¯t do this to me! Yixuan, save me! Zhao Yixuan!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan muttered cowardly, ¡°C-Could you let her off this time?¡± He silently cursed Pei Yan for dragging him into this mess in the first ce. On the surface, however, he still had to plead for her as they were an engaged couple, their interests bound as one.

    Li Rui turned his gaze towards Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo was busy enjoying the popcorn with Jin Ling¡¯er. Seeing that her brother was looking at her, she said with popcorn in her mouth, ¡°Since Zhao Yixuan is sopassionate, why don¡¯t we let him rece her.¡±

    Somehow, Li Rui understood what she was saying.

    He looked down and smirked at Zhao Yixuan. ¡°Yingluo says that you should rece Pei Yan for the strip dance, are you willing?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was stunned. He did not expect Xia Yingluo toe up with this idea. It was embarrassing for Pei Yan to strip dance, but it would be equally embarrassing for him to do the same. ¡°Ummm... Ummm.¡± He stuttered.

    Unbeknownst to him, from the beginning, Xia Yingluo did not intend to make Pei Yan strip dance. After all, she was still a girl. How could she bear the shame of strip dancing on stage? Xia Yingluo still had her morals, she was only too angry from the casino incident and wanted to scare Pei Yan. As for making Zhao Yixuan strip dance, it was not against her morals.

    Sheughed. ¡°All the best. Put on a good show.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was close to tears.

    Li Rui got impatient and threatened him. ¡°Are you doing it or not? If you aren¡¯t, Miss Pei will have to do it.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Yixuan, you heartless bastard. If you dare to let me strip dance, my brother will skin you alive!¡± Pei Yan shouted.

    Zhao Yixuan was terrified and hurriedly replied, ¡°I¡¯ll do it, I¡¯ll do it!¡± He realized with his mere status, there was no way he was escaping. He could not let Pei Yan do it. It would have hurt her reputation. Moreover, she would have broken up with him and punished him. Since he decided to marry her, he could only choose to help her.

    Xia Yingluo pped in happiness. ¡°That¡¯s good, hurry up and go. Let Miss Pei sit beside us and watch you. If we are not satisfied... Hmph, Miss Pei will still have to go up.¡±

    Her words extinguished his intention of trying to skimp through it.

 Chapter 1256 - Pei Yan Pleading for Forgiveness

    <h4>Chapter 1256: Pei Yan Pleading for Forgiveness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Zhao Yixuan gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger. ¡°I¡¯ll dance well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the best, quickly!¡± Xia Yingluo chased him away as if chasing flies.

    At the side, Brother Qiang nodded and bowed, then smiled apologetically at Li Rui. ¡°Sorry, Second Young Master, our service is unsatisfactory and has rmed you. Your fees this time will be waived off and we¡¯ll also add two bottles of Hennessy aspensation. Please enjoy it.¡±

    With a wave of his hand, someone sent two bottles of the expensive Hennessy.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes lit up and she was about to open the bottles.

    Li Rui immediately stopped her. He took a bottle and returned it to Brother Qiang and smiled with ill intentions. ¡°She¡¯s just a little girl and it¡¯s not good to drink too much. Give her a ss of fruit juice.¡± Unbeknownst to her, he had noticed that she was already slightly drunk and her cheeks were flushed red.

    Xia Yingluo red at him unhappily. ¡°You¡¯re so annoying!¡±

    He smiled and patted her head.

    Brother Qiang looked on in curiosity. He didn¡¯t know who this little girl was, but it seems Second Young Master Li was treating her specially? His treatment was different from that of the little hoes he had brought here to drink with before. However, he didn¡¯t dare ask more and immediately instructed some people to send them fruit juice.

    On the dance floor, the female dancer had already stepped off the stage. The MC grabbed a microphone and cleared his throat. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, you are all very lucky today to be able to see Imperial Entertainment¡¯s most famous manager Zhao Yixuan perform a pole dance striptease for all of you. Please give a big round of apuse!¡±

    The crowded whistled and cheered, causing a big stir.

    Besides Xia Yingluo, Pei Yan, who was being watched closely by a few waiters, was extremely anxious. She said to Li Rui, ¡°You still made them announce that? Aren¡¯t you bent on bing enemies with the Pei family like this!¡±

    Li Rui smiledzily. ¡°Enemies? Imperial and Skyart still need to be enemies?¡±

    Even the nearby crowd couldn¡¯t help but belittle this Ms. Pei¡¯s intelligence. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei Ziheng was already Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Li Lei¡¯s love rival and arch-enemy. This was already old gossip in the entertainment industry, so why would they need Zhao Yixuan to help them be enemies? This Pei Yan was thinking too highly of her husband!

    Pei Yan realized her mistake after being jeered at by him and her expression got even worse.

    She cursed under her breath. Today was really such an unlucky day. She could obviously walk around proudly in S City with her identity, but she just had to bump into the Li family! She didn¡¯t know what kind of method Xia Yingluo this wretch used to be able to seduce Li Rui after seducing Wei Lingnan!

    Wait, if Wei Lingnan knew that he had been cheated on...

    Pei Yan was deep in thought and couldn¡¯t help but reveal a sinister smile.

    On the dance floor, the professional male strippers brought Zhao Yixuan to dance... The male dancer who had been instructed by Brother Qiang already wasn¡¯t polite at all to Zhao Yixuan. It was his forte to tease and ridicule him as best as he could, and he tried hard to make a sorry figure out of him. Zhao Yixuan staggered around trying to avoid and dodge him, but the clothes on his body gradually lessened, and the crowd¡¯s shoutings made him blush a deep red. They all shouted mocking stuff like ¡°Your figure is so big and you still dare to dance!¡±, ¡°You¡¯ve no muscles on you at all, get off the stage!¡± and ¡°You¡¯re so ugly, aren¡¯t you embarrassed!¡±.

    Zhao Yixuan was humiliated and angry. His feet were frozen stiff and he couldn¡¯t move.

    Li Rui was lying on the sofafortable with a ss of wine in his hands. He criticized while drinking. ¡°Tsk tsk, what did you even see in this weakling in the beginning? He doesn¡¯t even have looks nor a figure and looks like a rabbit having a cramp when dancing. Don¡¯t tell people that you know me, what lousy taste you have.¡±

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t reconciled and said softly, ¡°His face is actually not that bad.¡±

    ¡°Better than mine?¡± Li Rui turned to look at her.

    Xia Yingluo humphed and ignored him. In all honesty, her two brothers were extremely handsome, especially since her second brother loved to dress up like a flowery peacock spreading its tail as and when and killing everyone with his looks.

    Which straight man would be more handsome than him?

    Pervert.

    The crowd¡¯s shouting got louder the more pieces of clothing Zhao Yixuan took off, and gradually, the crowd shouted in rhythm¡ª

    ¡°Get off! Get off! Get off!¡±

    Li Rui chuckled and saidzily while drinking, ¡°Looks like Zhao Yixuan can¡¯t do this job. If he ever loses his job and wants to be a striptease, I¡¯m afraid no bar would be willing to ept him.¡± He didn¡¯t forget to nce over at Pei Yan. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Ms. Pei?¡±

    Pei Yan turned her head coldly and ignored him.

    Xia Yingluo just couldn¡¯t bear seeing that arrogant look on her face, so she sang the same tune as her brother. ¡°You¡¯re right, his dance is so horrible, it¡¯s probably because he¡¯s unwilling to put in the effort to save Ms. Pei. In my opinion, why don¡¯t we let Ms. Pei go up there personally to dance? Otherwise, the customers are all so unsatisfied, it¡¯ll be bad if we affect Brother Qiang¡¯s business negatively.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er also pped her hands andughed. ¡°Yes, yes, it¡¯s sure to be a bomb if Ms. Pei dances an erotic dance.¡±

    Pei Yan was so scared her face turned pale. ¡°You can¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I?¡± Xia Yingluo teased her. ¡°Ms. Pei, I look forward to your performance.¡±

    Pei Yan red at her resentfully. ¡°Xia Yingluo, don¡¯t be too vicious. Don¡¯t forget whose family¡¯s trainee you are. If you offend the Pei family, do you think you can still be in the entertainment circle?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so scared.¡± Xia Yingluo covered her mouth in exaggeration and looked at Li Rui. ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m scared to death. Can I transfer to Skyart Entertainment tomorrow?¡±

    Li Rui alsoughed. ¡°Okay, if the people at Skyart know that you¡¯re entering, they¡¯re bound to think you¡¯re lighting up their humble dwelling.¡±

    Pei Yan secretly wanted to bite herself. She realized in despair that she couldn¡¯t even threaten Xia Yingluo. Second Young Master Li already had her back, so why would she be afraid of Imperial? She could easily transfer to anotherpany immediately and be a huge star all the same, what was she afraid of?

    Xia Yingluo looked at her with ill intentions. ¡°Ms. Pei, you look so agitated, is it because you want to go up and dance?¡±

    A wise man had to submit to the circumstances.

    Pei Yan softened her attitude and understood that she had to pass this round first.

    She said to Xia Yingluo softly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go up and dance. Ms. Xia, Second Young Master Li, please don¡¯t make things difficult for me.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it have been good to do this earlier?¡± Li Rui smiled enchantingly. ¡°You¡¯re so tactful now, what were you doing before? Apologize properly to Yingluo, say sorry Ms. Xia, you know your wrong and you won¡¯t dare to offend her anymore and won¡¯t dare to be a vixen and seduce someone else¡¯s boyfriend anymore. Just say that you¡¯re lowly, you let yourself go, you¡¯re the world¡¯s most depraved woman and you deserve to be slept with and abandoned and looked down upon.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Pei Yan suppressed the hatred insinde her. This Li Rui was too much. She was a bigdy, how could she say these kinds of words?

    ¡°You refuse?¡± Li Rui wasn¡¯t in a rush. He said leisurely, ¡°Stubborn.¡±

 Chapter 1257 - Worry

    <h4>Chapter 1257: Worry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°I, I was wrong!¡± Pei Yan immediately said in fright. ¡°Ms. Xia, I was wrong, I was lowly and I let myself go. I¡¯m the world¡¯s most depraved woman and I won¡¯t dare to be a vixen anymore!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. She simply wanted to give a round of apuse to her brother. As expected, an evil person would be dealt with evil. Pei Yan, this evil woman could only be dealt with by her brother! Ever since she found out that Pei Yan had seduced Zhao Yixuan, she had been suppressing hatred in her heart. Today, it was finally released and she felt all free and ted. ¡°There¡¯s still more.¡± She added. ¡°You deserve to be slept with and abandoned and looked down upon.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Pei Yan lowered her head and gritted her teeth. ¡°I deserve to be slept with and abandoned and looked down upon!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Xia Yingluo grinned. ¡°You have to be self-aware.¡±

    She stretchedzily and then leaned on the sofa and said to her brother, ¡°Let Zhao Yixuane down, the big shouting is giving me a headache.¡± The shouting telling him to get off the stage was almost turning the roof over.

    Li Rui was reluctant. ¡°He hasn¡¯t taken off his underwear.¡±

    ¡°Are you a pervert?¡± Xia Yingluo said disdainfully.

    Li Rui rubbed his nose and motioned for Brother Qiang to let him release Zhao Yixuan regretfully.

    Zhao Yixuan was dragged down, his face ashen and his whole body drenched in cold sweat. He was shivering slightly from either tiredness or from the huge humiliation he had just suffered. Li Rui looked at him disdainfully. ¡°Get him out of here. He¡¯s drenched in sweat, disgusting.¡±

    A few people dragged him out.

    In the chaos, Zhao Yixuan looked up and saw Xia Yingluo sitting beside Li Rui. She was concentrated on peeling a pine cone and was feeding it to Li Rui¡¯s finely thin lips. ¡°Good job, this is your reward.¡±

    In the depths of Zhao Yixuan¡¯s heart, there was discontent and jealousy.

    How could she do this?!

    She shouldn¡¯t be like this...

    How was it that she was living so well when he was in such a dire state?!

    Under the blurry dazzling lights, Xia Yingluo¡¯s exquisite features were alluring and charming. Looking from afar, she was like a mysterious fairy, giggling beautifully, but from beginning to end, she never turned to give him a nce.

    A huge sense of disappointment rose in Zhao Yixuan¡¯s heart.

    Pei Yan was also chased out along with him. She grabbed the purse that had been thrown on the ground and stomped towards the car in a rage. She didn¡¯t even think of helping Zhao Yixuan at all. Why should she? That man hadpletely humiliated her!

    Pei Yan started the car and drove off.

    Leaving Zhao Yixuan alone, standing alone in the midsummer night¡¯s cool breeze.

    After chasing away those unlucky people, Xia Yingluo, Li Rui and Jin Ling¡¯er yed to their heart¡¯s content. Jin Ling¡¯er learned how to y the dice for the first time and kept losing, so she had to drink many shots. She was unafraid to drink more and leaned onto Xia Yingluo. She pinched Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s cheeks and said to Li Rui, ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±

    After sending Jin Ling¡¯er back to the dormitory for a good night¡¯s rest, Xia Yingluo and Li Rui returned home.

    She sat alone in a daze in her room¡¯s balcony for the whole night. The next day, she said to Li Lei, ¡°Father, I¡¯ve decided to stay in the training camp.¡±

    Li Lei was trimming a cluster of tulips in the garden, with Li Rui¡¯s little leopard resting on his shoulderfortably. He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Imperial?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Imperial Entertainment¡¯s training camp.¡± Xia Yingluo braced herself and said, ¡°My friend is there. If I retire, she¡¯s bound to be bullied to death.¡±

    Li Lei was a little unhappy. ¡°There¡¯s no good thing in Imperial. Bring your friend along to Skyart.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said carefully, ¡°Father, you taught me that I should never run from battles. If I and Ling¡¯er just run away because there¡¯s someone at Imperial¡¯s training camp bullying us, then she¡¯ll be able to have her wishes fulfilled and be Chief. Then she¡¯ll debut in glory and spread rumors everywhere to chase me away... Father, can you bear that?¡±

    ¡°After a year outside, you¡¯ve learned to manipte to get what you want?¡± Li Lei chuckled slightly.

    Xia Yingluo said with a thick face, ¡°Hehe. Anyway, I¡¯m not leaving, so I had to give you old man face.¡±

    ¡°Tsk tsk, what old man, I¡¯m still young.¡± Li Lei lectured his daughter. He paused for a while before saying, ¡°Go ask your mother.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°If your mother is okay, then I¡¯m okay too.¡± Since the enmity with Imperial was a matter involving the previous generation, his children should have their own lives. He didn¡¯t drag to involve them in the previous generation¡¯s enmity.

    Xia Yingluo cheered. ¡°You¡¯re the best!¡±

    She hugged Li Lei and nted a fierce kiss on his handsome cheeks, then went to find Xia Ling happily.

    From early morning to evening, the sun set in the west and theke water glimmered.

    Xia Ling was sitting on a rattan weaved deck chair on the second floor¡¯s balcony. Her head was bent and she was quietly reading a book. Beside her was a cup of flower tea and not far, pots of roses bloomed, swaying in the gentle cool breeze. Her porcin white and lustering face had on a quiet and contented expression, and her gauze cheongsam dragged on the floor carelessly. From afar, she looked just like a fairy who had walked out of dreand.

    Li Lei stood at the door and looked at her for a long time.

    She looked up and realized he was here, so she put down her book and got up. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me you wereing?¡±

    Li Lei smiled and walked over. He extended an arm and brought her into his embrace. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to disturb you, you were so engrossed.¡± He lowered his head and kissed her gently. Then he asked, ¡°Has Yingluoe to find you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Ling nestled into his embrace. His warmth made her feel peaceful. ¡°My brother said he¡¯ll stay in S City to look after her and prevent Wei Lingnan from doing anything. If she wants to stay in Imperial¡¯s training camp, then let her be. Anyways, she¡¯s going to graduate in one or two years and it won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Although she was saying this, she still looked up at Li Lei. ¡°You don¡¯t mind?¡±

    ¡°Why should I mind?¡± Li Lei smiled. ¡°Who could possibly snatch you from me?¡±

    Hence, Xia Ling smiled, tiptoed and gave him a lingering kiss.

    She had never taken the initiative to mention a name to him before. Since she had decided to grow old together with him, it was only right to cut off what should be cut off.

    However, Li Lei unexpectedly mentioned the name first. ¡°Yingluo has met Pei Ziheng.¡±

    Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. She had heard of this before, but she didn¡¯t know why Li Lei was bringing it up.

    Li Lei hugged her tighter and leaned his head on her shoulders. His voice was a little gloomy. ¡°She said Pei Ziheng is very good, he still has sharp ears and keen eyes, a healthy body, and good spirits. His authority is still unchallenged in Imperial Entertainment and he can scare people with a single nce.¡±

    Her heart softened. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Even though she had married and given birth to children with him, she hadn¡¯t seen Pei Ziheng for many years and, after all, he was still an unforgettable past lover and cinnabar in the bottom of her heart, so how could she just forget him so easily? asionally in her dreams, she would miss the man called Pei Ziheng and worry about whether he was warm and if he had a close confidante near him to cook for and feed him.

 Chapter 1258 - Banquet

    <h4>Chapter 1258: Banquet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Her love had long disappeared, but her concern still existed.

    Although she had never shown a hint of concern for him before, but he was still aware of that.

    So he had asked about Pei Ziheng from Xia Yingluo and told her personally.

    Li Lei was just like a big-sized pet. He hugged her and said coquettishly, ¡°What are you thanking me for, are you that distant to me?¡±

    She just smiled and turned her head to nt a kiss on his cheek.

    He kissed her too, gently biting on her ear. ¡°Okay, since you know about his news now, you¡¯re not allowed to go hear about him elsewhere, and you¡¯re not allowed to go see him. Do you hear me? If anything is to happen to him¡ªfor example, be defeated and fall from grace, or to be cheated and go bankrupt, I will give him material assistance.¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help butugh. This man was already a few people¡¯s father but was still so boyish. He hade all the way here to say these just because he was jealous. ¡°Why would I go and see him?¡± Sheughed. ¡°He won¡¯t go bankrupt, don¡¯t curse him.¡±

    Li Lei felt unfair. ¡°He¡¯ll go bankrupt sooner orter, then I¡¯ll buy him.¡±

    Xia Lingughed again and pacified him. ¡°Okay, okay.¡±

    She pacified him as if pacifying a child. He stole a few more kisses from her and Yingluo¡¯s matter was thrown to the back of her mind.

    The phone rang and broke apart the two of them.

    It was his good brother Du Yunfeng. ¡°Li Lei, when did you return to China? Why didn¡¯t you tell us so we can gather? Me and Xiao Jin and the rest are all nning to hold a banquet for you. Bring along your family, okay.¡±

    Li Lei was feeling a little gloomy at Du Yunfeng for interrupting him, but he still agreed.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°That¡¯s good, we can let the families of S City get to know Yingluo so that she won¡¯t suffer any more grievances in the future.¡± Xia Yingluo had been overseas since young and had little chances to go back to China. She had never been exposed to the media before, so none of the rich families in the whole city would be able to recognize her. Now that she was being eyed on by Wei Lingnan, it was a good thing to get to know more people. She was soon seventeen years old and had to officially step into society.

    The two of them told their daughter about it at night.

    Xia Yingluo did not reject it. ¡°Okay, Brother Du Zheng has even helped me a while ago and I have yet to thank him. Oh yes, mother, could I bring Ling¡¯er along? Ling¡¯er has a part to y in Brother Du Zheng helping me.¡±

    Xia Ling didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Then bring her along to y. Brother Du Zheng and Uncle Jin Yifei are all in the film industry. It¡¯ll be helpful for your friend¡¯s debut to know more people.¡±

    Xia Yingluo grinned. ¡°Thank you, mother!¡±

    She returned to Imperial¡¯s training camp and immediately told Jin Ling¡¯er the good news.

    Jin Ling¡¯er heard that she was going to attend a prestigious banquet and was extremely happy. ¡°Wow! I¡¯ve never even been to such a banquet before, that¡¯s awesome. I¡¯ll definitely dress up nicely and won¡¯t throw you face!¡± While talking, she began to get a little nervous. ¡°Yingluo, what should I wear and what should I talk about when I¡¯m there? The other people... would they belittle me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°There¡¯s me, who would dare to belittle you? Don¡¯t worry, when we are all dressed up, we¡¯ll go together and you only have to follow me. I¡¯ll introduce you to my parents and, oh yes, and Brother Du Zheng. He helped us chase Jiang Bilian from the filming crewst time. I have yet to thank him properly.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was surprised. ¡°You know Du Zheng?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Du Zheng has a deep rtionship with our family. This banquet is being held by the Du family. Brother Du Zheng is on very good terms with my elder brother, so he¡¯ll be sure to take good care of us.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er eximed, ¡°You know so many people.¡± She suddenly realized something. ¡°No wonder Du Zheng helped me so muchst time. I still thought it was because my sincerity had moved him, but it turned out he was doing it because of you?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo giggled. ¡°Your sincerity yed a big part. Brother Du Zheng is a righteous man and is famous to be iron-faced. If he doesn¡¯t agree with your viewpoint, he wouldn¡¯t have helped you even if it was for me.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er felt a little better and felt like her efforts had not been wasted.

    But after pondering over it, she covered her face. ¡°It¡¯s so embarrassing. You two are obviously so familiar with each other and yet, I still tried topliment you in front of him.¡±

    Xia Yingluo patted her head happily. ¡°Good friends are loyal.¡±

    ¡°He must think I¡¯m ridiculous, right?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er got more and more embarrassed and fell down onto the bed.

    Xia Yingluo stoppedforting her and said disdainfully, ¡°You¡¯re usually so thick-skinned, why are you trying to save your face now?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er whined.

    Actually, she couldn¡¯t understand either. Why was her face red just at the thought of it? It was as if it was okay to lose face in front of everyone else, but if that man called Du Zheng thought she was ridiculous... she couldn¡¯t take it!

    The days passed.

    Xia Yingluo dedicated herself to helping Jin Ling¡¯er find a little formal dress. She brought her to a professional hairstylist and they made her up, then they rode in her private driver¡¯s car and headed towards the Du family¡¯s banquet.

    On the way, there was a car ident nearby.

    ¡°Miss, we can¡¯t go through this road,¡± the driver said. ¡°We have to go back and find another road. We will bete.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Yingluo was unhappy. It was unlucky, but things had alreadye to this and there was no other choice, so she had to give her family a call.

    The one who picked up was Li Rui. He, Li Lei and Xia Ling had already arrived at the banquet. A few people were already crowding around exchanging greetings, and Li Rui interjected. ¡°Father, mother, Yingluo said the road there isn¡¯t well, so she¡¯ll bete.¡±

    Xia Ling asked, ¡°Is she okay?¡±

    Li Rui said, ¡°She¡¯s okay.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Okay, tell her to be careful.¡± She looked up and smiled at Du Yunfeng, Du Zheng and the rest. ¡°This girl is used to being wild outside and has no rules. Please don¡¯t mind her.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to mind about our own family?¡± Du Yunfeng also smiled. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen our niece Yingluo for so long, she must be very beautiful now.¡±

    Li Lei was proud. ¡°My daughter is, of course, the most beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Look at you, are you bullying me for having no daughter?¡± Du Yunfeng scolded jokingly.

    The few of them continued chatting and didn¡¯t put the little disturbance to heart.

    The afternoon air was good.

    The driver turned a big round and finally brought Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er to the banquet.

    Xia Yingluo jumped off the car and walked to the entrance with Jin Ling¡¯er. They brandished their invitation cards.

    The attendant at the door took the invitation card and said with a respectful tone, ¡°Ms. Xia, please enter. They have been waiting.¡± Then, he personally brought them inside and soon they arrived in front of Du Zheng.

    Du Zheng was chatting with a few guests on a finely-trimmed grass patch. Xia Yingluo called, ¡°Brother Du Zheng.¡±

    Du Zheng turned back and saw her, then excused himself and turned back to talk to her. ¡°Little girl has grown up.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also grinned. ¡°Brother Du Zheng has be more and more handsome. Oh yes, this is my good friend Ling¡¯er. You have met her before.¡±

 Chapter 1259 - Thoughtless Remarks

    <h4>Chapter 1259: Thoughtless Remarks</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jin Ling¡¯er greeted him politely. ¡°President Du.¡±

    Du Zheng looked at her, an undetectable fascination shing across his usually solemn eyes. When he had run into this girl, she had been thrown out of the filming set like a homeless little beggar looking so frail. Now that she had on makeup and was all dressed up in a pale pink floral little formal dress and was standing in front of him gracefully under the autumn sunlight with a pair of virtuous eyes, it was like she had be a different person.

    He had seen many beauties and, in all honesty, Jin Ling¡¯er was not especially beautiful.

    But maybe because the difference between the two times they had met was too strong, she felt an even deeper impression.

    He nodded at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Wee.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said lightly next to him, ¡°Jing¡¯er was still worried that she wouldn¡¯t be weed beforeing here. I told her that she didn¡¯t have to worry. Brother Du Zheng, thank you for helping her at the filming setst time, and for helping me too. You have to continue helping us in the future, okay?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°Of course I should.¡±

    After a pause, he looked at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°You are Yingluo¡¯s friend, so of course, I have to take care of you too.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er felt a little gloomy. She was only taken care of just because she was Xia Yingluo¡¯s friend? Although she understood that if not for Yingluo, such a man with a high position in society wouldn¡¯t even notice her, to be recognized as someone¡¯s essory instead¡ªeven if it was her best friend, she still felt a little grudge inside her. ¡°It was an identst time. Thank you, President Du,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t need President Du¡¯s extra care in the future. I¡¯ll use my own abilities to get a role.¡±

    Xia Yingluo seemed to detect her unhappiness. She turned and nced at her.

    She didn¡¯t know if Du Zheng heard her unhappy tone, he only said calmly, ¡°You have ambition.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was even more gloomy.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and changed the topic. ¡°Brother Du Zheng, where are my parents?¡±

    Du Zheng also changed the topic with her. ¡°My second uncle is with uncle and aunt. They¡¯re discussing matters with Old Mister Shan Kouya.¡±

    He was highly skilled at flower arrangement and had good rtions with Li Lei and Xia Ling. Xia Yingluo also liked him. Hearing that, Xia Yingluo grinned. ¡°Grandpa Shankou is here too? Let¡¯s go, Ling¡¯er. Let¡¯s go and find him.¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°I¡¯ll bring you two there.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of being brought there?¡± Xia Yingluo rejected his offer. ¡°Go do your things and don¡¯t tell anyone that I¡¯m here. I want to sneak in with Ling¡¯er and eavesdrop on them.¡± She turned and smiled at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Grandpa Shankou is amazing at ikebana and is also handsome. He¡¯s even more handsome than my father.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen your father in the newspaper before, he¡¯s so handsome.¡±

    Xia Yingluo giggled. ¡°Old Grandpa is more handsome.¡±

    Du Zheng listened to her and felt a little pity towards Li Lei. To be honest, how did he raise such a daughter who secretly helped others outside? Old Mister Shan Kouya was indeed handsome, but he was mainly charismatic and his ikebana skills and meditation had made him full of peacefulness and mysteriousness. How was he as handsome as Li Lei, who had perfect features and was incredibly good looking?

    Forget it. Since this little girl wanted to bring her little friend to peak at the handsome grandpa, he couldn¡¯t care.

    Du Zheng closed an eye. Since it wasn¡¯t a big thing, he just instructed them not to do anything too overboard.

    There, the thin afternoon sunlight shone on the grass patch.

    At the champagne tower, a few nobledies held a ss of beverage and chatted.

    One of them looked over and was extremely shocked. ¡°Look over there, who are those two girls Du Zheng is talking to? The one wearing the off-shoulder little fairy dress is so pretty, and the bag she¡¯s carrying also matches so well.¡±

    The otherdies also turned to look.

    One of them called Du Jingjing also said, ¡°It does look pretty. But I¡¯ve never seen the two of them before, do you know them?¡±

    Anotherdy called Jin Ying said, ¡°Isn¡¯t the bag she¡¯s carrying the limited edition just released by Master Ericst week? Jinxiu, it¡¯s the one you wanted to buy but failed to. That¡¯s strange, how could she have the bag that¡¯s so difficult to buy?¡±

    Among the nobledies, thedy that wore a silk Western-style dress and held a goblet with an aloof attitude was Gu Jinxiu. Hearing that, she frowned unconsciously. She had already seen Xia Yingluo, but why was Xia Yingluo here at this banquet? And the bag on Xia Yingluo¡¯s arm was even more piercing. It was indeed the bag she had specifically ordered her assistant to purchasest week, but she had been informed that it was sold out.

    Hearing Jin Ying poking at her sore spot, she smiled elegantly. ¡°It¡¯s indeed the bag I wanted, I didn¡¯t expect her to have taken it. Forget it, she¡¯s different from us. I¡¯ll just give it to her. I don¡¯t want it anymore.¡±

    The crowd couldn¡¯t help but be curious at her reserved tone. ¡°Who on earth is she?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu said, ¡°She¡¯s not an honorable person, it¡¯s not worth mentioning.¡±

    The group ofdies was even more curious now and pestered her to tell more.

    Gu Jinxiu appeared to have no other choice and said, ¡°She¡¯s called Xia Yingluo. She¡¯s a poor student in Imperial¡¯s training camp. I met her at Pei Yan¡¯s engagement banquetst time and she was performing a dance on stage. I heard she and Pei Yan¡¯s fiancee Zhao Yixuan...¡± Before she finished, she halted and shook her head. ¡°But it¡¯s all in the past. Thank goodness Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan¡¯s rtionship is alright.¡±

    How smart were the group of nobledies? They understood what she was implying immediately.

    Du Jingjing rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re saying that this Xia Yingluo had a thing with Pei Yan¡¯s fiancee?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu said ambiguously, ¡°She caused a scene at the engagement banquet. Yan Yan wanted to chase her awayst time, but this Xia Yingluo has some methods up her sleeves. I don¡¯t know how, but she made Imperial¡¯s Chairman Pei take a fancy on her and protect her. Yan Yan was so angry she almost cried.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of that too.¡± Jin Ying came to a realization. ¡°It turns out she¡¯s that mistress that interrupted Pei Yan¡¯s engagement banquet?¡± Of course, since they were nobledies, they stood on the side of the nobledies. Hearing how a nameless little mistress had tried to seduce a man from a prestigious family, they were all filled with resentment.

    Gu Jinxiu said, ¡°That¡¯s her. She didn¡¯t give up even after making a mess at the engagement banquet. Zhao Yixuan already didn¡¯t want her, but she turned and somehow managed to seduce Li Rui. Pei Yan bumped into them a few days ago at a bar¡ªLi Rui brought along that golden-haired girl and had them in his arms.¡±

    Her words were enough topletely drag Xia Yingluo¡¯s name down.

    The resentment in the nobledies deepened further. No wonder a poor, nameless student could attend such a prestigious banquet and own the bag that Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t even buy. Didn¡¯t she just seduce a few men? She even worked together with that golden-haired girl to attend to hedonistic sons like Li Rui. It was too disgusting!

 Chapter 1260 - Orchid Robbed Halfway

    <h4>Chapter 1260: Orchid Robbed Halfway</h4>

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what Li Rui is thinking, how could he bring such women to the banquet,¡± said another nobledy. ¡°Really, I feel like I¡¯m being contaminated by standing on the same grass patch as them for even one second.¡± Of course, they all thought that the two were brought here as Li Rui¡¯s partners. Given the rumored licentious temper of Second Young Master Li, it was possible.

    Gu Jinxiu nced at Jin Ying. ¡°This Xia Yingluo really changes men at great speed. She talked to Du Zheng for so long, I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s trying to do.¡±

    Everyone knew that Jin Ying had a crush on Du Zheng.

    Hearing that, Jin Ying tensed up and her expression became unnatural. ¡°Du Zheng is so clean and proper, he¡¯s not so licentious as Li Rui. He won¡¯t be seduced by such a woman.¡±

    Du Keke also nodded. ¡°Yes, Yingying. Don¡¯t worry, my brother has a lot of self-respect.¡± She was Du Zheng¡¯s cousin. The Du family¡¯s core powerful members didn¡¯t give birth to any daughters, so when there were banquets like this, they often brought along their female cousins. Du Keke knew that her birth background wasn¡¯t very good. Compared to Jin Ying and Gu Jinxiu, she still had a big gap from these official rich nobledies. Thus, she was extremely solicitous to them. ¡°Why don¡¯t we go over and teach the two sluts a lesson and tell them to stop being arrogant here?¡±

    This was exactly what Jin Ying wanted. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s best if we can catch their mistake and chase them out.¡± She didn¡¯t want them to seduce her Du Zheng.

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t mind. She felt like Xia Yingluo was an eyesore and couldn¡¯t wait to see Xia Yingluo embarrass herself. A few of them followed behind Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er, wanting to see what they would do.

    Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er were unaware. They chatted happily and walked towards the hall where Old Mister Shan Kouya and the other elders were.

    The hall was located at a tranquil and secluded spot. It had a simple and unadorned Japanese style, where mountains, stones and flora and fauna were hidden from view.

    Xia Yingluo pulled Jin Ling¡¯er along and they both tiptoed towards the hall. They only took a few steps when they bumped into an attendant. The things in the attendant¡¯s hands were almost knocked over by her. He looked up at them and immediately apologized. ¡°My apologies.¡±

    It was obviously them who had knocked into him, but the attendants of the Du family were just so respectful.

    Xia Yingluo gestured ¡°hush¡± with her fair fingers and asked in a low tone, ¡°Is Grandpa Shankou inside?¡±

    The attendant replied politely, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down at the things he was carrying and asked, ¡°What are these?¡±

    The attendant said, ¡°Old Mister Shan Kouya is discussing ikebana with Mr. Li and the rest inside. They have instructed me to take a few flower timber here for them to perform flower arrangement.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± Xia Yingluo eximed softly. Her eyes lit up and she said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°You¡¯re in good luck. Grandpa Shankou rarely performs flower arrangement in front of people, unless he¡¯s in an extremely good mood. Many famous people can¡¯t even witness it.¡±

    Even though Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t know ikebana, she was also happy after seeing Xia Yingluo so excited.

    Xia Yingluo looked down at the flowers the attendant held in the special utensils. Suddenly, she smiled mischievously. ¡°Give me the orchid.¡±

    The attendant was confused. ¡°Miss?¡±

    ¡°Just give it to me if I say so,¡± Xia Yingluo said with her missy temper. ¡°If Grandpa Shankou asks, just tell him it was robbed.¡±

    The attendant was put on the spot. ¡°These flowers were specially requested by the Old Master. The orchid is the most expensive one amongst them. If you do that, the Old Master would me us and it might not be too suitable.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s not suitable? Stop dilly-dallying.¡± Xia Yingluo took out a pearl from her limited edition little bag and gave it to the attendant as a little fee. ¡°I¡¯m Jennifer, Li Lei¡¯s daughter. I¡¯m also very close to Grandpa Shankou. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just ying a small joke with him, he won¡¯t me you.¡± Jennifer was her English name and was also the name that the media used when mentioning Li Lei¡¯s daughter. The benefit of using this surname was that she didn¡¯t have to exin to others why her surname was Xia, and why she didn¡¯t follow her father¡¯s surname Li nor her mother¡¯s surname Xia. She could also enjoy a low-key life outside of the media¡¯s eyes and avoid being disturbed.

    At the Du family¡¯s banquet, most of them only knew she was called Jennifer.

    As expected, the attendant had also heard of the name Jennifer. His attitude changed from one of politeness to respect. ¡°So you are Ms. Jennifer. My apologies, I didn¡¯t recognize you. Please don¡¯t take offense.¡± Even though there were many prestigious guests at the banquet, everyone knew that the main guest was Li Lei¡¯s family.

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly. ¡°It¡¯s alright, now give me the orchid.¡±

    Without hesitation, the attendant handed one stalk of the expensive orchid to Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo batted her eyshes at him. ¡°Don¡¯t tell Grandpa Shankou that I robbed it.¡±

    The attendant bowed and then entered the hall with the remaining flowers.

    Jin Ling¡¯er saw that he was far away and pulled down Xia Yingluo¡¯s sleeves. ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said happily, ¡°I¡¯m greeting him. I¡¯m going to give Grandpa Shankou a surprise.¡±

    Her voice justnded when she heard a voicee from nearby. ¡°What a coincidence, Xia Yingluo. Long time no see.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned and an ominous premonition rose in her. She turned around and, as expected, saw Gu Jinxiu. Gu Jinxiu was surrounded by a few nobledies, who were looking aloofly at her. ¡°I didn¡¯t think Li Rui would treat you so well to bring you in such a banquet.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said coldly, ¡°What does it have to do with you?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu sneered. She turned and nced at anotherdy. ¡°Jingjing, she said it¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    Du Jingjing was unhappy and red at Xia Yingluo. ¡°How are you talking to Sister Jinxiu? If it¡¯s none of her business, it¡¯s my business! Let me tell you, this is my family¡¯s territory! This ce is used to serve the most prestigious guests, when did it allow any random person to barge in?¡±

    ¡°Du Jingjing?¡± Xia Yingluo thought about it. When did the Du family have such a person? ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of you.¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Du Jingjing stuck out her chest. ¡°Frog under a well.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling frog under a well! Our Yingluo is¡ª¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was angry and wanted to continue talking, but Xia Yingluo stopped her.

    Xia Yingluo grinned at Du Jingjing and the rest, ying with the orchid in her hands absent-mindedly. ¡°When has my reputation been rumored as such? Let me guess, I¡¯ve only met Gu Jinxiu before... could it be that Ms. Gu ndered me in front of everyone?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu saw that she had found out her ill intentions and was secretly annoyed, but she still kept a light face. ¡°I only said the truth. Why, you don¡¯t want the truth to be said? Aren¡¯t you a poor student in Imperial Entertainment, didn¡¯t you disrupt Pei Yan¡¯s engagement banquet and drink at a bar with Li Rui?¡±

 Chapter 1261 - Dispute Outside the Quiet Hall

    <h4>Chapter 1261: Dispute Outside the Quiet Hall</h4>

    It seemed that it was indeed true.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him. ¡°Ms. Gu, I really admire your ability to make meaning from cut segments. It¡¯s such a pity you don¡¯t be a paparazzi.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er almost sniggered andughed out loud. Wasn¡¯t it? Yingluo had done those things because she had reasons to. But under Gu Jinxiu¡¯s vivid description, it seemed as if it was very shameful. It was such a shame she had such a talent and wasn¡¯t a paparazzi.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression turned bad at their sarcasm. She suppressed her anger and said lightly, ¡°Am I wrong? You did all those and yet you¡¯re afraid of other people talking about it. I don¡¯t want to quarrel with you, this isn¡¯t a ce you shoulde. Go and don¡¯t disrupt the peace of the elders in the hall.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was here to find the elders, how could she go?

    Still ying with the orchid in her hands, she nced at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°I think you should go, Ms. Gu. To my knowledge, the Gu family isn¡¯t on very good terms with the Li family nowadays. I really don¡¯t understand how a member of the Gu family coulde so shamelessly to a banquet to wee the Li family.¡± The Gu family had once been on good terms with the Li family and Old Master Gu had been like the grandfather of Li Lei, but twenty years ago, things had happened with Gu Lin¡ªGu Lin had used all sorts of methods to drag Xia Ling down and had been put behind bars in the end. The two families had since then be enemies and grown apart.

    Xia Yingluo really couldn¡¯t understand how Gu Jinxiu still had the face toe here?

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t expect Xia Yingluo to know so many things. She secretly resented Li Rui for telling things to this casual woman. The enmity between prestigious families should stay between them. This Second Young Master Li was cing too much importance on this casual woman!

    The Gu family¡¯s rtionship with the Li family had indeed been very bad recently, but they had also underestimated the Li family¡¯s influence on their family¡ªafter leaving the support of the Li family, the Gu family¡¯s business had only deteriorated steadily. Compared to when Old Master Gu was still alive, the situation now was extremely miserable. Even Gu Jinxiu only looked to be bright and neat on the surface, but in reality, she was already unable to make ends meet and was only using the family¡¯s previous patrimony to put up a front.

    She wasn¡¯t willing to let other people see her in dire straits.

    Last week, when the highly skilled designer Master Eric had released a new limited edition bag, a few nobledies had urged her to buy it. So, although it hurt her painfully, she had pretended to agree. After that, she glossed over not having it with the excuse of ¡°being unable to get it because it¡¯s a limited edition¡±. Such an expensive bag was already unsuitable for thedies of the Gu family. She would rather save the money and spend it on her family business. Otherwise, after a few more years, people might find out about their family¡¯s downfall.

    Her father and brothers were incapable and couldn¡¯t manage the family business, so it was only up to her now.

    She wanted to repair the family¡¯s rtionship with the Li family. If she could redeem the friendship with the Li family, why would the Gu family still have to worry about returning to glory?

    She really didn¡¯t know what her father and grandpa were thinking back then. Just for her aunt Gu Lin, such a brainless girl, they had destroyed their rtionship with the Li family. Which finger of Gu Lin, that stupid wretch, was worthy of the family paying such a hefty price? She was ruining the lives of the other family members!

    While Gu Jinxiu was cursing her aunt in her heart to rot in jail forever, she also put on a sincere front and found the Du family to beg them to give her another chance. She wanted to take this banquet as an opportunity to repair the rtionship with the Li family. Actually, for this kind of matter, it was more suitable for her father or grandpa toe, but they both detested Li Lei to the core because of her aunt, so how could they possibly bow down ande here?

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t want to innocently follow her family into deterioration, so she had no choice but toe here herself.

    The Du family had originally been on good rtionships with the Li and Gu families. They didn¡¯t want the two families to quarrel like this, and they pitied Gu Jinxiu, so they tookpassion and agreed to her pleas. They invited her to the banquet for her to use the chance to repair her rtions with the Li family.

    Other people came to the banquet for fun, but she was here on a mission instead.

    Originally, she had wanted to follow Li Lei and the others into the hall to greet Old Mister Shan Kouya, but she had been stopped by the attendant instead. ¡°Apologies, Ms. Gu, Old Master Shankou only sees friends. This is a private little gathering, I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be too convenient for you to enter.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu could only stop.

    She had been outside on the grass patch, chatting absent-mindedly with a few of the nobledies while waiting for thete Ms. Jennifer¡ªMs. Jennifer was the pearl in Li Lei¡¯s palm. If she could build a good rtionship with thedy, the redemption of the two family¡¯s rtions would have hope. However, even after waiting for half a day, Ms. Jennifer had yet to arrive and only Xia Yingluo was here.

    Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t bear to see Li Rui bringing such shady girls to the scene of the banquet, and the otherdies also felt the same way. If she could cause a dispute outside the quiet hall and chase away these two shady girls, then it would be considered bing ¡°battle friends¡± with the group of nobledies. It would be even better if she could lure the elders out. She could then use the chance to talk to them and perhaps take the opportunity to get closer to Li Lei and his wife.

    Gu Jinxiu had been counting her chickens before they hatched, but who knew that Xia Yingluo would checkmate her the moment she opened her mouth¡ªthe Li family doesn¡¯t like you, why are you here?

    Her words exposed all of Gu Jinxiu¡¯s arrogance and pretense.

    Gu Jinxiu was embarrassed and her face turned a shade of white. She said, ¡°The matters between our two families have nothing to do with you.¡±

    Jin Ying also said, ¡°Exactly. Don¡¯t overestimate yourself just because Brother Li Rui pampers you. Let me tell you, Brother Li Rui changes his girls faster than he does his clothes. You two, tsk, maybe he¡¯ll dump you two tomorrow.¡±

    Xia Yingluo squinted at her. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Jin Ying.¡± The girl stuck out her chest arrogantly. ¡°I¡¯m from the Jin family, but you wouldn¡¯t understand. You just have to know that Jin Yifei is my uncle. You two are still trainees, right? Next time when you debut, I¡¯ll ask my uncle to shut you two out. Ha, then we¡¯ll see how you cry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her like an idiot. What, did the Jin family really give birth to such an idiot? Regarding Uncle Jin Yifei... she had a little impression of him. He had carried her a few times when she was young and had brought her to the filming set to see dynamites being exploded. She had returned with her head and face filthy with grime, and he had told her tentatively not to tell her father. She had already thought that this uncle Jin Yifei was unreliable, but who knew his niece was even worse?

    She thought she could shut out a bigdy from the entertainment industry¡¯s biggestpany just by using a director?

    She, she was utterly speechless.

    Jin Ying saw that she wasn¡¯t speaking and thought she was afraid. She said proudly, ¡°If you know my might, roll and get lost quickly. Don¡¯t make us chase you out.¡±

    Xia Yingluo really didn¡¯t want to continue quarreling with them. However, she shouldn¡¯t be the one to get lost, should she? She had just stolen Grandpa Shankou¡¯s orchid and had been happily waiting to be discovered, but what was going on now? ¡°You guys should get lost.¡± She waved the orchid in her hands. The expensive and exquisite orchid swayed like a dog¡¯s tail in the wind. ¡°Let us see what is ¡®roll¡¯.¡±

 Chapter 1262 - Etiquette Model

    <h4>Chapter 1262: Etiquette Model</h4>

    Jin Ling¡¯er covered her mouth and sniggered. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen people roll before. These fewdies, you can help me increase my knowledge.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Jin Ying was furious. She didn¡¯t expect them to be so sharp-mouthed. That was weird, shouldn¡¯t this lowly girl who sells her body for a living bow down and talk in a low tone to prestigiousdies such as herself? She felt like she was already on the losing end in terms of grandeur because of how she was shorter than the other nobledies. How could these two little bitches be so self-righteous?

    Xia Yingluo yed with the orchid casually, calm and unruffled.

    Du Jingjing¡¯s eyes were sharp and she noticed the orchid in her hands. ¡°The thing you¡¯re holding is my family¡¯s ¡®Superb Jewel¡¯? Where did you get it from? Are you shameless, how could you have bent such a precious flower?¡± Her family¡¯s Superb Jewel was the most premium orchid, and they had spent great efforts searching for a famous craftsman to breed it sessfully. The whole family was immensely proud of it, but now that it was bent, she was sure to have caused big trouble.

    Xia Yingluo looked at the flower on her hand. ¡°So this is called Superb Jewel.¡±

    Just looking at it, she could tell that it was a premium orchid. But she didn¡¯t put it to heart. Since the Du family had bent it and given it to Old Mister Shan Kouya, it was already bent, so why should she be tentative about it?

    Du Jingjing thought she had found a big piece of information to use against her. ¡°Do you not have any culture? How could you just bend my flower like that? You¡¯re done, hurry up and call Brother Li Rui and see how he handles this situation. This is such an expensive flower, you won¡¯t be able to pay for it even if I sell you!¡±

    ¡°Who are you selling?¡± Suddenly, a sound came from nearby.

    Everybody looked down and saw that amongst the flora and fauna, the hall¡¯s door had been opened. Li Lei, Xia Ling and a few of the other guests were all escorting an old grandpa wearing a hemp cloth attire, looking quietly at them.

    ¡°Uncle, Uncle Li, Master Shan Kouya...¡± Du Jingjing looked at them and greeted each of them. Then, she pointed at Xia Yingluo. ¡°You came just at the right time. This wild brat got in here somehow and bent my family¡¯s most precious orchid. I want her to pay!¡±

    A hint of surprise and a strange expression shed in a few of the elders¡¯ eyes.

    The old grandpa in the middle smiled and looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°I was just thinking why my orchid was missing, it turns out there was a little thief.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also grinned. She wanted to say something when Master Shan Kouya gestured a shush to him.

    ¡°It looks like you are not getting along well.¡± Xia Ling, who was standing beside Li Lei, said and looked at the nobledies. ¡°You all think that Xia Yingluo secretly bent the orchid and you want her topensate for it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Madam Li,¡± Gu Jinxiu said. She didn¡¯t waste the opportunity to showcase herself. ¡°Jingjing and I and a few others were all chatting on the grass patch when we saw Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er sneak in. I recognized that she was a poor student in Imperial¡¯s training camp, and was afraid she wouldn¡¯t know the rules and would offend you, fellow elders. So me, Jingjing, Jin Ying and a few others all came to look. As expected, we found out she secretly bent the precious orchid.¡±

    Xia Ling nced at her own daughter, meaning to tell her that this little brat really had bad rtionships with people.

    Xia Yingluo shrugged innocently. She didn¡¯t do it on purpose.

    The sunshine gleamed in Xia Ling¡¯s eyes and she smiled at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was ted at having been noticed. She said respectfully, ¡°My name is Gu Jinxiu. I¡¯m the Gu family¡¯s daughter. I¡¯ve met Madam Li before.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded slightly. ¡°Gu family. Yes, I remember. I was once very familiar with your family.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was ted and felt she was being recognized, so she continued to try harder. ¡°Right? I heard that when my great-grandpa was still alive, he appreciated you a lot, and even wanted the juniors to learn from you. Unfortunately, I was bornte and didn¡¯t have the chance to personally witness your glorious days.¡±

    ¡°Are you calling me old?¡± Xia Ling asked.

    ¡°No! I didn¡¯t mean that!¡± Gu Jinxiu was anxious and wanted to bite her own tongue off. Sheughed forcefully. ¡°Madam Li, you¡¯re so beautiful, how could you be old? You¡¯re even more beautiful than us.¡±

    Xia Ling smiled radiantly again andplimented her. ¡°At least you know how to sugarcoat.¡± She looked up and said to Li Lei, ¡°Look at other people¡¯s daughter, so smooth and slick in making social connections. Unlike our family¡¯s brat? Shees out to be bullied and always makes us worry for her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unhappy. Mother, you¡¯re clearly scolding me indirectly. Boohoo, how am I that horrible?

    Li Lei nced at his daughter, who was full of grievance. He suppressed augh. ¡°Isn¡¯t it? Why did we give birth to a stupid daughter.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt even more aggrieved. She circled spots on the orchid in her hands quietly.

    Gu Jinxiu continued to make conversation. ¡°That¡¯s because Uncle Li and Aunt have too high an expectation of your daughter.¡± With just a few words, she had already called ¡°Madam Li¡± as ¡°Aunt¡±. ¡°I heard that Jennifer is talented and good-looking. She¡¯s not only beautiful but also has iparable wits and intelligence that is rarely seen in the world and is much stronger than us. I really do want to see her and make friends with her.¡±

    Xia Ling couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    Gu Jinxiu only thought she was happy andughed along with her.

    Xia Yingluo alsoughed, and Jin Ling¡¯er wasughing even harder. She stuck up her thumb. ¡°Ms. Gu, you really have wonderful insight. Bravo!¡±

    Gu Jinxiu frowned. Why was this wild brat so insolent? She nced at Du Jingjing at the side, and Du Jingjing also found them extremely irksome. She chided Jin Ling¡¯er and Xia Yingluo. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you two getting lost?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Xia Yingluo responded honestly now and dragged Jin Ling¡¯er away.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Old Master Shan Kouya stopped her. ¡°Little brat, are you just leaving? Leave the orchid.¡±

    ¡°Yes, leave the orchid.¡± Du Jingjing remembered it. ¡°This orchid was given to a prestigious guest like Old Master Shan Kouya, who are you to take it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo really put the orchid casually at the side and was about to leave.

    ¡°Come back!¡± Old Master Shan Kouya couldn¡¯t help but re at her. ¡°You¡¯re really leaving because they asked you to? When were you so obedient?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unhappy. ¡°Each of youined about me and called me stupid.¡± She nced at her parents in grievance, then pointed at Du Jingjing. ¡°She even told me to get lost! Why should I stay here? Humph, I¡¯m going back to the training camp. I¡¯m going to ignore you all.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu had yet to respond. She only focused on trying to impress the Li family and continued to chide her. ¡°How are you talking to the elders?! Do you have any discipline?! A poor student is a poor student, you don¡¯t have culture at all. Unfortunately, Ms. Jennifer isn¡¯t here, or she¡¯d be able to let you gain some insight with her etiquette model on how a properdy should behave.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stared at her, stunned. Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t even need a sketch to shoot her mouth off?

    After a second, Xia Yingluo finally found her voice. ¡°Thank you so much forplimenting me. I didn¡¯t even know I was that impressive.¡±

 Chapter 1263 - Identity Exposed

    <h4>Chapter 1263: Identity Exposed</h4>

    Gu Jinxiu felt something wasn¡¯t right. ¡°Are you misunderstanding something? Xia Yingluo, I didn¡¯tpliment you.¡±

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying also looked down on them. ¡°Are you shameless, couldn¡¯t you hear that Jinxiu is degrading you for having no discipline?¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt aggrieved again. She turned to Xia Ling. ¡°Mother, she scolded us for having no discipline.¡±

    Mother...

    Mother?!

    In that instance, the few nobledies were stunned. What did Xia Yingluo just call Xia Ling?

    Looking at their shocked expressions, Xia Ling said calmly, ¡°Who was scolding my daughter just now?¡±

    Thedies thought they were hallucinating. What... did Xia Ling just say ¡°my daughter¡±?! That was to say, Xia Yingluo, whom they had just degraded, was Xia Ling and Li Lei¡¯s daughter?!

    This... how was this possible?!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned pale and she looked at Xia Ling in disbelief. ¡°Aunt, you, you were just saying that your daughter was Ms. Jennifer, right? How did she be Xia Yingluo?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her disdainfully. ¡°I¡¯m not suitable to be called your aunt, please call me Madam Li from now on. Is it strange that my daughter is Yingluo? Jennifer is her English name. Her father and I are both Chinese, did you think she wouldn¡¯t have a Chinese name?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t help butugh. She scolded Gu Jinxiu softly. ¡°Retarded.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned a shade of white. Amazing, she realized with a shock that she had offended the person she should never offend. Rumor had it that the Li couple had always held their daughter in their hands like a precious treasure, and would even pluck the stars from the sky if they could. Whoever touched her was going against the whole Li and Xia families¡ªshe was such a precious little princess held as treasure, but she had offended her so badly!

    Her body swayed slightly and she suspected she was dreaming. Her gaze fell on Xia Yingluo and swept past Xia Ling, Li Lei, and the others. She didn¡¯t dare to believe it was real. But she really couldn¡¯t be med, Xia Yingluo¡¯s appearance simply didn¡¯t match with the Li couple¡¯s. Only upon closer inspection could people tell that they were of blood rtions. Furthermore, with Xia Yingluo¡¯s ¡°poor student¡± identity, who could have possibly thought of their connection!

    ¡°You, aren¡¯t you a poor student in Imperial Entertainment?¡± Gu Jinxiu asked weakly.

    Xia Yingluo smiled evilly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a poor student. Ms. Gu is so intent on currying favor with my family, why didn¡¯t you go and check our family traditions first? Each child must experience a trial, and in that period, they must hide their identity. It¡¯s a verymon thing.¡±

    Verymon...

    Who was she kidding!

    Gu Jinxiu simply wanted to curse. Who knew that the Li family was so strange, they even had to go through trials?!

    She had heard that the Li family had such a rule before, but she had never imagined she would personally experience such a thing. How could she have thought of it?!

    Gu Jinxiu wanted to weep but had no tears. In front of Xia Yingluo, she sweet-talked to Xia Ling andplimenting Ms. Jennifer that she had never even met before. Who knew that Ms. Jennifer was standing right in front of her, and she was the girl she had looked down on and tried to step on, Xia Yingluo! At the thought of how her fawning had been witnessed first-hand by Xia Yingluo, Gu Jinxiu simply wanted to dig a hole and hide inside it.

    The other two nobledies were also stunned. They looked at Xia Yingluo in disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re really Jennifer?¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t even want to bother with them.

    Xia Ling gestured to her. ¡°Come here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo grinned and ran to her mother. She linked arms with her and whined. ¡°Mother...¡±

    Xia Ling tidied her hair affectionately. ¡°Why did you offend so many people so fast? Your second brother isn¡¯t even as troublesome as you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo whined. ¡°They were the ones making trouble with me first. Humph, they even scolded me for having no discipline. I only stole Grandpa Shankou¡¯s flower, what¡¯s the big deal. Grandpa Shankou isn¡¯t even anxious and yet they¡¯re fighting over themselves anxiously.¡±

    Old Master Shan Kouya alsoughed.

    Old Master Shan Kouya looked at her affectionately. ¡°I knew you were the little thief who stole the flower.¡± The only person in this whole world who would dare to steal his flowers was her. He still remembered the first time he had visited the Li family¡¯s headquarters. Li Lei had cut off a cluster of various famous flowers as a gift, and the two were chatting in the tatami pavilion when suddenly, Old Master Shan Kouya had felt movement beside him¡ªhe had looked down and seen a delicate little girl hugging tightly onto the big cluster of flowers that had been gifted to him. She had intended to steal it secretly, but after being discovered, she had smiled with an air of innocence.

    Since then, he had be friends with the little flower thief despite the difference in age.

    In the quiet hall just now, the attendant had said that the ¡°flower was stolen by a beautifuldy¡±, so Old Master Shan Kouya immediately knew she was here.

    He hade out in a good mood to wee the little buddy but didn¡¯t expect to see the dispute at the door.

    So, when Xia Yingluo had wanted to call him ¡°Grandpa Shankou¡±, he had stopped her secretly. He had to give these so-called nobledies who didn¡¯t know their ce a lesson, and see if they would dare bully his little buddy in the future?

    Old Master Shan Kouya turned and looked at Gu Jinxiu. His affectionate and warm expression changed to sternness. ¡°Did you say my Yingluo has no discipline? I see that you can¡¯t distinguish the situation, nor recognize a precious pearl, and even dared to argue back with nonsense. I think you are the one with no discipline. Did the Gu family not discipline their own daughter?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was humiliated and embarrassed by him. But the other party was the Old Master Shan Kouya and she couldn¡¯t offend him.

    She could only swallow her anger. ¡°Old Master¡¯s teaching is right. I was unable to recognize a precious pearl and didn¡¯t know that Sister Yingluo was Jennifer. Yingluo, I¡¯m really sorry. I was just afraid that people who shouldn¡¯t barge in had barged into the banquet and would ruin Uncle Li¡¯s and Aunt¡¯s spirits, so I...¡±

    Her apologies simply threw the whole of the Gu family¡¯s faces.

    Xia Ling interrupted her without restraint. ¡°I told you, you don¡¯t have the right to call me Aunt.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned paler. She stammered and readjusted her feelings, then said in a voice as soft as a mosquito¡¯s, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was impatient and waved her hand. ¡°Forget it. Seriously, I don¡¯t know how Uncle Du and the rest even let you into the banquet, you¡¯re really dampening my spirits.¡± She turned and looked at Du Jingjing and Jin Ying. ¡°You two are really stupid, how could you believe everything that Gu Jinxiu says? You believed her when she said I was a random girl that my second brother brought inside secretly, is my second brother such an insensitive person?¡±

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying were speechless, but their hearts were tearing. Isn¡¯t your second brother such an insensitive person?

    If it had been Du Zheng, no matter how vividly Gu Jinxiu described it, they wouldn¡¯t have believed her!

    Du Jingjing smiled in mockery. ¡°Jennifer... no, Yingluo, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Since she had a Chinese name, it was even more affectionate to call her by her Chinese name.

    Jin Ying, however, refused to apologize. The scene of Du Zheng talking to the two girls was still spinning around in her head, and it rang a huge rm in her¡ªwhat was their rtionship with Du Zheng? Were they really just brothers and sisters and family friends?

 Chapter 1264 - Sudden Appearance of Wei Lingnan

    <h4>Chapter 1264: Sudden Appearance of Wei Lingnan</h4>

    Xia Yingluo was toozy to nitpick with them. There were too many stupid people in this world, so how could she possibly nitpick with them all?

    She only cared about Gu Jinxiu. Today¡¯s incident was obviously started by Gu Jinxiu. She didn¡¯t know what enmity she had with this woman, but why did they have to have disputes every time they met? She pulled on her mother¡¯s elbow and said in displeasure, ¡°Didn¡¯t Uncle Du say that this banquet was held as a weing to us? He obviously knows that we hate the Gu family, so why did they still invite them here, seriously.¡±

    Xia Lingforted her. ¡°Uncle Du also did that out of goodwill. It¡¯s not worth it to ruin the rtionship between our two families just because of little Gu Lin.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu heard her calm tone and said immediately, ¡°Yes, Aunt...¡± She saw Xia Ling¡¯s expression change and immediately changed her words. ¡°Madam Li really has a high notion of duty. Aunt Gu Lin¡¯s incident was so many years ago, she has already gotten her punishment. Our Gu family still wishes to repair our rtionship with the Li family. Our two families¡¯ rtionship didn¡¯te easy, we should cherish it.¡±

    Xia Ling said lightly, ¡°We should cherish it.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu said carefully, ¡°Madam and Uncle are finally back in China, how about youe to our Gu family as guests next time? Our family will be sure to serve you well. Our home has been newly renovated, Sister Yingluo is bound to like it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. What the hell, she had just been urgently wanting to chase her out, but now that she knew her identity, she switched from arrogance to deference?

    She hated this kind of people.

    Xia Ling patted her hand, signaling her to keep calm. She turned and asked her husband, ¡°Li Lei, what do you think?¡±

    Li Lei looked at the pair of them. These two little vixens already had their own ideas yet wanted him to y the bad guy. But oh well, who told him to be both their husband and father? He turned to Gu Jinxiu and changed to a stern expression. ¡°Ever since Gu Lin went to prison, I¡¯ve already put a lid on this incident. Things have onlye to this because your father and grandpa hates me. Gu Jinxiu, do your father and grandpa know that you¡¯re here today? If they are still resentful, your efforts today would be wasted.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was ted and she said hurriedly, ¡°They know. Actually, over the years, they also feel regretful and understand that Aunt has brought it onto herself. Uncle Li, if you visit my house, I promise you that my father and grandpa will wee you.¡± She had spent a lot of effort to convince her stupid father and her stubborn opinionated grandpa to give up on their hatred for the Li family¡ªthey didn¡¯t have any other choice but to give up! The Gu family¡¯s business was deteriorating steadily and, if they didn¡¯t have this outside support, before grandpa even passed, their family might go bankrupt and bepletely struck off the rich family list!

    Rather than suffer such an evil consequence, it wasn¡¯t all that uneptable to repair their rtionship with the Li family.

    Li Lei nodded. ¡°Your father and grandpa are magnanimous. It hasn¡¯t been easy on them these few years.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu saw that things were picking up and was unable to control the excitement in her heart. She said quickly, ¡°Right? They not only worried about our family but also often regretted what happened back then. They kept telling me that it was the Gu family¡¯s fault back then, that we brought it onto ourselves and that they miss you, Uncle Li.¡±

    Li Lei didn¡¯t believe anything she said.

    When Grandfather Gu had still been alive he had doted on Li Lei and had told his worthless offsprings to learn from Li Lei. It was good enough that Gu Jinxiu¡¯s father and grandpa didn¡¯t hate Li Lei to the core, but to miss him? Who was she kidding?

    Wasn¡¯t she just trying to ask the Li family to help her revive her family business? Otherwise, why would she attempt to renew old cordial rtions so hypocritically?

    ¡°The previous generation¡¯s enmity really shouldn¡¯t continue to drag on in this generation,¡± Li Lei said.

    Gu Jinxiu was ted. ¡°Thank you, Uncle Li, for forgiving our Gu family. Why don¡¯t youe over to visit soon?¡±

    Li Lei said, ¡°Who said I forgave your family?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was stunned.

    Li Lei said calmly, ¡°What a pity. I had originally wanted to forgive your family. Gu Lin¡¯s incident was such a long time ago and it¡¯s simply not worth a mention. However, who told you to offend Yingluo? Yingluo is our family¡¯s treasure, and usually, her mother and I don¡¯t even dare to scold her. Now that she¡¯s out on her trial, our family worries over her constantly in case she suffers bullying outside. But you¡¯re good, you bullied her time and time again, did you think she was a punching bag?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face was pale. ¡°I, I didn¡¯t know Sister Yingluo was your daughter...¡± She turned and looked pleadingly at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Sister Yingluo, isn¡¯t it enough if I make it up to you. On the ount of me not being guilty because I was unaware, could you please not nitpick with me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unhappy. Who was she trying to show her innocent look to?

    Those who didn¡¯t know would think that Xia Yingluo was the one bullying Gu Jinxiu!

    Li Lei interrupted and sneered. ¡°It¡¯s useless even if Yingluo forgives you. I, as her father, won¡¯t forgive you. As long as I¡¯m here, our Li family will never repair our rtionship with the Gu family. Gu Jinxiu, just give up.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at her father in worship. She simply wanted to give him a round of apuse. He was so oppressive and handsome, this was her blood father!

    He grinned at her as well, letting Gu Jinxiu dwell in her failures.

    She didn¡¯t expect all her efforts for such a long time would be ruined under the hands of this Xia Yingluo. Who knew that an unknown trainee had such a big power?! Gu Jinxiu was crying but was without tears.

    Jin Ying looked pitifully at her.

    Since she didn¡¯t like Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er either, she also felt furious at Gu Jinxiu¡¯s setback. However, she didn¡¯t dare to say anything in front of the Li family. The people who could disrespect the Li family boldly had more or less disappeared off the face of the Earth.

    Except for one person.

    In the silence, a man came out from an alley not far away that was hidden from view. He wore a pair of clean pants, a white shirt, and was carrying something in his hands. His figure was long and slender, elegant like some sort of mysterious beast. He walked step by step towards the crowd, making people hold their breaths as he passed.

    Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo took a tiny step back. Why was he here?

    ¡°I heard there was a banquet here.¡± Wei Lingnan walked to them and said with a hint of a smile. ¡°All the famous people in the city are here, why didn¡¯t you invite me?¡± His gaze swept past the crowd and then stopped on Xia Yingluo¡¯s face before moving away quickly.

    Xia Yingluo was a little nervous. Ever since she escaped from that underground prison, this was the first time they met.

    They met without warning.

    Gu Jinxiu was happy, however. She called, ¡°Lingnan!¡± She walked up to him and stood beside him.

    In the crowd, Du Jingjing heaved a sigh of relief. As the only representation of her family, she didn¡¯t dare to offend the Li family nor the Gu family and saw that the atmosphere was getting more and more stiff. Now, it was great that someone was here to warm up the atmosphere.

 Chapter 1265 - Donâ€™t Want to Kill You

    <h4>Chapter 1265: Don¡¯t Want to Kill You</h4>

    At the thought of this, Du Jingjing smiled at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Sir, wee. May I know your name?¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan,¡± he said shortly.

    Gu Jinxiu seemed to have found some sort of confidence. She stood beside him and added arrogantly. ¡°Lingnan is my fiancee.¡± She looked purposely at Xia Yingluo. During Pei Yan¡¯s engagement banquet, she had seen how flirtatious Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan had been. If it wasn¡¯t for that scene prickling her heart, why would she have tried to make things difficult for Xia Yingluo time and time again?

    At the end of the day, it was all because Xia Yingluo was a fickle woman!

    Gu Jinxiu thought fiercely in her heart, then suddenly felt more vignt¡ª

    Back then, she had thought that Xia Yingluo was just a poor student trying desperately to survive by clinging onto the rich people. She had seen many girls like that and wasn¡¯t afraid of them. No matter how Wei Lingnan womanized outside, he wouldn¡¯t possibly let a poor student enter the inner chamber and rece his proper wife. However, it was different now. Xia Yingluo was actually a prestigious nobledy, and was even more prestigious than her by a few times!

    In front of ady with such a background, Gu Jinxiu felt a burden as heavy as mountains.

    Intentionally and otherwise, she walked to Wei Lingnan¡¯s side and leaned on him.

    Their elbows touched and they looked to be very affectionate. Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t stop Gu Jinxiu, but his pair of eyes as tranquil as the surface of ake only fixated quietly on Xia Yingluo.

    An unknown fire burned in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. She didn¡¯t know why, but she wanted so badly to run up and pull Gu Jinxiu away from him. But since he didn¡¯t even seem to mind, so why should she meddle in someone else¡¯s business? Humph, he still dared to say that he wasn¡¯t her fiancee, but if that was the case, then why did he allow her to be so intimate with him? Even when Gu Jinxiu had announced their rtionship publicly he didn¡¯t deny it!

    Xia Yingluo was getting more and more unhappy and she turned her head away.

    A slight flicker of joy appeared in Wei Lingnan¡¯s narrow, tranquil eyes. He suddenly smiled and said softly to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Yingluo, why did you just leave that day without a farewell? Do you know how much I missed you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up in surprise. She even forgot to hide her surprised expression¡ª

    What did he say? Miss her? In front of so many people, and even in front of his ¡°fiancee¡±!

    Gu Jinxiu was also extremely shocked. She straightened her back unconsciously and covered up the hurt in her voice. ¡°Lingnan?¡± She didn¡¯t expect that her own fiancee would express goodwill to the woman she resented the most. He was pping her face in front of everybody!

    The other guests had on strange expressions, especially Du Jingjing and Jin Ying. They exchanged nces with one another, unable to determine the truth.

    Wei Lingnan continued to ignore Gu Jinxiu. He only looked affectionately at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo saw that she couldn¡¯t avoid him and summoned her courage and said coldly, ¡°Go away quickly, stop pestering me.¡±

    The man that Gu Jinxiu treated as a rare treasure was a hindrance she wanted to get rid of.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s long and narrow eyes shone slightly again.

    Li Lei stepped forward and broke his gaze at her daughter. ¡°Wei Lingnan, we meet again.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at Li Lei and the corners of his lips curled in a cold smile. ¡°What a coincidence, we meet again. Let me think, thest time we met was a few years ago? At that time, you still weren¡¯t... this annoying.¡±

    Thest time they met was over Xia Yingluo¡¯s birth.

    At that time, Xia Ling¡¯s pregnancy wasn¡¯t stable and there were signs of a miscarriage. They couldn¡¯t find a solution even after consulting all the famous doctors in the whole world. On a night where flowers bloomed, Wei Lingnan had appeared quietly and had brought a small tube with a blue liquid inside. ¡°Drink this and the fetus will be safe.¡±

    Li Lei had looked at him warily. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Wei Shaoyin¡¯s little uncle, so of course, I should help his friend,¡± Wei Lingnan said matter-of-factly. ¡°Furthermore, Madam Li was only able to get pregnant because of the medicine I gave. Of course, I should ensure the baby is born safe and sound so as not to destroy the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical¡¯s reputation.¡±

    Li Lei had known that the man¡¯s background wasplicated and he was unpredictable, so he had been full of doubts about the medicine.

    But Xia Ling had said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t have any reason to harm our child. Furthermore, if I can¡¯t keep the baby anyway... I would rather try his medicine.¡±

    There was no better choice.

    Thus, Li Lei had taken care of Xia Ling after she drank the medicine. After a few months, their daughter Yingluo was born.

    For a long time, Li Lei worried that Wei Lingnan had some ulterior motives. He protected Yingluo strictly and watched over her meticulously, but the man called Wei Lingnan never appeared again. Gradually, Li Lei thought that he was over worrying and hence, rxed his vignce. That was until Xia Yingluo started to have nightmares growing up. They had been warned by Wei Lingnan that this child would be different, and Li Lei¡¯s worry over Wei Lingnan was reignited again. Now, something had happened indeed. Aftering back to China, they finally understood that Wei Lingnan hade to Earth because of his target, Yingluo.

    How could Li Lei possibly endure this as her father?

    He stared coldly at Wei Lingnan. ¡°When we metst time, I didn¡¯t want to kill you this much.¡±

    The biting cold in his eyes that he didn¡¯t cover up made people feel frightened.

    This patriarch who kept his words was the biggest leader in the Chinese world and held countless lives in his hands. He didn¡¯t even need to hesitate if he wanted someone to die. With one word and one nce, someone would bring the end result to him.

    Du Jingjing felt like the scene was about to go out of control. She seriously considered if she should call her uncle or her cousin here? She didn¡¯t want them to fight here in their own family¡¯s banquet. If this were spread to the public, she wouldn¡¯t be able to shed responsibility since she was present.

    This man called Wei Lingnan, what kind of enmity did he have with Li Lei?

    Du Jingjing felt extremely confused. She secretly med the guards for their weak security and letting Wei Lingnan in. As the city¡¯s home-grown nobledy, she knew that the Wei family wasn¡¯t considered a prestigious family and was only an ordinary middle-ss family. She had already heard that Gu Jinxiu had found a fiancee for herself, and she had even mocked her with Jin Ying and the other nobledies,ughing at her for being a little crazy. How could she possibly have taken a fancy to this little character who couldn¡¯t even squeeze into the inner circle of the high society?

    Now that she saw Wei Lingnan, yes, he was handsome, but he was also very troublesome.

    He just came and was already picking a fight with Li Lei, this big shot. He even ignored his fiancee and said to Big Boss Li¡¯s daughter that he missed her?!

    No wonder Li Lei wanted to kill him. He was a toad trying to eat swan meat.

    Did he think that everyone was like Gu Jinxiu, wanting to marry him and disregard his family¡¯s status and pride just because he was handsome?

    Wei Lingnan was, however, calm andposed under Li Lei¡¯s murderous re. He even revealed a small smile. ¡°Save your energy, you know very well that you can¡¯t kill me.¡±

 Chapter 1266 - Embarrassing Gu Jinxiu

    <h4>Chapter 1266: Embarrassing Gu Jinxiu</h4>

    While talking, he turned slightly to Xia Ling and nodded gentlemanly in greeting. ¡°Madam Li, long time no see. You¡¯re still as beautiful as before, it¡¯s no wonder you¡¯re the Phoenix that heaven is taking care of.¡±

    Xia Ling stared coldly at him in silence.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t mind being treated so coldly. He raised his hand and nodded towards the little bag in his hands. ¡°I¡¯ve brought you a gift, Madam Li, to thank you for taking care of Yingluo all these years.¡±

    At this point, everyone could tell that Wei Lingnan was here for Xia Yingluo and her family.

    As for Gu Jinxiu? This man simply did not have her in his eyes.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned pale. She also felt it. Actually, if Wei Lingnan was a little more heartless and gave her a bit more face, he wouldn¡¯t have shown goodwill to another woman in front of his own fiancee! She felt perplexed and confused, angry and awkward, but she just didn¡¯t dare throw a tantrum at Wei Lingnan. Who knew what this man would do to make her more miserable given his temper?

    ¡°Lingnan...¡± she called weakly.

    Wei Lingnan just walked towards Xia Ling and handed the gift to her.

    Xia Ling looked at him coldly and didn¡¯t reach out to take it.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s hand stopped half an inch away from her.

    The two of them stayed there motionlessly.

    Xia Yingluo finally broke the silence. ¡°Wei Lingnan, keep your things away, my mother doesn¡¯t want it.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her sideways. His nce made Xia Yingluo feel a strange kind of fear.

    Wei Lingnan smiled and said softly to her, ¡°Yingluo, do you hate me that much?¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know how to reply to him.

    Hate? No, it should be resentment. This man had done many overboard things to her. At this thought, she wanted to cut him into pieces. But besides resentment, there seemed to be something else... she didn¡¯t understand, but every time he appeared, her heart was confused.

    She reached out a hand and grabbed the gift from Wei Lingnan¡¯s hands.

    It was Li Lei who looked at Wei Lingnan sternly. ¡°Your fiancee is still there, our Li family can¡¯t ept your gift. Even if you want to send a gift, you should give it to Ms. Gu Jinxiu. Ms. Gu should be the willing one to ept it.¡±

    He really reached out and handed the gift to Gu Jinxiu.

    The atmosphere turned chilly and even the drop of a needle would be heard.

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying already stopped talking. They desperately wanted to shrink their bodies to prevent the fire from spreading to them.

    Gu Jinxiu stared at the gift that was suddenly ced in front of her. She was at a loss and instinctively took a nce at her fiancee. But she saw that Wei Lingnan simply didn¡¯t care about the present nor the atmosphere, he was only staring intensely at Xia Yingluo, ignoring everything about the surroundings.

    An unnamed fire rose in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart.

    She felt aggrieved and tormented. It felt like her heart had been dropped into a pot of simmering hot oil. She took a deep breath quietly and managed to control her emotions with much difficulty. Gu Jinxiu reached out to take the gift from Li Lei, then she turned around and nced at Wei Lingnan.

    She wished Wei Lingnan would look at her, even if it was to me her for epting the gift.

    But Wei Lingnan just ignored her and continued staring only at Xia Yingluo.

    She was extremely disappointed, and simply wanted to smash the heavy gift onto Xia Yingluo¡¯s face.

    Seemingly sensing her anger, Xia Yingluo turned and looked at her. The sun shone in her crystal clear eyes and her mood was unpredictable.

    Gu Jinxiu stared back coldly and couldn¡¯t help but mock her. ¡°Why, now that the gift is mine, Ms. Xia finds it a pity?¡± Since Li Lei had already said that the Li family wouldn¡¯t rebuild rtionships with the Gu family, then Gu Jinxiu simply didn¡¯t have to purposely submit to Xia Yingluo. And with Wei Lingnan wedged between the two of them, there was more resentment for her, so she was ready to fight for life and death with her.

    But Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t in the least bit interested.

    She swept her eyes over Gu Jinxiu apathetically and said softly to Xia Ling, ¡°Mother, I¡¯m tired, let¡¯s go in.¡±

    She felt like she was really foolish to have her mood affected by a man like Wei Lingnan. She had already felt ufortable at the mention of ¡°fiancee¡± from Gu Jinxiu, and the fact that Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t exin made her feel even more ufortable. This unhappiness continued when Li Lei had rejected the gift that had originally been for Xia Ling and then given it to Gu Jinxiu. But Wei Lingnan had remained aloof nheless. What did he mean by it was a gift specifically for her mother? And what did he mean he missed her? They were all fake, he actually didn¡¯t care, did he?

    At the thought of this, Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood worsened and she didn¡¯t even want to look at him.

    She wasn¡¯t interested in being wedged between this man and his fiancee.

    Xia Ling nced at her daughter in pity and held her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go,e drink tea with me. Old Master Shan Kouya, Ling¡¯er,e along too, you¡¯ve been standing for a long time outside and must be tired.¡±

    Old Master Shan Kouya smiled and, together with Jin Ling¡¯er, they entered the silent hall.

    Li Lei nced warningly at Wei Lingnan, then followed behind his daughter and wife and closed the door behind them.

    Leaving Wei Lingnan standing on the alley at the vegetation hidden from view, his expression unpredictable.

    Gu Jinxiu looked at him carefully. ¡°Lingnan...¡±

    This time, he seemed to have heard her calling. He looked down and nced indifferently at the gift in her hands. ¡°Since you¡¯ve epted it, just take it.¡± Then, he disappeared into the alley immediately without a second word.

    Gu Jinxiu looked at his disappeared back view longingly, her mind full ofplexed thoughts.

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying exchanged nces, feeling like the atmosphere was bing extremely awkward¡ªGu Jinxiu¡¯s fiancee had given a gift to another woman and expressed goodwill in front of her. She didn¡¯t ept it and had thrown the gift to her like rubbish, but she regarded it as a treasure instead.

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying both felt that if such a thing was to happen to themselves, how could they possibly endure it?

    They really didn¡¯t know what kind of taste Gu Jinxiu had to fall for such a fickle man like Wei Lingnan. Why was she willing to endure hardship dly?

    Gradually, they began to belittle Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s mind was still buzzing with thought. She looked at their expression and knew what they were thinking, so she forced a smile and tried to exin, ¡°Lingnan and the Li family have business together and, since he knew that the Li family hase back to China, it¡¯s only normal for him to send a gift as a form of greeting.¡± This kind of exnation was so weak that even she couldn¡¯t stand it. But all aristocrats wanted their pride. So, even if it was to gloss over it forcefully, she still had to justify it.

    Du Jingjing and Jin Ying didn¡¯t believe her. If it was really a usual conventional form of greeting, why didn¡¯t the Li family ept it? Why did they make the atmosphere so stiff?

    However, they couldn¡¯t expose Gu Jinxiu in public. They had to keep the shameful secrets of the aristocrats amongst themselves, and nobody would dig further if they could still maintain their pride. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect your fiancee to actually have business with the Li family, that¡¯s impressive.¡± Du Jingjingughed.

    Jin Ying also said half-heartedly, ¡°Impressive.¡±

    The two of them stopped digging further and moved away from this topic quickly.

 Chapter 1267 - Wei Lingnan Stopping the Car

    <h4>Chapter 1267: Wei Lingnan Stopping the Car</h4>

    Gu Jinxiu looked at them and knew that they didn¡¯t believe her. She felt aggrieved and resentful, but only sneered coldly and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Humph, these two frogs in the well don¡¯t even know how powerful the Wei family is. Probably only a big giant like the Li family can go head-to-head with them.

    Gu Jinxiu thought back to when her great-grandpa had been on his deathbed. He had whispered some things to her¡ª

    [Jinxiu, your grandpa and father are both worthless, so the responsibilities of reviving our Gu family is on your shoulders from now on. You have to try hard to rebuild a good rtionship with the Li family. If that¡¯s impossible, then find a way to build rtions with the Wei family. Yes, the family behind the producer Wei Shaoyin at Skyart Entertainment. I¡¯ve heard Li Lei mention casually before that the Wei family does business on biological weapons and has connections with many of the countries in the world. They¡¯re involved in all sorts of activities and are definitely not the small biopharmaceuticpany that they appear to be on the surface. Jinxiu, if you are on good terms with the Wei family, even the Li family won¡¯t be able to touch you. Our Gu family can only rely on you...]

    Old Grandpa had said so many things to her before he passed and had told her so many untold secrets. The most important secret was the information on the Wei family. Thus, Gu Jinxiu had painstakingly approached the Wei family and was bent on marrying Wei Lingnan. Being able to connect by marriage with such a colossus was an extremely profitable exchange.

    How could those ignorant country bumpkins possibly understand?

    To fulfill the purpose of marrying into the Wei family, it was worthy to suffer a moment of humiliation.

    Gu Jinxiu looked down at the little bag in her hands. What had Wei Lingnan intended on giving Xia Ling? No matter what it was, she would rece Xia Ling and use it. She wouldn¡¯t just use it, she would use it well, and let Wei Lingnan know that she cherished it and was using it well.

    Over a long time, one day, Wei Lingnan was sure to feel tenderness towards her.

    In this war of love, she would definitely gain victory.

    Inside the silent hall.

    Xia Yingluo was chatting with her elders absent-mindedly. She then excused herself pretending tiredness and left with Jin Ling¡¯er.

    The two girls walked along the wood nk walkway at the rear of the hall slowly. The early autumn afternoon wind caressed their dresses, making them look like two beautiful fairies. Jin Ling¡¯er held Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand and said in worry, ¡°Yingluo, are you alright? Ever since Wei Lingnan came, you became moody. Old Master Shankou asked you a few questions and you even heard it wrongly, do you have something on your mind?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t believe her. ¡°How are you okay? Your soul isn¡¯t even here. Oh yes, I haven¡¯t asked you yet, but when you disappeared that time, were you captured by Wei Lingnan? Why didn¡¯t you call the police, what on earth happened?¡± When she disappearedst time, Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t say anything, but due to the big shock that her identity made, even Jin Ling¡¯er forgot to ask.

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but howl in grief. She stopped walking and turned to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Ling¡¯er, Sister Ling¡¯er, Aunt Ling¡¯er, can¡¯t you just let me be in peace and quiet for a while? I¡¯m already going crazy with all the things that have happened recently, especially because of Wei Lingnan the monster! So don¡¯t keep talking about him in front of me.¡± Even though she said this, her heart still inevitably thought about the man. His slender body and clean white shirt standing amongst the flora and fauna with not a speck of dust on him, how was he like a beast or a monster?

    She shook her head and tried hard not to think about him.

    She heard Jin Ling¡¯er ask, ¡°Yingluo, tell me honestly, are you in love with him?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so shocked she wanted to jump. She immediately retaliated. ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Oh¡ª?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er dragged out and circled around her. ¡°Really? I¡¯ve never seen a man who could stir such big emotions in you. Since Wei Lingnan is willing to risk his life to see your parents for you, why don¡¯t you just yield to him? Don¡¯t care about Gu Jinxiu, if you like him, just go and snatch him. They aren¡¯t even married, aren¡¯t they just fiancees? That doesn¡¯t count.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. It turned out that Jin Ling¡¯er thought she was worried about this?

    ¡°They¡¯re not fiancees,¡± she told Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Wei Lingnan told me personally that them being fiancees was just invented by Gu Jinxiu. They¡¯ve never been through any official ceremonies. Wei Lingnan only wanted to give her face, so he didn¡¯t expose and drag her down in public.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Really?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes widened. She started to have a new appreciation for Gu Jinxiu¡¯s shamelessness.

    Then, what was Yingluo worried about?

    ¡°Wei Lingnan isn¡¯t good to you?¡± she asked. ¡°So you don¡¯t like him? But I see that he¡¯s rather good to you, he even helped you hand in the school fees and gave you a credit card. Last time when you were in the dance ssroom hurting to death, he even taught those bystanders a lesson... even if he kidnapped and imprisoned you, it¡¯s because of love... you, don¡¯t look at me like that, I definitely don¡¯t agree to what he did. But, didn¡¯t you realize?¡±

    ¡°Realize what?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    Jin Ling¡¯er tilted her head. ¡°Your parents. Even though your parents weren¡¯t friendly to him, they didn¡¯t exactly look at him like he was an enemy. That¡¯s not the attitude they should disy to a pervert who abducted their own daughter. Yingluo, it¡¯s more like... they¡¯re testing their future son-inw...¡±

    Herst words were slightly softened at Xia Yingluo¡¯s murderous re.

    Xia Yingluo red fiercely at her and said, word for word, ¡°Don¡¯t. Mention. Him. In. Front. Of. Me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t mention him.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er immediately stopped.

    Xia Yingluo sighed and continued walking forward listlessly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was right, her parent¡¯s attitude towards Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t considered vicious, as if they had already guessed that Wei Lingnan wouldn¡¯t really hurt her. Seriously, was she still their daughter?! Which parent would treat a kidnapper so well? Boohoo, that kidnapper was even an alien, what if he cut her up into pieces to experiment with when he became impatient?

    With her mind dangling, she dragged Jin Ling¡¯er out of the banquet hall sullenly and got into the car.

    She ordered the driver to return to the training camp.

    Jin Ling¡¯er saw that she was tired and didn¡¯t continue to disturb her. She sat quietly in her seat.

    The silver-gray private car drove smoothly and after a few miles, it suddenly stopped.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Yingluo returned to her senses and asked the driver.

    The driver said, ¡°Miss, there¡¯s someone in front.¡±

    Looking through the window, Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er both saw who it was.

    On the bypath in the early autumn, where the wutong crisscrossed.

    A man wearing a white shirt was standing in the vast space. He had his hand in his pocket and was staring peacefully at their car. His gaze was as tranquil and still as the water on the surface of ake, but it seemed to be able to prate people¡¯s thoughts. Through the one-way ss window, he was staring certainly at Xia Yingluo.

 Chapter 1268 - Special Lip Gloss

    Chapter 1268: Special Lip Gloss

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s breathing tightened.

    Jin Ling¡¯er had already said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that Wei Lingnan? Why is he here?¡±

    ¡°Start the car,¡± Xia Yingluo said. She didn¡¯t want to be involved with Wei Lingnan anymore.

    The driver started the car and tried a few times, then said in difficulty, ¡°Miss, I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t drive around him.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little angry. ¡°Uncle Liu, you¡¯re our family¡¯s best driver, why can¡¯t you even drive around him?!¡±

    Cold sweat blew on the driver¡¯s forehead. ¡°His speed is too fast... it¡¯s as if he¡¯s not human...¡±

    Xia Yingluo: ¡°...¡±

    Fine, she shouldn¡¯t be angry at the driver. Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t even human, so how could she expect a normal human being to win over him?

    ¡°I¡¯ll go down and take a look.¡± She finally submitted to her fate.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little worried. ¡°Don¡¯t go, Yingluo. Didn¡¯t you say that he kidnapped you before? Just now at the banquet, your parents didn¡¯t even give him face in public, what if he¡¯s here to take revenge?¡± Although half an hour earlier she had been teasing Xia Yingluo for being in love with Wei Lingnan, but, now that such a dangerous man was in front of them in such a narrow path, she was even worried for Xia Yingluo¡¯s safety.

    Xia Yingluo patted her hand reassuringly. ¡°I¡¯m okay. If he really wanted to do something to me, it doesn¡¯t make a difference if I¡¯m sitting in the car.¡± It wasn¡¯t the car that was protecting her, but the consensus that Wei Lingnan had with the Li and Xia families. Although Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t clear what her parents and uncle had discussed with Wei Lingnan, under the check and bnce of both powers, Wei Lingnan probably wouldn¡¯t be able to capture her back so easily.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was still very worried. ¡°Yingluo, don¡¯t go.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll be right outside the car and won¡¯t be far.¡±

    Then, she jumped off the car lightly and walked towards Wei Lingnan.

    The man was still standing in the early autumn¡¯s breeze, the sun flickering and the wutong leavesnding on his hair and shoulders. His long and slender body stood tall and straight in the narrow one-way street, casting a nted shadow that was slightly twisted to look like some sort of mysterious scroll.

    He looked calmly at Xia Yingluo. ¡°I knew you woulde down.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was annoyed. How shameless could this person be? ¡°Mr. Wei, you blocked the whole road, how could I note down and ask you to make way? You should count your blessings that the one driving today is my family¡¯s driver. If it was me¡ª¡± Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°I guarantee I would have driven over you.¡±

    ¡°Could you bear to?¡± he asked gently.

    Xia Yingluo suddenly choked. After a few seconds, she said, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I bear to?¡±

    The scene of the banquet appeared in her mind again. Gu Jinxiu had linked his arm and announced, ¡°This is my fiancee.¡±

    Xia Yingluo unconsciously felt frustrated again and her voice was even colder. ¡°Make way.¡±

    Wei Lingnan stood still on the spot, his voice still as gentle, as if he was pacifying a little girl. ¡°You were the one who refused to ept my gift, why, are you unhappy now that I gave it to someone else?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not unhappy!¡± She red fiercely at him.

    Wei Lingnan chuckled and followed along with her. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re not unhappy.¡± Then, he took a little delicate box and put it into her hands.

    ¡°What is this?¡± She was a little stunned.

    ¡°Open it,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    The little box was extremely beautiful, with specks and fragments of golden light embellished on it. It glittered and shone brilliantly in her hands. Xia Yingluo thought about it and felt like if Wei Lingnan was really trying to kill her, he wouldn¡¯t bother obtaining such a beautiful box, so she opened the box.

    In the box were some powder and ointment-shaped things. They were of beautiful colors and were molded into little stars, shells, and flowers, etc. Under the warm autumn sunlight, it added a magnificent illusion to them. Girls all loved these kinds of things, and Xia Yingluo was no exception. She stared at the box of little ornaments inside and was filled with joy and amazement.

    ¡°It¡¯s an eyeshadow, blusher and lip gloss,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°I specially picked the colors that suit you best.¡±

    Xia Yingluo returned to her senses and looked up at her. ¡°Why are you giving me this?¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled. ¡°Just now during the banquet, after Gu Jinxiu took the gift, your face was full of unhappiness, so I guessed that you wanted it.¡± This was why he hadn¡¯t exposed Gu Jinxiu¡¯s intentions about their rtionship. He wanted to see if his Ah Luo who had racked her brains for an escape really didn¡¯t care about him. Fortunately, he had not been disappointed¡ªshe was jealous.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s smiled became even gentler. ¡°The one I gave Gu Jinxiu¡ªit was originally for your mother. Although the ingredients are good, it¡¯s notparable to the ingredients here. Ah Luo, I only give you the best things in the world, second to none. It¡¯s the only and one in the whole world.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heartbeat quickened, but she still turned around pridefully. ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head and picked out a lipstick from the little box. He held her head with one hand and used the other hand to smear the lipstick slowly on her lips. Her eyes widened and she stared at him in shock. His tranquil and still eyes were almost within reach, and his pupils reflected her fric and helpless expression. Their bodies were so close together that she could hear his breathing.

    She opened her mouth slightly and felt a tingling numbness on her lips, like a feather softly tickling her.

    After a long time, she heard him say, ¡°Done.¡±

    The warmth of his body left her and he straightened his back, looking at his masterpiece in satisfaction. Her originally glossy and petal-like lips were now covered with a gorgeous color that moved him deeply.

    ¡°Ah Luo,¡± he called softly and gently.

    Her name sounded like the most moving whisper of a lover from his lips.

    Xia Yingluo stared at him in a daze, unable to utter anything.

    In her daze, she didn¡¯t know how she got back into the car. She only opened the car and returned to her seat when Jin Ling¡¯er asked her eagerly, ¡°Yingluo, so, did he bully you? I saw that he put something on your lips? Let me help you beat¡ª¡±

    She stopped halfway and suddenly shrieked. ¡°Oh my God, it¡¯s gorgeous! This is the most beautiful lipstick color I¡¯ve ever seen!¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt like this whole world was strange now. Wei Lingnan had stopped the car so stubbornly just to put on the lipstick for her. And Jin Ling¡¯er? She was originally such a concerned best friend, but now that she saw the lipstick, shepletely forgot to care about her?

    ¡°It¡¯s really gorgeous!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was still shrieking. She rummaged in her bag and took out a mirror, then handed it to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Look at it quickly, isn¡¯t it gorgeous? My god, only a God could make such a color! Yingluo, don¡¯t you feel like you¡¯ve be lovely and touching? You¡¯ve be an outstanding beauty!¡±

    She had always felt this way.

    Now that she was saying this, it really seemed to be the case?

 Chapter 1269 - Sudden Arrival of Zhao Yixuan

    Chapter 1269: Sudden Arrival of Zhao Yixuan

    Xia Yingluo looked at herself in the mirror in a daze. The bright color on her lips that the man had left as a deration was so ostentatious and yet so... beautifully moving. She felt like she had really gone crazy. Jin Ling¡¯er was still chatting at her ears. ¡°Yingluo, did Wei Lingnan tell you where he bought the lipstick from? I want to buy it too!¡±

    ¡°Do you like it? I¡¯ll give it to you,¡± Xia Yingluo said weakly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er shook her head. ¡°A nobleman doesn¡¯t take what belongs to others. That was clearly given to you by Wei Lingnan. This color suits you so much, you should keep it and use it well.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down. ¡°I don¡¯t need his things.¡± Then, she said, ¡°Give me a napkin.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er handed a napkin to her without knowing why. Xia Yingluo slowly removed the lipstick from her lips clean, then she crunched the napkin up and threw it into the little dustbin in the car.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her. ¡°Yingluo, why do you hate Wei Lingnan so much?¡±

    Her lips were a little warm from her rubbing. She thought for a while before saying, ¡°We are impossible.¡± It wasn¡¯t because of his fiancee, but because another person was standing between them¡ªAh Luo. The Ah Luo from the Skatana that Wei Lingnan loved. He didn¡¯t love her, the human Xia Yingluo. So what if she fell in love with him? She would have just fallen into the enemy¡¯s hands one-sidedly. She had seen the pain of many girls who were in a one-sided crush and it was too deste. She would never allow herself tond in such a sore spot. She reached out to softly rubbed her lips. The feathery feeling she had felt back in the alley reyed itself in her mind.

    The car returned to the training camp.

    Xia Yingluo resumed her usual lifestyle. She went to her sses and practiced dancing, and her usual life was no different. And regarding her identity as the Xia Family¡¯s nobledy, she didn¡¯t hide it nor publicize it deliberately either. But the training camp¡¯s level was still far from that of the high society. The news didn¡¯t spread and for a moment, nobody found out about her identity.

    That day, Xia Yingluo went to practice dance as usual.

    There were only a few people in the practice room. Jiang Bilian, Zhu Zhu and the others were also there. Now, these people didn¡¯t care to provoke her anymore. Even though they didn¡¯t know her identity, they knew she was protected by the Li family and didn¡¯t dare to reveal their annoyance even at her domineering attitude. They stood far away from her and upied a corner of the dance room, practicing by themselves.

    Suddenly, the room to the dance practice room was pushed open.

    An immactely dressed and refined man was standing at the door. He surveyed his surroundings and then swaggered over to Xia Yingluo.

    Many trainees stopped practicing at his confident footsteps and looked at him. Some bolder trainees even greeted him. ¡°Mr. Zhao, hello.¡±

    It was Zhao Yixuan.

    He was Imperial Entertainment¡¯s famous manager and was very popr amongst the trainees. Almost all the trainees wanted to be guided by him during their debut and be an artiste under him. They rarely got to see him, so how could they not try to curry favor with him?

    But Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good. He ignored the people around and walked to Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo was still minding her own business and practicing her dance. Her stance was beautiful and captivated people. What was even more eye-grabbing was her arrogance. Nobody else was in her eyes, and it was as if Zhao Yixuan didn¡¯t even exist. But Zhao Yixuan continued to stand quietly in front of her, speechless and motionless. His expression even had a hint of fear and trepidation and he didn¡¯t dare to disturb her dance.

    All the other trainees exchanged nces. What was going on? In their eyes, the formidable big manager Zhao was being so careful around this girl. Didn¡¯t they already break up? And it was this big manager Zhao who first broke up with her, so what was going on now?

    In the crowd, Jiang Bilian frowned slightly. She felt like after Xia Yingluo had disappeared and returned, she had be more mysterious, as if something was different about her. She turned around seamlessly and said to Zhu Zhu, ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    Zhu Zhu loved to gossip and was usually well-informed, but this time, she was also in the dark. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening. It can¡¯t be that Zhao Yixuan realized Xia Yingluo is his true love and he¡¯s here to get back together with her?¡±

    Jiang Bilian said disdainfully, ¡°How could it be? Xia Yingluo¡¯s private life is so messy, how could Zhao Yixuan possibly fall for her?¡±

    She just finished talking when Xia Yingluo stopped dancing. She grabbed a clean white towel and wiped away the beads of sweat on her forehead. Then, she put the towel down and walked outside without so much as a nce at Zhao Yixuan.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Zhao Yixuan immediately called after her.

    Xia Yingluo only seemed to realize his existence now. ¡°Why are you here?¡± she said in a very annoyed tone.

    The trainees around them sucked in a deep breath. How was she talking to the most famous big manager in Imperial? Did she know that he could crush her with his little finger? Or was it that after she managed to seduce Li Rui, nobody else entered her eyes and she didn¡¯t even care about Imperial¡¯s big manager? Although Li Rui was indeed rich and powerful, he was a womanizer. He only returned to China for a few days and there were already countless of news about his womanizing. Nobody even believed that he could be good to a girl for a long time, and under this circumstance, wasn¡¯t Xia Yingluo too naive to think that she could be savage now that she had Li Rui?

    A hint of joy sparked in Jiang Bilian¡¯s eyes at her misfortune, and she anticipated Zhao Yixuan scolding her so that she could vent her anger. However, what shocked everyone, including Jiang Bilian, was that instead of scolding Jiang Bilian, Zhao Yixuan lowered his tone and said, ¡°Yingluo, I¡¯m here to see you. I know you¡¯re angry at me, but it was all a big misunderstanding. Stop throwing a tantrum, have you been well?¡±

    The other trainees all sucked in a breath of cold air. What was this big manager Zhao doing? Why has his attitude towards Xia Yingluo had a hundred-eighty degree turn? In their minds, even if it was putting a shattered mirror together, it should be Xia Yingluo imploring him rather than the opposite, right?

    But not only was Zhao Yixuan imploring her, but he was also doing it in public. He didn¡¯t care about the public¡¯s eyes and was focused only on Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, I know you still love me. Let¡¯s just let bygones be bygones. Now that I¡¯m back, I¡¯m still your boyfriend.¡±

    Xia Yingluo almostughed out loud. She already knew that Zhao Yixuan was shameless, but she didn¡¯t expect him to be this shameless. What did he mean by she still loved him? Even if she was blind, she would never fall for this bastard again! ¡°Zhao Yixuan, you think too highly of yourself,¡± she said coldly to Zhao Yixuan. ¡°I find it troublesome to even give a piece of trash like you one nce, get lost as far as you can!¡±

 Chapter 1270 - Different Beauty

    Chapter 1270: Different Beauty

    Zhao Yixuan was ridiculed by her and his expression changed slightly.

    He was, after all, a big manager. He had never been this humiliated before, and in front of so many trainees too. In that instant, he felt as if his prestige was obliteratedpletely and almost wanted to scold her back. However, at the thought of his motive foring today, he suppressed the anger inside and said gently to Xia Yingluo, ¡°I have two tickets for a musical here. Let me bring you to it tonight, okay? Didn¡¯t you always wanted to go with me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo narrowed her eyes at him and felt like he was very unusual today. He had alreadypletely abandoned her, so why was his attitude toward her so different now? She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Zhao Yixuan, did you eat your medicine today? Why are you making a mess here instead of living well with Pei Yan? Did you watch too many idol dramas on the return of a prodigal son?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan seemed to have expected her to ask this. He revealed a sorrowful and regretful expression on his refined and fair face. ¡°Yingluo, I was deceived by that wicked woman Pei Yan. She badmouthed you in front of me and blinded me, so I broke up with you. Later on, I found out the truth and immediately left her and came back to find you. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll treat you well and make sure you don¡¯t suffer any more grievances in the future.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly and felt like something wasn¡¯t right. It wasn¡¯t that she had never considered her rtionship with Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan, she had considered it calmly and knew that Zhao Yixuan might not love Pei Yan nor had been blinded by her either. He only saw that Pei Yan had a good family background and was of a prestigious identity, so he had chosen Pei Yan. And as for what Pei Yan was to him? Zhao Yixuan simply didn¡¯t care.

    How could such a frivolous man suddenly discover his conscience ande back to her? There was only one possibility¡ªhe had discovered that the benefits he could reap from Xia Yingluo were far greater than from Pei Yan.

    After thinking clearly about this, Xia Yingluo was toozy to even sneer at him. She was prepared to walk around him and leave when she suddenly heard a crisp voice from among the crowd. ¡°Zhao Yixuan, don¡¯t talk blindly. Did you find out that Yingluo is Li Lei¡¯s only daughter, so you¡¯vee back to touch her?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned and saw Jin Ling¡¯er standing at the dance practice¡¯s door. She moved through the crowd and red fiercely at Zhao Yixuan. ¡°You¡¯re so snobbish it¡¯s disgusting!¡±

    Xia Yingluo sighed impatiently.

    She already knew that Jin Ling¡¯er had wanted to announce her identity to the whole world so she could take her as pride and watch those who had bullied her p their own faces. But she had also told Jin Ling¡¯er that she wanted to have a peaceful life and had told Jin Ling¡¯er not to purposely publicize it. Jin Ling¡¯er had endured it, but now, she took advantage of Zhao Yixuan and exposed her identity.

    After scolding Zhao Yixuan, Jin Ling¡¯er looked carefully at Xia Yingluo and smiled at her. She was afraid Xia Yingluo would be angry since she had exposed such big news without Xia Yingluo¡¯s agreement. But she just felt too unjust for her. Yingluo was of such a prestigious identity, why did she have to be stepped on by these people?

    As Xia Yingluo was thinking of what to say, the crowd exploded. ¡°What? Just now, Jin Ling¡¯er said that Xia Yingluo is Li Lei¡¯s only daughter? Am I hallucinating!¡± Many people were surprised.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t hallucinate,¡± another person said incoherently. ¡°Because I, I seemed to have hallucinated too.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces, and in the ufortable silence, someone asked carefully, ¡°Which Li Lei?¡±

    ¡°Is there another one?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er sneered. ¡°Yingluo is Skyart Entertainment¡¯s Big Boss Li Lei¡¯s daughter. You guys bullied her for being a poor student before and she only let it be because she has a good temper. But now? Let¡¯s see how you can bully her.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces again and didn¡¯t dare to believe that it was real. Who knew that in one night, the familiar poor student would turn into a glorious ¡°Ms. Perfect¡±. It was too imaginary, too exciting.

    Zhu Zhu and Jiang Bilian especially couldn¡¯t ept it. In their minds, Xia Yingluo should be stepped on and bullied by others. Now, this lowly and poor student had flipped her identity, and not only that, but she was more honorable than them by a few times, so how could they possibly ept this? Jiang Bilian¡¯s expression changed and she said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°You can¡¯t lie about this kind of thing.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er sneered. ¡°It¡¯s up to you to believe me.¡±

    Jiang Bilian looked at Xia Yingluo. This girl wore a pure white dress, with her long ck hair tied up and her bright and softplexion as exquisite as a blossoming petal.

    She was beautiful.

    Even though she had always knew Xia Yingluo was beautiful, but after knowing about her identity, she looked to be a little different. Her previously flirtatious and lowly appearance had be grand and gorgeous. Her originally crude and impudent attitude had changed into the arrogance that matched ady of an honorable background. The longer Jiang Bilian stared at her, the more she felt like this girl was unpredictable. She couldn¡¯t help but believe in her identity.

    Xia Yingluo was impatient and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er red at the crowd fiercely and then red at Zhao Yixuan again before deciding to follow Xia Yingluo out.

    The crowd made way for them. Everybody was very clear that the identity of a nobledy meant that Xia Yingluo was from a different world than them. She could be willful and headstrong and give people a bad time, and they had no other choice but to follow her blindly.

    The trainees all felt perplexed, jealous and envious.

    Zhao Yixuan saw that they were walking away and got anxious. ¡°Yingluo, I really didn¡¯t ask to get back together with you because of your identity. I really love you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a little sorrowful. See, Zhao Yixuan indeed knew about her identity. When Jin Ling¡¯er had exposed her identity, everyone had been shocked, but only Zhao Yixuan looked calm as if he had expected it.

    Back then he had thought of all sorts of methods to abandon her since she had no money and no power. But now that he discovered she was a super-rich nobledy, he abandoned his fiancee and was trying to force himself onto her? This kind of bastard still thought he could make her change her mind?

    Anger rose in her heart and Xia Yingluo said to Zhao Yixuan, ¡°On what grounds do you think I still like you?¡±

    ¡°I know that you still love me.¡± Zhao Yixuan looked intensely at her. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re a trainee with such good potential. You onlyck a manager that can make you famous. Your parents would be delighted to have me support you and take care of you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo almost wanted to vomit at his words. Her parents? He would be lucky if her parents didn¡¯t shoot him! Her fury turned to joy and Xia Yingluo suddenly wanted to see how far he would go, so she said, ¡°Even if you want to be with me, you¡¯re already Pei Yan¡¯s fiancee.¡±

 Chapter 1271 - Jiang Bilian Concedes

    <h4>Chapter 1271: Jiang Bilian Concedes</h4>

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He quickly said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°My engagement with Pei Yan is only temporary. Yingluo, as long as you promise to be with me, I¡¯ll immediately cancel my engagement with her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was astonished. She didn¡¯t expect Zhao Yixuan to be this shameless. He hadn¡¯t even canceled his engagement with Pei Yan and was clearly trying to step on two boats. If she rejected him, he would return back to Pei Yan. At that moment, Xia Yingluo actually pitied Pei Yan.

    She suppressed her disgust and continued to ask Zhao Yixuan, ¡°The two of us are unsuitable, why should I be with you? Do you think that every girl is Pei Yan?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan said adoringly, ¡°Yingluo, you don¡¯t have to worry about money at all with your family background. You just have to find a person who loves you. I love you so much, and will definitely take good care of you. When we¡¯re married, I¡¯ll help you manage your assets and operate the matters regarding the entertainment industry so that you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    This time, not only was Xia Yingluo stunned, but even Jin Ling¡¯er and a few of the other trainees were also stunned. They didn¡¯t expect Zhao Yixuan to have no limits. It was okay to want to marry an honorable richdy like Xia Yingluo, but he had even nned his life after getting married to her. He said he was going to help Xia Yingluo manage her assets, but in reality, wasn¡¯t it just dividing up Xia Yingluo¡¯s assets using the name of marriage?

    There were really no limits to how cheap a person could be.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and looked at Zhao Yixuan. She asked slowly, ¡°Do you remember when we broke up, I went to the casino to find you? Do you remember what you said to me?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression turned awkward. ¡°I...¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Back then, you said that I was only a little poor trainee using all kinds of methods to get into Imperial Entertainment, yet I still had the wishful thinking that you would fall for me? You even said that I only came to you because you¡¯re Imperial¡¯s most outstanding manager. Do you remember all these words?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression got even more awkward. ¡°Yingluo, let me exin...¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered and interrupted him. ¡°Zhao Yixuan, now I¡¯ll leave these words untouched and give them back to you. You¡¯re just Imperial Entertainment¡¯s little manager, yet you still have the wishful thinking that I would fall for you? You only came to me because I¡¯m Li Lei¡¯s daughter, you¡¯re simply shameless!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s face turned pale. He didn¡¯t expect Xia Yingluo to be so sharp. Where was the smiley and naive girl who was always chasing after him? He suddenly felt very regretful. Such a good opportunity had been in front of him back then, and he didn¡¯t even cherish such a golden opportunity the sky dropped for him. Now that he had lost it, he realized that it was so difficult to have something fall into hisp after losing it.

    If he hadn¡¯t broken up with Xia Yingluo out of greed back then, and gotten together with Pei Yan, then would things have been different today? He would have been Xia Yingluo¡¯s fiancee and the Li family¡¯s son-inw. He would have both fame and fortune and wouldn¡¯t have to worry about food and clothing.

    Zhao Yixuan was filled with immense regret. He understood what he had lost and his heart was bleeding. He stood still and his lips moved, but no words came out.

    Xia Yingluo looked away, grabbed Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Ling¡¯er, let¡¯s go.¡±

    They left the dance ssroom and walked into the sunlight.

    Jin Ling¡¯er suddenlyughed. ¡°Yingluo, do you know just how impressive you were just now? Look at Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression, he was so furious. And the other¡¯s expressions too, hahaha, it really helps me vent my anger.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression showed her disappointment and frustration. It did indeed help her vent her anger, but they were all things that had pierced her heart dagger by dagger before and had born scars out of her blood and tears.

    Now, things were the same but the people had changed.

    Jin Ling¡¯er noticed she was in a bad mood and came forward tofort her. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much, who doesn¡¯t run into bastards like him in their youth? It¡¯s best to escape from their clutches early, so you should rejoice that you didn¡¯t suffer many losses.¡±

    Xia Yingluo forced a smile and suddenly thought of a question. ¡°How does Zhao Yixuan know my identity?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also curious. ¡°I wonder who told him, maybe it was Pei Yan?¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned. Maybe, there was no other exnation. But how did Pei Yan know? During the Du family¡¯s banquet, the Du family knew that the Li and Pei families didn¡¯t see eye to eye and hence, didn¡¯t invite the Pei family. It could only be said that news in high society spread fast. Only a few days had passed but she had be a household name.

    She sighed and felt like her life wouldn¡¯t be peaceful anymore.

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t think so much. She stretchedzily in the sunlight. ¡°That¡¯s good, Yingluo. Now they all know your identity. We¡¯ll see who still dares to bully you.¡±

    Talking about this, Xia Yingluo red at her lightly. ¡°You really couldn¡¯t help but reveal my identity.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°It¡¯s such a good family background. If I hide it and don¡¯t tell anyone, it¡¯ll be like dressing up at night. What¡¯s the point? The sooner we expose it, the sooner those annoying flies stop buzzing around our ears.¡±

    ¡°Just wait, they¡¯ll fly around us in a different way.¡± Xia Yingluo was very experienced andughed bitterly. ¡°No matter when, there won¡¯t be ack of flies around us.¡±

    She was right.

    After that day, everyone in the training camp changed their attitude toward Xia Yingluo. From looking down on her previously to minding their own businesster on, now, they greeted her with smiling faces, treated her respectfully and were especially enthusiastic.

    Especially Jiang Bilian, she was bent on repairing her rtionship with Xia Yingluo.

    That day, she made many little desserts and sent it to Xia Yingluo. She said with a smile, ¡°Yingluo, I was wrong back then, please don¡¯t put it to heart. These are some little desserts I made personally as a form of apology.¡± She was always virtuous and elegant, so the little desserts she made looked professional.

    Xia Yingluo was picky and was long used to eating what her father personally made as well as the finest meals in the entire world. Furthermore, she was a good cook herself, so Jiang Bilian¡¯s desserts were simply unimpressive to her. However, her father had always told her to be lenient whenever possible. Otherwise, she might be knocked down if she collected too many enemies. If she didn¡¯t believe it, she could just look at her mother¡¯s history. At the thought of her mother¡¯s history, Xia Yingluo decided to forgive Jiang Bilian. She smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ll ept the desserts. Let bygones be bygones, we¡¯re friends from now on.¡±

    Jiang Bilian was unable to contain her joy. She thanked her continuously,plimenting her for being elegant and magnanimous, worthy of being a youngdy of note.

    Xia Yingluoughed secretly inside. Why was it that before her identity was exposed, Jiang Bilian couldn¡¯t tell that she was elegant and magnanimous? In the end, it was just a thing of the moment. If she ever fell into dire straits, she was certain that Jiang Bilian would step on her viciously and be even wicker than before.

 Chapter 1272 - Annual Year-End Performance

    Chapter 1272: Annual Year-End Performance

    However, Xia Yingluo wouldn¡¯t let herself fall into dire straits.

    Jiang Bilian saw that the crucial moment was near and eagerly said, ¡°Yingluo, the training camp is preparing for the annual year-end performance and stillcks a female lead. We all think that you¡¯re quite suitable and want to rmend you. What do you think?¡±

    Xia Yingluo had already distinctly heard about the annual performance before, which was the training camp¡¯s annual biggest performance. When the time came, there would be many managers, directors and producers in the entertainment industry invited toe and watch. If they took an interest in any of the trainees, they could give them an opportunity.

    Thus, all of the trainees valued this performance and fought for roles every year.

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t interested in this. Even if she failed to obtain a role, just her family¡¯s support itself was enough to make her build a personal fiefdom in the entertainment industry. However, she couldn¡¯t just reject a role given to her, so she casually said, ¡°Give me the script. Are there any roles that suit Ling¡¯er?¡±

    Jiang Bilian saw that she was protecting Jin Ling¡¯er and felt unhappy inside. However, she said enthusiastically, ¡°Yes, yes. There are two female supporting roles that are not bad and it suits Jin Ling¡¯er very much. I kept them for her, you can choose one.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°You¡¯re very clever.¡±

    Jiang Bilian alsoughed lightly and took the opportunity to say, ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s temper is too straight, and there certain things that she¡¯s not suitable to do. Yingluo, if you don¡¯t mind, you cane and find me if there¡¯s anything you need.¡± This was her surrender.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her. ¡°Do you think Ick ackey?¡±

    Jiang Bilian was afraid she was unhappy and said quickly, ¡°Yingluo, why would youck people? Ick the chance to practice, so I just wanted to stay by your side and learn how to handle myself. Please give me an opportunity.¡± This was the truth. It wasn¡¯t easy to be able to be ackey around a powerful and authoritative figure and many people wanted such an opportunity, but only a few could actually be so lucky. Jiang Bilian only had herself to me for having no insight in the beginning and not building a good rtionship with Xia Yingluo before her identity was exposed. If she had be good buddies with Xia Yingluo like Jin Ling¡¯er, then she needn¡¯t even be ackey, she would directly be someone Xia Yingluo took care of.

    Each people had different lives.

    Xia Yingluo only wanted to deter her to make her feel like the opportunity didn¡¯te easy. She saw how interested she was and just said, ¡°Okay, sure. If I need anything in the future I¡¯ll ask you.¡± Who wouldin about having too manyckeys? Although this Jiang Bilian was greedy for power and benefits, how many people weren¡¯t the same? It was those greedy ones that were more easy to control. She only had to give them sufficient benefits and they would do anything for her.

    And just right, what Xia Yingluo didn¡¯tck in most was benefits.

    Jiang Bilian was ted at the news and immediately thanked her. After a few days, she gave Jin Ling¡¯er a suitable role. It was the show¡¯s third female lead, the female lead¡¯s best friend. She was easygoing and kind and had many screen times, so it was very suitable for Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er came to find Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, I¡¯m so happy to get this role! Indeed, I won¡¯t suffer following you. Come, let me kiss you.¡± She hugged Xia Yingluo¡¯s neck and exaggeratedly gave him a kiss on the cheek, thenughed. ¡°Our Yingluo is the best. They wanted to give this role to Zhu Zhu at first, but Zhu Zhu doesn¡¯t even suit this role, her acting results were so bad. What third female lead, it won¡¯t even be her turn for the tenth lead!¡±

    Simr to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s situation, Zhu Zhu also got a decent role by relying on her good rtionship with the nobledies. However, while Jin Ling¡¯er got a role suitable to her with her true skills, Zhu Zhu simply walked through the back door.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You should fight for it if it suits you, it¡¯s most important that you like it. Oh yes, let me see the script, I still don¡¯t know what female lead they want me to y.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen the script?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er made a mountain out of a molehill.

    Xia Yingluo was a little gloomy. ¡°It¡¯s all because of you. You exposed my identity and I¡¯m busy dealing with those people sucking up to me every day. When do I have time to read the script? If this goes on, I can only graduate in advance.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about graduation,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said. ¡°I¡¯ll be so bored if you leave.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her in me. ¡°You have to perform well this time and fight to be noticed by some director or big manager, then enter the entertainment industry and graduate in advance. Don¡¯t suffer bitterly here in the training camp. If you don¡¯t graduate, I¡¯ll be driven crazy by them even if you aren¡¯t.¡± She was staying here only for her best friend Jin Ling¡¯er. After Jin Ling¡¯er graduated, she would graduate as well.

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled and said, ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll try my best to be noticed by Zhao Yixuan and be an artiste directly packaged by Imperial.¡±

    Xia Yingluo tsked and reach out to hit her mouth. ¡°You still dare to mention Zhao Yixuan?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er dodged her andughed.

    She turned and took out the script from her closet, then gave it to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Look over it, the script isn¡¯t bad. It talks about an alien falling in love with a female human. The story is especially poignant and I was almost moved to tears.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little stunned. Why was it such a coincidence that they had such a script?

    She opened it and hastily flipped through the script from beginning to end. It was indeed a story about an alien and a female human. It was heart-rending, and in the story, the alien male lead¡¯s plot was touching and tear-wrenching.

    ¡°How is it? Isn¡¯t it good?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er came to her side and read the script with her. ¡°I heard that it was written by a screenwriter Imperial Entertainment just hired. Look at that alien male lead, in order to look for that female lead, he wandered about alone in the universe for millions and millions of years, passed through numerous light-years and suffered countless injuries. He finally managed to find the girl, but the girl doesn¡¯t remember him at all. He¡¯s so pitiful, it¡¯ll definitely be tear-jerking when filmed. I have a premonition that this show will be famous.¡±

    Xia Yingluo listened to her chatter and didn¡¯t seem to digest any of it¡ªhow was it such a coincidence? Wei Lingnan had self-proimed to have searched for Ah Luo for millions of years too and passed through countless light-years and his body also had so many scars. If not for the script not mentioning the Skatana and the little princess, she really would have thought it was about Wei Lingnan.

    She was a little distracted and unconsciously thought of that mysterious yet dangerous man again. She had kept the cosmetics he had given her. She wondered how he was after their farewell at the little alley?

    ¡°Yingluo, it¡¯ll be so perfect if you y the female lead,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said. ¡°It¡¯s just that it¡¯s not easy to get into the mood of dating an alien, so you¡¯ll have to figure it out well.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed bitterly. Why would she need to figure it out?

    Aliens were a reality in her life.

 Chapter 1273 - Autumn Leaf Like Rain

    Chapter 1273: Autumn Leaf Like Rain

    This was a theatrical show on stage.

    It included dance, dialogues, performance, and various skills that suited theposite quality of the trainees.

    This kind of performance had to wait until the year-end to be performed in the theater. It was different from movies and dramas as it wasn¡¯t recorded nor edited beforehand. Itpletely tested the trainees¡¯ ability to perform on the spot and not make the least bit of error.

    All the performing trainees practiced very seriously.

    The male lead partnering with Xia Yingluo was two grades higher than her and was rumored to be debuting soon. He was born with delicate features, had refined manners and looked to have afortable temperament. His acting skills were decent, but he was nervous when partnering with her and kept making mistakes. In the afternoon, he dragged Xia Yingluo down to go through the same scene several times.

    The male lead Zhou Hansheng felt sorry and said carefully, ¡°Yingluo, I¡¯ve dragged you down. It¡¯s my fault.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and casually took a bottle of water another trainee gave him. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Although she did have a big missy temper, was whiny and didn¡¯t like to suffer, she knew how to cooperate. In a situation like this, it wasn¡¯t as if Zhou Hansheng was doing it on purpose. Since he was already trying his best to adjust, there was no reason to me him.

    She repeated the scene a few more times with him.

    The director finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore and run over. ¡°Zhou Hansheng, what¡¯s wrong? If you keep up with this, I¡¯m going to change the male lead!¡± He then said fearfully to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Ms. Xia, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m really sorry. Your acting was incredible.¡±

    Ever since Xia Yingluo¡¯s identity was exposed, she enjoyed VIP treatment no different from honorable superstars and little actresses. This was as expected, however. Who told Xia Yingluo¡¯s identity to be so defiant? Even the training camp¡¯s principal was also stunned. He reported it to Pei Ziheng in fear and, after figuring out his intentions, heid out orders to take good care of her.

    Xia Yingluo was already familiar with people being courteous and respectful to her at home, so now, she didn¡¯t mind it either. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    She didn¡¯t mind, but the director minded. What if this big missy became tired and something happened to her? ¡°Xiao Yun!¡± He called and gestured and a girl ran over. The director smiled at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia, why don¡¯t you go and rest first, I¡¯ll let Xiao Yun practice with Zhou Hansheng. Once he¡¯s in a better mode, you can continue practicing with him.¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought about it and thought it was a good idea. Since they were just practicing lines and positioning, Xiao Yun could just be Zhou Hansheng¡¯s practicing partner.

    She thanked the director and went to rest at a corner.

    Immediately, several people came to strike up a conversation with her,plimenting her acting and her clothes. Some even enthusiastically served her fruit tea and little desserts.

    Xia Yingluo simply wanted to cry into the air. Ling¡¯er it¡¯s all your fault, you exposed my identity. Now look at what you did, there¡¯s no peace anywhere. She finally managed to send everyone away and called for Jiang Bilian. ¡°Bilian, find a few people to ward off this area and don¡¯t let anyone disturb me. And take these little desserts and fruit tea to share amongst you.¡±

    Jiang Bilian saw that Xia Yingluo did indeed have use for her and immediately smiled. She quickly got the work done.

    Xia Yingluo was also very happy. She didn¡¯t want to trouble Jin Ling¡¯er in handling these trivial things and furthermore, Ling¡¯er¡¯s temper was usually straight and didn¡¯t have many friends, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle these matters that requiredmanding people anyways. But Jiang Bilian was extremely familiar with controlling people, so she was the most suitable for such work.

    Xia Yingluo drank water quietly and thought, If Jiang Bilian performs well, maybe I will allow her to have a good future.

    Zhou Hansheng and the practice partner were still practicing at the side.

    When Xia Yingluo looked over from an angle, she saw a man wearing a white shirt with his long and slender body against the light. His slender body was almost identical to Wei Lingnan¡¯s in her memory. Zhou Hansheng was reading his lines. ¡°Jingjing, I¡¯ve crossed through endless time to find you. The countless twinkling stars in the universe represent my longing for you, but what about you? How could you not love me anymore? Jingjing, do you know how sad I am?¡±

    At this time, she was a little distracted.

    How did Wei Lingnan feel after passing through endless light-years and enduring the paining from Skatana to Earth?

    She hadn¡¯t seen him in a few days. He... was okay, right?

    She shook her head. Why was she thinking of him? The person he loved wasn¡¯t her, it was Ah Luo. What did it have to do with her if he was doing well? They were just strangers.

    Her break ended, the director invited her on stage and said Zhou Hansheng had entered his mode.

    Xia Yingluo went on stage, but this time, she was the distracted one. Facing Zhou Hansheng¡¯s handsome and chiseled face, her whole heart and mind were filled with Wei Lingnan. They repeated the scenes a few times and she made several big and small mistakes.

    The director couldn¡¯t help but yell cut.

    ¡°Ms. Xia, are you tired? I¡¯m sorry for making you wait for so long.¡± The director was extremely polite. His attitude towards Zhou Hansheng and her for making mistakes waspletely different. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just end our practice for today? You can go back and rest and we¡¯ll continue tomorrow?¡±

    Xia Yingluo also felt like she wasn¡¯t in the mood and said, ¡°Okay. I¡¯m sorry, director and Senior Zhou.¡±

    The two immediately told her it was nothing.

    Xia Yingluo exited the theater and walked alone in the school garden where the autumn leaves fell like rain, her heart full of heavy thoughts.

    She didn¡¯t know why Wei Lingnan had such a deep impact on her. When she had seen him and Gu Jinxiu so close together during the banquet, she had felt as if her heart had been pricked by a needle. When he had halted her car halfway, although she was angry, she was still happy to receive the cosmetics from him. She had been continuously reminding herself not to care about him, but no matter what, she would think of him...

    His impact on her was much greater than she imagined.

    This wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    She frowned slightly and walked deeper into the forest with the falling autumn leaves.

    The leaves fell andnded on her with the breeze.

    She stood in the forest in a daze and suddenly felt the leaves disappear from her shoulder. Her surroundings suddenly became quiet and the chirping of the birds stopped.

    She seemed to have some response. She turned around and saw Wei Lingnan.

    He was wearing a white shirt, standing behind her like a painting. His hand was holding onto an umbre, shielding her from the falling leaves. The autumn sunlight shone on his body warmly. Xia Yingluo had seen many men wearing white shirts, but none of them wore it as well as he did. He was the only one. She looked at him in some form of enchantment, when suddenly she seemed to respond to something. She lowered her eyes quickly and sunk her face.

 Chapter 1274 - Protect Her Forever

    Chapter 1274: Protect Her Forever

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Her face sank and she asked coldly.

    ¡°Treating you to coffee,¡± he replied calmly. ¡°I counted the days and the rejection is probablying soon.¡±

    She was stunned. She had been captured in the underground base by him and had received such good care that her rejection had not acted up for a long time and she almost forgot about it. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± she said stubbornly. ¡°It could already be over.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled. Looking at her, she seemed to be like a mischievous little girl. ¡°You can try.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out the truth of his words.

    Maybe she should really try so that she could escape from his control.

    ¡°However.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled again. ¡°You have to take responsibility for yourself, Ah Luo. Don¡¯te crying and pleading for meter.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t cry and plead for you.¡± She humph-ed.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Yes, maybe you won¡¯t. But your parents and siblings won¡¯t be able to endure it and will cry and run to me begging bitterly. Seeing how Li Lei and Xia Ling are such prideful people, it might actually be worth it to see them lower their heads.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him. This person was actually using her parents to threaten her!

    ¡°So, Ah Luo, are you betting on it?¡± Wei Lingnan asked gently.

    ¡°... I¡¯ll drink coffee with you,¡± she submitted and said. After a few months of spending time with him, she understood that this man was vicious. When he was in a good mood, he was easy to deal with, but once he became unhinged, he was able to make things terrible for people. Even if she didn¡¯t think about herself, she had to think about her parents. If she really angered Wei Lingnan and Wei Lingnan really set conditions that set things difficult, her parents were sure to grit their teeth andply.

    She was already so big, it would be unfilial if she made her parents worry more.

    She sighed and red fiercely at Wei Lingnan. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone as shameless as you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°I don¡¯t mind being understood by you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo scolded his shamelessness again and turned to walk.

    Wei Lingnan still covered her with the umbre, walking at a slow pace in the training camp¡¯s forest area where the leaves fell, as if he were taking a leisure stroll. No matter how fast and angry Xia Yingluo walked, he was still calm and unruffled, his pace and expression remaining the same.

    It was Xia Yingluo who was unable to walk on further. Tired, she finally walked out of the little forest, panting heavily.

    ¡°Pervert, monster, you¡¯re not human.¡± She red secretly at the idle Wei Lingnan and cursed softly.

    Wei Lingnan chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not human. Ah Luo, once you¡¯ve awakened the Skatana tribe¡¯s genes and memories, you¡¯ll discover how powerful we are.¡±

    ¡°I told you I¡¯m not your Ah Luo.¡±

    ¡°You are.¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan.¡± His words stirred something in her and she suddenly turned to ask him seriously, ¡°On what grounds are you so sure of that? Just based on spection? Nobody else has ever witnessed such a thing as reincarnation¡ªmy mother isn¡¯t counted, she was taken care of by the and is an original human. But the Ah Luo that you want to revive is an alien just like you. On what grounds do you think Earth allowed her to be revived?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression darkened and he didn¡¯t speak.

    Xia Yingluo was a little afraid, but still gathered her courage to say, ¡°If I am able to be awakened, maybe I would have already, but until now, I don¡¯t have a single memory about the Skatana. Wei Lingnan, what if I don¡¯t ever awaken and remain a human until I die? Are you going to wait for me forever? Don¡¯t waste your time on me anymore.¡±

    Her voice dissipated in the autumn cool breeze.

    Wei Lingnan stared at her for a long time, his tranquil and peaceful eyes showing no hint of emotions.

    Her heart was even more apprehensive and she spent a lot of effort to suppress the urge to run away.

    After a long time, he reached out his hand and held her face despite her avoidance. ¡°You are Ah Luo,¡± he said, using force to stabilize her head as she tried to avoid him, his long and sharp nails digging into her cheeks. ¡°You can¡¯t be anybody else. You will awaken. One year, two years, ten years, twenty years, I will wait for you forever. Even until the moment you die, I won¡¯t give up.¡±

    She stared at him with watery eyes, flustered and worried.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, you can¡¯t do that,¡± she said weakly. ¡°I have my own life, I want to find a man I like and be together with him. We¡¯ll marry each other and grow old together. You can¡¯t stop me. You... you should find your own happiness.¡±

    ¡°You are my happiness.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She shook her head, ignoring the piercing pain in her cheeks. Beads of fresh blood dripped down her fair and crystal-jade skin. ¡°I¡¯m not your happiness, Ah Luo is. And I¡¯m not your Ah Luo.¡±

    ¡°You are.¡± He lowered his head and gave her a domineering, long kiss with his thin and cold lips.

    ¡°Ah Luo, I know you are her.¡± He embraced her and muttered in her ears, ¡°Your breath, your smell, the way you talk and the way you get angry... You¡¯re so alike her, so how could you not be her? I am the man you like, we¡¯ll grow old together.¡±

    Her heart started beating uncontrobly at his words.

    At that moment, she almost sunk into oblivion.

    But she knew she couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°What if I¡¯m not Ah Luo?¡± she asked him. ¡°Then am I nothing to you?¡±

    ¡°I will protect you forever,¡± he said.

    He understood her worries.

    Actually, wouldn¡¯t he worry about her identity as well?

    After failing the experiment for so many times, Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t even remember how many times he thought he had seeded and yet had to endure the oue of failure... She was hisst experimental material and he had deduced it repeatedly to ensure it was absolutely safe. But what if he had failed this time too? Could he really treat her as viciously as he had the previous experiments?

    He didn¡¯t know.

    He didn¡¯t even want to think about it.

    She was her, she must be. Even if she didn¡¯t recall it forever, he would nag her to her next lifetime and her next, next lifetime...

    Since Earth was a that possessed the logic of reincarnation, then, a lifetime woulde when she would remember him.

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± His voice was even gentler. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. No matter what happens, I¡¯ll be by your side.¡±

    Her apprehensive feelings calmed down a little, but her mouth still said, ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± She didn¡¯t dare to believe him. Her mother had once told her that men¡¯s words were the most unreliable. Even though every time Mother said that Father felt wronged, but with a teaching material like Pei Ziheng avable, he didn¡¯t stop her Mother from imparting such knowledge to her either.

    Don¡¯t believe promises. Only trust yourself.

    She pushed Wei Lingnan aside. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you wanted coffee? Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Since she couldn¡¯t get rid of him, she could only take one step and see how it went. She wouldn¡¯t fall into his hands, she definitely wouldn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t want to be his Ah Luo.

 Chapter 1275 - Hes Not My Boyfriend

    Chapter 1275: He¡¯s Not My Boyfriend

    Wei Lingnan followed her.

    The autumn leaves rustled in the wind as the trainees in the training camp chattered andughed. At the sight of Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan, a few of them looked over and greeted them with smiles. Xia Yingluo was still moody and ignored them, but Wei Lingnan smiled and greeted them back, winning over many of them with his gentlemanly and elegant behavior.

    ¡°Have you heard? Wei Lingnan is Xia Yingluo¡¯s official boyfriend; he has even met her parents.¡± A few of the trainees gossiped. ¡°What Zhao Yixuan, those other messy rumors were all fake. Only Wei Lingnan is her prince charming. The two of them are already discussing marriage.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The trainees beside eximed. ¡°Who on earth is this Wei Lingnan? He¡¯s really skilled to be able to settle this Li family¡¯s little princess.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he? I¡¯ve never heard of a rich person with the surname Wei. I can only think of Wei Shaoyin form Skyart Entertainment, but he¡¯s not from a prestigious family. This Wei Lingnan is really lucky. Marrying Xia Yingluo si equal to fighting in the world for many years!¡± Sounds of exmations and agreement sounded.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s hearing was good and she heard all these discussions, but she didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. Wei Lingnan had really hidden himself too well. His was clearly a rich and prestigious family that wasparable to the Xia family, but he was so low-key that people thought he came from a powerless and poor background. He really had sinister motives. She would rather he be powerless and poor. Then, she would be able to use her power to kick him away and not have to bear any responsibility. Why would she have to endure his nagging and go drink coffee with him unwillingly?

    Xia Yingluo was very resentful.

    After walking a few steps, she bumped into Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu.

    Jiang Bilian smiled at Xia Yingluo and greeted her. ¡°Hey, Yingluo, where are you going? We have a gathering at night, are youing?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t interested. ¡°You guys go to the gathering, I have some matters to attend to.¡± Then, she red unhappily at Wei Lingnan.

    Jiang Bilian discerned from her behavior that the two of them were probably going on a date, so she covered her mouth and giggled. ¡°You have matters, I understand. Have fun, the two of you. Yingluo, your boyfriend is really handsome.¡± She had seen Wei Lingnan twice before, back when Xia Yingluo had been feeling ufortable in the dance practice room and they had refused to go up and help her. Wei Lingnan hade in and broken their wrists and left them an unforgettable lesson. Back then, everyone had hated this Wei Lingnan, but now, they had no choice but topliment him.

    In all honesty, Wei Lingnan was indeed handsome and was able to fight. It wasn¡¯t bad to be able to get such a boyfriend.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to cry again. She would rather be mistaken as Li Rui¡¯s boyfriend. Why should she be connected to this pervert? ¡°He¡¯s not my boyfriend,¡± she said weakly.

    Jiang Bilian didn¡¯t say anything. Wei Lingnan was already smiling and saying to Jiang Bilian, ¡°Her skin is thin and she¡¯s shy. Hello, let me introduce myself officially. My name is Wei Lingnan and I¡¯m her boyfriend. If anything happens to Yingluo, you cane and find me directly. Let¡¯s exchange phone numbers.¡±

    Then, he really exchanged numbers with Jiang Bilian and the others.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t stop him. She only humph-ed a few times and turned her head the other way.

    Jiang Bilian smiled and said, ¡°Yingluo, what¡¯s there to be shy about? We have all witnessed how well he treats you, it¡¯s a blessing to have such a good boyfriend.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said stiffly, ¡°He¡¯s really not. We¡¯ll get going first.¡±

    Jiang Bilian smiled again and thought she was just being shy. In their impressions, how was Wei Lingnan not her boyfriend? If he wasn¡¯t her boyfriend, why would he rush into the dance studio to fight for her? If he wasn¡¯t her boyfriend, why would he drive her into school asionally with his ck sports car? Why would he meet her parents? Why would he take a stroll in the school¡¯s garden with him? Forget it, these were all indications of them being lovers. It was only unfortunate for Zhao Yixuan. Xia Yingluo had loved him so much back then, the one who should be marrying into her rich family should have been him. No wonder Zhao Yixuan med himself for having no insight and being blinded by greed. He had missed such a good marriage. Now was toote for regrets.

    Jiang Bilian was ted and rejoiced over being able to redeem herself in time and be on friendly terms with Xia Yingluo. She must cherish it. Thus, she smiled and bid farewell to Xia Yingluo as per her wishes.

    Xia Yingluo stomped out of the school garden. A ck sports car was parked outside the school gates¡ªWei Lingnan¡¯s. Wei Lingnan motioned for her to get in and said, ¡°Why are you unhappy? Ten minutes and more have already passed, your anger should have already dissipated.¡± While talking, he started the car and drove towards the cafe they often went to.

    Xia Yingluo tilted her head and asked him, ¡°Why did you exchange phone numbers with Jiang Bilian and the rest?¡±

    ¡°Are you jealous?¡± Wei Lingnan chuckled.

    Xia Yingluo was cold. ¡°Even if all men on Earth died, I wouldn¡¯t be jealous because of you.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you care that I got her phone number?¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s words just fell when the car bolted like a flying arrow without any warning. Xia Yingluo was not prepared and her forehead knocked against the windshield and swelled up.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± She was in so much pain that tears oozed and she held her forehead in pain, ring furiously at him.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t speak. He raced on the streets frighteningly and arrived at the cafe at lightning speed.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned pale. She sat on the passenger seat and didn¡¯t return to her senses for a long time. She had thought that she was very bold, but every time Wei Lingnan fell into a craze and raced his car, she felt like she had taken a trip to hell. ¡°Wei Lingnan, if you do this to me again, don¡¯t me me for being impolite!¡± She almost screamed.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her, his expression a little cold. ¡°Don¡¯t be so unbridled just because you¡¯re Ah Luo. My patience has its limits.¡±

    She was slightly stunned.

    After a while, she reacted and realized that her sentence ¡°Even if all men on Earth died, I wouldn¡¯t be jealous because of you¡± had angered him. This pervert was so petty and revengeful, he was so annoying.

    Xia Yingluo opened the door forcefully and walked out without looking back.

    Wei Lingnan followed her into the cafe and ordered two coffees. Then, he put the antidote into her coffee. Xia Yingluo enjoyed the beverage before putting it down heavily. ¡°I¡¯ve finished it, goodbye.¡±

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes at her slightly. She was the only one who could drink coffee like it was wine.

    ¡°You¡¯re leaving like that without a word of thanks?¡± His voice was a little dangerous.

 Chapter 1276 - Guardians Have No Right

    Chapter 1276: Guardians Have No Right

    ¡°Thank you?¡± She sneered and said curtly, ¡°Wei Lingnan, what right do you have to request a thank-you from me? Don¡¯t you forget who started all of this, you should count yourself lucky that I haven¡¯t killed you for this!¡±

    She looked so beautiful when she got angry.

    The lights in the cafeteria highlighted her exquisite features and her glossy hair. She was in a little gown studded with pearls and had on a faint fragrance¡ªregardless of the angle one looked at her from, she was wlessly beautiful.

    A beautiful human.

    She was a human being right now, and humans were aplicated race. They had strange standards and ideals when picking a partner, and it was full of uncertainty andcking in structure and objectivity. Wei Lingnan was a little frustrated. Why were things so troublesome here? He was beginning to miss the Skatana, where only a small handful of all beings were female. The females would fight one another to death, and thest survivor would be the Queen who got to choose her partner. She would host a grand ceremony at which brave soldiers woulde forward to fight for her hand in marriage, then thest ¡°man¡± standing would be the Queen¡¯s husband.

    It was a simple procedure that was passed on through the generations.

    This was to ensure that every generation of the Skatana species got the best and strongest gic material to safeguard their poption¡¯s survival.

    It was logical and rational.

    But look at the humans. Their way of finding a mate was confusing and there was no mechanism at all, it was no wonder they were among the less advanced civilizations in the universe.

    He had no idea how to win her over.

    Xia Yingluo red at him again before leaving in a huff.

    Wei Lingnan was left alone on the soft couch, sipping his coffee all by himself.

    A whileter, the door was opened and in came a tall figure dressed in a clean white shirt. He took a seat opposite Wei Lingnan. ¡°Here are the books you wanted.¡± The man then ced a pile of books before Wei Lingnan. He said with disdain, ¡°Don¡¯t make me do such a thing again, it¡¯s so tasteless.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Thank you, Shaoyin.¡±

    So it was Wei Shaoyin, his supposed ¡°nephew¡±, the Young Master of the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group.

    Back then, when Wei Lingnan arrived on Earth, he had joined a family in order to conceal his identity. He brainwashed everyone in the family, altered their memories, and had them believe he was one of them by blood. As a form of repayment, he helped to build this family¡¯s power by allowing their business to expand to its current size.

    Wei Shaoyin asked for a cup of coffee and looked at him. ¡°Something went wrong with your rtionship with Yingluo again?¡±

    The books on the table were all specified by Wei Lingnan, and they were all about ¡°Secrets to a Sessful Rtionship¡±, ¡°How to Get Along with Her¡±, ¡°This Is How You Woo a Girl¡± and the like. Wei Lingnan had always been guided by logic and rationale; it wasn¡¯t that hard to guess what was going on if he asked for such books.

    Wei Lingnan was a little upset. ¡°Can¡¯t humans be a little more predictable? I¡¯ve read so many of these books and acted ordingly¡ªgiving her an allowance, taking her out on coffee dates¡ªit¡¯s been so many asions, but she hasn¡¯t changed her attitude towards me.¡±

    ¡°The books never taught you to hold her hostage!¡± Wei Shaoyin could feel his anger rising already. Why was it so difficult to hold a conversation with an alien?

    When he went to the underground base to save Xia Yingluo, he¡¯d found out that this ¡°Uncle¡± was, in fact, an alien! But it didn¡¯t take him very long to ept this fact and treat him as per normal...

    As the only person in the entire Wei family to never have been brainwashed, and also the only one who knew of Wei Lingnan¡¯s actual identity, Wei Shaoyin had be a sad, pathetic runner¡ªhelping him with the purchase of books on one day, checking out cafeterias for him on another...

    Sometimes he really wanted to hit someone.

    Wei Lingnan was even more puzzled now. ¡°If I don¡¯t keep her locked in, she¡¯ll run away. How are we supposed to nurture any feelings this way?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you lovers in your past lives? When she recalls the past, she¡¯d naturally fall for you. What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Wei Shaoyin said and looked at those books with disdain again. ¡°If you still can¡¯t learn the ropes about the human race, why don¡¯t you try it your way? If Ying Luo really was your girlfriend, maybe she¡¯d be touched by the ways of your race.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was just saying it casually.

    But Wei Lingnan seemed deep in thought. ¡°Will it... really work?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was curious now. ¡°So tell me, how do you woo girls on your?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°We kill all other males who are ourpetition.¡±

    Wei Shaoyin was a little stunned. ¡°... You can¡¯t be serious.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at him. ¡°This is how we find a partner back on our.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s perverted and cruel.¡± Wei Shaoyin winced. ¡°I was just kidding, please don¡¯t try this out over here. You¡¯d better try something else. Otherwise, Yingluo will definitely turn against you. No girl will be able to tolerate that.¡±

    Wei Lingnan drank his coffee in silence.

    Wei Shaoyin truly regretted his words. How could he have brought up such a horrible suggestion? He asked cautiously, ¡°You can¡¯t really be considering what I just said?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    If he followed the Skatana rules strictly, it was impossible for him to ever end up with Ah Luo.

    Or rather, tens of millions of years ago, in Ah Luo¡¯s previous life, she¡¯d never really ¡°belonged¡± to him anyway.

    He had no right to join in the fight for the Queen¡¯s hand.

    All guardians were fruits that the World Tree had abandoned even before they were fully ripe¡ªthey were known as the inadequate and weak ones. So how could they possibly be fit to be the Queen¡¯s partner? Even if everyone was allowed to take part in that fight, the guardians would always be excluded.

    He could only watch as all the other male soldiers fought one another for Ah Luo.

    He¡¯d fought hard all along and kept Ah Luo alive, just so that he could watch her be someone else¡¯s bride?

    A sh of darkness could be seen in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes as he recalled the day the exploded. She had looked into his eyes with hatred. ¡°I will not let you have your way, I¡¯d rather die than be with you¡ª¡±

    And then the massive explosion happened.

    He only managed to grab her hand and keep her little finger bone fragment after the st.

    She¡¯d really done it.

    She had died before getting together with him.

    But what about him, he¡¯d hopelessly found that he still loved her and wanted to revive her. If she could just open her eyes and look at him, and call him by his original name with their Skatana ent one more time...

    He¡¯d be content for this lifetime.

    His eyes were getting watery. He shut them and took another sip of coffee.

    The bitter aroma unleashed itself in his mouth and down his throat, making its way to his heart.

 Chapter 1277 - Yingluo, Run!

    <h4>Chapter 1277: <strong>Yingluo, Run!</strong></h4>

    Xia Yingluo walked out of the cafeteria with anger still written on her face. She gged down a cab and headed back to the training camp.

    What she hadn¡¯t noticed was that a ck car had been parked across the street and that a woman sitting inside had been looking at her from the one-way ss window.

    ¡°Miss,¡± the chauffeur asked that woman. ¡°Do we follow them?¡±

    That woman¡¯s voice was cold and distant. ¡°What for? So that they¡¯ll notice us?¡±

    The chauffeur dared not say any more upon realizing that she was in a bad mood.

    It was silent in the car again. As that woman looked in the direction that Xia Yingluo left in, she murmured to herself, ¡°Xia Yingluo, since you won¡¯t cut your ties with Lingnan, don¡¯t me me for not ying nice. I, Gu Jinxiu, have never known the word ¡®failure¡¯ on my dictionary!¡± She paused and instructed the chauffeur. ¡°Give Zhao Yixuan a call, tell him that Xia Yingluo went to meet Wei Lingnan again and they seem to be getting closer. That piece of trash, he¡¯s taking so long to settle Xia Yingluo. I need him to take control of his woman, lest she seduces other men at her will.¡±

    The chauffeur politely nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    He then asked cautiously, ¡°Miss, it¡¯s no use getting angry. I think Zhao Yixuan really is a stupid man, he might not be able to get that cheap woman away from Mr. Wei. Should we help him out?¡± A while ago, Zhao Yixuan had gone to Imperial Entertainment to look for Xia Yingluo precisely because Gu Jinxiu had let the word out about Xia Yingluo¡¯s identity and Wei Lingnan¡¯s case. Zhao Yixuan had been in a fluster hoping to reunite with Xia Yingluo, hence the hurry to look for her.

    What a shame that this man was as foolish as a pig; he hadn¡¯t managed to win Xia Yingluo over.

    Gu Jinxiu quietly cursed in her heart. She had no idea what Xia Yingluo had seen in this useless man to have fallen for him. At this point, she had no choice but to continue lending Zhao Yixuan a hand.

    ¡°Of course we need to help him,¡± Gu Jinxiu said. ¡°Tell him that the one thing women take issue with is having ¡®done it¡¯. As long as he can get Xia Yingluo to bed, everything will be easy.¡± If Xia Yingluo and Zhao Yixuan slept together, Wei Lingnan would likely be ufortable with it, and perhaps that would be all it took for him to dump Xia Yingluo. That way, Gu Jinxiu would get what she wanted.

    Gu Jinxiu had it all nned out in her favor. She couldn¡¯t help but smile at the hypothetical sess already.

    But the chauffeur was still a little worried. ¡°Miss, Zhao Yixuan may not even have the capability to lure her to bed. And we¡¯ve looked up on Xia Yingluo, it seems that she¡¯d fought with others in the training camp and can take on a few at a go. Zhao Yixuan probably won¡¯t be her match.¡±

    ¡°Of course she isn¡¯t.¡± Gu Jinxiu scoffed. ¡°Do you think Li Lei is an idiot who wouldn¡¯t teach his daughter self-defense? Tell Zhao Yixuan to target the people around her. Isn¡¯t that Jin Ling¡¯er Xia Yingluo¡¯s best friend? As long as he abducts her, there¡¯s no doubt that Xia Yingluo would find her way to him.¡± Once they ¡°did it¡±, Xia Yingluo might just fall in love with Zhao Yixuan again. If that wasn¡¯t achieved, Wei Lingnan would likely be turned off by her, at the very least. Gu Jinxiu would then have a good chance ofing between them.

    The chauffeur ttered Gu Jinxiu with kind words about her intelligence and hurriedly got to it.

    Xia Yingluo waspletely unaware of their scheme as she continued practicing in the training camp and shopping as per normal. But a strange sense of frustration built inside her¡ªshe could not understand why, but thoughts about Wei Lingnan, as well as that about love and jealousy, kept finding their way to her head.

    After practice one day, she asked the actor of the alien male character in the show, Zhou Hansheng, ¡°What do you think about an alien falling in love with a female human?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so romantic!¡± Zhou Hansheng said, ¡°If I really was an alien, and the girls on Earth were this adorable, I¡¯d definitely fall for one. I¡¯d take good care of her and settle down on Earth. We could then start a family and live together till the end of our lives.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave a half-hearted smile upon hearing his response. How nice it would be if things were this simple.

    ¡°Then what if you already have a girlfriend back on your home?¡± She continued asking Zhou Hansheng, ¡°If you can no longer return, would you continue longing for her or would you really fall for a girl on Earth?¡±

    ¡°Live in the present.¡± Zhou Hansheng smiled. ¡°If I can no longer return, and I¡¯m no longer able to find an alien girlfriend, then shouldn¡¯t I seize the day and live my life well? Even if that alien girlfriend finds out, she¡¯d probably give her boyfriend her blessings.¡± He looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, you seem very engrossed in alien stories.¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t speak the truth, she wasn¡¯t actually engrossed in a story. She was simply perplexed because an incredibly sophisticated love problem, in fact, existed in her life.

    She said a few more words to Zhou Hansheng before taking her leave.

    The image of Wei Lingnan was still in her head. His emotions, his words, and even his thoughtful action as he poured coffee for her¡ªeverything was tugging at her heart.

    When she couldn¡¯t resist it anymore, Xia Yingluo would take another look at the makeup set he¡¯d bought her. The beautiful light-gold lip gloss hinted at a beautiful fall. She remembered the day they stood by the road, he had used his finger to apply it on her lips, his movement so careful, so cautious, so gentle, as if he was taking good care of a precious gem.

    If only Wei Lingnan was a human, if only Ah Luo didn¡¯t exist, all would be well.

    Xia Yingluo was startled by her thoughts. Gosh, had she sunk too deep in? How could she think this way? Whether Ah Luo existed or not, Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t an ideal partner to look for. He was too secretive, cruel and domineering, it would do her good to stay away from him instead.

    Xia Yingluo shook her head in an attempt to shake off all these thoughts and resumed life as usual. In the night, she¡¯d still have dreams sometimes about the faint purple and a mess of people and events. But most times, she woke up remembering none of it.

    On this day, she went out to shop.

    As she walked on the streets in the thick of fall, she remembered that the cafeteria she was going to meet Jin Ling¡¯er atter on was just nearby. She checked the time and quickened her footsteps. Then, a white van stopped right beside her.

    She was startled and all ready to yell at the driver for his recklessness. But what greeted her as the door opened were Zhao Yixuan¡¯s familiar face and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er seemed to be in a terrible state¡ªher clothes were a mess, her hair was no better, and Zhao Yixuan was holding a knife to her throat. She looked pale as she struggled to say, ¡°Yingluo, run!¡±

 Chapter 1278 - Hotel Crisis

    Chapter 1278: Hotel Crisis

    Xia Yingluo knew what was going on at once.

    As a daughter in the Li family, she¡¯d undergone anti-kidnapping training before. While she was enraged that they were holding her friend hostage now, she was able to remain rational. ¡°Zhao Yixuan, what are you trying to do?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan looked at her with a distorted smile. ¡°Yingluo, you ask what I¡¯m trying to do? Be good and hop into the van. Otherwise, you¡¯re losing this friend here.¡± He pressed the knife against Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s throat as he said that, and blood was beginning to trickle down.

    Xia Yingluo felt a pain in her heart as if the cut on her friend¡¯s neck had been on her heart instead. She said to Zhao Yixuan coldly, ¡°Let go of her and I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled before Zhao Yixuan even said a thing. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about me, just leave!¡± Although she had no idea what Zhao Yixuan was up to, she was sure it wasn¡¯t anything good. How could she possibly put her friend in danger?

    Xia Yingluo frowned. ¡°Ling¡¯er, don¡¯t move about. I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll be fine, and I will be too, don¡¯t worry.¡± She tried not to look at the increasing amount of blood flowing down her neck as she directed her attention to Zhao Yixuan. ¡°I know you still love me. You love me too much, that¡¯s why you¡¯re using such extreme measures. I will go with you, both of us can settle our private affairs on our own. Let Ling¡¯er go, it¡¯s better for everyone.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan smiled. ¡°Yingluo, I just knew you were a sensible girl. But you¡¯re too naive, how could I possibly release Jin Ling¡¯er at this juncture? As long as you¡¯re good, I¡¯ll let her go eventually. At this point, you aren¡¯t in any position to negotiate terms with me, so you¡¯d better listen to me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned again as rage rose inside her.

    But she wasn¡¯t about to offend Zhao Yixuan at a time like this, lest he do something rash. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get in.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan smiled again. ¡°That¡¯s right, don¡¯t you pull any tricks around here. Administer this first.¡± He retrieved a syringe and needle with his foot and kicked it to Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo had a bad feeling. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan looked gleeful. ¡°I know you¡¯ve hurt lots of people in your ss, and you¡¯re skilled and agile. In order to prevent any idents, it¡¯s better to administer some muscle rxant first. Yingluo, don¡¯t worry, this is harmless to the human body. It just makes you lose your strength temporarily so you won¡¯t resist.¡±

    How despicable.

    Xia Yingluo cursed at him in her heart, but she understood that this wasn¡¯t the time to go hard against him. She held the needle to her forearm and injected herself.

    ¡°Yingluo, no!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er cried out as more blood came trickling down.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± She could roughly guess what Zhao Yixuan was after. He simply wanted to get back together with her as a couple. Zhao Yixuan had found out that she was the Miss of the Li¡¯s, but he dared not offend the Li family. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t go as far as to kill or injure her. What he could do, however, was to bed her and make her ¡°do it¡±. He thought that once he had her body, she would fall hopelessly in love with him.

    Xia Yingluo mocked him for being naive, but this wasn¡¯t a good time to be talking to him with logic. She had to take it one step at a time and prioritize Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s escape first.

    Zhao Yixuan watched her administer the drug closely before breaking into a grin. ¡°That¡¯s right, Yingluo. I won¡¯t hurt you. You know me so well, we¡¯re really a match made in Heaven.¡±

    The ice-cold liquid entered her bloodstream. Xia Yingluo could feel herself getting weaker and weaker and barely was able to keep herself upright.

    She struggled to say, ¡°You can let Jin Ling¡¯er off now.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was still unwilling to release her. He kept Jin Ling¡¯er trapped and personally dragged Xia Yingluo into the van, holding her in his arms. ¡°Yingluo, you are mine.¡± He kissed her on the cheek in satisfaction.

    Xia Yingluo was about to puke from disgust. She gave a cold ¡°hmph¡± and turned away. ¡°When exactly will you let Jin Ling¡¯er off?¡±

    ¡°Close as sisters, indeed.¡± Zhao Yixuan smiled. ¡°Of course that¡¯ll have to wait until we¡¯ve had a happy ending. Yingluo, I¡¯ve got a room ready in the hotel. I¡¯ll take you there now. Although it¡¯s a pity that I didn¡¯t get to take away your ¡®first time¡¯, this isn¡¯t all toote. Your body will fall in love with me, and then we¡¯ll get married, alright?¡±

    Xia Yingluo wanted very much to call him a despicable man, but she swallowed it anyway.

    There was no point in reasoning things out with a man like this. She did not want to waste her time and energy, and hence, simply said, ¡°Give Ling¡¯er a bandage, don¡¯t let her bleed too much. If anything happens to her, I¡¯ll never forgive you.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan smiled. ¡°Your wish is mymand.¡±

    He got a piece of bandage and covered Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s wound.

    Jin Ling¡¯er could guess what Zhao Yixuan was nning to do to Xia Yingluo as well. She couldn¡¯t help but yell, ¡°You despicable, horrid man!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan smiled. ¡°Thank you for thepliment. Since Yingluo is still muddle-headed, I had no choice but to resort to this. Yingluo, someday you¡¯ll appreciate the lengths I¡¯ve gone to.¡± With that, he gazed at Xia Yingluo affectionately.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression was stone-cold. She refused to acknowledge his words.

    She¡¯d been thinking of a way out this whole time. There was no way she could let Zhao Yixuan have his way, the thought of him touching her made her want to puke.

    The small van arrived at a hotel and stopped. The chauffeur was probably Zhao Yixuan¡¯s right-hand man. He got off the driver¡¯s seat and supported Jin Ling¡¯er as they made their way to the room. Zhao Yixuan himself was helping Xia Yingluo¡ªwho was now extremely weak¡ªinto the same room.

    It was a suite with a bed lined with maroon sheets. The fragrance in the air was rather enchanting.

    ¡°Do you like it here? I specially prepared this for you.¡± Zhao Yixuan carefully lowered her onto the bed.

    The muscle rxant had taken full effect, and Xia Yingluo was having difficulty lifting even one finger. ¡°It¡¯s a pretty nice ce.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was satisfied with her answer. ¡°You¡¯re a good girl. I like it here. Red really suits you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave a look of resignation. ¡°So what if I¡¯m not a good girl. In any case, I¡¯m not getting out of here today, I might as well make myselffortable.¡± She looked up at Zhao Yixuan with an alluring gaze. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be gentle with me today.¡±

    Zhao Yixuanughed and nodded.

    Only Jin Ling¡¯er was busy worrying by the side. ¡°Yinglyo, you can¡¯t do this, even if it¡¯s for me! Zhao Yixuan, let her off. I¡¯m begging you not to treat her this way!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan said, ¡°What a nag. If you¡¯re going to make more noise, I¡¯m getting someone to settle you once and for all.¡±

 Chapter 1279 - Vixen

    Chapter 1279: Vixen

    Jin Ling¡¯er was at a loss of what to do. She wasn¡¯t worried for herself, but for Xia Yingluo. How was she going to get away from this? If Yingluo was to be shamed or vited in any way, Jin Ling¡¯er would never forgive herself.

    Meanwhile, Xia Yingluo was very calm. She said to Zhao Yixuan, ¡°As long as you don¡¯t touch her, I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan thought that she was doing this to protect Jin Ling¡¯er, and found it easier than he¡¯d expected. ¡°Yingluo, since you¡¯ve put it this way, I¡¯ll definitely take good care of her, don¡¯t you worry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t stand to see this annoying face of his any longer. But under such circumstances, she had to put up with it for now. ¡°You aren¡¯t all bad, after all.¡± She sounded a little less cold.

    Zhao Yixuan was so happy to hear that. ¡°Yingluo, of course I¡¯m a nice person. All those things that happened in the past, they were all misunderstandings. As they say, time reveals a person¡¯s heart. As we spend the rest of our lives together in the future, you¡¯ll know what sort of person I really am.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned away slightly and sneered. Spend the rest of their lives together? Once she got out of this, the first thing she¡¯d do would be to chop him into pieces, and yet he had the audacity to daydream about a future together? ¡°I¡¯m thirsty, and a little hungry too,¡± she said to Zhao Yixuan. ¡°Bring me some food.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan looked down at her. She looked tired and weak on the huge bed, and her lush ck hair against her fair skin made her appear all the more alluring. He felt a fire inside him and couldn¡¯t wait to get into her. ¡°Yingluo, stop buying time.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°But I¡¯m really hungry. When I got onto the van just now, I was just about to get my food. You keep iming to be nice to me, but you won¡¯t even fulfill this small wish of mine?¡±

    This beauty was lying just before him and he couldn¡¯t wait any longer to have her. And yet, he was afraid he¡¯d offend her too strongly. He weighed the pros and cons out agonizingly and decided. ¡°Yingluo, of course I¡¯m nice to you. What would you like to have? I¡¯ll call for room service.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only sincere if you get it for me yourself,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°I was just walking on the streets when you abducted me and brought me here. Shouldn¡¯t youpensate me for all the fear and panic you put me through? Zhao Yixuan, get me some food, but don¡¯t you use the elevators. Take the stairs, and I¡¯ll forgive you.¡±

    She was obviously dragging for time.

    Zhao Yixuan furrowed his brows. ¡°Don¡¯t you pull these tricks on me. The security here is tight, you and Jin Ling¡¯er won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to bombard me with such excuses. Are you willing to do it or not?¡±

    Seeing that she was genuinely upset, Zhao Yixuan smiled. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go. But you¡¯ve to be a good girl in bedter.¡± His voice was low and hoarse as he said thest sentence.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid she¡¯d escape at all¡ªthe security was indeed tight, she wouldn¡¯t be able to pull off any tricks around here. Rather than incur her wrath, he might as well act ording to her wishes. After all, they were going to be living together in the future. She was a girl from a rich and powerful family, there was no good at all in angering her, anyway. With that thought, Zhao Yixuan left to get her some food.

    The door closed and Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er were left alone inside.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at Xia Yingluo in fear. ¡°Yingluo, what should we do now?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very calm and she spoke quickly, ¡°I don¡¯t have the energy, you need to find a way to undo the rope and then call my dad. He¡¯ll definitely be able to settle the issue for us.¡± She had much confidence in her father¡ªthat man had so much power and authority, just one call from him was enough to have Zhao Yixuan under control.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was flustered but calmed down a little upon hearing her words. ¡°How do I undo the rope around my hands?¡± She was depending on Xia Lingpletely now. ¡°I don¡¯t know how.¡±

    Xia Yingluo spoke quickly but calmly, ¡°Zhao Yixuan isn¡¯t good at this at all. I¡¯ve seen the knot, it¡¯s easy to undo. Just listen to my instructions and follow them.¡± She¡¯d undergone anti-kidnap training as a child, and undoing a rope knot was a basic lesson to take.

    Her voice was reassuring to Jin Ling¡¯er, who seemed to be more hopeful now. ¡°Alright.¡±

    Xia Yingluo exined it to Jin Ling¡¯er step by step.

    Jin Ling¡¯er learned fast. As time was tight, she focused hard on her task and undid it quickly. But just as they were about to celebrate this achievement, they heard the unhinging of the door as someone pushed it open. The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard. Why, how could Zhao Yixuan be back so quickly?

    Both of them exchanged nces.

    Jin Ling¡¯er reflexively crouched lower and put her hands behind her back so nobody could tell that her knot had been undone. Meanwhile, Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression was as usual.

    They were in a hotel suite, and the footsteps stopped in the living area before walking towards the bedrooms. A figure in a bright red dress appeared at the door.

    Xia Yingluo looked up and saw an unexpected person¡ªPei Yan.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± she asked Pei Yan.

    Pei Yan looked at her condescendingly, as if not the least bit surprised at their encounter. She said with a look of hatred, ¡°Xia Yingluo, you vixen, I should be the one asking you this. What are you doing in Zhao Yixuan¡¯s room?¡±

    Vixen?

    Xia Yingluo was enraged. She had been abducted to this ce for no rhyme or reason, and she even had to bear this horrendous name?

    ¡°Keep an eye on your fianc¨¦,¡± she said with an unpleasant tone. ¡°Get him away from me. You¡¯re here in time, hurry and release us. From today on, we¡¯ll go our separate ways. You and Zhao Yixuan can live however you like.¡±

    Pei Yan looked at her coldly. ¡°For as long as you vixen exist, Zhao Yixuan and I won¡¯t be able to live in peace.¡± She looked so beautiful on the bed, with one side of her shoulders revealed and her hair a mess, making her look so pitiful. As a woman, Pei Yan was burning with jealousy, so much so that she wished to throw her into the fire alive.

    Pei Yan¡¯s eyes darkened as she looked at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo sensed something wrong¡ªwhat exactly was Pei Yan here for? Was it a coincidence, or did she enter deliberately? Zhao Yixuan was out to bed her, but Pei Yan¡¯s motives weren¡¯t so clear. When a woman got jealous, who knew what insanity she was capable of? Xia Yingluo sensed danger now.

    In a bid to buy more time, Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Pei Yan, how did you find your way here?¡±

    Pei Yan scoffed. ¡°I sensed that something was off about Zhao Yixuan these few days, so I sent someone to stalk him. As I guessed, his soul has been seduced by you vixen.¡±

 Chapter 1280 - Wrestle

    Chapter 1280: Wrestle

    Xia Yingluo tried hard to deal with her. ¡°He didn¡¯te to find me, nor did I seduce him.¡±

    The hatred in Pei Yan¡¯s eyes was deep. ¡°You still dare to make excuses? Why would Yixuan have you in mind if you didn¡¯t seduce him? Xia Yingluo, you¡¯re a bitch, a shameless slut since birth!¡±

    Xia Yingluo saw she was going crazy and didn¡¯t want to agitate her further, so she said, ¡°Calm down, Pei Yan. Me and Zhao Yixuan are things of the past, you and him are the mostpatible. Let us leave here and I promise you that I¡¯ll try my best to guarantee your marriage with him. I¡¯ll use my family¡¯s power if I have to. No matter what, I¡¯ll make him marry you.¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression turned even gloomier. ¡°Xia Yingluo, what are you? How dare you boast about being richer and powerful in front of me? Aren¡¯t you just Li Lei¡¯s daughter, what¡¯s so great about being Li Lei¡¯s daughter? Your Mother is the cheap slut that my Uncle didn¡¯t want back then! Pah!¡±

    This time, no matter how cultivated Xia Yingluo was, she couldn¡¯t hold it in.

    It was okay to scold her, but to drag her Mother into this as well?

    She nced at Pei Yan and her voice turned cold. ¡°Who are you to mention my Mother? Your Uncle loved my Mother for an eternity and has yet to even marry. What about you? Hehe, you can¡¯t even settle a small Zhao Yixuan. Who¡¯s the lousy one here, it¡¯s obvious, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Suddenly, Pei Yan pped Xia Yingluo with a ¡°smack¡±. The truth was always the most painful and she couldn¡¯t take it. Why did so many people like Xia Yingluo, while she only wanted one Zhao Yixuan and yet couldn¡¯t obtain him? ¡°Yixuan won¡¯t love you.¡± Her expression was frantic and she red fiercely at Xia Yingluo. She brandished a knife from her bag. ¡°If I cut your face up, do you think he¡¯ll still love you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo only felt half of her face go numb from her p. Because of the muscle rxant, her whole body was powerless and she couldn¡¯t move a single step.

    Seeing Pei Yan¡¯s knife approach, Jin Ling¡¯er who had been curled up in a corner suddenly pounced forward and clutched deadly onto Pei Yan¡¯s hand that held the knife. ¡°Put the knife down!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled loudly. ¡°I won¡¯t let you harm Yingluo!¡±

    At her pounce, the knife that had been able to sh ferociously onto Xia Yingluo¡¯s cheeks changed directions, sliding past Xia Yingluo¡¯s jade-like fair cheeks and leaving behind a trail of a faint bloody mark. The knife stabbed into Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s arm.

    Jin Ling¡¯er yelped in pain but still charged at Pei Yan without regard for her own safety. The two of them tangled up together.

    ¡°Ling¡¯er!¡± Xia Yingluo yelled in worry. She saw that Pei Yan had pinned Jin Ling¡¯er onto the ground and was overwhelmed with worry.

    She could only hate herself for having been injected by a fluid and hence, being unable to move. Otherwise, she would havee forward and immediately take down Pei Yan! [Move quickly, move quickly...] She chanted in her heart, exerting all her energy and struggling on the bed. In her body, a distinct heat flowed and spread in her, and she didn¡¯t know if the drug was losing its effect or if a miracle had happened, but she could actually move with difficulty. ¡°Ling¡¯er!¡± She called again and struggled off the bed to help Jin Ling¡¯er.

    On the rug, the two people¡¯s fighting was even more intense.

    Pei Yan was stronger than Jin Ling¡¯er and had her pinned down and defenseless. In the fighting, Jin Ling¡¯er tried to take the knife that had fallen at the side, but it was snatched first by Pei Yan. Perhaps the adrenaline kicked in her, but she actually stabbed Jin Ling¡¯er!

    At that moment, Xia Yingluo felt like her heartbeat was going to stop.

    Just like in the movies, fresh blood oozed out, dying the carpet red. Jin Ling¡¯er lost her strength and fell weakly into the puddle of blood like a broken, lifeless rag doll. Her beautiful eyes were opened wide and she lost her senses.

    Xia Yingluo was scared out of her wits. She called again, ¡°Ling¡¯er!¡±

    Pei Yan was also shocked by her own actions. The knife slipped from her hand and she stammered incoherently. ¡°I, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose.¡±

    Xia Yingluo struggled with thest energy in her and yelled at Pei Yan, ¡°What are you waiting for? Call the ambnce!¡±

    But Pei Yan didn¡¯t dare to call and said, ¡°She, she¡¯s not right, right? If she dies, am I going to jail?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so angry she was going to explode, but she had no choice but to concede. ¡°Hurry up and call the ambnce, then leave this ce. I¡¯ll take responsibility if anything happens. I¡¯ll tell them that Zhao Yixuan did this. If you don¡¯t call, Jin Ling¡¯er won¡¯t forgive you even if she bes a ghost, and I¡¯ll use all mywyers, policemen and the Li family¡¯s power to chase you to the end of the seas!¡±

    Pei Family was so shocked she regained her senses and suddenly thought of how severe the consequences of offending the Li family were. Although she was a nobledy of the Pei family, she wasn¡¯t direct to the heir and if anything happened, the Pei family might not be willing to protect her at all costs. Thinking of this, her expression changed.

    Who knew if Xia Yingluo was telling the truth? What if she wouldn¡¯t let her go, and went to find the Li family to take revenge on her instead? She might as well just kill Xia Yingluo here as well and end it all.

    Xia Yingluo saw the murderous intention in her eyes and was suddenly afraid. She said, ¡°Pei Yan, I advise you not to have any ill intentions towards me. Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s death is unpredictable and she might be able to be rescued. At that time, it¡¯ll be a small thing. But if you continue with this, you¡¯ll turn from injuring someone to killing someone, then you¡¯ll be a murderer. You¡¯ll have to pay with your life.¡±

    Pei Yan was a little hesitant, but she looked gloomily at Xia Yingluo, the murderous intention still in her eyes.

    Xia Yingluo only felt her strength dissipating slowly. Her forehead was full of sweat, but she still forced herself to say, ¡°Don¡¯t waste your efforts. You can¡¯t kill me. Do you believe I have a hundred different ways to kill you? Even if you are lucky and manage to kill me, can you handle the consequences of my parents¡¯ rage? Once anything happens to me, they will surely move everyone to conduct the deepest investigation. You¡¯re not a professional killer and you¡¯re bound to leave behind some evidence. It¡¯ll be an easy feat to find out the truth, then do you think the Pei family will protect you?¡±

    Pei Yan was speechless. She understood her logic, and her murderous look slowly disappeared.

    Xia Yingluo secretly heaved a sigh of relief and gently coaxed her. ¡°Dial the numbers and then give me the phone. Then you can leave. I swear on my name that I won¡¯t tell anyone that you were here.¡±

    Pei Yan couldn¡¯t decide.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice seemed to have some sort of strange calming effect on her, and Pei Yan unconsciously fell into it. She took the phone and dialed the emergency number, handed it to Xia Yingluo and then escaped by herself in a rush.

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t care about her. She quickly told the emergency personnel about the situation and then struggled to climb off the bed towards Jin Ling¡¯er. She looked down at the girl who was breathing shallowly and said chokingly, ¡°Ling¡¯er, nothing can happen to you.¡±

 Chapter 1281

    <h4>Chapter 1281: I¡¯ll Be There Quickly</h4>

    In the hotel room, the girl on the rug was pale white, with seemingly no opportunity to live. The knife had cut her artery and fresh blood was flowing out, dying her body red.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t stay idle. Her hands moved swiftly to tear the corners of her clothes and she used it to wrap around her wound. Her technique was professional and she quickly wrapped the wound. The fresh blood stopped and didn¡¯t keep flowing out. However, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes were still tightly shut and her face was as thin as gold paper.

    Xia Yingluo forcefully dragged the nket on the bed down and covered Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s body with it to give her warmth. ¡°Ling¡¯er, you have to get through this stage, do you hear me?¡± She held onto Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s cold hand that had lost too much blood and kept encouraging her.

    The hotel room¡¯s door opened and Zhao Yixuan appeared at the door holding a scrumptious meal. Seeing the situation in the hotel room, his expression was filled with shock. ¡°What happened? Yingluo, howe you can move? What happened to Jin Ling¡¯er??¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at Zhao Yixuan. Her expression wasposed, but her eyes were teary. ¡°Ling¡¯er got cut by a knife and her life is barely hanging on. I called the ambnce. Zhao Yixuan,e and help me rescue her!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was still in shock. ¡°How did you move, did you injure her?¡±

    Xia Yingluo simply wanted to ignore this stupid pig, so she said, ¡°Get a few heat packs here. Her body is too cold, she can¡¯t keep dropping her body temperature like this or she won¡¯t be able to make it.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan hesitated and didn¡¯t move.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. ¡°Are you not going? If anything happens to Ling¡¯er, I want you to be buried with her!¡±

    She was Li Lei¡¯s daughter and was also an honorable missy, so when she got angry, she was actually frightening. Zhao Yixuan was stunned by her fierceness and stuttered. ¡°Pay, pay with my life? This doesn¡¯t concern me, does it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said sinisterly, ¡°You were the one who captured us. If something happens to us here, why doesn¡¯t it concern you? Zhao Yixuan, I won¡¯t let you go, you probably still don¡¯t know about my family¡¯s methods.¡±

    Her words sent a chill down Zhao Yixuan¡¯s spine.

    Zhao Yixuan suddenly remembered that this beautiful girl came from the underworld. Why would the underworld need any reasoning to kill someone? As long as she was unhappy, they could kill and bury anyone at any time.

    He had fought in the entertainment industry and gotten his position today after much difficulty not to send himself to death like this. Thinking of this, Zhao Yixuan quickly put on a ttering smile and said, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll help her. Yingluo, you won¡¯t do anything to me, right?¡±

    Xia Yingluo simply wanted to dismember him, but Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s situation was more pressing and she had no choice but to swallow her anger and say, ¡°As long as Jin Ling¡¯er is alright, I promise you that you¡¯ll be safe too. Aren¡¯t you getting the heat packs?¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was reassured and immediately rushed over.

    Xia Yingluo was anxious. She waited impatiently and finally, she heard the sound of the ambnce. The first aid staff lifted Jin Ling¡¯er onto a stretcher and they whizzed on the road to the hospital.

    They immediately entered the emergency room.

    The emergency room shed red lights and Xia Yingluo paced about helplessly. She sat down onto the long bench in the corridor, her face pale. This was all her fault, she had dragged Jin Ling¡¯er down. If it wasn¡¯t because Zhao Yixuan came after her, he wouldn¡¯t have done anything to Jin Ling¡¯er. And Pei Yan too, she had drawn in Jin Ling¡¯er because of her hatred. At the thought of this, Xia Yingluo felt a tight pain in her heart.

    Zhao Yixuan stayed by her side. He thought now was the time to be a sunshine boy for her, so he took off his jacket and put in on Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, are you cold? You should take care of your own body and don¡¯t catch a cold.¡±

    Xia Yingluo waved him away. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s expression stiffened.

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t care about him. She put her palms together and silently prayed for Jin Ling¡¯er. After a long time, the emergency room doors finally opened and a doctor wearing a gown and mask came out.

    ¡°Doctor, how is Jin Ling¡¯er?¡± Xia Yingluo asked urgently.

    The doctor shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re still trying to rescue her. I have to bring the medicine over. Are you the patient¡¯s family? Inform the family immediately and ask them toe. It might be thest time they see her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Her condition is that terrible?¡±

    The doctor said hurriedly, ¡°Her main artery was ruptured and she has lost too much blood. If not for the efficiency of the emergency team, she wouldn¡¯t have made it to the ambnce.¡± Then, he rushed away.

    Xia Yingluo was on the verge of copse. She didn¡¯t expect the situation to be like this. Her mind was full of buzzing and she was utterly helpless.

    Zhao Yixuan still had to talk beside her. ¡°Yingluo, you can¡¯t me me for this. I really didn¡¯t know, I¡¯m innocent.¡±

    Xia Yingluo only treated him as a fly buzzing around her ear and ignored him. She kept thinking in her mind, <i>What can I do? What on earth can I do??</i> She couldn¡¯t just watch as Jin Ling¡¯er died.

    Under the circumstances, she quickly made a decision and said to Zhao Yixuan, ¡°Go and inform Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s family.¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was still hesitating and trying to discern something, but Xia Yingluo red fiercely at him. ¡°Go quickly!¡±

    After arranging Zhao Yixuan, she quickly called her own family and told them about the situation. However, Li Lei also didn¡¯t have any good solutions. He only said, ¡°I¡¯ll transfer a professional there. Yingluo, don¡¯t be anxious, but this hospital is already one of the best in the world. Since they said that it can¡¯t be helped, then I hope you prepare yourself for the worse.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°No, I will never give up on Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Although she said this, her feelings were getting worse, as if a ck big stone was pressing on her, making her unable to breathe. What on earth could save Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s life?

    In her confusion, she suddenly thought of one person. Maybe this man would have a way.

    She dialed Wei Lingnan¡¯s phone. ¡°Wei Lingnan, help me,¡± she said. ¡°Something has happened to Ling¡¯er and her life is in danger. Do you have any way to save her?¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not hesitate for one second and asked her what was going on. Xia Yingluo quickly summarized and told her about Jin Ling¡¯er being stabbed.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯ll be there quickly, don¡¯t worry. Your friend will be alright.¡±

    His few words made Xia Yingluo feel like she had just eaten a tranquilizer. Ever since something had happened to Jin Ling¡¯er, Zhao Yixuan¡¯s evasion and Li Lei¡¯s uncertain words had made her feel anxious and panicky. Only Wei Lingnan¡¯s one short sentence, ¡°I¡¯ll be there quickly, don¡¯t worry¡± seemed to give her a sort of calm feeling, as if she wouldn¡¯t be afraid even if heaven fell.

    The door to the emergency room opened.

    Xia Yingluo turned over and was about to ask the doctor how the situation was when she stopped¡ªthe man that came out was long and slender. He wore a body of white clothes and under the lights, looked extremely handsome in the hospital¡¯s corridor. It was Wei Lingnan.

 Chapter 1282

    Chapter 1282: Rescue Room Talk

    She had long known that the man possessed great magical powers, but she didn¡¯t expect him toe so fast. Looking at the man, she was stunned for a moment, then she said, ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    He nodded, his voice light yet calm. ¡°Your friend is already alright.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt like arge stone on her shoulder had fallen. Strangely, she didn¡¯t even need to distinguish if his words were true. Ss long as Wei Lingnan said it was fine, that person would definitely be fine and there was no need for doubt. She asked, ¡°Can I go and see her?¡±

    Wei Lingnan nodded. At the same time, he red unfriendly at Zhao Yixuan who was nearby in the corridor. Zhao Yixuan immediately lowered his head. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like this man looked extremely scary and somehow made him feel a strange fear. Zhao Yixuan¡¯s legs trembled slightly and he was almost unable to stand straight.

    Luckily, Wei Lingnan was concerned about Xia Yingluo¡¯s condition and didn¡¯t continue looking at Zhao Yixuan. Instead, he turned and followed Xia Yingluo into the surgery room.

    Xia Yingluo saw Jin Ling¡¯er lying alone on the hospital bed. Her expression was pale but her breathing was still and the signs on the medical treatment instruments were all normal. She called lightly a few times. ¡°Ling¡¯er, Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t respond.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°She has lost too much blood and needs to rest well. She¡¯ll be fine once she has good sleep.¡±

    Xia Yingluo checked her condition again and turned to say to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was faint. ¡°Why are you so polite with me?¡±

    While talking, he walked to a few of the hospital staff members and ced a palm on their foreheads. A silent secondter, he removed his palm and walked to the next person as if following a set pattern.

    Xia Yingluo noticed that in the surgery room, except for them, a few other staff members were also present, but a spell seemed to have been put on them and they stood on the spot, not moving. Their expressions were rigid and they had a lifeless look in their eyes. She asked in worry, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with these people?¡± If she wasn¡¯t wrong, these people were the ones doing Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s surgery just now.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I appeared too suddenly and they saw me, so I froze them first and wiped their memory. When they awaken, they¡¯ll think that I was never here and that they rescued Jin Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had once heard Wei Shaoyin say that Wei Lingnan had the ability to wipe people¡¯s memories. But she was still shocked after witnessing it first-hand.

    Wei Lingnan looked up at her. ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head consciously. Afraid? That wasn¡¯t it, she found it more unbelievable. There were really people in the world that could remove and reconstruct someone¡¯s memory just like in the movies. Thinking about it, it indeed went against all her beliefs.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually just science.¡± Wei Lingnan exined. ¡°When human science and technology has improved to a certain standard, they will be able to do this too. As far as I know, there are some ces on Earth where some organizations can achieve this skill through surgery on certain parts of the brain. I¡¯m just a little more outstanding than them and canplete the task at the fastest speed without any harm.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded and felt like she was really going crazy to ept his exnation as reasonable and logical.

    ¡°Then, how did you treat Jin Ling¡¯er?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s easy. Life is a sort of energy, and injuries or loss of blood are all drainages of energy,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°All the substances in the universe are made of different forms and all energy is able to flow. The people of the Skatana have a more profound understanding of the energy than humans do. As long as I turn back the energy, I can preserve her life. This matter is actually very simple, Ah Luo.¡±

    So that¡¯s why he had rushed here immediately, he had to reverse Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s energy before she died. Once she died, the energy would dissipate and it would be extremely difficult to revive someone.

    What Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t tell Xia Yingluo was that this exnation wasn¡¯t just the people of the Skatana¡¯s understanding of the energy, it was also his experience after failing his revival experiments numerous times in the past millions of years.

    Having crossed the vast ocean and experiencing such burdensome experiments, such small diversities like reserving an injury simply couldn¡¯t stump him.

    Xia Yingluo eximed. ¡°No wonder Earth endured your presence for so long. The skills you possess are very helpful to humans.¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled. ¡°No, Earth doesn¡¯t care that much about human lives. What it cares about is the bnce as well as its expansion in the vast universe. It has endured my presence for so long only because I¡¯ve defended the Earth¡¯s ecology bnce and have continuously helped it to expand and grow. Do you know the science and technology in recent years have exploded?¡±

    ¡°Are you referring to the quick and violent growth in science and technology in the recent hundred years?¡± Xia Yingluo was suddenly in disbelief. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you did all that.¡±

    Wei Lingnan only smiled.

    ¡°Oh God, it couldn¡¯t be you!¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s beliefs werepletely flipped.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°These are all science and technology created using Earth¡¯s original resources. When it has taken a step further, Earth will have the ability to withstand the invasion of different races in the universe. Although Earth is in a remote ce in the universe, nobody can guarantee when it will be discovered by other races, so it is necessary to prepare some self-defense. I guess this is considered a sort of exchange between me and Earth.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt like she was listening to some fantasy story, and seemed to see a magnificent vast blueprint of the universe from his deemphasized speech. This was something she had never thought of in her life before.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her, a light spark in his eyes. ¡°Ah Luo, are you excited? Back then, you always wanted to conquer the universe, so you must be very agitated after hearing this.¡±

    The ze of passion in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart calmed down.

    ¡°I¡¯m not agitated at all, and I don¡¯t want to conquer the universe,¡± she said. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you overestimate me. I¡¯m not some Ah Luo.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said softly, ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned her head over and didn¡¯t look at him. ¡°No matter what, thank you for saving my friend.¡±

    This was her way of ending the conversation and emphasizing their clean rtionship.

    But Wei Lingnan said in amusement, ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? Ordinary people would be terrified after seeing such a strange thing, but you¡¯re so calm as if nothing has happened and you¡¯ve epted this shock readily. That¡¯s because you¡¯re from the Skatana. Deep in your memories, you¡¯re very clear that these are all trivial matters and there¡¯s no need to be surprised.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Yingluo retorted. ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m from the Li family and my Unclees from such a family. I¡¯ve seen many strange things in this world, and you¡¯re only an addition. Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t keep thinking that I¡¯m some Ah Luo. It¡¯s simply not realistic, do you understand?¡±

 Chapter 1283

    Chapter 1283: Miss Xia, Please Hold On

    Wei Lingnan looked at her as his demeanor got even colder.

    Xia Yingluo stared at him without fear.

    A whileter, Wei Lingnan smiled, albeit an unconvincing one. ¡°You always have a way to make me angry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t hold back. ¡°Likewise.¡±

    This exchange left both of them unhappy, and Wei Lingnan decided to just leave the operating theater. In the hallway, Zhao Yixuan had vanished, and all that was left were the all-too-bright lights.

    Xia Yingluo left the room too and said, ¡°Remember to get the doctors and other personnel back into their original state.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at her, let out a sneer and left.

    This man was so hot-tempered.

    Xia Yingluo thought, Isn¡¯t it just because he¡¯s an alien? That seems to give him the right to do anything he wants. But hopefully, he¡¯d never be able to make her do anything against her wishes.

    The wait along the long hallway was an apprehensive one. A whileter, the doors to the operating theater swung open and a few medical personnel walked out.

    ¡°Congrattions, Miss Xia.¡± One of the doctors removed his mask and gloves and said with a smile, ¡°The patient is out of the woods now, she just needs some rest.¡±

    Xia Yingluo heaved a sigh of relief. This time not for Jin Ling¡¯er, but for the medical personnel.

    The medical personnel left,pletely oblivious to what had just happened. They were having their own little discussions. ¡°Director Zhao is even more skilled than before now. It¡¯s sort of a miracle that this girl survived...¡±

    ¡°Exactly, no wonder the professor said he had to learn from him too...¡±

    The voices became more distant.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was moved to the normal ward and Xia Yingluo went to apany her. The next day, Jin Ling¡¯er woke up and was excited to see Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, did we escape? Are you alright, did they do anything to you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was very touched. Jin Ling¡¯er herself had just had a close call with death, but the first thing she asked about when she woke up was whether Xia Yingluo was alright. ¡°We¡¯re out of there,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯mpletely fine, and the doctor said your injury isn¡¯t anything much to worry about now. Ling¡¯er, how could you be so careless? Don¡¯t ever fight with others with a knife for me again.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled foolishly. ¡°When I saw that Pei Yan was about to cut your face, I was too worried to think about anything else.¡± A girl¡¯s face was very important. If she was disfigured, what was she to do?

    Xia Yingluo grabbed her hand. ¡°Silly girl.¡±

    They chatted for a while and Jin Ling¡¯er asked, ¡°How did we get out of there?¡±

    Xia Yingluo told her the parts that she could reveal, and couldn¡¯t help but think of Wei Lingnan. That man had done so much for her this time, but she¡¯d given him such a scolding. Had she gone too far?

    She looked a little sad as she thought about that.

    Then, the doors to the ward were opened and in came Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s family members. The previous night, Zhao Yixuan had given Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s family members a call, and they¡¯d rushed back from overseas and arrived only now. Xia Yingluo let them have their time and took her leave.

    Outside the hospital, the skies were blue and the weather was great.

    Xia Yingluo looked up at the sky and hesitated for a moment before gging a cab down and heading to Wei Lingnan¡¯spany.

    Thedy at the front desk asked if she¡¯d made an appointment.

    She said, ¡°Tell him I¡¯m Xia Yingluo, he¡¯ll see me.¡±

    The front desk made a call and ryed her message, but her response was, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Xia. Manager Wei is busy at the moment, he won¡¯t be seeing anyone.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was disappointed. Was he still angry with her? That¡¯d be too petty of him. If anyone was to get angry, it should be Xia Yingluo herself. She¡¯d been mistaken for someone else for so long and had to bear with him as a nuisance.

    She¡¯de to reconcile with Wei Lingnan initially. She was a rich Miss, after all, and had never needed to apologize formally to anyone, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that she felt a little awkward. Now that Wei Lingnan rejected her, she couldn¡¯t help but get upset at him. She turned around and left while muttering to herself. ¡°Seriously? What a jerk.¡±

    She¡¯d gone pretty far out when someone called out to her from behind, ¡°Is this Miss Xia? Please hold on a moment.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw that it was an elderly person she¡¯d never seen before. The elderlydy was dressed in a researcher¡¯s uniform and was looking at her. ¡°Who are you?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    The olddy said, ¡°I¡¯m Mr. Wei¡¯s assistant, I¡¯m responsible for taking care of him. Mr. Wei isn¡¯t in a very good state now, please follow me to have a look!¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a prick to her heart. ¡°Wasn¡¯t he alrightst night?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wei rushed out to look for you the moment he received your call.¡± The olddy said, ¡°You¡¯re no outsider, so I¡¯ll be honest with you. When he used teleportation, a lot of his energy was lost in a short moment. Also, saving a life isn¡¯t as easy as he made it out to be. Conversely, it is rather harmful to his body. Mr. Wei once said that the energy on Earth is weak and small in magnitude, and every day on Earth, he expends more energy than he absorbs, so every bit of it is actually precious to him. This time, he used up too much of it in a short span of time, and he can¡¯t recover so quickly. When you came to look for him just now, he was busy receiving treatment in theboratory, that¡¯s why he couldn¡¯t see you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was taken aback. ¡°Thedy at the front desk said he was busy.¡±

    ¡°Mister didn¡¯t want you to worry, so he lied.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt bad. Images of Wei Lingnan¡¯s handsome face and cold expression came to mind. She simply couldn¡¯t believe that this man would lie to her for fear that she¡¯d be worried about him. But she knew that this olddy wasn¡¯t lying, for it wasn¡¯t hard to verify it. She hurriedly said, ¡°Take me to see him.¡±

    The olddy feltforted that this Miss Xia had a conscience after all. She nodded and quickly took her to the undergroundboratory.

    The elevator descended.

    Xia Yingluo was all panicky, she kept silent throughout the journey there.

    The olddy said, ¡°Forgive me for my directness, but you were a little harsh with your words just now.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little stunned.

    The olddy went on, ¡°There¡¯s a surveince camera installed at the front desk. Upon hearing that you arrived, Mister hurriedly turned on the screen, despite the condition he was in. He can lip-read, and saw that you were scolding him.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless now. Wasn¡¯t she just saying a few words about him, did he have to go this far?

    Even so, the moment she thought about Wei Lingnan¡¯s condition, she felt guilt fester inside her.

 Chapter 1284

    Chapter 1284: The Visit

    She had mixed feelings as she arrived at the undergroundboratory.

    Wei Lingnan was lying on the bed in the center, with all sorts of tubes stuck into him. He looked pale and his eyes seemed lifeless, but she could still see his weak breathing. Xia Yingluo felt a stab to the heart looking at this sight, and she couldn¡¯t exin why. It seemed that she felt terrible just knowing that he was in pain. She approached him and called out softly, ¡°Wei Lingnan.¡±

    The man did not look at her. Instead, his gaze was directed at the olddy behind him as he asked weakly, ¡°Why¡¯d you bring her here?¡±

    The olddy seemed a little flustered but answered him anyway, ¡°Mister, you¡¯ve done so much for Miss, you should let her know.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes were dull as before, but he said with conviction, ¡°Get out.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You¡¯re already so ill, what good is there in chasing others out?¡±

    Wei Lingnan asked, ¡°When have you be so caring for me?¡±

    Seeing that he was indeed in a very bad state, Xia Yingluo did not have the heart to argue with him. ¡°Just how bad is your condition?¡±

    Wei Lingnan: ¡°I won¡¯t die.¡±

    Xia Yingluo fumed. ¡°I know you won¡¯t. Because you aren¡¯t the sort of person to sacrifice your life for someone else.¡± She regretted her words the moment she uttered them. After all, Wei Lingnan had expended a lot of his energy to save Jin Ling¡¯er, how could she be so mean to him? She kept quiet for a while before saying, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize to me. In fact, you¡¯ve just been seeing me as a perverted, weird creature at your beck and call.¡±

    With that, he smiled in a way that mocked himself.

    Xia Yingluo felt bad that he was being so sarcastic. She quietly said, ¡°It¡¯s not the case.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t?¡± Wei Lingnan asked, ¡°Then, what is it like?¡±

    Xia Yingluo recalled that he could lip-read, and had seen her murmuring about him at the front desk. ¡°I¡¯m very grateful that you saved Jin Ling¡¯er, and I¡¯m here today especially to apologize to you. Are you satisfied now? Get some rest and recover soon, don¡¯t make me worry.¡±

    Herst words had Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes light up.

    He smiled. ¡°You worry about me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned away. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it took you so much to save someone. I thought that it was a piece of cake for you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said softly, ¡°Nothing in this world is a piece of cake to achieve.¡± Every bit of achievement and sess he had was hard-earned with blood and sweat. It always seemed so easy when he did something, but no one knew how much effort it took for him to get there.

    Xia Yingluo kept quiet for a moment before saying, ¡°In any case, I owe you a favor.¡±

    ¡°What do you intend to repay me with?¡± Wei Lingnan asked.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know what to say. Why couldn¡¯t this man be a little more modest? But whatever it was, she did owe him a huge favor. ¡°It¡¯s a life I owe you. If you need me someday, I¡¯ll definitely do my best to help you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t make it sound like I¡¯ll get you to do something that puts your life at risk.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I really can¡¯t think of anything that you¡¯d need my help with.¡± This man was too strong and powerful. Perhaps, there was nothing left on Earth that could stump him.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°Be my girlfriend.¡±

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head slightly, ¡°I¡¯ve said it many times, I¡¯m not your Ah Luo. I should leave.¡±

    With that, she turned around as if looking for an escape.

    Wei Lingnan gazed at her back view as she left and kept quiet for a while.

    The olddy was getting worried. ¡°Mr. Wei...¡±

    Wei Lingnan closed just eyes. ¡°Get Wei Shaoyin here tomorrow.¡±

    The following day, Wei Shaoyin arrived reluctantly. He didn¡¯t even let his guard down after seeing Wei Lingnan lying on the bed. ¡°Little Uncle, is anything the matter?¡± This Little Uncle of his was too dangerous¡ªthere was nothing good whenever he asked to meet him.

    Wei Lingnan still looked pale. He furrowed his brows in frustration and said, ¡°Yingluo still isn¡¯t convinced that she¡¯s Ah Luo. Nothing I do moves her.¡±

    As he guessed, it was yet another rtionship problem.

    Wei Shaoyin was exasperated. ¡°Little Uncle, you¡¯ve been alive for far longer than I have. Technically speaking, you should be way more experienced than a single man like myself. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a little inappropriate that you¡¯re asking me for advice?¡± All these years, Wei Shaoyin had wooed several girls, but none of them had ended up marrying him¡ªnot that it mattered since nobody in the family was hurrying him. This caused all sorts of rumors to emerge¡ªsome said he was gay, others said he had a dysfunction, and some even mentioned something about his religion...

    At the very least, this Little Uncle had been in a proper rtionship before. Unlike him, an inexperiencedd.

    Wei Lingnan calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t youpose love songs?¡±

    ¡°How is it the same?¡± Wei Shaoyin was on the verge of going insane.

    Wei Lingnan was still frustrated. ¡°Just what do I have to do for Ah Luo to be with me?¡±

    Wei Shaoyin couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue whether Xia Yingluo was Ah Luo in the first ce. He just wanted to be done with this for good. ¡°I¡¯ll get you two more books.¡± He was just short of buying every book about love and rtionships in the market and moving them to the underground base.

    Wei Lingnan seemed to be out of better ideas, and so waved him away.

    ***

    Xia Yingluo was rehearsing for her performance in the training camp.

    After building chemistry between the performers over several sessions, the rehearsal got smoother each time and they began to believe that it would be a sessful and outstanding y. As the rehearsals were going well, everyone was at ease and the atmosphere was rather positive and joyous too. During their break times, the cast members would have fun chit-chatting.

    ¡°Have you heard?¡± Someone was about to share some gossip. ¡°I heard that the rich Miss Pei Yan is going to revoke her marriage with Zhao Yixuan! Her elder brother Pei Chengyou wasn¡¯t agreeable to it, and they ended up having a huge fight at home.¡±

    ¡°Why would she revoke her marriage?¡± Another person asked out of curiosity, ¡°Did Miss Pei finally see Zhao Yixuan for the jerk he is?¡± At this point, everyone in the group was trying to get into Xia Yingluo¡¯s good books. They knew that Xia Yingluo and Zhao Yixuan had an unhappy episode and couldn¡¯t wait to condemn him, although the word ¡°jerk¡± did suit him.

    Xia Yingluo was drinking some water by the side and listening to their conversation. During which, some of the trainees turned around to look at her. She smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I¡¯ve no idea what¡¯s going on now. Come, Xiao Hong, tell us all about the insider news.¡± She was genuinely curious. Ever since Wei Lingnan scared Zhao Yixuan off at the hospital, he¡¯d never appeared in front of her again. She had no idea what conflict arose between him and Pei Yan.

    Hence, Xiao Hong, the other trainee, shared. ¡°It¡¯s getting exciting. I heard that Zhao Yixuan is down with some strange disease and Pei Yan despises him for it. But Pei Chengyou doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s a big deal, and won¡¯t allow her to leave him. Haha, it seems that the rtionship between these siblings isn¡¯t all that good, after all. Pei Chengyou has no qualms about sacrificing his sister¡¯s happiness just so that he can have Imperial¡¯s biggest manager on his side.¡±

 Chapter 1285

    Chapter 1285: You Dared Touch My Woman

    Xia Yingluo was unfamiliar with Pei Chengyou. Hearing what her friends said, she felt sad for him. It seemed like Pei Yan¡¯s life as a daughter of the Pei family was not as good as everyone thought, and outsiders would never understand her pain. She felt fortunate that she was born into the Li¡¯s with a loving family, one that was way better than most others.

    She asked Xiao Hong, ¡°What weird disease are you talking about?¡±

    Xiao Hong blinked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Zhao Yixuan and the Pei family are keeping it a secret and as a mere trainee, I am unable to find out. Yingluo, everyone relies on you for these gossips. It¡¯s easier for you to look into it than us.¡±

    The crowd looked at Xia Yingluo pleadingly.

    Xia Yingluo saw their eyes andughed. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re telling me about this, your motive is for me to find out more.¡± They had been friends for quite a while and were no longer so afraid of her. They were much closer than before.

    She did not really intend to find out more about Zhao Yixuan¡¯s disease, she had better things who do. However, when she went home during the weekends, she mentioned it to her parents.

    Li Lei wasbing Xia Ling¡¯s hair. The husband and wife were deeply in love with each other, living a peaceful life. Hearing her question, Li Leiughed at Zhao Yixuan¡¯s predicament. ¡°Bully my daughter, enjoy your retribution. From what I¡¯ve heard, his entire body is now rotten, apart from his face. Any person would puke at the sight of him shirtless, and the smell is also horrible. Not sure how much perfume and drugs he has to use to even step outside. It actually isn¡¯t life-threatening, but still very disgusting.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°So it¡¯s a skin disease?¡± Threatening to divorce over a mere skin disease, Miss Pei was really cruel.

    Her mother, Xia Lingy on the chairfortably, enjoying the service from her lover. She said, ¡°This kind of disease is actually the most insufferable kind. With his whole body rotten, who wouldn¡¯t break up with him?¡±

    At the side, Li Lei¡¯sbing paused and he said sadly, ¡°What if my body is rotten, you wouldn¡¯t want me anymore?¡±

    Xia Ling smirked at him. ¡°Did you not know that I married you for your looks? If you dare to have a full-body rot, I¡¯ll divorce you right away.¡±

    Li Lei became even sadder.

    Xia Yingluo was already ustomed to her parents¡¯ disy of affection. She muttered, ¡°How did he catch this disease, isn¡¯t he quite healthy.¡±

    Li Lei knocked her forehead with theb. ¡°Stupid.¡±

    Xia Yingluo rubbed her head and looked at Li Lei tearfully. ¡°You insult me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell others that you are my daughter. So stupid. Just think about it, who did Zhao Yixuan offend recently?¡±

    ¡°He offended me, but I didn¡¯t even retaliate. Dad, don¡¯t tell me it was you. This is not your style, right?¡± Li Lei¡¯s usual style was killing people with guns and knives, he was not very good with these underhanded methods.

    Li Lei scolded her again. ¡°Stupid, think again.¡±

    Xia Yingluo finally got it. She shuddered. ¡°Wei Lingnan?¡± That man had an arsenal of high technology weapons, it would have been a piece of cake for him.

    Li Lei said, ¡°He still cares about you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down with mixed feelings. Wei Lingnan was already bearing a serious injury, yet, he was still thinking about her, seeking revenge for her. What about her? Every time they met, she would argue with him.

    Xia Ling looked at her daughter after Li Lei was done with her hair and asked, ¡°Yingluo, what does your heart say?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe he thinks of me as a mere substitute.¡±

    ¡°Do you love him?¡± Xia Ling asked gently.

    Xia Yingluo was at a loss.

    ¡°If you love him, you should fight for it. Don¡¯t care if you are a substitute. If you don¡¯t love him, leave him. Don¡¯t mix with these dangerous characters. No matter your choice, we will stand on your side.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unsure about her choices.

    Her mother¡¯s words echoed in her heart. However, another voice encouraged her to find Wei Lingnan. She tossed and turned in bed, often waking in the middle of the night. She dreamt of the mystical and purple Skatana, and she sometimes told herself how good it would be if she was really Ah Luo.

    She met someone at the school gate when returning to the training camp.

    The man in white shirt stood under the sunlight, holding a bouquet of white flowers. He smiled at her and said, ¡°I have recovered and am here to visit you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not tease him likest time and said, ¡°Let¡¯s find a ce to sit.¡±

    Not used to her sudden gentleness, he followed her into the forest of the training camp. On their way there, many trainees smiled at them and remarked, ¡°They look really good for each other.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was happy to hear that.

    It was a nice, sunny day.

    Xia Yingluo brought him to the wooden bench by theke. ¡°You just recovered, don¡¯t catch a cold.¡±

    Actually, for Wei Lingnan¡¯s body constitution, a small cold was nothing. Nheless, heplied and sat down on the bench.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head to look at him, suddenly realizing how handsome he was. His looks were out of this world.

    ¡°What are you staring at?¡± Wei Lingnan asked.

    ¡°You are so handsome, why are there so few girls that want your love?¡± Xia Yingluo asked. It was a random question, but she was quite curious about it.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Gu Jinxiu one of them?¡± he replied.

    Xia Ling¡¯s face darkened. Wei Lingnan realized his mistake and tried to save the situation. ¡°She doesn¡¯t love me for my looks, she¡¯s only after my money and status as she knows my family background. She might not even love me as a person.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°You seem to know it very well.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I didn¡¯t live so long without learning anything.¡±

    They looked silently at the peaceful surface of theke for a while.

    Xia Yingluo asked him, ¡°Zhao Yixuan¡¯s disease, was it your doing? You didn¡¯t have to do it.¡± Zhao Yixuan was a mere speck of dust in her eyes, revenge did not matter anymore.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Anyone who dares to touch my woman will get it from me. My punishment on him is considered light.¡± He had wanted to kill him. But he thought that this disgusting bastard was no longer a threat to him, killing him would be having mercy on him. Letting him live on in misery, suffering through the physical pain and betrayal from those around him was the best option.

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head and went quiet again.

 Chapter 1286

    Chapter 1286: Piano Concert

    Wei Lingnan was keen and noticed her change in mood. ¡°Are you unhappy?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°No.¡± But the conversation with her mother kept revolving in her mind. Should she really be brave for this time and not haggle about Ah Luo?

    Wei Lingnan said gently, ¡°What can¡¯t you tell me? No matter what, I¡¯ll always be by your side, until the end of time.¡±

    Until the end of time. It was such a distant noun.

    She couldn¡¯t help but ask again, ¡°What if I¡¯m not Ah Luo? What if your Ah Luoes back?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯ll still be with you.¡±

    Because she was Ah Luo.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t tell her thest sentence. That day, Wei Shaoyin had given him more love novels again. After he read them, he realized that women had to be pacified. Thus, he had decided to pacify her. Since the thing she was worried about was never going to happen, why should they tangle themselves over it?

    As expected, after hearing his words, Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression rxed a little.

    Wei Lingnan reached out to bring her into his embrace. ¡°Ah Luo.¡±

    ¡°Call me Yingluo,¡± she said simply, not struggling.

    He didn¡¯t reply and just lowered his head to kiss her.

    ¡°Be my girlfriend.¡± His voice was a little husky. ¡°If you promise me, I can call you Yingluo.¡± He would do it step by step. First, he would coax her into being his girlfriend and make her unable to leave him. Then, wasn¡¯t it his call whether he called her Yingluo or Ah Luo? Furthermore, perhaps she would soon remember her true identity. At that time, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore.

    His embrace brought a slight warmth and sweet scent. His white shirt, his equally clean voice and the tips of his eyebrows.

    Xia Yingluo sank into it and unconsciously nodded.

    ¡°Yingluo.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°My Yingluo.¡±

    What was it like dating an alien?

    Xia Yingluo felt like it was no different from being together with a human. They dated just like any other normal lovers, eating, watching movies, and following the prescribed orders. The only difference was that he smiled more often, and even Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°You¡¯ve be prettier. As expected, it¡¯s the power of love.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and was a little uncertain. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should be with him.¡±

    ¡°How old are you, why are you so decrepit?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er reached out and pinched her cheeks. The bouncy texture of her smooth skin felt very good. ¡°If it was up to me, at our age, it¡¯s alright even if you fall in love with the wrong person. We still have a long future ahead of us. Furthermore, I don¡¯t think Wei Lingnan is a bastard, he seems very good.¡±

    ¡°Did Wei Lingnan bribe you to speak up for him?¡± Xia Yingluo nced at Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve already chosen him, it can¡¯t be that you¡¯re not confident of your taste, right?¡±

    Xia Yingluo tilted her head arrogantly. ¡°Of course, I have confidence. He invited me to go to a piano concert tonight.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°Keep unting.¡±

    The two of them were still talking when someone knocked on the door. It was the dormitory¡¯s auntie. She was here to give Xia Yingluo a package. ¡°It¡¯s a mysterious big package.¡± The auntie smiled at Xia Yingluo. Ever since her identity was exposed, everybody in the training camp started treating her very well.

    Xia Yingluo thanked the auntie and opened the package.

    Inside the delicate kraft paper, a formal evening gown was folded neatly inside. The silver-blue silk satin material flowed brilliantly as if it was weaved with the gentlest weaves. Nothing more beautiful could be imagined.

    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s beautiful.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er eximed. ¡°It¡¯s the newest model just releasedst week at the Paris fashion show! I heard that one dress like this costs a few tens of thousands.¡± As trainees, they were very sensitive to fashion.

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head and took out a card from the package. ¡°Wei Lingnan sent it. He wants me to wear this to the piano concert.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s really rich,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said. ¡°That¡¯s strange, isn¡¯t he just a middle-ss entrepreneur? Where does he get the money? His ck sports car is also not bad, does he have some other business?¡±

    She had guessed correctly.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°He¡¯s quite rich, but I don¡¯t care about that.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Only you would have the confidence to say that. Isn¡¯t your family the richest in the whole world?¡±

    Xia Yingluo onlyughed and didn¡¯t tell her that Wei Lingnan¡¯s wealth wasparable to the Li and Xia families. It was simply a drop in the ocean for such a rich tycoon like him to purchase a dress that cost a few tens of thousands. Xia Yingluo epted it without a burden and put it on with Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s help.

    It was indeed very pretty and suited her perfectly. The silver-blue flowing satin material stuck to her skin like waver flowing, reflecting her bright eyes and teeth, dazzling her up.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned. ¡°Your boyfriend isn¡¯t just rich, he also has extremely good taste.¡±

    Xia Yingluo spun around in the mirror. She also liked this dress a lot and said, ¡°Let me see what makeup and hairstyle fits this dress.¡±

    ¡°The makeup that Wei Lingnan gave youst time is very good.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er dished out suggestions. ¡°The rose gold eyeshadow is extremely gorgeous and suits an asion like the piano concert. The things he chooses for you always suits you perfectly.¡±

    Xia Yingluo listened to her and really used the rose gold eyeshadow. As expected, it was beautiful. She looked like a beautiful woman that had walked out of a painting, capable of causing the downfall of a city.

    ¡°If I was a man, I would fall in love with you too.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er stared in amazement at Xia Yingluo. Xia Yingluo was already beautiful with normal makeup, but now that she had this evening gown on and was wearing pearls as essories, it was like gilding the lily. She was so beautiful it was difficult to look away from her.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°If you were a man, I would marry you.¡±

    ¡°Then, that¡¯s settled.¡±

    The two giggled andughed. Then they saw that it was about time, and Wei Lingnan was already at the door of the training camp to pick her up.

    She got into the car and Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re very beautiful tonight.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was in a good mood. ¡°It¡¯s because of the dress you chose.¡±

    He was dressed very well today, too. He wore a ck suit, a clean white shirt with a tie, and his hair wasbed back with not one strand of hair out of ce. He looked so immactely dressed and majestic that countless girls would scream and blush because of him. The corners of Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips curled in a smile and he started the car and headed towards the piano concert.

    This was a solo piano concert, performed by the famous piano master from the United Kingdom, Aike. The two entered the hall while holding hands. The concert had yet to start, and the crowd was all well-dressed and conversing in low and elegant voices.

    Xia Yingluo also chatted softly to Wei Lingnan. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to like this kind of event.¡±

    ¡°The human piano sound makes me feel peaceful,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

 Chapter 1287

    Chapter 1287: Chance Encounter at the Shopping Mall

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t have many feelings towards this kind of atmosphere. She had always loved to move and could never stand still. But she felt happy to stand next to Wei Lingnan. However, her eyes kept surveying her surroundings, and she suddenly saw a crystal shop nearby. She dragged Wei Lingnan¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go over there and see.¡±

    Girls always liked things that sparkled and shone, so Wei Lingnan let her pull him there.

    The shop was very big and had various crystal ornaments. They were in the shape of flowers, fishes and other abstract shapes that couldn¡¯t be named. There were nes, bracelets, earrings, and brooches. The glittering jewels delighted the eyes with their dazzling splendor.

    ¡°Look at these, they are so beautiful,¡± Xia Yingluo said to Wei Lingnan. ¡°That tree peony flower brooch is so beautiful. It¡¯s my first time seeing such a beautiful brooch.¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head. ¡°Do you like it? I can give it to you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head and looked away longingly. ¡°I have enough essories already and my dormitory can¡¯t keep more. Anyways, we¡¯re here to listen to the concert today, it won¡¯t be convenient to hold onto a brooch.¡± Although the brooch¡¯s various colors looked pretty, it didn¡¯t match with her evening gown today, so she couldn¡¯t put it on directly. It would only be a burden in her hands.

    After leaving the brooch disy, she went to look elsewhere and gradually walked further and further. Wei Lingnan was originally apanying her, but he walked away without her knowledge and took the brooch she liked from the disy. He said to the salesperson, ¡°Pack it up.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t realize what he was doing behind her.

    The crystal handicraft dazzled her, and without warning, she bumped into someone.

    She looked up and indeed, the road to enemies was narrow. It was Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu also didn¡¯t expect her toe here. She was surprised upon seeing her. ¡°Xia Yingluo, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°You cane, yet I can¡¯t?¡± Xia Yingluo said impolitely. She didn¡¯t like Gu Jinxiu and didn¡¯t even bother feigning friendliness with her.

    Gu Jinxiu frowned slightly. ¡°Who did youe with?¡± She had an ominous premonition in her heart. Earlier, she had invited Wei Lingnan toe to this concert with her but had been rejected. But now that Xia Yingluo was here. Could it be a coincidence?

    ¡°Why do you care who I¡¯m with? Make way, a good dog doesn¡¯t block the way,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Gu Jinxiu frowned. ¡°Xia Yingluo, why are you so vulgar?¡± They were both honorable and prestigiousdies. She was so elegant and cultured, yet Xia Yingluo was like this. What qualifications did she have to be supported by such a good family? Gu Jinxiu felt ashamed for her.

    The crystal shop was originally very peaceful, but after seeing their dispute, a crowd slowly gathered.

    Both of them were extremely beautiful and it was a rare sight to see such delicate beauties arguing.

    Some people were already whispering to each other, ¡°I wonder what grudges these two little beauties have with each other? They¡¯re arguing so intensely.¡±

    They were certainly intense.

    Xia Yingluo sneered at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson back then during the banquet? You want to quarrel with me again?¡±

    At the thought of the incident, Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression turned bad. That day, Wei Lingnan had gone there specially to visit Xia Yingluo¡¯s parents and had even brought a gift. Where did that put her as his fiancee? With these thoughts, she said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°I wasn¡¯t using you of being vulgar and uncultivated, why are you seducing my fiancee for? I¡¯m warning you, stay away from Wei Lingnan. Don¡¯t think you can do anything you want just because your family is wealthy. Don¡¯t be shameless.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had yet to speak, but the expressions of the crowd suddenly revealed realization. It turned out this was the righteous wife fighting a mistress. It was really unexpected. This girl in front was so beautiful, but she was actually so fickle and seduced someone else¡¯s fiancee instead. A book really couldn¡¯t be judged by its cover.

    ¡°I already said beautiful women can¡¯t be trusted. I was right.¡± Someone whispered.

    Xia Yingluo heard it and felt aggrieved. What? Gu Jinxiu was clearly not Wei Lingnan¡¯s fiancee, but she was so good at pretending. Wasn¡¯t she just relying on Wei Lingnan having not exposed her? Seriously, Wei Lingnan, why was he being so indulgent towards Gu Jinxiu?

    ¡°The shameless one is you,¡± she said to Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a mistress, how could you be so arrogant?¡± The crowd couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore.

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± Someone else agreed and said loudly, ¡°It¡¯s the lowliest to be a mistress, you bitch!¡±

    Gu Jinxiu revealed a proud expression. Since Xia Yingluo had snatched her fiancee, she would ruin her reputation and see who would win over who. The future was long. She said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Did you hear? Everyone called you wicked.¡±

    ¡°Who dared to call my woman wicked?¡± Suddenly, a man¡¯s voice was heard.

    The crowd turned back and saw Wei Lingnan, wearing a suit and walking unhurriedly over. He was elegant and immactely dressed, making many girls blush.

    However, Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned pale. Wei Lingnan, it was indeed him. He didn¡¯t want to apany her to the concert but was here now. Then, there was only one possibility. He had rejected her invitation to apany Xia Yingluo here. Their importance in his heart was already obvious. She looked very wronged and called out, ¡°Lingnan...¡±

    Wei Lingnan walked over to them through the crowd. She didn¡¯t even look at Gu Jinxiu and lowered his head to look at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression was even more wronged and her eyes turned red.

    Someone from the crowd couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and said, ¡°You¡¯re thedy¡¯s fiancee, right? Why are you siding with your mistress, it¡¯s too much! Can¡¯t you treat your fiancee well and dump your mistress?¡±

    ¡°Yingluo isn¡¯t a mistress.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was faint but crisp in the ears of the crowd. ¡°She is my girlfriend. As for thatdy over there...¡± He nced at Gu Jinxiu, his eyes cold. ¡°Fiancee? I have never had a fiancee before, she self-proimed it. Gu Jinxiu, don¡¯t climb all over my face just because I gave you face.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. She didn¡¯t expect him to expose her after epting Gu Jinxiu so tacitly for so long.

    However, she was so happy! Gu Jinxiu had finally gotten her punishment.

    Gu Jinxiu stared in disbelief at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Lingnan, what are you saying?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was light. ¡°Was I not clear enough? I didn¡¯t have a girlfriend before and didn¡¯t want to fuss over it with you, but now that I have Yingluo, please don¡¯t act ostentatiously and swindle people while calling yourself my fiancee, Ms. Gu.¡±

    His words were like a crisp p to her face, and the crowd felt ashamed for Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not real... Lingnan, I¡¯ve always been your fiancee! What spell has this girl put you under? To make you side with her?¡±

 Chapter 1288

    Chapter 1288: Only One of Us

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Ms. Gu, just because I¡¯m siding with Yingluo, I¡¯m under a spell? Am I very stupid in your eyes?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was frantic and knew she had said the wrong thing. Which man would want to be seen as not having his own strong views? Furthermore, Wei Lingnan was such a prideful man. She anxiously tried to make it up. ¡°How could it be? Lingnan, you¡¯ve always been so outstanding. It¡¯s just that a wise man has a thousand things to consider and might look over something important. After all, you were always so good to me before, but after you met Xia Yingluo, it¡¯s like you turned into a different person. You don¡¯t even admit that I¡¯m your fiance... Lingnan, do you remember telling me that you¡¯ll treat me well?¡±

    Her eyes reddened.

    Xia Yingluo watched as Gu Jinxiu performed in a tearful voice, then turned to look at Wei Lingnan¡¯s indifferent expression. She knew there was going to be a brilliant show.

    She deliberately took a few steps back to give Gu Jinxiu the space to perform more. She wanted to see how Gu Jinxiu would conclude.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at Xia Yingluo, his long eyes narrowing in thought. This little girl, she was still so calm and unperturbed even when the fire was on her. Or could it be... she was simply watching the fire burn on the other river?

    Wei Lingnan felt a little unhappy while thinking of this.

    Hence, he said to Gu Jinxiu, ¡°I remember.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression turned from sorrow to joy with these two words. She didn¡¯t dare believe it was real.

    The crowd exchanged nces with each other. What on earth was going on? On one hand, this man refused to admit that Gu Jinxiu was his fiancee, but on the other hand, he still said he remembered his sweet words. What was he doing?

    ¡°I remember you were sixteen.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was unhurried as he said to Gu Jinxiu, ¡°I went to your house to visit your Great Grandfather and met you in the tea room. You were wearing a camellia cheongsam and looked very beautiful pouring tea for me. Your Great Grandfather even joked that we would be the ideal couple. You smiled shyly back then and Iplimented that your smile was like a gentle stream under the moonlight.¡± His voice was soft and gentle, unconsciously bringing the crowd back to that time. Time flowed backward to when the handsome man and the beautifuldy met by chance and brought about a story.

    Xia Yingluo stood at the side and listened quietly. She felt like a kitten was wing at her heart, and it felt painful and itchy.

    It turned out that his first encounter with Gu Jinxiu was so beautiful, but what about herself? Xia Yingluo thought about the casino not long ago, when she had chased after Zhao Yixuan to criticize him, looking so miserable and sorry. Then, she had been lost to Wei Lingnan as a stake, and they had a whole night of chaos...

    She felt a little inferior unconsciously. What were they?

    Wei Lingnan gave her a nce quietly, but she didn¡¯t notice it and was still in a daze.

    Gu Jinxiu smiled happily. ¡°Lingnan, your memory is so good. Back then, youplimented that the stitching on my camellia cheongsam was beautiful and asked me which shop made it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt like a kitten was wing at her heart again. What cheongsam? So Wei Lingnan liked that kind of look?

    She really wanted to tear apart that woman¡¯s mouth. Humph, and Wei Lingnan¡¯s annoying face too.

    She took a few steps back again unhappily.

    Unexpectedly, her waist was caught by a powerful arm. It was Wei Lingnan. He looked down at her. ¡°Are you ufortable?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said a little stiffly. She tried to struggle away from his arm but failed to.

    ¡°Someone is coveting your boyfriend and yet you¡¯re not showing anything, eh?¡± He whispered in her ear, his voice low and flirtatious.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. She looked up fiercely at him. ¡°You seem very happy to be coveted? Mr. Wei, tell me properly what rtionship you have with this Ms. Gu. I don¡¯t want to be together with an unclean person.¡±

    Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t angry and chuckled instead. ¡°So you do have a temper.¡±

    ¡°My temper is very big.¡± She was even more furious. ¡°Today, there¡¯s only one of us!¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t really care much about Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu¡¯s rtionship in the past, but that was because she wasn¡¯t Wei Lingnan¡¯s girlfriend yet. But it was different now. She couldn¡¯t bear the grit in her eyes.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s smile deepened.

    Gu Jinxiu also heard Xia Yingluo¡¯s words and felt anxious. She nced at Wei Lingnan and pouted. ¡°Lingnan, do you remember? Back then when you asked me where I bought the camellia cheongsam from, Great Grandfather teased you and said that the store¡¯s main business was wedding costumes, and you said that you would consider getting your suit done there when you get married. Great Grandfather said we had very simr tastes, so we should settle an engagement. Now that Great Grandfather has passed, Lingnan, are you going to break our marriage? He doted on you so much back then, could you bear to?¡±

    Doted?

    Xia Yingluo felt a little horrified at this word choice. Who was Wei Lingnan? He was a perverted alien who had lived for countless years! Before Gu Jinxiu¡¯s Great Grandfather was even born, Wei Lingnan had already lived through many changes, so the word ¡°dote¡± was too strange to be used to them. Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°A bunch of nonsense.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu looked at her with her eyes full of hatred. ¡°You don¡¯t know about these old affairs, so please don¡¯t destroy a marriage predestined by fate.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s really all sorts of people now, you can even make use of an elder¡¯s will like this.¡± Xia Yingluo sneered.

    Gu Jinxiu also sneered. ¡°You¡¯re just a shameless mistress.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t speak, she just looked up at Wei Lingnan. She couldn¡¯t bother arguing with Gu Jinxiu. This trouble was started by Wei Lingnan, so he should be the one to resolve it. If she had to step in for such a thing herself, she might as well not want this man.

    Wei Lingnan understood her meaning. Actually, when she said the sentence ¡°there¡¯s only one of us¡±, Wei Lingnan was already very satisfied.

    He didn¡¯t intend to make Xia Yingluo worry about the remaining things.

    The lights in the crystal store were glorious and the crowd gradually thickened.

    In front of everyone, Wei Lingnan smiled at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Your Great Grandfather was a good elder. Back then, he simply wanted to y matchmaker, but I never agreed. I did indeed ask you where you bought the cheongsam from, and I also said I would consider getting my wedding suit there, but I never said that... that the bride would be you. Ms. Gu, please stop having wishful thinking. I didn¡¯t fuss over you proiming to be my fiancee back then because I didn¡¯t have a girlfriend. But now that I have a girlfriend, I don¡¯t want her to be upset, so please restrain yourself from now on.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was almost on the verge of copse.

    The crowd started discussing again. ¡°So this is just Ms. Gu¡¯s wishful thinking. This sir has never even agreed before. Girls nowadays are really thick-skinned...¡±

 Chapter 1289

    Chapter 1289: Spoils of War

    ¡°Right?¡± Another person said, ¡°His real girlfriend has already appeared, why are you still clinging onto him?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face was pale and she looked at Wei Lingnan, feeling wronged. She wanted to redeem herself but didn¡¯t know how to.

    In the crowd, someone said ¡°Eh... This Ms. Gu is so familiar, have I seen her somewhere? Wait... yes! I¡¯ve seen her in the newspaper! An article on the high-end perfume interview. Ms. Gu is the perfumepany¡¯s eldest daughter, Gu Jinxiu!¡± The man eximed in excitement.

    Gu Jinxiu was surprised that she had been recognized.

    Usually, she wouldn¡¯t mind being recognized, but it was different now. She had just been humiliated publicly, so how awkward and unlucky was she to have been recognized under such circumstances? Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t want to stay here anymore and turned around to leave.

    ¡°Wait, Ms. Gu, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re fleeing from defeat.¡± Xia Yingluo refused to let her go.

    Gu Jinxiu wanted to kill this evil woman, but she suppressed her anger and turned over arrogantly. ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°I had a problem just now, but not anymore. You can go.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was treated like a little puppy at her beck and call.

    Gu Jinxiu was furious. ¡°Xia Yingluo, don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was still smiling. ¡°How am I going overboard? Tell me and I can change it.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was speechless. What could she say? She couldn¡¯t possibly me Xia Yingluo for treating her like a little puppy. She had already lost her face in public and didn¡¯t want to be humiliated further. Gu Jinxiu sneered coldly and really turned to leave.

    Now that the female lead of the show was gone, the crowd wished it would continue. Ms. Gu was a rich family¡¯s daughter, and it was a rare sight for the crowd to see her humiliated. Then, the person who humiliated her was surely an even bigger lead. Where did this Wei Lingnan and Xia Yingluoe from? At that moment, the crowd was filled with guesses.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen news of a rich family with the surname Xia,¡± someone whispered.

    His partner also shook her head. ¡°Who knows, maybe shees from somewhere else. Look at how well this Sir anddy are dressed, how could they be poor? That Ms. Xia is wearing the newest evening gown just released at the Paris fashion showst week. It¡¯s so beautiful, and I heard it¡¯s very expensive. ¡±

    ¡°Yes, and elegant,¡± someone eximed.

    In all honesty, Xia Yingluo was indeed beautiful. And her quiet and calm temperament expressed her noble and magnanimous disposition that naturally attracted everyone¡¯s eyes. And Wei Lingnan? He was also extremely outstanding beside her. His slender figure stood tall and straight, graceful and charismatic.

    Many girls blushed and secretly envied Xia Yingluo for having found such a handsome boyfriend.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t care about the crowd¡¯s scrutiny. He lowered his head and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Are you satisfied?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked arrogantly at him. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You were angry, didn¡¯t you want me to chase Gu Jinxiu away?¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°It happened as you wished.¡±

    ¡°Remember that it¡¯s what you should do, understand?¡± She lectured him arrogantly. Her delicate chin was slightly raised, and her eyes were shining under the crystal lights, making her look like a bossy Queen.

    Wei Lingnan was a little stunned.

    It was as if he was seeing the Ah Luo from billions of years ago, standing above the whole race and surveying them at the pinnacle.

    He... missed it.

    ¡°Do you remember?¡± Xia Yingluo scolded.

    Wei Lingnan smiled and lowered his head. ¡°Yes, my Queen.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unustomed to his sudden obedience and was stunned. She said, ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    Was this the Wei Lingnan she knew? The man who had forcefully taken her the first time they met, then imprisoned her in the underground prison despite her protests. Now, he was sopliant he was like a little sheep.

    If she had known that being his girlfriend would reap such benefits, why did she bother rejecting him before?

    She should have be his girlfriend earlier, then suppressed him with all her might, just like how her Mother suppressed her Father, yes.

    A few tens of kilometers away in the city, Li Lei, who was massaging his wife at home, suddenly sneezed.

    She looked at Wei Lingnan with satisfaction. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    Wei Lingnan handed something to her. It was a cold, dazzling blooming crystal peony brooch. He remembered that back on the Skatana, he had given her loots countless times, dangerous things such as Zerg skulls and ck domain ores. They contained very powerful energy and many living thingspeted to obtain them. It was ugly and was even a little disgusting, and wasn¡¯t worthy of her appearance.

    Only once, he battled a group of monsters in a mysterious and dangerous star field and found one thing from the loots¡ªa ne made of beautiful firestone. It was a kind of stone that was useless except to look good, but it was really beautiful. Looking at the glittering ne, he suddenly thought about how beautiful it would be to put this ne on Ah Luo¡¯s body.

    He kept the ne with joy, putting it together with the other treasured loots and brought it back to the Skatana Star.

    On Skatana was an endless line of n tribe, greeting the triumphant warriors.

    His Ah Luo sat on a high queen¡¯s throne, epting loot from all the soldiers.

    When it was his turn, all the n members paid close attention, because he was not only a powerful fighter, but he was also the sole guardian of the newly appointed Queen Ah Luo. What he brought back rted to the face of the Queen.

    Wei Lingnan offered his loot.

    Beast Skull, Light Sword, King Worm Heart...

    Each one was extremely powerful and amazing.

    Ah Luo¡¯s face was filled with satisfaction until she took out the firestone ne.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Ah Luo asked him.

    ¡°My beautiful queen,¡± Wei Lingnan said respectfully. ¡°This is a fluorite ne brought back from the mysterious starfield. It¡¯s perfect for you.¡±

    As soon as his voice fell, he was hit hard on the chest, and his whole body flew backward. He felt her sharp ws make a deep and long opening in his body. Blood spewed out and filled the throne.

    He looked up to meet her angry eyes.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t send you to the mysterious starfield to bring back such useless things.¡± Her voice was majestic and cold. ¡°Rubbish.¡±

 Chapter 1290

    Chapter 1290: ident

    Rubbish.

    This word felt like huge stones pounding against his heart heavily.

    Wei Lingnan covered the wound on his chest with one hand, and the spewing blood stained his sharp ws. He looked upboriously and looked at the queen above the throne, unable to speak in pain.

    Ah Luo¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Take your trash and get lost.¡±

    Thousands of soldiers were silent on the vast purple crackednd, and no one stood up to help him say a word. Wei Lingnan knew that he had sought out this shame. He had led the army to the distant and unknown starfield in order to bring back useful energy stones and various scarce supplies for their people. But what about him? He wasted a little weight and brought back this glittering ne. He thought she would forgive him, or he had hoped for a miracle of forgiveness, but the miracle did not appear.

    She was furious at the little weight that was wasted by him.

    In the eyes of Queen Ah Luo, nothing was more important than strength.

    At that time, the little princess who had been delighted to see a flower blooming had disappeared.

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head, chuckled at himself, and bent over to pick up the ne that she had abandoned. He walked away silently.

    There was a thunderous voice from the square, and the soldiers stood under the queen¡¯s throne, praising her reputation and worshiping her.

    Wei Lingnan dragged his severely injured body away and returned to his humble nest, panting hard. He still clutched the fluorescent stone ne tightly in his hand. The blood fused into it, forming a beautiful red stone. It was mottled and shocking. Just now, when Ah Luo had thrown it in anger, the stone had cracked in various crisscrossing ces, making it irreparable.

    Wei Lingnan looked at it like that quietly, as if he was watching his trampled heart.

    Soon, several soldiers broke in and took the ne from his hand. ¡°The queen ordered to destroy it at the garbage disposal site. Skatana doesn¡¯t need these extra things.¡±

    His injuries were too severe, and despite his snarling and struggling in hopes of preserving that little ne, all efforts were futile.

    Thinking about the past, Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression changed.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t notice his expression, only looked down at the crystal peony brooch in her hand and said in a small joyful voice, ¡°Wow, did you buy it? It¡¯s beautiful, I like it.¡± She paused, then said, ¡°But I told you you don¡¯t have to buy it.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was a bit cold. ¡°Do you always say what you don¡¯t mean?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was surprised for a moment. She didn¡¯t know what had agitated him and was unhappy. ¡°You don¡¯t have to give it to me if you don¡¯t want to. Who wants it.¡±

    This sentence immediately agitated Wei Lingnan. Caught off guard, Xia Yingluo was pushed by him to the corner. Her back mmed against a hard wall, cold and aching. She shouted, ¡°Ouch!¡± and her words were blocked by his domineering lips. He kissed her like a storm, and tore her long dress from her back with one hand, reaching for her glistening skin.

    Many people were watching them because of themotion just now.

    His angle was very clever and his long body helped cover her such that no one found that the dress on her body had been torn. But Xia Yingluo was in a panic. She tried desperately to cover herself with her hands, fighting instinctively against Wei Lingnan¡¯s invasion. However, she couldn¡¯tpare with his strength. Even if she tried her best, under the ease of his suppression, it seemed to be nothing but a love affair between lovers to the outsiders.

    Some girls even said to their femalepanion, ¡°Look over there, they¡¯re so romantic! Kissing against the wall.¡±

    ¡°If someone so handsome wants to kiss me against the wall, I¡¯m willing.¡±

    The girlsughed with envy and resentment.

    However, Xia Yingluo just wanted to cry. The corners of her eyes really exuded a little water. She didn¡¯t know what happened to Wei Lingnan, and how he was suddenly so irritable? She had promised to his girlfriend, so shouldn¡¯t he cherish it? Why was he doing this now, he was behaving more and more aggressively...

    The back of her dress¡¯s long skirt waspletely torn, and the silky satin dropped down. Xia Yingluo had to do her best to barely keep it covered. At the corner of the crystal shopping mall where people came and went, she was ashamed and frightened. Her mind was nk and numb, and she relied on her instinct to bite Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips, but the man still refused to let her go.

    He grasped her wrists effortlessly with one hand, catching the long skirt that was about to fall down. Then he threatened softly and hoarsely in her ear. ¡°I¡¯ll let go if you move again.¡±

    Xia Yingluo really didn¡¯t dare to move, and she said in embarrassment, ¡°Don¡¯t do this.¡±

    Her voice trembled slightly.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s kiss fell on the corner of her eyebrow. ¡°Ah Luo, I want you.¡±

    He called her Ah Luo again, not Yingluo, but Ah Luo.

    Xia Yingluo wondered. What was he going to do? Did he love her? Or hate her? When he kissed her and bit her lip desperately just now, she could feel a strong hatred, and it was like she was going to be swallowed by him.

    Love shouldn¡¯t be like this...

    Suddenly, she felt something hard and hot against her body.

    She suddenly reacted to what it was and opened her eyes in horror. ¡°Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t!¡±

    He actually wanted to take her right here!

    Wei Lingnan turned her hands over and easily turned her body until she was facing the wall, leaning her back into his arms. He wanted her and was eager to possess her entire body and mind. He wanted to tell her who was the master of all this. She was not a high queen in front of him, but a weak girl attached to him.

    His Ah Luo.

    Xia Yingluo felt that she was going to copse. This was really a shop! There were people everywhere!

    ¡°Don¡¯t do it here!¡± she said in a crying voice.

    ¡°They won¡¯t see it.¡± His voice was steady, withoutpromise.

    But how could Xia Yingluo be willing to do such a thing? ¡°Wei Lingan,¡± she may have been too agitated, but her voice was calm. ¡°If you really dare to do it here, I will never forgive you in this life, next life, or next next life!¡±

    ¡°Same thing, you said it once a billion years ago.¡± Wei Lingnan was unmoved.

    ¡°I curse your Ah Luo to never be revived.¡±

    This time, Wei Lingnan let go of her. He stared straight into her eyes intensely, as if he wanted to eat her.

    Xia Yingluo shivered, and her heart was untimely thinking about a question. Do the people of Skatana eat humans? She covered her dress with her hands, telling herself, Yingluo, don¡¯t be afraid, nothing can be worse.

 Chapter 1291

    Chapter 1291: Cubicle

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s tone was soft. ¡°You are looking for death.¡±

    He could tolerate her for many things, but that did not include cursing Ah Luo. Even a dragon had an inverse scale, and Ah Luo was his inverse scale.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him, her voice still trembling. ¡°I want to break up with you.¡± How naive had she been to agree to be with Wei Lingnan? This man was a perverted beast, a demon, and he even had another woman in his heart.

    Even if love was a moth flinging itself into the fire, her wings were burned again and again, and she would feel pain and shrink back too.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her gloomily.

    Her lips were painful, and there was a hint of blood in her mouth, which had just been bitten by him. She clutched her broken long dress with one hand and wiped the blood on her lips with the other. Her smooth back leaned against the icy wall, like a small beast with stubborn resistance.

    She looked pale and dazzled.

    The originally good-looking rose gold eye shadow seemed to be covered with gloom under the blurry and unreal crystal light, and the metallic coldness was reflected in her eyes, which made people feel rejected.

    Wei Lingnan became irritable for no reason.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to be my girlfriend?¡± He sneered. ¡°Did anyone teach you that you must keep your promises? Well, Xia Yingluo, let me teach you.¡±

    He dragged her into the deep corridor without warning, reached the women¡¯s toilet, threw her in, and closed the door. Xia Yingluo¡¯s body was mmed on the marble sink, the tap was blown open, and the water flowed out, wetting her body and making her look very frail.

    She managed to stand still, and Wei Lingnan approached her step by step, trapping her between the marble sink and the square inch of the mirror wall. ¡°As you wish, I didn¡¯t take you in the shop just now,¡± he said. ¡°Are you satisfied here?¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡± Xia Yingluo screamed. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you pervert lunatic. I said earlier that I¡¯m not your Ah Luo, are you aliens all perverts?!¡± His body was too close and she had to bend her waist backward. Soon, she reached her limit and the pain almost broke her waist.

    She could feel his body heat across the thin cloth and it was scary hot.

    He bent over to look at her, the tip of his nose close to her nose, and he smiled. ¡°We Skatana people are not perverts. Do you know why I took you directly in the casino that time? Going to bed with me will help your memory recover, Ah Luo. You will dream about a lot of things in the past. Since you still can¡¯t remember, I don¡¯t mind making your dreams clearer.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this.¡± Xia Yingluo was trembling even with her heart. She didn¡¯t know what else the man hadn¡¯t figured out yet? He could even make use of that kind of thing. ¡°You asked me about my dreams many times in the underground experimental base, but I can only think of the scenes you have described to me, nothing else. If this method was useful, it should have already worked, but it has left nothing but those rejections. Wei Lingnan, why don¡¯t you change your method? I can cooperate with you.¡± Xia Yingluo racked her brain and said in a hurry, ¡°But you can¡¯t force me like this. Otherwise, I will not cooperate with you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes dangerously and seemed to be weighing the pros and cons. After a long time, he gently let go of her. Xia Yingluo secretly sighed in relief. It seemed that he has notpletely lost his mind.

    ¡°Tidy up your clothes, we¡¯re going to the concert. It should be about to start.¡± Wei Lingnan restored his graceful appearance. ¡°We¡¯ll talk after the concert.¡±

    The back of her dress had been torn apart by him, and she said, ¡°Wait.¡± She attempted trying to save the dress, but there was no way to make it traceless.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Turn around.¡±

    She looked at him apprehensively.

    Impatient, Wei Lingnan pushed her body directly and tore up the shaky rags two or three times. Before she could scream, he had changed the original tube top skirt to a deep V backless dress. It was only fixed with a thin strap at the original tube top position and actually looked very beautiful.

    Xia Yingluo looked at herself in the mirror, and at him, who was standing behind her, with mixed feelings inside.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me?¡± Wei Lingnan continued to adjust the angle of the thin strap. ¡°Be careful when you walk, it¡¯s not very strong. But you should be attracting a lot of attention, you suit these dressed very well.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said ironically. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you, an alien, to know so much about the aesthetics of the Earth.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°There are many things you can¡¯t think of.¡± He wouldn¡¯t tell her that this was not just the aesthetics of the Earth. In the vast universe, there were also somes simr to the Earth, inhabited by creatures simr to humans too. Once, Ah Luo and he went to conquer such a and saw the locals wearing beautiful dresses, and Ah Luo¡¯s eyes had shed with envy.

    Wei Lingnan had said to her at the time, ¡°Do you like it? I can ask them to make a set for you.¡±

    Ah Luo shook her head. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    She didn¡¯t tell Wei Lingnan the reason, but Wei Lingnan could probably guess that it was not appropriate for military races like them to wear those shy outfits. Ah Luo was afraid she would indulge in pleasure and forget her killing heart. If so, only failure and death would stand in her future. This was the fate of the people of Skatana.

    He never mentioned anything to Ah Luo about those shy clothes anymore, but he had thought more than once, what a touching style it would be if she could wear them.

    He tidied up the dress for Xia Yingluo, turned her over again, and let her face him. Thece was slightly lower, revealing the scars on her white chest, which had been burned by cigarette butts by him at the casino not long ago. Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes fell on the scar.

    Xia Yingluo traced his line of sight to her eyes and said coldly, ¡°Does it look good?¡±

    He asked, ¡°Why not get rid of it?¡± At that time, he had hated her and was just trying to get revenge on her for abandoning him and making him pursue the enmity for so many years. But after burning her, he had regretted it. It was so rare that his Ah Luo was so beautiful now, sopletely wless, just like the little princess that didn¡¯t like killing at all back then.

    Why add a wound to her?

    Xia Yingluo just sneered and didn¡¯t speak.

    Wei Lingnan took off his formal jacket and put it on her shoulders. ¡°Your clothes are wet, this is better.¡±

    It happened to block the traces of scars on her body.

    His warmth was on his clothes.

    Xia Yingluo frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but didn¡¯t refuse. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She first opened the bathroom door and walked out, with Wei Lingnan following closely behind.

    Shortly after they left, a small door in the sanitary cubicle was opened and a woman came out.

 Chapter 1292

    Chapter 1292: You Love Me

    It was Gu Jinxiu, dressed in a gown and appearing shocked. She could not believe what she¡¯d just heard¡ªXia Yingluo actually said that Wei Lingnan was an alien, and Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t deny it. Were they kidding or for real, was this just a joke? Logic told Gu Jinxiu that this must be a prank, but a small voice from the bottom of her heart went: What if it¡¯s true?

    Xia Yingluo brought you her dreamscape.

    What was Wei Lingnan trying to make her recall from the dream?

    Recently, Gu Jinxiu had been having dreams too, about a mysterious purple. It wasn¡¯t very clear what was going on in her dreams, and she wasn¡¯t able to remember much of it. Yet, she always felt like she was one of them, that she was part of the alienmunity, experiencing their every emotion.

    Was this what Wei Lingnan was trying to get Xia Yingluo to recall?

    Gu Jinxiu thought she must be going mad, how could she put these two separate matters together? But Xia Yingluo¡¯s conversation with Wei Lingnan was shocking, and this dream had been bothering her as well, so it was no surprise that she spected a connection between these.

    She shook her head. How could she think of something so ridiculous? This was just a coincidence.

    Did aliens even exist?

    But Wei Lingnan kept more secrets than she¡¯d expected. Regarding the Wei family business, their vast resources and advanced technology, there had to be a reason Wei Lingnan kept it so secretive... all of these riddles were awaiting her. What she could be sure of was that Xia Yingluo knew more about Wei Lingnan than she did. Hence, Wei Lingnan was less guarded against her. Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t help but wonder, would she have a chance to get him back from Xia Yingluo if she knew more about him?

    This thought wavered in her head.

    She made a call to the private investigator she¡¯d had connections with for a long time. ¡°Investigate the rtionship between Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan thoroughly, from their first words since they met, to the ces they¡¯ve gone, the people they¡¯ve met, everything.¡±

    Her eyes gleamed as she hung up.

    She heard Wei Lingnan and Xia Yingluo mention a name, Ah Luo. Who exactly was Ah Luo? It sounded like Wei Lingnan had special feelings for this Ah Luo. If she managed to figure out her identity, she¡¯d be able to make good use of it.

    She hurriedly made another phone call. This time, it was to get the PI to investigate ¡°Ah Luo¡±.

    Xia Yingluo barely paid attention to the piano concert performance. She¡¯d been all excited to attend this show, but after what had happened, she was in confusion.

    Wei Lingnan sent her home after the concert ended. She bade him farewell and returned to her dorm in the training camp.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was waiting for her in the dorm and quickly jumped to her feet when she returned. ¡°Yingluo, how was it, did you enjoy the date with Wei Lingnan? Was the concert good?¡±

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t the least bit enthusiastic. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her oddly. ¡°You don¡¯t seem too happy. Ah, what happened to your clothes?¡± She¡¯d just realized that Wei Lingnan¡¯s coat was draped over her shoulders, and beneath it was a modified gown.

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk about the encounter that night. ¡°Maybe we aren¡¯tpatible.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er finally understood what the issue was. ¡°Yingluo, what happened? Did he bully you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sadly. Well, he was always bullying her. She had no idea what got into her that made her agree to be his girlfriend. But this was the oue. ¡°It¡¯s fine, let¡¯s sleep.¡± She got into bed quietly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t get anything more out of her. She had no choice but to crawl into bed with a head full of questions and turn off the lights.

    The following day, the performing cast rehearsed as per normal.

    Xia Yingluo went through a few scenes with the male actor taking the alien¡¯s character. She wasn¡¯t in good form today, and they had to run through a few takes. She apologized. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not doing very well today.¡±

    The male actor smiled kindly and teased. ¡°That¡¯s alright, it¡¯s not easy dating an alien!¡±

    She felt her heart skip a beat, as if someone had seen through her.

    She looked up at the male actor, only to realize that he wasn¡¯t being serious at all. He went on mumbling to himself, ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering, if an alien gets together with a human being on Earth, it should take a long time to get used to each other¡¯s lifestyles, cultures and all that. Just like you and me, it¡¯s only normal that we have hups during rehearsals. If everything went smoothly from the beginning, something would really be wrong.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Thank you forforting me.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t stop thinking about Wei Lingnan. Everything that happenedst night, was it all because of cultural differences? No, it was a personality sh, that man was just too hot-tempered.

    She was still caught up with her thoughts when someone called out from outside. ¡°Yingluo, someone¡¯s looking for you.¡±

    She looked up and saw Wei Lingnan.

    That man was still in his usual white shirt and appeared a little mysterious standing in the shade. He looked at her Xia Yingluo quietly, his eyes unreadable, with a bouquet in his hands.

    Xia Yingluo was looking at him too.

    Someone smiled at the side. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re here to see Yingluo?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°These flowers are for you.¡±

    There were dew beads on the pretty white flowers, they were beautiful.

    ¡°Flowers from Gxy Florist again,¡± an expert said. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re so lucky.¡±

    Xia Yingluo wanted to decline it, but she didn¡¯t want to argue with him in front of her ssmates. ¡°Let¡¯s go out.¡±

    When they¡¯d found a secluded ce, she looked up at Wei Lingnan. ¡°I¡¯ve said it yesterday, I want to break up with you. Please stop giving me flowers.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re still mad at me? I¡¯m here especially to apologize.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not angry with you. I just think we aren¡¯tpatible.¡±

    ¡°Give me some time,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°Although I¡¯ve been on Earth for many years, I¡¯ve never had a rtionship with any girl here, and I have no idea how to date a human girl. Humans are too sensitive and fragile.¡±

    He¡¯d overheard the conversation between Xia Yingluo and the male lead when he was standing outside, and this was a pretty good excuse.

    As he¡¯d guessed, Xia Yingluo was already showing signs of hesitation despite her shaking her head.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her tenderly. ¡°You love me.¡±

 Chapter 1293

    Chapter 1293: Bangle

    Xia Yingluo turned away and said quietly, ¡°So what?¡±

    Just because she loved him didn¡¯t mean that he could do anything he wanted. Moreover, she had no idea how long this love couldst. Would it end up like her rtionship with Zhao Yixuan? She didn¡¯t even know if she really understood what love was.

    Wei Lingnan bent over and hugged her. ¡°Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo struggled for a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, I¡¯ll only detest you even more.¡±

    But Wei Lingnan wouldn¡¯t release her. ¡°Yingluo.¡±

    His embrace was warm but firm, and on him was a scent that she was familiar with.

    She stopped moving and said, ¡°I need some time, let me be alone for a while.¡± She didn¡¯t know whether they were suitable for each other. Perhaps this was a mistake from the very beginning. True love should be what her parents had, one that was gentle and beautiful, free from hurt and pain.

    Wei Lingnan knew that he couldn¡¯t push her too hard and simply left her with these words. ¡°I¡¯ll be by your side forever.¡±

    This seemed like the best arrangement.

    Just a few dayster, someone came looking for Xia Yingluo again. This time, it was Xia Moyan.

    Xia Yingluo saw him in a small meeting room. He was in his usual attire.

    Xia Yingluo was happy to see him. ¡°Uncle, what are you doing here?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°I¡¯m here to see you, and also to bring you something.¡±

    It was a simple bangle that seemed to be made of titanium, given the way it glistened in the sun.

    Xia Yingluo received it and put it on. It was just fitting for her, and the design and color suited her well too. ¡°Was this tailor-made for me?¡± She was smart.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked closely at the bangle. She knew that her uncle wouldn¡¯t just give her something for no reason. ¡°What does it do for me?¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at his niece in approval. She was significantly smarter than the foolish little sister of his. ¡°It¡¯s not an ordinary bangle,¡± Xia Moyan said. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten into trouble a few times this year, and with someone so dangerous like Wei Lingnan hanging around you, you need something for protection. Religious scriptures are carved on the inside of the bangle, and it¡¯s been blessed. When you encounter danger in the future, just apply some pressure with your wrist thrice, and the blessings will be activated. It will protect you from danger and turn the bad into good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that powerful?¡±

    ¡°When has Uncle ever lied to you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan had his own dark technology, but the Xia family¡ªEarth¡¯s protectors¡ªhad theirs too. Mysterious destinies, curses, reincarnation... they could use such means to protect those they needed to protect. There were many kinds of amulets in this world, but not all were made equal. Those that the Xia family came up with were undoubtedly the strongest.

    Xia Yingluo knew how powerful her uncle was too. She smiled. ¡°Thank you, Uncle.¡±

    Xia Moyan reminded her. ¡°This amulet is extremely powerful, and the more powerful something is, the higher the price to pay. Each time you activate it, it uses up a lot of your blessings. I suggest you do more good deeds and umte more good karma. Also, don¡¯t use it unless necessary.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded.

    With this bangle, she felt a lot more at ease now. Although she knew that she couldn¡¯t activate it as and when she wished to, it wasforting to know that if something strange happened again¡ªlike that at the casino or at the concert¡ªshe wouldn¡¯t be at a loss.

    Xia Moyan looked at her. ¡°How are things between you and Wei Lingnan recently?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression darkened a little. ¡°We¡¯re alright.¡±

    ¡°Alright? That means it¡¯s not good.¡± Xia Moyan acutely sensed something off.

    ¡°Uncle,¡± Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but feel sad for herself. ¡°Why does love have to be soplicated? I always thought it was easy, like Mom and Dad¡¯s love, simple and blissful. Why is it so different for me?¡±

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°You should feel content. You¡¯ve heard about your Mom¡¯s story¡ªshe had to go through way more suffering than you did. Nobody¡¯s life in this world is all easy and smooth going. Since the Heavens gave you such a perfect family, they¡¯ve got to give you challenges elsewhere.¡±

    Xia Yingluo quietly said, ¡°Wei Lingnan said that I¡¯m his Ah Luo, my family was picked by him.¡±

    Not the Heavens.

    But Xia Moyan said, ¡°There is divine intervention somewhere. Yingluo, whether or not he was speaking the truth, you have to remember that you were born on this. You¡¯re a resident here, unlike him. Your destiny is influenced by Earth, and you are under the protection and control of Earth. When ites to resisting Wei Lingnan, Earth is the only thing you can count on.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked serious. ¡°I understand.¡±

    She could guess that this had been Uncle¡¯s worry, as well as the rest of theirs. They were all worried that she¡¯d be dissimted because of Wei Lingnan, and choosing to leave Earth for good someday.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take good care of myself.¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded and took his leave.

    The bangle she wore did not receive much attention. It was too simple and lowkey; even Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t all that interested. Xia Yingluo had it on every single day and went for sses and rehearsals as per normal. Soon enough, the day of the y performance arrived.

    The annual Imperial Entertainment performance was a highlight in the industry. Those who made it as performers were likely the newbies with the potential to do well in the entertainment circle, and Imperial Entertainment would only offer a subset of them a contract. At the same time, this would be an opportunity forworking. Besides those in Imperial Entertainment, parties from other firms and training camps would be attending the performance as well.

    Xia Yingluo stood on stage, apletely different persona from the casual and yful girl offstage. She was undeniably the brightest star shining. Many of them were in awe. ¡°This female lead is amazing, she has an impressive stage presence and perfect control of the stage. All she needs to do is stand there, and even without talking, she¡¯s managed to capture everyone¡¯s attention.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Xia Yingluo? Wow, she¡¯s Ye Xingling¡¯s daughter, no less.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t just about her mother¡¯s talent, though. While Ye Xingling was a super diva in singing, her performance wasn¡¯t this solid. This girl is different, her performance is truly outstanding.¡±

    ¡°I can already envision the future movie star,¡± someone said.

    Xia Yingluo performed extremely well¡ªnot only was she outstanding, but she was also good at building the plot and bringing out the best in the show. Rather than swelling with pride because of her good performance, she took the other performers into consideration and never stole their limelight.

    ¡°She has great poise on stage,¡± yet another added.

 Chapter 1294

    Chapter 1294: Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Decision

    Another person-in-charge of a smaller-scale training camp said, ¡°It¡¯s rare that a rich girl is so considerate and has no airs at all, what a pity that she¡¯s already in Imperial.¡±

    The person beside him said, ¡°Exactly. But it¡¯s weird, Xia Yingluo is Li Lei¡¯s daughter, why did shee over to Imperial¡¯s training camp when she could¡¯ve stayed in Skyart?¡± Her father¡¯s entertainment firm was in no way inferior to Imperial Entertainment, it made perfect sense if she¡¯d joined the other instead.

    They were all rather stumped, and no one would¡¯ve guessed that back then, the naive Miss Xia Yingluo hade over to Imperial just because of Zhao Yixuan¡¯s words. What could¡¯ve been a beautiful love story was no longer existent, but the decisions back then were still ¡°effective¡±. Onstage, Xia Yingluo¡¯s performance wowed everyone, and the apuse was thunderous as the curtains closed.

    She led the group of trainees down the stage to take their bows. The elegant and presentable movement brought about another round of apuse.

    The performance was a major sess. Under Xia Yingluo¡¯s lead, this batch of trainees received great reviews andments from the various firms¡¯ representatives.

    After the show was over, everybody was busy removing their makeup backstage when Jiang Bilian smiled and said, ¡°Yingluo, you did really well today, everyone on the floor had their eyes on you. Thanks for looking out for me during the meteor shower scene, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have caught up.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. Although she knew that Jiang Bilian was just fawning over her, her kind words were weed anyway.

    While removing her makeup, she said, ¡°I saw Chu Chen in the crowd just now, and representatives from major firms. They all looked pretty impressed. I guess we¡¯ll all have a rather good career ahead.¡± They weren¡¯t the only cohort involved in the performance, there were seniors too, just like the male lead who was about to make his debut. His performance this time around should be good enough for him tond a few offers.

    As for those who weren¡¯t due for their debut yet, leaving a good impression on the firms¡¯ representatives was beneficial for their future too.

    Jiang Bilian said, ¡°I wish I could just make my debut already.¡±

    She was already 17, and she¡¯d be 18 the following year. Time wasn¡¯t on her side.

    Imperial Entertainment did not impose a strict timeline with regards to trainees making their debut. Some of them debuted within a year of joining the training camp, while others might go back with nothing even after three to four years of training. But this cohort of trainees was outstanding. With more effort, some might even make their debut earlier.

    Zhu Zhu, who was right beside Jiang Bilian, said, ¡°Me too. Once we make our debuts, we wouldn¡¯t have to train so hard to build our foundations anymore. It¡¯s so tiring.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be even morepetitive after your debut.¡± A guy teased. ¡°You¡¯re sozy, it¡¯s best you remain in the training camp.¡±

    The room was full of joyfulughter and humorous exchanges when all of a sudden, somebody knocked on their door. The door wasn¡¯t actually closed, but the person did not enter so as not to appear rude. They turned around and saw a tall man in a neat suit.

    Xia Yingluo and Jin Ling¡¯er both recognized this man. Jin Ling¡¯er greeted him first. ¡°Manager Du?¡±

    The man was Du Zheng, the renowned Director of the Du Family Organization. He nodded to Xia Yingluo as a form of greeting before turning to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Do you have some time? I need to talk to you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little stunned and she nced at Xia Yingluo intuitively.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Go on.¡±

    Only then did Jin Ling¡¯er follow Du Zheng out.

    Once they¡¯d left, the whole dressing room exploded with questions and excitement. They asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°Yingluo, who¡¯s that? He¡¯s so handsome.¡±

    Xia Yingluo told them about Du Zheng and added, ¡°The Dus¡¯ entertainment firm is a pretty good choice. Their family and mine are long-time family friends. Also, Brother Du Zheng¡¯s character is trustworthy. He wouldn¡¯t ill-treat the artistes under his wing.¡±

    ¡°Haha. Yingluo, I really wonder why you didn¡¯t stay in Skyart, and instead came all the way to Imperial indeed. That gives the rest of us less of a chance.¡± Someone teased. ¡°Our principal really has a huge heart to ept you.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed as well. ¡°Pfft, I¡¯m genuinely here to train well and improve.¡±

    Jiang Bilian was busy thinking about something. ¡°Yingluo, what do you think Director Du is here for? Could he be offering her an exclusive debut contract?¡± Upon hearing this possibility, everybody quietened down and looked towards Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo only just thought of this possibility with their reminder.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± She mumbled subconsciously.

    To be fairly honest, Jin Ling¡¯er was above average in the training camp, but she was nowhere near outstanding. Even if someone was to be picked to make an earlier debut, she shouldn¡¯t be considered a top choice. ¡°Maybe, it¡¯s something else they¡¯re discussing?¡± Xia Yingluo said with uncertainty. After all, Du Zheng and Jin Ling¡¯er had known each other before this.

    But the other trainees didn¡¯t think like her. They guessed that Jin Ling¡¯er was lucky enough to make her debut soon.

    The rest of them went about their own business.

    When Xia Yingluo returned to the dorm, Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t back yet.

    She took a shower first and saw Jin Ling¡¯er return as she wasbing her hair.

    ¡°What was Du Zheng here for?¡± Xia Yingluo asked. ¡°You seem so happy, did he really ask for you to debut early?¡±

    ¡°You got that right.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was overjoyed and couldn¡¯t stop herself from giving Xia Yingluo a tight hug. ¡°Yingluo, congratte me! Director Du wants me to sign a contract with their firm. He¡¯s off to settle the paperwork, and I¡¯ll be making my debut in no time!¡±

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t as upbeat about it as she was. Rather, she found it a little strange. ¡°Why¡¯d he pick you?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t mind that she was being direct, since she knew full well that her performance among this cohort of trainees wasn¡¯t especially good. ¡°I asked Director Du that too.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°It¡¯s a coincidence, actually. Director Du said that his firm is shooting a movie and they¡¯re short of a suitable character. They felt that I¡¯d be a good fit for it, so they¡¯re nning to sign a contract with me.¡±

    Was that the case?

    The exnation sounded reasonable, but Xia Yingluo still found it odd.

    Putting this exnation aside, she looked at Jin Ling¡¯er seriously. ¡°Ling¡¯er, you really want to debut right now? Your foundation isn¡¯t that strong yet, I¡¯d suggest you stay on for another year before making your debut. It¡¯ll be better this way.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er sighed. ¡°It¡¯s true that my foundation isn¡¯t very strong. I know that, too. But Director Du hase with an olive branch. If I miss it this time, I might never get another chance like this.¡± There was one more thing she omitted¡ªher friend over here was so outstanding and came from a good and powerful family, how could shepare? Only by making an earlier debut in the entertainment circle and making a name for herself could she avoid others¡¯ spreading rumors that Xia Yingluo helped her achieve sess.

 Chapter 1295

    Chapter 1295: Three Times More, Keep the Change

    Xia Yingluo did not get it. ¡°What¡¯s the big deal with missing out on the Du family¡¯s offer. With me around, you know you can go anywhere you¡¯d like. If all goes wrong, you can just join Skyart.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°Joining Skyart is such a fantasy¡¯s dream, some people don¡¯t even dare to dream it. Only you would talk about joining Skyart as if it was ast resort and ¡®if all goes wrong¡¯. Wouldn¡¯t your dad be mad at you if he found out?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked high and mighty. ¡°In any case, as long as I want you there, you¡¯ll definitely get a ce.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er shook her head. ¡°Yingluo, thank you for your kind intentions. I¡¯m friends with you because I like you as a person, not because I¡¯m eyeing your family background. I don¡¯t want to trouble you too much, so let me handle this myself.¡±

    Xia Yingluo realized that at this point, there was no way she could change Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s mind. ¡°So you¡¯ve made your decision?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve made my decision.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Chairman Du is a nice person, joining his firm should be a pretty good choice. Moreover, my performance in the training camp is only average, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to transfer to the Dus¡¯ firm.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave her blessings. ¡°You¡¯ll definitely rise to fame.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°Yup, I will work hard to rise to fame.¡± To be a worthy friend.

    She then asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°How about you, what are your ns?¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought for a while. ¡°You¡¯ll be going off anyway, there¡¯s no point in me staying. I¡¯ll get the withdrawal settled.¡± She¡¯d joined the training camp for Zhao Yixuan initially, and had then stayed on to protect Jin Ling¡¯er. Now that both of them were no longer around, it was time to leave.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was surprised. ¡°Withdraw? Yingluo, don¡¯t you wish to make your debut?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Xia Yingluo stretched her back. ¡°I was here for an independent experience. Now that it¡¯s over, I can go home and be the Missy I want to be. Hahaha, I¡¯ll just be living my carefree days with my Second Bro. That¡¯ll be pretty nice.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯erughed as she chided her. ¡°Lazy bum. Are you going to spend the rest of your life this way?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a far future, we¡¯ll see when ites.¡± She envied her mother, who¡¯d found her passion at a young age¡ªsinging. Even though her mother had a perfect marriage and abundant wealth, she never gave up on singing, and would even release new songs once in a while. Meanwhile, she had no idea what she really loved or wanted, and it seemed like carefree days of ying and eating weren¡¯t all bad.

    ¡°What a shame,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said. ¡°Given your talent, you could rise to fame easily.¡±

    Xia Yingluo casually said, ¡°I don¡¯t need to depend on this to be famous.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true, you¡¯re the Li family Miss, it doesn¡¯t take much to shake the world.¡±

    The following day, Xia Yingluo really went home and told her parents about her ns to withdraw.

    Li Lei was obviously the happiest to hear that. He couldn¡¯t be fully at peace knowing that his daughter was over at Imperial Entertainment. ¡°You¡¯ve finallye to your senses,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re doing the right thing. The people at Imperial Entertainment are all perverted, it¡¯s best you stay away from them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, they¡¯re all perverted.¡± Xia Yingluo knew how to win her father over.

    As she guessed, Li Lei was happy to hear that. ¡°I¡¯ll give you your allowance this month.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Dad,¡± Xia Yingluo grinned from ear to ear.

    Li Lei happily got someone to handle his daughter¡¯s withdrawal paperwork.

    The principal of the training camp was in a fluster, he couldn¡¯t be the one making the decision regarding the Li family¡¯s daughter¡¯s withdrawal. He hurriedly informed Pei Ziheng instead. Pei Ziheng¡¯s secretary ryed the message and gave him the response to simply ¡°act ording to business¡±. As such, he came up with an evaluation for the withdrawal and termination fee, and it was an astronomical sum.

    The one in charge of this case on Skyart¡¯s side was the principal of their training camp too, and he¡¯d known Imperial¡¯s principal for many years. When he saw the sum, he took a deep breath to cool down, but it was impossible to keep calm... he had to speak to Imperial¡¯s principal about it, ¡°Old Li, you can¡¯t be so mean. This is an exorbitant amount, you might as well rob a bank.¡±

    The principal from Imperial Entertainment smiled insincerely. ¡°Miss Xia is of high status and her potential is limitless. Based on our professional evaluation, if she remains in Imperial Entertainment and makes her debut with us, she¡¯d be a super diva in the future, just like your Mrs. Li. Do you know how much a super diva is worth?¡±

    Skyart¡¯s principal could not rebut that.

    While it was an astronomical sum, it couldn¡¯t hold a finger to Xia Ling¡¯s current valuation.

    Should he be thanking this principal for asking for so little?

    ¡°You can¡¯t evaluate it this way...¡± He cleared his throat and tried to argue his way. ¡°Miss Xia is sozy, she¡¯s unwilling to go through tough training and she has no ambition, how could she be a super diva? She¡¯s just an ordinary trainee.¡±

    Imperial Entertainment¡¯s principal held out his insincere smile. ¡°Does your boss know you¡¯re talking about your Miss this way?¡±

    The principal from Skyart was speechless.

    Skyart¡¯s principal suffered a crushing defeat this time.

    He went back and gave his boss a dreadful look. ¡°Boss, they¡¯re asking for an incredulous sum.¡±

    ¡°Imperial Entertainment iscking funds, huh?¡± Seeing the amount they were asking for, Li Lei smiled menacingly. That amount of money could buy over several small firms!

    The principal wiped off his sweat and thought, They might as well sell Miss to Imperial Entertainment instead.

    Xia Yingluo was just walking in and had overheard their conversation. She fumed. ¡°Imperial is a blood-sucking demon!¡±

    ¡°Dad will settle this for you.¡± Li Lei smiled even more deviously as he turned towards the principal. ¡°Three times more, give it to them. Pei Ziheng is short of money, huh. I¡¯ll pay them, forget the change.¡±

    ¡°Dad...¡± Xia Yingluo was exasperated. This was a lot of money, wouldn¡¯t it be better if he gave it to her as an allowance? Was there a need to fight with Uncle Pei this way?

    Li Lei tipped his chin up arrogantly. ¡°I will crush him with money.¡±

    ... Alright, Dad, whatever makes you happy.

    Xia Yingluo managed to get her withdrawal confirmation and Jin Ling¡¯er transferred to the Dus¡¯ firm for her debut.

    Both of them yed host as they invited the trainees of their cohort and the other cast members in the y to a meal.

    ¡°When you make it big next time, don¡¯t you forget about us.¡± Zhu Zhu, Jiang Bilian and the rest teased.

    ¡°Of course not. Bilian, when you make your debut next time, just let me know. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t treat you shabbily,¡± Xia Yingluo said. Their friendship had blossomed only after a rough start with each other. In the beginning, they were indeed a thorn in each other¡¯s flesh, but as time went by, Jiang Bilian began helping her out quite a bit. It was only right to look out for her in the future.

    Jiang Bilian and Zhu Zhu were delighted to hear that. ¡°Here¡¯s a toast to you, Yingluo, for what you just said.¡±

    They had a whale of a time.

    Soon enough, the media reported on the Li family¡¯s daughter Xia Yingluo¡¯s withdrawal from Imperial¡¯s training camp. Tabloids spun up many different stories, including love and hate, a feud between two wealthy families... even issues regarding two generations. The public was more than happy to have enough to gossip about.

 Chapter 1296

    Chapter 1296: Night Visit

    Xia Yingluo went home happily and started her degenerate life of eating and sleeping. Although living in the training camp was decent, nothing couldpare to thefort of her own home. On a cold autumn night, she would hide in her room, wrap herself in her quilt and watch the moon. It was the best thing in the world.

    Her room was on the second floor. It had a huge window and a balcony.

    Xia Yingluo rolled around happily on her bed. Suddenly, she saw some movements on the balcony from the corner of her eye.

    She immediately went on alert and stretched out to have a look.

    Under the moonlight, a long silhouette of a man stood across the window, looking at her.

    Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo recognized him immediately. She felt butterflies in her stomach. If there was one thing she was unsatisfied with in her life, it would be this man.

    She climbed out of bed bare-footed and opened the ss door.

    ¡°How did you get in?¡± She asked unhappily. The Li family¡¯s home security was the best in the world. She was puzzled by how he could sneak in without anyone noticing.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°I missed you.¡±

    The wind blew on his neatly trimmed hair as the light in his eyes flickered.

    Xia Yingluo replied coldly, ¡°Is that so? Unfortunately, I don¡¯t miss you. Wei Lingnan, please do not disturb my sleep. Leave.¡±

    She closed the door, drew the curtains and went back on her bed.

    Her bedroom was engulfed in darkness and the quilt exuded a calming smell.

    However, Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t fall asleep. She tossed and turned, and could only think of Wei Lingnan¡¯s face. She had been intentionally avoiding Wei Lingnan recently, but she had not expected him toe all the way to her house. Was it really because he missed her? What if she did not chase him away, what would he say? Xia Yingluo was shocked to find herself excited about it.

    She became even more frustrated as she continued turning in bed. She looked at the clock¡ªit was already three in the morning. A few hours had passed already, yet she could not bring herself to sleep. Realizing that she was probably not going to be able to sleep anyway, she climbed out of bed and turned on the lights, cursing Wei Lingnan for causing this. She washed up and looked for things to do.

    How about watching the moon.

    She drew the curtain and stepped out onto the balcony. What was before her shocked her¡ª

    Wei Lingnan was still standing there. A thinyer of snowkes had fallen on his body and hair. He was looking up peacefully at the night sky,ying his sight in a faraway ce.

    Xia Yingluo thought it was her hallucination. She rubbed her eyes and realized it was really him.

    ¡°W-why are you still here?¡± She asked, stuttering. ¡°How long has it been already?¡± Looking at the snowkes covering his body, she thought, Thankfully, he¡¯s an alien. If he was a human, he would have been frozen to death!

    Wei Lingnan turned around and looked at her, smiling. ¡°You finally came out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not here to see you, you lunatic!¡± Xia Yingluo was going nuts. She turned around, mmed the door and drew the curtain. The room once again fell into pin-drop silence. The heater melted her body¡¯s coldness.

    She flipped open a book to read, trying to take her mind off the person outside. However, just a few minutes passed before she mmed the book down. She cursed silently. ¡°Wei Lingnan, even if you die, don¡¯t die in my house.¡±

    She stood up and found a nket from the wardrobe. She drew open the curtain, opened the door and walked out onto the balcony.

    Wei Lingnan was still in his original position. The dim moonlight fell onto his body, making him kind of mysterious and... vulnerable.

    Xia Yingluo shook her head and tossed out the unrealistic thought. She must be crazy to think of this lunatic as vulnerable. She threw the nket on him and said coldly, ¡°Cover yourself with it, I won¡¯t be responsible if you freeze to death.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at the nket and obediently covered himself.

    Actually, as a Skatana species, he had survived even more treacherous weather and conditions. The mere cold on Earth was nothing to him. Nheless, he was happy to receive herpassion.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him trying to cover himself with the nket awkwardly. She could not stand it anymore and helped him with it. She reminded him. ¡°Don¡¯t drop it.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He looked at her with longing eyes.

    Xia Yingluo hesitated, but could not stop herself from touching his hands. It was cold as ice. She frowned. ¡°How did this happen, are you courting death?¡±

    He could feel her warmth from his fingertips. He did not want to leave this warmth.

    He reached out his other hand and wrapped it around hers. ¡°Cold.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shuddered due to the cold from her hands. She red sharply at him but did not take her hands out. ¡°Come in, I¡¯ll get you a cup of hot tea.¡±

    Wei Lingnan followed her into the bedroom casually.

    Her room was decorated nicely. It had a gentle and somewhat romantic theme, as seen from its design, texture and materials. On her bed was a little bear bolster which attracted Wei Lingnan¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look around. If you look, I¡¯ll throw you out again,¡± Xia Yingluo said angrily. She made a cup of hot tea for him, the top quality tea giving off a mildly sweet smell.

    Wei Lingnan had a sip. Instantly, he felt warmth encapsting his body.

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Why were you standing outside my room for so long, looking to die?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I didn¡¯t feel it was long.¡± Back on Skatana, he frequently guarded her at night. The nights were even longer, and danger lurked in the shadows. But just standing guard at her side was more than enough for him.

    Inparison, the three hours was nothing.

    It had been a while since he saw her, and he really missed her. While he was outside staring into the night sky, he remembered many things from the past and let time pass by him unknowingly.

    Xia Yingluo red at him angrily again. ¡°Don¡¯t do this again!¡±

    He said, ¡°I just wanted to see you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought she was going crazy, how could he be so troublesome? ¡°Fine, you saw me, now you can leave.¡±

    ¡°I still want to talk to you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless.

    Hmm, would she still be in time to call the police?

    Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

    The both of them went silent.

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Azy voice could be heard. ¡°It¡¯s me, Second Bro.¡±

    It was Li Rui.

    It waste, what was he here for?

 Chapter 1297

    Chapter 1297: Just What Had She Done?

    Xia Yingluo looked at the door, and then at Wei Lingnan inside her room. She deliberated whether to let her brother in.

    Meanwhile, it was Wei Lingnan who gracefully put his cup down and walked to the door, even before she hade to a decision. He was face to face with Li Rui.

    Li Rui was holding onto a leopard cub and was dressed in satin pajamas. He raised a brow as he looked at the uninvited guest. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Li Rui had gone to the bar in the night and only returned in the wee hours. He¡¯d only just had a shower and changed into his pajamas when his little leopard cub Rong Rong bit and tugged at his pants to drag him here.

    So it was all because there was a dangerous figure in his sister¡¯s room.

    Wei Lingnan was unfazed. ¡°I should be asking you that.¡±

    ¡°What a joke, this is my house and Yingluo is my sister.¡± Li Rui sneered. ¡°What are you?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure about Wei Lingnan¡¯s identity, and Li Lei, Xia Ling, and Xia Yingluo had not told him about Wei Lingnan being an alien. But he could sense that Wei Lingnan was someone powerful, someone he shouldn¡¯t offend. But so what? Whoever touched his sister was asking him for trouble.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Yingluo¡¯s boyfriend.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was about to rebuke, but she swallowed those words.

    Li Rui scanned both of them before his eyesnded on Wei Lingnan eventually. ¡°So what, have her parents approved of it yet? And you¡¯ve snuck into our house in the middle of the night without approval? She¡¯s my sister, and you listen to the father and brothers in the house. If I get you to leave, you leave.¡±

    He looked arrogant and aggressive.

    Xia Yingluo was touched that her brother was protecting her this way, but she was worried that Wei Lingnan would re-up. This man was like Xia Moyan, existing in defiance of the natural order. He was someone that even Li Lei might not be able to handle, much less Li Rui.

    It was dead silent.

    Li Rui daringly kept his eyes on Wei Lingnan. Meanwhile, it was the leopard cub Rong Rong that felt uneasy. Its fur stood on end and it fidgeted ufortably in Li Rui¡¯s arms. It kept its eyes locked on Wei Lingnan¡¯s as it attempted to make threatening sounds.

    Wei Lingnan nced at the leopard cub.

    The leopard cub was so startled, it leaped out of Li Rui¡¯s arms and hid behind him.

    Li Rui frowned. ¡°You¡¯ve scared my pet.¡±

    Wei Lingnan calmly said, ¡°That was unintentional.¡± Animals were always more sensitive than humans. While Li Rui wasn¡¯t able to detect Wei Lingnan¡¯s ¡°inhuman¡± aspects, Rong Rong had already realized that this man was a strange and dangerous one. Its intuition told it that there was immense danger before it, which was why it had to drag Li Rui to check on the situation¡ªit was worried that Yingluo would be at risk.

    Li Rui was even more arrogant now. ¡°Even my house pet doesn¡¯t wee you, shouldn¡¯t you leave?¡±

    ¡°Brother.¡± Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but speak up. She was genuinely afraid that Wei Lingnan would lose his temper.

    Li Rui couldn¡¯t be bothered. He side-eyed his sister. ¡°Why, your heart aches for him? Xia Yingluo, listen to this. It doesn¡¯t matter how many girls I¡¯m out with, but you are a girl, and that¡¯s different. You can¡¯t have a private meeting with a strange man in the house, those are basic rules.¡±

    Strange man...

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t too happy, how could Brother put it so harshly?

    ¡°He¡¯s my boyfriend.¡± She rebuked very softly.

    ¡°Mom and Dad did not acknowledge him.¡± Li Rui was unhappy to hear it. ¡°Are you foolish or what?¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt aggrieved. She was trying to help him ease the situation, and he said she was foolish?

    Wei Lingnan, on the other hand, had softened his expression tremendously after hearing her say ¡°my boyfriend¡±. But he continued looking into Li Rui¡¯s eyes. ¡°You say Yingluo is foolish? You¡¯re courting death.¡±

    Li Rui said, ¡°I¡¯m telling my own sister off, I don¡¯t need your input.¡±

    They seemed like they were about to fight anytime.

    Xia Yingluo realized that she had to do something about it. She pushed her brother out the door. ¡°I¡¯m fine, Brother. Don¡¯t worry, just get your sleep. If you don¡¯t leave, I¡¯ll tell your Ying Ying tomorrow that you already have Yan Yan.¡±

    ¡°Hey, bad girl, you...¡±

    Before Li Rui could finish his sentence, she had already closed her door on him and his pet.

    Peace was restored in the bedroom and Wei Lingnan looked down at her tenderly. ¡°I¡¯m still your boyfriend.¡±

    He was so happy to hear it from the horse¡¯s mouth.

    Xia Yingluo shoved him towards the balcony. ¡°You should leave too. You guys are driving me mad.¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not resist it as she closed the ss door on him. He pressed his nose against the ss and looked at her gently. ¡°I¡¯m leaving now, have an early rest.¡±

    They had a ss door between them, but his voice was still loud and clear.

    Xia Yingluo drew the curtains on him. ¡°Leave!¡±

    This time, it really went quiet.

    She crawled into bed and recalled what had gone on the whole night. Had she been too fierce to Wei Lingnan? And also, Li Rui¡¯s attitude...

    She really was afraid that Wei Lingnan would take revenge on Li Rui.

    With that in mind, she sent Wei Lingnan a message: [Are you back yet? Thank you foring to see me tonight. That¡¯s just my brother for you, don¡¯t hold it against him.]

    A whileter, Wei Lingnan replied: [Are you showing concern, or curry favor with me so that I let your brother off?]

    Xia Yingluo was stunned as she kept her eyes glued to the message. She cursed softly. ¡°What a jerk!¡± Why was he so smart?

    She had to give him a reply: [Of course I¡¯m showing concern for you.]

    His response was quick this time: [Liar.]

    Xia Yingluo was so annoyed she wanted to hurl her phone.

    She tossed and turned on her bed and responded more harshly now: [I just don¡¯t like it that you and my brother are at loggerheads! I¡¯m warning you. If you dare touch my brother, I¡¯m never letting you off!]

    This time, Wei Lingnan did not reply for a long time.

    Xia Yingluo was apprehensive. She was regretting her words now. Was she being too fierce again? Could she have angered Wei Lingnan so much that he went straight for her brother to vent his anger? She was so close to going to Li Rui¡¯s room to check that he was safe.

    But she had to send Wei Lingnan another message first: [It¡¯s my fault, don¡¯t go to my brother.]

    Just as she thought Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t going to reply anymore, his message came in: [I won¡¯t touch your family.]

    It was a short message and she couldn¡¯t detect his tone, but she felt a weight off her shoulders nheless. Xia Yingluo let out a huge sigh of relief and found that Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t all that annoying actually. With a smile, she replied to that message: [Okay, goodnight.]

    She did not receive a reply.

    Having turned inte, Xia Yingluo slept in the next day. The moment she woke up, Li Rui and Li Lei took turns to lecture her.

    Li Rui had told Li Lei about the previous night and suggested tighter security at home. Hearing that his daughter had a private meeting with a man in her room, Li Lei couldn¡¯t just close an eye about it! Xia Yingluo was exasperated by all the lectures. Just what had she done?

 Chapter 1298

    Chapter 1298: You Can¡¯t Have This Seat

    Li Lei re-established the security system at home and even got Xia Moyan over to check on the fengshui, install a death gate, and all sorts of high-tech systems¡ªall in order to prevent a highly dangerous person like Wei Lingnan from entering his daughter¡¯s room.

    Xia Ling taught her daughter as well. ¡°You need to protect yourself, don¡¯t let someone take advantage of you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so overwhelmed by all that was going on, she locked herself up in her bedroom and gave Jin Ling¡¯er a call to vent her frustrations. ¡°I thought I¡¯d live a good life once I got home, but they¡¯re all making things difficult for me! How annoying...¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was very sympathetic. ¡°Why don¡¯t youe out for a breather? I just took up a new show and we¡¯re starting our filming. You cane and visit me at work?¡±

    ¡°Sounds good.¡± Xia Yingluo was overjoyed. Her good friend was starring in a show, of course she had to show her support.

    In a couple of days, she packed up her stuff and made her way to the filming location.

    It was on the outskirts of town and Jin Ling¡¯er had to lead her in. ¡°Just find a ce around here to wait, you can watch meter.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sized the people up curiously. ¡°This must be a huge production, there are so many people around.¡±

    The way she looked around got her a few unfriendly eye rolls. Who was this country bumpkin with no exposure?

    Jin Ling¡¯er teased. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious, Miss Xia. It isn¡¯t the first time you¡¯re at a filming set, need you to look so shocked?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly. ¡°I¡¯m just being excited for you.¡± She¡¯d been to many filming locations indeed, and she even had a lot of fun ying around when she was a child. But she hadn¡¯t expected Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s first show to be such a huge production; for a newbie who¡¯d just made her debut, it was a good start.

    But Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°This is a huge film, but I¡¯m just a small character. Female N.¡±

    N...

    Xia Yingluo had to stifle augh. ¡°Are you feeling aggrieved? If you are, I can find you a better role.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er shook her head. ¡°Forget it. You¡¯re so much better than I am as an actress, but you just don¡¯t have ambition, and all you think about is finding opportunities for me.¡± She pointed a finger to her forehead. ¡°upy yourself for now, I¡¯ll get my makeup on.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded and watched her leave.

    This was the Du family¡¯s location and she didn¡¯t know anyone around here. She explored the surroundings for a bit and found it boring, so she found herself a seat to rest on. She¡¯d only rested for a while when somebody yelled, ¡°Who are you, why are you sitting on Sister Tang¡¯s chair? Leave, leave!¡±

    She¡¯d never been yelled at this way before and couldn¡¯t help but feel enraged. She looked up and saw an angry man, and behind him, a beautifuldy. Thedy was in a gorgeous outfit for the show and was looking at her in annoyance. She recognized this beautifuldy, the queen of films in thest two years¡ªTang Yuan.

    No wonder she was so arrogant.

    This was the first time Xia Yingluo saw Tang Yuan in person, and she couldn¡¯t help but size her up for a bit. She¡¯d heard Uncle Bai Murong gossip about her before¡ªwhen thisdy had just made her debut, she¡¯d done whatever it took to get what she wanted. She¡¯d slept with male superstars and directors, ostracized other actresses, acted all innocent and elegant before the media and public... there was so much dirty history about her, but she¡¯d made a name for herself nheless.

    The one who¡¯d told Xia Yingluo off was Tang Yuan¡¯s assistant.

    Seeing that she was still eyeing Tang Yuan, he yelled at her again, ¡°Idiot, I¡¯m talking about you. Leave! Who are you, which department are you from?¡±

    Xia Yingluo stopped looking at Tang Yuan and instead looked at him coldly. ¡°Who do you think you are?¡±

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re questioning me?¡± The assistant was triggered by her rebuttal. Having been Tang Yuan¡¯s assistant these few years, everyone had had to show him respect wherever he went. And this little girl here was being rude to him? Seeing that the girl was in a simple outfit and didn¡¯t have an assistant following her around, he figured that she was just a nobody. ¡°Xiao Li! Xiao Li! Look at this idiot here, where¡¯d shee from? Get her person-in-charge over here now!¡±

    The employee Xiao Li was shocked to see Xia Yingluo in Tang Yuan¡¯s seat too and knew that this wasn¡¯t a small matter. Tang Yuan was known to be hot-tempered and demanding; she¡¯d even re up if the person walking towards her on the same path didn¡¯t bow down to her and make way, not to mention somebody taking her female lead seat. Xiao Li hurriedly said, ¡°Brother Qiang, calm down, I¡¯ll teach this idiot a lesson.¡±

    He turned around and spoke to Xia Ling unpleasantly. ¡°Which department are you from? Give up the seat to Sister Tang, and apologize to her!¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t tolerate how they were calling her an idiot. She kept her cold smile on and said, ¡°I¡¯m sitting here and that¡¯s that. Why?¡±

    That was when she remembered that most production crews reserved seats only for the lead characters or big shots, and no one else was to take these seats, as they were a symbol of status. But she couldn¡¯t be med for recalling it only now. Back when she yed around at the different location sets, no one had used that rule against her. In fact, they couldn¡¯t wait to offer her a seat.

    This time, even Tang Yuan was looking at her coldly. She couldn¡¯t be bothered to speak to Xia Yingluo, and instead instructed her assistant. ¡°Get her fired.¡± Given the influence she had in the production crew, it was a piece of cake for her to fire a small fry.

    The assistant Brother Qiang smiled and said, ¡°Yes, yes.¡±

    He then yelled at Xiao Li, ¡°Hurry and find out who she is!¡±

    Xiao Li was uptight too and vented it on Xia Yingluo. ¡°Whoever you are, leave now!¡± He raised his voice. ¡°Security, security!¡±

    Themotion drew a few people nearby and finally, someone recognized her. He tried to fawn on Tang Yuan and the rest. ¡°I know her! She was brought in by Jin Ling¡¯er. Jin Ling¡¯er is that girl acting as the servant Lan Zhi. She¡¯s here to watch Jin Ling¡¯er film.¡±

    Tang Yuan¡¯s expression got even more awful. ¡°So all sorts of misceneous people are allowed in here.¡±

    Brother Qiang chided Xiao Li. ¡°What¡¯s going on with you, letting in just any stray animal, huh? Who¡¯s Jin Ling¡¯er anyway, I¡¯ve never heard of her. She¡¯s barely a calefare[1] and she¡¯s getting others to visit her at work?¡±

    Several others beganughing and shooting disdainful nces at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo got even angrier as she heard them insult her friend. ¡°Where¡¯s your director, call him over.¡±

    Brother Qiang sneered. ¡°Director? You¡¯re asking for too much. Do you really think Director Fang meets anyone who wants to meet him? Get out!¡±

    Tang Yuan was getting impatient. She was about to film her next scene and wanted to sit down for a rest, rather than have Xia Yingluo waste her time. Her other female assistant could sense her frustration and hurriedly said, ¡°Sister Tang, there¡¯s another chair over there. Let¡¯s take a seat there.¡±

    [1] A person who has a small and minor role in a show or movie. Also used to call someone an extra in their group/clique.

 Chapter 1299

    Chapter 1299: So This Is Miss Xia

    Tang Yuan swept a cold nce at her female assistant, and she was so shocked she mmed up instantly.

    ¡°We can get the director here,¡± she ordered arrogantly. ¡°But he¡¯ll have to fire that Jin-something girl.¡±

    Since this wretched girl dared to take a seat, then her friend would have to pay the price for her!

    At this point, Xia Yingluo was actually no longer pissed. She smiled and continued sitting in that chair.

    Before the director came, Jin Ling¡¯er was brought here first. It was the assistant director, and he was now telling Jin Ling¡¯er off. ¡°Hurry and apologize to Sister Tang! Don¡¯t you bloody bring any trash you like here, how unrefined!¡± If it was Tang Yuan¡¯s friend who was here to visit, she wouldn¡¯t be treated in this way even if she dressed sloppily and behaved inappropriately. That was the stark difference between a superstar and a newbie.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was stubborn. ¡°Yingluo isn¡¯t just any trash.¡±

    She and Xia Yingluo were of the same kind, they were very protective of each other.

    The assistant director was enraged. ¡°Idiotic trash!¡±

    It was no surprise that he¡¯d get angry. This role was initially meant for another girl, but Jin Ling¡¯er came in halfway, brought in by the director Fang Wei personally. ording to him, the Du Group just engaged this actress and she was ¡°suitable for this role¡±, so she deserved a chance.

    The Du Group was the producer of this film and the assistant director did not have much say against them. But that was when Jin Ling¡¯er got into his bad books.

    Xia Yingluo eyed him coldly. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Are you even fit to ask for Director Zhou¡¯s name?¡± Xiao Li spoke up proudly.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. She couldn¡¯t be bothered to waste her energy on them as she waited for the overall director to arrive.

    The overall director rushed to the scene and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Brother Fang,¡± Tang Yuan slowly started. ¡°Calefares nowadays really don¡¯t know their ce. Not only are they bringing in all sorts of misceneous friends, but they¡¯re also even taking my seat. What¡¯s the point of keeping such people, just fire them.¡±

    The director frowned a little. He realized that Tang Yuan was upset with Jin Ling¡¯er and that unknown girl.

    If it was just another calefare, he would definitely act ording to Tang Yuan¡¯s wishes. But Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t just anyone, she was specially mentioned by Du Zheng. He remembered Du Zheng¡¯s words exactly: ¡°Give her a role that suits her. Oh, and don¡¯t make things difficult for her.¡±

    The first line was already surprising. Why would a busy man like Chairman Du give a hoot about a new and unknown actress? The second line was even more surprising for Fang Wei, who had been in this industry for long enough to sense something weird about it. Given Chairman Du¡¯s quiet and professional nature, it was practically impossible to hear him instruct them to ¡°not make things difficult¡± for someone. Jin Ling¡¯er was probably the first. Fang Wei hurriedly did a background check on Jin Ling¡¯er and was surprised once again¡ª

    This girl was just an average trainee at Imperial¡¯s training camp.

    What was it that Chairman Du saw in her, that he¡¯d personally poach her and allow her to make an early debut?

    He dug further and found out¡ªto his surprise¡ªthat it wasn¡¯t Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s background, but rather her powerful good friend. She was close friends with Skyart¡¯s Li family¡¯s daughter Xia Yingluo! It was said that the entire Li household treated this daughter like a precious gem. So, since she saw Jin Ling¡¯er as a good friend, it should be no surprise that Jin Ling¡¯er could join the Du Group even with an average score!

    Now that he understood this, Fang Wei dared not make things difficult for Jin Ling¡¯er.

    He even picked a pretty good role for her. Although she was no lead actress, her minor role gave her great opportunity to show her talent.

    If she had not made Tang Yuan angry now, Fang Wei would¡¯ve considered his n perfect.

    He was taking a while to respond and Tang Yunan was getting annoyed. ¡°Brother Fang, why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡±

    Only then did he snap back to reality. Rather than looking at Tang Yuan, he looked at the girl who was sitting on that chair unapologetically. Although she was in simple clothing, she was very beautiful, and she exuded a wonderful aura. Moreover, she wasn¡¯t the least bit fazed by the big shots before her. She simply didn¡¯t seem like a girl from a simple household.

    Fang Wei could feel his eyelid twitching. Something felt wrong.

    He asked that girl politely, ¡°Excuse me, you are?¡±

    The girl looked at him with an insincere smile. ¡°You¡¯re Fang Wei?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Fang Wei was cautious. He did not want to say anything wrong.

    Tang Yuan was getting frustrated. ¡°Brother Fang, you¡¯ve such good temper. But why do you have to be so polite to an insensible girl?¡±

    Fang Wei scolded her internally. Tang Yuan don¡¯t you dare drag me down with you. It¡¯s not about having a good temper, but rather this girl here could be someone neither of us can afford to offend! Before Tang Yuan continued making more mistakes, Fang Wei tried his luck. ¡°May I ask, are you Miss Xia?¡±

    This time, it was Jin Ling¡¯er who widened her eyes. This Director Fang was really good, he actually managed to guess Yingluo¡¯s identity? He was always so fierce and domineering on set, but he was oddly courteous to Yingluo. Could he have known her identity from the start?

    Xia Yingluo narrowed her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re smart.¡±

    Fang Wei could feel himself breaking out in cold sweat. It really was her! It was said that Li Lei doted on his wife and children to bits, and it was pretty obvious from the way Second Young Master Li Rui acted. There were less rumors about this little princess here, but seeing her sitting posture and demeanor, she probably wasn¡¯t anyone to trifle with. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you wereing, apologies for theck of respect.¡± Fang Wei smiled as widely as he could and hurriedly added, ¡°You should¡¯ve given us a notice that you wereing, I could¡¯ve sent someone, no, I could¡¯ve gone to pick you up.¡±

    The crew members and Tang Yuan were all stunned. Who exactly was this Miss Xia? She actually turned Director Fang into a polite andpliant man!

    Xia Yingluo was sitting cross-legged and dangling a leg as she spoke, ¡°Pick me up? It¡¯d be good enough that you don¡¯t chase me out.¡±

    With that, she swept a nce across Tang Yuan and the rest.

    Tang Yuan felt a bad omen. ¡°Brother Fang, who¡¯s this?¡± A true film queen indeed, she was already smiling while speaking to him. ¡°Hurry and introduce her to us.¡±

    Fang Wei nced at Xia Yingluo, and only cleared his throat after seeing that she didn¡¯t object to it. ¡°This is Miss Xia Yingluo from Skyart Entertainment, Mr. Li Lei¡¯s only daughter. Tang Yuan, hurry and say hi to Miss Xia.¡±

    Tang Yuan almost let out a gasp, while many others were in shock as well.

    From the way Fang Wei spoke, they¡¯d guessed that this girl was probably somebody from a good background, but they never would¡¯ve expected her to be of such high status. Skyart¡¯s Li Lei¡¯s only daughter! Everyone knew that Big Boss Li doted on his family immensely. For all they knew, just a few words from this girl could send the whole crew of them to hell!

    What was she doing here?!

 Chapter 1300

    Chapter 1300: Physique Problems

    Everyone was horrified, and Xiao Li and the rest were all annoyed. They wouldn¡¯t be retaliated against after scolding Xia Yingluo like that, right?

    Tang Yuan responded quickly. After a moment of stiffness, she smiled like a flower, stretching out two hands and wanting to shake hands with Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia, I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know it was you. Sit, sit, I¡¯ve offended you just now. Please don¡¯t hold it against me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was motionless and treated her as air.

    Tang Yuan withdrew her hand embarrassingly and instructed her assistant. ¡°Qiang Zi, aren¡¯t you going to make a cup of tea for Ms. Xia? Use the Biluochun we brought. It¡¯s this year¡¯s special new tea and is very good.¡±

    Qiang Zi answered, and went quickly.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°No need to worry about it. I¡¯ll go after looking around. Director Fang, when is Ling¡¯er going to end her filming? I¡¯ve taken a fancy to a piece of clothing and I want to find Ling¡¯er to help me look at it.¡± At this point, everyone was awkward staying here. She only had to support Jin Ling¡¯er so that they didn¡¯t provoke her in the future. As for the other things, she didn¡¯t want to care about them.

    Director Fang said, ¡°Ling¡¯er has few scenes only. We¡¯ll do it now.¡±

    He said to Tang Yuan, ¡°Tang Yuan, your filming will be moved to the afternoon. You can rest in the morning.¡±

    Originally, the roles of the main characters came first. Small characters like Jin Ling¡¯er got dressed in the morning and waited for them. Sometimes they had bad luck and had to wait for a whole day to shoot. But since Ms. Xia said she wanted to go shopping, who dared to dy her affairs? Naturally, the filming of Jin Ling¡¯er was done first, and even the movie queen had to stand aside. Tang Yuan was angry inside, but she clearly saw how much Xia Yingluo valued Jin Ling¡¯er and didn¡¯t want to incur bad luck.

    Immediately, Tang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°Okay, let me take a break and drink tea with Ms. Xia.¡±

    Fang Wei took Jin Ling¡¯er to start the filming and left Xia Yingluo sitting in a chair leisurely.

    Over there, Tang Yuan¡¯s assistant brought tea over and respectfully ced it in front of Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia, please have tea.¡±

    Xia Yingluo resented him for scolding her just now. She didn¡¯t even bat her eyshes and treated him as air. Qiang Zi¡¯s smile was a bit stiff, and he stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Many people in the crew stared at this side to watch the show. Who told Qiang Zi to offend so many people just because he was Tang Yuan¡¯s assistant? Everyone couldn¡¯t wait to see him run out of luck. At this time, seeing Xia Yingluo ignore him, many people were joyous over his cmity.

    Noticing her assistant¡¯s awkwardness, Tang Yuan quickly called him over and served the tea herself. ¡°Ms. Xia, drink tea.¡±

    She was really worthy of being the movie queen. Her smile was natural, her tone gentle, and her stance was low.

    But who was Xia Yingluo? She was a youngdy who had been pampered and prideful since young, so how could she simply let it go after being scolded for no reason and almost getting kicked out of the set? Also, she wasn¡¯t so easy to curry favor with. Could any random dog or cat curry favor with her?

    She beckoned and called over Xiao Li, who was standing at the side.

    Xiao Li had just offended her, and he quickly bowed and said, ¡°Ms. Xia, what orders do you have?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m tired, I want to be alone,¡± Xia Yingluo said to him. ¡°Help me keep guard and clear out those tactless idle people whoe here to curry favor with me.¡±

    Xiao Li¡¯s face turned green all of a sudden. Where were the idle and tactless people? There was only Tang Yuan, who was holding the teacup and trying to get along with Xia Yingluo! Hearing Xia Yingluo¡¯s words, she clearly wanted him to chase Tang Yuan away!

    Xiao Li almost wanted to cry. He couldn¡¯t mess with Xia Yingluo, but he also couldn¡¯t anger Tang Yuan!

    ¡°Ms. Xia, this...¡± He looked at Xia Yingluo awkwardly.

    Xia Yingluo was impatient. ¡°Why, don¡¯t you want to do it? It doesn¡¯t matter, call your director again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll do it,¡± Xiao Li said. What good would happen if Director Fang was rmed again? Xia Yingluo had given him such a tricky problem clearly to take revenge on him for insulting her just now. If he involved this tricky problem with Director Fang, wouldn¡¯t Director Fang peel his skin off? He still had to hang around with the crew in the future. What could he do if he was abandoned by Director Fang?

    One side was Xia Yingluo and Director Fang, and the other was Tang Yuan. After weighing the matter, Xiao Li made his decision.

    ¡°Sister Tang, sorry.¡± He smiled politely at Tang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to take a rest over there. I¡¯ll buy some fruit for youter.¡±

    When Tang Yuan saw this situation, she knew that she wouldn¡¯t be helping herself if she stayed longer.

    She hated Xia Yingluo for being so unfriendly, but on the surface, she showed a smile without losing her grace. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Then, she turned around and left.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s anger dissipated.

    Soon, Jin Ling¡¯er finished filming, and the two left the studio affectionately to go shopping.

    Jin Ling¡¯er held Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Yingluo, you were really cool today. Do you know how arrogant Tang Yuan is usually? It makes me so happy to see her being so low profile today, hahaha.¡± Even though she was the movie queen, Tang Yuan was difficult to serve. Many people in the crew hadined, and Jin Ling¡¯er was one of them. They would also meet with cmity if Tang Yuan couldn¡¯t be served well.

    Jin Ling¡¯er just wanted to apud Xia Yingluo for her fight today.

    Xia Yingluo was a little worried. ¡°Be careful, I¡¯m afraid she will take revenge on you.¡±

    She began to regret it. She shouldn¡¯t have lost her temper and not given Tang Yuan face. She was used to being a missy at home and learned from her mother and her two brothers who weren¡¯t afraid of the world¡¯s chaos and could walk around proudly, but she had forgotten that Jin Ling¡¯er still needed protection.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Rest assured. They now know that I¡¯m your friend, who would dare to make things difficult for me? Even Tang Yuan wouldn¡¯t dare.¡±

    When she said that, Xia Yingluo was slightly relieved. She told her to tell her if she encountered any bullying.

    Jin Ling¡¯erforted her a few more times, and then they happily went shopping.

    After shopping, Jin Ling¡¯er returned to the crew to film as usual.

    A few dayster, Xia Yingluo received news that she was sick and hospitalized.

    She rushed to the hospital to visit her, and saw Jin Ling¡¯er lying weakly on the hospital bed, her small face blushing scarlet. She touched Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s forehead, and her heat burned her hands. She said anxiously, ¡°Ling¡¯er, what¡¯s going on, what happened to you?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled forcefully. ¡°It¡¯s all right, there was a scene of jumping into the water. It was probably because the weather is too cold. After Inded, I caught a cold and burned into pneumonia without knowing.¡± She coughed a few times and gasped in difficulty.

    Xia Yingluo held her hand in distress. ¡°It¡¯s really hard for you to get into the water in such cold weather. And what¡¯s wrong with the crew? Why didn¡¯t they pay attention to the actor¡¯s physical well-being and prevent you from falling ill?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled bitterly. ¡°It¡¯s my physique problem, who¡¯s to me?¡±

 Chapter 1301

    <h4>Chapter 1301: What Medicine</h4>

    In fact, she had some suspicions in her heart that maybe it wasn¡¯t entirely due to her physique problems.

    When she was filming that scene, the staff didn¡¯t reveal much and only said to her, ¡°The script has been temporarily modified to add a scene where you are tied to the room. You just need to be scared and scream.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er had agreed but didn¡¯t expect them to set a fire outside the room. The whole room was burning, and she didn¡¯t know if it was a filming effect or something really unexpected. She was so pale and terrified that she screamed for help. The tongue of fire was close at hand, and she could feel the hot temperature and the sultry air taking her breath away. In just ten seconds, countless thoughts shed in her mind, and she even thought desperately whether she would die there...

    Until an actor rushed in to rescue her, cutting the rope binding her and leading her to escape through the window.

    She was on fire and was shocked and scared. The actor jumped into the pond behind the house, and the fire went out. She was fortunate not to be burned, but was soaked in the cold water in thete autumn for a long time and had even been shocked. Even though a staff member brought a nket in time afternding, she still fell ill.

    She had asked the director angrily, why didn¡¯t they tell her they were going to set a fire?

    Director Fang had been surprised. ¡°Why didn¡¯t they tell you?¡± He had then confronted the staff.

    The staff was a little scared and said, ¡°The fire is an on-site effect, and it would definitely be fine. I wanted to make the actor¡¯s response a little more realistic, but also to make the drama better, so I didn¡¯t say anything.¡± He then smiled apologetically at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Sorry Ling¡¯er, it¡¯s my fault.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was so angry that she wanted to cry. She scolded him, and the staff brought tea for her aspensation.

    She was wrapped in a nket, sitting in the corner of the set with a trembling chill, when she heard several actresses whispering, ¡°Did you see that Jin Ling¡¯er ordering Brother Zhao around like a dog? Brother Zhao worked hard for the crew and even had to give her face. What¡¯s so great about her, isn¡¯t she just Xia Yingluo¡¯s friend? She doesn¡¯t have anyone in her eyes.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and she even hurried the ginger soup just now. Did she fall into the water by herself? Look at Brother Wei, he¡¯s a big star, and went into the water with her at the same time, but is he as coquettish? After hearing that she was hurrying the ginger soup, Brother Zhao was afraid he would be put in a spot, so he gave his ginger soup to her.¡±

    The conversation between the people made Jin Ling¡¯er feel like there was a fishbone in her throat. She held the bowl of ginger soup and didn¡¯t know whether to drink it or not.

    She had been frightened and had a bad temper, so she was a little bit nasty to Brother Zhao. She had been too cold, so she had hurried the ginger soup. The ginger soup could be regarded as a standard feature of each cast actor after falling to water and was usually prepared. How was she to know that there was a problem in the kitchen today and the soup hadn¡¯t been prepared yet? The bowl in her hand was brought by Brother Wei¡¯s assistant. Brother Weiined it had gotten cold and just gave it to her, but it became rumored that she had thrown a tantrum!

    Jin Ling¡¯er was aggrieved and wanted to cry. She had a high fever that night.

    She also felt like this wasn¡¯t right. Too many coincidences hade together. They happened to change the script and the staff member happened to conceal the fire scene. And coincidentally, there was no hot ginger soup? Had it not been for these coincidences, she would not have been so ill!

    However, she didn¡¯t want to tell Xia Yingluo about all these spections.

    Many people in the cast were already jealous that she was a good friend of Xia Yingluo. She didn¡¯t want Xia Yingluo to help her again. She wanted to break through the entertainment world by herself, instead of bing a vassal of being good friends with Xia Yingluo. She wanted to be of equal standing to Yingluo, only then could she be qualified to be her true friend.

    Jin Ling¡¯er, in turn,forted Xia Yingluo. ¡°Rx, I only need to rest a few days.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was worried about another thing. ¡°What will happen to the crew if you rest a few days? Progress doesn¡¯t wait for people.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked dark. ¡°They¡¯ll probably find a substitute.¡± When she was taken to the hospital, she had heard the assistant director rmending a substitute to Director Fang. After all, she was only a small character, and it was impossible for her to dy the progress of the shooting. She couldn¡¯t afford the money burned every day.

    Xia Yingluo was not very happy, and she called Head Director Fang Wei to request him to move Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s filming to after her discharge.

    Fang Wei was very distressed and said with a smile, ¡°Ms. Xia, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to move it, but you see, Ling¡¯er has to film with many big shots and their schedules are really tight. It¡¯s really impossible to move it... how about asking President Du?¡±

    He kicked the ball to President Du.

    Xia Yingluo also owned an entertainmentpany and knew how much extra money the crew would incur if she dyed the filming. She said, ¡°I¡¯ll go to Mr. Du.¡± She figured that if she helped Jin Ling¡¯er pay the money, wouldn¡¯t Brother Du Zheng be more amodating?

    The phone rang.

    It was Wei Lingnan asking her what she was doing.

    Xia Yingluo was in no mood to quarrel with him and told him her troubles in a moody tone. Wei Lingnan said, ¡°It¡¯s not a big thing. Such small illnesses like cold fever and pneumonia will be cured after using my medicine. Wait for me, I¡¯ll bring the medicine now.¡±

    Xia Yingluo then remembered what her boyfriend did. The world¡¯s top biopharmaceuticalpany has the most advanced medicinal materials.

    She waited for a while at the hospital door, and sure enough, she saw a ck sports car stopping outside. A man with a long figure and a white shirt stepped out of the car gracefully, stood in front of her, and smiled down. ¡°Yingluo.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be polite with me.¡± Wei Lingnan handed the medicine to her. The two thin white tablets in a transparent small bottle looked no different from ordinary medicine. ¡°Eat one at noon and one at night, and it will bepletely cured the next day. ¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at the medicine and asked, ¡°What kind of medicine is it? No side effects?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the name.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°No side effects. I won¡¯t hurt your friends.¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought it too. If he wanted to kill Jin Ling¡¯er, when Jin Ling¡¯er was almost killed by Pei Yanst time, he could have just turned a blind eye and not saved her, so why had he bothered saving her? So she took the medicine, said thank you again, and turned away.

    ¡°Yingluo.¡± Wei Lingnan called.

    She turned back. ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°... No.¡± Wei Lingnan let her go.

    Watching her leave, he had an illusion, as if in her eyes, he was so insignificant that even a human friend weighed more...

    His expression gradually faded.

    Xia Yingluo gave the medicine to Jin Ling¡¯er and told her that the medicine would make her better soon and she could go back to film. Jin Ling¡¯er believed in Xia Yingluo and ate it without any doubt. The result was contrary to her wishes. The next day, her condition worsened and she was unconscious on the bed.

    Xia Yingluo called Wei Lingnan anxiously and angrily. ¡°What on earth did you give her! How could her illness be more serious?!¡±

 Chapter 1302

    Chapter 1302: Wei Lingnan Isn¡¯t Picky

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Wait for me at the hospital, I¡¯lle right away.¡±

    By the time he arrived, Jin Ling¡¯er had already received a new round of treatments and was sleeping on the bed with her eyes closed. The heat had yet topletely subside. Wei Lingnan checked the situation of Jin Ling¡¯er under Xia Yingluo¡¯s worried eyes. He straightened his back, his expression a little unpredictable.

    Xia Yingluo asked him anxiously, ¡°How is it?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her, his voice faint. ¡°If your friend is ill, was your first response to me me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a few seconds. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that.¡± Wasn¡¯t Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s rpse due to the medicine? However, he was the one who told her that she would get better after taking the medicine. Since it turned out like this, who wouldn¡¯t think that it was because of the medicine?

    Wei Lingnan smiled slightly, with a little coldness in his eyes.

    Xia Yingluo felt that something was wrong. The man was moody and looked like he was going to explode again.

    Xia Yingluo became nervous and said to him carefully, ¡°Isn¡¯t it your medicine?¡±

    ¡°It seems I was too nosy.¡± Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t answer her and only said, ¡°My kindness was treated otherwise. Since you don¡¯t trust me, why should I do anything to rescue her?¡± After that, he turned and left.

    Xia Yingluo held onto him. ¡°Wei Lingan!¡± She didn¡¯t dare to let him go like this. She hadn¡¯t figured out what happened to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s sudden deterioration. Even if it wasn¡¯t caused by his medicine, who knew if there was a drug conflict with the hospital¡¯s treatment n? It was a matter of life and death, and she didn¡¯t dare to be too careless, so she had to say good words to Wei Lingnan. ¡°I was wrong. I shouldn¡¯t have doubted you. Don¡¯t just leave it like that.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was a little cold. ¡°Let go.¡±

    Xia Yingluo grasped him tightly, her eyes pleading with him.

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Xia Yingluo, I¡¯m not a dog that you can call and wave away. You think of me whenever you need help, and you throw me aside when you think I have no more value. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s too snobbish?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. She had never thought of it like that before.

    However, if she thought about it carefully, it turned out that, except for the few times that Jin Ling¡¯er needed treatment and she had to take the initiative to find Wei Lingnan, even when Wei Lingnan appeared in front of her, she had found it annoying.

    ¡°I apologize,¡± she said.

    Wei Lingnan still sneered and looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re apologizing so unwilling. Have I wronged you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo wanted to grab something and hit him directly on the face. This person didn¡¯t even think that there was a reason as to why she treated him like that. He even felt wronged. But for Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s sake, she had to yield and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m not unwilling. Tell me, how can I get you to continue helping?¡±

    The room was very quiet. Suddenly, Wei Lingnan reached out and raised her white and delicate chin.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart missed a beat, but she didn¡¯t dare move.

    The man in front lowered his head and kissed her with his cold lips. It was tempting at first, but it soon turned into a domineering kiss. Xia Yingluo was choked by his kiss, and her braincked oxygen. Instinctively, her hands climbed up to his back, and it was probably this gesture that pleased him. His mania gradually became gentle, and he finally fell silent.

    ¡°This is interest,¡± he said in her ear. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you owe me a favor. I¡¯ll think about how you can repay me.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t good to owe this perverted beast a favor, but now, Xia Yingluo had no choice.

    She gritted her teeth and agreed. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled, but the smile was still cold. How much could the girl in front of him sacrifice for her friend? In her eyes, did anyone really matter more than him, Wei Lingnan?

    Xia Yingluo noticed the moody atmosphere around him, but she didn¡¯t know why. No matter how much she talked, she was still in the wrong, so she stood aside honestly, and watched as Wei Lingnan examined Jin Ling¡¯er in her bed again.

    This time Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t dare ask him how she was, she just stared at him eagerly.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her small appearance, and an unknown fire rose in his heart again. His voice was even colder. ¡°Is your friend an idiot?¡±

    Xia Yingluo wanted to scold that he was the idiot, but she looked at Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression and didn¡¯t dare to. ¡°Yes, yes, yes, how could Jing¡¯er be smarter than you?¡± She sucked up to him carefully and asked, ¡°Is there anything wrong with her?¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t continue to make things difficult on her this time and simply said, ¡°She¡¯s not having chills caused by a cold, but pneumonia caused by viral cold, so my medicine didn¡¯t work. Your friend must have been exposed to something infected with the virus.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned and didn¡¯t expect the truth to be the case.

    ¡°But she fell into the water and caught a cold,¡± she said.

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Your entertainment circle is so chaotic. Can you guarantee that someone didn¡¯t harm her?¡±

    Xia Yingluo originally wanted to refute but found that Wei Lingnan was right. Who could tell what happened in the crew? The only person who knew was Jin Ling¡¯er. Xia Yingluo sighed and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Thank you foring to see her. It¡¯ste, you...¡± She wanted to tell Wei Lingnan to go back to rest, but when she saw his gloomyplexion, she thought of his phrase, ¡°Come immediately as you wish or go as soon as you wanted,¡± and swallowed back her words. ¡°You came here in such a hurry, have you had lunch yet?¡± She changed the subject subtly. ¡°I know there¡¯s a good restaurant near the hospital. Let¡¯s eat together?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression improved, and he went to the restaurant with her.

    It was past mealtime, and the restaurant was not very lively. The waiter came over and asked them what they wanted to eat.

    Wei Lingnan ordered a few things, but they were all her favorite dishes. She couldn¡¯t help but nce at him, wondering if this was a coincidence? Only then did she suddenly realize that she never knew what Wei Lingnan loved to eat, and she knew very little about him.

    ¡°What do you like to eat?¡± She asked cautiously.

    Wei Lingnan nced at her, making Xia Yingluo inexplicably nervous.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean anything else,¡± she exined, adding, ¡°You are my boyfriend, but I don¡¯t even know what you like to eat. It¡¯s too much.¡±

    At this time, hearty dishes were served.

    Wei Lingnan picked up the tableware to eat gracefully and said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing I particrly like to eat.¡± Back then, the conditions on the Skatana were bad. He just ate whatever was avable, how could he be picky? This formed a good habit of not being a picky eater, so how could it be so easy to change in millions of years?

    Xia Yingluo also seemed to remember what kind of environment he grew up in. Suddenly, slight sympathy glimmered in her eyes. This man didn¡¯t have an easy life. ¡°I¡¯ll cook for you if I have the chance,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°You will definitely find your favorite food.¡±

 Chapter 1303

    Chapter 1303: Secret Transaction

    Wei Lingnan nced at her without speaking, but his expression became soft.

    The meal was strangely harmonious. After finishing the meal, Xia Yingluo was worried about Jin Ling¡¯er and returned to the hospital to visit her. Wei Lingnan was uneasy about her, so he followed her back to the hospital. The two walked on the long corridor of the hospital. The medical staff and patients who came and went all took second nces at them. He was so handsome, and she was so beautiful. Standing together, they were like a perfect picture.

    Back in the ward, Jin Ling¡¯er was awake. She held the mobile phone and was scolding while looking at something. ¡°Asshole, really a group of assholes! I¡¯m obviously sick, how am I throwing my weight around?! I¡¯m furious!¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her, surprised. ¡°Jing¡¯er, you finally woke up?¡±

    ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re here?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er looked up at her friend and quickly put down her phone. She looked up and smiled. ¡°The doctor said I¡¯m fine, you can rest assured. I only have to rest here for a while more.¡±

    After hearing what she said, Xia Yingluo was relieved.

    She sat next to her bed and asked, ¡°Why are you so angry? With whom?¡±

    Speaking of this, Jin Ling¡¯er was furious and showed her mobile phone. ¡°Yingluo, look at this, that group of tabloid reporters is too much! They randomly said that I¡¯m a neer who threw my weight around, and was only in the crew for a few days before I gotzy and didn¡¯t look for a substitute. They said I rely on my friend and can¡¯t even do my role well as an actor, it¡¯s so infuriating!¡±

    Xia Yingluo patted her shoulder in reassurance and leaned her head over to read the report. They were very overboard with their writing.

    She couldn¡¯t help but raise her eyebrows at this. How could something that happened the day before yesterday spread out so quickly? Even if the show was a big production and paparazzi often came in to detect the situation, the news had spread too fast. Jin Ling¡¯er had yet to officially release her work and it was definitely not a good thing to set up an image of a bale that soared through rtionships and didn¡¯t work seriously.

    Thinking of the viral incident that Wei Lingnan said, Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Jing¡¯er, did you offend someone? Or maybe I offended Tang Yuan the other day, and they waited for revenge?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t think about this possibility and was stunned. ¡°How could they? They... wouldn¡¯t be so bad?¡± Tang Yuan was the one who had put Xia Yingluo on the spot first that day, and Xia Yingluo had only retaliated. If they wanted to take revenge like this, they were simply too narrow-minded.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°There is no lower limit for a person¡¯s vileness.¡± She told her about Wei Lingnan¡¯s spection about the virus infection and asked her, ¡°What have youe into contact with that day that might carry viruses?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned, and she took a long while to say, ¡°Is it really a virus infection?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nced at Wei Lingnan, who had been silent in the ward.

    Wei Lingnan looked indifferent. ¡°It is definitely a virus infection.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Wei Family¡¯s biopharmaceutical technology is very powerful. If he says so, then it must be so.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t believe in Wei Lingnan, but since her good friend said so, she believed her good friend¡¯s judgment and sighed. ¡°This group of people is really very ferocious.¡± She thought for a while. ¡°That day, I didn¡¯t touch anything special... the only thing was when they gave me a nket after I got ashore from the water. I started sneezing not long after I put on that nket.¡±

    ¡°Do you still have it?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    Jin Ling¡¯er shook her head nkly.

    Wei Lingnan interrupted. ¡°If it was really the nket, they would have destroyed it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought and asked Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Who was the one who gave you the nket? I¡¯ll find someone to investigate, and seek justice for you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er told her the name.

    Xia Yingluo took her hand regretfully. ¡°Jing¡¯er, I¡¯m sorry, it all happened because of me.¡± If she didn¡¯t have a conflict with Tang Yuan, the group wouldn¡¯t think of taking revenge on Jin Ling¡¯er. Jin Ling¡¯er was a little neer who had just debuted and was helpless, so how was she an opponent of the movie queen?

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°You are a good friend of mine, why would I nitpick with you? I originally invited you to visit the film scene, but you were scolded for nothing. I should be the guilty one. Besides, it might not be to take revenge against you, maybe I identally offended someone.¡±

    In any case, the conclusion would be reached when it was investigated.

    Xia Yingluo helped her scold Tang Yuan and the others and also scolded the tabloid reporters. But she was still angry.

    The person she sent to investigate was very efficient, and the result was given that evening. Tang Yuan had instructed people to do it.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take revenge!¡± Xia Yingluo said angrily.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little apprehensive. ¡°Forget it, don¡¯t make trouble for me.¡±

    ¡°Why is it for you?¡± Xia Yingluo was afraid of her psychological burden and took matters into her own hands. ¡°They only did something to you because they hate me, they¡¯re pping me in the face! If I don¡¯t take revenge, I won¡¯t be called Xia Yingluo!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    There was a knock at the door.

    The two girls looked up and saw a serious man in a suit standing in the doorway. It was Du Zheng.

    ¡°President Du.¡±

    ¡°Brother Du Zheng.¡±

    The two girls said hello, and Wei Lingnan, who was always with Xia Yingluo, only nced at Du Zheng and said nothing.

    Du Zheng walked to the bed and seemed a little stiff. ¡°I heard that you were ill. Let me take a look. Are you better?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said politely, ¡°Much better. Thank you for your concern, President Du.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was not so polite and red at him. ¡°Brother Du Zheng, what¡¯s the matter with you? You snatched her into your Du Firm and this is just her first film after debut, but you did this to her. Are you deliberately picking on her?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Du Zheng said.

    He had a headache. Judging Jin Ling¡¯er with his professional vision, she may not be qualified. The reason why Du Firm had snatched this girl up was that she had been entrusted by Li Lei. Li Lei didn¡¯t want his daughter¡¯s good friend to fall to Imperial Entertainment. He was afraid that her daughter would be restrained in the future, but it was too obvious to snatch her away to Skyart Entertainment. She would see through his intentions, so he had topromise and entrust her to Du Zheng.

    It was better for her daughter¡¯s friend to fall into Du Firm than to fall to Imperial.

    That was why Du Zheng signed Jin Ling¡¯er.

    However, this secret agreement with Li Lei was kept a secret from the girls.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t take good care of you,¡± Du Zheng said to Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little apprehensive. ¡°President Du, you are very kind.¡±

    ¡°Kind? I think Ling¡¯er is too kind.¡± Xia Yingluo was familiar with the Du family since a young age and was not so apprehensive. She looked at Du Zheng and said, ¡°Brother Du Zheng, let me tell you, Ling¡¯er isn¡¯t just sick this time. She was framed by Tang Yuan, what are you going to do?¡±

 Chapter 1304

    Chapter 1304: Loyal

    Du Zheng frowned secretly. It was a little tricky, he didn¡¯t expect Tang Yuan to be involved.

    Tang Yuan was a famous movie queen and was the heroine of this movie. The box office of this y was supported by her. If Tang Yuan was moved at such a time, it was likely to ruin the whole show. He was a businessman, and it was a taboo to do things on a whim.

    Jin Ling¡¯er seemed to notice his difficulty and she pulled her friend. ¡°Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was upset. ¡°I¡¯m seeking justice for you.¡±

    Du Yan looked at the two girls in front of him and made a decision. ¡°This show can¡¯t move Tang Yuan, but I will give you an exnation when the show is finished.¡± Big stars oppressed neers from time to time, so who would think anything of it? Today, it was Jin Ling¡¯er and Xia Yingluo. If it were other people, Du Zheng might still suspect that they were making unreasonable trouble. How would they survive in the entertainment industry if they couldn¡¯t even stand this grievance?

    Which big star of today didn¡¯t suffer humiliation when they were neers?

    Xia Yingluo insisted. ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait until the year of the monkey. Brother Du Zheng, can you be more sincere?¡± She was already wondering if she should find someone to put Tang Yuan in a sack and hit her. It was best to injure her face and make it swell so that she couldn¡¯t film either.

    Jin Ling¡¯er hurriedly called her. ¡°Yingluo.¡± She really didn¡¯t want to see her good friend make things difficult for someone else for her. She was an insignificant little neer and was very ufortable to be treated in such a precious way.

    Du Zheng looked at her and, for some reason, there was a hint of unclearness in his heart. Some girls, such as Xia Yingluo, could live wildly and publicly. Even if they were self-indulgent, they were held in the palm of other people¡¯s hands. What about Jin Ling¡¯er? Even if it was to assert her right, she had to be careful. He was inexplicably a little irritable and said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°We can¡¯t move Tang Yuan at this time. What do you want other than that, I¡¯ll help you find a way.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er nced at him and seemed to be judging the truth of his words. After all, the two had only a few connections, and they were not familiar.

    After thinking about it, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to use a stand-in, I want to finish the show myself. Let me go back to the studio, Mr. Du.¡± Didn¡¯t those tabloid reporters said that she wasn¡¯t dedicated? She would be dedicated and show them once and for all! In any case, it was the role that she had taken, so she would finish shooting even if she was sick!

    ¡°You¡¯re so sick, I won¡¯t allow it.¡± Du Zheng refused without thinking.

    There were actors who filmed even while ill, but for some unknown reason, Du Zheng didn¡¯t want Jin Ling¡¯er to do the same.

    Xia Yingluo also advised. ¡°Jing¡¯er, you still have a fever. How could you shoot when you¡¯re ill? Take some rest.¡±

    While talking, she turned to Du Zheng. ¡°Brother Du Zheng, you can dy Ling¡¯er¡¯s shoot for a few days. As for the loss, I will make up for it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was startled. ¡°No! Yingluo.¡± She also knew how much the crew needed to pay for an extra day. Xia Yingluo¡¯s kindness was too great. She didn¡¯t want her friend to burn so much money for herself.

    Du Zheng calcted it and thought that this might not be feasible. Businessmen sought to profit. As long as someone could make up the shortfall, it could be dyed for a few days. But he nced at Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s anxious face and asked, ¡°You don¡¯t want to?¡± After all, this time they were helping Jin Ling¡¯er. If she didn¡¯t want to do it herself, it wouldn¡¯t be a good thing.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was anxious. ¡°I want to shoot myself, but I don¡¯t want others to say that I only relied on you. Yingluo, thank you for your kindness, but you¡¯ll only make me feel guilty.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Xia Yingluo was also tangled. She couldn¡¯t really let Tang Yuan have her way and rece Jin Ling¡¯er with a substitute when she had won the role after much difficulty?

    She was deadlocked when suddenly she heard Wei Lingnan chuckling.

    Everyone turned back to look at him.

    ¡°What are youughing at?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    Wei Lingnan said stubbornly, ¡°Why is it so troublesome? Isn¡¯t it easier to let her shoot healthily? I can give her another medicine, and it will take effect immediately after taking it.¡± He looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°There are no side effects this time.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was hesitant after remembering how Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition had worsened after taking his medicinest time.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Thest time you didn¡¯t figure out the symptoms, and you took the viral infection as a cold. This time, it¡¯s for sure.¡±

    Xia Yingluo believed in Wei Lingnan. His amazing origins and high-tech were very amazing, but this was not her body, after all. It was Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s. Jin Ling¡¯er had experienced failure once. Did she still trust him?

    She couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er also looked at her. ¡°Yingluo, do you believe in Wei Lingnan?¡±

    Xia Yingluo hesitated and nodded. Although this man was sometimes ridiculous, there was nothing wrong with what he said.

    So Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°If you believe him, then I believe him too.¡±

    ¡°Ling¡¯er.¡± Xia Yingluo whispered.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her calmly. ¡°He¡¯s your boyfriend. I certainly believe in your vision. Besides, there¡¯s no better way, isn¡¯t it?¡± No matter what, it was a smaller loss for Xia Yingluo if she got the medicine from Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo hesitated and nodded.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯ll get people to take the medicine.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Just when everyone was preparing to give Jin Ling¡¯er the medicine, Du Zheng opened his mouth firmly.

    Xia Yingluo nced at him in surprise.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also surprised. ¡°President Du?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not a doctor?¡± Du Zheng stared straight at Wei Lingnan. ¡°I can¡¯t let her take your medicine.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said nothing and raised his eyebrows gently.

    ¡°Mr. Du!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er called out. ¡°Nothing will happen. I won¡¯t make the crew responsible if anything happens! I just want to rush back to filming early!¡±

    Du Zheng¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°No.¡± Why, she thought he wouldn¡¯t let her take medication because he was afraid that she would make the crew take responsibility? This recognition made Du Zheng even more irritable.

    Xia Yingluo was not happy. ¡°She can¡¯t do this nor that, what are you doing, Brother Du Zheng? Are you here to visit Ling¡¯er or to provoke her? Are you a spy sent by Tang Yuan!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a spy sent by Tang Yuan.¡± Du Zheng exined it seriously and groaned before he said, ¡°I will tell the crew to push back Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s shoot without having to stand in for her. Take care of yourself here, and you¡¯ll be discharged when you¡¯re fine.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er opened her eyes wide.

    What did that mean, did he know how much money this would burn?

    ¡°You...¡± She looked at Du Zheng, stuttering speechlessly.

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°That¡¯s right, at least you¡¯re loyal.¡±

 Chapter 1305

    <h4>Chapter 1305: How Should She Thank Him</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve been with you for a day, I should leave now. Brother Du Zheng, please apany Ling¡¯er for dinner. She¡¯s still sick and needs someone to take care of her.¡±

    Not many people in this entire world dared to get Du Zheng to care for a patient, but Xia Yingluo happened to be one of them. Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t feel at ease. ¡°No, I¡¯m all right...¡±

    But Du Zheng said, ¡°Sure.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and took her leave with Wei Lingnan.

    Jin Ling¡¯er and Du Zheng were left in the quiet ward. Du Zheng was dressed very prim, making his presence rather suffocating. Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t feelfortable with him around and simply smiled while trying to make conversation. ¡°Um, Chairman Du, thank you foring to see me.¡±

    Du Zheng was calm as usual. ¡°You¡¯re an artiste under our firm, it¡¯s only right that Ie to visit you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er did not know how to continue the conversation. They did not know each other well and it was indeed difficult to findmon topics.

    Du Zheng probably felt the awkwardness too. He asked, ¡°So, how are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Way better than when I was sent to the hospital. I¡¯ll try my best to recover quickly and get discharged as soon as possible.¡± On that note, she recalled that Du Zheng spent a lot of money to dy the filming, and added, ¡°Chairman Du, I¡¯m so sorry, the production team has to bear so much losses because of me.¡± She knew that given her poprity and performance level, the production team was making a loss this time.

    Du Zheng was unfazed. ¡°This is my choice, you don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er quietly lowered her head.

    She knew very well that if it wasn¡¯t for Xia Yingluo, he wouldn¡¯t have seen anything in her.

    Outside the ward, the nurse was wheeling a tray to deliver dinner.

    Du Zheng took her lunchbox to get her some porridge and softer foods and then brought it to her on the tray.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°This is too much of an inconvenience to you, Chairman Du. How could I let you take care of me? How about this, you can just leave first.¡±

    ¡°I gave Yingluo my word,¡± Du Zheng said. ¡°I¡¯ll leave when you¡¯re done eating.¡±

    Since he was so insistent, there wasn¡¯t much more that Jin Ling¡¯er could say, so she picked up her spoon to start eating. The nutritious meals in the hospital were awful, and with someone as serious as Du Zheng watching her, she found it hard to swallow her food. Eventually, she couldn¡¯t take the atmosphere in the ward and her suppressed feelings. She looked up at Du Zheng and said, ¡°Chairman Du, you really don¡¯t have to listen to what Yingluo says. Whether it¡¯s spending money to dy the filming, or apanying me as I eat, Yingluo is simply too worried for me, but I¡¯m not so fragile and delicate. You¡¯re a busy man, there¡¯s no need to spend so much time on me.¡±

    Du Zheng was slightly stunned that she was being so serious. He looked at her quietly.

    Since he was young, countless girls had tried to get close to him and create opportunities to interact with him privately. He¡¯d never seen a girl like her who¡¯d chase him away when she could¡¯ve made good use of this time together. This girl had given him too many surprises, ever since their first encounter¡ªshe¡¯d looked so pathetic but was ferociously trying to defend her friend. She was so stubborn, so headstrong and so brave, he had kept his eyes on her.

    This time in the ward, it was yet another surprise.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like seeing me?¡± He asked.

    ¡°No, no.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was about to get incoherent. How could she not like seeing him? No... she actually really didn¡¯t like seeing him. This man had such a suffocating presence, one that was different from Yingluo¡¯s rather mysterious boyfriend. This Du Zheng before her had a different presence, one that was serious and made her sit up straight whenever he was around.

    She wasn¡¯t quite used to it.

    Du Zheng did not understand what she was thinking.

    He furrowed his brows slightly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er thought that he was angry and hurriedly said, ¡°Really, I don¡¯t dislike seeing you! It¡¯s just, I don¡¯t want to rely on Yingluo for everything. You have no choice but to take care of me because Yingluo got you to, and that makes me feel... very useless.¡± She was visibly upset as she said this.

    So that was the case.

    Du Zheng was surprised by her mindset¡ªmost other people would likely fight for their best interests if they could be good friends with Yingluo.

    Seemed like Yingluo had good judgement.

    ¡°Putting your rtionship with Yingluo aside, you¡¯re an artiste under me too.¡± Du Zheng calmly exined, ¡°I personally invited you to join our firm, and personally instructed the production crew not to make things difficult for you. What they¡¯ve done now not only shows that they¡¯re deliberately being mean to you, but more importantly, that they¡¯re defying me. I¡¯m here to visit you so they know that you¡¯re not just anyone they can trample on. Let the filming be dyed for a bit and have the profit sink a little. The director needs to be taught a lesson, anyway.¡±

    That seemed like a high-sounding excuse.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was slightly skeptical. Was this really the case?

    Wouldn¡¯t they treat her better only because they were afraid of him?

    She was processing all of this in her head as she looked up at Du Zheng cautiously. This man¡¯s expression was unreadable. Forget it, there was no way he would leave now, so she might as well try and enjoy hispany. Jin Ling¡¯er smiled. ¡°Chairman Du, you haven¡¯t eaten dinner too, right? Shall we eat together? The nutritious meal in here is awful, let¡¯s eat outside, okay?¡±

    The sudden uplift in her mood surprised him, but all he said was, ¡°Not okay.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s smile was left frozen on her face.

    ¡°You¡¯re a patient, you need the nutritious meal.¡± Du Zheng saw her face crumble. ¡°The food outside isn¡¯t so healthy, tomorrow I¡¯ll bring you some food cooked by the Du family chef.¡±

    ¡°Huh, you¡¯reing again tomorrow?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was taken aback.

    Du Zheng was also surprised by his words, but since he¡¯d already said it, he went along and nodded solemnly. ¡°As I said, you¡¯re an artiste under me. I should take care of you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was speechless. Would any big boss treat his insignificant employee this way?! It must¡¯ve been Yingluo¡¯s instruction!

    Both of them were in their own bubble as they spent the evening together.

    Perhaps it was the meticulous care on the hospital¡¯s end, or maybe it was Du Zheng¡¯spany, but Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition improved in just a few days. She went back to filming as soon as she was discharged.

    This time, it was Du Zheng who sent her to the filming location. When they appeared together, everyone went silent and knew exactly what it meant¡ªthe big boss was here as a backing for this small artiste. Tang Yuan seemed pretty unhappy to see this. Xia Yingluo might be the daughter of Li Lei from Skyart, but it was Du Zheng who had full control of how many scenes she got in her film, and how much resources she was allocated for publicity. Seeing the warning look in his eye, Tang Yuan dared not cause more trouble.

    The subsequent filming went on well without hups.

    Xia Yingluo was happy to see that Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s filming was going smoothly, and it hit her that Wei Lingnan had put in much effort into this. She felt that she owed him a thank-you.

    How should she thank him...

    She thought about it for a while...

    Oh right, didn¡¯t she mention making him something personally? She could prepare some desserts.

 Chapter 1306

    Chapter 1306: Dessert and a Scarf

    She decided to get down to it as soon as she thought about it. Sheid out tons of ingredients in the kitchen and began working on her mission, the sweet smell of caramel and butter filling the air.

    Li Rui stopped at the door of the kitchen and smiled. ¡°How very rare to see you prepare dessert. People indeed change when they have a boyfriend.¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned to look at him in her apron with bear prints. ¡°Don¡¯t you eat that cherry! I took a long time picking that out!¡±

    Li Rui casually popped a cherry into his mouth. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just for Wei Lingnan, I¡¯d be too nice to him if I don¡¯t have some for myself.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him.

    Li Rui smiled easily and teased. ¡°This generation is really worse than thest. Why don¡¯t you learn from our mom? Look at how she manages to get our dad to pamper her, he doesn¡¯t even let her do anything in the kitchen. Why is it that for you, you¡¯re having the shorter end of the stick?¡±

    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you learn from our dad?¡± Xia Yingluo rebutted. ¡°You¡¯re sozy.¡±

    Li Rui kept smiling. The sun rays that fell on him made him look especially carefree and handsome.

    Xia Yingluo cut opened the cherry attentively and carefully ced it on the butter.

    Li Rui asked her, ¡°All of this for that man, is it worth it?¡±

    ¡°Even if a stranger helps you, you should give him a little gift in return.¡± Xia Yingluo was so focused, she did not even look up at him. ¡°Oh right, how did you know this is for Wei Lingnan?¡±

    ¡°Because he definitely isn¡¯t a stranger to you.¡± Li Ruiughed. ¡°If it really was a stranger, you¡¯d just get the butler to buy some wine or such.¡±

    This Second Brother knew her too well.

    The uracy of his words had stunned her a little as she shook her head with a smile. Perhaps this was fate, this was just what it was like to find somebody she liked¡ªalthough he was an alien, often unreasonable and absurd, she was attracted to him irrationally.

    Once the dessert was done, she packed it in the most exquisite box and brought it to the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group.

    It was the thick of fall and dried leaves were all over the streets.

    She had nned to give him a surprise and hence, hadn¡¯t told him that she wasing. However, when she went to the front desk, thedy told her, ¡°Miss Xia, you may wait in the guest room for a while. Chairman Wei is busy at the moment.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s he busy with?¡± She asked.

    It was just a casual question, but thedy at the front desk appeared hesitant to respond.

    This piqued Xia Yingluo¡¯s curiosity instead and she said, ¡°I¡¯m going in to look for him now. Don¡¯t you tell on me, you hear me?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Thedy was put in a spot. She was part of the Wei Group and she¡¯d be fired if she didn¡¯t do her job well!

    As if she could read her mind, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°If you offend me, you¡¯ll be fired all the same.¡±

    Thedy knew that Chairman Wei paid special attention to this girl and was caught in an even worse position now.

    Xia Yingluo dropped her onest line. ¡°But if you tell me what Wei Lingnan is doing right now, I could consider letting you off.¡±

    After weighing out the pros and the cons, thedy at the front desk said, ¡°Miss Gu Jinxiu is here. She¡¯s speaking to Chairman Wei now.¡±

    Well, Chairman Wei did not instruct her to keep this a secret, so it should be alright to tell Miss Xia? But of these two rich and beautifuldies, one was Wei Lingnan¡¯s self-dered fiancee, while the other was rumored to be in an ambiguous rtionship with Wei Lingnan. Many had guessed that they were in an awful love triangle, and who knew if they¡¯d fight when they saw each other?

    Gu Jinxiu is here?

    Xia Yingluo felt a prick to the heart. It bothered her.

    She looked down at the dessert in her hands. Well well, Wei Lingnan, I spent so much time and effort preparing this for you, but you¡¯re in there with another woman!

    She turned around and said to the chauffeur, ¡°Uncle Sun, could you help me keep an eye on thisdy? Don¡¯t let her tell on me.¡±

    The chauffeur nodded in acknowledgment.

    Thedy at the front desk looked shocked, ¡°Miss Xia, didn¡¯t you say you were going to let me off?¡±

    ¡°I said I¡¯d consider, I didn¡¯t say I definitely would let you off.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. Having been pampered since she was born, she was inevitably a little wilful. However, she considered the pains of a white-cor worker as well. ¡°By getting the chauffeur to keep an eye on you, I¡¯m letting you off, so that Chairman Wei wouldn¡¯t me anything on you. If he fires you, juste over to Skyart¡ªyour pay will be raised. Will that do?¡±

    In just a minute, thedy at the front desk went from being upset to being filled with gratitude.

    A pay raise, who wouldn¡¯t want that?

    She stayed at the front desk and really did not attempt anything under the chauffeur¡¯s watchful eyes.

    Xia Yingluo hade several times and knew which story Wei Lingnan¡¯s office was on. She quietly made her way there.

    She managed to evade any surveince that could trigger the security system¡¯s rm and arrived at the door.

    She could hear Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voiceing from inside¡ª¡±Lingnan, it¡¯s been getting chillytely. I knitted you a scarf, see if you like it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was enraged. Who was this woman to knit a scarf for her boyfriend?! She carefully peeped in through the gap at the door and saw that Gu Jinxiu was in an elegant knitted top and a skirt, and had on some makeup. She was looking at Wei Lingnan with those longing eyes as she held the scarf in her hands. Xia Yingluo could tell that it was of very good material and had wonderful workmanship; it must have taken her a lot of effort toplete this.

    Wei Lingnan did not reach out to receive it. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do all these.¡±

    Xia Yingluo could feel some of her anger dispel. Hmph, at least he had a conscience and knew that he shouldn¡¯t ept gifts from other women.

    But Gu Jinxiu appeared wronged. ¡°Lingnan, what did I do to deserve this treatment from you? We¡¯ve been alright together for years, but ever since you met Xia Yingluo, everything has changed. I know she¡¯s younger than me and prettier than me, b-but who in this world would love you more than I do?¡± Her eyes went red as she spoke.

    Xia Yingluo wasughing on the inside. Hmph, how pretentious!

    Wei Lingnan was unfazed. ¡°This has nothing to do with Yingluo, you can bring your things back.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so close to apuding Wei Lingnan, this was her boyfriend no less!

    But Gu Jinxiu wouldn¡¯t ept it. ¡°Lingnan!¡±

    ¡°Take your scarf with you.¡± Wei Lingnan sounded cold andposed. ¡°Gu Jinxiu, if you leave now, we can still be civil with each other in the future. Don¡¯t do things that make me detest you.¡±

    At this point, Gu Jinxiu went a little pale. Having been with Wei Lingnan for a few years, she knew very well that he meant what he said.

 Chapter 1307

    Chapter 1307: Proposal

    This man was quite scary when he was serious.

    Although she was unwilling, Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t help it, so she lowered her head, picked up his scarf, and said, ¡°I¡¯m going, take care.¡±

    She turned around and left. Even at this time, her posture was as elegant as andscape. However, as soon as she walked to the door, she saw Xia Yingluo. Gu Jinxiu froze slightly, and in an instant, anger rose in her heart. Had this woman been hiding by the door and eavesdropping? Had she seen her embarrass herself?

    ¡°Ms. Xia, what are you sneaking around for?¡± Her voice was a little cold.

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly and shook the snacks in her hand happily. ¡°How is it sneaky when I¡¯vee to bring snacks to my boyfriend? I think it¡¯s you who¡¯s behaving sneakily, Ms. Gu. You¡¯re only suspicious of everyone because you¡¯re guilty. You don¡¯t even know how to avoid suspicion as a single woman, why did you run to someone else¡¯s boyfriend to give him a scarf?¡±

    She indeed heard it.

    Shame and anger spread in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart.

    But she was really worthy of being ady. Gu Jinxiu quickly controlled her emotions, smiled slightly, and lowered her voice to say, ¡°You¡¯re here, no wonder Lingnan was acting like that.¡±

    Having said that, she looked meaningfully at Xia Yingluo and then passed by her.

    Xia Yingluo frowned. This woman was fleeing from defeat and still had to make her feel ufortable. Was she implying that Wei Lingnan only rejected her to show it to his authentic girlfriend? Xia Yingluo snorted. She was trying to drive a wedge between them so clumsily, Xia Yingluo wouldn¡¯t fall for it.

    She walked slowly into the office.

    Wei Lingnan waved his hand gently and the door behind her closed silently. Several clean and bright ss windows opened, and a clear wind blew in.

    Her hair drifted slightly in the wind and she asked him, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I guessed that you wouldn¡¯t like her smell.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m making it breathable.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless. What he said seemed to be the case, so she didn¡¯t dispute, and put the contents in her hand directly on his desk. ¡°Not bad, let me award you.¡± She raised her delicate chin a little proudly and said to Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s five senses were sharper than ordinary human beings. At this time, he could smell what was inside the gorgeous box. ¡°You made these desserts yourself?¡±

    ¡°I promised youst time.¡± Xia Yingluo motioned him to open the box and looked at him with some expectation. ¡°Taste it, is it good?¡±

    He opened the book, and inside it was a cloud-like white and beautiful cream cake, sprinkled with crushed nuts and icing. The aroma diffused in the air.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at it. ¡°I like it.¡±

    This was the first time she had made something for him to eat. When she was at Skatana, they were so hungry that they ate raw meat. Who would have a need for good food? Looking at the little beautiful cake, he couldn¡¯t help thinking that maybe it would be nice to live on Earth.

    He took a bite, and the aroma and sweetness spread between his lips and teeth, flowing all the way to the bottom of his heart.

    In the beginning, Xia Yingluo was nervous, but after seeing his rxed expression, she also rxed andughed. ¡°I knew you would like it.¡± She was very confident in her cooking skills, especially in her father¡¯s dessert. All who ate it were full of praises.

    ¡°I wanted to make a cherry cake for you,¡± sheined slightly. ¡°It¡¯s all my second brother¡¯s fault, all the cherries were stolen by him.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. The girl in front of him was beautiful, vivid and charming, just like the whole world was shining in front of her.

    He said, ¡°Then you will make it for me every day.¡±

    ¡°Every day? Dream on.¡± Xia Yingluo joked. ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m your cook? Do you know how much my craftsmanship would cost in the outside world?¡±

    ¡°How much is it, I¡¯ll pay for it.¡± There were slight waves in his deep, ice-cold eyes. ¡°Yingluo, marry me.¡±

    She had a delicate smile on her radiant face, but after hearing the sudden marriage proposal, her smile froze. Suspicious of her hearing, she looked up at him in shock, unable to say a word. Why was he proposing now? So fast? Not long ago she was still hesitating to be his girlfriend! They didn¡¯t know much about each other and hadn¡¯t experienced the rough seas like her mom and dad had, like going to the amusement park together, ying hand in hand at the beach, and whispering in the snowy night...

    This proposal came too suddenly and felt too untrue.

    ¡°Marry me,¡± Wei Lingnan said again.

    He stepped forward and took two steps in her direction. The top predator in the universe was elegant, but his slightly dangerous steps made her step back instinctively. This time, she finally found her voice. ¡°Why, why?¡±

    ¡°I want you,¡± he said.

    Not like, not love, not any other word, but, want.

    It was the eagerness of his pursuit of billions of years, an unforgettable branding, and desperation to obtain it... to obtain everything.

    I want you.

    She was frightened and took two steps back.

    ¡°But, but, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too fast?¡± Her face felt hot and her heart beat was fast. ¡°I, I¡¯m not an adult yet, I¡¯ll only be 18 next year, and I, I have no way to marry you.¡±

    ¡°Humanws are nothing to me.¡±

    ¡°But you proposed!¡± She stared at him with wide eyes. ¡°If you want to live with me on this, you must obey humanws!¡±

    God, what was she talking about...

    She didn¡¯t mean it, she meant...

    Yes...

    She hadn¡¯t even thought about marrying him!

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s get engaged first.¡± He smiled. ¡°Yingluo, be my rightful fiancee. Tell everyone that you are mine.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know how to answer him. Engagement was not restricted by legal age. In fact, there were precedents for engagement from a young age. But this wasn¡¯t even the problem? ¡°Let me think about it...¡± She stepped back, and then stepped back again. Her delicate little face became hotter and redder, her body touched the wooden door, and she pushed the door in a panic to escape.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her escaping back, and his eyes darkened slightly, but there was no movement.

    It was sudden, he knew, and maybe he should give her time to consider it.

    He said this to himself, but he still couldn¡¯t help feeling a faint loss. He deeply loved the girl who he had resurrected at all costs for so many years, but she still didn¡¯t love him as much as he did in the past... maybe, those people of the past were right. He was a humble guardian, how was hepatible with the high queen?

    In the office, the cake she made herself was sweet and tempting, but he suddenly lost all appetite.

 Chapter 1308

    Chapter 1308: Her Decision

    Xia Yingluo fled downstairs quickly, her heart beating terribly fast.

    The driver waiting at the door looked at her with concern. ¡°Miss, are you alright?¡±

    She rubbed her hot face, shook her head and said it was okay, then got back in the car.

    It was golden autumn, and the garden was full of bright golden sycamore leaves, which were beautiful and picturesque.

    The steward in a pretty uniform stepped forward to pull the car door for her, bowed and smiled. ¡°Miss, you are back.¡±

    Xia Yingluo took off her coat and handed it to him, asking casually, ¡°What about my parents and second brother?¡±

    The butler said, ¡°Several truffles are being sent from France today. Sir is preparing dinner for Madam in the kitchen. Miss, you are very fortunate to havee back at the right time to enjoy the feast.¡± Then, he said, ¡°Madam is in the recording room on the second floor and your second brother is out to meet his friends.¡±

    The family each had their own ns.

    Unknowingly, Xia Yingluo felt a little bit mncholic.

    From an early age, she envied the love and harmony between her parents and yearned for that kind of love, but was Wei Lingnan the right person? Would he hold her gently in the palm of his hand like how her father cared for her mother as if she were a treasure of the world? Engagement...

    What a big deal.

    What should she choose?

    The ringtone of the mobile phone rang. It was Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Yingluo, the filming is over! Let me tell you, since thest time President Du apanied me to the crew, the people have treated me well and will never make things difficult on me again. Director Fang even added several scenes for me! I think I did well this time, and the response after the show will definitely be good! How about youe out to celebrate with me!¡±

    She chatted for a long time, only to find that the caller on the phone didn¡¯t respond, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you, are you unhappy?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    ¡°You¡¯re still denying it. I can tell you¡¯re not okay.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t believe it. ¡°What on earth happened? Come on,e out and let your sister enlighten you.¡±

    The two met at the restaurant.

    Xia Yingluo stole two truffles from the house and handed them to the waiter in that high-end restaurant. ¡°Take them to the chef.¡±

    The waiter was very knowledgeable. When he saw the truffles, he was surprised. ¡°This is the new top-quality product this year! Miss, it¡¯s too expensive. Do you really trust us to do it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I asked for the chef.¡± She smiled softly and cleverly. ¡°Go and do it. It doesn¡¯t matter if you do it well or not, I just brought a friend to try something new.¡± In terms of cooking skills, there were only a few in the world who could surpass her dear father. Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t expect the chefs here to have the same skills. However, thinking of this restaurant¡¯s reputation, it shouldn¡¯t be too bad either.

    The waiter went away.

    Jin Ling¡¯er then said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°It turned out that this is the legendary truffle. I¡¯m seeing it for the first time. It¡¯s so expensive.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said with a smile, ¡°No matter how expensive it is, it¡¯s still food. I stole it from home.¡±

    ¡°Stole... Stole?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her in surprise. ¡°Yingluo, don¡¯t scare me, what if your familyes to me forpensation?¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°Humph, I just couldn¡¯t bear watching my dad dote on my mother so badly. What¡¯s wrong with stealing his two truffles, he only has his wife in his eyes.¡± Fine, she was jealous that her parents were so loving. What about her? She was drowning and left confused in the vortex of the sea of love.

    Jin Ling¡¯er narrowed her eyes and looked at her. ¡°No, you have something on your mind.¡±

    ¡°You are really my good friend.¡± Xia Yingluo sighed and bit her fork.

    Jin Ling¡¯er continued tempting her. ¡°Come, tell me and make yourself happier.¡±

    Xia Yingluo raised a fork and tried to hit her, but sheughed first. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll make you happy,¡± she said. ¡°Wei Lingnan proposed to me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was shocked. ¡°What, what? You said that dangerous devil, oh no, I didn¡¯t mean that... Wei Lingnan proposed to you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded her head dully without paying attention to her words. After all, Wei Lingnan was indeed a dangerous big devil. If he was as gentle and considerate as her father, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much. Filled with anxiety about the unknown, she couldn¡¯t help but ask Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°What do you think I should do?¡±

    ¡°What to do, reject him!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said without thinking.

    ¡°But...¡± Xia Yingluo bit the fork in distress.

    Jin Ling¡¯er blinked, looked at her little movement, andughed. ¡°Yingluo, admit it, you like him. Now, listen to the analysis of this love expert. If you don¡¯t like him, then you would have rejected him. You¡¯re only entangling yourself with him because you like him. Since you like him, then you must hold on tightly to him. Otherwise, what if he runs away?¡±

    ¡°What kind of love expert are you?¡± Xia Yingluoughed at her. She paused andid on the table with her fork in her mouth. ¡°But I¡¯m afraid...¡±

    Her voice went down.

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er grinned broadly. ¡°Are you afraid he doesn¡¯t love you enough? Or afraid he won¡¯t want you someday? Resistance from home? Public opinion? Come on, Yingluo,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er continued. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t love you, he wouldn¡¯t have proposed. As for the fear that he won¡¯t love you someday? Who can guarantee such a thing. To put it more harshly, even if your parents are so happy and loving, it¡¯s not guaranteed that they will never change their heart... Don¡¯t stare at me, I¡¯m just giving an example, an example. ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er smiled dryly.

    Xia Yingluo found mncholically. She was right.

    In the matter of love, who could guarantee that there wouldn¡¯t be a change of heart?

    Jin Ling¡¯er continued, ¡°If we all consider so many things like you, nobody should get married. I think, although Wei Lingnan is a bit cold, he usually takes care of you when it¡¯s time to take care of you. And to your friends¡ªfor example, me¡ªhe¡¯s pretty good to us too. He must have you in his heart to treat you so well. s, life is short. You should worry about the futureter. Grasping the present is the key. Since you like him, and he also likes you, why don¡¯t you two be together?¡±

    Xia Yingluo still hesitated.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°If you keep hesitating, beware of giving room to other women.¡±

    This sentence suddenly reminded Xia Yingluo of Gu Jinxiu.

    In the Wei Family¡¯s building that day, anyone with eyes could see that Gu Jinxiu did not give up. That woman was so ingenious and capable, and knew Wei Lingnan from a young age, would she steal him from her one day? Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of crisis. Compared with the alien princess Ah Luo who was far away, Gu Jinxiu, who was close at hand, was the real urgent threat.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll agree to it!¡± Xia Yingluo waved a little fist in the air and said without a care.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Come on!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er encouraged her with a toast.

 Chapter 1309

    Chapter 1309: The First Snow

    A few dayster, the first snow fell in the early winter.

    Wei Lingnan invited her to enjoy the snow. The location was set in a quiet restaurant in the city.

    Xia Yingluo tried several sets of clothes in a row, and finally chose a light-colored fine cashmere long skirt and coat, which looked verydylike.

    When she was going out, Li Ruiughed at her. ¡°Women in love, tsk, tsk. What¡¯s the use of pretending to be graceful? Rivers and mountains are easy to change, but a man¡¯s character is much harder. As soon as you speak, you would be exposed immediately.¡± That said, he still volunteered. ¡°I¡¯ll drive you there.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you dating today?¡± Xia Yingluo was a little surprised.

    Logically, the first snow of each year was a good time for couples to date, especially for a yboy like Li Rui with uncountable dates. It was amazing he was idle today.

    Li Rui smiled wickedly. ¡°My eyelid kept twitching today, and I keep feeling like something is going to happen.¡±

    As he spoke, he took Xia Yingluo¡¯s exquisite little handbag like a gentleman and took her into her car.

    ¡°Crow¡¯s mouth,¡± Xia Yingluo said. But she was still very happy with him, so she got into his car.

    Li Rui started the car and turned left and right skillfully in the urban area, his mouth full of praises. ¡°Your wild man is good at choosing ces. Snow Chanson, it¡¯s the best snow-seeing restaurant in our city, second to none.¡±

    Xia Yingluo reluctantly corrected him. ¡°He¡¯s not a wild man.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a wild man without permission from our parents.¡± Li Rui kept fighting with her.

    Xia Yingluo was lying on the window of the car to look at the scenery. In the afternoon, the streets were crowded with people. The high-rise buildings flickered with reflections. The white snow covered the ground, and there were young people ying snowballs and piling strange snowmen. She was in a very good mood and was humming a song in a low voice. Suddenly, she turned to Li Rui and said, ¡°What about you? I¡¯ve settled down, when will you find a serious girlfriend? Our parents don¡¯t say it, but in their hearts, they¡¯re worried about you. A few days ago, I talked to mom and dad about introducing some good girls to you.¡±

    ¡°Settle down?¡± Li Rui ignored the long string of words behind her.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Xia Yingluo blinked nkly.

    ¡°I mean, are you really settled?¡± Li Rui drove her car without squinting and asked her, ¡°Wei Lingnan forever?¡±

    She was stunned by him. Then she remembered that she had unknowingly used the phrase ¡°settle down¡±, and it seemed like she had given this life to Wei Lingnan subconsciously and live peacefully since then. She thought about it, and a smile appeared on the corners of her lips, and she hummed softly.

    Li Rui rolled his eyes in the rearview mirror. ¡°Brilliant.¡±

    He wanted to say that there were millions of good men in the world, why hang on this Wei Lingnan? But he knew very well that girls in love wouldn¡¯t listen to any advice. Love was like a moth fluttering into the fire, that was why it was so wonderful and hurtful. At least at this moment, Li Rui was a little bit sad¡ªhis sister had a boyfriend, why was he so ufortable as if he had fallen out of love?

    He hoped Xia Yingluo would be happy, but he was also reluctant to have another man in her life. It was such a conflicting mood.

    He could see that his sister was serious, so he had sent her today. He wanted to let the man know that she was loved by his father and brother so that the man wouldn¡¯t dare to bully her in the future.

    Li Rui drove in his car thinking, and Xia Yingluo also thought in her mind. The carriage was silent for a while.

    They arrived in front of the restaurant.

    The fine snow drifted, and there was a little chill in the air.

    Xia Yingluo got up and got out of the car and Li Rui instructed. ¡°Have a good time. I¡¯ll be drinking nearby, call me if anything happens.¡±

    Xia Yingluo waved her hand with a frown and walked into the restaurant.

    The restaurant was warm as spring, with a slight aroma in the air and soft music.

    She quickly found Wei Lingnan. The man was sitting on a sofa by the window. He was elegant and slender, with a red rose twisted between his fingers, looking at her quietly. With a smile on her lips, she sat opposite him. ¡°Sorry for making you wait.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was soft. ¡°I haven¡¯t been here long.¡± He motioned to the waiter.

    ¡°I was afraid you were hungry, so I ordered the food first. I hope you won¡¯t mind,¡± he said, handing the delicate rose between his fingers to her. ¡°For you.¡±

    Today he was like a normal human being in love.

    Xia Yingluo took the rose with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    The meal was quickly served to the table, all of which she liked. Xia Yingluo found that this man was really good to her. Although he didn¡¯t speak sweet words and was moody, whenever she needed anything, he would always do everything silently. She ate her meal in a good mood and enjoyed this rare and peaceful time with him.

    When she was half full, she remembered. ¡°You said on the phone that there was a gift for me, was it this rose?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± He smiled.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Her eyes shed a charming light, and she looked forward to it.

    Wei Lingnan took out a small fine velvet box and pushed it in front of her. ¡°Open it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo held her breath.

    Based on her woman¡¯s instinct, she guessed what the box looked like. She opened the little box while trembling slightly. Sure enough, a beautiful metal ringid quietly in the dark romantic light in the restaurant. There was a moving sheen underneath.

    ¡°Is this...?¡± She thought she was going to be speechless.

    ¡°Yingluo, the marriage proposal that day is still valid.¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her calmly. ¡°This is an engagement ring I made especially for you, using the meteor wreckage I brought when I drifted from the universe as the material. Try it on.¡± With the obsession of hundreds of millions of years, he had made this small ring and was devoted to his painstaking effort.

    Under his expectant eyes, Xia Yingluo carefully reached out her hand and picked up the ring. She wanted to put it on her fingers, but was a little bit nostalgic, so the hand holding the ring stopped in mid-air for a moment. Wei Lingnan smiled, held her hand in one hand, and took the ring with the other, and put it on for her.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Suddenly, a voice interrupted them.

    The two turned back and saw Gu Jinxiu at the table looking at them with a deste and vicissitude expression. As if she had suffered betrayal and wrong. ¡°Wei Lingnan,¡± she called Wei Lingnan¡¯s name word by word. ¡°You said you loved me, why are you doing this to me?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little surprised. What kind of mess was Gu Jinxiu making?

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t love you at all, and never said he loved you.¡± Xia Yingluo defended her love. ¡°Lingnan told me before that he¡¯s only acquainted to you and doesn¡¯t have any personal affection for you at all. Miss Gu Jinxiu, please don¡¯t have any more wishful thinking!

 Chapter 1310

    Chapter 1310: Scarlet Engagement

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t even nce at her, she only stared at Wei Lingnan, her expression neither sad nor happy.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was indifferent. ¡°Get out.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t move and opened her mouth slightly. A strange sound came out of her mouth. It was like thousands of creatures resonating and seemed toe from the most mysterious melody in the distant starry sky. Xia Yingluo¡¯s face suddenly changed. This voice... This kind of sound waspletely out of the human world... She had heard it from Wei Lingnan before!

    This was thenguage of the Skatana!

    How could Gu Jinxiu know it?

    She turned to look at Wei Lingnan in shock, only to see Wei Lingnan¡¯s face turn pale. Even the hand holding the fork shook slightly. She had never seen him look so morbid. The man who had not changed his face before had disappeared and was reced by a stranger who seemed about to copse at any moment.

    He replied something in the Skatananguage.

    Gu Jinxiu repeated the sentence she just said in the samenguage.

    The bizarre sound waves of the two oscited in the air, forming a unique melody. Xia Yingluo was sitting very close to them, and she felt that her internal organs were broken because of this melody. She covered her heart ufortably, and her throat had a fishy smell. She wanted to stop them but only coughed up blood.

    The striking red was startling on her white fingertips.

    But Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t even nce at her from the corner of his eyes. He looked fixedly at Gu Jinxiu. The fork in his hand fell to the ground and he stood up to embrace Gu Jinxiu tightly in his arms. The strange Skatananguage flew out of his mouth one after another. The entire restaurant was shaking because it couldn¡¯t bear it. The dining guests covered their ears and screamed in panic and fled. Crystalmps, windows, and sses were shattered, bursting into the air like crystals of sparkling fireworks.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s position was too close to escape. Her legs were weak, she coughed blood constantly and couldn¡¯t move.

    She wondered if she would die like this? Her body felt like it was being pulled and shed by countless invisible sharp des as if it would be fragmented in the next instant. She slid down the chair to the ground weakly, her fingers convulsing. She wanted to go to pull on Wei Lingnan and get even the slightest attention from him. However, even after exhausting all her strength, she could only touch his leather shoes, and he didn¡¯t even lower his head.

    The rushing Skatananguage still came out from his mouth. Gu Jinxiu was held in his arms. She felt as if her body was going to be embedded in his body. It was painful, but she had an unprecedented pleasure and satisfaction. The entire restaurant was as messy as a typhoon, all the windows were broken, the crystal lights smashed to pieces on the ground, the cups and tes were overturned, the tables and chairs were messy and everyone had left. Only she and Wei Lingnan stood in the middle of the storm, embracing each other.

    Gu Jinxiu bowed her head and looked at Xia Yingluo who was huddled weakly on the ground as if she was looking at a humble ant.

    She won.

    In this emotional war without gunpowder, because of this strangenguage, she became the ultimate winner. She finally understood what Wei Lingnan wanted, and only she could give him what he wanted. Xia Yingluo had no chance of winning, not at all.

    Seeing that Xia Yingluo was about to faint, Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face showed a malicious smile and she finally said to Wei Lingnan in humannguage, ¡°Nan, I just remembered the past. This human body can¡¯t bear it and can only speak your name in the Skatananguage. I can¡¯t say anything else.¡±

    Wei Lingnan stopped that strangenguage, stopped to look at her, and switched back to his human discourse. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ah Luo, it¡¯s okay. You already surprised me by saying my name. Do you know how hard I¡¯ve been looking for you all these years?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu smiled. At the Du family¡¯s banquet some time ago, she had epted the gift that Wei Lingnan originally gave to Xia Ling. It was a set of skincare products. After using it on her face, she had many dreams one after another in the evening. She dreamt of a beautiful lc, war, a little princess, a queen, and a guardian... In the dream, she experienced many things as a little princess, including the encounter with Wei Lingnan and them fighting side by side...

    Only then did she realize that the conversation she had identally heard in the bathroom that day turned out to be true. Wei Lingnan was not a human at all, but an alien. She remembered everything. She turned out to be the princess and queen of the, died for some reason, and was now awakened for unknown reasons.

    As soon as she woke up, she came to Wei Lingnan.

    She knew that Wei Lingnan loved her from beginning to end, but had mistakenly regarded Xia Yingluo as Ah Luo.

    ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± She held Wei Lingnan¡¯s face with her hands but nced at Xia Yingluo from the corner of her eyes, who was lying painfully on the ground. ¡°Nan, you are mine, forever.¡±

    ¡°Yes, forever.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was still trembling slightly. He looked at her with great ecstasy, as if there was only one of her left in the world.

    He thought about it.

    How many times in his dreams he had longed for Ah Luo to wake up and say his real name in the words of his hometown. Unexpectedly, today, when caught off guard, he had really heard it. The sound was like the most beautiful sound of nature, and he was powerless?

    ¡°Nan.¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled with satisfaction.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression was getting paler and her fingers were slightly convulsed, not only because she had just been hit by sound waves, but also because she heard Gu Jinxiu¡¯s conversation with Wei Lingnan. She was always worried that she wasn¡¯t Ah Luo. It turned out that she really wasn¡¯t, and the worst result had appeared. Gu Jinxiu was the Ah Luo whom Wei Lingnan remembered...

    The love she had just started was like a gorgeous firework. The moment Gu Jinxiu remembered the real name of Wei Lingnan, it faded. She coughed hard, like a dying beast, exhausting all her strength, and finally making a hoarse voice. ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡±

    Wei Lingnan realized she was still here.

    Looking down, he saw her fragile body spotted with blood, and there was a faint sh of pity in his eyes.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice sounded at the right time. ¡°Nan, I have a lot to say to you, do you still care about this irrelevant person?¡±

    Wei Lingnan paused for a moment. He knew how possessive his queen was, and the pain and pity in his eyes immediately disappeared. He looked indifferently at Xia Yingluo. ¡°I take back my proposal. We have nothing to do with each other in the future.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s body shook. Although she had expected such a result, it still hit her painfully after hearing it from his mouth. She felt a pain in her heart, and there was a sweetness in her throat. Suddenly, blood poured out.

 Chapter 1311

    Chapter 1311: It¡¯s Strange

    She thought she was ridiculous.

    She had epted a rtionship with joy, been apprehensive yet anticipative, thinking that the future would be happy. Who knew that all her efforts were so vulnerable that she could be defeated in front of Gu Jinxiu¡¯s short sentence. She was in great pain, her internal organs seemed to be broken, and her eyes darkened for a while.

    Gu Jinxiu looked at her aloft, with a scornful smile in her eyes. ¡°Nan, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Wei Lingnan no longer looked down at the ground. She took Gu Jinxiu¡¯s hand, turned and left.

    A man appeared near the ruined gate, looking at the scene in disbelief. He ran to Xia Yingluo, who was lying on the ground, dying and breathing shallowly. ¡°Yingluo, Yingluo, what¡¯s the matter with you? Hold on!¡± Li Rui carried his sister and looked at the shocking blood on her lips and her face that was as thin as gold paper. He looked up and turned his fierce gaze to Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu. ¡°What did you do to her?¡±

    He had been drinking at a nearby store and heard the hustle and bustle outside. Many customers screamed and rushed out, covering their ears, rushing out, and he knew that something had happened in this store. Worried about his sister, he had hurried inside to check on her. As a result, he saw the scene in front of him.

    How could Wei Lingnan be so close to Gu Jinxiu, didn¡¯t hee out on a date with his sister today? Li Rui¡¯s expression became fiercer, and he said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Tell me clearly what happened today. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me if I¡¯m not polite to you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was held in the arms of her elder brother, and her viscera was injured, but she still grabbed her brother¡¯s sleeves and said with a weak voice, ¡°Brother, forget it...¡±

    The man had treated her so cruelly, what was the point of saying so much now? It was better to keep thest dignity and don¡¯t let people say that the Li family¡¯s daughter was clingy.

    Li Rui was even more distressed. The younger sister, who was held in the palm of all the family members¡¯ hands had never suffered a little bit since she was a child. How could she be trampled on? ¡°Wei Lingnan, you must tell me today!¡± He said more fiercely to Wei Lingnan, then looked at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°And you mean woman, what rubbish, how dare you argue with my sister?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu smiled happily. The more anxious Xia Yingluo and her family were, the happier she was. The anger that she had suffered since a while ago was swept away. She said, ¡°Let your sister stop fighting stubbornly. Nan already said he recognized the wrong person.¡±

    Her understatement aroused Li Rui¡¯s anger. He carefully lowered Xia Yingluo in his arms, stood up, and punched Gu Jinxiu. Usually, he didn¡¯t hit women, but this woman was too arrogant and bullied his sister. He didn¡¯t mind breaking his ownw. But his arm was grabbed by a steel-like hand.

    Wei Lingnan threw him out effortlessly and he fell heavily on a broken table. The table was crushed, making a terrible noise, and a shallow pothole was thrown on the ground.

    Li Rui also exhaled a spit of blood.

    ¡°Brother!¡± Xia Yingluo called urgently.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me hear you disrespect my Ah Luo again,¡± Wei Lingnan said coldly.

    Li Rui was dazed for a while before he realized that the Ah Luo in his mouth was Gu Jinxiu. What exactly was going on? Why did Gu Jinxiu have such an alias? In addition, the power of this man in front of him was simply amazing. He had been trained by the world¡¯s top fighting, but he was defeated by the opponent in only one move without any suspense. What kind of abnormal monster was this? His eyes toward Wei Lingnan were full of hostility and vignce.

    Wei Lingnan stopped looking at him. He bowed his head and gently asked Gu Jinxiu, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu shook her head and looked at him with tenderness and affection. ¡°How could I have anything happen to me when I¡¯m with you?¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled and took her away.

    He left Xia Yingluo, who was breathing shallowly and Li Rui, who had suffered many injuries, without even looking back.

    ¡°Brother...¡± Xia Yingluo cried, and crawled out a few inches in the direction of her brother, exhausting all her strength until she couldn¡¯t move anymore.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Li Rui said in difficulty, but his words were clear. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± Just after he finished speaking, he coughed unexpectedly and blood poured out again.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart felt like it was cut by a knife. If it weren¡¯t for her, how could this have happened to him?

    ¡°I¡¯m really okay.¡± Li Rui smiled at her reassuringly, but because of the injury and pain, his smile looked like he was gritting his teeth and he looked extremely miserable. He took out his mobile phone in pain and called his family.

    Rescue soon came and rushed them to the hospital.

    The results of the hospital¡¯s examination revealed that Xia Yingluo had injured her lungs with a sonic shock, or rather, a powerful sonic wave that nearly shattered her internal organs. The doctor said that she was lucky. She was only one step away from death, so she had to rest in bed.

    As for Li Rui, he had broken two ribs and had to rest in bed.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling came to see them and took them home.

    Xia Ling¡¯s carefree look had a little anger and anxiety. She sat next to the bed and held Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Mom will always be with you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her, looking sad and speechless.

    Xia Ling¡¯s heart was bleak. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a man. Just forget about him. Honestly, we have always been worried about you and Wei Lingnan. You are so beautiful and young, you will definitely find someone who loves you in the future.¡±

    Xia Yingluo wanted to give her mother a soothing smile, but it was uglier than crying.

    Later, Xia Moyan also came to see her.

    After looking at her injuries, he said, ¡°That man almost killed you. He shouldn¡¯t be so indifferent even if you have broken up, he¡¯s too inhuman. Yingluo, you are lucky to have seen his real face earlier. Who knows what would have happened if you got together with him?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded vigorously. ¡°Yes.¡±

    She also tried to think in a good direction, but the pain still broke her heart.

    Xia Moyan asked her what happened.

    And she told him.

    Xia Moyan was silent for a while. ¡°It¡¯s strange, how could Gu Jinxiu be from the Skatana? I can¡¯t see the fate of Wei Lingnan, but I can see the general direction of Gu Jinxiu. She is no doubt a human being.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also a human.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. ¡°Wasn¡¯t I mistaken as a reincarnation of the Skatana tribe too?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different,¡± said Xia Moyan. ¡°You were born here and received asylum. If you were born in an ordinary family and was really an alien reincarnation, you would have been obliterated by the will of the.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know how hard the Li and Xia families had worked to make sure she lived peacefully.

 Chapter 1312

    Chapter 1312: Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Visit

    Xia Yingluo shook her head in confusion and whispered, ¡°He always has a way.¡± Wei Lingnan had a lot of magical powers and could use any means avable to avoid the will of the. Wasn¡¯t the anti-rejection medication she had been given proof of that?

    Xia Moyan said that things were not so simple, but it was a good thing that Xia Yingluo had broken up with Wei Lingnan anyway. Even if there were many doubts, he didn¡¯t n to say too much. Next, he would investigate this incident alone. This was the responsibility he should have as the guardian of the and The Preceptor. It had nothing to do with family.

    Wei Lingnan was not without doubts in his heart.

    In the underground base, a man in a white shirt stood in a translucentboratory, looking at all kinds of experimental equipment. No emotion could be seen on his face. Behind him, an old man stood respectfully.

    ¡°Why Gu Jinxiu?¡± He whispered, looking at the experimental vessel that had been emptied in front of him. ¡°I finally made the experimental material and Xia Ling clearly drank it. Why did Xia Yingluo not awaken? Why did she awaken instead?¡±

    The old man knew the moodiness of his master and carefully answered, ¡°Although the medicine given to Mrs. Gu that year included our experimental waste, it didn¡¯t exclude the weak gicponent and could have been awakened at the right time.¡±

    This was the most reasonable exnation.

    From the moment Wei Lingnan came to Earth hundreds of years ago, he had beenmitted to resurrecting Ah Luo. The experiment had been done hundreds of times and there had only been one time it didn¡¯t fail. From those failures, Wei Lingnan constantly summed up his experience and concluded that he could not resurrect Ah Luo with a petri dish, and he had to reincarnate her with the help of a human body. The reincarnation of the experimental body was also extremely unstable. ording to human beings, it was a freak, with various defects and diseases, even an idiot, or retarded since birth. The material handed over to Xia Yingluo was thest one, and no mistakes could be made. Therefore, Wei Lingnan, based on past experience, extracted a gic residue from experimental waste and found a suitable mother¡ªGu Jinxiu¡¯s mother. He had let her take the residue. Gu Jinxiu, the child she gave birth to, was a backup of Xia Yingluo. If Xia Yingluo was born with any defects or dangers, she could use Gu Jinxiu¡¯s genes and even organs to make up for it.

    This was why Wei Lingnan knew Gu Jinxiu many years ago and acquiesced to Gu Jinxiu calling him her fiancee. If there was something wrong with Xia Yingluo¡¯s body, he could easily sacrifice Gu Jinxiu.

    However, he didn¡¯t expect that Xia Yingluo, who was supposed to be Ah Luo, had not awakened. Instead, Gu Jinxiu remembered her previous life and called his real name in the Skatananguage. At the moment Wei Lingnan heard his real name, all his intellect was burned. If this wasn¡¯t Ah Luo, who else could it be? For centuries, this was the first time that a subject had recalled the past life and made a sound from his hometown.

    Even if she was made up of experimental wrecks, who would be sure about the uncertainty in gic experiments? He had failed so many times before, maybe because his mind had been too fixed. On the contrary, he had inadvertently achieved sess through Gu Jinxiu.

    It was just... Xia Yingluo was a pity.

    The emotions in the light-colored eyes of Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t be seen, but the girl¡¯s smile still remained in his heart. That day, in the dining room, watching her bleeding from the corners of her mouth had made his heart ache. But so what? They were impossible now, and they could only me fate for messing with them.

    Wei Lingnan forced himself to stop thinking about the girl, closed his eyes slightly, and said to the old man behind him, ¡°Take care of the base. After a few days, I¡¯ll take Ah Luo to visit.¡±

    The Ah Luo in his mouth, of course, referred to Gu Jinxiu.

    The old man answered, and asked him cautiously, ¡°What about Miss Xia Yingluo? She knows too much. Since she is not your kind, would she expose everything?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her.¡±

    The problem now was not that Xia Yingluo knew too much, but that the entire Xia family knew too much. This was no longer a matter of killing Xia Yingluo alone. He could only let it go. However, if they did something that harmed Ah Luo, he would not let her go. He hoped Xia Yingluo was smarter and wouldn¡¯te to cause trouble for Ah Luo.

    Xia Yingluo was injured at home.

    Jin Ling¡¯er heard that she was ill, came to see her, and asked, ¡°Why did you suddenly lie in bed? I heard that you had a car ident, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    She was injured by the sonic shock and it was too unbelievable to share the information with others, so she had dered that it was internal bleeding caused by a car ident that hurt her organs. Even Du Zheng believed it and told Jin Ling¡¯er that.

    Xia Yingluo smiled weakly. ¡°I identally walked by myself, who else is to me.¡± This incident hurt her physically and mentally, but she was more or lessforted by thepany of her family and friends.

    She looked at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°You stopped calling him President Du, why did you start calling him by his name?¡±

    At the mention of this, she got angry andpletely forgot to ask Xia Yingluo¡¯s details of the injury. She said indignantly, ¡°Humph, he¡¯s just a dog. I knew from the first meeting that he was not a good person! I called him President Du to give him face before. But in the end? Sure enough, I was right. He¡¯s so serious and rigid I don¡¯t know how he even grew to be so big.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little worried. ¡°You quarreled with Brother Du Zheng?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible to argue with him,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said glumly. ¡°But you don¡¯t know how strictly he controls me. All the announcements I¡¯ve received since thest crew incident had to be reviewed by him personally. It¡¯s annoying because he doesn¡¯t allow this nor that. Now there are all kinds of rumors in thepany that I have embraced President¡¯s Du¡¯s golden thigh, and I was given the job not because of my skills. But that Du Zheng didn¡¯t give it a second thought, he¡¯s no different from a snow storehouse. If this goes on, I can only drink the northwest wind.¡±

    Xia Yingluoforted her. ¡°Brother Du Zheng isn¡¯t such a person, he must have his own ns, and it must be good for you anyway.¡±

    ¡°You know how to help him talk.¡± Jin Ling¡¯erined, turning the topic back to Xia Yan. ¡°Look at me, I came to visit you, but instead you¡¯reforting me instead. When can you get better? Seeing that Chinese New Year ising, you can¡¯t lie in bed for Chinese New Year and miss so many fun activities at the end of the year.¡±

    Xia Yingluo answered with a smile.

    Jin Ling¡¯er asked her again, ¡°Why didn¡¯t I see Wei Lingnan? At this time, as a boyfriend, he should apany you more.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I broke up with Wei Lingnan.¡±

    Speaking of the man¡¯s name, there was a faint pain in her heart.

 Chapter 1313

    Chapter 1313: Hedonistic Son

    Jin Ling¡¯er froze. ¡°You broke up?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned her head and looked out the window. The sun was too bright.

    Jin Ling¡¯er lowered her head and looked at the fragile girl in the hospital bed, wondering how tofort her. Jin Ling¡¯er knew how much Xia Yingluo had expected this rtionship to blossom, but it waspletely broken in just a short period of time. After a long time, Jin Ling¡¯er reluctantly said, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing. Yingluo, you¡¯re so outstanding, you¡¯ll definitely find a better man.¡±

    This kind offort didn¡¯t have any effect and Xia Yingluo just smiled perfunctorily.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was sent away, and her mood continued to decline.

    She took care of her injury day and day and it got better very slowly. She couldn¡¯t get out of bed and walk around. One day, the maid carried her onto a wheelchair to bask in the sun in the small garden. The weather was good, and she was covered with a nket, with the pale golden sunlight shining on her face. She raised her face, temporarily forgetting her troubles, and enjoying this brief peaceful time.

    There was a noise behind her.

    Xia Yingluo turned and saw a man wearing a clean shirt, looking handsome and familiar.

    ¡°Big Brother,¡± she called out joyfully. The person who came here surprised her¡ªit was Li Shaohui, who was supposed to be abroad and far away from the Li headquarters.

    She hasn¡¯t seen her brother for so long and missed him terribly.

    Li Shaohui stepped forward and looked at her gently. ¡°I heard that you were injured. How is your health?¡±

    He was originally abroad, but after hearing that his younger sister was injured, he had returned home urgently.

    Xia Yingluo was very touched and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Big Brother, why are you back?¡±

    ¡°Our Li family isn¡¯t so easy to bully.¡± Li Shaohui looked down at her and smiled slightly.

    Among all the children, Shaohui was the one who looked the most like Li Lei. Not only were they simr in appearance, but they were also simr in personality. They looked gentle and harmless, but they were actually practical and shrewd. They were ruthless to their enemies and would never be soft-hearted. If he was looking for someone to make trouble with, whoever it was, was in big trouble.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him, faintly concerned. ¡°Big Brother, do you want to do something to Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    Li Shaohui didn¡¯tment. ¡°As long as you take good care of yourself, leave the rest to me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was worried. ¡°Do you know Wei Lingnan¡¯s identity?¡±

    ¡°So what if he¡¯s not my race?¡± Li Shaohui said lightly. As a core member of the Li family, Li Lei did not hide these matters from him. He had long been prepared for this hard battle. ¡°You can rest assured,¡± he said to Xia Yingluo. ¡°We know our limits.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was still worried. ¡°Big Brother, I don¡¯t want you to avenge him, I just want the family to be safe and sound.¡± The sonic explosion in the restaurant that day had injured her seriously and she had nearly died. Wei Lingnan and human beings were not of the same magnitude at all, and she was worried that something would happen to her family.

    Li Shaohui squatted down, looked at her, and gently touched her head. ¡°You can rest assured, I didn¡¯te out into society for the first time.¡±

    Then, he gave her a soothing smile.

    Xia Yingluo was even more worried now.

    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Li Shaohui surrendered. ¡°I won¡¯t move Wei Lingnan right away. What about the Gu family first? That Gu Jinxiu needs some lessons. She dares to snatch your man?¡± Originally, it wasmon to be jealous and fight for love, but Gu Jinxiu had done too much and almost killed her on the spot. How was it bearable? With such a cruel woman, he wouldn¡¯t let his sister be bullied for nothing.

    ¡°What do you want to do with Gu Jinxiu?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    Li Shaohui smiled harmlessly. ¡°You just wait and see.¡±

    It was difficult to tell the truth from his mouth, and Xia Yingluo really had to wait.

    Soon after, news that the Gu Family¡¯s perfumepany had illegal employment of childbor broke out. Their perfume sales plummeted, and many celebrities from all over the world boycotted the family¡¯s perfume and drew a clear line. When it rains, it pours, and the financial executives resigned during this sensitive period. Conveniently, they revealed the inside story of the Gu family¡¯s tax evasion. The amount of money was huge and shocked the world. Suddenly the Gu family was pushed to the cusp, and paparazzi took pictures of Gu Jinxiu. The nobledy now looked frail, her expression tense, and she was no longer morous.

    Li Rui apanied her in a wheelchair to watch the news together andughed. ¡°Are you satisfied?¡±

    Xia Yingluo put down the newspaper and shook her head. ¡°This is just the beginning. Wei Lingnan...¡± At the mention of his name, there was a pain that seemed to burn her lungs. ¡°He¡¯s very powerful, he won¡¯t sit back and watch as the Gu family is destroyed.¡±

    Li Rui said, ¡°So what?¡±

    The Li family was ruthless. After the Wei family started supporting the Gu family, Li family¡¯s offenses became more and more vicious.

    Although Xia Yingluo was still recovering, from the more frequent and increasingly vicious news reports, as well as the situation in which her father and brothers were so busy, she could tell the situation was tense. Rumors also spread in the high society¡ªsome said that the two youngdies were jealous of one another and caused the storm, and some said that Gu Jinxiu hit Xia Yingluo in a car ident, causing the Li family to be angry. Many gossipy peoplebined the two versions together, and it evolved into ¡°the two youngdies were fighting for jealousy, and Gu Jinxiu drove in a rage and hit Xia Yingluo, so the Li family is taking revenge...¡±

    Gossip was never too much.

    Regarding the male protagonist in the gossip, Wei Lingnan was also picked up by the gossipy people. Everyone found that there was such a rich man hidden within them. The Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group, which they originally thought was a small business, was actually fighting against a big monster like the Li family and wasn¡¯t even losing.

    No wonder Gu Jinxiu dared to be an enemy of the Li family.

    Many people felt pity for Xia Yingluo. She was the only little princess in the Li family, beloved and adored like she was a precious jewel, but had to lose to Gu Jinxiu, a declining giant. Many people also gloated, but the Li family firmly controlled the scope of the rumors and prevented them from getting into Xia Yingluo¡¯s ears.

    ¡°These bitches, I¡¯ll be sure to take revenge!¡± Li Rui looked angrily at thetest news in the tabloid in a study in anger.

    Li Shaohui, who was dealing with documents, was by his side. ¡°It is better toe to help me with my business affairs. I have sorted out the financial report and project nning. You only need to issue orders ording to the n and let people work.¡± After speaking, he lifted his fingers and rubbed his tired brows. This kind of movement didn¡¯t hurt his handsome beauty that resembled Li Lei¡¯s.

    Li Rui nced at him. ¡°Let mee?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to bezy,¡± Li Shaohui said rightly, and even his bodyzily left the seat. ¡°Last month you went out to y with our parents, leaving me to work hard at home. Now you left me alone to work non-stop, do you know it can be fatal? If you¡¯re my brother, help me out.¡±

    Li Rui was speechless.

    He knew he was not biological.

    As a kid, he felt very happy whenever his elder brother was studying hard about various matters while he was having fun with his nanny. But as he got older, even if no one told him, he understood why¡ªhis father didn¡¯t want him to be too talented and threaten his elder brother¡¯s status. He just needed to be a puppet.

 Chapter 1314

    Chapter 1314: Concert Backstage

    He was slightly unhappy.

    He was a man with a desire to build a career from the very beginning, but such a desire was strangled from an early age and was not allowed to be realized in his life. He was sad, unhappy, and even angry, andined of injustice. However, in the end, he had to submit to his fate. Who told him to be an illegitimate son? His father didn¡¯t dote on him, his birth mother didn¡¯t love him, and he had to grow up lodging under someone else¡¯s roof? He was even fortunate enough to have good adoptive parents. Although this kind of nurturing sentiment was vignt, he had no trouble worrying about food and clothing throughout his life and had a lot of wealth and power. He shouldn¡¯t be too greedy.

    Only when he identally saw his elder brother Shaohui¡¯s outstanding ability and respect from all his subordinates did his heart have a faint sourness.

    Perhaps Shaohui had already seen it.

    From a very young age, without his parent¡¯s knowledge, of all the things he learned like gun knowledge, strategies and tactics, the way to survive in the business world, and the way to dominate... he gave everything he learned to his brother who wasn¡¯t even biological.

    Shaohui really treated him like a brother.

    Li Rui turned his head to prevent his elder brother from seeing the emotion in his eyes. ¡°If you do this, Father will be unhappy.¡±

    Li Shaohui smiled indifferently. ¡°It has been so many years, do you think Father doesn¡¯t know?¡± Their father was not as careless as he looked. On the surface, he seemed to not care about many things, but his mind was clear. Regarding what the two brothers were doing secretly, Shaohui didn¡¯t believe that Li Lei really knew nothing.

    Li Rui said, ¡°This time¡¯s different.¡± Although Shaohui taught him a lot since he was a child, in order to reassure his parents, Li Rui always pretended to be t. Even if he asionally had some outstanding performances, he was obediently covered by Shaohui¡¯s light, and he was always very tactful, never interfering with the family¡¯s core affairs.

    This time Shaohui was letting him deal with the core affairs.

    Shaohui still didn¡¯t care. He patted his shoulder andzily walked out of the study door. ¡°It¡¯s up to you if you want to handle it. Anyway, this matter is rted to Yingluo. If the Gu family gets their way, how sad would Yingluo be?¡±

    Li Rui stared at his back.

    This elder brother was actually threatening him with his own sister! His mood wasplicated. Looking at Shaohui walking out, he closed the study door smoothly and fell into a long silence. The documents on the desk were open, exuding a scent of ink, and theputer screen flickered slightly. He finally sat down and started to deal with things.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s injury improved day by day, but her mood was always low. The family took turns to apany her, for fear that she would do foolish things. She saw the concern of her family and felt useless. She was making them worry even at her age.

    Even if it was for them, she should return to normal life as soon as possible.

    Winter was getting deeper and the day when the doctor finally announced that she was fine, she told her family, ¡°I want to do something.¡±

    Everyone agreed with her decision. If she stayed idle, it was easy to let her mind wander. Li Lei asked her, ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head nkly. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She just wanted to forget Wei Lingnan by doing something. As for what it was, she couldn¡¯t think of it and thought it wasn¡¯t that important?

    The eyes of the family brought faint anxiety.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have a concert in a while,¡± Xia Ling said after a while. ¡°You can help me deal with the concert and sing with me on stage.¡±

    Her concerts were always huge.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her mother and smiled. ¡°Mom, I have no experience of officially performing on stage, aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll mess up?¡±

    Xia Ling alsoughed. ¡°How could my daughter mess up? Even if you do, who would dare say anything?¡± She was already the top queen in the world and didn¡¯t have to worry about the gains and losses. Even if she messed up the concert entirely, it wouldn¡¯t hurt her poprity at all. Moreover, as she said, Xia Yingluo was her daughter. Even if she had no experience, as long as she stood on the stage, everyone would cheer and scream, and there was no need to worry about messing up.

    The whole family surrounded Xia Yingluo. Li Rui looked at her sister with her in his arms and said, ¡°You don¡¯t really have no experience on the stage. Didn¡¯t you perform well in the training camp before? It¡¯ll be good to stand beside Mother as a star. Next time when you quarrel with Gu Jinxiu in the future, people would be sure to side with you. This is the effect of fans.¡±

    The whole family red at him for having touched her sore spot.

    Li Rui touched his nose innocently. To help her sister out of the shadows, he had to at least let her hear the names of the dog couple. Was it not good to turn grief and indignation intobat effectiveness?

    However, Xia Yingluoughed out first. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it.¡± Recently, she was not interested in anything and just wanted to keep herself busy, so it was a good idea to go to her mom¡¯s concert.

    At the beginning of her illness, everyone dared not let her be too tired. After discussion, she was only allowed to sing one song with Xia Ling at the concert. Xia Yingluo talked about it lightly, but she was very afraid of shaming her mother. She worked hard on her training and her time passed peacefully.

    On the day of the concert, it was extremely crowded. Xia Ling took her off the extended version of the concierge and entered the concert site under the escort of a security guard, causing fans to scream around them. The mother and daughter looked simr, like a pair of sister flowers, extremely pleasant to the eye.

    The enthusiasm of the fans made Xia Yingluo feel better, and she began to understand why Mom liked to hold concerts so much.

    Publicity advertisements wereunched early. Everyone knew that Xia Yingluo would be on stage with Xia Ling today, and all looked forward to it.

    In the backstage dressing room, Xia Yingluo prepared quietly.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head and saw a handsome man she didn¡¯t know. The man was wearing a silk open shirt, which was clearly a difficult top to dominate, but he still looked charismatic and made people feel enchanted. He looked at Xia Yingluo andughed. ¡°You are Xia Ling¡¯s daughter?¡±

    Xia Yingluo asked him, ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Yu.¡± The man easily quoted his name and walked towards her. ¡°You are beautiful.¡±

    It turned out he was Jiang Yu.

    Xia Yingluo felt like her question had been too stupid. Who didn¡¯t know Jiang Yu? He was Skyart¡¯s most popr film and television actor and singer male star. Even in this entertainment circle full of beauties, he was also known as the person in charge of beauty.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, still a little awkward at not recognizing this popr face.

    Jiang Yu didn¡¯t care much and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s normal that you don¡¯t recognize me. Aren¡¯t all nobledies like you? You can¡¯t remember people¡¯s names, and we¡¯re all just transient in your eyes?¡±

 Chapter 1315

    Chapter 1315: You Don¡¯t Deserve to Know

    Seeing the shing smile in his eyes, Xia Yingluoughed softly and knew he was only joking.

    Jiang Yu took a note from the dressing table and wrote her a phone number. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have the honor to invite you to dinner, but you can call me when you¡¯re free.¡±

    Xia Yingluo took the note. ¡°Are all of you in the entertainment industry so direct?¡±

    Jiang Yu blinked at her. ¡°Only to you.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I fell in love with you at first sight. Are you satisfied with this reason?¡±

    Xia Yingluo considered whether to throw the paper in the trash can. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t want to talk about these things now.¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled again and changed the topic very tactfully. ¡°Actually, I was just curious. I want to see what kind of person Miss Xia is. You know that I have been in Skyart Entertainment for a long time and yet, I¡¯ve never seen you once. I heard that you studied at Imperial¡¯s Training Camp before. Will you enter the entertainment industry one day?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She wanted to answer no, but she couldn¡¯t say anything. Before, she really didn¡¯t want to enter the entertainment industry. She thought it would be enough to eat at home and wait for death. But this time, the Wei Lingnan incident had hurt her too badly. She wasn¡¯t sure if she would think wildly if she just ate and waited for death at home. It was also a good choice to enter the entertainment industry.

    Whenever she thought of that man, her heart ached again. At that moment, she suddenly felt a little grateful to Jiang Yu, so she continued chatting with him. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°I am a special guest at this concert.¡±

    The concertsted for three hours. Xia Ling didn¡¯t want to sing from beginning to end. During the intermission, she would invite the guest to the stage, which also helped promote the younger generation. Jiang Yu was lucky to be able to participate in such a grand concert.

    Xia Yingluo nodded her head.

    Jiang Yu apanied her for a while and then stared at her strangely. ¡°You don¡¯t look right, are you unwell?¡±

    People all over the world knew that she had just recovered from a serious illness, and Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t take it to her heart, so she said, ¡°You can see that I¡¯m not looking right through such a thick stage makeup?¡±

    Jiang Yuughed. ¡°It¡¯s best to be okay.¡±

    The staff over there asked Xia Yingluo toe on stage, saying that it was the duet. Xia Yingluo slowly got up and walked to the stage in a gorgeous costume. The spotlight shone, and she couldn¡¯t open her eyes. Off the stage, the fans cheered for a while, and she was on the fantastic stage. She was a little shy and it felt as if she hade to another world. Was this the magic of the stage?

    In the midst of the light and shadow, her mother Xia Ling smiled and reached out to her.

    Because they hadn¡¯t been able to practice much, and taking into consideration Xia Yingluo¡¯s physical condition, they chose a song that wasn¡¯t difficult to sing. Although the difficulty was not high, it was equally pleasing to the ear. Xia Ling could carry songs very well, and as long as she wanted to take care of the person on stage, that person could be taken care of seamlessly.

    The voices of the two were intertwined, making people intoxicated.

    The fans were very excited. For the first time, they saw the mother and daughter on the same stage. They saw that Xiao Ling¡¯s daughter not only took after her beauty but also her talent. Her voice was beautiful.

    The cheers for Xia Yingluo gradually increased.

    However, when the song was sung halfway, something went wrong.

    Xia Yingluo felt dizziness for a while, and there was a faint internal paining from her body, which made her feel an ominous premonition.

    She was holding it in, trying to finish the song, but her body pain was getting worse and worse, and she gradually couldn¡¯t support it. She was a little flustered, knowing what the pain was, remembering that Wei Lingnan hadn¡¯t given her an antidote to the rejection for a long time. The familiar pain came like a flood of mountains, and she couldn¡¯t resist it anymore.

    No matter what, she had to finish the stage...

    Xia Yingluo was thinking hard in her heart. Singing for the first time with her mother, she must not lose her face.

    However, such a physical condition was not something that could be sustained by holding it in. In the middle of the song, without any warning, Xia Yingluo¡¯s sight ckened and her body fell softly.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Xia Ling¡¯s cry sounded.

    The whole concert was agitated and they didn¡¯t understand what was happening on the stage.

    With her mother¡¯s worried face close at hand, Xia Yingluo moved her lips and wanted to tell her that she was alright, but she couldn¡¯t make a sound. The pain seemed to tear her whole body apart. Her face was pale, and cold sweat slipped down her forehead. The security rushed to the stage and assisted Xia Ling to lift her backstage in an awkward manner, and an ambnce arrived immediately to take her to the hospital.

    Xia Ling stopped the concert and went to see the doctor with her. Soon, Li Lei, Shaohui, and Li Rui all rushed to the hospital, and even Xia Moyan came.

    The doctors were very busy and sweaty and told the Li family sincerely. ¡°No cause can be found, all physical indicators are normal, and we dare not use any medicine.¡± If the person who was sent was the Li family¡¯s youngdy, the hospital would have determined that it was a rogue intentionally disturbing the order and pretending to be ill.

    Everyone¡¯s expression was gloomy, and Li Lei nced at Xia Moyan, who said, ¡°Another reaction.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°I¡¯ll go to Wei Lingnan.¡±

    He said without hesitation, then left and went to the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group. Wei Lingnan was not on the ground, and the young girl at the front desk said to Xia Moyan, ¡°President Wei has gone home.¡±

    ¡°I know his home is here.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was cold but full of indescribable threats. ¡°Notify him, or I¡¯ll break in.¡±

    The little girl at the front desk was sweating a lot, and then called Wei Lingnan to make an extension call.

    She put down the phone and said to Xia Moyan, ¡°Go in elevator A3.¡±

    It was a special elevator that went straight to the ground. Xia Moyan soon came to Wei Family¡¯s true underground base and met Wei Lingnan.

    He finally understood why Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t want to see him. Because there was a woman here. Gu Jinxiu. At this time, Gu Jinxiu was nestled beside Wei Lingnan and watched the uninvited guest vigntly.

    ¡°I want to talk to you alone.¡± Xia Moyan was toozy to talk circles with Wei Lingnan.

    ¡°If it¡¯s about Xia Yingluo, we have nothing to talk about.¡± Wei Lingnan refused without thinking. ¡°My Ah Luo is back. Everything before was misunderstood, and we have nothing to do with one another in the future.¡±

    ¡°Your Ah Luo?¡± Xia Moyan nced at Gu Jinxiu and smiled ironically. ¡°Believe it or not, if I put a magic circle, she will be consigned to eternal damnation?¡±

    The chill in his voice made Gu Jinxiu feel threatened. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s scalp was numb, and she couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Who are you? What big threats.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t deserve to know,¡± Xia Moyan said softly.

 Chapter 1316

    Chapter 1316: Antidote

    Having been humiliated so explicitly, Gu Jinxiu lowered her head slightly. ¡°And who do you think you are?¡±

    Xia Moyan couldn¡¯t be bothered with her. He simply looked at Wei Lingnan with cold and intimidating eyes.

    Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t understand, but Wei Lingnan knew exactly who Xia Moyan was and what he could do. While he wasn¡¯t afraid of him, Ah Luo was currently a human being, who knew if she¡¯d be affected by a guardian of the? Wei Lingnan lowered his head and looked at Gu Jinxiu as if he was trying to appease her. ¡°I won¡¯t be long.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was worried. ¡°Nan!¡±

    Wei Lingnan gave her a reassuring nce and then led Xia Moyan deeper into the underground base.

    In a secludedboratory, Wei Lingnan asked Xia Moyan, ¡°What¡¯s going on, I don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    There was some coldness in Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes. His niece was lying on the hospital bed and in critical condition, how could the main culprit Wei Lingnan be this heartless? At this point, there was no use arguing over trivialities. He simply stated his needs sinctly. ¡°Yingluo¡¯s body is disying some abnormal symptoms. I¡¯m here to get the antidote from you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression darkened.

    Xia Moyan thought that he was unwilling to hand it over and hence added, ¡°Even if you¡¯ve broken up, you should be cleaning up the mess you¡¯ve created. For every day that Yingluo hasn¡¯t recovered fully, you¡¯re still responsible for this. If you dare to avoid this responsibility, I¡¯ll make sure to let you regret evering to this.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips quivered as if he was about to say something, but he stopped himself.

    ¡°It takes time to make the antidote,¡± he said to Xia Moyan. ¡°I¡¯ll bring it to you in three days.¡±

    Xia Moyan was frustrated. ¡°Three days? Yingluo is in so much pain, every second of it is suffering!¡±

    ¡°This is the fastest I can go,¡± Wei Lingnan calmly said. ¡°You¡¯d better stop being a nuisance here. Every second earlier that you¡¯re off takes away a second of her suffering.¡±

    Xia Moyan really wished to torture this man, but his rationality stopped him. He turned away and left.

    Wei Lingnan did not waste any time either and immediately took a passage to the secretboratory. He instructed his assistant through amunicating device. ¡°Bring me the inducing agent no.3188.¡±

    His assistant, the elderly person who had been with him for many years, hurriedly brought it over.

    Wei Lingnan received it and began mixing it in specific ratios before watering it over a little seedling. The seedling had barely germinated and it looked fragile as it swayed slightly upon contact with the inducing agent. Some smoke beganing off from it and it almost seemed like the seedling could dissolve or disappear into it. He closed his eyes and allowed the energy to be transferred from his palm to the seedling. After several hours, the energy from him had helped the seedling absorb the agent more efficiently and it had grown several inches.

    Wei Lingnan opened his eyes and his body swayed a little, almost falling.

    ¡°Mister!¡± The elderly person hurriedly held onto him.

    Wei Lingnan forced himself to stand upright and signaled that he was alright, but his face was white as a sheet and sweat was dripping off his forehead.

    The elderly person looked at him, puzzled. ¡°This Skatana flower is still a seedling, it takes about 20 days to mature. Mister, are you trying to induce its growth so that it¡¯ll mature sooner? But the previous flower had only matured a few days ago and was used for the antidote for Miss Xia Yingluo. She wouldn¡¯t experience any abnormal symptoms anytime soon, so what¡¯s the rush?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression was a little dark. ¡°The antidote wasn¡¯t delivered to her.¡±

    When Xia Moyan told him about this, Wei Lingnan had already found something strange about the situation. Although he and Xia Yingluo had already broken up, he¡¯d always taken her possible abnormal symptoms into consideration out of responsibility. As such, he¡¯d prepared the antidote beforehand and had someone deliver it to Xia Yingluo. But her symptoms still red up, that could only mean that she never received or taken the antidote at all. Just where did it go wrong?

    Evidently, the elderly person figured out the problem too and tended up. ¡°I¡¯ll get somebody to investigate.¡±

    Wei Lingnan shut his eyes for a bit. ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± the elderly person did not understand. ¡°Who¡¯d be daring enough to meddle with your things, that person deserves to be punished...¡±

    Something came to mind all of a sudden and he shut his mouth mid-sentence.

    Besides Gu Jinxiu, who was ¡°Ah Luo herself¡±, who¡¯d have the guts and hatred toy a finger on that antidote? If it really was Gu Jinxiu behind it, then there was no need to investigate. So what if he found out it was her? Was he going to confront Gu Jinxiu? Gu Jinxiu must¡¯ve been unhappy when she found out about his antidote for Xia Yingluo, there was no point in bringing this conflict to the surface.

    This was probably why Wei Lingnan found that investigation was unnecessary.

    Wei Lingnan took a few deep breaths as he held onto the countertop for support. He said to the elderly person, ¡°Keep a lookout outside and don¡¯t let anyone in. No one is to disturb me these few days.¡±

    The elderly person knew that he was trying to induce the growth of the Skatana flower with his energy to make the antidote in the shortest time possible. But this would use up a lot of his energy and he¡¯d end up in a dangerous, fatigued situation if too much of it was expended. ¡°Mister...¡± The elderly man looked up at him with concern.

    Wei Lingnan swept him a nce.

    The elderly person broke out in cold sweat and dared not say anything more. He quietly nodded and took his leave.

    The door to theboratory closed slowly. From outside, the elderly person could see that Wei Lingnan was starting yet another cycle of energy transfer.

    How sinful...

    The elderly man had no idea how things were going to proceed from here. His boss had been so caught up with Ah Luo all this while that every failed test subject had been destroyed inhumanely. But this time, Xia Yingluo was an exception. Not only had she not been destroyed, but he had also even continued to provide her with the antidote for her abnormal symptoms, even though it upset ¡°Ah Luo¡±. Feelings were the mostplex of things in this world. At this point, was the person that Wei Lingnan truly loved still that ¡°Ah Luo¡±? The elderly man wasn¡¯t so sure anymore.

    Xia Yingluoy on the bed in her room and tossed and turned in pain.

    She could feel her body burning up as if she was in hell, and even the bones inside her seemed to be inching towards explosion.

    Three days ago, she had been brought home by her family. Since her symptoms werepletely out of the hospital¡¯s capacity to treat, she was actually better off receiving care at home. She was in a semi-conscious state now and her family members took turns to stay by her bedside, holding her hand and offering her moral support.

 Chapter 1317

    Chapter 1317: We Meet Again

    Xia Yingluo was not sure if she could bear the pain.

    However, she was not content with dying like this, leaving the world in shame after being abandoned and toyed with.

    She still had family, friends and...

    So many things she could not let go of...

    She gasped for breath, painfully struggling for life. Malnourishment from the disease caused her wrists to be thin and bony. Her family members held dearly onto her tiny wrist. The worried voice of her mother went into her ears. ¡°Yingluo...¡±

    There were many people in the bedroom. Xia Ling, Li Rui, Li Lei, Shaohui and Xia Moyan were all there. ording to the agreement, Wei Lingnan was supposed to deliver the medicine today. Looking at the situation now, Yingluo might notst any longer if Wei Lingnan did note.

    ¡°Is there any way to expedite it?¡± Li Lei asked Xia Moyan as he tried hard to contain his worry.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression remained still. His voice was clear, but it had a tinge of worry. ¡°The Wei Family underground base is already on high alert. Intelligence says that Wei Lingnan has locked himself in theb and never came out. He is probably working on the antidote. There is no point in us hurrying him, it would only disturb his progress.¡±

    ¡°What if he isn¡¯t working on the antidote at all?¡± Li Rui could not hold his frustration any longer. Looking at his sister suffer, his heart was being put through tons of pain as well. ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t want to help Yingluo at all?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. He is not powerful enough to oppose the Xia family openly. If anything happens to Yingluo, he understands the grave consequences better than anyone else.¡± Xia Moyan analyzed calmly. The consequence was, of course, revenge from the Xia family. As long as Wei Lingnan was on this, he would not be able to handle the wrath he¡¯d incur. Would Wei Lingnan leave this? Maybe, or maybe not. Looking at how concerned he was about Gu Jinxiu, the chances of him not leaving were higher. The woman who imed she was an alien reincarnated was still weak and fragile.

    The people in the room were getting uneasy from the frustration.

    Li Rui cursed. ¡°I¡¯ll tear that bastard apart.¡±

    Right as the words escaped his mouth, the air in front of him suddenly distorted, as if affected by an invisible maic field. The long image of a man appeared from thin air. It was Wei Lingnan.

    His appearance shocked Li Rui. ¡°You, you, you, you...!¡±

    How did this man appear here? What kind of sorcery? Invisibility? Teleportation? Li Rui could feel his brain bursting with questions. The scene thwarted his understanding of the world. As for the others, they were not surprised as they already knew Wei Lingnan¡¯s background.

    Li Lei was even able to react immediately and hurry Wei Lingnan. ¡°Did you bring the antidote? Quick, give it to her.¡±

    Wei Lingnan ignored them and looked straight at Xia Yingluo. Only a few days passed, yet she looked like a withering flower. His heart ached. This was not right, how could his heart ache for someone other than Ah Luo?

    Wei Lingnan retracted his hand that was going to examine her. Originally, he intended to feed her the antidote directly, but now, he passed it to Xia Ling. ¡°Get her to drink it.¡±

    Xia Ling took the antidote. She did not know if it was real or fake and looked at her husband and brother helplessly.

    They nodded at her. After gaining their approval, she opened the bottle and fed Xia Yingluo carefully.

    Xia Yingluo was tossing and turning in bed with her eyes closed, frowning and whimpering. After she drank the antidote, she began to calm down, and her breathing started to stabilize as well.

    The people in the room were all relieved after seeing this.

    Wei Lingnan looked longingly at her. He did not realize that his eyes were screaming his unwillingness to leave, but he still turned away to go.

    ¡°Stop.¡± Li Rui stopped him in his tracks. This happy-go-lucky Young Master had now recovered from his initial shock¡ªat least from the outside it seemed so. He stared coldly at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Who are you? Or better yet, what are you?¡± He could not allow anything to hurt his sister, no matter who or what it was.

    Wei Lingnan did not want to fight with him. He shook him off easily and continued towards the door.

    Li Rui broke out in cold sweat. He was a monster, how could he be so agile? He was trained since young. Few people could escape his grasp so easily. This monster¡¯s abilities were threatening.

    ¡°Stop now! You did all these to my sister, you think you can just walk away like this?¡± Despite the immense power he faced, Li Rui continued to engage him.

    Wei Lingnan still did not answer him. He put his fingers on the doorknob and turned.

    A voice could be heard behind him. ¡°Why did youe?¡±

    The voice was weak, but it caused his hands to tremble.

    Xia Yingluo.

    She came to her consciousness and looked at Wei Lingnan. Her eyes were filled with sadness, hatred and many otherplex emotions.

    Even though Wei Lingnan did not turn around, he could feel their burning stares. His back instantly stiffened.

    ¡°Next time, get your family to collect the antidote from my ce. I won¡¯t being again,¡± he said emotionlessly.

    Before Xia Yingluo could say anything, Li Lei red up. ¡°It¡¯s just a trip, how much does it cost you?!¡± Without thinking, he raised his fist on him.

    ¡°Xiao Rui!¡± Li Lei stopped him with his hand.

    Ignoring Li Rui¡¯s bloodthirsty eyes, he looked coldly at Wei Lingnan. ¡°I¡¯ll get the antidote from you next time. But if you dare to evere close to Yingluo again, I¡¯ll kill you without hesitation.¡±

    This time, Wei Lingnan really left.

    ¡°Dad! Why did you let him off so easily?! Look at how much hurt he caused to Sister!¡± Li Rui was anxious.

    Li Lei did not answer him. Instead, he turned towards Xia Yingluo. Xia Yingluo¡¯s face was pale. Wei Lingnan¡¯s deration that he ¡°won¡¯t being again¡± was like a hammer striking her heart. She knew this would have happened... didn¡¯t she?

    Sheughed at herself. For someone that crushed her like an ant and did not even bother to save her, what else was she asking for?

    ¡°I¡¯m tired, let me be alone,¡± she said softly.

    The family members looked at each other. They respected her wish and walked out.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head towards the window.

    She looked out the window in a daze, trying hard to not think of him. However, she noticed Wei Lingnan walking slowly past the small road.

    He was walking very slowly, even stumbling at times. The snow fell onto his body from the trees; it was a gloomy sight.

    Xia Yingluo thought she was overthinking, how could someone so cold and emotionless like him be sad? He must be delighted to shake her, the burden, off. Now, he could finally be together with Gu Jinxiu without a care for anything else.

 Chapter 1318

    Chapter 1318: Sense of Crisis

    Xia Yingluo struggled and turned around in bed, burying her head into the pillow and whimpering like an injured animal. She had stopped looking at the figure downstairs.

    Wei Lingnan staggered out of the Lis¡¯ home and almost lost his bnce. He held onto a wall for support and took a while to catch his breath before color returned to his cheeks. He had looked cold and cruel back in their home, but in fact, he had spent days and nights using all his energy to induce the growth of the Skatana flower and had reached his limit. But he knew how painful and torturous the abnormal symptoms could be, and wanted to do everything it took to shorten her suffering, even if by just a second. The teleportation used up almost everyst bit of energy he had. In front of the Lis, the cold demeanor he put up had masked his vulnerability, but now that there was no one around, he couldn¡¯t keep up his act.

    He had teleported in such a rush that he hadn¡¯t arranged for transportation back to the base.

    Wei Lingnan tried to catch his breath as he reached his arm out to g for a cab, but not a single one stopped for him. This man looked so weak, he seemed like he might pass out anytime, and no driver wanted that sort of trouble.

    Until a silver luxury car stopped before him quietly.

    The back door opened, and on the leather seat was Gu Jinxiu in a light blue cheongsam and a shawl. She looked at him and said, ¡°Nan,e on in.¡±

    Wei Lingnan reached his leg out and got into the car.

    It was clean and cozy on the inside. Gu Jinxiu very thoughtfully draped a nket on him. ¡°It¡¯s winter, why did youe out in such little clothing? Look how cold you are.¡± Her voice was sweet and gentle and packed with feelings.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes did not meet her gaze. He was still pale and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.

    Gu Jinxiu did not ask where he went, and simply told the chauffeur to set off.

    The chauffeur was the Gu family¡¯s helper, and asked as he started the car, ¡°Miss, where are you heading?¡±

    ¡°Home,¡± Gu Jinxiu said to the chauffeur and then turned to Wei Lingnan. ¡°You¡¯re unwell. Have a rest at my home for now.¡±

    But Wei Lingnan declined. ¡°Head to the basement.¡± He was weak, but his voice was still cold and firm, leaving no room for negotiation.

    The conflicting instructions made the chauffeur a little distressed. He looked at his Miss in the rearview mirror, awaiting furtherment.

    Gu Jinxiu was verypliant, ¡°We¡¯ll go to the base, then.¡±

    The car headed towards the base.

    It was a good distance into the journey and the car was quiet when Gu Jinxiu spoke again. ¡°Nan, I haven¡¯t seen you in a few days and I have no idea where you¡¯ve been. Do you know this worries me?¡±

    ¡°No need to worry,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    His coldness made Gu Jinxiu feel a little hurt as she bit her lip. Although she had already told Wei Lingnan her identity in the past life, it seemed like they didn¡¯t get any much closer with each other. There seemed to be a barrier between them, and she felt as if she simply couldn¡¯t find a way to know the real Wei Lingnan better.

    Wei Lingnan sensed her unhappiness and mellowed down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was just tired.¡±

    His change in attitude made Gu Jinxiu feel better. She smiled., ¡°It¡¯s alright. Sleep in the car, then. Rest well.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nodded and closed his eyes. The moment his eyes were shut, images of the Skatana and the little princess came back again. Each time he came back from a mission, she¡¯d run up to him in joyful tears, telling him how much she¡¯d worried for him. Back then, she¡¯d been so naive and simple, so beautiful, so different from the scheming and cautious person she was today.

    His Ah Luo was back, but the little princess in her was gone. Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of loss.

    ¡°Nan, what exactly were you doing out?¡± Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t suppress her curiosity. She¡¯d had a bad omen from the day that mysterious man came to look for Wei Lingnan; she felt that it had to be something to do with Xia Yingluo. These few days, Wei Lingnan had kept himself out of sight, and his subordinate had told her that his instructions were to keep everyone away, including her. She was bursting with doubts, and a sense of crisis rose inside her.

    She went to so much effort to snatch Wei Lingnan away from Xia Yingluo, there was no way she¡¯d let him return to her. Gu Jinxiu was a scheming woman, and while she couldn¡¯t contact Wei Lingnan directly, her suspicion about Xia Yingluo¡¯s involvement in this was spot-on. She¡¯d sent her chauffeur to patrol around the Li household for three whole days, and Wei Lingnan finally appeared.

    Gu Jinxiu had to find out what he was there for.

    As they reached the base, Gu Jinxiu followed Wei Lingnan down underground.

    Wei Lingnan went with her to the house that he¡¯d built especially for Ah Luo, and nned to leave right away. ¡°Have a good rest, I still have something to attend to. I¡¯ll be backter.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu grabbed his arm. ¡°I already told you that I¡¯m worried for you, but you won¡¯t even tell me where you¡¯ve gone and what you¡¯ve been doing?¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head and nced at her hand. ¡°Ah Luo, why do you ask what you already know?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was upset and even a little angry. ¡°So you really went to look for Xia Yingluo behind my back. Wei Lingnan, since you¡¯re already with me, why do you do things that hurt me?¡±

    Wei Lingnan was already fatigued and worn out. Upon hearing Gu Jinxiu¡¯s questions, Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t mask his frustration. ¡°When I sent the drug to Yingluo the previous time, did you send someone to stop it from reaching her? If not for that drug, I wouldn¡¯t have had to see her personally.¡±

    He called her Yingluo, not Xia Yingluo.

    The mildly affectionate name pricked her ear, but she forced herself to bear with it. She was a scheming woman who knew very well that pressing him with further questions would only upset him more.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°Ah Luo, I¡¯m tired. I don¡¯t wish to hear your lies.¡±

    Without waiting for her answer, he took his leave.

    He was simply too exhausted and couldn¡¯t hold out any longer. He felt like he would pass out anytime if he continued standing before Gu Jinxiu.

    He walked into a secretboratory and shut himself in a nurturing vessel. It was filled with recovery solution and he rested in it with his eyes closed.

    Meanwhile, Gu Jinxiu felt apprehensive and uncertain all of a sudden.

    She¡¯d thought that once she recalled all her memories as Ah Luo, she¡¯d be showered in Wei Lingnan¡¯s abundant love for her like back in the days millions of years ago. But it seemed like this man hadn¡¯tpletely forgotten Xia Yingluo or let her go, and this gave her a sense of crisis. No, this wouldn¡¯t do. She had to find a way around this.

 Chapter 1319

    Chapter 1319: Feast on the Snowy Night

    This winter was very long. Xia Yingluo¡¯s body was getting better, but she was still depressed.

    The family took turns to apany her, trying to help her out of the shadow as soon as possible. She recognized their kindness and worked hard to cooperate by smiling. But no matter what she was doing, she would suddenly remember the time with Wei Lingnan. When she saw a flower, she thought of the little white flower he had sent her, and when she saw purple, she thought of the mysterious and distant. When she saw snow falling, she thought of the night when he crossed half of the city and came to her window, just to say ¡°I miss you¡±...

    Bit by bit, it was usual at the time.

    It now seemed painful.

    She said nothing, but the family could see how deep her injury was.

    Xia Ling said to Li Lei in private, ¡°I¡¯m worried about Yingluo.¡± She began to regret sending Yingluo out for training. If she had known things woulde to this, she would have kept her by her side even if it meant viting the Li family¡¯s rules. But now, it was toote to say anything.

    Li Leiforted her. ¡°That child is very strong.¡±

    Xia Ling shook her head. In terms of feelings, which girl was indestructible?

    She remembered the pain of leaving Pei Ziheng at the beginning and of her heart being torn. If it was not for Li Lei¡¯spany during that difficult period, maybe she would be in the dark forever in this life. She bowed her head a little, and after a long time, said to Li Lei, ¡°What do you think... about finding another boyfriend for Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Li Lei answered without thinking. Maybe he also remembered the experience of Xia Ling. Li Lei agreed that ¡°the best way to end a rtionship was to start a new rtionship.¡± If someone could apany his daughter to make her forget the pain, as a father, he couldn¡¯t ask for more.

    Xia Ling smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s have a banquet.¡±

    So, in this deep snow-covered winter, Li family invited many celebrities and held a banquet in a private estate on the outskirts of the city.

    Of course, certain families were excluded from the guest list.

    Although no one said more to Xia Yingluo, she knew that this banquet was specially held for her, and she didn¡¯t want to dampen the mood, so she cooperated very well. She was already beautiful, and she carefully dressed herself to look good. She had long hair hanging down her shoulders and a gorgeous mink shawl around her shoulders that made her look like a princess.

    She entertained the guests in the banquet hall, then took an unnoticed break to run outdoors to ventte.

    At night, the sky was full of stars in the ck velvet sky, the courtyard was lit with night lights, and the stars dotted the night sky.

    She asked for a ss of sparkling water, looked up at the starry sky, and her sight fell unconsciously on a faraway ce¡ªonce pointed to her by Wei Lingnan, where the Skatana was located.

    It turned out that she was not his Ah Luo.

    But she didn¡¯t expect that this Ah Luo would be Gu Jinxiu?

    It was... annoying.

    Xia Yingluo smiled with ridicule, knowing that this was her own prejudice. Gu Jinxiu in the eyes of others was not annoying. The woman had received elite training since she was a child, and had been trained by the Gu family as the second heir. She was not only knowledgeable but also proficient in various business means. People said that Gu Jinxiu was much better than her useless brother.

    As for Xia Yingluo?

    Every day she ate at home and waited to die and was apletezy bug. Compared to Gu Jinxiu, how could she be better?

    The night breeze blew into her heart with a coolness.

    There was a slight movement around her, and she turned to nce at it and saw a man wearing a silver-gray tailored suit, with a beautiful smile on his face.

    The man politely said to her, ¡°Beautifuldy, I wonder if I have the honor to sit by your side?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled politely. ¡°Of course, Jiang Yu.¡±

    The man really sat down on another wicker chair beside her, and spoke very naturally, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you still remember my name.¡± His voice was very nice, with just the right amount of maism and gentleness. It made people feel like spring hade earlier. Thest time they met in the backstage of Xia Ling¡¯s concert, they had chatted, and now they were meeting for the second time.

    ¡°I have always had a good memory,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    She was not interested in talking, and lowered her eyes, watching the soda in the ss quietly.

    Jiang Yu was not affected by her faint indifference, and asked, ¡°You are the protagonist of this banquet. Why not go inside and y with them? Why are you sitting here alone?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the protagonist?¡± Xia Yingluo said softly, with a self-mockery in her eyes. ¡°You all know it was done for me.¡± Themercial battle between the Li and Gu families was too quiet, and the two heroines were also gossipped about. Since Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu were together, then Xia Yingluo¡¯s loneliness was certain.

    Jiang Yu smiled. ¡°Poor parents in the world. Their thoughts are easily guessed.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was not familiar with him and was unwilling to talk in depth, so she didn¡¯t answer.

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°Sorry, did I make you unhappy?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xia Yingluo said. She hade out to avoid the guests, and her parents would be disappointed if they found out. But now, she could use Jiang Yu as an excuse.

    ¡°Good.¡± Jiang Yu talked eloquently. ¡°Actually, I also came out to bezy. This is a big manor, I walked around and found that this was the cleanest and mostfortable ce. I can enjoy the snow and block the wind, and no one is bothering me. Miss Xia, you¡¯re good at finding a nice ce.¡±

    Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Why are youzy?¡±

    Jiang Yu shook the wine ss in his hand gently. The silver-blue cocktail was charming. ¡°Too much entertainment, I don¡¯t like it.¡± He was a popr star, and was always in the social field. He was already tired from singing and acting, and didn¡¯t want to keep socializing with people.

    Xia Yingluo nced at him sideways. ¡°Speaking to me is not entertainment?¡±

    They were not well acquainted.

    Jiang Yu handsome¡¯s face chuckled again. ¡°No. You won¡¯t tter me, nor take my word for it, and you won¡¯t try to get anything from me. I don¡¯t need to be fake.¡±

    This person was a bit interesting, and Xia Yingluo looked at him again. ¡°What about you, what do you want from me?¡±

    Jiang Yu¡¯s eyes were energetic. ¡°I want to be friends with you, are we friends now?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°because I¡¯m Li Lei¡¯s daughter?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re honest.¡± Jiang Yu didn¡¯t feel embarrassed by her problems and still smiled calmly. ¡°Half of it is, half of it isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want to chat with him at first, but now she was attracted.

    Jiang Yu leaned his body in the chair and enjoyed the night breeze with the scattered snowkes. ¡°From the first time I saw you, I had a good impression on you. And of course, I have to pursue a girl I have good feelings towards. Otherwise, I would be wasting my time on Earth, wouldn¡¯t I? And it just so happens that your family is so good, so I would be killing two birds with one stone. Would you get offended if I say that?¡±

 Chapter 1320

    Chapter 1320: The Encounter in the Hot Spring Area

    Xia Yingluo shook her head without feeling unhappy.

    She has been used to being a youngdy since she was a child. She had seen all kinds of people trying to curry favor with her, especially those pretentious people that she detested. On the contrary, Jiang Yu¡¯s words made her feel morefortable.

    What¡¯s more, she believed in the eyes of her parents.

    She knew exactly what the banquet was for¡ªher parents wanted her to make more friends, and all invited guests were on her potential friend list. His father¡¯s vision was so urate, the characters listed on his list could not be bad.

    Jiang Yu saw her shaking her head and grew more rxed. ¡°You¡¯re not the same as the otherdies.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Is it?¡±

    What were the otherdies like? Unexpectedly, she thought of Gu Jinxiu in her heart. She was so shrewd and capable, and nothing blocked her way. Xia Yingluo¡¯s face went dark.

    Jiang Yu didn¡¯t realize her thoughts and continued. ¡°It¡¯s too boring to always attend banquets, are you interested in going somewhere else with me? I know there¡¯s a hot spring ski resort on the outskirts of the city that¡¯s very fun.¡±

    ¡°Hot spring ski resort?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s very quiet there. I go every year. Are you interested in being with me?¡± Jiang Yu issued an invitation. An extremely popr star like him was surrounded by a group of people wherever he went. There were really few ces to y well, and there was only one hot spring ski resort in the suburbs, so Jiang Yu cherished it.

    Xia Yingluo thought about it and promised to go with him. She didn¡¯t want her family to worry all the time, and going out would at least give the illusion that she was walking out of the shadows.

    Jiang Yu was very happy. A few days after the banquet, he really took her to the hot spring ski resort on the outskirts of the city.

    The hot spring ski resort was on a membership system, and it was very well built. There were few people in therge venue, and Jiang Yu didn¡¯t have to worry about being recognized by fans. Xia Yingluo was a bit listless. She didn¡¯t go skiing but still liked the quiet andfortable environment here. She woke up naturally every day and enjoyed the hot springs in her spare time.

    It would have been perfect if she didn¡¯t meet that person.

    On this day, as usual, she soaked in the hot spring in the outdoor pool. The hot spring water was clear and warm. The small snow drifted, and the small pavilion made of grass and trees was pleasing to the eye. She dipped most of her body in the spring water, like a beautiful mermaid, with long hair floating like seaweed in the water.

    With her eyes half-closed, as if she was sleeping, she suddenly heard a voice. ¡°Xia Yingluo, why are you here?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart jumped and she was suddenly disturbed. She raised her eyes and looked at the other side. On the edge of the hot spring pool, a woman wearing a bathing suit and a bath towel, standing on the shore and looking down at her, turned out to be Gu Jinxiu. Xia Yingluo looked at the woman and irritability grew in her heart. All her good mood was destroyed and she was alert.

    ¡°Why do you care that I¡¯m here?¡± She said coldly to Gu Jinxiu and sat up straight in the water. ¡°You cane, but I can¡¯te?¡±

    ¡°Of course you cane.¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just a little surprised. After all, activities such as hot spring travel are usually done by two people. I¡¯m here with Nan this time, I don¡¯t know who you came with? After leaving Nan, did you find a new boyfriend so soon?¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t notice the mockery in her words and was only attracted by one message. Wei Lingnan also came?

    She had clearly broken up with him, but she was tense for no reason, and her body became a little stiff. If there was anyone in the world whom she least wanted to see, then that person was Wei Lingnan. After all, the scar left by the man was slowly healing, how could it happen here again? She got up from the hot spring pool, took her own towel from a wooden shelf on one side, and put it on her body. She didn¡¯t want to meet Wei Lingnan and was about to leave.

    ¡°Why? You¡¯re fleeing?¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled happily. ¡°Ms. Xia, don¡¯t leave so fast, what if other people say I bullied you? After all, your parents are so powerful, and just because of a small thing like loving freely, they almost ruined my Gu family. But it¡¯s all thanks to Nan. Otherwise, I really wouldn¡¯t have known how to get through the difficulties.¡± Her words were filled with mockery and boast.

    Xia Yingluo straightened her back and stared hard into Gu Jinxiu¡¯s eyes. Even if she lost in love, she didn¡¯t want to lose to this woman in terms of grandeur. She was still the youngdy of the Li Family and still had her own pride. ¡°My family once taught me a phrase called: small men get intoxicated by sess. I didn¡¯t know what it meant until I saw you, Ms. Gu. I finally understood what it meant.¡± Xia Yingluo was not polite to Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Get lost, don¡¯t block my way.¡±

    This was a Japanese style hot spring resort area. The distance between the hot spring pool and the pool was very narrow and only one person could pass. Gu Jinxiu was standing on the cobbled path and Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t have a path to walk.

    Gu Jinxiu refused to give away, and looked at her with a sneer. ¡°It should be you giving way to me.¡± In this love war, Gu Jinxiu imed to be the winner. Since she was the winner, how could she give way to the loser? Of course, she had to show off her strength. What was more, she didn¡¯t like Xia Yingluo much.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s temper was also ignited. Although she had broken up with Wei Lingnan, she had no inferiorityplex in front of Gu Jinxiu. At this time, her gaze was colder, and she repeated, ¡°Give way.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face was full of contempt. ¡°Who are you to tell me to make way?¡±

    From the moment she appeared, Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood became very bad. At this time, Xia Yingluo finally couldn¡¯t suppress her agitation anymore and pushed Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Go!¡±

    Yes, she was a nobledy, but she was also the daughter of a gangster of the underworld. Although her self-defense was not amazing, it was still far better than mostdies. The angle of this push was very tricky, so how could Gu Jinxiu possibly avoid it? Immediately, she was unstable and fell into the hot spring pool water with a ssh. The crystal water sshed all around, making her look extremely frail.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo! You! Cough... Cough...¡± Gu Jinxiu took a few sips of water, almost out of breath, while ring at Xia Yingluo and coughing violently.

    This time Xia Yingluo looked at her sublimely, and said with a smile, ¡°How dare you block my way, you should know your limits.¡±

    Her originally dark mood became better, and she turned around and walked briskly to leave the hot spring area. However, on the narrow path, she suddenly bumped into a hard chest.

 Chapter 1321

    Chapter 1321: Where Is It Ufortable?

    She was caught off guard. Her nose hurt, and tears leaked out. She covered her nose and raised her head and a familiar, grim face came into view. The face that once turned a thousand times in her deepest dream, she could recognize it even if it turned into ash¡ªit was Wei Lingnan, the person she didn¡¯t want to meet.

    Her heart skipped a beat, and even the air seemed to freeze.

    She stared at him dumbly, forgetting time, and even herself. The air was filled with the hot and clean smell of hot spring water, but the weather was cold as if it was going to freeze. Xia Yingluo¡¯s fingertips were a bit white and she held onto her bathrobe stiffly.

    Wei Lingnan also looked down at her. Only a few days had passed, but she had already lost weight. Her delicate chin was small and pointed, which caused a faint pinch in his heart. That was strange, how could he feel distressed for people other than Ah Luo? Suppressing the thought that should not be in his heart, Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression became indifferent.

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu, who had fallen into the pool of water weakly, made a sound filled with grievances. ¡°You¡¯re here? Can you help me up? I think my ankle is twisted. Just now, Xia Yingluo pushed me in, and I didn¡¯t notice...¡± She didn¡¯t forget to make ns at any time.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°You¡¯re ming me for twisting your own ankle?¡±

    She knew just how hard she had pushed her, and as long as she wasn¡¯t particrly unlucky, normal people wouldn¡¯t have twisted their ankles. She didn¡¯t know if Gu Jinxiu was unlucky or was just pretending to be? However, she didn¡¯t intend to justify, because the eyes of Wei Lingnan had changed. He was looking at her like she was a stranger. What was the point of justifying herself?

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was as cold as ice and snow. ¡°You hurt Ah Luo.¡± In fact, there was inexplicable irritability in his heart, and he couldn¡¯t exin why. Maybe because Gu Jinxiu¡¯s performance was different from that of Ah Luo in his memory? Whether it was the little princess in memory or the queen, she never talked to him in such a forbearing and aggrieved attitude. She wouldn¡¯t have beat around the bush. The Ah Luo in his memory would directly tell him whatever she needed. The little princess did that, and so did the queenter. If she wanted him to take revenge for her, she would give an order directly, instead of such euphemism.

    To a certain extent, Xia Yingluo, who had a straight character, was actually more like Ah Luo. Maybe this was why he thought Xia Yingluo was Ah Luo. It was a pity that it wasn¡¯t her. Wei Lingnan, conscious of his inner thoughts, was vignt. How could he have such terrible thoughts? How could he be dissatisfied with Ah Luo? The expression on his face was harder, and he looked at Xia Yingluo like a dead woman.

    Xia Yingluo was burned by his eyes, and her heart was silent. ¡°What do you want? Kill me to take revenge for Gu Jinxiu?¡± She said sarcastically to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Come, aren¡¯t you omnipotent?¡±

    Her words were aggressive, but her voice shook slightly.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t know how to deal with this matter. Instinctively, she didn¡¯t want to hurt Xia Yingluo. When he met Gu Jinxiust time, the sound wave almost shattered Xia Yingluo¡¯s internal organs and made him regret it, including the antidotest time were also idents.

    His Ah Luo had returned, and that was enough. Everything else was not that important.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me see you treat Ah Luo like this again.¡± Thousands of thoughts in his heart finally turned into a verbal warning and Wei Lingnan said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Leave here.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I will go even if you don¡¯t urge me. I don¡¯t want to stay with you dog couple for even a second.¡± She raised her head high with her back straight.

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu was unsatisfied. Xia Yingluo this cheap woman had clearly pushed her into the water, how could Wei Lingnan let it go so easily?

    However, Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t look at her.

    Not far away, a surprised and worried voice sounded. ¡°Yingluo?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked around and saw Jiang Yu. She didn¡¯t know when he appeared on the other side of the hot spring path. He looked anxiously at this side and walked over quickly and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    The path was narrow and only one person was allowed to pass. Wei Lingnan was sandwiched between them. Jiang Yu felt that the man was a bit imposing, but he brazenly said, ¡°Sir, please let me through.¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t let him through. He examined Jiang Yu closely. What was his rtionship with Xia Yingluo?

    Jiang Yu felt his scalp go numb. Being stared at by this man gave him a sense of horror of being stared at by a super beast. Illusion, this must be an illusion...

    Heforted himself in his heart and firmly faced Wei Lingnan. In any case, he made up his mind to protect Xia Yingluo, be it as her friend or because of her identity. If something went wrong here, then he would be swallowed by the Li family.

    Moreover, he had more or less guessed the identity of Wei Lingnan. Who else but a lover could a woman look at with such eyes?

    Jiang Yu¡¯s mind turned to many thoughts, but Wei Lingnan asked him, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Jiang Yu hasn¡¯t spoken yet. Gu Jinxiu, who was immersed in the hot spring water, had already said, ¡°This person must be Xia Yingluo¡¯s new boyfriend. Needless to say, they came to y together.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes dimmed. At that moment, Jiang Yu couldn¡¯t help but step back. He felt a substantive murderous force that made his heart rupture.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s eyes were darkened. Wei Lingnan¡¯s stare at Jiang Yu made her heart sink continuously. She was already Ah Luo, but why did Wei Lingnan still care for Xia Yingluo? He even cared if she had a new boyfriend?

    She wasn¡¯t reconciled... she wasn¡¯t!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s hand secretly fisted under the hot spring water. She must find a way to eliminate Xia Yingluo as soon as possible!

    Under Wei Lingnan¡¯s restraint, Xia Yingluo and Jiang Yu left safely. When they walked far away, Jiang Yu felt cold on the back of his neck and couldn¡¯t helpining. ¡°He¡¯s your ex-boyfriend? It¡¯s good that you broke up with him. He¡¯s so scary as if he¡¯s cannibalistic.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was not interested, and returned to the room dully, shutting herself in.

    Gu Jinxiu lied about her ankle and was lifted from the hot spring pool by Wei Lingnan and helped back to her room.

    Lying halfway on therge soft bed, Gu Jinxiu frowned and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Nan, I¡¯m so ufortable...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Where is it ufortable?¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her with concern. ¡°Is it where the foot was twisted still hurt?¡±

    ¡°No, it hurts here...¡± Gu Jinxiu pointed to her heart in pain. ¡°When I was pushed into the water by Xia Yingluo, it seemed to be oppressing the heart. It¡¯s so ufortable...¡±

    Before she finished speaking, her eyes closed and she fainted.

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± Wei Lingnan rushed up and called.

 Chapter 1322

    Chapter 1322: I¡¯m Her Boyfriend

    Xia Yingluo took a bath and put on a clean bathrobe.

    The soft coral fleece wrapped around herfortably but didn¡¯t make her feel better. She stared at the white snow outside the window, thinking, wondering what Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu were doing now? Were theyughing and cuddling in the hot spring pool?

    There was a voice outside the door. It was Jiang Yu. ¡°Yingluo, are you there?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked back and raised her hands to rub her cheeks, not wanting him to find herself looking sad.

    Then she got up and opened the door.

    Outside the door, Jiang Yu also stood in afortable long bathrobe. He was indeed a big star. His figure was perfect. His slightly open chest revealed faint muscles and was able to make countless little girls blush and scream. But there were too many handsome guys Xia Yingluo had met, and she had already be immune to men. At this time, she just let him into the room without any surprise.

    Jiang Yu raised his eyebrows a little. His proud body didn¡¯t attract her attention, which made him feel a little frustrated.

    But he quickly suppressed the frustration, entered the room, and put the tray he was carrying on the table. ¡°I¡¯m bored, so I came to you for a drink. I have a ss of lemon-orange juice and a ss of dragon fruit pomegranate juice, which one do you want?¡± He had done his homework beforeing and asked Second Young Master Li Rui to go out for a drink and get instructions that his sister liked healthy food. Li Rui was actually very annoyed that this kid was hitting on his sister while using him, but understood that his sister needed someone to help her out of the shadows. So even if there were millions of reluctances, he still exined all the precautions he could exin and told Jiang Yu everything.

    Both were drinks that Xia Yingluo liked.

    Xia Yingluo picked up the dragon fruit pomegranate juice and smiled at Jiang Yu. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Although it was only a polite smile, Jiang Yu was very happy. ¡°You¡¯re wee. I brought you out to y, so I should take good care of you.¡±

    The two didn¡¯t talk when they met Wei Lingnan in the hot spring area and just chatted aimlessly. After a while, Xia Yingluo said suddenly, ¡°I want to go back tomorrow.¡±

    They had booked a three-day trip here, but it was only the first day.

    As for why she suddenly wanted to leave, Jiang Yu was actually very clear. Who would like to watch her ex-boyfriend with his current girlfriend?

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°It¡¯s boring at home, let me take you to another ce to y. My next show won¡¯t start until the new year, so I¡¯m also idle during this time. Why don¡¯t we go to Switzend? I heard your second brother said that there was a master¡¯s art exhibition recently, and he would be going there too. We could call a few more friends, it¡¯ll be more lively.¡±

    She probably wouldn¡¯t meet Wei Lingnan if she went abroad.

    It may be a good thing to change the environment.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Go back first, let me think about it.¡±

    Jiang Yu didn¡¯t want to force nor hurry her, it wouldn¡¯t be good if she started disliking him. Anyway, Li Rui would also be going to the exhibition. At that time, there would still be a chance if Li Rui also helped out.

    So, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you back tomorrow.¡±

    The itinerary was set, and the two left the room and nned to go to the restaurant for dinner together.

    This was the highest-grade guest room area of the entire hot spring hotel. They closed the door and saw that someone in the room diagonally came out. The road to enemies was narrow, and it turned out to be Wei Lingnan. Wei Lingnan held a dinner te in his hand, which was obviously a meal for two. Xia Yingluo saw that and her face changed slightly, and then she returned to normal.

    These days, she had never dared to think deeply about a problem¡ª

    How far had Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu developed? Were they... living together?

    There was a lingering pain in her heart, and she warned herself not to care just how far they have gotten. She lowered her head and turned.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo.¡± Wei Lingnan called her.

    She was slightly stiff and didn¡¯t look back. Beside her, a warm and firm hand held her. It was Jiang Yu.

    At the same time, Jiang Yu¡¯s voice also rang. ¡°Wei Lingnan, please don¡¯t harass Yingluo again, she doesn¡¯t want to see you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes and looked dangerously at this man who dared to hold Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Her boyfriend.¡± Jiang Yu¡¯s voice was not high, but it was decisive and clear.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s body stiffened again, but she did not refute.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her back. It seemed like a storm was brewing in his eyes. The irritability expanded in his heart. Strange. He already had his Ah Luo. Why did he feel the urge to rush forward and tear up the person that was with Xia Yingluo?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Yingluo still didn¡¯t turn back and her voice was very light. She held Jiang Yu¡¯s hand and walked towards the other side of the corridor.

    Leaving Wei Lingnan alone, his expression gloomy and unpredictable.

    Looking down, he nced at the double tableware in his hand. Gu Jinxiu passed out just after returning to the room from the hot spring. After he poured a lot of energy to rescue her, Gu Jinxiu told him that her heart was damaged and her life was in danger. If he wanted to treat her, he had to...

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression looked darker.

    He was still hesitant in his heart. Although when he was doing the resurrection experiment, he had considered the physical condition of Ah Luo. Therefore, he had intentionally left a backup.

    But now, the back-up was swapped with the original resurrected identity, and he couldn¡¯t bear it for a moment...

    But this kind of unbearable feeling turned into anger and tyranny at the moment he saw Xia Yingluo and Jiang Yu holding hands.

    What was more, Xia Yingluo, since your body was the same as Ah Luo¡¯s, then, let it y its original role...

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t interested while having dinner with Jiang Yu. She went to bed early in the morning after returning to the room. When she was half asleep, she didn¡¯t know why she suddenly woke up. There was a starry sky outside the floor-to-ceiling window, and the snow was shining into the room. The light loomed on a handsome and indifferent face of a man, standing quietly beside her bed and looking at her like a ferocious beast hunting.

    She was so scared that her heart stopped beating and she almost screamed.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, what are you doing?!¡± Her brain was nk for several seconds before she recovered her voice and looked at the man in front of her alertly.

    Wei Lingnan dragged her off the bed effortlessly. ¡°Sorry, I me you for having the wrong gene.¡±

    Before Xia Yingluo understood what he meant, she felt a pain in her neck. Her eyes darkened and she passed out.

    When she woke up again, she was in a paleboratory.

    It was empty all around, and she was locked to the ground in shackles with both hands and feet. Icy lights were on top of her head, and the whole wall was of transparent ss, and researchers were busy.

    She only felt groggy, and her body couldn¡¯t hold half of her strength. Maybe some medicine had been injected, and the blood in her limbs felt like it was boiling.

 Chapter 1323

    Chapter 1323: What Do You Want to Do

    She resisted the intense pain, and everything before hera came to her mind like slow motion.

    Was Wei Lingnan holding her on the underground base? What did he want to do? Ominous premonitions loomed in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. She tried to open the shackles on her body, but she couldn¡¯t even move them a little bit. However, outside the huge ss viewing window, researchers had found that she was awake. They got together, looked at her data from a screen, and exchanged a few words with each other. One of the researchers in a white coat hurried away.

    Soon, theboratory door was opened.

    A woman in a fine dress and exquisite makeup came in. It was Gu Jinxiu.

    The door closed silently behind her.

    Gu Jinxiu looked down at Xia Yingluo, who was curled up in pain, with a thoughtful smile in her voice. ¡°You are awake.¡±

    Xia Yingluo bit her lip tightly, forcing herself not to reveal the slightest bit of pain. She stared coldly at the woman in front of her without speaking.

    ¡°It¡¯s ufortable, isn¡¯t it?¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled suddenly, with faintpassion. ¡°It¡¯s pitiful, you¡¯re obviously a nobledy, but you¡¯re locked here like a beast. I told Nan that he could treat you better, but he was too worried about me and had to make sure you were locked up.¡±

    Sure enough, they were behind this.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart twitched. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s careless and proud voice made her want to cover her ears, but she was still reluctant to wince in front of her rival and stared coldly at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°What on earth do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°What do I want to do?¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled in amazement. ¡°You should ask Nan what he wants to do. Why, as smart as you are, can¡¯t you guess?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s cat-and-mouse-like smile made Xia Yingluo want to vomit, and the pain ofva boiling in her blood became more and more intense. She became cold and hot for a while, and her face became paler. ¡°Let me... out.¡± She trembled, and said to Gu Jinxiu in difficulty, ¡°I¡¯m not interested in... you two...¡±

    ¡°Let you out?¡± Gu Jinxiu seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. ¡°Xia Yingluo, how are you so naive to this day? Since you have the courage to fight with me over my man, you must have this realization¡ªdeath, yes, that¡¯s your only ending.¡±

    Death?!

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart jumped, and the pain in her body struck again. She couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    She originally thought that Wei Lingnan had been inspired by Gu Jinxiu and caught her here to humiliate and vent her anger, but now it didn¡¯t seem so simple at all. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s killing intent wasn¡¯t fake, she really wanted to kill her! The rm bell in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was so loud and an unprecedented sense of crisis rose in her. What should she do? This was the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Base. She was hundreds or thousands of meters underground and was without any outside contact. If they really wanted to do something to her, she wouldn¡¯t be able to call for rescue!

    ¡°Why?¡± She racked her brains and thought instinctively about her escape strategy. She tried to dy time with Gu Jinxiu. ¡°I broke up with him long ago, and I can¡¯t get in the way of you. Why would you want to kill me?¡± There was another sudden pain, and she couldn¡¯t help gasping, and said when the pain passed, ¡°My family will never let you go.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu looked down at her. The girl on the cold ground in theboratory was only wearing thin pajamas. The thin white silk satin lightly outlined her perfect figure. Her hair was disheveled and her delicate little face had an expression of extreme pain and endurance, and one couldn¡¯t help but have the urge to give all his care.

    Wei Lingnan was just confused by her appearance, right?

    Gu Jinxiu thought fiercely, As long as Xia Yingluo is alive, I¡¯ll have trouble sleeping and eating. Although Wei Lingnan was with her now, it was only because she was Ah Luo in her previous life. He loved the alien queen deeply instead of ¡°Gu Jinxiu¡±. She always understood that. Gu Jinxiu was confused and perplexed inside. She didn¡¯t know how long this love couldst. Would it be shaken by Xia Yingluo? A woman¡¯s instincts had always been very urate, especially when it came to love¡ªWei Lingnan¡¯s stare at Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t simple, Gu Jinxiu dared to swear.

    She couldn¡¯t let things go like this.

    She smiled again, and her expression became vicious. ¡°Don¡¯t struggle on your deathbed, Xia Yingluo. So what if your family doesn¡¯t let me go? Some time ago they wanted to destroy the Gu family, but what happened? As long as there is Nan, they can¡¯t move my finger at all. Hehe, you can die with peace of mind.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face was pale, and she didn¡¯t know if it was pain or anger. She shook her head weakly. ¡°Why... what the hell... what reason did you persuade Wei Lingnan to arrest and kill me?¡±

    ¡°You want to know?¡± Gu Jinxiu smiled brightly and didn¡¯t mind telling her. ¡°In the hot spring, you pushed me a bit and my heart started having problems. I have to change my heart to survive. Who told you to carry genes that are homologous to me. Of course, Nan has to dig out your heart and help me. How about it, are you still satisfied with this answer? Hahaha.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t expect this to happen, and her heart became cold for a while.

    ¡°You lied...¡± She looked at Gu Jinxiu unwillingly. ¡°I don¡¯t believe the push had such serious consequences.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you believe it or not,¡± Gu Jinxiu said profoundly. ¡°As long as Nan believes it, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    It turned out... to be so!

    Suddenly, Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was clear. She didn¡¯t really have any heart problems, and she didn¡¯t need a new heart! Everything was directed and performed by Gu Jinxiu, in order to let Wei Lingnan kill her! And Wei Lingnan... Wei Lingnan really listened to Gu Jinxiu¡¯s words?

    Xia Yingluo only felt that an invisible giant hand grabbed her heart, and it hurt as if it was about to burst.

    It turned out that man was willing to do anything for Gu Jinxiu. The man took her life as something that could be sacrificed at any time without any proof...

    She closed her eyes destely.

    Gu Jinxiu wanted to appreciate her pain for a while, but no matter how she stimted her, Xia Yingluo said nothing. After standing for a while, Gu Jinxiu grew bored. She snorted coldly and turned away from theboratory. At the entrance of theboratory, the researchers bowed respectfully to her. It had spread all over the base that she was the official girlfriend of President Wei, so who dared to provoke her?

    Gu Jinxiu returned to his residence in the base in the living room and saw Wei Lingnan.

    The man was wearing a clean white shirt and was standing quietly. The artificial light shone on him and he looked a little lonely.

 Chapter 1324

    Chapter 1324: Only One Person¡¯s Serving

    Gu Jinxiu put on a gentle smile and called softly, ¡°Nan.¡±

    She stepped forward and snuggled gently into his arms.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s body temperature was slightly lower than that of ordinary people, but his hard chest felt very reliable. Gu Jinxiu leaned quietly onto him and heard him ask, ¡°Have you seen Xia Yingluo?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body froze slightly as if something unexpected had been done. However, in an instant, she naturally followed his words and said, ¡°Yeah, how did you know, did the researchers tell you? I just went to see if she was awake. There was no other purpose, they¡¯re really talkative.¡±

    ¡°You have her smell on you,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    Why would he need the researchers to tell him? He was so familiar with Xia Yingluo¡¯s smell. When Gu Jinxiu just opened the door of the living room, he immediately noticed it.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart sank again, and her eyes became cold in an angle Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t see. Sure enough, the decision to get rid of Xia Yingluo was right. That woman upied Nan¡¯s mind too much, and sooner orter, she would be a scourge! She looked up at Wei Lingnan. ¡°She¡¯s awake, when are you going to dig her heart out for me? I¡¯m in pain here...¡±

    As she talked, she took Wei Lingnan¡¯s hand and pressed it to her chest.

    The young woman¡¯s skin was smooth and full of sticity, with an unspeakable temptation, but Wei Lingnan took his hand away.

    ¡°Nan...¡± Gu Jinxiu called in dissatisfaction. She was very anxious. They had been together for so many days, but Wei Lingnan had never acted against her in any way. How were there lovers like them? Not long ago, she also tried to seduce Wei Lingnan to bed and had carefully arranged a candlelight dinner and red wine, but at the most critical moment, she had been pushed away.

    How could it be?!

    She was very dissatisfied and called again, ¡°Nam, do you even like me?¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his eyes slightly. ¡°How could I not like you?¡±

    ¡°Then why do you... never touch me?¡± Gu Jinxiu asked anxiously, her face flushed with distress. In any case, she was still the Gu family¡¯s youngdy. She had received a good education since she was a child, and now she dared to ask such questions in front of him.

    Wei Lingnan calmed down and said, ¡°I can¡¯t touch you. Ah Luo, I came from the Skatana, and I haven¡¯t experienced reincarnation on Earth like you. This sees me as a stranger, and everyone I touch will have rejections. They will die if they don¡¯t take the antidote in time. But I don¡¯t have an antidote for you right now.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu got it.

    Between the light and the fire, she thought of another thing. ¡°I got lost at the base a few days ago and went into aboratory. The researchers there said that it was important, and didn¡¯t even let me in. It was to cultivate the production of some rejection antidote. Nan, you have the antidote, why don¡¯t you... ¡±

    She was talking and suddenly stopped, her face changing drastically.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her calmly. ¡°Yes, that antidote was used by Xia Yingluo. There¡¯s only one serving.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body shook at his confession. What did this mean? Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan... had already slept together?!

    Jealous, anger, unwillingness...

    Lots of emotions mixed together and made Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face full of expressions. How dare she?! How was it that she couldn¡¯t be intimate with Wei Lingnan, but that bitch could?! Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t wait to rush back to theboratory to tear Xia Yingluo apart immediately!

    ¡°My heart is so ufortable...¡± Her face turned pale and her body shook even harder as if she couldn¡¯t stand. ¡°Nam, kill her...¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t look good, either. He was silent and helped Gu Jinxiu to bed.

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu grabbed his hand tightly, piercing her sharp nails into his arm. ¡°Kill her! Immediately!¡±

    ¡°Her body hasn¡¯t been fully healed yet.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s always calm and indifferent tone seemed to bring a hint of helplessness. ¡°We mustpletely nourish her body and have it adjusted to the best state before we can start. Ah Luo, I will change your heart into a perfect one, without any ws.¡± In fact, he had already used his energy to check on Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body. Although her heart was damaged, it wasn¡¯t as serious as she said. The wound wasn¡¯t likely to be caused by Xia Yingluo, and it was more like Gu Jinxiu had used her own energy to hurt herself.

    He knew faintly that Gu Jinxiu probably couldn¡¯t stand Xia Yingluo and wanted to use this as an excuse to kill her.

    However, he didn¡¯t want to verify it.

    So what if Gu Jinxiu just made an excuse to kill someone? He always listened to the Queen¡¯s order.

    More importantly, Ah Luo was from the Skatana. After all, even if it was fused with human genes, it was difficult to guarantee that her heart wouldn¡¯t really go wrong. If Gu Jinxiu wasn¡¯t pretending, and if there was even a one in a million chance that it was true¡ªWei Lingnan couldn¡¯t afford the risk.

    He had to dig out Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart.

    Gu Jinxiu settled down to sleep. He left the room and walked to Xia Yingluo¡¯sboratory.

    The cowardly girl was still curled up on the ground, motionless, and a thinyer of blood was dried on the shackled parts of her limbs.

    Wei Lingnan stood in front of the huge ss wall for a long time and ordered someone to open the door. He walked in.

    Xia Yingluo looked up and saw him. She suspected that she was dreaming, and then she slowly lowered her gaze.

    Wei Lingnan knelt down in front of her, raised her body, and examined her breath and temperature. ¡°Where is it ufortable?¡± He frowned and looked at her. The nutritional injections that he had given to her earlier had begun to work and were nourishing her heart. The rapid side effects that had been manifested also made her extremely distressed. However, her breathing was so disordered and her vital signs were unstable as if she would die anytime and anywhere, making him inexplicably ufortable.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him again and sneered in difficulty. ¡°You¡¯re going to kill me... why still fake concern for me?¡±

    Her voice was weak, but Wei Lingnan understood it.

    He frowned imperceptibly. Did Gu Jinxiu tell her everything? He felt a little upset, he had intended to let her leave this world without knowing anything. He whispered to her, ¡°You won¡¯t die too painfully.¡± He still felt like he owed her something, but things hade to this, so what else could he do?

    Xia Yingluo sneered again and was very deste. ¡°Do I... thank you for your generosity?¡±

    The taunting in her tone silenced him.

    After a long time, she shook her head weakly. ¡°I was blind. I fell for the wrong person, who else is to me?¡± She thought back to when she had asked him, what if she wasn¡¯t Ah Luo? He had said that he would protect her for a lifetime. Today, their pledge of undying love still rung in her ears, but the situation was so twisted it was hrious.

 Chapter 1325

    Chapter 1325: Awakening

    The two looked at each other under the pale lights of theboratory.

    Suddenly, Xia Yingluo asked, ¡°Can you promise me one thing?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was a bit weak. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was slightly disappointed. He didn¡¯t promise immediately but asked what it was. But how could she demand so much of him? The man was so cruel to her, it was good he didn¡¯t refuse without asking. She suppressed the disappointment in her heart and said quietly, ¡°Don¡¯t make things difficult for my family after I die.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s answer was rigorous. ¡°If they don¡¯t find trouble with Ah Luo.¡±

    She should have known. Xia Yingluo felt cold in her heart, how could her family not find trouble with Gu Jinxiu? Presumably, Wei Lingnan also knew, once she was in trouble, the anger of the Li and Xia families would be directed at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Then can you promise me not to harm their lives?¡±

    Wei Lingnan was silent for a moment, and he still said, ¡°On the condition that they won¡¯t threaten Ah Luo¡¯s life.¡± This was the limit that he could agree with. If it were an ordinary person, he would kill them if they dared to so much as touch a strand of Ah Luo¡¯s hair. He was only able to tolerate Xia Yingluo.

    But Xia Yingluo was obviously disappointed with this answer.

    ¡°Yes.¡± She smiled at herself. ¡°What else could I ask for from a beast like you?¡± They obviously wanted to kill her first, but didn¡¯t allow her family to fight back for revenge? Xia Yingluo looked at Wei Lingnan. The man in front of her was so strange and chilling. ¡°If...¡± She looked at Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes and said slowly, ¡°I said Gu Jinxiu was pretending, would you believe me?¡± Would he let her go?

    This time, Wei Lingnan turned and walked outside. ¡°Have a good rest.¡±

    He didn¡¯t believe it.

    Or, in other words, it wasn¡¯t important whether he believed it or not. He just wanted her to die anyway.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart was cold and painful as if arge piece of ice was pressing the softest part of her heart.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan,¡± she said, looking at his long and elegant back, and whispered herst request. ¡°Erase my memory about you and let me die cleanly.¡±

    The man¡¯s footsteps paused, then he left without looking back.

    Theboratory door was closed again and Xia Yingluo curled up on the ground, with a mocking smile still on her face. But there was faint sheen in the corners of her beautiful eyes. Behind the huge transparent ss wall, researchers outside theboratory pointed at her, but she didn¡¯t want to bother with them. As time passed, she maintained the same posture and remained motionless. Nutrition was injected into her blood, and the burning sensation became more and more intense, making her suspect that she was in purgatory.

    She was in a daze and didn¡¯t know if she was awake or asleep.

    As if it was a long dream, she dreamt of the dark purple mysterious Skatana. And unlike many previous dreams, this time it was clearer and more immersive.

    She dreamt that she was born on a huge tree, and the day when she and her fellow sisters broke through the white fruits, all the people of the Skatana were red up and fell to the ground, calling them princesses in awe. She was the thinnest of them and was squeezed to the corner by her sisters. She stumbled and started an unknown life.

    She epted her guardian, Nan, who was dripping blood on the barrennd.

    This guardian, who was just as weak as her, apanied her. They grew up together, he protected her, fought for her, and they died together...

    Untilter, his stare at her was no longer so simple.

    It wasn¡¯t the respectful look a guardian should look at a princess, but a man looking at a woman.

    She knew Nan¡¯s heart very well. Nan wanted her, wanted to breed a new World Tree with her and be her husband. But this was impossible. He was a guardian, and from the oldestw on the, it was strictly stipted that he was not qualified to own a queen. Just based on her mind¡ª

    She was reluctant.

    She couldn¡¯t bear to let him be a husband.

    Skatana¡¯s marriage system was very strange. Only the Queen could have a husband, and that person was not so much a husband as he was food. After experiencing life and death duels, the strongest who was fortunate to be the queen¡¯s husband was only qualified to spend one night with the queen. After this one night, the queen would eat him directly and tear his flesh and blood with her teeth. Every inch of the food was eaten cleanly, and no bones were left. Then, she would give birth to a new World Tree, nted in their newly-married ce. It would blossom for 100 years, bear fruit for 100 years, and after another 100 years, a new tribe would be born from the fruit. This was the heritage of the civilization of the Skatana.

    She was reluctant to turn Nan into the nutrient of the World Tree.

    She didn¡¯t know how to deal with the day she lost Nan and panicked even at the thought of it.

    For a time, she had felt that the was unfair to her and gave Nan such a perfect identity¡ªa guardian, who did not have to participate in the mate selectionpetition. But she didn¡¯t expect Nan to be so attached to her that even the people on the rumored that he was in love with his Queen?

    ording to thew, his body would be discarded in the ck hole of the universe and never return for having such thoughts beyond him.

    She deliberately gave Nan the cold shoulder and alienated him. She didn¡¯t want to give him a chance to think wildly.

    She thought that this was the best protection for him.

    But who knew that he was so persistent andunched that rebellion...

    The thought of the rebellion made her close her eyes painfully as if she was looking at that day again. Nan had killed everyone and rushed to her throne. He was bathed in blood, and looked down at her with imperative in his eyes. ¡°Ah Luo, you are mine.¡±

    She was horrified by his actions.

    Not only was she shocked, she was also angry.

    In order to obtain an identity that didn¡¯t belong to him, he turned against everyone! They were all outstanding warriors of the Skatana!

    ¡°I won¡¯t be with you even if I die.¡± She remembered it was her answer at the time.

    Yes, she hated him, hated him for ruining everything. More importantly, she felt that she was a sinner on the. Instead of protecting her people, the queen had brought them unprecedented disaster. She felt so guilty that the energy in her body exploded to death. At thest moment of her life, she saw Nan¡¯s discolored face and heard a heartbreaking ¡°Ah Luo¡ª!¡±

    It held a great energy resonance.

    Even the World Tree resonated, and the high-frequency resonance detonated the entire, making a loud noise¡ª

    The entire Skatana no longer existed.

    Silence.

    Deadly silence.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t know how long she was unconscious for. When she woke up again, there was no one outside theboratory¡¯s transparent ss wall.

 Chapter 1326

    Chapter 1326: The Queen Returns

    She remembered.

    She was Ah Luo, the one and only queen of the Skatana. There was no doubt.

    The pulsation of that was engraved in the depths of her ancient soul. Although she was far away from the mother for an unknown number of trillions of light-years, she could still feel the weak pulsation of the that had been blown up to pieces. That was the unique link between the queen and the mother, and the only sign that the queen was recognized.

    She didn¡¯t know why Gu Jinxiu mistakenly thought that she was Ah Luo, but it didn¡¯t matter.

    In the eyes of the awakened queen, the humble human was not worth mentioning at all.

    Xia Yingluo moved her body. The thin silk pajamas on her body rippled like water with her movements. The boiling pain in her blood before thea had disappeared and was reced by an unprecedented sense of strength. Mysterious energy slowly flowed along her limbs and bones. Every cell in her body seemed to be reborn wherever it passed. She stood up, and the shackles that had locked her tightly broke and fell to the ground, broken apart. She was not surprised when she looked at the metal fragments all over the ground. In fact, her strength had gradually increased after she had skin contact with Wei Lingnan. Now the energy of the queen in her body was awakened, it was easy to break away from those metal shackles thing. She could now escape.

    She lowered her head and manipted the energy in the ancient way in her memory. Ten nails evolved at a speed that was visible to the naked eye, bing more than three inches sharp, and shing metallic cold under the whiteboratory lights. The ws of the Skatana were the best weapons and were indestructible. She raised her hand and was about to destroy the maic lock at the door when suddenly, she thought of something and slowly collected her ten sharp nails.

    ¡°Wei Lingan,¡± she whispered to herself, ¡°didn¡¯t you want to find me? Impossible.¡±

    Since the man had no eyes and was about to put her to death for another woman, there was nothing to talk about between them. She wouldn¡¯t let him find out her identity. Let him guard his Gu Jinxiu for a lifetime. Her heart for him had already died, and she just wanted to go back to her family to lead a peaceful life.

    With a sneer, Xia Yingluo looked at the broken shackles on the ground with a pair of sharp eyes, and the unusual cracks in the shackles implied having been broken by violence. Xia Yingluo urged the energy in her body. An invisible storm burst around her. Only a momentter, those broken shackles turned into dust, evaporated in the air, and disappeared.

    In this way, Wei Lingnan wouldn¡¯t find out about her awakening.

    She lifted her wrist, and there was a simple style bracelet on it, but she couldn¡¯t see what material it was made of.

    In the violent storm of energy just now, the shackle had turned into powder, but this bracelet was safe and sound¡ªthis was the one that Xia Moyan had given her to defend herself.

    She opened the bracelet in ordance with the method her uncle had taught her, and the silver metal glowed with a wave of water-like luster. In the slightly twisted air, it quickly liquefied and merged, and soon formed a new form. A sharp dagger. She held that dagger. Herbat instinct from billions of years ago coincided with her father¡¯s teachings of more than a decade after reincarnation. She effortlessly found the most tricky angle and cut the electromaic lock of the cage. There was no rm system.

    She was as light as a cat and walked out of theboratory.

    There was a long corridor outside theboratory. The researchers were already off work, and no one could be seen at this time.

    But she was stunned by the scene at the two corridors¡ªthere were many identicalboratories, each with a huge transparent ss wall, and behind the ss wall was an ugly monster... it was different from humans and creatures from the Skatana. They looked like freaks left after the failure of the experiment, some were terrible half-human, half-beasts, some had several heads, and some were constantly flowing with pus and blood... even through the mostplete soundproof ss of the facility, she could hear their painful howling.

    What were these?

    Were they all failures of Wei Lingnan¡¯s experiments?

    Xia Yingluo resisted her nausea. If her experiment failed too, would she also be like this?

    Unwilling to look any further, she quickened her pace.

    Behind the ss wall, many monsters found her. They rushed to her frantically, hitting the ss wall heavily and snarling in anger, as if they would tear her apart anytime and anywhere. Xia Yingluo frowned. She was worried that the monster¡¯s restlessness would attract the guards, so she said coldly, ¡°Shut up.¡±

    Invisible energy waves spread out.

    The monsters were dull at first, then, as if they saw something in awe, they stepped back in unison, shivering in the ground.

    They went quiet or respectful¡ªwaiting for her to pass.

    This was the coercion of the Queen.

    These monsters more or less had the genes of the Skatana. ording to the rules of the Skatana, the weak had to obey the strong. All living beings would have to involuntarily bow their heads to the queen with disregard for wisdom and loyalty. That was the most instinctive and primitive awe of power.

    Xia Yingluo passed the corridor calmly without looking at them again.

    Once she was out of the corridor, she found that it was the depths of the base, but it wasn¡¯t difficult to escape. She had been here several times, and she was very familiar with the guard situation, plus the memories of the queen who had battled hundreds of millions of years were back in her mind. This small base waspletely unable to trap her.

    Easily, she returned to the ground.

    She hurried home.

    Everyone in the Li family was gathered in a conference room. In the middle was a huge three-dimensional sand table with the structure of the Wei Family underground base.

    Xia Yingluo stood by the door and heard Li Lei setting up the task. ¡°I¡¯ll sneak in from here. Shaohui, be at my back. Xiao Rui, you are in charge ofmunication outside and are to stand by.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going too!¡± Li Rui¡¯s voice was very excited. ¡°Yingluo has been missing for so many days. I will go to the base with you to save her! God knows if the dog Wei Lingnan abused her. If more people go in, there¡¯s more insurance!¡±

    ¡°Be good, Xiao Rui!¡± Li Lei lowered his voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m going!¡± Li Rui really got on the bar with him. ¡°Dad, I know you don¡¯t like my three-legged cat effort, but I¡¯m not as weak as you think! I¡¯ve learned a lot in these years! If you don¡¯t believe me, let¡¯s go out for a fight now and see if I¡¯m qualified enough to go in with you! I¡¯m going to save my sister. I can¡¯t let her remain trapped inside!¡±

    There was a burst of warmth in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. After awakening her memory hundreds of millions of years ago, she thought she had changed back to that ruthless Queen Ah Luo, but when she heard these words from her brother, her eyes reddened indisputably.

 Chapter 1327

    Chapter 1327: Family Recognition

    It felt good to be home.

    Even if she lost that loyal guardian on Skatana, at least she had them.

    She opened the door and called out, ¡°Dad, Mom, Brother, Uncle.¡±

    Everyone turned to look at her and saw her appearing in front of the door unharmed. These big men who could only be looked up to in the eyes of the world were excited, and her mother Xia Ling rushed to hug her. She choked. ¡°Yingluo, it¡¯s you, you¡¯re back!¡±

    Her mother¡¯s body was shaking slightly, so she touched her gently to pacify her. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m back. I won¡¯t worry you anymore.¡±

    The men in the conference room also came around, and Xia Yingluo released her mother and hugged them in turn.

    ¡°Yingluo, how did you escape?¡± Li Rui took the lead to calm down and asked, ¡°Did that guy not abuse you? Dad and Uncle were discussing how to save you, but the structure of the underground base is tooplicated. We have only recently explored it and aren¡¯t fully confident. It¡¯s great that you¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve awakened,¡± she said.

    The air in the conference room was quiet.

    The people present seemed to realize something and looked at her inconceivably.

    Xia Yingluo said nothing. She stretched out her hand, and on her beautiful fingertips, her nails began to grow rapidly, bing sharp with a cold metallic luster. She walked to the conference table, making a light stroke as if she were cutting tofu, and the sturdy gold wooden table was quietly broken into eight pieces. The sand table above it copsed and shattered to the ground.

    And her nails were still intact.

    This was not something humans could do.

    ¡°Yingluo.¡± It was still Xia Ling who spoke first. She wasn¡¯t afraid of the scene in front of her and was only a mother worried about her child.

    She retracted your nails.

    Xia Moyan looked at her thoughtfully. ¡°You are the queen of the Skatana?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t hide from him. ¡°I remembered everything.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait...¡± Li Rui felt that his brain wasn¡¯t enough to process all this. In fact, it was a surprise he had not fainted in shock. What was going on? How could his cute little princess sister have this incredible skill? Was she making a movie? He rubbed his forehead vigorously. ¡°Who will exin it to me?¡±

    Although he was the second brother of Xia Yingluo and the Li family had regarded him as a family since he was a child, the things that happened to Xia Yingluo were still incredible. Unless necessary, it was always better to have one less person to know about it. Thus, no one had previously told him about the grievances between Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan.

    But now, there was no need to hide it.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Li Rui. ¡°Second Brother,st time you rescued me, you should have realized that Wei Lingnan wasn¡¯t human, right?¡±

    Li Rui nodded. He didn¡¯t know it at first, but there was such a big movement and his sister was injured by such an incredible shock, so how could he have not known? At that time, he had been shocked for a long time and felt that his views had been subverted. Now, as smart as he was, he quickly guessed something and was shocked again. ¡°You, you, don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re also an alien?¡±

    ¡°I am.¡± It happened that the whole family was here, and Xia Yingluo simplypleted the information that everyone didn¡¯t know before. ¡°I am the queen of the Skatana, and Wei Lingnan was my guardian. He wanted me andunched a coup, and I was so angry that I blew myself up. This caused energy resonance and the entire was blown up.¡±

    Speaking of which, there was guilt in her eyes. She could never forgive herself, she was the sinner of the Skatana.

    Xia Moyan helped her make up the rest of the words. ¡°So, Wei Lingnan carried your genes to Earth and resurrected you?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Xia Yingluo, turning her head to look at Xia Ling. ¡°Mom, I¡¯m sorry. The medicine Wei Lingnan gave you was selfish, and it contained my gene. The child you and father gave birth to had to be me. Furthermore... Skatana¡¯s embryo is too domineering and it¡¯s very difficult for humans to bear. Since you gave birth to me, you can no longer get pregnant.¡±

    ¡°No wonder,¡± Xia Ling said. She and Li Lei both liked children and wanted to have more, but she didn¡¯t know why she had never gotten pregnant since giving birth to her. She had gone to many hospitals to check. All the hospitals said that her body was normal and she could be pregnant. Thinking about it now, it was because the medical standard of human beings couldn¡¯t detect the damage caused by the Skatana¡¯s embryo.

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Xia Yingluo was so guilty that her mother was so kind to her, but she had hurt her so much since she was born.

    It seemed that when the queen¡¯s memory was awakened, she only thought of bad things.

    She was sad, depressed, and even helpless. She wondered how topensate her mother.

    Xia Ling smiled, stretched out her hand, and held her in her arms again. ¡°Stupid child, so what if I can¡¯t get pregnant again? I already have you and your two brothers. I have both son and daughter, and you¡¯re all so outstanding. You¡¯re all my pride. Yingluo, it doesn¡¯t matter what you were in your past life, you¡¯re my daughter Xia Yingluo in this life. It was my own decision to give birth to you. You don¡¯t have to be sorry.¡±

    ¡°Mom.¡± Xia Yingluo wanted to cry again.

    Li Lei also went up and hugged the mother and daughter. He said with a smile, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect my daughter to have such a big background. I can¡¯t even wait to be proud, how could I me you?¡±

    The family of three hugged together for a long time.

    On the side, Li Rui walked out gently, looking up at the cold snow outside.

    For a long time, he has lived carefully, even his indulgent character was just a protectiveyer. He knew very well that he wasn¡¯t blood-rted to Li Lei. What qualifications did he have to ask for love from Li Lei and Xia Yingluo? However, just now, when Xia Ling had been concentrated onforting Xia Yingluo, she had subconsciously said ¡°your two brothers¡±. Yes, two. In Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart, she had always regarded him as her own son. He raised his hand and lit a cigarette.

    ¡°Smoking again.¡± Li Shaohui¡¯s familiar voice came from his side. ¡°Be careful Dad doesn¡¯t hit you for smoking near Mom and Sister.¡±

    Li Rui ignored him. He continued smoking and called, ¡°Brother.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Shaohui watched the snow outside with him.

    Li Rui said, ¡°Brother, it turned out that our family¡¯s only birth child is you.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense, aren¡¯t you and Yingluo birth children too?¡± Li Shaohui¡¯s tone was light. Of course, for many years, he knew Li Rui¡¯s insecurity. He had followed him when he saw him walk out unnoticed. ¡°I¡¯m very envious of you, you¡¯re loved by our parents and you live sowlessly. Only I work hard.¡±

 Chapter 1328

    Chapter 1328: Future ns

    Li Rui¡¯s voice was a little hoarse. ¡°Even if I wanted to doborious work, my dad wouldn¡¯t allow it.¡±

    Which man was willing to squander away his life? Even this Young Master who had all of his needs taken care of wanted to be of some value. Unfortunately, he did not have the birthright. From a young age, Li Lei prevented him from learning about the headquarters secrets. Even though he was clothed and fed well, who would understand the bitterness in his heart?

    ¡°I understand,¡± Shaohui said.

    Li Rui smiled bitterly and put out his cigarette. ¡°Brother, you don¡¯t have tofort me. I don¡¯t me dad. I¡¯m already very grateful that he¡¯s willing to take care of me. I know his difficulties. No matter how much he loves me, he will never let an outsider mix with those in the Li Family bloodline. In this regard, I will never be as good as you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s noparison to be made.¡± Shaohui said, ¡°If I were in your position, I might not be able to be as outstanding as you.¡±

    He patted his brother¡¯s shoulder. How could he change his fate? The only thing he could do was to secretly pass on everything his parents taught him to Li Rui and give his brother a chance to prove his worth. His parents only shut Li Rui out because of him, but he did not need this sort of protection.

    Li Rui also patted his brother¡¯s hand. Perhaps he only achieved so much because he had his brother¡¯s unconditional trust from a young age.

    On the other hand, Xia Yingluo bid her parents a final farewell before heading back to her room to rest.

    She took a shower, changed into a clean set of clothes and looked at her familiar room. Only then did she feel a sense of revitalization.

    Xia Moyan came to visit her.

    Looking at this cold man, she did not feel surprised. Instead, she smiled, greeted him, invited him into her room and personally brewed tea for him.

    Between sips of fragrant tea, Xia Moyan calmly said, ¡°It¡¯s a great honor to drink the tea made by the Queen of Skatana.¡±

    Xia Yingluo continued to smile. ¡°Uncle, stop joking around. I¡¯m still the same Yingluo.¡± She understood what he meant. Her uncle said that because he wanted to know if the awakened Queen was still the same Xia Yingluo and she gave him the answer he wanted.

    Thus, Xia Moyan said, ¡°What are your ns for the future?¡±

    ¡°ns?¡± Xia Yingluo slightly tilted her head and was a little stunned as she watched the steam rise from the tea. The awakening time was too short. Escaping. Meeting her rtives. There were too many things to settle and she did not have the time to think about the future. Now that Xia Moyan asked her this question, she fell deep in thought before saying, ¡°I want to go back.¡±

    Her voice was very soft but firm.

    ¡°Back to Skatana?¡± Xia Moyan asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the had already exploded?¡±

    ¡°Its remains are still there. I can feel it.¡± As she spoke, Xia Yingluo unconsciously ced her graceful palms on her heart. The corners of her smile became gentler. With a little trepidation, she lifted her head to look at Xia Moyan. ¡°I am the guardian of the Skatana. The title of guardian there is passed down from generation to generation just like the system on Earth. Uncle, I can feel its pulse like how you can feel Earth¡¯s.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s cold eyes shed with surprise briefly.

    Except for the Xia Family Preceptor, who was also the guardian of the, no one knew about the pulse of the. The fact that Xia Yingluo mentioned this proved that she was really a¡¯s guardian. ¡°Does every have this sort of sensation?¡± Xia Moyan asked. At this time, human curiosity about the unknown took over.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Every that bears life has it. Somerge but lifelesss also have it. In fact, this is the manifestation of a¡¯s will. The stronger a is, the stronger its will is, the stronger its pulse is and the deeper its connection with its guardian. Skatana is at the peak of its existence in the universe. Even though it was destroyed billions of years ago and exploded into countless fragments, I can still feel it. It¡¯s still alive and it¡¯s calling for me.¡±

    Her words made Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes slightly misty. To him, that was a mysterious yet fascinating unknown territory.

    ¡°Can you tell me more about the and the universe?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled again. ¡°Earth is my second home.¡± She wished that her home would be stronger, at least to the extent to which it could protect itself. However, now, her was too weak and resided in a remote corner of the universe. If it were discovered by an alien civilization, it would not be able to fight back and escape its deste state.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    That was a solemn thank you from one guardian to another.

    However, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Uncle, why are you being so formal? Honestly, you were the one who saved my life.¡± As she spoke she, shook the bracelet on her wrist.

    As such, a smile appeared on Xia Moyan¡¯s lips. ¡°I guess you don¡¯t want to expose your ability. That¡¯s why you¡¯re using this bracelet. Even without it, breaking out of Wei Lingnan¡¯s underground base would be a piece of cake for you.¡± Perhaps, ever since they learned the difference between the queen and the traitor in stories, as The Preceptor, Xia Moyan deeply understood the difference between a guardian and ordinary people. The difference in power was an insurmountable divide.

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t want him to know who I am.¡±

    Xia Moyan did not ask why because he already knew. Perhaps, the previous Queen was more arrogant and never chose to forgive those who betrayed her. He did not refute her. In fact, he secretly hoped that she would stay as far away as possible from that man.

    ¡°Just let me know if you need any help.¡± He said.

    Xia Yingluo acknowledged him in agreement.

    Xia Moyan asked her, ¡°How do you n to return to Skatana? Are you going to leave your parents and family?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°My parents have treated me very well, so I won¡¯t leave immediately and make them upset. Skatana¡¯s inhabitants have very long lives and can live almost forever. I n to leave Earth only when my parents are a hundred years old. That will probably sum up my fate with Earth.¡±

    Only then was Xia Moyan relieved. He was really worried that Xia Yingluo would leave immediately and cause his silly sister to faint from crying. After that, he asked another question. ¡°You said that Skatana¡¯s inhabitants can live almost forever. However, Yingluo, you reincarnated as a human. Are you sure that your lifespan will be as long?¡±

    Xia Yingluo lifted her hand and thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    Then, she added, ¡°Skatana inhabitants have no metabolism. In theory, if we do not consume energy in battle, the energy will be conserved forever. This is the secret to our infinite life. However, I¡¯m not sure if I have a metabolism or if I have a metabolism that is different from ordinary people. Anyway, it doesn¡¯t matter. After a few days of observation, I will find out.¡±

 Chapter 1329

    Chapter 1329: Lousy Lie

    Sure enough, a few dayster, she found out.

    Xia Yingluo was disappointed. Although her metabolism speed became very slow, it was still there. In other words, her life would be longer than that of an ordinary human, butpared to Skatana inhabitants who could virtually live forever, it was terrifyingly short. In the middle of the night, she looked at the night sky that looked like a ck hole wistfully. She felt a pulsation of energying faintly from the ce that Skatana was and realized that the was billions of light-years away. If she did not have an endless life, it was simply unreachable.

    She had to solve the problem of a limited lifespan.

    If the Skatana genes in her body could be further strengthened andpletely devour her human genes, she could possibly have an endless lifespan too.

    To achieve this goal, she needed a lot more energy.

    The energy on Earth was too weak and gaining energy from ingesting food was not as fast as basking directly in the sun. However, after sunlight traveled through the thick atmosphere to reach the earth, it lost a lot of energy and the energy that reached her was very weak. At this rate, Xia Yingluo calcted that she probably needed at least 100 million years of sr energy topletely restore her Skatana genes.

    She crumbled to the ground as she pondered about a solution.

    No matter what, she had to find a way to restore the wreckage of Skatana back to its former glory. This was her responsibility as the Queen.

    However, before she could think of a way to replenish her energy, she suddenly spat out blood without warning. It was blood mixed with damaged internal organs. She stared at the horrifying sight for a few moments before remembering that the had a rejection mechanism. When Wei Lingnan activated the alien genes in her body, Earth could not wait to destroy her. Now, she was awakened as Queen and it was not surprising that Earth was trying harder to murder her. No, she must think of a way. She could not die like this.

    Xia Yingluo looked for her uncle. ¡°Take me back to the Xia Family and open the altar. I want to represent Skatana and form an alliance with Earth.¡±

    Xia Moyan did not really understand what she meant and gave her a questioning look.

    Xia Yingluo exined, ¡°An alliance is amon form of diplomacy between differents in the universe. It¡¯s protected by thews of the universe and no one can vite it. Only those who are guardians of theirs are qualified to represent their respectives. In this case, only you and I are qualified. On behalf of the Skatana, I promise to protect Earth and impart all appropriate technology and knowledge to the. Whatever Earth wants, Skatana will do its best to provide. In exchange, please do not reject my existence on Earth.¡±

    This was a good deal.

    Xia Moyan very quickly saw the benefits of this deal. The inhabitants of the Skatana were the most powerful race in the universe. If he could obtain their technology and knowledge, it would really help with Earth¡¯s development. Not to mention, if Earth experienced any difficulties in the future, Skatana would definitely lend a helping hand. Although he knew that Skatana was now in pieces, with its Queen still here and determined to rebuild her, in the long run, Earth would have an ally that could shatter the entire universe.

    As for the price Earth had to pay? It was almost negligible. She only wanted the rejection mechanism to be removed. The rejection mechanism was implemented to protect humans from alien genes to ensure the continuity of humanity. However, since the Queen promised to leave Earth and did not intend to popte it with her race, there was no reason for Earth to reject her existence.

    Whether for public or private reasons, he could not find any reason to refuse the formation of an alliance.

    As such, Xia Moyan nodded. ¡°Sure. Pack up and we will go to our family headquarters tomorrow.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and no longer looked like the sophisticated Queen of Skatana. The princess-like innocence of hers was restored. ¡°I just know that uncle is the best.¡± She breezily told her parents about this matter, packed her things and went to sleep at night.

    Suddenly, she woke up in the middle of the night.

    She instinctively moved her hand that was wearing the bracelet, used it as a dagger and stealthily reached for someone¡¯s throat.

    When she opened her eyes, she saw that Wei Lingnan was standing beside her bed. His hand, which had turned into sharp ws, was already ced on her chest where her heart was.

    There was a slight strain on her wrist. Blood started to drip from his throat.

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his light-colored eyes and examined her. ¡°Your skills have improved from the past, Yingluo.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Yingluo. It¡¯s disgusting.¡± Her tone was cold.

    However, Wei Lingnan acted as if he never heard her and asked, ¡°Why? Is it because I gave you the nutrient shot? I saw the footage of you escaping myb from the surveince cameras. The other test subjects were afraid of you. Yingluo, you have more power than all of them. That¡¯s not logical.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s logical?¡± Xia Yingluo sneered and continued to press her bracelet against his throat. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    His pupils contracted slightly.

    In the dim moonlight, her face was exquisite and fair. Her arrogant and disdainful look resembled a girl in his memory¡ª

    How was that possible?

    Ah Luo was clearly awakened and she was Gu Jinxiu, but why did he think that Xia Yingluo resembled Ah Luo so much?

    ¡°Who are you?¡± In a daze, he asked.

    ¡°Are you mentally retarded or have you lost your memory?¡± Xia Yingluo mocked. ¡°I am your ancestor.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was speechless.

    His sharp ws continued to hover over Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. It seemed that he could pierce through her fragile, silky skin at any time.

    However, Xia Yingluo was unfazed. ¡°Get lost!¡± If she did not care about hiding her identity, she would not have even bothered to threaten him because she could easily use her bracelet dagger to deal with him. Although it looked like she would not be able to beat him with her recovery progress, that did not prevent the resentment in her heart from taking over.

    Wei Lingnan did not leave. Instead, his voice slowly became lower. ¡°Do you believe that I can rip out your heart right now?¡±

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Xia Yingluo looked down on his intelligence. After examining her for her whole life, how could the man in front of him be so stupid? Thinking about her life, she could not help but sneer as she told him the truth. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong at all with Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart. It¡¯s all an act. Don¡¯t bother me again because I don¡¯t mind ending up like her.¡±

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Wei Lingnan looked rmed.

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Xia Yingluoughed coldly. ¡°You know that my uncle is The Preceptor. There are many fascinating things in this world, and I asked him to add something to my heart. Anyway, if Gu Jinxiu eats it... Haha...¡±

    Without finishing her sentence, she was able to make him imagine the consequences.

    Wei Lingnan tightened his grip and his sharp ws pierced her fair skin. Blood flowed out like it was flowing from his throat. ¡°Don¡¯t think that such a lousy lie can fool me.¡±

 Chapter 1330

    Chapter 1330: An Act

    Xia Yingluo stop talking. Her eyes taunted him.

    The two of them looked at each other in silence for a long time before Wei Lingnan slowly retracted his ws.

    Xia Yingluo seemed to know that he would do that a long time ago. She snickered like a mischievous goblin. In the moonlight, the bloodstains on her white skin were like cinnabar. Without a care, she took off herce pajamas in front of Wei Lingnan, exposing her slender and graceful body. She then turned her back and flipped through her luxurious walk-in closet. Very quickly, she found the same silk pajamas that she wore when she fled this morning.

    Luckily, she had the habit of buying two sets of the same clothing at once.

    When Xia Yingluo changed into that set of pajamas, she found an eyebrow pencil on the dressing table and ripped a piece of paper to write something down.

    Looking at her movements, Wei Lingnan¡¯s breath tightened slightly.

    It was only a few hours since she escaped theb, but she seemed so different. She became more arrogant, daring and fearless. It seemed that she was no longer afraid of him anymore.

    How could this be?

    His eyes darkened as they followed her body.

    After Xia Yingluo was done writing her note, she got up and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Go where?¡± Wei Lingnan instinctively asked. He then thought about the note she wrote that he snuck a peek at. It was a message for her family that she went back to the Wei Corporation Underground Base and if she were not back in 10 hours, she hoped that her family members would send someone to kill Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Why?¡± He realized that he could notprehend her. It was difficult for her to escape, so why would she go back voluntarily?

    ¡°Why are you so full of nonsense?¡± Xia Yingluo was annoyed. This person became stupider after arriving on Earth. He never questioned her orders before, but now she had to exin them line by line. ¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t like to be dragged into your problems with Gu Jinxin and I¡¯d rather resolve everything at once. Wei Lingnan, tell her to go to the base and I will show you whether her heart problem is real or fake.¡±

    Wei Lingnan stood still.

    ¡°Move!¡± Xia Yingluo was getting more impatient.

    ¡°Whether it is real or fake,¡± he slowly said, ¡°she will still be my queen.¡±

    Xia Yingluo almost spat blood out. She really wanted to tell him that his queen was about to explode in rage because of him. Suppressing her anger, she smiled coldly. ¡°That¡¯s why even though she makes no sense, you have to rip out my heart for her? Let me tell you, I¡¯m not someone who¡¯s easy to mess with. If you really seed, just wait for her to die in an explosion!¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not dare to take any risks.

    Although he believed that the Xia Family had not defeated him before, a fight might cause him to perish with them.

    For the sake of today¡¯s n, he really had to do what Xia Yingluo said. He could only verify if Gu Jinxiu was pretending to be ill. If she were pretending, it would be a cause for celebration. He would not need to worry about risking his life to rip out Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He made up his mind and took her to the Wei Corporation Base.

    The Wei Corporation Base looked the same as always. It seemed like her escape had no impact on it at all.

    However, when Xia Yingluo entered it, she sharply noticed that the rms were doubled and there were more surveince cameras.

    ¡°This time, it won¡¯t be that easy for you to escape.¡± Sensing that she noticed the changes, Wei Lingnan bluntly said.

    Xia Yingluo sneered and did not reply. Before she was awakened, the security was truly imprable, but now, she could enter this ce easily without anyone noticing. She walked into theboratory that she was held captive and pointed for Wei Lingnan to put her in shackles.

    Wei Lingnan retrieved a new pair of shackles for her and said coldly, ¡°I couldn¡¯t find the remnants of the previous pair.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t I bring them home as a souvenir?¡± Xia Yingluo flippantly said.

    The shackles in the past were shattered by her powers. She would be stupid not to destroy them.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression was dark again and he did not respond. After checking that she was locked up tightly with the new shackles, he got out of theboratory.

    It was less than 24 hours since she escaped and the workers in the base did not know that she had silently returned. They only treated her as though she had never left.

    Wei Lingnan brought Gu Jinxiu in and warmly told her, ¡°After a few tests, we found that Xia Yingluo¡¯s body has reached optimal condition. We can now dig out her heart to create the medicine for you.¡±

    Behind therge transparent ss wall, Gu Jinxiu looked at the pathetic Xia Yingluo chained to the ground and let out a thin smile. ¡°That¡¯s great! Although I can¡¯t bear to do this, Xia Yingluo, I¡¯m really thankful for your sacrifice and will remember all that you¡¯ve done for me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo really wanted to rush up and rip her mouth to shreds.

    How dare this imposter cry crocodile tears!

    However, it was her fault for disguising herself as a dying experiment subject. Thus, she could only weakly lie on the ground and breathe heavily.

    Wei Lingnan opened theboratory door, turned his back to Gu Jinxiu and crouched in front of her. His fingers turned into ws. The moment he was about to pierce her chest, he saw the scar on her white skin that he caused with his cigarette bud. Suddenly, his sharp ws hovered in midair and he could not carry on.

    From an angle invisible to Gu Jinxiu, Xia Yingluo gave him a satirical smile.

    Without warning, she lifted her hand and grabbed his wrist.

    His ws pierced through her chest. Fresh blood poured out like a fountain, staining her body, shirt, and the floor.

    The feeling of being impaled by icy ws was very painful. Xia Yingluo could feel it by just having his ws less than an inch away from her beating heart. She shuddered at the thought of it. However, she did not panic. Even if her lips turned white, her expression was firm and looked at him quietly.

    However, Wei Lingnan stood rooted to the ground after piercing her chest.

    He was really afraid that he would really hurt her heart if he moved an inch.

    It was strange. Just a few hours ago, he was determined to kill her, but when his ws really pierced her, his first reaction was fear.

    He was afraid that she would really be in danger.

    His mind was in a mess. Her apathetic eyes were like the eyes which were imprinted deep in his heart billions of years ago. ¡°Ah Luo...¡± His lips quivered as he whispered softly without anyone else hearing him. Why did she resemble his Ah Luo so much? Why did she resemble her even more than Gu Jinxiu who was her reincarnation? He did not even sense the slightest resemnce of the noble queen from Gu Jinxiu, but when he saw Xia Yingluo, even the slightest nce would give him an overwhelming feeling.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s thoughts were chaotic and he did not notice that Xia Yingluo was impatiently urging him with her expression.

    This time, Xia Yingluo lost a lot of blood. She almost fainted due to the pain. Seeing that he was still staring at her nkly instead of proceeding with the next step, she almost wanted to p him. ording to their n, the next step would be to dig out a piece of flesh near her heart and pretend that it was her heart.

 Chapter 1331

    Chapter 1331: Medicated Soup

    Looking at the situation now, she was afraid that even if her blood ran dry, he would still not remember what to do.

    Her cold fingers clung to his wrists again as she tried to urge him again. Unexpectedly, he suddenly trembled and stirred some of the flesh near her chest, causing her to nearly faint. She red at him but saw that he took out his ws from her chest, rolled up his sleeves, and resolutely cut his arm.

    A piece of flesh fell to the ground without warning.

    The wound on his arm healed very quickly. Soon, he rolled up his sleeves and pretended that nothing happened.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in shock. Before she could react, he already took the piece of flesh, stood up and walked away.

    In theboratory, Gu Jinxiu did not see that he was secretly plotting against her. She only saw a vague mix of blood and flesh and felt a wave of disgust. However, she was ted and said, ¡°Nan, you did extremely well. You¡¯ve finally dug out her heart.¡± In therge ss cage, Xia Yingluoid in a pool of blood and looked dead.

    Looking at Wei Lingnan¡¯s expressionless face, Gu Jinxiu smiled even more deeply.

    Wei Lingnan gave the piece of flesh to a nearby worker and instructed him to make medicated soup using it.

    The worker quietly took the flesh and left.

    Only then did Wei Lingnan walk to Gu Jinxiu¡¯s side, lifted his blood-stained hands and held her face. The smell of blood hit Gu Jinxiu¡¯s nostrils. As a spoileddy from a wealthy family, she never witnessed a sight like this before and turned her face away in disgust. ¡°Ah Luo?¡± Wei Lingnan frowned. His Ah Luo was the strongest warrior in the entire universe. She made hard decisions to kill every day and did not even frown after a massacre. In fact, she had eaten countless corpses of her enemies raw before.

    How could someone like Ah Luo be affected by such little blood?

    Gu Jinxiu took two steps back and held her nose. However, she was afraid that Wei Lingnan would be unhappy and quickly acted normally.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because I haven¡¯t been on the battlefield for a long time. I¡¯m not used to the smell of blood now.¡± She forcefully exined. Even she felt that it was strange. In her dreams, she was a killing machine. Why was she acting so weak now? Could it be that human bodies were too weak and unable to withstand such gruesomeness? ¡°Once my heart has healed, I should be better.¡±

    Wei Lingnan suppressed the doubt in his heart and nodded.

    Perhaps it was really because she had not been on the battlefield for a long time. In fact, at the very start when Ah Luo was still an innocent girl, she would cry after being bitten by a weak and small insect. Perhaps now, she was only at the weak stage in her life. It was fine. They still had an eternity to work on that slowly.

    The medicated soup was prepared very quickly and brought over.

    It was a thick broth that smelled delicious.

    Wei Lingnan took the bowl from the worker and passed it to Gu Jinxiu. ¡°This is Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. Drink it while it¡¯s hot.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned a little pale. Even though it smelled as delicious as pork soup, when she remembered that it was made from a human¡¯s heart, she felt that it was difficult to swallow. It was human flesh! She never thought that she would ever eat human flesh! ¡°Must you really make it into soup?¡± She took another few steps back and forced herself not to smell its aroma. ¡°Is there another way to make it into a pill or an injection?¡±

    ¡°Soup will have the best results,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    He did not care much about that. Since he was not human, he did not think of it as cannibalism at all. In his opinion, eating human meat was no different from eating pigs or dogs. Furthermore, the meat in the soup was not human meat. It was just a very ordinary deer heart that he ordered his staff to prepare in advance.

    Although Gu Jinxiu was vicious, she still could not tolerate it. Her face turned white and she begged Wei Lingnan. ¡°Make it an injection instead.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her suspiciously. Could it be that her Earth genes were affecting Ah Luo so much? He felt an inexplicable disappointment. Even if Ah Luo was reincarnated, was she no longer the powerful and noble queen in his memory? In fact, she might not even be a princess...

    His princess was innocent and would rather die by illness than to order someone to dig another person¡¯s heart out.

    Gu Jinxiu gave him a very distant feeling.

    Looking at her begging expression, Wei Lingnan could not help but be annoyed. ¡°Ah Luo, you¡¯re from the Skatana and not a human. What exactly are you thinking about?¡±

    This sentence made Gu Jinxiu speechless.

    Wei Lingnan then added, ¡°I have already killed the person and dug her heart out for you. If you don¡¯t want to eat it, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll discard it. The heart that has already been made into a soup cannot be made into other forms of medication. If you only wanted to see Xia Yingluo die, your goal has been achieved. You don¡¯t have to force yourself to drink this soup.¡±

    Only wanted to see Xia Yingluo die?

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s sudden works made Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart skip a beat. Why would he say something like this? Could it be that he already found out that she was never sick in the first ce?!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart was in turmoil and she was truly afraid that Wei Lingnan found out that she lied to him. She gritted her teeth and resolutely said, ¡°I¡¯ll drink it!¡±

    She took the big bowl, shut her eyes and drank the entire bowl of soup. The broth was delicious, but she did not dare to focus too much on the taste. It was as if blood filled her mouth and Xia Yingluo¡¯s bloody body was still not far behind the ss wall. When Gu Jinxiu finished thest sip of the soup, she coughed a few times and had some difficulty swallowing it.

    She took a deep breath and stood still. Although her face was pale, she looked at Wei Lingnan calmly.

    Wei Lingnan did not make a sound. His voice was a little cold. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was still overwhelmed by the shock of drinking a soup made of a human¡¯s heart. Without thinking much, she blurted, ¡°I¡¯m feeling much better. My heart has been healed.¡±

    She lifted her head to look at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Nan, thank you. I¡¯m really happy.¡± Although she had to drink a soup made of a human¡¯s heart, as long as Xia Yingluo died, she was willing to drink another hundred bowls of the same soup!

    Wei Lingnan faintly said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you back to your room to rest.¡± At this point, it was evident that Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart was fine from the start and she did not even need Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart. This woman deliberately lied to him to kill Xia Yingluo to get rid of her enemy. This made him quite ufortable. When did Ah Luo start giving him orders with hidden agendas?

    Gu Jinxiu also did not want to spend more time in this room filled with flesh and blood and followed Wei Lingnan out.

    However, behind the huge ss wall, the initially ¡°dead¡± Xia Yingluo moved and gradually stood up weakly from the icyb floor.

 Chapter 1332

    Chapter 1332: The Show Is Over

    Gu Jinxiu spun around to look at her with a face as pale as a ghost. ¡°You... you...¡±

    Xia Yingluo covered her chest and coughed a few times. This time, she coughed out a bloody lump of internal organs. She indifferently spat it out and looked at the two people behind the ss wall with a smirk. ¡°Wei Lingnan, the show is over. Can you let me go now?¡± Her voice was clear and pleasing and echoed in theboratory.

    Only then did Gu Jinxiu respond. ¡°Aren¡¯t you dead?!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be dead before you are.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at her dismissively and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Open the door and let me out.¡±

    She was only wearing a thin white silk nightdress. Her skin and the dress were stained with blood, but there was a breathtaking beauty about her. In her bleak state, she looked like a demon that had arrived from a bloody hell.

    How could there be anyone in this world who could look so beautiful even when they were in such a pathetic state...

    Ah Luo, only Ah Luo.

    Wei Lingnan suddenly closed his eyes and shook off the thought that ¡°Xia Yingluo was Ah Luo.¡± When he looked at her again, his eyes were cold. ¡°I guess you deserve some punishment,¡± He said to Xia Yingluo. Although two of them had just agreed to an act, the spectator had not left the scene, so how could she act recklessly ande back to life at this moment?

    Beside him, Gu Jinxiu gripped his hand tightly with feelings of betrayal. Her voice shook. ¡°Nan, you colluded with her to deceive me?¡±

    He could hear the grievance in her voice.

    Wei Lingnan frowned. ¡°Why did you lie to me that there was something wrong with your heart?¡± Did she know how worried he was? If he had no other choice, why would he go to this extent to prove whether she was actually sick? ¡°Ah Luo, you don¡¯t have to be so vague about what you want with me.¡±

    ¡°If I told you to kill her directly, would you agree?!¡± Suddenly, Gu Jinxiu flew into a rage and yelled at him. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re right. I don¡¯t like you being with her. Since you said that I don¡¯t have to be vague about it, then I will order you to kill her right now! Right now! Immediately!¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s face tightened.

    Initially, Xia Yingluo was watching the argument but after hearing that Gu Jinxiu was still adamant about killing her, she became upset. ¡°Hey, can the both of you stop dragging me in? Gu Jinxiu, let me tell you. It¡¯s your fault if you can¡¯t keep that man, it has nothing to do with me. If you dare to touch a single hair of mine today, tomorrow will be the day you die.¡±

    These words were so aggressive that the two arguing people turned around to look at her.

    Xia Yingluo licked her fingers to remove the bloodstains and restored their original fairness.

    She seemed to be very ustomed to clearing the blood on her body this way. While she spoke, she did not stop licking. ¡°My uncle is not someone you should mess with. He said that you two aren¡¯t human and he can use Feng Shui to easily end your reincarnated life. If you dare to touch me, in rage, he might just turn you into a ve forever who will never be able to receive love again. Although the price to be paid will be a little bigger, but it¡¯s your fault for hurting me. When my family is angry, the consequences are very scary...¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Wei Lingnan suddenly asked.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. What did he mean?

    Behind the ss wall, the man stared at her intently. There was a storm stirring in his heart. She resembled her too much! Hundreds of millions of years ago, Ah Luo was a girl who loved cleanliness. Even in her worst moments on the battlefield, she would clean up the blood on herself once she had the time. At that time, she was like Xia Yingluo, licking away the blood on herself a little seductively. She was as elegant as the most beautiful birdbing its feathers.

    Memories started to flood in like a storm.

    The d¨¦j¨¤ vu was back again. If Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t there, he would not even think about the past. If it weren¡¯t for Gu Jinxiu who could not even speak in the dialect of his people...

    Wei Lingnan had a dangerous thought that Xia Yingluo was the true Ah Luo.

    ¡°I¡¯m Xia Yingluo. Have you be stupid or lost your memory?¡± Xia Yingluo did not know how she exposed herself. She was a little shocked, but she still maintained her cool. ¡°Let me out.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s face was very frightening. He red at her face for a long time but could not see any weak spots. He walked up step by step, opened the door and let the girl who was covered in blood out.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Xia Yingluozily said, ¡°He who understands the times is a wise man.¡±

    She shot Gu Jinxiu a provocative look and was about to leave.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Gu Jinxiu screeched. ¡°Do you think this is a ce you cane and go as you please?! Nan, grab her!¡±

    However, Wei Lingnan did not move.

    Xia Yingluo was very satisfied with Wei Lingnan¡¯s reaction. Although she had already decided to ditch this traitor, seeing him obey others¡¯ orders made her feel happy. She looked at Gu Jinxiu with a smile, gently patted Wei Lingnan¡¯s shoulders and said, ¡°Miss Gu, I advise you to not take yourself too seriously. Without this dog, you¡¯re nothing.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was extremely dark as if whatever Xia Yingluo said was right.

    She wanted to refute, but she could not say anything. Everything that Xia Yingluo was the truth.

    More importantly, Wei Lingnan was not listening to hermands anymore! She initially thought that all she had to do was assume Ah Luo¡¯s identity to make Wei Lingnan be at her beck and call!

    Xia Yingluo...

    It was all this woman¡¯s fault!

    Why did such a woman exist on this to seduce her Nan?!

    Gu Jinxiu viciously red at Xia Yingluo as if a fire was spouting out of her eyes.

    The angrier she was, the happier Xia Yingluo was. Her smile became more radiant.

    She turned around and was about to leave the base.

    However, Wei Lingnan grabbed hold of her wrist.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked angrily as she red at the tall man.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her tightly and in a rush, he swiftly tore her nightgown apart with his other hand.

    The air froze.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mind went nk and she stood in front of him in shock.

    Half a secondter, she felt the blood rush to her head. Without thinking, she gave him a tight p!

    Even though she did not mind changing her clothes in front of him a few hours ago in her own room because they used to be very close in the past, this one waspletely different because he violently tore her dress apart! She... was furious!

 Chapter 1333

    Chapter 1333: Alliance Ceremony

    Gu Jinxiu screamed, ¡°Why did you hit me?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt that she had a considerably good temper for having not hit her to death.

    She stretched out her rounded toes, and hooked back the silk nightdress that had been torn to pieces on the ground, and wrapped her back neatly with it, disregarding the bloodstains.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t stop her, and his eyes moved away from her in disappointment. Just now, he could see very clearly that the wound cut from her chest by the ws was still dripping blood. She had no energy and the healing ability of the Skatana species. She was... just an ordinary human being.

    What was he expecting?

    Wei Lingnan thought he was crazy. Did he expect her to be Ah Luo?

    How was it possible? His Ah Luo was right in front of him, it was Gu Jinxiu.

    Such a perception disappointed him.

    He suppressed the thought that shouldn¡¯t be in his heart, took off his clean coat, and handed it to her. ¡°Put it on, I¡¯ll find someone to take you home.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nced at him. The man¡¯s behavior in front of her made her feel a little scared. Fortunately, her energy had not beenpletely recovered, and the wound couldn¡¯t be healed automatically. Otherwise, she would have just been exposed. It wasn¡¯t safe to stay here for an extra second, so she took over the coat from Wei Lingnan, put it on politely, and went out.

    This time, Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t stop her.

    In fact, she couldn¡¯t wait for Xia Yingluo to go as soon as possible. Wei Lingnan¡¯s look at Xia Yingluo made her frightened. She didn¡¯t want to let the two people to have any contact.

    ¡°Nan,¡± she said, telling Wei Lingnan to turn her attention back to her. ¡°I lied to you this time, it¡¯s my fault. I¡¯ll cook for you tonight, aspensation?¡± The woman¡¯s tender speech that echoed in the air could make people¡¯s limbs go soft and their hearts agreeable. In all fairness, Gu Jinxiu was indeed a very attractive woman.

    But Wei Lingnan¡¯s irritability was even worse.

    She may be a very nice woman, but his Ah Luo wasn¡¯t.

    His Ah Luo should always be high above him, arrogant and stubborn. Even if he did something wrong, she was righteous and never asked anything of others.

    What went wrong?

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t have so much on her mind. She took the car he sent and went smoothly back home. The whole family was waiting in the living room, anxious like an ant on a hot pot. They all gathered around, all eyes looking her up and down like X-ray scans. ¡°Yingluo, are you okay? Why didn¡¯t you tell us before running to the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical base, you almost scared us to death.¡±

    Xia Yingluoforted her family. ¡°Dad, Mom, Elder Brother and Second Brother, I¡¯m sorry. I think I can solve it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, right!¡± Li Rui was about to explode. ¡°If you run away secretly again, I will break your leg!¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him guiltily and shrank back to Li Lei.

    Li Lei originally wanted to tell her he would break her leg and was upset that Li Rui had snatched his line. He cleared his throat and looked at her with a stern face. ¡°Your wings have hardened, little girl. You even dared to run around randomly. I¡¯ll deduct your pocket money for next year.¡±

    ¡°What? Dad!¡± Xia Yingluo cried.

    She wasn¡¯t afraid to face Wei Lingnan nor quarrel with Gu Jinxiu. But, but, deducting her pocket money?! Why didn¡¯t dad just kill her directly!

    Li Lei was unmoved and gave her a sharp nce. ¡°Injured? Go deal with it, the car is ready for you. After you¡¯re done, your uncle will take you back to the Xia family¡¯s house.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s jacket was still on her body. The jacket was clean, but the bloody smell couldn¡¯t be covered, so Li Lei immediately smelled it.

    His statement made everyone worry.

    Xia Yingluoughed dryly and soothed the family, entered the house, and cleaned her wounds.

    The wound on her chest was small but deep, and the bones could be seen faintly, which was very scary. Xia Yingluo¡¯s fingers stroked the wound gently, and the scene of the man stabbing her appeared in her heart. She never thought that she would be hurt by Nan, but after the rebellion on the Skatana billions of years ago, nothing seemed surprising.

    She took medicine and changed her clothes.

    She got in the car and went with Xia Moyan to the Xia family.

    Three days of rushing, another three days of preparation, and, on the seventh day, the altar was officially opened.

    Xia Moyan wore a white sacrificial robe, and under the n members¡¯ escort, they set up a contract of alliance with her. That was the vow between Earth and the Skatana. At the moment when the covenant was concluded, invisible energy fluctuations were felt. The sky was filled with rain, like a dream.

    Xia Yingluo felt that there was something dark in her body that was also taken away by this shower of rain.

    She understood that it was a symbol of her rejection and her health.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she closed her eyes and said to the omnipresent will in the air.

    After the ceremony ended, Xia Moyan asked her with a hint of concern, ¡°How are you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly at him. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Uncle,e back to S City with me. I have a lot of knowledge about the application of thews of the universe and various kinds of knowledge to tell you.¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded. She had to impart knowledge to human beings as part of the covenant. However... ¡°Why go back to S City with you? If you stay here, it¡¯ll be safer. The Xia Family territory has been here for generations, and even Wei Lingnan can¡¯t get in.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I can¡¯t stay here forever, and sooner orter, I¡¯ll have to go out and face him. He doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m Ah Luo now, and Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart digging matter has already been made clear. He wouldn¡¯t strike me for the time being. I want to go out and do some preparatory work, save energy, then I¡¯ll leave Earth after a hundred years. In any case, I¡¯ll go back to the Skatana. My responsibility is there.¡±

    Xia Moyan understood that she had to make some preparations to return to the Skatana.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± He asked his niece. ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nced at him gratefully. ¡°I need a spaceship, but this doesn¡¯t need to be prepared separately. Since Wei Lingnan coulde to Earth over such a long distance, he must have it with him. I¡¯ll take him with me when I go. He won¡¯t be left to harm humanity. What needs to be prepared now is energy, and I must restore an endless lifespan to cope with endless travel.¡± In theing decades, her n would focus on gathering energy.

    However, Xia Moyan was worried about another thing. ¡°Will you take Wei Lingnan with you, then?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°He¡¯s very dangerous. I can¡¯t worry about leaving him here.¡± The Skatana tribe was a brutal war race that could easily destroy a without frowning. Xia Yingluo believed the destruction of the Earth wouldn¡¯t cause any waves in Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart.

 Chapter 1334

    Chapter 1334: Scandal

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Will he do anything to you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled andughed again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, Uncle. I hid my identity just now not because I was afraid of him. I just think he¡¯s... very annoying.¡± She didn¡¯t want to be entangled in this rtionship and simply wanted to steer clear of it. ¡°But he is my Guardian, and the day I leave Earth, I¡¯ll tell him my identity. He¡¯ll have to obey me unconditionally.¡±

    Xia Moyan was slightly relieved.

    Thinking of energy, he asked, ¡°How are you going to collect energy?¡±

    She already had a n in her mind, and at this time, methodically said, ¡°The most abundant energy of each lies in the spiritual projection of their highest living beings. If this projection was directed at an individual, then the individual would acquire tremendous energy. ording to your logic, it¡¯s the power of faith, the power of worship.¡±

    The two walked slowly along the gravel path under the altar. Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice was clear and calm. ¡°To make it clearer, I intend to be a superstar, just like mom. I intend to be admired by all, have countless fans following me frantically... by then, enough energy would be collected.¡±

    ¡°Enough to support you back to the Skatana?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Enough to let meunch the spacecraft and continue to replenish the energy during the long journey.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked a little suspicious. ¡°The energy on Earth is so weak?¡±

    Xia Yingluo saw his anxiety andforted him. ¡°Earth has great potential, but it has not yet been exploited. The Skatana is so strong that they¡¯re notparable at all. Uncle, if it were a middle-ss race in another universe, Earth¡¯s energy would fill him uppletely.¡±

    Xia Moyan was relieved. As the National Preceptor, he had too much to worry about.

    The two reached a consensus on the next n, and the next day, they set off for S City.

    Everyone in S City cared about her and asked how things were going. Xia Yingluo was afraid that they couldn¡¯t bear it, so she didn¡¯t tell them that she would leave Earth after a few years. She only said that she needed to replenish energy to maintain the operation of this distinctive body. The best way to replenish energy was to be a superstar to absorb worship.

    It wasn¡¯t a surprise since they had the reincarnation of a Phoenix at home.

    Even Li Ruiughedzily and said, ¡°Okay, give thiszy girl something to do, so at least she doesn¡¯t waste food at home all day long.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one wasting food.¡± She was a bit grieved and unhappy at her second brother. He just chuckled.

    This was the sister he was familiar with, the baby of their whole family. Fortunately, she hadn¡¯t changed with these recent events.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to be a big star, but she was born in the Li family, a family with half of the entertainment industry. For her, many things that others couldn¡¯t obtain were just a piece of cake for them. For example, she could use first-ss director and screenwriter resources to create a huge blockbuster for her, and invite various popr stars to y for her. Everything she used would be the best. She wasn¡¯t pretentious, and of course, she should make good use of the resources she had. She wouldn¡¯t pretend to push everything at her fingertips out, and she had no interest in climbing up step by step like an ordinary neer.

    She would be a fool to not take shortcuts. Besides, time waited for no one. She must collect enough energy in just a few decades.

    The Li family helped her arrange everything. The script creation had begun, and it was expected to start shooting in six months.

    During this time, Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t idle.

    She dressed up carefully, went out with Movie King Jiang Yu, went shopping, ate desserts, and spent Christmas...

    The paparazzi photographed them many times, and the two were intimate and full of smiles.

    The outside world rumored that they were in a rtionship. A young and promising film king and a wealthydy being together was also considered a love story. In the photos that were taken secretly, both of them were very beautiful. The handsome man and woman were charming, like the dreamy scenes that made people blush in idol dramas.

    At a French restaurant.

    Jiang Yu pushed his mobile phone in the middle of the table covered with a white tablecloth, smiled and showed it to Xia Yingluo. ¡°This picture was takenst time. I asked you to turn your face a little bit further, but you refused to. Actually, it would have been more beautiful if you tilted your head a little, really.¡±

    Xia Yingluo went to look at the photo. ¡°Well, let¡¯s say you¡¯re right, but I¡¯m still beautiful like this.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡± Jiang Yuughed. She was really beautiful in the picture. Snow covered the Christmas trees, and her small white face was wrapped in a soft scarf. Her head was slightly raised, and a pair of crystal clear eyes looked at him with a little smile, like a quiet and well-behaved deer.

    He looked at her and said with a soft voice, ¡°That man is blind to not want you.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, humph.¡± She wrinkled her nose and took a sip of wine from the goblet. ¡°Let him die. Anyway, I¡¯m with you now.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me high hopes.¡± Jiang Yuughed bitterly. They were now only acting on the scene¡ªnot long ago, she suddenly found him and said that she wanted to borrow his poprity as the great film king to make a few days of news. Specifically, it was to make the outside world mistakenly think that they were a couple, thereby quickly increasing her poprity and reputation in preparation for the uing movie.

    Jiang Yu had promised at the time.

    At that time, Xia Yingluo was a little surprised. ¡°You don¡¯t want to think about it before promising me? It¡¯s a gossip hype, we¡¯re not really together. What¡¯s in it for you?¡±

    ¡°The youngdy from my boss¡¯ house asked me for help, which is the biggest benefit.¡± Jiang Yu said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m an actor of Skyart, shouldn¡¯t I have a good rtionship with you? In other words, you came to find me, and I¡¯m grateful that you thought so highly of me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo: ¡°...¡±

    When Jiang Yu saw that she was really affected, he said, ¡°Okay, in fact, this thing is good for me. This scandal also depends on the other party. It¡¯s definitely not a loss to be with a beautiful and family-friendly girl like you. It has also improved my image and poprity¡ªby the way, it also helps me to block out some rotten peach blossoms. Recently, many little girls who don¡¯t know their ce wanted to hook me up and I got annoyed.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed.

    Jiang Yu red at her gently. ¡°Is it funny? I¡¯m not lying to you. Some little actors can do everything to move up thedder. Last spring, someone even put lust medicine in my water and made mepletely frenzied.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also heard from some of her elders who were artists when she was a child about these shady happenings in the entertainment industry. At this time, she could only look at Jiang Yu with sympathy. ¡°Okay, let me save you.¡±

    The two hit it off immediately, bing a couple of gossips. They shopped every day and their poprity generally soared.

    In the French restaurant, the two were enjoying a candlelight dinner while discussing thetest results. ording to this momentum, Xia Yingluo had be very popr even without work. She smiled happily, clinking sses with Jiang Yu, and they drank very well till they were a little drunk.

 Chapter 1335

    Chapter 1335: I Want to p You Already

    During the meal, she got up and went to the bathroom.

    In the corridor, the marble floor was smooth like a mirror, and the sconces on both sides were dazzling.

    Xia Yingluo walked with a gait and swayed a little. Somehow, she bumped into a person. Before she could react, she was directly pulled into a corner by that person. Her fighting instincts were instantly ignited, and she moved to buckle the man¡¯s hand. But she was drunk and had no control. She would directly disable the person if she buckled his hand.

    But the person behind her avoided her attack fluidly and instead forced her into a small space in the corner. His movements were skillful as if he had practiced thousands of times.

    Xia Yingluo was sober now. She looked up and saw a familiar and beautiful face, with a little coldness and indifference. It turned out to be Wei Lingnan.

    The rm bell in her heart was alerted. What was this man doing here?! When she was drunk just now, she had instinctively used the battle tactics often used by the Skanata. Did he notice anything? She couldn¡¯t help but stand upright, with her back against the cold stone wall. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her, his eyes narrowed, but she couldn¡¯t see his emotions.

    The girl in his arms carried a faint body scent and smelled like an orchid. His delicate little face held thin anger, and she looked at him alertly, as if ready to attack at any time.

    He remembered that hundreds of millions of years ago, his little princess was also the same. When in defense, she would pose in such a way so that people couldn¡¯t help but want to... care.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve you,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned, and then realized he was talking about Jiang Yu. She was furious. ¡°You¡¯ve watched the news these days? Good, then you should have a new life, please don¡¯t bother me again. Take your Gu Jinxiu and go far away!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± His voice was dull.

    ¡°What why?¡± Xia Yingluo only felt like he was crazy. If it wasn¡¯t because she needed him to surrender his spaceship after a few years, she really wanted to kill him now. ¡°Since we broke up, isn¡¯t it normal to find another man? Only you can have Gu Jinxiu?¡± Obviously, she and Jiang Yu weren¡¯t in such a rtionship, but she couldn¡¯t help but want to anger him.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    His hand sped her hand again with a thunderbolt, and the tricky angle was exactly the same as what she had attempted just now.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes were deep. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was startled. She had just prayed that he wouldn¡¯t find this little leak she made, but she didn¡¯t expect him to see through it at first nce. There was no way, the two were too familiar back in the Skatana. The guardian and the princess originally had the closest rtionship, and even the battle routines were explored together.

    They knew each other¡¯s moves even with their eyes closed.

    She calmed down, raised her eyes and looked at him mockingly. ¡°I¡¯m me, Xia Yingluo. Why, Mr. Wei, do you have amnesia? You¡¯ve mistaken me for Ah Luo, then you abandoned me easily. Why are you running around me again now? Tell me, who do you think I am this time?¡±

    Her words surprised him.

    Ah Luo was Gu Jinxiu, who had been awakened, and she could speak thenguage of the Skatana tribe as proof.

    But what about this girl? Why did she always give him such a strong sense? A voice deep in his heart kept saying¡ªshe¡¯s Ah Luo, she¡¯s Ah Luo!

    But how was that possible?

    She wasn¡¯t awakened, and didn¡¯t know anything, she couldn¡¯t even use her energy to make a Skatana voice.

    She was just a human.

    Xia Yingluo saw he wasn¡¯t talking, and was too impatient to stay here with him, so she pushed him angrily. ¡°Get lost!¡±

    This push didn¡¯t use energy, and the power of human girls alone couldn¡¯t move him at all. Instead, her own hand was pushed sorely and they red at each other.

    He was motionless like a bronze cast iron, and he propped his hand against the wall, trapping her in the small space between himself and the wall. He leaned down, bowed his head, and kissed her lips without warning.

    It was as sweet as he remembered.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s thoughts were a little embarrassing. He remembered that when Ah Luo was a little princess hundreds of millions of years ago, she was injured and had a high fever and fell asleep in the blood-stained trenches. He had taken care of her endlessly. The starlight that night was so beautiful on her face. He couldn¡¯t help but kiss the corner of the lips. The soft and sweet taste had made his heart tremble.

    That was the only kiss they shared in the long years on the Skatana.

    He almost piously kissed Xia Yingluo, and time seemed to return to the starry night billions of years ago. She was the sweet little princess who had to be forced to the battlefield, and he was her eternal Guardian...

    ¡°Pa¡±, a crisp sound was heard.

    Wei Lingnan covered half of his face and let go of her. ¡°No woman can p me.¡± His voice was very deep. Even when Ah Luo was angry, she would only use the most concise and effective attack methods to hurt him with blood. A p in the face symbolized so much more, and the people in the Skatana would never do it.

    ¡°Really? I¡¯m so sorry, I¡¯ve wanted to p you for a long time.¡± Xia Yingluo shook her hand.

    She had pped himst time in the undergroundboratory, and now, thinking about it, this kind of thing seemed to be addictive. Xia Yingluo regretted that there was no such attack on the Skatana. Otherwise, when heunched a rebellion trying to obtain her billions of years ago, she should have pped him senseless until he couldn¡¯t even recognize his own mother... Wait, they didn¡¯t have mothers on the Skatana.

    Xia Yingluo felt that after staying on Earth for a long time, her whole thinking had be human-inclined.

    Wei Lingnan pressed her back to the wall again and kissed her again. This time, the kiss wasn¡¯t tender, it was purely biting and punishing. He couldn¡¯t tell why there was anger in his heart. Was it because she had used the assault method never used by Ah Luo? Was it the contempt on her face? Anyway, he just wanted to tear her up fiercely.

    Xia Yingluo sighed, and then knew that she couldn¡¯t resist him, so she simply stopped struggling.

    Wei Lingnan bit her for a long time and finally couldn¡¯t ignore the bloody smell. Then, he realized that something was wrong.

    He let go of her. Her originally soft and beautiful lips were now covered with mottled scars, and blood was leaking out a little. It was shocking.

    But she didn¡¯t feel it, and she just raised her hand and wiped it away. Her voice was calm. ¡°Are you done being crazy? Then get lost.¡±

    The unknown fire in his heart rose again.

    Realizing that his face wasn¡¯t right, she sneered. ¡°Why, your craze wasn¡¯t enough? I¡¯m really curious. How are you going to exin to Gu Jinxiu when you¡¯re back? If youe to harass me again, do you believe I¡¯ll tell her about it and see if she makes a huge mess?¡±

 Chapter 1336

    Chapter 1336: Makeup Photo

    At this moment, she thanked the existence of Gu Jinxiu for saving her much trouble.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s face was horribly dreary and he stared deeply at her as if he was going to devour her. After a long time, he slowly took two steps back to make room for her to pass.

    Xia Yingluo snorted coldly and without further dy, she quickly left after grooming herself properly.

    She went back to her seat in the restaurant. The white tablecloth was still full of precious porcin, foie gras wine, and caviar.

    Jiang Yu was turning his goblet waiting for her in boredom. He saw the scars on her beautiful lips and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Ms. Xia, did you go out and saw a little fresh meat or an old lover? How did you make yourself like this? If this is photographed by a reporter, what kind of animal would they think of me as?¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed at him. ¡°I can exin to the reporters.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t, how would you exin it?¡± Jiang Yu politely declined. ¡°Tell them that I didn¡¯t do it? Forget it, isn¡¯t it better to be called a beast than being cheated on?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. ¡°Then you can only be wronged as a beast.¡± She raised her crystal goblet with red wine and clinked his lightly.

    The wine touched the wound on her lips, and it hurt. Xia Yingluo unexpectedly recalled the scene in the corner of the corridor. She had clearly vented her anger when she pped Wei Lingnan just now, but why did she feel so sour and sad now? Her expression slowly became dim.

    Jiang Yu looked in her eyes and stoppedughing, and asked her softly, ¡°You met Wei Lingnan?¡±

    She whispered, ¡°I don¡¯t understand. He already has Gu Jinxiu, why does he still want to provoke me?¡±

    ¡°Men are always looking at the pot while eating the bowl.¡± Jiang Yu spared no effort to insult the enemy. ¡°Some men are like this. When they¡¯re with you, they don¡¯t know how to cherish you, but when you break up, he can¡¯t bear to see you leave. I don¡¯t think he actually likes you. It¡¯s just that you don¡¯t care about him anymore and it hurts his pride, so he¡¯s not reconciled.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression got darker, and she took another sip of wine.

    Jiang Yu took the cup in her hand. ¡°It¡¯s not worth hurting yourself for that kind of dreg. Yingluo, you can¡¯t drink anymore, let me take you home.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mind was in a mess. Wei Lingnan¡¯s appearance had ruined her original joy. She didn¡¯t want to continue dining out, so she nodded and was sent home by Jiang Yu.

    At the door of the house, the reporter photographed them again. Jiang Yu took care of her scarf and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    The two of them were so beautiful, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, and even their families were perfect, so the media always talked about them. As soon as the photo tonight came out, there was another round of admiration.

    Wei Lingnan crushed the newspaper.

    In the study, Gu Jinxiu pushed open the door and saw his movements. She hesitated for a moment before calling softly, ¡°Nan.¡±

    Wei Lingnan turned and saw her, and his expression eased slightly.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s gaze fell on the newspaper on the ground. In the newspaper, Xia Yingluo¡¯s smile was so bright. Was Nam angry because of this woman? Gu Jinxiu felt as if a fire was burning in her heart, and she forced herself to press it down as if nothing happened. She said, ¡°My friend gave me two tickets for the horse race. Shall we go together?¡± Since her memory was awakened, Gu Jinxiu tried to win Wei Lingnan¡¯s favor and took note of his interests. Since he used to fight before, she guessed that he would likepetitive sports such as horse racing.

    However, Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t like it.

    He was even faintly disappointed. This kind ofpetition was no fun at all in his eyes as he was ustomed to the big scenes of life and death. Based on his understanding of Ah Luo, Ah Luo wouldn¡¯t like it either, but Gu Jinxiu looked forward to it. His heart was inevitably filled with disappointment. Suddenly, a thought popped up. How much better would it be if it was Xia Yingluo who had been awakened instead? How did such a freakbination of factors ur? How did Ah Luo be like Gu Jinxiu after being awakened?

    This thought shed in his heart, and he quickly suppressed it. Guilt swelled in him. How could he be disloyal to Ah Luo?

    So, he said to Gu Jinxiu, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was in a good mood, thinking that Wei Lingnan really liked it, so she came forward to hold his hand and talk about the preparations and dressing.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s thoughts flew uncontrobly to Xia Yingluo, who was far away.

    Xia Yingluo had a good life these days. Ever since she was determined to give up Wei Lingnan, she tried her best not to think about everything regarding the man and concentrated on collecting energy. Specifically, how to make herself famous. The screenwriter Li Lei found for her had already made a script, which was a science fiction story about wars, called ¡°Star Wars Era¡±. She saw the script, and it was very magnificent and imaginative. On the entire universe imagined by humans on Earth, a new element was added by her. It was a very rare element, and Wei Lingnan might not even notice it, but it gave the entire script a new vitality. Skyart¡¯s senior executives all sung high praises of it after reading the script.

    Xia Yingluo starred as the heroine, and the makeup artist did a great job on her. In the makeup photos, she wore a silver-white armor that radiated lc light. Her figure was elegant and slender, and she had an arrogant look and sharp eyes like she was the queening to the world. Although to avoid being noticed by Wei Lingnan, she yed the role of a female soldier in the whole movie.

    But such a female warrior had aroused people¡¯s attention and caused an uproar. Everybody on the streets was discussing her makeup photos. It was too beautiful, full of aura, and dazzling. They couldn¡¯t wait to worship her. Everyone was looking forward to the release of this film, and even the critics had predicted that this would be the best science fiction film in recent years.

    Even the makeup brands used in the makeup photos were sought after. The well-known cosmeticspany ¡°Huanisi¡± signed an agreement with Xia Yingluo, asking her to endorse their products.

    Now that Xia Yingluo wanted to be more popr, she dly epted the invitation and shot endorsement ads of very high quality for them nonstop.

    Her official video hadn¡¯t even been filmed yet, but her poprity had soared so much that her name could be heard everywhere on the streets. Everyone was looking forward to more wonderful miracles from this heavenly girl.

    Yes, her makeup photos and advertising endorsements were miracles. There was no need for dynamic performance at all. Just a gesture and a look made people surrender to her. The sales volume of Huanisi cosmetics soared upwards, and soon it surpassed its long-standing rival.

    Thepany was very happy. The president of the Asia-Pacific region came to see Xia Yingluo to thank her for everything she did for Huanisi, and invited her to make another springmercial.

 Chapter 1337

    Chapter 1337: Criticize Violently

    Xia Yingluo agreed.

    A few dayster, she went to the studio as promised.

    The staff in the studio were busy setting up the scene and adjusting the equipment. Xia Yingluo was surrounded by agents and assistants as she walked through the crowd to a special dressing room to change and put on her makeup. This spring advertising blockbuster followed the surreal science fiction storyline in order to match the uing movie. The theme ¡°Star Era. Blossom¡± sounded so magical and poetic.

    They matched her cold and charming female warrior costumes.

    The technology on Earth was backward. To create a gorgeous female warrior armor, they had to rely on special effects makeup. Various cosmetics and materials were put on Xia Yingluoyer byyer. Under the bright lights, many people felt a thinyer of sweat on their bodies.

    Her manager Tan Ying brought a ss of water to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ice lemonade, you must cool down. There must be no sweat on your face or it¡¯ll affect your makeup.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stood in an open space with several special effects makeup artists fiddling with her head. Her arm was fitted with a rocketuncher that was so tall and heavy she almost couldn¡¯t lift her arm. She didn¡¯t reach out to take the ss that Tan Ying handed over and only said, ¡°Thank you, Uncle Tan. I¡¯m not hot.¡± Yes, this Uncle Tan was the one who was once the famous principal of the Skyart Training Camp, whoter became Li Lei¡¯s assistant and was transferred back to the headquarters to help. Tan Ying had no big ambitions and retired after spending ten years with Li Lei. He returned to China to retire and apany his wife and children.

    This time, because Xia Yingluo wanted to debut as an entertainer, Li Lei wasn¡¯t assured to give his baby daughter to another agent, so he asked him to return to work again.

    Tan Ying wasn¡¯t afraid of her due to his abundance of experience. ¡°Drink it. You¡¯re not hot now, but it doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t beter. If the makeup has to be re-applied, such a thickyer will take hours. Your time is precious now. In the evening, you have an exclusive interview with a magazine, all of whom are waiting for you. You don¡¯t want to be told you¡¯re pulling your weight when you¡¯ve just debuted, do you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless. She had only said she wasn¡¯t hot, but it led to such a long series of lectures from Uncle Tan. She really... wanted to cry.

    She couldn¡¯t tell him that her constitution was different from ordinary people and she didn¡¯t sweat as much?

    She obediently took the iced lemonade and drank it.

    Over there, several special-effect makeup artists finally worked out Xia Yingluo¡¯s armor and straightened up. Chief Jerry wiped his sweat, exhaled, and said, ¡°Finally, I¡¯ll never design such aplicated thing again. It¡¯s really killing me. Fortunately, this outfit isn¡¯t used often in the movie. Otherwise, all the stylists are going to cry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was neither hot nor tired, it was boring to have to stand for so long.

    ¡°But it looks good, doesn¡¯t it?¡± She looked at Jerry with a smile. ¡°There are a few ces here that I suggested you do. Are youining about me like this?¡±

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t dare to.¡± Jerry waved his hands hurriedly. He couldn¡¯t mess with this strong superwoman. ¡°Ms. Xia, your design is really good, especially the arc on the armrests. How did you even think of it? Not to mention as a performance prop, such a design is really practical on the battlefield, and it¡¯s not inferior at all.¡±

    Thispliment was true. Xia Yingluo¡¯s armor design details were adjusted ording to her previous life¡¯sbat experience and were a hundred percent practical.

    Of course, when ced in movies andmercials, it added realism and bloody intentions to the armor.

    Xia Yingluo smiled.

    Tan Ying looked at the watch impatiently. ¡°Jerry, don¡¯t try to curry favor here. Anyway, you¡¯re joining the group already when the movie production starts. Can¡¯t you curry favor then? Hurry up and tell the director that Yingluo¡¯s makeup is done. We have to leave as soon as possible, we¡¯re alreadyte.¡± This set of armor was harder to wear than expected and wasted a lot of time. Strangely, it should have been filmed long ago, but the director and the photography team actually didn¡¯t rush them.

    As the chief stylist, Jerry didn¡¯t need to do these errands, but the person who instructed him was Tan Ying, an old hand in the entertainment industry. He didn¡¯t mind running this trip. However, a long time passed and he was still not back. Tan Ying frowned and felt something was wrong, so he said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°You wait here, I¡¯ll take a look.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had been standing for a long time, and she didn¡¯t want to continue to stand here stupidly, so she said, ¡°I will go too.¡±

    Tan Ying nced at her without stopping her

    The BOSS had called him here not to be an agent, but a nanny for her. Manager Tan still remembered how difficult her mother had been back then. Following the principle of not finding more trouble for himself, he thought it was better to submit to her and didn¡¯t refute.

    The two came to the shooting area together.

    Over there, Jerry was arguing with the director. ¡°What, how could you substitute her like that? Do you know how hard it was to do her costume! All the props and essories were made ording to the size of Ms. Xia. Her height, waist, face shape... If you change the actor, we¡¯ll have to redo everything, do you know that! You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    The director whispered something.

    Jerry was even more agitated. ¡°Do you understand the styling or I understand it? The same costume will be different as long as it differs one centimeter on different people! Do you know how long our styling team worked overtime for this set?! You want to change the actor? Okay! I¡¯ll destroy all these things! Don¡¯t waste your money on any random cat or dog and ruin my reputation!¡±

    ¡°How is Tang Yuan a random cat or dog!¡± The director was also agitated. He raised his voice and could be heard at a distance of five or six meters. ¡°Ms. Tang is the Movie Queen! Even if the size of the props is too small, it won¡¯t ruin your reputation! Do you think I wanted to change the actor? What can I do if the management ordered me to do so? If you have the ability, you can talk to Huasini¡¯s boss!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression turned cold.

    Even after listening to a few words, she understood the situation¡ªHuanisi wanted to substitute her for Tang Yuan.

    She turned her head and nced at Tan Ying.

    At this time, it was time for the agent to step in. Tan Ying gave her a slightly restless look and stepped in front of the disputed crowd. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    His calm voice brought annoyance, and the air at the scene froze immediately.

    When the director saw him, he felt a little guilty, and first smiled at him. ¡°Mr. Tan, why are you here, sit, sit.¡±

    Tan Ying didn¡¯t sit down and said directly, ¡°I heard that you want to remove Yingluo?¡± His voice wasn¡¯t high, but it held invisible pressure.

    The director wanted to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, but he held back. ¡°I also received the order half an hour ago. There was no exnation as to why. Mr. Tan, how did you fall out with Huanisi?¡±

 Chapter 1338

    Chapter 1338: Unknown Terrain

    Tan Ying was very irritable and wanted to copy the stylist¡¯s voice and say, ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± Who knew what Huanisi was doing?

    But he had been in the business for a long time, so he immediately calmed down and decided. ¡°Director Li, we¡¯ll first shoot as originally nned, then I¡¯ll negotiate with Huanisi.¡± No matter what was going on with them, Xia Yingluo¡¯s makeup was already done and they had finished all preparations. More importantly, she would lose face if she was let go just before the battle. She was the world-famous Ms. Li from the Li family, and even if she had just debuted, she would naturally take the lead. If the new endorsement was snatched by Tang Yuan, her stocks would drop too much.

    No matter what, they could not concede.

    The director was put on a spot. ¡°I have a work schedule here...¡±

    He looked up and saw Tan Ying¡¯s cold expression, and was a little stunned¡ªLi Lei¡¯s confidants were notorious, and even though Tan Ying had already retired and had only just returned, his reputation was still thunderous. Such a ferocious general made a special trip to escort the daughter of the big boss. If they offended him, what good woulde out of it?

    Director Li wasn¡¯t stupid and knew he had to protect himself first. ¡°Okay, ley¡¯s shoot Ms. Xia first.¡±

    Tan Ying¡¯s expression got better.

    Xia Yingluo came over and showed a sweet smile to Tan Ying.

    Uncle Tan was really powerful to have stopped the Director with just a few words. No wonder Dad specifically named him and asked him to be an agent. He was professional and did things well.

    However, before she expressed her admiration, she saw a beautiful female celebrity walking over with her agent and assistant. She wore an expensive dress and looked at Xia Yingluo with some anger and arrogance. Then, she turned her head to question the director. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, didn¡¯t I tell you about the substitution? How could you let Xia Yingluo shoot?¡±

    The director carefully nced at Xia Yingluo before answering Tang Yuan. ¡°Ms. Tang, let¡¯s put on your makeup first. We¡¯ll start shooting when you¡¯re done with your makeup.¡± While talking, he nced meaningfully at the stylist. ¡°Jerry, aren¡¯t you going to take Ms. Tang to the dressing room? ¡°He had a good idea. Since the direction of the wind now wasn¡¯t clear, he would just fo a two-handed preparation. He would shoot Xia Yingluo and also Tang Yuan. As for the final version of the advertisement, it would depend on the power game behind the two actresses.

    However, he was a little curious. Given Tang Yuan¡¯s identity, who gave her the guts topete with Xia Yingluo?

    Stylist Jerry was very upset and said aloud, ¡°Director Li, I told you that this set of armor is a work of art! It was tailor-made for Ms. Xia Yingluo! We have nothing extra for Ms. Tang! If you really want to make one for Ms. Tang, fine, find another professional, my team and I aren¡¯t going to serve her!¡±

    The director¡¯s expression turned ck. Why weren¡¯t these people helping him?!

    At this time, Tang Yuan also understood that they were going to let her wear the one Xia Yingluo had used!

    She lowered her face slightly and looked at her assistant Qiang Zi.

    Qiang Zi understood his master¡¯s meaning. The job of quarreling usuallynded on his shoulders, so he stepped forward and said, ¡°Director Li, and you stylists, what do you mean? Our Sister Tang was invited here after Huanisi spent tons of money. You are being so negligent to her, be careful you sufferter on!¡±

    The director cursed inside, why was it so difficult to serve them?

    On the surface, he still had to smile. ¡°I understand, I understand.¡±

    He said he understood, but he still didn¡¯t do anything. At present, the terrain was unknown, and Xia Yingluo¡¯s people were obviously reluctant to abandon this advertisement. With her strong background, who would know if Huanisi would make a concession? He couldn¡¯t offend Xia Yingluo by helping Tang Yuan, only to have Huanisi change its mind!

    He decided to take a look at the situation.

    Seeing that he was so slick, Tang Yuan was angry but could do nothing. She wasn¡¯t on very good terms with Xia Yingluo and had a conflict with her thest time when Jin Ling¡¯er was filming. Although Tang Yuan had bowed her head and apologized at the time, she was still angry. However, despite this, she didn¡¯t dare to mess with Xia Yingluo. After all, Xia Yingluo was a beloved girl with an amazing background. She was a heavenly pride girl with an amazing background. Tang Yuan had only gone against such a princess out of anger.

    She was dormant, reluctant, and avoidant. She pretended Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t there.

    Maybe it was destiny. Someone came to her door a few days ago to ask her to rece Xia Yingluo in the advertisement.

    Tang Yuan didn¡¯t agree in the beginning. She had a clear distinction that although she couldn¡¯t go against Xia Yingluo, they weren¡¯t enemies yet, and there was no need to make further instability between them. However, the other party told her that Xia Yingluo had known for a long time that she had harmed Jin Ling¡¯er before and she had been nning revenge. She also threatened that if she didn¡¯t rece this advertisement, everything she had worked so hard for since her debut¡ªfame, fortune, money, and glory¡ªeverything would be gone.

    She didn¡¯t believe it.

    It wasn¡¯t until a few days after that meeting that her beautiful face began to ulcerate without warning. She ran to the world¡¯s best hospitals and couldn¡¯t find out the cause, so she panicked. No... she didn¡¯t want her face to rot. For an actress, nothing was more important than a beautiful face! She would really be destroyed!

    Fear, like a demon, gripped her heart tightly.

    The other party came to the door again, and this time brought a bottle of facial treatment.

    She couldn¡¯t wait to kneel and beg the other person to give her the medicine. She cried silently and obeyed. She vowed that she would take over Xia Yingluo¡¯s advertisement.

    The other person smiled with satisfaction. ¡°Very well, you will be Ms. Gu¡¯s ally from now on.¡±

    Only then did she understand who was pitting her against Xia Yingluo. It was Gu Jinxiu of the Gu family¡¯s Perfume Group, but, strangely, the Gu family was just an ordinary giant. How could they have the ability to make such a terrible disfigurement medicine? Tang Yuan didn¡¯t dare to think deeply about it.

    At this point, she was standing in the studio and could only brace herself to pit against Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia, Huanisi has decided to make a substitution. It¡¯s not good for you to stay here, is it?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. With her battle armor, she eluded a faint murderous aura. The few people around her couldn¡¯t help but step back, and Tang Yuan, who was staring at her, felt her knees weaken and she could barely even stand. The girl¡¯s eyes... were so frightening!

    She was indeed the daughter of the world¡¯srgest Chinese underground leader. She was so imposing!

    Everyone thought involuntarily.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice spread a little in the air. ¡°I guess... Gu Jinxiu asked you toe? You seem to be happy using that rubbish as a gun?¡±

    Rubbish...

    She actually scolded the Gu family¡¯s nobledy in public as garbage!

    Even if everyone knew that these twodies didn¡¯t see eye to eye with each other, it was one thing to fight in private, and another for Xia Yingluo, a public figure, to curse at someone without hesitation. Only the jewel in the palm of the Li family¡¯s house dared to be so brazen!

 Chapter 1339

    Chapter 1339: Outstanding Interpretation

    Tang Yuan¡¯s face turned white.

    In her heart, she actually agreed with Xia Yingluo¡¯s statement. She thought that the woman who had threatened her with such despicable means was rubbish. But she was now on the same boat as Gu Jinxiu, so what could she do? On the contrary, she was jealous of Xia Yingluo for being so strong, proud and unscrupulous. They were both women, she had to work hard in the entertainment industry to obtain today¡¯s status, and would even be threatened when she was not careful, but what about Xia Yingluo? She had just debuted and was already being escorted by Tan Ying, who was a high-grade manager. She could even provoke her, the movie queen, even as a newbie!

    She finally managed to control her eyes and not let the outrageous jealousy flow out.

    Looking at Xia Yingluo quietly, she said, ¡°This matter has nothing to do with Ms. Gu. It was my agency that took the notice for me. I¡¯m just performing my duties. Ms. Xia, if you have anyints, please contact Huanisi and negotiate with them. Don¡¯t prevent me from shooting normally. Also, please take off this armor.¡±

    The director on the side was so anxious that he was sweating. This Tang Yuan was the movie queen, couldn¡¯t she tell the situation?!

    Even if she received this announcement, couldn¡¯t she take a step back and let Xia Yingluo shoot first? Why did she have to offend her here?!

    He didn¡¯t know that Tang Yuan had no other choice. She didn¡¯t want to be on the front line with Xia Yingluo, but she knew that if she didn¡¯t do her best to go against Xia Yingluo today, Gu Jinxiu would find trouble with her! That face disfiguration potion was too terrible, and the consequences of offending Xia Yingluo were still better than being disfigured!

    Xia Yingluo sneered softly.

    Since Tang Yuan didn¡¯t want her to shoot a version first, she didn¡¯t want Tang Yuan to shoot either!

    ¡°Clear the field.¡± She didn¡¯t even bother to look at Tang Yuan and said directly to Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying immediately understood her meaning and gave her a thumbs up in his heart. In all honesty, although the wife and daughter of his Big Boss were difficult to serve and were unreasonable, they were still very powerful when confronted with this kind of catfight and would definitely not lose their share. With Ms. Xia¡¯s identity, she was simply lowering herself by arguing with Tang Yuan, so it was best to ignore her.

    He nodded and gestured to the staff. ¡°Clear the field.¡±

    When they hade here, they had brought a few assistants and bodyguards. At this moment, they immediately moved and gestured the irrelevant people outside. ¡°Clear the field, clear the field.¡±

    The other staff looked at each other, wondering what to do, and looked at the director eagerly, waiting for him to speak. The director was so anxious cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He couldn¡¯t stop them, but he couldn¡¯t do nothing either. Xia Yingluo¡¯s people were clearing the field, but in reality, who couldn¡¯t tell? They wanted to drive Tang Yuan out!

    Sure enough, Xia Yingluo¡¯s bodyguards quickly arrived in front of Tang Yuan. ¡°Ms. Tang, please leave immediately.¡±

    Tang Yuan smirked angrily. ¡°You want to drive me away? I¡¯d like to see who dares to touch me!¡± Even if she was of no use, she was still the movie queen and was a very important figure in the entertainment industry. She didn¡¯t believe that Xia Yingluo¡¯s bodyguards dared to touch her! However, to her surprise, several bodyguards were really not polite to her. They apologized first, then two big men came up and stood on either side of Tang Yuan to drag her out effortlessly!

    ¡°Let me go! You let me go!¡± Tang Yuan screamed and kept struggling, and her two red high heels were kicked off.

    Xia Yingluo stood in ce and looked on coldly.

    Tang Yuan¡¯s scream grew even louder. ¡°Stop them! Tang Ni! Qiang Zi! What are you doing!¡±

    Some of her agents and assistants reacted. Qiang Zi took the lead and went forward to reason with Xia Yingluo. ¡°It¡¯s against thew to impede the personal freedom of others! Xia Yingluo, if a reporter reports this, Sister Tang¡¯s fans would drown you with saliva!¡±

    Xia Yingluo found talking to Tang Yuan disdainful, so how could she possibly talk to her assistant?

    She just sneered coldly and yed with her nails.

    Tan Ying waved his hand, his voice calm and indifferent. ¡°Continue to clear the field.¡±

    Several other bodyguards stepped forward and dragged Qiang Zi and the rest of the idlers out.

    Tang Yuan¡¯s angry yelling faded away, and the studio door was mmed shut. The people who remained inside were stunned... this was simply too rude, wasn¡¯t it? A dignified big star, the movie queen, was just thrown out like a rag?

    There was a fan of Tang Yuan among the staff, but at this time he moved his lips but was too afraid to speak.

    What could they say? The people Xia Yingluo had brought were too rude and seemed capable of killing. Presumably, the Big Boss had equipped his daughter with the best guards. They weren¡¯t like the kind of security guards around other stars. Even if they hit hard, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get rid of Xia Yingluo¡¯s people!

    In the weird silence, Tan Ying¡¯s eyes swept past each of them, his face indifferent. ¡°What are you all standing there for, start work.¡±

    ¡°Ah? Oh!¡± These people reacted, and the staff, including the director, wiped their sweat and hurried to start the shooting.

    With the help of everyone, Xia Yingluo stood in the shooting area and posed ording to the requirements of the technical guidance. Her camera sense was inherited from her mother Xia Ling. She was born to know how to pose in the most radiant, perfect, and moving way under the magnesium light. She made the performance of a female warrior who had just returned from a bloody battle extremely vivid.

    Outstanding.

    She was simply too outstanding!

    This was a deep resonance in everyone¡¯s heart.

    With the demonstrative interpretation of Xia Yingluo, the staff who had originally maintained various ideas in their hearts quickly entered a good state. The shooting was very smooth and there was no need to repeat any scenes. Soon, all the shots were finished. The director shouted to Xia Yingluo with a smile, ¡°Good job.¡±

    In his mind, he had the same thoughts as the other photographers. That was, letting Xia Yingluo perform this advertisement wasn¡¯t just because of her background. Her performance was really amazing. Even if Tang Yuan was here, she might not be able to achieve such an effect. Was Huanisi¡¯s brain flooded with water? They let go of such an outstanding person to use Tang Yuan, who had never even taken this type of shoot before!

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly and said, ¡°Everyone worked hard.¡±

    As long as they didn¡¯t provoke her, she wasn¡¯t difficult to get along with, and her good manner felt like a spring breeze.

    The director was so ttered by her smile that he repeatedly said that it wasn¡¯t hard, and praised her for her excellent camera sense. Then, he apanied her personally to the door.

    The studio door opened, and Qiang Zi was waiting outside. Qiang Zi¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good. He saw the director apanying Xia Yingluo out and frowned. ¡°Director Li, now that she¡¯s done, we can let Sister Tang shoot, right?¡± He nced disdainfully at Xia Yingluo and sneered. ¡°So what if you shot it? Huanisi won¡¯t let you take the advertisement!¡±

 Chapter 1340

    Chapter 1340: How Could You Not Care About It

    The atmosphere at the scene was deadlocked.

    Everyone had been so engrossed in the shoot that they had forgotten that it was reced by Tang Yuan. Tang Yuan¡¯s people were still waiting outside! It was unreasonable to let that big movie star wait for so long. The director decided to y the good person. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Qiang Zi. Sorry for having Sister Tang wait so long for me. Let me go over there and apologize to her personally...¡±

    Before he finished speaking, he heard Xia Yingluo sneer.

    The director¡¯s heart fluttered, specting whether his attitude towards Tang Yuan caused Xia Yingluo to be upset, but Tang Yuan was an ancestor and he couldn¡¯t afford to offend her.

    He was thinking about a remedy when he saw Xia Yingluo tidy her armor and say to Tan Ying, ¡°I¡¯ll go remove my makeup first, it¡¯s so heavy.¡±

    Tan Ying nodded, and without looking at the director or Qiang Zi, he helped Xia Yingluo walk to her exclusive dressing room.

    Qiang Zi still wanted to ridicule her a few more times, but the Director quickly grabbed him.

    After they went away, the director lowered his voice and said to Qiang Zi, ¡°You are too daring! What is Xia Yingluo¡¯s background? Is it necessary topete with her now!¡±

    ¡°I just can¡¯t ept it.¡± Qiang Zi sighed angrily. ¡°What is she? Isn¡¯t she just relying on a good birthce? She relied on her parents for their blessings and wronged our Sister Tang. Our Sister Tang didn¡¯t climb up to where she is now to suffer from her scoldings! It¡¯s not that I¡¯m biased, but if we look at skills, Sister Tang is a few streets ahead of her!¡±

    The director smiled bitterly, and the other staff members who had followed him also looked awkward.

    Qiang Zi nced at them dismissively. ¡°Why, do you disagree? Our Sister Tang¡¯s acting skills are so amazing. Why? If you look at the entertainment industry, can you find a second her?¡± It was no wonder he could say such things, Tang Yuan¡¯s acting skills were indeed impressive and was rated as one of the best young actresses.

    But she was now facing Xia Yingluo!

    Qiang Zi wasn¡¯t in the studio just now and wasn¡¯t aware, but all the other staff members were clear¡ª

    The interpretation of this advertisement by Ms. Xia was simply fantastical, and they were even afraid that ten Tang Yuan wouldn¡¯t be able to reach it!

    *Cough*

    The director cleared his throat. ¡°Now is not the time to vent your anger. Qiang Zi, let¡¯s go and take a look at Sister Tang. Sister Tang should have put on her makeup and is waiting for the armor, right? Once Xia Yingluo takes off the armor and brings it here, we can start filming! Tonight I¡¯ll treat you all to dinner and apologize to Sister Tang...¡±

    Qiang Zi¡¯s expression got better and he went to Tang Yuan¡¯s exclusive dressing room with the director.

    On the other side, in Xia Yingluo¡¯s exclusive dressing room.

    The girl took off her armor neatly and put on her soft andfortable dress.

    She was sitting in front of a spacious dressing table, and several stylists were busy removing makeup for her. She said with slightziness in her voice, ¡°Xiao Zhou, is there a lighter?¡±

    Xiao Zhou was her assistant, and she was stunned for a moment. ¡°No. Miss, I¡¯ll borrow one.¡±

    ¡°No, I have it here.¡± Tan Ying, who had been leaning at the door watching her makeup getting removed, smiled and produced a valuable limited edition lighter from his jacket pocket. He turned it between his fingers.

    ¡°You know what to do, Uncle Tan.¡± Xia Yingluo also smiled and batted her eyshes at Tan Ying through her makeup mirror.

    Tan Ying didn¡¯t answer, but he proved with actual actions that he knew just what to do¡ªhe just picked up a hanger and smashed it. The monitoring and fire rm on the ceiling shattered. Water poured down and several stylists eximed, holding their heads to dodge the water.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Jerry red at him.

    Tan Ying smiled. ¡°Shh.¡± He walked to the corner of the room where the armor was piled up and lit the lighter. The mes suddenly jumped on the pile of exquisitely crafted armors, and the orange-red fire tongue swept across. Soon, the prop that the stylists had spent several days and nights creating were distorted and transformed into mes, producing ck soot.

    ¡°Stop! You¡¯re crazy!¡± Jerry¡¯s expression changed to desperation and he rushed forward to extinguish the fire.

    In the dressing room, a bodyguard brought by Xia Yingluo reached out and grabbed him. He need only move lightly and Jerry was unable to move.

    ¡°Let me go! You have no right to destroy my props!¡± Jerry red at Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying was calm. When he saw that the armor was almost burned, he signaled the assistants to extinguish the fire and let Jerry go. ¡°This set of props has been used by Ms. Xia,¡± he said slowly to Jerry. ¡°How can it be used by others? It¡¯s already burnt. What are you anxious for, it was originally Ms. Xia¡¯s exclusive props.¡±

    Jerry was so upset that his chest heaved up and down. This man was too overbearing!

    ¡°That was the hard work of our entire styling team! Mike, Ah Lian, don¡¯t you agree?!¡± He turned to look at his twopanions.

    The twopanions didn¡¯t dare to oppose Tan Ying face to face as much as he did, but they were also angry.

    Tan Ying sneered. ¡°Hard work? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re willing to let Tang Yuan wear this armor and let her trample on it?¡±

    The stylists now realized that Tan Ying was unwilling to take the armor to Tang Yuan, so he had simply burned it! He was so... overbearing!

    Were all the Skyart people so overbearing?

    They looked at Tan Ying inconceivably, and then at Xia Yingluo, who was sitting quietly in front of the dressing table.

    Xia Yingluo hadn¡¯t finished removing her makeup, but the stylists who had been helping her remove her makeup were too shocked by the burning of the armor and were still at a loss. Xia Yingluo picked up a hornb and slowly took care of her long hair, and said with azy voice, ¡°It¡¯s just a small thing. We only burned a minor prop, do you need to be so upset?¡±

    ¡°How is this a minor prop?!¡± The veins on Jerry¡¯s forehead were about to burst in anger. If it weren¡¯t for the bodyguards, he would have rushed forward and grabbed Xia Yingluo¡¯s cor and growled. ¡°Do you know how much effort this armor cost us? You are too disrespectful of the fruits of ourbor!¡± Stylists all differed, some stylists only took the job as a chore, but some people took it as their career, and Jerry was obviously thetter.

    He had the spirit of craftsmanship and excellence and found it most unbearable when his work was disrespected by others.

    Even if that person was a rich and powerfuldy!

    Looking at his stunned and angry expression, Xia Yingluo smiled. She turned her fair and beautiful hands and passed theb to him.

    ¡°What?!¡± Jerry exploded in anger.

    Xia Yingluo tilted her head slightly and motioned at her long hair that was like a flowing spring waterfall. ¡°What about your professionalism? I haven¡¯t removed my makeup yet.¡±

    It was basically an understatement.

    It was as if she hadn¡¯t instructed anyone to do such an excessive job of burning the armor at all, as if she was just saying ¡°the weather is really good today¡±.

    How could this woman be so indifferent and at ease?!

 Chapter 1341

    Chapter 1341: So What If It¡¯s Burnt?

    Jerry was about to explode again.

    Seeing that he was about to run away in anger, his assistants quickly held him back. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, don¡¯t be angry, let us, let us!¡±

    They quickly appeased Jerry and were about to take theb.

    But Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand turned dexterously and refused to let them touch the finely polished hornb. She nced at Jerry with a pair of glittering eyes and a smile, like a silentmand and urge. Several other stylists looked at each other and froze in ce. They didn¡¯t dare rush to grab theb in Xia Yingluo¡¯s hands, nor did they dare to persuade Jerry tob her hair. One was a noble big missy, and the other was a stubborn man with a bad temper. There werendmines under them no matter where they stepped.

    The stylist just wanted to cry.

    The two were deadlocked for a while, and Jerry gradually couldn¡¯t resist the pressure in Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes, so he took theb. Even though he had hundreds of reluctances in his heart, he also understood that as a stylist, he had the responsibility to remove makeup and care for the artist. Furthermore, Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes seemed to have a sort of wonderful coercion, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel involuntarily obliged to obey her will.

    With a cold face, Jerrybed her long hair with the feeling of going to the grave.

    His anger turned the atmosphere weird, and the other stylist stood on the side, not even daring to pant. Tan Ying was at ease, however, and called a little assistant to sweep the garbage out. He himself leaned against the wall by the door to watch the show. Although Jerry¡¯s face was stinky, his professionalism was very good. He carefullybed Xia Yingluo¡¯s long hair despite his reluctance and revengeful feelings and made sure not to hurt her. After finally sorting out her hair, the surrounding stylists heaved a sigh of relief. They were fortunate that the two didn¡¯t fall into conflict, which was great.

    However, only half a second passed before they heard Jerry say coldly, ¡°You are the most vicious woman I have ever met.¡±

    He was still thinking about the burning armor!

    Several other stylists simply wanted to cry. Master Jerry, can¡¯t you have a better attitude towards her since she¡¯s the Li family¡¯s Big Boss¡¯ baby daughter?! Although they were all mad at Miss Xia Yingluo for burning the armor, what else could they do? Get her to pay? Were the materials even worth anything?!

    Why couldn¡¯t he just let it go...

    The stylists looked at Xia Yingluo apprehensively, for fear that she would turn her face on the spot and make things difficult on everyone.

    However, Xia Yingluo smiled slightly, and her smile was as beautiful as a spring flower. ¡°Jerry, I admire your professionalism. Do you feel bad about that set of armor? Go to the Li family¡¯s home tomorrow and I¡¯ll teach you how to make an advanced product.¡±

    ¡°Advanced product?¡± Jerry felt a bit overwhelmed.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Xia Yingluo stood up, put her hand on her assistant¡¯s arm, and walked out of the dressing room with the help of her assistant. ¡°I said that the set burned today was a primary product. After I teach you how to make an advanced product, you¡¯ll find that today¡¯s set isn¡¯t worth the pain at all.¡±

    Tan Ying opened the door for her and let her out.

    Behind her, Jerry and several other stylists were stunned¡ªwhat, what? She said that there was an advanced version of this armor? But they thought that this set was already perfect! The entire styling team had devoted a lot of effort to design it, and couldn¡¯t think of any further improvements!

    Several of them looked at each other with suspicion in their eyes. Did she or did they understand professional modeling?

    Ms. Xia couldn¡¯t be deceiving them, could they?

    However, after the shock, Jerry calmed down first. The most critical lines on the burned armor had been changed after listening to Xia Yingluo¡¯s opinion. The beautiful nobledy of the Li family seemed to understand physics, astronomy andbat knowledge. The changes were amazing. He believed that since she said there was room for advancement in this armor, there must be. In fact, he already felt his blood begin to boil. He couldn¡¯t wait to see her advanced version!

    The pungent scorch smell left by just burning the armor passed into everyone¡¯s breath.

    However, Jerry¡¯s face burst into a smile, and he said to himself, ¡°This armor is worthy to be burnt!¡± If this set of armor could be exchanged for better and more exquisite craftsmanship, it was simply a bargain!

    The other stylists under him didn¡¯t know what was wrong with their boss, and they desperately exchanged nces. No way, could their boss actually be fooled by Ms. Xia?

    Xia Yingluo was surrounded by people and walked along the corridor.

    The door of the dressing room suddenly opened, and Tang Yuan shouted angrily, ¡°Why hasn¡¯t the armor been delivered yet? Qiang Zi, go and hurry them! What are you all even doing?¡± She scolded, and there was suddenly a sound of something falling on the ground.

    ¡°Sister Tang, don¡¯t be angry, I¡¯ll go, I¡¯ll go,¡± Qiang Zi said as he backed out of the door, almost hitting one of Xia Yingluo¡¯s bodyguards. The bodyguard quickly blocked his hand. Qiang Zi turned around and saw them. At first, he was frightened, but it suddenly became sinister and he shouted, ¡°Okay, Xia Yingluo. You finally came out. Are you not giving the armor to Sister Tang? Do you think stalling would work? Ha, let me retrieve the armor now!¡±

    He was very happy that he could finally vent his anger.

    So what if Xia Yingluo was the Li family¡¯s big nobledy? There was Tang Yuan behind him! He wasn¡¯t afraid!

    Xia Yingluo looked at him and sneered softly.

    The bodyguard who escorted her had Qiang Zi pulled out like trash. The huge force made Qiang Zi kick back and forth for several steps futilely before falling back to Tang Yuan¡¯s dressing room.

    ¡°Damn!¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°How did it happen? You¡¯re blind!¡±

    The sound of screams and exims continued, and the sound of more items falling to the ground was mixed.

    Qiang Zi¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°Sister Tang, they bullied me! They don¡¯t put you in their eyes at all!¡±

    Tang Yuan was originally sitting on a chair, listening to Qiang Zi¡¯s words, and her heart started boiling in rage. Yeah, hitting a dog would depend on its owner too! These people treated her assistant this way because they didn¡¯t have her in their eyes! What the hell was Xia Yingluo!

    Hot blood surged in her, and she got up and rushed out of the dressing room. She said sharply to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Don¡¯t think you are so great. When mymercial is ready for release, you¡¯ll know that everything you did here today was meaningless. You¡¯re just a clown.¡± She was cold and arrogant, but at this time she felt a bit of anxiety.

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly. ¡°Why, hasn¡¯t anyone told you yet? The armor has been burnt by me. If you want to shoot this ad, okay, but wait for ten days and a half, and let Jerry make new armor for you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Tang Yuan looked at her in shock. ¡°You burnt the armor? You, you lunatic...¡±

 Chapter 1342

    Chapter 1342: Gloat

    Xia Yingluo smiled and looked at her. ¡°Lunatic? Help me bring these two words to Gu Jinxiu, thank you.¡±

    Tang Yuan was dizzy for a while. She didn¡¯t expect Xia Yingluo to be so arrogant. Seeing that she couldn¡¯t shoot today... if the schedule was dyed and Xia Yingluo¡¯s version was broadcasted, how was Gu Jinxiu going to punish her! Tang Yuan felt terrible just thinking about it, and chaotically ordered in a trembling voice. ¡°Go! Go and get the person in charge of styling! Tell them to work overtime and get the armor done!¡± Qiang Zi went quickly.

    Xia Yingluo looked at all this with a smile and slowly walked away with her own people.

    She didn¡¯t care if Qiang Zi went to see Jerry. Anyway, Jerry had no time to talk to them. As a stylist, she believed that Jerry¡¯s interest in the armor improvement n was higher than everything else. Even if he was forced to help Tang Yuan build another armor, he would give it to his assistants or postpone it to after he learned the new technology.

    In any case, it was impossible for Tang Yuan to make an armor quickly and well.

    She returned home in a good mood, and the next day, Jerry brought a gift to the door to discuss the improvement of the armor.

    Xia Yingluo was also direct. She pointed out several ces that could be improved, and it was all based on the consideration of cosmic dynamics¡ªwhat characteristics should the equipment have to fight under different gravity parameters. Jerry was so in awe that he said, ¡°Ms. Xia, you are amazing. This set of armor theory is almost like a real one, as if it¡¯s not just for a movie. It feels like we humans can really fight on an alien! It¡¯s like real science!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°It¡¯s still far from being able to fight.¡±

    The improvements she had told him were understood by human IQ, and several of them also used the learning curve that had long been eliminated by other races in the universe in order to take care of human aesthetics. This was also to prevent Wei Lingnan from seeing the clues, and the impure style looked like an imaginative work of a high-end Earth designer, instead of the perfect battle armor brought by the realbat star out of experience.

    Jerry was stunned by her words, then he rubbed his hands and said, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right, Ms. Xia. How could there be a real Star Wars? These are just science fiction imaginations, who knows how effective it is? However, it¡¯s really great... Once the design background of this armor is released, it¡¯ll definitely cause a stir among the science fiction fans!¡±

    What Xia Yingluo wanted was this effect.

    Therefore, no effort was spared in every detail.

    Her father told her that for the most popr works of the world, in addition to the work itself, its background structure and the extension of every detail were also very important. At the same time, it would arouse the fans¡¯ huge excitement and debate, so that the work would have infinite vitality. She deliberately blended several real and fake cosmological theories with the existing science fiction genres on Earth¡ªwhether right or wrong, she didn¡¯t leave any of it out. Presumably, the conflicts triggered alone would be enough to generate a global discussion.

    And her poprity would soar in the discussion.

    Xia Yingluo was very satisfied with her n.

    Jerry drew the design drawings ording to their discussion n. He was so fascinated that he kept changing it, and didn¡¯t even notice when Xia Yingluo left.

    Xia Yingluo left him alone in the studio, and told the servant to remember to prepare dinner and a bed for him¡ªshe knew how delicate andplex this armor was, and to integrate all the points in it, using human IQ, no one could aplish it within a few days and nights. As for Tang Yuan? Hehe, she just had to wait slowly.

    She was in a good mood and asked Tan Ying, ¡°How¡¯s Tang Yuan? Is she crying with anxiety?¡±

    Tan Ying raised her eyebrows slightly. ¡°What wicked taste.¡±

    ¡°How is it wicked? I spare no effort to suppresspetitors.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled innocently. ¡°Uncle Tan, hurry up and talk about her unhappiness to make me happy.¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Tan Ying couldn¡¯t handle her and said, ¡°Jerry left a few assistants to help Tang Yuan re-do your set of armor, which was the burnt version, but what the assistants made was unsatisfactory. Themercial has been filmed again and again all day long, and it¡¯s far worse than yours. The boss of Huanisi¡¯s advertising department will vomit blood after watching it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gloated. ¡°Who made them substitute me? Oh, how¡¯s the negotiation going?¡±

    Tan Ying said, ¡°I used Skyart¡¯s forces to oppress them. They don¡¯t seem to want to offend us, but they don¡¯t want to offend Gu Jinxiu either. I was curious, how could a smallpany like the Gu familypete with Skyart? It took me a while to realize that it¡¯s Wei Lingnan who¡¯s supporting her from behind the scenes.¡±

    He said, ncing at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo was slightly surprised, and her heart felt empty.

    It seemed that Wei Lingnan really cared for Gu Jinxiu and must help her no matter what. But what did it matter to her? Why was she so down?

    Xia Yingluo shook her head gently, trying to shake away the strangeness in her heart.

    ¡°Tell me more,¡± she whispered to Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying didn¡¯t keep anything from her and didn¡¯t even think that he might be disturbing her thoughts. In fact, he thought that as ady from the Li family, she should face these bleak feelings of frustration and not escape from them. After sorting out his thoughts, he said, ¡°Huanisi is a cosmetic manufacturer. The core ingredients of their cosmetics were purchased from the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group. It¡¯s because of these core ingredients that their cosmetics are different and they can do such a big business. They won¡¯t be able to do it without the Wei family. In this case, if the Wei family asked them to rece an endorser, no matter how outstanding you are, you won¡¯t be able to win over the Wei family who holds Huanisi¡¯s lifeline.¡±

    So that was why.

    Xia Yingluo nodded, indicating that she understood.

    She didn¡¯t expect that even a group like Huanisi had business dealings with the Wei family. In the past few years, how long had Wei Lingnan¡¯s hand stretched out?

    ¡°Do you have any suggestions?¡± she asked Tan Ying.

    Tan Ying understood what she meant, and gave her the next step directly. ¡°The pre-promotion of the movie ¡®Star Wars Era¡¯ has already begun. Everyone knows that the cosmetics in it are sponsored by Huanisi. Temporary change of sponsorship isn¡¯t suitable under these circumstances, it¡¯ll only make people want to gossip. If you don¡¯t change the sponsor, you must get this spring advertisement for the same reason¡ªeverybody knows that you endorsed the brand already. If they change the endorser suddenly, the masses would gossip about your failure, which isn¡¯t good for you.¡±

 Chapter 1343

    Chapter 1343: Who Is Ah Luo?

    Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°That is to say, I must solve the Wei family¡¯s trouble and get a spring advertisement?¡±

    Tan Ying slowly said, ¡°Yes.¡± He swore that he wasn¡¯t trying to watch a good show, but he found it so interesting to see Xia Yingluo so irritated yet being unable to explode.

    Xia Yingluo rubbed her forehead, wanting to explode. She didn¡¯t want anything to do with Wei Lingnan. But who knew, the two still ran into each other. Based on her understanding of Wei Lingnan, the man was a dead-headed man, who would execute the Queen¡¯s order without hesitation, even if he broke his bones. Thus, if she wanted him to give in, she would have to start with Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°Bitch.¡± She cursed hatefully.

    Tan Ying nodded and agreed.

    Since Wei Lingnan was guarding the woman, ordinary methods were probably useless to Gu Jinxiu. Xia Yingluo thought about it and realized that there was probably only one way to go. She picked a quiet night and dived into the Gu family¡¯s vi alone and entered Gu Jinxiu¡¯s room.

    The moonlight was like water, with a hint of coolness in the cold night.

    She saw the woman half-lying on the bed in a call with Wei Lingnan. ¡°Okay, Nan, I¡¯ll pay attention to my body and go to bed earlier. Don¡¯t forget the movies tomorrow.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice was full of tenderness, thick enough to make the bones soft.

    Xia Yingluo felt a sting in her heart. She screamed ¡°Bitch!¡± in her heart and stood behind the cold ss window for a long time. Once Gu Jinxiu finished the phone call, she silently shed directly from the closed French window and arrived at her bed.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Gu Jinxiu was so horrified that her body flinched back, and she held her phone in front of her.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her. With this courage, how dare she pretend to be a queen?

    ¡°Xia, Xia Yingluo!¡± Gu Jinxiu was frightened. She looked at the person in front of her and was extremely angry. ¡°How did you appear in my room?!¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice was calm. She looked down at the woman on the bed as if she was looking at a humble ant. ¡°I know you like Wei Lingnan, and I don¡¯t n to fight with you, that stupid. It¡¯s okay for me to give him to you. However, Gu Jinxiu, you shouldn¡¯t offend me and block my way again and again. Do you know¡ª¡± she said and raised her hands slowly. Her beautiful fingers stretched and became longer at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon, sharp nails grew. ¡°Do you know, I am the real queen?¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s head hummed. What was this woman talking about? She was the real queen? How was this possible!

    But what happened to her nails?! How could her nails grow as sharp as knives like the people of the Skatana?!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart beat faster and she looked at Xia Yingluo nervously. ¡°You¡¯re lying. Don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll be able to impersonate the queen with a few tricks. Nan told me that you¡¯re just a failure of the resurrection experiment. The real queen is me! Only me!¡±

    ¡°Who gave you the confidence?¡± Xia Yingluo looked at her with more pity.

    Gu Jinxiu shrank on the bed. After the initial fright, her guts grew a little bit stronger. ¡°Failed guinea pigs will still have some abilities left, but can you speak thenguage of the Skatana? Don¡¯t forget, the previous time you nearly died from the resonance! Ha, how could you be such a weak Queen?¡± Gu Jinxiu said, and without any warning, turned on the Skatananguage! She called Wei Lingnan¡¯s real name with that kind of mysterious resonance, as the only word she could speak with the Skatana¡¯snguage was his name.

    However, she believed that this sentence alone was enough, because in the restaurantst time in the early snow, it was this sentence that had shocked Xia Yingluo so much that her internal organs almost turned into mush!

    Unfortunately this time, she was disappointed.

    The mysterious resonance echoed in the empty room. The floor-to-ceiling ss and the chandelier cracked and shattered. The bitter cold was mixed with snow. However, Xia Yingluo, who was standing in the middle of the storm, didn¡¯t even try to avoid it. A drop of chandelier fragment and ss g scratched her arm. However, it only took a few seconds for the bloody arm to heal quickly and be intact. She had a beautiful figure and smiled calmly at Gu Jinxiu.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression changed, how could that be? How could she not be afraid of such an attack?!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s eyes were murderous, and her resonance became sharper and sharper, but this time, Xia Yingluo was still safe and sound.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste my time,¡± Xia Yingluo said coldly in the middle of the house chaos. ¡°I said I¡¯m the Queen, you¡¯re a counterfeit. How could a counterfeit defeat the Queen?¡± Her voice just sounded and her sharp ws suddenly extended. She inserted her ws into the down pillow beside Gu Jinxiu¡¯s cheeks, and the pillow tore and white feathers flew.

    Gu Jinxiu was afraid. She could feel the cold air at her fingertips. With just a little deviation, she was afraid she could kill her!

    But despite this, she was reluctant to bow her head to Xia Yingluo. ¡°I am the Queen, I can¡¯t be wrong...¡±

    She stared at Xia Yingluo with her eyes wide open. She really didn¡¯t understand why she had inherited Ah Luo¡¯s memories and abilities so clearly, but suddenly Xia Yinglu became so powerful?

    ¡°Did you, you also awakened?!¡± Gu Jinxiu was in disbelief.

    ¡°Finally. You¡¯re not that stupid, after all,¡± Xia Yingluo said coldly, withdrawing her sharp ws.

    ¡°Impossible...¡± Gu Jinxiu was unwilling to believe it. ¡°There can be no two Ah Luos in this world! So what if you¡¯ve awakened? What can you say with the Skatananguage?! I¡¯m Queen Ah Luo, nobody else is!¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at her with pity. Without even moving her lips, the mysterious sound of water flow resounded in the air. It was the resonance frequency of the Skatana!

    Gu Jinxiu looked at her in horror and found that Xia Yingluo could speak a lot of different words. Unlike her, who would only call Wei Lingnan¡¯s name. Could it be... Xia Yingluo was the real Ah Luo?!

    Gu Jinxiu couldn¡¯t ept this fact and shook her head desperately. ¡°No, it can¡¯t be you! Nan said that Ah Luo is me, it must be me! You are a fake!¡± She finally awakened and became Wei Lingnan¡¯s unique existence in his heart, how could she let this position slip out of her hands?

    Wei Lingnan must not be made aware that Xia Yingluo had also awakened. Yes, he mustn¡¯t...

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s thoughts turned, and gradually, a faint murderous light condensed in her eyes.

    Wouldn¡¯t it be a done deal if she just killed Xia Yingluo here?

    Xia Yingluo was very sensitive to murderous auras. Of course, she found out what she was thinking, but she wasn¡¯t afraid. She just sneered. ¡°Do you think I came to you in the middle of the night to tell you the truth, just to be killed by you? Are you sure you can kill me?¡±

 Chapter 1344

    Chapter 1344: A Revenge Ten Times Worse

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s turned pale again. From the energy resonance just now, she could tell how powerful Xia Yingluo was. Although she did not know how powerful she waspared to Wei Lingnan, there was no doubt that she was much stronger than her. She started to panic. If this woman continued to live, who knew what sort of danger she would bring to her in the future?! Suddenly, Gu Jinxiu got off the bed and screamed for Xia Yingluo to stop. She used all of the energy she had to attack Xia Yingluo, grabbed a piece of broken ss from the corner of the table and lunged at Xia Yingluo!

    Xia Yingluo was a little surprised at her actions. Seeing that her body was about to be hit, she lifted her hand to shield herself.

    The ss piece left a long scratch on Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand, but it did not heal immediately like just now. Fresh blood dripped out like raindrops, making the air smell sweet. Xia Yingluo was a little taken aback by her wound. Only then did she realize that she consumed a lot of energy teleporting into Gu Jinxiu¡¯s room and she could not withstand it any longer.

    Teleportation was very energy-intensive. When Wei Lingnan teleported from the base to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s room, he took a long time before he could fully recover. Although the distance she teleported was short, she had just awoken not long ago and had human genes, so it was difficult for her to withstand as well.

    Even her wounds were unable to recover quickly anymore.

    She frowned but did not panic. She stretched out her hand again and Gu Jinxiu fell to the ground, which was covered in ss shards.

    Severely injured, Gu Jinxiu made another sharp and high-pitched noise. Regardless, she rushed up again and knew that she had to kill Xia Yingluo today no matter what. If Xia Yingluo died, she would be able to be with Wei Lingnan happily forever. So what if the Li Family and Xia Family came for revenge? She did not have to worry because Wei Lingnan would definitely protect her. However, if Xia Yingluo did not die, Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart would keep thinking about this woman, and who knew what would happen in the future?! Even if Xia Yingluo said that she did not have any interest in Wei Lingnan, Gu Jinxiu was not blind. How could she not see that Xia Yingluo had feelings for him?!

    She must be killed!

    Gu Jinxiu wielded the shard in her hand and charged at Xia Yingluo again.

    Xia Yingluo was expressionless. With another wave of her hand, she sent Gu Jinxiu flying to the corner of the bed. Gu Jinxiu knocked her forehead against the hard edge of the bed and blood fell out. She looked pathetic. On the other hand, Xia Yingluo got up without a care. Except for the cut caused by Gu Jinxiu on her arm, her entire body was fine. She was clean and dust-free.

    She remained calm as she stood in the mess.

    ¡°Na?ve,¡± she coldly said. ¡°With a skill level like yours, do you think you can pretend to be me?¡± Although she was weak, she could still fight. It was a piece of cake to deal with a spoilt youngdy who did not know how to fight.

    Gu Jinxiu breathed heavily in the corner of the bed. She felt her entire body throb in pain and did not know which bones she had broken because she could not even stand up.

    She looked at Xia Yingluo in shock and anger. Before she could say something, her attention was stolen by the figure behind Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Nan!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    When she turned around, she saw a man slowly walking in from the broken floor-to-ceiling window. In the light snow, the man was wearing a clean white shirt, giving him a clean and handsome look. His eyes were as calm as an iceke. It was Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo instinctively hid her hand behind her back, retracted her sharp ws and turned back into a normal person.

    Her heart beat wildly in her chest. Why was Wei Lingnan here? Did he see her transformation just now?

    Very quickly, she realized that she was overthinking.

    Wei Lingnan did not even look at her. He only walked in front of Gu Jinxiu, knelt down and asked, ¡°Are you ok? What was with the use of power just now? Are you in danger?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu turned pale. She was wondering the same thing as Xia Yingluo.

    Did Wei Lingnan notice anything strange about Xia Yingluo?

    Luckily, from his words, it seemed that he waspletely unaware of Xia Yingluo¡¯s transformation.

    Gu Jinxiu quickly gathered her courage and said, ¡°I¡¯ve... I¡¯ve been hurt. Xia Yingluo broke in suddenly in the middle of the night. I... I...¡± She looked at Xia Yingluo and saw that she was indifferent. She decided not to provoke Xia Yingluo. It seemed that Xia Yingluo did not intend to tell Wei Lingnan that she was the real queen. If she provoked her and she told him the truth, things would turn sour.

    Gu Jinxiu carefully said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°It¡¯s ok. Just a minor understanding.¡±

    ¡°Why would she hurt you like this if it were only just a minor misunderstanding?¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s faint voice was murderous. Why did his Ah Luo be less arrogant and cold and more like a soft princess after her awakening? Why was she amodating others now?

    However, he would not allow it.

    No one could leave in peace after touching his woman.

    He stood up and walked in front of Xia Yingluo. ¡°You¡¯re looking for death.¡±

    Xia Yingluo saw that his eyes were full of hatred. The energy fluctuations just now were caused by her and Gu Jinxiu, but this man did not even notice the difference between the two energy fluctuations and assumed that Gu Jinxiu used her powers because she ran into trouble.

    Although she was d that her identity was not exposed, she did not know why she felt disappointed.

    Those who imed that they loved her all disappeared in the next life when they were in another body.

    ¡°I will still say the same thing. I don¡¯t want to be caught up in your business,¡± Xia Yingluo said indignantly. ¡°What do you want me to do? Heal her? Apologize to her? I can do all of that, but don¡¯t get involved in the Huanisimercials and my career. Those are very important to me.¡±

    Initially, she wanted to threaten Gu Jinxiu not to interfere, but it seemed that her n had failed.

    She could only give in and negotiate with Wei Lingnan. To achieve her goal of returning back to her after a hundred years, she could only lower her head now.

    Unexpectedly, Wei Lingnan sneered and did not even bother to respond. With a wave of his hand, arge force of energy charged towards Xia Yingluo. Xia Yingluo was caught off guard and hit herself against the wall. Half of the wall was destroyed and bricks smashed and smothered her. Xia Yingluo coughed out blood. Her vision turned ck and she felt that her internal organs had shifted.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression slightly changed again. Just now, he hit her out of rage and thought that she would just faint due to her injuries. Who knew that she only spat out blood and still had the strength to stand up and protect herself.

    He lifted his hand again and sent another more powerful force towards her!

    Those who hurt his Ah Luo would suffer payback that was 10 times worse!

    Xia Yingluo noticed that force of energy and her heart sank. He was really ruthless. If she were hit, she did not know if she would die.

 Chapter 1345

    Chapter 1345: Are You the Queen

    She did not want to die.

    The rebuilding and legacy of the Skatana rested in her hands.

    However, that blow was too quick and powerful. The energy of Skatana in her body had already been exhausted in this conflict. Even if she used the remaining energy, it was toote. She could only curl her body to protect her chest and abdomen, close her eyes and wait for fate.

    The devastating blow that she envisaged did not happen.

    The wind roared around her as if a violent storm was approaching. Broken bricks started to tumble down.

    But she was safe and sound.

    There were so many broken bricks and pieces of furniture, but not a single speck of dust fell on her.

    She looked up in surprise and realized that Wei Lingnan was looking at her in surprise as well. Truthfully, he looked baffled. She only realized then that she was surrounded by ayer of faint light that did not exist on Earth. It was close to a translucent golden-green and was gorgeous and extremely bright. Its intricate lines were like ripples and resembled the branches of a nt.

    ¡°The World Tree!¡± Wei Lingnan uttered in disbelief.

    Only then did Xia Yingluo realize that the mysterious light protecting her resembled the World Tree on Skatana. Its branches were unique and very different from any other nt on Earth. It protected her like a mother warmly protecting her child. How could this be?! Xia Yingluo was unable to exin this. Why did the World Tree suddenly protect her? Even when she was on Skatana and was the noble queen, the World Tree never appeared in this form before!

    In fact, this never happened before in the history of the Skatana!

    The mysterious force around her body was like no other. On the other hand, Wei Lingnan was already half kneeling down. He shook as he held out his hand to touch the ever-changing ripples with his fingertips. The moment his fingertips touched the ripples, the golden-green leaves instantly turned bloody red. With a sh and sharp whistling sound, he was rebounded!

    Wei Lingnan was caught off guard and sent flying back a few meters. Blood dripped from the ce where his fingers touched the light, exposing his bones.

    He looked at his fingers in disbelief. The wound showed no signs of healing at all. Through the wound, he felt a trace of violent and familiar energy. It was... the energy of the World Tree!

    This protective force was really rted to the World Tree!

    He stared at Xia Yingluo again. This time his eyes were terrifying as he tried to search for an answer.

    Xia Yingluo only reacted when she saw his ferocious gaze. Ignoring her wounded body, she stood up, held the wall and ran out in a daze. After some time, she felt that she was stabbed by a thousand knives and she crouched down in pain. Her face turned pale and she started shaking.

    The night mist covered the dim moonlight.

    She panted, her steps were messy and she did not know how long she ran for. It was as if she ran for millions of years...

    Finally, she pushed open the door of the Li Family¡¯s vi and passed out.

    When she awoke, the entire family was by her side.

    Her mother Xia Ling tightly held her hand. ¡°Yingluo! You¡¯re finally awake!¡± Tears fell continuously from her face. ¡°You went to look for Wei Lingnan again, right? Do you know how worried we were? That bastard is not worthy of you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo forced a smile on her pale face. She tried to move tofort her mother but could not even lift a finger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Beside Xia Ling, Xia Moyan said. ¡°Your body was injured too severely. You need a lot of rest.¡±

    Xia Yingluo did not dare to move anymore. She could tell how bad her physical condition was. Her entire body felt as if it were shattered by an earthquake. She did not even know if her internal organs and bones were intact. Although the second wave of Wei Lingnan¡¯s attack was offset by a mysterious shield, the first wave was enough to seriously injure her. She was lucky to not have died.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± A low and hoarse voice echoed in the room like a beast. ¡°Why did the World Tree protect you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was startled. Looking up, she saw a man appear the gap between her mother and her uncle on the bed. He was wearing a dirty white shirt mixed with dust and blood. His hair was messy and his eyes were bloodshot. It was Wei Lingnan.

    Why was he here?!

    She turned around, frowned and looked at her mother and uncle in dissatisfaction.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s face was as cold as ice. ¡°That night, you fainted at our doorstep. Not long after the housekeeper brought you in, this man came along. We couldn¡¯t chase him away.¡± There were not many people in the world who could hurt Xia Yingluo. More specifically, her enemies could be counted with one hand. In the middle of the night, she came back with severe injuries and Wei Lingnan. Even an idiot could guess who hurt her.

    Xia Moyan wanted to kick Wei Lingnan out immediately, and the two of them even fought for a while. When Earth¡¯s Guardian fought with an inhabitant of the Skatana, an entire vi of the Li Family was destroyed. In the end, Xia Moyan held a special gun to Wei Lingnan¡¯s temple. ¡°Even if ordinary guns on Earth can¡¯t hurt you, mine can. Do you understand?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at him seriously. ¡°I believe that this gun can kill me and believe that you dare to fire it. However, what happened to Yingluo is very important to me. Even if you kill me, let me find out what happened first.¡± After that, he lowered his head. ¡°Please.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at him for a long time before keeping his gun.

    He was not sure what his niece was thinking. After all, the two of them were entangled deeply in their previous lives. No matter how much she said she hated him, she would definitely be sad if he really hurt him. It was better to wait for her to wake up before he proceeded further.

    Thus, a group of people waited for Xia Yingluo to wake up.

    After Xia Yingluo heard that Wei Lingnan refused to leave, she trembled with anger. ¡°What else do you want? Wei Lingnan, do you want to see me dead before you¡¯re satisfied? Get lost! I want you to get lost! If you don¡¯t leave, I will kill you!¡±

    She was so angry that her chest violently rose and her eyes became red.

    However, Wei Lingnan did not move and tolerated her scolding. He was no longer as violent as the past. He only said, ¡°Why are you able to harness the power of the World Tree from the Skatana? Who exactly are you such that the World Tree protected you? Are you... the Queen?¡±

 Chapter 1346

    Chapter 1346: World Tree

    Xia Yingluo looked at him expressionlessly.

    In reality, she also could not understand why she could harness the power of the World Tree. However, no matter what, she did not want to reveal her identity to Wei Lingnan. Since he did not love her anymore, why should she bother? ¡°I¡¯m not the queen,¡± she coldly said. ¡°Get the hell out of here now. I will investigate the urrence of the protective shield and give you an exnation. If you continue to stay here, don¡¯t me me for not telling you the truth forever.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s face fell. When she denied his spections again, his heart started to sink...

    When he realized that she had the power of the World Tree, he was extremely emotional and even doubted if he acknowledged the wrong queen. Could it be that the real queen wasn¡¯t Gu Jinxiu but Xia Yingluo? Besides, Xia Yingluo¡¯s words and expressions resembled Ah Luo, whereas Gu Jinxiu only had some power and her personality did not resemble Ah Luo¡¯s at all.

    Even though he tried his best to find some sort of resemnce of Ah Luo from Gu Jinxiu and made excuses for her, his disappointment grew with time. In fact, now he was starting to feel fear and guilt. Since when did he stop being loyal to Ah Luo? How could he think that Ah Luo was not good enough?

    If Xia Yingluo was really Ah Luo, how great would that be?

    However, this was just his own wish which was destroyed when she woke up.

    He looked at her quietly as if he were gazing at a distant dream.

    Xia Yingluo was impatient. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Not only did he not leave, but he also continued to stare at her as she threw a tantrum. In his memory, Ah Luo¡¯s temper was as bad as hers. She could skin someone alive over a disagreement. However, this feeling was so familiar and it even made him nostalgic.

    Xia Yingluo became more irritable. She turned and said, ¡°Uncle.¡±

    Xia Moyan understood what she meant and stepped forward. ¡°She told you to leave, so it¡¯s time that you do. Don¡¯t force me to take action.¡±

    Wei Lingnan stood rooted to the ground. Suddenly, he said, ¡°You¡¯re pregnant.¡±

    These few words struck everyone¡¯s ears like a thunderbolt.

    Xia Yingluo suddenly turned pale. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pregnant.¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her and said again. ¡°After the union between the Queen and a male of the Skatana, the Queen will get pregnant with the World Tree. You must have the seeds of the World Tree in your body. That¡¯s why it protected you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo suspected that she heard it wrongly. Her body shook and she instinctively touched her small abdomen.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible.¡± She mumbled to herself. ¡°The timing is not right...¡± A pregnancy with the World Tree was very fast for Skatana inhabitants. After the Queen married her husband, the tree would start to form on the second day and could be sensed. Even though she was entangled with Wei Lingnan a few times, it happened a few months ago and she never felt anything. Why did she suddenly feel the World Tree now?

    It was really strange.

    However, Wei Lingnan thought she was talking about the pregnancy time for humans.

    Human women were usually able to detect whether they were pregnant within a month or two and it was a long time since anything happened between them. He said, ¡°Pregnancy of Skatana inhabitants is different from humans.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him. This time, she was a little lost.

    Wei Lingnan stepped forward and took her hand.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Xia Yingluo rebuked and shrank back her hand immediately. However, she was too weak to break away.

    On the other hand, Xia Moyan and Li Lei who had been paying attention quickly pulled Wei Lingnan away. While he was being pulled away, Wei Lingnan continued to look at her. ¡°Look at your palm.¡±

    She spread out her palms.

    Li Lei snorted. ¡°Wei Lingnan, stop being a nuisance. Yingluo¡¯s palm is normal and white. There¡¯s nothing wrong with it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head and her expression changed slightly. On her palm was a small, faint golden-green leaf which was the leaf of the World Tree. She remembered that in a legend of the Skatana, after a queen ate her husband after the wedding, the world tree would appear on her palm in the form of this tiny leaf the next day.

    This was invisible to the human eye.

    However, she did not eat Wei Lingnan and it was long since they were entangled.

    It was really... strange.

    When Wei Lingnan saw her expression, he knew that she saw the leaf. ¡°That night, I didn¡¯t see it,¡± he said. That night, when he sent out his first blow, he nced at her hand. It was white and shiny but empty.

    This only happened after she woke up.

    ¡°I must investigate.¡± She shook as she spoke.

    Xia Moyan looked at Li Lei. Li Lei nodded and warmly told his daughter. ¡°I will make arrangements.¡±

    This matter was too serious, and no one even knew what Xia Yingluo was pregnant with. If it was an alien lifeform that humans could notprehend, doctors might be scared of it. After some thought, Li Lei contacted his trusted friend James and made an appointment at a well-equipped private obstetrics and gynecology hospital in the city to inspect Xia Yingluo¡¯s body.

    Wei Lingnan had to be there.

    Xia Yingluo was in a mess and had no energy to argue, so she just let him.

    When the results were released, James said in a dignified voice, ¡°Lei, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on with your daughter, but let me tell you, she is pregnant with a seed. A seed of a nt. It¡¯s just unimaginable and iprehensible!¡±

    ¡°A seed of a nt?¡± Xia Yingluo was relieved. Fortunately, it was not the most primitive form of a creature from the Skatana. Something like that would definitely scare James to death.

    James saw her expression. ¡°Youngdy, it seems that you¡¯re not worried at all. What exactly is going on? Did you use your body in some sort of biological experimentation? Let me tell you, these high-tech experiments usually have huge risks. No matter what you think, I suggest that you get rid of it. Immediately!¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head instinctively.

    No matter how she conceived the seed of the Skatana, she definitely had to give birth to it. It was her responsibility as a queen. Skatana was already destroyed. To ensure the continuity of her kind, she needed to have children. In reality, this seed solved a huge problem of hers. She did not want to have any more physical contact with Wei Lingnan, even if it were for the task of having offspring.

    James was shocked. ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Thank you, Uncle James. I hope you can keep this a secret.¡±

    ¡°I am your father¡¯s friend, I will keep everything secret as he asks. However, Lei...¡± James turned to look at Li Lei. ¡°Do you support your daughter¡¯s crazy decision?¡±

 Chapter 1347

    Chapter 1347: Between Life and Death

    Li Lei stood beside the window.

    These years, it seemed that nothing that happened was big enough to trouble him. He patted James¡¯ shoulder and smiled. ¡°Thank you, James.¡± The discussion ended like this.

    James thought that this family was crazy, but since it was their family affair, there was no room for him to interfere.

    He gave him aplicated look. ¡°I hope that you won¡¯t regret this in the future.¡±

    He turned around and walked out.

    The examination room fell silent. Xia Yingluo gently touched her lower abdomen and felt the power of the World Tree surging within her. There was a strange peaceful feeling in her heart. She had a tough life growing up, fighting and ascending to the throne... Everything she did was probably for this moment, to pass on the genes of the strongest warrior in Skatana to the next generation.

    The only ugliness in all of it was Wei Lingnan.

    She raised her head and nced at the man who was nearby.

    Wei Lingnan stood alone in a corner of the room. A few Li family members stood elsewhere. He looked at them from afar and was deep in thought. There was a glimmer in his calm eyes.

    ¡°I want to give birth to it no matter what it is.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at him. ¡°Nothing else concerns you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan lowered his voice. ¡°So you don¡¯t know what it is?¡±

    ¡°Is that important? It is my child.¡±

    Wei Lingnan inched towards her. Before he could get to her, a few men from the Li Family blocked him. They gave him a warning look and prevented him from getting any closer to Xia Yingluo. Thus, Wei Lingnan stopped moving. ¡°Only the queen can be pregnant with the World Tree, but you said that you aren¡¯t the queen?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Even I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. Perhaps the rules on your have changed and not only the queen can be pregnant with the World Tree.¡±

    Wei Lingnan fell silent. He also considered this possibility.

    Although the queen of Skatana always gave birth to the World Tree, no one knew if the princesses who died before ascending the throne as queen had the ability to breed. Was this ability unique to the Queen? Or was any female of the Skatana able to do it? No one knew for sure. Perhaps, just as Xia Yingluo said, many rules were changed when they reached Earth.

    Every had its own rules.

    Watching him sigh, she added, ¡°Besides, haven¡¯t you already found your Queen Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    The slight sarcasm in her voice made him frown.

    There was no doubt that Gu Jinxiu was the queen. She had regained her past memories and could use the powers of Skatana. As for Xia Yingluo? She had no memories or abilities. Even if she were pregnant with the World Tree, she was relying on the World Tree¡¯s powers to protect her. She was a weak and vulnerable human being.

    ¡°You can¡¯t give birth to the World Tree,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face fell and anger brewed in her.

    This man kept interfering in her life and even wanted to control her decision of giving birth to the World Tree?!

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business,¡± she said through gritted teeth.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t the queen.¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her without giving in. ¡°Your body can¡¯t withstand such a burden. Plus, haven¡¯t you forgotten the rejection mechanism on Earth? If you give birth to it, you will face repercussions and will die with it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my problem, you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± Earth stopped rejecting her a long time ago and she had the ability to give the World Tree sufficient nutrients. Although this burden was heavy, she had to deal with it. She sneered at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Or are you just afraid that your queen will be unhappy? If you knew about today, you wouldn¡¯t have almost beaten me to death.¡±

    She turned around and brushed across his shoulders as she walked away.

    He stood in ce and almost tried to reach for her but held back. At this point in time, nothing else he said would be meaningful. Wei Lingnan thought about how great it was if she were the queen. He liked her and she was pregnant with their child. The future of their kind had hope and everything would be perfect. However, the reality was a huge joke. The queen was someone else and the World Tree and her were things that should not exist from the start.

    He should get rid of her without hesitation.

    But for some reason, he could not wear to do it.

    With many thoughts on his mind, he returned to his base. Seeing that he was upset, the workers all trembled.

    ¡°Chief Wei, Miss Gu is here.¡± Someone carefully knocked on his office door.

    ¡°Let her in.¡± His voice was very dark.

    Gu Jinxiu wore a finely crafted and embroidered dress. She tied up her jet ck hair and her beautiful makeup made her look noble and elegant. She walked towards Wei Lingnan and gently asked him, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You don¡¯t look too happy.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    After a long silence, he finally told her. ¡°Xia Yingluo is pregnant.¡±

    Originally, he did not want to talk about this, but it was his loyalty to the queen that made him share what happened. After something so serious happened, Gu Jinxiu had the right to know. Although, he knew that this would bring danger to Xia Yingluo.

    There was a hint of pain in Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart. It seemed that his child with her could not be kept in the long run.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned pale and she asked in a low voice, ¡°Is the child yours?¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not hide anything. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°When did this happen?¡±

    ¡°Before you were awakened. Perhaps it¡¯s because of the rules of Earth. It only happened recently.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu felt better. No matter what, this happened before she was awakened, so it did not count as a betrayal. In fact, he never betrayed her before. His true queen was that woman and she was just an inferior imposter...

    But who knew?

    Jealousy and indignance boiled in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart.

    She forced a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t me you. How¡¯s the child?¡±

    ¡°I will find a way to get rid of it.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was rather dark.

    Gu Jinxiu ced her hand on his. ¡°What did Xia Yingluo say? Was she willing to get rid of the child?¡±

    Wei Lingnan shook his head and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± So what if she was not willing? For his queen, even if he offended the entire world, he would not let that child be born.

    Gu Jinxiu was silent for a long time before saying, ¡°Let her keep her child.¡±

    Wei Lingnan lifted his head. There was some surprise in his usually calm eyes.

    ¡°Let her give birth to it.¡± Gu Jinxiu said, ¡°I¡¯m also a woman, so I know how painful it is to force someone to get an abortion. Nan, we¡¯re already happily together. Let¡¯s not make things difficult for the people living on this and umte some good karma. This will be good for you too.¡±

    Her sincere expression did not seem to be fake.

 Chapter 1348

    Chapter 1348: Overnight Fame

    Wei Lingnan asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu slightly squinted and suppressed her emotions. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Thus, Wei Lingnan nodded. ¡°Ah Luo, you¡¯ve been wronged.¡± He finally rxed. When he knew that the seed would survive, he suddenly felt happy. However, it was only for a moment. He then criticized himself for having such feelings. What exactly was he hoping for? The birth of Xia Yingluo¡¯s child? That would be betraying the queen.

    He unknowingly clenched his slender fingers and sunk his sharp ws into his palm.

    Gu Jinxiu walked up and looked into his eyes. ¡°The World Tree is the World Tree, and you are you. I¡¯m willing to let her give birth because she¡¯s pitiful, but I don¡¯t want you to keep missing her. Promise me you¡¯ll stop thinking about her.¡±

    Wei Lingnan held her hand and kissed it. ¡°Yes, my queen.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu smiled.

    She still had not lost this battle. Just now, she did not advise Wei Lingnan to let Xia Yingluo keep the World Tree out of sympathy. It was because Xia Yingluo looked for her before and shed her ws to threaten her. If the World Tree was met with any danger, everything she hoped for would turn to dust. She was afraid that Xia Yingluo was really the queen and could not help butpromise.

    She advised Wei Lingnan to give up and stop interfering in Xia Yingluo¡¯s career and pregnancy. In return, Xia Yingluo would not be with Wei Lingnan. The two women would be able to get what they wanted and be happy.

    Gu Jinxiu lifted her hand and touched Wei Lingnan¡¯s face. ¡°Nan, you are mine. No one else can steal you away.¡±

    Except for the real queen, Xia Yingluo.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her affectionately.

    She tiptoed, moved closer and was about to nt a kiss on his lips.

    However, even at such a good time, he still turned away. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, it¡¯s not time yet.¡±

    ¡°Nan?¡± Gu Jinxiu sounded really hurt and her voice became sharper. ¡°You always say that it¡¯s not time yet, so when exactly will we really be together? I know that there will be rejection mechanism from Earth and there¡¯s only one antidote that you¡¯ve been giving Xia Yingluo. How long are you nning to go on like this? Does this mean we can¡¯t be together until the day Xia Yingluo is dead?!¡±

    Wei Lingnan fell silent. This matter was unsolvable to him.

    He could not kill Xia Yingluo over the antidote. Even though he thought of human life lowly, she was different.

    Gu Jinxiu raised her chest. Her face turned red as she was emotional. ¡°Say something!¡±

    Wei Lingnan let go of her. ¡°I will quickly figure out the antidote and make a second one.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was filled with disappointment, but what else could she do? Could she order Wei Lingnan to kill Xia Yingluo? She did not dare to do so. She was afraid that if she angered Xia Yingluo and she revealed her true identity, she would be the one to suffer.

    After some thought, she said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Teach me how to make the antidote, then.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her.

    ¡°Teach me how to make the antidote.¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice became firmer. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this n could work. ¡°I am the queen of the Skatana. Learning something like that should be fast for me. Both of us can study it at the same time and it will be better than you doing it alone.¡±

    Seeing that she was insistent, Wei Lingnan also nodded. ¡°Ok. However, this knowledge is a bitplicated. You must be prepared for it.¡± The science of the antidote was notpletely from the Skatana. After he came to Earth, he improved the antidote using original life forms from Earth. Even if Gu Jinxiu understood the energy usage of Skatana, it was not easy to learn about the antidote.

    However, Gu Jinxiu smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of difficulties.¡±

    Although she came from a wealthy family, she was a gifted child and was sent to a top university abroad. As her family produced perfume, she had a Ph.D. in both biology and chemistry. She was excellent in her academics and could improve the core perfume form of her family. That was why she was the second heir of her family; to be in that position as a girl was not an easy feat.

    As such, things kind of settled down. Gu Jinxiu learned how to make the antidote from Wei Lingnan in theb every day.

    From then on, days were calm and peaceful. Even Xia Yingluo was very rxed.

    After eliminating Wei Lingnan¡¯s interference, she quickly became the endorser of Huanisi cosmetics. The head of the Huanisi Asia-Pacific region personally visited her to apologize. He vowed that she would be their endorser for three years and there would not be any more incidents of other people stealing her job.

    Xia Yingluo did not give him a hard time.

    Besides, the one who gave her problems at the start was Wei Lingnan. Dealing with the small head of a corporation was not that troublesome.

    Huanisi was very grateful for her understanding and said that he would promote her well and make sure that her fame would increase. Xia Yingluo thought silently, Isn¡¯t it easy for a newly debuted artiste to be famous because the starting point is low? She was impatient to deal with this and left Tan Ying to manage everything else.

    Tan Ying was very skilled at dealing with these things. Very quickly, the cracks on both sides were sealed and it was as if nothing happened.

    During spring, Huanisi¡¯s spring advertisement campaign was officiallyunched.

    In the splendid light, Xia Yingluo wore a gorgeous suit of armor. She shone from her appearance. During her close-ups, her exquisite makeup was so captivating that people could not look away. She was a natural spokesperson. Even the sharpness and closeness of the lens did not damage her perfect skin. It was as smooth as a crystal and not a single pore could be seen. The colors of Huanisi¡¯s eyeshadow and blush were as delicate as a dream.

    In the city¡¯s business district, major airports, high-end magazines, and clubhouses...

    The advertisement with her as the spokesperson could be seen everywhere.

    Countless people were fascinated and many people asked, ¡°Who is that girl in the advertisement? She¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    Some people said, ¡°Do you all not know Xia Yingluo? She¡¯s the daughter of Big Boss Li of Skyart Entertainment! She¡¯s also Ye Xingling¡¯s only precious daughter. How could she not be beautiful? She has the best to learn from and was born to be a star!¡±

    ¡°No wonder...¡± Many people were shocked. ¡°No wonder she¡¯s so beautiful. Her eyes really do look like Ye Xingling¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Both of them have their own strengths,¡± someone said. ¡°Ye Xingling is like a clean and beautiful fairy while Xia Yingluo... has an attitude.¡±

    Many people shared this view and the news about her slowly spread. Xia Yingluo¡¯s stage presence was evident like a female soldier returning from the battlefield. There was something thrilling about her cold charm. Few people could develop a temperament like Xia Yingluo as they lived a mundane urban life, and that was why they developed such a deep impression of her. Overnight, many people remembered her face and name.

    Of course, some people were jealous and disagreed. Like Tang Yuan, who smashed a table at home.

 Chapter 1349

    Chapter 1349: Malnutrition

    She couldn¡¯t tolerate seeing Xia Yingluo¡¯s sess, it should¡¯ve been hers!

    Tang Yuan smashed everything that she could in the house, including the expensive porcin vase that was now reduced to shards. She looked at the fragments on the floor. Why wouldn¡¯t Xia Yingluo just die? Xia Yingluo was a rich girl from a powerful family, why did she have to join the entertainment circle andpete with those like her for a living? Tang Yuan emerged out of stringent training and tests as an ordinary person. She¡¯d earned her ce through hard work. This wasn¡¯t fair at all!

    With a distorted expression, she mumbled to herself, ¡°Xia Yingluo, I hate you.¡±

    How could she not?!

    While the Huanisimercial was won over by Xia Yingluo, she, or rather Skyart, hadn¡¯t let her off just yet. They¡¯d bribed the media representatives to spread the word that Tang Yuan had overestimated herself in attempting to win over this endorsement, and had ended up in a pathetic defeat.

    They had even featured a photo in which Tang Yuan had only half of her makeup on.

    Tang Yuan still looked beautiful in the photo, but put next to Xia Yingluo¡¯s photo, she paled inparison. Xia Yingluo¡¯s cold demeanor exuded a power that seemed to crush other female celebrities, and with her armor suit on, she made the Queen of Film Tang Yuan seem no more than a wooden puppet.

    On the inte and in the press sneers were targeted at Tang Yuan.

    On the web, Tang Yuan¡¯s poprity index fell significantly, and it directly affected the mary value for her uing work.

    This was a chain disaster.

    Her manager was in a fluster and couldn¡¯t help but vent her frustration. ¡°Sister Tang, I¡¯d already advised you not to fight with Xia Yingluo for that endorsement. Look what¡¯s happened now. Not only have you lost to her, but you have also brought so much trouble upon yourself.¡±

    Tang Yuan was full of grievances too. It wasn¡¯t she who wanted to get that endorsement! It was Gu Jinxiu who forced her to it! Now that she was caught in such a fix, the production crew for the next movie was only offering her one-third of the original offer. How could she bear with this? She gave Gu Jinxiu a call. ¡°Miss Gu, you were the one who got me to find trouble with Xia Yingluo back then. Now that you¡¯ve got Huanisi to offer the endorsement to Xia Yingluo instead, what are you going to do about me? There¡¯s so much going on out there, I can¡¯t be the only scapegoat!¡±

    On the other end, Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯m warning you, if you harass me again, then don¡¯t me me for being mean.¡± Xia Yingluo had gotten the endorsement and was even expecting the World Tree, how could Gu Jinxiu feel good about it? To be fair, Gu Jinxiu was in a worse position than anyone else now. With Tang Yuan¡¯s confrontation at a time like this, it was good enough that she didn¡¯t turn all nasty.

    Tang Yuan was pissed off at the response but dared not harass Gu Jinxiu anymore.

    She remembered that Gu Jinxiu had a sort of drug that could make skin rot. This was a risk she couldn¡¯t afford to take.

    Being at such a disadvantage put her under much stress. Tang Yuan ended up seriously ill and looked a lot more haggard than before.

    Meanwhile, Xia Yingluo carried out several activities and events, making good use of her name having been featured in the Huanisimercial.

    The fans gathered very soon, and Skyart facilitated the creation of webpages and formation of groups to aid Xia Yingluo¡¯s publicity. The effect was impressive.

    One afternoon, she was standing in the garden at her vi, dressed in a pastel dress. She looked down at her palm quietly. She seemed to not be holding anything in her smooth, fair hand, but with light that was not within the visible spectrum of a normal human, she was able to see little gold and green leaves on her palm. They were almost luminous, and clearer now than before.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± A man said from behind her.

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw a handsome man. ¡°Second Bro,¡± she called him softly.

    Li Rui approached her and looked at her palm as well. ¡°I saw that you¡¯ve been in a daze for a while. What¡¯s with your hand?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a mark of the World Tree,¡± she said and ced Li Rui¡¯s hand on hers. ¡°Close your eyes, do you feel anything?¡±

    Li Rui did as he was told. A whileter, he opened his eyes and shook his head, bringing the back of his palm to her forehead. ¡°What¡¯s this supernatural thing about, are you having a fever?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one having a fever!¡± Xia Yingluo red at her brother.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t feel anything,¡± Li Rui said innocently.

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head in disappointment.

    ¡°Should I be feeling something?¡± Li Rui asked her.

    She nodded. ¡°If the energy of the World Tree was stronger, you¡¯d be able to feel its presence. But it¡¯s too small and weak at the moment, my energy is simply inadequate.¡± She was a little worried. The amount of energy she was providing the tree was far less than ideal for its growth.

    At this rate, would the World Tree die?

    If it really died, chances were that this was the first World Tree on the Skatana to die of malnutrition?

    What a joke.

    Xia Yingluo was troubled.

    Li Rui could tell that she had something bothering her, and asked, ¡°The other time, you said that with increased poprity, you¡¯d be able to umte more energy. You¡¯ve been doing well in thatmercial recently and your poprity is rising. Didn¡¯t that help?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sadly. ¡°It did, but...¡±

    Initially, she¡¯d gathered energy in order to extend her life as well as to get to outer space on a spaceship. Based on Earth¡¯s slow, gradual development, it¡¯d take about a hundred years to extend a life span by a few decades and to operate the spaceship at the minimum level. Once she got to outer space, the amount of energy she could gather would be far more than on Earth, and she could refuel on the way until she arrived at Skatana.

    But expecting this World Tree, this was an ident.

    It took a lot of energy to be expecting a World Tree. Even on the Skatana, it required the support of the entire species.

    The Queen would consume her husband for the first burst of energy, but after that, more would be needed to sustain it. A good half of the energy in the entire species would be provided to her through special means, and that would be the weakest period for the species as well. The soldiers would have to defend themselves from invasion of the worm species during this time of vulnerability, and at the same time, gather energy to provide for the Queen.

    Xia Yingluo once felt that expecting the World Tree on the Skatana was a bother. Only now did she feel that it was actually such a blessing to be able to receive support from the rest of the species on their home.

    She looked up at the sky sadly. ¡°Second Bro.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I think I might die early.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± Li Rui had a shock.

    ¡°The World Tree and I will die together of malnutrition. This astronomical amount of energy expansion is going to drag me to death.¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s expression darkened with worry. ¡°I¡¯m warning you. If you die, I¡¯ll definitely kill you!¡± He paused for a while upon realizing his mistake, but went on, ¡°Worst-case scenario, you can turn to Wei Lingnan for help. Use him and toss him aside, same thing.¡±

 Chapter 1350

    Chapter 1350: Can¡¯t Live Without You

    Xia Yingluo went quiet for a while. ¡°Bro, very smart of you.¡±

    Li Rui was full of reason. ¡°He started this mess and he owes you this. There¡¯s nothing wrong with asking him to pay for it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head, conflicted. She did not want to have anything to do with Wei Lingnan at all. On the Skatana, cheaters were not to be forgiven, but the cheater here was Wei Lingnan, someone she had once trusted most. Each time she saw his familiar face, she was unable to stop herself from recalling past memories they¡¯d shared. They had fought in the front lines, struggled for survival, and at times he¡¯d stroke her face at night when he thought she¡¯d fallen asleep...

    Bits and pieces of memory, it all felt like yesterday.

    ¡°Let me think about it,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand you girls.¡± Li Rui ced his hands in his pocket. ¡°You¡¯d better figure it out fast. You¡¯ll have to turn to him sooner orter if you don¡¯t have enough energy. You might as well get ready.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Xia Yingluo forced a smile.

    It was easier said than done. The worst thing about a rtionship was when one person had had a change of heart, while the other was still stuck deeply in love. Xia Yingluo thought about it for over 10 days but eventually decided against looking for Wei Lingnan. She wanted to do it on her own for a while more, and decide again if she couldn¡¯t hold out.

    The seed of the World Tree lied dormant in her body.

    She transmitted any energy that she could gather to it, but no matter how hard she tried, it just wouldn¡¯t change or grow. It was almost as if ity dead inside her. She knew that it wasn¡¯t able to grow because of theck of energy.

    She was skinnier than before now and her cheeks were sunken in.

    Li Lei and Xia Ling looked at her with concern. ¡°Yingluo, you can¡¯t go on like this. You can¡¯t let it burden you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo forced a smile andforted her parents. ¡°¡®Star Wars Era¡¯ is about to start filming. Once it bes a talking point for the public, my poprity will increase and I¡¯ll be able to gather more energy. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Li Lei and Xia Ling were worried for her, but this wasn¡¯t anything that they could help with.

    All they could do was to bring forward the filming for the movie ¡°Star Wars Era¡± that was tailor-made to star her and to get the media hyped up over it.

    At the filming set.

    Xia Yingluo shot a few scenes and then took a break by the side.

    She was sitting under an old tree nearby and sipping her mineral water.

    There was a cooling early spring breeze.

    ¡°For you,¡± someone said to her out of nowhere.

    She looked up and saw that it was her partner for this show, the male lead Jiang Yu. He handed her a cup of warm tea and said, ¡°Have this instead. The mineral water is too cold, it¡¯s not good for your body.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and received it. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Jiang Yu took a seat beside her and began talking. ¡°I really can¡¯t tell that this is your first time filming an actual movie. You seem so natural, way better than a lot of the other female celebrities I¡¯ve filmed with.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. ¡°But of course, I went to various filming sets as a child. Everyone says I have a gift for this.¡±

    ¡°You are well suited for acting.¡± Jiang Yu praised her from the bottom of his heart. In the beginning, when Skyart contacted him to act with Xia Yingluo, he was worried that as a rich girl, she would be mediocre at acting. He contemted how to lower his standards to match her level. But he did not expect her to be such a good actress, and acting with her was simply a pleasure. Every subtle movement and emotion was expressed wonderfully, allowing him to coordinate with her easily.

    Jiang Yu was a veteran actor. He had partnered with so many female leads, but finding someone sofortable to act with like Xia Yingluo was extremely rare.

    Both of them sat under the tree, sipping on tea and enjoying the rare break.

    It was a sunny day, and the clouds drifted by as the wind ruffled against the leaves. A leaf fell onto her hair, and Jiang Yu said, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    He reached out to remove the leaf.

    However, someone grabbed his hand in mid-air.

    The person was very strong. Jiang Yu thought his wrist was breaking and was in so much pain that his face was distorted. He tried hard to break free but was unsessful. He looked up to see the man, whose tall and lean body towered over him under the tree. His face was cold and solemn, much like a killer.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, let him go,¡± Xia Yingluo said with anger in her voice.

    Wei Lingnan let go of Jiang Yu¡¯s hand, and Jiang Yu immediately pulled back. His hand was bruised and there were ck spots of blood clot. If the man held on, he was sure that his bones would have broken.

    This man was a monster, where did he find such strength?

    Jiang Yu was scared, but he still got up and stood in front of Xia Yingluo, shielding her from Wei Lingnan. ¡°What are you doing here? We are filming, you are not supposed to be here.¡±

    Wei Lingnan noticed him shielding Xia Yingluo, and his face grew even colder. He stared at Jiang Yu with dagger-sharp eyes waiting to kill him.

    Xia Yingluo was afraid that this would blow out of control. There was no way a normal person like Jiang Yu could go against Wei Lingnan. She stood up as well and said to Jiang Yu, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Jiang Yu, thanks for the tea. Help me bring the cup back.¡± She passed the lukewarm cup over to him and smiled at him.

    Jiang Yu understood that she wanted him to leave.

    He looked at her disapprovingly. ¡°Yingluo, you don¡¯t have to do this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really alright. The crew is right next to us, and the next scene will start filming soon. I¡¯ll go there after I talk to him,¡± Xia Yingluo replied.

    Jiang Yu looked in the direction of the crew, which was only 10 meters away. With so many people around, he figured that nothing major would happen, so he agreed. ¡°Okay, but call me if there are any problems.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Jiang Yu looked at them with concern and slowly walked away.

    Xia Yingluo looked up and stared straight into Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes. ¡°Spill it. What are you here for?¡± Her voice was cold with a tinge of frustration. It was a stark contrast with her gentle tone towards Jiang Yu.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes remained cold. ¡°Seems like you are having a good time.¡±

    She mocked. ¡°Mr. Wei, you seem to be very concerned about me? I think you are concerned about the wrong person.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t live without you, do you know what you¡¯re expecting? Skatana¡¯s World Tree. Do you know how much energy it has to absorb? Just look at your pathetic sight.¡± Wei Lingnan mocked.

    Just a few days had passed and she had already lost so much weight. Her skin was pale and she looked like she was going to fall over any moment. This made him frustrated.

    Xia Yingluo knew what she was expecting, and she even considered dying together with it. But hearing him despise her ¡°pathetic sight¡±, her anger boiled. ¡°My pathetic sight? Who caused this? Wei Lingnan, you think I want to have anything to do with you? You think I can¡¯t live without you? I think you are thinking too highly of yourself! Get lost! I don¡¯t need your concern!¡±

 Chapter 1351

    Chapter 1351: Conflict

    He stood still.

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t contain her anger anymore, so she turned and left.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her hand and stuffed a small ss bottle into her hand. ¡°Drink it if you don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    ¡°Why should I drink it if you ask me to? Who are you?¡± She threw the bottle out without thinking with great strength.

    Seeing that the bottle was about to fall to the ground and break, Wei Lingnan grabbed it and pushed Xia Yingluo on the trunk of the ancient tree. He red at her sinisterly. ¡°You are looking for death.¡± Did she know what was in the bottle? The antidote to the rejection! He had worked hard for a long time to extract the bottle, keeping her body in mind and then sending it over all the way, but she threw it away like it was rubbish?!

    Xia Yingluo met his terrifying eyes, and her heart skipped a beat.

    However, all of a sudden, her anger overwhelmed her fear. ¡°It¡¯s you who¡¯s looking for death! Wei Lingnan, let me warn you, you¡¯ll get it from me if you keep harassing me!¡±

    ¡°What could you possibly do to me?¡± Wei Lingnan sneered angrily. ¡°Sleep with me and abandon me? Kill me? Sorry, but you don¡¯t even have the strength to break out of my control¡ª¡± he said, pushing the ss bottle with one hand and grabbing her jaw with another hand. Then, he poured the bottle of antidote into her mouth. His movements were so rough that she kept coughing. He let go and she bent down and coughed for a long time.

    ¡°Beast... Beast!¡± Xia Yingluo coughed and scolded him.

    Wei Lingnan looked down at her and sneered.

    Uneasily, she gasped and straightened up and looked at him angrily. ¡°Your goal has been achieved, you can get lost now!¡± The bottle of liquid forcibly poured into her surged in her stomach and she could feel its majesty. She found that he had added many things to this bottle of medicine. Besides the anti-rejection drugs, he had also added nourishment from the World Tree she was pregnant with.

    There was a slight ripple in her heart. It turned out that he had noticed her plight.

    However, this ripple was quickly suppressed. So what if he had noticed? Even if he sent more potions, he could never make up for those betrayals and injuries! She red at him and said again, ¡°Get lost!¡±

    A storm brewed in the eyes of Wei Lingnan. ¡°This is your attitude towards your benefactor?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re shameless for calling yourself my benefactor, Wei Lingnan. I would never have be like this today if it weren¡¯t for meeting you!¡± The more she talked, the more excited she was, and the energy fluid she had just taken was unstable inside her, making her cough. She didn¡¯t know if it was angry or wrong, but her eyes were slightly reddish. She coughed and thought, why would her Skatana have died overnight if it weren¡¯t for her? She was a sinner of the whole race. The strongest race in the universe was destroyed by her. She was really not qualified to be their Queen...

    Her body bent down a little, and her pain was hard to restrain.

    Wei Lingnan reached out to support her. He raised her pale face and pressed his cold lips on hers.

    He didn¡¯t know what was going on. He already had Ah Luo, but he just couldn¡¯t endure this girl in front of him rejecting him. The thin mist in her eyes made his heart ache, and suddenly, he thought of something Ah Luo had said to him before on Skatana¡ª

    [Don¡¯t be sad, Nan. If you¡¯re sad, I will feel like crying. ]

    How did he answer back then?

    [Don¡¯t cry, Your Royal Highness. I will never let you cry again.]

    Hundreds of millions of years, the distance of hundreds of millions of years.

    He hadn¡¯t expected that he could still relive the original pain.

    At this moment, he just wanted tofort her, and he didn¡¯t understand why. Her surprised eyes brought uneasiness and anger, ovepping with the clear eyes of the little princess in his memory. Reality and fantasy intertwined, making him unable to distinguish who the girl in front of him was.

    Until she pushed him away fiercely.

    ¡°Pervert! Beast!¡± She wiped her lips vigorously and scolded.

    Reason returned to his mind and Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression gradually became clear. He looked at her thin body standing in the wind with the fragrance of flowers in early spring, saw her chest undting, and her eyes so red it seemed to spit fire. He sneered softly. ¡°Pervert? When your energy is running out and you have to kneel in front of me and beg me, you¡¯ll know how kind I am to you now.¡±

    He felt stupid. How could he have taken the initiative to give her medicine?

    He should have made her plead him and crush all her pride and self-esteem under his feet!

    ¡°Dream on! I would rather die than beg you!¡± Xia Yingluo hated herself for not having weapons in her hands. Otherwise, she would have poked a few holes into this horrible pervert in front of her.

    Over there, Jiang Yu ran over. ¡°Yingluo! Are you all right?!¡±

    The two quietened and Xia Yingluo barely calmed her breathing. She turned to Jiang Yu and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Over there, the director shouted that the crew members were in ce and were ready to start the next scene.

    Wei Lingnan stood in ce, and the pale green leaves of the ancient trees fell. As he watched her and Jiang Yu leave side by side, he reached out and gently touched his lips. There was still her sweet touch. It was strange that he would long for her, and would be jealous of her being with other men.

    Was it the influence of the World Tree? Because the hope of the Skatana was born in her?

    No...

    No.

    He didn¡¯t care about the Skatana tribe at all. If he did, he wouldn¡¯t haveunched a rebellion against the entire race. Whether there was the World Tree or not, Xia Yingluo was Xia Yingluo and he only cared about... her.

    How could he exin this to Ah Luo?

    How could he care about other women and betray his own queen?

    On this day, Wei Lingnan stood in the wind for a long time.

    The next day¡¯s news reported in the entertainment version was mostly their photos. It showed them kissing romantically under the ancient trees on the set, with the fine sunlight sprinkling through the veins of the light green leaves, making them look beautiful.

    Public opinion was boiling.

    ¡°If I remember correctly, Xia Yingluo has been in love with Wei Lingnan before? What¡¯s going on now, are their old feelings returning? God, what would Jiang Yu do in this case, and Gu Jinxiu? What a big gossip!¡± The crowd screamed.

    ¡°Boohoo my God Jiang Yu, is this the rhythm of losing love?¡±

    ¡°There is also Gu Jinxiu. She was still showing happiness on Weibo some time ago. She said she and Wei Lingnan are nning to get married!¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard that Gu Jinxiu is a bitch? She was the mistress that wrecked their rtionship and snatched Wei Lingnan from Xia Yingluo!¡±

    ¡°Really? Weren¡¯t they childhood sweethearts?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, right! Wei Lingnan has never recognized it!¡±

    For a time, various rumors abounded, and old gossips were turned out. The people started many lively discussions.

    However, as someone in the center of the discussion, the mood wasn¡¯t so good.

 Chapter 1352

    Chapter 1352: Gu Jinxiu Being Cold-Shouldered

    During the crew¡¯s rest period, Xia Yingluo was ying with her mobile phone when her eyes suddenly widened. She looked at the news report like she had seen a ghost and threw her mobile phone out.

    Tan Ying, who was walking towards her, caught it.

    ¡°They¡¯re too much!¡± Xia Yingluo held out a fair finger and pointed at the mobile phone. She was so angry her words were incoherent. ¡°They actually reported that I was sticking to Wei Lingnan! Am I like that! I was obviously forced into the kiss! I curse all his eighteen generations of ancestors!¡±

    Tan Ying rubbed his forehead silently. It seemed like Ms. Xia was really irritated this time.

    Although Xia Yingluo usually looked like ady, she had mixed with her father and brother in the underground world since she was a child. What kind of people has she not been in contact with? If she was provoked, the vocabry she could use to curse them was indeed enriching and could go on for three days and nights. At this time, all the curse words that could be thought of were being used to scold Wei Lingnan. She cursed all his rtives and future generations andpletely forgot that she was also scolding herself.

    Tan Ying waited patiently beside her, and waved away a few staff members who were watching the bustle¡ª

    When else have those staff members seen such an abusive superstar? They were beyond stunned.

    After a long time, Xia Yingluo was tired of scolding. She took a breath and drank water.

    Tan Ying calmly returned her mobile phone. ¡°Do your makeup, someone is looking for you outside.¡±

    ¡°Who? I won¡¯t see whoever it is!¡± Xia Yingluo was still angry.

    ¡°Gu Jinxiu.¡±

    Xia Yingluo raised her head and gritted her teeth. ¡°Why is she here?¡±

    ¡°How would I know?¡± Tan Ying was particrly irresponsible. ¡°She¡¯s wearing thetest beaded embroidered jersey, a colored diamond ne, and carrying an Herm¨¨s custom-made bag from the Paris Spring Fashion Week. She probably put on all the most expensive and showy items in her family to provoke you.¡±

    Regardless of what she was here for, a beautiful woman just couldn¡¯t tolerate the provocation of others.

    Especially from a love rival.

    Xia Yingluo looked down at herself. She had just finished her shoot and was wearing an old, ugly sweater, and the mud on her hands and feet had not been cleaned up. Ne? No, bag? No, the most valuable thing on her whole body was the mobile phone in her hand, and there was even a stupid long-eared rabbit pasted on it. ¡°Tell her I¡¯m not seeing her!¡± Xia Yingluo was aggressive. Gu Jinxiu was here dressed up to the nines and she didn¡¯t want to go out and be crushed by her like that. It would be even worse if she had also brought a reporter over and took a few photos ofparison to spread around.

    Tan Ying shrugged and didn¡¯t care if she saw her. Anyway, he could think with his knees what Gu Jinxiu was here for.

    He turned around and was about to send someone back to Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Xia Yingluo suddenly called him. ¡°Let her wait.¡±

    Tan Ying¡¯s footsteps stopped and he gave her an admiring and satirical smile. ¡°You didn¡¯t learn the performing skills from your mom, but you really inherited her temperament.¡± It was such a subtle, marvelous move to make her wait. She could wait for a minute, or an hour, god knew how long? Many people always gave small characters the cold shoulder like that. If Gu Jinxiu really waited for her, it was clear that she was a ss lower than Xia Yingluo.

    This move was simply an effortless victory.

    Xia Yingluo was unhappy and said as she walked to the dressing room. ¡°Uncle Tan, you¡¯re too biased. How did I not learn my mom¡¯s skills? I¡¯m so good at singing.¡±

    Tan Ying smiled. ¡°Your mother is the Phoenix.¡±

    Those five words killed Xia Yingluo off.

    Xia Yingluo looked up to the sky without saying a word. Fine, although she sang well, she was indeed inferior to her dear mother. Who told her mother to be the Phoenix? She naturally came with a bonus...

    The darling of the was just different.

    She suddenly thought that if she carefully used the resonance frequency of the Skatana and added it to her singing, would it have a different effect? Maybe it was a very different song from the Nirvana Phoenix, but it would also very intoxicating.

    With this in mind, she walked into the dressing room.

    While simting the feasibility of singing in her heart, she casually changed her clothes and put on makeup.

    She forgot about time, the day darkened and the night clouds slowly spread on the horizon. Tan Ying finally couldn¡¯t stand it and knocked on her door. ¡°Miss, let¡¯s go if you¡¯re done changing. Even if you¡¯re going to leave Gu Jinxiu hanging, don¡¯t leave me hanging. I have something to doter.¡±

    Xia Yingluo walked out of the dressing room, only to find that the crew had begun to leave.

    She asked Tan Ying, ¡°Is Gu Jinxiu gone?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s still waiting for you.¡± Tan Ying gloated. ¡°Those who agitate us Skyart people won¡¯t have a good ending. The staff didn¡¯t even move a stool for her, so she stood in the wind and waited. She¡¯s impressive for standing for so long, many people passed by and even pointed fingers at her.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed and felt her anger dissipating.

    She thought back to how Tan Ying had described Gu Jinxiu as wearing a flowery show. It was definitely eye-catching and was able to turn the heads of many people.

    After hearing that she was standing in the wind, Xia Yingluo was alsozy to go out. She returned to the dressing room again. ¡°Let her in.¡±

    She gestured like a queen summoning her subject.

    Tan Ying nced at her again with a little bit of admiration and irony. No wonder they said that vile people and women were difficult to raise, and they would stare in hatred and take revenge if offended. However, this wasn¡¯t his business. He walked out leisurely and got people to call Gu Jinxiu over.

    Gu Jinxiu was boiling in rage.

    She came to the studio to find Xia Yingluo. She thought she could make apromise with her, but she didn¡¯t expect her to have given her the cold shoulder. She had waited the entire afternoon, three hours, and Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t even appear! Nobody even offered a sip of water to her!

    She wanted to turn away in anger but found that she couldn¡¯t do it at all.

    In this love war, she was very clear that she was the weakest one¡ªWei Lingnan looked at her with no affection, only responsibility. In this regard, as a woman, she was very sensitive. And that man¡¯s look at Xia Yingluo was a mix of love, reluctance, pain, and hopelessness.

    This was particrly evident in the recent scandal photos.

    She wasn¡¯t reconciled.

    She was too unwilling to watch Wei Lingnan go over to Xia Yingluo.

    Therefore, she had toe here and negotiate with Xia Yingluo. The dressing room was very quiet. When she walked in, she saw that Xia Yingluo was drinking a cup of tea casually. The white teacup gently swirled between her equally white fingers, and a ray of light outside the window made her look like jade.

    Some women were moving even if they looked casual.

    Gu Jinxiu was jealous but realized that now was not the time. She clutched her custom-made bag and cleared her throat. ¡°Ms. Xia.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at her. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you. Tell me what you want quickly.¡±

    A very impolite order.

    Gu Jinxiu was also a youngdy with pride and honor. Today, she had been humiliated again and again and was faintly angry. ¡°Ms. Xia, do you think I really wanted to see you? We agreed that if I persuade Nan not to cause trouble for you, you will no longer pester Nan. But now? I did what I promised, but did you do what you promised?¡±

 Chapter 1353

    Chapter 1353: Queen¡¯s Proof

    Xia Yingluo squinted slightly.

    She didn¡¯t expect that some people could actually turn ck to white. It was obviously Wei Lingnan who pestered her. Why did she be the person who clung and pestered him? Her expression stiffened. ¡°Gu Jinxiu, pay attention to your wording. It¡¯s your own business that you couldn¡¯t handle him well, it¡¯s nothing to do with me.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was speechless. In fact, how could she not have known who had taken the initiative?

    If Xia Yingluo was willing to be with Wei Lingnan, it was easy to suffice, she could just expose her identity. But she didn¡¯t do it. Thus, it was obviously Wei Lingnan clinging to an old love and going to her regardless.

    But how was Gu Jinxiu to ept this truth?

    She looked at Xia Yingluo with hatred. ¡°Don¡¯t quibble. Anyway, you can¡¯t pester him anymore. Even if hees to you, you have to steer clear of him. Xia Yingluo, look at those photos in the news. Why are you so shameless?¡±

    ¡°Shameless?¡± Xia Yingluo sneered angrily. ¡°Gu Jinxiu, you seem to have forgotten whose favor it was that you¡¯re still alive today. You¡¯re just a scumbag made from experimental waste, how dare you impersonate me? If I expose you, do you believe he won¡¯t even give you a single nce?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression was bad. ¡°Xia Yingluo, don¡¯t always use your identity to overpower people. Even if you have the energy of the Skatana in your body, we¡¯re still not much different from each other. How could you consider yourself a Queen? It¡¯s still not certain who is the Queen!¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± Xia Yingluo said lightly.

    Regarding this issue, Gu Jinxiu had been hovering around it in her heart day and nighttely. She had thought about it many times. At this time, she said, ¡°Why do you say that? Because you¡¯re pregnant with the World Tree? Sorry, that¡¯s just because Nan was once together with you. Even if it were me, I can also conceive. Or do you think your energy is stronger than mine? But Nan¡¯s energy is stronger than both of us. We can¡¯t say that he is the Queen, so, the strength of the energy doesn¡¯t matter. I was awakened earlier than you were, I¡¯m the queen!¡±

    Xia Yingluo chuckled. ¡°You overestimate yourself.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu, ¡°What did you say?¡± She was very firm in her spection. Even if she couldn¡¯t turn her fingers into sharp ws like Xia Yingluo, that alone couldn¡¯t prove who the Queen was. She always felt that she had a chance.

    She only concealed Xia Yingluo¡¯s awakening from Wei Lingnan to avoid side issues from arising.

    But now, Xia Yingluo¡¯s resolute smile made her panic.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her lightly. ¡°Do you want me to show you evidence?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Jinxiu had an ominous premonition in her heart.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her quietly.

    Gu Jinxiu suddenly found that her body was out of control. She walked to the makeup table step by step, picked up an eyebrow trimmer on the table, and pierced her throat a little. She was terrified and tried to control her hand, but it felt like it wasn¡¯t hers. No matter how she wanted to put down the knife, the eyebrow trimmer moved slowly but firmly towards her throat, and finally, it punctured her skin.

    The icy de was buried in her warm veins, and red blood beads slid down her neck.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s eyes widened in horror, and she tried to stop Xia Yingluo, but she could only make a coughing sound.

    She saw that Xia Yingluo was still standing there with an indifferent expression as if she were admiring a humble ant.

    Despair spread and Gu Jinxiu deeply felt how big the energy gap between her and Xia Yingluo was. This... Was this the difference between the authentic experimental body and the backup body? She wasn¡¯t reconciled... she wasn¡¯t!

    The movement of the eyebrow trimmer into her throat stopped.

    Xia Yingluo revoked her control.

    Gu Jinxiu quickly threw the eyebrow trimmer away. She stroked her bleeding throat with one hand, took a few steps backward, and looked at her fearfully.

    Xia Yingluo was still smirking. The arc of her beautiful lips didn¡¯t change a little bit. ¡°Do you know what the Queen is? The queen¡¯s will is the will of the whole tribe. If I want you to die, you will have to die. Believe me, Wei Lingnan can¡¯t do this maniption even if he has more energy now than the two of usbined... He can¡¯t order a tribe member to even pick up the slightest straw.¡±

    This was a queen-specific ability.

    The queen¡¯s will couldn¡¯t be disobeyed.

    Gu Jinxiu was so shocked that she looked at her inconceivably. After a long time, she said dumbly, ¡°I don¡¯t believe it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little irritated. This woman was too difficult. How could she still not believe her?

    She heard Gu Jinxiu say, ¡°You must be lying to me. How do I know if only the Queen has such ability, or could people with high energy be able to manipte people with weak energy? Among the three of us, my energy is the weakest, so there¡¯s no way of verifying the truth. You must have taken advantage of this and deliberately chosen a method that I cannot verify so that I¡¯ll believe that you¡¯re the Queen!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was so vexed that she wanted to hit the wall.

    Was this Gu Jinxiu smart or stupid?

    By her reasoning, this logic really appeared to be so!

    Xia Yingluo forced herself to calm down. Calm down...

    She took a deep breath and resisted the urge to choke Gu Jinxiu. Then, she said, ¡°If you are the Queen, how could you not know whether this ability is owned by everyone in the tribe or if it¡¯s unique to the Queen?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu froze for a long while, and said dryly, ¡°That¡¯s because my memories haven¡¯t fully awakened, you just remember a little more than me. But that doesn¡¯t mean you are the Queen!¡±

    Looking at Gu Jinxiu¡¯s desperate struggling, Xia Yingluo was really intolerable.

    The evidence was already in front of her and yet she still chose to turn a blind eye to it. She couldn¡¯t really kill her so that she stopped disturbing her life, could she? However, if Gu Jinxiu was dead, Wei Lingnan would go crazy... whether it was for Gu Jinxiu¡¯s death, or because of her identity... She also needed Gu Jinxiu to stand in front to help cover for her.

    Looking at the desperate and crazy woman in front of her, Xia Yingluo was put in a spot.

    The dressing room door was opened.

    A loud noise sounded.

    The two women in the room turned their heads and saw the long figure of Wei Lingnan at the door, wearing shirts and trousers, covering most of the red sunset. His narrow, cold eyes swept past them gently and locked on Gu Jinxiu¡¯s neck which was still wounded with blood. He stepped forward. ¡°How did this happen?¡±

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu was extremely wronged and flung into his arms.

    Xia Yingluo suppressed her ufortable feeling and turned her head to the side.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s hand lightly touched Gu Jinxiu¡¯s wound, and a faint energy glow leaked from her fingers. Soon, her bleeding wound healed, and her skin was as smooth as before, leaving no trace.

    ¡°How were you hurt?¡± He asked, his voice faintly murderous.

 Chapter 1354

    Chapter 1354: I Will Never Forgive You

    Sensing his displeasure, Gu Jinxiu rposed herself before speaking. ¡°It¡¯s ok. I identally cut myself when I was using my eyebrow razer.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression turned colder. ¡°An ident? Why would you use your eyebrow razer for no reason, Ah Luo? You don¡¯t have to cover for her.¡± Once he walked into the dressing room, he could tell that the atmosphere between the two of them was tense. Xia Yingluo stood arrogantly while Gu Jinxiu looked a little disoriented. He was convinced that Gu Jinxiu was bullied and could not help but feel angry.

    Gu Jinxiu was very touched because Wei Lingnan always defended her.

    However, she had no choice but to help Xia Yingluo cover up because she could not exin why Xia Yingluo could hurt her when she was the ¡°Queen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really my fault...¡± She weakly said. ¡°Yingluo is pregnant with the World Tree. No matter what, it¡¯s something very important to Skatana. And even if our conflict cannot be resolved I hope to be cordial with her. That¡¯s why I looked for her... Nan, you know that topics like beauty and makeup help girls bond. I only used the razer because I was discussing eyebrow trimming with Yingluo...¡±

    Her voice was gentle and lingered in the air. It could really melt someone¡¯s heart.

    Wei Lingnan still looked upset. ¡°Why are you lying?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart skipped a beat and she looked at him frantically.

    Why was he so sure that she was lying?

    Wei Lingnan also looked at her. ¡°Ah Luo, you shouldn¡¯t let yourself be wronged like that. You became angry after seeing the gossip in the news and looked for Xia Yingluo for revenge. I can understand that. You don¡¯t have to be afraid that I would be unhappy.¡± There were no giveaways in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s speech. Someone else would have believed them. But unfortunately, she was the reincarnation of Ah Luo. Ah Luo was too proud to deal with her love rivals.

    Gu Jinxiu turned pale. She suddenly recalled that the queen was extremely arrogant and became speechless.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s line of sight turned to Xia Yingluo. ¡°You exin.¡±

    Xia Yingluo snorted. ¡°Why should I?¡± How dare he question her like a fugitive? She was not obliged to answer him!

    Wei Lingnan sneered. ¡°Ok, so you won¡¯t talk? I¡¯ll exin it for you. Ah Luo looked for you, you were unhappy and used the power of the World Tree to hurt her. Xia Yingluo, how evil can you be?¡±

    She was evil?

    Xia Yingluo was stunned and did not know whether tough or cry at his stupidity. It turned out that he thought she used the World Tree¡¯s power to hurt Gu Jinxiu. No wonder he couldn¡¯t tell that she was the queen after she dealt with Gu Jinxiu twice. All this time, he thought that her power came from the World Tree inside of her!

    ¡°That¡¯s true. So what?¡± She challenged.

    This was fine as well since her identity would be concealed.

    However, the moment he heard her confession, Wei Lingnan¡¯s face turned as gloomy as a storm. He strode forward and choked her with one hand. ¡°I didn¡¯t put in so much effort to give you power for you to abuse it like that!¡± Did she know how precious the energy of the World Tree was?! Her pathetic amount of energy was already struggling to keep her and the World Tree alive, but she wasted it elsewhere!

    He red at her fiercely, eager to crush this reckless woman.

    Xia Yingluo was almost suffocated by him. She struggled weakly in vain.

    She did not dare to use her own energy because it was very different from the energy of the World Tree. Once she used it in front of Wei Lingnan, he would definitely be able to see her identity. At the same time, she did not dare to use the energy of the World Tree. As Wei Lingnan said, the energy of the World Tree was too precious to be wasted elsewhere.

    She could only helplessly be choked as she red at him.

    Gu Jinxiu gasped. She was afraid that something bad would happen and wanted to persuade Wei Lingnan to put Xia Yingluo down. However, when she saw Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turn pale due to pain, she felt very satisfied. She moved her lips, but in the end, she did not say anything.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s gloomy eyes continued to stare at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Apologize to the queen.¡±

    Xia Yingluo sneered. Her eyes were disdainful.

    ¡°Apologize!¡± Wei Lingnan demanded. The furniture in the dressing room was shaken due to the energy fluctuations caused by his anger. Bottles toppled to the floor and shattered into pieces.

    However, Xia Yingluo continued tough coldly.

    Apologize? What a joke! She was the noble Queen of Skatana and the Phoenix¡¯s daughter. How could she lower herself?!

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s iron grip almost suffocated her to death, but she did not give in.

    Wei Lingnan was irritable. ¡°Do you think I won¡¯t dare to kill you?¡± He felt that he was already giving in to her too much. The punishment for offending the queen was death. Wanting a small apology from her was already pardoning her. What exactly did she want?

    ¡°No...¡± She spat out clearly even though she was suffering.

    She wanted to see if that man would really strangle her to death. If she was really killed by him, he would find out her identity and realize that he had just killed his queen. Wouldn¡¯t that be interesting?

    A taunting smile appeared on her lips, but she also felt a little sorrowful.

    She remembered that hundreds of millions of years ago, many of the most ruthless people spoke of Wei Lingnan¡¯s cruelty, but she never felt that and always spoke up for him whenever she could... However, now, she finally realized how cruel he was.

    His gentle side was only reserved for that girl called Ah Luo, right?

    Unfortunately, she was no longer the Ah Luo in his heart.

    Perhaps, he never liked her and only... an illusion.

    Her thoughts gradually became a little fuzzy and she felt dizzy.

    Wei Lingnan stared at her with beast-like eyes. Slowly, he let go of her.

    He did not really want to suffocate her to death. In fact, even though he was furious, he controlled himself at the critical point because he did not want to hurt the seed of the World Tree in her belly. If the seed sensed that her life was threatened, it would release energy for self-preservation, just like thest time in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s bedroom. That really consumed a lot of energy, and if it were not replenished in time, the World Tree and her would be in all kinds of danger. This was another reason why he was angry. How could she waste the energy of the World Tree like that?!

    Once Xia Yingluo was let go, she panted helplessly on the soft ground. Slowly, she crawled back up again.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan.¡± Her voice was hoarse and light. ¡°I will never forgive you.¡±

    These words were like feathers thatnded on his heart. For some reason, they felt really heavy.

 Chapter 1355

    Chapter 1355: Jiang Yu, the Male God

    Xia Yingluo resisted the physical difort. Her face was pale and she slowly walked out.

    She brushed past Wei Lingnan and her hair brushed past his shoulder. He could smell the faint scent on her. It was very special, perhaps because she was impregnated with the World Tree, which reminded him of his distant hometown. He almost reached out and held her, but he restrained himself and watched as she silently left the dressing room.

    Xia Yingluo was solitary and walked step by step into the sinking twilight.

    The crew had been setting the scene for the past few days. There was a sparklingke not far away, and a long wooden nk road extended along theke.

    She walked aimlessly along the boardwalk, and the sound of the water mmed against the shore. She crouched down in the dusk, curled up and hugged herself, and made a sorrowful sound like that of an injured beast. Only here, at this moment, when she was alone, did she dare to let the sadness break. The scene of Wei Lingnan protecting Gu Jinxiu in front of her resurfaced in her mind. Even if she told herself not to think about it, it was useless. She clearly remembered how tenderly he cared for her and how he touched her neck, full of affection...

    She used to love him so much and regarded him as life.

    She never thought that he would turn against her.

    ¡°Nan...¡± she said with a sobbing sound. Thinking of back on the Skatana, he had said that he would protect her for a lifetime. Come to think of it, maybe they were bounded by the Guardian identity since a long time ago, and he couldn¡¯t change it at all.

    Now, on Earth, he didn¡¯t want her anymore since there were other women to choose from.

    She buried her head in her arm, and her thin shoulders shuddered. She was so sad she was about to die.

    She didn¡¯t know how much time passed, but she felt a warmthing from her shoulders as if there was a piece of clothing on her. She stopped sobbing, raised her head, and saw someone on the boardwalk. His handsome appearance was pleasant in the sunset.

    It was Jiang Yu.

    Jiang Yu squatted down and looked at her, his voice soft. ¡°Why are you crying here alone?¡±

    His voice made her nose sore, and she was about to cry again. She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and said fiercely, ¡°I¡¯m not crying!¡± She was the Queen of the Skatana.

    Jiang Yu smiled, however, and said with affection and intolerance, ¡°Why are you pretending in front of me. Your acting skill is horrible.¡±

    Her tears flowed indiscriminately. ¡°How could say my acting is bad!¡± She buried her head in her arms again and began to cry.

    Jiang Yu looked at her distressedly and half-knelt on the old wooden boardwalk. He reached out to embrace her. Her body stiffened and she wanted to get rid of his arms but didn¡¯t break away. His gentle voice rang again. ¡°Sorry, I shouldn¡¯tugh at your poor acting.¡±

    She wept even harder as if he had helped her find an excuse for her to let go.

    Her thin body trembled lightly in his arms, and it took a long time for her cry to fade away.

    He stroked her long hair until she cried enough, and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, it¡¯s going to be dark soon. Let me take you home.¡±

    Only now did she remember how much time had passed. She looked up at him, her eyes swollen like walnuts.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± she asked with a hoarse voice.

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°When I ended work, I heard that Gu Jinxiu came to you. I wasn¡¯t assured, so I was waiting nearby. I saw youing out alone looking so depressed. I was afraid something would happen, so I came to see you.¡±

    So, he didn¡¯t see Wei Lingnan?

    Xia Yingluo was stunned and understood that the man always appeared and disappeared rapidly, so it was normal that Jiang Yu didn¡¯t see him.

    She whispered, ¡°Thank you for staying with me.¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled softly. ¡°What a silly thing to say. We¡¯re friends.¡± He reached out to her.

    With thest rays of the setting sun, his palms were dry and warm, and he stood in front of her like a trustworthy mountain. She looked at his hand for a long time, and slowly put out her hand, which he held firmly.

    He pulled her up and brought her to walk along the path of the boardwalk.

    The sound of the water waves patted behind them quietly.

    The crew had already finished work and the staff was gone. Only Tan Ying, her assistant and several assistants around him were still in the temporary shed. They drank cold water while ncing in the direction of theke from time to time.

    Seeing the two returning hand in hand, everyone stood up and greeted them.

    Tan Ying¡¯s eyes shed unnoticeably at their hands. ¡°Do you still know toe back?¡±

    Xia Yingluo tried to pull out her hand away, but Jiang Yu held it tighter. With a smile, he said to the crowd, ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll send you home.¡±

    Tan Ying raised his eyebrows and nced at Xia Yingluo. He saw that she had no objection, so he also said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He turned around and left. He was taking care of this missy because of Li Lei¡¯s order, and he also understood that Li Lei wanted to match her with Jiang Yu. Since Jiang Yu offered to send her back, outsiders shouldn¡¯t destroy the good atmosphere. In particr, she saw tears in the corners of Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t know what conflicts she had with Gu Jinxiu, and what sadness was caused, but in any case, it was a good time for Jiang Yu to take advantage of the situation.

    Tan Ying got into his car wisely.

    Jiang Yu¡¯s assistants also dispersed, and soon, the set really became empty.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Jiang Yu said to Xia Yingluo. ¡°My car is parked not far ahead, I¡¯ll take you there.¡±

    Xia Yingluo answered gently and walked with him.

    The two didn¡¯t speak and walked quietly for a while. Jiang Yu was tall and had big strides, but he was very attentive to Xia Yingluo¡¯s steps and walked slowly. Out of the set, a luxurious Lamborghini was parked in the shadow of a streetmp. Jiang Yu said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll get the car over.¡±

    Xia Yingluo responded, and she stood there and waited.

    The night wind blew across her cket.

    She didn¡¯t expect an unforeseen event to ept here!

    Suddenly, a mineral water bottle flew over and hit her severely. She was caught off guard and yelped when it hit her. Looking up, she saw a stout girl sticking her head out of the bushes not far away and shouting at her, ¡°Bitch! Shameless! You dare to cheat on my Jiang Yu, the male God!¡±

    After shouting, she ran away without waiting for her response.

    She was drenched with water and tried to rub it off. Jiang Yu heard the movement, so he ran over and asked incessantly, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you all right?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s just your little fan.¡± What could she say about such a thing? She couldn¡¯t really hold it against them and ssh them back with a bottle of mineral water, could she?

 Chapter 1356

    Chapter 1356: Bathroom

    Jiang Yu felt guilty. He pulled her into the car, found a box of napkins and gave it to her. ¡°Wipe with this.¡±

    He rolled the windows up, afraid that she would catch a cold.

    Xia Yingluo used a pack of napkins to wipe off the water stains on her body. She didn¡¯t know what was added in the water, but it was sticky. Her hair was knotted, and her skin was very ufortable. She told Jiang Yu, ¡°Find a hotel for me to go to. I¡¯ll take care of it and go home.¡±

    She didn¡¯t want to go back like this and worry her family.

    Jiang Yu nced at her sideways. ¡°Hotel? You and I are both stars, how could you open a room without your agent?¡± She would probably cause a huge stampede if she walked into the hotel lobby. ¡°How about youe to my house first, I¡¯ll buy you a set of new clothes.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want to bother him too much and hesitated a little.

    Jiang Yu seemed to read her mind and said, ¡°It¡¯s because of me that my fans messed with you. It¡¯s normal for me to take responsibility.¡± That fan was probably angry that she was with him and yet still messed around with other men outside, and was even photographed kissing Wei Lingnan. Even if it wasn¡¯t her fault, she still couldn¡¯t exin it to the fan.

    She looked up, and in the quiet car, the dim light of street lights streamed in.

    She looked at Jiang Yu and asked softly, ¡°Why are you so good to me?¡±

    ¡°I like you.¡± Jiang Yu replied softly while driving, ¡°so I want to take care of you.¡±

    Her eyshes drooped and a faint shadow swept under her eyelids. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this,¡± she said, ¡°You know we¡¯re just acting. Those scandals aren¡¯t true.¡±

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m willing to apany you. I don¡¯t need you to return anything.¡±

    Being with her and guarding her made him very happy. Even if he knew there was another person in her heart, so what? Feelings were like a marathon race. Looking at the current situation, Wei Lingnan would be out sooner orter, and he was going to apany her until the end.

    He drove the Lamborghini steadily towards his apartment.

    He had several properties in this city and had taken Xia Yingluo to a hidden high-end apartment with a quiet environment and no paparazzi. The two got out of the underground garage and quickly got on the elevator. They entered the apartment on the twenty-seventh floor.

    Jiang Yu turned on the light.

    Warm and bright light flooded the room.

    Although he lived alone, it was very clean here. In the middle was a set of soft andrge leather sofas. The floor was covered with fluffy mats.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were such a homely person.¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Sit anywhere, take a rest. I¡¯ll fill the bathtub for you.¡±

    She quickly said, ¡°How could I trouble you, let me do it myself. Where is the guest room?¡±

    He didn¡¯t want to force her, so he pointed her in the direction of the guest room and took out a set of men¡¯s bathrobes. He said a little apologetically, ¡°I usually have no guests here, so I didn¡¯t prepare any guests¡¯ clothes. I only have my own. But it¡¯s very clean. If you don¡¯t mind, you can wear it first. I¡¯ll get my assistant to bring a set of female clothing here.¡±

    She didn¡¯t mind now that she was outside.

    During Xia Yingluo¡¯s bloody battle in her previous life, all the clothes on her body had been cut off and worn out. She was raised without any strictness and had mixed around with people of all trades all her life, so she wasn¡¯t as coquettish as other girls. She took Jiang Yu¡¯s bathrobe, thanked him, and walked into the bathroom in her room.

    Jiang Yu looked at her back and smiled softly. He called and asked his assistant to send women¡¯s clothing.

    The bathroom was warm.

    Xia Yingluo took off her sticky clothes and dipped her beautiful and slender body into the bathtub. These days, maybe because she was impregnated with the World Tree, she had lost a lot of weight. Her skin was pale and was even a faint unhealthy blue. Her ribs and veins were clear and looked a little shocking.

    She frowned and slowly washed herself with water, wondering if the speed of replenishing energy would fasten.

    In the palm of her hand, the gold-green mark hadn¡¯t changed. Even if Wei Lingnan had filled her with so much energyst time, it was just to keep her from exhaustion. It hadn¡¯t grown at all. Xia Yingluo knew that the World Tree would need more energy to grow in theter stages, but she didn¡¯t know how she was going to obtain the energy then.

    She frowned while thinking about the problem. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the reflection of the white tiles across her.

    ¡°Who are you?!¡± She was startled and turned suddenly.

    In the steamy bathroom, a man was wearing a white and clean shirt. He was slender and elegant, and his pair of calm eyes were staring at her quietly. It was Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart thumped like a drum. How did this persone in silently?!

    She looked at him alertly, remembering that she was undressed. She quickly grabbed Jiang Yu¡¯s bathrobe to cover her body.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her hand and took the bathrobe away, throwing it away like trash.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± she cried angrily. He held her wrists with the force of copper casting.

    She struggled hard but still couldn¡¯t break free. She red at him, her eyes almost spitting fire.

    The shower sprinkled mist-like water vapor in the air and fell on the two people¡¯s brows. Wei Lingnan looked down at her, with a touch of irony in his eyes. ¡°Why, you¡¯re so clingy in front of me, but in the blink of an eye, you¡¯re hooking up with another man?¡±

    His voice was harsh, and she froze in anger. ¡°Who clung to you!¡±

    ¡°If you didn¡¯t, why did you fight with Ah Luo?¡± His eyes darkened.

    Xia Yingluo remembered what happened in the studio¡¯s dressing room during the day. She was furious and said with a sneer, ¡°The vixen came to me for trouble. She should be bullied if she deserves it. Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t overestimate yourself. Even if all the men on Earth... No, even if all men in the universe die, I won¡¯t cling onto you!¡±

    His expression hardened. He raised his hand and threw her against the bathroom wall.

    She slid down the misty tile, naked. Her naked body mmed against the edge of the bathtub, and it hurt so much she thought her waist was broken. For a while, she couldn¡¯t get up. Then, she felt her hair being pulled, and she was forced to raise her head to face his face close up.

    ¡°You¡¯re looking for death.¡± He spat word by word.

    He didn¡¯t know where the irritability in his heart came from, but when he heard that she wouldn¡¯t want him even if all men in the universe were dead...

    The anger he felt almost devoured him.

    But she was so pained that her sight was distorted. She gritted her teeth and sneered. ¡°You¡¯re the one looking for death. Wei Lingnan, you already have Gu Jinxiu, what are you doing behind her back? Who am I, you have already found your Queen, why did youe to provoke me?¡±

    At first, she only wanted to rebuke him, but she gradually became aggrieved and her nose began to sour again.

 Chapter 1357

    Chapter 1357: Bloody Energy

    The irritability in Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart almost exploded. Her voice was reprimanding and he was unable to answer.

    Yeah, he already had Ah Luo, but why couldn¡¯t he stop finding her? He froze and pressed down the chaotic thoughts in his heart. He used his teeth to bite on his left wrist and tore a wound onto it. His other hand tightened on Xia Yingluo¡¯s hair, forcing her head to rise even higher. Then he put his injured wrist to her mouth and poured the blood into her like a waterfall.

    She was choked several times and coughed. The bloody smell and his fierce eyes made her breathless.

    She shook her head in vain, trying to break free of his control. The water in the bathtub sshed and wet their bodies.

    He put his wrist to her mouth again, and almost shoved it into her mouth. His voice was violent. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, drink it. You wasted so much energy attacking Ah Luo, do you know you wouldn¡¯t be able to keep your life nor the World Tree?¡±

    She looked at him through the mist of steam and blood, and then realized what he was doing.

    It was probably because he thought that she had lost too much energy, so he had traced her here to supplement her. It was toote to make a new potion, so he just bit his wrist and fed her his blood. She was a little frightened. Under the cruel and brutal appearance of the man, a delicate heart was hidden. He even cared about her life and death. It made her feel... unbearably forlorn.

    Wei Lingnan saw that she was stupefied and grew impatient. He grabbed her long hair and poured blood from his wrist in her.

    She uttered a vague scream in pain. All the sorrows and lingering fantasies turned to ashes, and subconsciously, she bit his wrist fiercely, as if biting an endless foe, anxious to tear away a piece of meat.

    The sharp pain pierced his flesh, and he frowned but didn¡¯t move.

    In the misty water, the girl who was forced to lie half-up was pale, and her skinny face was spotted with blood. Her lips were soaked with blood, and her two small rows of teeth had long disappeared in the blood. She bit him bitterly, with hatred and a sort of despair in her eyes. She bit him so hard and so destely.

    His heart twitched a bit and was more intense than the severe pain on his wrist. He looked at her expressionlessly, slowly letting go of the hand that grasped her hair.

    But she didn¡¯t let him go. She slid down the edge of the bathtub, holding his arms in both hands, hanging her weight on it as if she were holding a life-saving piece of driftwood. The water showered her body and flowed down her face. Her teeth still bit fiercely onto his wrists, deeply embedding into it, as if she wouldn¡¯t let go even if the world ended. The blood slipped down her lips and teeth, smudging her fair and clean body as if she was covered with a gorgeous wedding dress. She half-knelt and half-lied, biting him desperately. Her tears permeated, and her weeping cry was drowned in the continuous sound of water from the shower, bing inaudible.

    But he heard it.

    He knelt down and embraced her with his still-moving hand.

    Her soft body was stuck on his stout white shirt, and the water mixed with blood stained him as well.

    He had lost too much blood and his skin became a little blue, but he let her bite him and didn¡¯t push her away. It wasn¡¯t until she was tired of biting him and crying did she let go of him weakly. He found that the tooth marks on his wrist were so deep, it was as if she had torn out a piece of meat.

    In the water mist, he held up her face and wiped the tears in the corners of her eyes with his slightly rough fingertips.

    She tilted her head and stubbornly said, ¡°What are you doing, I didn¡¯t cry.¡±

    He didn¡¯t like her disobedience and wanted to put in a few harsh words, but he looked at her messy appearance and swallowed the hurtful words he was about to say. ¡°Why can¡¯t you get along with yourself.¡± He sighed. ¡°Ah Luo was upset and came to find trouble with you, you should just give in to her. You can now peacefully care for your World Tree thanks to her.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to her?¡± Xia Yingluo looked up. Her voice was sharp and she looked bleak. ¡°In your eyes, should I always bow down to her?¡±

    Wei Lingnan frowned slightly. ¡°She is the Queen.¡±

    She pushed him away, pulling her body off his chest and reaching for the cold bathtub wall. ¡°Go.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± He frowned again, inadvertently calling out her name. This was the first time he called her Yingluo after finding out that the Queen was Gu Jinxiu. It wasn¡¯t the normal Xia Yingluo, nor the unfamiliar Ms. Xia, but a natural-sounding Yingluo, as if he had called her a thousand times in his dreams.

    Her heart trembled and she turned her face fiercely. ¡°Go!¡±

    So what if he stayed? Would he continue to persuade her not to disobey Gu Jinxiu? Even if she understood that he was obstructing her because of her ¡°queen¡± status, she still couldn¡¯t stand it. Since when did he wrong her because of others?

    Wei Lingnan looked at her.

    Her body was still very thin. She had just drunk so much blood, but the energy conversion rate wasn¡¯t high. At this time, her skin was still pale, and her cyan blood vessels could still be seen under her translucentplexion. He was worried, how could such a weak body give birth to the World Tree? But it was useless to be concerned now. He stared at her for a long time and saw that she wasn¡¯t willing to bother with him anymore, so he slowly got up and left.

    He only remembered something when he was halfway gone¡ª

    He seemed to have forgotten something?

    When he first came here, in addition to giving her emergency energy, he also nned to grill her for her crimes. How could she just offend the Queen? She had to pay for it! However, after seeing how frail and deste she was, all thoughts of punishment were left behind.

    Wei Lingnan frowned even more. What happened to him?

    He went back to the underground base with a troubled heart.

    There was a light in the base¡¯s secret rest area, and Gu Jinxiu stood in a brightly lit area waiting for him.

    ¡°Where have you been?¡± When she saw himing back, she forced herself to speak calmly, but her trembling voice exposed her inner agitation.

    Wei Lingnan paused. He didn¡¯t expect Gu Jinxiu to be here sote. Wasn¡¯t she resting already? Looking at her interrogative attitude, he could probably guess what she was awake for. However, his long-term loyalty to the Queen prevented him from concealing it from her. ¡°I went to see Xia Yingluo and I gave her some energy.¡±

    ¡°You gave her energy?¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice shook even more, be it from rage or agitation. ¡°Look at your state! Did you feed her your blood directly? Why don¡¯t you worry more about yourself? What if you can¡¯t hold it after losing so much blood?¡±

    She walked towards him, her smoky-blue knitted embroidered dress spreading out like moonlight. She looked up and reached out to stroke his slightly sunken cheek. ¡°Nan, I won¡¯t let you lose your life for that woman!¡±

 Chapter 1358

    Chapter 1358: Loyal to You

    She looked anxious and impatient in the silent spacious room.

    He gently pulled her hand away. ¡°You can rest assured, I...¡± He wanted to say that he wouldn¡¯t fight for Xia Yingluo, but he quickly changed his tune and said, ¡°I know what to do.¡±

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s voice sharpened.

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, why don¡¯t you go to rest?¡± He changed the subject.

    Gu Jinxiu suddenly exploded. ¡°Why are you so urgent to change the topic at the mention of that woman? What on earth are you thinking that you don¡¯t want me to know! Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t forget that I am your Queen!¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± Wei Lingnan frowned slightly. He had used teleportation to find Xia Yingluo just now and had fed her so much blood, so he was incredibly weak and needed to rest. But Gu Jinxiu¡¯s fuss now made him feel anxious.

    Gu Jinxiu grabbed his hand. ¡°Nan, how did you get the wound on your wrist? She bit it?¡± Under the cold white light, the wound on his wrist was obvious and it didn¡¯t heal automatically like before. It was exposed in an extremely sloppy posture, and even his bone could be seen faintly. Gu Jinxiu was shocked. ¡°Why did she bite you so hard... why didn¡¯t your wound heal automatically?¡±

    Wei Lingnan pulled his hand away from her, covering his wrist without any trace. ¡°I spent too much energy and I need to replenish it.¡± Because Xia Yingluo bit too hard and the energy loss was more than expected, there was no way to heal automatically. However, Wei Lingnan was now grateful to Xia Yingluo for doing this, because then he could have an excuse to rest and not have to face the suspicious Ah Luo.

    He was relieved because he remembered how good Ah Luo had been billions of years ago¡ª

    Whenever he was seriously injured and needed energy, she would rush him to recuperate.

    Even when she became a Queen and didn¡¯t look at him kindly, once she found that he was in a bad situation, he would be forced to draw back from any task to give him the opportunity to be alone to replenish his energy.

    He was ready to give her a kiss and then step back.

    However, Gu Jinxiu grabbed his hand again. ¡°Do you think you can just find an excuse to go? Why did she bite you, and why did you get bitten by her for nothing? Nan, I agreed to let her give birth to the World Tree, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I agree with you behaving like this! If you hurt yourself for her again, I would rather kill the World Tree!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Wei Lingnan suddenly exploded.

    Gu Jinxiu was frightened by his sudden anger. She couldn¡¯t help but let go of his hand and take two steps back.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes seemed to spit out mes, and like some horrible beast entering the fighting ring, he just stared at Gu Jinxiu for a long while, then slowly regained hisposure. ¡°Sorry, I was... confused,¡± he said dumbly. He didn¡¯t understand why he had suddenly gotten angry at Jinxiu. But the moment he heard her say that she wanted to kill the World Tree, something boiled deep in his blood, shouting loudly and making him anxious to strangle the woman in front of him, even if she was the Queen!

    He was startled by his murderous moment. How could this be? How could he be murderous to Ah Luo?

    He stepped forward, wanting to exin himself.

    Gu Jinxiu stepped back in shock, looking pale.

    These days, he had been so kind to her, so thoughtful and obedient, so much so that she had forgotten how proud and powerful he was. He could easily kill someone with just the lift of a finger.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s lips trembled slightly. ¡°You... you tried to kill me?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡± Wei Lingnan exined quickly, ¡°Sorry, Ah Luo, I was just... just...¡±

    He closed his eyes and sorted out his chaotic thoughts. ¡°I just... when you talked about killing the World Tree... Ah Luo, the World Tree is the most important thing to our Skatana tribe, have you forgotten? The tribe would do anything to protect it, so that was why I got agitated. Sorry, I really didn¡¯t mean to target you.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu bit her lip deeply, wondering whether she should believe what he said.

    In her memory, of course, she also understood the importance of the World Tree. However, in the past, all the World Trees of the Skatana were born by the queen. Today, the world tree and the ¡°Queen¡± were opposites of different parties. So what would Wei Lingnan choose?

    ¡°If, I mean if,¡± Gu Jinxiu looked at him and asked carefully, ¡°one day you have to choose between me and the World Tree, which one would you choose...¡± Actually, she wanted to ask, if he had to choose between her and Xia Yingluo, who would Wei Lingnan choose? However, she didn¡¯t dare to ask this question and was afraid to hear an unfortunate answer.

    Wei Lingnan was silent. Once, when Xia Yingluo was just pregnant, he had thought about giving up the seed of the World Tree. But now, with the passage of time, he now eagerly awaited its birth.

    Gu Jinxiu urged. ¡°Nan.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her, not knowing how to answer. The Skatana people had never faced such aplex and difficult question, and there was no standard answer to choose from. Unexpectedly, Xia Yingluo¡¯s delicate pale face reappeared in his mind. If she were here... if the awakened queen was her, would she ask him such a difficult question too?

    The Queen¡¯s mission was to protect the World Tree.

    No matter how cruel, the Queen would never make someone choose between herself and the World Tree.

    He was a little disappointed in Gu Jinxiu, but still secretly excused her. After so many years in the barren days, she had just awakened and it wasn¡¯t easy to ept her identity as the Queen of Skatana, so she couldn¡¯t really be to me.

    ¡°I am loyal to you,¡± he said.

    He didn¡¯t answer her questions directly, disappointing her. The word ¡°loyal to you¡± further aroused Gu Jinxiu¡¯s deep uneasiness. This was the tone of a subordinate to his superior and official affairs. He never spoke to her in such a tone before, but it was as if something had changed unknowingly. Such a change scared her.

    She didn¡¯t dare to force him any more, so she said softly, ¡°You¡¯re tired. I¡¯ll apany you to take a good rest.¡±

    She stepped forward slowly, trying to hold him.

    Her warm fingers rested on his injured wrist, and he moved slightly, wanting to get rid of her, but he held back. How could he make Ah Luo sad? She was his queen, she was everything to him, including his billions of years of longing and dreams...

    All contradictions were his fault.

    After that day, he controlled himself and stopped looking for Xia Yingluo.

    But still, he couldn¡¯t help keeping an eye on her secretly. He watched her drink a bit more blood. Her spirit was better than before, but after a few days, herplexion slowly faded. Even the reporters of the visiting group noticed that something was wrong, and they reported¡ªXia Yingluo is extremely serious in filming, and her professionalism is admirable.

    But he knew. How was it caused by filming?

    It was the seed of the World Tree in her belly, drawing her vitality all the time.

 Chapter 1359

    Chapter 1359: All-Kill

    She gradually became physically exhausted.

    Jiang Yu was very worried. ¡°Yingluo, how¡¯s your body? If you can¡¯t hold it in, just find a stuntman. There¡¯s no need to ruin yourself for a show.¡± In the industry, using a stuntman wasn¡¯t umon. Nude substitutions and even text substitutions had emerged endlessly.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to insist on filming the show, but also knew that her situation was really bad, and it was easy for something to go wrong if she kept going.

    After much thought, she adopted Jiang Yu¡¯s suggestion and handed over a few scenes that didn¡¯t require too much acting skills but consumed a lot of physical energy to a stuntman. Despite this, she didn¡¯t give up the control of quality and insisted on being present on every scene to point out the mistakes of the stuntman. The stuntman had little experience and was far less skilled than Xia Yingluo on the battlefield. Xia Yingluo carefully instructed her and finally tuned her decently. The female actor called Yu Minn said, ¡°Thank you, Ms. Xia. I have benefited a lot from your advice. Even in the future, it¡¯ll be a very practical skill.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and praised her for working hard.

    She was a famous and popr star but was still so humble. Thus, she earned unanimous favor from the crew.

    ¡°Star Wars Era¡± was an all-kill once released.

    Xia Yingluo consumed a lot of energy. Her body wasn¡¯t as good as before, and she needed to replenish it.

    Li Lei was anxious. He reced the rehearsal of his ownpany¡¯s movie and arranged Xia Yingluo¡¯s movie to the front, and hurried the premiere. At the premiere, Xia Yingluo wore a light pink tulle princess skirt. She had on rosy makeup, adding a touch of color to her thin and pale cheeks. She stood on the stage with a pair of beautiful touching eyes, and countless shes of the cameras aimed at her. Even one smile and one nce were beautiful. Jiang Yu stood beside her, his tall and handsome figure even more slender and beautiful. The golden boy and girl made many people scream. Jiang Yu looked at her affectionately, and even a blind man could see that he had a deep affection for her.

    ¡°Jiang Yu! Jiang Yu!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yingluo! Xia Yingluo!¡±

    Fans who managed to get tickets through various channels were very excited and shouted their names. ¡°Together! Together! God Jiang Yu and Goddess Yingluo must be happy!¡± Even though the media revealed Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan¡¯s intimate photos a few days ago, but under Skyart¡¯s public rtions, most fans were still firmly on the side of Jiang Yu and Xia Yingluo.

    Jiang Yu was personable and smiled to pay tribute to the fans.

    Xia Yingluo quietly held his hand.

    In the entertainment industry, it was nothing new for male stars and female stars to have dating scandals. Even if there was nothing between the two, to promote hype, the teams on both sides often signaled them to appear in pairs. Although Xia Yingluo understood that Jiang Yu was really interested in her, she also knew that people like Jiang Yu who had been in the entertainment industry for many years definitely understood what it was to put on a show because work needed it. He would definitely take out his professional spirit and wouldn¡¯t take it too seriously.

    The two stood side by side, and a lot of photos were taken by the media and fans.

    The lighting at the scene was dazzling.

    She felt a little ufortable with the fantastic grand party.

    Jiang Yu noticed that she was looking down and asked her, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Do you want to rest?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said softly, giving him a reassuring smile. She involuntarily looked in one direction. It was strange that she always felt like someone was staring at her in the dark. However, no suspicious person could be found in that direction.

    The premiere was a sess.

    Everyone who had watched the film¡ªwhether it was a colleague, a professional film critic, or an ordinary audience¡ªall gave the film a very high rating. <A New Era in the History of Science Fiction Movies>, <Green is born out of blue, but beats blue ¡ª The Excellent Acting of the Phoenix Daughter>, <Epistic Masterpiece>, <The Birth of the Next Star in the Film Industry...> Various article titles and hot posts discussed the film and Xia Yingluo. Her rtionship with Jiang Yu was also a topic that everyone talked about.

    Her poprity improved a lot, and the energy it brought alleviated Xia Yingluo¡¯s symptoms.

    She was no longer as weak as before but still needed recuperation.

    Xia Ling came to see her to ask how she was doing.

    She said to her mother, ¡°Mom, you don¡¯t have to worry too much. Although the World Tree hasn¡¯t grown much, the weakening momentum has stopped. When the film is released on arge scale next week, it¡¯ll definitely collect more energy.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded. ¡°Let Skyart arrange more activities for you and hit the iron while it¡¯s hot.¡±

    ¡°Mom, I know,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Xia Ling gently held her hand. Her little baby daughter made her very distressed by encountering so many difficult situations. She said, ¡°Jiang Yu is good to you. You should go out with him more often. Gossip is a quick way to increase poprity, at least to maintain the current poprity of the scandal.¡±

    She was slightly surprised.

    In recent days, she had always cooperated with Jiang Yu¡¯s hype. In all fairness, he was a good partner. He knew his limits and also took very good care of her. It would be a huge blessing if she really became his girlfriend.

    However, the seeminglyfortable date wasn¡¯t as good as it looked.

    Somehow, she still felt that someone was staring at her, and that feeling was especially evident when she was dating Jiang Yu.

    She didn¡¯t know who that person was, but after guessing and specting, the only person able to follow her for so long without being discovered by her bodyguards...

    There was only Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan.

    The thought of this name made her heart ache.

    Since thest time she said goodbye in the bathroom and bit him fiercely, he had never appeared again. She wondered if he was angry?

    Obviously, she didn¡¯t want to be harassed by him. But when he really didn¡¯te, she felt lost.

    Xia Ling called her. ¡°Yingluo, Yingluo?¡±

    She regained her senses. ¡°I know, Mom. I¡¯m going out for afternoon tea with Jiang Yu tomorrow. We¡¯ve arranged a photographer to follow us, so you can rest assured.¡± She set aside the thought of Wei Lingnan. No matter what, improving her poprity as much as possible was the priority.

    The next day, she wore a soft light-colored dress and softened her makeup, which covered up her somewhat weakplexion.

    Jiang Yu took her to a high-end business district in the city to drink tea. The two sat in an outdoor cafe, wearing ordinary clothes and sunsses. A thin silk scarf was tied around her fair neck, slightly covering her chin.

    After drinking tea halfway, she said she wanted to go see the cherry blossoms not far away.

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

 Chapter 1360 - Cherry Blossoms

    <h4>Chapter 1360: Cherry Blossoms</h4>

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly and followed him downstairs. They took a stroll in the quiet cherry blossom forest.

    The pale pink cherry blossoms fluttered and the wind blew like a gorgeous and huge rain. She nced up and looked at the beautiful elves flying in the air, then he reached out her hand and touched the light and soft petals.

    Another gust of wind blew.

    The scarf around her neck slipped and drifted away.

    She eximed in a soft voice. ¡°Oh! How will I go outter...¡± The little scarf wasn¡¯t only for decoration but was also for disguise. Although she had already worn sunsses, she was still very charming in appearance. And standing together with Jiang Yu, who was also outstanding and eye-catching, she was worried that she would be recognized. It was better to have a scarf for more disguise.

    Jiang Yu also understood her concerns. Seeing that the silk scarf floated farther and farther away and disappeared in the blue sky, he said, ¡°It¡¯s all right, I¡¯ll buy you another one.¡± Next to the cherry blossom forest was argemercial area with high-end clothing. There were many shops and it wouldn¡¯t be long.

    Xia Yingluo wanted to tell him not to bother, but she thought that the risk of exposition was too great. Thus, she said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Jiang Yu turned around.

    Xia Yingluo stayed alone in the cherry blossom forest, and the falling cherry blossoms rained on her soft hair and rounded shoulders. These days, she always tired easily. When she saw a chair for pedestrians to rest under a tree, she walked over and sat down. The chair was a rattan chair and was veryfortable to sit on. She closed her eyes slightly and gradually got tired in the fragrance of the flowers and wind.

    She had a dream.

    She dreamt of the dark purple mysterious Skatana. She was still an ignorant little princess, and her guardian, the man named Nan, was half-knelt down and holding her hand. He was dealing with the wounds made by the Zerg on her.

    At that time, the sky was full of stars, and there were fireflies everywhere.

    The fireflies on the Skatana were different from that on Earth, but they both held beautiful legends. Legend had it that they were all transformed from the soul of a soldier after death... She wondered, after the big explosion that destroyed the entire tribe, did those who died all be fireflies?

    Sakura petals fell on her delicate white cheeks.

    Faintly, there was a noise. ¡°Get up! Who are you? How dare you sit in Ms. Pei¡¯s seat!¡±

    Someone dragged her arm and it hurt. She was pulled from the chair with a strong force. The fighting habit developed in her previous life made her instinctively want to react, but now her body was too weak toplete any action at all. She fell hard and bit her lips, causing a trace of blood to leak out. Xia Yingluo became sober. She raised her head and saw a few people surrounding her in the dim light behind her sunsses, casting scornful looks at her. The person at the front was Pei Yan.

    Why was she here?

    New hatred rushed into her heart, and Xia Yingluo got up from the ground and said with her voice cold, ¡°Who touched me?¡±

    ¡°Me, why?¡± A young man in a t-shirt told her proudly. ¡°Not happy? You can¡¯t even see how lowly you are, you even dare to sit in the chair prepared for Ms. Pei. Ms. Pei was kind and doesn¡¯t want to fuss over it with you, so you can get lost!¡±

    Xia Yingluo found out that this group of people also brought a small tea table of the same style as that rattan chair and had tea in their hands. Did they prepare all these for Pei Yan? Was Pei Yan going to drink tea here and admire the flowers?

    She was right. Pei Yan sneered dismissively. ¡°If you don¡¯t have money, don¡¯t copy others and admire the flowers here.¡±

    This was one of the most prosperous business districts in the city. However, the beautiful cherry blossom forest was empty, which didn¡¯t make sense, so wasn¡¯t it obvious that it had been reserved? Didn¡¯t this reckless woman know how to use her brain?

    A sense of intelligence and superiority rose in Pei Yan, and she was even more scornful to Xia Yingluo.

    But Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t afraid of her. ¡°It¡¯s not certain who has to get lost.¡± Today, if it had been someone else, she might have given up, but how could she give way to Pei Yan? Furthermore, this Pei Yan hade forward to make her fall!

    She was wearing sunsses, so Pei Yan didn¡¯t recognize her for a moment. She only felt that this aggressive girl was strangely familiar, and it was a kind of nasty familiarity. Pei Yan didn¡¯t think much and said to some of her followers, ¡°Kick her out.¡±

    ¡°Who dares to touch me?¡± Xia Yingluo became angry and said coldly to the followers, ¡°Try it if you want to die!¡±

    Although she was slender, she was so murderous when she spoke that they were shocked and stopped instinctively.

    Pei Yan was furious and scolded them. ¡°Kick her out! Are you all stupid?!¡±

    She looked at Xia Yingluo angrily again. ¡°Do you know who I am? Haven¡¯t you heard of the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family? Get lost as soon as possible, or you won¡¯t have a ce to cryter!¡±

    Her followers all reacted and yelled, ¡°Did you hear that? This is the youngdy of the Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Pei family. Why, are you scared? You¡¯re not even fit to carry Ms. Pei¡¯s shoes!¡± Although they said this, they were still frightened by Xia Yingluo¡¯s arrogant momentum just now and didn¡¯t dare to really catch her.

    ¡°The Pei family¡¯s face will be thrown by you.¡± Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°If Uncle Pei knew how arrogant you are in front of me, can you guess, will he remove your brother from the heirs¡¯ list because he thinks you¡¯re too shameful?¡±

    Pei Yan¡¯s heart had an ominous premonition, and the nasty familiarity deepened again. She looked at Xia Yingluo and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo slowly took off her sunsses.

    In the eyes of everyone, it was an exquisite and delicate face. It was a little pale and her face was thinly applied with pink powder.

    The few people around Pei Yan sucked in their breaths unknowingly. This girl... was so beautiful! Under the cherry blossom rain, she was like a fairy. Her bright and stunning eyes were instantly distinguished from Pei Yan¡¯s, and under her ethereal beauty, Pei Yan instantly looked in and normal!

    Pei Yan looked like she just saw a ghost. ¡°Xia... Xia Yingluo!¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled lightly. ¡°Pei Yan, don¡¯t you know that you¡¯ll die faster if you¡¯re so stupid? How exactly do stupid minds like you live to this day? Are you still nning to use the Pei family to suppress me?¡±

    Pei Yan choked at her words.

    In this city, even in many parts of the world, the Pei family could trample on anyone. But only in front of the Li family they couldn¡¯t! Even three-year-olds knew that the Pei and Li families were at loggerheads. Imperial Entertainment¡¯s Chairman Pei Ziheng lost to Big Boss Li in terms of love twenty years ago, so how could the Li family possibly give face to the Pei family?

    And, what was worse, as Xia Yingluo said¡ª

    If Pei Ziheng found that the younger generation threw their face in front of the Li family, she was afraid he would directly peel her skin!

 Chapter 1361 - Fan

    <h4>Chapter 1361: Fan</h4>

    Pei Yan¡¯s expression was horrible. She couldn¡¯t swallow her anger after seeing how arrogant Xia Yingluo was!

    If her uncle was here, he definitely wouldn¡¯t want to see his junior shrinking back in the face of others! Pei Yanforted herself and sternly instructed the followers around her. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you chasing her away?! Do you believe I¡¯llin!¡±

    The followers were bitter in their hearts.

    They were all employees of a nearby coffee shop and only helped move the table and chair here for her to enjoy the cherry blossoms because Pei Yan had paid them; they even helped her chase someone away. However, they did not expect that they would encounter Xia Yingluo! Many people reacted when Pei Yan called out the name of the girl in front of her. Wasn¡¯t she the Xia Yingluo who was so popr recently? The one who took the Huanisi cosmetics advertisement and also acted as the heroine of Star Wars Era! Her fairy-like face was really too beautiful and impressive. Coupled with that perfect family background and the gossip with the great movie king Jiang Yu, it would be difficult for people to not know her!

    This girl¡¯s identity was astonishing and threatening, so they didn¡¯t want to offend her!

    ¡°Miss Pei Yan, just be it go...¡± Already some of the followers were trying to avoid any conflict. ¡°It¡¯s all a misunderstanding...¡±

    ¡°What a misunderstanding?!¡± Pei Yan red at them furiously. ¡°This is how your shop treats your customers? Let me tell you, I paid for it! Do you believe I¡¯ll close your business down!¡±

    They simply wanted to cry. They were just part-timers, it didn¡¯t matter to them if the business was shut down. But their boss would surely not let them go if they made trouble for the business! They looked at each other helplessly and could only persuade Xia Yingluo sorrowfully. ¡°Ms. Xia, you¡¯re a big person, so please don¡¯t fuss over it with us and just let Ms. Pei have her way. You see that the weather is so good today, why don¡¯t youe to our store and have a cup of coffee? We¡¯ll give you a discount, oh no, isn¡¯t it okay if we give it away for free?¡±

    ¡°I want to enjoy the cherry blossoms here because the weather is good,¡± Xia Yingluo said with a smile.

    She knew that these little part-timers didn¡¯t have it easy, but who told them to upset her and directly drag her away from the chair? This was a lesson! ¡°You all know who I am.¡± She lowered her hands and yed with her fingernails, and the very polished nails glowed a cold white luster in the sun. ¡°Then you naturally know what my family does. Trust me, Pei Yan can only destroy your business. But do you believe I¡¯ll destroy your life in the city?¡±

    They trembled in their hearts and remembered the rumors about the Li family.

    Legend had it that the underground forces in this city were under the jurisdiction of the Li family. As long as they offended the Li family, they couldn¡¯t even think about leaving the city intact! In contrast, the Pei family who was only serious in business was not a threat at all.

    Weighing the pros and cons, they all made a decision. ¡°Yes, Yes. Ms. Xia, we have offended you. You can stay wherever you want. Erm, we will not disturb you anymore. We¡¯ll take our leave first.¡±

    They apologized andughed awkwardly and were about to take their leave.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Pei Yan was flushed with anger. ¡°How could you do that!¡±

    They didn¡¯t want to be stopped by her, so they walked even faster.

    Behind them, a clear calm voice sounded. ¡°Stop.¡±

    Those few people stood still immediately as if they had been electrocuted. It was Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Ms. Xia, please spare us!¡± Those people were almost crying.

    Xia Yingluo said calmly, ¡°How can you go just like this? Take the garbage away too.¡± She raised her chin and pointed at Pei Yan.

    ¡°You called me garbage?!¡± Pei Yan¡¯s face was twisted with anger.

    ¡°Yes, so what?¡± Xia Yingluo sneered and urged the part-timers. ¡°Aren¡¯t you hurrying up?!¡±

    Those shop assistants really didn¡¯t want to provoke Pei Yan, but under Xia Yingluo¡¯s intimidation, they had no choice but to tremble and say to Pei Yan, ¡°Ms. Pei, the wind is strong here. Why don¡¯t you go into the shop and drink tea? We, we¡¯ll give you a free order...¡±

    ¡°A bunch of trash!¡± Pei Yan scolded the shop assistants fiercely.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want to hear them quarrel and continued to urge. ¡°What are you doing? Hurry up and get rid of the trash. Go to Skyart at night and find Tan Ying to receive a reward. Say that I ordered it.¡± If she wanted to make use of people, she had to give them rewards to satisfy them. In her previous life, she was the queen. And now, she followed her brother and father and was very skillful in using people.

    The assistants couldn¡¯t help but be overjoyed at that. They had some scruples at first, fearing that offending Pei Yan would cause serious misfortunes. But since Xia Yingluo said so, in front of the temptation of profit, all their concerns were left behind.

    ¡°Ms. Pei, please, don¡¯t let us do it.¡± A clerk rubbed his hands and smiled, and several other clerks gathered around.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡± Pei Yan saw the circumstances and was about to explode in anger. But she was helpless. There were so many of them and she couldn¡¯t beat or scold over them, so she could only give in. ¡°I¡¯ll go myself!¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just go sooner.¡± Xia Yingluo smiled.

    Pei Yan looked at her resentfully. ¡°Xia Yingluo, you wait!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll wait,¡± Xia Yingluo answered painlessly. She smiled and watched Pei Yan walk out of the cherry forest angrily.

    The quietness of therge cherry tree forest was restored, and the light pink petals gently fell on the old wicker chair like ayer of soft sand. She sat down on the old rattan chair, looked at the time and realized she had been arguing with Pei Yan for so long, but only a little more than ten minutes had passed. Jiang Yu still hadn¡¯t returned.

    There was only a rustle in the cherry blossoms.

    She sped her fingers and waited for Jiang Yu. Suddenly, the feeling that someone was secretly peering again came, and she turned back alertly, but didn¡¯t see anything like the many times before. She was disappointed and a little reluctant. Was it really Wei Lingnan?

    In a daze, she suddenly saw a group of peopleing out of the cherry blossom forest and running towards her in excitement. ¡°Xia Yingluo! Look, it¡¯s really Xia Yingluo! That woman was right, Xia Yingluo is here!¡±

    She looked at the scene in front of her and was shocked. What happened?

    She saw a group of men and women, young, tall, thin, and fat. Some held ice creams in their hands, some held shopping bags, and their eyes were bright as if they couldn¡¯t wait to throw themselves onto her. They were all shouting in a mess¡ª

    ¡°Xia Yingluo! Sign for me!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yingluo! I love you!¡±

    ¡°The Star Wars Era was so beautiful, let¡¯s shake hands, Xia Yingluo!¡±

    Then, she realized that they were a group of fans.

    It wasn¡¯t surprising that she took a while to understand it. Although she was born in an entertainment family from a young age, her official debut as a celebrity was the most recent thing. It was normal to have never experienced such a battle before.

    But how did they know she was here?

 Chapter 1362 - We Meet Again

    <h4>Chapter 1362: We Meet Again</h4>

    ¡°Xia Yingluo, Xia Yingluo!¡± The group of fans shouted excitedly as they ran towards her.

    Looking at the situation, she started running from them. After all, no celebrity would want to be surrounded by others without being preempted or prepared. While she was weak, she was still considerably agile and was able to run a good distance with the cover provided by the cherry blossom forest. It didn¡¯t take long before she arrived at the end of the forest and faced the business district before her. She was just about to plunge into the sea of people when she heard from behind her: ¡°Xia Yingluo! Wait up! Give us your autograph, Xia Yingluo!¡±

    ¡°What, Xia Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yingluo¡¯s here?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know her? She¡¯s the precious daughter of Skyart Entertainment¡¯s big boss and the female lead of ¡®Star Wars Era¡¯!¡±

    Amotion started in the district as well and people turned heads to look for her. ¡°Where, where? Where¡¯s Xia Yingluo?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was at a loss. Before her was a crowd and behind her were her fans. What was she going to do, would this be the day she was trapped? She was looking for another way out when someone grabbed her wrist all of a sudden. She was startled for a moment. Even in this chaos, she hadn¡¯t lost her rationality and knew that she had to keep herself alert. Who was this person?

    She intuitively tried to break free, but then she heard a voice. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s me.¡±

    Wei Lingnan.

    She recognized his voice instantly.

    She did not expect him to appear here. Xia Yingluo¡¯s mind was a blur as she deliberated over whether to follow him. Then, the grip on her wrist tightened and the man pulled her towards an alley between two buildings.

    She didn¡¯t have much time to consider and simply went along.

    Wei Lingnan took her on a run in strange directions, but they quickly seeded in breaking free from the chasing fans. He pulled her into a clubhouse on the third floor of a building, one that she didn¡¯t quite recognize. It seemed like a pretty extravagant ce, one that few people visited even in a bustling area. All the service staff around were politely greeting the guests.

    Wei Lingnan quickly opened a private room, dragged her in, and closed the door.

    There was a faint tea fragrance in the little private room, and they could hear the sound of traditional string instruments from outside.

    Wei Lingnan let go of her hand and looked at her. ¡°Your body isn¡¯t in good condition and you¡¯re still running about, are you courting death?¡±

    Xia Yingluo instinctively said, ¡°It¡¯s none of your concern.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m not concerned about you, but you¡¯re expecting the World Tree.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was slightly stunned, so all he cared about was the World Tree and nothing more, it was never about her. She mocked herself for her foolishness and took a few steps back from him. ¡°The World Tree is mine, it has nothing to do with you.¡± Based on the rules on the Skatana, she should¡¯ve eaten him up long ago and converted him into nutrients for the World Tree. Even if all other males of the species had the responsibility to protect the World Tree, he did not.

    He should¡¯ve been dead.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression turned colder. ¡°It¡¯s not up to you to decide.¡±

    ¡°If not me, then who?¡± She asked sarcastically, ¡°The Queen? Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    Wei Lingnan went silent. For some reason, he did not wish to bring that name up when he was with her.

    But Xia Yingluo took his silence as a form of acknowledgment. She turned away. ¡°Why are you looking for me instead of apanying your Queen? I¡¯ve been feeling someone follow me recently, seems like it was you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not deny it.

    Xia Yingluo asked him, ¡°Why did you follow me?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯d court death.¡±

    This got Xia Yingluo scoffing again. ¡°Me, courting death? I think you¡¯re the one doing that! Wei Lingnan, I¡¯m warning you. Follow me again and I¡¯ll do what it takes to get rid of you!¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°If I hadn¡¯t followed you, you¡¯d be reduced to no more than torn flesh and broken bones by your fans.¡±

    Xia Yingluo furrowed her brows a little as she recalled what just happened with the fans. ¡°Where did theye from? Why have theye all together?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said sarcastically, ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him and thought hard about it. She was doing fine on her own in the cherry blossom forest, and then Pei Yan arrived and they had an argument. Then, Pei Yan left and the fans came after her... in that case, it was Pei Yan?

    ¡°This woman, someday I¡¯ll show her what I¡¯m made of!¡± she said with hatred.

    Wei Lingnan mocked her again. ¡°At least you aren¡¯t all that foolish.¡±

    ¡°Stay away from me,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Don¡¯t follow me around like a perverted stalker.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m following you, just so that I can handle your corpse when you¡¯re dead.¡± Wei Lingnan was getting angry. Did she think he really enjoyed following her around? But even he couldn¡¯t figure out why he just couldn¡¯t let her go. Whenever he saw her at press conferences and publicity events, or even out in the malls, her haggard look worried him to no end.

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from following her, as he was afraid that she¡¯d encounter danger.

    He actually did care for her, but his words came out so harsh and unpleasant.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t die before you do.¡± She remembered everything she¡¯d been put through since she first met him. No one, not a single person in her life, had made her this upset before. She red at him as if there was a fire burning inside her. As if he was an enemy.

    The tension in the private room reached its peak.

    And at that moment, the door opened.

    Ady in an embroidered cheongsam entered with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you everywhere, Nan. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be in here.¡± With that, she hooked her arms around him, like this affectionate move was nothing but natural. She then looked at Xia Yingluo with a hint of warning.

    Xia Yingluo felt a prick to the heart. She wasn¡¯t expecting to see Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°Looking for me everywhere?¡± Wei Lingnan was unfazed.

    Gu Jinxiu smiled and said gently, ¡°That¡¯s right. The weather is pretty good today, so Yan Yan and I decided to go shopping. She told me she saw you just now, so I came to find you. Nan, how did you end up here with Miss Xia?¡±

    It sounded somewhat like an interrogation.

    Xia Yingluo knew what was going on. Chances were that Pei Yan went to look for Gu Jinxiu after their argument, and together they watched how pathetic she looked as the fans chased her. At the same time, they saw Wei Lingnan alongside her, and that sight made Gu Jinxiu upset enough toe looking for them.

    She looked at Wei Lingnan, anticipating his response.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°We met coincidentally.¡±

    That seemed like what Gu Jinxiu would like to hear. She smiled and held him even tighter now, but kept her eyes straight on Xia Yingluo. ¡°Miss Xia, how coincidental, we meet again. If you¡¯re free,e to attend our wedding¡ªoh, I forgot to mention, we¡¯re getting married soon.¡±

 Chapter 1363 - Manicure

    <h4>Chapter 1363: Manicure</h4>

    Getting married soon.

    Xia Yingluo thought she¡¯d heard wrong and couldn¡¯t stop herself from turning towards Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression stiffened ever so slightly. But he stood silently, making no attempt to deny it.

    Xia Yingluo felt her heart go a little cold and a little more hollow. From the moment she chose not to acknowledge her identity as Queen, she¡¯d told herself that she didn¡¯t want him anymore. How strange, it was she who abandoned him first, why did she still feel so sad?

    She tipped her chin a little higher, unwilling to reveal even a hint of vulnerability.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s lips curled into a sly smile.

    Marriage?

    She hadn¡¯t even brought it up to Wei Lingnan before. It was an impromptu choice to mention it to Xia Yingluo.

    That woman¡¯s appearance had given her a sense of crisis, and she felt that she was losing ground on her rightful territory. Announcing this marriage was the best strategy against her love rival. She¡¯d figured that given Wei Lingnan¡¯s devotion to the Queen, he wouldn¡¯t go against her in front of others.

    She took advantage of her little victory and added, ¡°Wishing Miss Xia a blissful love life with Jiang Yu soon.¡±

    The man she was holding tensed up slightly.

    Gu Jinxiu was shocked and terribly afraid that she¡¯d angered him. But he seemed topose himself rather quickly as he said to her, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He led her out of the little private room.

    Xia Yingluo watched as they left, and her upright posture crumbled as quickly as the proud look on her face. Shey on the couch weakly, as if all the energy had been sucked out of her.

    She looked down at her hands.

    They were just skin and bones, barely any flesh was left. Her manicured fingernails were starting to change in shape and bing more pointed than before. The Skatana species had fingernails that resembled ws, and they were now growing on her¡ªshe wanted to kill someone. She wanted to kill that horrid woman for robbing her of her Guardian. And also her guardian Wei Lingnan... what happened to ¡°standing by her forever¡±? What happened to giving her his life and protecting her for life?

    Why was his betrayal so... heartless.

    Her hands trembled slightly. This pair of hands¡ªonce equipped with ws that had killed countless in this universe¡ªshook, and they now looked so weak and fragile.

    She was no longer the invincible Queen.

    She couldn¡¯t even keep her lover by her side.

    She buried her face in her distorted hands, with no care that those razor-like fingernails would scratch her skin.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Someone yelled all of a sudden.

    Xia Yingluo looked up with a start.

    A female staff was standing at the door and looking at her with concern. ¡°Y-You are... Miss Xia Yingluo, right? Y-Your face...¡±

    She reached her hand up to touch her face, but the female staff screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t touch!¡±

    She rushed over and held her hands down. ¡°Your nails are too sharp and your face is already scratched, you¡¯re going to get disfigured!¡± She looked at the bloodstains on the floor. Those were what scared her when she first entered the room.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned for a while before realizing her face hurt.

    She couldn¡¯t hide her ws in time but hurriedly shifted her hands to her sides. ¡°I¡¯m alright, but I wish to rest alone for now. Please leave, and don¡¯t let anyonee in to disturb me.¡±

    But the female staff looked at her all worried. ¡°You need to treat the wounds on your face. I¡¯ll get someone to bring the first aid kit over.¡± She dared not leave Xia Yingluo here alone. While this was a high-end clubhouse, they couldn¡¯t afford to bear with the consequences if anything were to happen to the Li family¡¯s daughter. Seeing Xia Yingluo in this state¡ªher face hurt and looking all haggard¡ªwho knew if she might self-harm, or evenmit suicide?

    That¡¯d be terrible!

    The female staff decided that she¡¯d stay by Xia Yingluo no matter what she said.

    Xia Yingluo saw her look of determination and said tiredly, ¡°Do whatever you wish.¡±

    She then gave Tan Ying a call and got him to fetch her.

    She¡¯d just hung up when Jiang Yu¡¯s call came. He sounded anxious. ¡°Yingluo, where are you? I lost my way after getting the scarf, and when I went back to the cherry blossom forest, you weren¡¯t there. Why haven¡¯t you been picking up my calls?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t hear my phone ring. I¡¯m on the third floor of the department store, in...¡±

    She nced at the female staff.

    The staff said, ¡°Hua Ting Grand ce.¡±

    Xia Yingluo gave Jiang Yu the address, and he told her to stay where she was as he wasing to get her.

    Only after hanging up did she realize that there were over 10 missed calls on her phone, all of which were from Jiang Yu. But she hadn¡¯t heard her phone ring at all. Perhaps she¡¯d been too caught up with the fansing after her and the surroundings drowned out her ringtone.

    She sat on the couch and waited.

    The female staff looked at her with concern and worry, and tried to make some small talk. ¡°Miss Xia, your nails are very unique.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down at her hands casually and said, ¡°They¡¯re newly done for the new show. I¡¯m not used to the length yet, that¡¯s why I identally scratched myself.¡± Thankfully she¡¯d been weak and fatiguedtely. Although her ws had emerged, they didn¡¯t look horrendously sharp or weapon-like, and more like an exaggerated manicure style instead.

    Hence, the female staff took her word for it andplimented her for her professional work ethic.

    But she still kept her eye on Xia Yingluo, worried that it was, in fact, intentional self-harm.

    They remained silent for the next 10 minutes until Jiang Yu arrived. He heaved a sigh of relief the moment he saw Xia Yingluo, ¡°You¡¯re sitting here well and alive, that¡¯s great¡ªwait, what happened to your face?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Under the watchful eyes of the staff, Xia Yingluo had no choice but to show him her hands. ¡°It was too boring in the cherry blossom forest, so I went to get my nails done.¡± And then it was the same ¡°I¡¯m not used to the length¡± story.

    Jiang Yu was speechless.

    He bent over and took a closer look at her wound. ¡°It¡¯s fine, just superficial injuries. But it¡¯s good to get it treated as soon as possible. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you to the hospital. It¡¯d be bad if it left a scar.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. She didn¡¯t want to stay there any longer, either.

    Jiang Yu took a card out of his pocket and said to the female staff, ¡°For the tab.¡±

    The female staff was almost in a daze. She was seeing the King of Film, Jiang Yu, in person! No young girl could resist handsome men, especially when this one was a superstar! She managed to maintain herposure before she pounced on him asking for an autograph, but still, she waspletely bedazzled by him. ¡°Sure...¡±

    She took Jiang Yu¡¯s card and left the room feeling it was all a dream.

    Only then did Jiang Yu look at Xia Yingluo¡¯s hands skeptically. Why didn¡¯t he remember seeing such a manicure store nearby, one that provided such exaggerated, shy and almost theatrical nails? Even if there was such a store, would Xia Yingluo enter it without an assistant or manager by her side?

 Chapter 1364 - The Queenâ€™s Pride

    <h4>Chapter 1364: The Queen¡¯s Pride</h4>

    Seeing his doubtful expression, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Give me a moment, I¡¯ll remove these extensions in the washroom.¡± These were ws of the Skatana species, after all. If someone found out, things would getplicated.

    But Jiang Yu said, ¡°You just went to get them done, and you¡¯re removing them right now?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was exasperated. So it was true when others said that it took many lies to cover up the first. With no better idea in mind, she tried to seem a little wilful and fickle-minded. ¡°Well, now I don¡¯t like them anymore.¡±

    Jiang Yu took it as a tantrum and nodded easily. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you here.¡±

    He watched as Xia Yingluo left the room. Her petite stature of a back view moved him, and he felt for this girl. He was the King of Film. He was especially astute when it came to picking up others¡¯ expressions and emotions. When he first entered, he could tell that she was sad, and coupled with her fingernails, there just seemed to be too many anomalies...

    Jiang Yu was in deep thought.

    Then the female staff came back and handed him his card. ¡°Mr. Jiang, the transaction is done.¡±

    Jiang Yu received the card and asked, ¡°Did Miss Xiae here alone?¡±

    The female staff was so excited that her idol was talking to her that she responded enthusiastically. ¡°No, Miss Xia was brought here by a man. He was about this tall¡ª¡± She gestured with her hand. ¡°And he was pretty handsome too, but his eyes were very intimidating. He nced at me when he walked past and I was so horrified.¡±

    Jiang Yu¡¯s expression darkened slightly. He found a photo on his phone that he¡¯d taken secretly¡ªit was of Wei Lingnan kissing Xia Yingluo. ¡°Is this the man?¡±

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s him!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s cold aura left a deep impression, and she recognized him right away.

    That was when she realized that this was the man whom Miss Xia was rumored to be with. But this Mr. Jiang before her was her rumored boyfriend as well... Gosh, how much drama was she facing now?!

    She was so agitated she could faint.

    Jiang Yu¡¯s expression turned a little awful. It really was him, Wei Lingnan.

    Only that man could tug at Xia Yingluo¡¯s heartstrings so easily, causing her to hurt herself this way.

    Jiang Yu didn¡¯t buy the story of her ¡°not being used to the length yet¡±. Having filmed with her for so long, he knew very well that she wasn¡¯t such a careless person. She could handle any tool or equipment well. Even if everyone else got hurt by improper handling, she wouldn¡¯t.

    He was lost in thought as Xia Yingluo returned.

    Her hands were back to normal and there was no trace of the ws from before. She said to Jiang Yu, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Jiang Yu sent her home in his car. She remained quiet throughout the journey and seemed rather tired.

    When they arrived at the Li family¡¯s vi, Jiang Yu turned to her in the passenger seat. ¡°I know you met Wei Lingnan today. Yingluo, you can tell me anything. I¡¯ll protect you.¡±

    She was slightly stunned. She¡¯d thought that she held up pretty well, who knew that he saw right through her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said dryly as she recalled how Gu Jinxiu looked with her arm around Wei Lingnan when she announced their uing wedding.

    Jiang Yu looked at her. ¡°You don¡¯t believe I¡¯ll protect you?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m really fine.¡± She did not believe him. And she did not need it, anyway. At this point, all she wanted was to find a ce where nobody knew her, just so that she could properly nurse her wounds. She thought that she¡¯d lost him a long time back and that it didn¡¯t matter to her anymore... but when she received news that he was about to get married, that was when she truly knew what it meant to have her world crumble.

    She got out of Jiang Yu¡¯s car in a daze and went into her home.

    The butler came forward and had a shock. ¡°Miss, your face...!¡±

    She was tired of exining it all over again and decided to just head up to her room and keep herself in.

    She wanted to have some peace and quiet, but her family wouldn¡¯t give her that.

    Worried that she was in some sort of trouble, the butler hurriedly went to inform Xia Ling, Li Lei and the rest. The family had been busy ying with the two leopard cubs but got worried upon hearing this. Xia Ling was especially so. ¡°I wonder what happened, I¡¯ll go have a look.¡±

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯ll go.¡± Li Rui held her down and got up instead.

    Xia Ling hesitated before nodding.

    In this family, Xia Yingluo was closest to her Second Bro. As children, they¡¯d gone into ponds to y with fish together, climbed trees to look for birds together, and she always turned to Li Rui when she had something troubling her. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea to have Li Rui check on her.

    Li Rui went into Xia Yingluo¡¯s room and saw his sister sitting on the carpet with a pillow in her arms in a daze. He went over to sit beside her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He asked, ¡°What happened to your face, it seems like scratches... did you steal cat food from somewhere?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one stealing cat food,¡± she said sadly. She rested her chin on the pillow and seemed like she was losing any hope or happiness in her.

    Li Rui felt like this was pretty serious.

    His sister had always been able to keep upbeat no matter the situation. And even though she¡¯d been expecting the World Tree recently, she¡¯d still managed to appear lively with her smiles. But now... she seemed almost lifeless.

    ¡°What¡¯s been upsetting you, tell Bro about it.¡± Li Rui nudged her shoulder. ¡°Bro will help you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo covered her head with the pillow. ¡°Can¡¯t you just give me some peace and quiet?¡± She leaned forward until she was face down on the rug, with her head buried like an ostrich.

    Li Rui wouldn¡¯t buy it. He gently shifted the pillow so he could see her head. ¡°Something to do with Wei Lingnan?¡±

    She red at him with her pretty eyes. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Seeing how troubled you are, I can¡¯t think of another person who¡¯d have such an impact on you.¡± Li Rui scoffed. ¡°Shoot, what is it this time?¡±

    She looked down at the pillow and, after a while, murmured, ¡°He¡¯s getting married.¡±

    Li Rui was shocked this time. This was out of the blue as if she¡¯d dropped a bomb on him. ¡°How do you know? He told you?¡±

    ¡°He and Gu Jinxiu told me together.¡± Xia Yingluo told him all about what had happened in the clubhouse.

    Li Rui now understood why his sister was so unhappy. Given all that had happened in the day, there was no way she couldn¡¯t be upset! ¡°I¡¯ll look for him!¡± He got up and was all ready to confront Wei Lingnan when Xia Yingluo grabbed him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡±

    ¡°Why not?!¡± Li Rui was enraged. ¡°He¡¯s blind to treat that imitation as a true Queen. Yingluo, I don¡¯t get it. Why won¡¯t you tell him that you¡¯re the Queen? If he knew, Gu Jinxiu wouldn¡¯t have anything left for herself!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t say it.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at her brother. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t love me anymore, there¡¯s no point in me using my identity as Queen to keep him with me. That would be a forced rtionship. I don¡¯t want that.¡±

 Chapter 1365 - Drink the Sorrows Away

    <h4>Chapter 1365: Drink the Sorrows Away</h4>

    Li Rui stared at her, speechless.

    Everyone had their own insistence, and even if the insistence of this silly sister was unpleasant, she had no right to interfere.

    When Xia Yingluo saw his expression, she said, ¡°Second Brother, don¡¯t be angry. I¡¯ll forget about it and gather energy to conceive the World Tree.¡± And prepare to leave a hundred yearster.

    ¡°Forget?¡± Li Ruiughed angrily. ¡°Are you stupid? Is it that easy to forget someone? If you like him, go after him! It doesn¡¯t matter if he loves Gu Jinxiu or the Queen, you should still snatch him over! Once he falls in love with you, you can take your revenge and throw him away like garbage as long as you¡¯re happy! That should be the attitude you should have in love, understand?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo only felt tired.

    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m tired,¡± she said without much energy. She got up and walked towards the door. ¡°I¡¯m going to stay with Ling¡¯er tonight, don¡¯t look for me.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo! Yingluo,e back!¡± Li Rui chased her desperately, but Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t look back. She left him alone and disappeared in the lush courtyard of the luxury vi.

    The Li family heard the sound and came over.

    ¡°Yingluo got mad at you and left?¡± Li Shaohui looked at the direction in which she left and asked while touching his chin.

    Li Rui red at him and rolled his eyes. ¡°You were nowhere to be seen when I was trying to persuade her, but yet, here you are to watch the good show!¡±

    Shaohui narrowed his eyes and smiled. ¡°Do you think that girl is like you, so rough? Tell me, how did you anger her this time?¡±

    ¡°How is it my fault?¡± Li Rui jumped to his feet and pulled his parents to judge. He told them about how he had tried to console Xia Yingluo and about their conversation.

    ¡°You still say you didn¡¯t anger her?¡± Li Shaohui concluded his statement. ¡°Girls needfort at this time, not for you to encourage them to fight for bloodshed. She¡¯s so sad, yet you still bothered her. Do you even understand women?¡±

    ¡°Do you?!¡± Li Rui was even angrier. ¡°That¡¯s my sister! Of course I want her to fight! Fight for her own happiness!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t your sister a woman?¡±

    Li Rui: ¡°...¡±

    The two brothers were so heated up that Li Lei and Xia Ling were at a loss.

    Li Lei managed to return to the main topic and asked Li Rui, ¡°You just said Wei Lingnan is getting married?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Speaking of that, Li Rui got even angrier. ¡°Dad, let¡¯s kill the pair of dog couple! I can¡¯t stand seeing them like this.¡±

    Li Lei sighed and groaned, then said, ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s just follow her decision. We shouldn¡¯t take matters into our own hands.¡± Now that she had decided to try to forget the man, they¡¯d try to help her forget him. Giving her space alone was the best option.

    Li Rui was not convinced. ¡°She¡¯s prone to idents when alone.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has to grow up,¡± Shaohui said. Although he was distressed over his younger sister, he understood that some roads had to be paved by oneself.

    Li Rui still wanted to say something but was interrupted by Li Lei. ¡°Well, just like that, none of you is allowed to go to Wei Lingnan to trouble or disturb him. Everything will wait until she returns to normal.¡±

    Shaohui acknowledged.

    Li Rui nced at him, and no matter how unwilling he was, he had to agree.

    Xia Yingluo stayed in Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s house.

    She stayed there for many days.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was very worried about her condition and said, ¡°Yingluo, he¡¯s a scumbag. What¡¯s so great about him? Just forget him and find a better man! I think Jiang Yu is talented and well-mannered, and he¡¯s even gentle. He¡¯s a hundred, a thousand times better than that Wei Lingnan!¡± When she was in the training camp, she supported Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan getting together, but now the situation had changed. She had long been foes with her good girlfriend¡¯s ex-boyfriend and hated Wei Lingnan. Thus, she was naturally in favor of Jiang Yu.

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly. ¡°Don¡¯t make trouble, just let me be alone.¡±

    So Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t say more and just let her be alone. Every day, she left the house to shoot a movie and then rushed back, bringing food for Xia Yingluo, trying to make her open up, but to no avail.

    Over time, Xia Yingluo saw the TV news. It said that Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan would have their wedding the next day. The news also showed a photo of them choosing the wedding dress together. In the photo, the two were close together and looked very affectionate.

    Her heart stung again.

    She turned off the TV and looked out the window.

    Suddenly, she wanted to drink and went to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s wine cab to bring all the wine in. She didn¡¯t take a cup and simply poured bottle after bottle into her mouth. The spicy feeling spread to her stomach along the throat and spread to her limbs like a fire.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡± she muttered the man¡¯s name.

    In the dimness, it seemed that someone came from the starlight and walked in front of her. He reached out his hand and hugged her. ¡°Yingluo, you can¡¯t drink anymore.¡±

    Who was it? Who was talking to her with such a gentle voice?

    Xia Yingluo opened her eyes hard, trying to see the person in front of her, but she couldn¡¯t see clearly. She murmured again, ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not Wei Lingnan, I¡¯m Jiang Yu.¡± The man¡¯s nice voice came, softly suppressing anger and heartache in the gentleness. ¡°Yingluo, why are you making yourself like this for a man who left you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s cheeks were crimson and she was very embarrassed in his arms. The corners of her eyes were faint with tears. Even though it was so bad, Xia Yingluo still reached for the empty bottle and said, ¡°Wine... give me wine, can I forget you just by drinking a lot of wine?¡±

    Jiang Yu couldn¡¯t bear it and took the bottle from her.

    Since sending Xia Yingluo home a few days ago, Jiang Yu was very uneasy. He had called her and no one answered, so he asked Li Rui about her current situation. Coincidentally, Li Rui was also very worried about her, so he told Jiang Yu that she was with Jin Ling¡¯er. Jiang Yu hade looking for her a few days earlier but was stopped by Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Yingluo is here to hide quietly. She doesn¡¯t want to see anyone, so don¡¯t break in. If she¡¯s forced to go missing, we¡¯ll all regret it.¡±

    So Jiang Yu didn¡¯t dare to meet her.

    But tonight was different. Tonight was the wedding eve of Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu. The news reported their uing wedding in a big way. Jiang Yu was worried that this incident would cause too much stimtion to Xia Yingluo.

    Jin Ling¡¯er had the same concerns and hence let him in.

    Sure enough, they didn¡¯t know when Xia Yingluo moved all the wine in the wine cab into the room, but she drank almost all of it.

    Jiang Yu held the drowsy Xia Yingluo in his arms and coaxed her. ¡°You are drunk, let me help you go to sleep.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not drunk. Nan, I know it¡¯s you. You are so ruthless, how could you announce the marriage when I¡¯m still so weak. I¡¯m still pregnant.¡±

 Chapter 1366 - Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 1366: Invitation</h4>

    Jiang Yu was shocked. She was pregnant?

    Looking at her in disbelief, he asked, ¡°Really? Yingluo, when was it?¡±

    She shook her head indiscriminately and demanded another drink.

    Jiang Yu grabbed her hand. ¡°You can¡¯t drink anymore! You are still pregnant! Yingluo, what is going on with the child, is it true or are you talking drunk?!¡± Hearing that the girl he liked so much was pregnant with someone else¡¯s child made him distressed and angry.

    But she still just shook her head and giggled, and gradually slept in his arms.

    Jiang Yu guarded her, his mind a mess, full of the word ¡°pregnant¡±. He didn¡¯t know what to do. Did Wei Lingnan know this? If he didn¡¯t know and he told him, would he still marry Gu Jinxiu? Yingluo obviously still loved him, should he tell Wei Lingnan about it and make them happy... Or, hide this secret, stay with her, take care of her, and take advantage of her when she was most vulnerable and in need of help? Then maybe, maybe, he could be with her...

    He was absorbed in his thoughts until he heard a noise outside the door.

    ¡°Go away, you are not wee here!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled angrily. ¡°Yingluo won¡¯t see you!¡±

    Jiang Yu quickly got up and went out to see that Jin Ling¡¯er was standing in front of the door wearing a home shirt. A woman with strong makeup stood outside the door with a proud look and wearing an emerald bracelet was on the door, preventing Jin Ling¡¯er from closing it.

    Jiang Yu walked over and asked, ¡°Jing¡¯er, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    When Jin Ling¡¯er saw himing out, she was even angrier. ¡°Brother Jiang, drive this woman away quickly, don¡¯t let Yingluo see her!¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Mr. Jiang Yu.¡± The woman outside smiled coldly. ¡°Pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Jiang Yu asked calmly, ¡°You are?¡±

    ¡°Pei Yan,¡± the woman said her name and shook the thing in her hand. ¡°I¡¯m Gu Jinxiu¡¯s friend. I¡¯m here to send her invitation to Xia Yingluo today. Tomorrow will be Gu Jinxiu¡¯s wedding. Ms. Xia must alsoe along to admire it. ¡±

    Jiang Yu understood that she was here to anger Xia Yingluo.

    The man Xia Yingluo liked was going to marry another woman, and she still invited her to the wedding? Which woman could take such an insult?

    No wonder Jin Ling¡¯er was so angry.

    Jiang Yu took the invitation from Pei Yan. ¡°I¡¯ll help Yingluo ept it. Ms. Pei, thank you, you can leave.¡±

    ¡°Brother Jiang! How could you ept this!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er called again, looking at Jiang Yu in disbelief.

    Jiang Yu said to her, ¡°Quiet, Yingluo has already fallen asleep.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er realized that her voice was too loud, so she stopped talking.

    But Pei Yan looked at him thoughtfully¡ªXia Yingluo was already asleep? What was going on with Jiang Yu here, were they sleeping together? But this was obviously Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s home. Even if the two of them want to live together, they should choose another ce.

    Regardless of her bad thoughts, Jiang Yu politely urged her again. ¡°Ms. Pei, you should go.¡±

    Pei Yan was disappointed. She had taken the initiative to take the invitation to Xia Yingluo to see her sorry state. It would be worth the fare here if she could see Xia Yingluo¡¯s heartbroken expression. But unfortunately, Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t evene out to fight. ¡°The invitation is for Xia Yingluo. I can¡¯t return without seeing her. What about her? Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s in her room crying to sleep after falling out of love?¡± Pei Yan half-mocked.

    Jiang Yu stopped being polite. He reached out and closed the door.

    The loud closing sound echoed in the corridor, and Pei Yan was caught off guard and almost hit her nose.

    ¡°Hey!¡± She shouted in shock and anger, but the corridor was empty, and there was only an iron door in front of her.

    She stomped unwillingly and turned to leave.

    Inside, Jin Ling¡¯er gave Jiang Yu a thumbs up. ¡°Brother Jiang, good job. You should be like that to people like that!¡±

    Jiang Yu¡¯s expression was dull, and he handed the invitation in his hand to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Burn it.¡±

    ¡°Ah? Oh!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er quickly took over the invitation. ¡°Right, I was asking why Brother Jiang would even ept this? This kind of thing must not be visible to Yingluo! I¡¯ll take it to the kitchen and burn it right away!¡±

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°If I didn¡¯t ept it, she just wouldn¡¯t leave. What if she wakes up Yingluo? It¡¯s better to take it and deal with it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°Brother Jiang is still thoughtful.¡±

    Jiang Yu said, ¡°I¡¯ll go see Yingluo.¡± He turned back into the room.

    In the room, Xia Yingluo was still asleep. Her eyes and pale brows looked distressed. Jiang Yu reached out and touched her cheek with some hesitation, then retracted it and whispered, ¡°Rx, I will protect you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo slept for a long time. When she woke up, the house was full of sunshine. Jiang Yu was snoring by her bed.

    She had a splitting headache with a hangover.

    As soon as she moved, Jiang Yu also woke up and looked up at her. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    She looked at him and said, ¡°When did youe here? Have you been guarding me? I¡¯m sorry, I was drunkst night and don¡¯t remember anything.¡±

    ¡°It was veryte, and I came to see you on the way.¡± Jiang Yu gave her a soft smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t guard you for a long time.¡± He wanted to ask her about the pregnancy, but he swallowed it back. It was a big taboo. And even if he liked her a lot, he knew that he hadn¡¯t earned a ce in her heart yet.

    Xia Yingluo knew that what he said was not true.

    If he had onlye on the way and didn¡¯t guard her for long, he wouldn¡¯t have such deep dark circles.

    She looked at him apologetically. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± He got up very consciously and left the bed gentlemanly. ¡°You can wash and change your clothes first. I¡¯ll see how Jin Ling¡¯er is preparing breakfast.¡± Today was Gu Lingxiu and Wei Lingnan¡¯s wedding ceremony. Not only was Jiang Yu uneasy, but Jin Ling¡¯er was also extremely uneasy. She had pushed off all her schedules and only stayed with Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo saw him go out and even locked the door, so she got up to wash and change into clean clothes.

    There was no one in the living room. Jiang Yu and Jin Ling¡¯er were gathered in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and Xia Yingluo also walked over.

    ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re here?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was wrapped with her apron and she turned to smile at her. ¡°Go sit for a while, I¡¯ll fry the eggs. Brother Jiang, go with Yingluo, too. I know at a nce that you can¡¯t really cook, you look so unfamiliar with it.¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled a little apologetically. ¡°I really don¡¯t cook much.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°It¡¯s okay, Brother Jiang. Please sit down. I¡¯ll help, my cooking is good.¡± While talking, she picked up the eggs on the chopping board and beat them, and threw the eggshells into the trash can. Suddenly, her sight halted¡ª

    She saw a small piece of burnt paper in the trash can, which faintly read ¡°Ms. Xiu¡¯s Wedding.¡±

    Ms. Xiu¡¯s wedding?!

    Xia Yingluo understood it in an instant. There may be many new people getting married today, but it had something to do with Jin Ling¡¯er if it was here. There was even a ¡°Xiu¡± word on it, it could only be Gu Jinxiu!

 Chapter 1367 - Why Did She Come Here

    <h4>Chapter 1367: Why Did She Come Here</h4>

    She bent down, picked up the piece of paper from the trash can, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Only then did Jiang Yu and Jin Ling¡¯er discover what she had in her hands and their expressions immediately changed. Jiang Yu nced at Jin Ling¡¯er. Jin Ling¡¯er looked guilty. She didn¡¯t look carefully when she burned the paper yesterday, and it was probably because the paper quality was too good, thus it wasn¡¯tpletely destroyed.

    With a sad face, she said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°That, oh, Yingluo, that¡¯s a piece of ordinary waste paper...¡±

    ¡°Are you stupid or do you think I¡¯m stupid?¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Jin Ling¡¯er simply wanted to scratch the wall in pain. It was too hard to lie to Yingluo.

    She was still searching for some excuse when Jiang Yu admitted it. ¡°I let Jin Ling¡¯er burn it. It doesn¡¯t make sense to keep this kind of garbage.¡±

    ¡°Invitation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked down, staring quietly at the burnt paper in her hands, and there was a burst of irritability in her heart. She didn¡¯t know what was going on, and there seemed to be a voice shouting, ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡± The sound was so strong that she couldn¡¯t ignore it.

    Even Jin Ling¡¯er noticed the anomaly and asked carefully, ¡°Yingluo, don¡¯t tell me you want to go?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was silent for a moment and then looked up. ¡°I¡¯ll go. Why can¡¯t I go? She has already issued war to me, how could I back down and escape from it?¡± Although reason told her that there was no need to go, she had already decided to break up with Wei Lingnan and shouldn¡¯t be angry because of this little provocation. But the voice in her mind was so strong that it stimted her, encouraged her, and caused the militant factors in her body to boil.

    She threw the small pieces of paper, went into the living room and nced at the wall clock, then said, ¡°I¡¯m running out of time. Ling¡¯er, lend me your dress, as well as your cosmetics and car. I¡¯ll go straight there.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er cried with a sullen face. ¡°You can¡¯t go!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a girl with a strong opinion since she was a child. What she wanted to do would be achieved no matter what. She turned around and walked into the bedroom.

    ¡°Yingluo! What are you doing!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er hurried to catch up with her.

    Xia Yingluo rummaged her cell phone. ¡°Call Tan Ying and ask him to pick me up, and bring a dress on the way.¡±

    ¡°Tan Ying won¡¯t let you go, either!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t give uppletely.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go by myself.¡± Xia Yingluo was determined.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was about to cry, and she turned to look at Jiang Yu, who was standing at the door of the room. ¡°Brother Jiang, please persuade Yingluo!¡±

    Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu said, ¡°Don¡¯t call Tan Ying. Yingluo, I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was stunned and was about to go crazy. ¡°I told you to persuade her! I didn¡¯t tell you to go crazy with her!¡± These two were taking the wrong medicine. Weren¡¯t they asking to be ridiculed by rushing up to the door of someone who had abandoned them!

    Even Xia Yingluo looked at Jiang Yu stupidly.

    Jiang Yu¡¯s voice was gentle and smooth. ¡°Gu Jinxiu invited you to mock you. What would it look like if you¡¯re alone in the public? If I am with you, no one canugh at you.¡±

    Then Jin Ling¡¯er understood what he meant.

    If Tan Ying apanied him, at best, it would just be an agent apanying his artiste. Yingluo would still a frustrated ex in the eyes of other guests. But going with Jiang Yu was not the same. They had been spreading scandals recently, and Jiang Yu¡¯s face and worth were also dazzling. It gave face to Xia Yingluo and made those who wanted to mock her all shut up.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you are so kind to Yingluo...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was so moved that she cried.

    Xia Yingluo understood Jiang Yu¡¯s meaning and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled. ¡°Do yourself up here first, I¡¯ll arrange for the car. And I¡¯ll let my assistant send a few suits along the way.¡± This was how thoughtful he was. By sending a few more suits of different colors, no matter what dress she chose from Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s closet, the two of them could match in harmony. Anyway, the preparation process for men before going to the banquet was much simpler than that of women, so he wasn¡¯t afraid of beingte either.

    He even noticed that Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t driving a very good car and arranged otherwise.

    At this time, Xia Yingluo felt howfortable it was to have a thoughtful friend, so she nodded and said yes.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er saw that the two of them were going crazy together, she knew she couldn¡¯t stop it, so she just sighed and helped Xia Yingluo find a dress.

    She had only debuted not long ago and had yet to receive any important roles, so there were only a few dresses in her closet. There were only two in total. One was a versatile short ck dress, and the other was a very colorful elegant fairy-like dress.

    In this case, wearing the little ck dress was obviously inappropriate. Xia Yingluo chose the fairy dress without thinking, but it saved a lot of selection time.

    She and Jin Ling¡¯er were simr in size. Although the waist was slightly loose, it was generally suitable. With the help of Jin Ling¡¯er, she put on a delicate and bright makeup and added a touch of natural blush to her cheeks. Jin Ling¡¯er helped do her hair again. It was a very elegant hairstyle with exquisite jewelry. A glorious beauty was born like this.

    ¡°Yingluo, you are so beautiful.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er looked at her and sighed. ¡°You¡¯ll definitely suppress all the people there.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stood up and tidied her skirt gently. She didn¡¯t want to suppress everyone in the crowd, she only wanted to suppress Gu Jinxiu alone. So what if that woman was a bride? Didn¡¯t she want to mock her?

    It wasn¡¯t certain who would be mocked!

    She opened the door and walked into the living room.

    In the living room, Jiang Yu¡¯s assistant had delivered his suit. These sets were prepared for the Great Film King and were extremely expensive and sophisticated. Regardless of the style, the texture and color were already extraordinary. He saw Xia Yingluoe out and a sh of surprise shed in his eyes. He stood up from the sofa and walked to her. ¡°You are so beautiful.¡±

    The first smile of the day appeared on Xia Yingluo¡¯s face, although it was polite. ¡°The clothes you prepared are also very good.¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled. ¡°Of course, it must match yours.¡± He chose an off-white suit to match ording to Xia Yingluo¡¯s style and color and quickly changed. The two standing together were so dazzling that nobody would look away from them.

    ¡°You two match so well,¡± said Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Humph, we¡¯ll make the dog couple mad.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Yingluo and Jiang Yu went out.

    Parked at the door was Jiang Yu ¡®s Lamborghini. It was a limited edition, and the exquisite body was expensive and luxurious at first nce.

    He pulled the door open for her, got in, and drove all the way to Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu¡¯s wedding venue.

    The wedding venue was in the outskirts of Nanshan. Cherry blossoms were in the resort vi, as well as a variety of luxury cars and VIPs. They were all famous people in the city. Jiang Yu stopped the car and helped Xia Yingluo out again. As soon as they appeared, they caused amotion among the guests at the door.

    ¡°Look,¡± said ady holding her husband¡¯s arm, in a low voice. ¡°Isn¡¯t that Xia Yingluo? Why is she here?¡±

 Chapter 1368 - Who Is Dejected?

    <h4>Chapter 1368: Who Is Dejected?</h4>

    Thedy¡¯s husband was also surprised. ¡°Li Lei¡¯s daughter Xia Yingluo? The one who shared the scandal with Gu Jinxiu¡¯s husband?¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingan isn¡¯t Gu Jinxiu¡¯s husband yet,¡± said thedy with an expression of interest. ¡°She¡¯s here, and the situation may change.¡±

    ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll mess up the wedding? I think you watched too many TV shows.¡± Her husband smiled and shook his head and nced at Xia Yingluo. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate. Such a beautiful girl with such a good family background, but she can¡¯t evenpete with the declining business of the Gu family.¡±

    Thedy disapproved. ¡°What¡¯s there to pity? The scale of the Wei family¡¯s Biopharmaceuticalpany isn¡¯trge, and it¡¯s simply not worthy of the pearl in the Li family¡¯s palm. I think that Wei Lingnan deserves Gu Jinxiu more.¡±

    Wei family¡¯s real base was hidden deep underground, and his humble appearance had deceived many people. Thedy¡¯s husband nodded. ¡°How many people in the world are worthy of the Li family¡¯sdy? The Li family¡¯s daughter took a fancy for him, but he didn¡¯t want such a good opportunity and married Gu Jinxiu instead. Isn¡¯t he picking up sesame seeds and throwing away a watermelon? That man beside the Li family¡¯s daughter is indeed smarter and knows how to serve well.¡±

    He was talking about Jiang Yu, who was holding Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand and walking in the direction of admission.

    Thedy covered her mouth with a smile. ¡°He¡¯s the Movie King, after all.¡±

    Jiang Yu¡¯s reputation in the entertainment industry was as high as ever and numerous women were enchanted by him. He killed all 80-year-old grandmothers down to 8-year-old girls, so thedy recognized him at a nce. She reluctantly looked at Jiang Yu a few more times and regretted in her heart, why wasn¡¯t such a handsome and good-looking man hers? It was a pity that she could only spend her remaining life apanying her beer-bellied husband...

    Thinking this way, she was dissatisfied with her husband and faintly hoped that Xia Yingluo would be unlucky.

    Xia Yingluo was wearing a fairy dress, and under the sun, her beautiful face seemed to have a jade-like cold and beautiful luster.

    She approached the door boy hand-in-hand with Jiang Yu and the door boy, in a clean uniform, said politely, ¡°Two people, please show your invitation.¡±

    ¡°Invitation? I tore it.¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s lips twitched slightly with a smile. ¡°Please announce that I¡¯m here.¡± Her battle mode was already on. She was full of aura, and the words that clearly came out of her soft petal-like lips brought invisible coercion that people couldn¡¯t help but submit to.

    ¡°Please, please wait a moment.¡± The doorman was a little flustered.

    Xia Yingluo held Jiang Yu¡¯s hand and stood still to wait. All kinds of eyes fell on her, specting about her intentions and the invitation¡ªdid Gu Jinxiu really send her an invitation? Or did shee of her own ord out of contempt? People were very curious and many guests purposely didn¡¯t enter. They hovered around them, wondering how things would go next.

    What did not disappoint them was that Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan both came to the entrance.

    Gu Jinxiu in a wedding dress looked much more beautiful than usual. She was like a rose that had blossomed, with a sort of elegance and fragrance. She stood next to Wei Lingnan and looked at Xia Yingluo with the face of a winner. ¡°Ms. Xia, you are finally here. Nan and I have been waiting for you for a long time and thought you would note.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also smirked. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t Ie?¡±

    ¡°Of course because...¡± Gu Jinxiu wanted to say something and consciously stopped herself. ¡°Forget it, bygones are bygones. I¡¯m d that Ms. Xia can walk out of her sorrows.¡±

    Her words held a subtle meaning, and the guests understood that she was mocking Xia Yingluo for having been abandoned by Wei Lingnan!

    Xia Yingluo nced at Wei Lingnan. Standing next to Gu Jinxiu, he was dressed in a white and spotless groom¡¯s suit. His face was light and indifferent, with not the slightest hint of expression. Suddenly she wondered what he was thinking at this moment, was he also ridiculing her like Gu Jinxiu? He couldn¡¯t wait for her to throw her face in front of people all over the world? Thinking this way, her heart hurt a little.

    It was just a pity that he would be disappointed.

    She straightened her back, and her voice became indifferent. ¡°Sorrows? I don¡¯t know what Ms. Gu is talking about. Do you, Jiang Yu?¡±

    Jiang Yu smiled softly at her and said affectionately, ¡°You were spoiled since young and no matter what you like, it¡¯s only a three-minute heat. After a few days, you throw it to the back of your mind and don¡¯t even think of it anymore.¡± Since she wanted to act, he would cooperate with her. Anyway,ing here today was a response to the battle, and in no way would he make her lose face.

    The national male god Jiang Yu was extremely sweet when affectionate. He was clearly an actor. Without a diamond ring in the mansion, he could make people swoon even with sweet words. Many of the female guests present felt captivated by him, and they all changed from being here to watch the show to supporting them.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes were gloomy. The air around him seemed to have formed ayer of ice.

    His gaze fell on Jiang Yu¡¯s hand holding Xia Yingluo. Jiang Yu only felt that the cold hairs on his body were about to stand up. He had the illusion of being targeted by a fierce beast, which made him shudder. But he resisted the urge to retreat and still firmly supported Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo tilted her head slightly and smiled at Jiang Yu. ¡°Yes, three minutes.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes got darker.

    Gu Jinxiu looked at the three of them and felt faintly irritable. He couldn¡¯t help butugh at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia has such a good temper, why did you tear the invitation letter? Just now the doorman told me that you acknowledged tearing the invitation letter. That¡¯s true, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Yingluo did not deny it.

    The surrounding guests were buzzing. It seemed that this girl was open-minded, but she actually cared about Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan¡¯s marriage. Wei Lingnan looked at Xia Yingluo with a pair of gloomy eyes and he said slowly, ¡°You didn¡¯t have toe if you didn¡¯t want to.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was furious. They were the ones who provoked her first, what were they pretending for now?!

    What did he mean by she didn¡¯t have toe if she didn¡¯t want to?!

    ¡°If I don¡¯te, the news will end up saying that I was too sad and was afraid to attend your wedding.¡± She sneered. ¡°Wei Lingnan, if you didn¡¯t want me toe, then control your wife properly and don¡¯t let her send the invitation randomly! Oh yes, but I didn¡¯t tear the card because of you. You sent it to me in the middle of the night, what the hell? You disturbed my rest with Jiang Yu, so I only tore it out of anger.¡±

    She... and Jiang Yu... were resting?!

    For a while, all eyes were focused on her and Jiang Yu. They stayed togetherst night? Oh my god, this was too powerful. Originally, many people thought they were just spreading gossip. Now it seemed that there was indeed substantial progress?!

    Then they had really wronged Xia Yingluo. She indeed wasn¡¯t secretly upset because of Wei Lingnan¡¯s marriage. Jiang Yu was a male god no matter what and wasparable to Wei Lingnan, and was even more famous and gentler to Xia Yingluo...

    Why would Ms. Xia hold onto the past!

 Chapter 1369 - Shut Up

    Chapter 1369: Shut Up

    Jiang Yu¡¯s expression became gentler, and he looked at her sideways intently as if he were looking at a rare treasure.

    There was a dark storm in Wei Lingnan¡¯s heart. He didn¡¯t know why, but he wanted to smash her into pieces immediately, and would rather ruin her than see her with other men. ¡°He slept with you?¡± He asked.

    Xia Yingluo was surprised. Although she had wanted to stimte him, she didn¡¯t expect him to ask so inly.

    However, without showing weakness, she raised her head and chuckled. ¡°Mr. Wei, who are you to ask me this?¡±

    A thicker dark storm brewed in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes. ¡°You know your physical condition best. If you dare to mess around, do you believe I¡¯ll kill him without a burial ce?¡±

    Jiang Yu felt that he had been shot while lying down. She was the one messing around, but he was the one who had to die?

    However, as a man, especially a man who was still pursuing his beloved girl, he couldn¡¯t show weakness. He took Xia Yingluo in his arms and met Wei Lingnan¡¯s frightening eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of her body. It¡¯s not up to Mr. Wei to care.¡±

    ¡°Stupid.¡± Wei Lingnan spat out from between his teeth, his cold eyes still on Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo certainly understood what he was talking about. She was pregnant with the World Tree now, so how could she mess around? It would cause a mess if it was hurt. So was Wei Lingnan angry only because of the World Tree? She felt dejected inside.

    ¡°Jiang Yu will take care of me.¡± She squeezed Jiang Yu¡¯s arm tighter as if nothing happened. ¡°Mr. Wei, you should just take care of Ms. Gu. No, it¡¯s time to change her name and call her Mrs. Wei.¡± She turned her head and looked at Gu Jinxiu with her pretty eyes. ¡°Mrs. Wei, congrattions.¡±

    If Gu Jinxiu was here today to ask her to recognize the reality, then her goal was achieved.

    Was it not enough for her to bless them in front of everyone?

    There was anothermotion in the crowd. It was one thing for the person who was out of love to have a new love. It was another thing to say congrattions to those who had harmed her so indifferently. Although Ms. Xia grew up famous, she was big-tempered.

    The guests¡¯ hearts fell to her again, and they felt a little more pity for her.

    Gu Jinxiu did not expect her to be so open-minded to even take the initiative to call her Mrs. Wei and say congrattions. It was as if she had hit cotton with arrogance and strength only for it to bounce back. She was disappointed, but she couldn¡¯t really be aggressive either. If she said anything to stimte Xia Yingluo in public, even a fool would think that Gu Jinxiu was being too narrow-minded and petty.

    So, she smiled faintly. ¡°Wee to my wedding with Nan. Ms. Xia, Mr. Jiang, pleasee inside.¡±

    After that, she looked up at Wei Lingnan and smiled sweetly. ¡°Nan, we should go in and prepare.¡±

    The eyes of Wei Lingnan swept around Xia Yingluo and Jiang Yu as he apanied Gu Jinxiu in.

    Xia Yingluo watched them go and her straight back slightly rxed. Although it was only a few minutes of confrontation, it felt as long as a few hours to her. She was the queen and had her pride, and couldn¡¯t lose in any situation. She would be impable. She would face everything and be the focus of worldwide attention.

    Jiang Yu helped her enter slowly. He carried most of her weight on his body and lowered his head to say in a volume no one else could hear. ¡°You did very well. Look at all the people, they all think Gy Jinxiu is stingy. How could she get married and call you here to shame you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled reluctantly.

    Jiang Yu gossiped to her to distract her attention. ¡°Many men are looking at you. You are beautiful today, more beautiful than many superstars I have seen. Over time, you will definitely be the top film actress.¡±

    ¡°I am ttered by the movie king¡¯s words.¡± She also joked slightly, wiping away the haze in her heart.

    The two went all the way to the wedding venue. This was awn wedding. Men and women were dressed in elegant Chinese clothes and held wine sses while talking freely. Not far away were the cake tower and flower gate, and the colorful balloons¡¯ embellishment made the ce look just like a fairy tale world. Jiang Yu took two sses of wine from the tray of the waiter passing by and handed her a ss, but he said, ¡°Drink less, you haven¡¯tpletely sobered up from yesterday.¡±

    As soon as Xia Yingluo heard this, she felt her head tingle slightly. It was probably because she had yet to sober up from her hangover and felt a little nauseous.

    She held the wine ss and really didn¡¯t drink it. She said, ¡°I have my limits.¡± She hade to this wedding not to made a mockery, and it wasn¡¯t for personal enjoyment. Xia Yingluo would bring out her best state and make those people who gloated over her misfortune all shut up.

    Jiang Yu smiled. ¡°It¡¯s boring standing around like this. I¡¯ll get you some snacks.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. Jiang Yu went to the long table where snacks were ced on thewn.

    Xia Yingluo basked in the sun in boredom and sent away a few people who tried to chat with her. Suddenly, not far away, a woman with thick makeup and a man walked over. ¡°Oh, I was wondering who it was. It really is you, Xia Yingluo.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was sharp and high. ¡°I thought you would cry to find your mother after receiving the invitation yesterday, but you¡¯re quite shameless. You really came?¡±

    ¡°Pei Yan.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at her, her eyes narrowed slightly. ¡°Take care of your mouth, don¡¯t shame the Pei family.¡±

    ¡°You said I shamed the Pei family?!¡± Pei Yan screamed, staring at her with a pair of exaggerated apricot eyes. ¡°What qualifications do you have to say that to me?! Aren¡¯t you just a piece of trash that nobody wants! Right, Yixuan?¡±

    The man next to her was Zhao Yixuan, who once had Xia Yingluo¡¯s favor and turned her away.

    Zhao Yixuan¡¯s mood was veryplicated. Since he learned that Xia Yingluo was actually the only jewel in the Li family, he had spent many sleepless nights agonizing over it. Why did he blindly abandon such a jewel and chose the rude and worthless Pei Yan? He hated himself and even hated Xia Yingluo. Why did she hide his identity from him? This was clearly infidelity to him!

    Therefore, he wasn¡¯t polite to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, I haven¡¯t seen you in a long time, and you haven¡¯t grown at all. You met a good man and didn¡¯t know how to grasp it. If you were gentler and more considerate, why would you have to see the person you like be together with another woman? I¡¯m even sad for you.¡± He was talking about Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan, but secretly, he was talking about himself.

    Xia Yingluo felt sick at the sight of this person. She snorted coldly and did not speak.

    Seeing the disdain in her eyes, Pei Yan couldn¡¯t bear her treating her fiancee like this, so she said sharply, ¡°Just keep pretending. Why don¡¯t you admit that you¡¯re depressed? Look at what you¡¯re like. What are you even wearing, was this dress worth two thousand yuan? Haha, it lowers your status!¡±

 Chapter 1370 - Public Embarrassment

    <h4>Chapter 1370: Public Embarrassment</h4>

    Xia Yingluo did not expect her to kick a fuss out of her gown.

    This gown was borrowed from Jin Ling¡¯er. Having made her debut not too long ago, Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t financially very able yet, and there was nothing embarrassing about using her hard-earned money to get what she could afford. As for Xia Yingluo, it was even less embarrassing¡ªeven if she came in rags, everyone would recognize her status, and there was no need for her to unt her wealth.

    She looked at Pei Yan as if she was looking at an idiot. ¡°Yeah, this dress costs only about a thousand yuan, so what?¡±

    Her ¡°so what¡± shut Pei Yan up right away. She could mock any girl who turned up at a rich girl¡¯s wedding this way, but Xia Yingluo, of all people? She was probably the richest person amongst them. Her allowance was probably worth as much as some people¡¯s assets.

    Pei Yan was full of jealousy, but she didn¡¯t know how to insult Xia Yingluo further. ¡°You¡¯re wearing such cheap clothes to attend the banquet, how rude! Where have all your manners gone?¡±

    ¡°Who deserves my manners? You? Or Gu Jinxiu?¡± Xia Yingluo sneered.

    Pei Yan was close to tearing her face apart. She tugged at Zhao Yixuan. ¡°Say something!¡±

    Zhao Yixuan was unwillingly dragged into the picture and had no choice but to say something for his fianc¨¦e. He looked at Xia Yingluo, a little pained, and said, ¡°Girls dress up when they¡¯re in a good mood. Yingluo, I know you¡¯re still hung up over the past and miserable inside, and you just can¡¯t bring yourself to doll up. You are also unhappy with Jiang Yu, right? This person can¡¯t give you happiness, you should leave him as soon as possible. Don¡¯t put up a front.¡±

    He was being selfish with these words, hinting at Xia Yingluo to get back together with him.

    If Xia Yingluo was willing to return to him, then he was also willing to forgive her and break up with Pei Yan for her sake.

    Zhao Yixuan was immersed in his daydream.

    A few other guests overheard what Zhao Yixuan said and actually believed that Xia Yingluo was wallowing in self-pity and hence, was unwilling to put in the effort for self-care, casually borrowing a cheap gown for the night.

    There was some sympathy in their eyes as they looked at her.

    Xia Yingluo sshed a ss of wine onto Zhao Yixuan.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡±

    The two sounds were heard simultaneously as Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan tried to evade it but failed. They looked pathetic this way. ¡°Xia Yingluo, what are you doing!¡± Pei Yan yelled.

    The nearby guests looked at her in shock.

    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± Xia Yingluo casually ced the empty ss onto the tray as a waiter walked past. She smiled insincerely. ¡°I can¡¯t stop myself when I see a cheap person.¡±

    She said he was cheap!

    Zhao Yuxuan¡¯s expression was awful, but he looked even more pained now. ¡°Yingluo, I know you still miss me. Your hate is born out of love.¡±

    Xia Yingluo wished she could just give him two tight ps. She¡¯d already sshed wine all over him, and he still wasn¡¯t sober?

    Over on the other side, Pei Yan was on the verge of going hysterical. She took a ss of wine as well and sshed it towards Xia Yingluo. Many of the nearby guests took a few steps back upon seeing iting.

    Xia Yingluo was agile and managed to evade it swiftly. However, her sudden movement had caused her to sprain her ankle, and it seemed like she was approaching the ground too quickly. If she really fell right here, not only would she be embarrassing herself, who knew what injuries she might sustain? As a flurry of things ran through her mind, the dizzy spell from the morning hit her once again, and she was unable to keep herself in bnce. It seemed like there was no escaping this fall.

    What was going on with her?

    She¡¯d just filmed the movie, even if she was running low on energy, it shouldn¡¯t be this bad.

    Why was she unable to control her own body?

    Out of nowhere, a hand reached out to steady her.

    She fell backward and into a familiar embrace. She didn¡¯t need to turn around. Just the scent of the person allowed her to figure out who it was¡ªWei Lingnan, a familiar stranger.

    She regained her footing and pushed him away. ¡°What are you doing!¡±

    They¡¯d fallen to the ground together, and she could not tolerate him touching her.

    Wei Lingnan was in a groom¡¯s attire and his handsome face seemed to be covered in ayer of ice. He looked at Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan with a poker face and said coldly, ¡°Get out of this banquet.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan looked at him in disbelief.

    He was telling them to leave? But they were guests invited by the bride!

    Pei Yan could feel a chill down her spine under Wei Lingnan¡¯s ice-cold gaze. But she was unwilling to bear with this embarrassment in front of such a crowd, so she gathered her courage to speak up. ¡°I was invited by Jinxiu, not you. You can¡¯t chase me out.¡± She then directed her gaze to Gu Jinxiu, who was just beside Wei Lingnan. ¡°Jinxiu, this slut Xia Yingluo is acting inappropriately in your face, you should be chasing her away!¡±

    A few other guests watched as the show unfolded. When Wei Lingnan reached out to support Xia Yingluo when she lost her bnce, they could see how awful Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression was. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s anger had not been quelled yet, and she said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°That¡¯s right, Xia Yingluo should be the one to leave. What right does she have to bully my friend?¡± She was the one who couldn¡¯t tolerate Xia Yingluo, but she was now picking on her in the name of protecting her friend.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°How loyal you are. Since you feel so bad about your friend being bullied, why did you invite me in the first ce? Were you out to have me bully them, or you?¡±

    The cat got Gu Jinxiu¡¯s tongue and she had no rebuttal. She simply nudged Wei Lingnan. ¡°Chase her out.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at Xia Yingluo. She had on exquisite makeup today, and she looked extremely beautiful in the natural light. But even with the blush on, she still seemed a little pale and unwell.

    He fumed with anger on the inside, and said to Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan, ¡°Get out, don¡¯t make me say this a third time.¡±

    This time, there was a menace in his voice.

    Zhao Yixuan and Pei Yan could feel their hearts pounding. This man was... terrifying!

    They were about to pick a fight with him, but with those killer eyes on them, their legs had gone all jelly and they were at a loss for words. There was no way they could defy this man¡¯s orders. With that, they turned around and walked towards the exit, still soaked in wine and looking absolutely pathetic.

    The atmosphere was strange.

    The guests had interesting expressions on their faces. Why did the groom just chase away the bride¡¯s best friend?

    This was definitely the greatest show of the year. It seemed like the bride wasn¡¯t all that important to the groom, after all.

    Many of their gazesnded on Gu Jinxiu, some lined with sympathy, while some full of gloating.

 Chapter 1371 - Wedding Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 1371: Wedding Ceremony</h4>

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face changed. She did not expect Wei Lingnan to treat her like this.

    Kicking her good friend out of the wedding in front of everyone, it was like a p to her face! ¡°Nan, you...¡± She wanted to say that he was too much. But, with all these people looking eagerly for drama, she swallowed her words. If she argued with Wei Lingnan here, everyone would see her as aughing stock. Especially Xia Yingluo!

    Thus, Gu Jinxiu took deep breaths and walked away.

    The ce quietened down and only the music from the violin band could be heard.

    Wei Lingnan did not chase after Gu Jinxiu and instead, looked at Xia Yingluo. Under the bright sun, her hair dazzled, but she looked like she was unable to stand up properly, threatening to fall over at any moment.

    Was she unwell?

    He wanted to ask her. He knew deep down that her movements should not have been so awkward when she was dodging the alcohol being sshed at her, given that she was well trained by her father since young. But what right did he have to ask her? He was marrying the Queen today, while she was ultimately not the right one for him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to send you back,¡± he said.

    Everyone knew exactly why Gu Jinxiu invited Xia Yingluo here. This ceremony was not a happy asion for her. And given her unwell state, it was better for her to leave instead. Wei Lingnan told himself that everything he did was only for the World Tree inside her, not her as a person. This was the only way he¡¯d not feel guilty to the Queen Gu Jinxiu.

    Xia Yingluo misunderstood his intentions. ¡°You¡¯re chasing me away? Do you think I am like Pei Yan and Zhao Yixuan? You can order me around however you like? Wei Lingnan, it¡¯s toote. If you were afraid of me disrupting the wedding, then don¡¯t send the invitation to me in the first ce! You think I really wanted toe?¡±

    She was like an angry little cub.

    Suddenly, Wei Lingnan was in a daze. He recalled Ah Luo in the middle of the battlefield on the Skatana. Against the encircling worm army, the little princess was clearly afraid. However, she still chose to stand by the injured Wei Lingnan. Despite the tears of fear welling up in her eyes, she brandished her undeveloped ws to fight with the worm army... She was originally so fragile, crying at the sight of a withering flower. However, she was willing to bathe herself in blood for a despicable person like him. The seriousness in her eyes at that moment was thrillingly beautiful.

    The Xia Yingluo in front of him, was like Ah Luo returning to his side.

    Instinctively, he reached out to touch her soft cheeks. His hands were halfway through when he suddenly realized how inappropriate his actions were. He silently stopped, turned around and walked towards Gu Jinxiu.

    Silence filled the crowd.

    Xia Yingluo watched him leave and the crowd slowly dispersed.

    Jiang Yu brought some dessert over and asked, ¡°Yingluo, are you alright? I saw Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu over here, did they pester you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Xia Yingluo said nonchntly as she took the dessert from him.

    Jiang Yu looked at her worryingly, unsure whether she was really fine. ¡°You don¡¯t look so well, though. Do you want me to take you somewhere to rest?¡± He noticed her pale face under the heavy makeup.

    Now that he mentioned it, the dizziness came back. Xia Yingluo felt like she was going to fall over and held onto Jiang Yu.

    She steadied herself and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She did not know why she was so restless. She had never been in this situation. Was it because of her hangover? But it was not her first time being so drunk, it was not this ufortable...

    Or was it because she had the World Tree in her, causing her body to be weaker?

    She frowned at Jiang Yu. ¡°Let me hold on to you for a while.¡±

    Jiang Yu looked at her in concern and supported her waist. ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself. If you are unwell, we should go first. If they want to mock us, let them, your health is more important.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°No.¡±

    She wanted to stay here to watch the man¡¯s wedding and let the ugly truth pierce her heart so that she could finally... give up. She did not want to relive the experience of receiving the news of their marriage again. She did not move away from her position. The sun was so bright she could not open her eyes.

    With her firmness to stay, Jiang Yu could not do anything but hold onto her carefully.

    When this girl got stubborn, one could only follow her wishes and not go against it. He could only hope that the wedding would end early so that he could bring her back to rest.

    Maybe his prayer was answered, as the wedding ceremony started quickly.

    On the t turf stood a row of beautiful floral arches. Apanied by the ceremonious wedding music, Gu Xiao, Chairman of the Gu Magnate, also Gu Jinxiu¡¯s father, was in his suit, holding onto his daughter¡¯s arm and walking towards Wei Lingnan. He handed her over to Wei Lingnan. The bride looked up with happiness written all over her face.

    Everyone kept quiet as they watched the ceremony. Some of the rich madames were even wiping tears off their faces. The scene of the beautiful bride and the handsome groom united under the sun was a scene right out of a fairytale.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s dizziness grew stronger standing in the crowd.

    Her lips turned pale and her heart palpitated.

    Subconsciously, she held tighter onto Jiang Yu¡¯s arm.

    In her heart, waves of anger crashed. She had this urge to run up to the stage and tear the pair into pieces.

    She did not understand what was happening to her and tried hard to control herself. Her body trembled.

    On the other end, the emcee said in a solemn voice, ¡°Mr. Wei Lingnan, do you take Ms. Gu Jinxiu as your wife, to take care of her, protect her, in poverty and in sickness, to stand by her through thick and thin?¡±

    The voice seemed toe from a faraway ce through Xia Yingluo¡¯s buzzing head and blurred vision.

    Beside the emcee table, Gu Jinxiu was decked in her white wedding dress, looking up, eagerly waiting for Wei Lingnan¡¯s answer.

    Wei Lingnan subconsciously looked in the direction of Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Mr. Wei Lingnan, Mr. Wei Lingnan?¡± The emcee asked.

    He managed to suppress his frustration and hesitated for a moment. Looking at Xia Yingluo in the crowd, he wanted to ask her ¡°Why are you not the Queen¡±?! How could he have such thoughts...

    How could he betray his Queen at this important moment?

    Wei Lingnan reprimanded himself, forced himself to concentrate, and looked at Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face.

 Chapter 1372 - The Queens Food

    Chapter 1372: The Queen¡¯s Food

    In the crowd.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s breathing was getting more and more difficult, and her blood was boiling likeva. There was a faint mor for every cell that wanted to break through her body. She tried her best to suppress it, but she couldn¡¯t stop it anymore. A huge scream beyond the human hearing instantly swept the entire wedding scene. With her body as the center, the golden-green light invisible to the naked eye raged like a rocket. Nearby, the champagne tower, colorful balloons, and bouquets exploded at the same time, and countless fragments wrapped in the air and sted away.

    ¡°What!¡±

    There were screams everywhere, and the guests panicked, trying to escape.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s vow was interrupted. He subconsciously turned his head and saw Xia Yingluo¡¯s thin body falling softly among the crowd. Jiang Yu, who was helping her, eximed, ¡°Yingluo!¡±

    The golden-green light spread, the explosion continued, and chaos ensued. Wei Lingnan ran towards Xia Yingluo without thinking, and no matter how Gu Jinxiu called from behind, he did not turn back.

    He came to her, crouched down and held her wrist. ¡°Yingluo!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face was as thin as gold paper, and the energy explosion like boilingva made her squirm about in pain. She opened her dry lips and breathed with difficulty, with nothing in her sight until his handsome and familiar face came into view.

    Eat him! Eat him! Eat him...!

    Voices from all over the world shouted in her mind.

    A ripple of gold and green water fluttered around her. She couldn¡¯t think, nor did she know where the strength came from. Her withered hands grabbed his hand, and he was subdued by just one move. The position of the two was flipped, and she pressed down on him, bowed her head, and bit the aorta of his neck!

    Wei Lingnan tried to resist but was so horrified he couldn¡¯t move. The golden-green light invisible to human eyes bound him like branches and veins, tightly entangling his limbs, and allowing her to easily bite his flesh. The golden-green light circted, weaving a huge cocoon on the open grass, wrapping them both in the tight air.

    She knelt and fell on him, biting a piece of meat on the side of his neck like a beast feasting. She raised her head, and her lips that looked like withered roses were covered with red blood.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡±

    Wei Lingnan was shocked by the sight in front of him and could only stutter.

    Although he had never experienced it personally, he knew what it was in the memories passed down from generation to generation of the Skatana people¡ªduring the wedding night, the queen would eat her husband, and it was in this shape of energy cocoon!

    No outside sound could be heard.

    All the explosions and the screams of the crowd went away.

    Wei Lingnan looked at the cocoons she had formed with shock. It was different from the memories passed down from generation to generation. In his memories, the cocoons weaved by the queen with her own energy were all white, but this one was gold with the World Tree¡¯s glorious green. It was so beautiful and dazzling.

    ¡°Ah Luo...?¡± She tore off the flesh on the side of his neck again, but he felt as if he didn¡¯t even feel the pain, and eagerly asked her, ¡°Are you Ah Luo? Are you Ah Luo?¡±

    However, the eating queen did not answer.

    Wei Lingnan tried his best to break away from the control of the energy beams, but those gold-green energy beams were so powerful that he was left powerless. He was not afraid of dying. From the moment he was determined to obtain Ah Luo hundreds of millions of years ago, he had been ready to be eaten by her. But he was afraid that the person who ate him was not Ah Luo. Her energy cocoon was so different. Was it the attack of the World Tree seed in order to draw energy or the drive the queen¡¯s will? Was his Ah Luo Gu Jinxiu or her?

    ¡°Answer my question!¡± He looked at her fiercely, causing the wound on the side of his neck to bleed wildly, making his voice hoarse.

    She still didn¡¯t answer. Her eyes were empty, and she just buried her face in his warm flesh and devoured it greedily.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡± Immediately, his breathing became weak and heavy, and his voice was intermittent. ¡°Is this the end... I have loved you for so many years and chased you... for so many years. In the end, you are before me, but I can¡¯t tell which one is you...¡±

    Her bite stopped slightly, and the hands on his chest began to tremble.

    Her sharp white fingertips had sharp nails sticking out, piercing his delicately crafted suit.

    ¡°Animalization...¡± He looked at her sharp, cold fingers and mumbled, ¡°Did you start to beastify by drawing on my energy, or... forget it.¡± He looked at her metallic and inorganic eyes,ughing at himself. ¡°You won¡¯t answer even if I ask you. Ah Luo, is this my punishment? You won¡¯t let me know who you are until death.¡±

    The man lied on his back on the bloody ground, the golden-green energy beam deeply stuck into his flesh.

    He no longer looked at her, and his eyes became as empty as hers. There was a faint, strange resonance in his mouth.

    It was just a small resonance.

    Her movements became slower, and her sharp nails shuddered and shrank back and forth as if two forces were fighting for the dominance of the body. Xia Yingluo¡¯s mind was still chaotic. In the chaos, she heard the resonance of his hometown tone¡ª

    ¡°Farewell, Ah Luo.¡±

    For some reason, she felt a terrible pain in her heart and could not help but want to let go of the man below her.

    No, you can¡¯t eat him...

    She tried hard to tell herself. In the midst of it, she couldn¡¯t tell why, but only vaguely felt that if she ate this person, she would regret it and be very sad.

    But another force in her body was tearing at her.

    The World Tree screamed in anger, making her blood boil even more, urging her, forcing her, and making sure she devoured the man under her into her belly. The two energies shed fiercely, her body trembled violently, her ws fluctuated, and a shocking blood mark was drawn on Wei Lingnan¡¯s chest.

    He noticed something was wrong and looked at her in amazement.

    Her face was even paler, and the golden-green World Tree¡¯s light came on and off. Suddenly, like thest light from the residual candle in the wind, it suddenly went out. She crooked and fell down softly.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Wei Lingnan called.

    The golden-green energy beams that bound his limbs disappeared, leaving only the scars that had been deeply stabbed by her, as well as the marks from the neck that had been bitten by her. He didn¡¯t care about his blood, he got up and hugged her into his arms, and called out several times in a row. ¡°Yingluo? Yingluo!¡±

    However, she did not respond at all.

    Wei Lingnan stood up holding her, and the golden-green energy cocoon disappeared. Thewn after it had lost its cover was a mess. All the guests and staff members had escaped, and it was quiet and empty.

 Chapter 1373 - Survive

    Chapter 1373: Survive

    Not long ago, the wedding scene had been luxurious and romantic. But at this time, it was torn down like the ruins of war.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t even have time to look at the wreckage. He lowered his head and looked at the girl in his arms. He didn¡¯t even know if she was alive, but he urged his remaining energy. Energy was stored in his blood, but he had just been bitten by her for a long time and too much of it was lost. At this time, it was urged several times before a faint white light appeared. The air was distorted like a crack in the space. Their figures gradually blurred and disappeared.

    ¡°Mr. Wei!¡±

    An old man cried out in the undergroundboratory at the Wei family¡¯s base.

    In the originally closed and emptyboratory, the air was distorted like the wedding scene. Wei Lingnan fell to the cold metal ground with the girl in his arms. His face was pale and bloody, and her situation was even worse. Her eyes were closed tightly and he didn¡¯t know if she was breathing. The old man quickly greeted. ¡°Mr. Wei, what¡¯s wrong with you? Did you teleport back instantly?¡±

    Teleportation was very energy-intensive. Not to mention that he was still injured and carrying a person, the difficulty increased geometrically.

    Wei Lingnan was too weak to speak and did not answer the old man. He got up from the ground with difficulty, hugged Xia Yingluo, and carried her to the bed in theboratory. His strength was already insufficient, and he could not get her to bed even after trying several times. The old man on the side hurried forward to help. As his wrinkled hand touched the girl¡¯s skin, he was astonished¡ª

    It was so hot!

    Although she looked dead, her skin was hot, like magma boiling, and he almost threw her away in reflex! Fortunately, following Ling Lingnan¡¯s excellent qualities for many years, he restrained himself. He resisted the pain of being burnt and helped the girl to the experimental bed. His palms made a scorching sound because they could not stand the high temperature, giving off white smoke and a burnt smell.

    He helped her lie down and the old man let go of his hand.

    He saw that his palm was like it had been burnt by fire.

    He resisted the pain and went to see Wei Lingnan. Wei Lingnan was covering the girl on the bed, and the cket on his chest was already burnt by her high temperature. His exposed skin and flesh had blood dripping continuously.

    This...

    Even Mr. Wei couldn¡¯t resist this high temperature?!

    The old man was amazed and looked at the girl on the bed in shock. The girl¡¯s eyes were closed and she seemed to be out of breath, but her skin was pale and intact from the outside, and there was a faint turquoise gray sheen on her face.

    What exactly was going on?

    He was still specting when Wei Lingnan said softly, his voice sounding weaker than ever before, ¡°Go get all the energy supplements, Skatana flowers, and energy potions... quick!¡±

    The old man froze. ¡°Sir, the new batch of Skatana flowers are still being cultivated and are not mature yet. When they are picked at this time, they will not leave seeds!¡± This meant that if he killed the chickens to fetch the eggs, there would be no more of it in the future.

    Wei Lingnan looked up, the fierce light in his eyes breaking the old man¡¯s heart.

    He had never seen his owner look at himself with such eyes, and his legs turned to jelly. ¡°I, I¡¯ll go!¡±

    He responded incoherently and crawled out of theboratory onto the rolling belt. He took all the energy-containing potions andpounds ording to Wei Lingnan¡¯s instructions. There were actually only three flowers and six bottles of the mixture.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed it before he handed it to him, unscrewed the cap of the energy potion, and poured it into Xia Yingluo¡¯s mouth. The girl on the bed was still hot, and all the mixture was fed by him, but there was no improvement.

    ¡°Xia Yingluo, you can¡¯t die, do you hear me!¡± He said fiercely, taking the Skatana flower from the petri dish, tearing it, and shoving it into her mouth. However, she was unconscious, and the broken petals were stuffed into her mouth, but she had no reaction and could not swallow at all. Wei Lingnan was irritated. He plucked the petals out of her mouth and, disregarding the dirt, he put them in his mouth and chewed. Then, he leaned down, his lips touching hers, and fed it into her mouth little by little.

    Her temperature was hot and she brought a faint fragrance.

    The aroma reminded him of his hometown. Under the huge lush World Tree, the little princess smiled like a silver bell.

    He fed her all three of the Skatana flowers in the same way, and it took a long time to fully feed her. The high temperature on her body faded slightly, but her breathing was still extremely weak. ¡°Yingluo...¡± His voice was weaker, and he stood beside her, looking grave.

    ¡°Mr. Wei...¡± The old man dared to open his mouth cautiously. ¡°Your wounds... would you like to deal with it?¡±

    There was blood on Wei Lingnan¡¯s body, and the blood holes on his neck and the burns on his chest had not been dealt with. The blood continued to flow down, and a small puddle had already umted on the ground.

    He had time to take care of himself now. He took the disinfected cotton balls and gauze that the old man had brought in and made a simple bandage.

    After bandaging, he didn¡¯t leave her bedside and kept guard beside her.

    The old man moved his lips, trying to persuade him to rest, but saw his horribleplexion and swallowed his words stiffly.

    Wei Lingnan stayed with her like this and murmured, ¡°Yingluo, you need to get better. Get better and tell me what¡¯s going on.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t figured out why she had a sudden attack at the wedding banquet, and why she fell into aa suddenly when she had been eating him. He had never heard of such a thing on the Skatana. In fact, if he was on the mother star, he would have died on the wedding night and wouldn¡¯t even be able to witness the World Tree taking shape in the queen¡¯s body.

    But was she the queen?

    Was it because she wasn¡¯t the queen, so there were all kinds of abnormalities that didn¡¯t match the past?

    Or was it because she was on Earth?

    No one could say for sure.

    But no matter what, he knew exactly one thing¡ªno matter who she was, he wanted her to survive.

    The moment he saw her softly pass out, his heartbeat almost stopped, for fear that she could not bear the energy of the World Tree and die. At that moment, he found that he was willing to exchange everything in life for her safety. Although it was only a momentary thought, he suddenly understood how important this girl was to himself.

    It had nothing to do with the queen, nothing to do with the World Tree.

    She was his treasure.

    Wei Lingnan knew that he had betrayed the queen with this thought, but what could he do?

    He was in love with her.

    He didn¡¯t want topare this kind of love with his love for the queen. The priority was to let her survive, and only if she survived would there be a future. Regardless of her temperature, he held her hand tightly. ¡°Yingluo, don¡¯t die.¡±

 Chapter 1374 - Energy Storm

    Chapter 1374: Energy Storm

    In her dream.

    Xia Yingluo was in a void.

    There was darkness everywhere as she walked continuously. She didn¡¯t know what she was looking for until a faint light appeared in front of her. When she came to the light, she saw a seed floating in the void, and the mist was wrapped in a touch of golden-green, looking like a charming illusion. ¡°What are you?¡± she asked softly.

    The seed lied quietly suspended in the void, but a sound came into her mind¡ª

    [I am the World Tree.]

    Yes, this was the World Tree that was bred in her body. It had not yet grown and still looked like a seed.

    ¡°What happened to me, why am I here?¡± she asked again.

    [You are badly hurt,] The World Tree replied with anger and inquiry. [Why didn¡¯t you eat him?]

    She was a little stunned before she could tell who it was talking about. ¡°Eat Wei Lingnan? I don¡¯t want to eat him, don¡¯t give this idea to me. You¡¯re not allowed to control my body in the future!¡± Now that she thought about it, she must have lost control at the wedding ceremony due to the World Tree taking control over her.

    The World Tree was still very angry. [He is your husband and has to be eaten by you!]

    ¡°Husband?¡± Sheughed at herself. ¡°He almost became Gu Jinxiu¡¯s husband.¡±

    [He was looking for death!] The World Tree gave out a sharp whistling, and the golden-green light fluctuated. [His entire mission is to be eaten by you! Since he dares to marry another woman, don¡¯t me me for attacking him! Eat him!]

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Yingluo refused again.

    The World Tree was even angrier, and the golden-green energy storm made the entire void unstable. [You have insufficient energy now, and you will die without eating him! All of us will die!]

    Instead, Xia Yingluo calmed down. ¡°We will not die. Although my energy is weak, I can still support you. You were the one looking for death. You lost so much energy at the wedding to attack him and caused the tragedy today.¡±

    [Stupid!] The World Tree screamed. [Do you know why the queen eats her husband on their wedding night? Because he is my father! His energy is the same as mine! Eating one of him gives me more than enough energy than eating all the Skatana male soldiers! Most of the energy of the World Treees from that meal. As for the energy the soldiers provide in the future? It is just a tiny drop in the ocean!]

    For the first time, Xia Yingluo heard such a statement and her mind went nk. After the queen became pregnant, the entire family would search for energy, but it said that the energy was just a drop in the oceanpared to eating Wei Lingnan?!

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to eat him,¡± she said dryly.

    [We will die! All of us will die!] The World Tree screamed again. [Eat him! Get his spaceship! You have enough energy to take me back to my home star, and we¡¯ll rebuild our home! Eat him! Eat him! Eat him!]

    ¡°Stop!¡± The riot of energy gave Xia Yingluo a headache. In the void, she covered her head in pain and shouted.

    However, it was like the World Tree heard nothing. It kept repeating¡ª

    [Eat him! Eat him! Eat him!]

    The golden-green energy storm was even more frantic, pressing Xia Yingluo tightly, making her heart move unconsciously. It was as if she was being brainwashed, and her eyes became a bit empty. ¡°Eat... eat...¡± she murmured. ¡°Eat...¡±

    The gold-green energy surrounded her, restraining her, and crept into her mind like a weird vine.

    Throughout Skatana, the only thing stronger than the queen¡¯s will was the will of the World Tree, which was the basis for the survival and reproduction of the entire race. And the queen served it, after all.

    The golden-green energy was like a spell.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes became even emptier. ¡°Eat... him...¡± She was weak, withered due to energy exhaustion. Her consciousness struggled deeply, telling her it was wrong. But the energy of the World Tree was too powerful, making her unable to fight.

    At this moment, a fragrance came from the dark void.

    Broken white petals scattered one after another like a vast rain in the golden-green energy storm.

    A broken petal fell on her face, turned into transparent energy, and disappeared.

    There was a murmur in the petals.

    Yingluo, survive...

    Survive...

    Yingluo.

    There was instant rity in her heart.

    Her eyes recovered sharply, and she exhausted all her strength and shouted at the seed in the void. ¡°No¡ª!¡±

    She would never eat him, no matter what happened!

    With her sharp shouting, white energy burst out of her body. The energy storm mmed into the golden-green light of the World Tree, and the sky broke apart. The whole space became chaotic. She was shot down by the huge force and shattered into pieces in the dark void...

    ¡°Yingluo!¡±

    In theboratory, Wei Lingnan was holding her hand and saw her twitching violently. The skin of her whole body burst open, andva-like hot blood flowed out, which instantly stained the entire experimental bed. How could this be?! Wei Lingnan¡¯splexion turned pale, and he hurriedly blocked her wounds. However, there were too many wounds, and the flesh rolled up inch by inch. The girl on the experimental bed was burning in high temperature and white smoke was emitting from many parts of her body. The white smoke caused the flesh to burn and cken, like charcoal.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Wei Lingnan wailed.

    He didn¡¯t care about anything. He grabbed her hand and transferred his energy into her body desperately.

    His energy was already very weak, and he couldn¡¯t resist such a loss. In just a few seconds, he fell to his knees, and his sweat ran down like a waterfall.

    ¡°Mr. Wei!¡± The old man beside him also screamed. It would be fatal if he continued!

    Wei Lingnan turned a deaf ear and just clutched her tightly, still delivering energy with desperation. His body dried up at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. His originally lean arms shrunk into a 70-year-old man¡¯s prominent tendons and bones, like a dead body.

    ¡°Yingluo... don¡¯t die...¡± he said with a hard grip on her hand.

    Her condition gradually stabilized as he desperately delivered her energy.

    Her body no longer bled and her temperature was not so scary. Although she was lying on the experimental bed with sore holes, at least her limbs and wounds were not cooking and she no longer broke like a y doll at the touch.

    Wei Lingnan still did not dare to let go of her and continued trying his best to deliver energy.

    He was afraid that as soon as he let go of her, her injuries would reopen. He feared that if he let go, the instant heat would swallow her.

    He looked at her intently, not missing the slightest change, and did not even notice that theboratory door was opened. A woman eximed, ¡°Nan! What are you doing?!¡±

 Chapter 1375 - Gu Jinxiuâ€™s Drug

    Chapter 1375: Gu Jinxiu¡¯s Drug

    Wei Lingnan seemed to have heard that sound, but also not quite. He did not even turn around as he kept his eyes fixed on Xia Yingluo while doing his best to transmit energy to her, despite running low on it himself.

    Gu Jinxiu was horrified to witness the scene.

    The scent of blood in the air, and therge expense of energy... it didn¡¯t take much thinking to figure out what he was doing!

    So much was going on at the banquet. Amidst the chaos of the champagne tower and the balloons exploding, she saw Wei Lingnan dashing towards Xia Yingluo without a care for anything else. He had not even nced at his bride, nor worried whether she was injured.

    Jealousy rose inside Gu Jinxiu.

    She stood on the turf, watching bitterly as he helped her up. Then, the golden-green light of the World Tree weaved into an energy cocoon. She rushed forward and tried to break it open, but was deflected by a huge wave of light, causing her to cough blood.

    ¡°Miss Gu! Are you alright?¡± A nearby employee asked, ¡°Why are you coughing blood all of a sudden? Where¡¯s Mr. Wei?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu shook her head but did not respond.

    The huge and beautiful cocoon was naked to the human eye, and to the rest of them, it seemed like Wei Lingnan and Xia Yingluo had disappeared into thin air. Although the majority of people around were too busy running for their lives to notice it, a small minority witnessed the situation¡ªlike Jiang Yu, who was still in shock.

    Her lips suddenly curled into a devious smile.

    Shocked? Afraid? Well, Jiang Yu, the woman you fell for isn¡¯t a woman at all, she¡¯s a monster!

    She isn¡¯t worthy of your love!

    When she thought of it this way, she momentarily forgot that she was that sort of monster too, and so was the man she loved.

    The crowd screamed as they fled the scene, while some others¡ªsuch as Jiang Yu, who witnessed Xia Yingluo¡¯s disappearance¡ªhurriedly gave the Li family a call before looking for her.

    Gu Jinxiu had wanted to continue attempting to break the cocoon open, but the energy storm was in full blow now, and she had already sustained a few cuts just by standing still. She dared not stay there anymore and backed away into a small building nearby instead as she kept her eye on the situation. It felt like an eternity before she saw the energy cocoon disintegrate and dissipate. A bloodied Wei Lingnan held onto an unconscious Xia Yingluo came to form slowly, but with a change in the atmosphere, they were gone again.

    Gu Jinxiu was frustrated. Had she known that he was going to teleport so many times, she¡¯d have gone straight to the underground base to wait for them!

    Among the three of them from the Skatana species, she was the weakest¡ªso weak that she could not use teleportation.

    Afraid that things would happen between Wei Lingnan and Xia Yingluo, she quickly got into the car and sped to the base.

    But she was still toote. She saw her beloved man kneeling by that woman¡¯s bedside, his face ash-grey like a dead person, evidently fatigued from all the energy he¡¯d been giving to her. ¡°Nan, you can¡¯t do this to yourself!¡± She screamed and pulled him away. ¡°Let go of her!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯te over!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was significantly weaker than usual, but it still carried the same coldness and menace. He kept his bloodshot eyes on Gu Jinxiu, as if ready to kill her anytime if she dared take him away from Xia Yingluo¡¯s side.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart went cold. She wasn¡¯t sure if she was more aggrieved or angry. ¡°You¡¯ll die if you go on this way!¡±

    Wasn¡¯t she the Queen? How could he look at his Queen with such a cold re?

    Rage rose inside her. ¡°Nan, believe it or not, if you die, I¡¯ll kill this woman instantly and bury her with you! Take your hand off her! You can¡¯t give her any more energy!¡±

    Wei Lingnan knew that he wasn¡¯t being polite to her. But at this point, this was the least of his concerns.

    ¡°If she dies, I¡¯ll bury myself with her,¡± he said softly but firmly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry... Jinxiu.¡±

    The name ¡°Jinxiu¡± seemed to explode by her ear. Ever since she told him about her identity, he¡¯d been calling her ¡°Ah Luo¡±. Why was he suddenly calling her by her human name now? Gu Jinxiu remembered what Xia Yingluo had mentioned about the true and false Queen, and was suddenly filled with fear. Did Wei Lingnan think she was a false Queen too?

    ¡°I¡¯m the Queen, call me Ah Luo!¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at her weakly. ¡°Tell me the truth, you and Yingluo... who exactly is Ah Luo?¡±

    ... Fortunately.

    Gu Jinxiu felt the fear subside. Fortunately, it was just a suspicion, he wasn¡¯t actually sure that Xia Yingluo was actually Ah Luo. Gu Jinxiu now had renewed confidence and courage to re-evaluate the situation¡ªno matter what, she had to keep Wei Lingnan alive and kill Xia Yingluo! As long as Xia Yingluo died, Wei Lingnan would have to treat her as Queen, even if he had other suspicions! And this would be the only way they¡¯d live forever!

    Once she made up her mind, she pretended to look all worried. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to talk about it! Nan, what¡¯s most important is to keep you alive now. Don¡¯t you want Xia Yingluo to survive as well? Fine, I¡¯ll help you! Once both of you are well and fine, I¡¯ll prove to you once again that I¡¯m the Queen!¡±

    There was a flicker of light in Wei Lingnan¡¯s tired eyes. ¡°You¡¯re willing to save her?¡±

    ¡°For your sake, I¡¯m willing to do anything.¡± Gu Jinxiu sighed. ¡°If I don¡¯t save her, you¡¯d rather die with her. I can¡¯t possibly watch you die.¡± She tried to look pained, hoping for him to feel sorry for her.

    But he only had eyes for Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Yingluo can¡¯t hold out much longer,¡± he said. ¡°Jinxiu, hurry and transfuse some energy to her.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu tried to remain calm. ¡°You know that direct transfusion of energy actually leads to a lot of wastage, that¡¯s why we invented drugs. Teach me how to create a drug, I¡¯ll go prepare two bottles of it for both of you.¡±

    It was a waste indeed, to directly transfuse energy to her. If it wasn¡¯t because this was an emergency situation, Wei Lingnan would never use such an unrefined method to deliver his energy to Xia Yingluo. Upon hearing Gu Jinxiu¡¯s words now, he had no objection. ¡°Alright. But I¡¯ve used up all my resources, I¡¯d have to depend on you to use your energy for the drug.¡± He looked at Gu Jinxiu apologetically. It was difficult to umte energy on Earth, who knew how long it¡¯d take for her to recover this amount once she used it for the drugs.

    Gu Jinxiu was upset, but she put on a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be so formal with me.¡±

    She turned around and left thisboratory, heading for the drug-makingboratory next.

    Wei Lingnan was still holding onto Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand. He was pushing his limits, giving her anyst bit of energy he had in himself. He did not know whether he could hold it out until Gu Jinxiu came back with the drug, but there was one mantra that pushed him on¡ª

    Survive this.

    Survive this, with her.

 Chapter 1376 - Earthquake

    <h4>Chapter 1376: Earthquake</h4>

    He¡¯d spent so many years looking for her, not for this sad ending.

    As time ticked away, the energy in Wei Lingnan¡¯s body was depleting to naught, but he was still unwilling to loosen his grip on her hand.

    Gu Jinxiu entered with two bottles, both of which held a drug that let off a faint blue glow. The bottles seemed identical, and she handed one of them to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Nan, this is the drug I made with my energy. One bottle for each of you, you¡¯ll be fine once you drink it.¡±

    She then went to Xia Yingluo¡¯s bedside, bent over and fed her the other bottle of drug.

    A strange expression shed in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes as he watched her.

    ¡°Jinxiu,¡± he said all of a sudden, stopping her. ¡°Yingluo is very weak right now, she wouldn¡¯t be able to take such a high dosage at once. Dilute the drug before letting her have it slowly. Don¡¯t feed her too quickly, she won¡¯t be able to stand it.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was slightly stunned. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Do as I say.¡± Wei Lingnan was firm. ¡°You¡¯ve only just learned to make drugs, and she¡¯s on the verge of dying. We can¡¯t take the risk.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was unwilling, but she knew that there was no good in insisting on doing it her way. She held onto the drug and looked for some water to dilute it.

    Wei Lingnan watched as she left. He then used hisst bit of strength to open his bottle and feed Xia Yingluo.

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu looked on in shock, with the diluted drug in her hands. She dashed forward and snatched the bottle from his hand, smashing it on the ground. ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    Horrified, Xia Yingluo had already consumed every single drop of that drug.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I lied to you.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was weak, and he smiled while apologizing. ¡°I know that you¡¯ve never liked Yingluo, so I was afraid that you¡¯d tamper with her drug.¡±

    ¡°So you got me to leave, and then fed her your drug?¡± Gu Jinxiu was enraged.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Wei Lingnan apologized again.

    Gu Jinxiu heaved with anger as she looked at this man sitting on the floor,pletely exhausted. She put in so much of her energy into making his drug, and he did this to her?! ¡°You¡¯re too much!¡±

    But Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Too much? Jinxiu, then hand me the drug in your hands.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s hands tensed up.

    Wei Lingnan did not miss that subtle movement and said sarcastically, ¡°You dare not give it to me, am I right? That¡¯s because the drug in your hands is ineffective, or maybe, even lethal. Although the bottles look the same, only mine was really effective.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Gu Jinxiu rebuked softly.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t? Then let me drink it,¡± Wei Lingnan said calmly, but it seemed like he had it all figured out.

    Gu Jinxiu erupted with anger. ¡°Yes! I wanted to kill her, so what! Wei Lingnan, how could you ask me to save her! She ruined our marriage and used up every ounce of your energy! Why should I save her?! Did you have it all figured out from the start? You got me to make the drug, knowing that I wouldn¡¯t leave you in the lurch. You made use of my feelings for you... and then fed the drug I so painfully made to that slut!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not a slut.¡± His voice went even weaker now.

    Gu Jinxiu felt a stab to her heart. ¡°You didn¡¯t deny it, so it¡¯s true...¡±

    She pointed a finger at him and beganughing hysterically. ¡°Hahaha, what a joke. I am the Queen, but you¡¯re colluding with another woman against me! Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t you care for her so? Do you think she¡¯ll be well just because of the drug you fed her? Don¡¯t you forget,¡± she fiddled with the bottle in her hand, ¡°I still have this poison with me! I¡¯ll let her die before your eyes!¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± Only then did Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression change. He struggled to get up and take the bottle from her, only to have her shove him aside.

    Gu Jinxiu seemed to have gone insane. She tipped Xia Yingluo¡¯s chin up, opened her mouth and poured the liquid down.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Wei Lingnan yelled in agony as if his heart had been ripped apart. He watched on hopelessly as the liquid entered her body between her parched lips.

    ¡°Yingluo...¡±

    Gu Jinxiu emptied the bottle into Xia Yingluo¡¯s mouth, smiled menacingly and then went off to retrieve a second bottle.

    That was when the ground began shaking. The ceiling lights swung, the walls crumbled and the ground opened up... voices of the employees outside could be heard¡ª

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? An earthquake?!¡±

    ¡°Run! Earthquake!¡±

    The ground opened up, more and more...

    Theboratory was split in two. Gu Jinxiu held onto a wall fixture tightly so as not to slip into therge gaps.

    As the ground tilted more significantly, the bed Xia Yingluo was lying on was about to slide into the abyss as well.

    Adrenaline rushed through Wei Lingnan as he found the strength to grab onto her hand tightly while the bed slid into the gap. Half of her body was off the edge too, in a precarious position. She was unconscious and oblivious to this, and he dared not loosen his grip a wee bit. All he had in his mind was to hold onto her hand, no matter what happened....

    His body changed forms¡ªhis long, slender human legs slowly toughened up into the hind legs of a beast, his ws emerged and left scratches on the ground of theboratory. Just as he was about to fall into the abyss with her, the massive earthquake came to a stop. A new area of ground was formed slowly, supporting the part of her body that was hanging off the edge, until she was lying safe and t.

    Wei Lingnan finally heaved a sigh of relief. How had the earthquakee about? He¡¯d built this base centuries ago, and nothing of this sort had ever happened since. Hey beside her on the renewed surface, devoid of energy, but still wanting to take a look at her face.

    Her skin was shrivelled and dry. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s second drug on her had taken effect, and now, her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were bleeding.

 Chapter 1377 - Saved

    Chapter 1377: Saved

    He did not know if she was dead or alive. All he knew was that he¡¯d done everything he could and the rest was up to fate.

    With a gap in between them, Gu Jinxiuughed hysterically on the other side. ¡°Nan, just give up, she won¡¯t survive this! Did you think I made the drug for nothing? She drank so much of it, there¡¯s enough to kill her ten times over! Hahaha...¡±

    The louder she cackled, the angrier he got. A horrendous urge engulfed him.

    He wanted to kill Gu Jinxiu.

    So what if she was the Queen? How dare she treat Yingluo this way! Yingluo looked hideous and terrifying with blood oozing out of her face at several points, but he did not despise her at all. He continued holding onto her hand tightly. ¡°Yingluo, survive this.¡±

    The door of theboratory was swung open.

    Wei Lingnan looked up and saw a man d in white, leading a few other men. ¡°Xia Moyan!¡± He did not question why Xia Moyan was here nor snapped at him for trespassing his territory. All he did was look at The Preceptor with a wee expression for the first time ever, and weakly said, ¡°Save her...¡±

    Xia Moyan was expressionless as he bent over to pick Yingluo up and then left quietly.

    Wei Lingnan watched as they left, and only when they were out of sight did he lose consciousness.

    The sky was clear after the rain.

    Xia Yingluo felt as if she¡¯d been ripped apart and put together again many times over as if every cell inside her was screaming in agony. Her head was pounding, it hurt so much she wished she would just die.

    But she survived it.

    When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a room.

    It was a simple but elegantly furnished room. Red candles with carvings were lit in the four corners of the room, and drawn on the floor was aplex spiritual symbol. She was lying right in the center of the symbol, clothed in a simple outfit, and a red string coiled her limbs.

    She could hear a religious chanting from outside the room and recognized that it was her uncle¡¯s voice.

    Xia Yingluo forced herself to sit upright, but she was still extremely weak. She panted a long while in that position while bits and pieces of memory came back to her. She remembered being at Wei Lingnan¡¯s wedding, and then all of a sudden she had an uncontroble urge to eat Wei Lingnan up, and then? What happened after...?

    She only remembered having a conflict with the World Tree in her dream, but besides that, she couldn¡¯t recall much else.

    In any case, she could confirm one thing from that conflict in her dream¡ªshe had not eaten Wei Lingnan, he was still alive, and that was great. She looked down at her palm, the mark of the World Tree was faint and barely visible. ¡°I¡¯ve won,¡± she said to her hand. ¡°Stay where you should, and if you create any more trouble, I could just abort you.¡±

    All she got in response was silence.

    She tried to feel for the state of the World Tree and realized that it was extremely weak. She had no idea how long it¡¯d take to recover from this injury.

    ¡°One step closer to dying together.¡± She smiled sadly. It wasn¡¯t so far from the truth, given how weak her vital organs were. Slowly, she helped herself out of bed and, as she walked, the red string uncoiled to the ground like a trail that she left. She opened the door and felt the fresh air in her face.

    Xia Moyan was in a full religious outfit, a white robe with intricate embroidery. In his hands was a ritual implement, and he held onto it while chanting and walking rounds in the house.

    She greeted him. ¡°Uncle.¡±

    Xia Moyan looked at her, his expression solemn. He finished chanting hisst verse, bowed courteously towards the sky, and handed the implement to a fellow member before approaching her. ¡°Yingluo, you¡¯re finally awake.¡±

    ¡°How long was I unconscious for?¡± She looked at Xia Moyan¡¯s haggard expression with guilt. ¡°Was my situation really bad, and you had to use a lot of resources to save me?¡±

    ¡°However bad it was, I had to get you back.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s robe fluttered in the breeze. ¡°But this time, the one you really should thank is this. You formed an alliance with it, and it was unwilling to watch you die just like this. Hence, the earthquake it brought about broke the Wei family¡¯s base open, allowing us to get you out of there as soon as possible.¡±

    She did not know that such a benefit came with forming an alliance. Xia Yingluo bowed to the sky as her Uncle did before. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She then turned around to face Xia Moyan. ¡°What happened in the base, was Wei Lingnan trying to hurt me?¡± It wasn¡¯t a surprise that she thought this way. Her injury was very serious this time, and she was still in a recovering state. She knew her condition very well¡ªthis injury couldn¡¯t be solely because of her conflict with the World Tree, there had to be external forces at y too.

    Wei Lingnan loved Gu Jinxiu so much, and she went to ruin their wedding, what would he not do to get back at her?

    With that train of thought, her expression darkened.

    Xia Moyan was as calm as always. ¡°I¡¯m not too sure what happened, only Wei Lingnan has the answer to your question. Gu Jinxiu was at the scene, too.¡± He looked at his niece¡¯s expression and was about to say something more but stopped himself.

    When he got into theboratory with his men, Wei Lingnan had begged him to save her. He didn¡¯t seem like the one who hurt her.

    But no matter what happened, Xia Yingluo was so badly hurt because of him. Xia Moyan harbored hatred towards that man and decided to keep some things unsaid. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea to have Yingluo misunderstand him, staying away from that man was the best choice she could make.

    Xia Yingluo was still unsure of what had happened. She swayed a little and seemed like she was about to fall.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°You just woke up and you¡¯re still very weak. I prepared a clean room for you to recuperate in. Come, follow me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo followed her uncle onto the nk walkway. They were in the mountains, home of the Xia household, overlooking a beautiful scenery. Xia Yingluo did not have the heart to admire her surroundings and simply followed Xia Moyan to a nicely furnished and quiet room. Xia Moyan settled her down and got someone to send her some snacks and tea. ¡°Rest here for now, I¡¯ll get your Mom and Dad here.¡±

    ¡°Mom and Dad are here too?¡±

    ¡°You almost died and I wasn¡¯t confident about saving you. How could they possibly note?¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt guilt rise inside her. Just how much trouble had she brought to her family recently? She¡¯d caused them so much fear and worry. She waited quietly in her room as Xia Ling and the rest hurried over.

 Chapter 1378 - Wei Lingnans Judgment

    Chapter 1378: Wei Lingnan¡¯s Judgment

    She lived in the n to heal.

    Her body got better every day. A long time passed slowly.

    Her energy was almost nothing, but her life was saved, and she would easily let her mind stray when she was idle. The wedding ident that day always haunted her. She guessed that she would have been killed by Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu if her uncle hadn¡¯t arrived in time.

    This cognition only intensified over time.

    The outside world was messed up.

    She watched the news and found that many media were reporting on the wedding feast. They all spected about what caused the sudden explosion. Was it an ident? A terrorist attack? Or revenge from a love rival?

    Thest guess pushed her to the cusp.

    People said that Li Lei¡¯s baby daughter had the ability to do such a destructive thing. Although Skyart soon denied the rumor, the probability of this rumor was too high, and it was spread by countless people at one time. There were several versions of it. Resentment, love, and hate. Tan Ying and the others tried their best to deal with it, but it took time to eliminate the impact.

    The other two people in the rumor disappeared. Some paparazzi reported that Gu Jinxiu was hiding at home, but Wei Lingnan could not be found.

    Day after day, simr news was reported every day.

    Xia Yingluo looked at it for a few days and finally got tired of it. She left those reports alone and quietly healed herself.

    One day, she was sitting in the mountains and green waters to admire the scenery. The breeze blew through her hair, making her rxed and happy. She was in a better mood, but suddenly she heard a noise behind her, and was startled when she turned back¡ªshe saw that there was an extra man behind her. He looked withered and frail and was wearing a slightlyrger white shirt. He was looking silently at her.

    His look seemed to contain thousands of words.

    Xia Yingluo rushed up in anger. ¡°Wei Lingnan! Why did you appear here without warning! You scared me!¡±

    He knelt down. ¡°Ah Luo... Your Majesty, I was wrong, please forgive me.¡± His voice was hoarse as if he had not rested for many days, and his graceful and dangerous body was thin as paper in the mountain breeze, like it would fall when blown at.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. Thunder shed in her heart. How did he know her identity?

    She instinctively denied it. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯m not Ah Luo, you have already confirmed it.¡±

    ¡°I was wrong,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°I made a fatal mistake... Ah Luo, forgive me. I have waited for you for so many years, I have been looking for you for so many years that when I heard Gu Jinxiu utter my real name in the Skatananguage in that restaurant I thought she was the queen... Can you understand my feelings at that time? Millions of years, I don¡¯t even know how many years... Ah Luo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was silent and thought about it. If it had been her, after being separated from her beloved for hundreds of millions of years, and after bearing countless failures, she would have been ecstatic to hear the familiar and moving voice and would have determined that she had found the right person.

    ¡°Then, congrattions.¡± She held back the sadness in her heart and said coldly, ¡°You found your queen Gu Jinxiu.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not.¡± Wei Lingnan looked up at her. ¡°Ah Luo, stop pretending. I know it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°I said it¡¯s not me!¡± Xia Yingluo was annoyed.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°You are allied with Earth, right?¡±

    She froze again.

    When Wei Lingnan looked at her, he knew that he had guessed correctly, and smiled bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m so stupid, I should have discovered it long ago.¡±

    ¡°Talk about your spections.¡± She didn¡¯t deny nor admit it.

    Wei Lingnan rationalized his thoughts. ¡°All along, because Gu Jinxiu first issued the Skatananguage, my preconceived notion was too strong, and I thought she was the queen. Even if I was attracted to youter, I did not doubt her identity. I just thought, how could I betray the queen? I had to suppress the idea of loving you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you can¡¯t betray the queen.¡± Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help sneering. ¡°Then why did you like another woman?¡±

    ¡°You are not another woman. I loved you from beginning to end.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Xia Yingluo was even more irritated. ¡°You have decided to marry Gu Jinxiu. No matter who is the queen, you have stepped on two boats at the same time!¡± This was a knot in her heart, and it ached sorely.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I never liked Gu Jinxiu, but I didn¡¯t dare admit it at the time. It was tantamount to betrayal to the queen. I attributed my attraction to you as a ploy of Earth, or because of the difference in our biological system¡ªAh Luo, you know that only a few princesses in our hometown are females, and each female is in apetitive rtionship. They bring their guardians with them and kill one another. In my hometown, apart from you, there was no opposite sex I could choose to like. But this was different. On Earth, there are billions of women I could marry freely. I thought this biological model led me to fall in love with another woman.¡±

    This was the result of his rational analysis and was the most reasonable exnation.

    Because of this exnation, these days he had been struggling to suppress his instinct to love her. The pain it brought was indescribable.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t appreciate it. ¡°Ha, what nice words you put it into.¡±

    How could her Guardian be so stupid? Or was he too smart? Too clever after staying in the experimentalbs for so many years? No matter how unreasonable, he could still find a reasonable exnation for it. He didn¡¯t even know if he was pitted against her or himself.

    ¡°Go on, why did you think I am the queen.¡±

    ¡°I always thought that it was an ident for you to conceive the World Tree. Because the conception mechanism of human women is different from that of the queen. Your condition after pregnancy was also different from that of previous queens, so I believed that you were just an ordinary human. That was until I hugged you back to theboratory. At the critical moment of your life, the earthquake appeared in time, the crack separated you from Gu Jinxiu, and the newly risingnd below the ground did not just hold you up, it also let Xia Moyan in to save you. So many coincidences were too difficult to exin.

    ¡°The location of my underground base is very particr. Logically, there won¡¯t be an earthquake for at least thousands of years. I also investigated the origin and movement trajectory of this earthquake. All the data were abrupt and weird as if the earthquake was made for you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo understood. ¡°That¡¯s why you asked me if I have an alliance with Earth?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°After excluding all possibilities, there is only this one possibility. And the only one who can ally with the Earth is the Queen. ording to the universal rules, the that requests for rescue in a critical situation can¡¯t be an ordinary ally. It can only be the person who made the covenant. Whoever Earth rescues, that person is the queen.¡±

 Chapter 1379 - Return to the City

    <h4>Chapter 1379: Return to the City</h4>

    The wind blowing in the mountains rustled the leaves between the two.

    Since things had alreadye to this, there was no point denying it anymore. Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°So what if I am?¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°Ah Luo, it¡¯s really you...¡±

    Xia Yingluo stepped back, avoiding his outstretched hand in disgust. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me. Get out.¡±

    Still, she only had that sentence.

    This was her purpose in simply acknowledging her identity. If she didn¡¯t recognize it, Wei Lingnan would always be entangled. But once she acknowledged it, she could order him with the queen¡¯s identity. ording to the stark level of the Skatana, he must obey her.

    But Wei Lingnan did not obey her.

    He stayed still kneeling. He looked up and begged with a hoarse voice. ¡°Ah Luo, forgive me...¡±

    ¡°What you did is unforgivable.¡± She showed no mercy and was happy to see the injured look on his face. ¡°When Gu Jinxiu was the Queen, you followed Gu Jinxiu. Now that I am the Queen, you¡¯re chasing me. What if one day you think I¡¯m not the queen? Would you hurt me again like in theboratory after the wedding was interrupted that day?¡± She coughed a few times as she talked. Her illness was beginning to recover, but she was too weak.

    Wei Lingnan quickly pleaded. ¡°Lab? I didn¡¯t hurt you, Ah Luo. I was saving you!¡±

    Her gaze was cold as ice. ¡°Liar.¡±

    After being betrayed by him again and again, she could no longer trust him. All she could believe was her own body.

    The physical pain told her she had been attacked by outsiders during hera.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t!¡± Wei Lingnan was anxious, but he couldn¡¯t argue. His fingers clenched into fists on his side and he released them. He knew very well that the situation today was brought upon by himself. He had betrayed Ah Luo¡¯s love and trust again and again.

    ¡°Ah Luo, give me a chance to make it up to you,¡± he whispered.

    ¡°I already told you to get lost,¡± Xia Yingluo said mercilessly. ¡°What nonsense are you still spewing? Are you not getting out? Fine.¡±

    She sneered and stopped speaking. She stared at Wei Lingnan kneeling on the ground. Wei Lingnan felt a huge invisible pressure making him stand up subconsciously, carrying his legs downhill uncontrobly.

    The queen¡¯s will.

    He knew exactly what that was. Only the Queen had the ability to control every tribe member to do anything she wanted.

    After breaking into the Xia family¡¯s territory with great pains, he was unwilling to leave just like that. How could he leave without getting her forgiveness? He controlled himself and used his own will to fight the Queen¡¯s will. He was confident that he could escape the influence of the Queen¡¯s will. Many years ago at the Skatana, he had been astonishingly powerful and even sessfully defeated the Queen in thest battle.

    This time, he would be able to do it again.

    Xia Yingluo felt a huge force against her, and she urged her power even harder to suppress it. She felt something sweet in her throat and spit out blood unknowingly.

    Wei Lingnan was shocked. She was recovering from the serious illness and was still very weak, why was she fighting with her life?

    ¡°Ah Luo, you...¡± He stepped forward in concern, trying to find out her injuries.

    ¡°Get lost!¡± She almost roared with her life in anger. Blood flowed from the corners of her lips, and the cold wind on the mountain blew against her, causing her to teeter unstably.

    Wei Lingnan dare not make trouble. So what if he could fight her? He didn¡¯t want her to be hurt again. ¡°Don¡¯t do this, I¡¯ll go now,¡± he said sadly. He retracted his resistance, turned and walked down the mountain step by step.

    Xia Yingluo also regained her strength. She stared nkly at his back as he walked further and further down the mountain path, and her chest became stuffy.

    She just wanted to stop him and throw herself into his arms.

    When she was at the Skatana, many restrictions made her dare not show her love for him. And even here, they had all kinds of unpleasantness happen between them... how could she be together with the person who had hurt her so many times?

    Feeling sad, she forced herself to stop thinking and walked down the mountain path to her ce of residence.

    She encountered Xia Moyan halfway.

    The first sentence the cold white man said when she saw her was, ¡°Yingluo, are you all right? I was looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Looking for me?¡± She wondered.

    ¡°The defense system in the n was attacked by external forces just now. I guessed that Wei Lingnan came in, so I hurried to find you,¡± Xia Moyan said as he looked at her. ¡°Looks like you have already met him?¡±

    She nodded glumly. ¡°He¡¯s gone, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    She didn¡¯t want to say more and continued walking forward slowly.

    Xia Moyan apanied her. ¡°He knows who you are?¡± Only for this reason would he risk his life and break-in.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You drove him away?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo, what are your ns for the future?¡± Xia Moyan was a little worried.

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°Take each step and decide.¡± Right after she spoke, she felt a sudden pain in her lower abdomen. She called out suddenly and bent down.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Xia Moyan quickly supported her.

    ¡°I... it¡¯s okay...¡± She resisted the severe pain, raised her pale face and said to her uncle, ¡°I just used my energy when I was angry... Now, my body probably can¡¯t stand it... so... it¡¯s reacting...¡±

    The palm of her hand held the faint imprint of the World Tree, which was almost invisible now.

    Xia Moyan said with a frown and helped her up, ¡°Let me help you go back. This won¡¯t do, you need to replenish energy as soon as possible. I¡¯ll send you back to City S tomorrow. We can still catch up with the ¡®Star Wars Era¡¯ promotion.¡± Her energy mainly came from poprity, so as long as she frequently appeared in the media, she could be supplemented.

    Xia Yingluo did not object.

    At night, she took a good rest and boarded a private jet back to City S the next day.

    The nended on the tarmac of the Li family¡¯s house. Xia Ling and Li Lei returned with her. Li Shaohui and Li Rui greeted them under the ne, and Li Rui was holding a half-sleeping little leopard in his hands.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Second Brother will bring you out for a spin,¡± Li Rui said. ¡°Tan Ying has already released news to the media and fans that you areing back for treatment today. Let the paparazzi look at your appearance and write a few reports. Our reporters will follow up secretly.¡±

    She was too short of energy and time was tight, so she couldn¡¯t afford to dy it longer.

    She nodded in agreement with her brother¡¯s n. The makeup and clothes were ready, and she took a break and got into Li Rui¡¯s car.

    Li Rui hummed a song and drove the car onto the scenic S City¡¯s road. Xia Yingluo was in low spirits, so Li Rui had to find things to say. ¡°These days when you were away, there were a lot of rumors outside, but fortunately, Tan Ying¡¯s efforts helped to suppress them. The reason why you fainted was exined as hypoglycemia, and it had nothing to do with the explosion.¡±

    She remembered the wedding that day. ¡°Hypoglycemia? The outside world believed this?¡±

    ¡°Some people didn¡¯t believe it. They said that you fainted from the huge blow of seeing Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu getting married. But Tan Ying¡¯s public rtions skills are very high. Those who maliciously spected on you were scolded by your fans and passers-by with justice.¡±

 Chapter 1380 - Interception on the Expressway

    Chapter 1380: Interception on the Expressway

    Xia Yingluo sat silently in the passenger seat.

    In fact, she really fainted because she couldn¡¯t take the blow. The wedding angered the World Tree in her belly and it was an attack on the man. She looked at the scenery flowing past outside the car window and suddenly felt that the world was so unreal.

    Li Rui hummed a song while driving, and the offbeat singing irritated Xia Yingluo¡¯s eardrum, but she didn¡¯t want to stop him.

    But it was Li Rui who gave her a restless look. ¡°You used to say it was awful when I sangst time, why didn¡¯t you tell me that today? It¡¯s a good thing you came back and didn¡¯t die, can¡¯t you be happy and celebrate it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there is anything to celebrate.¡±

    So Li Rui stopped singing and asked her, ¡°I heard Wei Lingnan went to the Xia family territory to find you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You drove him away? Are you more powerful than him now?¡± Li Rui was interested.

    Xia Yingluo said dully. ¡°I scolded him away. If we were to fight, I wouldn¡¯t be able to win.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were awesome at the wedding scene,¡± Li Rui said. ¡°You made such a big explosion.¡±

    ¡°That was an ident... it was the ability of the World Tree, not my ability. By the way,¡± she remembered something and asked, ¡°how is the outside world reporting that riot, was there anything unusual?¡±

    ¡°Unusual?¡± Li Rui gave her a strange look.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I remember that I used energy to make a huge cocoon, and wrapped me and Wei Lingnan in it. That kind of energy cocoon is invisible to human eyes. That is, in the eyes of the other guests, I just disappeared out of thin air. They couldn¡¯t be more shocked.¡±

    Li Rui froze. Although he knew that his sister was the queen of a mysterious distant, he always had an unrealistic sense when listening to these science fiction stories. At this time, listening to her say this, he asked subconsciously, ¡°It was that cool?¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll answer your question.¡± Li Rui saw that she was angry and quickly coaxed her. ¡°Wei Lingnan probably did something with it. All the media, the guests and staff didn¡¯t say anything was abnormal. I guess that man¡¯s ability is big.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was relieved. It was good to be handled well. With Wei Lingnan¡¯s strength, he could really wipe all of this out. Besides, the ck technology of ¡°modifying memory¡± he had used against the Wei family alone could solve the immediate crisis.

    That man was notpletely useless.

    Unconsciously, she remembered him again, and the lonely back in the mountain that day made her heart ache.

    Out of nowhere, Li Rui made a sudden brake and she was caught off guard. Her head almost hit the windshield. Suddenly, she was sober and red at him. ¡°Do you know how to drive?!¡±

    Li Rui innocently motioned her to look ahead.

    She saw a car parked sideways on the highway in front of her, just two meters away from them. If Li Rui had not braked in time, he would have already hit it. Xia Yingluo was a little stunned. ¡°Who parked on the freeway? Are they trying to die?¡±

    Li Rui shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s probably some paparazzi that doesn¡¯t want his life.¡±

    It was no secret that she was driven by her brother to go for a spin today. The Li family created the news on purpose, and many reporters had followed them secretly on the road, but the two didn¡¯t care too much.

    ¡°You can¡¯t snatch the news like this.¡± Xia Yingluo was angry.

    Li Rui smiled evilly. ¡°Let me get down and lecture him.¡±

    He got out of the car and walked arrogantly to the other BMW car and knocked on the door impatiently. ¡°Hey,e out, didn¡¯t you want to snatch the news? Let me lecture you well, I¡¯ll make sure it goes on the headlines!¡±

    While he talked, the other cars behind him caught up. Generally, they stopped to watch the show. Many reporters came out with cameras and shooting props. ¡°Mr. Li, what happened? I just saw this car running in front of you from a distance. Has an ident happened?¡±

    The sound of shutters sounded everywhere.

    ¡°Is Ms. Xia Yi in the car? Is she okay?¡±

    ¡°Ms. Xia, can you get off the car for an interview?¡±

    The scene was chaotic.

    Li Rui knocked on the window a little more impatiently. ¡°Hey,e out! I¡¯ll call the police, do you believe me?!¡± He was a hedonistic son and just his threat alone was imposing and full of murderous intentions. It was obvious he was intent on making a scene.

    The door of the car opened as expected.

    A woman walked down, wearing a in shirt, looking pale and haggard. ¡°Li Rui?¡± She stared at the menacing man in front of her and forced a smile. ¡°You took Xia Yingluo out for a drive, right? Is she in the car, can you let me see her?¡±

    ¡°Gu Jinxiu?¡± Li Rui didn¡¯t expect it to be this woman and hesitated.

    The reporters around went crazy. The grudge between Gu Jinxiu and Xia Yingluo was endless, so what would happen now that they met? ¡°Ms. Gu, did youe to find Ms. Xia Yingluo specifically?¡± A reporter asked.

    ¡°Ms. Gu, how is your marriage with Wei Lingnan? Will it be rescheduled?¡±

    ¡°Ms. Gu, is it true that Xia Yingluo is the third person in your rtionship?¡±

    Li Rui turned his head back and stared at the reporter who said Xia Yingluo was a third party.

    The reporter was frightened by him and suddenly lost his voice.

    Li Rui turned his head and continued to watch Gu Jinxiu. There was a subtle taunt in his tone. ¡°Our Yingluo is of such prestigious identity, how could you see her as and when you want to? Gu Jinxiu, you must know your limits as a person. Last time she went to your wedding to give you face, but who knew that you would be so shameless? You¡¯re from the Gu family and couldn¡¯t even make the guests full, and made Yingluo hypoglycemic.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was shocked. She didn¡¯t expect him to talk nonsense with his eyes open!

    What hypoglycemia, she didn¡¯t believe that Xia Yingluo¡¯s brother Li Rui didn¡¯t know the truth!

    She was resentful in her heart, but couldn¡¯t exin it. When she remembered the purpose of stopping them today, she had to endure this tone in silence. She expressed a sobbing expression. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t entertain her well. Li Rui, let me see her. I¡¯ll apologize to her in person.¡±

    ¡°Apologize to Xia Yingluo for such a small thing as hypoglycemia?¡± The reporter beside her was stunned.

    Gu Jinxiu heard it and said to the reporter, ¡°Ms. Xia Yingluo¡¯s family is so good and her poprity is high. She is a treasure held by everyone. Even one finger of hers is more expensive than me, so how could it be a small thing? There was an ident at the wedding and I¡¯m really guilty and sorry. I wanted to go to the house to pay for my sins, but I was too sad. Nan...¡±

    Speaking of him, she bit her lip gently, then pulled out a more sorrowful smile. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s my fault.¡±

 Chapter 1381 - You Are Not Qualified

    <h4>Chapter 1381: You Are Not Qualified</h4>

    There was a buzzing noise among the journalists.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s words that came to a halt held a profound meaning. As if she had countless grievances but was unable to express them.

    Recalling that after her wedding with Wei Lingnan was interrupted and there was no further news, the group of reporters couldn¡¯t help but guess. Could it be that Xia Yingluo changed the situation by being the third wheel and snatched Gu Jinxiu¡¯s husband forcefully?

    ¡°Even if she¡¯s a nobledy, she shouldn¡¯t bully others.¡± Some reporters got upset.

    Li Rui¡¯s long narrow eyes nced at Gu Jinxiu with a smile, and then swept towards the reporter who talked. ¡°I¡¯ve have seen you before. When my mom gave a concert some time ago, you were among the reporters waiting. Which media are you from? Let me think... yes, Poison Tongue Entertainment! How dare you run your mouth randomly? Manage your mouth. Otherwise, you might not even be able to be a public reporter.¡±

    He had a smile on his face, but his words were cold.

    Many reporters present felt a shiver down their spine. They unexpectedly remembered rumors about this daring Second Young Master Li. Someone quietly pulled the little reporter¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Forget it.¡±

    But the reporter was a neer that had a high traffic count and made a lot of money, so he thought he was too big a thing to be talked down to. He flicked his sleeve angrily and red at the man who pulled him. ¡°Why are you pulling me! I¡¯m doing this for justice! Mr. Li Rui, are you threatening a reporter?¡±

    The person¡¯s kindness was trampled on, and he also felt annoyed inside.

    I was kind to help you, but you just had to seek death for yourself.

    At the moment, he turned aside with a cold face and didn¡¯t care anymore.

    The smile on Li Rui¡¯s lips deepened. ¡°So what if I¡¯m threatening you?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The reporter was so angry. He didn¡¯t expect Li Rui to admit it so generously, without even being ashamed! He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Even if you are rich, do you know what happens once you offend a reporter?! Everyone, tell me, this person is a tant hindrance to our freedom of speech. Should we bear it?!¡±

    However, the scene was silent.

    The other reporters looked at him strangely, and a few of them who were still close to him stepped back, lest they cause trouble.

    The reporter who went against Li Rui was stunned and looked at hispanions angrily, unable to understand. ¡°You!¡±

    Li Rui chuckled again. ¡°What kind of entertainment journal has such a sense of justice? No... I still appreciate those powerful journalists who are unyielding and insist on fair reporting. Unfortunately, you are not one of them. You can¡¯t even understand the truth behind Yingluo and that bitch, and said that Yingluo bullied her, so I could only give you what you wanted and bully you, right?¡±

    ¡°How could you say I¡¯m a bitch?¡± Gu Jinxiu wept on the side.

    Li Rui ignored her and took off his branded watch. ¡°Although this watch isn¡¯t valuable, it¡¯s worth a few years of your struggles. Whoever drives the pesky guy away will receive this watch from me.¡±

    As soon as his words fell, several reporters rushed forward and took the reporter away in a hurry.

    ¡°What are you doing! This is a vition of human rights!... Oh, Oh!¡± He refused to leave, but his strength was limited and he was dragged to the side of the highway by the fence. Several reporters took off his clothes quickly and tied him to the protective fence. To prevent him from disturbing Li Rui by speaking out, they also cleverly blocked his mouth with stinky socks.

    The smell of the stinky socks suffocated the reporter. He red at them desperately, but couldn¡¯t get out of the predicament.

    Li Rui watched this scene calmly. This was the consequence of offending his sister, and even this was a light punishment. He had intended on going back and informing his subordinates to create trouble for them.

    They were a family of the ck underground, and whoever provoked them should know the consequences.

    Li Rui smiled and watched as the reporters who had tied him up ran back and scrambled in front of him for the reward. He readily offered the watch that had only been worn for a few days and said, ¡°Don¡¯t grab it, all of you have a share. Go to my assistant to retrieve it tomorrow.¡±

    The crowd who had fought shamelessly for just one watch burst into cheers because of his words.

    ¡°Thank you, Second Young Master Li!¡±

    ¡°I knew Second Young Master Li was the most generous!¡±

    Li Rui smiled and narrowed his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I would like you to take care of Yingluo in the future.¡±

    The reporters certainly understood what he meant, and nodded again and again. ¡°Of course, of course. I heard that filming was very hard on Ms. Xia Yingluo, thus she had hypoglycemia at the wedding. During this time, she was cured and is in very good condition.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Ms. Xia is the most dedicated female star.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Xia is so beautiful and hard-working, it¡¯s really touching.¡±

    ¡°Second Master Li even brought his sister out for a spin, they¡¯re really the ideal siblings.¡±

    They were all currying favor one by one, but Li Rui noddedfortably. He liked to deal with these entertainment reporters. With just a little hint, they were clear on what to do.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good. These horrible reporters really had their eyes closed! A bunch of garbage!

    She stopped the car here because she wanted to pretend to be pitiful in front of the reporters, hoping it would cause news topics and public opinion to lean towards her. Maybe Wei Lingnan would even pity her ande back to her again.

    This was her only option left.

    Seeing that the situation was not good, she simply gritted her teeth and headed straight to the car where Xia Yingluo was. Then, she knelt down. ¡°Xia Yingluo, please leave me and Nan alone. You are so beautiful and your family is so good. Why snatch my husband away? Please, I beg you!¡±

    Her voice was somber and she almost cried.

    Li Rui did not expect this woman to go so far as to go down on her knees.

    The group of journalists was stimted. They raised their cameras and instinctively nned to take pictures.

    Gu Jinxiu was happy. As long as these photos were circted, even if the reporter was biased, the public would have their own judgment, and Xia Yingluo¡¯s reputation for bullying people would be justified. And she would be shaped as a poor woman.

    However, Li Rui only raised his hand gently, and all the cameras were retracted.

    These reporters weren¡¯t fools. Since Second Young Master Li didn¡¯t let them shoot, they dare not make trouble.

    Even if they often offended people to grab news, this man was not an ordinary person. He was famous for taking revenge and still had such a huge background in the family. Furthermore, he was in front of them, so they didn¡¯t dare to go against him.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s wishful thinking was broken and her face became paler.

    ¡°Li Rui, you can¡¯t decide for Xia Yingluo. I know she¡¯s in the car. I want to talk directly to her!¡± She hissed exhaustedly.

    ¡°I said, you are not qualified.¡± Li Rui still smiled.

    However, as soon as his voice fell, the door of the sports car opened and a pair of beautiful high heels gracefully stepped on the ground.

 Chapter 1382 - Gu Jinxiu Hitting the Muzzle

    <h4>Chapter 1382: Gu Jinxiu Hitting the Muzzle</h4>

    Everyone turned to look.

    They saw Xia Yingluoe out wearing a light-colored shirt. She closed the door casually and wore her sunsses.

    Her movements were calm and unhurried, and she was not ufortable even while facing so many reporters at close range. But the reporters were excited and raised their cameras to snap shots quickly.

    Li Rui frowned. ¡°What are you doing outside?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I¡¯m hungry and don¡¯t want to be blocked on the road.¡± Their car was blocked by Gu Jinxiu, and with so many reporters¡¯ cars, the expressway was simply blocked. The cars behind thought there had been an ident and had all diverted.

    Li Rui sneered and gave Gu Jinxiu a pointed look. ¡°Someone had no morals and stopped here randomly.¡±

    A smart reporter echoed quickly. ¡°Yeah, yeah. As ady, you have no education. I must expose this. Rich people should not be let go when they do the wrong things! They have much social responsibility!¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it!¡± The other reporters also agreed. They had all received benefits from Li Rui and were anxious to curry favor with him. ¡°The traffic jam hindered Ms. Xia from having her meal, and she almost had low blood sugar again! The Gu family¡¯s perfumepany is too irresponsible!¡±

    In a few words, it involved even the Gu family¡¯s perfumepany.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression was very bad. She was not a star like Xia Yingluo and didn¡¯t have her own fan base, so even if she was sshed with dirty water, not many people would speak up for her. That was still fine, but it involved the Gy family¡¯s image and was a huge impact on her family¡¯s corporate image.

    ¡°I was also forced to stop my car here...¡± Gu Jinxiu was sobbing, trying to move the reporters, but she secretly cursed inside. Why was the traffic jam because of her? This expressway was a good twone road and she only blocked one of the roads. The other cars could still drive past perfectly, but the other road was blocked because of those reporters!

    But even if she felt grievance, she didn¡¯t dare to reason with the reporters. The reporters wrote with their pens as knives. She was already out of favor with them, so how could she possibly drag more hatred onto her? She looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Ms. Xia, don¡¯t be so aggressive... I beg you...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still pretending to be so pitiful at this time?¡± Li Rui sneered. ¡°What does it have to do with Yingluo when the reporters have condemned you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo simply ignored her existence. Ever since she got off the sports car, she hadn¡¯t even nced at Gu Jinxiu once. She looked up at the horizon, and a helicopter flew over not far away andnded slowly near them, the fierce wind blowing their hairs.

    There was the loud roar of the propeller.

    Li Rui nced at her sister. ¡°You called it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Xia Yingluo insisted.

    Since the car was blocked, who knew when she could move?

    When she was sitting in the car just now, the amazing hearing of the Skatana tribe allowed her to hear the outside movement clearly, and she didn¡¯t want to be in a standstill with Gu Jinxiu. Thus, she contacted the Li family¡¯s helicopter. It was almost time to go, so she hade out to board the ne.

    The reporters around also understood that it turned out that Ms. Xia didn¡¯t want to talk to Gu Jinxiu at all. She was just waiting for the helicopter!

    For a while, many scornful eyes fell on Gu Jinxiu. This woman was so miserable that she deliberately stopped the car here. However, Ms. Xia didn¡¯t even care about her.

    Of course, Gu Jinxiu also understood her meaning. It turned out that in her eyes, her hunger was more important!

    A raging fire stormed in her heart, but she had no other choice and said sadly, ¡°Xia Yingluo, you can¡¯t do this! You can¡¯t snatch my husband!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re shameless. Wei Lingnan hasn¡¯t officially married you yet.¡± Li Rui couldn¡¯t stand it and said coldly.

    Xia Yingluo still ignored Gu Jinxiu. She stepped gracefully towards thending helicopter and got on it with the help of the staff. She didn¡¯t feel the need to say anything to Gu Jinxiu. Wei Lingnan had discovered that she was the queen, so the next thing was between her and Wei Lingnan. This fake product called Gu Jinxiu was out.

    She had no habit of wasting time with irrelevant people.

    Sitting firmly on the helicopter, she looked at Li Rui impatiently. ¡°Aren¡¯t you getting on?¡±

    Li Rui simply wanted to hit her. He had tried so hard to help her fight her rivals, but in the end, she had ns to leave him alone? ¡°Of course! Wait for me!¡± He shouted unhappily, then ran over and boarded the helicopter.

    The helicopter slowly lifted off, and a huge wind blew on Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face, making her eat dust while still kneeling on the ground.

    The appearance of the dust on her face aroused the interest of the reporters, and they immediately came forward to take pictures of her.

    Gu Jinxiu didn¡¯t care about these reporters. She looked up at the distant helicopter and suddenly felt deep despair in her heart. It turned out that without Wei Lingnan¡¯s protection, she was nothing...

    No one would care about her, no one would look fondly upon her.

    Fighting with Xia Yingluo alone, she even... she didn¡¯t even have the right to fight with her!

    Some time ago, she had been so proud of herself that she had forgotten how weak she really was. She had relied on Wei Lingnan, and now she was beaten back to her original shape. She knelt on the ground and was in so much pain she couldn¡¯t breathe.

    The next day.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s pitiful appearance was indeed on the newspaper, together with reports about the traffic jams on the highway.

    The reporters described Gu Jinxiu¡¯s overbearing iprehensibility with extremely exaggerated words, pointing out the dangers of such traffic blocking on the expressway. They finally concluded that the youngdy of the Gu family was so hical. Then, how well could she lead the Gu enterprise?

    Public opinion was in an uproar, and several public figures stood out, insisting that they would boycott the Gu family¡¯s perfumes in the future.

    Boycotting her perfume was one thing. More importantly, they were showing off to the Li family in disguise. Of course, this second level of meaning was only known to the people in the circle. In the public eye, what they saw was only the message that ¡°even celebrities were averse to the Gu family.¡±

    Many people followed suit immediately, setting off a wave of resistance to the Gu family¡¯s perfume.

    Even when a girl used the Gu family¡¯s perfume, she would be dismissed by the people around her. ¡°Gu family¡¯s perfume? Isn¡¯t that apany without public morals? It¡¯s low.¡± Even those who used their perfume were also considered tasteless.

    Perfumes were not a necessity in life and many people bought it as style only. So who wanted people to say they were tasteless because of this?

    Many users of the Gu family¡¯s perfume bought other brands, and the Gu family¡¯s perfume saw arge-scale sales decline.

    Li Rui watched the report at home and smiled happily. ¡°Yes! Who told her to bully you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was drinking tea and basking in the sun next to him. She watched as the two leopards Mao Mao and Rong Rong chased each other on thewn, and saidzily, ¡°The evil we bring onto ourselves is the hardest to bear. I didn¡¯t even have the intention to make trouble with her.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu just happened to hit the muzzle herself.

 Chapter 1383 - I Want to See You

    <h4>Chapter 1383: I Want to See You</h4>

    The two siblings chattedfortably for a while.

    The rare tranquility didn¡¯tst long as Tan Ying came to visit.

    He was now Xia Yingluo¡¯s agent and had a lot of things to talk to her about every day. Today, he came and said, ¡°Tidal Magazine wants to ask you for an interview. They n to make a special topic about the nobledies, making aprehensiveparison from the aspects of appearance, career achievement, character, and reputation. I agreed on your behalf.¡±

    Tidal Magazine was one of the top high-end magazines with a wide cirction, but it was authoritative.

    Xia Yingluo blinked. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. Whichdies are being interviewed?¡±

    ¡°You, Gu Jinxiu, Pei Yan, and Wang Anan, the daughter of financial tycoon Wang Mingrui, Ouyang Xue, the daughter of the Inte empire Ouyang, and Li Yuqi, the sister of the Jewel Queen Li Jing. They are all big families in the Chinese circle,¡± Tan Ying said.

    Xia Yingluo thought it was probably true. If theparison objects were too bad, Tan Ying wouldn¡¯t have agreed to let her go.

    However, she was surprised that Gu Jinxiu was included. ¡°Gu Jinxiu has been so unlucky recently. Would she agree to bepared?¡±

    Tan Yingughed and gloated. ¡°People are so eager to make a report that they don¡¯t necessarily have to interview her. If she refuses, it will also be a report based on other information.¡± This report was nothing more than a description ofdies in general, and there was nothing too secretive. They just had to pull photos from other ces and talk about what thedy was doing.

    After all, if she refused to report, it was still Gu Jinxiu who would suffer. Who knew what the magazine would write?

    Xia Yingluo was very clever and understood Tan Ying¡¯s key point immediately. She smiled. ¡°She¡¯s really unlucky.¡± The timing of the report was very important. If it had been a while ago, Gu Jinxiu was about to hold an immense wedding ceremony and the report would have been enviable. But now? She was humiliated and her face fell to the ground, so how could she not be considered unlucky?

    Xia Yingluo epted the interview happily.

    The interview was conducted in her small garden, and the housekeeper carefully prepared an English afternoon tea for them.

    The reporter sent by the magazine was very happy with her, and admired her for her speech and cultivation. He couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Ms. Xia, even when among the other nobledies, you¡¯re too outstanding. I interviewed so many people, but you¡¯re honestly the most beautiful and the most knowledgable.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°You¡¯re ttering me.¡±

    The reporter chatted happily. ¡°It¡¯s no wonder you have so many admirers. Some time ago, Mr. Wei also...¡±

    He was shocked to have drifted away from his script and quickly changed the topic.

    Xia Yingluo, however, keenly grasped the keyword. ¡°Mr. Wei? Wei Lingnan? What happened to him?¡±

    The reporter was awkward. ¡°Nothing, nothing.¡±

    Xia Yingluo narrowed her eyes slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t like it when other people hide something from me.¡± She was a big missy held in the palm of others since young, and she was so charismatic at this moment that the reporter was stunned.

    The reporter said, ¡°I... I can¡¯t say. I overheard it.¡±

    ¡°What did you overhear?¡± Xia Yingluo continued to tempt him. ¡°Tell me, or I¡¯ll just go to your magazine to ask myself.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± The reporter panicked and cried. ¡°Ms. Xia, please don¡¯t go. I will be stripped off my title by the editor-in-chief! I, I¡¯ll just tell you...¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡±

    Thus, the reporter opened his mouth bitterly. ¡°The other day I passed by the editor-in-chief¡¯s office and heard her talking to someone inside. She said, ¡®Mr. Wei, rest assured, I will arrange someone to do aparative report between the twodies. It¡¯ll definitely be traceless and satisfactory.¡¯ I was curious at the time, so I took note of it. Within a few minutes, a gentleman walked out of the editor-in-chief¡¯s office, and it was Mr. Wei Lingnan.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was not a celebrity, but his recent scandal with Xia Yingluo and Gu Jinxiu was so popr that he became a noticeable figure, and had been recognized by the keen reporter at a nce.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°This report was made by Wei Lingnan?¡±

    The reporter said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I only overheard those words. Probably... maybe... yes.¡±

    These few words were very self-exnatory.

    Xia Yingluo regained her senses and asked, ¡°You said ¡®two nobledies¡¯. Is the other one Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    The reporter was still bitter. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. When the editor-in-chief issued the task, there were sixdies on the list.¡±

    Xia Yingluo understood it immediately. It was probably becauseparing just the twodies alone would be too obvious. To find a good name, the magazine had found four more people. She had mixed feelings inside. She should be annoyed about Wei Lingnan¡¯s involvement, but somehow she felt a little sour. What did Wei Lingnan want to do? Help her deal with Gu Jinxiu?

    Once he knew she was the queen, his attitude turned really fast.

    ¡°Ms. Xia, Ms. Xia?¡± The reporter called her carefully.

    She then looked back from her contemtion and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. This interview was very enjoyable, just follow the report we talked about. I¡¯m tired and want to take a break. I¡¯ll ask the housekeeper to apany you out.¡±

    The reported nodded and went out.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes became clearer. She took out her cell phone and dialed Wei Lingnan¡¯s phone. ¡°I want to see you.¡±

    She was clear now. So what if he wanted to curry favor with her? He only courted the status of the ¡°Queen¡±, not as herself, Xia Yingluo or Ah Luo. She didn¡¯t need such a courting.

    It took a long time for Wei Lingnan toe.

    He also brought a woman, Gu Jinxiu.

    She nced at Gu Jinxiu, who had her hands and feet tied on the ground. Xia Yingluo¡¯s gaze turned to Wei Lingnan. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you to bring someone else.¡±

    Wei Lingnan bowed his head and said, ¡°Sorry. I thought Your Majesty wanted to see her punished.¡± Sincest leaving the Xia family, Wei Lingnan had been following her news secretly. He was very clear on the conflict that happened when she returned to the city and met Gu Jinxiu. That was why he asked the magazine to n the report. On one hand, he could punish Gu Jinxiu, and on the other hand, he could increase her poprity and collect more energy for her.

    ¡°Your Majesty?¡± Xia Yingluo noticed the change of his title keenly. ¡°Do you still have this queen in your eyes?¡±

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t say anything.

    He remembered that on thest day on the Skatana, he had broken through the barriers of the army into her residence, looking at her aggressively and smiling with satisfaction. ¡°You are mine, Ah Luo.¡± He really didn¡¯t treat her as a queen, she was just his Ah Luo.

    But now he dared not do this.

    The explosion made him understand how tough Ah Luo was, and he was afraid that he might identally lose her again.

    He didn¡¯t have the courage to wait for billions of years again.

 Chapter 1384 - Gu Jinxius Plea

    <h4>Chapter 1384: Gu Jinxiu¡¯s Plea</h4>

    Xia Yingluo got up and walked towards him step by step.

    Her stiletto heels stopped one step away from him. With her ten-inch heels, she was almost as tall him. She gazed coldly into his eyes. ¡°Why did you use ¡®Tidal¡¯ magazine to help me? Also, why did you interfere in the promotional work for ¡®Star Wars Era?¡¯¡±

    After learning about what happened in ¡®Tidal¡¯ magazine, she sent someone to investigate and found out that Wei Lingnan had a lot of involvement in it.

    Surprisingly, no one found out.

    Wei Lingnan was slightly surprised. He did not expect her to look for him regarding this. After returning to the city, he did secretly intervene a lot because he knew that she needed energy. Even if she was not willing to ept his help, he was willing to secretly help her and the World Tree in her survive difficult times.

    ¡°I should be doing those things.¡± He slightly lowered his head. ¡°I apologize for not telling you in advance.¡±

    If he told her in advance, she would definitely tell him to get lost.

    Thinking about this, Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression darkened.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°You apologize for not telling me in advance? I think it¡¯s still not toote yet. Didn¡¯t you do this on purpose to make me find out myself and use this as an excuse to make me forgive you?¡± Since the trust between them was lost, it was natural for her to think this way.

    She stared at him intensely. Even though her tone was usatory, deep down, she wished that he would deny it.

    She did not know what sort of mentality she should have. Her secret desire burned inside her like a me, and it made her restless.

    However, she was destined to be disappointed.

    Wei Lingnan did not bother to exin. He only said in a hoarse voice, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± What could an exnation do? It would just add insult to injury. He lifted his head to look at her, hoping that his humble appearance could gain her mercy. ¡°Your majesty, please allow me to stay by your side and help you regain your energy. The energy consumption of the World Tree is too great, and it¡¯s too hard for you to do this on your own.¡±

    Her heart ached and her voice turned colder. ¡°You still think you can stay beside me after what happened? I asked you toe here today to tell you to stay away from me! The further the better! In the future, you are not allowed to interfere in anything rted to me!¡±

    She wanted to stop him from interfering in her career again.

    Although life would be difficult without Wei Lingnan¡¯s help, it was better than facing him every day. Xia Yingluo did not want to see this man in front of her every day and did not want him to appear around the people close to her. Every time she heard his name, her heart would ache. It would take a very long time for her heart to heal after a million-year love affair.

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± Wei Lingnan anxiously yelled.

    ¡°This is an order.¡± She looked at him coldly. ¡°Are you going to defy me?¡±

    A small breeze swept a few green leaves towards them and the air was filled with the fragrance of flowers that bloomed in thete spring.

    The two of them faced each other quietly. Both of them knew that if Wei Lingnan wanted to, he could defy his weak queen¡¯s order given his strength today. However, Wei Lingnan did not do that and only bowed his head.

    He was clear of the consequences of defying her orders. Both of them would be distant and he could not bear for that to happen.

    Xia Yingluo coldly snorted. There was a slight disappointment in her heart. It was so strange. Wasn¡¯t this the oue she wanted? She forced herself to ignore herplicated feelings, turned around and was about to leave.

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± Wei Lingnan grabbed hold of her from behind.

    She was unstable and fell into his arms. Before she could break free, his kiss had already overwhelmed her. It was intimate, long and almost suffocated her. After a long time, he finally let her go. Before she could stand up straight, she gave him a tight p. In horror, her fingertips had transformed into sharp ws. After this p, five deep blood-stained marks appeared on his face.

    She gasped for air and red for him. ¡°How dare you!¡±

    He was silent but did not regret what he did.

    He just missed her too much.

    His yearning for her was deep in his bones. At that moment when she spun around, he was seized with a sudden impulse to kiss her. He had waited for her for millions of years. Now, she was just right in front of him, but because of his past mistakes, she was out of reach. He was really afraid that once she turned around, things would never be the same. Now that she did not even need his help, how else could he get closer to her?

    Wei Lingnan was heartbroken as he looked at her deeply. Blood flowed from his cheeks like a stream and soon, half of his body was stained red.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart ached again. She did not intend to hurt him like this, but who knew that her ws would appear uncontrobly? However, she already injured him and could not say that she was sorry. She resisted the urge to help him with his wound, turned around and walked away.

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± Behind her, he called her again. ¡°Don¡¯t go...¡±

    Seeing that she was getting further, he suddenly remembered something and asked, ¡°How should I deal with Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    Xia Yingluo finally remembered that Gu Jinxiu was still tied up on the ground.

    She turned around and saw the woman lying on the ground. The woman looked at them in horror and her eyes seemed to be begging them for mercy.

    Gu Jinxiu knew that she had made a grievous mistake. One hour earlier when Wei Lingnan broke through the window and kidnapped her from her bedroom, she knew that things were bad. That man looked at her like she was a dead body. She had pleaded with Wei Lingnan. ¡°Nan, I love you! I am your Ah Luo! Why are you suddenly doing this to me?¡±

    ¡°You are not Ah Luo.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was like ice. ¡°You lied to me for so long and tried to frame the true Ah Luo, so you will get what you deserve.¡± Since that day in theboratory when Gu Jinxiu tried to kill Xia Yingluo, Wei Lingnan never bothered about her again. He locked himself in theboratory and came to the conclusion that Xia Yingluo was the true queen. After that, he relentlessly tried to look for Xia Yingluo, secretly helped her with her film¡¯s publicity and did not have time to deal with Gu Jinxiu.

    However, no matter what, Gu Jinxiu must be given the most severe form of punishment.

    Now, with Xia Yingluo¡¯s order, he guessed that she was eager to punish Gu Jinxiu herself.

    However, Xia Yingluo just nced at Gu Jinxiu reluctantly. ¡°Take your trash and scram! You should solve the problems that you caused yourself!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xia! Your majesty! I beg you. Please help me!¡± Gu Jinxiu acted like she saw a ray of hope and cried. At the end of the day, she only offended Xia Yingluo and it seemed like Xia Yingluo was not even interested in getting even. Perhaps if she continued to beg, there was some hope for her to dodge the bullet.

    Gu Jinxiu was very aware that Wei Lingnan could not wait to turn her into a corpse. If he did not want Xia Yingluo to punish her, who knows how many times she would have died already. However, now Xia Yingluo told him to get lost with her. If she left with Wei Lingnan, things would not be good for her.

    Her life depended on Xia Yingluo!

    Gu Jinxiu begged harder.

 Chapter 1385 - Fan Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 1385: Fan Meeting</h4>

    The proud daughter of a rich family was now as lowly as an ant.

    Disgust shed in Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes. She could not believe that she lost to a love rival like that. It was really upsetting... She looked at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Stop whining. If you make more noise, I will kill you right now.¡±

    She was so aggressive that Gu Jinxiu immediately stopped crying and looked at her pleadingly.

    Gu Jinxiu knew that Xia Yingluo wanted her dead, but so what? Her life was in her hands and she could only submit to her. ¡°Your majesty, I am also from Skatana and have powers. I beg you to let me live...¡±

    Xia Yingluo was unmoved. Before she wanted to leave again, Wei Lingnan spoke. ¡°Are you really not going to punish her?¡±

    She looked coldly at Wei Lingnan. ¡°Do you think that I even bear a grudge against her? You¡¯re seriously thinking too highly of her.¡±

    When Gu Jinxiu heard it, her heart wrenched. It turned out that she was not even worthy of her hatred!

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s feelings wereplicated, but he was slightly relieved. It seemed that in Ah Luo¡¯s heart, his position was much higher than Gu Jinxiu¡¯s. At least he was worthy of her hatred. With this in mind, Wei Lingnan smiled bitterly in his heart. Once upon a time, he was the strongest warrior in Skatana, so why did he fall to such a state?

    Seeing that Xia Yingluo was leaving again, Wei Lingnan quickly stopped her. ¡°Wait, your majesty! If you don¡¯t want to kill her, then how about spare her life? I could ask her to help you find more energy. Since you aren¡¯t willing to see me, let me use her to send the energy to you once I¡¯ve found it. It¡¯s too dangerous for you to look for energy alone!¡±

    This was inspired by Gu Jinxiu¡¯s words just now, and it was the only remaining use of her.

    He knew how stubborn Ah Luo was. She might really reject his help to look for more energy, but how could she do it alone? Since she did not want to see him, they couldpromise and he could contact her indirectly through Gu Jinxiu, so they would not lose contactpletely.

    The fear of being abandoned by Ah Luo made him extremely uneasy.

    This time, Xia Yingluo did not refuse him on the spot.

    Although she sneered and wanted the two of them to get lost, logic stopped her.

    Wei Lingnan was right. She was too weak right now and could not gather energy by herself. It was always good to have one more helper. She previously refused Wei Lingnan¡¯s help because she did not want to see him appear in front of her and stir up her emotions again. However, it was different with Gu Jinxiu. No matter what, Gu Jinxiu was just a lowly ant and her presence did not bother her much.

    Hundreds of millions of years ago when Skatana was still there, once the queen became pregnant, the entire race was dispatched to help her gather energy.

    Since Gu Jinxiu was so willing and was a member of the Skatana, it was time to show her loyalty.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you,¡± she said to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Once you collect the energy, Gu Jinxiu will send it to me alone.¡± She was not worried about Gu Jinxiu ying tricks. Now, she was not injured and had a clear mind, so she was able to differentiate the pure energy and tampered energy. She would not be hurt by poisonous energy like in the past.

    After hearing her, Wei Lingnan was overjoyed. He quickly agreed. ¡°Ok!¡±

    This was already the best result he could get presently. He could only approach her one step at a time.

    Xia Yingluo snorted. She did not stay any longer and left quickly.

    After sending Wei Lingnan away, she devoted herself to looking for energy.

    The response of the movie ¡°Star Wars Era¡± was excellent and she umted a huge fan base. Everyone said that her performance in the movie was amazing like a real alien warrior. Cruel, beautiful, cold and elegant.

    She felt rxed. She drew inspiration partly from experience for this movie, so it was not difficult to act.

    Besides, with the addition of award-winning Movie King Jiang Yu, the result was outstanding.

    Jiang Yu also participated in the promotional activities with her and the two of them held a fan meeting together.

    In the lounge, Jiang Yu, who was wearing a beige suit, smiled and asked Xia Yingluo, ¡°Recently, you¡¯re looking better. It seems that you are recovering slowly.¡± Thest time she fainted at the wedding, the Li Family exined that shecked nutrients. Now, it seemed that her recovery was not bad and she no longer looked as weak as before.

    Xia Yingluo put on ayer of lip gloss in front of the mirror and said casually, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Did Wei Lingnan disturb you?¡± Wei Lingnan asked with utmost concern.

    After Xia Yingluo applied her lip gloss, she turned to look at her colleague. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that person¡¯s name,¡± she said in a very soft voice, but it still sounded like an order because she was used to doing that.

    Jiang Yu was slightly startled for a moment and realized that he had offended Xia Yingluo. His eyes flickered slightly and he smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t have any other intentions. I¡¯m just concerned about you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo also breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Thank you for your concern.¡±

    The lounge fell silent.

    Jiang Yu was not as rxed as he looked. Xia Yingluo said she did not want to hear that person¡¯s name, but it also showed that she still thought about that person. Otherwise, her reaction would not be so big. Jiang Yu secretly wondered why the wedding was canceled like that. After that, he did not hear about any news of Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan rescheduling their wedding. Now, everyone thought that the wedding between these two people would never happen. This was not good news for Jiang Yu.

    As long as that man was not married, there was always the possibility of him stealing his woman.

    Jiang Yu carefully nced at the beautiful yet sullen Xia Yingluo. No, he had to get her as soon as possible.

    He went into deep thought.

    Suddenly, a worker knocked on the door to let them know that the fan meeting was about to start and they coulde out now.

    Xia Yingluo stood up. She was wearing a delicate silver-blue dress and looked like an elegant mermaid as she walked towards the door.

    However, Jiang Yu did not follow her. He smiled a little apologetically. ¡°Yingluo, I suddenly do not feel well, so I¡¯m going to the bathroom first. Please go on stage first, I will appearter.¡±

    The fan meeting was not arge event, and it was not the first time the two of them worked together. Now that there was a slight hup, Xia Yingluo did not think too much about it. She only nodded and said, ¡°Take care.¡± After that, she went to the venue alone.

    The moment she emerged from backstage, a small cheer erupted in the small crowd. The fans screamed her name and their voices almost overturned the roof.

 Chapter 1386 - Hows the Progress

    <h4>Chapter 1386: How¡¯s the Progress</h4>

    The sweet smile on her exquisite face was so naturally fascinating that it was difficult for people to look away.

    Lifting her silver-blue dress slightly, she slowly walked, leaving invisible ripples in the air. Her straight back and indifferent look caused another round of screaming from her fans.

    Instinctively, she scanned the crowd.

    With one look, she saw a man standing in thest row¡ª

    That man was leaning on the wall behind him and he was wearing an ordinary shirt and trousers. Although he looked handsome, the way he hid made him look inconspicuous and he was able to camouge himself in the dark. If it weren¡¯t for Xia Yingluo¡¯s sensitivity that she picked up after hundred of millions of years of battling and her familiarity with her people, she would not have been able to find him, Wei Lingnan.

    Why did hee?

    She frowned slightly and her smile froze for a moment.

    Wei Lingnan, who was hiding in the corner, realized that she had seen him. He looked at her with an apologetic gaze and it seemed that he was begging her not to chase him away. However, Xia Yingluo was in a very bad mood. She ced her hands on the table and subtly gave him abat signal which ordered him to leave.

    Wei Lingnan recognized that hand signal.

    He knew exactly what she meant. After all, they fought so many battles that almost cost them their lives together.

    However, his feet were rooted to the ground and he could not move an inch. He just missed her too much. Taking advantage of the screaming fans, he could not help but gaze greedily at her face. At this moment, standing here was a rare opportunity for him to take a good look at her and not be driven away. If he did not see her during such a public event, she would definitely chase him away.

    Xia Yingluo was fuming mad. This man was bing too audacious!

    Beside her, someone gently touched her arm. ¡°Yingluo? Yingluo?¡±

    She snapped back to reality and finally realized that Tan Ying, who was apanying her, was giving her a reminder.

    It was time for her to speak.

    She calmed herself and stopped looking at Wei Lingnan. She smiled at her fans and said, ¡°I¡¯m very happy to meet all of you here today. Thank you for liking ¡®Star Wars Era.¡¯ It really means a lot that my entire team¡¯s efforts are not wasted...¡±

    Since she used to be a queen andter learned how to be a public figure during the Imperial Entertainment training camp, she was able toe up with a speech with ease. Her voice was as pleasant as the sound of water. The atmosphere was ignited by her again and everyone was immersed in her speech. When the host or her fans asked her questions, she answered them in good taste.

    Many staff members stood in the four corners of the room to maintain order.

    Some of them whispered, ¡°Miss Xia really doesn¡¯t look like a star who just debuted.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t you know whose daughter she is? In the past, Mrs. Li¡¯s ability to dominate a scene was already very impressive and no one can match her in the entertainment industry now.¡± An old worker proudly said, ¡°If we¡¯re talking about someone who can match Mrs. Li¡¯s dominance on stage, only Miss Xia is a formidable candidate.¡±

    The others nodded in agreement. The reality was right in front of them. This girl was too outstanding.

    ¡°Did you read the report a few days ago? It was about famous families. In my opinion, Pei Yan is trash and Gu Jinxiu doesn¡¯t have the ability to save her family from its decline. She will only cause more problems for her family. Only Miss Xia Yingluo can continue her mother¡¯s legacy and prove her worth.¡± They were all employees of Skyart Entertainment and were proud of their Boss¡¯ daughter¡¯s abilities.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Another worker calmed down and said, ¡°Madam sings well while her daughter acts well. Is it the same?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re both in the entertainment industry.¡± Another worker shamelessly smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s the same.¡±

    The atmosphere was very lively. Several staff members were rxed and chatted happily.

    Xia Yingluo did exactly what the organizer told her to do in advance and was almost done with what she was tasked to say. However, she was a little worried. Jiang Yu had not appeared yet. Could it be that something happened to him?

    The emcee was quite anxious as well. If this continued, they had no more content left!

    Seeing the emcee¡¯s face, Xia Yingluo casually started a new topic. Saving the scene was one of her natural gifts. Besides, she was naturally able to adapt to the situation. Such a trivial matter did not bother her. The emcee looked at her gratefully, but he was still anxious. Why wasn¡¯t Jiang Yu here yet?

    They were not the only ones worried. Almost an hour had passed and even the fans at the event location felt that something was wrong.

    During the next fan questioning session, some fans stood up and asked everyone¡¯s doubts. ¡°Yingluo, the advertisement said that the fan meeting would consist of you and Jiang Yu. But why isn¡¯t he here?¡±

    ¡°Recently, he has been busy with his jobs and he felt unwell before he went onstage,¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Immediately, Jiang Yu¡¯s fans were worried and hurriedly asked, ¡°Is he ok? What sort of illness does he have?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was also not sure. Maybe he had a stomachache? However, she was a public figure and could not spread any unproven spections. She could only calm the fans down and changed the subject to the hardships Jiang Yu and she faced when they were filming Star Wars Era. ¡°Jiang Yu is a very talented senior. Since it is my first film, I have to thank him for taking care...¡± Xia Yingluo smiled and spoke fluently. In the corner of her eye, she nced at thest few rows and saw Wei Lingnan¡¯s face turning darker.

    She snorted silently in her heart and was ted that she could get her revenge. Wei Lingnan, are you upset? How can the pain you feel today bepared to one-thousandth of the pain in my heart when you tried to kill me for Gu Jinxiu?

    She stopped looking at him and continued to praise Jiang Yu.

    Since he refused to leave and wanted to stay here to listen to her praising another man, he could continue to torture himself!

    The atmosphere was getting even more heated. She did not notice that Wei Lingnan was clenching his fists tightly.

    ¡°Miss Xia, you really hold Jiang Yu in high regard. Can I ask a bold question. How¡¯s the progress of your rtionship?¡± This question should not be asked at a fan meeting, but to save the scene, the emcee forced himself toe up with a new topic and asked a question without realizing it.

    Before Xia Yingluo could respond, suddenly, in the southwest corner of the venue, a door burst open.

 Chapter 1387 - Sudden Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 1387: Sudden Proposal</h4>

    At noon, the brilliant sun was dazzling.

    The man at the door was holding arge bouquet of red roses. He wore a beautiful white suit, had a handsome face and walked to her step by step with a gentle and dignified look in his eyes.

    His footsteps echoed on the concrete floor and many turned to look at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s Jiang Yu! Man-God Jiang Yu!¡± The fans quickly deciphered his identity.

    ¡°Wow! Man-God Jiang Yu! I love you!¡± Many people started screaming and surrounding him. It was a mess.

    Luckily, Jiang Yu¡¯s manager was already prepared and called for bodyguards to create a temporary cordon to prevent the crazy crowd from rushing up to Jiang Yu. Amidst the sea of excited screams, Jiang Yu was at ease. He only had eyes for one person...

    Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo sat at her original ce without moving.

    Faintly, she could tell what was about to happen. It turned out that Jiang Yu used illness as an excuse to prepare all of this! Inside, she was bewildered, but on the surface, she appeared calm.

    Some fans already discovered the abnormality. ¡°Look, the man-god is carrying roses.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s such arge bouquet of roses. I¡¯m sure there are at least 99 roses.¡±

    ¡°What is our man-god thinking? Could it be... that he wants to propose to Xia Yingluo?!¡± Some daring fans asked.

    Once this was spoken, many people were shocked. Excitement rushed up to their heads again. ¡°Wow, a proposal! How exciting! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m able to witness this historic moment!¡±

    There were also some logical fans. ¡°It can¡¯t be. They¡¯re probably not at this stage yet. It¡¯s so sudden.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Some fans argued. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see the news awhile back, Miss Xia has been seen with Man-God Jiang Yu recently. Not only did they work on the same film together, but they also went on dates and attended Miss Gu¡¯s wedding together! They¡¯re a match made in heaven!¡±

    It was only a short 20 or 30 meters from the small door of the venue to the stage.

    Sunlight streamed past the ss window and covered Jiang Yu¡¯s handsome face in ayer of light. He looked like a prince who descended from heaven. As he was escorted by the guard, his female fans started to scream louder.

    Only she did not move.

    At the back of the venue, in an inconspicuous corner, another man stood still with a dark expression. It was Wei Lingnan.

    Jiang Yu smiled as he walked in front of the bustling crowd. Soon, he arrived in front of her. He got down on one knee and gave her the passionate bouquet of roses. ¡°Yingluo, marry me,¡± he said sweetly.

    All the fans were about to go crazy. Although they just spected that Jiang Yu might propose, they were all convinced that it was not possible. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu really did!

    ¡°Wow, Man-God!¡±

    ¡°Proposal! It¡¯s really a proposal!¡±

    ¡°Yingluo, say yes!¡±

    ¡°Say yes! Our Man-God! Only Yingluo is worthy of him!¡±

    The screams were so thunderous that they hurt one¡¯s eardrums. Xia Yingluo continued to sit there without moving. She had weathered many storms for hundreds of millions of years, but she could not help but be stunned at Jiang Yu¡¯s sudden actions. She was speechless and stared at Jiang Yu quietly. There was no emotion on her delicate face. On the other hand, Jiang Yu held the roses and looked at her with eyes filled with sincerity.

    ¡°Marry me,¡± he said. ¡°I have liked you since the first time we met. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.¡±

    Most beautiful girl?

    Suddenly, sheughed and unexpectedly thought of a lyric in a song. Do you mind even if his looks are gone?

    She looked up and nced at Wei Lingnan¡¯s direction. When she was on Skatana, she was also the most beautiful girl in the eyes of men. But on Earth, after she reincarnated into another body, he decided to switch to Gu Jinxiu.

    The taunting way her lips curled made Wei Lingnan tense up, but he maintained his cool.

    Do you care or do you not care? She asked him silently. It also seemed that she was asking herself.

    Jiang Yu did not know that Wei Lingnan was at the scene. He said eagerly to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Yingluo, I really like you. If you marry me, I will cherish you forever. I will protect you and do my best to ensure that you get the best of everything in the world.¡±

    She did notck the best of anything in the world but an unattainable romance.

    She could not help but nce at Wei Lingnan again. This time, his face was hidden behind the shadow of the wall and he almost could not be seen.

    The fans continued to chant. ¡°Marry him! Marry him! Marry him!¡±

    Suddenly, she smiled more delicately than a rose. ¡°Ok.¡±

    She reached out and was about to ept the ming bouquet of roses.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Beside her, Tan Ying could not help but whisper a warning. From his seat, he had already noticed Wei Lingnan standing behind the crowd and did not instruct security officers to chase him away because he did not want any unnecessarymotion to happen. However, after noticing that Xia Yingluo was giving him many looks and her actions seemed to be challenging him, Tan Ying was worried that something would happen.

    However, Xia Yingluo continued to take the bouquet of roses.

    Jiang Yu smiled deeply. He chased this girl for so long and now, she finally epted his proposal, so he was extremely satisfied. That man called Wei Lingnan had finally lost.

    However, in a sh, the roses in his hand suddenly flew away andnded in another man¡¯s hands.

    The sudden change made everyone shocked. Below the stage, the crowd went wild.

    ¡°Who are you?!¡± Jiang Yu eximed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t agree.¡± Wei Lingnan stood coldly in front of him and uttered his words vindictively.

    ¡°Who is he?¡±

    ¡°Why did he destroy the proposal?!¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan! He¡¯s Wei Lingnan!¡±

    A new wave of screams was heard.

    Xia Yingluo was furious and suddenly stood up. ¡°Wei Lingnan, what are you doing?!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t marry him,¡± he said respectfully, yet there was no respect in his eyes, only stubbornness and persistence.

    Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°This is my business. I don¡¯t need you to care!¡±

    ¡°Your business is my business.¡± With a wave of his hand, the bouquet of beautiful roses was destroyed. Broken petals descended down and covered the entire stage.

    ¡°You have no right to treat Yingluo like this.¡± Jiang Yu was also a brave person. Seeing that Wei Lingnan was acting like this, he could not help but stand up and protect Xia Yingluo from behind him. ¡°Wei Lingnan, this ce does not wee you. Get lost! Otherwise, I will call the security officers!¡±

 Chapter 1388 - Dont Hurt Jiang Yu

    <h4>Chapter 1388: Don¡¯t Hurt Jiang Yu</h4>

    A storm brewed in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes. ¡°The person who should leave is you.¡±

    His voice was very cold like it came from the depths of hell. It was originally bright and sunny, but his voice made people shiver.

    Jiang Yu breathed heavily and broke out in cold sweat. This man was extremely intimidating! However, he continued to stand in front of Xia Yingluo. At this time, in order to defend his love, he could not back down!

    Below the stage, Jiang Yu¡¯s fans started screaming. ¡°Get off! Get off! Stop interfering in Man-God Jiang Yu¡¯s proposal!¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, get off!¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t worthy of our Yingluo!¡±

    The waves of cheers all supported Jiang Yu and insulted Wei Lingnan. It was not their fault. Jiang Yu was a famous movie king and a man-god in the hearts of many girls. As for Wei Lingnan? Most of them only heard of his name through recent scandals. People searched his background and found out that he was just the owner of an unknown second-rate pharmaceuticalpany. Even though there were a few news reports about how the Wei Corporation adopted cutting-edge technology in the creation of its medicine, girls did not care about that.

    Of course, Jiang Yu, who was a famous celebrity, was more eye-catching!

    Besides, Wei Lingnan just broke off his marriage to Gu Jinxiu not long ago. At that wedding, Xia Yingluo fainted and many fans of Xia Yingluo could not forgive him for that. Those who hurt Yingluo deserved to die!

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, get off!¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, get off!¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan, get off!¡±

    The fans were united like never before and the noise converged into a unified chant that became more magnificent over time.

    Jiang Yu became more courageous and refused to give in. ¡°Since you aren¡¯t willing to go, then stand here. Witness the moment that Yingluo and I make history.¡± After that, he raised Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand and faced the emotional crowd. Like a champion, he said, ¡°Everyone! Thank you for your support. Yingluo and I will definitely¡ª¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Oh my god!¡±

    ¡°Wei Lingnan hit him!¡±

    There was pandemonium. Wei Lingnan punched Jiang Yu, who was dressed in a white suit. Jiang Yu was so badly hit that he staggered a few steps back. Tables and chairs were knocked over the stage and the emcee and several other guests had to dodge them. As Jiang Yu was holding Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand, she also fell backwards. She instinctively wanted to regain her bnce, but because she had recently recovered from a serious illness, did not have much strength and was wearing stiletto heels, she could not help but fall down with Jiang Yu. Seeing that she was about to fall to the ground, Wei Lingnan grabbed hold of her.

    He put his arm around her waist. His hand held her firmly and easily broke her fall.

    She looked up and her eyes met his in confusion. He was like the dazzling warrior on Skatana and the light that made her heart tremble. It was as if the entire world became silent and only her heartbeat was clearly heard. She remembered that many years ago, during a battle on Skatana, she was shot by an enemy from the sky and fell down, but he risked his life to stay by her side and protected her. Now, he was holding her like that day and rescuing her when she was in distress...

    The past was repeating itself.

    Even Jiang Yu unwillingly let go of her hand during the violent impact, leaving a few bloody scratches. She did not feel the pain. She was being supported on stage, their bodies were close and their noses almost touched.

    No one could decipher the emotions in his deep and quiet eyes. He was like a beast who had just locked on its prey. He lowered his head and was about to ce his cold lips on hers.

    Screams erupted from the audience during this sudden change.

    Instinctively, she wanted to step back, but he held her tightly from behind and she was unable to move.

    When his lips fell on hers, they felt empty. At this critical moment, she turned her face away and he only managed to kiss her cheek. His eyes were dark. The rage that he suppressed for days finally rushed up. ¡°Why?¡± He turned her face over and asked, ¡°Why won¡¯t you ever ept me? What exactly do you want me to do? Tell me what you want me to do!¡±

    The terrifying storm in his eyes scared her.

    Her body stiffened and she only spat a few words. ¡°Don¡¯t be¡ª¡±

    ¡°Let her go!¡± Behind her, a furious man¡¯s voice was heard. Jiang Yu had gotten up from his fall and recklessly ran towards Wei Lingnan. ¡°Wei Lingnan, release Yingluo!¡± He grabbed Wei Lingnan¡¯s limbs and started to pull them.

    This was a battle between two love rivals and Jiang Yu knew he could not surrender.

    Many media representatives and fans all took a step back in fear.

    He only had to fight Wei Lingnan to death, even if he was injured and bleeding!

    On the other hand, the security officers who were shocked by the sudden change of events finally reacted and hurried over to grab hold of Wei Lingnan.

    Usually, these people would not be Wei Lingnan¡¯s match. But today, the queen needed energy because she was pregnant and Wei Lingnan gave all of his energy to his queen to ensure that she was safe. As such, he could not waste his energy at this sort of scene. He could only rely on his physical abilities as a human to fight Jiang Yu and the security officers. Very soon, they were able to save Xia Yingluo from his grasp.

    With nowhere else to vent his anger, he grabbed Jiang Yu with all his strength and pulled him far away from Xia Yingluo.

    The fans who were isted from the scene cheered loudly. ¡°Get lost Wei Lingnan! Man-God Jiang Yu, beat him up!¡±

    He was furious and viciously punched Jiang Yu. However, Jiang Yu continued to hold him tightly. Two of their heavy bodies rolled on the floor and they punched and kicked each other.

    ¡°Ah! They¡¯re fighting!¡± The fans panicked.

    ¡°Blood! Jiang Yu is bleeding!¡±

    The security officers who had just saved Xia Yingluo quickly went up to stop the fight. The two men were causing a huge scene fighting to their deaths like animals and refused to let anyone else intervene.

    Xia Yingluo was taken to a safe location by the staff. Tan Ying said to her, ¡°Hurry up!¡±

    The scene was too chaotic and it would be troublesome if she was med by ident. Besides, being in an incident like this would not be good for her reputation.

    However, Xia Yingluo did not listen to Tan Ying¡¯s words at all. Her whole heart was focused on the two people fighting. Wei Lingnan was very strong and, although he was weak, Jiang Yu refused to give in. The two of them had a heated fight on the wooden stage floor and everything was destroyed. Tables and chairs, teacups and vases were all broken, but they had no intention of stopping.

    ¡°Stop fighting! Stop fighting!¡± The staff could not intervene and yelled in vain.

    Unknowingly, Xia Yingluo took a few steps forward and shouted, ¡°Stop fighting! Wei Lingnan, don¡¯t hurt Jiang Y

 Chapter 1389 - Hospital Dispute

    <h4>Chapter 1389: Hospital Dispute</h4>

    She knew how terrible Wei Lingnan¡¯s lethality was and feared that he would kill someone in his rage.

    As for Jiang Yu? He was purely pressed down by Wei Lingnan, and couldn¡¯t even move voluntarily, so there wasn¡¯t any need to shout at him to stop.

    But Wei Lingnan misunderstood her meaning and thought she was pulling a biased fight, so he threw another punch. Jiang Yu snorted and bled from the corners of his mouth. Xia Yingluo was shocked senseless. If a public figure like Jiang Yu was killed in public, even Wei Lingnan would not be able to get away easily. She was so angry and anxious that she couldn¡¯t help bute forward to pull the obstructing security guards around the two men away. She stretched out to pull on Wei Lingnan¡¯s arm by herself. ¡°You¡ª¡±

    Before her words fell, she was knocked to the ground by him.

    She felt a terrible pain in her heart as if something was broken. Her head was groggy, and she copsed and lost consciousness.

    The screams at the scene rang out. ¡°Murderer! Murderer!¡± Some people took out their mobile phones to take pictures, others wanted to rush to the stage to check on the situation. Those cowardly ones called the police, and those afraid of causing trouble scrambled to flee...

    The scene was a huge mess.

    Wei Lingnan felt his arm being pulled, and he did not turn back when he attacked, but he felt something was wrong after hitting him¡ªbehind him was not the expected security body, but a girl¡¯s soft body. ¡°Ah Luo!¡± He turned back reflexively and looked on in horror as she copsed on the stage. Her face was thin as gold, and her breathing weakened as if it was not there. His head exploded with a bang, and he couldn¡¯t care about Jiang Yu, who had been beaten to the ground. He hugged Xia Yingluo. ¡°Call an ambnce! Hurry!¡±

    The ambnce came whistling.

    Wei Lingnan took her to the hospital and rushed her to the rescue room. This hospital had a rtionship with the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Company. After an emergency consultation, the expert group prescribed medicine and sent her to a single ward.

    ¡°Mr. Wei, your fist hurt Ms. Xia¡¯s heart, but you can rest assured. We rescued her and she will be fine when she wakes up.¡± The expert group told Wei Lingnan very respectfully.

    Wei Lingnan nodded and closed the door.

    He untied Xia Yingluo¡¯s shirt with shaking hands and saw arge bruise on her originally white chest. It looked extremely shocking. At that moment, he had aimed for her heart. It was a killing skill that the Skatana people had learned. When they were attacked suddenly, the one-kill instinct hade out in reflex. ¡°Ah Luo... I¡¯m sorry.¡± He hoarsely apologized to her. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be behind me.¡±

    Looking at her lying on the hospital bed silently, he felt a chill run down his spine in fear.

    A little... just a little bit.

    Just a little bit and he would have broken her heart. If that was the case, it would be difficult for even God to rescue her.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you avoid it...¡± He slowly put her shirt back on, his voice containing iprehension and pain. ¡°Even if your body is still weak and there¡¯s not much energy left, there¡¯s still energy in your body, right? Why didn¡¯t you use the energy to protect yourself? If you used your energy, my attack wouldn¡¯t have hurt you at all...¡±

    His voice gradually lowered. He knew very well that she had done this for the World Tree.

    She, like him, would rather face difficulties and dangers than dare to use her energy casually. The energy of the original World Tree was already not enough, and she was afraid it would be even worse if she used the energy.

    ¡°Is it just for the World Tree?¡± He stared at her. ¡°How is that tree more important than you?¡± If there was any way to remove it from her body, he would rather not have that tree. He would rather remove the World Tree that the tribe vowed to protect and keep her safe instead. He pondered over this and gradually formed a n in his heart. After her condition was stable, he would return to the base to study his n to save her. If necessary, he would abandon the World Tree!

    The ward was extremely silent.

    There was only the sound of the drip.

    However, the silence did notst long, and the door was opened.

    Jiang Yu and Tan Ying broke in.

    ¡°How¡¯s Yingluo?¡± Jiang Yu took the lead in asking, and in three or two steps, he crossed Wei Lingnan to see Yingluo.

    Wei Lingnan reached out to stop him.

    ¡°Make way!¡± He red at Wei Lingnan. ¡°You hurt her, what else do you want?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something between me and her.¡± Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t budge, and the trace of weakness he had shown by her bedside disappeared. It was reced by the indifference of the frozenke. ¡°You can go out, it has nothing to do with you.¡±

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it have anything to do with me? She agreed to my proposal!¡± Jiang Yu sneered. His face was still covered with blood, and his white suit looked like a mess from a horror movie. Just now at the scene of the fan meeting, after Wei Lingnan took Xia Yingluo to the hospital, Jiang Yu and Tan Ying immediately chased after them and arrived at the hospital as well. Once they reached the hospital, it was toote for Jiang Yu to bandage himself and he came to find Xia Yingluo¡¯s ward as soon as possible.

    Wei Lingnan looked at his bloodstained body. ¡°You want to marry her with your merebat skills?¡±

    In the Skatana, Jiang Yu¡¯sbat power couldn¡¯t even rank as thest soldier. Marry the queen? It was just an idiot¡¯s dreaming.

    Wei Lingnan looked at him disdainfully, as if he were looking at a lowly creature.

    Jiang Yu was furious. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with mybat power? Yes, I couldn¡¯t win over you, but what period is it already, so what if you won over me? Barbarian, now is not the time topete overbat skills! You should look at your own identity! You¡¯re just a small boss of a second-ratepany, how dare youpete with me?¡±

    Jiang Yu sneered. He saw Wei Lingnan¡¯s sullen face and continued to say, ¡°I am the great film king of several years and the star of the world. I can give Yingluo the best, but what about you? Wei Lingnan, what can you give her? Power? Money? Status? No! You have nothing but your brute force, and there¡¯s nothing you can give! Any random giant in this city could suppress you! Make you unable to stand up!¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at him coldly.

    Tan Ying frowned imperceptibly. He always felt that Jiang Yu was putting himself in danger by angering the man.

    ¡°Mr. Jiang, since Yingluo is okay, you should bandage your wound first. Don¡¯t affect her rest.¡± Tan Ying stepped forward and separated Jiang Yu and Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan gave him a meaningful look.

    Only then did Jiang Yu realize that he was affecting Xia Yingluo, but he refused to leave immediately and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°You, the culprit of hurting Yingluo, should go out with us too. I¡¯m not assured to leave you alone with her. Who knows if you will harm her again?¡±

    Wei Lingnan sneered, but he turned around and walked out of the ward.

 Chapter 1390 - Public Opinion Pressure

    Chapter 1390: Public Opinion Pressure

    It wasn¡¯t because he was afraid of Jiang Yu, but because Xia Yingluo really needed a good rest.

    The corridor outside the ward was silent, and the three men crossed the corridor and entered the van elevator, full of thoughts. Jiang Yu, whose marriage proposal had been interrupted, was furious inside. On several asions, he tried to provoke Wei Lingnan and was stopped by Tan Ying calmly. Although Tan Ying did not know the real identity of Wei Lingnan, from the attitude of Li Lei and others towards him, he knew that it was definitely not good to mess with him.

    He didn¡¯t want anything to happen.

    Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t care about the two¡¯s little movements at all, and his frozen expression made people unable to guess his emotions.

    The elevator ¡°dinged¡± on the first floor and the doors slowly opened.

    ¡°How much?¡± he asked suddenly.

    Jiang Yu looked around puzzledly, only to find that Wei Lingnan was talking to him. ¡°How much?¡± He frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as I¡¯m more rich and powerful than you, right?¡± Wei Lingnan did not exin and walked out of the elevator first.

    His back was so cold and upright as he disappeared among the endless stream of people. For some reason, Jiang Yu felt an indescribable sense of crisis and pressure. ¡°Ha, does he think it¡¯s so easy to have money and authority?¡± Jiang Yu sneered as if talking to Wei Lingnan but also tofort himself. ¡°Even if he works hard from now on, he might not even be able to catch up to me in this lifetime.¡±

    Could Yingluo wait a whole lifetime for him?

    That was simply a fantasy story!

    Tan Ying looked at the man¡¯s back thoughtfully at the side and smelled the start of a storm.

    Xia Yingluo woke up after a long sleep in the hospital bed. There was no one in the ward, and she could only hear the infusion bag hanging on the cold metal rack delivering drops to her. Her hearing was very good, and in the silence, she could hear the sound of the medicine dripping into the infusion tube, the small stream of water slowly flowing into her veins, and spreading along her limbs.

    She carefully felt for a while and felt that the World Tree was still in her belly and had not been affected by hera. Sure enough, it was right not to use energy for defense. The less energy she exhausted, the more likely the World Tree would survive.

    It was the hope of a whole renaissance.

    She raised her hand, looking at the dim golden-green leaf mark in her hand, and said softly, ¡°Live on.¡±

    Her heart had been hit by Wei Lingnan, and she was still in pain. She had been too careful and didn¡¯t expect that man to be so cruel. In the battle on the Skatana, they were familiar with each other¡¯s energy and he was also her guardian, so even if she approached from behind, he would know it was her immediately and wouldn¡¯t identally injure her. However, everything had changed.

    She didn¡¯t me him. If she wanted to me something, she should me their fate.

    She seriously considered whether she should really marry Jiang Yu and kill off Wei Lingnan¡¯s desires. The man was more dangerous and disobedient than she imagined. After the marriage proposal at the fan meeting, she suddenly realized that she could no longer control him.

    In fact, the moment he had broken into her pce in a bloody battle on the Skatana, he had been out of control.

    Her Queen¡¯s authority was worthless in front of him.

    It was entirely up to him whether to obey or not.

    With heavy thoughts in mind, she pondered how she was going to spend the rest of her time on Earth smoothly. It was impossible to be with him, but she couldn¡¯t let him interfere with her n either. Her rate of healing was very slow, but the good news was that under the public rtions of Tan Ying, the incident at the fan meeting evolved into ¡°two outstanding men jealous over Ms. Xia Yingluo¡±. People talked wildly and publicized her charm. This increased her poprity a lot and was followed by an increase in energy and a clearer marking of the World Tree on her palm.

    A weekter, she was discharged.

    Li Rui came to pick her up andined endlessly. ¡°Big missy, can¡¯t you stop already? You can¡¯t hold yourself back from causing trouble? The whole world is going upside down for you. These days, Dad and Li Shaohui¡¯s guys are so busy, and Li Shaohui that inhuman guy even sneakily used me for strongbor! If I go on like this, when would I have the time to y with girls in a bar? When?¡±

    Xia Yingluo knew his pattern and got on the carzily. She grabbed a pillow and asked weakly, ¡°Tell me, what happened this time?¡±

    Li Rui looked at her absent-minded appearance andined. ¡°Are you even seriously concerned about your brother!¡±

    ¡°Tell me if you want to. Otherwise, forget about it,¡± she said, yawning.

    Li Rui was speechless. When he stepped on the elerator to start the vehicle, he resentfully said, ¡°You¡¯re ruthless! The Wei family¡¯spany invented a new anti-cancer drug that¡¯s effective against a variety of cancers. It was just announced a few days ago and the world is boiling. It was said that he¡¯s the reincarnation of Hua Tuo and is a great benefactor! The United States and several countries have announced that this medicine has no side effects, and the cure rate is as high as 99%, which is a miracle! Now the news is covering him all over the world. They¡¯re all focused on him. What singers, movie stars, celebrities, they can all stand aside!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little surprised. She didn¡¯t know what intention Wei Lingnan had for announcing the new anti-cancer drug at this time, but with the technology he had mastered, making this drug was just a piece of cake. But... ¡°What does it matter to us? Howe you and dad are so busy?¡±

    Li Rui gritted his teeth. ¡°The cost of this medicine is high and the output is very small. People all over the world are looking forward to reducing the cost and making it affordable for everyone. Wei Lingnan said that the method of reducing costs has been studied and breakthroughs have been made, but he has been disturbed by his feelings recently and can¡¯t concentrate on drug research, so he doesn¡¯t know when he will seed in research and development.¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡± Even Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but swear.

    Li Rui didn¡¯t say anything, but she already understood Wei Lingnan¡¯s intention¡ªhe was using the world to put pressure on her, in the hopes she would forgive him and ept him! Cancer was widespread around the world. Even if they didn¡¯t have the illness themselves, many people had rtives and friends around them that were sick, and they were also worried that the disease would fall on them someday. Who wouldn¡¯t look forward to early research on cheap and good-quality cures?

    The pressure of billions of people, even if she was an alien queen, still weighed heavily on her!

    ¡°He¡¯s looking for death!¡± Her voice was cold and murderous.

    As soon as she spoke, she saw Li Rui take arge drift. She didn¡¯t sit stably and almost bumped her head against the windshield. She nced outside at the mess and saw a bunch of people rushing out from somewhere, all yelling and rushing towards their car.

    Xia Yingluo had a good hearing and heard them shouting¡ª

    ¡°This is the car! I recognize it! The car that took Xia Yingluo out of the hospital!¡±

    ¡°Xia Yingluo! Save the cancer patients! Marry Wei Lingnan!¡±

 Chapter 1391 - Take You to the Battleship

    <strong>Chapter 1391: Take You to the Battleship</strong>

    Li Rui yelled in the driver¡¯s seat. He couldn¡¯t consider the traffic flow nearby and took a sharp turn into another road.

    He forced several cars to stop in a row, and they almost got into a car ident. The drivers rolled down the windows and scolded. ¡°You¡¯re looking for death!¡± The road that was originally endless was suddenly congested. But Li Rui couldn¡¯t be med. If he didn¡¯t change his path just now, he would either run into the crazy crowd in front of him or slow down and cause a rear-end ident. Those people shouted slogans, pulled banners, and their careless postures were frightening.

    Li Rui drove in the star-studded city trafficwork for a long time before hepletely got rid of the mad crowd that kept flowing.

    He didn¡¯t drive the car directly home, fearing that he would encounter a blockade halfway, and drove Xia Yingluo west of the city. ¡°I have an apartment near He Ping Road that nobody knows about. I will take you there first.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t! Drive forward! Go to Wei Lingnan¡¯s base!¡± Xia Yingluo said.

    Li Rui gave her a surprised look. ¡°Why go there?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s looking for death. How dare he use the power of public opinion, I want to let him know what death means!¡± Xia Yingluo said with gritted teeth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess around,¡± Li Rui said, but changed his direction and headed for Wei Lingnan¡¯s base. ¡°Are you going to quarrel with him? Or fight? We can¡¯t possibly win over this fight, could we?¡±

    ¡°Who said I¡¯m going to fight?¡± Xia Yingluo said, tearing up the long skirt that she had put on before she was discharged from the hospital. She didn¡¯t care about Li Rui and formed a skirt style that was easy to move in, exposing her shapely beautiful legs.

    Li Rui whistled. ¡°Why are you my sister?¡±

    Xia Yingluo rolled her eyes. ¡°Park the car at the littlene there, and don¡¯t let anyone notice it. We¡¯ll go in through the side door.¡±

    Li Rui whistled again. ¡°Is it dangerous? I like it.¡± He parked the car in a secret ce cooperatively, followed Xia Yingluo cheerfully, and sneaked towards the Wei family¡¯s base. The two siblings had often gone out on furtive adventures since young and were very skilled partners. Furthermore, they had been in the base several times and had a good understanding of the structure, so they really dared to go in without rming the police first.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Li Rui looked at the vast and precise base that looked like a honeb and was eager to explore.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to see the spaceship.¡±

    ¡°What, spaceship?!¡± The frivolous Li Rui swore and his eyes lit up. While following Xia Yingluo into the heavily guarded base, he said excitedly, ¡°Is there really a spaceship? The kind that you aliens use? Is it round like in the movie, and very powerful and spectacr?¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes again. ¡°Shut up! Be quiet!¡±

    She talked while jumping away from an unknown light scan alert.

    Li Rui shut up obediently and copied her by jumping over the light, but the excitement in his eyes continued to increase.

    Xia Yingluo took him round and round. She knew very well that since Wei Lingnan coulde to Earth, he must have brought a spaceship. She knew the size of the Skatana starship and the storage conditions it needed. That time when she woke up, she already guessed where the spacecraft could be stored based on the structure. At this time, she carefully walked there, broke through theyers of alert, and came to the end of a white corridor.

    ¡°Is it right here?¡± Li Rui couldn¡¯t restrain his excitement. Which boy didn¡¯t want to see an alien spacecraft in his lifetime?

    The end of the corridor was empty, with only one white, smooth wall. Xia Yingluo put her hand on the white wall, and a mysterious purple ripple passed through her, which was a scan of energy specific to the Skatana. This scan was only for individuals. If the energy of the visitor did not match the energy fluctuation of the host who set this scan, it would be rejected and an rm would be triggered.

    That was to say, in theory, other than the Wei Lingnan who set it, other people couldn¡¯t enter even if they had energy, such as Gu Jinxiu.

    But Xia Yingluo was an exception. The queen was above all else, and she could unlock any energy lock set ording to the rules of Skatana. The lc ripple scanned her back and forth a few times, and the white wall quietly sunk inward, backing out and exposing a vast and huge space behind the wall. Xia Yingluo pulled Li Rui into the room, and the wall closed silently behind them.

    That¡¯s right, here it was.

    Xia Yingluo was relieved. Her luck was good and she got it right with a single guess.

    Actually, the crystallization of the Skatana¡¯s fighting ability over hundreds of millions of years made it such that she was always able to find her target quickly. What was more, after so many years of life and death with Wei Lingnan, they knew each other extremely well.

    Next to her, Li Rui looked up at the vast space and eximed. ¡°Incredible. I didn¡¯t expect there to be such a big space underground. This... is almost half of the Wei family¡¯s base?¡± His head was raised so high that his neck was sore. Being in such a vast space was like being in a wide universe. ¡°But, what about the spaceship?¡± He asked Xia Yingluo in confusion.

    Wherever he looked, there were no huge ships like in his imagination. There was only darkness. And, in the center of the big space, there was a white jade-like tform on the ground. There was something suspended on the tform, emitting a dim lc light.

    Xia Yingluo walked over and grabbed it.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Li Rui looked over and saw that it was a small cuboid. He didn¡¯t know what material it was made of, but the cold reflection didn¡¯t even shine. He was disappointed. ¡°Didn¡¯t youe here looking for a spaceship? Where¡¯s the spaceship? Don¡¯t tell me this is the spaceship.¡±

    As soon as he spoke, he heard a slight buzz, as if something had been started.

    That small and inconspicuous metal slowly unfolded in Xia Yingluo¡¯s palm. Layer afteryer, the paper that had been folded so small returned to its original shape. The thin translucent purple color was like a phantom, and soon it was built in midair and took the shape of an interster ship.

    ¡°UNX3026.¡± Xia Yingluo raised her head to look at it like Li Rui and said in a delirious suppressed tone.

    Although she knew that Wei Lingnan must have brought a battleship out, she didn¡¯t know which one it was. It turned out to be UNX3026. She was in disbelief. This kind of warship was only suitable for short-range explosivebat and wasn¡¯t suitable for long-distance travel as it had poor durability. Back on the Skatana, there had been several reports of self-explosion due to the overload operation of this warship.

    How did Wei Lingnan drive it to Earth through billions of light-years?

    He must have gone through a lot of hardships.

    She looked up at the battleship, and the grid of the silent ship spread. Soon, the entire appearance was built¡ªit was covered with potholes after being hit by meteorites and shells, and many ces were used with various materials to repair it, so it looked dpidated like a scavenger.

 Chapter 1392 - Swaying the City

    <h4>Chapter 1392: Swaying the City</h4>

    She felt sorrow and grief inside. She didn¡¯t know how this man had persisted in such desperate situations, but he didn¡¯t give up his ns to revive her. For a moment, she almost wanted to give up the warship and turn back into his arms. She almost wanted to tell him that her heart ached for him.

    Now she understood why his body was full of scars.

    When he was at Skatana, he often fought bloody battles, but as an excellent warrior, he had a strong healing ability and could easily heal any serious injuries without leaving any traces. It was only during the long inteary journey of hundreds of millions of years when he had to navigate this warship that was not suitable for long-distance migration that he had to ovee various dangers and consumed too much energy.

    He had gotten hurt because of her.

    She stared nkly at the worn-out warship. The scar on the ship ovepped with the scar on his body in her memory and was so shocking.

    Li Rui looked at her strangely, not understanding what happened to her. She was alright just now, but why was she in a daze now? ¡°Hey, Yingluo, what are you doing?¡± Li Rui was anxious and called her. ¡°Wake up, don¡¯t sleepwalk. The door of the battleship is open, shall we go up?¡±

    He was eager to try. Every boy had a yearning for the universe carved into his bone marrow.

    Xia Yingluo seemed to wake up from a dream and saw a gleam of light sticking out from the ship¡¯s body, setting up a bridge for them to walk between the ship¡¯s body and the ground. At the end of the bridge was an open ship door.

    She settled down and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She set foot on the bridge first.

    Now was not the time to be sad. His treatment of her had long been a thing of the past. After arriving on Earth, he disappointed her again and again and she had given up. Separation was the best option. She didn¡¯t want to be entangled anymore and experience the feeling of heartache.

    The bridge formed by the light belt flowed with a sort of water-like luster, seemingly soft like the misty moonlight, and the ground was as hard as a rock. ¡°What is this material?¡± Li Rui immediately followed her onto the bridge and stepped tentatively on the ground, seemingly very interested. He leaped in front of her quickly and turned happily to look at her. ¡°Is this a material you have on the Skatana? How interesting.¡±

    ¡°This is the synthesis of liquid metal with energy.¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want to think about herplicated thoughts and wanted to distract herself, so she said to Li Rui, ¡°Be careful and don¡¯t bounce. Warships automatically assign energy based on the current energy situation and passenger weight to save energy. The energy distributed on this bridge is certainly not much. If you jump through the deck and fall, I can¡¯t save you.¡±

    As if to prove her words, she copied Li Rui¡¯s action and the foot of the bridge te suddenly darkened, making his feet sink half an inch in. Although he returned to normal after a moment, Li Rui was still scared pale. ¡°Why is there a pit?!¡± He stood still and dared not jump anymore. The warship was suspended very high in midair and was probably three or four floors from the ground floor. It would not be a joke to fall onto the ground. ¡°It seems alien technology is also no good,¡± Li Rui muttered in dissatisfaction. ¡°Our Earth is still more safe and secure.¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed. It was so good to have a brother like him. When she was upset, he would always have a way to help her vent her sadness.

    They entered the door one after another when suddenly, the closed doors of the hall behind were opened and a man appeared at the door. He saw the warship suspended in midair as well as two people walking on the bridge and shouted, ¡°Ah Luo!¡±

    His voice quivered and formed numerous echoes in the silent wide space. He kept calling¡ª

    Ah Luo, Ah Luo, Ah Luo...

    Xia Yingluo looked back and saw Wei Lingnan.

    The man ran to the battleship desperately and yelled heartbrokenly again. ¡°Ah Luo¡ª!¡± His expression was terrified, as if he saw the end of the world, and reached out to her. ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡±

    However, it was toote.

    She and Li Rui had reached the end of the bridge. She finally nced at him and turned into the battleship. The door closed slowly behind her.

    The light of the bridge dimmed and became transparent little by little. Finally, the countless light spots disappeared in the air.

    ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t go!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s vocal cords were hoarse and he looked hopeless. Seeing the battleship door closed tightly, he instinctively used his teleportation ability. His voice distorted in the air and disappeared in ce. In the next second, he mmed into the battleship¡¯s protective cover and, under the impact of the huge light waves, he was severely dropped to the ground.

    He was heartbroken, and his eyes were full of the distant warship until he forgot to protect himself. He fell so badly that his bones broke in more than a few ces and he vomited blood weakly.

    On the battleship¡¯s control screen, Xia Yingluo looked on with a pale face.

    Her hand rested on the control key, shaking slightly, and she hesitated to press it.

    Li Rui also apanied her to witness the tragic situation outside. The man fell from such a high ce and was not dead. He barely supported his body and looked up in the direction of the battleship. He had to say that alien life was really tenacious. He looked at his sister¡¯s pale face and asked, ¡°What button is this? Do you want to go and save him? Can he even die? If yound, you won¡¯t be able to get away today with how sinister and cunning he is.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s hand was still shaking, but she pressed the button a little bit. ¡°I want to... look at him.¡±

    Of course, she knew he couldn¡¯t die. Back on the Skatana, he had fought more fiercely than this. But every time she saw him get hurt, she felt as though there was a knife in her heart. She wanted to stay with him and help him bandage his wounds.

    Li Rui grabbed her by the hand. ¡°You¡¯re crazy! Remember when he locked you in the basest time. You escaped only to be captured again because you turned back when he was struck by lightning! Xia Yingluo. Isn¡¯t it enough to suffer once, why are you so stupid!¡±

    She looked sad and moved her lips without refuting him.

    She stared quietly at Wei Lingnan, who was covered with blood on the ground. Her body was in her brother¡¯s arms, and along with the battleship, they rose higher and higher. The sky above the hall automatically opened, letting them fly out.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡± She flew far away, and it was as if she could still hear the sound of his tragic crying in her ears.

    The battleship dangled, and the external screen on the monitor changed, showing that they were passing over the city. Many citizens looked up at this post-modern sci-fi warship, raising their fingers and pointing at it, their faces full of shock and amazement.

    Li Rui learned lipnguage and easily recognized their mouth shape¡ª

    Look! UFO!

    He looked nkly at his disappointed sister in his arms and asked, ¡°What shall we do now? Where shall we go? Missy, please give me some advice. Is it really good for you to fly an alien spacecraft in the downtown area like this?¡±

 Chapter 1393 - It Really Is You Two

    <h4>Chapter 1393: It Really Is You Two</h4>

    Xia Yingluo suddenly awoke. She opened the battleship control room in front of the control panel and pressed on a few buttons.

    On the screen, the gleaming reflection of waves in sunlight drifted past, arranging into a mysterious flickering stream of light.

    Li Rui looked at the screen. Although he couldn¡¯t understand what it was, he was instinctively attracted by the strange rhythm. The ripple was so mysterious and beautiful, different from any figure and text he had ever seen. ¡°What is this?¡± he asked.

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°The text of the Skatana shows that the stealth mode is turned on, and the anti-tracking device is also turned on.¡± Turning on the stealth mode was to prevent being watched by humans, and at the same time, turning on the anti-tracking device was to let Wei Lingnan unaware of their whereabouts. She believed that with the strength of the Wei family¡¯s base, tracking down this warship was an easy feat.

    After doing all this, she pulled her hands from the console and leaned on the control chair in the central area. Her human body was slender and petite. She looked like a goblin in a petal on the huge control chair, with her long hair flowing like a stream of water, like a fragrant flower core.

    Li Rui yed the spirit of a curious baby again, pointing to the chair and asking, ¡°Are the people on the Skatana so big?¡±

    That chair loaded more than her whole body and could almost be a bed.

    Xia Yingluo said absently, ¡°That was designed to adapt to the size of our animal transformation.¡±

    The Skatana tribe had two forms, one was the human form, and the original one was the beast itself. Of course, for a variety of needs, they were often half-human, half-beast, or the localized form of a beast. Their seats could be adjusted to the appropriate size ording to the different shapes of the tribe, but for the time being, Xia Yingluo was toozy to use unnecessary energy of the battleship.

    She nced at the control data on the screen. The ship was running out of energy, and the red light started shing.

    This ship was very energy-consuming and needed to use a precious ore in the universe to be energized. Once the energy was depleted, the Skatana tribe could take advantage of the energy stored in their bodies toplement the warship¡¯s, but this loss was toorge and Xia Yingluo had no intention of doing that.

    Soon, Li Rui also noticed the red alert. ¡°Why, is it out of order? It won¡¯t crash, will it? Will we die?¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Xia Yingluo forced back the urge to roll her eyes. This brother didn¡¯t make her feel peaceful from the moment they flew, but she dutifully exined to him, ¡°The energy is not enough. I remember dad has a vi in the suburbs, so we¡¯llnd there.¡±

    The vi was the vi where Li Lei had first met Xia Ling. There were all private vis nearby, so it was secretive and safe.

    Li Rui was relieved. Wei Lingnan suddenly appeared when he entered the battleship earlier, and then Yingluo¡¯s mood became strange. He only cared to appease his sister and didn¡¯t have time to look at this alien battleship. Now, he could finally be at ease. He walked around excitedly and asked a hundred questions. Xia Yingluo almost threw him off the ship.

    She vowed never to bring her second brother onto the warship ever again.

    She vowed.

    The warship sessfullynded in the vi. No one was in the vicinity, so there were no onlookers. Xia Yingluo kept the warship immediately and therge ship folded up inyers. Finally, it turned into a little thing in the shape of a cuboid on her hands, which she directly put in her pocket. Li Rui stared with wide eyes. ¡°That¡¯s true portability.¡±

    ¡°High tech,¡± Xia Yingluo casually said. ¡°Otherwise, why did you think Earth was willing to form an alliance with me? The Skatana can conquer the universe.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Li Rui was skeptical.

    Xia Yingluo gave him a cold look.

    Li Rui touched his nose and followed her towards the mountainside vi. ¡°Yingluo, even if what you said is true, wouldn¡¯t it be just a scrap of metal when it has no energy? What are you going to do next? You went to all the trouble to get it from the Wei family¡¯s base, just to get this scrap metal out? You want to fly it back to space?¡± He suddenly stopped here. ¡°You... you really want to go back?¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t expect Li Rui to have guessed her intentions so early, and she calmly said, ¡°I will stay here with our parents till the end of their retirement.¡± As for after the end of their retirement, it was another matter.

    Li Rui didn¡¯t know her ns and just stared at her. ¡°Are you really not going?¡±

    Xia Yingluo also looked at him seriously. ¡°Skatana is my hometown, and so is here. I have you, my loved ones, and half of the Earth¡¯s blood flowing in me. It¡¯s impossible to abandon you all. Second Brother, you may rest assured, the Skatana people¡¯s lifespan is very long. I have many years to deal with my responsibility as the queen and apany you all...¡±

    She smiled somewhat sadly. ¡°It¡¯s just a hundred years.¡±

    The sorrow in her voice made his heart ache slightly, but he keenly captured the meaning of her words. ¡°Once we die, you¡¯ll leave?¡±

    This time, she nodded.

    Li Rui was quiet for a moment, then he suddenly smiled and reached out to touch her head. ¡°Silly, why are you upset? Even if you are thoroughly human, you won¡¯t have a hundred years to apany us. When I die, and see that you¡¯re well and alive and about to board the warship into the magnificent universe... I¡¯ll be very happy. I¡¯ll be proud of you, Yingluo.¡±

    Her heart ached as she nodded forcefully.

    The topic of life and death parting made the atmosphere a little heavy, and the two walked forward for a while. The forest was lush, and the insects and birds were creeping about.

    Li Rui suddenly asked, ¡°Even if you have to leave, it will be a long timeter, so why did you snatch the warship from Wei Lingnan now? He will have countless opportunities to snatch it back. Aren¡¯t you just finding trouble for yourself? Wouldn¡¯t it be nicer to get it on the day you leave?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°It was unexpected.¡±

    She originally nned to wait a hundred years for her parents before snatching the battleship. Actually, she didn¡¯t even need to snatch it from him, she only needed to ask Wei Lingnan. But recently, those things Wei Lingnan did made her change her mind¡ªwasn¡¯t he forcing her to forgive him? Then she would tell him, she could leave Earth whenever she wanted! Nobody could threaten her like that! If she was angry, she was able to leave immediately.

    Of course, she wouldn¡¯t set sail immediately, but Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t know that.

    When he saw the warship at the Wei family¡¯s base, his horrified expression showed that he thought she was going to fly away.

    This was a lesson she had given him.

    The man was so arrogant that she wanted to make him understand that not everything was in his hands.

    After a long walk, the two came near the Li family¡¯s vi area, but before they approached it, the butler guarding it had brought someone to wee them and said with a smile, ¡°Ah Si told me just now that it was the Second Master arriving with Miss. I didn¡¯t believe him, but it really is you two!¡±

 Chapter 1394 - Guardian Contract

    <h4>Chapter 1394: Guardian Contract</h4>

    This vi was heavily guarded. Xia Yingluo and Li Rui flew in under the stealth function of the battleship. After getting off the battleship, they exposed their whereabouts. Xia Yingluo understood the key problem, and said to the butler with a smile, ¡°Uncle Xie, right? I haven¡¯t seen you for many years. My second brother and I are nning to stay here for a few days, so please clean up.¡±

    The butler nodded. It was his honor to be able to stay with the two siblings.

    When the housekeeper went away, Li Rui nced at her. ¡°Who said I would live here?¡±

    ¡°Then you can go back to the city by yourself, just don¡¯t let Wei Lingnan know where I am.¡± Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t care.

    Li Rui walked beside her as the summer sun rose over the mountains. He sighed loudly. ¡°That bastard really offended you so much that he thought you were flying out of Earth. He probably cried, right? Sinful, sinful.¡±

    Xia Yingluo red at him. ¡°Would you cry for a beautiful woman just because she flew out of Earth?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different,¡± Li Rui said. ¡°He chased you for billions of years.¡±

    Xia Yingluo snorted coldly with a slight pain in her chest. ¡°If he really cared about me so much, he wouldn¡¯t have treated me like that for Gu Jinxiu in the beginning.¡± Anxious? Of course he was anxious, but it didn¡¯t mean he would cry. The energy in this battleship wasn¡¯t enough to fly out of Earth, and Wei Lingnan would certainly be able to respond soon. She had only restarted the battleship to scare him.

    The two settled in the cottage.

    Xia Yingluo originally thought that Wei Lingnan would have to wait a few days to find out her whereabouts. But she was sleeping in the early morning the next day when she felt something heavy on her. Someone was hugging her body. When she woke in shock, she saw a man pressing tightly on her body in the morning light. From her point of view, she could only see the thin and powerful back, which made her unable to move.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan!¡± She smelled his scent and recognized him. ¡°Let go!¡±

    He remained motionless and held her tighter as if her body was to be embedded in his arms. ¡°Ah Luo, Ah Luo...¡± His voice was hoarse and trembling, and his whole body was shaking slightly. ¡°Ah Luo...¡±

    She was made breathless and faintly heard the sound of her bones moving. She suspected that if he continued this way, he would even break her body. She couldn¡¯t help but get angry and say fiercely, ¡°You... let go!¡±

    The cough caused by hypoxia seemed to rm him, and he let go of her suddenly.

    Xia Yingluo was free all of a sudden and she quickly took in big gulps of air. Before she could push him away, he grabbed her wrist and bit it. Xia Yingluo was in pain. She felt as if the aorta on her wrist was torn by the teeth of the beast, and blood spewed out, spilling onto her face immediately. Even her body and bedsheets were affected, and blood was everywhere.

    She was frightened and angry and yelled, ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    She used her other hand to push him, but he held tightly onto her, his teeth still clenching her injured wrist.

    The blood was draining so fast that she felt like she was going to die. No way, she just robbed him of a battleship, did he need to go crazy and try to kill her? Her face turned gradually pale, and she lost her strength due to excessive blood loss. She looked at Wei Lingnan fiercely, her withered lips trembling. ¡°I, I will not let you go even as a ghost.¡±

    He loosened her wrist.

    Xia Yingluo was faintly aware of some sort of difference. The man in front of her seemed to have some mysterious and familiar connection with her. She could feel his heartbeat, his temperature, his pulse, his breath, and his distance from her...

    It was a link deep into his soul.

    ¡°You...!¡± She opened her eyes suddenly and looked at him inconceivably.

    Wei Lingnan also looked up at her, still holding her wrist. He looked down and licked her wound that was still bleeding. They had treated each other so many times before when they were at Skatana, so she calmed down and looked at him dumbly.

    She didn¡¯t know how long it was, but eventually, the wound stopped bleeding.

    He looked up again. ¡°Ah Luo.¡±

    His voice remained hoarse.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this,¡± she said. He just bit her wrist and drank her blood for the Guardian Contract¡ªjust like when the little princess bit her wrist and dropped the blood on him at the Skatana. Since then he had been her guardian, servant, and would never leave her in his life. There was a mysterious link between the guardian and the princess¡ªshe was now the queen. No matter where they were, how far apart they were, how many light-years they had to cross, as long as they thought about it, they could feel each other¡¯s position and would never lose each other in the vastness of the universe ever again.

    She looked at him with aplex expression. ¡°If I die, you will die too.¡±

    This was a side effect of the guardian contract, or a restriction on the servant¡¯s side¡ªif the master died, the servant could not live alone.

    Although the life of the Skatana tribe was very long and almost endless, Xia Yingluo understood that she had experienced reincarnation and been reborn with a human body. In any case, she couldn¡¯t outlive Wei Lingnan, a native of Skatana.

    He was elerating his death.

    Wei Lingnan smiled, half of his face was covered with blood, making his smile look terrible. ¡°I know there will be a third time.¡±

    She froze. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The first time we were under siege in the Dark Star battle, and we were about to die. You tried to cancel the contract and set me free so that I could run away alone. The second time was that day... When you blew up, you lifted my contract, so you died, but I was still alive. Ah Luo, I know there will be a third time, you are reluctant to let me apany you to death.¡± He was covered with blood and looked at her tenderly.

    She was stunned again. ¡°Maybe I should have died with you at that time.¡± Then, all these things wouldn¡¯t have happened, and their memories of each other could at least stop there. There would be no Gu Jinxiu and no third party.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Ah Luo, you can¡¯t bear it.¡±

    She sneered. ¡°I couldn¡¯t bear it before, but I am totally for it now. If I had a third time, I wouldn¡¯t even think about whether to cancel your contract!¡±

    His expression darkened, and after a long time, he said, ¡°I will apany you to death.¡±

    He was willing to apany her in death. In fact, if not for the resurrection, he would have killed himself to follow her. It was just... he knew what she meant. She didn¡¯t care about his life or death.

    ¡°Return the battleship to me,¡± he said.

    The topic jumped a bit too fast, and she sat up in bed, calmly protecting the small cuboid below the pillow. ¡°This is your attitude towards your Master? My Guardian.¡±

 Chapter 1395 - Take It and Get Lost

    <h4>Chapter 1395: Take It and Get Lost</h4>

    Her eyes were clear and cold. They were a little proud but were more alert.

    The folded warship was under her pillow and was within reach. She knew that Wei Lingnan would have guessed where it was. She could only bet on whether he would take it by force. If he wanted to, she would be helpless.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her for a long time. ¡°It is safer for the battleship to be with me.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Even if you hold it, you don¡¯t have enough energy to fly out of Earth.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡±

    The conversation was at an impasse, and her fingers turned into ws under the quilt. If he dared to pounce on her, she wouldn¡¯t mind giving him a scratch or two. But to her surprise, he stepped back. ¡°Since you insist on holding it, alright. But Ah Luo, you have to promise me that you will never leave Earth without me.¡±

    She looked at him motionlessly. ¡°You already said, I don¡¯t have enough energy.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I want your promise.¡± Although he knew very well that she couldn¡¯t leave, this battleship incident had been too agitating for him. The moment he saw her on the battleship, he had felt heartbroken. Until now he was lingering on it and didn¡¯t want to experience it again.

    She said, ¡°What if I don¡¯t give it?¡±

    ¡°I will take it back and destroy it. In this life, we won¡¯t leave. We¡¯ll be trapped together on this until it¡¯spletely deserted.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°Just think that I¡¯m crazy.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled sadly. ¡°Ah Luo, you know I can do it.¡±

    Yes, he was a lunatic. Even back then, many people had cursed that he was crazy. He could do anything unexpected, even if it destroyed everything indiscriminately. This terrifying trait helped them through the weakest and most difficult moments and got rid of the calctions and assassinations of other princesses and guardians. But today, he was using it against her.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him fiercely. ¡°You Skatana traitor! You haven¡¯t destroyed your mother star enough, you even have to cut off the road of reconstruction!¡±

    The sadness in Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes disappeared, and he returned to his usual indifference. ¡°You probably forget, I vowed a long time ago to always be loyal to you. If the Zergs move against you, I will be the enemy of the Zerg. If the other princesses move against you, I will be the enemy of the other princesses. If the n and the want to move against you, I will be the enemy of the whole n and the.¡±

    His voice was calm as if he was saying something very normal, glossing over all the bloody rain.

    Xia Yingluo felt slightly suffocated and there was a hint of soreness in her heart. How could she not remember this vow? She just didn¡¯t expect that one day he would destroy the entire and be indebted with great sins. ¡°At that time, the mother star and the n did not want to hurt me,¡± she said.

    However, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Is that true? The life of the people on Skatana is endless, but what about the queen? A new World Tree would be born, and a new generation of princesses would fight andpete. The one who wins would sit on the throne of the queen and thest obstacle to wipe out would be¡ªthe former queen! Ah Luo, don¡¯t forget whose blood you stepped on to be queen!¡±

    She could not refute that this was the fate of all the queens and the fate of the people of Skatana.

    Skatana only had the strongest people. If she was strong enough, she would take over the position of the queen; if she was not strong enough and was killed by the former queen, it only meant that she wasn¡¯t qualified to be queen, and the World Tree would conceive a new batch of princesses until one of them could kill the former queen.

    This was how the Skatana people ensured that one generation was stronger than the other.

    This was thew of their race and could not be vited.

    But today, on Earth far from her fragmented mother star, her guardian looked at her and said, ¡°If the n and the are going to move against you, I will be the enemy of the whole n and the whole.¡± She suddenly understood that when he ventured to rebel back then, he didn¡¯t just want to possess her. He was afraid that a new princess would be born and kill her after several years.

    She suddenly turned her head to prevent him from seeing her fragile look.

    The back of his hand was slightly warm, and he reached out and gently held her. ¡°I¡¯m already a sinner. You¡¯re right, I¡¯m a traitor. I don¡¯t care about the life or death of the Skatana people, or whether you can rebuild our home. I only care about you.¡±

    Affection for the mother star was the nature engraved in the bones of each tribe member, but his love for her transcended nature.

    When she was not in danger, he would guard his mother star with all his might, but once she was involved, he would not hesitate to fight against the world.

    ¡°So, swear to me, Ah Luo. Swear that you will never leave me, or I would rather destroy the warship immediately.¡±

    ¡°You lunatic...¡± she said weakly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you three seconds,¡± he said, ¡°don¡¯t me me for snatching it from you. Three, two...¡±

    ¡°I swear.¡± She really didn¡¯t know how to fight with this lunatic. To save the warship, she had topromise with him. ¡°I swear that I will never leave Earth without you. If I vite this vow, I will die a horrible death...¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± He stopped her suddenly. ¡°Don¡¯t swear on your own life.¡±

    She froze, then looked at him sternly. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Mr. Wei, why do you have so many requests? If you want me to swear on my family, I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t do that.¡± She was now d that the covenant power on Earth was too weak to make her make a vow that was harmful to the Skatana or to the tribe. Otherwise, she was certain that Wei Lingnan would ask her to make a condition with the Skatana.

    ¡°Use me as an oath condition,¡± he said.

    ¡°What?¡± She was stunned again.

    ¡°Use me.¡± He repeated and copied her by giving a smile. ¡°If you leave behind my back, then the day you leave is the day my soul disappears!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± She didn¡¯t expect that he would say these words. ¡°You are sick! You lived till today after so much difficulty, but you want to die?!¡±

    ¡°Just take it that I¡¯m sick.¡± He suddenly felt tired. ¡°Ah Luo, I know you hate me. If you leave me, the world without you is no different to me than being dead.¡±

    The room was silent, and his words pierced her heart like a needle.

    After a long time, she reached out and pulled out the folded battleship from under the pillow and threw it to his face. ¡°Take it and get lost!¡±

    The icy battleship smashed into his face and he bled. But he didn¡¯t mind and caught the battleship. He couldn¡¯t help but smile¡ªit turned out his Ah Luo hadn¡¯tpletely abandoned him yet. In her heart, he was more important than the battleship, after all.

    He bowed deeply, saluting respectfully in her angry eyes. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Then, he stood up and left her room.

 Chapter 1396 - Crisis Resolution

    <h4>Chapter 1396: Crisis Resolution</h4>

    The door was closed gently, and she unknowingly walked to the window, watching his figure go further and further on the flowery path. She didn¡¯t know what she was doing, but she turned around and opened the door before catching up with him. ¡°Wait!¡±

    He turned back in the flowers and the morning light. ¡°Ah Luo?¡±

    She was still wearing a blood-stained silk satin nightdress. Her hair red around her, and her chest slightly undted due to her sharp movements. She looked at him and suddenly didn¡¯t know what to say. After a while, she said, ¡°I¡¯ll let the butler send you.¡±

    A little hope in his eyes faded away.

    ¡°Ah Luo, can you send me away?¡±

    The floral scent of summer spread between the two and unknown birds sang lightly in the forest. Her blood-stained nightdress was swayed by the breeze and stood under a bush of flowers at the end of the path, faintly fragile and at a loss.

    He asked again, ¡°Can you?¡±

    She turned to her side. ¡°I¡¯m not so free.¡± Then, she was afraid he might have misunderstood and exined. ¡°You have a battleship on your body, so it¡¯ll be safer if the butler sends you away. What if the battleship is lost halfway?¡± She couldn¡¯t even bear to hear this excuse by herself. With the technology of human beings today, they wouldn¡¯t even know what the little thing Wei Lingnan had on were. So why should he worry about losing it?

    ¡°Really?¡± He looked down, his emotions fading. ¡°I¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    He walked outward very slowly like a toddler, and she could easily hold him as long as she stepped forward a few steps. However, she didn¡¯t step forward or speak again, so he had to walk through the corners of the path slowly, through the magnificent wood of hibiscus and hydrangea, until they could no longer see each other.

    Xia Yingluo was ufortable and felt a sort of heavy mood that she couldn¡¯t even identify.

    She returned to her room to bathe and changed into her clean clothes. When she went down to the restaurant for breakfast, Li Rui was very excited. ¡°Take out the battleship and show it to meter. It can be folded into a tiny cuboid, it¡¯s too amazing. I have to examine it carefully.¡±

    She was absentminded. ¡°What can you even examine?¡±

    The Skatana¡¯s technology had developed to the current level after the efforts of many generations, and allowing Li Rui, from an uncivilized race on the edge of the universe, to study the most advanced technology in the universe, was simply tantamount to giving aircraft carriers to little babies.

    Li Rui was dissatisfied. ¡°Why are you looking down on me? Can¡¯t you just give it to me to y with?¡± His eyes sparkled and he looked imploringly at his sister. ¡°Little sister, look at how your brother has helped you and stayed by your side for so many years. Why don¡¯t you just give me a nce? Just one nce.¡±

    Xia Yingluo rejected him with one sentence. ¡°I gave it to Wei Lingnan.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Li Rui paused, not even knowing that the fork in his hand fell off. ¡°You gave it to him? When did hee to you? Oh, what¡¯s wrong with our rm system? There wasn¡¯t any response at all, how could I not know anything?!¡±

    Xia Yingluo rubbed her forehead. Was this elder brother a husky? Why was he so vigorous and full of curiosity?

    On the entire Earth, the ce that could defend against Wei Lingnan was only the Xia family¡¯s territory. There was ayered array method under The Preceptor¡¯s magic. With the power of the, an alien like Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t easily invade. Then it was the city, the vi where she and her parents and brothers often lived. Under the joint defense of Xia Moyan and Li Lei, they arranged a lot of settings specifically for Wei Lingnan, and he could be blocked immediately.

    As for the other ces?

    It was too ridiculous.

    Li Rui was stunned for a while and understood how powerful the intruder was. He no longer asked how the other party came in, but said fiercely, ¡°The next time he does this, I¡¯ll have to take him down! Yingluo, did that bastard hurt you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xia Yingluo was still absentminded. ¡°Second Brother, let¡¯s go back to the city this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not staying here a few more days?¡± Li Rui frowned.

    ¡°He already found out about it, and it¡¯s boring to live here,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°We¡¯ll go back earlier. There are still a lot of announcements.¡± She also had to draw closure to Jiang Yu¡¯s marriage proposal. There were still many people on the Inte arguing about whether the proposal was sessful. The fans who supported its sess said that Xia Yingluo had already promised verbally, and the ceremony was consideredplete. Fans who thought that the marriage proposal was unsessful said that Jiang Yu¡¯s bouquet of roses was not delivered to Xia Yingluo, which meant the ceremony wasn¡¯tpleted and was a bad sign. Thus, Yingluo and Jiang Yu wouldn¡¯t be happy together.

    Both sides had their own opinions. They discussed and argued on the inte.

    Everyone urged the parties toe forward and give an exnation and make closure on the proposal, but Xia Yingluo was hospitalized a few days ago, and they didn¡¯t get to fulfill their wishes. Now that there was news about Wei Lingnan¡¯s new anti-cancer drugs after she was discharged from the hospital, countless people around the world hoped that Xia Yingluo would be with Wei Lingnan so that Wei Lingnan could improve the new anti-cancer drug with a peace of mind and even have some staged demonstrations in certain regions.

    It could be said that the eyes of the whole world were on Xia Yingluo. They were all hoping that she would stand up and settle it.

    Li Rui also knew that she couldn¡¯t hide and sighed. ¡°It¡¯s all because you were born in the Li family¡¯s house. These days, Dad and the rest are all helping you stop several kidnappings and attacks. There are even more secret oppressions. If you were born in an ordinary family, I¡¯m afraid you would have been shipped to Wei Lingnan¡¯s bed a long time ago.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t argue with him and said lightly, ¡°I hope he was warned after the battleship incident yesterday.¡± She was also confused. As soon as he appeared this morning, all the persecution was thrown out of the clouds. The way he resigned the guardian contract with him regardless of himself made her so shocked that she forgot to order him to settle the outside world matters.

    In the afternoon, she and Li Rui returned to S City as scheduled.

    Xia Ling waited for her at home, and Li Lei made a table full of desserts for their baby daughter. She said in distress, ¡°It has been hard on you these days. You lost so much weight. Eat more and supplement your body.¡±

    Xia Yingluo dug a spoonful of matcha cake for her. ¡°Mom, you eat too.¡±

    Both mother and daughter were passionate about desserts. There was a sentence called ¡°There¡¯s no problem that can¡¯t be solved by dessert. If one spoon isn¡¯t enough, then eat two.¡± Two equally beautiful and charming women wiped out the dessert together, and gradually, their low mood faded away.

    ¡°People like Wei Lingnan deserve a beating,¡± Xia Ling said while snatching the chocte hazelnut pudding from her daughter. ¡°He will only be good once stimted. He just released the news saying that improved versions of the new anti-cancer drugs have been sessfully developed. All patients can buy it at a very low price. Now there¡¯s a lot of cheering outside, and those who wanted to find trouble with you have all dispersed.¡±

 Chapter 1397 - Looking for Sister-In-Law

    <h4>Chapter 1397: Looking for Sister-In-Law</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Ah?¡± Xia Yingluo¡¯s mouth was filled with cake and she looked a little stupid.

    She thought that it would take at least a few more days for Wei Lingnan to solve this problem. She didn¡¯t expect that he would resolve it so quickly in the afternoon after leaving in the morning. He rarely did something that she was satisfied with. Xia Yingluo was in a much better mood and asked, ¡°What about those nonsense things that he did before? Didn¡¯t he say that he was too enamored to concentrate on his work? Now that the new medicine has improved, how did he conceal his lie?¡± As she talked, she quickly grabbed thest pudding from her mother¡¯s te.

    ¡°Ah! You little robber!¡± Xia Ling red at her angrily. Other people¡¯s daughters were their mother¡¯s intimate cotton jackets, but why did her baby girl always bring trouble for her? She even had to snatch her pudding! She was too inhumane!

    Xia Yingluo was busy stuffing the pudding into her mouth and looked at Xia Ling with a silly smile.

    Xia Ling reached out and pinched her face. ¡°Naughty girl! I won¡¯t tell you!¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed again and copied her big brother¡¯s innocent and pure expression. She finally swallowed the pudding in her mouth and caressed her face in her mother¡¯s hand. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t be angry. Tell me and I¡¯ll make it for you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Ling looked at her suspiciously.

    ¡°I¡¯m not as stingy as Dad, making only a little bit of dessert every time that isn¡¯t even enough, humph.¡± Xia Yingluoined. ¡°I¡¯ll make tiramisu for youter, and ck Forest, and cream fruit puddings!¡±

    Xia Ling smiled happily and touched her daughter¡¯s head. ¡°Good girl.¡±

    Both mother and daughter ignored one fact very well¡ªhow were Li Lei¡¯s desserts not enough? Obviously, thebined fighting power of the two of them was amazing and they managed to sweep away a table full of cakes and puddings.

    The little leopard Rong Rong smelled the sweet scent of cream and walked happily to the table. He looked at the empty table and unhappily bowed down his head. Xia Ling reached out and took Rong Rong into her arms, and said to her daughter, ¡°Isn¡¯t it easy for Wei Lingnan to conceal his lie? He said that although you did not agree to ept him, it gave him encouragement and inspiration for research and development, so hepleted the drug. It was just a moment¡¯s work, and public opinion changed greatly. People outside said that you were profoundly righteous and that you¡¯re the intellectual goddess of the new era.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was licking the cream on her fingers, and she almost choked at her words. ¡°The intellectual goddess of the new era?!¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her with a cheekily. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, either.¡±

    ¡°Mom~¡± Xia Yingluo felt wronged. She also felt that the title was too outrageous, but how could she attack her like that? However, it wasn¡¯t a bad thing. She faintly felt that the energy in her body was full, which was probably because of her poprity now.

    Even though Wei Lingnan was so bad, it was true that he helped her gather energy everywhere.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood was a littleplicated.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her with a smile. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk about business. In a few days, it will be the flower midsummer feast. Let your two brothers apany you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°The midsummerdy feast?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Xia Ling exined to her. ¡°It¡¯s an annual event in the city and the surrounding cities. All the wealthydies will attend. The main thing is for blind dates. Of course, it also has manymunication functions. You guys were not in China before and didn¡¯t participate in it, so now that you¡¯re rarely in China, just go and look around. Your two elder brothers are at the age of marriage, but they¡¯re not even anxious at all. Go and help them settle a girl.¡±

    Xia Yingluo understood now. So her mother¡¯s intention was to use her asbor?

    She burst into tears. ¡°Why should I go help them, why can¡¯t you go yourself?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked gloomily into the distance. ¡°Your dad won¡¯t let me go, and I won¡¯t let him go either.¡±

    Xia Yingluo took a moment to understand. She really didn¡¯t know what to say to her parents¡ªthe Pei family would definitely attend the midsummerdies¡¯ summer feast. God knew if Pei Ziheng would be there? Li Lei must be worried that Xia Ling would bump into him, and Xia Ling was also worried that Li Lei and Pei Ziheng would have conflicts. If these two people were to meet, an incident would definitely happen.

    Xia Yingluo looked sympathetically at her mother. ¡°I¡¯ll help you eat more.¡± After thinking about it, she asked, ¡°Are you not going to advise me to get a new boyfriend?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her like she was an idiot. ¡°You still don¡¯t think Wei Lingnan is annoying enough?¡±

    Xia Yingluo heaved a long sigh. Fine, even if she had the heart, not many people could win over Wei Lingnan. Last time when she had agreed to Jiang Yu¡¯s proposal, it was only because she had hoped that Wei Lingnan would retreat. But who knew that Wei Lingnan would hit him in public. Before Jiang Yu¡¯s fans even had time to condemn him, he released his anti-cancer drug and suddenly stood on the moral high ground. The people supporting Wei Lingnan suddenly became a few more times than Jiang Yu. Now, Jiang Yu and his fans had no reason to continue talking logic.

    She obediently followed her mother¡¯s arrangement, and she and her two brothers attended the midsummer feast.

    Along the way, Li Rui sighed and said, ¡°If I were to say, what good are the nobledies? They¡¯re all so fake, like a wooden man, how could theypare with the purple daisies and interesting girls in the clubs? Appreciate the flowers, my head.¡±

    In the second row of the extended luxury car, Shaohui nced at his brother. ¡°Choose one. You can¡¯t possibly marry those girls at the club.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Li Rui was upset. ¡°As long as I¡¯m happy!¡± He understood that Shaohui meant well. As the second master that wasn¡¯t biological, his best way out was to have a strong wife so that he could have a more stable position in the future. In fact, it wasn¡¯t easy for his parents and elder brother to worry about his marriage, but because of this, he had to know his limits even more.

    His father always thought of him as a puppet since young, so he would just be a puppet.

    To be free and protect his sister who was like a pearl on the palm of his hand, was also considered a contribution to the family.

    Shaohui seemed to know his thoughts and didn¡¯t say anything. He changed the topic to Yingluo. ¡°I heard that Gu Jinxiu and Pei Yan will also be going. Be careful, don¡¯t leave me and your brother.¡±

    Xia Yingluo responded and smiled slightly. ¡°Gu Jinxiu can¡¯t do anything anymore. As for Pei Yan, she¡¯s just an idiot. Don¡¯t worry, brother. I¡¯m fine. I will stay with Second Brother. As for you... hurry and get me a sister-inw.¡±

    This time, it was Shaohui¡¯s expression that turned mncholic.

    Li Rui looked at him with a gleeful smile and said, ¡°Who asked you to talk about me! Our parents are most anxious over you! You can stop worrying and just find us a sister-inw, hahaha. I will take care of Yingluo!¡±

 Chapter 1398 - Meeting Pei Ziheng

    Chapter 1398: Meeting Pei Ziheng

    Guests arrived at the midsummer feast happily.

    The waiters in front of the door all wore Chinese green shirts and respectfully pulled the door for them.

    The organizer of this year was an old tycoon. He had long stated on the invitation that the theme of this flower-viewing feast was ¡°ancient style¡±, and everyone invited was to dress in a quaint style. The three people of them also followed the Chinese custom. Xia Yingluo chose a in tulle shirt with abination of the Western and cheongsam style. Her long hair had flowers tied and she looked elegant and moving. Li Shaohui wore a dark Chinese tunic suit, and the materials and cut were first-rate, which was in line with his identity as the heir. As for Li Rui, he was more casual and wore a brocade. He dressed as a young and proud Chinese man. All two beautiful men and the beautiful woman attracted attention as soon as they got out of the car.

    They were long ustomed to such attention and walked calmly to the weing waiter.

    The courtyard that was chosen this time was also quite old-fashioned, with pavilions and water pavilions. Bamboo shadows interspersed with the wind, and subtle fragrances floated in the air.

    A beautifully curved canal divided the courtyard into two ends, connected by a quaint wooden bridge. Along the clear canal, seats were strewn everywhere. There were lustrous cdon tableware on the low table, Xiangfei bamboo chopsticks, and several luminous cups.

    Li Rui took the lead and said with a smile, ¡°Are we going to drink water from the winding canal to wash away ominousness?¡±

    The waiter said respectfully, ¡°There is such a program. Second Master, Big Master, and Ms. Xia, please enjoy.¡±

    Li Rui smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t write poems, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll embarrass myself today.¡± This program was an elegant thing handed down by ancestors. A small tray with wine sses had to be used to float on the water. Whoever the ss floated to had toe up with a poem.

    The waiter said with a slight smile, ¡°Mr. Yu said, if it was based on the original customs, it would be too boring. He was afraid that the youngdies and sirs would be bored, so he made some improvements to the program. You will definitely like it.¡± Mr. Yu was the master of the flower feast this year. He had been in society for many years and naturally knew the way of socializing. This kind of blind date activity could not be taken too seriously.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t listen to her second brother talking to the waiter. She looked around calmly with her pretty eyes and saw that a few meters away, several people were sitting on the other side of the canal separated by a seat. The person in front wore a well-made navy blue tunic suit simr to her brother¡¯s¡ªactually, most men who came to the banquet chose this dressing¡ªthe calm and majestic man was Pei Ziheng.

    She whispered to herself. ¡°Uncle Pei.¡±

    Li Shaohui heard it and turned his head to nce at him. ¡°He is Pei Ziheng?¡± In the years Li Shaohui took charge of the family business, he and Pei Ziheng had also fought several times, but one of them was in China and the other was abroad, so they had yet to see each other in real life.

    Xia Yingluo murmured a ¡°Yes¡± and asked, ¡°Would you like to apany me to say hello?¡±

    Li Shaohui smiled warmly. ¡°Okay.¡± Then, he reached out and patted Li Rui¡¯s shoulder next to him. ¡°Xiao Rui, I¡¯ll leave with Yingluo for a while, you can start ying first.¡±

    Li Rui looked up. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Li Shaohui raised his chin and signaled in Pei Ziheng¡¯s direction.

    Li Rui was full of interest. ¡°He is Pei Ziheng? I¡¯ll go with you.¡± He had heard many people talk about the love and hate of this legendary man and his parents, but he had never been able to see him in real life before, so he was very curious about this man who made his father so angry.

    Li Shaohui smiled again. ¡°If you dare to go, do you believe that father will peel your skin?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Li Rui was unhappy. ¡°Howe you can go and I can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I once spent a year in Imperial¡¯s Training Camp, and I received a lot of care from Uncle Pei, so it¡¯s appropriate to go over and say hello. Big brother can apany me with his identity.¡± Xia Yingluoughed and gloated. ¡°What about you? What name do you have?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m your brother too,¡± Li Rui retorted but didn¡¯t insist on it either.

    As clever as he was, he quickly reacted. His family and the Pei family were not on good terms. As juniors, if they all took the initiative to meet Pei Ziheng, it would seem too grand, as if they were lowering their heads to the Pei family. Even Shaohui apanied Yingluo in the name of her ¡°Elder Brother¡±, which meant, ¡°I came in my private capacity and do not represent the family.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°Good, we¡¯lle back soon.¡±

    ¡°Good girl.¡± Li Rui sneered. She smiled and pulled Li Shaohui¡¯s hand and ran away.

    The two made a half-circle around the bridge and came to the Pei family¡¯s seat.

    In addition to Pei Ziheng, there were several juniors present, including brothers and sisters Pei Yan and Pei Chengyou.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and called, ¡°Uncle Pei.¡±

    Pei Ziheng looked up, his voice very gentle. ¡°You¡¯re here?¡± In fact, as soon as the Li family¡¯s few children entered, he already noticed. He intentionally let people arrange his family¡¯s seats diagonally opposite the Li family¡¯s, just to be able to see them. He hadn¡¯t attended the Midsummer Flowers Appreciation Banquet for several years. This time, he only attended because he heard that she had returned to China. He had been looking forward to seeing her on this banquet¡ªthe woman that lingered in his heart. Unfortunately, the moment he saw the three brothers and sister of the Li family, he knew that he was going to be disappointed.

    Xia Yingluo stood in front of him in an orderly manner, looking like a properdy, and responded with a smile. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here. I saw Uncle Pei and came over to say hello. By the way, this is my elder brother, Li Shaohui. Uncle Pei, this is your first meeting.¡±

    Li Shaohui took a step forward and also called out. ¡°Uncle Pei, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Pei Ziheng nodded slightly. ¡°Shaohui? You¡¯re so big now, but I don¡¯t have any greeting gift for you.¡±

    Li Shaohui¡¯s smile froze, remembering that he had been adopted by Pei Ziheng for a while when he was a child, so he was considered his adoptive father. However, Pei Ziheng¡¯s remarks were very hostile. They were both Li Lei¡¯s children, but why were his treatment toward him and his sister so different? His smile only froze for a moment before he said, ¡°I still have to thank Uncle Pei for having taken care of my sister thest time.¡±

    Pei Ziheng said lightly, ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    The atmosphere was a bit awkward. Pei Ziheng was obviously unhappy, and Shaohui and Xia Yingluo did not intend to stay long. After greeting him, they quickly returned to their seats. As they walked, Li Shaohui said to his sister, ¡°This man is so cruel. Stay away from him in the future.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°He raised you before, yet you call him cruel?¡±

    Li Shaohui said, ¡°He did raise me before, but he also tried to kill me. Don¡¯t look at his gentle surface, this kind of person is the scariest. I met him several times in the business market. He... is extremely cruel. His methods are extremely harsh and fierce, but it seems like a spring breeze on the surface. Sometimes, I really don¡¯t know how my dad won when he was young.¡±

 Chapter 1399 - Glittering Hair Clips

    Chapter 1399: Glittering Hair Clips

    Xia Yingluo smiled. ¡°You¡¯re just biased to our dad. You make it sound like our dad isn¡¯t cruel, vile, nor shrewd.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s the one being biased?¡± Li Shaohui said, ¡°But you have to be careful of that Pei Yan. She has been staring at you just now, and the hostility in her eyes is obvious.¡± He had passed by not just to say hello to Pei Ziheng, but he also watched the people at the table. Several of them were possible heirs of the Pei family and it was necessary to understand their nature.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t take it to heart. ¡°How big is she even?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, you are the big youngdy in our family. The bright pearl in our palms and the moon amongst the stars. That kind ofdy simply can¡¯tpare with a bigdy like you.¡± Li Shaohuiughed at her. After a while, he returned to their seats with her.

    A few people gathered and all the youngdies from other families came over to say hello.

    The Li family was one of the biggest families in the world and was even supported by the mysterious and terrifying Xia family. Even the most prosperous family hoped to have a rtionship with them. Everybody nned it very well¡ªit was best to make friends with the Li family. Even if they couldn¡¯t, they must be familiar with each other and not be enemies with them. It was too terrible to be an enemy with such a big family.

    Many people thought actively and begun to n marriage alliances.

    Li Rui was surrounded by several young masters and youngdies. He had a little evil smile on his face and handled it very well. He ran the train with his mouth full of bullshit, and made a lot of youngdies happy and joyful, but didn¡¯t disclose any key information about his family. Some people were born socialists, and there was no doubt that Li Rui was such a person.

    When Li Shaohui and Yingluo came back, some of the youngdies around Li Ruiughed and said, ¡°Big Master Li, Yingluo, you¡¯re finally back! Your second son is fine, he won¡¯t even answer what you guys like to eat. His lips are sealed so tightly, was he a secret agent before?¡±

    Everyoneughed.

    Li Shaohui alsoughed. ¡°How is his mouth tight? When did he care about his elder brother? How does he even know what I like to eat! He¡¯s the same as Yingluo! He just lies around at home and it¡¯s good enough that he doesn¡¯t fight for food with Yingluo. Our Yingluo is a very good chef.¡±

    Someone even started to coax. ¡°I have heard that Ms. Xia¡¯s cooking has been passed on by Mr. Li. I don¡¯t know who will have this mouthfeel in the future?¡±

    ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t even think about it!¡± The person who spoke this time was Li Rui. He leaned sideways at the person who spoke,ughing and cursing. ¡°Second Brother Liu, our Yingluo is our baby. Even if the world is held in front of her, it may not be worthy of her!¡±

    This time, Xia Yingluo said with her eyebrows raised, ¡°You only know how to arrange things for me.¡±

    She sat down on her seat and immediately someone diligently poured wine for her. ¡°It would be a blessing for anyone to marry Ms. Xia. Hello, Ms. Xia, I am Zhou Shichang from Yongchang Jewelry. I wonder if I have the honor to have a meal with you someday?¡±

    ¡°Go, go, don¡¯t seduce my sister in front of me.¡± Li Rui pushed him away.

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. She grew up in a prestigious family since young and was familiar with this kind of situation. She sat beside her two brothers with all manners and gave them the task of rejecting her many suitors. She only asionally spoke a few words, and her eyes were slightly staring in boredom on the seat near the nearby canal.

    The seat not far away was the Du family.

    Du Zheng was also surrounded by a few young masters anddies talking to him. If they wanted to talk to a golden bachelor, Du Zheng was definitely one. He was much older than the Li siblings and his family was more urgent in his marriage. He had to settle down in theing two years. Therefore, the group of people around him was more purposeful and foreboding.

    Seeing Xia Yingluoing over, Du Zheng raised his ss in his hand.

    Xia Yingluo smiled sweetly and raised a toast to him.

    Then Du Zheng excused himself to the people around him, stood up calmly, and walked towards the Li family¡¯s seat. When he reached the Li family seat, he said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°I think the cluster of orchids in front is very pretty. Will you walk with me?¡±

    Under the jealous and hateful gazes of everyone, Xia Yingluo stood up. ¡°Okay.¡±

    The two walked slowly along the secluded path, and Xia Yingluo smiled softly. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re entangled by thedies?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want toe, but my family urged me to.¡± He was in his thirties and was a figure with great power in the Du family. It was a miracle they took so long to persist.

    Xia Yingluo joked. ¡°I have heard a lot of rumors about you during my return to China. Do you really have any special quirks? Are you homosexual?¡±

    Du Zheng red at her gently.

    This look was not lethal to her, and Xia Yingluo still smiled. ¡°Okay, okay. I was wrong, brother Du Zheng. Don¡¯t always be so serious. Last time Jin Ling¡¯er asked me why you always like to pull a long face, and I didn¡¯t even know how to answer her.¡±

    ¡°She asked you about me?¡± Du Zheng nced at her.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yingluo suddenly found that she hadn¡¯t cared about Jin Ling¡¯er for a long time. ¡°I was too busy during this time and I don¡¯t even know what happened to her. Brother Du Zheng, she¡¯s my best friend. You have to take care of her and not let others bully her.¡±

    Du Zheng was silent and walked forward with her slowly.

    Xia Yingluo was dissatisfied and pulled on his sleeve. ¡°Why, is it so difficult for you to make a promise? She is now under your Dupany. If you don¡¯t cover for her, what could she do? She¡¯s just a little girl and has no authority. Furthermore, she¡¯s simple and naive, so she¡¯s bound to be bullied relentlessly in the entertainment industry!¡±

    ¡°Let her transfer to Skyart,¡± After a long time, Du Zheng said.

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Something happened to her?¡±

    Du Zheng¡¯s voice was a little dull. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, she... is very intelligent, and deserves to go to a better ce.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stood still and looked up at him seriously. ¡°What the hell is going on? Brother Du Zheng, don¡¯t be perfunctory with me. Even if you don¡¯t tell me now, Ling¡¯er will certainly tell me! You don¡¯t know how emotional she is. At that time, I won¡¯t be able to understand the truth and help her! Brother Du Zheng, if you still treat me as a friend, tell me what happened!¡±

    With all that said, Du Zheng remained silent.

    Xia Yingluo urged him. ¡°Talk!¡±

    Du Zheng took an item out of his tight pocket and handed it to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Last time I broke her hair clip when I was on set. I bought a new one, help me give it to her. Tell her not to find me in the future.¡±

    The hairpin with shattered diamonds glittered in her palms.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s intuition told her something wasn¡¯t right. Du Zheng didn¡¯t seem to hate Jin Ling¡¯er. It was more like... lovers breaking up?!

    She was taken aback by her thoughts and blurted out. ¡°You like Ling¡¯er?¡±

 Chapter 1400 - Drinking Water from a Winding Canal

    Chapter 1400: Drinking Water from a Winding Canal

    Du Zheng frowned but did not deny it.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him inconceivably. How had things made a hundred-eighty degree change after not seeing him for so long? She asked, ¡°What about Ling¡¯er, does Ling¡¯er like you? It would be nice if the two of you were together.¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°She is not suitable for the Du family.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was stunned. ¡°What¡¯s not suitable? Ling¡¯er¡¯s temper is so good, she¡¯s not a person who will cause trouble.¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡± Xia Yingluo was born with a golden spoon, how could she understand how difficult it was for those powerless girls to survive in a prestigious family? In a modern Chinese family, few could have a good ending from marrying into the wealthy as a normal civilian. Furthermore, the Du family was aplicated environment and was nowhere near the Li family¡¯s simplicity. And even if the Li family was considered simple now, it was because Li Lei had used his life experiences in exchange for it.

    Xia Yingluo changed the question. ¡°Does Ling¡¯er know that you like her?¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell her. Just give her the things and don¡¯t ask anything else.¡±

    Xia Yingluo still wanted to say more, but Du Zheng slightly aggravated his tone. ¡°Yingluo, don¡¯t meddle.¡±

    So Xia Yingluo just sighed. From an early age, she knew how stubborn this elder brother¡¯s temper was, and he wouldn¡¯t listen to advice at all. Now she could only hope that Jin Ling¡¯er hasn¡¯t gotten too deep. Otherwise, she would only feel sad.

    She took the diamond hair clip and returned to her seat.

    The young masters and youngdies around the seat had dispersed, and the drinking water from a winding canal activity had officially started.

    The organizer, Mr. Yu, announced the rules. ¡°All the young people present here don¡¯t have to be too restrictive. How boring is making a poem, how about we do truth or dare instead? In a moment, I will put this small jug in the tray. It will drift along the water channel, and whichever seat it drifts to, I will designate one person on the seat to y truth or dare. Then, the person will continue to put the small jug into the water channel to drift and determine the next seat. This will go on.¡±

    These young people were used to ying the truth or dare game, but it was indeed a fresh idea to y it in such a way, so everyone was eager to try.

    In the midst of jubtion, Li Shaohui whispered to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Where have you been?¡±

    Xia Yingluo had already kept the hairpin long ago, and only casually replied, ¡°I was gossiping with my brother Du Zheng.¡±

    ¡°Du Zheng seems to have something on his mind.¡± Li Shaohui and Du Zheng had been best friends for many years and he had long noticed that Du Zheng was unusual today. However, it was even more strange for Du Zheng to find his sister and not him for gossip.

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t ask. You will know when it¡¯s time for you to know.¡± She was not a gossip person and this matter concerned her two close friends, so she didn¡¯t want to talk about it during mealtime in case other people hear about it, even if it was her own brother.

    Li Shaohui knew her nature, and when she said that, he knew that it was definitely not a simple thing, so he couldn¡¯t help but nce at Du Zheng anxiously.

    Over there, the flowing jug stopped, and Mr. Yu appointed a young son on the seat to let him choose truth or dare. The young master chose dare and took out a gift he had prepared in advance. Then he gave it to the girl he liked, attracting ridicule, kindness, and jealousy from the onlookers. This was the true intention of the game. Even if it was a small game, it produced a lot of reactions. If all the families in this room were ced outside, it was a force that could stomp the situation. Which family could marry which family, and which could break with which was not a small matter.

    The jug continued to drift down the water, and after a while, it stopped at the Pei family¡¯s seat.

    The young master who had put the jug was just about to appoint someone when Pei Yan lifted the jug with a smile and batted her eyes with thick makeup and asked, ¡°Master Cui, give me this opportunity. I haven¡¯t yed this game in a long time and my hands are itchy.¡±

    It was originally a mini-game, and there was nobody on the Pei family¡¯s seat that Master Cui wanted to target, so he smiled openly and casually asked Pei Yan two questions to choose from. Some others whispered on the other seats. ¡°Pei Yan? Isn¡¯t she engaged? Why is she still here?¡±

    ¡°I heard that the engagement ceremony was not smoothst time, and then she fought with her fiancee for a long time. Who knows if they already broke up?¡±

    ¡°Ha, that fiance? I heard that he got some weird illness, and you can smell his body odor when you get closer to him. It¡¯s particrly terrifying! I don¡¯t even know how Pei Yan that big missy managed to endure it.¡±

    ¡°Poor girl, she was so intent on snatching Zhao Yixuan from other women. She thought she obtained a treasure, but it was actually a bug!¡± Someoneughed, full of glee over her misfortune.

    ¡°What other women?¡± Another person said, ¡°The one she snatched from was the youngdy of the Li family. She even dared to steal Ms. Yingluo¡¯s man! However, she really saved Ms. Yingluo¡¯s life. Who knew that Zhao Yixuan would have an incurable diseaseter on? This is life! Hahahaha.¡±

    The sound of glee gradually spread and Pei Yan heard it. Her expression was terrible, and she red at Xia Yingluo fiercely.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes met her, and with a sneer, she nced at the Pei family¡¯s seat and realized that Pei Ziheng had left. Sure enough, the monkeys call themselves king the moment the lion leaves? The remaining Pei family¡¯s heir candidates all didn¡¯t see eye to eye and the atmosphere was tense.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Pei Yan¡¯s elder brother Pei Chengyou and made a face at him. He said in a low voice, ¡°Yan Yan, you are all people with fiancees. Don¡¯t be yful and give the jug to your sister Wei Wei.¡±

    The other man smiled and persuaded as well, but it was obviously just to make fun of her. ¡°Yan Yan, listen to your brother, put down the jug. Those who know will know that you¡¯re yful, but those who don¡¯t might think you don¡¯t want Zhao Yixuan anymore. Zhao Yixuan is our family¡¯s hero. You finally won him over after much difficulty, so you can¡¯t y push-and-pull with him, or he¡¯ll be hurt!¡±

    Pei Yan stared angrily at him. ¡°What kind of hero is he?! I just want to y this game, what can he do about it?!¡±

    Ever since Zhao Yixuan got the strange illness, the family didn¡¯t let her terminate their marriage contract, thus she was sitting in a boiling fire of rage. At this moment, she exploded a bit, disregarding the asion. Many people present showed a disdainful look, secretly saying that this girl was unbridled. As thedy of the Pei family, she didn¡¯t know how to respect Imperial¡¯s capable officers. This was not a marriage, but starting a feud.

    ¡°The sister is like this, but the brother isn¡¯t anywhere better. If the Pei family falls into the hands of these two siblings, sooner orter they will lose out.¡± A new round of whispers began.

    When Pei Chengyou looked at everyone, his expression was even more terrible, and he scolded his sister stupid in his heart. Not only did he lose a man himself, but he was afraid it would also affect his great career!

 Chapter 1401 - Offense

    Chapter 1401: Offense

    The scene was a little quiet.

    Li Rui watched the show with great interest and did not forget to remind his sister. ¡°I keep feeling like my eyelids are jumping.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said ¡°Um¡±. If her elder brother¡¯s eyelids jumped, it was definitely not a good thing. Last time, it was before her date with Wei Lingnan, and then Gu Jinxiu impersonated her as the queen. This time, could it be that Pei Yan was going to do something?

    She watched as Pei Yan proudly yed the game. She put the delicate jug back into the curvy water tray and aimed at the table where they were. Although the woman was stupid, the direction was urate, and the small jug stopped firmly in front of the Li family¡¯s seat, bobbing up and down in the water. ¡°I choose Xia Yingluo,¡± Pei Yan said before everyone could react.

    This was the purpose of her rushing to y the game. A while ago, Gu Jinxiuined to her while crying that Xia Yingluo snatched her boyfriend shamelessly. Pei Yan knew that she had been disturbed by Xia Yingluo at her wedding scene, and Gu Jinxiu stirred up her anger with a few words against her enemy. Thus, she had patted her chest and ensured Gu Jinxiu that she would seek justice for her in this time¡¯s midsummer flower appreciation festival.

    At the other end of the drainage, Gu Jinxiu, who saw it all, smiled impassively.

    Yes, she had lost the support of Wei Lingnan, and dare not provoke Xia Yingluo on the surface, but there was also the mindless gunman Pei Yan. She knew that Pei Yan hated Xia Yingluo deeply. She used to hate Xia Yingluo for seducing Zhao Yixuan, then she hated Xia Yingluo for pushing the rotten smelly Zhao Yixuan with a strange disease to her. She simply wanted to step on Xia Yingluo to vent her anger.

    Sure enough, Pei Yan looked at Xia Yingluo provocatively. ¡°Do you dare to take it?¡±

    Everyone thought, why would Xia Yingluo be terrified of this? Furthermore, there was nothing she didn¡¯t dare to do at all. What was Pei Yan even, she didn¡¯t even need to be frightened of Pei Yan! Xia Yingluoughed lightly. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Her light and casual appearance was a heavy contrast with Pei Yan¡¯s aggressive look, and many people felt in their heart¡ªthis youngdy of the Li Family was indeed the pearl of their palms, and her grandeur made people fall for her. What about Pei Yan? Her good leather bag was simply a waste on her. She had a good family background and grew so big only to be useless. No wonder the Pei family only used her to win over their subordinates, but they didn¡¯t want to match a family for her. This was because someone like her simply wouldn¡¯t have any wealth grandson take a fancy on her.

    Pei Yan was agitated by Xia Yingluo¡¯s attitude, so she asked the question, looking cold. ¡°Let¡¯s start with the truth. My truth is especially simple. Xia Yingluo, are you cheap or slutty?¡±

    As soon as this question came out, everyone in the room buzzed and exploded.

    No matter how menacing they were in private and how they didn¡¯t see eye to eye, they still had to maintain a harmonious appearance on the surface. It was a rare thing to be so humiliating and unscrupulous like Pei Yan in public. This was simply asking to tear her face.

    ¡°This Pei Yan is too uneducated,¡± ady said to the people around her in disgust.

    But some people said, ¡°What kind of education does she need? The Pei family has always been at odds with the Li family. The rtionship between the two is not likely to be close at all, and the Li family cannot easily bring down the Pei family. They can¡¯t possibly fight due to a few nasty words between thedies?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how Xia Yingluo reacts. She¡¯s unlucky to have met Pei Yan.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were focused on Xia Yingluo. Some were here to watch the good show, some were gloating over her misfortune, and some were even worried. Under the various kinds of eyes, Xia Yingluo¡¯s voice was clear. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what Ms. Pei means. But I¡¯ve heard of one thing before¡ªwhatever kind of person you are will be what people look like in your eyes. So I want to ask you, Ms. Pei, do you think you are cheap and slutty before you asked other people such a question?¡±

    This question checkmated her beautifully, and many peopleughed.

    Someone who didn¡¯t see eye to eye with the Pei family already shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right, Ms. Pei. So that¡¯s how you are like in your own eyes.¡±

    Pei Yan was so upset that her chest undted and she was about to explode. She red resentfully at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Don¡¯t change the topic, I was asking you! Now is your turn to answer the truth, so tell me!¡±

    ¡°I refuse to answer this question,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Give me a dare.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Li Rui was so angry he lectured her aloud. ¡°What dare? You want to bother with such stupid things?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled slightly. ¡°The one losing face is the Pei family, not me, so why should I be afraid? I really want to see what kind of dare Ms. Pei will give me. Compared to the truth, will it be as... interesting?¡±

    She said it was interesting, and the faces of several Pei family members turned ugly because she was right. The more vulgar Pei Yan was the more shameful it was for Pei Yan herself and the entire Pei family. It didn¡¯t have a single thing to do with Xia Yingluo. Pei Chengyou also couldn¡¯t sit still and red at his sister. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    ¡°Brother!¡± Pei Yan felt wronged. She felt like her brother didn¡¯t dare to make trouble for himself in front of so many people, so she stubbornly resisted and exploded with all the grievances she had kept suppressed. ¡°Other people are bullying me, and even you are too! Zhao Yixuan obviously contracted that strange disease when he was with that bitch, then he got engaged to me and harmed me! You don¡¯t even let me cancel the marriage, and now you¡¯re even protecting this bitch when I scold her! Whose brother are you even!¡±

    Pei Chengyou was furious. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Many of the guests around looked at this joke. They didn¡¯t expect this Pei Yan to be able to make a scene no matter the asion.

    Pei Yan¡¯s eyes were red, and she intended to toss around endlessly, but the way she scolded made the Li family very unhappy. Li Shaohui, who had been sitting at the side, suddenly said, ¡°Mr. Yu.¡±

    His voice was not loud, and even brought a hint of mildness andziness, but it was clearly passed into everyone¡¯s ears. And as if it was magical, the scene instantly calmed down. Mr. Yu, the host of the flower-viewing feast, looked at him. ¡°Master Li, please speak.¡±

    Everyone knew that this young master couldn¡¯t be bothered. Just like his father then, he lookedzy andnguid but was actually a decisive and fierce character. The host, Mr. Yu, gave him respect and was even a little nervous. After all, someone offended the Li Master¡¯s younger sister at his flower viewing feast.

    Li Shaohui was still sitting in his original position. He spoke in a casual tone as if he was gossiping with an old friend, but his words cut like knives. ¡°Mr. Yu, I have always admired your character, so I brought my precious sister to this banquet. She is the treasure of our family. Usually, we can¡¯t even bear to scold her, but now that she¡¯s being scolded and offended by this no-name lowlife. I am very unhappy.¡±

    In just a few words, people felt a sort of heavy pressure, and the cold sweat on Mr. Yu¡¯s forehead flowed down incessantly.

 Chapter 1402 - Dont Be Sad and Angry

    Chapter 1402: Don¡¯t Be Sad and Angry

    He calmed himself down and said to Li Shaohui, ¡°I will give you an exnation.¡±

    As the host of the Flower Admiration Banquet, he had already lowered himself enough, but Li Shaohui only smiled sloppily. ¡°You can¡¯t afford to give me an exnation.¡± As soon as he spoke, the stagnation in the air made it difficult for people to breathe.

    ¡°Young Master Li, don¡¯t bully others too much!¡± Family members who were close to Mr. Yu said.

    Li Shaohui only smiled breezily and said, ¡°Rx. I don¡¯t have any intention of making things difficult for Mr. Yu. In that case, I hope that Mr. Yu can help me chase someone out and after that, there will be no hard feelings.¡±

    The audience finally understood his intentions. It turned out that he did not want to force Mr. Yu to do anything. Instead, he was showing some respect to Mr. Yu. What he meant was that chasing the people out was definitely not enough, but he could settle his other debts in the future. Everyone could imagine how much bloodshed was implied in these words and could not help but shudder.

    Only then was Mr. Yu relieved. However, he saw the dark expressions of the Pei Family and became anxious again. ¡°Young Master Li, we are all well-known figures. Asking Ms. Pei to leave is not really appropriate you see...¡±

    ¡°Today is a good day. I don¡¯t want to see blood.¡± Li Shaohui smiled and said.

    It was a very genial sentence, but everyone drew a cold breath. Blood?!

    If another family said such thing and threatened to harm the Pei Family, other people would ridicule them. But the Li Family was different. No one would doubt how ferocious and powerful this family was! Even in broad daylight, he was able to imply that there would be bloodshed. No other family present would have the audacity to do that!

    Pei Yan really got herself into trouble this time!

    The Pei Family was even more upset. As Pei Yan¡¯s brother, Pei Chengyou could not help but defend her. He said coldly, ¡°Li Shaohui, don¡¯t be so full of yourself. Don¡¯t think that the Pei Family is afraid of you.¡±

    ¡°The person who first provoked him was your stupid sister. Don¡¯t bring out the low IQ person in your family if you don¡¯t want to be humiliated!¡± This time, Li Rui spoke and smirked. ¡°Pei Chengyou, are you getting tired of living? Why would you bother protecting a sister like that? She will be the one who will drag your Pei Family down in the future!¡±

    Pei Chengyou¡¯s face fell. He coldly said, ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    Although he appeared firm, he actually agreed with what Li Rui said in his heart. He really hated his sister who was stupid as a pig. This disruption alone would cause him to lose his reputation in the eyes of the public and Pei Ziheng.

    Pei Yan also yelled. ¡°Don¡¯t try to stir things between my brother and I! Trying to bully me? Not a chance!¡±

    Li Rui continued to smile. ¡°My brother already said that today is a good day and he doesn¡¯t want to see blood. However, you really are looking for death, and he might just grant your wish.¡± As he spoke, he stretched his fingers as if he was about to start a fight.

    Pei Yan was terrified by his posture and her heart palpitated. She already heard how scary the Li Family was, but she never thought that they would dare to threaten her! ¡°How dare you! We are from the Pei Family!¡± She tried to sound brave.

    At the Pei Family table, a few people were already looking at her with disgust.

    ¡°Pei Yan, apologize to Miss Xia.¡± As the oldest cousin of the Pei Family who attended the banquet and one of the heir candidates, Pei Chengyu could no longer stand it anymore and said.

    Pei Yan was unwilling to back down. ¡°On what grounds!¡±

    Pei Chengyu bellowed. ¡°Apologize!¡±

    This time, Pei Chengyu¡¯s voice caused Pei Yan to shrink in fear. She looked at her own brother. Pei Chengyou secretly hated Pei Yan for being an imbecile but thanks to her, the Li Family was able to bully them and now, hispetitor Pei Chengyu received a chance outshine him. If he did not protect his sister today, he would lose all of his prestige in the Pei Family and no one would respect him. However, protecting his sister was too difficult. Why did his lousy sister have to offend Xia Yingluo out of all people here?! Seeing that the two young masters of the Li Family were so protective of Xia Yingluo, he knew that they treated her like a rare treasure!

    Pei Chengyou said, ¡°Cousin Chengyu, I can handle my own sister. You don¡¯t have to care so much.¡±

    Pei Chengyu thought that he was really unlucky that he was born in a family with those two living jokes! As if he wanted to care about this matter! The Li Family already said that there would be bloodshed. Well, they said that he might not kill anyone today, but they said that they would seek revenge after Pei Yan was chased out of the banquet. In this scenario, the best way to solve it was for Pei Yan to apologize. As long as she admitted that she was insensible, the situation would be less severe. Otherwise, if Pei Yan really caused another incident, the Pei Family would be humiliated! It was not worth it at all to make the Li Family open fire over such a worthless family member!

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s lips curved into a smile as she looked at the Pei Family scramble to deal with the situation.

    She felt that Pei Ziheng really left too early, leaving the next generation who had no clear leader and could not solve this mess. However, on second thought, Uncle Pei might have deliberately left the scene so that his sessors could prove their worth during this conflict.

    As the eldest child, Pei Chengyu did not argue with Pei Chengyou. He only took a ss of wine to the Li Family¡¯s table and said, ¡°I apologize, young masters and Miss Xia. My cousin is insensible and as her senior, I would like to apologize on her behalf.¡±

    As he spoke, he looked up and drank the full ss of wine.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and felt that Pei Chengyu was still quite smart. It turned out that the next generation of the Pei Family was not all useless.

    After he drank all his wine, the Li Family was still aggressive. Li Shaohuizily said, ¡°I¡¯ll give Young Master Pei some respect and the Li Family won¡¯t pursue this matter anymore. However, she still has to leave the banquet.¡± This was his bottom line. No one could get away easily after provoking his sister. A ss of wine? His sister was more precious than a ss of wine!

    Pei Chengyu¡¯s expression stiffened for a moment. ¡°Li Shaohui, do you have no respect for the Pei Family?¡±

    In reality, he personally understood Li Shaohui¡¯s feelings. That useless Pei Yan provoked another family¡¯s gem and things could not be settled over a ss of wine. However, considering the Pei Family, a ss of wine was his bottom line. Besides, the Pei Family wasrge and could not be bullied easily! A few of his rtives felt the same way and hated Pei Yan for putting them in a difficult situation.

    Li Shaohui smiledzily. ¡°Mr. Yu.¡±

    The host Mr. Yu broke out in a sweat. He did not want to get involved in the dispute between the two big families, but he could not escape. Plucking his courage, he said, ¡°Young Master Li, take it easy on others. Take a step back and don¡¯t be sad or angry...¡±

 Chapter 1403 - Chasing Someone Away

    Chapter 1403: Chasing Someone Away

    Li Shaohuiughed out loud as if it was very amusing. ¡°Do you think that the Pei Family and our family have an amicable rtionship?¡±

    With one sentence, Mr. Yu was rendered speechless. It was true. Since Pei Ziheng and Li Lei¡¯s generation, the families had been fighting for ten to twenty years. They would never be peaceful! Mr. Yu was almost close to tears. He had never dealt with such a difficult situation before.

    Luckily, Li Shaohui was not an unreasonable person. He smiled again. ¡°Mr. Yu, I don¡¯t want to make things difficult for you. Just don¡¯t interfere with what¡¯s going to happen next.¡± After that, he lightly pped his hands and two suited bodyguards wearing leather shoes emerged from the shadows and walked towards the Pei Family¡¯s table.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?!¡± Pei Yan frantically yelled.

    ¡°Drag her out,¡± Li Shaohui saidzily like he was inviting her to drink tea.

    After receiving the order, the bodyguards grabbed Pei Yan¡¯s limbs, ignoring her struggles and a few young men from the Pei Family. Pei Yan¡¯s silver-white cheongsam was torn and she looked miserable.

    She screamed. ¡°Let go of me! Let go of me!¡±

    Pei Chengyou grabbed one of the bodyguards tightly. ¡°Let my sister go!¡±

    He had learned self-defense before and originally thought that blocking this bodyguard would not be a problem. Unexpectedly, the other party shook his arm gently and was able to get rid of him effortlessly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, mister. We are only acting on orders,¡± the bodyguards said expressionlessly.

    Pei Yan was shocked and scared. She could not help but scream. ¡°Brother, save me!¡±

    Pei Chengyou was furious. These people were so arrogant in front of him. Did they dare to hit his face too? He turned around and red at Li Shaohui fiercely. ¡°If you don¡¯t tell them to let her go, don¡¯t me me for being unkind.¡±

    ¡°I actually want to see how unkind you will be.¡± Li Shaohui smiled innocently and pped his hands again.

    This time, four bodyguards in suits and leather shoes emerged from the dark and lined up behind the Pei Family¡¯s table. They looked emotionlessly as they monitored their every action. Li Shaohuizily said, ¡°My father is good to us in every way, and he just dotes on us too much. This time, the bodyguards he sent to protect us have been war-trained and have seen more blood than the water you drink. Pei Chengyou, if you don¡¯t believe me, you can test them yourself.¡±

    Pei Chengyou¡¯s face turned pale. He did not need to test them to know from that bodyguard who shook his hand away that he had reached a roadblock.

    Li Shaohui continued to smile without a care. On the other hand, Pei Yan had already been dragged a long distance away and her screams were now muffled. Only marks on the ground could be seen.

    At the Pei Family¡¯s table, the eldest Pei Chengyu slowly stood up.

    He did not attack Li Shaohui because he knew it would be futile. He turned around and said to the host of the banquet, ¡°Mr. Yu, since you condoned the arrogance of the Li Family, there is no point in the Pei Family staying. Remember what you have done today. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Hisst words were directed to the Pei Family.

    Even though they were humiliated, the remaining members of the Pei Family quietly stood up and left the table together looking cold and proud. Even Pei Chengyou did not dare to talk back to his cousin.

    ¡°Young Master Pei, calm down and listen to my exnation...¡± Mr. Yu was in a difficult position. He did not want to offend the Li Family, yet he wanted to care about others. However, if the Pei Family really sought revenge in the future, he was unable to bear the consequences!

    He ran after the Pei Family and personally saw them out. On the way out, the Pei Family¡¯s faces were dark and they all looked sullen.

    The seated guests on both sides of the elegant canal were silent. The departure of the Pei Family left ayer of frost in the air. An originally happy banquet turned into a depressing event and people did not even dare to breathe loudly.

    Li Shaohui was the first tough. ¡°Why aren¡¯t all of you talking? Have I scared everyone?¡±

    ¡°No way.¡± Immediately, someone hurriedly said. ¡°Young Master Li¡¯s decisiveness to kill is reallymendable. I really envy Mr. Li for having an heir like you. We aren¡¯t scared at all.¡±

    ¡°Not scared at all?¡± Li Shaohuiughed like a child, a far cry from the power hemanded just now. ¡°Let¡¯s continue ying the game, then.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s y the game!¡± Many people said with amusement.

    The small curvy jug was in Xia Yingluo¡¯s hands. This time, Xia Yingluo smiled and said, ¡°Since Pei Yan is gone, I will skip my turn and pass the jug to the next person. No one minds, right?¡±

    Who dared to have an opinion?

    They did not want to be ¡°invited out¡± like Pei Yan!

    Xia Yingluo gently sent out her small jug. The jug flowed along the canal, past the quiet winding bends and stopped at a seat not far away. A long bony hand lifted the small jug.

    The scene was quiet again except for low breaths.

    They saw a man wearing an elegant and in blue shirt. His long figure resembled a spirit in a bamboo forest and his eyes were as indifferent as an iceke as they watched Xia Yingluo quietly.

    ¡°Wei Lingnan...¡± Someone exined.

    Wei Lingnan was here! The guests were not stupid and all heard about themotion between Wei Lingnan and Xia Yingluo. Many people were curious about their rtionship. He actually came to thisrge banquet and took Xia Yingluo¡¯s jug!

    ¡°Why is it you again?¡± Xia Yingluo unhappily remarked.

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head. ¡°I received an invitation. I¡¯m sorry that I didn¡¯t tell you in advance.¡±

    He used honorifics and everyone was shocked again. He was a dignified person who developed new medicine that sent shockwaves in the world. He had so many businesses and people¡¯s lives in his hands, but he was being so respectful towards a little girl!

    The more shocking thing was that Xia Yingluo seemed to think it was normal and there was not a shred of difort on her face.

    ¡°I only wanted to see you more.¡± Wei Lingnan lifted the jug. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to give me a question?¡±

    Xia Yingluo squinted her eyes for a long time. Suddenly, sheughed. ¡°A question? I don¡¯t want to hear the Truth from you. Wei Lingnan, how about a dare? Go over there.¡± She pointed at an extremely far ce. ¡°Buy an ice cream for me. It can¡¯t be chocte, vani or matcha or any vor that can be bought in this city. Understand?¡±

    This dare contradicted itself and made things difficult for him.

    It had to be bought from a store in this city but could not be a vor sold in this city?

    Everyone could tell that she was just trying to chase Wei Lingnan away.

 Chapter 1404 - A Windy Night on the Rooftop

    Chapter 1404: A Windy Night on the Rooftop

    It was cool and breezy at the Flower Admiration Banquet.

    Wei Lingnan bowed deeply. ¡°As you wish.¡±

    She was a little startled. Did the sun rise from the west today? Was he so easy to chase away?

    She felt a little lost as she watched his slender figure disappear into the bamboo forest. However, she could not help but admire the luxurious banquet. She did not know how she managed to get to the end, but she got on the car with two of her brothers and went home.

    Li Rui looked at her with concern and waved his hand in front of her. ¡°Hey,e back to reality. There¡¯s only one Wei Lingnan, right? I¡¯ll help you get rid of him.¡±

    ¡°Who knows who will get rid of who,¡± Xia Yingluo said weakly. From the car radio, they heard arge-scale report about the innovative pharmaceuticals of the Wei Corporation which imed that there was a revolutionary new drug that could save all of humanity. He was like God and could control life and death and stood at the pinnacle of the world. However, he was usually very low key, so why did he suddenly want to be so high profile?

    When she returned homete at night, she received a call.

    ¡°I¡¯ve bought the ice cream. Should I send it over or will youe over to take it?¡± This time, he did not use honorifics, but his voice gentle and soft.

    Gazing at the night sky, Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Suddenly, I don¡¯t want to eat it anymore.¡±

    If it weren¡¯t for this call, she would have almost forgotten about today¡¯s Truth or Dare. He did not buy the ice cream before the event ended and everyone thought that he was stumped by that question and gave up silently. Unexpectedly, he spent a day and finally bought it. Could it be that he spent the entire day fulfilling this dare? There was a sour feeling in her heart, but she did not know what exactly he bought.

    Over the phone, Wei Lingnan said, ¡°I¡¯ll send it over, then.¡±

    Now, she lived in the Li Family¡¯s vi, the most secluded and protected ce in the world. ¡°Do you think that you can enter?¡±

    ¡°You have a job tomorrow, right?¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯ll visit you then.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little annoyed. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±

    He fell a little silent. ¡°I only... miss you.¡±

    In fact, it was a threat. No matter where he went now, he would get the attention of a crowd, and the four-way love conflict among him, Jiang Yu, Gu Jinxiu and she spread like wildfire. Xia Yingluo lifted her head to look at the darkness. She knew how stubborn her protector was. ¡°I¡¯ll look for you now.¡± She hung up the phone, randomly took out a dress from her closet and went in his direction.

    Due to the guardian contract between them, she was easily able to find out where he was.

    He was on the top floor of a building facing the busy traffic of the bustling city.

    Ths stars shimmered.

    She climbed to the rooftop. ¡°Why did you choose this ce?¡±

    ¡°You can see the stars from here.¡± He looked up at her smile and handed the ice cream to her. ¡°I bought this from a personalized ice cream store and had them create custom-made ice cream for you. There isn¡¯t another like it.¡±

    A one of a kind ice cream that fulfilled her request of not being able to be found anywhere else in the city.

    She stared at the ice cream in her hand. It was made of purple crushed nuts and chocte and resembled a beautiful. She recognized it. It was their hometown, Skatana. She took a bit of the ice cream. It did not taste as good as her father¡¯s cooking, but she could taste some energy in it. ¡°You added energy to it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± He said, ¡°Energy needs to be well absorbed by the body. It has to be purified and passed through a medium. This is more effective than you drinking my blood directly. Ah Luo, you need energy the most at this time. I promised that I would help you collect it.¡±

    ¡°You also said that you would get Gu Jinxiu to send it to me.¡± Her voice was cold. ¡°You know I don¡¯t want to see you.¡±

    He avoided answering her question. Sometimes, he could not be calctive with her. He was afraid that she would really strictly enforce the rules they agreed on. Under the starry sky, he pointed at a traffic light in the city. ¡°Look at the brilliance of the city. It¡¯s just like the stars in the universe. They will light up and extinguish. I want to admire the scenery with you, and only you can apany me to look at the view and explore the universe without dying.¡±

    She looked at him. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo, Jiang Yu is not suitable for you. He is human and will die one day.¡±

    She sneered. ¡°That¡¯s my problem.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve not experienced eternal loneliness before.¡± Wei Lingnan looked at her. He had experienced it before. For hundreds of millions of years. He knew what that sort of despair felt like when the person beside him was gone, everything felt like a transition and he just had no purpose to live in the world. He was that lonely. The only thing that kept him going was her.

    He did not know how he could continue living if he lost her.

    ¡°Only we are the same kind,¡± he said.

    ¡°And Gu Jinxiu.¡± She sneered resentfully.

    ¡°Ah Luo, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She turned her face to the side. Anything he said now was toote. The ice cream melted in her mouth a little and his familiar energy flowed along her capiries to her heart. Before she met him, she did not know what the meaning of her life was. She was just the daughter of a rich family who was just wasting her life away. Everything she did was amusing yet meaningless.

    However, once she met him, everything changed.

    Love and hate were always entangled. Now, she had a difficult future goal of reviving her kind. There were many things she had nned for the future.

    However, those were her personal goals. She was very clear that he had no interest in the revival of their kind. If it weren¡¯t for her, he would not even waste his effort collecting energy. This arrogant man only spent so much time and energy doing something he was not interested in at all for her.

    Due to the guardian contract, she could feel his breath in the night breeze.

    He was very close to her and his familiarity made her feel peaceful. Even though she hated him and did not want to see him, what he said was right. There was only one person in the world who would apany him to the end and only one person who could fight with her side-by-side.

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± His voice was heard in the night breeze. He boldly held her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t chase me away.¡±

    Her hand was cold. When he held it, she lightly struggled but did not break free.

    She red at him. ¡°Let go. I want to go home.¡±

    He said, ¡°Let me walk the entire journey with you and send you to your car. Ok?¡± It was only a small request, and he did not dare to ask for more. However, every request would lead to some progress. And he believed that one day, she would ept him again.

    Xia Yingluo hesitated. She could stubbornly shake off his hand but did not.

    Soon, he held her hand as they walked down from the rooftop. Below the rooftop was a bustling shopping mall and people were everywhere.

 Chapter 1405 - I Was Too Impulsive

    Chapter 1405: I Was Too Impulsive

    She was afraid of being recognized, so she quickly tied a silk scarf around her beautiful neck to cover half of her delicate face.

    Wei Lingnan noticed her small movements and pulled her closer in his arms. They really looked like an intimate couple. She buried most of her face in his chest. Listening to his strong and steady heartbeat, she moved a little uneasily.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t move so much or else someone may discover you.¡± Now, she was a celebrity, how much could a silk scarf cover? They were lucky to not be discovered on the rooftop, but they might not have the same luck downstairs.

    Xia Yingluo also understood her situation. She did not argue and obedientlyy in his arms.

    People hurried to and fro in the mall. The lights of every store were blurry and the sweet smell of cream cake lingered in the air. She felt like she was on a small boat in an ocean of light and shadow. She floated up and down as he squeezed through the crowd easily while protecting her. She did not need to worry or care about anything. She only needed to follow his lead.

    Unknowingly, she raised her head to look at his face. He was as handsome and impressionable as an ice sculpture.

    Sensing her gaze, he lowered his head and smiled. He gently asked, ¡°Do you still remember the time when I protected you when we surrounded by Thorny Star aliens? That time, we were ambushed by them. We had an army of thirty thousand, but only you and I survived. At that time, you looked at me this way... and I thought, you¡¯re such a beautiful princess. I must not let you die there.¡±

    She remembered.

    No matter how many bloody battles they experienced, that one still made them tremble with fear.

    She still remembered that another princess colluded with the Thorny Star aliens to assassinate her. Her army of thirty thousand perished and she was about to give up in despair. However, he risked his life to save her. When she was exhausted, he used his body to shield her like what he was doing right now by forcing his way through a crowd for her.

    At that time, her heart was palpitating and her breathing was heavy. Fresh blood kept flowing, but his hand kept supporting her. He did not even copse until they escaped from the aliens. Only then did she realize that his entire back waspletely torn and broken. His flesh was missing and she could see his bones and muscles. However, on the way, he did not evenin and ensured that she did not have a scratch on her body.

    Recalling the past, she said, ¡°Thank you for saving me.¡±

    Besides thanking her, she did not know what else to say. Should she cry? No, even tears were not enough to show how grateful she was for everything he did that year.

    He was a little dejected. ¡°I really miss those times.¡±

    She was quiet and followed as he swerved past the crowd in the mall which smelled like cream.

    She knew why he missed that period of time. She missed it too. At that time, even though things were difficult and they did not know if they would be alive the next day, they were together. They lived and died together. Everything that was dangerous and dirty had not happened yet. It was the most beautiful time of their lives.

    ¡°Ah Luo...¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t go back anymore.¡± She cut him off. Resentment from genocide, betrayal and everything in between... She was no longer the carefree little princess and he was no longer the loyal man he was.

    What else more was there to say?

    Wei Lingnan lowered his head to look at her tense face. His eyes were dark, but in the end, he did not say anything.

    He protected her as they escaped the crowd and soon, they reached the main entrance of the mall. Outside, there was a small carpark. Due to the high parking fees, only a few luxury cars were lined up side by side and glistened in the lights.

    He left her to stand by herself for some time while he drove his car out. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to stop his car in front of her, he bumped into another car. Luckily, they were in a parking lot, so the cars were moving slowly and the damage was not serious.

    A person came out of the car. It was Jiang Yu.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Jiang Yu shifted his attention away from his damaged car and hurriedly ran towards Xia Yingluo. ¡°Why are you here? Come, get in my car. I will send you home.¡±

    Xia Yingluo instinctively took a step back and avoided his grasp. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Suddenly, Wei Lingnan emerged from the other car and walked towards them. He only had to extend his hand to pull Xia Yingluo towards him. He looked at Jiang Yu coldly. ¡°What an eyesore. I can¡¯t believe that I could get into a car ident on this wide road. So it is you. Trying to take Ah Luo away from me? Not a chance.¡±

    Jiang Yu was very upset. ¡°I knew it was you.¡±

    ¡°You knew?¡± Xia Yingluo sharply captured this keyword.

    Jiang Yu was in a bad mood. ¡°My assistant was shopping in this area and just told me that there was a person who looked like you Yingluo and that you were with Wei Lingnan. I did not believe her, so I came over to take a look. I can¡¯t believe that you are really with him! You know that he¡¯s not a good person.¡± He extended his hand towards Xia Yingluo again. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little unhappy. Jiang Yu was really interfering too much.

    Wei Lingnan also sneered. ¡°Who are you to her? Stop thinking too highly of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo personally epted my proposal. Who do you think I am to her?¡± Jiang Yu unknowingly raised his eyes. Wei Lingnan¡¯s taunting expression made him unable to control himself. ¡°Wei Lingnan, stop pestering Yingluo. Please stay far away from her!¡±

    Nearby, a few people noticed this conflict and looked over.

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t those people celebrities? There seems to be some sort ofmotion.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god... it¡¯s Jiang Yu! Man-God Jiang Yu!¡±

    Immediately, fans screamed and surrounded the carpark.

    Wei Lingnan frowned. He pulled Xia Yingluo and was about to walk towards the darkness. ¡°Come with me and don¡¯t be surrounded by them.¡± The two cars were blocking the road and, with some cars trying to enter, there was an impasse. He immediately pulled Xia Yingluo to safety without giving her time to think.

    Jiang Yu also saw the fans crowding around them and followed after.

    After the few people shook off their fans, they stopped at a secluded green patch. Wei Lingnan coldly looked at Jiang Yu. ¡°When are you going to stop following us? We don¡¯t wee you here, so get lost!¡±

    Jiang Yu stubbornly looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°Yingluo, leave with me. I don¡¯t feel safe leaving you with this person.¡±

    However, Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°Jiang Yu, don¡¯t interference in my affairs with him. Also... regarding the proposal, I¡¯m very sorry. I have to take back my words. I was just too impulsive in the heat of the moment and because of that, I¡¯ve troubled you.¡±

 Chapter 1406 - Public Opinions Common Enemy

    Chapter 1406: Public Opinion¡¯s Common Enemy

    Jiang Yu became anxious. ¡°Yingluo!¡±

    Beside her, Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was hoarse. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear her? She has no more connection to you.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Jiang Yu was unable to ept this reality. He looked at Xia Yingluo with a hurt expression. ¡°Everything was okay during the fan meet. Why did things change so suddenly? Is it because of him?¡± He pointed at Wei Lingnan.

    Xia Yingluo fell silent before she said, ¡°Even without him, we can¡¯t be together.¡± She only agreed to Jiang Yu¡¯s proposal to spite Wei Lingnan, it had nothing to do with Jiang Yu. She was wrong and should not have been so selfish because it caused Jiang Yu a lot of pain.

    Jiang Yu was a little emotional. ¡°So it is because of him. Yingluo, you should know what sort of person he is. He ditched you a long time ago to be with Gu Jinxiu! Now, he¡¯s pestering you again and I don¡¯t see how you can feel secure!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to care about whether she feels secure.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled coldly. ¡°What right do you have to fight with me?¡±

    Jiang Yu red at him and suddenly remembered something. ¡°No wonder you said those words at the hospital that day. Do you think you have more power than me? You... you created that revolutionary drug tobat cancer a long time ago, right?! You only released it to the public at this time to steal Yingluo away from me! Yingluo, don¡¯t be with this despicable man. He only released a new drug to gain publicity!¡±

    Xia Yingluo knitted her brows. Even though she felt a little guilty for Jiang Yu¡¯s feelings, her patience was wearing thin.

    She faintly said, ¡°Jiang Yu, calm down. I¡¯ll visit you next time and apologize to you again.¡±

    She turned around and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at Jiang Yu and a smile curved on his lips as he walked away with Xia Yingluo.

    The night breeze was slightly cool and the stars flickered in the summer night.

    Xia Yingluo walked along the streets which were filled with traffic. After a long time, she asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°Was I very cruel?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°No.¡±

    She nced at him.

    He said, ¡°You can¡¯t let someone like Jiang Yu have any delusions.¡±

    Sheughed. ¡°What about you?¡±

    He stopped talking and walked silently along the street with her for a long time before saying, ¡°You¡¯re very cruel to me.¡±

    ¡°Stop using honorifics.¡± She said coldly, ¡°Anyway, you¡¯ve stopped respecting me as queen a long time ago.¡±

    He lowered his head slightly and tolerated her scolding. At this point, he was already satisfied that he was able to stand so close to her. After the major conflict that happened a few days ago, their rtionship was almost broken and he put in a lot of effort before he could walk with her again.

    Step by step. He believed that he would get everything he wanted one day.

    Xia Yingluo returned home. The next day, Tan Ying visited her with an annoyed look. ¡°What happened? The news this morning was so ground shattering! It said that Jiang Yu provoked Wei Lingnan! This is rted to you, right?¡±

    Xia Yingluo was just awoken by her servant. The first thing she saw was Tan Ying and shezily yawned. ¡°What news?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t act stupid!¡± Tan Ying was furious. ¡°The news said that Jiang Yu mocked Wei Lingnan¡¯s newly developed anti-cancer drug! There are also videos being spread on the inte. Although the angles are bad and only Wei Lingnan and Jiang Yu can be seen, I can see the corner of your shirt! You were also at the scene!¡±

    Only then was Xia Yingluo fully awake. ¡°What? Someone secretly filmed what happened yesterday?!¡±

    She did not even notice it, and so did Wei Lingnan! After learning battle skills from Skatana, it was simply unthinkable for both of them to not spot a person lurking nearby.

    Tan Ying was about to blow his top. ¡°Why do you always have to cause trouble?! Jiang Yu is being dragged down by all theizens right now! They said that he¡¯s useless, just an act, is jealous that Wei Lingnan became famous overnight and is jealous that Wei Lingnan contributed to humanity!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression became stern. She realized how serious the incident was.

    In this world, no matter how much you joked or cursed, there were some moral limits. For example, a life-saving anti-cancer drug that could save countless human lives. If someone from the entertainment industry mocked it, it would definitely cause an outrage. At the end of the day, humanity could survive without Jiang Yu, but without Wei Lingnan¡¯s drug, many lives would vanish! They did not care about Jiang Yu¡¯s distress or why he suddenly blurted those words. They only saw a loser who looked down on their life-saving drug!

    Jiang Yu was in deep trouble.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± She asked Tan Ying.

    ¡°Uncontroble.¡± Tan Ying said, ¡°Jiang Yu¡¯s public rtions is strong in managing the public crisis. The first thing they did was release an apology statement, but someone was definitely making things difficult for them because they did not give him any chance to exin himself. The attacks from the public just got worse and his name is tarnished. After working hard for years to be a big movie star, if this is not managed well, I¡¯m afraid his career will be destroyed.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was speechless.

    Tan Ying said, ¡°Now, you are going to tell me what exactly happenedst time. We will take the opportunity to create some measures before the fire spreads to you. After Jiang Yu is destroyed, he may just drag you down with him. This topic will determine your life and death, and if you¡¯re involved, your career will die.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°I won¡¯t be dragged into it.¡±

    Tan Ying looked at her and immediately understood what happened. He smiled provocatively. ¡°I knew it. Wei Lingnan did this?¡±

    She lightly nodded. This was the most reasonable and only exnation. Only he could assign someone to film the scene from a distance that would not be noticed and deliberately cut her from the video. Thinking about this, the reason why he asked her to look for him at the rooftop, the way he guided her downstairs, the ident in the carpark, being chased by the fans and ending up in that secluded green patch...

    Everything seemed to be nned by him.

    His intention was to deal with Jiang Yu.

    ¡°I was the one who burdened Jiang Yu.¡± She said, ¡°I will help him with this matter.¡± This time, Jiang Yu was suffering from an undeserved catastrophe. Liking her and chasing after her were nothing bad and he should not be treated like this.

    Tan Ying was about to go crazy. ¡°Help him? Are you trying to be enemies with public opinion?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Xia Yingluo coldly said, ¡°To err is human. Besides, it¡¯s not wrong for Jiang Yu to say that Wei Lingnan was just trying to gain publicity. There are so many scandals of celebrities in the entertainment industry that are settled in the end. I don¡¯t believe that this won¡¯t end!¡±

    ¡°Miss, you are already too busy to interfere in other people¡¯s business!¡±

    ¡°I will warn Wei Lingnan to not take further action.¡± Xia Yingluo said, ¡°As for dealing with the current negative impact? I don¡¯t think he will be willing to do so. As such, Uncle Tan, we only have to be responsible for helping Jiang Yu eliminate negative news. Besides that, we shouldn¡¯t intervene too much. You already said that Jiang Yu¡¯s public rtions team is strong and as long as Wei Lingnan doesn¡¯t give them more trouble, he should be able to handle it himself.¡±

    However, Tan Ying disagreed. ¡°If it were as simple as that, why would Wei Lingnanunch the attack in the first ce?¡±

 Chapter 1407 - He Felt Fear Too

    Chapter 1407: He Felt Fear Too

    Xia Yingluo did not understand as well.

    She went to see Wei Lingnan at the underground base. He was wearing a white shirt and serving her some tea. The tea contained energy that she was urgently in need of, but she did not touch it. She simply looked into Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes. ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    Wei Lingnan sounded calm. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate Jiang Yu. This bit of negative news might bring a minor celebrity down for good, but it¡¯s not so serious for a Movie King who¡¯s been in the entertainment circle for so many years. I just...¡±

    ¡°Just what?¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t wish to see him next to you.¡± He did not wish to see any other man get close to her, or share her dream and glory.

    Xia Yingluo was furious. ¡°So you acted on an innocent person?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not innocent,¡± Wei Lingnan said. ¡°Ah Luo, he wants you, and that¡¯s all the reason I need to do something to him. You should feel lucky that this is Earth. If we were on Skatana, he¡¯d have died in my hands long ago.¡±

    Xia Yingluo knew very well that he was speaking the truth.

    The battle for a mate on the Skatana was one of blood and death. Meanwhile, humans on Earth were way more mild and passive.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her. ¡°Ah Luo, you¡¯ve been on Earth for too long, that¡¯s why you¡¯re bing soft-hearted. Just like humans.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°I am human. Wei Lingnan, I bleed the blood of a human. If you think they are different from you and are subject to your wishes because you¡¯re more powerful, then I¡¯m sorry, we¡¯re on different sides.¡±

    Her gaze was cold and her tone serious. She kept her eyes fixed on him, showing her firmness.

    Wei Lingnan was slightly stunned. ¡°Then what is the Skatana to you, Ah Luo?¡±

    ¡°As a traitor, you have no right to ask me this.¡± Xia Yingluo sneered.

    Wei Lingnan inched the cup of lukewarm tea towards her. ¡°I may be a traitor to the Skatana species, but I¡¯m not a traitor to you. Ah Luo, drink this energy tea. I¡¯ll protect you.¡±

    She looked down at the cup and found the words to decline him, but they weren¡¯t uttered.

    If she did not have his help, she couldn¡¯t guarantee to keep the World Tree well and alive.

    She held the tea in her hands but did not drink it immediately. Instead, she asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°You¡¯ve already said this bit of negative news wouldn¡¯t have that huge an impact on Jiang Yu. You don¡¯t wish to see him get close to me? I don¡¯t get you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at the cup she was holding. ¡°If I tell you, will you drink it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Well...¡± He looked at her peacefully, as if they weren¡¯t discussing anything of importance. ¡°This negative news wouldn¡¯t bring Jiang Yu down once and for all, but it¡¯d take him a fair amount of time to settle it. If I remember correctly, ¡®Star Wars Era 2¡¯ is about to start filming soon. With his current reputation, he won¡¯t be able to y the male lead. I want that role.¡±

    This was his motive.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in shock. ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve watched ¡®Star Wars Era¡¯. Ah Luo, you used some of the actual happenings on Skatana and in the universe as a reference. Although you integrated it well and it wasn¡¯t obvious, I could tell.¡± Wei Lingnan went on, ¡°You¡¯ve encountered and gone through such experiences personally. As such, besides the poprity of usual celebrities, you¡¯ve got the extra element of gaining a sense of admiration and respect from your fans, and this can be converted into energy for yourself. The closer this movie and its characters are to the actual history of the universe, the greater the energy conversion. In this case, if Ie in as the male lead, my understanding of the role and of you would be of great help.¡±

    When he was done speaking, he looked cautiously at Xia Yingluo, awaiting her response.

    Xia Yingluo scoffed softly. ¡°Seems like you have it all nned out.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°It¡¯s for your good, Ah Luo.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it even better for you.¡± She exposed him mercilessly. ¡°Wei Lingnan, I know you¡¯ve been finding opportunities to get close to me, but so what if you manage to? There¡¯s no turning back to a broken rtionship, and I stand by this belief now and always.¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯re so confident about it, then why won¡¯t you let me be the male lead?¡±

    She kept quiet and red angrily at this man who¡¯d offered a concrete rebuttal.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Since we can¡¯t possibly be together anymore, then there¡¯s no harm using me for your own good, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯m so popr now, and I¡¯m able to bring this movie to its peak. With my understanding of this plot... it¡¯s a good bargain, so why not?¡±

    Xia Yingluo turned away in silence.

    ¡°Ah Luo,¡± Wei Lingnan gently said, ¡°as long as you agree to this, I¡¯m willing to help Jiang Yu settle all his problems. I can even take him to greater heights.¡±

    She wavered. It was good enough that he didn¡¯t make things difficult for Jiang Yu, let alone help him out. At this point, she figured that if Jiang Yu was the male lead for the second movie, Wei Lingnan would not stop harassing him in the future. If she loved Jiang Yu, she could face all his troubles with him. But she didn¡¯t love him. She couldn¡¯t allow herself to be an obstacle in his career.

    ¡°Alright, I agree to your request.¡± She finally concurred. ¡°But you must promise me one thing¡ªyou¡¯re not to do anything to the people around me.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡± Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°The tea is getting cold, drink it up.¡±

    Xia Yingluo downed the cup of tea and ced the cup on the table. ¡°You¡¯ve got what you want, are you happy now? Don¡¯t forget your promise, and... before we start filming for the movie, I don¡¯t wish to see you.¡±

    He watched as she left without turning back even once.

    The smile on his face disappeared and was reced by unconceble loneliness.

    He sat in the garden, from the afternoon till sunset, and from sunset till the night. He looked up at the stars in the night sky as the breeze brushed past him.

    ¡°Mister.¡± An old and haggard voice was heard.

    He knew it was Old Zhou from theboratory without having to turn back. That man had been with him all his life and was one of the very few people in the base who knew his true identity. ¡°Tell me, do you think she¡¯ll ever forgive me?¡± he said softly, his eyes still on the stars.

    Old Zhou replied courteously, ¡°Your determination is truly moving. You¡¯vee so far, you¡¯ll definitely gain her understanding and forgiveness eventually.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯vee so far...¡± he said with a sigh. In fact, each time he faced her, he¡¯d tell himself that he needed to find a way for her to forgive and ept him. But each time they interacted, he couldn¡¯t help but think, what was he to do if she never forgave him?

    He was a smart creature, one with blood and flesh; he felt fear too.

 Chapter 1408 - Concealed Injury

    Chapter 1408: Concealed Injury

    It was a quiet night under the stars.

    The old man stood straight and still and dared not do or say anything. This boss of his was temperamental. Although he¡¯d been serving him for so many years, he still did not want to make mistakes at a time like this. A long timeter, Wei Lingnan asked, ¡°Is there anything?¡±

    Only then did the old man speak. ¡°We¡¯re running low on resources in the base¡ªthe red alert has been activated.¡±

    Wei Lingnan asked, ¡°How much left?¡±

    ¡°13.4%.¡±

    Wei Lingnan calmly said, ¡°Turn off everything that isn¡¯t needed.¡± A lot of resources were needed to run this massive base, but after years of refinement, the base was actually already self-sustaining. However, now that Xia Yingluo was expecting the World Tree which required a lot of energy, a good amount of resources from the base had been converted into energy for her.

    And she didn¡¯t even know about this.

    The old man said sadly, ¡°We acted ording to your instructions and turned off everything that we could afford to. We even dismissed a good number of employees. All that¡¯s left in the base now are absolute necessities, we can¡¯t cut down on our resources any further.¡±

    Wei Lingnan did not hesitate much. ¡°Close down theboratory no.4.¡±

    ¡°Mister?!¡± The old man looked at him in shock. ¡°How could you do this? Laboratory no.4 is used for inventing new treatment drugs, we need it to heal your leg! If you close it down, your leg...¡±

    ¡°Do as I say.¡± He left no room for argument.

    The old man knew that he never changed his mind once he made it up, but this was a serious issue and he couldn¡¯t help but speak up. ¡°This can¡¯t do! You once said that even someone as strong as you would suffer from permanent injuries if they aren¡¯t treated well! Your leg might be deformed!¡±

    ¡°My leg¡¯s fine.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s expression was as cold as ice. He stood up, signaling the end of this topic. ¡°Old Zhou, don¡¯t be too nosy.¡± With that, he left his loyal subordinate behind and headed deeper into the base.

    Further down in the darkness was a synthetic purple, gleaming brighter, then dimmer, like it was breathing with life.

    This replica of the Skatana was his usual rest area. He walked in and immersed himself in a pool of purple mist. Soon, his left leg was distorted, transforming into a strange creature-like limb. This was a part of the original Skatana species, except that his leg was grey and looking a little odd as if it was dead.

    He dragged his hind leg and received treatment in the purple fog. The purple fog turned ash grey quickly and dispersed in the air.

    But his back leg was still in the same condition.

    He tried to prop his leg onto the wall. The ws looked sharp and dangerous but barely left a mark on the surface at all¡ªbesides serving the basic function of walking, this leg was basically wasted.

    In fact, even walking was difficult and painful.

    His expression was cold as he used his hands and legs to struggle and get himself out of the fog pool¡ªan action so easily achievable before. From tonight onwards, this pool was going to be deactivated as well. It would not serve the purpose of healing his leg anymore and his leg... would simply be left to its demise.

    This injury was sustained when he saved her in theboratory during the earthquake.

    He had been holding her hand tightly, preventing her from slipping into the gaps. This leg had been subjected to great impact, causing irreversible damage. If he had enough energy, this injury could recover fully, but at this point, every ounce of energy was precious and he couldn¡¯t afford such luxury. In any case, he¡¯d still be able to walk if he remained cautious.

    Though every step was excruciating.

    All he hoped was that she¡¯d be able to gather enough energy to remain safe and healthy.

    When Xia Yingluo got home, she told her parents about having Wei Lingnan as the male lead of ¡°Star Wars Era 2¡±. Her parents weren¡¯t too happy about it, especially Li Lei. ¡°What right has thatd to decide anything for Skyart?¡± Although Wei Lingnan was millions of years older than Li Lei, Li Lei could be considered an elder, since he was chasing his daughter. As such, calling him a d¡± wasn¡¯t all too inappropriate.

    Xia Yingluo shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t wish for this either, Dad. If you could change the male lead, I¡¯d be grateful.¡±

    Li Lei was even more unhappy now. ¡°You little one, all you do is go against Dad.¡± He was very clear that since Xia Yingluo herself had agreed to Wei Lingnan¡¯s request, it meant that there was no other way around it. Even if he stepped forward, things would be the same.

    Meanwhile, Xia Ling held onto her husband. ¡°Alright, alright, why get unhappy with our daughter? Let Wei Lingnane. Once he¡¯s at our film set, he¡¯ll be thumbed down by us. Hmph.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt a chill down her spine as she looked at her mom¡¯s devious expression.

    Her mom was right, though. Once he was in their film set, her parents could get back at him however they wanted. All they needed to do was to hint at the director, and the director could make him do a few more takes of a difficult scene.

    But she wasn¡¯t worried about this. On one hand, she was still angry with Wei Lingnan, and on the other, she knew that he wasn¡¯t one who sumbed to setbacks easily. ¡°Oh, right.¡± She suddenly recalled something and reminded her parents. ¡°Keep this recement of actor a secret first. Jiang Yu has been in some troubletely, announcing this now would make things worse for him.¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡± Li Lei ruffled his daughter¡¯s hair. ¡°Look at how long your dad has been managing Skyart. How could I possibly disadvantage an artiste under me, just because of thisd? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make it up to Jiang Yu.¡±

    With these words, Xia Yingluo could finally rest at ease, knowing that this setback wouldn¡¯t cause long-term problems for Jiang Yu and that Li Lei might even help him go further in his career. She smiled. ¡°Thanks, Dad.¡±

    Li Lei ruffled her hair again and then narrowed his eyes as he plotted against Wei Lingnan.

    There was still some time before the filming for ¡°Star Wars Era 2¡± started, and Xia Yingluo remembered one more important thing she¡¯d yet to do¡ªback at the banquet, Du Zheng had handed her a pretty little hair clip for her to pass it on to Jin Ling¡¯er. She looked into the bag that she¡¯d brought to the banquet, retrieved the hair clip and headed to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s ce.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was so happy to see her and excitedly wrapped her arms around her neck. ¡°Yingluo! Where¡¯ve youe from, it¡¯s been so long!¡±

    Ever since Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan¡¯s wedding, Xia Yingluo had had countless things to attend to. Meanwhile, Jin Ling¡¯er had been busy too, and it had, in fact, been a long while since theyst met. Xia Yingluo smiled at her. ¡°Someone got me to pass something to you.¡±

 Chapter 1409 - Their Little Secret

    Chapter 1409: Their Little Secret

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°Wah, what is it? Show me!¡±

    She led Xia Yingluo to the living room as she asked.

    Xia Yingluo sat cross-legged on the tatami mat and took the hair clip out of her bag. She handed it to Jin Ling¡¯er and said, ¡°I bumped into Brother Du Zheng the other day and he got me to hand this to you. He said he was sorry for damaging your hair clip at the filming location.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s crystal clear eyes darkened a little. ¡°Du Zheng?¡±

    Xia Yingluo sensed something wrong. ¡°What¡¯s going on with the two of you? His expression was also strange when he talked about you. Ling¡¯er, what exactly happened? If he bullied you, I¡¯ll definitely fight for you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled and pushed the hairpin back to her. ¡°Nothing much. Yingluo, I don¡¯t want anything of his. Help me return it to him.¡±

    This didn¡¯t look like ¡°nothing much¡±. Xia Yingluo was worried about her. ¡°The both of you are too much, fancy ordering me around like I¡¯m ackey? Return this to him? Do you know what hair clip this is? It¡¯s a limited edition for ¡®Lost¡¯, it takes a lot of effort to get one! I actually wanted to get one for myself. I got Second Bro to help me with it, but he was so slow and didn¡¯t manage to snatch it in time.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was a little taken aback. She did not know how this little hair clip came about.

    But she snapped back to her senses and shook her head resolutely. ¡°I don¡¯t want it. If he really wished to apologize, he should¡¯vee personally.¡±

    ¡°So, something really happened?¡± Xia Yingluo eyed her. ¡°Ling¡¯er, I know this is a private affair and I shouldn¡¯t be too nosy, but you are my good friend and I really want to help you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er kept quiet for a while, then quietly said, ¡°Yingluo, am I very useless?¡±

    Xia Yingluo held her hand. ¡°That¡¯s not true. You¡¯re a very, very good girl.¡±

    ¡°Then why is he avoiding me all the time?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was a little agitated now as she looked up at her. ¡°He¡¯s been avoiding me! At the film set, and in thepany! I-I just said that I liked him, he could¡¯ve just told me he didn¡¯t like me! Why does he have to be so awkward about it! Yingluo, I...¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er got upset and her eyes went red.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart sank a little. This seemed to be more serious than she¡¯d expected. Jin Ling¡¯er actually sank deep enough to confess to Du Zheng first? With her family background, how could the Du family ever ept her?

    ¡°Yingluo, help me...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er had no qualms about asking for advice now that she¡¯d poured her heart out. ¡°They¡¯re all mocking me and saying that I¡¯m eyeing Du Zheng¡¯s money, but I really really like him. I¡¯ve never seen a man so good... Yingluo, do you think that he¡¯s avoiding me because he thinks the same way?¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought about it, Given how Du Zheng acted that day, it was unlikely.

    ¡°Does he like you?¡± she asked. From the looks of Du Zheng the other day, she¡¯d guess that he liked her too. Fate really worked in strange ways.

    When Xia Yingluo asked her this way, Jin Ling¡¯er seemed a little uncertain.

    ¡°H-he is pretty nice to me, but...¡± She bit her lip. ¡°I don¡¯t know if he likes me or not. But if he doesn¡¯t, why didn¡¯t he reject me right away? If he does, why would he avoid me?¡±

    ¡°Would you be willing to marry him?¡± Xia Yingluo asked.

    ¡°Of course I would be!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er blushed a little, but she responded without hesitation.

    Xia Yingluo looked at her seriously. ¡°You need to think this through carefully. Sometimes love is just a momentary surge of emotions, and that¡¯s alright if the person you fell for was just an ordinary guy. But this person is Du Zheng, an important figure in the Du firm, the pir of the next generation. Have you thought about the consequences? All else aside, just the disapproval from his family is enough to drive one crazy.¡±

    Xia Yingluo had not been through such obstacles before, but she¡¯d asked and been told a lot about her mother¡¯s love story with Pei Ziheng when they were younger. She knew just how difficult it was for an ordinary girl to survive in a rich family.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said, ¡°I haven¡¯t thought this far yet, but I can¡¯t just give him up because of these setbacks. Yingluo, it¡¯s just like you and Wei Lingnan. You knew how much pain you¡¯d have to be put through loving him, but you love him anyway, even till today. How can we control our feelings? When you like someone, you just do, you can¡¯t resist such emotions.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sadly upon hearing Wei Lingnan¡¯s name.

    She lowered her head and subconsciously fiddled with the cup in her hands. ¡°Yeah, even though he betrayed me and hurt me...¡±

    When it came to matters of the heart, nobody could control their emotions.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you,¡± she looked up and said to Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Isn¡¯t he avoiding you, I can ask him out on your behalf, and both of you can have a good talk. If he loves you the way you love him, I¡¯ll help both of you get married.¡±

    ¡°Yingluo, thank you!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was ted. She reached out over the tatami mat and wrapped her in a big embrace. ¡°I knew you¡¯re the best!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s force left Xia Yingluo on the floor now, and theyughed at themselves. Xia Yingluo looked up at the ceiling and unconsciously gave a sad smile. She hadn¡¯t even settled her own problems and she was already offering someone else help for theirs. But perhaps it was also because she couldn¡¯t be with the person she loved, that she wanted to see her best friend live in bliss, free of such problems...

    Jin Ling¡¯er nudged her. ¡°Yingluo, aren¡¯t you worried that I¡¯m eyeing Du Zheng¡¯s money?¡±

    Xia Yingluo stifled augh and poked her on the forehead. ¡°Just look at you, if you wanted someone for their money, you already have me. If you stay by me, you could do even better than marrying into the Du family. Any Mrs. Du would even be jealous of you!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er smiled goofily. ¡°Hehe, I want to stay by Du Zheng.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re forsaking your friend for love.¡± Xia Yingluo poked her again.

    The two girls began plotting. Xia Yingluo was excited, this was the one good thing that had happened to her recently. It was nothing about Wei Lingnan, Gu Jinxiu, or love and hatred anymore. It was as if she¡¯d gone back to the ordinary little girl she was before she met him, hanging out with her best friend and scheming something that¡¯d only be known as their little secret.

 Chapter 1410 - Tame White Horse

    Chapter 1410: Tame White Horse

    Soon, the two girls had an idea. No matter what, they had to make an appointment with Du Zheng to make it clear.

    The appointment was not difficult. After all, the Li and Du families were friends. However, in order not to make Du Zheng suspicious, Xia Yingluo did not ask him out directly. Instead, she asked his elder brother Li Shaohui to ask Du Zheng out to the Nanshan Horse Racing Club. Who asked Li Shaohui¡¯s rtionship with Du Zheng to be the best? And they both liked riding horses and would go for a fewps from time to time, so it would be seamless asking him out.

    On the day itself, cicadas chirped in the summer, and the first lotus bloomed.

    Together with Jin Ling¡¯er, Xia Yingluo walked towards Li Shaohui and Du Zheng with a smile and called obediently. ¡°Brother Du Zheng.¡±

    Today, Du Zheng wore a decent riding outfit, which made his already erect figure even more sturdy. However, his expression was still serious. His gaze swept across Jin Ling¡¯er and Xia Yingluo, then he nced at Li Shaohui. ¡°These are the friends you were talking about?¡±

    Li Shaohuiughed harmlessly. ¡°Ah, there were other friends, but my sister said it was too noisy and eliminated them.¡±

    Du Zheng: ¡°...¡±

    He was not stupid and could see that Li Shaohui was lying with his eyes open. The situation in front of him showed that he had been ounted for and the siblings had already nned it. They wanted to bring him and Jin Ling¡¯er together. He looked down at the girl who was walking towards them a few steps away. The girl with short, rusty golden hair looked a little uneasy at this time, her eyes flickering about, afraid of meeting his gaze. His heart ached a little at her apprehensive appearance.

    She lowered her head and stood beside Xia Yingluo, twisting her fingers anxiously.

    However, Xia Yingluo pushed her with a smile. ¡°Ling¡¯er, haven¡¯t you always said that you wanted to learn to ride horses? I have found a master for you! Brother Du Zheng has ridden horses since he was a kid, it¡¯ll be the best to let him teach you.¡± She turned to look at Du Zheng again. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Du Zheng? Don¡¯t disappoint my bragging, I boasted of you in front of Ling¡¯er!¡±

    Du Zheng nced at her coldly. He could tell with his toes that this idea was this little girl¡¯s.

    Xia Yingluo was not afraid of him, unknowingly held up her brother¡¯s hand, and said with a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s go pick a horse.¡±

    They bounced forward.

    Looking at the two of them, Jin Ling¡¯er felt even more embarrassed. Although she had vowed to pursue Du Zheng when she was at home, she was at a loss now that he was in front of her. She didn¡¯t speak, and Du Zheng didn¡¯t speak either. He just stood by and looked at her.

    Jin Ling¡¯er managed to summon up her courage. ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go pick a horse.¡±

    Du Zheng said, ¡°Ms. Jin...¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Yingluo is already gone!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was afraid that he would say something bad and quickly interrupted him. She rushed to the ce where Xia Yingluo and Li Shaohui headed.

    Du Zheng looked at her back with his eyes dim. Finally, he said nothing and followed silently.

    The ce to pick the horses was on the mountainside.

    There were two rows of stables with some good breeds of horses for short-term use by members.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er and Du Zheng arrived, Xia Yingluo had already picked a whole-body snow-white mare. The mare¡¯s eyes were docile and standing beside Xia Yingluo, theyplemented each other like a movingndscape.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so pretty.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled proudly. ¡°Pretty, right? The horse I picked is of course beautiful. However, since I have already selected it, you can only choose another one. Brother Du Zheng, let Ling¡¯er give the task of picking a horse to you. She came here for the first time and doesn¡¯t understand anything, so you should pick her a good one.¡± Her face was radiant.

    Du Zheng gave her a cold look again. ¡°Can¡¯t you pick for your friend?¡±

    As soon as this sentence came out, there was an imperceptible look of hurt on Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face.

    Xia Yingluo was not fooled by him and smiled. ¡°I walked a long way and spent a lot of energy picking my horse, so I¡¯m exhausted. I want to go over there and drink some plum juice.¡± She stretched out her fingers and pointed at a small gazebo a few steps away. ¡°Come and find me after you¡¯ve picked.¡±

    She took her brother away with a smile.

    Du Zheng¡¯s expression was even colder. This brother and sister! They were the same!

    In the summer sun, Jin Ling¡¯er bit her lip and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble yourself, Mr. Du. I will pick the horse myself.¡± She was also human and had her self-esteem. It would be ridiculous if she didn¡¯t notice how reluctant he looked.

    Thinking of it this way, her eyes reddened, and she reached a hand into her pocket to hold the hairpin that Xia Yingluo had given her unconsciously.

    That time on the set, she was framed by a female star and identally hit him. Her hair caught on his shirt button, and it took a long time to be untied. In the end, her hairpin was broken. Withst time¡¯s incident and this time¡¯s happening, would he see her as a scheming woman, wanting to marry into a wealthy family at all costs?

    Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly regretted it. Maybe she shouldn¡¯t have been so reckless to ask him out.

    She lowered her head and hurriedly walked into the stable. She didn¡¯t want him to see her depressed look. She pointed her finger at a horse that didn¡¯t look very tall and said to the staff on the side, ¡°I want this horse.¡±

    The staff responded and reached out to help her ride the horse.

    ¡°Wait.¡± He was stopped by Du Zheng.

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked back at him.

    There was still no expression on Du Zheng¡¯s face. ¡°This horse has a strong temper. Change it.¡± He had better eyes at picking horses than Jin Ling¡¯er, so he could tell the nature of the horse at one nce. Beginners wouldn¡¯t be able to control it at all.

    Jin Ling¡¯er gave him aplex look and stopped talking.

    He took her around the stables, and the more he walked, the worse his expression got. Finally, he asked the staff on the side, ¡°You don¡¯t have any meek horses here?¡±

    Seeing his face covered with dark clouds, the staff¡¯s heart palpitated and he carefully answered, ¡°How could we not? A club like ours would definitely prepare horses for riders of all levels. Unfortunately, today, arge number of horses were pulled for medical examinations... If you want a gentle one, the most docile one is the one Ms. Xia just picked, ¡®Snowy Jade¡¯.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know what happened, but someone came to pull all the tame horses early in the morning. Only the big white horse was left, and they said that it was booked by Ms. Xia Yingluo already. He also told him that if someone asked for a gentle horse, he should answer like that.

    Du Zheng snorted softly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er watched him uneasily. ¡°I, I can ride other horses, I¡¯ll just be careful...¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that to look for death.¡± Looking at her careful eyes, his irritability grew even worse. ¡°You have no training at all, what can you ride?¡±

 Chapter 1411 - Trade with Your Horse

    <h4>Chapter 1411: Trade with Your Horse</h4>

    Jin Ling¡¯er was even more aggrieved. She had a violent temper since she was a child, and would attack those who were rich and powerful directly. When she first met Du Zheng, she was also very fierce to him, but now that she had him in her heart, she worked hard to restrain her nature and tolerate everything.

    She swallowed the curse words that were about toe out of her mouth and bit her lips.

    Du Zheng didn¡¯t find anything wrong with her, and took her to Xia Yingluo. ¡°Give up your white horse to Ms. Jin.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was snatching the sour plum soup from her brother. To be exact, she already drank two sour plum soups alone, while Li Shaohui satzily on a bamboo chair watching her with a smile. The two Li brothers were notorious for doting on their sister, and thus, Xia Yingluo had an arrogant temper. She now looked at Du Zheng and smiled. ¡°Why should I let you?¡±

    ¡°When did you like to ride a tame horse?¡± Du Zheng pierced her with his words.

    Don¡¯t think that he didn¡¯t know about this little girl. She learned horse-riding from her parents and was a master at it. However, she still refused to ride the strongest horse and specifically asked for the tame horse. Wasn¡¯t she asking for him toe here and speak up?

    Xia Yingluo was not embarrassed for having been seen through, though. Her pair of beautiful eyes with glittering eyeshadow narrowed and she smiled like a little fox. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? I just want to ride the white horse today. Brother Du Zheng, do you want it? Okay, then trade it with me.¡±

    Du Zheng calmly said, ¡°With what?¡±

    Xia Yingluo thought for a long time. ¡°I remember you raised a horse in this club? It¡¯s called Lang Ya or something... I heard that it¡¯s an extraordinary god. Since you snatched my horse, you might as well let me ride it.¡±

    The veins on Du Zheng¡¯s forehead jumped. He knew that this little girl was not easy to please!

    Everyone in the club knew that Lang Ya was his treasure, and he never let anyone ride it. This girl clearly calcted it beforehand!

    ¡°What if I say no?¡± Du Zheng¡¯s voice was cold.

    Xia Yingluo smiled again, with an innocent look on her face. ¡°I won¡¯t force you, then I¡¯ll just ride this white horse.¡±

    Du Zheng stared at her. ¡°Ms. Jin is your friend. You know she can¡¯t get on strong horses.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Xia Yingluo said with a smile. ¡°The problem is... Brother Du Zheng, you seem to know that as well. I don¡¯t remember mentioning that Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t ride horses.¡±

    The veins on Du Zheng¡¯s forehead jumped again. Why couldn¡¯t this little girl be well-disciplined by Li Lei? She waswless!

    Jin Ling¡¯er also looked at him in surprise, and suddenly remembered that she was once asked by the director to shoot a horse-riding scene. She said that she could not ride a horse, so the director changed her to another role. The horse-riding scene had been a small insignificant role, so she didn¡¯t expect Du Zheng to remember it.

    Tenderness sprung in her heart, and suddenly, she wasn¡¯t so angry at Du Zheng for being cold to her.

    Xia Yingluo continued to pout. ¡°Why, Brother Du Zheng, you should think carefully. If you don¡¯t change the horse, Ling¡¯er can only ride a fierce horse.¡±

    Du Zheng strongly resisted the urge to throw the little girl down the mountain. He nced at thezy Li Shaohui. ¡°You¡¯re letting your sister be so arrogant?¡±

    Li Shaohuiughed harmlessly. ¡°My sister has this temper, how could I control her? If I dare to do anything to her, do you believe I would only be beaten by her? My parents dote on her so much and are so biased. I¡¯m miserable.¡±

    He also showed a wounded look.

    Now Du Zheng wanted to throw both siblings down the mountain.

    Since Li Shaohui was unwilling to help him, he had to save himself and looked at Xia Yingluo coldly. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to change, Ms. Jin won¡¯t ride today.¡± Who stipted they must all ride?

    Unexpectedly, Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyes lightened, and sheughed even more slyly. ¡°Who are you to Ling¡¯er to decide for her?¡±

    Du Zheng was speechless.

    Unconsciously, he looked at Jin Ling¡¯er, but unexpectedly Jin Ling¡¯er also looked up at him. The eyes of the two met awkwardly and they quickly looked away. ¡°Ms. Jin.¡± After a brief silence, he said to Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous for you to ride a fierce horse. Don¡¯t do it.¡±

    As soon as Jin Ling¡¯er wanted to agree, Xia Yingluo intervened. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t she ride now that she¡¯s here? Ling¡¯er told me on the road that she doesn¡¯t know how it feels like to ride a horse, so she must try it today. Brother Du Zheng, since you¡¯re not anyone to her, you shouldn¡¯t care too much.¡±

    Du Zheng¡¯s expression froze. ¡°You¡¯re joking around with her life!¡±

    ¡°How is it that serious?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er responded. She and Xia Yingluo were good girlfriends. Since Xia Yingluo encouraged her to ride a horse, it must be of interest to her and she just needed to cooperate well.

    Du Zheng¡¯s expression was very unpleasant. ¡°Do you want to die?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er raised her head and smiled ignorantly. ¡°I just want to try.¡±

    Du Zheng took a deep breath after another and tried hard to control himself from getting angry. Li Shaohui on the side looked at him with interest. ¡°I think you should just exchange your Lang Ya with Yingluo. She has been thinking of your horse for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Finally, Du Yan said.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and pped her hands. ¡°I knew Brother Du Zheng was the most generous!¡±

    Her pair of beautiful eyes looked at Jin Ling¡¯er and she told her, ¡°You don¡¯t know yet, Ling¡¯er, but that Lang Ya is of pure blood. It was a gift from Brother Du Zheng¡¯s father when he was alive. He treats it like a treasure and never lets others touch it. If it weren¡¯t because of you...¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± Du Zheng¡¯s face was so heavy that he could drip water.

    Xia Yingluo smiled and stopped talking.

    On the contrary, Jin Ling¡¯er was bbergasted. She didn¡¯t expect that horse to have such a history, was she being too much? ¡°Then... I won¡¯t ride a horse,¡± she said, looking at Du Zheng. ¡°You don¡¯t have to give away such an important thing for me.¡±

    Du Zheng frowned at her. Logically, he should be happy if she said she wouldn¡¯t ride, but why did the ufortable feeling inside grow stronger? Did she mean that she didn¡¯t think she was more important than a horse?

    ¡°Just ride.¡± His voice was cold and unquestionable.

    Jin Ling¡¯er still wanted to say something, but Xia Yingluo suddenly got up. ¡°Okay, okay, don¡¯t let it go like this, you¡¯re making me look like the bad guy. I suddenly don¡¯t want to ride that white horse anymore, just give it to Ling¡¯er. Brother Du Zheng, I don¡¯t want your Lang Ya either. I will go and pick a new horse and won¡¯t disturb you two.¡±

    Then, she smiled at the two and ran away happily.

    Li Shaohui also got upzily. ¡°I¡¯ll go and watch over her.¡±

    Du Zheng and Jin Ling¡¯er were left alone. They looked at each other in the small gazebo.

    The atmosphere was a bit awkward.

    Then, Du Zheng broke the silence first. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you to fetch the horse.¡±

 Chapter 1412 - Courage and Responsibility

    <h4>Chapter 1412: Courage and Responsibility</h4>

    Jin Ling¡¯er kept up with him, looking at his back, and stopped talking.

    She had once dreamt of a Prince Charming as well. Even in the training camp, she had excitedly pulled Yingluo and pointed out the guys she thought were handsome, but she never thought that she would fall in love with a man of authority. Du Zheng was almost a decade older than her and was the important Chairman of his Du familypany. He never smiled and never showed emotion.

    He was obviously a boring and uninteresting person, so she didn¡¯t understand why she was attracted to him.

    Inexplicably, she had fallen for him.

    She watched him walk in front of her. In the summer light, he was caged with the floral scent of summer light, as if he was ted with a beautiful golden dawn. She wanted toe forward and hold his hand, and walk with him to the end of the barrennd, together for a lifetime.

    He stopped and looked back at her. ¡°Come here.¡±

    She froze for a moment, embarrassed as if her thoughts had been exposed. She hurriedly covered it and trotted up to him.

    He reached for the white horse¡¯s reins and put it in her hand. ¡°Hold it first, you can touch its nose to make it familiar with you.¡± He paused and adding. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er looked up radiantly. ¡°Okay!¡±

    Was this a date? If so, she must be the happiest woman in the world.

    The two were picking horses over here, and over there, Xia Yingluo had already chosen a horse casually and was walking alongside her brother.

    Nanshan¡¯s afternoon breeze blew slowly, and the lotus leaves were fragrant.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head and looked in the direction of Jin Ling¡¯er and Du Zheng. She smiled and said to Li Shaohui, ¡°Look, Brother Du Zheng is teaching Ling¡¯er how to ride a horse. I think he definitely likes Ling¡¯er. You still remember thatdy a few years ago? It was the Tang family or the Shao family... she also heard that Brother Du Zheng likes riding and desperately wanted him to teach her riding. However, Brother Du Zheng simply ignored her and she really lost all her face.¡±

    Li Shaohui said, ¡°Your friend is very brave.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xia Yingluo nced at him.

    Li Shaohui rode a horse and walked with her sister in the sun. ¡°At first nce, Du Zheng¡¯s face is repelling even from a thousand miles away. She gathered her courage uneasily and is trying to win his favor. Also, if she really wanted to marry into the Du family...¡±

    Having said that, he paused.

    Xia Yingluo understood what he meant. ¡°Are you worried that the Du family would be unwilling? Come on, those uncles are all forcing Brother Du Zheng to get married and have yet to seed even in so many years. He finally met a girl that he likes, if he really wanted to get married, why should they stop him?¡±

    Li Shaohui said, ¡°Those people want to push the children of their rtives and friends to Du Zheng. Whoever wins over him will get half of the Du family¡¯s power. His marriage is not a child¡¯s y. Why do you think he hasn¡¯t married for so many years? It¡¯s one thing to have not met a girl he likes, but more importantly, he doesn¡¯t want to break the current bnce of forces in the Du family.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so troublesome,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Authority and wealth, is it really more important than finding someone you like and spending your life with her?¡±

    Li Shaohui smiled, seemingly indifferent. ¡°It¡¯s not because of power and money, but because of responsibility. Just like you are the Queen of Sakana, you have your own responsibility, and he also has it.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was suddenly alert and nced at him. ¡°What did Second Brother say to you?¡±

    ¡°Is there anything I should know?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xia Yingluo said quickly. Her two brothers were both foxes. On the surface, they seemed harmless, but in fact, they were both sly, so she didn¡¯t want to be trapped in a conversation.

    Li Shaohuiughed again. ¡°You trust him so much. Don¡¯t you trust me?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°He was drunk the other day and pulled me while shouting.¡± Li Shaohuizily pulled his horse rein. ¡°He said you will leave Earth after a few decades to revive your race. He said he couldn¡¯t bear to see you leave.¡±

    ¡°This... traitor!¡± Xia Yingluo gritted her teeth. ¡°Isn¡¯t he very tight-lipped? Usually, he doesn¡¯t even reveal anything when his dog and fox friends drown him in wine! How could he betray me like this?!¡±

    Li Shaohui interrupted herining. ¡°Do you really want to leave?¡±

    ¡°What... yes.¡± There was nothing to hide now, but she still told her brother, ¡°Don¡¯t tell our parents, they will worry.¡± Dangers were everywhere in the universe, and no one could guarantee that she would be able to retrieve the Skatana shards and revive her race. She might even die unexpectedly before then.

    Li Shaohui said, ¡°I understand.¡±

    He knew what she was worrying about. In fact, this was also Li Rui¡¯s worry. The younger brother who always seemed unruly would use the opportunity of drinking to find him and vent his worries.

    ¡°No matter what you want to do, your brother will always support you.¡± Everyone had their responsibility, and no one could escape from it.

    He nced again at Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s direction. On the long mountain road, Jin Ling¡¯er had already mounted the big white horse and was walking slowly along the trail with Du Zheng. He didn¡¯t know what they were talking about, but they looked as beautiful as a painting.

    ¡°Responsibility is responsibility, and feelings are feelings.¡± Li Shaohui said suddenly, ¡°If you like someone, you must try to obtain her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was shocked. She looked up at her brother.

    Li Shaohui smiled brightly at her. ¡°Can you really get rid of Wei Lingnan? What do you think about every night when you stare at the starry sky? Even if he betrayed you, you still like him, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Xia Yingluo gaped. ¡°Brother...¡±

    ¡°Ling¡¯er is so courageous, why aren¡¯t you even as good as her?¡± Li Shaohui smiled again.

    ¡°You, why are you...¡± Why did he suddenly say this, and why did he suddenly encourage her to be with Wei Lingnan?

    Li Shaohui looked up at the distant sky. ¡°My sister is such an amazing person. One day, she¡¯ll go to a ce I will never reach... Only one person can walk with you side by side, Yingluo. You know who that person is.¡±

    With him by her side, maybe they would then be reassured.

    Xia Yingluo was silent. Yes, in the almost endless life of the Skana, they only had each other forpany. She still liked him, and would sometimes imagine what it would be like in the universe when they set off again. But the wounds caused in the past had not healed. If... if she had to go through it once again, it would be terrifying.

    ¡°He not only betrayed me but also our entire family.¡± Xia Yingluo looked at the bright sunshine in the summer afternoon with a trace of coldness in her voice. ¡°I will not give him a second chance to threaten the entire race again.¡±

 Chapter 1413 - Worse Than Jiang Yu

    <h4>Chapter 1413: Worse Than Jiang Yu</h4>

    Her brother was right. She was not just Ah Luo, she was also a Queen.

    She had her mission and responsibilities, and some things were above her personal feelings. If it was the Wei Lingnan who had been protecting the little princess Ah Luo in the past, if it was the Wei Lingnan who never disobeyed her orders, and if it was the Wei Lingnan who she could control...

    Maybe she would make a small change in the survival of the race and try to stay with him.

    But he was not.

    Today, he was stronger than her and she had long lost control over him.

    Dejected, she and her brother ended the ride.

    Shortly after returning to the city, she started shooting <Star Wars Era 2>. She waited for Wei Lingnan on the set. Many people already knew that he would act as the male lead in this show, but there were still a lot of runners and small staff who were surprised. Xia Yingluo heard several people in private asking each other, ¡°Why isn¡¯t it Jiang Yu?¡±

    She was suddenly agitated.

    In the temporary dressing room set up outside, Wei Lingnan walked in to see her. ¡°Ah Luo.¡± He reached out and handed her a cup of warm tea. ¡°Thirsty? Drink some water.¡±

    The tea had a familiar vor of energy.

    She took it, drank slowly, and energy flowed into her limbs slowly, making her feel much morefortable. Thisfortable feeling was so prominent that it made her feel a little weird, and she asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°Where did you get so much energy?¡± Even if it was a star, the energy that could be collected now was not as much as the capacity of this cup of tea. He had given her a cup not long ago, and another one today.

    ¡°Warriors have their own advantages,¡± Wei Lingnan said without an exnation.

    ¡°Where did ite from?¡± Xia Yingluo stared at him.

    ¡°I turned off part of the base¡¯s energy, and Gu Jinxiu also helped collect it,¡± he said.

    Xia Yingluo nodded. She was very clear about how spectacr his base was. If it was closed, it would save most of the energy. But Gu Jinxiu? Although she left the woman to gather energy, she was very skeptical that Gu Jinxiu would be willing to provide this to the World Tree. She asked, ¡°How is Gu Jinxiu?¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Obedient. I will keep an eye on her.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at him.

    Wei Lingnan: ¡°Ah Luo?¡±

    ¡°Do you see her often?¡±

    ¡°Are you jealous?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She turned away angrily and regretted asking such a stupid question.

    Beside her, he smiled lowly and pulled her over. ¡°Ah Luo, I only like you.¡±

    She shook her head. How could they still be together? ¡°Wei Lingnan, kill off this wishful thinking. Collecting energy for me is your only use now, and your only way to atone for the Skatana.¡± Her voice was cold.

    Wei Lingnan chuckled again. ¡°Atonement? I don¡¯t need to atone for any sins. If you give me another chance, as long as I can get you, I would rather be the enemy of the whole n. Ah Luo, what are you going to do with me? When the energy is collected and the World Tree is born, what will happen to me?¡±

    She nced at him, her beautiful lips tightly shut.

    ¡°You want to kill me.¡± He looked into her eyes. ¡°Ah Luo, your eyes can¡¯t hide your mind. Destroy the bridge after crossing the river? Kill the donkey when the grinding is done? Yes, only then can you ensure the survival of the Skatana tribe and eliminate a threat like me, a traitor.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve lived so many extra years. ording to thew, you should have died long ago.¡± Her voice was cold.

    ¡°What about you? Ah Luo,¡± he said and stared at her. ¡°What will you do when I die?¡±

    The dressing room door was suddenly opened, and a staff member walked in. ¡°Ms. Xia, Mr. Wei, the director asked me to see if you two are ready? The filming will begin immediately.¡±

    Xia Yingluo stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Wei Lingnan watched as she headed out, his eyes gradually darkening. However, he still said nothing and followed her casually.

    There were busy people everywhere on the set, the crew, supporting cast, the prop artists, and everyone was doing their own thing.

    The director ordered to start shooting. This scene was the first encounter between the male and female leads on a deste. The few minutes were difficult to shoot due to theplicated terrain and the many lines and positioning. The director had long been instructed by the Li family to make things difficult for Wei Lingnan, so he chose the most difficult way. He let him hang suspended in the air and flying around, using all kinds of fighting to rescue the female lead heroicly.

    Unexpectedly, Wei Lingnan was not stumped at all. He filmed the scene very well.

    On the contrary, it was the literary y that was stuck.

    After all, he was not an actor and was also filming for the first time. He even had to y the leading role.

    He had an indifferent murderous aura on his body, and it was difficult to express other emotions. Xia Yingluo tried several times with him, but it was all cut because of him. Far away, behind the camera, a staff member whispered, ¡°I can¡¯t figure out why we should let Wei Lingnan y the leading role. Even if he¡¯s now the focus of the world¡¯s attention, he just can¡¯t act. Do you still remember when Jiang Yu and Xia Yingluo filmed the first episode in one take? But this one? Xia Yingluo is so pitiful. She acts so well but has to repeat with him over and over again.¡±

    They thought Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t hear the argument here.

    But the Skatana people¡¯s ears were far better than ordinary humans, and Wei Lingnan turned around. His cold eyes made the staff suddenly snort. Xia Yingluo, who was next to him, naturally heard those arguments and sneered and said to him, ¡°Why, you were the one who forced me to give you the leading actor, aren¡¯t you very good? You¡¯re worse than Jiang Yu on stage.¡±

    He nced at her. ¡°I will be better than him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re already better than him.¡± Xia Yingluo sneered. ¡°But different trades, worlds apart. Do you think that you can surpass a famous film actor just by a few hours, a few days, or a few months?¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked tense.

    Xia Yingluo did not continue to embarrass him. At this point, there was no use in ridiculing him. ¡°I brought an acting teacher. I¡¯ll let him teach you, and you can practice. We¡¯ll continueter.¡±

    With that said, she went aside to rest.

    The director had no opinion on her arrangement. After all, it was Skyart¡¯s own crew. What the youngdy said was set.

    Xia Yingluo was drinking water on a chair beside him, watching him under the step by step guidance of the acting teacher, trying to figure out the role. She suddenly felt a little hesitant. How long had it been since she saw him so serious? It seemed that ever since he got strong, he no longer had to work hard every day to learn fighting techniques to protect himself. He was always so powerful and carefree, walking in the sea of stars, high above, disregarding everything.

    How reminiscent...

    She missed everything when they were young and simple.

 Chapter 1414 - The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 1414: The Truth</h4>

    The performing arts teacher taught Wei Lingnan several moves and found an assistant to try the scene with.

    Wei Lingnan and the assistant walked over the scene a few times, but they still failed to grasp the main point. They either blocked the camera or stood in the wrong angle.

    On the side, a staff member sighed softly. ¡°Until when are they going to do this? I think we should let the supporting actors in the backcourt disperse. It¡¯ll be toote to film their part today.¡±

    Another staff member said, ¡°Wei Lingnan has it hard too.¡±

    Looking over from their side, the man in front of the camera looked very attentive. No matter how many times ¡°Cut!¡± was shouted at him, he didn¡¯t get angry, and his long figure was as beautiful as a painting in the blur of light and shadow. With his status today, even if he was not skilled in acting, it was rare that he didn¡¯t throw a fit.

    Yingluo was originally sitting by the side and resting, but after hearing thements of the staff members, she lowered the ss in her hand and walked over. ¡°I¡¯ll walk through it with him, you can go.¡± She excused the little assistant and stood in front of Wei Lingnan herself.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s narrow eyes nced at her. ¡°Go and rest, it¡¯s hard.¡±

    ¡°This is my job, how could it be hard,¡± Xia Yingluo replied lightly. She reached out and supported Wei Lingnan¡¯s arm, then pulled him forward. ¡°You will stand hereter, with your right face turned at a twenty-degree angle towards me. When I turn to the side, you will turn as well. Change your angle spirally and stop at the ten o¡¯clock angle for two seconds, then wait for my instructions.¡±

    A smile appeared on the corner of Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips. ¡°Yes, Madam.¡±

    Hundreds of millions of years ago, when they fought side by side on the Skatana, she had oftenmanded him like this. She always gave clear and concise instructions, so that people could execute it without hesitation. To be honest, human emotions on

    Earth was tooplicated and subtle, and it was difficult for him to understand the shy and useless camera, but as long as she was there, he was determined to do everything well.

    She saw his smile and reminisced. Her curly eyshes fluttered softly. ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡±

    This time, the camera positioning went well, and it improved a lot. They walked through it twice, and the director said that they could start shooting.

    They finally passed this scene and everyone was relieved. They looked at their watch and realized that they had worked for the whole morning. It was midsummer, and the sun was bright and dazzling. Even in the mountains, Xia Yingluo was sweating under her heavy costumes.

    The director said, ¡°Ms. Xia, take a break. I will shoot the other supporting actors first, and your part will continue in the afternoon.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was sticky with sweat, so she nodded. She got on the crew¡¯s air-conditioned car and sat inside to rest. She didn¡¯t dare to change her costume since she still had to wear this to shoot in the afternoon. If she took it off, it would be very troublesome to have to put it back on, and she would dy the filming progress. She stayed alone in the car. Because she was resting there, the other staff members were very discreet and did not bother her. Originally, the lead roles of every drama already received good treatment, but she received even greater treatment since she was a prestigiousdy. Leaning against the window for a while, she suddenly saw Wei Lingnan, who was not far away, taking a call. Then, he walked towards a quiet ce alone. She couldn¡¯t help but get curious, so she got out of the car and followed him.

    Water flowed in the mountains.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s tracking skills were very good. She made some adjustments ording to Wei Lingnan¡¯s habits and was not discovered by him along the way.

    She followed him to a nearby mountain stream and saw a woman under a silver-like waterfall, wearing a pearl-white shirt, exquisite makeup, and looking at Wei Lingnan affectionately¡ªit was Gu Jinxiu.

    Xia Yingluo felt unhappy. He secretly came out during his break to see this woman?

    Her body shed dexterously, and she quickly hid behind arge rock without being noticed by them.

    In the rumbling sound of the waterfall, she heard Gu Jinxiu say, ¡°Nan, I¡¯m here to send energy to Ms. Xia.¡±

    Then, Gu Jinxiu took out a small translucent bottle with the energy liquid inside and handed it to Wei Lingnan.

    Wei Lingnan took it, his voice sounding slightly deeper. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu felt wronged and spoke as if she was about to cry. ¡°Nan, you know that I am the weakest of the three of us. It wasn¡¯t easy collecting this amount of energy. I haven¡¯t eaten for many days and nights. I worked overnight just for this. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can look at my hand.¡± She held out her hand. Her five fingers were pale and terrifying as if they had been soaked in some medicine.

    Xia Yingluo also saw it while hiding behind the rock. She didn¡¯t expect that Gu Jinxiu would really try her best to help her gather energy, but then she thought about it and sneered. Who knew what this woman¡¯s intentions were? However, since Wei Lingnan came here for a private meeting with Gu Jinxiu, not for something unspeakable but for her energy, her mood immediately got better.

    Wei Lingnan spoke to Gu Jinxiu, and his voice still cold. ¡°Don¡¯t use this to fool me. I know how much a Skatana like you can collect on a like Earth. Gu Jinxiu, you didn¡¯t do your best. Make up for theck of energy within three days. Otherwise, don¡¯t think I won¡¯t do anything to you.¡±

    ¡°Nan!¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression changed at having been exposed.

    Wei Lingnan just looked at her coldly.

    ¡°Nan, I really did my best!¡± Gu Jinxiu was still quibbling, and her voice was sorrowful. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just believe me? Nan, I love you more than Xia Yingluo does! Why don¡¯t you give me one more chance? Why?!¡±

    ¡°I only love Ah Luo,¡± Wei Lingnan said.

    His voice passed into Xia Yingluo¡¯s ears through the sound of the water, making her heart ache. She remembered when he held her hand when they were filming, and said softly to her, ¡°Wait for me. No matter how many thousands of years it takes, I will definitelye back.¡± A sour and sweet feeling had spread in her heart. But the reality was not a drama. In reality, he had already found her again after hundreds of millions of years, but he had hurt her badly.

    Hiding behind the big rock, she only felt confused.

    She heard Gu Jinxiu shout desperately, ¡°She is so cruel to you! Nan, I dreamt, I dreamt! I dreamt that she hurt you again and again on the Skatana. She threw away the ne you gave her, and dug a hole in your chest in front of everyone! Nan, why are you so devoted to her? She is just a vile and evil woman!¡±

    ¡°Vile and evil?¡± Wei Lingnan sneered softly. ¡°Even if Ah Luo is a devil, she¡¯s still my Ah Luo. But you, on the other hand, Gu Jinxiu, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re more vile and evil than her? After the wedding ident, in theboratory of the underground base, you tried to kill her with poisonous energy while I was still weak! Gu Jinxiu, you should be d that she didn¡¯t let me kill you.¡±

    Every word exploded like thunder in Xia Yingluo¡¯s heart.

    At the time of his wedding ident with Gu Jinxiu, he still didn¡¯t know that she was the queen. She always thought that Wei Lingnan wanted to kill her at that time. Otherwise, how could she have been so injured? But... it wasn¡¯t the truth.

 Chapter 1415 - Hanging Wire

    <h4>Chapter 1415: Hanging Wire</h4>

    At that time, Wei Lingnan had told her that he wasn¡¯t the one who hurt her.

    Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t believe it then.

    She held her breath and listened to them. Gu Jinxiuughed miserably. ¡°Nan, I love you as much as you love her¡ªno, I love you even more! I¡¯m even willing to kill for you! I want you to be mine regardlessly! Do you understand this kind of feeling?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was cold.

    ¡°Liar! You must understand!¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s tears fell down the corner of her eyes, and she rushed forward to hug Wei Lingnan tightly, ¡°Give me another chance, okay? Be with me! Nan! She already stopped loving you, why can¡¯t you just give up?!¡±

    Pa! A crisp sound echoed in the air as Wei Lingnan pped her.

    Gu Jinxiu staggered from the impact of the p and fell to the ground, stunned. ¡°You hit me...¡± She covered her face and murmured.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the habit of not hitting women.¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice became colder and he looked at Gu Jinxiu coldly. ¡°Don¡¯tment casually between me and her, or even if she doesn¡¯t kill you, I won¡¯t let you live either.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu suddenlyughed and looked at him frantically whileughing. ¡°Haha, haha... hahahahaha...! Wei Lingnan, are you afraid? You are afraid! You are afraid that bitch really doesn¡¯t want you! That¡¯s why you¡¯re nervous! That¡¯s why you hit me! Hahahahahaha... Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re also a poor worm! You are the same as me, we¡¯re both poor worms!...¡±

    Her voice echoed quietly in the valley.

    Poor worm... Poor worm...

    The sound was mixed in the wind, and it couldn¡¯t wander off elsewhere.

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t listen to what they said after that. Suddenly, she felt ufortable, so she left the big stone and walked back step by step. She walked a long distance but didn¡¯t return to the crew. She stood on the steep hillside, looking down at the lush green forest not far away. Poor worm... It was strange, why did she feel so distressed by those words even though he had betrayed her first?

    Somehow, she felt someone standing behind her.

    She didn¡¯t look back and heard Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice. ¡°Ah Luo.¡±

    She was silent and did not move.

    He stepped forward. ¡°You heard everything?¡±

    Her long eyshes flickered, and she continued staring into the distance. ¡°I wronged you. Sorry.¡±

    The person behind did not move for a long time.

    She turned her head and saw that his face was inches from hers. She was startled and was conditioned to step back, but he suddenly raised her chin. His lips fell on hers, brushing against her lips gently, kissing her affectionately.

    Her back was leaning on the ancient trunk and she couldn¡¯t move forward nor backward. She was forced to ept the kiss and gradually lost herself in it.

    He let go of her, his eyes full of tenderness. ¡°Ah Luo, I told you before, I have always loved only you. Do you believe me now? Don¡¯t always refuse to stay beside me, I¡¯ll...¡± He reached out, grabbed her hand and ced it gently on his heart. ¡°I¡¯ll hurt here.¡±

    Under her palm, his heartbeat sounded clear.

    She bowed her head hurriedly and did not look at him.

    He said, ¡°I love you.¡±

    This time, she pulled her hand back. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Turning away without looking at him, she set foot on the forest path by herself. The World Tree mark on the palm of her hand was slightly hot as if something was calling her. She felt numb suddenly and identally stepped on air. She fell to the side.

    Wei Lingnan held her up. ¡°Ah Luo.¡±

    Her body leaned against his arms, and she smelled the familiar taste of him. She finally looked up. His handsome eyebrows were right in front of her, dazzling like a sculpture. She stared at him, her eyes a little sad, and said rigidly to him, ¡°You know, once the World Tree is born and our tribe people grow up, I will kill you.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± His voice was calm. His knuckled fingers smoothed the top of her hair, the soft touch lingering. ¡°I also know that you are reluctant to let me die alone. You will fall in love with me.¡±

    Her eyes widened suddenly, and she refuted in reflex. ¡°Impossible.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Ah Luo, you can¡¯t fool me.¡±

    She broke away from him angrily and continued walking on the hill.

    He followed her without a word.

    The two returned to the shooting scene one after the other, and some staff greeted them. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, they didn¡¯t disturb them. Xia Yingluo¡¯s assistant gave her a script. ¡°The director asked you to prepare, we¡¯ll shoot this first.¡±

    She nodded and walked under a tree to read the script.

    Wei Lingnan stood in ce, looking at her beautiful silhouette, his eyes softening a little.

    The shooting took ce in this delicate atmosphere.

    She didn¡¯t know if she was in a good mood because she learned the truth behind her injury, or because he had rejected Gu Jinxiu, but Xia Yingluo took extra care of him during the shoot. When his positioning was off and when he couldn¡¯t say the next lines, she would prompt him seamlessly and cooperated more actively, so that the number of times he was cut was reduced.

    <Star Wars Era 2> was a war movie with huge scenes. In addition to the first few scenes, the fighting scene was time for Wei Lingnan to showcase himself, and the end result was amazing. With more and more days of filming, the crew¡¯s views on Wei Lingnan changed¡ª

    ¡°No wonder Ms. Xia dares to use Wei Lingnan. Don¡¯t look at the first few shots that he did not perform well in, he¡¯s getting better, and his acting is impressive.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, those fighting scenes just made me feel all agitated. No wonder he doesn¡¯t need a stuntman. Wei Lingnan¡¯s live-action is perfect.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him to have such good skills. He¡¯s great.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was resting off the field. She listened to their discussion and looked at Wei Lingnan, a smile appearing on the corner of her lips. Yes, his skill had always been very good. There were few rivals that couldpete with him in the whole universe. Thus, it was naturally a piece of cake for him to shoot such scenes. She looked silently at the man climbing the steep mountain, and there was a sense of pride in her eyes that she didn¡¯t even notice.

    But suddenly, the man who was still running on the cliff suddenly slipped, and like a kite with a broken line, he fell towards the bottom of the cliff! ¡°Ah¡ª!¡± Many people saw this scene and eximed.

    Xia Yingluo also saw it. She suddenly got up and didn¡¯t even realize when she flipped the folding table beside her.

    Her head nk, she ran towards the cliff. There was only one thought in her mind¡ªnothing could happen to him!

    She ran the short distance of a few hundred meters quickly, and someone held onto her. ¡°Ms. Xia! You can¡¯t go up! It¡¯s dangerous! You can rest assured that Mr. Wei will be fine. He has hanging wires on his body and he didn¡¯t fall down! He will be rescued soon!¡±

 Chapter 1416 - Blood Finally Released

    <h4>Chapter 1416: Blood Finally Released</h4>

    Xia Yingluo calmed down and stopped.

    She knew he would be fine. Thest time when she left on the warship at the Wei Family¡¯s base, he had fallen from such a high ce and had been fine. This time, he didn¡¯t even really fall off the cliff. She looked up and watched as the staff rescued him. They brought him to the crew¡¯s side safely.

    His face was a little pale, but he was in rtively good spirits. He looked at her and smiled leisurely. ¡°I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t worry about you,¡± she said coldly, but involuntarily asked, ¡°How did you slip?¡±

    He had a deeper smile in his eyes. ¡°My hand identally slipped.¡±

    Nearby, the apanying doctor and several assistants gathered around, busily examining him.

    Xia Yingluo was separated by the crowd surrounding him, watching his mask-like smiling face. A sort of ufortable feeling spread in her heart. No, how could things be so simple? She knew how good Wei Lingnan¡¯sbat skills were, and it was unlikely that such low-level mistakes as slipping would happen to him. What was he trying to hide from her?

    The director on the side stepped forward and asked her, ¡°Ms. Xia, do you want to let Mr. Wei take a break? Let¡¯s shoot something else first?¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded without thinking. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Over there, Wei Lingnan was already done with the medical treatment. He walked over and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just checked with the doctor and I didn¡¯t get hurt at all. It wasn¡¯t easy to put up this set. Let me finish it without dy.¡±

    She ignored him and instructed the director. ¡°Go and shoot the next scene.¡±

    The director took a look at her and at Wei Lingnan. In the end, he could still distinguish who was the master, and he responded to her orders and went to prepare for the other scene.

    Only two of them were left in the open space.

    The slight smile on Wei Lingnan¡¯s face faded, and he resumed his unpredictable mood. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°What why?¡± She said in a cold voice.

    ¡°This movie affects your ability to receive energy. The sooner we are done shooting, the faster you can rx. Why should you dy it for me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to die on the cliff. At that time, I would have to find another actor again and dy the progress,¡± she said nkly and turned away.

    Wei Lingnan stood alone in the wind, looking at her back for a long time.

    He returned to his base at night.

    The deep purple artificial was suspended in the darkness of the underground base, and the mysterious light shone like it was breathing. He walked into the bathroom, briefly washed his body, then walked out without any care. He looked at himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. His long body was the perfect golden ratio, and the drops of water that had not been wiped fell along his shapely and fit chest, sliding across his t and powerful waist, winding down all the way.

    Further down, however, was a pair of less pleasing legs.

    Although one leg was as perfect as a sculpture, the other was morbidly gray-white, with rotten scars spreading on it.

    He looked into the mirror quietly and nced at the old man who came in silently behind him. The old man looked at him respectfully and stooped to bow to him. ¡°Sir, you are back. Your legs... seem to have deteriorated again?¡±

    The old man¡¯s worried eyes fell on his almost necrotic leg. Just a few days ago, these grayish-white and necrotic scars had only been in his lower leg. Now, after a little time, it had quickly spread to his upper thigh!

    ¡°Sir, open the healing pool.¡± The old man begged.

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The healing pool would consume a lot of energy, which was to be converted into energy for Xia Yingluo. He didn¡¯t want to waste energy. As for his leg? The Skatana people were so powerful, even if this leg had its muscles and cells abolished, walking like a normal human was not a big problem. That was enough.

    He took two steps forward, suddenly stuttered and almost fell.

    ¡°Sir!¡± The old man shouted anxiously.

    Wei Lingnan stabilized himself and took a deep breath to restrain the sudden pain in his heart from hurting his leg. This was the sign of the injury. When he had been hanged on the cliff today during the day, he had been disturbed by this painful heartache, and his feet were suddenly weak. That was why he had slipped. Ah Luo already seemed to suspect something, so he had to hide it better.

    However, things did not go as expected. Perhaps it was because of the ident on the first day, but on the second day, his leg injury was even more serious and he could hardly get out of bed.

    The old man begged again. ¡°Sir, you can rest at home for a day.¡±

    He said, ¡°Bring me a painkiller.¡±

    Under his cold and grim eyes, the old man couldn¡¯t help but turn around and get him a bottle of painkillers. Wei Lingnan injected the painkillers into his injured leg, tossed the empty needle tube to the ground, got up, and walked out.

    Today¡¯s set was also busy.

    Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan filmed several rival scenes. When she saw that his face was not right, she went into the dressing room alone while he was resting.

    After a while, she brought out a cup of sour plum soup and handed it to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Drink some water.¡±

    Wei Lingnan took it, took a sip, and suddenly noticed something. He dropped the cup and pulled her hand. ¡°Ah Luo?!¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± She didn¡¯t expect him to react like this. She was angry and tried to break away from him to no avail. He grabbed her hands, and his long, wide sleeves scattered like blossoming flowers, revealing a delicate white wrist. A scar of blood that was on his wrist was startling and had not dried up.

    Wei Lingnan looked at the bloodstain and looked up at her again. ¡°What are you doing, you¡¯re giving me energy with your blood?¡±

    She turned her head and said, ¡°Don¡¯t overthink. If it was any of the tribe that was so weak, I would also save him.¡±

    He sneered. ¡°Really.¡± He stood up and shoved the bloody plum juice back into her hands. ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    She was anxious, raised her head and red at him. ¡°You want to die?! Look at how weak you are now, even if you want to gather energy for me, you can¡¯t force yourself like this. If you die, who will do everything for me?!¡±

    Wei Lingnan: ¡°... Ah Luo, can¡¯t you say something nice?¡±

    She still red at him. ¡°Why should I! Just drink it!¡±

    There was a smile on his icy cold face. He raised his ss, drank arge mouthful of the plum juice, and when she was not alert, he pulled her into his arms. He pried open her lips and fed her a little. The sweet and sour liquid flowed between the two with a hint of coolness, and the smell of bones and blood lingered. She wanted to turn her head and didn¡¯t want to drink the precious energy, but he arrogantly fed all the plum juice into her mouth. After confirming that she drank it, he then let go.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± As soon as she was loosened, she yelled, ¡°I finally released the blood!¡±

 Chapter 1417 - Real Wish

    <h4>Chapter 1417: Real Wish</h4>

    His eyes were peaceful, and there was a hint of softness in his voice. ¡°So, don¡¯t do this in the future. The energy in the blood was originally converted without special treatment. You just put about 35 units of blood into this cup of plum juice, but even if you drink it all, you can only absorb about 27.8 units of the energy. It¡¯s too wasteful.¡±

    She was so angry that she wanted to throw the man down the mountain.

    Of course she knew it was wasteful. The energy conversion rate of drinking blood directly was very low, so in the past, except for critical situations, he had processed the energy separately and made it into another solvent for her. But today, he wasn¡¯t in a good situation and she didn¡¯t have any equipment that could transform the energy at hand, so this was the best way to bleed blood directly. If she lost 35 units of energy, he could absorb 27.8 units. But who knew, he just put those energies back into her mouth. She didn¡¯t help him and also lost 7.2 units of energy. Was... he crazy?!

    She was furious and scolded again. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you¡¯re crazy!¡±

    He looked down at her. The girl¡¯s anxious cheeks glowed red slightly in the midsummer sun. He couldn¡¯t help but reach out, caressed her long hair, and said softly, ¡°I will take care of myself. You need to take care of your body.¡±

    Suddenly, a series of swear words got caught in her throat, and she couldn¡¯t say a word.

    The atmosphere was a bit weird. The director there shouted to start shooting, and she hurriedly headed in the direction of the set. In the next shooting, she was absent-minded and made several mistakes. On the other hand, he was in a good state and apanied her over and over again and patiently retook the scene. After all, she was worried about whether there was any problem with his body, but she forced herself to work hard and finish the scene.

    She stayed in the mountains for a few more days until the shooting was over.

    She didn¡¯t want to attend the after-party and went straight to the city to find Xia Moyan. ¡°Uncle, if aliens arrive on Earth, would their body have any problems? For example, feeling ufortable in a new environment or falling sick easily?¡±

    Xia Moyan asked her what was wrong.

    She said, ¡°I keep thinking Wei Lingnan has been a bit abnormaltely. Like he¡¯s concealing something.¡± She told him about how he had slipped unexpectedly during a shoot and how weak he looked these few days.

    Xia Myan was silent for a moment andforted her. ¡°You are also a Skatana. You¡¯re clearer than I am about the tribe¡¯s physical conditions. Yingluo, you only came to find me today because you are too confused and worried. Calm down and think about it, then you will know he will be fine.¡±

    Xia Yingluo bit her lip. She knew that he was right. She was very clear about the health of the Skatana people.

    They were very powerful. They would never get sick because they were unustomed to a new. Even ordinary viruses would not infect them. For example, on Earth, what kind of flu, tuberculosis, SARS virus, etc. were all of zero threat to them. But this made it even stranger. What made Wei Lingnan so weak? Did he... deliver too much energy to her, causing him tock energy?

    As she pondered over it, she heard her uncle say, ¡°It¡¯s probably because he doesn¡¯t have enough energy. He takes very good care of you.¡±

    She nced at her uncle.

    Xia Moyan looked at her lightly. ¡°Yingluo, admit it, he loves you very much, and you still love him. Your elder brother came to me a few days ago and told me about your future ns. I know this remote can¡¯t keep you forever, and I agree with your elder brother¡¯s statement¡ªat least when you set off, you must be apanied by someone you can rely on.¡±

    ¡°Li Shaohui has a big mouth.¡± She now felt like everyone except her parents knew about her ns to leave Earth. However... ¡°Uncle, I know you and my brothers are kind. It¡¯s such a long journey, I won¡¯t know how to survive either if no one is with me. But... he can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°He is a traitor, and one day, I will execute him with my own hands.¡±

    Xia Moyan squinted his eyes slightly. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Queen,¡± Xia Yingluo said. In the face of the rise and fall of the entire race, her personal sentiments were too small to be worth mentioning. He was a sinner, and she was also a sinner. If it was not for the revival of the tribe, she would have already condemned him to death.

    Xia Moyan looked at her for a long while. ¡°You¡¯re not the small Yingluo in my memory anymore.¡±

    She smiled bitterly. ¡°Perhaps I should thank Wei Lingnan for fulfilling one of my previous wishes¡ªI was born in a loving and carefree family with doting parents. I don¡¯t have to be strong, I don¡¯t have to face life and death and fight for survival. I just have to be a pampered little princess.¡± But he was very cruel. He reminded her of everything, all the pain, suffering, and responsibility.

    ¡°The Li and Xia families are honored to be able to raise the Queen of Skatana,¡± Xia Moyan said.

    Xia Yingluo smiled bitterly again. ¡°Come on, Uncle. If you could choose, you would rather have a mundane little niece rather than this...¡± This what? Alien, sinner, or monster?

    Her expression turned depressed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was clear and simple as he said, ¡°Fate cannot be decided by us. Even without you, Xiao Ling wouldn¡¯t be able to conceive other children. Your arrival was an unexpected delight. Moreover, I am very happy that this has such powerful allies as the Skatana.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s mood was still low. ¡°Who knows what will happen in the future?¡±

    ¡°The future will be as you wish.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice echoed in the still air, mysterious and peaceful.

    Xia Yingluo looked up at him.

    Xia Moyan said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget, you are not only the Queen of the Skatana but also the daughter of the Phoenix. You are a blessed person, your wishes wille true.¡± He remembered that she once said that Earth was the owner of infinite potential and would certainly rise in time for the whole universe to see. Those who were blessed by such a would definitely have their wishese true.

    ¡°Wishese true?¡± She shook her head and whispered, ¡°What do I want? To execute him.¡±

    That was their only ending in the future.

    Xia Moyan took two steps forward and kissed her forehead. ¡°No, what will be fulfilled, is the real wish in your heart...¡±

    The chandelier on the ceiling blinked on and off for a moment, like a star batting its eyes and promising that your wish would be fulfilled.

    But this did not bring muchfort to Xia Yingluo.

    In the promotional itinerary after the filming of <Star Wars Era 2>, she still spoke coldly to Wei Lingnan. Sometimes it was too obvious. If she was identally photographed by a reporter, some supporters of Wei Lingnan would say, ¡°What, that Xia Yingluo is so proud. She¡¯s so rude to our Lingnan just because she¡¯s a prestigiousdy. Does she really think she¡¯s so big!¡±

 Chapter 1418 - Change of Schedule

    <h4>Chapter 1418: Change of Schedule</h4>

    Today, Wei Lingnan was very popr. He was the biopharmaceutical leader, the handsome guy who saved the world, and the shining star under the camera lens... All kinds of titles attracted many people, and it surpassed Xia Yingluo¡¯s fame.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s fans were not to be outdone, and they yelled at each other. ¡°What qualifications does he have to stand next to Yingluo? Originally, Yingluo and Jiang Yu were united and he just had to step in. Thest marriage with Gu Jinxiu made Yingluo faint! He¡¯s a scumbag! An asshole! What¡¯s wrong if Yingluo is rude to him? He wants to chase our Yingluo? He should see if he¡¯s even qualified first!¡±

    The battle between the two sides was fierce.

    The poprity of Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan rose like a rocket.

    This increased the amount of energy they collected. Wei Lingnan gave his share of energy to Xia Yingluo in the form of medicine, leaving only a little bit necessary to maintain his life activities. He still looked pale and physically weak.

    On the day of the shooting for the promotional video, Xia Yingluo frowned and looked at him. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    His eyes flickered slightly. ¡°You are so concerned about me, I am very moved.¡±

    Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t ignore him as usual. She continued frowning and said, ¡°Star Wars Era 2 is about to be released. There¡¯s enough energy on my side, I can¡¯t die. You can retain a little bit more. I don¡¯t want to have to clean up your mess if anything happens to you.¡±

    He smiled slightly. ¡°Ah Luo, you always don¡¯t mean what you say.¡±

    She looked at him coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t mean what I say? You think too highly of yourself.¡±

    He chuckled. When she was about to be really angry, he suddenly said ¡°Yes¡± softly. ¡°You can rest assured that I will take care of myself. I will leave this ghost ce with you to rebuild the Skatana. Even if I want to die, now is not the time.¡±

    The topic of rebuilding the was that heavy.

    She couldn¡¯t help but think about after the reconstruction. As the Queen, she would have to execute him by herself. She didn¡¯t dare to show the slightest affection to him, for fear that she would go soft-hearted and be unable to execute him.

    Their fate had long been destined.

    In other words, the fate of the entire Skatana had long been doomed¡ªthis was a tribe that did not believe in love.

    And they were two aliens who destroyed the entire for their own selfish desires. They were eternal sinners and would never be forgiven.

    Xia Yingluo turned her face away from him to prevent him from seeing the sadness on her face.

    Wei Lingnan stepped forward and took her into her arms despite her slight struggle. The fragrance of flowers exuded on her body made him linger. ¡°Ah Luo... I know you want to kill me. How about we make a deal?¡±

    She said bluntly, ¡°No one can negotiate terms with the Queen.¡±

    He snorted in mockery. ¡°No one can defeat the queen¡ªI am the exception.¡±

    Yes, on the Skatana, when a princess was crowned as queen, she got more than just a title. She also got the unmatchedbat power given by the World Tree¡ªno one could defeat the Queen, even if it was the male warrior who won the mating right after getting married. He could only wait to bleed to death under her fangs and ws on the wedding night. The queen was the symbol of this martial arts race and was invincible.

    But Wei Lingnan had broken this rule.

    Hundreds of millions of years ago, he was able tounch a rebellion alone and force her tomit suicide. And after rebirth, she was reincarnated and was mixed with the human race, which was still a very weak bloodline. Thus, she wasn¡¯t Wei Lingnan¡¯s opponent.

    She red at him with bright eyes.

    He met her gaze. ¡°Ah Luo, you know, even if the is rebuilt, it would not be easy for you to kill me. It¡¯s better to make a deal with me. By then, you can execute me without resistance. Even if you count my sins in front of all the people and cut me into pieces, it would be fine. But before that, you have to marry me and be my wife.¡±

    Her body trembled slightly. ¡°Impossible.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush to refuse it,¡± Wei Lingnan said with a faint temptation. ¡°This is the best way. Otherwise, maybe in the distant future, my resistance will destroy your hard-built again.¡±

    His smile was a bit evil.

    She pushed him away vigorously. ¡°I don¡¯t ept threats. By then, I will, I will kill you with my own hands.¡±

    After this murderous remark, she left without looking back. Her heart was beating fast. She didn¡¯t know if she was angry or what. She buried her head and moved forward, thinking in her mind¡ªEarth was still a growing, and the human potential was endless. When she returned to the wreckage of the Skatana and rebuilt the after a long journey, Earth and humanity would have be very strong. And the human genes in her body may not be able to fight Wei Lingnan even after years of hardening and evolution.

    She would not sumb to a traitor.

    Her mind was chaotic. On her palm, the leaf mark of the World Tree suddenly lit up, and the golden-green light overflowed from her fingers brightly.

    She stopped and stood still in an unmanned ce. She spread her palms and saw that the leaf logo, which had been dim due tock of energy, had be radiant and beautiful. In the void, a voice echoed in her heart¡ª

    [Eat him, eat him, eat him...!]

    [Queen Ah Luo, I can help you eat him! He can¡¯t resist me, no one can resist the World Tree!]

    A strange agitation rose at the bottom of her heart, and she really had such an impulse. She could go back now and wrap the man in a gold-green cocoon, bind him, and then eat him. She closed her eyes suddenly and cried inside: Shut up!

    The pervasive resonance in the void weakened.

    [You idiot... you can¡¯t even eat him...]

    The unwilling voice of the World Tree gradually disappeared.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about manipting me, be it him or you,¡± Xia Yingluo said coldly. ¡°World Tree, if you dare to do anything dangerous, do you believe I¡¯ll just have a miscarriage? Anyway, me and him can have another one in the future.¡±

    On her palm, the light of the World Tree leaves faded, and the golden-green ws disappeared into a hazy and peaceful shadow.

    There was so much confusion in her mind.

    It was probably because the year didn¡¯t pass well. Be it Wei Lingnan or the World Tree, they all found trouble and pain for her.

    Xia Yingluo asked God silently, was she not the Queen? Why did she have to be so aggrieved? What annoyed her even more was what followed behind¡ª<Star Wars Era 2>¡¯s producer gave her a call. He said that the movie¡¯s schedule conflicted with a blockbuster of Imperial¡¯s and it needed to be adjusted.

    Xia Yingluo listened to him and said with a big head, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t you say to release it in summer?¡±

 Chapter 1419 - Keep Missing You

    <h4>Chapter 1419: Keep Missing You</h4>

    The person in charge was also very depressed. ¡°We already temporarily inserted it and it¡¯s very urgent. The theater side promised to give us a date, and generally, otherpanies also let us... But who knew that Imperial would catch a loophole in the theatre¡¯s contract and demand an arrangement for their blockbuster movies toe out during the summer vacation. They squeezed out our schedule.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little stunned. ¡°We also signed the contract?¡±

    The person in charge said, ¡°Imperial signed an overall cooperation agreement with them. It was signed two years ago, and they agreed that Imperial had the right to be given priority. What¡¯s more troublesome is that Imperial¡¯s contract is famously overbearing and their liquidated damages are sky-high prices. Even if the contract is breached, the cost of breaking our contract is much smaller.¡±

    ¡°Imperial is a flock of beasts!¡± Xia Yingluo felt unfair.

    ¡°Right?¡± The person in charge was almost crying. ¡°Miss, what should we do? Should we change the schedule or fight to the end with them?¡±

    Xia Yingluo forced herself to calm down and asked, ¡°Is there a way to fight to the end?¡±

    The person in charge¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s toote. It will be released in a week, but it¡¯ll take a year and a half to get thewsuit done.¡±

    ¡°Then use the forces of the Li family to pressurize the court,¡± Xia Yingluo said decisively. ¡°Isn¡¯t it going to take a year and a half to bring awsuit? We¡¯ll release the film first, then go back and fight with Imperial. We¡¯ll take care of the theatre¡¯s loss. This way, they won¡¯t have an opinion.¡± She couldn¡¯t afford to dy this film. It was about her energy. Although she had threatened to have a miscarriage, how could she really do it? She was too reluctant.

    On the phone, the person in charge sighed. ¡°We also thought about this method and talked with the theater. But the theater line was still unwilling to rx. They felt that most of the Li family¡¯s power was abroad. Although stronger than Imperial, Imperial is near at home, and in the future, they still have to work under Imperial¡¯s orders.¡± Overall, the Li family was more powerful, but in terms of how deep the roots were in the domestic entertainment industry, Imperial was still slightly better.

    When she heard this, Xia Yingluo was also tangled. Things would really be dyed if this went on.

    She hung up and went to find her parents.

    Li Lei was walking with Xia Yingluo by theke, and the setting sun shrouded the two of them like a tulle. Their beauty looked like a painting. As soon as he heard that his schedule had been taken by Imperial, Li Lei¡¯s expression turned ugly. ¡°This group of people. They did it intentionally.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said helplessly, ¡°Who knows? Anyway, if this matter is not properly resolved, your daughter will be dead.¡±

    ¡°Stupid girl, don¡¯t always talk about dying.¡± Li Lei red at her.

    Xia Yingluo grinned on purpose. ¡°But it¡¯s true. If the film can¡¯t be released on time, where would I go to find the energy?¡±

    Xia Ling looked at her husband. ¡°Is there any way?¡±

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t step in,¡± Li Lei said quickly. He red at his daughter again, meaning, how dare you to mention it in front of your mother?

    Xia Yingluo smiled and looked away as if she hadn¡¯t seen it. She had known for a long time that her father was so jealous that he couldn¡¯t wait to erase the word ¡°Imperial¡± from her mother¡¯s dictionary. But his daughter just had to mention it, so why wouldn¡¯t he be angry?

    Xia Ling also understood Li Lei¡¯s mind and said, ¡°Then you have to find a way quickly.¡± Then, she stopped asking.

    Li Lei really went out of his way and thought of a method. However, Imperial also made a noise and said that the schedule could not be changed unless Mrs. Li personally went to discuss with Chairman Pei Ziheng.

    As soon as the news came out, the Li family was in chaos.

    Li Rui first came to find his sister. ¡°You little troublesome girl, look at this, we can just wait for Father to explode in jealousy!¡±

    Xia Yingluo was a little guilty, but also hopeful. ¡°No way? Father isn¡¯t such an unreasonable person.¡±

    Li Rui rolled his eyes. ¡°Reasonable? I¡¯ve never seen him be reasonable in regards to Mother.¡±

    It really went as he expected.

    In the Li family¡¯s vi, Xia Ling tried to reason with Li Lei. ¡°He just wants to see me. It¡¯s not a big deal. This film is rted to Yingluo¡¯s energy. I have to go.¡±

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t have any ulterior motives, why would he call only you?¡± Li Lei disapproved. ¡°Xiao Ling, anyone can go and see Pei Ziheng, except for you.¡±

    There was a hint of anxiety and impatience on Xia Ling¡¯s delicate face. ¡°You know that the purpose of asking me to go is to use this as a puppet. If you change it to someone else, he will never give the schedule up to Yingluo.¡±

    ¡°How do you know without discussing with him?¡± Li Lei said.

    ¡°Why would I need to discuss it with him?¡± Xia Ling was anxious. ¡°One more week and the film should be released already. When will you discuss it until? You¡¯ll just be dragging the release date! Why not let me go? We can solve the problem as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you go even if it means the problem can¡¯t be solved. You are my wife, why do you have to see him?¡± Li Lei was firm.

    Xia Ling was so frustrated by him that she said loudly, ¡°I¡¯m your wife, but Yingluo is still your daughter! Now that your daughter is in such big trouble, how could you not help her, and not allow me to help her?¡±

    ¡°It also depends on how you¡¯re going to help!¡± Li Lei refused to let it go. ¡°Do you still know that you are my wife?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re unreasonable!¡± Xia Ling turned her head and ignored him.

    ¡°Xiao Ling...¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    For the first time in this vi, Li Lei and Xia Ling had such a fierce quarrel.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s expression was bad. She dragged Li Rui from beside the door eavesdropping and silently walked away. They walked to the terrace under the moonlight, and Li Rui shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s over, Father and Mother are arguing like that, and Mother is even ignoring Father. You wait, Father wille to strip your skin tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°What does it have to do with me...¡± Xia Yingluo was about to cry. She was totally just an innocent victim?

    The next day, she was really almost skinned by the angry Li Lei. This was because Xia Ling disappeared early in the morning and couldn¡¯t be found anywhere. Li Lei turned on the positioning system in a hurry and found out that Xia Ling had gone to Imperial¡¯s Company based on the mobile phone she carried with her.

    His wife went to her old lover in private. This stimtion was too great for Li Lei. He was like an angry lion, and drove to chase after her, but was stopped at the door.

    At the same time, within Imperial¡¯s Company.

    Wearing a in shirt and light makeup, Xia Ling was sitting on the sofa in the chairman¡¯s office. A man in a suit and leather shoes with a mildplexion was sitting opposite her. It was Pei Ziheng.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time,¡± he said to her.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been a long time.¡± Xia Ling looked at the man who once upied an important position in her life, but her tone was calm. ¡°You haven¡¯t changed much.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°So that whenever youe back, you can recognize me at a nce. Xiao Ling, are you okay? I missed you.¡±

 Chapter 1420 - I Owe You

    <h4>Chapter 1420: I Owe You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Ling had a headache.

    She knew that the man in front of her was not kind and was difficult to deal with. She had been avoiding him all these years lest there be any misunderstandings around them. Her husband was easily jealous, and the man in front of her now looked very happy to make her husband jealous.

    She replied cautiously, ¡°Fine. Pei Ziheng, I¡¯m here today for the <Star Wars Era 2> matter. I would like you to be able to pass the schedule to Skyart. Of course, we won¡¯t let you give up for free. We¡¯ll give you highpensation.¡±

    ¡°We?¡± Pei Ziheng¡¯s voice was very gentle.

    However, Xia Ling had lived with him for more than ten years, and immediately heard the unpleasantness behind his tone. She resisted the urge to rub her forehead and scolded the man inside for being so stingy and selfish. This jealous vigor was as good as that of her husband. Why didn¡¯t they just get married? ¡°I came here today behind Li Lei¡¯s back.¡± She simply said what he loved to hear. ¡°I had an argument with himst night, and he was very angry. Just take it as you helping me, okay? I¡¯ll lose my face if I go back empty-handed.¡±

    He smiled, said nothing, and just looked at her.

    She was a little nervous. ¡°Pei Ziheng?¡±

    ¡°Call me Ziheng,¡± he said.

    She looked at him angrily. ¡°Don¡¯t go overboard!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean overboard...¡± He still had a gentle face, and his low voice was scattered in the air, unable to hear his emotions. Opposite the wide desk, the little girl he had once taken care of had grown up. She didn¡¯t even look back at him and had married into a distant ce where he couldn¡¯t reach. It was even so difficult to make her call him ¡°Ziheng¡± like before.

    He tilted his body back, put on a business-like attitude, and looked down at her. ¡°What if I don¡¯t agree?¡±

    Xia Ling wanted to pour the tea on his face. This man was obviously making things difficult for her! However, looking at his familiar face, she suddenly felt sour again. ¡°You¡¯re old, and I¡¯m old,¡± she said softly. ¡°You must be very busy, don¡¯t waste time with me meaninglessly. Take a good rest... isn¡¯t it good to take care of your health?¡±

    His eyes lightened slightly, and he reached over to the ce on his face where she had just stopped looking at. ¡°Are my long wrinkles ugly?¡±

    She shook her head subconsciously.

    Some men developed all kinds of illnesses that made people disgusted when they were middle-aged, but he didn¡¯t. Even if fine lines appeared on the corners of his eyes, he was still the handsome Pei Ziheng. Gentle and elegant, as stable as a mountain, and the years of hardening only made him more charismatic.

    ¡°Yingluo said, many girls in your training camp think you are handsome.¡± She smiled reluctantly, dragging the topic in another direction. ¡°Find someone who loves you and marry her, Pei Ziheng. You deserve the best.¡±

    He was a little sarcastic. ¡°The best?¡±

    His gentle, dangerous tone silenced her and she didn¡¯t dare to continue.

    He looked at her for a moment and restored his gentle and elegant look. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, Xiao Ling. I just think it¡¯s funny to hear this from your mouth.¡± He had already lost the best. Now, he could only have painful heartaches in countless midnight dreams.

    He straightened up, preventing her from seeing his loneliness, and reached out to press the secretary¡¯s bell.

    Afterward, he said to Xia Ling, ¡°Have a meal with me? Nanny Zhou is old, and our family has changed to a new cook, but the dishes you love to eat have been passed on. It still tastes exactly the same as in the past.¡±

    Her heart was more sour, and she wanted to find an excuse to refuse him, but then he said, ¡°After dinner, we will continue to talk about the drama.¡±

    The door opened.

    The person who came in was not Pei Ziheng¡¯s secretary, but a man in a clean shirt and long figure. He walked elegantly and dangerously, like a top predator approaching his prey impassively.

    Pei Ziheng was indifferent. ¡°Wei Lingnan.¡±

    ¡°Sorry for interrupting your lunch arrangements.¡± Wei Lingnan approached them unhurriedly. He said sorry, but he didn¡¯t look the part. He looked down at Xia Ling, showing a polite smile. ¡°Mrs. Li, your husband sent me to pick you up.¡±

    ¡°How does he know¡ª¡± Xia Ling came to a halt and remembered that there was positioning in her phone, and she shut up.

    Wei Lingnan still smiled politely. ¡°Mr. Li is very worried about you. He is here, blocked by Imperial¡¯s people.¡± It was reasonable to say that the security level of Imperial couldn¡¯t stop Li Lei, but since Pei Ziheng had let Xia Linge, naturally, he had worked hard to raise the level of security temporarily. It wasn¡¯t difficult to dy him for a few hours.

    As ast resort, Li Lei called Wei Lingnan.

    With Wei Lingnan¡¯s inhuman skills, breaking into here was an easy feat.

    Pei Ziheng stared at him intently. ¡°Mr. Wei really cares about nosy affairs.¡±

    Wei Lingnan met his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not being nosy. I am just helping my future father-inw.¡±

    As soon as this sentence came out, it was not only Pei Ziheng, but even Xia Ling couldn¡¯t look at him again. Xia Ling was not happy. ¡°Wei Lingnan, who promised to marry Yingluo to you? She is our baby!¡±

    Wei Lingnan was very calm. ¡°Master Father-inw said, this time if I bring you back safely, I can marry Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Ling was speechless.

    Pei Ziheng looked at Wei Lingnan, and then looked at Xia Ling, and said lightly, ¡°Xiao Ling, you like this kind of man who sells women for glory?¡±

    Xia Ling was again speechless.

    She was at a loss now. Really, they were all making a mess! Fortunately, she didn¡¯t forget what she came here to do. She looked up at Pei Ziheng and asked softly, ¡°Give up the schedule to the Yingluo, okay? You said that he¡¯s selling his daughter for glory, so can you not force my daughter into a helpless state?¡±

    Pei Ziheng did not make things difficult this time. He said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Wei Lingnan looked at him meaningfully.

    Pei Ziheng said in a warm voice, ¡°Remember, you owe me one.¡±

    Xia Ling nodded and said, ¡°Thank you.¡± This man was selfish and petty, so what good would it do her to owe him one? But she couldn¡¯t care about that now. Her baby daughter was more important. As for that favor, she would think about itter.

    She said goodbye to Pei Ziheng and walked outside the office.

    When Wei Lingnan walked behind her and was about to go out, then he looked back at the man behind. ¡°Pei Ziheng, you are so cunning. You know that even if she doesn¡¯te to beg you, I will negotiate with you to resolve the movie schedule.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to negotiate with you.¡± Pei Ziheng was still very gentle.

 Chapter 1421 - True Love

    <h4>Chapter 1421: True Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    They were both intelligent people. Wei Lingnan knew exactly what he meant.

    No family or n would want to go against Wei Lingnan¡ªa strange and mysterious creature. Even Pei Ziheng would give an inch when faced with a threat like him. Rather than ending this in a bitter defeat, he might as well take the chance to help Xia Ling out while angering Li Lei. This was a good opportunity, so why not?

    Wei Lingnan looked at him and asked, ¡°Loving someone for so long, do you find it painful?¡±

    This question surprised Pei Ziheng, but his expression did not change. ¡°Your curiosity seems a little over the top.¡±

    Wei Lingnan chuckled in a self-deprecating manner. ¡°You¡¯re right, I shouldn¡¯t be asking you.¡± He¡¯d loved Ah Luo for so long, millions of years longer than Pei Ziheng had loved Xia Ling. It was such a long period of utter loneliness, he could¡¯ve gone crazy from it. Just what did it take for her to return to him willingly? This question didn¡¯t seem too appropriate for Pei Ziheng, a lone man. If he had to ask anyone, it should be his father-inw, the ultimate winner in life.

    He turned around and left.

    Pei Ziheng lit a cigarette, the smoke rising in clouds. The frown on his face was so deep it resembled a scar.

    ¡°Star Wars Era 2¡± was screening in most theatres during the summer break. It was rumored that Mr. and Mrs. Li had personally begged Pei Ziheng¡ªthe big boss of Imperial Entertainment¡ªto leave this most popr slot in the theatres for his ex-lover, even if it meant making losses.

    Many of them were touched by his gesture and praised Pei Ziheng for his devotion.

    The fans who¡¯d shipped him and Xia Ling many years back came back to life and called for them to get together once again.

    Li Lei was extremely upset and argued with Xia Ling about this. Xia Ling was angry too and threw a pillow at him while yelling, ¡°Li Lei, you jerk! I¡¯m a celebrity! A superstar! Why are you so sensitive about some rumors going around?! It¡¯s normal for any celebrity to be shipped with many other people!¡±

    ¡°Anyone¡¯s fine, just not Pei Ziheng!¡± Big Boss Li was raking up old scores. ¡°That man has been harboring ill intentions since decades ago! This time regarding Yingluo¡¯s matter, I told you not to look for him, but did you listen? If you hadn¡¯t gone, I could¡¯ve settled it well too, and there wouldn¡¯t be such gossip flying around!¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve settled it? My foot!¡± Xia Ling was enraged and threw another pillow at him. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just order Wei Lingnan about?! Don¡¯t you know what kind of person Wei Lingnan is? You¡¯d just sell Yingluo to him like that?!¡±

    Li Lei shielded the iing pillow and said righteously, ¡°Selling my daughter is better than selling my wife!¡±

    ¡°Y-you¡¯re sleeping on the couch tonight!¡±

    She pushed him and the pillow out the door as she yelled, mming the beautiful wooden door in his face.

    ¡°Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling, open the door!¡± He didn¡¯t give up just yet. He knocked on the door several times¡ªand received no response¡ªbefore resigning to his fate. He picked up the pillow and walked along the hallway on his own.

    He¡¯d only taken a few steps when he saw two figures acting weirdly in a corner.

    ¡°Xiao...¡±

    ¡°Dad, we didn¡¯t see anything! Really! We¡¯ll get going!¡± Li Rui did not wait for his response as he grabbed his sister and left.

    Li Lei was speechless.

    He regretted it now. Besides selling his daughter, he should sell this annoying son too.

    Li Rui and Xia Yingluo ran a great distance at a go, and only stopped when they were sure nobody was chasing them. Xia Yingluo had her hand against a tree for support. She told her brother off while panting, ¡°I-I already told you not to poke your nose into it, but you dragged me there anyway! Look what we got ourselves into now, Dad saw us! What if... what if he really gets upset and decides to sell me to Wei Lingnan!¡±

    ¡°Wake up, you¡¯ve already been sold.¡± Li Rui was panting too, but smiling widely at the same time. ¡°Bro is just trying to help you see the truth as it is. But honestly, Mom is really brutal. Dad is a boss outside, after all, calling the shots and all that. But Mom scolds him like he¡¯s her grandson, and he actually tolerates it.¡±

    ¡°Of course he does, that¡¯s true love,¡± Xia Ling casually said. She was still trying to catch her breath from that escape.

    Her heart was still pounding rapidly when Li Rui added, ¡°That¡¯s right, true love. Wei Lingnan is just like a grandson in front of you too.¡±

    Xia Yingluo almost choked. She red at him. ¡°Would it kill you to talk a little less?!¡±

    In the moonlight, Li Rui shed her another grin. ¡°I¡¯m helping you figure out your rtionship with him. After all, Dad already intends to hand you to Wei Lingnan. If you love him, then live well with him. If you don¡¯t, Bro will help you get rid of him.¡±

    ¡°Get rid of him? More likely that he gets rid of you.¡±

    ¡°In that case, you¡¯d just have to live with him then.¡±

    ¡°Go away.¡±

    The siblings sat side by side under the tree, looking up at the night sky. A long whileter, Xia Yingluo kicked Li Rui. ¡°What¡¯s true love?¡±

    ¡°True love is what you and Wei Lingnan have, crazy. Don¡¯t kick my new pants.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the crazy one.¡± Xia Yingluo kicked him again. ¡°Stop fooling me, how is this true love? True love is what Mom and Dad have.¡±

    Li Rui stifled augh. ¡°That¡¯s why I say you¡¯re silly. It¡¯s very simple, just name an opposite example¡ªthat¡¯s me, having countless girls outside, cutting ties with them when I need to, never having to bother aboutplicated emotions and rtionships. If what you have with him isn¡¯t true love, you wouldn¡¯t be all bothered about his matters right now. Do you think Dad doesn¡¯t love you? If it wasn¡¯t that he noticed your feelings for Wei Lingnan, would he have promised Wei Lingnan anything?¡±

    Xia Yingluo kept quiet. Back on the Skatana, there was no concept of love. All she knew was that it was dangerous and wrong to be attracted to that man. Now that she was on Earth, she¡¯d initially thought that her infatuation with Zhao Yixuan was true love. But it wasn¡¯t the case; when Zhao Yixuan abandoned her and betrayed her, she was able to toss him to the back of her mind, and even hate him for it. But it waspletely different with Wei Lingnan. Regardless of what he¡¯d done, whether it was betraying her ormitting a sin, she¡¯d always leave a ce for him in her heart.

    Was this love?

    Or was this predestination?

    She looked up at the night sky again, feeling heavy with emotions.

    ¡°Star Wars Era 2¡± was screening and raving with good reviews. Xia Yingluo¡¯s poprity as the female lead soared as well, and she¡¯d gathered more energy than expected. As such, her condition had improved significantly and she was glowing with radiance now.

    Wei Lingnan brought a bouquet of flowers and went to look for her. ¡°Ah Luo,e to the movies with me.¡±

 Chapter 1422 - Letâ€™s Watch a Movie Together

    <h4>Chapter 1422: Let¡¯s Watch a Movie Together</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In the abundant sunlight, he looked bright and presentable.

    Xia Yingluo squinted. ¡°How did you get into my house?¡±

    Wei Lingnan smiled gentlemanly. ¡°The honorable father-inw opened the door for me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyelid practically twitched. She wondered if this was her real father, a man who was so nice to his wife but terrible to his daughter. ¡°Firstly, don¡¯t call him your father-inw. Secondly, don¡¯t trespass my house this way. Thirdly, I won¡¯t watch the movie with you, stay away from me.¡±

    Her tone was stone-cold.

    But he waspletely unfazed. With flowers in his hand, he said, ¡°Ah Luo, you look beautiful when you¡¯re angry.¡±

    Xia Yingluo wondered if he was sadistic, why did he seem to enjoy this torture? She turned away and decided to walk further into her home.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed her hand and stuffed the bouquet of white flowers into her arms. ¡°I groomed these flowers for you. Do you like them?¡±

    She was not prepared to push it away and ended up holding it in her arms. The fragrance was sweet and drew her heart to it. She wanted to throw the flowers in his face, to get angry with him, but she couldn¡¯t bring herself to do any of it when she saw his look of anticipation. She¡¯d been all ready to give him a stern warning, but the words came out nice and gentle. ¡°Why do such pointless things, if you wanted to win me over, why are you only doing it now?¡±

    His eyes glistened. ¡°I¡¯m willing to do anything for you.¡±

    As the breeze swept past the house, he looked at her with eyes filled with emotions.

    She turned away and happened to see Li Lei walking past in the corner of her eye. She raised her voice. ¡°Dad!¡±

    Li Lei stopped in his tracks and walked over, grinning cheekily at his daughter. ¡°Yes, Yingluo?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shoved the big bouquet into his arms. ¡°Don¡¯t make me clean up the mess you started!¡±

    Li Lei turned away and did not hold onto the flowers. He smiled. ¡°What mess? Isn¡¯t it nice that someone¡¯s here to ask you out? All I did was open the door for him, the rest is up to you to handle. Be good.¡± He then ruffled her soft hair.

    Xia Yingluo thought, <i>Is this really my dad?</i>

    Before she could say anything, Li Lei was already looking at Wei Lingnan. His voice was cold and stern as he said, ¡°Treat my daughter well. If you dare hurt her at all, the entire Li family wille after you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t bear to look. <i>Dad, isn¡¯t it a little toote to say this?</i>

    Wei Lingnan was very amodating. There wasn¡¯t a hint of cruelty or coldness on his face. ¡°Father-inw, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll treat Yingluo well.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not your father-inw!¡± Xia Yingluo was fuming.

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go to the movies. We can discuss the formalities of addressing one another after the show. Maybe I¡¯ll consider changing my mind before the next movie publicity.¡±

    Was this a threat!

    Xia Yingluo could understand what Wei Lingnan was saying¡ªif she did not agree to this date, for the next publicity event, he¡¯d announce that he was her future husband!

    ¡°Dad!¡± Xia Yingluo red at her father.

    Li Lei was grinning. ¡°You can continue chatting. I just remembered I have something else to attend to. I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±

    Xia Yingluo felt like bashing him up as she watched him leave. She asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°Just what did you drug him with?!¡± Li Lei had had his guard up against Wei Lingnan just a while back, why had he suddenly be so supportive of him?

    Wei Lingnan smiled. ¡°Nothing much. You know how much Father-inw loves Mother-inw, I simply helped him settle the issue with Pei Ziheng, and now he sees me as family.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Xia Yingluo eyed him suspiciously.

    Although it sounded rather logical, Li Lei¡¯s change in attitude still seemed a little too drastic.

    Wei Lingnan was still smiling. ¡°Let¡¯s go,e with me to the movies. We haven¡¯t gone out together in a while.¡± Of course, the answer to her question wasn¡¯t as simple as he made it out to be. He had told Li Lei all about the Skatana species and their lifespan, how she was going to leave Earth eventually, and everything about them. Li Lei came to realize that only he was able to be by her side for eternity...

    That was why Li Lei approved of him.

    And of course, Wei Lingnan wouldn¡¯t tell Xia Yingluo about these details. Li Lei wouldn¡¯t tell her about it, either¡ªhe knew that Xia Yingluo had kept her future ns from him for fear that he would worry, and hence, decided to y along.

    Seeing that Xia Yingluo was still not too convinced, Wei Lingnan added, ¡°I¡¯ve already got the tickets for Star Wars Era 2. It¡¯d be interesting to watch this in a crowd of ordinary movie-goers. I even pre-ordered Coke and popcorn.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked up at him. ¡°Just this once.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Sure.¡± Just this once? Of course, it was alright to watch Star Wars Era 2 just this once, he had other ns for their dates in future, like shopping, stargazing, road trips... wouldn¡¯t that be a second, third, nth time?

    Wei Lingnan held her hand and walked towards the door happily.

    Xia Yingluo shook him off. ¡°I¡¯ll walk on my own.¡±

    He kept his smile on and let her storm out of the vi and into his car.

    His ck sports car was way too striking, and ever since he became a known figure, countless reporters had stalked him whenever they saw his car on the road. He did not wish to be disturbed and hence, was now driving an ordinary-looking BMW today. The interior, however, was extremely extravagant and luxurious, like it was the most prestigious car in the world.

    He took Xia Yingluo to a popr area in town. When he parked his car, he got out of the driver¡¯s seat and very gentlemanly opened her door for her. Xia Yingluo took her shades and mask out of her bag and was all ready to put them on when he said, ¡°No need.¡±

    ¡°No need?¡± She looked at him. They were both celebrities now, they were going to attract a lot of attention.

    ¡°No need,¡± he repeated. ¡°I can use my energy to do some facial modifications. In others¡¯ eyes, we¡¯d just look like ordinary people.¡±

    Xia Yingluo understood what he was getting at. The Skatana species had this special power¡ªtheir energy technology was considered the best in the universe. So, with the appropriate chemicalpounds, they were able to fulfill many of their needs, from big ones like destroying a to small ones like facial modifications.

    But she still wanted to put on her mask. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy.¡±

    He held her hand down. ¡°We hardly get toe out, it¡¯d be ufortable to be wearing this the whole time. We¡¯ve been gathering a lot of energytely, we don¡¯t have to give every bit of it to the World Tree. This little bit won¡¯t make a difference to its arrival.¡±

    In the back of her mind, the seed of the World Tree began screaming, as if agitated by his words¡ª

    [Eat him! Eat him! Eat this horrible traitor!]

 Chapter 1423 - His Gaze

    <h4>Chapter 1423: His Gaze</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    [Shut up!] Xia Yingluo told it off in her heart. [Annoy me further and I¡¯ll eat you up!]

    [You can¡¯t do this! You can¡¯t¡ª!] The World Tree began screaming even more loudly, but Xia Yingluo wasn¡¯t attending to it anymore.

    She looked up at Wei Lingnan and smiled. ¡°Alright, then. We¡¯ll use energy.¡± This decision was made solely because the World Tree angered her. She was not a puppet at anyone¡¯s mercy!

    Wei Lingnan could not hear the conversation between her and the World Tree and felt pleasantly surprised to see her smile at him.

    He carefully cupped her face in his hands and nted a kiss on her forehead. After the kiss, a thread of faint white energy began spreading out and soon, the air around her face became distorted. To other ordinary humans, all they saw was another ordinary face. Only those of the Skatana species like her could see her actual look through the distorted air particles.

    He then wiped his face with his hand, repeating the procedure.

    Xia Yingluo looked at him and felt like they¡¯d gone back to those days. The day before each battle, he¡¯d always go about his preparation systematically, making sure everything was in ce and that he was ready. On that thought, she went a little dazed.

    He locked the car doors and looked straight at her. ¡°What¡¯re you looking at? Ah Luo.¡±

    She avoided his line of sight and casually said, ¡°I was just curious about how you¡¯ve transformed yourself.¡±

    ¡°Want to have a look?¡± He asked, ready to wipe his hand on his face again. The Skatana species had several different levels of facial modification, but the lowest level sufficed when it came to fooling a species as weak as the humans. If he wanted to hide his actual look from a higher-order species like her, he¡¯d have to use more energy and more advanced technology.

    She grabbed his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡±

    Although she was annoyed at the World Tree, there was no need to use up so much energy unnecessarily. After all, it wasn¡¯t easy gathering it.

    Wei Lingnan ced his other hand over hers and smiled. ¡°Alright.¡±

    She wanted to shake him off, but he grabbed her hand tighter. ¡°Let¡¯s go and collect our tickets, and the popcorn too. What¡¯s life like for a normal human being? I¡¯ve never experienced it.¡±

    She looked up at him. ¡°Never?¡±

    ¡°Since I came to this, I¡¯ve been building the underground base and conducting experiments, where did I have the time to do other things?¡± Wei Lingnan casually exined. ¡°Then when you came along... we¡¯ve mostly experienced the high life, but never gone shopping or watching a movie like ordinary people.¡±

    She wanted to ask if he¡¯d experienced this with Gu Jinxiu.

    But she shot that thought down right away. She was a rich girl too and probably didn¡¯t enjoyrge crowds of people in public areas.

    She looked at him closely. His usually cold expression was now lined with some childlike happiness and excitement. She felt a pinch in her heart. Just how had he been living through these millions of years? Had he ever had a moment of leisure, where he wasn¡¯t uptight about anything?

    She followed his lead and allowed him to hold her hand as they streamed into the theater lounge with the crowd.

    He was just like an ordinary human male, collecting the tickets for her, and getting the drinks and popcorn for her as well. Around them, countless other couples were doing the same; some girls were smiling and thanking their boyfriends while others were rebuking them for minor mistakes. This scene seemed surreal to Xia Yingluo, as if... as if a dream that she¡¯d kept buried in her heart for millions of years had finallye true...

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± She heard Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice while in her daze.

    He put an arm over her shoulder and guided her through the crowd. ¡°Walk slowly.¡±

    She remembered a mission from millions of years back. She¡¯d gone to the most romantic beach in the universe and had seen couples enjoying their time on the shore. A young man had held his girlfriend close as they chatted andughed, and with junk food in their hands, they looked so blissful.

    She stood on that shore for a long time.

    At that time, she¡¯d already be strong enough to kill everyone with just a snap of her finger. But she hadn¡¯t done that. She¡¯d envied all these ordinary couples and wanted them to live in bliss forever, even if that bliss was out of reach for her. She¡¯d let everyone on that beach off and allowed them to live on as she faced the Queen¡¯s punishment.

    Nobody understood why Princess Ah Luo would make such a mistake. Nobody, except her.

    When there was love, there was vulnerability.

    That was why all of these blissful people were so small and weak.

    Today as she was wrapped in Wei Lingnan¡¯s embrace, she¡¯d be one of the many ¡®weaklings¡¯. And yet, she felt more peaceful and at ease than when she was invincible.

    It went dark before her eyes as they entered the theater.

    The Skatana species had an incredible night vision. He spotted their seat quickly and guided her to it.

    They were in a theater full of other couples.

    When the film started, everyone went quiet and allowed themselves to be immersed in ¡®Star Wars Era 2¡¯.

    It was the first time Xia Yingluo was watching herself on a big screen. Her beauty, as well as her outstanding acting skills, made her an attractive actress. But Wei Lingnan was even more outstanding. He did not even need much acting skills; his one movement, or one gaze, was enough to set their hearts pounding with excitement. Especially his expression in the scenes where he looked at her.

    When they were filming, Xia Yingluo hadn¡¯t even noticed that this was how he gazed at her.

    It was packed with devotion, infatuation, and the pain of loving and wanting her but not being able to have her. And yet it also screamed of passion and desire... those eyes were full of too many emotions at once.

    She did not know how she managed to sit through the entire film.

    She didn¡¯t even touch the popcorn in her hands as she watched him with all her attention.

    When the film was over and the lights went on, the couples around them began discussing the film as they made their way out. ¡°I never expected Wei Lingnan to be this good at acting, his eyes were full of emotions! Did you see the way he looked at Xia Yingluo? I just don¡¯t believe that he doesn¡¯t actually love her.¡±

    ¡°He surely loves her.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, no wonder they changed the male lead. He¡¯s so much better at acting than Jiang Yu in the first film.¡±

    ¡°Acting? Jiang Yu is the King of Film, how could he be bad at it? I¡¯d say that Wei Lingnan genuinely likes Xia Yingluo, that¡¯s the only reason he was able to look at her with that gaze. As for Jiang Yu, he was just acting, and however good he might be, he can¡¯t be better than someone who means it from the bottom of his heart.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense...¡±

    The voices trailed off.

    Wei Lingnan looked at Xia Yingluo, who was still rooted to the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

 Chapter 1424 - Going to Wei Lingnan

    <h4>Chapter 1424: Going to Wei Lingnan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    She followed him out, and the crowd flowed.

    Outside the movie theater was a bustlingmercial street. The bright lights and stars in the night skyplemented each other beautifully.

    A gust of night wind blew and Wei Lingnan asked her, ¡°Are you cold?¡±

    She shook her head subconsciously, and heard him ask again, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you eat the popcorn?¡±

    Only then did she realize that she still had the popcorn in her hands. It was still piled up like a hill. While watching the movie just now, she had been focused on staring at him withplex thoughts, so how could she have the spare time to eat the popcorn? ¡°I... was a bit ufortable, so I didn¡¯t want to eat it.¡± She hurriedly made an excuse and passed the popcorn to him. ¡°Do you want it?¡±

    ¡°Ufortable?¡±

    ¡°It was probably due tock of oxygen in the cinema just now.¡± A lie always had to be rounded with more lies. Xia Yingluo didn¡¯t want him to continue asking, so she said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to eat it, I¡¯ll find a stic bag to put it in. Don¡¯t waste it.¡±

    Although she was a youngdy, she was well-educated. ¡°Do not waste food¡± was her family motto.

    Wei Lingnan looked at her, then leaned down and took a handful of popcorn from the piled-up hill. He started chewing slowly. His posture was calm and elegant, and his long shadow was dragged by the neon lights on the street, like a top beast receiving food from its owner¡¯s hands. After a while, he raised his head and stared at her intensely, his eyes shining like stars in the night sky.

    Her face felt hot subconsciously.

    He chuckled and embraced her, kissing her despite her slight struggle.

    It was a little overbearing but gentle kiss.

    Just down the street, in the starry night, they enjoyed this beautiful and peaceful moment like many ordinary couples on Earth. He put one hand on her waist, and the other intertwined with her fingers, as if swearing an oath that they would never be separated.

    The traffic on the street under the night was woven.

    On the overpass not far away, a woman stared resentfully at the two kissing people.

    Gu Jinxiu wore an inconspicuous shirt, with half of her body hidden in the shadow of the fence by the bridge. She gnashed her teeth and said to herself, ¡°Xia Yingluo... what right do you have to be with Nan? He is mine! Mine...¡±

    Although in the eyes of ordinary human beings, Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan, who had disguised themselves with their energy, looked like two ordinary people, in the eyes of Gu Jinxiu, who also had the blood of Skatana, she could easily see through their true colors. Today, she had originally been following Wei Lingnan. She missed him too much and was even willing to look at him just once. But she did not expect to see him and Xia Yingluo kissing on the street.

    Gu Jinxiu simply wanted to rush forward and tear Xia Yingluo into pieces, but she couldn¡¯t. If she did that, in the end, she wouldn¡¯t hurt Xia Yingluo, and she herself might even be torn apart by Wei Lingnan.

    It was so unfair... so unfair!

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s fingers coated with bright red nail polish were pinched tightly on the railing, and she wished she could dig out a hole in the railing of the footbridge. She wanted revenge, and she definitely did not want that bitch named Xia Yingluo to be better off than her! Even if she couldn¡¯t have a conflict with Xia Yingluo directly, she would definitely find a way!

    The solution was quickly found.

    In other words, women¡¯s jealousy was always terrible.

    She remembered that Xia Yingluo had a good friend named Jin Ling¡¯er, and the girl named Jin Ling¡¯er was an ordinary human being. If... she made Jin Ling¡¯er injured or even dead, Xia Yingluo would be very depressed, right? Then she wouldn¡¯t have the heart to date Wei Lingnan! Then she could take advantage of the situation and might even have the opportunity to make aeback!

    Gu Jinxiu had a vicious smile on her delicate face.

    She followed Jin Ling¡¯er for several days, lurking in a bustling crowd in a bustling street, and while Jin Ling¡¯er was crossing the road, she quickly ignited energy. A truck suddenly ran towards Jin Ling¡¯er...

    Screams, cries, and harsh brakes...

    The news reported that this major traffic ident caused two deaths, one serious injury, and four or five minor injuries. Unfortunately, the actress Jin Ling¡¯er who had debuted less than a year ago got seriously injured.

    Xia Yingluo received the news and her voice shook as she said, ¡°How is Ling¡¯er now? How could a traffic ident have happened?¡±

    What brought this news was her agent Tan Ying, who methodically replied, ¡°Ms. Jin is still in the intensive care unit and is not out of danger. Du Zheng learned about the news and has rushed to apany her. Regarding the driver, It was discovered that it was drunk driving and he has been arrested.¡±

    Drunk driving?

    These people who drunk and drove don¡¯t care about themselves and others¡¯ lives!

    Xia Yingluo was furious and hurriedly went out. ¡°Prepare the car, I will go to the hospital to see her. And quickly tell Wei Lingnan to let him go and see!¡± In this world, the best medical technology was undoubtedly in the Wei Family, so of course, she had to let him go at this moment.

    Tan Ying also knew that the Weis¡¯ technology was developed, and he answered quickly.

    Xia Yingluo came to the hospital. Jin Ling¡¯er was still lying in the intensive care unit, and across a thick, sealed ss window, Du Zheng was standing in the hallway, wearing a smart suit and leather shoes. She didn¡¯t know where he had hurried over from, but his face was grave as if he was about to drip water.

    Xia Yingluo stepped forward and asked, ¡°Brother Du Zheng, how is Ling¡¯er?¡±

    Seeing her, Du Zheng said coldly, ¡°She hasn¡¯t escaped the danger. I asked the hospital to rescue her at all costs. Now that the operation is done, the doctor said that it¡¯s up to her whether she can survive.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was also very worried, but sheforted him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Ling¡¯er is a good person, so she will definitely meet with good luck.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t even convince herself. She raised her wrist and looked at her delicate female watch, then took out her phone to call Wei Lingnan. ¡°Where are you, how long are you going to take? Hurry!¡±

    As soon as her voice fell, she saw a man appearing at the other end of the corridor, holding a mobile phone in one hand. He said, ¡°I¡¯m here, Ah Luo, don¡¯t be afraid.¡± He walked towards her step by step as if he was a savior who had fallen from heaven.

    She rejoiced, and for the first time since a long time, she sincerely weed his arrival. ¡°Wei Lingnan!¡±

    He looked down at her. ¡°Ah Luo, I¡¯m here.¡±

    On the way, he had a general understanding of the cause and effect of the incident, and after soothing Xia Yingluo, he turned to look at Du Zheng. ¡°I¡¯m going into the ward.¡±

    Du Zheng looked at Xia Yingluo suspiciously. ¡°Yingluo, is it okay?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°The technology at Wei Lingnan¡¯s is very advanced and is better than the hospital. Brother Du Zheng, even if you don¡¯t believe him, you should believe me. I won¡¯t harm Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Du Zheng nodded and asked his assistant to negotiate with the hospital and let Wei Lingnan enter.

    Wei Lingnan walked into the room wearing a full set of sterile protective clothing and bent over to look at the girl in the hospital bed.

 Chapter 1425 - Iâ€™m Her Husband

    <h4>Chapter 1425: I¡¯m Her Husband</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    The girl was pale and weak.

    Wei Lingnan used a ray of energy to detect her condition and found that the internal organs of her body were broken in many ces. There was a possibility ofplete copse at any time.

    He got up and stepped out of the intensive care unit. Both Xia Yingluo and Du Zheng gathered around anxiously and asked, ¡°How¡¯s the situation?¡±

    Wei Lingnan shook his head. ¡°Where is the attending doctor? I want to see him.¡±

    Time was pressing, so the two couldn¡¯t ask any more questions. They quickly arrived at the attending doctor¡¯s office under the leadership of Du Zheng. Wei Lingnan took a small bottle of light blue medicine from his carry pocket and gave it to the attending doctor. ¡°Take this. After diluting it, give it to her on an intravenous drip.¡±

    The attending doctor frowned and looked at him. ¡°Sir, please don¡¯t interfere with the treatment in case something happens to the patient...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Wei Lingnan.¡± He stared coldly at the attending doctor, emotionless.

    The attending doctor froze slightly, but the nurse on the side had already cried, ¡°Wei Lingnan? Isn¡¯t that the superhero who developed a new anti-cancer drug?!¡± This was one of the best hospitals in the city, and the best doctors and nurses in it were all old and busy with their work, so they didn¡¯t chase after celebrities like the youngsters. When they heard the words Wei Lingnan, their first reaction was not the recent movie that became famous, but the new anti-cancer drug¡ªthis was the big topic that caused a sensation in the medicalmunity.

    Wei Lingnan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    He took a few steps forward calmly, intentionally or unintentionally covering Xia Yingluo behind him. Although Xia Yingluo had put on a mask and sunsses before she came in and would not be recognized in theory, he didn¡¯t want to cause her trouble.

    The attending doctor also responded at this time and said excitedly, ¡°You are really Mr. Wei Lingnan?! It is a great honor to meet you! Can you tell me about the new anti-cancer drug in detail? Such a wonderful principle, I have never seen it before!¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice remained cold. ¡°We are now treating Jin Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Then the attending doctor returned to his senses, and the enthusiasm on his face faded. His serious attitude and responsibility to the patient returned. Speaking of this critically ill patient, he was meticulous. ¡°Sorry, Sir, I just lost my focus. But you can¡¯t prove that you really are Mr. Wei Lingnan. The origin of this bottle of medicine is unknown, and I cannot give it to the patient.¡±

    ¡°He is.¡± This time it was Du Zheng who spoke. ¡°Dr. Huang, if you don¡¯t believe it, you can search the Inte. The photos of Mr. Wei are easy to find. No one will spend a lot of time on stic surgery to lie to you, right?¡±

    Xia Yingluo couldn¡¯t help but nce at him.

    This man was really worthy of Ling¡¯er entrusting her life to. He had quickly analyzed the pros and cons and calmly examined the problem in such an emergency situation, then proposed a practical method for the doctor.

    The doctor patted his head. ¡°Look at me, why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡±

    He really turned on theputer in the office in front of everyone and searched directly for Wei Lingnan¡¯s photos. He contrasted the two and determined that he was really Wei Lingnan. The attending doctor stood up in a hurry and apologized to Wei Lingnan. ¡°Mr. Wei, I¡¯m really sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have doubted you.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was a little impatient. ¡°Are you not giving Jin Ling¡¯er the medicine?¡±

    The attending doctor was put on a spot. He said, ¡°Even if it is your medicine, I cannot directly use it on Ms. Jin without the permission of the hospital. This is out of the process. I cannot afford this responsibility if something happens.¡±

    Wei Lingnan narrowed his eyes dangerously, and there was a spread of murderous aura.

    The attending doctor trembled at the sight of him and stepped back a little.

    Xia Yingluo saw Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes slowly condense. This was a precursor to the energy of the Skatana to brainwash people. She couldn¡¯t help but interrupt. ¡°Dr. Huang, take the medicine first. If something happens...¡± She remembered the mask and quickly changed her words. ¡°Mr. Wei will take full responsibility. In addition, we will do the hospital work now and will not let you take responsibility.¡±

    Whenever there were other methods, she didn¡¯t want Wei Lingnan to use his energy. The energy consumption of controlling people¡¯s thinking was veryrge, hundreds of times more than their little disguisest time. In addition, there were Du Zheng and several nurses on the scene. After the event, they would have to dispel their doubts and it might be necessary to perform brainwashing and memory reconstruction, which was also a major project that consumed much energy. She still remembered that when he was shooting <Star Wars Era 2>, he seemed weak because of ack of energy, so she didn¡¯t want him to be in danger again.

    Wei Lingnan heard her, looked at her, and kept his aggressive look. He changed his tone and said to the attending doctor, ¡°Yes, I will take full responsibility. I¡¯ll have someone go through the formalities. This drug can be treated as a new trial. Don¡¯t hospitals always have volunteers for that kind of drug trial? Just take Jin Ling¡¯er as a volunteer.¡±

    The attending doctor was still put on a spot. ¡°Mr. Wei, I don¡¯t mean to make it difficult for you, really... sigh, those experimental new drugs need volunteers, yes, but volunteer volunteers are all voluntary. In the case of Ms. Jin, she¡¯s still unconscious and in a dangerous state. We would have to get her family¡¯s signature and approval! Where is her family and are they here?¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly. Neither of Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s parents was in the city.

    She was about to say something when Du Zheng said, ¡°I¡¯m signing. I¡¯m her husband.¡±

    Xia Yingluo was startled, and even Wei Lingnan nced at Du Zheng. Since when did this man marry Jin Ling¡¯er? It was so silent and no one knew about it. But when they thought about it again, they understood that perhaps the marriage of the two was false. Du Zheng was just in a hurry and wanted to pretend to be Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s husband to resolve the issue first.

    They very tacitly did not expose Du Zheng.

    The attending doctor took a look at Du Zheng, but there wasn¡¯t much suspicion. After all, after Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s ident, the first one toe was Du Zheng.

    He thought, ording to the original treatment n, the girl¡¯s death rate on the bed was more than 95%. Then, it would be better to let the dead horse try out Wei Lingnan¡¯s new medicine. Given the strength of the Wei family¡¯s ability to develop anti-cancer drugs, maybe there was really a cure?

    ¡°Okay!¡± He made up his mind and told the nurses around him, ¡°Give this bottle of medicine to Ms. Jin.¡±

    The nurse did as instructed.

    Wei Lingnan sent his senior staff in the base to handle the procedures of the new medicine. Then, he apanied Xia Yingluo and Du Zheng to stay outside the ward.

    Xia Yingluo looked at Jin Ling¡¯er behind the ss window and watched as the nurse hung the bottle of diluted blue medicine. Her heart was still full of anxiety. She asked Wei Lingnan, ¡°What medicine did you give her? Can you rescue her?¡±

 Chapter 1426 - Pretending to be a Couple

    <h4>Chapter 1426: Pretending to be a Couple</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Wei Lingnan told her. ¡°This is the miracle cure. After receiving Tan Ying¡¯s call, I guessed that it would be needed, so I brought over a bottle.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°It has been hard on you.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal, Ah Luo. I¡¯m honored to work for you. Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition will stabilize, but she was severely injured and needs a lot of rest in theing days. She has to be taken care of well.¡±

    Hisst sentence was directed at Du Zheng.

    Du Zheng quickly answered, ¡°I will take good care of her.¡±

    The few of them waited outside the ward for a long time. In the evening, the attending doctor announced that Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition had stabilized and they were relieved. As soon as she rxed her tense emotions, Xia Yingluo felt a little tired, so Wei Lingnan sent her home and bade her farewell.

    Just as she was about to walk towards her vi, Wei Lingnan called her. ¡°Ah Luo.¡±

    She turned around and looked at him in confusion.

    He also looked at her with eyes as calm as water.

    She asked him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just...¡± He just missed her a little. He already started to miss her before they said goodbye.

    He was not someone who did grand romantic gestures, so he just said, ¡°Get home soon.¡±

    She rolled her eyes a little, turned around and entered her house.

    Wei Lingnan stood outside the exquisite fence of the vi and watched her back view until it disappeared behind the front door and the lights of her room on the second floor were turned on. Only then did he drive away.

    Jin Ling¡¯er stayed in the hospital to recuperate.

    When she received Wei Lingnan¡¯s medical treatment on the second day, she woke up. However, the doctor said that she was still very weak and needed to be hospitalized for a long time. Du Zheng, who was by her side, asked her, ¡°What happened at that time? Tell me.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er knew that he cared about her. As she recalled the story of the car ident, she said, ¡°At that time, I was crossing the road when the traffic light was green... Suddenly, a car uncontrobly rushed out. People surrounding me screamed... I turned around and saw it. I thought about running away, but it was too fast...¡± At this point, Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly paused. ¡°It¡¯s really strange. At that time, the cars on the road were all moving very slowly. Why was that car moving so fast?¡±

    Du Zheng was startled. ¡°How fast was it?¡±

    ¡°80... 100... At least 100mph!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said with certainty and was surprised by her own deduction. ¡°Chairman Du, there was a speed limit and it was at a crossroad. The cars were all waiting for the red light, so how was it possible for that car to speed past all of them? It¡¯s almost... ghostly!¡±

    Du Zheng also felt that this situation was fishy. Even if the driver had the intention to drive at such a high speed, he needed enough distance to speed up. However, that street did not have the correct conditions for that to happen. He said, ¡°I will investigate.¡±

    Although the police already concluded this as a drunk driving case, he would not stop until he uncovered the truth because it concerned Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was very touched but a little uneasy. She carefully said, ¡°Chairman Du, thank you. Have I given you more trouble?¡±

    Du Zheng looked at her and said, ¡°Call me by my name.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She was shocked.

    ¡°My name is Du Zheng.¡±

    Looking at his calm face, her cheeks suddenly flushed red. Did she hear him correctly? He actually told her to call him by his name! In the past, she chased him for so long but did not get this treatment. However, he suddenly changed! She was overjoyed. Jin Ling¡¯er did not let doubts hover in her mind for too long and happily called out. ¡°Du Zheng!¡±

    She was afraid that he would take back his words and shouted his name a few more times. ¡°Du Zheng! Du Zheng!¡±

    There was a hint of softness on Du Zheng¡¯s usually expressionless face.

    Jin Ling¡¯erughed for a while before asking. ¡°Why did you suddenly let me call you by your name?¡± After that, she looked at him in anticipation.

    Du Zheng looked at the girl on the bed. Her features were not very outstanding and could notpare to Xia Yingluo¡¯s beauty. She was even a little inferior to thedies from rich households. However, her smile was so moving and he was deeply attracted by it. It was as if no one else had a better-looking smile than hers and he was greedy for it.

    ¡°Du Zheng?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er waved her hand in front of his face. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    Only then did hee back to reality and remembered the question she just asked. She asked him why he suddenly let her call him by his name.

    That was because... the moment he heard that she was involved in a car ident, his heart momentarily stopped beating. As he looked at her lifeless face through the ss wall of the intensive care unit, his heart was filled with endless regret. Why... Why didn¡¯t he protect her well and put her in such danger? If they were together, he would definitely push her away with all his might when the car was about to hit them.

    It was only then that he realized that this girl was indispensable in his life. He could not forget her bright and cheerful smile. He could not forget the careful way she tried to approach him. He could not forget the few beautiful days when they spent time together...

    He had not held her hand yet and had not even heard her call his name in her pleasant voice.

    Could it be that their fate would end at this moment and they would be separated forever because of this car ident?

    Du Zheng silently made a decision. If she woke up, this time, he would not push her away.

    The girl¡¯s smile was like a blooming flower. Unsatisfied, she asked him again, ¡°Tell me. Why did you suddenly ask me to call you by your name?¡±

    However, he felt that the thousands of reasons he thought of were too embarrassing, so he turned his head slightly and said, ¡°It feels more distant when you call me Chairman Du. I have to pretend to be your husband to get medicine for you and I don¡¯t want to be exposed.¡±

    She was startled and blushed again. What did he say? He was pretending to be her husband?

    Seeing that she bowed her head in silence, he could not help but feel worried. ¡°Miss Jin, the situation was urgent and I didn¡¯t mean to...¡±

    ¡°Please!¡± Suddenly, she lifted her head and interrupted him. She smiled and said, ¡°Thank you for taking on this burden for me. If it weren¡¯t for you, I probably won¡¯t be alive now. Don¡¯t you think that calling me Miss Jin sounds distant too? To not expose ourselves, you should call be Ling¡¯er in the future.¡±

    Du Zheng looked at her speechlessly.

    She smiled again and waved her hand in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you overly touched? From today onwards, we are now a pretend couple until I get discharged. Du Zheng, you won¡¯t mind, right?¡±

    Of course not.

    He shook his head as a reflex.

    Thus, she smiled again. Suddenly, she realized that she was being quite pushy and secretly lowered her head again.

    However, she could not help but raise the corners of her lips slightly.

 Chapter 1427 - So Itâ€™s You, Yingluo

    <h4>Chapter 1427: So It¡¯s You, Yingluo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Perhaps to make their act more realistic, Du Zheng visited her every day, fed her and pushed her out to bask in the sun when the weather was good.

    She was only a small star and few people could recognize her when she wore a mask and sunsses. However, Du Zheng frequently pushed her wheelchair around the garden and his gentleness made people envious. As they became more envious, people started to pay attention to them. They often heard other patients whispering to their family members. ¡°Who is that girl in the wheelchair wearing a mask? I heard that the person pushing her is her husband. He¡¯s really handsome and loving.¡±

    More people starting asking around and the nurses unintentionally spread some gossip when they were resting. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Chairman Du was such a man of substance. He¡¯s one of the most eligible bachelors, yet he quietly married a small star.¡±

    Small star?!

    Gossip started to get heated as everyone starting asking about that masked girl. After asking around for a while, the truth was revealed. She was Jin Ling¡¯er.

    ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er married Du Family Corporation¡¯s Du Zheng secretly!¡±

    ¡°When Jin Ling¡¯er was admitted to the hospital after a car ident, Du Zheng affectionately apanied her!¡±

    ¡°The sparrow flies up the branch and transforms into a phoenix!¡±

    Shocking headlines quickly appeared in the news. Not only were the patients and their families in shock, but the entire entertainment industry and celebrity gossip columns also blew up. Rumors spread overnight as people spected about their rtionship. Many reporters called their assistants and managers, asking them to exin the details. The situation was bing very undesirable.

    During her break, Xia Yingluo took some time to read the news and smiled at Wei Lingnan, who was in the same car as her. ¡°Look at what you did. Brother Du Zheng has to tolerate so much gossip due to that signature. Things are about to get interesting.¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at his beloved girl. ¡°I¡¯m just helping them. With that slugging pace the two of them are progressing, when will they be able to see their hearts clearly?¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled again. ¡°Fine. This time you were useful.¡±

    She was in a good mood. She nced at the news again and hummed a song.

    Looking at the delicate side-view, Wei Lingnan wanted to reach out to stroke soft long hair. His fingers move, but he did not dare to touch her. She already resented him and it took a long time before he could mend their rtionship. He did not wish for their fragile rtionship to be destroyed by his impulsiveness.

    Xia Yingluo minded her business and hummed a song. Suddenly, she said, ¡°Brother Du Zheng¡¯s family must be going crazy, right? With his status, news that he quietly married an ordinary girl would be earth-shattering. His mom would probably object to his marriage.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wei Lingnan faintly answered. ¡°Not everyone doesn¡¯t have family restrictions like me.¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him in annoyance, but she did not realize that she almost smiled.

    With her head in her hands, she thought for a moment. ¡°I think it is time to visit Ling¡¯er. It¡¯s a tough time for her and Brother Du Zheng now. No matter what, I should protect their rtionship.¡±

    Wei Lingnan said, ¡°You haven¡¯t even had time to care about yourself.¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Are you talking about the World Tree? Recently it received a lot of energy. Although it can¡¯t be very strong, at least it won¡¯t die. It is really annoying. I think it¡¯s good that it¡¯s in this half-alive state. I don¡¯t wish for it to be born on Earth because it will endanger humans.¡± Ignoring the protests of the World Tree in her mind, she smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you agree.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wei Lingnan was enchanted by her smile and replied without thinking.

    Thus, she smiled again andzily stretched. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted. Let¡¯s take a break tomorrow. I want to visit Ling¡¯er at the hospital.¡±

    The next day, she ordered a bunch of flowers from Wei Lingnan¡¯s Starlit Florist and went to visit Jin Ling¡¯er.

    She walked along the long corridor to the single VIP ward and just as she was about to knock on the door, she heard a sharp scolding from the room. ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er, who do you think you are? How dare you try to scheme your way into a rich household at such a young age! Let me tell you, as long as I, Sheng Yuqiong, am here, you will never be able to do as you please! Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re so amazing after creating some fake news. You can only marry my son over my dead body!¡± After that, there was a string of curse words such as ¡°bitch¡± and ¡°slut.¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face darkened. She knew that it was Du Zheng¡¯s mother.

    Jin Ling¡¯er endured the allegations and answered, ¡°Aunt Sheng, you are mistaken. Du Zheng only signed as my husband to help me stay in this hospital. Why would I use this method to marry into a wealthy household?¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong sneered. ¡°Ah Zheng voluntarily signed for you? You must be dreaming! Do you think that I don¡¯t know my own son? He doesn¡¯t care for these aimless things! You must have shamelessly seduced him, vixen!¡±

    ¡°Aunt Sheng!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er felt aggrieved after being called a vixen and indignantly called out. ¡°I respect you as Du Zheng¡¯s mom, that¡¯s why I¡¯m being courteous to you. However, that doesn¡¯t mean I will tolerate all your scoldings! I¡¯m not a vixen! I have a clear conscience!¡±

    ¡°As if you have a clear conscience!¡± Sheng Yuqiong was furious and sneered. ¡°If you really have a clear conscience, do you dare to swear that you don¡¯t like Du Zheng at all in front of me? And that you won¡¯t ever be entangled with him or ever want to marry him?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was speechless. She did not deliberately seduce Du Zheng, but this was a separate matter from whether she liked Du Zheng. She liked him a lot and wished that she could marry him one day. How could she be willing to swear to something like that in front of Sheng Yuqiong?

    ¡°Feeling guilty now?¡± Sheng Yuqiong already saw through her act. ¡°I¡¯ve seen many young and poor girls like you! All of you are just greedy for our family¡¯s money, right? Are 5 million dors enough? Take it and get far away from me!¡±

    ¡°Aunt Sheng!¡± This time, Jin Ling¡¯er was really angry and her voice trembled. ¡°You can¡¯t humiliate me like this!¡±

    Xia Yingluo could not bear to hear their argument anymore and pushed open the ward door.

    The two women in the ward stopped arguing and turned around to look at her.

    ¡°Yingluo?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was the first to speak. ¡°Why are you here?¡± She did not want to be seen in her most pathetic state, so she smiled awkwardly. ¡°What a coincidence! Come, sit over here. I¡¯m having a chat with Aunt Sheng right now.¡±

    Xia Yingluo knew Sheng Yuqiong and at this time, Xia Yingluo coldly said, ¡°Sheng Yuqiong.¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong saw her and felt a little awkward. She did not know if she heard her insulting Jin Ling¡¯er just now. She forced a smile and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Oh, so it is you, Yingluo. Why are you here today?¡±

 Chapter 1428 - She 1444: Shes Still One of the Better Ones

    <h4>Chapter 1428: She 1444: She¡¯s Still One of the Better Ones</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    In front of Xia Yingluo, she did not dare to be disrespectful although she was from a wealthy family.

    There were different levels of wealth. Without a doubt, the Li Family was one of the giants. Not to mention the mysterious Xia Family who could determine the lives and deaths of people, a force no one dared to provoke.

    Sheng Yuqiong greeted Xia Yingluo enthusiastically, held her hand, and said with a smile, ¡°Good girl. Come over and let me take a look. Have you lost weight? It must be hard during filming. Some days ago, I bought some premium bird¡¯s nest which is really difficult to get a hold of. Later, our Ah Zheng will send some over. It breaks my heart to see how small you are...¡±

    Her attitude waspletely different from when she talked to Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Looking at her excellent performance, Jin Ling¡¯er felt a little indignant and sad. She already knew that it was not good to mix with wealthy people because civilian girls like her were not taken seriously, but when she really faced a situation like that, she could not help but feel sad.

    This Aunt Sheng... really liked Yingluo, right?

    She doted on Yingluo so much it was as if she wished Yingluo was her daughter-inw.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was suddenly scared by her own thoughts and could not help but look again at the two of them.

    Xia Yingluo nced at her, calmly took her hands out of Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s hands and politely smiled. ¡°Thank you, Aunt Sheng. It is such good timing. Now, Jing¡¯er is sick, but I haven¡¯t had the time to prepare anything for her. I can use your premium bird¡¯s nest and make something nutritious for her.¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s face suddenly fell.

    Premium bird¡¯s nest was not easy to find and was the best of quality. If it weren¡¯t for Xia Yingluo¡¯s valuable position, she would not even have given it to her! However, Xia Yingluo wanted to give them to this bitch?!

    How was that bitch worthy?!

    Sheng Yuqiong gritted her teeth and impulsively opposed. ¡°No way!¡±

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s smile vanished. ¡°Aunt Sheng, are you mad at me?¡±

    Only then did Sheng Yuqiong realize that she had lost her cool. How could she treat someone from the Li Family with this attitude? She quickly forced out a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t mean it this way, Yingluo. I mean to say that the premium bird¡¯s nest is so precious that you should leave it for yourself. There¡¯s not much of it and there won¡¯t be enough to go around. I just care about you and that you¡¯re not taking care of yourself well enough.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled sarcastically. ¡°Are you saying that my parents aren¡¯t taking enough care of me?¡±

    ¡°No! That¡¯s not what I mean! Seriously...¡± Sheng Yuqiong got anxious and quickly said, ¡°Everyone knows what your family has. Your parents love you so much and would never mistreat you. I¡¯m just showing my concern... Yes, Ah Zheng also usually says that we should share anything good with you. He has always been concerned about you.¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong shamelessly changed the subject to her son.

    These years, she had been very worried about Du Zheng¡¯s marriage. It seemed that the only person who was worthy of him was the distinguished member of the Li Family in front of her now. If Du Zheng could marry her, it would really help with their business. As such, she always implicitly urged Du Zheng to spend more time with Yingluo. Unfortunately, her son was like a piece of wood and seemed to not understand her as he only treated Xia Yingluo as his younger sister.

    Sheng Yuqiong was very anxious and could only seize every opportunity to be their matchmaker.

    However, even Xia Yingluo seemed to not understand her implicit words. She slightly tilted her head and smiled sweetly. ¡°Yes, I have to thank you and Brother Du Zheng for your concern. Besides, he¡¯s overly nervous. Jing¡¯er is my good friend. No one would dare to bully her, right, Aunt Sheng?¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s smile stiffened again. She secretly hated her son for not being smart enough to chase after a valuable girl like Xia Yingluo and instead, he chose to take care of a weed! She could not help but re at Jin Ling¡¯er. This jinx!

    Xia Yingluo monitored her every movement. After seeing her re at Jin Ling¡¯er fiercely, she could not help but walk to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s bed and sit down. She held Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s hands tightly and warmly said, ¡°You should take care of yourself well. After you¡¯re better, you shoulde over to my house. My parents miss you and say that you¡¯re more obedient than me. They really like you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er knew that she was supporting her. She sniffed and nodded. ¡°Ok!¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°When you¡¯re better, bring Brother Du Zheng with you and talk to my parents!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er nodded again. ¡°Ok!¡±

    After seeing this scene, Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s face fell. Although she was snobbish, she could read the situation. It was obvious that Xia Yingluo was showing her support for Jin Ling¡¯er and she was sure that Xia Yingluo heard her insulting Jin Ling¡¯er just now! <i>Seriously, Xia Yingluo how dare you pretend to be ignorant in front of the Du Family and try to bring this poor jinx into the family! </i>

    At once, Sheng Yuqiong got up in dissatisfaction.

    Xia Yingluo turned around and smiled at Sheng Yuqiong. ¡°It¡¯s settled then, Aunt Sheng. When Ling¡¯er is feeling better, she will bring Brother Du Zheng with her to my house.¡± Before Sheng Yuqiong could reject her, Xia Yingluo said again, ¡°Recently, things have been busy at home. My dad and older brother have been discussing about finding a partner.¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong swallowed her words immediately.

    She always worked hard because she wanted her son¡¯s business to prosper. Although Du Zheng was close friends with Li Shaohui, Li Shaohui rarely invited him to his house and the two of them were always busy with their own work. In fact, Du Zheng had not visited the Li Family as a guest for a long time. For rtionships to be strengthened, they had to interact more frequently. Sheng Yuqiong understood this very well.

    Although this bitch called Jin Ling¡¯er was poor, she was close to Xia Yingluo and it was a good idea for Du Zheng to visit the Li Family more often. As for their marriage? It was still impossible!

    With this in mind, Sheng Yuqiong smiled at Xia Yingluo again. ¡°Sure, Ah Zheng also misses your parents very much.¡±

    The three of them did not speak more. Sheng Yuqiong bade them farewell and left the ward.

    Only then was Jin Ling¡¯er relieved and sighed. ¡°Seriously, why is this Aunt Sheng so horrible? Yingluo, are people from wealthy families all like her? Do they all like to find fault with ordinary people?¡±

    Xia Yingluo shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s still one of the better ones.¡±

 Chapter 1429 - Beyond Dispute

    <h4>Chapter 1429: Beyond Dispute</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Jin Ling¡¯er was shocked. ¡°What? She¡¯s still one of the better ones?!¡±

    Looking at her reaction, Xia Yingluo sighed and said, ¡°Yes. To gain power, these families could fight to their deaths. Scheming and murder aremon things. The worst ones are the calctive ones, and you won¡¯t even know when you¡¯re going to die if you meet them.¡±

    Her words sent a chill down Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s spine. ¡°It can¡¯t be. She... she will kill me?¡±

    Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°Look at how scared you are. That¡¯s why I said Aunt Sheng is still one of the better ones. She¡¯s not so calctive. Her words might be harsh, but she¡¯s a softie at heart. If she really wanted to harm you, she won¡¯t even insult you like that. She will indifferently wee you into her home and pretend that everything is fine. After that, she will secretly plot for your death in a car ident and you will disappear without a trance.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°That¡¯s horrifying. This...¡±

    Although Xia Yingluo¡¯s family was peaceful, she grew up in a social circle of rich people and heard all sorts of rumors. At this time, sheforted Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Although Aunt Sheng is a little snobbish, she¡¯s a rtively simple person. If she likes you, she¡¯ll show it. If she hates you, she¡¯ll also show it. Even though she is adamant about you separating from Brother Du Zheng, once she epts you, she will protect you like she protects Brother Du Zheng.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s anxious feelings were finally reduced. ¡°Thank you, Yingluo. If it weren¡¯t for you, I really don¡¯t know what I should do.¡± Even though she liked Du Zheng a lot, it would difficult if Du Zheng got into a conflict with his family because of her.

    Xia Yingluoforted her again, asked her to rest and left the ward.

    On the other hand, Sheng Yuqiong returned back home. She threw her bag on the sofa and ranted. ¡°Seriously, she¡¯ll be the death of me!¡±

    She was still harping on what happened in the hospital. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. How dare that cheap bitch Jin Ling¡¯er seduce her son! She spared her this time due to Xia Yingluo, but next time, she better be careful!

    Outside, a servant came in and announced. ¡°Madam, Miss Gu Jinxiu is here to see you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see her!¡± Sheng Yuqiong was still furious and spoke without thinking.

    As soon as she said that, she heard an elegant chuckle from outside the door. ¡°Aunt Sheng, what made you so angry?¡± A young woman dressed in an embroidered dress calmly stepped into the living room and looked at the furious Sheng Yuqiong.

    When she saw her, Sheng Yuqiong gritted her teeth. ¡°It¡¯s because of my good-for-nothing son! Jinxiu, why did youe over today? Sit down. Nanny Li, aren¡¯t you going to pour some tea for Miss Gu?¡±

    The servant who made the announcement quickly went to do her job.

    The Du Family were business partners with both the Li Family and the Gu Family. As the Li Family was usually abroad, the Du Family dealt with the Gu Family more frequently. Gu Jinxiu knew how to present herself well and was able to appear extremely respectful and elegant in front of her elders, so Sheng Yuqiong really liked her. She also frequently chatted with Sheng Yuqiong and Sheng Yuqiong almost thought of her as her own daughter.

    After hearing Sheng Yuqiong, Gu Jinxiu smiled again. She naturally sat beside her and reassured her. ¡°Aunt Sheng, Brother Du Zheng is a rare talent in our generation and you have been too strict on him. That¡¯s why you always pick up on his ws.¡±

    ¡°This time, I¡¯m really not picking on his ws. He could like any girl but...¡± After Gu Jinxiu gently asked about the matter, Sheng Yuqiong poured out all her bitter thoughts and told her everything about Jin Ling¡¯er and Du Zheng. She even said, ¡°When I heard about their marriage in the news, I was terrified and went to the hospital to make sure that it was fake news. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to kick that brat out of the house if things got too serious.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s expression slightly darkened.

    Of course she heard the recent news and to a certain extent, she kind of contributed to the situation. She originally wanted to harm Jin Ling¡¯er, but instead, she failed to kill her and her rtionship with Du Zheng was strengthened!

    Gu Jinxiu was indignant and had amon enemy with Sheng Yuqiong. ¡°That brat is a bitch!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, a bitch! A jinx!¡± Sheng Yuqiong finally found someone who agreed with her and insulted her with Gu Jinxiu. She sighed again. ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know why Ah Zheng is blinded by her. He told me there¡¯s no one else he would marry except her.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu was shocked. She did not think that things would progress like that.

    No way. How could she let Jin Ling¡¯er marry Du Zheng?

    Even when she ignored her personal preferences and focused on status there was a problem. Jin Ling¡¯er was Xia Yingluo¡¯s good friend. If Jin Ling¡¯er married into the Du Family, wouldn¡¯t the Du Family side with Xia Yingluo in the future? The Gu Family had already lost the support of the Li Family and Wei Lingnan was also seduced by Xia Yingluo. If the Du Family became more distant from the Gu Family, the Gu Family would be very helpless!

    She could not let something like this happen!

    Suddenly, Gu Jinxiu thought of a good idea. ¡°Aunt Sheng, you are right! Considering Brother Du Zheng¡¯s status, how could he marry Jin Ling¡¯er? How about you expose their fake marriage and say that Jin Ling¡¯er unscrupulously seduced Du Zheng. In that case, all of the gossip columns will support you. She¡¯s only a small celebrity and won¡¯t be able to survive the insults of the public. At that time, she will naturally give up.¡±

    Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yes, you make a lot of sense! Ok, I will do it then. Jinxiu, luckily you¡¯re here to give me ideas. Otherwise, I won¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu smiled again. ¡°Aunt Sheng, don¡¯t worry. I will always stand by your side.¡±

    Very soon, a new headline made its way into the news. ording to a personal verification by Du Zheng¡¯s mother, Sheng Yuqiong, Du Zheng never married Jin Ling¡¯er. As the President of the Du Family Corporation, Du Zheng only signed the hospital consent form as her husband because it was a critical moment and he wanted to save her life. Unexpectedly, Jin Ling¡¯er shamelessly became entangled with Du Zheng after she woke up and deliberately caused everyone to have a misunderstanding.

    There was a public uproar. Looking at the devastated picture of Du Zheng¡¯s mother in the news, everyone started to condemn Jin Ling¡¯er for being scheming.

    The hospital where Jin Ling¡¯er stayed was not a secret. These days, people would throw garbage at the door of her ward from time to time. Even when Du Zheng pushed her wheelchair in the garden, there would be people rushing up and calling her a bitch.

    Jin Ling¡¯er could not bear the hardship, but the world was entrapped by the negative news that she could not dispute.

 Chapter 1430 - Wei Lingnan, Who Hurried Over

    <h4>Chapter 1430: Wei Lingnan, Who Hurried Over</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo also saw the news.

    Seeing her good friend ndered for no good reason, she was sympathetic and infuriated. She went to the hospital to visit her again.

    Jin Ling¡¯er did not expect her toe and she was currently sitting in a daze on her hospital bed. Lightly faintly shone through the windows and highlighted her weak figure. Her legs were curled on the bed and she buried her face in her knees without moving.

    Xia Yingluo walked towards her bed and sat down. She softly called. ¡°Ling¡¯er.¡±

    Only then did Jin Ling¡¯er realize that she was there. She hurriedly wiped her eyes before forcing a smile. ¡°Yingluo.¡±

    Xia Yingluo saw that her eyes were red and guessed that she had cried, so sheforted her. ¡°I saw the news. They¡¯re all saying rubbish. I know that you¡¯re not that kind of person. Ling¡¯er, no matter what happens, I will stand by your side.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was in low spirits. ¡°I want to be with Du Zheng. Am I just being delusional?¡±

    Xia Yingluo said, ¡°Are you willing to give up now?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er stopped speaking. She was silent for a while before saying, ¡°What should I do, Yingluo?¡±

    Before Xia Yingluo could answer, the ward door was pushed open and Du Zheng walked in. The two girls turned around and saw that he was holding a bouquet of flowers. They were ming and dazzling red roses.

    ¡°Brother Du Zheng.¡± Xia Yingluo was the first to stand up and address him.

    Du Zheng nodded and looked at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was quiet for a moment before nodding.

    Du Zheng took a few steps forward, looked at her carefully and frowned slightly. ¡°Why do you look so weak?¡± He ced the flowers on the table beside the head, slightly bowed his head and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°Yingluo, I have something to tell you.¡±

    Xia Yingluo nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    The two of them walked to the corridor outside the hospital ward. Du Zheng bowed his head and said to Xia Yingluo, ¡°I want to ask for a favor.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled. It was within her expectations, but she was still a little surprised. ¡°Favor? Brother Du Zheng, all these years, you have never asked me for anything. Let me think... I¡¯ve known you since a young age and it seems that you¡¯ve never asked anyone for anything, either.¡± She lifted her face and looked at him slyly.

    Du Zheng¡¯s initially cold face became warmer. He said, ¡°I wanted to ask if you could recognize Ling¡¯er as your godsister. It¡¯s best if she can have a position in the Li Family so the people in my family can¡¯t make things difficult for her.¡± These days, his mother had been making a fuss at home and telling him that she wanted him to break up with Jin Ling¡¯er. Her main reason was that Jin Ling¡¯er had no status and could not help Du Zheng at all if she married into the family and would make him aughing stock.

    However, if Jin Ling¡¯er became Xia Yingluo¡¯s sister, things would be different. Even though she was not blood-rted to her, she would be able recognized in high society and no one would say that she was not qualified.

    Xia Yingluo understood what he meant and smiled. ¡°Ling¡¯er did not make a mistake liking you.¡±

    In reality, she had this idea a long time ago. If she could recognize Jin Ling¡¯er as her sister, she would be able to put things right forever. However, she never mentioned this because she wanted Du Zheng to voluntarily suggest this to prove that he was serious about Jin Ling¡¯er. If this criterion of hers was met, it showed how much love was between the two.

    Du Zheng tensed up and asked her, ¡°Does this mean you agree?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Xia Yingluo shook her head.

    Du Zheng frowned. ¡°Yingluo...¡±

    Suddenly, Xia Yingluoughed. ¡°I mean, how about I let my parents recognize her as their goddaughter. This way, she will officially be able to enter the Li Family and it¡¯s more effective than me randomly calling her my sister, right?¡±

    Only then did Du Zheng rx. ¡°You really are thoughtful.¡±

    The two of them made an agreement. When Xia Yingluo went home, she told Li Lei and Xia Ling about this. Her parents always doted on her, and since it was good for their family to indirectly marry the Du Family, they agreed easily.

    Xia Ling said, ¡°When Jin Ling¡¯er is better, we will have a press conference to officially announce this.¡±

    Xia Yingluo hugged her neck affectionately and said, ¡°I just know that my mom is the best.¡±

    However, before Jin Ling¡¯er recovered, she received news from someone appointed by Du Zheng that Jin Ling¡¯er was poisoned by some powder. She misused the fatal drug and was now being rescued in the hospital. Her situation was riskier than the ident.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned pale. She rushed out and went straight to the hospital ward after she put down the phone.

    In the ward, Jin Ling¡¯er was critically ill and arge group of doctors was surrounding her. All of them were at their wits¡¯ ends. ¡°Prepare for the worst.¡± The head doctor shook his head and sighed. He said to them, ¡°Even God can¡¯t save her after suffering another injury.¡±

    ¡°Doctor...¡± Du Zheng still wanted to say something.

    The doctor stopped him. ¡°Mr. Du, I know that you are powerful, but Miss Jin¡¯s condition has already exceeded the limits of our capabilities. No matter how much you threaten or bribe us, nothing is going to work.¡±

    Xia Yingluo could not be bothered to listen to their argument. She directly told the head doctor, ¡°Take your people out. Immediately!¡±

    The head doctor did not understand what she meant and Xia Yingluo impatiently demanded. ¡°Quickly! I will be responsible for any problems. If not, trust me when I say that you will lose all your jobs!¡±

    After her threat, a few doctors finally went out.

    Xia Yingluo said to Du Zheng, ¡°Brother Du Zheng, you should go out too.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Du Zheng asked her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to exin,¡± Xia Yingluo hurriedly said. ¡°Quickly. I want to save Ling¡¯er¡¯s life. If you don¡¯t go out, it¡¯ll be toote.¡±

    Du Zheng looked at her deeply and decided to leave. He also closed the ward door behind him.

    She was left alone in the ward with Jin Ling¡¯er, who was almost dying. Xia Yingluo looked at Jin Ling¡¯er and saw that she was poisoned so severely that her lips had be ck. Her pale face was so scary and she looked almost dead. She did not dare to waste any more time, so she lifted her wrist and was just about to bite her vein.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Suddenly, a voice stopped her.

    Xia Yingluo turned around and saw a handsome man appear in the ward, followed by a woman who looked a little disheveled. It was Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu.

    She looked at them but could not be bothered to pay attention to them. She opened her mouth and again attempted to bite her wrist.

    Wei Lingnan grabbed hold of her. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this! Let Gu Jinxiu do it.¡±

    Only then did Xia Yingluo look at him seriously. ¡°What exactly are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Your energy is precious.¡± Wei Lingnan said, ¡°Tan Ying told me something happened to Jin Ling¡¯er, so I brought Gu Jinxiu over. I don¡¯t have the universal cure anymore because I used thest bottle the previous time.¡± He knew that Xia Yingluo was very close to Jin Ling¡¯er and was afraid that Xia Yingluo would recklessly try to save her, so he hurried over.

 Chapter 1431 - The Wards Surprising Change

    <h4>Chapter 1431: The Ward¡¯s Surprising Change</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo was reluctant to waste Wei Lingnan¡¯s energy, but she was willing to use Gu Jinxiu¡¯s, so she nodded.

    She turned to Gu Jinxiu and said, ¡°Hurry up, urge the energy and feed Ling¡¯er. Don¡¯t stop until her vital signs are stable.¡± She was the queen and had the power to order any tribe member arbitrarily.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face was pale. There was nothing more humiliating than being treated like this by her beloved man and her love rival, but she knew deeply that she had no room to refuse. Her life had been picked up. Wei Lingnan wanted to kill her since a long time ago and she would not have been alive if she hadn¡¯t pleaded with Xia Yingluo. Thus, she couldn¡¯t anger her.

    She bit her lip, walked forward and really cut her hands and fed her blood to Jin Ling¡¯er, who was in aa.

    Jin Linger¡¯s face was blue and ck, and her lips were so stiff she couldn¡¯t even move. Gu Jinxiu pried open her mouth difficultly and watched as her blood run down Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s throat into her stomach. There was a hint of resentment in her eyes.

    She hated... hated her!

    Why didn¡¯t Jin Ling¡¯er die directly in the car ident, why didn¡¯t she even kill her with the poison she had carefully prepared? Why was this woman so blessed?

    Yes, this poisoning of Jin Ling¡¯er was not an ident.

    It was the poison of Gu Jinxiu posing as ck powder infused to Jin Ling¡¯er. She thought it was seamless and used enough to poison Jin Ling¡¯er on the spot, but she didn¡¯t expect this woman to survive! How could it be? Thest car ident was directed at killing her, and this time she was poisoned. If it was an ident, two times would be too strange...

    While thinking, she saw Xia Yingluo holding Jin Jing¡¯er¡¯s cold hand and whispering, ¡°Ling¡¯er, you must hold on. Mom said that I am the daughter of the Phoenix and I can give good luck to those around me. Now I want you to be safe, do you hear me?¡±

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s heart was tight. She realized what she had miscalcted.

    The woman named Xia Yingluo was not only the queen of the Skatana but also a member of the¡¯s guardian family, the daughter of the Phoenix. She was extremely blessed and also had the ability to bless and give good luck to the important people around her.

    She was so close...

    So close!

    Gu Jinxiu was so regretful, she shouldn¡¯t have calcted Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s dose at a normal person¡¯s dose. If she had added a few more doses, Jin Ling¡¯er would have died! But who told her to be too careful? She was afraid of being noticed and had put only a dose sufficient to poison ordinary people. Thus, Jin Ling¡¯er had escaped from death. Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face was gloomy, and her wrists were raised without her noticing, leaving Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s mouth. The blood spilled andnded on the white mattress very wastefully.

    Although Xia Yingluo was talking to Jin Ling¡¯er, she was also watching Gu Jinxiu¡¯s every move.

    As soon as she saw her hand move, Xia Yingluo grabbed it and pressed it back tightly. She pressed it very hard, causing Gu Jinxiu to scream in pain. She didn¡¯t know whether her scream or Xia Yingluo¡¯s action stimted Jin Ling¡¯er, but Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s jaw slightly tightened and she bit onto Gu Jinxiu¡¯s wrist. She stuck her injured part into her mouth.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face changed greatly, and she felt that the energy in her body was flowing out uncontrobly. Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s mouth was like a bottomless pit, sucking impatiently, and instinctively asking for the ce where life energy was flowing.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Gu Jinxiu called out in pain, trying to pull out her hand, but she couldn¡¯t. The blood and energy flew away faster and faster, and her face went white at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. Her ck hair turned a little white.

    ¡°Save me... help...¡± Gu Jinxiu was terrified and called for help weakly.

    There was not a drop of energy in her body. At this time, the energy of her source of life was being absorbed, and if she continued like this, she had no doubt that she would be sucked dry and killed! But Jin Ling¡¯er was biting her so hard that she couldn¡¯t break free.

    ¡°Save me... Please help me...¡± Gu Jinxiu was really afraid, and she couldn¡¯t help crying.

    Wei Lingnan just stood aside and looked at her coldly.

    He didn¡¯t care about this woman¡¯s life or death. Since Ah Luo wanted Jin Ling¡¯er to be safe, it was no big deal to sacrifice Gu Jinxiu. Besides, as Gu Jinxiu guessed, his intention to kill her had not disappeared. Anyone who offended Ah Luo must die here! Ah Luo wouldn¡¯t let him kill Gu Jinxiu, but if Gu Jinxiu was killed by Jin Ling¡¯er sucking up her energy, even Ah Luo could not say anything.

    With such wishful thinking, Wei Lingnan even smiled at the sight of Gu Jinxiu asking for help.

    Gu Jinxiu was horrified by his smile and suddenly, a heat flow came from her lower body, and a stink dissipated. It turned out to be incontinence. Xia Yingluo¡¯s eyebrows frowned suddenly and she reached out her hand impatiently, lifting her away. Gu Jinxiu was like a rag as she was thrown out lightly. She fell to the corner of the ward innocently.

    ¡°Smelly,¡± Xia Yingluo said. ¡°Wei Lingan, clean it up.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes shed. ¡°Ah Luo, I can kill the woman who offended you.¡±

    Gu Jinxiu, who had just escaped the catastrophe, almost cried. She hissed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it! I¡¯ll wipe it! I¡¯ll wipe it myself! Please don¡¯t kill me...¡±

    Xia Yingluo covered her nose with one hand, forbearing her anger and saying to Wei Lingnan, ¡°What else are you going to do? Hurry up!¡±

    Wei Lingnan nced at Gu Jinxiu gloomily, and unwillingly went to the bathroom to find a mop.

    Xia Yingluo snorted coldly, this man was really full of murder! Even if she was reincarnated and the heart of the earth was softened, no matter what, the immortal queen who once decided to kill and continue to ughter had disappeared and was reced by apassionate and sympathetic good citizen. She didn¡¯t want to waste life, not even her enemy¡¯s.

    Just now, even if Gu Jinxiu had not been intimidated by her, she had not intended on killing her.

    Wei Lingnan took the mop and stooped to clean up the pool of dirty yellow smelly liquid.

    Xia Yingluo turned her head to check on Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition. The energy of the Skatana had gradually stabilized her condition, and the green and ck on her face had receded a lot. She let out a long sigh of relief and felt that the urine stain on the ground was increasingly unpleasant. She left the bed in disgust and stood at the furthest corner. She said to Wei Lingnan with dissatisfaction, ¡°Can¡¯t you hurry up?¡±

 Chapter 1432 - Interception

    <h4>Chapter 1432 Interception</h4>

    Wei Lingnan gave a quiet nce at Gu Jinxiu curled up in the corner, and then looked at Xia Yingluo. ¡°It¡¯s dirty here, Ah Luo. Go out and rest for a while. I¡¯ll let you in after I¡¯ve finished cleaning.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°No, I want to stay with Ling¡¯er.¡±

    In this life, she didn¡¯tck friends and usually went out to y and eat good food with her friends, but she didn¡¯t even know how many of them were only good to her because of her identity, and how many of them were actually treating her sincerely. Only Jin Ling¡¯er was her good friend who was close to her even when they met before her identity was exposed. They¡¯d be good friends who would never give each other up. She cherished her.

    When Wei Lingnan could not persuade her, he nced at Gu Jinxiu again coldly.

    Gu Jinxiu trembled, and suddenly, a horrible thought came to her heart¡ªWei Lingnan. He can¡¯t possibly be taking the opportunity to kill me, right?

    Neither of them was a kind person. Gu Jinxiu was very sensitive to the murderous spirit in his eyes and was scared to death. Her brain turned uncontrobly, and she thought, What if he wants to kill me? Yes, he must want to deliberately divert Xia Yingluo away, then while Xia Yingluo is absent, he would do something and make her me unknowingly, then disguise it as an unexpected ident.

    It would be seamless.

    Just like how she harmed Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s teeth trembled, and she felt like she could almost see her future.

    Xia Yingluo heard the movement and frowned at her with an unhappy nce. ¡°Why are you so noisy? Us Skatana people are not as weak as you. You¡¯re so scared and can¡¯t even control yourself.¡± She turned and said to Wei Lingnan, ¡°Throw this noisy and dirty woman away.¡±

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s lips flickered with an imperceptible smile and he walked towards Gu Jinxiu step by step.

    Gu Jinxiu watched this dangerous man approaching and her heart broke. She guessed she couldn¡¯t live till the end of today, she might as well¡ªshe might as well never rest. Even if she became a ghost, she would drag this hateful woman Xia Yingluo down!

    ¡°You, don¡¯te over,¡± Gu Jinxi said to Wei Lingnan. ¡°I can go by myself.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was still approaching.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Gu Jinxiu screamed. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me! I will go out myself! Ms. Xia, Your Majesty, please stop him, I know he will kill me! He will!¡±

    Xia Yingluo frowned slightly, and she really called Wei Lingnan. ¡°Stop.¡±

    Wei Lingnan stopped obediently and turned back with an innocent look. ¡°Ah Luo, do you believe me or her?¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at him. She would rather trust Gu Jinxiu in this matter. It wasn¡¯t as if she didn¡¯t know how deadly Wei Lingnan was. She had identally told him to throw Gu Jinxiu out just now. She waved her hand. ¡°Wei Lingnan, you can wash the mop, and then mop the ground again. Gu Jinxiu, go out by yourself. Move quickly, you¡¯re so smelly.¡±

    After that, she looked disgusted.

    Wei Lingnan went to wash the mop unwillingly.

    Xia Yingluo lowered her head and continued to check on Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s condition. The blue-ck color on the girl¡¯s face on the hospital bed had mostly faded away, and it was almost normal. Her originally cold body gradually recovered some temperature and got a little blood. Xia Yingluo was very relieved. She held her hand and whispered, ¡°Ling¡¯er, I will always be with you. You must get better soon.¡±

    As soon as her voice fell, she felt her heart thud and a severe pain came.

    Xia Yingluo took a breath, her hands turning into sharp ws by instinct, and she backhandedly attacked the person behind her. Behind her, someone snorted and fell like a ragged sack on the ground on the other side of the ward.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Near the door, in the direction of the bathroom, Wei Lingnan shouted.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s body fell down softly, and she felt as if she was fluttering away from her consciousness and away from her body. Her Skatana instinct made her realize that her heart had been smashed. It would be a life-threatening death to the human body and there would be no chance of surviving. Fortunately, she was a Skatana. Even if she was stabbed in the heart, she still had a bit of energy to hang on, but once she lost her heart¡¯s pulse, the energy would also flow at a rapid rate out of her. She didn¡¯t even know how long she could hang on for. She might die in the next moment.

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± She heard Wei Lingnan shout heartbrokenly in her daze.

    She turned her head and watched as he rushed towards her desperately, his face twisted with fear and anxiety. Not far away from him, Gu Jinxiu, like a rag,id motionlessly, and a bloody dagger was discarded on the floor¡ªjust now, Gu Jinxiu held the dagger and pierced her heart while she was unprepared.

    Gu Jinxiu closed her eyes tightly. She was wounded by the sharp ws when she was defending herself and was not safe either.

    Wei Lingnan rushed to her, held up her soft body and yelled again. ¡°Yingluo!¡±

    Xia Yingluo looked at his face and tried to focus hard. She felt as if his face was so vague as if it was from another time and dimension. She moved her fingers with difficulty, trying to raise her hand to touch his cheek, but she was weak and helpless.

    Her pale face was like broken petals, and she pulled a bitter smile that was uglier than crying. ¡°Nan...¡± Instead of calling him Wei Lingnan as fiercely as in the past, she called that endearing name she had once called billions of years ago. Nan. The unforgettable person she loved deeply.

    ¡°Yingluo, hold on, you will be fine!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s face was pale and frightened. He never expected that things would turn out like this. He was too careless and did not get rid of Gu Jinxiu in time. He even gave that woman her desperate chance to kill her.

    He bit his own wrist and desperately poured blood into her mouth. ¡°Ah Luo, drink it. I will help you repair your heart, quickly!¡±

    She subconsciously bit his wrist, the sweet blood mixed with energy flowing into her mouth. The energy in the body rushed to the rift of the heart, but it disappeared quickly. The speed of this energy consumption was too fast, and it was so incredible that she sadly discovered the fact that even if the two of them were added together, she was afraid there was no way to save her before the energy was exhausted.

    ¡°No...¡± She turned her head and refused to drink his blood. ¡°You... don¡¯t... don¡¯t save me, live well... live with the World Tree.¡± Inside, that World Tree seed was slightly radiating heat and was about to move. She and it realized at the same time that the broken heart could not be repaired. The next moment, its energy suddenly surged, forming an invisible and untouchable in her body, intercepting all the energy that rushed to the rift of her heart!

    She coughed, her face turning grey at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.

 Chapter 1433 - World Trees Choice

    <h4>Chapter 1433: World Tree¡¯s Choice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    ¡°Yingluo!¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice changed. He turned her head and re-transmitted energy into her body.

    However, after losing blood for only a few seconds, he realized something was wrong. Instead of improving, her face became more and more gray, like a withered rose burning to ashes. Wei Lingnan was heartbroken and didn¡¯t understand why. Even if the energy of the two could not save her, she shouldn¡¯t be deteriorating so quickly! He examined her body subconsciously, and soon discovered the problem¡ª

    Her lower abdomen was glowing slightly, and his unique Skatana vision allowed him to see the golden-green stranges stretching in and out.

    ¡°The World Tree?¡± Wei Lingnan felt an ominous premonition. ¡°The World Tree is absorbing your energy? Yingluo!¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough...¡± Xia Yingluo coughed painfully and said in a weak voice, ¡°I, I can¡¯t live, it¡¯s just maximizing benefits.¡± The World Tree was still just a fragile seed. If the mother died, it would be difficult to survive. Just after it judged the situation, it immediately intercepted Xia Yingluo¡¯s energy so that it could ensure it got as much nutrition as possible. After Xia Yingluo¡¯s death, maybe it could persist until it got a new mother. It was thest hope of the Skatana, and nothing could happen to it.

    This decision had nothing to do with likes and dislikes but was a choice of rational calction.

    If the result of the calction was that it was better for the Skatana tribe for Xia Yingluo to survive, it would also choose to sacrifice itself to save her. But today¡¯s situation was too bad. It was just a seed and couldn¡¯t give her its energy, so it just had to give her up.

    Wei Lingnan couldn¡¯t ept such a result, and he ordered the World Tree. ¡°Stop!¡±

    But the World Tree ignored him. It raced against the clock to draw the energy from Xia Yingluo¡¯s body. The rate of dissipation of energy in her body was too amazing. If it was not absorbed quickly, it would quickly dissipatepletely.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s eyes suddenly became murderous. One of his hands suddenly became sharp ws, and stabbed towards Xia Yingluo¡¯s lower abdomen! ¡°Die, let¡¯s die together!¡± His sharp ws pierced Xia Yingluo¡¯s soft abdomen like it was cutting tofu. She groaned in pain, feeling as if something bloody had left her body and had been brutally pulled out by Wei Lingnan.

    ¡°Nan...¡± She wanted to stop him but couldn¡¯t help it.

    If only either her or the World Tree could live, then she would give the chance of life to the World Tree.

    She looked sadly at Wei Lingnan, tears oozing in her eyes. She wondered if it was because of the pain or because she had witnessed what he did. Everyone, including herself, would choose to protect the World Tree first under this situation. Only him, her Guardian, would still vite the most severe Skatana rules for her even after hundreds of millions of years. He would rather be enemies with the whole tribe than lose her.

    But they all knew that the probability of saving her was very slim.

    Her broken heart was slowly copsing, and her broken pieces of meat blocked the blood. She coughed again painfully, feeling burning pain.

    The World Tree¡¯s angry screams echoed in the air. Wei Lingnan didn¡¯t look at it, he dropped it directly on the ground and continued to concentrate on giving Xia Yingluo blood. The tears in her eyes slipped along her skin, and she wanted to tell him not to do this. So what if she could continue her life for a while more? Once his energy was exhausted, she would die.

    But she was too weak to make a sound and couldn¡¯t say a word.

    The wounds on her hind heart and lower abdomen continued to bleed, and arge amount of blood spread from the mattress to the ground, filling the room. Wei Lingnan held her hand tightly, his voice dark and trembling. ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t die, Ah Luo...¡±

    But her vision gradually blurred. She felt as if her body was fluttering and about to float.

    Probably...

    She was probably going to die...?

    She thought vaguely like this. Scenes small andrge shed in her mind like a movie, followed by her past life on the Skatana. The first time she met him and concluded the contract. When they fought side by side...

    How good would it be if she could turn back time? Then, could they find a new way to live together blissfully?

    The moment before she lost consciousness, she moved her lips slightly and said quietly, ¡°Nan, I love you.¡±

    ¡°Ah Luo!¡± In the ward, his sorrowful cry echoed.

    Her breath was getting colder, and he held her tightly in his arms. The blood on his wrist wound was still pressed to her mouth desperately. He didn¡¯t care even if she couldn¡¯t swallow at all. The blood continued spilling from her mouth, on their clothes, and on their bodies.

    ¡°Yingluo...¡± He refused to let go, and his body was cold for a while, caused by excessive blood loss.

    In the ward, Gu Jinxiu, who had been pushed down by Xia Yingluo, didn¡¯t die. At that moment, she looked at the scene in front of her andughed while crying. ¡°Ha, haha... Xia Yingluo, you bitch, you finally died... You are finally dead!¡± She suddenly looked at Wei Lingnan with a look of panic. ¡°Nan, don¡¯t give blood to that bitch again, you will die if you go on!¡±

    Wei Lingnan turned a deaf ear to her as blood continued to pour out.

    If they were going to die, then they would die together. He hade to this with great pains and spent so much time and energy resurrecting her, not to watch her die again. He had had enough of losing her and was afraid of enduring those long and desperate lonely nights, turning her over and over in his mind... He had no confidence in resurrecting her again and was afraid that he would go crazy before then.

    They would either live together or die together.

    The blood loss in his body was increasing, and Wei Lingnan only felt that his body was getting colder gradually. Soon, he lost consciousness.

    The seed of the World Tree buzzed slightly.

    It was very angry to witness this unprecedented scene. Today, there were only two and a half Skatana left in this world¡ªGu Jinxiu was counted as half, and only Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan could take care of it and give it hope to survive. It didn¡¯t matter if one of them died, but if both were to die, it would not live long without care! Soon the Skatana race would really be destroyed!

    The anger of the World Tree seed swept across the ward. ss windows burst and the drip racks fell.

    But this anger didn¡¯tst long. It quickly restored its calmness, and the golden-green light overflowed like water, gradually forming a circle of mist, beautiful and charming.

    Gu Jinxiu noticed its abnormality and turned to look at it. This look was as if she was fascinated by something. As if under a spell, she approached it involuntarily. She was seriously injured and was unable to walk, so she crawled a little bit towards the bloody, weird seed.

 Chapter 1434 - Praying

    <h4>Chapter 1434: Praying</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    After finally approaching it, she reached out a trembling hand and grabbed the seed.

    The blood-stained kernel of the World Tree seed disappeared in the palm of her hand, and her palm, like Xia Yingluo¡¯s before, appeared with a gorgeous golden-green leaf mark, except that the leaf mark was broken and iplete.

    The seed of the World Tree melted into her palm, trying to drill down her belly with her bloodline, but it did not move an inch. It had long been clear of this result¡ªwho could give birth to it except the Queen? It only uttered an unwilling scream and stopped its futile attempts.

    [Press the emergency bell! Quickly!] The voice of the World Tree seed echoed in Gu Jinxiu¡¯s mind,manding her.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body shook violently, and she only then realized in disbelief that the seed of the World Tree had actually parasitized on her. However, let alone her weak and dying self, even in her heyday, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to resist themand of the World Tree with her will. Her body, like a puppet, walked towards the bed without her control and she pressed the emergency bell at the bedside.

    The harsh bell rang immediately.

    The World Tree seed kept ordering her. [Call Xia Moyan!]

    Gu Jinxiu instinctively wanted to resist it, but only felt a headache from the angry howling of the World Tee and bled from her mouth and nose. She tremblingly pulled out a small mobile phone from Xia Yingluo, who she didn¡¯t even know if she was alive or dead. Shepleted dialing under the control of World Tree seed, and soon the call was connected. There came a cold voice from Xia Moyan. ¡°Yingluo?¡±

    ¡°Xia Yingluo is in Ward 1706 of Chang Ren Hospital. Her heart is broken, her energy is exhausted and her blood is running dry. We are not sure about her life or death. Come quickly.¡± Gu Jinxiu¡¯s eyes were empty and she read from the instructions of the World Tree seed mechanically. Then, she hung up the phone.

    It took less than a minute from the moment she pressed the emergency bell until the ward door was suddenly opened. The two nurses on duty rushed in and saw the dramatic change in sight. ¡°Quick! Prepare for rescue!¡± They surrounded the people with unknown lives and deaths. However, they only gave a nce at Xia Yingluo before they shook their heads. ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡±

    Although Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body, words, and deeds were controlled by the World Tree seed, her self-awareness was still sober. When she had rung the emergency bell just now, her heart had been full of hatred¡ªWhy should Xia Yingluo be saved? Why did she have to save Xia Yingluo with her own hands!

    At this moment, when the nurse said that Xia Yingluo was dead, she finally showed a happy smile.

    Her nerves rxed, and she felt an unprecedented weakness and dizziness. Her body shook and she fell.

    Xia Moyan came soon.

    Under his cold gaze, the attending doctor and a few nurses even trembled, but had to bite the bullet and tell him, ¡°Ms. Xia¡¯s heartbeat has stopped. Her pupils have spread, and she has no vital signs. Please mourn...¡±

    Before he finished speaking, Xia Moyan interrupted rudely. ¡°Put her on a stretcher, and take her to the rooftop with the others. Wait for a helicopter to pick them up and leave the hospital.¡± After receiving the call from Gu Jinxiu, he immediately realized that something had happened to his niece, so a helicopter had been arranged immediately. It should be reaching anytime soon. Sure enough, there was a sound of propeller passing outside the hospital building, and a helicopter flew by.

    The attending doctor was taken aback. ¡°Discharged? But Mr. Wei and Ms. Gu are still alive. It¡¯s not suitable for them to be discharged...¡±

    Before he finished speaking, the phone rang. He picked it up. ¡°It¡¯s me, Chairman. Yes, Chairman. Okay, Chairman, I¡¯ll do it right away.¡± Then, he hung up the phone and ordered the nurse around him. ¡°Do as Mr. Xia said.¡±

    Several nurses nced at each other. They had all heard the attending doctor receive a call from the Chairman himself. Presumably, Mr. Xia and the Chairman had some rtionship and he had settled the Chairman. The people in the workce all focused on giving face, so the nurses immediately responded, then quickly and methodically put Xia Yingluo on the stretcher and sent her to the roof.

    Xia Moyan followed.

    At the rooftop, a helicopter hovered.

    Xia Moyan supervised them to send up all the injured people. Then, the helicopter set off and flew all the way to the suburbs.

    After a short flight, itnded slowly in a hidden abandoned factory. The factory as wide as a basketball court sunk a bit, sinking into a space hundreds of meters underground like it was sitting on a huge elevator¡ªWei Family¡¯s Biopharmaceutical Base.

    The base set off the first-level alert, and many heavily armed guards aimed high-tech weapons of various shapes at them.

    The group was headed by a gray-haired man. He looked at Xia Moyan as if he was an enemy. ¡°Preceptor, Mr. Wei has not offended you, why are you here today?¡±

    Xia Moyan turned and revealed Wei Lingnan¡¯s stretcher behind him.

    ¡°Mr. Wei!¡± The old man¡¯s expression changed drastically, and he shouted, then looked at Xia Moyan with animosity. ¡°What on earth did you do to Mr. Wei?!¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and use whatever means you have here to rescue him.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was cold, but his speed was very fast. ¡°And Yingluo as well. Otherwise, you can wait for them to die, and then the angry Xia family will destroy everything here¡ªincluding everyone.¡±

    His murderous tone gave everyone shudders.

    At this time, the old man could not care about the offensiveness in his words. He hurriedly instructed the people behind him. ¡°Lay down the weapons! Open all the reserve energy banks! Open the healing pool as well! Quickly! Escort Mr. Wei and Ms. Xia to the healing pool!¡±

    The entire base was busy.

    Workers executed orders like worker ants.

    The old man walked nervously to Xia Moyan. ¡°Preceptor, what else do you have tomand? As long as we can save Mr. Wei, we will do our best to meet your demands!¡±

    Xia Moyan nodded his head slightly. ¡°Give me a lot of open space near the healing pool, 81 pounds of white candles, 81 meters of red thread, paper, pen, water, fragrant flowers, and the more jade, the better. Quickly.¡±

    The old man was distressed. ¡°The healing pool is small...¡±

    ¡°Then remove the obstacles.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The old man gritted his teeth and hurried out. Let alone removing the outer space of the healing pool, as long as he could rescue Wei Lingnan, he would even remove the entire underground base. After all, Wei Lingnan was the soul of the entire base. Without him, there would be no such exciting scientific research.

    The open space near the healing pool was quickly cleared.

    Xia Moyan used white candles and red threads, and fragrant flowers to form arge French array. He himself wore a white shirt and stood in the middle of the French array to pray quietly.

 Chapter 1435 - Yingluo Awakens

    <h4>Chapter 1435: Yingluo Awakens</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s consciousness floated. She didn¡¯t know where she was, and there was dead silence all around.

    She felt as if she was dissipating. As if something was pulling her, making her barely maintain her current form. She thought vaguely about what happened in the ward. Was she dead now? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    What about Wei Lingnan?

    Where was Wei Lingnan?

    Was he still guarding her body or had he ¡°died¡± with her?

    She searched in this small space, wanting to find the man but also afraid that he really existed here.

    But they still met.

    She saw a faint light fluttering at her side, and when she got close, she realized that it was the hazy figure of Wei Lingnan. He was in a translucent state that seemed it¡¯d drift away at any time. One leg dragged behind him weakly, grayish-white, as if it had suffered a terrible injury. He turned into a beast shape, had too little strength, and continued to limp forward.

    ¡°Ah Luo.¡± She heard his call in the daze.

    She greeted him. ¡°Why are you here? What¡¯s wrong with your leg?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer and only said, ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t move.¡± With his words, his figure gradually faded into a white light, enveloping her gently.

    She couldn¡¯t move and felt as if the light was repairing her body. Her originally fragile body that was on the verge of copse solidified, but the light was getting weaker and weaker. She was frightened and shouted, ¡°Wei Lingnan, what are you doing?¡±

    He was speechless, however. With the integration, his countless emotions, memories, and messages flooded into her. She saw his past. In the beginning, he was a fruit struggling for survival in the most deserted in of the Skatana. He was faced with cold, dark, killing and blood every day, without darkness and warmth...

    Until her appearance.

    A foolish little princess who had cut her hand carefully to im him.

    He always looked at her secretly when she didn¡¯t notice. His eyes followed her, and her every smile touched his heart. When she looked at him, he felt as if he owned the whole world.

    For the first time, someone cared whether he was cold or not, if he was in pain or not.

    For the first time, someone was worried about him, worried about his life.

    He vowed to protect her all his life. He vowed not to let anyone take her away, nor hurt her.

    He thought that as long as heunched a rebellion and defeated everyone, he would have herpletely...

    However, he did not expect the ending to be so tragic. She blew herself up, and the entire was destroyed. He was heartbroken and wandered in the boundless universe with her remaining wreckage. Millions of years of regret and loneliness, billions of years of despair...

    He hated her, hated her for not epting him. But he hated himself even more, hated himself for causing her death.

    All remorse turned into atonement. He finally found Earth and researched all means of resurrecting her. Experiments failed again and again, and he felt hope and disappointment over and over... Finally, she was really alive. He had been so happy, yet so wronged. All the forbearance, anxiety and anger had erupted at that moment, and he desperately wanted her and would not let her run away.

    He had been too anxious, too uncertain, so he had been so cruel to her when they first met.

    Later, she finally agreed to be with him. How happy he was, so full of joy he almost exploded. He asked her to go for dinner to watch the snow, but he didn¡¯t expect that in the diner, another woman he never looked at would suddenly call his real name in the Skatananguage. The shock he had felt at that moment was so strong. The woman¡¯s voice and even intonation were exactly the same as those of herst life, so he immediately recognized that the woman was the real Ah Luo while Yingluo was a fake.

    How could he have fallen in love with a counterfeit good?

    He was miserable and punished himself. He deliberately alienated her, but still couldn¡¯t control his desire to embrace her. He didn¡¯t know how he lived during those days with his heart torn in half every day. Half of his loyalty belonged to Gu Jinxiu, the Queen, and half of his uncontroble love belonged to this counterfeit.

    At that time, he was not more rxed than her.

    After his failed wedding with Gu Jinxiu, Gu Jinxiu was going to give the poison that was fatal enough to kill her in theboratory. At the moment of life and death, he had blocked her desperately. At that time he finally understood that his choice was her... Even if she was fake.

    And Gu Jinxiu?

    No, he didn¡¯t love Gu Jinxiu. He only loved Ah Luo in his whole life.

    ¡°Nan...¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s memory prated Xia Yingluo¡¯s body and she cried. ¡°Stop, stop... Don¡¯t die, you are not allowed to die, do you hear me...¡±

    But no matter what she said, no matter how she struggled and ran while trying to get rid of the white light that gently surrounded herself, that white light stuck to her tightly like life and prated into her body a little, repairing her broken heart.

    In the void, a faint chanting sounded. It was Xia Moyan praying, speeding up the repair.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this, don¡¯t do this...¡± She wept, kneeling.

    The repair of the white light continued, and she saw more memories. When theboratory was cracked, he had severely injured his leg to save her. In order to save energy for her, he never repaired that leg. He watched the grayness spread and endured the pain that ordinary people couldn¡¯t bear. He pretended nothing was wrong in front of her.

    [My biggest wish is for you to be okay...] She heard him say.

    [I finally heard you say that you love me. I¡¯m very happy...]

    [Farewell, Ah Luo...]

    The white lightpletely integrated into her body and disappeared.

    She cried heartily. ¡°Nan¡ª!¡±

    Then the sky shattered, all the chanting sounded, and the world in the void copsed. She closed her eyes subconsciously.

    When she opened her eyes again, she was back to reality. Above her head was the ceiling of the healing pool, and underneath it was a transparent potion that had lost its energy and nutrients. On the periphery of the healing pool was a circle of spells drawn by Xia Moyan with white wax and red lines.

    ¡°Yingluo, you are awake.¡± Xia Moyan noticed her awakening first. He stopped chanting and stepped forward to look at her with concern.

    She didn¡¯t have any thoughts at all and hurriedly asked Xia Moyan, ¡°How about Wei Lingnan? How about Wei Lingnan?¡±

    Xia Moyan shook his head. ¡°He was badly injured. We put him into the healing pool with you. Now you are awake, but he hasn¡¯t moved at all and can¡¯t be saved.¡±

 Chapter 1436 - A Whirlwind of Green and Gold

    <h4>Chapter 1436: A Whirlwind of Green and Gold</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Xia Yingluo was unable to ept such an answer and she desperately tried to search for him in the healing pool. Finally, she found Wei Lingnan at the other end of the pool. His body waspletely immersed in the water. She leaned over and dragged him from the bottom of the pool to the shore. He was icy cold.

    ¡°Nan! Wei Lingnan!¡± She anxiously screamed. ¡°Wake up!¡±

    However, his eyes were tightly shut. His heartbeat and breathing had stopped.

    She did not give up and used the first aid knowledge she learned from her father, Li Lei, to give him CPR and artificial respiration. However, there was no reaction even though ten minutes passed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy.¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s voice was heard, filled with sympathy. ¡°When you were unconscious, I saw a white light leaving his body and integrating with your body. He probably gave you all his energy so you could live.¡±

    Xia Yingluo shook her head in pain. ¡°No... I don¡¯t believe...¡±

    She always thought that he could not die. He was always so strong and wilful, so how could he die? However, she understood what her uncle said. At that time when she was floating in a void, it was his energy that repaired her damaged heart and allowed her to wake up again. That energy consisted of his consciousness and his emotions. It was not normal energy but the source of energy of his life.

    He gave her the source of energy of his life, so how could he live?

    A person dying was like a light being put out. Once it was gone, there was nothing left...

    Tears trickled down her face and dripped on his ice-cold face.

    ¡°Yingluo...¡± Xia Moyan¡¯s heart hurt as he spoke, but he could not find any words tofort her. She was experiencing mankind¡¯s greatest sorrow. How could hefort her with a few casual words? Suddenly, Xia Moyan¡¯s eyes widened. He saw Xia Yingluo crying and trembling. With every movement, a small ball of dim white light emerged from her shirt and fell on his face.

    After that, that small ball of light disappeared like a melted snowke.

    ¡°Uncle...¡± Xia Yingluo also saw it and called Xia Moyan in a shaky voice.

    Xia Moyan took a few steps forward, checked Wei Lingnan¡¯s heartbeat and pupils, sighed and shook his head at Xia Yingluo. That ball of light was probably an ident. It was just residual energy and had no effect on his life. A drop of water could not moisturize an entire desert and he had already turned into a lifeless desert.

    Xia Yingluo shook her head and refused to give up. ¡°No. There must be a way to save him. There must be! There¡¯s still remaining life energy! That little bit of energy has just seeped into his body! I saw it! This must be hope sent from the heavens... I can¡¯t give up...¡±

    She stood up and said to Xia Moyan, ¡°Uncle, ask the people in the base to prepare a room for him. He will not die!¡±

    Before Xia Moyan could answer, a scream was heard. ¡°Who did you say was about to die?!¡± Soon after, an elegant girl rushed in. Her entire body was covered in green and gold light that was invisible to ordinary humans. It was Gu Jinxiu.

    ¡°Gu Jinxiu!¡± Xia Yingluo instinctively covered Wei Lingnan¡¯s body.

    Xia Moyan¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°How did youe in?¡± Wei Lingnan¡¯s base was very well protected. Even if Gu Jinxiu was a guest, it was impossible for her to break into a sacred area like the healing pool.

    Gu Jinxiu sneered. She raised her hand and the green and gold light followed her movements. ¡°You must be Xia Moyan. So what if you¡¯re Earth¡¯s Guardian? What a joke that you asked me how I got in here. Now, I am the owner of Skatana¡¯s World Tree! None of you can defeat me! Stupid humans. I can easily break into this ce by randomly using the power of the World Tree. Quickly tell me how Wei Lingnan is now!¡±

    Xia Moyan frowned slightly and nced at Xia Yingluo.

    Xia Yingluo stared at Gu Jinxiu. ¡°Uncle said that he¡¯s dead but I don¡¯t believe it. Gu Jinxiu, do you have any way to save him?¡± She had already noticed Gu Jinxiu¡¯s palm and realized that there was a broken golden-green leaf mark that looked faintly ominous. She did not care about how the seeds of the World Tree entered Gu Jinxiu¡¯s body or more specifically, she did not have time to care. It was an emergency, and saving Wei Lingnan was the main focus.

    ¡°He¡¯s dead?!¡± Gu Jinxiu gasped and rushed over. ¡°Let me see him, quickly!¡±

    After that, she violently pushed Xia Yingluo aside and saw Wei Lingnan¡¯s lifeless body. ¡°Nan...¡± She sorrowfully cried. After that, she started tough in between tears. ¡°You¡¯re dead? How could you be dead? You haven¡¯t fallen for me yet... You haven¡¯t let me torture you severely and let me seek my revenge on you for wanting to kill me! How could you die? How could you die at this time? Nan... Wake up, Nan!¡±

    Her face was stained with tears and she cried out hysterically.

    Xia Yingluo calmly pulled Xia Moyan a few steps back and asked him, ¡°Do you have a way to save him?¡±

    ¡°A way... Yes, a way!¡± Suddenly, Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face turned vicious. She stood up and her gaze was fixed on Xia Yingluo. ¡°Of course there¡¯s away. As long as this woman gives up everything for Nan and exchanges her life for his, he will be able to live!¡±

    ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡±

    Xia Moyan and Xia Yingluo said at the same time.

    Xia Moyan looked at Xia Yingluo unkindly. ¡°You¡¯ve gone crazy!¡±

    However, Xia Yingluo shook her head. ¡°Uncle, I know that you¡¯re concerned about me, but he exchanged his life for mine... If I had a choice, I would rather die and let him live.¡± The moment his life source of energy entered her body, she understood the love he had for her for hundreds of millions of years. The love was so deep that it made her heart tremble. It was time for her to do something for him.

    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Gu Jinxiuughed hysterically and golden-green light surrounding her moved around frenziedly like fire. She pulled out a dagger she was hiding and ran towards Xia Yingluo. ¡°Well then, die!¡±

    Xia Moyan was horrified. Just as he was about to stop her, he realized that the woman seemed to be held down by something and could not move forward by even an inch. ¡°What... what is going on?!¡± Gu Jinxiu angrily screamed. She looked at the golden-green energy of the World Tree around her body. ¡°World Tree, why are you being a hindrance? I order you to let me go!¡±

    Instead, the World Tree held on to her even more tightly.

    Gu Jinxiu panicked. She was infuriated. ¡°World Tree! I order you!¡±

    Xia Yingluo, who witnessed the whole situation, finally understood what was going on and said, ¡°Gu Jinxiu, it seems that you aren¡¯t the one controlling the World Tree. The World Tree is the one controlling you!¡± No wonder. Gu Jinxiu was an impure being from Skatana. How could she wield the energy of the powerful World Tree? Even Xia Yingluo was controlled by the seed of the World Tree before!

 Chapter 1437 - Wei Lingnans Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 1437: Wei Lingnan¡¯s Awakening</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s face fell and she immediately realized the truth. She screamed. ¡°World Tree! Why are you controlling me? Let me go!¡±

    [Stop struggling.] In the air, there was a faint and indifferent answer. [Presumptuous woman. I¡¯m only going to use you until this point. The only person who can control me is the queen. As for you? Dream on.]

    Gu Jinxiu turned pale. She realized that she lost to Xia Yingluo once again.

    She shook her head and was about to go crazy. ¡°That¡¯s impossible... Impossible!¡± The thing she could not tolerate the most was losing to Xia Yingluo. Furthermore, a life or death situation just happened and she thought that she would be invincible after controlling the World Tree. However, this wake-up call crushed her dreams. How could she not be disappointed or angry?

    The World Tree¡¯s voice rang again. [Gu Jinxiu, adjust your energy and release me from your body. I will save Wei Lingnan.]

    Gu Jinxiu became hysterical andughed. ¡°Hahaha... You¡¯re trying to trick me, right? You¡¯re still under my control, so you don¡¯t have the ability to leave my body! I won¡¯t ever let you go, so you should just do your job and let me use you! As for Wei Lingnan? Xia Yingluo will save him. Xia Yingluo just agreed to trade her life for his!¡±

    She pointed at Xia Yingluo resentfully.

    Xia Yingluo frowned her at slightly. She felt an ominous premonition in her heart. ¡°Gu Jinxiu, quickly release it.¡± The World Tree¡¯s style of doing things was very rigid. If Gu Jinxiu continued to resist its orders, who knew what the oue would be?

    However, Gu Jinxiu yelled as if she were a cat that had its tail stepped on. ¡°Stop trying to lie to me! You¡¯re just jealous of me after losing the World Tree. It must be like this! Xia Yingluo, my powers are much stronger than yours. Don¡¯t try to order me!¡±

    Suddenly, the World Tree¡¯s sneer was heard. ¡°Quickly release me, idiotic woman. If it¡¯s toote, I won¡¯t be able to save Wei Lingnan.¡± It had a deep rtionship with Wei Lingnan and understood that only a pure-blooded person from Skatana had the ability to let it live. Otherwise, even if Xia Yingluo survived alone, she would not be able to find sufficient energy for both of them to continue living.

    As such, Wei Lingnan had to live.

    Gu Jinxiu screeched. ¡°Let that bitch trade her life for a life!¡±

    The World Tree sneered again. ¡°Idiot.¡±

    Wei Lingnan was able to heal Xia Yingluo¡¯s injury by trading his life for hers, but this did not mean that Xia Yingluo could do the same for him. Xia Yingluo still had human blood and she was much weaker than Wei Lingnan. Her energy alone was not enough to save Wei Lingnan.

    [If you want to save Wei Lingnan, only my life can be exchanged for his life,] The World Tree said indifferently.

    With this said, Gu Jinxiu, Xia Yingluo, and Xia Moyan were all dumbstruck.

    ¡°You?¡± Xia Yingluo asked in disbelief. She did not think that the World Tree, which always wanted to eat Wei Lingnan, was willing to sacrifice its life for him.

    The World Tree indignantly replied, [Do you think I want to do this? You all are simply the world¡¯s stupidest inhabitants of Skatana! How could that idiot Wei Lingnan sacrifice his life for yours! If he¡¯s dead, I can¡¯t live on. If he survives and you create a new World Tree with him, my sacrifice won¡¯t be wasted!]

    Everything it did was to ensure the continuity of its kind.

    Xia Yingluo understood what it meant and softly said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    If the World Tree were human, it would have definitely rolled its eyes.

    However, it was not human and could only snort in annoyance. It ordered Gu Jinxiu again. ¡°Stupid woman. Quickly release me!¡±

    Gu Jinxiu also heard the conversation between the two of them, but she could not believe it. ¡°Stop lying to me! Let her trade her life for his first. I will only release you if it¡¯s ineffective!¡± In her opinion, the World Tree only wanted to escape her control and she was not going to let its tricks seed!

    As soon as her words fell, a loud noise was heard.

    Gu Jinxiu¡¯s entire left palm exploded. Bloody flesh, skin, and bones rained down like a huge storm. Gu Jinxiu screamed. ¡°My hand!¡±

    Her left hand and half of her forearm had vanished, leaving a broken mess of flesh and blood.

    There was also a small seed that burst with her hand. It was torn apart and the golden-green rays danced radiantly in the sky. Therge energy release caused the wind to roar.

    Xia Yingluo¡¯s face turned pale. She did not expect the World Tree to be so resolute and choose to explode on disagreement. She was a little sad. Although she did not have a happy rtionship with the World Tree since she was pregnant with it, she was pregnant with it for such a long time that she felt a little attached to it.

    Before her sadness faded, she saw the golden and green rays circle the air several times before they flew towards Wei Lingnan, entered his body and disappeared.

    ¡°Nan!¡± Xia Yingluo ran over and knelt beside him. She held his hand and looked at him nervously.

    She did not know if she was having an illusion, but she felt his body warming up. She was ecstatic. Her body shook slightly as she looked at him more carefully. A few minutester, she noticed his faint breathing and even his heart rate was restored. He was alive again.

    Sheid on his body and cried tears of joy.

    On the other hand, Gu Jinxiu, who had half of her arm blown apart, fainted because she could not withstand the pain.

    After watching all of this quietly, Xia Moyan walked out and told the staff at the door. ¡°Take Wei Lingnan and Gu Jinxiu to the ward for treatment and rest.¡± Although the staff was surprised as to how Gu Jinxiu suddenly appeared in the room, they respectfully and skillfully lifted both of them out on a stretcher.

    Xia Yingluo remained close to Wei Lingnan on the stretcher and helped the staff secure him well. She looked after him without rest.

    Some time passed.

    Xia Yingluo refused to budge from her spot and many days passed. During this time, her parents and elder brothers took turns to see her and provide her with food. She only focused on looking after Wei Lingnan and fell asleep at his bedside when she was tired.

    The promotional activities for ¡°Star Wars Era 2¡± were halted. Now that the World Tree no longer existed, they did not need so much energy anymore. Now, the only thing she focused on was his recovery.

    As long as he got better, she was willing to spend her life with him and they would never be separated again for eternity.

    Finally, Wei Lingnan slowly opened his eyes one day.

    The first thing that caught his eye was her pale and haggard face. ¡°Ah Luo...¡±

 Chapter 1438-End - The Beginning of Love

    <h4>Chapter 1438: The Beginning of Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios

    His voice was hoarse. It was as if thousands of years had passed.

    Tears flowed out of her eyes again and she smiled as she cried. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake. Do you know how worried I was? In the future, you¡¯re not allowed to exchange your life for mine, understand? Do you hear me?!¡±

    A faint smile appeared on his weak face. ¡°Ok.¡±

    At that time, when he gave her the energy of his life source, he did not expect to live. However, he somehow survived in the end. He asked her, ¡°How did you save me?¡±

    Her face darkened slightly. ¡°The World Tree.¡± Then, she told him about the self-initiated explosion of the World Tree¡¯s seed.

    He also became sad. No matter what the World Tree had done to them, it was still their child. Now, their child was dead. ¡°What about Gu Jinxiu?¡± His voice was dark.

    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Gu Jinxiu fainted and I spent the past few days by your side, so I didn¡¯t get the chance to hear any updates about her.¡± She looked at Wei Lingnan and said, ¡°What she has be is no longer important. World Tree¡¯s death can¡¯t be med on her. Nothing else matters as long as you¡¯re fine.¡±

    However, he sneered. ¡°How is it not her fault? If she didn¡¯tunch a surprise attack on you, all of this would not have happened.¡±

    Deep down, she knew that too.

    Wei Lingnan¡¯s voice was icy. ¡°I will make her pay the price.¡±

    However, she stopped him. ¡°I don¡¯t care as long as you¡¯re fine. Nan, don¡¯t cause any more trouble.¡± Nothing was more important than the two of them being together again. After experience so many life-or-death situations, she only wished for peace and wanted all the unhappy times to be swept away by the wind.

    Wei Lingnan loosened up and looked at her warmly. ¡°What did you call me?¡±

    ¡°Nan.¡± She blushed slightly and smiled again. ¡°You¡¯re my guardian and my husband. In the future, we will create a new World Tree and leave this to rebuild the Skatana. Our people and your life are mine, so you must promise me that you¡¯ll be good and not get yourself in any danger that will make me worried.¡±

    He looked at her deeply. Under the peaceful light of the ward, she looked so beautiful and was just close enough to touch.

    After a long time, he smiled. ¡°Your wish is mymand, my queen.¡±

    When he fully recovered from his injuries, they hosted an extravagant wedding.

    For this wedding, Wei Lingnan especially invested a huge sum of money to build a theme park called ¡°The Star Wars Era Theme Park.¡± In actuality, he designed it such that the interior resembled Skatana, their home.

    Some reporters and members of the public were curious about why theyout was not exactly simr to Star Wars Era 1 and 2. Why was the theme park constructed in this manner? Wei Lingnan calmly exined to the public. ¡°This is the main setting for Star Wars Era 3 and it is more ambitious than 1 and 2.¡±

    In the theme park, Xia Yingluo wore a white wedding dress with special deep purple embroidery from Skatana. She walked step by step towards her groom in the snow-like flowers.

    Their wedding ceremony was very unique and was a mix of human and Skatana customs. When he knelt down to kiss her hand and swore that he would never leave her, many of the guests were moved to tears.

    The salute was sounded.

    This was the highest honor of a Skatana warrior.

    Wei Lingnan hugged and kissed her affectionately in front of everyone. ¡°It is my greatest honor to marry you.¡±

    They had to go through many ups and downs together before they could finally be together. She smiled and quietly answered in her heart. She felt that she was the one who was lucky to marry him. No one knew about the future. Rebuilding Skatana and repopting it required both of them to work together. Both of them were guilty, but so what?

    Until the day they had to apologize for their offenses, they would live and die together without regrets.

    After the oath, the ceremony wasplete.

    The emcee and guests cheered on her to throw her bridal bouquet.

    She smiled sweetly and her wedding dress swirled beautifully when she turned around. She found Jin Ling¡¯er in the crowd and blinked at her. After that, she lightly threw it. The snow-like bouquet flew magically in the golden sunlight like it had wings and fell precisely in the hands of Jin Ling¡¯er.

    The girl who caught the bouquet was surprised and looked at the well-built man beside her.

    That well-built man, Du Zheng, looked at her warmly and tenderly.

    ¡°I have one more thing to announce today.¡± Xia Yingluo nced at the elders of the Du Family and mainly noticed Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s slightly irritable face. She held Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s hand, smiled and took her to her parents. ¡°Ling¡¯er is my good friend and has a very good rtionship with my parents. My parents want to seize this happy asion to recognize Ling¡¯er as their goddaughter. Ling¡¯er, are you willing?¡±

    There was an uproar.

    Everyone knew how important the Li Family was and the significance of this goddaughter.

    At once, all eyes of jealousy, confusion, and curiosity were focused on Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Only Jin Ling¡¯er was aware of this arrangement. She smiled awkwardly, looked at Li Lei and Xia Ling and softly called. ¡°Godfather and godmother.¡± Her bashfulness was well received by everyone. Li Lei and Xia Ling gave her a very generous initiation gift which made all the surrounding guests jealous.

    Li Lei also announced. ¡°From now on, Jin Ling¡¯er will be like my biological daughter. Whatever Yingluo has, Ling¡¯er will also have. No one is allowed to bully her. I will also give a generous dowry to anyone who marries her.¡±

    The Du Family knew who these words were directed at.

    Sheng Yuqiong¡¯s expression was dark, but she quickly understood the circumstances. Even the goddaughter of the Li Family was richer and more powerful than the biological daughter of another family. Thus, she looked at Jin Ling¡¯er and smiled kindly.

    The wedding ended sessfully and Xia Yingluo and Wei Lingnan became an enviable couple in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Wei Lingnan carried her as they looked for Gu Jinxiu because he wanted to end the life of the woman who tried to kill Xia Yingluo several times. Unexpectedly, he found out that Gu Jinxiu had gone crazy. The Gu Family locked her in a psychiatric hospital and stopped caring about her. Now, the previously elegant woman had fallen from grace. Her hand disappeared in an explosion and her hair was messy. She always screamed randomly, stuffed trash into her mouth and was in a constant state of anxiety.

    Suddenly, Wei Lingnan did not feel like killing her anymore. He felt that she could continue staying in this pathetic state to pay for her crimes.

    After the wedding, the Skatana theme park was officially opened to the public.

    The epicyout attracted thousands of visitors.

    The heart of the theme park was the monument forest. It consisted of sculptures that depicted the history of the Skatana from ancient times to the present. The remains of the World Tree seed after its explosion was buried under these monuments. Every day, many people would visit it andment andmemorate this mysterious race. It was truly a decent resting ce for the seed.

    Xia Moyan apanied Xia Yingluo to the theme park.

    Looking at the crowd, Xia Moyan said, ¡°This is a very good opening.¡±

    Xia Yingluo smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Through this medium, humans would understand the distant and powerful which was the home of their allies. Perhaps after hundreds of millions of years, a rebuild Skatana race and a more powerful humanity could fight together side by side to create a more magnificent era.

    And all of this, was the beginning of love.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª [The End] ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    At this point, A Star Reborn: The Queen¡¯s Return has officially ended and there won¡¯t be any other spin-offs. I know that you want to know more about Wei Shaoyin, Brother Xia and Luo Luo, but this long year and a half has made me very tired. I¡¯m not feeling very well, so I¡¯m afraid that I won¡¯t be able to achieve the desired effect of what I had in mind. Thus, after some thought, I decided to scrap the idea. All of you can use your imaginations to make up stories for them. Thank you for all of your support along the way. I will probably start a new book around April. When the timees, all of you are weed to take a look at it! I love you all.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!